Seeking once again the Lord's
help to grant me the words to speak to this evening, I'd like
to direct your thoughts to the chapter that we read together,
Psalm 37, and the texts you will find in verses 3, 4, 5 and 7.
Trust in the Lord and do good. so shalt thou dwell in the land,
and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord,
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way
unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to
pass. and he shall bring forth thy
righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday.
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. Really the Those things that link those
verses are just the start of those verses. Trust in the Lord,
delight thyself in the Lord, commit thy way unto the Lord
and rest in the Lord. As we were reading the psalm
together I wonder if you noticed that the psalmist is putting
together contrasting points, contrasting examples of the wicked
and the righteous. He is speaking as though he himself
is putting a cross to a believer that is worrying, that is looking
at the the world and the way in which the world seems to be
prospering or the evildoers seem to be prospering and that they
had become envious of those types of people. He says, fret not
thyself because of evildoers. Neither be thou envious against
the workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down like grass
and wither as the green herb. And so the success of the worldly
person or the ungodly person can have a negative effect upon
the life of a Christian. As they see the people of the
world succeeding in life And as they see the Lord dealing
with them in a chastening way, they may wonder in their minds,
well, why is it that this one, who is not a believer, his life
seems to be so successful? He seems to have no trouble.
He seems to have no difficulty. And as they look at their own
life, they see, well, it doesn't seem to be fair. Everything is
going wrong. I'm struggling day by day. And
you can look at your neighbor, you can look at the person across
the road, you can look at somebody in your workplace, and they don't
seem to have any problems whatsoever. Their life seems to be swimmingly,
going swimmingly along, and you're there struggling. And it can
be used by Satan to bring seeds of discontent and seeds of jealousy
that can rise up within the heart and cause us to be dissatisfied
with the pathway that Christ has led us in. We know that the
Psalms are very experimental and they're very beneficial to
the believers. And they cover all aspects of
the experience of the Christian life. And even in something that
you may think that you're the only person that is passing through
or the only person that has had those types of thoughts, you
can come to the Psalms and you can see, well, here the Psalmist
lays it all out clearly. that even 2,000 or 3,000 years
ago, they still struggled the same way that we struggle. They
still looked at the things round about them and it affected their
spiritual walk with God. And so he tries to encourage
those who were reading this psalm. He tries to encourage the children
of Israel. He tries to encourage us today
as we are facing the same difficulties and experiences that they felt
in those days. And he says fret not thyself
because of evildoers. And this word fret, it can be
translated, it's like burning or blazing up. Sometimes when
the fire has died down and you fan it up, you blow on it and
it becomes hotter and hotter and then the flames come up,
it ignites. And it comes from a word that
means similar to that. fret not, don't worry yourself,
don't get hot, don't get angry, don't get boiled over, don't
get jealous because of evil doers. Don't let those things that you
see around about you cause your heart to boil over with jealousy. We know that one of the Ten Commandments
tells us about looking at other people's things and becoming
jealous over them, uses the word covet. Exodus 20 in verse 17
says, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt
not covet thy neighbour's wife, or his maid servant, or his manservant,
or his maid servant, or his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that
is thy neighbour's. And so as we look at other people's
things it could have a tendency to enter into our hearts and
cause us to be jealous of the things that they have. or by
the lifestyle that they are living. And speaking to different people,
some people have got rid of things like Instagram and Facebook because
they trawled through the lifestyles of other people and they're presented
with something that looks perfect. And then they look at their life
and they see that it's not as being displayed on the phone
or on Instagram. And they feel jealousy coming
up in their hearts. They see the lifestyle of somebody
else seemingly so perfect. And then when they look at their
life it doesn't match up and they find that that is a root
or a seed of jealousy. And so in the end they get rid
of it. Like Jesus says, if your eye
offends you, pluck it out. That is the best course of action.
If you find yourselves tempted by those things and you find
jealousy rising up within your heart, it is better to get rid
of that course, especially if it's as easy as deleting Instagram
or something like that. If you find it a temptation and
jealousy rising up, and causing you to become envious of the
wicked or even believers. Maybe you're envious of their
lifestyles. The Lord seems to allow them
to go so smoothly on the way to heaven but your life seems
to be a struggle and a difficulty. Maybe you become jealous. Seeds of jealousy have taken
root within your heart and you've become envious of them. In Psalm 73, the Psalm of Asaph, he struggled also in this point. The whole psalm really is an
account of his struggle with the prosperity of the wicked
and the difficulty that he himself felt. Truly God is good to Israel
even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet
were almost gone and my steps had well nigh slipped, for I
was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And he goes on in his description
of the prosperity of the wicked. But look at the effect that it
had on him. He says, I had nearly slipped. It caused me to slip. I know
that God is good to Israel. I know that he is good to those
who have a clean heart. But when his eyes were taken
off that goodness of God and that greatness of God and all
the abundance that God had done to Israel and to himself. And
he looked at the people around about him. He says, I was envious. I knew they were foolish. But
I saw their prosperity. I saw they didn't worry in death.
I saw their strength. I saw that they were not in trouble. I saw that they were full of
pride. I saw that they were so fat that their eyes bulged out. I saw they were corrupt. They
were wicked. They oppressed. They spoke proudly
and such like. But, he says, until I went to the sanctuary
and understood their end. Surely thou did set them on the
slippery places. Thou casted them down to destruction.'
And so as he saw the jealousy and the
envy rising up within himself and he reeled off all the things
that he saw about them he then went to the sanctuary, the holy
place of God and he saw that they had rejected God and had
focused upon their material things and their life abounded in material
things but when he saw that they had rejected God they had rejected
the one thing that is needful and he said they were on the
slippery slope. And I was nearly going down with
them when I was envious of the very things that they had. But
when I remembered their end, then my feet, as it were, stuck
upon the rock. And I came to my senses, as it
were, and I remembered their end. And that is what the psalmist
tries to put across in Psalm 37. as he gives that balance
of the wicked and the righteous. He says, they shall soon be cut
down like grass and wither as a herb. They will soon be passed
into eternity. Verse 9, it says, for evildoers
shall be cut off, but those that waited upon the Lord, they shall
inherit the earth. We turn to the book of Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1 from verse 24 he tells
us there, all flesh is grass and all the glory of man as the
flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower
thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord enjoyeth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. We see in that psalm of Asaph
how that he as he looked around about him and he saw that prosperity.
Then he went to the sanctuary. It is so all the glory of that
prosperity fell away. It is though the flowers of that
prosperity began to wilt and its petals began in his mind
to drop off and he saw it as it was. He went to the sanctuary,
he went to the holy place of God and saw that they had rejected
eternal things. And every part of that glory
came and fell like a flower falling away. And Peter picks up that
same illustration, that same thought pattern. Everything of
this world, it is as grass and the glory of man as a flower
of grass. The grass withereth and the flower
thereof falleth away But the word of the Lord, God's word,
God's promises, they endure forever. And so all that he was jealous
over, all that he saw had taken his heart, he suddenly realised
that it was not even worth worrying about. It was not even worth
being jealous over because it wasn't even going to last. What
he had was of more value than everything that they had put
together. He went to the sanctuary and
he saw the glory of the Lord. He went to the sanctuary and
he saw the holiness of God, the eternal creator of heaven and
earth. And Peter says, this is the gospel,
the word of the Lord, the gospel which has been preached unto
you. Do not fret then because of evildoers. Do not be jealous of them. Be sorry for them. Be sorry for
them. As you look at them, and see
them in their seeming wealth and abundance. Be sorry that
when they are laid in the grave or when they are cremated everything
that they have ever had is going to be left behind. They will
be cast from the presence of God because they did not know
the Lord. Their hearts were taken with
the things of this world and they rejected spiritual things
and though those things are attractive to us we understand that there
is one thing that is far far greater. A pearl of great price
which is salvation and a knowledge a true knowledge of God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so their things are not lasting.
But Jesus Christ is eternal and his word is eternal and salvation
is eternal. And so he says don't worry about
how well the world are doing. Don't be envious of the workers
of iniquity because soon they are going to be cut down like
grass and wither as a green herb. So don't fret but trust. That's what he says. Don't fret
but trust in the Lord. Have faith in God and do good. We know that true faith, true
living faith is the product of the indwelling of the Spirit
of God. It is the gift of God. And true
living faith produces an action. and true faith, when it's strong
faith, when it's focused faith, does not fret, does not worry,
because it's anchored firm on the promises of God. Faith is like a rock, a fixing,
immovable, And yet how often we are distracted and we do look
round about us and we do see that other people's lives seem
to be smooth and we as believers seem to be going through much
tribulation. Yet we have lost sight of the
eternal promises, the eternal word of God which says, don't
fret thyself because of evildoers. neither be envious against them. Hebrews 6 from verse 18 gives us a great
promise that by two immutable or unchangeable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor for the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which endureth into that within the veil. whether
the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made an high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Two unchangeable things. It is
impossible for God to lie. We have a strong hope, a hope
which is an anchor for the soul, a trust that God cannot lie. Trust in the Lord. Have faith
in God. Let God and God's word be the
anchor of your soul to enable you to withstand those storms
of jealousy and envy against the workers of iniquity
and to enable us to remember that all these things are just
passing away. We think of Hebrews 11 and those
who were the faithful. They're called the strangers
and pilgrims on the earth. They trusted God, they believed
God and it was accounted to Abraham for righteousness and they were
men and women of faith. But that faith moved them to
do. It moved them to order their
lives to live in obedience to God. Strangers and pilgrims on
the earth they were who looked for a city out of sight whose
builder and maker was God. They are our faithful witnesses
who live round about us. If you think of faith almost like
a battery. A battery, when it is low, it
brings a little movement. When it's run out of charge,
there's nothing. But when it is fully charged,
it brings a movement. And full of faith brings an effect,
a movement to the believer to enable them to trust in God and
to trust in God's promises. to lay hold of them as an anchor
to the soul, to trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land
and verily thou shalt be fed. And so there's the trusting and
the doing good and then there is the promises which God has
promised to the children of Israel originally that they dwelt in
the promised land and he provided for them. But he has also promised,
as David said, I've not seen the Lord's people, the righteous,
begging for bread, but I've seen them always being provided for. And the Lord has promised to
provide daily bread for his people, to provide them with the things
that they have need of. He knows the things that we have
need of before we even ask him. And so the scripture says trust
in the Lord, lay hold of God, lay hold of the promises of God
when we feel ourselves taken up with jealousy and envy of
the wicked around about us. Then we can say fret not thyself
but delight in the Lord. Delight. The evildoers, as presented
to us in the psalm, they delighted in doing evil. They delighted
in the material things. They delighted in despising the
righteous. But the righteous is to take
delight in the Lord, take delight in the eternal God, the unchangeable
God whose word never fails. To delight in God and to delight
in Christ. To delight in the Holy Spirit. To delight in the Word of God. Psalm 1. It tells us there. I think we read
it recently. Psalm 1 and verse 2. But his
delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate
day and night. Do not fret, but delight thyself. Have pleasure. If you delight
in doing something, you have pleasure in doing it. It brings
you joy. It brings you satisfaction and
contentment. And a believer is to delight
themselves in God, in the things of God, in the thoughts of God,
in the service of God. as the world are slaves to Satan. So we are bond servants to the
Lord Jesus Christ and we delight to be in his service, in his
work, in his ways and in his will. And we have great joy as
the world take great pleasure in enjoying themselves. spend a lot of money to cause
themselves to stir up joy within their hearts. So the believer
he is opposite to that. His joy, his delight is found
in the things of God. And whatever the wicked have,
whatever they delight in, Christ is more. And we could live in this world
and we could have millions and millions of pounds and we could
buy everything that we want. We could go on long holidays. We could go and have a yacht
and a luxury liner, aeroplanes and everything. And we could
enjoy ourselves. But the Bible tells us I don't know if it was in this
psalm The little that a righteous man
hath is better than the riches of the wicked Verse 16 A little
that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many
wicked so they may fill their lives with things. Yet if we have Christ, Christ
is more valuable than anything because he himself is eternal
and what he has done for the lives of his people is an eternal
act. he has cleansed them from their
sins not just for this life he's granted them eternal life in
which they will forever be with him and so one thing that is
eternal is worth more than all the things that are fading away
and passing away. So a little that a righteous
man has is better than the riches of many wicked. Salvation cannot
be taken away. Once Christ has given salvation,
once the sinner is justified and that is secure, the payment
is made for all eternity. But as soon as someone buys a
luxury liner, begins to lose value and as soon as they die
it's lost for them forever. So it's better to have Christ
and all the riches of this world and to delight yourself in him
because he is eternal. To serve him because he is eternal
and his rewards are also eternal. Christ is more valuable. Christ
is eternal. and he is permanent. The other day we bought a scooter
and today John came in and he said, someone's stolen my scooter. And that's all we have to worry
about isn't it? You buy something new and you worry it's going
to get scratched, worry it's going to be stolen, worry you're
going to lose it. But with salvation with the true
salvation given by Christ. It can never be stolen. It can
never be taken away. It can never be lost. Because
it is a secure gift of God. And the scooter was found. It
was not stolen. Delight thyself in the Lord and
he will give thee the desires of thine heart. Now we know when
someone is truly knit together with the Lord they only desire
to do what the Lord wants them to do. His desire is their desire
and their desire is his desire and so whatever he gives them
they are satisfied with that. The world pray for great things
But the true believer, the one who loves Christ says, not my
will, but thy will be done. And he says, commit thy way unto
the Lord. Don't fret. Don't worry, but
commit thy way to the Lord. Psalm 55. says cast thy burden upon the
Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer or allow
the righteous to be moved. Now this word commit is the same word as cast. which is a word that means to
roll, to roll it over, to pass it over. commit thy ways unto
the Lord. And as the psalmist is describing
about that envy and that jealousy that rises up within the heart,
he says, commit thy way unto the Lord, roll it over to the
Lord who is the good shepherd. All your worry, all your concern,
all your anxiety, roll it to the Lord. All of that seeking
to know his will and his direction. Commit it to him. Roll it over
to him and allow him to take care of it. The children's hymn.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. If the world
from you withhold all its silver and its gold and you have to
live in deep despair, take your burden to the Lord and cast it
there. Roll it to him, the good shepherd. As you maybe look at the wicked
going on his way as it were filling his bag with more and more things. Remember that his bag, his way,
his bag has a hole in it. He can never keep those things
that he is acquiring and his way is the broad right way that
leads to destruction. there are many that find that
way but there are few on the way that leads to eternal life. Commit your way to the Lord and
trust him and he shall bring it to pass. Don't fret but rest
and wait. We looked on the Lord's Day at
Abraham and how when the Lord promised him a child he had to
wait 25 years for that promise to come to fulfilment. We saw in the middle of that
he fretted, he got anxious and he took matters into his own
hands trying to help God out. The scripture says, rest in the
Lord. It is all under control. The
wicked are going to be cut down like grass and the believers
are going to be gathered into the barn of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are going to be gathered
into his arms and there they will be with him forever. Now
to be patient and to wait for him. If you have received this gift,
this gift of grace, then fret not thyself because of evildoers. Rest in God's Son the Lord Jesus
Christ and delight in that eternal treasure that he has given you
and commit your way to him. He will direct you. Commit your
burden, roll your burden to him. He is more than able to take care of his people, then
rest. Rest in the Lord, trust him,
delight in him, commit your way unto him, then rest in the Lord
and wait for him. May the Lord help us then to
act upon those precious promises, not to fret, but to rest in the
Lord. Amen. Our closing hymn is hymn number
535. O the love of Christ to sinners,
who can make its wonders known. Sin-born slaves through grace
are winners of a bright celestial crown. Jesus gives us endless
glory and renown. Hymn number 535 to the tune 684. O God of Christ and sinners,
who can make its wonders known? Sing, all saints, with praise
for Him as the Father. Jesus gives us, Jesus gives us,
endless glory and freedom. The behind nature of this graceful, From righteousness entwined forth,
Who can help the blestless dead? Sages, captives, Sages, captives,
And men of dishonest worth, shed his blood, and brought us
to him, for our life did his own make gain. He redeemed us, he redeemed us,
who sinned, Satan and the curse. Love redeemed us, love redeemed
us, Almighty God, we do thank Thee
for the precious gift of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do thank Thee for that eternal
treasure that has been granted to Thy people, the salvation
of their souls, which is of more value than the whole world put
together. And we pray, Lord, that Thou
forgive us when our eyes are turned aside and we look at the
prosperity of the wicked and we are envious of them, do grant
us that spirit of repentance to turn away from these things
and to focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Do be with us now, we
pray, as we part from each other. Do return us here upon thy day
and bless us again, we do ask of thee. Now may the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with
the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with
us each now and for evermore. Amen.