Well, here we have the privilege of gathering together this afternoon after just a wonderful morning of worship and after a nice lunch and maybe feeling a little bit sleepy, right? How many of you enjoy Sunday afternoon naps other than me? All right. And so I take that into account and we won't prolong our time together, but it is a wonderful thing to gather together and to seek to worship the Lord. And really what I've been doing for a number of years now, I believe, is just being honest to realize that a big message doesn't really work after a lunch like we've had, but having some type of devotional or even actually just maybe a final point to the morning message. And that's what we're doing this afternoon. So this morning we had a message on actually three of the four points. that I've called The Lord is My Portion from Lamentations 3. And if you fact, let's do this, if you have your bulletin nearby, some of you have it memorized, some of you know, and that's fine. If you just, let's read this verse out loud together from the ESV translation, it's in your bulletin, and that way we could all read together. And then we'll just say the reference the verse we'll read it together and with the reference I'll lead and it's again It's in your bulletin on the right hand side on the lower portion if you happen to have a bulletin And then if not, maybe just do the best that you can here we go Lamentations 3 21 to 24 you join me, but this I call to mind and therefore I have hope The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in Him." That is such an incredible verse. Just trying to get there. And just to think that way on a good day. is wonderful, right? Not yesterday, but a week ago. It was just a real nice day, and Nancy and I went out for the afternoon, and as you could imagine, just jumped on the bike, and went up to Caesars Head, up Highway 11, and up 276, and just enjoying it, and just having so much fun. The air was a little bit crisp, but not cold, and just back up, going up Caesars Head. How many, you've been up to Caesars Head, right? Raise your hand. Especially, yeah, I hope you have. How many of you have never been to Caesars Head? This is sad. Yeah, this is very sad. Okay. We're gonna have to work on that I know some of you are students maybe out of town or newer in town, but just a beautiful place and so we're going up through the twisties, which is you know part of the fun and just praising the Lord and enjoying it and Having a good time getting up in fact on the way up even a blessing a couple of a bikes coming the other way And we don't fly, but you know you don't want to write too slow either And so we're going through the corners having a little bit of fun, and then a couple bikes coming the other way very heavily You know waving their hands man slow down you got to slow down and then because there's some bad pavement right around there and so as we came around the corner, but we knew that because they warned us because the Lord watches over us and And so just thanking the Lord even for the safety and then hitting that bad spot and getting through it and then picking up again. And then going up to the very top and just a short walk from where you park, you come to the overlook at Caesars Head and you could see Paris Mountain, you could see Table Rock, you could see just such a great distance. It's all beautiful and here's my point. On a day like that when everything's going well, You know, I'm with my wife. I'm feeling good. I'm on my bike. Somebody warned me about bad pavement. Just enjoying the day. How could any day be better than that? And praising the Lord, to say something like this, Lord, your steadfast love never ceases. Your mercies never come to an end. Great is your faithfulness. You're my portion. That's a good thing. And I have to admit, even on our good days, right? We don't always do that. But even on a good day, how great that is to think of what Jeremiah was witnessing. To be in a city, right? To be in New York City, not merely after 9-11 and the towers go down. Picture yourself in New York City and there's ISIS invaders all around. And you've had family people die and other family taken captive. And somebody comes up to you, maybe, hi, I'm with the news, what are you going through right now? And you would say, well, you know, there's a lot of suffering, a lot of pain, so what do you think? Well, what I think, what? Is the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my... Wow! That's what Jeremiah was saying. And that was the first point that we considered. It's just so incredible. But the fact is, the Lord is my portion. That gives me hope in suffering. And we consider that from lamentations we also saw in Psalm 142. We took that same word, translated portion, which gave us our second point. The Lord is my portion, my joy in life. And so as we go through this life, what truly brings us a joy that's a never-ending joy? a truly ultimate joy? Well, it's the Lord, knowing that He is our portion. And then we had a third point, the Lord is my portion, my motivation for service. And we considered Psalm 17, remember, it talks about worldly people, and not worldly in the sense of, wow, you know, he looks like one bad dude, he must sell drugs. Worldly in your neighbor who's really a nice person, but doesn't know Jesus. And you say, what is he living for? He lives for family. He lives for friends. He lives to be a good citizen. Everything he has is in this world. That's his portion. That's all they have. But the psalmist in 119.57 said, no, I submit to the Lord's commands because I'm motivated to do so. The Lord is my portion. So we've traced that word out for portion. And we missed one place that it occurs. In fact, someone actually said to me at lunch something to the effect of, hey, Pastor Greg, you missed one. And I said, no, no, no, we're going to hit it right after lunch, OK? And we're going to talk about that. It's going to be from Psalm 73, our fourth point, if you'd like to open to Psalm 73 this afternoon. The Lord is my portion, my encouragement as the ungodly prosper. You say, what do you mean? OK, as you open up to Psalm 73, let me just kind of set this up a little bit. How many of you right now could think of a person without too much trouble who's ungodly? A person who makes no claim to be a Christian. It's not like it's questionable. They're just not interested in Jesus. They have no interest in Jesus, and yet they're very successful. They've had a really, really good life from a horizontal viewpoint. and you look at what they've accomplished, or what they've done, or what they've been given, and you would consider them incredibly successful. They've just had a long, prosperous, we would say blessed, they wouldn't like that word. How many of you can think of somebody like that? Raise your hands. Somebody who's just prospered. How many of you now, let's change it, right now you can think of somebody who's a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, and has had a hard life. You could think of somebody that's maybe had some health issues and it hasn't gone well. They've had financial challenges. It hasn't gone well. They've had family things take place where maybe there's been great conflict in the family or just whatever kind of challenges. And you look at them and you think, you know, he really loves Jesus. She really loves Jesus. And yet it's really been one struggle after another. How many of you can think of somebody like that? Raise your hand. Okay. And see, that bothers us sometimes, right? To be honest. Because see, sometimes what we think is, Lord, you know, here are people who won't give you the time of day. And everything in their life seems like it's so nice. And here are people that faithfully follow you, and their life is not very nice. Lord, how can that be? And how do I process that in my mind? And there's an answer to that. There's more than one, but we're just gonna look at one. The answer is, the Lord is my portion, my encouragement as the ungodly prosper. That's what this psalm is all about. And all I want to do this afternoon is we're just going to read through with a few comments Psalm 73. I want you to keep this in your mind. We're going to slow down when we get towards the end. What do I do with these thoughts that so many ungodly people have so much really nice stuff and their life goes so well and there are godly people and they suffer and it doesn't go well? How do I process that? Well, let's just kind of open to Psalm 73 and let's work through it just a little bit together. Psalm 73 beginning at verse 1. Surely good is God to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, but as for me, My feet came close to stumbling. Wow. My steps had almost slipped. And we're not talking physical, guys. We're talking spiritual. You know, we all know people that have turned their back on God. Do you know what the psalmist is saying? That was kind of where I was at. I was struggling with this so much, I was almost one of those people who kind of just say, God, forget you. Almost. But not quite. You say, why? Notice verse 3. I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat." Remember, food would be very scarce back then, and to be able to afford a diet where you weren't incredibly thin was a mark of wealth. "'They are not in trouble,' is other men, nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace. You know of people, you know I like sports, but if you want to find people that are incredibly over the top, arrogantly proud and unthankful, just pick what you want. NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, take your pick, right? And you'll find some of the most arrogant people alive. That's the kind of people the psalmist is talking about. Verse 6, pride is their necklace. The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue parades through the earth. And you know of people like that. They make fun of people who carry their Bibles, right? They make fun of backwards people who don't realize it's okay to change your gender, regardless of what God said and what God made you. They make fun of people who would still say marriage is between one man and one woman, and our laws should be reflective of that. And they make fun, and they mock old, timey, stuck-in-the-past people. That's the kind of person the psalmist is talking about here. Verse 10. Verse 9, They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth. Verse 10, Therefore His people return to this place, and waters of abundance are drunk by them. They say, How does God know? And is their knowledge with the Most High? Behold, verse 12, These are the wicked, and always at ease. They have increased in wealth, And we know of people like that, right? Every season, they're signing a higher contract, and they're not even humble about it. And you're thinking, Lord, how much money can a guy make? And how about me? Verse 13, Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure, and washed my hands in innocence. For I have been stricken all day long, and chastened every morning. Lord, I'm trying to follow You. I'm trying to honor You and look at my life. I don't have anything like that. I'm stricken. I'm chastened. Life's not going well. Verse 15, If I had said I will speak thus, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God Then I perceived their end." Wow! See, when I started thinking from an eternal perspective, then I realized, no, it doesn't end well for them. I realized that no matter how good this world is, there's another world, and it will not be well for them. And we don't say that with any smile on our face, but it's reality. Notice the psalmist continues, verse 18. Surely you set them in slippery places, you cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment. They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors like a dream. When one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, you will despise their form. When my heart, verse 21, was embittered and I was pierced within, Then I was senseless and ignorant. I was like a beast before You." And certainly I think most of us would confess that's been a reality in our lives. And there have been times where we've said, Lord, they don't love You at all, and their life is going so well, and here I am thinking very ignorantly about this. Wow! Verse 23, Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand. With your counsel, you will guide me. And afterward, receive me to glory." And then verse 25, and even if you're kind of maybe not focused in, here's where you want to focus in, okay, please. Verse 25, the psalmist saying to the Lord, "'Whom have I in heaven? but You. And besides You, Lord, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and here it is, and my portion forever. Lord, it's all You. You are my portion. Lord, in heaven, it's You. And down here in this earth, it's You. And You're my portion. And Lord, that guy's family, wow, every one of their kids is talented, and they're healthy, and everything's going their way. And wow, over here, no one's ill in this family. And these people I know, who again, they're not even believers. Everything they touch seems to turn to gold. But you know what, Lord? I have You. I have You. And besides You, verse 25, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. That's the heart that we all, by God's grace, want to have. Lord, I have you. And I gotta be careful how I say this, because I don't want to minimize pain or suffering at all. But Lord, if my family falls apart, okay, I wanna be careful. If my marriage falls apart, If my kids fall apart, if my business falls apart, if my house falls apart, if my health falls apart, Lord, if I have nothing at all in this world and everything fails, You are still my portion forever. And I'm good with that. Because I have you. And I will always have you. And you're all that I need. Now you say, so Greg, should we go around asking and saying, Lord, let me suffer. You can. I'm not. Okay? I don't want to suffer. I don't like suffering. This is not about some type of, you know, let's live lives where whoever frowns the most wins and goes through the most pain is somehow the victor. Not that at all. Nor is it saying, I gotta be cautious, that material things are bad, or that good health is bad, or having success in finances, or having a wonderful family. If you have those things, give thanks. But it's saying there's something more than all of that. It's something the richest person in the world without Christ doesn't have. nor can understand. It's why you're here this afternoon. It's because the Lord's your portion and you want to honor him. And you know what he did when he sent his son to die on a cross, maybe like the one behind me. And you just want to say, Lord, you're awesome. You're wonderful. Thank you. I love you. And that's what we need to remember every time we see people that have so much nice stuff and everything's going their way. And it's a very normal thing, the psalmist did it, to say, wow, Lord, this doesn't seem very fair. But no, wait a second. Psalm 73 reminds me that God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever, verse 27. For behold, those who are far from you will perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. If you really wrestle with why is life so hard for me, and I know of ungodly people, and not to put them down, but their life sure looks better, this is the psalm you want to spend some time in. reminding you that the Lord is my portion, my encouragement as the ungodly prosper. And if you said, Greg, real quick, if I spent time in Psalm 73, where would I go next? Just a little bit of advice. Just do a little metathesis, right? Just switch the numbers around. After you do 73, go to 37. It's the same thing. And after you read Psalm 37, then go to 73. It's the same thing. You say, you think that's on purpose? I don't know, okay? I just know that I don't have to remember if I'm looking for 37 or 73. I find the same Psalm that when I'm going through a time, where I'm starting to wonder, God, what's going on? And I am asking, why are the ungodly prospering? I go to 73, and if you'd like, 37. And I trust that God will encourage you with the reminder that He is your portion.