Sermon Text:

When my kids were younger, we loved to go camping. My favorite part was the campfire. The key to starting a good fire is to arrange the logs so they trap the heat. If you don’t do that, the flames might start strong but will fizzle out fast. But if the logs are supporting each other, they will share the heat and begin to feed off each other. Keep them together and soon the logs will be glowing red where they face each other, but if you separate them, they stop glowing, the flame dies, and they begin to cool.

That is a lot like how we function spiritually. God uses each of us to strengthen and encourage one another. He transforms us when we are in community in ways that simply do not happen when we are on our own. That is why one of the main tactics of the devil is to isolate believers and separate them from each other. He knows if he can cause division and separation we will grow colder and weaker.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8,

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

We have all seen those documentaries of lions hunting. When we see that one gazelle off all by itself, we know what’s coming. God uses the community and fellowship of believers, which the Bible calls the church, to encourage us, to protect us, and to keep us safe. Our main passage today is psalm 73 and the main idea I want us to see is that

God gives us the fellowship of the church to strengthen and protect us.

Our gathering and worshiping together is not just something we do but is something God is doing in us. I have been told many times by people that they don’t “have” to go to church to be saved. Well, in one sense that is true. Our salvation isn’t about anything we do, it is about what Jesus Christ has done. But since it is God who saves us, we would expect those who are being saved to look like what God says it looks like when he is working in someone. That includes a growing love for his people, through whom he strengthens those he is saving. If we are all following Jesus, it is inevitable that we will find ourselves walking together as he leads the way.

And that’s a good thing, because on our own we tend to wander off but together we help keep each other from getting lost. God gives us the fellowship of the church to strengthen and protect us.

We begin at verse 1,

1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

This psalm was written by a man named Asaph. Asaph knew the basic truths revealed in the Bible. He had gold stars on his Sunday School quizzes. He knew that God was good and loved his people. He had heard the Bible stories of how God rescued his people, protected them, and blessed them. He understood that God was good to those who were faithful.

That’s what it meant here by having a pure heart. Not that they were perfect, but that they desired to serve God and were trusting in his promises. Asaph had been taught all these things, but even though he knew these things, there was a time when he struggled in his faith.  

He had heard about all the marvelous things God had done for Abraham, Moses, and David, but there was a time he couldn’t see the goodness of God in his own life. He was nearly lost because his faith and trust in God were shaken and he tells us why in verse 3,

3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

He saw that many who rejected God were prospering while he was suffering. If God is good, why would his children struggle and suffer while those who hate him seem to have lives of comfort and wealth? Asaph says, I came to the place where I was tempted to think that what they had was better than what I had. Was it worth it to follow God? Was what he offers truly better?

Have you ever been there? Brothers and sisters, one of the things I love about the Bible is how honest and real it is about how the world really is. I have read many of the other so-called religious books and none of them come close to dealing with the raw truth of living in a sin infected world the way the Bible does. The Bible does not shy away from the suffering and difficulty in the world. It never pretends that things are going to be easy for those who choose Christ over the world.

By far, the most persecuted group in the world are believers in Jesus. Estimates vary, but somewhere between 10,000 and 50,000 believers are killed because of their faith every year. The number who are jailed, beaten, or harassed is incalculable. Even when not facing persecution faith is no guarantee of an easy life. Around 2/3rds of those who identify as followers of Jesus live in dangerous and poor areas.

Following Jesus is not a pathway to health, wealth, and comfort in this age. You should get away from any teacher or preacher who tells you it is. Jesus doesn’t promise us prosperity in this world, in fact he tells us that the opposite is usually going to be the case. In John 15:18–20 Jesus says,

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you…

God’s people should not have any expectation that they will prosper while in the world. Asaph sees that God’s people were troubled while many who opposed God seemed to be doing very well. He says of the wicked,

4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. 5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. 7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. 8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. 9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. 

They have no fear of God, they openly boast of their sin and yet their stomachs are full, they live lives of leisure and at ease. He says, just as the foolishness of their hearts swell and spill over, so too do their bodies. They seem to lack nothing, they scoff and laugh at God’s warnings of judgment. They live as if there is no God. Power and money is their king and they do whatever they want and are not ashamed of it.

David describes them this way in Psalm 36:1–4 where he says,

1 Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. 2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. 3 The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. 4 He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.

Asaph was discouraged to see the violent, wicked, and arrogant living at ease while the faithful struggled. He saw this was a challenge for many of his fellow Israelites. He says,

10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. 11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” 12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. 13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.

Many are quickly rattled and begin to doubt when they must suffer while others prosper. He says God’s people “Therefore … turn back to them, and find no fault in them”. What he is saying is that what is evil begins to not be seen as what it really is anymore. The holiness and justice of God is forgotten, and God’s people begin to adopt the values and standards of the world. Professing believers begin to compromise on God's truth and justify what he has clearly forbidden. After all, they say, God wants us to be happy doesn’t he?

They begin to think and live as if the things of the world are more satisfying than God. That they profess to love God and seek satisfaction in the things of the world. They act as if God is not paying attention, that he will not hold the wicked accountable. The very patience and grace that God shows so that sinful people have a chance to be saved is thrown back in his face as an excuse for them to sin even more. God is loving and forgiving so why take the narrow road? Why not pursue the entertainment, the money, the comfort the world offers since God doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it anyhow. But Asaph says,

15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

He is thankful that he never came that far. He almost slipped, but he did not fall. To embrace such thoughts would have been a betrayal of God and all those who have trusted in God’s promise and persevered in their faith. We often only think of our sin in terms of our relationship with God, and that is the primary sense of it, but our sin effects those around us.

God brings us together to help one another on this journey through a fallen world but when we sin, we end up being a hinderance and discouragement to others. One of the common things we deal with as pastors is “church hurt”. People carry the burden of bad experiences with other pastors or Christians that make it more difficult for them to embrace the fellowship of the church. Unfortunately, those things sometimes happen, but don’t ever let someone else’s sin to keep you from Jesus. Trust me, your own sin is more than enough to deal with.

I might think if I stop taking care of my lawn it’s my business, but if I do, my neighbors will have to work even harder to keep the weeds out of their yard. Had Asaph followed this thinking to its end, he would have denied God’s continued faithfulness to his people and become a stumbling block to others.

The devil tirelessly spreads lies about God and loves to showcase those who have fallen to dishearten us. Although the countless individuals who receive spiritual and physical support from churches rarely make headlines, you can be sure if a leader is faltering or abandoning their faith you will hear about it.

Asaph knew God was good, he recognized this was a difficult question and he was trying to make sense of it all and in verse 16, he says

 16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, 17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

Asaph wore himself out trying to figure out why God chooses to do all that he does. We cannot trace the hand of God. You can’t figure him out like some kind of puzzle. God is not an object that we can examine under a microscope as if we can crack the code of his providence. He is sovereign and his ways are higher than our ways. We do not sit above God and evaluate, we are called to humble ourselves before his majesty and worship.

Asaph’s troubled mind was not healed until he came to God as a worshiper. It never says that all his questions were answered, but it is when he comes into the place of worship among God’s people that he finds peace. He is comforted and strengthened when he finally comes to the place where the truth is proclaimed, where offerings of faith are made, and where God’s name is lifted in praise.

What helps Asaph is encountering the glory, the goodness, and the holiness of God. It is good to have questions, but when we get a glimpse of the glory of God, we, like Job and Isaiah, and so many others will not debate. We will put our hand over our mouth, bow down, and worship. If we can speak at all, it will be to proclaim holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!, the whole of heaven and earth is filled with his glory!

The only way we can receive the wisdom and peace of God is to come to him as a worshiper. You see, when we read these passages about the righteous and wicked our tendency is always to put ourselves into the wrong place in the story. We like to think that we are the righteous ones but we must remember that every one of us is born a sinner.

That means that we lived to serve ourselves rather than God. We may have gone through the motions of doing good but if we did, it was ultimately to ourselves and not God. Every one of us naturally looks to enjoy the blessings God offers without enjoying Him. We want the world on our own terms. When we do that, however, we add to the pain and suffering in the world.

We are all spiritual vandals who ignored God’s laws and damage His good creation for our own enjoyment. As a result, God will call us to account and every one of us is guilty. The penalty for those crimes is death and eternity in hell. Our flesh tempts us to think that such a sentence is extreme, but the penalty is deserved because we haven’t simply made mistakes. We have rejected our creator and his good laws. We have all done this.

We have all given the love and devotion that only God should receive to something or someone else. We have all used the Lord’s name flippantly and failed to honor your parents. We have all lusted or taken something that didn’t belong to us, said something that wasn’t true, or been jealous of what someone else has. I have done all these things and so have you.

These are just a few of the things we are guilty of. When we stand before the Lord and the indictments are read, none of us can say we are innocent. We are guilty not only of a violation of a law, but of a persistent pursuit of lawlessness, a rejection of God himself.

However, in an act of amazing grace and Love, the Father sent Jesus to be our substitute. He lived a perfect life under the law, without sin. Then He paid the penalty for the sins of all those who would ever put their faith in him. He was tortured and crucified upon a cross for all who would believe. He took upon Himself the wrath of God’s justice on sin. The price that we should have paid was paid by God himself in the person of Jesus.

Jesus died so that we could live. He came down from heaven to the grave so that we could be lifted from the grave to heaven. Then after being in the tomb for three days, Jesus rose again and returned to heaven where he is our advocate before God. His resurrection proves that the price has been paid in full. Friends, if you put your faith in Jesus, your sins are forgiven and you do stand righteous before God, not with a righteousness you earned, but with the perfect sinlessness of Jesus Christ.

Jesus achieved that payment through suffering in this world to secure our blessing in the next world. Now, we are called to follow Jesus, and that means we too will suffer in this world, but this world is passing away and when Jesus returns we will be raised to glory with him!

All this is only to the praise of the glory of his grace. It is therefore only as one who comes humbly as a worshiper. As one giving thanks for the gift of righteousness that God alone can provide. When Asaph comes and hears the word proclaimed. When he sees the people of God celebrating the goodness of God, giving praises for God’s unfailing faithfulness to keep his promises throughout history, and their confidence in him to keep his promises in the future. That is when he comes to understand. God is good. The wicked will not prevail.

Our troubles may be lasting, but they will not be everlasting because God is for us. When I think of the beauty of this sinful world and the delights to be found here I cannot imagine what it will be like to enjoy a perfect world in perfect fellowship with God when he returns. That is why in Romans 8:18 the apostle Paul says,

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

To try and make judgments about God’s justice by the brief history of this world is like trying to evaluate a football game after 1 play. God has a plan and if we are his, we will not be disappointed. None of us would have seen the wisdom of God in the suffering of his son and yet it was this that brought salvation to the nations. So, we must not presume to judge what God is doing through the suffering of his church.

I am often asked where God is when awful things happen. The answer is that he is in heaven, lovingly extending grace that some may be saved and storing up wrath for those who refuse his grace. Asaph realizes that God will punish the wicked. He says,

18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

The seeming prosperity of the wicked will collapse in a moment. It will be gone like a dream that vanishes when we wake up. The arrogant and the proud will come to nothing and the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. The success of the worldly is like a house of cards that will come tumbling down when Christ returns.

In 2015, Time magazine named Elizabeth Holmes one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She was hailed as the next Steve Jobs. She was on the cover of major magazines, her company, Theranos, was valued at billions of dollars, and she was praised as a revolutionary in the world of healthcare. She was the picture of what the world envies: young, attractive, incredibly wealthy, and at the helm of an empire poised to change the world.

But beneath the surface, everything wasn’t as it seemed. The truth is that the company’s technology was a fraud. Patients were misled, investors were deceived, and the empire she built crumbled. The company went bankrupt and in 2022 she was sent to prison. What looked like unimaginable success and prosperity from the outside turned out to be empty, built on lies, and destined for destruction.

That is the way it will be for all who build their lives on the shifting sands of selfishness and worldly wisdom. It eventually crumbles. Don’t be jealous when you see people stepping on others to get to the top because that ladder leads to a gallows. Don’t be jealous when you see evil people prosper. Their time is short.

Trust instead in God’s word and wait upon the Lord. When Asaph joins his brothers and sisters in the sanctuary, he is reminded of God’s truth. He is comforted and encouraged by the faith of others, and he finds peace. He says,

21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, 22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. 23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 

He comes to see what we all must come to see. God does not owe us anything and God has done us no wrong. No person ever receives injustice from God. Some will receive justice and those who repent and believe will find grace, but God is not in debt to any of us. Asaph comes to find satisfaction in God himself. He has peace with a God who loves him and is working to bring him to glory. He has been rescued from sin and judgment and shown grace. Nobody who puts their trust in God ultimately loses.

Brothers and sisters, if you have not yet come to that place, I pray God will open your eyes today. The treasures God gives to his people are far better than anything the world can give. All the delights of this world will pass away,

9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

We will be with him without sin and we cannot even comprehend what that will mean. Though we may suffer now, we already have the amazing blessing of knowing and being known by Jesus. When Asaph comes to the sanctuary where he hears the word, enjoys the fellowship of other believers, and is lifted by prayer, he is transformed and placed solidly back on the path. He concludes by saying,

28 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.

In the good news and grace of the truth of God and in the fellowship of his people Asaph receives a peace that goes beyond understanding and the outcome is that his heart is so filled with love and confidence in God that he is burdened no longer with doubt, but with a desire for others to know God. How about us? Have we found so much satisfaction in Jesus that we are filled with a desire to share it with others?

We do not pretend to be people that do not have challenges or difficulties. We aren’t like those people you meet who wear a phony smile and chipper disposition no matter what. No, but we are a people who have something far more important than money or power or worldly pleasure. We are a people who have joy even in suffering and want because we are a people whom God loved and purchased with the precious blood of his own son. We don’t serve God because of what we get out of it but because He is worthy of our worship and service regardless of what He allows to come to our lives.

If you are struggling and feel as though your foot is about to slip. Don’t withdraw, don’t isolate yourself. Come instead into the sanctuary and be strengthened by the proclamation of the word, the prayers, and the fellowship to be found among the people of God as they worship. I would like to finish this morning by asking you to consider carefully the encouragement the apostle Peter gives in 1 Peter 1:6–9.

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.