A God-Centered Life - [Psalm 112]

Well, it seems like we were just here, doesn't it? Well, I'm looking forward to this session together, this time together with you. And if you have your Bibles, I invite you to take your Bible and turn with me yet again to the Psalms, Psalm 112.

A God-Centered Life in Psalm 112

And this morning for our first session, I want us to look at yet one more Psalm that focuses upon a God-centered life. We talked yesterday about the greatness of God, the glory of God, the grandeur of God, the supremacy of God.

And it certainly is not without life-changing effect upon us. And I think it would be helpful for us to see what does it look like for someone to live a God-centered life when they have such a view of a high and lifted up God.

And it is utterly life-changing and life-transforming. In fact, there is no way you can come to know this one true living God without your life being radically changed and completely transformed. If your religion hadn't changed your life, you'd better change your religion because the real thing is utterly life-changing.

There is no way that a sinner can come and throw himself upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ and God perform life, perform heart, open-heart surgery and take out the old heart of stone, put in a heart of flesh, deposit his Holy Spirit within that person, write his word upon his heart, and take the person off of the broad path headed for destruction, and now he begins to walk a new path that's headed for life and for that life to not be completely, totally changed.

Obviously, this change is progressive. It happens over the entirety of one's life. That is the process of sanctification. And yet, under the purview of this progressive change, there is also this immediate change that takes place.

So, I believe Psalm 112 is helpful for us to see what does it look like to live a God-centered life. What are some of those areas that come under the sway of the Lordship of Christ and the areas in which our life is completely changed?

Psalm 112. Praise the Lord. How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his hand and his righteousness endures forever. Light arises in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious and compassionate and righteous. It is well with the man who is gracious and lends.

He will maintain his cause and judgment, the idea of integrity, for he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not fear evil tidings. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

His heart is upheld. He will not fear until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries. He has given freely to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted in honor. The wicked will see it and be vexed.

He will gnash his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish. The classification of this psalm is a wisdom psalm. The psalms come in different classifications and it's like a style of music.

Today, we have classical music, we have pop music, we have country western music, we have rap music of sorts. And so, there are all different styles and types of music. It's all music. There are different types of psalms as well.

And there are distinctives that mark one type of psalm from yet another kind of psalm. There are lament psalms, there are enthronement psalms. This is a wisdom psalm. And what a wisdom psalm does is it sets in contrast the way of the godly and the way of the wicked.

And it sets it in very black and white terms. There is no gray, there is no fence straddling in a wisdom psalm. The way of the godly and the way of the wicked and they are headed in totally opposite directions and the character of the man who is on the way of the godly, he is marked in this fashion and the character of the ungodly as he is headed to perdition is marked in a totally different way.

This is a wisdom psalm and I love the wisdom psalms because there is no merging together of the godly and the ungodly. They are very distinguishable. And did not Jesus say, you shall know them by their fruit?

And there is the evidence of a changed life in the heart and the soul of one who has come into an encounter with the living God. This psalm speaks to this. It's a psalm about a God-centered life. And so I want to move just very quickly into our exposition of this psalm.

Let me give you first an overview. Let me give you the outline. Let me give you the roadmap so you can know where we're headed in this psalm. In verse 1, we see the character of a God-centered life. The character of a God-centered life.

We will lift up the hood and look into the engine and look and see what is driving the God-centered life. As you lift up the hood and look into your own heart and into your own soul, if you are regenerated by the Spirit of God, this is what you will see down in the depths of your soul in Psalm 1.

It's something that God has put down within you. Then second, beginning in verse 2, the consequences of a God-centered life. If verse 1 is the root, then verses 2 through 9 is the fruit. This is the manifestation of what we see in verse 1.

And then finally, in verse 10, the contrast. The contrast with the God-centered life. Also, you should know that this psalm is an acrostic psalm which was a device that aided the memory of this psalm.

There are 22 lines in the 10 verses of this psalm. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. It is by no coincidence that each successive line begins with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Line 1 begins with Olive, line 2 begins with Beth, etc., and so forth.

And this was intentional. It shows, first of all, the perfect structure of a God-centered life. It is well-balanced. It is well laid out. It is not disoriented. And it also served to aid the memory of committing this psalm to memory.

Well, let's look now at this psalm. First, in verse 1, the character of a God-centered life. And what we will note is that there are two components in this God-centered life down within the heart. There is the fear of the Lord and there is the love of His Word.

And it's a beautiful balance. One is fear, the other is delight. And both of these components are true. As Scott Brown was driving me to church this morning, he was talking about how he has enjoyed hearing me laugh and interact with people.

And then, of course, when I preach, I'm as serious as a heart attack. And I told him, I said, growing up, my father and my mother, you know, the apple never falls far from the tree. And you take on certain personality types within your own home.

My father is the most serious man that I know. And my mother was just deliriously funny. And so, I grew up with this juxtaposition, with this contrast. And so, with my father, there's this influence of just being intently serious about my life's calling and what God has called me to do.

And then, my mother sits on the other shoulder and she was just such a very, very funny person. And her sister, my aunt, lived with us as a boy growing up. She was even funnier. And the two of them together in one car on a vacation is way too much fun than a family should be allowed to have.

And for my father not to be laughing while we are holding our sides, laughing at everything, only made it funnier. So, and I would tell him, the reason he doesn't laugh, I said, it's because you don't get it.

I mean, you have to get it before you can laugh at it. And he would never laugh at that. So, well, we see something of these polar opposites in verse 1, if you will. And yet, it comes together in one heart.

It comes together in one soul. And this is the balance of the Christian life. And it's almost metaphorically pictured in the two legs that you have. It takes two legs to walk and to move forward and how much better it is for there to be a balance.

And if your legs were not the same length, you would be walking sideways and trying to prop yourself up. And so, we see this, the fear of the Lord and the love of God's Word. There is to be both reverence and rejoicing.

There is to be both sobriety and celebration within the heart. And both are necessary and both are what God puts within the soul. So, he begins, praise the Lord. What a great way to begin any psalm. And then he says, how blessed is the man.

That's another feature of a wisdom psalm. Psalm 1 begins, how blessed is the man, et cetera. Psalm 119 begins this way. Psalm 128 begins this way. It is a distinctive of a wisdom psalm. And the word blessed there, just so you'll know, means happy, satisfied, content, filled to overflowing is the idea, and it's in the plural, which is why it's translated, how blessed.

But the idea is really just the abundant life that the Lord Jesus Christ has come to give to us. I've come that they might have life and have it abundantly. And I think there's a reason Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding and not at a funeral.

To give us an idea of just the fullness of life and all of the merriment and the excitement and the enthusiasm that surrounds a wedding feast or a wedding ceremony, Jesus intentionally performed his first miracle to give us even some of an idea of the positiveness of the abundant life that he's come to give us.

And so, how blessed is the man, first of all, who fears the Lord. That is at the heart and soul of a godly life, a God-centered life. There is this fear of the Lord. You no doubt have had this explained many times from this pulpit to you, but the fear of the Lord means to reverence God.

It means to revere him. It means to take God very seriously. It means to give him first place in our lives. It means to stand in awe of God. It means to be gripped with the reality and the weightiness of who God is and what God is.

James Montgomery Boyce has written that the fear of the Lord is a profound reverence in the heart. It is to stand in awe of God. God is truly terrifying, Boyce writes. We cannot take God lightly. God cannot be inconsequential to us or weightless in our thinking or our acting.

Take him in full seriousness. So, in other words, God is heavy. There is a heaviness about coming to know the Lord. There is a gravitas, a gravity about the person who has come to know the Lord, and there is this fear of God.

And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And Solomon writes, at the end of Ecclesiastes, here is the end of all matter, fear God and keep his commandments. And so, the Christian life begins with the fear of the Lord.

No one just trips through the narrow gate in a lighthearted fashion. There is the weeping and coming under conviction of sin and throwing yourself upon the mercy of the Lord. And as you grow in the Christian life, you actually grow in the fear of the Lord.

You never get over the fear of the Lord. You only grow deeper into the fear of the Lord. All of the way until the end of life, it's marked by this fear of God. And so, there is this reverence. And yet, at the same time, it's not morbid, it is wonderful.

And God puts within our heart a love for him, a love for his son, even as in a love for his word. And here is described as he greatly delights. Being a Christian is not like having to take bad medicine in order to get over something.

It's not like a trip to the dentist where you have to endure just a root canal. All right, I'll do this just so I can get to heaven. God is so good that when he puts a new heart within us, he gives us a delight for his word.

And our heart, there's a spiritual pulse about us. And we love and delight in God's word. It's something that we get in on. And there is an excitement about loving God's word. And so, Psalm 19, verse 10, and Psalm 119, 103, and 1 Peter 2, verse 2, all of those verses, as newborn babes long for the sincere milk of the word, that by it, you may grow in respect to salvation.

Well, this is all a part of the character of a God-centered life. And you will only grow in your delight and in your love for the word of God. And as you go deeper into the word, you go deeper into delighting in God's word.

I want you to know, I have never been more excited about the word of God in my life than I am at this split second. I have been preaching the word of God four times a week, four different messages at a minimum for the last 27 years.

I have written 13 books all on the Bible. I went to seminary for eight years. Took me a long time to get it. Five of those full-time. And as I plunge into the depths of God's word, first of all, I hope no one figures out how little I know of the word.

Because the more I study this book and the more I plunge into it, the more beauties, the more intricacies, the more nuances I am discovering and finding. And the more I do so, my heart is just on fire for God.

The word enthusiasm means entheos, in God. And any true enthusiasm is in the Lord. And the more you grow in your relationship with the Lord, the more enthusiastic you become. You don't become stoic. You don't become someone who's neutered in their personality.

You become someone who is enthusiastic and excited. You are marked by zeal and passion and fervency. There is an excitement within your soul for God. That's what we see in verse 1. And that is what's revibrating down within the depths of your soul.

How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. Well, second, I want you to note the consequences of a God-centered life. And I want you to note five of them, and I'll lay it out for you.

There are five consequences that this psalm mentions of a God-centered life. This is the fruit. This is the outward evidence of fearing the Lord and delighting in his commandments. In verse 2, we see his influence.

In verse 3, we see his increase. In verse 4a, we see his insight or his illumination. In verse 4b and 5, we see his integrity. And then in verses 6 through 9, we see his immovability. What a difference it makes to fear the Lord and to delight in his commandments.

And let me tell you also, that's something you cannot fake. It's one thing to be a church member. It's something else to be saved. It's something else to actually fear the Lord and delight in his commandments.

And this is the real deal. This is the real fruit. So many unconverted church members just have plastic fruit that have been scotch-taped to the branches of their life. It's not real. It's superficial.

But this is the real fruit. This is the real work of grace in a life. So, first of all, note his influence. In verse 2, there is a passing down of an influence that begins with those who are immediately around that person.

It's contagious to be next to a God-fearing, love, word-delighting person. And so, there is this influence that is passed down to...and it begins in the home. It begins with loved ones around you. So, verse 2, his descendants will be mighty on earth.

Whose descendants? The blessed man. His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. And so, this says that a God-fearing man, a God-fearing woman will leave a spiritual legacy with his or her own children, with those with whom they come in contact.

Now, this is a general observation. This is not to say that every God-fearing person, that all of his children just come to church perfect with their hair parted and their teeth brushed, and everything is just perfect in that household.

But what it does say is that over a period of time, those children can detect if it's really real in dad's life. Or if we're just, come on, let's get in the car, we're running late and just slamming into the parking lot, drop the kids off, go off to run errands, or the kids know when there's a God-fearing father, a father who loves the Word of God.

And those little antennae are up, and they detect when it's real with dad, and they detect when it's real with mom. And they hear the conversation after church is over in the front seat of the car, and they hear whether it's, hallelujah, what a savior, or if it's just picking the preacher apart and picking the church apart and picking apart sister or brother, whoever.

And they know, you know what? I don't need this. But with a God-fearing man who delights in the Word, this says their descendants, his descendants, her descendants will be mighty. That means they will have a recognized stature or standing.

It doesn't speak of physical might, it speaks of spiritual might. And his children will be mighty in the Lord. And so, and it sets in motion descendants. Note, plural. Let me give you an example of this.

You've probably heard this. A few years ago, a team of New York State sociologists attempted to calculate the influence of a father's life upon his children and upon his children's children. And so, they conducted a test.

Now, this test was performed by secular humanists, and they took a man named Max Jukes, and the other, Jonathan Edwards. And so, Max Jukes was an unbeliever, a man of no principle. He was married to an unbeliever, and they just live the lives of two unbelieving people.

And they studied the descendants of Max Jukes, 1 ,200 descendants. There were 440 lives of outright debauchery. There were 310 paupers and vagrants and homeless beggars. There were 190 public prostitutes.

There were 130 convicted criminals who served time, 100 alcoholics, 60 habitual thieves, 55 victims of impurity, and seven murderers. Can you even imagine if they'd had cable television back then and the computer, what the effect would have been?

The cost to the state of New York to just care for this family in prison, millions of dollars. And then there was studied the life of Jonathan Edwards. God's wonderful providence. I went yesterday to where Edwards was born, or as Edwards' father was buried, where he grew up, where he lived.

I stood at the steps where his church was, where he pastored. Jonathan Edwards regarded the most brilliant mind America has ever produced. Now, I would say Jonathan Edwards was a God-fearing man, wouldn't you?

I think he kind of took God serious. I think he delighted in the word of God. He married a woman named Sarah. And together, the offsprings of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, 300 pastors, missionaries, and theological professors.

Not three, 300, 120 college professors, 110 lawyers, over 60 physicians, over 60 authors of good books, 30 judges, 14 presidents of universities, numerous giants in American industry. In fact, it's been estimated that there's virtually not a major industry in New England, but that a descendant of Jonathan Edwards found himself at the very epicenter of the beginning of that major industry, three U .S. congressmen and one vice president of the United States of America.

Max Dukes, Jonathan Edwards. What does this text say? How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights in his commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed.

What a blessing to the world. What a blessing to New England. What a blessing to the evangelical church. What a blessing that accrues to us, even in this generation, multiple generations after this God-fearing man walked the earth.

This is the fruit of a God-fearing man marrying a God-fearing woman and raising their children in a God-fearing home where there is the delight in the Word of God. Let me give you a second fruit in a God-fearing life.

First of all, his influence. There is an influence that is passed down to his children, to his descendants. There is a legacy that is left behind. There is a deposit that is put within one's offsprings.

Second is increase. Look at verse 3. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Now, the first line speaks of financial riches. The second line speaks of spiritual riches.

It's the total package. Now, let me just tell you very quickly, this is not teaching the prosperity gospel, okay? And this is not saying that if you will trust God, you will drive home with a Cadillac today, all right?

That's not what this is saying. But what it is saying is that if you will be a God-fearing person and put into practical effect in your life the principles of wisdom and prudence, that you will be well-positioned to have wealth and riches in your house.

Now, wealth is a very relative thing. What is rich to one is poor to another. We're all pretty rich here today compared to a lot of most places in the world. But let me tell you why this will be true.

A God-fearing man, number one, is a hardworking man. A God-fearing man has a Calvinistic work ethic. That was part of the Reformation. It was... There was reintroduced into society a work ethic. And suddenly, people saw that everything that I do is to be done for the glory of God.

And so, if I am making a dress, it is to be done the very best I can as though I present this dress to God Almighty Himself as an expression of my worship to God. There's a reason why the great watchmakers of the world are right there in Switzerland because coming out of the Reformation, they so gave themselves to the precision with their hands of everything that they made.

They made every watch as if God would wear it. There was no laziness. There was no slothfulness. There was no couch potato. They arose knowing that they were made in the image of God, and God is a working God, and that there is something on this earth that God has called them to do, and it glorifies God to get up in the morning and to pour myself into my work.

This is not a license to be a workaholic, but it is a license, it is a liberty to do what you do for the glory of God. Let me tell you, if you'll work hard, there's a good chance you may have some wealth and some riches.

I go to the graduation service every year at Master's College and Master's Seminary. I love to hear John MacArthur just make comments to the graduates before they walk across stage. I remember a couple of years ago, he said this to the graduating class.

He said, do you want to be successful in this world? You want to get ahead? You want to be promoted? Just do two things. Well, everyone just like leaned forward. E .F. Hutton is about to speak. Number one, show up on time.

Think you can do that? Think you can come to Sunday school on time? Show up on time. You'll stand out in the world. I've told my boys, let me tell you two things about John MacArthur. He's always 10 minutes early and his shoes are always shined.

I mean, he's ready for game day. Number one, show up on time. This is not rocket science. Number two, do what you're told to do and do it with a good attitude. You'll end up being president of the United States.

Show up on time and do what you're told to do with a good attitude. They'll make you the president of Xerox. It's part of being a hardworking person. Just pour yourself into your work. And this says wealth and riches are in his house.

It's because you know what it is to roll up your sleeves and to work hard. I've written, I think it's 14 books, while preaching four times a week every week, while traveling and flying to preach elsewhere.

These books don't just fall off of trees. I write everything with a fountain pen. And I just put it into my blood and pull it out. And it's blood, toil, sweat, and tears. It's a labor of love. But it's a labor.

Listen, if it was easy, we'd all be good. You have to pay a price. You've got to work hard. And if you'll work hard, it has a way of reward and recompense finding you. We live in such an entitlement society.

Everybody owes me something. The government owes me something. Second, you're a God-fearing man. You'll be highly motivated. You know, can you think of a higher motivation in the glory of God? I had someone ask me the other day or yesterday after the session, they said, what do you think about businessmen reading these sales books to try to be highly motivated?

I mean, what do you think about Zig Ziglar books meet you at the top? What do you think about this book or that book? And is that good? Is that bad? And I just said, why do you need that stuff if you're living for the glory of God?

I mean, why do you have to give yourself a little pep talk? And why do you have to go to some meeting and have someone stand up and act like a clown in order to motivate you? What about the glory of God?

How about that for motivation, that you play for an audience of one? A God-fearing man will be more highly motivated than anyone else at work. Because what he does, he does for the approval of God, and that means more than anything else.

Number three, he'll be a very frugal man. He doesn't throw his money around. Number four, he's honest, and people want to do business with an honest person. His word is his bond, and he'll make it right.

And number five, yes, he will be rewarded by God in different ways and in different measures. And sometimes, according to the goodness of God, God does open the windows of heaven and give a greater increase in the harvest.

And listen, it does come from God. Well, he will have this increase in his life because he is a God-fearing man who delights in God's word. Third, I want you to see his insight in verse 4. He actually sees more than other people see.

For light arises in the darkness for the upright. What does this mean? Does this mean we get an earlier sunrise? Does this mean we're always on daylight savings time? Or what does this mean? Light arises in the darkness for the upright.

It's talking about spiritual enlightenment. It's talking about spiritual illumination. It's talking about that a God-fearing man will be enlightened by the spirit of God and by the word of God and with a renewed mind, will be able to see in a dark and a degenerate generation.

He will be able to see the truth. He will be able to see the path. He will be able to see what is right. He will be able to see what is wrong. This is spiritual insight. This is wisdom. This is spiritual light from above.

And there is the light of God's word. If he delights in God's commandments, listen, that's like walking around with a lantern in front of you as you walk through a dark world. Psalm 119 verse 105, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Proverbs 6, 23, for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light. Psalm 119 verses 98 to 100 says, you'll have more insight than your teachers. You'll have more insight than the aged. You will have insight into what's going on in this world.

You will see what others cannot see. It's called discernment. Psalm 19 verse 8, the commandment of the Lord is pure and lightening the eyes. You will have light regarding who you are, where you've come from, and where you're headed.

That's pretty good. You'll have light regarding how to know God, how to enjoy life, how to live successfully. You'll have light regarding who to marry, and how to raise kids, and how to handle your money, and where to go to school.

You'll have light regarding every subject in life, from science, to origins, to history, to government, to economics, to culture, to counseling, from marriage to divorce, from heaven to hell, from the state of the union to the consummation of history.

You will know what's going on and you will know what the truth is and what the reality is, because the light of the Spirit of God and the light of the Word of God is streaming, and pouring, and radiating light into your heart.

Yeah, it makes a difference to be a God-fearing person. Let me give you a fourth evidence, a fourth characteristic, a fourth fruit of fearing the Lord and delighting in God, His integrity. Look at the middle of verse 4.

Look at the character of this man. Look at the fruit that is produced. This is like reading Galatians 5, 22. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness, et cetera.

Look at this. He is gracious, and compassionate, and righteous. Gracious. He will be a gracious man. You will be a kind person. You know it? The way you talk to people in stores, the way you talk to waitresses, the way you talk to stewardesses, the way you talk to teachers, and to secretaries, and to people around you, you will be a gracious person.

Your words will be full of grace. You will be kind. You will be patient. You'll be tender. You will be uplifting. You will not be overbearing, and intimidating, and dominating other people, and having to bully your way in life.

You will be gracious. There'll be a certain dignity about your life. And then compassionate, feelings deeply for others in their need, full of sympathy. Your heart goes out to other people. You become a sensitive person.

Well, how strange is this? The more you fear God, the more tender you become towards other people. You will not be indifferent towards the feelings of others. You will be compassionate. And then righteous means conformity to a standard, and that standard is God himself.

Then in verse 5, talking about his integrity, it is well with the man. It's like saying in the hymn, it is well with his soul. It is well with the man who is gracious and lenient. See, he's not tight-fisted.

He holds his possessions with an open hand. Why? Because he knows that he's just a steward of what God has entrusted to him, and that everything that he has is on loan from God. And so he is to invest what he has for the glory of God and for the good of others.

And as he sees others who have need, he is so gracious, and he is quick to lend, and he will maintain his cause in judgment. This word judgment, mispot, is a word that means a judicial verdict, and it can even be translated integrity.

The New King James translates it discretion. He will guide his affairs with discretion, and the idea is that he will live his life with integrity. And the word integrity really is the idea of wholeness, that all the parts of his life are woven together into one consistent tapestry.

There is not an inconsistency about his life. He is the same person on Monday morning as he is on Sunday morning. There is not a disconnect from here and out there. That's what the word integrity means.

There is a wholeness. There is a completeness about his life. There's not some little hidden closet off someplace with skeletons ready to come dancing out. No, what you see is what you get. To know him is to know really who he is and what he's about.

There is a realness, an authenticity, a genuineness about this God-fearing person. This is his integrity. And then fifth, his immovability. I like this because there is a weightiness about God in his life.

You know what God's like for him? It's like one of these heavy paperweights that just keeps you down with your feet on the ground and not being blown all around by the winds of this world and the storms of life.

You are anchored in the Lord and you're not being swayed and moved around and overreacting to things. That's a mark of immaturity. Is that you overreact to things. Now, when you are a God-fearing person and you delight in God's commandments, there is a deep rootedness that is being cultivated about you.

And you are being anchored into the soil where you live. So look what verse six says. This is what verse six says. For he will never be shaken. The gravitas and the weightiness and the gravity about God in his life keeps him anchored where he is.

And even in the midst of the storms of life, he will not be swayed. He will be a man of conviction and will not be gullible to the latest fad that's going on out there. He's always going back to old paths, Jeremiah 6 .16.

For he will never be shaken. Temptations will not sway him. Demons will not move him. Trials will not shake him. He will not be given to panic nor overreaction in the face of adversity. He is marked by stability and strength and maturity.

Spurgeon said, they are not mushrooms of the hour. There's so many Christians, they go up like a rocket and they come down like a rock. No, they're like an oak tree setting down deep roots. Verse 7, he will not fear evil tidings.

When bad reports come, when threatening reports come, this person is grounded in the sovereignty of God. He kisses the rod that chastens him. He will not fear evil tidings. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

Now, this isn't automatic. There is a responsibility that we have. R .C. Sproul has said, regeneration is monergistic, sanctification is synergistic. There is a responsibility that we have. Trusting in the Lord, attaching yourself to God, relying upon him.