Psalm 37. I'm calling this message
this evening for us, words to live by and words to die by. We're all dying creatures. I preach as one who may never
preach again. This may be my last message I'll
ever bring. I'm a dying man. I preach as
one who may never preach again, but this dying man, this dying
man is also preaching to those who are dying men and women as
well. You hear this message this evening,
it may well be the last message you ever hear. before God is pleased to end
your existence upon this earth. So we need, as those who are
dying creatures, and one day will meet God face to face. We need as believers here words
to live by and words to die by. David must have written this
when he was of old age. I don't know how old he was,
maybe up in his 70s, 80s, maybe longer. I know that David reigned
in Israel as king for 40 years and I think he was about that
age when he began to reign. But he says over here in verse
25, I've been young and now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous
forsaken nor his seed begging bread. Now, So it must have been
written when David was old. God has given the scriptures
unto his church that are full of wholesome instruction for
us. Instructing us not only in the
way of salvation in Christ Jesus, for we read in verse 39, but
the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble, but also contained in God's book. what we call the
Bible, also contained in God's book, we have the right and proper
instruction how to live as believers in this troublesome world. Our Lord said this in John 16,
He said, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me You might
have peace, for in the world you shall have tribulation. These
things I've spoken unto you, that in me you may have peace.
For in this world you shall have. Mark it down. Especially if you
take a stand for the gospel. You're asking for trouble in
your home, on the job. Just mention Sovereign Grace
one day on the job and they'll jump on you like a bunch of bugs
on something that they want to devour. They'll jump on you.
In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome. I've overcome
the world. The Apostle Paul writing to the
believers there at Rome, whatsoever things were written aforetime
were written for our learning, that we through patient and comfort
of the Scripture might have hope. Now, as we've read here in Psalm
37, we see a sharp and distinct contrast that is given to us
between the believer and the unbeliever. between the wicked
man and those who have been made righteous in Christ Jesus. The
believer in Christ is blessed eternally in Him with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, while the wicked
or the unbeliever, while he may enjoy temporary pleasures for
a season, judgment will certainly follow him when He faces God
at the end of his life here upon this earth, for it is appointed
unto man once to die, and after that, judgment, judgment, judgment,
judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. And as I
pointed out, I won't go back and look at these references
again, but there are several references in Psalm 37 between
the wicked and the righteous, and how God distinguishes the
difference. And really, it is God who's made
us to differ. It is God who is... What do we
have that we didn't receive? It is God who had distinguished
us as the elect of God in Christ Jesus and has determined by His
sovereign grace to make us righteous in Christ and not leave us to
our own wicked self. That's what we call sovereign
grace. Now here's the bottom line, I think. How are we to
be comforted in our trials while we see seemingly for a while
the wicked living in ease And the believer taking a stand for
the gospel seems to suffer hardship and trial and heartache being
persecuted by those who are ungodly. Well, consider the eternal blessedness
of the believer in Christ and the eternal grace and inheritance
we have in Christ Jesus for our trials, find 2 Corinthians 4.
Oh, the wicked, they spread out their leaves like a green bay
tree, and they flaunt what they call liberty, and they flaunt
themselves and their flesh, and think they're getting up and
on, and have the world by the tail on a downhill pull. But
one day, judgment, judgment's coming. While sometimes the believer
seems to struggle, with trial, and heartache, and sickness,
and pain, and tribulation. But here's our comfort. In the
midst of trial, in the midst of heartache, in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, verse 16, for the which cause we faint not, but
though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. Now look at verse 17. For our light affliction, now
whatever affliction we may have, it's light. is light compared
to what our Lord suffered in the flesh is light compared to
what the wicked will endure throughout eternity eternal condemnation
and eternal punishment for our light affliction which is but
for a moment worketh for us." of far more and exceeding and
eternal weight of glory." It doesn't work against us. It is
working for us. Well, we look not at things which
are seen, but things which are not seen. For the things which
are seen They're only temporal. The fashion of this world is
passing away. But the things which are not
seen, the things which we behold with the eye of faith, those
things are eternal. The blessings we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ are eternal, eternal blessings. God gives
us as believers, even in every trial, grace to endure the trial,
grace now, and as the old timers used to say, glory forever, for
our light afflictions are just for a moment. Now I want to consider
these precepts found here in Psalm 37. There are actually
seven precepts to help us cope with the first statement that
is made here in verse 1. The first statement that is made
says, fret not thyself, fret not thyself because of evildoers.
for they soon shall be cut off the Lord will deal with the wicked
with the evil doers the Lord will deal with them in due time
the Lord tells us first here what we're not to do and then
he gives us seven precepts what we are to do words to live and
die by first thing he tells us to do what we are not to do is
he said fret not fret not fret not now he says this three times
look in the middle part of verse 7 fret not thyself because of
him who prospers in his ways because the man who devised bringeth
wicked devices to pass again in verse 8 he says fret not thyself
in any way to do something evil fret not fret not so here's what
he's telling us not to do. He begins with a negative. Don't
do this. Now what is it to fret? Well
here's what the word means. It means to fume up. It means
to worry. It means to blaze up. It means
to be overly anxious. It's used in other places found
in the Word of God as being full of wrath, being displeased, being
waxed hot, being full of anger, or kindled up with wrath. He said fret not. fret not thyself,
fret not. Now all these things that we
just mentioned here, fuming, worrying, being anxious, being
displeased, being angry, all these things, all these dreadful
tendencies, all these things are the dreadful tendencies of
our fallen, sinful, and wicked nature. Now all of us, all of
us have that in us. Because we have that fallen nature
of Adam. That depraved, total depraved
nature of Adam. All these things are dreadful
tendencies of our wicked flesh. Doubt and worry. What do they breed? Fretfulness. Doubt and worry breed fretfulness. Faith and trust breed peace in
the heart. Someone said this, and I thought
it very good. Fretfulness and worry are sins
of their own punishment. Aren't they? Fretfulness and
worry are sins of their own punishment. Therefore, in kindness to ourselves,
we should be warned against them. Wouldn't you like to live one
day, maybe an hour, without fretting over something? without worrying
about something, without getting angry or upset with someone or
something, fret not. Wouldn't it be nice if that would
take place in our life? Now, it's fairly easy to say,
well, you know, fret not. That's easy to say that. I can
stand up here and say, well, don't be worried about that.
Don't fret. But it's a whole other thing to actually, by the
grace of God, surrender and commit everything to the Lord and not
really worry and fret about these things that are really, a lot
of times, I fret and worry about things of absolute, things that
are absolute nothings. And yet I fret about it. I have
an eternal home in glory to be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever,
and yet I worry about having a place and a roof over my head.
I fret about it. Preacher, fret not. Friend, fret
not. Now, I told you these things
are easy to say. But I tell you, it takes grace
in the heart to really stop this thing and just gnaws at you,
doesn't it? Worry. Worry. You worry about
your children. You worry about your parents.
Maybe they're getting old in age. And you worry about things
as they go on in religious circles. And you think things are so out
of control. And you fret and you worry. Our God says, stop it. Stop it. Fret not. Fret not. Now the Lord, He gives us some
help here. He just doesn't simply say, don't
do this and then turn around and walk off. He gives us some
help. He gives us some help. He gives
us seven precepts to follow to help us cure fretting or to help
us work on it. And it's an ongoing work. I'm
trying to learn not to fret. I'm asking the Lord to give me
grace to stop fretting and worrying. Oh, for grace to be enabled to
abandon, forsake fretting, worrying. Wouldn't it be pleasant if the
Lord would be pleased to grant that unto us. Now think about
this as well. Freddie. Freddie. You ever think
about your sin nature, how awful it is? And how often we sin against
God? We can say, with David against
thee, and thee only have I sinned about God. And we ought to be
concerned about those things. But I tell you, even when it
comes to thinking about our sin problem, and about putting away
our sin, We really ought to say, fret not. Fret not. Now here's
the reason I'm saying that. But rather, instead of fretting,
how can I put away my sin? How can I deal with my sin? How
can I establish it right? You can't. Stop fretting over
it. Instead, rather, rest in Him
who did put away our sin. you see where I'm going with
that? Instead of worrying about a righteousness being established
by your own doing, instead of worrying about your sin constantly,
and I'm not saying that we shouldn't be concerned about those things,
but I'm saying in the essence of trying to put away our sin
by something we do or something we don't do, or trying to recommend
ourselves unto God by our actions or our attitude, and fretting
about that and worrying about that. That's what we call bondage
religion. fret not Christ put away your
sin if you're a believer fret not to go around and to establish
a righteousness of your own the Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness
and he freely imputes that unto us so even in this most vital
area God's instructions to us are fret not fret not now Seven things. Trying to get the
right number of fingers up here. Sometimes I'm not real coordinated.
Five and two is seven. Here are seven things the Lord
tells us to do. Number one is down in verse three. Trust in the Lord. Now without
cure fretting, trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord and do good. It's right. It's good. it's good
to trust the Lord, it's right to trust Him, trust in the Lord
thou shalt dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed,
truly thou shalt be fed, trust in the Lord that is put all your
eggs in one basket put all your eggs in one basket Christ, trust
Him with absolute confidence Put all your confidence in Him.
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will cure fretting. Our outward conduct depends on
our inward attitude and our confidence in our God. Trust Him. the apostle
describing those true believers of God, the true circumcision
of God, who rejoice in Christ Jesus, who worship God in the
spirit and have no confidence in the flesh. as far as obtaining anything
spiritual in God's kingdom. Now, you might have some confidence
that, well, you know, I can go to work tomorrow. I'm confident
I can fix that car. Well, I'm glad. But you don't
trust that for salvation, do you? Put no confidence in this
flesh as to obtaining God's favor or removing God's wrath. That
took place at Calvary. Trust in the Lord. We're to trust
Christ at all times. He knows what's best for us. Trust Him at all times. The words found in the book of
Job, remember? Job had some trial, didn't he?
He had some real heartache. We don't know anything about
that kind of heartache, that kind of trial. But Job said,
though He slay me, yet I'll trust Him. I want that kind of confidence
in my Lord. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the
Lord. We're to trust Him and believe
Him for all things. To provide all things for us.
For His very name is Jehovah-Jireh. That means the Lord will provide. That's what Abraham told Isaac
when he went up to the mountain to worship. And Isaac said, Behold
my Father, the fire. The wood, the knife, something's
missing. Where's the lamb? And Abraham
said, my God will provide himself a lamb. And he provided himself
as the lamb. And God provided that ram caught
in the thicket. And Abraham called that place
Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. Trust in the Lord. He
will provide for His people. He is the Lord our righteousness.
Trust in the Lord for all pardon. Trust in the Lord for pardon
from all sin. Trust the Lord for pardon. We're
all guilty. We all need to be justified.
Well, who are we to trust? Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. Trust Him for pardon from all
sin. Trust Him for salvation. Trust Him for salvation. We read
it just a moment ago, for the salvation of the righteousness
of the Lord. Trust Him for righteousness. I'm harping on this tonight.
It's my theme. Trust the Lord for all things.
Salvation, pardon, forgiveness. He is our righteousness. Trust
Him for protection. We're kept by the power of God.
Trust Him for all provisions. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.
That's Philippians 4.19. Now, if you're totally taken
up with trusting the Lord, how much time is left for fretting?
Huh? Come on now. As the old plow
boy said, let's shuck right down to the cob. If you're totally
taken up with trusting the Lord for all of salvation, Are you
fretting about trying to accomplish a salvation on your own? If you're
trusting the Lord for all of forgiveness, are you fretting
about trying to put away your sin to earn forgiveness? If you're
trusting the Lord for all things, they go a long way to help us
in this matter of fretting about things, knowing that all things
are working together for our good, our good. So you got the
first precept Now you remember what we're not to do. You got
that? We set the table with that, didn't
we? Fret not. Okay. Number one. What are we
to do? You want a number by number what
to do? Here's what to do. Trust the
Lord. Trust the Lord. Okay. Number two is this. Delight
thyself in the Lord. You see verse four? Delight thyself
in the Lord. Verse 23, he repeats it. The
steps of the good man are ordered up by the Lord, for he delighteth
in his ways. Those that delight in the Lord
Jesus Christ, now watch this, delight thyself in the Lord.
Those that delight in the Lord Jesus Christ shall have the desires
of their heart. Let me change that. Those that
delight in the Lord Jesus Christ shall have the desire of their
heart. Him. Him. Him. Him. Believers do delight in
His Word. The written word, we delight
in His word. We delight in His preached word.
We delight in the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's quick
and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. In that beautiful
love story called the Song of Solomon, There's a statement
that says, I sat down under his shadow with great delight. Believers delight in his way,
for Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. We delight in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Believers delight, now listen
to this, Look at Psalm 40, verse 8. Believers delight in His will. We delight in His Word. We delight
in His way. We delight in His will. Psalm
40, verse 8. Now this is talking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but this is also true of His people. I delight
to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. I delight to do thy will. O to
know, believe with delight in His will. O to know His will
and to do it. with delight. He taught us to
pray, Thy will be done. To know His will and then to
do it. To know His way and then to trust
Him. To know His word and to believe
Him. To know His will and to delight
in it. I'm thinking of this scripture.
John 6, verse 40. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. This is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone
which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting
life, and I'll raise Him up at the last day. Oh, to delight
in His will, the will of the Father, to trust the Lord Jesus
Christ for all of salvation. Delight! thyself in the Lord
now here's the third thing we see in Psalm 37 verse 5 commit
commit or notice a marginal reference roll thy way upon the Lord now
trust in the Lord delight in the Lord and commit thy way into
the Lord now something common in all those isn't there the
Lord the Lord commit or roll everything upon the Lord. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
You know what it means here to submit unto Him? Submit unto
Him. Find Psalm 55 verse Psalm 55, 22. When we were going through our
last deluge, our last flood, someone sent me a card. I guess it was like a get well
card or something. But they sent me a card, and
I was very appreciative of it. Didn't know who the person was,
but they sent me a nice card. But they had inside this card
a little piece of paper with the words found in Psalm 55,
22. You got it there? Psalm 55, 22. Cast thy burden
upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the
righteous to be moved. That was a blessing to me. Someone
thought enough of me and my situation and our church, my family, to
send me a message from God. Cast your burden upon the Lord.
Roll your way upon the Lord. Cast thy burden upon the Lord.
We read these words in 1 Peter 5, 6 and 7. 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 careth for you." That
would help us with fretting, wouldn't it? Cast all your burden
upon the Lord. We sing a hymn sometimes and
the chorus, I believe, says this, take your burden to the Lord.
Take your burden to the Lord. You remember the rest of it?
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. And oftentimes
we take a burden to the Lord and then we walk around and leave
with it still on our mind and our heart. And then we begin
to fret, don't we? Well, commit thy way unto the
Lord. take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. How can we, as His people, how
can we, as His people, not cast all our care upon Him? He would
have us do it. It's utter foolishness to try
to pack our own burden and guilt of sin around when the Lord tells
us to cast it upon Him, especially knowing that He made atonement
for all our sin. He was manifested to take away
our sin. And that he's able to save to
the uttermost all that come to God by him, saying he ever lived
to make intercession for us. And it says here, commit thy
way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he may be, or perhaps,
or could bring it to pass. No, he shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring it to pass. The
Lord shall bring it to pass. The Apostle Paul writing in his
last letter, For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day. Paul, what have you committed
unto him? Everything. Paul's in prison when he's writing
those words. Committing everything to the
Lord. It's like the farmer. My dad was a farmer. My granddad
was a farmer and my great granddad was a farmer. Where I grew up,
out in the west country, I grew up in farm country. Agriculture
was the main, like around where I live now, the coal business,
coal field, coal miners. That's the heartbeat of the economy.
Where I grew up, it was farming, dairy farms. My family had dairy
farms. And you know what the farmer
does every springtime when he plows his field, and then he
discs up his field, and then he gets special seed that he
needs for that ground that's prepared, and then he does what
with the seed? He said, well that's my seed,
I'm going to put it in my pocket and keep it. How much corn is
he going to have in the fall? He's not going to have any corn.
What does he do? He takes it and he casts it out
on the ground. He commits it to the ground.
And then in due time, God blesses that. And that's what we're to
do as believers. Don't carry it around in your
pocket. Cast it upon the Lord. Commit
it to Him. Let go of it. And trust Him. Now, that'll help us in this
area of fretting. Now, I'm just like you. I have
the same exact nature, fallen and rotten, just like all men
have, and I battle this constantly. Fretting, worrying about these
things that I shouldn't even worry about. I'm just being honest
with you now. I'm not trying to be pious or
self-righteous, saying, well, you know, I've got that problem
whipped. No, I don't. I'm working on it.
I'm working on it by His grace. I'm asking the Lord to give me
grace to deal with these issues that I've read about. Cast it
upon the Lord. Commit it to Him. Now, here's
the fourth saying, found in verse 7, rest in the Lord. Now notice,
trust who? The Lord. Delight in who? The
Lord. Commit your way to who? The Lord.
Now something similar here, something special here, and then verse
7, rest in your profession of faith. Oh no. Oh no. Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for Him and then
it says there again, fret not thyself. fret not thyself, rest
in the Lord." Now, do you know what this means here? Notice
the center marginal reference. If you have a reference there,
it says, be silent. Rest in the Lord. Do you know
what that's saying? Be still. Be still. Be still. Now, let
me give you a good example of this. Find Exodus 14. You remember God delivered Israel
from Egyptian bondage, and they were making their way out of
town. And they were headed up to the Red Sea. And Pharaoh's
army was barreling down. Mountains and hills on the right
hand, on the left hand. Pharaoh behind, angry and mad. Some of the firstborn, all of
the firstborn of Egypt died. He's going to get revenge, isn't
he? He's got anger in his heart.
He's got murder in his heart. And here's Moses. Oh, I'm going
to get him. I'm going to get all them Israelites.
And here's Israel, knowing, knowing who's after them. And you know
what they do? Fret. Fret. What are we going to do,
Moses? Fret! Look what he says here, Exodus
14, 13. And Moses said unto them, Fear ye not, fret not, Fret not. They know what he's saying. Fear
not. Fret not. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which He will show you today. For the Gypsies whom
you have seen today, you shall see them no more forever. For
the Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.
Fret not. What happened? God parted the
sea. And they went across and God
killed Pharaoh and all of his army. Be still and know that
I am God. Psalm 46.10. The Sovereign Creator
made all things. Genesis 2. The Sovereign Creator
made all things and then He rested. He rested. He rested not because
He was tired. He rested because the work was
finished. And our Lord Jesus Christ had finished the work
of redemption the Father gave Him to do, and He rested. What
do you mean He rested? When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down. Why did He sit down? Work was
done. Redemption's done. And He rested. Let us strive to enter into His
rest. Rest in the Lord. Let us cease
from fretting, laboring, working, doubting, and rest in Christ. He is our Sabbath. He is our
rest. The more we learn of completeness and the sufficiency of His work,
the more we are learning of the completeness and the sufficiency
of His work. He said it is finished. The more
sweetly and fully we can rest in Him who finished the work. Now, I said this a week or so,
or maybe last week, a week before, and it's not that we rest in
His finished work, we rest in Him who finished the work. It says there, rest in the Lord.
rest in the Lord now wouldn't that go a long way to help us
from fretting our Lord said this in Matthew 11 he said come unto
me all you are laboring and heavy laden you who are fretting come
unto me and rest Come unto Me and rest. Oh, for rest in Christ. To lay down your shotgun, to
lay down all your doing, lay your deadly doing down, and rest
in the Lord. Rest in the Lord. So trust Him. Delight in Him. Rest in Him. And then, number 5 is this. Number 5 is this, found in verse
8. Now, cease from anger. Cease from anger. Forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any way to
try to get even, to try to do evil. Cease from anger. Forsake wrath. Knowing the good
providence of the Lord and His eternal purpose to accomplish
our good, we entertain no anger toward His ways, for His ways
are perfect. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? I like what Eli said, the priest
of God, when Samuel came to him and said, God's gonna kill your
two boys. It's the Lord. Let him do what
he will. Cease from anger. Be still. Cease from anger. Knowing the
ignorance and blindness of natural men, and that God is the first
cause of all things, we hold no anger nor hate for them. We pity them. Genesis 50. You remember the story of Joseph. Those brothers intended evil
toward him, didn't they? And he says, but as for you,
you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to
bring the past as it is this day, to save much people alive. Joseph didn't seek to get even.
He could have. Boy, he had the opportunity,
didn't he? He said, God meant it. You meant it for evil, but
God meant it for good. Getting even or getting revenge
against men is not for us. It's in God's hand. It says in
Holy Scripture, vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. Again,
it says in Holy Scripture, anger does not work the righteousness
of God, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness
of God. Now, oftentimes when we're misused
and abused, and we have a tendency because
we have this fallen nature, we have this tendency that, I'm
going to get even. What will that cause you to fret?
Let it go. Cease from anger. Cease from
anger. Well, here's the sixth thing
in verse 27. Verse 27, depart from evil. depart from evil and do that
which is right. Do that which is right. Depart
from evil and do good and dwell forevermore. Depart from evil
and do that which is right. Depart from anything that is
contrary to God's word. Depart from anything that's not
honoring to the gospel. Depart from anything that would
bring reproach and shame upon the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ and his church. Also, But also, depart from any
evil of self-glory and self-righteousness, for the Lord hates pride. Hates pride. Depart from dead
works to serve the living God. Depart from any notion that salvation
is dependent upon you, because it's not. Salvation's always determined,
dependent, and accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God
who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to God's own purpose and grace,
given us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world.
Here's the seventh one, and this is maybe the most difficult one,
and all these are only by His grace. Verse 34. Here's the seventh
precept. Wait on the Lord. wait on the
Lord and keep his way he shall exalt thee to inherit the land
when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it wait on the Lord
he who truly trust in the Lord and delights in the Lord and
rest in the Lord ought to wait on the Lord wait on the Lord
for all things Simeon the old man in the temple waiting for
the coming of the Messiah waiting for the Lord. It says also of
Joseph of Arimathea in Mark 15, he was waiting for the consolation
of Israel to come, waiting for the Christ of God. Wait upon
the Lord. Now we do not 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 all
salvation, and wait in expectation as a believer. Wait on the Lord. And he says in Psalm 27 verse
14, and again I say, wait on the Lord. He shall exalt thee
in due time, in God's time, in due time. Now watch this. and he shall exalt thee to inherit
the land." Christ is our exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Christ is our eternal reward,
and Christ is our inheritance. Now let me tell you something.
I don't know if I've ever said this before, but often time in
religious circles, people are always talking about, well I'm
doing this, or I'm doing that, or I'm going about to do this,
or establishing that, that I might have more rewards. Plural. Check me out on this. Never in
the Word of God is the word reward ever used in a plural sense in
regards to a believer. It's always singular. Christ
is our inhabitant. Christ is our reward. Period. Now, if you have Him,
you're not worried about how many yo-yos you're going to have
in glory. You see, Christ is all and in
all. That's the mayhem. I stole that
line from past. He stole it from Barnard. You're
not going to be worried about who's got the biggest yo-yo,
who's got the biggest cabin, who's got the biggest mattress.
That's nonsense. Christ is all here and there. He's everything. Christ is our
inheritance. He is our reward. True faith
prays and waits upon the Lord. True faith preaches. Now here's
where we get in trouble. True faith preaches the gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and waits upon the Lord. I don't browbeat and buttonhole
people and force people into profession or entice people with
psychological language to get them down front to make a decision
for Jesus. Salvation's not down front. Salvation's
not down here. Salvation's in Christ. True faith
preaches the gospel of God's sovereign saving grace in Christ
Jesus and waits upon the Lord. I'm willing to preach the gospel
and to leave folks alone. If they're His, God will deal
with them. If they're His, He'll break them. If they're His, He'll
bring them. And when He saves them, they're
saved eternally in Christ Jesus. True faith rests and waits upon
the Lord. True faith believes God and waits
upon the Lord. Now, He's worth waiting on, isn't
He? Okay, where do we start? Fret
not. Now next time you see, you feel
it coming. Probably about tomorrow morning,
about 8 o'clock, when you hit the job. And things, it seems
like on Monday morning, when I get to work on Monday morning,
it seems like everything goes haywire on Monday morning. If
you ever get an email from me on Monday morning, it's usually
a mess. Because my mind is scattered. And usually on Monday morning,
it's a mess. And usually on Monday morning,
problems roll in. And I start fretting. Things
don't work right. Something's out of whack. Start
fretting. Well, wait on the Lord. Trust
Him. Delight thyself in Him. Commit
your way unto Him. Cease from anger and rest in
Him. Now, I hope those words