Lord, enable us to see Christ
and rest in him. Lord, we thank you for your grace
and mercy to us. Lord, we ask your forgiveness
upon us, Lord. Lord, how we thank you for our
Savior. Lord, again, we pray you'd enable us to see him and
rest in him. Rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray for our young ones,
how we thank you for the many young ones you've blessed us
with. Lord, that you'd protect and keep them. Lord, above all,
that you would be merciful to them. Lord, reveal Christ to
them. Now again, we pray for your presence
here this evening. Lord, that you'd set aside the
thoughts and cares of this world Let us seek Christ. And Lord,
in all that's said and done, Lord, that you might give glory
to thy great name. For it's in Christ's name we
pray and give thee thanks. Amen. I'd ask you again to turn to
Psalm 37 if you're not already there. And I was thinking about
this while you're turning. It's been
a few years back, but there were several men from this congregation
that went down to Pikeville. It had been a big flood down
there, and several of the men had went down and worked. And it was, for those of you
there, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It was dirty.
It was hot. It was just, the conditions,
they weren't pleasant. I mean, you think of mud, but
When you've got that much water rolling, there's a lot more churn
in there than just mud. Just dirty, dirty conditions.
Sewage floating. Bob, I remember you sprayed off
Luke and Mitchell with the pressure washer before they could even
go in the building and change clothes. I mean, it was just
dirty conditions. But on the way home, We hadn't
even got out of Pikeville. And we were, I'm telling you,
we were dirty. We were hungry. We were tired. And I remember these four because
we rode together. But me and Gene, Earl, and Dale
were riding together. And before we'd come out of Pikeville,
there was a little gas station up on the right-hand side of
the road. And Gene said, stop here for a minute. We pulled
off the road. And he'd come back to the truck.
And he had four of the coldest Pepsis I think I've ever had
and four Snickers bars. And I tell you, it hit the spot. I mean, I love a candy bar and
a pop any day of the week, but that was just good. And I thought about this. Again,
we were just exhausted from the day. But I tell you, that was
sweet. and it was cool, and it was refreshing. It just hit the spot. And I was
thinking about that this evening. You know, we come here, something
about that midweek, and we're tired. You know, we're wore out,
we're exhausted, and we need a refreshing. And I pray the
Lord would give us that this evening from this text here in
Psalm 37. Look at verse 39. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. David wrote this psalm. And if you look at verse 25,
He says, I've been young, and now I'm old. This was a psalm
written out of experience. David, he'd seen some things. He'd experienced
some things. He'd spent some time on the mountain.
And he spent a lot of time down in the valley as well. He was a shepherd. That's the
first thing we read about David. He was a shepherd out keeping
his father's sheep. And come to a time, he slew Goliath. Well, he must have been the hero
of the town. Can you imagine how he was celebrated,
just literally on top of the world? He was anointed king over
his brethren. They were pretty furious about
that. Here's David, anointed king. But then we see David in the
valley, too, don't we? He had committed adultery with
Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. And then he murdered, basically
murdered Uriah to cover, trying to cover his sin. Out there on the battlefield,
said, draw back and just let the opposing army have him. He
lost a child. He experienced trouble in his
household. And then we know at one point
he numbered his army. He said, go out and count our
men and let's see how we kind of how we match up against the
enemy, rather than just trusting in the Lord who had delivered
him over and over again. And that plague, I imagine there
was great guilt on David when he said, let's fall into the
hand of the Lord. And 70,000 of his people were
killed before that plague was The Lord was pleased to stop
that plague. I imagine he suffered great guilt
over that. This we know of David. David
was a sinner. A sinner saved by the grace of
God. I can't imagine the things that
are written in the Psalms, they were inspired of God, Those things
that happened to David over his life led him to write what's
there. In Acts 30, and all those things
about David. It's funny, I did a little search
today to see what do you read on the internet about David?
And all men wanted to talk about were the high points in David's
life, about being David, being like David. They don't mention
David's sin. They don't mention all these
things. Acts 13, 22, when God removes
Saul, it says, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he
gave testimony. I found David, the son of Jesse,
a man after mine own heart. which shall fulfill all my will."
A sinner saved by the grace of God. Our Lord, speaking to a
group of Pharisees, He said this, He said, I came not to call the
righteous. Who did He come to call? Who
did He come to call? Who did He come to save? You
know, I don't read anywhere in Scripture where it says, He came
to save Catholics. I don't see where it says he
came to save Methodists. I don't see where it says he
came to save Baptists. He came to save sinners. Sinners. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. We read this in our Sunday school
class Sunday morning. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. Paul said this, he said, of whom
I'm the chief. He didn't say whom I was the
chief. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Sin is the, listen, sin is the
work of man. Salvation is the work of Almighty
God. Jonas said the same thing. He
said, I'll sacrifice With the voice of thanksgiving, I'll pay
the vows which I vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Jeremiah said the same thing.
He said, truly is the Lord God our salvation. He's the salvation
of Israel. And here in our text, David declares
the same message, a message just as sweet and needful in our day. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. And whether it's the first time
you're hearing this, or you've heard it many times over the
years, these nine words are at the heart of the gospel. The
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. My salvation is of the
Lord. My righteousness is of the Lord. It's all of him. Brother Henry
wrote this in one of his commentaries. He said, the banquet of mercy
is served by one host, the Lord Jesus Christ. He prepared the
feast. He invited the guest. He made
them willing to come. And he closed them in robes of
righteousness, spotless robes of righteousness, the salvation
of every believer from start to finish is of the Lord. And this gospel message, it's
for the old and young alike. In my Bible, beside this verse
I've written, and this is no original thought from me, somebody
said this and I wrote it down, words to live by. This is the
testimony God has given us eternal life. This life is in his son. And these words, the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord, they're words to die by. Remember
what Simeon said when they brought that little child into the temple? When he saw the Lord, he said
this. He said, let thy servant depart
in peace. How is that possible? For mine
eyes have seen thy salvation, which you prepared before the
face of all the people, a light to the Gentiles and the glory
of thy people. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. Look at verse 38 of our text
here in Psalm 37. It says, shall be destroyed together. The end of the wicked shall be
cut off. Transgressors, those that have
rebelled against God, transgressors, sinners, they shall be destroyed
together. The end of the wicked, those
guilty of sin, says they'll be cut off. They'll perish. the
end of sinful men, death. Does that sound familiar? Romans
6.23 says this, the wages of sin is death. You know, it would be easy, it
would be easy for us to sit here this evening like that self-righteous
Pharisee with this thought. I know some sinful people. I
know some people who are much, much more sinful than I am. Turn over there to Luke chapter
18. Luke chapter 18. Verse 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. You know, outwardly, this man
I bet he was something to say. I'm sure he appeared justified.
There are probably people around town thinking, boy, I wish I
was like him. Is this the man that went down
to his house justified? Read on in our text. Look at
verse 13. The publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes into heaven. smote upon
his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone
that exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. Almighty God saves sinners. When Adam fell, all the way back
to the garden, we all fell. We all fell in hell. Sinners
by nature, sinners by birth, sinners by practice, sinners. And it's not just what we do. Sin isn't just what we do. It's
what we are. Paul said, oh, wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body that's dead? It's this wicked, corrupt, sinful
heart that every one of us is born with. Transgressors shall
be destroyed together. The end of the wicked shall be
cut off. Well, I'm thankful that this
doesn't end at verse 38. Let's read on here. God's gonna punish sin, that's
clear in the Scriptures. Look here, look at that word,
that three-letter word, but the salvation of the righteous is
of the Lord. Now quickly, there's five things
I want us to see about this statement this evening. This blessed truth,
this our hope, the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. And the first is this. It's sound
doctrine. This is solid teaching. In Revelation
13, 8, we read that the Lord Jesus Christ is the lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. Almighty God planned
and purposed the salvation, the redemption of his people from
the beginning. It wasn't an afterthought. Well,
Adam failed. Now what am I going to do? No.
God purposed this from the beginning. And what he plans and what he
purposes, he's going to accomplish. Turn to Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46. Let's look at the beginning with
verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying my counsel
shall stand, I'll do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far country,
yea, I have spoken it. I'll also bring it to pass. I
have purposed it. I will also do it. Almighty God, may the Lord Jesus
Christ, our surety, our representative, the federal head of an elect
people. And those people were given to
him, given to Christ to redeem them from sin and bring them
to glory. In Adam, we die. In Christ, we live. In Adam,
we're made sinners. In Christ, we're made the very
righteousness of God. In Adam, we're separated from
God. In Christ, we're brought to God. 1 Peter 3, verse 18,
for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might, do what? Bring us to God. Being put to
death in the flesh and quickened by the Spirit. And this work,
this work of salvation, it's his work. It's entirely his work. Man shares nothing in it. It's the work of God. The salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. We were a sheep going astray,
but now return to the shepherd and bishop of our souls. Think about this. Almighty God
made him, made the Lord Jesus Christ to be sin. He did that. He made him to be sin for us,
for sinners. He who knew no sin, the spotless
land of God, made him sin that we, that his
people, might be made the righteousness of God in him. There on the cross,
he suffered and died for the sins of his people, redeemed
us to God by his blood, by the shedding of his blood. And the
scriptures say that by one offering, he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified, them that are set apart. Now, false religion
They don't buy into that, do they? They say this, that God
has done all that he can, and now it's up to man to make a
decision, to take a step, to do something. There's one glaring problem with
that. A dead man can't do anything.
A dead man can't take a step. Imagine walking out of here and
heading out of the cemetery somewhere and standing out there and and
just asking people if they if they want to live Just just come
up out of the grave Somebody coming and I don't know
if they still do this they put a white jacket on you and haul
you and haul you off Yet men stand behind pulpits week after
week and and tell that to folks a Dead man this a dead man can't
hear A dead man can't make a decision. A dead man can't take a step.
And that's our condition. That's how the scriptures describe
us. Dead in trespasses and sin. Spiritually dead. And only God
can give life. Scriptures say his people are
made willing in the day of his power. It's all of him. The entire work. The salvation of the righteous.
is of the Lord. Second, it's a fact. It's a necessary fact the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. It must be so or there is no
salvation. There is no salvation apart from
Christ. God's word declares there's none
other name given among men whereby we must be saved. Consider the
The children of Israel, there at the Red Sea, Pharaoh and his
armies approaching. And the children of Israel, it
says they were sore afraid. They were scared to death. And
they cried out. They said, were there not enough
graves in Egypt? Was there not enough space there
in Egypt to bury us, that you drug us out here in the wilderness
to die? Moses spoke to the people and
he he told him he told him exactly what to do First he said this
he said fear not Fear not and then he said this stand still
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord He'll show it to you he'll show
it to you this this day Isn't that the same thing we read right
here the salvation of of the righteous is of the Lord." It's
a necessary fact. Only he can save. That leper said, Lord, I've decided
to let you save me. That's foolishness, isn't it? What did he say? Lord, if you
will, if you will, you can make me whole. Turn to Acts chapter
4. That impotent man had just been
healed. And look here at verse 10. Acts 4, verse 10. Be it known unto you all and
to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by Him, that this man stand here before you whole. This is
the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become
the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. Third, what a sweet consolation. Let me ask you, is that statement
a consolation to you? Does that comfort you, the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord? You know, if it's of anybody
else, we're hopeless. There would be no hope. See, I'm lost. I'm lost. And I would have no hope apart
from Christ. Our best works, if we could just
gather up everybody's in the building here this evening and
put them together, they'd still be filthy rags. Our best works
are filthy rags in the sight of God. You know, Naaman, scriptures
say this, that he was a, Naaman was a great man. That's what
God's Word says. It says he was an honorable man. He was a mighty man. He had wealth. He had influence. He had a letter
from the king. But you know what? None of that
meant anything. Naaman was a leper. But here's the good news. There
were many lepers, many lepers in Israel in the days of Elisha
the prophet. One of them, one of them was
God pleased to show mercy on. Remember that little maiden,
that little servant girl that had been taken in a battle, and
she said, would God my Lord were with the
prophet that's in Israel, It recovered, I guess. She knew
something about that sweet consolation, didn't she? How about Simeon? We read about him earlier. What
was he waiting on? Waiting for the consolation of
Israel. Listen to the words of our Lord.
Turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. Look at verse 27. It's our Lord speaking. He said,
my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand." That's comfort, isn't it? That's consolation. The salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. Well, fourth, this statement,
it's a reason for humility. And we definitely can use a dose
of that from time to time, can't we? No room for pride. No room for boasting. We see
this throughout the scriptures. Naaman learned it. He had to be brought down, didn't
he? He had to be brought down. David said, the Lord preserveth
the simple. I was brought low, and he helped
me. Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar
said, I praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all
whose works are truth and those that walk in pride he's able
to abase. A reason for humility. No reason
for pride. Not when it's his work. Not when
he's done it all. Paul writing to the church at
Rome, he said, if Abraham were justified by works, He'd have
reason to glory, but not before God, not in the sight of Almighty
God. Who maketh thee to differ? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? And if you received it, why do
you glory in it? If we were able to earn a righteousness,
Listen, we're not able to earn a righteousness, and we still
find things to glory in. But if we were able to earn a
righteousness, we might glory before man, but just like Abraham,
not before Almighty God. We can't earn a righteousness. Not by works of righteousness,
which we've done, but according to his own purpose and grace,
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. God's people
are made righteous by the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then fifth, my final point, a reason, a reason for comfort
and hope. Look with me back at our text
here one more time. Psalm 37, verse 39. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength. David wrote in Psalm 27, he said,
The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Here in our text, we read, He's
our strength in time of trouble. Verse 40. and the Lord shall." Listen to those three words.
Don't just skip over that. The Lord shall. The Lord, Jehovah, Almighty God
shall. He has power to say, He's able
to save, and it says he shall. What shall he do? He shall help
them. That word help there, it means
to succor. And I look this up, it means
to help someone, especially someone who is suffering or in need. Does that describe us? in need. In Hebrews 4 16, let
us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we might
obtain mercy and find grace to help when in time of need. Read on in our text. He shall
help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them. Oh, deliver them from going down
to the pit. I found a ransom." Complete deliverance. Not one. Scriptures say not one
shall be lost. All that the Father hath given
me, every one of it. He said, I'll
lose nothing. But raise him up again at the
last day. He'll lose nothing. I thought about this. I can't
leave the house without losing my keys, without losing my billfold,
without losing my license. And I don't think that's a symptom
of old age on my part, because Abby will attest to it. I've
always been that way. I can't remember the most. Am
I the only one in the room that suffers from it? But listen.
What will he lose? Nothing. Not one. Read on. He shall deliver them
from the wicked. Back there in Daniel 3, Nebuchadnezzar
had set up that big idol. It was 90 feet tall. And he told
the people, he said, when the music starts playing, bow down. Everybody bow down. He said,
bow down or do this or die. And I won't have you turn there,
but listen to the response. Nebuchadnezzar, he asked this
question. He said, who is that God? Who is that God that shall deliver
you out of my hands? You don't think we need to be
brought down? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
they said, We're not careful. We're not careful to answer you.
We don't have to think about what we're getting ready to say
here. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us
from the burning fiery furnace, and he will. He will deliver
us out of your hand, O King. He delivers us from the wickedness
of this world, He delivers us from the wickedness. Listen,
there's plenty of wickedness in this world, but there's enough
in our hearts to condemn us. He delivers us from the wickedness
of ourselves. Paul, writing to the Romans,
he said, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? What
was the answer? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Psalm 37, verse 40. He shall
deliver them and save them. Remember Peter's cry as he was
walking to Christ on the water and he saw the waves boisterous
and the wind. Pray he'd make this our prayer.
Lord, save me or I perish. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by Him. That's reason for comfort, isn't
it? The Lord, the Lord, He's their
strength in the time of trouble. And He shall, listen, He shall
help them. He shall deliver them. He shall
deliver them from the wicked. He shall save them because they
trust in Him. And listen, before you put too
much stock in that word because, I looked this up. That can be
translated, and I think I like this translation better, surely. Surely they trust in Him. Think about all He's done for
us. How could we not? How could we not trust in Him? Trust in the Lord. Well, I pray
that we go home thinking about this. We think about this when
we lay our head down tonight and wake up in the morning. The
salvation of the righteous is of the Lord.