Well, praise the Lord. Amen. Amen. What a joy, a delight, a privilege it is to come together with the people of God and sing praises to his holy name. Quick update on Dick. It was just a bit of an obstruction and then he had some anxiety. They put him in the paramedic and he is on his way to the hospital now doing fine. Paul and Eileen are with him. So thank you. Thank you for your continued prayers and we'll keep you updated. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 73. We're back in the Psalms. We do our summer in the Psalms. Every summer we go through the book of Psalms. We're up to Psalm 73. We started at one. Started at one, up to 73. Hey Dorian, good to see you today. So if you please stand with me for the reading of God's word. Psalm 73, a Psalm of Asaph. Psalm 73, we'll read the whole psalm here. This is God's word. A psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had almost slipped, for I was envious of the boastful. I saw the peace of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death. Their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, and they are not stricken along with the rest of mankind. Therefore lofty pride is their necklace. Their garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. The delusion of their heart overflow. They scoff and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. They have set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue goes through the earth. Therefore his people return here to his place, and waters of fullness are drunk by them. They say, How does God know? And is their knowledge with the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked, and always at ease. They have increased in wealth, surely in vain. I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence, for I have been stricken all day long and reproved every morning. If I had said, I will recount thus, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I gave thought to know this, it was trouble in my sight, until I came. into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places. You caused them to fall to destruction. How they become desolate in a moment. They are completely swept away by terrors like a dream when one awakes. O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form. When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, But then I was senseless and ignorant. I was like an animal before you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand. With your counsel, you will lead me and afterward take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? Besides you, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart fail. But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you will perish. You have destroyed everyone who is unfaithful to you. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have set Lord Yahweh as my refuge, that I may recount of all your works. May the Lord be blessed by the reading of his word. You may be seated. Well, again, over the past seven years, we've taken the summer months to stop and consider the glorious truths within the Psalter. For thousands of years, these sacred writings have acted as a balm to the weary souls of pilgrims living out the rest of their days as sojourners on the earth, many who have shared the same struggles regardless of time period, who've been troubled by the same dilemmas, faced with the same questions, who've pondered life in a cursed world and what that looks like for the faithful man or woman of God, how to respond in certain situations, how to deal with tribulation, trials, tragedy, for example, as well as how to rejoice in the triumphs and victories and successes in the spiritual life. The Psalms are rich with not only practical application, but theological revelation. Much of our understanding about who God is and what he has done is derived from the Psalms. In fact, many of the New Testament authors quote from the Psalms repeatedly in order to encourage weary saints who are traveling on that narrow road headed for the celestial city. And so, for the past seven years, we've sought to do the same. The elders want to encourage you all with the magnificent truths of the psalmist and the very real, very sincere outpouring of their hearts, okay? And today's text is no exception. This is a brutally honest psalm here. This is a psalm that essentially details the inner workings of the heart of a man named Asaph. Asaph, who we're told in 1st Chronicles 16, was appointed by King David to be the chief musician. The one appointed by Israel's greatest king to be in charge of the musical worship in the tent of meeting prior to Solomon's temple being constructed. The one who, actually alongside King David, authored many of these Psalms. In fact, the Psalms we'll consider together this summer will all be from the pen of Asaph. Okay? Psalms 73 through 83 are all authored by this chief song leader, beginning with this psalm, which is the first psalm in the third book of psalms, the 73rd psalm, which is a personal favorite of mine, if for no other reason than, again, it's brutally honest. It's brutally honest. The bearing of the soul of one who is struggling with the perceived injustices of the world, with doubt, with distrust, even borderline despair as, like David in Psalms 37, he sees the wicked of the world prospering. The evil and ruthless men of this world seemingly getting an easy pass, not only in life, but also in death. A very applicable psalm for those in the church today who, if we're being honest, can look around at our place in time and say, yeah, I hear you. Asaph, you got a good point here. Why do the most depraved among us seem to be exalted to the places of highest esteem and honor? Why, oh why, does it look like they are the ones being blessed while we who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus seem to face a never-ending barrage of difficulty and heartache? Questions like these make up a good portion of Psalm 73. So let's just dive right in here and consider this struggle together. Verse 1.1 in your outline says this. Surely God is good to Israel. to those who are pure in heart. Now, amazingly, Asaph begins this psalm with the conclusion, okay? The summation, the culmination, the climax of it all is right here in verse one. Essentially saying, listen, before we go any further into my shortcomings, my presuppositions, before we get into my issues here, let's get one thing straight. God is good. Again, this is theology proper here. God, Elohim, the Lord God, the Almighty is good. Like David said in Psalm 119, Yahweh, you are good and you do good. Teach me your statutes. God is always good. He is intrinsically good. Actually, he is infinitely good. He's perfectly good. That's the baseline for this entire Psalm. Whatever we may be going through on this earth as finite creatures who don't see the end from the beginning, who are looking through mirrors dimly lit, as Paul says, whatever we may be struggling with as weary pilgrims finishing out their courses upon this earth, don't get it twisted. Any flaw, any imperfection or shortcoming, certainly as it relates to goodness, has to be understood as our deficiency. and not God's deficiency. He has no deficiencies. He's perfect. Surely, certainly, definitely, undoubtedly, God is good, which is why it's crazy, absolutely crazy that anyone could ever be mad at God or angry with God. You've heard it before. Oh, he's angry at God because he lost his wife. She's angry with God for giving her this disease. Many times you'll hear unbelievers say something to the effect of, I could never trust in a God who allows so much suffering. If there's a God, I want nothing to do with him. I'm angry at God. I'm shaking my fist at God. But you see, that kind of language is crazy when you understand who God truly is. We never, ever have any excuse to be angry with God, no matter what. It's crazy. Why? Because he is perfectly good. He's perfectly good. He's perfectly just. He's perfectly holy. He's infinitely perfect. In all His ways, He's never erred in judgment or conduct. No, rather, it's us. It's fallen humanity who are flawed and corrupted. It's humanity that is broken. It's nonsensical to ever be angry with God. And to be fair to Asaph here, I don't believe he was angry with God, but he certainly questioned the character of God. And so he wants to establish right from the get-go, before he gets into things, look, God is good. God is good. He's good to Israel. He's good to his chosen people, who we've spent the last A couple years considering Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the sons of Jacob, their offspring, the multitude of ethnic Israelites. He's good to them as well as those who are blessed through Israel. Again, not simply all Jews, okay? Just because they're Jewish by birth doesn't mean they're God's children. Read Paul in Romans 9. Rather, he mentions all of those who are pure in heart, Jew or Gentile. What does that mean, pure? That they are perfect? Sinless? No, of course not. We've already determined there's only one perfect. That's Yahweh himself. Alan Ross rightly observes that to describe the faithful as pure in heart does not mean they are perfect. It means they are loyal to God. So, like a movie or a book that reveals the end before letting the plot line play out here, we already have the conclusion and application laid out for us. God is good. God is good, and everything that follows, all the psalmist's doubts, all his disbelief, his despair even, will end in a recognition that, yeah, it wasn't God who was wavering here, it was me. I was the one wavering. God is good. He even says this very thing in verse two, point two in your outlines. God is good, but as for me? My foot had almost stumbled. My steps had almost slipped. I was on the ropes, as they say. My knees were buckling. My footing was off. If you've ever seen someone to receive an award or some recognition at a hockey game, you'll notice they'll roll out this tiny little red carpet onto the ice. And frequently, people forget where they are. They step out onto the frozen sheet, and down they go, right? That's what Asaph is saying here. I was on my way down. I was about to lose it. Why? Verse three, because I was envious of the boastful, because I saw the peace of the wicked. Now I put this heading here as the concern, but in retrospect, I don't think that's strong enough. Concern is a bit too mild. It's almost like saying, well, I was a bit worried, a little bit perturbed, bothered by something, when actually this is a major crisis of faith. When Asaph says he almost slipped, what he's really saying is straight up, I almost veered into the realm of apostasy. Unbelief here. God is good, always good, perfectly good to the upright in heart, but after really considering my life, I started to wonder, am I actually among the upright in heart? Is my heart truly, really loyal to Yahweh? Am I really even a sincere believer, is what Asaph is asking here. I almost slipped, I almost stumbled, I almost went down, all the while denying what I know to be true of my Lord. Now, I don't know about any of you, but there have been times of doubt in my life. There's a very well-known preacher who we'd all be very closely aligned with. If I said his name, you'd all say, oh yeah, yeah, we totally respect him. He's very reverent, very reputable. But I remember him saying in a sermon one time, yeah, I've never doubted. I've always just believed everything since day one. I've never wavered in my assurance of faith. And honestly, I felt like saying, well, whoop-de-doo for you. All right? That's great. I'm sure that's great to never doubt, to never question, to never be concerned over your own slipping, for example. On the other hand, most everyone else I've ever talked with, even the most faithful men and women, my mentors, would say, along with Asaph here, yeah, there's been some pretty rocky times that have caused me to wonder if I was in the faith or not, if I actually believed. And honestly, Asaph, at first glance here in verse three, gives pretty good reasoning for his doubt-filled unsteadiness here. He said, you know what? The peace of the wicked, it's gnawing at me here. He says, I feel like I'm about to fall here. I'm having a crisis of faith because the evil people of this world, the worst of humanity, seem to be doing the best among us. They seem to be thriving. And just to be straight up, I got jealous of them. That's what he's saying. Now again, we've already had the spoiler. In the end, he comes back to say, yeah, this was all in my head, it was a deception of my flesh, this was my issue, this was my heart problem here. And I think he led with that because over the next nine verses or so, he's gonna detail for us his perspective as he was going through this. He's just about to tell us his rationale for thinking the way that he was thinking, his inner dialogue. how he felt when he looked at these people who so clearly hated their creator and yet who seemed to enjoy the ease of life, even abundant blessings. Verse 4.3, here's the controversy, the controversy within his own heart. He said, I was envious for there are no pains in their death, that is the wicked, no pain when they die, no struggles, no languishing, it's just quick and easy. Well, that's kind of painting with a broad brush, isn't it? Frankly, I don't know any unbelievers who go easily, unless, of course, they're all doped up on morphine or something here. But Asaph says, oh yeah, they expire peacefully, trust me. And even while they live, their body is fat. Now, to us here today, that might not seem like a good thing, but in Asaph's time, it meant they're not scraping to find the next meal. They have more than enough food. They're well-fed. They're well-nourished. They have food in abundance. They're like the cows of the dreams of Pharaoh, plump and yet sleek. It's a picture of health, wealth, and even blessing. He goes on, verse five, they're not in trouble as other men. They are not stricken along with the rest of mankind. Again, he's looking around at society, this culture, and saying, this is backwards. This is all backwards. I know these people are abhorrent, detestable in the sight of God, and yet they're living drama-free. But can't you see he's operating on the basis of general wisdom here, okay? General wisdom says the wicked should suffer at the hands of an infinitely holy God. From the earliest of the law, we've heard, you shall not bear a false report. Do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. That's Exodus 23. Turn from the tents of these wicked men. Touch nothing that belongs to them lest you be swept away in all their sin, number 16. The eyes of the wicked will come to an end, Job 11. Even Psalm 1, right? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. That's how it should be, Lord. Let's call down fire from heaven and consume them, right? General wisdom here. The righteous prosper and the wicked should suffer. Right? That's Asaph's mentality here. Maybe a little self-justification in his time of doubting, but he's not leaving any room for the exceptions. You see? The exceptions. Job, for example, from whom we just heard, was a loyal and faithful man of God, yet he suffered tremendously. But his friends, just like Asaph, were operating on the basis of general wisdom. The righteous prosper, the wicked suffer. You, Job, are suffering, which means you must be wicked. That's what they were telling his friend. That's what they were telling Job. But we know he wasn't wicked. That wasn't the case at all. Rather, God allowed Satan to afflict this man, and for a purpose, namely, to be an example for all of his creatures, all of his children. So that at the end of Job's testimony, he could say, Job, you have no idea what you're talking about. Where were you when I made the world, buddy? In other words, don't question me again. You have such a short-sighted perspective. That's what that whole chapter 38, 39, 40 is about. To which Job responds by putting his hand over his mouth, essentially saying, oh, yeah, sorry about that, good point, right? In this case, Asaph is saying, man, the guys who should be in most trouble with God seemingly have no trouble at all. In fact, they just signed a $100 million contract to play with the Broncos. They were just made governor of Colorado. They're driving the nicest cars, living in the finest houses, eating the finest foods, surrounded by the finest women, while all the rest of God's people suffer. Especially those who are supposed to be God's chosen people, the faithful of God, then, are weird to be most pitied. This is his mindset. But again, he has a limited perspective on things, right? He continues his lament in verse six, says, worst of all, it seems like The wicked know they are getting away with it and are reveling in it. Therefore, he says, lofty pride is their necklace. The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. The delusions of their heart overflow. Yeah, they know it. They know it and they're bursting with pride. They will wear their willful ignorance and arrogance like fine jewelry. They're bursting at the seams with not only choice food and drink causing their very eyes to bulge out, but with the delight of getting away with their iniquity. even looking for more and more ways to exalt themselves over the oppressed and afflicted populations. They scoff and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. That means they're knowingly and actively causing the suffering of the masses for their own gain, and rather than feel any remorse or grief by that, they're boasting in it. They're bragging about it. You know, you've probably heard that saying, careful who you step on when you're climbing the corporate ladder, because you might meet them on the way down. Asaph is saying these people had no such care. They couldn't care less. They didn't care who they stepped on, who they threw under the bus, who they took advantage of to get to the top. They don't care who they lied to or cheated or killed to get into power. Their only concern was to stay in the position of power so they could continue to speak from on high and boast in themselves. Sounds a lot like members of Congress, doesn't it? Or the Fortune 500 CEO who lays off people in mass and somehow ends up walking away with a golden parachute, right? And even we have to admit, that seems backwards. Doesn't it? That just seems backwards. The dictators and tyrants and slave traders, the sexual deviants getting fat and rich here, no accountability, no justice. Something is way off here, God. What's going on here? Asaph continues in verses 9 through 11, where he gives what is perhaps the most alarming observation of all. He says, they have set their mouth against the heavens. Their tongue goes through the earth. That means they're actively blaspheming God in the process. They're mocking him and broadcasting it to the entire population. And we'd say, oh yeah, we'll turn on any award ceremony or halftime show and it's right there. You know exactly what this is saying here. He says, therefore his people return here to his place, that is the place of the wicked. Waters of fullness are drunk by them. They say, how does God know? Is their knowledge what the most high? This is like the fool in Psalm 14 who says in his heart, there is no God, which is better translated, the wicked fool says in his heart, no God, no, you will not be God over my life. No, you will not be king over me. I will be my own God. And to prove that I am independent of your authority, watch as I advance in this evil and corrupt world system where I will receive praise upon praise, accolade upon accolade, and affirmation upon affirmation, all confirming that I'm the one who's in control of my life, evidenced by not only my many successes, but my countless loyal followers. That's what he means here in verse 10, by the way. His people return here. That's the people of the wicked man, the followers of the wicked man, those who ride on the coattails of the wicked, who drink the waters of abundance. You can call these the entourage. of the wicked, the entourage. Makes me think of Mike Tyson. You all know Iron Mike, of course. He was, in my opinion, the best pound-for-pound boxer who ever lived, though he would say it was Ali. But there was a report out of Tyson's camp that said the fighter made anywhere from $300 to $400 million during his career, most of it in the late 80s, early 90s. After endorsement, some put his net worth closer to $700 million, but it didn't last, okay? By 2003, Mike Tyson was $23 million in debt, with a large portion of his winnings going to his entourage, his people. His life was filled with fast cars and fast women, they said. One article said this, quote, Tyson employed a massive entourage, described as leeches by some, who received substantial salaries and extravagant gifts. He reportedly spent 4.5 million on luxury cars and motorcycles between 1995 and 1998, including 19 supercars gifted to entourage members, such as a Bentley Continental, which is today valued at $600,000. Now, I'm not trying to pick on Iron Mike here. Trust me, I'm not trying to pick on Iron Mike Tyson. I'm just trying to give a more recent illustration of what Asaph saw. People followed the wicked, they praised the wicked, then they leech off the wicked, not only condoning their godless lifestyle, but seeking to profit off of it in hopes of one day becoming just like them. Asaph says, these guys have all the money. They've got fame, they've got food, they've got no affliction, they've got huge fan clubs even. And all the while they're saying publicly that the faithful, the believers, are the fools. Because God doesn't care. God doesn't see what we do. David said the same thing in Psalm 10. The wicked and the haughtiness of his countenance does not seek him. That is Yahweh. All his thoughts are, there is no God. He says in his heart, God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it. That's Asaph's view of the wicked as well. No fear of God's judgment. They can do whatever they want. And part of him envied them for it, okay? He sums up his observations in verse 12. Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease. They have increased in wealth. The rich get richer, the powerful get more power, and those who find pleasure in sin get more and more pleasure. And the more I see it, the more wobbly the legs of my faith get. I'm almost tempted to say, this faith stuff? It's for the birds. I mean, that's exactly what he says in verse 13, right? Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. I have been stricken all day long and reproved every morning. In other words, I want you to picture this. Imagine this. It's June of 1991. Okay, you're heading into church after a long week on the job site. You just put in another 50 hours for the jerk of a foreman at 10 bucks an hour. Your drill was stolen, you pulled a muscle in your back, and you just got word that the company was doing mass layoffs next week. You're driving down the road to church on Sunday morning when all of a sudden smoke starts pouring out of the hood. Your radiator's about to burst, which means you're all gonna be late. And as you're burning your hand on that over-pressurized radiator cap, you overhear on the radio how Iron Mike Tyson got a second-round knockout, winning a purse of over 25 mil. Oh, and you also happen to know that he's a notorious womanizer. He's a spouse-abusing druggie who gives praise to Allah and talks about eating his opponent's children. Oh, and he's also facing six years in the pen for rape, but he'll likely get off scot-free because he can bob and weave and throw a mean uppercut. And you start to think in your head, you know what? This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous. What am I doing going to worship this so-called God who can't even seem to see what I see? How can I possibly believe in a God who allows the wicked to prosper and the righteous to suffer? Well, that's Psalm 73, verses two through 14. That's what he's saying. That's the inner conflict, that's the crisis of faith. Asaph was blinded by his own perspective of how he thought things ought to be. He was blinded with envy and jealousy and resentment and bitterness, the great killers of the faith. He was blinded by self-pity. Self-loathing. I'm a victim here, actually, which is huge in our day. Very prevalent victimhood mentality. I'm in the right, the wicked are wrong, yet I'm being treated like they should be treated, and they're being treated how I should be treated, and therefore, who's to blame here? Answer, God. God got it wrong. And again, this is all happening inside of his heart, okay? The seed of consciousness. It's all happening within his mind. In fact, he acknowledges he was thinking this way while also actively concealing it from others. He was hiding it from other people. No one else knew about this inner turmoil except for Asaph and God. And I don't know when this was going down in his life, whether it was when he was younger. Maybe he was actively serving as a music leader. I'm not sure. All I know is he was concealing it, he was hiding it. And he actually gives the reason for hiding it, verse 15.4. He says, if I had said, I will recount thus, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I gave thought to know this, it was trouble in my sight. He said, if I would have gone around saying, woe is me, I am hurt, God is not cool, he doesn't know what he's doing, the elders are mean, the church is out to get me, and I'm figuring it all out in real time attitude, Well, I may have caused others to stumble as I'm stumbling. Now, I know this is a far cry from our day and age where we think that every thought and feeling has to be broadcast on Twitter and Facebook and Google reviews as an act of therapy or maybe as an over-inflated evaluation of self-importance. But here, ASAP says, actually, I thank God this didn't get out. If my brothers and sisters would have heard these thoughts in my heart, why, I could have even caused them to so foolishly doubt the goodness of God right alongside of me. In my season of self-pity, I would have brought harm to God's lamb, to his lambs, his flock, Psalm 100, his people, the sheep of his pasture. And that's a frightening thought as I could have been the ravenous wolf. Okay, consuming their faith. Spurgeon said, the thought of scandalizing the family of God he could not bear. Yet his inward thoughts seethed and fermented and caused an intolerable anguish within. Thank God I didn't do that. Instead, what happened? What was the real turning point in this crisis? Verse 17.5. Until I came into the sanctuary of God, then, I understood their end. We just sang that. We sang Psalm 73, but what's that line that we said it twice? Their doom is sure, their doom is sure, destruction is sure. Destroy them utterly, and we repeated it twice. Only at Lakewood. I understood their end when I came into church. In other words, I poured some water in that radiator, turned off the radio, pulled that old car into the church parking lot, went inside to worship alongside the other faithful men and women of God. In Asaph's case, the sanctuary of the tent of meeting or the temple with the assembly or congregation of God's people in the place where I heard the word of God. until I came to that place where I met God in his word and God again revealed himself to me, his character, his perfections, his ways, like we talked about last week. I came into the presence of the Lord and was confronted like Job with the reality of my own skewed and corrupted perspective here, my own obsession with the horizontal without considering the vertical. He confronted me with the Word, and He confronted me when I was with my brothers and sisters who were going through the same thing. He confronted me when we sang, when we took, well, when we take the Lord's Supper. He confronts us. He recalibrates us. He resets us. It happened to me this morning. I was frustrated this morning, a little tiny pity party I was having. It wasn't very fun. You don't want to be invited to my pity parties. I was frustrated, but then I came with the Lord's people. I heard the word. I took the Lord's supper. Talk with people in the fellowship time. I'm recalibrated, refreshed. He does that. We need it. Now this is the turning point in the psalm, but notice what changes here. It's not the circumstances which change. The wicked still prosper to this day. It's not the circumstances that changed, okay? It's Asaph's perspective on the circumstances. That's what changed. He's been recalibrated by God's word here. Like God's word recalibrated Job, right? Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge, he said to Job? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? God could have said to Asaph, how do you know these wicked people are getting off easy? You think they're prospering because they got money and fame and power and ease and food? You think that is true prosperity? Are you kidding me? A balanced checkbook, the best parking spot, fine dining, vacations, boats, cars, a paid off mortgage. You think that is prosperity? You think they have ease in death ASAP? You really think the wicked are without trouble? God could have said, how do you know ASAP that I'm not using these temporal benefits in order to store up wrath for them on the day of wrath? You don't. Why not? Because you're only thinking about the here and now. Again, God is the one who knows the hearts of men. God is the one who determines the future of man. God is the one who declares the end from the beginning, including the end of the earthly lives of the wicked. And then comes the judgment. Asaph was confronted with this reality when he came into the sanctuary of God, when he came to that place where God reveals himself, where the word is preached, sung, even read in private study, even from former psalmists like Moses, who wrote, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Who knows the power of your anger and your fury according to the fear that is due you? So, teach us, Lord, to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom. That was written 500 years before Asaph was even alive. And by this or whatever revelation of God's character he was given, Asaph is awakened from his sinful stupor to realize that he hadn't the foggiest idea what he was talking about. Again, verse 17, I was caught up in my little pity party. until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their end." That is the death of the wicked. See? He was reminded of God's just nature. Surely you set them in slippery places, he says. Not me. I'm not the one who's actually slipping. It's them. They're slipping. These people appear to be on solid ground, but Yahweh sees the black ice that is beneath them, for he spoke the ice into existence and then set them upon it in order that they would fall. Verse 18, he even causes them to fall to destruction. He causes it. Verse 19, how they become desolate in a moment. They are completely swept away by terrors like a dream when one awakes. So Lord, when aroused, you will despise their form. You know what that's saying there? He's comparing the lives of the wicked to a bad dream. You've all had bad dreams, right? Maybe someone's chasing you, maybe you're falling, maybe something's happened to your spouse or your kids, so you wake up in a panic only to say, I just had the worst dream. But a moment later, you're either right back asleep or preoccupied by the day's events, and by 8.30 a.m., you've forgotten all about it. Asaph says that in time, the wicked will perish and be forgotten like a bad dream. They'll be forgotten by man, but they will not be forgotten by God. No. At the end of their lives, upon their death, the wicked will awaken from their dream life and their nightmare will have just begun. And it will last for all of eternity. In other words, it's an absolute lie from the enemy to think that an unbeliever is better off in any way, shape, or form than the believer in Christ. It's a lie. Like Matthew Henry said. Now, if there were not another life after this, we cannot fully reconcile the prosperity of the wicked with the justice of God. And that's right. If there were not another life after this, we could say, yeah, they really did have a more prosperous existence than we do. But my brothers and sisters, there is another life after this. And so, just as the false teachers of our religion declare, this is their best life now. By far. By far. But even when you consider that, their position is far from admirable. Think about it. This is it for the unbeliever. This is it. This life. with a little bit of pleasure, all in an environment full of sin and death, this little bit of pleasure for a little bit of time in this short, fleeting, temporary life, this vapor of a sin-laden, curse-ridden world full of sickness and death and disease and decay and war and crime and crooked, lying politicians and oppressive world leaders and rapists and murderers and thieves and abusive husbands and child abusers and pedophiles. This never-ending striving to accumulate wealth and status and pleasure in order to mask or dull the realities of life in a fallen world so that you can escape the reality of a guilt-ridden conscience and a desperately sick heart just long enough to get old and die? That's it? That's your life? That's a miserably wretched existence. And it's enough to cause anyone to sink into despair. It's actually a waste. A life without God is a wasted life. It's a wasted life. I said that at a church I preached at about 10 years ago, and they said, oh, you can't say that. Well, I'm saying it again. My elders will tell me. I say, you go ahead and say it. A life without God is a waste of a life. It's pitiable. And if you look at verse 21, you'll see that this is the life that Asaph envied for a time. But thank God, he said, I saw the folly of my ways. He said, when my heart was embittered, talking about that time, I was pierced within. I was senseless. I was ignorant. I was like an animal before you. You know what he means there? I was just acting off primal instincts. I was only acting on the basis of sight and smell and touch and taste, my senses, my physical desires, my flesh. I was operating according to the flesh. I was like a beast. I was like an arrogant beast toward you. Now, I wonder, have you ever confessed your foolish thoughts before the Lord? It's actually a very refreshing and delightful thing to do. I do it often, trust me. But it's refreshing because it's in these times of self-realization that you can remind yourself, hey, even in spite of my foolishness, I'm certain that I belong to him. That's what happened with Asaph. He reminded himself of the joys of being secure in the everlasting arms of the Lord, even when he was doubting. Verse 23, nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand with your counsel, you will lead me, afterward take me into glory. I was falling, I was slipping, I was on my way down, and yet because you were holding my right hand all along, you didn't let me fall because I'm yours. I am with you always, and much, much more importantly, you are with me, Lord. You were with me then, you are with me now, you will be with me always in both this life and the next. He sees this so clearly now. One preacher told the story of a construction worker who was working on a project. It was necessary that he worked at night. While he was busy on the edge of a wall several stories high, he lost his balance. But in his fall, he managed to grasp the edge of the wall with his hands. So there he was dangling, and he was now screaming as he clung desperately to this wall, hoping that someone would hear him and rescue him. But there was just one problem. There was all sorts of construction noises. All the grinding and the drilling drowned out his cries for help. Well, gradually his arms started to get numb, and he couldn't hold on any longer, and almost against his will, he let his fingers go, and with a terrifying cry, he falls about three inches to a scaffolding that had been there the whole time, a scaffolding that he couldn't see in the dark. The preacher said this. That's sort of like Asaph here. There's a scaffolding to support you in all the dilemmas that you meet. Sometimes you don't see it because it's dark. but it's there. Yet I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand. He's there, my brothers and sisters. He's always there. His word will light up the darkness, keep you from falling. So we've seen the concern, the controversy, the concealment, the contemplation, and the confession. Finally, we conclude with the confidence. As Asaph finishes where he began with a hearkening back to verse one, the goodness, and just character of his God. Verse 25, he prays, whom have I in heaven but you? Besides you, I desire nothing on the earth. My flesh and my heart fail, they fail me before, they'll fail me upon my death, but guess what? God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever. This is a man who is coming to his senses, his spiritual senses, right? He's been pierced within. He's been run through with the word of God, which is sharper than any two-edged sword. He's no longer enslaved to his physical fleshly senses as he recognizes this truth. To have nothing in the world, but to have God holding your right hand is to have everything. And to have everything in the world, all the power, all the fame, all the money, all the comfort, everything that this evil world system can offer and to not have God to keep you from slipping is to have nothing at all. Okay? Therefore, for the believer to be envious of anyone at any time for anything is both nonsensical and futile. Paul recognized this as well, didn't he? He said, look, man, had it all in Judea I was the man circumcised on the eighth day nation of Israel the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law of Pharisee as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to the righteousness which is in the law found blameless But he said, whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. He said, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. All those things, all the things that this world holds in such high regard, compared with the confidence that I am in fact a child of God, made to be pure and righteous through no doing of my own, but only by faith in the glorious gospel of justification by grace alone, through faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone, compared with my knowing that my everlasting life in glory is sealed by his being raised from the dead, that He now dwells in me through His Spirit and will one day bring me into glory, when I compare the two, I count everything else as loss, as trash, as garbage, as refuse for the sake of Christ. You know, Augustine said something very similar. He said, how sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose. You drove them from me, you who are the true sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure. And how sweet it is to have the Lord as our rock, our refuge, our place of sure footing amidst the storms of life. Amen? That's right. How sweet it is to have the Lord himself as our inheritance, as our highest treasure, the focal point of our adoration and praise and glory. How sweet it is to say, he is my portion. He is my portion like Mary who sat at the feet of her Lord while her sister was worried and bothered about many things. Jesus said, only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good part, the good portion, namely himself, which shall not be taken away from her. I think the application is clear. If we focus on the things of the world, we get preoccupied with only that which we see, the various temporal circumstances, what other people have and we don't have, for example. How the wicked of the world seem to be prospering day after day after day. We will be full of anxiety. We will be miserable. We'll be full of worry and bitterness and jealousy. We may even be found doubting the goodness of God. But this is not the Lord's will for our lives. My brothers and sisters, we need to get our eyes off of other people, off of the wicked of the world, and fix our gaze upon Christ, seeking the things above where he is. We need to pray, oh Lord, be thou my vision. Let me see things more clearly from your perspective. Let me remember your character. Let me remember your ways. Bring me into your sanctuary where I will remember your word. I will remember your goodness. I will remember both of your promises of judgment for the wicked and your promises of life, life, eternal life for those whom you've called to yourself. And those are the closing words of the psalmist. Behold, those who are far from you will perish. You've destroyed everyone who is unfaithful to you. As for me, the nearness of God is my good. I've set the Lord Yahweh as my refuge that I may recount all your works. Can the same be said for you this morning? Is the Lord God your portion? Is the Lord God your treasure? Is He your rock, your refuge, your surety? Are you near to the Lord? Do you recognize Him for who He truly is? Perfect, holy, and righteous, and just, yes, but also perfectly gracious, and perfectly merciful, and always infinitely perfectly good to those who are His. I pray that if there are any here this morning who have not tasted and seen that the Lord is good, that you would do so today, that you would fix your gaze upon Christ and his sacrifice for sinners, that you would turn from this fleeting world, this evil world system, turn from the sin in your own heart, and turn to your creator by faith alone. Leave this place with an eternal perspective, that you would live out the rest of your days for his glory and his glory alone, amen? Amen. Let's stand for the benediction as we have Noel and the music team close us in musical worship. Precious Noel. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And all God's people said, Amen.