The Village Church
Why Do the Wicked Prosper - Audio
in Christ alone our hope is found he is our light our strength our song or we have no hope outside of him we have no reason to have joy outside of Jesus we have no reason for boasting outside of him as we come to you this morning as your people who are broken by the fall broken by our own sin as well as others who have sinned against us we come to you Lord knowing that you hear us knowing that you love us knowing that you will take care of us you're all we have so Lord I pray for your people here today I pray for those who may be here this morning and may not know you but are groping for you and longing for you I pray God that you would meet us that is butch pray you know what it is that we need before we even ask that your word tells us to not worry about the things that unbelievers worry about because you are our Heavenly Father that you take care of sparrows and surely you will take care of us your people well I pray for those among us who are hurting for whatever reasons be it physical spiritually emotionally ask God that you would comfort them ask that you would be with them this morning that you would draw near to them draw near to their hearts they would see that you are a healer that you are a comforter that you are a physician the most of all that you love them I pray for those among us who may be worrying about what tomorrow holes will may be struggling to think through how they will provide food for their children or how they provide for their families or how they will get through even this day I ask God that you would help them that you would help them to cast their anxieties upon you their burdens upon you but they will see Jesus truly is a good Savior they don't have to turn to their devices they don't have to turn to their weakness for deliverance but they can turn to a good God a great shepherd well I thank you for this time of worship that we can come together and I pray Lord that you would feed us she would take care of us your people pray all these things in Christ name amen if you have your Bibles would you turn with me to Psalm 73 all right as Bush mentioned before we started service we just had our third child on Wednesday got to take them home yesterday and so we're excited about that but I slept maybe two hours three hours so if things don't make sense this morning you know why so but I had a hard time getting here just preparing for and not realizing we have a third child and thinking things were as business as usual but then there's another kid around so that shook things up so that's my schedule up but God is good I'm here and we're opening his word Psalm 73 a psalm of ASAP 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 while 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're not in trouble as others are they're 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 lawfully they threaten oppression they set their miles 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 have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence for all the day long I've been stricken and rebuked every morning I said I will speak thus I would have betrayed the generation of your children but when I thought how to understand this it seemed to me aware of some task until I went into the sanctuary of God and then I discerned their end truly you set them in slippery places you make them fall to ruin how they are destroyed in a moment swept away utterly by terrors like a dream when one awakes oh Lord when you rouse yourself you despise them as phantoms when my soul was embittered when I was pricked in heart I was brutish and ignorant I was like a beast towards you nevertheless I'm continually with you you hold my right hand you guide me with your counsel and afterward afterward you will receive me to glory whom am I in heaven but you and there's nothing on earth that I desire beside you my flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever for behold those who are far from you shall perish you put it into everyone who is unfaithful to you but for me it is good to be near God I've made the Lord God my refuge then I may tell of all your works this is God's good word let me pray for us this morning and pray for our time long ago at many times in many ways a God spoke to our fathers by the prophets and in these last days he has spoken to us through his son this word is about Jesus this word is about a God who saves sinners this is this word is about a God who calls us to himself and draws us to himself we thank you for this word Lord we thank you that it is sweet but it is good for us to take and eat and meditate upon and process and apply to our lives Jesus we thank you that you've given us this song we ask that your Holy Spirit would work now that your Holy Spirit would use the words of a sinful broken and fallen man to speak truth not only to my heart but to the hearts of your people and that that truth would change us that truth would teach us to think correctly and not only that but live accordingly while I pray for us your people we need you to be here with us as we consider your word we ask God that you would work mightily in the preaching of your word we pray all these things in Christ's name amen there's a 1984 movie called Amadeus it's the story and the story is fiction by the way so don't don't think that this is real it's a story of two composers one is one you may know Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who is probably one of the most well-known composers and the story of another young promising composer Antonio Salieri the story begins with Salieri confessing before a priest that he has just killed Mozart that he's just murdered them and it was because he was envious of him and this story is really tracing what happens when these two people are together and they are really trying to become the world's next best composer and Salieri feels that because he fears God because he worships God that it's settled that he will be the best that because he loves God so much that he will make music that will glorify God that people will be wild about and then that will draw them to God but what happens is Mozart comes on the scene and he starts making this great music and Salieri realizes wow this this is really good music this gift that this man has could not have come from any other place but God and so that causes him to have trouble that causes him to have doubt because once he realizes that Mozart is not a believer fact that he's a pagan that he does not care about God that he's vulgar that he does all types of things blatantly to offend Christians and believers that it makes him wonder why in the world would God give this wicked man these great gifts why would God allow him who doesn't fear him to make music that is glorifying that to make music that is glorious why would God let this man make better music than him after all he is the one that serving God after all he is the one that believes in God so the storyline of the movie goes and it continues and what ends up happening is Salieri really just renounces his belief in God because of this problem of the prosperity of the wicked at the question the whole movie is asking that this guy is wrestling with is why is it that God allows this wicked man the prosper and indeed as you think about your lives if you think about your world this is not something that's foreign to us that we all think that at times that whether or not you are a Christian or not a Christian that there are times you look out you look at the world and you think to yourselves like why is that person doing so much better that why is it that that person that even though I know they hate God why is it that they're in better health than me why is it that person even though I know that they hate God that they renounce God why is it that their children are obedient or why is it that their marriages are seem to be doing fine or why is it that they seem to have all the nice and best things be it cars be it popularity be it fame be it best jobs whatever why is it that the wicked prosper and this psalm is indeed you seeing that this is not something that's new to us it's God's people that this is not something that's new to this generation but this is a timeless question that the people of God have wrestled with that you look at this song and this is what the psalmist is saying this doesn't seem right that God would allow people who don't love him to have any joy in life that God allowed people who couldn't care less about him to have and experience the many blessings of life the many joys of life and this psalmist is wrestling through this and going what do I do with this and as we consider this psalm I think it's broken up into three really nice points for our purposes this morning but the first point I think the psalmist teaching us is that that this thinking why did the wicked prosper is it's it's a common temptation for us all so that's the first point that it's a temptation for us all to secondly this psalm is showing us that there's an end to the prosperity of the wicked so the end of it all and then finally the refuge of us all and so the first point the temptation where's the temptation come in that the psalmist begins by saying truly God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart and then he shows where his heart is in the matter and he sees God he compares himself to God he knows God is good and he looks at himself and says but look at me but as for me my feet had almost stumbled my steps had nearly slipped you may ask the question why and he explains where I was envious of the arrogant in verse 3 when I saw the prosperity of the wicked now this language of slipping is a huge deal in the Bible if you don't know it's usually meant to show a falling away spiritually that when it talks about slipping and falling and stumbling that reality was one that was impressed upon these believers because of the fact that they walked everywhere they didn't drive their Hondas to worship of mountains they walked of mountains to worship God if you think about some of the sense and oftentimes these were dangerous walks so sometimes you would fall and severely hurt yourself maybe even kill yourself on your way to worship God so when the Bible readers or the Bible writers when they write these things down they're really speaking about the fact that this is a metaphor for falling away spiritually for falling away from God he says I had almost stumbled I didn't do that he says almost fell away almost stumbled from God why because I envied the prosperity of the wicked and then he goes on explain what caused that that he says they have no pains until death their bodies are fat and sleek I know in our you know weight obsessed culture that seems bad that's a good thing that when he says their bodies are fat and sleek that means they're eating well so don't think that's a bad thing they're fat and sleek they're not in troubles trouble as others are they're not stricken like the rest of mankind therefore pride is their necklace violence covers them as a garment and so on and so forth so much that the first 15 verses is about him looking at people who don't fear God and it seems like they're doing fine it seems like all this well with them it seems like their lives are sweet that the grass is pretty green on their side from where I'm standing and he's looking at this and it's causing him turmoil that God that does does not make sense to me that they would have all of these things going for them and they don't they don't love you they don't hear you and what it causes him to do is well what good is it in serving God if people who don't serve him have the best things that it makes him question God's goodness as he look out at the world and everybody's fine that they're making it pretty good without God now for us those might not be the things we think about or the things we value but you can relate to what he's saying but you can think about your friends your family members whoever it is people who do not love God and their parents are not suffering from cancer you can think about people you know who you are close to and their children are not rebellious you can think about people who do not love God and they're pretty popular they're pretty self-sufficient they seem to be making well they seem to be doing well things are okay things are fine that you know that tension you know the struggle of looking out at others and going what good is it to serve God these people who do not love God drive better cars than me living better homes than me have better family stability than me what good is it and that question is really what he is wrestling with in these first reverses they got how could you let the wicked prosper how could you let people who don't love you do well how's it that they're better engineers than me how's it that people have not walked out on them and loved them and he goes on to talk about how is the case that they even say in verse 11 how can God know and is their knowledge in the most high the whole these are the wicked always at ease they increase in riches that even if you think about me I'm going to use example from just Disney movies I'm going to be very honest here the last time I cried was during the movie Lion King but the same where scar kills Mufasa I mean I just tore me up as a little boy but even in thinking about Disney movies like there is something in us that goes why in the world was this wicked lying get away for a time why is it that that happens but there's a part of us that knows this and feels this even though we may not be able to communicate it that we feel like this at times and it feels like God is not doing anything or God is just letting it happen and this really is just to show us that the Bible really does speak to our condition that the Bible really does meet us where we are at the Psalmist as he thinks about this temptation as he thinks about the pull of it as he thinks about all the things that it seems that the wicked have he realizes that he's made those things into idols that he has made those things to be the main thing what I mean by that is good health or eating well or them being violent or them seeming to do increasingly better than believers financially or whatever way and he's made those things the main thing and he's realized that those things are not the main thing that for whatever thing you would say or anything that you would say okay I have God now if God would just give me this then things will be settled I would really trust him okay I am a believer but if God would just give me good help or if God would just heal my parents of whatever sickness or God would just heal me of whatever sickness or if God would just make my children obedient or if God would just make people listen to me or whatever it is then I would really see that he's good and really what that is is idolatry that you've made something that's not the main thing the main thing that God himself is not good enough for you you need God plus something else before you can say okay he's really good it's the reason why you know one theologian who is beloved in our circles in the PCA John Calvin would say about our hearts that there are their idol factories that they make idols what he meant by that is that we tend to go from place to place from idol to idol saying if God would just give me that then I'd be intent or I'd be happy and I've seen that even in my own life that as a teenager you guys know it that one of the things you want is I wish God would take my pimples away or I wish God would make me popular in school I wish God would make people like me and then as your girl older it becomes something like oh I wish God would give me a good spouse or I wish God would give me kids or I wish God would give me a good house good job and what that showing you is that these are the things that become our idols because we say if I don't have that then things are not good and what I want you to know is that God himself is good enough that God himself is sufficient for all things and so this psalmist is showing that this is a temptation but he goes on to show us that in order to snap out of that thinking that he says in verse 15 if I had said I will speak thus and he's talking about how he had said I've kept my hands pure in vanity in vain meaning I've done good for nothing I've served God for nothing what he's saying is if I if I would have said that then I would have betrayed God's people I would have betrayed his goodness to me I would have betrayed the generation of your children and then he tries to understand but on our thought to understand this it seemed to me a weirdsome task and notice the place that he gets clarity in verse 17 until I went into the sanctuary of God but what are you saying is that this seemed to wear some to understand the prosperity wicked until he went into worship that until he went into the presence of God and realized wow those things really are not the main thing that God himself is the main thing that my chief in as our confession says is to glorify God and enjoy him forever it's not about that stuff and it is not until he comes into the context of worship besides God's people who worship the true and living God that he realizes oh yeah this is what happens to the wicked and he explains what happens to the wicked and the following verses that truly you set them in slippery places in verse 18 you make them fall to ruin how they're destroyed in a moment swept away utterly by terrorists like a dream in one of weeks over when you rouse yourself you despise you despise them as phantoms and this whole point is to say that there really is an end to all those things and it's not meant to say you know to kind of be spiteful or bench vengeful and saying well they have those things they're going to die so they're going to die apart from God and so I can rejoice in that it's not about that it's about him saying that those things are really fleeting that they really are passing away that they really don't last that they really are not enough to satisfy our souls deepest longings it's no wonder that you see people who make millions millions of dollars like athletes or celebrities it's no wonder that you see their marriages fall apart it's no wonder that you see that they go crazy at times and and lose it at times it's no wonder that all the things that we think if I just had that a little bit more money or whatever a good car good job I'll be all right all those things that we think would satisfy us that we see people who have all those things and they're still not happy why is that because our hearts were made to worship God and this psalmist is recognizing this and he is seeing I missed the point that the wicked are set on slippery places that they will fall and I can't think of a greater example or illustration than death because you can be the smartest person you can be the most beautiful you can be the most wealthy but guess what your smarts your riches they won't save you that all of us in this room we will die but unless Jesus comes back we will pass away and that is the greatest example of this that for time people seem seem like they're doing well but when it comes to the final and their bud dust that we all will pass away and what this psalmist is saying is that the wicked four-time prosper but there is an end to that prosperity there is an end to that passing glory there is an end to all the things that you think are worth something and they are apart from God I think about my own life everybody thinks that they will be in the prime of their life physically and nothing has been more humbling to me than being on a college campus and you know playing sports with my students because it seems like there's so much faster than I remember and it always feels like I should be able to keep up but you know my I tell my body to do something and it doesn't respond I don't know if you all know that like you say gold left and it says no you know like it doesn't move like it like I wanted to move and so it's just one of those things that I realized wow I really I really thought I would be 21 forever you know I really thought I would be as flexible I really thought that I would just spring up from a fall forever and what God has shown is that no you're gonna get old you just hanging there and he's showing me that your health is not your God it's not your savior I am and for us and what we need to think about is that there is an end to the prosper of the wicked the psalmist tells us but then finally he tells us what is the refuge for us all that what is all what is our only hope in all these things and he goes on in verses 23 through the end of the song to explain what is that refuge that he says nevertheless I'm continually with you you hold my right hand you guide me with your counsel and afterward you will receive me to glory whom I find heaven but you and there's nothing on earth that I desire beside you my flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever and all these blessings are blessings that he's communicating about being in fellowship with God it is because God is his God and God has made him one of his people that he has the blessings of walking with God of knowing God's intimate personal individual care towards him at the language he uses is that God holds his right hand that God is walking alongside of him throughout whatever life gives him throughout whatever sufferings or trials or difficulties that he has that God is right with him that even though they may seem that the wicked are prospering God is saying you have me you have all you need you don't need that if you did I would have given it to you you have everything in me and those blessings are communicated to us in and through Jesus that if you are a believer this morning that you can say boldly as this psalmist could say that God is with you and even in a more intimate way than the psalmist could write because in light of the new testament God has placed his spirit in us that in light of the coming of Christ the goddess placed his Holy Spirit in you that he is always with you that he is always walking with you this says you guide me with your counsel and that's his word that we have the words of God that God speaks to us through his word that he teaches us what is his will for our lives through his word that he teaches us what is right and what is good and what is holy through his word that the psalmist is saying you give me the direction that I should walk in and not only that you walk with me in that direction and for us as believers this is your blessing this is your benefit this is your good that God is with you and if you don't know Christ this morning I would ask that you would please talk to one of our leaders in our church one of our elders are deacons we would love to talk to you about it I would love to talk to you about it but this is the promise that God is making that he really is a refuge even though you're chasing those things that seem like they'll provide for you provide consolation comfort security for you the goddess saying I am your only comfort I'm your only security I'm your only hope the psalmist continues in saying that all the things that he looks to will fail him but not God God is the strength of his portion of his heart and his portion forever and he ends by saying for behold those who are far from you shall perish and you put it in to everyone who was unfaithful to you but for me it is good to be near God I've made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works and again what this is not saying is that you bashed non-believers over the head with this and say you're gonna perish you're gonna die but it's meant to make you mourn at the best that people get out of this life is a great job or a great car and then they suffer hell and they suffer God's judgment for all eternity but the best that God gives them is a fifty thousand dollar car or million dollar house that that is a sad story that in light of all eternity but that's your only hope that's all you have that in light of all eternity you just built a corporation or you just had a good marriage or you had a great family who is well known if that's all that people have that's a sad story that's a pitiful story and what God is saying to us this morning is that he is calling us all to himself he is calling us to fear him he's calling us to be content and delight in him he's calling us to see that he is our only refuge he's our only hope so that's my prayer for myself as well as us here this morning let's pray father we thank you for this song and thank you for your word we acknowledge that it is so hard to believe this we acknowledge the times we don't want to believe that you'll do anything about the prosperity of the weekend we acknowledge Florida times we grow bitter towards you because you have you haven't given us something that we thought was necessary or the main thing and we thank you Lord that you don't give us over to our idols that you break us to show us our need for you and that you are our only hope Lord I pray for our hearts that they were long to know you that they were long to be content with you not that they would despise good things because they are good things you give them that they wouldn't make those good things the main thing will help us to see Jesus help us to remember that he is with us that he loves us that he holds us by his right hand that he continues to walk with us that he is our refuge and pray all these things in Christ's name Amen. 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