back to index2019-8-11 The Reality
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If you would take a moment to turn to your apps or your bulletins for some of our announcements. 00:00:15.800 |
The first is that we have a special baptism service scheduled for September 29th, Sunday, 00:00:25.040 |
Please just mark that on your calendars because it's an important time for our church members 00:00:29.400 |
to come together, hear and listen to the testimony of those brothers and sisters who are professing 00:00:37.340 |
But also, if you would like to get baptized, please email Pastor Nathan Kwok over at the 00:00:47.300 |
Another thing I'd like to highlight is that for all the parents in our church who have 00:00:51.920 |
their children in our education department, there's going to be a meeting on August 18th 00:00:58.520 |
So please make sure you mark your calendars for that. 00:01:03.080 |
There's also intentional moms fellowship sign up for the ladies to come together and fellowship. 00:01:09.160 |
It happens Friday mornings, 9.30 to 11.30 a.m. 00:01:12.880 |
So if you'd like to participate, please go ahead and go to the teen URL link and you 00:01:20.080 |
The last announcement is that we have an all-church picnic scheduled for October 20th. 00:01:27.920 |
We're going to start sign-ups a little bit later on, but we just want you guys to make 00:01:33.940 |
We don't have too many events through the year where the whole church can come together. 00:01:38.780 |
We want our church, even though we're growing in size or whatever it may be, to be able 00:01:43.120 |
to join together and be in fellowship with each other and to know who are also part of 00:01:48.600 |
So please make sure you save that date and the registration is going to be coming soon. 00:01:52.560 |
Well, as you guys know, this weekend we have most of our couples and family members over 00:02:01.140 |
So we want to just keep them in prayer that that's a spiritually just fruitful time, both 00:02:06.080 |
fellowship but more so in learning, focusing on what does it mean to be a family that's 00:02:12.560 |
So let's continue to pray for them as they're still over there at that retreat. 00:02:18.120 |
Okay, please take your Bibles and turn to Psalm chapter 73. 00:02:24.840 |
Now it's 28 verses and we're going to read it together and we'll walk down this passage 00:02:31.520 |
and then take a moment to pray for God's blessing on our time and the Word. 00:02:46.120 |
"Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 00:02:51.360 |
But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped. 00:02:56.360 |
For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 00:03:01.080 |
For there are no pains in their death and their body is fat. 00:03:04.640 |
They're not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind. 00:03:08.640 |
Therefore pride is their necklace, the garment of violence covers them. 00:03:11.520 |
Their eyes bulge from fatness, the imaginations of their heart run riot. 00:03:20.080 |
They have set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue parades through the earth. 00:03:38.000 |
And always at ease, they have increased in wealth. 00:03:40.480 |
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. 00:03:46.400 |
For I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning. 00:03:50.600 |
If I had said, 'I will speak thus,' behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your 00:03:55.880 |
Then I pondered to understand this, and it was troublesome in my sight. 00:04:13.760 |
They are utterly swept away by the sudden terrors. 00:04:16.880 |
Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused you will despise their form. 00:04:22.920 |
When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant. 00:04:35.600 |
With your counsel you will guide me and afterward receive me to glory. 00:04:45.360 |
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 00:04:50.640 |
For behold, those who are far from you will perish. 00:04:53.780 |
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. 00:04:56.880 |
But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. 00:04:59.880 |
I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of your works. 00:05:07.760 |
God, we ask for your spiritual blessing that as we jump into your word, as we listen, Lord, 00:05:14.800 |
that your spirit will grant to us open ears, humble hearts, receptiveness. 00:05:20.600 |
And also, Father, God, help us to have spiritual eyes to see, is there any wickedness, any 00:05:32.680 |
God, that you would uproot those things and cause us to be filled with the wonder of your 00:05:42.600 |
Okay, jumping right into the passage, you notice that in Psalm 73 for Asaph, there is 00:05:51.760 |
So in verses one through three, Asaph describes in a nice introduction a dilemma that he sees. 00:06:03.920 |
This he knows as a principle of truth to those who are pure in heart. 00:06:09.280 |
But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped, and I was envious 00:06:15.800 |
of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked." 00:06:22.640 |
He's talking about actually a really common dilemma for a lot of people. 00:06:30.520 |
You go on Facebook, you go on social media, you watch TV shows, maybe reality TV shows, 00:06:36.680 |
you watch certain movies, and you see glamorous living. 00:06:41.600 |
You see prosperous, free living where people are doing all kinds of things. 00:06:51.260 |
People who are able to go out to the remotest part of the jungle and count there. 00:06:55.240 |
People who are able to go see different cultures. 00:06:57.280 |
People who are able to go out and do all kinds of stuff. 00:07:04.920 |
All of a sudden, there's this weird tingling feeling in you that says, "That's so awesome." 00:07:10.160 |
And then you look down and you go, "My life sucks." 00:07:13.960 |
There is this immediate comparison that happens between what you see on TV, what you see on 00:07:18.600 |
social media, and your quick evaluation of yourself. 00:07:28.480 |
Asaph immediately introduces us to a stumbling, to a dilemma, to a problem, and he says, "I 00:07:44.720 |
If I were to be very honest with you, I'm a pastor that's dedicated my life to the Lord's 00:07:50.520 |
work, to the Lord's people, to the Lord's church and His mission field. 00:08:01.480 |
Just the other day, I was talking to my wife saying, "Dude, I saw this one episode with 00:08:06.240 |
He was a professional in the working workforce. 00:08:09.400 |
He was an engineer for a long time, and he just decided, 'You know what? 00:08:13.560 |
I'm going to take my family and go live out into one of these open land where there aren't 00:08:23.640 |
He has an axe that he chops his wood with, and it's so manly, and I'm just like, 'Wow.'" 00:08:29.240 |
And immediately, my wife looks over and goes, "But you can't be a pastor like that." 00:08:35.640 |
But anytime you see a certain kind of living where there's freedom, where there's luxury, 00:08:41.240 |
does that not elicit some kind of wishful thinking, kind of fantasy land? 00:08:46.400 |
Now, again, I'm not saying immediately that's all wicked, but notice how that quickly turns 00:08:52.160 |
into something for Asaph, and you know what that turns into? 00:08:59.480 |
And biblically, that kind of sourness of heart is called bitterness. 00:09:03.520 |
And what that bitterness does is it begins to judge. 00:09:11.600 |
And now in his eyes, all those people out there, those guys, they're wicked people. 00:09:21.440 |
What we have is a heart's desire turning into a position of authority and judging the world. 00:09:36.040 |
Where you have any kind of envy and desire, and when you compare and you compare and contrast 00:09:41.360 |
their life versus your life, all of a sudden, you are tempted to have not just simply a 00:09:46.360 |
kind of jealousy, but a kind of embitterment, a kind of discontent, depression? 00:09:55.040 |
And there is a conclusion typically at the end of that paragraph. 00:10:05.480 |
So many people talk like that in our generation. 00:10:13.560 |
And should I even continue trying to walk this noble path when all of those individuals 00:10:19.200 |
with their freedoms and liberties, they're just living it up? 00:10:26.560 |
That is a very, very honest and real struggle that I think a lot of people have in our day. 00:10:39.680 |
And so, I want to talk about this a little bit more in this dilemma. 00:10:44.120 |
Deep down here, there are a couple of things that is a dilemma for Asaph. 00:10:51.320 |
You see, Asaph wouldn't have a struggle if he wasn't taught biblically. 00:10:59.880 |
For all of you here, you're here because you know God is good. 00:11:04.560 |
If you believe God was a horrible, horrible, harsh being, you wouldn't be in these seats 00:11:09.280 |
because then you would have to listen to a person you can't trust. 00:11:16.160 |
Asaph knew from when he was a child, he was taught, he knows deep down in his heart, God 00:11:29.640 |
What the problem is, that completely contrasts and conflicts with what he sees with his eyes. 00:11:35.880 |
He says, "Oh, on the contrary, I see this conflict. 00:11:44.920 |
Those people who are vile, always selling themselves, always marketing themselves. 00:12:00.600 |
How is it that these individuals are being blessed by God when I know God is good? 00:12:07.280 |
Brothers and sisters, this may not seem like the biggest problem in the world. 00:12:15.880 |
This is at the core of the struggle of faith. 00:12:19.080 |
Will you judge with your eyes on what you see? 00:12:22.480 |
Or will you judge by faith, by what God has told you? 00:12:27.040 |
What Asaph sees with his eyes is just all kinds of backwardness where wicked people 00:12:33.680 |
They have possessions, luxuries, and pleasures. 00:12:36.880 |
And then immediately he looks at himself and is like, "The nation of Israel, me and people 00:12:51.800 |
Do you currently operate by sight and you judge what's fair and what's not fair based 00:13:01.000 |
Or are you judging things based on what God has told you, his word? 00:13:06.400 |
What he said he's going to do into the future that you have not yet seen? 00:13:22.480 |
Let's continue to look at our passage in Psalm 73 verses 4 through 12. 00:13:27.400 |
The next section I'm going to call this, the fat cats. 00:13:41.800 |
They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind. 00:13:58.040 |
They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongues parades through the earth. 00:14:02.480 |
For as people return to this place when waters of abundance are drunk by them, they say, 00:14:16.760 |
I'm going to break down what he saw into three categories. 00:14:22.760 |
First, that he just saw like, "They have so much." 00:14:30.040 |
When a little boy looks at his friend and his friend has twice the number of toys, candy, 00:14:35.240 |
whatever it may be, immediately he's like, "That's not fair." 00:14:52.920 |
Their flesh is coming out the different sides of their body, right? 00:14:59.200 |
Again, remember like for a long, long period of time, throughout history, people lived 00:15:05.160 |
in a kind of lifestyle where they had provision for the day. 00:15:09.440 |
You guys have probably heard that most of the people throughout all of history didn't 00:15:12.520 |
have, you know, shoes for running, shoes for tennis, shoes for basketball, and shoes for 00:15:18.680 |
They had one pair of shoes, one cloak, one whatever it may be. 00:15:23.560 |
And he's looking at them like, "Look at how much they have." 00:15:30.680 |
My question to you real quickly, have you seen people with museums of possessions and 00:15:37.840 |
Recently, I confess, sometimes I watch these silly YouTube videos. 00:15:43.560 |
One of the silly ones that I saw was Celine Dion was on car karaoke with the talk show 00:15:55.560 |
He has a celebrity who's an amazing singer, and he just starts singing karaoke in the 00:16:01.640 |
Crazy figure, one of the most well-known singers in the world, right? 00:16:13.000 |
She has to have a separate building to house her shoes. 00:16:18.560 |
They've created some kind of mechanical structure to produce where they could have a screen. 00:16:24.560 |
She looks up certain shoes, and it comes to her. 00:16:29.400 |
What happened was that the talk show host brought some of her shoes and said, "You have 00:16:37.960 |
She rolled down the window like, "Hey," and everyone was like, "Oh my God, it's Celine 00:16:40.920 |
Dion," and then she would pass out her shoes. 00:16:52.960 |
Now, why do I bring up that silly scenario is because I'm willing to bet that when you 00:17:01.080 |
hear something like that, half of you says, "That's ridiculous." 00:17:04.000 |
The other half of you says, "That'd be kind of cool," right? 00:17:08.240 |
Because I know some of you have shoe collections. 00:17:11.320 |
Part of you thinks it would be nice to have a machine that comes around when you pick 00:17:14.280 |
the shoe and it matches your outfit and just comes to you. 00:17:32.840 |
Does he have a separate building for those cars? 00:17:39.200 |
Not because I'm trying to just simply talk about these famous actors, famous talk show 00:17:44.040 |
hosts and singers, but because those videos have millions of hits. 00:17:49.120 |
Because Jay Leno has his own channel just on going, walking around his cars. 00:18:08.520 |
Now, you might be sitting there like, I'm going to be honest, man. 00:18:15.160 |
I literally have like six pairs of clothes, like outfits in my closet, and I'm good. 00:18:23.120 |
But I'm willing to bet many of us are tempted by the next thing, which is the wicked are 00:18:38.060 |
Because when nations run riot, look at what he's talking about. 00:18:45.640 |
How many of you would die for at least a month with no stress? 00:18:53.920 |
A vast array of counseling scenarios happen because there's so much stress in your workplace, 00:19:00.120 |
The expectations of your family, the expectations of the people around you, the expectations 00:19:04.160 |
of people who are dependent on you is so burdensome. 00:19:09.220 |
But the rich, the wicked, they're at so much ease. 00:19:13.560 |
They have no pain, no troubles, no burden, no sickness. 00:19:24.620 |
It's like, "You know, one day I wish that guy, he needs to suffer a little bit." 00:19:29.220 |
Not that I would wish ill upon their soul, but he needs to suffer a little bit because 00:19:32.740 |
man, that fool does not understand what it means to live in this world. 00:19:40.260 |
Some of us are tempted by this and I'd be willing to bet that now in our day, you know, 00:19:45.900 |
having huge mansions, all that stuff is overrated. 00:19:50.140 |
But some of us would love to have the kind of freedom where we don't have to be burdened 00:20:19.480 |
There are times when all I'm doing is just watching, even if I'm watching like Christian 00:20:23.540 |
videos, I get advertisements where this guy, he's like really, really well put together, 00:20:28.380 |
incredibly articulated, and he's telling me what to do. 00:20:31.620 |
In order to be a man, you got to build your own brand." 00:20:39.020 |
You got to build up your skills and you got to sell your..." 00:20:43.460 |
And people pay thousands to learn from this guy as their coach. 00:20:56.500 |
And Asaph is looking at this thinking, "What in the world is going on? 00:21:04.340 |
How is God, who I know is good, not allowing us to prosper, but he's giving these wicked 00:21:20.620 |
You can tell his heart is leaning towards bitterness because he's starting to judge 00:21:25.740 |
He is starting to judge that this isn't right. 00:21:28.740 |
He is starting to judge that this isn't good. 00:21:35.100 |
Perhaps you haven't verbalized it with words, articulated it in that way, but you've felt 00:21:39.740 |
that frustration where you deem something, "This ain't right. 00:21:46.700 |
Or you just use the kind of more, you know, elementary lingo. 00:21:56.300 |
Perhaps in even more intimate settings, husbands and wives, if there's bitterness between a 00:22:02.380 |
husband and wife, where a spouse feels like their significant other is getting away with 00:22:07.500 |
all kinds of arrogance and selfishness, right? 00:22:12.420 |
Do married people ever point the finger like, "Oh my goodness, you are so prideful and you're 00:22:25.340 |
Do those sentiments exist in even intimate, private settings? 00:22:33.700 |
Well, the temptation and the stumbling is this, okay? 00:22:38.460 |
Verse 13 through 16, let's turn our eyes to the passage and read. 00:22:42.300 |
Asaph says this, he's so open and vulnerable, and he says, "Surely, surely, in vain I have 00:22:50.580 |
kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. 00:22:54.700 |
I've been stricken all day long and chastened every morning. 00:22:58.740 |
If I said I will speak thus, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. 00:23:03.420 |
When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight." 00:23:16.420 |
I'm going to call this next section, verse 13 through 16, the depressed comparison. 00:23:21.900 |
What he says is, "First, when I look at my life compared to their lives, I have done 00:23:26.860 |
all kinds of goodness, righteousness, come to church, been a noble person, made sure 00:23:39.340 |
But when you think like that, the temptation is, then forget it. 00:24:04.140 |
And he says, "If I spoke what was in my mind," oh man, you better plug your children's ears. 00:24:09.580 |
Like that's pretty much what he's saying, right? 00:24:11.140 |
I would have betrayed the generation of your children means, "If I said what I was actually 00:24:26.180 |
He literally says, "I felt like I was being chastened and oppressed." 00:24:29.580 |
See, there are people who talk like that sometimes. 00:24:34.140 |
When I counsel young individuals who are laboring and striving, and I want to say, yes, I acknowledge 00:24:41.100 |
and see that people are working hard and it's hard. 00:24:46.540 |
And you feel like you're just hitting wall after wall. 00:24:49.100 |
You tried walking this way, whether it be investing in certain education, maybe you 00:24:55.660 |
I'm going to make sure I do my work heartily for the Lord. 00:24:59.980 |
I'm going to make sure that I be patient in long suffering, and they just keep hitting 00:25:07.260 |
And as they do that, they start feeling like, "Is God like, is he out to get me?" 00:25:14.220 |
And there are moments when I counsel people, they literally feel punished. 00:25:18.220 |
Brothers and sisters, if any of you are there right now, this passage is going to be so 00:25:46.700 |
But at the same time, Asaph says, "But this is how I felt. 00:25:51.860 |
When I looked at their lives and I looked at mine, this is how I felt." 00:26:00.280 |
If you're underlining your Bibles and stuff, you're going to want to do this one. 00:26:05.820 |
What Asaph needed was a dose of reality because he was seeing with his eyes. 00:26:12.140 |
And he said, "I perceived this thing that's happening in my life." 00:26:16.700 |
But then he says this, verse 17, "It was troublesome, it was burdensome, it was heavy until I came 00:26:33.860 |
"I came into the presence and sanctuary of the Lord and then I actually genuinely, really 00:26:47.400 |
You see, remember I called, I asked you guys to think about this. 00:26:51.100 |
Our Christian struggle is not just you fighting vices of the world. 00:26:55.980 |
It's not just you trying to make sure you're a good Christian, coming to church, making 00:27:03.060 |
Your struggle is a struggle of faith and you're going to be regularly challenged with, "Will 00:27:07.660 |
you judge the world by what you see or will you judge the world by what you hear from 00:27:20.020 |
What I'm telling you is this, for us, when we come to church, it's not just a means for 00:27:26.540 |
you to find little help so that you can get through life. 00:27:29.540 |
What you're doing is radically changing how you perceive your entire world. 00:27:36.580 |
You're receiving truth from God, expanding your perception, and then accurately and realistically 00:27:51.780 |
And so what he says is this, "I came into the sanctuary and I perceived." 00:27:56.980 |
What I'm going to do now is show you four things that Asaph saw, four things that Asaph 00:28:02.460 |
saw that's going to help us battle all the stuff that we just said. 00:28:07.140 |
Battle envy, battle bitterness, battle discontent heart, battle depression. 00:28:12.300 |
Asaph saw four pivotal things, and here we go at the first. 00:28:16.180 |
Verse 17 through 20, he says this, "I came into the sanctuary of God and I perceived 00:28:24.020 |
Suddenly you set them in a slippery place and you cast them down to destruction. 00:28:31.260 |
They're utterly swept away by sudden terrors like a dream when one awakens, O Lord. 00:28:48.860 |
If we were to think of all life as a game, and part of the reason why you think it's 00:28:52.500 |
unfair is because you think you're trying to play this game by the rules. 00:28:56.940 |
You think you're playing the game the right way, right? 00:29:00.460 |
And you see all those guys finding loopholes, cheating, being nasty, poor sportsmanship, 00:29:14.420 |
When I see God, I see a bigger picture, and in that bigger picture, I see the end that 00:29:24.100 |
Before them is not like, "You know, maybe God as judge is going to deal with the wickedness 00:29:29.360 |
No, he says, "As certain, as certain as possible, God has set their path." 00:29:41.540 |
There are so many people who will say this, "The number one problem of the Christian faith 00:29:48.620 |
How in the world is God who is supposed to be good and powerful allowing all sorts of 00:29:54.220 |
wickedness, these thieves, murderers, all these kind of vicious things to happen in 00:30:02.980 |
And I always say, "You know, I'm not going to get all philosophical on you. 00:30:08.560 |
They're like, 'You know, in all possible universes, this is the best possible…'" 00:30:25.780 |
Every wicked person who has said one wicked thing is going to be punished. 00:30:30.020 |
There is not a wicked thought you're going to get away with. 00:30:33.660 |
To a meticulous degree, for every detail of ungodliness in this world, I am going to punish. 00:30:46.740 |
The problem of evil is not a problem of evil. 00:30:55.380 |
Do you understand when the Lord says, "Time is up," all forms of wickedness will be punished. 00:31:06.020 |
Take a moment, please, to turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 3. 00:31:10.580 |
And Apostle Peter explains to everyone the concept of wickedness, the concept of patience, 00:31:19.100 |
and what in the world is God doing with all that. 00:31:32.660 |
Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, 00:31:40.580 |
They'll say, "Where is the promise of his coming? 00:31:43.740 |
For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the 00:31:49.360 |
For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the 00:31:54.540 |
earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means 00:31:58.900 |
of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished." 00:32:04.780 |
Don't you guys forget God is able to judge all wickedness. 00:32:11.380 |
And then he says, verse 7, "But by the same word of the heavens and earth that now exist 00:32:15.620 |
are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 00:32:21.780 |
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, 00:32:30.700 |
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards 00:32:36.020 |
you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 00:32:40.860 |
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a 00:32:45.340 |
roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burnt up and dissolved, and the earth and the works 00:32:55.180 |
See, Asaph's initial complaint is, "God, do you even see this stuff?" 00:33:03.660 |
Did you guys notice earlier, it's like, "How will God even know all this stuff is happening?" 00:33:10.260 |
The reality is God is going to expose every single evil and sin, and he's gonna judge 00:33:23.260 |
And the kind of judgment that's going to come is so scary. 00:33:27.180 |
People are going to literally run, people are gonna in feebleness try to hide underneath 00:33:32.020 |
rocks, and they're going to wish they were crushed to death by the earth before they 00:33:41.820 |
So what happens is when Asaph walks into God's temple, he realizes, "God sees everything. 00:33:51.160 |
And as soon as he does that, he opens his eyes, and just like before, he looked out, 00:34:01.420 |
And then he looked in, he's like, "Oh, look at me. 00:34:05.140 |
But now that his eyes are open, he looked, and he's like, "Oh my gosh, they're gonna 00:34:08.860 |
And then he looked at himself, and he realized, "I'm actually not so much different." 00:34:15.780 |
The next thing he sees is he sees his own heart. 00:34:22.500 |
So go back in your Bibles to Psalm 73, and take a look at verse 21 through 24. 00:34:28.480 |
This is what he says, "When my heart was embittered, I was pierced within. 00:34:35.460 |
Then I was senseless, and I was ignorant, and I was like a beast before you. 00:34:39.980 |
Nevertheless, I'm continually with you, and you have taken hold of my right hand." 00:34:47.460 |
This he realizes, like, "Dude, God is in control, and the extent of his control is 00:34:52.780 |
massive, and he's gonna judge every single wickedness that's on this earth." 00:34:56.580 |
He quickly looks at himself, he's like, "Oh my goodness. 00:35:06.380 |
There's just a moment of just regret, like, "Oh my goodness, I can't believe I even said 00:35:13.700 |
He describes himself as having a bitter heart, and you guys have all probably experienced 00:35:19.420 |
at one point or another, when you are bitter, you are not arguing reasonably. 00:35:34.900 |
When you're bitter, you've already gone far past trying to evaluate. 00:35:40.660 |
You're a bitter individual who will not be appeased until you have justice. 00:35:47.220 |
See, at that moment, if you're bitter, you're already way too far. 00:35:52.860 |
And so Asaph says, "Oh, once I look at my heart, I'm pierced. 00:36:04.140 |
He has the humility to say that, yes, although in his human eyes, it doesn't seem fair. 00:36:13.580 |
Why is it that they're so selfish, and yet you keep calling me to be selfless? 00:36:24.580 |
And yet he has the humility to say, "I was wrong. 00:36:30.540 |
And remember, remember that in verse one, he says, "God is supposed to be good to the 00:36:35.260 |
pure in heart, and that now is being examined." 00:36:38.620 |
God, I'm going to have the humility for your presence to examine even that statement. 00:36:54.100 |
You're supposed to be good to Israel because Israel is your people, and you're supposed 00:37:03.460 |
And then he stops and thinks, "I made a massive presumption, Lord. 00:37:09.140 |
I presume my heart was already pure before you. 00:37:18.580 |
Truthfully speaking, I was jealous, and truthfully speaking, I was judgmental." 00:37:25.100 |
He is open to the scrutiny of God, and then he confesses, "I was like an animal. 00:37:39.900 |
It's because instinctually, animals work on impulse. 00:37:53.660 |
Brothers and sisters, can we model ourselves after this kind of humility Asaph is showing 00:38:04.060 |
He recognizes that he was judging things based on his sight, and now he has the humility 00:38:13.540 |
If you sit and you start defending yourself, "No, God, I have every right to be pissed." 00:38:23.180 |
What you're going to be guilty of, you're going to be guilty of pointing your finger 00:38:25.900 |
up at God and saying, "God, you're either incapable or you don't care for justice." 00:38:32.380 |
Or you're going to point the finger at God and you're going to say, "God, maybe you are 00:38:38.420 |
Maybe you see that my only conclusion is you don't love me." 00:38:51.180 |
I can't sit here and attack you and say, "God, you're not just." 00:38:54.460 |
You can't do that because the Bible is chock full of that. 00:39:02.740 |
Maybe you don't have eyes to see this stuff." 00:39:16.380 |
If you're there, man, there is no kind of depression like believing that the God of 00:39:23.780 |
the universe, who is the definition of love, does not love you. 00:39:31.100 |
Like, I feel for you because that's an incredible kind of pain that no human is going to come 00:39:37.340 |
next to you and be like, "It's all right, man." 00:39:40.860 |
If you believe the lie, "God doesn't love me. 00:39:43.860 |
He sees my pain and yet he doesn't care," that's the kind of depression no human is 00:39:51.500 |
So I want to share with you today that God does love you. 00:40:22.860 |
Whom have I in heaven but you and beside you, I desire nothing on earth. 00:40:27.280 |
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." 00:40:35.860 |
Those are some of the most beautiful passages in Scripture. 00:40:44.380 |
I see there's all this wickedness in the world and this beast is sitting there before God 00:40:53.940 |
And God comes over and he takes the hand and he guides him. 00:41:00.980 |
When you try to picture the Scriptures, it's amazing. 00:41:06.620 |
Some little flea looking at you like, "Look at you, God, what are you doing?" 00:41:15.060 |
But God takes that accusatory finger, holds the hand, and guides him, loves him, and says, 00:41:35.940 |
And then he says this beautiful thing, "You receive me to your glory." 00:41:42.260 |
It's like he takes it here, he takes it there, and he takes it to the top. 00:41:55.820 |
Have you experienced that kind of love in your life? 00:42:00.140 |
Because that's the Christian faith, isn't it? 00:42:09.260 |
Christian faith is not, "Oh, I think, you know, like Jehovah's Witness, and then Mormonism, 00:42:14.980 |
Catholicism, and then Christianity, I compared it, and this doctrinal system really works." 00:42:25.980 |
Christianity is, you were an evil person with evil desires engaged in evil deeds, and God 00:42:37.300 |
And then you felt this massive load of love come to you, and you're forever changed. 00:42:51.900 |
Only then can you say, "Give me more of that. 00:42:58.220 |
I may have nothing in this world, but my portion is full because God has filled my life." 00:43:07.860 |
Not just simply have you felt the love of God, but in some weird, odd way, have you 00:43:13.220 |
drifted from the Lord, where this teaching, "Brothers and sisters, the Lord loves you," 00:43:26.980 |
Any different than, let's say, if a random stranger came to you and said, "What's wrong, 00:43:40.260 |
Does God's love to you feel like some kind of weird consolation prize? 00:43:49.660 |
But at least for you, we have participation trophy." 00:43:56.660 |
Where you hear the words like the Lord of the universe who created you, who sustains 00:44:02.300 |
everything that has breath, He loves you, and yet all it feels like is some kind of 00:44:14.580 |
There are moments in our lives where perhaps it may feel like that. 00:44:23.140 |
Asaph, for him, the reality that absolutely changed everything. 00:44:33.980 |
I may not have the dream of Orange County Christianity where I have a three-bedroom 00:44:39.940 |
house with 2.5 bathrooms because you got to have that .5 bathroom for guests. 00:44:47.180 |
I've got 2.5 cars and three cars in the garage, like whatever it may be, right? 00:44:59.140 |
That's the reality where it has radically changed Asaph's life. 00:45:05.140 |
And if you can't get there and it feels weird, I want to challenge you right now. 00:45:09.860 |
How have you drifted where the Lord's presence is not enough? 00:45:16.780 |
What has gripped your heart so much you want it so bad where someone says, 00:45:22.140 |
"But you have God," and you're like, "I get it. 00:45:33.260 |
If that's your words, you got to come to the Lord in repentance. 00:45:39.460 |
What has so gripped your soul where the love of God is not enough? 00:45:45.180 |
Remember, brothers and sisters, that our Christian faith, again, 00:45:48.620 |
is not a religious system, is not a doctrinal system. 00:45:56.260 |
Christ died on the cross, tore the veil, and he became the high priest of all to 00:46:06.620 |
To bring you to his eternal presence forever. 00:46:10.740 |
God was not in the business of trying to make you succeed. 00:46:15.420 |
I just want to get you from one-year-old to 80-year-old." 00:46:25.620 |
He wants to give you eternity with him as your loving father and you as his child. 00:46:32.980 |
Lastly, once Asaph started to realize that, look, once Asaph started to realize, 00:46:43.540 |
And then he looked at God and he was like, "Oh, wait a minute. 00:47:05.460 |
And then now he comes to a point where he redefines everything. 00:47:11.180 |
Verse 26 through 28, we're going to finish off here. 00:47:15.980 |
Psalm 73 of 26 to 28 says, "My flesh and my heart may fail, 00:47:34.820 |
When he realizes by faith, God is my strength. 00:47:38.060 |
He's the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 00:47:40.780 |
For behold, those who are far from you will perish. 00:47:44.100 |
He realizes far from God means destruction, close to God means life. 00:47:49.340 |
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. 00:47:54.780 |
Star it, underline it, do whatever you can to memorize this. 00:48:08.140 |
I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works. 00:48:21.940 |
That's the beautiful reality that Asaph have come to conclusion. 00:48:36.300 |
You may not have the perfect family, but I'm good. 00:48:42.020 |
And the devil may come as like, "Look at this new phone. 00:48:46.420 |
Look at this better house, better car, better everything. 00:48:59.260 |
How do you fight the temptation of the enemy? 00:49:03.220 |
When you recognize who you have in God and you use the new mechanism, 00:49:08.660 |
a new definitive standard, the standard by which I'm going to say, 00:49:13.140 |
"My life sucks," versus, "My life is good," is no longer the video I saw 00:49:18.020 |
on YouTube, is no longer the guy who's traveling the world. 00:49:34.820 |
That doesn't come with you being able to sell yourself. 00:49:38.100 |
That doesn't come with you being able to market, take photos of all that you've 00:49:44.100 |
It comes with you being absolutely content in God. 00:49:48.700 |
Now, I want to wrap up and review these four things in a kind of comedic way 00:49:57.780 |
A lot of times when I speak in front of our church, many of you have been 00:50:06.780 |
These aren't things that you haven't heard before. 00:50:09.860 |
So I want to challenge you, are you maturing? 00:50:14.060 |
And the way I want to review this is by saying, ladies in the room who are 00:50:18.300 |
single, because a family retreat is happening and there's a bunch of you here, 00:50:23.900 |
I like to give free dating advice and that dating advice is, 00:50:26.340 |
"How can you tell if the man you are interested in is a mature man?" 00:50:33.060 |
Ladies, a mature man is going to have a vision that is a holistic Christian 00:50:41.180 |
worldview, meaning he's going to see clearly. 00:50:44.820 |
A kid is going to have tunnel vision and he can't see the pain coming, right? 00:50:50.260 |
When you see a little kid, it's like, "God, you're going to get hurt," right? 00:50:59.020 |
What's more, a mature man can humbly judge his own desires. 00:51:03.780 |
I got a weird, like, "I love the Lord, but I love myself." 00:51:07.340 |
I got this weird pride as like, "I boast in Jesus, but I want to boast in myself," 00:51:15.700 |
A child, he can't see nothing but his own impulses. 00:51:24.860 |
He thinks it's great, but that's just a child. 00:51:28.700 |
A man who is mature has a perspective that recognizes what's good. 00:51:36.340 |
He values a good woman because it's good in God's eyes. 00:51:38.700 |
He knows the difference between this is a jewel of God versus this is not. 00:51:44.020 |
A child, a kid, all he knows is what he wants. 00:51:47.500 |
That's all he sees and he's not happy until he gets it. 00:52:00.180 |
If a kid is sitting there like, "Oh, I don't have what I want," right? 00:52:06.820 |
You know, and then, typically, an insecure individual will look at you as the source 00:52:17.140 |
He doesn't know who he has, he doesn't have a vision of his own heart, 00:52:26.660 |
For us, by way of conclusion, this to us is not just simply a nutshell 00:52:34.340 |
This to you, for those of you who have been Christian for a long time, 00:52:49.340 |
Lord God, today, Lord, through this beautiful song written by Asaph, 00:53:01.980 |
And God, although maybe we might not be able to sympathize or relate in every 00:53:06.020 |
single way, we confess, God, some of these things are real and near temptations. 00:53:13.380 |
I ask, Lord, that your spirit would convict us and cause us to grow in faith 00:53:17.660 |
to the degree where we see you, we see you clearly and accurately, 00:53:24.660 |
and that our hearts would follow and to love you and desire you 00:53:31.740 |
God, we will confess, Lord, nothing in this world satisfies, 00:53:36.060 |
nothing in this world lasts, not anybody else and definitely not ourselves. 00:53:42.380 |
But Father God, you are eternal, and only you can be the full provision 00:53:49.900 |
And so, God, we thank you that in your love, you give yourself to us.