May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate on part of God's
Word. And the part of God's Word which
we'll meditate on tonight is contained in the psalm that we
read, that's Psalm 73, and two verses we'll read tonight, and
they are verses 23 and 24. So, Psalm 73, and reading verses
23 and 24. Nevertheless, I am continually with thee. Thou hast
holden me by thy right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel and afterward receive me to glory. And then the next verse would
also include, whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is
none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. Well we believe that God spoke
to Asaph and as God spoke to Asaph, Asaph wrote down these
words. And of course it was in their
native language and then thankfully it's been translated into English,
and we've had it in our English language for several hundreds
of years. And it's good, therefore, to
realise that many, many people have read these words, and many
people have been encouraged by them. And so, here was this man,
Asaph, who says, nevertheless, whatever was the position before,
and he does state, he said, So foolish was I, and ignorant I
was as a beast before thee. That's being very honest, isn't
it? Telling us what he felt like.
That he was a foolish person. And he was ignorant. And it's
good to realise that God has given us the Bible to encourage
us, whatever state of learning we are, whether we are foolish,
whether we are ignorant, and whether we are perhaps acting
like a beast, yet to realize that God is kind and gracious
and hears prayer. He hears our requests as we come
to him. And what a mercy it is, therefore,
to realize that today, after many, many years, these words
written in the Bible are still as true today as they were when
they were written. And they really are written by
God so that as you and I read them we can find an echo in our
heart that they actually address us individually. We don't have
to worry about other people. When we read the Bible we want
to feel that God wrote it to speak to us as individuals. So it would be good tonight if
as we read such a statement and sometimes of course we're very
proud of our lives and we don't like to think that we're anything
like that we don't like to think that we're foolish and that we're
ignorant and that perhaps is more specifically with regards
to the things of God I mean we have the Bible from Genesis to
Revelation and it reveals to us a tremendous amount of information
and as we read it we may realize well we're really quite ignorant
because there's so much in the Bible that we don't know and
so much that we don't understand. But God has given us the Bible
and it's the Word of God and we refer to it as His Word. He's given us His Word so that
it may speak to our hearts. We have a mind, we have a head
and it's good when the Word speaks to our mind and head but then
it goes down into our heart, and that is really our innermost
being. And it's a great blessing, therefore,
if that is so. So here we have this statement
by this honest man, Asaph, as he's written it. He was a clever
man, obviously, to have written this, but he still classifies
himself as someone who is foolish and ignorant. And he says, as
a beast before thee. And then he says, Nevertheless,
I am continually with thee, and thou hast hold of me. That means
he's been held by the right hand of almighty God. That's a wonderful
blessing to think that God has, was with Asaph, and God is with
his people today. We must always realize that God
knows all about us. You and I can never hide from
God. God is in every place throughout this world. And he looks upon
everyone. And the Bible tells us that he
knows all about each one of us. Other people don't know about
us. I don't know about you. You don't know about me. But
God knows all about us. And so here we have this statement
from Asaph. Asaph felt that God was holding him
by his hand as he journeyed on day by day. He wasn't alone. Sometimes we may feel lonely
and alone. But what a blessing to feel that
God is with us. And that God takes us by our
hand and leads us on. What a great and merciful God
we have. And I'd like to just point out
that God is very great. And to realize that God created
the whole world, the whole universe. Everything was done by this great
God and this great God is in control of everything that happens
in the world today all the wars and everything which exists he's
in control of everything and what a mercy it is to realize
that we have such a God and this great God condescends to hear
and answer those who pray unto him Now that's how we can come
to God. We can't see God physically,
but we can pray to God. And that means we can tell God
all about ourselves, and there are things that we think we need
and we can ask God for them, and we can believe that we come
to that God who hears and answers prayer. It's not a God who is
dead. We come to a God who is alive
forevermore and is in heaven. So we don't exist in a vacuum. We exist in a situation where
we know there is a God and it's a blessing if in our lives we
have prayed to that God and that God has answered our prayers. And that's a tremendous evidence
that God is alive today and indeed God is alive forevermore and
we are encouraged to come and to pray to God and as we come
to God we are to come to him as the great God and we are to
come to him and we are to confess all about ourselves we don't
have to confess to other people we can confess to God in private
we can tell him mistakes we made we can tell him the wrong things
we've done and we can come to him and pray that he will forgive
us of all those wrong things all the sins that we've done
we can come to that great God who hears and answers prayer
it's wonderful isn't it what a wonderful thing it is to have
a God like that and this is the the God of the Christian people
this is the great almighty God who made everything and so ASAP
says nevertheless I Am continually with thee that's holding me by
my right hand And he says that because he's proved that as he's
journeyed on through life that God has been with him That God
has held him by his hand and not in a physical way, but in
a spiritual way. He's felt that there's a presence
with him, guiding him and directing him. And that's very comforting
to realize that we have a God who takes notice of us, a God
who hears and answers prayer. And so may we come to that God. The Bible encourages us It encourages
us that we are to come to that God boldly. We may be fearful
because God is so great and we're so small and we're so bad and
God's so holy and we may be fearful but God encourages us to come
to him boldly and to make our confession to him about ourselves
and make our requests known to him. because he hears and answers
prayer and so here we have this wonderful statement nevertheless
I am God I am continually that means at all times all times
there's no gap he doesn't say well I'm going to forget about
you this week he's continually with us he continually knows
all about us nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast
hold of me by my right hand now Asaph has this evidence he has
this testimony he's able to tell us what he believes and to encourage
us to come to this same great and almighty God and so he comes
down and makes this wonderful statement thou shalt guide me
with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. In our little
lives we need guidance. We can look to people perhaps
for help and guidance and people may endeavour to help and guide
us but they don't know all about us. They don't really know what
we need. But we have a God. who knows
all about us. And that starts from before we
were born. God knows about us that we would
be born. And when we're born, he watches
over us. It's a wonderful, great and glorious truth, isn't it?
To think that we have such a mighty God. The Bible speaks in this
terms, an almighty God. an almighty God. It's good for
us to understand that. And so here, Asaph says, thou
shalt guide me with thy counsel. Just think of that. That we have
such a God, who is so very wonderful, that he comes down to our level,
and he actually guides us. Asaph tells us, he's taken him
by his hand. And he does that. to all of his
children he takes them by hand and he guides us he guides us
through our little life on this earth we may have difficulties
he helps us through them we may want help he gives us that help
we may want understanding he gives us that understanding but
we must remember that the Bible tells us We are to come to him. He says he will be inquired of. We are to come to him. We are
to pray to him. And what a blessing it is to
have a God who hears and answers prayer. And so then he tells
us this. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel. You think of that, you get up
in the morning, you have a God who's by your side. You don't
know, but He's there. And He guides you. He guides
you through the day. He watches over you through the
night. All through your life, He's there. This is the great and wonderful
God that the Church of God have. So what a wonderful blessing
it is if you and I are one of those who are God's children. Those who God looks after. And we come to that God as our
Father. You may remember that Jesus gave
us a wonderful prayer. His disciples asked him, Lord,
teach us to pray. And he taught them a prayer,
which is familiar, no doubt, to most of us. And it starts
like this. Our father, which art in heaven. Jesus had a father. He was in heaven. What a mercy,
therefore, if you and I have the same father, the great father,
who is in heaven. And we can come to him. in prayer,
through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the way of access to the
Father. God the Father is holy, cannot
look upon sin, cannot look upon that which is wrong, but he hears
our prayers through his Son and our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have a wonderful picture
of Jesus presenting our prayers to our Father. And that Father
hears, therefore, and answers our prayers. Now, we should be
careful. Of course, not always our prayers
are answered. Because sometimes our prayers
are not good prayers. God knows what is good for us
and what is not good for us. And we can be thankful that God
won't answer prayers which are not good for us. And so when
we come to God in prayer, we should always come in this way,
praying if it is the will of God to hear and answer prayer. Now what we know is this. God
never makes any mistakes. Because God is a perfect God.
God is a holy God. God never sins, never has, never
will. And therefore he knows exactly
what is good and what is bad. And we should not be therefore
surprised sometimes if when we come to God and we pray to God
and we don't get any answers. And we think, well, what's wrong? What's wrong with my prayer?
it's because we haven't prayed for that which will be good for
us but what a blessing it is when we do pray for that which
is good for us and God answers it now something else God has a time a time scale to
answer prayers we like prayers to be answered immediately and
this is what the Bible says Your time, that's you and me, your
time is always, but my time is not yet. God has a perfect time
to answer our prayers. And therefore, we mustn't be
impatient. We are to wait. We are to pray
and we are to wait. And when we pray, we are to believe
that we come to a God who does hear an answer prayer. We should
not come to a God doubting that this God can hear an answer prayer. But a blessing if God therefore
gives us what we call faith. Faith is not something tangible,
it's something which God gives so that you and I come believing
that this great God does hear and answer prayer. And what a
blessing it is if therefore we do pray. Now, it's only really
between you and God. God hears, hears your prayer,
he sees your attitude, he sees what you really desire, and he
knows whether you are truly praying honestly to God. And those things
that we pray for should not be just for our own benefit. It should be that they bring
what we term honour and glory to God. If God does answer those
prayers, then we are able to thank Him and we're able to praise
Him because He has been gracious. God likes to be praised. And what a blessing it is that
we can praise this great and powerful God. We should never
underestimate the power of this great God. And so we have these
words here as he says, nevertheless I am continually with thee, that's
holding me by my right hand that shall guide me with thy counsel
and afterward Receive me to glory you may think well, what does
that mean? Well the Bible Spells out to
us very clearly that all of us Have a natural body, you know,
I have a body here today That's evident. We can see it and we
all have something which is invisible which is called a soul and all
of us have a soul and That soul, when we die, that
soul will go to one of two places. It's spelled out in the Bible.
And those two places are, one is heaven, a very wonderful and
happy place. And the other is hell, a very
terrible, terrible place. And all of us, all our souls
will go to one of those places. And the Bible tells us that's
not something which is temporary. That is something and somewhere
which is permanent. And we shall never be able to
escape from that environment. So it is very important that
you and I have the evidence from God that we are on the right
road We're going on a journey, all of us are on a journey. We're
in this world, we're on a journey. Day by day, we're journeying. And we all have a never-dying
soul. And that soul will spend eternity
in heaven and hell. And that's why Asaph tells us
here, and afterward, guided through this life, And when we die, then
to be received into glory. Now, that means to be received
into heaven. And we shall only be received
into heaven if we have the evidence that Jesus has died to take away
our sins. Now, I trust most of us are familiar
with the fact that Jesus Christ came into this world as a real
man some 2,000 odd years ago. And he lived a perfect life. He never
made any mistakes. He never sinned. He lived a perfect
life. And his purpose for coming into
this world was to take the place of his people and to pay the
price that they had to pay to take away their sins, all the
things that they'd done wrong. The Lord Jesus came and his Father
and our Father in Heaven gave him a commission, gave him and
told him what to do. And he had to live that life,
he had to live that perfect life, that perfect life on this earth,
and then to sacrifice his life. This is the great and glorious
Jesus that we worship. Jesus did come over 2,000 years
ago and he lived on this earth for 33 years he never sinned
never made any mistake and then he gave his life he gave his
life in our place and how did he give his life he was crucified
he was punished not for his sins he was punished for our sins
this is the great and glorious saviour that we worship. And this great and glorious saviour
died then upon that cross, he finished that work which his
father had given him to do. He sat on that cross, it is finished. And then he died. And after he
was then put in a tomb and after three days he rose from the dead. Yes, he rose from the dead. The
first person that had ever risen from the dead. Jesus rose from
the dead. And he walked about and people
saw him as the risen Saviour. then after 40 days he rose to
heaven. He ascended to heaven and in
heaven he sits on his father's right hand in glory just like
we have here. Receive me to glory That's where
Jesus is now, seated on his Father's right hand. What he does there
at the moment is to present, as I've already said, present
our prayers to his Father. Now says Asaph here, and it's
a wonderful statement. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel. And afterward, when that guidance
is complete and we die, to be received into glory. This is the wonderful picture
that we have in the Word of God for all his children received
into glory. Well I hope all of us can recognise
this is a very wonderful thing and it's a very attractive thing
and that's why we gather together to worship, to hear the good
news What we call salvation. Salvation of course is the saving
of the soul. The saving of our soul. And then in due time, not yet,
in due time God has said Jesus will return. He will return to
this earth. And when the earth will all be
burnt up, and everybody will be raised from the dead. Those
who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ will be blessed
with a great gift of eternal life. Those who do not believe,
those who have not had their sins forgiven, will perish in
their sins and spend eternity in that terrible place of hell
well that day is to come but what a mercy and what a blessing
for you and me if we are amongst those who are received to glory
received to glory and it's a wonderful place heaven we don't know very
much about it but we do know it's a place of eternal happiness
and peace and no sin and no pain. And Jesus will be there to receive
us. Isn't that wonderful? If we are
indeed his children. And so here is these words. Thou shalt guide me. It's very positive, isn't it?
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive
me to glory. And then Asaph tells us, who
have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. Asaph's great desire was to go
to heaven and to be with Jesus forever and ever. And that would
be a great blessing for you and me if the Holy Spirit The Holy
Spirit of God, let me just explain. There are three gods in one. There's the Father we've spoken
about, the Lord Jesus Christ, his Son we've spoken about, and
the Holy Spirit, which speaks to us, to our hearts. And those
three are what we call, they're all equal. One is not above the
other. They're all equal. And they're
all joined together. this wonderful work of saving
his people our souls from hell and so here we have this statement
whom have I in heaven but thee Asaph recognizes there's only
this great God in heaven that he really wants to see and he
wants to be with this God who has paid the price for his sin
this God who has indeed redeemed him we use that word redeemed
he gave his life and that's where Asaph wants to be with Jesus
in heaven forever well I wonder tonight whether that has any
attraction to you and me where we look forward and think well
that's a wonderful day And what a blessing, therefore, if we
have the knowledge that Jesus has died for us and taken away
all our sins. As I've said before, there's
no sin in heaven. It's a holy place, a very happy
place. And all of us, every one of us,
must know that our sins are forever washed away. And the Bible tells
us they're washed away through the blood The Lord Jesus Christ,
when he died, when he gave his life in place of us, the death
of ourselves would not save us. But Jesus' death does save us
because it was a perfect life and a perfect death. And so he
tells us, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon
earth that I desire beside Thee. He wanted to know Jesus. He wanted to walk with Jesus
on the earth. And that's not in a physical
way, but in a spiritual way, to know that Jesus was indeed
with him. Well, it's a great blessing if
you and I have the evidence of these things in our souls. I've just gone through this very
rapidly, and I hope I've gone through it so that you can in
some way understand the great and glorious plan that God has
given us in his word, shown to us, that great blessing of salvation. That means, as I've said, the
saving of our souls. And we've all got a soul. We
can't get rid of it. We've got a soul and we will
spend eternity, that means forever and ever, either in that glorious
place of heaven or that terrible place of hell. And if we know
the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, the one who's forgiven
our sins, the one who's died on our behalf, then we can look
forward. to a glorious eternity with Jesus
and all those who have been blessed in the same way. It's a wonderful
thought. It's a wonderful truth. And what
a blessing if you and I can have that real desire that God will
come and show to us our great need and cause us to pray to
him, to ask for forgiveness, and find forgiveness and come
believing that this is the great and wonderful way of salvation. Well, let me just read these
words again. So foolish was I and ignorant. That's what we've all been. I
was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless, I am continually
with thee. Thou shalt hold on me by my right
hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom am I in heaven
but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. Well, there are great truths
and great words that we read here this evening. And may God
come and teach us and instruct us and cause us to really pray
to him and to be found a real believer and to look forward
then to that great and glorious time when the Lord comes and
takes us from this earth and may it then be to be with him
forever and ever in heaven. Amen.