with me if you will this evening
to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Don't forget to come
to the house Saturday. Got all the meat ordered. And
we always have a good time. Good picking, grinning. Herman
was there last year and he just picked all day. Sang all day.
You could just sing any song. He'd just mention it to him where
he'd go. Remember so well. So well. So don't forget. Saturday the
14th. Let's start at verse 16 to read
down through verse 34. A little that a righteous man
hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms
of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.
The Lord knoweth the days of the upright, and their inheritance
shall be for ever. They shall not be ashamed in
evil time, and in 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, and to smoke shall they
consume away. The wicked borroweth and payeth
not again, but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth. For
such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and they that
be cursed of him shall be cut off. The steps of a good man
are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though
he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand. 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
lendeth, and his seed is blessed. Depart from evil, and do good,
and dwell for evermore. For the Lord loveth judgment,
and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved for ever,
but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall
inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever. The mouth of the righteous
speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law
of his God is in his heart, none of his steps shall slide. The
wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh 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 thee to inherit the land. When the
wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. Now look with me back
here in Psalm 37. And I want to talk about eight
marks of the righteous. Eight marks of the righteous
out of this psalm. But let me preface my message
this evening by this. Man, no man, has an inherent
righteousness. He is not born with a righteousness. He doesn't have a righteous nature.
He isn't born with one. Man has no inherent righteousness. And no man can claim a righteousness
of his own. Paul says that's what he told
that that was the Jews' problem. They went about to establish
their own righteousness and did not submit themselves to the
righteousness of God, which is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the only way we have
a righteousness is for God to declare us righteous, to declare
us righteous. And that's what he does. He declares
us righteous. And then he comes and he takes
the Holy Spirit. And when He regenerates us, He
makes us partakers of the divine nature. He puts Christ in you,
the hope of glory. The divine nature takes up an
abode in us. And that's when we are born again,
that's what makes us seek God, that's what makes us desire God,
is that nature in us that's of God. And that comes from Father
Himself. And God the Father made His Son
to be sin, who knew no sin. And we who knew sin, God made
him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we, who didn't know nothing
but sin, might be made the righteousness of God in him. God made us righteous,
declared us righteous, and made us righteous. And a righteous
man, and I tell you what, he says Christ has made unto us
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. A righteous man
whose iniquities, know what? David said it like this in Psalm
32. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is the man whose sins
are covered. Covered with what? Covered with
the blood. Covered with the blood on the mercy seat, Christ our
mercy seat. So I want to talk about eight
things tonight about righteous, eight marks of the righteous
out of this Psalm. First in verse 16, the first
thing we see is that the righteous man, his little is blessed of
God. A little that a righteous man
hath is better than the riches of many wicked. And so if we
just have a little, I don't care how wealthy the rich get, how
powerful they get, how mighty they get, how wealthy and how
powerful they get, the little of a righteous man is much better
than anything they've got. And his little is blessed. You
remember when Elijah went to the widow's house, and there
was a famine in Israel. And he told that woman, he says,
fix me something to eat. And she said, sir, she said,
listen, all I've got is a hand of meal, a little bit of oil,
and a stick to build a fire with. And I've said, me and my boys
going to eat that, and then we're going to sit here and die because
that's all we've got. We're going to starve to death.
And he says, listen, you fix it for me. You fix me a cake,
and you fix me some bread, and you fix it for me. well he did
she did and you know what from then on for over three and a
half years when it didn't rain in Israel three and a half years
every time she went to her meal barrel that little bit was there
she always had enough for every meal she ate until the rain descended
God took her little bit and blessed it and fed herself and her son
and that preacher for years And our Lord Jesus Christ, as a little
old boy, he had over 4,000 people that was hungry. He said, listen,
anybody who got anything to eat? Little old boy said, I've got
two small fishes. And I've got over here, I've
got five loaves of bread. That's all I got. Our Lord Jesus
gave thanks for it. And he says, now pass it out.
And they went around, and there was two fish and five loaves
of bread. He fed over 4,000 people and
had something left over. Oh, how our Lord takes the little
bit that we have. And you all remember back when
you had so little, so little, and now, and God took that little
bit and blessed it so much, so much. Look in Proverbs 15 with
me, just a moment. There's a verse of scripture
over there first to look at. God can take the little and bless
it so much. And His little is blessed. You
don't have to have a lot. Oh, for God to bless it. Look
what he said in verse 15, excuse me, yeah, verse 15, chapter 15,
verse 16. Better, better is little with
the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it.
he said it's better to have just a little bit and the fear of
the Lord than to have a whole bunch of stuff and have trouble
with it. So how his little is blessed,
that's the first thing of a righteous man. And then look in verse 17. The Lord upholds the righteous,
he says, for the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the
Lord upholdeth the righteous. He upholds him. Now what does
he mean by upholding him? Huh? What does he mean by upholding
him? I tell you what it means. He
holds him up. That's what it means. He holds him up. You know
why he has to hold him up? Because he can't hold himself
up. That's the very reason why he holds us up, because we can't
hold ourselves up. Look what he said over here,
and I think it's in verse 24. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand."
And we have to be upholding. We have to. We have to be. God
has to hold us up because we can't hold ourselves up. And
I tell you, most people say, well, I tell you what, we got
a little strength. I tell you, we don't have any strength. Our
Lord Jesus said it like this, without me, you can't do nothing. Now, what's nothing? When you
find that out, you'll know what you can do without Christ. Nothing. And look over at Isaiah 41. Look what our Lord said about
holding us up. Oh, I tell you, we need holding
up. Our Lord upheld Peter while he was on the water. Our Lord
said, He said, Lord, if it's you, bid me come to thee. And
He did, and our Lord held him up on the water. Look what He
said in Isaiah 41 and verse 10. Fear thou not. For I am with
thee. This is where they got that firm
foundation. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee,
yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee, uphold thee, with
the right hand of my righteousness. Thank God He holds us up. Thank
God when we don't even feel it, He still holds us up. And I tell
you why, this is what we know. We know we need to be held up.
I feel sorry for people that think they can stand on their
own two feet. I feel sorry for people who think
that their willpower and their commitment and their righteousness
and their works and their will makes them able to stand. And
I thank God that He has taught me, Lord, you got to hold me
up or I won't stand. Woe unto him that thinketh he
standeth. What does he say? Take heed lest
he fall. And not only did our Lord uphold
Peter while he was on the water, but this is also something that
he did for him. When Simon Peter was fixing to
deny him, he prayed for him. He said, I prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. He held him up while Christ,
while he was denying his master, he prayed for him. You're going
to deny me three times, but I'm praying for you and I'm not going
to let you go. I'm not going to let you fall.
I'm not going to let you go all the way down. I'm going to hold
you up even while you deny me. I'm gonna hold you up. I pray
for you that your faith fell not and all the psalmist says
my feet had well I slipped That's the second thing and I tell you
look at verse 18 not always the righteous blessed his little
is blessed, but he he's upheld and And the Lord upholdeth the
righteous, but O the Lord knoweth the days of verse 18, the Lord
knoweth the days of the upright. He knows the days that we're
born, He knows the days that we're to live, and He knows the
day that we're to leave this world. And listen to this, and
their inheritance shall be forever. The righteous have an everlasting
inheritance. Oh, an everlasting inheritance.
We're just joking about inheritances and wheels down in Texas, you
know. And his sisters, Marvin's sisters, tell him, says, you
know, you've always been the favorite, you know. He said,
you've always been the favorite. And he said, boy, you know, I
wouldn't be surprised if we're not even in the wheel. You're
the only one in it. But listen, we are in the wheel.
We haven't ever, you know, an inheritance here, it's given
away, it's given to somebody, and then it's gone. But God gives
us an everlasting inheritance. Ain't that what he says? And
what an inheritance God's give us. I want to show you, I want
to show you two of them. Two things about inheritance.
First, I want to show you in 1 Peter 1.4. Right after Hebrews,
James, 1 Peter 1.4. Oh, this is inheritance. The Lord knoweth our days, and
so when our days are ended, we've got an everlasting inheritance.
Oh my, what an inheritance we have! He said, verse 3, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively, a living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Listen
to this. This is what He begot us to and gave to us, and this
is why we bless God, because of His abundant mercy to an inheritance
incorruptible. Undefiled, ain't nobody can get
it. And that fadeth not away. Where's
it reserved at? In heaven. For you. Who are you? Those who are kept by the power
of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last days.
Now look in Colossians. In Colossians chapter 1. Colossians
chapter 1. Look what he says here about
it. And oh my, you know when Abraham sent Eliezer, his servant,
after a bride for Isaac. When Eliezer met Rachel and his
father, he says, You know what my master's done? He hath given
all things into his hands. Everything that my master has,
he's given to him. And everything that God hath,
he's given to Christ. And what Christ inherits, we
have an everlasting inheritance with Him. Look what it says here
in verse 12, Colossians 1, 12. Giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet. That word meet means to be fit,
means to be able. And we have to be made fit, we
have to be made able. And listen, God has to make us
fit and able to be a partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. And He's made us fit, He's made
us able. Where did He do it? In His blessed
Son. And He's gave us an everlasting inheritance. Now, not everyone
gets this inheritance. No, no. No, no. You know who gets this inheritance?
Christ's people get this inheritance. The righteous get this inheritance.
And you know what some of the things that we inherit? First
is we inherit eternal life. That's the first thing that was
given to us. We inherited it. God gave us life in Christ and
then because Christ had life, He gave us life. And then not
only that, but we inherit a new heaven. We inherit a new earth. We inherit a new name. We inherit
incorruption. We inherit immortality. Oh, the
inheritance that we have. Inherit everything that Christ
has is what we have. And it's God's eternal, Christ's
eternal, so what we have is eternal. Nobody can mess it up. Nobody can debate the will in
court. Nobody can debate it. I'm having
to deal with Herman's will. And I have to prove over and
over and over who's the inheritor and who's got the power, who's
got the will. And I have to show it and I have
to prove it over and over. You know, I have to say, see,
there's the name right there. Last Will and Testament. Well,
the last will and testament of our Lord Jesus Christ is that
THEY, and you know how long, you know as long as a man's living,
his will doesn't amount to anything. The moment he dies, that's when
the will goes into effect. This is what our Lord did. Our
Lord Jesus Christ left us His last will and testament. eternal
inheritance by an eternal Spirit, through an eternal offering,
and through the eternal blood. And our Lord Jesus Christ then
erodes from the dead, and He lives to make sure His will is
carried out! Here's why he said in John 1,
24, 17, 24, I will that they which you've
given me be with me that they may behold my glory that you
gave me. Now that's part of the will,
that's a good inheritance, ain't it? That's a good inheritance.
Oh my, then also he has an everlasting inheritance. Let me show you
something else about the righteous. Look down verse 21 of Psalm 38,
37. In verse 28, Psalm 37, 21. The wicked borroweth and payeth
not again. But now look at the righteous,
what he does. But the righteous showeth mercy and giveth. Oh, the righteous man, those
that are declared righteous, made righteous in Christ, in
Christ is their righteousness. He's merciful and he's gracious. He's merciful and He giveth.
And why is He like that? Because He has the Spirit of
His Master in Him. He has the Spirit of Christ in
Him. He's what the Apostle Paul says is more blessed to give
than it is to receive. And so that's what he says, Oh,
it's so much more blessed to give the things that Christ has
given you than it is to receive. And oh my! And this is what,
oh my, here's what he's talking about. He's talking about how
merciful and gracious the righteous are. The righteous are not, two
things the Lord opens when the Lord saves a man. And both of
these are in the scriptures. First thing he does is he opens
his heart. He opens his heart. Would you agree with that? The
Lord, Lydia, the Lord opened her heart. God opens the heart. He has to open the heart. He
has to come in and sit on the throne of the heart. And so when
He opens the heart, the second thing He opens is the hand. Because
you look through the book of Action, the liberal soul shall
be made fat. What does that mean? The giving
soul shall be made fat. And those who withhold, those
who withhold are made poor. And that's what it is. God not
only opens the heart, but He opens the hand. Oh, what a blessing
it is what a blessing it is to give and you know, he's merciful
because mercy's been shown to him That's the reason why the
Lord's people are merciful. He's had mercy shown to him He's
gracious because he's has grace shown to him. He freely receives
and he freely gives what he freely gets from God He freely gives
and that's what he's talking about here. He's merciful and
he gives and And that's what, you know, David said it like
this. He said, Lord, we only give back
that that you've already given to us. That's all we do. We only give back. You can read
it, I believe it's in 1 Chronicles 16. I think that's where it's
at. You can look and see. But he says, we only give back
what you give to us. What you give to us. And then
look what else he is. So he's merciful and he's gracious. And he's never forsaken. Look
down at verse 25. I have been young and now am
old. Yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor the righteous man's seed begging bread. Never forsaken. Davis said, I was young. And
you know, when we're young, we're ignorant. We do foolish things. He said, I was young. I was full
of fire. I was full of strength. I was
full of vigor. I was full of life. And I'd done
a lot of foolish things. He says, but now I'm old. Now
I'm old. And you know, you can remember
very well when you're 20 and 25. And now, he says, I was young. Now I'm old. But young or old. You know what he says? I have. I've never seen the righteous
ever forsaken. You reckon anybody's ever seen
the righteous forsaken? You reckon God ever forsook a
righteous man? Would God ever forsake one for
whom Christ died? And he said, Oh, listen, he said,
the righteous, I've never seen the righteous forsaken. I've
seen the righteous in trouble. I've seen the righteous tried.
I've seen the righteous heartbroke. I've seen the righteous weep.
I've seen the righteous suffer. I've seen the righteous in battle,
but I ain't never seen him forsaken. I've seen him in a lot of ways. I've seen him sick, but I've
never seen him forsaken Huh, never seen him forsaken. Oh I've
never seen the righteous forsaken and let me tell you something
this old man. He's David This is David Tony. He said this old
man here. This is old man's testimony.
It's precious You know why and it's encouraging because this
man who said this is the man after God's own heart and the
righteous. If God's going to forsake anybody,
look at all the people He would have forsaken. David, when David
sinned. He would have forsaken Simon
Peter when he sinned. He would have forsaken Noah when
Noah got drunk. And how many times would He have
forsaken us? But He does not forsake His people. Hebrews 13.5 says it like this,
and there's five negatives in that. Five negatives in Hebrews
13.5. I'll never, no never, no never, No never, no never leave thee
nor forsake thee. That's what Christ said. Five
times is what that is in that verse. And so I tell you, this
is the word, the testimony of a man after God's own heart.
And then look in verse 31 and 32. Oh, here's another mark of
the righteous. He's blessed with wisdom. He's
blessed with wisdom. Look in verse 30. The mouth of
the righteous speaketh wisdom. And his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his
heart. None of his steps shall slide. Oh, he's blessed with wisdom.
And it says here, the mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom.
And his tongue talks of judgment. His mouth speaks wisdom. You
know, I'll tell you what, you're speaking wisdom when you speak
of Christ. You're speaking wisdom when you
say salvations of grace. You're speaking wisdom when you
say Christ is my all in all. You're speaking wisdom when you
say Christ is my only righteousness. You're speaking wisdom when you
say you have the fear of God in your heart. You're speaking
wisdom when you understand you say that is in myself and in
my flesh there's no good thing dwells in me. That's speaking
wisdom. is speaking wisdom to say there's
nothing no nothing no nothing that i can do to make myself
acceptable to god but god in christ made me acceptable in
the beloved that's speaking wisdom to speak that christ did it all
to speak that christ Shed his blood and washed our sins away
to speak of him and him alone That's speaking wisdom and the
world don't know nothing about that a dear dear preacher friend
of mine Wayne Boyd his mother-in-law's visiting last week and and She's
went to church for years and years Wayne preached on Sunday
night. He preached on on Christ as a
picture of the ark and The Ark, you know, Noah's Ark is a picture
of Christ. We know that. We've heard that
preached. We believe it. Well, he preached on that. Well,
they went out that evening to get something to eat and his
mother-in-law said this, said, you know, I've been studying
the Bible for 36 years. And I thought I knew everything there was to
know about it. But that's the first time I've
heard to Christ that the Ark was Christ. But she was so, you
know, she's, you know, out of the abundance of the heart, the
mouth speaks. She was letting herself, I've studied the Bible
for 36 years, and I know everything there is to know about it. Except
she didn't know Christ. She never saw Christ. And anybody
that says, I thought I knew everything in the Bible, A young kid, just
a young man walked up to him, told Wayne, said this here. He
said, I cannot believe that that woman said that. She said, there's
preachers that's been preaching 35 and 40 and 45 years and you
hear them talking about, we just scratched the surface. We're
in a well so deep that we ain't never got the bucket to the bottom
of the well yet. And then she talks about, she
don't ever think, oh my. Oh listen, when you talk about
I'm nothing and Christ's everything? Talk about being upheld by Christ? Talking about our inheritance
being Christ? Talking about a new heaven and
new? The world don't know nothing about these things. God taught
us these things and we rejoice in these things and we find great
comfort in these things. And oh, listen, out of the heart
comes the good treasure of the Word. Look what he says, the
Law of God's in his heart. That Law of God means it's the
Word of God. It's in his heart. David said,
I've hid your word in my heart. Why? So that I might not sin
against you. Huh? I want to show you something. I got just a little bit to say.
Look in James. Let's look in James about this
wisdom. Let's look in James about wisdom.
James chapter, I think it's chapter three in verse 13. Look what
it says here about wisdom. He's blessed with wisdom. The
law of God's in his heart. The word of God's in his heart.
And it's out of the heart that we bring the good treasures that
brought out of the heart. The word comes out of the good
treasure of the heart. Look what James says here. He's
asking a question now. In verse 13 of chapter 3. Who
is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Who's a
wise man among you? And he's endued with knowledge. He's got knowledge. Well, if
he's wise and endued with knowledge, let him show out of a good manner
of life, that's where conversation means, the walk out of the manner
of his life, his works, with meekness of wisdom. Let's see
it, out of his works, out of his walk, out of his life, with
meekness of wisdom. But he says, here's the other
thing, the other side of it's like this. if you have bitter
envying and strife in your hearts. Don't glory. Don't glory in that. And don't lie against the truth.
When you hear the truth, don't lie against it. Because this
wisdom that has this bitter envying and strife, this wisdom doesn't come from
above. But it's earthly, it's sensual,
it's deglish. For where envying and strife
is, there is confusion and ever evil work. But the wisdom that
is from above, that wisdom that God gives us, that wisdom that
is from above is pure. Why is it pure? Because it comes
from a pure God, comes from a pure word. Then peaceable. Oh, wisdom's peaceable. It's
not envying, it's not strife, it's not fussing and fighting,
but it's peaceable and it's gentle and it's easy to be entreated. You don't get upset with you.
And oh, listen, this wisdom that's from above is full of mercy,
full of good fruits. It don't show any partiality,
and it has no hypocrisy. And oh, and the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace. Oh, that wisdom that's
from above. All right, look back over here
with me. Let's look at another mark of the righteous. Another
mark of the righteous. Look in verse 37. marked the perfect man, and behold
the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Oh my, the end
of the righteous is peace. Mark him, the end of that man
is peace. Christ made peace for him, made
it through the blood of his cross. God came along and gave peace
to him. He's the God of peace. And the
word, the gospel, it comes along and it maintains that peace.
And it, you know, so God, Christ made peace for us through the
blood of his cross. God came and he gave peace to us, put
peace in our hearts. And then we come here the gospel
and the gospel and the word keeps that peace, keeps that peace,
maintains that peace, keeps us at peace, keeps us calm in our
hearts and calm in our soul. Our Lord Jesus said it like this,
my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, all people
can you know you see people all the time they'll be at odds with
one another and they'll be at odds with somebody and then next
thing you know they make up they they're they're they're at peace
with one another but oh listen that's the peace of the world
the peace that christ gives us it comes from above it's a peace
that passes understanding really truly passes understanding The
peace that God gives us, it passes our understanding. How can you
describe the peace that God Christ made? How can you describe the
peace that God put in your heart? How can you describe the peace
when you're in a trial and yet you know, you know that the end
of it is going to be all right. You know that. So His end is
peace. The last mark is this. Let me
give you the last mark. Verse 39 and 40. Talking about
the righteous. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength in 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." And the righteous, you know what he says? Salvation's
of the Lord. They did what He said. The salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. Who saved you? The Lord did.
How did He save you? By grace. Why did He save you? For Christ's sake. Oh my. And I tell you what, when
it says the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, that
means that all boasting, all boasting is excluded. There's
nothing a man can boast in when the salvation is of the Lord.
From Alpha to Omega and everything in between, salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. I tell you about salvations of
the Lord. We trust Him. We trust Him. We really truly
trust Him. The Apostle said it like this,
being confident of this one thing. that he which hath begun a good
work in you, oh what a good work it is, it's God's work, it's
Christ's work, it's Holy Spirit's work, it's not our work, it's
their work, he which hath begun a good work in you shall, shall,
shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ, huh? Have been,
are being, shall be, salvation of the righteous of the Lord.
Huh? Oh, Daniel. And you know, he will deliver
him. He says, he said, he shall deliver them from the wicked,
save them because they trust him. Look at Daniel. Here's an
instance of the Lord, because men trusted him. Daniel, put
in the lion's den. What'd the Lord do? He delivered
him. Delivered him out of the mouth
of the lion. He said, put me in there. Makes
no difference to me how I go to glory. But it wasn't right
for him to go to glory, and the Lord delivered him out of the
mouth of the lion. And that's why even the king
went down there and said, Oh, Daniel, Daniel, thy God hath
saved thee. The God in whom you trust has
delivered you. And old Daniel looked up and
said, yes, he has. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. And I tell you, that's what he
does for us. He saves us. He delivers us. And He ain't
never gonna forsake us. And He gave us this wonderful
inheritance and He holds us up, holds us up. Our Father, oh,
blessed, blessed Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
thank you for allowing us to meet here tonight. Thank you
for all that you do for us, have done for us, and will do for
us. We understand clearly in our
hearts, in our understanding, that the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. And Lord, we trust you. We trust
our souls with you. We trust our lives with you.
We trust our homes. We trust the congregation. We
trust one another. Trust our children. Trust our
very being with you, knowing it's safe, safe and secure in
our blessed Savior. In his name we bless you and
praise you. Amen.