I can give her a dirty look. Would you turn to the 112th Psalm.
Psalm 112. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth
the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed
shall be mighty upon earth. The generation of the upright
shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in
his house. and his righteousness endureth
forever. Unto the upright there riseth
light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion
and righteous. A good man showeth favor and
lendeth. He will guide his affairs with
discretion Surely he should not be moved forever. The righteous
shall be in everlasting remembrance. He should not be afraid of evil
tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart
is established. He should not be afraid until
he see his desire upon his enemies. This is quoted, this next verse
is quoted in second Corinthians chapter nine. He hath dispersed. He hath given to the poor. His righteousness endureth forever. His horn shall be exalted with
honor. The wicked shall see it and be
grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth
and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall
perish. Let's pray. Lord, how we. Desire. To praise. By your grace, the Lord. Lord,
we ask that you would. Give us the grace from our hearts
to praise you. And to glory in your holy name.
We pray that you would teach us your gospel, we. Pray that
you would cause us to be poor and needy, and we ask that you
would create a thirst for thee. Lord, we confess our sins, we
pray for forgiveness and cleansing, and we ask that you would be
pleased to meet with us, speak to each heart here, meet each
need here according to your will. Bless us for the Lord's sake.
Be with all your people wherever they meet together. And Lord,
how we thank you that salvation is by your grace. How we thank
you for the righteousness of your son. How we thank you for
the power of his blood that makes us clean before you. I bless
us for his sake. In his name we pray. Psalm 111, Psalm 112, and Psalm
113 all begin with these words, praise ye the Lord. Wouldn't it be a blessing of
His grace if you and I are enabled to praise the Lord from our hearts? Praise ye the Lord. Now I'm going to read this Psalm
twice. First, I'm going to read this
psalm as the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember,
that's true with regard to every psalm. That's what comes first
in every psalm. These are the words of Christ.
And then I want us to read these as the words of David or whoever
wrote this psalm. First, let's read these words
as the words of Christ. Psalm 112. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth
the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. Blessed
is the man. Now, what I thought about was
Psalm 1.1. Blessed is the man who standeth
not in the way of sinners. Blessed is the man who walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. Blessed is the man who sitteth
not in the seat of scorners, but his delight is in the law
of God. And in his law does he meditate
continually. Now who is that? Who is the blessed
man? The Lord Jesus Christ. He is
that blessed man. Now I hear people say quite often
when I'm out, maybe it's because I'm a preacher, I don't know,
but I'll say, how you doing? They say, I'm blessed. And I
hope they are. I hope they are. I don't want
to be, I hope you are. But when I'm saying I'm blessed,
I'm saying, well, I don't know what I'm saying, but somehow
it just doesn't sit well with me. I want you to be blessed. I want to be blessed. But when
you're announcing to me, I'm blessed. I'm blessed. Let me
tell you what the Bible says about the blessed man. Proverbs
2.12 says, blessed are they that trust him. Blessed is the man whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin and in whose spirit there is no guile. Blessed is the man thou choosest
and causest to approach unto thee. Psalm 84, 4, blessed are
they that dwell in thy house. Psalm 855, blessed is the man
whose strength is in thee. And what a blessing that is to
have him as my strength. Psalm 8915, blessed is the people
who know the joyful sound. Psalm 9412, blessed is the man
thou chastenest, whom the Lord loveth. He chastens
and he scourges every son he receiveth. Psalm 119, one blessed
are the undefiled in the way. And then we have here in Psalm
112, 1, blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. You know, the
scripture says with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, he was
heard in that he feared. Oh, how he feared his father. And I'm not talking about the
fear of mistrust. I'm talking about the fear of
absolute, complete reverence. How? he feared. He's the blessed
man who feared his father. He delighted greatly in his commandments. He said, I delight to do thy
will, O God. Verse two, his seed, the seed
of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be mighty upon earth. His elect Objects of his grace,
they shall be mighty on the earth. The might of his children. Now what does that mean? You
know what it said with regard to every one of his children?
Sin shall not have dominion over you. That is the promise of His
grace to every one of His children. Now the natural man, sin has
complete dominion over him, and that's seen in that he doesn't
know it. Doesn't know it. A believer does understand what
this thing of The dominion of sin is, and because of that,
sin doesn't have dominion over them. They look to Christ. Mighty. That's, that's my spiritual might,
mighty in the earth. The generation of the upright,
the justified, the righteous shall be blessed. Verse three, speaking of the
Lord, wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousness
endure it forever. This is what Paul called the
unsearchable riches of Christ. Oh, his wealth and his riches
cannot possibly be described. His righteousness, and you know,
that's the personal righteousness of every believer. His righteousness
endures forever. It never had a beginning. It'll
never have an end. And that is the righteousness.
Every believer is justified by his righteousness. He took my
sin, my sorrows made it his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. And his righteousness, just as
he truly bore my sin, I truly have his righteousness that endures
forever. Verse four. Remember, we're thinking
of this in light of the Lord himself unto the upright. There arises the light in the
darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion
and righteous. Now. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of the darkness. Has shined in our hearts. To
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And look what it says about it.
Here's the light we have with regard to him. What's it say? He's gracious. He's full of compassion. And he's righteous. Now, this
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is gracious. That's the lot we have, isn't
it? He is gracious. That's why salvation is by his
grace. That's why somebody like me or you can be saved. He is
gracious. And the scripture says this.
He's full of compassion. I wish I could enter into this
the way I ought to because generally when I think of the Lord and
I think of his views toward me, I don't think of him being full
of compassion. But the scripture says he's full
of compassion. Wherever there's a sinner needing
him, he's full of compassion. I think of that leper, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. And the scripture says
Jesus moved with compassion. Move that that's his character,
full of compassion, gracious, righteous. He's altogether righteous. And if he saves you, it'll be
in a way that magnifies his righteousness. Now that's light, isn't it? That's
the light of of who he is. That's the light shining in the
darkness. He's gracious. He's full of compassion. Whatever
your need is, he's moved by compassion. Maybe somebody else isn't, but
he is. He is because of who he is. He's full of compassion. A good man showeth favor and
lendeth. He will guide his affairs with
discretion. Now, who is the good man? The Lord Jesus Christ. is the
only good man. You remember when that rich young
ruler came to Christ and said, good master, what shall I do
that I might inherit eternal life? He said, why callest thou
me good? There's none good but one, that is God. There's one good man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, he's, he's good, isn't he? And he shows
favor, this good man out of the goodness, the generosity, the
graciousness of his heart, he shows favor and he lends. Now,
generally, when I think of lending, the first thing I think of is,
do I gotta pay back? I mean, if he lends me something, how
can I pay it back? Well, we have something to pay,
the sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise to him for who he
is. That's the payment we make toward
his lending. Aren't you thankful that salvation
is by grace? Are you thankful that he's everything
in your salvation? Are you thankful that he's altogether
glorious and lovely and his salvation is perfect? Oh, this good man,
he shows favor and he lends. He will guide his affairs with
discretion. He is all together absolutely
impartially just in whatever he does, although he's gracious,
he's always absolutely perfectly just. That's what that word discretion
means. Absolute righteousness. Now,
this is the glory of the gospel. He can show mercy to a miserable
sinner in a way that magnifies his perfect justice and righteousness. That's who he is. Verse six, surely he should not
be moved forever. The righteous shall be in everlasting
remembrance. Who could move him? Who could
move him? He's the son of God. Who could
move him? Surely he should not be moved
forever. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance."
Now, this is his memory of me. Everlastingly, I've been in his
purpose and mind, everlastingly righteous. I want you to think
about that. The way he remembers me, he doesn't
remember why I remember what he did. I remember his sinfulness. I remember his unbelief. I remember
his coldness. I remember his wicked thoughts,
his wicked deeds. No, nothing like that. The everlastingly
righteous, always in the sun, always viewed perfect in him. In 1 Samuel 18, when Jonathan
is thinking of David, You know, the scripture says his soul was
knit to him and he loved him as he loved his own soul. Believer, that's how Christ loves
you. He loves you as he loves himself
and his memory of you is altogether righteous. He doesn't remember
anything but righteousness because that's what you are in him. That's
his remembrance. That's your history. That's the
way he remembers you. And that's the way you'll always
be remembered in the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfectly altogether
righteous. Verse seven says he should not
be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting
the Lord. This is the one who trusted the
Lord perfectly. You know, every time evil tidings
come our way, we panic. We panic. We think all kinds
of different things. You know, that never happened
with him. He trusted his father completely. He said, though he
slay me, yet will I trust him. How beautiful is our Lord Jesus
Christ? How beautiful he is. His character,
his trust of his father, his heart is fixed, trusting in the
Lord. His heart is established. Verse
eight, he should not be afraid until he see his desires on his
enemies. That's a repetition. Verse seven,
his father said, sit out my right hand till I make thy foes thy
footstool. He's willing to see his desire
on all his enemies. Verse nine, he hath dispersed. It'll quit ringing in a minute. He hath dispersed, he hath given
to the poor, his righteousness endureth forever. Now, let's
go for just a moment to 2 Corinthians chapter nine. This is where this
is actually quoted in the New Testament. And Paul uses this
with regard to giving. Verse six, 2 Corinthians chapter
nine, verse six. But this I say, and he strings
together quite a number of scriptures, but this I say, he which soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully. Every man According as he purposes
in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly or of necessity,
not resenting that you're doing it or thinking this is your duty.
For God loveth a cheerful giver. I want to be that giver, don't
you? That cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace
abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency and all
things may abound to every good work. The issue of giving is
trust. Trust. He's able to make, let's
say I give everything. He's able to take care of me.
It's all his anyway, isn't it? You know, when people talk about
tithing, If there's a scripture that proves the Bible doesn't
teach tithing, it's right here. How much do you give? Whatever
your purpose in your heart. That's how much you ought to
give. Not of necessity or grudgingly because God loves a cheerful
giver. And here's this quotation from Psalm 112. As it is written,
he hath dispersed abroad, dispersing his gifts. He hath given to the
poor. His righteousness remains Forever. Verse 10 of our text, Psalm 112. The wicked shall see it and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth
and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall
perish. They're not going to see any joy in his graciousness. Now let's read this Psalm as
the believer. Yes, first of all, this is the
Lord Jesus Christ. We see that clearly, don't we?
But this is every one of his people. Praise ye the Lord. Isn't that your great desire
to do that right now? From your heart, the heart that he's given
you by his grace. to render to him true praise
and thanksgiving. Praise ye. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth
the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. Now let
me tell you, this is the best description of every believer.
He fears the Lord. He fears the Lord. He has such
a respect and an awe for his person. He's afraid to look anywhere
but Christ alone. That's the true fear of the Lord,
is faith in Christ. If you have faith in Christ,
you have the fear of the Lord. If you don't have faith in Christ,
you have no respect for God. You don't have any more respect
for God than Cain did. He came into God's presence in
his own works and the scripture says God had no respect for him.
Well, he had no respect for God or he wouldn't have come that
way. If you fear the Lord, you would not dare approach God apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ. He feareth the Lord. Look at the last verse of Psalm
111. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. A good understanding have all
they that do. And you'll notice his commandments
is in italics there. And it's talking about the fear
of the Lord. Blessed are all they that do
fear the Lord. I love that scripture in 1 John
5 3, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments
and his commandments are not grievous. Is it grievous to you
to believe on his son? No, you love it. Is it grievous
to you to love his people? No. You love it. His commandments are not grievous. Verse two, his seed shall be
mighty upon the earth. The generation of the upright
shall be blessed. Does this mean that a believer's
children are going to be mighty on the earth? Well, if the Lord saves them,
they will be. And if he doesn't, they're going to be like anybody else.
But what this is talking about is that all believers by his
grace, believers in their seed, everyone who believes the gospel,
they are mighty on the earth. Now, what does that mean? If
God's given you grace, you're mighty. Sin doesn't have dominion
over you. It has complete dominion over
every unbeliever. It doesn't have dominion over
you. You may be thinking, well, it
seems like it's got a lot of dominion over me, as far as my experience
goes. I realize you feel that way,
but there was a time when you didn't know that. That's when it had complete dominion
over you. But every believer, by the grace of God, irresistible,
almighty grace gives them the grace to look to Christ and to
persevere looking to Christ. That's mighty, isn't it? That's
the work of his grace. That's above the power of human
nature. Oh, the believer by God's grace,
his mighty grace is mighty upon the earth. The generation of
the upright shall be blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
I love the way the Lord tells us who's blessed. Blessed are
the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn.
What a blessing to mourn over your sin. Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed
are the peacemakers. Blessed are they that are persecuted
for righteousness sake. His seed shall be blessed. The
blessing of his grace. Verse three, wealth and riches
shall be in his house. And his righteousness endures
forever. Now, you know that that's not talking about material riches.
I realize that there are some believers who have material riches,
but some don't have anything, but they still have the riches
of his grace, don't they? That's what that's the insurgible
riches of Christ, the richness of his grace, of his righteousness,
of his kindness, of his love, of justification, of sanctification,
of redemption, of preservation, what riches. I'm looking at some infinitely
wealthy people. You might not have much money
in the bank, but you have all the riches of God. Wealth and
riches are in his house. His righteousness, the righteousness
you have, it's going to endure forever. It's never going to
be extinguished. It's never going to be put out
because it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Talking about
riches, talking about wealth. Verse four, unto the upright,
the righteous, there arises light in the darkness. And here's what
that light is. He is gracious, full of compassion. and righteous. Now that's the
light we have, isn't it? That's the light that comes from
God. He's gracious. He's full of compassion. He's
righteous, a good man. Now, you just said there's no
such thing as a good man. Every believer is a good man. Every believer, without exception,
is a good man because they have a new heart. They have the grace
of God. They're going to show favor. They're gonna be the lenders
and not the buyers. Every believer, when they see
God's goodness to them, I think this is the way to understand this. Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Does that mean
you obtain mercy because you're merciful? No. You've obtained
mercy, that makes you merciful. That makes you gracious. Now
that's what he's talking about when he's talking about this
gracious man. He shows favor. He lends. He will guide his affairs
with discretion. You know, this is the prayer
of every believer. Order my steps in thy word. Let not any iniquity
have dominion over me. Order my steps. The steps of
a good man, the scripture says, are ordered by the Lord. That is how we want to guide our affairs with discretion,
ask him to order our steps. Surely he should not be moved
forever because he's founded on the rock that can't be moved,
the foundation. He should not be moved forever.
The righteous shall be an everlasting remembrance. Now, if the Lord
doesn't come back, Let's say for a hundred years,
you might come back today, but let's say you didn't come back
for a hundred years. You know how many people are going to remember me? Zero.
Zero. I know one who will remember
me though. The Lord Jesus Christ, because his righteousness is
my personal righteousness before God. And that righteousness is
forever. Verse seven, he should not be
afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed trusting in
the Lord. Now, as long as God's on the throne, I got no reason
to fear. All things work together for good. That covers everything. Whatever comes my way, it's God. He brought it and it's being
used for my good and his glory. All things. Work together. It
doesn't matter what it is. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his mercy. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart
is established. He shall not be afraid until
he see his desire upon his enemies. Now, my enemies are my sins.
It's no human being. My enemies are my sins, and I'm
going to see my desire on them. You know what that means? That
means there's going to be no more. And that means I'm going
to be perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in
my experience. I'm going to see my desire of
my enemies. They're going to be blotted out
and made to be no more. He hath dispersed, he hath given
to the poor, his, verse nine, his righteousness endures forever.
His horn shall be exalted with honor. You know, I want to be
that giver that, you remember when the Lord said, it's more
blessed to give than to receive. Now he's the more blessed one.
He's the one who does all the giving, but I want to be that
giver that gives not grudgingly or necessity for God love with
the cheerful giver. I want to be that person. I think
every one of us, not to every one of us, I'm not talking about
a, competition. I'm more generous than you, but
every one of us ought to want to be the most generous person
alive because of his generosity. Verse 10, the wicked shall see
it. The wicked have no love for the believer. The wicked shall
see and be grieved. You know, the hope we have says
their hope's no good. That's why they're grieved. If
my hope is in Christ, Somebody whose hope is not in Christ,
when I say that's the only hope you have, they're going to be
grieved by that. Because when I say that, the
implication obviously is your hope is no good. The wicked shall
see it and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth
and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall
perish. And it will. There is such a
thing. And I want to I hope I tremble
in fear every time I say this. There is a place called hell.
And that's where all the wicked will be. And his desire will
certainly perish. The words of Christ, the words
of every believer.