Sermons
June 27th, 2021 by Pastor Solley062721AM Ordered Steps
Sub. Steps in life
Theme: God’s ordered steps.
Text: Ps 37:23-25
“Ordered Steps” Psalm 37:23-25
Introduction
The thirty seventh chapter of the Psalms has long been one of my favorites. I read it, or parts of it several hundred times each year. There are many precious truths contained in this Psalm that speak to my heart. (1) The promise that if I trust in Him, commit my way to Him, the Lord will give me the desires of my heart. – Ps 37:3-5 (2)That as I rest in the Lord He will take fretfulness away from me. – Ps 37:7 (3)That the little that I may have is greater than the riches of this world. – Ps 37:16-18 (4) That a walk in His Word will keep me from falling away. – Ps 37:31 (5)That victory over every enemy I face will one day be mine. – Ps 37:34 (6) That I can have peaceful days. – Ps 37:37 So many promises in this Psalm that speak to my heart and encourage me.
I. We also find that we have ordered steps: Ps 37:23-25 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. – Ps 37:23 I have believed from the time I was young in the Lord that nothing happens by chance in the life of the believer in Christ, that our steps are ordered.
A. This does depend of course on us walking with the Lord, walking in the will of God: Ps 37:3-5 I say this of course because God never orders anyone to walk in sin, to turn away from Him. Don’t make that mistake.
1. The backslider cannot claim that God ordered him or her to walk in sin: God never moves anyone, saved or lost, to sin.
2. Don’t ever try to rationalize sin by claiming God ordered you to that way: Thoughts like that are of Satan and not of God.
B. But what does it mean to have ordered steps? Ps 37:23 The Hebrew word translated ordered here is translated a number of different ways in the Old Testament and it gives us an indication of what steps ordered by God are.
1. It is translated established several times as something established by God: When speaking of David the Bible tells us God established, or ordered his kingdom.
2. It is translated as something made ready: Such as a meal for company or travelers. An ordered meal
3. It is translated as something prepared: Such as when they prepared a sacrifice in the Old Testament. A prepared sacrifice.
4. It is translated as something confirmed: David was confirmed to be king. Something confirmed by God to be king.
C. Ordered steps for the Christian are then steps established by the Lord, made ready by the Lord, prepared for us by the Lord, confirmed by the Lord: So then nothing happens in the Christian’s life that has not been ordered by the Lord. Again God never orders anyone, saved or lost, to walk in sin. Don’t make that mistake.
1. But if a Christian does backslide expect some ordered steps by the Lord to bring them back to Him: Some ordered steps.
2. If we decide to seek and walk in His will expect to be found in ordered steps: Some ordered steps.
3. When we go through trials don’t think the Lord has forsaken you: God uses those trials for a purpose. Some ordered steps.
4. Times of sickness and even the death of a believer in Christ the Lord uses for His glory: Some ordered steps.
5. Christian brothers and sisters in Christ our steps are ordered by the Lord: Ps 37:23 Ordered steps.
II. And when we place our lives in His capable hands, when we walk in the knowledge that are steps are order by the Lord we then can learn from every step we have taken in Him, every way that He established, everything that He has prepared for us: We can rest in the fact that our steps are ordered by the Lord. – Ps 37:23
PROP: Every believer in Christ needs to realize that our steps are ordered by the Lord. TS. And learn the many lessons God has for us as we walk in His ordered steps.
Body
I. Ordered steps are delightful steps: Ps 37:23-25 The Bible tells us that ordered steps are delightful steps. – Ps 37:23 – The Hebrew word used here for delight means exactly what our English word does. Ordered steps are delightful steps. – Ps 37:23
A. But who is the delighted one here, is it us or is it God? To whom does the he refer, us or God? Without breaking the sentence down the he refers to both us and God. Ordered steps will bring delight to God and should bring delight to us.
1. The Bible tell us this in Phil 2:13: For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. So we know then that it brings our heavenly Father good pleasure to order our steps. God is delighted to find us walking in His ordered steps.
2. And it should delight us as well to be found walking in His ordered steps, to be found walking in His will: Nothing should please us more than to know God has established our steps, ordered our steps, is going before us. Nothing should delight us more than to know that we are walking in ordered steps. But does it?
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B. Ordered steps will be a delight to us only to the degree we are willing to submit our lives to Him: This is where the first part of
Ps 37 has great bearing on the steps of a good man. – Ps 37:3-7 – The steps ordered of the Lord are going to be a delight to me only to the degree I am willing to submit my life to Him. Notice what the Bible tells me I am to do here.
1. I am to trust the Lord with my life, place it in His capable hands: Ps 37:3
2. I am to do good, obey Him and His Word: Ps 37:3
3. I am to commit every part of my life to Him trusting that He does all things well: Ps 37:5
4. I am to wait on Him: Ps 37:7
5. Then I am to purpose to be delighted in Him: Ps 37:7
6. When these things are true in my life then the he in verse 23 will refer to me: Ps 37:23
C. This is important because steps ordered of the Lord may not always seem delightful: Ps 37:23-25 Notice what the Bible says in verse 24. – Ps 37:24 – God will never move us to sin, never move to drive us away from Him, but the ordered steps of the Lord may not always seem delightful. David knew this as he wrote down the words of the 23rd Psalm. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” That doesn’t seem delightful but even as David wrote down those words of God he was walking in ordered steps.
1. There will be times when we feel cast down: Ps 37:24 But we will be in ordered steps.
2. There will be times when we have seemed to fall and cannot get up: Ps 37:24 But we will be in ordered steps.
3. There may be times when we may even feel forsaken by God: Ps 37:25 But we will be ion ordered steps.
4. I would rather stop the chapter at the end of verse 23, but God didn’t: Ps 37:23 I would rather stop the chapter here but God wants me to know, wants you to know that ordered steps may not always seem to be delightful.
a. How many of us welcome with delight times of sickness into our lives? But those times are a part of life.
b. How many of us welcome with delight times of sorrow and loss into our lives? But those times are a part of life.
c. How many of us welcome with delight times of trial and testing into our lives? But those times are a part of life.
d. How many of us welcome with delight times of doubt and fear into our lives? But those times are a part of life.
5. We need to be submissive to the will of God and ordered steps of God because they may not seem delightful: That is why we need to follow the pattern in Ps 37:3-7 to be found delighting in the ordered steps of God.
D. Ordered steps are delightful steps: Ps 37:23-25
II. Ordered steps are delightful because of what they teach us: Would you agree that God has purpose in all that God does? Would you also agree that God’s purpose for us as born again believers is to make us vessels fit for His use and glory? That is stated in 2 Tim.
2 Tim 2:20-21 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. That being true than it is also true what is stated in Jeremiah 18 and Romans 9, the potter really does have power over the clay.
A. Is it reasonable that in every ordered step in my life God has something for me to learn? That God has purpose for every ordered step of my life, the ones that seem to be delightful to me as well as the ones that do not, that God has plan and purpose for every ordered step in our lives and that purpose to make us better vessels, vessels fit for the master’s use? If that is not reasonable the rest of the message will be of no use to any of us.
1. Perhaps a young shepherd boy did not understand why his flock was attacked by a lion and a bear when he was all alone: But he learned a lesson that allowed him to step out in the power of God against a giant and defeat him on the battlefield.
2. Is it reasonable that in every ordered step in my life God has something for me to learn?
B. Ordered steps are delightful because of what they teach us:
III. Let us look at Abraham then for a few moments, at the ordered steps in his life and what he learned along the way: Abraham is considered by some to be a nomad because of his wanderings. A nomad is one who wonders, going from place to place, no permanent home, no set direction. Abraham was not a nomad, Abraham walked in steps ordered by God. Notice these steps ordered by God, the places they took Abraham and the lessons he learned.
A. At Haran Abraham learned the danger of going only half way for God: Gen 11:27-32 Abraham’s father it seems was from Haran and had taken his family and moved to Ur of the Caldees. Looking at a Bible map Ur of the Caldees was East of Babylon in what is now modern day Iraq, far from the Promised Land.
1. God had told Abraham to leave and go to Canaan, to the Promised Land: Gen 11:31 ; Gen 12:1
2. It seems that Abraham went halfway: Gen 11:31 Haran is halfway between Ur and Canaan. It was most likely Abraham’s father who stopped his progress because that was where he was born. Abraham went halfway.
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3. So God had to remove what was hindering Abraham from going all the way: Gen 11:32 Abraham learned the danger of going only half way for God.
4. The very same danger exists for us today: How much of us does God want? How much are we to give to Him? We need be careful of only going halfway for the Lord, He wants our all.
a. What is hindering you from giving all to Jesus today?
b. Better for us to surrender all for Christ than to have that which hinders us taken away.
c. I can look back at my life, at things that hindered my walk with Christ and things that He had to take away. It would have been far less painful if I had just set them aside and walked in God’s ordered steps.
5. At Haran Abraham learned the danger of going only half way for God: Gen 11:27-32
B. At Bethel Abraham learned the joy of fellowship with God: Gen 12:1-8 The promise of God, the unconditional covenant that God made with Abraham did not come until after Abraham left Haran and came to Bethel. – Gen 12:1-4 Abraham was on the move from Haran before this promise was given. He may not have known exactly where he was going but he was now going all the way for God. – Gen 12:5-8
1. Bethel means the house of God, the place of God: Abraham now standing in the place where God wanted him to be.
2. Abraham then is moved to build an altar to the Lord: Gen 12:7-8 An altar was built for worship, praise, and fellowship with God.
a. Now Abraham could fellowship with God because Abraham was where God wanted him to be.
b. Now Abraham could praise God because Abraham was where God wanted him to be.
c. Now Abraham could take joy in the Lord because Abraham was where God wanted him to be.
3. When any of these things are missing in our life we are most likely not where God wants us to be: It is only when we get to Bethel that we find these things to be true in our lives today.
a. If your fellowship with God seems to be lacking perhaps you are not where God wants you to be.
b. If you can’t praise God as you once did perhaps you are not where God wants you to be.
c. If you lack the joy of the Lord perhaps you are not where God wants you to be.
4. At Bethel Abraham learned the joy of fellowship with God: Gen 12:1-8
C. It is also at Bethel that Abraham learned of the danger of leaving the place of God in difficult times: Gen 12:9-10 There are a couple of times when Abraham leaves by choice the place of God. We know why Abraham left Bethel. – Gen 12:10 There was a famine, that was why Abraham left Bethel. But nothing good happens as Abraham leaves the place of God. Now the ordered steps of God are going to be for the purpose of bring Abraham back to where God want Abraham to be.
1. Why not just trust God to provide through the famine? Abraham was where God wanted him to be. Why not just trust?
a. Abraham ends up making himself a liar. That was not good.
b. Abraham ends up having to fight a war. That was not good.
c. Abraham ends up losing Lot. That was not good.
d. Abraham even tries to fulfill the promise of God by himself and Ishamel is born. That was not good.
e. It was not good for Abraham to leave Bethel even though times were difficult. It would have been better to trust in the Lord.
2. It is never good for us to leave the place of God, the place of fellowship with God, even though times may be difficult: How many of us will face difficult times in our lives? All of us. John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. How true those seven words in the middle of that verse ring true in our lives today. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” What then do we do in difficult times?
a. Many accuse God of being unrighteous, unfair, unloving. That is not good.
b. Many get bitter and turn away from God. That is not good.
c. Many walk away from the only one who can help them. That is not good.
f. Many do the same thing Abraham did and little good will come of it.
3. It is also at Bethel that Abraham learned of the danger of leaving the place of God in difficult times: Gen 12:9-10
D. At Mamre Abraham learned to be patient and wait on the Lord: Gen 18:1-10 Abraham did not learn the lesson as well as he should have because it is after this that Ishmael is born.
1. But here Abraham is back in the promised Land, Mamre is near Hebron: Now the promise repeated. – Gen 18:10 – Abraham has been waiting a long time for a son to be born and he is going to have to wait a while longer. But Abraham, be patient, wait on the Lord.
a. Again, it is when Abraham took matters into his won hands that troubled followed.
b. But Abraham, wait on the Lord.
2. We need as well to be found waiting on the Lord: Ps 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
a. How many times have I lost patience and tried to go forward on my own? I can’t even count how many times.
b. It has never worked well. Wait on the Lord.
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3. At Mamre Abraham learned to be patient and wait on the Lord: Gen 18:1-10
E. At Moriah Abraham learned to sacrifice all for the Lord: Gen 22:1-3 This the great test and trial of Abraham’s love and devotion to the Lord. Can you imagine as a parent what it must have felt like to Abraham to receive this command, what it took to obey it?
1. But Abraham did obey: Gen 22:3-7 Isaac is not a baby here, not a younger boy, he is a young man, but he is still Abraham’s son. Tell me parents, when do you stop loving your children, worrying over your children?
2. Abraham obeyed to the point of having a knife in his hand, holding it above his son, and moving to plunge it into Isaac taking his life: Gen 22:9-10 It was then that God stopped Abraham. – Gen 22:11-14
3. Abraham learned that when one sacrifices all for God, God will provide: Gen 22:14-18
4. What a lesson for us to learn today: Rom 12:1-2 And when we give all to Jesus Christ, when we sacrifice all for Jesus Christ, it may seem to be more than we can give.
a. But just like Abraham we will learn as well that Jesus will provide.
b. Whatever we give up for Him will be provided. – Matt 19:29
5. At Moriah Abraham learned to sacrifice all for the Lord: Gen 22:1-3
F. Abraham was no nomad, Abraham had steps order by the Lord and Abraham learned lessons along the way: Lessons for us.
Conclusion
Having looked then at steps ordered by the Lord I pray we can delight in them today.
I. Ordered steps are delightful steps: Ps 37:23-25 The Bible tells us that ordered steps are delightful steps. – Ps 37:23 – The Hebrew word used here for delight means exactly what our English word does. Ordered steps are delightful steps. – Ps 37:23
II. Ordered steps are delightful because of what they teach us: Would you agree that God has purpose in all that God does? Would you also agree that God’s purpose for us as born again believers is to make us vessels fit for His use and glory? That is stated in 2 Tim.
2 Tim 2:20-21 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. That being true than it is also true what is stated in Jeremiah 18 and Romans 9, the potter really does have power over the clay.
III. We have Abraham and many others as an example: