And then there are people who apply the pressure. And David now speaks to those who are putting him in a bind. Listen to what he says. He, first of all, asks two questions that exposes their need for repentance. Look at verse two. He says, first of all, O sons of men, how long will my glory And how long will my glory become shame? Or how long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? They are attacking David's dignity and reputation as king, dishonoring God's work being done through David. But the second question is, he addresses how they pursue empty alternatives to God when he says, how long will you love worthlessness or emptiness and seek falsehood or seek after lies? See how he points out to these men what they're doing wrong? He doesn't just sit back and say, well, I'm just gonna you know, have a stiff upper lip and go through this. He challenges what these pressure-appliers have been doing, what these stressors have been doing to him. How long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love emptiness and seek after lies? There's nothing wrong with doing that, and David does that here. And then in verses three through five, he gives them six commands, and these are extremely important. He not only questions them, he now tells them what they need to do. He explains to them the way of repentance. Verse two is showing them their need for repentance. Verses three through five is here's how you repent. Look what he says. And you should have them there on the back of the bulletin. The first thing he says is you need to know the facts of David's unique relationship with God, verse two, excuse me, verse three. He says, but know that Yahweh has set apart for himself him who is godly. The word godly is related to the word for loyalty, fidelity. In other words, what David is saying is that Yahweh has graciously made David the king, but also that David has remained loyal and faithful to God. But you need to know that, that David says, you need to know that God has chosen me to be the king, and I've been loyal to God. So to discredit David, To attempt to discredit David is to deny God's love for David. So you need to know that Yahweh has set apart the loyal one for himself. And secondly, you need to know, he says, that Yahweh will hear when I call to him. I'm gonna tell Dad, okay? In essence, okay? I'm gonna talk to God about what you've been doing. And God is going to listen to me, because God has chosen me. I've been loyal to Him, and He answers me when I pray." Isn't that an interesting response to stressors? Secondly, David says in verse four, and this is a little odd. I don't want to unsettle your confidence in a translation here, but the New King James has translated it, be angry and do not sin. Most of your Bibles are gonna say that, be angry, and that's based upon the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Hebrew Old Testament says, tremble. Tremble. Be shaken to the core before a holy God and do not sin. Now, why did the Greek Old Testament opted for be angry? I'm not sure. I can't answer that. Paul actually follows that idea in Ephesians chapter four, doesn't he? But the Hebrew says, you better shake in your boots or in your sandals before a holy God. And do not sin. You need to tremble before God and do not sin. In other words, you need to acknowledge your sin and repent. You have been picking on God's chosen man, the one who's been loyal to God and the one to whom God listens when he prays. So you need to know the facts of David's unique relationship with God and secondly, you need to acknowledge your sin and repent. He goes further and he says, thirdly, you need to meditate. He says, meditate within your heart on your bed. Talk in your hearts upon your bed. One of the best things you can do as a person who is putting stress deliberately on the lives of someone else is to ponder your relationship with a holy God when you lay in bed at night. It is not wrong to ask someone, how can you sleep at night when you do what you do? There are people who lay awake at night, and the scriptures tell us there are people who lay awake at night on their bed pondering how to do sin, right? Here, David says, you people need to acknowledge my unique relationship with God. You need to acknowledge your own sin and repent. And thirdly, you need to meditate. When you're laying on your bed at night, you need to be thinking about your relationship with God. Fourthly, the New King James translates it as, be still. Actually, it's the concept of stillness or silence, or in other words, stop talking. They should stop trying to shame the loyal one whom God loves with lies and deception. You need to stop what you're doing. Tremble before God, meditate, and stop talking. Then in verse 5, the fifth thing he says for them to do is what? Offer sacrifices of righteousness. These are people who have been sinning against God's chosen king. He says to them, acknowledge my unique relationship with God, acknowledge your own sin and repent, meditate about your sin and about your relationship with God, stop talking, stop sinning against me, and then go up and offer sacrifices to God. But make sure they're offered to God with the right attitude. This is actually the result of the next command It is evidence of the next command, which is, lastly, the sixth thing in this process of repentance, is what? Put your trust in Yahweh. And if you put your trust in Yahweh, what are you going to do? You're going to offer sacrifices of righteousness. You're going to stop sinning. You're going to do the rest of the things that are listed here. So David, in his suffering and under the pressure that he's been experiencing, stops long enough to give to the people who were putting stress on his life and pressure. He says, here's what you need to do. You need to repent. And here's how. Even in the midst of his being pressured, in his being in a bind, He is thinking of how to help other people in their relationship with God. Isn't that an amazing thing? Which leads us to verses 6 through 8. Even though these men, verses 2 through 5, have been trying to destroy David, Trying to destroy David is not evidence of genuine worship and trust in Yahweh. So he says then in verses six through eight, there are skeptics in verse six. Many are saying, who will show us anything good? Can anything good happen? Can anything good come from this situation? Go back to chapter 3 and verse 2, Psalm 3 and verse 2. There are many, by the way, who say that Psalm 3 and 4 walk together, and therefore what is happening in Psalm 4 is what happened in Psalm 3 when David fled from Absalom, his son. It's very possible. But look at Psalm 3 and verse 2. Many are they who say of me there is no help for him in God. God's not gonna help him. Many, Psalm 4 and verse 6, are saying, who will show us anything good? God can't do anything for you. David's prayer then in verse 6 through 8. Look what he says. First of all, he gives a request for a renewed awareness of God's presence and favor when he says, lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Yahweh. Remember that from Numbers chapter six, the blessing from the priesthood? David says, lift up the light of your countenance upon us. I want to be aware. I want a renewed awareness of your presence and favor. Secondly, he says in verse seven, I want a recognition that God's goodness brings great joy. Look at verse seven. You have put gladness in my heart. His circumstances couldn't do that, right? Because he's under pressure. But even in the midst of his pressure, even under stress, David can say with confidence, you have put gladness in my heart. Well, how much gladness? Look at what the rest of the verse says. More than when their grain and new wine increased. harvest season and all the joys of responding and being happy because we got a great harvest and all this that came in, David says, that's nothing compared to the gladness that God has given me in the midst of my pressure. You have put gladness in my heart. more than when the unbelievers experience joy during the harvest and the new wine. Which leads us to verse 8. David makes a statement of security in verse 8 when he says, I will both lie down in peace and sleep. Even with all that's being said, even with all that's being done against him, even with all the pressure and all the stressors in his life, David says, in peace, I will both lie down and sleep. Back up, again, Psalm 3 and verse 5. The psalmist wrote, I lay down and slept. I awoke, for Yahweh sustained me. He says, now I'm going to do it again. And one of the best things you can do when you're under pressure is get some sleep. But how can you get some sleep when people are saying all these bad things about you? Look at the rest of verse 8. Because you alone, and that's emphatic in the Hebrew, because you alone, O Yahweh, make me dwell in safety. Similar to, well, this is the concept of trusting in Yahweh. Put your trust in Yahweh. God makes David to dwell in safety. David would not allow his imagination to harass his thoughts through the night. Isn't that what happens though? We put our head on the pillow and instantly our imaginations kick in like there's a little switch on the back of our heads. A little pressure switch and it hits the pillow and our imagination starts running. David will not allow his imagination to harass his thoughts through the night. I will lie down and sleep, because you alone, O Yahweh, make me dwell in safety." This is in contrast to what he told the sinners to do in verse 4, isn't it? What did he tell them to do? He said, meditate in your heart upon your bed. Right? Stay awake. And think about your relationship with God. and the sinfulness of your sin. But me? I'm gonna lie down and sleep. Why? Because Yahweh makes me dwell in safety. Someone has said, trusting in Yahweh is the only place of safety in this troubled world, and those who cause trouble for the godly must know that Yahweh is on the side of his beloved. You can say what you want to say, you can do what you want to do, but you need to know that your accusations and your lies and your deceptions and your pressure upon this individual, this individual is the one whom I love and the one on whose behalf I will act. Let me take you to a couple of passages, similar passages found in the New Testament. Matthew chapter five, verse 11 and 12. Jesus taught us in verse 11, blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. What does he say there? What's the next verse? Rejoice. and be exceedingly glad. Doesn't that sound like, for you have made, you have put gladness in my heart? Right? It's the same thing from the psalm. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. How can Jesus tell us to do that in Matthew chapter five? Because that's what righteous people have been doing for generations. They have been trusting God, and they can rejoice in God, and they can rejoice in the midst of pressure because they know that God is on the side of his beloved. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter seven. 2 Corinthians chapter seven, verses two through seven. 2 Corinthians 7, beginning in verse 2. Open your hearts to us. He's talking here to these Corinthian believers who have been lied to. People have been accusing Paul of all sorts of things, and so he has to write 2 Corinthians, in a sense, to defend himself. And the people of Corinth, the believers of Corinth, have begun to be a little distrustful of Paul, and they have begun to believe a little bit of what the false accusers have been saying. And so by beginning to believe what was being said, to believe the false accusations, what happens is their heart had become restricted or constricted toward Paul. So he says in verse two, open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one. We have corrupted no one. We have cheated no one. He defends himself. Again, there's nothing wrong with doing so. Verse 3, I do not say this to condemn, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. You're here. And what I want you to do is open your heart toward me. Great is my boldness, verse four, of speech toward you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. What the word tribulation flips us, the Greek word flips us, is pressure. Sounds like Psalm 4, doesn't it? For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. For we were trouble on every side, outside were conflicts, inside were fears." Been in a situation like that? Sounds like David, doesn't it? Psalm 4. Nevertheless, God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more. Paul says, Titus reminds me or Titus informs me that you're not believing everything that these false accusers have been saying against me. That brings comfort, and that's why Paul says at the end of verse seven, so that I rejoiced even more. He was exceedingly joyful in verse four, and he's more joyful yet at the end of verse seven. How can he do that? Trust in Yahweh. Trust in God. Trusting in the God of Israel is the only place of safety in this troubled world, especially at night when our imagination tends to run wild. Run to God. The psalmist said, I will both lie down in peace and sleep because you, oh Yahweh, you alone, oh Yahweh, make me dwell in safety. You can sleep at night even when the accusations come because we are safe and secure in God's love. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word this morning. Thank you for this wonderful psalm. Thank You that You are a God who watches over His beloved. You care for us. You give us what we need so that we can both lie down in peace and sleep. Father, You are a gracious and merciful God. And You know all about us. You know all that is being said about us. You know all that has been said to us. and you grant us rest and sleep and joy. Thank you, Father, for caring for your children. Thank you for your consistency, whether it was with David, whether it is with the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, or whether it is with us. It is the same God, and the same mercy, and the same grace, the same kindness, the same favor, the same sleep, the same rest, the same safety, the same security, the same love. And we bless you and thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, we'll ask you to stand if you would, please. And we want to look at 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 16 and 17. for our benediction this morning, and again, I was just pondering these benedictions this past week, and there's just this constant theme running through benedictions, isn't it? Listen to this one, as Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father who has loved us, and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, may they comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. You are dismissed.