I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Psalms, chapter
37. Psalm 37. Let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, we call upon you
in the name of the Lord Jesus, and we thank you and bless and
praise your holy name. We thank you for this time that
you've given us. I pray, Lord, you'd bless the
word. I thank you for your mercy to Nancy. I thank you for your
mercy toward Maurice. Pray for Sue and pray for the
kids. Pray for that assembly there
in Madisonville. Lord, thank you for your grace.
Lord, help us tonight to worship. Cause us to truly hear. Lord,
I pray you'd bless this word this evening to the calling out
of your people, comfort of your people. For Christ's sake, we
pray. Amen. Psalm 37. I've entitled this
message this evening, a message from an old man. David said in verse 25 of this
book, Psalm 37, verse 25, he said, I have been young and now
am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed
begging bread. Now, the Spirit of God moved
upon David to say that. He said, I've been young and
now I'm old. You know, that's significant
because when we consider, especially for a believer, Age is something
that is a precious thing in that. God has been pleased as a general
rule to teach a believer some things about life, about death,
about salvation, about who God is, about who the Lord Jesus
Christ is. We think about getting older
and I'm so thankful that the Lord
would keep His people. But I think about even in light
of Brother Maurice Montgomery, the Lord removing him. I heard
Brother Henry say, I've told you this before, he said, the
greatest loss that this life ever suffers is whenever God
removes an aged and taught believer because of the wisdom that the
Lord has given them, because of what He's taught them, because
of what He's been pleased to allow them to learn by life. And then what we learn watching
them die. You watch a believer die. And
I'm telling you, you watch a believer die. And you watch a precious
thing. Dying grace is something I don't
know anything about. But I've seen it. And it's an
amazing thing. And you know, we do need, we
need some instruction. I want some instruction. on dying. I do. There's so many scriptures
that the Lord has been pleased to give us concerning dying. But you know the one scripture
that comes to my mind that is probably the most settling, I
quote it all the time, settling of all scripture, If I knew that
I was dying tonight, Brother Todd Nyberg told me one time,
he said, Marvin, I thought I was going to die. I was in the hospital.
He said, I was convinced I'm dying tonight. This is it for
me. And I think to myself, if that
was the case, if the Lord would take that scripture, I will never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. If the
Lord give me truly a heart to believe that, grasp hold of that,
He's not going to leave. I'm not leaving. You know, when
you're hurting, when you're dire straits, when you're suffering,
you know, you want a friend, don't you? You want a friend
to be there. I want a friend. I want somebody I can trust.
Somebody that I can truly trust. Somebody that I know loves me.
It'll be there. Somebody that will stay with
me. Would you just stay with me? Just be with me. Be with me. I know that. I remember
when Brother Scott died, he and I had some good talks. He gave me a piece of paper and
he said, this is what I want. That's what I want. And I know
that what I just said was on his mind because he told me,
he said, when I die, he said, I don't want to go to a funeral
home. I want to be right here. Don't put my obituary in the
paper. Don't put it in the paper. And
he said, I want to be right here where the Lord blessed me and
called me. And he said, I want my family. I want my family to be here,
church. God's people. I want them here.
I want them here with me that night. And that's what happened,
wasn't it, Carl? That's what we did. That's what
He wanted. He wanted to be with God's people. Even in death,
that's what He wanted. I know this. I know that the
Lord gives a word to us, to His people, on dying. But I'll tell you another thing
that a believer wants. A believer wants some instruction
on living. I want to know what does God
have to say concerning living. I'm in this world. You that know
the Lord, you're in this world but we're not of it. We're not
of it. Now I know that because the Lord
said we weren't of it. We're in it, but not of it. We're
pilgrims. And you go through this life,
and so many of you that are still working and stuff, you're in
an environment daily that is so hostile. And I'm so thankful. I thank the Lord. I thank God
for you. There's a group of people here
at Katie Baptist Church that love me and support me and freely,
generously give to the support of this ministry. Support missionaries. Support a pastor. When Brother
Scott was here, we never deviated from supporting Him. Why? Because you love the gospel. You love the God that we preach
and love. I'm able to stay here and study,
but for many of you, you're in an environment every day that's
hostile. And you feel out of place. You're just so thankful that
God would keep you and allow you to be kept. You know, and
you feel like a fish out of water sometimes. You know, you don't
have the same love that the world loves. You don't... Stuff that
they want to do. You don't want to do that. I
don't want to do that. I don't enjoy that. No, and I
don't want to talk about that either. You know, the things
that just... So I need to know What does God
have to say about living? I've got to live in this world. Well, Psalm 37, the Lord gives
us some instruction on living. I'd like to look at verses 1
to 9 and then the last few verses of this chapter in just a few
minutes. Here's what the Lord has to say
about living in this world. Now this is for God's people.
This is a word to the Lord's people. Here's what it said,
verse 1, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou
envious against the workers of iniquity. Don't burn. It says fret not. Don't burn with worry. Don't envy the unbelievers that
you have to deal with. I know this. It may appear that right now
that they're in absolute control. And the sad thing about it is
that you let a man get an unbeliever. The Lord does not allow, as a
general rule, most of the time you're not going to find a believer
to be just absolutely filthy rich, just stinking rich. I mean,
you know, they may be able to have accumulated some things,
but as a general rule, you know, the temptation of riches, the
deceitfulness of riches. The Lord does not always allow,
but He has. I've read in scripture where
there has been men. You go back and read concerning
Solomon and David. I'm going to tell you something. Job was a wealthy man, wealthy
man. But as a general rule, they don't
have just copious amounts of money. But you let somebody have
a lot of money and having a lot of money often is going to be
a man's demise. You write this down. He starts
to think that he is somebody. And everybody else is just a
stepping stone to him. You're just a tool to him. Now
I'll bet you a hundred bucks that I'm hitting on something
with some men or women in this congregation tonight that knows
a little bit what I'm talking about. You work for somebody
and they've got so much money and you just happen to be a cog
in their machine. And I mean they'll show you some
type of respect, but as a general rule, it's all about them. It's
all about their success and you're just a means to their end, what
it is. And they'll treat you in such
a way to where they'll let you know that that's what you are. Don't try to overstep your bounds. Fret not thyself because of unbelievers,
evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. You're out here trying to scratch
out a living and everything goes their way and you're sick and
they never are. And I'm telling you, we have
a tendency about us to do it, to fret. Man, I'd like to know
just one day what it's like to live like that. You know, I mean
just to be able to go out there and, you know, get on a yacht
like that or drive a car like that or something, man. I'd never
get a car like that. You know, money is nothing to
them. They don't more think about that.
They just take, you know, they're going to Europe, they're going
to go, you know. Don't fret because of evildoers. Neither be thou envious against
the workers of iniquity. You want to know why? Look at
verse 2, for they shall soon, pick up on that word soon, cut
down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Listen, this is the best they're
ever going to have unless the Lord shows them mercy. This is
going to be it. This is the best that they will
ever see. Very soon, the workers of iniquity,
evildoers, are going to be cut down like grass is cut down with
a scythe. Grass has no ability to stop
the power of that blade coming through. And man is going to
stand before God and he's going to answer. The books are going
to be opened. You wouldn't trade places with
Him then and that day. Don't fret now. Don't fret against
God's providence. The Lord has placed us exactly
where we are. Where we are, what we have, our
health, everything is ordered by the Lord. He's going to be
cut off. Look at verse 3. Here's another
word. To live by trust in the Lord
and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land
and verily thou shalt be fed. Trust in the Lord. Let me give
you a little illustration here that I think was good for me.
About a month ago, Glenda and Rochelle and I went to Mexico
and I don't speak the language, none of us do, and I don't know
the best places to go. I don't know what to stay away
from. I don't know where to feel comfortable. I don't know anything
about it. I'm sure that there's a lot of
people down there that really, you know, they probably want
us to come visit and spend money and stuff like that, but they
really don't care that we're down there. I'm sure. But do
you know, as long as I was with Cody and Winna and Walter and
Betty, If they told me it's okay, it's okay to eat this, it's okay
to drink this, it's okay to go here. As long as I knew that
they were there, you know I could settle down. We went into some
places that at night into one of those, more than one, some
of those villages, and I wouldn't have wanted to break down on
the side of the road, would you Rochelle? I thought, man, if
the lights go off in this vehicle, It's dark. But you know what? I trusted Cody. I trusted Walter,
Betty, Winna. I trusted them. I knew that they
knew. They'd been down there and they
knew. We trusted the Lord, but the
Lord was pleased to use the means of them. We trusted Him. Trust
in the Lord. He's eternally, He's told us
this. Those that He's called out of
darkness, this is what He said, I've loved you with an everlasting
life. I've always loved you. He gave His Son, who came into
this world, made of a woman, made under the law, made flesh. He became a man, took upon Himself
the form of sinful flesh. made in the likeness of his brethren,
and went to the cross and laid down his life, not for everybody. He laid down his life for those
that the Father had eternally given him in electing grace. That's what he said. John 10,
15. I laid down my life for the sheep. He died for the sheep. Now God
Almighty has eternally loved me. gave His Son for me, His
Son died, redeemed me, robed me in His righteousness, and
has promised, as I quoted a minute ago, He said, I'm not going to
leave you. I'm not going to forsake you. I'm not. I'm not. And He said, My will is that
where I am, that's where you're going to be. He told that thief
on the cross. Today, you're going to be with
Me in paradise. Now, I can trust Him. Lord, give me a heart to do that.
Give me a heart to do that. Turn over to Matthew 6. Years
ago, I was living in Louisiana. I had gone through a very tough
time financially. This was back in the seventies.
And boy, I'm telling you, I had just got to a point to where
business was just down to nothing. Nothing. And Gabe was just, Gabe
was maybe six months old, maybe. And I'm telling you, didn't have
just no business. I had an aluminum business, bought
from my dad. I didn't have any business. Two
months I did not get a call. Two months. Let the two employees
that I had go and Gave them two months severance
of money I didn't have. And this scripture, Matthew 6,
I won't read it all, but I'll read verses 31 to 33. And this,
I remember this Matthew chapter 6. And this scripture was so
comforting to me. Therefore, oh wait, that's verse
30. Wherefore, if God so clothed
the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, so, no, shall he not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal
shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek." I mean, just, you know, worrying about it.
For your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these
things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you." Now, I'm going
to tell you, that verse of Scripture is so precious to me because
I remember a time in my life, especially when I was just at
the bottom. I was at the bottom. Mom and
dad lived right around the corner from us, and I never called them. I just thought, you know, this
is it. This is my lot. They'd have been
right there. I know that. But I thought, that's
scripture. Trust in the Lord. Trust and do good. Do good. Now, you know, I know this. I know there's none good. No,
not one. I know that. When it comes to
salvation, there's nothing in this world that I can do to merit
my salvation. I cannot. Not by the works of
righteousness that we've done according to His mercy. He saved
us. But I'm going to tell you something. The scripture sets
forth that we're called to good works. Not for salvation. Not for salvation. But because
of salvation. A believer walks like a believer.
He said, trust in the Lord and do good. Listen to this, Psalm
133.1. Behold, how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. So, that being good,
endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Do good. Do good. Endeavor to do that. Psalm 119,
71. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Betty Groover. Asked me a couple
of years ago, I'd go down there and she'd always ask me how I
was doing. I know what she was talking about when I had that
issue with my bladder. I know what she's talking about.
How are you doing? I said, Betty, that was the best thing that
ever happened to me. Best thing. I said, it caused me to really
be mindful of the frailty of this life. You're a doctor, say
cancer. And immediately, you go to the
end. That's what you do. I mean, if
somebody says, oh, well, not me, I believe the Lord. Well,
I doubt that. I know you do, but don't tell
me that your mind doesn't, you know, go. It's good, it's good,
it's good that I've been afflicted. That I might learn thy statutes.
So give thanks for the affliction. Give thanks. Do good. Psalm 92,
it's a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praise
unto thy name, O Most High. Trust in the Lord and do good,
so shalt thou dwell in the land, in the land of rest and mercy. In His land. In this land that
we're in, yes, but we're strangers here. But I'm telling you, in
the land of His mercy. grace, and verily thou shalt
be fed." That's what the Lord's doing tonight for His people.
He's feeding His people. He's teaching us. We need to
hear that. Verse 4, delight thyself also
in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Delight thyself in the Lord. You know, you delight yourself
in those that you love. Those you love. I thank the Lord. I thank the Lord for my wife.
I thank the Lord for you. I thank the Lord for fellowship. I think because we delight ourselves
in each other because we love each other. But you know the
source of our delight is in the Lord. We delight. We delight. I delight in hearing
His Word. I delight in that. Delight yourself
in His presence. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, I'm in the presence. I'm in the
midst. I'm there. And I think, I believe
that. I believe that He's here. He's
here in a special way. He's here in a way that he's
not here. I come here to study pretty much
every day. And I'm here by myself. And Lord, I know this, Lord teaches
and guides and directs, but do you know there's a difference?
There's a difference when we're all here together. I know there's
a difference because he said where two or three are gathered
together in my name. There's a special presence about
being together with brethren. Delight yourself in his presence. Delight yourself in his word. I want to hear what God has to
say. I want this Word is never going
to pass away. This Word is not going to return
void. I know this Word is going to accomplish the purpose for
which it was sent. I want to delight myself in His
provision. I just read just a few minutes
ago in Matthew 6. He said, I'm going to take care
of the birds, I'm going to take care of the flowers. Don't you
think I'll take care of you? Don't you think that? Let me
ask you, which one of you parents would forsake their children? If you had it within your power
to do whatever you could, would you forsake the one you love?
No, you would not. No, no, no. Delight thyself in
the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. He
put them there. He put those desires there. Verse
5. Commit, look at these words,
fret not, trust, delight, commit. Commit thy way unto the Lord,
trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Margin says
on that word commit, roll thy way upon, roll thy way upon,
commit. commit." What does that mean?
Leave yourself in His hand. According to His will, according
to His pleasure, Peter said in 1 Peter, casting all your care
upon Him. Why? For He careth for you. He cares. Commit. I want you to, I've been looking
at this verse of scripture for a few days here. I may preach
on this, but 2 Timothy 1.12. Mr. Spurgeon made this statement
about this verse of scripture. Mr. Spurgeon said, this is probably
the best definition of faith. that he found in all the scripture,
this verse right here. 2 Timothy 1.12, here's what he
said, this is it. For the which cause I also suffer
these things, nevertheless I'm not ashamed. Now here it is,
here's the best definition Mr. Spurgeon said of faith. For I
know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. I know whom, not what, I know
whom. Here's faith. Salvation is in
a person, not in an act. It's in a person. I know whom. He's persuaded. He's able to keep that which
I've, and here's the word, committed. committed. God's people, saved
by the grace of God, they're committed. You're committed to
somebody you love. You're committed to them. You're
committed. I told somebody one time, you
know, you let a man tell a woman, tell his wife, you let a man
tell his wife, honey, I want you to know that I am absolutely
faithful to you 99% of the time. You know what that means? You're
not faithful at all. There's no faithfulness there
and there's no commitment there. No, you're unfaithful. You're
unfaithful. Committed. committed to Him,
commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall
bring it to pass. And look at verse 6, He shall
bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment
as the noonday. What do you mean? What do you
mean, Dave? What do you mean when you say that? He's going
to bring forth thy righteousness as the light. Well, you remember
back in verse 1, fret not thyself because of evildoers, Neither
be thou envious against the workers of iniquity." You know, when
the Lord told His disciples, He says, the world's going to
hate you. The world will hate you. And the reason that the
world hates a believer is because the Lord said, because I've chosen
you out of the world. The world hates those that's
not of it. That's what they hate. An unbeliever
has no true love for a believer. They don't. They don't. How do
you know that? The Lord said they didn't. You
say, well, I don't see that. Well, let God be true and let
me take God's side on that and then I'll be doing the right
thing. But David said here under the
inspiration of God's Spirit, though the world hates you, though
they have no respect for you, Because they think that what
you believe is so far out of bounds, and they listen to the
gospel that we love, and they say that's not fair. You say
God chooses and leaves others to themselves. I don't believe
that. God I serve, God does all love
and encompasses everybody. Well, that's not the God of this
Bible. And they'll hate and despise
what you say. But David said, You wait. You trust in the Lord. You delight
yourself in Him. You commit your way unto the
Lord, and I'm telling you what, He's going to vindicate you.
Now let me tell you what's being said right there, and I'll go
back and read it, and you'll see it. In that day, for sure, may not
be in this life, but in that day when the books are opened,
and the book is opened, and everything is brought to light, And the
Lord separates the sheep from the goats, like He said He's
going to do. And He says to those on His right hand, the sheep,
you know, enter in. Enter in to that which has been
prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.
And He says to those on His left, depart from Me, I never knew
you. In that day, God's going to vindicate who His people are
in Christ. He's going to show before heaven
and earth who they are. These are mine. These are mine. And knowing that He's going to
vindicate them as being found in His blessed Son. Now knowing
that, listen to this, commit thy way, verse 5, unto the Lord,
trust also in him, he shall bring it to pass, he shall bring forth
thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday,
meaning not judgment to condemnation, I told you before, a judge may
make a judgment call here in the evidence and everything,
make a judgment call and say this, not guilty. That's a judgment
call. He made a judgment. His judgment
as being merciful is what he's saying. You see that? The Lord
is going to bring forth thy righteousness, that righteousness in which you're
robed, you that know Him. He's going to bring all that
to light. Verse 7, rest in the Lord. and wait patiently for
him. Fret not thyself because of him
who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass. Be silent too. Just rest. May I be found in meekness. meekness. I've told you the best
example that I've ever, I can remember. When Abraham told Lot,
you know, he said they had a squabble going on and their flocks, you
know, were, they were having, their shepherds were just mad
at each other because your sheep's on my land and your sheep's on,
and Abraham told Lot, he said, listen, we're brethren, we're
brethren, it's all this temporary We don't squabble over this,
we're brethren. He said, you pick what you want
and I'll take whatever's left. And Lot started looking around
and he saw all that green, that valley, the lush, all that beautiful
stuff where Sodom was. He said, I think I'll take that.
And Abraham said, fine, I'll take this other. You know, I'll
take the scrub brush. That's meekness. That's trust
in God. That's waiting on the Lord. Rest
in the Lord. When the Lord created this world,
this universe, Scripture said He rested on the seventh day
from all of His work. Was it because He was tired?
No, He was done. He was done. When the Lord Jesus
Christ cried from the cross, It's finished! You know what? He was done. He was the end of
the law. There was nothing else. There
was nothing else. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to them that believe. He ascended into heaven. He sits right now. Upon a throne,
Isaiah said, that's how I saw Him. In the year the king Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted
up. Rest in the Lord. Come unto me,
all ye that labor heavy laden, I will give you rest. You that
believe, don't you rest in the Lord for your salvation? Yeah, but what if I've not done
enough? You haven't. What if I wasn't as sincere as
I needed to be? You weren't. You weren't. Yeah, but don't I need to go
down and rededicate, you know? Don't I need to go down and,
you know, we used to have that rededication. You know, I kind
of slipped. Well, I'm going to rededicate. Rest in Him who has finished
the work. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for Him. Number eight, cease from anger
and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil. Now this right here, I'm telling
you, I'm just speaking from experience now. Cease from anger. You know, boy, that's a hard
thing to do. I'm telling you, I can, man,
you talk about somebody that can go off you know, fly off
the handle. You ever heard that? Man, I'm
telling you, usually I'm so, that fast. I can just, cease
from anger. I need the Lord to help me here. Cease from anger from the wicked,
toward the wicked. Don't fret because of it. You
know, cease, cease, cease. You know, my family, My family
disappoints me. I had, you know, one of my own
family, one of my brothers or sisters. And I can remember growing
up, there was a time that I thought, man, if my brother, if I could
just kill him, I'll try to kill him. Y'all never thought that. I know you didn't when y'all
was growing up as a kid. I'm telling you, I got so mad. Man,
I'm telling you, my brother was just a pest. Cease from anger
from your brethren. Cease from anger of God's providence.
This is what James said, James 1, 19-20, Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow
to wrath, for or because the wrath of man worketh not the
righteousness of God. You know what that means? Me
getting mad ain't going to make it better. The wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Paul said in Ephesians 4.26,
Be ye angry and sin not. I think the Lord gave me some
light on that today. I don't think I'd ever thought
this before until today. Be ye angry and sin not. There is an anger that is not
sin. I know the Lord speaks of the
Lord being angry. I know that. And here he says,
be you angry and sin not. There is an anger that arises
from a true zeal of God's honor. There is an anger. I know there
is. Let me give you the best example that I can think of.
I hate and I'm angry with what I see in me. I'm angry. I pray that it's a godly anger
because of the sin that I see in me. Paul said it like this,
Oh wretched man that I am. Be angry and sin not. I'm angry with what I see sin
has done to others, especially those that I love. I told you
about my brother that I was so mad at when I was growing up
and I love him, I love him. But he has no heart for the gospel. And I hate that what I see sin
has done for him toward me and toward others. I hate that. But
when it comes to being angry at someone for something they've
done, I need to be very, very careful. Very careful. James
4.1. I'm going to end with this. James
4.1. Well, I'm going to read the last
few verses, but I'll just read them. I'm about done. James 4.1,
listen to this. You know why we get mad at anybody
else? Because of sin, right here. Here,
I'm the problem. If I get mad at you, I'm the
problem. I'm the problem. I'm the problem. Be angry, Paul
said in Ephesians 4.26, and sin not, and let not the sun go down
upon your wrath. Don't let it continue. Don't
let it continue. The sun's gone down today. Anybody
got a problem with somebody? It's over. It's over. Let it
go. Don't give Satan room or opportunity
to use anger to hinder the unity of peace within the body. I'm
going to read these last verses. I'm going to just read them.
Psalm 37. Psalm 37. I want to read verses 37 to 40. David had said, he started off,
said, fret not thyself because of evildoers, and neither be
thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Now listen to these
last few verses. Psalm 37, 37. Mark, the perfect
man. That man found in Christ that the Lord Jesus Christ, the
perfect man, but those found in Him, that man made righteous
by the righteousness of Christ, marked the perfect man. And behold
the upright, The end of that man is peace. The evildoers are
going to be cut off. They're going to cut off, they're
going to wither. This man, his end is peace. But the transgressors shall be
destroyed together. The end of the wicked shall be
cut off. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He
shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust
in him. May the Lord bless these words
to our hearts.