Faith Series: Stability of Faith

Faith Series: Stability of Faith

Let's take our Bibles to turning in them together to Psalm 112. Please, Psalm 112 is our text for this evening. Psalm 112. Let's look on together as we begin the reading in verse 1.

Praise ye the Lord, blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in His commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon the earth, or upon earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in His house and His righteousness in earth forever. Under the upright there are rising light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. A good man's showeth favor and lindith. He will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he shall not be moved forever. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is established. He shall not be afraid until He sees desire upon His enemies. He hath this first, ye hath given to the poor. His righteousness and duraeth forever. His horn shall be exalted with honor. The wicked shall see it and be grieved. He shall gnash with His teeth and melt away the desire of the wicked shall perish.

And our prayer tonight is that the world would bless his word to our hearts as we now read it. So I want to speak on the subject of this stability of faith. We can say a fixed faith trusting in the Lord. There are some very important principles given to us in this passage tonight that will help us to have a stability of faith in our lives. There are some very important principles that are given to us here that are applicable to us no matter what age, whether we're a man, woman, border, or that will help us. And so let's look at them this evening.

And as we do, I just wanted to mention that word stable. The word stable, it came from the, in our English, it came from the idea of the, from the old French meaning to be constant steadfast or unchanging. And ultimately from the Latin firm steadfast, stable fixed. Speaks of something unwavering, something just able to stand to stand and not totter and topple. And that's what kind of faith we need. You know when you have wins, when you have motion, I think about we're driving in the car, we have, we have dishes and things if we're going, like we're going over to eat that lunch today. You want something that is, is stable. So it's a tip over, you know, you want something to stay on. That's the picture of what our faith should be like. We, God wants us to have a faith that is stable. A faith that is able to stand, even against the wiles of the devil. Even against the attacks that may come, even against the changes that happen around us.

So here we see the man that fearth, blessed, truly happy is the man that fearth the Lord. In verse one, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. But we see this man fears the Lord. What is the tendency, the tendency is to fear man, right? The tendency that brings instability is the fear of man. The fear of man, why do we tend to fear man instead of God? What is it, why is it a natural tendency to be afraid of what man thinks, what he says and what he'll do to us? Well, it's because we can see him. We can see him in. We can hear him in. And the tendency is to fear man is disapproval because that's immediate, right? Disapproval of man is immediate. You can disobey God and may be able to get along for a little time before consequences come to you for not fearing God. But when we live in the fear of man, the Bible tells us it brings a snare, doesn't it? It brings a snare to us ultimately.

Look with me briefly, hold your finger in our text, but look over at Proverbs 29. I am sure we know that passage well, but let's read it again. Proverbs 29 verse 25. Proverbs 29 and verse 25. It's there.

Verse 25, we read it. The fear of man bringeth a snare, but who so puteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.

Did we just mention that this morning in the prelude in the preliminaries? That I will lay me down in peace and sleep for thou, Lord, only make us need dwell in safety. There's the idea of safety if we believe safety is in the Lord. Then we're going to put our weight down on him. If we put our weight down on him, that's handed me God with fearing the Lord. I trust the Lord, I fear the Lord, I trust the Lord. Both of those are true here. I fearing the Lord and I am trusting the Lord. I'm putting my weight down on the Lord.

So on the other hand, we see that in Proverbs 1427, the fear of the Lord is a fountain. It says there. Proverbs 14 verse 27. Proverbs 14 and verse 27 says the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snare of death. So if the fear of man brings the snare, the fear of the Lord delivers us from the snare. It delivers us from the snare of trusting our fearing man. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as we well know. The Lord will guide those who fear him. They'll guide their steps. We're going to see that in just a few moments. His mercy is on them. We read that fear him from generation to generation, right? He will fulfill the desire of those that fear him. There's so many blessings. No wonder it says here, blessed is the man that fear the Lord. There's many blessings. It's a fountain of life, deliverance from snare. There's the promise of his guidance, his mercy, his fulfillment of our desires when we commit our way to him, trusting him.

Fearing the Lord instead of man, Moses could or Noah could have feared man and he wouldn't have built the art. He would have had the temporary favor of man if he feared man, but he would have ultimately been brought into a snare. It would have cried out, how have I hated wisdom and refused instruction? How I have greatly aired in leaving off the fear of the Lord. How I have greatly rebelled against God, but it would have been too late. Thank God he did fear the Lord. He did fear.

Well, we see also that this man, this blessed, is the man that delights greatly in God's command. It's right. He takes great pleasure. He takes great joy. Psalm 1. He's meditating in God's Word day and night. In his law, he delights in that law. He delights in it and he feeds on that Word. He kind of like as we've said before, the cow ruminates. He processes and through the stomachs that the cow has, he meditates on. He muses on, he really gets the full benefit of what God's Word says by meditating, by delighting on it, delighting in it.

You can tell when you talk with someone who has the Word of God dwelling in them, richly. You can tell by their conversation, you can tell by just even in conversation, the Holy Spirit will. He won't draw on a vacuum, but if you've been meditating in God's Word and you've hidden God's Word in your heart, the Holy Spirit's going to bring those things back to your remembrance. Then we talk about that after we started memorizing James, a book of James, I noticed. I think, several of you mentioned how the Lord could even more readily pull upon those passages that we've memorized from James. Now that I can stand here and blow the whole book to you right now, but we're working on 1 John. Even my wife mentioned, even though we don't have it perfectly memorized, it just flows off your lips more readily, even as you're reading it. It's more ingrained in your heart and mind.

So this man, this blessed, is meditating on, he's walking in the lighting in the Law of the Lord. There's things in the Bible. We read many things in the Bible. We read about marking those that caused divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine. We're to try the spirits, whether they be of God. We are to separate from certain things that are not in accordance to sound doctrine. Well, how do we know? How are we going to know the counterfeits unless we meditate in the truth? We're more readily discern that which contradicts truth if we are familiarizing ourselves and delighting in and meditating on what is true. We'll not so easily be tossed about with every wind of doctrine. And the cunning craftiness whereby men lie in way to deceive if we know not just for our brains, for our minds, but we will hide God's word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him. We delight in that word. That will bring a greater stability in our lives and in our faith.

And so it's very important. We need to eat God's words. We need to meditate on them. We need to mooze on them. And then it says here, his seed, verse two in our texts, his seed shall be mighty upon the earth. Who seed? The man that fears the Lord and meditates and our rather delights greatly in this commandments. This man's seed shall be mighty upon the earth. My sister-in-law Sarah was talking about some folks in their church, a family, young family that they are really getting their children memorizing a lot of scripture. And she said, it's a blessing and even a conviction to how they're just really wanting their children to be saturated with the Word of God. That's a good thing. And the man that delights in God's word and is naturally going to share that with his children, she's going to share it with her children, the mother. And the children will be, the children as it says here, will be mighty upon the earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. They're going to be not simply physically strong or known for their great riches, but that we know for their spiritual stability and strength in the Lord.

It's better to have a good name than to have great riches, the scripture says. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold. We read about men like Moses. Moses was a man mighty in Word and deeds. Think about Moses' mother. Think about Samuel. Think about his mother. And the legacy that was passed on there. Think about, if you think about really most of the time when you look at mighty men, women that were used of God in different ways in the Bible, look at their parents. We don't know always know everything about their parents. Look at John the Baptist. What kind of a man he was, but look at his parents. Look at the parents of John the Baptist.

Now, it tells us here are the verse three that wealth and riches shall be in his house. And his righteousness endureth forever. Riches. Yes, we see a number of righteous people in the Bible who did have great possessions. We saw Job. We saw Abraham. We saw different ones. The Lord blessed them monetarily, materially, although that was not the purpose and aim and goal of their lives. But we see that they, they committed those things to the Lord. The Lord even took everything. Job had away from him. But here it says, wealth and riches shall be in his house. I think the true riches are the things that will never fade away. You know, the riches of this world will grow themselves wings and fly away, won't they? But I think of that him we sing solid joys and lasting treasures, none but Zion's children know. We are rich in Christ. I don't want to diminish the fact that the Lord can bless us monetarily, but I'm not about to stand here in preach a prosperity gospel because we have so much of that health, wealth and all of that and prosperity. We're sometimes God points for some believers to suffer need. At least for seasons of their life where they may go without. But never will we be without the Lord's riches if we trust in him.

Well, this man is righteous and is righteousness in in dirth forever. We read here. Wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousness in dirth forever. This righteousness is the true is really the true riches, right? And we're looking for a verse 11 verse 4, verse 11 verse 4. It says there in verse 4, riches profit not in the day of wrath. You certainly can't pay off the judge, can you? But righteousness, deliberate from death. Thank God. Thank God we, no matter what our bank account looks like, we have, if we have the righteousness of Christ, we are rich. We are blessed beyond measure.

And it says here to this righteous man to this upright individual, there are rise of verse 4 light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. So let's take these one at a time. He's this righteous man who's righteousness in dirth forever. He knows what it means, the truly be rich in the Lord. There is going to a rise for him, this man who meditates in God's Law, who fears God, who who puts God first in his life, this individual. It says that when in days of darkness there will be light to a rise for him. Light will arise for this man in darkness. Well, what does that mean? We certainly know that we're called to shine as lights in this world, but we also have in this Law that we are to meditate in day and night. We have in this a lamp for our feet. We have in this a more sure, a more sure word of prophecy. We're into we do well that we take heed as a light shining in a dark place until the day dawn, until we see the Lord face to face, we do well to take heed unto this light that is to guide our steps to order our steps.

So, it will be as we meditate in God's Law and not falling into the snare of the fearing man, but fearing God like Noah did and being moved with fear to prepare an arc according to God's commandment as we seek to build our lives by the light of this word God will give us the light we need. He won't necessarily tell us what we're going to be doing next week or next year at this time, but he will show us a step of the way. He will give us light to say, this is what you need to do. This is the way walking it. Here is the here are the steps you need to take down. It will be playing to the believer. It will be playing to the one who meditates in God's Law. It will also be playing where we're not to go, right? Don't go over there. God's word is not leading us in that direction. God's word is leading us. God through His word by the Holy Spirit leading us in this way to go in this way.

This man who delights in God's Law, who fears God and delights in his commandment is also gracious. He's gracious because his speech is seasoned with grace because he's the word is dwelling in him richly and all wisdom. He's gracious in his Spirit. We've just talked about the sins in the Spirit recently. This is not a bitter man. This is not an envious man. This is not an angry man. This is not a proud man. This is a man who's Spirit. He recognizes his body and his Spirit belong to the Lord and in his Spirit, he's gracious. He's gracious and because he's gracious and he is filled with grace, he is full of compassion on others. He's not a merciful. He's not harsh, bitter, he's gracious, he's gracious and full of compassion, full of compassion. Our natural tendencies to fear man, yes, we said that. Our natural tendency is to take care of me and don't worry about anybody else. Find through yourself. Take care of yourself. Hope you make it. I'll take care of me and mine. I'm not worried about anybody else. But know the man, the man who fears God, the man who delights in God's word is going to be full of compassion toward others. Why? Because he himself has received compassion from God. He shows mercy as he's been shown mercy. He is compassionate because he knows that if it was not for God's mercies and God's compassion upon his life, he wouldn't even be here. For mercy is so great what return can I make? A mercy is so constant and sure.

Well, we're now to be a channel of God's blessing. We're not just to be a reservoir and a receptacle of his blessings, but we're to be a channel of his blessings. So showing mercy, having compassion, a good man show a favor. It says in verse 5, the good man. A good man who is a good man, a good man who is one who steps are ordered by the Lord. We're not naturally good. A heart's not good. A heart is actually deceitful and desperately wicked. But the man who steps are ordered by God's word is good. And this man shows favor. He shows favor. It says, and he lends. He lends faith. He shows favor toward others. He treats others as he would want to be treated. He doesn't just do to others as they do to him, but he shows favor. He shows compassion. He shows graciousness. He's not stingy. He's not a man who he's an individual. He or she is an individual that has a giving heart, lending to others. Not a not a strings attack sort of person. Well, what's in it for me? Always. Now, what what would the Lord have me to do? And it says this individual verse number 5 here. He will a guy he will guide as affairs with discretion. He exercises wisdom and discretion in his dealings. He will guide as affairs with discretion. Instead of leaning to his own understanding, he seeks the Lord's understanding of matters. He doesn't let his emotions run ahead of steps ordered by faith.

You know, we can walk by our emotions. We can walk by our sights. This looks like the right way. This feels good to me. You know, this person doesn't do that. He's stable. He's walking circumspectly. He's walking. He's stepping in the light. He's stepping in the light of God's Word as God gives him light even in a dark place. And he says, I'm going to guide my affairs with discretion. Only place I can get discretion is from God. I can't get discretion from what my peers tell me what my feelings tell me. You know, money talks, all those kinds of things. No, I need to make sure because I'm going to stand before the Lord one day. I'm going to give them the count for how I have ordered my life. The things I've done, the things I've said, how I've handled myself. I'm not going to give an answer to my answer to those I love and I'm going to give an answer to my enemies. I'm not going to give an answer to anybody else but the Lord.

And so it says, this man, verse six surely he shall not be moved forever. That sounds like stability. He has a stable life. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. This man even leaves a legacy, doesn't he? Not really a legacy about himself. He leaves a legacy of faith. And this is a big part of why it says in verse two that his seeds shall be mighty in the earth. Verse two says, this seed shall be mighty in the earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. This man's life is, this woman's life is not been about them. This has been about the Lord and therefore they will not be moved forever. They're not on shifting sand and even the ones that follow in their steps will remember them. Certainly the Lord, the Lord will remember them. But their legacy will not be forgotten because their life like John, hopefully like John the Baptist pointed to the Lord. That's what we're to be right. We're to point to the Lord. Our lives are to point to the Lord. The only way we can point to the Lord is by faith. We can't point to the Lord by saying, well, I'm just going to do whatever I feel like. I can't point to the Lord by just saying, well, you know, I'm just going to follow the go with the flow. That's not how we point to the Lord. Sometimes pointing to the Lord means your oftentimes it means you're going against the flow, right? You're going against the grain of your peers and society.

What does it say in 1 Corinthians 15? Listen over there in verse 57. 1 Corinthians 15, 57.

This says these familiar words, but thanks be to God, which giveeth us the victory throughout Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

It's not a waste. It's not a waste, but if you will be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And the other way you can do that work is by faith, trusting in obeying, right? This word steadfast has the idea of it comes from the word actually in the Greek meaning a seat. It's kind of hard to knock somebody over if they're sitting down. It's kind of hard to follow if you're sitting down. This has the idea of sitting or firmness. We talked about putting our full weight down on the Lord, didn't we? We talked about putting our full weight down on the Lord. That's what faith is. And when we are resting in the Lord, then we are going to be steadfast. steadfast. It's going to be hard to move if we're putting our weight on the Lord, planting ourselves. And then unmovable, it says, not moved away, not soon shaken in your faith. Unmoveable. I'm camping out here in the realm of faith in the Lord. And so this is what Paul prays for, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Knowing that if you're trusting in the Lord, that's not in vain. If you're trusting in the Lord and letting and doing things his way, not your according to your wisdom, but according to his wisdom, according to his word, fearing him, meditating in his law, then we notice that he says that the victory will come through him. The victory will come through our Lord Jesus Christ, my faith in him.

And so we see here that this is a stable life. It's stable, it comes from stable thinking, right? I'm thinking of the Lord. I'm meditating on him. I am purposely fearing him, not fearing man. And this is a pathway of blessing. In verse 8 in our text, he says, Well, let's go back actually in verse number 7, he shall not be afraid of evil as we just read. Evil tidings is hardest. Fix trusting in the Lord. That's not, that's why he's not afraid of men in afraid of circumstances. It's afraid of the new cycle. He's stressing in the Lord. And his heart is established. He shall not be afraid until he sees desire upon his enemies. Something about when you put your confidence in the Lord that things that once were wild of arms cannot now disturb my rest as we sing. Close the everlasting arms, fill it on the loving breasts. Hold the life forever here. Doubt and fear and self resign. Bali whispers in my ear. I am his and he is mine. Resting in my Savior as my all and all. Standing on the promises of God. Putting my weight down on him. That's the only way you can be stable. You can't be stable in yourself. It's kind of like the difference between being. strapped in in a roller coaster or just hanging on. I need to be, I need to be, I need to be, I don't even want to be on a roller coaster in the first place. But I want to be grounded. If you're in a storm or the winds are blowing, I want to be seated in my seat with my seat belt on. I want to be flopping all over the place. blowing around in the wind.

Well, this man is not afraid of bad news because his heart is fixed on one thing. Meditating in God's word day and night. Meditating, he'll be like a tree, right? He'll be planted by the rivers of water. Typical of the very presence and blessing of the Lord and he's going to grow fruit. Even in a dry season, even in adverse circumstances, Jeremiah 17 talks about that. Bringing forth, not being careful in the year of drought. That's the kind of stability. We can see that here recently. You know, there's certain places where plants just dried up, even in the amount of drought we've had so far. We're not even in the summertime yet, but you know, those kinds of things are, you begin to see, you begin to see the plants failing. If you've got a good water source there, the plants still makes it no matter even if it has been very dry.

But it says, he shall see his desire upon his enemies. Verse 9, he has dispersed. He has given to the poor. We see it again. He's charitable. He lands right as we saw earlier in this passage. His righteousness in dura forever. His horns shall be exalted with honor. So this man is certainly not about himself. He's about the Lord and he's also about others. He's, he has dispersed. He is a giving individual, giving to the poor. He is not hoarding. He's not keeping it all for himself. He makes friends of the man of unrighteousness. He gives with the work of the Lord in mind, with the salvation of souls in mind, with the good of others in mind. And it says, the wicked shall see it. His horn is exalted in honor. This horn speaks of his power. This man is not abusing power, but he's been honorable with all of the God. He's blessed him with, therefore God. And even those whom he has been kind to will rise up and will speak honorably of him. Will bless his memory. And we know that there's none good in our in and of themselves. But the righteous will be remembered. The righteous will be remembered for what? Not the goodness in them, but for trusting in the Lord.

You know, there's a sweet saver to the righteous. There's a sweet fragrance. There's a, there's a, there is a, a memory of those who have lived a life that a faith that we look back at and we say, thank God for that life. Thank God for that sweet smelling saver that was offered up to the Lord. Thank God for that testimony. Thank God for how they pointed me to the Lord. It wasn't even really them. It was, it was that they submitted their life to the Lord and they pointed, uh, it may be we think of him writers. We think of preachers. But then we just think of common, every day folk that didn't have any, maybe great position or, or, or leadership position or someplace where they look, they were a profuse writer or they, they, they had a lot of artistic works, whatever it may be. But they brightened the corner where they were to think of the gift of different individuals. Some have the gift of poetry, some have the gift of, of, of helps ministering in different ways. We think of those in our church. I was just looking back through, through notes. I thought I was looking back through the funeral notes for, um, Emily Gay the other day and I thought about the testimony she had, how she cared for her son, Kent, who was still with us, think the word, but cared for him for so many years and, and faithfully did that. And we, we think of her thinking so many others that, that are a testimony and being dead, they yet speak, right? They're, they're testimony lives on.

But the wicked shall see it says in verse 10, and be grieved. He shall mash with his teeth and melt away. This is the opposite of the memory of the righteous, isn't it? The opposite of the memory of the righteous because the righteous will be held in everlasting remembrance. but the, the, the wicked shall melt away and the desire of the wicked shall perish. The heritage of the righteous will live on in great honor and blessing, but why the opposite for the, the unrighteous.

I want us to, I want us to just think back over these things. I know I've been recapping as I've gone, but what are we, what are we talking about? We, as the psalmist says here tonight, we need to pray God help us to have a fixed heart trusting in the Lord. Lord, I want to have, we're talking about faith. I want to have a fixed faith trusting in you. Isn't that, isn't that what we should all be striving for? A stability, a faith in the Lord, not, not tossed about by every wind of doctrine, not up and down with our emotions, not vacillating and moody and all over the place. And I, he loves me, he loves me, not, you know, kind of saying this, this moody and doubting it stability of trusting in the Lord. We're not stable, but the Lord is, and as the song, as the scripture, but as the song we sing says, stay upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, finding as He promised perfect peace and rest.

Well, how do we, how do we get a life like that? How do we, how do we live a life like that? We have the life, we just got to live it. We got to recognize ourselves, recognize it to be so as the Lord has promised us. We just got to lay a heart of living a life that He's already given to us. Well, what is it? Fear God. Fear God. Don't, don't be afraid of what men think of you will say to you or say about you or do to you. Fear God. Like no idea. Delight in His Word. That means every day meditate on it, study it, read it, meditate on it. Talk of all His wonders works even, but meditate on God's Word. And then, and then walk in the light of that Word as He gives you light, even in difficult and dark circumstances, walk in the light of it. Lord, thank you for what you show me today. Help me now to step in the light, walk in the light as you're in the light. Have fellowship with you as I walk in this light. What you've showed me in your Word. Help me to walk with discretion as the passage tells us tonight to walk with discretion, order my steps in your Word. And then, as you're giving to me and you're showing me wonderful things out of your law, help me now to give to others. Help me to give certainly the gospel. Help me to give of my increase to help the work of the Lord, but also to give to the poor. To lend. Help me to help me to not have a taking mentality. What can I get? No, the Lord has already given us the riches of heaven. They're mine. Help me to give. Help me to see some way that I can give to someone else today. To give of my time, talents, and treasures. And then, show compassion as I've been shown compassion. Be gracious as I've received grace.

It ultimately, a stable life has to be one that is exercising its faith, right? A stable life can't just be. I got all this information in my mind. No, Lord, guide my steps. I fear you. Not man. I delight in you and your Word. Guide my steps. Give me the wisdom to walk uprightly. Give me the grace to be gracious to others. Show compassion to them. And Lord, most of all, what I want is nothing between my soul and you. Nothing preventing the least of your favor. I got to keep the way clear. I can't say, Lord, bless me. And I'm not actually living out the blessings that are already given me. There's a stagnating. I've got to walk in those blessings. I've got to live out those things. So the things we've seen today, the things we'll see in our Bible study, our devotion, reading to devotional, whatever, our meditations, help me to live day to day in the fear of the Lord and the lighting in His commandments. And that is going to produce a stability in our lives that can be passed on to the next generation. The things the Lord will do in and through us will affect those that come after us. So may God help us to be stable, steadfast in the faith.

Heavenly Father, thank you for these thoughts we have from Your words tonight. Help us to be, help it. May it be said of us that our heart is fixed, trusting in the Word. And may our walk, our words, our actions may they reflect that reality. We pray these things now asking Your blessing on this final hymn. And Your blessing upon us as we go out into this week. In Jesus' name, amen.