Open up with me again to Psalm
37. Psalm 37. This is a long psalm,
and we're going to cover all of it, but we're going to cover
it in a little bit different way. There are two types of people
that this beautiful psalm is talking about. Two types of people. It's talking about the wicked,
and it's talking about the righteous. All through the psalm. Look at
verse 17 with me. For the arms of the wicked shall
be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. Look at verse
21. The wicked borroweth and payeth
not again, but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth." The
wicked, evildoers, and the righteous. I thought there was none righteous,
no, not one. That's what I thought. That's
what Romans 3.10 says, doesn't it? Well, turn with me over to
Matthew 23. Matthew chapter 23. We're going to turn a little bit today.
Sometimes we turn, sometimes we don't, but it's worth it.
Today is worth it. It's always worth it. Matthew
23. Look at verse 34. The Lord says, I send unto you prophets and
wise men and scribes, and some of them you shall kill and crucify. And some of them shall you scourge
in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, that
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from,
or starting with, the blood of righteous Abel. Our Lord God said, Abel was righteous. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts. So there's at least one. One righteous person. God said
so. Turn with me to Luke chapter
1. Luke 1, look at verse 5. There was in the days of Herod,
the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the
course of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron,
and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments and the ordinances
of the Lord blameless." Two more. We've got three now. God said so. Well, what does
that mean? Is the Scripture contradicting
itself? Turn back to our text and we'll
find out. Psalm 37. Look at verse 25 with me. I have
been young, and now am old, yet have I not
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. If by nature there's none righteous,
we all believe that, don't we? If all are born sinners, If all
come forth speaking lies, how can this be? How can this be? How can an undeserving sinner
not be forsaken and be called righteous by God? Here's how. When our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, went to the cross, He became my sin. Physically. My sin. He didn't become sin. He became my sin. You know those
things? That we just can't get out of
here? You know those things? He became that. He took my filthy, rotten, dead,
stinking sin and He laid it all over Hisself
from the crown of His head to the sole of His foot. He became
me. And then He cried the most glorious
words a sinner has ever heard in his life. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me? He was forsaken for me. He was forsaken for every sinner
that He chose to make righteous. And because of that, David can
say in verse 25, I have been young and now I'm old and I've
never seen the righteous forsaken. He was forsaken for me. And now all those that he did
this work for, all that he made righteous, they fall in love
with this man. They want to be where He is.
I love Him. I love Him. I love Him. He's
my life and He's my love and I just want to stand next to
Him. I'm a follower of Him. Wherever He goes, that's where
I go. They're called believers. They
believe what He said. about who they are by nature.
I am a sinner. I am a sinner. I'm a sinner.
They believe who He is by nature. This man is sovereign. This is
really God. Not who people are telling me
God is. That man really is God. And He's
holy. They believe in the work that
He performed. I believe it's finished. I believe there's no sin on my
record. I have sin in this flesh. There's
enough sin in that fingernail to send me to hell for eternity.
But there's no sin on my record. Do you believe it is finished? Alright. Now for the rest of
this message, that's who I'm talking to. Not the world anymore. This message is for believers. This is instruction and it's
comfort for our journey through the rest of this life. We've
got a journey we have to go through for the rest of this life. This
right here is comfort and instruction for the rest of our life. Our
Lord gives us here in Psalm 37, exhortations for a believer's
life. Wednesday night, we saw where
the Lord said, My people are not of this world. They're not
of this world. And it's a wonderful thing. They're
not of this world. In Exodus 11, the Lord said,
I've put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel, the
righteous and the wicked. For God's people, for believers,
this life is not easy. It is just not. It's not. The wicked are at peace with
this world. They're happy. They're happy. Not believers. Not with this
world. The wicked have no struggle with
their sins. They don't have that additional
burden over who they are and what they've done. Believers
are completely consumed with it. It tarnishes everything that
we touch in this life, our sin. They war with it and it feels
like a never-ending struggle. Almost to the point that I just
don't think I can bear it anymore. Turn with me to Psalm 73. Psalm
73. Now, I ask all of us and I ask
me, let's pray in our heart right now that the Lord would let us
enter into Psalm 73. This is wonderful. Lord help us. Psalm 73, look at verse 1. Truly
God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. Now watch this. But as for me,
my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped,
for I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. For there are no bands in their
death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble
as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore
pride compasseth them about as a chain, Violence covereth them
as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could
wish. They are corrupt and speak wickedly
concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set
their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through
the earth. Therefore His people return hither, and waters of
a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know?
And is their knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are
the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily, I have cleansed my heart
in vain and washed my hands in innocency, for all the day long
have I been plagued and chastened every morning. If I say, I will
speak thus, I'm going to do something about this. Behold, I should
offend against the generation of thy children. I'll offend
my brother. When I thought to know this,
it was just too painful for me. No way out. Just too painful. Verse 17 says, Until I went into
the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Surely, thou did
set them in slippery places, thou casted them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation
as in a moment? They are utterly consumed with
terrors. As a dream when one awaketh,
so, O LORD, thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. Thus
my heart was grieved. and I was pricked in my reins.
So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before Thee.
Nevertheless, in spite of me, I am continually with Thee. Thou
hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with Thy
counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven
but Thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth,
but God is the strength of my heart, and He's my portion forever. For lo, they that are far from
thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all them
that go a-whoring from thee, but it is good for me to draw
near to God. I've put my trust in the Lord
God that I may declare all thy works. He said, I was so envious. I was just so envious until God
in His mercy brought me into the sanctuary of God. And then
I understood their latter end. Now here we are in the sanctuary
of God. So let's look at Psalm 37 and
see what the Lord is telling us. Let's go back to Psalm 37. Verse 1 says, fret not thyself
because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers
of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and
wither as the green herb. He's saying all flesh is grass. Every bit of it. Every man, it's
all grass. And I don't care what it appears
they have going for them now, don't envy them. Don't envy them. They're going to be cut down.
They're going to be cut down. Look at verse 12. It says, The
wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his
teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him,
for he seeth that his day is coming. Foolish man says, I'm
going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. while God
is sitting there in the heaven watching His days count down. He knows the exact day, the exact
hour, the exact minute, and the exact second that He will no
longer give that man a breath of air. The only reason he's
living is because God says, breathe, breathe, breathe. And then one day, And that's it. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. Laugh at arrogant man. Look at
verse 14. The wicked have drawn out the
sword, and have 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. Our
Lord said, he that lives by the sword is going to die by the
sword. He told Peter, put up your sword. Didn't he? Peter, put up your
sword. Vengeance is mine. Vengeance
is mine. I'm going to take care of it.
I'm going to take care of it. Vengeance is mine. Look at verse
16. 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 the Lord upholdeth the righteous. How many people do you think
know this God? The God that breaks arms. Well, that's not my God. Apparently
not. My God wouldn't do that. Well, thanks be to God, that
is our God. And their God is not like our
God. He said it's better to have little.
God's people have so little of this earth. So little. And it's tough on us. If we try
to act like we're bigger than that, we're lying. It's tough
on us. We see everything they have,
everything they get, and we think, what about me? While the riches of the world,
they keep growing and they keep growing, He's saying their riches
are temporary. All that stuff is going to rust. It's all going to fade. But look
at verse 18. It says, The Lord knoweth the
days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. When man leaves this earth, he
can't take anything with him. I don't care what you accumulate.
You just can't take it with you. But God's people have an inheritance
that can never be taken away. Never. Be of good cheer. You have Jesus
Christ. And if you have Jesus Christ,
you have everything. You have all the gold in the
mines. You have all the cattle on a
thousand hills. Verse 20 says, 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. He's saying don't envy the lamb
or the pig or the cow that's up there in that nice shiny stall
just getting fatter and fatter. He's being prepared for a slaughter.
God have mercy on his soul. We don't look at the wicked and
say, ha, ha. No, God have mercy on his soul. Verse 35 says, I have seen the
wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he
was not. Yea, I sought him, but he couldn't
be found. Men and women fight and they work to leave their
mark on this world. That's what everybody's trying
to do. Leave their mark on this world. And they do for a couple of generations.
For a couple of generations they do. And after that, they're just
gone. Gone. Verse 37 says, mark the perfect
man. Mark the one whom God has caused
to be a believer. Mark the one whom God has made
righteous. Mark the perfect man and behold
the upright, for the end of that man is peace. That man has peace with God.
That man has peace with other men. That man has peace inside
himself. The end of that man is peace.
Verse 38 says, But the transgressors shall be destroyed together,
the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of
the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble, and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He
shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust
in Him. Okay, now we understand what's
going on, right? Now that we see that, now that
we understand there's a difference, now that we've been reminded
of what the Lord God has done, what He said, because of that,
in this text the Lord gives us eight exhortations for our lives. We haven't looked at them yet.
Eight exhortations for a believer's life. If we will heed these,
it will help us. It will help us the rest of our
lives. Number one. First exhortation
is verse one. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. fret not thyself because of evildoers. Let's not allow ourselves to
just burn with jealousy. It's so easy to do that. Burn
with envy. Burn with anger over other men
and women. You know, most of our problems
come from people. If we have a bad day, it's not
because something broke, really, it's because of a person. That's
why we have a bad day. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. They have it as good right now
as they will ever have it in their soul's life. This physical life, this physical
flesh, is as good as they will ever have it. The things that
the Lord allows them to possess in this life, that's all they're
ever going to get. We get Jesus Christ. Feel sorry
for them. Let's remember, but for the grace
of God, we would be one of them. A wicked evildoer. That's what
we are by nature, but He's made us to be something different.
He's put a difference. So fret not over them. Just fret
not over them. When it comes, fret not. I get
Jesus Christ. Here's the second exhortation.
It's in verse 3. Trust in the Lord. Trust Him. Trust Him. You can trust Him. Trust Him. He's given us His Word. I give you my Word. We know His Word. We have the
knowledge of His Word. Let's ask the Lord to cause us
to put that to good use. Lord, would you give me the ability
to do that? Trust Him. Trust Him. He said vengeance is mine. Trust
Him. He said I've been young and now I'm old. I've never seen
the righteous forsaken nor His seed actually physically go in
without food. Trust Him. Faith in Christ, believing Him,
trusting Him, looking to Him will cause us to just stop fretting. Let's not trust in any man. Let's
not trust in any politician or any lawyer or any doctor to help
us, protect us, or provide for us. Not a one of them. I don't care what program they
have. I don't care if they're on Dr. Ross. Let's trust in the
Lord. Let's trust Him. Okay, here's
our third exhortation. It's in verse 4. Delight thyself
in the Lord. Don't fret. Trust and delight
thyself. I think of that as being like
pamper yourself in the Lord. He is so delightful. He's just so delightful. In Him, we are so happy. When I really get a look at Him,
I get happy. Happy is He that hath the God
of Jacob for His help. When I'm low and I need some
help, and I know in this moment He's helping me, that makes me
happy. We're happy in Him. We're happy
in His house. I'm happy right now. I really
am. David said, I was so glad when
they said, let's go to the house of the Lord. Let's do it. We're
happy in His Word. Oh, thank the Lord for His Word.
We read His Word. It blesses our heart. We're just
so happy. We're happy in His will. Lord,
Thy will be done. Whatever you want. I'm happy
with that. We're happy in His mercy. The
Gospel is just so sweet. It is just so sweet. It's so
loving. It's so precious. This whole
book is a love letter. This is written for God's people.
If it weren't for God's people, the wicked don't need to know
they're going to be destroyed. He'll just destroy them. The
whole book is for God's people. This is a love letter. It's so
precious. It's nothing but good news. It's
nothing but good news. You're wicked. You're evil. You
deserve to die. But I died for you. Well, that just makes me happy. Go over to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55, look at verse 1. Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that
hath no money, Lord, I don't have any money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. God's people are just happy.
Fat and happy. They really are. Only in Him,
though. Only in Him. This world is tough. In this world, we have nothing
to be happy about. This world is hard. It's a cruel
world. It's a miserable world. Here's
the exhortation. Delight yourself in the Lord.
Take a break. Relax in the Lord. Forget about it. Just forget
about it. Here's our fourth exhortation.
In our text, Psalm 37, it's in verse 5. It says, Commit thy
way unto the Lord. Whatever is your way. Whatever comes your way. Commit it to the Lord. Immediately. roll it over to the Lord immediately. When you get that phone call
of bad news, we hate those. Everything's going fine, everything's
going good, the phone rings, it's something bad, commit it
to the Lord immediately. Roll your burden over to Him. Lord, this thing is so far out
of my hands, but I know that everything is in Your hands,
everything. Thy will be done. Lord, my family,
my kids, I worry for them. I really do. They're in Your
hands. My children, Lord, I pray that
You save their soul. And the only way their soul is
going to be saved is if You do it. So they're in Your hands. They're in Your hands. It's out
of my hands. It's totally in Your hands. Thy
will be done. Cast your care upon Him, because
He cares for you. He cares for you. Here's our fifth exhortation.
It's in Psalm 37, verse 7. Rest in the Lord. When God completed
His work, He rested. He rested. No more work to do. There's no more work to do. It's
already finished. The work of our redemption, the
work of our salvation, there's no more work to do. Just rest. Rest. It's all finished. This journey, we're saying exhortations
for our journey for a believer's life, it's already purposed. That bad phone call is already
purposed and you're going to get it. It's already ordered. The order has already been sent.
Rest. Let me just quote this to you.
Matthew 11, 28-30. He said, take my yoke upon you. Remember that? Let me quote it
so I don't get it wrong. Let me read it so I don't get
it wrong. He said, Come unto Me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take
My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I'm meek and lowly in
heart, and you'll find rest unto your souls. Go about this life
meek and lowly in heart, and you'll have rest. For My yoke
is easy and My burden is light. Now listen to this. Do you know
what a yoke is for? You know what a yoke does? It's to join two together. Two. And He's saying, I've got
an empty space right here. Take my yoke upon you. I'll do
all the work and you can just rest. I'll do all the work. I actually
have already done all the work. Just rest. Our sixth exhortation in Psalm
37 is in verse 8. Cease from anger. Cease from
anger. Lord, help me. Oh, help me. Since we know that everything
God does is on purpose. Since we know that everything
that happens works together for good. All of it. What we perceive to be good,
what we perceive to be bad, it's all for good. Let's cease from
anger. There's no reason to be upset.
If I believe that that was already purposed, if I believe God did
it, what do I have to be mad about? Every time our flesh wants to
raise its ugly head up, let's push him back down. Shut up. Get back down. Every time we feel that old man
start to rage, and it happens, something happens, and mmm, stifle
him back down. I want us to see a wonderful
example of this. Okay? Turn with me to 2 Samuel
16. It's back toward Genesis. And it's after Ruth, it's after
Judges. 2 Samuel 16. This is a blessing. 2 Samuel 16, look at verse 5. When King David came to Bahurim,
Behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of
Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gerah. He came forth
and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David and
at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the
mighty men were on David's right hand and on his left, And this
is what Shimei said. Thus said Shimei when he cursed,
Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial.
The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of
Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the Lord hath delivered
the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold,
thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.
Now watch this. Verse 9. Then said Abishah the
son of Zariah unto king David, Why should this dead dog curse
my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee,
and take off his head. And the king said, What have
I to do with you, you son of Zariah? So let him curse. Because the Lord hath said unto
him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore
hast thou done so? What he's saying is, you know
that the Lord does all things. You know every single thing that
happens works together for good. The Lord told him, Curse David.
So, what are you upset about? Alright, now look at verse 11.
And David said to Abishah, to his servants, Behold my son,
which came forth of my bowels, seeks my life. David's actual
son was trying to kill him. How much more now may this Benjamite
do it? Let him alone, and let him curse,
for the Lord hath bidden him. Now watch this. It may be that
the Lord will look upon mine affliction, and that the Lord
will requite me good for his cursing this day. Let him curse. The Lord's about to do something
good for me. You know, we already said the
Lord told Peter, you know, they came to take him and Peter drew
out his sword and he cut off that man's ear. The Lord said,
Peter, don't you think that I could pray to the Father right now
and He would send me twelve legions of angels to slaughter these
men? Put your sword away. This is
all happening for good. Let them take me and bind me
and spit in my face and punch me and kick me and push thorns
in my head and hang me until I'm dead. It's just a good thing. James 1 says, The wrath of man
worketh not the righteousness of God. Joseph told his brothers
that sold him into slavery, you meant it for evil, don't worry,
God meant it for good. Let's just cease from anger.
Okay, number 7. Let's go to number 7. Back in
our text, Psalm 37. It's in verse 27. Psalm 37, 27. It says, Depart
from evil and do good. That's something every parent
tells his child. Every parent. Depart from evil
and do good. Honestly, what parent wouldn't
say that? There's none good. By nature, we're all evil. But
here's the exhortation for the rest of our days. Strive to be
like Christ. Even though we can't, even though
we're held back by this flesh, even though we're sinned through
and through, strive to be like Christ. Strive to obey His Word. If He says, this is good and
this is evil, strive to do good and depart from evil. Paul said, the things that I
do, I wish I didn't. I really honestly wish I didn't.
And the things I don't do, I wish I did. I want to. Our Lord told us to pray that
He would keep us from the evil one. He said, abstain from all
appearances of evil. If it doesn't look right, and
if something about it doesn't feel right, let's stay away from
it. Brother Henry used to say all
the time, if you don't want the flu, don't hang out with people
that have the flu. We've already said this is not
for salvation. This message is to believers.
We're saying the Lord's already made a difference. This is for
believers, for our walk, for the rest of our days. Observe and hear all these words
which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with
thy children after thee forever, when thou doest that which is
good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God. It will go
well with us. Last one, all right, last one,
I promise. It's been too long, I'm sorry.
Psalm 37, look at verse 34. It says, wait on the Lord. Could patience be probably the
hardest thing for any human being? If a person truly trusts the
Lord and delights in the Lord and rests in the Lord, then he'll
give that person the ability to be content and just wait on
the Lord. It's not falling out like I want
it to. It's not happening as fast as I want it to. Wait on
the Lord. Everything happens in His appointed
time. Charles Spurgeon said this, Wait
on the Lord in obedience as a servant. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the
Lord in hope as an heir. Does that make sense? Wait on the Lord in obedience
as a servant. Lord, what would You have me
to do? Wait on the Lord in hope as an heir who is about to get
an inheritance. And wait on the Lord in expectation
as a believer. I believe you. I believe it's
sure and ordered and I'm happy to wait. Verse 34 says, And He
shall exalt thee to inherit the land. Eight wonderful exhortations
for a believer's life. If we'll heed them and follow
them and pray that the Lord would ingrain them in us, It will go
well with us. It will go well. Let's close
by reading the last four verses. Verse 37, Mark the perfect man,
and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. But
the transgressors shall be destroyed together, the end of the wicked
shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. And the Lord shall help them
and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the
wicked and save them because they trust in Him.