Psalm 37 will be our study this
evening. I'm calling the message, Words
to Live By and Words to Die By. We're all creatures who are dying. We're dying creatures. We only
live by the power of God, by the word of God. Words to live
by and words to die by. As I mentioned earlier, This
must have been written in David's old age because he says in verse
25, I have been young, now I'm old. I can identify with that. I was a young man, just seemed
like just the other day, now I'm an old man. I'm an old man.
Yet have I not seen God will never forsake His people. He
said, Lo, I'm with you always. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. The righteous shall not be forsaken,
nor His seed. They won't be found begging bread.
Christ is our bread. We live upon Him and we feed
upon Him. Now, the Scriptures are full
of wholesome, good instructions, instructing us not only in the
way of salvation, as it says in verse 39. Now, I may bring
a separate message on verse 39 next week, because there's such
a great statement that's made in verse 39, the salvation of
the righteous is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord, isn't
it? All of His purpose, His doing. But not only do we have good
instruction about the way of salvation, but also the right
and proper instructions how to live as believers in this world
of trouble, this world of heartache. Remember, our Lord said in John
16, these things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might
have peace. In the world you shall have Tribulation. Man is born of woman, few days
and full of trouble, but be of good cheer. God said, I've overcome. I've overcome. I'm he that liveth
and was dead. He said, I'm alive forevermore.
He had the keys of hell and death. Now, as I pointed out in the
reading of Psalm 37, what a sharp and distinct contrast is given
to us between the believer and the unbeliever. The believer
is blessed. He's blessed. You remember what
it says in verse 26 about the righteous. He's ever merciful. He's ever merciful. Blessed are
the merciful. They shall see eternal life and
lend it. And his seed is blessed. His seed is blessed. We're blessed
forevermore in our Lord Jesus Christ. While the believer is
blessed in Christ, the unbeliever, while he may enjoy temporary
pleasures in the flesh for a season, one day judgment will follow
him. He shall be cut off. It's appointed
unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment. Now, you
notice a contrast, and we'll go back, we'll look at some of
these for just a minute. Psalm 37, look at verse 9. Here's
the contrast. Evil doer shall be cut off. But
those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth. Shall inherit the earth. Again,
in verse 18, he draws another contrast. The Lord knoweth the
days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever.
They shall not be ashamed. In the evil day, in the evil
time, in the days of famine, they shall be satisfied, but
the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord shall
be as the fat of lambs. They shall consume in the smoke.
They shall consume away. So we see that contrast there,
don't we? Great contrast. Verse 28, the
Lord loved judgment and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved
forever. He saved us with an everlasting
salvation, but the seed of the wicked Cut off. Cut off again. Again he says that, again and
again and again, doesn't he? Verse 37, Mark the perfect man,
behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. But the
transgressors shall be destroyed, and the end of the wicked shall
be cut off. So it draws a sharp contrast, doesn't it? A sharp,
sharp contrast between the wicked and the just. Between those who
are justified in Christ and those who are not. You remember the
scripture, he that believeth on the Son hath eternal life.
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abides on him. And I often think of this scripture
in Jeremiah 17. Thus saith the Lord, cursed be
the man that trusteth in man. Blessed is that man that trusteth
in the Lord. Now there's a contrast there,
isn't it? Now the bottom line here is how are we to be comforted
in our trials while we see the wicked living in ease? Well,
consider their end. Consider their end, what it is.
Turn over here to Psalm 73. Just a flip of that 37 to Psalm
73. David talked about this in another
psalm, Psalm 73. Verse three, Psalm 73, verse
three. I was envious at the foolish
when I saw prosperity of the wicked. There are no bands in
their death, but their strength is firm. They're not in trouble
like other men, neither are they plagued like other men. David
looking at those who were wicked unbelievers and he says, here,
I'm hunted and I'm in trouble and these men have no trouble.
Look at verse, 12, Psalm 73, Behold, these are ungodly
who prosper in the world and they increase in riches. And then he says, verse 13, Rarely
have I cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long I've been
plagued and chastened every morning. If I say I will speak thus, behold,
I should be offended against a generation. I should offend
against a generation of the children. When I thought to know this,
It was too painful for me. Until I went into the sanctuary
of God and then I understood their end. Surely thou did set
them in slippery places. Thou casted them down to destruction. So David's looking around him
and he's seeing ungodly, wicked men prosper without seemingly
any trouble, any heartache. And then he sees believers going
through heartache, trouble, and anguish. And he thinks for a
minute Wait a minute, maybe it's not so good as I thought that
I had it. So, when we consider the end
of the ungodly, and then we consider the eternal blessedness the believer
has in Christ, and the eternal inheritance we have, in the Lord
Jesus Christ. You remember 2 Corinthians 4,
where Paul talks about our light afflictions? We have afflictions.
But their light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more and exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Yeah, we do have afflictions,
but they're light, and they work for our eternal good. Salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. That's the way the grace of God
is summed up. As it says there in verse 39,
the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength.
He is their strength in the time of trouble. He is our strength
all the time. Now, let's consider in verse
one, fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou
envious. Would you envy those who are
workers of iniquity? And then David says in verse
two, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither
in the green, as the green herb, just all flesh, all flesh is
grass. So the Lord will deal with the
wicked in due time. The Lord tells us what we're
not to do and then tells us a sure cure for fretting. He tells us
three times in this psalm, not only in verse one, but look at
verse seven again. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him. Fret not. Fret not thyself because
of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth
wicked devices to pass. And again, verse eight, he says,
cease from anger and forsake thyself. Fret not thyself in
any wise to do evil. What is it to fret? And believers
are not exempt from this. Believers are not exempt from
this. We still have this old, wicked, sinful flesh. To fret
here is to fume up with worry, to blaze up, be overly anxious. It's used in other places with
words like displeased, waxing hot, anger, kindled against. All these are the dreadful tendencies
of our fallen sinful flesh. Doubt and worry breed fretfulness,
don't they? Faith and trust breeds peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with God. Remember,
we studied this. Turn to the book of Matthew chapter
six. Matthew chapter six. He said,
can you by worry add one? Can you by taking thought, can
you add one cubit to your stature? One cubit, one cubit. Matthew
chapter 6 verse 27, which of you by taking thought can add
one cubit to his stature? Why take ye thought from raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not,
neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you that Solomon,
all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore
is God so clothed the grass? Matthew 6 verse 30, the field
which today is and tomorrow is cast in the oven, how shall he
not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take
no thought, no anxious thought, saying, what shall we eat? What
shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things the
Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that you have needed these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you. Take therefore no thought, anxious worry and thought for
tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. The Lord
will take care of us. The Lord will provide for us.
One old preacher said in the past, fretfulness and worry are
the sins of their own punishment, aren't they? Therefore, in kindness
to ourselves, we should be warned against being fretful. Now, it's easy to say fret not,
right? That's easy to say. It's a whole
other story not to fret. Whole different thing to accomplish
this. Don't worry. Don't worry. I remember
a crazy song back in the 80s. Don't worry, be happy. You remember
that song? It's kind of a crazy, goofy song,
but don't worry, be happy. And there's some truth in that.
We have every reason to be happy, be happy. The Lord gives us these
precepts here to follow, and I think it's a cure for fretting. Now, here's the first one. You want to know a sure cure
for fretting? Look at verse three. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the
Lord. And do good, do good. How would you do good? By believing
the gospel. So shalt thou dwell in the land,
and verily thou shalt be fed. Now that word, fed, is an interesting
word. It's the same word that's used
in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, Jehovah-Raya. Thou shalt be shepherded
by the Lord Jesus Christ. We can trust him to provide all
things for us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, all
of our salvation. So it's right and good to trust
in the Lord. He gives that to us again in
verse five, trust also in him and he'll bring it to pass. Again
in verse 40, he repeats it. They trust in Him. That's a good
definition of faith. Forsaking all, I trust Him. I trust Him. So trust, trust
in the Lord. Look to Him. Remember Psalm 62. Trust in Him at all times, you
people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us.
So trust, trust in the Lord. Who else would you trust your
soul unto? But to the Lord, He has all salvation in His hands.
He is the Savior who saves. So trust in the Lord. That'll
cure our fretting. We're to trust Him, believe Him
for all things, provide all things for us. He is Jehovah-Jireh and
Jehovah-Rehah. Jehovah-Jireh means the Lord
will provide. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.
Trust the Lord for pardon from all sin. Trust the Lord for salvation. He said, look unto me and be
ye saved. I am God, beside me there is
no other, the only just God and Savior. Trust the Lord for protection
and provision were kept by the power of God. So, when you find
yourself fretting, tomorrow you'll have some fretful time. I fret
over just about everything. When you find yourself fretting,
what should we do? Trust in the Lord. The second
thing he tells us to do here in verse 4 is delight. Delight
thyself. Delight thyself in the Lord and
he shall give thee desires of thy heart. He says that again
in verse 23. Look at verse 23. The steps of
a good man and the word their good has been supplied, the steps
of believers are ordered by the Lord or established by the Lord
and he delighteth in his way. The way of the Lord is a delight. It's a delight. Those that delight
in the Lord Jesus Christ shall have the desires of their heart.
They shall have the desires of their heart, as it says in verse
4. What is the desire of the believer's heart? Christ. He's
all. Christ is all and in all. Believer's
delight in His Word. The written Word is our delight.
The preached Word is our delight. The living Word is our delight.
Believer's delight in Christ who is the way. Believer's delight
in His will. He taught us to pray, not our
will, but thy will be done. Thy will be done. Believer delight
in his wisdom. If you notice verse 30, Psalm
37, look at verse 30. The mouth of the righteous speaketh,
or we speak wisdom. Wisdom. Christ is our wisdom. And his tongue shall talk of
judgment. Our sins have been judged in
the Lord Jesus Christ. So, back to the text. Next time
you find yourself in a fretful situation, trust in the Lord,
delight thyself in Him, and then thirdly, he says here, commit
thy way unto the Lord, and trust also in Him, in Him, and He shall
bring it to pass. And as I said in the reading,
that word commit there, if you see the marginal reference, roll
thy way upon him. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Leave it there. Cast your burden
upon the Lord. Humble yourselves therefore unto
the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Cast your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. We sing that song sometimes,
don't we? How can His people not cast all
their care upon Him? It's foolish to try to pack your
own burden and guilt of sin around when the Lord tells us to cast
it all upon Him, especially knowing that He made complete atonement
for all the sin of God's elect. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. Commit thy way unto Him and He'll
bring it to pass. I like what Paul said, Well,
I know whom I have believed. I'm not ashamed, for I know whom
I have believed. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I committed unto him against that day. I like that
illustration of the farmer. When he went out and plowed his
field in the spring, and he selected out his seed that he was going
to plant, what did he do? He committed it to the ground.
He put it in the ground, and then what did he do? waited upon
the Lord. And that's what we do. We commit
everything unto the Lord, and then we wait upon Him. He shall
bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment
as the noonday. We know that Christ is our righteousness. Now here's the fourth thing that
he tells us to do. Trust in the Lord, delight thyself
in Him, commit thy way, and then verse 7, rest. Rest. And notice a marginal reference
on the word rest there. It says, be silent. Be silent. Don't complain unto men. Cry
unto God. Take your burden to the Lord.
Rest in the Lord. And wait. Wait patiently for
him. Fret not thyself because of him
who prospered in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices. Resting in the Lord. Resting
in the Lord, the Sovereign Creator made all things. And then what
did He do? He rested. He rested because
the work was finished, right? The Lord Jesus Christ has finished
the work of salvation for us. And what did He do when He by
Himself purged our sin? He sat down. He rested because
it was done. We are to rest in Him. Don't
go about trying to establish a righteousness of your own.
Rest in Christ. Rest in Christ. You remember
what he said in Matthew 11? Come unto me, all you who are
laboring, heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, and you shall find rest for your
soul. We're not talking about rest for the body. We're talking
about rest for the soul. Now, I appreciate rest for the
body, when we can lay down at night and rest. That doesn't
happen very often for us older folks. But when you get older,
you just always wonder why older people took naps during the day.
I understand now. They don't sleep much at night. I've been young, now I'm old.
So, but this is talking about the rest of our whole weight
of our salvation upon Him. Rest in the Lord. And here's
another one, verse 8. Threat not thyself because of
evildoers. What should we do? Cease from
anger. Cease from anger. Forsake wrath, fret not thyself
in any case, wise to do evil, for evildoers shall be cut off,
but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the
earth." Don't try to fix everything with anger. Anger. Let it go. Let it go. Cease from anger.
Live peaceably with all men. Knowing the good providence of
the Lord, and his eternal purpose to accomplish our good, we should
not entertain anger toward his ways of providence." When something
unexpected happens, it's always the good providence of the Lord. I think it's interesting to listen
to some of these news commentators about the attempted assassination
of Donald Trump. And many of them talked about
the providence of God, that bullet just grazing his ear. I was sitting
there watching that when it happened, and I was shocked. I was shocked
when I heard those. But some of the news commentators
talking about the good providence of the Lord, that bullet just
caught his ear. I wonder what they would say
if that bullet hit the target, would they still say that's the
sovereign providence of the Lord? I doubt very much that they would.
But we know whether he lives or whether he dies, still the
sovereign providence of the Lord. Fret not thyself because of evil
doers. We know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose, knowing the ignorance and blindness of
natural men, and that God is the first cause and last end
of all things, we should not hold anger nor hate." I think
of this example of Joseph, remember? His brothers hated him and sold
him into slavery. His own brothers. And later on,
remember when God put him on the throne and they were seeking
bread? And Joseph finally revealed himself
unto them. He said, but as for you, you
thought evil against me. Genesis 50. But God bent it unto
good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people
alive. Now we see things. We don't see
things as God does. His providence is always right.
It's always good. It's always good. Getting even
or getting revenge against men is not for us. That's in God's
hands. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Anger does not work the righteousness
of God. We studied in the book of James
recently, for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness
of God. It does not. It does not. Now,
if you look over to verse 27. Verse 27. Here's another one
we see here. Verse 27. Depart from evil, depart
from evil, and do good, and dwell forevermore. For the Lord loveth
the judgment. God forsaketh not his saints.
They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall
be cut off. Depart from evil. That is, depart
from that way which is contrary to God's word. Depart from that
which is not honoring to the gospel. Depart for from anything
that would bring reproach and shame upon the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Depart from any desire of self-righteousness
and pride, religious pride. Depart from dead works to serve
the living God. Depart from any notion that salvation
is dependent upon you, because salvation is always determined,
dependent, and accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. So depart
from things that are contrary to the gospel. And give him all
the honor and glory for the salvation of the Lord. And here's the last
thing that the Lord gives us here in the way of what should
we do when we find ourselves fretting. Fretting. Go back and
read this chapter again. The last thing that we'll look
at is verse 34. Wait upon the Lord. Wait upon
the Lord, and keep to His way, the way of grace, the way of
salvation. And He shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When
the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. I have seen the
wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. I sought him, and he
could not be found. Mark the perfect man. That perfect
man is waiting upon the Lord. And behold it upright, for the
end of that man is peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? So wait upon the Lord. Turn
back to Psalm 27. You remember this Psalm? Psalm
27, verse 13. Psalm 27, verse 13. I had fainted. Unless I'd believed to see the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, I'd fainted. Unless I had believed to see. We believe, that's how we see.
By faith, we see, don't we? I'd fainted unless I'd believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Verse
14, wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, he shall
strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. His blessings are worth waiting
for, are they not? Wait upon the Lord. Believers
who trust in the Lord and delight in the Lord and rest in the Lord
find it a great delight to rest in the Lord. One old preacher put it this
way, wait on the Lord in obedience as a servant, wait in hope as
the heir of grace, wait in expectation as a believer, waiting upon the
Lord. And then it says, the last part
of that verse, And he shall exalt thee to inherit the land when
the wicked are cut off. Now he mentions this over and
over again about this inheritance. And the inheritance we have is
Christ. He is our reward. Christ is our
inheritance. He's our inheritance. Christ
is the reward of our internal inheritance, which is incorruptible,
undefiled. Faith is not a way that's reserved
for you in heaven who are kept by the power of God. We've been
made heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
looking for that hastening unto the coming of a day of God wherein
the heaven being on fire shall be dissolved and elements shall
melt with the fervent heat. Ever the less, we, according
to His promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. We're just passing through. Our
inheritance is not here. We have an eternal inheritance
in Christ. He is our inheritance. So look back at verse 1 again,
and I'll quit with this. In heartache and worry and trouble
and you can't see any way out, fret not thyself because of evil
doers. Neither be thou envious against
the workers of iniquity. They shall soon be cut off, cut
down like the grass and wither, wither as a greener. Trust in
the Lord. Delight thyself. Commit thy way
unto Him. Rest in the Lord. Rest in the
Lord. Cease from anger. Depart from
evil. Wait, I say. Again, wait, I say,
upon the Lord. That's good instruction, isn't
it?