Word of Salvation – December 2025
Scripture Readings: 2 Pet 3; Psa 73; (Text vs 23-24)
Sermon: “Watch your step”
Sermon by Rev John Zuidema
Congregation one year is closing, and a new one is about to dawn. Now I wonder as we go into 2026 whether the truth of God’s word is still a lamp for your feet and a light for your path? I ask, for we live in a culture where so many biblical truths are being challenged.
For example, some people like to tell us that to believe God created the heavens and the earth is fantasy, much less to believe that he did it in six days! Others suggest that believing there is life after death or that Jesus rose physically from the dead is also silly, even though the Scripture bear evidence of it.
Still others suggest that to believe Jesus is going to return one day is also pie in the sky thinking, even though the Scriptures testify to it as Peter reminder his readers. And then others tell us that living in obedience to God’s moral law is also antiquated. That might have been OK in OT times, but not for the 21st century man. We have moved on they tell us.
So tell me, how are you travelling with these biblical truths? Are you still convinced about the creation account, the importance of obedience to God’s law, the physical resurrection of the dead, or the Lord’s return is still valid?
It seems more people in the church are living as though some of these foundational, doctrinal, biblical truths are to be doubted. There are denominations that no longer hold to the creation account, or the law of God, or the physical resurrection or the Lord’s return.
Congregation, perhaps today more than ever before, there seems to be this temptation to believe the lies of our present-day culture, rather than holding fast to the truth of God’s word. And I guess we shouldn’t be all that surprised because the devil presents the world as a very attractive place to be in. He portrays the world as a place of freedom.
He makes it seem that church people are kill joys and all this talk about God as Creator, obedience to his laws, and that Jesus is Saviour we all need otherwise we end up in hell diminishes our joy and inhibits our freedoms as mankind.
And we must admit that his tactics have had some effect. We all know of people who publicly professed their faith, but now no longer hold to the Christian faith. As one person said to me, “I’ve moved on”. Really? What does that mean! Surely, we would say with Peter, “Where would we go Lord? Jesus has the words of eternal life (Jn 6:68).
So today I want to challenge you to watch your step as you go into 2026. I don’t wish to see you fall or lose your foothold on the truth of God’s word for it is all about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please don’t say that temptation will never happen to you, for the author of Psalm 73 nearly succumb to that reality.
The author of Psalm 73 had been reflecting on the life of the wicked and arrogant. And the wicked here are not the terrorists or murderers or young teenagers with their machetes who are guilty of heinous sins.
They may be included, but the wicked here are those who at one time said they belonged to God’s covenant people and seem to be rejecting God. And the Psalmist has observed, perhaps superficially, that the wicked are doing OK. They seem to be prosperous. They have no struggles. They seem to have healthy bodies.
They seem to be free from the burdens that are common to man. And even though they are proud and violent and think up evil and scoff, they are seemingly carefree and all the while increase in wealth. Some of them may even think they have one foot in heaven already. It seems the Lord is blessing them and those who have a real desire to be pure and holy and be obedient to the Lord are always in a moral and spiritual struggle.
The Psalmist was beginning to think that his pure, righteous and obedient living to God’s law was a waste of time. In fact, it felt as though he was being punished every day for being committed to God (v14). And as a result, the Psalmist who is watching all this was tempted to go the way of the wicked. His feet had almost stumbled, his steps had nearly slipped (v2).
In other words, he was tempted. And then things changed. He went into the house of God, and he was allowed to see past the wicked and arrogant’s immediate, good circumstances and was shown their ultimate end (v17). He then realised that the wicked and arrogant were on slippery ground and that unless they acknowledged God, they would ultimately be destroyed.
The point that the Psalmist is making is that even if the wicked and arrogant and those who reject God should only experience God’s blessing of health and wealth and all things good in this life, it will only be for 70 or 80 years and it will be over!
After that their eternity will be complete separation from God, which is really what hell is. No more will they be the recipients of God’s common grace. In the Lord’s eyes, they are phantoms (v20), or if you wish to take Eph 2:1. dead people walking!
And then in direct contrast to the wicked, the Psalmist realised his own secure and most privileged position. Look at vv 23-24. “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.”
That is not true for the ungodly! It is not true for those who are intent on evil and murdering innocent lives. It’s not true for the proud and arrogant. It is not true for those who reject God’s law and his counsel for their lives. It’s not true for those who reject Jesus Christ as Saviour!
In fact, the promises and comfort contained verses 23-24 are only true for the pure in heart. That’s how this Psalm begins. “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart!” In a NT setting, these verses of comfort are true for those who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. If that is missing, then there is no comfort in these verses. You may be a good person and kind to the poor and all of that, however, without Christ’s righteousness, you are not saved.
Congregation, as we go into 2026 be careful that your feet do not stumble, or that the ground under your feet is sending you down a slippery slope of hopelessness. I am not suggesting that we shouldn’t have anything to do with the world. Not at all! Rather we are to fight evil and strive for peace. We must pray for the enemies of the cross and we are to reach out with the gospel. But watch your step as you go into 2026. Don’t take the path of the wicked, for unless they repent, their future is terrible.
Now notice, it is when the Psalmist is instructed on God’s Word that he realises not only the end of the wicked, but that God is always with him. The Psalmist had nothing to fear, for God has holding him by His all-powerful hand. And if that was true pre-cross of God’s chosen people, how more so for us this side of Calvary. Consider if you will, that God is holding us by our right hand.
When that is so, it leaves God’s own powerful and mighty right hand free to act. There are many verses in Scripture that describe God mighty right hand working for his people.
Moses in Exo 15:6 sings, “Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.”
Exo 15:12; “You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.”
Psa 16:8; “I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”
Psa 18:35 “You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great.” (cf Psa 20:6; Psa 45:4; Psa 60:5).
Psa 63:8; “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
Psa 74:11; “Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!”
Psa 108:6; “That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer me!”
Psa 121:5; “The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.”
Psa 139:10; “even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”
Congregation, if God has us by the hand, guiding us, giving us counsel and bringing us to glory, why would we want to go anywhere else? If God, did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Absolutely!
The Apostle John reminds us that nothing can snatch us out of the Father’s hands nor the Son’s hands [John 10:28]. And if that isn’t enough, the Lord Jesus, now sitting at the right hand of God, said that He would be with us to the very close of the age [Mat 28:20]. The deliverance of the Psalmist was as remarkable as the danger had been great.
So please watch your step in 2026. Don’t let your feet slip by following the world. Rather, feed on God’s Word and experience that God his holding you by his mighty right hand. Doesn’t mean that everything will go smoothly in 2026, for even the Psalmist speaks that his heart and even his flesh may fail (v26).
Yet, when our resources are spent and we have nothing more to give, God continues to hold; He is our strength. He does not sleep or slumber. He will not let us fall. More than that, the pure in heart can call on him and He will guide with his counsel. Job was accused by God of darkening his counsel without knowledge (Job 38:2).
Congregation, some people tend to prattle on and on, often about themselves and what they have done, and never button their lip to listen what God is saying in his word. Hence, they do not really know what they are saying or what God is saying through his Word and Spirit to them. They think they are wise with their many words, but they walk in the darkness because they haven’t taken time to prayerfully consider God’s word and his will.
However, that is not true of our God. He knows all and his knowledge is limitless. Oh, let us learn to turn our ear towards our God and listen to his counsel as we read and meditate on his word in 2026. Put aside the daily newspaper or the monthly magazine and prayerfully read his Word. Switch off the idiot box for a while. Put your phone on silence, or flight mode and spend some asking the Holy Spirit to illuminate God’s Word so that when you read you do so with understanding.
There is still another stark contrast between the wicked whose end was destruction, and Psalmist’s end which was sharing in God’s glory. The Psalmist although confident of this reality could only see a poor reflection of this truth. And yet he knew with certainty the end for the righteous was one of glory!
And we today are even more privileged for we have greater knowledge. We know for certainty that God, through the work of his Son, will take us to glory. The fact that He suffered and died on the cross for our sin, that He rose again, and has defeated death forever as recorded in God’s infallible word gives us confidence that we are seen as righteous before God in Christ!
Congregation, I don’t know what the Lord has in store for you or for me in 2026. Perhaps it is the year when my flesh and heart will fail. Doesn’t matter, the Lord has us in his eternal hands. And it doesn’t even depend on the strength of my faith. Sure faith is necessary, but even on the best day, my faith can be pretty fickle.
No, my faith is but the conduit through which God’s grace and blessing come into our lives. Sure, our faith is being tested, but the Saviour is holding us tight! He is the Saviour and only Him!” By his word and Spirit he preserves us so that we can persevere!
Perhaps there will be more wars and rumours of wars. Doesn’t matter – the Lord protects his people with his mighty right hand. There will probably more famines but if he feeds the sparrow, how much more will he feed us.
The antichrist may become more prevalent. Perhaps there will be greater evil and wickedness but he who lives within us is far greater!
Perhaps there will be more earthquakes and tidal waves. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, ….”
Finally, as we move into 2026, may the Lord bless our feeble attempts at witnessing so that those who are not yet pure in heart become so in Christ so that those we love and care for may never be swept away.
And in some ways I am encouraged, for according to many reports, many people, particularly the young are becoming more and more disillusioned with the current culture and turning towards truth and finding it in the Christian faith. So let us be winsome in our approach to them with the gospel.
And with the Lord’s blessing, and the Holy Spirit’s power, may they come to know the assurance of being safe in the hands of the one and only powerful God. May they experience of a peace that passes understanding.
Indeed, may it please God to give us opportunity to tell others about the One who holds us by our right hand, and gives us counsel, and will one day take us to glory with him. Watch your step in 2026 and have a great New Year! Amen.