Good evening. Glad you all could come back this evening. We'll be looking at the second half of Psalm 73. So if you turn there and we'll start. In our world today, people love treasures. And there's all kinds of different treasures, whether it's money, jewels, cars, all kinds. And then there's those what they call hidden treasures, buried treasures, They go to great lengths to get a hold of the treasures that they have in their lives. I looked up and read about one treasure that is supposedly buried on Oak Island, Nova Scotia. People have looked for that treasure for over 200 years. It's believed that the pirates, many years ago, buried a treasure there. And people throughout history have given everything they had to search for it, but yet no treasure. And there's one company that has invested 10 million dollars to sink a shaft 20 stories deep to try to find this supposed treasure. And still, no treasure. And the hunt continues. People just love treasure and they give everything they can to attain certain treasure, whatever that may be. See, what do you treasure most in life? What do you spend your time and effort working for? The reality is that we exert our greatest effort to try to get whatever we think will bring us the most satisfaction. That becomes your treasure. How tragic it would be to spend your life looking for a treasure only to find it and discover that it's flimsy and it doesn't satisfy. And it happens to many. They strive, they work, they invest, they get what they want, and they realize still no satisfaction, still no happiness. So they try for other treasure. Psalm 73 is the story of a man, Asaph, who was a spiritual leader at that time, who almost slipped and fell from his relationship with God because he started to treasure what he could not have. He was looking at things of this world and began to treasure them more, and almost fell away. He was envious of the wealth of the wicked, and thus he wanted their treasure. He observed their prosperity, and he compared it to his own troubles that he had since he started following God. And he almost concluded that I've wasted my time living for God. Fortunately he found the answer. You can read about it in verses 1-16 where he was very miserable. But he found the answer in verses 17-20 because he turned to God and then his view of treasure and this world radically changed because he began to see what it's all about. See, he realized that he was envying a supposed treasure that if he was to get it, would crumble in his hands, would not satisfy, would not give him the joy that he expected. And so he reset his focus on the only treasure that can satisfy for time and eternity, namely God Himself. He is that treasure. And so in chapter 73 verses 21 through 28 that we're going to look at this evening, he gives us the vital lesson that we must treasure God above all else. That is a critical lesson that I think too often Christians take for granted. They know it in their minds, but that's where it rests. They do nothing about it. My prayer has been and continues to be that we would be overwhelmed by the fact that God is our treasure. and will be for all eternity. He is the true treasure. It's a critical lesson, because this is key to all of life, regardless what the circumstances may be. This is key. See, the problem is that many people seek God for what He can do for them, or what He can give them, not for who He is. They want other treasures, and so God becomes a means to get those treasures. Oh God, bless me with a better job for more money. Oh God, bless me with a better house. Oh God, bless me with this and bless me with that. And so God is not the treasure, but God is the genie that gives them the treasure they want. That's how many people see God. And so they seek God for the blessings. Remember the story of Jacob? In the book of Genesis, he stole the birthright from his brother, and then his brother wanted to kill him. So he was sent away by his parents to go to his mother's family to find a wife. And on the way, Jacob had a dream. It was the dream of that ladder known as Jacob's Ladder, where the angels going up and down. After the dream, when he awakened, he made a vow to God. And listen to this vow in Genesis chapter 28, verses 20 to 21. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, if God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father's house safely, then, notice, then the Lord will be my God. You see where his treasure is? It's not in God, but it's when God can give him and do for him. And we look at that and we shake our head, but let's be real, many times we fall into that same trap. Because we pray, and we pray, and we pray, and if God doesn't answer, what do we do? We get upset. God, why don't you answer me? And we begin to question, does prayer work? Is it worth it? See, when we're this way, we're not treasuring God. All we're treasuring is what He can give. And this is how many Christians view God today, based on what He gives them or what He can do for them. But see, God wants us to see that He is the treasure, not His gifts, not His blessings. As thankful as we are for those things, that's not the treasure. God Himself, He is the treasure. He gives things and He does things to show us who He is. so that we can faithfully turn to Him for who He is, not for what He can do. Yes, we know He can do anything, but He is our treasure. In our passage this evening, Asaph, the psalmist, gives us three reasons why we should treasure God above all else. And that's what I want us to look at this evening. Three reasons why we should invest our entire lives in God being our treasure. Why should we treasure God above all else? First, because He is faithful to us in our failures. He is faithful to us even when we fail. We see that in verses 21 through 24. And as we look at these verses, pay attention to how many times He uses the pronouns I and you. He is dealing personally and directly with God. And that's how we have to deal with God, personally and directly. And in these verses, verses 21 through 24, they reveal three ways of how God uses our failures. Let's look at these verses. Asaph said, when my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant. I was like a beast before you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand. With your counsel, you guide me and afterward receive me to glory. So here He gives us three ways as to how He uses our failures. And I want you to really get hold of this. And the first is found in verse 21 and 22. First way that He uses our failures is that He gives us a deeper understanding of our total need for Him. He uses our failures to give us that deep understanding of how desperately we truly need Him. If everything went well in life, we wouldn't need Him. And in verses 1 through 16, you read about how he became embittered. He became sour and negative. Very, very pierced deep and thin. It bothered him severely on the inside, that the wicked could prosper, that everything goes well for the wicked. But look at me, I serve God and what do I have? I have trouble. In that state, he admits that he was not being wise, but rather he was being senseless and ignorant. He said he was like a dumb animal before God. And this is a profound insight. Whenever we fail to learn from God, and instead we begin to trust our own contrary judgments on anything, we start to act like animals, like beasts. Because you see, animals don't have any awareness of God. We have a little dog at home, Teddy. I've never seen him bow and pray and worship God. There's no sense of God in this little animal. He lives for the here and now. He gets his drop, it's time to play tug of war. That's it, that's all that matters. That's how animals live. See, they estimate things only through the present sense. And at this time, when he was going through this, the psalmist judged happiness by this mortal life, by outward appearances. And he was frustrated. And let's be real, many of us do that too. We judge our joy and contentment based on our circumstances. And God says, look beyond the circumstances. And so in this state, he said, He's no different than a dumb animal. He had temporarily failed during this time. He failed because he did not look to God. He was looking to his own selfish, self-centered desires. See, here's the key. The Lord graciously permits us to fail in life, to teach us our absolute need of Him. This is what He allowed for Asaph. See, the Christian life is a process of getting knocked off our feet, so that we learn not to trust in ourselves, but to trust Him. Many times God gives us enough rope to where we stumble and fall. And though we get frustrated with that, it's a good thing. If we do not live in light of God's eternal perspective, We need to understand we live like senseless beasts that live and die without any thought of eternity. Asaph regrets that marred perspective he once held. God's perspective gives a proper view of prosperity and our faith will increase. So we see here that God uses our failures to give us a deeper understanding of our total need for Him. That's what Asaph learned. That's what we must learn. It's a very important lesson to learn. Next lesson is found in verse 23. God uses our failures to give us a deeper understanding of his faithful love for us. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand, he says. See, one of the things about repentance, I believe, is to see how foolish and evil our sin really is. Asaph did this. Asaph said, I was like a wild animal. I was a beast when I lived this way. He realized that God had not abandoned him in spite of his senseless, ignorant behavior. So he saw that although he failed, notice God was still firmly holding his hand. God didn't let him go. He recognized that God had been with him all along and will always be with him. And he saw this was a true blessing against that which the world's blessings could never ever match up. The restoration of his spiritual sight was because of God's faithfulness. So when Asaph recovered his perspective that God is truly good to his people, he realized that God had been with him through the whole ordeal. See, that means when we fail, God doesn't leave us to ourselves. He never lets us go. He is ever-present. And the fact that he got through it was not due to his strong grip on God, but to God's grip on him. If it was up to us to hold on to God, we would fail and fall away. But it's not up to us. It's up to God's hand upon us. And notice the right hand, in that, David, the right hand meant prosperity. It meant blessing. And so God held the right hand. God was going to bless him. It's important to note here that it was God holding the hand of the psalmist, not the other way around. Please understand that. God holds us. We don't hold on to God. God holds on to us. If we had to hold on to God, as I said before, we would fall away permanently. And God guides us like a parent holding a child's hand. So even though Asaph acted the way he did in the previous verses, he was still a child of God. And God did not let him go. Please let this sink in. This is the grace of God. This is the love of God. It is amazing love that He holds on to us even when we stumble, when we fall, when we fail. And just as God did not let him go, he will not let us go. So with David then, in Psalm 37 verses 23 and 24, we can affirm this. The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and he delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the one who holds his hand. Notice, the Lord is the one who holds his hand. So we may fall, but we will not be hurled headlong. So as you live the Christian life, you will fail. We all do, just like Asaph. And when you do, and you come to your senses again, you will realize in a very fresh and in a very deep way, His faithful love, His faithfulness to you. He will not let you go. We could rest assured in that. And so God uses our failures to give us deeper understanding of His faithful love to us. And then there's a third way that God uses our failures in verse 24. God uses our failures to give us a deeper understanding of our need for his word and his spirit to counsel and guide us safely to heaven. Now this one verse in and of itself could be an entire sermon, but it won't be tonight. There's so much here. So not only did God have hold of Asaph's hand through his struggle, but Asaph was sure that God would counsel him right through to the end into eternal glory. It's guaranteed. Would He stumble again? Sure. All of us are going to stumble. But God would still have hold of His hand. And God guides with His counsel, which I believe is His Word. Thus His counsel stands forever. God's counsel is always, always for good. His desire for us is to have the greatest joy in that which endures forever. And what endures forever? His Word, His counsel. This is why God always does what is best. He cannot do otherwise. Please understand this one statement. I love to tell people all the time, God is always, key word, God is always up to something good. Always, even when we don't understand it. Even when we fail, God doesn't let go of us. He is up to something good. It's impossible for God not to be up to something good. And so Asaph acknowledges that afterward, God will receive him to glory. It's not a maybe. It's not a he might. He will. And as Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, this is the great doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints. Although we may stumble and fall, those of us who are truly redeemed He will always keep us and bring us to the end. In fact, even Jesus guarantees this. In John chapter 6, Jesus stated that He came down from heaven to do the will of the one who sent Him, in verse 38. Then in John 6, 39, He makes this statement. This is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. This should assure our hearts. It's impossible for Jesus to fail. So even when we fail, He doesn't. Even when we fail, the Lord counsels and guides us and brings us to glory. So we see that we should treasure God above all else because He is faithful to us in our failures. He uses our failures to give us a chance of our total need for Him, an understanding of His faithful love for us, and an understanding of our need for His word. If you just consider this alone, We should be moved and motivated to treasure God. But it doesn't end here. This is just the beginning. There's more. The next reason why we are to treasure God above all else is found in verse 25 and 26. Because He is the only one who can satisfy and sustain us both in time and for eternity. He is the only one who can satisfy and sustain us both in time and for eternity. Here, Asaph moves from following God for what God may give to treasuring God for who he is. As I said before, this is critical to understand. In verse 25 and 26, and I wanna encourage you, memorize these verses, these two verses, 25 and 26. Memorize them and recall them again and again in your heart and in your life. Look at these words. Whom have I in heaven but you? And besides you, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. See, in these two verses, we see that God is our chief treasure, both on earth and forever and all eternity. Now, I don't know how many of us here can honestly say, besides you, I desire nothing on earth. That's a tough statement. But as Martyn Lloyd-Jones states, he says, this is the highest level to which we can ever attain. Indeed, in these two verses, we see the goal of salvation. I want you to see two things here in these verses. One in verse 25, we see that while we should thank God for His blessings, we should treasure God Himself as the chief blessing. Yes, we are grateful and we are thankful for all that He does and He gives. but it's He Himself that we should treasure and be overwhelmed with. His blessings are innumerable, they are precious, but we would be in great error if we treasured the blessings above God Himself. See, many talk about God and what He gives, but very few talk of who God is. I hear people, they talk about, oh, God blessed me with this, and God blessed me with that, and God did this, and God did that, and that's okay, that's wonderful. But you rarely hear people get into conversation and talk about His Majesty, who He is, His glory. He's the heart of heaven, magnificent, indescribably awesome. See, we talk a lot about what He does and gives, and that's a good thing. I don't want to take away from that. But, oh, how we need to talk about who He is. So in the last analysis, Asaph's treasure and ultimate source of confidence are nothing less than God himself. Please understand, heaven in and of itself is not a joy. Heaven without God is miserable. It'd be no different than earth. What makes heaven heaven? The presence of God himself. When we get these visions and scripture of heaven, what do we see? All these people falling on their faces. Why? Because they see the one who is on the throne, full of glory and majesty. That's heaven. Take God out. Who wants to go to heaven? There's nothing there. He is that treasure. The psalmist's desire for God is better to him than all the wealth, all the health, all the peace and the honor that he so previously envied from the world. Because he knows that'll never last. If he can maintain his closeness to God, then all the earth's treasures and delights become so secondary. He doesn't even think about it. See, there's nothing on this planet that would delight him more than God. And our desire for God should be so great That when compared to our other desires, our other desires are minimal in comparison. That's the way it should be. That's the way God wants it to be in our lives. And the word desire here means to feel great favor toward, to delight in. And that should be our hearts towards God, that we should have favor, we should delight in Him. But there's a problem here. This is a radical claim. As I said earlier, who can honestly say, besides you, I desire nothing on earth? I mean, let's be real, that's hard. Right? That's difficult. In this world, we are bombarded with stuff and things that consume our interest. Often we find ourselves pursuing more of this world than we do God. This is an extremely difficult battle. I confess, it's hard for me. It's a hard, hard battle to fight. Let me ask you this question. If God gave you nothing at all, would you still desire Him more than anything? Only you could answer that question. If God gave you nothing, would you still want Him and desire Him? And there's another problem. Should I not desire my wife? Should I not desire a relationship with my children and grandchildren? Is it wrong to desire a comfortable lifestyle? Is it wrong to desire food, especially me, not desire food? Whoa. In terms of relationships, the Bible commands us to love our families. But as Jesus pointed out, our love for Him must surpass the love that we have for these other things. So no, it's not wrong to desire those things, but when that love and that desire surpasses your love and desire for Jesus Christ, yes, it is wrong. In fact, in Luke chapter 14, Jesus said, if you love mother and father more than me, you're not worthy to be my disciple. So do we love our families? Yes. But if that love supersedes our love for God, then it's wrong. Then it's wrong. In terms of things, Paul gives us this proper perspective. In terms of loving stuff and things in this world, he gives us a proper perspective in First Timothy chapter 6 verse 17. Listen to these words. Paul said, instructed those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited, or, look at these words, fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Notice, where do they fix their hope? On God, not on this world. God is the treasure in this verse, not the stuff. See, when God is our treasure, we find true satisfaction in Him more than anything else. In fact, if God is our treasure, our heart's desire should be more and more of Him and less and less of this world. We are to pursue Him. And so we need to constantly ask ourselves every day, what am I living for? When this short life ends, what will I have left? Or as Asaph would rephrase it, whom will I have left? Whom have I in heaven but you? God must be the personal possession of our souls so that when this life comes to an end, we still have Him. He is our strength. He is our portion. In the book of Numbers, Towards the end of the wilderness wanderings, God was instructing the children of Israel about when they come into the land and they divide up the land. And so there are 12 tribes and each wants to get a portion of land. But then he speaks to Aaron who is a priest. He talks about the priests and what he tells Aaron, the Lord told Aaron, he said, You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. Notice, they're not going to get any land. God is their portion. Did the priest say, what? No land, really? That stinks. I traveled all this time, I don't get a piece of land? No, that's not what they said. Not at all. They understood the same thing as Asaph understood here. God is our portion, and He satisfies more than any piece of land. He satisfies more than any so-called treasure this world has to offer. Thus, we should be growing daily to understand and be overwhelmed by that truth. So yes, we can thankfully enjoy God's blessings, but we should treasure God Himself for who He is above all else. The second thing we learn? In verse 26, we should be growing in the awareness of our own insufficiency and God's all-sufficiency. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. See, here Asaph is contrasting his failing flesh and heart with God as the strength of his heart. See, consider the fact that he failed earlier. He understood he will fail again. He knows he's insufficient in and of himself. We will fail. We are not sufficient. We don't have the strength in and of ourselves to not fail. But I want you to notice the very first two words in the second line. My favorite words in all of Scripture. In fact, I would say that they're the most important words in all of Scripture, but God. But God. I fail, but God. Never forget these two words. Wherever you go, whatever you go through, no matter how many times you fail, remind yourself, but God. Two of my favorite words, because to me, they define everything that Jesus Christ did. Think about it. In Ephesians chapter two, Dead in our trespasses and sins. In the first three verses, He just paints a dark, dark picture of how dead and wicked we are. And the first words in verse four, oh, but God be in rich in mercy. That phrase, but God occurs, what was it, like 150 times in Scripture, I can't remember. Over and over and over again. When you fail, And there's that sense of guilt to remind yourself, but God, but God, but God. The rich person has his wealth to shield them and protect them. Very flimsy. In contrast, Asaph has God who is strong forever. God never fails. The word strength here has the connotation of an immovable boulder. Though we may fail, though we may stumble, God will cause our heart to be like a boulder that is unmovable. He is the portion. Let that sink in. He is the treasure. Think about it. The infinite God is our portion of the inheritance. And this endures throughout life, even at death. No matter what you gain here in this world, at death, that's where it ends. That's it. But when we have God as our treasure, not even death can take that treasure away. And if that's the case, then why would we want any other treasure? See, people in this world may prosper in this life, but it is only the spiritual possessions of the righteous that will endure forever. Even if we were to gain all the wealth this world has to offer, it will fail at death. When you die, that's it. You don't take it with you. But when God is our treasure, not only is He our treasure here, but He's our eternal treasure. Death cannot touch that treasure. So God will not fail at any time, either as a protection or a source of joy. In that last and bitter extremity, God is the strength of His heart and His portion forever. And that's true of us. So although Asaph was troubled because he did not have the treasures of this world, he now comes to see that God Himself is enough. God is the only and greatest treasure. If you have Him as the strength of your heart and your portion forever, you have it all. That's critical to understand. So we have seen then that we should treasure God above all else. First, because He is faithful to us in our failures. And second, because He's the only one who can satisfy and sustain us both in time and for eternity. Now we come to the third reason we should treasure God above all, verses 27 and 28. Because He has rescued us from judgment so that we can take refuge in Him and tell of all of His works. In these two verses, we have Asaph's summary statement in which he gives several lessons he learned from his experience. And I believe they're critical for us to learn and understand as well. Look at these verses. For behold, those who are far from you will perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge. that I may tell of all your works. Three lessons here I want you to see. First, God has rescued us from judgment. You see that in verse 27. Here Asaph thinks back to his earlier envy of the wicked. In light of the fact that they are going to perish and be destroyed, he realizes, why would I want to envy them? Why would we want to envy anybody in this world who rejects Christ but is wealthy? In the 17th century, there was a scholar by the name of John Trapp. He made this statement that I absolutely love. He stated, to prosper in sin is the greatest tragedy that can befall a man this side of hell. Envy not such a one his pomp any more than you would a corpse his flowers. And it's so true. It is so true. To prosper in sin is the greatest tragedy to befall a person because then he begins to depend upon his wealth and his riches and he turns from God. It's a great tragedy. And the psalmist here in verse 27 uses some strong words to describe the demise of those who turn from God. Such people seal their doom. They will perish. This word perish means cease to be. The word destroyed means to completely cut off and put an end to. In other words, God has already put an end to them. They have no future. Both words, perish, destroy, describe a complete end, a complete destruction. And so those who refuse to trust the Lord and those who pursue the things of this world will face this tragic end. In Matthew 25 verse 46, Jesus says that the wicked will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Note, eternal punishment, never-ending punishment. So we see here that whereas Asaph once envied them, with his better insight he now can only pity them. This should be the same for us. Rather than envy these people, we should pity them. Because they actually believe that everything they have is wonderful and good and it's great. But when they die, eternal punishment is their doom. We should pity them rather than desire what they have. And the point for us is very, very clear. Because see, once we were far from God, we were unfaithful to Him and headed for eternal punishment. But God in His mercy reached down to us with love through Jesus Christ and rescued us from His judgment. Should we not now treasure Him above all else, the One who saved us and has given us eternal life, that we will be with Him for all eternity, never ending, where it's just explosively beautiful, never ending, getting better every time, the whole time we're there? Should we not desire that? Should we not treasure that? Than to go after what this world calls treasure and pursue that, that comes to an end? God has rescued us from judgment. Asaph, come to see that. Through this whole ordeal, I pray we would see it as well. Second lesson, verse 28. Being near to God is our good. I think many of us would probably agree with this, and we would nod our head, yes, we would agree. But the real question is, do you genuinely believe it deep down in your heart and your soul? It's one thing to say, yes, amen! Being near to God is my good. But does our life reflect that reality? Being near to God is our good. Oh, how we need to genuinely believe this in our hearts. See, those who treasure sin and those who pursue the things of this world are not comfortable in the bright light of His holy presence. But those who have been cleansed through faith in Jesus Christ, they enjoy the nearness of God. They are dismayed when he seems distant. When he seems far, it bothers them. And it's not that he went anywhere, it's that we are the ones who drifted. And so Asaph was saying that he found great pleasure in drawing near to God. The closer and more intimate to God we experience, the greater we will be the pleasure we experience. See, nearness to God always helps us to maintain a balanced perspective on the things of this world. Because if we're not near to God and we look at this world from this perspective, we should be terrified. But when we are near to God, there is no terrifying. Because we know who controls it all. He is our treasure. And so the greater our nearness to God, the less we are affected by the attraction and the distractions of this world. There is nothing more disastrous for people than to let distance come between them and God. So the nearness of God is our good. Let that sink in and live for that daily. Third lesson, in verse 28, God is our refuge in trouble. Notice he said, I have made the Lord God my refuge. Notice who's doing it? He is. I have made the Lord God my treasure. When you're under attack and the enemy is pressing in, the most valuable place to be is a place of refuge, a sure refuge. Now refuge is a shelter from danger and God becomes the greatest impenetrable refuge to those who draw near to him. See, a good place of refuge is a life-saving treasure, and God is that refuge for us. And as a child depends on their parents to guide them and to provide for them and to protect them, this is what God is for us. We can fully depend on God as our Father to be our refuge. Thus, we should treasure Him above all else because He is our refuge. Why would we want to take refuge in anything else in this world when we have the Almighty God? who is our refuge. And note the conclusion to this entire psalm, and everything that I have to say, the conclusion is the last line of verse 28, that if we treasure God above all else, we will tell of His works. When God is your true treasure, you can't help but tell others. You want to tell them. See, people enjoy telling others of the things they treasure. It gives them great pleasure. When your football team wins, what do you want to do? You want to go tell everybody. If they lose, you don't say anything. You hide your face. When those things that we treasure come to pass, we want people to know, I got that car. You need to see it. It's a beauty. Come and check out our new house. It's wonderful. We like to talk about that which we treasure. And so if God is our true treasure, What should be on the tip of our tongues constantly? The greatness of our God, who He is. He's worth talking about. And that's why the psalmist says here, He talks about Him. See, many times you can tell what people treasure, but what they talk about the most. Listen to them talk. They'll let you know what they treasure. They may not tell you they treasure it, but just listen to them. they'll tell you what they treasure. Asaph experienced God's blessings of deliverance, and as he enjoyed God as the satisfaction of his soul, it would spill over in praise and worship, and he couldn't contain himself. He had to tell people. And here's one thing I just don't understand today. Maybe I'm not thinking clearly. Why is it weird and strange for Christians to strike up a conversation and talk about who God is? I've been told, that's weird. That's strange. You're crazy. I've literally been told these things, and I want to know why. If God is my treasure, if He is who He claims to be, then I think it's weird and strange that we talk about everything else but Him. Last night, there was a football game on, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. So I turned it on at the beginning. You know, they talk a little bit. I didn't even watch the game. But I saw the beginning and they had this lady sing the national anthem and they blew off the rocks and people are cheering. And then when it was done, everybody cheers. Now, I don't have a problem with singing the national anthem. But I have to confess to you, I broke down and wept. I just cried. I did. I went to the back room so my wife wouldn't see me. Because here is a stadium full of people, cheering. A bunch of guys running around with a football. God was never mentioned. God who is the true treasure, who deserves all glory and honor and praise. His name was not even mentioned. And everybody's cheering, whistling, throwing things up in the air, celebrating. God was not mentioned. I just wept. And I beg God, oh have mercy on our souls. What we have missed. What we have missed. It ate away at me. I got on my face. Wow. Wow. See, we need to be consumed with a passion to treasure God above all. This morning we sang a song, Who is like the Lord? I couldn't finish the song. It welled up. I had tears in my eyes. Who is like the Lord? And how does it end? How does it end? There's no one like the Lord. Right? There's no one like our God. Is that not the reality? And if it is the reality, then who should we be treasuring? If there's no one like our God, then we should be so consumed with treasuring Him that we would do all that we have, give all that we can to seek Him and to know Him. I mean, when you think about a company investing $10 million to find a so-called treasure, we have a true treasure, and it's eternal. And for millions and millions of years, we will be treasuring that treasure more and more. Should we not devote everything we got to treasure Him every day of our lives? That's what Asaph tells us. When God is your treasure, not only will you experience incredible joy, but you will not be able to help yourself but to tell others. And so beloved, this evening I encourage you, be overwhelmed with God as your greatest treasure. There is nothing to compare to it. And it is secure and it endures forever. Now you may be here and you don't have an inkling of what I'm talking about because you don't know who Jesus Christ is. Well, where it starts for you is to trust in Him. To come to Him and confess your sins and trust Him. And call out to Him that He would save your soul. If you have any questions about that, come and see me after the service. I would be delighted to talk with you about that. But for those of us who know Him, I have prayed with everything that is in me that God will grab hold of your heart and that you would see God as your greatest treasure above everything in life. Let's pray. Precious Master, Lord, Most High God, there truly is none like you. You are eternal. You are infinite. You are all glorious. I would ask that you would do a great work in our hearts, even this evening, that we would treasure you more than anything this world has to offer. Lord, it's difficult in our world. We're bombarded constantly with different earthly treasures. And many times the flesh is piqued and the flesh desires. Gracious Father, in Jesus' name, do a great work in us. And if there's anyone here, anybody listening that does not know you, God, bring them to yourself that they may experience you as a treasure and find the greatest joy, the greatest delight in all the universe, found only in you. So our gracious God, come. Oh, come and do this work in our hearts. May we become more like Christ, who lived with You as His treasure. May we do the same, in Jesus' name, Amen.