with me in the book of Psalms, our text tonight, Psalm 4. And we continue to look together at various Psalms that teach us about crying to the Lord. Of course, all of Scripture is given for that very purpose. So we're not saying that the other Psalms that we've looked at aren't instructive in this same way, but these particular Psalms explicitly record for us the psalmist crying to God, lifting his voice, directly to the living God. And they are very encouraging to us as we think about who our God is and they are a great comfort to us as we think about the privilege we have to cry to God. For ourselves, for our own families, for our church family, for our nation, for the church at large in this land, and the other nations of the world. And so our text tonight, Psalm 4. To the choir master with stringed instruments, a psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. O 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 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. Lift up the light of your face upon us, oh 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, oh Lord. Make me dwell in safety. That ends the reading of God's holy word. Let's pray. Oh Lord, your word is precious. It is more to be desired than gold. Yes, much fine gold. And so, Lord, we pray that you would come by your spirit and open this passage of scripture to us to understand what it means, and then for you to, with your gentle, all-powerful hand, press these wondrous truths upon our hearts, imprint them Write them on our own hearts, Lord, so that even this week we would be those who experience these precious truths about who you are and live out lives of looking to you, our God and Savior. In Jesus we pray. Amen. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness." Another psalm of David, and this psalm begins with David identifying the God that he is crying to. It is the God of his righteousness. And if we would cry to God, that is where we begin. We begin with acknowledging that we need a righteousness that will stand in the presence of Almighty God. If you'll turn with me to the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter one. This portion of scripture describes for us what God's people were to do to get right with the righteous God. We see in chapter 1, verse 1, the Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish, he shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting." And then it goes on describing how the priests were to offer this sacrifice. But I want you to notice At the end of verse 3, the purpose of this burnt offering was so that this person could be accepted by the Lord. And in order to be accepted by the Lord, he had to offer a blood sacrifice. Righteousness can be obtained only one way. And that is to have the perfect righteousness of the Lamb of God credited to our account. Over in the book of Hebrews, the Lord gives us a commentary on these sacrifices and tells us in no uncertain terms that Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the one who is the fulfillment of these sacrifices and that it is only through Him and His blood that we are viewed and accepted as righteous before the living God. David, in his life, testifies of these truths. In Hebrews chapter 9, we see that it is through the sprinkling of the blood that God's people were made right in the Old Testament time, and that those sacrifices pointed to the work of Jesus Christ. We read in Hebrews 9, verse 11, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places. not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? David is confessing at the beginning of this song that God, the God he is crying to, is the God who has made him right. The God who is his righteousness. In Hebrews chapter 4 we read in verse 14, Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And so, here in Psalm 4, we see David beginning this psalm, this instruction for us about how he and how we ought to cry to God. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. Over in Psalm 130, the Lord said, if he should mark iniquity, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. And so David is confessing. that he has a righteousness that has been given to him by God. He has been justified the second he believed in the Christ. Turn with me over to a Psalm that we looked at earlier in our series on the Psalms, Psalm 32. a mascal of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. But when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long, for day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity. of my sin. And so that's how this psalm begins. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. As we are going to see, David had great confidence and boldness and hope and it arose because of his standing with his God. A standing that was not based upon a faulty footing, but a standing that was based upon the sure redemption that God has supplied and given. Justification, where God declares us righteous on the basis of the work of another. The Lamb of God, His sacrifice upon the cross, His perfect life credited to our account. The work of God not only justifying us, but adopting us, that we are clothed and counted as His children in the Beloved. A righteousness where God is actually changing us more and more to reflect the character of God Almighty. All of this was what David is looking at. He is saying, God, you are the one who has saved me and I am crying to you. Answer me when I call. The next phrase in verse 1, he recounts what God has done in the past. And it would be wise for us to be recounting the great deliverances that God has recorded for his people all through history. They have been recorded for our instruction, for our edification. Just a couple of places in the New Testament where God reminds us of that truth. First of all, Romans chapter 15. Turn with me to Romans 15 in verse 4. for whatever was written in former days, and he's just quoted from the Old Testament, was written for our instruction that through perseverance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. May the God of perseverance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has recorded for us in 1 Corinthians 10 that the things that were recorded in the past were written for our instruction so that we would learn from positive and negative examples recorded in Scripture. Here in Psalm 4, you have given me relief when I was in distress. And when we take to heart what God has done in the past, it encourages us to pray, crying to God, in our own lives. And if we would have eyes to see, we can look back in our own lives, as David did, and recount the great blessings and mercies and deliverances of our God. You remember when David faced the giant Goliath, he remembered God's past deliverances. If you will turn with me in 1 Samuel, And we'll look in chapter 17, 1 Samuel chapter 17. And here, I don't want us to take the time to read this whole account, but we'll start in verse 31. When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul. And he sent for him, and David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Talking about Goliath, your servant will go and fight with the Philistine. And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth. And the Hebrew word there for youth is naar. And when I was in seminary, one of my roommates was a dear brother who loved the Lord Jesus from Tel Aviv. And that was the nickname that he gave me. He called me Nahar. And so I took that as a compliment from him. He was a warrior. He was a commando in the Israeli Defense Force, and he was a dear, dear brother. But that's when I first learned the term, na'ar. And so Saul says, David, forget. You're not going to be able to go against this giant warrior, Goliath. You are but a na'ar. And so he has been a man of war from his youth. But David said to him, your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he rose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. What's David doing? He's remembering how the Lord had delivered him in the past. And so here in Psalm 4, David, he cries to the Lord, to the God who is his righteousness, and he says, you have given me relief when I was in distress. You've enlarged my place. is literally the Hebrew there. And it has the picture of God giving deliverance. You're in a real tight spot and God puts you in a place where you've just got plenty of ease. You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. We don't know the particular occasion upon which this psalm was written, but obviously David is in distress and he is crying to God. And he says, Lord, I remember how you have been faithful in the past. And so God calls upon us to first and foremost go to scripture, to remember who our God is, as we are trusting in Jesus, who is our righteousness. And then, second to that, we are to look back over our own lives, recounting and remembering God's mercy and kindness and faithfulness. to rescue us. Have you ever been in trouble, child of God, when God did not, in His good time, deliver? Well, here we are. We're all present in the sight of God Almighty who has enlarged us even when we were in distress. And David says, therefore, be gracious to me and hear my prayer. Here I am again, Lord, knocking at your door. I'm in need of another rescue. How precious our God is. Well, that is how this psalm begins and then in verse 2, David turns to the people around him and would exhort them and call them to join him in loving and trusting and serving his God, rather than being those who would war futilely against God. Amen. And this phrase, sons of men, it gives the idea of people who had in the world's eyes a position of clout. And so he says, I know you may think you have the power and you are in charge, but you are fighting against someone that you're not going to succeed. Oh men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? And so as God's people, it is a grievous thing to live in a culture when people mock and scoff the name of our God. It hurts our heart. And we would run to the Lord and cry to Him for deliverance, but we also would be so bold as to address the enemies of Christ and say, listen, how long are you going to pursue this vain attempt at pulling Messiah off His throne? The Lord laughs at you. How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Satan tempted Eve. You will be like God. You can determine for yourself good and evil. A vain word, a lie, Well, the bottom line, verse 3, but know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord hears when I call to him. What a picture this is that the God of the Bible has set apart his people to bring praise to his name. And our God in His providence sometimes puts us in paths of ease. And when He does, we beg that He would give us grace to remember James chapter 1. Every good gift, every perfect gift comes from where? From above. From the Father of lights. We remember the warning that God gave through his servant Moses to the children of Israel as they were on the edge of going in to conquer the promised land. And the Lord told them that he would go before them. And even though they were giants, and even though their cities were fortified, yet no man would be able to stand before them, as he reminded his servant Joshua in Joshua chapter 1. And indeed, they fell before the living God. And He gave them the land. And in Deuteronomy chapter 8, He reminds them, He says, I want to remind you of your history. I want to remind you of the generation that perished because they didn't think that I was big enough to fulfill my promises, to give you the land. And where are they? They are not present. But you, their children, that that unbelieving generation said, oh, we dare not try to go in and take the land. The giants will kill us and take our children and make them slaves. And in Deuteronomy chapter 8, Moses says, God is reminding you how He chastened and that generation died out, but look how He cared for you. He fed you manna. What is it, bread? You know, that's what manna means. The term manhu is Hebrew. What is it? And the little children came running out the morning that the Lord had sent manna from heaven and they all were hollering, what is it? What is it? Man who? Man who? And that's why they called it manna. And the Lord said, I fed you bread that you didn't even know existed. I kept your sandals from wearing out these 40 years. So that you would know that man does not live by bread alone, but he lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. And the Lord went on to warn his people, be careful. When you go into the land, you're going to eat crops you didn't plant and live in houses you didn't build. Beware, lest you say in your heart, my hand and my ingenuity gave me all this wealth. But you shall remember it is the Lord your God who has given you these things. He warned them, beware. If you ever turn away from me, the Lord says, and go after false gods, you will perish just like the nations that the Lord is dispossessing before you. And so David is bold because he has gone into the presence of God. He has a righteousness that he would dare stand before the holy, holy, holy God. And he is not afraid of these men who would oppose God and think that they are in charge. Oh men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord hears when I call to Him. And so David has great confidence that the Lord is going to hear his cry. The Lord is going to deliver. And that's what we read over in 2 Corinthians. Chapter 1 where the Apostle Paul described how that even though they were in situations that they would be tempted to despair even of life. Yet they had hope. Why? Because God was with them. And so it is with every child of God who is trusting in Jesus. God has set us apart for himself to be used for his glory as he sees fit, whether in times of ease or in great difficulty. The Lord hears when I call to him. And then we see in verse four and five how God wants us to be thinking about life and what we are faced with. Be angry and do not sin. Ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. This is quoted over in the book of Ephesians. And if you'll turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4, here we have this reference to this call to be angry but do not sin. We ought to be stirred up because of evil, but we ought to be stirred up God's way. We ought not be stirred up in a sinful way. We ought to be moved to a righteous indignation, a righteous anger when we see sin. And it ought to begin with self. That's what we see in Matthew chapter 7, where the Lord Jesus says, Judge not, lest you be judged. For with whatever judgment you give, you will be judged with that same standard. And so if we apply the standard of God first and foremost to ourselves, it causes us to be humble. It causes us to see and understand clearly that we stand only by the grace of God. And it gives us a disposition, instead of being haughty and arrogant and prideful as we deal with people around us, to be humble and to be acknowledging, I struggle with the same problem that you have. And my solution is the only solution that is available to you. It is the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, the Lord. And so in Ephesians chapter 4, the Lord gives an instruction about what it looks like to grow up in Christ. And if you look in Ephesians chapter 4, Here in verse 17, now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. We're to be people who think and then act as God would have us, to have His perspective on life. That's what Psalm 4 is calling upon us. As we would cry to the Lord, as we would live, that we ought to have God's perspective. And when we look at ourselves and we look at this fallen world, we ought to be stirred to action. Whatever is against God, we ought to go, that's not right. And we ought to take God's kind of action to deal with it. On down in this passage, he says those who have been taught in Jesus. We're learning to walk with Jesus. And notice what it looks like in verse 22, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self. Putting off, putting on. And then he gives some examples. He says, for example, put off, in verse 25, put away falsehood. So you put off lying and in its place, what do you put on? Speaking the truth in Jesus. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. And then look at the next example. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity for the devil. And so here in our text in Psalm 4, David says, look, we need to have God's perspective. We need to be stirred at whatever is not right in the sight of our God. Be angry and do not sin. We need to be praying and thinking and meditating, pondering in our hearts, even on our beds. and we just need to be silent before the Lord, and crying out even as we would go to sleep, Lord Jesus, please bless me to grow to love you, and to love what you love, and to hate what you hate. Oh Lord, bless my home, bless my family, bless me in my calling, bless me as I play, bless me as I eat, bless me as I drink water, to do it for your praise. And so that's verse five. Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. We live with an eye toward pleasing our great God who gave his son to die for us. That's how we cry to God. It comes in the context of a life that is lived around the orbit of God Almighty and His Holy Word, the Bible, and the redeeming work of His Son, Jesus Christ. The sacrifices that we offer, as we read in Hebrews chapter 13, it is through Jesus that we have the privilege of offering sacrifices. The only sacrifice that can give us access to God is the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. That's the burnt offering sacrifice. But after the priest would give you entrance through that picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you had the privilege of offering all kinds of other expressions of worship and praise to God Almighty. And that's what we see in the New Testament, that through our Lord Jesus, every believer has direct access to the throne of grace. And what sacrifices do we offer? Well, Hebrews 13 says, the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name through our Lord Jesus. Those sacrifices are accepted. And doing good and sharing with others for such sacrifices, God is well pleased when they're offered in the name of Jesus. That's how we cry to God. It is from a heart of a life that is given to the living God. In Romans chapter 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you offer what? Your bodies as a living sacrifice. Well, in verses 6 through 8, we have the conclusion. There are many who say, who will show us some good? There are scoffers, there are those that would refuse to enter into the joy of living for the Lord Jesus Christ. They are those who live for what they can see. They live for the now. They live for the vain idols of this world. They take the gifts and make those their idols and forget all about the giver. Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord. They may scoff, but we are the ones who have the smile of his face because of Christ. And because of that, even though there are scoffers and mockers who would make fun of you to follow Jesus, yet what do we have? Well, we have the glories of heaven awaiting us, but we walk by faith and not by sight. And we have hope. Now I love the description of hope that is given to us in Romans chapter 8. Hope is the confidence that what God has promised we will get. We don't have it yet. And that's how we live. And that's what the psalmist had as he cried to the Lord. He said, Lord, I know you're going to hear my cry and I know you're going to deliver me. I know what you've done in the past. I know your character. I know the righteousness that you have given to me is a perfect righteousness, the righteousness of your son. And because of all of that, you have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound they think they have the world by the tail but lord i have you and if you give me abundance of grain and wine I'll praise your name. And Lord, if you give me little, I will praise your name because I am yours. And I have the joy of living for you. And someday, you are going to take me to your glorious heaven. And heaven will begin with the experience of God's banquet. When Jesus comes again in glory, there will be the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, I don't know what the food in heaven is going to be like, but I promise you, we will not be disappointed. We cannot imagine all of the incredible blessings that are in store But the greatest blessing, you remember the sands of time are sinking? That hymn. The dawn of heaven breaks. The morning I've sighed for, the fair sweet morn, it breaks. Dark, dark hath been the midnight, but day spring is at hand, and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land. We have the hope, the confidence that all that God has promised to be for us and give us, we will have in His good time. And what does that do for us now? Look at verse 8. The psalmist, as he cried to the Lord in whatever this distress was, he was in great distress, he was in anguish. But as he has gone through this psalm now, instructing us about how to cry to God, how to live, trusting, and just giving ourselves in peace, I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety. Oh, what a blessing it is to be able to rest in Jesus. My dear old mama, one of the hymns that she would sing as she was bedfast for those close to five years was a hymn that the first time I heard it, Ethel Waters was singing it at a Billy Graham crusade. And it starts out, why should I be discouraged? Why should the shadows fall? And it goes on painting a picture of, I'm in distress. But then the chorus, his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he's watching me. And so that's how this psalm ends. David ends with this confidence that in peace, I will both lie down and sleep. And I pray that God will give us a heart to just trust in Jesus and rest in Him and to give ourselves every day to Him. And if the path is easy to remember, Deuteronomy 8 and James 1, we don't want to forget the giver and just focus on the good gifts, or if our path is difficult and hard, we pray, God, I want you to remind me that you are good, and in your good time, you will give me relief. And between now and then, I'm just going to trust and obey you. In peace, I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. We have a lot to learn about crying to God. And it's an exciting thing for Jesus as our good shepherd to take us by the hand and say, here, come, let me teach you. Praise God. Let's pray. Father, we ask as we sing this hymn, as we close tonight, that indeed that would be the joy of our heart to give ourselves anew to you. In Jesus we pray, amen.