Turn to Psalm 4. Psalm 4. Let's read this psalm together. 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
you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity
and seek after leasing or lying? Selah. But no. I love the way he says that.
But no. This is something that needs
to be known. 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. 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 has put gladness in my heart
more than in the time their corn and their wine increased. I will
both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou, Lord, only. at this time of vulnerability,
sleep, thou Lord only, make us me dwell in safety. Let's pray. Lord, how we desire your presence,
how we desire your blessing upon your word. For truly we're aware
that if we don't have your spirit and your blessing and your favor
toward us, we meet in vain. We pray that your gospel would
be preached in the power of your Holy Spirit and that you'd give
us hearing ears, receptive hearts. Lord, we pray for the forgiveness
of all of our many sins. How we thank you for the blessing
of the forgiveness of sins through the blood of the blessed son.
Lord, we pray that you'd be with our friends that aren't here,
that you'd keep them by your grace. Be with all your people
wherever they meet together and accept our thanksgiving through
thy son. In his name we pray. Amen. Now, remember these titles are
inspired. They're part of the inspired
word and he calls this to the chief musician, a Neganoth. The psalm of David. Now this
word Neganoth, I didn't know this before the preparation of
this message. It means a taunt psalm. A taunt psalm. He's actually taunting. And you
can see in some of these verses where this taunting is in fact
taking place. Look in verse two, oh ye sons
of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? That's a
taunt. Look in verse three, but no. that the Lord has set apart
him that is godly for himself. That's a taunt. Verse six, there
be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou
up the light of thy countenance upon us. That could be considered
a taunt, and this is called the taunt song. Now, remember these verses in
two respects. Number one, these are the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every psalm, whenever you read
a psalm, read it like that first. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And these are the words of David.
David is telling us what he felt, what he experienced. Look at
these words together. Verse one, hear what I call,
O God of my righteousness. Now, We can see where these are
the words of the Lord Jesus. And he's speaking of his father
as the God of his righteousness. Now, that's the word of a believer,
too. When we say, hear me, O God of my righteousness, we're saying
my righteousness comes from him. It's his righteousness. But you
can see these as the words of the Lord. Hear me when I call,
O God of my righteousness. Thou has enlarged me when I was
in distress. And I think that's a reference
to the garden of Gethsemane when he was in distress and the Lord
sent angels. Who knows, we couldn't possibly
understand the distress he was under at that time of being made
sin and being forsaken by his father. But he says, thou hast
enlarged me when I was in distress, have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. Oh ye sons of men, How long will
you turn my glory into shame? And you remember the way the
people were mocking him at the cross? And that's what this is
a reference to. How long will you turn my glory
into shame? How long will you love vanity
and seek after leasing? But know, verse three, but know,
know this, that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly. Who is him that is godly? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? Know this. The Lord has set
apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call
unto him. Verse four, stand in awe. And
the Lord Jesus was in awe of his father like no one else. We feel awe toward him without
question, but oh, he feared his father in a holy fear. Stand in awe. Oh, how he worshipped
his father, how his father worshipped him. Stand in awe and sin not. Who does that refer to? But the
Lord Jesus Christ and his sinlessness. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Offer, remember, I'm looking
at these briefly as the words of the Lord, then we're going
to go back to David. But he says, offer the sacrifices of righteousness. Who did that but the Lord when
he offered himself? And put your trust in the Lord.
Who ever trusted God like he did? You and I, as soon as something
goes wrong, we're all questioning everything. Not him. When he
was in utter darkness, he trusted his Father completely. There
be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou
up the light of thy countenance upon us. That's all we want is
the light of his countenance. If we have his countenance, if
we have his favor, if we have him looking in favor upon us,
what else is needed? Thou has put gladness in my heart
more than the time their corn and their wine increased, the
earthling, has gladness just from the increase of things.
He said, this gladness is infinitely better than that. I will both
lay me down in peace and sleep. And I think this is the Lord
talking about his time in the tomb. I will both lay me down
in peace and sleep for thou Lord only make us me to dwell in safety. We can see these so clearly as
the words of our Redeemer, but Let's look at them also as the
words of David because they are, hear me when I call. Now, I don't want to just go
through the motions of prayer. You know, a lot of folks, I've
had my devotions. I've had my devotions. I've gone
through the act of prayer and I can feel, you know, I've done
my duty. David didn't even think of anything like that. He said,
hear me. That's what I want. I want to
be heard. Hear me, O God of my righteousness. Now, Paul, Daniel's in here anywhere? Oh, there he is. He pointed out,
he read this Psalm in the study, and he said, I'd never really
thought of that phrase before, O God of my righteousness. And
isn't that who Jesus Christ is to us? He's the God of our righteousness,
our righteousness. is his righteousness, but I love
the way he calls it. Oh God of my righteousness, the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is where my confidence to
come before the father is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
His perfect law keeping his perfect obedience is my personal righteousness
before God. And what confidence there is
in that to have his righteousness as my personal righteousness,
just as my sin became his sin on the cross. That's why he was
forsaken. That's why he went through that
darkness. My sin became his. He put it away. And his personal
righteousness is my righteousness before God. Hear me, O God of
my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer." Now he said, you've had mercy upon me in the past.
I've been in distress and you showed me your favor. You showed
me your mercy. I'm asking for it again. I need
the same thing now that I did then. And he's asking for it
in that sense. Have mercy upon me. Now, you
know when you need mercy? When you're guilty. You're not
a victim. Your sin is all your fault. And there's one thing you need.
Mercy. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. Verse two. Oh, sons of men, how
long will you turn my glory into shame? Now, what's David's glory? Christ. How long are you gonna
try to make that a shameful thing? That's my glory. He says, how
long will you love vanity and seek after lies or leasing? Now,
that's human religion. Vanity and lies. Amen? Vanity. No saving power. No truth. Nothing but lies. Now that's how he describes human
religion. And he says, how long are you
going to love that? You know somebody that doesn't love the
gospel? I know the only reason we love the gospel is because
of the grace of God. It's because he made us to differ. We realize
that, don't we? But somebody that doesn't love
the gospel, loves salvation by works, that's crazy. Crazy, there's
no salvation in it, there's no hope in it. And that's why David
says, how long are you gonna love that? But look what he says
in verse three. But know, I love this. Know this, be assured of this,
there's no doubt about this. Know this, the Lord, Jehovah,
hath set apart Him that is godly for himself. Now here's something
I want you to know, David said. I want you to be clear on this.
I want you to understand this. Know this, the Lord hath set
apart him that is godly for himself. Now take those words, the Lord
hath set apart. Now that word set apart, Same
word used in Exodus chapter 11, when God said to Moses, against
any of the children of Israel, shall not a dog move his tongue? Against man or beast, so that
you may know that the Lord doth put a difference between the
Egyptians and Israel. Same word, the Lord put a difference. Now this is what Charles Spurgeon
called And listen to this word, this will get our attention,
discriminating grace. Now that's a word that'll get
our attention because discrimination in human affairs is evil. But
the only reason you're saved is because God made a difference.
He made a difference in eternal election when He chose you before
time began. He made a difference on the cross
when He died for your sins and put them away. He made a difference
in regeneration when he birthed you into the kingdom and gave
you life. Know this, be assured of this,
that the Lord has set apart him that is godly. Now who is godly? Everybody that
God has saved. You know, we religious use it
as he's a godly man. You know, I don't almost get
uncomfortable. I get uncomfortable with the
way religious people use the term in the sense that he's a
lot like God. You know, he's so holy, he's
so righteous. Him that is godly is him that
has been born of God and given a godly nature, a holy nature,
the scripture says, partakers of the divine nature. Now know this, the Lord made
him that way. The Lord set apart him that is
godly for himself. If the Lord has saved you, he
saved you for himself. You belong to him. He's yours. and you are his,
I am my beloved's, and he is mine. The Lord made us to differ. Now he that is godly is a description,
like I said, of all in Christ, and therefore him, they were
created for him, by him were all things created. All things
were created by Him and for Him. You see, the glory of Christ
is the reason behind everything. And the reason God saved you,
the reason Christ died for you, the reason God the Holy Spirit
gave you a new nature and made you godly is for Himself. It was not a response to you.
It was not a response to something you've done that made Him move
toward you. He did it for Himself, for His
own glory. And there's such comfort there. There's such joy there. Everything the Lord looks to
me for, He looks to His Son for. And what joy and peace there
is in that. And because of that, The Lord
will hear when I call unto him. He's gonna hear because of the
intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in verses four and
five, he gives us five things to do. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed. Be still. Offer the sacrifices
of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. And the first thing he says to
do, and this is worship, stand in awe. Nothing flippant about this.
There's nothing casual about this. You know, when people talk
about casual worship, I think, since when is the worship of
God casual? Stand in awe and sin not. Now, we ought not
ever sin, but what he's talking about is to fail to stand in
awe of him is sin. Stand in awe, tremble in his
presence, and to fail to do so is sin. Now you think about his
person, when he says stand in awe, you think of his sovereignty,
just his sovereignty. That's just God being God is
all sovereign means. That means he controls everybody
and everything. I love thinking about that, and
I'm in awe of that. Right now, the thoughts that
are going through your mind, you're thinking them. You're
doing so freely. They're the things you're thinking,
but He's in complete control over them. That's how vast His
sovereignty is. He controls everything. Anything
short of that's not God. He's absolutely sovereign. He's
the cause. He's the first cause of all things,
and there's nothing that happens without Him. He is sovereign. That's who He is. Stand in awe
at His holiness. Moses said, Who is like unto
thee, glorious in holiness? Only thou art holy. What that means more than anything
else is He's just not like me and you. Aren't you glad? He's not like me and you. He's other. He's altogether who
is like unto me. He's utterly holy. No one like
him. Stand in awe of his power. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Stand in awe of his wisdom. He's all wise. He's made a way. His wisdom has demonstrated that
he's made a way to be absolutely just and yet justify somebody
as sinful as me. Now, that's wise. Stand in all
of his omnipresence. You can't go anywhere where he's
not. Stand in all of his absolute
justice. Stand in all of his mercy, of
his grace, of his loving kindness. Stand in all of his independence.
He has no needs. I hate it when preachers present
God needing something from you. He doesn't need anything from
you. He's God over all, blessed forever. I stand in awe of His
immutability. He can't change. Stand in awe
at the glory of His person. Aren't you amazed that He made
Himself known to you? You know, there are so many people who
could care less about Him, and yet He's made Himself known to
you. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed. You know what that means? That
means be alone with him. Be alone with him. Now, I can't express the importance
of public worship. The Lord said where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.
Public worship is so important. And somebody that doesn't care
about public worship, they can talk about private worship, They
don't worship privately. Somebody doesn't worship publicly,
their private worship is a sham. But understand this, worship,
you commune with your own heart alone on your bed. Kind of like
David said, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou
disquieted within me? He's communing with his own heart
on his bed, isn't he? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise
him for the light of his countenance. Singing and making melody in
your hearts unto the Lord. Now there is, I don't know how
else to put it, and it's through Christ. This is not frivolous.
This is not presumptuous, but through Christ, every believer
actually has a relationship with the living God where he knows
me. And when I speak of him, I'm
not dropping names. You've been around people who
drop names to try to impress you. Well, when I speak of him,
I'm not dropping names. He really knows me. And I know
him, commune with your own heart upon your bed. And look what
it says next, be still. You know, somebody says we had
a real worship service. Everybody's waving their hands
and making noise and rolling all over the place. We had a
worship service. No, be still. Be broken. Cease. That's what the word means. Be crushed. Be still. Don't be
moving around. Don't be popping off. Don't be
saying, well, here's what I think that means. Be still. Be still. Be still, he said in
another place. Be still and know that I am the
Lord. Well, when you, You can be still
then, don't you? Can't you? No, I am the Lord. And then he says in verse five,
offer the sacrifices of righteousness. Now, does that mean I'm gonna
come into the Lord and I gave, here's my gift, here's one sacrifice
of righteousness, and here's my Bible study, and here's my
prayers, and here's my witnessing, and here's my fight against sin. I'm gonna offer those. There's only one sacrifice of
righteousness. You look to the sacrifice of
Christ as your only righteousness before God, and you never graduate
past that. That never gets old. That never
gets, well, that's what I did when I first came to Christ.
That's the way you always come. In the righteousness and merits
of Jesus Christ, you offer the sacrifice of righteousness. and put your trust, here's the
fifth thing he gives, put your trust in the Lord. Now all my hope, all my trust
is in him. Now what does that mean? That
means Everything God requires of me, he looks to his son for.
All my hope, all my trust is in him. It's not in me, it's
not in my faith, it's in his faithfulness. It's in him. Put your trust in the Lord. Verse six. There'll be many that
say, who will show us any good? What good is there? I mean, look
at this place, it's a mess. Look at the world as we know
it. It's a mess. Who's gonna show
us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. That's good. That's good. Content with beholding his face,
my all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
could make any change in my mind. When blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear, and prisons would palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. Lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. Now look what he says in verse
seven. Thou has put gladness in my heart more than in the
time there corn in their Wine increased. The joy and peace of believing
is infinitely greater than anything this world has to offer. I don't
care how much your wine and corn increases, having his favor,
knowing you're accepted in the beloved, hearing the gospel and
the power of the spirit, knowing you believe. That's better than
anything this world has to offer. You've put this gladness in my
heart. Now, every believer knows that. Any gladness, true gladness
that's in my heart, you put it there. It didn't come from me.
It didn't come from the flesh. You put it there. Now, David
says in verse eight, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep,
for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety. Now, when
I have, Had a hard time going to sleep. That verse has always
troubled me because I thought, seems like if I was like David,
I'd just go to sleep, you know, with this confidence in the Lord.
Well, he says, I'll both lay me down
in peace and sleep. Let's talk about the peace first.
What is peace? The peace of justification is
what that's talking about. Being justified by faith we have
peace with God. Now what that means is when God
sees me, he sees someone that's never sinned. That's justification. Will any
of my sins be brought up on judgment day? What sins? Ain't none. You don't have any. What about it's gone? Now that's
peace, the peace of justification. And so when he's talking about
I'll lay me down in peace and sleep, sleep is talking about
when are you most vulnerable? When you're asleep. When you're
asleep, you can't protect yourself. You're in this vulnerable state
when you are asleep. But what does he say about this
vulnerable state? Now, this is not talking about
how every believer ought to be able to get eight solid hours
of sleep. I wish we all could. Some people have such trouble
sleeping. But that's not really the point as to how long and
how sound you sleep. And if you've got the proper,
what's the, What's good sleep, M-R-M, I can't remember. R-E-M's,
yeah, R-E-M's. That's not talking about anything
like that. What's he say? I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep, for thou, Lord, only, makest me to dwell in safety. You alone, Jesus only, makes
us to dwell in safety. Now, how safe is grace? I thought
that's a good question, isn't it? How safe is His grace? Well, your life may be exposed
to one hardship after another. You will have trials, you'll
have tribulations, you'll have troubles, you'll have falls,
you'll have disappointments, you'll have disillusionment,
you'll have sickness, you'll be slandered, you'll be misrepresented,
you'll have one failure after another. And thou, Lord, only,
makest me to dwell in safety. safety for every believer. I love that scripture in Isaiah
chapter three, tell you the righteous, it'll be well with them. No matter
what's going on, no matter what's taking place, no matter how miserable
they may feel, tell the righteous, it'll be well with them. Now you tell the wicked, it'll
be ill with them. No matter how great things are,
No matter if you're going downhill, everything's easy, no trials,
plenty of money in the bank. It's gonna be ill with them.
But say ye to the righteous, it will be well with them. Thou
Lord only, make us me to dwell in safety. Amen.