E05: Psalm 4 - Benefits of Depending on God

0:01    Praise God.

0:03    I want to thank God for an opportunity to be able to share the Word of God with you this morning.

0:10    I thank God because he's the one who is the giver of life and breath.

0:16    He's the one who is the giver of opportunities.

0:19    He's the one who makes a way where there is no way.

0:23    And for me to be able to have an opportunity to share God's Word with God's people, people is such a blessing and such a privilege.

0:32    And so today I want to start with a word of prayer and just pray that the Spirit of God will lead us even as we share the word of God.

0:43    Let us pray.

0:45    Father, in the name of Jesus.

0:47    I want to thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to be able to share the Word of God, God with so many people around the world.

1:00    Lord, it is not because I am better than others.

1:04    It's not because I'm special in any way.

1:07    I'm only special because I'm a child of God.

1:10    I'm only special because you are the one who has called me.

1:13    I'm only special because you have given me this opportunity.

1:18    And I believe that each and every one of us who has been able to have this privilege to hear your Word is also special to you.

1:27    For you to have prepared this opportunity for them to listen to your Word.

1:32    I pray that you soften their hearts.

1:35    You soften my heart as we share these Scriptures together in Psalm 4.

1:42    That Lord, our hearts will be receptive to your Word.

1:47    Our minds will be open to your interpretation as the Holy Spirit, even as you interpret these words to us.

1:58    And that no one will be the same as they came, but that each one of us will be transformed by the power of your Word.

2:08    In the name of Jesus Christ, we prayed.

2:11    Amen.

2:13    So today we are going to be studying the Book of Psalms, chapter 4.

2:18    We are back in the Book of Psalms.

2:21    I remember the last time that we shared.

2:23    We were talking about David saying that I'm not afraid.

2:31    I'm not afraid of 10,000 people who set themselves against me roundabout because thou, O Lord, a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of my head.

2:42    That is where we stopped in the book of Psalms.

2:46    That is Psalm chapter three.

2:48    And the confidence that David had in knowing that God was with him.

2:55    We talked about this Psalm having come forth from David during the time he was fleeing from Jerusalem after his son Absalom had taken or had accepted the throne.

3:07    And David was going through so much his friend Ahithophel or his counselor Ahithophel had betrayed him and decided to go to the side of the Son, his Son Absalom.

3:21    Then there was this Benjaminite was raining curses upon him.

3:28    And so now today we are continuing in the same line the benefits of depending on God.

3:37    In Psalm 4 we are looking at the benefits of depending on God.

3:41    So I'm going to read Psalm 4 so that we can just follow and then we'll talk about it later, verse by verse.

3:52    Psalms chapter 4.

3:54    It says, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness.

4:01    Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.

4:06    Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.

4:11    O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?

4:17    How long will you love vanity and seek after leasing?

4:25    But know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself.

4:33    The Lord will hear when I call unto him, Stand in awe and sin not commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord.

4:51    There be many that say, who will show us any.

4:56    Good Lord, lift thou up the light of your countenance upon us.

5:07    Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.

5:16    I will both lay me down in peace and sleep.

5:20    For thou, O Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.

5:25    Praise the Lord.

5:27    This is Psalm 4.

5:31    Praise the Lord.

5:34    So when we see Psalms chapter 4, verse 1, we see David saying, hear me when I call.

5:40    O God of my righteousness, Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.

5:47    Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.

5:51    Looking at the background that we had In Psalms chapter 3, we see David saying, he's crying out.

6:00    He's saying, hear me.

6:03    He says, have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.

6:10    And he takes confidence in the fact that God is the God of his righteousness, as in God of my righteousness, meaning God can be depended upon as the righteous judge, as the judge who judges correctly, who judges properly, who judges righteously.

6:34    He is not like men.

6:36    He sees the heart, he sees the mind, he sees the things that are happening around.

6:43    And even when man cannot be trusted, when he sees the situations around him, men are turning against him, situations are turning against him.

6:54    We have this Benjamin who is raining curses upon him and probably saying, it serves you right, you should not even be the right person to be on the throne, and things like that.

7:05    And yet God had already anointed David during the time of the prophet Samuel and had already called him so.

7:14    He's like men may not see rightly Men may not judge rightly.

7:20    Men may even turn my shame, I mean my glory, into shame and despise me, and despise my efforts and despise the good things I have done for Jerusalem, for Judah and for Israel.

7:34    But I have confidence in you, O God, because God, you.

7:39    You see differently.

7:41    You see the heart.

7:42    You see the effort that I have put in.

7:44    You see the way that I love the people of Israel and of Judah.

7:49    And you know that my heart is for him and even it is to please you.

7:54    So he's saying, God of my righteousness.

7:58    God is a righteous judge.

8:01    Men may turn against you, but God can be trusted.

8:04    He says, I am confident in him

8:08    He's saying, I am confident that righteousness is going to triumph in the end.

8:15    No negative external influences can corrupt God.

8:20    Like there is no person who would stand up and corrupt God and speak into his ear and try to convince him to turn his heart away from David.

8:33    As long as David is in right standing with God.

8:38    I hope we understand it.

8:41    And that is why, saying based on that, God, you hear my prayer.

8:45    You look at the condition of my heart.

8:48    You look at the way I have decided to serve you and to serve your people and see from the heart and hear my prayer and answer me when I say, God of my righteousness.

9:03    He's not saying that David does not sin.

9:05    No, he's talking about the current disposition and his desire to be in charge of God's people and to support God's people and to serve God's people in the place of leadership.

9:20    And he says, when you look at that, you hear me and you answer me.

9:25    Then he says, he talks now in verse two to the sons of men.

9:29    And he says, o ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame?

9:35    How long will you love, vanity and seek after losing?

9:41    He says, you think about the things that you are doing.

9:44    When he says, selah, it means think about, meditate on the things that you are doing.

9:50    David was being slandered with false accusations, negative rumors, yet he was trying to do the right thing.

10:03    David turns to God and I mean, turns to the men, and he says, guys, I'm trying to do the right thing.

10:11    I don't know if you have ever been in a situation where you are doing the best that you can to do what is right.

10:20    And instead of being praised, you are being slandered, you are being mocked, you are being.

10:27    Your image is being tarnished or your name is being tarnished.

10:31    David was in that state.

10:32    He was trying to do his best for Israel for Judah.

10:37    Remember, he had fought for Israel.

10:39    He had fought against the Philistines.

10:42    He had defended the pride of Israel and of Judah.

10:46    And now these people are looking down upon him.

10:49    And in fact, I think why he's even saying these things, because of that.

10:55    If you read the whole ordeal that happened in 2nd Samuel, chapter 15 and following scriptures, you realize that a lot was happening at that time.

11:11    They did not believe that he was rightfully supposed to be on the throne, and they believed that the throne was for the tribe of Benjamin, since Saul came from the tribe of Benjamin.

11:24    And yet he was doing what God had anointed him to do, what God had called him to do.

11:30    Let us just go on and see what verse three says.

11:35    But know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself.

11:41    The Lord will hear when I call unto him.

11:45    He's saying, God has set apart the godly for himself.

11:50    God hears.

11:51    He's convinced of God's love for him.

11:53    He's convinced that God listened to him.

11:56    Whenever he approached God in prayer, he assures his enemies that they are messing with a praying man, that God hears him when he calls.

12:08    A great statement of faith.

12:09    Actually, you know, when I say, stop messing around with me, because for me, whenever I call upon God, he hears me.

12:17    David had had this real close relationship with God where he.

12:23    Whenever he would talk to God, God would instruct him.

12:26    God would teach him.

12:27    I remember when he was in Ziklag and they came.

12:34    I think that the Amalekites came and attacked Ziklag when the Philistines had gone to fight against King Saul up in the north.

12:43    And they came and destroyed everything.

12:46    They took their wives, their children, and this one.

12:50    They came from the north from, you know, they had got fight with the.

12:54    With the kings of the Philistines.

12:56    But then at some point when they were there, some of the.

13:01    The lords of the Philistines said, no, no, no, we cannot allow David to be part of this war.

13:05    He could easily join with Saul and attack us instead and destroy us.

13:11    So they relieved him of his duties.

13:13    And now when he came back to the town, that city of Ziklag, which had been given unto him and his men, they found that it had been looted.

13:24    They had taken their wives, their children, their possessions.

13:27    Everything had been taken.

13:29    The Bible says people wept.

13:32    Those men wept.

13:33    And even they turned on David and said, now what kind of thing is this?

13:40    They were even threatening to kill him.

13:42    Like they were so upset about what had happened.

13:46    The Bible says then David encouraged himself in the Lord and then David called upon the name of the Lord and he even asked God that God, should I pursue?

13:56    Should I pursue these people?

13:59    Should I go?

14:00    Will I overcome?

14:03    And God talked to David and said, yeah, you go out against them, you pursue them, you will surely overcome them.

14:10    And so David had had this relationship with God, and that's why he's telling his enemies that, guys, the kind of person you're messing with is a person of prayer.

14:19    And I pray that each one of us gets to that place where we have this very close relationship with God in the place of prayer, but even in the place of His Word, because His Word reveals His character to us.

14:32    It reveals the character of God to us.

14:34    So you know who you are talking to, you know who you are praying to.

14:37    You know what he can do, you know what he wants, you know he doesn't want.

14:41    So you have this very close friendship with God because you've met him in His Word and then you have met him in the place of prayer.

14:48    And it is because of these kinds of relationship that you have with God in His Word and in the place of prayer that you are very confident when you're talking people and saying you are messing with a man of prayer, you are messing with a man of God.

15:02    It's not this kind of talk that certain pastors and certain preachers have where they say, don't touch, not the anointed, do his prophets no harm.

15:13    And the person is messing around in his life and he's living a life of sin.

15:17    And he's saying, if you touch me, you know this will happen to you.

15:20    No, this is very different.

15:22    This is very different.

15:24    This is a man who has repented.

15:27    He has turned his life over to God, and he has now developed a relationship with God.

15:32    And this God, he's the kind of person, if you read Psalm 119, who cherishes the law of God.

15:39    If you read Psalm 19, he says that the law of the Lord is like honey from the honey and the honeycomb.

15:46    He says, it is sweet, it is his delight.

15:49    In Psalm 119, he says, It's a lamp unto my feet, it's a guiding light.

15:56    He has understood the character of God.

16:01    He cherishes the communication he has with God, the relationship he has with God's word, the relationship he has with God in prayer.

16:09    This is the kind of man who, who can now stand and say, I'm a praying man, you cannot mess with me.

16:16    So he's sure that God will answer.

16:19    He's very sure God will answer his prayer.

16:22    In fact, let's read verse four and five.

16:26    It says, stand in awe.

16:27    He's now giving them advice.

16:29    He says, stand in awe and sin not.

16:34    Commune with your own heart upon your bed.

16:38    Be still, like, think about these things.

16:43    Stand in awe.

16:47    In fact, when I read this, I think he's talking to them about the condition of their hearts, that even if what I have done is overwhelming to you, even if you are angry with me, he says, like the people of this world would say, of our generation would say, first cheer and don't let that your anger or that your wrath lead you into sin.

17:18    And he says, first, come down, lie down on your bed and commune with your heart upon your bed.

17:27    And be still in that posture.

17:30    God will speak to you.

17:31    In fact, Paul in the book of Ephesians repeats these same words.

17:36    These ones, they say, stand in O and sin not.

17:39    It says in Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 26 and 27.

17:44    He says, Be ye angry and sin not.

17:47    This is Paul writing.

17:48    It's similar to this one.

17:50    Stand in awe and sin not.

17:53    So Paul writes and says In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 26 to 27, he says, Be ye angry and sin not.

18:00    Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

18:04    Neither give place to the devil.

18:08    You see, every time we are angry, why the Bible keeps saying, be angry, sin not, or stand in awe and sin not.

18:18    When you look at verse 27 says, neither give place to the devil.

18:24    Verse 27 or Ephesians chapter 4 says, neither give place to the devil.

18:28    Why that verse follows this one is because when you get angry, it is easy for you to fall into sin.

18:37    It is easy for you to give place to the devil.

18:41    If you ponder upon something from the rising of the sun to the going down of the sun, it is easy for you to develop wrath.

18:50    Wrath, which is like rage, like you begin to think of things that you can do to compensate against the person who has hurt you.

19:04    And so it is giving place to the devil.

19:07    That is where the devil passes to destroy the lives of people.

19:11    So wrath, anger and bitterness, they open up a place in your life for the devil to now fulfill his plan and purpose against you.

19:21    You may think you're fighting the person you are angry with, but instead you are destroying your character.

19:28    You're destroying your life, and you can easily hurt someone and yourself.

19:31    You end up in jail.

19:33    They create this anger, wrath, this bitterness.

19:37    It creates a breach in the wall of the protection of God that he has set around you.

19:44    Whenever there is anger or there is bitterness, it is like a rotten piece of meat thrown somewhere.

19:51    You don't have to tell flies to come.

19:53    As long as they can smell it, as long as it starts to decay, the flies will come.

19:59    And so anger, wrath, bitterness create a rottenness in you that attracts demons and Satan begins to work to destroy.

20:09    That's why David is saying you stand in awe, but sin not.

20:13    As in give yourself time, lie on your bed, commune with your heart.

20:17    In a way God will speak to you.

20:20    He even says offer in verse 5 of chapter 4 of Psalms he says, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord.

20:31    Sacrifices of righteousness.

20:33    Offer sacrifices to God.

20:35    Trust in God and not in what your anger can accomplish or what it can achieve for you.

20:42    In fact, In James chapter 1, verse 20 it says, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

20:49    Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires for us.

20:59    In Proverbs chapter 29, verse 11, we see something interesting.

21:06    The Bible says that the short sightedness of a fool always causes him to lose his temper and to display his anger.

21:15    But a wise man uses self control and holds it back.

21:23    The short sightedness of a fool always causes him to lose his temper and display his anger.

21:29    But a wise man uses self control and holds it back.

21:34    Or in another version CSB says a fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise person holds it in check.

21:43    He holds it back.

21:47    Anger can often be a result of our unbelief.

21:52    You don't see God intervening to help you.

21:54    You don't see God intervening into your situation or handling the situation.

22:00    Therefore you vent like you go out by yourself to accomplish that which you think is justifiable for your own good.

22:09    Like I'm serving myself justice.

22:13    David says no, you trust in the Lord.

22:17    Let God be the one who fights your battles.

22:21    How do we do that when you have to look back to the things God has done in the past.

22:27    All of us have a story where cannot explain what happened to those who rose up against us.

22:34    God himself goes out to fight for us.

22:38    He says, vengeance is mine, I will repay.

22:41    God himself is a God of justice.

22:44    The Bible says righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne.

22:51    Righteousness and justice are the foundation on which God's throne throne seats.

22:57    God is on his throne.

22:59    God is still in charge.

23:01    God is ruler above all rulers, above all courts in the world, above all law enforcement offices.

23:13    God is still ruler.

23:15    And if you really want to see the hand of God, you are going to have to trust God.

23:21    Let's go to Verse six, Verse six says there be many that say, who will show us good?

23:30    You know this.

23:31    One of the reasons people behave the way they do or they try to seek justice for themselves is because they look at the way things are going in our world and they are looking for that person who will bring good, who will bring, let's say, economic development or who will, who will provide the correct, what would we call it, changes in the education system that would benefit our children.

24:10    The person who will bring the right laws that would help with the reforms that would come in the health sector in our nations, or who.

24:23    In fact, you see, these people are saying there are many who.

24:27    David is right now, says there are many who show us.

24:30    Good Lord, he prays, lift thou up the light of your countenance upon us.

24:39    Because David knows that all goodness, all the happiness we are seeking for, all the justice we are seeking for, all the righteousness we are seeking for it comes from God's countenance, God's face, God's glory.

24:57    God can turn his face.

24:59    Hey, I pray today that God turns his face towards you.

25:03    God can turn his face towards you and bring justice that you are looking for.

25:08    God can turn his face towards you and, and give you the help that you are seeking.

25:13    God can turn his face towards the nation and provide the reforms, provide the right people to bring the reforms that are needed to that nation.

25:23    That is, David knows that the source of all goodness people are seeking who will do good for us.

25:32    The source of all goodness, the source of all happiness, the source of justice, of reforms, of development come out of God who is the source of life.

25:41    He's the one who gave us life.

25:42    He's the one who built earth.

25:45    He's the source.

25:49    Out of him come all goodness.

25:53    So he says, who will show us some good.

25:58    That is the cry of most people.

26:01    There is this thing that is happening.

26:04    There is this, I don't know, atmosphere, looking for hope to cling to, looking for hope in challenging times and circumstances, looking for times of peace, looking for times of prosperity.

26:19    The cry of this generation, a cry to political leaders, to governments who, who will show us some good?

26:31    Watch out.

26:31
It is this very cry for who show us some good, who will bring peace, who bring prosperity.

26:38    This watch out.

26:40    This is what leads the nations of the world into the hand of the Antichrist.

26:44    The Bible says, while they say peace, peace, peace, sudden destruction falls upon them.

26:51    You know, the Antichrist comes as a man of peace.

26:55    He comes as an answer to the cry of many who show us good, who show us peace who bring about and prosperity.

27:03    Then here comes this man, the man of peace.

27:07
The desire to be happy, to prosper without bending the knee to God is man's utopia idea.

27:19    They believe they one time arise a particular political leader maybe in their nation and this person will bring peace and prosperity.

27:28    It is the slogan of many political people who are seeking to enter political office.

27:35    They say, for us we will bring prosperity.

27:37    For us we will bring peace.

27:39    But there is no peace apart from God.

27:42    The reality is there is no peace apart from God.

27:46    God who made man is the source of peace.

27:49    He is the source of prosperity.

27:51    God's way is what leads to happiness, the happiness that man is looking for.

27:58    David answers to their question.

28:00    He says, lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.

28:06    The countenance of a person is the facial expression of that person.

28:10    If God can turn towards you and shine his glory on you, you'll be a different man.

28:19    Isaac, I mean Jacob, met God and wrestled with God and said, me, I will not leave you unless you bless me.

28:27    And in the presence of God, not only was his name changed, but his whole life was changed.

28:34    The Bible says, and he removed the name of Jacob from him and called him Israel, which means prince with God.

28:43    I mean he's reigning with God.

28:45    May God today turn his countenance towards us that we may see his glory.

28:51    Lastly, let me just look through verse seven and then verse eight.

28:56    Okay?

28:57    Second last, verse seven.

28:58    It says, thou has put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.

29:07    What is David talking about?

29:08    He talk about the benefits when we are starting.

29:11    The benefits of trusting God.

29:14    David has had an experience with God.

29:17    He says, you are looking for happiness.

29:20    But as I have walked with God, he has gladdened my heart.

29:28    He has given me joy that is beyond worldly happiness.

29:33    You know, worldly joy.

29:35    Worldly happiness is based on events he talks about.

29:39    He has given me.

29:40    Thou has put gladness in my heart more than at the time when there are corn or their wine is increased.

29:48    That is the time of harvest.

29:50    When people have harvested, they have a lot or they've given you as a.

29:56    The company has given you a company bonus like at the end of the year.

29:59    So you.