[0:00] The following message was given at a Sunday celebration at Trinity Grace Church in Athens.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.
[0:10] We receive wonderful things from your law, from your word.
[0:34] Spirit of God, you are the one who enables us. You're the one who empowers us to speak, to preach, but also to hear and to understand.
[0:49] So we ask today, oh Lord, that you would come in power, that you would do your work. We honor you. Oh, great God that you are. And we thank you for this very moment that we have now to look at your word together.
[1:09] And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Before I begin, I will get my Bible since that is helpful.
[1:21] I do not have Psalm 37 memorized, as disappointing as that may sound, but it is true. So if you would, give ear with me this morning to the Word of God.
[1:38] We have a psalm written from David. And it's a wisdom psalm. It reads much like what we find in the book of Proverbs.
[1:53] But David begins, Fret not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers. For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.
[2:10] Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
[2:23] Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
[2:36] Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in His way, over the man who carries out evil devices.
[2:49] Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. It tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off.
[3:01] But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more. Though you look carefully at His place, He will not be there.
[3:15] But the meek shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous, and gnashes his teeth at him.
[3:26] But the Lord laughs at the wicked. For He sees that His day is coming. The wicked draws a sword, and bend their bows, to bring down the poor and the needy, to slay those whose way is upright.
[3:40] Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. Better is the little that the righteous has, than the abundance of many wicked.
[3:51] For the arms of the wicked shall be broken. But the Lord upholds the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever.
[4:04] They are not put to shame in evil times. In the days of famine, they have abundance. But the wicked will perish. The enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures.
[4:17] They vanish. Like smoke, they vanish away. The wicked borrows, but does not pay back. But the righteous is generous and gives.
[4:28] For those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off. The steps of a man are established by the Lord when He delights in His way.
[4:42] Though He fall, He shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds His hand. I have been young, and now am old. Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or His children begging for bread.
[4:59] He is ever lending generously, and His children become a blessing. Turn away from evil and do good. So shall you dwell forever.
[5:12] For the Lord loves justice. He will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
[5:23] The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and His tongue speaks justice. The law of His God is in His heart.
[5:37] His steps do not slip. The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put Him to death. The Lord will not abandon Him to His power, or let Him be condemned when He is brought to trial.
[5:53] Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land. You will look on when the wicked are cut off.
[6:04] I have seen a wicked, ruthless man spreading himself like a green laurel tree. But he passed away, and behold, he was no more.
[6:16] Though I sought him, he could not be found. Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace.
[6:28] But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed. The future of the wicked shall be cut off. The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.
[6:39] He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in Him.
[6:54] May God bless the reading, the hearing, and the preaching of His Word this morning. By late 1968, early 69, the United States was undergoing something of a metamorphosis.
[7:14] We were deeply in the throes of the Vietnam War. The use of recreational drugs was spreading across the nation, while the baby boomer generation was throwing off the moral norms, which had been embraced under the general Christian consensus of the day.
[7:36] And by Christian consensus, what I mean is we had a prevailing notion that the biblical norms, that which is especially in terms of morality outlined through the scriptures, that that was the way that people were to live.
[7:55] But whether or not they actually knew Christ and were following Him, that was still understood to be what was accepted regarding morality.
[8:07] So the accepted truths of the Bible and the practice of the culture were beginning to be put aside while traditional lukewarm churches were the rule.
[8:21] Evil seemed to be running rampant. Thus, among those in their teens and twenties, an unprecedented time of rebellion against the system began.
[8:34] Yet, in the midst of this time of free love and anti-war demonstrations, and even anarchy and talk of revolution, God broke through as no one expected Him to do.
[8:48] God began to pour out His Spirit, particularly on the young. The truth of the gospel and man's need for a Savior spread across America like wildfire.
[9:00] And many, many turned to Christ during that time. This spiritual awakening came to be known as the Jesus Movement. And it was truly a time of great revival across our land.
[9:15] The impact of this move still continues to this day. Sovereign Grace Churches are a product of this revival. My wife and I are a product of that revival.
[9:28] Fast forward 50 plus years to today, we find ourselves in another turbulent time of even more destructive moral degradation.
[9:41] Evildoers seem to be prevailing. It is increasingly becoming more difficult for Christians to stand on and defend the truth. Now, much of our society seems to be crumbling.
[9:54] Our streets are no longer safe. And world war seems to be looming on the horizon. Many of God's people are fearful, angry, and discouraged by the state of the world.
[10:07] And now, in the midst of this situation, it appears that God may be, once again, pouring out His Holy Spirit in a significant, powerful way.
[10:22] Only time will tell as to what God is doing. But God seems to be kindling the fires of revival once again.
[10:34] Let's pray that He is. Let us pray that the truth of the gospel is proclaimed throughout the world. It is proclaimed with vigor, clarity, and power.
[10:47] And that God would grant repentance and change the hearts of many. That is our prayer. Our passage today in Psalm 37 represents us with a clear picture of the difference between between those who are with God and those who aren't.
[11:08] Between those who are the righteous and between those who are the evildoers. The main point that we are gleaning from this passage today is that we are to trust in the Lord fully.
[11:27] We will look at three points as we go through Psalm 37. Trust in the Lord fully. And you will live securely in His protection and care.
[11:40] We will look at three points as we go through Psalm 37. We will not go through every one of the 40 verses one by one.
[11:51] But what we want to look at are, number one, the point of focus will be there are two kinds of people.
[12:04] A tale of two peoples is what we are calling this. Secondly, we're going to look at the temptation of evildoers.
[12:14] And then thirdly, we see three aspects that are outlined in terms of three aspects of faith. So Psalm 37 presents us with a clear truth, one confirmed throughout the Bible.
[12:33] There are just two categories of people. There are only two categories of people that exist. There are those who are referred to in Psalm 37 as evildoers, those who are enemies of God, those who hate God and His people, who are unrepentant of their sin, and hard-hearted toward God.
[12:56] Contrasted with them are the righteous, the blessed by the Lord, those who take refuge in the Lord. The ones who turn from evil, repent of their sin, and place their trust in the Lord Himself.
[13:14] David gives us much in the way of description concerning these two groups. Repeatedly in this psalm, we are told that the evildoers will be cut off.
[13:27] Pretty strong language indicating that those who are unrepentant, who continue to go to live in a way as evildoers, not bending the knee to the Lord, they will be completely severed from God and His people.
[13:50] They will not enjoy the inheritance of the righteous. While it may seem that they will continue on indefinitely, the truth is, according to verses 2 and 20, they will soon fade away.
[14:10] They will fade like the grass. Just like the green grass of spring, as it turns brown by the scorching sun of summer, so they too will fade away.
[14:22] In verse 10, we see that in just a little while, the wicked will be no more. Though you look carefully at His place, He will not be there.
[14:36] With the wicked, things are not as they seem. God's compass helps us to understand that God will endure forever, but His enemies will very soon be gone.
[14:53] In fact, in verse 13, we are told that the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He sees that His day is coming. God has a long view.
[15:07] And for us, holding to the long view is akin to a pilot flying by his instruments and not by sight.
[15:23] Those of you who know anything about aviation, you know that there are many people who've died. Because flying through it in the darkness of nights, flying through terrific storms, oftentimes pilots get become disoriented and they end up flying upside down.
[15:42] But it doesn't seem like they're upside down and they believe that they are flying correctly. And then as they begin to climb, they actually nose down and crash into the earth.
[15:54] The very thing that happened to John F. Kennedy Jr. when he was flying his jet. So, if we just look at the world with our eyes and what we see, you know, it looks like the bad guys are winning.
[16:10] It looks like there will never be any end. It looks like they will go on and on. But God says, no, that's not true. Look at the instruments. The instrument for us today is the Word of God.
[16:24] It helps us to see clearly and understand truth. The idea that the demise of the wicked will come soon is understood in the light of eternity.
[16:36] So, soon can be a little bit of a relative thing when you're God and you're outside time and space.
[16:48] But it is, in the long run, in the long view, it is soon. And it will happen. And that's what you can know for sure is that what God says is going to happen, it will take place.
[17:01] From a view within space and time, then, his days may not appear to be short-lived. But they do have an expiration date, a limit.
[17:14] And his end is coming. One might think, I mean, there are many examples we could look at. But one might think of the example of Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler, when coming into power, he claimed that the Third Reich, his government, would last for a thousand years.
[17:35] It's a pretty short thousand years. He ruled Germany for actually for 11 years, from 1934 until April 1945, when he and his wife committed suicide, taking their lives in the government bunker underground.
[17:59] Though he was responsible for over 40 million deaths, eventually, he also came to an end.
[18:11] He, if we go looking for him today, we will not find him. He is not there. The wicked seek to destroy God's people because of their deep-seated hatred and the vitriol they have for them.
[18:26] Exampled in verses 12 and 32. A key characteristic of the unrighteous is that they are unrepentant, obstinate, self-protecting, and arrogant.
[18:38] They receive none of God's special protection or care, and their end is sure. The righteous, on the other hand, are the ones who have repented, who have turned from their sins.
[18:56] They are given the promise that they will inherit the land. We see that repeated. Verse 11, verse 22, 29, 34.
[19:08] A particular blessing that was given to Israel was connected to the promise of the land. So, for those living in Israel, that was a very important understanding.
[19:24] It was a very important part of the covenant that God had made with them. But these statements can also be included to understand that that inherit the land is also referencing the idea that they and we will receive God's promises.
[19:44] We will live securely where He has placed us. And what He has said He will do, He will do. Repeatedly, God assures them that He will not forsake them.
[20:01] That He will preserve them forever, as we read in verse 28. Even in evil times, He watches over them and provides for them in times of famine.
[20:16] Verse 19, in general, God clearly extends His hand of protection over those who are His. God promises to deliver them from their destroyers and to bring them salvation.
[20:36] Verses 39 and 40. So, for the wicked, the enemies of God, God's promise is clear. They will be cut off forever and will receive none of His good benefit.
[20:50] The righteous, on the other hand, along with their children, will rest secure in Him and enjoy His watchful care. The temptation of evil doers.
[21:05] And by that, what we see is the temptation that is experienced by the righteous because of evil doers. And this temptation is highlighted in verse 1 and then in verse 8.
[21:22] As we observe and encounter evil doers, we are often faced with temptations of various sinful responses.
[21:36] In verse 1, we are directed to fret not yourself because of evil doers. And I think you may agree with me that this phrase seems like an awkward or kind of odd way to say, hey, don't be fretful.
[21:57] We shouldn't be fretful. To fret oneself is actually to become heated, to burn, to burn with anger over the actions of evil doers.
[22:13] So, David's actually making a point when he says, fret not yourself. And that point is that the actions of evil create a response in us.
[22:30] But we must choose that when we do fret, we are actually choosing that action.
[22:45] We are choosing that response to become heated as we are fretting over the actions of evil men. It's a response we choose.
[22:56] Something that we do to ourselves. Therefore, fret not yourself. I think that we can be especially tempted to become heated, incensed, or displeased when we not only see the effects of what the evil doer is doing, but coupled with it, we are aware that he's actually prospering.
[23:21] That is, he's doing things to hurt and destroy others, while at the same time, he himself is prospering and growing in his own wealth. The second part of verse 1, which reads, be not envious of wrongdoers, is speaking of two things.
[23:48] When envy creeps in, there is both a feeling of desire for something and also a resentment that someone else is enjoying the thing that you can't.
[24:06] So it's not just a desire, but it's a desire. And then buried underneath there, that deep-seated resentment that not only are they bad guys, but not only do they have what I think I should have, they're getting to enjoy that, and I don't.
[24:33] That kind of resentment is really the key to understanding what is meant by envying, and it's particularly in envying those who are wrongdoers.
[24:52] An example of this might be, you know of an unscrupulous business owner who uses others and takes advantage of others, and is known to be an unsavory, not upright, not virtuous person, and yet, as he does that, he's accumulating great wealth, and enjoying all the benefits that come from his immoral, unsavory, his unsavory actions.
[25:34] Another example might be a person that is known to be a real scoundrel, wins a million dollars in the lottery, and the thought that goes through your mind is, why does such a bad person win all that money?
[25:51] I know a lot of better places where that could go. Starting with me. He certainly doesn't deserve it. So what's really going on is that you are envious.
[26:05] Down deep, you resent the fact that he has the benefit of all that money, and you don't. So becoming self-aware in that way is helpful.
[26:19] Helps us understand what's going on in our own heart when we respond in certain ways. W.S. Plummer, in his commentary on this psalm, reminds us that the sins, the sins, but not the prosperity of the bad men should grieve the righteous.
[26:42] Good point. What we should be grieved over is not how well they're doing, not that their prospers are not prospers, but we should grieve over their sin and be mindful of that.
[26:58] Fretting over the prosperity of evildoers only leads to evil. When I begin to fret over the evil that I see happening around me, I really should stop and question myself.
[27:12] Hey, what's going on? Am I concerned most about their sin or am I most concerned that they're getting away with it or that they themselves are prospering as they take advantage of and bring destruction to others?
[27:32] Do I pray for them that they would repent and turn from their sin and turn towards God? My honest answer as I was looking at this, I had to say, well, no, not usually.
[27:48] That's not what crosses my mind. But it would seem that that would be the way that God would have us to look at those situations.
[28:01] How about you? Do you have a heated or triggered response when injustice is being carried out by evil people? I do about 20 times a day, I think.
[28:15] In verse 8, we are directed to refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. It leads only to evil.
[28:29] Fretting can lead us into greater anger and wrath as we see in that verse, which then also will lead us down the path of evil ourselves.
[28:42] There's a danger of falling into the very evil behavior ourselves if we nurture anger and do not turn away from it. So, how do we fight the unbelief of envy?
[28:58] Instead of fretting over evildoers, what positive steps of action can we take? David goes right on into verses 3, 4, and 5 to address that question with three commands given to us by the Lord.
[29:18] Verse 3 says to us, trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. This verse commands us to place our trust, our confidence in the Lord himself.
[29:40] The root idea in that word is hiding or taking refuge in that person. But we're commanded to entrust ourselves to him to put our hope in the person of Yahweh.
[29:56] this is a very fundamental idea of what it means to believe. So the counteraction to fretting and envy is to turn in faith to grab hold of the Lord and to believe, to trust in him.
[30:18] There's a proverb that helps to shed I think additional light on this matter which says trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.
[30:41] Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. It is an additional insight for us and entrust what it means to entrust ourselves to the God of heaven.
[30:54] We are urged to wholeheartedly give ourselves to him to put our full confidence in him looking to him in all we do.
[31:06] As we place our trust in him we can be confident that he will lead us and that he will guide us in his way. Lean not on your own understanding and all that you do acknowledge him and he will make your path straight.
[31:25] We can have confidence because of that. He will in fact care for us just as a shepherd cares for his sheep will lead us guide us and be with us.
[31:43] So rather than being heeded that is fretting over what we see happening in the lives of evildoers we are instructed to put our trust in the sovereign Lord who rules over all.
[32:01] We can live without fear anxiety and uptightness by placing our trust in him. Along with entrusting ourselves to him we are also to counteract evil by doing good.
[32:21] Why did David add that? Well I think the temptation is to respond ourselves with evil action towards those who are doing evil action.
[32:34] You know when you get stirred up when you're angry over what you see that can lead you also to falling into the same pattern.
[32:48] But scripture tells us that we are to dwell in the land live in the land where God has placed us and we are to cultivate or befriend faithfulness.
[33:03] So the picture is trust in the Lord do good not evil walk in faithfulness with him. So trusting the Lord includes doing good and being a faithful servant.
[33:26] There's what I believe is a great example taking from a real life story of someone of what trusting the Lord looks like.
[33:37] we've referenced this lady before in here on Sunday mornings but in her book The Hiding Place Corrie Tenboom tells of an event in her life when she was just a young girl and she had witnessed the death of a baby.
[33:59] Seeing the death of a baby can be very upsetting to any of us. It's she was fearful of the prospect of dying herself and of losing her father in the future.
[34:14] And she burst into tears and began to sob. And as that happened Corrie's father sat down on the edge of the bed with her and he just he said Corrie and he began being very gentle with her when you and I go to Amsterdam and they did that regularly to set the time on their clocks when do I give you your ticket?
[34:41] She sniffled a little and replied why just before we get on the train exactly and our wise father in heaven knows when we're going to need things too.
[34:55] So don't run out ahead of him Corrie when the time comes that some of us will have to die you will look into your heart and find the strength you need just in time.
[35:09] This is a great story of how God provides and how he cares for us. He has promised to provide and he doesn't seem but he doesn't seem to put what we need in a bank account necessarily that we have ahead of time.
[35:31] Trusting him means that we believe that he will give us a ticket when we're ready to get on the train. Future grace comes when future circumstances call for it.
[35:45] So as we trust God we need not worry about the difficulties and losses of the future because we know he is with us and we know that he has promised to provide what we need when we need it.
[36:03] Dylan Burroughs said God is never late and rarely early. He's always right on time. His time.
[36:16] What does trusting God look like in practical terms? In general we all as human beings have a propensity to be anxious about the future.
[36:32] That famous question arises how will I ever? You fill in the blank. When we experience fear or worry about the future we actually have an opportunity to practice trusting God.
[36:50] Let me just share with you two examples from the history log of the Luster family. When Judy and I were just a little bit younger much younger we wondered about the question we've got four children how will we ever put them through college?
[37:15] we were doing well we had plenty of food to eat we had stuff we needed but we didn't have any savings. We were in ministry on support without money to put back in savings so whenever this concern came when it came across our minds we chose to roll that burden over onto the Lord and we just simply prayed and asked him to provide for that future time.
[37:53] When our oldest daughter entered her first year of college we still had no savings to speak of to put towards her college expenses but we watched God miraculously put together her tuition and room and board right before our very eyes.
[38:13] Money from various places came in and we saw that our first semester was covered. God continued this provision for us for 17 more years of college for all of our children.
[38:31] Another example that may hit close to home for many of us had to do with the matter of being able to buy a home by our house.
[38:43] We got married during my senior year of college. Yes we were just too in love with each other to know that we couldn't do that so we did. Went off to Knoxville and I finished up and then the following fall we moved to Ohio and I began seminary and Judy worked at a daycare center.
[39:07] Unfortunately she was sick almost every day that she worked there. She brought home all the diseases that she encountered. Then we entered into seven years of ministry a great time living on financial support from outside donors.
[39:26] We also had our housing provided and always had just enough to cover expenses but never extra. As our friends were starting careers buying their first homes we were busy in ministry.
[39:41] When the time came for us to move from that setting we set out to find some place to rent because we had no down payment to buy a house and we knew that we had none.
[39:56] But to make this long story short through our local church friends family we were handed just over $8,000 for a down payment.
[40:11] No fear or worry would have produced such an amazing result from God's providence other than our Father. So as you look at the uncertainty of our present world full of evildoers of all kinds make the choice not to fret yourself and to actively put your trust in the Lord.
[40:39] As we move down to verse 4 David tells us delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
[40:51] This is extremely interesting. Here we are actually commanded to take great pleasure in Yahweh himself and find our satisfaction and happiness in him.
[41:07] Does that notion seem strange to you? Can you believe that God tells us to actually seek extreme pleasure to seek our own joy?
[41:20] Why does he do this? Because he is the source of ultimate joy. Listen to the words of the psalmist and the words of Nehemiah.
[41:30] Psalm 43 4 says then I will go to the altar of God to God my exceeding joy and I will praise you. In Psalm 16 11 we read you make known to me the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
[41:53] Nehemiah 8 10 says for the joy of the Lord is my strength. The Westminster Catechism in its first question asks what is the chief end of man?
[42:12] The answer is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That embraces exactly what the Psalms and what our particular passage today are speaking of with regard to our response to our Savior.
[42:32] The scriptures are clear God is himself the source of ultimate joy and the joy is experience when we are in his presence.
[42:43] It is proper it is right that we would seek after our own happiness. But yeah is that really okay? You know are we fixated on seeking our own happiness?
[43:05] C.S. Lewis did not think so. He wrote it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but actually too weak.
[43:19] We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
[43:39] We are far too easily pleased. too easily pleased. We settle for the mud pies in the slum. We are not seeking our greatest happiness.
[43:53] We are settling for what we think will bring us joy and happiness. Lewis is not suggesting that we make a God out of our pleasure.
[44:04] the fact that we are too easily pleased is an indicator that we may have made something other than the true God to be our God.
[44:19] We have made a God out of that in which we find the most pleasure. If you wonder about what that might be for you just listen to yourself talk when you're in a social setting.
[44:31] Listen to the things that you talk about that you are most excited about the things that you're passionate about that might be an indicator of what really gives you fulfillment what you are looking for to fill that desire for pleasure.
[44:50] Along these lines the French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal spoke of man's search for happiness apart from knowing God and he described man's plight in this way.
[45:07] He said there once was in man a true happiness of which now remained to him only the mark an empty trace which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present.
[45:27] But these are all inadequate because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and mutable object. That is to say only by God himself.
[45:40] To delight ourselves in God is to seek the pleasure that is found in God himself. Pascal is merely making the point that we were created by God, we were designed by God to know God and enjoy him.
[45:59] In the garden, man experienced perfect fellowship with God and true happiness. When Adam fell, sin came in, fellowship with God was broken, man began to counterfeit joy.
[46:16] The problem is that the counterfeit can never do what only God does. John Piper has said he is the end of our search, that is God, is the end of our search, not some means to a further search.
[46:39] Our exceeding joy is he, the Lord, not the streets of gold or the reunion with relatives or any blessing of heaven. Christian delight in the Lord does not reduce God to a key that unlocks a treasure chest of gold and silver.
[46:59] God is not the key to get to all those things that you really want. No, God is the treasure. Job in Job 22, 25 through 26, we read the Almighty will be your gold and precious silver for then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
[47:22] many times when we may ask someone if they are a Christian or if they have trusted Christ I think a better question might be just the question of is God your treasure?
[47:39] That's very revealing if we look at that, look at our hearts and answer that honestly. So we are to in verse five we're told that we're to commit our way to the Lord trust in him and he will act.
[47:55] The command is for us to entrust our plans concerns and direction to the Lord. The literal meaning of commit is to roll your plans over onto the Lord as though you're getting rid of a burden.
[48:12] You commit,! You roll it over to him. A similar command is in Proverbs 16 commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established.
[48:23] As we roll the burden of our work plans unto the Lord we are entrusting ourselves to him and we are relieved of carrying the burden by ourselves.
[48:35] Committing our way to him is the act of seeking his counsel. It is an act of trusting! Him to lead us as we go. As we do this we are acknowledging our need for him and asking for his help.
[48:55] Then finally in verse 7 David says be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. With these visible acts of faith trusting delighting in him committing ourselves to him we are also told to be still literally be quiet before the Lord.
[49:17] We are to listen to him and wait patiently for him to act. I remember when I discovered this passage as a young man and I found great encouragement and comfort from verses 3 through 7 especially as I was embarking on that time coming out of college and being faced with finding direction and making decisions though this was not a formula for success it clarified for me that God's call was clearly first and foremost to put my trust in him by making him my delight and with that committing my way to him and as I've done this over the years I've never found him not to act he has always met me in my situations and guided me along the way as we began this morning there are only two groups of people evildoers the unrighteous and the righteous those who are trusting in Christ those of us this morning who find ourselves identified as the righteous were once in the group of evildoers ourselves we are now in
[50:31] Christ through no fault of our own but it's because of his great love and mercy we have been declared by him to be righteous by God due to the substitutionary atonement of his son for our sins Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and it is only because of God's grace extended to us that we are not facing the sentence of being cut off from God forever ourselves the good news today is that evildoers can still turn from their sin and trust Christ and embrace him as their treasure earlier I spoke of a quote from Pascal and I thought about that a more kind of a paraphrased version of that might read more like man was created with a God shaped vacuum he may try to fill it with all manner of things money power human love but that vacuum can only be filled with the person of
[51:41] Jesus Christ we were designed by God for God as Augustine said thou hast made us for thyself oh Lord our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee today all can turn to him and find their rest in him join me as I pray Lord thank you for your word thank you for your faithfulness to us thank you for the truth that you have brought for the clarity that you bring to our lives through your very word Lord we put our trust in you afresh in you Lord we choose to delight in you and to commit all of our ways to you God have your way with us we pray in Jesus name amen