Words to Live By

Q: What does the Bible say about trusting God?

The Bible encourages believers to trust in the Lord with all their hearts and not to lean on their own understanding. Trusting God is a fundamental principle found throughout Scripture, particularly in Proverbs 3:5-6, which states, 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.' Trusting in the Lord means placing one’s complete confidence in God’s character, His love for us, and His promises. In times of trial, believers are reminded that their trust in God will help them navigate through challenges. As the preacher notes, 'Trust in His love for you. Trust in His blood shed for you. Trust in His righteousness imputed to you.' This underscores the security believers have in Christ, which grants them peace and assurance amidst tribulation.

Q: Why is rest in God important for Christians?

Resting in God provides true peace and assurance, freeing us from anxiety and fear. Rest in God is vital for Christians, as it reflects a deep trust in His sovereignty and providence. Christ invites us in Matthew 11:28 to 'Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' This rest represents a spiritual and emotional state where believers can lay down their burdens and trust God to handle their concerns. The sermon emphasizes that true rest comes when we cease from our own striving and surrender our worries to Him. The preacher describes it beautifully: 'Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.' Recognizing God’s ability to bear our loads allows us to experience peace that transcends understanding, particularly in difficult circumstances.

Q: How do we know God's providence is beneficial for us?

God's providence is the assurance that He is actively guiding and caring for His children for their ultimate good. Believers can be confident in God’s providence as He is actively involved in every aspect of life. As stated in Romans 8:28, 'And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.' This verse encapsulates the essence of God’s providential care, assuring us that even trials and afflictions serve a purpose within His sovereign plan. The preacher encourages listeners to refrain from fretting over the apparent prosperity of the wicked by reminding them that their path is temporary and that God's children are secure in His everlasting promise. Moreover, committing our ways to the Lord and trusting in His divine timing helps reaffirm our understanding of His beneficial providence.

Q: What does the Bible mean by committing our way to the Lord?

Committing our way to the Lord means entrusting every aspect of our lives to Him, trusting His guidance. To commit our way to the Lord is to thoughtfully roll over our life’s concerns, desires, and plans into His hands and trust Him to direct our paths. As stated in Psalm 37:5, 'Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.' This involves relinquishing control and surrendering to His will, believing that He has our best interests at heart. The preacher illustrates this concept by saying that committing to the Lord means casting away anxiety and concerns, leaving them with Him to handle. This complete surrender allows believers to experience the peace and assurance that comes from knowing that God is in control of their circumstances and will bring them to fruition in His good time.

My message today will be taken
from David's Psalm 37. If you'd like to, get your Bible
and open it to Psalm 37. Now, the title of the message,
Words to Live By. Words to Live By. This message
is one that I preached to our congregation some time ago. And it came to me one morning
after I received three telephone calls from friends who were going
through very difficult, difficult times. I sat down to study and
prepare my message for that particular Wednesday night. This was early
Wednesday morning. And the first call came from
a friend in Alabama whom I've known for many, many years. and
he was recovering from brain surgery. He had a tumor, and
they removed it, and he was taking these treatments. And he was
having a very, very difficult time, and he called to request
prayer. But he's a man who loves the
gospel and loves God, and yet he was going through a terribly,
terribly difficult time. And after I talked to him and
began studying again, the phone rang, and the second call was
from a friend not too far from me whose mother had died the
night before. And he requested that I come
and preach his mother's funeral. It was a sad time for him and
for the family. And then I talked to him a little
while and hung up and the phone rang again. And this time it
was a friend up in the northeast and near Idaho. Oregon, in that
area, somewhere around Washington State. And he was expressing
his disappointment over the fact that he had nowhere to worship
God and hear the true gospel preached. There were churches,
but no voice, no preacher, no bold prophet of God to preach
the Word and to teach him the Scriptures. And he was so hungry. to hear the Word. He asked that
I send him some tapes that he might listen to the preaching
of the Gospel. You know, these are everyday
occurrences, everyday occurrences, because the people of God, believers
in Christ, children of God, are not without trials. I mean, heavy
trials, severe trials, trouble, sorrow. Sometimes it's more difficult
than at other times. We have words to die by. Our
Lord Jesus Christ said, "'Let not your heart be troubled. You
believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are
many mansions, dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare
a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto Myself,
that where I am there you may be also.'" Those are words to
live by and die by, but especially to die by. the promise of life,
the promise of glory and happiness. And then, you know, in Philippians
1, Paul said, "...to be absent from the bodies, to be present
with the Lord, to live is Christ, to die is gain. I am in a straight
betwixt the two. I have a desire to depart and
be with the Lord, which is far better." Those are words to die
by. But you know, sometimes, and
I know many of you know what I'm talking about, sometimes,
It's more difficult to live for the glory of God than to die
for the glory of God. Sometimes it's easier just to
die and leave here and avoid any more difficulty. Sometimes
that's a lot easier. Sometimes it's harder to live
for the glory of God than to die for the glory of God. So
I want you to look with me at Psalm 37. Now, the author of
this psalm is David, man after God's own heart, sweet psalmist
of Israel, mighty king, the man whom God called a man after my
own heart. That's what he said about him.
So it's worth listening to this man, isn't it? Writing under
divine inspiration at that. And the time of this psalm, Psalm
37, when it was written, was in David's old age. That's when
he wrote it. I'm not guessing here, supposing
verse 25 tells me that. David in verse 25 of this psalm
says, I have been young, I am now old. So I know when he wrote
it. Now, old. And he said, I've never
seen the righteous forsaken or God's seed begging bread. Never
have. They don't beg bread. And they're
not forsaken, not God's seed. And he said, I'm old. I was young. I'm now old. Now, the occasion
of this psalm is the affliction of God's people. That's what
it's about, especially in the light of the prosperity of the
wicked. If you want to, if you have a
pencil and paper, jot this down. Study Psalm 73. Just 37, 73.
Just reverse the numbers. They deal with the same thing.
Psalm 37 and Psalm 73 deal with the afflictions of God's people
in the light of the prosperity of the wicked. David saw that
the wicked prospered while believers suffered. He saw that folks that
didn't know God, didn't love God, had no interest in God seemed
to have an easier road than those who did know God, and he complained
about it. The Lord took him to the house
of the Lord and showed him something he needed to consider, and that
is, consider the end of these people. When I saw their end,
the results of their rebellion, he said, I confess my sins. And you have in this psalm David,
the old experienced elder, sitting with the family of God about
him, And they're listening to him speak under divine inspiration
about daily living and daily walking and giving us in this
psalm some words to live by. Words to live by. All right,
I'll give you several. Now, here's the first one, verse
1. Fret not. Fret not. Fret not thyself because
of evildoers. and the wicked. Fret not. It's so common for us in the
hour of trouble to fret. You have a problem with that?
In time of sickness, in time of sorrow and disappointment,
we become discouraged. We become weary of the pain.
We find time to complain, and maybe we find fault with the
good providence of God. Sometimes we even feel that our
way is too difficult, especially when we see others who have a
much easier way and people who have no interest in God. We see
them. They're getting along so well,
and we're just having a very difficult, very difficult time.
And we begin to fret and complain and find fault with the providence
of God. You ever do that? Well, He says, don't do that.
Don't fret. Don't fret. The wicked shall be cut down
like the grass, and the believers going to The wicked will be cut down.
The believers are going to reign with Christ. Their way is temporary. This way of prosperity is temporary. And it doesn't have anything
to do with God's way for me. My way is not temporary. My way
with God is eternal. These light afflictions through
which we pass now are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which we shall enjoy in His presence. Not worthy to be compared. They're
just light afflictions for the moment, and they're not worthy
to be compared with what's ahead for us. Let me tell you a story.
When Queen Elizabeth, many years ago, Queen Elizabeth, not this
present queen, Way back, a good Queen Bess was her name, Queen
Elizabeth. Before she became Queen of England,
Princess Elizabeth, she was in prison. The wicked Queen before
her, knowing that she was the heir to the throne, had her put
in prison. And when Princess Elizabeth was
in prison, She envied the milkmaid, the milkmaid who would bring
her food and her milk and these other things that they provided
for her in the cell. And she said, she wrote, I envied
the milkmaid because she had freedom to come and go and I
was kept like a bird in a cage. Let me tell you something. If
she had known at that time the glorious reign that she would
enjoy for 44 years. She's going to reign as Queen
of England for 44 years. If she had known that while she
was sitting in that prison cell, she would never have envied the
milkmaid. She would never have wanted to
trade places with the milkmaid. And I say to you, in your cell
and in your suffering and in your time of difficulty, think
not and envy not and fret not concerning those who seem to
have freedom to come and go. You're the one with the freedom.
If you know the Son, the Son will really set you free. You
know the truth, the truth will really set you free. So you just
think, not upon the things of this earth that are temporal.
Think on things that are eternal. Set your affection on things
above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, on your inheritance. You're going to reign. someday
with Him. And this trial is just to prepare
you for that day. That's the word. Don't fret.
Don't fret. Secondly, another word to live
by, trust. Trust in the Lord, it says. Trust
in the Lord. I'll tell you, to trust in the
Lord will cure fretting. That's the way to stop fretting
and complaining and finding fault, is to trust Him. Just to trust
I go down to Mexico every year. I've been doing that for 20,
21 or 22 years. We have two veteran missionaries
in Mexico, both of whom have been there for over 25 years. And they have several churches
there where I preach and several open air meetings where I preach
through a translator. And I go down there every year
and stay two or three weeks. I'll tell you, while I'm down
there, there's a lot of causes for fear and for fretting. The language barrier. I don't
speak Spanish. Everything you read is in Spanish.
Everything you hear is in Spanish. And I'm down there among people
who don't speak my language. Secondly, I'm down there among
people, all of whom are not friendly to Americans. And I'm down there
where you can't drink the water except in prescribed places.
And you can't eat certain foods. And I go out in villages where
gringo has never been, many times. I go out in villages where missionaries
have been run out before. And I climb mountâ€”we climb mountains
in four-wheel drive vehicles. There are just a lot of things
to fear and to fret about unless you trust someone. And the two
missionaries with me have lived there 25 years. They know the
people. They know the area. As long as
I'm with them, they're doing the driving. They're selecting
the foods. They tell me what water I can
drink. They tell me what village we can visit. They tell me what
people are friendly. I trust them. I trust these men. And trusting them, I'm not afraid.
Now, if I were alone down there in many of these places, I'd
be afraid. but I trust these able men."
And I'll tell you this, I trust my Lord. Going through this journey,
the valley of the shadow of death, I'm not alone. He said, Thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, rod of
defense, rod of correction, staff of provision, thy rod and thy
staff comfort me. Trust the Lord. Fret not. Trust Trust in His love for you. Trust in His blood shed for you. Trust in His righteousness imputed
to you. Trust in His care. Trust in His
good providence. Our steps are ordered by the
Lord. Isn't that what Scripture said?
He chose us. He loved us. He redeemed us.
He called us. He'll keep us. I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. And He
knows the way I take, and after I have been tried, I'll come
forth as gold." Isn't that what Scripture said? Trust Him. That's
a word to live by. All right, here's the third one.
Here's another word to live by. Delight thyself in the Word of
the Lord. Delight thyself in the Word of
the Lord. Notice how these words follow
one another. Don't fret. Don't complain. Don't
be filled with anxiety, anxious care. Trust Him. Trust Him. And not only trust Him, But delight
yourself, find your rest, and find your encouragement and assurance
in the Word of the Lord. His promises are precious. You
know, if I can really learn to trust the Lord, then I'll find
delight and joy in His words, if you trust Him. You'll find
delight and joy in His promises, in His gospel. You see, the people
of this world, where do they find their delight and their
joy? I'll tell you, in the things that perish. They delight in
riches. They delight in fine homes, luxurious
toys. They delight in entertainment.
They delight in the things of this world. But these things
die with them. But the believer finds his joy
and his delight in the eternal Word of God, the promises of
God. We have an inheritance undefiled,
incorruptible, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven. We
have God's Word, God who cannot lie, and we delight in it. Delight
in it. We have no reason to be discouraged.
Our hope and our confidence is not in ourselves. Not even in
our profession. Not even in our religious leaders.
Not even in our pastors. Our confidence and assurance
and hope is in our God. and in His Word, His Word. You see that? Delight thyself
in the Word of God. And I can tell you this, not
only from Scripture, but from personal experience. When you're
down, fretful, uneasy, fearful, doubting, don't go to another
person and seek help. Go to the Scriptures. Turn to
the book of Psalms. Turn to the writings of our Lord.
Turn to those encouraging passages of Scripture. Read them. Lay
hold of them. Appropriate them for yourself.
These are men whom God blessed, writing the Scriptures, and they
are for your comfort, they're for your edification, they're
for your faith. Read the Word of God. Delight
thyself in the Word of the Lord. It can't perish. He can't lie. Or here's another word. Verse
5, commit, commit thy way unto the Lord, and he'll bring it
to pass. Commit. Commit thy way. You know, Paul used this word
in his definition of faith. In II Timothy 1.12, he said,
I'm not ashamed. I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that he's
able to keep that which I, what? Committed. committed unto him
against that day. What does it mean to commit something?
Let me tell you what one of the old writers said years ago. Commit
thy way unto the Lord, he will bring it to pass. This means
to roll the whole business of life and eternity upon the Lord
and to leave it to thy God. Not only your present trial,
but all your life, and all your care, and all your family, and
all your hope. Cast away anxiety, cast away
worry and fear, and resign your life, and resign your will, and
resign your way to Him. Roll your whole burden over upon
the Lord, and take every care and every sin to Him, and leave
it there. There was an old black preacher
who pastored one of the northern churches many years ago. His
name was C.A. Tindley, T-I-N-D-L-E-Y. He was
born a slave back before the Civil War, and when that war
was over, when he was 20 years of age, he went north. He couldn't
read or write, and he became a helper for a stonemason, learned
the trade. And later he learned, went to
night school and learned to read and write. And he was brought
to knowledge of the gospel. And he became a janitor of this
huge church up north. And he was 50 years old. And
the pastor died. And they made C.A. Tindley, former
slave, former illiterate, former stonemason helper, former janitor,
pastor of that church. And he wrote, if the world from
you withholds of its silver and its gold, and you have to get
along with meager fare, just remember in God's Word how he
feeds the little bird, and take your burden to the Lord and leave
it there. Leave it there. Leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. He learned something, didn't
he? When your youthful days are gone and old age is stealing
on, and your body bends beneath the weight of care, He'll never
leave you then. He'll go with you to the end.
So take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Commit thy
way unto the Lord. He'll bring it to pass." Can
you learn that? That's a word to live by. Thy
way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be. Lead me by thy hand,
O Lord, and choose my path for me. Smooth, let it be, or rough. It'll still be the best. Winding
or straight, it matters not. It'll lead me to thy rest. I dare not choose my lot. I would
not if I might. But choose for me, O Lord, that
I may walk a right. Fret not, trust, delight thyself
in the Word of the Lord, and commit thy way to him. And now
here's another word, rest. Rest. Oh, if I can just cease
to carry my burdens, if I can just cease to carry them myself
and commit them to him, then I can rest. I can't rest as long
as I'm trying to help him. As long as I'm trying to help
myself, I can't rest. Do you have rest, peace? Not
many people do. This is a world of unrest. Oh,
I know there are a lot of people saying, peace, peace, when there
is no peace, but I'm talking about real peace and rest of
soul and peace of mind and comfort and assurance of heart, no matter
the trial. Christ said, come to me, I'll
give you rest. He said, cease from your labors and enter into
his rest. He said, thou keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Rest. That's what this word is here.
Rest in the Lord. Rest. Suppose there's a man walking
up a hill carrying a heavy, heavy load. And he struggles and he
falls beneath the load. It's just too heavy for him.
Too heavy for him. And here comes a friend, and
that friend loves him. And that friend is strong, and
that friend's able to carry many loads. And when he comes up next
to this friend, he just reaches and takes his load, puts it on
his own shoulder, and begins to walk up the hill. Now, what's
this man to do? His friend has the load. What's
this man to do? Why, rest. Rest. Walk along beside him. Be thankful. Be grateful. Don't try to take
the load back. Take it to the Lord and leave
it there and rest. He's fully able, capable, willing
to bear your load and to put away your sin. Look at this word.
Here's the next one, verse 8, cease from anger. I suppose this
word has to be one of the most difficult assignments of all,
isn't it? We can get mad. Cease from anger. This is an
important word, how necessary it is for rest and peace. Cease from anger against God's
providence. Cease from anger against unbelievers. Were it not for the grace of
God, you'd be one. Cease from anger against relatives. Cease from anger against other
believers. Cease from anger that leads to
vengeance. Don't let another person's neglect
or indifference or ingratitude or bad treatment of you cause
you to lose your peace and your rest. Cease from anger. Let me tell you, I know this,
and I'm as guilty as you are, but I need to learn this word
to live by, cease from anger. The wrath of man does not work
the righteousness of God. Anger is not going to change
the situation. It'll only make it worse. Now,
that's true, and you know that's true. Not going to change it,
not going to improve it. It's going to make it worse.
And beside that, it's going to rob us of our fellowship with
God. Don't get upset. Cease from anger. Now, here's the last word, verse
34. I've got to skip way down to
verse 34 and get this last word. Words to live by. Here's the
final word. I'll mention it before we close.
It's so important. Wait. Wait. You know, most of the mistakes
that I have and do make are impulsiveness and haste. If I can just learn
to wait on the Lord. You know what that says there?
Wait on the Lord. David said, I would have fainted
If I had not believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living, wait on the Lord. Again, I say, David repeated
it, wait on the Lord. Time is nothing to God. Let it
be nothing to you. The Lord never moves before his
time and he's never late in his purposes. In the fullness of
time, he sent his son. In the fullness of time, He called
you. In the fullness of time, He'll
bless you. What does this verse say? Wait
on the Lord, keep His way, and He'll exalt you to inherit the
land. You know, when you're reading
a book, you start the first and your hero gets in trouble, serious
trouble. out of that trouble into more
trouble. You don't stop reading. You don't give up because you
know back here in the back of the book, things are going to
turn out all right. And our lives are like a tale that's told.
And we start in here and things develop and things take place
and things that are unpleasant sometimes and most difficult.
But I'll tell you this, he who wrote the story will make it
in happily in Christ Jesus. So why don't you wait on it?
Wait on the Lord. Words to live by. If you want
this message, I have one, a message on the other side, a summary
of our gospel, and this one, Words to Live By. Here's the
address. Send $2. We'll mail it to you.
May God bless you.

Words to Live By

What does the Bible say about trusting God?

Why is rest in God important for Christians?

How do we know God's providence is beneficial for us?

What does the Bible mean by committing our way to the Lord?

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Words to Live By

What does the Bible say about trusting God?

Why is rest in God important for Christians?

How do we know God's providence is beneficial for us?

What does the Bible mean by committing our way to the Lord?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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