Oh Lord, Help Me Live Righteously!

[00:00:00] Let's turn to Psalm number 17. We will read the whole Psalm, Psalm number 17 in our study on the heart of the Bible. And we're going to see the heart of the psalmist once again tonight, but in a different subject matter, but nevertheless something vital, something just absolutely vital and important. [00:00:22] Psalm 17. [00:00:24] Notice what the Bible says at the top in the subtitle. It says this. A prayer of David. A prayer of David. [00:00:35] Again, I know I've said this before, but remember this is this. One of the reasons why this is the heart of the Bible, is because so many of the private prayers of this man of God, this one of God's servants, is recorded for us. So many of his prayers are recorded for us in the Scriptures. So we get a picture into his heart in various ways as he deals with issues. And this is another example of that. It deals with one primary thing. And this is what I want to talk about tonight, this one word. And we'll look at some other verses as well. Verse number one says, hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry and give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips let my sentence come forth from thy presence let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. [00:01:33] Thou hast proved mine heart. Thou hast visited me in the night, Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress concerning the works of men. By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of. Of the destroyer. [00:01:53] Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not. [00:01:59] I have called upon thee. For thou wilt hear me, O God, Incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech. Show thy marvelous loving kindness. O thou that savest by thy right hand them that which put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against them Keep me as the apple of the eye, Hide me under the shadow of thy wings from the wicked that oppress me. From my deadly enemies who compass me about. They're enclosed in their own fat with their mouth they speak proudly. [00:02:31] They have now compassed us in our steps. They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth, like as a lion that is greedy of his prey. And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Lord, disappoint him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked which is thy sword from men which are thy hand, O Lord. From men of the world which have their portion in this life and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure. They are full of children and Leave the rest of their substance to their babes. [00:03:08] As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Let's pray together. [00:03:20] Our Father in heaven. Lord, we just want to come to you. First of all, thank you for the word of God. Thank you for the church. Thank you for the opportunity to meet together tonight. [00:03:30] And Lord, we want to ask you that you would truly meet with us and be our teacher as we look in your word. That these truths would be just plain before our eyes, that we would search our hearts and that we would have the heart of like David has in this prayer of his Lord, we need you. [00:03:50] We need you. If we're going to be if we're going to profit from the Scriptures, Lord, it has to be because you teach us so, Lord, help us to understand. [00:04:00] Help us, Lord, to benefit from this spiritual nourishment. [00:04:06] Lord, help me to say the things you want me to say and not say what you don't want me to say to the end that your people would be helped and strengthened in Jesus name. Amen. [00:04:17] Now, in Psalm 17, I don't know if you picked up on the main recurring theme in the psalm, but the recurring theme in the psalm is righteousness. Righteousness. [00:04:32] In fact, if you look at this psalm actually is remember, it's a window into the heart of a man. David Right? It's a window into a heart of a man, a man who truly has a heart for and a desire for righteousness. [00:04:53] And you'll see it in just a minute. He is a man who, as we remember in our study in Matthew chapter five, one of the Beatitudes is this Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Now, we've already talked about, in fact, on Sunday morning, we talked about the idea of imputed righteousness that God gives us. But then there's also practical righteousness dealing with the way that we live. [00:05:21] And in this psalm, David is expressing a great desire, a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. And it just so happens that we're covering these. I don't plan this stuff. But, you know, sometimes I feel bad because I feel like I'm repeating myself with the same themes, but I don't plan it. So it just so happens that these overlap with what we've just studied in Matthew about righteousness and hungering and thirsting after righteousness. In this psalm, David is doing that very thing. He's very concerned that he's living righteously. [00:05:56] He's concerned that he's living righteously. [00:06:00] Notice a few of the features in this psalm. Notice the first sentence. Hear the right, O Lord. That's a weird way to start a prayer, is it not? Hear the right, O Lord. Notice what he says. He says his prayer goeth not out of feigned lips. He asks God for a sentence that is a judgment. In other words, he's asking God, lord, look at me. Judge me. That's what he's saying. Judge me, sentence me. What do you see? [00:06:33] Let thine eyes in verse two behold the things that are equal. [00:06:39] That sounds a little funny to our ears, does it not? But it's just referring to when something is equal, that means it's upright. It's just. [00:06:47] It's righteous. [00:06:48] So he's saying, lord, look at me. Look at the things that are equal. He's asking God to look at himself, to examine him. And he says in verse three, thou has proved mine heart. Thou has visited me in the night. Thou has tried me and shalt find nothing. Why will the Lord not find anything? What's the answer? [00:07:06] Because David is righteous. In other words, he's living righteously, Lord. And listen, this is an important point when it comes to being a child of God and being a believer. It matters if we live uprightly because we know the Lord. The Lord is going to judge us according to what we've done. Right? That's. Nobody's escaping that it does matter the way we live. Notice what he says. He says, I am purposed in verse three, that my mouth shall not transgress. [00:07:40] So he's paying close attention to what he says. [00:07:44] He says, concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips, I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. [00:07:51] You see? You see, he's concerned with the path that he's walking. [00:07:57] He declares that the Lord will not find hidden sin. When the Lord tries him and proves him and puts him to the test he describes, he's purposing in his heart, not to sin with his lips. He's not on the path of the destroyer. And you see in verse number five, hold up my goings in thy paths, God's paths, that my footsteps slip. Not notice. [00:08:20] He is on God's path. He's living in the way that pleases God. [00:08:26] And furthermore, he's asking the Lord to uphold him so that he will continue to walk on the path that the Lord wants him to walk on, which is going to be obviously a righteous path. [00:08:39] And then. And we'll get more into it in just a minute as we go Down. But look down at verse number 15. [00:08:47] It says, the first verse says, hear the right, O lord. [00:08:53] And verse 15 says, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. Now we'll say more about that. That's speaking of the resurrection. But notice he's asking God to judge him. And look in his heart. He's saying, lord, you won't find anything. I am trying to live right. I'm living righteously. Before you think, well, that's kind of boastful a little bit. He does give God credit in the psalm. And then at the very end he talks about the end of his life, the final ultimate righteousness, permanent forever righteousness in the last verse. So the psalm starts with righteousness and it ends with righteousness. And he is obviously concerned with living. Right, right. [00:09:37] Does everybody see that? Now we're not going to spend a lot of time going at, look, picking apart each verse tonight because I wanted to get. You get the main theme and I want to look at a few other things. Look at Psalm number 11, if you would. Psalm 11 and then Psalm 33 and then Psalm 45. We'll look at these in quick succession. Psalm 11, Psalm 33 and Psalm 45, Psalm 11, verse number 7. [00:10:15] For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. [00:10:20] His countenance doth behold the upright God loves righteousness. Look at Psalm 33, verse 5, Psalm 33, verse number 5 says this. He speaking of the Lord in verse 4. He loveth righteousness and judgment. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. See that? [00:10:54] Psalm 45, verse number seven. [00:11:02] This is a dual reference. [00:11:06] Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. This is not only a reference to the Lord, but it's also a reference to Jesus, which is quoted in the New Testament. Here's the thing. [00:11:25] David obviously loves righteousness, but that is originally a characteristic of God himself. [00:11:35] That has been, and we'll see in a minute that has been passed on to David. [00:11:43] So many. These are called for 10 cent word. These are called the communicable attributes of God. God loves righteousness. And this is an attribute of God that the Lord seeks to put in us, like to be like him in this way, in that we love righteousness. [00:12:03] Now look at if we're going to come back to Psalm 15 in just a minute or Psalm 17 rather. But look in the New Testament if you would, at the book of First John, First John, Chapter two, First John, Chapter two one John two, verse number drop all the way down to the close to the end, verse number 29. [00:12:45] Now, I want you to pay close attention to these verses concerning righteousness. First, John 2:29. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. [00:13:03] See that? [00:13:05] So the question is this. [00:13:08] What is the relationship between a child of God and righteousness? In this verse, it is a mark of the reality of his conversion. You see this? [00:13:24] So when I read that, though, the question comes to my mind is, how righteous? [00:13:28] Right? Because every one of us would acknowledge that we are not always righteous. [00:13:33] Right? That's just a fact. [00:13:36] So when I sin, does that mean that I'm. [00:13:40] If being righteous, this is practical righteousness. Here in this context is practical righteousness because it says, doeth righteousness. All right, so this refers to the way I live. So if living righteously is a mark of being born of him, then does that mean that if I sin, that that means I'm not actually born of God? [00:14:08] That's a natural question flowing from this, right? Look at chapter three. I want to show you a little bit more and kind of develop this a little bit. Chapter three, verse number seven says this, little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteousness even as he is righteous. [00:14:29] That's pretty clear. You know, sometimes these plain statements kind of trip us up a little bit. Because listen, we all know that we sin. And listen, the Apostle John here is not ignorant to the fact that we sin. Did he not just finish saying chapter one, which says. Which says, if we sin, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. That's not a. That's not a word given to a lost man, but to a saved man. [00:14:57] So it is understood that Christians sin. Yet this verse is still here, verse seven. Look at verse number eight. He that committeth sin is of the devil. [00:15:06] For the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil? [00:15:14] Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. [00:15:20] How many of you have had trouble with this verse? [00:15:24] Right, Keep reading. [00:15:27] For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God in this. Now, verse 10 goes back to what we just said in chapter 2, verse 29. In this, the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. So it's a mark of a true believer doing righteousness, practical righteousness. Now, that makes perfect sense. You know why? Because God loves righteousness. [00:16:00] God loves righteousness. So it makes perfect sense then that the children of God also love righteousness. [00:16:09] Right, but how righteous? [00:16:14] Going back to verse number nine, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now, if you left that alone, it would be very problematic. But look at the next word. What's the next word? [00:16:28] 4. [00:16:29] So the second sentence in this verse, number nine explains. Gives an explanation for the. For the first part of verse number nine. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. For this is the reason his God's seed remaineth in him. [00:16:50] And he cannot sin because he is born of God. So the reference to being born of God and not committing sin is a reference to the seed that is in us that does not commit sin. [00:17:08] Does everybody see this? This is why it's important. Because the moment that you and I are born again, there is the first Peter. Second Peter refers to it as a divine nature that is put into us. God brings us alive. His spirit is in us. We are born anew, right? That's when we talk about being born again. The inner man is made alive after the image of God. In this verse, it's referred to as the seed of God. In other words, part of God is in us, right? God is in us. [00:17:45] And that part of us can't sin. So therefore, what's left? Well, the outside, the flesh, right? The flesh loves to sin. It craves sin. But the seed that remains in us, he cannot sin because he, that part of us is born of God. [00:18:05] Just in the same way that God loves righteousness and therefore he cannot sin. So God in us, so that the spiritual part of us that has been made alive by this miraculous miracle of a moment where God creates us brand new in that moment when we trust in Christ, after we trust in Christ. Let me get that for those of you that know exactly what I'm talking about. Not before we trust in Christ, but after we trust in Christ. That moment we're made alive that part of us cannot sin in the same way that God cannot sin. But we still have this flesh. [00:18:45] All right, go. One more passage. If you would look at Romans, chapter seven. [00:18:50] Romans, chapter seven, verse number 18. Or let's start. Yeah, start in verse number 18. [00:19:09] Now, Paul is speaking of himself in his own Christian experience. Okay. [00:19:17] He says in verse number 18, for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. [00:19:23] For to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good, I find not for the good that I would do, that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not. Or that is, I don't want to do, that I do. Now, if I do that I would not. In other words, the things that I don't want to do. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Now look at verse 22, and this is the key. [00:19:57] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. [00:20:05] That's that same. That's the same. The seed of First John, chapter three. That's that same. That inside of us, that alive part, that alive part. It's like when you cut your nails and you get to the quick, and all of a sudden you realize it's living. It's alive there, right? There's a part of us that is alive to God by the miracle of the new birth, right? It's inside of us, not the outside. The outside is just dead as ever, dead in sin. [00:20:36] But just as Paul said in verse 22, For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. So when you combine all of these things concerning righteousness, here's what I want you to see, okay? [00:20:48] What David said in Psalm 17 was that he loved righteousness and he was concerned about living, right? [00:21:01] There was a part of him that wanted righteousness. And I know that the time periods are a little bit different, but the truth is the same. The truth is the same. Which is. That is a mark of a true Christian. [00:21:15] You see what I'm saying? That's the key. It is not in first John, he that doeth righteousness is born of God. That is not to say if you never sin. And that's how some people have interpreted it, you can. Basically, they would say you can. If you are not sinlessly perfect, you never sin. You can never know that you're truly going to heaven. And that's false. [00:21:38] But the reverse, you gotta consider that as well. If there is not in me a true desire for righteousness, I'm not born again. You see what I'm saying? [00:21:54] I'm not going. [00:21:57] Now, how that manifests it, how that manifests in our life will be determined by whether we yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God or yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. That's Romans, chapter six, how that manifests itself. But here's the truth of it, if there is a true desire for righteousness. And listen, that desire is not a desire that comes from us. It's not like we work it up and we really. No, no, no. This is something that is put in us by God. And if that desire is in it, just like he said, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Romans 7:22. [00:22:37] Those that don't know God are not delighting in the law of God. I'm talking about people who are members of churches. I'm talking about pastors who do not know God. [00:22:45] They might preach the Bible, but they do not delight in the law of God after the inward man. You say, is that possible? Oh, yeah. [00:22:53] Oh yeah. [00:22:56] That's the difference. And when that thing is in you and there is a true delight for righteousness, even if you don't always do it and you don't and I don't. [00:23:08] But that being in you will manifest itself. [00:23:16] How? In doing righteousness. You see? [00:23:20] So here's the problem. You can't say, listen, oh, I love righteousness, and you literally never do righteousness. That is a contradiction. You see what I'm saying? [00:23:32] That's what John is saying in First John. [00:23:35] So here's the question I have. In your heart and in your life, do you have truly, truly have a deep down desire to live righteously? [00:23:50] That's the key. Do you have a delight for the law of God in the inward man? Do you have a part of you inside that really wants to live right and sometimes you find it hard to do it? [00:24:05] That is the description Paul is giving in Romans 7. But this is also what we're reading in Psalm 17. We're reading a man who has, who is concerned that he lives right. He has a desire to do righteousness and it is a major force in his life. [00:24:24] This goes back to hungering and thirsting after righteousness. It's the same principle. Now let's go back to Psalm 17, if you would, verse number four. [00:24:44] Again, we're not covering every verse, but just look at verse number four real quick. Concerning the works of men. By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. [00:24:58] He gives God credit for the reason that he's not on a sinful path. You see this? And what is specifically the reason? The word of God's lips. [00:25:10] The word of God. Right. [00:25:12] You probably, if you've never memorized this verse, this is a good verse to memorize. For the power and the use and the utility of God's word. In your life to keep you and to keep me from sin. The word of God will keep us from sin, you say. How do you do that? Well, here's how you do it. [00:25:30] You spend time reading the Bible. Now, here's the thing. [00:25:35] Here's the thing. If you think that you're going to. You're going to sit down in the morning and you're going to read your Bible, and for the rest of the day, you're not going to have trouble sinning. That is not how it works. [00:25:46] That's not how it works. [00:25:49] There's not like a direct connection where it's like a vending machine you put in Bible reading and you get out of, you know, you lived righteously that day. That's not how it works. But the word of God is the power that will totally change you. [00:26:06] And it's not. It'll change you today. So you do something today, it'll change you entirely for good. You see? [00:26:18] So this is not like a transactional thing. I give God Bible reading. God gives me righteous life. It's not like that. God will transform us by his word, little by little as we grow. [00:26:33] But you and I have to not only read the Word, but we have to read it with attention. We have to think about it. We have to meditate upon it and let it sink down into our hearts. Because it's only when it gets there that it makes the difference, starts to change our life. Because once it's in your heart, the Lord will start to use it to keep you away from things that are sinful and unrighteous. He will remind you of it. [00:27:00] And it's a mysterious way, the way the Lord uses his Word to keep us from sin. But it is real and it is true. [00:27:09] That's why reading your Bible is not just when you need to. It needs to be a habit of your life. It needs to be a. A practice that you do constantly. That's how you grow. [00:27:21] You don't eat one day so you won't die that day from starvation, right? You eat every day. And you know that you're not eating for that day, that nutrition is going to continue to work in you. And so you eat every day. And so you're continually growing, continually having the nutrition that you need. That's the way the Word of God works. [00:27:41] And you know this. Psalm 37, verse 31. The law of the Lord, the law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. Why, the law of God is in his heart. [00:27:53] Psalm 119, verse 9. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Psalm 119 verses number 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against the see, there's a direct connection with our relationship to God's Word and living a righteous life. And if you, if you go, listen, if you go long periods, especially without the word of God, you will go into sin, practical sin. It will happen not only because you don't have the equipment needed to avoid it, but also because neglecting God's word is an indicator of other spiritual problems that all go together. [00:28:39] Back In Psalm number 17, verse number 5, he says this. I'm just. I'm going quickly here. [00:28:45] Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. Let me ask you a question going back to the desire for righteousness, which is what he's expressing in this prayer, right? He's going to listen in this prayer. David is going to God. And you know what he's in essence saying? God, please, please don't let me sin. [00:29:13] That's what he's saying, God, I don't want to sin. [00:29:16] I don't want my feet to slide. I don't want to slip. [00:29:20] Please keep me from the paths of the destroyer. I don't want to sin. Lord, please don't let me sin. [00:29:28] How often do you say that in your prayer to God? [00:29:33] How often do you say, do you go to God and sin? And this desire to live righteously is so important that you find yourself asking God to keep you from sin. [00:29:47] You see, when you have and I have a desire and you really, really want to live righteously in God's sight, you will be asking for help because you know why? You'll be finding yourself having a hard time. [00:30:00] You'll be finding yourself not able to do it, which is exactly what Romans 7 is with Paul. [00:30:06] And so you know what you'll be doing? You'll say, lord, keep my steps, keep me from sin. Keep me from looking at that, keep me from watching that. Keep me from saying that, help my attitude to be righteous. You see what I'm saying? You'll be asking God for help to keep you from sin. Do you ask the Lord for that? [00:30:26] Is that something you hear yourself saying a lot? Because if it's not, there's a problem with your desire for righteousness. [00:30:37] Now look at verse number 12. I don't have time to go into it all, but he goes into verse number nine, talks about the wicked that oppress me. [00:30:51] He describes them, verse number 11. They have now compassed us in our steps. They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth, like as a lion that is greedy of his prey. And as it were, a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Lord. Disappoint him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword from men. Men of the world. Verse 14. So I know he's talking about men, and specifically in David's context. We don't know the specific context. He might be referring to actual men who want to actually kill him. But there's a spiritual application here as well, especially when we read about the lion, the comparison to the lion in verse 12, which of course to us is a reference to Satan, right? Who walks about seeking whom he may devour. But let me ask you a question. Remember, the theme of this psalm is righteousness, practical righteousness. [00:31:46] How does the devil devour us? [00:31:52] How? How did he devour people that were devoured? [00:31:56] In the Scripture, where the devil is specifically cited as the cause, think about this. How did the devil devour Adam and Eve? Did he just kill them? [00:32:09] No. How did the devil attempt, but failed? How did he attempt to devour Job, who was speaking through his wife's lips? Curse God and die? Right? We're all familiar with that, right? How did he try to devour Job? How did the devil devour Judas Iscariot? [00:32:28] How did the devil devour Peter? [00:32:32] When Christ was arrested? [00:32:35] In every case, this is the way he does it. Somebody lying, right? [00:32:40] In every day. In every case, here's what you find. The devil. [00:32:46] His strategy is to devour God's people with subtlety. [00:32:50] He leads them into sin and allows sin to devour them. [00:32:59] Case in point, Adam and Eve. [00:33:02] He didn't kill Adam and Eve. Now he's held responsible. He's called the murderer from the beginning, right? He's held responsible. But he did not personally kill Adam and Eve. He led them to an act of unrighteousness that killed them. [00:33:21] This is how he devours us. You see how it's related to righteousness? [00:33:26] So our prayer is, lord, keep me from slipping. And we think especially of ourselves, keep my feet. We don't want to slip. We don't want to fall. We don't want to stumble. Lord, keep me from sin, but Lord, keep me from temptation. [00:33:40] Satanic temptation that will be thrown my way because he's trying to devour me. And he's going to use unrighteousness to do it. [00:33:50] You know how he does it? How does he devour Families. He devours families by sin, right? That gets into the husband, gets into the wife, gets into the kids, destroys the family. [00:34:03] All right? That's how he does it. That's how he does it between siblings. That's how he does it in a church. When you see the devil devouring people, it's because he. He has tempted and successfully tempted them, led them into sin and allowed sin to destroy it. It could be bitterness, could be you lose your job because of some sin. I mean, there's no telling. [00:34:29] But he will devour. He will devour us and he'll use sin to do it. That's why our desire for righteousness has to be so strong. [00:34:40] And the last thing is in the last verse. The last thing I'll show you is in the last verse. [00:34:47] He says, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. [00:34:57] Now, all these truths are made perfectly plain in the New Testament, right? This is what, a thousand years before Christ, and yet a thousand years before Christ. He describes the resurrection in which the believer will see. Notice what it says in 15. The believer will see the Lord face to face. I will behold thy face and will be in God's very presence. You know, that's in the Beatitudes. The pure in heart will see God, right? It's in Revelation 22, verse 4. They shall see his face. Here it is not only that. In the resurrection, the believer will be totally free from all sin. I will behold thy face in righteousness. [00:35:43] We'll be given a new body, finally and perfectly righteous forever. [00:35:51] This is all here. [00:35:53] The believer, though a believer. Notice, he says, awake. Though a believer sleeps the sleep of death. This death is not final. [00:36:02] There is a resurrection. [00:36:06] And the last thing is, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Now think about that. When we talked about the seed of the Lord in us, making us desire righteousness. God himself loving righteousness. [00:36:23] When we rise from the dead in the resurrection, we will have the likeness of God. David sang that Adam's as the song says. Hark, the herald angels sing. Charles Wesley said, adam's likeness now efface. Rub it out, and one day that will be rubbed out. And what will be left? [00:36:46] Perfect righteousness, right? Perfect righteousness. Now here's the key. He says that here in the psalm in which he is expressing in a prayer to God, his heart's desire to be. To live right. God help me live right. And here's the thing. First John 3, verse 2 says, he that hath this hope in himself purifieth himself, even as he is pure. What hope? [00:37:16] The hope of verse 15. If you read the context of 1 John 3, he's talking about when we are made like him, when we see him. So the very hope that we know that one day when the Lord comes, we will be forever perfectly righteous. And the sin that we hate so much will be gone forever. And the righteousness that we desire will become. Will become totally ours, 100% forever. That hope in the future will help us to be righteous now. [00:37:51] This is what David is saying. [00:37:54] This is what David is saying. [00:37:56] We look forward to eternal righteousness, and we're going to do everything in our power by the grace of God, to live righteously up until then. Amen. [00:38:11] Amen. Let's pray.