So Lord may graciously help me
I'll turn your prayerful attention to Psalm 37 and reading for a
text this evening verses 23 and 24. Although I do also want to
go carry on going through this precious instructive Psalm. Psalm 37 verses 23 and 24. 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. Psalm 36, verses 23 and 24. We spoke this morning of this
psalm as being one that contrasts two characters and really the
whole of the human race is divided up into these two characters
and you can't ultimately sit on the fence. You are in one
camp or the other ultimately. Are you amongst those that fear
the Lord? Or are you amongst those that
despise him and desire not the knowledge of his ways? Well, we spoke this morning of
this, the evildoers that we can be concerned about, and yet the
antidote was to trust in the Lord. We were not to fret, but
we were to trust in the Lord. We were to light ourselves in
the Lord. We would commit our way to the Lord. and we were
to rest in the Lord. We've just been singing of that
rest that remaineth to the people of God, a rest, because they
have come to that place of security. Rest is associated with the weary,
of being at rest and being able to be comforted in their journey
and in their way. rest in the Lord we spoke of
that this morning and wait patiently for him fret not thyself because
of him who prospers in his way because of the man who bringeth
wicked devices to pass and then verse 8 says cease from anger
cease from anger each need to be instructed in that it's easy
to be angry but cease from anger it says forsake wrath fret not
thyself in any wise to do evil we can often think that well
this has happened and therefore i'm justified in doing something
else evil but he's saying no no no no cease from anger for
evildoers shall be cut off but they that wait upon the lord
they shall inherit the earth they shall find a place of satisfaction
and you see in verse 10 it says for yet a little while and the
wicked shall not be those people who Perhaps you're looking up
to, you'd naturally left yourself, you'd like to change places with
their affluence, with their status in life and all that they can
project. For yet a little while and the
wicked shall not be. They're not going to stay in
that state of glorying in themselves. They're not going to stay and
continue in a state of rebellion against God and prosper. They're
living under a sentence of judgment. And as soon as that judgment
is to be poured out, that will be the end of all their rebellion. For yet a little while and the
wicked shall not be. Yea, thou shalt diligently consider
his place, but it shall not be. But the meek, the meek, those
that are humble, those that put their trust in the Lord, those
that submit themselves to God, See, we read in Peter those beautiful
words. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God. The spirit of man is to challenge
God. We will not have this man to
reign over us. We will not obey his rules. We
will go our own way. But the meek shall inherit the
earth. They shall delight themselves
in the abundance of peace. You see, It's our peace to make
peace with God. But yet we're sinners and we
need that way of mercy. Obviously we need to go to him
and ask for mercy, forgiveness. But we'll come on to that later
as we come on to our text. But I just wanted to give an
overview of the psalm as well. And then in verse 12 it says,
The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with
his teeth. What are the just going to do?
Fret. Give up. See that's what our
natural reaction is. What's going to happen? The wicked
are plotting against the just and gnash on him with his teeth.
We read, the Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his
day is come. You see that God is in control. As we spoke this morning, it
had set before us that idea of that throne, that God is in control. And therefore, yes they're laughing
at us, yes they're plotting against us. David in another psalm, Psalm
31 says, that they devise to take away my life. Psalm 31 says that. But I trusted in thee. I said
thou art my God, my times are in thy hand. Psalm 31 verse 15. My times are in thy hands. It's
not in the enemy's hands, it seems like it is, left to themselves. The Lord shall laugh at him,
for he seeth that his day is coming. Verse 14, the wicked
have drawn out the sword and 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 bows
shall be broken. The cross-reference for verse
15 is the occasion when Saul ended up falling onto his own
sword. Remember Saul was such a bitter
enemy to David. He spent most of his kingdom
trying to catch David and wrongly fight him. See the wicked have
drawn out their sword, they bent their bow to cast down the poor
and needy and to slay such would be as upright conversation. David
was honorable and upright and yet Saul made it his work to
try and catch David. and try and overthrow him. But
you see here, David is able to say, their sword shall enter
into their own heart and their bows shall be broken. Ultimately,
Saul ended up killing himself. He did never kill David, even
though David said, one day I shall perish by the hand of Saul. He
never did because God, you see, was in control of it. David was
God's anointed and he was going to go to the throne, he was going
to be that one who would be, sit on the throne as the first
king in Jerusalem, in the city of David, in the city of Zion. Then verse 16, a little that
a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.
See the world and by nature we think The bigger something is,
the more happy something is. But what wisdom is here? Little
that a righteous man hath. One that's been made right with
God. One that has a relationship with the Redeemer, the Lord of
heaven and earth. That one is precious in God's sight. And
a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches
of many wicked. Oh, they've got all that the
heart could wish, but if they haven't got a relationship with
God, they have nothing. When they die, they leave it
all behind. And then they face the judgment seat. Am I ready
to meet God? Am I made a real Christian, washed
in the Redeemer's blood? A little that a righteous man
hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms
of the wicked shall be broken. The arms, the way they get their
wealth and strength, they're going to be broken. They're ultimately
not going to continue. And that's the thing that I tried
to get through this morning, the pragmatic approach. Well,
it works for them. It's only short term working.
And we need to realize that. But the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord knoweth the days of
the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. You see, the
inheritance of God's people. Peter picked up on that. To an
inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. What
a difference. We can't say that about any estate
here below. No estate here below can be described
in that way. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. Here we have the idea that those
who fear God their steps are ordered. God is in control
of their lives. It's not random chance that things
come into their pathway, what people do to them. God knows
it. The steps, individual steps of
a good man are ordered by the Lord. And he delighted in his
way. God delights to see his people
walking in those ways and God's people delight to walk in God's
ways. Delight thyself also in the Lord
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. The steps of
a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his
way. He's leading his people to an
expected end. But then you see in verse 24
we wouldn't perhaps naturally think that verse 24 would follow
on from verse 23. We'd think well if the steps
of a good man are being ordered by the Lord then there wouldn't
be any problems. There wouldn't be any difficult
steps, any downward steps, any fall, would there? You might
think. But here you see the Psalmist
David faithfully says, though he fall. The fall of God's people. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. And here we have this great theme
that that the Lord is able to restore. And this is a great
and a very, very important aspect of our Christian faith. You see,
we live in a society and particularly in a political sense, people
raised to great heights and they've only got to be in a high position
and make one statement that doesn't fit the political correctness
and they've got to resign. That's it. The whole career over
for one statement that was judged to be unsuitable. But you see
we thankfully have a very different God than that. We have one that
is merciful. He knoweth our frame. He remembereth
that we are dust. He remembers that we are sinners. You see, the Lord has left that
pattern prayer, give us at this day our daily bread and forgive
us our trespasses, a daily acknowledgement that we come short. It seems
in the political realm that people expect these people in political
office to be perfect. They come one step out of line,
and if they do, must go. So totally opposite to the way
God describes a righteous man, that though he fought, Yet he
shall not utterly be cut down. You see the Bible is truthful.
We set up this sort of puppet idea that somebody is perfect
and therefore if they're in the top they've got to be perfect.
Well reality is we're all sinners that come short of the glory
of God. We all need to obtain mercy and we all need to be washed
in that precious sin atoning blood and more honesty in this
sense in our high places I think would be very welcome. Though
he fall. he shall not be utterly cast
down. And we read together really two
major characters in the Bible. In the Old Testament David was
a major character much, I think one of the most written in the
Old Testament is David. So much about David's Psalms,
his life, what he did. And yet, of course, he's recorded
that fall of David. We read later on in this Psalm,
I have been young and now I'm old, verse 25. So David wrote
this Psalm 37 in his old age, it would seem. So therefore,
it would make sense that it was after the event of Bathsheba
and Uriah the Hittite that David himself had fallen. And yet God
allowed, you see, this man after God's own heart to fall. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. With David's case, there was
that return. As Nathan came, the prophet came
to David and showed him his sin, and he came to realize he became
convicted. And what a wonderful thing, if
God convicts us of sin, it's absolutely necessary and vital. John says it like this, 1 John
1 verse 7 it says, but if we walk in the light and he in the
light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We're
living a life, we say, expect these people to be perfect, but
it's unrealistic. We're sinners, and we come short
of the glory of God. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. And here you see, there is this
realism that the Lord's people fall. David fell, and of course
one major character in the New Testament was Peter. And he fell in that matter of
denying his Lord and Master on that time when Jesus was being
condemned by the Jewish leaders. He denied his Lord. But we have,
we read together those beautiful words, and the Lord said, Simon,
Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat. Satan's intent, you see, is to
ruin Peter was to bring him to nothing to show that he was not
a genuine disciple and that's always what Satan
wants to do is to ruin us. And yet God had other purposes. Though he fall, yet shall he
not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his
hand. You see in here, we have these beautiful words. But I
have prayed for thee. And you might think, well, if
Jesus prayed for him, why did he fall? But I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
That means turned around. When you've had true repentance
of your fall, when you've gone out and wept bitterly and sought
for repentance, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Peter had a commission to do
after he had fallen. Now we must not sin that grace
may abound, but God obviously had appointed this fault. In that sense, the fault was
on Peter's side. He had not watched. He had not
been close to his master. The sin was on Peter's side. Jesus is not the author of sin.
It's the same as when we read that ye by wicked hands have
taken and killed the Lord of life and glory. It was a wicked
thing to do. And yet simultaneously it was the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God that they were bringing to pass at
the same time. There's two sides. We mustn't mix them up. It's
our sin that when we fall it's our sin and we were smart for
it. David smarted for it the rest
of his life. Peter, I'm sure, he's remembered. If you said about Peter, what
do you remember about Peter? Probably one of the things that
people remember, he was the one that denied his Lord three times.
Just imagine if you were Peter, it's not a very nice thing to
have remembered about you. I'm sure he would have been very
sad the rest of his life that he had been left to deny his
Lord and Master three times. But you see, Jesus had prayed
for him. Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail
not. When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Jesus's
prayer for Peter was realised. You see, Peter, under affliction,
under suffering, he caved in. He was scared that if he owned
who, that he was associated with the Lord, that he would end up
being also taken by the soldiers and treated, mistreated. And so therefore, if he could
distance himself from the Lord Jesus, he would distance himself
from the suffering. So he was one that shifted his
position to avoid suffering. Which epistle in the New Testament
is written to encourage suffering Christians to be faithful to
their Lord? It's the first epistle of Peter. Peter, this one who denied his
Lord with oaths and curses three times, was the one. that God
appointed, when they are converted, strengthen thy brethren. A wonderful
display of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. If that was a political
situation, you'd never choose Peter for it, would you? You'd
say, right, you've denied your Lord, you're out. Nothing more
to do, the end of your career. Peter was the one that was restored.
He was given a commission to preach on the day of Pentecost.
And 3,000 souls were blessed. This is the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And then he is the one that writes
the epistle. And that's the epistle that has
been a comfort to the Lord's people for 2,000 years of Christians
have loved that epistle of Peter to comfort them in their times
of trouble. And it was Peter that had experienced
those things himself so that he could write them to us today
and to comfort other Christians. Jesus' prayer had been answered. When thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren. How many people suffering in
prison of God's people have loved the first epistle of Peter? Because
they walked it out and Peter, you see, had understood it. He
was able to say, as we read together in that lovely chapter, Be sober,
be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Where did Peter learn
about that? It wasn't in a seminary, was
it? It was in the sieve of Satan. He understood that Jesus, that
this is what it was. Be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour. He had experienced it. You see,
Jesus was that. We have not a high priest that
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. And that's
what's so beautiful about the gospel. We have one that has
experienced what has gone through. And that's what those that preach
the gospel. God has not appointed angels
to preach the gospel who have never known what it is to fall
and never known what it is to be restored. But he sent those
to preach. that have smarted themselves
under falling, and then to realize the beauty of the gospel of the
grace of Jesus Christ, where it says in Psalm 23, he restoreth
my soul. He restoreth it. It doesn't say
he restored my soul. When I was converted 20 years
ago, he restored my soul. No, he restoreth my soul. It's
an ongoing thing. As we fall, the Lord is able
to help us once again. So the steps of a good man are
ordered by the Lord. Our steps are ordered by God.
But that doesn't mean to say that there won't be those difficult
times. There won't be those falls. And
yet God can overrule it. He overruled it in the case of
David. David ended up writing that Psalm
51 again, which has been such a comfort to the Lord's people
for thousands of years. So many people have prayed Psalm
51 and been blessed and been encouraged by this man after
God's own heart, how he could show a way back to God from the
dark paths of sin. What a blessing that we have
a merciful God. A God that delighteth in mercy.
The New Testament and the Old. This is the Old Testament. It's
full of mercy. David was able to say then in
verse 25, I have been young and now I'm old. Yet have I not seen
the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. He saw the
blessedness of the people of God, that God cared for them
ultimately. He is ever merciful and lendeth
and his seed is blessed. depart from evil, this is verse
27, depart from evil and do good and dwell forevermore. For the
Lord loveth judgment. God is a righteous judge. We've
heard of that before. What does a king do on his throne?
He judges. He makes righteous judgments.
He vindicates his people. We always think of, perhaps when
we think of judgment, we always think of that against ourselves,
perhaps, as a negative thing, perhaps. But also for the Lord's
people, He judges their enemies. And you see, there's something
precious about that, that God will ultimately judge those that
are our enemies. We commit himself to him, to
him that judgeth righteously. And you see, in the case of the
Lord Jesus, when he was on the cross, his father judged righteously.
He ultimately vindicated his son and ultimately will punish
those that perpetrated those evils. For the Lord loveth judgment
and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but
the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. And then we have, then the righteous
shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever. The righteous
shall inherit the land. So here we have the fact that
the Lord's people shall have an inheritance. We read so much
that the wicked are going to be thrown out, but the Lord's
people have an inheritance. And this is so important. Of
course, it was so pictorial in the Old Testament. Israel traveling
to Canaan, to the promised land. The whole picture was an inheritance,
a place to be. And of course, we spoke of that
a year ago here when we were talking about, I go to prepare
a place for you in John 14. beautiful chapter where Jesus
is comforting his disciples, comforting them that they have
an inheritance, they have something to look forward to. They were
so worried. John 14, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. You see, the righteous
shall inherit the land and shall dwell therein forever. The Lord
does give us a place to live here below, but it's not forever,
is it? Our lives are relatively short. There surely is a spiritual
interpretation of this, a land, a place of dwelling, a place
prepared. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there ye may be also. You see, there's a place prepared.
There's an habitation. We read of that in Hebrews 11,
they look for a city whose builder and whose maker is God. The righteous
shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever. The mouth of
the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.
Really, when you analyze the wisdom of this world, it's foolishness.
It doesn't truly take us to the spring of wisdom, which is God
itself. You see, outside of God, the fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. The mouth of the righteous speaketh
wisdom. True wisdom is to seek God. to seek our maker. The law of
God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. And then we have in verse 32,
the wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him. It's
difficult when you feel that people are watching you and trying
to trip you up and trying to see any fall. It's very difficult.
David had that for years. Saul was right on his back the
whole time. Any slip he would have jumped
on him, he would have thrown a javelin at him, he would have
done anything to destroy David. The wicked watcheth the righteous
and seeketh to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in
his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged, wait on the Lord,
and keep his way, and thou shalt exalt thee to inherit the land.
When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. And then in
verse 35, I've seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself
as a green bay tree. Here we have a picture of the
wicked in all their pomp and glory. And yet, to realize, yet
he passed away. And lo, he was not. I sought
him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man. The one
that we need to know is the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the one. Mark the perfect man and behold
the upright for the end of that man is peace. You see, to know
the Lord, to be a child of God, to be a righteous one who has
fled for refuge is to know peace. The peace of God which passeth
all understanding. But the transgressors shall be
destroyed together and the end of the wicked shall be cut off."
Again, it keeps flipping between the two sides. The blessedness
of God's people, the endurance of God's people, how they have
an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not
away. Though they fall, though they come short, though they
have to come with repentance, yet you see there is this blessing
that the Lord is to be feared. but the transgressors shall be
destroyed and the end of the wicked shall be cut off but the
salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. You see it's all
unto him it's not unto themselves they cannot come and claim that
they have been so wise and wise to go in the right ways but they
look to the Lord and realise that but the salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. And ultimately when we come to
glory it will be Him that gets the glory. It won't
be us, it will be Him. And oh, we will have those crowns
of glory. Paul says that. Unto me is given
a crown of glory. Not to me only, but to all them
that love his appearing. But the salvation of the Lord
is, of the righteousness of the Lord. He is their strength in
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. And that comes back, you see,
to this great thing that we have right in verse 3 of this chapter. Trust in the Lord. This is the
vital thing. Where is our trust? Are we hoping
in the world's wisdom, in the world's way of managing our lives,
of ignoring God's word, ignoring God's ways, ignoring him as king
of our lives? Or is there a realisation, this
is the way of life, that I may know Him, that I may delight
myself in Him and be able to walk in His ways and able to
live for His glory. This is the great thing, for
the wicked, He shall deliver them from the wicked and save
them because they trust in Him. A description of a child of God
they trust. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the
Lord and do good. This is the great message that
we need to do. We live in a world where there
is so many, it's always been the same in a sense, this is
not new. Satan is not new, he's been around
for a long time. He has different tools that he
uses today than he used to have. with the internet and things
like that, although the internet can also be used for many blessings
as transmitting services and so on. But he has many other
tools that he can use now to perpetrate the evil as well as
preaching the word. But Satan, you see, ultimately
his goal is to bring God's people down. and to bring them away
from God, and to cause them to fall, like Peter. He wanted Peter
to be a Judas, and to forsake, and to end his faith. And if
he could get Peter to fall, then he was the chief, he was one
of the spokesmen for the apostles, and then all of them would, as
it were, be the weaker void. But you see, God didn't allow
Peter to ultimately fall. he upheld him, he kept him, so
that Peter was able to be sustained and able to continue. It seems very sweet to me that
the Lord then used Peter to write, used those things to be a blessing
to the Church. When we look at our pathway,
we look at the things that God has allowed us to come into our
lives. And perhaps you look back and you think, if only God would
have stopped me doing that. If only I hadn't done this in
my life. If only I hadn't allowed myself to do that. And we can
continue wringing our hands over these things. And it's good to
be sorry for our sin. But may we realize that God is
over all. What has happened in the past
is God has allowed. It's happened. but that the Lord
is able to restore. He's able to restore his people
and Peter was restored and given a ministry that he couldn't really
have had, had he not have fallen in the
sentence. Now we do not sin that grace may abound, but We are
to fight sin at every corner and yet God is able to overrule
when we sin, to turn it round and to use it for his glory.
May we see that in our lives. Perhaps you've got some blot
in your life and you say, that's such a problem, I've done this
thing, I'm falling in this area and now I can't be of any use
to the Lord, I can't join the church, I can't do these things,
I've got this black mark against me, whatever that might be. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. He delighteth in his way. Do
you delight in God's way? Do you delight in God's way?
Do you delight to do his will, though he fall? A fall that you
would so wish that you could delete. David, I'm sure, would
so often wish that he could have put that event with Bathsheba
away as never having happened. And yet God allowed it and God
caused it to be used, you see, to be an example of how God's
people return from their sin to find mercy in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. The steps of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ were ordered by the Lord. He delighted in his
way that God the Father delighted in the son, his son, beloved
son. Now the Lord Jesus did not fall
in the sense that he sinned and yet he was brought down at Calvary,
wasn't he? He fell into the hands of wicked
men. They took him, they crucified
him. They did all manner of evil against him. And yet, you see, the Lord upheld
him. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold. The Lord Jesus, God
the Father, upheld God the Son. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. That was not said at the time
of Calvary, and yet it was his beloved Son. Jesus said in John
10, therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my
life for the sheep. The father was well pleased with
his beloved son, and yet, because he was bearing the sin of his
people, for all their transgressions from God's holy law, all their
things that they had done that was wrong, all the whole church
of God, down from Adam's day to the end of time, all their
sins needed to have needed to be paid for, needed to have somebody
to take that enormous load. And that was placed on our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, the one who was Great David's greater
son, the one who came out of David's loins. David that was,
they sought to dethrone him and sought to stop him ever coming
to the throne. Saul made it his life goal to
stop David coming to the throne, coming to be that king in Jerusalem
and yet it was going to be a picture of a greater kingdom. And so
as God brought David to that kingdom, so Yet have I set my
king, as we looked at in Psalm 2 this morning, the heathen raging
and all that going on. Well, we spoke this morning and
said he's sitting in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have
them in derision. But then it says in verse six
of Psalm 2, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. The Lord Jesus is set upon the
hill of Zion. Zion was that stronghold in Jerusalem
that David captured and became, he made it his home. Zion. And here you see the language
is all based on this. Yet have I set my King, the Lord
Jesus Christ, upon my holy hill of Zion. Zion, the city of our
God. That's what the Lord has done.
the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He orders his people
stepped, he ordered the steps of his beloved son. There was
that agreement between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost that
there would be this plan of salvation, there would be this way that
sinners would be able to be brought back. But it was a difficult
way, it was a tremendously difficult way. The way that he should We're reading in Isaiah some
of the difficulty that led to that way. In Isaiah 52, it states, Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently. He shall be exhorted and extolled
and be very high. This is Isaiah 52, verse 13. And then it says, as many as
were stoned at his visage, was so marred more than any man.
This was the difficulty of the Lord Jesus Christ, this one who
came, his steps were ordered by the Lord, and yet this one
who fell under the sword of divine justice, smite the shepherd,
the sheep should be scattered. You see what happened to the
disciples have been prophesied in the book of Zechariah already. The sheep would be scattered.
But you see, they would be returned. There would be a gathering of
them again. Though there was a scattering
of the disciples, apart from Judas who was lost, all the other
eleven were going to be gathered and become the apostles. And
to preach the Gospel, and to preach a way back to God from
the dark paths of sin, that this man is their peace. This one
is the one that we should serve. Well then, as we've looked at
this psalm today, this precious psalm gives so much instruction
of the way of life and the way of death. And the way of death
is just to go along with the world, go along with its maxims,
go along with its thinking. See, there's a way, we read in
the Bible, a way that's seen with right unto a man, but the
end thereof are the ways of death, a way that walks in pride, you
see, and thinks of going our own way and seeking our own glory
and building up our own kingdom. These are the things that the
world say that's what you do. That's what life's about. But
you see, to truly do things for the glory of God, to live for
his glory, to seek to glorify him in our lives, to seek to
be humble followers of the Lamb. This is something that is not
the way of the world. I wanted to mention this in 1
John 2, verse 1. My little children, these things
I write unto you that ye sin not. We are not to sin. That's the standard, that ye
sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the father. So it's not a case of, well,
you can sin this much and that's OK. But no, God's people, the
message is my little children, these things I write unto you
that you sin not. That's the standard. But thankfully,
there's a way back when we break that standard. And if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the father. Jesus Christ, the
righteous. So Jesus is precious to his people.
He's that one that causes them, though they fall, yet that the
righteous can hold on their way. Oh, if there's a fall naturally
in a political sense, they can't carry on. They've got to stop.
They've got to hand in their notice. They've got to be removed. But not so, you see, with the
Lord's people. The Lord's people, there is a
way back. The whole word of God is so focused
around redemption, a bringing back of that which is lost. A third part should be brought
through the fire. Let me just finish with that
beautiful word because we spoke of that in Zechariah. Zechariah 13 verse 7 I quoted
that a Waco sword this is Zechariah 13 verse 7 a Waco sword against
my shepherd against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of
hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered
a prophetic of what the disciples would all forsake him and fled
And I will turn mine hand upon the little ones, and it shall
come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts
therein shall be cut off and die, a separation, those that
fear God and those that fear him not. But the third shall
be left therein, and I will bring the third part through the fire,
And we'll refine them as silver is refined. See, God's going
to bring us through those trials. Peter speaks of that. The fiery
trial that is to try your faith as though some strange thing
happened unto you. But rejoice that ye are partakers
of these things. These are all things that Peter
brings out in his epistle. I will bring the third part through
the fire and we'll refine them as silver is refined and we'll
try them as gold is tried. And they shall call on my name
and I will hear them. And I will say, it is my people,
and they shall say, the Lord is my God. You look at that.
These sheep smite the shepherd, and the sheep should be scattered.
But then we have a returning, and we have this sweet interchange
between God and his people. I will say, it is my people,
and they shall say, the Lord is my God. There's union, you
see. There's reconciliation. There's bringing them back. And
this is the way back to God from the dark paths of sin. This is
life eternal that we may know this Lord Jesus Christ and flee
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us in the gospel. Amen.