Dearly Father, what precious words were just read from Your Word. For He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. That He would take our sin and our wrath, our unfaithfulness, and wear it. And He would then exchange, He would impute His righteousness, His perfect robes of righteousness upon us instead. He would be treated As we deserve to be treated by the wrath of you, O God, because of our sin against you, yet because of Christ, we now are looked upon and loved upon as a father would look upon the love of his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you and we praise you, Lord, for the great exchange, for Christ taking our portion and freely giving us his, that we might then be redeemed with new hearts, a new family, sins forgiven, righteousness given, and all the promises of eternity are guaranteed with eternal life, even now, empowering us by this power of the Spirit. We thank you and we praise you. for your mercy and your grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, we recognize that in this world there's much sin, and even we contribute to it, even as your people. And so life gets difficult, and Psalm 37 helps us to deal with those things, I think, recognizing the foundation of Christ, first and foremost. in the inheritance and the promises of Christ, but then walking in this life in the midst of difficulty and sin and difficulties and discouragement. Please help us, Lord, as we turn to your word in Psalm 37. Lord, may it be encouragement to us, those who are in Christ, to walk faithfully, to trust in you, to delight in you, to commit our ways to you. I pray for those who are outside of Christ, Lord, that today would be the day of salvation for them, that they'd understand what that means by looking to Christ in repentance and faith. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen. You may be seated. And turn to Psalm 37. And like I'm apt to do, I'd like to begin with a few questions. Have you ever had the despairing feeling that Though you're doing the best you can to walk with the Lord according to His Word and according to His will, still there are difficult times and unfair circumstances that ever seem to be against you and weigh you down, and the discouragement piles up. Or maybe, though you're really trying to deal with overcoming a past sin, it feels like it can never be overcome. Maybe there's one step forward and three quarters of a step backwards. Or perhaps you're one of those who's working hard with integrity to earn a living, as God has called you to do so as a husband and a father, yet the income doesn't seem to pay the bills. And even when it does, it seems like the bills pop up like guacamole, and it doesn't seem to cover those things. Maybe you're laboring at school, and yet your classes and your projects seem overwhelming. There's only so much time at night to try to get them done. And then even the instructor or the teacher changes the rules or the directions of the projects. And it seems hopeless. Maybe you're laboring as a homemaker without much praise or recognition, maybe even ridicule and disdain from the world around you. It seems discouraging. Maybe you're trying to teach and you have been teaching Your children, of the Lord loving them and the Lord praying for them daily, yet one or many of them reject it all, reject you in the process, and even go in the opposite direction, while other people's children seem to be doing just fine, and the yearly Christmas letter seems to make your home not look like what you'd like it to be. Maybe it's a spouse who has left you or a child who dies early. There are difficulties in life that can lead to bitterness. Maybe on top of all that, to make it even harder with the difficulties of life, you know of others who maybe even are against you, who are using sinful methods and certainly doing everything to walk contrary to the will of God, yet they get the promotion that you needed and desired. They get the praise and the better grades from the instructor. Their child went on to be successful, maybe even became a Christian. Their marriage and their family seems intact and healthy. Well, if you have these discouragements, you're not alone. If you don't have them, you probably will at some point, or you have in the past. And these discouragements can be debilitating. What happens in times of difficulties and circumstances like this, we get tunnel vision. And we see only what's immediately ahead of us, only looking at the problem or the problems or the adversary or the adversaries that seem to be against us. And we fret, as David speaks of in Psalm 37, and we begin to despair, even agitation up to anger with a bitterness towards others and even towards God. Why is this happening to me? I don't deserve this. Well, in the midst of these and similar situations, we need to see the big picture. We need to trust and rest in the one who paints and controls the big picture. We need to not fret, as we will read, but to trust in the Lord and rest and delight in Him and commit to His ways and wait on Him while keeping His ways in the meantime, seeing the big picture He has given us. As we navigate the smaller things that sometimes don't seem so small. With the immense helps and promises that God has given us. And this is essentially what an older learned David teaches us in Psalm 37. And so in Psalm 37 is a limitless well of helps for the Christian in such difficulty, especially when it seems the wicked are flourishing in comparison to your life. So look to Psalm 37, and hopefully you've turned there. Psalm 37 is an acrostic psalm with its practical theme seen in the first two verses. The first two verses read like this, and we already read the first 11, but the first two verses, do not fret, and really it means do not fret yourself. It's pointed back to the hearer. Do not fret because of evildoers, because of the wicked, nor be envious or jealous of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb." That's the theme. Do not fret because of the wicked, but see the big picture that God is in charge. And God will vindicate you and uphold you in the midst of the difficulties. This psalm deals with the question, why do the wicked succeed and the righteous don't seem to? with a practical theme of how and why not to worry about or even be envious of the wicked, especially in the light of the wicked's seemingly unearned prosperity and evil plotting. And this psalm then reminds us of Psalm 1. I'd like to read Psalm 1, but there's only so much time. With Psalm 1, you have the way of the righteous versus the way of the wicked being compared. This psalm then acts as an exposition of the third beatitude. We said that a few weeks ago, and we actually looked at the beatitudes. Matthew chapter 5, verse 5, that the meek shall inherit the earth. It acts as an exposition of the third beatitude, especially the first 11 verses. And Psalm 37 is like a chapter in the Proverbs. It's unique in the Psalms. It feels like you're reading a chapter of the Proverbs. And we do have an outline for it, you can see it in the bulletin, but the outline's kind of forced, much like when we try to read through the Proverbs and hook things together, that's okay. But there really is not much of an outline to this chapter, but it's really a linking together of short sayings of wisdom, related to the same things, but short sayings of wisdom. And what's unique about this psalm, it doesn't speak to God, we think of the psalms of being David or others, speaking to God and praising God directly, but this psalmist is speaking to the reader. You're being spoken to. You're being encouraged. And the author himself, we find out in verse 25, that he seems to be older, and he looks back as an older man at what he's learned, what experiences he's had, what maturity that he can pull on to give counsel to the reader, what he's learned, And to understand this psalm, really what you need to do is read and think about it in its entirety, read through it, think about it, put some notes along the side, and go back and read it again, and come back a week later and keep chewing upon it. We don't have that much time, so we will walk through it with an outline. What are some themes of Psalm 37? Well, multiple times you may have noticed, even the first eight verses, we're told, do not fret. Do not fret. Do not fret over the wicked's success or scheming, for their prosperity and position are temporary, and their success is surface level and short-lived. And their scheming will be shattered, because the Lord will vindicate His own. And what you see in front of you is not what will be. There's more to come, and God's in charge of it. Do not fret. But also, and we see in the opening verses, trust in the Lord. Kind of goes together, doesn't it? Do not fret, but trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord who is in charge, who is merciful and gracious, who has redeemed you by the blood of Christ as His very own, and He will vindicate you and defend you in the end. And He will give greater blessings now that even the unrighteous know, and even greater infinite blessings later are promised as your inheritance. Do not fret, but trust in the Lord, and then delight in the Lord. Just as we're to delight in the Sabbath, we delight in the Lord. They go together. And delight in His care. We'll see the theme of delighting in Him throughout the psalm. And then commit to His ways. And then rest in Him. Waiting patiently on Him in the long term while you're keeping His ways in the short. That's really the theme. What do you tell the person who comes home and his wife is not there anymore? What do you tell the person whose child died early, what do you tell a person that's under persecution and it doesn't seem fair what's going on? Well, you say, don't fret, trust in the Lord, delight in Him, and commit to His ways as you wait patiently on Him and rest in Him. I could just stop there and say amen and have the closing hymn, but we need to go through more. We've mentioned in the psalm, it speaks of the meek who will inherit the land or inherit the earth. How is this mentioned in this? Well, if you have Psalm 37 in front of you, I want us to point or spot check a few verses that have this theme of the meek inheriting the earth. And we get a better idea than what the Beatitude is trying to speak of as well. Look at verse 3. In verse 3, trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. This dwelling on the land is the idea of the meek inheriting the earth, inheriting the land. Why? Because inheriting the land means the dwelling in the presence of God and the blessings of God now and forevermore and what's promised in eternity. is what's being looked to. And dwelling in the land, the one who trusts in the Lord, he then does good while he's trusting the Lord. He's doing outward things. Dwelling in the land in the blessing of God. Feeding on his faithfulness. It has the idea of grazing on the things of God and learning faithfulness. Look at verse 9. After he says, cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret, it only causes you harm. Verse 9, for evildoers shall be cut off. But those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. Who are the meek that are being spoken of here? They're the ones who do not fret. They have self-control. They're ceasing from anger. But they seek good, and compared to the evildoers who will be cut off, they wait on the Lord because they have an inheritance that is promised, and it will be. And then verse 10, for yet a little while, and the wicked shall be no more. Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but he shall be no more. There's vindication. But, verse 11, the meek shall inherit the earth. We're speaking about eternal things. Shall inherit the earth, and he shall delight himself in the abundance of peace that flows from this. Especially in the midst of difficulties and persecution. Look at verse 18. The previous verse to verse 18, the Lord upholds the righteous. He upholds the meek and therefore the Lord knows the days of the upright and their inheritance will be forever. The meek who inherits the earth, this inheritance, it's hinted at already, but now it's actually stated you have a forever inheritance and the whole rest of the psalm expands that as we walk on. The meek is the one who seeks to be upright, spends his day under the cares of the Lord, under the care of the Lord, and he has an eternal inheritance to be trusted in. If you look at verse 21 and 22, The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives. He's acting like his father. But for those blessed by him will inherit the earth, and those cursed by him shall be cut off. The meek, they are merciful and generous to others. It speaks of the beatitudes, it seems like to me. And they're blessed, and they can look to an eternal inheritance and not worry about being cut off or the curse that the wicked will know. And if you look at verse 29, the righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. Who are these righteous people? In verse 31, the law of His God is in His heart. None of His steps shall slide. The righteous are those who have been redeemed by Christ. And they have the righteousness of Christ. They have a new heart. So the righteous are righteous because of what God has done in their life. The law of God is in their heart. It talks about a new heart. And so in this day, their steps will not slide the same Lord of Eternity who promises eternity to them, He watches their steps now. And that's really the theme. Walk with the Lord now, but look at the big picture ahead. And so, therefore, the righteous shall inherit the land, their eternal inheritance, and they will dwell in it. How long? Forever. See the big picture. And then finally, in verse 34, wait on the Lord and keep His way. I like that phrase. We're waiting on the Lord. We can't control the things that are going on, but we wait on the Lord. But in the meantime, what do we do? We keep His way. And He shall exalt you to inherit the land when the wicked are cut off and you shall see it. The meek wait on the Lord while keeping His way. They will be exalted to inherit the land and the blessings and the dwelling with God. The wicked who persecute you, who scheme against you, they will be cut off and you will see it in the end. while you're safe in the righteousness and the redemption of Christ Jesus. Again, I could stop right there, but we have to walk through this psalm. But that's a snapshot in detail of how are the meek, the meek who are inheriting the earth, what does that mean in this particular psalm? So I want us to pull back then and try to walk through it briefly. We won't cover every single line, every single thought of the psalm, but that gives you the overview of the psalm. And you have an outline in your bulletins. We'll first of all look at the blessed are the meek, the quiet spirit of the righteous who trust in God in the first 11 verses. It really is the foundation. of this whole psalm. And the rest of it is kind of shaky about how you outline it, really. So be generous with me. But in verses 12 through 20, we emphasize the way of the wicked. Then in verses 21 through 26, it's contrasted more so with the way of the righteous. And then verses 27 through 33, now we have counsel to the righteous. And then in the last seven verses, we see the conclusion of seeing the big picture. It's really we're repeating the same sorts of things that are said in the first 11 verses. And that outline is in your bulletin. Let's walk through, especially these first 11 verses, before we speed up and skim most of the last. In verses 1 through 11, we read that at the beginning of our worship, and we sang that. So I won't read it again, but we'll read it as we go. We said, the theme to the whole psalm was set in verses 1 and 2. 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. David's comforting those who see the wicked faring well and they seem to be afflicted and they seem to be suffering instead. And David says, don't fret. And that word for fret has the idea of don't work yourself up in anger. Have you been there? Surely nobody in here has done that, but you've seen people who things are not going well, but it's going well to the person in the cubicle next to you for some reason. And you think about it, you get bitter and you work up to an agitation, even anger and jealousy and envious over what someone else has, even though you have Christ and the inheritance that comes through that. And so David says, do not fret. Don't work yourself up to anger. Don't be jealous over, over the evildoers. But verse 2, he says, for they soon shall be cut down like grass and withers the green herb. See the big picture. See the big picture and stop looking at just what's in front of you. And what David is doing, he basically restates Proverbs 24 verses 19 and 20, where then Solomon says, Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the wicked, for there will be no prospect for the evil man. The lamp of the wicked will be put out. And again, this sets the theme for the whole rest of the psalm. And so then verses 3-11, now what David is saying, he's saying, look to God and not to man. Look heavenward to get your anchor and your foundation there, not to the fleeting things of the earth. Verse 3, trust in the Lord and do good. Trust in the Lord and do good. Look to God and not man and the stuff of this life. But notice it's trust and obey. Trust and do. Faith and works actually do go together. You're not saved by works, but saving faith does have works that come from it. And we're saved to have works by the sovereignty of God. And faith is a cure for envy. And it brings contentment because it takes your eye off of the things that you're worried about and off of yourself. It helps defeat anxiety and worry and depression. by looking to God and the things of God and then doing them. Trust in the Lord and do. And doing those works by faith helps your faith to grow all the more and take your eyes off your frustration, off of the difficulties of life and on the things of God and serving Him. So the idea of trusting in God and doing means set your actions on your God. That is your focus of your actions on your God. rather than being bitter. And then he says, dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. Again, it's the idea of dwelling in the blessings that God gives you and feeding upon Him and your obedience. And it cultivates faithfulness in your own life. And it speaks of the fulfillment of the earthly blessings that we have, which are spiritual blessings through Christ. And those who trust Christ find eternal blessings that cannot compare with the temporary material gains of the wicked that we so often seek. So it's setting our actions on God. It's setting our desires on God. Dwelling with Him. And then it says, verse 4, Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your hearts. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your hearts. Look to God and delight in Him and not men and the stuff of this world. It's the idea of delighting in God instead of these other things that you're looking to that make you bitter. And it says He'll give you the desires of your heart. Doesn't that sound scary? Do you always want the desires of your heart? Well, the idea is that as you're delighting in God and you're trusting in Him, you're looking to the things of God and you're desiring the things that He would desire. And He's also happy to give you those desires as well. where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be. And to find delight in Christ gives a fullness in Christ and He fills you with that fullness. He moves on to verse 5. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass. We're setting our actions upon God. We're setting our desires on God. Now we're setting our will upon the things of God. Commit your way to God. Commit to God and not to men and the stuff of this life. It says He will do it. He'll bring it to pass. You're setting your desires on the things of God and committing to it. He'll guard you and uphold you and bring these things to pass. And the idea of committing means to lay yourself bare before God. It's not gritting your teeth and saying, I'm going to do it. It's more of the laying yourself bare before God in prayer. Say, I want to do this. Enable me to do this with a full expression of a prayerful desire to follow Him. A true taking your eyes off yourself and your own stuff and looking to God in prayer with nothing hidden about it. And it says in verse 6, He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. He will uphold you. He will defend you. He will vindicate you. I think it means He will sanctify you. He'll bring forth your righteousness as a light. As you're trusting in God, delighting in Him, and committing to His ways, our righteous God will lift us up and uphold us and sanctify us. And His righteousness then can be displayed through us, which is a wonderful blessing in itself. So again, I've already said these first six verses. What do you tell the person who's been discouraged or whatever the difficulty might be? Trust, delight, and commit. That's the basics of it. But this almost goes on in v. 7-10, Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret a third time because of Him who prospers in His way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret. It only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off. For those who wait on the Lord, they shall 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." Verses 7 through 10 are really a gentle repeating and encouragement of what verses 3 through 6 have already said. And we really have the same idea throughout the whole psalm The cycle is saying these same things in different ways to make you to hear it and understand. Rest in the Lord and wait for Him. Be content in the Lord now, but be waiting for His timing to come. And don't fret. So we've already said we set our actions on God, we set our desires upon Him, we set our will upon Him, but now we're setting our contentedness upon Him, rest in Him, wait upon Him, and certainly the Lord's Day Sabbath is a God-given way of learning to rest and wait in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the God of eternity. In verse 8, cease from anger. Forsake wrath. That hints back to the opening. Don't be agitated. Don't be angry about these things. Stop. So He says cease from anger. Forsake wrath. In other words, now set yourself. You have self-control over these things. And do not fret. It only causes harm. And then we're reminded as we will be throughout this psalm, the wicked will be cut off. But as you wait, you will inherit the land. In a little while, the wicked will be no more. It might seem like it's going on forever, what you're dealing with. But see the big picture. And the meek will inherit the earth and delight themselves in the peace of God, the blessing of God in all of that. What's wonderful about Verse 11 is, the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Earlier it says, delight yourself in God himself, in verse four. Now it's delight yourself in the blessings of God. You can do that. Remembering the giver as well as the gift, but we can delight in God and all of the peace and the abundance that he gives us. And so again, what do we tell a person who's amidst of difficulty? Trust in God, delight yourself in him, commit yourself to him, rest in him and wait upon him. That's the opening and the foundation to the whole psalm. And really, the rest of the psalm is lather, rinse, and repeat, but from different angles. If you could consider it maybe a gem with all the facets on it, and you turn it around to see how it reflects the light in all sorts of different ways, but it's still the same gem. So then you have verses 12 through 20. And now the focus, though, perhaps, is focused on the way of the wicked. We've talked about basically the counsel to the righteous, stay put, trust, commit, delight. But now we're getting more so into the wicked and how that looks. So look at verse 12. The wicked plots against the just and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy to slay those who have upright conduct. Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. Do you see the back and forth in verses 11 to 12, and I should say 12 and 13 and 14 and 15? The wicked plots against the just and gnashes his teeth at him, but God laughs. That reminds us of Psalm 2, and God laughing at the nations who are scheming against him. We can laugh at those who scheme against his people as well. Why does he laugh? Because he sees that the wicked's day is coming. His schemes and his gnashing at the righteous are fleeting. Justice will come and vindication will come. And then again, verse 14, the wicked is drawing his sword and he's bending the bow to cast down the poor and needy and even the righteous But the righteous should not fret, because their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. It makes us think of Haman in the book of Esther, who built the gallows for the righteous, but by the providence of God and the work of God, it was used against him instead. In the end, this is what happens with the wicked. And the righteous are spared from that because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verses 16-20, after seeing the wicked way described, if you will, you see the thoughts and the plans and the actions of the wicked in verses 12-15. Then in verses 16-20, now we see more of this contrasted to the righteous. Look at verse 16. A little that a righteous man has. Have you been there? I only have one car and he has three. Look at my house compared to his. Whatever it might be, a little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. Do you see the comparison? One little righteous man, he has a little. It's better than all the riches of many wicked. Because he has the blessings and the inheritance of the eternal God of the universe through Christ Jesus. Both now and forever, even what little he has in this life is greater then all of that of the wicked combined. In verse 17, for the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. Before we're breaking the bows and we're breaking the arrows or the sword of the wicked in defense of the righteous, and actually it's used against them, we'll hear The Lord upholds the righteous, but the arms of the wicked will be broken." What does that mean? It means their ability to sin, their ability to persecute, their ability to have all this stuff in this life will be taken away. Their arms will be broken. But instead, comparing us to the righteous, they will be upheld by God Himself. And then you look to verse 18. For the Lord knows the days of the upright. The days are ordered for you. And they're ordered graciously and mercifully and for purpose. And that means even if you're going through difficulty. But also means that He knows the days of the upright. He knows what you're going through. There's nothing hidden from Him. And so He can rest and trust in both His sovereignty but also His care along the way. that He will give us everything we need and whatever He brings us through. And we have the resources of the King with a new heart, with the Word of God, with the people of God, with the Spirit of God, with the promises of God. Trust, delight, and commit. And their inheritance shall be what? Shall be forever. So now it might seem like there's a little. Do you see the comparison? But we have forever. And even what we have now is greater than what they have. And we have the inheritance of eternity. And then in verse 19, they shall not be ashamed in the evil time, speaking of the righteous. And in the days of famine, they shall be satisfied. That means now again. We can be content, even the difficulties of life. Our God will satisfy us and care for us. But the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord Like the splendor of the meadows shall vanish, into smoke they shall vanish away. Again, the little of the righteous is greater than the many riches of the many wicked. That's now, but we will not be ashamed in that last day, because Christ Jesus has taken our shame, and the wicked will perish, just like Psalm 2. And everything they have will vanish away, it'll come to nothing. So you have the contrast of the wicked way and the righteous way and the results of it. The idea then is that the righteous is to be content in their God and all the blessings He gives us now and all the inheritance that is to come. So you have the way of the wicked maybe made more obvious in verses 12-20. Then you have more of a contrast of the way of the wicked to the way of the righteous in verses 21-26. Let's look at verses 21-26. We start off with the now. The wicked borrows and does not repay, describing those outside of Christ in this life, but the righteous shows mercy and gives. That's even part of dealing with the difficulties of life. Continue to be obedient, committing to the will of God, and being outward directed, being like our God in mercy and generosity. The wicked borrows and does not repay. The righteous shows mercy and gives. For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth. and those cursed by him shall be cut off. So you see the comparison now in this life versus what's promised in the future. That's to be an encouragement to us, brother and sister. Verse 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He sees our days, he orders our days, and he delights in his way. Look at verse 23. We've said we delight in the Lord, and we delight in the abundance of peace he gives us, but now who's delighting in verse 23? God delights in the way of His people as they walk in Him. That's a wonderfully encouraging thought, to live in a life that's in a way that's pleasing to God, as He orders and upholds the steps of His people. And then verse 24, though He fall, He shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds Him with His hand. Again, the picture Trust in the Lord. Delight in Him. Commit your ways to Him. He upholds you. He delights in you through the Lord Jesus Christ. He upholds you even when you fall and you have to get back up and dust yourself off and get back on the track. Then verse 25, I have been young, and now I am old. David says, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken. What I'm telling you is not just scripture, but it's what I see that God does not forsake His people. It doesn't mean you won't have difficulties. It doesn't mean you won't have great difficulties. But if the big picture, you will not be forsaken. Whatever does then happen, there's a purpose behind it. You've already inherited the land and the earth and forever blessings from Him. So I've been young and now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. They are cared for. He is ever merciful, and he lends, and his descendants are blessed. What's wonderful about verse 26 is that it points us back to verse 21. We said when we taught through the Beatitudes that when you're a peacemaker, when you're actually carrying out the character of the kingdom, you're trying to reflect the character of your father who has saved you through the Lord Jesus Christ. You're part of the family, you should act like it. You see in verse 26, God is ever merciful and he lends. Verse 21, the righteous shows mercy and he gives, reflecting the character of our God. And he delights in that and he upholds us. And he might even use difficulties in life for those things to be shown forth. And we can rejoice in this. Look at verses 27 through 33. Verses 27 through 33, we've looked at the way of the wicked versus the way of the righteous. And included in that is how the Lord upholds the righteous, but yet the wicked will be cursed. And in the end, the differences are stark. And there's vindication for the righteous in the end. So look at the big picture. Look at the big picture. But now I think what you see with verses 27-33 is now old man David is saying, let me tell you some more things, righteous reader of this psalm, to encourage you in giving counsel, counsel to the righteous. Now that we've seen the contrast with the way of the wicked. So verse 27, depart from evil and do good. Again, when we say trust in God and commit to His ways and delight in Him, we're not ignoring the fact that you sin and you need to confess and repent. We're not denying the fact that there are things you maybe need to do better, and you do it with contrition. So He says, depart from evil and do good, and dwell forevermore. Again, at this point in time, depart from evil and do good. Serve outwardly. Stop fretting and being agitated, and dwell forevermore. It's a beautiful phrase. It's expanded about inheriting the earth forevermore. Dwell in my presence and in my blessings and in my promises now and forevermore. See the big picture. For the Lord loves justice, verse 28, and does not forsake His saints. Have you heard that already? Yes, you have. They are preserved forever. Does that mean you might not be taken home to heaven early with a shortened life? That doesn't mean that's out of the question, but you'll be preserved forever in whatever way the Lord sees fit through the Lord Jesus Christ. But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. So stop looking with envy and jealousy towards others. Verse 29, the righteous shall inherit the land again and dwell in it forever. We're hard headed. And so David tells us time and time again, so we can repeat this to ourselves as well. And verse three, the mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom and his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. I know we know this from a new covenant aspect, that the law in the heart represents the redeemed heart, the new heart. And so the righteousness that is spoken of is an imputed righteousness that then works itself out through the saved soul. And so the righteous one, instead of being envious and angry and jealous, He speaks wisdom out of the overflow of his heart, and his tongue talks of justice. That also means he rests in these things and not being fretting about it. And the law of God is in his heart, and none of his steps shall slide. He's looking to the future. It's a big picture, but he also notices that on the day-by-day stepping in this life, my God will keep my steps and oversee me, and I will not slide. And then in verse 32, we move back to the wicked. The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him. We start off with that in the very beginning, gnashing our teeth. And the Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged. The point is, yes, there are adversaries against you. You will be persecuted, Jesus says. They persecuted me. They put me to death. What do you expect? But the Lord will not leave his people alone. He will not forsake them and they will not be condemned. And that's the big picture. That's the big picture. The Lord overrules the circumstances of life and the adversaries in life because he's in charge of all these things. Then we look at the very end in verses 34 through 40. And really what we do now, I think we come back to the beginning of what verses 1-11 was saying. And we come back to see the big picture again and try to summarize these things together. Let me just read it, verses 34-40. Wait on the Lord and keep His way and He shall exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it." This is looking to eternity. Wait now. You're in this life. Wait on the Lord. See the big picture. But while you're doing it, keep His way. And He shall exalt you on the land. It's a promise. And the wicked will be cut off and you will see it. I have seen the wicked in great power. and spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more. If you didn't hear that, indeed, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the blameless man, and again, we're made blameless through Christ, and observe the upright, for the future of that man is peace. Do you see the contrast of the future? One is no more, but the one has a future of peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together. The future of the wicked shall be cut off. There is eternal judgment for those who are outside of Christ. But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. It's all by His grace and mercy. He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in Him. And now with verse 40, we've gone all the way back to verse 3. They trust in Him. They're delivered by Him in Christ Jesus. He will deliver them continually with all the eternal inheritance that they have in Christ. And they're redeemed because they trust in Him. The first and last sections, verses 1-11, now verses 34-40, are prescriptive to the righteous. While the middle sections are descriptive of the contrast between the righteous and the wicked. But if we take them all together, the prescriptions of the first and last sections are an encouraging and endearing advice for the Christian to proactively, and proactivity is necessary, to proactively live for Christ and to avoid worry. If we could summarize these things, and by the way, they're listed on the insert. If you want to see them later, you don't have to write them down. If you want to summarize what David is telling us here, he says, do not fret, but trust in the Lord. which means to set your focus not on your trials, but on your Lord. Trust in the Lord and do good. Trust in the Lord and do good, which means set your actions on the Lord. Trusting must then lead to doing. Dwell on the Lord, feed upon him and delight in the Lord. Set your desires on the Lord and he fulfills them. Commit your way to the Lord. Commit your way to the Lord. Set your will firmly upon Him. Rest in and wait on the Lord. Set your contentedness on the Lord. Cease from anger and wrath. Set your self-control on the Lord. And wait on the Lord and keep His way. Wait on the Lord and keep His way. Set your future hopes and your current steps on the Lord. The summary then has set your attention, your actions, your affections, your aim, and your aspirations on the Lord. Looking at the big picture and the promises that are already given to you in Christ Jesus. I think it's interesting in verses 34 through 40, really David does close the psalm with what could be the description of the destination of those who are outside of Christ versus those who are in Christ and in him alone. It does remind us of Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 combined in a sense. If you look at those last verses for the wicked in verses 34 through 40, they might seem like they're in great power. but they pass away, and at some point, they'll be no more. They cannot be found. They don't have peace. They're transgressors who will be destroyed together, and they will be cut off. They will perish. And so whatever kind of joys they think they have in this world, it's fleeting, and it does not last. And the end result is an eternity apart from God under His wrath. But also in the last seven verses, the blessings of those who know righteousness through Christ Jesus. They shall inherit the land. The future of them is in peace. Their salvation is from the Lord. He helps and delivers them, and they can trust in Him. So you have really the prescriptions and the descriptions of the ending of both the wicked and the righteous, which should be an encouragement for the righteous in their serving God in the midst of difficulties. I want to close with a story of some sort, at least an account. We're going to close our worship with, It is well with my soul. You can even turn to hymn number 580 if you'd like to. and have that ahead of time. And hymn number 580, I think we're pretty familiar with. Psalm, or hymn number 580. And most of us know the story behind it, but I think it's helpful to give a real life example of what does it mean to wait on the Lord, and to trust in the Lord, and delight in Him, and commit even when things are about as bad as they can be. Horatio Spafford was the writer of It Is Well With My Soul. And before writing this hymn, he'd already suffered the great loss of the death of his only son. Then he suffered a financial loss of a large real estate investment due to the Chicago fire of 1871. And now he's on a ship taking his wife. I should say he's not on a ship yet. A ship taking his wife and his four daughters across the Atlantic Ocean to Great Britain. was then struck by an English vessel, and the ship sank in 12 minutes. And all four of his daughters drowned, and his wife survived. And arriving in Wales, she cabled her husband with the dire words, saved alone. So again, one son was dead, four daughters now had drowned, his wife was saved, but saved alone. Horatio Spafford quickly left by ship to join his wife, And the captain of the ship that he was then on knew of Horatio's sorrow and his need for bereavement, and so he paused the ship's journey across the ocean to show Spafford the place where Bessie, Annie, Maggie, and Tonetta had drowned previously. It's then and there that Horatio Spafford penned the words that we're about to sing, that we sing so often. He penned these words, when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. At least at this point in his life, he's seeing the big picture in ways that are supernatural. In the time of greatest need for comfort, in the midst of a nonsensical tragedy, he turns to the love and goodness of his sovereign God, who he can trust and delight in and commit to and rest in and wait upon. He also turns to the love and goodness of his Savior, who suffered for the salvation of his soul. When we go through whatever we go through, we know that Christ has suffered more, and our Savior understands. So then the rest of the hymn speaks of how can one trust in the Lord and delight in Him, commit to His ways, even in the worst of all tragedies? Well, it's because Christ has paid the penalty to save your soul. You're now freed from the ownership of the evil one, and you can deal with trials. Your sin has been wiped away. In the last verse, Christ is returning. It's guaranteed in your inheritance. He's returning to make all things right. And to vindicate all things, and so we read, though Satan should buffet, though trial should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and shed his own blood for my soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Whatever difficulty Spafford was going through, this was a greater difficulty that was already settled in Christ. And then the great promise, O Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. For all those who repent of their sin, and in faith place their life in the hands and the works of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood is shed for the salvation of their soul and complete cleansing of their sin. They have the sovereign promise of all of this inheritance that Psalm 37 is speaking of, and even what this hymn will speak of, that when Christ returns, their redemption will be complete as they rejoice to see Christ as He is, and they're made like Him, and all sin and all wrong and all injustice will forever be eradicated and vindicated. And so we can rejoice in the worst of times. We can trust and delight and commit and rest and wait because of our great God and who He is and what He has done for us and what He has promised. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word. We went through a whole lot today in a short amount of time. I do pray, Lord, that my brothers and sisters and And my friends are in the midst that they will go back over Psalm 37 and contemplate and think on this psalm maybe several times in the coming days and try to digest the comparison of the wicked to the righteous, the actions of both, the end of both, the promises to both, but then see that the meek shall inherit the earth and dwell in it forever and they can dwell in the blessings even now and it's only possible through the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to see the big picture Help us to see the long view that we can then rest in you and walk in obedience day by day, week by week, as you make us more and more like Christ. We can have a deeper setting joy in Christ, no matter what the circumstances of this life, a besetting joy that is supernatural, and it's because of Christ Jesus. And it's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.