Would you please turn with me then this evening in your Bibles to Psalm 4. Psalm 4 as we come to the word of God. Psalm 4, and please follow with me as I read. The psalmist writes, hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness, you have relieved me in my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? But know that the Lord has set apart for himself him who is godly. The Lord will hear when I call to him. Be angry and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, who will show us any good? Lord, Lift up the light of your countenance upon us. You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased. I will both lie down in peace and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Well, brethren, before the preaching of the Word of God, would you once again unite your hearts with me as we come to ask God for his help? Let's pray. Indeed, our Father, we consider it a great privilege to enter into your holy presence. Lord, we acknowledge that we are nothing but debtors of your sovereign electing grace. Father, how we praise you for your mercies. We thank you, O Lord, that when we were in a far country, you did call us, you did quicken us, you did give us the Holy Spirit so that now we could love you and serve you with all of our being. Our Father, we confess your greatness tonight. How glorious is your being. We love you and we desire to serve you even better all of our days. And Father, as we come now to hear the word of God, what can we say but Lord come, quicken us, opened our minds, clear away the cobwebs, help us to see clearly, oh Lord, help us to hear truth. Might you send your spirit upon us and illumine our minds and our understanding. that the Word of God might find a sure footing within our hearts, that we might serve you better all of our days. Our Father, again, we thank you for this opportunity. Might you come. Might you send the Spirit of God. O Lord, might your name be glorified. Might your saints be edified. And might the devil be terrified. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the great benefits that come to us as we go through the Psalms is that as we do so, we are almost instantaneously able to enter into what the psalmist was going through as they invite us to know and to feel all of the various experiences in which the psalmist currently found themselves in at that particular point in their lives now thus far in our preaching through the Psalms, we've considered Psalm 1, Psalm 2, and Psalm 3, and tonight we come to Psalm 4. Now this Psalm, Psalm 4, a Psalm which most suggest was written by David, as the superscription tells us, can best be classified as an individual lament psalm and finds its historical setting somewhere close to the time of the rebellion of Absalon, though not necessarily exactly connected to that event. Contextually, we can deduce very plainly that something bad was happening to David. He was obviously going through some very deep waters. Things are not going well for him. Enemies are all around him, giving him great difficulty, so much so that in agony of soul, he cries out to God for great help and relief. Now, as we go through the psalm, there is one main theme which will dominate throughout. And this theme, a theme which will occupy our thoughts for this evening, simply stated is, confident trust in God to hear and to answer us when we pray. confident trust in God to hear and to answer us when we pray. Tonight we're going to see a man who, though surrounded with great hardships and adversity on every side, was able, in spite of them, to find rest for his soul, having prayed to God, and thus leaving us an excellent example that we should follow. Well, as we come to this psalm this evening, let's begin by considering, firstly, David's plea to God in verse 1. As David enters into the Lord's presence, bearing a very heavy burden, he cries out to the Lord and says, notice with me, hear me when I cry, O God of my righteousness, you have relieved me in my distress, have mercy on me and hear My prayer. As David starts off his prayer to God, he begins by asking Him primarily two things. Firstly, he asks Him to hear him when he calls. Now, the verb to hear in the text means to reply or to answer, as the NAS version has it. You see, as David approaches God, he is determined that he must have a response from Him. David comes to God in no uncertain terms. His situation is such and his need is so great that he must have God pay attention to him and to give him an audience. David can settle for nothing less at this point in his life. He cries out, Hear me, O God. Well, as David cries out to God to hear Him, notice with me next the grounds upon which he expects that God will do this for him. Follow with me in the text. He says, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness, or as some of your Bibles have it in the marginal, O God who maintains my right. Now the word translated righteousness in the text is a legal term and means a defense or vindication against the charges brought by one's accusers. Now the idea in the language here is that as David calls out to God, who himself is righteous, David believes that God will hear him because he himself is innocent in the matter. You see, David knew that the situation that he finds himself in was not due to any sin of his own, and because this was the case, he knew that God would help him as he pleads his case before him. You see, David is in great distress. But he is not in great despair, because he knows that in spite of the fact that there is injustice that is taking place, there is a God in heaven, namely his God, who is the true and living God, who will vindicate him in heaven. this trial David calls upon the Lord and ask him to hear him because he knows that the judge of all the earth will do right David knows that his God is the God who will write the wrongs of his people when he asked them to do so Calvin, commenting on this verse, says, righteousness, therefore, is here to be understood of a good cause of which David makes God the witness while he complains of the malicious and wrongful conduct of men towards him. Calvin goes on to say, quote, by his example, he teaches us that if at any time our uprightness is not seen and acknowledged by the world, we ought not on that account despond in as much as we have one in heaven to vindicate our cause. Well, having stated his case to God, David further extends the grounds as to why God should hear him by saying, notice with me in the text, you have, that is past tense, relieved me in my distress. you see david in essence continues here to build his case to jehovah by saying to lord Another reason why you ought to hear me in this case is because when I found myself in past days in a similar situation, you were right there to answer me when I cried out to you to help me. Perhaps some of you recall last time when we preached in Psalm 3 and verse 7, where David said a similar thing. Notice with me, Psalm 3 and verse 7, just one Psalm over. David writes, Arise, O Lord, save me, oh my God, here's why, for you have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone, you have, past tense, broken the teeth of the ungodly. David says, Arise, Lord! Save me out of this situation, Lord! I know that You can do it because You have done it before. So we see here that David, as he looks back and sees these past events which God powerfully acted, he is now enabled to find present-day help and strength to help in this current situation. Alexander perceptively notes, quote, this appeal to former mercies as grounds for claiming new ones is characteristic of the Bible and true religion. Among men, says Alexander, past favors may forbid all further expectations, but no such rule applies to the divine compassions. He goes on to say, quote, the more we draw from this source, the more copious and exhaust list it becomes. You see what he's saying? The more we learn that we go back to God and say, Lord, I recall on this account, you did this. In this event, you were there to help me, Lord. Come and meet me again presently in my situation, because I knew you have done it in the past. And brethren, this is what we need to do when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances. When we find ourselves in this type of situation, we need to remember and recall back to ourselves and to the Lord how he has brought great deliverances for us in time of need, and perhaps, as I was preparing this sermon, I thought this is maybe where a prayer journal might be helpful for some of us. I know some of you keep a prayer journal. Well, what happens in a prayer journal? You're going through your private devotions with the Lord, and before you come to your prayer time, you can open up your prayer journal and see, I had to pray for so-and-so, sister so-and-so, and brother so-and-so, and church this church, in this area, and before you come to pray, you look at your notes and say, yes, Lord, I can see how in past times you have powerfully answered those prayers that I prayed six months ago, or a year ago, or even six weeks ago. So Lord, based upon that fact, I come now and ask that you might deliver me out of this present circumstance as well. Corporately, I know in our prayer meetings, many of you try to keep good notes, as I do. Why do we do that? So that we can look back, and brethren, might it be good that before we come to prayer meeting corporately, we go over some of those notes, whether in our minds, privately, or together, and we think, Lord, we look back, we see, God, you have answered in days gone by. You have brought mighty things by your grace for your people, and in doing that, Lord, might we be motivated, even tonight, to call upon you for fresh help and fresh grace. David says to the Lord his God, Lord, you have relieved me in my distress. Well, having asked God to hear him, David now secondly, in verse one, asks God to have mercy upon him and again to hear his prayer. You see, David is real honest as he calls out to God to hear him. He's real honest. David very clearly knows that if any good is going to come to him, it's going to be because of the unfailing mercies and compassion of God. He says, God, have mercy on me. I'm being honest with you. This is what I need at this time in my life. David needed the abundant mercies of God and pity to be upon him. And according to this verse, it seems that the greatest mercy that God could have had upon him at this time was that he would pay attention to him. And so David asked his request again, Lord, hear my prayer. Well, having made his plea to God, let's consider, secondly, David's protest against his enemies in verses 2 to 5. What exactly was the source of David's trouble? What was at the heart of his distress? Well, the answers to those questions become very clear in the next verse. In contrast to God, who is willing to help David, David now turns to his oppressors and asks two questions of them. Notice firstly, in verse 2a, he asked them, how long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? David asked them, how long? That is in regards to time, or to extent, or to what degree will you continue to persecute me? David, in asking this question, identifies the source of their attacks as turning his glory into shame. Now, it seems from these words that the issue at hand was that his enemies were despising his position as king. These men were not honoring the high place that God himself had bestowed upon David, and they were seeking to defame his reputation and to slander his character. And David wants to know how long will you continue to do this? Well, next David goes on to ask, secondly, follow with me, how long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? Now, the two verbs, love and seek, represent the attitudes of David's enemies. They love worthlessness, or more literally, they love that which is vain. And David says that they seek falsehood, that is to say, they do not pursue what is true, and they set out to spread lies about others, such as they were doing in the case with David himself. David asked these evil doers, How long will you continue to do this? He wants to know what is it going to stop? When are you going to quit? insulting me Now in the next few verses verses 3 to 5 David is going to use seven imperatives as he commands his enemies to consider the foolishness of attacking him and the first of these is found in verse 3 a In verse 3a, David commands them firstly, notice with me, but know that the Lord has set apart for himself him who is godly. You see, just in case these men thought that their wickedness would prevail over David, and that he might come to ruin. David says, the first thing that you need to realize, you evildoers, is that the Lord has set me apart for himself. As David begins his protest against these men, he begins firstly by instructing their ignorance and commands them saying, no. No, that is realize and never forget the fact that the Lord has called me to be his very own. He says you need to know that God has set me apart for himself and therefore he will defend me and you will not succeed in your evil plans against me. Now, this word set apart in our text is a wonderful word and it means to treat in a special way or to show special favor towards. And that's exactly what God does for all of his redeemed saints who are trusting in the person and work of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to save them from their sins, even as David himself was. Now, because, in fact, David was one of God's own in comparison to these men, he could confidently say to them, notice with me in verse 3b, the Lord will hear when I call to him. And you see, these enemies needed to be instructed about this issue. They needed to fear the fact that when this man prays to God, God hears him. And we ought to be concerned because this man has a direct connection to God. These men needed to be warned of the fact that David knows his God and his God hears him when he prays. David says, if you men are going to attack me, know this, that when I call upon God, He hears and answers me. You ought to tremble. You ought to tremble at the fact that God hears me When I pray of John Knox, it was said of the Queen in his day, she says, I fear nothing except the prayers of John Knox. And she ought to fear the prayers of John Knox, because he was one of God's redeemed saints. And when he prayed, the King of Heaven heard him. And so these men, just like with John Knox these men and regarding the Queen in connection to her ought to be warned of this fact and brethren we ought to be reminded of the same fact namely that because God in Christ has set us apart for himself just like David when we pray to God he hears us as well. We ought never to be confused about this matter. We, like David, because the redemption which is ours in Christ Jesus, should be able to say with David in Psalm 28 and verse 6, blessed be the Lord because He has heard the voice of my supplication. Someone says that's proud or that's being presumptuous. No! That's being biblical, brethren. God has heard me because I am one of Christ. Now brethren, I know that sometimes we come here on a Wednesday night, and we're weary, and we're tired, and we wonder, is God even out there to hear us tonight? I doubt God's going to hear me in this state of mind. But brethren, we need to take comfort in the fact that the God who has saved us is the God who has set us apart for Himself, that this God, His ear is always open to the prayers of the righteous. And brethren, that's you and that's me by the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. God loves to respond, dear saints, to the prayers of his people. Well, David goes on and continues to instruct these men in the following verses. However, because he knows that their efforts are sure to fail, he now commands them to do four positive things in the following verses, verses four and five. Notice with me the first positive thing, the first thing, excuse me, that he commands them to do. Firstly, in verse four, he commands them to be angry. I may not be so positive. But he commands them to be angry. Now, most of us probably would not command our enemies to be angry with us, right? But that's what David did. He commands them to be angry. That is to say, if you must be upset with my rule as king, go ahead and be so. But then, right on the heels of this command, he commands them again, saying, but do not sin. Be angry. But I command you again, do not sin. That is, don't go off in your anger and break the commandments of God. Now some of you are looking at your Bible and saying, what in the world is he reading? Because mine does not say, be angry. But mine says, tremble. Is that right? Okay. Now I realize that some of your versions say, tremble and do not sin. And as most of you are aware, the Apostle Paul quotes this verse in Ephesians 4 and verse 26, and there it reads as it reads in my Bible, the New King James Version, be angry and do not sin. So why the difference in the words? Well, simply put, it seems that in the context of Ephesians, For the Apostle Paul is writing to the Church, the inspired Apostle was led by the Spirit of God to follow the Septuagint's rendering of this word, which reads, be angry, so as to say that believers can righteously be upset, but they are not to act on that anger, sinfully, so as to disrupt the unity of the Church. However, In the passage which is before us, David, in instructing wicked men, says in Hebrew, literally tremble or even be agitated, that is to say, these men ought to be very afraid before God and not sin and thus incur his strict and holy judgment. So, this seems to be where the difference lies in the use of the words. In Psalm 4, the NAS has it as far as the translation. It should read tremble here. And I guess for consistency, the New King James translators decided just to keep it as it was in Ephesians 6. But tremble is the actual wording there. And my Bible does tip me off by giving a little footnote and saying, its tremble in verse four. But this is where the difference seems to lie. Well, having said this, David now commands these men two more things in verse 4b. Notice with me. He commands them, firstly, to meditate within their hearts on their beds. And secondly, he commands them to be still. Meditate within your heart on your bed and to be still, in essence, what David is saying to his oppressors is to go into the secret chambers of their rooms and to consider carefully what he's saying. David wants these men to think about the errors of their ways and their sin against him and to realize that because God is with him, they are most surely going to perish in their crimes. These men surely will not win, so David says to them, take my counsel, sit down quietly, search your hearts, and be still." He says, consider the folly that you are pursuing. Consider the sins which you are committing against me. And remember, there's a God in whom you have to do. Well, David comes finally and ends his string of imperatives in verse five by commanding these men, notice with me in the text, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. Now you're talking about, you talk, excuse me, about an evangelistic plea under the old covenant. Here it is. David says, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in Jehovah. Spurgeon rightly says, quote, provided that the rebels had obeyed the voice of the last verse, that is, consider your sins against me. Spurgeon goes on to say, they would now be crying, what must I do to be saved? You see, David here, knowing that these men must break with their false God, must break with their sins and get right with the true and living God, says to them in essence, firstly negatively, to stop offering sacrifices while you're sinning in your hearts against me. but rather positively secondly now he says to repent and to offer the sacrifices of righteousness that is sacrifices which are offered to God in a right spirit which God required of his people under the Old Testament economy. You see, David will not have these men to be ignorant about the nature of true religion, namely that it springs from a heart and conscience which is pure before the Lord. And so David instructs them in the matter. And he says, bring forth that which comes from a right disposition before Jehovah our King. Well, not merely content to leave these men at the altar as it were, David now points them to their ultimate hope and salvation as he says to them finally to put your trust in the Lord. Put your trust in the Lord. What an amazing little statement. Even though these men had acted cruel towards David, even though they had slandered his title, even though they were dragging his name, as it were, through the mud, nonetheless, he was still concerned about their souls. David wanted these enemies of his to be saved. And so he says, put your trust in Jehovah. Trust in Jehovah. Brethren, we have to ask the question, what about us? What happens when evil people speak against us and seek to malign us and to shame us? Are we like the disciples of old, ready to call down God's judgment upon men and say, Lord, consume them because they're evil men? Are we quick to say, Lord, judge them, they're wicked, cut them off in your wrath? Or are we going to be like David? How are we going to deal when we come in situations like this? Brethren, we ought to take a lesson from David here. Now, I know in many places in the Psalms, that David does ask God to deal harshly with his enemies. I'm aware of that. Matter of fact, we'll see that next month in Psalm 5. David does that very thing. But stick with me here. David here is asking God to be merciful to his enemies. He's asking God, he's asking them to put their trust in his God. Here we see that he was concerned with the welfare of his enemies, even as our Lord Jesus Christ was. When dying on the cross, he said, Forgive them, for they know not what they do. Brethren, we ought to think about our enemies more often. We ought to think about the horrible plight that awaits men and women who die outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a defining moment in my Christian life. You know, one of those moments that just happen and you never forget it. Well, this is one of those moments. I walked into my first pastor's house some 10 plus years ago, and I recall walking into the room there and he was on his knees crying out to God in earnestness. And I asked the brother that was in the room, what's going on with Alberto? He said, Alberto was just mugged. Now, if you knew Alberto, Alberto had a hip replacement and Alberto walked with a limp. This is how he walked. And what did that mean? That made him an easy target living on 49th Street in Manhattan for some guy to come and rob him. And I said, he was just mugged. And in my heart, I thought, oh, Lord, strike that man down who would dare attack my pastor. And the brother said to me, no, he's not crying that God would strike him down. He's crying that God would save him. I thought, Lord, I am not like him. I would have wanted God to consume that man in an instant, but he was praying, God, Have mercy on this man. He wasn't ignorant of the fact that the Lord avenges his people. No, he was very aware of that fact and therefore was saying, Lord, avert your anger in this case. Save this man. Don't kill him. And I thought, Lord, this is an example for me. This man's praying for his enemies. Brethren, like David and even like that pastor, We ought to be more like this. We ought to do even as our Lord Jesus commanded us in Luke 6 and verse 27 and 28 when he said, love your enemies, do good to those who curse you, bless those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you. Well, having pled his case to God, to secondly, having made his protest against his enemies. Let's come thirdly and finally for this evening to David's proclamation to his people in verses six to eight. Apparently, all of the negativity and evil schemings which had been directed towards David as king had brought about a dismal feeling to those who were his loyal followers. to the degree that David records for us their words in verse 6a, where he says, follow with me, there are many who say, who will show us any good? Who will show us any good? Now literally in the original it reads, who will show us good? Who will show us good? You get the sense, right? Who will show us good? I mean, our king is being attacked. Things are just terrible. Who will show us good? You notice the word any is italicized in your Bibles, not being in the original. Who will show us good? The sense here is that these people are really depressed. They're downcast. Things are not going well for them. And in essence, they're saying, when will we see good days? Our leader is being attacked. This is just horrible. When might we prosper again? Well, instead of being insensitive to the cares of his people, David, as a true shepherd of Israel and of the sheep of God, in the hearing of all, not wanting the people to be left in a state of darkness, pronounces God's covenant blessing upon them when he says in verse 6b, follow with me, Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us. You see, David says, Lord, things are gloomy. Things are dark, O Lord. Father, lift up the light of your countenance upon us. David says, Lord, the people are really cast down here. They're depressed. So I ask you, just look upon us with favor. Just one look, O Lord, David says, and the cloud of darkness is rolled away. Well, perhaps at this point, someone might be asking the question, what about David? What's going on with David? I mean, he was the one to whom all the insults had been directly made. He was the one to whom had been right in the line of fire. He was right in the line of fire. What's going on with David? Well, notice with me what we read in verse seven. In the midst of great difficulty and hardship, we read you have put gladness in my heart more than in the season that their grain and wine increased. What a marvelous change has come over this man in just seven short verses. I mean, what's happened to him? What caused the great change within this man? Where did it come from? Well, the answer is that the God to whom he prayed in verse one, Lord, have mercy on me, you have relieved me in my distress, is the God who powerfully answered the prayer of his servant. Lord, even though things are going bad, even though all around me enemies are round about seeking to take my life perhaps, if not, at least they're slandering me and this is a bad situation, but in the midst of it, In the midst of great turmoil and difficulty, David could say, the grace of God is in my heart. And brethren, isn't this how it often is with God? Sometimes we say, Lord, deliver me out of this situation. This is difficult. And sometimes God delivers us out of that circumstance. But more than not, the Lord keeps us in that circumstance and says what? My grace is sufficient for you. You see, in the midst of the difficult situation, God says, I will pour upon and pour into your soul goodness and grace. And you see, brethren, many times we see God's people going through very difficult trials. Hard times come to God's people. And some of us think, man, if that was me, I would surely break. But what do we see as we look to those people? We see a disposition of joy, a disposition of peace, a disposition of inner happiness. We don't see complaining. We don't see grumbling. We don't see anger. And sometimes we stand back and we just marvel. And we are just amazed. Well, why? The answer very simply is that they're experiencing the joy of the Lord, which is their strength. It's a marvel. It's an amazing thing when God does that in the life of His people. And this is what David is experiencing. Having gotten to the end of his prayer, He had sensed so much of God's goodness in his life that he could say, my joy was greater than that joy which my enemies had in the season when their grain and wine increased. Now listen, that was a great time in the Old Testament when that happened. I mean, that was party time for these people. But David says, you see what you wicked men experience in those relatively few times in your life? Guess what? My God allows me to experience that every time I call out to Him in the time of need. David says, you men have mere outward joy which is conditional upon circumstances which come and go. But what I have is real. God has given it to me. And best of all, it resides deep within my heart. Anyone here ever experience that? Ever experience the joy of the Lord when something bad has really happened? And sometimes you stand back and you're amazed at yourself and you say, I can't believe it! Things are really bad! But you know what? God's giving me grace. God's giving me peace. This is hard. By human standards I should be out with the doctor on kind of all drugs to calm me down, but you know what? God has met me. And I'm here and I'm experiencing inward peace in my soul. And God is sustaining me. by his matchless grace. This gladness, David says, God gave him. And best of all, it was given to him when he needed it most. Well, having prayed and having been reassured of the Lord's goodness to him, David concludes the psalm in verse eight with great confidence when he says, notice with me, I will both lie down in peace and sleep. And why was that? Here's the answer for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. You see, even though David was in great distress, knowing that his enemies were slandering him and perhaps ready to take his life, David says, I will not fret. Matter of fact, I'm going to rest. That's what he says. He had such confident trust in his God, he could rest. David here grounds his relaxation in one simple reality. What was that? God was on his side. God was on his side. Having opened his prayer with a great sense of burden and grief, David can now close it with a great sense of confidence and peace, that God has heard him. Well, brethren, I said in the outset of this song that David leaves us an excellent example that we should follow. He leaves us an example of a man who, though surrounded with great tribulations, was able to find peace for his soul in the midst of difficulty because he had confident trust that God would hear and answer him when he prayed. We've come to make some applications for ourselves tonight. We need to ask the question, firstly, where did this confidence come from? Matter of fact, this is going to be the question that we'll answer tonight. Where did this confidence come from? And I want to say three things. Firstly, this confidence came from knowing who God is. from knowing who God is. You see, when David came to God, he fully realized who he is. He completely knew that he was a God of righteousness and a God of justice. And because David, in this case, was innocent in the matter, he knew that God would hear him when he cried out for help. And brethren, I say first and foremost that when we find ourselves in times of difficulty, we need to remember who God is. We need to remember that He is the God in whom it is said that righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. And we need to find great confidence and help in that time because we know who God is. Knowing who He is. knowing that he is the holy God of Israel, knowing that he is the God to whom he promises to do well to his people, could give us great help and confidence as we come to him. Dear brethren, God, because of the Lord Jesus Christ, will not turn a deaf ear to his people. He is the God of supreme justice, and he will hear us and respond accordingly as he determines. We must remember, firstly, God's character when we pray to him. We must remember who he is. Doesn't that give you a sense of confidence? I know who this God is. I know the judge of all the earth will do right. I know, based upon his character, that I can call out to him in faith and believe, because of who he is, that he, by the grace of God, will answer me. But not only did David have confident trust in God that he would hear and answer him because of who God was, but now secondly, David had confidence that God would hear and answer him because of who David was. Who was David to God? How did God regard David? Was he just some annoying Israel king who kept knocking on the throne of heaven? Hear me, God! Hear me, God! Hear me, God! Is that how God viewed David? I know sometimes that's how we view ourselves, right? Oh, God must be annoyed with me. All I do is keep coming with my problems and my sins. This is how we think about ourselves sometimes. Are we just annoying to God? Are we just bothering Him? Is this how God views us? Brethren, this is not the case. You see, David knew that because God had called him to be his very own by his grace and because God had set his love upon him, David knew that he always had the ear of his heavenly father. Brother, let me ask you a question. Do you know that God has set you apart for himself? Do you realize that according to the Bible you are the apple of His eye? Do you realize that your names are written upon the palm of His hand? Brethren, do you know that just like David of old, God has completely marked you out for His own and He will hear and answer you when you pray. Brethren, I say we need to meditate upon this fact more often. We need to think about God's love for us more regularly and be motivated to come and pray to him, knowing that he delights in the prayers of his people. Have you ever considered that you're precious in the eyes of God? Have you ever considered that? That's a marvel. Because of the work of Christ on my behalf, God loves me. God has redeemed me. Isaiah 62 and 5 says that God rejoices over his people. And you see, sometimes I think we look so much inward and we see so much sin, and that's true, that's the case, but brethren, God doesn't see those things per se all the time in that sense. How does God see us? In Christ. And because He sees us in Christ, He rejoices over that man who has sin in his heart, over that girl who's got sin in his heart, but nonetheless, I rejoice because I see them in my Son. God rejoices over His people. Brethren, Have you ever really embraced the fact that God parted with His own dear Son so that you, fill in the blank, believer, could have everlasting life? It's a wonderful thing. It's a marvel. Let me ask you, dear brethren, if David had to say to his enemies, know that the Lord has set apart for Himself Him who is godly, don't you think that we who are godly should know the same? He commands them, wicked men, know that God has set the godly apart for Himself. Well, how foolish would it be that the godly don't even know that themselves? Brethren, God has set us apart for Himself. Do you know that? Do you realize that? Have you experienced that in your own being and say, blessed be God through Christ, I'm His and He's mine. What a marvel, brethren. Unworthy people like we are, it is a marvel of God's grace. I think we should think about this more often. Brethren, I say tonight that because God has loved us and saved us through the person and work of Christ, we ought never to doubt his desire to hear and to answer us. We ought to be running to the throne of grace, saying, Lord, thou has called me, thou has set me apart, thou sends your son to die for me. Lord, I'm coming to you because you love me. This is how we ought to approach God. We ought never to doubt his fatherly love and disposition towards those to whom he's elected in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Brethren, may these realities more often help us, continue to help us more often and be encouraged to pray to God and to cry out to him. Well, finally, then, brethren, our confident trust that God will hear and answer us when we pray must be rooted in the fact that God is able to do what we ask him to do. Do you believe this? You believe that God is able to perform that which we ask him? Isn't he able to do all that we ask him to do according to his holy word? Didn't our Lord Jesus Christ say, ask and you will receive? Didn't John the Apostle say, ask anything according to his will? And we know that we have what we've asked. Don't we read in James 4, verse 2, that we have not, because we ask not? So brethren, I say, ask in faith. Ask believing that He is able to do exceedingly abundant more than we ask or even think. This is what David believed. David actually believed that God was able to do what He asked Him to do. He believed it so much that God was able to do this, that after having prayed, what do we see Him doing? we mentioned earlier, confidently resting in the Lord, His God. There He is, the King of Israel, in the midst of difficult times. And what's He doing? He's sleeping in the arms of His Savior. What a beautiful picture, brethren. What a beautiful picture is set forth before us in the life of Israel's King. Well, brother, may these thoughts help us as we come to pray to the same God. May we believe that he hears us and answers us, even as David himself did. Now, are we always going to have the faith to believe this? No. Sometimes are we going to doubt and stagger at the promises of God? Yes. But let us, by God's grace and with the Spirit's enabling work, be able to be more and more conformed to the likeness and to the precepts which are contained in God's holy word. Well, I close this evening with a word to you who are among us who don't know the God who David knew. If you were really honest, you would have to acknowledge that you do not know the God that David knew. You really don't have assurance in your heart that when you pray, God hears and answers your prayer. And why is this? Why is this the case? Well, the answer is because you haven't prayed the first prayer that you really need to pray. And what prayer is that, you say? Well, it's the prayer which is recorded in Luke 18 in verse 13, where we see the tax collector. There he is. He senses his grief before God. He knows that he's guilty. The text says that he couldn't even look up to heaven. So what did he do? He beat his breast. Why did he do that? Because he knew where sin resided. And what did he say? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And my dear unsaved friend, Until you come to God in this manner, the heavens will be like brass. God will not hear your prayers. And perhaps you say, that's how I felt. I have felt this way all my life. I feel like I pray to God. I feel like He's not out there. I feel like I'm just speaking amiss. Perhaps you say, I'm like the people in the passage. And I walk around and I say, who will show me any good? Oh, this is terrible. My life is terrible. I pray. I don't think God hears me. I never get a response. I certainly don't know what David knew in the text. I never know joy in my heart in the midst of difficult circumstances. Well, why is that, my friend? Because you haven't come to God as a needy sinner. But my friend, you ought to come to God as a needy sinner. because the Bible says he's rich to all who call upon him. You come and you own your sinnerhood before God. You say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And I'll tell you something. God is merciful to sinners. He's so merciful that he sent his son to die in the place of the guilty. He's the God in love who gave his son to be the substitute of everyone who believes upon Him. God is a merciful God. God wills that you'd rather be saved tonight than be damned. And God offers to you through the gospel of His Son, that's the good news, salvation, forgiveness of sins, so that you can pray to God confidently, saying, I know the Lord hears me. Why? Because Christ died for my sins. The heavens have been cleared. Now I can know my Father in truth. My friend, come to Christ. You believe upon his work there upon Calvary, that he was being made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. You believe what the Bible says, that he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was put upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. You believe upon Christ, who came to die the just that is himself, or the unjust, that he might bring us to God. My friend, may Christ bring you to God tonight through his sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. I bid you to look to him. You believe upon Christ as the only grounds of your hope and acceptance with a holy God to whom you've sinned against. And may you find the peace and forgiveness of sins that you really need. What you need most, my friend, is to acknowledge your sins before him and cry out, what must I do? to be saved. My friend, the answer to you is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You want God to hear and answer your prayers? You want to know what David knew within his heart? My friend, come to Christ, the only Redeemer of sinners, and he bids you tonight to believe upon him. Take him to be yours. Receive him. For as many as receive Him, to them He gave the right to be the children of God. Let us pray. Our Lord Jesus Christ, tonight we would receive you afresh as the Savior of your people, how we thank you that you are a glorious King, how we thank you that it's because of everything that you've done for us that we know that when we pray, your Father hears and answers us. We thank you, Lord, that no longer are there heavens as brass, no longer you are the God who is afar off, who does not hear, but Father, you've drawn near to us because of the bloodletting of your Son. We thank you for the redemption which is in him. We thank you for the forgiveness of sins, the joy in our hearts, which we can't even understand at times, Lord. But you've given it to us because you're real. You love your people. Thank you for setting us apart. Thank you for giving us confident trust in you that you hear and answer us, even as you did your servant David. Lord, again, we thank you for your mercies. Thank you for your word. May our thoughts and pattern and life be conformed to all that Holy Scripture says, and we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.