Open up with me again to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. This is a long psalm, and we're going to cover all of it, but we're going to cover it in a little bit different way. There are two types of people that this beautiful psalm is talking about. Two types of people. It's talking about the wicked, and it's talking about the righteous. All through the psalm. Look at verse 17 with me. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. Look at verse 21. The wicked borroweth and payeth not again, but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth." The wicked, evildoers, and the righteous. I thought there was none righteous, no, not one. That's what I thought. That's what Romans 3.10 says, doesn't it? Well, turn with me over to Matthew 23. Matthew chapter 23. We're going to turn a little bit today. Sometimes we turn, sometimes we don't, but it's worth it. Today is worth it. It's always worth it. Matthew 23. Look at verse 34. The Lord says, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them you shall kill and crucify. And some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from, or starting with, the blood of righteous Abel. Our Lord God said, Abel was righteous. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts. So there's at least one. One righteous person. God said so. Turn with me to Luke chapter 1. Luke 1, look at verse 5. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord blameless." Two more. We've got three now. God said so. Well, what does that mean? Is the Scripture contradicting itself? Turn back to our text and we'll find out. Psalm 37. Look at verse 25 with me. I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. If by nature there's none righteous, we all believe that, don't we? If all are born sinners, If all come forth speaking lies, how can this be? How can this be? How can an undeserving sinner not be forsaken and be called righteous by God? Here's how. When our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, went to the cross, He became my sin. Physically. My sin. He didn't become sin. He became my sin. You know those things? That we just can't get out of here? You know those things? He became that. He took my filthy, rotten, dead, stinking sin and He laid it all over Hisself from the crown of His head to the sole of His foot. He became me. And then He cried the most glorious words a sinner has ever heard in his life. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me? He was forsaken for me. He was forsaken for every sinner that He chose to make righteous. And because of that, David can say in verse 25, I have been young and now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken. He was forsaken for me. And now all those that he did this work for, all that he made righteous, they fall in love with this man. They want to be where He is. I love Him. I love Him. I love Him. He's my life and He's my love and I just want to stand next to Him. I'm a follower of Him. Wherever He goes, that's where I go. They're called believers. They believe what He said. about who they are by nature. I am a sinner. I am a sinner. I'm a sinner. They believe who He is by nature. This man is sovereign. This is really God. Not who people are telling me God is. That man really is God. And He's holy. They believe in the work that He performed. I believe it's finished. I believe there's no sin on my record. I have sin in this flesh. There's enough sin in that fingernail to send me to hell for eternity. But there's no sin on my record. Do you believe it is finished? Alright. Now for the rest of this message, that's who I'm talking to. Not the world anymore. This message is for believers. This is instruction and it's comfort for our journey through the rest of this life. We've got a journey we have to go through for the rest of this life. This right here is comfort and instruction for the rest of our life. Our Lord gives us here in Psalm 37, exhortations for a believer's life. Wednesday night, we saw where the Lord said, My people are not of this world. They're not of this world. And it's a wonderful thing. They're not of this world. In Exodus 11, the Lord said, I've put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel, the righteous and the wicked. For God's people, for believers, this life is not easy. It is just not. It's not. The wicked are at peace with this world. They're happy. They're happy. Not believers. Not with this world. The wicked have no struggle with their sins. They don't have that additional burden over who they are and what they've done. Believers are completely consumed with it. It tarnishes everything that we touch in this life, our sin. They war with it and it feels like a never-ending struggle. Almost to the point that I just don't think I can bear it anymore. Turn with me to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. Now, I ask all of us and I ask me, let's pray in our heart right now that the Lord would let us enter into Psalm 73. This is wonderful. Lord help us. Psalm 73, look at verse 1. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. Now watch this. But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped, for I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain, Violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore His people return hither, and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? And is their knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency, for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus, I'm going to do something about this. Behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. I'll offend my brother. When I thought to know this, it was just too painful for me. No way out. Just too painful. Verse 17 says, Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Surely, thou did set them in slippery places, thou casted them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh, so, O LORD, thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved. and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before Thee. Nevertheless, in spite of me, I am continually with Thee. Thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and He's my portion forever. For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all them that go a-whoring from thee, but it is good for me to draw near to God. I've put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all thy works. He said, I was so envious. I was just so envious until God in His mercy brought me into the sanctuary of God. And then I understood their latter end. Now here we are in the sanctuary of God. So let's look at Psalm 37 and see what the Lord is telling us. Let's go back to Psalm 37. Verse 1 says, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. He's saying all flesh is grass. Every bit of it. Every man, it's all grass. And I don't care what it appears they have going for them now, don't envy them. Don't envy them. They're going to be cut down. They're going to be cut down. Look at verse 12. It says, The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming. Foolish man says, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. while God is sitting there in the heaven watching His days count down. He knows the exact day, the exact hour, the exact minute, and the exact second that He will no longer give that man a breath of air. The only reason he's living is because God says, breathe, breathe, breathe. And then one day, And that's it. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Laugh at arrogant man. Look at verse 14. The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. Our Lord said, he that lives by the sword is going to die by the sword. He told Peter, put up your sword. Didn't he? Peter, put up your sword. Vengeance is mine. Vengeance is mine. I'm going to take care of it. I'm going to take care of it. Vengeance is mine. Look at verse 16. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. How many people do you think know this God? The God that breaks arms. Well, that's not my God. Apparently not. My God wouldn't do that. Well, thanks be to God, that is our God. And their God is not like our God. He said it's better to have little. God's people have so little of this earth. So little. And it's tough on us. If we try to act like we're bigger than that, we're lying. It's tough on us. We see everything they have, everything they get, and we think, what about me? While the riches of the world, they keep growing and they keep growing, He's saying their riches are temporary. All that stuff is going to rust. It's all going to fade. But look at verse 18. It says, The Lord knoweth the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. When man leaves this earth, he can't take anything with him. I don't care what you accumulate. You just can't take it with you. But God's people have an inheritance that can never be taken away. Never. Be of good cheer. You have Jesus Christ. And if you have Jesus Christ, you have everything. You have all the gold in the mines. You have all the cattle on a thousand hills. Verse 20 says, But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs. They shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away. He's saying don't envy the lamb or the pig or the cow that's up there in that nice shiny stall just getting fatter and fatter. He's being prepared for a slaughter. God have mercy on his soul. We don't look at the wicked and say, ha, ha. No, God have mercy on his soul. Verse 35 says, I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. Yea, I sought him, but he couldn't be found. Men and women fight and they work to leave their mark on this world. That's what everybody's trying to do. Leave their mark on this world. And they do for a couple of generations. For a couple of generations they do. And after that, they're just gone. Gone. Verse 37 says, mark the perfect man. Mark the one whom God has caused to be a believer. Mark the one whom God has made righteous. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. That man has peace with God. That man has peace with other men. That man has peace inside himself. The end of that man is peace. Verse 38 says, But the transgressors shall be destroyed together, the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. 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. Okay, now we understand what's going on, right? Now that we see that, now that we understand there's a difference, now that we've been reminded of what the Lord God has done, what He said, because of that, in this text the Lord gives us eight exhortations for our lives. We haven't looked at them yet. Eight exhortations for a believer's life. If we will heed these, it will help us. It will help us the rest of our lives. Number one. First exhortation is verse one. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. fret not thyself because of evildoers. Let's not allow ourselves to just burn with jealousy. It's so easy to do that. Burn with envy. Burn with anger over other men and women. You know, most of our problems come from people. If we have a bad day, it's not because something broke, really, it's because of a person. That's why we have a bad day. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. They have it as good right now as they will ever have it in their soul's life. This physical life, this physical flesh, is as good as they will ever have it. The things that the Lord allows them to possess in this life, that's all they're ever going to get. We get Jesus Christ. Feel sorry for them. Let's remember, but for the grace of God, we would be one of them. A wicked evildoer. That's what we are by nature, but He's made us to be something different. He's put a difference. So fret not over them. Just fret not over them. When it comes, fret not. I get Jesus Christ. Here's the second exhortation. It's in verse 3. Trust in the Lord. Trust Him. Trust Him. You can trust Him. Trust Him. He's given us His Word. I give you my Word. We know His Word. We have the knowledge of His Word. Let's ask the Lord to cause us to put that to good use. Lord, would you give me the ability to do that? Trust Him. Trust Him. He said vengeance is mine. Trust Him. He said I've been young and now I'm old. I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor His seed actually physically go in without food. Trust Him. Faith in Christ, believing Him, trusting Him, looking to Him will cause us to just stop fretting. Let's not trust in any man. Let's not trust in any politician or any lawyer or any doctor to help us, protect us, or provide for us. Not a one of them. I don't care what program they have. I don't care if they're on Dr. Ross. Let's trust in the Lord. Let's trust Him. Okay, here's our third exhortation. It's in verse 4. Delight thyself in the Lord. Don't fret. Trust and delight thyself. I think of that as being like pamper yourself in the Lord. He is so delightful. He's just so delightful. In Him, we are so happy. When I really get a look at Him, I get happy. Happy is He that hath the God of Jacob for His help. When I'm low and I need some help, and I know in this moment He's helping me, that makes me happy. We're happy in Him. We're happy in His house. I'm happy right now. I really am. David said, I was so glad when they said, let's go to the house of the Lord. Let's do it. We're happy in His Word. Oh, thank the Lord for His Word. We read His Word. It blesses our heart. We're just so happy. We're happy in His will. Lord, Thy will be done. Whatever you want. I'm happy with that. We're happy in His mercy. The Gospel is just so sweet. It is just so sweet. It's so loving. It's so precious. This whole book is a love letter. This is written for God's people. If it weren't for God's people, the wicked don't need to know they're going to be destroyed. He'll just destroy them. The whole book is for God's people. This is a love letter. It's so precious. It's nothing but good news. It's nothing but good news. You're wicked. You're evil. You deserve to die. But I died for you. Well, that just makes me happy. Go over to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55, look at verse 1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, Lord, I don't have any money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. God's people are just happy. Fat and happy. They really are. Only in Him, though. Only in Him. This world is tough. In this world, we have nothing to be happy about. This world is hard. It's a cruel world. It's a miserable world. Here's the exhortation. Delight yourself in the Lord. Take a break. Relax in the Lord. Forget about it. Just forget about it. Here's our fourth exhortation. In our text, Psalm 37, it's in verse 5. It says, Commit thy way unto the Lord. Whatever is your way. Whatever comes your way. Commit it to the Lord. Immediately. roll it over to the Lord immediately. When you get that phone call of bad news, we hate those. Everything's going fine, everything's going good, the phone rings, it's something bad, commit it to the Lord immediately. Roll your burden over to Him. Lord, this thing is so far out of my hands, but I know that everything is in Your hands, everything. Thy will be done. Lord, my family, my kids, I worry for them. I really do. They're in Your hands. My children, Lord, I pray that You save their soul. And the only way their soul is going to be saved is if You do it. So they're in Your hands. They're in Your hands. It's out of my hands. It's totally in Your hands. Thy will be done. Cast your care upon Him, because He cares for you. He cares for you. Here's our fifth exhortation. It's in Psalm 37, verse 7. Rest in the Lord. When God completed His work, He rested. He rested. No more work to do. There's no more work to do. It's already finished. The work of our redemption, the work of our salvation, there's no more work to do. Just rest. Rest. It's all finished. This journey, we're saying exhortations for our journey for a believer's life, it's already purposed. That bad phone call is already purposed and you're going to get it. It's already ordered. The order has already been sent. Rest. Let me just quote this to you. Matthew 11, 28-30. He said, take my yoke upon you. Remember that? Let me quote it so I don't get it wrong. Let me read it so I don't get it wrong. He said, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest unto your souls. Go about this life meek and lowly in heart, and you'll have rest. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Now listen to this. Do you know what a yoke is for? You know what a yoke does? It's to join two together. Two. And He's saying, I've got an empty space right here. Take my yoke upon you. I'll do all the work and you can just rest. I'll do all the work. I actually have already done all the work. Just rest. Our sixth exhortation in Psalm 37 is in verse 8. Cease from anger. Cease from anger. Lord, help me. Oh, help me. Since we know that everything God does is on purpose. Since we know that everything that happens works together for good. All of it. What we perceive to be good, what we perceive to be bad, it's all for good. Let's cease from anger. There's no reason to be upset. If I believe that that was already purposed, if I believe God did it, what do I have to be mad about? Every time our flesh wants to raise its ugly head up, let's push him back down. Shut up. Get back down. Every time we feel that old man start to rage, and it happens, something happens, and mmm, stifle him back down. I want us to see a wonderful example of this. Okay? Turn with me to 2 Samuel 16. It's back toward Genesis. And it's after Ruth, it's after Judges. 2 Samuel 16. This is a blessing. 2 Samuel 16, look at verse 5. When King David came to Bahurim, Behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gerah. He came forth and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the mighty men were on David's right hand and on his left, And this is what Shimei said. Thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial. The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. Now watch this. Verse 9. Then said Abishah the son of Zariah unto king David, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. And the king said, What have I to do with you, you son of Zariah? So let him curse. Because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? What he's saying is, you know that the Lord does all things. You know every single thing that happens works together for good. The Lord told him, Curse David. So, what are you upset about? Alright, now look at verse 11. And David said to Abishah, to his servants, Behold my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeks my life. David's actual son was trying to kill him. How much more now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. Now watch this. It may be that the Lord will look upon mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. Let him curse. The Lord's about to do something good for me. You know, we already said the Lord told Peter, you know, they came to take him and Peter drew out his sword and he cut off that man's ear. The Lord said, Peter, don't you think that I could pray to the Father right now and He would send me twelve legions of angels to slaughter these men? Put your sword away. This is all happening for good. Let them take me and bind me and spit in my face and punch me and kick me and push thorns in my head and hang me until I'm dead. It's just a good thing. James 1 says, The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Joseph told his brothers that sold him into slavery, you meant it for evil, don't worry, God meant it for good. Let's just cease from anger. Okay, number 7. Let's go to number 7. Back in our text, Psalm 37. It's in verse 27. Psalm 37, 27. It says, Depart from evil and do good. That's something every parent tells his child. Every parent. Depart from evil and do good. Honestly, what parent wouldn't say that? There's none good. By nature, we're all evil. But here's the exhortation for the rest of our days. Strive to be like Christ. Even though we can't, even though we're held back by this flesh, even though we're sinned through and through, strive to be like Christ. Strive to obey His Word. If He says, this is good and this is evil, strive to do good and depart from evil. Paul said, the things that I do, I wish I didn't. I really honestly wish I didn't. And the things I don't do, I wish I did. I want to. Our Lord told us to pray that He would keep us from the evil one. He said, abstain from all appearances of evil. If it doesn't look right, and if something about it doesn't feel right, let's stay away from it. Brother Henry used to say all the time, if you don't want the flu, don't hang out with people that have the flu. We've already said this is not for salvation. This message is to believers. We're saying the Lord's already made a difference. This is for believers, for our walk, for the rest of our days. Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee forever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God. It will go well with us. Last one, all right, last one, I promise. It's been too long, I'm sorry. Psalm 37, look at verse 34. It says, wait on the Lord. Could patience be probably the hardest thing for any human being? If a person truly trusts the Lord and delights in the Lord and rests in the Lord, then he'll give that person the ability to be content and just wait on the Lord. It's not falling out like I want it to. It's not happening as fast as I want it to. Wait on the Lord. Everything happens in His appointed time. Charles Spurgeon said this, Wait on the Lord in obedience as a servant. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord in hope as an heir. Does that make sense? Wait on the Lord in obedience as a servant. Lord, what would You have me to do? Wait on the Lord in hope as an heir who is about to get an inheritance. And wait on the Lord in expectation as a believer. I believe you. I believe it's sure and ordered and I'm happy to wait. Verse 34 says, And He shall exalt thee to inherit the land. Eight wonderful exhortations for a believer's life. If we'll heed them and follow them and pray that the Lord would ingrain them in us, It will go well with us. It will go well. Let's close by reading the last four verses. Verse 37, Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together, the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. 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.