I'm sure good to see all of you this
morning. Let's turn in our Bibles to the
37th Psalm. Psalm 37. We'll take that as our reading
passage, and also our text is found in that part of the Scriptures
as well. Psalm 37, you would look first
of all at verse 39. This is the statement that I
hope to shed some light on this morning and if the Lord would
see fit to bless to our understanding a deeper, more grateful attitude and heart. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength in time
of trouble. So our title is simply The Salvation
of the Righteous. And for non-computer people,
you can add these words to the title, is of the Lord. Those are very important words
that cannot be possibly left out, no matter what. Now, before we read the chapter,
let's bow in prayer and beg the Lord's presence and help to each
of us as we read and study the things of God, and most especially
this grand and glorious declaration, the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. Lord, thank you for letting us
gather here this morning. Your kindness and goodness to
us is beyond comprehension. In just this past week, events
could have taken place in any one of our lives, or all of them,
rendering us incapable of being present here this morning. But Lord, your goodness is beyond
our comprehension. Your faithfulness makes our faithfulness
look like sin. Your precious Son, the Lord Jesus,
our dear Savior, oh, how we thank you for Him. Oh, that this morning
we would be able to honor and exalt and magnify the Lord Jesus
Christ We beg your blessing upon your
word and upon this chapter as we read it. And we hope and pray
that you will undertake in regard to our subject this morning,
the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Who else could
it be of? It certainly cannot be of ourselves. We must be saved. We do not save. Preachers cannot save, though
most people think they can. But Lord, we know that unless
you send your Spirit and he quickens dead sinners to life through
the message of the gospel and of your grace, otherwise nothing
happens. We just become a little bit more
religious perhaps, but nothing happens. We beg this of you in
our Savior's name. Amen. All right, Psalm 37. Fear not yourself because of
evildoers, neither be you envious against the workers of iniquity,
for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as
the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Now, if you can do that, that
is, do good, it's because He does it in you and through you. So shall you dwell in the land,
and verily you shall be fed. Now, for Israel, that land was
a specific place, the promised land. That land to you and me
is Christ. That's where all of God's treasures
are. Delight yourself also in the
Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit
your way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring
it to pass, and He shall bring forth Your righteousness as the
light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and
wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself because of
him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings
wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Fret not yourself in any wise
to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off,
but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the
earth for yet a little while." And
that while is still unfolding. That's been a pretty long time
ago. Oh, where's my chronology when
I need it? I don't see it. Thousands of years have transpired
since these words were penned. For yet a little while, and the wicked
shall not be. Yea, you shall diligently consider
his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the
earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The
wicked plots against the just and gnashes upon him with his
teeth, that is, with words, and the Lord shall laugh at him."
It reminds you of Psalm 2 where they said, To God the Father,
you cannot make your Son Lord over us. He said, well, I did
it anyway. And he laughed. He was in derision,
which is more than just run-of-the-mill laughter. It's side-splitting
laughter. The Lord shall laugh at him,
for he sees that his day is coming, the day of his demise, of his
destruction. 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 an upright conversation or conduct. Their sword shall enter into
their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. A little that
a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds
the righteous." Let's read that again. The arms of the wicked
shall be broken, but the Lord upholds whom? The righteous. Who are these
righteous people? They are people who are in Christ. The Lord knows the days of the
upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall
not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they
shall be satisfied. 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. The wicked borrows and pays not
again. But the righteous one shows mercy
and gives. For such as be blessed of him
shall inherit the earth, and they that be cursed of him shall
be cut off." Boy, I tell you, that's an exacting division in
that 22nd verse. Such as be blessed of God shall
inherit the earth. that be cursed of him shall be
cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delights in his way. Though he fall, he
shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with
his hand. I have been young, and now am
old." I presume this to be the word of David. I have been young
and now I am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful and lends,
and his seed is blessed. Depart from evil and do good
and dwell forevermore. For the Lord loves judgment and
forsakes not his saints. They are preserved forever. But
the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall
inherit the land and dwell therein forever. That land is Christ,
by the way. The mouth of the righteous speaks
wisdom, and his tongue talks of judgment. The law of his God
is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
The wicked watches the righteous and seeks 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 he shall exalt you to inherit the land when the wicked
are cut off, and you shall see it. 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 could
not be found. Mark the perfect man. And behold the upright, for the
end of that man is peace. And that person, be it man or
woman, has to be in Christ for that statement to be made about
him. We are called the perfect, even
the word man is italicized, the perfect human being. Though we would not claim that
for ourselves. But the Lord does for those people
that are in Christ. 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." Now, let's see what we can do
with this statement in verse 39. But the salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. Salvation is not putting what
Christ did and what I do to make His work complete. That's absolute
ignorance. It ain't no other word for it.
This book teaches everything but that. But to listen to modern
religion, you'd think it's on every page that you have to do
your part, or God won't do His part. These words have just become
Common currency in today's religion. And it's leading people astray.
If this book says that salvation is only in Christ, then that's
the only place it is. And no preacher can change it.
And yet, everything they advocate virtually is a change in that. They tell you, God will bless
you if you'll be faithful. I tell you, God will bless you
if Christ is faithful. That's where the hinge is. Everything
depends on Him. If He didn't do what He came
to do, we're in a mess and there ain't no cure for it. They call
His name Jesus, for He came to save His people from their sins. And if that's what He came to
do, that's what He did. Else He would not have been resurrected.
Nor would he be in eternal glory sitting at God's right hand.
So this is a wonderful statement. It is not difficult to understand
in one sense, and then very difficult in another. We're born to depend
on ourselves, and as we go through life, we often continue that
thought, that behavior, and then we come one day to think about
our soul before God. And we carry over all that we've
heard and learned for all of those years, and we say, now
if God's going to do anything for me, I've got to do something
for Him first. This book says that all men are
dead sinners until resurrected to life in Christ. We're born. dead sinners. Salvation is a really big word. It has such significance and
meaning, it describes the whole life of true believers. Their
whole experience from the first consciousness of being ruined
in the fall of Adam unto our entrance into glory. We feel
our need of being perpetually saved from what? From self? And that's first because
that's big. From ourselves? To be saved from
sin? To be saved from Satan and ultimately
to be saved out of this world, from this world. Believers trust
in God for their continuance in grace. It's called preservation. Two wonderful words that aren't
too far apart. One is preservation and the other
is perseverance. Perseverance belongs to us, but
without preservation, we have no perseverance. You see what
I'm saying? They must be together, or our
part will not be complete, and therefore will not be accepted. Now, the prosperous center. is
on a different road altogether and comes to quite a different
conclusion than the one we've just arrived at. He disowns all
need of salvation and considers his success to be of his own
accomplishment, his own doing. And you and I, all of us, we
started our life in this world exactly like that. We were sinners. Now, we grew up believing that
immoral sinners are the worst thing on the earth. What does
the Bible say about the subject? It says in no unmistakable terms
that it is man's false religion. It is believing that you can
approach God and be accepted by Him some way other than Christ. And that simply is not so. It cannot be so. Let me read you, if you've still
got your Bible open, look at verse 38. Here's unbelievers. They're called transgressors.
And we used to be in that word that starts with a T. But the transgressors shall be
destroyed, together the end of the wicked shall be cut off. The wicked
shall be cut off. God is not with the unrighteous. I don't care how many Baptist
preachers tell you that God loves everybody. He sends the rain on the just
and the unjust. In His providence, He allows
people of all kinds and types to walk this earth, to live longer
than many believers. But that doesn't make them accepted
of Him. Alright, here's the first thing
I'd like to try to consider, not counting what I've already
covered. Now, I didn't have that in an outline form, but here's
where my outline starts. This statement, the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord, first of all, is the essence,
the sum and substance of sound doctrine Or if I could give you
another set of terms, of true Christian religion. The kind that is soul-saving
and blesses the people to whom it is given by the grace of God
in Christ and the power of his Holy Spirit. So this sound doctrine,
this sound true Christianity, is of the triune God. Every member of the Holy Trinity,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are involved in
the work of redemption and in the saving of God's people from
the time of Adam and Eve until the present day and until this
earth ends. It will be a work of the Holy
Three in One. Jehovah, God the Father, Jehovah,
God the Son, and Jehovah, God the Holy Spirit. And this is
true in the following ways. First of all, in the planning.
When was this gospel purposed and planned? Everybody knows
the answer to that, don't you? Before this world was ever made. This world was made for man to
show what God would do through us. And then Adam threw a monkey
wrench in there almost at the very beginning
of time. Very little time had elapsed
when Eve went to that tree because the
devil had duped her and she ate of it. And Adam, we're told,
ate of that forbidden tree with his eyes wide open. How come? Because he wants to be with his
wife. And that's a beautiful picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ as well. So in the planning of this precious
gospel, that salvation of the righteous is the Lord's doing
and not ours, takes in the planning as well as the providing? If
God had purposed this gospel but had not sent his Son, what
would you do? We can't fix what is just utterly,
completely broken. My Lord, if it was perfect when
we started with it, it wouldn't be but just a few minutes before
we'd mess it up. Not only the planning and the
providing, but the beginning. In the very first chapter of the
first book in our Bibles, and right on through chapter 3 in
the book of Genesis, These wonderful things are laid out, though at
that time we do not really see all that we need to see in regard
to Christ. But He's there. Such as Genesis
1, 26, I think. Don't hold me to that. It's in that chapter somewhere.
Might be 25. It says, let us. God is heard
to say, let us, not let me. Let us, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Let us make man in our image. So, our Lord, when he came to
this earth, took on himself human flesh. And in the Old Testament,
under various and different appearances, pre-incarnate appearances, he
appeared in different forms. So the beginning is God's beginning. When he says, let us make man
in our image, he means to raise up a people in Christ that will
be in eternal glory with himself. from the very beginning, before
the beginning, these things were planned and provided for. And causing this work that is
introduced in the garden, causing this work of the gospel to live
through all the generations that have been before us to this present
hour, is amazing that it is still here. Because we sure don't like
it by nature. We hate it. We say, that ain't
fair. You mean God's not fair? You
and I couldn't get in out of the rain if it weren't for Him.
That's how dumb we are. And the last point under this
essence of sound doctrine is the completion. The finishing. The ending. And it's not yet
here. But it's coming. It's coming. I have no idea when the Lord
Jesus is coming, and I don't care who the other person is
that says He does, He doesn't know what He's talking about.
That's the kindest thing I can say about Him. This book tells you that you
can't predict the end of time, and yet plenty of people have
tackled it. The fellow that did it for two or three times in
a row, he's no longer among us. But he was wrong. His followers gave up their jobs,
sold their houses, moved to different parts of the country, getting
ready for this rapture. Alright, my second point. Regarding
this sound doctrine, this is a necessary fact. This statement, the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. This is essential. There can be no salvation without
it. And we'll all perish if that
be the case. Thank God it isn't. The saints recognize this necessary
fact because their inward conflicts make them know and understand
that God alone must work. If He doesn't do something for
you, there ain't no hope. A thousand preachers can't help
you. We are too fickle and too feeble
to save ourselves. Somebody a long time ago made
the statement, we couldn't save a flea, and that is exactly right. Let alone ourselves. Let alone
ourselves. Our outward temptations drive
us to the same conclusion, they are well kept, who is that? Whom God keeps. Well kept, whom God keeps, but
nobody else is. If God doesn't keep you, there's
nothing else. The world's hate drives us away from all hope
in ourselves. What other men call a good hope,
it's only a good hope for hell. But believers, believers, Oh
my, they have everything to do with the God of the Bible. Only
God's grace can be all sufficient for all that we need. Our daily
trials and afflictions would crush us if the all-powerful
God does not sustain us. The perishing of hypocrites is
a sad proof. of how little man can do. Temporary
believers perish. They start out, look mighty good. Oh, I love Jesus. I'm saved.
A month later, you haven't seen them and they ain't coming back. No hope. No hope. Now, this statement in our text in verse 39 of Psalm
37, this truth, the salvation of the righteous
being of the Lord, it is this truth that unto God belongs the
salvation of His saints And here's how you can identify. Because
it resolves in certain things being true. Though we might be
a little bit timid about confessing it about ourselves. But we certainly
would not be timid about confessing it about other people. So this glorious truth, salvation
is of the Lord, results in leading God's people
to solid trust in Christ. Do not be bashful to say, Christ
is my only hope. I know religious people will
ridicule that. They'll tell you you're crazy.
You better throw that away and all this kind of stuff. But that's
the only place there's any hope. The only place. It also results
in exciting them in regard to their prayers to heaven. To the
prayer answering God. And I mean the triune God. And
then it urges. It results in urging us to look
out of ourselves. To keep our eyes on our Lord
Jesus. To follow Him. to study him,
to read him, to preach him. And it also inspires us with
great thoughts of God. This gospel is so wonderful. The God who purposed it and planned
it must also be wonderful. Oh, it is indeed. And it results in leading us
to offer our praise, our adoration for our Redeemer, our Savior,
the Lord Jesus. Then, number four. This statement in verse 39 of
Psalm 37, salvation is of the righteous, is of the Lord, this
is wonderful grounds for humility, which, except for the grace of
God, would ever stay away from us. But in His
mercy and grace, He gives us this wonderful humility. Now, these people are said to
be righteous. The salvation of who? The righteous. But this righteousness must be tempered. So this statement
in verse 39, the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord,
it strips the righteous of all pride in the fact of their being
saved in Christ. We give Him all the praise and
all the glory. We must because that's how it
is. It's true. It strips the righteous of all
self-exaltation based upon the fact that we continue
to be followers of Christ. Some of y'all are old enough
to have participated in this and maybe relished it at one
time. You know, somebody would say,
well, let's have a testimony time and what people would say
when they stood up. Lord, have mercy. I think I tried
that one time after I came here. I said, I ain't never doing that
again. Never. Not ever. They praise everybody
but God. I should say, we praised everybody
but God. I sure hope that ain't the case
anymore. It also strips the righteous
of all undue censure of the fallen, for they themselves, believers
themselves, would have failed had not the Lord upheld them. People who go to churches and
find out what they've got to do for God to do something for
them, and they say, I can't do that. So they just have no more
interest in hearing anything. And it's well if they quit hearing
what they were hearing. It scripts the righteous of all
self-confidence as to the future. Well, now that I'm a believer,
and I'm such a mature believer, and I'm doing so well, I can
take care of myself. No, you cannot. Is it Proverbs
that says, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit
before a fall? Well, what is that if that's
not what it is? That's precisely, precisely what
it is. And it strips the righteous of
all self-glory, even in heaven itself, since in all things we
are debtors to what? Sovereign grace. We owe it all
to God. We owe it all to Him. This statement, the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord, is certainly a wonderful ground
of hope in reference to our difficulties. God can give us deliverance if
it pleases Him. So go to Him and beg this mercy
of Him. In reference to people that we
know, whom we believe to be believers. The Lord can sustain and sanctify
and deliver them in reference to seeking souls. It is a ground
of hope. We might leave their cases in
the hands of our Savior instead of thinking they're in our hands. And it's a ground of hope in
reference to sinners. They cannot be too degraded,
too obstinate, too ignorant, or too false. God can work salvation
in the worst. All you've got to do is go look
in the mirror. Do you remember in the book of Jonah, that he was commissioned of God
to go to Nineveh and preach to them, or else God was going to
destroy that huge city, walled-in, gated city, if they did not repent
and return to the Lord. So Jonah didn't want to go. I don't know if he didn't like
the Ninevites or he didn't think they deserved anything, but whatever
the reason, he took a ship headed in a different direction. And
God sent a storm. And they throwed everything on
that ship overboard to lighten the load so that the boat would
not be lost. And then they finally discovered
that it was Jonah who was the culprit causing this great storm. Now you reckon God would put
this in His Bible In the book of Jonah, in the Old Testament,
and we could come away from that and say, well, he wouldn't do
that anymore. How come? How come? I know a little bit about vowing
never to preach again. Never ever to preach again. And
six months later, I was on my knees begging God to let me preach
again. I didn't care what the circumstances
were, if it lasted just one Sunday or a year or half a year or whatever. It didn't matter. So Jonah doesn't want to go. sends this storm, and they finally,
at Jonah's insistence, they cast him overboard. He's swallowed
up by that great fish, and after a subsequent period, he is vomited
out on the shore. And if digestive juices are based
on the size of an animal, or a human being for that matter,
I figure he came out of that fish with premature white hair
and I don't know about his skin. But he headed to Nineveh. But
he still didn't like the Ninevites. So he went there and preached. And the people repented. And
God spared the city. Thousands of people. And Jonah
was mad with God. And in the second chapter of
his book, and the ninth verse, when Jonah was in that fish's
belly, he came to this conclusion and
confessed it before God. He said, salvation is of the
Lord. And that free will fish just
vomited him out on the beach just like that. And yet people say, I'm responsible
for my salvation. I have to do this, that and the
other. Well, I've tried to tell you otherwise. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. Now, don't get your songbook
too quick. I've got five more minutes. And you would give me some more
if I asked you so. I want to read you this hymn.
You've seen it before, but it's been a while since we've run
it in the bulletin or read it. I found this in Spurgeon's hymnal,
and it was written by a fellow named James Proctor in 1858.
And the title to the song is, What Must I Do to Be Saved? Just, what must you do to be
saved? The first stanza. Let's the cat
out of the bag. Nothing either great or small. Nothing, sinner, no. Jesus did it. Did it all long,
long ago. So you can't do it. It's already
done. When he from his lofty throne
stooped to do and die, Everything was fully done. Hearken to his
cry. It is finished. Yes, indeed,
finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not? Weary, working, plotting one,
why toil you so? Cease your doing. All was done
long, long ago. Till to Jesus Christ you cling
by a living faith. Doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death. Cast your
deadly doing down, down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone,
gloriously complete. And I'm going to have some copies
made of this thing, and I'm going to Well, I better not say what
I'm going to do. I'm planning to do. In next Sunday's
bulletin, I'll put it in as an insert.