Series: Psalms
Title: Stand in Awe and Sin Not
Text: Psalm 4: 1-8
Date: August 25, 2011
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
By the work of the Spirit of God, ever believer has been recreated, born again, made a new creature in Christ. We put off the old man with is deeds. Among those deeds is lying. The believer speaks truth to our neighbors. The apostle Paul tell us what the truth is.
Ephesians 4: 21: If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22: That ye put off concerning the former conversation [way of life] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23: And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24: And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25: Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another…29: Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
As the believer speaks the truth of Christ we will encounter some who are pursuing the vanity of self-salvation, who speak lies against the glory of our God.
Concerning those who were truly seeking the Lord, our Savior was always patient. Paul told Timothy to be patient, instructing those who oppose themselves (2 Timothy 2: 23-26.) But our Savior was very bold to those who were teaching and deceiving. Paul told Titus
Titus 1: 10: For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. 13:…Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
There is such a thing as righteous anger over the hardness of man’s heart—over the blasphemous things men say about our Savior. We see it in our Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 3: 5).
Mark 3: 5: And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts,…
Revelation 6: 16:…the wrath of the Lamb:
Psalms 7:11: God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
Psalms 2:12: Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little…
We see this righteous indignation in the apostle Paul who was very bold concerning the false teachers in Galatia
Galatians 1: 8: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. [he said it again]…5: 12: I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
Charles Spurgeon, commenting on this, “According to modem effeminacy he ought to have said, "Let him be kindly spoken with in private, but pray make no stir. No doubt the good brother has his own original modes of thought and we must not question his liberty. Doubtless he believes the same as we do, only there is some little difference as to terms."…This is treason to Christ and treachery to truth and cruelty to souls…He that does not hate the false does not love the truth….I grow angry, I confess it, when I hear some men speak of Christ….I love my Lord so well that I must boil over with indignation when his name is disparaged.
But though the anger may be for the name of Christ, Paul gives a good word of instruction in:
Ephesians 4: 26: Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27: Neither give place to the devil.
By the context it appears Paul quoted this from
Psalm 4: 4: Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Psalm 4 is our text tonight. Let’s go to verse 1 and see Christ in this Psalm and find comfort and instruction.
Psalm 4: 1: «To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David.» Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. 2: O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
Imagine living in a nation where the kingdom was ruled by a king who wrote such a God-honoring song. What a comfort to be living in a kingdom where you had such a beloved king touched with the feelings of the infirmities of his servants!
As we read these words now, the believer beholds a greater than David, we behold Christ our King. And like the servants of David we are comforted that our Beloved King and Christ, Jesus, the Son of God, is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, yet without sin.
Proposition: In Psalm 4, we hear much of the prayer of Christ when he was here as Man and faced the hardness of sinful hearts.
Divisions: 1) Righteous indignation 2) Consolation 3) Instruction 4) Rejoicing
I. RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION
Psalm 4: 2: O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
Can we hear the Master say these words as he retired from the temple they had turned into a den of thieves, “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?”
Christ Jesus is the glory of God. The work he came to finish (and accomplished) declares the glory of God—God’s holiness, love, righteousness, justice, mercy, longsuffering—the glory of God.
John 11: 4: When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
2 Corinthians 4: 6: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 21: 23: And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Christ Jesus is the glory of God.
And Christ says of those he calls by his grace—
John 17: 22: And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
By his dying as our substitute—he has made each one for whom he died, who are born of his Spirit, the righteousness of God in him. By bearing the curse we deserved—he freed us from the law and robed us in his righteousness. The believer is one in Christ, even as God the Father and God the Son are one—complete!
To add some work of man—is to seek after lies—Christ said, “IT IS FINISHED!” It was a worthless pursuit but earthly kings and princes, yea all the rejecters together, who sought after vanity and sought after lies concerning him, to turn his glory into shame. Men reviled Christ for declaring he is the Son of God come down, the Bread from heaven, the Life! Men sought ought to find sin in the sinless One, sought to entangle him in his words.
Application: This is the righteous indination of the Christ and of the believer--“O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory—the glory of my blessed Redeemer—into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.”
II. OUR CONSOLATION
Psalm 4: 3: But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
First, hear Christ communing with his own heart. Christ Jesus is the godly whom the LORD God set apart for himself before the world began.
Isaiah 42: 1: Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Christ knew God the Father had set him apart. He knew “the LORD will hear when I call unto him.”
Application: This is peace for our souls. Because Jesus Christ the God of my righteousness, our Intercessor, our Advocate with the Father—because he is ever-heard of the Father—we know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself. God the Father set us apart for himself in Christ in electing grace, the Spirit of God set us apart for himself in regenerating grace and God the Son, Christ Jesus, set us apart for himself, in redeeming grace. As long as God the Father hears God the Son my Redeemer: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
III. INSTRUCTION
Psalm 4: 4: Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Christ stood in awe—amazed, angered and trembled at the hardness of man’s heart who turned his glory into shame—he did so in perfect righteousness without sin.
Mark 3: 5: And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts,…
But our righteous Head stood in awe of God’s word.
Psalm 119: 161: SCHIN. Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.
Application: When we are grieved at heart, let us follow our Savior, let us commune with our own heart in private—opening our hearts to the Father—the Word alone--God our Savior shall still our troubled hearts and can subdue those yet enemies in their minds by wicked works. Follow the Lord Jesus…
Matthew 14: 23: And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
Luke 6: 12: And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pr ay, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Psalm 4: 4: Stand in awe, and sin not: [be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27: Neither give place to the devil] commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Psalm 4: 5: Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
The “sacrifices of righteousness” are the sacrifices of God our Righteousness, they are a broken spirit.
Psalm 51: 17: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Application: Whatever the cause, come to God with your broken heart and contrite heart, pour out your petition to him in prayer—and put your trust in the LORD—believing the LORD is able and leaving all in his hands to perform. He is able to speak peace into your soul “Peace be still!” He is able to make his word go forth in effectual power. He is able to quicken his own and to subdue even our enemies. Put your trust in him. But does it seem like there are too many who speak lies? Not too many for our LORD.
Psalm 4: 6: There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
When Christ Jesus walked this earth—in the face of hell—saying, there is no help for him in God—this was his prayer and he was heard. Our Redeemer is risen—everliving to make intercession. So we ask in his name, “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer….LORD, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us.” Then that still small voice speaks into our hearts saying,
Psalm 46: 10: Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
IV. THE REJOICING
Psalm 4: 7: Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
God the Father and our righteous Head are of one heart—his own heart was made glad in his own faithfulness. He puts that same gladness in our hearts. The sons of men may increase in corn and wine. But the Lord has increased our joy in something lasting. Christ Jesus, whose name who is Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace..has taken the government upon his shoulder ad has broken the yoke of our burden, the staff off our shoulder, tthe rod of our oppressor.
Isaiah 9: 7: Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
So we can say with full assurance:
Psalm 4: 8: I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
As often as we stand in awe at how this perverse and ungodly world turns the glory of our all-sufficient Savior into shame May the Lord lead us to follow his example and give us the peace only he can give.
“Stand in awe and sin not, commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
what a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
Brethren, lay down in peace and sleep, in his everlasting arms. Our LORD only makes us dwell in safety.
Amen!