SPEAKER_01 0:00

Good morning. We're reading from Psalm thirty-seven. 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. I have been young and now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken for his children 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. But the law of his God is in his heart, his steps do not slip.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Okay, so we uh I had to make a quick stop by I had to make a quick stop by the church just for something real quick, like two minutes to help unlock the doors and get something set up for an event that was happening uh yesterday for our senior singles luncheon, and our family was out and about, and so we told the kids, hey, we'll stop for just two minutes, do a couple things at church, and then we reloaded the car and the car wouldn't start. And so our two-minute visit to church yesterday turned into a two-hour visit uh to church yesterday. But we called our uh Hannah and I called our connect group leaders, uh, John and Tammy Murphy, and they came and they came and rescued us, okay? So, side note, if you're not part of a serve team or part of a connect group, I would encourage you to join one. Because not only are you gonna connect with God vertically, but you're gonna connect horizontally with brothers and sisters who you can call in a time of need. But they came and they rescued us, they helped us get the kids home and get the car to the auto shop to get checked out, and and we're all we're all good now. But I probably wasn't as agitated as I could have been when I was reflecting on it because I told Hannah, I was like, if there's ever a time for our car to not start, it was yesterday. We're all together, you're not alone with the kids, we're at church, it's a safe place with some air conditioning, you know, where it's a Saturday, so it's disruptive, but it's not that disruptive. So I probably wasn't as agitated as I could have been by our car not starting. Hey church, can I can I tell you something? Did you know that sometimes Christians have car trouble? Did you know that sometimes Christians have health problems? And sometimes Christians have the financial hardships, and sometimes Christians experience relationship tension. You see, here's the thing in John chapter 8, verse 36, Jesus says that who the Son sets free is free indeed. But free from what? Not free from our problems. See, being a Christian does not grant you freedom from all your problems. In fact, if that's the gospel that someone sold you, I'm here to tell you that someone sold you a false gospel. Believing in Jesus does not make your problems go away. But what Jesus does offer us is a better response to our problems because Jesus offers us a better perspective on our problems. Let me say that again. Jesus does not offer us freedom from our problems, but what he does offer us, Jesus offers us a better response to our problems. Because ultimately he offers us a better perspective on our problems. And so he may not offer us freedom from problems, but he certainly can offer us freedom from agitation, freedom from a bad response to the problems of life. But how do we experience that kind of freedom? Well, let's answer that question from the Word of God this morning. If you haven't already, turn with me to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, and I'll meet you there in just a moment to talk about freedom from agitation. So we're in this series right now, Songs of the Summer, looking at a different psalm each Sunday during the summer months. We've mentioned before how there are 150 psalms in in the Psalter, and so we're not going to be able to cover all of them, but we are doing our best to study the greatest hits from the Hebrew hymn book. So far we've studied Psalm 9, Psalm 15, Psalm 27, and now Psalm 37 today. These four Psalms, they do have one thing in common. They all have the same author. Of course, their author is God, but they all have the same human author. And we learn from the superscription of Psalm 37 that this is yet another Psalm of David. King David, the shepherd boy David, who you know well. We've said before that David did not write all 150 Psalms, but he did write many of them. And he's written all the psalms that we've studied so far this summer. So we're on a four-Sunday streak of studying Davidic Psalms right now. We'll see how long we can keep up the streak. There are a few unique things about Psalm 37. We're not sure the exact occasion of when David wrote this, but we are pretty positive that David wrote Psalm 37 toward the end of his life, reflecting back on his life. It's unique in its genre and in its style. Psalm 37, it's not a praise psalm, it's not a psalm of lament, it's not an imprecatory psalm. Psalm 37 is a wisdom psalm. Generally speaking, Psalm 37 sounds and feels a lot more like the book of Proverbs than it does the book of Psalms. David is outlining for us a lot of wisdom in Psalm 37. Something that you will not notice in English, but you cannot miss in Hebrew, is that all 40 verses in Psalm 37 form an acrostic. Stick with me. This is really, really cool. So in the Hebrew alphabet, there's 22 letters. And as David progresses through Psalm 37, about every other verse, David starts the next verse with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. And he has an acrostic in Psalm 37 that works all the way through the Hebrew alphabet. And that acrostic is really important because it communicates to us a couple things. One, it communicates to us completeness. You've heard before that God is the Alpha and the Omega in Greek. He's the beginning and the end. But how about God is the Aleph and the Tav in Hebrew? He's still the beginning and the end, even in the Old Testaments. But also it communicates to us that David was very intentional and careful and meticulous when he wrote Psalm 37. Many of David's Psalms are a response to a particular instance, to a particular circumstance. And many of David's Psalms, he sits down and he writes until he feels like he's written all he has to say. But Psalm 37 is not that way. Psalm 37 is very meticulous. He works through the Hebrew alphabet, all 22 letters, and he writes an acrostic poem, an acrostic psalm that covers the whole Hebrew alphabet, no more and no less. Very intentional, very meticulous. But as David in Psalm 37 reflects back on his life, he certainly had an abundance of reasons to be agitated throughout his life. In fact, perhaps at times David was agitated by some things. But in Psalm 37, he gives us some principles on how to experience freedom from agitation. And so let's dig in to what David teaches us here in Psalm 37. Church, if you're taking notes this morning, number one on your notes is this say no to envy. If you want to experience freedom from agitation, then you must say no to envy. Look with me now in verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 37. In verse 1, David says, fret not about the evildoer, and be not envious of the wrongdoer. Evildoer and wrongdoer are basically synonyms here in this verse. Don't be fretful about the evildoer, don't be envious of the wrongdoer. Those first two words in the Psalm, fret not, that's really the phrase from which we derive this concept and this idea of agitation. Don't be agitated by the evildoer. Don't be fretful, fret not about the evildoer. David goes on to say, don't be agitated by them, but also don't be envious about the evildoer, envious of the evildoer. You'll remember from our 1 Peter series in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 1, we spoke briefly about the difference between envy and jealousy. Remember this. Jealousy is when you do not want someone else to have what you have. Envy is when you want what someone else has. Let me say that again. Jealousy is when you do not want someone else to have what you have. Envy is when you want what someone else has. Why would we be envious of the evildoer? Well, perhaps they have acquired and accumulated for themselves, uh some themselves, worldly riches and worldly pleasures of which we might be envious, but we shouldn't be, because perhaps they've come by them by come to them by evil means, and they're temporary pleasures that will not last forever. What we have in Christ is so much better and so much far superior to what the evildoer and the wrongdoer has. What we have in the long run is eternity and eternal life, but what the evildoer and the wrongdoer has in the short run is nothing but temporary earthly pleasures that will not last. David expounds upon this in verse 2 of Psalm 37, when he says, they, they being the evildoers and wrongdoers, they will fade like the grass, and they will wither like a green herb. The flower will wither. The evildoer and the wrongdoer may have some earthly pleasures that will last for a little while, but what you are holding in your hands right now will last forever. You have something far superior, so do not be agitated and do not be envious. If you want freedom from agitation, then you must say no to envy. Church, number two, on your notes is this number two, delight in God. If you want freedom from agitation, the next thing that you must do is delight in God. Look with me now in verses three through five of Psalm 37. In verse 4 of Psalm 37, you have perhaps one of the most famous verses in the Bible. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. But that famous verse, Psalm 37, 4, is sandwiched between a repeated command. In verse 3, David says, Trust the Lord. And then again in verse 5, David says, Trust the Lord. But if you look in verse 3, David says, Trust the Lord and do good. But then in verse 5, David says, Trust the Lord and wait for him to act. Verse 3 and verse 5 is such a comprehensive understanding of Christian trusting and Christian waiting. Because on the one hand, our waiting and our trusting should not be passive, it should be active. While we trust in God and while we wait on the Lord, we should do good. We should do something. But at the same time, verse 5, while we trust in the Lord and while we wait on the Lord, ultimately the reason we're trusting in Him and waiting on Him is because we need Him to act. We need Him to do something that we cannot do for ourselves. And so verse 3 and verse 5 is such a comprehensive understanding of Christian trusting and Christian waiting. Before we take a deep dive into verse 4, one more phrase I want to comment on is at the end of verse 3, David encourages us to befriend faithfulness. I think that's a cool phrase. The object of our friendship at the end of verse 3 is not our faithfulness to God, but the object of our friendship at the end of verse 3 is God's faithfulness to us. Befriend God's faithfulness to you. You see, when you have a true friend, you can be yourself around that person. You can relax, you can let the walls come down. And so this image and this idea at the end of verse 3 of befriending God's faithfulness to you, it should allow you to calm your soul and relax your mind. Let the walls come down. Befriend God's faithfulness to you. I think that's a really cool encouragement this morning. Verse 4, delight yourselves in the Lord, and God will give you the desires of your heart. Here's what this verse does not mean, church. This verse does not mean that if you delight yourself in the Lord, God will give you whatever your heart desires. Because we know from Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9, that the heart is deceitful and wicked. It would not be good for God to give us everything our heart naturally desires. What Psalm 37, 4 actually means is that when you delight in the Lord, God will cause your heart to desire new things, to desire righteous things. The more you delight in the Lord, the more God is going to change your desires to better align with his desires. He's not going to give you whatever your heart desires, he's going to cause your heart to desire new things, righteous things. This is why Psalm 37, 4 is one of the most helpful verses in Scripture when it comes to answering the question, What is God's will for my life? To answer that question, what is God's will for my life? Psalm 37 verse 4 is so helpful because ultimately God's will for your life is that you would do what you want, provided you're operating on righteous desires. Now the question then becomes, how do I know if the desire in my heart is a righteous one worth acting upon or an evil one that I need to squash? That's a good question. I want to give you four prerequisites to acting upon a righteous desire. Okay, I'm gonna reference several different scriptures, so hang with me, but four prerequisites to acting upon a righteous desire: biblical alignment, fervent prayer, wise counsel, and open doors. Number one, biblical alignments. Is your desire aligned with the Word of God? Or are you desiring to do something the Bible prohibits or abstain from something that the Bible commands? In Acts chapter 17, verse 11, the Bereans, they they searched the scriptures to see if things were so. When it comes to the desires of our heart, we should search the scriptures to see if our desires are in alignment with God's word. If you can move past step one, step two is fervent prayer. Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 and 7, Paul tells us in verse 6 to bring everything to God in prayer, including your desires. God, is this desire from you or is this desire from my flesh? In Philippians 4, 7, God will give you a peace that surpasses understanding if the desire He's placed in your heart is a righteous one. If you can move beyond steps one and two, step three is to seek wise counsel. Proverbs chapter 11, verse 14 says that where there is no guidance, a people falls. But in the abundance of counsel there is safety. Don't just ask one other person, ask multiple people. And ask people who will tell you the honest truth. Is this desire a desire from the Lord or a desire from my flesh? If you can move past steps one, two, and three, step number four is open doors of opportunity. Is there an open door? Paul in Colossians chapter four, verse three, prays for God to open the door. God is one who opens and closes doors of opportunity. And it's possible that you would get through steps one, two, and three and then run into a bunch of closed doors. That might be God telling you to change course. But if you can get through steps one, two, three, and four, biblical alignment, fervent prayer, wise counsel, and an open door of opportunity, then God's will for your life is that you would act on that righteous desire and do what you want. Because Psalm 37, 4 says that if you're delighting in the Lord, God is not going to give you whatever your heart desires, but he's going to cause your heart to desire new and righteous things. And so if there's a righteous desire in your heart, it's because the God of the universe put it there, and he wants you to act on it. And so if you want freedom from agitation, then number two is you must delight in God. And when you delight in God, he will change the very desires of your heart to better align with the desires of his heart. If you want freedom from agitation, then number three on your notes is this be still. Look with me now in verses six and seven of Psalm 37. In verse 6, David says that your righteousness comes from the light. Righteous simply means to be right with God. If you've ever wanted a simple definition of righteousness, that's it. To be righteous is to be made right with God. The problem is we can't make ourselves right with God. That's something we need God to do for us. And that's why he sent his son Jesus. Your righteousness comes through the light. And as we just sang about this morning with our kids, John chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus is the light. Jesus came and lived the life that you and I could never live. He lived a perfect life. Then he died the death that you and I deserve. He died in our place. But on the third day he rose again, defeating death once and for all. And anyone who repents of their sins and believes in Jesus can be saved, can be made right with God. David says, Your righteousness comes through the light in verse 6, and the light is Jesus. In verse 7, you see that phrase, fret not again. That phrase, fret not, is again where we find this idea and this concept of agitation. Do not be agitated. But in the beginning of verse 7, David says, Be still before the Lord. I don't know about you, but that is a hard command to obey. Especially in a technological age. I will often find myself physically still, but my mind is racing. But God calls you to be still before Him. You know, I recently heard a pastor talking about the concept of revival, a pastor who had experienced revival firsthand recently, and he said something that's really stuck with me. This pastor said, check this out. A movement of God starts when God's people stop moving. Let me say that again. A movement of God starts when God's people stop moving. Now, what that does not mean, and what verse 7 does not mean, is that we should quit and throw up our hands and give up and not work hard. That's not what that means. But we should take time to be still before the Lord and ask the Lord, is the thing that I'm working hard on the thing that you want me to be working hard on? Or am I just expending a bunch of sideways energy? Be still before the Lord. God doesn't call us to be still before our spouse, before our kids or our grandkids, or our employer or our neighbors or our coworkers. He calls us to be still before Him. And if you want freedom from agitation, then you've got to be still. But don't just be still for the sake of stillness. Be still before a person, be still before the God of the universe. Hey, church, number four on your notes is this. Number four, trust that you will never be forsaken. If you want freedom from agitation this morning, then you have to trust that you will never be forsaken. Hey, jump down with me to verse 25 of Psalm 37, if you could. There are 40 verses in Psalm 37, and we're only going to look at 14 of them this morning. Jump all the way down with me to verse 25. We'll look now at verses 25 through 28 of Psalm 37. In verse 25, David says, I was once young, but now I'm old. This is really the main reason. Why we believe David wrote Psalm 37 toward the end of his life, because of verse 25. Verse 25 indicates to us that David was an old man, reflecting on all the things God had brought him through when he wrote Psalm 37. Hey, I'll tell you something. When I came to Oxford campus, it really helped me realize that the terms young and old are very relative terms. Previously, as a youth pastor working with a bunch of teenagers, to those teenagers, I am super old. But then to many of you, I am super young. I was at vacation Bible school this past week, and I had a second grader ask me, Hey, how old are you, Pastor Garrett? And I said, How old do you think I am? And he said, I think you are 155 years old. And I said, Almost. I mean I'm getting there. But David says, Once I was young and now I am old. In all seriousness, a couple questions we should probably be asking ourselves based on verse 25 are these. One, are you making the most of the present? I don't care what your age is, you'll never be younger than you are right now. Are you making the most of your presence? Secondly, how are you investing in the next generation? David likely wrote Psalm 37 as an investment in the next generation. He's a wise old man reflecting on all that God has done in his life, and he's leaving us Psalm 37 as an investment in the next generation. What about you? How are you investing in the next generation? Also in verse 25, David says that in his lifetime he has never seen God forsake the righteous. You'll see that phrase again in verse 28. And this idea is really where we get point number four. Trust that you will never be forsaken. David has never seen it, and we'll never see it in our lifetime either. God does not forsake his people. At the end of verse 25, David says that he's also never seen God's children begging for bread. I love what one preacher said. He said that the church should never be a closed up, walled off clique, but should always be a bunch of beggars telling the other beggars where they found the bread. Let me say that again. The church should never be a closed-up, walled-off clique, but the church should always be a bunch of beggars telling the other beggars where we found the bread. We found it in the bread of life in Jesus Christ. Psalm 37, verse 25. David goes on in verse 26 to say that the children of God should always be a blessing. You as an individual, you should always be a blessing to your family and never a burden to your family. As a family, you should always be a blessing to your neighborhood and never a burden to your neighborhood. Your family should be a blessing to this church and never a burden to this church. This church should be a blessing to the community and never a burden to the community. We're seeking to be a light to the community. Verse 26, we should be a blessing to the world around us. David goes on in Psalm 37, verse 27, to give us a very plain definition of repentance. There are many helpful ways of thinking about repentance, but verse 27 is a really good one. Repentance is a complete 180 degree turnaround. If you're going to repent, you have to turn completely 180 degrees around. When you do that, you inevitably do two things. You turn from something and you turn toward something else. And David in verse 27 says, When you repent, you turn from evil and you turn toward good. If you're going to turn from something, you have to turn toward something else. And again in verse 28, you see David repeat that idea that God does not forsake his people. God does not forsake the righteous. This is why, if you want freedom from agitation, you must trust that you will never be forsaken as a child of God. If you want freedom from agitation, then you must keep God's word in your heart. Look with me now in verses 29 through 31 of Psalm 37. These are not the last three verses of the Psalm, but these are the last three verses that we'll be looking at together today. In verse 29, David says that the righteous will inherit the land. If you do go back and read all 40 verses of Psalm 37, this promise is repeated five times, including verse 29. God's promise to the righteous that they will inherit the land. Jesus builds upon this promise in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 5, Jesus says, the meek shall inherit the earth. And so we know that in Psalm 37, at David's time, in Psalm 37, 29, this promise was for Israel to inherit Canaan. But based on Matthew 5, 5, we know that this promise now applies to God's church, one day inheriting the new heavens and the new earth. We will one day inherit all the land. In verse 30, David goes on to say that the righteous, they uh talk about wisdom from their mouths, and they use their tongue to speak justice. Solomon says in Proverbs 18, 21, that in the tongue is contained the power of death and life. Use your tongue and use your mouth not to speak death, but to speak life. Use your tongue and use your mouth to utter wisdom, verse 30, to speak justice, verse 30. And then we get down to verse 31, where David says that the righteous has hidden God's word in his heart so that he does not slip when he steps. As you walk this spiritual walk, if you want to keep your balance and not slip, then you have to hide God's word in your heart. You must keep God's word hidden in your heart. Memorize it, remember it, and hide it in your heart. I want to do a little exercise with you, okay? It'll be quick, but I'm gonna say a song lyric, and then I want you to finish the song lyric, okay? Like finish it out loud, not in your heads, okay? Not a trick question. I've given you some softballs, okay? You ready? The first song lyric is this Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. And you would say that saved a wretch like me. Praise God. I got one more for you. Song lyric is this. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, and you would say, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. We could go on with some different hymns and songs that we all know, but the point is that you, brothers and sisters, you have the capability to remember things. You have the ability to memorize things and hide things deep in your heart. You can remember song lyrics. You can remember your home address. You can remember your cell phone number. You can remember your birthday. You can remember all kinds of things and hide all kinds of things deep in your heart and deep in your mind. I would suggest to you that there's nothing more important for you to hide deep in your heart and deep in your mind than the word of God. If you're going to fight and combat sin in your life with the word of God, then the word of God must be hidden deeply in your heart. As one theologian puts it, don't outsource your brain to your smartphone. Don't hide God's word on your phone. Hide God's word and keep God's word deep in your heart if you want freedom from agitation. Well, this morning, church, we talked all about just that freedom from agitation. We said that Jesus does not offer to us freedom from our problems, but instead, Jesus offers to us a better response to our problems because ultimately Jesus offers to us a better perspective on our problems. And so in Christ, we can experience freedom from agitation if we're willing to say no to envy, delight in God, be still before the Lord, trust that we will never be forsaken, and keep God's word hidden in our hearts. But maybe you're here today and you're not a Christian. Hey, can I tell you something? We are really glad that you're here. But hey, if you're here today and you're not a Christian, what you don't need is freedom from agitation. You need freedom from your bondage to sin and freedom from despair. Because of your sin and your broken relationship with God, you're walking through life hopeless. Hey, can I extend an invitation to you this morning? God wants you to join the family this morning through faith in Christ. He wants you to place your faith in Jesus right now and become a Christian right now. And let me tell you what's about to happen. In just a moment, I'm going to pray to close our time of Bible study. And when I say amen, everyone in the room will stand to sing one more song of response. You'll see many people in the room praying and reflecting from their pews. You'll see many people in the room praying and reflecting from the altar this morning. Anyone is welcome to pray at the altar today. But as we sing, myself and some other members of our team will be standing across the front. And we'd love nothing more than for you to walk forward and approach one of us so we can talk and pray with you about becoming a Christian today. It would be our honor. Would you pray with me? Father in heaven, God, we love you and we praise you. We're grateful today that you've given us freedom. But we recognize that it's not freedom from all the problems of life, it's freedom from our bondage to sin. It's freedom from our broken relationship with you, and it's freedom from a poor response to problems. It's freedom from agitation. God, I pray for myself and my brothers and sisters in the room that you would help us to live calm and peaceful lives this week that are free from agitation. But God, I pray for that person in the room who is not yet a Christian, who's not yet made their relationship with you right through Christ. God, you've started a good work in that person's life by bringing them here today. Would you finish that work? Would you complete that good work by helping that person walk the aisle this morning and place their faith in Jesus? God, we pray and we trust that everything we've thought and said and done in this room has been pleasing to you. And God, we pray all these things in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Would you stand with me?