NEVER HAVE I SEEN THE RIGHTEOUS FORSAKEN
Ps. 37:25
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. How many of you know that there are times God has to get your attention?
2. A man was bragging about how smart his donkey was to his friend. “My donkey’s so smart when I say ‘Stand on your hind legs,’ he does! If I tell him to read a book, he’ll hold a book open in his hooves and act like he’s reading it.”
3. His friend doubted this description, so the man invited him over for a demonstration.
4. When they arrived, the donkey acted like he didn’t even notice they’d arrived. Though spoken to, he just kept sleeping.
5. The owner picked up a 2x4 board, walked over and gave a resounding crack to the donkey’s nose. The donkey stumbled dazedly to his feet.
6. The friend said, “Why did you just whack your donkey like that?” He answered, “This is the smartest donkey in the world! But first you have to get his attention!”
B. TEXT
1. This Psalm contrasts the destiny of the wicked with the future of the righteous. The wicked, though prospering today, will be cut off on the Day of the Lord. But the righteous will inherit the earth and will be vindicated by the Lord.
2. The message of this Psalm is to wait patiently in faith on the Lord because the Lord is faithful. Listen to the Psalm:
a. Feed on His Faithfulness (v3)
b. Trust in the Lord and do good
c. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart (v4)
d. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him
e. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him
f. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord
g. Wait on the Lord and keep His way and He shall exalt you to inherit the land
i. But the salvation of the righteous is from the lord; He is their strength in time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in Him.
3. The summary of the chapter is found in verse 25. “I was young and now I am old; Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread” NIV 1984.
4. For us this is comforting because through every trial, struggle, battle, and problem, the righteous have the promise of God being with us.
5. God never forsakes His people. God never leaves us to fight alone and He never abandons us. Whenever we are dealing with any harshness or adversity we should remember God is with us.
6. If God is with us we can make it. Paul said, “If God be for us, who can be against us.” The answer is no one can defeat us and no enemy formed against us shall prevail.
I. DAVID SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE
1. “I was young and now I am old.”
2. These are not the words of a novice. David is no neophyte. He is an experienced man. David has seen the fullness of life. He has tasted the bitter and the sweet. He has experienced both pleasures and pains.
3. David can provide expert testimony concerning the faithfulness of God. Through everything David faced, whether good or bad, God had never forsaken him.
4. Forsake in the Hebrew sense means to abandon, to leave in the lurch, to leave someone who is depending on you, and to leave someone alone with a problem!
A. DAVID HAD MANY HARDSHIPS WHILE YOUNG:
1. HIS FATHER OVERLOOKED HIM. In 1 Sam. 16:10-12 when Samuel asked for the sons of Jesse to pass by before him to select a king, Jesse never even gave thought to the youngest boy, David. He was a non-person in the eyes of his father. Surely God would choose one of his tall, good-looking sons. But God saw at the heart of David and chose him! He sees your heart too!
2. HIS BROTHER DESPISED HIM.
1 Samuel 17:28-29 “Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David and he said why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for have come down to see the battle. And David said what have I done now? Is there not a cause?”
3. ATTACKED BY LION, BEAR
“…a lion…a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it….When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.” 1 Sam. 17:34-35.
4. KING SAUL TRIED TO KILL HIM. Twice Saul threw javelins at him and chased David in the wilderness with armies. For many years David was a fugitive and under threat of death.
5. HIS WIFE TURNED HER BACK ON HIM.
Michal, Saul’s daughter, divorced David and married another man. David later forced a reconciliation (contrary to the law, Deut. 24:4), but the Bible says “she despised him in her heart.” 2 Samuel 6:16.
6. BETRAYED BY THE CITY HE’D SAVED. David saved Keilah from the Philistine Army, but God told him that when King Saul came, they would surrender him to the King (1 Sam. 23:5,12).
7. HIS FAMILY TAKEN KIDNAPPED BY RAIDERS. In 1 Sam. 30, David & his men’s families were attacked and kidnapped by a Amalekite raiding party, but David pursued and rescued them all.
8. BUT IN ALL THESE, GOD WAS WITH HIM AND HELPED HIM GET THROUGH THEM!
B. DAVID SUFFERED HARDSHIPS IN LATER LIFE:
1. DAVID’S BATTLES. David had to fight the Philistines and all the other peoples around Israel all his life. Even when David was in his late 50’s, he was almost killed by another Philistine giant, Ishbi-benob (2 Sam. 21:16).
2. SIN W/ BATHSHEBA, MURDER OF URIAH, 2 Sam. 11. David committed some terrible sins, for which God punished him severely.
3. HIS SON ABSALOM TRIED TO KILL HIM. 2 Samuel 15-18.
C. SUMMARY
1. David spent time hiding in caves and the wilderness. David knew hunger because he received five loaves of the showbread for the men with him.
2. Yet David’s Psalms depict God’s faithfulness.
Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid.”
Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.”
II. DAVID SAW HIMSELF AS AN EXAMPLE
“Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken.” David saw himself as an example of the ‘righteous remnant’ of God.
A. DAVID’S SINS DIDN’T DISQUALIFY HIM, BECAUSE HE REPENTED
1. So it wasn’t ultimately David’s conduct or behavior that makes him righteous. Let’s remember a few things about this great man!
a. He committed adultery with Bathsheba.
b. He murdered her husband.
c. He did nothing when his daughter Tamar was mistreated by Amnon.
d. David realized his sin and imperfection.
2. Psalm 51:3 “For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me.”
3. I SAY THIS NOT TO DETRACT FROM DAVID NOR TO MAKE LIGHT OF SIN BUT RATHER TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE BEST OF US HAVE SINNED AND WHAT GOD IS ULTIMATELY CONCERNED WITH IS NOT THE OUTWARD!
B. REASON FOR HIS CONFIDENCE
1. DAVID KNEW THE TRUTH OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
2. He wrote, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity” Ps. 32:1-2.
3. Since David had previously admitted he DID have sin, this is the redeeming thought: God forgives & remits our sin!
4. Praise God! What a marvelous thing that God has removed our sins from us as far as the East is from the West!
5. In Isaiah He says, “I have blotted out your sins as a thick cloud!” “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (1:18)
III. DAVID’S TESTIMONY
A. GOD’S FAITHFULNESS WHEN YOUNG
“I was young…” In other words, God was good to me when I was a young boy.
1. At some of the places I went, I could have been killed, because I was young and foolish and didn’t see the danger… but still God had His hand on me!
2. I did some foolish things & drove irresponsibly … but God kept His hand on me!
3. People I hung out with endangered my life … but God kept His hands on me!
4. David not only talked about the past tense of his life..... But he talked about the present tense also.
B. GOD’S FAITHFULNESS WHEN OLD
1. Have you ever seen older men who tried to look and act like young men; or older woman trying to look and act like young women?
2. They try to dress young, talk young, act like a teenager.
There’s nothing wrong with being young at heart, but we must accept we’re at a different station in life!
3. David said, "I was young..... now I’m old!"
a. My hair has turned white,
b. My eye sight has gotten dim,
c. My strength has waned.
4. But guess what? ..... God is still keeping me!
5. Is there anybody here today who knows that God is keeping you? Touch somebody and tell them, “God is keeping me!”
a. You may have cancer ..... but God is good!
b. You may have a bad heart.... but God is good!
c. You may have high blood pressure.... but God is good!
d. You may be a diabetic.... but God is good!
e. You may have back trouble.... but God is good!
f. You may be broke; not a dollar to your name..... but God is good!
g. You may be cross-eyed, homely and crazy..... but God is still good!
6. If you feel like David, then say with me, “Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread.”
C. WHAT DAVID IS NOT SAYING
1. David is not saying, “I’ve never been hungry or in need of food.” We all have needs occasionally!
2. David is not saying, “I’ve never been in a situation where I needed help.” We all need a little help every now and again!
3. David wasn’t saying, “I’ve never had to borrow from a friend till I got my pay check.”
4. But David DID said, “I’ve NEVER had a moment in my life when God didn’t take care of me!”
5. Never is a pretty strong word. It’s absolute, constant! "I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread."
6. My brothers and sisters, God is truly Jehovah Jireh! He’s a God who will Provide! “The answer may not come early or when you want it, but God’s always on time!”
7. We can count on the faithfulness of God because He never lets His people down. He is faithful even when we are not. God is faithful to His word.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A young man committed serious crimes and was sent to prison for 8 years. Since he was from a small town, his parents were especially hurt and embarrassed by his crimes.
2. As time of his release approached, he wasn’t sure if his parents wanted him come home or not, because his father had never answered his letters while he was in prison.
3. So he wrote a letter to his mother and said, "Mom, in a few days I’m going to be released from prison and I’m going to take the train that comes by the family farm. If you and dad have forgiven me and want to give me another chance, then I want you to tie a yellow ribbon in the oak tree beside the railroad tracks. If I don’t see the ribbon in the tree, I’ll know y’all don’t want me around, so I’ll stay on the train and move on to somewhere else. I won’t bother you anymore.”
4. When released from jail, he boarded the train with another ex-con. They rode together and talked. As they neared the boy’s town, he became certain they rejected him, so he couldn’t look.
5. He asked his friend, “Look at the big oak tree just before the station. Does it have a yellow ribbon hanging in it?” His friend answered, you should look yourself.”
6. When he did, he saw that the whole tree was covered in yellow ribbons! He was loved and they wanted him to come home!
7. “Love covers a multitude of sin!”
B. THE CALL
1. “I was young and now I am old; Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread” NIV 1984.
2. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
3. Can we just stop and thank God for His marvelous love and faithfulness to us?
[This message contains contributions from Cleaven Matthews and Levi Wright]
