Psalm 37. Psalm 37. The name
of this message is A Cure for Fretting. A Cure for Fretting. Now, I'm going to ask a question. I don't want people to put their
hands up, but I think I already know the answer. How many of
us in this room have fret? My hand would be up right away.
Yeah. I think all our hands would be up, right? Yeah. But, you
know, if I asked that question when I was in religion, I'd only
get about 25% of the people putting their hands up. Because they
don't want to appear like that they actually struggle. Or that
they're actually sinners. But we who have been saved by
God's grace, we struggle. All the time. all the time. So let's look at this Psalm,
Psalm 37. In verse 1 it says, the Psalm
of David. Now we know that David went through
many, many things. Look what he says here, fret
not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against
the workers of iniquity. So we're not to fret about the
evildoers that are in the world and around us. We're not to be
fretting. Now we look at the word fretting
as worry. Later on we'll look at what the
Hebrew word for frettiness. It's not what you think. It's
not what you think. Although, we could apply it as
worry for us, right? Because we do, we get worried,
we get worked up. But not only do we get worked
up and worried, we get upset, right? About the things that
are going on sometimes. Socially, politically, we just
say we've had enough, right? So let's look at this psalm here,
and let's look at it as a cure for fretting. A cure for fretting. A cure for being worried. A cure
for getting angry about things that are going on. A cure. But
look at also, it says, neither be thou envious against the workers
of iniquity. Don't be envious. We see the
workers of iniquity gaining, and they seem like they're gaining.
You sit there and go, my gosh. But this psalm says they're going
to be cut off. So it looks like they're prospering
now. And it looks like they're gaining, and people getting away
with things. And we go, how can they get away with that? We'd
be in jail. These folks are gonna be cut
off, beloved. And we who are redeemed are gonna spend eternity
with Christ. So their apparent prosperousness
is only temporary. is only temporary. So looking
at this verse and knowing our current political landscape and
the social issues that we face all the time in our day, and
just the issues of our life with our family and with our friends,
the things we face weekly, this verse
is very relevant for us, for our daily lives. And just as
it has been for all of God's people through all the ages.
You see, the scripture's timeless. It's absolutely timeless. It
crosses, I remember talking with Matt one time, and you brought
up a great point, brother. It crosses social divides. It
crosses times, centuries. It crosses all these things.
And it's relevant through all those times. No matter what your
state is in life, whether you're rich or poor, scripture is relevant. It's timeless because God is
the author of these scriptures. And as I said, how many of us
fret at one time or another? And grace folks are honest about
this. We know we're sinners by birth. We know we're sinners
by nature. We know we're sinners by choice. And we fret and we
worry even though we shouldn't. But we do because we're sinners. Now here is David. David's a
man after God's own heart. He's a man after God's own heart.
And he's going to give us some inspired instructions. Remember,
he's penning this, but it's inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. It's
inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. And there's no doubt that
David had dealt with fretting in his own life. There's no doubt.
Saul was hunting him down, trying to kill him. And then what happened
with Bathsheba? And then what happened with Absalom?
He had times in his life where he probably just went, oh my
goodness, what's going on? But his constant stay, and you
always see this with David in the Psalms. This is what I love
about the Psalms, because it so relates to us. Why art thou
cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of
his countenance. You see, David struggled, just
like you and I. But his hope was in God. His
hope was in God. So there can be no doubt that
David had dealt with many things in his life. It's amazing as
you look through the Psalms that David is constantly reminding
himself. He's constantly reminding himself
that God is my strength. God is my strength. God is my
hope. God is my shield. God is my defender. We looked
at that last week. Constantly reminding himself
and constantly looking to God to deliver him from different
situations. Constantly. Constantly. See, his life is a constant struggle. Sounds like ours, doesn't it? Sounds just like ours. It's a
life of faith. It's a life of relying upon God,
even though the circumstances are swirling out of control sometimes.
It's a constant reliance, constant reliance upon God. And I'll tell
you, we struggle. Everybody struggles. Everybody.
I've heard grace preachers. We all admit this. We struggle.
We're sinners. Now, our fallen nature, our sinful
nature is very prone to fretting and worrying. about all kinds
of things. We often blow things so far out
of proportion, bigger than the circumstances. I do that. I've
done that many times. Many times. We used to call folks
when I was a kid worry warts. You all probably remember that,
right? That's just what we call folks that worry a lot. And sometimes we put ourselves
through a dreadful time, don't we? Staying awake at night, worrying
and stewing about something. And it's dreadful. It's dreadful
to lay awake at night and have your heart, your mind just racing
about a certain circumstance. I know it's so. I know we've
all went through that. So David here in the psalm is
giving us a cure for fretting. He's giving us a cure for fretting.
And may God be pleased to comfort our hearts, to comfort his people's
hearts by the preaching of his word. Now here's the Hebrew definition
for fret. Now we call it worried, right?
Here's the Hebrew definition for fret. To be hot, furious,
to burn, burning with anger about what people are getting away
with and what things are happening. Burning with anger. To become
angry, be kindled. to burn, kindle, anger, to heat
oneself in vexation, to be so vexed by what's happening that
you're so worked up. And as I said, we define it in
English as worrying, but here in the Hebrew, it speaks of us
as getting angry, to become kindled with anger and burning. Now,
why was David speaking of this? Let us look at the scripture
once more. And we will look at the cure then from this psalm. Threaten not thyself because
of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of
iniquity. So David is telling us here,
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, to not fret at the prosperity
of the wicked. Don't fret. Don't fret at their
prosperity. The wicked spread himself before
us like a green bay tree, and everything seems to go well with
him. But he is a stranger. to one
needful thing, Christ. He's an absolute stranger
to Christ. Thinks everything's going well,
and if God leaves him or her where they are, they'll perish
in their sin. So we are not to get upset or
fret about the apparent prosperity of the wicked or be envious against
the workers of iniquity, because one day they'll find themselves
standing before the righteous one, before the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords, and they will cry for the mountains to fall
upon them. They will. So we're not to indulge
in envious spirit towards them. So now let's look at the cure
for fretting. Let's look at the cure for fretting.
And we can say for worry and for us too. But let's look at
the cure for fretting, which is found right in this psalm.
And take note, beloved of God, how many times the Lord is mentioned,
and it's the self-existent one again. How many times the Lord
is mentioned in the text that we look at as a constant reminder
that we are to set our minds upon things about Christ. Colossians
says this, If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above. Where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God, set your affection on things above. Remember what
I always say, when I get in trouble is when I look at my circumstances
and get my eyes off Christ? This verse in Colossians 3, 1-3,
these three verses are telling us, set your affections on things
above, not on things on the earth. So don't set your affections
on things you see going on here, for you are dead. You're dead. Who are you dead in? Christ.
You're dead in Christ. You're crucified with him at
the cross. You're dead in Christ. And your life is hid with Christ
in God. So let's look at the cure for
fretting. The first cure is found in verse
3. The first cure for fretting or
worrying is found in verse 3. Trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land,
and verily thou shalt be fed. Who are we to trust in? We're
to trust in the Lord. We're not to trust in ourselves. We're not to trust in our circumstances.
We're not to trust in our strength or our flesh. We're to trust
in the Lord, the self-existent One, Jehovah. We're to trust
in Him. Him alone. We are to delight.
Brother John brought this out a few weeks ago after I preached
the message. We are to delight. We are to
delight in the Lord. And faith, faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ will cure fretting, as he who has redeemed our souls
will surely keep those he saved. Let us remember that. He who
has redeemed our souls will surely keep us, beloved. He'll keep
us, no matter what circumstance we're going through. He'll keep
us. He'll keep us. And some of you
know, some of you have been through real trying experiences. The
Lord's kept you. He's kept you. He's given you
strength to get through those circumstances. Because He loves you. Because
you're His. The Hebrew word for trust here
is defined as this. To trust. To trust in. To have
confidence. To be confident. To feel safe. And then this. To be careless.
To be careless in our trust in the Lord. Isn't that marvelous? To absolutely
just be careful, and I don't mean like for us just to say,
oh well, what it means is just so absolutely trust the Lord
that you're just, you're carelessly just putting everything to Him. In your trust. It's magnificent. So the Hebrew
word that's defined here, trust, is also defined careless some
places. In the sense that we just, he's our everything. That's
why Paul wrote, Christ is my all in all. He's my all in all. Trust the
Lord, trust in the self-existent one, the great I am. Trust is
perhaps helpful for us to remember Again, that the word here is
translated trust is elsewhere in the Old Testament translated
careless. Be careless in the Lord. Instead of carrying a load.
Now here's how it's defined. Instead of carrying a load of
care, right? Let care be absent. Cast it all
upon Him. In the sense, carelessly. Cast
it all on Him. Don't hold anything back. Because when we get in
trouble is when we take the load back. Just cast it all upon Him. Trust absolutely in Him. Now,
this is something that's hard for us to do, isn't it? Just wholly cast ourselves upon
the Lord. And we will find great comfort
for our souls. Trust in the Lord to provide
all our physical and all our spiritual needs. Now, these health,
wealth, lion preachers, they talk about how, you know, you
just give your seed money. No. Christ, all the spiritual
blessings for me, All that a sinner needs is in Christ. Everything. Everything. These lying preachers,
oh, it just... All that a sinner needs. But
first, listen to this. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God. Matthew 6.33. In His righteousness. In all these things, what? She'll
be added to you in Christ. In Christ. All spiritual blessings
are in Christ. It's magnificent. We don't need
to look anywhere else. We 100% cast ourselves upon the
Lord. And just trust. Trust in the
Lord. Trust in the Lord. Just rest. Just rest in it. But my God shall supply all your
need, all your need, physical and spiritual. There's nothing
left out, beloved. It's wonderful. All your need,
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, by Christ Jesus,
through Him. Not through some preacher robbing
people's pockets, right? Through Christ. Him alone. This is why we must preach the
gospel. This is why we must proclaim
Christ. Because salvation is only in
Him. He's the one we trust. Psalm 62.8 says, Trust in Him
at all times. All times. Ye people, pour out
your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Selah. He's our refuge, beloved. So the second cure is found in
verse 4. Look at verse 4. Delight thyself in the Lord,
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. I got a little
ahead of myself. John, a few weeks back, mentioned about delighting. There was a verse, and we are
to rejoice. You're just rejoicing, God. Rejoice
in what he's done. We are to delight in the Lord
Jesus Christ, in him alone. Delight yourself in Jehovah.
Who is Jehovah? God the Father, Son, and the
Holy Spirit. The three in one. We are to delight in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in delighting in Him, in
doing so, we delight in the King. The King of glory. And rejoicing
in the Lord is a sure cure for fretting. When we are taken up
with the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are pondering
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are pondering His power.
Amidst the circumstance that seems to us a mountain. And when
we ponder His glory, when we ponder His power, when we ponder
the great atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we ponder
what He's wrought out for us on Calvary, on the cross, and
when we ponder the freeness of the grace of God in Christ towards
us, and of the great mercy that God's had towards us, and it's all in Christ, it'll
make us rejoice. It'll make us delight. We're
delighting the Lord. We're delighting Him. Oh, He's our great King. For
we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Philippians
3.3. So joy is one of the fruits of
the Spirit. And we are to rejoice in the Lord. We're to rejoice
in the Lord. Look at the next, the third cure
for fretting is found in verse five. Look at this. Commit thy
way unto the Lord. Notice how many times Jehovah's
mentioned here so far. Trust also in him and he shall
bring it to pass. We are to commit our ways. We
are to commit our ways unto the Lord. We're not to commit our
ways to our own strength. or to us trying to figure out
the circumstances. We're to commit ourselves to
the Lord. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. So we're to commit. We're to
commit our lives to Him. We're to commit our ways unto
Him. We're not merely to petition our king and then go on worrying
or fretting. But the Hebrew has a connotation of we're to roll
our burden upon the Lord. We're to roll our burden on Him. And we're to leave it with Him. We're to commit our way unto
Him. We're to leave it with Him. Why?
Because it's too heavy of a load for us to carry. It's too heavy of a load for
us to bear. And often we shoulder our burdens
again after petitioning the Lord. We're to cast all our care upon
Him. Why? Because He cares for you. What a great God. What a great
God. Casting all your care upon Him,
for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5, 7. Casting all your
care, not just some, all of it, beloved. Do we have children
who aren't saved? Do we have husbands or wives
who aren't saved? Cast the burden. Do we have moms
and dads who aren't saved? Other family members? Do we have
trouble at work? Do we have trouble in life? Cast
all of it. Cast it all. Why? Because He careth for you. Because
He careth for you. Roll the whole burden of life
upon the Lord. And when we realize that our
Heavenly Father does all things well, all things, And surely
we can commit our way to His wise providence, can't we? Surely
we can. And stop our fretting. Romans
8.28 says this, And we know that all things work together for
good. Now folks normally stop there, right? Have you ever heard
the story about how the Lord, when the Lord saved Brother Henry
Mahan, Ralph Bernard was preaching and he asked Henry to repeat
this verse in Romans chapter 8. And Henry stopped there. He actually stopped, he stopped,
and we know that all things work together for them that love God,
and he stopped there. And Ralph said, what's the rest
of the verse? And Henry said, to them who are
called according to its purpose, and I guess Ralph just, yeah,
purpose! And the Lord used that to say,
He used that verse, that all things work together for good
for those who are called according to His purpose. That's why we
are to commit and roll the burden of life upon the Lord. Just give
it to Him. Now, it's one of the hardest
things for us to do, but we're to do that. God's people are
called according to His purpose. He cares and loves His people
with an everlasting love. The fourth cure for fretting
is found in verse 7. Rest in the Lord, rest in Jehovah,
rest in the self-existent One, and wait patiently for Him. Fret
not thyself because of Him who prospereth in His way. So he's
again bringing up the evil doers he mentioned, and not to be envious
of the wicked. Because of him who prospereth
in his way. Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to
past. So here we are. The fourth cure for fretting
is to rest in the Lord. When the wicked prosper, when
it seems like there's no hope, love the God we are to rest in
Christ. We're just to rest in. The old timers called it reposing.
You've heard me say that many times. I love that word. Because
it means to cease from your labor. It means to do nothing else.
Just rest. Just sit. Just sit. Be still. David says
in another Psalm, be still. Be still and know that I am God.
Just be still. We're to rest in the Lord. Rest
in what he's accomplished for us. Rest in the fact that, now
think of this, rest in what he's accomplished for us, but rest
in the fact that he's a sovereign God. And that he does care for
his people. And that he will take care of
us. No matter what happens. And here never leave us, nor
forsake us. He's always with us. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
1. The believer is to be still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Be still before our sovereign
King. Sit silent before God because He will deliver His people. And
one day, beloved, we'll be in His presence. One day we'll be
in His presence. So let us rest in this marvelous truth that
our Lord Jesus Christ, having accomplished salvation for His
elect, entered into His rest. Look at Hebrews 1.3. who be in
the brightness of his glory and express image of his person and
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on high. He's at rest. Work's done. It's finished. It's finished. So let us learn
by His grace to cease from going about to establish our own righteousness
because Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believes. And let us make haste to enter
into Him by faith and rest. God's people rest and repose
in Christ and Him alone. We've ceased from our own works.
We've ceased from our labors, trusting Christ and Him alone
for our salvation, and for all our needs, both physical and
spiritual, everything. Everything. And when we are busy
resting and reposing, beloved, when we're busy resting and reposing
in Christ Jesus our Lord, we have no time for prayer. Because
we're just resting. The next care for fretting is
found in verse 8 and I'll read verses 8 and 9 together cease
from anger and forsake wrath fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil for even look at this for evil doers shall be cut off
They're going to be cut off But those that wait upon the
Lord they shall inherit the earth So we are, the next cure for
fretting is to cease from anger. Now this is a hard thing for
humans to do. Even saved humans. Right? Note in verse 9, those
who David proclaims that we fret about will be cut off, but those
that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth. And I know this is so with me,
examine yourself if it's so with you, that whenever, as I said,
I take a matter into my own hands, that I'm bound to create a mess
of it. I'm bound to create a mess of it. But as Donny Bells always told
me, God takes care of his sheep. Always. Always. Always. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
2. God always takes care of His sheep. We are to cease from anger. Look at this. Colossians 2, verses
13-15. Why are we to cease from our
anger? Because God will take care of
His sheep, beloved, and He will subdue all our enemies under
our feet. He's going to subdue all our
enemies. He has. Look at Colossians 2, 13-15. And remember this, those enemies
will be cut off. And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, born again of the Holy Spirit of God. Heaven have forgiven
you. I love this. I could just sit here. Isn't
this marvelous, beloved? All trespasses. Blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances. There's a handwriting of ordinances
against Wayne Boyd. Oh my goodness. All my sins. The law had a claim on me. Justice
of God had a claim on me. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us. Which was contrary to us. And took it out of the way. Nailing
it to his cross. Praise be to God. Praise his
mighty name. And having spoiled principalities
and powers. He made a show of them openly.
Triumphing over them. Brother Marcus and I were talking
about the Roman triumph that you guys have often heard me
mention. And that's true. The general comes in in a golden
chariot with a golden laurel. And Christ, He crushed His enemies
at the cross. He crushed them. He is a triumphant
victor. Oh my. Let us just rest in that. The next cure for fretting is
found in verse 27. Psalm 37, verse 27. Depart from evil and do good,
and dwell forevermore. Turn again, if you would, to
Colossians chapter 3. Sorry, I should have left this there.
Look at this in Colossians 3. Now in the Scripture, the believer
is exhorted to put off the old man with his deeds. We're to
put off the old man with his deeds. Look at Colossians 3,
verses 8-15. But now He also put off all these
things. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another,
seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds and
have put on the new man. which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on therefore as the
elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, vows of mercy,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. So we're
to depart from evil, aren't we? We're to depart from from our
old ways, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. Why
should we be quick to forgive one another? I was thinking about
this. I thank God that he doesn't forgive
me like sometimes I forgive other people. You ever said you forgive someone
and then still be mad about it? God's not like that. Your sins
and iniquities I'll remember no more. We're to forgive one
another. We're to forgive one another. Forgiving one another. If any
man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so
also do ye. We're to let things go. It's
hard for us. And above all these things, put
on charity, which is love, which is the bond of perfectness. And
let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Let the peace of
God rule in your hearts. To which also ye are called in
one body and be ye thankful. Thankful. Why? Why would you
be thankful? Heaven forgive me all your trespasses
and sins. All of them. My goodness. Oh, I'm to be quick to forgive
folks. And the last cure for fretting
is found in verse 34. Verse 34. Now, getting back to that last
point, how can we be that way? How can we be quick to forgive?
How can we be? Only by the grace of God in Christ. Only by the
grace of God in Christ. This can only be done by God's
grace and power. And He restrains the believer
from living for self and gives us a desire to live for the glory
of God. Now, the last care is found in verse 34. Look at this.
Wait on the Lord and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee
to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off,
thou shalt see it." So the believer is to wait upon the Lord. We
are to just trust in Him. We are to just rest in Him. As
we see things develop all around us, let us rest in Him who knows
all things. and Him who knows all things.
And let us remember that God's purpose of grace and mercy cannot
fail, beloved. It cannot fail. And it will not
fail. It can never be thwarted by man's
efforts as our Lord rules and reigns, the King of kings and
the Lord of lords upon His throne in glory. Upon His throne in
glory. And all things that we see are
working according to His will and according to His purpose.
So let us just rest. Let us wait on the Lord. Let
us wait on Him. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Gracious Heavenly Father, we pray you use this message to
build up your saints. Oh, we need to be comforted. And I pray that the message is
a comfort to your people. We love you and praise you. Give
you all the glory in Jesus' name. Amen.