Psalms 37:5

“How to Stay Faithful to Christ”

Psalms 37:5-7 says, “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. 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.”

Psalms chapter 37 is a Psalms which is all about emphasizing how desirable it is to live by faith in the promises of God. “Commit thy way unto the LORD.” To follow Christ takes great commitment. This is the reason Jesus said in Mark 12:30, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” Second Peter 1:10 says, “Wherefore the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:”

To follow Christ and to maintain your faith in Christ so that it continues to grow will require a personal diligence and faithfulness in your reliance upon the Bible.

Notice the first half of Psalms 37:5, “Commit thy way unto the LORD.” The word commit is a word that can be translated, ‘to roll.’ It is used in reference to the rolling away of a stone in many passages in the Bible.

When Jesus rose from the grave after 3 days of lying in the tomb he rolled the stone away. Matthew 28:1-2 says, “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.”

Because of Christ’s commitment to submit unto the will of the father he humbled himself and was found in fashion as a man and become obedient unto death even the death of the cross. It is because Christ became sin for you that you can have forgiveness of your sins when you repent and trust in Him. The rolling back of the stone symbolizes Christ doing what man cannot. Man cannot defeat death. Only God has power over life and death. Christ rose from the grave because Christ is God.

Psalms 37:5, “Commit thy way unto the LORD.” There is eternal life in Jesus Christ. The best way to be committed and to stay committed unto Jesus each day as you pick up your cross is to remember the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is the great hope of the believer.

Philippians 3:7-11 says, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my LORD: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

The righteousness of Christ which is of God by faith and the power of the resurrection of Christ is what will keep you committed to following the will of God in this life. The apostle Paul went into the city of Corinth and preached the gospel. They stoned him. And the next day he went in again and preached the gospel again. This is commitment. Paul stayed committed because his desire and his delight was toward the power of the resurrection.

If you suffer and lose everything that a man can suffer and lose in this life but remember that Christ rose from the grave you will have the hope that you need to stay committed to following the will of God. You may lose your reputation. You may lose your health. You might lose your possessions and your freedom. You may even lose your family and those that you love. But you will never lose the love of Christ or the eternal life and resurrection from the dead.

In verse 6 of Psalms 37 it says “And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.” In the end what really matters is the righteousness of God which is of faith and not of works. He shall bring it forth. Who? Christ shall. This verse is another way of saying the righteousness of God by grace through faith and not of works. In the end what really matters is what God has to say about you when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The one who brings righteousness is Jesus. The one who clothes men in righteousness is Jesus. It does not matter what your past says about you. It does not matter what other men say about you. What matters is whether or not you have trusted in Christ who is the one that brings forth righteousness.

I am just dust, just weak and sinful flesh. As Job said shall a man be more just than God? Where does righteousness come from? It comes from Christ who died on the cross for the sins of the World. Where does commitment to righteousness come from? It comes from Christ. The day of redemption is coming, the day when Christ shall bring forth his righteousness in the fullness of all the glory of God. And those whom have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb will receive the fullness of the righteousness of God in Christ for there shall be no more sin and no more sinful nature at the resurrection.

Psalms 37:7 says, “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.”

Sometimes to serve Christ all you need to do is to rest and to wait. The Christian life is compared to a tree. And that is what a tree does. It stays in place. It goes no where. But each day it rests with its roots in the earth. It drinks both light and water and waits for tomorrow so that it can drink more light and more water and grow its roots deeper into the earth becoming stronger. Rest and wait Psalms 37:7 says.

Noah waited 100 years for the judgment of God. Noah was a preacher of righteousness and he labored patiently each day building the boat God commanded him to build. Abraham waited 100 years before he had a child according to the promise of God. At best you will live perhaps 100 years on this earth. You have the same opportunity that Noah and that Abraham had to walk with Christ to grow in faith and to earn rewards in eternity. If you learn to rest and to wait patiently for the resurrection the things that you will accomplish for Jesus and the fellowship that you will have with Christ can be the same as that of Abraham and Noah.

How important it is to stay committed to Christ. Psalms 37:7, “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” If you stay committed, if you stay faithful to Christ, if you pick up your cross daily and follow him then you will accomplish something important. It is similar to the saying that, “Rome was not built in a day.”

God has a work for you to do in this life. Serving God is not 1 day out of the week, or 1 hour out of the day, or 1 day out of the year or just 1 year out of your life. Christ’s ministry was not a 3 year ministry but 33 years of ministry. It was 33 years before Christ died on the cross and rose from the grave 3 days later. It was 100 years of faithful service for Noah and for Abraham. This is why the Christian life is like a tree. Little by little, He that is faithful in little is faithful in much. Grow a little each day. Serve the LORD each day. Stay committed each day. It takes commitment. If you stay committed to your faith in Christ what will be brought to pass is God’s will for you in this life. What will be accomplished is the work that God has for you to do in this life.

Delight thyself in Christ. Commit thy way unto him. Rest in the LORD. Wait patiently for him. Of course the word rest speaks of the Sabbath. And we know that Christ is our Sabbath because Christ is our rest. Christ did the work of fulfilling the law and dying on the cross for our sins. Therefore we have no righteousness of ourselves but only of Christ. Christ shall bring forth righteousness. I rely on the righteousness of Christ and therefore I can stay committed unto him regardless of how much I fail and how much I suffer. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Delight in Jesus. Commit thy way unto Jesus. Rest in Christ. Wait patiently for Christ to fulfill his promises. And while you wait keep the promises of God in your heart and in your mind. How beautiful is the holiness of God and the righteousness of Christ. There is nothing more desirable in this world than the righteousness which is of grace through faith in Christ. If you have never turned from your sins do so today. Commit thy way unto Jesus and find rest in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

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