All right, Psalm 37. We're not going to attempt to
deal with every verse tonight. Just far too many. We're going to look at. There
are eight nine or ten I'm not sure how really you would. Divide
each one of them up but there are eight or ten precepts. Here in Psalm thirty seven. commands,
words of instruction from our Lord, helps. Not counsel, not
advice, commands that we need to heed. Vital precepts is what
I've entitled this message. Vital precepts. Now, true religion Or as we like to use, the term
we use, where the rubber meets the road. True religion is how, what you
believe affects you. True religion is when your, what
you believe operates on you and you act upon it. It doesn't mean
a thing. You follow me? If it doesn't affect you, if
it doesn't cause you to act upon it, if
it doesn't instill some things in you that you, some principles
that you operate on, then it's just head knowledge. You follow
me? All right, so there are some
needful things and we need to heed it. We need to
do. We need to be doers of the word, James said, not hearers
only. All right, so number one, look at verse number one. He
says, fret not thyself because of evil doers. Fret not. Everyone in here needs this word,
don't they? Starting right here. Fret not. What a fitting, appropriate,
timely word for me. Fret not. We fret over some of
the most trivial things. But you know that things, they're
real and well, it's not the word I want to use. There are things
that happen around us that we see that give some legitimate
cause for concern. Most of what we see going on
around us gives us great cause to worry and to fret. All we
see on TV, all we read in the newspaper is bad. That's all we read. That's all
we see going on around us. That's all you see on the news,
isn't it? Very depressing. Evildoers, it said, fret not
thyself because of evildoers. All the violence and we're living
in an evil, violent, dangerous, Paul called it perilous time,
didn't he? It's enough to make you want
to take your family and move to a cave. But, that's unbelief is what that
is. I'm told, I'm not told to remove my family. I'm not told
to remove myself. Isolate myself. No. Nor my children were told where
we're we're the salt of the earth scripture says believers are
the salt of the earth if you remove the influence of believers
from the world well. When God removes believers from
the world equal destroy the world. But until then believers out
in the world only thing that keeps this thing together and
makes it somewhat tolerable. Right? I know Stan and John can
say that about M.W. Wynton and Pollard. You ever
see these guys at work? It's like seeing an oasis, isn't
it? Like seeing a friendly face in a mean place. I guess you
think that. I've told you before how I felt
about a brother I worked with on the railroad. Now that when
we see one another, it'd be kind of like a commercial where you'd
see two lovers running in the field to one another, you know.
That's the way we felt like after being around all those god-haters
and blasphemers and so forth. And David said, Daddy, I'm a
companion of them that fear thee. There's a psalm in Psalm 119
that also says it. I believe it's 65. It says, All they that fear thee
will be glad when they see me. Can you say that, Stan? Right there's a man that fears
God. He's one of the few at M.W. Plant, isn't he? He's glad when he sees old Stan.
Not much to look at. And vice versa. But you're glad
when you see one another. So, believers are the salt of
the earth. And we're not to remove ourselves,
nor our children. Isolate our children from this
world. You take away the influence of
believing children, what do you have? Well, Christ prayed. He did. Christ prayed, don't
take them out of the world. This is what our Lord prayed
to the Father, not to take them out of the world, but to keep
them from the evil in the world, or the evil one who is an influence
in it. And with the salt, and so are
our children and so forth. All right, I'm told, listen to
me. Or listen to what God said. He tells us, fret not. Oh, but
I worry about my children. Fret not. Don't worry. Worry is unbelief. Isn't it? Isn't it? So we fret. So what does that mean? We don't
believe him. He tells us not to fret. But
we do anyway. There's a man going to preach
tomorrow morning from Psalm 27. I preached it myself not long
ago. I need to preach it again to myself. The Lord is my light
and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Fret not. Is your God strong
enough to protect your family? Is your God sovereign or isn't
it? Is he strong enough to protect your kids out in the world? Neither is or isn't. Do we believe
God's sovereign or not? Then fret not. Oh, I need to
fret not. Look at the next line. Neither
be envious against the workers of iniquity. Don't be envious
against the workers of iniquity. Now look, you know what the psalm
The inverted number of some thirty seven million. Seventy three. One of the translators meant
that they look over some seventy three. I bet they didn't plan
it that way. But it is so similar. Some seventy three. Some seventy
three. David deals with similar things
here in some seventy three. Let's just read down through
the reverse three I was envious of foolish when I saw the prosperity
of the wicked. No bands in their head. Their
strength is firm and not in trouble as other men neither are they
played like other men. Therefore pride comes to them
about as a chain violence covered them as a garment their eyes
stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish. They're corrupt, speak wickedly
concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set
their mouth against the heavens. Their tongue walketh through
the earth, the dirt that is. His people return hither, and
waters of a full cup are wrung out on them." They're full of
problems. He says the world is full of
prosperity, pride, blasphemy, yet believers full of problems. Struggle. Troubles, why? Why? Look at verse 17 and 18. David said, verse 16, it was
painful for me to think about this. Painful. I fretted. Verse 17, until I went into the
sanctuary of God. What's in the sanctuary, David?
The Word of God was being preached and read. Then he says, understood
I their end. Oh, look at verse 18. Surely
thou didst set them in slippery places. Slippery places. Men, as the old saying is, have
one foot, what is it, one foot in the grave and the other one
on a banana peel. It's so slippery places the Lord has set them. The world, you see, is getting
the work. But what are they getting? Let me ask you this. What is
going to happen to the world? Well, Lot, let's use Lot as an
example. Lot chose the well-watered plains
of Sodom and all the enticements of Sodom, the city of Sodom,
you know, with all of its allurements, vanity fair. What did Lot, what
about happened to Lot? What happened to Sodom? It got
burned up. Abraham, what did he have? Rather, who? He dwelled in the mountains with
God. God was his portion. Believers
get another world, a far better one, a far better one, wherein
dwelleth righteousness. So fret not, he said, fret not.
Back to the text. Fret not. Fret not. We don't envy a fat... Envy in the people of this world,
the rich and famous, would be about like some cows out in the
field, some kind of lean cows, or some young calves looking
over there and seeing a great big old fat heifer and envying
her. Boy, I can't wait till I get
big like her. She's going to the butcher house,
buddy. You don't envy a fat pig, do
you? Huh? What's going to happen? Look
at verse 2 here. They shall soon be cut down like
the grass, wither as the green herb. Verse 9, evil doers shall
be cut off. Verse 10, little while, wicked
shall not be. Verse 13, the Lord shall laugh
at him, his day is coming. Verse 35 and 36, look at that.
I've seen Great power spreading himself.
Gain, gain, gain. Keep on getting bigger and richer.
Yet, verse 36, a little while he passed away. Lo, he was not.
I tried to remember him. Could not. Couldn't remember him. Well,
look at verse 3. Now here's another precept. Trust
in the Lord. and do good. So shalt thou dwell
in the land, and barely thou shalt be fed. I've taken these
two together. You could separate them, but
let's take them together. Trust in the Lord and do good.
This kind of, this reminds me of God's sovereignty and responsibility. They go hand in hand. Right? Trust in the Lord and do good. And he says this right on the
back of Fret not. Fret not. Trust. Fret not. Trust in the Lord. Don't worry. Trust in the Lord.
You believe God, then trust Him. You see, trusting Him is acting
like you believe God. Right, Joe? Trusting God is acting
like you believe Him. Trust Him. Trust Him to save
Oh, I just don't know if he's going to say, I'm such a sinner.
Man, oh man. Let's start all over again. That's who he came to save. Trust
him. Trust him. You were no good when he found
you, you'll be no good when it's all over. Right? You were helpless when he found
you, you'll be helpless in the end. Paul said that in his older
He said, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Same
one that found you in the first place. Trust him. He's going to save you. Trust
him. To keep you. Trust him to provide for you.
Trust him to defend you. Trust him to avenge you. Trust
nothing and no one else for salvation but Christ. That's who the Lord
is. The Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him only. And it says here,
and do good. Like Mary said, Whatsoever he
saith unto you, do it. Trust him and do what he saith. That's what it means to trust
him, too. You know? Come on, you do what they say.
I wish I could think of an immediate example, but so many times, Hannah,
we've been somewhere or done something, and she's been fearful
and fretting and worrying, and I said, Trust me in this. Trust me. But, but Dad, do what
I say now. Trust me." She's worried and,
you know, fearful. But, but Dad, but Dad. Just do
what I say until I get mad. Do what I say. Trust me, I'm
not going to get you hurt. Trust me. Well, you know, I may,
I might. Most of the time I won't, but
God never. Tells us to do something. That
might hurt that he might let us know. You ever when your kids
were young, you tell them to jump off the table or something
to you. You know, the younger they were them. They just it'd
be times when I'd be doing that with Hannah and I'd almost miss
her. I'd turn my back, you know, she's daddy. I wasn't ready. Well, the older she got, you
know, the more she looks high and daddy, you get old. You know,
the more she started thinking about the situation, the less trust she had. Trust. Junk. Kind of getting ahead of
myself, aren't I? That's on over here. Do good.
Whatever he says, do it. Do it. It's good. It's right.
It's best. It's for your good. Be a do-gooder. Young people,
be a do-gooder. Don't worry about what people
say. She's a goody two-shoes. I hope
your two shoes walk in paths of righteousness. I hope your shoes... Be a do-gooder,
Andrew. Don't worry about what they say.
Let me give you an example. It's unpopular, and it's thought
of as being old-fashioned, and what are the words I'm looking for?
At any rate, to be a virgin today has absolutely stopped that.
You're not—I guess you're not cool, or I guess you're not with
it, or I guess you're not—I don't know what they're saying about
it. They may laugh at you and scoff at you, but those little
bits are pregnant. And they're sitting at home,
and that boy they thought loved them with all their heart, that
promised them the sun and the moon, you know, never leave them,
promised them a pie in the sky and a bed of roses. When he splits,
he doesn't want some pregnant girl. And he's gone, and she's
home alone. And she witnesses all the laughing
and sees all the people talking about her behind her back and
gets up at 2 or 3 in the morning crying baby and all the reproach
on her parents and herself anymore. What God says is right. It's
the best. It's the best way. There's no
other. There's no alternative. It's
good. It's for your good. It's for
your good. Trust in the Lord and do good.
Well, she's a do-gooder. Look at what it says here. You'll
dwell in the Lamb. Barely. You'll be fed. You'll
be fed. Verse four, delight thyself.
Here's another precept. Delight thyself also in the Lord. Delight thyself in the Lord.
Set your affection on things above. I looked up this word
delight, and I was surprised what I saw. It means to sport
yourself. to luxury means to lavish oneself
with something the word feminine was in there, and I thought of
a woman sitting in front of a mirror, you know, or a woman sitting
in her little boudoir, or whatever you call it in French, and she's
surrounding herself with all her little pleasant delights,
you know. Women like those things, little things, little bottles
of vinegar and plates and cups and, you know, nice things. There's
nothing wrong with that, lavender and lace and all that. She's delighting in all these
things. that please her. All right? Pretty thing. Good
thing. Well, that's what the word means.
Delight thyself. Delight thyself. Sport yourself.
Luxuriate yourself. Wherever someone's really interested,
whatever that someone's really interested in, that's what they
take your great delight in, and that's what they pursue. And
they buy, and do, and accumulate, and collect everything according
to that. Baskets. Whatever it may be,
you know. Whatever really strikes your
fancy, you delight in, then you notice them when you're out in
the world. Look at that basket, if you like
baskets. Or if it's horses, wow, look
at that horse. And nobody else is paying any attention to them.
That's what it means to delight yourself. He says here, delight
yourself in the Lord, in the Lord. in the Lord. All these other things are, well,
if you're interested in things higher and nobler, like the song
says, if these allure your sight, set your affection on things
above. Paul said that, set your affection
on things above. And right here, David says, delight
yourself. Make these things, for lack of
a better word, make this your hobby. That's probably a bad
term, but make this your delight. So that when you see things,
oh, that reminds me of the scripture. That reminds me of the Lord.
Delighting. Does that make sense? Barbara,
does that make sense? When you delight in something,
you pursue everything that will further that interest. You follow
me, Deborah? You feed it, you nurture it.
That's what he's saying here. Nurture your delight in the Lord,
your affection on the Lord. Be about these things. So how
do you nurture? You say, I just want the answers
in the Word of God. How do you nurture? Every time these doors
are open, be here. When the men meet down there,
be there. When women have a Bible study,
be there. I'm going to preach somewhere.
Come along." You nurture it. The more you do something, the
more you like it. It's so. It's so. Delight yourself. You'll find
yourself delighting in it more than anything else. In Him. In
Him. This is what Paul said, Rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice, I say, in the Lord.
Look at the next line. It says, Delight thyself in the
Lord, and he shall give you the desires of thine heart. Well,
if you delight in the Lord, what is the desire of your heart?
He is. Right, Ed? If you delight in
Him, then what do you desire but Him? Right? You seek Him. You need to know
Him, to win Him, to be found in Him, to grow up in Him. And
He'll give that if you can count on it. And all these other things
should be added. to you. You'll not have any want
or desire or need, I mean. All right. Look at verse five.
Here's another precept. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him. He'll bring
it to pass. Commit. What does your margin
say? Maggie T. Can you read it? Why are you holding that Bible,
Sparrow? I'll read it for you, Baggie.
It says, uh, roll your way on the Lord. Roll thy way on the
Lord. In other words, you got a burden
on your back, roll it off. You were in the Army, weren't
you? You ever carry a pack? But when the day was done, you
get marked several miles. Oh, you know, when the day was
done, what you did. When you got to camp, what did
you keep back on? What did you do? You rolled it off. Man, that's
what this means. Roll your way on trust in Him.
Roll your way. Cast your care. He said He cares
for you. Take your burden. I love that
psalm. Take your burden to the Lord. And what? Believe it. Lord, here I am. Here am I. Save me. Keep me. Change me. He'll do it. Lord, here's my
family. Save them. Keep them. I can't
do it. Lord, here are all my troubles.
Here are all my problems. Here are my sins. Take care of
him. He will. He'll bring it to pass. I like whenever it says that
in Scripture. He shall bring it to pass. This too shall pass. Commit thy way. Lord, I want
to walk with you in the way. In the way. Commit thy way. I want my way to be your way.
I want Christ the way to be my way. I want to walk like Christ. I want to be in Christ. Someday
I want to be with Christ. That's my way, Lord. That's the
way I want to go. He'll bring it to pass. That's
the desire of your heart, John. He said right here, He'll bring
it to pass. That's your way. Is Christ the
way you want to go? He'll bring it to pass. And verse six, he shall bring
forth, did you see this, he shall bring forth thy righteousness
as the light. The way, righteousness, light. Whose righteousness? Who is thy
righteousness? That's right. Who is the way?
Who is thy righteousness? Whose light? That's right. Judgment is an end. Here's the
next thing. Rest in the Lord. Rest in the
Lord. Wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him
that prospereth. Rest. Wait. Look at it very quickly. Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30. Look over there. This is wonderful.
If you don't have this mark, Maggie, I bet you don't yet. You probably can't see. Hand
me your Bible. I'll mark it for you. Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30. I love these verses. Verse 7. Isaiah 30, verse 7. The Egyptians
shall help in vain to know a purpose. No purpose. Therefore have I
cried concerning this, their strength is to what? Sit still. Their strength is to sit still. I've thought about all this.
Keep that place. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and get
started. I'm going to go ahead and turn
the camera off now. I'm going to show you a picture
of it. Okay. Okay. Okay, let's do it. All right. Thank you very much. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. and No, no, no. We're going to go ahead and get started. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. I think that's a good point.
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point. I think that's a good point.