Psalm 73:24
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Good evening. So we'll be starting at page 486. We'll go into 485 as well because the best sermon that's going to be preached is the context of the verses that we have. I'd like to begin with the main idea, a little maybe cart before the horse. The main idea of this passage, I believe to be, first, that Jesus Christ gives us everything that we need that would be good for us, both now, in this life, and in eternity.
But that often is not the way it looks or the way we feel. And this psalm is very honest about that. So our verse, this is what's on page 486. I'm going to actually throw in two verses. Psalm 73, 23, and 24. I, God is speaking, am continually with you.
I'm sorry, the psalmist is speaking. I am continually with you, God. You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel. And afterwards, you will receive me to glory. We have God. And as Roman 8 says, he who did not withhold his only son is going to give us everything. But that's often not how we feel, is it?
And let me just read, I'm going to read most of Psalm 73, it's not that long. And you'll just, you can just feel his honesty here. And see if this is not where we often are, I know it's where I often am. 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, their pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment. Skipping down to verse 12.
Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease. They increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said I will speak like this, 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, 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, O Lord. When you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
When my soul was embittered, when I was tricked in my heart, I was brutish and ignorant. I was like a beast before 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 beside you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 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 your works I want to quickly speak to those of you who may have come with a friend or may be younger and really haven't decided where you are with the Lord we heard a great testimony this morning Corbin, thank you for it because it put it plain.
It is not about, have you felt something? It's not about, has something happened to you? The only thing important to happen happened 2,000 years ago. Jesus died on a cross. He has the power to save you, and all you need to do is to trust in that power. That's it. He's looking for people to trust him.
He is so trustworthy, and it is such an insult not to trust him. And that depends upon that trust, whether you're trusting him or not, depends which side of this psalm you're on. Whether you're on the side of people who belong to Christ, and who are walking with him, and who Christ has taken ownership of. He has taken you to himself, if you trust him.
If not, you're his enemy, and you remain his enemy. So, I've got just a moment or two left, I think, here. and i wanted to this this particular psalm as you as you all know uh probably you know they're just assigned to us we don't get to make a request uh period uh and i do i do uh kind of beg for an easy verse and i always get one for that reason if you're a really close friend of greg's he knows you can handle it he throws you you know esau was a hairy man And Jacob was a smooth man.
But I get this. Psalm kind of preaches itself. So don't get too close to Greg. So a quick story a little bit about me. It's the story of grace. I went to Owensboro to practice law. I went down there primarily because my father had come to Christ through the experience of a prodigal son. me, and his law partner was a Christian, and I felt like I hadn't been a Christian that long, I needed to be around Christians, and I think that proved to be a wise spiritual decision, we found a great church there, there was kind of a precursor to us coming here, our kids went to a Christian school, it was run by this church, it was like Nirvana, I'm I'm sorry, I need to use the Bible type.
It's like heaven. Spiritually. But over time, as I approached 40 years old, my law practice, it was going down the drain. My father was getting older. He had been the primary one bringing in business. We got in more and more financial trouble. I tried several things, become a judge, different things because I really wanted to stay in Owensboro. But we were really going down the tubes financially. and professionally in my profession.
And it got to a point where we had a meeting of our law firm to decide what to do, and we went home from that meeting. It was a breakfast meeting. I went back to my house. We could come up with nothing. We tried several other ideas, merging with another firm and such, and we just exhausted all those ideas. And I don't know how this psalm had come to my attention. I suspect it was through expository preaching of the church we were in. But I laid this psalm open on my bed, back in my bedroom.
And I read the psalm to God. And I just said at the end of that, I'm out of my ideas. I don't know what else to do. And I got up and went to work. And when I arrived at work, there was, we used to have little slips of paper back when people left messages, that was before text. And there was a little message that said to call Bob Gwynn, who the guy I went to law school with.
And I picked the phone and I called him and he said, would you give any interest in coming to Louisville to practice law with this law firm I'm with today? which was a law firm that let's just say it was an upgrade and got us out of that financial situation. And after I joined that firm, I realized that if I had gone directly into a firm like that, and I would have had a chance at that, I had a hard time getting in law school, but I did well in law school, I would have failed because the kind of work that it required to succeed as a young associate in a law firm like that is a lot of reading and research and writing, and that was never my strength.
But I kind of got to skip that stage and go directly to kind of the partner level where things I had experience with, you know, actually being in court and all of that, enabled me to be successful. This is not directly related to this, except to say that if it looks like you followed the path that the Lord has led you, you feel confident of that, and you've put his priority first, like Greg talked about this morning, and it doesn't seem to be working out, just you wait.
God makes no mistakes. He is the only creature. He's not a creature, of course. The only person. He is a person who knows the future. He knows you intimately. Every little detail. He is very detail-oriented. And if you bet on him, you will win in every way that would benefit you to win. That doesn't mean it will be easy. In fact, it may be harder.
He is in the business, after all, of making us like his son. What kind of effort is that likely to call upon? But it will be wonderful. And I think if, wouldn't we all say, as Christians that are in the room, and those of you who have not yet decided, ask Christians. It was a lot harder than we thought, right? But it's a lot more wonderful than we ever would have dreamed. Let's pray.
Lord God, what a privilege it is to sit in this room. And we knew it took the death of your son to bring us here. And we just worship you for that. And we ask all those that have been prayed for tonight and those that are here that do not yet know you. We ask you to make them worshipers of your Son. In his name we pray, amen.