Let's take our Bibles now and turn to Psalm chapter 4. Psalm chapter 4. Last week as we preached on Psalm chapter 3, we saw that Psalm 3 records for us a morning psalm. Well, if Psalm chapter 3 is a morning psalm, you'll notice in chapter 3 and verse 5, David, in spite of his affliction, in spite of the rebellion, the heartache that he endured, he gave that over to the Lord. And notice it's a morning psalm because it says in chapter 3 and verse 5, I laid me down and slept, I awakened, for the Lord sustained me. So many commentators call chapter 3 a morning psalm. Well, if chapter 3 is a morning psalm, I believe we can call chapter 4 an evening psalm. Because in chapter 4 and verse 8, it says, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. For thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. That's a good verse to teach your children when they're afraid of the dark, when they're afraid of going to sleep. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep." Peace and sleep. Why? Because the Lord maketh me dwell in safety. Well, what I get as an idea from chapter 3 and chapter 4 is that we ought to wake up with the Lord in our minds and we ought to go to bed with the promises of the Lord in our minds. We ought to have our minds centered upon the Lord throughout the day. It's His strength that sustains us amidst the pressures of life. And what's Satan's plan? Satan's plan is to place our minds on other things than the Lord. If he can get us worried and fearful. I was just listening on the news this evening. how the terrorists want to confound our country with fear. They're leaking out all of these alleged reports, saying that our nation's banks are going to be in danger. Then this week they say, be careful of the malls and the supermarkets. You see, they know that if they can get Americans to fear, that the battle is already three quarters won. And I don't think that we should give them that power. But I don't believe that we ought to give the devil that power. He's behind it all, isn't he? He wants us to be fearful. But no, we ought not to be preoccupied and fearful about things and finances and possessions and worry and our security and what we shall wear and where we shall sleep and what we shall eat. Well, Psalm 4, is a good recipe for the title that we're giving it this evening, Peace Amidst the Pressures of Life. The Lord is not going to exempt us from the trials that are going to come our way, but He can and He will offer us peace. Now the background to Psalm chapter 4 is probably the same setting as chapter 3, Absalom's Rebellion. Psalm 4 demonstrates David's daily need that he needed every day to give his burden to the Lord. And we need to do that every day. We may lay a burden at the feet of the Lord on Monday, but you know, we'll have to do it all again when Tuesday comes. We need to continue to give our burdens unto the Lord. You'll notice Psalm chapter 4 begins in our English Bibles with an inscription, not part of the inspired text, but very ancient. It says, to the chief musician, the word nakshak means to shine or to stand out. This musician was the lead player using the neginoth, which is a musical stringed instrument, perhaps very similar to that which Caroline Fite, has blessed us with from time to time. And it's been a blessing. And a stringed instrument that he uses, a harp-like instrument. Now, we're going to be looking at the suggested outline. In verses 1 through 3, we're going to see David's cry. And oh, it was a cry. It was a cry of great need. But then we're going to look at David's correction. He had correction. some instruction and correction for those who would seek to afflict him. And then we're going to finish up the psalm in verses 6-8 with David's confidence. And we know that his confidence was certainly in the Lord. Now let's take a look at David's cry. Perhaps it's your cry this evening as you are facing some difficulties. There are two aspects, by the way, to David's cry. First of all, In verse 1, we see his cry to God. It says in verse 1, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! Hear me! Sometimes when we pray, it seems like the heavens are silent. Isaiah the prophet once said, Oh, if that would rend the sky and give me an answer for my request, It seems like sometimes the Lord is silent when we pray. David often sensed this, as we'll see in many of his Psalms. But you know what? Faith keeps on praying. Faith keeps on praying. Just like a father who is teaching his little son or daughter to walk. Oftentimes the baby will begin his or her, you'll have to excuse me, in my house the masculine gender predominates, so I always fall to he. But here comes the little baby, little Rollo's going towards daddy. What does daddy do? He may back up a little bit if he sees that he's walking well to increase his endurance, to increase his ability to learn how to walk. And oftentimes, when it seems that our prayers go unheard, God wants to teach us to extend our ability to keep on praying by faith. Don't quit. Faith keeps on praying. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You know, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So the Lord wants us to keep on praying even though we don't see it. Is there a burden on your heart? You know, as your pastor, I know what a lot of burdens that you're facing. You've shared them with me. I pray with you. And you know that I'm praying with you on them. But you know, sometimes we don't see evidence of an answer right away. But you know, faith keeps on praying. with great importunity going to the Lord. And I like that. He reminds himself. He says, O God of my righteousness. David is not appealing to his own righteousness as to the reason why God ought to hear him. He's appealing to the righteousness of God in which he is clothed. The reason why we can be righteous And the reason why God can hear our prayers is because He is righteous. We need to keep before us that everything that God does in our lives, whether we understand it or not, we must accept the given that God is a good and righteous God. And therefore, we continue to go before Him and we pray. Notice, David says, Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress." The word distress means to be in a tight spot. It means in the Hebrew to be constricted, to be pressed between a rock and a hard place, if you want to use a contemporary term. How many of us have sometimes felt in a tight spot? You're dinged if you do and you're donged if you don't. And you don't know where to go. And you turn to the left or to the right, but God says, Lord, I'm in a tight spot, but you're able to bring me into a wide space. You're able to enlarge my borders. You're able to give me freedom of mobility by faith to trust in you. I believe that the concept of enlargement also has the idea of spiritual growth. That God is enlarging our borders by spiritual growth. As we go through the tight spots, like Romans chapter 5 says, tribulation works patience, you see. And as we grow, we're able to bear up under and increase our strength, just like that father who backs up and allows that child to build up those muscles and that endurance to keep on bearing up under So the Lord allows the constricted parts of our lives so that we might be able to continue to grow and to trust Him. And the Lord tells us that. Now, my question to you is this. Do you think that maybe we ought to reconsider sometimes how we pray? Instead of just simply saying, Lord, remove the trial, maybe what we need to say is, Lord, accomplish your enlarging process. in my life, your process of sanctification which is making me conform to the image of Christ." I believe that we need to pray, yes, for the removal of the thorns and all of that, but we also need to recognize in our prayers when we pray for someone who is weak spiritually or going through a trial, Lord, accomplish your purpose. May they be driven to their knees And may they see this as a stepping stone. Instead of groaning, may, Lord, they grow instead of groan! May it be a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block, you see. May Your purpose, which transcends any of ours, we don't understand what God is doing, but God does. God assures us. I can go to a surgeon, and he might cut on me and I may not like the idea of being cut but you know there's a difference between a murderer and a physician. Both may use a knife but the physician knows how to cut and where to put the scaffold. He's been trained and he's knowledgeable and we as a church pray for physicians and every opportunity we get I had opportunity to have prayer with a physician today in the hospital that was performing a procedure, and they really appreciated that. And we know that God can work, and He applies the scapel, and He's not doing it to hurt us, but to help us. So David, in effect, is saying here in this passage of Scripture, Lord, I know You are my righteous God. I know You don't make mistakes. I don't understand all of why this is happening." And in some degree he did understand, because he had received information about the calamity that would fall his way. And he was largely responsible, but he also knew that the Lord, although he would suffer grief, he would lift him up and strengthen him. There's an old Spanish saying that I learned a long time ago from my dad. And it loses a little bit in the translation, but it goes something like this. And if Brother Cintron was here, he'd know what I was referring to. But the idea is, the Lord may squeeze you, but He'll never drown you. And there's a little bit of a change in the translation there. It goes something like this, El Señor atrieta, pero nunca ahoga. And it speaks to the fact that the Lord may bring you through some tough times, but it's always for your good. Always for your good. And we can trust in the Lord. And it says here, have mercy upon me and hear my prayers. Oh, how we need to realize that Psalm 145, verse 18 says, The Lord is near unto all of them that call upon Him, that call upon Him in truth, which means no guile or deceit. So we see in verse 1, David's cry to God. But now we're going to look at his cry in another area. We're going to see David's cry to deceitful men. And there were deceitful men that were out to get him. Look at verse 2. O ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? those that were seeking to overthrow him and persecute how long will you love vanity the concept of vanity means emptiness that which is worthless that which is done their own sinful purposes how long will you love vanity and then it goes on to say after leasing some people say well what's wrong with leasing Some people lease cars. We're leasing this building. What's wrong with leasing? The word leasing means falsehood or lying. They were spreading flat out lies about David. By the way, has anybody ever spread lies about you? Has that ever happened? Or have you been in a little cubicle somewhere, probably not doing a whole lot for the Lord, maybe up on some shelf somewhere, and Satan's never had any reason to attack you, because he already has you inactive. But if you're going to move around for the Lord, you're going to create some friction. And with friction sometimes come sparks. And there are going to be some people that are going to criticize you. But that's okay. Do like John Bunyan said, I take the accusations that you hurl at me, and I place them as medals upon my breast. for the glory of god now if those criticisms are legitimate like i always say mend your ways and uh... take it as iron sharpening iron and uh... examined go to the word of god examine communicate with those that may have ought against you in some way but if after self-examination biblical introspection counsel from those that you recognize and trust to be men and women of God, you stand in your conscience clear before God, then suffer for the cause of righteousness and keep on keeping on for the Lord. Just trust in Him. And it says here, Selah! Think about this. There are always going to be people that are going to be following their empty ways and spreading lies. But notice, David is still with his cry now. we're still on that first point the cry of david david's cry he continues and and he says this but no that the lord set apart him that is godly for himself in other words it doesn't matter what people say it's what god says and what god is doing in my life god has set me apart and sometimes folks he sets us apart as instruments for suffering. And you know, if we suffer in this life for righteousness' sake, praise the Lord, we're co-sufferers with our Savior. We're going to reign with Him. Why shouldn't we suffer with Him? If there's anything about the professing American church today, it's that we have been weakened because of the acceptance of Christianity in this part of the world. And I believe that the years of the comfortable Christian are quickly coming to an end. Do you see it? I believe you should if you have your eyes open. It's going to cost something to take a stand for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ in America. It's not just going to an Arab country. We have become so pluralistic that it seems like anyone that believes in the Christian heritage in which our nation was founded is being overly nationalistic. And we need to have a global view and a new world view. And absolutes, you see, don't really exist. Absolutes were something that we once held to when we were so provincial in the pre-computer years, but now we have to be open-minded. you see in this world and individuals have that concept and it's going to cost but the Lord has noticed set apart him that is godly for himself the Lord will hear when I call onto him all what a joy it is here we have the scripture that says that the Lord has set us apart the Lord has set us apart for his glory Now, let's take a look at how He has set us apart. Well, we are His children. We are the family of God. Don't lose your place in Psalm 4, but let's turn to a beautiful passage known as the Lord's true prayer in John chapter 17. His prayer to His Heavenly Father. One of these days we'll preach through that passage in our series on the life of Christ But let's just take one scripture and read it. John 17, 24. Why has the Lord set us apart for himself? Well, if you look at John 17, 24, did you know that we are God's gift to Christ? We are God's gift to Christ. Notice it says in verse 24, Father, I will, I desire in other words, I will that they also whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am. Did you know that this is a very strong passage for eternal security? You are God's gift to Jesus Christ. And he's not about to undo his gift. And I want you to notice that Christ is God's love gift to us, for God so loved the world, John 3, 16, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh, what a joy! we have and the Lord hears our prayers. It says back now to Psalm 4 and verse 3, the Lord will hear when I call unto Him because I am God's gift to Christ. We are members of the family of God and He may not answer as I would like, but He hears and answers in accordance with His will, 1 John 5, 14, and His will is best for us. and we can trust in him. So we've seen David's cry. He first cries to God, verse 1, but then he cries to deceitful men that are persecuting him. Now, I want us to look not only at David's cry, but now in verses 4 and 5, let's look at David's correction here. He's still speaking now to these deceitful men that are attacking him, and he's about to do some correcting now. and to speak to them in a rebuke. It says, Stand in awe and sin not. In other words, the word awe there, stand in awe, is the Hebrew word tremble. Hey, tremble! When you're standing against God and His workers and His work, tremble! he says standin all and not reminds me of the fusions four twenty six b angry and not matter of fact the septuagint which is the greek translation uh... passage here in in the septuagint translation they translated this passage b angry and uh... that was uh... what they had written here but the idea of first war is that when our minds and our hearts are in right fellowship with God, we're going to be at peace within ourselves. It says this in verse 4, stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still. Meditate. Think of God. You know, David is is appealing to the conscience of these people that are persecuting Him. He's exhorting them, you meditate upon what you are doing. And I've often, often seen this to be the case. Whenever I've had to rebuke someone biblically for one issue or another, and you know that you're doing it in the spirit of Galatians 6.1, And then, you know, you might see, maybe you might have a disobedient son or daughter or brother or sister or someone that you're burdened with and you give them a biblical rebuke in love and it just seems like it's water off of a duck's back. But you know what? Those people have to go to bed. And you know what? When they're in bed and it's quiet, they have to think. And the Spirit of God is able to use those words, especially provided that you spoke the truth in love, full of grace and truth like our Savior, the balance of grace and truth. Let's always remember that. No matter how right you are, you must always be gracious in the communicating of truth. And that's where we as fundamentalists sometimes go awry. We're full of truth, but no grace. Jesus says grace and truth. The liberal is all grace and no truth. Well, how about grace and truth? Pretty good balance, right? Speak the truth in love, you see. The Word of God says we restore. Mending of bones, kind of painful, but it's considering ourselves. But by the grace of God, it could be us, you see. So there's that balance that needs to be there. A lot of times, we as parents, or we as brothers and sisters in Christ, can rebuke our children, or rebuke a brother or sister in Christ for wrongdoing, but if we do it with anger, you know what comes through? Not the truth. The anger comes through. And you know, you can rebuke, or you can discipline a child, and you can be right, and you know, they did wrong, and they deserve the licking, but if you did it in anger, what's coming across? the anger, and very little truth, oftentimes. And so we're short-circuiting what we're wanting to accomplish. You see, the Bible says, Whom the Lord loveth, he chastens. And he communicates that love and demonstrates that love to us in continuing to ceaselessly work with us. So he's appealing here, as it were. Commune upon your heart, in your bed, be still. And they needed to do some sealing. They needed to do some thinking about their wrong paths. They needed to. Verse 5 continues with David's correction. And he says, hey, you guys, you know, you're still doing your sacrifices. Here I am in the hills, and all of you guys that are going with Absalom, and you know, you're still sacrificing and you're going about all of your religious ritual, and I want you to know, and the Lord said this too, Sacrifices and expression of worship are in vain if your heart isn't right with God. And you know, there are many, many churches today in America that are filled with hatred and division and animosity and all types of wrong attitudes. And yet they're still open Sunday morning, still going through the rituals and going through the ordinances and going through building programs and all of this. and you know, just kind of making it look like everything is okay. And in verse 5, David is rebuking. He's correcting these people yet in verse 5. Offer sacrifices of righteousness. Put your trust in the Lord. And not in some breaking reed of rebellion. Trust in the Lord. Now let's take a look at the last aspect. We've seen his cry, David's cry, and his correction. Now let's look at David's confidence. He has confidence now. He's a man of confidence and so should we be. When everyone else is losing it, folks, we need to have it together. We need to be able to show people how to stand. David's confidence, notice his confidence and assurance of faith. It says in verse 6, "...there be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us." Lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us. Many were saying, Oh, God isn't going to show David or his followers any goodwill. But God appeals Here David is appealing to God and in effect he's saying, Lord prove them wrong. Prove my enemies wrong by letting the light of your countenance shine upon us. Now do you think that David was asking for God's blessing for selfish reasons? Not at all. David was concerned about God's vindication. David was concerned about God's testimony and God's truth that was being trodden upon. And it says here in verse 6, Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Then I want you to notice in verse 7 we have a contrast that's given here between happiness which is based on happenstance and joy which is based upon an inner relationship with the Lord. Notice the contrast here. Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. Oh, Absalom and his crowd were rejoicing in happenstance. Oh, the crop is going well. The building is there. We have all of the facilities. We have all of the externalities and the trappings of worship. We have the city. And David says here, true happiness doesn't come from material prosperity. Inward joy comes from knowing and trusting God. Happiness comes as a result of pleasant circumstances. But I've got news for you. There are going to be times when we're going to go through unpleasant circumstances. David was in one. And yet he had that inward joy because it was steady, because he was trusting in God. Happiness, which is based in happenstance, is unpredictable. Here today and gone tomorrow. But inward joy defeats discouragement because it's based upon the reality of God's presence and His promises. Happiness covers up discouragement. True joy is lasting. Happiness is only temporary. Look at verse 8. Here true peace comes from knowing and following God, even in the presence of the pressures of life. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. Why? Because the circumstances are there? No. Because, Lord, You've changed all of my circumstances right now? No. For Thou, Lord, Thou, Lord, You're the unchanging One. You're the One who is in the equation. My life is in Your hands, Lord. And You only make me to dwell in safety. You know, I like that verse in Jeremiah 9-23 that says, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glory glory in this, that he understands and knows Me." How does that come about? Trials and testings. I'd like to say that really knowing the Lord comes through great times. But if you're anything like me, some of the best lessons that I've gotten a hold of to know more about God, it's been through the fire of affliction, the fire of affliction, where I've had to be an instrument pilot, and that's all I had to see me through the storm, the instrument of God's Word. It isn't when the fair weather flying, when the clouds are puffy, cumulus cotton candy clouds, and the sun is shining, and I can see the runway, and I can see exactly where I want to go, and I'm looking through the windows of an aircraft. No, it's in the storms where you can't see that the Lord says, I'm your pilot. Trust in Me. Trust in My Word. Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things do I delight, saith the Lord." Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24. Read that tonight before you go to bed. Trust in Him. Let's bow our heads together for prayer. Father, we thank You for this psalm that the Lord presents to us. David's trust and faith in You. Lord, we know that we're in a struggle. And oftentimes our earthly dreams can be shattered by Satan's manifested schemes. Lord, sometimes we feel the urge within us to give in to earthly fears. But Lord, I pray and thank You that we can praise You and that You can work through those who praise You. Lord, we know that Satan's a liar, and he wants to make us think that we're paupers instead of the children of the King that have been set apart. So, Lord, we lift up the mighty shield of faith. The battle has been won at the cross of Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus Christ has risen, and Lord, the work has been done by our Savior, and He's promised us that the best is yet to come. So Lord, bless us now as we go to prayer. We lift up these requests. And Lord, we pray that through each one, that those involved would be enlarged by Your grace and Your purpose. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.