Let's turn to Psalm 37. David was old when he penned
this psalm. It has to do with the prosperity
of the wicked while the people of God, the believers, suffer
affliction and trial. It's always amazing to me how
appropriate the Scripture reading is to the text. There are eight precepts here
that every believer wants to be reminded of continually, needs
to be reminded of continually. You'll see here these words begin,
like verse 1 begins with, fret not. Verse 3 begins with trust. Verse 4 begins with delight.
These are the precepts that the believer walks in, that we desire
of God. Being born of the Spirit of God,
this is what David delighted in. These are the law of God
written on his heart. He delighted in. Here's the first
one. Fret not. Fret not. Verse 1, fret not thyself because
of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of
iniquity. And it gives us some reasons
why. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither
as the green herb. Now brethren, do you find your
life difficult in this world? while the worldly
man seems to prosper and seems to be at ease and seems to thrive. The Lord says the center outside
of Christ is nothing but grass. Nothing but grass. All flesh
is grass. Isaiah was sent to declare. It's
like the flower in the field. It springs up in a day and it
lasts for just a short season and then it fades and withers
and crumples to nothing and it's gone. It's grass. All the people
is grass. Isaiah was sent to declare. Look
down at verse 16 here in this text. A little that a righteous
man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms
of the wicked shall be broken, but he upholdeth the righteous.
The Lord does. But the Lord upholdeth the righteous.
Riches, you who You don't know how quickly money
can come and go, how really and truly the eagles do fly. Aren't
you glad that you're not upheld by those things? But the Lord,
who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, who changes not
to be upheld by Him. The Lord knoweth the days of
the upright. He's got them all numbered. He
knows what's going to take place in your day. and their inheritance
shall be forever." It's not going to be fading. Mom and daddy leave
something to you, that's going to fly away just like everything
else you got. This inheritance of the Father
is forever. They shall not be ashamed in
the evil time and in the days of famine, they shall be satisfied.
Verse 20, but the wicked shall perish and the enemies of the
Lord shall be as the fat of lambs. They shall consume. Into smoke
shall they consume away. Now that's a good reason not
to be envious of them, right? That makes pretty good sense.
I have nothing to be envious of. Fret not thyself because
of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of
iniquity. Here's the second thing. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the
Lord. Verse 3. Trust in the Lord and
do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land,
and verily thou shalt be fed. You know the cure for fretting
and the cure for envy and all those things? Trust in the Lord. That's the cure for it. It's
trusting in the Lord. What does the wicked do? Look
down at verse 21. It says here, do good. Trust
in the Lord and do good. Verse 21, the wicked borroweth
and payeth not again. So, you're going to say, well
next time I borrow something from him, I'm not going to pay
him back. But the righteous showeth mercy
and giveth. You get that? The wicked's borrowing.
Who's he borrowing from? He's going to be borrowing from
the righteous that showeth mercy and giveth. Does he pay back? No. What does the righteous do?
Shows mercy and giveth. How often have we as sinners,
when we didn't even know God and even since we've been known
of God, how often has he just given graciously and graciously
and we borrowed and consumed it ourselves. And
yet He is plentiful in mercy, continually gracious, and continually
giveth, continually giveth, continually giveth. He says here, For such
as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth, and they that be cursed
of Him shall be cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and He delighteth in His way. Though He fall, He
shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth Him with
His hand. He says here in that verse, verse
3, he says, Verily thou shalt be fed. You'll be fed. Back down at verse 25. David
said, I've been young, now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his children begging bread. He's ever merciful and
lendeth. His seed is blessed. His children
are blessed. The believer is safe in the unchanging,
immutable love of God. Safe there. Safe in the full
pardon of Christ's blood. We saw last time he gave his
son. He didn't spare his own son.
safe in the protection of our Lord, surrounded by Him, protected
by Him, safe in our Lord's providence for us, for what He's going to
work all things together for our good. The comforter He's
given, the Spirit of God to abide in you, to dwell in you, to live
in you, When you're walking after the flesh and you're looking
at the waves and you turn from the Lord, He's given that comforter
to overcome what we are and to speak words of peace in our heart.
He's going to make us hear Him and know, I provided for you
and you'll be fed the bread from heaven and you'll be fed daily
bread. You'll be fed. So he says here,
trust in the Lord and do good. Then the third thing is, delight
thyself in the Lord. Look at verse 4. Delight thyself
also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine
heart. Now these are not all the same
precept. These are different things. Trust
in Him, but as you trust in Him, delight in Him. Do you know what
the word means? It means pamper. Pamper. Protect yourself. Be pampered. Now he says don't
take delights in the world. Don't go after the delicacies
of the world. But he says, delight yourself
in the Lord. This is what the psalmist said
in Psalm 1-2. He said, happy is the man, blessed
is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his
law does he meditate day and night. That's his word, brethren. His word. The less I look into
God's Word, The less I hear my brethren reminding me of these
precious promises of our Lord, the less I hear of His praises
being sung, the less I hear His gospel being set forth, the more
I delight in the world, the more I desire the things of the world,
and the less I'm satisfied with anybody or anything. and just
the opposite. The more I look into this word,
and the more I hear it, and the more I delight myself in the
Lord, the less I really care about the world. And the less
I really, and I'm satisfied. And I'm satisfied that way. Fully
satisfied that way. He gives the desires of our heart
the desires of our heart. Listen to what Psalm 94, 19,
in the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight
my soul. Meditate on these things. His
mercy delights his people from the inside. If you got delight
on the inside, it don't much matter what's going on on the
outside. The delight in the inside will take care of the things
of the outside. That's so. That's why the Lord gave us this
Gospel. That's why He sends forth His messengers. Look over there
at Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. Why did He give
us this Word? Why did He go to the trouble
of even setting up a Word of the Gospel in a place and giving
pastors after His own heart for the Gospel to be preached and
providing and gathering the people together. Why did he even do
all that? Look at verse 14. That we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby
they lie and wait to deceive. You know, if you're going to
be good at something, you need to study it. If you're going
to be able to detect the slight of man and cunning craftiness,
we need to hear the Word of the Lord. We need to be skilled in
the Word. I can remember, I used to, early
on I can remember, you know, I was in college and then after
college I was trying to get established in a job and a career and had
so many irons in the fire. And I can remember, you know,
not showing up to hear the gospel preached. And when I did show
up then, after some time, I'd be so tossed. I'd be so tossed. Everybody knew it but me. I was
just tossed. I'd heard this thing or that
thing from somebody, and I was wondering how much truth that
has to it. or I'd hear some trouble going on in the world. I'd be
tossed from here to there. And I'd be concerned about things
that had absolutely no importance whatsoever. But then, when I
sat and listened to the Gospel preached and hear the Word preached
by faithful men who just set forth the truth of the Gospel,
the Lord would just establish my heart. He just settled me
in Christ, in the anchor that we have within the veil, and
I'd be not tossed to and fro. I'd be settled. And the more
you hear, the more you want to be settled. The more settled
you are, the more settled you want to be. The more calmed you
are, the more calmed you want to be. The more you delight,
the more you delight. And you want more, you want more.
And He says, I'll give it. I'll give it out of His abundance.
He says He'll give it. And he says, delight thyself
also in the Lord. Fret not yourself about evildoers. Trust in the Lord and do good.
Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires
of your heart. Alright, here's the fourth thing.
Commit thy way unto the Lord. Look at verse 5. Commit thy way
unto the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He shall
bring it to pass. Now, nothing's going to cause
us to be tossed in our minds more like trying to chart our
own way in our daily affairs, try to set our goals. How many of you,
around the first of the year, when you set your goals, if you
do that, and you make all your best intentions for the year?
How long does it last? How long does it go before you
realize, I can't make these things happen? Try as I may, it's just
not coming to pass like I want it to. If it's all in your hand,
and you are dependent upon you to bring those things to pass,
you constantly got to be making new goals, setting new goals. Lowering the bar a little bit,
usually. But not with him. Not with him. Commit thy works unto the Lord,
and thy thoughts shall be established. They'll be established. You won't
be troubled. There's no better comfort for
a troubled soul. There's no better comfort for
one who's in trouble than these words, He shall bring it to pass. He shall. Are you accused? Are you slandered by men? Commit
thy way unto the Lord. And this is what he's talking
about here. Look at verse 6. He says, And he shall bring forth
thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday.
You have people that you've walked after the Lord,
you've tried to treat men fairly and honestly, and somebody accused
you. He said, Commit it to the Lord.
Put it on the Lord. Roll it over onto the Lord. Commit
it to Him. He's going to make the ones that
He's made righteous, He's going to make your righteousness as
the light and your judgment as the noonday. Look down at verse
32. He says, The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to
slay him. The Lord will not leave him in
his hand nor condemn him when he's judged. What did we see
last time? Who is he that condemneth? Who's
going to lay a charge? What the Lord said here is, let
them charge you. You that suffer for righteousness
sake, let them charge you. The Lord's going to make it clear.
The Lord's going to make it clear. Look over at Isaiah 54. Isaiah
54. Now this can't be said, you're
the one in one of two camps here. You're either in the camp of
the wicked or you're in the Lord. Not two, in one or the other. So what's being said here that
the Lord will do for His people if you're not in Him. You're
not trusting Him. This can't be said of you. This
is being said against you. Now watch this, verse 17. No
weapon, this is what he says of his people, no weapon that's
formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. Now how did he
say you gonna condemn it? He said, commit it to the Lord
and he'll make it clear. That's how He said it. This is
the heritage, this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord.
And their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. That's how
He's going to make it clear. He's going to come forth. And
then you'll be able to say, you want to see my righteousness?
There He is. There He is. He'll make it known. He'll make it known. So He says
just commit it to Him. Now here's the fifth thing. Back
in verse 7. He says, rest in the Lord. Rest in Him. He said, trust in Him. He said,
delight yourself in Him. He said, commit your way to Him.
Now He says, rest in Him. 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. Now the word here is, be silent
towards the Lord. Wait on Him. Trust Him. Rest
in, rest. When you rest in somebody, you
trust what they do, they do it for the best. You husbands, your wives may do this, mine
doesn't do this, but you set out to do something and she starts
kind of, are you sure we should do that? I mean you say, just
trust me honey. That's what he's saying. You
might not be able to tell what's happening. You might not be able
to understand what the Lord's doing, what He's bringing to
pass, but rest in Him. Rest in Him. How many times the
kids are sitting in the back seat and you're driving someplace,
you're on your way someplace, and there's nothing worse than
you're trying to drive and somebody's saying, you missed your turn.
You should have turned there. You need to turn right up here. Slow
down. Speed up. Slow down. Speed up. You just
want to say, look, I got the wheel. Got it. You got one job to do
that's to zip it and just rest enjoy the ride. That's all you
got to do That's what the Lord said you just rest in it rest
in it Now look over Isaiah 30 with me Isaiah chapter 30 You know how we've seen how that
Judah and They went and took off and Israel took off. They
were going to save themselves when all this tribulation and
everything took place that the Lord brought. The Lord was doing
everything. He told Isaiah He was doing it. Look at what He
said in verse 15. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest ye shall be saved. In
quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. That's what
He's saying. Rest in the Lord. There's your strength, just rest.
But you would not. But you said, no, for we will
flee upon horses. Therefore shall you flee. And
you said, we will ride upon the swift. The Lord said, therefore
shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee
at the rebuke of one. At the rebuke of five shall you
flee till you'll be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain and
as an ensign on a hill. all your branches broke off,
all the cell ripped away from the mast so that it's just a
bare tree and just a bare mast up there, nothing else. Why is
the Lord going to wait? Why is He going to do that? Therefore
will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you. And therefore
will He be exalted that He may have mercy upon you for the Lord
is a God of judgment. He does things in His time, at
the best time. Blessed are they that wait for
Him, that rest in Him. I love these promises. I love
to read words in the Scriptures like, and it came to pass. I
like words like that. Because the Lord brings it to
pass. In His time, in His manner, what's
best, He does it. Paul said concerning the Lord,
he said, we were children in bondage under the elements of
the world. But when the fullness of time
was come, not before, but when the fullness of time, when the
time appointed was come, God sent forth His Son made of a
woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. You think of Paul when he was unconverted and he was wreaking
havoc, zealous in his religion, going about doing all those things
in his religion, how the men laid their coats down at his
feet while he consented unto the death of Stephen. The Lord
could have stopped him at any time. He could have stopped all
that from happening at any time. But he used it to scatter his
gospel all into the earth, into the world, through that persecution.
But, Paul said, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, and called me by His grace to reveal His Son
in me that I might preach among the heathen, Paul didn't go another
day in that way. But not until it was his turn. Not until it was his time. Martha
was in trouble. She found herself in a much tribulation
because her brother died. Lazarus died. And she met the
Lord. She heard the Lord was coming.
And she didn't even wait on him to get there. She took off out
to him. And she said, Lord, if you'd
have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. But you know what
Scripture says about Mary? Mary sat still in the house.
She heard He was coming. She sat there, waited. That's
what the Lord's saying to us. Rest in Him. Sit down at His
feet and trust Him like Mary did. Sit down in His house and
wait on Him. And rest in what He's doing.
Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for Him. Alright,
here's the sixth word back there in Psalm 37. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil. Now the word here especially
is murmur not against God or men. I need this. I need to hear this. This is to get angry. It's really to
get angry at God. It's to murmur against Him. Fret not. Murmur not against
God or men. Cease from anger. Revenge is
not ours. We shouldn't be revengeful. Take
vengeance. He said, I'll recompense, saith
the Lord. Vengeance belongeth to me. You know that the avenging
of His elect will be the avenging of His own justice. He's poured out His blood for
His people. He's justified His people. Anybody
that treats one of His sheep, one dear saint, one dear brother
or sister, evil, is an offense against Him. So when He punishes,
when He takes vengeance, He's going to be avenging His own
justice. Revelation 6. I want you to turn over there
with me. Revelation chapter 6. Look at verse 10. They cried with
a loud voice. Let's look up at verse 9. And
when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the
souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the
testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Look
over now at chapter 18. They're waiting on Him. And now when He avenges the blood
and pours out His judgment upon Babylon, this is what He says
in chapter 18, verse 20. Rejoice over her, thou Heaven,
And ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her.
Look down at verse 24. And in her was found the blood
of the prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon
the earth. Look over at chapter 19 verse
2. For true and righteous are his
judgments, for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt
the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of
his servants at her hand. Vengeance is His. It's a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you. It's a righteous thing. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us, Paul said, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with His mighty angels. James said wrath. It doesn't
work the righteousness of God. That won't accomplish anything.
But what is the spirit that we have? Remember, look over at
Genesis chapter 50. Here's the spirit. After all that Joseph's brothers
had done to him, after how they had thrown him in a pit and sold
him into slavery, then they needed him. And they came down to him.
Look at Genesis 50 verse 20. They came down there and began
to bow down to him. Look at verse 19. And Joseph
said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? Don't
worry, don't bow down to me. God's doing what His will is. Look at verse 20. But as for
you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good,
to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. That's what God meant. For now,
therefore, fear ye not. I'll nourish you and your little
ones. And He comforted them and spake kindly unto them. They threw him in a pit. They
threw him in a pit. They sold him into slavery. That's
grace right there. That's grace working in his heart. Alright, here's the seventh thing.
Verse 37. Psalm 37 verse 27. Let me read this to you. Psalm
37, 9 there. Let me show you this again. Let
me read down through there. Cease from anger, forsake wrath,
fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. And he keeps reminding
us of this, for evildoers shall be cut off. But those that wait
upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while,
and the wicked shall not be. Yea, they shall diligently consider
his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the
earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The
wicked ploddeth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his
teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him, for he saith that his day
is coming. The wicked have drawn out the
sword, and they've bent their bow to cast down the poor and
needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Their
sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bow shall
be broken. So he says wait on him, wait on him. Now verse 27,
here's the seventh thing, depart from evil, depart from it. Verse
27, depart from evil and do good and dwell forevermore. The word
here is, it's not the same as do the opposite of evil, do good,
it's leave Sodom. Leave it behind. It's leave the
synagogue of Satan. Leave Satan's messengers. Leave
it behind. Depart from it. Come out from
among them and be ye separate, the Lord said. Why? Verse 28,
for the Lord loveth judgment and forsaketh not his saints.
They preserve forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut
off. That word judgment means discernment. The Lord loves discernment. The natural man doesn't have
any, but you that believe have been given the Spirit of God,
so that you know the things that are freely given to you of God,
so that you have spiritual discernment. And Paul said, he that is spiritual
judgeth all things. He can discern all things, and
yet he's judged of no man. No natural man is able to discern
him. The sheep hear the voice of Christ,
and a stranger they won't hear, they won't follow him. How do
those born of the Spirit know the truth from a lie? How do
they know the truth from a lie? Look at verse 30. The mouth of
the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.
That's how we know. Look at verse 31. The law of
God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
The mouth of the righteous speaks of the wisdom of God. He speaks
of the wisdom of the Father who chose a people and who predestinated
them unto salvation in Christ, who works all things together.
The wisdom of God who's able, as we saw this morning, to teach
you through Christ, and to cause you to intercede, and to wait,
and to restore you that way who have fallen, so that then you
can learn that that's how you restore, brethren. That's wisdom,
brethren. That's wisdom. That's who we
talk about, the God who's absolutely sovereign over all. We talk of
Christ our wisdom, the one who came from heaven's glory, Christ
who is all in all. Christ is the wisdom and the
power of God to all them that are called. Christ is the fullness
and all fullness dwells in Christ and you complete in Him, completely
justified, completely holy, completely bought with His own blood, completely
accepted of God. This is who God's people. His mighty works. Have you noticed
everything He said? Every precept He said? All you're doing is believing
God. And He's doing everything else. He's doing all the work.
This is the works we talk of. And men speak this way because
the law of God is written in their heart. The law of his God
is in his heart. None of his steps are going to
slide. He can't be turned from the truth to a lie. He can't
be turned back to a false way. He can't be pressured by riches,
by filthy lucre. He can't be pressured by respect
of persons. He can't be pressured by political
maneuverings. Why? If he was left to himself,
he could. Because the spirit of God dwells
in him and he can't. God won't allow it. God won't
allow it. None of his steps shall slide.
He's fully prepared for the wicked. The Lord said here in verse 32,
He said, The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to
slay him. But the man who's been given wisdom of God, he's ready
for that. The Lord said, The Lord said,
they're going to treat you just like they treated me. How did
they treat him? Then went the Pharisees and took
counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. They said, they're
going to watch you and look for something and wait on something.
The Lord won't leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he's
judged. He said there, verse 33, the Lord won't leave his
people in the hand of that wicked man, nor condemn his saint when
a wicked man judges him. He won't do it. Why? He's in
Christ. He's washed. He says, so depart
from evil and do good. Dwell forevermore for the Lord
loveth judgment. The Lord loveth those who by
His grace are ready to bear the cross of Christ, to bear the
slander of men, to bear the reproaches of men, to bear men who hate
the gospel we love and the Savior we adore. He said He loves Judgment, he
loves it. The Lord loves it and he won't
forsake his saints. They're preserved forever. But
the seed of the wicked They'll be cut off. He says here verse
29 the righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever
All right. Here's the eighth thing He says in verse 34 wait on the
Lord and keep his way Wait on the Lord and keep His way, and
He shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When the wicked are
cut off, thou shalt see it. This is the same as what he said
before. The Lord said, ye shall be hated
of all men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end
shall be saved. The believer's not of this world
any more than Christ was not of this world. When he walked
this earth, he said, because I have told you the truth, you
seek to slay me. Why won't all the religions in
this world come together with those who preach the free and
sovereign grace of God? Why won't even those who claim
to preach the free and sovereign grace of God come together with
those who preach the free and sovereign grace of God? Because
I've told you the truth, you seek to slay me. The Lord said,
if I'd come and told you a lie, you'd hug me and embrace me and
we'd all be one big happy family. But I came and told you the truth.
Wait on Him and keep His way. Look at verse 37. He says, Mark
the perfect man, and behold the upright. For the end of that
man is peace. Not of ourselves. The perfection
is not of us. The uprightness, that's what
He's talking about. He's not talking about perfection
here on this earth. The uprightness. The desire to
walk after Christ. It's not of us. And the peace
is not of us. But it shall be the end of us.
That's what He promises. Look at verse 38. But the transgressors
shall be destroyed together, and the end of the wicked shall
be cut off. What did we see the other night
in Isaiah 26? Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace
for us. Why? For thou hast wrought all
our works in us." That's what, if we just summed it up, that's
what he's saying. In fact, we'll sum it up, alright?
He said, first of all, he said, fret not. Second of all, he said,
trust in the Lord. He said, delight thyself in the
Lord. He said, commit thy way unto
the Lord. He said, rest in the Lord. He
said, cease from anger. He said, depart from evil. Depart
from the falsehood and wait on the Lord. And here's why. Here's the conclusion of it all.
Verse 39. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. That's why. What'd he say? If you summed up the whole Psalm,
that's it. That's the title of it. Salvation
of the righteous. Here it is. The salvation of
the righteous is of the Lord. That's how they're made righteous.
That's how they're counted righteous. That's how they shall be fully
brought into complete and perfect righteousness in body, soul,
and spirit is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. And the Lord shall help them
and deliver them. And He shall deliver them from
the wicked and save them. Why? Because they expect Him
to. Because they trust Him. That's
faith. They believe He will. That's
why. You mean to tell me Preacher
you preaching easy believism now. I don't want a hard believism
something that's difficult I can't I have you not seen what you
are and understand that you can't do anything to save yourself
Everything he's saying right here is turned from you and just
trust him Salvation's of the Lord you mean it's that simple.
I Well, what else you want? You
want Christ, your wisdom. Because we got none in ourselves.
Salvation's of the Lord. It's of the Lord. You know, I think about, Scott
read that scripture there of the rich man and of Lazarus.
And I think about, you think of what it would be like to come as an unbeliever, having
never really trusted the Lord, and come into the presence of
the Lord, and for Him to reveal to you who He is, how good He
is, how merciful He is, how longsuffering He is, how forbearing He is,
how He delights in mercy, how that He accomplished everything
for His people. Just fully know Him. as He is
and to know the riches of His grace and the riches of what
He's given His saints in Him. And then to be cast out of His
presence forever to behold that goodness and those riches and
the enjoyment of those with that great gulf fixed between you
and never be allowed to forget it, what you saw. You know what envy is? To be
full of it. To be completely overwhelmed
with it. And be in a place where everybody
there is completely and totally overwhelmed with the envy. They
wish they could be there. You know what happens when we
envy somebody? We blame somebody else. Imagine seeing that goodness. and being in a place where everybody
there is envying what they cannot have, and all the restraint of
God be taken off. And you talk about wailing and
gnashing of teeth. And it never will die. You and I are left here right
now to taste that, to get a little taste of that. so that we realize
and see that we can't keep ourselves from it, not even in our own
selves, much less in others, so that we are separated from
what we are and from what this world is through the truth of
God, the gospel of God applied to our hearts affectionately
by Him, so that we follow His feet and say, Lord, be merciful
to me, the sinner. I need you. I need you. I need you. All but to be brought
into glory with Him. Not to see all that else that's
going on. Not to know any of that other that's going on. To
have all tears wiped away, all sorrow removed, all envy gone,
all fretting gone. Now to just be able never again
to have to have the Lord say those things that we just saw
to us ever again. Because there's nothing to interrupt
perfect communion with Him anymore. Faith's gone. Face the thing
of the past. We're walking with Him now. In
glory with Him. Forever. Forever. I pray today that the Lord will
give you grace to speak these words, not just as precepts that
you hear and you go now and try to do them by yourself, that
He would truly speak them into your heart so that you know He's
doing these things. He told you to do these things,
now He's gonna work it in you so that you do these things.
You trust Him, you don't fret, you cast your care on Him. And
He makes Himself the delight of your soul. I pray He'll do
that for you today. Everybody, wouldn't it be wonderful
to know that, to know that peace? Oh, it's the only joyful thing
in this world. It's the only joyful thing in
this world. I've been at the fishing camps. I've been at the
tables with the, rubbing shoulders with the music executives. I've
been in the popular, running with the popular crowds, and
I've been with the bums and the lowlifes. I've been to the heights of highs
that every kind of sinful thing you can have in this world, and
I've been to the lows. And I can tell you this, as one
of the old secular writers said, that going up ain't worth the
coming down. But this is peace at last. This right here is peace at last.
Ain't nothing like it. Nothing like it. I pray God will
bless you.