Thank you, Joe, for those kind words.
Good evening, everyone. Please turn with me in your
Bibles to Psalm chapter 73. In the previous Sunday family
nights, we've been studying in the Book of Psalm.
Summer of Psalms, I believe, was the way that Pastor Jonah put
it. So in keeping with that,
although it's technically no longer summer, we'll be looking
at Psalm 73 tonight. Psalm 73 is a Psalm of Asaph.
Asaph begins by lamenting how the wicked seemed to prosper.
He struggles to reconcile the ideas of evil people thriving in
God's faithfulness to his people.
Asaph was a musician and a prophet in the time of King
David, so he no doubt knew of the faithfulness of God.
But in this Psalm, his writings show a feeling that is common
for many Christians. And that is, why do evil people
seem to have less problems than the godly?
But he doesn't remain there. He moves on to see the flaws in
that way of thinking and the ultimate fate of the evil doers.
And so with that, let's read Psalm 73 and I'll be going
through the whole chapter. 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 slept.
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 lawfully.
They threaten oppression. They set their mouths against
the heavens and their tongue stretch 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 a 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 and innocence.
For all day long I've been stricken and rebuked every
morning. If I had said I will speak thus,
I would have betrayed the generation of your 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.
Oh 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.
Let's pray as we ask God to lead us through His Word.
Lord, you are a just and merciful God.
Your ways are higher than our ways.
Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
Thank you for the word that you have given to us by which we we
may learn and grow in You. Amen.
Located in Tanzania at 19,300 feet above sea level, Mount
Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa.
Each year, thousands of experienced and beginner hikers
attempt to approach the summit and ultimately reach it.
Of those thousands of hikers, roughly 10 people each year die
while attempting to climb this mountain.
There's a YouTube channel called Smarter Every Day run by a
former NASA engineer named Dustin Sandlin, and in one of
his latest videos, he depicts his journey as him and his wife
and along with a small group of friends, attempt to climb Mount
Kilimanjaro. During the climb, he talks about
and shows the different dangers that are present, namely the
rocky areas, the low oxygen levels, and the high winds.
All these things can quickly turn your expedition into a life
or death scenario. But beyond the physical dangers
present, Destin and many others online claim that one of the
hardest parts of the whole climb is the mental portion.
Keeping your attitude up and not caving into the fear and
exhaustion exhaustion that your body is feeling, especially when
there's so much less oxygen present.
At one point on the trip, about 2000 feet away from the summit,
Destin shares how they saw a man being rushed down the mountain,
barely conscious and clearly dying if the guides don't get
him down in time. He talks about the solemnness in
the group as the reality of what could be just went right by
them. But before the whole group loses
all contentment, the guides and the porters leading Destin's
group break out into song. They start singing as a way to
refocus the group and prevent them from being paralyzed by
fear and from discontentment. The guides are keenly aware that
if the mental focus is missing, then there's a high chance that
the whole group won't reach the summit.
And so there's a lot of similarities to everyday life
and analogies that we can draw from a story like this.
But what sticks out to me is how easy it's to lose sight of the
path ahead of us and become discontent which can lead us
astray. Our mentality plays such a huge
role in the actions we take. We just celebrated Thanksgiving
last weekend and if you ask any mental health expert, they will
be quick to point out to the positive effects that being
thankful can have in your life. But as believers, we already
know this. We know that we should be
finding our contentment in the Lord and in His Word.
But if we're honest with ourselves, that can be pretty
difficult. If we don't get the raise we
feel that we deserve, our contentment wanes.
If we come home after a long day and the only thing ready to eat
is last week's leftovers, our contentment is in short supply.
They this is only worsened when we see the unbelievers doing
seemingly well. They drive the new vehicles.
They eat at the expense of restaurants.
Their families seem to get along well.
So as believers, we know it can be hard to find contentment in
God, especially when we see unbelievers thriving.
As we look into Psalm 73, we see the psalmist struggling with the
same thing. But as he records his thought
process, we see a shift in thinking.
He sees the path and the outcome of those who find their
contentment only in worldly things and warns not to follow
down that path. Instead, because God is
faithful, we should find our contentment in Him.
So how do we find contentment in the Lord?
Using the metaphor of climbing a mountain alongside Psalm 73, I
want to lay out three actions that we can take to find and
keep contentment in the Lord. We need to focus on the path, be
aware of the dangers, and seek refuge in the Lord.
As believers, we need to focus on the path.
The path we need to focus on is the Word of God and who He is.
We focus on that path to avoid stumbling, avoid jealousy, and
avoid temptations. When we see the psalmist declare
in verse one that truly God is good to Israel, to those who are
pure in heart. He recognizes the attribute of
God, the goodness of God. Right from the beginning, God is
good. Similar to the Acts prayer model
that we've learned as a church, the psalmist begins with
adoration, glorifying God. But as we go to verse 2, we read
what can be seen as a confession of the thoughts he had.
He explains in verse 2. But As for me, my feet had
almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped.
Not focusing on the goodness of God can cause us to stumble if
we continue with the imagery of climbing a mountain.
It isn't the giant boulder that you see 100 meters ahead of you
that will cause you to stumble. It's the small stone right in
front of you that will cause you to slip.
Focusing on the Word of God, then, allows us to see that God
remains faithful and prevents us from stumbling.
We also need to focus on the path to avoid jealousy, he
writes in verse 3. For I was envious of the
arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
When we take our eyes off the Word of God and turn to the
things of the world, it can be so easy to be jealous.
We stop seeing things in light of eternity, and instead we see
them for the here and now. Being a Christian can mean
saying no to opportunities that would bring prosperity but don't
align with God's Word. It's difficult then to see the
arrogant and those who openly despise God become prosperous
while believers are struggling. It's tempting to resent God for
allowing this to happen, but we need to focus on the path to
avoid that temptation. Verses 4 to 12 highlight some of
those temptations to be envious of.
They have no pangs until death. They're not in trouble as others
are. Pride is their necklace.
Their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak malice. They threaten oppression.
These all culminate into a summary of how the psalmist sees
the wicked in verse 12. Behold, these are the wicked,
always at ease. They increase in riches.
I relate to this verse because it seems so often to be the case
that the wicked have no worries and they only increase in
prosperity. But if I or you only focus on
the supposed fortune of the wicked, it leads us to taking
our eyes off the path, the truth of the scriptures and causes us
to lose contentment in God. A few weeks ago we went on a
family vacation to Tennessee. While driving from Gatlinburg to
Pigeon Forge, there's a small tunnel that you have to go
through. Right before the entrance to the
tunnel, there's this big yellow Rd. sign that reads No honking
in the tunnel. I think you can guess what I
wanted to do as soon as I got into that tunnel.
And I wasn't alone in that thinking.
Because once we were in that tunnel, you know what we heard a
lot of honking. Had it not been for that sign on
the road, I would have never had that temptation to honk.
But by focusing on that sign and wondering what it would sound
like to honk in the tunnel, I became discontent just driving
through the tunnel normally without honking.
And that's a threat we face in many areas of our lives.
While honking in a tunnel may be of little consequence, focusing
on our neighbors, new cars and big house, for example, may be
more serious. By focusing on material items,
we can become hyper focused on making more money or leveraging
large amounts of debt just to appear wealthy.
We can find many examples in the Bible that this will not bring
true contentment. Paul writing to Timothy and
first Timothy 66 writes. But godliness with contentment
is great gain. For we brought nothing into the
world and can take and cannot take anything out of the world.
But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content.
But those who desire to be rich fall into a temptation, into a
snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge
people into ruin and destruction.
Paul isn't saying that wealth is a sin.
But those that desire to be rich fall into temptation which can
lead to sin. Paul says that godliness with
contentment is great gain. So in our Christian walk we
should focus on godliness rather than the temptations of the
wicked on our walk. As believers, we also need to
remain mindful of the dangers, the danger of only focusing on
us, the danger of causing others to stumble, and the danger of
unrepentant sin. Being self focused is dangerous
because it leads to self pity. Asaph laments in verse 13.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in
innocence. He's saying that if the previous
verses are right and that only the wicked prosper with no
hardship, then it has been worthless for him to practice
faithfulness. ASA felt like the life of the
ungodly was much easier than the life of the faithful.
But this thinking is dangerous, as it can cause others in the
faith to stumble. We see a shift in his thinking
in verse 15. If I had said this, I will speak
thus. I would have betrayed the
generation of your children. In other words, if he acted on
those thoughts, he could undermine the faith of younger
believers. It's difficult to avoid these
thoughts, but what we do as a response to them is of greater
importance, Asaph writes. He tried to understand it by
himself, but he wasn't able to until he went into the sanctuary
of God. Similarly, until we go into the
Word of God, reading it, studying it, praying through it,
and talking to others about it, we will not see the dangers.
The danger of unrepentant sin is the worst of all, Asaph, again
in verses 18 to 19, writes. Truly, you set them in slippery
places. You make them fall to ruin.
How? They're destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors. The end result of the wicked is
not a lavish life and no troubles.
Instead, it's a place of ruin and destruction.
That ruin may or may not happen here in this life, but without a
belief in God and repentance, it is guaranteed in eternity.
As Paul wrote to Timothy, we brought nothing into this world
and we will take nothing out of the world.
We can see the impact of not remaining mindful of these
dangers and the story of Adam and Eve.
They were told by God that they could eat from all the trees in
the garden except one, Genesis 216 to 17.
And the Lord commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of
every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat it,
you shall surely die. They were warned of the dangers
ahead, but ultimately they didn't remain mindful of them
because Adam and Eve both focus on themselves and what they
would gain from eating the fruit that caused all of mankind to
stumble. And the death and the danger of
death entered the world. Sin and death entered the world
through disobedience and man has been disobedient to God ever
since. And because of our disobedience,
not merely the the disobedience of Adam and Eve, we too are in
danger of death. If we are not in Christ by
ourselves, we still face the same dangers of self focused,
causing others to stumble and death from unrepentant sin.
And it is only through Jesus and His work on the cross that we
can avoid these. Focusing inwardly leaves us
blind to the outside world. There are believers all around
us in our daily life, and if we only focus on their supposed
prosperity, we will not see, or worse, not care about the
dangers that lie in store for them.
As believers, we need to read what the Bible says about those
who are separate from Christ and warn them of the danger to come.
It is our duty to share the gospel with them.
If we find our contentment in Christ, we will naturally want
to share that with others. In doing so, we'll set an
example for those younger in the faith and encourage them to do
likewise. We cannot do this by ourselves,
though. As mountain climbers, we'll take
refuge near big rocks. As believers, we seek refuge in
God, the Rock of Ages. As we seek refuge in God, we see
that God is our sustainer, our strength, and our Savior.
Asaph turns his thoughts to thankfulness for God for
sustaining him. 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.
Asaph is thankful that although he had almost stumbled, God was
there to to sustain him and hold his right hand like a good
Father. God sustains and holds us as
well. We do not hold God up, but He
holds us. Asaph valued this so much that
he says nothing on nothing else on earth is of greater worth
than God. And as I've heard Pastor Jake
preach, everything minus God equals nothing, but nothing plus
God equals everything. God is our sustainer and God is
also our strength. Verse 26 the Psalmist writes, my
flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever. As fallen creatures we are
destined for ailments, sickness, and physical death.
Asaph acknowledges the fact that on earth his body might fail
him, but his true strength comes from God.
What joy, what great contentment to be able to say that come what
may, my strength isn't found in my money and my job or in
myself, but my strength is in God.
And to not worry about the temporary prosperity of the
wicked. But to say, as Asaph does in his
final verse, 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. God is our Savior.
It is good to be near Him. By seeking refuge in God, we are
sustained and strengthened to tell all people about our
Savior. Our response then to God should
be 1 of praise and Thanksgiving. If we find contentment in Him,
we cannot help but be thankful and share that with others.
Jesus says in Matthew 12 that out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaks. When we speak then do others
hear thankfulness and contentment, or that do they
hear complaining and gossip? Complaining is contagious and
misery likes company, but thankfulness encourages and
builds up. Gossiping is enslaving, but
contentment in God is freeing. I was speaking with a friend a
few weeks ago and he reminded me of the story of Horatio
Spafford. Horatio was a famous lawyer and
businessman in Chicago in the 1870s.
He was a devout Christian and close friend of the prominent
evangelist DL Moody. Life seemed to be pretty good
for Horatio, but it took a tragic turn when the Great
Chicago Fire devastated the city.
Because he had much of his investments in real estate, most
of his wealth was destroyed by the fire.
A short time after the financial disaster, Horatio and his wife
suffered another heartbreaking loss when their only son died at
the age of four from scarlet fever.
But despite these tragedies, Horatio's fate, Horatio's faith
remains strong and along with his family, they continued their
charitable work. In 1873, two years after the
fire, Horatio decided to take his wife and four daughters on a
trip to Europe, where they had planned to assist Moody with his
Evangel evangelistic work. But business obligations arose
and Horatio decided to send his family ahead on a steamship.
While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship crashed into
another ship and sank very quickly.
All four of Horatio's daughters died that day, alongside 222
other people. His wife was one of the few
survivors and knowing that Horatio would hear the news on
the sunken ship, sent a telegram from England that simply read
Saved Alone. Overwhelmed by with the news,
Horatio sailed to England to join his wife.
While crossing the Atlantic near the area where the shipwreck had
happened, Horatio was inspired to write the words to the now
popular hymn, It Is Well with My Soul.
The hymn shows his unwavering trust and God's sovereignty even
during such sorrow and pain. The opening verse of the that
Horatio wrote reads like this. When peace like a river
attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever
my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well.
It is well with my soul. In the darkest moments of his
life, Horatio sought comfort in the Lord and found contentment
in him. It would have been easy and
frankly, no one would have questioned if he had solely
focused on his losses. He could have looked at the
unbelievers that survived and been angry at God for allowing
his daughters to die. But while there was undoubtedly
much grieving, Horatio decided to keep his focus on God.
He focused less on himself and continued to serve the poor and
suffering. In that moment of deep loss,
Horatio took refuge in God, knowing that it was God who
would sustain him, strengthen him, and ultimately save him.
When sorrows like sea billows roll in our own life, can we say
it is well with our souls? Do we have the courage to say
whatever my lot, it is well with my soul?
The only way that we can truly say those words is if we find
our contentment in God. The second verse of the song
reads. Though Satan should buffet, the
trial should come. Let this blessed assurance
control that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate and
hath shed his own blood for my soul.
If we believe in the Lord Jesus and put our trust in Him, we can
have the assurance that our souls have been saved.
It can be well with our soul because our soul rests safely in
the arms of our Savior. We can strive on by focusing on
the path ahead, remaining mindful of the dangers and
seeking refuge and seeking our refuge and God so that we can
join in with the psalmist and say, my flesh and my heart may
fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
I'll close with a benediction from Jude chapter one, verse 24
to 25. Let's pray now to Him who is
able to keep you from stumbling. And to present you blameless
before His presence, before the presence of His glory, with
great joy to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before
all time and now and forever. Amen.