Okay, go back to, can you hear
this? Go back to Psalm 37 again. We have looked at this many times
together, the last time being about three years ago. I was
thinking about it, listening to a message on it, and greatly
blessed and thought you might enjoy it once again. Verse 25,
Psalm 37, verse 25. David says, I have been young
and now am old. Have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread? David is an old man at this time. He's close to 70 years old, in
his late 60s anyway. That's old. Amen. In your 60s, that's old. But
he's an old man and he's looking back and reflecting on
his own life and thinking about all the saints, all his brethren,
brothers and sisters that he's known over the years. And he
concludes, and God had him write it down for us to read for our
comfort. And he says, I have been young,
and I am now old, and I have not. seen the righteous forsaken
by God, cast out by God, condemned by God, separated from God. He said, I have not seen one,
not one righteous person forsaken by God, nor his seed begging
bread. Not one. Now, this should be for our comfort. I'm told to comfort His people. I'm told to feed the sheep. This
should do both. Okay? If you're hungry, this
is what we feed on. If you need comfort, there's
great comfort here. Just listen with me a little
while. All right? Now, you, like me, probably have
trouble whenever you see the term the righteous. Huh? The upright. It talks about a
good man, right here. It says that many times. Now,
the righteous here in this psalm, as well as most of the others,
it talks about the wicked and the righteous. The wicked and
the righteous. And you, like me, do not feel
like you're righteous, especially when the Scripture says there's
none righteous. No, not one. You, like me, feel
like that you're the chief of sinners. Chief of sinners. Well, let's go back to the beginning
when we first heard the gospel, okay? And let's just see what
it means to be righteous. Isaiah 45. Go back to Isaiah
45. All right? Listen again. This
is what you first heard in the beginning. Those of you who heard
the truth and believed rested in Christ your righteousness. When you first heard this, this
is what rejoiced your heart. I'll never forget, some of you
anyway, but Brother John in particular, when he heard this message of
Christ our righteousness. It thrilled him, as it does all
of God's people. When God called us by the gospel,
here's what we heard. Christ said, I didn't come to
call the righteous. but sinners to repent. Do you
know what he said? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. We didn't come to God as righteous,
did we? We came as sinners. We weren't
accepted. The Lord didn't receive us because
we were good people, but he came to save us because we were very
bad. All right? We weren't accepted
because we were righteous. We were accepted where? In the
beloved. All right? Now, later on, are
we going to be accepted because of something we do later? No,
no, no. It doesn't change. It doesn't
change. Read these old verses again with
me. Isaiah 45, verse 21. Tell them. He said, Tell ye.
Bring them near. Bring them near. Let them take
counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
times? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord?"
Here it is. There is no God else beside me,
a just God and a Savior. Just God and a Savior. There's
none beside me. He says, look unto me and be
ye saved. You mean if I just look to Him,
I'll be saved. That's right. All the ends of
the earth, for I am God, there's none else. I have sworn by myself,
the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, shall not return
unto me. Every knee shall bow, every tongue
shall swear, surely shall one say, in the Lord. have I righteousness
and strength. Even to him shall men come, to
the Lord our righteousness, and all that are incensed against
him shall be ashamed." That's the wicked. Right here you have
the wicked and the righteous. Look at this, verse 25, "...in
the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall
glory." Glory in Him. Jesus Christ is our righteousness. Here's one that says, here's
one, surely shall one say, anymore, in the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. That's his name. Over in Jeremiah
23, he's called Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Then again in Jeremiah 33, 16, He says this is her name, the
church. This is her name that she shall
be called, the Lord, our righteousness. In other words, when He came
and married us, we took His name. And He has made unto us righteousness. More than a doctrine. The righteous,
the righteous. All right, listen to this. You
heard this, go to Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51, look at this, verse
2. Look unto Abraham your father, Sarah that bare you. I called
him alone and blessed him and increased him. What about Abraham? Was Abraham a righteous man when
the Lord called him? No, sir. He was a 75-year-old
idolater. He didn't even believe in the
living God. He was an idolater. of the Chaldees. He didn't know God, but God knew
him. Foreknew him. Chose him. Predestined him. Called him. Revealed himself
to him. And he said, I'm your righteousness.
And over in Galatians it says this, and Romans, and all through
there it says, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him
for what? Righteousness. And that wasn't
written for his sake alone, but for ours also who shall believe."
Trust in Him. Abraham rejoiced to see my day,
Christ said. He saw it, and he was glad. When
Abraham took his son up on that mountain, Mount Moriah, and his
son, God told him to kill him. And what did God do? He said,
stop. Stay your hand. Turn around.
Look behind you. There's a ram caught in the thicket.
I put him there. He's your substitute. That would
have killed Abraham to have to kill his son, wouldn't it? You
know it would have. But God didn't let it happen, did He? But God
didn't spare His own Son to deliver Him up for all His people. the
Lord our righteousness, our substitute. So that's his name, Jehovah Sidkenu,
and that's who the righteous are. David said, I've never seen
anyone who trusted in Christ forsaken. I love that. None of them that trust in him
shall be desolate, shall be ashamed. Not one. I've never seen the
righteous forsaken. And I'll tell you why. Because
God did forsake our substitute. When Christ went to Calvary's
tree, at some point, either in the garden or when He was hanging
on the cross, He made sin. He's the only righteous man who
ever lived. The only righteous man who ever lived. And at some
point, God began to make Him sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And when Christ
hung on that cross, He was not a righteous man anymore. He was
sin. And He said, My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why? Because you are now them,
and they are you. I have to forsake the soul that
sinneth, must surely die. And He made His soul an offering
for sin. He forsook Christ on the cross. that he might not
forsake us. That's substitution. David said,
I've never seen the righteous forsaken. Our righteousness is
of the Lord. Here's one man that says it.
Anybody else? Anybody dare stand before God? Roland Hill, the
old preacher years ago, they asked him one time, if someone
was to ask you at the gates of heaven what right you have to
come in here, what would you say? And Roland Hill said this,
he said, I would say, I'm not here on my rights. I'm here on
the rights of another. I plead the righteousness of
Jesus Christ. More than a doctrine. That's
our title clear. Mansions in the sky. He did this. He did this for his people. His
seed they're called. See that? the righteous forsaken,
or his seed, begging bread, the righteous forsaken, and his seed. Let me just say this about the
righteous. John did say that, as he is, so are we. Now, in
this word. God's people are righteous. Christ
is in them. Christ in them. There's a new
creature created in The image of Christ who is holy just like
Christ, who has that fruit of the Spirit, who is righteous. What does it mean? We've been
looking at this lately, haven't we? Holiness? It's not some little
standard that man comes up with. You've got to wear your sleeves
so long, your hair so short, or long depending on male or
female. You've got to wear certain color
clothing. That's man's ridiculous, it's not touch, not taste, it's
not some standard. God will judge all men, it says,
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, Jesus
Christ. That's the standard. Here's holiness. Love, joy, gentleness,
goodness, meekness, faith, temperance, kindness, mercy, merciful, gracious,
forgiving, long-suffering, long-forbearing, forgiving. That's holiness. That's
Jesus Christ. That's God's people. Isn't it? That's God's people. He goes
on through here saying that about His people. He said, they give.
I said, the wicked borrow and never return. God's people give. They give. Not only do they return
it, but they give what's theirs and so on and so forth. So they
are righteous, yes. But it's not something they produced. It's not something they did.
It's still His righteousness. Imputed or imparted, it's still
His righteousness. I read this in Psalm 71. I love
that. One of my favorites. One of my
150 favorites. David said, I will make mention
of thy righteousness and thine only. My tongue shall speak of
thy righteousness all day long. If we're talking about us being
righteous, whether it's imputed or imparted, it's His. He gets
the glory. Surely shall one say, And the
Lord have our righteousness and strength. In Him shall all the
seed of Israel glory. Glory in Him. The Lord our righteousness. Look at the next line. So, you
know, don't let the word righteous trouble you too much. Because
if you trust Christ, you're righteous. Is that right? Okay. All right. That's settled, isn't
it? God settled it. Verse 25, he
said, I've been young, and now I'm old. I've not seen the righteous
forsaken. I've not seen one person who
trusts the Lord, who trusts Him, looks to Him, who believes Him
forsaken, cast out in the end. Nor his seed begging bread. David said, I've never seen his
seed begging bread. And I've read All the commentators
I have on this, and many of them talk about this
as if this were talking about the believer and his children.
Which is true. Which is true. Okay? The seed. None of your children have ever
begged bread, and I don't believe they ever will. Okay? I just
don't believe they ever will. Unless it's their fault. If they're
under the sound of the gospel, they won't, will they? Get out
there like a prodigal son, they will, won't they? But I believe,
and I just believe it fits with the next verse, I believe he's
talking about the Lord's seed. His people. That holy seed. God's
people. Because Romans 9 said the children
of the promised are counted for the seed. Galatians 3 said if
we're Christ, then we're Abraham's seed. Galatians 4 says, Brethren,
we, like Isaac, are children of the promise, the seed, the
seed of Israel, sons of Jacob, the true Israel, Christ's seed,
Christ in you, the seed of Christ, I believe. So, you know, and
his sons are not born righteous by nature. They're born sinners. Here's what the Lord said to
his son over in Psalm 2. He said, ask of me and I'll give
you the heathen for thine inheritance. That's going to be your family.
If you'll take them and agree to go save them, that's who I'm
going to give you, the heathen. And he did. He was numbered with
the transgressors. Numbered with the transgressors,
but they were all found in him. You remember that one and a bunch
of zeros? He was numbered with them. You
look at his lineage over Matthew 1, you see the likes of Tamar,
played the harlot. Rahab, another harlot. And on
and on it goes. Bathsheba, on and on it goes.
That's who the Lord, that's who his family was. And that's who
they are. They're heathen. They're not
born righteous, but they're born sinners. They're born heathen,
but that's his seed. He didn't come to call and save
and redeem the righteous, but sinners, heathen. I've told you
this. Maybe somebody hadn't heard it
before. down in the islands the first
time before he moved back here for about ten years. He was down
in the islands and D, his son, named after him, D, Dan, they
had to take him to the hospital when he was just a lad. I don't
know how old he was, seven, eight, something like that. They had
to take him to the hospital to have him treated for something.
And like every hospital, you had to fill out forms. And they
were filling out the form and they came to religion. And they
asked him, they said, what's your son's religion? And he said,
he doesn't have any. He's seven years old. And the
nurse said, well, we have to put something down here. What's
his religion? He said, he's just seven. He doesn't have any religion
yet. And they said, we've got to put
something down here. So Dan said, all right, put heathen. put down,
heathen. He's a heathen. And I told Dan later, I said,
Dan, you know, did you ever change that on his, because when he
goes to get a passport and leave and go in a foreign country,
they won't let him in. He's a heathen. Especially in the Middle East
or something. One of the old heathens in here.
That's who the Lord came to save. That's his seed. The heathen.
Ask me and I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance.
His seed. Well, he takes them and washes
them and makes them righteous and calls them. He's not ashamed
to call them brethren. Like the story of Joseph. Can't
wait to get to that. Might not. But anyway, his seed
will never be begging bread. Just like Joseph's seed. Never
be begging bread. Go to Matthew 6. I love this. I never tire of reading this,
what our Lord said here about the father's children. Matthew
6. Now, he's talking about two kinds of bread. He's talking
about material bread, the kind you eat, and he's talking about
spiritual bread. And God's seed, the seed of Christ, the people
of Christ will never go begging for physical bread, or a specially
spiritual way. Never. Never. Never go begging. Look at Matthew 6, verse 26.
Our Lord said, Behold the fowls of the air, they sow not, neither
do they reap, nor gather in the barns your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are you not much better than
they? No? I love to feed the birds. Don't
you? Some of you do. Irene sure does. How many pounds of birdseed and
how many feeders do we have? A bunch. I forget how many pounds
of birdseed she says she goes through. She keeps Lowe's and
Wal-Mart and Ace Hardware in business. We love to feed them. But there have been times when
I've let those feeders go empty, haven't you? There have been
times. Last time I went and let it go
empty, the squirrels broke it. And I didn't feed them. Well,
who's feeding them? Well, they don't need me. They
don't need me. And our Lord said, they're just
birds. Just little birds. There are
billions of them. Are you not much better? Shall
not your Heavenly Father feed you? Look at verse 32. He said,
all these things the Gentiles seek and worry about. What are
we going to eat and drink and wear and so forth? Worry about
things. He said, your heavenly Father
knoweth that you have need of all these things. Another place
he said, if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more? Would you even think of letting
your children go hungry? long before they get hungry.
You're thinking about feeding them, aren't you? Margaret, aren't
you? That big strapping boy of yours, well, he can fend for
himself. But my old mom, I do mean old. She's older than me.
My old mom's thinking about him before he gets hungry, aren't
you, Mom? And you'd never turn him away, no matter how old he
gets. Never. Our Heavenly Father. His ways are as high above us
as the heavens are the earth. You're merciful and kind and
gracious to your children. How much more? As high as the
heaven is above the earth. Measure that. That's talking
about His mercy, His kindness. He's not going to let it happen.
You say, but David, and here's what the old writers said, David
begged Breth, And so when he went into Abimelech, the king,
and he and his men, they asked him for bread. He did not. He
did not. Go back and read it. I read it myself. He did not
ask for bread. He said, give it to me. He did. Our Lord didn't ask the
woman at the well for a drink. He said, give it to me. God's
peoples aren't beggars. Men use this term, and I know
what they mean. I've used it. Mercy beggars.
When we first come, when we first come to Christ, we're like beggars.
We're like blind Bartimaeus, aren't we? Begging. That's the way we are. We feel like it. But when we're
the Lord's children, we're no longer beggars. Huh? Oh, no. No, no, no. I take issue
with that. God's people, if they're God's
children, they're not beggars because he said they'll never
beg. They ask, and he delights to
give it. I was flitting hairs here. This
gives more glory to God than the other, doesn't it? Oh, I
sure hope you'll give me some crumbs. That's what the woman
said. I hope you'll give me some crumbs. Who in here has ever
just given your children a few crumbs? No. No, no, no. Never seen the righteous
forsaken, or his seed-begging bread, material bread, but especially
spiritual bread. If we go hungry, that's our fault,
spiritually speaking. What's the true bread? Christ. He said, I'm the true bread that
cometh down from heaven. And we live in loaded bars. We live in Lodabar, house of
no bread. We live in a time that Amos spoke
of, there will be a famine, not of eating bread, but of hearing
the Word of God. And he said, you have to go a
long ways to hear somebody just preach the uncorrupted, pure
Word of God, Christ especially. But he said, my people? No, no,
no, no, no, no. In a time of famine. They're
going to eat fat things and wine on the leaves, well refined.
Much more than crumb. Oh, my. Spiritual bread. Bread
from heaven. And they'll be satisfied. Satisfied. You know why? Because look at
our text here in Psalm 37. Because He is ever merciful. Verse 26. He is ever merciful. I like what the margin reads.
You're looking at this, Stephen, and he says, in the margin, all
day long. All day long. Day in, day out,
all day long. Every hour of every day. William
Hodges loved that song. Every hour of every day. All
day long. He's merciful every day. Nancy
Parks, this is her favorite. Lamentations. Lamentations chapter
5. Look at this. Very quickly, and
I'm going to quit. Lamentations chapter 5. I'm sorry, chapter 3, Lamentations
3, verse 22 and 23. It says, It is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed by sin, by the world, by flesh,
by self, by the devil, because his compassions, they fail not. They don't quit. They are new
every morning. Every morning. Every day. Great
is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. So
he says in our text, he said, he's ever merciful. Our Lord
is merciful, kind, gracious, gives and gives. He's ever merciful
all day long, every day, throughout our lives, till the day we part,
and lendeth. Lendeth. God's Word is perfect, isn't
it? Linda, that's what it said. Everything we have is on loan.
Can't keep it. It's on loan. He says, actually,
too, you turn around and pay it back. Give it to others. It's on loan. Everything's a
gift. Job said, naked I came to this
world, came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. Paul said, we brought nothing
into this world and it's certain we can carry nothing out. It's
all on loan. Like the Israelites leaving Egypt. It says they all were loaned.
Everything was on loan. But we've got an inheritance.
that the Lord has given us, and His gifts won't take them back. They're forever. Spiritual blessings
in heavenly places. So he says in verse 26, he's
ever merciful and lenient, and his seed is blessed. I'm talking
about his seed, Christ's seed. Psalm 3 says this, he says, salvation
belongeth unto the Lord. That's the blessing. Thy blessing
is upon thy people. Thy people. And if he that spared
not his own son to save our wretched soul, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things? Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. And all these things. These things are nothing to Him.
Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. That unspeakable gift
was the Son of His love, His righteousness. All these things
will be added unto you. I've been young and now I'm old,
and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging
bread. He's ever-merciful and lended,
and His seed are blessed. Count on it. Trust Him. All right, stand with me. Our Lord, thank You for Your
Word. It is indeed our comfort upon
which You have caused us to hope. And remember it to us, Lord.
Remind us. Tomorrow morning we will start
worrying. Or maybe tonight. And Lord, remind us. Bring Your Word back to our memory.
You tell us over and over and over again these things. And
to write the same thing, preach the same things, But it's salvation. So Lord, bring these things to
our remembrance. The truth as it is in our Lord
Jesus Christ. So Lord, our righteousness, bring
it back to our memory. Let us rest, trust in Him. Let
us begin to trust Him fully and fret not ourselves because of
everything in this world. Thank You, Lord, for Your people.
Bless them as they go. home and throughout this week.
Watch over them. Hedge them about. Lead them.
Guide them. Direct them. Unite our hearts to fear Thy
name and in love with one another. May we seek out our brethren
and be our brother's keeper. It is in Christ's name we have
met here tonight. Amen.