This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. Let's take our Bibles and turn to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. We're going to read two verses. from this magnificent psalm. Verses 23 and 24. Hear God's words. The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in His way. When He falls, He will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the one who holds His hand. This is God's Word. In Acts chapter 9, the church in Joppa had lost a beloved church member named Tabitha. Even as I say that, I can hear Diane say, you know her real name was Dorcas. What was her mother thinking? Why would she call her Dorcas? When she died, the church mourned and sent for Peter. And when Peter arrived, all the women in the church showed up with all the things that Tabitha had made for them, showing Peter. Couldn't help but to think that in light of that scene, in our church, family has been hit hard again. We'll talk about that this afternoon. Morning today, the days to come of Diane's home going. As I thought about Tabitha and what happened when Peter arrived, I started to look around my office, I started to look around my home and realized that many people have things that Diane had given them over the years, from Bibles, to bookmarks, to pens, to really bright, ugly shoes, shirts, angel snot, which I still have, not found a use for it. And in addition to all these things, the many, many memories. Many memories. When I heard that Diane had graduated to glory, I was in the country of Jordan, and I wept with Ariel on the phone. prayed with Vic and Bertie in the hotel room with tears. And the thing that struck me was two words. Diane persevered. She fought the good fight. She ran a good race. She finished her course. The next morning, I was reading Psalm 37, and I was relishing every line of Psalm 37, having no doubt that it must have been one of Diane's favorites. And when I read these two verses that I read for you, 23 and 24, I knew that that would be the sermon text this morning. Psalm 37 is just one of those psalms that ends up being the favorite of so many people. Derek Kidner, his excellent little commentary, says that Psalm 37 is actually one of the finest expositions of the third beatitude. Blessed are the meek, for the meek shall inherit the earth. It's one of the finest expositions of that beatitude. No less than five times in this psalm does it tell us that the meek inherit the land or the earth. Psalm 37 is a wisdom psalm and it speaks of, on the one hand, the security of the righteous. And on the other hand, it speaks of the absolute certainty of the judgment of the wicked. You could actually take Psalm 37 and all of the themes and just transport it right out of the book of Psalms, put it right into the book of Proverbs, and it would fit beautifully. I'd like for us this morning, hopefully God helping me, for us to consider a few things from Psalm 37, verses 23 and 24. And the first is this. the saints' steps are established by the Lord. Very clearly, the psalmist rejoices that the steps of a man are established by the Lord and he delights in his way. And in fact, sometimes our English Bibles will kind of smooth that out and say something like the steps of a good man. And the idea is that the focus here is on the righteous, is on God's children. And so the child of God actually has every assurance They should have every assurance that every step and every activity and every event of our life has been established by the God of heaven Himself. It's God Himself, Psalm 139, who hardwires us together in our mother's womb. It's God Himself who prepares the ingredients of our lives that go in to make in our lives what they are. It's God Himself who orders and governs and executes the details of our life with wisdom and with care. So the Proverbs say things like this, the mind of man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps. Or Proverbs 20.24 that celebrates the fact that man's steps are ordained by the Lord. One of the things that I always, always deeply loved and appreciated about Diane is that Diane always, always knew she was a sinner. There was never any pretense with her. No self-righteousness. She was just a sinner and she knew that. In fact, she knew that she was a clay pot. Right after I had back surgery, I preached on 2 Corinthians 4-7. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. The next thing I know, Diane comes rolling up in her Yukon, right? And on her license plate, it says, Clay Pot. She reveled in being a clay pot, and as she looked at her own life, she knew that there were ingredients, whether it was the time that she was a single mother, or whether it was a time when she was dabbling in the New Age and following Shirley MacLaine, or when she was a private investigator. Yes, it's true. She understood that these were the threads that God himself had put together in order to make the beautiful tapestry which was her life. Every single thread, the good, the bad, the ugly, was sewn with care by the divine artisan. Every step established. He's the one who ordained the day of her birth. He's the one who ordained the day of her death. And he's the one who designed everything in between. Indeed, the same steps are established by the Lord But the second thing that we see in the text is that the saint is God's delight, and he, that is God, delights in his, that is the saint's way. The ESV says, the steps of a man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way. And I don't think the when is necessary, it's just, and he delights in his way. God delights in the ways of his people. So the father, as the master planner, takes the light in the course that he sets for his people and the way in which his people travel. God takes joy in the fact that he's not only established the steps of his children, but he's established their course, and as they go along that course, he takes great joy. Spurgeon says of this that he delights in his ways. He says, as parents are pleased with the tottering steps of their babies. All that concerns a saint, says Spurgeon, is interesting to his heavenly Father. I think Diane was immensely interesting to God. God loves, says Spurgeon, to view the holy strivings of a soul pressing forward to the skies. Diane's life was full of tottering steps and strivings to serve her king. from her radical conversion to Jesus Christ, to a life that was committed to serving the girls at City of Refuge, to a life that was devoted to blessing us with her voice on Pilgrim Radio. God delighted in her ways. He took delight as she ran the course that was set before her. And I think that on Monday morning, she heard these words, well done, good, faithful servant. enter into the joy of your master. The third thing in the text that we see is that the saint can trip and fall It's really, to me, it's a wonderful thing the way God puts his word together, because in verse 23 it says that God delights in the saints' way, and then he turns around and tells us that saints actually can trip and fall. You know, here is something that is true from generation to generation in the church, and that is the great saints always know that they're great sinners. There is no such thing as a great saint that does not see himself or herself as a great sinner. Diane knew what it was to stumble. And she knew what it was to fall. Therefore, she also knew what it was to rejoice in a gospel for sinners who stumble and fall. If you don't see that about yourself, you'll never rejoice in the gospel like you should. Because the gospel is not a self-help program for people that are doing pretty good and need a little extra help. The gospel is for people who blow it, and blow it all the time, and are hopeless and helpless in and of themselves. That's who the gospel's for. And so, for Diane, it was one of those things where she knew that her stumblings and her fallings and her failings were true of her, but those things actually compelled her to run to the cross. and to find refuge in Calvary. and to delight. Jesus tells us, or in the Gospel of Luke, it tells us of Jesus in chapter seven, where Jesus goes into the house of Simon the Pharisee, and of course, he's too good to wash Jesus' feet, and this woman comes in, this woman of ill repute, and she begins to weep profusely and wash Jesus' feet with her tears and then dry him with her hair, and Simon the Pharisee sitting there going, well, you know what, if he knew what kind of woman she was, he wouldn't let her touch him. Therefore, proof positive, not a prophet. Here's proof positive, he was a prophet. Simon, I have a question for you. Who loves more? The one who's forgiven much? or the one who's forgiven little. By the way, there's no person on earth that only needs to be forgiven a little. They're people who think they only need to be forgiven a little, and they're sadly mistaken. And, of course, Simon the Pharisee, you know, having his seminary degree, knew how to answer the question. And Jesus says, listen, this woman has not stopped washing my feet with her tears, drying with her hair. You didn't even offer me a bowl to wash my own feet. And Jesus then tells us this, that he who has been forgiven much, loves much. How Diane loved her Savior. One of her favorite books, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, And I thought of these two passages. Bonhoeffer says. He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer and other fellowship and service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur because though we have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal a sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin. Living in lies and hypocrisy, the fact is Bonhoeffer says we are sinners. And then he says that he says this. This makes me think of Diane. Anybody who lives beneath the cross. And who has discerned in the cross of Jesus, the utter wickedness of all men and of his own heart will find there is no sin that can never be alien to him. Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus to the cross, will no longer be horrified by even the rankest sins of a brother. Looking at the cross of Jesus, he knows the human heart. He knows how utterly lost it is in sin and weakness, how it goes astray in the ways of sin. And he also knows that it is accepted in grace and mercy. And so it's only the brother under the cross who can hear a confession. I always figured that one of the things that made Diane such a compassionate, loving, person is that she never forgot what she had been saved from. The worst people in all the world are Christians who become short-sighted and forget their sins. And then they become shocked when they find out that they're surrounded by sinners. Diane was never shocked, and it allowed her to be a conduit of mercy and grace to those around her. The next thing is verse 24. When he falls, so saints fall, he will not be hurled headlong. So the saint can trip and even fall, but the saint is never cast headlong. And so we say, hallelujah, what a savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, keeping. He is with me to the end. And so, though we stumble and fall, the fact is that God promises, my people will never be cast headlong. Spurgeon says, no saint shall fall finally or fatally. Sorrow may bring us to the earth and death may bring us to the grave, but lower than that, we cannot sink. And out of all of the lowest, we shall again arise to the highest of all. When the promise is made here in verse 24 that the saint is never cast headlong, this is not, by the way, a testimony to the quality of the saint's faith. It's a testimony to the quality of the saint's savior. It's not a testimony to the determination that the saint would persevere. It's a testimony of God's determination to preserve the saint in spite of himself or herself. Here's why the saint is never cast or hurled headlong. Next line, because the Lord is the one who holds his hand. Because the Lord is the one who holds his hand. It's possible for a child of God to be walking in this life and begin to doubt the reality of God's work in their own heart. It's possible for a child of God to have their assurance shaken. But one thing is absolutely certain. Even while the saint may be shaken in their assurance, their hand is still being held. The saint may not be aware that their hand is being held at that particular moment, but it doesn't change the fact that the reason the saint is not hurled headlong is because God himself is the one who is upholding him. And so the scriptures rejoice where God tells his people, don't fear. Don't anxiously look about you. I am your God. I will uphold you. I will strengthen you. I will hold you with my righteous right hand. Peter tells us. That we're going to make it to the end. Because. We're gonna actually get that inheritance that's reserved for us, it doesn't fade away, because we're kept by the power of God through faith. And so we sing these words, the work which His goodness began the arm of his strength will complete. His promise is yea and amen and never was forfeited yet. Things future nor things that are now, nor all things below or above can make him his purpose forego or sever my soul from his love. Diane's Heavenly Father held on to her hand every single step of the way. There was not one single day, one single hour, one single minute, even when she was unaware in which God said, no, you're on your own. He held her and he preserved her and he preserved her all the way to the end. Diane liked this story. In the year 2000, John Skeffer and I were in Orlando, Florida. at the Ligonier Conference. One of the persons who's supposed to be a speaker at that conference was James Montgomery Boyce, who for many years had pastored 10th Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and prolific author and founder of the Philadelphia Conference of Reformed Theology. And in fact, the resurgence that we see today of interest in Reformed theology and the Puritans and so forth owes a very large debt of gratitude to James Montgomery Boyce. But Jim Boyce died the night before the conference was going to start. And R.C. Sproul got up and addressed the large gathering. And he said, last night, our brother, Jim Boyce, died. But he died in faith. I will never forget those words. He died in faith. That's the testimony of the perseverance of the saints. They are preserved and they die in faith because their faith is kept by the power of God. The most wonderful thing that I heard on that phone with Dave was this. We went home and talked about the sermon for two hours. And Diane came out of the bathroom singing, the redeemed of the Lord shall return. And we prayed together. My name. From the palms of his hands. Eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart, it remains in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure as sure as the earnest is given more happy. But not more secure. the glorified spirits in heaven. I'll love thee in life, and I'll love thee in death, and praise thee as long as thou lendest me breath, and say when the death do lies cold on my brow, if ever I love thee, my Jesus, tis now. She persevered. She finished the course which her Lord had set before her. And he held her hand every step of the way. And as a testimony of God's grace to Diane. Her final words were after the prayer. Amen. I love you. And she went to sleep in Jesus. She died in faith. That's how we all should want to go. Go to sleep. Amen. Wake up face to face. What a glorious way to go. Newton talks about, let me die thy people's death. That's God's people's death. Waking up and seeing Jesus face to face. Diane is in heaven. face to face with the Savior whom she loved, not because she was a great saint, although I think she was, but because she has a great Savior who held her and never, ever let her go. And so I ask you this morning, do you have the confidence that you'll be able to say, I love you in life, I'll love you in death. Do you have the confidence to say, even as we sometimes teach our children, now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord, my soul, to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord, my soul to take. That always seemed like such a silly prayer to me until this week. Blessed be the God and Savior of Diane Gamble and of all who believe. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the perseverance of the saints, and we thank you for the perseverance of this saint. Father, we thank you for all that her life has to teach us about you and about your faithfulness and about the power of the gospel. and the way that you work in the lives of your people. Father, we thank you. We thank you that she went home like she did. We thank you for the full knowledge that she died with full assurance of faith. Absolutely confident in the cross work of the Lord Jesus. And we now pray that we would live with that same confidence and that we too would be prepared that if we should die before we wake, you would take us straight into your presence. Father, we love you. We thank you for your kindness and giving her to us for as long as you did. We pray for Dave, and for Mark, and Christy, and Aiden, and Allie, and Shelly, and their children, and their husbands, and Father, we pray that you would give them sweet comfort in the gospel. And that you would give them sweet comfort in the hope of glory. We now pray that you would be glorified for the remainder of this day. In Jesus' name, amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.