But we're there in Psalm 73 and the reason we're going through Psalms again is because we finished the book of Revelation
and as you should be familiar by now, when I finish a book of the Bible I want to cover three Psalms.
Three Psalms at a time between different books of the Bible.
And we are up to Psalm 73 and look at verse number three.
It begins by saying,
For I was envious at the foolish.
And the title for the sermon this morning is,
Envious at the foolish.
We know that envy is a sin.
We know that envy is not something that we should have in our lives.
And so we begin by the Psalmist saying that he's feeling envious.
Obviously, he's saying, look, I'm actually in sin myself.
I mean, he speaks of the foolish.
He speaks of the wicked.
And of course, that's its own thing.
But he speaks of his own struggle that he has in life because he sees how the foolish are flourishing.
And yet, you know, where is their judgment?
Why do they seemingly get away with all kinds of wickedness, all kinds of ungodliness?
Why do they seem to be having a long and happy and fruitful life?
Where is the hand of God?
And as I was preparing for this Psalm, you know, sometimes one of the good things,
again, I don't want to speak highly of myself,
but one of the things that I've learned to overcome is envy.
Okay, we all struggle with different sins in our lives.
Don't get me wrong.
Okay, and I've got my own sins that I struggle with.
But I remember being just a young Christian and asking the same kinds of questions that we see the Psalmist ask.
And I would see wickedness.
I'd see people that, you know, are ungodly or, you know,
are going to school and I'd see the wickedness of some students.
And it seems like people, they get away with it.
It seems like, you know, you know, I feel like when I do wicked, I get chastised.
I get corrected by my parents or, you know, I've got a guilty conscience
or the Lord might very well rebuke me or something like that.
And it seems like sometimes others just get away with all kinds of wickedness.
And I remember that bothering me.
It bothered me.
And when it comes to the Psalmist, it bothers him.
But let's start there in verse number one.
It says, Truly, God is good to Israel, even to such are as, sorry, such as are of a clean heart, but as for me.
All right, let's stop there.
So, you know, saying God is good, of course, and, you know, specifically to those that have a clean heart.
Okay.
And of course, you know, we know our struggle with the flesh and the spirit, our struggle with the old man and the new man.
And when we sin against the Lord, we do it in the flesh.
We do it in the old man.
And truly God is good to us, especially when we have a clean heart.
But when he says verse number two, but as for me, what is he saying?
When he says as for me, he's saying, look, I don't have that clean heart right now.
Okay.
Yeah, God is good to those that have a clean heart.
But as for me, you know, he says my feet were almost gone.
Okay, he's like backsliding.
He's slipping like he's, you know, not living a high and lifted spiritual life.
He's struggling.
And it says my steps had well nice lips.
All right, like he's falling a little bit from the faith.
He's losing a little bit of confidence and trust in his faithfulness toward God.
And so he's identifying that he's not somebody with a clean heart.
But he knows that God's goodness does fall on those with a clean heart.
Obviously, he wants to be someone with a clean heart, but right now he's not.
All right.
Now very quickly, you're in Psalm.
Come with me to Psalm 51.
Now, when we talk about people of a clean hearts, this is not talking about salvation.
Okay.
Yes, you know, when we are saved, God has forgiven us of all our sins.
We know that positionally before God, we are clean.
Okay, Christ has paid for all of our sins.
But what I want to show you here when it comes to this concept of a clean heart,
this is not talking about our salvation, but this is talking about our work with the Lord, our fellowship of the Lord.
And just to give you an example, I want to turn to Psalm 51, which is a very famous Psalm,
which is the prayer and the song of King David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba.
And they had that illegitimate son, of course.
And then this is the Psalm of David.
We know that, of course, King David is a saved man.
But what does this say in Psalm 51, verse number nine?
He's confessing his sins before God.
And he says, hide thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
So we have King David confessing his sins, his adultery before God.
And then he says in verse number 10, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
So, of course, David is not asking to be saved.
He's not putting his faith on the Lord God for salvation.
He knows he's already saved.
He's a man of God, right?
He's a man after God's own heart, the Bible says.
But he's committed grievous sin.
And while he has committed grievous sin and is in a state of unconfessed sin before God,
he knows that he's not got a clean heart.
And so as he confesses his sins before God, he asks the Lord,
Lord, can you create in me a clean heart?
Can you cleanse me from these sins that I have committed as I've walked in faithful,
you know, as I've walked in, well, as I walked against you, you know, bring me back in fellowship.
Renew that right spirit within me.
And so I just wanted to give you that as a comparison.
So you can see when we read Psalm 73,
this is not about salvation having a clean heart.
This is about our walk because as we walk through the world,
as we walk through life, we're going to make mistakes.
We're going to sin against the Lord.
And as the Psalmist is saying, he has sinned against the Lord.
So when we go back to Psalm 73,
Psalm 73 and we look at verse number three,
we see what his sin is.
He says, for I was envious,
okay, at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
All right.
Now just a quick reminder, I've covered envy not long ago.
Okay, but I had mentioned that envy and covetousness are similar,
but they're not the same sin.
All right, when you look at others and their possessions and what have you,
and you desire to have what they have, that's covetousness.
Okay, but when you look at others and you see what they have and it bothers you,
not because you want it for yourself,
it bothers you because you don't think they deserve it.
That's envy.
Right, let's say, I don't know, a brother in the Lord gets blessed mightily by God
and I don't know, he finds a million dollars in his bank account suddenly.
Some inheritance, some rich uncle left him some inheritance.
Okay, and like, praise God, you know, you got, you know, blessed.
That's how I would view it.
I'd say bless the Lord, you know, praise God that, you know, the Lord's given him something,
you know, something, you know, something beautiful to use,
you know, hopefully for God's kingdom, for God's purposes.
But any of you would say, oh, yeah, that brother though, you know, he doesn't, you know,
he's not as faithful as I am.
He doesn't attend church services as much as I do, you know,
and he doesn't know the Bible as much as I do.
I don't think, why did God bless him with that million dollars?
And that's not necessarily what you're saying I want.
It's just like, he doesn't deserve it.
It's not right.
It bothers them.
It bothers you and for him, what's bothering him,
what's causing the envy in his heart is that he sees the foolish,
he sees the wicked, he sees the ungodly,
and he sees their prosperity and goes, they don't deserve it though.
If you can quickly come with me to James chapter 3,
keep your finger there and come with me to James chapter 3.
And while you're turning to James chapter 3,
I want to read to you Proverbs 27 verse number 4.
Because, you know, if you're someone that struggles with envy,
you look, you need to defeat this sin.
You need to get victory over this sin.
You need God's help for victory.
Because the Bible says in Proverbs 27 verse number 4,
wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous.
But who is able to stand before envy?
We know we need to overcome the anger
and the wrath that we might have in our flesh.
But envy is even stronger than that.
Who can stand before envy?
Envy can have victory, can really hamper and destroy your life.
You know, when you look at others and you go, they don't deserve it.
You know what that's going to breed in your heart?
Bitterness.
And if you look at James chapter 3 verse number 14,
it says, but if you have bitter envying
and strife in your hearts, glory not,
and lie not against the truth.
You see, we say, I want to point there is that if you have bitter envying,
because once you envy, they don't deserve it.
And then you'll go the next day, they don't deserve it.
A week later, they don't deserve it.
Six months later, they don't deserve it.
A year later, they don't deserve it.
You've got this bitterness that keeps creeping up in your heart and your life.
It's going to put you in such a negative position in life.
Like it's going to eat you up.
It doesn't bother anybody else.
Nobody else knows what's happening in your heart,
but it's going to start destroying you.
That bitter envying in your heart.
And so you need to, you know, I don't know if that's you.
I don't know if you look at the wicked
and you're like, man, they don't deserve it though, Lord.
Why don't you, you know, you know,
start bringing your judgment and your wrath upon these people.
Why does it seem like seemingly people get away with all kinds of wickedness?
And you know, that can, you know, one thing that I like Facebook,
but one thing about Facebook as brother Michael says, it's fake book.
Okay, because people don't put, obviously on Facebook,
the times that they're struggling, the times that they're weeping,
the struggles they have.
What do you post on Facebook normally?
I hardly post, but you know, when people do it, it's the positive.
I mean, there's nothing wrong with that necessarily, right?
You know, a happy picture, you're out on holidays,
having a good time, visiting this person,
whatever it is, you know, people post.
But you know, what that creates in some people's hearts,
if you struggle with envy, is like,
why does it seem like everybody's having a great time and yet I'm miserable?
One thing you don't realize that everyone's miserable.
Everyone's got hard times.
Everyone's got difficulties in life.
Okay, but you don't see that when it comes to social media,
which is why I often say social media is not real life.
Okay, it's only a snapshot, of course, of the things that are most positive.
But when it comes to the Psalmist, yeah, he spent too much time on Facebook.
He sees everybody, the wicked, having a great life.
Everyone seems to be doing so well.
The Bill Gateses of the world and the George Soroses of the world.
And you know, they got this money, they got this wealth,
they've got this fame, seems like they can do whatever they want.
And where's God's hand of judgment?
I don't know if that's something that creeps in your heart.
I can say to you, yeah, I was like that as a young person, as a young believer.
Definitely in my teenage years, maybe in my early 20s, I can't remember exactly.
And at some point, I just stopped worrying.
I tell you, like, I love it.
I love this Psalm because I feel like, oh, I've grown up.
Like I've matured.
Like, this is one area that I've developed.
Look, there's plenty of the Bible that I need to work on, don't get me wrong.
Okay, but this is one area that, you know what?
I'm not focused, hyper focused on the foolish and the wicked, on the world and their prosperity.
I'm more focused on, Lord, what are you doing with my life?
And the people that I can influence.
And the churches that you've allowed me to pastor.
Lord, how can you use me?
How can you utilize me?
I don't want to get distracted by all the wickedness and corruption that I find in the world.
Because yeah, it might, it might.
If I start focusing on those things, it might bring bitter envy in my heart.
Okay, let's keep going there.
Back in Psalm 73 and verse number 4, speaking about the wicked and the foolish, the ungodly.
It says, 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.
Alright, so bands, the idea of bands, when you think about bands, it's, you know,
if you were to band something, you're reinforcing that, right?
You're creating limitations.
Like if you're reinforcing a wall against, a shelf against your wall,
you're making sure that you just won't fall over easily.
You know, you're keeping it stable and it's, it's without, like I said, it's without,
it's got, it's got, it brings limitations.
And so when it says, for there are no bands, there are no limitations in their death,
the psalmist is saying, look, they're, they just, they do whatever they want in their life.
It seems like they've got no restrictions.
You know, if they, if they lust over certain possessions, they get that possession.
If they want to influence the governments, you know, they'll influence the lobby groups.
They'll, they'll send money that way and they'll get their laws passed through society.
It seems like, you know, even to death, they've got no limitations.
They're able to do whatever they can.
It says their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men.
Because again, is that, is that a true statement?
Do you think that's a true statement?
That they've got no problems at all?
Of course they've got problems.
But you know, this, the psalmist is speaking from his heart, from his envious heart at this point in time.
Okay, he knows he's in sin.
He knows he doesn't have a clean heart.
Okay, from his perspective, like I said, like when you read Facebook,
everyone seems to be having a great time.
No one's got any struggles.
These people seemingly just get away with murder.
It says neither as they plague like other men.
Okay, and so again, he's just speaking about how these guys, man, they're so wicked,
but they just don't seem to have, like, they just seem to get away with it.
They can do whatever they want.
They're living long lives and they've got strength in their life.
They've got no problems, it appears.
Verse number six, speaking about these same wicked men.
Therefore, pride can passeth them about as a chain.
Violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness.
They have more than the heart could wish.
They've got everything they want.
The Psalmist is probably thinking, I don't get everything that I want.
Everything my heart wishes, I don't get what I want.
But these wicked, ungodly people seem like, whatever they set their eyes on,
their eyes stand out with fatness, whatever they want, whatever they desire, they get.
They want the new Lamborghini, they'll get the Lamborghini.
You know, whatever hotel they want to stay at,
wherever they want to do, whatever they want to influence, they get what they want.
And therefore, like verse number six, because they get whatever they want, they've got pride.
You know, what's pride? You lift yourself up above others.
You know, these rich, wealthy people in the world, they view us,
they view others as simple peasants, lower life forms.
You know, they get to live the good life, the high life, but nobody else deserves to live that life.
It says violence covers them as a government.
You know what, you know, whatever gets in their way, in their pursuit for pleasures, they'll create violence.
They'll violate other people, they'll step on other people's toes, okay, to get what they want.
Okay, they've got these amazing positions of wealth and power,
and the Psalmist looks at it and goes, boy, I'm envious, it bothers me, God.
But at the same time, he says, but you know, while it bothers me and causes envy and bitterness in me,
I don't have a clean heart right now.
Okay, so I want you to, maybe this is you this morning, I don't know,
maybe this is something you struggle with.
You see the prosperity of others.
You know, one thing that used to bother me when I was young is the Benny Hinns of the world.
You know, these big name preachers that we know they're ungodly, you know, wicked people,
you know, and they take advantage of, you know, pretending and making tricks that they've killed,
you know, all these people and people just send them money.
And you know, you're like, how can people just send them crazy amounts of money?
And they're flying around in their private jets and they're living in their big mansions.
I mean, nothing like what we see Jesus Christ and his disciples live like and act like.
And that bothered me for a while, you know, until again, I realize that's it's not that I wanted the private jet.
Not that I wanted the big mansions, just how could they have that?
It doesn't make sense to me.
Again, that used to be me going back, you know, as a teenager, you know, back to,
I don't know, does that bother you today?
I don't know, does it bother you today?
You know, when you think about that, again, it's going to develop envy.
It's going to, it is envy, it's going to develop bitterness in your heart.
And look, you know, you can't have a clean heart before God with this kind of attitude, okay, before God.
This is something we need to fix.
It's not like you need to delight in that. I didn't delight in the Benny Hinns, but it doesn't bother me.
It's like, well, that's because as we keep going, we'll understand their end.
We'll understand what's going to happen to these people.
And you know, praise God, I'm saved. I know where I'm going.
I've got eternal life. I know I'm going to spend eternity with my Lord Jesus Christ in heaven.
And so it doesn't bother me. Like, I'm going to be walking streets of gold.
You know, these wicked people, they're not going to be walking streets of gold, are they?
I am. You are, if you're saved today, if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Let's keep going to verse number eight, Psalm 73, verse number eight.
They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression.
They speak loftily.
All right, so they're corrupt. They speak weakly concerning oppression.
These rich, powerful people, they want to oppress people, okay?
So they speak wickedly about it, right? Like they want, you know, wickedness.
They want, they want all, they want to inherit the earth for themselves.
They don't want to share the wealth of the world to anyone else.
It says they speak loftily and lifted up pride.
Now, even though they're prideful, even though they want to cause oppression,
it says in verse number nine, they set their mouth against the heavens,
and their tongue walketh through the earth.
So they want to cause oppression.
But they speak out against heavens, the heavens.
They speak out against the Lord. Why?
Because the Lord God is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, okay?
He has the highest authority. He has the highest power.
And it bothers them to know that the God of heavens has power over them.
They want to oppress, but they don't want to be oppressed by God.
So speak out against God, okay?
So not only do they seek the riches and the wealth and the pleasures of this world,
they also want to speak against God.
They don't like God, okay?
Because they know God has rules.
They know that one day they're going to have to stand in judgment for Almighty God.
So they speak, they set their mouths against the heavens.
They speak against the Lord God and his authority,
but they want authority and they want authority wickedly with oppression, okay?
Verse number 10.
Now verse number 10 is about believers.
It says, therefore, his people, that's the God of heavens, okay?
The people of God. Therefore, his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
All right, so what we learn here, even though we don't like oppression,
no one likes, you know, going back a few years ago,
being locked in their house and you can't visit anybody.
You can only travel five kilometres or whatever it is and all the restrictions.
No one likes that, okay?
But we see something that is fruitful that comes out of oppression.
Oppression brings us back to God.
Therefore, his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
See, God has a cup of blessings for us.
Sometimes God allows these wicked to seemingly get away with things, okay,
and cause oppression in our lives
so that we have no other place to go but to go to our Lord God himself
and he's ready to give us a cup of water.
A cup of cold water, nourishment, rest from the oppressive world that we live in.
So he's identifying, the Psalmist is identifying, you know,
that the Lord God will, you know,
I mean, why are you allowing this God?
But maybe God's allowing this so I can return back to him.
Remember, he doesn't have a clean heart right now.
You know, he hasn't been walking with the Lord.
He's been bothered by envy and bitterness against these people
and then when the oppression comes, he's like,
well, Lord, where are you?
It's like, yeah, that's why I've allowed it.
So you can be back walking with me.
You can be back in fellowship with me.
You can receive the blessings that I have to give you.
Like stop focusing on the prosperity of the wicked
and start focusing on the blessings that God will give you in your life
as you walk with him.
That's why verse number one,
truly God is good to Israel,
even to such as are of a clean heart.
Who cares what the wicked have?
I want the goodness of God in my life.
I want his blessings, his rewards,
his face to shine upon me.
So much greater is that than to be concerned about
what's going on in the wicked world.
Verse number 11,
And they say,
How doth God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?
Verse number 11 for me, I was struggling.
Is this the wicked speaking here?
But I believe it's God's people speaking here
because verse number 12,
let's read verse number 12 and then I'll go back to verse 11.
This is why I believe it's the believers.
He goes,
Behold, these are the ungodly.
So it's not the ungodly speaking here.
It's the godly.
These are the ungodly who prosper in the world.
They increase in riches.
So when you understand that verse number 12,
it's the believers.
It's God's people saying,
hey, look at the ungodly,
like the Psalmist himself is saying this, right?
That, you know, they've got all the riches.
They're prospering in the world.
Then you can understand verse number 11 a little bit better.
It says,
And they say,
How doth God know?
And is there knowledge in the most high?
Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world.
They increase in riches.
So as they're speaking to one another saying,
doesn't God know their weakness?
Like doesn't,
like we see their weakness.
We see the corruption.
We see the oppression.
And they don't,
they get away with it.
Lord, don't you know?
Can't you see?
You know,
it says,
Is there knowledge in the most high?
Lord, don't you know what's going on?
So they're asking that question just like the Psalmist.
Can't you see, Lord?
Why don't you step in?
And like many times when you and I pray for our needs,
there are moments of time, admit it,
that we say,
Lord, where are you?
Lord, you know this is my need.
Lord, you know before I even ask you
that I've got this problem,
I've got this scenario.
I need you to provide a solution for me.
Lord, why don't you step in?
Where are you, Lord?
Like why are you taking so long?
But Lord's not taking long.
It's just that we're impatient, right?
We don't have the patience.
We don't have long suffering.
We tend to forget that God's timing is better than our timing.
And so,
the people are saying the same thing like,
Lord, don't you know?
Lord, why don't you step in?
Can't you see what's happening?
Can't you see the weakness?
Can't you see the corruption?
I don't know.
Is that how you feel sometimes?
Again, I feel it mainly when it's my personal needs,
my personal prayers.
Lord, I need you to do something.
Lord, can you do it now?
It's too hard to learn the lesson and wait,
you know, two months for the answer.
But the Lord's answer is always the best.
It's always correct.
His timing is always the best.
He always somehow delivers a better solution
than you ever thought possible
when it comes to prayer life.
Verse number 13.
He says,
Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain.
Now, he's speaking like,
obviously this is not true.
This is how he feels right now.
And if you cleanse your heart,
that's a good thing.
It's not vain.
It's not empty.
It's not unprofitable.
Of course cleansing our heart allows us to
be in fellowship with our Lord God.
It allows the Lord God to use us
as empty vessels for his purposes.
He says,
and wash my hands in innocency.
Because this is all vain.
Like, you know,
I've tried to be innocent.
I've tried not to cause harm to others.
I've maintained a clean heart.
But it's been vain.
It's benefited nothing
because these people,
they're wicked.
They're not innocent.
They're oppressors.
And wow, look how seemingly they're blessed.
Look how seemingly they're rewarded.
So all this work that I've done
to maintain a clean walk with God,
it's empty.
It's vain.
It's not beneficial.
Again, he's wrong
in his understanding where he is right now.
Okay, how he's feeling right now.
The envy that he's struggling with in his life.
He goes, verse number 14,
for all the day long have I been plagued
and chastened every morning.
He goes, for all the day long have I been plagued.
Just compare verse number five quickly
in the same chapter.
Remember about the ungodly?
They are not in trouble as other men.
Neither are they plagued like other men.
And then he says,
for all day long have I been plagued.
I've got problems.
I've got struggles.
I've got weaknesses.
I've got sicknesses.
I've got financial struggles.
Whatever it is that he's going through.
You know, I've got relationship issues.
People are,
I'm in conflict.
I'm plagued.
But these men,
they're not plagued.
I've tried to walk with the Lord.
I've tried to maintain a clean heart.
I've washed my hands.
I've tried to be innocent
and not offend other people.
But why am I struggling?
Why am I being chastened every morning?
So you can see where he's coming from.
If you can come to Proverbs,
please keep a finger there again in Psalm 73.
Always keep a finger in the Psalm that we're reading through.
But come with me to Proverbs chapter 3.
Proverbs chapter 3.
I love these Psalms by the way.
I love them because you see
the true nature of man.
And these are godly men.
Don't get me wrong.
They're writing scriptures.
God's using them.
God's using the Holy Ghost to move them
to write these words.
They're godly men, are they not?
But we see the humanity come through.
We see the struggles they have.
Why?
So we can relate.
We can go hard on that.
That was me.
Or that was me.
That is me right now.
Or whatever it is.
We have, you know, you can say,
well, you know what?
Lord, man, your Bible,
your word is like a mirror back to me.
I see my reflection.
Boy, I do struggle with envy.
I am this person.
You know, but look at Proverbs chapter 3,
verse number 11.
My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord,
neither be weary of his correction.
Now, the Psalmist is weary of his correction,
is he not?
I'm chastened every morning.
Why?
Well, yeah, they're correcting.
Hey, guys, despise not the chastening of the Lord.
Can you look at your life and say,
man, yeah, I was chastened by the Lord.
The Lord came hard on me
at one point in my life,
or maybe even right now.
I'm going through some,
it's definitely the hand of the Lord here.
You know, I always,
when you're going through a difficulty,
let me encourage you,
before you blame the devil,
and before you blame everybody else,
let me encourage you,
if you're going through a difficulty,
just ask yourself the question,
do I deserve this?
Am I being chastened by the Lord?
Is there some sin that I'm just holding onto,
that I'm just not confessing before the Lord?
Have I just been walking unfaithfully with him?
Have I just not been desiring church
or reading my Bible or seeking his face?
Am I finding pleasure in sin
and it doesn't bother me anymore?
You know, start asking yourself these questions.
Do I have an offense?
Have I offended a brother
or have I offended a sister
and I've not made things right?
You know, before,
because as believers,
we're quick to say,
I'm being persecuted.
The devil's after me.
It might just be the Lord's chastising.
You know, the Psalmist is able recognized,
man, I get this every morning.
Every day I'm being chastened by the Lord.
I can't necessarily say that I've been,
like, that's how he's feeling.
Again, you know, this is poetry, you know,
sometimes there's exaggeration,
but the truth is there, you know?
Yeah, the Lord may very well
chasten you every day.
Not likely though,
our Lord is long suffering and merciful.
He gives us time to make things right
before his heavy hand falls upon us.
But when you are being chastened,
when you say, yeah, you know what, pastor,
I've been blaming everybody else,
but I realize it's the Lord's hand
of chastening on my life.
Then make it, get right with God.
Look, it despise it not.
Despise not the chastening of the Lord.
And then it says,
neither be weary of his correction.
Why? Because verse number 12,
for whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth,
and scourgeeth every son whom he,
sorry, I'm reading the wrong passage, aren't I?
Sorry, verse number 12, verse number 12,
for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth,
even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth.
So when you get chastened by the Lord,
let that be a reminder,
oh, the Lord loves me.
He's corrected me like a loving father
corrects his son when they've done wrong.
Why? To teach them a better way,
to correct them
so they don't make that same mistake again.
You know, I was reading to you from Hebrews 12,
and I'll just read very quickly.
Hebrews 12, verse number six,
for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeeth every son whom he receiveth.
If you endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons,
for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
You know what that's saying?
You will be chastened by the Lord.
Otherwise, you're not his son.
You're not born again.
You're not born in his family.
Part of the Christian life
is the chastening hand of the Lord.
It says in verse number,
I'll just drop down to verse number 10,
for they verily for a few days
chasten us, speaking about our fathers,
after their own pleasures,
but he for our profit,
that we might be partakers of his holiness.
If you say,
Pastor, yes, I am struggling with something,
and I realize now it is the hand of the Lord.
I want you to understand it,
and come to this realization acceptance
that it's for my profit.
God loves me.
He wants better for me.
He wants me to be a partaker of his holiness.
The Lord has shown me an area of my life
that is not holy,
that is not pleasing to him.
He wants me to be holy.
He wants me to be pleasing to him.
That's why the Lord is chastising me.
That's why his hand of correction is upon me,
because he loves me.
He's trying to help me.
And then verse number 11 says,
Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous.
Isn't that true?
When you're going for the chastening hand of the Lord,
it seems grievous, not joyous.
Nevertheless, afterward,
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby.
The fruit of righteousness.
Okay, that is the end result
of the Lord's chastisements.
So when you can identify the Lord's chastisement
or chastening,
remind yourself God loves me.
He's doing this for my profit.
He's doing this so I'm more holy,
so I'm more righteous.
Okay.
And hey, when you learn the lesson,
guess what's gonna happen?
The chastening is going to stop.
If you refuse to learn the lesson,
yeah, like the Psalmist says,
you'll be chastened every morning,
every day, until you learn the lesson.
That's why I don't just quickly,
when I'm going for a difficulty,
I don't just quickly blame everybody else
or blame the devil,
because if I do that,
I'm not gonna learn the lesson,
if it is the chastening hand of the Lord.
First thing I say to myself,
boy, have I done something wrong.
Am I far from the Lord?
Am I not fulfilling a responsibility
that God has put on my shoulders?
That's the first thing,
and when I identify it,
I go, oh, all right Lord,
I need to fix this then.
And when you fix it, that's it.
You've learned the lesson.
The chastening is over.
Okay.
And hey, you've developed,
you've matured, you've grown,
you've learned something great,
you're more holy,
you're more righteous,
and you've got a clean heart
before the Lord God.
Back to Psalm 73 and verse number 15.
Psalm 73 and verse number 15.
So again, verse number 15
will be understood
when you understand again
where the Psalmist is coming from.
He's struggling with envy.
It's a problem.
It's a sin in his life.
He doesn't have a clean heart
before the Lord.
It bothers him
that these people are prospering.
They're in their wickedness.
All right, we've seen all of this.
He's dealing with the chastisement of the Lord.
He recognizes that as well.
Yeah, I'm being chastened by the Lord as well.
Every morning.
And he's wondering,
is this Christian life even worth it?
Is living righteously even worth it?
Right?
Like it's vain.
It's empty.
It doesn't seem to benefit me.
So when you understand
where he is at right now,
then verse number 15 makes a lot more sense.
Because he says,
if I say,
I will speak thus.
So if he speaks these things,
what he's feeling right now,
what he's going through right now,
he goes,
Behold,
I should offend against the generation of thy children.
So we learned something else
that's quite interesting in this Psalm.
Is that when you're going through
a spiritual low
and you're struggling with your walk with the Lord.
Okay, and you've got all the turmoils
and the problems
and you feel like life is not fair
and you feel like God's not there.
Why isn't he answering my prayers
and you know what?
Is it even worth being at New Life Baptist Church this morning?
That's not when you speak to your brethren.
Cause you may cause offense.
You know what?
You can cause others to be discouraged.
You don't have to share every little thing
that is on your chest.
All right?
Before you speak to brethren,
especially God's people,
we ought to be speaking words of encouragement.
There's nothing wrong with saying,
hey brother or sister that I love,
I'm going through a hard time right now.
I'm struggling with sin,
envy in this case.
Can you please pray for me?
There's nothing wrong with that.
But when you start to complain about God,
why isn't God stepping in?
Why doesn't he know what's happening?
Why isn't he answering my prayers?
You know what?
You're just going to cause offense to your brethren
and cause them to be discouraged, cast down.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4 29,
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,
but that which is good to the use of edifying,
that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
When we speak, we need to question,
are the words they're about to say,
are they going to edify?
Are they going to encourage?
Are they going to build up my brethren?
Or is it just going to cause discouragement?
Is it going to cause division?
Is it going to cause conflict?
You've got to wonder.
See, some people feel,
no, God's given me this mouth,
therefore, I've got to use it.
Well, we've got to use it.
But you need to remember,
you need a filter.
Some people don't have a filter
between their brain and their mouth,
but you need it.
That's called judgment, that filter.
You know some people
that sometimes the apostle Peter was like this in the Bible.
Well, it seems like before something
you finished processing in his brain,
it's coming out of his mouth.
Peter was a man who was unfiltered
in the way he would speak.
Of course, he'd grow and develop
and mature and all that in time.
But we see how he is in the time of Christ.
We ought not to be that way.
We need to make, hey, what am I about to say?
Is the speech I'm about to say,
is it something positive?
Is it edifying?
Does it minister grace to the hearers?
Or is it just constant negativity,
constant discouragement?
You know, if you're someone,
I'll just, I don't want to offend anybody.
I've got to stop saying that.
Oh, I want to offend all of you.
But you know what, if you find,
if you find that no one wants to talk to me,
no one speaks to me, everyone ignores me.
I'm pretty sure I know the reason why.
You're probably a very negative person, right?
You're more like a half empty glass than a half full,
like that perception, right?
Is the glass half full or is it half empty?
You know, the positive mind,
well, it's half full.
I can drink of that water.
Praise God for the half full cup.
The negative person will say,
well, it's half empty.
You know, someone offers me water,
brother, but you left that much.
You could have filled it to the top.
No, I'd be, hey, brother,
thank you for all the water you did,
gave me, right?
That's a positive.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
That's edifying, edifying one another.
If you find yourself constantly complaining,
constantly negative, everything's bad.
You know, even situations that pop up,
you don't see the positive out of it.
You just see the negative out of it.
You know, you're going to find that
nobody wants to talk to you.
Nobody wants to be around you.
Why?
Because when they do get around you,
they don't get edified.
They get discouraged.
It's like, man, this person is just critical,
always rebuking, always upset.
You know, I don't feel encouraged
when I spend time with this person.
So when you talk about corrupt communication,
that's a bit of open-ended suggestion.
What is corrupt?
Well, if it doesn't edify,
if it doesn't minister grace to the heroes,
it's corrupt.
All right, and if you're just constantly negative
and constantly, the law's not coming through,
the laws are answering prayers,
I'm in such a bad place,
I'm in a bad, bad, bad, negative, negative, negative,
you know, horrible, horrible, horrible,
the world's about to fall down,
the sky's going to fall,
you know, everything's going to,
no one's going to want to spend time with you.
You're going to be friendless.
Okay, you want to make friends,
you want to, you need to encourage,
you need to edify, you need to build people up.
People want to be in your presence
when you can edify and lift them up.
Some must recognize this.
Some must go, man, I'm in such a bad place,
I can't even speak about this
because I'm going to cause offense to other people.
At least he's got a filter, right?
I mean, he's sinning, he's got envy,
but at least he's smart enough to realize,
listen, I can't talk about this.
You say, pastor, but I need to get off my chest.
Yeah, you go to God.
I mean, I don't know who's the best hearer.
It's God.
Like, I know the feeling to want to get things off your chest,
but, you know, you get things off your chest,
someone's going to interrupt you.
You know what, you can go to God
and he's not going to interrupt you.
He's going to just allow you to speak openly to him
and share your heart, share your concerns to him,
you know, and he'll create a new heart.
He'll clean you, you know, he'll help you.
He'll console you, he's our counselor,
he's our comforter.
That's who we go to.
When we have negative things to say,
we go to our God and say,
God, I can't share this with a common man.
I need to share this with you.
Please help me, Lord.
Help me see things in the right light.
Back to Psalm 73, verse number 16.
He goes, when I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me.
He goes, man, I'm thinking about these corrupt people.
It's pain and envy.
When I think about sharing this with others
and offending others, it causes me pain too.
I don't know which pain he's referring to here,
maybe both.
And then verse number 17, everything changes.
Until, guess how it's felt.
Until I went into the sanctuary of God,
then understood I their end.
The sanctuary of God, of course,
in the time that this was written
was the tabernacle, the house of the Lord.
And the house of the Lord in the New Testament
is your local church.
You know what, this is why coming to church is so good.
Until I went to the sanctuary of God,
until I went to church,
then understood I their end.
When I went to church, it finally brought me to understand
and to appreciate God's judgment and God's timing
and understand that I've been thinking about this all incorrectly.
You know, I've not had the right attitude at this time,
but coming to the house of the Lord has helped me.
And Brethren, if you're someone that struggles with envy,
if you're wondering why does this wicked person
get away with that
and why does Benny Hinn get away with this
and whatever other prophet's names you want to call,
then let this be the lesson, verse number 17.
Look, now you're in the house of the Lord right now.
Okay, let's provide a solution to your envy.
Let's understand their end, the wicked's end.
And then verse number 18, I guess he heard a great sermon, right?
Verse number 18 says,
Surely thou did set them in slippery places,
thou castest them down into destruction.
Look, it seems like they had a great life,
but hey, God did actually create troubles for them.
God did actually put them in slippery places.
It's just that we don't know about it.
Like God does see all things.
His eyes, you know, sees everything that's happening under heaven.
God did set them in slippery places,
either now or for destruction to come in hell.
Verse number 19,
How are they brought into desolation?
And that's destruction.
As in a moment, they are utterly consumed with terrors.
They're terrified.
They're afraid of their lives.
They're afraid of losing all their wealth and their power.
Reverend, we have nothing to be terrified of.
We ought to fear the Lord and that's all.
We fear the Lord.
And I know it.
I don't have any concerns about eternity.
I know where I'm going a hundred percent.
I know I'm going to be with Jesus Christ in heaven.
These people don't know that.
They ain't got terrors.
They know they're going to stand before God and give, you know,
speak and they're going to be judged by God.
They know the wickedness that they've done.
They're afraid of the enemies they've created,
the people they've trampled on, the oppression they've caused,
the violence they've caused.
They're living lives of terror.
So when you see the Bill Gates of the world
and the George Soroses of the world,
and it seems like they got big smiles
and they were doing interviews and, you know, introducing all kinds of,
you know, crazy ideas, wicked ideas,
wicked devices against the, you know, against people.
Just remember, hey, they've got terror in their hearts.
Like they're not settled.
They're not living lives of peace.
Verse number 20,
As a dream, when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou awakest,
thou shalt despise their image.
Can you come with me to Mark chapter 10, please?
Come with me to Mark chapter 10.
Mark chapter 10.
And while you're turning to Mark chapter 10,
I'll read to you from Proverbs 11, 28.
Proverbs 11, 28 says,
He that trusteth in his riches shall fall,
but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.
The people that trust in their riches and their power and their wealth,
God is saying they will fall and they do fall.
Okay, they don't have happy lives like you think.
Again, when you think of celebrities
and you think about how many and musicians and people that are famous, rich and famous,
how many of them die young?
How many of them commit suicide?
They haven't got the joy that you've got.
They haven't got the blessings of God that you have.
You are flourishing like a branch.
It's just that you've got to look at the temple carnal world
and remember that which is eternal and spiritual.
The work that God is doing in your life.
The blessings, the answered prayers that he's given you.
You flourish, spiritually speaking.
You're laying up your treasures in heaven.
That's where your wealth is, not on this earth.
You're there in Mark 10, 23.
And Jesus looked round about and saith unto his disciples,
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God.
And the disciples were astonished at his words.
But Jesus answerth again and saith unto them,
Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
People that trust in their riches.
They cannot trust. They have a hard time to trust in God.
Their faith is not on Jesus Christ.
It's on their riches.
And because it's on their riches and not on Jesus,
they're not going to enter into the kingdom of God.
We've seen this for those of you that went to the Philippines.
We've seen that when we give the gospel to Australians,
not very receptive are they?
You go to the Philippines, they're hungry for the gospel.
They're hungry for eternal life.
Not just for themselves, but for others.
They want their family and friends to hear the gospel message.
Why? Because they're not wealthy.
They haven't got riches.
You know in Australia, you guys know this, I talk about it too much.
But if you're earning minimum wage,
you are in the top 1% of the wealthiest people in the world.
It's true.
Australia is a wealthy country.
And because of our wealth, people do not seek God.
Like we're actually blessed. We're blessed to live in a place like Australia.
Or from the US, like you live in these western worlds.
Say there's great riches.
You're living better lives than most kings lived in the Middle Ages or anything like that.
You're living very comfortable lives.
The struggles that we have currently in places like Australia are so insignificant.
But we forget that.
We kind of forget the reality of living in a place like Australia.
But it's true.
The more wealth that there is,
the less likely people are going to get saved and accept Christ as their saviour.
So therefore, their destruction is going to be hellfire.
That's going to be their eternity.
Yeah, they seemingly got away with wickedness.
They seemingly got away with violence.
They seemingly had a beautiful, wonderful life.
But once they close their eyes, they're going to be suffering hellfire,
torment forever and ever.
And you brethren, you're going to be walking streets of gold.
You're going to spend time with the Lord.
We're going to be in fellowship, never to offend one another ever again.
Not just you and I.
We're going to be talking to David and Moses and Elijah and Abraham and Adam and Enoch
and all these wonderful great men and women that we read about in the Bible.
That's going to be our lives.
We're going to be best friends with God's people.
And they're going to be suffering torment forever and ever.
So, coming to church reminds us of the blessings that we have in our Lord God.
Come back with me to Psalm 73, verse number 21.
So he's learnt a great truth at church, right?
Then he says in verse number 21,
Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my veins.
This is why.
He's not grieved about the riches of the wicked anymore.
This is why he's grieved.
Verse number 22.
So foolish was I, and ignorant I was as a beast before thee.
A beast is an animal.
Because man, for me to feel this way and to think this way, how foolish of me.
How ignorant, ignorant is a lack of knowledge, a lack of wisdom.
He goes like, I'm like an animal.
The way I've been behaving is like a stupid animal, not like a wise man.
So that's why he's grieved.
He's like, man, I've been childish.
Why am I thinking like this?
Why am I envious?
Why did I think living a Christian life was vain and empty?
And if that's you this morning, you think living a Christian life is a waste of time.
It's foolish.
It's ignorant.
It's like being an animal.
And I don't think bad of you.
That's just the Psalmist is telling us.
Psalmist is a good man.
We can all get into periods like this where envy eats into our lives, into our hearts.
So, you know, we have limited understanding in comparison to God.
Again, they seemingly get away with things, but not God's giving them a hard time.
They seemingly are happy, but not God's put terror in their lives.
Okay, and they're going to end up in hell fire anyway.
They're not living the great life that you think they're living.
Verse number 23, nevertheless, I am continually with thee.
Thou has holden me by my right hand.
Okay, so he's got a change of attitude.
Nevertheless, I am continually with thee.
Yes, Lord, I'm going to stand where you stand.
I'm going to be led where you lead me.
I'm going to walk with you, Lord.
He says in verse number 24, thou shall guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
Oh, what a great attitude change, isn't it, in the Psalmist?
He says, look, as I walk, I'm not going to leave you, Lord.
I'm going to walk with you faithfully.
I will let you guide me. I'll let you counsel me in life.
And then afterward receive me to glory when I pass away.
Lord, I'll go to glory.
You'll go to heaven. That's why he says, whom have I in heaven but thee?
I'm going to heaven, I'm going to die, and I'm going to be with you, Lord.
There is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
The wicked, rich, wicked, powerful people on the earth.
Who cares? In comparison to being with God.
That's what he's saying, right? Man, my mind was on the wicked.
No, I won't be with you, Lord. You're the one I have in heaven.
I can't wait for you to receive me to glory so I can be with you for all eternity.
See, his perception has changed as well.
You know, like the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 1 21,
For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Do you feel that way yet?
Again, I'll be honest, when I was a teenager, I didn't feel that way.
I was like, no, Lord, I want to live. I don't want to die too soon.
I know when I die, I'll see you, Lord, but I still want to live a decent life.
Like, I want to get married, have kids.
But you know, where I am today, I'm like, yeah, Lord, if you take me today, look after my family.
But yeah, it's gain, it's benefit, it's profit to be without my Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity.
If the Lord sees fit to take me today, then so be it.
Verse number 26. He's talking about passing away.
So in verse number six, he says, my flesh and my heart faileth,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
So yeah, of course, our bodies break down.
Okay, but hey, even though as we get older, as our bodies break down,
we lose strength in our bodies, in our flesh, in our heart, maybe.
But we can always have the strength of God within us, right?
The new man, the new creature that we're called to walk in, to walk in the Spirit.
That is where the strength of God truly lies.
Verse number 27.
For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish.
Thou hast destroyed all them that go ahoring from thee.
But it is good for me to draw near to God.
I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.
Verse number 28 must be compared with verse number one and verse number two.
Let's read again. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such are as of a clean heart.
That's a true statement.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped.
That's how he started.
But how does he end?
He ends by saying it is good for me to draw near to God.
The Bible says in James 4-8, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.
Like he was far from, he was slipping.
He was struggling in the faith.
He didn't think it was worth it.
Now he says, boy, man, I just want to draw near to him.
I want to put my trust in him.
You know, I want to declare his good works, declare all of thy works.
You know, that's like soul winning.
That's like preaching the gospel to the lost.
Let me tell you about the great work of Jesus Christ.
His death, his burial, his resurrection, right?
You know, I want to tell you about the testimony of my life.
How God has come through.
How I was going for a difficulty brother.
But now when I, he answered my prayer and now I'm walking faithfully with him.
He gave me a better solution than I thought possible.
When we speak highly of our Lord God, that gives him glory, that gives him praise.
You know, those are words of edification.
How God has seen fit to bless us and to reward us in this life.
Rather than to complain about every little thing, every corruption, every weakness in the world.
Everyone that seems to get away with murder.
No, I'm not going to talk about that.
I'm going to talk to you about the great works, the marvelous works that God has done in my life.
The title of the sermon was, Envious at the foolish.
Envious at the foolish.
Do you struggle with envy?
Envious at the foolish.
But remember what he said about himself.
I was foolish.
I was foolish to be envious at the foolish.
Okay, if this is something that you're strong with today, you know, please commit this to the Lord.
I don't want you to be envious.
It's going to bring bitterness in your heart.
Don't want to see you as bitter people, negative people, cast down, always complain, always whining.
No, let's speak words of edification one to another.
Let's pray.