Psalm 37 Why Do we Fret over the Wicked? 08/27/17

Transcription

1 Psalm 37 Why Do we Fret over the Wicked? 08/27/17 this psalm is longer than the others we have dealt with... it, too, like Psalm 34 is an acrostic. the letters of the Hebrew alphabet begin each stanza. 37 OF DAVID 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. 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. 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. 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! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, 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. 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, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy,

2 to slay those whose way is upright; 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. 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; 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; they vanish like smoke they vanish away. The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives; 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; 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. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing. Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. 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. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.

3 The law of his God is in his heart; 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. 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. I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; 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. But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off. The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; 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. 1 verse 1 states: "Fret not yourself because of evil doers;" Obviously, we are being commanded not to fret over those who do evil because as believers... we do fret...and, I have to believe that since this is in Scripture, it is something that all of us contend with, more often than we care to admit...and the question we will ask ourselves to day is why? Why do we fret because of evil doers? Quite honestly, when I first thought through the word "Fret" I defined it more as, "worry excessively." The Hebrew word, however literally means "to cause fire to burn... or a burning sensation..." and it also has the meaning of "to gnaw at." It means to have your temperature raised or to become angry. So, it is more than just being worried about evil doers... 1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:title 40). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

4 it really is "being all steamed up at" or aggravated at... or being angry at and because of evil doers...and since it implies the idea of gnawing, it is something that is really wearing on you...it is eating at you... it is bothering you greatly... And if this is the more full definition then the next phrase adds emphasis to the fact that this is more anger than worry by stating, we should "not be envious of wrong doers!" And notice the exclamation point for emphasis... Envy is defined as becoming painfully desirous of another's advantage... painfully desirous of another's advantage sometimes the words jealousy and envy are taken together, kind of as synonyms... but they really are not... jealousy means, "I am bothered that I don't have what you have." Being Envious or envy means, not only am I angry that I don't have what you have... but if I can't have it, I don't want you to have it either... Envy is a stronger emotion than jealousy... When you put the words fretting and envious together, it seems that King David is addressing believers who spend a lot of time angry and bothered, and upset over those who do evil or behave wickedly... and in verse 8, he restates what he said in verse 1 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. 2 The context is still about evil doers or the wicked...and, clearly fretting here is not just sitting in a corner worried about whether or not you are going to meet a deadline or whether or not you have money to pay all your bills...like I just said, this word has to do with boiling over...and it is confirmed by being used in the same thought with the terms anger and wrath... So, why are we angrily envious of the wicked? Why does our blood boil from time to time over wrongdoers? Why are we consumed with those who are around us who do not acknowledge God, who do not walk with God, who do not believe in God, who do not worship God? Why does their life bother us, so much? As we continue in our study of the Psalms, remember, this book of wisdom literature has been called, "The Medicine Chest for the Soul." And what we mean by that is when you have a headache or a cough or any kind of stomach ailments, you go to the medicine chest and take the right medicine to ease your pain and/or discomfort... And, the book of Psalms is like that... It is a cupboard full of divine help... when you have been tempted fallen into sin, you can go to this medicine chest and read and pray through the Psalms of Confession and cleansing... when God seems far away, you can take one of the Psalms of Lament out of the cabinet... 2 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:8). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

5 when God meets your need in an unexpected way, you can pull out one of the Psalms of praise... and, when you see the wicked around you prospering... when you see those who do evil around you living as if they have no cares or concerns in the world... when you see those who do not trust God, believe in God, or even acknowledge God... and they seem to have everything go their way all the time... then you need to pull something else off the medicine cabinet shelf to help get God's perspective on this... Because, it can be maddening... It can be frustrating... it can seem totally unfair... You look at your life, and you can't get ahead, you have no hope of progressing in your job, your house doesn't really meet all of your needs... you hear about others who just breeze through life...they buy the right stock at $2.00 per share... and 10 years later it is at $100 per share... they get a job and advance in no time... you see them on facebook, and it looks like they are an advertisement for a modeling agency advertising for a Caribbean resort...they are happy, healthy, wealthy and wise... and quite frankly, you want to say... you might even want to say this to God... "it is not fair." "I work hard, I am faithful to you, I am your child, God... and I struggle... day in and day out... and those folks do not have any regard for you; and look at them...life could not be better..." Beloved, there is medicine for this... there are Psalms for this... Psalms that I will call Psalms of perspective, or Psalms of justice, or Psalms of fairness... And we have one before us, here in Psalm 37. We are going to examine this Psalm by simply asking and answering the question: "Why do we fret? And why are we envious of evil or wrong doers?" So that is the question, and David is going to answer this in the Psalm with just two statements... We get all steamed up over the wicked first of all for the way they treat us...and then 2ndly, We get all steamed up over the wicked for the way God treats them... So, we will first look at how they treat us... and how God treats them... And, thankfully the Psalm does not stop at just asking and answering the question...he doesn't just leave us there to fend for ourselves... a doctor, I hope would not give you a diagnosis without a treatment... David first diagnosis the problem... then he does give us the treatment... and he walks us through how we can come to the place where we no longer fret over the wicked or evil men around us...and to put it bluntly, he states, first, to mind your own business; 2ndly, be comforted by God's presence; and 3rdly remember eternity...ultimately, this Psalm is not about the here and now, it is about the then and there... Now, obviously there are 40 verses in this Psalm and I will not comment on all of them... but understand that these 5 points are themes running throughout the Psalm... the mistreatment of the righteous... The prosperity of the wicked;... How we should mind our own business; receive comfort from the presence of god; and remembering eternity are all throughout this Psalm... so we will be bouncing around the chapter, and we will probably skip

6 more verses than we look at... but by the end, we will have touched on enough to have a firm grasp on the encouragement David is giving us to have an eternal perspective... Notice first, that part of the reason we fret over, are steamed up over, or we are angered over the wicked is because of the way we are treated by them... it is because of the way we are treated by those who are evil or wicked or those who have rejected God... Notice verse The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, then jump down to verse The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; 3 then jump down to verse 32 The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death. 4 Those are strong statements, and they are true statements... there is a war going on...evil men have hated the righteous from the time Cain killed righteous Abel... And several thousand years later, Christ made it clear that since they persecuted him, they will persecute his followers... if they hated Christ, they will hate us... When you read through the book of Acts, we see this in the life of Paul and Peter all the disciples over and over and over... he writes to Timothy in I Timothy 3, "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." In our post religious nation, this is becoming more and more acute to those who stand clearly on the side of biblical fidelity in regards to gender, marriage and sexuality... but that is not the main thing we should be known for...we need to be known for our exclusive claim that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him...and, when you state that with clarity...no matter how you say it, no matter how nice you try to be when you say it... that statement will cause hatred, division, strife, and persecution... 3 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:12 14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 4 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:32). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

7 and let me say as a side note, as your pastor... if you are hated by others, may it be because of Christ and not your political ideology... be persecuted for the Lord Jesus and not for political conservatism...and don't let your politics separate you from others so that you lose the opportunity to speak to them about Christ... In today's world, we need to be careful; and we need to bite our tongues, and be careful what we post on face book... because we want to be in a position to declare the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ to all men... and when we become separated from family members and co-workers over our politics, then we will never have an open door to talk about things that really matter... eternal life and eternal death...the eternal reign of Christ... If they are going to whisper about us, let it be, "that guy is so closed minded, he thinks you can only come to God through Jesus." Instead of, "that guy is so closed minded, he thinks his political view is the only one that is right." That is a side note, but an important one in the days we live... So, one of the reasons why believers become angry... why they get all steamed up... why they fret is because of the way the wicked or the evil treat them... Now notice a 2nd reason stated in verse 7 fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! 5 Yes, we are bothered at how they treat us... but we are probably more bothered at how God treats them... think about it... they do not acknowledge God, they don't serve God, they are against God... and, yet, they are prospering... they are successful... their lives are great... in fact, in most regards, their lives are better than our lives as Christian believers...turn over a few pages to Psalm listen to the struggle of this writer, as he contemplates the prosperity of the wicked. I am going to read quite a bit here, but it reads so easily, it will be easy to follow Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. now listen to this description... verse 4 5 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:7). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

8 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. And they say, How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. what a life? they are sleek, they are fat, life is so easy even up until death, no troubles like everyone else... they are proud, violent, they scoff, threaten... they speak against God, feel faultless, don't think God sees... they are always at ease and they even increase in riches... they prosper... and it makes us angry... he explains why it makes us angry in verse All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. We got a bum wrap... we are serving God, we are working on being faithful, we are saying no to impurity and evil... we have clean hands and a pure heart...and what do we get for it? It is not that you get nothing... if you got nothing, you would be better off..."all day long you are strickened... every morning you are rebuked..." so, it seems right to be angry, to be boiling over, to be full of wrath, to be fretful...those who do not love and worship god prosper from birth to death... and those who faithfully walk with God are treated terribly... it really looks like the life of the unbeliever is better... so, yes, I am envious, I am angry, I am fretful. The wicked treat us with disdain... and God treats the wicked with favor...

9 Years ago, I knew a window cleaner in Texas who earned $90,000 a year washing windows, but he did not pay any federal tax because he reported only $15,000 on his taxes because his customers paid cash... He lived in a nice house with a pool, drove a big suburban... he was sleek, he was fat, he was prosperous, and had no cares in the world... if I did the same volume he did, I would earn 2/3 of his income because of reporting my income... and if I tried not to report all my income and cheat the government like he did, then God would rebuke me, chastise me and my conscience would plague me... I probably would get audited, then either fined or thrown in jail... so, we fret because of how the wicked treat us... and how God treats them... (Pause) So we know this is true... it isn't going to change... So, how do we deal with this apparent injustice and apparent lack of fairness?...simply: MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS Now, I am saying that kind of tongue in cheek...in verses 3 through 8 David specifically commands us to leave it in God's hands...and, stop worrying about how he deals with those around us... I mean, you do not even need to read the full sentence, the phrases say enough... verse 3, Trust in the Lord Verse 3, Do good, Verse 3, Dwell in the land and Befriend or cultivate Faithfulness - Verse 4, Delight yourself in the Lord- Verse 5, Commit your way to the Lord - Verse 5 Trust in him - Verse 7, Be Still before the Lord- Verse 7 wait patiently for him - Verse 8 -Refrain from anger - Verse 8 - Forsake Wrath - Instead of having the way the evil doers are prospering around you gnaw at you, eat at you, bother you, control you, cause you to fret, be angry, boil over with anger... Trust in the Lord, Delight yourself in the Lord, Commit your way to the Lord, Be still and wait patiently for the Lord... Seek Him, know him, love him, bow to Him follow Him... spend your time here, and you won't have time to worry about how he is dealing with others... you worry about your own walk with Him, and let him worry about those who do evil... He really is saying, "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS" and your business is to love and seek me! The word trust has to do with firmness or something that is solid... it means to put your confidence in, to feel secure... so secure you are unconcerned about other things around you... when you delight in the Lord, you are gaining all your satisfaction from him... and when he gives you the desires of your heart, that does not mean that he give you everything you want... that means your desires change and they become His desires...so you are dying

10 to self and becoming more like Him... and you want what He wants instead of what you want... the word commit comes from the word Roll... like when they rolled a stone in front of Christ's tomb... so the idea that you are committing is that you are literally rolling yourself to the Lord or on top of the Lord to follow his direction and his lead...being still is communicates silence... and waiting in confident trust... What you are being commanded to do here is worry about your own relationship or walk with him...aren't we forever looking at others wondering why their life is like it is and why our lives are like they are? It reminds me of one of the final conversations Peter had with Jesus when he was told by Jesus that he would die a Martyrs death... and Peter looked at John and asked Jesus, "What about him?" And Jesus's answer is one we need to hear, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you. You follow me." Beloved, if God wants to prosper the wicked... if god wants to deal with others differently than he deals with you... what is that to you?... it really is none of your business... the command is, "You follow HIM..." Let's be reminded that God has a plan and a purpose for all of us... and where he has me go and how he deals with me will not be the same as he deals with you... and since he owns everything and he owns everyone... he is free to do what he wants with his creation... as he does all things to and for his glory... so instead of fretting over the prosperity of the wicked... instead of fretting over how they are treating you... Trust Him, he knows what is best... find all your satisfaction and joy in Him because he is worthy...roll you desire and your will literally on top of his so that he is leading and guiding you... and silently wait... patiently wait... there is not a promise here that any of this will happen quickly... but wait for him to decide when you will no longer be mistreated... and when it is time to act against the wicked... And, while you are waiting... and waiting... and waiting... Let me remind you that He will never leave you or forsake you... He will be with you... You are trusting Him and trusting in Him...you have committed your way, your will to Him... you are delighting in Him...so notice how he will care for you... notice his presence with you... Notice verse 17, For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous. 6 6 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:17). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

11 That word upholds means to grasp, to lay hold of, to support, or to cause to lean...he will sustain you and all of this does cause you to lean on Him... it is used again in verse 24 in the phrase, "The Lord upholds his hand." Don't let that go in one ear and out the other... the Lord supports those who are his, and he does so by upholding his hand... any of you who have been responsible for a small child in a store, a parking lot, or a place where you had to hold their hand... you know exactly what this is talking about... It certainly implies presence... god's presence is with those who trust him, who commit to him, who are silent and are waiting before him... and as you wait, and as you watch, and as the wicked mistreat you, and as you see them prosper... when you leave that in God's hands, he holds your hand in return... implying that he is walking with you, protecting you, guiding you, and watching out for you... show me a grand mother holding the hand of her 3 year old grand child, and I will show you someone who will not let that child be harmed in any way... one who will protect her with her very life... and the whole point is, "god is with you" from the beginning to the very end...even when it looks like everyone else's life gets all the breaks; and you are suffering for being a Christian... So, we need to mind our own business... we need to commit the prosperity of the wicked to God, and trust him to act in his timetable... and we need to understand that He is with us, walking with us, upholding us, holding our hand... Finally and most importantly...for us to come to the place where we no longer fret or are bothered over the way the wicked treat us and the way God treats them is that we need to understand the promise of eternity... The entire point of this Psalm isn't that things are going to get better on earth for you as a Christian believer...and this is what is so sad, ridiculous, and unbiblical about the health, wealth, prosperity, Joel Osteen gospel...this world is not our home...and God has never promised us the worlds goods... as I have been saying all along, if anything, he has promised us the exact opposite... And, you have to understand, too that the point of the Psalm is not that you will necessarily see the demise and the judgment of the wicked...we have already determined that how and when God deals with the wicked is up to him... we must mind our own business...this is why we must trust, commit, delight it, and wait silently... and it is why we he holds our hand throughout our earthly pilgrimage... But, be encouraged about the shortness of life...in James 4:14, we are reminded that life is a vapor or a mist... it appears for a little time then it vanishes away...the older we get, doesn't that become more and more clear?... Don't you look in the mirror and ask, "when did that happen? How did you get so old?" The older we get, the faster life seems to pass us by...

12 In II Corinthians chapter 4, Paul reflects on this as talks about some of the ways he has been mistreated and abused as a Christian believer... he of all people has lived Psalm 37...He has experienced the hatred of the wicked...verse 7 states, " We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;" Those who don't know Christ, unbelievers, the wicked hated and mistreated Paul because he preached that there was no other name given among men where by we must be saved... except through Jesus Christ... And, though his life on earth, after he became a Christian believer was far more difficult than it was before he became a Christian believer...he still calls the affliction he faced momentary and light... and it was preparing him for eternity... And, this is exactly what David is talking about here in Psalm You will see the wicked prosper... and no matter how much they prosper or how long they prosper... 50, 60, 70, 80 years... it is still a vapor in light of eternity... it is just a mist... That is what verse 2 means when David states, For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. 7 Grass and herbs look great for a while... but they do not last...nor do the wicked...he restates this in verse 20 But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish like smoke they vanish away. 8 Again, it carries the idea of life being short...when you see a lush, green pasture land, it really is incredible looking... but the grass dies as fast as it appeared... like smoke, it vanishes away... And, sometimes their prosperity seems to last even longer than grass...but eventually, they are gone, too... look at verse 35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. 36 But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found. 9 7 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:2). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 8 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:20). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 9 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:35 36). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

13 The tree that David is speaking of here can reach heights of 100 feet and spread out quite wide as well...the wicked look so good, but only for so long... We have to have an eternal perspective on what we see around us...and we have to understand that the prosperity of the wicked is temporary...and... the afflictions of the righteous are equally temporary... And, David states this over and over and over in this Psalm...by reminding us that regardless of what it looks like today...at this particular time... understand that the wicked will be cut off, and the righteous will be preserved forever... Notice verse 9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. 10 Now, I obviously don't have time this morning to go over the significance of the land promise...but briefly, the promise of the land throughout the Old Testament was a promise to the nation of Israel that pointed to a future promise of an eternal land or eternal life to those who trusted Christ for salvation... And, what David is saying here is, "Don't fret, don't worry, don't get all steamed up over the prosperity of the wicked... they will one day be completely cut off or removed... and those of you who have been waiting... silently waiting, patiently waiting... you have an eternal inheritance waiting for you...and, if you are not sure about this being eternal, look at verses 27 through 29, where David sums up the entire Psalm by stating: 27 Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. 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. 29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. 11 What tremendous promises! "you will dwell forever! You are preserved forever! You will dwell upon it forever." And, this is in contrast to the short lived, vaporous, misty life on earth... Beloved, God loves justice, and he will not forsake you, his saints, his holy Ones... he will deal with the wicked... he will deal with those who have afflicted you...and be sure that the 10 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:9). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. 11 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ps 37:28 29). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

14 wicked and their children will be cut off, cast out, they will not inherit eternal life... and, of course the children here are not accountable for their parents sins... but the assumption is that their children are behaving and believing just like their parents... and the soul that sins, it shall die... That is an overview of Psalm 37...and it is meant to be an encouragement to believers... believers who are persecuted by those who don't know Christ... an encouragement to believers that never seem to get ahead in this world... who seem to never have a seat at the table or a place of honor, or what we would call the American Dream... it is a corrective for the prosperity gospel or our American idea of instant gratification...it is to help you not to get be angry or upset about what is taking place around you with those who openly reject Christ... What it really teaches is delayed gratification...it isn't about the here and now... it is about the then and there... And, though the name of the Lord Jesus is not in this Psalm... it is not a stretch to say that he lived this out from the time he was born to the time of his death at the hands of cruel wicked men... The Lord Jesus, while he was on earth, did not fret over evil doers and was not envious of wrong doers... he knew that they, like grass and herbs would soon fade and wither... He trusted in and delighted in and was committed to the Lord... and he waited both patiently and silently... isaiah 53 describes him... He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. He did not open his mouth because he was trusting in HIm who judges justly... Hebrews 12:2 reminds us to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of god... His entire life was never about the here and now... it was about the then and there...he endured the cross for the joy that was set before him...for the future joy... the joy of having a people who he will call his very own because he lived and died to redeem those and bring them to a place that he has prepared for them... And he was well aware that God never forsakes His saints...that he loves justice...and that the righteous will be preserved forever...

15 Are you fretting this morning? Do you feel like everything in this life is against you? Do you look around and see others who have no regard for God just living a happy carefree life... playing tennis on Sundays, golfing today, at the beach, shopping, at the movies...sleeping in... while you rarely have a day off, and you still show up for worship...and you wonder, "what is the point? They have it better than I do..." Beloved, here is the point... they have theirs now... and it will wither like grass... you will have yours later, and it will never wither, never fade, never diminish... it is an eternal inheritance... and as an old hymn states, "it will be worth it all, when we see Christ." The table that is set before us is a wonderful reminder of this Psalm...because each time we partake of the Lord's supper we need to be reminded of at least two things... one is that Christ came and died in our place, and two is that one day he will return and bring us to be with him forever... Let's start with the 2nd point...part of remembering the Lord's death until he comes is understanding that one day he will return and bring us to be with him forever... What that means is we are not living for the here and now... we are living for eternity... it means that what takes place on earth has no value compared to what takes place in heaven...it means that eternity matters far more than our temporal lives... It means we should not get caught up in the earthly satisfactions that those who don't know Christ spend all their lives trying to find...when we remember the Lord's death until he comes, then we are remembering that we don't know the day or hour, so we want to be ready at all times... we don't want to be caught off guard or asleep... This table also represents that Christ died in our place...we are reminded of that when we eat of the bread that represents his broken body... and drink of the cup that represents his shed blood... Throughout Psalm 37, I talked about the wicked or the evil man... and contrasted him to the righteous...this table reminds us that the righteousness that separates us from the wicked is not our own righteousness, but the righteousness of another, the righteousness of Christ... Remember, remember, remember that he lived a sinless life and died a sacrificial death in order to be our sin bearer...he who knew no sin became sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God... we are not righteous on our own... we are righteous because Christ took on all of our sin... and all of his righteousness was placed on those who have put their faith and trust in him...

16 So there is no room for pride when we notice those who reject Christ... there is no room for pride when we are aware we have heaven waiting us... and quite frankly, it should move us and motivate us to pray for those who don't know him and who have not bowed before Him... So, what is before us are the symbols of the sacrifice Christ made on our behalf...the bread of for his broken body, the cup for his shed blood... and as we partake, I want to remind you that there is nothing in these elements that will make you any closer to God... there is nothing in here that will make you right with God... And if you are not a Christian believer this morning... let me encourage you to allow the plate and the cup to pass you by... Those who are followers of Christ do this in remembrance of Him... and if you have not put your faith and trust in Him, the symbols are an encouragment for you to do so today...pray for forgiveness... pray for mercy... pray that God would save you from your sin... then, you will be able to understand the significance of his broken body and his shed blood... ushers