Advice From David

Q: What does the Bible say about David in relation to Jesus?

The Bible presents David as a man after God's own heart and the lineage through which Jesus Christ came. David is referred to in Scripture as a man after God's own heart, as seen in Acts 13:22. He is chosen by God to lead Israel and serves as a vital link in the lineage of the promised Savior, Jesus Christ. This is emphasized throughout both the Old and New Testaments, where David's life and writings are portrayed as foreshadowing the coming of Christ, making him a pivotal figure in God's redemptive plan.

Q: Why is God's righteousness important for Christians?

God's righteousness is our foundation for salvation and boldness before Him. God's righteousness is crucial for Christians as it is through His righteousness that we are justified and accepted. As stated in Romans 3:22, the righteousness of God is revealed apart from the law, and it is this righteousness that grants us access to God by faith in Christ. Understanding this allows believers to approach God with confidence, knowing that they are clothed in Christ’s righteousness, which assures our place in His presence.

Q: How do we know that election is true?

Election is affirmed in Scripture as part of God's sovereign grace throughout history. The doctrine of election is rooted in Scripture and demonstrates God's sovereign choice in salvation. Romans 8:29-30 articulates God's foreknowledge and predestination of those who would be conformed to the image of His Son. Furthermore, examples like God's selection of Jacob over Esau illustrate that election is not based on human merit but solely on God's purpose and grace. This truth assures believers of their security and identity in Christ.

Q: What does David teach about prayer in Psalm 4?

David emphasizes the importance of calling on God before addressing men. In Psalm 4, David begins by calling on God, demonstrating that prayer is foundational to addressing others. He acknowledges God as 'the God of my righteousness', which shows that our prayers are rooted in God’s character and faithfulness. David's approach teaches us to prioritize communion with God, seeking His mercy and guidance in all matters before engaging with people, which underscores the importance of divine assistance in our lives.

Q: Why should Christians be concerned with the glory of God?

Protecting God's glory is central to our worship and witness in the world. David confronts the insult to God's glory in Psalm 4 by challenging others to honor Him instead of shame. This reflects the ongoing responsibility of Christians to uphold God's glory in their lives and actions. When believers fail to honor God's glory, it leads to spiritual decline and a distortion of the truth about who He is. For Christians, glorifying God must be an essential aim in worship and daily conduct, as it directly impacts our witness and relationship with Him.

This is a psalm of David, Psalm
4. That's what it says right there. To the chief musician, a psalm
of David. This is a psalm of a very special
man. A man chosen of God. A man called
of God. a man through whom the Lord God
sent our Redeemer, who is called the Son of David. If you look
at Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 13, the Scripture tells us something
here about this man, David, in Acts 13 verse 19. And when he had destroyed seven
nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them
by lot. And after that he gave unto them
judges, about the space of 450 years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a
king. And God gave unto them Saul, the son of Sis, a man of
the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of 40 years. And when he had removed Saul,
he raised up unto them David to be their king. To whom also
he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse,
a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill my will. And of
this man see, hath God according to His promise raised unto Israel
a Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now you talk about a blessing. You and I are blessed to have
in our hands the very words which God Almighty's Holy Spirit gave
David to speak, to write while he was here on this earth and
while he was the king of Ishmael. We have right here before us
the man after God's own heart, of whom God raised up a Savior, Christ the Lord, through
David's house and lineage. Over in 2 Samuel, there's another
scripture I want to read about David in 2 Samuel chapter 23,
what he's called in 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel 23 verse 1, now these
are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high, that's David, raised
up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, that's who he is,
and the sweet psalmist of Israel, he wrote the Psalms, most of
The fear of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock
of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over men must
be just, and David was, ruling in the fear of the Lord. And
he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises, even
a morning without clouds. as a tender grass springing out
of the earth by clear shining after rain. And David said, Although
my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant." That covenant in which you and I stand, embrace, and a part of,
is the covenant he's talking about here. Ordered in all things
and sure, for this is all my salvation, this covenant of grace,
and all my desire, although we make it not to grow. Now back
here to the Psalms. For some reason, the book of
Psalms, and all of the Psalms, 150 of them, For some reason,
they're looked upon by most people as a devotional book, a book
of devotion. It's called by some the hymn
book of the church, and it served that purpose, I know, in the
early days. And these psalms are inspirational,
and they are devotional, and they are comforting, and they
are uplifting. I read them, I suppose, more
than any other single book. I turn to the Psalms frequently
for my personal needs. But the Psalms is the gospel
according to David. That's what the Psalms is. The book of Psalms is the gospel
according to David, just like the gospel according to John,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, Isaiah. The Psalms is the man of God,
David, doing what all the other prophets did. point to Christ. That's right. It says in the
book of Acts, to him, that is to Christ, give all the prophets
witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him should
receive forgiveness of sin. And that's what David did. He
gave witness to Christ. In fact, on Pentecost, look at
Acts 2. On Pentecost, this is the way
the Apostle Peter described the writings of David, particularly
the Psalms. Listen. And in Acts 2, verse
22, Peter's preaching here now, and he says, Ye men of Israel,
hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.
Him, Jesus Christ, being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning
him." That's what David did. That's his writing, that's his
book, just like he speaks concerning Christ. And allow me at least one more
time, turn to Luke 24, allow me one more time to give you
the key to the Old Testament Scriptures. These verses right
here are the very key to the Old Testament Scriptures, what
they're all about. To him give all the prophets
witness. David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, they all speak concerning
Christ. That's right. And our Lord had
risen from the grave and appeared to his disciples. They thought
they'd seen a ghost. They saw him die. They saw him
taken down from the tree and laid in a tomb and a stone put
over the grave. And here he stood before them
in the flesh. They thought they'd seen a spirit.
He said, a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as you see me
have. Reach hither your hands and touch my hands and my side. Be not faithless, but believe.
And then, here in verse 41, And while they yet believed not
for joy and wondered, he said to them, Have you here any meat?
And they gave him a piece of boiled fish and a honeycomb,
and he took it and did eat before them. And he said to them, Now
listen, here's the key to the Old Testament scripture. See,
the New Testament hadn't been written. All they have is the
Old Testament. And he said to them, these are
the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which are written in the law
of Moses, in the books that Moses wrote, in the prophets, Samuel,
Jeremiah, Isaac, in the Psalms, concerning me, and then opened
he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures."
The Old Testament bears witness to our Lord Jesus Christ. And
then he led them out on to bow the hill and ascended up to heaven. That's the last thing he taught
them, was the meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures. All
right, back to Psalm chapter 4, and let's begin with verse
1. And David says in verse 1 of
Psalm 4, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. Now
before David speaks to man, he speaks to the Lord. We need to
learn something right here. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. The man who would speak to men
for God must be often and first speaking to God for me. If we're going to speak to men
for God, we're going to have to spend a lot of time talking
to God about me. And one old writer said this,
the more boldly, the more boldly in Christ a man stands before
God, the more boldly he'll stand before me. and not compromise
the truth of God. He who is often in the presence
of God, the awesome presence of God, is not impressed with
the presence of men. He who is awed by the presence
of God is not awed by the presence of men, and he's without fear
before the sons of men who truly fear God. So David, before he
talks to us, he talks to God. Hear me. O God of my righteousness,
this is the foundation of our boldness. You talk about being
bold in the presence of God, but this is the foundation of
that boldness. He's our righteousness. We stand
before him holy and without blame. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. This
is why we can be bold. Well, Hebrews 10, look at Hebrews
10 first. In Hebrews 10 verse 19, having
boldness, brethren, to enter into the holiest by the blood
of Jesus. Having boldness to enter into
the holiest into the presence of God by the blood of Jesus.
A holy God is under no obligation to hear me or you. A holy God
is under no obligation to receive us into his presence or to commune
with us, except in Christ. And in Christ he's obligated
himself, because he gave him to be our righteousness. He's called the God of our righteousness
because he's the author of it. By his own obedience and holy
life, he perfected it and provided it. and maintains it, and is
the rewarder of it. Hear me. Oh God of my righteousness. Spurgeon said, this is the only
time that statement is made in the entire Bible. Oh God of my
righteousness. And he is. If you would select
one passage of scripture, let me ask you a question, if you
were talking to someone about the righteousness of God. And
God is our righteousness, the author of our righteousness,
the provider, the maintainer, and the rewarder of our righteousness.
If you were to select one passage of Scripture to sum up this vital
truth, that God is our righteousness in Christ Jesus, what would you
select? Tell you what I'd select is Romans
chapter 3. This is the scripture that I
would select. The first message I brought in
Russia, when I went to Russia, to Moscow, in 1993 or 4, I forgot
when, but Bill Clark and I went over there and the first message
I brought in the first church where I spoke, I selected this
passage right here. Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, to everybody, that every mouth may be stopped,
and the whole world become guilty before God. Therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the
righteousness of God, O God of my righteousness, The righteousness
of God, without the law, without our works, without our deeds,
is manifest. It's witnessed by the Old Testament
writers, the law and the prophets. It's even the righteousness of
God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Not by faith in
Jesus Christ, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ, by the obedience and holy life of Jesus Christ,
and it's unto everybody, unto all, and it's upon all. That
belief, and there's no difference. For everybody, Jew, Gentile,
male, female, old, young, rich, poor, learned, ignorant, everybody's
sinned and comes short of God's glory. But being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
has set forth to be a propitiation, a mercy seat, a covering, a sacrifice,
a reconciliation through faith in his blood. To declare his
righteousness, his, O God of my righteousness, his righteousness
for the remission of sins that have passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, say at this time, his righteousness and his
is mine. That's right. That he might be
a just God, a holy God, and justify those who believe in Jesus. Oh
God of my righteousness. My, my. He said here in verse
1 of Psalm 4, turn, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness.
Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. Now have mercy upon
me and hear my prayer. David bases his hope for mercy
in the present on the fact that God was merciful to him in the
past. Know what he said? Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. In the past, Lord, you've been
gracious to me. You've delivered me. You've delivered
me time and time again. You've delivered me out of the
hand of Saul. You've delivered me out of the
hands of the pagan kings. You've delivered me out of the
hands of the Philistines. You've delivered me so many,
many, many times. Now then, have mercy upon me. Be gracious to me. I don't deserve
it. I haven't earned it. But I'm
calling on you to have grace and mercy upon me like you always
have. You know, I think we need to
learn to pray for Moses. Turn to Exodus 33. I do, I need to learn to pray,
and constantly let this be before me, that Moses, in Exodus 33,
I want you to listen to this. In Exodus 33, he's talking to
the Lord, and five times he said, talk about having grace in thy
sight. Grace in thy sight. Here's a
man who's been serving God for years and years and years, leading
his people, blessed But like Noah, he found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now this is what David's saying,
Lord, as you've in the past delivered me, have mercy on me in grace
now. Now listen to this, Exodus 33. Moses said to the Lord, See,
thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast not
let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said,
I know you by name. And you found grace in my sight,
just like old Noah of old, you found grace in my sight. Now
therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show
me thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy
sight. And consider that this nation
is thy people. And God said, my presence shall
go with thee, I'll give thee rest. He said unto him, If thy
presence go not with me, don't carry me hence, carry me not
hence. But wherein shall it be known that I and thy people have
found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest
with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the
people that are upon the face of the earth. And the Lord said,
Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken. One reason,
you found grace in my sight. That's the way, Moses, if I found
grace in your sight. You said, I found grace in your
sight. Well, if I have found grace in your sight, show me
your way. Bless me, go with me. The Lord said, Moses, I'll go
with you. One reason, you found grace in
my sight. And David, in Psalm 51, he got
to be an old man. He prayed, Lord, have mercy upon
me according to thy loving kindness. Brought out my transgression.
Have mercy. Give him a prayer. All right,
then somebody, one of the writers said, David turns from the prayer
closet to the field of battle. Verse 2, he's talking to the so-called
great men. He's talking to the kings and
rulers of nations, rulers of people, leaders of men, religious
leaders. And he brings three charges against
him. Oh, you sons of men. Number one
charge. How long will you turn my glory
into shame? David's glory. David's glory
is God's glory. Look back at chapter 3, verse
3. He said, but thou, O Lord, art a shield for me. You're my
glory. David's glory is God's glory.
And David is saying here to these sons of men, how long are you
going to turn God's glory into shame? Into shame. And I'm going to show you that
just like it's being done right here in this day and how it's
done back yonder. Turn to Romans 1. How long will
you turn my glory into shame? And that's the day in which we
live, and the glory of God has been turned into shame. Romans 1, verse 19. That which may be known of God
is manifest in them, God showed it to them. For the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power in Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because when
they knew God, they glorified him not as God. People aren't glorifying God
as God in this day. They're not thankful. They became
vain in their imaginations, their foolish heart was darkened. Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of
the incorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible
man. and the birds and four-footed
beasts and creeping things. Change the glory of God into
shame. That's our day, too. The nudity,
the language, the language of today. The language is offensive. People are crude. Their jokes
are crude. Their humor is crude. homosexuality, fornication. The way of God, the truth of
God has been turned into shame. Second question he asked him,
how long will you turn the glory of God into shame and how long
will you love vanity? Vanity, let's say Solomon was
the big writer on that. Ecclesiastes 2. Let's see what
Solomon says about vanity. The vanity of this world. Ecclesiastes
2. He lived this by experience now,
so he could write it. I said in my heart. And this
is where the vanity, where the vanity destroys. It's when it
gets in the heart. When it gets in the heart. Our
Lord said this is condemnation. Men love darkness rather than
light. That's what it destroys. It's
when it gets a hold of the affections in the heart. Now you watch all
the way through this reading. They love vanity. How long will
you love vanity? It's not, my friends, that evil
and danger is not in things. It's in the heart, when we set
our heart on those things. It's not money that's the root
of all evil, it's the love of money that's the root of all
evil. And this is what happened here. He said in verse 1, I said
in my heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore
enjoy pleasure. Behold, this also is vanity.
I said of laughter, it's mad, and of mirth, what doeth it?
I sought in my heart to give myself to wine, yet acquainting
my heart with wisdom, and to lay hold on folly till I might
see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should
do under the heaven all the days of their life. And it made me
great works. I built me houses. I planted
vineyards. I made gardens and orchards.
I planted trees of all kinds of fruit. I made pools. of water,
the water there with the wood that bringeth forth the trees.
I got me a lot of servants and maidens and had servants born
in my house. I had great possessions, great
and small cattle above all that was in Jerusalem before me. I
gathered silver and gold and the peculiar treasures of kings
and collector's items of provinces. I got me men singers and women
singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical and all
that of all sorts, I was great. Increased more than all that
were before me in Jerusalem, also my wisdom remained with
me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them.
I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced
in all my labor, and this was the portion of all my labor. And then I looked on all these
works that my hands had wrought, And on the labor I labored to
do, behold, all was vanity and vexation of the Spirit, and no
prophet of the Son." And the key to that is, he said, I set
my heart on it. If we can use and not abuse,
if we can seek first the kingdom of God, these things will be
added to you. Our Lord said, your Father knows you have need
of clothing and food and Your Father knows you have need of
these things, but seek ye first. Set your affection on things
above. Set your heart on Christ. Seek first the kingdom of God.
And let these things be added to you, and not consumed you. How long in our country, consumed
with vanity, possession, materialism, that's the order of the day,
the rule of the day. How big? How many? How much? How beautiful? How colossal?
How great? And then the third question they
ask him, how long are you going to seek after leasing? What's
leasing? It's lying. How long will you seek after
lies? That's the religious world. The
social world has turned the glory of God into shame. The working
world, the laboring world, the community and cities have set
their hearts on vanity and possessions and materialism. And the religious
world is lying on God. That's what they're doing, they're
lying on God. They're speaking lies in my name. Turn to Zechariah. Zechariah, over there next to
the last book in the Old Testament. And David deals with these three
things. Zechariah over here in Zechariah
chapter 13. Now here's how serious it is
to speak lies in the name of God. This is how serious it is. Listen to this. This is what
makes the ministry such an awesome, awesome responsibility. And it
shall come to pass, Zechariah 13, 3, it shall come to pass
that when any shall yet prophesy, preach, then his father and his
mother that begat him shall say to him, you shall not live, for
you speak in lies in the name of the Lord. And his father and
mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he preaches.
If you're not going to tell the truth on God, Even his mama and
daddy supposed to put him away. Now seriously, speaking lies. And then that verse 2 ends with
Selah. You know what, that little word
appears 76 times in the psalm, Selah. It means that, this right
here. It means pause and calmly consider
this again. Oh sons of men, How long, how
long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love
vanity? How long will you seek after
lies and pray to a God that cannot save you? But oh, here's good news, listen
to this, but know this, but know this, know that whatever the
conditions, whatever the times, whatever the attitude of men
toward God, the Lord has set apart him that's godly for himself. The Lord has a people. Let me
read you what he says over here in Romans 11 when he's talking
to Elijah. What saith Elijah said, Lord,
they've killed your prophets, dig down your altars. I'm alone. They seek my life. But what saith
the answer of God to him? I have reserved to myself. What'd he say over here? The
Lord has set apart him that's godly for himself. I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men who've not bowed the knee to the image of
Baal. Even so, then, at this present time, there's a rendement
according to the election of grace. That's what he said here
in verse 3. You know this, that the Lord
has set apart him that's godly. Now, they're not godly in themselves.
No man professes to be godly in himself. But they're godly
in Christ. He has loved them from all eternity. He has chosen them in Christ.
He has justified them in Christ. He has and will call them to
faith and perseverance. He set apart for himself a remnant. And these men and women are godly,
holy, and righteous in his sight through Christ. And my friends,
what Dave is teaching here is election. He's teaching sovereign,
discriminating election. He's teaching substitution, the
sexual deliverance. He's teaching imputed righteousness. God has set apart for himself
a people. And I know that election and
substitution and imputed righteousness is a truth which unregenerated
men and women of this day do not, do not, do not want to hear. They can't endure it. But nevertheless,
it's glorious, it's well proven in scripture, and it's a comfort
to believers. And I'll tell you this, election
is the only guarantee and assurance of a complete salvation. It's
the only... Election is the only guarantee
and assurance of a complete salvation. Whom he foreknew, Then he also
predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son. And
whom he predestinated, he called. And whom he called, he justified.
And whom he justified, he glorified. Now what shall we say to these
things? But if God be for me, who can be against me? That's
the whole idea. If God for me, that's my show. If God for me, That's my confidence. If God is pardoning, that's my
guarantee. For who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's will? God will justify. Who can condemn
which Christ did not? Who can separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? You know this. The Lord has set apart the godly
for himself, and listen, and you'll hear them when they call. I read over there in Romans 11
where he said to Elijah, I have reserved to myself, I have reserved
to myself 7,000. I reserved them to myself. And here he said the Lord has
set apart him that's godly for himself. Set him apart. I have reserved. Now this is
what you do to things that are valuable and precious, you set
them apart. They have special care, because
they are special and they are precious and valuable. Now listen
to the scripture, Psalm 135. The Lord hath chosen Jacob for
himself. Israel is his peculiar treasure. Isaiah 43. Since you are precious
in my sight, thou art honorable And I've loved you, and therefore
I'll give men and people for your life." Lamentation 4. The precious, the precious sons
of Zion are comparable to fine gold. This is Lamentation 4 too. The precious sons of God, sons
of Zion, are comparable to fine gold. The work of the hands of
the potter. I have set them apart. John 17,
and the glorified men, all mine of thine, and thine of mine,
and I am glorified in them. My, my, now I want you to read
this one, Malachi. I'm talking about these that
God has set apart for himself. He did it, gets all the glory. Malachi 3, verse 16, Malachi
3, 16. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they'll
be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my
jewels, my special treasure. I will spare them as a man spares
his own son. God has set apart a people for
himself. And then David gives us four,
four special words of advice. And I'm going to give you these
briefly. Four special words of advice
and direction. This is from David. All the things
we read about him. First, he says, stand in awe
and sin not. Stand in awe before the eternal,
all-wise, living God, and cease from the sin of pride and arrogance
and unbelief. Become little in your own eyes
in the presence of God. Stand with awe. I want you to
listen as I read what Solomon said when he became king over
Israel. Here's a man that knew God. And Solomon said, Lord, you showed
unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy. Accordingly he walked
before you in truth and in righteousness and uprightness of heart. And
you kept him, and you kept for him this great kindness. that
thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this
day. And now, O Lord my God, thou
hast made thy servant king instead of my father David, and I am
but a little child. I know not how to go out or to
come in." That's what David's standing on and saying not with
pride and arrogance. Second, commune with your own
heart upon your bed. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed. Now we worship together and we
praise God together. Don't forsake that. And we sing
and we pray and we preach the gospel to a congregation. But
when it comes to my heart, when it comes to my personal relationship
with the Lord, when it comes to my sins, and my needs, and
my commitment, and my faith, it's got to be away from the
crowd. It's got to be away from the
presence of people, and voices, and distractions, and the influence
of people, and the stir-up of religious feelings. It's got
to be When the night shades fall, in the quietness of my own room,
upon my bed, to commune with my heart. That's right. Commune with my heart upon my
bed. This is real. Alone with God. That's where
the real work's done. That's where the real commitments
are made. That's where the real decisions are made about the
direction we're going, his direction. He uses two words, be still. That's the first, be still. Be
still. This goes against the grain of
modern religion to be still. I heard a preacher the other
day on television said these churches where everybody just
sits and listens to a preacher, they're dead. He said it's like a cemetery,
everything out there is still. They were really getting with
it, you know. Moses at the Red Sea said to
Israel, fear not, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord,
which the Lord has shown you today. Job, Elihu said to Job,
we looked at Job Sunday. You know what Elihu said to him?
In Job 37, verse 14, the lie to you said to Job, Now hearken
to me, Job, hearken to me, O Job, stand still, and consider the
wonderful works of God. Job, sit down and shut your mouth,
and look at the wonderful works of God. You know what he says?
Stand still. It might amaze you what you'll
see. Psalm 46 says, be still and know that I'm God. And I'll
be exalted among the heathen and I will be exalted in the
earth. And the fourth advice he gives
us, let me finish this. Stand in awe of God, commune
with your own heart upon your bed, be still. and offer the
sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. What
are the sacrifices of righteousness? The best I can find on that is
this. The sacrifices of righteousness
can only be those sacrifices which set forth the Lord our
righteousness. Abel's sacrifice was a sacrifice
of righteousness. God had respect to it and to
Abel. The Passover lamb was a sacrifice
of righteousness. Had to do with Christ. Because
the Lord said, when I see it, I'll pass over you. And when
we gather here to break the bread and drink the wine, it's unto
God, a sacrifice of righteousness. Looking back to Christ. Isn't
that right? Looking back to his blood, breaking
of his precious body. Those are sacrifices in which
our God delights because he delights in Christ. And we'll be accepted
in the beloved. He said trust in the Lord. Trust
his person for acceptance. Trust his righteousness for your
sanctification. Trust his blood for your pardon.
Trust his fullness for your completion. And trust his power for your
resurrection. In closing, verse 6, there'll
be many that say, who will show us any good? Can you show us
any good? Spurgeon said the word any is
not in the text, it's in italics. But who will show us good? Well,
I can, he says. Lord, lift up, lift thou up the
light of thy countenance upon us. That's good. That's good. That's the greatest good. When
God lifts up the light of his countenance upon us, the Lord
who said, let there be light, has shined in our hearts to give
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
That's good. And look at the next line, and
thou hast put gladness in my heart. That's good. Lifted up
his countenance upon me, the light of his countenance, and
put gladness in my heart, shined in my heart to give me a knowledge
of Christ. Christ in the heart and the knowledge
of the glory of God, he says, is more than in the time that
their corn and their wine increases. He says walking under the light
of his countenance with gladness in the heart is better than corn
in the barn and wine in the cellar. A farmer's awful happy when he's
got a barn full of corn. He's awful glad. It's awful good. and wine in the cellar. He said
this, light of God's countenance and gladness in the heart is
better than corn in the barn and wine in the cellar. And here's
the third good. The light of his countenance
and gladness of Christ in the heart, joy of Christ, I will
both lay me down in peace and sleep. That's good. How can I lay me down in peace
and sleep? Thou, Lord, only, can make me
dwell in safety." What a great psalm by a special
writer. All right, let's be still.

Advice From David

What does the Bible say about David in relation to Jesus?

Why is God's righteousness important for Christians?

How do we know that election is true?

What does David teach about prayer in Psalm 4?

Why should Christians be concerned with the glory of God?

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Advice From David

What does the Bible say about David in relation to Jesus?

Why is God's righteousness important for Christians?

How do we know that election is true?

What does David teach about prayer in Psalm 4?

Why should Christians be concerned with the glory of God?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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