number of Psalms and verse three, even though we will reference other portions of the Psalm itself, but our focal point is verse three. Psalms number four, verse number three. But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord hears when I call it to him. May God richly bless the hearing and the reading of his holy word. This is another of the Psalms of David, who is the composer of many of the Psalms, and with most of the Psalms that David wrote, it reflected things that were going on in his personal life or things that had occurred. The primary theme of this Psalm is a distress, a situation of distress that David himself is in. In fact, we can see sort of polar thoughts that run through the verses of this Psalm. On the one hand, we see very genuine distress on the part of David, and on the other hand, we see great confidence in God. We see the stress in fact he references in verse one. He says that at the second part of verse one, he says, you have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my heart and prayer. So again, he couples that he acknowledges the distress that he is in, but he expresses genuine confidence in God that he would deliver him from that distress. And so even though the opening verse, in verse one, the first part of verse one, answer me when I call sounds like a demand. It's really confidence on the part of David that God would hear him when he calls to him. And we'll see that especially in our text. But the end result of this, and by the way, in verse four, we can also see, or in verse two, we also see somewhat of the nature of the distress that he was in. We don't know if this was while he had to leave his throne because of the rebellion of his son, Absalom. But in any event, he speaks of men. He speaks of men in two ways. On the one hand, he says, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? So he speaks of this sense of slander that he is the subject of, that his name is being slandered among men. And then he turns, and he speaks to those that are perhaps giving ear to the slander and giving ear to the gossip by saying, but how long will you love vain words and seek after lies? So we see the nature of the struggle that he's in. And so David is in this psalm of distress. He ends it by saying in verse four, or in verse eight, he says, in peace, I will both lie down and sleep for you alone or Lord will make me dwell in safety. So how does he get from there to there? How does he get from this anxious mind or this state of distress that he is obviously in, recognizing that he can't control what men do? And then we see also in verse four, that he reminds himself. And this is an important reminder for believers, as you find yourself in distress, that it's never an excuse for you to sin. And so David reminds himself in verse four, he says, be angry and don't sin. In fact, this is a passage as quoted by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. Be angry, he says, put sin not. And so David here is reminding himself, be angry and do not sin. Isn't it? Doesn't that happen often when people have done you wrong when people have slandered or gossiped you in some way, that somehow we feel justified in therefore returning evil for evil. David reminds himself, he asks, go ahead and be angry. And what is he angry about? He's angry about those things that have brought this distress upon him. He's angry about the vain words and lies that are being used against him to bring him to dishonor. And yet he reminds himself, but do not sin. Be angry about it, but don't sin. And I love this, he says, and ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent. And here's a question, what is it that he is telling those who have been sinned against to ponder? And I think that's important because not only do in this life, not in this life, I should say, not only do we have to contend with our own sins, but we have to deal with the fact that we're sinned against. So how do we deal with that? And David says, first off, don't return sin for sin. He says, but instead, be quiet, lay on your bed and ponder. And what is it that he would have us to ponder? And I think that's what really is the basis for what we have in our text in verse three, where I want to look at four particular things. We'll see a progression here. And we want to look at the dynamics of sovereign grace. And perhaps that's what David ponder as he sleeps, as he sits on his bed and says, rather than returning sin for sin and allowing himself to be an instrument of unrighteousness, rather than speak. Sometimes, you know, it's just best to be quiet. And being quiet doesn't mean because there are different ways you can be quiet. You can be silent and just let your sin-fueled temper boil. Just sit there and just think of all of the different ways that, okay, when I get my chance, or you can, so you can let your sin boil, your anger boil, or you can be quiet and be brought to another place. And that's what David seems to do here. And I think basically what we see in verse three is probably the content of what he ponders, or he is encouraging his readers, because he offers this to the choir master. And he says, let him sing this, you know, because this is part of the hymn book. And he says, let them sing this. And so what is it that we are to ponder? And so I want to look at four dynamics of sovereign saving grace that would be helpful for us as we deal with sins of our own and the sins of others. In the first place, understand that you as a child of God have been intentionally chosen by God. So regardless of what men may say, regardless of what men may think you have been chosen by, you have been sovereignly chosen and intentionally so by God himself. And opening part of verse three says, says, but know that the Lord has set apart the godly. He has set you apart. Now here's the context of this that David is distinguishing himself, perhaps not just from those who are seeking to do him harm. But if we look at this in a broader context, God has made a distinction on us. He has set us apart from whom, from the rest of humanity. Now in order to wrap our minds around that, what is the rest of humanity? We'll understand this that all have sin and all have come short of the glory of God. To that extent, none of us are different from any of us in terms of our sin. So God doesn't, and what he's saying in essence is that God, the reason he can be confident in God's blessings towards him is because he is confident that God has intentionally set him apart. And when we let that roll over our minds, mull it over in our minds for a moment, the sovereign thrice holy god has chosen you to set you apart. And of course when we understand the inner workings of the New Testament, we learn especially from Ephesians that God set us apart. And this is the beauty of sovereign grace. You know when God sets us apart, he doesn't set us apart when we finally get ourselves together. God set us apart even before we were a twinkle in our parents' eye. Before there was a win or a where. In fact, when I say our parents' eye, I don't mean Mr. and Mrs. Jones. I mean Adam and Eve. Before the foundation of the world, God chose us, set us apart. Knowing that man would sin and did, he made provisions for some among the sinful offspring of Adam to make a difference towards. I've said this and I know we are going upstream here. In fact, I was just reading an article last week on post-denominational Christianity or post-denominational religion. And in post-denominational religion, it's not only post-denominational but post all of the post-dogmatic. And it's just this sort of spirituality where we all just regardless of what your backgrounds are, we just find our common root in the love of God and so forth. And it's a real kind of strange sort of religion that it's often, but it speaks of this. This is the new day. And we're actually seeing evidence of that. When we see the exchange of Christian pulpits with Islamic mosque and so forth in an effort to show communal or community peace and so forth, we see a great compromise. But here's the amazing and here's the interesting thing that we learn about God. God, it does not see all men equally. Now, that's one of the foundations of the gospel. He does not see all men equally. Yes, we are all equal centers in Adam, but God makes a distinction among fallen humanity. In other words, we know that he doesn't hear the prayers of the unrighteous and we know that he doesn't even value the death of every individual the same. He knows us equally. He knows that we are equally guilty, but God makes a distinction. And the distinction that he makes is that he takes from among fallen humanity and sets them apart for a particular purpose. Now, people think that the doctrine of election is one that puffs us up. But if you really understand the dynamics of election, it doesn't puff us up. It breaks us down in humility because as one friend put it, he says that what we see, if you remember, and maybe I used to tease him that maybe he's thinking of his of when he was growing up, that when you're playing a game on the playground, you know, you'd already play soccer ball or something or baseball and you go to pick teams, he sympathize with all of those that were left. You go for the, you jockey for the good players first, right? And then when it gets down to the last two or three, you're reluctant. You know, okay, I'll take him. All right, I'll take her and you know, and that sort of thing. And he says, here's what we have to understand. All of us in Christ are those people. We're not the first ones. The first ones that get picked are the best, the best hitters, the best athletes, the best ones. But the last ones that get picked, you just trying to fill out the team. What God has done, he's not as Paul says, not many wise, not many strong, not many, and when he says many, read that as they're not any because there are none who are strong, there are none who are wise, there are none who are good enough for God to choose. So he chooses us, divinely sets us apart intentionally so simply because he chooses to save us. That's, and when people ask, well, why does God save us because he chose to save us? See, that's what he does. He chooses to save us. And so, so David has this confidence that even though he is, is reviled by men, he's been divinely set apart by God. And that's a good thing because that which God has set apart, no one can disturb. No one can take anything from it. No one can change God's heart towards us. And brothers and sisters, that's good news. So the first thing that we see here is that the Lord, the divine and intentional act of the Lord as a part of his sovereign grace is God sovereignly, intentionally set some sinners apart for salvation and chooses to leave others where they are. Now, again, this is where people say, well, that's unfair. It's unfair. Is it really unfair if we agree that all have sinned and all have come short of the glory of God? And if the wages of sin is death, is it unfair to give people what they deserve? And the answer to that is no. It's not unfair for those who get what they deserve to get what they deserve. And therefore, it's not a matter of being unfair when God chooses to take some that deserve punishment and makes them instruments or vessels of honor. If we start off messed up in Adam and God chooses to save some in Christ, it is not unfair to leave some where they are. What it is, what explains where we are in Christ, is not a question of fairness. It's a question of righteousness. And the integrity of God is on the line here. So no, he does not lower the bar. He simply leaves some where they are. But here's what David acknowledges that God also sets apart others. And so one aspect of saving grace is that God intentionally sets apart some sinners, even though all are deserving of eternal wrath and punishment that God intentionally makes a distinction between sinners. This is not a matter of apples and oranges. No, these are all rotten apples that we're talking about. And God chooses among a barrel of rotten apples to save some rotten apples. And so we see then the first dynamic of saving grace is this intentional divine act on the part of God. God sets us apart. But here's the second part. And it's amazing thought here that the objects of this divine action, the objects of this grace where he sets us apart, he now calls us godly. Notice in verse three he says, but know that the Lord has set apart the godly. And so you say, well, who are the godly? And this is where a lot of people make mistakes. People think that God sets apart those who do good. And my question would be who does good enough for God to love them. And if again we let the scripture speak to this, then we'll see that none. None. There are none. There's none good. There's none that does that do with good. There's none that seeketh after God. So he does. So what does he mean by the godly? By the godly he is not speaking of those who are more pure than others because with God there are no in a broad sense. There's no degrees of unrighteousness. You're unrighteous. You're unrighteous. And yes, there are differences in which we manifest it, but we're still unrighteous. There are no, there's no, you know, there are no degrees in hell. That's all the same. It's one thing. It's not one cooler place. And you know, no, it's whatever the eternal wrath and judgment of God is, it is equally distributed to all unbelievers. So who is it then that are the godly? Does God set apart those who do good? I don't think he means by godly here. I don't think he means those who do good. But instead, I think he what he is alluding to are those who are in a covenant relationship with him because in a covenant relationship with God, God promises two things. He promises to be their god and he promises that they would be his people. And who are the ones that he promises that they would be his people? Those who are sinful. But the fact that he has laid claim on them makes them godly because they belong to him. But in a broader sense, in relation to the God's covenant of grace, let's look at Hebrews chapter 10, which is actually quoting from Jeremiah 31. But I'll read it from Hebrews and Hebrews chapter 10 beginning with verse 16. And here he speaks of the covenant of grace that God promises as we mentioned in Jeremiah 31. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord. I will put my laws in their heart and write them on their minds. Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. The godly in this case are sinners who have been set apart by God's grace and they have not only been set apart but they have had their sins purged by the grace of God so that God never sees them according to their sin. So the godly are not godly by their own actions and they are not godly because they are sinless. Rather they are godly because they are possessed by God because they are purified by God and because they are therefore claimed by God and as proof that we belong to him, he has given us, as Paul says in Ephesians 1, he has given us the earnest of his Holy Spirit. We are sealed by his Holy Spirit and the idea of a seal, as we see it especially in the times of the New Testament and the Roman Empire, we get this idea of a seal and a seal was something that was, it did one of two things and sometimes we will see it wrapped around, you see a piece of paper wrapped and rolled up and then there will be maybe something wax or around it but in any case and if a king wrote a letter that he would have wrapped it, the letter rolled it up and wrapped it in something wax and then put his imprint on that wax and it meant that this is from the king and the only person that better open it is the one that the king is addressing in this letter. The similar thing is seen at the grave of Jesus, they sealed it. We think of it in terms of cement. No, what it was is kind of like a mark on it basically the claim of the Caesar that this is the property of Rome and so when they sealed the grave of Jesus it was something that they put on it to indicate this is not just an ordinary grave, beware because if anyone breaks the seal now you are subject and you're subject to the authority of the Caesar himself and likewise when we talk about a seal it's an an official imprint indicating the authenticity of what is contained. God has sealed us with his Holy Spirit to authenticate that we are his children. Why does he need to seal us? Well for a number of reasons one is because we don't look like we belong to God. When we look at God and his character he say you and so he has this imprint of his Spirit to remind us because we don't always look like we belong to him and you know what we don't always act like we belong to the Lord. We don't always sound like it and so he seals us with this Spirit to prove that we belong to the Lord and the Spirit is not just dormant he is at work in us conforming us to the image of his son but and it's like not yet they're not ready yet but still God sees us as a finished product because he set us apart by his grace and so David as we see the dynamic of God's grace that those that he has set apart he has he has also made or claimed to be godly we are godly in the sense that we are possessed by him and we are sealed by his Spirit because we are brought into a covenant relationship with him and as far as God sees it he does not see us according to our deeds he sees us according to his son and therefore he seals us with his Spirit so that no one can bring any charge against God's elect and so we are godly and David is confident in this in fact we see it reflected in many of his other Psalms and particularly in Psalms 32 when he says blesses the one to whom the Lord does not impute unrighteousness blesses the man to whom God does not charge his sin and in whom he sees no unrighteousness so God intentionally sets apart sinners but he does it in his covenant of grace whereby he claims sinners to be his children and he remembers their sins and their lawless deeds no more but here's the third dynamic of God's grace here his sovereign grace first he sets us apart second secondly he calls us the godly because he brings us into his covenant community and seals us by his Spirit but thirdly we see the aim for which he sets us apart the aim that he sets us apart is a wonderful statement very very briefly stated and but boy when we begin to unpack that that says a great deal you know why he has set us apart from the rest of sinners he has set us apart for himself he has set us apart for fellowship with him he has set us apart so that we could reflect his grace and we could reflect his holiness and so that we could worship him with with with unfained hearts we can worship him with the fullness of what we have because without him setting us apart we cannot offer God worship that is acceptable to him you see our prayers would be an abomination to him if he hadn't set us apart and sealed us by his Spirit if he has not purged us of our sins if he has not claimed us as among the godly then there is nothing that we could do no matter how sincere our most deepest efforts of worship it would be an offense to God and that's why it's interesting that in the book of Leviticus in particular as the Lord gets the priest ready for the sacrifices and and for the day of atonement everything in there has to be aton for the altar and the the place itself all of the instruments have to be aton for and you know why dead instruments have to be aton for because living sinners have contaminated it and so God what God does is he sets us apart seals us by his Spirit so that he could receive worship from us so that he could be honored and glorified in through and by us he set us apart for him now the reason I say boy this is something that that we can unpack if as we unpack it it's a lifetime it takes us a lifetime to realize the substance of that single statement God has set us apart for himself the implication of that is that unless he sets us apart we can never do anything that would be pleasing to him God sets us apart so that we could be pleasing to him God sets us apart so that we could honor him God sets us apart so that we could love him because without him setting us us us apart we couldn't do any of those things but here's something else that makes us such a rich statement what that means is that this statement is really the definitive portion of it should be anyways it should be the defining portion of our lives that I live for the glory of God that's what Paul means in first Corinthians when he says whatever you do whether it's whether you eat or drink do it do all to the glory of the Lord passage that we looked at last week were Paul and reminds us to give thanks to him in all things and and to honor him in all things and so here's what we are reminded for here is why we are alive we are alive for him and God set us apart for that he set us apart so that in all of our lives whether we are pursuing careers it's for him whether we are in in our relations in our family dealings it is for him it is for his sake that we we are as we pointed out this morning it's for his sake that we are to be good at our jobs for his sake not for the sake of the boss but for his sake it is for his sake that we ought to pursue whatever we pursue with excellence and diligence for his sake because God has set us apart for himself so that we would be pleasing to him and he is we are pleasing to him in the manner in which he has set us apart and that is in the person of his son the aim or the end for which we have been elected and that's why sometimes we have to be clear on our terms sometimes people say well we were saved since before the foundation of the world but no we weren't saved we were set apart we were we were God made a distinction since before the foundation of the world we aren't saved until we receive the grace that has been set apart for us but those who have been set apart have been set apart for purpose I think one of the problems of shallow superficial American evangelicalism is that we have made God a mascot that we try to force him into our plans rather than tearing down our wretched lives and then making our plans around him brothers and sisters the moment that we come to realize that we have been set apart for him it should change our approach to everything everything that we do is in honor and gratitude for what he's given to us I like what I read an article this past week and they quoted a friend of mine who had given a statement gave this analogy he says suppose you're on a ship and you're out to see and while you're out to see you jump off or you fall into the water and you can't swim and someone on board throws out a lifeline and you you grab a hole to it and they bring you in and once they pump all of the water out of your lungs and you're clear and you stop coughing and everything once they've done that you look up he says no one then says man did you see how I grabbed a hole to that lifeline that did you see how I did that man you know I'm just I'm just so I'm just happy that I have that I was able to grab because if I didn't boy if I didn't grab onto that lifeline this is no that's not the way the conversation goes this is no the person that has is drowning at sea and cannot swim and they've been thrown a lifeline they don't come up boasting about how they held onto the lifeline they wake up thankful for the one who threw it and brothers and sisters God has set us apart for himself and he has set us apart so that we can enjoy life on the horizontal plane because our vertical relationship has been repaired with him so that we can pursue godliness so that we can we can enjoy life we can enjoy the things that God has intended us to enjoy and he has done it for himself so that we would be left as Paul says in Ephesians 1 so that for the ages to come we would be set forth for the praise of his glory or the praise of the glory of his grace God has set us apart for himself not so that we can boast and make God sort of a copart nor a copilot with us we have been saved by him we have been saved from him but we have been saved for him and we have been saved for the purpose of bringing glory and honor to him by living in the light of what he has called us to be walking in that light that's what he's called us for and that brings us to the fourth thing you see the three dynamics here which leads to this final conclusion the dynamics of God sovereign grace is that he sets centers apart he gives them the gift of righteousness in his covenant whereby he can call them the godly and then he sets them apart for himself and so here's the end result in the last line in verse three verse three the Lord hears when I call to him now that's the confidence and the comfort that David has as he goes through these struggles you see it's because the Lord has set me apart it is because the Lord has entered into covenant relations with me and it is because the Lord has set me apart for himself that I am confident that when I call on him that he will hear me brothers and sisters there is no greater privilege than to be heard by the sovereign God of the universe let me put it this way we all have we we live in this wonderful state of Florida right and and as a citizen of Florida then that means whoever the governor is he is your governor the same thing for you the the congressman that you send to Washington they are there to represent you now you know what happens when you call them they will try to respond especially in an election year they will respond somebody from their office will respond they will if you if you say well the street the intersection over here in my house it's not you know they may they may get to you it may not be quick but eventually especially if it's an election year someone will get in touch with you but they will not hear you in other words if you call you don't have their cell phone number and if you did if you were able to get it if you were able to get their number when your number comes up they don't recognize you they're not going to answer you but brothers and sisters our God is greater than the governor our God is greater than the president and while while our names and faces are not known by those who represent us here is the good news of sovereign grace your name your voice your face matters to the God who set you apart and when you call him he hears you when he when you call him whether it's in distress and so that's why David could say in verse four or in verse five offer right sacrifice or excuse me in verse four be angry and do not sin ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent ponder what ponder the wonder of the sovereign God of the universe setting you a sinner just like everyone else apart from the rest of sinners imputing to you the gift of righteousness setting you apart for his own purposes so that you are glorified in him I know what people what people mean when they say I just want to hear him say well done and we do want to hear him say well done but the reason we are guaranteed to hear him say well done is because you already said well done you know when he said well done Jesus prayed to him and the father looked upon him and when when Jesus was baptized and and and the waters when he came up out of the water and the spirit descended upon him like a dove when the father said this is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased he was saying that for everyone who clings to that son by faith that God is well pleased with you and while your voice and your phone number won't cause the president to pick up his phone to see what you want your father hears you and he rules presidents and he will hear you when you cry therefore David could say at the end of this in verse 8 in peace notice what he's dealing with he's dealing with with distress he's dealing with slander he's dealing with people who are trying to bring dishonor to him but because he contemplates or ponders on his bed the dynamics of the grace that he has received here's what he says it's almost like a parting shot we can see David almost with his bed hat on and his bed gown on and he says now here it is in peace I'm going to go to sleep in peace he says I'll lay down and go to sleep and you know why because you alone O Lord will make me dwell in safety the dynamics of sovereign grace is that God makes a difference in a distinction among sinners and some that he includes into his covenant of grace others that he don't he doesn't but those that he receives into his covenant of grace he sets them apart for himself and gives them the privilege of being able to call on him and so whether it's resisting evil and that's why brothers and sisters never feel like you have to do what your flesh says sometimes we fall because we don't call sometimes we fail because we don't take advantage of the one who has set us apart for himself call on him so that you can lay down in peace and know that you would dwell in safety because there is no weapon that can be formed against those who belong to God and will prosper and you know why there's no weapon that is formed against you can prosper because there's no weapon that has been formed that can defeat God and we are in his care because we are his people set apart by his grace for his purpose amen let's pray gracious God our Father we come to you and the blessed name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ thanking you for another Lord's day and as your word has gone forth among us we pray that you would give us ears to hear it and a heart to embrace it and that you would strengthen us to walk in its light so that our cares would be cast upon you so that in all of our doing and in all of our living we would be reminded that the reason we have been saved the reason we have been set apart is not to seek our own will but we have been set apart for you so we pray that that truth would resonate in our thinking that that we would turn from anything that is therefore contrary to it and walk in its light but Father we pray this prayer not just so that we would know how to walk in light of what you have granted to us but we pray this prayer so that we would be reminded that we can lay our heads on our pillow at night knowing that we dwell in safety that there is no one that can pluck us from your hands and there is nothing that can change your love for us because it is sealed in the blood of your son so we thank you for this word we thank you for this reminder let it be our joy let it be our comfort and we ask this in Christ name amen would you please stand before we close