What a joy to come to the Word of God this morning. I want to welcome our visitors. We're so glad you're here. Let's turn in our Bibles to Psalm 4. Psalm 4. And we are in a series called The Shadow of the Almighty that we hope to do every year for 10 psalms a year. And we'll be going through this series through September, and then we'll be starting a new series at the end of September. But Psalm 4, and the title of our message this morning, is Seeking the Face of God. When I was a kid, I loved to go camping in Louisiana, where I grew up. We would go camping all times of the year. And even in Louisiana, it would get cold sometimes. I can remember we would just grab our guns, 11 and 12 years olds, we had guns. I had my 22, my friends had their 410 or the 20 gauge. Sometimes we were even brave enough to bring a 12 gauge, hurt your shoulder when you shoot it. But we would raid our parents' freezer or refrigerator, get the sausages, something we could put over a fire, and we would sleep outside. And sometimes it was so cold, we would just go home, like in the middle of the night, be like, this is way too cold. But often we would brave it through the night, and we were so happy when the morning came, because we would stoke up the fire that we had started the night before, we would rekindle it. And we would all gather near to that fire and eat our sausages. Some of them had extra spices in them to make the taste buds sing. And so, you know, this morning we're talking about seeking the face of God. It's kind of like that campfire. In our Christian life, we always need to be rekindling the fire of God in our hearts and in our lives. And it is true that we do have the presence of God. All people everywhere can see the presence of God. The heavens and the sky declares the glory of God. He is ever present everywhere at every moment. And there is the sense that we always have the presence of God because we are the children of God, especially us who are in Christ. We are the children of God. But it is also true that we sometimes do not have the presence of God. It doesn't mean that he ever leaves us, because he will never leave us or forsake us. But it is true that we can say that we do not experience his presence, because we grieve the Holy Spirit. And what we mean by seeking the presence of God, and what we're going to look at, Psalm 4, where David says, lift up the face of God to us. Lift up your face, oh God, to us. is that when we are rejoicing in the face of God, we are exalting God. We are enjoying his excellencies and his glories and his beauty. And how many of you can attest that you don't always experience that, but I want you to know that the will of God is for you to experience that 100% of the time. but we don't, and that is why this psalm is given to us, so that we can learn to glory and rejoice in the face of God 100% of the time that He is our heavenly Father, and He loves us, and He enjoys taking the burden off of you, and you resting in Him. This is what God enjoys because it is the excellency of His person, His goodness towards unworthy sinners like you and me. God is exalted when we enjoy Him and when we rest in Him, even when our burdens are so heavy. He loves to carry our burdens. This is the essence of Psalm 4, that we should be seeking for the face of God to be lifted up. Shining upon us at all times turn over to numbers before we get into the psalm number 624 This is the Levitical blessing to understand what it means to seek the face of God by way of introduction Look at the Levitical blessing. It says now this is called synonymous parallelism in Hebrew This is Moses the Lord through Moses saying the same thing six times, but it's all the same thing. It's synonymous parallelism. There's various forms of parallelism. Sometimes it's contrasting parallelism. Sometimes it builds up and it says a different thing, but here it's saying the same thing six times. Now listen to this so you understand what it means to seek the face of God. It says, the Lord bless you. and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So to seek the face of God and to experience the face of God is for God to bless you. It's for him to care for you, to keep you, to care and nourish you and to make his face to smile upon you. and be gracious to you and to lift up his countenance upon you, that he's near. He's your nose to nose with God. He loves you. You can feel his face against yours and gives you peace, that restful peace. The opposite of this is that for those who are not near to God, the Lord curses them. Those who don't know Christ, the Lord curses them and they are not kept. They are not protected. They are ravaged by this world. And the Lord does not smile upon them. His face does not shine upon them. And the Lord gives them justice instead of grace. And they have no peace. They are utterly unsatisfied in their heart. Now, I want to be on the God side of that equation. How about you? I want to know more than I want meat, more than I want rest. As far as sleep, I want the face of God. I want to experience his presence. And there's a verse that we read this morning in Psalm 16, 11, and it's the same word as face. In your presence, in your face, in your countenance is fullness of joy. And at your right hand, that is very near to God, at your right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. The right hand has the idea of God working powerfully. Now God is working at every moment, but I want to ask you, are you experiencing it? In other words, are you aware of God? Are you engaging? Are you making the effort to engage? And that's why in first Chronicles, it tells us to seek God's face continually because we are sinful and weak and fragile and frail. It is our utmost purpose on this earth to seek the Lord, to seek his face. to experience his blessing. You say, well, I'm not worthy. Welcome to the human race. None of us is worthy. If your worthiness is keeping you from God's face, then you don't understand what it means to seek God's face. Because to seek God's face is to experience his grace. That he would bless us and keep us and be gracious to us. Grace has the idea that we have offended a holy God. So with that introduction, let's turn to Psalm 4 and let's read it. Would you stand as we read God's holy word? This is David on the evening after he has been rejected as king. He has fled from Jerusalem and is 20 miles from the throne in a cave. That morning he had written Psalm 3. And that evening, likely, he has written Psalm 4. So Psalm 3 is a morning psalm, and Psalm 4 is an evening psalm. And you'll notice that David writes this psalm, and as he focuses on the goodness of God and the sovereignty of God, this is a psalm where David falls asleep while he writes. And he just rests in the Lord. He just falls asleep. This is an evening psalm. It's a wonderful psalm for any of us to read in the evening, but let us read it this morning. To the choir master with stringed instruments, a psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You've given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. Oh men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah. But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry and do not sin. Ponder in your hearts, your own hearts on your beds and be silent. Selah. Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, who will show us some good? And the quotes probably should be right there. But David says, he responds to this, lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord. You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace, I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety." And David could barely write that last word, and you could just imagine him falling asleep. This is God's word. You may be seated. So as we think about seeking, The face of God. The key verse in this psalm is verse 6b. Lift up the light of your face upon us. We want to explore what that means. There's so many distractions in David's life at this moment. He could be distracted by the bitterness of his own son being a traitor to his father. He could be distracted by the loss of his reputation, by the loss of his kingdom, by the loss of his wealth, his livelihood. But instead he chooses to rejoice in the presence of God. Now this is a lesson for all of us at all times. This ought to be our disposition at all times. Psalm 4 especially distinguishes the godly from the ungodly. based on one characteristic. If you want to know the difference between a Christian and the world, and whether the person is in church or outside of church, it really doesn't matter. The thing that distinguishes the human race from knowing God and not knowing God, from the sheep and the goats, so to speak, the wheat and the tares, how can we distinguish by one characteristic? And this is the most basic characteristic. We see it in here. It is gladness in God. You have given me more joy than those who were lying against him, who were saying evil things against him. Even when their grain and wine abound, when they have everything that they need, when they have bread and wine and they couldn't go to the supermarket like we do, they had to harvest everything. When the world has everything that they have, They can have the abundance. I heard this week that Apple is a $1 trillion company now. When you have that, you can have that. But David says there's a far superior, not quantity, but quality. There is a far superior joy than all that the world has. Our joy abounds in a superior way because it's an infinitely more valuable thing to have. The presence of God. Now, think about your life. If your life for eternity was a rope, and let's just say it went around this church infinitely, okay? That rope just kept going around and around, all the way up to the moon and back, and just keeps going. Your life is just like a little line on that rope, a little red line on that rope. It's so brief, it's so tiny. And Paul says in the New Testament, That the the trials and the difficulties and the horrors of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall follow Now I want you to understand that even though he's looking to the end we experience that joy of eternity right now Don't we as christians? And so this is what david is taking hold of he's breaking through this temporary time into the age to come He's breaking through And that's how God wants us to live. He wants us to seek his face and break through. And I want to give you several things you can do to break through before we even begin as to talking about this. Limit what you take in from this world. Limit it. The good gifts that God gives us are there to awaken us to his goodness. So enjoy those gifts as long as they are awakening you to his goodness. We watched a movie the other night called Priceless, and it awakened us to the need to be active and going forward in this world of ugliness and sin. You know, that awakened us. to His goodness. Enjoy the good gifts of God where you are in so much as they awaken you to His goodness. Limit those things that make a God of pleasure. Do you understand the difference? God invented pleasure. He wants us to enjoy his good gifts, to awaken us to his goodness. But when those good gifts become God to us, now they are they are distracting you from the true beauty and the true glory that will fill you on your darkest, hardest, most difficult day. This is David's most difficult day. And he's filled with the presence of God so much that he can sleep. So, with that in mind, let us look at the God whom we seek. This is the God whom David sought. This is the God whom Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob sought, and Moses, and Job, and all of those in the Word. We serve the same God. He says, answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. That phrase could mean several things. It certainly means that God is righteous. It also has the idea that a sinner cannot approach God without an imputed righteousness. He's not appealing to God based on his own merit. He's coming through the merit of God. And yet it also means that he has a righteousness in his life. There was a time in David's life when he fell away from God, but he's back on track. We can't, we cannot hope to experience the face of God. If we regard iniquity in our heart, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. We're going to talk about how David actually make sure that his conscience is clean in this prayer. You must have a clean conscience when you approach God. But ultimately, this is an interesting phrase. The Hebrew mind, the Jewish mind, would have used this phrase in a very interesting way. Oh God of my righteousness, or oh God of my right path. Isn't that interesting? That the idea of righteousness also entailed God's guidance. that God will direct me, that God will command me, that God will be there as my guide and guide me in the right way. Now that is an essential, another essential distinction from the world. The world leans to their own understanding, to their own heart in order to be guided. But the distinguishing mark of a true believer is that the Holy Spirit commands the heart. And there may be a thousand good choices, but the Holy Spirit says, go this way. Oh God of my right path, my righteousness, my right standing before God, my right way in this world. He will make me right before him and he will do right by me. He will lead me in the right way. And so there is an implied surrender, an implied trust in these words. But he's not only righteous, he's also faithful. He says, you have given me relief when I was in distress. How many times was David in a cave for so many years, cave to cave to cave, hiding from Saul and so many trials and tribulations as king of Israel. And every time, based on this right standing, God answered. Even when David failed, he was able to go before the Lord and write Psalm 51, and God answered him. And he said, create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me. And what did God do? Did God say, no, you've messed up? No, he said, come, I will do it. I will restore you back to my presence. See this is what God wants to do. The Almighty God wants you to be in sweet deep fellowship 100% of the time Regardless of what is going on and you are always in deep distress, but you must not be distracted by it It must not be a mountain that hides the face of God from you. This is the idea of what David is saying I've had many of those mountains in front of my eyes and But God, you've delivered me from being caught up and blinded by those mountains, those obstacles, those distractions. So many times you've broken through and I've been able to see the face of God, even in the midst of distress, because we serve a faithful God that will answer when we surrender to him according to his, what does that mean? It means, God, you're right and I don't know anything. So command me, command me, Lord. You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer." You hear God's revelation of himself through David. There are many times where the idea of God's grace, which was so clearly revealed to Moses, look over. Would you turn to Exodus 34, verse 6? Would you turn there? This is one of the mountains of God's word. This is one of the peaks of God's word. This mountain is a refrain throughout the scriptures. So you need to understand Exodus 34 6. This is God revealing his character, revealing his nature. He says to Moses as he's hidden him in a cleft of a rock, and he can't see his face, but he can see his backside. See, the desire for the Jew, according to the Levitical blessing, was to see the face of God. And Moses is saying, I want to see the face of God. I want to know the full presence of God. And because of his weakness and his frailty, he said, I can't show you my face, but I'll show you my backside. And he says, the Lord, he reveals himself, his essence, as to who he is in his character, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and what? Gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Oh, listen, this is God doing all that is necessary to reconcile unholy people to a holy God. This is it right here. You're a sinner, so you need grace. You're weak, so God has covenant faithfulness in unrelenting love, in faithful covenant love to constantly, constantly, constantly go after you. We're going down the road to see God's face, we're experiencing it, and then there's this great obstacle in our way, and we become discouraged. We fall down on our knees and we cry and we become paralyzed and God sends his Holy Spirit and says, oh no, my child, my child, you have eyes that can see through that mountain and see my face. I have given you eyes in your heart. I have given you the ability to taste with the tongue of your heart. to smell with the nose of your heart, the aroma of Christ, to taste with the tongue of your heart, the goodness of God, to hear with the ears of your heart, the singing of God who rejoices and exalts over you. I can let you see through those mountains. I can help you to see through those obstacles, to see my loving face, that it might shine upon you. And this is how God reveals his face. to Moses. And so you hear the echo of this. And so this is the God whom we seek. He's a righteous God and he gives you a right standing and he leads you in the right way. He's a faithful God in every mountain of distress and trial and in sin, he removes the mountain and throws it into the sea. He's a gracious God. This is the God whom we seek. He forgives your sins. He comes after you when you've lost faith. He renews your faith. He shows miracles to you in the circumstances, in the providences of God. And he enlightens your heart through the word of God. This week, I met with a young man in our congregation. who was cold so much of the time. But this week, he surrendered his life to Christ. And I spent several hours on a couple of days this week with this young man, and he had been studying two books of the Bible intensely. And as we read through each verse, his heart just lit up. He said, I've never seen this before. And even this morning, as we were singing the hymns, he kept whispering, I know what this hymn means now. That's the illumination of the spirit. That's the face of God shining. And we should experience that 100% of the time. This is the God whom we seek. But how do we seek this God? The practice of seeking God. He says in verse two, he distinguishes himself. There were men who were standing against David. As he's in the cave, he's in a cave for a reason, because they want to kill him. And the one leading the charge of these men who are lying and deceitful is his own son. Think about that. His own dear son. Now, I don't know about you, but it seems that this would be the most intense trial that anyone could ever imagine, because this is diabolically personal. It's one thing to suffer harm from a stranger, but to suffer harm, in fact, to have a hit on your life from your own son so that he can erase your memory and pridefully rule Israel on his own. That would be horrendous. He says, O men, and the leader of these men is Absalom. O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Remember how Absalom used vain words at the gate of Israel and he lied? Oh, I'll hear your case. Your case is the best. He told everyone that. You're my favorite person in Israel. Your case is the best. Everyone he told, he told them that. He told them lies. He twisted everything. And here it is. How long? How long? Have you ever asked the Lord that question? Here's a trial in front of me. I cannot see the face of God. How long is it going to be? How long is this going to occur? The essence of what David concludes is that however long it is, it's worth the wait. Look at what he says in verse three. but know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord hears when I call to him." When you are in that difficulty and you cannot see the face of God, you call out to him because you are a child of God based on God's grace. And you must know that he hears you. God resists the proud, but he gives what? Grace to the humble. You know, that moment that you came to know the Lord and you were so humbled, you came to him as a child. Don't ever lose that frame of mind. You should be in that frame of mind always. Because you see, that's the moment that you realize that the Lord has reserved the godly, the holy one, it could be translated, the saint, the godly. for himself. That humble mindset is so vital in experiencing the face of God, realizing that God has reserved you for himself. God delights in the humble cries of his children, just like so many times in the morning, it's oh, dark 30. And there's, there's these little feet come into my room. And there's, there's these pigtails flopping in my face. And Ava will say, cause she knows I can't say no to this. She said, daddy, she'll say, you want to have devotions? What am I going to say? You know, if she says, daddy, let's tell jokes. I'll say, uh, leave me alone. Go, go away. No, I don't actually say that to her, but you know, if you feel that, but when she says, daddy, can we pray? Oh man, I'm wide awake. Just get me out of this bed. I want to go pray with my daughter. That's what God loves. That should be your disposition and my disposition all the time. It's what God rejoices in. He sets apart the godly for himself. That humble disposition of touching the fringe of his garment with the finger of your heart. Touch him. And so, This is what we must do, the practice of seeking God. We must seek Him as a child. We must realize that seeking Him is worth the wait. Oh, Lord, how long? Well, you know what? However long this trial lasts, I'm going to see through that mountain and I'm going to touch the fringe of my Savior's garment. No matter what is in my way, I have the power through faith. to see the face of God. That's what I was made for. That's what you were made for. And it's what, it's a delight. See there, there's this distinction here. Oh man, how long will you turn my honor into shame? How long? And there is, there is this great distinction where he says in verse six, there are many who say who will show us some good. Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord. The thing that distinguishes David from the men seeking his life is the joy and gladness in God, no matter what is happening in life. That's what distinguishes us. That is the basic and essential mark of the new birth. Old and New Testament, in order to come to God, you must be born again. And the essence of being a Christian or being a believer, Old Testament or New, is that we have a superior delight in God and everything else looks like garbage compared to the face of God because it's so supremely beautiful. And so even though our hearts are torn into pieces at times, God often will give you a hug as you humble your, he humbles your heart. And you know, oh, no matter what I'm going through, I have the Lord. He is with me. He's my shepherd. He's El Rowy, the God who sees my shepherd. OK. I meant to be done by this time, but we're only on the first point or the second point. Let's go. Seeking God is so different from what The ungodly do look at what the ungodly are doing. They're lying. They're using vain words. They're using human schemes and plans in order to fulfill the God of pleasure in their life. They're seeking their pleasure and power and position in money and influence. David is seeking pleasure in God. We all seek pleasure. But we must seek our pleasure in God. God wants you to be filled with pleasure in him. But look at verse four. As David thinks of this, the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. I want to see his face. Lord means Yahweh. And it has the idea of God's covenant. He's got a special covenant relationship like father-son. So this is like saying Abba Father. But notice where God leads him to. Look at verse 4. As he seeks the face of God, as we understand what it means to practice the presence of God, look at verse 4. David is on his bed. And he says, be angry and do not sin, ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent. The word ponder could also be translated search out. Search out. Your own heart, as it says in Psalm 139, turn there, Psalm 139, 23. Would you turn to that beautiful place? Beautiful prayer. David praises we ought to pray, search me, you know, this right search me, oh, God. and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Chrysostom, who was a early preacher. Born in 349 AD, he translated this be angry but unwilling to sin. There are certain trials and difficulties in life that cause us anger that cause us indignation. And there is a right way to be angry. There is a right way to say this is distracting from the glory of God and to be indignant about it. And in fact, if you're not indignant, you probably don't have the spirit of God in you. If you've never been indignant, I should say, if that's not a practice of your life, to be indignant about the world that we live in, to be grieved that the glory of God is being robbed and covered up. The most beautiful experience is being robbed of the human race. We ought to be angry. But David says, don't do it in a sinful way. Don't do it in a selfish way. It's not about you. This is about God. And there's so many things that we can, go through our minds when we're pondering on our bed. And that is often the hardest time of your day because you think of all the ways in which you have fallen short of the glory of God. But David says, it is this opportunity that I get to take in seeking the presence of God, in seeing the face of God, that I get to cleanse my conscience. That I'm not gonna allow the anger of this situation to overtake my heart. You see, it doesn't matter what you say out of your mouth. Lots of people say, oh, I'm right with God, I'm okay, I'm walking with him. That doesn't mean you are. What are you before God right now? What are you in your heart? Do you have a clean conscience? Is there anything that accuses you at this moment in your heart that is robbing the glory of God from this world? You are his image bearer. You are to let his face shine upon you and be a mirror of God's face to this world. Be angry, but do not sin. Be entertained, but do not sin. Eat food, eat or drink, whatever you do, but don't sin. Do all to the glory of God. Be unwilling to sin. And you have the power to do that because you're a child of God. Only seek him as a child and humility with a clean conscience. This is how you seek the face of God. Seek him with right worship. Look at verse five. Offer right sacrifices. Put your trust in the Lord. Sacrifices in the Old Testament were for the purpose of cleansing and consecration. Of removing your sin and worship. So offer. Right sacrifices. Hebrews. Says, let us Hebrews 1315, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips and give thanks to his name. Now, why does he say and put your trust in the Lord? Because it is by faith that we trust in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Believe that it is finished. Put your trust in the Lord. And I have a problem with this. There are often times I have just that general anxiety. And I have to focus on the cross of Jesus until my heart is at rest. Offer right sacrifices. The idea is that seek the face of God and experience the face of God and know that nothing is between your soul and the Savior because of the right sacrifice, ultimately seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was accepted by the Father. He was risen and He ascended to the right hand of the Father because He made a place for us. So when you're in the presence of God, you know that the sacrifice of Christ mediates the presence of God through the Holy Spirit. Now, what is the reward of seeking God? Look at verse 6 of Psalm 4. Turn back there to this text, Psalm 4 and verse 6. Three things that David receives as a reward. and that are received as we experience the very presence of God. The first thing is he says, there are many who say, who will show us some good? And these are probably the words of David's companions that are protecting him and trying to encourage him, but they're ultimately getting their eyes off of the Lord and onto the circumstances And David is hearing this and he includes these men in his prayer. He says, God, there are many around me who are saying who will show us some good. Is there gonna be a good outcome to this? But David, he doesn't ask for the outcome to be changed. Isn't this interesting? This is a little bit unexpected. It's a little bit shocking. He doesn't ask for Absalom to stop what he's doing. He doesn't ask for his kingdom to be restored. He doesn't ask for his livelihood to be brought back to him. He asks for one thing. Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord. Shine the light of your face upon us. Light, what is that? Well, it's a metaphor that means that you can see and understand what's going on. Light. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. And so David is saying that we're all walking around like blind people. We're so blinded. God help us to see your plan in this. And this is as bad as a situation as I can imagine. And this is David's prayer. Let me see the ultimate purpose in this is that we can see your face. It's not about the kingdom. It's not about the money. It's not about my reputation being besmirched. It's about experiencing the presence of God. Lift up the light of your face, your countenance. That ought to be our prayer. No matter what we're going through, God has a superior good. The superior good is not that David's life would be brought back to normal. That's not the superior good. Do not seek lesser things. Seek the superior good. The superior good is that God's face would shine upon us. What a strange request that he doesn't go through the recital of so many needs that he has, although those are very important and there is a proper place for that. But in the time of crisis, what does he need more than anything? Lord, I need to know and be reassured that you're in this. I need to know that you're in this. I need to experience the joy and the peace and the presence of God with the light of your face. So much we could say. Not only a superior good, but a superior joy. He says in verse seven, you have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. These evil men, were seeking to have their grain and wine abound. They were seeking to have bread and drink that was good, and bread and wine are gifts from God. And we have so much abundant good in this culture and time that we live in. We have this abundant good morning, noon, and night, and even in the middle of the night. You can find abounding bread and wine But David says there is not only a superior good, but there's a superior joy. There's a superior gladness. There's a better gladness than when everything's going right in your life. There's a better joy than when the bank account is full and you're getting bonuses. There is a better joy when you can go on vacation anywhere you want in the world. There's a better joy than that. When the world's joys are abounding and nothing wrong with any of those things, God gives abundance, it's wonderful. But there's a superior joy than just what we can experience on this plane and this level. We need to break through 100% of the time and experience the face and the presence of God. And this is a superior joy that we all need to be seeking and not to find that we are so, we're always disappointed and sorrowful when things don't go well in this life. That's normal. That's not sinful. But when your heart is controlled by your circumstances, it shows that something has displaced God in your heart. Because whatever those sorrows are, they are small compared to the infinite joy that we have, because God is infinite. God is superior, not only in his duration, but in the quality of who he is. He is excellent. He is beautiful in his character. And no matter what sorrows you have, the joy that you have should be always present with you, even when you're sorrowing. You should not be overcome by your sorrows, but be established in joy while you're sorrowing. Isn't that amazing? And then not only a superior joy, but a superior peace. In peace, I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord. Make me dwell in safety. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God. Psalm 27, Psalm 20, verse 7. Yahweh, my Father, my Heavenly Father, I'm not going to trust in whether my mighty men can defend me and protect me. I am going to trust in the name of the Lord. And He alone, praise You. You can just hear Him pray. Praise You, Lord. Praise You, Yahweh. Praise You. Praise You. Praise You. You are my security. You are my general. You are my tower. Oh, Lord, I'm so sleepy, I'm just going to sleep. One final thing. Psalm 4 points to a greater king than David, there was one who was in a cave. A tomb, his cave was a tomb. And he died so that we might experience the face of God. And God accepted his sacrifice. And he came out of that tomb and he rose again and he ascended to the right hand of the Father. And I want you to know this morning, child of God, the way is open. And even if you're not a child of God, Let the convicting power of the Holy Spirit fall on you. If you don't experience this, if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you know what the guilt of your sin is right now and feel the guilt of your sin and let it crush you. Be aware that you're on the wrong side of this. You're on the side of Absalom, not on the side of God. Absalom was so evil. No matter how good of a person you are, if you don't know Christ, you are selfishly motivated and you are in rebellion against the most high God, just like Absalom was. Absalom was very convincing. So I want to encourage you. that if you're on the wrong side and you feel the crushing weight of your sin, let it crush you and realize there's nothing you can do to get rid of that crushing weight. But I know someone who can. The one who went into that cave and that cave was a tomb and the one who came out of that cave in victory so that we could experience the face of God. Amen. Let's stand together. Father, thank you so much. That you have made a way for us to seek your face and to experience your presence. Lord, help us, Lord, we're so messed up, we're so broken, there's so many things, Lord, God. That want to distract us from your presence, oh, God. Do a work, Lord, like you've never done before. Awaken those who are dead in their sins, Lord. Awaken those Christians who have been paralyzed by the mountains of sin and defeat. Awaken them. Those who have been paralyzed by fear, by anger, by worldliness. Remove these mountains, Lord. I'm asking on behalf of every person here, remove these mountains. If there's someone who is lost here today, save them today. You are the God of grace, abounding in loving kindness, Lord. Pour out your loving kindness. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.