The Word of God often cites for us distinctions between the righteous & the wicked; those who know the Lord by grace & those who do not. In Rom 6, the contrast is between those led of the Spirit & those led by the flesh, those who walk in righteousness & those who walk in unrighteousness. In Gal 5, the distinction is drawn as those who manifest the fruit of the Spirit & others who manifest the deeds of the flesh. In 1 John the distinction drawn is often the one who is born of God or born from above & the one who is of the world.

It all shows that the Word of God knows only two types of persons. There are no "carnal Christians", no spiritual people living in fleshly ways, as a lifestyle. We are either being saved from sin or we are being left in sin. In this Psalm, one righteous man, tells us how distressed he was when he saw the success & prosperity enjoyed by the wicked. In our first three message from Psalm 37, we have seen how he learns to settle his heart over this.

And as we today reach v 21, we come to a slight change of direction. We find another of the Bible's contrasts between the character of the righteous & the character of the wicked, & when we're done looking at it, we see why David brought it up. The difference which stands out between godly & ungodly, in this case, helps to further solidify our peace & rest with whatever God chooses to do with us or with them. We are secure, even if it seems they prosper & we do not. Let's get into it & see.

1) A Contrast Between the Wicked & The Righteous - v 21

"The wicked borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is gracious and gives."

It is among the first duties of men which God lays on us, to deal justly with others & to render to one another what is their due. But in the subtlety of their sinful imaginations & devices, men do deeds which they talk themselves out of regarding as sin, when the least little thought would make it obvious to them, of course that act was sin. And to borrow & not return what was borrowed is without question sin, a form of the sin of stealing. Some do not regard that sort of negligence as such, but it is, whether they are wise enough or honest enough to see it for what it is or not.

The wicked man abuses other people this way because his love of himself is so great in comparison to any care he may have for others. How clearly this shows, as Jesus taught us, that all the commands of God have some link to love. To borrow what belongs to your neighbor - his money, tools, vehicle, & not return it is obviously a lack of love for one's neighbor. It was always presumed that the borrower would return it.

But it's amazing the justifications people will come up with to excuse this sin! "He doesn't need it! He'd ask me for it back if he did." Well, the fact that he owns one, which you did not, is enough evidence to you that he needs it at some time or another. Further, it is none of the borrower's business whether the lender shows need of it or not, when it is his possession anyway. This sort of thing should never be found among the righteous. "Well, I'm not done with it yet."

This mostly has to do, however, with money - refusal to repay cash borrowed. Now, it is a mistake to put guilt on yourself by trivializing this into minors that don't really fit the case of this sin at all. For instance, you borrow a book from a friend & two weeks later you feel, "Oh my, I ought to have returned that by now! I am so negligent, such a louse, he probably won't want to loan me anything again!" - when the owner never gave you any set expectation of when it ought to be returned. They have not felt abused & it was clear that, as a friend, you could borrow it for a length of time, longer than the little while you have had it was understood. You serve no end of resisting sin by labeling yourself the "wicked", who "borrows & does not pay back". That's reducing it to trivialities.

The real scenarios which fit this come to light when we rightly apply Rom 13:8, where Paul tells us to "owe no man anything". To "owe no man anything" means that whatever you agree to pay, you pay. If you borrowed $1000 & said you'd repay it $100 per month for 10 months, then do that. It can't mean that it would be sin to borrow to begin with, but some try to construe "owe no man anything" to mean that all debt is sin. But how does that fit the description of the righteous in v 26 as ones who are "gracious, & lend", if being a lender is enabling someone else to commit the sin of being in debt?

So it's too simplistic to label all borrowing sin. What is sinful is, to arrange to borrow when there is not intent to pay back or failure to pay back. You kept what isn't yours. Though you may not see it this way, it is not really different from taking what wasn't yours.

If you use the services of a worker - a doctor, a typist, a gardener, & do not pay for it when it was agreed you would pay, it is past the due date for payment & you have not, that is borrowing & not paying back, because there was an expected due date.

Or, one of us lends you money & the date or schedule of re-payment is clear; but you don't pay. You exceed the due date. This is immoral. To say "I can't pay, I don't have it!", only shows that you sinned in being careless about that inability to begin with. You should not have borrowed; you should not have hired that worker for the job he did. How often do we hear of people who run up their charge accounts to sums they cannot possibly pay, but they expect mercy to be shown them when the original agreement did not call for mercy, it called for payment.

It reveals a basic dishonesty at heart that does not act in a forthcoming manner, when it is such a simple matter to ask for mercy, a re-setting of the deadline, which most are glad to offer.

Well, hopefully, however I am not speaking to those in such a lifestyle, for it says that's what the wicked do; it contrasts, "but the righteous is gracious & gives". Rather than just say that the righteous does pay back what he borrows, it leaps beyond that & points out that the godly man is often a giver. He encounters need in others & is pleased to meet their needs with his own generosity. Just as the evil man shows his absence of love in his failure to pay back what he borrows, so the good man shows his love in the deed of giving. He shows that others are on his heart. He is not merely thinking of himself. He has a broader interest in the good of others.

It was one of the first points of instruction to the Gentiles, when the gospel reached them, to say that those who had formerly lived unto themselves & in dishonesty, should now give Eph 428; to the rich to be generous & ready to share. And as promised, Proverbs 11:24-25.

Now, how this fits into the scheme of the Psalm is shown in what follows

2) The Divine Hand Behind These Differences - verses 22-24

These verses shows us that v 21 is not merely a comment on the deeds of the righteous & the wicked; it is a statement about God's blessing upon His people. They are capable of giving graciously because the God they serve makes them able.

Despite taking other people for a ride, the wicked are cursed, v 22, by God, & will not be ultimately successful in their designs of self-preservation & getting ahead. For seeking to save their own life, by dishonest means, they will lose it. The stinginess of the wicked man does not bring him the happiness, the blessedness, he desires. Blessing is the gift of God. To try to get ahead "in the land" by unethical means is to act as if there is no God Who sees.

The Lord is committed to bless His Own & so those who have that blessing, from Him, will "inherit the land". Now, the godly Jew knew there was more to that promise of an inheritance than just the land they saw before them. Abraham, it tells us, was aware that God's promise pertained to another country, a heavenly one. And this is the ultimate answer to the problem of this Psalm. If a man read it but said "But I do know worldly men enjoying great success, while God's Word says the righteous will be blest & they will be cursed. So what is this? Clearly, the resolution is in Abraham's thinking - to know that there is a greater country than Palestine to be inherited--just as there is more to the option - being "cut off" - than just dying. Everyone dies; but only the wicked, once they die, are "cut off". What does that threatening phrase imply? It is intended to sound threatening. It is the sound of lasting, severe judgment. It meant

"Cut off" means all happiness comes to an end.

"Cut off" means all memory of you is gone, you are forgotten.

But again the Psalm turns to us in v 23, saying that our "steps" are established by the Lord, clearly meaning our steps, since it says "And he delights in his way", God delights in the "way", the path of His people. Not that He is pleased with all our actions but that He is pleased to have our path in His hands, pleased to be our adequacy, so that, v 24, "When he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand". He prevents even terrible falls from being the deadly falls they could be. He sees to it that falls which all would expect would turn out deadly to be not nearly as damaging as we might expect.

So, your God makes sure that if the wicked rip you off, don't pay back, you'll still have more than enough. He sees to it that if the wicked plot against you, & if they take you, that it does not turn out for your harm as it would seem to. If only we could see the secret, marvelous ways in which God makes money move, we'd be so much more amazed than even anything Alan Greenspan can do. Ever read Eccl 226? That is going on every day!

So next David tells us that he has seen the promise of God made good in this - that he can vouch for it

3) The Testimony of the Security of the Righteous, Even While They Give & Give - verses 25-26

David has observed God's faithfulness in this all his life; decades have gone by, most of his life has past, & he has never seen "the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread." Never seen it! David had seen a lot. Kings have a breadth of opportunity, & in particular kings who have a burden of care for the poor, which David has manifested during his reign. He had seen wicked people abandoned, both by heaven & by earth, but the righteous, he has seen have heaven on their side even if all on earth are against them. 

What is most striking about our security is, that it's not realized by our stingily watching out for ourselves all we can, but while "All day long he is gracious & lends", while we give out, give away, & keep doing it with regularity. The righteous man is a blessing & his children grow up learning the same way of life & they bless others with their giving. When they are without, God raises up friends who will support them; when they lack, God provides in inexplicable ways they can't keep track of. You go through those times of unemployment, no income, & it makes you wonder where all that money goes when you were working!

Now, is this Psalm giving us teaching which bears any resemblance to the "prosperity" teaching? I don't think so. It is obvious that God has deemed for some of his servants to suffer lack; Paul said that he had been in that condition & had learned to be content in it, & there is no evidence to suggest that he was somehow being chastised for sin when he was lacking. There are certainly times & circumstances in which God chooses to permit suffering to make a greater testimony to His glory in His people. In those lands where the church is persecuted, there will of course be need among the Lord's people. But this is a comment to the effect that, not without exception, but as a rule, the tendency of a godly life wil be to make a men prosper in earthly affairs, enough & more than enough. To have enough for one's self and to even not need to borrow from others but to be in a position to lend to others. A younger family may not be able to do this, but later in life you should, if you plan well.

And you have seen this. Who are the street people? Who are the beggars with nothing? Are there many of the righteous down at the Tulsa Day Center, where our homeless "hang out"? Do the righteous fill the beds of the city rescue mission? Not as a rule; not at all. You will find religious fakers there in multitudes, pretenders, but not the children of God. The children of God are in the soup kitchen, feeding them.

And he brings this now to another exhortation to us in light of this. An exhortation to everyone who reads, to all who have heard his comparison. You have heard of how God works. You have seen that you cannot guarantee success in this life by looking out for self & leaving others aside. Will you learn & adapt your ways to this?

4) The Exhortation - verse 27

The exhortation is pretty general "Depart from evil, and do good" - but it's simple enough that no one can miss the point for its complexity, right? Men are so apt to talk about not being able to do the right thing because it is "so hard". Living unto God & not self or sin is hardly complex. If we learn to honor God & commit to righteous paths, the promise is given, "so you will abide forever".

What makes that so certain is what's revealed next -

Verse 28 - "for the Lord loves justice, & does not forsake His godly ones; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off."

This is a certain outcome because the God ruling the universe is a God Who loves justice. He may permit injustice; He can tolerate it for a time for certain ends to be manifest, allow it for the short duration of this world, though that seems so long for us. But give it time & you will see that what He loves is the only thing which will be established forever. As John says, "the one who does the will of God abides forever." Period. No one else.

So there is perfect security in God's paths. And keeping to His paths makes us much like Him - gracious, generous, benevolent. The gospel call pictures disciples as people making money to give a lot of it away. The first thought of an earthly mind, when one makes some money is, "What can I get?!" The thoughts of a godly mind can learn to think on a higher level, to think in more noble terms than this, but to see all I earn as part of what belongs to the Lord, His stewardship to me, to be used for His cause.

Forward to Part 5