Dear community, you can open your Bibles to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. Most of you probably already know that the Bible book is actually divided into five parts. Party Translations has also written such a booklet. Here is book 1, book 2, book 3, book 4, book 5. And here is the fifth part, or the third part, excuse me, the third part of the Psalm book, starting with Psalm 73. Come and listen to us, with us softly, because it is the Word of God that we hear. A psalm of Asaph. Truly, God is good for Israel, for those who are pure of heart. But as for me, my feet have barely touched the ground. My footsteps have almost slipped out. For I was displeased with the foolish, when I saw the progeny of the godless people. For there is no punishment for them, their bodies are healthy and fat, they are not in the trouble of death, and they are not tormented together with other people. Therefore the pride of them is like a serpent's web, the violence covers them like a veil, Their eyes are full of fat. The imagination of the heart runs wild. They spit and speak in anger and oppression. They speak from the heights. They put their mouths against the sky and their tongues walk on the earth. That is why they turn their people into this. And waters and abundance are swallowed by them. And they say, How should God know this? and shall there be knowledge of the Most High? Look, such are the ungodly people, and always, without concern, they multiply the wealth. Truly, I have kept my heart pure, and washed my hands in innocence. The whole day I was beaten, and my punishment was there every morning. If I had said, I will also speak thus, then I would have been unfaithful to the generation of your children, Then I thought about how to understand this, but it was difficult in my eyes, until I went into the sanctuaries of God and paid attention to their ends. Truly, you place them on smooth places, you let them fall into pain. How do they become an object of amazement in an instant? Do they go astray? Do they not become frightened? It's like a dream that a person wakes up. O Lord, how I despise you when you awaken their imagination. When my heart was bitterly stifled, and I was stuck in my knees, then I was stupid, and I did not know anything. I was a fool to you, even though I am always a fool to you. You took my right hand. You will lead me through your council, and then take me in holiness. Who am I outside of you in heaven? Outside of you I desire nothing on earth. Although my flesh and my heart are weak, God is the root of my heart and my part for ever. For behold, that which they keep far from you is gone. You destroy all that is taken away from you. But what concerns me, it is good for me to be close to God. And the Lord, Lord, I have asked myself to tell all your works. Amen. In many of the psalms we get something about the continuation or the point of continuation at the beginning or at the end of the psalm. In this psalm it is at the beginning and at the end. We are going to read that verse again. Verses 1, 27 and 28. Truly, God is good for Israel, for those who are pure of heart. 27 and 28. For behold, those who keep far away from you will perish. All will come out of you that depart from you. But as for me, it is good for me to be near God. And, gentlemen, I have made myself available to tell you all your works. How is it going with you? Sometimes when we greet each other, it's already a fixed use. We stick out our hand. When you come to a man and shake his hand, and you say, how is it going? Sometimes we actually get a bad answer. In general, thank you. But often it's not how it's going to go right. How good it was in the past, when a brother or sister is not satisfied with the good thanks. If a brother or sister goes a little further and says, after you had the standard greetings, like, hello, how's it going, good thanks? Then they say, but how is it going right? How is it going right with you? And then you start to have a hard time. Even practitioners say, but they never said, thank you. They sometimes say, it's going to be hard. It's really going to be hard. So how is it going tonight with you? How is it going with your soul? Another way to ask it is, where are you? Where are you at the moment? And I don't mean visions. You guys can put your hands up and say, give me a diamond. I mean it more in the sense that the Lord used it in Genesis. After man fell into sin. Then you hear how God calls out, Adam, where are you? And it's not because the Lord doesn't know where Adam is, that he crawls away. It's not like a bunch of plants, and leaves, and branches, and something like that can at least cut you off from the eyes of the Almighty, and the all-seeing, the all-knowing. He knows exactly where Adam and Eve are right now. And yet he calls them out, and he says, Where are you? And so our party needs to hear this. That you are also asked, where are you at the moment? Where are you mentally at the moment, before the Lord? Are you still on the road? It is often how it is described in the Psalms. To be a believer, to be one of the children of the Lord, it is often described in a simple way. It is someone who is on the way. He is on the way. He is on the way of the righteous. There is another way, the way of the unjust, the way of the Godless. In fact, the book of Psalms must begin in its entirety. Psalm 1, the way of the unjust and the way of the Godless. Now you have to keep this in mind. When it comes to the Psalms of the Godless or the Unrighteous, it is usually not directed at the Philistines, or the Amorites, or the Babylonians. Usually not. Often it is to speak, as we have learned and I have learned, that if God is Unrighteous, within Israel. And if God is Righteous, within Israel. And so, this question should not be left behind so easily and say, well, I am a part of the church, I am a member of the church, I am here. And so it certainly means that because I am here, I am on the way. And those who easily sit at their homes, they are not on the way, they are on the way of the Godless. Yes, you should not make such a mistake. Each one of us. I have to ask myself regularly, am I still on my way? Where am I? After this time, you guys can test yourself a bit. If you're just going to do it in the open, where there's nothing you can get stuck in. But look, if you make a starting point and an ending point, and you say, let's see who of us can walk straight to the end point, we don't want to look at the end point. We want our eyes to be dimmed. Our eyes look far to the left or far to the right, and let's see how far we can walk straight. It's as if the Lord made us that way. You walk where you look. This is how it often happens with a believer, in a spiritual way. You walk where you look. That your attention has shifted away from the end point for the believer. And just as your attention has shifted away, you have gradually, little by little, started to walk away from the path. You started to wander off. In English, it's called backsliding. It's difficult to get the African term for it. As far as you know, you can say minority. But in African, it's backsliding, or becoming absent-minded. You fall off the path. You drift off the path. And we also have to ask ourselves, where are you? Are you trying to get rid of something? Are you trying to get rid of something? Are your eyes still in the right place? Or are you slowly trying to walk further and further away from where you need to be? It is true about Psalm 73. Psalm 73. It's about a believer, with whom exactly this happened. A believer who fell, but then came back. You can sum it up like this. How a meeting with the Lord brings a gliding and falling believer back on the path. how a meeting with the Lord, a gliding and falling faith, brings us back on the path. The psalm is divided in three parts. We have already read the sequence, verses 1, 27 and 28. Then verse 14, is where he is sliding and falling. He is already sliding and falling. You can, those of you who were on a walk, sometimes you have to go through a stream, and then there are cliffs on which moss has grown. Then there are slippery cliffs. And then sometimes he is already sliding on those cliffs. He hasn't slid completely yet. He hasn't fallen completely yet. He hasn't hit the ground yet. But he is still trying to keep his balance. This is what you have to read about. He didn't fall finally. He is sliding. He is falling. And the Lord grabs him. Let him not fall away completely. That's what you read in verses 4-12. You get that image in your head of someone who is busy, he stepped on the smooth cliff and he is struggling to stay on it. That is what is happening mentally. He is trying to go down. He is trying to go in the wrong direction. Verses 15-26 is where the Lord will take you and bring you back to the right path. And then again the sequence in verses 27-28. Let's take a look at the whole of the psalm. There are a few thoughts that we won't get to. The psalm is quite long. I hope you will get a good overview of the psalm and that you will ask yourselves, where am I? Where am I? Let's read a psalm from Asaph. Asaph, let's read from 1 Chronicles 16, verses 4-7. Where David asks the Levites to go forward in the song, in the praise and worship. And Asaph is the leader of that group of Levites. So here you have nothing to do with a child in the faith. It's a leader in the community of faith. I have to tell you something. It shouldn't be easy when you think, I'm already more mature in the faith, as if you can't fall either. As if you're better than the others, and you're not in danger either. No. Even the predecessor. Beware that He can also become absent-minded. Each one of you must be on your own. And He writes as if from His own confession, His own path with the Lord. But He writes it as a letter. for the believers to learn and to sing. We are going to sing tonight. We are going to sing of what Asaph's experience was, what the Spirit inspired, so that the Church can learn from this through the ages. At the end we will come back to the continuation. But after verse 1, God is truly good for Israel, for those who are pure of heart. You can actually ask this as a question in the first part of the Psalm. It's as if Asaph is constantly asking this question. Is God really good for Israel? For those who are pure of heart? He's not asking this question for all the Israelites. If you ask, is God good for Israel? Then you're further limiting it to those who are pure of heart. For those who are just. For the believers, is he good for them? Is he a prophet? As old as you think, it's as if he's asking this question all the time. And initially, it seems as if he wants to say no. God is not good for Israel, for those who have a pure heart. Because hear what the first part says, verse 2 to 14. Because I, verse 2, excuse me, what concerns me, my feet barely touched the ground, my footsteps almost slipped out. There you get an image of someone who threatens to fall away, who threatens to slip away. He is in a slippery spot. But the Lord will not allow his faith to fall away, but this is a real danger. This is a real danger here. If the Lord would leave for Azov, then He will fall away. Then He will slip away. This is the real danger when He is here. And if we realize this, if we speak here of final fall, then it means that the end is eternal perdition. This is what the end is of someone who is final fall. You have to realize how dependent you are on the Lord to fulfill your covenant, to be able to travel to the end of your pilgrimage. If it's not even for the Lord who returns, if you don't make the final fall, then you will. You are dependent on the Lord of the disciples. So what are the things that Asaph here barely lets go, barely lets slip out? He is looking at the godless, at the heathens. And he says, Bosses, things are going so much better with them. So much better with the godless, than with the believers, with the God-fearing. He says, I was jealous of the ungodly when I saw the prosperity of the godless people. There is no torture in them. Their body is healthy and fat. They are not tired of dying. And they are not tormented with other people. Listen to this beautiful image, an image in a language, where he says, that is why there is pride in them, like an alzheimer's, like a hangover. Their permanent pride is a necklace around your neck. Now, what is the purpose of a necklace around your neck? You can ask those who now have a necklace around their neck, how did you get it around your neck? One of the reasons is because I think it's beautiful. It's a beautiful decoration that I wear around my neck. And what do you say to these people? They regard their pride as a beautiful decoration. I think what we learned in Abaqaq. The pride. How terrible is the pride. How big is the prejudice about the pride. But with them it's not like that. They think it's beautiful. They think it's a beautiful decoration. It hangs around the neck. Furthermore, they cover the violence like a veil. It's their clothing. It's what they've covered themselves with, with violence. Pride is their clothing, violence is their clothes. Here is the next one, it's quite... one that makes you shudder. Their eyes are full of fat. Their eyes are full of all the fatness they have. The imagination of their heart runs wild. Everything that their heart is full of runs wild. They don't do what they want. They spit and speak in anger suppression. They speak at the height of... They even raise their mouths against heaven. They are even talking against heaven. Saying, I stand up against heaven. Look at that pride. Look at how he is full of himself. Look at how he doesn't realize that he is a creation. They even speak against heaven. And their tongues walk on earth. They say, that's why the people turn here, the waters are being sucked up by them. The waters are often used for peoples or masses of people. Here is the image of them, they suck them up, they take them under their control. But verse 11, they say, how would God know this? And would there be knowledge of the Most High? How can God know of all the evil that we do through the waters? Of all the injustice that we do? God knows, doesn't He? Look at the godless people. Look at the thoughts of the godless people. This is how the godless people are. And always, without worry, they multiply their wealth. He is looking at the godless people. And he doesn't look far enough. He doesn't see far enough. He's busy looking and he sees that it seems as if it's going terribly fast with them. And it seems as if there are no consequences for the injustice they do. It seems as if there is no judgment. As if there is no punishment. As if there is only speed, prosperity and comfort for the godless people. And now, it goes in verse 13 and 14. It goes from Asaph, who looks at the Godless, to something that is going on in his heart, what he feels, what he thinks. Truly, to forgive I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. It was just a loss. The life of a God-fearing man, to walk in purity before the Lord, that was to forgive. It helps so much more to just live the path of the unjust and the godless. That's what he's dealing with now. The whole day I was beaten and my discipline was there every morning. I was lazy, I was worried, the Lord disciplined me. But it seems as if they don't have any judgment. Oh dear, how often has this happened. How I am with believers today. I believe that today, even you, look at an unbeliever, a heretic, someone who has no compassion for the Lord, who does not bow before his word. And you have to think about this trial, but they all live well. Everything is easy for Him. Why do I have to live the life of a believer, which is difficult and heavy? Why do I have to stop and live what He lives? It is the danger. You can see in what serious danger is someone who is in this place. How serious is this danger? This is not light. This is a life that is at stake. It is on the tip of the knife. It is a moment, and if you go on with these thoughts, and you give up, if you go further, then you fall into damnation. That is how serious this is. But see now, how the gentlemen start working. How the Lord, the one whom He took for Himself, did not pass away in the end. How He began to do something here in Asaph. It begins with a realization. If I said this, I also want to speak like this. I also want to speak like the unbelievers, who also speak against heaven. I also want to speak like them. then I would have been unfaithful to the generation of the children. One of the things the gentlemen here use, is the connection with more believers. Do you see that? Do you see how important it is, the connection with more believers? Because one of the things the gentlemen here use, is the realization, that if I start talking like them, then I betray, I would betray the children of the Lord. It is something that the Lord uses here to bring Asaph to the wrong side. Then I would have been disloyal to the generation of the children. And so, you should also see this. as one of the means that the Lord gives to keep you in the faith. He gives you connections with more believers. Don't think it's just an extra thing. It's an essential part of being a believer. The Lord doesn't save people out of loneliness in the world. He doesn't save them out of poverty. He doesn't have limbs that are cut off. There's a hand and there's a leg. It's not a cut-off body. It's a body that has been put together. Because we need each other. The more we use, the more we believe. To keep you as well. Verse 16, he said, he tried to understand it, but it was difficult for him. And then comes the big turning point, in verse 17. Until I went into the sanctuaries of God and paid attention to their ends. You see, the Lord's use is more religious, but in the end it is not the encounter with a more religious person that brings the turning point. In the end it is the encounter with the Lord God himself. It's when He comes to stand before Him again. And that's what happens here. Asaph goes to the sanctuary. What is that? That's the temple. The tabernacle in here. The temple hasn't been built yet. But he goes to the sanctuary. He stands there. And he sees, here is the Lord God in His tabernacle. He's here. He's here, under His people. He's here opposite. But what does he see further? He saw the attitude of the Lord. He saw how a son came there with the sacrifice animal. He saw how the priest took the sacrifice animal. He saw how the animals were slaughtered. He saw the blood that flowed. He saw the altar of the sacrifice burning. He saw the flesh that was burned on the altar of the sacrifice. And he said, now I see their end. Now I see it. I see what is the end of the unjust, of the one who speaks so much to heaven. It is not imagined for me. Their end is like that animal on the altar. It is their end for the holy God who wants to be holy here on earth. It is the tower of the Lord. That's the end of that way of living. And so, the encounter with the Holy God brings him to the right consciousness. Brings him to the realization that he will say, I have led to their end. But we have to realize that what you see there is not only the end of the Godless. You also see the end of the righteous. It is announced there, it is depicted there. That is what makes it so beautiful. The offerings and the ceremonies that happened at the tabernacle and later at the temple. It was an announcement. The Gospel is announced there. You can just look at the animal that is burned on the altar and see, but that is the end of the unjust. But what happens? Here is a believer who is praying and praising and worshiping the Lord. Because you are so merciful to me. I had to be burned. I had to die for you, O Holy God. But you were merciful and merciful to me. You gave one that dies in my place. My sin is laid upon that animal. He is slain and he is burned on the altar that I may live. His blood has flowed so that my blood can keep pumping. That I may live. That I may praise. You may praise. That I may pray for you. I can enjoy you. You are my treasure, Lord. There is no good in you. This is how he sees the believers there. For the tabernacle that is busy praising and praising the Lord. The Gospel. The meeting with the Lord and the proclamation of the Gospel. Bring this man to repentance. Bring him to repentance. That where He was busy sliding and falling and threatening to fall, here the Lord Himself comes and grabs Him so that He can stay at His height. Then He says, what is the end of the Godless? You see, this is the second part of the Psalm. The first part was the description of Asaph while he was in danger, verses 2-14. Verses 15-26 is where the Lord will bring him back on the right path. The first part of the return to the right path was almost as if he was getting a hold of himself again with the meeting of the lords. The second part is where he sinned about the end of the Godless. Verse 18, truly you put them in a place of pain, you let them fall into pain. And see the difference. Remember how Asaph began about himself. He said in verse 2, My foot almost slipped. I was in serious danger. I almost fell, I almost slipped. But what about the ungodly? You put them in a slippery place. You let them fall in pain. The Lord who keeps the faithful, He gives the unjust, the proud, over to himself. That's what we read in Romans 1. The Lord gives over that evil to himself. So that they may receive what their hearts desire. But they don't realize the danger they are in. They are in a slippery spot. They are going to fall in pain. And where he was before, he saw the temporary prosperity, the temporary prosperity that they were able to enjoy. Now he sees the bigger picture. He sees the bigger reality. He sees things again in perspective. He sees it as what is right. He says, how do they become an object of surprise in a moment? In a moment. At first they say, proud is my adornment, is my adornment. But in a moment, he becomes a subject of amazement. What does that mean? It means all the people around him are actually in shock, are stunned, are amazed at what happened to this one. A subject of amazement. In a moment, the Lord does this to them. In a moment they vanish, they don't get scared. It's like a dream, after a person has woken up. What a beautiful image, or an impressive image. Think about your dreams you've had. Children, the dreams you've had. When you wake up, what happens to that dream? Is it still here in front of you? Do you keep playing with it? It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's gone! It's like a dream, when someone wakes up. You despise them so much when you wake them up. Verse 21. So now, he had some kind of realization, the right realization of the unjust and the end of their way. But now, in the first part, he first looked at the unjust and then he said something about himself. In that state he was in. Now something happens to himself. He also says something about the unjust, and then he looks at himself again. He says, when I... When my heart was bitter and I was stuck in my knees, then I was stupid. And I didn't know anything, I was a deer. I came to a realization of myself. How stupid was I to think like that? How stupid was I? And I hope that you have also had this experience. That you... The Lord makes you awake again. That He brings you back on the right path and you look back and you say, how stupid and stupid was I? To think about these things! To do these things! Oh Lord, thank You! Thank You that You saved me from this path I was on. I was on my way to destruction. But look, You, great grace! You brought me to repentance! You brought me to repentance! You gave me wisdom! Now I see! Now I see the truth! I see how foolish I was! And I see, what is the truth? I see the right way again! I see the Gospel! The end of this is that he starts saying, truly God is good for Israel, for those who are pure of heart. In the first part he starts to question. But now he realizes, it is so. The Lord is good for Israel. He is good for those who are pure of heart. And you see how He is so moved by the Lord, by how good the Lord is. Oh, beloved, may it be so in you. May it be so that your soul will call out tonight. These words, oh Lord, You are good. You are good for me. You are good for us. It will not be facts, but it will be something that you experience. It will be something that will move your heart, something that will make you win, something that will start to roar, something that will say, the Lord is good. And I want to be with Him. I don't want to walk on a path that goes further and further away from Him. I want to be on a path that comes closer and closer to Him. Because He is my peace. He is my treasure, there is nothing good about Him. May this be what makes the Lord awake in your heart tonight, to say even more, even more, I can't get enough of Him. He is everything. I will give up everything, if I can get more of Him. This is what He talks about in the last part of the psalm. Read, for example, verse 25. I know beyond you in heaven, beyond you I desire nothing on earth. Think about that a little bit more. Beyond you, I desire nothing on earth. Think about that again. He says, beyond you, I desire nothing on this earth. That if you say, take away from me all things on this earth, it is as if you have taken nothing away from me. Because I have the Lord. This is something that he said. Look, here is something of the Lord that is precious. He is not just something you touch in your life. He is life. He is it. Then we have to ask again. Where is us? Where is us? Is my heart also in the same place? That I can say, out here in you, there is nothing that I desire on earth. If I can only have you, then I am satisfied. This is what my soul needs. Ask yourself, is this where you are at the moment? And then we come to the continuation. Again, verses 27 and 28. It's a summary. 27, the first part, about the unjust. 28, the second part, about the just. 27, the first part, about what you're doing to walk away from the Lord and the danger it entails, the real danger it entails. 28, the joy it brings when you get closer and closer to the Lord. Verse 27, because look, those who keep away from you will perish. You will destroy all that is taken away from you. And here you have to hear the language again, taken away. It speaks, in the language of Israel, the Israelites were spoken of as the bride of the Lord. Who is the one who died then? It's abominable convent children. In our language, it's people who were killed. It's people who were part of a community at some point. It's even people who at some point could lead their faith in front of the community. But they died. They walked away from the Lord. And the Lord threatens and says, I will drive them all out. This must be a serious warning to you. The Lord who warns you, do not walk away from me. The end of it, if you walk away from me, is devastation. But, it's not only the commandments of the covenant in verse 27, but also the promises of the covenant and the blessings in verse 28. But as far as I am concerned, it is good for me to be close to you." Such a beautiful statement. In the beginning he said, God is good for those who are pure of heart. For Israel, for those who are pure of heart. He himself is good. And now he says it from the other side, and it is good for me to be close to him. He is good. And for me it is good to be with Him, to be close to Him. That is what is good for the soul. That is how you are created. Man is created to be close to the Lord. And if you go away from Him, you will perish. But if you are close to Him, you will flourish. That is what you are made for. Asaph realizes that it is good for him to be close to God. And the Lord has asked me to tell you all these works. And there you see what the psalm is. The psalm is Asaph, who himself has sinned against the Lord, who has become wicked in the beginning. But he wants to tell you about the works of the Lord. He doesn't turn his back, he says it straight. He says it straight, what terrible things he thought. But I say to you, my brother, my sister, see the works of the Lord in my life. See what He did to the Lord. See where He was going, but see what He did to the Lord. See how He turned me around, see how He brought me to repentance. That I am again close to the Lord. And that's what happened. If the Lord does these things, then your mouth will open. You will not be allowed to speak. You will say, the Lord is good. Can I tell you about the Lord? Can I tell you how good He is? Can I tell you what He has done for you? Can I magnify Him? Because He is just so good. And you also need Him. Without Him, you will also perish. Such love. Brother, sister. Elders from there and youngsters. Guys, I know, all the attention was on other places, but pay attention again. How are you? How is your soul? Where do you stand before the Lord? Are you trying to live further and further away from the Lord? I think you will know. If it is so, then you can look back and see... I can look back and see that I was at a point close to the Lord, but now I'm trying to go further and further. My mind is busy thinking terrible things. I'm busy doing terrible things. I'm busy sliding. What can you learn from Asaf if that's your position? If I ask you a lot of questions, how are you doing? And you say... I'm shaking. I'm about to fall. Well, look at what's here. You need to stand before the Lord again. You need to enter His holiness. You need to realize the holiness of the Lord again. You need to see the Gospel. You need to hear the Gospel again. You need to discover the Gospel again. And that brings change. Change won't come by brute willpower. Not by saying, I'm going to live differently. That's not what change brings. It is not your willpower that is the power of salvation for everyone who believes. It is the Gospel that is the power of salvation for everyone who believes. So that is what your soul needs tonight, when you are in that position, in that place. You need to stand before the Lord Almighty and say, but here is the Gospel. And that brings change. If you are in the other place, So I ask you, how is it going? And you say, it's going really well. Because the Lord is good. The Lord is good for me. Don't stay still, it doesn't look good. Tell it. Tell it to others. That's what the Lord did. This is good for me. And it's good to be close to Him. Enjoy Him. And let it flow. It's so tragic when a believer says, with such a face, it's good to be with the Lord. It's hard to believe. Is it good for you? Is it good for you to be with the Lord? You seem to be more used to it when you talk about cars or weapons. Is it something that makes you more used to it? If you say, gentlemen, it's him. He's the one. That should start to shine in your face. That's another question then. On the one hand you can ask a woman, how are you doing? Where are you? But the other question is also... How is it going with the person next to you? How is it going with the person in front of you? How is it going with your partner? How is it going with your husband, with your wife, with your friend? It's time to ask that question. And not be satisfied with a simple thank you. No. Amen.