We're going to keep going through Psalm 37, but as our brother was praying, I was thinking of 1 Peter 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope. through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you." Who's pro-heaven? Anybody here? Good. Good. So this inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled, where is it reserved for us? It's in heaven. It's in heaven. And how are we sustained and kept now, day to day? By what? The power of God. The power of God, that's incredible. Well, let's turn to Psalm 37 with that in mind. As we go verse by verse through Psalm 37, looking today at verses 27 and 29. Psalm 37, verse 27, depart from evil and do good and dwell forevermore. For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever." So the righteous, okay, the saints of God, those who rest in Him, whose lives are characterized by waiting patiently upon the Lord, they shall be preserved forever by the hand of God. And they're not forsaken. They're not. We talked about that last week. The righteous ones shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. Isn't it good to know that your God will never forsake you? It's good. But He's graciously going to protect you instead. And in all your difficulties and trials, and He's also a good God. He loves justice. He delights in doing justice and upholding justice. So no matter what the wicked do, God never forsakes or forgets His people. And while all this is going on, these incredible mercies of our God are sometimes missed by us, aren't they? Because sometimes we have hard days. Trials are hard. Sometimes even day-to-day life is hard. Just the mothering children, keeping a business or job going, waiting on the Lord is hard. Even the ordinary things of life can be very challenging. Even spiritually burdensome. And you know why? As we've talked about before, because the enemies of the Christian The world, the flesh, and the devil. But ultimately, we know also it's sin. Sin. Have you ever envisioned sin like a torrential downpour? Anybody ever been in one of those? Just a very incredibly heavy rainstorm, or maybe even like hail. Ask the Hansberrys about that sometime. They had a fun hailstorm this week. But if you've ever been in one of those, you know you can't get anything done. You can't get any work done. You're ducking for cover. Your head is down. You're running around, tripping into things. You're probably cold, even if it's August. And while you've prayed for some moisture for your garden, you're realizing this completely destroyed your garden. And you're really wishing it just never had happened. And that's what it's like when we're carried in the sway of sin. You all know the hymn, remember? I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. I'd rather be true to his holy name than to be the king of a vast domain or held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. We're looking down, we're consumed, we're distracted by all the material and logistical things going on in life, and so it can seem that we're held in sin's dread sway. But this does not and should not characterize our lives as Christians, should it? Because we are not in sin's dread sway. We are no longer prisoners to sin. We are not ruled by sin. We have been redeemed. And so we must, we must in faith remind ourselves, even if you have to shout it out loud, I am free. Sin has no grip on me. Go for a walk outside in your neighborhood with your hands up and just walk around and just say, I am free. I am free in Christ. My, I am rich in Christ. He has paid the debt for me, and even the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to me somehow, incredibly by the grace of God. You know, your neighbors will think you are weird, but praise be to God, aren't we to be aliens and strangers in this land? Depart from evil and do good, and dwell forevermore. So we depart from that evil and sin. No longer slaves to it, but slaves of righteousness. We who make our home and rest in Him, we will not be tossed to and fro. However, if you do try to make your home here, in this world, in this place, clinging to a hope that everything is going to go right all the time, just the way you want it, you'll find yourself striving for a kingdom that fails you over and over again. But the righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. See, on this earth, There is no dwelling forever. There's no continuing city here. It's in heaven only, that city which has everlasting foundations, that the righteous will dwell forever. That will be their everlasting habitation, just like we read in 1 Peter, reserved for you. So what does this mean for us today? We must trust in God and have faith in Him, not in the circumstances and outcomes. Because I think if we step back, we realize we're all very good at striving for goals. All of us have goals. We're working hard to earn something, some kingdom, some presence here, maybe just to eek a little bit of a life and existence here on earth. We're so focused on the immediacy of the day. I can get caught up in the tyranny of the urgent, shaken by the news headlines, driven in our decision making by, what's in it for me? Brothers and sisters, we must lift our eyes to Christ. Away from the things down here so much. and cry out to God, as Psalm 77 says, that we would remember the works of our God. We must look up, like Psalm 5 says. I will look up to you in the morning, O Lord, and direct my thoughts to you. We must, as Psalm 121 tells us, to remember who our helper is. I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth. So we set our mind on things above May we set our wills, our affections, our hope, our passions, our dreams, our hope of heaven, our treasures on Him. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. May we clear the distractions away. Anything that comes into our mind, I know it creeps into all of our minds, the nagging thoughts of selfish competition, worldly success, relational bitterness, Oh, may we rather think on heaven, that inheritance that's ours, right, as Jesus promised. Do you remember children Jesus' words? In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, what I have told you, that I go to prepare a place for you. Heaven is waiting and it's to be your treasure. For where your treasure is there your heart is also. Now, just lastly, have other saints that have gone before us dealt with this struggle between these things here on the earth that consume us and a hope of heaven? Well, in Hebrews 11, we see that Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, they did things in faith, but they couldn't hope here, their hope couldn't be here, even in receiving these promises. Hebrews 11, these all died in faith, not having received the promise. But seeing them afar off, we're assured of them, embrace them and confess them that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That's us. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country which they had come out of, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better habitation that is a heavenly country Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. This is the same for us, brothers and sisters. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. We have an everlasting incorruptible inheritance. It's not, no, it's not a big monetary inheritance from grandpa when he died, because it's better than that. It's so much better. May we embrace this truth, this guarantee by Christ in faith. May we make our home in Him, and rest in Him. Stay focused on that. Look up, look to Him. Grow by faith and confidence of your God. Let your eyes look straight ahead. Let your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet and let your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left and remove your foot from evil. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that you have given us this hope of heaven, incorruptible, undefiled inheritance in Jesus Christ. Oh God, help us. We confess to you that sometimes we tightly cling to the things of this day and this world and this life to keep us satisfied. Oh God, may we have all of our satisfaction in You alone. And may we not only be satisfied by You, but may we decrease Knowing that when there's less of us, there's more of you, more of your glory, more of your goodness. Oh, God, do this work and help us to keep looking up. Take a moment now to individually confess our sins to you.