Psalm 37 is our study this evening. I'm calling this message words
to live and die by. Words to live and words to die
by. Now this must have been written
when David was old because it says over here in verse 25, I've
been young now am old. I have not seen the righteous
forsaken nor his seed begging bread." So it must have been
written when David was old and maybe frail and maybe his 40-year
reign as king of Israel was about to end. And God, the Holy Spirit,
through his prophet David, gives us some full, wholesome instructions. Instructing us not only in the
way of salvation, as it says in verse 39, but the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. That's teaching us that salvation
is all of God's grace through Christ. Teaching us not only
the way of salvation by the grace of God alone, but also teaching
us and giving us right and proper instructions how to live as believers
in this life. How to live as believers in this
life. Now our Lord said this in John
16, 33. He said, these things have I
spoken unto you His Word. He said, I've spoken these things
unto you that in me you might have peace. In Christ we have
peace. In the world you shall have tribulations. We all know something about that,
don't we? But he said, be of good cheer, I've overcome the
world. Again, the Apostle Paul writes
in Romans 15, four, whatsoever things are written aforetime
are written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. So, words to live
by, words to die by. You know, I speak to you this
evening as a dying man. I speak as one who may never
speak again, because I'm a dying man. But I'm speaking unto people
who are also dying, who may never hear the gospel again. Now, as we read this Psalm, Psalm
37, we'll see a sharp and distinct contrast that is given to us
between the believer and the unbeliever. Believer in Christ
is blessed eternally with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies
in Christ Jesus the unbeliever while he may enjoy a temporary
pleasure in the flesh for a season Judgment will certainly follow
him after death For it is appointed and the man wants to die and
after that judgment Judgment now just by way of review. I want you I want to point out
these Contrasts between the unbeliever and the believer notice verse
9 for evildoers shall be cut off But those that wait upon
the Lord they shall inherit the earth Now there's a contrast,
that's a stark contrast. Again in verse 18, turn over
there. The Lord knoweth the days of
the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall
not be ashamed in the evil time. In the days of famine they shall
be satisfied. Verse 20, but the wicked shall
perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as a fad of lamb.
They shall consume into smoke, they shall consume away. So the
believer shall be forever with the Lord and the wicked shall
be eternally separated and punished of God justly. Here's another
contrasting verse down here in verse 28. The Lord loveth judgment
and forsaketh not his saint. They're preserved forever, but
the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. Again in verse 34
is another contrast. We're down to verse 37 rather.
Mark, the perfect man, that's the believer. None of us are
perfect in ourselves but in Christ he considers us justified in
him. marked the perfect man, behold
the upright, for the end of that man is peace, peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. But the transgressors shall be
destroyed together, the end of the wicked shall be cut off,
but the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord." Now, the bottom
line is this, oftentimes we're confronted in this life, we see
people who are unbelievers, people who have no concern for the gospel
of God's grace. We see them living in ease, splendor,
health, prosperity, while oftentimes the believer has heartache, trouble,
trial, difficulty all the days of his life. Well, how are we to deal with
this? Well, I think that Psalm answers
this question. Consider their end. Consider
their end. While they may have much in this
life for a while, the fashion of this world is passing away.
And then consider the eternal blessedness of the believer in
Christ and his eternal inheritance in him. Now, let me show you
scripture along that line. If you'll find 2 Corinthians,
I think it's 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4 in verse 17. 2 Corinthians 4, 17. He says
here, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding an eternal weight of glory. It's
always working for us, not against us, for us. Well, we look not
at things which are seen, but things which are not seen. For
the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which
are not seen, they're eternal. They're eternal. So our light
afflictions here are not against us, they're working for us, for
our good, for our eternal good. And it's all by His grace. Grace
is described in Christ as the salvation of the righteous is
of the Lord. This glorious sovereign grace
that we talked about is summarized in the Lord is our strength.
He will deliver us in the time of need. And this glorious sovereign
grace that we preach about and the Word of God teaches us is
characterized in the believer's life and attitude in the fact
that they trust Him. They look to Him for all strength,
hope, salvation, blessings, peace, pardon. Now, look at verse 1
and verse 2 for just a moment in Psalm 37. He tells us here,
he gives us these precepts or directions for the believer to
live by and directions for us to follow. Then the first thing
he gives us here is a negative. Fret not. Fret not thyself because
of evildoers. Neither be thou envious against
the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down
like the grass and wither as the green herb." Fret not, God
says. Don't be envious of the man who
seemed to have plenty and who prospers but has no interest
in the gospel. The Lord will deal with them
in due time. The Lord tells us first what
we're not to do as believers. Don't fret. fret. And then he tells us the cure
for fretting. In these eight verses here, in
these first eight verses, he gives us, he tells us three times
not to fret. Now, what does it mean here,
not to fret? This word actually means fretting.
It means to fume up. It means to fume up with worry.
It means to blaze up. It means to be overly anxious. It is translated in other places
found in the book of Genesis and others but I just started
at Genesis. This same word is translated wrath. It's translated and used displeased. It's used also the same word
wax hot. The same word is translated angry. and to kindle a fire." That's
what it means to fret. And the Lord is teaching us here
not to fret. Now all these things are dreadful
tendencies of our fallen sinful nature. By nature all of us are full of worry. Anxiety, fear,
doubt. He says fret not, fret not. Doubt and worry breed fretfulness. Faith and trust breed peace. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added
unto you. Someone said this, and this is
good. Fretfulness and worry, and we've all experienced this,
fretfulness and worry are sins of their own punishment. Therefore,
in kindness to ourselves, we should be warned against them.
Now, I realize it is fairly easy to say, oh, just quit worrying. That's easy to say, isn't it?
But it's a whole nother thing to actually do it. Wouldn't it
be pleasant? Wouldn't our life be full of
comfort and joy if God would teach us to stop worrying? worrying. We're all plagued with this problem
and the reason we're plagued with it is because of our rotten,
sinful, doubting nature. Oh ye of little faith. Now the
Lord just doesn't say stop and then just leave us hanging. He
gives us a cure for fretting, for worry, for anxiety. The Lord
gives us here in these following verses seven precepts to follow
to cure fretting, to help us cope with fretting. And my prayer
for us this evening, oh for grace to be enabled to abandon and
forsake fretting. I want to, don't you? I worry
about everything. I mean, I worry about everything.
Probably the only thing I don't worry about is if the sun's going
to come up tomorrow. You know, beside that, I probably
worry about everything else. You know what that really boils
down to? Unbelief. Just get right down to the bottom
of it. It's unbelief. Now think about it this way too.
Freighting about, when we talk about worry and anxiety and freighting,
we usually talk about things that would aggravate us in the
flesh, maybe things on the job, or things in the family, or things
in your marriage, or things in other relationships. But I think it goes much further
than that. Think about this as well in regard to our salvation,
in regard to our sin against God. Now, I'm not saying that
we shouldn't be concerned about our sin against God. If I could,
I wouldn't sin again. But I find that's not the reality
of my life, for I can identify with the Apostle Paul when he
said, when I would do good, hmm, evil is present with me. And
I would really do that which is right, but I'm hindered by
my wicked nature. But think about this. In the
way of salvation, in the way of God dealing with us in our
sin, we're not to fret about this God in His mercy saving
us and putting away our sin. But rather we're to rest in salvation
completed. Are you resting in Christ alone
or are you fretting that, you know, I've got to do something? No, you're fretting. Salvation
is done. But rather rest in salvation
completed. Are you fretting about establishing
a righteousness? Or are you resting in the Lord
Jesus Christ who is all of our righteousness? Are you fretting
about forgiveness? Or are you resting in forgiveness
accomplished by Christ's redeeming blood? Are you going about to
establish a righteousness of your own and fretting about,
have I done enough to satisfy God? Boy, that would cause somebody
who is really honest to have a lot of worry and anxiety. And that hypocrite, he doesn't
have a problem there. Are we going about to establish
a righteousness, fretting about that, or are we resting in Christ
who is our righteousness? Fret not. So he gives us here
seven things, and you know that number seven is those who study
what they call the doctrine of numerology. Seven is the number
of completeness. Six is the number of man. That's an incomplete number according
to that doctrine of numerology, whatever that is. But seven is
considered the perfect number. And there are seven things here
the Lord gives us. to help us deal with this problem
of fretting about sin, about salvation, and in general with
things in life. But I think particularly about
those spiritual things that I've mentioned. Now, here's the first
thing is this, down in verse three, trust in the Lord. Well,
doesn't that make good sense? Trust in the Lord. How many trust
in the Lord? and do that which is right."
It's right to trust Him. Wouldn't you say it's good to
trust the Lord when He says to trust Him? Wouldn't you say it's
right to do so? Trust in the Lord. Do good, so
shall you dwell in the land. You won't be cut off. And thou
shalt be fed. fed with the manna from on high,
fed with the blessed gospel, the bread of life in Christ Jesus,
trust in the Lord. That's the same as saying this,
have confidence in Him. Confidence in Him. Faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ alone for all salvation will cure fretting,
fretting, worry, worry. Our outward conduct depends on
our inward attitude and confidence in God. Remember what the Apostle
Paul said in Philippians 3. We are the true Israel of God
which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
we have zero confidence in the flesh. You know the reason why
in the flesh no man completes God. what said in Romans 8, for
the carnal mind is enmity against God. Trust in the Lord and confidence
in Him is to cast everything else aside. Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His salvation, His righteousness. Seek salvation
where it's found. We are to trust the Lord Jesus
Christ at all times for all things For he knows what is best for
him. It says that in Psalm 62. Turn
over there to Psalm 62. You remember I called this Psalm
62 the only psalm? I was preaching somewhere in
a meeting and I told the folks to turn to the only psalm. They
all looked at me kind of strange because there's 150 psalms, but
Psalm 62 is the only psalm. Because it uses the word only
over and over and over again. Psalm 62 verse 5, My soul wait
thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock,
my salvation, He's my defense, I shall not be moved. That's
confidence in Him, isn't it? In God is my salvation, my glory,
the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in Him. Now, trust
in Him when things are going well. When the sky is blue, all the
lights are green. No, trust in Him at all times. At all times. You people pour
out your heart before Him. Well, God is a refuge for us.
That's confidence in Him. So trust Him at all times will
cure fretting. We are to trust Him, believe
Him for all things, to provide all things for us. You know,
in Genesis 22, remember what God told Abraham concerning the
provision that he would give a substitute for Isaac who is
to be offered as a burnt offering unto the Lord? He said, Abraham,
you know, don't fret. Believe God. Abraham took that knife, raised
it to kill his son, and God stopped him. And God provided a sacrifice,
a substitute. And the Lord declared his name
as Jehovah-Jireh, which means the Lord will provide. So trust
Him. He will provide all things in
salvation. Trust Him at all time for all
of salvation. Trust the Lord for pardon from
all sin. for the blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. Trust Him for pardon. I need
pardon. You know what it says in Nehemiah
9.17? That thou art a God ready to
pardon. If He's ready to pardon, won't
you beg Him for mercy? Trust the Lord for pardon from
all sin, for salvation, for righteousness. Trust the Lord for pardon. Trust
the Lord for protection, for protection. were kept by the
power of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And trust him for
provision at all times. Turn back to verse 25 again. David said, I've been young,
now I'm old. I've not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed begging for bread. So trust the Lord at all times.
Don't you think that the Lord knows what's best for us, poor,
weak creatures? He says, we are poor and needy,
and I confess that I am, and I confess I have a tendency to
fret about everything and everyone all the time, but what's the
cure for fretting? Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. Confidence in Him. Here's the
second thing. It's found down here in verse
four, Psalm 37. Delight thyself in the Lord. Delight thyself in the Lord.
Also, if you look at verse 23, the steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, established by the Lord. And he delighteth in his
way. We delight in His way. Delight
thyself in the Lord. Those that delight in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now notice what it says here
in verse 4. Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give
you the desires of your heart. That's a big promise. Those that
delight in the Lord Jesus Christ shall have all, now listen to
me carefully. Those that delight in the Lord
Jesus Christ shall have all the desires of their heart. Him. In fact, all the desire of their
heart is Him. Delight yourself in the Lord
and you'll have Him. You'll have Him. Believers do
delight in His Word, the written Word. Turn over here to Psalm
112. Believers do delight in the written
word of God We delight in his word psalm 112 Praise you the
Lord blessed is a man that fears the Lord that delighteth greatly
in his commandments his word Believers do delight in In his
word, stay right there in Psalm, in the book of Psalms, find Psalm
119, verse 35. Psalm 119, verse 35. Make me go in the path of thy
commandments, for therein do I delight. Believers do delight
in the Lord, in his word, his written word. They delight in
his preached word. It's not a task for a believer
to sit down under the preaching of the gospel and to submit to
the word. They delight in the written word,
the preached word, and they delight in his living word. We've studied
from Song of Solomon. You remember in verse 3 of chapter
2, I sat down under his shadow with great delight. We delight
in his person. Believers delight in his way,
for Christ is the way. The truth and the life. Believers
delight in His will. Turn just one page to Psalm 40.
Actually two pages, Psalm 40. Look at verse eight. Believers delight in His way,
His word, His will. Psalm 40 verse 8, I delight to
do thy will. Oh my God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. Now this is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking as the God-man mediator as our substitute. But also it
is the believer's delight to do His will. Oh to know His will. and to do it. To do it. What
a delight. Now think of it. To know the
Lord's will and then to do it. That's a delight. That's a delight. He taught us to pray, thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. To know the will of the
Lord and to do it, it's a delight. The will of the Lord is to bow
to the Lord Jesus Christ in all things in salvation. Believers
do delight in His way, His will, His word, and believers delight
in His wisdom. His wisdom, Christ. In Christ are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. How God can be a just God and
a justifier of the ungodly, we delight in His wisdom. a sure
cure for fretting. Trust in the Lord, delight thyself
in the Lord, and He'll give you the desires of your heart, which
is Christ. Thirdly is this, verse 5, commit
thy way unto the Lord. Or, another word for commit,
notice the marginal references, roll thy way upon the Lord. Roll your burden upon the Lord.
or we can put it this way, submit to the Lord. Now turn to Psalm
55. Someone sent me a card after
we were flooded. Someone sent me a I don't know, what would you
say, a sympathy card or something, a help or something. They sent me a card to let me
know that they were praying for me. And I appreciate that. I
had no idea who the people are or anything about them. I don't
even remember where they're from. But inside that card, was a note
stating, Brother Tom, we're thinking about you, we're praying for
you, hope things go well. But inside that little card was
a piece of paper about that size, cut, and it had this Bible verse
on it, right here. Psalm 55, 22. Talking about,
commit thy way unto the Lord. Cast thy burden upon the Lord,
and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer thy righteousness
to be moved. You know, that blessed me. That
verse sent by that dear person who was thinking about us, cut
that out and sent it to me and I still have it on my desk and
tend to keep it as long as I can. But commit or submit or roll
your burden upon the Lord. Cast your burden upon the Lord.
We read in 1st Peter 5, Humble or submit yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due
time Casting all your care upon him For he cares for you Now
wouldn't that cure fretting to cast all your burden upon the
Lord We sing a hymn sometimes. I looked it up in the song book
and tried to get the music figured out to it and I couldn't do it.
So I just quote part of it for you. But the course goes like
this. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Now oftentimes we take our burden
to the Lord and then we carry it on with us the rest of the
day. And taking the burden to the Lord and leave it there. Leave it there. How can we as
his people not cast all our care upon him? It's utter foolishness
to try to pack around your own burden of guilt and sin around
with you when the Lord tells us to cast it upon him, especially
knowing that he made atonement for all the sin of his covenant
people. Why would you keep packing that
guilt around? He made full atonement for the
sin of his people. God made him sin for us who knew
no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Second Corinthians 521. He was manifested to take away
our sin and in him is no sin. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Cast all your burden upon him. Trust also in him and he'll bring
it to pass. He shall bring it to pass. The Lord will bring salvation
to pass. As Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've
committed on him against that day. Now let me give you this
homely illustration. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Isn't that exactly what the farmer does when he plows the field
and prepares the ground and takes the seed. He doesn't put it back
in the barn. How much wheat is he going to
have in the fall if he takes all of his seed and puts it in
the barn? He takes that seed and commits it to the ground. And then he probably sits back
and frets. But what he ought to do is commit that seed to
the ground and then go home and rest. There's not a thing he
can do about making it germinate. making it grow. He has no control
over the sun, over the weather, over the soil. He may fertilize
a little bit, but God gives life. You see what I'm saying? Commit
it all to Him. Give up! Give up! Quit fighting! Lay it down. Rest upon the Lord. Well, that's the next precept,
isn't it? Verse 7. Here's the fourth precept, rest in the Lord
and wait patiently for him. Here's this word again, fret
not thyself because of him who prospered in his way, because
of the man who bringeth wicked devices from the past. Just rest
in the Lord. Now, notice the marginal reference
here on the word rest. The word is given in the marginal
reference to be silent. Be silent. That's what you do
when you rest, don't you? You're silent. You know, some
of us talk in our sleep and I mostly just snore. But rest in the Lord. That is, be still. Be silent. Be silent. You remember when
Israel crossed the Red Sea. Army, chariots, Pharaoh behind
them. The Red Sea in front of them.
Mountains to the right hand to the left hand. They had nowhere
to go. You know what they were doing? Fretting. Fretting. I'd be fretting too. I'd be right
with them. I'd be fretting. I'd be ready
to stone Moses like the rest of them. You know what God said
to Moses? Be still. Be still. Be still and know that I'm God.
I'm gonna get the victory. Be still. Rest in the Lord. Rest
in the Lord. Now, let me show you another
scripture. Right over here is Psalm 46.
Turn over there. Psalm 46 verse 10. So, trust
in Him, delight in Him, commit your way to Him, and then rest.
Rest! Or be silent. Be still. Notice
Psalm 46 verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. Be still. Be still. I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Be still. Be still. Rest in the Lord. Now, our sovereign,
almighty God, our Creator, made all things And on the seventh
day, he rested. Rested. He rested not because
he was tired. He rested because the work was
done. Our Lord Jesus Christ finished
the work of redemption for us. He finished the work of redemption
the Father gave Him to do when He by Himself purged our sin.
He sat down on the right hand of God. He rested. The work of
salvation was complete. He rested in throne victorious.
Let us therefore strive to enter into His rest. Let us cease from
fretting, laboring, working, doubting, and let us rest in
Christ. The more we learn, and the more
we learn of the completeness and sufficiency of His work,
What did he say on Calvary's tree? He said, it's finished. It's finished. Rest in Him. It's
finished. The more we learn of the completeness
and sufficiency of His redeeming work, the more we sweetly and
fully can rest in Him for all salvation, for all of righteousness. For He made peace with God. He
made peace with God for us. Now in Matthew 11, verse 28,
You know what that verse says? Matthew 11 28 says, our Lord
says, all you who are weary and heavy laden, you who are fretting,
come unto me and rest. I'll give you rest, for my yoke
is easy and my burden is light. Okay, back to Psalm 37. I've got to move quickly here
to give you these last two or three things. Verse 8, it says, cease from
anger, forsake wrath, fret not thyself in any way to do evil. Don't try to get even. Don't
have the mentality, I'm going to get revenge. Do you know what
they'll cause? Fretting. worry, anxiety, cease
from anger, forsake wrath, knowing the good providence of the Lord
and his eternal purpose to accomplish all things, for all things in
the believer's life work together for good, all things, those who
love him according to his purpose. Therefore we entertain no anger
toward his way, for he works all things after his own counsel."
Knowing the good providence of the Lord, we entertain no ill
thoughts toward his good providence. None at all. The believer submits,
bows to him. Secondly, knowing the ignorance
and blindness of natural men, the unbeliever, that God, the
first cause of all things, we hold no anger nor hatred for
the wicked. I feel sorry for him. I feel
sorry for the unbeliever. You remember what Joseph said
of his brethren who hated him and sold him into slavery? Lied
about him dying. But as for you, you thought evil
against me, but God meant it for good. Their intentions were
evil. God meant it for His good to
save much people alive and bring it to pass to save much people
alive. For God used the wickedness of
those brethren to put Joseph in Egypt, made him the king who
saved the nation, who stored up those seven years of plenty
when the famine came. Getting even or getting revenge
against any is not for us to do. It's in God's hand. The scripture said, vengeance
is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. Anger, James 1, 19 said,
anger does not work the righteousness of God. The wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Cease from anger. I know this
old flesh, it gets riled and it causes, you know what it causes?
Fretting. Fretting. Cease from fretting. Cease from
anger. Well, that puts us all the way
down to verse 27. Here's the sixth precept. Depart
from evil and do good and dwell forevermore. Depart from evil
and do good. Now, watch this carefully. Depart
from that which is contrary to God's Word. Depart from that
which is not honoring to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Depart from anything that would bring reproach and shame upon
the gospel of Christ and his church. Depart from it. But also,
depart from any evil of self-righteousness. The Lord hates that. Depart from
dead works that think might recommend you to God. Depart from dead
works. Be done with them and serve the
living God. Depart from any notion that salvation
is dependent upon you in any way. Depart from that which is
evil. It's evil to think that the Lord
Jesus Christ is not enough in salvation. Depart from that evil.
It's just self-righteous pride. That's all it is. Depart from
any notion that salvation is dependent upon you because it's
always determined and dependent by God in Christ Jesus. You see
what he's saying there? That'll cure fretting. Depart
from evil. Lastly, verse 34. Here's the seventh precept to
cure fretting. To cure fretting. Now next time
you get all worked up, it might be tomorrow morning, Next time
we get all worked up and all frustrated, read His Word. You know, it's dishonoring to
God not to believe Him. Wait on the Lord. Now here's
the last thing, wait on the Lord, and probably the most difficult.
Wait on the Lord. We want things... Psalm 27, turn
over there. Our society anymore is geared
to right now. Instant coffee, microwave, instant
oatmeal, instant this, drive up, drive through windows, they
want it right now. If they don't give it to you
right now, they're going to start blowing the horn. We live in
a society, everything is right now, right now, instant this,
instant that. We have lost the concept of waiting
upon the Lord. Psalm 27, verse 14. Wait on the
Lord and be of good courage. He'll strengthen thy heart. Wait,
I say, on the Lord. Now, wait on the Lord. Isn't
he worth waiting on? Wait on the Lord. He who truly
trusts in the Lord and delights in the Lord will rest in the
Lord and wait on God's time for all things. I give you an example. Simeon waited for the coming
of the Messiah. Joseph of Arimathea waited for
the coming of the Messiah. Waiting here means to abide in
him and rest. We don't bind God to a day or
a way. One old preacher said, wait on
the Lord in obedience as a servant, wait in hope as an heir of salvation,
wait in expectation as a believer. Wait on the Lord and keep his
way and he shall exalt you to inherit the land when the wicked
are cut off. God's going to deal with every
unbeliever. and he'll exalt you to inherit
the land. Christ is our eternal and exceeding
great reward. True faith prays and waits on
the Lord. True faith preaches the gospel
of God's grace and waits on the Lord. True faith rests in Christ
and waits upon the Lord. True faith believes God and waits. upon the Lord. Well, that's the
Lord's instructions for us. He knows our frame, it says,
He knows that we're but dust and He knows the instruction
we need.