Well, let us turn to God's word
in the psalm that we read, Psalm 37, and directing you for our
text to the words that we have here at verse three. Psalm 37,
three. Trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land,
and verily thou shalt be fed. Psalm 37 and verse three, trust
in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land
and verily thou shalt be fed. And the theme that I want to
seek to address this evening with help from the Lord is that
of the food of faith. The food of faith. The promise here at the end of
the verse, verily, thou shalt be fed. Now in the context there
is a contrast between fretting and faith. In the opening words,
fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious
against the workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down
like the grass and wither as a green herb. Trust in the Lord
and do good. Threat not thyself then, is what
David says here in the opening words of the psalm. And then later also he goes on
to speak of those who would be fretful and exhorts them. Verse 7, Threat not thyself because
of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth
wicked devices to pass. cease from anger and forsake
wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. What is this
fretting? Well, here in the opening verse
it might say in the margin of your Bible that the word literally
means to grieve or to be angry. I suppose fret, it's an old English
word, really has reference to being worried or anxious. Oh, how different is the life
of faith to that of those who are fretful. The life of faith,
of course, is that life in which there is a trust in God, and
there seems to be an emphasis upon the importance of that here.
Look at the language that we have later, already referred
to, verses 7 and 8, where he speaks of the evil of fret, but
he says, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Previous to that, verse 5, commit
thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring
it to pass. Again, in verse 9, those that
wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. This life
of faith then, it certainly appears to involve a waiting upon the
Lord, a resting in the Lord. Now true waiting upon the Lord
is not something slothful. It's not waiting in inactivity
and unbelief. It's not fatalism. What is this
waiting? It's waiting in faith and in
hope and in expectation. It's a waiting that has a certain
determination involved in it. It is really a holy activity
that is taking place in the soul of a man when he wakes upon the
Lord. He is one really of the same
spirit that we find in Jacob when we see him there at Penihanim
in Genesis 32. I will not let thee go, he says
to the angel. I will not let thee go except
thou bless mine. And of course, it was there that
Jacob became Israel. He had power with the angel,
he prevailed. Ought to be those who are like
Jacob, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile. To be those who would then truly
wait upon the Lord in faith and hope and determination, coming
to him and looking to him with that spirit of true expectation. Well, having said something with
regards to the more general context of the verse, I want to turn
to this third verse and consider it for a while tonight. Trust
in the Lord, says David, and do good. So shalt thou dwell
in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. And we observe
Three things with regards to this verse. First of all, to
say something with regards to the promise of a faithful God. And then secondly, to say something
with regards to the life of faith, what that involves. And then
finally, to say something more specifically with regards to
the food of faith. First of all, we observe that
it is the promise of God that lies at the very heart of this
text. And it is that promise of God
that is the real food of faith. And what is the promise that
we see here in the center of the verse? So shalt thou dwell
in the land. So shalt thou dwell in the land. Now, if we think again of the
context more generally here, this is Old Testament scripture,
of course, and we're to understand it in terms of the promises that
God gave to his ancient people, the children of Israel. There,
in the Old Testament, Israel is a type. They're a type of
the true people of God. We know that they're not all
Israel, they're not of Israel. there was ever in the midst of
that ethnic nation a remnant, a very little remnant. It would
seem at times that was the true spiritual Israel. And Israel as a nation in general
is a typical people. Now God had given promise to
their father to Abraham, back in Genesis chapter 15, promise
had been given with regards to the land. When he is called out
of Ur of the Chaldees, not knowing whether he is going, the promise
comes that he is to inherit that land of Canaan. And when the children of Israel
are brought out of Egypt, called out of Egypt under Moses, Remember
that Moses is the one who will take them, lead them into that
land. In Deuteronomy 19.8 he speaks
of the land which he, that is the Lord God, promised to give
unto thy fathers. And it's spoken of oftentimes
as a land flowing with milk and honey. Look at the language that
we have in In Deuteronomy chapter 8, for example, the description
that we have of the land there in Deuteronomy 8 verse 7, the
Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks
of water, of fountains and depths that spring out, of valleys and
hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates,
a land of oil, olive and honey, a land wherein thou shalt eat
bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it,
a land whose stones are iron, and down to whose hills thou
mayest eat brass, when thou hast eaten and not fall. Then thou
shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath
given thee. This is how the land is being
spoken of then here in the in the Old Testament. This is what
God's promise sent us upon in our text. So shalt thou dwell
in the land. But as I said, Israel is a typical
people. And the land is also a typical
land. Now what is the land of Taipa?
Often times it's spoken of as a type of heaven. That certainly
comes out in some of the hymns. When we think of that lovely
hymn of William Williams, Plenty Killing, Guide Me O Thou Great
Jehovah, we have that verse. When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside, death of deaths and house destruction
land me safe on Canaan's side. Speaking of the believer going
through the experience of death and landing on Canaan's side,
being taken into heaven. And it's a very, it's a very
lovely figure that is being used, but it's not really what the
land of Canaan is a type of. When they enter into the land,
they don't enjoy rest. When they enter into the land,
as we see in the book of Joshua, there's conflict. They have to
destroy the nations, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the
Perizzites. and so forth. And they're not
really successful. In fact, we read how the Canaanites
would dwell in the land. All their years there was conflict
with enemies in the land. And we know that there is nothing
of conflict in heaven. Canaan is not really a type of
heaven. It is more particularly a type
of the gospel. And it's a type of that race
that the people of God enter into when they come to true faith. There's a good fight of faith. All our days we have to be fighting
that fight. There's a great adversary, Satan
himself. There's the world with all its
elements. We have to resist the devil. We have to flee idolatry. There's that conflict with ourselves,
the old nature. We have to be mortifying the
deeds of the body that we might live. And I say that Canaan is
really a type of that life that the Christian has to live and
lead. But in the midst of all the conflicts
that the believer knows, there is such a richness and a fullness
in the land, in that land of faith. or we can think of the
language that we have in Isaiah 25, 6. In this mountain shall
the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of back things,
a feast of wines on the lees, of back things full of marrow,
of wines on the lees. Well, we find that's the gospel.
And now, in the midst of All that we have to endure in the
good fight of faith here is had to feed us and to encourage us. And so we have it here, so shalt
thou dwell in the land, and barely thou shalt be fed. And so what we have here is the
promised land, but also we observe this true word, the word of God,
and here we see something of the faithfulness of God. It's
the faithfulness of God, it's the promise of God. And look
at just how it is introduced here, the final clause. Verily,
says David, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, it's not
just David's word, it's God's word. Verily, thou shalt be fed. And you know the significance
and the force of the verilies. We have so many of them when
we come to the New Testament, especially when we come to read
in the Gospel of John and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and time and again the Lord would prefix his teaching with a verily. And many times, a double verily,
verily would fall from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
what does verily mean? Well, there in the New Testament,
literally it is the word amen. So be it. Truly, we might render,
Truly, truly. Oh, what does it remind when
we think of the faithfulness of God, when we think of the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ and his many bevels? Why, we
remember that all the promises of God in him are yea, and in
him are men. And this is the God you see who
who speaks the promise. As I said, what we're considering
here under our first heading is the promise of a faithful
God. And who is this faithful God?
What is the name of this God? Well, what is the name that we
find here in the verse? Trust in the Lord, it says. And
immediately we observe that that is the covenant name. It is Jehovah. We have it here as Lord. in the
familiar capital letters, indicating that this is God's covenant name. This is a God who speaks the
promises. Or going back to Abraham, what
are we told in Hebrews chapter six concerning God's dealings
with Abraham, who is the father of all belief, when God made
promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he
swore by himself. And these are the two immutable
things in which it was not possible that God could lie. Oh, there's
the promise of God. And there's the oath of God. And this is really gospel. This
is gospel. Yes, it's the Old Testament.
But it's gospel. Peter says, we have not followed
cunningly devised papals when we made known unto you power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is the promise of
God? It is that God will ever make
that provision for his people. That provision is there in the
person and the work of Christ. It's there in the gospel. So
shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Look at the language that we
have later, verse 19. They shall not be ashamed in
the evil time. In the days of famine they shall
be satisfied. That's God's promise again to
his people. In the days of famine. Or God
will feed us. And he will feed us with that
food that is convenient for us. He will never leave us nor forsake
us as we were considering those words this morning, the promise
of his presence, and the promise also of God's provision. The promise then of a faithful
God is really what this text says before us. But it also speaks
to us somewhat of the life of faith. And we see this in the
opening words. Trust in the Lord, it says, and
do Good. And there's a connection here. There's a connection between
trusting in the Lord and doing good. The Lord Jesus says, by
their fruit ye shall know them. And where there is true faith,
there will be good works. When Paul writes to the Thessalonians
at very tender epistle that he addresses to them. You read through
1 Thessalonians chapter 3, we see him there of course as a
nursing father, his great concern and he writes to them at the
beginning of the epistle and he says, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of
hope. But observe how he speaks of
a work of faith, a work of faith. And immediately we think of what
he says to the Ephesians, by grace are ye saved through faith.
And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of work,
lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. For the child of God is not to
live the life of an antinomian, we're not anti, We desire us
to be those who would observe all the holy precepts of the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and do of his good pleasure, says the apostle
to the Philippians. And there is this emphasis here.
Where there is true faith, there will be those works which are
the evidence. of the genuine character of that
faith. The Lord Jesus in the course
of his own ministry is preaching, what does he say? Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Well, we don't look to good works
for ourselves, for our own sake, for our own glory. No, those
works are to the glory of God. That's the teaching of the Lord
Jesus. The light shining before men, they see your good works
and they glorify your father because he is really the author
of all these things. And now it's James, of course,
who brings out these truths. He says, show me thy faith without
thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. There's the evidence. What James
is speaking of is not really contradicting the Apostle. Paul
speaks of justification by faith. James is really speaking of those
works that are the evidence, the justification, we might say,
of faith. They show that the faith is a
genuine faith. I will show thee my faith, then,
he says, by my works. It's faith which worketh by love. And we see it. We see it here
in what David says in the psalm. Look at the language that we
have later, verse 13. He says, the mouth of the righteous. Who is the righteous that he
is speaking of? It's that man who is accounted righteous. It's that justified sinner. The
mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh
of judgment The law of his God is in his heart. None of his
steps shall slide. It's the blessings of the new
covenant where God has promised to write his laws in the hearts
of his people. Well this is that man then, he
speaks truth. He speaks truth, isn't that what
David is saying concerning this character? His mouth, the mouth
of the righteous speaketh wisdom. His tongue talks of judgment,
God's law, is in his heart. In another psalm he says of this
righteous man, he sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not
his word is his bond. What he says he does. He doesn't
say a thing and then not do the thing that he has said. Again,
how David speaks of the character of the man Verse 21, the wicked
borroweth and payeth not again, but the righteous, that is the
justified sinner, the righteous showeth mercy and giveth. Verse 23, the steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. Or
the Lord has appointed, you see, that this is a way in which his
children are to live their lives. We walk by faith and not by It's the life of faith. And it's
a good life, it's a godly life. It's a delighting in all of God's
Word. Remember our Malachi rebukes
the priest in his day that they were partial, he says, in the
Lord of God. They were partial in the Word
of God. We're not to be partial. We're not just to embrace the
promises. Or we have a promise here, we were considering a promise
this morning, we love the promises, exceeding great and precious
promises. But do we love the precepts? The precepts of the
gospel, do we desire to be obedient to all the commands of our Lord
Jesus Christ? Think of it, what it is that
the Lord requires of his people. If you love me, he says, keep
my commandments. And amongst them, of course,
is the command to be baptized, to follow him even in the waters
of baptism. or were to be those who would
delight then in all his word, promise and precept. This is how the godly man lives. The just shall live by his faith. That's the word that we have
there in Habakkuk 2 verse 4, the just, the justified man.
And you know something of the doctrine of justification, that
great truth that was rediscovered, of course, at the time of the
Protestant Reformation, when God raised up a man like Martin
Luther and opened his eyes and his heart to the truth of justification
by faith. What a precious truth. It's the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that is imputed and reckoned
to the account of that sinner whose faith is in him. For it
is a precious truth. And there we have it, the just
shall live by his faith. And those words of Habakkuk,
they're repeated three times in the New Testament. Romans
1.17, Galatians 3.11, and Hebrews 10.38. It is a man who's not
trusting in his own work. He's not trusting in his good
deeds. No, his faith is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is the faith of Abraham. It's
that faith that we have described in that fourth chapter of Paul's
epistle to the Romans, the faith of Abraham. Remember what Paul
says there in Romans 4-2. If Abram were justified by works,
he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith
the scripture, Abram believed God, and it was counted unto
him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. What is his faith? Oh, his faith
centers in that blessed, that glorious object, which is the
promise, and the promise centering in the Lord Jesus. Later in that
same fourth chapter, verse 20, he staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able to perform, and therefore it, that is the promise, was
imputed to him. Oh, it's the promise that centers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The man is not trusting then
in his good works. He is trusting in the Lord. Trust
in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land
and verily thou shalt be saved. Well, I've said something just
now concerning the promise of a faithful God. Something of
that life of faith evidenced in good works. And then to conclude
by saying something more specifically with regards to the food of faith. Here we have it, verily thou
shalt be fed. The margin says, verily thou
shalt feed on faithfulness. I might not say that in yours,
in some Bibles that's what we read in the margin. Verily, thou
shalt feed on faithfulness. Dr. Gill suggested it could be
feed upon truth or it could be feed by faith. There's various
ways, obviously, that The Hebrew could be translated and great
Hebraist that he was. Even Dr. Gill is not sure which
is the best way to render what is written. There's such a richness
and a fullness in the expression, clearly. Either feed upon truth
or feed upon faithfulness or feed by faith. Or there is a
feeding. There's no disputing that. There
is certainly a feeding that is being spoken of here. And what
is it that believers feed on? Well, we can feed, in some measure,
on the providences of God. And the psalmist certainly is
mindful of God's providences. In what he says later in the
psalm, verse 25, I have been young, and now am old, yet have
I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor for his seed begging bread. Again, verse 16, a little that
a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many. God will not see his children
to want, even if they are never little. What they have from his
hand is far better than all the riches that the wicked might
have accumulated. God takes care of his people,
he grants to his people. The daily bread, we're told how
to pray, are we not? Give us this day our daily bread,
or as we have it in Luke, give us day by day our daily bread. There's a sufficiency, a sufficiency
for each day, for every day. How are we to live? We're to
live upon the providences of God, we're to look to God. We
see the Psalmist later in Psalm 107 having so much to say with
regards to God's providence. And how does he conclude, you
know the world, who so is wise? And we'll observe these things,
even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Oh, are we looking to God and
the providences of God? Even in these days, even in these
days, we were this afternoon listening to some hymns, or my
wife was listening to some hymns, on a site that she'd found. It was hymns from Gadsby's. And there was one that she wanted
me in particular to listen to. It was Hymn 64, being sung to
the tune Melchizedek. I don't think it's a tune that
we normally sing, but it was a lovely tune. But you know the
content of that 64th hymn. It reminds us, in many ways,
of the providences of God. He that fore me in the womb,
he shall guide me to the tomb. All my time shall ever be ordered
by his wise decree. Times of sickness, times of health,
times of penury and wealth, times of trial and of grief, times
of triumph and relief. And that last verse, you know
how apt it is In these days, plagues and deaths around me
fly, till he bids I cannot die. Not a single shaft can hit, till
the God of love sees fit. Isn't that our comfort? We can
feed ourselves, or we can be fed, I should say, by God, when
he opens our eyes to the blessed truth of his absolute sovereignty,
and the fact that he is the God of providence, and nothing takes
place outside of his decree. All things are ordered. Oh, that's
the covenant God that we worship. The covenant ordered in all things.
And sure, says David. But the fruit of faith is not
just to consider God's providential hand, but also doesn't faith
lead on God's grace? I refer to the marginal reading
here in the end of verse 3, verily thou shalt feed on faithfulness. Feeding on faithfulness. What
is faithfulness? Or rather, who is? Who is faithfulness? Well, the answer, of course,
is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Remember how he addresses the
Church of the Laodiceans there in in Revelation chapter 3, when
he addresses his letter to that particular church, he speaks
of himself as the Amen, the faithful and true witness. All Christ is the Amen, he is
the Verily. Christ is the faithful one. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ,
surely, that we see to be the very food of faith. And I refer you again to that
portion. I know so many times we come
to it, but that remarkable passage, we were reading it this morning
in our devotions together. The words that we have there
in John chapter 6 and verse 53 following. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, accept ye the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
He hath no life in him, whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. Oh, there is a blessed
union. And of course it's nothing to
do with the blasphemies of the Romish mass and the doctrine
of so-called transubstantiation. Nothing to do with that. It's
a spiritual feeding, but it's a real feeding. It's feeding
upon the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. Verily, thou shalt feed
on faithfulness. Oh, this is that land then that
is being spoken of. The promise of God here in our
text. to those who in their own nature are probably very inclined
to be fretful, to be anxious, to be worried, but trust in the
Lord and do good. So shall thou dwell in the land
and verily thou shalt be fed. It's a land flowing with milk
and honey. What is this food of fudge? We
might say, in effect, it is God himself. And it is God as he
reveals himself to us in his words. Reveals himself to us
in his promises. We can say, in a sense, the food
of faith is God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as it
is God incarnate, so it is God here in his inspired word in
the scriptures. Remember the scriptures and the
Lord bear one tremendous name. The written and incarnate word
in all things are the same. Or do we come, do we ransack
our Bibles because we desire to find the Lord Jesus Christ? Search the Scriptures, he says
to the Jews, in them ye think that ye have eternal life, and
these are they that testify of mine. Christ is everywhere. I remember reading in Spurgeon's
Commenting and Commentaries, a useful book in many ways, where
he assesses the content of the commentaries that were available
in his day, and recommends some and others. He wouldn't recommend
so strongly, or he might even warn you off certain commentaries.
But when he comes to dear Dr. Robert Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary,
On the Old and New Testament, he says this of Dr. Hawker, he says of Hawker, he
sees Christ where Christ is not. He sees Christ where Christ is
not. Hawker, wherever he's commenting, in the Old Testament as well
as in the New Testament, Christ is everywhere. And I confess
that I have more sympathy for Dr. Hawker than I do for C. H.
Burgeon there. I think Dr. Hawker is right.
Christ is everywhere. And that's how we're to come
to the word of God, desiring that we might find him, searching
for him, ransacking the Bible that we might find him. Is he
not here in our text tonight? When we consider the promise
of God, trust in the Lord and do good, So shalt thou dwell
in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed, or verily thou
shalt feed on faithfulness. Feed on him who is the faithful
Saviour, ever, always the friend of sinners. Will the Lord be
pleased to bless these truths to us? Amen.