Do Not Fret Because Of Evil Doers
Psalm 37, Psalm 73

INTRO:
Good morning. We're continuing our series of sermons from Psalms. As I reviewed some of the Psalms I thought about the ones that are my favorites. I invite you to take out your Bible and turn over to Psalm 37.

Psalm 37 is actually one of my favorites and the reason it is one of my favorites is like the reason that Isaiah 41:10 is a favorite verse from the Old Testament because the text speaks to me and my spiritual needs.

I. Let’s start right off then by reading Psalm 37:1 – “Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.” We find this verse quoted in Proverbs 24:19. The beginning of the text is talking about those who are evil doers or in another translation, the wicked. As we look at the world around us we see that the majority of the world is in darkness. They're not making any effort to try to follow the Word of God and as a result we see the majority of mankind living in sin.
A. We're living in the age of information where you can turn on the screen and see all the news, not only in our state, but our country, and the whole world. We have access to knowledge of actually how much wickedness there is.
1. Notice how the verse begins, it says “do not fret”. The idea of that word “fret” is don't be anxious, don't be worrying, and don’t be afraid. As a verb it means to be constantly or visibly worried or anxious and the second definition is enlightening; “gradually wear away (something) by rubbing or gnawing.”
2. The British use it as a noun to indicate “a state of anxiety or worry”.
3. As we look at the news on television, computers or smartphones, we see all the things that are happening around us and sometimes we find ourselves struggling with worry, being anxious, even afraid... fretting.
B. Let’s jump down now to verses 7 and 8, Psalm 37:7-8 – “7. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. 8. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret, it only causes harm.”
1. Here the psalmist is talking about our seeing people that are prospering doing things “their way”. It seems like they're doing well and yet they're living in wickedness. They're getting away with it.
2. Do we sometimes watch the news and after we turn it off we find our self being angry? Or after we turn it off we find our self being afraid? I know we do.
3. I actually quit listening to a number of programs for that very reason. One night at about 3:00 in the morning I experienced something I'd not experienced since the cold war days—a panic attack.
4. I was not actually afraid for myself, after all I've been blessed to live a long life of freedom in our country. My fear was for our children, and our grandchildren; wondering what kind of country will they have in the future? Are they going to have the same freedoms we have? Or is socialism going to take over and all of a sudden all of our freedoms are gone? Are we going to lose the freedom of religion? It just started snowballing. Amazing how one worry piles onto another, fretting.
5. I thought of Psalm 23 – “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” I read Isaiah 41:10 – “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'” .
C. Guess what? It didn't work. Rather than pulling out of the fear it just built up and got worse. That's what a panic attack can do, it can consume you.
1. I finally had to ask myself the question, what's wrong with me? I got out of bed, made a cup of coffee and did a lot of soul searching and the conclusion I came to is my problem was not that I could not find things in God’s words to help me.
2. My problem was, that at least at that moment, doubt. Is God really with us? When you see the world going crazy... isn't God the ruler of this world? Well yes. Isn't Jesus the King of Kings and the Lord of lords? Isn't He the King over all the world? Isn’t this is His domain, His kingdom? Well yes.
3. Don't you see what's happening God? Don't you see what's happening to your kingdom Jesus? Don't you see what's happening in the world? Are you aware?
4. You see the problem was not God, the problem was my trust. That's why I was afraid. The text says fretting only causes harm.
D. In general I have stopped watching CBS News and MSNBC news. I would get angry after I watched them and then I would have to calm down. I'm tired of it. I watch now only sparingly, enough to be sure I have not buried my head in the sand. But as soon as my face starts to flush, “click”.
1. Here is something interesting. Fake news has actually helped me. I know a long time ago someone said “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see”. The problem is today because the things we see and hear are so well presented we tend to believe more then we should. Coming to realize that a large portion of what is out there is false, either in fact or in presentation, (out of context, misquoted, and so on) has helped me damp down my anger.
2. When you see the news do you find yourself becoming afraid because of what you see happening in the world? It seems like there's so much wickedness and it seems like they're getting away with it.
i. Is the republic going to fall?
ii. Is socialism going to take over?
iii. Are our children going to be persecuted?
iv. Are we going starve?
E. All of a sudden it just starts going crazy and we find our selves struggling with anger and fear. That's why this is one of my favorite Psalms. It speaks to me where I really am and my spiritual struggles.
II. By the way if you don't know this, a good cross reference to Psalm 37 is Psalm 73. Look at Psalm 73:3-5 and here scripture is speaking about not being envious; “3. For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4. For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm. 5. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men.”
A. That attitude plays well to us. I remember decades ago when there was a show that we sometimes would watch “lifestyles of the rich and famous”.
1. We like to watch shows about fancy houses and the big cars and all the money and all the wealth. We look at that world and start thinking; they’ve got it made. Look how good their life is. Look how wonderful their life is.
2. We wish we had a life like that. We find our self starting to be envious of them. Envy because their life is so good and ours so tough.
3. The scripture says don't envy. Don't fret. Don't envy. Don't be afraid because of what we see going on out there and don't start wishing we had that lifestyle.
B. The same text continues in Psalm 73:17-19 to say; “17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. 18. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.”
1. I’m sure we all realize that just because somebody is wealthy doesn't mean their life is good. On the other hand just because somebody is wealthy doesn't mean that life is necessarily bad.
2. The mistake we sometimes make is we equivocate wealth with a good life. We assume if a person has a lot of wealth their life is good and it doesn't really matter if what they're doing this wicked and sinful. They will get away with it because of their wealth. We see this in films all the time and on occasion in real life. They can buy justice. Or their wealth can be an excuse. Think of the affluence teen who is in the news again.
3. From that logic people reason all you have to do is try to get money. It's all about how much money can you get in your life and so therefore this is what you want.
C. I see on the covers of the magazines when I walk out of Wal-Mart or the grocery store that they never say these people with wealth and fame have a life that is wonderful.
1. It is always the next divorce or the next turmoil or how their life is miserable. Those magazines on the covers talk about addictions, infidelity, illness and betrayal.
2. The scripture here is talking about how there are those that are wealthy and they are in slippery places where they are continually falling. Their life is falling apart and they're miserable.
3. We may think their life is great just because they've got wealth but in reality not many would want to change places with them. We do not want to be in their shoes because we do not want the destruction, grief and the sorrow that is in their life.
III. Going back now to Psalm 37:2 it says about those who are evildoers; “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.” Then in verse 10 “For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look diligently for his place, But it shall be no more.”
A. For those that are wicked there will come a time when they're not going to be here anymore. All the evil that they've done that we fear is going to stand forever blows away like the wind and they are soon forgotten.
1. If we find our self being wicked and prospering in sin, we need to realize because of that choice there will be consequences in this life. God's going to set us in slippery places.
2. The text says here he went into the house the Lord and he understood their end...their end in this life and their end in judgment.
B. Going back to Psalm 37:16 – “A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked.” You won’t find a show about lifestyles of the middle class. It would not make a good show as far as the world is concerned. Who would watch something about a life where there is a good marriage, peace and joy? About people who are right with God? People that are content with who they are and what they have right now? Don't look at the wicked and the prosperity of the wicked and start thinking my life stinks because I don't have all that stuff.
1. To the contrary, your life is good if you've got God in your life.
2. If you've got God in your life you are a winner in this life and on judgment day you are a big winner.
IV. Notice in the text as we go further in this; Psalm 37:12-13 – “12. The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth. 13. The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.” The point to see is this. The wicked have all kinds of problems in their life because of the choice to live wickedly. Even though they may have a lot of money God has set them in slippery places that continually cause them to stumble and have all kinds of grief and problems.
A. He talks about God sees their day coming. If we think anyone is getting away with sin we need to understand they're not getting away with anything when it comes to God.
B. They may be able to buy off judges in this world and buy off, get out of and avoid justice in this world, but they're not going to avoid the judgment of God and True justice from God. Their day is coming. They're going to have difficulties in this life and they're going to lose big time in judgment.
C. Again the other side of the coin if God is in our life, because of that fact and that fact alone, our life is blessed now and we're really blessed on Judgment Day.
V. Let's go back to Psalm 37. Psalm 37:3 – “Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” In the beginning of the Psalm he laid out the problem. The problem is we see wickedness and wicked individuals who are financially prosperous and it seems like they're getting away with it. We see this wickedness and evil out there in the world. We find ourselves struggling with fear. We find ourselves being angry sometimes because of circumstances and situations that we see in the world around us.
A. As I told you earlier when I found myself struggling with a panic attack at the very heart of it was this problem... I didn't trust the Lord. Do you honestly believe that this is God's world? Well yes. Do you honestly believe that Jesus is Lord of Lord and King of kings now? Yes. Is Jesus in control? Is God in control? Yes.
B. There's something I've found that has helped me immensely. First of all I love our country. As many here know I love the Fourth of July celebrating our freedom. But when I see the rise of some of the ideas that being openly talked about in American politics I have to fight being afraid again because I know the history of the last century.
C. When I find myself again struggling with the fear of what's coming then I have to step back and realize—I am a citizen of another nation, another kingdom. I am a citizen of the kingdom of Christ.
1. That comes first and Jesus really is king and God really is in control of this world. What it really comes down to is this.
2. Do we trust God? Or do we think God doesn't know what's going on, or that God is not aware of what these people are doing, or that God doesn't realize they're getting away with what they're doing? Is God being fooled? Of course not!
3. God is not being fooled. God knows exactly what's going on in everybody's life and God is in control.
4. In the final analysis; the way to overcome the fretting and the fear is by trusting in the Lord...absolute total confidence in God.
VI. Psalm 37:5 – “Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.” There are two things there. Trusting in the Lord again but then committing our way to the Lord. What we need to be doing when it comes to our walk in life is to commit it all to the Lord.
A. That takes us back to the giving of ourselves in Romans 12:1 as living sacrifices to God. My life is yours Lord, everything connected to me is yours.
1. God I commit myself totally over to you. I trust you, I trust that you're telling me the truth about how to live my life, to get the most out of it now and how to live my life to make it to heaven.
2. I believe you when you say you're in control, and when you say you're going to have a time of judgment.
B. It always comes down to this, do we trust God? Do you trust His word enough to obey it to realize this is the truth?
1. At the very heart, the very core of our relationship with God, is trust.
2. That is what God desires of all of us. Just trust in Him enough to do what he says...to have confidence in Him, and remember when it seems like the world's going crazy; God is in control.
C. This can be a very difficult thing for us at times. Proverbs 3:5-6 – “5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6. in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
1. What we see in this verse is what we saw in Psalm 37 Commit your way to the Lord. In all your ways acknowledge him it says in Psalms. God tells us how we are to conduct our life, our walk, our way. He tells us about our relationships with family, how to handle our job, our brother, our neighbors, our own life and we are to acknowledge Him in all of our ways.
2. We do not lean upon our own understanding of our fears, our fretting, our worrying, and our anger. We are not going to use that to guide us but we are going to trust in the Lord. What we see in the scriptures, even in the Old Testament, the primary message is that what God desires of all of us is trust. That is where the Israelites failed and where even Christians fail today. Trusting God to where we'll acknowledge His word, His ways... in everything.
D. Going back to Psalm 37:23-25 – “23. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. 24. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. 25. I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.” That verse should be very encouraging to us. God knows if you trust him, God knows if you've committed your ways to Him. God knows if you're acknowledging Him in all your ways and following His word in your life. He's talking about this good person here. If that is our life and we are trusting in the Lord, following His word by faith, we are that good person.
1. The Psalm says the good persons steps are ordered by the Lord. The idea is the hand of God is in your life, protecting you. He's with you.
2. The Psalm talks about “though he fall”, wait – fall? Stop right here. Have any of us by any chance had a fall spiritually at different times in our life? Yeah. That's me. Then the Psalm says “he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand”. Whew! I don’t know about you but that gives me comfort because it says the Lord upholds him with His hand.
3. Because we trust the Lord we're acknowledging His ways in everything, and are trying to follow His word by faith. In those moments when we do fall the Lord knows that we've committed our way to him. He provides for forgiveness and gives us the opportunity to get up and get back into the race.
E. With this confidence he says; “ I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.” I told you earlier I had a panic attack and it was not about me. My panic attack was about my children and my grandchildren.
1. I wonder what's coming for them. What's the future going to be like for them. What's this country going to be like, and I started being afraid.
2. This verse gives me comfort, that not only will God take care of me he'll take care of my children and my grandchildren. Again it goes back to trust and belief. Do we believe the verse? Do we trust that God will take care of us? That he's ordering our steps?
F. I learned, as I am sure many of you have, that delighting in the joy and peace of our Lord, having peace in the mind is directly connected to our trust in God. The reason I could not bring my panic attack under control was because my trust faltered. My fear was consuming me and it was sinking my trust.
VII. Let's get back to Psalm 37:4 – “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” When we're going to God in prayer and we cast before God all our fears, all our anxieties, all our worries, all the things we're fretting about, He hears our prayer and He will answer our prayers. We realize the hand of God is in our life and we can take our problems, threats, fears, worries, all to God and then cast all our care upon Him because He cares for us. In that realization is where the delight in the Lord comes from.
A. Let me give you a New Testament verse on this; Philippians 4:4 – “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” Notice the comparison. Delight yourself also in Lord from Psalms, rejoice in the Lord always from Philippians, “... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...” from Galatians.
1. Joy and Peace. The joy and the peace of Christianity is a product of trust. I want to say that again because that's the main point we need to internalize, the joy of Christianity and the peace of Christianity is a direct product of our trust in God and our commitment to the Lord.
2. Just trusting God is in control I'm going to do the best I can, by faith, with what I have and where I am. If I fall again I'll ask God's forgiveness and get up and get back into the race and keep going forward, by faith.
B. Psalm 119:174 – “I long for Your salvation, O Lord, And Your law is my delight.” Psalm 1:2 – “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.” How is it that God speaks to us? It is not by a wee voice in the middle of the night. God speaks to us today through His word. If you want to draw nearer to God and if you want to strengthen your trust in God, your relationship with God, you need to let God speak to you through His word. Find the scriptures that fit where you are in your spiritual journey and in your struggles and then read those particular verses and meditate on them.
C. I find that I do not fully grasp things sometimes when I first look at them and I need to think about them a bit. Sometimes I need to see other things in God’s word on the subject to try and round out the picture. I need to come back to it again. Something happens over time.
1. I’ve found that over time you find yourself falling in love with the word of God to where you delight in the scriptures and you delight and rejoice in meditating on the scriptures.
2. You come to understand their strength and how they shape your life. How they help and guide you in your life. When you find yourself delighting in the scriptures in reality you are delighting in the one who gave the scripture.
3. I’ll say that again. If you're delighting in, rejoicing in, the scriptures, you're actually delighting in the one who gave you the scriptures. You're delighting in God. You're rejoicing in the Lord. Find the scriptures that fit you. Meditate on them, read them over and over again.
VIII. Going back to Psalm 37:39-40 – “39. But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. 40. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.”
A. Do we see the emphasis in this Psalm? It keeps coming back to this; because they trust in Him. It's because they trust in Him that God is going to give them salvation. It says the salvation of the righteous is how? It's from the Lord.
1. We want to go to heaven. We want to be saved. Who's going to take care that actually in the end for us? God.
2. The only reason we are going to make it to heaven is because of the Mercy and the grace of God. You've got to let that sink in.
3. If you think you're going to get heaven because you deserve it... you're going to be afraid all the time.
4. The truth of the matter is the only way we're going to make it is to be forgiven and it is God that's going to forgive us. And we've got to come to God His way.
B. We've got to trust in the Lord and acknowledge His way. His way is the gospel and His way is Jesus Christ. If we don't come to the gospel and we don’t come to Jesus Christ, then we don't come.
1. When you realize that we have salvation and that it is just from the Lord, that God has mercy on you and that God is showing grace to you, then you will find delight in the Lord. You will be thanking God and wanting to be with God and loving the Lord. Then your relationship with Him will grow stronger and stronger.
2. Do you ever have times of trouble? We all do fairly often. Sometimes for some of us it may seem nonstop. He is our strength in time of trouble. He'll help us. He'll deliver us. Do you believe it? Do you believe the Lord is with you in your time of trouble or are you all alone? If you think you're alone you're going to be what? Afraid.
3. If you look at your sins and you think I'm going to go to hell because I'm a sinner and I've messed up yet again, you've got reason to be afraid. Unless you deal with the guilt of sin in God's way and take it to him and pray for forgiveness.
C. You draw strength from this relationship with God by trusting in Him and by knowing (there is a key, trust leads to knowing) knowing that God will help you and God will deliver you.
1. From that knowledge, comes joy. That's where the delight in the Lord comes from. It comes to those who trust in him. Romans 12:11-12 – “11. not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12. rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;”.
2. One more verse on this. Hebrews 3:6 – “but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” From Romans 12:12 the phrase rejoicing in hope. Then from Hebrews 3:6 the rejoicing of the hope. Hope is an aspect of faith where we honestly believe the promises of God, that He's telling us the truth about the forgiveness of our sins. The truth about the resurrection that's coming, the truth about eternal life, and the truth about heaven.
D. For our own self-examination some questions to ask are; is what the scriptures are telling us about the forgiveness of sins true? Is what the scriptures are telling us about the resurrection true? Is eternal life in heaven with God for eternity a myth or is it true?
1. Our joy is directly connected to the answers we give.
2. If we answer I'm not sure, then we may never have the joy of Christianity.
3. If we answer no we'll definitely never have the joy of Christianity.
4. Our joy is directly connected to the trust that the promises of God or true. See the connection in these two verses rejoicing in hope and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. He wants you to hold onto that confidence.
5. It is the trust in the Lord that is the way to the joy when we believe He's telling us the truth about what's coming.
IX. Psalm 37:7 – “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.” We've talked about trusting in the Lord, committing it all to the Lord, delighting in the Lord and now the last part of this psalm is rest in the Lord.
A. This next phrase says to wait patiently for Him. Whenever we talk about God's judgment and God's punishment do we sometimes in our mind find ourselves thinking God, punish these people?
1. We see wickedness and think Lord, please deal with this now.
2. Well the text here says wait patiently for him. This is His world. God knows what He's doing. Do we? This is Christ’s kingdom; do any of us think the King needs our advice? I think He knows what He's doing.
3. The best thing that we can do when it comes to the world and the prosperity of the wicked, when we see that they seem to be getting away with it and we're wondering what's going to happen in the future... is just trust God. Pray for those that are going wrong that they may wake up in time and then just trust God.
B. Don't be afraid because of all the craziness that's going on around us. The way we avoid the fear and overcome it is by trusting in God.
X. Going back to Psalm 37:37 – “Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace.” Peace is in opposition to fear isn't it? Peace is calmness.
A. Isaiah 26:3 – “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Again we see it is all because we trust in Him.
1. There is a peace the Lord described as perfect peace. He tells us the way that we get to this level of perfect peace is by keeping our mind set on him.
2. In this crazy old world when there are all kind of storms around us, we need to do the best we can to keep our mind set on the Lord and trust in Him.
3. We can not allow the craziness to cause us to start fretting and being afraid and worrying. It only causes harm. It doesn't help us in any way to worry and fret.
XI. Just a bit more and the sermon is yours Philippians 4:6-7 – “6. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7. and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Do we see that? Psalm 37 – “Do not fret”. Philippians 6 – “Be anxious for nothing”
A. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication (there it is taking it to God) with Thanksgiving (what do you do when you've got problems, fears, worries, take it to God in prayer and he says) let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding Doesn't that sound like perfect peace from Isaiah 26:3? Yeah. This is the same kind of peace. The peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
CONCLUSION: Here we are told that to get this peace that passes all understanding we are to pray in trust and make our request known to God. James says in James 1:6-7 – “6. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;” James talked about how the man who doubts can not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Doubting is like a leak in the boat, it can cause us to sink.
We see from scripture that God wants us to trust Him and commit our way to Him in our trust. By your trust and by your faith obey His Word. If you do that He'll take care of you spiritually. He'll even take care of you physically. He'll bless your life now and on judgment day you'll be with him forever.
As we grow in our trust of God, in our confidence in God, we will leave doubt behind and we will see the joy and the peace and the love that is the life of a Christian.

The Christian life is directly connected to our trust in our God. Keep examining yourself, increase your understanding and you will realize; Yes, He's telling me the truth. Yes, I'm going to follow His truth by faith all the way to the close of my life. The resurrection is real. Eternal life is real. Eternity in heaven is real. We're going there. That'll make you smile won’t it? That'll give you peace. That'll give you joy - even in a crazy world.

If there's anybody here this morning who’s not a member of the one body, if you honestly believe that Jesus Christ the son of the Living God, if you are willing to openly confess your faith and then motivated by your trust and your faith in God commit your way to him. Committing your way to the Lord, trusting him completely and then you follow His word by faith that is repentance.

If you're willing to make that great commitment of repentance we will be glad to assist you and baptize you into the body of Christ for the remission of your sins.

if your child of God and you realize there is sin between you and God as we learned earlier God knows that, trust him. God knows those that love him.

Those who are righteous, when you stumble, when you fall, because you are following Him you take it to God in prayer. You ask for forgiveness yet again and then you get up to follow him again.

If you realize there is sin between you and God deal with it. We'll pray for you, we'll pray with you and we'll do the best we can to try to encourage you. If you're a subject of the Gospel call in any way let us know while we stand and sing the song selected.
644—Trust and Obey