THE LORD IS IN CONTROL

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: PSALMS 37:1-5




INTRODUCTION:


  1. This psalm was written by David and verse 25 tells us that David wrote it when he was old. Therefore it is all the more valuable because David wrote it as a mature, experienced man.
  2. Like Psalm 73, the great riddle of the prosperity of the wicked and the affliction of the righteous is dealt with.
  3. It is encouraging to read this psalm because oftentimes God’s children are perplexed as they suffer in this present wicked world, and as they look about and see the apparent ease and comfort of the ungodly.
  4. It is a difficult psalm to outline. In many ways it resembles a chapter from the book of Proverbs, as most of the verses are complete in themselves.
  5. It is an alphabetical Psalm. Two first verses of the psalm begin with Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet; then the next two verses begin with Beth, the second letter, and so on right on through the alphabet.
  6. This was a memory device, and it is used elsewhere in the Bible as well (e.g., Ps. 119).
  7. As we go through life we are often struck with adversity. I am reminded of this every day as we struggle through this building program. But we must always remember -- God is in control. He puts it on peoples’ hearts to give (and when they do not give enough, He sends the money in unexpected ways). He sends volunteer workers. He sends in new members that are good givers, etc. (cf. Ps. 37:21).
  8. So we know from experience, and we know from the Bible that the Lord is in control.

I. THE LORD WILL TAKE CARE OF HIS OWN

    1. Christians must not fret. Three times, God says "Fret not thyself." "Fret not thyself because of evildoers" (37:1),
    2. "Fret not thyself..." (37:7),

      "Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil" (37:8).

    3. To fret is to worry, to become vexed, to become upset.
    4. Spurgeon said, "Nature is very apt to kindle a fire of jealousy when it sees lawbreakers riding on horses, and obedient subjects walking in the mire: it is a lesson learned only in the school of grace, when one comes to view the most paradoxical providences with the devout complacency of one who is sure that the Lord is righteous in all His acts."
    5. Yes, "the Lord is righteous in all His acts." The Lord is in control so we must not fret because of evildoers. God will take care of them soon enough (37:2, 10, 38).
    6. Again, I will quote Spurgeon: "Evil men instead of being envied, are to be viewed with horror and aversion...Who envies the fat bullock the ribbons and garlands which decorate him as he is led to the shambles? Yet the case is a parallel one; for ungodly rich men are but as beasts fattened for the slaughter."
    7. "Fret not thyself" is a negative exhortation. Here is another one: "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath" (37:8). If God is in control, we have no business being angry with wicked men. Let us put all things in God’s hands. "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath" (Eph. 4:26).
    8. When I heard that a drunk driver killed Darcel McCoy, I did not get angry with the drunk driver. How could I? He is probably in hell right now (cf. I Cor. 6:10). How can we be angry at a man suffering in hell?
    9. Or how can we be envious of sinners that will soon be cast off into hell? (37:1, 2, 9, 10, 20, etc.)
    10. These are the negative exhortations. There are also several positive exhortations (37:3, 4, 5, 7).
    11. These are lessons in faith. First, we trust the Lord to save us from our sins and to save us from hell. Then we must learn to trust God in everything (37:3-5).
    12. These are lessons in patience (37:5-7). God is working on a much larger scale than our tiny finite minds can comprehend. God will not be rushed by our impatience or our impetuousness.
    13. One of my favorite Scriptures is Psalm 37:23. Somebody once picked up George Muller’s Bible and was thumbing through it when he noticed something in the margin next to this verse. George Muller wrote: "and the stops."
    14. This is an important lesson to learn (cf. 37:24). He may like Job, be stripped of everything -- but God will restore him twofold; he may like Joseph, be put into prison -- but God will bring him out and exalt him.
    15. He may like Jeremiah, be thrown into a dirty dungeon -- but God will pull him out; he may like Jonah be inside the belly of a great fish -- but the Bible says, "the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land" (Jonah 2:10). If God can tell a fish to spit out a backslidden prophet, we can be sure that God is in control (37:23, 24).
    16. Paul Gerhard was a 17th century German preacher who wrote this hymn based on Psalm 37. It was later translated into English.

To God thy way commending,
Trust Him whose arm of might,
The heavenly circles bending,
Guides every star aright:

The winds, and clouds, and lightning,
By His sure hand are led:
And He will dark shades brightening,
Show thee what path to tread.

Although to make God falter,
The powers of hell combine,
One jot they cannot alter
Of His all-wise design:

All projects and volition
Of His eternal mind,
Despite all opposition,
Their due fulfillment find.

No more, then, droop and languish,
Thou sorrow-stricken soul:
E’en from the depths of anguish,
Whose billows o’er thee roll,

Thy Father’s hand shall draw thee:
In hope and patience stay,
And joy will soon shed o’er thee
An ever brightening ray.

All faithless murmurs leaving,
Bid them a last good night,
No more thy vexed soul grieving,
Because things seem not right;

Wisely His sceptre wielding,
God sits in regal state,
No power to mortals yielding,
Events to regulate.

Trust with a faith untiring
In thine Omniscient King,
And thou shalt see admiring
What He to light will bring.

Of all thy griefs, the reason
Shall at the last appear:
Why now denied a season,
Will shine in letters clear.

Then raise thine eyes to heaven,
Thou who canst trust His frown;
Thence shall thy meed be given, (reward)
The chaplet and the crown: (wreath or garland for the head)

Thy God the palm victorious
In thy right hand shall plant,
Whilst thou, in accents glorious,
Melodious hymns shall chant.


II. THE LORD HAS GREAT PLANS FOR HIS OWN

    1. I should mention here that in the OT, the emphasis is on earthly blessings. Material blessings were regarded as evidence of God’s good pleasure. That is why God’s people were puzzled when they saw the wicked prosper (37:7b, 35, 36).
    2. But in the NT, the emphasis is on spiritual blessings. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). Nowhere in the NT are Christians promised material blessings. If God has blessed you financially, count your blessings and give God the glory but not every Christian should expect this. We are promised spiritual blessings.
    3. Both the OT and the NT speak of a future day when God will bless His people with both spiritual and earthly blessings. Several times in this chapter we are told that those who trust in the LORD will inherit the earth (37:9, 11, 18, 22, 29, 34; cf. Matt. 5:5).
    4. There is coming a day when the Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth and establish His kingdom over all the earth. In the OT, the believer anticipated this kingdom when Messiah would reign (cf. Isaiah 2:1-5). The NT speaks of it also. There is coming a day when the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be cut off (cf. Matt. 25:31-46).
    5. The Lord has great plans for His own. And these plans include reigning with Him for 1,000 years. The apostle Paul says in II Timothy 2:11, that "if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: if we deny Him, He also will deny us."
    6. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" (Rev. 20:6).

III. THE LORD WILL CUT OFF THE WICKED

    1. Ever since Cain killed Abel, the wicked have plotted against the righteous (37:12, 32). But the Bible tells us not to worry over this because God is in control (37:12-20).
    2. The Bible says the wicked "shall soon be cut down like the grass" (37:2), "cut off" (37:9, 10), "the wicked shall perish" (37:20), "shall be cut off" (37:22, 28, 34, 38).
    3. It seems to me that if God repeats something that often -- "cut off...cut off...cut off..." -- then we ought to take it very seriously.
    4. Part of the problem is that there are many lost people do not see themselves as "wicked sinners." But according to the Bible you are either saved or lost, and according to the Bible, all lost sinners are wicked (cf. Psalm 7:11).
    5. According to the Bible, a wicked man is a man who "will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts" (Psalm 10:4). Doesn’t this describe the vast majority of people today?
    6. The Bible always draws a contrast between the wicked and the just (cf. Pro. 10:16). The just are those that have been justified by the grace of God. "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24). Have you been justified? If not, then you are still a wicked sinner on your way to hell (Psalm 37:38).

CONCLUSION:

  1. David Livingstone, the great missionary and explorer, gave a friend a Bible with a verse written in the front in an African dialect, and its English translation.
  2. The verse was Psalm 37:5. Dr. Livingstone said that this Scripture sustained him throughout his wanderings when he disappeared in the jungles of Africa.


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