Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world.
so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church. Located in Kernersville, North Carolina. last night. I thought, you know, sometimes in life, all you have, literally, are the promises of God.
All you have.
Now, you can start making a list of everything, but I'm going to tell you something. You can lose a whole lot at one time. But there's one thing that nobody can ever take away from you. And that's the promises of God. In Psalm 37, I do want to continue and finish this because this particular passage.
Is just full of promises.
Now we know in verse 1, as we mentioned last week, it says, Fret not thyself because of evildoers. We're introduced to the subject of this chapter that there's some things going on in life that are hard to understand, and they don't seem fair. And so God understands that. God sees that. And by the way, life isn't fair.
And you better be thankful life isn't fair. Because if it was fair, you wouldn't be in church. You'd still be on your way to hell for our sin. But I'm glad life's not fair. I'm glad that our Savior came and died for me.
That he rose again and that he purchased my redemption. Listen, I don't deserve that. That's not fair. But I'm glad that life is not fair. But you're going to have some difficult days.
And you're going to have some things that just you don't understand. We have people sitting right here that had a husband or a wife that they committed to. that they stood at a wedding altar and they vowed, and that wasn't kept. And they've been hurt, they've been done wrong. And listen, every one of you, you can look back and you can find situations.
Where it feels like things have not been handled correctly or things haven't been fair. And these promises are something you need to grab onto this morning because God knows how you feel. I want you to notice, just for the sake of quick review first. He gives us a promise about faith. And notice in verse 3: trust in the Lord and do good.
That word trust. Means to look, this is faith. I mean, no matter what things look like, Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. And we said here, our key here is you exercise faith. God extends the feeding.
You trust in me. And you will be fed. All right. Notice, secondly, he gives us a promise about submission. Verse 4: Delight thyself in the Lord.
That word delight means to be pliable, bendable, delicate. Literally, it means that I am going to delight myself in what God wants, what God's will for my life is. Notice what he says: Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of your heart. Here's what's interesting: give God your desires, and he gives you the desires of your heart. You say, Well, preacher, how does that work?
Well, here's what I have found: that if you give God your desires, God either gives you what you want or he changes your wanter. And God begins to make you want what He wants you to have. And the marvelous thing is, you end up getting what you want. And you might not have even known that you wanted it. Because that's what God can do.
Notice here, he says, You submit, delight yourself in me, and I'll give you the desires of thy heart. Here's the principle: He says, You submit. I will supply. You submit. I will supply.
All right, notice the third thing. He gives us a promise about obedience. Notice what it says, verse 5: Commit. Thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him.
Now, there's our conditional thing. You commit, you trust, notice, and he shall bring it to pass, but we're not done. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
So notice first, he says, you obey. I will make things happen. Trust in the Lord. Notice this: commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him.
He shall bring it to pass. You can't bring it to pass. You can't make these things happen. God says that literally, here's our takeaway: you commit. He will complete.
You commit. He will complete. That means this: God says, if you obey, number one, I'll make things happen. But here's this wonderful ending to this second part of this promise. Notice number two: he says, You obey, I will make things right.
You obey. I will make things happen. You obey. I will make things right. Verse 6, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.
In other words, God's gonna bring to light the truth. God's going to bring to light. God's going to make this right. It might not feel right right now. And listen, as we had prayer with that family last night, it didn't feel right.
It doesn't feel like, oh, this is a really blessed family. This feels like, hey, this is a family that's had a great loss. But God says, listen, you commit thy way unto the Lord. And trust also in him. That's obey, commit.
Trust. Do, obey. He says, You do that, I'll make things happen, I'll bring it to pass. But he also says, I'll make things right.
Some years back, I was youth pastor here from 94 to 2000. And then God called me to full-time evangelism. And at that point, one of the hardest things I ever had to do was to leave this place. Um the hardest thing I ever had to do was come back. No, I'm just joking.
I'm just joking about that. And the hardest thing I ever had to do was to leave this place. I didn't want to. I loved being a youth pastor and assist a pastor here. But God called me to evangelism.
During those years in evangelism, I was grateful, God bless, but we were, and some of you know this, some of you wouldn't know this, but we were preaching in the state of California as we did just about every year. And we were out there. Hudson was a baby, correct? And Daniel was. two or three years old, three or four years old, somewhere around in there.
And so we were out there in California, and we were preaching in Vallejo, California. We had done a youth camp out there. I had preached in Ukiah, California, Vallejo, California, preached in American Canyon, California, and I was going to be preaching in Stockton, California the next week. And so we were preaching in Vallejo, California, and we decided to load Hudson in the car seat. And got Daniel, we went in the car, we're gonna go get something to eat in the middle of the day.
This is like 12:30 in the afternoon. We came back to that mission house, and we had been robbed. And this church is in Vallejo is in a very bad area. It's a bad area called Vallejo. And the whole town's bad.
And so we had left, and I literally, like four days later, saw the man sell my laptop computer. that he sold across the house. It was a drug house, very known for it, but you can't prove it, you know, kind of a thing. And I watched him pull my laptop out of his trunk and sell it, you know. And I actually had a rifle that somebody had given me while I was in California.
And so I had that. They stole that. And I remember hearing at some point that sometimes if they steal something, they'll stash it somewhere so that they can't carry it all. They'll stash it and come back at night and get it. And so I started walking around the church property.
I found my rifle in the bushes. I found a couple other things in the bushes, but they had taken laptop, camera, jewelry, clothes. They had taken everything. You know, it was a rough time. And I was hoping maybe, you know, somehow, maybe the church there was insurance, and there wasn't.
It was just, hey, we're sorry about that. And so here we are. It was tough, and so we headed the next week to Stockton, California, and we lost all of our stuff. And I'm heading up to Stockton, and we get up there, and that church, and the pastor puts us in a motel. And we'd just been robbed, and we got in a motel, and that motel was basically a drug motel, a prostitute motel.
And all night long, I sat there and watched prostitutes come in and out of the room next to me. And I stayed up all night. My family, I put them to bed. I stayed up, had my gun ready, and the moment that the sunlight broke, I said, babe, I'll be back. I went and got us a motel at a different part of town, never told the pastor, took my family over there, paid for it myself.
I mean, you talk about a rough couple weeks. But God says, you obey, I'll make things right.
Well, things weren't right. And I could tell you a chain of events, but I got a call from Joe Myers. I hadn't heard from Brother Joe really a lot in a year or two at that point. He said, Brother Daniel, somehow we found out you were robbed. I said, Yes, sir.
So we're taking an offering for you. And I forget, babe, I don't know, it was $6,000 or $7,000. that you guys gave us. I mean, we had nothing. We had nothing.
We got done preaching in Stockton, California. I went to Pasco, Washington, up there in the top of Washington, to preach a revival.
Somebody came and said, Hey, I heard you got your digital camera stolen. Those were kind of big back then before you used your phones for it all the time. There was a time where you didn't take pictures with your phone. And with that signing out, that meaning guy brought me a A camera. Said, here's a brand new camera for you.
And a secretary came to me the next day and said, Hey, we got a package for you. And a man from Greensboro bought me a brand new laptop computer, sent it to me. And I just watched. Go for two or three weeks. God said You commit your way to me.
And you trust me. I'll make things right. And some of you need to hear this today. That I know so-and-so, husband, wife, might have really, I know life, I know boss, job, I know, I know what right, and you just. But God gave a promise.
That if you commit to him And you trust him. That he not only will make things happen. He'll make things right. I want you to notice our next promise, number four in verse seven. And it's a promise about patience.
And now you need to understand this today. I'm just trying to. Speak to you from my heart a little bit today. Look at verse 7. Rest.
In the Lord. And wait for him? No. Wait. Patiently.
For him. How many of you know sometimes you can wait because you've got no other choice, but you're not very patient while you are? You ever been to Disney World? Happiest place on earth. Hottest, most miserable place on earth.
you're stuck in an hour and a half line because Junior wants to ride, you know, kind of a thing. God says, listen, rest in me. Wait patiently. for me.
Okay, well what what's the promise here? He says, you rest, you wait. Notice this. Verse 7. Fret not thyself.
Because of him who prospereth in his way. Notice first. God says, you rest. You wait patiently. Notice first, God says, be patient when it comes to people.
He says, Fret not thyself because of him, rest and wait. And here, fret not. Because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man, notice the man, him, the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
Notice, for evildoers shall be cut off. God says, listen, rest in me, wait on me. Notice the first thing. He says, you've got to be patient when it comes to people. Don't fret yourself because it seems like these people that have done this, that they're prospering because of people that have done things and brought.
Wickedness to your life and have done things that have brought unfair things to your life. He says, Listen, you need to rest in the middle of this. You need to wait patiently in the middle of this. And I know that this is happening, but notice what he says: cease from anger. Don't let yourself get angry about this.
Don't let wrath start forming in your life because they're prospering, because they've done this to you. He said, Listen, remember, rest and wait. Why? He says, Because don't fret yourself, don't let yourself get angry. You notice this?
Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Why? For evildoers shall be cut off. God says, listen, I've got this. I'll take care of it.
God never said when, He never said how. But he said, although this is going on, you need to be patient when it comes to people. Don't let yourself get angry. Don't let wrath form. Don't let now that make you do evil.
God says, I've got this. I promise you, I've got it. I saw everything. I saw what went down. You just be patient.
You rest in me. You wait in me. Notice secondly, he says. Be patient when it comes to provision. He says, How did the whole chapter start?
Fret not thyself because of evildoers. I know that there's some things unfair. Listen, I'll take care of them, but God won't just take care of them, God will take care of you. Look at verse 9. But those That weight Upon the Lord.
They shall inherit the earth.
So, what are we saying? He says, Be patient when it comes to people. Here's our takeaway: you rest. He will bring restitution. You rest.
He will bring restitution. Then he says be patient when it comes to provision. He says, They shall inherit the earth. Who? They that wait upon the Lord.
What's our takeaway? You wait. He will do the work. You wait. He will do the work.
So, what's God say? You rest. Well, we really have the hard job, don't we? God, what do you need me to do in this? Just rest.
You just wait, let me do it. Yeah, but hey, I can get things done. Boy, I know how to manipulate people. I know how to talk. I know how to get things done.
And God says, Yeah, I know you do. That's why we're in this mess. You just Rest. You just wait. God says, don't listen, be patient when it comes to people.
You rest, I'll make restitution. But he says, be patient when it comes to, well, they're getting all this. What happens to me? All these blessings are coming to their life. Why am I struggling?
God says, hey, just wait a minute, you wait. I'll do the work. Number five, he gives us a promise. about security.
Now there's others in this chapter, but these are the main ones that I just want to cover out of this chapter. And this will be basically our last promise that we're going to deal with. and finish this particular passage. Look at verse 22. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth.
And they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.
Now, there's a promise here about security. Let me tell you how thing. things are going to turn out. This is how secure You need to feel. In your Savior.
He said, notice this. I love this. Such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth. You know what? You and I are going to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years here on the earth.
We are literally going to inherit the earth. And then he's going to make a whole new heaven and a whole new earth.
Okay? God said, listen, I've got you. Let this whole thing play out. You're worried about the here and now. I've already given the victory, I've already taken care of this.
But now, okay, secure about what, preacher? Why can I feel secure, even though I see these things going on? Notice number one, he says, be secure in your footsteps. Look at verse 23. The steps of a good man.
Now he gives a comment. He says, Listen, those that I'm blessed, mine, those that put their faith and trust in me, ones that have committed to me and trusted in me and rested in me and waited on me, he said, listen, you're gonna inherit the earth. He said, listen, those that are cursed by me, they're gonna be cut off. We already know how this whole thing's gonna turn out. But until then, look at verse 23.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. God says, listen, you can be secure in how I lead you. The steps of a good man are ordered not by the good man. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. You want to be a good man?
You want to be a good woman. then you follow the Lord. He doesn't say that a good man orders his own steps. No, if you're ordering your own steps, you're not a good man. The steps of a good man.
God says, listen, you can be secure in how I lead you. Day after day, minute by minute, hour by hour, God says you can be secure in where I'm leading you. The steps, by the way, I've used this often in years in counseling. Notice God doesn't say here the giant strides. of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
He doesn't say the giant leaps of a good man. Listen, God has ever, only ever asked you to grow step by step.
Some of you think you get saved one day, you're supposed to be super Christian next week. And we Baptists have been bad about that.
Somebody comes to get saved. Oh, praise the Lord.
Well, a month later, we're mad if they don't look the part. And act the part. Hello? Last time I checked, you don't get saved by the part. You get saved by grace.
But God says this, the steps of a good man. are ordered by the Lord. All God wants you to do is take one step. at a time. You can be secure in your footsteps.
Notice, secondly, you can be secure in your failure. Even though you fail. You can be secure. Look at verse 24. He says, Though he fall.
It doesn't say, if you fall. Do you notice? God never said, hey, just in case. You ever mess up. No, God says you are.
God says you will. He doesn't say if you fall, he says, though he fall. Hello? Though he, any of you ever messed up? Was that four of us?
Come on. How many of you have ever messed up? You deal with me.
Some of you are messing up right now. I'm going to tell you that right now. You're going to be cut off according to this verse, I'm going to tell you. What does it say? Though he fall.
He shall not be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him. with his hand. You can be secure in how God leads you. Look at me, but you can be secure.
and how God holds you. God's not going to beat you up like other people do. God's not going to remember every little thing like your wife or husband does. I think the one guy said, my wife should be a historian. She never forgets anything.
He says he brings up history all the time. Look at me. God says, though he fall. Though you fall. God's not going to cast you down.
God's not going to cast you out. God's not going to cast you away. You can be secure in your footsteps, and you can be secure. even in your failure. Can I have an amen right there?
You know, you don't have to raise your hands for this one because I don't think you'd be honest anyway. But how many of you have really messed up this week?
Some of you raised your hand anyway. I mean some of you Have you blown it this week? I mean, just absolutely lost your temper. Blew it. Not just that.
Your thoughts Actions. Have you really messed up? Listen, you're here this morning and I'm here to tell you. God still loves you. God still forgives you.
And he has a better plan for your life. Quit letting the same sin. beset you and burden you. Listen, God wants to free you from that. You know why?
Because you and I have the security. that even when I fall, He's not going to get rid of me. Notice number three, he says you can be secure in your future. Look at verse 25. I have been young.
And now I'm old. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken. nor his seed. Baking bread. Last night.
We were standing around with the family and having prayer. Um I don't know if it was last night or if it was this morning. I don't remember. exactly what time it was. And they have a beautiful garden area out there that Ben's worked hard, and we're standing there praying.
And I realize I'm standing right in the middle of his crops.
Now he lost everything.
Now I'm ruining the crops to grow their food. Here I am standing in the middle of their garden. We're all holding hands and we're praying. And I prayed, Lord, you never promised we'd never have things like this happen. You never promised we wouldn't have problems.
You never promised we wouldn't have loss. But I said, Lord, you did promise that your grace is sufficient. That you would never leave us nor forsake us. And I said, God, you did promise that your seed. will never be begging bread.
And you know what? You today, if you're saved and you know it, you need to be secure. in your future. God has given you a promise. And this is what he says.
I have never seen the righteous forsaken. Nor his seed begging bread. You can be secure in your footsteps. You can be secure even in your failure. You can be secure in your future.
God's going to take care of you. Notice, you can be secure in our Father. Look at verse 28. For the Lord. Love of judgment.
and forsaketh not his saints. His Here's We belong to him. They are notice what he says. Talking about us. They are preserved.
Forever.
Some of you look like you've been pickled, not preserved. Preserves, pickling, whatever you want to look at, it's okay. You're sealed either way. It's just how you look on the way.
Some of you didn't even get that. You know why? Because you're pickled. You're pickled. That's why you didn't get it.
That's an old Dan Hautry Sr. joke right there. What do you say? Love this, they are preserved forever. But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
Guess what? You and I could be secure in our Father. He takes care of us. He doesn't forsake us. And he preserves us.
He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it under the day of Jesus Christ. You are preserved. You're sealed. New Testament says unto the day of redemption. Last.
You can be secure in our fear. You can be secure even in your fear. Look at verse thirty-nine. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Listen to this.
He is their strength. in time of trouble. Can't tell you how many times I've quoted it thousands of times. as I did last night. God is our help.
in time. of trouble. Even when trouble comes, even when fear comes. Notice what he says: he is their strength in the time of trouble, and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them.
Why? Because they trust them. Trust. In him. Secure.
I can be secure even when I fail. I can be secure even when I fear. I can be secure knowing my future. I can be secure even in my faults. I can be secure in my father.
I can be secure every day. in my footsteps. If I'm following in, I don't know about you, but Psalm 37 has some fantastic promises. And I don't know about you.
Sometimes. promises. are all you have. And if you have his promises, that's all you need. Let's bow our heads.
I love you today. I just want you to know you may or may not be hurting. You may or may not be in need. But I do want you to know. That you have a God that has given you promises.
And the promises are to His children. And if you don't know the Lord is your Savior. We'd love for you. Love for you. to give your heart to him today.
Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. While you're just sitting right there, dear friend, if you're here and you do not know that you're saved, this is the most important time of the service. If you do not know right where you sit. It's a matter of you understanding who you are, that you're a sinner. And because we're sinners, we can't save ourselves.
It's a matter of understanding who Jesus is. He's the Savior. He was sinless. He died for you. He gave his life.
He sacrificed for you.
so that we could have salvation. And then third, it's just a matter of you asking. It's believing and asking. Jesus, would you save me? Jesus today.
Would you save me? You can do it right. where you sit. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. Some of you today.
Need to get to this altar and say, God, I am going to claim these promises. I'm going to claim these promises. I need something to claim to right now. God, I see some things going on. There's some things going on I don't understand.
I'm over my head. I don't know what's going on. Today, you needed to hear these promises. Lord, I love you. I pray that you would bless.
In Jesus' name, our heads bowed. The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally. Would you take a moment to hear this today? Every man is born with the sin nature.
Romans 3.23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, We're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven. Because of that, sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's Gift. salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept him as our Saviour. Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt.
The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour. Romans ten nine says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever, that's any one. can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior?
There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Savior? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Curlin Baptist Church. Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times.
We hope you have a great rest of your day. God bless you. Mm-hmm.
