The fourth psalm opens in this
manner to the chief musician on Neginov, a psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness, that hast enlarged me when I was in distress. Have
mercy upon me and hear my prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will
ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity
and seek after leasing? Selah. But know that the Lord
hath set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear
when I call unto him. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of
righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. There be many that
say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my
heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine
increased. I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep. For thou, Lord, only makes me
dwell in safety. Verse 4, stand in awe and sin
not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Stand in awe. This psalm, like the previous
one, Psalm 3, is also arranged in three distinct sections, broken
by the Selah in verse 2 and the Selah at the end of verse 4.
Three sections with a pause between each to consider. And in some
ways it follows a similar pattern. There's a cry in the first section,
a cry for help. There is then in the second section
this declaration of faith that the Lord I've set apart the godly
for himself, he'll hear him, stand in awe and sin not behold. And in the final section, we
see the consequences of the Lord's goodness towards his people,
what he does for them, their salvation, their being able to
lay down in peace and sleep, the gladness in their hearts. had three sections also and very
much the last of the third sections, the third section in Psalm 3
showed forth the consequence of Christ's work upon the cross,
the consequence of his salvation, the consequence of the resurrection,
the blessing that flowed forth on the third day through him
to his people. So in both Psalms we have these
three sections, these three stanzas, and the third is very much shown
in the light of the resurrection. Thou hast put gladness in my
heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine
increased. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for
Thou, Lord only, makest me dwell in safety. That's because of
what He's done to deliver His people from their sins. to wash
them clean in the blood of the Lamb, to bring them forth from
the tomb, from the grave, in Jesus Christ with everlasting
life. New life bursting forth from
the grave on the third day. And hence in the third stanza,
O believer, when you behold the wonder of God's grace in the
Gospel, and how He has set it forth from the beginning. From
the beginning of the Scriptures, right through, right through
every psalm, right through every book, right through the prophets,
the law, right through to the New Testament. When you see this
message of Christ in every Scripture as a crimson cord running through
from Genesis to Revelation, stand in awe. For we have an almighty God,
a mighty saviour, who has gone forth to bless his people. Stand in awe, the psalmist says,
and sin not. Well, so often the scriptures,
like I say, have me standing in awe. The way they are written,
the way the truth in so many aspects in all its riches is
set forth consistently from passage to passage, book to book, chapter
to chapter. Two psalms here, in three stanzas
showing forth the glory of the resurrection in the third. As
it were, depicting three days. How Christ is presented to us
in all his glory. Oh, stand in awe. What depths
there are in just those three words. Stand. In. All. There's the gospel. There's the
demand of the gospel. What does God expect of you? What does he have you to do that
you might be saved? Sirs, what should I do that I
might be saved? Nothing. Stand. in awe. Behold my servant. Behold the Son. Behold the Lamb
of God. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Stand in awe. When the Lord by
Moses delivered the Hebrews, Israel, out of Egypt, out of
captivity and brought them to the Red Sea and they had the
Egyptians behind them, and they had the perils of the sea before
them and they couldn't go forwards and they couldn't go backwards
and they thought that destruction was upon them. The Lord said
unto them, stand still. Moses cries out, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. And the Lord by his mighty
power parted the waters such that they went forth on dry ground. And when the psalmist in this
state, in a desperate hour, cries out, Hear me when I call, O God
of my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. When in trouble he cries out
to his God, How shall I go forward? How shall I go backwards? God,
as it were, says, Stand in awe. see what i shall do when destruction
awaits look to my son and see how he has taken death and swallowed
it up in victory stand in awe this psalm like the psalm before
it is the psalm of david but it begins with this inscription
as it were, it's addressed to the chief musician on Neginoth,
to the chief musician. Now obviously in a literal sense,
when the songs were written, they were written to be sung
and they were addressed to the musician and instruction was
given. Neginoth is an instrument, a
stringed instrument. But the spiritual meaning of
that is that this, like all the psalms, is addressed to the chief
musician, to the Lord, to the Lord Jesus Christ, who brings
forth the melody of his psalms, of his music, through his people,
who are stringed instruments in his hands. And he brings forth a perfect
melody. for when God works in His people,
He destroys what's of Adam, what's of the old man, He takes away
the sin, He blots it out, and He brings forth perfect righteousness,
and He brings forth a perfect cry, a perfect song from their
heart, a perfect melody, and as one they speak as one and
rejoice in Christ their Saviour. To the chief musician on Neganoth,
this instruction this reference to Negunov is repeated is used
on seven psalms in total this one and six others it's it's
mentioned on psalm 4 psalm 6 54 55 61 67 and 76 seven of the
psalms are instructed to be played on Negunov seven the number of perfection, perfect
strings, a perfect melody under the orchestration
of the chief musician, who when he declares his gospel to his
people, says unto them, stand in awe, stand in awe. Psalm opens in verse 1 where
David cries, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness, that
hast enlarged me when I was in distress. Have mercy upon me
and hear my prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will
ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity
and seek after Selah. Selah. Pause. Consider. Who is this who cries? David, of course, but as we've
seen before, the Lord Jesus. Yes, it's the cry of David. Yes,
it's the cry of the child of God in distress. Yes, the child
of God knows what it is. to be in trouble and to cry out
unto his God, to be in trouble because of his sin, to be in
trouble because of the opposition of men. Yes, he knows what it
is to have the sons of men, others, persecute him and despise him
and mock him and mock him for his faith and mock him for his
trust in God. Oh, they turn his glory in Christ
into shame. Oh, they deride him, they persecute. They say, where is thy God? What
has he done for you? Look at the trouble you're in.
Look at the calamity you're in. How would your great God do this? What kind of a God do you follow
that he should leave you in such a place? He should bring you
to such a state. And yet the persecuted child
of God, like despised David of old, despite all the trouble
despite the hardness of the way has faith in his heart and he
knows that in the end his God will hear him he knows that even
this deepest of trial is for his good and he looks upon the
sons of men that despise and mock him and he sees how they
live and he sees the vanity of how they live Oh, they might
multiply in riches. They might have a life of ease
at this time. He might be suffering where they
seem to be prospering. He might be in poverty where
they're in riches. He might be sick and ill and
suffering where they're in good health. He might be full of sorrow
where they are full of mirth. everything might be the opposite
and they in their position of grandeur and power and wealth
and fatness might look on him and despise him and mock him
and laugh at him and he might look on them and feel the pain
and the sorrow and the suffering in which he's in but he looks
on them and knows that all that they have and all that they seek
and all that they glory in is but vanity. They've got it today
but it will be gone tomorrow. What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world but loses his own soul? The child
of God, though he has nothing now but sorrow and trial, can
look upon others who seem to prosper and he can say, even
so, it seemeth right unto the Lord, even so I would rather
be where I am than where they are. I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of my Lord than to dwell in the tents of iniquity. I'd rather be suffering now Because
I know that the day cometh when I will be taken away from this
suffering. When it will all be taken away
from me. And when I will sit with my Saviour
and sit around His throne and glorify Him. I know that the Lord will hear
my cry. I know that there will be coming,
that there comes a day when I will dwell in peace and safety. I
know this is but for a moment. So he can look upon the children
of men who mock and scoff him and say, how long will ye love
vanity and seek after leases? You buy, you sell, you trade,
you do all these things to make money and to earn money and to
have riches and to have pleasure, but it's passing through your
fingers, it's vanity. It's a mirage, it's there one
day, it's gone the next. The Lord has shown me that. How long will you turn my glory
into shame? You mock it, you act like it's
nothing, but what I trust in is eternal. This light affliction
worketh but for a moment, but it worketh an eternal way to
glory. It's gonna bring forth that which
lasts forever. That's what David knew. That's
what every child of God knows, who's brought the same way. But
ultimately they know these things because they are the pathway
of their Saviour. And this cry, like all the Psalms,
this cry in the verse, in this first section, verses 1 and 2,
is the cry of the Saviour. That Saviour who came unto His
own, the Jews. and His own received Him not.
That Saviour who came into this world created and sustained by
Him and the sons of men, the sons of Adam in this world rejected
Him, they despised Him, they persecuted Him and they put Him
to death and He was nailed to a cross and lifted up and suffered
and died and went into free hours in the
darkness when for his people he suffered as a substitute in
their place and his father took the sins of all his people and
laid them upon the sun and judged him as if he were them. He judged him, he poured out
his flames of divine wrath against their sins and their sin, and
the Saviour Christ. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. O ye sons of men, How long will
ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity
and seek after leasing? Oh, they despised him. They mocked
him. They spat on him as he was on
the cross. They'd mocked him and scoffed
him in the years prior. They said he was nothing. They
said he was a Beelzebub. They said he was a winebibble.
He could do no right in their eyes. They said He was a blasphemer
for saying He was the Son of God, when He was the Son of God. Oh, they turned His glory into
shame. For He cried out in faith unto
a God who heard His cry. Yes, who is this who cries here,
who speaks here? It's the Son of God. Hear me
when I call, O God of my righteousness. O God of my righteousness. O men may say he's a liar, men
may scoff him, but he has righteousness, he's spoken in righteousness,
all that he has done is perfect. And when they scoffed him, and
persecuted him, and crucified him, He was for His people, bringing
in the righteousness of God for them. The righteousness of God,
He was blotting out their sins. Hear me when I call, O God, of
my righteousness. Selah. Verse 3 goes on. But know that
the Lord hath set him apart that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call
unto him. Know that the Lord hath set apart
him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call
unto him. Again, this is Christ In Christ,
David was godly. Because of Christ, David was
godly. Because Christ died as a saviour
for David and washed David's sins away, David was godly. But in himself, he was utterly
ungodly. And in yourself, you are utterly
ungodly. And God cannot set apart you
who are so wicked and wretched. for himself when you were in
such a state. But in Christ, David knew that
he was godly because of that righteousness which Christ had
brought in for him. Know that the Lord has set apart
him that is godly for himself. He's taken his son and he's anointed
him. And he set him apart and he said
unto the world, this is my son. Behold my beloved son. Hear him. This is my son. He anointed him. He's glorified him. He's set
him apart. He's elected him. He's displayed
him to the world and said, this is my son. and I will hear him
when he calls unto me and you can do what you like unto him
but I will lift him up you can slay him O man and I will lift
him up Christ said of the temple with reference to the temple
of his own flesh destroy this temple and I will raise it up
again in three days And in three days the temple of Christ was
raised up again. And His people were brought forth
into the midst of that temple where they will live and reign
and rejoice and worship the Saviour forevermore. The Lord will hear
Him when He calls. The Lord will hear when I call
unto Him, Christ says. Stand in awe and sin not. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Selah. Pause, consider. The end of this second section. Oh, they slew him. But when man
put Christ to death, the work of God for salvation was accomplished.
Ultimately man did not put him to death. Man in the physical
sense cast him out, persecuted him, said crucify him. They handed
him over to the Romans. The Romans took him. The Romans
nailed him to a cross. But no man could take his life
from him. If that's all they did then he'd
have hung on that cross forever. and come down from it when he
chose to. Man could not ultimately take
his life from him. They thought they'd slew him.
They thought they'd slew him. They thought they'd put him to
death. But it wasn't their nails that slew him. It was the judgement
of God for the sins of his people that he bore. Those are the nails. that slew him. It's the nail
of your sin and my sin that slew him. Whether it's your condemnation
and hatred as one who is wicked who will go to your grave for
your wickedness and pay the price for your wickedness yourself
or whether it's the condemnation and hatred which you had for
him that he took away when he bore your sin and took the judgment
of God against it, that you should then hear this gospel and believe. Well, which is it? Have you heard? Do you believe? Do you stand in awe at the sight
of the Saviour upon that cross? who loved his own, that he gave
himself for them. Does it move you to stand in
awe? Stand in awe and sin not. Commune
with your own heart upon your bed and be still. We're never still, are we, by
nature? There's rarely anyone who will
stand still and look or listen. We're so full of ourselves, we're
so full of our own opinion, we're so full of what we're going to
do, we're so full of what we think. Oh, how we contend against
this one and against that one. Oh, how we have a view about
everything. Oh, how we're going to do this
and going to do that. And when it comes to religion
and salvation, man's just the same. Oh, he's full of his opinions
of how it will be. And full of his viewpoints upon
the gospel and upon the scriptures. Full of his ideas about God and
full of his ideas of how God should reward him and God should
be pleased with what he's done. That he never listens. Man's
so full of what he thinks the gospel is and how God should
save men. and of how God is that he never
listens. He never listens to what God
has actually said about himself. He's never listened to what God
has said about the son. He's never listened to how God
saves. Stand in awe and sin not, be
still and listen. Sailor, pause. Behold the Son of God crucified
for sinners. Stand in awe. Be still. Commune with your own heart. Stop talking and look within
and then look without unto Christ.
If you look within to your heart, by nature, you'll see a filthy
sewer of sin. You've not just gone wrong once
or twice. You've not just failed to do
the right thing at times. You've not just made a few mistakes
like everyone else has. But you are wickedness through
and through. your heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked and that's why God's wrath burns
from heaven against you that's why there must be death to pay
the price for your breaking of God's law and your rejection
of Him and His rule over you there must be a price paid because
your debts are so great. Commune with your own heart,
look within and see what a state you're in. And then be still. Because if you take a glance
at that heart and see yourself for what you really are, as utterly
depraved from the womb, then you'll see the hopelessness of
thinking that you can do, say or act in any way to make yourself
presentable to a holy God. Even your righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. Nothing you can do is going to
atone for your sin until this hour. And nothing you can do
is going to atone for the sins you will commit in the next hour,
the next day, the next week, year, the rest of your life. Nothing you do, think or say
can wash your heart clean. Be still. Yet the folly of man
is that he never stands. He's never still. He's constantly
working. Constantly justifying himself. Constantly justifying everything
he does. Constantly blaming everybody
else for everything he does. Constantly saying that God should
receive him, despite what he is. Constantly denying the very
justice of God, as though God can turn a blind eye to his sin. Constantly denying his sin. Constantly working to approve
himself. that God says unto you, unto
me, unto this evil world stand in awe and sit not, be still,
commune with your own heart upon your bed as you as it were sleep
in the death that has come upon you because of your trespasses
and sins as you lie there sleeping in the darkness consider your
heart be still and stand in awe and look unto a saviour who came
into this world of darkness who came into this world of death
who came into this world of people who sleep and laid down his life
that he might shine forth the light in the midst of the darkness
and bring forth righteousness and deliver his people from their
sins. Oh look, by faith unto the Saviour. Stand in awe and sin not. Sin not in what way? In every
way but in particular in terms of doing. In terms of not standing,
not being still. Man constantly sins by constantly
doing rather than listening to Almighty God, rather than standing,
rather than trusting, rather than believing. He's got to add
something to the work of Christ. He's always got to add. He's always got to have some
part of the glory. Stand in awe and sin. Not. You cannot add anything
to faith, anything to the work of the Son of God. You cannot
add anything to the work of the Son of God. Just be still. And look. And believe. Stand in awe. Selah. Verse 5. Offer the sacrifices
of righteousness. and put your trust in the Lord. Not in man, not in self, not
in your works or your righteousness, but in the Lord. Have faith in
Christ, trust in Him, in His sacrifice, in His sacrifices
of righteousness. in the only true sacrifice of
righteousness. In all those sacrifices he made
when he laid down his life and suffered unto death. In that
sacrifice he made of leaving heaven's glory. In that sacrifice
he made of taking upon humanity with his divinity. In that sacrifice
he made of being made a little lower than the angels in that
sacrifice he made of walking amongst men and being despised
and rejected In that sacrifice He made of having even His own,
His disciples rejected. In that sacrifice He made of
being cast out and unfairly judged and unfairly accused. In that
sacrifice He made of allowing men to nail Him, Almighty God,
the Son of God, the King of Kings, to a cross. In that sacrifice
He made of being spat upon and derided upon the cross. In that
sacrifice He made. when he took the sins of his
people and bore them in his own body on the tree in that sacrifice
he made when he was made sin in their stead and the light
of the sun was taken away and darkness reigned upon the earth
for three hours and the wrath of God poured out upon his head
and he cried out, my God, my God why hast thou forsaken me? in that sacrifice offer the sacrifices
of righteousness. They're not sacrifices that you
can offer. They're sacrifices He offered,
which you offer by faith. And you can only offer them by
faith if God gives you faith, for you have no faith by nature. You're like those sons of men
that heap up riches to your destruction. But should you be given faith,
should you hear the gospel, should God by His mighty power by the
Spirit of God bring you to life then you will stand in awe and
offer the sacrifices of righteousness when by faith you take Christ
and His blood and say to God His blood is my only plea the
body of Christ The blood of Christ is all I have. This is my sacrifice. His body was slain and broken. It had nails put through the
hands and the feet and the side. And his blood was poured forth
and sprinkled. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness
and put your trust in the Lord. Verse six, there be many that
say, Who will show us any good? Lord lift thou up the light of
thy countenance upon us Who will show us any good? Oh the man
of the world Who can see nothing but what he can see in this world Says who will show me any good? There is no God he says with
his heart He sees no God. He cannot see Him. He cannot
hear Him. So he thinks the only good that will come is that of
his own making. So he strives to make himself
rich. He strives for pleasure. Because
that's the only way he can get it. That's the only way he can
gain any hope is by his own hand. Who will show us any good? But
God's a lapt. Now look at their hand. can do
nothing if their hand is put to the side of the ark to help
it they know that they'll just put their sin upon it they know
that there can be nothing of man there's no good from themselves
there's no good from others but they look up by faith to a saviour
and they say to the world around them stand in awe and be still
For he is the one who can do us good. And he alone, by his
grace, has done me good. Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. The believer cries to the Lord
to shine forth his light, and the Lord shines forth his light
in the face of Jesus Christ. And the believer says, standing
on. Yes, the elect receive. God's
chosen, God's people know the light of His countenance. They
know the salvation of His Son. They don't cry, who will show
us any good? They cry out, God has blessed
me. More than I could ever imagine.
More than I could ever deserve. I deserve His wrath, yet He's
blessed me. I deserve death, yet He's brought
me to life. I deserve condemnation, yet He's
given me the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. He's given
me everlasting life. Oh, how God has blessed me. How
He has shown me good. But what of you? Who's going
to help you? Who's going to show you any good
when you're old? When your family and friends
are deserted and gone? When your parents have gone to
the grave and other friends have gone? When you're on your own,
who's going to help you? When you face death and you look
past death and know that as you enter the other side you must
stand before Almighty God Who's going to help you? Who's going
to show you any good? When you're in the final hour,
when you stand in the day of judgment, who will show you any
good? Who? What will man do for you
then? What will the religion of men
do for you then? What will your riches do for
you then? Who will show you any good when
you stand before God? And he says, what have you done?
What have you done with your life? What have you done with
the strength I gave you? What have you done with your
heart, soul and mind? What have you done to my son? Who will show you any good? What
will your plea be? Will God show you good? Will His Son show you good? Will
you say by faith, the body and the blood of the Son of God is
my only plea? And will you rest and trust in
Him and know that the Father will hear you for His sake? Stand in awe. Be still. The believer will, the believer
can. The believer cries out like David in verse 7. Thou hast put
gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and
their wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. Oh Lord, thou hast put gladness
in my heart. These, these sons of men, they
made my glory into shame. They loved vanity and seeked
after leasing. They scoffed and they mocked.
They had their riches, their corn and their wine increased. Oh, they were merry. They had
a gladness of sorts, but it went away. It was fading even in their
happiest times. they actually had troubles themselves. They were frail, they were weak,
they had their illnesses, they had their bereavements, they
had their worries. But thou hast put gladness in
my heart, more than their greatest gladness. Oh, the gladness I've
got in Christ is that I have the greatest of riches. I have
riches which will never perish. I have a glory which will never
be taken away. I have life which will never
end. I have righteousness which cannot
know any blemish. I have a world to which I will
enter which will never stop. I have every tear to be taken
from every eye. I will dwell in a world in which
dwelleth righteousness. I will dwell in a world to come
where I will be with the Saviour and there will be no sorrow,
no poverty, no trouble, no bereavement, no death, no sorrow. Everything
will be wonderful. I have an inheritance in Jesus
Christ. But overall, I have Christ. my husband, my saviour, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Oh, what gladness! I will both
lay me down in peace and sleep. Nothing will trouble me if I'm
in Christ, for he has done it all. For thou, Lord only, makest
me dwell. in safety. Oh, what peace have
you got? What gladness have you got? Today, tomorrow, what will make
you smile? Will it be riches? Will it be
the latest thing you buy? The latest place you go? The
latest holiday you go on? The fruition of some plan? Will
it be the birth of a son, a daughter, a grandchild? Will it be the
purchase of a new house, a new car? What is going to bring you
gladness? Well, whatever it is, it will
come, it will go, it will perish. And you won't take it beyond
the grave. Don't be the fool. You need this
gladness, this peace, this safety, and only the Gospel. Only Christ
can bring it. The Gospel brings peace, real
peace, perfect peace, lasting peace, everlasting peace, that
we may dwell in safety. Thou has put gladness in my heart,
more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. Why? Because the Son of God died,
and on the third day He rose again, with all His people, who
suffered like He suffered, but rise again in everlasting life
as He rises. Which is why the psalmist speaks
in his third stanza, of that which is the consequence of the
third day in which Christ rose from the grave. Stand in awe
and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Stand in awe.