Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 73, entitled the message this evening,
Everlasting Mercy, Everlasting Mercy for the Foolish. David
begins with the truth that every believer knows and loves. Verse
1, he says, truly, this is without argument, truly, God is good
to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. Now, God is
good to Israel. Israel is his people. God's good
to his people. I believe that, don't you? I'm
with David. I got that doctrine down cold. God is good. Everything God does is good because
God is good. Goodness is the character of
God. God is good when he gives and God is good when he takes
away. God is good when he heals and God is good when he makes
it. God is good when He raises up, and God is good when He brings
love. God is good when He makes alive,
and God is good when He kills. And chiefly, God's goodness is
seen in His mercy to His people. God has saved His people by His
grace. God has been so good to His people. God is good to His people in
putting them in His Son. God is good to his people, sending
his son to be the representative of his people, to be their substitute
by giving them a righteousness through his own obedience, by
him obeying the law for them, by him standing as their substitute,
by him being made sin for them and sacrificing himself for their
sin. Oh, God is good to Israel. How
good is God that he would send his own son to save his people
by his sacrifice? And God is good to his people
and giving them life in the new birth. That's what the clean
heart that David writes of, it refers to here, the new heart.
God gives his people the new birth. When God causes his people
to be born again, he gives them a new heart, a new nature. He
doesn't change that old nature. He doesn't change that old heart.
He gives them a brand new one. And that nature is the nature
of Christ. That is the nature that enables
the believer to be a partaker of the divine nature. It's a
nature that's clean and that's holy, that cannot sin, that cannot
be separated from God. That's the only nature God can
accept. And He gives that nature to His
people in the new birth. What could be more good than
that? God is good to history. David says, I don't have any
doubt about it. God's good. God's good to his people. He's
good to his people and saving them. God is good with all of
his dealings with his people. I don't doubt that one iota. David says, I very seriously
doubt, often I doubt, that I could be one of them. Every believer
in this room can identify. Look what he says in verse two. But as for me, my feet were almost
gone. My steps had well nigh slipped. David says, I know that God will
not let his people fall away from him. He has set their feet
upon the rock, Christ Jesus, and they shall not be moved.
David says, I know that. I believe that. But it sure seems
to me like my foot was slipping. Like I was falling away from
God. And if I'm falling away from God, the only reason for
it is God didn't set my feet on Christ. It sure feels like
my feet are slipping. There are three places here that
David was slipping. Three places he was tripping
up. I thought of Brother Dale Simpson.
Something confused him sometimes. He's like, I'm getting fuzzed
up about this. There are three places David's fuzzed up. The
first one is this. David's envious. of the wrong
things. Verse three, he says, for I was
envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no bans in their death, but their strength is
firm. They're not in trouble as other
men, neither are they plagued like other men. Now this is David
writing this. David's writing this to Asaph,
who was the musician in Israel, but David wrote this, and this
is the man after God's own heart. saying I was envious of the foolish.
The foolish don't know God. How can you be envious of the
foolish that don't know God? But David said he was. I mean,
just being honest, he said he was. And David said I was envious
of the wicked. God hates the wicked every day. The wicked are under the condemnation
of Almighty God. How can you possibly Be envious
of the wicked. But David said he wasn't. He
said, I was envious of the wicked because I look at them. And the
wicked don't suffer and die like God's people do. And I don't
want to suffer. I just don't want to suffer.
So I was envious of the wicked. Envious of the foolish who look
like David, don't suffer. See, David's envious of the wrong
things. His foot slipped. He stumbled at this. He's envious
of the wrong things. The word firm that David uses
here, he says that their strength is firm. That word means fattened. And that's true. The wicked are
often fattened up. They're fattened. They're blessed
with abundance in this life. Often. But they're fattened. They're like the fatted calf.
Now the only way you can be envious of the fatted calf who's going
to be killed and served for Sunday dinner is if you're taking a
short term view of things and don't look at the end. of the
fatty calf. That's the only way you can be
envious of the fatty calf. And that's what happened to David.
He was taking a short-term view of things and was envious of
the wrong things. Then second, David was confused
about this. He stumbled. He didn't understand
who it was that is truly blessed of God. Verse 6. He said, because
they just are so rich and they're not plagued, therefore pride
compasseth them about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could
wish. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression.
They speak loftily. They set their mouth against
the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore,
his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung
out to them." God has given many material blessings
to the wicked, hasn't he? True in David's day, true in
our day. He blessed them, the wicked, with material blessings
more than a heart could wish. You know what it does? It makes
them proud instead of making them humble. If somebody gives
you a rich gift, you think it would humble you. You think it
would make you thankful. But when God gives all these material
blessings to the wicked, it makes them proud. And David knows this. God hates pride. Yet David's
envious of the proud. And they're so full of pride,
they speak out about things they know nothing about. They speak
out against Christ. They speak out against the gospel.
They speak out against God's poor people. David says their
tongue speaks loftily. They speak of things that are
too high for them. And yet, God keeps blessing them. You know, the wicked, mostly
that David is referring to here, is those who are in false religion
who just wickedly speak of salvation, something you can do, works that
you can do, something you can do to keep, something you can
do to be blessed. They think they're blessed with
all these material blessings because they've done everything
to make God happy with them. That's just wicked. They're in false
religion. And false religion is the same
thing today. They're just getting rich on this thing. Don't be
surprised. False religion has always prospered. And at the same time, God tries
His people hard. God wrings out to His people
a full cup of trouble and heartache and trial while He's wringing
out a full cup of riches to the wicked. David says, did God treat
His children this way? I don't think He would, so I
must not be a child of God. That's what he's thinking. See,
David slept here, hadn't he? He just doesn't understand why
his flesh has to hurt so much. He just doesn't understand. How
can this be so? And third, David slipped up. You almost hate to say this out
loud. Thinking he'd worship God in vain. Because God hadn't blessed
him materially. Verse 11. And they say, how does
God know? And is their knowledge in the
most high? Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the
world. They increase in riches. Verily, I've cleansed my heart
in vain. I've washed my hands in innocency.
For all the day long have I been plagued, and I've been chastened
every morning. The wicked, David watches them.
They speak against God, yet they keep prospering. Their wealth
just keeps increasing and increasing and increasing. And they think
God doesn't see the wicked that they do. They think God doesn't
know. And while they're getting richer, God's people keep getting
poorer and poorer. They keep getting tried more
and more. And David says, looks to me like I've worshipped God
for nothing. I've worshipped God and all it's
gotten me is to be chastened every day. David's in a slippery place. We'd be liars if we didn't say
we thought the same thing. Every person in this room has.
And David says, now I know better. I feel this way, but he says,
I know better. I know what I'm feeling is wrong.
It still feels real to me, but I do know better than to say
it out loud, he says. Look at verse 15. If I say I
will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation
of thy children. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me. David says, if I say out loud
what I'm thinking, I'm going to cause the rest of God's people
to get fuzzed up. They're going to slip on this
thing, you know. They're going to stumble. If
I start saying these things, I'm going to drag other people
down with me, and I don't want to do that. Did David's conscience
get bothered by this? You notice the conscience of
the wicked never bothers them, does it? It sure bothers David. It sure bothers us when we've
thought and felt the very same thing. Well, we can identify
with David, can't we? What's wrong with me? Why am
I thus? I can tell you what's wrong with
me. It's the flesh. It's the flesh. Now, believers
are spiritual people. We're born of the Spirit. We
walk after the Spirit. But there's a whole lot of flesh
left in us. And the flesh is always weak.
The spirit's willing, but the flesh is always weak. We live in a world of flesh.
And this world has a powerful attraction to our flesh. This
wicked world appeals to our flesh the very same way it does to
the wicked. There's no difference in our flesh and the flesh of
the wicked. It appeals to us. It has a strong pull, attraction
to us. You go out and work every day
out there in the cesspool of the world and you've got to admit
your flesh is drawn to it. There's something there that
draws your flesh to it. Now it repels the spirit but
the flesh is drawn to it. And we still live in a body of
flesh. A body that needs things to live. We need food and clothing
and drink and shelter. We need those things for our
body to live. And if we don't have them, it's
going to die painfully. We live in a body of flesh that
feels pain, that feels sorrow, that feels worry. And it hurts. Those are real pains. And we
don't like it. We don't want to hurt. And when the flesh hurts, it's
easy for everything that we see to become skewed. When the flesh
hurts, You know, and I'm looking at all of you right now. I see
you clearly. There's nothing between us. I
see you clearly. I see your faces. I see your
features. I see you. But if I had a glass
prism and held it up and tried to look at you through the glass
prism, everything would be skewed. I might still be able to tell
there's people out there, but the heads and the bodies wouldn't
line up. I'd see that they're features,
but they'd be distorted. So I couldn't tell who you were.
I couldn't tell what you really looked like because your features
would be distorted in that glass prism. I wouldn't see anything
as it really is looking through that glass prism. Well, that's
what happens to us when we start looking at the world through
the prism of the flesh. If we start looking at the world
through the prism of my experience, everything's going to be distorted.
See, we still know that God's there. We still know that God
is. We still know truly God's good
to Israel. But if we look at God through
the prism of the flesh, all his glorious attributes become distorted. All his glorious attributes don't
line up right. They're like this. They don't
line up. They should be like this, but they don't line up
right. When we look at him through the prism of the flesh, We don't
see God's holiness the way it is. We begin to think God's doing
something that's not right here. We don't see God's goodness looking
at Him through the prism of the flesh. It seems like God's doing
something wrong that hurts me. And if I try to walk, if I would
try to walk down through this aisle, looking through that glass
prism, well, I'd stumble and fall. I wouldn't realize there's
a chair in front of me because everything would be distorted,
pushed out of place. When I try to walk, by sight,
instead of walking by faith, I'm going to stumble and fall.
Because if I'm walking by sight, if I'm walking by the flesh,
everything is going to be distorted. And every one of us has been
there. Every one of us has been there.
So we know exactly how David feels at this time. It's a miserable
feeling. It's miserable. All right. What's the cure? What's the cure? I mean, we can't just say, well,
we're not going to feel that way because it's wrong, because
this flesh is going to feel that way. The flesh is going to sin.
So what's the cure? Well, it's twofold. It's coming to Christ. It's hearing
God's Word preached. Verse 17, Davis says, I felt
this way until, until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then
understood I their Now first of all, the sanctuary of God
is the Lord Jesus Christ. The sanctuary of the tabernacle,
the two sanctuaries, the two compartments of the tabernacle,
the holy place and the holy of holies, those things are pictures
of Christ. And when we come to Christ, now
I see everything clearly. When I come to Christ, now I
see God as He is. When I see Christ, I see God
as He is. In Christ I see, oh, God is both
just and justifying. He justifies me. He's just in
justifying me, not because of my works, but in Christ, in His
obedience, His righteousness, and His sacrifice for me. When
I see God in Christ, oh, I see God's mercy. How merciful God
is to His people. He put His Son to death to show
mercy to His people. Now I see God's mercy. I know
up here God's good to Israel. When I come to God in Christ,
and I see God in Christ, now I see how good God is to Israel. He's putting His people in His
Son. Always God's good. I know God is wise, but when
I see God in Christ, now I see His wisdom. How God can save
His people through the righteousness and the sacrifice of His Son.
When I come to Christ, I see God clearly in Him. And I tell
you, when I come to Christ and I see Him, I tell you what else
I see clearly. I see myself. God will give me a glimpse of
Christ. I'll see truly how insignificant that I am. That I just don't
matter in this equation. When I see Christ, I see how
sinful I am. I see how much I need Christ. when I see Him. And when I see
Christ, I see how secure I am in Him. Yes, the flesh is going
to suffer and is going to go through all these things and
make me ashamed of myself, put me in all these horrible situations.
But when I see Christ, I see that I'm secure in Him, in His
sufficiency, in His power. It's not my power to stand. It's
not my power not to slip and fall away. It's in His power.
his sufficiency. Second of all, the sanctuary
is the public place of worship. This is the place God said, I'll
meet with me and I'll meet with you here in this public place
of worship. When I get out there in the world,
I start to see things through the prism of the world. But when
I come to the public worship service, I start to see everything
more clearly as it really is, because in the public worship
services where God's word And God's Word is opened up. Now
I see things more clearly. Now I begin to calm down. Now I see everything's okay.
Nothing about my circumstances has changed. I'm still in poverty. I'm still in trial. And the wicked
are still prospering. Nothing about any of my circumstances
have changed. I just see everything clearly
now as it is when God's Word is preached. And I want to give
us five things that become clear when we come to Christ and we
hear His word. Number one is this, the wicked
become clear, their end. And what's going on with the
wicked becomes clear when I see Christ and hear His word. Verse
17, David says, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then
understood I their end. Surely thou did set them in slippery
places. thou castest them down into destruction.
How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? They are utterly
consumed with terrors as a dream when one awaketh. So, O Lord,
when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. Now, I look
through the prism of the flesh. I thought God was blessing the
wicked. But when I came to Christ and
I heard his word, then I understood. the end of the wicked. They weren't
being blessed at all. At all. If the only so-called
blessings of this life that we have are fleshly and material
blessings, if that's all we have, we haven't been blessed at all.
Not at all. Matter of fact, we've been cursed.
God's people are never in a slippery place. God has set their feet
on Christ the solid rock. But the wicked that we think
are prospering, They're on a slippery slope, a slippery slope to hell,
and that's exactly where they'll end up if God's not merciful
to them. I don't believe that I envy them
quite so much, do you? I remember when Henry used this
illustration when Magic Johnson was first diagnosed with AIDS. I loved to watch Magic Johnson
play basketball more than I liked to breathe. I mean, I just loved
watching him play basketball. I just thought, man, this guy
is wow. And he had the money. He had
the fame. He had the personality. He had
everything. And he was diagnosed with AIDS. Henry said, now, people
want to trade places with him now. Now that I see their end, I'm
not quite so envious of them. Are you? And in hell, Their so-called
blessings are going to be like a dream. It wasn't even real. They haven't been blessed at
all. They're under God's judgment. So David says, I'm not envious
of the wicked anymore. Now, instead of envying them,
I pity them. I pity them. I want them to hear
the gospel. I was envious. But now I'm thankful. Now I'm thankful that I'm not
like Now I'm thankful that God's delivered me from that, that
I'm not envious anymore, because when I come to Christ and I hear
God's Word preached, you know what I realize? I don't have
anything to be envious of. God's already given me everything
in Christ. But the wicked, and I tell you
the worst problem with the wicked, the wicked is me. The wicked
is my flesh, and I would have the same end is everybody else
if it weren't for God's grace. So that brings me to the second
thing. It becomes clear how sinful and how foolish and how needy
I am when I see Christ and I hear his word. Verse 21, David says,
Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So
foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee. Now there is A great difference
between the wicked and God's children. When the wicked are
rebuked by God's Word, they speak against it. That is the theme
of the day in which we live. God's Word cannot be the absolute. When God's Word condemns the
wicked, what do the wicked say? Well, it doesn't mean that. That's
just the words of men. It doesn't mean that. That's
just the mean old God of the Old Testament. The nice, loving
God of the New Testament would never be that way. God wouldn't
do that. For God is love. When the wicked are rebuked by
God's word, they speak against it and they harden themselves
against God's word. They harden themselves in their
rebellion just exactly like Pharaoh did. And their end will be the
same. But when God's people are rebuked
by the word, They're humbled by it. Their heart is pricked
by it. When the sin and the attitudes
of our flesh are exposed, God's people are ashamed. And you know
why? Because God's Word reaches the
heart of the believer. That heart that can be affected
by God's Word. The Word won't affect that old,
cold, dead heart of the flesh. But it'll affect the heart that
God gives. David saw Christ. He heard God's Word. He said,
I'm ashamed. I'm so ashamed of myself. He
said, I was like a beast before you. Now what's the only thing
a beast thinks about? His belly. Himself. That's all
he thinks about. If you look in Isaiah chapter
1, really, when we say I was as a beast before thee, really
and truly, that is an insult to beasts everywhere. Isaiah
chapter 1. Verse 2, hear, O heavens, and
give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I've nourished and
brought up children, and what have they done? They've rebelled
against me. Now, the ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know. My
people doth not consider. Even the beasts are smarter than
us. Come on. Even the beasts know
who owns them. Even the beasts know. who feeds
them. We don't. So it's really we're
saying, I'm so ashamed. I was as a beast before you were
just insulting, insulting the beast. Now, nobody really likes
to be forced to see how foolish and how sinful we are. But when
a child of God is made to see the foolishness of our nature,
the sinfulness of our nature, the sin that we are, that makes
us come to Christ. I don't know the right word I'm
looking to, more fervently. It makes us cling to Him more
desperately. See, this is an important part
of hearing the Word over and over and over again. Because
we constantly need to be reminded of our sinfulness. The world
is constantly telling us we're not so bad. We need to be constantly
reminded, oh yes we are. We're dead in sin. And we need
to be constantly reminded of God's mercy in Christ. We need
to be constantly reminded how much we need Christ. We have
to be reminded of our sinfulness and reminded of our foolishness
so that we're reminded how dependent we are upon Christ. And what
a good hope we have if all we can depend upon is Him. Thirdly, God's mercy His unending, eternal mercy becomes
more clear. When I come to Christ, I hear
his word. Verse 23, nevertheless, despite
everything that I've said about myself, all these areas that
I've thought wrongly and I was slipping on, nevertheless, I
am continually with thee. Thou hast hold of me by my right
hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive
me to glory. David said, I'm so foolish. I'm
so ignorant. I'm so sinful. Yet, nevertheless,
I am continually with thee. Despite all my sin, nevertheless,
God has not cast me off. My sin is so great, but God's
grace is never less. God's mercy, God's grace is never
less than my sin. It's always His grace is always
greater than my sin. And God's wisdom is a whole lot
greater than mine too. God knows how foolish I am a
whole lot better than I do. So He's taken me by the hand.
He took hold of my hand a long time ago. In eternity the Father
put me in the hand of Christ my surety. And there I am in
His great hand. And no man is able to pluck me
out of that great hand, so that I'm safe. He's taken me by the
hand. I thought of, when I read that
verse, I thought about this. Last Sunday evening, it was warm.
Jan and I wanted a little exercise. So we're going to go walk around
Central Park and look at the Christmas lights. And what you
know to be true is true. There are lots of families with
little children going around the park looking at the Christmas
lights. And many of the parents, you see them walking along, and
they're holding the hand. They're not carrying them in
their arms. They've got a hold of the hand of their little ones.
And it's a good thing that they do. Good thing. Because you know
what a four-year-old will do? They'll look at the Christmas
lights, and they'll wander right out in the street to get my call.
If mom and dad had to hold them by the hand. Those kids, I mean
they get looking at those lights. They got visions of Santa Claus.
They got sugar plums dancing in their head and they're fascinated
by these lights. And they'll just walk off and
stumble and fall over something, you know. Unless mom and daddy's
got them by the hand to keep them safe from themselves. They'll
just be gawking at all those lights and they'll run into people,
you know, and just. Unless mom and daddy's holding
them by the hand. God has taken His people by the
hand to protect us from ourselves. We get gawking at all the trinkets
of this life. We walk off the cliff. God didn't
hold us by the hand. He didn't hold us in His hands.
And He directs His people with His counsel. Much to my chagrin,
I see a lot of people, a lot of parents give counsel to their
children, and their children don't listen a bit, you know?
They wander off, get in all kinds of trouble. God directs His people
with His counsel, and His children listen. Now what's God's counsel? What is it that God uses to direct
His children? It's His Word. He leads them
by His Word. And He doesn't do it in vain
now. By His Word. He takes His children all the
way to glory. And that's what we get in the
worship service. The children's bread, the children's
direction. And it doesn't matter how sinful
we are. We cannot escape God's mercy. God won't let go. No man can pluck them, He said,
out of my Father's hand. I say it all the time. No man
can pluck us out and we can't jump out. He will not let us
go. When I come to Christ and I see
Him, and I hear His Word preached, I learn to my shame I haven't
followed the Lord in vain at all. The Lord didn't say to the
seed of Jacob, seek my face in vain. I didn't follow the Lord
in vain. He was going to lead me all the
way, protecting me from myself. Right, here's the fourth thing.
When I come to Christ, I hear His Word. My true heart's desire
becomes clear to me. Verse 25. Whom have I in heaven
but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. I remember when I was looking
through the prism of the flesh, I was envious of the wicked.
I began to want more of those material blessings And there's
nothing wrong with wanting more of those things, but here is
my problem. I wanted them at any cost, at any expense. But now when I come to Christ,
and I hear God's Word, I'm reminded, it's made very clear to me, my
desire is Christ. He's my desire. There's nobody
I desire on this earth like I desire Him. I love being with you. My darling,
darling wife. One day we may not be. I'll tell you what we'll realize. I need
you more. I need you. There are lots of
stuff in this life I'd like to have. I need you. This is what I found out I can
do without. I can't do it without Him. I
can't do it without Him. I desire more than anything.
I say with the Apostle Paul family, I desire more than anything to
have His righteousness. I desire more than anything to
be made like Him. I desire more than anything to
awake with His likeness and not be like me anymore, but to be
like Him. He's my designer. His word is
open. That's what I'm reminded. That
becomes clear to me. David said, I looked through
that prism of the flesh, I envied the wicked. I saw Christ. I heard His word. You know who
I envied? I envied those who are already
there in His presence. That's who I envy. See, my heart's
desire is to be with Christ. And I love what David says here.
He doesn't say, what have I in heaven? Or what do I want in
heaven? Do I want crowns and mansions? No, he says, whom have I heaven
but thee? That's my desire, is to be with
Christ. And the glory of heaven will be with Christ. To be with
Him face to face. He will be heaven for me. And
the rest of earth, it can just fade away. It can just fade away. But give me Christ or else I
die. Alright, here's the last thing. Those things that I should
say publicly become clear. When I come to Christ, I hear
his word. Verse 27. For lo, they that are far from
thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all them
that go a whoring from thee. But it's good for me to draw
near to God. I put my trust in the Lord God
that I may declare all thy works. Now you remember back in verse
15, David was afraid of causing God's people to stumble by saying
his thoughts out loud. But after we come to Christ,
after we hear His word, we know just what to say to be a help
and an encouragement to God's people. Not to make them stumble,
but to encourage them. Don't tell them what you think.
Tell them what God says. That'll encourage them. That'll
help them. Tell them about salvation in Christ. Tell them the truth. Now, if we go our own way, if
we go the way of the flesh, we're going to perish. But there's
forgiveness with God. God's going to judge the wicked,
but there is forgiveness with God. Now go to Him. Draw an eye to God in Christ
and you'll be accepted. Put your trust in Christ and
you'll never stumble. He'll always hold you by His
powerful, gracious hand. So don't talk about the works
of the flesh that lead to destruction. Let's talk about God's wondrous
works in Christ. We do that and our souls will
be lifted up. You see, it's God's word. It's
the preaching of the gospel that lifts us up away from the dunghill
of the flesh and gives us a bird's eye view to see things as they
really are. And the only way those things
will become clear to us is in Christ. So let's go to here.
Let's go to Him. Let's get in His Word. And God
will make these things clear to us. He'll help us and encourage
us and comfort our hearts as He brings us to glory. All right,
let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for Your Word that leads and directs Your people. Father,
I pray You take Your Word tonight and apply it to the hearts of
Your people. Let us see Christ. Let us see
the glory of salvation in Him, the glory and security of trust
in Him, of faith in Him. Father, how we thank you for
your mercy, for your grace. We freely confess our sin. That's
all we are. That's all we do. That's all
we think. That's all we say. We're so sinful. The truth of the matter, is we
don't even know how sinful we are. It's so great. But how we
thank you that your grace is never less. It's always more. It's always sufficient. But cause us to look away from
the filth, the worthlessness of this
life below and cause us to look to Christ and make everything
clear to us in him. It's in his precious name. that
we pray and give thanks.