Turn with me, if you would now,
to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. The heading at the top of my page here, It says, David persuadeth to
patience and confidence in God. David persuadeth to patience
and confidence in God. And his first three words of
this Psalm are, fret not thyself. fret not thyself. Fret means
worry. Worry not thyself. Do you know that's easier said
than done? You know that's actually a very
difficult thing to do. Do you know that with man that
is nearly impossible? Nearly impossible. We say, don't
fret over it. Don't worry about it. Don't worry
about it. We say that to each other when
we're not the one going through something. That's when we say
it. But when it's our turn, what
do we do? We fret. The reality is we, very weak,
very pitiful, doubtful, faithless. You know, our Lord
kept saying, are you still without faith? Yes, Lord, we are. Doubtful, faithless sinners. Here's the reality. We're going
to fret. That's the reality. We're going
to fret. We have a whole life of fretting
ahead of us. A whole life. Our days are few. They are going to be full of
trouble. Is that encouraging? Is that
exciting? We think if I could just get through this and just
get past this, it'd be okay. It will be okay, that is true.
But the next thing's coming. The next thing's coming. Our
days are few and full of trouble, and we're going to fret over
it. In this world, we're gonna have
tribulation, trials, troubles, we're gonna
have hardships, we're gonna have heartaches, we're gonna have
sickness, We're gonna have sorrows, we're
gonna have loss, we're gonna have pain, and we're going to
fret over it. And because that's going to be
the case, David gave us the remedy right here for fretting. In this Psalm, he gave us the
remedy for fretting, and that's what I've titled this message,
The Remedy or fretting, and this is what I want to say before
we look at this. We may still endure the trial. We may continue in the hardship. The Lord may not give a physical
remedy for the physical sickness. He may not. But what David is persuading
here, and this will be, I believe this will be so encouraging to
all of God's people. What he is persuading here is
a remedy from the fretting that comes with those things. He's persuading, he is pursuing. Patience and confidence in God. Patience and confidence in God. And he gives five things in the
first seven verses here that if the Lord would give us the
ability to do this, I truly believe it would ease our fretting. It
may not ease the trial, but it will ease our fretting. And it's gonna take the Lord
to enable us to do this. If he would take control of our
hearts, Lord take control of my heart. If he would cause us to truly,
sincerely, deeply enter into and do these five things, great
relief would come to us from our fretting, our worrying. And it's because our patience
and our confidence in God would be increased. And I deeply want
and need this. Ask the Lord to enable you, all
right? Let's ask the Lord to enable us to do this. Psalm 37, I asked Brother Cody
to read Psalm 121 for us. A lot of times I'll read the
text and we'll get it in our mind. There are other verses
and other things being said here. I want to focus on five exhortations. I just want us to zero in on
five exhortations, okay? The first one is in verse three. David said, trust in the Lord. When fretting overtakes us, sometimes,
not all the time, but sometimes the worrying over the problem
is worse than the problem. Sometimes. Whether it is, whether
it isn't, the moment we realize that worry is completely consuming
us, here's the first thing we should do. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Trust the
Lord. Trust the Lord. There's a lot
of people in this world that I don't trust. I think about
the person, I think about the person's character, I think about
the person's word, I think about, and I don't trust that person.
Trust him. Trust the Lord. Trust the one. See him as the real man that
he is. The real man. You trust the one
who does all things well. Go there. In your mind, go there. Trust the one who only does right. Go to him. Trust the one who
works all things together for good, to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose. It's amazing how much peace and
rest can come from trusting the Lord. It's amazing. trusting His works, trusting
His judgments, trusting His providences concerning us, all of His providences
that He has purposed and ordered concerning us. Turn with me to
Proverbs 3. This right here is wisdom. This right here is wisdom. Proverbs 3 verse 5 says, trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge him. and he shall direct your path,
not might. He shall direct thy paths. Trust him, trust him. We say, how do I do that really? How do I do that really? Ask
him to enable you to. Lord, would you please let me
trust you? Would you please cause me to
trust you? In order to trust him, we have
to think on him. If you're going to trust somebody,
you have to think about that person. Our minds and our hearts
have to turn to him from whatever's going on. If we're going to trust
him, our hearts, our minds, they have to go to him. And when that
happens, we tend to fret less. When we are thinking on him,
we fret less. Turn over to Isaiah 26. Isaiah
26 verse 3 says, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee,
because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Perfect peace, whose
mind is stayed on thee, just stayed on him. Trust in the Lord,
trust in Jehovah forever. That's everlasting strength. Go back to Psalm 37. Verse 3
says, trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in
the land and verily thou shalt be fed. Now here's the second
thing. Five exhortations, here's the
second one. Verse four says, delight thyself
also in the Lord. Delight thyself in the Lord. Find great joy and satisfaction
in the Lord. We're never gonna find it in
this world. We even mentioned this morning,
you know, you get to a place in life where there's just no
joy anywhere. But there's always going to be
joy in him, always. The things in this world are
what's causing us to fret in the first place. When we look
to anything in this world for a help, that's what causes us
to fret in the first place. May God enable us to find, as
the scripture says, the reproach of Christ to be greater riches
than all the treasures of the world. all our joy, all our delight,
all our happiness in Him. What will truly turn our attention
away from this world and will ease our fretting over it is
finding delight in the things of the Lord. This is so, you
know, any time, the next time that you become really down, run to the Lord. Run to the Word,
run to worship. You know, sometimes we say, I'm
just so down, I just couldn't even come to worship. This is
the remedy. I'm telling you, this is the
remedy. You want your heart to be filled back up? You want your
soul to be encouraged? This is the remedy. Turn over
to Psalm 1. Psalm 1 verse 1 says, blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in
his law does he meditate day and night. That's Christ. That right there is Jesus Christ,
but that can be us in Christ. In the life that has been given
to us in him by the spirit that has been given to us in him. With the understanding that he's
put in us and the love that he's put in us. We can delight in his word, the
love he's put in us for God and for his word and for his people. And David said, I love thy law. I love your word. We can delight
in his word. We can meditate on it. We can
feed on it. We can be helped by it. We can
be nourished and comforted. And in the process, and this
is so true, in the process of that, worry fades away. for one
little minute, just for one little minute. And then we start to worry again. And we will worry again until
the opportunity to enter back into his word again. Generally speaking, you will
never enter into the word like you do in a worship service.
I would encourage everybody, read your Bible. But don't let
me sound like I'm not encouraging you to read your Bible. Read
the word, find comfort in the word. But where two or three
are specifically gathered in his name, that's when God's spirit
descends on the place and grabs the attention of our minds and
our hearts and really, he said, open your mouth wide and I'll
fill it. Well, that's when he opens our mouths and he teaches
us. And we grow by it and this is
the opportunity to have that little small moment of relief. Little small moment of reviving.
And while we're in it, it's great delight. Lord willing, when this
is over, we're all gonna have smiles on our faces and we're
gonna hug all over each other and kiss all over each other
and then we're gonna get back in our cars and go back out into
the darkness. This is our delight. We can delight
in his word. Go over to Psalm 40. Psalm 40,
verse seven. Then said I, lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will,
O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Again, that's Christ. That is
Jesus Christ. He was the only one who could
actually do the will of God. But he delighted in it. I delight
to do thy will. And you know, in Him, we delight
in it. In Him, we do His will. In Christ, as He is, so are we. And we do His will, but in Him,
we delight in His will. It was the Father's will to choose
a people. The world can't stand that. We
delight in it. That brings so much happiness
to me. Thank God you chose a people.
It was the Father's will to choose sinners to be those people. What
if Romans 5 didn't say Christ died for the ungodly? What if
it said the godly? What if it said, I did not come
to call sinners, I came to call the righteous? But it doesn't say that. Then
say it we delight in who he chose to be his people. It was the
father's will to redeem those people from their sins. I don't
want to be a sinner anymore. I don't want to be. And in Christ
we have redemption from our sin and that's so delightful. It
was his delight to raise him back up to an eternal glory with
him. Is anybody excited about eternal
physical glory with Christ in heaven? I delight in that. God the Son said, Father, not
only will I do your will, I'll delight to do it. I'll delight
in it. Oh, the delight that we have
in the Father's will, in his word, in his will. Psalm 94 says
we can delight in his comfort toward us, the comfort he's provided
us. Micah 7 says we can delight in
the fact that he delights to show mercy. Song of Solomon 2 says we can
sit down under his shadow with great delight. We can just sit
there Enjoy the shadow of his wing with great delight. We can
trust him. We can delight in him. Go back
to Psalm 37. Here's the third remedy for fretting
verse 5 says. Commit thy way unto the Lord. And if you have a center margin,
you see that means roll thy way upon the Lord. Just roll your burden over to
him. Your way is everything that concerns
you. It's everything that you are
concerned about. It's your life, everything regarding
your life. Go to Matthew 6. Matthew 6 verse 24 it says, No man can serve two masters
for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he
will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
in mammon. Therefore I say unto you, now
listen to this, take no thought for your life. You know with
man that's impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, what you
shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on,
is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold
the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap,
nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking
thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye
thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet
I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed
the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying,
what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall
we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that you have need of all these things. But seek ye first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought for
the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. What are
we worried about? Are we worried about salvation?
Commit it to the Lord. Is anybody worried about being
saved? Is anybody worried on whether or not they're gonna
be saved? Like, am I gonna be saved or not? Am I gonna be in
heaven or not? Commit it to the Lord. Roll it over to the Lord. Are we worried about provisions
being provided for? Commit it to the Lord. Our heavenly Father knows what
things we have need of. Psalm 37, our text is where David
said, I've been young and now I'm old and I've never seen the
righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. Spiritually or
physically. Are we worried about the unknown
of tomorrow? Let me go ahead and answer that
for every soul here. Yes. That's the big one. Are we worried
about the unknown of tomorrow? Verse 34, he said, take therefore
no thought for tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow. Let's just commit our way to
the Lord. Let's just commit, Lord. All I need to be concerned
about is the next breath that I'm gonna inhale. That's in the
hands of the Lord. Let's start with that. Let's
commit our way to the Lord. Paul said, I'm persuaded that
he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. I'm persuaded he's able to do
it. I was gonna have you turn. I'll
just quote. Peter said, in 1 Peter 5, he said, cast all your care
on him because he cares for you. All
your care on him. Trust him, delight in him, delight
in his wisdom, delight in his watchful eye over you, and then
commit your all to him. Just commit it all to him. Go
back to Psalm 37. Here's the fourth exhortation. Four out
of five. Psalm 37, verse seven says, Rest in the Lord. Anybody need rest? Took a nap
today. I had to get that hour back.
I mean, I was hurting. I needed it badly. It's a good thing when you need
rest and you can get rest. You know, there's a time when
you need rest and you just, you can't get it. Rest in the Lord. Our Lord said,
come unto me. Come unto me. This flesh, we
go everywhere. We run here, we run there, we
run everywhere. Our Lord said, come to me. Come
to me. That feels so good to do that. In heart, come to me. I'll give
you rest. I'll give you rest. We rest when we realize everything's
done. Everything's done. But what about
this? What about that? It's already
worked out. It's all done. Known unto God
were all his works from the beginning, and he finished them, all of
them. He finished all of them. Just,
I'm gonna stop having you turn. Just listen to this. This is
Hebrews 4, 9 to 11. It says, There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from
his. Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. We want relief from worrying
about things that we don't need to worry about
because they're not in our hands. Things that are in the sovereign
hand of God Almighty, the sovereign control of God Almighty. Things
that he's already secured the victory over and already determined
the outcome of. If we want relief from that worry,
then let's labor to enter into Christ's rest. Let's trust him,
let's delight in him, let's cast our all on him, and let's rest
in him. Not in the world, not in circumstances,
him. Psalm 37, here's the fifth exhortation
that Paul gave for finding relief in the middle of worry. Worry
and fear over the circumstances of this life. It's in verse seven.
He said, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Wait on him. Wait on him. You know with man, that's pretty
much impossible. But with God, everything's possible.
Wait on his perfect timing. Wait on his perfect outcome. As tried believers, if we're
a believer, we're going to be a tried believer. As tried believers,
we know the end is going to be better than the beginning. The
outcome is going to be perfect. We are going to be glad. We're going to be glad. God's
people are glad. We're going to rejoice in everything
he's done. We're going to rejoice in everything
he's caused us to go through. I say that with sincerity and
everything that the Lord has brought me through so far, I
rejoice in it. for the path it led me down.
I rejoice in it for what he taught me through it. I rejoice every
time I can say to somebody, I've been through the same thing.
There's a lot that I haven't been through that many of you
have gone through, are going through that I can't enter into
that. But the things that I can say, I've been there. And I can
tell you from experience, the Lord's grace is sufficient. I'm
thankful for that. Charles Spurgeon said, wait on
the Lord in obedience as a servant. Wait on the Lord in hope as an
heir, a joint heir with Christ. Wait on the Lord in expectation
as a believer. Lord, let me be a believer. Verse
34 right here in Psalm 37 says, wait on the Lord and keep his
way. And he shall exalt thee to inherit
the land. That's going to be your end.
If he secured us in his blood, if he secured us on the cross,
he secured us all the way to the end. That's going to be your end.
Verse 34, he went on to say, when the wicked are cut off,
thou shalt see it. You're going to see your inheritance.
Just wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. In closing,
go to Psalm 27. Verse 13, David said, I had fainted I would have fainted. You know,
after a while, okay, this has gone on long enough. I don't
know if I can do this anymore. I would have fainted unless I
had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. He shall
strengthen your heart. Wait, I say on the Lord. Lord,
help us to do that. Teach us to do that. Cause us
to do that. I hope this has provided a moment
of relief from everything in this world
that we have to worry about. Everybody has their own worry.
I hope the Lord's given us a little moment of relief from it. In Christ, Brett and I, amen.