Week 1 - Perspective: Psalm 73:1-17 (Kenneth Gray)

Series: Perspective
Week: 1
Scripture: Psalm 73:1-17
Preacher: Kenneth Gray

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Welcome to the sermon podcast of Exodus Church, located in Belmont, North Carolina. For more information about our church and the many ways you can be involved, you can go to our website at exoduschurch.com. Good morning, everybody. My name is Kenneth, and I'm one of the Orchard Initiative pastoral residents here at Exodus. And it's my pleasure to get to preach God's word to you. If you have your Bibles, we're going to be in Psalm 73. Psalm 73, we're going to look at the first half of the Psalm. So a partial perspective can cause us to reach an incorrect conclusion. Almost every Friday night at our house, we have pizza and movie night. And it's awesome. It's one of my favorite parts of my week. Something I didn't know about the whole parenting thing is how fun it is to introduce your kids to things that you love. So what we do is we put a bed sheet out on the living room floor, and we let the kids eat on the floor. Whitney lets me eat on the floor. It's awesome. And then we watch movies. So we've watched Aladdin and the Lion King or the Ninja Turtles. And I get to show my kids movies and things that I love. And it's one of my favorite things. But most weeks, we always run into the same problem. My four-year-old daughter, Hadden, she hates any movies that have baddies, aka villains, hates them. So anytime there's a villain on the screen, she wants us to turn it off. And that's a big problem, because every good movie has good villains. So what happens every time? She'll ask us to turn it off. And I wanted to say this up front. Before you think I'm a cruel parent, all these movies are age appropriate, OK? So we're not making them watch Jurassic Park or Lord of the Rings. We're talking Lion King, OK? So if she wants us to turn it off, I always say, hey, baby, we can't. We have to get to it. We have to see what happens, because the good guys win. I don't want to turn off the movie in the middle, or she's going to reach an incorrect conclusion. She's going to think that Scar beats Simba and Mufasa forever. Jafar beats Aladdin. She won't believe that love thaws a frozen heart. Like, she just won't do it. She will think the bad guys win. She'll see bad people doing bad things, and somehow they win. Why? Because a partial perspective causes us to reach an incomplete and incorrect conclusion. So throughout human history, one of the most complicated questions has been, why do bad things happen to good people? Why does a good God allow bad things to happen? Theologians and philosophers call this the problem of evil. Psalm 73, which is our text for this morning, addresses the opposite question. Why does a good God let good things happen to bad people? Why does it seem like the wicked prosper, as the text says? So this week and next week, we're going to be in a short miniseries called Perspective. So this week, this morning, we're going to look from the psalmist's perspective, Asaph's perspective, at the wicked. And the next week, you're going to see what happens when he gets in God's presence. But what happens this morning is he sees good things happening to bad people, and he's disoriented. It messes with him. And what does it do? It causes him to want to join them. Our big idea this morning is really, really simple. Do not join the wicked. Don't do it. You're going to see good things happen to bad people, and you're going to be tempted to join them. Don't join them. So let's look with me at Psalm 73. We're going to begin in verse 1."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, pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice. Loftily, they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore, his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. And they say, how can God know? Is their knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease. They increase in riches. All in vain I have 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, thus I will speak, 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 I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I discerned their end." Pray with me. Heavenly Father God, help us fight the pull of sin. Help us fight the desire we have to join in with the wicked. I pray this morning as we study your beautiful text that you will help us to fight against sin and to cling to you and cling to the goodness that we have in you. Lord, I pray that you will show yourself big this morning. Lord, we love you. Pray all these things in your name. Amen. All right. So again, our big idea is do not join in with the wicked. So the beginning of Psalm 73 begins almost like the first scene in a movie. So imagine an old man sitting in a rocking chair. And he's about to tell you the story of his life. Or the teenage girl movie where it begins and says, let me take you back to the first day of high school. He starts out and he says, truly God is good to Israel, in verse 1, to those who are pure in heart. What he's doing is he's saying, this is the conclusion I reached. What's his conclusion? Truly, what is true? God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. What's he saying? He says, God is good to those who are pure in heart, which means those who have an unmixed loyalty and devotion to God. Their loyalty and devotion is set on one thing. They are truly devoted to the Lord. I grew up-- I spent most of my life growing up in Mississippi. And so in Mississippi, two things you need to know. Everyone loves college football. And they are completely and totally loyal to their teams. You may think you're loyal to your team. I promise. Back at my old church, I remember on Sunday mornings, Mississippi State or Ole Miss could get beat by 70 points. The next morning, I'd be like, all right, so how'd you feel about the game? Our boys played hard. They would find something positive. Win or lose, rain or shine, they're not changing their tune. They're totally devoted to the team. And Asaph is saying, God is good to those who are totally devoted to him. He says, but-- but-- look in verse 2-- as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. Why? Why is Asaph tempted to stumble? He says, because I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Says I was-- in verse 3, I was envious of the arrogant. What happens? He sees good things happening to bad people. And what does he do? He's tempted to join them. He almost goes and joins them. Friends, don't join them. Don't join in with the wicked. So we're going to watch the psalmist's progression. He goes from confusion to crisis to clarity. So let's start with confusion. He's confused. He's completely disoriented. Why? Because he sees good things happening to bad people. And this is confusing. It's confusing to us. Maybe at your job, you see people who-- they lie, they cheat, and they steal. But they always seem to get ahead, and they get a promotion. Or maybe they're just unkind to people at your office, and they don't work as hard. But they always seem to get good things. Or we could think really big, bad things. We could point to dictators in other countries who-- they're supposed to care and lead their people. And what do they do? They hurt their people so they can have more power and pleasure and profit in the world. It's completely disorienting. It's hard to understand. Why does it seem like good things happen to bad people? And Asaph, he's confused. And we're confused often. You have this happen in your life. Maybe you have a friend or family member, and they're struggling to make ends meet. And then you see some story of someone who robs a bank, and they have millions of dollars. And it seems like they can't catch him. It seems like they're just living the good life. It doesn't seem fair. Asaph says, "As for me, my foot nearly slipped." Why? He says he sees the prosperity of the wicked. I really wanted to find a different word to use throughout the sermon than wicked, but I just couldn't find a good one. Synonyms for wicked are words like evil or bad. And that doesn't really convey the same force as the word. In the original Hebrew language, wicked means guilty, the guilty. So this isn't just a perception problem. He doesn't look at them and go, those people look bad. He says, no, they are bad. They are sinful by nature and by action. He said, they're totally guilty. But the problem is he sees the prosperity of the wicked. The word prosperity is the Hebrew word shalom, which conveys the idea of God's peace to his people. So he's saying, these people seem to be enjoying God's good peace that is meant for his people, but they're living in a completely different direction than God. This seems unfair. But what's he tempted to do? He's tempted to join them. He almost stumbles because he is pulled by the presence and power of the wicked to join them because he wants what they have. So in verses 4 through 9, he paints-- it's almost like a caricature. He paints us a picture of the wicked. Have you ever had a caricature done of yourself? You go to the fair, or carowinds, and they draw a picture of you. You have tiny legs and giant muscles, and you're on a surfboard with a tennis racket and big ears. Nobody? So that's what he's doing. He shows us a picture of what the wicked look like, but it's kind of an outsized picture. And so his picture of them revolves around two things, pleasure and power. So pleasure, in verse 4, he says,"They have no pangs until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek." He's saying they don't experience the pain of life until death. They're living the good life. Seems so unfair. What is going on? They're living the good life. But they're also fat and sleek. Now, I know for some of us, you're like, I don't think fat's a good word. I think you're misunderstanding. And it's not really culturally a good word for us, outside of a few years in the early 2000s. It's kind of a dark period. But fat was a major positive in their culture. Why? Because people who could be fat, they had access to the best delicacies of their day, and they also had enough power and money they didn't have to work like everyone else did. So most of their lives revolved around making sure they could put food on the table. So they were farming and taking care of animals so they could eat. But these people, the wicked, you're going to see in just a second, through their power, they have gotten enough wealth and money. They don't have to do that. They can just eat and eat and eat all day. What they're doing is they're enjoying the finest foods. They're eating chicken wings for breakfast, Popeyes for lunch, and rib eye steak for dinner, or insert whatever your ideal day of eating would be. That's what they're doing. They're fat. It says they're so fat in verse 7 that their eyes swell out through fatness. And that's kind of a double image. So they're so fat it's pushing their eyes out. But as it pushes their eyes out, it's trying to show you their desires keep growing. Have you ever heard someone say, your eyes are bigger than your stomach? Yeah, that's what he's saying. He says their desires are outrunning even what they can consume. And so they've overeaten and overenjoyed to the point that it's led their hearts to overflow with all the good things they can enjoy. One translation says these fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for. I love it. I love it so much. They have everything they could possibly want. Charles Spurgeon said their meat surpassed their appetite. So they had more than they could indulge. And how did they get it? Through power. Look with me at verse 6. It says, "Therefore, pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment." The word in that-- there's a verb in that passage, the word "necklace." It actually says they're necklaced by pride. Pride is wrapped around their neck. Pride and violence are a fashion that they wear. They feel like they're the most important people on the planet. And they'll hurt others to keep that power and keep that pleasure. They'll do whatever they want. And not only that, they're bold in their sin. In verse 8, it says, "They scoff and speak with malice, loftily they threaten oppression." So they're violent with their actions and their words. They don't care. They're bold in their sin. They hurt other people. It even says in verse 9, "They set their mouths against the heavens." So what he's saying is they're violent towards those around them, and they look up to God, and they're violent towards him, too. They don't care. Why? They're living the good life. They're doing whatever they want. Because their desire for more has crowded out their desire for God. Their eyes swell out through their fatness. They're dressed in the fashion of violence. The picture Asaph paints is for us to see. These people are actually guilty. They're wicked. They're bad people. And what I want Asaph to do is I want him in verse 10 to go, yeah, and they're going to face God's judgment, and they are the worst. I can't stand those guys. That's not what he does. He's tempted to join them. Friends, don't give in to the temptation to join the wicked. Look with me in verse 10. The psalmist is thrown into a crisis. He's thrown into a crisis. So after that description of the wicked, you would think he would go, I don't want anything to do with that. I don't want to deal with these fat, violent people. That seems like people I don't want to be a part of. But his mistake is that he is tempted to join them. Temptation is being invited to sin. He is invited to sin. Why? Because sin has a kind of gravity to it. Do you understand gravity? In like 30 minutes or so, you're going to stand up from your chair. And if you're past 30, you're going to hear your knees creak and go, oh. There's like a collective, oh, when people stand up. Because gravity pulls you down. The older and older I get, the more cognizant I am of not falling down. Like I trip, and it's like, mayday, mayday, don't hit the ground. Like, let's not do that again. It starts to pull you. And this is what happens with sin. Because we are sinful by nature and sinful in our actions, and we live in a broken world, sin pulls us to it. So you start to stumble, and there's a force working against you, and you hit the ground. That's what Asaph is saying. He says, I almost slipped. I almost slipped. He's pulled by the gravity of the wicked. The presence and power of the wicked pulls us to join them. And there's three ways Asaph shows us that he's tempted. The first one is comparison. One of the ways we give in to the temptation to join the wicked is through comparison. He starts watching what they're doing. His focus is on the wicked, not on what God is doing. So he's watching these violent, prideful, arrogant success stories in his eyes. He's like, these people are winning. They're winning. Why? Because sin, one of the most powerful things sin does is it makes what is destructive and dangerous seem attractive. So something you do before you have a baby, OK? Before you bring a baby home from the hospital, it's kind of impossible. But you baby-proof a house, OK? So what you do is you put all the little locks on the cabinets, and you move all the dangerous things higher and higher. Do you know why? Because babies are drug dogs for danger. And if you put-- you want to know where the most dangerous things in your house are, borrow an 18-month-old and put them in the living room on the floor. They will find it. You'll be like, I didn't know we had machetes under the couch. Like, yeah, you did. Like, and that little 18-month-old found it. I tell my wife all the time, I'm like, whoever invented the little electrical sockets and made them look like smiley faces had no kids. Like, that guy, he's never seen a kid before. Like, what is he doing? But this is what sin does. It's these dangerous, shiny things that we're drawn to. And we don't realize how dangerous and destructive they are. Because whatever we look at, we're going to desire. And whatever we desire, we're going to try to get. Comparison gives us a faulty perspective. There's all sorts of ways we compare ourselves. Maybe there's one in your pocket right now. You open your phone, and you look on social media, and you see everybody seems to always be at the beach or the mountains. And their kids seem successful, and they're always winning. And what are you doing with your life? And all of a sudden, you start to question your choices, and you feel less worthy. Or maybe it's next week at Thanksgiving. You're going to look around the table, and you're going to be tempted to compare yourself. You're going to be like, I'm so thankful for all the ways God has given me these people. And I'm so thankful that I'm not as out of shape as that guy, or that my kids are better behaved than this person. Or the opposite. You'll say, man, I wish I was in better shape, or I wish my kids were more well-behaved. I know my kids are going to look-- when we make the plates, they're going to be like, he got more of this, and she got more of this. And they're going to fight about it. Why? Because comparison robs us of enjoyment of the things God has given us. Comparison always leads us to believe God hasn't given us enough. And if God hasn't given us enough, then he's not good enough. And what we'll do is we'll run after other things to get the good things we think we deserve. When we compare the quality of our lives with others, we always reach the same conclusion. God is not good enough. Mark Twain famously said, "Comparison is the thief of joy." For followers of Jesus, comparison is the death of obedience. It kills our obedience because we will run after things we were not created to run after. And so the presence and prosperity of the wicked-- it causes people to want to join them. In verse 10 he says his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. What you want him to say is his people see the wicked and they run away. But what they see is they go no they seem to be doing it right. I'm gonna go follow them. When good things happen to bad people don't join them. Don't join them. The second way is blatant disobedience. In verse 11, the psalmist says, here's what the people are saying about God. They're saying, how can he know? If God's letting these good things happen to these bad people, can he really even know what they're doing? That doesn't seem like God. The wicked have become the standard of success. And what happens is people will be willing to be wicked to get what the wicked have. Because the wicked have two things we all want. So the two biggest idols in our world today, in our culture today, and in this room today, are the two things we all want. An idol is anything less than God that gets what God deserves. The wicked, look with me at verse 12. Here's what he says about them. These are the wicked. Again, I want them to be like the worst. But what does he say? They're always at ease, and they increase in riches. What do they have? They have comfort and wealth. Comfort and wealth. I want you to think just a second. How much of your life is devoted to earning those two things, comfort and wealth? Maybe just a little bit of discomfort or the lack of wealth that you face. It'll lead you to lie, cheat, or steal to get ahead at work. Or maybe the temptation to make those things idols in your life are really subtle. Maybe you wake up, and one of your first thoughts is, I can't wait to get home and get back to the couch so I can keep watching that show on Netflix. Or maybe it's something more destructive. Maybe a little bit of discomfort leads you to run to pornography or the overuse of alcohol. We will do anything to push away discomfort at the pursuit of comfort. The temptation we face every day and a question we all have to answer is, am I going to choose a life of luxury without God or a life that's going to have some hard things in it, but I get God? What choice are you going to make? It's so easy to pursue comfort at the expense of everything else. So a few weeks ago, I wanted some chicken wings. It was a Thursday night. I like chicken wings. I told Whitney, I said, we're going to order some chicken wings. So I ordered chicken wings online. I go to an unnamed place in Gastonia, called Wingstop to pick them up. And they weren't ready. It's fine. Like, you know, whatever. I like sit down. I start looking at my phone. Well, slowly but surely, people start to trickle in. And a trickle becomes a mob very quickly. So what happened was the people at the back, there weren't enough workers. And you can see them cooking the wings right there. There's like one and a half guys, basically, is how it felt. So you're watching them, and they're working as hard as they can. And every couple of minutes, he would yell back, hey, everybody, I'm working as hard as I can. We're understaffed. We're really sorry. And people just got angrier and angrier. They started just yelling back, I've been here an hour. And I was like, I mean, it's probably not going to help, man. I don't think he's going to be like, oh, my bad, dude. So slowly but surely, they just get angrier and angrier, and people are getting meaner and meaner and meaner. Why? Because they were hungry, and they had to wait. Hunger and waiting led them to mistreat other people. I don't think any of those people woke up and said, you know what I'm going to do this afternoon? I'm going to go home, bully a fast food worker. That'll be great. Great way to spend a night. No. But discomfort led them to pursue comfort at someone else's expense. And if you're sitting there thinking, man, those people are bad, in like an hour and a half, when someone looks at you and says, what do you want to eat for lunch, and your blood sugar is just a little low, you're like, I don't care. You just pick. Like, it's going to happen to you, right? We will pursue comfort at others' expense. And that's called sinning. Don't join in the wicked. Don't do it. The other lie that they believe-- they're pursuing comfort because they start to believe God doesn't know or care. He doesn't know or care what I do, so I should just join in with the wicked. The third thing we see is foolish thinking. Look with me at verse 13. It's one of the saddest parts of the psalm. So Asaph, he gets to this point. And again, I just want him to be like, no, I'm not going to join the wicked. But what he says, he says, "all in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence." He's saying, I've wasted it. I've wasted my life. My heart and my hands, I'm serving God. I'm obedient to God with them. What a waste. I want you to imagine going to a 50th wedding anniversary. If you've ever been, it's always a joyous celebration. It's like, man, 50 years, that's amazing. People devoted to one another, loving one another, caring for one another. But I want you to imagine a husband or wife that's been married 50 years gets up at that anniversary party and says, you know what? I should have had an affair. I shouldn't have cared so much. I wasted my time, my money, my energy on you. If I could do it all over again, I just wouldn't do it. What would you say? You say, that's a tragedy. That's what the psalmist says. He gets to the end. He goes, I've wasted my life. I've wasted my life pursuing God. If you've ever read in Luke 15, the story of the prodigal son, that's what it's commonly called. If you've never read it, go home this afternoon and read it. Read Luke 15. But there's two parts to the story. So there's the younger brother who he takes his father's inheritance, and he goes and he lives a wild life, wasted, and he's welcomed back in love. And they throw him a big party, and they eat a bunch of ribeye steak. And then the older brother comes back, and he hears the party, and he's upset. He says, he tells his father, I've been with you all these years, and you've never done this for me. And his father says this. He says, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. The older brother, Asaph, and us, we all face the temptation to believe, maybe this is all a waste. What did the older brother miss? He's in the presence of the father. What does Asaph miss? He knows God. He knows him. He knows him. But what's he see? He sees good things happen to bad people, and he wants to run after them. Friends, don't run after them. In the last warning he gives, when you run after the wicked, when you pursue the ways of the wicked, you hurt those around you. Rebellion affects community. When you follow the wicked, you ruin your life and the life of those around you. Look at verse 15. He says, if I had said, I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. So he's saying, if I would have said, yeah, this is all right, I would have betrayed a generation, an entire generation. Friends, don't join the wicked. There's so much at stake. Don't join them. Do not join them. Our last point is we see the psalmist get clarity. In verse 16, he says, when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me to be a wearisome task. Yes and amen. If you're following along, you're like, yeah, why does God let good things happen to bad people? It's kind of like, I can't even wrap my head around it. If you've even thought through these things, it's confusing. It's hard to understand. He says, it's wearisome. What do we do when we have hard questions, wearisome questions? We do what Asaph does. We go to the Lord. The psalmist enters into the presence of God, and it changes his perspective. Verse 17, it seems a wearisome task. Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I discerned their end. He gets a new perspective. He gets in God's presence. And what does he see? He says, I discerned their end. He sees it. It's like all of a sudden, he's in the presence of God, and everything clicks on. He goes, OK, I get to be in the presence of this. Here's what's going to happen to the wicked. They don't get this. They get the opposite of this. What happens? He simply sees who God is, and it changes everything. It changes everything. Why? Because he sees the coming punishment of the wicked, and he sees that he gets to belong to God. He gets to belong to God. The question he's asking, why do good things happen to bad people, is a great question. Go with me back to the beginning, verse 1. He says, truly God is good to Israel, OK, to those who are pure in heart. So Bible scholars say this is the orienting statement. He's saying this is the truth of the psalm, and he explains it here. Why is he so confident about verse 1? Because he almost slips until he gets in the presence of God. He says, truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. So again, unmixed devotion, total loyalty to God. Asaph, he's just painted this picture. He's saying it's not fair. That's what he's saying. He sounds like a three-year-old, and kind of like most of us. He's like, it's not fair. Why do they get all these good things? Because in his mind, he's like, yeah, I'm a good dude. But is he? Is he? Is his devotion solely on the Lord? Let's read again. In verse 3, he says, "I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." And then in 13, he says, "In vain, I've kept my heart clean." OK, so just a reminder, all of a sudden, this guy, he's jealous of what the wicked have. He's saying, what a waste of my life. Is he a good dude? No. No, there are no good people in Psalm 73. Not one. And there's no good people in this room either. But how does Asaph come to that conclusion? He gets in God's presence. So a bad person gets to experience the greatest good, being in God's presence and knowing God. How? Grace. How does this happen? Grace. There's no good person in this room who deserves to be in God's presence. We all deserve what you're going to see that's going to happen to the wicked next week. The question, why do good things happen to bad people? It's a great question, because we're all bad people. But there's a God who gave up the comfort and luxury of heaven. And he came down, and he paid the penalty of our sin. He lived the perfect life for us, and he died on a Roman cross so that we could be right with God forever. Would you choose a life of luxury and comfort without God, or would you choose a life that's going to include some pain, but you get to know God forever? Friends, don't join the wicked. Don't join the wicked. Don't do it. How does the psalmist change his perspective? He gets in God's presence, and it changes everything. Don't join the wicked. Christian, where are you tempted to join the wicked? Where in your life, where in your heart right now are you saying, I'm feeling pulled by the gravity of sin to rebel and go follow them? Can I just say, you don't have to do it. Just don't do it. If you're here and you're not following Jesus, you don't have to face the punishment that the wicked are going to face. You don't have to spend eternity in hell. You don't have to. You can spend eternity with the God who the psalmist in Psalm 16 says that there are pleasures at his right hand forevermore. Why? Because we're going to get to be with him. What we were created for, to be with God. Jesus has secured the best in for you. Friends, don't join the wicked. Join him. Fight temptation. Fight it. How do you fight it? You go to him, and you get in his presence. Don't join the wicked. Why? Because truly, God is good. Let's pray. Heavenly Father God, thank you for the truth that you're good. And you're holy, and you've made a way for us to know you. It's better than we truly can fathom. But you've made a way for us to know you and enjoy you. And Lord, bad people have been made holy and acceptable in your sight by your good sacrifice on the cross. Lord, I pray that for those who are here who are fulfilling the pull of temptation, Lord, lead them not into that temptation. Lead them away from it. Lord, bring your kingdom. Help them fight against that pull. Lord, we're all tempted to rebel against you. Lord show us how good you are. Remind us how good you are. Stamp your goodness on our heart so that we will never stray from you. Lord, we love you. Thank you for the cross. Lord, thank you for leaving heaven and making a way for us to be right with you forever. Lord, you're so good. We pray all these things in your holy and precious name. Amen.