One of the most unusual incidents that you'll ever read about in the Bible is the story of the time that this great man, John the Baptist, had doubts concerning whether or not Jesus was the Messiah. In Matthew 11, we read that while in prison, John sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask him if he was the real Messiah, or should they expect someone else to come? Now, what's so unusual about this is that John was a special man. John was a prophet. John the Baptist was a man who was appointed by God to be the forerunner of the Messiah. And as such, it was his responsibility to officially identify and introduce Jesus to the whole nation as their long-expected Messiah. That's exactly what he did. He told the nation, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, which means turn from your sin because the Messiah, the King, has arrived. He's here. And he said that Jesus was the Messiah. He is the King. Remember he said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Yet with all of John's preaching and all of his bold declarations and announcements, there was a time in his life when he had some serious doubts concerning Jesus being everything he had believed and declared him to be. Now, I want you to know this was completely out of character for John. Scripture depicts John as a man who was rugged, he was bold, he was decisive, he was outspoken about his faith. He was not a wishy-washy, vacillating kind of individual. Yet, here he was doubting something as basic as whether or not Jesus was the promised one. But John isn't the only believer we read about in scripture who has ever entertained doubts. You'll recall that the New Testament tells us on several occasions that Jesus referred to his apostles as those of little faith. He asked them, how long will you doubt? How long will you doubt? And the Apostle Thomas will forever be remembered as doubting Thomas. He has that label forever because of his skepticism in accepting the word that Jesus had risen from the dead. Now, folks, what all of this tells us is that true believers can and do from time to time waver in their faith and experience some doubts about God concerning either him or some theological issue. There are occasions in their lives when we wrestle with theological issues. They befuddle us. They leave us bewildered and puzzled and at times very confused. But it's always important to remember when considering the issue of doubting God that we have to make this important distinction between unbelief and doubt. What's the difference? Well, non-believers are marked by unbelief, which is a stubborn refusal to believe God under any circumstances. It just says, no, I will not believe regardless of the evidence. But a believer who's struggling with his doubts, he wants to believe God. He has questions that he'd like to have answers for. He wants his confusion to be cleared up. In other words, he wants to work through his doubt to understand what is true so that he can move back to a settled confidence in his Lord. That's the difference. And there is no better example in Scripture of a man like this, a man who struggled with his doubts but wanted to understand and believe the truth about God, than the author of Psalm 73, Asaph. I want to read to you verses 1 through 20. of this Psalm. There are actually 28 verses in Psalm 73, but we're only going to get up to verse 20. Here's what Asaph wrote, "'Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling. My steps had almost slipped, for I was envious of the arrogance as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. But there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat. They're not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace. The garments of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. They've set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue parades through the earth. Therefore, his people return to this place and waters of abundance are drunk by them. They say, How does God know? And is their knowledge with the most high? Behold, these are the wicked and always at ease. They have increased in wealth. Surely in vain I've kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. For I've been stricken all day long and chastened every morning. If I had said I will speak, thus behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight. until I came into the sanctuary of God, then I perceived their end. Surely, you set them in slippery places, you cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment, they are utterly swept away by sudden terrors, like a dream when one awakens. O Lord, when aroused, you will despise their form. Now, as I pointed out to you, the last time we studied Psalm 73, Asaph, the author of this psalm, was a spiritual leader in Israel. He lived during the reign, the times of King David. In fact, he was a Levite who was appointed by David to be one of the chief musicians in the nation, which meant that when the people gathered for worship, they didn't have the temple yet, but they would come to the tabernacle Aesop was one of the men who led them in worship. So he was a godly man. He was a spiritual leader. He was looked upon as a great man in the country. But although he was a believer and one of his nation's most important spiritual leaders, there was a time in Aesop's life when he went through a severe bout of doubting his faith, and his doubts centered around the issue of the goodness of God. Because from his vantage point, all he saw was God being good to wicked unbelievers by giving them a life of ease, a life of wealth, a life that was relatively pain-free. But as he looked at his own life, He struggled because he didn't feel that God was being particularly good to him, because even though he was a committed believer, his life was filled with trouble. Far from carefree. And on top of all this, Asaph struggled with being envious, jealous of the prosperity of the wicked. He tells us about his struggles in the first part of the psalm. Let me read it to you again, verses 3 through 5, and you'll see the flow of this psalm. For I was envious of the arrogance as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, their body is fat, They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind." Now, in the verses that follow these verses, what Aesop does is he describes the wickedness of these people he was so envious of. He tells us they're proud, they're violent, they mock and they oppress the righteous, they blaspheme God. Yet he tells us that with all this evil going on in their lives, there are people in Israel who were impressed with them. And they hung on their every word, they soaked in Everything they spoke. Why? Because these people became heroes. They looked as if they could do anything, get away with anything they want without any consequences for their actions. In other words, it looks as if God doesn't even know what these people are doing. Or if He does know, He certainly doesn't seem to care because He lets them do whatever they want to do. And Aesop's conclusion to all of this is that although these people are wicked, they live comfortable lives. They live in the lap of luxury. He says in verse 12, Behold, these are the wicked. This is his conclusion. These are the wicked. This is how they behave. These are the wicked. And always at ease, they've increased in wealth. But that wasn't his experience. And that's part of his problem. His experience was that he was trying very hard to honor the Lord. Very hard to obey the law of God, but no matter what he did, he encountered trouble. So much so that he tells us that it felt to him as if God was punishing him every day for his sin. And it caused him to question whether his efforts to obey God were really worth it. Did obedience pay? Because it sure looked to him as if God wasn't being good to him at all, while he was being very good to the wicked. That's what he means in verses 13 and 14. Surely in vain, he says, I've kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. For I've been stricken all day long, chastened every morning. Looks to him like he's being punished every day, though he is really trying to obey God. Now, I want you to know that Aesop's doubts were no minor, no small matter. He tells us in this psalm that he was so troubled concerning God's goodness to the wicked and his perceived lack of goodness to him that it brought him very close to abandoning his faith. He was just ready to chuck it all, to walk away from God, from everything that he'd grown up to believe, everything he'd been taught, everything that the Word had said. This is what verse two means when he says, but as for me, my feet came close to stumbling. My steps had almost slipped. Now the good news is that he didn't walk away from God. The good news is that he says here, his feet came close to stumbling. His steps almost slipped, but he didn't stumble and he didn't slip. That is to say that in spite of being so troubled with these doubts and tempted to just turn away from the Lord, he didn't turn his back on God. He didn't walk away from Him. He just continued to have these doubts and continued to wrestle with the question of why was God so good to wicked unbelievers but not to him. And you can see that the issue of God's goodness is really at the heart of this psalm. That's why it's critical that you notice something very important that Aesop says as he begins the psalm. Look at verse 1. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. Now let me explain something. These words are the key to understanding the purpose of this psalm, the message of this psalm. Because they tell us that Aesop Though he struggled with his doubts, he did resolve them. He resolved his doubts about God's goodness. That's what was troubling him. But here he says that God is good. So what it tells us is that he eventually came back to the truth that he had always believed. That God is good to those in Israel, like him, who follow. who follow him, who follow the Lord. See, that was Aesop's real hang-up. That's the issue. He had serious doubts concerning God's goodness because from his perspective it looked as if God was good only to the wicked and not to people like him. So what we see, this first line of the psalm is really telling us that he worked through his doubts. The first line is his conclusion. that his faith in the Lord was restored because now he sees, having worked through this problem, that God is good to all in Israel who follow him. That's his conclusion. That's the conclusion to the whole matter that's been troubling him. So what we want to know then is how did this man, Asaph, arrive at his conclusion that God was so good to his children? Because although this psalm was written about 3,000 years ago, this issue is as relevant as the very day that Aesop penned it. Because doubting God's goodness to his children is something that many believers still struggle with. You may be one of them. As they look at their lives, it sure doesn't look as if God is being good to them. They have all kinds of health issues, family problems, financial concerns, marital difficulties, job struggles, Things always seem to be breaking or needing repair, and they don't have the money to fix them. They're lonely. They battle all kinds of temptations. They worry. At times they're depressed. They're fearful. On and on it goes. But there are plenty of unbelievers who don't seem to have these same problems, at least not at the level that they do. So like Aesop, there are believers who have doubts, as to why God seems to be so good to those who hate him and not so good to those who love him. Now listen closely. The reason that Aesop begins this psalm the way he does by telling us the first thing is conclusion. The reason he does that is because, note this, he has a lesson for us. He wants to teach us how he arrived at this conclusion. Why? So that we'll understand what caused him to have such a dramatic turnabout. He turned around completely in his thinking, and we need to know this so we apply it to our own lives. That's the point of this psalm. And so to help us to have this turnaround like he'd had, He's going to take us on a little journey with him to the place where something very special happened in his life that altered the course of his thinking, his whole mental outlook and perspective, and brought him back to full confidence in God. As I've said, he does this so that if any of us are struggling with similar doubts about God, questioning his goodness, struggling as to why he seems to be so hard on us and so good to those who are non-believers, we'll get answers to these doubts from this psalm. Once again, having these doubts answered, we'll be restored to full confidence in the truth about God, that God is good, and He's good to His people. He treats His people well, so that we have absolutely no reason to be envious of the wicked. Now, as I told you last time we studied this psalm, the way that Aesop has chosen to teach us this is by dividing the psalm into three basic sections. And all three sections deal with his thinking, his mental outlook. First, he tells us about his flawed thinking. He honestly reveals his troubled thoughts. We looked at that last time. His thinking was flawed. Secondly, he tells us how his flawed thinking was corrected concerning unbelievers. so that he came to a brand new perspective on the unsaved, things he had never seen or thought about before. And third, he finishes the psalm by telling us his new and correct thinking about how God treats believers like him. Now this morning we want to look at Aesop's second point concerning his thinking, which is this, how his flawed thinking was corrected concerning unbelievers. We begin by looking at verse 15, which we actually looked at last time, but it really is the transition. He says, if I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. Now, even with all that was troubling Asaph, going on in his heart, troubling doubts about God, what we catch here in this statement is a glimpse of his godliness, his real character, godly character, by what he tells us about himself. in this verse. He tells us that in spite of his inner turmoil, he did not verbalize his thoughts to others in Israel. And the reason he didn't do this, he didn't tell the Jewish people about his doubts, was because he didn't want them to stumble. He didn't want them to doubt He didn't want them to be troubled in their faith. And so to his credit, and it's a great thing that he did, to his credit, he kept silent about his doubts, even as he continued to wrestle with these thoughts. And then something happened to him, which was to change everything. And this is where we left off last time, verses 16 and 17. When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight. Until I came into the sanctuary of God, then I perceived their end." Now, as Aesop thought about this problem and tried the best he could to understand how God could treat the wicked so well, but not him, he says that it was troublesome in his sight. In other words, in his mind he was in great anguish. He had this inner conflict going on inside of him. As hard as he tried, he just couldn't understand this theological dilemma. He couldn't understand about God. Why he would treat these people so well, but not him. And he continued to be troubled and continued to be puzzled by all of this until he says something happened. Until he went somewhere. And it was there that something happened. Until he says in verse 17, he went into the sanctuary of God. It was there in the sanctuary of God. What does he mean by that? He means the house of God, the tabernacle in Jerusalem where God met with his people. It was there in the presence of God that something happened to him which was to resolve this whole inner conflict and mental anguish that was going on in his life. So what was it? What was it that happened to him there in the sanctuary in the presence of God? It was there, he says, that he gained a whole new perspective, a whole new outlook about the wicked. Because it was there in the sanctuary that he saw for the first time the big picture. The big picture. He gained an eternal perspective about these people who he had been so envious of. Notice what he says at the end of verse 17. He says, then I perceived their end. In other words, he says that while in the house of God, where apparently God either gave him a vision or else brought to his mind the truth that had already been written down in the Bible, he perceived the end of the wicked. He perceived how it ends for them. Now, regardless of how God communicated to Esau, if he doesn't tell us, what he communicated to him, the content of what he communicated to him, caused him to see clearly the future destiny of the wicked, of unbelievers. He sees it now from an eternal perspective rather than his own short-sighted and very limited viewpoint, which is exactly, folks, what he'd been doing, which was the problem. That's the reason he was so troubled. He saw it from his limited perspective. Now, before we look at Aesop's new perception of the future of the wicked, I want us to consider for a few minutes why Aesop had such a turnaround in his thinking. He tells us that everything changed for him when he went into the sanctuary of God. Why? Well, let's think about this. Why would going into the sanctuary or the house of God have such a dramatic effect on Aesop's thinking? After all, Aesop, he knew the Word of God before going to the sanctuary. He was a spiritual leader in Israel. He already knew what Scripture says about the destiny of the wicked. That wasn't new to him. So, what was it about going into the sanctuary at that time that changed his perspective? Listen closely. In all of the verses preceding this, those verses in which he tells us about his struggles, about his doubts, I want you to notice there is not one mention of God in terms of Aesop's relationship to God. We read nothing about him praying to God, nothing about him reading God's Word, nothing about him seeking God to resolve his doubts. All we read about during this time of doubting is Asaph focusing on the prosperity of the wicked and the lack of his prosperity. That's all. Everything is from his perspective. Do you see the problem? It's all about him. It's from his perspective because he's been very self-centered. All he's thinking about is himself. Why doesn't he have what the wicked have? Why doesn't his obedience to God reap any blessings, any benefits? What good has all of his devoutness done for him? See, this is a man who is totally caught up in himself and his problems. And therefore it only follows that his perspective on things was very limited and very distorted and very sinful. In other words, he saw things only through his own viewpoint rather than God's viewpoint. And his viewpoint was wrong and it was sinful and it was self-centered. But all that changed when he came into the sanctuary. Why? Because in the sanctuary, note this, he was forced to focus not on himself, but on God. Because everything in the house of God spoke of God. It all pointed to God. There were prayers going on, all directed to God. Worship going on, all directed to God. There were songs being sung. About whom? About God. All for Him. The Word of God was being proclaimed. There were animal sacrifices that were taking place. They were all for the Lord. And all of these activities forced this man to get his eyes off of himself and his problems and to focus his heart on the Lord and to consider for the first time during his struggle the greatness and the grandeur and the power of God. How amazing that here's a man who's serving the Lord and yet he's just blocked him out of his thinking. All he's thinking about is himself. All he's thinking about is what he doesn't have. All he's thinking about is what others do have. But going into the sanctuary, it was at that moment when he thought and forced to think about this glorious God, no doubt hearing something at that same time from Scripture about God's ultimate dealings with the wicked, that he came to see and be reminded of the truth from God's perspective now and not his own flawed thinking. What a lesson. What an important lesson we learn from Aesop. When a Christian is struggling with doubts, when you're struggling with doubts, or any problem for that matter, it's usually because we're focusing on ourselves and our circumstances. What happens is we become fixated on us. We see nothing else. How bad things are for us. What we don't have. What others do have. How much we want what others have. Our thinking isn't clear. It's selfish, it's self-centered, it's self-absorbed. And our doubts are merely symptomatic of being self-absorbed. Listen, the only way to break this cycle of self-centeredness, self-absorption, is to see the greatness of God. To see His greatness so that you begin to see things from His perspective, which is an eternal perspective, rather than your own short-sighted worldview. And one of the ways to see God's greatness and His perspective is to go where Esau went. Where did he go? Into the house of God. Today we don't have a tabernacle, we don't have a temple, but we do have local churches. And in principle it's the same thing. Be in a local church where God is honored and his word is taught and he's worshipped in spirit and in truth. But you know what? This is so often what Christians don't do. In fact, it's exactly what Christians often fail to do when they're going through a difficult time and struggling. Instead of going to church where they would be reminded of who God is, his power, his sovereignty, his wisdom, his goodness, they tend to stay away from church and do what? Wallow in self-pity. They withdraw from other Christians, they withdraw from the church, they withdraw from hearing the Word of God. And their thinking then does what? It just remains carnal and unspiritual. And their eyes remain fixed on themselves, and they continue to have doubts and problems because of that very thing. It's all about them. So, if and when you find yourself struggling with a theological doubt, some other problem, some kind of inner turmoil, Force yourself, whether you feel like it or not, to come to church, regardless of your emotions, because it's here in church. where you'll be forced to stop thinking about yourself and your problems and your circumstances, and you'll be forced to think about God and His glory. And that's the way out of this. That's the way out of this funk. That's exactly what happened to Aesop. Notice what he says about how his thinking changed concerning the wicked that he'd been so envious of when he walked into the sanctuary. Notice what verse 17, the second part, all the way to verse 20 tells us. Then I perceived their end. Surely you set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. How they're destroyed in a moment. They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors like a dream. When one awakens, O Lord, when aroused, you'll despise their form. Instead of thinking about how good the wicked seem to have it, Aesop has changed. His thinking has changed. Notice, He now perceives the end of these people. That is to say, instead of looking only at the good things that they seem to have going for them now, now he perceives the way things really are for them, and in particular what the future holds for them, and it's terrible. It's horrible. It's the worst. Notice, The first thing he says about the way things really are for the wicked, he says in verse 18, surely you, meaning God, you set them in slippery places, you cast them down to destruction. What does he mean by this? Well, he means that although their lives appear on the outside to look very secure, very safe, very stable, they have all kinds of wealth, relatively good health, ease, comfort, They have arrogance. They boast of their success and prosperity. They look like they have it made and that they are untouchable. In reality, Aesop says, the truth is, that's a delusion. Because they're actually on very insecure and very slippery ground. The way we would put it today, if we were writing this, we'd say, they're on very thin ice. And the reason for this is because unbeknownst to them, they are in constant danger of slipping from life itself. How so? By God taking their lives in sudden judgment, sudden death, and then judgment. In other words, at any moment, God who sustains their lives may abruptly end theirs in swift destruction, and they don't even know it. See, what Aesop now realizes is that he's only been looking at the prosperity of the wicked in this life. But in doing so, he has failed to recognize that this life is very temporary. It's very brief. And that God is the one who determines the duration of everyone's life. And at the time he sovereignly chooses He will suddenly end the life of a wicked person and everything they have, everything they have accumulated will be gone in an instant and it's over for them. And what will they face after death? God's judgment. God's judgment. This is a truth, folks, that is taught over and over again in Scripture, so that when we consider the prosperity of unbelievers, we need to remember that whatever good things are happening to them today in this world, that's all they're ever going to get that's good. That's it. Because once their life ends, once God intervenes and puts an end to their earthly existence, they will immediately be ushered into an eternity of God's holy wrath. in punishment for all of their sins. This is precisely what King David realized when he considered how easy it is to be envious, to be jealous of evil unbelievers. He said in Psalm 37 verses 1 and 2, Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers, for they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Now what David is telling us in this verse is what Esau has just realized. What he's just come to understand. That the way to keep from being envious of the prosperity of the wicked is by remembering what the future holds for them. Because their future is quite bleak. Like the grass of the field, he tells us, that flourishes for a season and then quickly withers. So the success of the wicked is very brief and it's fleeting. In other words, he's telling us that their time in the sun will soon be over because they're going to die. And that'll be the end of all of their prosperity and all of their success. It's just brief. It's fleeting. See, what God wants us to see, folks, is the big picture that's in store for unbelievers. While they may enjoy some luxuries in this world, it is only temporary. That's all. It'll soon pass, because their lives will soon pass. And when their lives end, they will, sadly, be judged for their sins forever and ever. Now, that's the future of the wicked. And if you can keep that in mind, you won't fret, you won't be envious over anything that they enjoy now. Why? Because they will never enjoy anything good again, ever. Jesus, our Lord, taught the same thing when He said in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, 13 and 14, Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads where? To destruction. And there are many who enter through it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Now, our Lord says there is a way of life that leads to destruction. That's the end. That's the big picture. And it is the way that all unbelievers take. It's the broad way where they can do whatever they want to do without any limitations, without any restrictions. But in the end, meaning at the end of their lives, this broad way leads only to destruction. It leads to eternal death. It leads to ruin. It leads to endless judgment. And Jesus said, and there are many. meaning the majority who are on this path. And they are enjoying life now because they are getting their fill of all of their sinful heart's desire. But someday, suddenly, this broad way of life will end. It'll be over. And then they'll face judgment. See, what Jesus is teaching and what Aesop understood is the most Important thing about all this it's the end of an unbeliever. That's how things end for an unbeliever They have their moments in the Sun and then it's over Now this is what a soft has learned Having come into the presence of God. He saw the end of the wicked. He saw sudden death He saw destruction meaning judgment and even more than sudden death. It was the fear of death that comes after death that Aesop saw as something that will terrorize the wicked. It only gets worse for them. Notice once again what he says in verse 19. How they are destroyed in a moment. They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors. Now once again Aesop states that the wicked are destroyed in a moment. Death comes to them suddenly. And when it does, notice what he says, it terrorizes them. Why? Because they're not prepared to die. They're not ready. They've spent their lives accumulating wealth. boasting about their accomplishments, rebelling against God, mocking Him, mocking those who follow Him, blaspheming Him, and now their lives are about to end. And they are filled with this great sense of terror concerning what awaits them on the other side of death. And they have every right to fear death, because the Bible says that it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. The writer to the Hebrews says this, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. To those who die without Jesus Christ as their Savior, they're going to face God's judgment. And it is this sense of not being right with God, and they know it, that causes terror in their hearts as death is approaching. How different it is for a believer in Christ. How different it is? Paul said that for him, he said, to die is gain. Why? Because knowing that Christ has paid for his sins, And knowing that his faith is in Christ, death is his only hope of salvation, Paul knew that upon death he would immediately be ushered into Christ's presence in heaven where he would enjoy perfect fellowship with the Lord. He wasn't afraid of judgment because he believed and knew that Christ had taken judgment upon himself in Paul's place. That's the way every believer ought to be. To die is gain. Is that how you see death? That's how you should. Or do you fear it because you know that you're not prepared to stand before God? Because your sins have never been forgiven. But listen, it's not too late. It's not too late. As long as you have breath in you, it's not too late. You can still trust Christ to save you by repenting, turning from your sin, placing your faith in Christ, seeing Him as the one who bore sin in His body. Sin was laid upon Him. If you trust that and trust Him for salvation, He'll save you. He'll forgive you. You can die in peace without fear of being judged for your sins. Now going back to Esau's psalm, we see that he tells us more about what he learned concerning the end of the wicked. He tells us that it wasn't only their sudden deaths or their fears about dying that he discovered about the wicked when he went into the sanctuary of God. Notice there's something else he discovered there about them. Look at verse 20. Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, When aroused, you'll despise their form. Now this is fascinating. What Aesop is saying is that the wicked are like a dream when someone who's been sleeping wakes up. In the sense that you realize it's just a dream and you dismiss it as something of no value because it's only a dream. And so it just vanishes from your thoughts. Sometimes we say, oh, it seems so real, but then you realize it's not real and you don't think about it again. In other words, the dream is treated as something that's worthless. Why? Because it is worthless. It's empty. It's just a dream. There's no reality to it. It's an empty dream. So you dismiss it from your thoughts. Now, what's so interesting about this verse is that the one that Aesop says is sleeping and awakens from a dream is God himself. That's what he means when he says, like a dream when one awakens, O Lord, when aroused. He's speaking as if God is waking up from sleep. Now, understand this. In reality, God does not sleep. The Bible says, He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. He who keeps you neither sleeps. God does not sleep. But in order to convey a truth that we could understand, Aesop attributes a human quality to God. The quality of sleeping and then waking up from a dream that he just dismisses as worthless and puts it out of his mind. Many times the Bible does that. It's a big word for that. It's called an anthropomorphism. It means giving human qualities to God because language is limited. So, the Bible will speak of the eyes of the Lord, and yet God doesn't have eyes as a spirit. The hand of the Lord, the right hand of God, God doesn't have a hand. It just speaks of his power. His eyes speak of being all-knowing. And so, he speaks here as if God is sleeping, and then wakes up from this dream, and he just dismisses the dream as worthless, and he puts it out of his mind. What's the point? that Aesop is making. The point that he's making is that the wicked are just like a dream to God. Just like a dream in the sense that once he awakens and begins to exercise his judgment, they will be dismissed and forgotten forever. In other words, all of the prosperity, all the success of the wicked will one day just vanish because they will vanish, never to be thought of again, just like one doesn't think of an empty dream after you've had it. See, this is the answer. to Aesop's envy of the wicked. Why envy those who will vanish someday with all their fame, all their accomplishments? They mean nothing. They're not lasting. They'll be gone. Nobody will even think about them. Listen, if you struggle with jealousy, over unbelievers who seem to just have it all. And keep this truth in mind, no matter how much stuff they have now, no matter how much success, how much prosperity they have now, no matter how much they boast of their accomplishments, when God arouses from His sleep and executes judgment on them, everything they were, everything they had will be forgotten and will vanish away, never ever to be thought of again. So, in the final analysis, what they were and what they had is worthless and unworthy of being envied. That's his point. Who's going to be envious of a dream? It's over. But this statement is fascinating about God sleeping, arousing from a dream to execute judgment, because it raises an important question about God that I want to raise with you. Even though we know that God doesn't actually sleep, when he lets the wicked succeed and prosper without any consequences, it does appear as if God is sleeping. it does appear as if he's just letting people get away with things and not doing anything because those who are wicked are allowed at times to flourish and he doesn't stop their wickedness. So the question we need to ask then is why does God allow wicked people to do wicked and evil things? Why does God permit a man like Adolf Hitler to come on the world scene and do such evil? And in our day, why does God allow such an evil group as ISIS to carry out their murderous acts? Well, the Bible offers some very specific reasons as to why God permits evil in our world. And we don't have time for an exhaustive study of this and there's still a great mystery to this, but I want to briefly present to you a few reasons, biblical reasons, as to why God appears to be sleeping so that he permits wickedness to happen and sometimes flourish. One reason that God allows sin to flourish is so that sin would be revealed for what it really is. What is it? It's ugly, it's foul, it's hideous, it's rebellion against God. In Romans chapter 1, the Apostle Paul describes the behavior of a society that has rebelled against God's authority. and it is foul and ugly and repulsive. Paul describes this society, the individuals in it, as greedy, murderous, deceitful, filled with malice and strife and all kinds of sexual perversions. It's really quite similar to our society. So this is what sin looks like when it's allowed to flourish without being restrained. and God permits it so that we can see how utterly repugnant and repulsive sin really is. In other words, God lets it flourish so that we get a picture of what it really is. It doesn't look as good as we might have thought it looks. God permits it, so we'll see how terrible it is. This is God's way of teaching us the true nature of sin. By letting sin flourish, He shows us what rebellion and anti-God views and beliefs, all of that, what they lead to. All of the anti-God views of our day, evolution and all the other ideologies, this is what it leads to, the most repugnant and horrible behavior imaginable. Listen, this is why some of us who were saved later in life were permitted by God to live such decadent lives before we were converted. Why? It was God showing us what happens when he lets us sin to our heart's desire and lets us run our own lives. So that we would see how horrible our sin really is and where it really leads. How many people can look back and say, I came to a point in my life where I said I don't want to live like this. For all these years I ran my own life and look at the horrible job I did and then they turn to Christ. God lets them see what their sin really leads to. There's a second reason God allows sin to increase. He does it especially in society in order to punish that society. That's really the message, the primary message of Romans chapter 1. God takes off the restraints of man and lets man do what his depraved mind wants to do in order to punish him for his rebellion. In other words, He lets us reap the consequences of our sinful behavior. So why does He let sin flourish? Sometimes just to punish us. The third reason that God permits sin and evildoers to increase is so that when He does judge them at the height of their sin, His glory and His power are put on display. Why? Because it reveals that God is greater than even the worst of sins and the worst of sinners. That's what judgment does. Concerning this display of God's power, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said this, God allows evil and evil powers to do astounding things to the world, so much so that even the godly begin to ask, can God ever stop this? Then, when the end has almost come, God arises and down they go. God arises and he demolishes, and all who see it fear this almighty, glorious God. Now there are more reasons for God permitting evil, but I think these are sufficient. Having mentioned these, they ought to help you to see that God does know what He's doing. God is wise. He does have His reasons for letting the wicked flourish, even if you don't know why. But even though He allows the wicked to flourish for a time, there is a day coming. when he will arouse as if he's been sleeping and he will execute judgment on them. And the wicked will be gone in an instant, never to be thought of again. So if you struggle with envy, you struggle with jealousy over unbelievers who are wealthy and successful, you don't need to. You don't need to. Learn what Aesop learned and apply it to your life that someday these people who look like they have so much, it'll all be over for them in a flash. Their lives will end and with great fear they will face God's judgment. None of their money will help. None of their luxuries will help. Nothing can help them. And they and all they accomplished in life, it'll be gone like that, never to be thought of again, never to be remembered again. What a horrible fate. Far from being envious of people like this, we ought to feel sorry for them. Let them enjoy what they have, because that's all they're going to have that's enjoyable. Just make sure you're not one of them. Make sure you're a child of God. Make sure that you have a wonderful future. A future like Paul said, to die is gain. Make sure that your trust is in Jesus Christ as your Savior. because if you are trusting him then your death will be the beginning of real life for you. That'll be the start and you'll be remembered by God as you fellowship with him and enjoy him forever. It will never end. Let's bow for prayer. So, where do you stand? Are you an unbeliever? I mean, you may believe intellectually in Christ, you may believe the Bible, but have you ever turned from your sin? Have you ever turned to Jesus Christ and cast your confidence on Him, believing that His death is the only way you can ever be right with God? Because in His death, He paid for sin. If you've never trusted Christ, I urge you to do that. Make sure that you really know Him. If you do know Him and you struggle with people who have more money than you, more things than you do, better health than you, so many things going for them, understand they're on slippery ground. It only looks stable. They're on very thin ice. And someday it'll end for them. Don't be envious of them. Feel sorry for them. Pray for them. Witness to them. Tell them the truth. All that they're enjoying now will be the only things that they will enjoy. So don't be envious. Learn what Asaph learned. Get your eyes off of yourself, off of your problems, and see the glory and grandeur of God. Father, thank you for this opportunity we've had to enter into the sanctuary with Asaph, to look around and to see you. Lord, for those struggling with envy, doubts, theological challenges. I pray that you'll help them to get their eyes off of themselves, off of other people, off of their circumstances, and may they catch a glimpse of your glory. May they see how great you are, how wise, how good, how sovereign, how all in control you are of everything. I pray, Lord, that you'll deliver them from being envious of the wicked. Lord, we pray if any here have never trusted Christ, may they see that they are the wicked, that they are the wicked if they have rebelled against you, if they have never placed their trust in you, and that they're on very slippery ground. So open their eyes to show them Christ. And I pray, Lord, that you'll take all these truths as we go from here. Help us to remember them and apply them as we go into the work week. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.