a wonderful time looking at these
two Psalms, Psalm 111 and Psalm 112 since last week and I believe
I have something good for you tonight. Now when we read these
two Psalms, Psalm 111 and 112 and compare them It's really fascinating to compare
these two Psalms. They're so evident, they're written
by the same pen. Same author. But the subjects
vary. Psalm 111 has this subject. The character and works of God. Let's look at it. Refresh your
memory a little bit. The glorious character and sovereign
works of God. Very obvious. Let's read it. Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my
whole heart in the assembly of the upright in the congregation.
The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have
pleasure therein, all them that love his works. They keep studying
his works. His works of redemption is honorable,
glorious. His righteousness endures forever.
He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is
gracious and full of compassion. The Lord is gracious. He hath
given provision, meat, supplies, unto them that fear him. He's
our provider. He will ever be mindful of his
covenant. He hath showed his people the
power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the
heathen. The works of His hands are verity, truth and judgment,
truth and justice. All His commandments are sure.
They stand fast forever and ever, done in truth and uprightness.
He sent redemption to His people. He has commanded His covenant
forever. Holy and reverent is His name.
And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the chief
principle heart of wisdom. It is wisdom. A good understanding
have all they that do his commandment. His praise endureth forever.
Now the 112th Psalm takes a good look at the life and character
of his people. The work of his people. While
at the same time giving all the honor and praise and glory to
God. for his grace manifested in them. Any time the prophets and apostles,
and they often do, refer to the good works of his people, the
grace of God in his people and manifested through his people,
they're very careful to ascribe all the glory for such to the
Lord. Let me show you a few times.
In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10, The Apostle Paul speaking here
in 1 Corinthians 15. And he says, by the grace of
God, I am what I am. I am something. I do things. I say things. I preach. I'm a
missionary. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in
vain. I labored. I worked. more abundantly
than they all. Yet, not I, but the grace of God which was
with me. I did work and labored and toiled, and comparatively
more than all the rest of them. Yet not I, but the grace of God
in me. He gets the glory. But nevertheless, I worked. Now turn to Philippians 2. Philippians
chapter 2. verse 13. Paul's writing to this church
at Philippi, which was having some problems among some of the
people. And Paul is telling them to work
out their problems, to deal with their problems, to get them straightened
out. And not only in my presence, but in my absence, here in verse
12, the word salvation is deliberate. Sometimes the word salvation
is used in the Bible not referring to the redemption of the soul
at all, but to the deliverance of, you know, when they were
in prison. I believe this will work to my
salvation. What did they say that delivered them from prison?
So in verse 12, wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation. Work this problem out. Work out
your deliverance. Work out the solution with fear
and trembling. But don't forget, it's God that
worketh in you. It's God that worketh in you.
Both to what? To will. We will because He will. To will and to do of His good
pleasure. God in you. And then, first,
Thessalonians. This is always the case when
he talks about the the labor and work of God's children, it's
always by the grace of God. In 1 Thessalonians, who makes
your feet adifferent, he said. What do you have? Well, we have
a plenty. Well, who gave it to you? God did. Well, 1 Thessalonians
1, verse 2, we give thanks to God always for you, all making
mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your
work of faith. What a faithful church. What
a witnessing church. What a dedicated church. Work
of faith. Your labor of love. Laboring
in love, helping one another. Your patience of hope through
trials and tribulations in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight
of God and our Father, knowing, brethren and beloved, your election
of God. God did it. God elected you and
made you. what you are. He chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy, not because we were, that we should be. Hebrews 13,
when Paul refers to the covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant,
the only everlasting covenant, he says regarding that covenant,
now verse 20, Hebrews 13, now that God of peace brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep
through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you mature make you mature we are perfect
in Christ but we have a growing to do we have we have a growing
in grace and faith and love and faithfulness and generosity and
humility make you perfect in every good work, he does it to
do his will, working in you, that which is well-pleasing in
his sight, day by day. God bringing to pass in you that
which is well-pleasing to God, sacrifice of a sweet favor, faithless
to God. Through Jesus Christ, who gets
the glory, to whom speak glory forever and ever. We learn a
lesson from Psalm 71. When we talk about righteousness,
Psalm 71, this is an outstanding reminder for all of us. When
we talk, as I'm speaking tonight, of the character and the labor
and the work and the godliness of God's people, we always are
aware of this, that We are what we are by the grace of God. And
that's in Psalm 71. That's what the psalmist says
here in verse 16. Listen. I will go. I will go. I will go. I will go about the
master's business. I will go. But I'll go in the
strength of the Lord. God. And I'll make mention of
thy righteousness, even of thine only. I'm not going to broadcast
mine or make mention of mine, but of his only. And that's the reason our text
tonight, Psalm 112, begins with, Praise ye the Lord. That's where it begins, Praise
ye the Lord. Now let me read it and show you how this is speaking
of the believer. Psalm 111. is the character and
works of our God. Very obvious. Psalm 112, now. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is
the man that seeth the Lord. Blessed is the man that delighteth
greatly in his commandments, in his word, in his law. His
feet, whose feet? This man who delights in the
commandments of God, who seeth the Lord, his feet shall be mighty
upon earth. His generation, the generation
of this upright man, shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall
be in his house. His righteousness, his godliness,
doesn't stop. It grows, it endures forever. He that endures to the end, the
same will be saved. Unto the upright there rises
light in the darkness, for he is gracious. Now over here in
chapter 111 verse 4 it says the Lord is gracious. He's talking
about this man who fears the Lord. He's gracious too. He's
like his master. He's gracious too. He's full
of compassion. He's a compassionate man. He's
a godly man. A good man shows favor and lenders. A good man guides his affairs
with discretion, with judgment, with integrity. And surely he
shall not be moved forever. He's anchored on a rock. The
righteous shall be an everlasting remembrance. He's not going to
be forgotten. He'll not be afraid of evil tidings.
We're not talking about the Lord here, we're talking about the
righteous. He's not going to be afraid of evil tidings, because
his heart says he's trusting in the Lord. His heart is established,
he shall not be afraid until he sees his desire upon his enemies. This man hath dispersed. He hath
given to the poor. His righteousness, his godliness,
we've been talking about this, this work of grace, this work
of God in his soul, imputed righteousness, imparted righteousness, is not
a temporary arrangement. It's forever. His horn shall
be exalted with honor, like Hannah of old. My horn is exalted in
the Lord. And the wicked are going to see
it. And they're going to be agitated, grieved. And they'll gnash their
teeth. But they'll melt away. And their
desire shall perish. All right, let me give you some
thoughts that I picked up from quite a number of writers on
this psalm. It's very beautiful. We start
with verse 1. That's the reason this psalm
begins like the other. is those who fear the Lord and
those who delight greatly in his commandments are the worth
of his grace. One of the writers said, my friends,
if through divine grace, if by God's divine grace you find yourself
described in these two sentences, a man that fears the Lord and
a man who greatly, greatly delights in his commandments, If you find
yourself in these two sentences, let us give all the praise to
the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, for he has been merciful
to us and has shed abroad his love and works of grace in us
and given us a new heart from which his works of grace flow. Let the self-righteous praise
themselves. But he who has been made righteous
by grace, he renders all the praise. to his Lord. And did
you notice he said, this man who fears the Lord, he delighteth
greatly in his commandments. Turn to Psalm 1. I believe the
blessed man is described in almost the same words in Psalm chapter
1. It says here, blessed is the
man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight." Now there's a slavish fear of deity, a slavish
fear of God, and of punishment. People are afraid of God, afraid
of hell, and afraid of who's out-chandering, what's out-chandering,
and this leads to a form of obedience, temporary obedience. It leads
to a form of religious purpose. But that godly fear, which is
given to God's sons, leads them to delight in God's service,
to delight in God's commandments. As the scripture says, His commandments
aren't grievous. They are to the wicked, but they're
not to the redeemed. Verse 2 of Psalm 1 says, His
delight is in the law of the Lord, in the commandments of
the Lord, in the word of God, and in that law does he meditate.
day and night. And he'll be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, and he'll bring forth his fruit. He shall. It's not a maybe about
this. He shall bring forth his fruit. Whose fruit? His fruit. Fruit
of the vine, which is born by the branches in his season. Let's read some more about this
man. He fears the Lord, this woman, delights greatly in his
commandment, just delights in his words. Verse 2, his seed
shall be mighty upon the earth. Who are his seed? His generation. His seed shall
be mighty upon the earth, the generation of the upright shall
be blessed. Who are our generation, our seed,
my seed, your seed, our generation? Well, the true seed of the righteous
are those who follow them in their faith. That's the true
seed of the righteous. That's his generation. Even as
believers of all nations are called the seed of Abraham. I'm
called the seed of Abraham. I didn't come out of his loins,
but I followed his faith. because I'm of the seed of Christ.
Your seed and my seed may or may not be from our loins. Immediately when you talk about
my seed, you think of my children. But all my children may not love
God. All of Abraham's didn't. David's
didn't. He said, although it be not so
with my house. Abram's didn't. But our seed
and David's seed are those who, by his influence and by his witness
and by his faithfulness, are called the generation of the
upright. Let me show you that in Acts 13. You know, Paul wrote to Philemon
and told him about young slave that he had, what did he say
about it? I've begotten him in my bonds. He's my seed. He's
my son. He called Timothy my son. So
the seed of the righteous are not rebellious children. They're
the seed of a natural father, but not of the righteous father.
My generation is right here in this building. Look at Acts 13, verse 36. David, after he had served his
own generation by the will of God, he served his generation,
he ministered to his generation, he was a witness for his generation.
Absalom didn't have any use for it, Amnon didn't have any use
for it, keep naming them. But some people did, loved David,
followed David, believed in David, imitated his faith. Just like Abraham, with the seed
of Abraham. David served his generation by
the will of God, fell on sleep and was laid under his fathers
and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again,
he saw no corruption. That's our seed. The true seed
of the righteous are those who follow them in faith and love
for Christ. even as believers of all nations
are the seed of Abraham. If you be Christ, then are you
the seed of Abraham. But all those Arabs who trace
their lineage back to Abraham are not the seed of Abraham.
And he says his seed will be mighty upon the earth, and they
are mighty upon the earth. His family is mighty upon the
earth, mighty in God, the generation of the upright, they are blessed.
They are blessed with faithful Abraham. They love God, they
love one another, they love the Word. One heart, one mind, one
soul, one goal, one father, one faith cannot be divided. That's right. And wealth and
riches shall be in his house. I looked at that a long time,
wealth and riches in his house. And you know, in the natural
sense, most everybody in this building tonight have wealth
and riches. I tell you, we can read these
words literally, naturally, concerning the abundance of comfort and
luxuries bestowed upon us, especially when you compare our lot with
three-fourths of this world's population. You compare our lot
with three-fourths of the world's population, and we're rich. We're
rich. If you go to a foreign country,
they think every American's rich. And really, we are. But that's not what he's talking
about here. These words are not meant materially. Paul shows
us that turn. You've got to read 2 Corinthians
6. Paul tells us that. that right over here. We are
rich, but we're not rich materially, necessarily. Paul describes himself
here in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 9. You got it? 2 Corinthians
6, 9. I'm unknown, and yet I'm well
known. It's who knows you? The Lord
knows you. See, I'm unknown, but I'm well
known, Paul says. I'm dying, but behold, I live.
I'll never die. That's riches. I'm chasing, but
I'm not killed. I'm sorry for, but you'll find
me always rejoicing. I'm poor, but I'm making a lot
of folks rich. My thieves are rich. Rich in
grace, rich in faith, rich in peace, rich in forgiveness, rich
in mercy, rich in inheritance, rich in hope. Aren't you rich? As having nothing, and yet I
possess all things. Everything is mine. You're looking at the world's
richest man. That's right, and I'm looking at the world's richest
congregation. And I'm not talking about materialism,
I'm talking about rich in redemption, rich in righteousness, rich in
peace, rich in life eternal, sons of God, joint heirs with
the Lord Jesus Christ. wealth and riches in his house
and his righteousness endureth forever." His imputed righteousness. But this is talking about his
godliness, his profession. It endures forever. That's right. It endures forever. Somebody
says, when gold comes in the door, the gospel goes out. Not
for a believer. Another person says sometimes
when poverty takes over, peace disappears. Not for the believer. His faith, his godliness, his
commitment goes on forever. Not so with the righteous. His
righteousness is the righteousness of Christ, and he knows how to
abound, and he knows how to be abased, and he knows that all
blessings he has come from God, and even his suffering comes
from God. Jeremiah 32. Let's look at this.
Jeremiah 32. God says in Jeremiah 32 verse
38, they'll be my people. They'll be my people. Jeremiah
32, I'll be their God. And I'll give them one heart,
all of them, one way. They'll fear me forever. See
that? Not temporary. They'll fear me
forever. for the good of them, their children
after them, their seed. And I'll make an everlasting
covenant with them, I'll never turn away from them to do them
good, and I'll put my fear in their hearts and they'll never
depart from me." We will. We will because he will. We do. We do because he has done. We
live because he lived. We love because he loved us. I hear preachers say sometimes,
we have no works, then show me your faith without your works. James said that, didn't he? Try
it. What we mean by that, we have
no works in which to glory in ourselves, but we glory in the
fact he has made us willing. See what I'm talking about? And
a man without works is a man without God. A man without love is a man without
God. A man whose life, a woman whose life has not been, as you
said to me Brandon, turned around, completely around. That's what
God does. He converts us. He turns us around. He sends abroad His love in our
hearts. A man without love is a man without
God. Verse 4, look at verse 4, unto
the upright there rises light in the darkness. The upright,
he encounters darkness on every hand. Charles Spurgeon said believers
on this earth are subject to a threefold darkness. They encounter
the darkness of error and sin in them, in others, and he gives
them the light of truth. And that light arises out of
that darkness, delivers from that darkness. And then believers
encounter the darkness of sorrow, suffering, heartache, just heartache. And that's the darkness. But
then we have the light of his word to comfort us. And light
arises out of the darkness. So cast down but not destroyed.
depressed but not deserted. Under the upright, always, God
gives light in his darkness. My grace is sufficient. Thirdly,
we encounter the darkness of death. We'll talk about that
tonight, some of us, before church. Death is not the unknown. We
know. We've got too much truth to be,
to say death is unknown. Death is the unexperienced. That's
what they are. It's the unexperienced. And that
makes us cautious. Brother Gerald, back before he
had heart surgery, at times he told me, they're not going to
do that to me. They're not going to cut me open like that. But
he said then I had to have it. And I had it. It wasn't as bad
as you thought it was. It wasn't all that bad. And death. when you have to have it, it
won't be all that bad. You'll be escorted into
glory just like Elijah was, with a team of angels. That's right,
escorted into glory. And to the upright there always
arises light out of the darkness. The unbeliever, he'll stay there. He'll stay there. I know a lady
who lost a son their first born like we did. Never recovered. Never changed his room. Never
changed his bed. Never took his clothes out. The
room was a shrine. A place where he's always going
to be. That's darkness. That's superstition. That's no good. God gives life in the darkness
for a believer. Takes him out of it. That's right.
His life. And that believer, he, over there
in chapter 1, 11, verse 4, says, the Lord is gracious. Well, so
are his people. He's gracious. He's full of compassion. So are his sons. And they're
righteous. They're godly people. They're
full of compassion. Like their Lord. That's what
he says in 2 Corinthians 1. I'd love for you to attach this
scripture here, this scripture with that right there. It says,
he is gracious, full of compassion and righteous. In 2 Corinthians
1, verse 4, Paul says, he comforts us in our darkness, our tribulation. 2 Corinthians 1, 4. He's the
God of all comfort, verse 3. He comforts us in our tribulation
that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. God does
this for us that we might do this for them. For as the sufferings
of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ. And whether we be afflicted,
it's for your comfort and salvation which is effectual in the enduring
of the same suffering which we suffer. That's right, you see,
people are gracious, they're full of compassion, they help
one another. And then I see some things here
in that verse 5 through 9, I'm just going to move through these
and you watch it while I talk about it. A good man, he shows
favor, he shows favor, and he lends
it. He's a good neighbor. Providence
made him able. to lend, and grace made him willing. You like that? That's not mine,
that's somebody else's, that's good. Providence made him able
to help, prospered him so he could help, and grace made him
willing. See, the power to do good, now
listen to a Catholic, whether to preach or sing or witness
or give or help people or lend or whatever, the power to do
good. is a dangerous ability if it's not used. The power to
do good is a dangerous power, a dangerous ability, a dangerous
gift if it's not used. Because it's God who gives us
all that we have, and he means for us to use it for his people,
for his church, for the good of others. He means for us to
use it for his glory, because we're stewards of the grace of
God. And to have that and not use
it, that's dangerous. In fact, the Lord gave that illustration
about the man who came back, and he said, give an account
of your stewardship. He said, well, I know you're
a hard man, and you reap where you don't sow, and you do this,
that, and the other. He said, I hit it in the ground.
He said, you're unfaithful. You could have put it in the
bank, and I've got some interest on it. Take it away from me.
The power to do good is not used to be lost, because God gives
it to us not for our selfish purposes, but to help others.
So that's why we're here, to help others. And a good man showeth
favor, he lendeth. He'll guide his affairs with
discretion. What's this say? He'll conduct
all his business affairs with great integrity and justice and
care. A man who pays attention to things
in heaven does not neglect things of the earth. He who does business with God
in Christ does business with men on the same basis. I like
that. A man who does business with
God in Christ, when he does business with an earthling, he does it
on the same basis. in Christ, as unto the Lord. And it says
in verse 6, he will never be moved forever. He won't be moved
from his place in Christ, he'll never be moved from the righteousness
of Christ, he'll never be moved from his inheritance, it's preserved
in heaven for him. He'll never be moved, and the
righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." God will never
forget him. God will never forget him. And his seed will never forget
him. He'll be remembered. You say, when a man dies, he's
forgotten. That's not so. The Pharaohs in Egypt are forgotten,
but Moses is not. Abraham dealt with, they're forgotten,
but Abraham's not. The Pharisees, I can't name a
one that I can name. Peter, Paul, James, John, they're
not forgotten. The righteous are not forgotten,
not by God and not by other believers. Listen to me. Men and women who
reflect the grace of God in their lives, in their homes, in their
church, are never forgotten. Their memory lives on. I can
just see them sitting right here. They're never forgotten. Their memory lives on. They're
worth remembering. That's why they're remembering.
They're worth remembering. You don't remember anybody that
ain't worth remembering. You remember people who are worth
remembering. Never forget them. Never. Their lives and their
deeds are the kind that are recorded on our hearts. They'll never
be forgotten. Their names are not on memorials
written in stone, but their names and their memorials are written
on hearts. That's right. He said a good man shows favor,
lenders, he orders his affairs with discretion, he'll not be
moved, and he'll never be forgotten. Because his life's worth remembering. His words are worth remembering.
His kindness is worth remembering. His devotion is worth remembering.
His example is worth remembering. Ah, they'll never be forgotten.
They're written on the hearts of the people whom they touched.
And then verse 7, he'll not be afraid of evil tidings, or he'll
be affected by them. He'll be shaken. He'll be shaken. So he'll not be afraid. They
kept coming to Job with all these evil tidings, and when they finished
delivering all of them, he said, well, the Lord gave and the Lord
has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And he fell down and worshipped. They're not going to be afraid.
And I'll tell you why, his heart's fixed. His heart, his affection
sat on things above, not on the things of the earth. And these
things change, those things don't. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day. Earth's joys grow dim. Glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
me I see. Oh, thou that changest not. My heart fixed set on things
above that never change. And so when I get tidings of
change, and it's obvious I don't like change, I don't take to
it too readily. But it's coming, it always does. But our heart's fixed with trusting
in the Lord, trusting in the Lord. And then he says his heart
is established, his faith and love and hope is anchored in
Christ, deeply rooted in his word. He shall not be afraid,
his courage is supported by his Lord's omnipotence, his Lord's
immutability, his Lord's unchangeableness. And his heart's established,
he'll not be afraid until the last day when his desire, he
sees his desire upon his enemies. My sins are gone. Evil influence,
Satan's gone. Even death, the last enemy, destroyed. But someday we'll live to see
all of our enemies destroyed. And we desire, I shall be satisfied
when I wake with his likeness, David said. And the only way I can wake with
his likeness is for all this old flesh and earth to be done
away by our enemies. He hath dispersed. He hath dispersed. He hath given to the poor. His
godliness endureth forever. His horn shall be exalted with
honor. That's when I remember Hannah
saying, My horn is exalted in the Lord. My horn of plenty.
God just keeps filling it up. filling it up, filling it up.
It's never depleted by generosity. It's exalted. My horn, my power,
my strength is exalted with honor. Generosity and grace does not
deplete it. And then he says in closing,
the wicked. Two things can be said of the
wicked. We've said a whole lot about the righteous, haven't
we? Just two things said about the wicked. The wicked shall
be obliged to witness the exaltation and blessedness of the righteous."
They're going to see these believers whom they hated and despised
and criticized and found fault with, they're going to see them
exalted. God's grace in them magnified,
and they're not going to like it. They're going to be grieved,
they're going to gnash their teeth, and then they're going
to melt away. And the desire of the wicked
What is the desire to wish? He wants like any other man.
He wants eternal happiness. He wants prosperity. He wants
eternal wealth. He wants eternal life. He wants
eternal whatever. No matter how he thinks it, he
wants it. But it's going to perish. He's going to see everything
that he always wanted perish. And we're going to see everything
we've always wanted fulfilled. All our enemies destroyed. All
right, I pray that's a blessing to you. It's just such a blessing
to me and such encouragement and comfort.