The Lord may graciously help
me, I'll turn your prayerful attention to Psalm 37 and reading
together verses 23 and 24. Psalm 37 verses 23 and 24. The
steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth
in his way. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. The words particularly on my
mind, I've read both verses because without the two of them they
don't really make sense. But really, it's particularly
verse 24, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. But without the 23rd verse, you
don't know who it's talking about. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way, though he fall, he
shall not be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand. This psalm was written by David,
the sweet psalmist of Israel. He says in this psalm that I
have been young and now I'm old. So it seems clear that it was
written in his old age after he had, as it were, lived many
years. So no doubt, I guess from that
we can deduce that it was written after his fall into sin with
Bathsheba and his killing of Uriah the Hittite. and his great
fall in that way, which was such a sad event and scar on David's
life. What a blessing it is that these
things are recorded for us today. Not that we should therefore
think that it is good to fall or acceptable to fall, but you
see the whole word of God is so much filled with mercy. Mercy is what is the key to the
Bible. The Lord Jesus is one that delighteth
in mercy. And you see, Satan would love
to keep us in darkness, and particularly the Lord's people, particularly
the steps of the good man that are ordered by the Lord. He would
love to have that one walking in darkness. having no light,
walking with no assurance at all, considering that they are
out of the secret by misapplying the word of God and by telling
them they have no hope, telling them there is no more sacrifice
for sins anymore for them, that they have gone beyond the way
of possibility of mercy. But we have to read the word
of God and the word of God is faithful. though he fall. So it's clear here from this
scripture that this good man whose steps are ordered or established
as the margin puts it by the Lord, God guides him, that some
of those people in God's infinite sovereignty are allowed to fall as it were,
are left to fall by their own sin and by their own folly, by
their own foolishness. but they are left to fall. And though he fall, he shall
not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his
hand. Now we could say therefore that
if the godly fall, then what will be the reaction of God to
this? I think Satan would love us to
go one of two ways with this. One of two ways he would love
the Lord's people to go when they fall. He would either like
them to say, well, there's mercy in the Bible so
you can just continue in sin and it really doesn't matter
too much. In other words, to make sin of no great problem. And therefore they can continue
to sin and continue to live lives against God and unto themselves. and to be content in that lie. That is one way that Satan would
be content for you as a child of God to stay. But another way
is when we attempted to fall and do fall, Satan would be content, as it were, to say,
now you've fallen. Now there is no way back. You've fallen. You've come short
to the glory of God. Yes, you knew his mercy in time
past but now the door of God's mercy is shut. There is no more
way that you can receive his goodness. Well you see the Bible
is saying that we are to realise the seriousness of the fall.
We are to realise that God hates sin. And if you look at the life
of David and what happened as a result of his sin and how God
severely punished David for his sin. We think of what happened with
David of Bathsheba, and when he carried on for some time it
seemed almost oblivious of it. But then Nathan the prophet was
sent with that very pointed word, Thou art the man, after he had
told the parable of the Yulam. The Lord came to him very strongly
through Nathan the prophet. Thou art the man. He didn't say,
well, sin doesn't matter too much. Just carry on in sin. Just
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. It'll be alright. No,
you see, God never... If you read the Bible, God's
mercy is never a blank check to sin. It's never given. God's mercy is never given as
a reason, therefore we can sin, as it were, but without concern. And that's why it's so clear
when we look at Calvary, where Jesus paid that price of the
sin of the church. He did not say, let there be
redemption, let there be salvation for the church, and there was
salvation. No. He went, he came, left earth's
left heaven's greatness to come to earth, to work out a righteousness
for his people, to suffer, to bleed, to die, to groan on the
tree in agony, because he was bearing the sin of his church.
to atone for sin, but also to show to us the awful nature of
sin and that God hates sin. He hates sin whenever and wherever
it is found. And when it was found in his
beloved son, because it had been laid on him, the whole church's
sin was laid on Christ, then he punished sin in his beloved
son to the extreme degree that it deserved. And therefore we
have Calvary. We have the sin of the church
being paid for. So when we come to this, we're
not to go one way or the other. We're not to belittle sin and
say it doesn't matter. Or on the other hand, Satan will
make us push completely the other way and say, well, sin is so
great, so terrible. You see, Satan is called the
accuser of the brethren. He's an accuser. And of course,
we each are sinners. We each come short of the glory
of God. We each fall as it were, in one sense we fall, we come
short of the glory of God daily, although I think this is talking
about a specific fall, more like David had with Bathsheba or Peter
had when he denied his Lord. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord and he delighted in his way though he fall. You
see there is a falling. And what do we do when we fall?
In your life, have you come across something recently perhaps in
your life and you fell, perhaps not outwardly for others to see,
or perhaps it is for others to see, but you know that you've
fallen as it were. And what's the way back? How
can you get back right with God? What can you do? Should you,
as it were, fall and then be lost forever? Or is there a way back to God
from the dark paths of sin? This morning when we were taking
the Sunday school, I gave the illustration of one who was running
a race, a hurdles, a race of hurdles. And this man who tripped
over the first hurdle and then many afterwards, and he kept
on falling over and then he would get up and carry on the race,
even though the others had all already come in and won before
him. But when he got to the end, there was a tremendous stand
in ovation from all the crowds, because this man, when he fell,
got up and carried on and tried to, as it were, fight the next
hurdle, to carry on. And that's the Christian life.
We're not to, as it were, once we fall, to stay, as it were,
with our face to the ground and then say, well, there's no more
hope. You see, if we say that, we're
saying that God says, when he says there is mercy for sinners,
that the that is not true. There is a fountain open for
sin and for uncleanness. Satan would love to either say
you don't need to go to it because it's not a sin or he'd say that
there's no acceptance for you there because it's too bad. Either
way, he doesn't want you to drink from that blessed fountain because
he doesn't want you to live, because he doesn't want you to
enjoy the presence of God throughout an ever-ending eternity. He wants
you to be with him in hell with all those that hate God. No. Though he fall. Yes, you see, that doesn't mean
that all God's people fall in this outward way. We know there
are characters like Joseph and Daniel that we don't really read
of anything in any outward way that they fell. Or there are
those that we read of like David, the sweet psalmist of Israel,
the man after God's own heart that did fall. And Peter, But
you see with David and Peter there was that restoration and
there was that blessing given to them. Steps of good manner
ordered by the Lord. He delighted in his way though
he fall. he shall not be utterly cast
down. So the first point I want to make is that God does not
countenance sin. He never uses his mercy as a
reason to continue in sin. The woman that was taken in adultery
and they brought to the Lord Jesus, he didn't say well I'm
merciful, carry on with that sort of life if that suits you.
No. He always said go and sin no
more. If you take John's epistle The
first epistle of John, such a precious epistle. My little children,
these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. That's the standard
of godliness, that ye sin not. There's no countenance of sin.
These things I write unto you, that ye sin not. That's the standard
of godliness. Then, and if any man sin, We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. You see, if you
say that you can continue in sin, you don't need to come to
the fountain to be cleansed, do you? Because it's normal.
Because everybody else does it. So we just carry on in it. No.
These things I write unto you that you sin not. But, and if
any man sin, we have an advocate. There is a way back to God from
the dark piles of sin. But what has to be done? What
is that way back? Well God is going to point out
sin, he does in his word. He does not mince about, as it
were, with his words. If you think of Joseph as a type
of the Lord Jesus, the way he dealt with his brothers, when
they came to him, they started off, as it were, wanting to deal
with him on a fair basis. They wanted to pay for the corn.
They didn't want any mercy. They never came asking for mercy
to Egypt. No, no, they didn't want mercy.
They wanted corn and they were going to buy it at a good market
rate. They didn't come for mercy. But
as their sin was exposed, they started to realise that mercy
was their only hope. You see, if you come there, by
nature man is proud. Man thinks that he has not sinned. I shall go on and everybody else
does these things and I'm safe. And so the words of the Gospel,
the work of Christ, all these things seem irrelevant. until
you become that one who has fallen, until you become that one that
you realise that you've come short of the glory of God, there's
a righteous standard of God and you've come short of it, then
you need a fountain open for sin and for uncleanness. For though he fall, he shall
not be utterly cast down. God never countenances sin and
Joseph spoke hardly to his brothers. But in his heart, you see, it
was a heart full of love. We've just been singing of that
beautiful love, you see. And people would say, well, if
you love somebody, you won't say anything unkind to them,
or you won't say anything that will hurt them. Really? Is that biblical? Did Joseph
say anything that was hard for his brothers to take? Does the
Lord Jesus say anything hard to his people when he says, Love
not the world, neither the things in the world. He that loveth
the world hath not the love of the Father in him. The reason he says that is because
he loves his bride and he wants his bride to love him. And when
he sees his bride flirting with the world and in love with the
things of time and sense that are passing away, He has to correct
her. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. You see, we do fall. We come
short of the glory of God. Sin is mixed with all that we
do. We can go after the world and the pleasures of it and try
and make this our rest. You see, God is faithful and
he faithfully says that sin is what it is. He says sin is the
transgression of the law. Sin is going to be punished.
He's faithful with souls because if he's not faithful... You see,
if you went to a surgeon and you had a problem or you went
to the doctor and you had a problem, I ask you, do you want to go
to a doctor that always pats you on the back and says, you'll
be alright, just take a little bit more sleep or just take one
or two of these smarty tablets and you'll be fine. Or do you
want a doctor that comes to you and says, you have got something
seriously wrong with you. Not obviously if you haven't,
but if you have. Somebody's faithful. I knew a doctor, my sister actually,
a lady came to her, a girl who'd been having headaches for a long
time. And everybody else just gave her headache pills to try
and stop the problems. And when they came to see my
sister, She looked in this girl's eyes and said, I'm afraid you
have a tumour in your brain. Now those parents were really
pleased, really thankful to my sister for diagnosing the problem,
not because they wanted their child to have a brain tumour,
of course not, but they wanted a correct diagnosis in love so
that there could be something done about it. And you see, if
we're faithful with souls, if we say this is the standard of
godliness and we are to walk in his ways, therefore, when
we realise we come short of that standard, then we need to go
and find a solution to that problem. We need to come and wash in that
fountain. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. So the Lord's people, at times
they come short, at times they fall. But the Lord is faithful
in pointing this out. He doesn't say that it's okay
to fall, but neither does he say, as it were, that there's
no hope. Our text gives this encouragement,
this compassion. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. It gives some comfort. that though
there is this fall, that there is something to be done as a
result of it. And in Micah's prophecy we have
some precious words in Micah 7 and verse 8. Rejoice not against
me, O mine enemy, for when I fall I shall arise. When I sit in
darkness, the Lord shall be light unto me. I will bear the indignation
of the Lord because I have sinned. You see, there's a confession
here. Well, sin doesn't really matter. That's not how God deals
with sin. God points out sin in all its
stark, disgusting nature, but then says, come unto me all you
that labour and are heavy laden. and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in
heart and you shall find rest for your souls." He points out
the need of a remedy. You see if you don't tell the
patient that they're ill and they need a huge amount of surgery
or whatever on their body to make them right or great drastic
surgery, they're never going to be made better are they by
taking headache pills if they've got a brain tumour. They need
something that is going to deal with the problem. They need somebody
who is faithful. You see, the Lord is faithful.
Faithful in his word. Faithful to diagnose the problem
so that he has provided, you see, that perfect remedy for
sin. The perfect remedy for every
sin and for every uncleanness. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I have sinned. The confession of sin and against
him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me, he will
bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousness. But you see, one that has fallen,
he needs the Lord to have compassion on him. He needs the Lord to
point out the fact that he has fallen, that it is sin and that These things I write unto you
that ye sin not. That's the standard. It's not
you can have 50% sin and if you go above the 50% line then something
will happen wrong. No. These things that I've written
unto you that ye sin not. In other words, he wants a bride,
a church. that is pure, that is devoted
to her beloved. You think of it as a marriage.
If you had two going out courting with you to marriage and one
party, let's say the wife or the one that was to be the wife,
the lady, kept on flirting with other men all the time. What
sort of way would you say about that? What sort of relationship
that's going to be? You'd say, well, she doesn't
seem to love him very much. If he's away, she's off with
other people going around. But the Lord Jesus doesn't want
a church like that, does he? He doesn't want a church. He's
jealous of his glory. He wants a church that are devoted
to him, to live to his glory and to truly seek only him to
know. I have sinned against him until
he plead my cause and execute judgment for me. So the Lord
gives consolation and comfort But let us turn to Isaiah. Isaiah's got some precious words
to speak to those that have come short of the glory of God, those
that have fallen. Turn to Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57
verse 15, For thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy
place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the
contrite ones. You see, God in heaven delights
to dwell with contrite sinners. David says the same thing in
his penitential psalm, that Psalm 51, a broken and a contrite spirit,
O Lord, thou wilt not despise." And what is a broken spirit?
It's one that is humble, one that realises that we've come
short of the glory of God, realises that we've stepped over that
line of transgression, we have not walked closely to God, we've
gone flirting with the world, and we've gone away from Him
and His ways. If any man If any man falls,
he falls flat on his face, he's in a mess, he's embarrassed by
his behaviour, he's embarrassed by what's happened. But what
do we do? Well, that one is to get up, to be encouraged to get
up. to encourage to go on, to encourage
to realise that there is forgiveness with God, that thou mayest be
feared, that it is not a situation where the gospel is there but
if you fall and then there is no more further hope. No, we
are to realise the seriousness of sin, but we are to realise
the mercy of our God and this gives glory to God. And of course
David and Peter are both examples of how the Lord restored one
who fell greatly. Peter denied his Lord with oaths
and curses just before the Lord Jesus was to die on the cross.
You think of the Lord Jesus dying with the names of his people
on his heart. The name of Peter on his heart.
And Peter there blaspheming and and cursing and saying that he
had no knowledge or didn't have anything to do with this Jesus
of Nazareth. But you see, the Lord turned
and looked upon Peter, and we read that Peter went out and
wept bitterly. For thus saith the high and lofty
one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in
the high and holy place. with him also that is of a contrite
spirit." This is the word of God. He doesn't say, I dwell
with those that never have any trouble, that never know their
own sinfulness and never mourn their own depravity. I dwell in the high and holy
place and with him also that is of a contrite spirit, to revive
the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite
ones. And it goes on, for I will not
contend forever, neither will I be always wrath. So God was
wrath. God is angry with sin. And if
you have those that tell you that that's not true of God,
He's never angry, it's not true. God is saying He's angry with
His people. He's angry with sin. He's angry with the transgressions
as it were. He wants to draw his people to
himself that they may come with contrite hearts, come and confess
their sin, come to him to seek for mercy. For I will not contend
for ever, neither will I be always wroth. For the spirit should
fail before me and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity
of his covetous work was I wroth and smote him. I hid me and was
wroth. and he went on forwardly in the
way of his heart. I have seen his ways and will
heal him. I will lead him, Isaiah 57, I
will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his
mourners. That's verses 15 to 18 that I've
been reading. So the Lord Jesus, you see, he
gives these consolations that that we are, there is a way back
to God. Though he fall, though you may
fall, though I may fall, and though we feel that how can we
ever go on if we've, as it were, come short of the glory of God,
how can we continue? Well, the Lord is merciful. The Lord gives, there is a way
back to God from the dark paths. of sin. In Isaiah 54 we also
have these beautiful words. Isaiah 54 verse 7, For a small
moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I
gather thee. In a little wrath, God is angry
with the wicked and with sinning his people. In a little wrath
I hid my face from thee for a moment But with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee. Seth the Lord thy Redeemer. This is the character of God.
He deals faithfully. He deals faithfully with sin.
He deals with sin rather than sweeping it under the carpet.
He deals with sin. He exposes it in all its awfulness,
in all its depravity, in all its aggravation against the Holy
God. but then shows that he has made
a way whereby sinners can be cleansed of all their uncleanness
and all their sin. See, this is the beauty of the
Gospel. The Gospel is not about hiding sin. It's about exposing
it in its awfulness, but dealing with it. God dealing with sin,
so that there is justice done, so that justice is satisfied. And so therefore, mercy can be
granted to those that fall short of the glory of God. It's in
verse 7 of Isaiah 54. For a small moment have I forsaken
thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee. This is as the waters of
Noah unto me, for I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall
go no more over the earth. So have I sworn that I would
not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall
depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed.
Saith the Lord that hath mercy These are the consolations that
God has given to those who fall and yet those who come to realise
their fall, to acknowledge their fall, to hate their fall and
to realise the sin of their fall and to come with that broken
and a contrite heart which thou, O Lord, will not despise. David's
Penitential Psalm 51, so filled with this confession that he
had sinned, that he had done evil before the Lord. Against thee, against thee only
have I sinned. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. There's hope, you see. There's
hope in God. Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. This is the beautiful nature
of God. But you see, in James, in the
epistle of James, we read these words. James, the brother of
the Lord Jesus, who wrote the epistle of James, we read in
chapter 4 and verse 4, ye adulterers and adulteresses. You might say,
well, hang on a minute, that's not my sin. I'm not an adulterer,
that's not the way I've committed my sin. But you see, this idea
of adultery, that means being unfaithful to one's wife or a
wife unfaithful to her husband, is throughout the prophecies,
throughout the word of God, used as a symbol of unfaithfulness
to God. Israel was called an adulterous
nation. Because they had left their first
love. Just like a woman that leaves her husband to go after
other lovers. She's turned her affections away
from her first love. And so Israel had done. And so
we can do. We can turn our affections away
from our first love. We can go after the world and
the things of it. And you've left your first love.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses. You say that's hard, that's tough.
That's a bit blunt. But if it brings you to repentance,
it brings you to Christ for mercy, it brings you to come to that
fountain open for sin and for uncleanness, isn't it the kindest
thing you can do? To that girl with a brain tumour,
to tell her to go and get help for that brain tumour rather
than continue with the headache pills. The adulterers and adulteresses,
how know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God. You can't be much more blunt,
can you? This is what James says, it's the word of God. Do you
think that the scripture saith, in vain, the spirit that dwelleth
in us lusteth to envy? Now this next verse you probably
know quite well, but you probably didn't know that it came in that
context. He giveth more grace. That's where that comes, that
text. But he giveth more grace. After he's received a sharp rebuke,
but he giveth more grace. You see, there's a necessity
to point out sin in all its filthiness and damaging effect, but not
to destroy us, to make us broken and contrite, to make us realise
and need of the gospel, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore
he saith, God resisteth the proud, those who go on thinking they
can buy corn with their own money, stand on their own two feet,
please God, with the works of their own hands. God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves
therefore to God, and this is the command of God, to this one
who has fallen, resist, the devil. Resist him. Realise he's a foe. Realise he is the accuser of
the brethren. Resist him. Don't encourage him
into your home. Bunyan pictured it like this. He said if you've got Mr Sin
comes banging on your door and you open the door and you realise
it's Mr Sin, you're to shut the door in his face. You're not
to say come in and we'll have a chat over a cup of tea. No. Resist the devil. and he will
flee from you. Draw nigh to God. This is the
command. We are to draw nigh to God. But
you say I'm a sinner. How can I draw nigh to a holy
God? How can I come to this one who is saying I'm a sinner? That's the Gospel. The name Jesus
means he shall save his people from their sins. If you feel
to be a sinner, you're coming to the right person to draw nigh
to God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Draw nigh to God and He will
draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded,
double-minded, double affections. Loving the world and trying to
at the same time say you're still in love with the things of God.
Having two masters. Jesus says you cannot serve God
and mammon. You cannot be in love with the
world and in love with Christ. You're being an adulterer, an
adulteress. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord. and he shall lift you up. You see the world would say,
and perhaps the weak Christian church, we live in a liberal
Christian church, they say, oh just be happy, oh just sweep
that sin under the carpet. God doesn't say that. He says
expose it in all its filthiness and ugliness. Mourn over it,
weep over it, but then humble yourselves in the sight of God
and he shall lift you up. You see, that's the difference.
So vastly different. Not lift up yourselves. It says
that in Isaiah 50, ye that walk in sparks of your own kindling.
You're making it all up yourself. You're trying to, as it were,
join yourself along, rather than trusting in the Lord to be your
God and your guide. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. He delighted in his way, though
he He shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand. The Lord is able, you see, to
uphold us. The Lord is able to expose sin
for what it is, in all its ugliness, in all its filthiness, not so
that we can carry on in sin, but that we may hate sin in all
its various forms, in all the way it detracts from the glory
of God, in all the way it puts the world first and the church
second, third, fourth, fifth place in your affections. The
adulteress. And adulteress is, know ye not
that the friendship of the world, it is enmity to God. No, we are
to put God first. We are to come and we are to
seek Him first. Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God and then you see there's a place of mercy. There's a place
to get back to God. But it's all to do with being
afflicted and mourn. To mourn over ourselves and after
Him. But you'll never do that if you never consider your sin.
If you can sweep the sin under the carpet, You can continue
in sin that grace may abound. Well a lie that is. The Apostle
Paul was saying, therefore let us sin that grace may abound.
This was spoken of against the Apostle and he was saying how
ridiculous it was. Let us just turn to Micah's prophecy
once more. We have these beautiful words
in Micah 6, verse 6. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord? This is Micah 6, verse 6. Wherewith
shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the High
God? Shall I come before him with
burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord
be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of
rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? Basically none of those things
are acceptable. Verse 8, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good,
and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. In the margin it
says, humble thyself, humbly to humble thyself to walk with
God. You see, this is the way back
to God. Not to sweep sin under the carpet,
not to pretend we haven't fallen, not to pretend we're still in
love with our first love, even though we're flirting with the
world. No, we're to come and confess our sin, in all its filthiness,
but therefore realise this beautiful word. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. Satan would show you your sin
to make you give up, but God shows you your sin and
gives that true repentance that you may confess your sin and
turn to him who is that fountain open for sin and for uncleanness
so that you can be right with God throughout an ever-ending
eternity and to join the chorus of those in heaven that are able
to say from the bottom of their hearts, worthy is the Lamb. May the Lord add his blessing.