Let us go before the Lord and ask him for the
blessing of the preaching of his word. Our God
and our Father, we thank you for sending your
Spirit to give us life and to empower us for
the call you have given us to carry your words
of life to the ends of the earth. Please allow
the words of my mouth and the meditations of
all our hearts to be acceptable in your sight.
O Lord, our rock and nearest kinsman redeemer,
Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. Amen. Today's sermon
text is going to be out of Psalm 37. I've often
said that, as we know, the book of Proverbs is
the book of wisdom. Certainly all of God's word
is wisdom, but it's particularly focused on that.
But I've often said that the book of Psalms is
the book of maturity. It's the book to maturity.
And so I want us to keep that in mind, that the
book of Psalms helps us to have a right understanding
of reality, and it helps us with our maturity.
One other thing I want to say before we read
the text, and that is this. In this portion of
Psalm 37, verses 1 through 11, well really throughout
the whole chapter of Psalm 37, God's covenant
name Yahweh appears 15 times. 15 times in 40
verses. That's significant. And this is what
I want you to think every time you hear God's
covenant name. I want you to think about this.
Because of the work of Jesus Christ, we are in
covenant with the Lord. So every time you hear
The name Yahweh, what you should be thinking
is, ah, that's my covenant God because of Jesus,
because of his mercy and his grace and his work
on the cross. So Psalm 37, beginning of verse
one, a Psalm of David. Do not fret because of
evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity,
for they shall soon be cut down like the grass
and wither as the green herb. Trust in Yahweh
and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on His
faithfulness. Delight yourself also in Yahweh
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him
and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring
forth your righteousness as the light and your
justice as the noonday. Rest in Yahweh. and wait
patiently for him. Do not fret because of him
who prospers in his way, because of the man who
brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger.
Forsake wrath. Do not fret. It only causes harm.
For evildoers shall be cut off, but those that
wait on Yahweh, they will inherit the earth.
For yet a little while, and the wicked shall
be no more. Indeed, you will look carefully for
his place, but it shall be no more. But the meek
shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves
in the abundance of peace." These are the words
of Almighty God. Receive them in your hearts.
We are continuing our foundation series. These
are Christian foundations. This is during the
time of the Pentecost season, which turns back
to green. And so we're growing in Christ. We're
growing. We're maturing as the church, as the
people of God. And so our sermon title today
is Trust God and Do Good. Trust God and Do Good.
Now, of course, good could be defined in many
ways, but scripturally, I think for the Christian,
good is defined by two things, right? The fruit
of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, long -suffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self -control, right? So that's one part. And
the other part is how in which we do that, and
that is this. Faithfulness in our post. faithfulness
in our post. Doing good is to see the fruitfulness
of the fruit of the Spirit developing in yourself
and in others in whom are your responsibility.
And you do all that by standing at your post.
We should walk, live, and be led by the Spirit
in order to have the fruit of the Spirit flourishing
in ourselves and others. And again, additionally,
God's people must stand faithfully in our specific
fiefdom. What's a fiefdom, you say? Well, back
in medieval times, there was a big lord of the
manor. He had all this land. And he would give
out a portion and say to this man and this family
over here and that person over there, here, here's
your allotments. Here's what you're given to
do, your area to make grow and flourish. Christ
Jesus is the Lord of all the earth, and He has
given you all. Children, look up here. Every
man, woman, and child in here has been given
allotment in the kingdom of heaven, and so too.
As Jesus is the King over all things of heaven
and earth, He has graciously given each one of
us a piece of His kingdom to manage. Our realm
is an allotted portion in Jesus' kingdom, and
we are to faithfully stand our post, take dominion
over it, and be fruitful. If we are to have the
mind of Christ and are conformed to Christ Jesus,
we should stand steadfastly in our post and live
with the fruit of the Spirit abundantly flowing.
from us. That's just the setup. Here are the
three things that I would like you to consider
as your lenses as we look at Psalm 37, this portion
of it. As Christians, we are not to fret or be
envious. As Christians, we are not to fret or
be envious. Second, we are to trust in the Lord
and do good. We are to trust in the Lord and
do good. And finally, in God's sovereignty, the
meek will inherit the earth. In God's sovereignty,
the meek will inherit the earth. Psalm 37 sets
the standard of how to walk in maturity in the
circumstances in which we as Christians find
ourselves in. Right now across this room, many
people are undergoing good times, prosperous
times, and there are others who are not living
in peace and who are clearly undergoing hardships
and difficulties. How are we to walk When we
both see and experience hardship and suffering
Especially when we see the wicked prospering
Right now Amongst us different experiences and
maybe you say I'm kind of in the middle. I've
got some hardships. I have some blessings Right,
but Lord why are those wicked people prospering?
Why are those who were scheming against you and
against your people? Why are they prospering?
That's the question we're looking at. Psalm 37
is set up into four sections. The first section,
verses one through 11, we'll look at today. The
second section is verses 12 through 20, and it's
a deep dive into the wicked schemes and plots
against the Lord and his people. The third section
is verses 21 through 24, and it compares the
righteous and the wicked with the central theme,
which is this. The steps of a good man are ordered
by Yahweh, and he delights in his way. Though
he fall, he shall utterly, he shall not be utterly
cast down, for Yahweh upholds him with his hand.
And remember, we hear that, we think, ah. because
of the work of Jesus. Every time you hear Yahweh,
that's Jesus' work. He's our covenant God. The
final section, verses 25 through 40 is this,
is David, who we now know is an old man, and
so now with his closing thoughts are with observation
and admonition to these eternal truths. And here
the very end of Psalm 37. But the salvation of
the righteous is from Yahweh. He is their strength
in the time of trouble. And Yahweh shall help
them and deliver them. And He shall deliver them
from the wicked and save them, because they trust
in Him. Now our passage this morning begins in
verse one. It says, do not fret because of evildoers,
nor be envious of the workers of iniquity, for
they shall soon be cut down like the grass. And
wither is the green herb. Now every one of us
want to see the wicked cut down in one of two
ways, right? I hope for all of us it is our first
desire that people be cut down by being transformed
and brought into the kingdom of heaven. But if
not, we ask that the Lord convert them or remove
them. But for those that are wicked and are rebelling
against God, they will be cut down. You know,
the base sinful position of all men is to fret
and to envy. If you're uncertain of that, look
at your children. When they're real small, you
can see this real evidently. What happens? They
become agitated and disturbed. They're fretting.
They're moving and flailing around. Why? They're
agitated. How come? because they're envious of
those around them. Whether the person, that child,
their brother or sister, is doing good to them
or not, in some fashion they become envious.
And it's interesting, Webster's 1828 dictionary
says this, that to fret is to corrode, to gnaw,
to eat away as a worm Fret or eats away the plank
of a ship to wear away to chafe What is it that's
going on in your life that's eating away at you
that's causing you to chafe To not to be not
at to be disturbed Dearly beloved God directs
our lives all history is God's story. We have
been graciously given a place in God's story
and as we go along we see the sins of our fathers,
the civil magistrate, the wicked, the rebellious
anarchists who at every turn are plotting and
scheming to destroy God's people and the whole
world if they could. One thing that can overwhelm
us and cause us to fret and to be eaten up is
that we see these evildoers prospering and Because
of that we're tempted to become envious What
do we worry over And become agitated over and
yes even disquieted in your soul, what is it?
that's disturbing you. What drives you to envy
and discontent? God lovingly through the psalmist
here, that's David, gives us a correction on
our misunderstanding of reality. Here, he is
straightening us out. We can't perceive what
he's doing and what his plan is. But God gives
us clear direction. clear reality. God knows
the end of history and the story around all of
us and he tells us that evildoers will soon be
cut down like the grass and they will wither
away. And you know, we look at that, we hear
those words and we go like, I wish it would happen
sooner. I wish God would get it done already.
But God doesn't do it that way. He's got His
plan. He's got His story. He is telling you,
don't fret. Don't be covetousness. Don't be full
of covetousness and envy. Don't worry about what
they're doing. Proverbs chapter 24 has often
been associated with this chapter in Psalms because
here are these several verses. In Proverbs chapter
24, it begins with this. Do not be envious of
evil men. nor desire to be with them. For their
heart devises violence and their lips talk of
troublemaking. Through wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established. By knowledge
the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant
riches. Do not fret because of evildoers, nor
be envious of the wicked. Also, down if you drop
down, verse 20, for there will be no prospect
for the evil man, the lamp of the wicked will
be put out. God makes it very clear that through
wisdom and true understanding that a house is
established and built. Dearly beloved, the wicked
have no future. Their lamp will be put out by
God. Don't envy or be discontent in another's
prosperity or superiority or perceived superiority.
Their time, the wicked's time, all those that
are plotting against God and his people, their
time is short. Proverbs 3 .31 tells us, do not
envy the oppressor and choose none of his ways.
For the perverse person is an abomination to
Yahweh, but his secret counsel is with the upright.
Our hearts often go and look at all the plots
of the wicked, and we see how they thrive and
they're having success. And our envy presents
itself by becoming discontented. We churn in
a consuming way and we look for vengeance in
some fashion The sinner is not an object of envy
or vengences wait for God and his vindication
The Bible is full of true stories that show that
the plots of the wicked Lay that that are that
are done against God are laid aside by God's
sovereign plan, and all their wicked schemes
come back upon them. As Proverbs tells us in
chapter 26, whoever digs a pit will fall in it,
and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back
on him. Proverbs 28, 10, whoever causes the upright
to go astray in an evil way, he himself will
fall into his own pit, but the blameless will
inherit good. Let us consider together that the
greatest plot against God and Man was carried
out by some great scheming and evil men two thousand
years ago when they brought false charges against
Jesus and they killed him and They thought they
had won what looked like the greatest strategy
tragedy of all time That all the schemes of Satan
and all his minions and all those who rose up
to conspire against God and what happened Men
were delivered from their sins and it becomes
a victory And the wave is growing And his kingdom
is growing throughout the world and throughout
history You know, they plotted to keep men trapped
in sin so that they could maintain themselves
and their families. This is what their focus
was. And you see this all through scripture.
It's all about, oh, as long as it's not in my
generation or it's not in my family, the masses
don't matter. But God is faithful to his son
and thus to us, his people, the church. God allowed
Jesus to suffer and die, and the father vindicated
Jesus. Jesus trusted the Father and did good
in order to inherit the earth and all of its
peoples. Do not fret or be envious of the wicked.
If we're not supposed to do that, what then should
we do? Verse 3 of Psalm 37 tells us, trust in
Yahweh and do good. Dwell in the land and feed
on his faithfulness. Delight yourself also in
Yahweh and he shall give you the desires of your
heart. Trust God and do good. Just like Jesus
trusted the Father, we are to trust God knowing
that he always keeps his word and is faithful
and just. Earlier we mentioned That doing good
is taking dominion Over our portion of the world
and causing the fruit of the spirit to flourish
While we stand at our post Dearly beloved your
post is where God has sovereignly placed you
each and every day In your marriage God has sovereignly
put you in your marriage And some of you are
going Others are like, man, it's really good.
Sometimes the seasons ebb and flow. But God has
sovereignly put you in your marriage. Look at
your children. Some days you may feel run over.
But God has sovereignly put you in there. Trust
God and do good. Trust God. and do good. What
about your varying vocations? Across this room,
there's all these vocations represented here.
Trust God and do good. God has sovereignly put
you in that place. In sickness and health, in
teaching and discipling your families. All of
these things, all of the people that God brings
in your path each and every day, that is a sovereign
appointment. You might have thought you made
it. Trust God and do good. We're to dwell in
the land. That is the place where God has assigned
us. We're told to dwell in that land. And we
need to know this, that as we do this, dwelling
there, even if the wicked are plotting and seemingly
winning, We are told to delight ourselves in
the Lord and He will give us the desires of our
heart Now I know every one of you in this room
has desires right now that you know are unfulfilled
Trust God and do good believe God and then stand
at your post Now sometimes we hear the verses
like this, what about that person with corrupt
desires? God's not gonna answer that. But he
says, he'll give us the desires of our heart.
When we delight in the Lord, we are given a new
heart and a mind so we can actually have rightly
ordered loves, affections, and yes. even desires.
And when we trust God and do good, we stand at
our post and we be faithful in it. We rest and
God will give you the desires of your heart.
Verse 5 tells us, commit your way to Yahweh,
trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
And He shall bring forth your righteousness as
light and your justice as noonday. Instead of
fretting and being full of envy, we are to commit
our way to Yahweh, to the Lord, trusting Him.
that as we take all that he has given us here
on earth and Rearrange it thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven. He's giving you your
portion And he's saying here's what you're gonna
do you're gonna take that portion and you're
gonna rearrange it so everything that you're
responsible for Reflects the priorities of heaven.
That's what you're going to do committing yourself
to the to the Lord and What are you gonna do?
In His great faithfulness and mercy, He will
bring our desires to pass and He will bring forth
the righteousness of Christ in us. And it will
be a light to others in your life. The light
of Christ Jesus proceeding from you. And you
will find your justice. What is this? It is vindication.
at Noonday. It will be so vindicated that it
will be as if nothing is hidden. Trust Him. Commit
yourself to Him. This is of course Christ in
His gospel. And it is revealed in us by our steadfastness
and the faithful fruit. Verse 7 tells us rest
in Yahweh and wait patiently for him. Do not
fret because of him who prospers in his way,
because of the man who brings wicked schemes
to pass. We keep having these, it just keeps
repeating itself. Why is this? Because he knows
how we are. He knows our hearts. He knows that
we have difficulty with this. We are to rest
in God. Now this word rest here is a little bit
different than some of the other Rests that you
might find in the Hebrew language this one means
to seemingly grow dumb and to hold your peace
while patiently waiting on God That's a different
kind of rest than we normally think about Right
in this particular case, it's telling us to seemingly
grow dumb That is what? There are all these things
in your life each and every day that are screaming
for your attention and most of them don't even
matter and What one of the things that God is
telling us right here in this passage is to say
all those that are scheming around you All those
who are plotting against God no matter how great
they are. They're gonna all perish So what do
you got to do? Treat that as what? I'm going
to trust God even though it seems overwhelmingly
I can't figure this out. And do what? Hold your
peace while we wait patiently for God. And again,
He told us not to fret. Do not churn with angst
and become discontent. The psalmist continues.
He connects these things here in verse 8. Hear
me out now. I'm especially going to tell you,
men, look up here. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Do not fret. There's that word again.
It only causes harm. Cease from anger. Forsake
wrath. When God repeats a word again and again,
we must pay attention. Do not fret appears three
times in eight verses God is telling his people
that he is Lord of the story all of the stories
including your story The beginning and the middle
and the end it's all his story Trust Him, not
in blissful ignorance, but rather trust Him by
completing the task, that mission that He has
given you, to make disciples of all the nations
by baptism and teaching them all that Jesus has
commanded. Complete the mission of Christ and
His Church from heaven to the whole earth so
that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will
cover the earth as the waters cover... See now
we think about that on the grand scale and we're
like, I don't know how that works out. That's
right That's not your portion. Your portion is
what he is giving you to do And not fretting
we are told to cease anger and forsake wrath
when we become angry and seek vengeance This
is real important. When we become angry and seek
vengeance, we are bringing charges against God
Almighty and His story. We are bringing charges
against God for what He has allowed in His sovereignty.
And that undermines and harms us. It'll harm
you and your mission. To be clear, I'm not saying
walk around in a hapless and fatalist mentality.
No, I'm not saying bury your heads in the sand.
No, I'm calling you, as Christ is calling you,
to be faithful to God. and his ongoing mission
in your life with all the peoples and all the
circumstances within your realm of responsibility
and whomever else, God brings along to your path.
We are not to ignore wickedness or evildoers,
but do not become angry and emotionally consumed
by that wickedness. Trust and obey. Now you're
starting to see why we sang that song, right?
Do what God has for you. Be faithful for what
God has given you. And He will reward you with
more responsibilities. Isn't that the biblical
principle? Be faithful in little and you'll be
given more. We want to see politics change. We
want to see the world change. We want to see
greater morality. Be faithful in your calling,
in your portion. Don't be full of anger and angst
be faithful and What will happen God will give
you more responsibility perhaps some of you will
even be called to leadership in your businesses
and your vocation in your church and the civil
magistrate we want to see different laws pray
be faithful to your portion and Consider if I
am faithful in my portion What else does God
have me to do to restore biblical truth in the
world? Be faithful in what you're doing and perhaps
He will give you more responsibility. Perhaps
you can even ask Him if you should seek more
responsibility. But you must trust God and be
faithful where you are right now. For a second
time returning to the text for a second time.
We see that God says that evildoers will be cut
off But those who wait on the Lord shall inherit
the earth all of you are familiar with Psalm
2 and it says that God says of his son the father
says of the son that if the son asks him for
the nations as An inheritance he will give it
to them inheriting the nations Jesus tells us
in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 that the
meek shall inherit the earth. Those who wait
with restraint. That's what meekness is, restraining
great power. Those who wait with restraint will
inherit the earth. Think about Jesus. We know
that Jesus said he could have called down 12
legions of angels to deliver him and vindicate
him right now and Every single one of us would
have still been in our sins So he restrained
himself that we might be delivered the meek inherit
the earth And now for a third time God in verse
10 says for yet a little while and the wicked
shall be no more Indeed, you will look carefully
for this place. You'll look for the wicked. You
know, we think we know history. There have been
billions and billions of people on this earth.
And we have remnants of portions of history,
and some of it's been written down. And I know
some of it's been corrupted. But the truth is
that there's been many wicked people, many influencers,
many kings, many tribal chiefs. Many leaders
in their community who plotted against God and
did wicked, and nobody knows who they are. If
I were to say, list 100 names of the most wicked
people in the last 500 years, you might could
do that. Maybe, maybe. I suspect after about
10, most of us would be tapped out. You look
for them, and you won't find them. God is assuring
his people that the wicked will not prosper in
the long term why? Because God is sovereign in
this his story Verse 11 tells us that the meek
shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves
and the abundance of peace now right now in your
life, I Don't know a single person who says they
have enough peace in their life And I talk to
all of you. I don't know one person who says,
it's all working out. I've got all the peace
I need. It's totally sufficient right now as
it is. The meek shall inherit the earth and shall
delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
We do not have to fret and become emotionally
distraught and consumed about the wicked condition
of the world. Jesus has delivered us from our
sins and the Father has adopted us, his people,
as his children. Romans chapter 8 verse 17 says
this, and if children, that's us, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if
indeed we suffer with him, that we also may be
glorified together. When suffering comes, it's
God's work of maturity in our lives. In maturity,
we stay on task, the very mission that He has
given us, to worship Him and to glorify Him in
all that He has given us dominion over. The meek,
those who in restraining great power will accomplish
their mission. and shall inherit the earth. And
yes, delight in the abundance of peace found
in Christ Jesus. Dearly beloved, hear these center
words from Psalm 37, speaking of the righteous.
For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth,
but those cursed by Him shall be cut off. The
steps of a good man are ordered. by Yahweh, the
covenant God brought to us by Jesus Christ, and
He delights in His way. Speaking of the righteous
man, though he fall, he shall not be utterly
cast down, for Yahweh upholds him with His hand.
The hand of God is in your life in your story
every single day. Dearly beloved in God's sovereignty
the meek inherit the earth trust in the Lord
and do good God upholds you all because he is
drawn near to us in the gracious work of Christ
Jesus He has given us he has marked us out in
baptism and placed his name upon us So all of
you, be at peace and delight in God's grace towards
you all. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we give
you praise for the grace and mercy that you have
bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus. We have been
made strong in the promises of your word today
from Psalm 37. Help us, we pray, to trust in
you, to put away all fretting. envy, and anger,
that we may stand our post and do good in the
circumstances that you have given us. Let our
hearts be full of your abundant love, joy, gratitude,
and peace. We ask all this for Jesus' sake, who
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit forever and
ever. Amen.