"The Steps of a Good Man Are Ordered by the Lord" (Psalm 37:23)

"The Steps of a Good Man Are Ordered by the Lord" from Psalm 37:23 was preached by Dr. Mark McElreath at the City Baptist Church of Atlanta on June 26, 2026. 

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Transcript

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Welcome to the City Pulpit. Bible messages from the pulpit ministry of the City Baptist Church in Atlanta.

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Take your Bibles with me. Let's go to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. And Psalm 37 is a longer Psalm. It's a wonderful Psalm. Many great things in this. If you want to hear the story of how my wife used Psalm 37 to talk her dad into why we should be allowed to date, you can ask her that story later. But we will not preach on that passage this evening. But Psalm 37, let's begin reading in verse number 23. Psalm 37, verse number 23, the Bible says, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young and now I'm old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful and lendeth, and his seed is blessed. Would you mark this phrase, the opening of verse 23? We'll take this for the theme of the Bible message this evening. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The average adult, I looked up this afternoon, I just had to know, takes an average of 5,000 steps a day. That's about two and a half miles, roughly, of walking. And I want you to think, I want you to look at your shoes right now. I want you to look at your shoes and think, can God order and direct these shoes? These steps? What if all those steps, 5,000 or 10,000, however many steps you take? What if God directed each and every one of them? Everywhere we went, in this city, everywhere we went, in our neighborhood, everywhere we went, you name it, right? The Lord directed those steps. And he was able to use them for his good and his glory. Let's take a look at this, see what the Bible has to say about these steps. Make note of a few things this evening. This steps here is being ordered, speaks of being established or directed. And when he speaks of steps, Proverbs 20 and verse 24 says, Man's goings are of the Lord. How can a man then understand his own way? When I think about these steps, I think, have you ever come to a point in life, and maybe you you looked back and you thought, how did I get here? Now that can that can be a two-edged sword, because you can say at one point, you can say, How did I get here? In a bad sense, right? When did my steps diverge off the path I was supposed to be on, and I wound up here? But we could also say, Wow, how did I get here? I think, how did the Lord bring me to this point? How did the Lord get me to the point where, thank the Lord I'm here? Thank the Lord my steps are here. Look, the Lord can direct the steps if we will allow him to do that. It says here the steps of a good man. Now, when we think about this, you may say, now, Pastor, I know in the Bible it says that there's none righteous, no, not one. We're just old, evil sinners. Yes, I understand that. Except for the grace of God, we are all old, evil sinners, right? But a good man here is speaking of as a righteous man. A righteous man, it means someone who is seeking to live right. Right living is what righteousness means. Someone who is knows the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. By the way, that men, this is not just men, this is ladies too, okay? But they're seeking to live their life according to the Lord's way. Let me give you an example. If you hold your place with me, go to the New Testament book of Romans. Romans chapter 12, and I think this helps illustrate this a little bit. Romans chapter 12 and verse number 1. Romans 12, verse 1, Paul writing here to this church in Rome, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Then he says in verse 2 of Romans 12, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That's our word good there again. He's speaking here, and he says, I want you to present your bodies, a living sacrifice. He says that in verse 1. And then he says, acceptable unto God. Now we can try to make our lives acceptable unto our friends, acceptable unto our spouse, acceptable unto our boss. But he says, I want you to make your life acceptable unto God. Okay, God would say, I am pleased by this. Alright? Then he says, verse 2, be not conformed to this world, be transformed, that we may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. I think this good man we find in Psalm 37 and verse number 23 is one who is trying to live according to the good will of God, the way in which God has prescribed and wants us to live. And so this good man here can take steps and can walk and live his life in a way that is pleasing to God. Psalm 40 and verse 2, I read when we opened the service, it says, He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. Established means He set them firmly in their place. You know, when we're walking in the way of the Lord, trying to live a righteous, right kind of life, the Lord establishes our goings. The Lord gives us sure footing. You know, it is the ungodly who slip and slide all their way through life. But it is the righteous who can say, The Lord's established my goings. He showed me exactly the way I'm supposed to go. He's directed my steps. They're ordered by the Lord. In fact, the psalmist says in Psalm 119, verse 133, he says, order my steps in thy word. I think it's interesting he makes that specific way he says it, to order my steps in thy word. You know, if we're walking in a way that does not line up with the word of God, we're not walking in the way of the good man. It should line up with the precepts of the word of God. Psalm 121 and verse 8 says, The Lord shall preserve my going out and my coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. In Proverbs chapter 4, verse 26, it says, Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left, and remove thy foot from evil. That is how the steps can be ordered steps. God's given us a prescribed way to live according to the good man, and we can walk in those steps. Matthew Henry, the commentator, he said, By his grace and Holy Spirit, he directs the thoughts, affections, and designs of good men. He has all hearts in his hand, but theirs by their own consent. By his providence, he overrules the events that concern them, so that they make their way plain before them both what they should do and what they may expect. What he's saying is, God has our ways in his hands. Now he forces no man to live any certain kind of life. God does not force himself on anyone. We all live, we all have a choice how we're going to live. But God helps direct. You realize God does not leave us to our own whims and our own direction. If you're a Christian, you're here, you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, God doesn't just say, all right, now go live your life. He says, I've got a way I want you to live. I have a path I want you to take. My pastor, Pastor Sexton, said for many years, he said, no two people are given the same ability, and no two people are given the same opportunity. We're all given different abilities, we're all given different opportunities, and we will all stand accountable for what we do with the ability we've been given and the opportunity we've been given. My path is going to be similar to your path because if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, there's the way you're supposed to live, and the way I'm supposed to live. But our paths are not going to be exactly the same. God is going to give you a certain path to walk, steps that you're to take that are ordered by Him that He expects. So these are ordered steps. Ordered steps are not necessarily easy steps, but they can be clear steps God has laid out for us as we walk with him, direction he's given us to take. Now make note of a second thing, because verse 23 goes on, not just ordered steps, would you make note of a second thing? These are delightful steps. He says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Now I think it's speaking here of the Lord. The Lord delights in the way and the steps that the good man takes. Can you imagine? Imagine this. The God of the universe, Almighty God, is happy and pleased when we walk in the way that He's told us to walk. When we follow the steps that He's told us to take. Can you imagine that? He looks down and He says, Now that makes me happy. I'm delighted in that. But I don't think it's just the Lord who is delighted. I think it's both God and it's also the good man. You realize when we walk in the steps, we walk the way God wants us to walk, we will be delighted. Now, does that mean everything's going to be happy? Everything's going to come up roses? It doesn't mean that. But it does mean there is a contentedness and there is a peace. And there is a delight in following the Lord and taking the steps he has made for us. God is pleased with the steps the good man has taken, and the good man is pleased. He has taken steps honoring God. Proverbs 13, verse 15 says, the way of the transgressor is hard. What is that? That's the one who's not walking in the steps of the good man. His steps are not delightful. They're actually hard, difficult, strenuous steps. I was talking to the children at lunch today because last night it was late. We were getting ready for bed. And usually Saturday night, if something's going to go down, it's going to go down on Saturday night when we're trying to get ready for the Lord's Day. And right out here, right outside, you know, we live here at the church, so right outside where our room is, there was about eight drunks out on this street right out here, and they were stumbling around and yelling and hollering and, you know, raising a hubbub. They called two Waymo's over to come get them. The Waymo's came and found them and they hobbled in and we watched the whole thing. And I thought, that's the hard way. I told my kids, I said, they went and said, this is fun. That's not fun. Because they'll wake up tomorrow, they've blown a heap of money and they won't remember a thing they've done. They'll probably be ashamed of it, even if they did know what they'd done. That's not the easy way. That's the hard way. That's the way of the transgressor. That's not the way that the Lord delights in. Now you say, well, Pastor, I'm not going out getting drunk and hobbling around in the street. But if we're not walking according to his way and by his steps, he's not happy with how we're living. We're not acceptable unto him. These are not just ordered steps, they are delightful steps. Would you hold your place here with me? Go to the first Psalm, back a few pages to Psalm 1. We think about delightful steps. Psalm 1, a familiar psalm, but it says here in Psalm 1, it says, verse 1, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seed of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. There's that word delight again, right? Okay, it said in Psalm 37, verse 23, that he delighteth in his way. Alright, so the Lord delights in it, but also this good man is delighting in these steps. It then says in verse 2, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Verse 3, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Look at verse 4. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. What's interesting is we find this man walking the way he's supposed to walk. God establishes his steps, and what is in direct uh directly different, what is different from the man who has the established steps? It is the chaff which the wind driveth away. The chaff is not established. The chaff has no foundation. The chaff has no roots that have gone down like the tree. Look at what he says in verse 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. You know how he can delight in our way? Because he knows our way. He knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Why does the way of the ungodly perish? Because their steps have not been directed, their steps have not been established, their steps have not been held by the Lord. These are delightful steps. Did you make note of a third thing? Not only ordered steps and delightful steps, but look at verse number 24. The Bible says, Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. These are upheld steps. Maybe you say, Boy, Pastor, I tell you, I'm going through a tough time. It's hard. I feel like my feet are going to slip. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, your child of God, he upholds us with his right hand. He actually says here, though he fall, the good man may stumble, but he is not going to fall away. He may stumble. There are those, and we find out about them, we hear stories of them. They may stumble. There may be something that they've done that hurts them. But they will not fully fall away from God. They have not lost their salvation. The Lord upholds them. In fact, if you hold your place here with me, well, it says in Proverbs 24, 16, a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again. I think the point that's to be made here is the joy can be restored again. Go with me to Psalm 51. That's just a few pages beyond Psalm 37 to Psalm 51. I think Psalm 51 is the proof text, for though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. You know what Psalm 51 is? Psalm 51 is David's way back to God. David had a big stumble, his sin with Bathsheba. David stumbled, but he did not fall away. You know, one thing David could do, David was not a perfect man, but David knew how to get right with God once again. And in Psalm 51, he says, verse 1, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. He says in verse 3, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is there before me. What does David do? He names the sin, he gets it right, and he wants to come back in fellowship with God. That's really what the psalmist is talking about in Psalm 37. That though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. He can be restored again. However far you have gone, there is a way back to God. David here has had an adulterous relationship. He's seen Uriah killed. He's seen the death of the child that comes out of this. And yet, what does he say? Look down with me in verse number 12 of Psalm 51. He says, Restore unto me the what of thy salvation? The joy. What does sin do? Sin robs the joy. What does uh stepping out of line from a steps ordered by the Lord, the joy is gone. You ever met a Christian? Now they're saved. They're a child, they're in the family. But boy, they just have no joy. You wouldn't know it. If you didn't know, if you didn't know there was a birth certificate, you would know they were a child of God. What does he say? Would you restore the joy once again? He says, here's our word, uphold me with thy free spirit. That sounds like Psalm 37, doesn't it? Look down with me. Go down Psalm 51. Go down to verse number 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, that wilt not despise. Wilt not despise means he doesn't turn it away. He doesn't reject it. He sees the broken heart. He sees the contrite spirit. He says in verse 18, Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Behold thou the walls of Jerusalem. And then he says, Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering, and whole burnt offering, and then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. What is he saying? When I've dealt with all of this and gotten it right, then those ways can be delightful to you again, right? Go back with our to our passage in Psalm 37, where he says, Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. You may find yourself at a point where you say, I've fallen, but Pastor, I don't want to be cast down. I don't want to stay away from the Lord. I don't want to lose the joy forever. Okay. Well, he will uphold you with his right hand. You can be made right again. You can be restored. There is a way back to God. These are upheld steps. I think of the example of the prodigal son in Luke 15. You know, in Luke 15, Jesus is talking about lost things. He talks about some lost sheep. There were a hundred sheep, 99 of them stayed in the fold, and one ran off, and the shepherd went and got the one. He talks about some lost silver. There's a lady, she has ten coins, and she loses one of them, and she keeps the nine and goes looking for the one. And then there's the lost son, two sons, one of them runs off. He takes all his inheritance, he squanders it in a faraway land. But we find, it says in Luke chapter 15, verse 17, when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough in despair, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father. I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. Here's what verse 20 says of Luke 15. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Now, what is that an example of? It's an example of the Lord looking for the prodigal, who he's a son. He was always a son. He didn't lose that birthright. And I think the father got up every morning, he looked out over the horizon, he said, God, would you send, would you send the son back? And when he saw him, he said, that walk looks familiar. I think I know. He's a little more gaunt. He's a little skinnier. It looks like he's been feeding pigs. He's been walling around in a pig style, but I think that's him. And the father didn't stand there and go, Well, it's about time. And the father didn't say, I knew you'd be back. What did the father say? He didn't say anything. He ran to him and he embraced him and he kissed him. What did he do? He brought him back in and he restored him to everything he had before. Now, did he still have some of the marks of the world on him? Absolutely. Did he have some of the scars that had been left because he'd ran off? Absolutely. But the father said, I'm going to bring you back in and make you just like you'd never left. That's the example of the Father. Though we may fall, we shall not be utterly cast down. These are upheld steps. Though the good man may sin, he has not lost his salvation. Would you make note of a fourth thing? There are ordered steps, there are delightful steps, there's upheld steps. But make note here, this fourth thing. There are there are unforsaken steps. Unforsaken steps. Look at verse number 25. He says, This I have been young and now am old. Now I I'm not quite at the point where I'm ready to say that, but I feel like I'm getting closer to it. But you know what he's saying? He's saying, look, I I've seen some things. I've been around a little while. I was young, now I'm old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. This is this is a testimony here. He says, I've not seen the righteous forsaken. Cast down? Yes. Face some hardships? Yes. In fact, hold your place with me and go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Look in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, because Paul speaks to this. Go read the book of Acts. Go read the book of Hebrews. Read about in 1 Peter, 2 Peter, those who suffered because of their Christianity. And yet it says, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse number 7, Paul says this. He says, But we have this treasure in earth and vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, not of us. We are troubled on every side. You ever felt like you're troubled on every side? Couldn't get away from it? Cornered you in. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Here's what he says in verse 9. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Now, everyone in the world may have left them, but God never left them. Jesus never left them. The person of his Holy Spirit, the comforter whom he sent after he left this world, had never left them. Persecuted but not forsaken. Cast down but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in. Our body. It says in verse 11, For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh, so then death worketh in us, but life in you. He's saying, Oh, look, look, we've been perplexed, we've been troubled, all of these things, persecuted, but the Lord never left us. You may be at the point where you think, I don't know, Pastor, I don't know what's up, I don't know what's down, I don't know what's in, I don't know what's out. That's all right. Stop. Consider your steps and remember that David said, I've not seen the righteous forsaken. In fact, he even goes on to say, I haven't seen his seed begging bread. Now, there have been times where God's people have faced famine and they faced extreme poverty. We even find that in the Bible. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8, chapter 9. Deep poverty is what it says of the church in Corinth. But I think the point that's being made here is God blesses with sustenance and he also blesses with the strength to work for it. God has not left his people forsaken, he gives them what they need. Sometimes I think that gift is a gift of contentment. Though it is not much, it is enough. Many times God also gives us that. We find here these are unforsaken steps. And then here's what it finally leads to. Would you make note of this fifth and final thing in verse 26? He says, He is ever merciful and lendeth, and his seed is blessed. These are finally a fifth thing. They are blessed steps. It says, He is ever merciful and lendeth. It's speaking of this good man, he is merciful. He is someone that lendeth. He is giving in charity. In fact, Proverbs 11, verse 24 says, There is he that scattereth and yet increaseth. He keeps giving and yet he himself is increasing. And there is that withholdeth more than is meat, but it tendeth to poverty. Proverbs says, there's people that just give and give and give and give, and yet they still increase themselves. And yet there's people who keep everything to themselves and they just keep decreasing. How is that? Because the Lord blesses the merciful in him that lendeth. The Lord blesses the charity. Look, we've never been made poor by what we've shown in charity. And then here's how he ends in verse 26, and his seed is blessed. You know what this is? This is a generational blessing because of the steps of the good man. The seed is, this is those who come after him. Because of the steps he took in verse 23, there are those that come in verse 26, and they're blessed after him. I think the steps we take today are going to affect what's going to happen in our children's lives, years or decades to come. Maybe grandchildren, those who come after us. And his seed is blessed. Why? Because there were steps of a good man, they were ordered by the Lord. There's a book, I finished it recently. It's called Outliers by an author named Malcolm Gladwell. You may know the name, best-selling author. And Gladwell kind of makes the point that there's no self-made man. He says, really, it's where we're born and happenstance of things that go on in our lives, and really just lucky breaks. You're the right person at the right time at the right place, and it all kind of falls into place. Now, you've got to work hard and you've got to seize the opportunity, that's true, but you really can't say anyone's done anything on their own. And he gives an example, he gives an example of, I think, 14 of the richest 25 people that are ever lived were born in the 1830s. You know, they were products of the Industrial Revolution. Uh, three of the Titans of technology, Steve Jobs, uh Bill Joy, and uh Bill Gates were uh Microsoft and Apple and Sun Microsystems. They were all born within one year of each other, in late 1954 to late 1955. Just right there at the right time to where they could be a success. What makes these people a success? The greatest NHL hockey players are born in January, February, and March. All these kind of things, right? It's kind of a fatalistic book, to be honest. But here's what he misses. We are not just products of culture or people that got lucky breaks. There is the hand of providence that is at work in each and every one of our lives. Giving opportunity, giving ability, giving the strength to seize opportunity. Him that worketh in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And we are not just products of blind fate, but God is working his providential will in our lives, and we are but responsible to take the steps that he has directed for us. It's not blind chance and it's not lucky fate. It is a God working and moving and guiding and directing. And we we can know him and we can walk in his will. We can follow his steps. Steps of a good man, ordered steps, yes, established steps. Delightful steps, yeah. It is fun to follow the Lord. It's an adventure. Upheld steps, though we may stumble, yet he brings us back in again. Unforsaken steps, I've not seen the righteous forsaken, nor seed begging bread. And then blessed steps. That's a generational thing. Because of the steps we took today, there are those coming after us that can walk those steps beyond anywhere we ever went. Steps of a good man, ordered by the Lord. Let's walk in them and be directed by him. Thank you for listening to the City Pulpit. For more information about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta, please visit www.mycitybaptist.com.