Bibles to Psalm chapter number four. Psalm chapter number four. And this is the Daylith Psalm. That is the fourth letter, of course, of the Hebrew alphabet. And the Daylith is the door. That's what it is primarily. If you still have your paper there that's got the letters on it, you'll see that it's the enter or hang, the path or the way even, that describes the direction. It is the entryway to the dwelling place. I like that second one there is that it's got on the paper is an illustration is the path to the cross. That's the word day out in Hebrew. And that means true religion, the word day out. And it's the, it's the bailiff, Tau is how it is spelt, the Daleth Tau. And it's the path to the cross, true religion, Deion. And I think that's a pretty neat illustration there about what the Daleth is. And of course, it gives you some scripture references there with the word door in it. And of course, we see here as we've been looking in the book of Psalms, these songs that are written for us here. We're seeing them concerning David's life and what David is enduring, what David is going through. But at the same time, unbeknownst to David maybe, he's writing prophecy concerning the Lord and what he would endure and what he would go through. And we see that particularly in these first 22 Psalms, and we'll see further Psalms in the book of Psalms that speak of our Lord, but particularly in these first 22, we see these things as it focuses on our Lord's humanity. and who he is in his suffering and the things that he would endure. And so we see that human side of our Lord, the man part of our Lord. We see that as these things are alluded to in David's writing here in these Psalms. Again, David's writing about himself. David's writing about the troubles that he's facing. He's writing about the things he's going through. But what we see also in that is these are things describing the very things our Lord would endure. And some of them written in the Psalms only apply to the Lord, as we looked at there in chapter two, I believe it was, some examples there, and chapter 22, particularly in the Tal Song, none of those things are dated. That is all about what happened to the Lord there in his death for us. And so we see these given. This, David's the one giving credit, of course, for this psalm, and it is to be played on Neganoth, which is stringed instruments. And so the portion of the choir that was assembled, the portion of the chorus to be played there, this was the part, this particular song was to be played upon string instruments is what the title tells us. And apparently most the Hebrew scholars and many commentators from years gone on have combined Psalm 3 and 4 together saying these two songs were always sung together. I don't know that that's the case. That's just what tradition tells us. as far as those Hebrew scholars were concerned. And so in other words, if you sang Psalm three, you would automatically sing Psalm four with it because they say that three and four is, four is a continuation of Psalm three. They're two separate songs, but they would always be sung in tandem together. And so we, and you can see that correlation there in it. For instance, in verse five of chapter three, or Psalm three, he said, I laid down and slept, I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. And then in chapter four, he's talking about the Lord giving him that peace, particularly verse eight, he says, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. And so that's, you see those correlations there together in these two Psalms. And so whether or not that's the case, I don't know, but it is said that they were sung together. Now notice with me in verse one, as we read through this Psalm, he says, 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? Say, Law. 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, say law. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. There'll 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 makest me dwell in safety. Now this is, again, because it's put together with chapter 3, most believe these troubles that David is in reference to are the same troubles that he's been talking about in chapter 3 concerning Absalom's rebellion against him. And so these are things that are fresh on David's mind as he's writing this song and how the Lord has given him joy, how the Lord has settled his heart, how the Lord has given him peace, even in the midst of this rebellion that's come against him. Not only was Absalom trying to take the throne, but Absalom had intent on killing David. That was his purpose. And so this problem that had arisen in David's life, this great turmoil in David's life, Absalom, rather, one who was loved by the people, their idea of a prince, what a prince of Israel should look like, how a prince of Israel should act, that was Absalom. And so the majority had no problem seeing him as the king or being the next king. And so this was David's own son. This was the son whom David loved and wanted well for and good for in his life, one whom David honored as well, and then this is the son that would betray him. This is the son that would turn his back on him. This is the son that would try to kill him even and take the throne. And so this brought a great trouble to David, a great hardship in David's life, a great deal of sorrow to David as he would reflect on this, particularly in these Psalms as he would write. He begins here in verse one, he says, hear me when I call, oh God, of my righteousness. Oh God of my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer. The God of my righteousness. David was not a legalist, as we can see here. He understood all too well the righteousness that he had was from God. That was the only way he would have it. That was the only way that he would be made righteous, is that it come from God. Oh God of my righteousness. He understood that all too well, that God is the one who alone could give such a righteousness to any man, and it was only God that could keep it for us. And so David's prayer here is to the Lord. 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. David, even in the midst of this great sorrow, even in the midst of this trouble that David was facing, even in the sense of him running for his life here, the Lord had blessed him. The Lord had encouraged him. The Lord had shown himself powerful even in this time of trouble for David. Thou hast enlarged me, he says, when I was in distress. have mercy upon me and hear my prayer. It's a wonderful thing for the children of God to have such an assurance that we have. that in the midst of our troubles, in the midst of the sorrows and the trials and the tribulations and the sicknesses and the distresses that come in our lives, it's a joy for us, it's a blessing for us, it's a peace for us to know that our Lord is with us. That He is present with us. That He has not left us to ourselves in the midst of our troubles, in the midst of our trials. That He's right there with us. Not only is He there with us, but that He shows Himself in power with us. He doesn't always take us out of the trouble. He doesn't always take us out of the storms of life, as we studied a few weeks ago there in Luke chapter 8. He doesn't always take us out of the storms, but He rides those storms with us. He's right there, and we can have His peace in the midst of that trial, in the midst of the trouble, in the midst of the sickness, the sorrow, the distress that comes in our lives, and He shows Himself strong to us in those times. And we enjoy, even in those times of trouble, we are able as the children of God to enjoy the blessings of God, to know his presence with us, to know his power with us, to know the peace and the calm that he gives us in the midst of those struggles and in the midst of those trials. Notice verse two here. Here he's praying to God in this song, but he turns his attention toward men here in verse number two. He says, oh you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity? and seek after leasing, or leasing, there's lying, is what it is. How long will you seek after vanity, or love vanity, rather, and seek after lying? Say long. Think about that, David says. Think about that just a moment. How long will you take the glory of God and turn it into shame? How long will you love that emptiness that is all the world can offer? Is all that this sinful, wicked thing can give us is emptiness. He said, that's what they seek after. They seek after this vanity. They love it, he says. And they seek after lying. Seek after lying. He said, how long are you going to do that? How long are you gonna do that? How often do we do that? That we show our love for the vanity of this world, that we show our love for the emptiness of this world. How often do we seek after the lion? in our own hearts, in our own souls, trying to convince ourselves of this or that, and simply ignoring what the Lord says, ignoring what His Word says, and trying to find an answer in ourselves, or trying to find an answer in this world, or trying to find an answer in our own conscience that would be more fitting than the conviction that we might feel from the presence of the Lord. And if we as children of God do this, and we do, how much so is this world doing that? And it does. And so he says, how long? How long? You sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? But they would continue these vain pursuits. Now, here David is the one writing this and it could be argued that David's talking about those vain pursuits against himself and what Abbasidon was doing. How he was arousing the people to this rebellion against David to try to take the throne. The same question to be asked of those that stand against our Lord. How long will a foolish continue with their foolishness? How long will they continue to seek after the lying and the emptiness of this world? Think about it. Stop and think, David said. Say, ah, consider that. Verse three, he says, but know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. Here, David speaks of the doctrine of election. God's children are set apart by God himself. He is the one who sets us apart to himself. He's the one who makes us holy. David began this, the God of my righteousness. He's the one who makes us holy. And David knows his place before God, as he writes here. He knows his place before God and therefore speaks boldly, speaks boldly to those who have made themselves enemies against him. Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. When we know who we are in God, we can speak boldly to this sin sick world and not be concerned about their retort, not be concerned about their arguments against us. We can speak boldly the word of God and declare truth to them. Even in their hatred, even in their seeking after the lying and loving the vanity, we can speak boldly because of who we are in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In 1 John 5, verse 14 and 15, 1 John 5, verse 14 and 15. John writes here. He says, and this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we seek anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of. John says, we have this confidence. We have a confidence as the children of God. We have a great blessing that is given to us because of who we are in Christ Jesus, because we are known of God. We have a great blessing here that when we speak to Him, we can be confident He hears us. Now we can come boldly into His presence, what Paul says there in Hebrews chapter 10, we can come boldly into His presence, we can come in before Him there in that very throne room of His grace and bring our petitions and lay them at His feet. It is an open door that we have to Him in Christ Jesus our Lord. What a great blessing that is for us to have that assurance, to know that in the darkest periods of our life, in the hardest moments, in the deepest valleys that we walk through, our Lord's right there with us. He hears us when we pray. When we cry out to Him, He hears us. And that's a blessing to be able to know that. Look with me in John 11. John chapter 11. This particularly stands out to me from Psalm chapter 4 as an allusion to our Lord. An alluding, I should say, to our Lord. John chapter 11, verse 41 and 42. This is when He raised Lazarus from the dead. And just before he does so, he prays and it says, verse number 41, this is then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always. I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. I thank thee, he says, that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always. I knew that thou hearest me always. This is the confidence that we find here. In verse number three, that's the same confidence, but know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. Verse four, he says, stand in awe and sin not. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still so long. Now this goes back, this is David's peace here. This is his confidence in the Lord. He said in chapter three, again, verse number five, I laid me down and slept. I awake for the Lord's sustainment. In the midst of this great trouble, David says, I was resting in the Lord. I was able to lay down and sleep. I was able to enjoy rest because I was resting in my Lord. I had peace with Him even in the midst of all of this trouble. But that didn't mean He didn't have a flare-up because He does. That's what He's writing about. He's questioning these things going on around him. He's, he's wondering about how this could be and what these things, but he had at the same time in the distress of what he's seeing around him in the distress of what he's seeing, that's coming against him. Even David has this joy. He has this peace. He has this, this confidence in his Lord and he's resting in him. He's resting. He says, I laid me down and slept, I awake for the Lord, sustain me. And then he says in verse four here of our text, stand in awe in sin, not commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still. Say, Lord. David's still resting. He's still resting. He's still enjoying that peace of the Lord. He's talking about laying in his bed there. Talking about being in the bed and calling on the Lord and communing with him. Still resting, still peaceful. When all that was against him there, he had complete confidence. He had complete confidence in his God. And he's resting, he's communing with the Lord there. Lord's showing himself strong in the midst of David's trouble. And so he says there, stand in awe. Stand in awe and sin not. How often that piece of advice is ignored by this world. How often it's ignored by us. We find ourselves in the troubles. We find ourselves in the trials. We find ourselves in these valleys that come as part of the troubles of life. And we do what is natural to us. We cry out against it. And we cry out to the Lord. And our question most often is why? I mean, that's the first thing that comes to our hearts, the first thing that comes to our minds. When we come into these trials, when we come into a tribulation, stress, trouble, we ask that why question. Why, Lord? Why now? Why me? Why this? That's the thing that often comes to us. And that's normal. That's the natural thing for us to do. It's what's in us. It's how we're made. It's what comes out of us. We want to know. We're trying to figure it out, and so we ask that. But it's real easy to go from that why and truly seeking the Lord and truly trying to figure out what he's working and what he's doing. It's real easy to go from that to murmuring and complaining against the Lord to the point where we're, how dare you, Lord, do this to me? It's real easy to go that distance. And David reminds us here in this passage to stand in awe, to stand in awe and sin not. Recognize who's with us. Recognize his promises to us. I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. Recognize that He is right there with us. That He, the very One who is with us, is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows exactly what we're going through. He knows exactly how it feels to us. He knows exactly how it plagues our hearts. He knows more about it than we do. Because we don't know fully ourselves. He knows everything about us. And David says, don't fly off the handle. Don't lose yourself in the valley. Don't get so far away from the presence of the Lord because of the valley that you find yourself complaining and murmuring and sinning against Him. But rather recognize, remember who it is that's with you there. Stand in awe, he says. Our Lord is present with us. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, he said, amen. Can't get out of his sight. We can't get out of his presence. He is sovereign. He is sovereign over every detail. And so everything that has come, every trial, every tribulation, every valley, our Lord is the one that's controlling every part of it. He's holding it. He's accomplishing with it exactly what He's gonna accomplish with it. And He's promised that He's gonna work it together for our good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. And so stand in awe, David says. Stand in awe and sin not. Recognize who it is that's with you in that valley. And commune with your own heart upon your bed. And be still. Fail hard. Think on these things, he said. Think on these things. Verse five, he says, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. The sacrifices of righteousness, which declared the sinner's helplessness and their trust in the one who is the fulfillment of these sacrifices. David knows if they know who God is, they truly consider their ways that they'd be driven to those sacrifices. And he says, put your trust, put your trust in the Lord. Put your trust in the Lord. David would write in Psalm 51, In his psalm of repentance because of his sin with Bathsheba, he says there in verse 17, Psalm 51 verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken contrite heart. Oh God, thou wilt not despise. A God that will not despise, a broken spirit, a broken contrite heart. Jesus fulfilled all those Old Testament sacrifices of the Mosaic system. All of those were pointing to him. All of those were showing what he was going to do when he would come and how he would pay for our sin, how he would be our sacrifice for us, how he would take upon himself all of our iniquity and carry it away from us, nailing it to his cross, making peace for us between us and God, giving us his righteousness, a righteousness that we cannot earn. He accomplished all of that for us in all of those Old Testament sacrifices pointing to what He is going to do, what He would do for us, and that which He accomplished on the cross 2,000 years ago. All of those things are finished for us. And so we're to put our trust in Him. He's the one that's worked the work. He's the one that's given the sacrifice. He's the one who has accomplished our salvation for us. That's where, by the way, verse number one, O God of my righteousness, that's where that righteousness come from, is the completion of those sacrifices in Christ Jesus our Lord. We receive the righteousness he earned for us. He took upon himself our sin. and gave to us His righteousness. And so David says, trust. Trust the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Trust Him. His finished work, His word, what He declares to us over and over again. Trust Him. He will do exactly what He says He will do. He has finished the work. He has given the sacrifice. The Bible tells us that that sacrifice was accepted for us. that He had accomplished exactly what He had set for it to accomplish. And He did so. He went to that cross. He died in your place. He took your sin upon Himself. He suffered under the penalty of that sin, suffered the judgment of that sin for you, and did so because of the joy that was set before Him. And what was that joy? that his people might be saved. That he would give himself for us to accomplish. That was his hour. That was the work that he had come to do. He completed it. He finished that work. Put your trust in the Lord. There's a lot of people trusting themselves. They're trusting their own ability. They're trusting in their own righteousness. They're trusting in the works that they have done. Many of them are ignoring it totally, doing everything they can to not even think about it. Because they're afraid of what they'll find when they think about it. They're afraid of what they'll find when they consider it. And so they're not even considering what they're putting their trust in. I don't want to think about it. La, la, la, da, da, dee. And they just go on with life. David says, put your trust in the Lord. Put your trust in the Lord. of the God of my righteousness, but you're trusting him. Verse six, he goes on to say, there'll be many that say, who will show us any good? Who will show us any good? Be afflicted, Those that are troubled in this world, those that are experiencing these valleys in their lives, looking upon themselves, looking upon their own ways, looking upon the direction of their lives and the way that it's going, they find themselves very quickly in hopelessness. Oh, this hole's too deep. This problem's too bad. This situation is too fierce. This thing is too great. I can't handle it. And they're very quickly overwhelmed when their hope is in themselves. They find themselves hopeless. And the reality is our only hope for any of us Our only hope is Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's the only place there is hope. It's in Him. It's in Him. In the peace that we have in Christ, and so he says here in verse six, there be many that say, who will show us any good, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Lift thou up. It is the light of his countenance that gives us peace. It's the light of his countenance that gives us entrance through that door that is Cross Jesus our Lord. A child of God, we know what the light of his countenance is. We've experienced it in our hearts. In those times of trouble, in those times of trial, in those times of distress, when we feel our hearts overwhelmed with all of the sorrows and the griefs, the struggles, that peace that comes alongside us in the presence of our Lord. as He lets us know, I'm here with you. I'm right here. I've got this. We know what that's like. We've experienced that over and over and over again. How many times when we've been in those valleys have we felt the presence of the Lord, knowing He's right there with us? To have that confidence in Him, feeling that very presence of Him with us. David talks about those valleys there in Psalm 23. Yea, though I walk through the valley, the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. He's right there. In our times of peace, in our times of plenty, in our times of blessing, in our times of sorrow, in the deepest, darkest of valleys that we can pass through, he's right there. He's right there. And so he says, lift thou up, the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou has put, he says in verse number seven, Thou has put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. You hear what David's saying there? He's saying now, in this time of trouble, now in this time of trial that he was enduring, He said it's right now. In all of this, he says, in all of this trouble that's brewing around him, God has put a gladness in his heart more than in the time when there was absolute abundance of blessings. When he had every reason to be joyous, when he had every reason to be peaceful in the time of the increase of the corn and wine and all the blessings that he enjoyed there, he said, even above that, he said, in this horrible time, in this great struggle, thou hast put gladness in my heart more than the times of blessing. more than the times of blessing. Verse eight, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. Verse five of chapter three again, I laid me down and slept. I awaked for the Lord sustained me and he said, I will lay Me down in peace and sleep, here in verse eight, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. My Lord's right there. Last night, we had that tornado warning. And I'm sitting on the front porch, watching the clouds roll by. I thought, well, I'll call mom and dad, just tell them what's going on. I called around there and said, dad, have you heard there's a tornado warning? He said, no, I hadn't heard that. I said, yeah, there's a tornado warning. I said, you want to come around the house here? We'll go down to the basement if we need to. We'll be all right, he said. If it gets too windy, we'll go to the bathroom, he said. Climb in there. He didn't have no fear about no tornado that might be coming through. That's peace that is in our Lord. In times of trouble, in times of trial, in times of distress, even when We feel ourselves overwhelmed because of those things that come around us and come in our lives. It is only in our Lord. It's only in Him that we can lay down in peace and rest in Him. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. We have nothing to fear from this world or fear in this world. From it or in it, because we have our Lord. As the children of God, he is right here with us. Right here with us. Romans Chapter 8. Verse number 35. Paul says here, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Or distress? or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, peril, sword. As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So no matter the trial, no matter the trouble, no matter how vast or how deep that valley might appear to be, child of God, our Lord is with us. There is nothing that can separate us from him. And it is only in him In the worst of times, in the deepest of valleys, in the hardest of struggles, it is only in him that you and I can have peace, that you and I can have joy, that you and I can rejoice in his presence. David said so much so that he rejoiced more in the trial than he did in the time of blessing. That can only be, that is only possible because our Lord is with us. Stand in awe and sin not. Let's all stand together, we'll be dismissed.