One of the great hymns of the faith is that wonderful song, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. And its greatness, I think, lies in the fact that it presents the Christian life so honestly, so realistically. Why? Because it speaks of real things, the sinful inclinations of our hearts to wander from the Lord, to move away from Him and go our own way. I think it's the last stanza of the hymn that makes this song so endearing and so meaningful. It says, Oh, to grace how great a debtor I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. seal it for thy courts above." Seldom have I sung these words without tears filling up in my eyes, because they strike a chord in my heart. I understand only too well the great need for God to bind my heart to His, because my heart, like the hymn writer and like every true believer, tends to want to wander, it's prone to wander, I, like all Christians, feel the urge, tug at my sinful heart to wander and leave the God that I love. As I said, I'm not the only one with these temptations. Every true believer has them. This is the common experience of every child of God. When the Lord saves us, he gives us a new nature. Peter calls it a divine nature. He also, in addition to the new nature which wants to obey God, desires to obey God, he gives us the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to obey God. So we have a new nature and we have the Holy Spirit, but that doesn't mean that we no longer struggle with sin. We all struggle with sinful tendencies and inclinations and we will continue to do that until the day that the Lord takes us home to heaven. The Apostle Paul makes this very clear that that was his experience He battled with sin. He tells us of his own ongoing battles and struggles with sin, even after he had been saved for many years, after he was a veteran missionary and Christian and apostle. He writes in Romans 7, starting in verse 18, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want." So, Paul had that experience. Paul understood his heart tended to wander. Sometimes believers in Christ give into this temptation to wander from the God they love. Sometimes it goes beyond the temptation. They actually do wander. The Bible has a name for this type of behavior. It's called backsliding. Backsliding. Now in the Bible version that I use, the New American Standard Bible, the word backslider is used only one time in Scripture. Other translations have this word translated and mentioned several times, but the NASB has it one time. Proverbs 14,14 says, "...the backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways." So according to this definition of Proverbs 14,14, A backslider is someone who goes his own way rather than the Lord's way. We have to be clear though in our understanding that a true believer who backslides, falls into sin, will not remain there. He will eventually repent and he will return to the Lord he loves. There is a difference between one who has been converted and one who hasn't. A man who has been converted may fall spiritually, but his fall is only temporary. He will come back to the Lord. He will be restored. He will not remain in his sin forever. That isn't true with an unconverted individual. We need to make this distinction. Someone who professes to believe in Christ, but it's only a profession. It's just a mental profession. And then they renounce the faith and they depart from the Lord. This departure is not a temporary backsliding situation. It's an unbeliever who never was truly converted but merely agreed intellectually at one time in his life with the facts of Christianity. The Apostle John defines this type of permanent departure from the faith as the departure of an unbeliever, speaking of the false teachers who at one time had professed to believe in Christ, but they were Gnostics. They embraced a false religious philosophy, a counterfeit gospel, and they departed from the faith. John writes of them in 1 John 2.19, they went out from us, meaning us true believers, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, if they had really been converted, John says, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that, why? So that it would be shown that they are all not of us. They went out because unbelievers eventually depart. And they stayed departed. Now the Bible gives us several examples of true believers who went through a time of backsliding. But they did return to the Lord. For example, certainly King David was in a backslidden condition when he refused for a year, about a year, to repent of his sin with Bathsheba and her husband. But as we discovered from our study of Psalm 51, David did repent. Nathan confronted him, said, ìYouíre the man who did this.î And David did repent. And Davidís son Solomon, he started off his reign as king with godly wisdom, godly pursuits, but then found himself in a backslidden state as he allowed his many wives and their pagan religions to influence him so that his heart, the Bible says, was turned away from the Lord. But the way that Solomon ends the book known as Ecclesiastes indicates that he did return eventually to the God that he loved. In Ecclesiastes, after chapter after chapter writing about the emptiness of life, the vanity of life, the chasing after the wind, Solomon closes this book in chapter 12 verse 13 by saying this, the conclusion when all has been heard is fear God and keep his commandments, because this applies to every person. It certainly appears that Solomon is writing a book to say, here's the way I lived, but my conclusion is it's wrong. Just fear God. Live for Him. In the New Testament, the parable of the prodigal son is certainly a story of a backslidden son illustrating a believer who eventually comes to his senses and says, I must arise and go back to my father. What am I doing here? he returned great repentance and great humility now this morning we're gonna see another example the man who backslid and he did wonder from the Lord at least in his heart to the point where he came very close to abandoning his faith in God altogether man I'm referring to is Asaph the author of the psalm that we've been studying for the past few weeks Psalm 73 so I would invite you to turn in your Bibles there what we've discovered from this psalm is that Asaph went through a period in his life when his soul was in great distress because he had become envious of wicked unbelievers who as he looked at them he saw God it seemed that God was treating them better than he was treating him he was jealous of what they possessed in terms of their material wealth their luxuries in life and even relatively good health it appeared to him as if God was treating them better than he was treating Asaph. He tells us in verse 3, I was envious of the arrogance as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Later in verses 13 and 14, he bemoans the fact that it appears to him that God is treating him poorly. He feels slighted by God to the point where it feels to him as if he's being punished every day, regardless of his desire to obey God. He says in verses 13 and 14, Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence, for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning. Now, all of this produced in this man a great deal of mental anguish and trouble to his soul because it caused him to doubt the very goodness of God. And in doing so, he tells us that he came very close to just leaving it all, to falling away from the faith altogether, to just walking away from God and saying, that's it. In verse 2, he says, but as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped." In other words, he was in a backslidden state, yet he hadn't completely forsaken the Lord. He says that his steps almost slipped, meaning that he almost fell away from the faith, but although he didn't lose his faith, he certainly wandered from the Lord. He was envious of others, felt sorry for himself, He felt as if his obedience to God meant nothing, was just a waste of time. Folks, this is a backslidden individual. Listen closely, because the purpose of Psalm 73 is not simply to tell us about Aesop's sin, but to tell us about his restoration back to the Lord, about his recovery from his doubt, about his renewal of faith. He's teaching us. You see, what Psalm 73 reveals is how this backslider got over his sin of envy and self-pity and how he returned to a state of full confidence in the Lord's goodness. This is a psalm to teach us that the wicked are not to be envied, not at all by us. and that God's goodness to believers is not to be doubted. God is good to believers. This is why Aesop begins the psalm by telling us actually his conclusion to the whole matter. It's an unusual psalm in that the beginning tells us what he came to understand at the end. He says, surely, verse 1, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. He's telling us at the very start of the psalm that God is good to his people. That's his conclusion. Then he tells us in the psalm how he arrived at this conclusion. And he does it by taking us on a journey with him so that we can see step-by-step how God corrected his thinking and brought him back to himself. Now concerning Aesop's recovery from his backsliding ways, one Bible teacher put it this way. He said the course of the psalmist's history during the attack to which he had been subjected by the devil is a most thrilling story. We see this man going from step to step and stage to stage and anyone who's been through this kind of experience will know that these steps are inevitable. It is important, therefore, that we should observe every move in this account. There are few things more profitable than to watch the recovery of a soul. Now, the way that Aesop presents his recovery to us is very simple. He reveals how God changed his thinking, and his thinking kept being changed. First, he begins by telling us about his flawed thinking. He tells us about his troubling thoughts. That's the beginning of the psalm. Then, in the middle of the psalm, he tells us about how his flawed thinking was corrected, at least concerning unbelievers. so that he came to have a brand new perspective on the unsaved whom he had been envying. And last week, that's what we spent our time studying. We focused on this middle part of the psalm. And what we learned is that Aesop's thinking about the wicked was abruptly changed when he went into the sanctuary of God, that is the tabernacle of God. Notice 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, their meaning the end of the wicked. Now the reason his thinking changed is because it was there in the sanctuary that Aesop was forced to get his mind off of himself. That's all he'd been thinking about was himself. That's part of his problem. Self, his circumstances, looking at other people. He was confronted in the tabernacle with the greatness and the grandeur and the power and the sovereignty of God and being compelled to see the glory of God and apparently hearing something from Scripture while he was in the tabernacle concerning God's ultimate dealings with the wicked that this man Esau came to see the truth about the wicked from God's perspective. He had been looking at it from his own standpoint, sinful, limited, his own viewpoint And what he saw now was the truth about the wicked from God's standpoint. Far from being people to be envied because of what they possess now, these people are to be pitied because of the way they will end up. Verses 17 through 20 say this, 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're utterly swept away by sudden terrors like a dream when one awakens O Lord when aroused you'll despise their form. Now Esau has been looking only at the present condition of the wicked he hasn't seen the big picture He's failed to consider their end. By end, he means their deaths and then their final ultimate destiny, which is God's judgment. But now, having been in the sanctuary, forced to think about the glory of God, he says he does now perceive their end. And what he sees for their end, and even their lives now, is that it doesn't look good. They are on slippery ground, he tells us. Because at any moment, God may choose to end their lives and bring death upon them. They're not safe. They're not secure. They only feel that way. They're in slippery grounds. God may end their lives, sweep them away into eternal judgment, never to be thought of again like an insignificant dream when one awakens and then you just put it out of your mind because, oh, it was only a dream. It's not important. You have no thoughts about it after you wake up. It's just gone. Now this is where we left Aesop. last Sunday. He's certainly on his way to recovery from being backslidden. He's made progress because now he's changed his mind about the wicked because he sees that there's nothing to be envious about them because of the horrible future that awaits them. But the man is not fully recovered. He's partly recovered but he has not fully recovered because as you recall part of his flawed thinking was that he felt that God wasn't being very good to him. because he hadn't given him all the material luxuries and relatively good health that he had given the wicked. So now, in the closing verses of this psalm, Aesop reveals the final step in his recovery from his doubting and wandering heart as he tells us his new and correct thinking about how God treats believers. Folks, this is a portion of the psalm that is most applicable to us, so ask the Lord to apply, give you wisdom to apply these truths to your life and certainly to your thinking. Verses 21 and 22 say this, when my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant. I was like a beast before you. Now having begun to look at the wicked from God's perspective, Asaph now reflects on what his thinking had been like when he did have this viewpoint from his own perspective. In other words, he's saying, what was I thinking? He does an examination of himself to evaluate his recent thinking that made him so envious of the wicked, so doubtful of God's goodness to him. He reflects on what his thinking was like. And so having examined himself, here's his conclusion. is that he had become bitter. When my soul was bitter, my heart was bitter. In the Hebrew language, this word bitter literally means to be sour. That is to say, he had allowed himself to become a sour, griping, complaining individual. And the sourness of heart had caused a great deal of pain within him. This is how Asaph had been. This is not a detached man. This is a man who had been bitter and he was hurt. He goes on to confess to God why he had been this way. He says it was because his thinking had become senseless and ignorant like an animal's thinking. Look again at verse 22. Then I was senseless and ignorant. I was like a beast before you. In other words, he confesses that he had become like a dumb, stupid animal. That's the thought. Completely irrational in his thinking. Acting purely upon instincts to what he observed in the life of the wicked in his own life. Crying out in frustration because things didn't go his way. Folks, this is the way animals think. They may be highly intelligent within their breed, but unlike man, who's created in the image of God, animals lack the ability to reason things through, to think logically, with lucid understanding. Instead, animals react only by instinct. They don't have clear thinking. They don't work through issues. No wonder Aesop was in the mess he was in. Instead of thinking things through, instead of thinking biblically, which he should have, reasoning things out like a believer should do, he looked at the prosperity of the wicked and his lack of prosperity, and what did he do? He reacted like a dumb animal, illogically jumping to the wrong conclusions. His conclusion was that, well, God must not be good because of the way He was treating the wicked and the way He was treating me. That's purely reactionary. Listen, every time you just react to your set of circumstances, instead of thinking them through and considering them from a biblical standpoint, you are acting like a dumb animal. Just like Aesop did. Purely on instincts. but happy when things go your way, and yet roaring with anger and frustration when they don't. Isn't that the way animals behave? They're happy when they're patted and petted and fed and comfortably cared for, but take away their food, take something away from them that they want, withhold it from them, and they'll turn on you and be angry with you. That's precisely how Asaph was behaving. Notice once again, let's go back to verses 13 and 14. This is how he's behaving. Surely in vain I've kept my heart pure, washed my hands in innocence, for I've been stricken all day long, chastened every morning. This is an upset man. This is a bitter man, a sour man. Why? Because he doesn't have what he wants to have. He doesn't have what the wicked have. It's a life of trouble. He's distressed by it all. He's quick to doubt God's goodness and his love. This is like a senseless ignorant animal. It's pure instincts. It's only reaction. Now, if this is the way you have been thinking, that God is unfair, that God is not good to you because he's brought some difficult circumstances into your life, then you need to do precisely what Aesop did. You need to be honest. Be honest with yourself and condemn yourself for thinking like this. See your attitude for what it really has been. It's been bitter and animal-like. Dumb. Instinctive. Reactive. Repent of that. Face the facts. Face the truth. I want you to notice something else that Aesop tells us about his animal-like thinking. Notice the end of verse 22. It's very easy to overlook this, but I think it's very important. He says, I was a beast, and then notice this, before you. I was a beast before you. Now remember where he was when he said this. He was in the sanctuary of God, that is, the tabernacle that was located in Jerusalem. In other words, he was in God's presence. And it was there, in the presence of God, that it now dawns on him that all of these foolish and dumb, beast-like thoughts that he'd been having about the wicked and about himself and about God, he's been thinking before God. That is to say, he's been thinking these thoughts in the very presence of God. God's been seeing all this. See, apparently Esau had forgotten that God sees everything, and knows everything, and that every thought is in his presence. this is what the writer to the Hebrews tells us in chapter 4 verse 13 when he says there is no creature hidden from his sight but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do God saw everything that Asaph had been thinking and listen he sees everything that you and I think everything And that ought to make a difference in what we think and how we respond to the difficult circumstances of life. We are before God. Commenting on the fact that we are always in the presence of God, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said in a sermon he preached on Psalm 73, he said, you and I are always in the presence of God when therefore you are sitting in your corner and feeling sorry for yourself because you've been hurt and because this or that has happened to you. Just remember that all All this is happening in the presence of God. And when you ask, is God fair to me? Is it right that I should be suffering while other persons are so prosperous? Remember that you are asking that and thinking that thought about God in His very presence. This man had forgotten the greatness of God. If only you and I were always to remember the greatness of God, there are some things we should never do again. when we realize we are but as a fly or a grasshopper or even less in the presence of the Almighty and that He could remove us out of existence as if nothing had happened, we should no longer stand up and flaunt ourselves in His presence and begin to question Him. But Asaph did question God in his presence and now standing in the sanctuary he suddenly realizes this and it leads him to make an astounding deduction that clears up his entire thinking about the way God has been treating him. Look at what he says in verse 23, nevertheless I am continually with you. you've taken hold of my right hand." This is an amazing statement by Aesop. And the key word in this statement is the word nevertheless. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. And what he means by this is even though I have behaved as a dumb, foolish, ignoramus, a brute beast with the most unworthy thoughts about you God, nevertheless, You have not cast me away. You have not cast me from your sight, because I am continually with you." You see, what Esau has suddenly realized is that God has not let go of him, is that God is with him even though his heart has wandered from God. God hasn't dismissed him, even though his thoughts have been wicked about unbelievers, himself, and God. They've been foolish. They've been sinful. God hasn't cast him away even though he was on the verge of casting God away from him. Instead of casting Esau away for his sinfulness, we read in verse 23 here that God took hold of Esau's right hand. In other words, even though Esau had been in danger, he tells us of stumbling and slipping away from his faith in God, God would not let him go. God grasped Esau's right hand and held on to him. Listen, this is an illustration of the great truth of the grace of God and salvation that once we are saved, He will never let go of us. We are eternally secure in our Lord because not that we hold on to Him, but He holds on to us. If it was up to us to hold on to Him, we would have let go a long time ago. But thank God it's not like that. He holds on to us. What a comforting truth this ought to be to every believer in Christ, because it tells you that even in the darkest hours of your life, when you just can't feel God's presence, and you have all kinds of doubts about Him, He's still with you. He's holding on to you. He'll never let go of you. You are His for all of eternity. Now it's true, He may let you wander temporarily from Him, even as he let Esau wander, and David, and Solomon, the prodigal son and others but he will never let go of you and let you permanently forsaken because he's holding on to you this is the great truth that Jesus was teaching in John chapter 10 when he said in verses 27 and 28 my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one watch this will snatch them out of my hands holding on to us. He said, My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. We have security because God is holding on to us. This is the same truth that Esau has now seen. Being in God's presence in the sanctuary has caused him to realize that God has been with him all along, holding on to him, even when he felt as if God was neglecting him, not being good to him. So the question to ask is this, why is Aesop telling us this? Why does he want us to know about God being with him, holding on to him during his time of bitterness and foolish thinking? Listen, what Aesop is telling us is that he now realizes how good God has been to him because watch this, the blessings of God being with him under all circumstances are far greater than all the material wealth of the wicked." See, having God in your life, that, my friends, that's the most wonderful blessing of all. Knowing that He's with you, that He'll never let you go, that you are His child forever, it beats anything that an unbeliever will ever have. I love the way Samuel Storms, a very well-known Bible teacher, put this, he said, what's all the wealth of the world compared with the spiritual riches of God's presence? Can the power and prestige of earthly fame trump the assurance and peace of God's grip on our lives? Our having Him and Him having us is simply unparalleled, unsurpassed, and unfathomable. Intimacy, he said, with the Almighty transcends all earthly pleasure. See, what Aesop wants us to understand is that knowing God and how faithful God is to his children, that's the greatest thing in the world. God doesn't slight us by not giving us material wealth, because in giving us himself, he's given us everything, everything that's important. Listen though, there's more that Aesop wants to tell us about God's goodness. He's just now beginning to understand this. See, not only is God's goodness expressed to us in His continual presence with us, but He's also active in our lives. He guides us. He directs us. Constantly active in our life. And then when this life that He's been active in is over, He takes us home to glory. He continues being active. This is what Esau proceeds to tell us in verse 24. With your counsel you will guide me and afterward receive me to glory. What a startling statement. Think about this. Because Esau's whole problem started when he let his own foolish thinking guide him. That's what led to all kinds of senseless and ignorant conclusions about the wicked himself and God. He saw things from his standpoint, his thinking, his mental outlook. But now he understands that God is the one who will guide him in his thinking. So how does God do this? You're not going to hear a verbal voice. You're not going to have a dream. He does it by His Word. The canon of Scripture is closed. We have the complete Word of God. It is the Word of God that reveals the will of God. and it is totally sufficient for everything we need to know because God has revealed in His Word everything that we need to live a life that is pleasing to Him. 2 Peter 1 3 says, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge, there it is, the Bible, the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. God's Word is sufficient. It tells you everything you need to know to live a life pleasing to the Lord. The Apostle Paul told Timothy that all Scripture is not only inspired, it is all profitable. Listen, there is no greater blessing than to have the Word of God as your counselor. That's your counsel. Throughout every stage of life, every period of life, when you're young, when you're middle-aged, when you're old, His Word provides guidance for every issue that you will ever face. And then when you come to your deathbed, He will receive you to glory. That's what Esau is telling us. In other words, He will take you home to heaven because Christ has paid the price for your sin, judged in your place. Therefore, God welcomes one of His own as His own. That is to say, having expressed His goodness by being with you throughout your lifetime on earth, the Lord will continue to be good to you in your death by taking you home to heaven. See, what Esau is telling us is that all the wealth of the wicked, all the wealth that he once envied, that means nothing to him now. Why? Because now he understands, note this, that his true wealth is God himself. His presence, His word, the assurance of being with Him in heaven forever. What could possibly be more precious than this? Which is exactly why Aesop says what he says in verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but you? And besides you I desire nothing on earth. What a turnabout in this man's thinking, for him to say these words. Folks, this is the same man who earlier in the psalm was envious of the wicked. He wanted what they had. He wanted what they possessed, but now he says that the only one he desires in heaven is God, and the only thing he desires on earth is God. In other words, he's fully satisfied with God. He's completely content with knowing God and fellowshipping with Him, so that the things which he once coveted, they mean nothing to him now. That's the way you get over covetousness. You're satisfied with God. What an astonishing change in Aesop's thinking. This is the same man who once felt that his obedience to God was a waste of time because it didn't pay. He didn't gain anything by it, but now he's not interested in gaining anything from God. Now his only desire is God himself, not God's blessings, not what God gives, but God himself, his presence, his intimate fellowship, his guidance. The question is, can you say that? Can you say what Aesop said? Can you mean it? Can you say that you are totally satisfied with God? and there's no one in heaven you would rather be with than God and there's nothing on earth that you would rather have than fellowship with God I know that many of us have dear loved ones who are in heaven and we look forward to seeing them again and well we should but for a believer in Christ our supreme desire should be to see Christ in heaven before anyone else When you think of going to heaven, your primary longing should be to see Jesus, to speak to Jesus, to listen to Jesus, to gaze upon the beauty of Jesus, to worship Jesus, to glory in the presence of Jesus Christ. and there should be nothing more important on earth than Jesus Christ himself. Not parents, not a spouse, not children, not grandchildren. As much as we love these dear ones, we must love Christ more. Otherwise we have made these people our idols. Apostle Paul said that for me to live is Christ, Christ Himself. In other words, Christ was everything to Paul. He was his life, the very reason for his existence. He also said in Colossians 1 that Christ must be preeminent over everything and everyone. See, nothing should be as important to us as the Lord Jesus Himself. He's the one you must love with all of your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength. The Bible says that the things of this world, they're just passing away. So that if we love the things of this world, it is misplaced love. The only one who is worthy of our love and adoration is Jesus Christ. Because someday, someday we're going to come to the end of our lives, and then what will anything else really mean to us? What will it matter? our money, our accomplishments, luxuries, even other people. They'll mean absolutely nothing. It will be at that time when death is hovering over us that the only one who will really matter is the Lord Himself. And Asaph, he knows this. He says something about it in verse 26. These glorious words, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." What profound truth. He realizes that there is coming a day when his body and his spirit are going to fail. What does he mean by that? Well, he means that someday he's going to be dying. He's going to come to the end of his life. And then what happens is so wonderful. as someone has so graphically described that day. Not wonderful for this person in their pain, but wonderful in the sense of what the Lord is going to do. They've described it this way, and it's true of all of us. He'll be an old man. His faculties will fail. His strength will falter. He'll not be able to feed himself. He'll be lying helpless in his bed. But though his body will be failing, here's what Aesop is saying. He's saying, God, at that time will be the strength of his heart and his portion, his treasure forever." In other words, even at death he's saying, God will be there sustaining me and God will be my eternal treasure. He's all that really matters. Stories told about Charles Wesley, the great hymn writer, brother to the famous Methodist preacher John Wesley, that while he was on his deathbed in March of 1788, his dying thoughts were actually about this psalm, Psalm 73, specifically verses 25 and 26. 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. So while he's dying, he calls his wife to his side and Wesley dictates the following words to her which is sort of I don't know if anyone ever put this in a hymn but these were his last words in age and feebleness extreme what shall a sinful worm redeem Jesus my only hope thou art strength of my failing flesh and heart oh could I catch a smile from thee and drop into eternity. Folks, this is the way to die. Looking only to Jesus, seeing him as your only hope, your treasure, the strength of your failing body and heart and then just dropping into his everlasting arms as he takes you into eternity. This is what Aesop tells us he has come to value. He's no longer interested, doesn't care about what the wicked have, or what anybody else has for that matter. At the end of the day, he's telling us the only thing that really matters to him is having God in his life. God is all he wants. God is all he needs. And having made this now complete turnabout, in his thinking so that he has returned from wandering from God. He now closes this psalm by really summing up what he has learned. Here's what he's learned, verses 27 and 28. 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've made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works. What Esau has learned is that there's no reason to envy the wicked because they're far from God. They're the unfaithful ones and therefore they will perish, meaning that they will die and then they'll pass into eternity and judgment. But as for him, he says, he knows that the only thing that really is important in life is being near to God. Notice what he says, he says, the nearness of God is my good. You see, his whole problem is stemmed that he has not been near to God. Though he's been in full-time ministry, he's a Levite. He's one of the leading musicians in Israel. He's not been close to God. He's drifted away from God. He was a believer. but he was a backslidden believer. He had wandered from the Lord and it had caused all these problems in his life. Envy and doubts about God's goodness, being preoccupied with himself. But now he's come back to God and he now realizes that the only thing that really matters in life is being close to God. Drawing near to Him. And having now decided that the only good thing for him to do is to draw near to God, He also says that in drawing near to God, he will trust him. He'll be his refuge, his safety, his security, not material goods, not worldly prosperity, but a life of closeness and trust. in God. And knowing all the blessings that will come to him by being so close to the Lord, he declares in this last line of the psalm that he's going to tell others about God's works. These works are the blessings of being close to him. In other words, he's going to tell others how good God is to him, to his people, because of what he does for his people. Folks, that's exactly why Asaph wrote this psalm. to explain to us how good God is to those who are close to Him. That's the reason he began the psalm with the very first line. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. So, how does Aesop's journey back to God apply to you? Well, the primary message that he's teaching us is the only thing that really matters in life is being near to God. being in fellowship with him, drawing close to him in spiritual intimacy and fellowship. So, I ask you, are you close to God? If you're a believer, are you close to Him? Do you spend time in prayer with Him? That's how you draw close to Him. Do you confess your sin to Him? That's how you draw close. Do you let Him speak to you from His Word? Do you have a time each day in the Word where you actually open the Word up and hear His voice? You can't be close to Him without that. Do you spend any time during the day thinking about Him? Meditating on who God is, His character, His goodness, His majesty, His power, His wisdom, His promises? Do you think about His love for you demonstrated in the death of His Son, Jesus Christ? Do you consider His kindness and His grace in saving such a sinner as you and then holding on to you? This is how you draw near to God. Folks, that's the exhortation of this. Draw near to Him. He's all that matters. You're going to come to the end of your life and then nothing else will matter at all. So draw near to Him now. But if you have no desire to draw near to God, then you are far from Him. And that means, as Aesop puts it, that you will perish. It means you're not a believer. You have no desire to be close to the Lord. You're in danger then of facing eternity lost in your sins. But it's not too late. The Bible tells us to flee from the wrath to come. How do you flee from the wrath to come? The wrath to come means hell itself. Well, you turn away from your sin. In turning from your sin of being absorbed with yourself, you turn to Christ to save you. He was judged for sinners just like you. So that if you turn to Him and trust Him as Savior, your only Savior from sin and from judgment, you'll be forgiven of God, by God, and you'll come to know and love God, and you can draw near to Him. So come to Him. Come, before you die, because then it's too late. Let's bow for prayer. Father, we thank you for the experience you've given us at Lakeside to study this psalm. It's been so rich, so good, such a helpful reminder, Lord, that you are the only one who's important. Lord, I pray for all of us who know you, myself included, that you will be the preeminent one in our lives and that our first desire in going to heaven will be to see you and be with you and sit at your feet and just gaze upon your beauty and marvel at your kindness and grace and love for such wretched sinners as we are and I pray Lord that you'll help us to love nothing more than you in this world to not pursue things, to not make people our idols, but to have everything in perspective. Lord, I pray that you will be our treasure, that each believer here will be satisfied with you, content with you, not what we get from you, but with you, and help us, Lord, to draw close to you. That's where you are so good to us. You let us draw close to you. Lord, I pray for that. I pray that you will be our treasure, and I pray that when we come to the end of our lives, Lord, that when our body fails, I pray, Lord, that you will still be our treasure and the one who's most important to us. And I pray for those who don't know you, Lord. I pray that you will open their hearts to the gospel, that they might turn from their sin, they might be repulsed by their sin, they might recognize the vileness of their sin, and would turn to Christ for salvation. We pray to this end, Lord, because we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.