1. "Don't be short-sighted. Sinners might enjoy earthly goods, but will experience eternal sorrow, while the godly may experience earthly sorrow, but will enjoy eternal good."

2. "Your eyes can deceive you. But oh, they're so easily attracted to success. Our eyes are like magnets to prosperity, to people prospering, to the good life."

3. "Talking to yourself ain't crazy, it's Christian. Because the trials of life will so test you, will so tug at your faith that they might lead you to doubt."

4. "There can be a thin line between your being real and you're being reckless. Be willing to count others as more significant than yourselves in this area."

5. "Don't underestimate the impact of gathering with God's people to worship God. Many of us get beat down Monday through Saturday at our jobs and in our homes. We come sometimes jaded, our hearts heavily being influenced by the world's standards, and we need a reset."

6. "The prosperous life, the life filled with good health and fortune and riches, the life that Asaph envied was actually a sign of God's judgment. God's judgment is not always exhibited in a hell and brimstone kind of way. It's often God giving you over to what you really desire."

7. "We all act as if what we deserve is only good from God all the time, when in fact what we deserve from God is only bad from him all the time."

8. "No longer is he clamoring for God's gifts. He simply wants God. God is worth more than all the delicacies and all the delights and all the treasures of this world combined."

9. "All the gold and the treasures that we once so highly valued, all those gold and treasures will become nothing more than the pavement that we pound in heaven in the presence of our true joy, Jesus Christ."

10. "Encourage one another today. Encourage one another this week. Not by looking at life's circumstances now, not by pointing to what's around us. Encourage one another by pointing to what's ahead. Glory."

Observation Questions

1. In Psalm 73:1, what declaration does Asaph make about God, and to whom does he say God is good?

2. According to verses 4-12, what specific characteristics and circumstances does Asaph observe about the wicked? List at least four things he notices about their lives.

3. In verses 13-14, what does Asaph conclude about his own efforts to live righteously, and what has been his daily experience?

4. What event does Asaph identify in verse 17 as the turning point that changed his understanding, and what did he then "discern" about the wicked?

5. According to verses 18-20, what does Asaph now understand about God's ultimate plan for the wicked? What imagery does he use to describe their fate?

6. In verses 25-26, what does Asaph declare about his desires and what he identifies as his "portion forever"?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that Asaph begins the psalm with "Truly God is good to Israel" (v. 1), yet immediately follows with "But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled" (v. 2)? What does this reveal about the relationship between knowing truth and experiencing doubt?

2. How does the contrast between the "pure in heart" (v. 1) and the "wicked" (v. 3) help us understand the two categories of people presented in Scripture, and why is Asaph's envy of the wicked so spiritually dangerous?

3. What is the significance of the sanctuary of God (v. 17) in correcting Asaph's perspective? How does corporate worship function differently than private reflection in helping believers see reality clearly?

4. In verse 15, Asaph says that speaking his doubts aloud would have "betrayed the generation of your children." What principle does this suggest about the relationship between spiritual maturity and the responsibility to guard what we say?

5. How does Asaph's transformation from wanting God's gifts (vv. 13-14) to wanting God Himself (vv. 25-26) illustrate the difference between a transactional relationship with God and a genuine, covenant relationship?

Application Questions

1. Asaph was honest about his envy when he saw the prosperity of those who ignore God. What specific situations in your life—at work, on social media, or among friends—most tempt you to envy those who seem to prosper without faith? How might you "preach to yourself" the truths of this psalm in those moments?

2. The sermon emphasized that believers should be transparent about heart struggles, not just "acceptable sins." What is one struggle of the heart (such as envy, bitterness, or doubt about God's goodness) that you have been reluctant to share with other believers? What would it look like to bring this into the light with a trusted Christian friend this week?

3. Asaph's perspective was corrected when he "went into the sanctuary of God" (v. 17). How might you approach Sunday gatherings differently, expecting God to reset your perspective on life's circumstances? What practical step could you take to prepare your heart for corporate worship?

4. The sermon asked, "Is God enough for you, or do you need more than God?" What specific thing—a relationship, financial security, career success, or comfort—have you elevated as an "absolute necessity" for your happiness? What would it look like to loosen your grip on that thing and find greater satisfaction in God Himself?

5. Asaph chose not to voice his doubts publicly because it might harm the faith of others (v. 15). Before you next post on social media, share an opinion in a group discussion, or vent frustration to another believer, what questions could you ask yourself to ensure your words build up rather than undermine the faith of those around you?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Psalm 37:1-11 — This passage addresses the same temptation to envy the wicked and provides instruction on trusting the Lord instead of fretting over evildoers.

2. Romans 1:18-32 — Here Paul explains how God's judgment sometimes involves giving people over to their desires, reinforcing Asaph's insight that the wicked's prosperity is actually a form of divine judgment.

3. Ecclesiastes 8:10-17 — The Teacher wrestles with the same observation that the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer, pointing to the limits of human understanding and the call to fear God.

4. Hebrews 10:19-25 — This passage emphasizes the importance of drawing near to God and not neglecting corporate worship, connecting to Asaph's experience of transformation in the sanctuary.

5. Philippians 3:7-14 — Paul describes counting all earthly gains as loss compared to knowing Christ, illustrating the same heart transformation Asaph experienced when he declared God alone as his portion and desire.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Cultural Phenomenon of "Quiet Quitting" and Its Application to Faith

II. A Confident Declaration: God Is Good to Israel (Psalm 73:1)

III. A Confusing Dilemma: The Prosperity of the Wicked (Psalm 73:2-14)

IV. A Corrected Viewpoint: The Sanctuary Transforms Perspective (Psalm 73:15-20)

V. A Contented Man: Finding Satisfaction in God Alone (Psalm 73:21-28)

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Well, good morning. It's good to be with you again. For some of you all, I was here five years ago as an intern doing everything that Mark demanded and not being able to talk at all. So it's a joy now to be able to speak, not simply my words, but God's word. I bring you greetings from Temple Hills Baptist Church.

Temple Hills is in PG County, about maybe 10 minutes from National Harbor. So if you've been to the harbor, we're about eight, 10 minutes up the road from there. The Saints at Temple Hills love you all. We thank you for your care for for your prayers, for your provision, for your pastors. I think at least every month, maybe every week, I'm reaching out to Mark or Bobby or Jamie or DPAC for help.

Right? And so thank you all for being a congregation that loves the Lord and that loves the Lord's people. I'd like you to join me again in a brief word of prayer before we begin. Lord, we thank you that we are able to sit under your word. We thank you for the gift of your word.

Lord, we pray that you would help us even now. Give us ears to hear, hearts to obey, and to love you through your word. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, it seems like every few months there's a new cultural phenomenon that's making headlines and finally gets a way into the fabrics of our society. The latest offering, the alliteratively coined concept, quiet quitting. It first popped up in reference to the workplace, where if you're dissatisfied with your job, you don't just outright resign, you just refuse to go above and beyond, to put in any extra effort, to show any outward exuberance. You're there, but barely. Some of you all might feel like some of your coworkers have been quiet quitting for a decade now.

From the workplace, the concept has seemingly crept into the home. A News Channel 7 report just a couple of days ago asked the question, Is your partner quiet quitting your relationship? Offering viewers signs to look for, physical distance, lack of affection, spending as little time as possible with your partner. Perhaps the phenomenon is present among us this morning, even now. I wonder if you're here this morning discouraged, disgusted by what you see around you.

What's happening in your life, and perhaps secretly separating yourself from God on the quest of quietly quitting Christianity. You're here, but where's your heart with the Lord? Well, in our passage this morning, I think we'll see the psalmist put a voice to what you might be feeling. And provide a better option than quietly quitting your faith, but rather fervently fighting to stay in the faith and to find joy in God. If you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to Psalm chapter 73.

Psalm chapter 73. I think if you're using one of the Bibles on the chairs, Is it on page 485? Yes, okay, 485. And if you don't have a Bible of your own that you can easily read and understand, take one of those Bibles with you. It's always good to go to somebody else's house and give away free stuff, right?

So take one of these Bibles home with you. CHBC will happily replenish. We want you to have your own copy of God's Word. Psalm 73, I'm going to read the entire Psalm. Follow along with me, and it'll be good for you to just have your Bibles open the entire time.

A good practice as you sit under God's word is to look at God's word to make sure that whoever is preaching whether it's Mark or Bobby or some guy you've never seen before from another church you want to make sure that what he's saying out of his mouth is what the Bible is saying. Alright, so keep your Bibles open as we read Psalm 73. Psalm 73. A Psalm of Asaph. 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 wash 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 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.

It almost preaches itself, doesn't it?

Nevertheless, Marcus invited me to do something, so I'm going to do that, all right?

Now, as we study this psalm, I want us to observe a few things here. First, observe its placement. And notice in your Bibles that large heading over Psalm 73. Book 3. You might miss that when you read the Psalms.

It represents an intentional structure that's found in the Psalter. The Psalms have been organized in a specific order and presented to and preserved for God's people. Together, these Psalms aren't just thrown around. Together, they tell a cohesive story.

In the Psalms, in books 1 and 2, in Psalms 1 through 72, we see the rise of the Davidic king, but also how that kingship would be met with hostility. So in Psalm 2, for instance, you find the nations raging against the Lord's anointed. And in Psalm 3, you find David's own son serves as a foe raging against him.

And in Psalms 42 through 43, which start off book two of the Psalms, we see how suffering would be a common part of the experience of God's people. But by the end of book two, all seems right. God's promise to his people that a king would rule over them forever seems fulfilled. Psalm 72, the last psalm in book two. You read it this afternoon, you can find this.

It is written by Solomon, one of David's sons, under whom the nation of Israel prospered for many years. And by the end of Psalm 72, we see a picture of all God's promises being fulfilled. God's king is ruling. God's people are flourishing. And with the hope that the whole earth will be blessed by their witness.

But in books three and four we see that all is not right. God's king is not ruling. God's people are not flourishing. Instead they've been displaced. And many believe that the psalms found in books three and four were compiled to reflect Israel's time in exile, ruled by foreign enemies.

Yet still crying out to God, still singing to God. And notice the specific singer we meet here in Psalm 73, the author, Asaph. We learn in 1 Chronicles chapters 15 and 16 that he was appointed by King David to lead God's people in musical worship. He's the author here in Psalm 73 and in all the Psalms stretching to Psalm 83.

And as he pens this specific psalm, here's what I think is the main point, the main point of this passage. Don't be short-sighted.

Sinners might enjoy earthly goods, but will experience eternal sorrow, while the godly may experience earthly sorrow, but will enjoy eternal good. I know that was like a five paragraph main point, right? Insert your own em dashes or colons or semicolons. Let me review it again. Don't be short-sighted.

Sinners might enjoy earthly goods, but will experience eternal sorrow.

While the godly may experience earthly sorrow, but will enjoy eternal good. You didn't get all that. Look on with the neighbor together. You can piece together notes and find something of what the main idea is. As we walk through this psalm, I want us to hang our thoughts around four scenes we see in Psalm 73.

So four points of the sermon. Number one, we see a confident declaration. See that in verse 1. Number 2, we see a confusing dilemma. We see that in verses 2 through 14.

Number 3, we see a corrected viewpoint. We see that in verses 15 through 20. And number 4, we find a contented man.

Verses 21 through 28. So, a confident declaration, a confusing dilemma, a corrected viewpoint, and a contented man. First, we see a confident declaration. In verse 1, Asaph declares, Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. The psalmist shows us something of his belief system as he makes several assertions here.

For one, he believes that God exists. God is at the top of his mind in this psalm. And this is not a man who moves through life unaware of someone over him. Yes, he's been appointed a leader of God's people, but he recognizes someone greater than him. And he doesn't describe him in fuzzy, abstract terms.

The higher power, the man upstairs. No, he's God. Asaph is neither an atheist or a polytheist. He believes that there is a God and he believes that there is only one true God.

Do you?

Do you? Friends, we're not here this morning assuming that everyone is on the same page. Do you believe in God? Or of all the police shootings, the protests, the political landscape, the pandemic, convinced you that there cannot be a God? There's just too much unrest.

Well, we'll see as we read this psalm that Asaph has seen some hard stuff too. And yet he still believes that God exists because he believes what the Bible says. Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God is the creator and the sustainer of the world. He is over everyone and everything, both then and now.

Do you believe in him? Well, if you don't, then pray. The Bible says that faith is a gift from God. So if you're struggling to believe God right now, right now then in the quiet of your seats, call out to God to give you faith and trust that he will give it. But the psalmist doesn't just believe that God exists, Asaph expresses a deeper level of faith.

He predicates something about this God. He says that God is something. And as he cycles through the long list of attributes that could rightly describe God, holy, powerful, sovereign, all-knowing, loving, merciful, gracious, the one he lands on is good. God is good. Goodness is bound up in the very person of God.

It's who He is. His very nature is good. And that's what the Scriptures tell us. You might remember in the creation account in Genesis, on each day after God had made what He made, He looked back on His creation like a proud parent, looks at what He's just made, and He says, It's Is good. But the sun and the moon, the earth and the seas were not good in and of themselves.

They were only good insofar as they came from God, who is good. God can define what's good because he is the epitome of good. God himself is the essence of goodness. The psalmist here isn't making some shocking discovery about God.

He's simply regurgitating God's truth about himself. God is good. That's the testimony of literally dozens of verses in the Bible. Exodus chapter 33 verse 19, 2 Chronicles chapter 6 verse 41, Psalm 34 verse 8, Psalm 100 verse 5, Psalm 135 verse 3, Jeremiah and Nahum and 1 Peter all agree. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, I wonder if that's your testimony.

Let's play a quiet game of word association. What one word description would you use to describe God?

And are you so sure that you're right? If your description counters that of God himself and those he's authorized to speak for him, to speak of him in this time-tested book of the Bible. God is good, Asaph says. And his goodness isn't simply bound up in his person in heaven. He's demonstrated his goodness to his people.

The psalmist says, God is good to Israel, whom he describes as pure in heart. Not perfect in heart, but pure, totally committed or devoted to God. It's what Israel pledged to do as a covenant people of God. To love the Lord their God with all their hearts, all their souls, all their mind, all their strength. And God pledged himself to be their God and to do good to and for them.

And he's been faithful to that promise, Asaph says. He's good to Israel. But what's with the truly at the beginning of verse 1? Truly God is good to Israel. It's almost like this isn't simply a declaration but a reaffirmation.

It's like the psalmist is trying to make a convincing argument. Truly God is good to Israel. Okay, but who are you arguing with? What I think is with himself. Because we'll see starting in verse 2, Asaph has gone through some trials that were pulling at the fibers of his faith, causing him to question God's goodness.

And he had to tell himself to remind himself that God is good. I say, you're gonna have to learn the practice of preaching to yourself. Talking to yourself ain't crazy, it's Christian. Because the trials of life will so test you, will so tug at your faith that they might lead you to doubt. And you're gonna have to declare, based on what God has said in his word, based on how God has been to you in the past, what the psalmist says here, that God is good to to His people.

Now, wouldn't it be lovely to just end there and go straight to heaven at the pinnacle of your faith with a heartfelt, bold declaration about God?

But then you go home this afternoon. You wait in the drive-through line at McDonald's. You go into the office tomorrow morning. You start another school week, and your confident assertions about God and his goodness are met with conflicting experiences. What do you do?

Well, that leads us to point number two, where we see the psalmist in a confusing dilemma. Point number two, a confusing dilemma.

Asaph knows the truth about God. Knows that God is. He knows that He is good. He knows that He is good to His people. He's got good doctrine.

But, he says in verse 2, Man, I almost fell away from believing it. My feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped. The words used there, feet, steps remind us that our commitment to God is like a walk, a journey, where we are intentionally following after him. But it's not a walk on smooth terrain.

It's more like a hard, uphill hike to heaven. I know from my time here that many of you all go hiking, maybe at Great Falls or down in Shenandoah. Many of you actually enjoy hiking. More of an indoorsman myself. But if you ever hiked up a steep hill, you know the danger's inherent with a foot slipping.

Perhaps you've seen movies where folks are hiking up this massive mountain. And inevitably, to add drama, are foot slips. And a rock falls from under them and falling all the way out of the screen showing just how deep the drop is below.

And they left dangling, trying to find their footing. It's dangerous. That's the picture Asaph presents of almost falling away from faith, away from trusting in the goodness of God. And what is it that almost caused his steps to stumble? It's what he saw.

My feet almost stumbled, my steps nearly slipped, when the end of verse 3 tells us, I saw the prosperity of the wicked. We're introduced here to another class of people, the wicked. They're contrasted with Israel, who's described as pure in heart in verse 1. You know, that's how the Scriptures present people. There's only two categories of people.

There's the righteous and there's the wicked. It's the way the first psalm opens up the entire Psalter. There being two ways to live: following the way of the wicked or following the way of the righteous. The righteous are those who live under God's law and under God's king, under God's Messiah.

The wicked are those who reject God's law, who rebel against God's king.

How would you categorize yourself this morning? How would God? Asaph saw the wicked apparently prospering, but everything that looks good is not good. Remember, Eve saw that the tree that God had forbidden was good for food, was a delight to the eyes, and she took. And ate of it, and gave to Adam, and he took and ate of it.

And all humanity has tasted the bitterness of sin since then. Your eyes can deceive you. But oh, they're so easily attracted to success. Our eyes are like magnets to prosperity, to people prospering to the good life.

And what specifically did Asaph see? Well, verses 4 through 12 outline some specifics. In verse 4, he says, the wicked don't have any pangs or pains until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek. They don't experience any sickness, no cancer and no COVID, no suffering.

They die in their sleep. They have peaceful deaths. They don't experience any hunger. They eat good at Michelin-star restaurants. Their bodies aren't disfigured from starvation.

They're plump and fit. In verse 5, he says, They aren't in trouble as others are. They seemingly live a carefree life. They don't have any worries about bills. They aren't scratching their heads trying to figure out how to pay for college or for the next major home repair.

They seemingly experience no stress.

As a result, Asaph says in verse 6, They are full of themselves. They wear pride like it's an accessory, and they use their high place to harm others. He says in verse 6, Pride is their necklace, and violence covers them as a garment. They boast in themselves and beat others down. They've got it made, even though they show no regard for God.

Verse 9 says that their mouths are against heaven. They say in verse 11, How can God know? Is there knowledge with the Most High? I mean, if there is a God, he's either ignorant or impotent. We're doing things our own way for our own benefit with no concern for some God out there.

Look at them, Asaph says in verse 12. Look at what they're doing. Look at what they're saying. Behold, these people are wicked. And yet they are prospering.

They are always at ease. They are increasing in riches. God's supposed to be good to his people, to Israel. But as Asaph looks around, as he looks around as what's around him, as he looks around to the people of Israel, what he sees is Israel floundering and Israel's enemies flourishing.

Who's God really good to?

Is that a question you're tempted to ask when you look out at the world and see people prospering? I mean, the most irreligious people at your job are the ones being promoted over you. Your friends' Instagram stories constantly feature dinner at the most expensive restaurants, trips at the most expensive places, and they haven't stepped a foot in church in years. In fact, they think that you are a fool, a fanatic for your over commitment to Jesus. And you give too much money to the church.

You give too much time. I mean, you go to church twice on Sundays.

Young people, perhaps your role models, the ones you look up to and strive to be like are athletes and entertainers. Because you see the glitz and the glamour of their lives. Now their lyrics and the roles that they play are dismissive of God at best or outright deny God at worst, but they stay fresh. Louie and Gucci, Balenciaga and Prada. Parents, if you don't know any of those labels, it's okay.

Your kids do.

Perhaps you look at their Mercedes and their Maseratis compared to your parents' modest minivan. And you conclude they've got it made.

Can't it seem sometimes like the world is winning? Like the people who don't care about God at all are the ones being rewarded? What happens in your heart when you witness the wicked flourishing? What does it produce? What did it produce in Asaph's heart?

We'll look back up at verse 3. Envy, envy.

Asaph says, I was envious of the arrogant. When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. You know, one of the reasons I love the Scriptures, love the Psalms in particular, is their honesty about the human experience. I mean, yes, the Scriptures are written by men who are divinely inspired. Second Peter chapter 1 verse 21 tells us that men wrote as God the Holy Spirit spoke.

But they didn't do so in a cold, mechanical fashion. I mean, these men aren't religious robots programmed to just auto-repeat statements like verse 1, Truly God is good to Israel. Truly God is good to Israel. No, God uses real people and their real emotions and real experiences to write His Word. Their very word he wanted passed down for generations.

And so yes, verse 1 is true. God is good to Israel. But in Asaph's life, it's also true that my feet almost stumbled because I looked at the wicked prospering and I was envious. I looked at them and I wanted what they have. There's something refreshingly honest in that, isn't it?

To hear the raw testimony of a believer. Yes, we cling to God. Yes, we trust in God, but we never do so perfectly. All of us struggle with sin. And Asaph shows us here how to be transparent.

He lists here one of the sins that none of us really want to reveal. You know, I think we've grown a list of acceptable sins that we're comfortable sharing with others. I mean, even if it's a little embarrassing, it's common to share struggles with pornography. You kind of figure that you're not fighting alone in this. You find it okay to share that you blew up at your kids the other day, that you've been watching too much TV or on your phone too many hours.

You kind of know what to expect. People sympathetic to your struggles because they share the same struggles. People who will offer to pray for you and maybe suggest some actions or some other steps to counter those outward behaviors.

But not many of us are as eager to share what's going on in our hearts. The things that people can't see. Not many of us are willing to share that I'm really having a hard time trusting the Lord's goodness. When I look around and see all my friends getting married and having babies and yet I'm still single. When I see Amazon packages piling up at my unbelieving neighbor's door.

While my bank account stays below the minimum balance. When I see the world able to freely express their sexual desires, able to enjoy sex with who they want, when they want, yet I've got to pin my raging hormones in.

To be honest, on some days, maybe on most days, I wish I could trade places with them.

I wish I could live their lives.

Saints strive to be a church. Where you can be as refreshingly honest with each other as ASAP is here. Be a people who are open with your struggles and share what's in your hearts.

So the next time someone asks, How are things going? Don't think your only option is to give the religious-sounding reply of verse 1, God is good.

And you can share the buts of verses 2 and 3 as well.

But I'm struggling with envy. I'm struggling with bitterness. I'm struggling with contentment. I'm struggling with satisfaction. You can share what's going on in your heart.

Perhaps what's holding you back from sharing that kind of heart struggle is the assumption that people will perceive you as being weak in the faith, as being spiritually immature, But that kind of transparent sharing of heart struggles is actually a mark of maturity. It's a sign that God's very Spirit is at work inside of you. He's convicting you of all kinds of sin that others can't see and bringing it to the surface so that they can join with you in killing that specific sin.

Asaph is open.

Honest, brutally so. He says later in verse 13 that after seeing all the prospering of the wicked, I felt like it was useless to have ever tried to live for the Lord. All in vain, he says, have I kept my heart clean. All in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. What's the use if you can live lavishly without God?

Need an example? Look at the wicked prospering. Look at the unclean thriving.

But as for me, my experience, as one of God's supposed chosen children, my experience is one of being stricken, he says in verse 14.

Tormented, rebuked every morning.

As you read verses 13 and 14, you can almost feel with the psalmist what he describes up in verse 2. His faith slipping away.

But that verse tells us that his faith almost slipped. That he almost stumbled away. The Lord would not let him fall away. Instead, the Lord refocused his reality, which leads us to point number three, a corrected viewpoint. A corrected viewpoint.

In verses 15 through 20, the Lord steps in and shifts Asaph's perspective. At first he shifts Asaph's perspective from having a pity party for himself to prioritizing the well-being of others.

Look at verse 15. He says, if I had said, 'I will speak thus,' I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

Verses 13 and 14 had been the raw reflections of a man wondering if it was worth living for God. If the only reward was suffering. But in verse 15, Asaph communicates that he did not share those thoughts out loud at the moment he was thinking them. Why? Because they might have undermined the faith of others.

So we see something of a tension here, right? Yes, be transparent about struggles in the heart. There's great value in speaking, in sharing, but there's also great value sometimes in silence.

Sometimes sharing what's going on in your heart might harm others' faith, especially if they're less mature believers. Remember, Asaph is a leader of God's people, which he acknowledges places him on a greater responsibility, gives him a greater responsibility to to watch over what he says in an attempt to watch over God's people.

Saints, I think we see a principle here. That the more spiritually mature you are, the more willing you should be to muzzle your lips for the sake of others.

The more spiritually mature you are, the more willing you should be to muzzle your lips for the sake of others.

And how do you know when to do what? We need to pray, the Lord would give us wisdom. But also maybe a litmus test of when to speak and when to be silent is if my speaking is motivated primarily by me needing to get something off my chest, leading to vents, to let other folks know how I feel so that I can feel better. The focus shouldn't be solely on ourselves, but on our brothers and sisters, on how they might perceive our words, on whether our words would build up their faith or belittle it, or break it down completely. So saints, how often do your brothers and sisters hear at Capitol Hill Baptist Church that you've covenanted with, how often do they cross your mind before you tweet?

Before you post on Facebook? Before you engage in an internet debate? Before you openly share your viewpoint in a discussion? There can be a thin line between your being real and you're being reckless. Be willing to count others as more significant than yourselves in this area.

God lifts Asaph's eyes off how he's experiencing the situation of the wicked prospering and onto how he might help God's people process the situation. But the Lord also changes Asaph's perception of the wicked's experience. In verse 16, Asaph admits that he was still having a hard time understanding how it was that the wicked could be living a better life than God's people. Until, he says in verse 17, I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I discerned their end.

What is it that ultimately changed the psalmist's perspective? When it was a trip to the sanctuary of God, to the temple. It was attending corporate worship that altered his thinking. There he would have seen the faces of fellow Israelites going through similar pains, but singing songs of hope in God. There he would have heard the Scriptures read and taught, reminding God's people of His promises to them.

There he would have seen the altar and all the sacrifices on the altar reminding him of God's forgiveness of sin and thus assuring him that whatever he was going through now was not the worst thing he could possibly experience. I mean the lambs there on the altar were taking his place. They were suffering the death and the kind of suffering that he was supposed to suffer. They were pointing forward to another lamb that would suffer to take away the sins of the world. There, Asaph would have, as it were, seen God.

Had his sights set on God. And thus had his eyes reoriented to see the wicked through God's perspective.

Family, don't underestimate the impact of gathering with God's people to worship God. Many of us get beat down Monday through Saturday at our jobs and in our homes. Many of us come Sundays discouraged by our lack and others' lavishness, by our suffering and others' successes. We come sometimes jaded, our hearts heavily being influenced by the world's standards, and we need a reset. A paradigm shift that the psalmist here experiences in the sanctuary.

So brothers and sisters regularly come to church every Sunday. Come expecting transformation. Expecting God to wipe the fog off your heart, distorting your view of the world, and to give you eyes to more clearly see things his way.

God transformed Asaph's view. And when he did, he was able to see not just the wicked's present prospering, but their future punishment. He discerned their end. Namely, he says in verse 18, that you set them in slippery places. You make them fall to ruin.

It's interesting, Asaph employs some of the same language he used up in verse 2. His foot almost slipped, but God kept him. But with the wicked, God intentionally put them in slippery places, where Asaph's steps almost stumbled. With the wicked, God makes them to fall in ruin.

And how does he do it? By giving them what they want. The prosperous life, the life filled with good health and fortune and riches, the life that Asaph envied was actually a sign of God's judgment. We read in places like Romans 1 that God's judgment is not always exhibited in a hell and brimstone kind of way. It's often God giving you over to what you really desire.

Giving you over to your gods.

And what are the gods that societies throughout history have worshiped? The gods of comfort, gods of ease, the god of money. But Jesus says in Matthew 7:13 that the wide way, the easy gate, leads to destruction. Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:9 that those who desire to be rich Fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmless desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. The same ruin and destruction that Asaph here notes the wicked falling into.

God gives Asaph and us a full view of what will happen to the wicked. Yes, they may have stuff now, may enjoy ease and success now, but they will be ruined.

Are you so sure you want what they have?

How ill-informed, short-sighted it is then to be envious of them. Are you jealous to receive their judgments?

The reality is that the psalmist should receive it. We all should. Because like him we've all clamored after stuff. We've all treated God like our personal vending machine, thinking that if we put in enough good works, are faithful enough, that he would just spit out some tangible blessing to satisfy us. We all act as if what we deserve is only good from God all the time, when in fact what we deserve from God is only bad from him all the time.

For our sin, for only wanting a relationship with God insofar as it materially benefits us. And when the well runs dry, when the bank account is low, when the house is empty, when this bed doesn't have someone next to it, we pout. We complain. We're tempted to walk away asking, what have you done for me lately? We all deserve to be ruined, destroyed.

The only thing that set Asaph apart from the wicked that he envied was God's grace. God chose Israel to be his covenant people and to walk faithfully before him. But Asaph's attitude in this psalm shows that Israel was an unfaithful covenant partner. They rebelled against God at the first sign of hardship. I mean, remember the Rocky Road from Egypt, or the report the spies brought back from Canaan.

But God would provide another covenant partner who was faithful. He sent his son, Jesus Christ, who really was righteous, who actually was 100% pure in heart. And yet he too was stricken and rebuked. While those around him prospered. Yet Jesus never questioned whether his holy life was lived in vain, because he lived not to receive material rewards, he lived as an act of obedient worship to his heavenly Father.

And yet he lived that perfect life and he laid it down as an act of sacrificial love for us. Jesus died as an act of worship to God. He died to sacrifice his life to save sinners like us. He died for our sins of envy and discontentment, of grumbling and complaining. He died for all the sins of all those who would turn from their sins and put their trust in him so that we would not experience the wrath and the judgment that verses 18 through 20 describe.

But Jesus did not stay dead. He rose up from the grave. And he now calls all people everywhere to turn from their sins, to repent and put their trust in him alone for salvation. If you've never done that, that's the most important thing you can take away today. Turn from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.

If you want to know what that looks like in your life, talk to someone around you. Come find one of the pastors at the door. Come find me, we'd be happy to tell you how to find salvation in Christ alone. Since this promise of life to come, this perspective of eternity and what awaits both the righteous and the wicked, transforms our view of now. It transforms our view of God.

It transforms us. Which leads to the fourth and final scene where we find a contented Point number four, a contented man. Having had his view on life corrected, Asaph comes to realize just how off it was, how wrong he was. He says in verse 22, I was brutish and ignorant. I was like a beast before you.

I treated you like a stray dog, treats a homeowner. I only wanted to come around you if you had something to give me. Had no real desire for you. No real relational connection. Verse 23, Nevertheless, that's a great word, isn't it?

Nevertheless, even as wicked and as sinfully as I acted, I am continually with you. Not because of my effort, not because of my determination to have you, but because of your determination to have me. You hold my hand and you would not let me go.

God is gracious, isn't he? Abundantly patient with us, passionately committed to us. You guide me, Asaph continues. And afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. You wonder if this is the same man, don't you? Me, earlier in the psalm, he connected God's goodness to God's gifts. And he began to question the former because he lacked the latter.

But now there's been a change, but not in circumstance.

Every indication is that Asaph and Israel are still miserable, still stricken and rebuked, still being tormented daily by the sight of their enemies doing well. There's no change in circumstances. But there has been a change in the posture of his heart. This man has been changed. No longer is he clamoring for God's gifts.

He simply wants God. God is worth more than all the delicacies and all the delights and all the treasures of this world combined. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing, not a thing, not Jordans, not homes, not cars, not relationships, nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

God is enough for him. Enough to satisfy him.

Is God enough for you?

Or do you need more than God?

What is it that you've elevated above God as an absolute necessity? What is it that the recesses of your heart long for that others have but you want? That you feel like you can't live without and can't be happy without?

Friends, God is enough. He has saved us. He has set His covenant love on us and brought us near to Him where we will be forever. I mean, the best that the godless can have is the riches of today. But then they and their riches will come to an end while we who put our trust in Christ will enjoy eternal good in His presence.

All the gold and the treasures that we once so highly valued that we're once so sought after here, all those gold and treasures will become nothing more than the pavement that we pound in heaven in the presence of our true joy, Jesus Christ.

Saints, live the rest of today, the rest of this week, looking not to what's around you, but what's ahead.

Glory. Glory. Encourage one another today. Encourage one another this week. Not by looking at life's circumstances now, not by pointing to what's around us.

Encourage one another by pointing to what's ahead. Glory.

And let that ground us and fill us with joy even as we experience sorrows now.

Who do we have in heaven? Jesus. And he will eternally satisfy his people. Let's pray.

Lord, instruct our hearts. Help us to believe what we just read. Help us to have hope and joy not in the things and trinkets of this world, but in your son, Jesus Christ. Remove the fog from our eyes, seeing life wrongly, and give us new eyes of faith to see things clearly through your perspective. Help us to love and treasure Jesus above everything else.

We pray this in his name, amen.