Thy hopes, thy confidence, let
nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright
at last. Speak still, my soul, the waves
and winds still know His voice to rule them while He dwells
below Be still, my soul, the hour is hastening on, When we
shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointments, grief,
and fears are gone, Sorrow for God, the purest joys restore. Be still, my soul, when tears
and fears are past, All safe and blessed, we shall meet at
last. That's your favorite hymn. I
love that hymn. That line, so all the lines are
good, but it says, Be still, my soul, thy best, thy heavenly
friend. Through thorny ways leads to
a joyful end. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. The Lord led David to write this
psalm for our comfort. This is where we give all our
comfort. This is how the Lord speaks peace to his people, through
his Word, through the preaching of his Word especially. The Lord
gives grace, he gives mercy, And this psalm is a psalm of
great consolation, a great comfort, a great, it gives us strength. It's helping us now in the midst
of all these troublesome times that we go through. David was
old. He says, I have been young and
now am old. He was old probably in his mid-sixties,
and that was old back then. People used to get old young
back then because of hardships. And he was old, gone through
many things, and he's looking back. thinking about the Lord's
goodness to him, the Lord's mercy, and all of the troubles and all
of the fretting that he had done himself. And he's encouraging
us, because he went through the same thing. He was troubled constantly
by what all he saw around. He's looking around him at the
present evil world that he lived in, and all he saw was corruption. And then he's looking forward.
He's causing us to look to the future, that we'll inherit the
land. The end of God's people, this
is what he's encouraging us to do, is to think about the end.
This is all good, it all leads to a joyful end. The end of the perfect man, that
person that's in Christ, that trusts him, is peace. The Lord
says, you mark it down now. The end of that man or that woman
that trusts him is peace. Peace. Though we go through all
of these troubles. And he begins by telling us what
not to do first. He gives us several things to
do. He begins by telling us what not to do. Pret. Not. He says this three times. Pret. Not. In verses 7 and 8. Pret. Not. Pret. We all do it. You look at the margin in one
place, and it means to get heated up, get, you know, angry and
full of anxiety and be troubled. And he says, fret not thyself
because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers
of iniquity. They shall soon be cut down like
the grass and withered as the green herb. Don't get mad. Don't
get angry. Don't get too upset, unsettled,
and troubled over what all you see going on around you. And
we sing the hymn that says, And though the world, all the wrong
seems oh so strong, God is the ruler, yes. That's it. Old Martin
Luther, man, I loved him. He was, boy, he was in a troublesome
time, wasn't he? The dark ages. Think of all the
wickedness that abounded around him. And he, the Lord gave him
life. And he wrote that wonderful hymn. It was maybe one of my favorites.
But he said, though this world with devils filled should threaten
to undo us, God has the will to triumph through
us. We don't need to fret and worry. It's different than worry. Fred in here is getting angry
and mad. You know, we worry. We worry
over our children, and that's love, and that's concern. We
worry over our grandchildren. We worry over our lost loved
ones and friends. We do, and we should. I worry. I worry about people. But this
is getting angry and mad at what all is going around. He says,
fret not, fret not. He talks about what all the evil
do down here in verse 20. He says, the wicked are going
to perish. The enemies of the Lord are going to be as the fat
of the lambs. They have so much. Their eyes
stand out with pateness, he said in Psalm 73. Go over there, go
over to Psalm 73. This is a companion psalm to
Psalm 37, Psalm 73. And it's a good way to remember
it, just reverse the verse. The Lord, I don't know if the
King James translators did that on purpose, but the Lord had
them do it. These two psalms go together
so well. Look at verse Three, he said,
I was envious, but foolish. I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
There's no bands in their death. They don't seem to be in trouble.
Their strength is firm. They're not in trouble as other
men. Neither are they plagued like other men. Their pride compassed
them about as a chain. Violence covered them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness.
They have more than the heart could wish. They're corrupt.
They speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily.
They set their mouths against heaven, cursing God. Their tongues,
filthy, walking through the earth. But God's people return. Waters
of a full cup of troubles are wrung out for them. But they
say, how does God know? Their knowledge in the Most High?
Behold, these are the ungodly. They prosper in the world. They
increase in riches. David said, I've cleansed my
heart in vain, washed my hands in innocence. All the days long,
I've been plagued and chastened every morning. And down in verse
16, he said, I thought about this and it's so painful. But
then I went into the sanctuary. I went into the sanctuary and
maybe he heard Nathan preach. And he said, then I understood.
They're in. They're in, you see. They have
so much. But really, they have very little.
They have so much. And in our Psalm 37, it says,
A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches
of many wicked. Better is little with the fear
of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Oh, my. We are very, very great. We are
nothing. They have great riches that we
have very little, but that is who the Lord has chosen, the
poor and the needy. You see your calling, brethren? God has chosen things that are
despised, things that are nothing. Read on here in Psalm 73. Look
at verse 7. This is all so good. I went into
the sanctuary of God, and I understood their end. Verse 18, He set them
in slippery places and cast them down to destruction. They're
brought into desolation as in a mould, but they're utterly
consumed with terror. Oh, he said it was like a dream
when awakened. Oh, Lord, you will despise their
image. My heart was grieved. I was tricked
in my reign. I was so foolish. Ignorance is
a beast. Here it is. David says, no matter
what, I am continually with thee. God is holding me by my right
hand. Verse 25, whom have I in heaven
but thee? There is none upon earth that
I desire. My flesh and my heart favor,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
Oh my, go back to our text. So David says, don't be envious
of the prosperity of the wicked. Don't fret that all that you
see around us He said they may rise up against
you. He said they may draw out the
sword and bend their bow, and full of malice and anger and
wrath, and they hate you without a cause, like they did our Lord.
He said they would. But he said, the Lord won't break
their bones. He'll break their bones, and
their swords shall enter into their own heart. So he gives
us seven things here. for our comfort. Seven things
for our instruction. Seven things for our consolation. All right? Verse three. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the
Lord. That means believe Him. Believe
Him. Have confidence in Him. Rely on Him. Believe Him. Trust His person. God, our God,
is love, and He loves us. He loves His people. Trust Him. He loves you. He's not going
to let any evil happen to you. It's not going to happen. If
we had the power to keep evil back from our children, we would,
wouldn't we? We would. God does. And he said,
no evil shall befall you. That's what he said. That is
not real evil, because everything
works together for good. Even those things we think are
bad, they're not. He said, no evil. Trust Him. Trust His love, His
mercy. He's too merciful. He's too merciful
to put upon us more than we can bear. He's too gracious, too
gracious. He will, with the trial, with
the trouble, with whatever he sins, give the grace to bear
it. Trust him. Trust him. I don't
think I can go through this. Trust him. This psalm begins
and ends with trust. The first thing he says is trust
in the Lord. The last thing he says is he'll
save them that trust him. We live by faith. We'll then
live by faith. Fret not. Fret not. Trust Him. Trust Him. He's just. He's just. The Judge of the Earth does right.
He's righteous in all His ways. He's righteous in all his ways.
He's wise. Trust his wisdom. He knows best. We don't know. There's so many
things that work together, and they all work together, and we
can't change a thing. You can't change a thing. It's
all biblically connected according to God's infinite wisdom and
purpose and will. And to change one thing is to
break the link of the chain. Like Brother Scott said, if we
knew everything God knows, we would order our lives exactly
like He would. It wouldn't change a thing. And someday we're going
to look back and see His wisdom, and see His
marvelous purpose and all things, how it all unfolded perfectly. And we wonder, why would we fret
if God is sovereign? God is great. So he says, trust
in the Lord. Trust in his fatherhood. He is our father. He is our husband. Thy best, thy heavenly friend. There is a friend that's taken
close to him, brother, and it's the Lord Himself. So trust him. Look back at Psalm 34. Psalm
34, we're preaching. This is a good psalm. They're
all good. You know, you could turn anywhere
and put your finger down, you'd find a place that says, trust
him. Psalm 34, verse 15 says, the
eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. Those are in Christ. Those that trust him are righteous.
Those that believe him are righteous. His ears are open unto their
cry. Always, all of them. David even said our tears are
in his bottle. Every tear. Do the tears of your
children touch you? Oh, my. Oh, my. How much more terrible. Genuine,
sincere tears of trouble and sorrow and grief and pain. He
says that his eyes are open. His ears are open as they cry.
The face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Those are
against you. Those are against his people.
Oh, my. The Lord said, Jehoshaphat. I love that story.
He stood before the Lord with all of Israel. Jehoshaphat the
king. He said, we have no might against these people. There are
too many enemies. We have no might against them.
We're at our wits end. We've turned. Our eyes look unto
thee. He said they stood there. Jehoshaphat the king on down
to all their little ones. All standing before the Lord,
looking to the Lord. And the Lord said a preacher. One of
the shortest messages in Scripture. A young preacher, you never hear
from him again. And what he said was, the battle's not yours. It's the Lord. He said, you'll
not need to fight this. The Lord's going to fight for
you. Just stand still. You heard that before, didn't
you? Stand still. Oh, my. Look here at verse, in
Psalm 34. The Lord, verse 18, is nigh unto
them that are of broken heart, and save us such as be of a contrite
spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Talking
about Christ, talking about his people. He keepeth all his bones. Not one of them is broken. If
you're in Christ, you will not be separated. Evil shall slay
the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants. And this may be
my favorite line in all the Bible. None of them that trust in him shall be left out, shall be guilty,
shall be cast out. Not one. Trust in the Lord. Verse 3 in
our text, second thing he says, do good, do good. What's that
mean? You know exactly what it means.
Whatever's good, do it. First thing is, his yoke. Take his yoke upon you and learn
of him. Do his commandments. Do what
he says. It's good. He says, my yoke is
easy, my burden is light. The commandments of the Lord
are good and pure and just and right. Whatever the Lord Jesus
Christ says, do it. That's what Mary said one time. Whatever he says, do it. And
it will be well with you. I'm not talking about free salvation.
But for his cause and for his, for our good, for our good, do
it. When he tells us to turn the
other cheek, do it. When he says that your enemy hung your feet,
do it. It's good. It's good. It's all good. Do
good for his cause. Oh, we need to be like young
David, don't we? Is there not a cause? David was a man after
God's own heart. God was very near to him, wasn't
He? God spoke to him through His
Word in a very intimate way. David had great peace. David
had great joy, great communion. I believe the number one reason
is David was committed to the Lord's cause from a child. The Lord's glory, He was commended
in all His days. He was a king. He had a great
kingdom to rule over, didn't He? But what was His number one
cause? The cause of Christ. The cause of truth. And the cause
of His people. Oh, you think He had responsibility
running a kingdom? But it didn't come first. God's
people. Right in the Psalms. worshiping
the Lord. That's one thing. He said that's
the one thing. Wouldn't you like to have a president
like that? Oh, my. David said, it's not a cause.
Yes, there is. Let's be about that cause. His
people serve the Lord. We serve His people. They're
His cause. Do good. Do good. You remember
that in 1 Peter 3, look at this, let me just read it to you, save
time. 1 Peter 3, he says, he that will
love life and seek good days, let him refrain his tongue from
evil and his lips that they speak no guile, let him eschew evil
and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue
it. The eyes of the Lord are open
to the righteous, his ears are open unto their prayers. He's
quoting Psalm 34. The face of the Lord is against
them that do evil. Who they see that will harm you,
if they be followers of that which is good." Now, if you suffer
for righteousness' sake, happy are you. Be not afraid of their
terror. Don't be troubled, friend. Do good, do good. So shalt thou
dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. I do want
you to turn to Genesis 45. You'll be fed. Did you notice
how many times throughout this psalm it says you'll dwell in
the land. You'll inherit the land. You'll be fed. You'll be
fed. You'll be fed. In the time of
famine, you'll be fed. We're living in a time of famine
that Hosea prophesied of, aren't we? He said it'll be a time not
of the famine of bread, but of the hearing of the word. And
you have to go a long ways to find it. We're living in that
time. famine of the Word, but not God's people. It's a feast
of fat things. That's what you read, wasn't
it? A feast of fat things, wine on the leaves, well refined in
Mount Zion. Look at Genesis 45. This is the
story of Joseph, who's brethren. Oh, brethren. We're no better
than them, our sinful brethren. But Joseph brought them to where
he was in Egypt, reigning and ruling. And he said, verse 10,
to his brothers, Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou
shalt be near unto me. Thou and thy children, thy children's
children, thy flocks, thy herds, and all that thou hast, and there
will I nourish thee, there yet five years of famine, lest thou
and thy household and all that thou hast come to poverty." No,
you're not going to be in famine. You're going to be in the land
of Goshen. You know where you're sitting?
In the land of Goshen. That old saying, lands of Goshen.
That's a good, if you want to say something, that's probably
a good thing to say when you're happy. Oh, lands of Goshen. That's where we dwell. That's
where God's people dwell in the church. Pleasant pastures. And someday, boy, you're talking
about the land of Goshen. Promised land. You'll be fed. You'll inherit the land. He said,
You'll be fed, you'll never go hungry. Look at our next instruction
or precept, Psalm 37, verse 4. Delight thyself also. in the Lord. He shall give thee
the desires of thine heart. Delight thyself in the Lord. Do you delight in the Lord? What
gives you joy and gladness? What really gives you joy and
gladness? What is your greatest happiness? David said, I was glad when the
house of the Lord. When he was away often in exile,
oh, he envied Psalm 84. He envied the birds and the rabbits. He wanted to be with God's people.
He wanted to be hearing the Word of God. He wanted to be where
he could worship. Some of you go away on a trip or whatever,
and you've told me, oh, when you're getting back, it's so
good to be back. David said in Psalm 27, there's
one thing one thing have I desired of the Lord, and that one I shall
catch, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days
of my life. told you what one of the brethren
said after service one Sunday and so blessed by the worship
of the word and he said I want to do this rest of my life. Well
you will brother you will not marry Mary said our Lord and
the Lord said she had chosen the best part, her chief delight,
and he said this, it will not be taken from her. I guarantee
you right now, on the Lord's word, Mary is sitting on the
front row. The chief of sinners at his feet,
pure delight. Do you delight in these things?
I have so many scriptures written down that David said the Word
was his delight, his commandments were his delight, and worship
was his delight. I texted most all of you. And I've been doing that, thinking
you'd appreciate it. Some of you do. Some answer me. And some of you answered with
such delight. You wrote back and said, oh,
I love that song. It's my favorite song. Some of
you. That's a good sign. You see, hunger is a good sign
of life. The opposite is bad. But hunger
is a good sign of life. And if you're hungry and somebody
says, I've got a big meal prepared for you, you say, what is it?
Psalm 37. Oh, I love that. You delight
yourself in the Lord. He'll give you the desire of
your heart, give you everything you want. It's not what he said. If your delight is the Lord,
in fact, He'll take away things from you to keep you from delighting
in them too much. But if your delight is truly
Him, He'll give you Him. Remember Abraham and Lot? Lot
looked, ooh, Sodom. Wow, look at that. I'm going
to take my family and move to Sodom. He almost perished there, did
he? His family did. Abraham said, I'm going to the
hills. I'm going up in the hills from whence cometh my help. And
then one day, you know, he looked down at Sodom and they were flourishing
and prosperity and all that. And Abraham's struggling in the
mountains. And he said, Lord, what is my
portion? And the Lord said, I am that
portion. And as time went on, as he saw
that city go up in smoke, and all the rest of the cities, and
every one of the cities of the plains go up in smoke, old Abraham
was so glad that he had won back the Lord. And this everything
shall perish, people. Delight thyself in the Lord.
Set your affection on things above, Paul said. Not on things
of the earth. Perishing things of clay, born
but for one brief day. Pass from my heart away. Oh,
may the Lord Jesus Christ be mine. Is it really one thing
you desire? If it is, that's your portion. Him. Verse 5, the next day, commit
thy way. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Commit, commit. Now, this does
not mean, this is the way, Lord, I'm going to go, and I hope you'll
bless it. That's not what that means. Look
with me at Psalm 25. Look back at Psalm 25. This means
two things, actually. It means be committed to His
way. Committed to His way. Commit
thy way unto the Lord. Trust in Him. He'll bring it
to pass. He'll show you the right way.
Walk in it. Be committed to that way. Psalm
25, verse 8. Good and upright is the Lord.
Therefore will He teach sinners in the way. See, there's only
one way to walk. There's only one way to go. It's the straight and narrow
way. It's His way. not the broad way
that leads to destruction. The way of the transgressor,
Scripture said, is hard. way of the righteous, his path
got fatness." Look at verse 9, "...the meek will he guide in
judgment, the meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the
Lord are mercy and truth, and the suchest keep his covenant
and his testimony." Oh, he says in verse 12, "...what man is
he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way."
that he shall choose, and his soul shall dwell at ease." His
soul. There'll be many afflictions. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but your soul shall be at peace and at ease. commit
my way unto the Lord. You've got to read this with
me. Job, Job. I've read this before, but I
don't think I've ever really seen it. Job 23. This is so good. You want to mark this in your
Bible. Job 23. Boy, if this, if this,
you can't enter into this. Job 23, you know, often we don't
know what way to go this way, that way, what to do and so forth.
And we're going to get to that in a minute. Wait, just wait. But he says in Job 23, Job verse
23 verse 8, Job says, Behold, I go forward, but he's not there,
and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where
he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the
right hand. I cannot see him, but he knoweth
the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps,
his way have I kept, and not declined, neither have I gone
back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the
words of his mouth more than my necessary food." Anybody else? I don't want to walk another
way, do you? No, I don't want to walk another way. When the
Lord said so many that He said, go thy way, wasn't it where He
resonated? They followed Him. And this means what you think
it means in Psalm 37. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Everything about you. Roll thy way upon Him. Roll thy
burden upon the Lord. Roll thy cares upon Him. Cast thy care upon Him, for He
careth for you. Cast all your care. He started
out by saying don't pray it, but trust. And commit thy way
thyself unto Him. Trust also in Him. He tells us
again, trust in Him. He'll bring it to pass. All His
goodness, all His righteousness, all His wisdom. He'll show you,
verse 6, He'll bring forth thy righteousness as a light. What's
that? Who? Christ. You'll see Him in judgment
at the noonday. Cast all your care upon the Lord.
All that you are, all that you have, cast your sins upon Him. Cast your troubles upon Him.
Cast your worries upon Him. Cast your family upon Him. Cast
your future upon Him. He has it in Him. But this brings up the next thing.
Rest. Verse 7. Cast everything upon
Him, your cares, and then rest in the Lord. Rest in the Lord. In the margin it says, Be silent
unto Him. Be still, my soul. Be silent
unto Him. Be still. Rest. Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30. Go there with me quickly.
Isaiah 30. This is another one you need
to mark in your Bible. Isaiah 30. This is your strength. This is your peace. And I'm crying
under you concerning this. Like Isaiah. Look at verse 7
of Isaiah 30. The Egyptians held his vein to
no purpose. I received a letter, I receive
these all the time, from people that set up different counseling
services. I got a letter from a person that set up a Christian
counseling service, and they want me to tell you all about
it. Well, you know where I put that letter. This is our counselor. What you're looking at, what's
in your lap is our counselor. If we'll listen carefully, he
is the wonderful counselor. Verse 7, the Egyptians' health
is in vain and no purpose, therefore have I cried concerning this,
their strength is to sit still. Look at verse 15, thus saith
the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest
shall you be saved. In quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength. What you're doing right now,
you've returned here. You've returned to the place,
to the one who you received rest from, Christ. He said, come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest. Some of you left religion, some of you left whatever. Came
out of the pit, came out of the hog pen, and you came to the
Lord, He's given you rest. And you keep returning for what?
The same thing. Yes. Be still. Out in the world, we're all fretting
and trouble running here and there in the rat race. He says,
Come and sit down and just be still and know that I am God. Beside me, there is none else. Don't you get, doesn't it calm
you? Doesn't the truth establish, strengthen and settle you? Be still. Rest in the Lord. Rest in His love. Rest in His
love. Rest in His work. Rest in the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree. Your sins trouble you, don't
they? Satan accuses you, doesn't it? Huh? Rest in His promise. He said, He that believeth on
me shall never perish. Isn't it? Rest. You can believe
Him. He can't lie. He can't lie. He said, if you come unto me,
I'll give you rest. And I'll never cast you out.
And you keep coming to me, and I'll never turn you away. Rest
in that promise. Rest in his word. Look at the
next thing. Wait. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him. Wait. Sister Karen wrote me back and
said, Lord, do I need this? She said, I have trouble waiting. Don't we all? Don't we all? My mother is 92. Surely she's
arrived. Surely hasn't. She told me on
the way over here. She said, I've come so far short
of all these things. And I said, that's why the Lord
wrote this down. Because we're going to need it
till the day we die. We're going to need these exhortations
and these instructions and these precepts and these commands and
these words of comfort and these words of consolation till the
day we die. So mom, it's time to rest. It's time to wait. Time to wait. Wait on the Lord. Paul, Paul said that so many
times. Wait. You want to turn there? You know you want to turn to
Psalm 27, don't you, Bob? You know you want to turn there?
Well, then turn there. Psalm 27. Wait. All through the scriptures. Don't run ahead. Wait. Oh, people,
you know I'm the worst. I want to handle things. I want
to handle things. I want to take care of things.
Many of us said, we can't handle one. We can't take care of one
problem. We can't solve one problem. Can't solve our own problems.
So just wait a little. Don't try to handle it. Wait.
Don't worry. Wait. Don't run ahead. Wait, boy, that's the most sound
wisdom we could hear in it. Wait. Look at Psalm 27, 13. I had fainted unless I had believed.
See the goodness of the Lord, the land of the living. David.
Look at verse 11. Teach me thy way, O Lord. Lead
me in a plain path because of my enemies. Don't lift me over
to the will of my enemies that are risen up against me. Oh,
I'd fainted unless I believed to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living now. Am I ever going to see any goodness?
All I'll see around me is corruption. All I'll see within me is corruption.
Wait. David, when he got to be 70 years
old, and he had enemies all his day. And he wrote all those psalms. He said they're too strong for
him. They're too many. He said, what time I'm afraid,
I'll trust in the Lord. And he was constantly beset behind
the four by enemies. And not to mention his worst
enemy is himself. He's sinned as ever before. And
when David was 70 years old, it says the Lord gave him rest. roundabout from all his enemies. And he died in peace. He marked
the perfect man. Wait, wait, you'll see. Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, he shall strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, wait. Go back to our text. The last
thing is, he says in verse 8, cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Threaten not thyself in any wise
to do evil. Cease from anger. Turn in closing
to Romans 12. Romans 12. I know the more I
read the scriptures, the more I see these men quoting other
men, like Peter quoting the Psalms, and Solomon quoting David, and
on and on it goes. But Paul, here in Romans 12,
It's quoting this, it's what David, what the Lord told us
through David. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Look at Romans 12. We'll close with this. Cease from anger and wrath. Put
it away. Be done with it. All anger and
wrath. The Lord reigns over everything. Sends everything. Verse 10. Be kindly affection one to another. with brotherly love. Remember
the Lord, some of his last words to the disciples were, this is
my commandment. It's not a vice. It's my commandment
that you love one another. Why? Because you need one another.
You're living in a hostile world, a corrupt world. This is a haven,
and your brethren are your brethren. And you need them and they need
you. Love one another. Love as brethren. Be at peace
among yourselves. Be done with anger and wrath,
no matter what it is. You can't have a quarrel against
any, Paul wrote. Forgive as Christ forgave you.
And if you don't, you're not one of his. In verse 10 he says,
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in
honor of preferring one another. This is what it means to do good.
Verse 11, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord. That's what it means to do good.
Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing always
in prayer, distributing to the necessity of a saint. This is
what it means to do good. You'll do yourself good. You're
doing good to the cause of Christ. You're doing good to other people,
and you're doing yourself good. You're laying up treasures in
heaven. Bags that don't wax up. That's what the Lord said to
him. Giving to hospitality. Bless
them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. This is
the right way. This is good. It's good for you.
It's good for them. He says, in one place, you'll
heap coals of fire on their head, and they'll soften their heart.
Verse 15, Rejoice with them that do rejoice. Weep with them that
weep. Be of the same mind one toward
another. Mind not high thing. Condescend to men of low estate.
Be not wise in your own conceit. Brethren, we're nothing. Recompense
to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. Live open, honest, transparent,
no secrets. If it be possible, listen now,
this is good. If it be possible as much as
life in you, live peaceably with all men. Beware of me. Our Lord said that
to his disciples as they were going out. Beware of me. I'm
not going to deliver you up. They're going to kill you, but
you be the peacemaker. It's a wonderful testimony. That's
what the Lord did. Recompense to no man, evil for
evil. Live peaceably with all, dearly
beloved, verse 19. And here's what David told us,
the Lord told us. Avenge not yourselves, rather
give place unto wrath. Be done with it. Don't let the
sun go down. It is written, the Lord said,
vengeance is mine, I will repay, I'll take care of that. I'll
do that. I'll take care of whoever, whatever. The thing is, he sent it. I just read where Shimei cursed
David. That was a vile man, Shimei. He got what's coming to him.
Solomon had his head cut off for cussing his dad. But David said, to Abishai. Joab wanted to go cut his head
off. He said, no, don't do that. Abishai, don't do that. The Lord
said, I need worse than that. Oh, the Lord said, vengeance
is mine, I will repay it. Pray for the Lord. If thine enemy,
verse 20, hunger, feed him. Your enemy, if he thirsts, give him drink.
And so do Him, and He calls the fire with Him. Be not overcome
of evil. Don't become like them. You'll become just like them. But overcome evil with good. So trust in the Lord. The last
line is, you'll save them if you trust in the Lord. Trust
in the Lord and do good. Thank you for your word. It is your word, because it's
so wonderful, so amazing, so wise, so good, so wholesome,
so pure, so true. clean, such a good report, such
wonderful counseling. It's good. Everything you say
is just so good. Lord, we need it. We need every
word. Oh, the reproofs, rebukes, corrections, instructions, the
chastening. Oh, we thank you that you chasten
us chiefly by your word, through your words. Oh, Lord, we tremble
at it. We tremble at it. But, oh, you
said this is the person you look to. Pour a contrite heart and
tremble at your word. Oh, may we tremble at your word. May we see how far short we've
come of it. Oh, how we thank you for it.
Oh, you've sent forth your mercy and your truth, and how we thank
you. And both are met together in
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Oh, we see thy Word
made flesh. Oh, how good and lovely and pure
and holy he was and is. And we want to be just like him. We want to be wise like him.
We want to be good like him. We want to be merciful like him.
We want to be loving like him. We want to be about thy business
like him because of our Lord. Oh, Lord, thank you for your
Word. Dig our ears, write it on the
tables of our hearts. Oh Lord, establish our footsteps,
our goings in thy way and thy word. Let no iniquity have dominion
over us, we pray. For Christ's sake, amen.