Psalms Mixtape, Be Wise and Draw Near - Psalm 73

Well, I'm glad you're all here. My name is Jordan

and one of the elders here, and I'm going to

continue taking us through our series called the Psalm's Mixtape.

It's a short series we're doing for the month of

December where we're looking through different types of psalms and

how they speak to all kinds of different situations and

seasons that.

We encounter in life.

And so far, Pastor Duncan has taken us through firstly

Psalm eighty two, a Psalm of Thanksgiving, which showed us

how as Christians we are called to always be thankful

to God in everything and for everything. And last week

he took us through Psalm one, a Psalm of lament,

which showed us that we are to take all of

our requests, all of our problems to the Lord, because

he is faithful and he is just, and because he's

the only one who can and will actually do anything

about them. He's the only one on whom we should

place our hope INtime of trouble, and we can always

be assured that His good and perfect will will always

be done.

Amen.

So today we're gonna mean Psalm seventy three. It's a

Psalm of Wisdom, which will show us the process of

the psalmist wisely placing his trust in God's plan and

God's judgment and his goodness in the face of the

wickedness of the world. If you're taking notes my sermon,

I'm calling, be wise and draw near. Be wise and

draw near. So open up your bibles with me to

Psalm seventy three. And if you need a bible, we

have some on the connect table. Just pass the double

doors that is yours to keep. Let's read through the text,

and then we will pray Verse one. Truly God is

good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my

steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the

arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For

they have no pangs until death. Their bodies are fat

and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are.

They are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore,

pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment.

Their eyes swell out through fatness, their hearts overflow with follies.

They scoff and speak malice loftily, they threaten oppression. They

set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts.

Through the earth.

Therefore, his people turn back to them and find no

fault in them. And they say, how can God know?

Is their knowledge in the most high Behold, these are

the wicked, Always at ease, they increase in riches, all

in vain. Have I kept my heart clean and washed

my hands in innocence. For all the day long, I

have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had

said I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the

generation of good children. But when I thought how to

understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. Until

I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I discerned

their end. Truly, you set them in slippery places, You

make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in

a moment, swept away utterly by terrors, like a dream.

When one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise.

Them as phantoms.

When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,

I was brutish and ignorant.

I was like a beast toward you.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you.

You hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will

receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You,

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is

the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold,

those who are far from you shall perish. You put

an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But

for me it is good to be near God. I

have made the Lord God my refuge that I may

tell of all your works. This is God's word. Let's pray, Lord,

as we read through your scripture today, as we seek

to understand and commit to its instruction. I pray that

your Holy Spirit would work in us and soften our hearts,

remove any inkling of pride, any hardness of heart, and

be humble towards its teaching. Lord, I asked that you

would give us strength as we strive to be obedient.

To what your word teaches.

I pray that it would sanctify us and make us

more like your son. May you be glorified. We love you.

We thank you for the wisdom of this teaching. Help

us as we strive to be wise like your servant,

Asaf in your name Amen.

A right.

Because, as I mentioned in my prayer, the psalm is

written by Asaff, and one of the things I love

about this Psalm and others he has wrote that he

wrote is he writes it like a story. It's like

a poem, like a story with multiple parts. At first,

he writes about this this crisis of faith that he

went through. He talks about how he struggled with having

envy for the prosperity of the wicked. Then there's a

there's this turning point where he sees that the way

of the wicked and the unrighteous, there their end leads

to ruined And finally Asaf gains the wisdom and understanding

to see that even though the wicked may prosper God

is good. God is in control, and it's better and

wiser to be near to Him than the prosperous way

of the wicked. So let's look at our text again.

This is the first section as I see it in

Asaf's Psalm. It's the crisis of faith he dealt with

verse one through fifteen. Truly God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart. But as for me,

my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw

the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs

until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek. They are

not in trouble as others are. They are not stricken

like the rest of mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace.

Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out

through fatness, their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and

speak with malice loftily. They threaten oppression. They set their

mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore,

his people turn back to them and find no fault

in them, And they say, how can God know? Is

there knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the wicked,

always at ease. They increase in riches all in vain.

Have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands

in innocence my hand, excuse me, for all the day

long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.

If I had said I will speak thus, I.

Would have betrayed the generation of your children. The Psalm

opens up with the statement that God is good and

praise God.

Yes he is God is good.

But what we just saw is that Asaf reached that

belief and made this very true proclamation that God is

good after a long struggle of what he observes going

on in the world. And he writes it like a

wise man recounting a story. He tells the reader or

the singer, because these are songs meant to be sung,

he tells them, this is how I came to the

belief that God is good. Imagine you were sitting next

to your wise and learned Grandpa, your old pappy or

whatever your name was for your grandfather, and he's telling

you a story, whether it was about money or relationships,

or morality or dealing with hardships. The purpose of the

stories that your grandfather or maybe your grandmother that shared

with you are to illustrate a lesson that they learned,

and they want you to know about it. They want

you to know about what they learned from this lesson

in their life so that you won't make the same

mistakes they did. Asaf wrote this song to say, let

me tell you about a time when I was envious

of wicked people, and how I came to know how

good God is, and how it's wise and best to

be near to him instead of the ways of the wicked,

as wise and best to be near to Him instead

of the ways of the wicked. Now, who are the wicked?

My simple definition is the wicked are people or groups

that actively disobey God's law. They actively disobey God's law,

and they might fight against those who do obey his law.

The wicked people that asked Asaf was afraid of, or

excuse me? The wicked people that Asaf was envious of,

were in active disobedience of God's law, and yet they

prospered in verse nine, verse four, excuse me, for they

have no pangs until death, are fat and sleek. They

are not in trouble as others are. They are not

stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace.

Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out

through fatness, their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and

speak with malice loftily. They threaten oppression. They set their

mouths against the heavens, and their tongue.

Struts through the earth. How often do we.

Find ourselves relating to what Asaf views going on around him.

We strive to be obedient to God's commands, to dedicate

our lives to serving Him, and then we witness wicked,

ungodly people around us getting new possessions, bigger houses, new cars, promotions,

nice clothing. We see them walk around scoffing at the

very idea of God, scoffing at our way of living,

scoffing at any way of living that's different from their own.

They say, look at all this stuff I have. Clearly

my wisdom is the best. We see it all over

the place, the success of politicians, social media influencers, millionaires, billionaires,

movie stars, musicians, and we think, wow, look at.

All the great stuff they have.

Why don't I have that? Or maybe we think, wow,

they're so successful. They must have done something right that

I'm not doing. They must be happy. Maybe if I

do what they do, I'll finally be happy too. But

for us God's children, the danger of entertaining those kinds

of thoughts, or worse, believe them, is we become doubtful

of God's provision in our lives, and we become embittered.

As Asaf felt toward God for not having what we

think we need, because we compare what we have to

the prosperity of wicked people. As God's children, we have

to remember that scripture tells us that He provides everything

we need, food, clothing, daily physical needs. I'm gonna rapid

fire some scripture to us. They're not gonna be on

the screen. You can write them down if you want to.

God provides us with peace John fourteen twenty seven. God

provides us with comfort tewod Corinthians one four. He provides

us with power, love, and self discipline second to the

one seven. He has blessed us in the heavenly realms

with every spiritual blessing in Christ Ephesians one three. And

whatever physical state we find ourselves in, we can be

content in the Lord Philippians four twelve. So then, what

do we do when we see the wicked prosper How

do how do we make sense of it? What should

our response be? Well, let's look at what Asaph had

to say about it verse sixteen. But when I thought

how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome

task until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then

I discerned therein Truly, you set them in slippery places,

you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed

in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors, like a

dream when one awakes, Oh Lord, when you rouse yourself,

you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in the heart, I was brutish

and ignorant, I was like a beast toward you. So,

in trying to make sense of the prosperity of the wicked,

the prosperity of the foolish, acef came to the conclusion

that their end only leads to ruin. He came to

the conclusion after doing what what.

I looked at false.

He came to the conclusion after he went into God's sanctuary,

when he drew near to God, is when he gained

the wisdom that the ways of the wicked are folly,

that the prosperity they enjoy now can be swept away

and destroy it in a moment. The people, we might

allow ourselves to be envious of ones that are successful,

ones that are prosperous or wealthy, they also face a

great danger in placing all of their hope and their

sense of security, and things that do not last, things

that won't save them, things that lead to Ruin those things,

that way of living builds up pride within themselves, and

in their arrogance, they mock the one that's really in control.

In their pride, they have no fear of the one

that can take everything away from them in an instant

if he so chooses. In their pride, they have no

fear of what awaits them if they do not repent

of their sin and rely not on their own, not

in their own ways, their own wisdom, rely on God.

And Psalm forty nine, verse five, the psalmost writes, why

should I fear in times of trouble when the iniquity

of those who cheat me surrounds me? Those who trust

in their wealth and boasts of the abundance of their riches. Truly,

no man can ransom another or give to God the

price of his life, for the ransom of their life

is costly, and can never suffice that he should live

on forever and never see the pit, For he sees

that even the wise die, the fool and the stupid

alike must perish and leave their wealth to others. Their

graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places, to all generations,

though they called lands by their own names. Man and

his pomp will not remain.

He is like the beasts that perish.

For the wicked person, the one that is prideful and

disobeys God's commands, trusting in themselves and their prosperity, is

not wisdom.

It's folly.

And for the believer to look at that same wicked

person with envy, to look at them and how they leave,

how they live with some kind of hope to gain

wisdom or relief from the pains of this life, that's

not wisdom either.

That is also folly.

Whether you have great riches or live in poverty, whether

you achieve great success or live a humble, meager life.

The wise, the foolish, the rich, the poor, they cannot

pay the price for their life.

The ransom's too high.

But praise God that he sent his son to pay

that ransom and make a way to forgive our sins

and to enjoy him forever.

Amen. But why do the wicked prosper? Why do the

wicked prosper? Why does God allow it?

You may not like this answer, but the truth is

we might never fully understand why God allows wicked people

to prosper. Maybe you're asking yourself, why does a holy

God allow his people to suffer and wicked people to prosper?

I think a better question for us to ask is

why are we tempted to envy the wicked? Why are

we upset when an evil person does well? Is it

a sense of justice? The wicked may prosper, but maybe

we've forgotten that their fortune only endures for a short

time on this earth. The question we should be asking

ourselves is have I lost sight of my eternal reward

and the ultimate fate of the wicked? Have I lost

sight of my eternal reward? Because if I keep my

internal reward in focus, my inheritance in Christ Jesus, my

hope in Christ Jesus. If I keep that in focus,

well it doesn't really matter who prospers and who doesn't.

Because as God's children, those who confess their sins and

put their faith in Jesus, our reward is eternal. The

wicked have no reward at all. They may prosper now,

but they have no reward in the end. It's a

question for all of us to consider, have I lost

sight of my eternal reward. If the answer is yes

to that question, then we need to remind ourselves of this.

This is Psalm thirty seven. Fret not yourself because of evildoers.

Be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade

like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust

in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land

and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he

will give you the desires of your heart. Commit to yourself,

commit to excuse me, Commit.

Your way to the Lord.

Trust in him, and he will act. He will bring

forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as

the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord, and wait

patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who

prospers this in his way, over the man who carries

out evil devices. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret

not yourself. It tends only to evil, for the evildoers

shall be cut off. But those who wait for the

Lord shall inherit the land. That's what we need to remember.

To wait on God, to with wisdom, wait on God

and see his justice be done. Maybe it's not for

us to know why God allows the wicked to prosper.

Maybe it's only for us to trust in his plan,

to trust in his will, to seek his counsel, and

to lean on his wisdom in all things.

Isaiah fifty five.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your

ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens

are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher

than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. His

ways are beyond ours, They are above ours.

His thoughts are above our thoughts.

Beyond our comprehension, beyond our understanding. But our ways should

align with His ways that he has laid out in

his scripture. Our thoughts should align with what He has

laid out in his living word. Don't tie yourself to

death trying to understand the thing is that He hasn't

made for us to understand. But you should work yourself

to death to understand and commit to the things He.

Has shared with us to do.

So. What is our response, then, What is our response

when we see the wicked prosper, when we see injustice

being done, when we see people scoffing at God's wisdom,

when we see them prideful and arrogance, saying, look at

look at how I live, Look what I've accomplished, look

at my success, my wealth, my prosperities. Clearly, what I'm

doing is good, what I'm doing is right. What do

we say to that, You seek God's way, you seek

his thoughts, You seek his counsel. Trust in the wisdom

of his plan, of his will, of his righteous judgment,

not in the ways of the.

Wicked or their prosperity.

And after coming out on the other side of this,

this crisis of faith and his his frustration of the

prosperity of the wicked, acef come the conclusion that their

ways are indeed folly, and to follow their folly would

mean following them into the pit. He comes to this

understanding that true wisdom means relying on God's wisdom, and

you only get that by being near to God. Because

God is in control, God has a plan, God has

a purpose. God is righteous and will judge righteously. And

the wisdom of trusting in those truths, even in the

face of things we don't understand, brings us peace. Can

I get the band to come up? Asaf concludes his

psalm with this statement in verse twenty three. Nevertheless, I

am continually with you. You hold my right hand, You

guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive

me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You,

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is

the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold,

those who are far from you shall perish. You put

an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But

for me it is good to be near God. I

have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may

tell of all your works. The wisest thing we could

ever do is rely on God for everything and in everything,

and we only do that by drawing near to Him.

The wisest thing we could ever do is rely on

God for everything and in everything. And we are only

able to do that if we draw near to Him.

But how do we do that?

How do we draw near to God? What does that mean?

It's probably not going to come as a shock to you,

because we say this all the time. Pray and read

your Bible. That is literally the answer to everything. Pray

and read your Bible. Why because the one you pray

to is sovereign over everything. The words that he spoke

that are written in this book, this is your guide

to everything. This teaches you who God is. This teaches

you his character. This shows you his love for his children.

This shows you his power over creation. This shows you

his judgment over the wicked.

This book.

Shows you how to be obedient children. This book, this

is wisdom. This is wisdom. Not the success some people

have obtained. Not the wealth some people have accumulated. Not

the ways people people live and act and speak to

obtain possessions. It's all folly. This is eternal. God's word

is eternal. Our inheritance in his son is eternal. Pray

and read scripture. Don't look to mankind to release you

from your worries. Draw near to God, pray and read

his word. And when you pray, when you bring your

worries to him, and then you read his living word,

you'll see how He promises to meet all your needs.

And you need not worry for anything. In the Sermon

on the Mountain, Jesus said, therefore, I tell you do

not be anxious about your life, what you will eat

or what you will drink, nor about your body what

you will put on, is not life more than food

and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds

of the air. They neither sow, nor reap, nor gather

into barns, And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are

you not of more value than they? In which of you,

by being anxious, can add a single hour to his

span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow? They

neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you even Solomon,

in all his glory, was not a rayed like one

of these.

But if God.

Sow clothes the grass of the field, which today is

alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he

not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith. Therefore,

do not be anxious, saying what shall we eat, what

shall we drink?

What shall we wear?

For the gentile seek after all these things, and your

heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek

first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all

these things will be added to you. He knows what

you need, so you need not worry. Look to mankind

for understanding, Draw near to God, pray and read his word.

When you pray, ask for understanding, ask for guidance, and

when you read his living word, you'll see that.

He will make your path straight. Proverbs three, verses five

through six.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do

not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways.

Acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight. And

I hope I've made this clear. But don't look to

mankind for wisdom. The world's ways lead to folly. No,

the world's ways are folly. They lead to ruin. Draw

near to God, pray and read his word. And when

you pray, ask for wisdom. When you read his living word,

you'll see that he gives it generously to all who

ask James one to five. If any of you lacks wisdom,

let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach,

and it will be given to him. So don't allow

yourselves to be envious of the wicked. Don't allow yourselves

to be envious of the prosperous or the successful, because.

They'll We don't know why, but God knows why. God

knows why.

He why he allowed them to be prosperous, to be successful,

to accumulate wealth. But in all things he does, he

does to his glory. It's not for us to know

why some people prosper, why others don't, why some accumulate

wealth than others don't. It's for us to trust in

God's plan, in God's sovereignty, in his will. So don't

be envious. Don't be envious of things that lead to ruin.

Draw near to God. Draw near to God for understanding,

for wisdom. It's the wisest thing that you should always do,

because he is your refuge, he is your hope. His

plan is greater than our understanding. And in him you

lack nothing. And I'll add this too. Jesus tells us

that there were two men who built houses. As a

storm was coming. One of them built his house on

the sand. When the storm came, the house failed, the

structure collapsed, it was destroyed. It was the foolish man.

The wise man built his house on the rock, on

the strong foundation, like we're going to sing about here

in a minute, a firm foundation. When the storms came,

the house stood strong because of the rock it was

built on. The house didn't falter. It stood strong because

it was wisely planted on a firm foundation. It was

wisely planted on the rock. And who is our foundation?

Who is our cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Be like the wise man.

Set your hopes, your focus, your understanding, where you get

your peace from your relief from worry, from stress, from anxiety.

Set it on the rock. When the storms come, you

will not falter. You may not be a good builder,

but that's the strongest foundation you could ever plant yourself on.