Amen. Returning the Word of God to Psalm 4. And as I have done in the previous three psalms, we look by way of introduction to this psalm likewise. Now the arrangement of the psalms in our Psalter is striking to the extent that the entire Psalter must be read and considered as a single book. But of course, in church history over the last 200 years, that unity of the Book of Psalms was destroyed by critics who came to the Bible without saving faith. and those critics looked at the Sam's, dismissed the Sam's as a thing that baffled them. Well thus far in our studies we have looked at Sam's 1 and 2 as the entrance to the Psalter noting that they were without a title and their similarity, the parallels between them and the sheer majestic significance of those first two Psalms. Then we noted the link between them and Psalm 3. Especially Psalm 2 and the prayer of Psalm 3. In addition, we noted the exaltation of God's King in Psalm 2, followed by the suffering of God's King and how the title, the first Psalm of the title was so important in showing you that to understand the exaltation of God's King in Psalm 2, it would be a way of the suffering of the King in Psalm 3. The way to glory by the path of suffering. His humiliation at the hands of that Antichrist, Absalom, his betrayal by that Judas Ahithophel, and his ultimate victory. But what of Psalm 4? When we look at the Sam this morning under this heading, why Sam 4? Why is Sam 4 number 4 and not Sam 7 being number 4? Why this arrangement? What is here in this fourth Sam? Well, first of all, we note the connection of Sam 4. That connection between Psalm 4 and Psalm 3. Now the immediate and obvious connection is Psalm 4 verse 8 with Psalm 3 and verse 5. Psalm 3, 5 says, I laid me down and slept. I awoke for the Lord, sustained me. So that immediate connection. that verbal parallel between these two verses. But closer examination reveals how similar these two verses really are. If you take those phrases, lie down and sleep. They're not only identical, but Hebrews insists that the construction is identical to the extent that it occurs in only one other place, and that's 1 Kings 19.5. Yes, they do occur in combinations elsewhere, but they insist that this particular construction is found in only one other place. The free is my glory, in Psalm 3, verse 3. and in Psalm 4 verse 2 are also in the exact form. The phrase many say in 3.2 and 4.6 are also identical. So not only words and phrases join the two Psalms together, but themes join the two Psalms together. The theme of Psalm 3 continues into Psalm 4, of enemies, of prayer, of accusation. Psalm 3, 2 says, many say, there is no help for him in God. Psalm 4, verse 6, many say, who will show us any good? In Psalm 2, there is confidence in God's plan. Psalm 3, there is confidence in God's cure. In Psalm 4, there is confidence in God's goodness. So the theme of confidence carries through these Psalms. In Psalm 3, the many talk about God's King who immediately turns to God in prayer. In Psalm 4, the king addresses them directly. Another theme relates to Zion. In Psalm 2, the king is exalted in Zion. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. In Psalm 3, he receives help from Zion. He heard me out of his holy hill in Psalm 4, the offer of sacrifices in Zion. So, without any further ado, we know then the connection between Psalm 4 and the previous Psalms. And that's why we're looking at Psalm 4. When I studied SAM 1, you will recall I said, well, given the connections with SAM 2, we'll have to look at SAM 3. When I spoke of SAM 2, I said, well, given the connections with SAM 3, we have to look at SAM 3. You can see the direction of travel, I'm sure, because I mentioned in SAM 2 about the link with SAM 110. So well, I suppose at some point we'll get to 110, but I also mentioned 116, so well, we're just going to have to keep on going on. Maybe we'll get eventually to 750 unless death intervenes or there's famine or war or earthquakes, but well, we don't know how it'll work out, but here it is in Sam 4, and we just simply must study Sam 4 because of those connections. But then secondly, The placement of SAM 4. Why is SAM 4 placed here? And this is where you have to stand back and sort of take a broader view, survey what's going on. Well, there is actually a direct line from SAM 3 to SAM 7. Note the title of Psalms 3, a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. Psalm 7, it's a Shegion of David when he sang unto the Lord concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite. This of course is the psalmist way of referring to Saul. So the title of the Psalms, Psalms 3 and Psalm 7, they draw a line between the two. and there's something interesting then begins to occur in the sounds in between. So on the one hand there's absolon, on the other hand there's saw. And in between you have four, five, and six. And sounds four, five, and six also have similar titles. In fact, there is a pattern that you see here. The pattern is this. Psalms 3 and 7 on the outward wing and then Psalms 4 and 6 with Psalm 5 in the middle of this little section. So the reader, you the reader, are to see Psalms 4, 5 and 6 as being linked within the bookend, so to speak, of Psalms 3 and 7. So you know that we're going to end up with Psalm 7, don't you? So not only are there links between Psalms 3 and 4, but now we see a link between Psalms 3 and 7, with these links between 4, 5, and 6. And I've drawn attention to the titles of 4, 5, and 6. But it's more than just the title. It's what is said in the psalms that are directly related. So you see, you can't simply go to the Psalter, pluck a psalm at random, and think, well, I'll just study that psalm and ignore what goes around it. And over the years, I trust you've observed that when I deal with the psalm at any time, I first draw attention to that which goes before and that which cometh after. so that you begin to see there are connections. Every sound is connected to the sounds around. It's what those connections are that is so fascinating and so important. One final point to note here is, if we know what links sounds four, five, and six, there's an absence actually. and Psalms 3 and 7 which makes the connection between that whole section 3 to 7 so fascinating and so instructive. We could spend a lot of time on this but I'm mindful of the children and the younger ones Well, I hope you adults will take up these thoughts and you know you've got now the next Sabbath to go further in anticipation of the first actual study of the psalm. But it is important that you do not succumb to the critics of the Book of Psalms. And there are lots of them. And the sad reality is Some of their commentaries are found in evangelical bookshops. That's a sad comment on the bookseller. Just because they have a big name doesn't mean that the content is to be endorsed. Sometimes, indeed often, what you have to do is to go back through church history and look at some of the older commentaries, you know, Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, Calvin, Or I'll go all the way back to Augustine and read his sermons and the sermons of Chris Austin. The Middle Ages is a bit wobbly, shall we say, on a lot of things, but sometimes you just have to skip over some centuries, but that's okay. But the one thing you cannot afford to do, and the one thing you mustn't do, is think that the biggest sounds are just somehow thrown together. It's haphazard. If you have learned one thing, I hope you have learned this. If you forget about the rest of the sermon, at least take this one home with you. That the Psalms are interconnected. Because remember what links them ultimately together. What ultimately links the Psalms together? That presentation of God's King. If you don't see the King of Kings, you're still squinting, or maybe you're even blind. What links them all together is God's King. That's why the first two sounds are important, the perfect man, the exalted King in sound too. I have set my King upon the holy hill of Zion, so Zion runs through all the sounds, and Jerusalem runs through all the sounds, and the King runs through all the sounds. And let us not forget that on the lips of Christ as he left heaven to earth were the words of a psalm. I've pointed that out to you before. And at the cross, his last words were words of a psalm. On earth he sang these psalms. If you miss the Lord in the psalm, How tragic. What the placement of each psalm matters. You look at that section from Psalm 18 to 26. Look for example at Psalms 21, 2 and 3. It's a fascinating sequence. I've shown you that before but we all forget all these things and that's why preachers repeat themselves. And so in this little section, 3 to 7, Psalm 4 is placed here. But then thirdly, the construction of Psalm 4. How is the Psalm put together? Now again, I will repeat myself because it's important. The construction of every chapter, of every paragraph, of every section of the word of God is fundamentally important. Because God has put it all together. He has given the word by way of inspiration. So the scripture then reflects a certain logic. It has its own way of reasoning. And you have to submit yourself to the reasoning of scripture. Remember, if God had wanted to give you a video, he would have given you a video. He doesn't give you a video. He doesn't give you an audio recorder. He gives you by way of words. And so by way of words, which is much superior to watching a movie or anything else, listening to the words, reading the sentences. It transcends time, it transcends culture, it transcends education, transcends everything. By way of words and how those sentences are framed, tells you where the emphasis is. In other words, God tells you by way of sentences, this is what you must know. So the construction always comes first in many ways. And this is what preachers have to learn and work hard at. So how is the psalm put together? Well as with Psalm 3, word or term Sela gives you, well, the major division of the San. So verses 1 and 2, the end of which you have Sela. Then verses 3 and 4 and again Sela and verses 5 to 8. Of course, Closure examination means, well, sometimes we might deal with verse one on its own because, well, there's a lot packed into it and I might deal with verse two as well. Well, we'll have to wait and see how we tackle it all as we go along. But what is the message? Well, the whole psalm can be taken as a dissertation on prayer. Hear me when I call. Oh God of my righteousness. So the opening sentence of Psalm 4 is a prayer. Maybe that prayer carries right through the psalm. So that's why it has been taken like chrysostom as a whole sermon or dissertation on prayer. And you have the center of prayer in verse 1. What's the center of prayer? What's our greatest need in prayer? Mercy. Mercy, have mercy upon me. As long as you live, your great need is mercy. You see that in the Lord's prayer. As long as you need bread, you need mercy. As long as you need provision, you need pardon for sin. So the ordering of The petitions in the Lord's Prayer are themselves significant. So our great need is mercy. Is there any one of you who doesn't need mercy? Did you not need mercy yesterday? Do you not need mercy today? Do you not need mercy tomorrow? Who can live without mercy? This is our central need. God be merciful to me. Isn't this the sinner's great need? Does the sinner not pray, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner? And does not the Christian need mercy? Never be so pompous, vain, and egotistical, and self-centered. As to everything, I don't need to ask for mercy. Verse two, you have the circumstances of prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you look vanity and seek after me? Are we not surrounded with all kinds of problems and difficulties? And are not people sometimes our greatest problem in life? Those who hate us, provided of course we are not the cause of bringing them to hatred, because we ourselves maybe have been awkward, frowned, and difficult, and done all kinds of things, and said things we should never have said and done. But generally, are there not those who simply despise Christianity, despise the Christian faith? We lie about everything the Christian believes. The circumstances of prayer. You know what life is like yourself, you know? You think back, oh, when I was five, I had no care in the world. Now look at poor me, I'm surrounded with all kinds of troubles. Well, as long as you go through life, there's all kinds of troubles. Our circumstances give rise to prayer. And isn't that why Providence brings you difficulty? Because if we didn't have difficulty, would we still be passionate in prayer? Isn't the very circumstances we face, the difficulties that we face, force us sometimes to our knees? And so we need adverse circumstances to energize us to prayer. Because when all is well with the world and we're happy with ourselves, What happens to us? Our prayer life falls apart. And then providence, you know, turns it all upside down. And then suddenly we realize, I better get the prayer. At the university, you have the certainty of prayer. But know that there are certain things that Christian knows. There are things that we're absolutely convinced about. Unshakable in these beliefs. Things that we know about God and about the ways of God, they're certainly in prayer. Verses four and five deal with the attitude of prayer. Stand in awe and sin not. One of the most wonderful things is to simply begin in our thinking about God, His grandeur and beauty and majesty and glory and honor and power, all that incredible theology about God, the holiness of God, the unchangeableness of God, the goodness of God. And so the attitude of prayer is, to stand in awe, and the fear of sin, sin not. Oh, for the sacrifices of righteousness, put your trust in the Lord to come to God with those sacrifices of praise. To trust Him absolutely. You know, sometimes people say to us, well, you can trust Him. And we look at them and we say, well, actually I can't. And they're astonished. You can't trust me. And then you might say something like this. Well, to a certain degree, but I can't put absolute faith in you. Because if I did, I wouldn't be trusting God. We have absolute trust in God. but not your trusted princes. Well, we've learned that, haven't we? Princes fail, kings and queens fail, politicians fail us regularly. We still have to wear the boots sometimes, but we put our trust in God. On the fruit of prayer, verses six to eight, there'll be many that say he will show us anything, more. Lift up, God, the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than the time that their corn and their wine increased. I will go lay me down in peace and sleep, for thy Lord only makest me dwell in sin. A bit of prayer. It's interesting looking at the early fathers, how they dealt with this psalm. I mentioned Chris Austin. He took the psalm as dealing with prayer, and his homilies in this psalm are interesting. By the way, the word homily is not how it's understood today. When we say homily today, we think of a 10-minute waffle, whereas when they said homily, they meant a long discourse setting out every aspect of it, a reasoned discourse. Theodore, a colleague, Dr. Sosten, focused on the providence of God and the foolishness of those who reject it. So yes, we will be looking at providence in Psalm 4 because it is there and he's right in highlighting that aspect. It's a significant point of the psalm, providence. How thankful we are for this truth, providence. We make a mess of things, don't we? In our wisdom and cleverness, we think we can handle the situation and we make decisions. We think we know what's best and providence, well, rips it all apart. And we complain. We respond with anger to God. And then we have to rebuke ourselves. When we see the outcome, we say, how thankful I am that I didn't get my way. How glad I am that what I planned didn't come to pass. And in the midst of all of that we sin, and we look back and we say how thankful I am the Lord hath not dealt with me after my sin. He has not rewarded me according to my iniquity. He has not brought to pass the full consequences of my foolishness and my sin. I trust you have learned. to delight in providence, to be thankful for it. But as you know, one of the old Puritans said, providence is like Hebrew. It can only be read backwards. You can't anticipate what providence will do. You can only look back and marvel hitherto at the Lord helped us. Theodoret, slightly younger than the rest, takes a similar view of Psalm 4 as expressing God's governance of all things. For Augustine, of course, Psalm 4 was particularly important for him personally, spiritually, as pointing to Christ, the end of all things, and he begins with a title. There's an interesting thing. You know, the critics dislike the titles. We evangelicals don't dislike the titles. we appreciate their usefulness, their importance. So for Augustine, ultimately in Psalm 4, is the Lord. And that is an evangelical position. That the whole book of Psalms, every single Psalm, as you know, Augustine said, it's like a three-legged stool, Christ, the church, and the Christian, those three things, are found in every psalm. Psalms are not about you. You can make application to yourself. And that's important. Very important. But we must begin with the Lord, with his cause, with his people. And then we see how it all applies to ourselves. Luther in his commentary on the Psalms, delightful in itself, argued, the title reveals the work of the Holy Spirit who stirs the soul in praise of God. And that's an important dimension. If you read the Psalms and you're as dull and bored afterwards, you have a serious spiritual problem. So in your study of the psalm, by the work of the Holy Spirit, taking that word, driving it home to your heart, enlightening the mind, it should lead you to praise. In other words, after you've read the text, you'll reach for the metrical verse and say, I'll have to sing it now to myself. It'll do you much more good than listening to, in the old days, the light station, as it was called in the wireless. But nowadays, it's all radio, whatever, three, two, whatever it is. Maybe it's even radio one, I don't know. Anyway, it'll do you much better singing this sound than listening to the garbage of the world. Van Gemmeren, recent commentator, says, a message of confidence is enhanced by the sound's messianic dimension. So one of the things we will do in the course of this SAM is show you, as with every SAM, how it's used in the new testing. This, of course, is always a starting point, isn't it? How does the New Testament use the psalm? Well, let's come to some points of application. First of all, I say to you, to understand any psalm or any part of the Old Testament in itself, you do not need ancient Near Eastern studies. Why do I make that point? The astonishing thing is, that in Old Testament departments and theological colleges and seminaries across the planet, and in commodities that are churned out by the shed load, they all start outside the Bible. They say, we need to know what the Assyrians think. I don't care what the Assyrians thought. I don't care what the Babylonians thought. I don't care what the Philistines thought. I don't need to go to ancient Near Eastern departments or studies or books. to find out how to understand the Word of God. What you need is the enlightening work of the Holy Spirit, the full canon of the Bible that we have, and noting our confession, the due use of ordinary means. I came across this, which naturally delighted me. The painstaking hunt for ancient Near Eastern cognates of intractable Hebrew expressions looks like a wild goose chase when critics lose sight of the biblical context. It is a methodological mistake to assume biblical authors knew as much about Near Eastern cultures and languages as do modern philologians. That's pretty good, I think. The point is correct. The point is necessary. You don't need to go on a wild goose chase. You don't need to go hunting to understand the Bible. If it were essential, scripture would tell you. Other cultures are referred to when the Canaanites are referred to. You don't need to go looking for the Canaanites to find out what they believe. The context will tell you the Canaanites worshiped this God. They had this practice. They did the other thing. So God will tell you, will give you all the information you need. It's here in the word of God. So our starting point is very simple. What does God actually say? How has he said it? With what words, in what context, by what means has God communicated this truth to you? In other words, we are expected, we are required to be Bible people, to search the scriptures. Isn't that what the Lord said? Search the scriptures. He didn't say, go fly off to some jungle and dig around some place looking for some information. You know, I have to say this. And it does get a bit tiresome. I know people love to travel to the Holy Land. They love to travel to Israel. But my dear friends, you don't need a trip to Israel to understand the Bible. And when somebody says, oh, it just makes the Bible come alive, I say, so you were dead before you got on that tour to Israel? You don't need to go to Israel to understand the Bible. You may be too poor, after all, to go on a trip. Does that mean you can't understand the Bible? The disciples didn't run bus trips to the empty tomb, did they? They didn't say, I believe in the resurrection because I can take you on a bus ride, camel ride, to the empty tomb. And we can stand and look inside the empty tomb. Why did they not do that? You can think about that. I will tell you this. They started with the scripture. Their peace opposition was simple. The scripture teaches us. That was their starting point. Yes, they said we saw the risen saviour. But they didn't run a bus trip to the place where they saw the risen saviour. Let us be careful that we do not undermine the sufficiency of the word of God and the clarity of the word of God in itself. I grant that there are things in the scriptures that are very hard to understand. doesn't say you can never understand. I grant that they may stretch your brain or your mind and your thought processes to the fullest extent. And I grant too, that someone at 10 may not know as much as somebody at 60. Though sometimes I wonder about that. To understand the scriptures You begin, don't you, with prayer. Lord, open wide my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things. Because the Bible is full of wondrous things. Secondly, always learning of God and ourselves. In this psalm, we will learn a lot about God. And we will learn a lot about our fellow man, Look at verse one, you have the name of God, you have the being of God, you have the character of God, you have the attributes of God, and it's all here in one verse. As you start to unpack every sentence, the very first verse gives you this wonderful theology of God. Oh God of my righteousness, And on it goes. So you have the name of God. You will learn much about the being and character of God and the attributes of God. Look at verse three. Here you have the work of God and the goodness of God. So your starting point in all of your thinking, you must begin with God. Our problem is we start with ourselves. And the reason why I think we get so little out of scripture is because our starting point is ourselves. And the worst place, as you know, is to say, well, this is what it means for me. That's a cul-de-sac. That's going to take you nowhere. But when you lift your gaze up as it were to heaven, what does God in this passage tell me about himself? And then suddenly, well, there's no barriers anymore. There's no boundaries. We go and understand everything God tells us about himself and what he tells us about ourselves. And then thirdly and finally, theology and therapy. Theology and Therapy. The way to the therapy in verses seven and eight. Thou hast but gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increase. I will but lay me down in peace and sleep, for thy Lord only makest me dwell in sleep. What's the path to therapy by way of theology? Verses one to six. Our whole planet is on therapy. Everybody's got a therapist. Everybody's on therapy. I do not detract one iota from some of the therapists that people have and some of the therapy they receive. But the missing backbone is theology. You know, we meet so many teenagers with so many problems. And it is heartbreaking. to see families, children, and their lives are ruined. We knock on doors. We talk to people. You introduce yourself, tell them where you're from. Not interested. And they live in the midst of a mess. It's tragic, isn't it? And of all of these problems, they don't know how to cope. They're trying to cope with all of these organizations, one after the other. A missing fact of theology. These grand truths about God and himself. The way to good, right, and proper therapy is in the path of theology. What you think, what you know about God, what you understand about yourself from the Word of God. It's hard work, of course. Much easier to reach for a bottle of pills, not against pills. And I have a toothache. I can assure you, I want something that's going to kill the pain. And I want it killed five minutes ago and not in a half an hour's time. Some of us just can't stand too much pain. But that's OK. We're thankful for all of that wonderful medication that can get rid of the pain. But our lives can be turned upside down, and no amount of medication puts it right. When we go to bed, we're restless. Minds are in turmoil. Problems that seem so small become mountains. We're surrounded by them. Our foes just seem to multiply, so there's 1,000 of them. They're in every hand. And we're frightened. And we don't know what's going to happen next. And there's so many fears and worries. What's going to happen to all our loved ones? What's going to happen to ourselves? How on earth can we sleep at night? Osama says. Well, you need theology. You need to start with verse one. You need to get a hold of what the scripture teaches you. That takes time, and we're all in a hurry. Everybody's in a mad rush. Nobody's got time just to sit and think. Unless you're in an airport, then you have to sit there, because the plane has just been cancelled. There's 10,000 people all around you giving off. That's the time to sit and think. Pause. Isn't this a fascinating province? I can't get home. I'm stuck in an airport without food. And all the restaurants have just closed and I'm going to be here. Nobody to help me. Providence forces us to pause. Are you in a hurry? Are you in a rush? Are we thankful for the Lord's day? Everything's off. Everything's being paused. We're going nowhere else. We've come to worship God. So we look forward, I trust, to these studies in Psalm 4 and Sabbaths ahead, as the Lord wills. May the Lord bless