The Promise of Provision — Carter Conlon

The Promise of Provision in Psalm 37

I want to talk to you about the promise of provision, and I think that's something that every one of us need to be aware of, especially at this time when provision is precarious, and by that I mean we don't know.

There's a lot of uncertainty about tomorrow, and you may have a job today, but you're not sure if you're going to have it tomorrow or next year or next week. We don't know what the future is going to hold financially for this and other countries throughout the world, but there is a promise of provision, and I want to look at it this day and talk about it and say, how do I, how can I get into that certain promise?

It's found in Psalm 37. That's where we're going to begin. Psalm 37 in the Old Testament. Now, Father, I thank you, God, with all my heart for the touch of heaven. I thank you for the anointing of your Holy Spirit.

Lord, you are the one who has to come and quicken the word as it's spoken, as it's read, as it's understood in our hearts, because if you don't, it's just more learning, and it doesn't transform us on the inside, and so, God, let your word be quickened today.

Holy Spirit, come. Make these words real to every one of our hearts. Give us grace and strength to face these days in which we find ourselves living. We thank you for this with everything in us, and we praise you, and we bless you in Jesus' name.

David's Promise to the Righteous

Promise of provision. Psalm 37, beginning at verse 25, these are the words of King David, and he wrote out of personal experience. Of course, nevertheless, God allowed it to be put into the text of holy and infallible scripture, which means that God put his stamp on these words that he moved on David's heart to write.

Beginning at verse 25, I've been young, and now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. May I add my amen to that? I have seen the same thing in my lifetime.

I've seen this incredible, tangible provision of God come into the lives, the families, the homes of those who made the choice to walk in the righteousness of Christ. I want to read verse 25 again, then I'm going to carry on to the end of the chapter.

I have been young, and now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful and lends, and his descendants are blessed. Depart from evil and do good, and dwell forevermore.

For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever.

The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of justice. The law of God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

Wait on the Lord and keep his way, and he shall exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a native green tree.

Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more. Indeed, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the blameless man and observe the upright, for the future of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together.

The future of the wicked shall be cut off, but the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their strength in time of trouble. The Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him.

Hallelujah. Now David, the king of Israel penned these words in a season where wickedness was prospering to the extent that those who wanted to follow God were becoming both worried and tempted to anger.

Seasons in history are cyclical. That means they'll come again and again. They will pass. And we are wise if we take the time to learn from that which has gone before us. If you're afraid for the future, if you're concerned about the vilification of Christ or the anti-Christian sentiment that's rising in this, even in this nation today, you're not alone.

There's others that have come before you and they have passed through. And the words that David penned in this chapter of scripture, they have found to be true. Though the wicked spreads himself, the King James original says like a green bay tree, though the wicked seems to be covering the nation, though the wicked seems to have the upper hand in almost everything, his season is going to pass.

The season of wickedness will soon be over in this world, but those who live for God and turn to God will live forever and their righteousness will endure forever. And the day of the wicked will not be found in the not too distant future.

David knew that wickedness always leads to a destructive end. And he encouraged the people of God not to lose heart when facing these seasons in life. And we are facing this kind of a season. It's only beginning folks.

It is going to get worse in the days ahead, but the worse it gets, the better God gets. Thank God for that. And I want to focus just on verse 25, which gives an incredible promise to those of us who have been appointed to live at an anti-Christian time in history and make no mistake about it.

That's where we are living today. David said, I've been young and now I'm old. And yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging bread. The righteous have never been forsaken. David will not have to apologize for those words in the Bible.

Your name will not be the exception. This verse of scripture in eternity is not going to say, I've not seen the righteous forsaken except for Carter Conlon. It's not going to say that your name will not be in there.

If you are trusting in Christ, if you have turned to him for your salvation, if you are following God with the light that you have from the scriptures and the strength that God gives from the Holy spirit, you will never be forsaken.

Evil will never triumph over you. But there's an incredible second part to this promise. It says, nor his descendants begging bread. That means those who follow you, those who come after you, your family, your children, those over whom God has made your life and authority or given you influence.

You and I making the choice to walk with God with a whole heart brings them also into this promise. It says, that means your descendants will not require lack for provision, for strength, for wisdom, everything that God gives to sustain life.

Imputed Righteousness and the Bread of Life

Remember that Jesus declared himself to be the bread of life in John chapter six and verse 48. Now the key to this promise hangs on the word righteous. I've never seen the righteous forsaken. Now you and I know that when we came to Christ, we were given what the Bible calls an imputed righteousness.

Now, the best way I can explain this is from the parable of the wayward son in Luke chapter 15. This boy took his life, his inheritance. He went far away from God, just like many of you and I did in the early years.

Then when he got up in a place of famine, heartache, we'd been doing things he never believed he could have done. He was ingesting things into his life that he knew were wrong. And he knew he had no merit.

He had nothing to come back to his father, but he just got up and started to come back. And his father met him on the road, came running to him, embraced him and covered him with the finest robe in the house.

When you got up and you came back to God, God met you, God embraced you. And he covered you with the finest robe, which is the shed blood of Jesus Christ on a cross 2000 years ago. He covered you. He cleansed you.

He gave you a righteousness that you didn't, that means a cleanness. That means a right standing with God. That means the Bible says in Christ, we are the righteousness of God. He gave you a complete cleansing of your old record, not by anything you did to deserve it.

You didn't earn it. You just got up and you came home. You, you, you did it in your heart. I came home in my car. I gave my life to Christ in my car. He met me there and covered me with the robe of righteousness.

Some of you did it at home. Some in churches, in other places, some of you were just reading the word of God. Somebody spoke to you, you bent your knee and opened your heart and God, the father met you and covered you in the sacrifice of his son who paid the price for your wrong.

Every wrong thing that you've done as the Bible calls it sin, he paid the price for that and gave you a righteousness. So the devil can't condemn you because your righteousness is not your own. It was given to you.

He has to condemn Christ to be able to get through to you and condemn you if you're a genuine believer in Christ. But also in that parable, I want you to keep in mind that that covering also came with a pair of shoes.

It wasn't just the covering. He gave him a ring, which represented the power that he was going to need to be the ambassador that God was calling her. His father was calling him to be, but he gave him also a pair of shoes, which implied that there's a journey involved in this righteousness.

It's he wasn't called just to stand on the road and look good and look clean. No, he was called on a journey. He was going to walk with his father. It's implied in the story because the shoes were given him many, many, many people throughout history.

They've wanted this righteousness of Christ. That's why they go to church, but they don't want the pathway on which it leads. They just want to be able to feel good. They want to feel clean, but listen to what Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, verse 20.

He said, I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. The Pharisees had knowledge. They knew more of the scriptures than the common folks did.

They had exterior coverings. At least they had position in the church. They were called teacher, rabbi, master. They were called all of these things. But the point that Christ is making is that knowledge is not good enough.

A lot of people think that as long as I'm learning, that's good enough. As long as I'm studying, just like when Jesus talked about the parable of the man who was left for dead on the Jericho road and a lawyer came to him and said, and who is my neighbor?

In other words, the implication was I'm studying this, you see? And once I really get this down, count me in. I'll be part of the journey. I'm learning. So I'm not going to do anything because I'm constantly learning, but knowledge itself is not good enough.

Romans chapter one warns us clearly of the consequences of holding the truth of God in unrighteousness. As we have done as a nation, we have known the truth of God. The truth of God has not been hidden in this nation.

There are Bibles in most every home, whether they're used to hold up a table leg or they're just gathering dust on a shelf. There are Bibles in most every home, or at least there were up to several years ago.

They're in hotel rooms. You can pull open the drawer and most places still find a Gideon's Bible, the word of God. You can turn on television as, as obscured as it is. There's still something of the word of God spoken through some who are in the media.

This nation knew, had the word of God, had the testimony in a sense of those who is imperfect as the faith of this nation has been. There's always been a willingness at least to do some measure of self-examination and even make wrongs right at some point in history.

You and I know there are glaring wrongs in the history of this nation, but there's always been this abiding reverence for the word of God that caused ultimately people who were doing wrong to do right.

But when we begin to hold the word of God in unrighteousness, the Bible warns that a darkened mind is given to that nation. Immorality begins to break out. Perversion becomes the order of the day. Lawlessness begins to be something that is, is so frequent.

It's not even unusual anymore. And there's a breakdown of social order. And we see all of these things in our nation now happening at an accelerated scale. Our families are breaking down. Our minds are confused.

We don't know what is up. We don't know what is down. We don't know what is good. We don't know what is evil anymore because we held the truth in unrighteousness. We had it, but we wouldn't walk in it as a people.

Rejecting Christ for Religious Appearance

Became enamored with the blessings, may I say it that way, and forgot who is the author and the source of everything that we had. What could be more reprobate than calling for the death of the son of God, just as this nation is doing today.

That's what Israel did. They had God himself in the flesh, in their midst, the God who had given them life, the God who had called them out through Abraham and made them a special people unto himself.

God who had done miracles, the God who had fought their enemies and overcome every obstacle, trying to keep them from that place of promise. And then when he came to visit them, the scripture says he came to his own, but his own received him not.

I can't think of anything darker than that crowd standing there saying, crucify him, away with this fellow. We will not have him to reign over us. I can't think of a darker moment at any time in history than looking God in the face, the son of God in the face and saying away with you, to death with you.

We want our religion, but we don't want you. We don't want you challenging our behavior. We don't want you challenging. We've got it all down. We go to church, we go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

We have all of our incantations, our scripture reading. We have all of the exterior trappings. We got all the robes designed. We have a whole system here and we don't want you throwing our tables over.

We don't want you challenging us. We don't want you challenging our behavior. You see, we have a righteousness, but it was not the righteousness of God anymore. They'd abandoned the righteousness of God.

They had held the truth of God in unrighteousness. And the end result was a reprobate mind. They were 70 years away, basically from destruction, still thinking that everything was going to go on forever.

They were iron clad in a sense, blessed. And that blessing could never be taken away. They felt they had the promises. They had the history. They had the might as they sought to withstand anything that was going to come their way.

And little did they know that an empire called Rome was going to come their way one day and there would be no withstanding it. Rome was going to come in fury. Now you might say today, I would never do that.

I would never ever, if I had been there in that crowd, I want to ask you an honest question this morning. If you had been in that crowd, would you have been among those yelling away with him? We will not have this man to, can you envision yourself there knowing what you know today?

The knowledge that you have and the knowledge that I have, even if the whole crowd is calling for the death of this man and the abolition of him, getting him out of their borders, would you be there? Would your voice be raised among them?

It's an interesting question. And I think it's one that we all should not be too quick to answer. Most people say, I would never do that. If I had been there, I would never have joined the crowd yelling crucify him away with this fellow.

But I'll tell you, if there's an area of your life where you know truth, but you won't obey it, are you then joining the crowd that says away with him? I'm talking about something clearly revealed. You're in a relationship you shouldn't be in.

You're drinking something you shouldn't be drinking. You're watching something you shouldn't watch. You're doing something in the workplace you shouldn't do. God speaking to your heart about something he has for your life.

And you are just simply sticking your fingers in your ears and saying away with this man. I will not have him reign over my life. I don't mind going to church. I don't mind opening a Bible. I don't mind singing the songs.

Don't mind clapping my hands. I don't mind feeling good about God and myself, but please don't try to govern my life, Jesus. The Pharisees made a critical error. They wanted the covering. They wanted all the social perks that come along with it.

They wanted power. They wanted security. They wanted prestige. They wanted self-importance. They wanted provision. And that's what a lot of the gospel of our time focuses on. And many, many people come to the house of God and say, listen, I don't want to be led by Christ.

Let's not even talk about the mission field. Don't talk about giving. I want to talk about how I can get using the name of Jesus Christ. I want power. I want security. I want prestige in the church. I want prestige in my community.

I want advancement on my job. I want a new career. I want to feel self-important. And I want provision at the same time and the blessing of God. They made a critical error. They wanted the power, the provision, the prestige, the importance, but they were unaware that the pathway they were on was going in the opposite direction to where the signs of truth were pointing.

Seeking First the Kingdom of God

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, seek ye first the kingdom of God. First, the kingdom of God. That means the actual work of God on the earth. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. What is, that should be the cry of your heart and the cry of mine.

God, what is your purpose for my life on the earth? How do you want to glorify yourself through me? Now, sometimes it's as simple as speaking the truth in the marketplace when everybody else is lying.

Being honest when everyone else is crooked. Standing up when everyone else is bowing down. Sometimes it's not a whole lot deeper than that. Sometimes it's just praying for people in your neighborhood and not giving up every time you pass them on the street corner.

But Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God. First. When the apostle Paul was touched on the Damascus road and he had an encounter with the living God, I assume the scripture doesn't say, but I assume he fell on his face.

And when he got up the first thing out of his mouth, Lord, what would you have me to do? Paul had all the religious trappings of his generation. Paul had the robes. Paul had the degrees. Paul had the admiration of men.

Paul had knowledge that could literally had explosive knowledge of the scriptures, all of these things, but he put it all aside. And he himself said, I counted it all, but done that I may win Christ and be found in him.

And the only thing out of his mouth was not Jesus enhanced my position in the synagogue or give me greater provision, but what would you have me to do? And that ought to be the cry of every heart. Folks, we're living on the edge of Christ coming again.

We're living on the edge of his return. That should be the cry of every heart. Unashamedly. I say it today. That should be your cry. That should be mine. Lord, what would you have me to do? How would you have me honor your name?

What would you have my life to be in your kingdom? How do you want to glorify yourself through me? Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. That means the life that God gives the covering he provides and the life he gives, including the heart to accomplish his work on the earth.

God, it's not just what I must do, but God, give me the heart to do it. Give me the heart because sometimes what he asks us to do is not easy. Sometimes what he asks us to do is the eighth appealing on our list.

The people he asks us to go to, the things he says to our heart, this is how I will glorify my name. And so I've found myself over the years, let of God to do things I didn't want to do. But yet that prayer was in my heart.

How would you glorify? How would you have me glorify your name on the earth? When I was a young Christian, I started preaching this with a passion with all my heart and way out in the country, a group of people started gathering and they started saying out of their mouths, we're a church now.

There hasn't been a church here in a hundred years. We're a church and you're our pastor. And I remember thinking, yeah, okay. I agree with point one, but point B I have issue with. We're a church, but I'm not your pastor.

I told them straight out. I told one lady one time that prophesied that in my house, in a prayer meeting, I said, you ever say that again, I'm going to put you out of my house. I'm not a pastor. Then we went to get a denominational covering.

And I met with the overseer of the work at that time. And he said to me, would you be willing to pastor this church? I said, no, never, not on your life. I like what I'm doing. But the more I resisted, the more troubling came into my heart.

God still troubles the pool. Do you know that he began to speak to me in ways that only I could hear him and say, if I feed the sparrows, will I not look after you? Where's your faith? And here you are preaching obedience, but will you obey?

Will you take the plunge? To me, it was jumping off a cliff. I had a good job. I had a dental plan, a pension, had all of these things and retirement, the whole thing. And what in the natural, what God was asking me to do was insane.

Didn't make any sense. Church was tithing about $340 a week. I think at that time, and I was tithing a good part of that. And he's asking me to leave my job. I've got three children. I've got a wife. I've got a home to look after.

And yet the conviction just would not go away. Seek first the kingdom of God and the heart to do it. I remember when I went into full-time ministry, that was my prayer. God, you have to give me the heart to do this.

You have to put in me the passion. You have to give me the desire. You've got to take me where you want me to go. And you've got to make me what you want me to be. And you have to give me what I don't possess.

And that's always been my prayer all my life. I'll do it, God. But I don't have the resources except for your life inside of mine. And so you got to take me beyond my feeble presentation and my feeble person that I am.

And you've got to give me the riches of heaven. You've got to give me what I need. That's why Jesus said, seek first the kingdom, my friend. Seek first what it is God wants you to do. End his righteousness, his life, his heart, his ability.

Don't look in the mirror to accomplish it because it's not found there. It's not found in any diploma you have or don't have, or any ability you have or don't have, or any lack you had or might not have.

It's not found in any of those things. It's found in Christ in you, which is the hope of glory. That's what makes this an incredible journey. Because the journey is not to the self-assured and the strongest naturally or the most naturally wise.

It's the hungry heart that gets the victory. It's the son that says, no, but goes. The daughter that says, no, I don't want to do this, but then heads out and says, but nevertheless, my God, if that's your will for my life, that's what I will do.

Remember that it was because of Christ's obedience to the will of God, the father is because he yielded his life to fulfill that purpose that you and I, as the descendants of Jesus Christ can claim this promise that David wrote down.

It's because of him that we can say the righteous will not be forsaken and his descendants will not beg bread. I believe that with all my heart. I stake my very life on that. I believe that from my children.

I believe that from my grandchildren. If I live long enough, I believe it for my grandchildren's children, that the blessing of God will be on my home. I believe that with everything in me. If you and I choose to walk in truthful unity with God, this promise of blessing, remember Psalm 133 says where brethren walk together in unity.

There's an anointing that comes down from the head to the foot, to the garment, which means everywhere we walk, everything that's part of our house, that blessing of God comes. And I'm talking, even if your son, your daughter, if they're not walking with God, if you choose to walk with God, there is a commended blessing of God.

God will speak to that heart. God will lead your sons and daughters. God is able to do all that God says he can do. There's this promise of blessing. If we walk in unity with God to touch the power, it has the power to touch lives that come after us.

I am the first believer in Christ in my home, my family, as far back as history goes. I don't think there's ever been another believer. I was the first one in my house to come to God, but now I've got nephews and nieces, family members turning to God.

And long after I'm dead and gone, the blessing of the Lord will still be touching my home if I make the choice to walk in the righteousness of Christ. You see, this world is selfish. This society is selfish.

Selfishness is at the core of the confusion we're experiencing today. But the true believer in Christ has cast off this selfishness and the selflessness of Christ has taken over his or her heart. And we're brought, the world seeks a blessing they will never have.

They're spreading their power like a green bay tree, but very soon it will be no more because God says, I will not bless the wicked. But for those who turn to him, he says, you will never be forsaken.

None of your descendants will beg for bread. Everyone over whose lives we have influence. God says, strength and wisdom and understanding and provision. They may kick against it for a season, but I claim this promise.

And I believe this with all my heart. I don't care how hard they push. You can push as hard as you want against the hands of God, but when he surrounds you, you're surrounded. There is no going anywhere.

Sunday night after Sunday night, after Sunday night, I hear testimonies of all of the people in this congregation who tried to run from God. You did everything you knew. You sinned as much as you knew how to sin.

You ran as hard as you knew how to run. You put your music up so loud. You wanted to drown out the voice of God. But the dilemma that you faced is that you had a righteous mother, a righteous father. Somebody was praying for you.

And the fact that you are here today bears witness to this scripture. You have not been forsaken. You are not begging for bread because somebody walked with God in your house. Hallelujah to the lamb of God.

Courage to Walk in Righteousness

Thank you, Jesus. Walking in unity with Christ. It doesn't just affect you. It affects the future of those you love. That's how important it is. It affects the future of your children, your grandchildren, your nephews, your nieces.

That's how important it is to walk with God. And give him your whole heart. Now, some people here today, you need strength to follow what you know to be true. That's what the Lord spoke to my heart when I was preparing this message.

You need strength. You already know what to do. You already know what you need to get away from. You already know what you need to be walking towards. I don't have to tell you. You already know. And no amount of religion is going to cover that up.

You know what God is speaking to your heart. Instead of running, you need to stop and fight. Instead of running for your marriage, you need to stop and fight for it. Fight for your future. Fight for your children.

Fight for your home. Fight for your descendants. Instead of running from being righteous in the marketplace, you need to stand up and say, others may, but I'm not going to because I'm seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness in my heart.

You need strength. We all do. To do what we know is right. This is a difficult hour, my friend. Nebuchadnezzar has built his golden statue one more time and is saying, when the music plays, you bow. And if you don't, it's going to get hot for you.

We're living in history repeated and we're going to need strength. But the good news is God says, I have all the strength that you need. I have all the power, all the joy, all the provision. I've never seen the righteous forsaken.

The righteous, never, never. I've never one time, I've traveled in many countries throughout the world. I've never personally one time seen a godly person unprovided for. Not once. Not once. Ever. Never had a single person come up to me and say, I am a believer in Christ.

I am a righteous person. I walk with God and I'm starving to death. Not once. Ever. There's this interior provision and there's an exterior provision as well that God gives to the righteous. Have courage to do what you know God's asking you to do.

Have courage to do what you know needs to be done. And secondly, for people who just need courage not to give up on your family. It's hard to believe for some people, isn't it? In the natural, I never would have believed that my father would ever bend his knee to Christ.

My father was the most stubborn man I've ever known in my entire lifetime. And I've known a lot of stubborn people. He just did not bend. He didn't bend. When he, when he said something, that's the way it was.

It didn't change. I was a police officer in Canada. He came to visit me. My mom and dad came to visit. We were driving through the city of Ottawa, Canada. And I turned right on a red light. And he said, you can't turn right on a red light.

Uh, in the province of Quebec, Canada, you can't. I said, dad, this is not Quebec. This is Ontario. You can turn right on a red light. He says, no, you can't. I said, dad, I'm a police officer. This is what I do for a living every day.

He said to me, I don't care what you are. You can't turn right on a red light. That was my father. But I believed the promise. I believed the promises of God. I believed that with God, all things are possible.

In the last moments of his life, I walked into his hospital room. He's sitting beside the open door. And I went to visit from here in New York. And I said, dad, have you first thing out of my mouth? I said, dad, have you been praying?

He said, I've been praying all night. I said, are you ready to pray with me now? And he said, yes, I'm ready to pray with you. I led him in the sinner's prayer from Genesis to Revelation. I wanted to be sure it was right.

My brother, who was there with me in the room, backed into the wall in shock, went home, went to bed, and didn't get up for quite a long time, called me, said, you know, Carter, dad would never have done that if that wasn't true.

And I said, yeah, I know that. My brother's now attending church as well. So thank God for that. Courage to do what we know to be true and courage to believe and not give up for our families. I know there are people here that you represent some pretty fractured homes, bad situations.

Even your mom and dad are split up. Dad might be in jail. Mom somewhere else. People are remarried. You're the victim of all of this in some cases. It's so hard not to give up, but I'm telling you with God, all things are possible.

Prayer for Courage, Strength, and Families

You make the choice. You walk with God and watch what God will begin to do. Father, I thank you, Lord, for this time. I thank you for your word. I thank you, God, for the men and women, the young people that you have here in this sanctuary.

We're entering the last hours before you come. Now, God, give us the grace to do what is right and give us the grace to believe you for our families. No matter what we see with our eyes or hear with our ears, your words are higher.

Your law is higher than any law of sin and death in this world. And you are well able to reach every person just as you said you would. Give us the courage to walk in a righteous way, the strength and the vision for the future that we need.

We thank you for it in Jesus' name. We're going to stand in just a moment if the Lord has been speaking to your heart and you'd like to join me for prayer at this altar, I would invite you to do so. In this annex, you can step between the screens.

And also for you at North Jersey, I encourage you to stand between the screens. And we're going to pray and we're going to believe God for courage, for strength, and for our families. So as we worship, let's stand together.

Just make your way. Please just come down, join here, and let's pray together.