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Remembered Forever

Chuck Lindsey · Sunday, 28 June 2026 · 55:42 · 8,921 words

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Psalm 112 teaches that true happiness comes from fearing the Lord and thinking correctly about Him. A blessed person delights in God’s commandments, loves Him above circumstances, and lives generously, reflecting His heart to the poor. The sermon warns that the wicked, who reject God, will see their works dissolve and their desires perish forever. It closes with an invitation for anyone who has never turned to Christ to admit their need and ask for salvation.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

will 89 nothing 33 correctly 13 wealth 12 happiness 9 stability 9 lord 82 everything 29 tiny 6 never 29 restrictive 4 uniquely 5

Topics

Salvation 4 Sin 3 Righteousness 3 Hope 2 Suffering 2 Prayer 1 Faith 1 Grace 1

Scripture referenced 5

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Psalms 90 1:43 Psalms 112 2:37 Psalms 112 2:41 Proverbs 10 44:13 Proverbs 10:7 44:31

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 7 lines, 0:35. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Josh, and thanks for checking out one of our sermons today.

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Thanks again for joining us, and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

Good morning. It is good to see you this morning. Good to be back together with you.

My family and I were able to get away for a few days.

We welcomed our second granddaughter into this world, which we loved every second of.

We left here. I love that the Lord cares about details like this.

We left here two Sundays, three Sundays ago.

And left.

Left and drove as far as we could and spent the night in our car and then got up early and left and got there.

And got there on Monday and she went into labor Monday night.

And so it was just fantastic.

So got to spend some really great time with them.

They live in Colorado, so just good to spend that time together.

And the Lord blesses things like that.

He cares about details like that, and I love that he does.

I'm so grateful.

Thankful to be back together with you.

Thankful to Donnie, who spoke for us a couple of weeks ago.

And then also thankful to Isaiah for speaking last week on Psalm 90.

And just what a blessing it is to know that we've got people that'll just step in, take God's word.

They love him.

They'll take his word and they will point to him, you know, and I'm just so thankful for that.

So things are looking great here.

There's lots of changes since we left.

We came back like the day after.

We got back in town and I came through and I looked and I was like, man, this is amazing what's been happening.

But I just want to thank you if you've been a part of volunteering for this, if you've been helping us in any way.

Thank you so much for the time that you've given.

And I want to thank Zach, our worship leader, publicly.

He's been working a lot to get this thing like together.

So just want to say thank you on that.

Well, we have been making our way through the Psalms.

So if you've got a Bible, we will be in the Psalms again this morning.

So Psalm 112 is where we will be this morning.

Psalm 112.

Please turn there.

And while you do, let's quiet ourselves and focus our hearts, our minds on the Lord.

Let's ask him to speak to us today.

I need him to speak to me.

You need him to speak to you.

Let's ask him to do it.

Okay.

Thank you, Lord, for your word.

What a treasure it is.

Thank you, Lord, that you are here with us.

We don't take that for granted.

Lord, you are here.

And because we are here, you're here.

I pray right now that, Lord, you would open our ears and open our hearts, that you would speak.

I pray not one word from me would be heard, but only from you, what you would say to us.

We love you, Lord, and we look to you now.

And in your word, we thank you, Lord.

It's in Jesus' name I pray.

Let me ask you, can you right now praise the Lord?

What I mean is, at the mention of...

Praising the Lord, does your heart begin to do that?

Do you begin to immediately begin to exalt God, to think about how wonderful he is, to start to...

You know, your heart starts to swell of God's faithfulness, of God's goodness towards you, or is it difficult for you?

Did you, as Zach and the team led us just a few moments ago, did you worship or did you just sing?

Or maybe you didn't even sing.

Maybe you just sort of waited.

until it was done. The first words of this psalm, the psalms are songs, right? So the first word of

the song is a shout. It's a invitation. It's a proclamation. It says to us as his people,

hey, praise the Lord. That's what it begins with. And I wonder, is that where you're at in your

heart today? Or is there stuff in the way? Look at verse one. Praise the Lord. That's how it begins.

Praise the Lord. To do that is to think about him. It is to celebrate him. It is to exalt him

in your mind and in your heart. It's to talk about who he is. It's to talk about what he's done.

Now hear this. There is always reason to praise the Lord. Always. In whatever we are going through

in life, whether it is blessing and rejoicing or whether it is trouble and suffering and pain,

there is always a reason to praise the Lord. There is always a reason to praise the Lord.

There is always a reason to praise the Lord, to rejoice in him. The Bible tells us often to

rejoice in the Lord. I don't rejoice in terrible circumstances. Oh Lord, thank you for this

horrible circumstance. I don't do that very often. I thank him for him. I thank him for his work.

I don't say, Lord, thank you that my car broke down. I think that's a little bit weird. If you

do that, that's fine, right? But that's just not me. I'm not driving along. My car breaks down.

I go, Lord, praise.

Praise your name for this engine shooting a piston out of the hood. Thank you, Lord,

for what just happened. That's amazing. I don't do that. I thank him that he's in control. I trust

him. He's going to work it out. There's always reason to rejoice in the Lord. Maybe not in the

circumstance, but in the Lord, because the Lord is always good and he is always working in our

lives, whether we recognize it or not. And he uses everything the Bible says for our good.

And that is reason enough to celebrate him. God, you are working all things together in my life.

I can't do this. Nobody else can do this, but you do this. He's in control. That's worthy of

celebrating him. Nothing's out of his control. He's always doing this. He's always good. But

sometimes if we're being honest, we don't feel like praising the Lord. I won't ask you to raise

your hand, but there's times we don't feel like praising the Lord. We do feel like they're just

words. We don't feel like they're just words. We don't feel like they're just words. We don't feel

like they're just words. We don't actually sing it and mean it. We might mouth the words,

praise the Lord, but we don't feel it. And it's in those moments. You got to understand what's

happening. It's in those moments that you realize you've taken your eyes off of him. You've taken

your eyes off of who he is. You're looking at the stuff instead of him. We need to remind ourselves

of who God is, what he has done. Let me say it in a different way. If we are ever having trouble

praising, exalting the Lord,

the problem is not him. It's me. It's us. I'm the problem, not him. He hasn't changed.

He is still so good. If I'm having trouble worshiping, something's wrong in my heart.

He is always worthy to be exalted and to be worshiped. The problem is with me. It's where

I'm looking. It's what I'm staring at. It's what I'm focused on. I'm staring at the stuff. I'm

staring at the trouble. I'm staring at myself, the circumstances. And I can't think of anything

more.

Discouraging than to look at myself. I don't know about you. I can't think of anything more

discouraging than to look at me. There's nothing worth worshiping, looking at me, but to look at

him. There's nothing worth worshiping when I look at the circumstance, but to look at him is to

worship him. He is good. So back to the question, can you do it right now in your heart? Can you

begin to exalt God in your own heart right now? Can you begin to worship him? Or is something in

the way? Are those words praise the Lord overshadowed?

By the things going on in life right now. And like faster, you don't know what's going on in my

life. There's, there's way too much trouble for me to be stopping and singing. It's way too much

going on. You don't, you don't know the stress I've got going on. You don't know the things that

are happening. You don't know how much has fallen apart for me to stop and to worship. The Bible

says, that's what we must do. We must be still and know that he is God. If you're having trouble

worshiping, it's because of what you're looking at. It's because of what you're focused on. So the

Psalm begins right at the front end, praise the Lord. It's a call to us to worship. And then he

goes on and he says there in verse one, blessed is the man or woman, right? Who fears the Lord.

What does it mean to fear God? Well, let me say what it does not mean. It does not mean that you

are afraid of him, that he is going to hurt you. That's not what fear of the Lord really is. I,

I hope you'll lodge this in your brain to fear. The Lord means to think about him correctly.

That's what it means to fear the Lord. It means to think about him correctly. So the unsaved person,

let me say it a different way. The unsaved person, they think God is nothing. They do not think about

God correctly. They think he's nothing. They think he's some powerless little idea that

weak minded people need to get themselves through life. How, how far are they from the truth,

right? They're so far. They have no fear of God because they do not see him correctly.

They do not think about him correctly. To think about the Lord correctly is to understand

he is all powerful. Nothing is, is too hard for him. He is infinite in his ability. He can do

anything. He is everywhere all at one time in all places at the same time. He knows and understands

everything and every possible thing, every path he is in all of history, all at the same time.

He's in the past as in the, in the future and everything in between every moment, every

second of every moment, right? He knows and understands everything, even every possible

thing, every possible path we could take. It's beyond comprehension. When you start to think

about who the Lord actually is, you think about some random person 3000 years ago, making whatever

decision they might make in the 50 different choices they could make. God's in that moment,

understanding all of that as he is with you this morning, he's created everything from nothing.

We have to create everything from something.

Everything from nothing. Add to this, the fact he does not change. Add to this, the fact he cannot

do wrong. He only ever does what is best and what is right. Add to that the fact that he, that he

sees everything. Not one thing is missed. And so he will judge perfectly. He sees everything. Then

he's above all things. He's infinitely beyond all things. I mean, just think about this thought.

The Bible says he holds the entire universe in the palm of his hand, the whole thing. We don't

even know what the end of that thing is. He holds it in the palm of his hand. And then right. There's

a tiny little man, foolish little man. You don't exist. A little tiny speck of a man. I mean,

if you were in space and you're looking at this thing, you can't even see us. We're not even,

you can't even see us individually with your eye. And here we are. You don't exist. You're nothing.

I'm God. I'm powerful. Oh, the Bible says the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.

How foolish. It's only a fool who does not fear God. What a foolish thing.

You really think about it. Tiny little man, so powerless, so weak, so frail, knows nothing,

sees nothing, can accomplish nothing that means anything. Nothing. Tiny little man, ignoring God,

acting as though God is nothing, rejecting him and blaspheming him. It is beyond comprehension.

Shocking amounts of pride and foolishness. And yet this is what it is. We as people,

God has given us the ability, the freedom.

To exercise that foolishness. Mind-boggling. But the opposite is true, right? For those of us that

know and love him, we see God correctly. We think about him rightly. That person is blessed,

it says here. Blessed is the man or woman who fears the Lord, who thinks about God

correctly. And it's describing a happiness that comes from thinking about God correctly.

Are you miserable today? There's a reason. You're not thinking about God correctly.

Whatever your circumstance is,

you're not thinking about him rightly. And so you're miserable. Are you unable to worship?

You're not thinking about God correctly. Are you largely just unhappy? There's a reason for this.

Listen, this is what happens when we think incorrect thoughts, right? When we do not think

correctly, misery is attached to wrong thinking. Please hear that. Misery is attached to wrong

thinking. Let me give you some examples, right? If I get sick and I think that it's all up to me

or some other person to heal,

misery, that's going to be stress and fear and disappointment and frustration. And it's going to

be misery. But if I know that the Lord God is in control and overrides, and he does what is best

for me always, and there's not a moment I am out of his hands, I can rejoice. There is a happiness

that comes from being certain of who he is and what he does. If I look at the state of this world,

and I think we need a human being to fix things, I'm going to be very disappointed. It results in

misery, sorrow, disappointment,

and frustration. But if I know the truth that God is over all, that nothing is out of his control,

that nothing is beyond his ability, that the plan is still going according to plan,

happiness is the result of right thinking. Where are you at today? If you look at yourself

incorrectly, that you're worthless and not valuable, guess what? Misery follows. If you

know the truth of what God says about you, that you were worth everything, that he gave up

everything to get you, the result,

of that, that you are worth everything to God, the result of that is happiness. Happiness. There

is a happiness that comes from thinking correctly about anything, about all things, but especially

about God, especially about what he says. Now, there's also a happiness that comes,

according to the end of verse one, from delighting greatly in his commandments. Do you delight

greatly in the commandments of God? This is the thing that the unsaved person hates most,

God's commands. I don't want God's authority,

over me. I don't want anybody's authority. Before I came to know the Lord, this was me, okay?

When I was a kid, I didn't know the Lord. My parents were told by the church, the children's

ministry worker, your kid is demon possessed, okay? So that's what people thought about me as a kid,

right? They're like, you should cast the demon out of your child, because he can't even be in

children's ministry, you know? They wouldn't let my parents check me in anymore to kids' ministry,

like that's how bad it was. So I had a authority problem, right? Growing,

up, an authority problem. But so do all unsaved people. We don't want God's authority over us.

The unsaved person thinks that God's commandments are restrictive. God's commandments are not

restrictive. They are protective. Is it restrictive to not let your kids play on the freeway? Or is

it protective? It's protective. The commands of God are always to protect and to bless. The command

to not commit adultery is not to keep people from, you know, expressing themselves and finding

happiness. It's not to keep people from expressing themselves and finding happiness. It's not to keep

them from burning down their lives, and burning down their family's lives, and breaking everything.

The command to not murder, that's not restrictive, that's protective. The command against sexual

immorality, that's not to prevent us, again, from some expression or some fun. That is to prevent

the destruction that comes into your life through these things. The command not to be drunk,

is it really to make your weekend boring? No, it is to protect you from

foolishness, from giving up what you didn't intend to give up by being a fool. Happy is the person who

delights greatly in his commands. I do. I don't know about you. I delight greatly in God's commands.

And the reason I do is because I'm a fool. And I know I can't pick better than God. I know I can't

choose better than God. I need him to say, this is what you should do. This is what you shouldn't

do. I don't need to try to figure that out. Just tell me, because I'm not going to pick the best

thing. I'm always going to pick the stupid thing. So I delight greatly in God's commands. I want

these things in my life. I could never choose better. How do you see God's commands? How do

you see God's words? God's commands are true and right and just. And please hear this, always safe,

always safe. You're never in danger obeying God. Never. You're only ever in danger when you disobey

God. It cannot be good to go against what God says. Cannot. Impossible. He can only do what's

good. You can go exploring and you'll find this.

It's one of the hardest parts of being a pastor is watching people go exploring. What do I mean?

Ignoring what God says and going to see if it's different for them. You know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to, I'm just going to ignore what God says and I'm going to go see if this applies to

me, to my life. It's so hard to watch when they're standing there in the rubble and everything is

burned down and broken around them. And they finally go, oh, it's not any different for me.

It's pain. It's suffering. You can go exploring these things and you'll find

out the truth that you are not free. You are only held and you are only unhappy. You can chase

these things and you will find what so many have found. You think it's the thrill of finding a new

spouse. You'll find the truth. The end of that rainbow is not a pot of gold. It is destruction

and pain and suffering. And the soul of your body is gone. You're a shell of a person. That's where

it ends. That's where it ends. And it takes a long time to fix it. Happy is the person that rejoices

greatly in the commands of God. Verse two talks about the fruit that comes from this. It says

there, verse two, his descendants. So the person that knows and loves the Lord, his descendants

will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. So please hear this.

This is not a guarantee that if you know and love the Lord, your kids are going to know and love the

Lord. We know that, right? We know they have to choose for themselves, right? It's been said,

God has no grandkids, right? He only has children. He doesn't have grandchildren,

meaning no kids get in because their parents believe you must believe your children must

believe right for themselves. But what this is referring to is that when your children or when

your grandchildren follow, when they follow the Lord, they can expect to know the same God. They

can expect to know the same blessing in their life that their parents have known. God has been

faithful to my parents. God will be faithful to me. This is such a tremendous blessing. Now trying

to raise, you know, older kids.

Their faith. They get to look at us and say, wait, God has been so faithful to you. Will he be faithful

to me in the same way? And it's so cool to watch them make that connection and understand the

faithfulness of God towards them. Beautiful to see it. So in a general sense, the descendants,

right? The people that are coming from you, if they follow the Lord, they too, it says here,

they will be mighty on earth. Now, again, this does not mean that they will be people of great

wealth or that they will be celebrities or Kings or whatever. It means that they will be people

of significance. It means they will affect the people around them. Don't you want this for your

kids? Don't you want them to impact the people that they are among for good? That's what this

is saying. It's what I want. I want my kids to impact the world around them for the Lord. And so

the idea is if they follow him, he'll use them. He'll bless them. He'll use their lives. And if

you're a kid in here today, right? Like he'll use your life. He'll impact the people around them.

He'll use the people around you. And so you will be beneficial in the world that you live in. I know

this about us as people. It's true about you. It's true about me. Every single one of us, we must know

that we exist for a very real reason. What I mean is, let me say it a different way. When a person

thinks that they are just another one of the 8 billion people on the planet, it does not go well

for them. If you think you are just another one of the 8 billion people on the planet, it's very,

very destructive. If you don't know why you exist uniquely, that you uniquely are gifted and special

and important, and your life means something, you were created for a reason. If you don't know that

you're on a destructive path right now. I know that about you. I know that about us as people.

Every person has to know they uniquely exist. There's a reason I personally, me, I am here.

Why I'm gifted the way I am, who I am, what my contribution to my world is,

has to actually be important and matter. And you can say this to somebody. You can say you're

important. You can say you matter. You can say God has uniquely gifted you. You can say God loves you.

If you don't believe it, destruction. We can say it to you a hundred times. If you don't buy it,

destruction. But the moment you know it, and it's only possible to know it when you're hearing it

from God, because you could say, if I'm saying it to you, you could say, well, that's just your

opinion. But when you know God's saying it to you, when God says, I gave up every single thing to get

you, I knit you together intricately.

In your mother's womb. I gave you your personality. I see your face. I know who you are.

I designed you to be this way. I designed who you are. There is no one like you. I made you

to be this, this thing of beauty for me. When you know that, and I gave up my whole life to get you

when you know that it changes everything. You stop trying to make it so that other people prove

that to you. You're sure of it. You might be in a place where you're trying to get other people to

It's not going to work. Your significance, your importance. It can only come from him hearing and

knowing and believing what he says about you. And then you begin to do what God has created you

uniquely to do. It can't come from your job title you have or don't have. It can't come from what

you have in life. It can't come from whatever group or tribe you identify with. It can only

come from knowing him, what he says about you. And then when you know this, you start to affect the

mighty, effectual in the earth. Verse three continues to show the fruit of those who follow

the Lord. Look what it says. Wealth and riches will be in his house and his righteousness endures

forever. Some of you, this is your life verse. I'm just kidding. You're like, well, I'm going to be

rich if I follow the Lord, you know? No. Okay, listen, here's what this is saying and what it's

not saying. It's not saying that if you follow the Lord, you're gonna have money, okay? You have to

ask yourself, what are real riches? What is real wealth? It's talking about real wealth, real riches.

What are those? Well, they're not money. There are many extremely poor people in this world who have

millions and billions of dollars in their bank accounts, right? Hollywood is full of them. There

are many extremely wealthy people who have nothing in their bank accounts. So real wealth is not

defined by money. Real wealth is defined by what you have, I would say it this way, at the end of

life. I do a little bit of math here. I do a little bit of math here. I do a little bit of math here.

I do a lot of funerals. And on your deathbed, I can guarantee you, you will not care about the

position you had at work, whether you got that title or that promotion or you're not gonna care.

I've never had a person ever, unsaved or saved, I've never had one person say to me, man, if only

I had got that title, that position. I've never had anyone say it. I've never had anyone say they

wish they had worked more. I've never had anyone say they wish they had a bigger house or cars or

I've never had anyone say any of those things to me.

I've never had anyone say they wish they had a bigger house or cars or cars or cars or a bigger

portfolio is not gonna matter to you. In the final moments of your life, your wealth in life is going

to be evaluated by whether you have people in your life that love you and whether you've made an

impact on the people around you. The end. That's it. Do you have people that love you? And have

you made an impact on the people around you? The end. That is it. That is what you're gonna care

about. I have been to far too many funerals where nobody shows up. I've been to far too many

funerals where nobody knows anything to say about the person because they had no impact on them at

all. I've been to far too many funerals where nobody knows anything to say about the person

It is so tragic. So often, right? Like you learn a lot about people. There's times I do funerals for

people I don't know. And you learn a lot about who these people are. And I always talk to the

family. I try and get a sense of who they are. I spend hours with the family. I try to get the

sense of who this person is. It is so tragic to come out of those and go, nothing. There's nothing.

And then you invite people to speak. Please help us know who this person was. And they get up and,

you know, maybe one person, two people speak and they say nothing. He was a Lions fan. Wow.

Isaiah talked about it last week. The dash between your birthday and your death. You want

that summarized by he was a Lions fan. He loved fishing. What? That's nothing. And it's tragic.

It's so sad to see this. I'm, I'm often so shocked, not by what is said, but by what is not said.

Nothing meaningful. But what a difference it is when you are at a funeral where they're talking

about people who have made a difference in people's lives. I mean, it's like you, the things they say

they mean everything. And they're not, they're not trying to come up with stuff. They're like,

listen, this person, they, they gave everything. They, they serve. They, they helped. I mean,

it's always the same thing. They loved, they served, they gave, they were there for you.

They use words like they give you the shirt off their back. They'd be there when you call. I mean,

the stuff that really matters. That's what's said at you about you at the end of your life.

That's wealth. That's wealth, real stuff, selfish, selflessness, the love, the generosity,

the real stuff of life. That is wealth. Real riches is being able to sleep at night with a

clear conscience. That's real riches. Real riches is feeling loved by the people in your life.

Real riches is having a real impact on the people around you. It's having hope in this world that

good is coming. Real wealth is peace. It's joy in the midst of difficult circumstances,

man. We could go on and on, but that's the wealth. That's the riches that are the fruit

of knowing the Lord, loving him, and thinking rightly about him. Now, the last part of verse

three is so important to hear. It says, and his righteousness endures forever. Hear this. As a

believer, your righteousness will endure forever. I love this. Let's get theological for just a

second. What does righteousness mean? Ready? Just break it down. Make it simple. Rightness before

God. Okay? That's what righteousness is. It means you are right before God. It means there's nothing

you owe. It means all sin has been paid for. You don't have to pay for it. You don't have to pay

an outstanding bill. Your sins have been paid for. This is beautiful. We have righteousness,

according to the book of Romans and several other places. We have righteousness. It's been given to

us because of the perfect sinlessness of Jesus Christ. He died for us on that cross. And when

we come to him, we are made sinless. Now, this does not mean that we stop sinning because we

sin. But we still sin. By the way, you'll never be sinless in this life, but you should start to

sin less. Put that on a t-shirt if you want to. All right? Right? You should change. If you're

not changing, you're dead. You're not actually born again, right? No matter what is said. We

don't ever become sinless until we see him. But your position in Christ right now, when you

received Christ, the Bible says you were actually put in him. So that now when the father looks at

you, he sees the perfect sinlessness of his son. He doesn't see your sins. Your sins are

past, present, and future sins have all been forgiven. You have a rightness, a righteousness

that endures forever. You don't have anything to pay for. If you've come to Jesus Christ for

salvation, nothing, your sins have been forgiven. Now, if you remember your sin, you should absolutely

ask the Lord for forgiveness and he will forgive. Bible tells us to do this, but you have a

sinlessness. So God has so completely forgiven you. All of your sin has been paid for your

sin forever. And that is because righteousness is a gift. It is not something you earned. It is not

something you paid for. It is not something you deserve. If it was something you earned paid for

or deserved, it could be taken from you. There could be a moment where you can't continue to pay

for it. There could be a moment where you cannot no longer earn it. There can be a moment where you

no longer deserve it. There's a reason it endures forever. It's a gift from God to you. We know we

don't deserve it. We know we've never earned it, but he gives it to us as a gift. How good is the

end of verse three? It says that this person who knows and loves the Lord, who thinks rightly about

him, who delights greatly in God's commandments, their righteousness, which has been given to them

by the Lord endures forever. So you cannot lose it. Remember how we talked about at the beginning

of the Psalm, it said to praise the Lord. Is this not a reason to praise the Lord right here? Man,

this great truth. Well, look at verse four and unto the upright, there arises light in the

darkness. For the man or woman or child who makes the Lord their God, please hear this. And you might

be going through it right now. Even in the darkest of times, the darkest of nights, he makes light

arise in your life. What does this mean? It's a picture of the light being turned on when everything

is dark. Picture of hope when everything feels dark and it's confusing and it's frustrating and

it's overwhelming and it's fearful when it feels like there is no hope. And then he speaks. You

know, he speaks. The situation isn't fixed. Nothing's changed, but God speaks. And it's like

someone turned on hope. It's like a light switch. It's all of a sudden God is in control. It's all

of a sudden God sees. It's all of a sudden God hears. It's all of a sudden God is working. He's

moving. It's like light in the midst of total darkness. There it is. We start to see the Lord.

We start to have hope again. Has this happened to you? He is so good. You start to hope once again,

only because of him, only

because of him. And this happens because of who he is. Look at the end of verse four. He is gracious

and full of compassion and righteous. I love this. God is gracious. It means that God shows

compassion on us in our need. He has not ignored your need today. Not at all. He is right there.

He is full of grace. He wants to help you. The words full of compassion means he suffers with

you. He hurts with you. He feels your suffering. What a beautiful thing this is. Hebrews tells us

who suffers with us when we suffer. So I'm weeping and he's not laughing. He's not ignoring. He's not

distant. He's weeping. He loves you. He is full of grace. He is full of compassion. And here's what's

beautiful. He is always righteous. He will always do what is right. He will never do what is wrong.

He will never do what is what is less than the best for you. So think about who God is gracious,

ready to help you, full of compassion, feeling your sorrow and trouble,

but then righteous, always ready to do what is right. And here's something that happens. As you

grow closer to him, you become more and more like him. So verse five says, a good man, let's change

that to, let's just say a saved man or a changed person deals graciously and lends. He will guide

his affairs with discretion. I love this. The word good means well-pleasing. It's referring to the

different. And so you could say, right, the saved, the changed man or woman deals graciously. Why?

Because God is gracious. And now we start to reflect that. We start to forgive because we've

been forgiven. And then we start to meet the needs of others. Look what it says. A good man

deals graciously and lends. I start to, I start to want to help others. This was one of the things I

noticed, um, almost right away when I first came to know the Lord. Um, suddenly I cared about other

people. It was so obvious to me. My entire life was about me up until that moment. And in the

moment I came to Christ, I suddenly started to care about what other people were going through,

what other people were dealing with. And life is no longer about me. It's not about what I want and

what I can get and what I can do it. It's now, Lord, what do you want? Life is about what you

want. It's about helping others. It's about being a part of others, pushing people to you. That's

not about me. My whole life was dominated by me at the center of it. I was quote unquote,

God of my tiny little life, denying the all powerful God of the universe. But man, once you

grow, once you start to become more and more like him, you start to care about what's going on in

people's lives. You start to want to try to help and meet those needs. And so a good man or a

saved man or woman, a changed man or woman deals graciously and lends. And then watch this. They

guide their affairs with discretion. I love this word. The word guide means to steer and it's

continual in Hebrew. And it's the idea that you are trying to navigate your life in a way that

pleases God. So you're like, there's a lot of ways I could go, but I want my life to please the Lord.

So I am continually steering. Oh Lord, you don't want it over here. Okay. I go this way. You don't

want this. Okay. I come back this way. God, this is what you want. I'll go that way. You don't want

that. I'll pull back from that. What do you want? It's like this continual steering of your life.

So that it pleases the Lord. Is that where you're at, man? That is the mark of a born again

believer. You want your life to please God. You're desperate for it. God, I want everything to please

you. I don't want there to be anything you're, you're displeased with. Pull me back, pull me

where I'm supposed to be. Help me do what you want. Beautiful. This is what a believer does.

So yeah, you could make more money, lie and cheat and stealing, but you're going to pull things back

or you could make things happen by going this way. If I'm going to pull things back, because this is

what God wants. Incredible. Now benefit of living life this way seen in verse six, surely you will

never be shaken. The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. Please hear this. Nobody

gets a pass on trouble. Nobody. We all have trouble. The person who has the Lord as their Lord

becoming more and more like him is not shaken by whatever happens. Now, listen, this doesn't mean

there won't be times we're confused.

Times we doubt times we're frustrated times we're questioning God. It won't mean, you know,

that all of that just goes away. What it means is that overall, we are not shaken from him.

You realize nothing can happen to you that will pull you out of his hand, not life, not death,

not sickness, not loss, not trouble, not sorrow. Nothing can shake you loose from the promises that

God has made to you. You didn't earn them. You didn't deserve them. You didn't buy them. He gave

them to you when you didn't deserve them. You didn't earn them. You didn't deserve them. You

can't lose them. You're in his hand. Nothing can shake you from that. And ultimately what he has

promised you cannot be taken from you. Notice what it says. The righteous will be in everlasting

remembrance, man. I love this. I think everybody wants to be remembered. I think everybody wants

to be remembered. Like it's, it's very hard to think about. You could live your entire life,

die, and nobody even remembered that you existed. Is that, is that hard for you to think about that?

Everybody wants to, right? There's like literally people say, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want

to leave my mark on this world. Uh, they say, I want to do something that really matters. I want

to be remembered. People say these things and they mean they want to do something so significant that

people are still talking about them once they're gone. If that's your goal, good luck for people

to be talking about you after you've gone maybe a year later. Okay. But how many of us are talking

about people that live 200 years ago, 500 years ago, a thousand years, very, very small number

of people that anybody is really remembering that way. But I love what this says.

Because here we are told that you and I will be remembered forever by who the Lord, there is never

a moment. He will take his eyes off of you. There is never a moment. You will be forgotten. Never a

moment where you will just stop being ignored and get this amazing. Whatever you've done for him

will never be forgotten either. What a beautiful thing. This is what Jesus said, right? Lay up

treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy. Thieves cannot break in and steal this

from you. What you've done for him will never be forgotten either. What a beautiful thing. This is

what you do for him lasts forever. Isn't this what people want? I mean, isn't this what celebrities

want? They want their name on everybody's lips and remembered forever. This is the offer from God.

Love him, live for him, use your life for him. He will never, never look away from you. You will be

remembered forever. Your life will never just simply vanish. He will always look at you. Now,

the opposite of this is for the unbeliever. Proverbs 10,

seven says the memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.

They will be not remembered. They will be remembered no more. God will never give another

thought after judgment. Terrifying, horrifying. Verse seven goes on. You will not be afraid of

evil tidings. That's bad news. Your heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. I got to confess

to you. I am a bit of a pessimist. Anybody else? Um, uh, negative Nancy. Um, I've been called. Okay.

If your name is Nancy, I'm sorry. Uh, right. But like poor Nancy, she gets just a bad rap,

you know, she might be very positive, but nobody ever says positive Nancy. You know,

I don't know what it is. I'm sorry. Rambling. Okay. Right. But like my tendency as good as the

news is, is to be like, well, what's the bad news? I don't know what it is. It's just, it's just how

I'm wired. I'm like, but there's going to be bad news. What's the bad news? I'm just waiting for

it. And I fight it all the time. My wife's just humongous help to me. My family's big help to me

me. Right? Like here we're told we will not be afraid of bad news. And listen, there's a lot of

things in life to be afraid of. If you give in, there's so much to be afraid of. All you have to

do is start dipping your toe into fear and it will run you over. It will crush you. And so as

believers, we don't need to be afraid. Why? Because he's in control. We know who's actually

in control. We know who overrides. We know nothing's too hard for him. We know,

he loves us. We know he sees it all. We know he can do anything he wants to do.

So we do not need to be afraid. And this brings stability, which is why it says

your heart becomes steadfast as you trust in the Lord. Folks, that's how stability comes into

your life. Trust in the Lord. Again, if you trust in you, yeah, no stability. You trust in doctors.

Yeah. No stability. You trust in the stock market. Yeah. No stability. You trust in your job. No

stability. You trust in your job. Yeah. No stability. You trust in the stock market. Yeah.

Trust in your family. Sadly, right? No stability. Trust in the Lord. He doesn't change. He doesn't

fail. He can't do wrong. Stability comes from our trust in the Lord. And so the result of knowing

these things and believing it is this, verse eight, your heart is established. You will not

be afraid until you see the desire upon your enemy. So your heart being established means

you're resting. I would ask you today, are you resting? You're like, no, I am stressed. I am

angry. I'm bitter. I am a ball of confusion and nerves and everything else. Okay. You're not

trusting. That's why you're not resting. You're waiting for circumstances to resolve that will

not bring rest. Your rest can only come from the Lord. I do not need to fear because he is my God

and he is in control. And whatever happens passes through his hands. That brings rest.

Now, verse nine and 10, as we come to a close this morning,

they are a comparison and contrast between unsaved people and saved people. So verse nine is the saved

person. Verse 10, the unsaved person that rejects God. So look at it quickly with me. Verse nine,

it says that about the saved person, they disperse abroad. They give to the poor. Their righteousness

endures forever. Their horn will be exalted with honor. So the idea here is that the saved person

says, you know what? Everything I have, my gifting, my calling, my resources, my time, everything I have,

belongs to the Lord. I'm going to use it for his glory. That's the word there, disperse. It means

to scatter seed. I'm going to take everything I have and scatter it to help meet the needs

of other people. And you scatter abroad. So the goal is not, I'm going to, like the unsaved person,

I'm going to hoard for me, my time, my talent, my treasure. I'm going to hoard it for me. Instead,

I'm just whoever has need, right? I'm going to give. And so they give, it says they're to the

poor, right? So they're, they're again,

reflecting the heart of the Lord. I want to help meet the need of people who are in need.

And it says, then, as we said before, their righteousness endures forever. What we talked

about before, these are truly saved people. Their righteousness endures forever. And then

here's this picture. Their horn will be exalted with honor. The picture here,

the horn was a symbol of your life. So the idea is their lives are held up as an example.

Some of you, we could point to you right now. We could say, man, look at their example, follow that

the contrast was the horn to be thrown down in shame. Don't, don't go that way. Don't do what

they're doing, right? So here the saved person living for the Lord held up as an example,

not so for the wicked. Look at verse 10, the wicked will see it and be grieved. They will

gnash their teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall perish. Do you know the entire Bible

says this, that there will come a day when the unsaved person will see the reward of the saved

person. Did you know that?

They will watch us be rewarded. There is a day that is coming. Those who rejected the Lord

will be in his presence. The one who holds the entire universe in the palm of his hand,

they will stand before him. They won't be shaking their fist at him now. And when they see him

reward you, and we know we don't deserve any reward from him, but when he rewards you,

they will be furious. It says grieved, but in Hebrew, it doesn't mean sadness. It means furious.

They will be angry that you are being rewarded. And evidence of that is that

they will, it says there, gnash their teeth in anger. They will hate so much that they have to

bow their knee before him. They will hate so much that they have to confess him as Lord. They will

hate so much that you are being rewarded. They will grind their teeth in hatred and anger. And

then hear this, their lives, all their accomplishments, everything they've given all their time,

effort, energy, everything to, it will simply dissolve. It will, it says there, melt away. The

world will become nothing. Dissolve and become nothing. I want you just to think about for a

second, the current richest man in the world, Elon Musk, right? What will SpaceX and Tesla and

everything else, his $1.3 trillion, which is beyond comprehension, what will that matter

when he stands before God? It will not matter for one thing. He will get no special treatment he's

used to getting because he's wealthy, nothing. He will have no special treatment because of his

ingenuity, his invention, nothing. He will have no special treatment because of his ingenuity,

his invention, nothing. His soul will be required of him just as it will be for the poorest person

in the world. And all that he has done will dissolve away like nothing. It will never even

be remembered again. Everything he spent his 60, 70, 80 years doing will never even be brought up

again. No one will ever think about it again. How foolish can you be to give

your life for nothing? He would do well. I'm not judging the man's heart. I don't even know him,

right? But he would do well to come to know and trust Jesus Christ and live his life

for God's purposes. Store up treasures that actually last because what he's storing up

right now will not, not ever. And all that he's done will disappear. That's why it says there,

the end of verse 10, the desire, everything they lusted for, that's the word they're lusted for,

the desire of the wicked shall perish. It literally means destroyed or gone forever.

Foolish it is for a person to live this 60, 70, 80 years as though this is all there is and to try

to get all that they can from this as though this is the only place you get it. How foolish for tiny

man to reject the true and living God, the all powerful, all knowing, all seeing, never changing

God over all. Well, the Bible says it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It's a warning to anyone who would reject him. One day everyone will fall into his hands if you have

been put into his hands. You can be saved today by turning to him, admitting you are in need,

asking him to save you. And then you are placed into his hand for protection. But there will come

a day when God, the wicked will fall into his hands and he will cast them down forever. The

Bible says he will judge perfectly, but you can be saved today. It is your choice. It always has been

and God offers it to you. So let's pray together. Lord, we love you. We thank you for loving us.

Thank you for your love. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your love. We thank you for

your mercy. Thank you for the love that you have for lost people. Lord, you said you know those who

are yours. And I pray for anybody here today that may not know if they are yours or not. They may

never have turned to you. If that's you, you've never turned to the Lord in repentance of your

sin, for the forgiveness of your sin, for salvation. Just understand he wants to save

you today. He will save you today if you will turn to him and admit your need. Jesus Christ,

died on that cross for you. You will turn to him and ask him to save you. He will do it. We thank

you, Lord. We love you. We give our lives to you. We can't wait for the day when we see your face.

It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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