WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 –> 00:00:07.100 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 00:00:07.100 –> 00:00:12.660 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. 00:00:12.660 –> 00:00:15.480 Or visit our website, OpenTheBible.org. 00:00:15.480 –> 00:00:17.760 Let’s get to the message. 00:00:18.540 –> 00:00:23.040 Well, will you open your Bibles, please, at Psalm 73? 00:00:23.040 –> 00:00:31.340 We’re going to spend the whole of the next month in this one very, very special psalm. 00:00:31.340 –> 00:00:36.980 The series is called I Almost Gave Up? 00:00:36.980 –> 00:00:41.400 Practical Help for Discouraged Believers. 00:00:41.700 –> 00:00:46.700 It’s all about the issue of persevering. 00:00:46.700 –> 00:00:54.880 Persevering in faith, persevering in ministry, persevering in life. 00:00:54.880 –> 00:01:03.540 Psalm 73 is really a personal testimony about a man who came to a great crisis of discouragement 00:01:03.540 –> 00:01:05.360 in his own life. 00:01:05.360 –> 00:01:12.320 He tells us about how he nearly lost his faith, despite the fact that he was known as a mature 00:01:12.320 –> 00:01:13.839 believer. 00:01:13.839 –> 00:01:19.919 But God helped him and he found his way through the crisis to an even stronger faith than 00:01:19.919 –> 00:01:21.980 he had known before. 00:01:21.980 –> 00:01:28.120 Psalm 73 has been described as the book of Job, in a nutshell. 00:01:28.120 –> 00:01:32.480 That’s what it is and that’s going to be our theme over these next weeks. 00:01:32.959 –> 00:01:38.339 Now if you look at the top of Psalm 73, and we’re going to read the first half of it in 00:01:38.360 –> 00:01:43.860 a few moments’ time, if you look at the top of it, you will see there that we’re told 00:01:43.860 –> 00:01:48.160 that this was a Psalm written by Asaph. 00:01:48.160 –> 00:01:52.320 And I think we’re going to come to know this man Asaph as a familiar friend. 00:01:52.320 –> 00:01:59.160 Asaph was one of the men who King David put in charge of music in the house of the Lord. 00:01:59.220 –> 00:02:03.739 You can read about that in 1 Chronicles 6, in verse 39. 00:02:03.739 –> 00:02:09.559 He was in the procession when David brought the ark of the covenant back to the city 00:02:09.559 –> 00:02:11.220 of Jerusalem. 00:02:11.220 –> 00:02:16.619 And after that, the Bible tells us that David appointed some of the Levites to minister 00:02:16.619 –> 00:02:22.220 before the ark of the Lord, to make petition, to give thanks, to praise the Lord, the God 00:02:22.220 –> 00:02:23.220 of Israel. 00:02:23.220 –> 00:02:25.419 And then it says Asaph was the chief. 00:02:25.419 –> 00:02:30.339 So he was in charge of prayer, for the whole body. 00:02:30.339 –> 00:02:32.100 He played the cymbals. 00:02:32.100 –> 00:02:34.419 He led the music. 00:02:34.419 –> 00:02:38.339 So Asaph was a man in full-time ministry. 00:02:38.339 –> 00:02:40.660 He was a mature believer. 00:02:40.660 –> 00:02:47.020 He was a godly man and God had put him in a position of great responsibility. 00:02:47.020 –> 00:02:51.380 But what he tells us in this marvelous Psalm that he writes under the inspiration of the 00:02:51.380 –> 00:02:59.399 Holy Spirit is that he came to a point when even in the middle of ministry he nearly lost 00:02:59.399 –> 00:03:01.020 his own faith. 00:03:01.020 –> 00:03:10.960 And I have to tell you I find it very, very helpful to know that even the greatest believers 00:03:10.960 –> 00:03:17.580 have experienced times of great crisis where it seemed that everything was falling apart 00:03:17.580 –> 00:03:19.059 in their lives. 00:03:20.020 –> 00:03:27.979 I have to tell you personally that over the years God has used this psalm more than any 00:03:27.979 –> 00:03:34.279 other part of scripture to get me through some of the hardest times in my own life. 00:03:34.279 –> 00:03:41.860 Asaph has become a friend who has been a means of God’s grace to get me out of a black hole 00:03:41.860 –> 00:03:42.960 more than once. 00:03:43.000 –> 00:03:51.199 I think of times down the road where I have said I need to go back to Psalm 73. 00:03:51.199 –> 00:03:57.160 I hope that as a result of this month that we will be encouraged, that we will be strengthened, 00:03:57.160 –> 00:04:02.639 and that we will feel that we have found in this psalm and in God’s servant Asaph a faithful 00:04:02.639 –> 00:04:12.360 friend who can help us persevere when we hit some of the most difficult times in our lives. 00:04:12.559 –> 00:04:19.640 We always want to help children to become involved in learning from the Bible in our services. 00:04:19.640 –> 00:04:24.079 And so I want to introduce a little friend of mine who I think will help all of us, not 00:04:24.079 –> 00:04:25.440 just the children. 00:04:25.440 –> 00:04:28.739 We’re going to call him Asaph. 00:04:28.739 –> 00:04:33.980 Every week we’re going to see a different picture of Asaph that will help us learn the 00:04:33.980 –> 00:04:37.540 message of Psalm 73 and remember it. 00:04:38.040 –> 00:04:47.160 Today’s message, is really about how Asaph had to make a decision, and he decided not 00:04:47.160 –> 00:04:52.779 to follow some of the bad thoughts that were running through his mind. 00:04:52.779 –> 00:04:59.140 And that’s why Asaph has a stop sign in his hand, and I show that at this point really 00:04:59.140 –> 00:05:05.140 because that captures the theme of this morning’s message and for the children here and frankly 00:05:05.339 –> 00:05:09.760 for the rest, if you really want to do it also, you can draw a picture of Asaph with 00:05:09.760 –> 00:05:14.220 a stop sign and you will have got the heart of the message of the first part of Psalm 00:05:14.220 –> 00:05:19.540 73. For the children, if you want to give me your picture after the service or give 00:05:19.540 –> 00:05:23.459 it to one of the ushers, the ushers can get it to the church office, we’ll show some 00:05:23.459 –> 00:05:29.200 of these pictures of Asaph with a stop sign as the first part of our journey at the beginning 00:05:29.200 –> 00:05:32.059 of the service next week. 00:05:32.299 –> 00:05:38.040 We’ll go to the text then and we’ll take it verse by verse as we read it together. 00:05:38.040 –> 00:05:44.079 Psalm 73 in verse 1, I want you to notice that the psalm begins with a statement of 00:05:44.079 –> 00:05:45.079 faith. 00:05:45.079 –> 00:05:54.739 Surely, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 00:05:54.739 –> 00:05:59.100 Now, this in Old Testament terms was a kind of creedal statement. 00:05:59.559 –> 00:06:04.619 It was the sort of thing that you would recite in the congregation every week at worship. 00:06:04.619 –> 00:06:10.299 For New Testament believers it would be rather like saying Jesus is Lord when we meet for 00:06:10.299 –> 00:06:11.299 worship. 00:06:11.299 –> 00:06:15.200 You know, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 00:06:15.200 –> 00:06:20.220 Now, Asaph is saying right at the beginning of this psalm, look, this is what I always 00:06:20.220 –> 00:06:21.220 believed. 00:06:21.220 –> 00:06:23.040 I’ve been brought up with this. 00:06:23.040 –> 00:06:25.160 I’ve always believed it. 00:06:25.160 –> 00:06:28.000 I have built my life upon it. 00:06:28.260 –> 00:06:33.119 This is the faith of God’s people, he says, but, verse 2. 00:06:33.119 –> 00:06:40.839 I have to tell you that as for me, my feet had almost slipped. 00:06:40.839 –> 00:06:47.540 So, if Asaph had been a New Testament believer, his story would have been something like this. 00:06:47.540 –> 00:06:57.899 Jesus is Lord, but I gotta tell you, I almost gave up believing it. 00:06:57.899 –> 00:07:06.940 My feet had almost slipped, I nearly lost my faith, I nearly gave up my ministry, I 00:07:06.940 –> 00:07:09.320 almost lost my foothold. 00:07:09.320 –> 00:07:10.799 I was nearly gone. 00:07:10.799 –> 00:07:13.880 I need you to know that. 00:07:13.880 –> 00:07:18.100 But I want to tell you how God turned me around. 00:07:18.100 –> 00:07:19.480 That’s what the psalm is. 00:07:19.480 –> 00:07:27.239 You know, it’s relevant every Sunday, when we meet for worship and we confess our faith 00:07:27.420 –> 00:07:29.859 and we sing the hymns and we read the scriptures. 00:07:29.859 –> 00:07:36.140 There are some folks in this congregation, and that’s right where you are. 00:07:36.140 –> 00:07:37.140 You don’t find it easy to sing. 00:07:38.799 –> 00:07:42.859 You struggle as we focus on the word all the time, pounding in your mind. 00:07:42.859 –> 00:07:47.720 You hear something said and it’s, Yes but, yes but, yes but. 00:07:47.720 –> 00:07:48.700 What about? 00:07:48.700 –> 00:08:01.200 And your faith that once was strong, is now hanging by a slender thread. 00:08:01.200 –> 00:08:08.700 What was once strong to you now seems distant, what seems wonderfully real to other people 00:08:08.700 –> 00:08:13.959 seems remote from you. 00:08:13.959 –> 00:08:17.399 And somewhere in the back of your mind, there is this voice that says you know, I could 00:08:17.399 –> 00:08:21.859 quite easily walk away from this altogether. 00:08:21.859 –> 00:08:26.799 My feet had almost slipped. 00:08:26.799 –> 00:08:33.280 Now, in the first half of the psalm, which we’re going to cover this morning, Asaph tells 00:08:33.280 –> 00:08:39.260 us why it was that he became so troubled. 00:08:39.260 –> 00:08:45.640 It tells us what brought him to the point where he almost gave up. 00:08:45.640 –> 00:08:48.000 This story comes in three parts. 00:08:48.000 –> 00:08:55.679 The first is that he could make no sense of what God was doing in the world. 00:08:55.679 –> 00:09:02.320 And here I’d like simply to read for you verses 3 to 12 as we get the flavor of what he was 00:09:02.320 –> 00:09:03.400 experiencing. 00:09:03.400 –> 00:09:07.799 So, follow with me as we read together here from verse three. 00:09:07.799 –> 00:09:15.380 For I envied the arrogant, he says, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 00:09:15.440 –> 00:09:18.080 They have no struggles. 00:09:18.080 –> 00:09:21.799 Their bodies are healthy and strong. 00:09:21.799 –> 00:09:28.820 They’re free from the burdens common to man, they are not plagued by human ills. 00:09:28.820 –> 00:09:31.739 Therefore pride is their necklace. 00:09:31.739 –> 00:09:34.219 They clothe themselves with violence. 00:09:34.219 –> 00:09:37.719 And from their callous hearts comes iniquity. 00:09:37.719 –> 00:09:42.419 The evil conceits of their minds know no limits. 00:09:42.419 –> 00:09:46.719 They scoff and speak with malice. 00:09:46.719 –> 00:09:52.760 In their arrogance they threaten oppression, their mouth lay claim to Heaven and their 00:09:52.760 –> 00:09:55.400 tongues take possession of the earth. 00:09:55.400 –> 00:10:01.140 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. 00:10:01.140 –> 00:10:03.200 They say, How can God know? 00:10:03.200 –> 00:10:05.619 Does the Most High have knowledge? 00:10:05.619 –> 00:10:07.580 This is what the wicked are like. 00:10:07.580 –> 00:10:13.719 They’re care-free, and they increase in wealth. 00:10:13.719 –> 00:10:17.140 Now there’s real distress in these words. 00:10:17.140 –> 00:10:23.580 I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 00:10:23.580 –> 00:10:28.820 I see those who have no integrity in the world of business and they’re doing very well. 00:10:28.820 –> 00:10:31.340 I can make no sense of that. 00:10:31.340 –> 00:10:35.760 Why does God allow it? 00:10:35.760 –> 00:10:42.719 The people who are most antagonistic towards God in our country, they act as if no one 00:10:42.719 –> 00:10:46.419 can touch them, and God does nothing about it. 00:10:46.419 –> 00:10:51.619 Here I am trying to serve the Lord in ministry to promote what is pure and what is right. 00:10:51.619 –> 00:10:57.400 And all I see is that the agenda of those who hate God and those who despise His word 00:10:57.400 –> 00:10:59.159 is moving forward in the land. 00:10:59.159 –> 00:11:00.320 Why does God allow it? 00:11:00.320 –> 00:11:03.380 It makes no sense to me. 00:11:03.380 –> 00:11:05.979 Now, you can understand this problem. 00:11:05.979 –> 00:11:07.960 Which of us hasn’t been there? 00:11:07.960 –> 00:11:13.460 Can you make any sense of how God rules the world? 00:11:13.460 –> 00:11:16.640 Can you? 00:11:16.640 –> 00:11:19.919 Why do the wicked prosper? 00:11:19.919 –> 00:11:24.299 Makes no sense. 00:11:24.299 –> 00:11:31.380 Asaph couldn’t make any sense of what God was doing in the world, but actually the real 00:11:31.380 –> 00:11:35.059 problem was deeper. 00:11:35.059 –> 00:11:39.039 It was that he could make no sense of what God was doing in his own life. 00:11:39.039 –> 00:11:41.780 Look at verse 14. 00:11:41.780 –> 00:11:45.299 We’ll come to verse 13 in a moment. 00:11:45.299 –> 00:11:50.380 All day long I have been plagued. 00:11:50.380 –> 00:11:52.859 I have been punished every morning. 00:11:52.900 –> 00:11:56.419 You see, it’s personal now. 00:11:56.419 –> 00:12:01.059 He’s poured out all his frustration about how God rules the world, but actually the 00:12:01.059 –> 00:12:05.940 real problem is that things are going wrong in his life, and it just makes no sense to 00:12:05.940 –> 00:12:07.419 him. 00:12:07.419 –> 00:12:13.520 Now, remember that this is the confession of a godly man. 00:12:13.520 –> 00:12:18.400 Asaph is in fulltime ministry. 00:12:18.400 –> 00:12:21.739 He is a spiritual leader. 00:12:21.799 –> 00:12:26.080 Other people are looking to him for leadership. 00:12:26.080 –> 00:12:28.320 This is a man who’s reading his bible. 00:12:28.320 –> 00:12:30.419 This is a man who is saying his prayers. 00:12:30.419 –> 00:12:32.320 This is a man who tithes his money. 00:12:32.320 –> 00:12:37.599 This is a man who has poured great energy into pursuing a holy life, who has sought 00:12:37.599 –> 00:12:38.960 to live with integrity. 00:12:38.960 –> 00:12:44.440 He’s made sacrifices for the advance of God’s kingdom, but now it seems that everything’s 00:12:44.440 –> 00:12:51.580 going wrong in his life, and just why would God allow that to happen? 00:12:51.979 –> 00:12:56.979 It just makes no sense. 00:12:59.200 –> 00:13:06.200 You see, sometimes underneath the grand questions that we ask about what’s wrong with the world, 00:13:07.099 –> 00:13:14.099 there are much deeper questions that are personal about what’s going wrong in my life. 00:13:15.640 –> 00:13:19.039 You ask, why did the wicked prosper? 00:13:19.039 –> 00:13:24.900 But the real question is, why hasn’t God prospered me? 00:13:24.900 –> 00:13:27.159 You ask, why does God allow suffering? 00:13:27.159 –> 00:13:33.039 But the real question is, why is there such pain in my life? 00:13:33.039 –> 00:13:36.479 You ask, is there really a God who controls the universe? 00:13:36.479 –> 00:13:41.679 But the real question is, why is it that it seems my life is falling apart? 00:13:45.619 –> 00:13:48.080 This man could make no sense of what God is doing in the world. 00:13:48.080 –> 00:13:50.340 He could make no sense of what God’s doing in his life. 00:13:54.039 –> 00:14:00.539 Therefore, thirdly, he could no longer see the point of pursuing a godly life. 00:14:00.539 –> 00:14:03.820 That’s where he came to, and that’s verse 13. 00:14:03.820 –> 00:14:08.580 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure. 00:14:08.580 –> 00:14:13.080 In vain I have washed my hands in innocence. 00:14:13.080 –> 00:14:17.200 Now you see what he’s saying, if you go back to verse 1, I’ve always believed, I’ve been 00:14:17.260 –> 00:14:22.380 brought up to believe that God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 00:14:22.380 –> 00:14:26.840 But what I’m seeing as I look out at the world is the prosperity of the wicked. 00:14:26.840 –> 00:14:32.260 Then I look at the problems of my own life and I’ve tried to be pure in heart and the 00:14:32.260 –> 00:14:34.979 whole thing just doesn’t make sense to me anymore. 00:14:34.979 –> 00:14:41.200 You see these problems are very real. 00:14:41.280 –> 00:14:48.200 Some of you have colleagues in business, competitors in business, who have very little integrity 00:14:48.200 –> 00:14:53.700 and they’re doing very well. 00:14:53.700 –> 00:14:58.260 You have tried to do business in a way that honors the Lord and you’re facing all kinds 00:14:58.260 –> 00:14:59.260 of trouble. 00:14:59.260 –> 00:15:01.640 That leaves you saying, what’s the point? 00:15:01.640 –> 00:15:10.359 In vain I’ve tried to keep my heart pure, where did it get me? 00:15:11.239 –> 00:15:18.919 Your colleague at work was fooling around with someone in the office and he got promoted. 00:15:18.919 –> 00:15:23.219 You were loyal to your wife and you lost your job. 00:15:23.219 –> 00:15:31.659 It leaves you thinking Lord, you blessed the wrong guy here, it makes no sense. 00:15:31.659 –> 00:15:36.739 Now this was Asaph’s problem and he’d lived with it too long. 00:15:36.739 –> 00:15:41.940 And he says, honestly, my feet had almost slipped. 00:15:41.940 –> 00:15:47.039 I was nearly gone, I almost gave up. 00:15:51.840 –> 00:15:59.380 Now if a godly man like Asaph could be tempted like that, would you be surprised that that 00:15:59.380 –> 00:16:04.119 may happen to you? 00:16:04.200 –> 00:16:13.719 The Apostle Peter tells us that we have an enemy, Satan, and that he’s like a roaring 00:16:13.719 –> 00:16:19.179 lion and that he’s always prowling around looking to see who he can devour. 00:16:19.179 –> 00:16:22.539 It was like that before the time of Jesus and it’s been like that since the time of 00:16:22.539 –> 00:16:23.840 Jesus. 00:16:23.840 –> 00:16:30.140 And quite honestly, the more you pursue integrity and the more useful you are to Jesus Christ, 00:16:30.140 –> 00:16:32.340 the more he will want to devour you. 00:16:32.340 –> 00:16:34.280 That is what was happening here. 00:16:34.280 –> 00:16:38.760 Satan wanted to spoil Esau’s testimony. 00:16:38.760 –> 00:16:42.599 Satan wanted to end this good man’s ministry. 00:16:42.599 –> 00:16:54.640 Satan wanted to devour Esau in a storm of confusion and of despair. 00:16:54.640 –> 00:17:02.299 You need to know that there will be times of special testing in your life and that your 00:17:02.299 –> 00:17:09.619 future usefulness to Christ will depend in large measure on how you handle these times 00:17:09.619 –> 00:17:11.160 when they come. 00:17:11.160 –> 00:17:17.719 It was the Apostle Paul who said that we are to put on the full armor of God so that when 00:17:17.719 –> 00:17:21.459 the day of evil comes, we may be able to stand. 00:17:21.459 –> 00:17:23.859 See, not all days are the same in the Christian life. 00:17:23.859 –> 00:17:26.920 There are some days where Satan makes a special attack. 00:17:26.920 –> 00:17:28.839 Paul says it’s the day of evil. 00:17:28.839 –> 00:17:33.760 And when it comes, you need the armor of God so that you will be able to stand. 00:17:33.760 –> 00:17:43.560 Now, you know, that’s what Asaph did, and God brought him through. 00:17:43.560 –> 00:17:51.560 His story really is a model for us as to how we must act when we come to these points where 00:17:51.719 –> 00:17:55.119 we feel like giving up. 00:17:55.119 –> 00:18:02.119 Now, the rest of the psalm tells us Asaph’s story, and we’re going to walk with Asaph 00:18:03.079 –> 00:18:07.719 on his steps to recovery from this crisis, and there are really five steps, and we’re 00:18:07.719 –> 00:18:09.920 going to follow them over these next weeks. 00:18:09.920 –> 00:18:14.680 We’re really just going to take the first one only today, and that’s the step that 00:18:14.680 –> 00:18:17.439 we find in verse 15. 00:18:17.680 –> 00:18:22.359 Look at what he says there, and this will be the focus for the remainder of our time. 00:18:22.359 –> 00:18:32.359 If I had said, I will speak thus, I would have betrayed your children. 00:18:32.359 –> 00:18:41.079 Now, he’s poured out in this psalm, you see, reflecting back on this experience what he 00:18:41.079 –> 00:18:47.400 was thinking at this dark time in his life, and what he seeing here is very simply, look 00:18:47.560 –> 00:18:54.560 if I had gone public with what I was really thinking at that time, I would have let everybody 00:18:54.560 –> 00:18:56.119 down. 00:18:56.119 –> 00:19:03.479 If I’d spoken thus, I would have betrayed your children. 00:19:03.479 –> 00:19:13.000 If I had followed the thoughts, the inclinations of my heart at that time, if I had gone where 00:19:13.239 –> 00:19:20.239 these thoughts were taking me, I would have betrayed your children. 00:19:21.640 –> 00:19:26.800 If I had gone where my confused mind was going, I would have become the Judas of the Old Testament. 00:19:26.800 –> 00:19:29.520 That’s what he’s saying. 00:19:29.520 –> 00:19:34.719 But Asaph does not want to go there. 00:19:34.719 –> 00:19:41.160 So he takes himself in hand and he puts on the brakes. 00:19:44.920 –> 00:19:51.560 Last week, our family had the joy of a few days away in Door County where we’ve enjoyed 00:19:51.560 –> 00:19:56.319 a break after Christmas on a number of years. 00:19:56.319 –> 00:20:01.520 And the place where we were staying in Sister Bay, some of you know that area well, was 00:20:01.579 –> 00:20:08.819 if you get the picture, off a road that was off a road, you get the idea. 00:20:08.819 –> 00:20:12.739 We arrived in the evening, pitch dark and you know how it is. 00:20:12.739 –> 00:20:17.339 It’s somewhere up here on the right! 00:20:17.339 –> 00:20:20.199 My wife said, I think it’s this turning here. 00:20:20.199 –> 00:20:21.199 Oh no! 00:20:21.199 –> 00:20:24.640 I said, I think it’s further on! 00:20:24.640 –> 00:20:30.180 Well, a mile down the road, it became very clear that there were no more turnings on 00:20:30.180 –> 00:20:34.500 the right further on, and that we were right out in the sticks. 00:20:34.500 –> 00:20:39.680 Graciously, she said, I’m sure it was back there! 00:20:39.680 –> 00:20:43.260 Yes, I know, I said! 00:20:43.260 –> 00:20:47.140 I’m just looking for a place to turn! 00:20:47.140 –> 00:20:51.520 Problem, of course, in the dead of night, out in the sticks on a very narrow country 00:20:51.520 –> 00:20:53.760 road, is there just wasn’t a place to do that. 00:20:53.760 –> 00:20:55.680 We were on one long, straight, narrow road. 00:20:55.680 –> 00:20:56.680 No cross roads. 00:20:56.680 –> 00:20:58.060 No houses with nice drives. 00:20:58.699 –> 00:21:09.400 And the only thing to do was to pull up, and to make a three-point, or in this case a five-point 00:21:09.400 –> 00:21:12.819 turn. 00:21:12.819 –> 00:21:22.339 There are some places in life where turning around isn’t easy, and you may have been 00:21:22.780 –> 00:21:31.380 looking for some nice easy opening where you can swing your life lazily around with style. 00:21:31.380 –> 00:21:35.619 You’re not finding one. 00:21:35.619 –> 00:21:41.400 That’s how it was for Asa, my feet had almost slipped, he said, and almost lost the road 00:21:41.400 –> 00:21:43.260 altogether. 00:21:43.260 –> 00:21:51.900 What he tells us in Psalm 73 is how he had to make a five-point turn, it wasn’t easy. 00:21:52.579 –> 00:22:01.079 But if you are going to make a turn like that you can’t do it at 50 miles an hour, right? 00:22:01.079 –> 00:22:02.819 What’s the first thing you have to do? 00:22:02.819 –> 00:22:05.760 You have to stop. 00:22:05.760 –> 00:22:21.239 It’s not even enough to slow down, you gotta stop, you gotta stop, stop and make a decision. 00:22:21.239 –> 00:22:24.339 That’s what Asaph does right here in verse 15. 00:22:24.339 –> 00:22:28.780 Let me try and unpack that a little bit for us. 00:22:28.780 –> 00:22:37.939 See, Asaph’s turn did not begin with an answer, but with a decision. 00:22:37.939 –> 00:22:40.459 That’s very, very important. 00:22:40.459 –> 00:22:43.359 Remember his problem was, I can’t make sense of what God’s doing in the world. 00:22:43.359 –> 00:22:47.020 I can’t make sense of what God’s doing in my life, therefore I’ve concluded in my mind 00:22:47.459 –> 00:22:49.760 is, there’s no point in continuing to pursue a Godly life. 00:22:49.760 –> 00:22:54.300 Now if that’s the problem, you would think the turning point would begin when he gets 00:22:54.300 –> 00:23:00.699 an answer, but that is not Asaph’s story. 00:23:00.699 –> 00:23:05.420 Asaph wants us to know that the first step to turning your life around is not finding 00:23:05.420 –> 00:23:09.420 an answer, but it is making a decision. 00:23:09.420 –> 00:23:17.000 His mind was driving down the road to despair, but he makes a decision. 00:23:17.760 –> 00:23:23.439 I am not going any further down this dark road. 00:23:23.439 –> 00:23:27.140 That’s verse 15. 00:23:27.140 –> 00:23:36.020 I will not go where these thoughts of the first 14 verses are leading me. 00:23:36.020 –> 00:23:38.459 That’s where the turn begins. 00:23:38.459 –> 00:23:45.619 See, something within us cries out to God, give me an answer, and God says to us give 00:23:46.040 –> 00:23:48.859 me a commitment. 00:23:48.859 –> 00:23:51.619 We say to God I need to understand. 00:23:51.619 –> 00:23:57.520 And God says to us you need to follow. 00:23:57.520 –> 00:24:01.939 Remember the gospel tells us about how Jesus came to the Garden of Gethsemane and he was 00:24:01.939 –> 00:24:07.280 struggling, struggling with what God the Father was doing in the world and struggling with 00:24:07.280 –> 00:24:12.719 what God the Father was doing in the life of Jesus Himself as He approached the cross. 00:24:12.900 –> 00:24:19.300 He came into the garden with a question. 00:24:19.300 –> 00:24:25.280 He wanted to know if the cup of suffering on the cross could be taken from Him. 00:24:25.280 –> 00:24:32.040 If it is possible let it be taken from me He says. 00:24:32.040 –> 00:24:36.040 Jesus goes into the garden with a question. 00:24:36.040 –> 00:24:37.800 Can this cup be taken away? 00:24:37.800 –> 00:24:42.160 He comes out of the garden with a decision. 00:24:42.160 –> 00:24:45.119 Today your will be done. 00:24:45.119 –> 00:24:48.719 That is the turning point. 00:24:48.719 –> 00:24:55.000 Let me talk real straight this morning. 00:24:55.000 –> 00:25:04.400 Maybe you are facing a crisis in your life right now. 00:25:04.400 –> 00:25:08.260 Things have been going wrong. 00:25:08.260 –> 00:25:10.800 Your mind is confused. 00:25:10.819 –> 00:25:16.739 You don’t have the answers. 00:25:16.739 –> 00:25:21.579 You need to make a decision. 00:25:21.579 –> 00:25:31.239 If you follow the dark impulses of your mind right now, you will spoil your testimony. 00:25:31.239 –> 00:25:34.800 If you follow the thoughts that are running in your mind in these dark days you may blow 00:25:34.800 –> 00:25:38.900 your marriage. 00:25:38.900 –> 00:25:47.660 If you follow the inclinations of your heart you may no longer be useful in ministry. 00:25:47.660 –> 00:25:51.380 Don’t go there. 00:25:51.380 –> 00:25:55.099 Make a decision. 00:25:55.099 –> 00:25:59.160 Stop that way of thinking. 00:25:59.160 –> 00:26:00.300 Stop that way of acting. 00:26:00.839 –> 00:26:07.719 Climbing out of a black hole does not begin with an answer, but with making a decision, 00:26:07.719 –> 00:26:09.959 very important. 00:26:09.959 –> 00:26:15.959 Then here’s the last thing this morning. 00:26:15.959 –> 00:26:17.939 Choose loyalty to God and His people. 00:26:17.939 –> 00:26:22.219 You see, that’s the decision you have to make. 00:26:22.219 –> 00:26:23.420 That’s what Asaph did. 00:26:23.420 –> 00:26:25.400 Look at what he says in verse 15. 00:26:25.400 –> 00:26:28.300 There are two keywords really, your children. 00:26:28.839 –> 00:26:36.239 He says to God, your children, God’s children, if I had said, I will speak thus if I’d gone 00:26:36.239 –> 00:26:40.880 where my mind was going, I would have betrayed your children. 00:26:40.880 –> 00:26:46.099 Now, he’s talking of course about God’s people, he’s talking about the community of believers, 00:26:46.099 –> 00:26:49.800 he’s talking about the people of faith, and he says if I had followed the thoughts and 00:26:49.800 –> 00:26:54.560 the inclinations of my heart, I would have led everybody down. 00:26:54.560 –> 00:26:57.880 I would have betrayed my family. 00:26:57.979 –> 00:27:01.180 I would have spoiled my testimony. 00:27:01.180 –> 00:27:04.579 I would have lost my ministry, I would have become a Judas. 00:27:04.579 –> 00:27:08.319 I would have betrayed your children. 00:27:08.319 –> 00:27:15.239 Now, this teaches us a second thing that I think is very, very important at the critical 00:27:15.239 –> 00:27:17.739 points in our lives. 00:27:17.739 –> 00:27:26.900 You see, help comes when a man or a woman gets their eyes off himself or herself and 00:27:26.900 –> 00:27:33.079 begins to focus on loyalties and responsibilities to others. 00:27:33.079 –> 00:27:39.500 Get your eyes off yourself and your own pain. 00:27:39.500 –> 00:27:47.140 Focus on others who look to you and depend on you. 00:27:47.780 –> 00:27:56.500 After all, there are children who look to you as their model of faith. 00:27:56.500 –> 00:27:59.660 They see you as their example in life. 00:27:59.660 –> 00:28:04.500 They may be grown children, they may be married children, but it’s still true. 00:28:06.079 –> 00:28:10.280 There are neighbors, there are colleagues, there are customers, there are business partners 00:28:10.280 –> 00:28:15.180 who know that you are a Christian and their whole perception of Christianity may be shaped 00:28:15.219 –> 00:28:19.839 by what you do or do not do now. 00:28:19.839 –> 00:28:22.439 You can’t give up. 00:28:22.439 –> 00:28:26.300 You can’t give up. 00:28:27.300 –> 00:28:35.239 See, your crisis, whatever it is, is something part of something far, far bigger than yourself. 00:28:35.239 –> 00:28:38.479 You belong to the body of Christ. 00:28:38.479 –> 00:28:43.619 You belong to the body in heaven as well as on Earth. 00:28:43.619 –> 00:28:44.619 You are surrounded. 00:28:44.640 –> 00:28:51.160 The Bible says, by a great cloud of witnesses, men, women, children, angels. 00:28:51.160 –> 00:28:57.119 God has set a track for you to run on, and you are to run that race that has been marked 00:28:57.119 –> 00:28:59.479 out for you. 00:28:59.479 –> 00:29:03.199 However difficult. 00:29:03.199 –> 00:29:08.359 Asaph knows that if he were to give up, he would have betrayed God’s children and that 00:29:08.359 –> 00:29:10.719 stops him in his tracks. 00:29:10.719 –> 00:29:12.199 Thank God for it. 00:29:12.199 –> 00:29:13.760 Thank God for the word almost. 00:29:13.760 –> 00:29:15.380 I almost gave up. 00:29:15.380 –> 00:29:17.739 But he didn’t. 00:29:17.739 –> 00:29:19.839 He didn’t. 00:29:19.839 –> 00:29:27.680 Now there’s a lot more to climbing out of a black hole than this, and we will follow 00:29:27.680 –> 00:29:32.180 what more there is over these coming weeks. 00:29:32.180 –> 00:29:39.479 But this is where it begins, with a decision and with a commitment. 00:29:39.479 –> 00:29:43.780 You stop and you refuse to go where the dark thoughts would take you. 00:29:43.780 –> 00:29:50.540 And you make a commitment to God and to his people. 00:29:50.540 –> 00:29:59.020 Now you know there never was a more awesome example of this than the example of our Lord 00:29:59.020 –> 00:30:06.339 and Savior Jesus Christ that we’re coming to in just a moment around the communion table. 00:30:06.339 –> 00:30:13.800 On the night that Jesus was betrayed, and can you begin to imagine the pressure of that 00:30:13.800 –> 00:30:23.280 night, on the night when he was betrayed, John tells us that Jesus prayed. 00:30:23.280 –> 00:30:30.739 He was about to endure the agony of the cross, but the focus of His prayer, recorded in John 00:30:30.739 –> 00:30:33.699 chapter 17, was entirely on his disciples. 00:30:34.500 –> 00:30:36.660 That is a staggering thought. 00:30:36.660 –> 00:30:43.380 You see he’s doing in fullness what Asaph had begun to pursue. 00:30:43.380 –> 00:30:47.819 That when you face great pain, you’ve got to get your eyes on to others, He’s facing 00:30:47.819 –> 00:30:53.219 the cross, he’s praying for his disciples. 00:30:53.219 –> 00:30:58.780 And there is an awesome statement in the prayer of Jesus, in John chapter 17 and verse 19, 00:30:59.260 –> 00:31:04.119 you could meditate on for 100 years and not get to the depth of it. 00:31:04.119 –> 00:31:07.079 This is what Jesus says in his prayer to the Father. 00:31:07.079 –> 00:31:17.119 He says, for them, for them, I sanctify myself. 00:31:17.119 –> 00:31:22.119 To sanctify yourself means to give yourself to a special purpose and in this case, the 00:31:22.119 –> 00:31:25.099 special purpose was of course to go to the cross. 00:31:25.099 –> 00:31:36.459 This is what Jesus is grappling with, and he says to the Father, I’ll do it for them. 00:31:36.459 –> 00:31:38.380 I’ll do it for them. 00:31:38.380 –> 00:31:45.660 Father, I’ll do it for these who are your disciples now and I’ll do it, Father, for 00:31:45.660 –> 00:31:51.160 those who will become your disciples in all the ages that are to come. 00:31:51.199 –> 00:31:54.319 And Hebrews tells us that this is how Jesus endured the cross. 00:31:54.319 –> 00:31:58.400 He endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. 00:31:58.400 –> 00:31:59.400 What is that joy? 00:31:59.400 –> 00:32:03.699 It is the joy of seeing God’s work fulfilled in you. 00:32:03.699 –> 00:32:09.959 Now, if you are a Christian, you bear his name. 00:32:09.959 –> 00:32:17.439 And he says to you today, you take up your cross and follow me. 00:32:17.560 –> 00:32:25.760 Desaf, of course, lived a long time before Jesus, but frankly that is exactly what he 00:32:25.760 –> 00:32:26.760 did. 00:32:26.760 –> 00:32:35.239 And in his older years, where he shares this testimony, a story now complete, he writes 00:32:35.239 –> 00:32:40.359 under the inspiration of the spirit and he recollects the depth of the struggle that 00:32:40.359 –> 00:32:41.359 he went through. 00:32:41.359 –> 00:32:45.000 He says, I want you to know this. 00:32:45.000 –> 00:32:52.880 There was a time in my life when I almost gave up. 00:32:52.880 –> 00:32:55.819 I couldn’t make any sense of what God was doing in the world. 00:32:55.819 –> 00:33:00.859 I couldn’t make any sense of what God was doing in my life. 00:33:00.859 –> 00:33:04.119 My feet had almost slipped. 00:33:04.119 –> 00:33:11.400 And if I had followed the thoughts and inclinations of my heart I would’ve let everybody down. 00:33:12.400 –> 00:33:18.479 But I’m so glad I didn’t. 00:33:18.479 –> 00:33:22.760 And I’m here to tell you today that God brought me through. 00:33:22.760 –> 00:33:28.719 That God turned me round. 00:33:28.719 –> 00:33:32.660 And you need to know it started when I made a decision. 00:33:32.660 –> 00:33:34.839 That I would not betray the Lord. 00:33:34.859 –> 00:33:38.500 And I would not betray his people. 00:33:39.400 –> 00:33:47.439 Let’s pray together shall we? 00:33:47.439 –> 00:33:56.400 Some of us may be right now where Asaph was then. 00:33:56.400 –> 00:33:59.880 And you need to make an Asaph decision. 00:34:00.839 –> 00:34:13.280 To say to God, right now I make a decision, a commitment, not to go where the darker thoughts 00:34:13.280 –> 00:34:22.199 of my mind would lead me. 00:34:22.199 –> 00:34:29.780 Right now I make a commitment that I will not betray You, O Lord, and I will not betray 00:34:29.780 –> 00:34:33.879 Your children. 00:34:33.879 –> 00:34:43.379 I don’t want to be a Judas. 00:34:43.379 –> 00:34:46.139 So now give me Your strength. 00:34:47.139 –> 00:34:54.600 Give me the spirit of Jesus in full measure, the spirit of the One who was able to say, 00:34:54.600 –> 00:34:57.219 for them. 00:34:57.219 –> 00:35:03.560 For them I sanctify myself. 00:35:03.560 –> 00:35:12.219 Lord Jesus, as You sanctified Yourself for me, 00:35:12.219 –> 00:35:19.719 so in Your strength, I sanctify myself for You. 00:35:19.719 –> 00:35:20.719 Hear my prayer. 00:35:20.719 –> 00:35:24.459 Give me strength. 00:35:24.459 –> 00:35:27.100 Turn me around. 00:35:27.100 –> 00:35:30.840 Help me to persevere. 00:35:30.840 –> 00:35:37.620 For Jesus’ sake. 00:35:37.620 –> 00:35:38.820 Amen.