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Psalm 73 is a really great psalm. It's one that I remember every time I read it or every time I hear it read, I always have taken back the first time it was pointed out to me many years ago by my pastor back then. It was really a psalm that for a long time I just kind of lived in. Sometimes during certain phases in our lives, during certain seasons of our lives, the Word of God is going to speak to us more than others. I just remember as a young man being in this psalm and a young man just coming out of the world and having gotten saved and trying to live for the Lord, this was really one that just spoke to my heart so much. You can relate so much to this author, Asaph, here. He understands that God is good. He says, truly God is good to Israel. Obviously, that's something that we all understand. We're saved. We can appreciate and understand the goodness of God to His people, but then he kind of expresses just this angst that he has, this thing that he's going through. He says, but as for me, I mean, I know God's good to Israel, but as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had welled and I slipped. So you can get the sense of this desperation that he's going through, this just difficult time that he's going through. Then he explains to us, you know, what is it that was causing his feet to slip despite the fact that he knew the goodness of God. He knows the grace of God. What is it that's causing him to say, hey, but my feet are slipping? And it says there in verse three, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And it's such a striking phrase when you hear why I was envious at the foolish. I mean, who would envy the fool? Normally, when you think of a fool, you would think of somebody who's just an idiot, just making a mess out of their life, just somebody that's really not worth envying. That's what you typically think of a fool. But notice he says that the foolish there are those, he says, I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. So, you know, wicked people are foolish. Why? Because they say in their heart, there is no God, right? They deny God, but that doesn't mean that they're necessarily stupid or ignorant people, like we might think of a fool. It's not like everyone else in the world is running around with a dunce cap on their head saying I'm an idiot, right? But they're foolish in the sense that they don't give glory to God, that God's not part of their life. They stand against God. They don't care about the things of God. And as a result, they prosper in the world. I mean, don't we see the wicked prospering in this world? In Asaph here, he's seeing that and he's actually envying these people. This is something that I think we can go through in our own Christian lives. This is something that, you know, we can have affect our own hearts. You know, if we just dwell on the things that the world is doing, if we just look at all the things that they're getting away with, all the things that, you know, maybe they don't have to be encumbered with because they don't, aren't trying to live the Christian life. You know, we can see that maybe when we're on our way to church on a Sunday afternoon and we walk out to the end of the driveway to kind of take it in before we get in the car and, you know, just kind of enjoy the scenery and you look down and you see all these cars piled up in one house and you know what's going on in there today, right? Super bowl party, right? And then you drive down to the church and guys are going by on their motorcycles and guys are going by with their trailers and they've got all their stickers, all the hobbies that they're into. And people are going out there on a Sunday and they're spending it however they want. And they have all these hobbies and things that they do, you know, and it would be ignorant to just say, well, don't ever that it would be ignorant thing to say that God's people don't ever look at that sometimes and go, Ben, I wish I could be like that. Why do I have to go to church on, I was just there this morning. Why can't we just stay home and watch the Super Bowl like everybody else? Why is it we, why couldn't that pastor, that preacher just cancel church this tonight or move it around, around the Super Bowl, you know? And I wasn't planning even going in on the Super Bowl, but you know, reading the Psalm, it just kind of makes me think about that. We can look at what the world has, what they don't have or what they don't have to do on behalf of serving God. And despite the foolishness of that, despite the foolishness of not living for God, how foolish and, and just, you know, stupid that is to not recognize God in their lives. We could still find ourselves envying them. We could still find ourselves looking at the foolish, looking at the wicked and saying, man, I wish I could be more like them. Why does it have to be this way? Why do we have to have these standards? Why do we have to do all the things that we have to do? This can happen in a Christian's life. And this can be especially true for, you know, young people as well and make it happen to anybody. But, you know, maybe when we're younger and we're a young man, a young lady and kind of seeing what the world is up to out there, you can start to think, am I just wasting my time? Well, does any of this matter? Does any of this even count for anything? This living, this thing of living for God, you know? Well, it does. You know, it's just, it's hard. We don't always see the results of that in this life. Or, you know, maybe we'll just get a glimpse of it here and there. You know, sometimes we'll go out soul winning and it's just nobody's home. Nobody's listening. No one's receptive. It's just no one's getting saved. And you kind of throw your arms up sometimes and say, what's the point? Does anyone even care to hear any of this? Until you find that one person that does. Until you find that one person who wants to hear the gospel and get saved and all of a sudden you're said, yes, this is worth everything. Let the world have everything that they have. Let the world have their fun. Let them have their games. Let them have their parties. Let them have all their sin and all the pleasures of sin for a season. Let them have it. Just give me God. Give me serving God. Give me bringing glory to God in this life. You know, that's ultimately, that's the peak that sometimes we reach in the Christian life. But let's not be so ignorant. Let's not be so foolish like the world and not think that there aren't also the valleys in the Christian life. Whether sometimes we might step back and say, man, I'm kind of envious at the wicked. And he kind of explains why he's envious. He says in verse four, for there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. It seems like they're not worried about death. You know, nothing's coming for them. They're not suffering. No one's persecuting them. They're, you know, they're not plagued. They're not troubled. Seems like life, you know, life goes pretty good for them. When you go ask the average sinner in America and tell them, hey, do you feel like God's judgment is bearing down on you? No. You feel like, you know, you're on the precipice of falling into hell? No. They're perfectly at peace. They feel just fine, even though they're on their way to hell. And, you know, we would say that they're fools, but yet people, even God's people can begin to envy them. And because of the fact that they're not in trouble, they're not plagued like other men, it says in verse six, therefore pride compass them about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment. They think they're going to get away with it. They're proud. They're lifted up. The pride compass them about as a chain. You know, that chain is like an ornament that they're wearing. It's like a golden chain. It's something that they're showing off. It's something that they're proud of. Their pride compass them about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment. I mean, this is who they are. They speak loftily concerning oppression. They have, like verse seven, their eyes stand out with fatness. We look at the world and they're prospering. The wicked prosper in this world to the point where, you know, their eyes are standing out with fat with fatness, meaning they're not, you know, it's kind of an old way of saying, you know, that they're just they're well fed, right? They're not going through the things that other people go through. We could look at that and look at the latter half. They have more than heart could wish. You could say, man, they have everything they want. They get to do whatever they want and it seems like they're just getting away with it and they're proud and lifted up and they're not afraid and I'm sitting here trying to live for God and I'm worried about what God's going to think about me. I'm worried about, you know, what's going to happen in my life if I'm pleasing God and I look at the wicked and it's like they don't even care and they live a happy, prosperous life that just seems like nothing bad is happening to them. What's the point of this? Why do I even bother? That's really what he's going through in this in this Psalm. That's why he's saying I'm envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked and goes on to verse eight. They are corrupt and they speak wickedly concerning oppression. They're not afraid to just let it roll right off the tongue. Just say whatever they're whatever they think. Curse man. Curse God. Curse anybody. Oppress people. Just say the most wicked, vile things. They speak loftily and look, this is something that's out there in mass today. I mean people just blow off their mouth about whatever in this world today about anything. They just whatever they think about anything. It's just let everybody know about it. I mean they put it on the back of their cars. They wear it on their t-shirts. They just promote sin. They promote filth and iniquity. They just put it all on display for everybody to see. They speak loftily. They're not afraid. They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth. I mean they literally they're speaking against God. I mean don't we see that in just every area of the world today? I guarantee you if anyone you know the people that are at home watching the Super Bowl right now, there's gonna be just some ungodly wicked commercials that come across. You know I don't I don't have a TV but sometimes I'll see one in the in the airport or I'll be somewhere where there's a TV on and I'll start you know some the commercials will come on and it's some of the most abominable things you'll ever see on television now on the commercials. It's it's truly like if you don't watch it for a while and then you come back to it. It's like how is anybody watching this? How is how is anybody turning that thing on and looking at that? It's that bad. It's like dudes kissing. It's like that's that's the most abominable filth that's out there and they're just like get this prescription drug for your for your AIDS that you got from your partner so you can go sleep around a bunch of other strangers. Look they set their mouth against heaven. They speak loftily. They're not afraid. That's the world that we're living in today. That's what 2023 America is today. They their tongue walketh through the earth. They set their mouth against the heavens. I mean in the schools the schools today. I mean they just they deny the Bible. They deny the God of the Bible. They mock anybody that believes in the God of the Bible. Every single sector of this world. Every part of public life is just set against God and it gets heaven and I'm not exaggerating. Say well of course you'd say that you know you got a you got a persecution complex because you're a Baptist preacher. No that's really how it is. They I mean every I mean show me the the university the the well-known popular university that's promoting the things of God and not the things that are abominable to God. You know it's it's not there unless it's some you know Christian conservative thing which you know isn't you know they're not going to be invited to the Orange Bowl or whatever it's you know it's not some major university. So he's looking at these people and how wicked they are that they're just not in trouble. Their eyes are standing out. They're corrupt. They speak wickedly. I mean they're they speak wickedly concerning oppression. They're corrupt. They're not afraid to just throw people under the bus. They're not worried about justice and judgment. I mean isn't our world corrupt? Is it aren't the powers that be just corrupt? I'm not saying every single person that maybe holds some kind of office is corrupt but that system that they're a part of is corrupt and it's set up for one thing to make money. And the love of money is the root of all evil and that's what this whole world revolves around is making money. And we're in the midst of it you know and I think you know people really need to whenever they feel like this really need to go to Psalm 73 and really live in this because this is the world that we're living in. We're the world where people are corrupt and they're speaking wickedly. That's and and if we find ourselves envying the wicked I just understand you're envying the foolish. You're envying foolish people who are not going to get away with it. They're getting away with it now but ultimately they're going to pay the price. The Bible says every knee shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ is God. The glory of God the Father. You know and whether you know in my personal opinion I don't think that's because they're going to be made to do it. I think you know after the great white throne when they are brought before God and they see the glory of God and they see the heavenly host and they see everything that was just a prayer away everything that was just you know just so close if only they'd had the faith of the grain of a mustard seed away and they see that lake of fire open waiting and they see the angels standing by ready to cast them headlong into that pit they're going to fall on their knees and they're going to confess to Christ. It's going to happen and they're and no one's going to have to make them do it. They're going to say truly this is the Son of God. Truly thou art Lord. Truly thou art the Most High. That's what they're going to say. That's what every single corrupt wicked evil person in this world is going to say. Why would I sit here and envy them? Why would I sit here and wish I could have what they have? They're fools when we have everything. The Bible says in verse 10 therefore his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. Now it's kind of hard to it's kind of hard to say which whose people is he talking about here is he talking about the people of the world but I believe he's talking about God's people. That his people return thither. They they see everything that's going on. You know this is just my interpretation. They see the eyes standing out with fatness. They see that they have more than heart could wish. They see that they are corrupt and that they speak wickedly concerning oppression. They see their mouth against the heavens. They see that their tongue walking through the earth. They see the prosperity of the foolish. They see the the wicked of this world and they see themselves becoming envious and they realize and they that how wrong that is and then they turn to him. Therefore his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. You know maybe that's talking about the wicked but you know as I've read this over the years I've always kind of taken that as God's people return unto him when they see the prosperity of the wicked and God rings out a waters of a full cup to them. God fills their cup says you know maybe you can't have everything that they have. Maybe you don't get everything that the world's got but I will fill your cup and then we could say like David my cup runneth over. You know and that's a that's a good place to be in life. You know sometimes when you're when you really got that when you really feel like your cup is running over you know that's when I like to use that expression I'm sipping from the saucer. A lot of people have no idea what that means but if I have a cup that's sitting on the saucer and it's running over brother I'm not drinking from the cup I'm cleaning up the saucer first because my cup's running over. You know and God will give you that. God will pull will pour out waters. God will fill our cup until it's we got to clean up the saucer first. We got to sip from the saucer. You know that and that's what is available to us as God's people and look the world can't have that and the world doesn't want that. The world could care less about a cup that's running over that's run out rung out by the hand of God today but you know what there's going to come a day when they're in torment and agony and anguish and they're going to be like you know that that that rich man in Lazarus and he's going to say send Lazarus that he might just dip his finger in water and cool just the tip of my tongue for just a moment's relief but us in this life God's pouring out full cups. We just have to realize it. We have to understand that. We need to go to God if you and here's the thing as long as you sit there and envy the foolish as long as you sit there and and desire what the world has to offer you're never going to get a full cup. You're never going to know what it is to have that full cup rung out unto you until you say you know what enough with what world has to offer enough with their worldly entertainment enough with their worldly distraction and let me get in the word of God and let God soothe my soul let God speak to my heart and let me get in the word of God and let God begin to ring out a full cup unto me. You have to go to that. You have to go to God to get that. That's why he says therefore his people return hither. They come back and waters are full out of a full cup of rung out. You say I don't feel like waters are are rung out unto me. I don't feel like my cup is full. I don't know that I'll ever be sipping from the saucer brother Corbin. Well have you returned hither unto him or are we still staring at the wicked and envying what they have and what they don't have to do and the rules that they don't have to play by? And they still have this angst and they say how does God know and is there knowledge in the most high? You know God's own people can begin to say that. They can say does it does God even notice what's going on down here? Does God even know it's taking place? Does God even see? Is there any knowledge? Does he even understand what how it is down here? And God does understand. You know God is is not is you know he could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He was tempted in all points like as we are. God does know. What we have to wrap our minds around is the fact that the world's got theirs coming. And just because we can't have everything that they have you know we're not we might not have what they have but we're not going to get what they're going to get either. And we could have something they can never have. Look at verse 12 he said behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. The ungodly they prosper in the world they increase in riches. We could become very envious that. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands and innocency for all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning. I mean you could just get this the angst that he's going through the struggle that he's going through. If I say I will speak thus behold I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this it was too painful for me. I just couldn't take it anymore. It was it was too much to take in. It was too painful for me. And I love verse 17 and this is like I you know this is the key verse this is the where everything kind of changes for Asaph. He says until I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I therein. He doesn't say it then I understood therein. And then I just sat at home and just you know it just came to me all of a sudden. You know no it wasn't until I went into the sanctuary of God. Until I got into God's sanctuary then understood I therein. That was the turning point for him. Where he's going from envying the wicked from where he's going to see how lofty they are and how they're just standing out with fatness. How they're just uh you know increased in riches and how they're just corrupt. How they speak lawfully against them. Where he's just being when he says when I thought to know this it was too painful for me. He just can't take it anymore. Then he gets in the sanctuary of God and says ah now I understand. And when we find ourselves in that same position and look I believe probably all of us if we haven't already will go through a season of this in our life. We'll just say you know what's the point? Does God even know what's going on? Does this any of this even matter what we're doing? Why are we going to church? Why are we in our Bibles? Why go out and preach the gospel? Why do any of it? It just seems like no one out there cares. It doesn't make any difference. It doesn't matter. We're all going to get there. We'll all get there. What we have to remember to do is to go to the sanctuary of God. Go into that sanctuary. Get with God. You know obviously there's a the primary application we could say is perhaps you know get get in the sanctuary of God. You know get in the house of God. Get in church. You know you're definitely not going to make any more sense of of the way the world is by getting out of church. You know and that's what is always kind of you know blowing my mind about Christians who kind of you know they get downtrodden and they kind of just throw up their hands and they end up just throwing up their hands and saying you know I just don't get it. It just seems to me like it doesn't matter what's the point and then they go back to the world. It's like well that's not you think that's going to help? You know and I guess in some sense it does help because maybe the pressure's lifted a little bit. I mean I've heard people who've quit on church say things like that. Oh it just feels like such a burden has been lifted. And you know what it's true it has because the Christian life is a burden. It's a burden to bring your body under. It's a burden to die daily. It's a burden to possess your vessel in honor. It's a burden to take on the things of God and leave the things of God. It is a burden. There is a pressure to the Christian life. You know especially when you're actually trying to live it according to God's word not just fake Christianity that's out there just says hey just do whatever you want. God's not angry with you. When you're actually reading your Bible and going to church that's holding standards and is trying to get you to live a certain way that's going to please God. Yeah you know what there's a pressure that comes with that. There's a burden that's going to be there. But if you just cast that burden off and just say well I'm just going to go back into the world. I'm just going to go into the world. Yeah you know what you might get some sense of relief but you're not going to have any waters poured out onto you and you're not going to understand the world any more than you do now. But if you stick with it and you stay in church and you stay in your Bible and you keep living from God day in and day out sometimes just hanging on sometimes just white knuckling it through the Christian life sometimes just gritting your teeth and getting through it I guarantee you one day it will all make sense. You'll have this moment when I understood their end and you'll say you can have it. You can have everything the world has to offer wicked people. You can have everything that the devil wants to lure you with. You can have everything that he's tempting you with. Go ahead and take it. I don't want it. I understand their end. See how do you stick with the Christian life? How do you make it through you know the highs and lows? I understand their end. I have this reality that's set in front of me called the you know the the judgment of God. Of standing face to face with Christ. I have that reality of heaven just in front of me all the time and knowing that when I draw my last breath in this life I will be with the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I believe that and we're all just one breath away from being there with God. That's how you get through it. When you get in the sanctuary of God you get in the presence of God and then you begin to make sense of the way the world really is and you understand all these people who are all these things that he just described you understand their end. They don't think it's going to end but it's going to end. It's going to come to an end in a hurry for them and one day this whole world will know the power of God and there will be no denying it. He said until I went to the sanctuary of God then understood I am there and that's the prerequisite. You want to make sense of it all? You got to get in the sanctuary of God. You got to have a walk with the Lord or it's just going to be the first half. Envious at the wicked, envious at the foolish, envious at everything that they have, envious at everything that they don't have to do, envious at everything they get to get to do and seem like they're just going to get away with. That's the way it's going to be until you get in the sanctuary of God and have a walk with God that's your own. And he starts to describe their end here. He says in verse 18, surely thou did set them in slippery places, thou casted them down unto destruction. And I love how he's saying it past tense because I mean think about it. He's writing about them in the present tense right in the first half. He's saying they're this, they're staying, you know, they're prospering, they're doing this, they're getting away with it and then he gets in the sanctuary of God then he understands their end and he speaks like it's already happened. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places and thou castest them down unto destruction. He's saying I understood their end. It's like it's already happened. You know the wicked are already in hell. I mean in God's eyes they're already there. Every single person in this world who's going to deny Christ it's like they might as well already be in hell. You know this is something sometimes, and I'm not suggesting you do this, but this is something that an exercise I would do sometimes. Especially if I felt like maybe I was losing my burden for the lost. If I was kind of losing my, you know, desire to get people saved and care about, you know, the lost and things like that. Or maybe even to help, you know, kind of make sense of what Asaph is going through here. Kind of understand that sometimes I would literally just envision some wicked person, some lost sinner just on fire. I just sit there and think about that person just engulfed in flame. Because it's like it's already happened. Look every single lost person if they don't get saved they might as well be burning right now. They might as well be on fire because that's what hell is. It's eternal flame. It's eternal destruction. It never ends. It's eternal torment. The smoke of their torment will ascendeth up forever and ever and they will have no rest day or night. You know, you get in the sanctuary of God, you get in the Word of God, you're going to realize that. You're going to understand their end. And then you're going to be able to say like him, surely thou did set them in slippery places. Surely thou castest them down unto destruction like it's already happened. That's the perspective you need in the Christian life. You have to understand their end. Or you're just going to be envious. Either understand their end or be envious. How are you going to understand their end? Get in the sanctuary of God. Get with the Lord. See it from his angle. How they are brought, verse 19, unto desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors. That person that scoffs at us, that person that mocks us, that person that wants to blast us on the internet and make fun of us and call us crazy and call us whatever they want to call us. All kinds of names and just deride us and just make fun of us. You know what? One day they're going to wake up and they're going to be utterly consumed with terrors. In a moment it's going to happen. You know, and I'm not gleeful about that. I'm not clicking my heels over that. But that's reality. And when you get in the sanctuary of God, that's how you start to see the world. When you start to really look at it from God's perspective, you'll see this as if it's already happened. They are utterly consumed with terrors. You know, and rather than envying these people, rather than being jealous of them as bringing into the modern vernacular, you know, rather than wishing we could have everything that they have and desiring to have everything that they have, you know, we might actually begin to have compassion on them and actually pity them. Actually pity that proud, ignorant jerk wants to just, you know, blow his mouth off at God, blow his mouth off about the things of God, and just scoff and mock and ridicule the things of God and despise God's people instead of just going, oh, you know, we actually might start to pity that guy instead of just being mad at him. We understand that in a moment he's going to wake up and just it's going to be terror that's never going to end. Just unceasing terror. You know, I mean, just dwell on the things of hell. I mean, the Bible says that, you know, hell and destruction before the eyes of the Lord, how much more so the hearts of the sons of men. You know, hell and destruction are before God's eyes every single day. Can you even imagine, what would it be like to just glimpse into hell for just a moment? You ever think about that? If somehow we could just see down into hell, what would that be? I mean, just think about what it might even just sound like. It's terrifying. I mean, just the wailing, the weeping, the gnashing of teeth, just the agony that they're all in down there. I mean, it sends a chill down your spine to just think about, look, friend, that's reality. That's real. That's not just some Baptist fairy tale, that's what the Bible says. That's what's waiting for these people, you know, and they can have everything the world has to offer, but you know what, in a moment they can have 80 long years or whatever of just sin and fun and everything. They just seem like they're going to win, and just in a moment, absolute terror that's never going to end. All those sins, all those pleasures are going to be the farthest thing from their mind. A million years of suffering in hell, you think they're going to think for one moment how much fun they had in sin. All they're going to be thinking about is what they saw right before they got cast in a lake of fire. They got to see the face of God. They got to see the Lord Jesus and the heavenly else right before they went headlong in. They're brought into desolation as in a moment. They are utterly consumed with tears. As a dream, when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. I mean, it seems like God's just slumbering sometimes, but he's saying, look, when God finally starts to move, when he decides to wake up, he's going to despise their image. And it's interesting when he says after that, he says, thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reigns. He didn't say, ha ha ha ha ha, get him God. He says, I was grieved. My heart was touched by this. I was pricked in my reigns. And then he does some self-reflection. Then he kind of thinks back about the way he was before he went to the sanctuary of God. And he says, so foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee. I was foolish and I was ignorant. I was just like them. When I was sitting there and I was envying the wicked, when I was envying the foolish, when I was seeing the prosperity of the wicked and just wondering why they got seems like they're getting away with it, you know, I realized afterwards that thinking that way was like a being like a dumb animal. I was just like them. I was foolish. I was just as ignorant as they were. And we sit there and we envy the wicked, you know, we're the same way. I mean, think about it. If you're God's child and you're a joint hare with Christ, if you're the son of God, behold what manner of love God hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. That's you and me tonight. Think about how foolish and ignorant it looks to God when he sees you envying the wicked. You have everything. You know, we've been made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We're going to be with God, you know, throughout, you know, we're going to be a testament of God's grace and glory throughout all of eternity. You know, he's going to show his loving kindness toward us through Christ Jesus throughout all eternity. That's what we have. And God looks down and he sees us going, yeah, but I wish I could just, you know, drink. Wish I could just fornicate. You're foolish. You're ignorant. Yeah, I wish I didn't have to have these standards. Yeah, I wish I didn't have to go to church all the time. Wish I didn't have to serve God. Wish I didn't have to do all that soul winning. It's foolish. It's ignorant. It's like something a stupid animal would say. That's what he says, I was as a beast before that. You're just, it's, it's that ignorant. It's that dumb. That's what it looks like to God. And he sees this. He kind of comes to his senses and he says, my heart was grieved. I was pricked in my reigns. So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee. To sit there and envy the foolish. To be envious at the wicked. When I have everything. When waters of a full cup are wrung out to me by God. And God wrings out that cup and God wants to fill that cup and give me what the world has, God. It's a stupid thought. It's what a beast would say. It's foolish. It's ignorant. And he says in verse 23, nevertheless I am continually with thee. Thou has holding me by my right hand. Thou shall guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. I mean, he finally gets it. He's saying, I'm going to heaven. What else, what else is there to offer? What, what's the world going to offer you that's better than heaven? What, I mean, what do they got to offer that even comes close to what God's offering? I mean, nowhere even near it. What, I mean, what even could even come to your mind? What, what thing could even come to your mind? And look, if something's coming to your mind, you need to, you need to get in the sanctuary of God. If you think, well, I know, you know, I know I got heaven, but, you know, this particular sin or if I didn't have to or if I could just, you know, and if something's actually coming to mind, you need to get in this psalm. You need to get in the sanctuary of God and let him pour out a waters of a full cup on you. And then maybe the things the world won't taste so good when you've been sipping at God's cup. He said, thou shall guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. It's not that God's just left us on our own here to figure it out. He will guide us with his counsel. Thou will guide me with that counsel. If we get in the sanctuary of God. I mean, God has written unto us all these things, all these excellent things in wisdom and knowledge. God has given us all the counsel of heaven in this book and he will lead us with his right hand all the way to glory. And we could have a life of joy. I'm not saying an easy life. I'm not saying a life that doesn't have its trials. I'm saying joy every step of the way. That's why Paul said rejoice in all our tribulations. We don't rejoice, you know, Paul said we rejoice between our tribulations. No, he said we rejoice in all of our tribulations. Everything that we go through through God, everything that we suffer for God, everything that we have to endure for God's sake, we rejoice. That's what he said. And God will guide us and with his counsel every step of the way and then receive us into glory. God is good. I love verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? Whom have I in heaven but Thee? Look, if there's nobody waiting for you in heaven on the other side, God is. I don't know, Asaphs didn't know what his situation was. Maybe he really didn't have other people. Maybe he didn't have saved family members. Maybe he was, you know, kind of on his own spiritually in his family. But even then, I mean, really I think maybe what he's saying is who else in heaven matters? Look, it's going to be great to see our loved ones that got on before us. It's going to be great to see all the saints that we've known here on earth waiting for us in heaven. But who is it that we really want to see in heaven? It's the Lord. It's God. God's going to guide us all the way with his counsel, receive us in the glory, and then we're going to be with God. And he says, Who have I in heaven but Thee? There is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. He said, I know I have you in heaven. And a lot of us would say the same thing. Oh, I know I'm saved. I know when I die I'm going to go be with the Lord in heaven. But notice what he says there at the end. There is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. Can we say the same thing tonight? Can we say the same thing? Can we say that we've gone to the sanctuary of God and understood the end of this world? Can we say that we understand that God is going to guide us all the way with his counsel unto glory and say that we know these things and be able to say that as a result we desire none besides Him? What do you desire tonight? What is your desire? To get out of here as quick as you can? To get in and to get out as fast as you can so you can go do whatever else? What do you desire? To get your week started so you don't have to think about God for another seven days? What is it you desire? Hopefully it's God. Hopefully every day you're waking up and saying, How can I please God today? How can I live for the Lord today? I'm so glad I'm saved today. I'm so glad that God is guiding me every step of the way today. That there's none that I desire besides Thee in earth. You know when you'll understand that is when you understand that God is in heaven waiting for us. That's who we have waiting for us. We'll understand that. We'll desire God every day when we go into the sanctuary of God and understand the end of this world and stop being envious at the wicked. He says in verse 26, My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For lo, they that are far from Thee shall perish. Thou has destroyed all them that go whoring from Thee. Powerful words. All that are far from Thee shall perish. Again he's just kind of reiterating what he said already. Then understood either end. People that have got God as far away from them, God's just as far away from them as they are from Him. And you know what their end is? To perish. Thou has destroyed them all that go whoring from Thee. That's you know kind of another thing to think about is that to go a whoring from Thee, you know whoring being like an adultery, right? To be being unfaithful to a spouse to go whoring to play the harlot. You know what he's talking about is God's people rejecting God, getting away from Him, running from Him. And he's saying here that He's destroyed all them that go whoring from Thee. Oh, He sends them to hell? No. He destroys them here. I mean that's kind of why he's saying, who have I on earth besides Thee? You know hopefully it needs to be that way. If there's somebody else that you have, you know some other thing in this world that's taken the place of God in your life, you're a whoring from God. That's what you're doing. You're whoring from Him. You've gone a whoring away from God. And God destroys all them that go a whoring from Him. That's why you know verse 28 kind of makes a lot more sense in the light of that of verse 27. But it is good for me to draw near to God. You know why it's good for you to draw near to God so He doesn't destroy you? I mean isn't that kind of what he's contrasting that with? He's saying look it's good for me to draw near to God. Why? Because you destroy all them that go whoring from Thee. I mean he's talking about people that are going in two opposite directions. Those that are drawing near and those that are going away. Those that are leaving. Those that are going a whoring from Thee. Going from Him or near Him. Look it's good to draw near to God because I mean for all these other reasons that I've kind of talked about tonight one major reason it's good to draw near to God is so that He doesn't destroy you. You know because God, I know I've said this so many times but I feel like I just have to keep saying this. People have to get this through their head. God is not just going to sit up in heaven and watch His people just go whoring from Him into the world. And you might be able to walk away and say oh such a burden's been lifted I don't have to obey all these rules. Yeah you know what when sin is finished it bringeth forth death. And whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap. You know you might have some temporary season of pleasure in your sin and not feel like you have you know some kind of burden's been lifted because you don't have to live by a bunch of rules. But ultimately God's going to destroy you because you've got a whoring from Him. That's the God that we serve folks. That's who God is. There's no other way to slice that. You can't spin that and say well yeah I know but I'm different. I'm special. I can just go do whatever I want. God's not going to care. No God's going to care because God loves us. God cares about us. God chasteneth every son whom He receiveth. And this isn't idle threats that God's saying. This is a guy who's experienced it. This is a guy who's seen it. He's saying look I've watched people go whoring from God and God destroys them. I mean that's the theme of the Bible. It's just people turn on God. People disobey God and God just punishes them. I mean how many times does God have to just make that so obvious in Scripture? But this is the lure of the world. That's the power of the world's attraction. That in spite of that fact we can still find ourselves going hmm you know I'm kind of envious of what the wicked have. They got nothing. All they've got is just a vapor that's going to come it's going to come for a little while and then just vanish away. It's like the grass of the field that's going to rise up it's going to bloom and then wither and it's going to be like it never even was. That's all they have. They've got nothing. Why would we envy that? He said it's good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord that I may declare all thy works. You know and that's really all I'm ever trying to do is just declare all God's works. And the greatest work that any of us could ever declare is that Christ has come and has died for the sins of the world and has been buried and risen again. That's the work that we're here to declare. That's the work of God that we're here to declare. That God has come and done all the work for us. That Christ has come and done everything that we can't do in order for everyone to be saved and go to heaven. I mean think about that. He is the savior of all men especially of those that believe. He gave himself a ransom for all. I mean God has laid down. He's not the you know the appropriation for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world the Bible says. I mean God is willing to save everybody. That's the greatest work. I mean what other work even comes close to that magnitude and quality? Nothing even touches that. We need to declare that work. We need to make sure that we stay zealous to do that. That we don't faint. That we don't be weary and well doing but that we keep declaring that work because that's the greatest work that any of us could declare and I'm telling you that's the greatest work any of us could endeavor to do in this life. And I understand we have other things that we have to do. We have other responsibilities. We have demands in our times. But look we must declare the work of God to this world because we understand their end. If we've been in the sanctuary of God we know what's coming for them. Why would we not declare the gospel to them? Let's go ahead and pray.