So the news these days just seems to be filled with one bad news story after one bad news story. Frankly, if you watch too much news, you might end up depressed. You know, our own country, we're literally in the middle of a political civil war. There's a lot of different wars physically being fought around the world. And now that we have pestilences running around our wonderful world, you know, and the coronavirus, which is, you know, major headline news right now, is nearing, if not already, that pandemic levels. And these are just a few events in our world today that are just causing us a lot of concern and fear. However, it's not just major events in the world that can do that as well. It can be more of a personal nature. We have personal crises that we deal with on a regular basis, it seems. You know, we have sicknesses, we have surgeries. There are family matters that come up and they can't be swept under the rug. You have to deal with them. And so, you know, the question is, are we getting weird from all of these things that are upon us? Is there any relief from these things? Well, King David has an opinion on this subject. You know, he had his share of crises to deal with. Some of those crises were not even in his control. They were out of his control. I mean, think about it. King Saul hunted him like a dog. Absalom, his own son, did the same. And then, of course, King David, you know, had that affair with Bathsheba, which that brought a whole bunch of horrible consequences with it. But yet, David, in Psalm chapter 4, tells us that there's hope. And Psalm 4 is going to remind us of this very truth, that we do have hope, and that we are in good hands. In this psalm, David contrasts the way of the ungodly man with God's chosen ones. He writes about the safety of the faithful and he describes that we have this quiet trust in troubling times. So we're going to take the next few minutes this morning and hopefully be encouraged by Psalm chapter 4. And I hope this thing reminds us again that God knows his own. He knows the end of both his chosen ones and those who are ungodly. But before we jump into the the points that I have in the psalm. I actually want to read this psalm in its entirety one more time. So if you would, just follow along as I read chapter 4, just one more time. 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 worklessness and seek falsehood, Selah? And you know that word Selah, as you know, means to pause and to kind of consider the total doom and hopelessness of the ungodly right there. It's just something to think about. 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. Selah. 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 the grain and wine increased. I will both lie down in peace and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." So the first point we want to look at in this psalm is actually in verse 1. Confidence in God to hear and deliver his chosen ones. So look at verse 1 once again. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You have relieved me of my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. So the first words that we see from David here are, hear me when I call. So David prays. He takes his situation directly to the Lord. In fact, it's his first response. And so the first lesson we see here for us is that when we're facing something, our first response should be that of taking it to the Lord in prayer. Yes, we can and we should ask our brothers and sisters in the Lord to pray with us concerning our troubles, and we should seek their counsel when it's appropriate. But we should always first make it a matter that we take to the Lord. An example of this is George Mueller. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with George Mueller. But he lived a long time ago. And he ran orphanages. He was a man that he did not take any of his needs to other men. All he ever did was pray about them and take them to the Lord. An example of that is this. One morning, all the children in the orphanage were gathered around the breakfast table. Empty glasses on the table. Empty plates on the table. There was literally no food in the orphanage to feed the children breakfast. So what did George Miller do? He said, let's bow our heads and pray. And he prayed for God's provision and thanked Him for it. Now is it any wonder that a bread truck and a milk truck broke down outside the orphanage? And back in those days, they had no choice but to give it to somebody because it would spoil. So they gave it to the orphanage. And the children all ate a nice breakfast that day. And there is just example and example and example from George Wheeler on that very thing. But we also notice here that David doesn't begin this psalm Like, we typically tend to begin prayers where we say, you know, dear God, or Lord, and that type of thing. He starts with, hear me. And this word, hear, is ana, and it means to heed, or pay attention, and by implication, to respond. David, in a way, is kind of like raising his voice, if you will, indicating that there's just a sense of urgency to the matter. But then David uses a very unique phrase. It's not used anywhere else in all of scripture. And that phrase is, O God of my righteousness. Charles Thurston points out that this name deserves our attention because it means, referring to God, that God is the author, the witness, the maintainer, and the judge and the rewarder of our righteousness. And Spurgeon is telling us that it is this God that David is taking his concerns to. He is appealing to God as he faces this slander and this defamation and the harsh judgment of the sons of men. It would do us well to follow David's example and appeal to God when we find ourselves in similar situations. But we're not appealing to God upon our righteousness because our righteousness is nothing but filthy rags. But we are appealing to God on His righteousness. Notice that David continues in this confidence that he has in God to respond when he says, You have relieved me in my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. So David mentions and acknowledges here that God has helped him in the past. He has relieved him in the past. And so that gives David confidence, and it should give us confidence when we think of how God has helped us in the past. In fact, this should embolden us to approach the throne of grace boldly, as Hebrews 4.16 tells us. It says, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may do what? Obtain a couple things. Obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. That should be encouraging to us, that we can come boldly before the throne and God is going to give us mercy and he's going to give us grace. Does it come early? It's never late, but you have it just in time. So God is going to deliver David and he will deliver us from our distresses. It may not come in the way we think it should come. It may not come in the time that we think it should come. But do not doubt because God will deliver us in his time and in his way. It is on us to trust him and to have faith. Remember that God's thoughts towards us, his children, are always that of good, Jeremiah 29, 11. And I know what I've just said is very familiar. We've heard them, you know, many times, and maybe they're overused a little bit. But we need to remind ourselves of these truths regularly. I mean, we live in a world that can cause us a great deal of stress. So, reminding ourselves of the truth of Scripture. God is faithful and he will deliver us, as he has in the past. But now, David changes his focus as we move to point two. And that is, he's leaving the prayer closet, if you will, and entering the conflict. Look with me at verses two through five. And the point we want to see here is the reason and exhortation with the sons of men and to stop seeking evil and turn to God, verses 2 through 5. How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? Selah. 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, Salem. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. So as I said, now David enters this conflict directly with his enemies, but he doesn't enter this conflict with swords and arrows and shields. He concedes, David concedes that these are great men, which is inferred by the Hebrew meaning of sons of men. But David also believes that these men are nonetheless foolish, and then he begins to kind of treat them like children. So David questions his enemies, as we see in verse 2, asking how long they intend to mock him and seek evil and lies. And he points out their foolishness for not recognizing and realizing that the Lord's anointed will not be overcome by all their slander and all their challenges to him. As Charles Spurgeon asks here, he says, do they really intend to jest their souls into hell and to go on with their laughter until swift vengeance should turn on their merriment into howling? In other words, the sons of men do not realize that the folly of their ways and left unchanged will lead them straight into judgment and eternal punishment in hell. Then David changes the narrative as he begins to explain and focus on the Lord's choice, what we see in verse 3. And it begins with, but know, ignorant men will not learn, and they must continually be reminded of truth, even though it may be a truth that they do not want to hear. In fact, some can get outright angry when they're reminded of truth. But what David is pointing out here when he says, but no, is explained very quickly in the next phrase, that the Lord has set apart for himself him who is godly. David is telling these ungodly sons of men that if God has set apart for himself who is godly, there is no amount of persecution, there is no amount of defamation that will cause the godly person's demise. What confidence we have as believers that God has chosen us to be His very own. Just as Ephesians 1-4 tells us, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. And so if He has chosen us, then He is going to hear us when we call out to Him. And it is this very confidence that should give us courage and inspire us in fervency and faith. And since God has chosen him who is godly, as the text says, God cannot but hear us when we cry out to him. And now we see in verse 4, David's exhortation to tremble and to be in awe and to not sin. Where he says, be angry and do not sin. This phrase, be angry, in the King James Version, is translated as, stand in awe. And I kind of like the King James Version translation better, as I think it gets to the heart of what the psalmist is driving to. And that's trembling at God, be in awe of Him, and have a reverent fear of God. And then he goes on to say, do not sin. And so David is pleading with sinners here to trust God and to stop pursuing the worthless and pursue the one of greatest value. So please pardon me as I read this quote from Charles Sturgeon. It's long. But like I said earlier, he is the Prince of Preachers, so why not read it? So here's what Charles Sturgeon has to say. How many reverse this counsel and sin but tremble not? O that men would take the advice of this verse and commune with their own hearts! Surely a want of thought must be one reason why men are so mad as to despise Christ and hate their own mercies. O that for once their passions would be quiet and let them be still, so that in solemn silence they might review the past and meditate upon their inevitable doom. Surely a thinking man might have enough sense to discover the vanity of sin and the worklessness of the world." Unquote. I couldn't say it better, so why not read it? So now David concludes this section in verse 5 with a call to trust the Lord. He says, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. What we begin to see here is the heart of David. Even though men are slandering him and trying to defame his character, and in some cases trying to kill him, he's calling them to repentance. What an example David is setting for us here, for us to put into practice ourselves. Is our heart so tender to the Lord that even when the hatred of people is thrown at us, is our heart tender enough to call them to repentance? To call them to the cross and to remind them that Christ's sacrifice on the cross was for their sin. So David is exhorting the lost to run to the cross and be saved or be crushed by judgment for their unbelief. And now David concludes this psalm with a comparison. And we see this in our third point which is taken from verses 6 through 8. The unbelievers lack of satisfaction and despair as compared to the believers satisfaction and hope. Look with me at verses 6-8. 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 the grain and wine increased. I will both lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. So we see here that the ungodly proclaim, Who will show us any good? The original language actually does not include the word any, so the literal reading is, who will show us good? And so what we see here is the despair of the wicked. You see, there are general mercies and trouble that come to all mankind living in this world. You know, the sun shines and the rains of the just and the unjust. Men may find great success because they have skill in some particular area. But real happiness, joy, and peace, they're not going to come as a result of our success. So they're just left asking the question, who will show us any good? Well, we know, as children of God, that all good things come from the Father. So therefore, if you don't have the Father, you don't have anything that can be of eternal value. life ultimately then is hopeless. And this is summed up really in the phrase that we've heard over the years, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. So without the reality of God in our lives, There's really hopelessness and despair. But you know, David doesn't spend a lot of time right there. He moves very quickly and gets off of dwelling on the unbeliever's hopelessness. And he begins to compare what the unbeliever's hopelessness state is to the believer's joy and the believer's hope. So let's take a look at the second part at verse 6. 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. So he begins with a very familiar thought that any Hebrew would recognize. And that thought is found in Numbers chapter 6 verses 24-26. You don't need to turn there. But this is the account of Aaron's high priestly blessing on the Israelites. And it reads, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. You see, it's a very fearful thing to not have the Lord lift up his countenance to you, but for the believer. He lifts up his countenance. He smiles and he welcomes the believer into his presence. And he's going to give the believer peace. But it's not just peace. Look at verse 6 where David says, You have put gladness or joy in my heart. God has given us, his children, joy that's unspeakable. And joy that's just full of glory. And this is so much greater than having any wealth or money in the bank. And that's indicated by the phrase, more than in the season that the grain and wine are increased. Possessing Christ in the heart is far greater joy than any amount of money you will ever have in the bank. The world, they work very hard to find peace and safety and the abundance of their wealth and prosperity. But they're never satisfied. How many times do you hear them say, how much is enough? Well, as one man said, just a little bit more. But they're never at peace. However, the person who has run to the cross, and has had the countenance of the Lord lifted up to them, will find two very wonderful things, and that is peace and rest. Look at verse 8. I will both lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. So how many people do you know that are restless in their minds and really have a hard time finding peaceful sleep and rest? Maybe that has described you. Sometimes it describes me. But why is that? I mean, really, in short, what that's saying is we haven't really put our full trust in Christ. I'm not talking about salvation. Just, you know, resting in Him. And think about this word peace for a minute, that is here in Psalm 4. See, in Hebrew, it's shalom. And when you look up this word, you find that it has a very comprehensive meaning. And so I'm going to read it to you. Think about this. It's a completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace. It's a completeness in number, safety and soundness in body, welfare, health, prosperity, peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment with friendships and other human relationships. But most especially, peace with God and covenant relationship. So that one little word, shalom, is very comprehensive and means a great deal. Maybe we can simplify it a little bit this morning and just say you have a quiet conscience. And by having a quiet conscience, you're able to be free of fear and lay down and sleep and rest. But sadly, we often allow the weekly stresses and concerns of our lives to keep us up. So we need to be reminded of what David started with here in Psalm 4 verse 1 where he says, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You have relieved me of my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. So we need to just take it to the Lord. So beloved, what are we waiting for? Run to the Father. He's going to lift up His face to you and you are going to experience His peace, His love, and His tenderness. Peace is then followed by rest, or sleep, as the text says. And peace and rest, they're really inseparable because they're tied together. You really can't have one without the other. And this is only possible because of what we see in the last part of verse 8. So as we conclude our time this morning, let's take a look at this last phrase. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. God alone is the believer's keeper. So if God is our keeper, then why do we struggle to find peace and rest? Let me remind you that the one who keeps you neither slumbers nor sleeps. And who is a better protector than God himself? So we should find peace and rest. And let's think about this entire Psalm of David. particularly verse 4 you know I kind of moved past it real quick so I'm coming back to here where it says meditate within your heart out of your bed and be still I don't know about you but for me often times my best thinking is done in the middle of the night you know it's quiet the lights are off the TV's silent there's not an appliance running anywhere And because of where I live, you can hear the crickets. And that's it. And my mind can work through things. And it's a great time to just meditate on the scriptures that you read that morning or at some point earlier in the day. But the last thing I want to point out here in this psalm is that we don't want to lose sight of how Jesus Christ is seen in this psalm. And I think there are several ways that we see Christ revealed here, and I think they're worth taking time to contemplate. So I'll list them for you, and then we'll close. So Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our access to the Father. Christ is our greatest treasure, our greatest joy, our greatest hope, our keeper, our peace, and our rest. So Christ is the answer to how we can experience a quiet trust even in troubling times. So as we close today, let's remember that truth and stay focused on Christ.