Discover biblical truths concerning the most important issue of our day: the enemies of Christianity. Our six-part sermon series, Enemies, delivers valuable insights on spiritual warfare and how Christians can be on the winning side:
Enemies, Part 1
Enemies, Part 2: The Enemies of All Righteousness
Enemies, Part 3: The Enemies of the Lord
Enemies, Part 4: Who is the Enemy?
Enemies, Part 5: Friends and Enemies
Enemies, Part 6: How to Deal with Your Enemies
Enemies Part 3: The Enemies of The Lord is a sermon describing the contrast between the enemies of God and the children of God. Scriptures teach us godly principles to live by for our daily walk with Christ, helping us to contend with this world.
Key Verses:
Psalms 37:1-40
We are going to look at the thirty-seventh psalm here. To begin with, we will start with reading verse twenty:
Psalms 37:20: “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.”
I want to talk this evening to you about the enemies of the Lord. I want to give you a contrast between the enemies of the Lord and the people of God. Psalms 37 is a psalm of David. David wrote most of the psalms, but he did not write all of them, he wrote the majority of them. But in this psalm, he gives us an introduction to the psalm in verses one through eight. Then in verses nine through the end of the psalm he has some major thoughts he wants to share; he did share in this psalm. A psalm is meant to be sung and I encourage you to follow along with it.
Key Principles to Live By
There are some key words in verses one, three, four, five, seven, and eight that we will point out as we go along. But right now, let’s go to verse one:
Psalms 37:1: “(A Psalm of David.) Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”
Psalms 37:2: “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”
What David is saying in these first couple of verses is not to worry about those doing evil. He does not say to not prepare yourself or not to defend yourself, it does not say to not protect yourself. He is saying not to worry about them because for those who do evil, God will judge. And as he says here, “they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”
Psalms 37:3: “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”
If you trust the Lord and do the right thing, you are going to live and you will be provided for, you are in God’s hands.
Psalms 37:4: “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
You have also heard this in Proverbs three verse six. The truth of the matter is if you make the Lord the center of your life, delight yourself in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart. Oh, that is wonderful, I wanted that new yacht, but that is not what it is talking about. The desires of your life should be those things that please the Lord.
Psalms 37:5: “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”
Psalms 37:6: “And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.”
Again, as you commit yourself to the Lord, He is going to bring about those things that are supposed to be.
Psalms 37:7: “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.”
Do not worry about somebody who is doing evil, and they seem to be successful and seem to be having a good life. They are making more money than you are. They live in a bigger house than you do, they have nicer transportation than you do, and everything seems to be going well for them. What he is saying here is that it all may be true, but it is temporary. Do not envy those folks. Where their destination is, is not where you want your destination to be.
It reminds me, I have said this many times and I will say it again. One of the greatest questions I ever heard outside the Bible is this simple question: Where will you be when you get where you are going? The road you are on right now, where is it taking you? The path you are following, where is your destination? Where will you be when you get where you are going?
In verse seven, he says to rest in the Lord. That means to be confident, it means to be secure. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. The verse continues, “fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.”
Psalms 37:8: “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.”
Do not choose to do evil. “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath:” — do not let it overtake you. Do not let it overpower you, do not act in haste. Now I want to go back over those eight verses. We are not going to read each of them again, but I want to point out something to you.
Go to verse one. The first word in verse one is “fret.” If you are one to write in your Bible, I suggest you underline the words I am about to tell you. If you do not write in your Bible because it is God’s Word, fine, make a note of it somewhere.
Verse one, the first word is “Fret.”
Verse three, the first word is “Trust.”
Verse four, the first word is “Delight.”
Verse five, the first word is “Commit.”
Verse seven, the first word is “Rest.”
Verse eight, the first word is “Cease.”
If you are waiting to hear that it makes a sentence, it does not. But what it does do is give you principles to live by.
“Fret not thyself because of evildoers,”
“Trust in the LORD, and do good;”
“Delight thyself also in the LORD;”
“Commit thy way unto the LORD;”
“Rest in the LORD,”
“Cease from anger,”
These are principles you can live by. That is what will get you through day by day. David writes this, as he did with many psalms, at a time of difficulty.
Meekness Not Weakness
Psalms 37:9: “For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.”
You may have thought that the meek will inherit the earth. That is what he is talking about here, those who practice meekness. What is meekness? Meekness is not what most people think. Most people think meekness is the same as weakness. You are not able to do anything, you are weak and cowering in a corner. That is not what it means. Meekness means power under control.
You may not be sure that we have the right definition. Alright, let me share something with you. Your Bible says that Moses, during the time he lived on the earth, was the meekest man on the planet. Did Moses cower in the corner? No, he stood before kings. Was Moses cowardly? Certainly not. Was Moses a weak man? He led millions of people, he stood before God. But meekness is not weakness. Meekness is power under control. Very, very important to understand that. So, verse nine again:
Psalms 37:9: “For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.”
Wickedness is Temporary
Verses ten through seventeen is a major section unto itself. David says:
Psalms 37:10: “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.”
“For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be:” – again, their existence is only temporary. Whatever they are doing, whatever harm they cause, whatever evil they do, it is temporary. “Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” — you are going to look where he used to be and there will be nobody home. That is what he is saying.
Psalms 37:11: “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”
You know God is for peace. God is mighty and when people attack and fight against the Lord, we talked about that this morning. Satan found out he could not fight against God and win. There are those who oppose the early work of the church and they said, “You know what, we had better be careful and not fight against God.” They were wise in that part. But a meek person who has power under control, who will inherit the earth “delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” They are not looking for conflict, they are not looking for an argument, they are not looking for a fight. They “delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”
Psalms 37:12: “The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.”
Again, spiritual warfare, “The wicked plotteth against the just.” The word “just” as you see it in your English Bible, means the righteous person, the person who has been saved by grace. So, the wicked plots “against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.” Look at the reaction:
Psalms 37:13: “The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.”
This is at least the second time in Psalms that it says God laughs. The first time is in Psalms two. Take a look at it. God laughs at mankind’s vanity. Old Dr. Parker put it this way, “Sometimes God looks down from Heaven and says, ‘Look at the itty bitty man there, look how angry he is. Look how proud he is of himself, why, he is almost cute when he stands there and shakes his hand at the Creator of the universe.’” Do you know what he was saying? Why does God laugh? He tells you why:
Psalms 37:13: “The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.”
God knows how long you are going to live, how long the evil person will live. He knows how long his enemies are going to live and he knows their destination.
Psalms 37:14: “The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.”
That is an interesting verse for a number of reasons. “The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow,” – they are ready to fight. But the next phrase caught my attention, “to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.”
I am not going to get political here. I just want to help you understand what this verse is teaching. How many politicians, how many governments have promised that their program if you follow them, their philosophy, their way of government, are going to lift everyone out of poverty. Have you ever heard that? Tell me one time that it happened. What do I mean? Name one time in history when government programs lifted people out of poverty. I honestly cannot think of one. Why not? Because that is not how it is done, that is why not. It is not that the governments are always bad, it is not that the governments are always evil, I am not saying that. It is just that those plans do not work. Is there a better way? There is. What is it called? It is called God’s way.
Psalms 37:15: “Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.”
Psalms 37:16: “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.”
What an interesting thought. You are a righteous person, you are saved, you are secure. You do not fret, you trust, you delight, you commit, you rest, you cease from anger. You only have a little bit. There is this other person over there and they have millions, maybe hundreds of millions, maybe thousands of millions and you just have a little bit. You get by day-to-day, but you do not have much. What does it say?
Psalms 37:16: “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.”
Why is that? Because the righteous man has God. And the righteous man knows that like the wicked, the situation is temporary. There is a better destination.
Psalms 37:17: “For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.”
Everlasting Inheritance
Now that finishes that section, but a new section begins and goes down to verse twenty-two. Not an entire change of subject because the psalm is a contrast of the enemies of God and the people of God.
Psalms 37:18: “The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.”
Just as He knows the end date of the wicked man, He knows how many days you have got to live. He also knows that your inheritance shall be forever.
Psalms 37:19: “They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.”
Notice the contrast from where we began.
Psalms 37:20: “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.”
Think about that. There are those who say when you are dead you are dead. That is it. You fall into the grave or into a soul sleep, or maybe not, you just cease to exist. If there is any punishment afterward, you will be annihilated, you will just cease to exist, you will not know anything.
Well, there is a problem with that. And the problem is that it is not what God said. God talks about human beings, and this was part of our emphasis this morning, human beings have eternal souls that live somewhere as long as Almighty God lives. You will live somewhere forever. The important thing to understand and the important thing to determine is where will that be. Back to the question, we asked earlier. Where will you be when you get where you are going? The verse again:
Psalms 37:20: “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.”
They are gone.
Psalms 37:21: “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.”
I am not going to ask you to testify tonight but have you ever loaned somebody money and they never paid you back? Probably everybody here could say sure, that happened. It happened to me too many times to count, you know what I learned to do? Just give it and not expect it back. Then you are not disappointed. It does not bother you anymore. If you cannot afford to do that, then maybe not give it to them to start with. But, if you give it and do not expect it back, then you are not disappointed, and if you do not expect it back and it comes back, wouldn’t you be happy then? Sure. The verse again:
Psalms 37:21: “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.”
Psalms 37:22: “For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.”
Three times now, the psalmist talked about those who inherit the earth. Maybe you thought the earth was going to be destroyed. You thought correctly. But the Bible teaches us there will be a new Heaven and new earth that will never pass away.
God Cares for His People
Psalms 37:23: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.”
Psalms 37:24: “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
God takes care of His people. God keeps you going. It does not mean you are not going to fall along the way. It does not mean you are not going to have some trouble along the way. It does not mean it is going to be a bed of roses. By the way, do you ever hear people say that it is just a bed of roses? Do you really want to sleep on a bed of roses? I do not because roses have thorns. They are pretty but I would not want to sleep on them. You might say that it does not mean that, it means without the thorns. I still do not think I want to sleep on that. Then David says this:
Psalms 37:25: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”
“I have been young, and now am old;” – some of us could say that. Some of us here can say, “I am young but know am old,” but what is more important is what he says next.
Psalms 37:26: “He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.”
Again, God takes care of you. Jesus said, and this is a lot of people’s favorite verse:
Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Some people take that verse just like the verse, “I can do all things through Christ,” take it out of context and you will get the wrong meaning. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” That verse by itself would make you think you could fly like Superman, wouldn’t it? “I can do all things.” But you put that verse into context, and you see that is not what it is talking about.
Do you know what it is talking about? Right before that, Paul is saying that he had plenty, more than he needed, plenty to eat, everything he needed. He had been through times of hardship, poverty, and hunger. Then what did he say? “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” That is what that verse is talking about.
Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
“All these things” does not mean everything that you ever desired or ever wanted. We mentioned a while ago about buying a yacht. To be honest with you, if I could buy a yacht, I would not. Why? There are other things I would rather do with it. I did say this to somebody one time. I wish I had enough money to buy a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. What would I want with that? I don’t, I just wish I had enough money. You are talking a lot of money there. I could do a lot with that.
But David says in verse twenty-six, “his seed is blessed.” Do you know what Jesus said? “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” You read this in context, and you know what all these things are? Food and clothing. Not even a bed? Not even a bed. Food and clothing, those are what you must have to live. So here he says:
Psalms 37:27: “Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.”
Psalms 37:28: “For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.”
God’s Word in Your Heart
Are you ready for this? We are going to say it again:
Psalms 37:29: “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.”
Psalms 37:30: “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.”
Psalms 37:31: “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.”
You let the law of God in your heart. What does that mean? Be guided by God’s word. That is one of the reasons we encourage you to memorize scripture. I have had people tell me that they cannot memorize anything and do not have a good memory. I do not have a good memory either. You can memorize, it can take some work, but you can do it.
Let me prove it to you. Don’t need to answer out loud, think about it. If you have a telephone, do you know your phone number? You do, don’t you? Yes, you can memorize your phone number. Do you have an address? Do you remember that? Sure. I could right now, give you my driver’s license number. I have that memorized too. Why do I have that? I found out it is a handy thing to have. You remember the things that are important to you, that you need to have.
You may say that memorizing Bible verses is harder. It depends on the verse. Some verses are more difficult to memorize than others. Why? Primarily because they are longer than others. Shorter verses are easier to memorize. But the truth of the matter is, if you work at it, you will make it.
I will give you a couple of tips on how to do that. Number one, take a verse that you want to memorize and read it over, and over, and over, and say it out loud, read it out loud to yourself. Another tip and I have not done this in years, but I have done it, write the verse on a little card, keep it in your pocket, pull it out once in a while, and look at it. That helps too.
One of the easiest things to help you memorize a verse is to set it to music. If you sing it, you will remember it. Raise your hand on this one. How many of you here can recite the English alphabet? How do you remember it? You learned to sing it, didn’t you? That is how you remember it. You know what? That works. It is a wonderful memory tool. You take the verse, set it to music, and make it easier to remember. These are just tips on memorization. What is the point of memorization?
Psalms 37:31: “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.”
I think David wrote Psalms one nineteen. The author of Psalms one nineteen is not given to us, so maybe it was not David, but I think it probably was. Whether it was or not, it gives us a similar thought. Verse nine through eleven:
Psalms 119:9: “BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.”
Psalms 119:10: “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.”
Psalms 119:11: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
What is he saying? The same thing as here:
Psalms 37:31: “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.”
Psalms 37:32: “The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.”
As we saw in the story this morning in Acts chapter thirteen, Elymas or Barjesus, the sorcerer, did not set out to murder physically Sergius Paulus, but his plan was to keep that man from coming to know God and from his eternal soul’s salvation. That is worse than physical murder.
Psalms 37:33: “The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.”
Human Greatness is Short-Lived
A new section begins in verse thirty-four:
Psalms 37:34: “Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.”
You will be there; you will be around.
Psalms 37:35: “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.”
He has seen wicked people come to power and see them like a great tree spreading out its branches and shadowing over the land. It seemed so strong, it seemed so secure, it seemed so eternal.
Psalms 37:36: “Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.”
Again, for all of that power, all that is accomplished. Think about all the great kings of the earth throughout history. How many of them are still around? We mentioned this morning Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was called the Great because he was a tremendous conqueror. And yet, for all that he conquered and all his military victories, his kingdom went on after him. If I remember my history right, he did not live to be thirty. Alexander the Great, but his greatness was short-lived.
Verse thirty-seven is a favorite verse of many men named Mark, at least the first phrase of it is, “Mark the perfect man.”
Psalms 37:37: “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.”
Are you like me in this respect? I know we are not in many ways, and we should not be. We are different for a good reason. God made us that way. But are you like me in this respect? I like peace. I do. I enjoy peace. I do not like trouble. I do not like strife. I do not enjoy it. Would I fight if I had to? I would if I had to. But I am happier if I do not have to.
Psalms 37:38: “But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.”
Let me share this with you. I pointed this out before. In the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, anytime it speaks about somebody being cut off, they died. That is what that means. There is no exception. Anytime somebody is cut off, that is it.
Saved by Faith
Psalms 37:39: “But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.”
Psalms 37:40: “And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.”
I mentioned that Psalms thirty-seven and two are the two occasions that we find in Psalms that God will laugh. Do you know in both of those Psalms thirty-seven and two, you will find the Gospel. The Gospel, sure, look at it. In verse thirty-nine “But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD:” – where does your salvation come from? It comes from God, you did not save yourself. This is David writing centuries before Christ comes. This is David writing about salvation by God’s grace through faith. Look at it again:
Psalms 37:39: “But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.”
Psalms 37:40: “And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.”
Notice “LORD” in all capital letters here, the Salvation name of God. The LORD will save them because they trust in Him. By grace are ye saved through what? Faith. Why does he save the righteous? Because they trust Him.
People in the Old Testament period were not saved by keeping the law. We said this to you recently. You find in the book of Galatians and the book of Hebrews, in both places, that keeping the law does not save you. It cannot, it does not have the ability. So, how are the people in the Old Testament saved? By faith. By grace through faith. The difference is that they look forward to the Savior who is coming. We look back to the Savior who has come. We are both focusing on the same point. We are both focusing on the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior. And who is that? LORD in all capital letters.
Psalms 37:39: “But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.”
Psalms 37:40: “And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.”
Let me take you back to those first few verses:
Psalms 37:1: “Fret not thyself because of evildoers,”
Psalms 37:3: “Trust in the LORD, and do good;”
Psalms 37:4: “Delight thyself also in the LORD;”
Psalms 37:5: “Commit thy way unto the LORD;”
Psalms 37:7: “Rest in the LORD,”
Psalms 37:8: “Cease from anger,”
These are principles to live by. The contrast between the enemies of God and the children of God.
Watch the prerecorded live version of the entire service and sermon, Enemies, Part 3: The Enemies of the Lord, on Facebook.
Enemies, Part 3: The Enemies of the Lord — Related Sermons
Discover biblical truths concerning the most important issue of our day: the enemies of Christianity. Our six-part sermon series, Enemies, delivers valuable insights on spiritual warfare and how Christians can be on the winning side:
Enemies, Part 1
Enemies, Part 2: The Enemies of All Righteousness
Enemies, Part 3: The Enemies of the Lord
Enemies, Part 4: Who is the Enemy?
Enemies, Part 5: Friends and Enemies
Enemies, Part 6: How to Deal with Your Enemies
You may also want to listen to or view these sermons:
About the Speaker
Dr. Michael L. McClure
Senior Pastor
Dr. Michael L. McClure, our lead pastor, is known for his in-depth knowledge and effective teaching style of biblical truths applicable to everyday living.