Assurance For a Troubled Heart - Part 1 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise! The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace!

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My subject, Assurance for a Troubled Heart. We look at Psalm 73, reading verse 1, Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. Now verse 23, Nevertheless, I am continually with Thee, Thou has holded me by my right hand, Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

The psalmist Asaph begins with a statement here that needs always to be treasured in our minds and hearts. Truly God is good to Israel. God is good. There are things that we do not understand about His providence, but God is good.

Now first of all, as we talk about the assurance that this psalmist found in a time of trouble and question, we will look at his struggle. He was envious of the wicked. Verse 3, he says, For I was envious at the foolishness when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. I saw the wicked prospering. I saw those that I would deem to be foolish doing well, and I was envious. I thought, how can that be? Here these people who are wicked in their conduct, foolish in their outlook on life, they are prospering.

They're doing well. Now, it is indeed a foolish thing to be envious of the foolish, but that's exactly where we start here with the viewpoint the psalmist had for a period of time. How ridiculous for an heir of heaven to be envious of the wicked. But this envy was eating away at him.

He was troubled and disturbed by it. And you may have struggled sometimes with the same difficulty. You've looked around and seen people who live in an ungodly way, or people who just basically totally ignore God, and some who may be blatant in their speech against God and His word. But they appear to prosper. It seems that things go well for them.

And you have your struggles, you have your difficulties. And so he says, I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Verse 4, he further describes the wicked by saying they have no bands in their death. They seem to approach death without some of the struggles and conflicts that others have. There's always been this idea that if a person died peacefully, that was proof they were on their way to heaven.

But there's no biblical principle to confirm that. A person might die peacefully, as he says, these wicked had no bands in their death. They were not struggling, they were not having some of the difficulties that others might encounter in death, but they weren't on their way to heaven. Now it's a wonderful blessing if a child of God has a quiet and peaceful death.

But it doesn't necessarily always happen that way. Some die in great pain and agony from sicknesses and various other difficulties. But as the Psalmist is looking around, observing these of whom he is envious, one of the things he designates is they don't seem to have any bands, any problems, any great pains and difficulties when they come down to the hour of death. Verse 5, they are not in trouble or plagued as other men. They don't have the same kind of troubles that others have. They seem to enjoy good health.

They seem not to have any great trials. Life is smooth for them. They're just not plagued like I am. Asaph is saying, I have my plagues, my trials, my difficulties, but these who are wicked seem not to experience it. Verse 6, they are full of pride and consequently they're sometimes violent. Because they're determined they're going to have their own way.

They're going to do what they want to do. Since they're wicked, they're very willing to run over the top of other people, taking from them what might rightly belong to them. Full of pride. Well, pride is a great sin.

That's one that's described repeatedly in Scripture. One that God hates and one that is elevated in pride. I think I'm superior.

My opinion is what counts. I'm entitled to many things because of my position in life. Full of pride. Then verse 7 says they have more than heart could wish. Here Asaph may be thinking about some things he wishes for and he doesn't have, but he says these wicked ones have more than anybody could ever even dream of asking for.

Have you ever observed anybody like that? Here's somebody that certainly shows no evidence of loving God. They are indeed a wicked person and yet they have an easy life. They have material possessions and abundance.

They have more than heart could wish. Verse 8, they are corrupt and speak wickedly and loftily. Because they are corrupt, because they don't know God, they don't love God, they don't serve God, they speak wickedly. They speak against God. They speak contrary to his truth. They speak contrary to his word. They speak wickedly and loftily as one would in pride.

Very much like the pagan king who set up the great image and expected everybody to bow down and worship. This is my kingdom that I built by my power for my glory. Speaking loftily. Look who I am. Look at the position I occupy. Look what I'm entitled to.

Look what I deserve. They speak wickedly and loftily. And then verse 9, they set their mouth against the heaven. Oh, how often the wicked set their mouth against heaven, against the God of heaven, against the truth of heaven. We see that more and more in the days in which we are living. More open, blatant opposition to the truth of God.

It will change everything according to the way God has designed it to be. Saying, here's what we determined to be an acceptable code of conduct and the law of God is outdated and it's not applicable to us today. And as we observed, those holding these outlandish positions today want to stop the voice of those that disagree with them. The idea of having free speech is definitely under attack today. That people hold the point of view that if you disagree with us, you're bigoted, you're prejudiced and you have no right to speak in the public atmosphere.

There have been various statements coming out of Washington recently. I would hesitate to quote any of them because there's controversy about the exact wording, but the essence of it is that there definitely have been statements made indicating that the word of God, the Bible, has no place in our Congress. How chilling that is to think that in a country where there has been respect shown for God and his word, that there is now open, blatant opposition to everything that's biblically sound, that's everything that is true about God and his order of creation. And so these who are wicked set their mouth even against heaven, against the God of heaven, the truth that comes from heaven. Verse 11, they say, how doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? If they will at least acknowledge there is a God, then the question they raise, well, God's not going to observe. How could God know what we're doing? How could God hear our conversation? We're in charge here.

Our ideas are sound, valid, correct. They are to be adhered to, they are to be received and not to be opposed. God's not going to know about that. Well, of course, these who are wicked are sadly mistaken in that area because God sees everything about everybody.

He knows every action, he hears every word, he knows every thought, he knows every attitude, he knows every motive. Then verse 12, behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. The ungodly prospering, making strong headway, making impressive advances as they accumulate more and more wealth, increasing in riches. But if one gains the whole world and loses his soul, what profit is it? Well, the psalmist is troubled because he observes the prosperity of the wicked and feels that he himself is plagued. Verse 13, verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. I just wonder what's the use of trying to live right? What's the use of trying to serve God? I've cleansed my hands in vain.

It's gotten me no advantage whatever. For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. I've got a rough way to travel. I'm on a difficult road. I'm plagued.

I'm chastened. And I look around me and see these who are wicked, who are prospering and their life is going smoothly and I just don't understand it. Verse 16 says, when I thought to know this, it was too painful for me.

It was painful. How can this be? How can it be that the wicked prosper and the godly suffer? Well, let us pray that no matter how perplexed we may be in observing the kind of situation that Asaph is describing, or how many unanswered questions we might have relating to this or other matters, that we may never, never become critical of God. I think the psalmist is acknowledging that down deep he sees that was a problem. He was questioning God.

How can you allow this? How can you allow the wicked to prosper and the righteous to suffer? And of course, even beyond that, the whole question of evil and suffering is one that is oft debated among those who are questioning the very existence of God. How can there be a love of God if there's so much suffering in the world? And that's a whole different topic that we will not have time to explore. But based on that or any related subjects, let us never, because of our perplexity, because we don't have the answer to all the questions, begin to think critically about God.

I've had people come to me when I've preached from Romans 8.28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. We talk about some terrible tragedy and say, please explain to me how any good can come out of that.

I said, well, I can't begin to explain that. In fact, God doesn't say he's going to give us an explanation. He just says, this is the way it is and we are to believe it. We by faith are to embrace it. There may be a later time in life when we see how some of those dark trials have worked together for our good. It may be we won't see it until we get to heaven.

But whatever it is, we have to rest it in the hand of God. There are some things God reveals to us. And one of them is in Romans 8.28, that he works all things together for good.

Not that everything is good, but he works it together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. He's revealed that. But there are other aspects of his providences he has revealed. And the scriptures say the secret things belong to God.

So there's no need to try to pry open God's secret box. You bow in submission to his sovereignty and trust him. So we first of all see his struggle.

Secondly, we want to see his answer. Where did he find it? Where did he find an answer to his question, to his struggle, to the difficulty he was encountering? Well, according to verse 17, he found it in the sanctuary. Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I therein.

I was pained, I was distressed, I was frustrated. But when I went into the sanctuary of God, I understood that in spite of the fact they are full of riches, they are prospering, there's no bands to their death, everything seems to be going their way in this life, it's not the way it's going to turn out. When I understood therein, when I understood destruction is coming, I was made to see it in a whole different light. Now we don't know what all he saw and heard when he went into the temple. He may have heard someone reading aloud the scriptures. He may have just by being in the very temple of God, knowing this is a place designated for his worship, been humbled with the thought of God's sovereignty and his whole concept was changed. But while we don't know all that he may have seen or heard there, we do know that the experience had a great impact on him.

It changed his outlook, his attitude. And so where are we going to find the answers to our perplexities, to our questions? We find our answers as it were in the sanctuary of God. We find it in his Word.

You're not going to find it through human reasoning, through vain speculation. You're going to find the answers you need, what you need to know about God. And everything you need to know about him, he's revealed in his Word.

If there are things that are not there, then that comes under the category of the secret things that belong to him. And we'll only understand that according to his timetable. So, Asaph has a totally new perspective because now God is the center of his outlook. And that's so necessary for us. That if we're perplexed, if we're discouraged because of the heavy burdens of life, we don't understand why we're not getting immediate answers to our prayers, we have to come back to realize God and his sovereignty is the center of all things. It's to him that we look upon him that we must depend and him that we must trust, him that we must submit. So, what was it he learned? We find the place he learned it was in the sanctuary. Verse 18 says, Surely about it set them, talking about the wicked, in slippery places, thou castest them down into destruction.

Here's what he learned. From outward appearance, look like they're doing great. They've got an easy life, smooth life. They're enjoying an abundance of riches, but they are standing on slippery places. Just one slip, one move in the wrong direction and they go down to destruction.

So, we must recognize that what might be concluded through human reasoning, what might appear to us on the surface to be one thing may not be the reality of it at all. A person today who has position, power, prestige, wealth, they feel they're on top of the world. They've got it made.

They've got everything they want. But when they die, when they breathe out their last, if they go down into destruction, that's eternal loss. There is no recovery. The wicked will be cast ultimately into the lake of fire to suffer the wrath of God forever. Well, we see what he learned. Where he learned it, he learned it in the sanctuary. We see what he learned about the wicked and we see what he learned about himself.

Verse 21. Thus was my heart grieved and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee. I was absolutely foolish, says the psalmist, to be thinking that way.

I was like a brute beast. I wasn't thinking from the standpoint of anything spiritual. I wasn't thinking from the standpoint of God being the center of the universe. I was no more than an animal just thinking about what I observed and what I felt. Now, when we rely on our emotions or on human reasoning without going to the sanctuary of the Lord, we're going to reach wrong conclusions. How many times in a difficult place you've given way to your own emotions, to the trial of the hour, instead of keeping your focus on God? You've looked at the circumstances around you in the corrupt and evil world in which we live. And in these difficult days when our nation is moving rapidly away from what it was founded upon, all of these things can be extremely stressful, but we must not be guided by the emotion of the hour or the circumstances that we're encountering, but keep our focus on the Lord.

So, His answer was given that these who from observation and appearance were so well off, they were on a slippery place, soon going to slide into destruction. Now in my praise eternal King be all my thoughts employed, while all this precious truth I see cast down but not destroyed, cast down but not destroyed, cast down but not destroyed, while all this precious truth I see cast down but not destroyed. Certainly we can relate to the struggles described in this passage by the psalmist, but oh what consolation comes when we realize that in spite of all the difficulties we may encounter and all of the questions that are unanswered, our hope is yet in the Lord and in Him we can have total confidence. I hope that you will contact us this week.

If you'd like to make a donation, you can go to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. Till next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Cast down but not destroyed, in all the past through which I've passed, what mercies I've enjoyed, and this shall be my song at last. Cast down but not destroyed, cast down but not destroyed, cast down but not destroyed, and this shall be my song at last. Cast down but not destroyed. When I with God in heaven appear, there shall I him adore. Destroyed shall be my sin and fear, and I cast down no more. And I cast down no more. Destroyed shall be my sin and fear, and I cast down no more.