Take your Bibles tonight and open to the book of Psalms, chapter 73. Tonight is the chapter that we want to look at. And I want you to look at one verse with me tonight. We're going to look at the whole chapter, but I want to start off with one verse, chapter 73 and verse number 25. 73, 25 says this, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee. I want to talk tonight about the danger of treasuring things above God. The danger of treasuring things above God. You know, people go to great lengths and expense to search for buried treasure. I was reading about an attempt to uncover a buried treasure. on a place called Oak Island. There's an article about this in Reader's Digest, and it tells the story of how for over 200 years there have been attempts to find a buried treasure here in this place called Oak Island in Nova Scotia. There's even, I think, a television show about this, and I haven't seen it. Maybe you all have seen it. I haven't watched it. But this is a treasure hunt that is ongoing. It's still going on, and they have sunk millions of dollars into trying to find a treasure. One would hope that when they find a treasure, it's worth more than what they've already spent, right? All this expense, all this effort to uncover a treasure, what do you treasure in your life? What is the thing that you treasure most of all? Remember what Jesus said, wherever your treasure is there will your heart be also. So what do you spend your time and energy and effort working for? It can be very frustrating when you spend time and energy searching for treasure in the wrong places or treasuring the wrong things. This is a lesson that we learn here from Psalm 73. The writer of this psalm was a man by the name of Asaph. He was a gifted and outstanding musician. He lived during the time of David. He was appointed as Minister of Music in the temple. So he was really the choir director for the temple service under David. This was one of several psalms that he wrote. Now, this was written during a time in his life when he really wasn't walking close to the Lord, at least at the beginning of the psalm, he's not. By the time he gets to the end of the psalm, things are gonna change. But at this time that he began to write this, he's really talking about the time when he really wasn't enjoying the goodness of God, when he wasn't walking close to the Lord. It's hard to lead others to really worship and enjoy God when you're not doing it yourself. That was a problem that Asep had. But in this psalm it's really about the journey that he took when he basically took his eyes off of the Lord. And this psalm shows how doing this will caused him really to almost fall away from the Lord. But again, by the end of the psalm, he'll get his eyes back on the Lord and he begins to treasure God above all things. But during this journey, he gives us some lessons about the danger of treasuring things above God. And really the main idea of this whole psalm is we should never treasure anything in our life more than God. So I want to ask you, are you treasuring anything above the Lord? And so I want you to see tonight four dangers of treasuring things above God. Here's the first one. Number one, when we treasure things above God, we become envious of the wrong people. Notice in verse number 1 of chapter 73, "'Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.'" And he confesses right up front that he almost fell away, he nearly slipped. And the reason is, and the key is really in verse number three, where he said, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. That's a key phrase there, I saw the prosperity of the wicked. This is where he made his mistake. He took his eyes off of God, and what did he put them on? He put them on the riches of this world. He saw the lifestyle of the wealthy wicked, and he wanted what they had. He saw their prosperity and he compared it to his own life and some of the troubles that he had. And he almost concluded that he had wasted time following God. If you read this short passage, what you'll find is that 15 times he uses the pronouns they or them or their. So he's not looking to the Lord, he's looking to his neighbors. He's looking at what they have. He sees that these are people that aren't really serving the Lord. In fact, they're ungodly people. You ever hear the expression, the grass is greener? This is the problem he's having right now. He's looking at others around him, he's looking at his neighbors, he's looking at people that don't fear the Lord, the ungodly, and he says, it sure does seem like the grass is greener for them than it is for me. That's why in verse two, you notice the phrase, but as for me, he believed that God was good to others. He just didn't believe that at that moment in his life, that God was good to him. In fact, this phrase, but as for me, it kind of occurs four times in this Psalm. It was used to describe his condition in contrast to others. He says, as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped. He lost his foothold. He nearly turned away completely from the things of God. He almost had a monumental fall, you could say. And in a way, what he's doing here is he's kind of having a little pity party. Oh God, you're good to all these other people, but as for me. You're not really that good to me. When I compare my circumstances to their circumstances, it just seems like things aren't really right. And so he kind of goes into this self-pity thing. You see, when you get your eyes off of the Lord and you begin to put your eyes on circumstances and things around you, you will begin to think wrong thoughts about God. That's exactly what he does. Notice he thinks about the prosperity of the ungodly. Look again in verse 3, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Only a fool envies a fool. He was envious at the foolish. And again, he looks at his own lack of material goods and his own troubles, and he compares himself to the rich and the powerful. He thinks, you know, they've got everything they want. They have it so much better. And really, he kind of gets a distorted idea that all wicked people are prosperous and all godly people are poor. And of course, that's not true. Not all wicked people prosper and not all godly people are poor. But when you get your eyes off the Lord and you look around your circumstances, you kind of get, you know, confused in your mind and you begin to think things that aren't real. And so he sees the prosperity of the ungodly, he sees the peace of the ungodly. Look in verse 4, for there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. And in Asap's eyes, they were healthy and strong. When he says there's no bands, the word bands literally means upheavals or he's talking really here about death. Hebrew scholars kind of debate the correct translation of this phrase. One translates it like this, they have no struggles, their bodies are healthy and strong. But I think he's referring here to death and dying. He's saying it just seems like that when it comes time for them to die, that they die with ease. They die with a smile on their face. There's no struggle when it comes time for them to die. They kind of glide into eternity. without any struggle. Look in verse five. They are not in trouble as other men. They seem like they have no worries or problems like other people. They enjoy good health while the godly suffer sickness and sometimes don't even have enough money, it seems like, to pay doctor bills. And so he's thinking, you know, this isn't right, God. Look at them. They don't seem to struggle like the godly. And even when they die, they seem to die more peacefully. And then he looks at the pride of the ungodly. Look at verse 6. Here, he's kind of, you know, using some beautiful metaphors, you could say. They kind of wear their pride like a necklace, you know, he says in verse number six. They're arrogant, and their whole approach, they look down on others. who don't have what they have. They are so proud, so arrogant, and they love to rub in that they're better than you. It's like, you know, going to church in a car that barely runs. And some of you might even just be there tonight, right? You're hoping to be able to get home, and you break down alongside the road, and this is on Sunday, you're going to church, and you break down going to church, and a rich person that's going to play golf drives by in their BMW and kind of toots the horn at you and says, hello. Just arrogant, and you think, man, this is the attitude that he's talking about here. In verse number seven, he sees the pleasures of the ungodly. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than their heart could wish. The godly are struggling, it seems like, and they have more than they want. They don't ever have to put things away or lay away. They pay cash for everything. They don't struggle. You never see them at the Dollar Tree. That's in the Hebrew there. They always buy top of the line. He sees the prosperity, and then he sees the profanity of the ungodly. Look in verse 8, they are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. Their mouth is just constantly spewing profane things, wicked things. They speak against man. They use their mouth for oppression. They speak against God. The word loftily means they speak from on high. They pontificate like they were deities speaking oracles and they're speaking down to others. And they also blaspheme the true God. They challenge God with their speech. Look in verse number nine where it says, they set their mouth against heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. They just seem to, in their own words, just blaspheme God and have no reverence for God. We've heard a lot of that going on around us, haven't we? No reverence Heard about an atheistic farmer who wrote a newspaper article bragging about how that while other farmers went to church on Sunday, he stayed home and he worked his field. And in the article he wrote that in October when it came harvest time, he got more bushels per acre off of his land than any farmer that went to church on Sunday and honored God. And he was bragging about that. And the editor published his article, but then he wrote at the bottom, God doesn't always settle his accounts in October. So true. But that's the way they talk. And then we see the privileges of the ungodly. Look down at verse number 10. Therefore his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, how does God know? And is their knowledge in the most high? This is kind of a difficult verse to interpret, but it probably refers to the followers of the wicked, those who approve them or flatter them, or basically the people that turn their back on them when they do wrong. In other words, when this wicked person does wrong, does injustice, rather than call them on the carpet, they'll just pretend they didn't see it. they'll just give him a pass on it. That's what he means when they get to drink waters of abundance. We would say it like this in our day, they get away with murder. They're just getting away with everything. They're not called on the carpet about anything, and they're so bold and brash as if to think that even God is not watching. Or if he is, God himself is going to give him a pass on in verse 11 again, and they say, how doth God know? And is their knowledge in the most high? So they strut around, and they get whatever they want, and things go their way, and they are unjust, and they oppress people, and they never are called on the carpet about it. They never have to pay for what they've done. It just seems like they get whatever they want. And look at his conclusion about this section. Look at verse 12 when he says, Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. This is his conclusion. Boy, they really have it good. They have it better than me. You see, what he's doing here is the reason he's thinking this way, and this is all wrong thinking. The reason he's thinking this way is because he's totally got his eyes off of God. And he's looking at the things of the world. He's looking at the treasures of the world. He's looking at what these have. And he's valuing that above God. I want to tell you something, friend. When you start valuing things above God, you're in trouble. You're in spiritual danger. This is a dangerous place for him. His whole focus is distorted. He's seeing wrongly, he's thinking wrongly. He's envious of ungodly people. That's what happens when you are not focusing on the Lord. So that's a danger. But here's number two, not only when we treasure things above God, we become envious of the wrong people, but here's number two, when we treasure things above God, we will not value spiritual virtues. That means we're not gonna value spiritual things. Look at verse 13, what he says. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. For all day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. Think about that. Now, in the first part of this psalm, he took his eyes off of God and he put them on his neighbor and the key pronoun was they and them and theirs. Now here in this part of the psalm, he's still not turning his eyes to the Lord, now he's looking at himself. And the key pronouns here is I, me, my, now he's going to talk about himself here. And he's saying, you know, in verse 13, I have cleansed my heart in vain, And I wash my hands in innocency." That is, he's saying, you know, I'm saved, I've been cleansed, I've been living right, I've been trying to pursue a godly life. What good has it done for me? How has that helped me? And so here now, he's really in dangerous territory because now he's questioning the value of living a holy life. Spurgeon said this, poor Asaph, he questions the value of holiness when its wages are paid in the coin of affliction. And so he says, you know, what's the use? What's the use of living a godly life, a moral life, a clean life? Does it ever really pay to serve God? Let me ask you, did you ever think that way? You ever feel that way? Does it really, really pay to serve God? And look at verse 14. For all day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. Again, he's talking about his struggles, his day-to-day struggles. It seems like every day is a burden. Every day I've got issues to deal with. Every day I'm just barely making it through the day. And then he says in verse 15, these are really interesting words. Look at verse 15, if I say I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. In other words, what is he saying there in verse 15? It means if he really, he's holding back a little bit. If he really said everything that he's thinking, He says it would offend people. It would offend people in the congregation. If I really said everything I felt, if I really said everything I thought, and by the way, this is kind of a warning to us. Look, don't always say everything you feel and everything you think. Especially that's true when you're in the presence of other people. If you're going through a difficult time and you're struggling, listen, you don't need to spew all the things that you're thinking out. And so here he's kind of exercising a little bit of restraint here. He's saying, you know, I really don't want to say some of the things that I'm thinking because I know that it would offend a lot of people. And again, we have to be careful. And parents, when your kids are around, you need to be careful about how you talk about the things of God, especially if you're going through a difficult time, when things are not going right, because you know what? They're listening. and they're watching. And if you're a mature believer, an older believer in the Lord, and you're going through a trial, you need to be careful when younger believers are listening to what you say, because it could do some damage. This is what he's saying here. I'm not gonna say everything that I really think. And look at verse 16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. So he's really wrestling here. He's really struggling. Based on the evidence he could see around him, he came to some wrong conclusions. And again, this is because he took his eyes off of the Lord. When we treasure things, these temporal earthly things above God, we're gonna envy the wrong people. We are going to, instead of valuing spiritual things, we're not gonna value spiritual virtue. And he's again on dangerous ground. But here's the third thing. When we treasure things above God, we lose sight of the eternal. We lose sight of the eternal. Look in verse number 17. I think things begin to change a little bit for him now. Look at verse 17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. You know what this tells me? The problem with this psalmist is that he's been missing his quiet time with the Lord. He hasn't been to the sanctuary as much as he should. Now, I know I'm preaching to Wednesday night crowds, so I'm not gonna hammer too hard on this, because you're here on Wednesday night. But if I were preaching to a Sunday morning crowd, I would say, this is the reason you need to go to church every Sunday, amen? All right, that's a weak amen from a Wednesday night crowd. Because when you go to the sanctuary of God, that's when you begin to see things correctly. The problem with the psalmist is he hasn't been seeking the Lord. He hasn't been reading the scripture and praying. He's been watching too much TV and he's been spending too much time on social media. And he goes into the house of the Lord. And once he goes into the sanctuary, things begin to change. He went to worship. You know what we do when we worship, at least we should be doing? When we worship, especially in a public assembly, you know what we're saying to the world? We treasure God above all things. He is first in our life. We're saying what the psalmist said, the Lord is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. I'm gonna keep God first in my life, I'm gonna treasure Him above all things, and I'm not gonna change that position in my life. God is gonna be first. I'm gonna treasure Him above all. That's what we do when we come to the sanctuary of the Lord. One writer said this about this. In the midst of his spiritual crash, something changed, the psalmist's outlook on life. Negative thinking had engulfed him, but he came to a turning point and he had an eye-opening experience when he entered into the sanctuary of God. He said, what happened to him? Well, perspective, he got the right perspective. He was looking at the earthly things, now he starts looking at the eternal things. He kind of had a spiritual myopia where you can see things near, but you can't see things far off. Sometimes Christians have that. All we're looking at is the now and now, the earthly things, and we don't have an eternal focus and an eternal perspective. And if that's the way you look, then don't be surprised if you begin to treasure things above God. You have to have an eternal perspective. And he begins to see things from an eternal perspective. And notice the first things he says in verse 17, he said, when I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Whose end? He's talking here about the ungodly. He sees that God is a holy God, and He will judge sin. They may die peacefully, as He said in verse number four, but when they wake up in eternity, it's gonna be eternal punishment. That's gonna be their end. You know why God allows people that don't know Him to enjoy the things of this life? Because this is the only heaven they're gonna get if they don't repent, if they don't trust the Lord. The psalmist says, you know what? I know that this is not all there is. This earthly perspective, this is not all. There's an eternity to gain. And when I went into the sanctuary of God, suddenly I remembered Something I already knew, that we live as Christians, not just for the earthly, but we live with eternity in view. And in verse 18, he says, surely thou did set them in slippery places. Thou cast them down into destruction. He uses two pictures of sudden judgment. For those who don't know the Lord, for those who are proud and arrogant and blaspheme God and want nothing to do with God, and they're enjoying all the earthly things that they can with no thought of eternity in God, God says right here, one day they're gonna wake up, they're gonna fall in a slippery place, and they're gonna go down to judgment. In verse 18, thou castest them down unto destruction. He says, in a split second, they're brought down. In verse 19, they're consumed with terrors. For a person who doesn't know the Lord, this is a terrible thought of what will happen to them after they die without knowing God. They're one breath away from utter terror. So he uses the picture of someone who slips suddenly. And by the way, that's the way death comes many times, just suddenly. And then also he uses this idea of awakening, God kind of waking up. Look at verse 20, it's a dream when one awakens. So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. It might look like God's asleep, but he's gonna wake up, and when he wakes up, you better watch out. You know, I remember we were kids living on Riverside Avenue here in Baltimore. We used to, for some reason, you know, kids, we would like to get into these fights where we threw shoes at each other, you know. We just would just like to have shoe battles, you know. I remember one time we were throwing shoes at each other. Now, my dad sometimes worked third shift and when he would come home, go to sleep, one thing he didn't want to do is wake him up. And I remember one time we were throwing shoes at each other, and I happened to throw a shoe towards my brother, and he ducked, and the shoe went into my father's room, where he was asleep, and it hit him in the head. He woke up, and judgment came. That's the idea here in this Psalm here. It might seem like God's asleep, but he's gonna wake up, and suddenly, Judgment comes. So we see here, he has a different perspective. He looks at eternity now. But then notice the penitence of his heart. Look at verse 21. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reign. Suddenly, when he gets this eternal perspective, he's filled with conviction about all of his doubts, about all of his previous thoughts. Notice he said, foolish was I and ignorant. To put it in modern terms, man, what an idiot I've been. How could I be so stupid? And by the way, did you know part of repentance is seeing how stupid our sin really is, seeing how dumb it is. And so he's kicking himself now for being so foolish. Suddenly his perspective has changed. And look what he says in verse 22 again. So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast. In other words, I was thinking like an animal. Animals have no eternal perspective. They don't think about heaven or hell, or meeting God in judgment, or having a relationship with Almighty God. They don't think about that. They live for self-preservation, self-gratification, self-propagation, and some people live the same way. They have no thought about eternity. And he said, I was living like an animal. And then look in verse 23, nevertheless, I am continually with thee. Thou has hold me up by my right hand. I love this where he says, nevertheless. You know what he's saying here? In spite of all of my foolish thinking, my foolish conclusions, almost walking away from God, having these negative thoughts about God. Did God get angry and cast me aside? No. God still was with me. Even though I was foolish and faithless, God did not abandon him. In fact, what did he say? Thou has hold me up by my right hand. Even in the midst of my doubting and my foolish thoughts, God held me. He held on to me. He didn't let me go. You see, friend, this is why I know I'm going to heaven. I know I'm not losing my salvation. You know why? Because even when I'm faithless and foolish, God doesn't loosen his grip, he strengthens his grip. And he draws me closer than before. He said, thou has hold me up by my right hand. You see, he realized that the reason he didn't slip away is not because he was holding on to God, but because God was holding on to him. And this is the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saint. Look what he says in verse 24, thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory. He said, God, you're gonna watch over me. You're gonna guide me. You're gonna speak to me. How does he do that? God does it with his spirit. God does it with his word. You're gonna continually watch over me. And when the time comes, you're gonna receive me to glory. I'm not gonna slip away and lose my salvation because, Lord, you're constantly watching over me, and you're gonna guide me, and you're gonna renew me. You know the reason we haven't slipped away from God? It's because of what God's doing in us. It's not because of our faithfulness, it's because of his faithfulness. And so, he says, God, you'll guide me all the way in this life, and then you'll receive me to glory. And so when we treasure things above God, we become envious of the wrong people. When we treasure things above God, we will not value spiritual virtue. When we treasure things above God, we lose sight of the eternal, the things that are important. But here's the last thing. When we treasure things above God, we will never draw near to God and find true satisfaction. Because look what he says in verse, again, verse 25, whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee. You see, he learns from his mistake of treasuring earthly things above God. And after thinking about God's grace and sustaining him through his failure and doubt, he cries out and says, Lord, who do I have in heaven but you? And there's no one that I desire upon the earth but you. Now he goes to the highest level. So it's really unique here in this psalm, isn't it? He kinda goes from the valley all the way to the highest level. Because I wanna tell you, the highest point in your Christian life is when you treasure God above everything. Above everything. And this is the reason why God will allow us to go through trials. He'll allow us to go through difficulties so that we can learn that God is our source of joy. God is the one who is our source of satisfaction. That we're not to worship God because of the things that he gives us. That's why he'll allow some of these things to be taken away. God is worthy of our devotion and we treasure God, not because of the things that he gives us, but because of who he is. And this is the lesson that Job had to learn. Remember, that was what it was all about. Satan came to heaven and said, look, God, the only reason Job serves you is because look at all the gifts that you've given him. You take those gifts away, he's gonna curse you. You see, the issue was, is God worthy of our worship just because of who he is in and of himself, or do we only worship God because of what he gives us? And Job was put to the test on this issue. His faith was put on trial. And God said, go ahead and take away all of those things and let's see what he does. And you remember in that story when Job lost the things that was most precious to him, the earthly things around him, Job didn't curse God, he blessed God. He said, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He said, though he slay me, yet I will trust him. I can trust God. In other words, God, you are worthy of my worship, regardless of what you give me or don't give me. And God, I treasure you above all of these things. You are the source of my satisfaction. You are the source of my joy. But when you treasure things above God, you'll never find that out. You'll never come to the realization that God is your true source of satisfaction. You see, God, when He created us, He did not create us to find fulfillment in things, but to find fulfillment in Him only. There's a book out called, When All You Ever Wanted Isn't Enough. And the author talks about a woman who married a successful corporate executive and bought her her dream house in the suburbs, but now she can't understand why she goes around the house every morning saying to herself, is this all there is? Is this all there is? When you treasure these things above God, it's gonna leave you empty. because you weren't created to find fulfillment and satisfaction in things. God created you to find fulfillment and satisfaction in Him. That's why one time when they were interviewing Tom Brady on 60 Minutes, and he had won all these Super Bowls and had all these trophies and accolades, and the interviewer said, you know, what do you think about all of this? And he said, you know, a lot of people would think I have it made, but I come and I say, is this, is this, there's gotta be something more than this. That's what he said in the interview. There's got to be something more than this. And the interviewer said, well, what do you think it is? And he said, I wish I knew. I don't know. Well, I know. It's right here in verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there's none upon the earth that I desire besides thee. By the way, that's a radical claim. Can you say that? Can you say that? There's none upon the earth that I desire besides thee. And what he meant by that was, doesn't the Bible say we should desire our family, our wife, our children, our grandchildren? Sure, that's all good. Isn't it okay to desire things, comfortable things, good food? It's okay to desire those things. In terms of relationship, the Bible tells us to love our families. We're just not supposed to love them more than God. In fact, in comparison, our love for God should be so far above it. And it's nothing wrong with having these things. In fact, all these things are things that God has given us, not so that we can love those things, but that we can love the God who gave us those things. And when we enjoy those things, we are worshiping and thanking God, the great giver of all of these things. The Bible says He gives us things, He gives us richly all things to enjoy. We just have to remember that everything we have is a gift from a gracious, loving God. And we learn to treasure Him because of all the things He's given us. And if He decides to take those things away, we treasure. It's not going to bother us because it might be some pain involved if it's someone that we love, but we know that we still treasure Him above all things. We treasure Him above all things. And this is a lifelong process because look what He says here in verse 26, my flesh and my heart faileth. but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." And what he's seeing here is part of the process of beginning, he's beginning to see the shortness of life and how things are not lasting, things change. And this is part of this process of treasuring God because we live in this world where things aren't the same, things change. You begin to see people who whose heart and flesh fail them and they die. Friends die. Family members die. And as you get older, you begin to realize that your heart and your flesh are beginning to fail you. It's called aging. And then you ask yourself, what am I living for when this life ends? And when all these things around us change and things of this earth change, you know what? We still have Him. We still have Him. And he says in verse 26, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. And so, he sums it up in verse 28, we have to finish up here. It's good for me to draw near to God, for I put my trust in the Lord God, that I might declare all thy works. He sums it up by saying the nearness of God is good. So the question again is, is God your chief treasure? Do you treasure Him above everything, above all things? When I was in England, I worshiped at a church, a small little chapel, and they had a hymn book that I hadn't seen before. There was no music in the hymn book that had a lot of beautiful writing in it from a lot of old writers. All had died. A lot of the hymns and things were written back in the 17th and 18th century. But I remember just reading through the hymn book. and just reading the words and being blessed by the words, and that they had a depth and a richness about them in their theology. And I really wanted that hymn book, so I stole it. I'm just kidding, I didn't really steal it. I did, however, ask somebody, can I buy a hymn book from this church? And of course, they allowed me to take it with me. They were so gracious. Sure, just take it. So I took the hymn book and I said, I don't mind paying for this. They said, oh no, just take it as a gift. We're changing over hymn books anyway. And I brought it home and I've been reading it and been blessed by reading the words of it. And I find that a lot of those hymns were written by Charles Wesley. There's a lot of hymns that he wrote that we are kind of out of circulation now. But much like Asaph, Charles Wesley was very gifted in writing spiritual songs. And when it came time for him to die, at the end of his life, he was meditating on Psalm 73. specifically the verses that we read, verse 25, "'Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there's none upon the earth that I desire besides Thee.'" And these were the words that he wrote, and these were his last words. He dictated these words to his wife. The last words that he said were this, "'In an age and feebleness extreme, What shall a sinful worm redeem? Jesus, my only hope thou art, strength of my failing flesh and heart. Oh, could I catch a smile from thee and drop into eternity. And then he died. He went into eternity. And so may this psalm remind us to live with this eternal perspective, and may we never treasure anything above God. May we learn that He's worthy of all of our worship. May we treasure Him above all things in our life. Let's bow for prayer together tonight. So Father, help us to have the heart of the psalmist here in verse 25. May we say and mean it from our heart, whom have I in heaven but thee? And there's none upon the earth that I desire besides thee. Lord, may we treasure you above all things. May we recognize the danger of treasuring things above you. Knowing, Lord, how that will lead to danger in our spiritual walk. Frustration, a loss of focus, a loss of joy. But Lord, when we put you above all things, when we put you in the right and proper place, all the joy that you give us, even in the midst of difficulty, Lord, you sustain us and you're our joy. And Lord, may we treasure you above all things. I'm going to say that's my prayer tonight. May God give me the grace. Maybe you just need to take a moment and pray and say, Lord, forgive me for putting things above you. and help me by your grace to restore you to your proper place in my heart and in my life. Would you take a minute and just tell the Lord that? God, may I treasure you above all things. Father, I thank you again. Bless these words to hearing hearts tonight. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.