The sermon is centered around Psalm 73 and the journey of Asaph, exploring the tension between the prosperity of the wicked and the struggles of the godly. It emphasizes the transformative power of understanding God's ultimate judgment and the importance of maintaining faith despite worldly injustices. The speaker reflects on personal experiences and biblical lessons, illustrating the challenges of envy and the need for a deeper relationship with God. The sermon concludes with insights on the eternal perspective of glory and the final judgment, encouraging believers to trust in God's plan and remain steadfast in their faith.

I'd say let's take a vacation. You think, okay. Couple of days, maybe a couple weeks, families. We do fun things, we'd rest. But if I said to you, let's have an adventure, a journey, what would you think?

A journey. Well that opens things up a bit. How long could a journey be? Three days, a day, 30 years. Would it always be comfortable?

There are no guarantees a Journey is a very very different thing This morning you and I are going to cover vast amount human landscape today we learn all about ASAP and fasten your seat belts It's going to be a bumpy ride. This sermon is titled, Journey to the Center of Your Hearts. And it begins now. Let's pray. Father, thanks for ASAP for this man's journey.

Thank you for your word yet. Because it's true, he still speaks to us. Right here, right now. And help us to see Christ. And help us to see our end.

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. So turn, tap, swipe, scroll to Psalm 73. A Psalm of Asaph Truly God is good to Israel To such as our pure in heart Stop do you believe that? Gary's nodding anybody else want to respond?

Let me rephrase, surely God is good to his church, to those who follow Christ. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God is good? Yeah, not more than I'm going on. What's the next word?

But. This text is governed by tiny words. And but is a tiny word, but oh boy, what it can do. You know, I get a kick out of grammarians they call the word but an Adversitive conjunction It's a lot of syllables that's seven syllables to describe one of the word. Adversitive against conjunction, something that joins.

I'm thankful for grammarians, but we already know this. Imagine you're being reviewed by your boss. Your boss says, man, you're doing a great job. Love this. Super productivity.

I like what I'm seeing but Man you're going this way you're feeling good then but You're pulled away off This word can turn a battleship Is God good but But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped. Now, I have a condition called Charcot-Marie tooth. It's a neurological thing. My muscles are fine, my nerves just don't work.

I've had this my whole life. Okay. I have fallen so many times. By God's grace, I have yet to break a bone. I may someday.

But I find this phenomenal. I haven't yet. Because I've fallen a lot. And falling is terrifying. You're out of control.

Once you slip, you're going down. So this is vivid. This is not just, I'm thinking about this. This is like I'm about to destroy Why what's going on? For I was envious of the boastful When I saw the prosperity of the wicked ah Now we see it On the one hand God is good.

He rewards the faithful, the virtuous. Okay. But what do I see? I see the wicked prospering. So what did he say?

Let's read together. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride serves as their necklace. Violence covers them like a garment.

Their eyes bulge with abundance. They have more than art could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heaven and their tongue walks through the earth.

Therefore as people return here and waters of a full cup are drained by them and they say, how does God know? Is their knowledge in the most high? Behold these are the ungodly Who are always at ease they increase enriches Now this deck says a lot of weird phrases, strange things, but you know exactly what it means, right? There's no question what this means. Wicked people have a lot of good stuff.

They have a good time. They have good lives. That's what ASF saw, and you can see it too. Raise your hand if you know Keith Richards. Hi, Get him up there.

Who knows Keith Richards? Okay. Okay. Keep your hands up. I have a plan here.

Who of you are over 50? Put him down. Under 40. Under 40. How old are you?

Okay. You're our winner. Who is Keith Richards? I believe he played guitar for kids. Oh, swing and a miss.

Got guitarist correct. We'll give him that. Dear lady. Rolling Stones. Now, I was born in 1961.

I had a few records in my house and one of them was the first Rolling Stones greatest hits and Keith Richards was their guitarist. This man used and abused drugs, drank constantly, led a rock and roll lifestyle to the extreme he mocked God But had sympathy for the devil He was so reckless that in the 60s and 70s 50 years ago people would bet on when he would die like in the next month in the next year and He's still alive Just a few years ago. He was in Raleigh on the Zipco tour. His estimated worth is $600 million. What shall we learn from Mr.

Richards? Mark God, defy him, flaunt your rebellion, drag millions of people with you, live a long life, and have more money than you could ever dream of. He's got good to his people. But it gets worse. Look back at your Bibles.

Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocence for all day long. I have been plagued and chastened every morning. It's not only that the wicked prosper, the godly are plagued and punished. I want you to note, surely I have cleansed. This surely is the same word as truly in the beginning.

With the same competence, truly God is good. Now he's saying, truly, surely, I have cleansed my own in vain. This is useless. The person who lies and takes credit for their work is often promoted. Or takes credit for others' work is often promoted.

People who tell the truth stare out where they're at Young people who sleep around get married Some people who remain faithful to Christ sleep alone The young woman who laps in the back seat of her car of her boyfriend's car on their first date gets pregnant and a godly Christian woman praying to start a family cannot people have you been around much in this life you've been there this happens This is life Here what I have to say right now We serve God Because we love God never for result never ever ever ever Serving God for result is not faith It's quid pro quo It's you manipulating God and guys we have to be careful about this here. This group of people is amazing. I hope you appreciate this. I have never in my life been with a group of people so committed I've met here. I mean never, not even close.

I mean we're all sincerely Trying to serve God. I heard when I talked to you It's amazing We asked a lot of the right questions We study in and think and pray until we get good answers And then we do lots of the right things, and so should everything turn out alright? Shouldn't it just be great? No! Maybe.

No! Maybe. But if that's why you're doing it, you're on Asaph's path. You're doing it because you want something from God in this life. And that doesn't happen.

How can I say that? On the one hand, we have Keith Richards On the other hand We have Jesus a Man God favored God the Father said he loved him. This man didn't know wrong. How did it work out for him? He was hated, despised.

We spit on him, we mocked him. We crucified him. We condemned him, Mocked him. That's what he got. That's what he got for doing the right thing.

Because Jesus wasn't doing it to get an earthly result. He did it because God the Father wanted him to. He got up and he said, your will. And even when it was bitterly beyond comprehension, He said, fine, your will be done and died. This is our, the When we follow Do you expect more Are you dismayed when you have less?

But any Asaph here does something very interesting. He's saying these things. He's them, but he's bothered. If I had said, look at your text, If I had said, I will speak thus, behold I would have been untrue to the generation of your children. Isn't that interesting?

Asaph's talking to himself. You know, I really shouldn't say this stuff. This kind of stuff can mess kids up. It's not good. He knows he's wrong.

Even now, he knows he's wrong. It is good to be honest with God. I think that's the Psalms really primary lesson God knows your heart God knows your mind it's not like he's surprised you're thinking these things It's not like when you confess your sins. He's like oh really He knows us he knows we're thinking them As a matter of fact the only safe place to other than this God There are some believers who believe it's you should just broadcast these sort of feelings Just share them with everybody. They're wrong And ASAP knows this I'm not going to talk this.

I'm not going to say this. But he told it to God. So should you. And as we'll see, God can take it. He's got this.

Continuing in the text. When I thought I had to understand this, it was too painful for me. Not surprising. There's a good reason for this pain The reason this man is messed up is because he's sinning Go back to the beginning of our journey There's a strange order They don't want to call your attention to. I envied when I saw.

What's the first verb? Envy. What's the first verb? Envy. See, it would be logical to see and be envious.

But that's not where Abe Zapp's heart was. He wanted their lives before he saw it. I Want that I want this life and no wicked have it Envy is the beginning Envy is the sin That's why you shouldn't blab this sort of stuff. It's thin. This man knows he's on the wrong track.

Okay. So far, so good. What would you say to him? Any wisdom? Would you challenge him?

If you were Asaph, what would you say to yourself? This text is governed by small words. Take a look at the next word, just one word. Until... It's like you're reading the story time passes Fall winter spring the sun sets Do we know how long it was for ASF?

No, and I'm glad about that. He doesn't say, and the next day, or the next year. He just says time passed. I was having a conversation with someone here, a good conversation, And this person said, Martin, life is a long story. Isn't that correct?

It really is. Time passes. So I don't know, maybe 30 years, maybe 3 hours. What did he do? I went into Asophactin.

He made a decision to go somewhere to get a different point of view where did he go I went into the sanctuary of god He went to a place to find God. Now we're obviously sovereign grace folks here. God is acting in him first. We get that. But you gotta choose.

God says seek, and you seek him. Do it. But you've got to choose. God says, see, he'll take them. Do it.

Do you have places where you meet God. Do you have several? Dear friends, find these places. It can be an inner room, it can be a mountain top, it can be a trail, It can be a roof. Find them.

There are places where God can be found. He went to one of us. What happened? Then I understood their end. You could say he read and believed his Bible.

That's how we understand their end. Surely you said them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how They are brought to desolation as in a moment. They are readily consumed with terrors as a dream when one awakes.

So Lord when you awake, you shall despise their image. The NIV says, you shall despise them as fantasies, gone. Then he understood their end. Stories, lives, journeys, all have beginnings, middles, and ends. We are born, we live, we die.

The Bible story, God creates, man sends, Christ redeems. In a galaxy far, far away, Anakin Skywalker is born. He falls, he is saved. One of the hard-wired truths of this life is this. Beginnings, middles, and endings are different.

You cannot know what living is from a birth. You cannot know from death what a birth is. The only thing Asaph sees is the middle. Just the middle his observations are true Keith Richards there it is you can see this this happens But his data sample is woefully woefully insufficient He is not seeing everything the end Do you remember in this room? I was teaching in Matthew 6 and I asked you the question Why do you read your Bibles?

I? Gave you this answer to fill in the unseen places. You have a sighted life and then a life of faith. And the scriptures fill in the vastly larger life of faith and most importantly here the end And guys we are good teaching about this all the time god would judge the wicked I hope each richards get saved some people tell me his wife's a christian I don't know I hope he does but if he doesn't he will stand before God and be condemned to hell for eternity. And the angels and the saints will say just and true is God.

It's gonna happen. Either you'll be forgiven by Christ or go to hell. And that is just. No question. But, and I love the twist of imagery here, Asap was slipping, now they are.

But he quickly goes on from God's judgment to God's sweet presence. This is the best. Thus my heart was grieved and I was vexed in mind. I was so foolish and ignorant. I was like a beast before you.

That's real good. He sees his envy as whining for what he is, for what it is. He was senseless, stupid, like a beast. I have a very vivid memory of a cow. I was walking through the foothills in California, the young man.

Came across a group of cows. For the first time, I was very close to them. They're big. Man, cows are big. And I was right by this closest cow, Looking at it And I remember her eyes huge eyes vacant of expression Looking at me I'm like I wanted to get this guy to react to me.

I was like hey man what's going on? I yelled, I was eating grass. So I make a fist. I'm gonna get this cow to react. And I pop right between its eyes.

Enough space there for a fist boom That's me my bnase senseless ignorant unaware void of intelligence. I was like a cow. This is also a good place to be thankful that I'm not God. Because if you were acting that way, I'd pop you in the forehead. But this...

This is beyond understanding. This is grace. Beyond comprehension. Look at your text. Nevertheless, I am continually with you.

Sounds like Jesus. Though I will be with you always. You hold me by my right hand, even when I'm ASAP, whining, envious, stupid, unresponsive. You will guide me in your counsel. He did with Asaph.

He got him there. And afterward, receive me to glory. Therein is judgment. Our end is glory. Is Glory Do you hear that Paul in describing the resurrection body gives three contrasts listen to this The body that is soon as perishable it is raised and bearable It is sown in dishonor.

It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is raised in power three words Our end is to be immortal glorious and powerful Do you believe that you really embrace that? That that's where you're going?

What? What? C.S. Lewis, he nails this in weight of glory. Guys, listen to this quote, man.

You got to chew on this one. But It's good. Listen. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible, small case, gods and goddesses. Do remember that the dullest, most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.

Think it through. He's right. Immortal, powerful, glorious. That's my end in the presence of God. And so he finishes.

Whom am I in heaven but you? Cracks me up when people say heaven's gonna be boring. We're gonna play harps on clouds. Think about this just for a moment. Everything you enjoy, everything that blows you away, God made.

How could heaven possibly be more? What? It's going to be beyond conception. It's gonna be incredible. We get to be with God.

God It's all worship at its best is incomparable to what one second is good like at the crystal sea Can you imagine worshipping in the Crystal Sea? Trying to put billions of Christians singing through Jesus in his glory. Now, baby, now. My heart and flesh, my flesh and my heart fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion.

For indeed those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who desert you for harlotry. Yeah, they're going to get judged. But it is good for me to draw near to God. That's where ASF finishes up.

You're now worried about Keith Richards. You're now worried about dying. He wants to be with God. I have put my trust in God. So you have money.

The world gives you money. Gives you stuff. Gives you health. You can be Keith Richards, but so what? You're gonna die.

Can't take any of it. Hang with you. Our lives are a mess. They're gone. But God has me.

In His hand. And I like that. I'm not going anywhere. I want Him to hold me. If I have anything to do with an eternal relationship.

I'm out. I don't want that. I want God to hold me. He's got me. I want you to see that for Asaph, Knowledge of the end change the middle do you see this?

Your belief in heaven and hell Change what you see in this life and if they don't you're gonna have so many problems because this life is so unfair but this life is gonna end envy has been replaced by passion for God. I want to conclude with a scene from the Lord of the Rings, specifically from The Return of the King. Sam, Frodo, and Gollum are in the land of Mordor and it's hard to read frankly it's depressing book it's a wonderful but depressing I mean they're running out of food corks everywhere golems just could kill them or help them. They don't know. And all the, just the ring is killing Frodo.

And one night they camp and Sam goes outside to do a perimeter check. And this is what Tolkien writes. And just, this is a brilliant truth and brilliant writing. Listen to this. This is what Sam says.

There peeping among the cloud rake Above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a moment. The beauty of it smote his heart as he looked up out of the forsaken land and hope returned to him. For like a shaft clear and cold the thought pierced him that in the end The shadow was only a small and passing thing. There was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. Boom!

Just boom! Sam woke up the next morning, and against all odds he kept going. Say Seth's final words, Jern, that I may declare all your works. Guess what, now you can talk. You can say whatever you want about this.

Is God good to Israel? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Is God good to the church? Is God good to you?

Unbelievably, unspeakably good. That's right. Father, again, thanks for Asaph and his wonderful journey. Thanks for your grace, I just can't really get it, but thank you. And thank you for the end that we have.

And thank you for the worship and joy that we all enjoy forever. We pray these things in the name of your dear son. Amen.