Keith Simons teaches on Psalm 112, emphasizing its dual nature as both a hallelujah and a beatitude, highlighting the characteristics of those who fear the Lord and delight in His commandments. He explains that such individuals are blessed, their families thrive, and they possess true riches that transcend worldly wealth. Simons reassures that despite the presence of evil and challenges, the righteous remain steadfast, trusting in God, and are remembered by Him. The psalm contrasts the fate of the righteous with that of the wicked, who will ultimately face despair. The message encourages believers to live righteously, showing compassion and generosity, reflecting God's character in their lives.

Welcome. Some psalms have been called the hallelujahs. They are the psalms that begin with the phrase, praise ye the Lord, because in the Hebrew language that is the word hallelujah. Other psalms have been called the beatitudes because they, like Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, begin with the word blessed. Examples of those are Psalm 1, Psalm 32, and Psalm 119. But there's only one psalm, I think, that begins both with a hallelujah and a blessed, and that's Psalm 112. My name's Keith Symons. I'm a Bible teacher from England, and it's my pleasure to present these talks on how to understand the King James Version of the Bible by using the psalms. We look at our psalms verse by verse and word by word. So we begin Psalm 112 with what is in the Hebrew its heading, but in the English it forms the first part of verse 1, praise ye the Lord. And that hallelujah is a good way to begin this psalm. It's a good way to begin a psalm that describes what God's people are like, because God's people live their lives to praise God, and what God is doing in and through their lives is a good reason for everyone else to praise God too. Psalm 112, as well as being a beatitude and a hallelujah, is also a companion psalm to Psalm 111, the previous psalm, and it follows the same alphabetical structure as that psalm. If you want to know what that structure is, you might like to listen to my talk on Psalm 111, but for the moment, of course, we'll stay with Psalm 112, and continuing with verse 1, blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. Blessed, truly happy. Who is this person who's truly happy? The man, the woman, the child, the person that feareth the Lord, the person that respects God, that gives God his proper place in his life. But someone says, well, people fear rulers and powerful people because of their cruelty, but they don't have any pleasure in such terrible rulers. What is it like for the person that fears God? Well, our psalmist replies that this person doesn't fear God in the sense that he's afraid of God. No, he delights in God. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. God's law is written in this person's heart. This person finds his joy in the study of God's word. He finds his joy in living in the way that God directs. But what about this person's family? What about his children, or as verse 2 calls them, his seed? His seed shall be mighty upon earth, the generation of the upright shall be blessed. The word blessed there at the end of verse 2 is different from the word blessed in verse 1 in the Hebrew language. In verse 1 it was a word that means truly happy, but in verse 2 it means that God shows his kindness towards that person. The generation of the upright means those people who come from the family of the upright. The upright is the person who lives his life in the way that God wants. He lives in the right way. And his seed, his family, shall be mighty upon earth. Now, someone might get worried about that statement, his seed shall be mighty upon earth. And when they read verse 3, they might be even more worried. So let me read you the beginning of verse 3. Wealth and riches shall be in his house. And someone says, well, surely the people who get wealthy, who get riches, are thieves. Surely those who become mighty in this world are dishonest and evil people. Well, often God's people are poor people. They are needy. But the statements are still true. And they're still true for two reasons. The first reason is this. If you want your family to succeed in life, you shouldn't teach them to be liars, and you shouldn't teach them to be lazy, and you shouldn't teach them to be thieves, because that's not good in business to be a liar, to be a thief, to be lazy. No, God's people learn the right way to live, and so they often do well in the world of work. They often succeed when other people don't, because people learn they can trust them, and that they can rely on them, and that they can respect them. But it's true that God's people are often poor in this life. In spite of all the advantages that living God's way gives them, they don't quite succeed. So are these statements true about them? Are their families still mighty? Is there still wealth and riches in their houses? Well, yes, the statements are still true, because we've got to look beyond what this world considers to be wealth and success, and look at what true riches is. True riches means a right relationship with God. True riches are not the gold and the wealth of this world. It's the treasure that belongs in heaven, and that certainly the person who serves God has, and from him, his children, if they continue to serve God, they too will have those riches. And that person, his righteousness endureth forever. That statement's going to be repeated later in this psalm. A good person, his goodness lasts forever. It's not like the thief, who manages to be wealthy maybe for the whole of his life, until his wealth is taken away from him by death. Or earlier than that, when his wealth is taken away from him by the law, when he gets the proper punishment for his crimes. Or maybe earlier than that, when thieves and robbers take from him what he himself has stolen. But the goodness of the good person, his righteousness endureth forever, because that righteousness comes from God. First of all, unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. We're not saying that God's people here, called the upright people, have no troubles in their lives. No, it's like they're living in darkness. All around them, people are behaving like thieves do at night. All around them, there's dishonest and evil people, people who've turned away from God. It's like they're living with the darkness all around them, but they have light rising up in their lives. That light is maybe a word picture for the knowledge of God and for a right relationship with God. They see, they know the truth about things. They see, they know what's happening in the world. But they see, they know beyond that, because they see what God is doing in this world. And they know that God is taking them through this world to their home in heaven. And so they live for God, even in this evil world. What's the description the second half of verse 4 gives? He, which probably means the person who serves God, is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. Oh yes, God's people are kind and caring and good people, even in this world, even in this evil world, where so many evil things are happening. They're living like God does. Now, I said probably those words refer to God's people, but maybe they refer to God, because we could say of God, he is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. Well, we can't tell really whether those words refer to God or to the people who serve God, because the people who serve God have developed a character like God himself. They're kind, they care about other people, they do what's good and right, just as God does. And there's other ways in which they behave like God. Verse 5, they care about other people. A good man showeth favour and lendeth. He will guide his affairs with discretion. So when other people need help, who is the person who's going to lend them what they need? Who's going to show them kindness? A good person, the person who serves God, cares about them in their need. He guides his affairs with discretion. In other words, he uses his money, his wealth, with wisdom. Now a thief, when he uses his wealth, he uses it on his own pleasure. He uses it to please himself or maybe to gain himself more wealth. But that's not how a good person thinks to deal with their wealth. No, their wealth is there so they can do God's work in this world, so that he can show kindness to other people, so that they can lend and help those who are in need. Verse 6, surely he shall not be moved forever. The righteous shall be held in everlasting remembrance. The troubles that there are round about this good person are not going to disturb him, not in any sort of permanent way. And the righteous shall be held in everlasting remembrance. They'll be remembered. Does that mean by other people, by their families, by the people they help? Well maybe it does, but above all it must mean that they're remembered by God. God does not forget his faithful people. God watches over them. God looks after them throughout their lives, whatever troubles they might go through in their lives, whatever need they might have. They're always being remembered by God. God is there looking after them. But what about when there's evil news? What about when they hear a bad report? What about when trouble threatens them? Verse 7, he, the good person, shall not be afraid of evil tidings. Tidings means news or a report. And God's people are not afraid of that. Just a moment, someone says, don't you ever get afraid of things? Yes sir, I do. I do worry about things, I'll be honest with you, and maybe you do too. But this good person is not afraid of evil tidings. He's not afraid to hear bad news. Why? Because he does what I should do. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. And we can't expect to be safe if we're moving around, if we're constantly wavering, if we're worrying with our uncertainty. We need our heart in a firm place. That's what it means for it to be fixed. It needs to be in a firm place of trusting in God. Because yes, our circumstances in this world, in this life will vary. Our circumstances in this life will not always be good. But God will always be good. God can always be trusted. God's promises will never fail. God will look after us in whatever circumstances we have in this life, so we can have our heart in a firm place, trusting in God. Verse 8, his heart is established. Now we've had a very similar statement in verse 7, his heart is fixed, and I've already told you that there the Hebrew word meant it's in a firm place. But here we're making a statement of something more. His heart is established, and that the Hebrew word there means his heart is supported. He has a strong support for his inner life. Yes, of course, that strong support is God. And he knows that God is supporting him through whatever troubles he might have, however cruel and evil his enemies might be, he shall not be afraid until he see his desire upon his enemies. In our King James Bible, the words his desire are in italics, slanted type. That means that they're not there in the original Hebrew. The Hebrew says he shall not be afraid until he see upon his enemies. But we ask the question, until he sees what? Because in English, until he see upon his enemies, doesn't quite make sense. So what is it he's seeing? Well, it's clear he's seeing one of two things. Either he's seeing the total and utter and final defeat of his enemies, or else he's seeing that his enemies have turned around, they've left their evil attitude, they've left their cruelty, and now they've become his friends. So God's person does not need to be afraid, because he only needs to wait for God to act in the lives of those evil people. Either those evil people will turn to God and away from their wickedness, or else they will face God's judgment against them. And God's judgment will be severe, and they will be utterly defeated. So God's person doesn't allow the evil people in his life to dominate his thoughts, to make him afraid. His fear is only for God. Instead, he does God's work. Verse 9, he hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor. What's he done with his wealth? He's dispersed it, he's scattered it, he's made sure that many people benefit from it, especially poor people. They're in need and he's doing God's work. So if God has given him wealth and riches, verse 3, he gives generously to help the poor. It's not enough to him just to lend, verse 5, now he's giving. His generous acts are meeting the needs of many people. Maybe our person who serves God doesn't have a lot in his life. Maybe he doesn't have great wealth. Well, then verse 5, he guides his affairs with discretion. He uses his money wisely. And what could be wiser for someone who serves God than to help people with his money? So he uses his money wisely. He can't give as much as the rich person who serves God, but still as a poor person, God can make his wealth to be worth even more than the wealth of the rich person who gives. So he gladly disperses or scatters his He gladly gives to the poor. His righteousness endureth forever. His horn shall be exalted with honour. His horn. In the Bible, the word horn often appears sometimes when we're not expecting it. But the word picture here is of an animal which fights with its horn. And so a horn is a word picture in the Bible for his strength. And when it says his strength shall be exalted, it means that this person who serves God is becoming stronger and stronger in his life. He's also receiving great honour and great respect. God is blessing him and showing his kindness greatly. And this wonderful way God is working in the life of the people who serves him is a great reason to praise God, which is where we began in verse one, but not where we'll end this psalm. Verse 10. Because we now think of the wicked person, the wicked person who not only doesn't serve God and has chosen to do evil acts, but also the wicked person who refuses to turn to God. The wicked person who is among those enemies in verse eight, and who doesn't take the opportunity to turn back to God when he sees what God is doing in this good person's life. No, he is angry. The wicked shall see it and be grieved. He should see what God is doing and the kindness that God is showing to so many people by this good person's life. And this wicked person is upset. He shall gnash with his teeth, an expression of despair, an expression of anger and melt away. As God's people get stronger and stronger, wicked people get weaker and weaker. The desire of the wicked shall perish. Oh, it was their desire, their greed, their lust that made them accumulate much wealth, that made them seem like great people. But all of that will be lost. All of that will disappear. They will lose everything that is precious to them when they face the judgment of God. Unless they turn back to God, God's judgment will certainly be against them. Please write to me. My email address is 333kjv at gmail.com. That's 333kjv at gmail.com. Now let me read to you the whole of Psalm 112. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house, and his righteousness endureth forever. Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. A good man sureth favour and lendeth. He will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he shall not be moved forever. The righteous shall be held in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is established. He shall not be afraid until he see his desire upon his enemies. He hath dispersed. He hath given to the poor. His righteousness endureth forever. His horn shall be exalted with honour. The wicked shall see it and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall perish.