Psalm 73 is a really great psalm. It's one that I remember every time I read it or every
time I hear it read, I always have taken back the first time it was pointed out to
me many years ago by my pastor back then. It was really a psalm that for a long time
I just kind of lived in. Sometimes during certain phases in our lives, during certain
seasons of our lives, the Word of God is going to speak to us more than others.
I just remember as a young man being in this psalm and a young man just coming out of the
world and having gotten saved and trying to live for the Lord, this was really one that
just spoke to my heart so much. You can relate so much to this author, Asaph, here. He
understands that God is good. He says, truly God is good to Israel. Obviously, that's
something that we all understand. We're saved. We can appreciate and understand the goodness
of God to His people, but then he kind of expresses just this angst that he has,
this thing that he's going through. He says, but as for me, I mean, I know God's
good to Israel, but as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had welled and I slipped.
So you can get the sense of this desperation that he's going through,
this just difficult time that he's going through. Then he explains to us,
you know, what is it that was causing his feet to slip despite the fact that he knew the
goodness of God. He knows the grace of God. What is it that's causing him to say,
hey, but my feet are slipping? And it says there in verse three,
for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
And it's such a striking phrase when you hear why I was envious at the foolish.
I mean, who would envy the fool? Normally, when you think of a fool,
you would think of somebody who's just an idiot, just making a mess out of their life,
just somebody that's really not worth envying. That's what you typically think of a fool.
But notice he says that the foolish there are those, he says, I was envious at the foolish
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. So, you know, wicked people are foolish. Why?
Because they say in their heart, there is no God, right? They deny God,
but that doesn't mean that they're necessarily stupid or ignorant people,
like we might think of a fool. It's not like everyone else in the world is running
around with a dunce cap on their head saying I'm an idiot, right? But they're foolish in
the sense that they don't give glory to God, that God's not part of their life.
They stand against God. They don't care about the things of God. And as a result,
they prosper in the world. I mean, don't we see the wicked prospering in this world?
In Asaph here, he's seeing that and he's actually envying these people. This is something
that I think we can go through in our own Christian lives. This is something that, you know,
we can have affect our own hearts. You know, if we just dwell on the things that the world
is doing, if we just look at all the things that they're getting away with, all the things that,
you know, maybe they don't have to be encumbered with because they don't,
aren't trying to live the Christian life. You know, we can see that maybe when we're
on our way to church on a Sunday afternoon and we walk out to the end of the driveway
to kind of take it in before we get in the car and, you know, just kind of enjoy
the scenery and you look down and you see all these cars piled up in one house and you
know what's going on in there today, right? Super bowl party, right? And then you drive
down to the church and guys are going by on their motorcycles and guys are going by with
their trailers and they've got all their stickers, all the hobbies that they're into.
And people are going out there on a Sunday and they're spending it however they want.
And they have all these hobbies and things that they do, you know, and it would be
ignorant to just say, well, don't ever that it would be ignorant thing to say that
God's people don't ever look at that sometimes and go, Ben, I wish I could be like
that. Why do I have to go to church on, I was just there this morning. Why can't we
just stay home and watch the Super Bowl like everybody else? Why is it we, why couldn't
that pastor, that preacher just cancel church this tonight or move it around, around
the Super Bowl, you know? And I wasn't planning even going in on the Super Bowl,
but you know, reading the Psalm, it just kind of makes me think about that. We can
look at what the world has, what they don't have or what they don't have to do on
behalf of serving God. And despite the foolishness of that, despite the
foolishness of not living for God, how foolish and, and just, you know, stupid
that is to not recognize God in their lives. We could still find
ourselves envying them. We could still find ourselves looking at the foolish,
looking at the wicked and saying, man, I wish I could be more like them. Why
does it have to be this way? Why do we have to have these standards? Why do we
have to do all the things that we have to do? This can happen in a
Christian's life. And this can be especially true for, you know, young
people as well and make it happen to anybody. But, you know, maybe when we're
younger and we're a young man, a young lady and kind of seeing what the
world is up to out there, you can start to think, am I just wasting my
time? Well, does any of this matter? Does any of this even count for anything?
This living, this thing of living for God, you know? Well, it does. You know,
it's just, it's hard. We don't always see the results of that in this life.
Or, you know, maybe we'll just get a glimpse of it here and there. You know,
sometimes we'll go out soul winning and it's just nobody's home. Nobody's
listening. No one's receptive. It's just no one's getting saved. And you
kind of throw your arms up sometimes and say, what's the point? Does
anyone even care to hear any of this? Until you find that one person
that does. Until you find that one person who wants to hear the gospel
and get saved and all of a sudden you're said, yes, this is worth everything.
Let the world have everything that they have. Let the world have their
fun. Let them have their games. Let them have their parties. Let them
have all their sin and all the pleasures of sin for a season. Let
them have it. Just give me God. Give me serving God. Give me bringing
glory to God in this life. You know, that's ultimately, that's the
peak that sometimes we reach in the Christian life. But let's not be
so ignorant. Let's not be so foolish like the world and not
think that there aren't also the valleys in the Christian life.
Whether sometimes we might step back and say, man, I'm kind of
envious at the wicked. And he kind of explains why he's envious.
He says in verse four, for there are no bands in their
death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as
other men, neither are they plagued like other men. It seems
like they're not worried about death. You know, nothing's
coming for them. They're not suffering. No one's persecuting
them. They're, you know, they're not plagued. They're not
troubled. Seems like life, you know, life goes pretty good for
them. When you go ask the average sinner in America and
tell them, hey, do you feel like God's judgment is bearing
down on you? No. You feel like, you know, you're on the
precipice of falling into hell? No. They're perfectly at peace.
They feel just fine, even though they're on their way to
hell. And, you know, we would say that they're fools, but yet
people, even God's people can begin to envy them. And because
of the fact that they're not in trouble, they're not plagued
like other men, it says in verse six, therefore pride
compass them about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a
garment. They think they're going to get away with it.
They're proud. They're lifted up. The pride compass them
about as a chain. You know, that chain is like an
ornament that they're wearing. It's like a golden
chain. It's something that they're showing off. It's
something that they're proud of. Their pride compass them
about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment. I
mean, this is who they are. They speak
loftily concerning oppression. They have, like verse seven,
their eyes stand out with fatness. We look at the
world and they're prospering. The wicked
prosper in this world to the point where, you know, their
eyes are standing out with fat with fatness, meaning
they're not, you know, it's kind of an old way of saying,
you know, that they're just they're well fed, right?
They're not going through the things that other people go
through. We could look at that and look at the latter
half. They have more than heart could wish. You could
say, man, they have everything they want. They get
to do whatever they want and it seems like they're just
getting away with it and they're proud and lifted up
and they're not afraid and I'm sitting here trying to live
for God and I'm worried about what God's going to think
about me. I'm worried about, you know, what's going to
happen in my life if I'm pleasing God and I look at the
wicked and it's like they don't even care and they
live a happy, prosperous life that just seems like
nothing bad is happening to them. What's the point of
this? Why do I even bother? That's really what he's going
through in this in this Psalm. That's why he's saying
I'm envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked and goes on to verse eight. They are corrupt
and they speak wickedly concerning oppression. They're
not afraid to just let it roll right off the tongue. Just
say whatever they're whatever they think. Curse man. Curse
God. Curse anybody. Oppress people. Just say the most
wicked, vile things. They speak loftily and look, this
is something that's out there in mass today. I mean
people just blow off their mouth about whatever in this
world today about anything. They just whatever they think
about anything. It's just let everybody know about it. I
mean they put it on the back of their cars. They wear it
on their t-shirts. They just promote sin. They promote
filth and iniquity. They just put it all on display for
everybody to see. They speak loftily. They're not afraid.
They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue
walketh through the earth. I mean they literally they're
speaking against God. I mean don't we see that in
just every area of the world today? I guarantee you if
anyone you know the people that are at home watching the
Super Bowl right now, there's gonna be just some ungodly
wicked commercials that come across. You know I don't I
don't have a TV but sometimes I'll see one in the
in the airport or I'll be somewhere where there's a TV
on and I'll start you know some the commercials will come
on and it's some of the most abominable things you'll
ever see on television now on the commercials. It's it's
truly like if you don't watch it for a while and then
you come back to it. It's like how is anybody watching
this? How is how is anybody turning that thing on and
looking at that? It's that bad. It's like dudes kissing.
It's like that's that's the most abominable filth that's
out there and they're just like get this prescription
drug for your for your AIDS that you got from your
partner so you can go sleep around a bunch of other
strangers. Look they set their mouth against heaven.
They speak loftily. They're not afraid. That's the world
that we're living in today. That's what 2023 America is
today.
They their tongue walketh through the earth. They set
their mouth against the heavens. I mean in the schools
the schools today. I mean they just they deny
the Bible. They deny the God of the Bible. They mock
anybody that believes in the God of the Bible.
Every single sector of this world. Every part of public
life is just set against God and it gets heaven and I'm not
exaggerating. Say well of course you'd say that you know
you got a you got a persecution complex because
you're a Baptist preacher. No that's really how it is.
They I mean every I mean show me the the university
the the well-known popular university that's promoting
the things of God and not the things that are
abominable to God. You know it's it's not there
unless it's some you know Christian conservative thing
which you know isn't you know they're not going to be
invited to the Orange Bowl or whatever it's you know it's not
some major university.
So he's looking at these people and how wicked they are
that they're just not in trouble. Their eyes are
standing out. They're corrupt. They speak wickedly.
I mean they're they speak wickedly concerning oppression.
They're corrupt. They're not afraid to just throw people
under the bus. They're not worried about justice and
judgment. I mean isn't our world corrupt?
Is it aren't the powers that be just corrupt?
I'm not saying every single person that maybe holds some kind of office is
corrupt but that system that they're a part of is
corrupt and it's set up for one thing to make money.
And the love of money is the root of all evil and that's what this whole
world revolves around is making money. And we're in the midst of it you know
and I think you know people really need to
whenever they feel like this really need to go to Psalm 73
and really live in this because this is the world that we're living in.
We're the world where people are corrupt and they're speaking
wickedly. That's and and if we find ourselves envying the
wicked I just understand you're envying the foolish. You're envying
foolish people who are not going to get away with it.
They're getting away with it now but ultimately they're going to pay the
price. The Bible says every knee shall bow and
confess that Jesus Christ is God. The glory of God the
Father. You know and whether you know in my
personal opinion I don't think that's because they're going to be made to do
it. I think you know after the great white
throne when they are brought before God and they see the glory of God and
they see the heavenly host and they see
everything that was just a prayer away
everything that was just you know just so close if only they'd had the
faith of the grain of a mustard seed away
and they see that lake of fire open waiting and they see the angels
standing by ready to cast them headlong into that pit
they're going to fall on their knees and they're going to confess to
Christ. It's going to happen and they're and
no one's going to have to make them do it.
They're going to say truly this is the Son of God. Truly
thou art Lord. Truly thou art the Most High. That's what they're going to
say. That's what every single corrupt wicked evil person in this world is
going to say. Why would I sit here and envy them?
Why would I sit here and wish I could have what they have? They're fools
when we have everything. The Bible says in verse 10 therefore his people
return hither and waters of a full cup
are wrung out to them. Now it's kind of hard to
it's kind of hard to say which whose people is he talking about here
is he talking about the people of the world but I believe he's talking about
God's people. That his people return thither. They
they see everything that's going on. You know this is just my interpretation.
They see the eyes standing out with
fatness. They see that they have more than heart
could wish. They see that they are corrupt and that they speak wickedly
concerning oppression. They see their mouth against the
heavens. They see that their tongue walking through the earth.
They see the prosperity of the foolish. They see
the the wicked of this world and they see themselves becoming envious
and they realize and they that how wrong that is and then they turn to
him. Therefore his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out
to them. You know maybe that's talking about
the wicked but you know as I've read this over the years I've always kind of
taken that as God's people return unto him when
they see the prosperity of the wicked and God rings out a waters of a full
cup to them. God fills their cup says you know
maybe you can't have everything that they have.
Maybe you don't get everything that the world's got but I
will fill your cup and then we could say like David my cup
runneth over. You know and that's a that's a good
place to be in life. You know sometimes when you're when you really
got that when you really feel like your cup is running over
you know that's when I like to use that expression I'm sipping from the
saucer. A lot of people have no idea what
that means but if I have a cup that's sitting on the saucer and it's
running over brother I'm not drinking from the cup I'm cleaning up the saucer
first because my cup's running over. You know and God will give you that.
God will pull will pour out waters. God will fill
our cup until it's we got to clean up the saucer first.
We got to sip from the saucer. You know that and that's what
is available to us as God's people and look the world can't have that
and the world doesn't want that. The world could care less about
a cup that's running over that's run out rung out by the hand of God
today but you know what there's going to come a day
when they're in torment and agony and anguish
and they're going to be like you know that that that
rich man in Lazarus and he's going to say send Lazarus
that he might just dip his finger in water and cool
just the tip of my tongue for just a moment's relief
but us in this life God's pouring out full cups.
We just have to realize it. We have to understand that.
We need to go to God if you and here's the thing as long as you sit there
and envy the foolish as long as you sit there and
and desire what the world has to offer you're never going to get a full
cup. You're never going to know what it
is to have that full cup rung out unto you
until you say you know what enough with what world has to offer enough
with their worldly entertainment enough with their worldly
distraction and let me get in the word of God and let God
soothe my soul let God speak to my heart and let me get in the word of
God and let God begin to ring out a full cup unto me.
You have to go to that. You have to go to God to get that. That's why he says
therefore his people return hither. They come back and waters are full
out of a full cup of rung out. You say I don't feel like waters are
are rung out unto me. I don't feel like my cup is full. I don't know that
I'll ever be sipping from the saucer brother Corbin. Well
have you returned hither unto him or are we still staring at the wicked and
envying what they have and what they don't have to do and the rules that
they don't have to play by?
And they still have this angst and they say how does God know
and is there knowledge in the most high?
You know God's own people can begin to say that. They can say does it does
God even notice what's going on down here?
Does God even know it's taking place? Does God even see? Is there any
knowledge? Does he even understand what how it is down here? And God does
understand. You know God is is not is you know he
could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He was tempted in all points like as we are. God does know.
What we have to wrap our minds around is the fact that the world's got
theirs coming. And just because we can't have
everything that they have you know we're not we might not have
what they have but we're not going to get what they're going to get
either. And we could have something they can
never have. Look at verse 12 he said behold these are the ungodly
who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. The ungodly
they prosper in the world they increase in riches. We could become very
envious that. Verily I have cleansed my heart in
vain and washed my hands and innocency for all day long I have
been plagued and chastened every morning. I mean you
could just get this the angst that he's going through the struggle that
he's going through. If I say I will speak thus behold I
should offend against the generation of thy children.
When I thought to know this it was too painful for me. I just couldn't
take it anymore. It was it was too much to take in. It was too painful for me.
And I love verse 17 and this is like I you know this is the key verse
this is the where everything kind of changes for Asaph.
He says until I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I
therein. He doesn't say it then I understood therein.
And then I just sat at home and just you know
it just came to me all of a sudden. You know no it wasn't
until I went into the sanctuary of God. Until I got into God's
sanctuary then understood I therein. That was the turning point for him.
Where he's going from envying the wicked from where he's going to see
how lofty they are and how they're just
standing out with fatness. How they're just
uh you know increased in riches and how they're just corrupt. How they speak
lawfully against them. Where he's just being when he says when I thought to
know this it was too painful for me. He just can't take it anymore.
Then he gets in the sanctuary of God and says ah
now I understand. And when we find ourselves in that same position and look
I believe probably all of us if we haven't already
will go through a season of this in our life.
We'll just say you know what's the point? Does God even know what's going
on? Does this any of this even matter what we're doing?
Why are we going to church? Why are we in our Bibles? Why go out and
preach the gospel? Why do any of it? It just seems like no one out there
cares. It doesn't make any difference. It doesn't matter.
We're all going to get there. We'll all get there.
What we have to remember to do is to go to the sanctuary
of God. Go into that sanctuary. Get with God.
You know obviously there's a the primary application we could say
is perhaps you know get get in the sanctuary of God. You know get in the
house of God. Get in church. You know you're definitely not going to
make any more sense of of the way the world is
by getting out of church. You know and that's what
is always kind of you know blowing my mind about Christians who kind of
you know they get downtrodden and they kind of just throw up their hands and
they end up just throwing up their hands and saying you
know I just don't get it. It just seems to me like it doesn't matter
what's the point and then they go back to the world.
It's like well that's not you think that's going to help? You know and I
guess in some sense it does help because
maybe the pressure's lifted a little bit. I mean I've heard people who've quit
on church say things like that. Oh it just feels like such a burden has
been lifted. And you know what it's true it has because
the Christian life is a burden. It's a burden to bring
your body under. It's a burden to die daily. It's a
burden to possess your vessel in honor. It's a burden to take on the
things of God and leave the things of God. It is a burden.
There is a pressure to the Christian life.
You know especially when you're actually trying to live it according to God's
word not just fake Christianity that's out there
just says hey just do whatever you want. God's not angry with you. When you're
actually reading your Bible and going to church that's holding standards and
is trying to get you to live a certain way
that's going to please God. Yeah you know what there's a pressure that comes
with that. There's a burden that's going to be there. But if you
just cast that burden off and just say well I'm just going to go
back into the world. I'm just going to go into the world. Yeah you know what
you might get some sense of relief but you're not going to have any
waters poured out onto you and you're not going to understand the world
any more than you do now. But if you stick with it and you stay in
church and you stay in your Bible and you keep
living from God day in and day out sometimes
just hanging on sometimes just white knuckling it through the Christian life
sometimes just gritting your teeth and getting through it
I guarantee you one day it will all make sense.
You'll have this moment when I understood their
end and you'll say you can have it. You can have everything the world has
to offer wicked people. You can have everything
that the devil wants to lure you with. You can have everything
that he's tempting you with. Go ahead and take it. I don't want it.
I understand their end. See how do you stick with the Christian
life? How do you make it through you know the highs and lows? I understand
their end. I have this reality that's set in
front of me called the you know the the judgment of God.
Of standing face to face with Christ. I have that reality of heaven just
in front of me all the time and knowing that when I draw my last breath
in this life I will be with the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be
present with the Lord. I believe that and we're all just one breath away
from being there with God. That's how you get through it.
When you get in the sanctuary of God you get in the presence of God and
then you begin to make sense of the way the world really is and you
understand all these people who are all these things that he just described
you understand their end. They don't think it's going to end
but it's going to end. It's going to come to an end in a hurry for them
and one day this whole world will know
the power of God and there will be no denying it.
He said until I went to the sanctuary of God then understood I am
there and that's the prerequisite. You want to make sense of it all?
You got to get in the sanctuary of God. You got to have a walk with the Lord
or it's just going to be the first half. Envious at the wicked,
envious at the foolish, envious at everything that they have,
envious at everything that they don't have to do,
envious at everything they get to get to do and seem like they're just
going to get away with. That's the way it's going to be until
you get in the sanctuary of God and have a walk with God that's your own.
And he starts to describe their end here. He says in verse
18, surely thou did set them in slippery places,
thou casted them down unto destruction. And I love how he's saying it past tense
because I mean think about it. He's writing about them in the present
tense right in the first half. He's saying they're this, they're
staying, you know, they're prospering, they're doing this, they're getting away
with it and then he gets in the sanctuary of
God then he understands their end and he speaks like it's already
happened. Surely thou didst set them in slippery
places and thou castest them down unto destruction.
He's saying I understood their end. It's like it's already happened.
You know the wicked are already in hell.
I mean in God's eyes they're already there.
Every single person in this world who's going to deny Christ it's like
they might as well already be in hell. You know this is something
sometimes, and I'm not suggesting you do this, but
this is something that an exercise I would do sometimes.
Especially if I felt like maybe I was losing my burden
for the lost. If I was kind of losing my, you know, desire to get people
saved and care about, you know, the lost and things like
that. Or maybe even to help, you know, kind of make sense of what
Asaph is going through here. Kind of understand that sometimes I would
literally just envision some wicked person, some lost
sinner just on fire.
I just sit there and think about that person just engulfed in flame.
Because it's like it's already happened. Look every single lost person if they
don't get saved they might as well be burning right
now. They might as well be on fire because
that's what hell is. It's eternal flame. It's eternal
destruction. It never ends. It's eternal torment. The smoke of
their torment will ascendeth up forever and ever
and they will have no rest day or night. You know, you get in the
sanctuary of God, you get in the Word of God, you're going to realize that.
You're going to understand their end. And then you're going to
be able to say like him, surely thou did set them in slippery places.
Surely thou castest them down unto destruction
like it's already happened. That's the perspective you need
in the Christian life. You have to understand their end.
Or you're just going to be envious. Either understand their end
or be envious. How are you going to understand their end?
Get in the sanctuary of God. Get with the Lord.
See it from his angle. How they are brought, verse 19, unto desolation as in
a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors.
That person that scoffs at us, that person that mocks
us, that person that wants to blast us on the internet
and make fun of us and call us crazy and call us whatever they want to call
us. All kinds of names and just deride us
and just make fun of us. You know what? One day
they're going to wake up and they're going to be utterly consumed with
terrors. In a moment it's going to happen.
You know, and I'm not gleeful about that. I'm not clicking my heels over that.
But that's reality. And when you get in the sanctuary of God,
that's how you start to see the world. When you start to really look at it
from God's perspective, you'll see this as if it's already
happened. They are utterly consumed with terrors.
You know, and rather than envying these people, rather than being
jealous of them as bringing into the modern vernacular, you know,
rather than wishing we could have everything that they have and desiring to
have everything that they have, you know, we might actually begin to
have compassion on them and actually pity them.
Actually pity that proud, ignorant jerk wants to just, you know, blow his mouth
off at God, blow his mouth off about the things
of God, and just scoff and mock and ridicule the things of God
and despise God's people instead of just going, oh, you know, we actually
might start to pity that guy instead of just being mad at him. We
understand that in a moment he's going to wake up and just it's
going to be terror that's never going to end. Just
unceasing terror. You know, I mean, just dwell on the things of hell. I mean,
the Bible says that, you know, hell and destruction before the eyes of the Lord,
how much more so the hearts of the sons of men.
You know, hell and destruction are before God's eyes every single day.
Can you even imagine, what would it be like to just glimpse into hell for
just a moment? You ever think about that? If somehow we
could just see down into hell, what would that be?
I mean, just think about what it might even just sound like.
It's terrifying. I mean, just the wailing, the weeping, the gnashing of
teeth, just the agony that they're all in down there.
I mean, it sends a chill down your spine to just think about, look, friend,
that's reality. That's real. That's not just some
Baptist fairy tale, that's what the Bible says.
That's what's waiting for these people, you know, and
they can have everything the world has to offer, but you know what, in a moment
they can have 80 long years or whatever of just
sin and fun and everything. They just seem like they're going to win, and just
in a moment, absolute terror that's never going to end.
All those sins, all those pleasures are going to be the farthest
thing from their mind. A million years of suffering in hell,
you think they're going to think for one moment how much fun they had
in sin. All they're going to be thinking about is
what they saw right before they got cast in a lake of fire. They got to see
the face of God. They got to see the Lord Jesus
and the heavenly else right before they went headlong in.
They're brought into desolation as in a moment. They are utterly consumed with
tears. As a dream, when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou
shalt despise their image. I mean, it seems like God's just
slumbering sometimes, but he's saying, look, when God finally starts to move,
when he decides to wake up, he's going to despise their
image.
And it's interesting when he says after that,
he says, thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reigns.
He didn't say, ha ha ha ha ha, get him God.
He says, I was grieved. My heart was touched by this.
I was pricked in my reigns. And then he does some self-reflection. Then he kind
of thinks back about the way he was before he went to the
sanctuary of God. And he says, so foolish was I
and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee.
I was foolish and I was ignorant. I was just like them.
When I was sitting there and I was envying the wicked,
when I was envying the foolish, when I was seeing the prosperity of the
wicked and just wondering why they got seems like they're getting away with it,
you know, I realized afterwards that thinking that way
was like a being like a dumb animal. I was just like them. I was foolish. I
was just as ignorant as they were.
And we sit there and we envy the wicked, you know, we're the same way.
I mean, think about it. If you're God's child and you're a
joint hare with Christ, if you're the son of God,
behold what manner of love God hath bestowed upon us that we should be
called the sons of God. That's you and me tonight.
Think about how foolish and ignorant it looks to God when he sees you
envying the wicked. You have everything.
You know, we've been made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. We're going to be with God, you know,
throughout, you know, we're going to be a testament of God's
grace and glory throughout all of eternity.
You know, he's going to show his loving kindness toward us through Christ Jesus
throughout all eternity. That's what we have.
And God looks down and he sees us going, yeah, but I wish I could just, you know,
drink. Wish I could just fornicate.
You're foolish. You're ignorant. Yeah, I wish I didn't have to have these
standards. Yeah, I wish I didn't have to go to
church all the time. Wish I didn't have to serve God. Wish I didn't have to do all
that soul winning. It's foolish. It's ignorant. It's like
something a stupid animal would say. That's what he says, I was as a beast
before that. You're just, it's,
it's that ignorant. It's that dumb. That's what it looks like to God.
And he sees this. He kind of comes to his senses
and he says, my heart was grieved. I was pricked in my reigns.
So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee.
To sit there and envy the foolish. To be envious at the wicked.
When I have everything. When waters of a full
cup are wrung out to me by God. And God wrings out that cup and God
wants to fill that cup and
give me what the world has, God. It's a stupid thought.
It's what a beast would say. It's foolish. It's ignorant.
And he says in verse 23, nevertheless I am continually with thee.
Thou has holding me by my right hand. Thou shall guide me with thy counsel
and afterward receive me to glory. I mean, he finally gets it. He's saying,
I'm going to heaven. What else, what else is there to offer? What, what's the
world going to offer you that's better than heaven?
What, I mean, what do they got to offer that even comes close to what God's
offering?
I mean, nowhere even near it. What, I mean, what even could even come to your
mind? What, what thing could even come to
your mind? And look, if something's coming to your mind,
you need to, you need to get in the sanctuary of God. If you think, well, I
know, you know, I know I got heaven, but,
you know, this particular sin or if I didn't have to
or if I could just, you know, and if something's actually coming to mind, you
need to get in this psalm. You need to get in the sanctuary of God
and let him pour out a waters of a full cup on you.
And then maybe the things the world won't taste so good
when you've been sipping at God's cup.
He said, thou shall guide me with thy counsel
and afterward receive me to glory. It's not that God's just left us on
our own here to figure it out. He will guide us with his counsel. Thou
will guide me with that counsel. If we get in the sanctuary of God.
I mean, God has written unto us all these things, all these excellent
things in wisdom and knowledge. God has given us
all the counsel of heaven in this book
and he will lead us with his right hand all the way
to glory. And we could have a life of joy. I'm not saying an easy
life. I'm not saying a life that doesn't have
its trials. I'm saying joy every step of the way.
That's why Paul said rejoice in all our tribulations.
We don't rejoice, you know, Paul said we rejoice between our tribulations. No,
he said we rejoice in all of our tribulations. Everything that we go
through through God, everything that we suffer for God,
everything that we have to endure for God's sake, we rejoice. That's what he
said. And God will guide us and with his
counsel every step of the way and then receive us into glory.
God is good. I love verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
Whom have I in heaven but Thee? Look, if there's nobody
waiting for you in heaven on the other side,
God is. I don't know, Asaphs didn't know what his
situation was. Maybe he really didn't have other people. Maybe he didn't have
saved family members. Maybe he was, you know, kind of on his own
spiritually in his family. But even then, I mean, really I think
maybe what he's saying is who else in heaven matters? Look, it's
going to be great to see our loved ones that got on before us. It's going
to be great to see all the saints that we've known here on earth
waiting for us in heaven. But who is it that we really want to
see in heaven? It's the Lord. It's God. God's going to guide us all
the way with his counsel, receive us in the glory, and then we're going to be
with God.
And he says, Who have I in heaven but Thee? There is none upon
earth that I desire beside Thee. He said, I know I have you in heaven.
And a lot of us would say the same thing. Oh, I know I'm saved. I know when
I die I'm going to go be with the Lord in heaven.
But notice what he says there at the end. There is none upon
earth that I desire beside Thee. Can we say the same thing tonight?
Can we say the same thing? Can we say that we've gone to the sanctuary of God
and understood the end of this world? Can we say that we understand that God
is going to guide us all the way with his counsel unto glory
and say that we know these things and be able to say that
as a result we desire none besides Him?
What do you desire tonight? What is your desire?
To get out of here as quick as you can? To get in and to get out as fast as you
can so you can go do whatever else? What do you desire? To get your week
started so you don't have to think about God for another seven days?
What is it you desire? Hopefully it's God.
Hopefully every day you're waking up and saying, How can I please
God today? How can I live for the Lord today?
I'm so glad I'm saved today. I'm so glad that God is guiding me every step of the
way today. That there's none that I desire
besides Thee in earth.
You know when you'll understand that is when you understand that God
is in heaven waiting for us. That's who we have waiting for us.
We'll understand that. We'll desire God every day when we go into the
sanctuary of God and understand the end of this world and
stop being envious at the wicked. He says in verse 26, My flesh and my
heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever. For lo, they that are far from Thee
shall perish. Thou has destroyed all them that go
whoring from Thee. Powerful words.
All that are far from Thee shall perish. Again he's just
kind of reiterating what he said already. Then understood either end.
People that have got God as far away from them, God's just as far away from
them as they are from Him. And you know what their end is?
To perish. Thou has destroyed them all that go whoring from Thee.
That's you know kind of another thing to think about is that
to go a whoring from Thee, you know whoring being like
an adultery, right? To be being unfaithful to
a spouse to go whoring to play the harlot.
You know what he's talking about is God's people
rejecting God, getting away from Him, running from Him.
And he's saying here that He's destroyed all them that go whoring from Thee.
Oh, He sends them to hell? No. He destroys them here.
I mean that's kind of why he's saying, who have I on earth besides Thee?
You know hopefully it needs to be that way. If there's somebody else that you
have, you know some other thing in this
world that's taken the place of God in your life,
you're a whoring from God. That's what you're doing. You're whoring from
Him. You've gone a whoring away from God.
And God destroys all them that go a whoring from Him.
That's why you know verse 28 kind of makes a lot more sense in the light of
that of verse 27. But it is good for me to
draw near to God. You know why it's good for you to draw
near to God so He doesn't destroy you?
I mean isn't that kind of what he's contrasting that with? He's saying look
it's good for me to draw near to God. Why? Because you destroy all them that
go whoring from Thee. I mean he's talking about people
that are going in two opposite directions. Those that are drawing near
and those that are going away. Those that are
leaving. Those that are going a whoring from Thee. Going from Him or near Him.
Look it's good to draw near to God because I mean
for all these other reasons that I've kind of talked about tonight one major
reason it's good to draw near to God is so that He doesn't destroy you.
You know because God, I know I've said this
so many times but I feel like I just have to keep saying this. People have to
get this through their head. God is not just going to sit up in
heaven and watch His people just go whoring from Him into the world.
And you might be able to walk away and say oh such a burden's been lifted I
don't have to obey all these rules. Yeah you know what
when sin is finished it bringeth forth death.
And whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap.
You know you might have some temporary season of pleasure in your sin
and not feel like you have you know some
kind of burden's been lifted because you don't have to live by a bunch of
rules. But ultimately God's going to destroy
you because you've got a whoring from Him.
That's the God that we serve folks. That's who God is.
There's no other way to slice that. You can't spin that and say
well yeah I know but I'm different. I'm special. I can just go do whatever I
want. God's not going to care. No God's going to care
because God loves us. God cares about us.
God chasteneth every son whom He receiveth.
And this isn't idle threats that God's saying.
This is a guy who's experienced it. This is a guy who's seen it. He's saying
look I've watched people go whoring from God and God destroys them. I mean
that's the theme of the Bible. It's just people turn on God. People
disobey God and God just punishes them. I mean
how many times does God have to just make that so obvious in Scripture?
But this is the lure of the world. That's the power of the world's
attraction. That in spite of that fact
we can still find ourselves going hmm you know I'm kind of envious of what
the wicked have. They got nothing.
All they've got is just a vapor that's going to come
it's going to come for a little while and then just vanish away.
It's like the grass of the field that's going to rise up
it's going to bloom and then wither and it's going to be like it never
even was. That's all they have. They've got nothing.
Why would we envy that?
He said it's good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the
Lord that I may declare all thy works. You know and that's
really all I'm ever trying to do is just declare all God's works.
And the greatest work that any of us could ever declare
is that Christ has come and has died for the sins of the world and has
been buried and risen again. That's the work that we're here to
declare. That's the work of God that we're here to declare.
That God has come and done all the work for us. That Christ has come and done
everything that we can't do in order for everyone to be saved and go to heaven.
I mean think about that. He is the savior of all men especially of those
that believe. He gave himself a ransom for all.
I mean God has laid down. He's not the you know the appropriation for
our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world the Bible says.
I mean God is willing to save everybody.
That's the greatest work. I mean what other work even comes close to that
magnitude and quality? Nothing even touches that.
We need to declare that work. We need to make sure that we
stay zealous to do that. That we don't faint.
That we don't be weary and well doing but that we keep declaring that work
because that's the greatest work that any of us could declare and I'm telling
you that's the greatest work any of us could endeavor to do in this life.
And I understand we have other things that we have to do. We have other
responsibilities. We have demands in our times.
But look we must declare the work of God to this world
because we understand their end. If we've been in the sanctuary of God
we know what's coming for them. Why would we not declare
the gospel to them? Let's go ahead and pray.