The Unfailing Security Of God's People

Beloved, as a congregation, indeed, we have once again been cast into sorrow. This time with the sudden and unexpected death of our brother Casey Vanderspeck, as we know. And when one of our own, from our own congregation, dies, every time, it affects each one of us in some way. And that includes your pastors. I trust I say that on behalf of Pastor Donovan as well. It affects your pastors too. It affects me. In God's providence, after Casey died, I was led to change my direction for this morning and not to go back to the Sermon on the Mount this morning, Lord willing, come back next week, but to come to a passage that I've made known to you on various occasions is very special to me. One that I've come back to time and time again, especially over the last number of years. We've considered it together on various occasions. So some of you will recognize these things, but I hope that all of us together will receive a blessing and be comforted by our God through the psalmist in Psalm 73 and the message that our God has for us. So I ask you to turn to Psalm 73 this morning. Psalm 73, as we will read together the psalm, considering especially verses 23 and 24 in the context of the entire psalm. Psalm 73, as we now give our attention to the Word of God. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped. I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles. Their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man. They are not plagued by human ills. Therefore, pride is their necklace. They clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity. The evil conceits of their minds know no limits. They scoff and speak with malice. In their arrogance, they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore, their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, how can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge? This is what the wicked are like. Always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure. In vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued. I have been punished every morning. If I had said I will speak thus, I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, It was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground. You cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors. As a dream when one awakes. So when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies. When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before You. Yet I am always with You. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel. And afterward, You will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You? My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For those who are far from you will perish. You destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge. I will tell of all your deeds. This is the true, inspired Word of God. May He impress its eternal truths upon our hearts. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew 24, Jesus said, No one knows about that day or hour. No one knows about that day or hour. We know that our Lord is talking there in that context about His return. When He comes again on the clouds of glory. Even though many have tried to set a date throughout history using various techniques, those dates have all come and gone even while other dates are still being predicted. Yet Jesus plainly says, no one but God Himself knows. And it is not our business, beloved, it is our business not to try to predict when He is going to come again, but instead it is our business, as Jesus says in that very same context, it is our business to keep watch. It is our business to be ready. And as we have been reminded, the same is true with the end of this life as we know it. No man knows the day or the hour when our Lord will require our lives from us. Even though at times some are given sort of an advance warning through an illness, yet that's not always the case as again we have been reminded clearly with our brother Casey Van Der Speck. But even when it comes to death, to this life as we know it, the words are still true that Jesus says, keep watch. Be ready. And for those who are prepared for that day by God's grace, it will not be a worry filled or an anxiety watching, but it will be a watching filled with comfort and peace because they enjoy the comfort of the psalmist in Psalm 73. In Psalm 73, we know the psalmist as Dr. Godfrey taught us a few years ago, In adult Sunday school, Psalm 73 is indeed, the psalmist struggles with a personal crisis of faith. But even in the midst of that personal crisis of faith, as he struggles with that, the Lord leads him to the unfailing security of God's people. And that's what we are to consider from this text this morning, the unfailing security of God's people. Now, the psalmist begins the psalm again, Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. He is good to Israel. But not only is God good to His people, but He Himself is their good. He is all that we need for body and soul in life and in death. Only the Christian can truly say with confidence, as we've said before, God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life. And the text points out that wonderful plan. It includes grace for today and glory for eternity. First of all, grace for today, for this life, for today, for tomorrow, for every day of life that our God may give to you and me. The psalmist expresses that when he says, yet I am always with you. The psalmist says he's with the Lord. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel. But the psalmist, as the psalm makes clear, did not always see that. He was brought to see that grace for today. He was brought to recognize that through temptation. If we go back to verse 2 after saying that God is good, he says, but as for me, my feet had almost slipped. I had nearly lost my foothold. It's interesting that the psalmist confesses God's goodness to his people, but then he says of himself, who was one of God's people, he says that he had stumbled. He had almost slipped away from God's goodness. Why? Well, as he makes clear in the first half of the psalm, really, he was brought to envy. He began to look at the grass on the other side of the fence. That grass on the wicked side of the fence, as it were, was much, much greener in his eyes than the grass on his own side. He began to take notice of all of the things that the wicked enjoyed. Things that seemed to look so good to the psalmist. Things that he began to covet in his heart. And he was tempted to ask, as many Christians do ask, why do the wicked seem to have it so good? Looks that way, doesn't it? That's the appearance of the wicked to us. As the psalmist says, they seem to have it all. They seem to have everything all together. They seem to have health and wealth and prosperity and a load of friends. They seem to be able to mock God and get by with it. He doesn't even do anything about it. In fact, in spite of all of their wickedness, the psalmist says, they prosper more. And the dangerous response of the psalmist and maybe even you and I at times is to say, well, have I been wasting my time? Have I been striving to keep my heart pure for nothing? See, the truth is, beloved, deep down inside, sometimes Christians think that it is our new birth right. We have new birth in Christ Jesus. We think it's our new birth right to have all good things come to us in life and for everything to go well for us in life. That's falsely taught by some. It's ignorantly believed by many. And the truth of the matter is each one of us can testify is Christians do suffer. Christians do experience financial difficulties. Diseases do attack us. Death does sting us. Rarely are we healthy, wealthy, and wise, at least not all at the same time. Temptations and persecution does assault us. Yet the psalmist led by the Holy Spirit confesses that no matter what the believer may expect in his life, he has the goodness of God. He has God Himself. And the goodness of God with him and for him. Not the wicked. The wicked does not have the goodness of God with him. Only the child of God has the goodness of God with him. And that is clarified for the psalmist through God's revelation. Really, revelation of what's going to happen to the wicked beginning in verse 16 when I tried to understand all this it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God then I understood their final destiny surely you placed them on slippery ground you cast them down to ruin how suddenly are they destroyed completely swept away by terrors as a dream when one awakes so when you arise oh Lord you will despise them as fantasies. The psalmist was brought into the sanctuary of God there to see the altar of sacrifice where sacrifice for sin was made. And he was brought once again to recognize God's wrath against sin and the need for a substitute. And it was there that once again he came to recognize, he came to see the end of the wicked, those who do not recognize that the good things that they do enjoy in this life, God's common grace, God's common benevolence that is poured out upon the wicked, they do not see these things as coming from the hand of God. And therefore, they do not acknowledge Him. They do not praise Him for them, for these things. And therefore, their prosperity causes them to increase in wickedness. It drives them further from God. It leads them to destruction. One day, all those things that God poured out upon the wicked for which they did not give Him credit, those things will testify against the wicked. But by contrast, those who belong to their faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, by faith, they have grace for life. And the psalmist makes clear it's enjoyed through God's presence. Yet I am always with you, the psalmist says. Now, beloved, those inspired words are for you and me too. That we may say that with confidence, yet I am always with you, O Lord. The psalmist describes the intimate fellowship that he enjoyed with God as he says he is held by God's hand. The reason the psalmist did not fall away was not because of his own ability to resist evil, because if it was left up to him or up to me or up to you, we all would fall away. Because so often the attraction of the world is so great. It's got such a pulse, such a magnetic force. We just want to fit in. We just want to enjoy these things that look so nice. And what's wrong with just once? What's wrong with you fill in the blank just once? Just a taste. Once becomes twice. Twice becomes three times. and sooner or later, well, since God hasn't stopped me, it must be okay. The reason the psalmist did not fall away was not because of his own ability to resist evil, but because of the protecting hand of God that kept him safe from the devil's snare. Beloved, in times of despair and misery, we might turn our back on God, and we deserve to be cast away from Him, but He holds on tight. And He is continually with His people. He has promised, you and me, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. The hand of God holds the hand of His child and keeps that child in safety, keeps that child from following the way of destruction. As we have said this before, what a beautiful picture that every one of us can understand, either as children or as parents, or maybe as both. The picture of a dad and a child or a mom and a child in a busy place. And we know that a child's attention span is so very short. And so many things look appealing in this direction and that direction. The child is pulling all over the place, but dad or mom wraps their hand around the child's head and holds on tight. It keeps that child close to their side. It keeps that child in the right way. It's not our hand wrapped around God's hand. It's not our hand holding onto God's hand as if we are in control. That's not grace at all. But it is our God who enfolds and tenderly holds the hand of His child. So the hand of His child is safe in His hand. Our security is unfailing, beloved, because of God who holds our hand. Our comfort is that God in His grace will not let his children out of his sight. That was David's confidence in Psalm 139. He says, Where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? And the answer that's expected is nowhere. And David is not complaining, mind you. That doesn't bother him. He's thrilled by that. He rejoices because of that. There's nowhere that he can go and get away from God. The psalmist describes the intimate fellowship he enjoys of being held by God's hand, but also being guided by God's counsel. We trust a guide. If you go on a mountain hike where you've never been or down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, we trust a guide to lead us on the proper path, to keep us safe from dangerous places, to get us safely to our destination. I myself don't do a lot of hiking, but this past summer our family had the opportunity to spend a few days up at Hume Lake Christian Conference Grounds where one of our daughters was working. And one of the activities was a high adventure course, they called it. In that activity, there was what was called a ropes course. All these cables that are tied to these huge sequoia trees. And you have to walk on these cables. And at one point, there was a four-inch wide balance beam. The only catch was it's 30 feet above the ground. And believe me, when you're standing there looking down at this four-inch wide balance beam and the ground is 30 feet below. It looks like it's a quarter of an inch wide. And there I stand shaking. A young lady is my guide going backwards on this thing. My wife was securely planted on the ground confidently with her camera. And this young lady simply takes my wrist. What confidence that gave to me her confidence of going backwards. Not worrying. In my confidence, just by knowing that she knew what she was doing. Guided by God's counsel, the counsel of His Word. His Word, beloved, is a lamp unto our feet and a light upon our path. His Word clearly shows us the way. His Word guides His people through our earthly pilgrimage. By the Holy Spirit, with the Word, He gives us wisdom that we need to discern right from wrong, to discern danger from safety. We depend upon the hand of God to guide us through the dangerous places of life, through our weaknesses in life, and through the trials and the slippery places of life. Guided by God's counsel from the way of the wicked, the way of the wicked, beloved, often seems like the profitable way, the way to get ahead in life, well, isn't that what God wants for me? Doesn't He want me to be happy? And have everything I need or want in this life? Isn't that what God wants? Not necessarily. You see, beloved, the way of the wicked will only lead one away from God. God's counsel brought the psalmist into the sanctuary to see the truth of the wicked. Those to whom Jesus will say one day, Depart from Me, for I never knew you. Guided by God's counsel to our knees in humility and repentance as the psalmist was. Guided to a knowledge of true good. Beloved, true good is being in and living in the presence of God. The unbeliever may have everything this life offers, but in reality, he has nothing. If God is not with him, he has nothing. If God is not holding His hand, He has nothing if God is not leading him down the everlasting path. He has nothing if Jesus Christ is not his Savior and Lord. God guides His people. He knows our destination in eternity. He knows every curve in the road of life. He knows every dark cloud overhead. He knows when your journey and my journey will be over. And it is God who equips you and me to keep watch. To be ready. Because God has paved the way to Himself for His people through His own precious Son, Jesus Christ. Left to ourselves, we are nothing but castaways from Him. But because of the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ, He took our sin upon Himself. He placed Himself upon that altar of sacrifice. He paid for them. And He has given to you and me His righteousness. He has made us favorable to God. Because of the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ, those who believe have confidence of God's grace for life, for today. But you know, it doesn't end there. It doesn't end with just this life. And that's the beauty of what the psalmist says. Also, in the second place, the unfailing security of God's people includes glory for eternity. And afterward, you will take me into glory. You hold me by my right hand today. You guide me with Your counsel today. Ah, and afterward, You will take me into glory. Yet, I am always with You. Today. And also one day through the doorway of death. Now death, we know, is separation from family on earth. Death interrupts those earthly relationships. death, there is no separation from God in death. And think about it, not even for you and me who remain. Not even for us who mourn. Who are filled with sorrow. We can still say, yet I am always with you. We still, even in sorrow, we enjoy God's grace for today. Death does not separate us from God, even as those who remain. And it certainly does not separate the child of God from Him at death. The child of God passes from this life into the arms of the Heavenly Father in the blink of an eye. We might say that one closes his eyes to death here and opens them in the presence of Jesus. The Bible says so. Paul says in Philippians 2, for to me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. And he says to the Corinthian believers, it is far better to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Glory for eternity secured by Jesus Christ. Again, the sacrifice has been made. The payment is sufficient. God is satisfied with you and me for Jesus' sake. The stone has been rolled away. Death has been swallowed up in victory. And He lives at the right hand of God. And we live with God's promise that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We live with the promise of God through Paul to Timothy, the Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. That's the fact of God's Word. Ah, beloved, those keeping watch by the grace of God have the comfort. Yet I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel. And afterward, you will take me into glory. And they can also say with confidence, with the psalmist as he goes on, Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. Did you hear that? What an amazing thing for the psalmist to say after coveting the things of the wicked and the prosperity of the wicked. And after being brought into the sanctuary, notice again what he says. And earth has nothing I desire besides you. Can you say that? Can I say that? And he goes on, My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Beloved, those who are secure with God in Jesus Christ and understand His precious presence. Ah, by the grace of God, they desire to live for Him and to strive to keep their heart pure for Him. And it's not for nothing, but it's out of thankfulness. As they are also unable to say, as the psalmist does in verse 28, but as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge. I will tell of all your deeds. There's another fact that the psalmist gives us, It's a sad fact in verse 27. Those who are far from you will perish. You destroy all who are unfaithful to you. That's a terrifying fact for those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so important, beloved, for us as God's people to continue to serve our God by spreading the Word. By praying for lost souls. By desiring the salvation of mankind. Because no man, no one knows about that day or the hour. Especially not the wicked. This past Thursday, November 12, 2009, began as an ordinary day for Casey and Jomay Vanderspeck. But by noon, it was anything but normal for Jomay. As Casey's soul was taken to be with the Lord. And now here, you and I are left with a vivid real-life reminder to us that we don't know. And there is no guarantee, beloved, that we will be given any sort of warning except the warning, don't believe in the dates that are set by those who don't know. There's no guarantee. We have been reminded even in our region in the last month or two with the car accidents that have taken the lives of some young people from some of the high schools in the area so quickly. They didn't plan on it. They had no warning. Young people, boys and girls, together we are called to pay attention. As someone once said, the old will die, the young might die. we are not to live carelessly. We are not to live as if it's going to be a long way off, but we are called, you are called, to commit your lives to Him in Jesus Christ. Take notice. Be watching. Be ready. We watch by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Trust in Him. Live for Him. And those who watch for Him by faith at all times will be ready to greet Him whenever He comes. For those who have everything except Jesus Christ, they really have nothing and their end is destruction. But for those who have nothing but Christ, they have everything. And theirs is grace for today and glory for eternity. They are made ready for that day and hour by Jesus Christ alone. And that, dear friends, is unfailing security from God Himself. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty, we thank You for Your love your care the confidence you give to your people we thank you that when we do drift for a season when our eyes wander to the things of this world that you are the one who pulls us back to see your glory your beauty your majesty our unworthiness before you yet our salvation in Jesus Christ alone we pray Father that you would help us each and every one cause us to live confidently in Christ living with the blessing of your grace every moment of this life and therefore living with the joyful confidence that one day when this life is over we will be forever with the Lord Father may we not live in a presumptuous way but led by your Holy Spirit to rejoice in you at all times and to delight in you in all things and to desire you above everything hear our prayer oh Lord for Jesus sake and in his name we pray Amen