Truth Unites - The Most Miserable Sin

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Gavin Ortlund explains how envy steals happiness, but God restores happiness.This Sermon was preached at Reality LA on August 10th, 2025. Check out Reality LA here: https://realityla.com/Truth Unites (https://truthunites.org) exists to promote gospel assurance through theological depth.Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is President of Truth Unites, Visiting Professor of Historical Theology at Phoenix Seminary, and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville.SUPPORT:Tax Deductible Support: https://truthunites.org/donate/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/truthunitesFOLLOW:Website: https://truthunites.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truth.unites/X: https://x.com/gavinortlundFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/

Good morning, everybody. It's great to be here. If you have a Bible, we're going to start turning to Psalm 73. And I have so much joy at getting to preach to this wonderful church today. I know it's a little warm, so if you start sweating, I'm just going to assume that means the Holy Spirit is moving. All right? I love this church. I think the world of your pastor, Jeremy Treat, and everything that you stand for is a church. So it's a privilege to be here in worship. It's fun to be back in Southern California. My wife and I spent 12 years. doing ministry in this area. Most recently in Ohio, a little bit further north. We miss it.

We love this part of the world. So it's just a joy to be here. And my prayer is that the Holy Spirit would pour out joy upon your heart. As we come to the Word of God this morning, we're going to learn about how envy steals happiness, but God restores happiness. envy steals happiness, but God restores happiness. Now, when I was a kid, I used to love British comedies like Mr. Bean and Monty Python.

My favorite show was called Faulty Towers. And just the over-the-top nature of this humor would make me laugh so hard. Every now and again, there would be a serious moment in the midst of the humor. Have you ever noticed how if you're watching a comedy and you're laughing and you're laughing and your defenses are down, then all of a sudden a moment of tragedy can come in and kind of come in sideways. and be all the more powerful. There's a moment in this show where a character, and it's all the more surreal

because the laugh track is still playing while he's saying these words. There's a character named Basil, and he's talking with his wife, and she mentions happiness, and he just makes this little comment, oh, happiness, I remember that. And the audience laughs.

And then he keeps talking, and he's sitting at his desk, and these words that will come on, screen, words that probably all of us can relate to. I know I can at times. And they feel a little bit surreal because everyone's laughing, but the look on his face is such, you realize this is kind of a moment of honesty. I don't know if it'll come on screen or not. But I'll just read it for you. He says, Zoom, what was that? That was your life, mate. Oh, that was quick. Do I get another one? Sorry, mate, that's your lot. And there's this pause, even with the laughter. I remember watching this

thinking, knowing this particular actor and his various experiences in real life and thinking, I think this is a moment of honesty that's coming through right now. You can watch this scene on YouTube and read the comments. For some reason, everybody relates to this moment and these words, oh, that was my life. Do I get another one? If you think of the emotion that is being conveyed in that moment, we'll call that a, let's call that a Basel moment, because that's the character's name, everyone in the comments is saying, oh, I know exactly what that feels like. And I think, you know, I'm starting off just raising my own hand and saying, I think all of us will have moments of honesty like that where we think, if we're honest, I'm not happy with

how my life is turning out. Sometimes when you're getting older and you hit a milestone, maybe a certain birthday, or a certain moment in your life where you think, I thought I would be further along in my career. Maybe we moved to L.A. to pursue a dream. And that moment comes where you say, I'm not happy with how my life is turning out. Sometimes just scrolling on social media.

Social media creates so many moments like this. Have you ever noticed how on social media, everyone's house is always so clean? I'm like, you know, everyone's kids are so happy. Everyone's on vacation all the time. it's like it creates a lot of those feelings of I'm not happy with how my life is turning out I think a lot of times if we can be honest enough to broach into the heavy topic that I've been praying the Holy Spirit would speak to our hearts about because this is tough to talk about

but I think and before anything else know the invitation this morning is toward joy and happiness okay that's where we're going but we're going to talk about envy and I think this is a moment where we face this feeling regularly where we see someone else who's getting married or having kids or buying a house or able to retire or getting into that university or getting that promotion or whatever it might be. And we think that's what I was hoping for. And it creates this feeling like Basil saying, I'm not happy with how my life is turning out. I find it so tremendously comforting that the Bible talks about these emotions. Psalm 73 is the author having a Basel moment where he starts off saying,

I'm not happy with how my life is turning out. And by the end of the Psalm, we're going to read through the whole Psalm, even though it's a longer Psalm, and we're going to see how far the arc is of where he gets by the end. By the end of it, he's saying, look how good I have it. God has restored my happiness. And so what I want to do is read the Psalm for us. And as we read, try to follow the flow of thought to see how this Psalm gets from point A to point B.

Hopefully you can see on screen the two moments. That'll be the two points of the sermon. If not, we'll just explain it as we go. That's fine. But I guess I could just invite you to, as I've done with my own heart, to try to relate to this Psalm personally. Where are we in this story? what are the verses that stand out and represent what I may be experiencing today? And then the invitation is, Lord, restore our joy this morning.

Maybe for some of us to first experience the joy that God can give. So we're going to read together. And there we go. Those are the two points. But let me read for us Psalm 73. And let's try to locate ourselves in this as we go. Psalm 73, starting at verse 1. Truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My feet had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are. They are not stricken like the rest of man. therefore pride is their necklace violence covers them as a garment their eyes swell out through fatness

their hearts overflow with follies they scoff and speak with malice loftily they threaten oppression they set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue struts through the earth therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them, and they say, how can God know? Is their knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long, I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. but when I thought how to understand this, it seems to me a wearisome task until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I discerned their end. Truly, you have set them in slippery places. You make them

fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors. Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant, I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you?

and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you, but for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord my refuge that I may tell of your works. Now we're going to put back up on screen the first and the last verse of this Psalm because I want us to see the big picture from what I've underlined here. This tells us the theme. Psalm 73 is a meditation on God's goodness to his people. Verse 1 is a kind of title for the whole Psalm. And then verse 28 lands the point home on our hearts to finish off with. It's saying God is good to his people. It is good. It is good.

to be near God. But the Psalm makes that point by narrating this particular experience about how hard it can be to see that. That's why the words, but as for me, are there in verse two. The writer of this Psalm is a man named Asaph. He was one of the worship leaders in the people of Israel that David had appointed. You can see up on screen here, he's the chief worship leader. And for some reason, I put it up here at the end, because I love the fact that the chief worship leader plays the symbols. I don't know why. It's just awesome to imagine that in ancient Israel playing the symbols. But he wrote 12 Psalms and Asaph is having a basil faulty moment in this one saying, I'm not happy with how my life has turned out. Here's the big struggle. And I think the

challenge for us will be to try to imagine just how honest this Psalm is being. Verse three tells us the basic struggle in a nutshell, and that's envying the wicked. Specifically, envying the wicked because they are so seemingly prosperous. And the bulk of this early portion is a kind of character sketch of the people that Asaph is envying, and it's almost these cartoonish images that are stacked up that really give you a picture. So verse 4, they have no pangs until death,

their bodies are fat and sleek, these people are handsome and healthy. They don't have a care in the world. Verse 6, violence is described as their clothing. I think what is going on here with this image is these people are not embarrassed by their cruelty and their arrogance to others. They're not at all trying to hide it. Gives you a sense of the kind of people that Asaph is talking about here.

Verse 7, this is kind of a gross one. Their eyes swell out through fatness. Okay, that communicates, right? It's like the imagery here is of greed. Overflowing greed. Prosperity. These people have a huge house, but they want an even bigger house. They have more money than they can spend, but they want even more.

This craving and greed. Verse 9 is my favorite image. Their tongue struts throughout the earth. This is an image of unrestrained boasting, bragging, conquering, self-important people. Hopefully you have an image in your mind of the kind of people that Asaph is talking about here. By the way, can't you already feel sympathy for how he's struggling? because the whole point is, it seems like these people have not a care in the world.

They're, you know, sauntering through the world, stomping on anyone in their path. Nothing is holding them accountable. In verse 11, they're even mocking God. And they're successful and they're healthy. And Asaf is observing this. And he's saying, how are their lives going so well? Verse 12 is a kind of summary verse. These are the wicked.

Always at ease. they increase in riches. In other words, they're always on vacation, but they keep on getting a raise. Right? I mean, can't you just understand the frustration that he is feeling? We've all had moments like this. You feel like Basil Faulty and you're kind of like, oh, you know, you get agitated, you get aggravated, you get frustrated. Asaph is feeling envy. He's saying, I mean, this is to the point of honesty that he gets, as you see in verse 13 here, he's basically questioning his integrity. Look how drastic this conclusion is here in verse 13. All in vain have I kept my heart clean. In other words, he's saying, what is the point? Again, the honesty of the Bible. The chief

worship leader in Israel is saying, to boil it down, is God worth it? Is walking with God worth it? I love the honesty because I really think that all of us will have moments where we are tempted to ask these deep questions. Is it really worth it to follow Jesus? It's easy to look around at the apparent prosperity of evil around us. And even if we wouldn't say it out loud sometimes, our hearts can be tempted to say, in vain have I kept my heart pure? in vain have I tithed in vain have I fought against pride

in vain have I sought to be a peacemaker in that situation in vain have I served faithfully at my job or in my role here at church as many of you do so wonderfully in vain have I said no to that temptation all in vain let's do maybe kind of double click on this word vain and go down a little deeper and try to understand what is happening in Asaph's heart in this Psalm, I think this will help us relate to it as well.

What is essentially happening is envy. Now, what is envy? We don't talk about this very much. If you've ever heard of the seven deadly sins, envy is one of those sins. I'll put up on screen a picture of my dictionary definition, but I find the shorter one from this old theologian, even more helpful.

If you can't read that, it just says, envy is sorrow for another's good. Okay. Envy is when you say, I'm sad at the good things over there in that other person's life. Now, right out of the gate, you see how dark and insidious a thing envy is, because that's really the polar opposite of love, right? Love says, I'm happy when you're happy, and I'm sad when you're sad. Envy says, this is hard to even say because it's a dark thing, I'm sad when you're happy and I'm happy when you're sad. So if you have love in your heart for your neighbor,

they get a promotion at work, you say, awesome, I'm happy for you. I'm rejoicing with you at that. Envy might pretend to be happy for them, but deep down what you're saying is now I feel worse about myself. And so I'm not happy with you. envy is very competitive. Everyone's a threat. Right?

And I want us to think about this for a moment. The Bible uses the word sin to describe our severed relationship with our creator, which explains how everything around us in the world has gone wrong, including even inside of ourselves. And all sins are bad, but envy is one of the deepest and most destructive sins. And I want us to think about it, not as a condemnation for us this morning, but to put a spotlight on it so we can. and then turn back to the joy of the Lord.

I think envy steals joy without us even realizing it sometimes. Let me propose two reasons why envy is a particularly destructive and dangerous sin. First, envy is less visible than other sins. If you're struggling with hatred for someone, that's not good, but usually at least you're aware of what you're feeling and what you're struggling with and so forth. But envy can be absolutely consuming us without us even knowing. Isn't that a scary thought? Secondly, envy is not only more invisible, less visible, envy is more miserable than other sins.

I was thinking about this. I thought, you know, most other sin provides some kind of temporary pleasure or benefit. that even pride might give you some fortress walls around you, a little boost of ego now and again. But envy gives you absolutely nothing. Envy is 1,000% miserable from start to finish, and it even steals from whatever joy we do have. If you've ever heard that saying,

comparison is the thief of joy. Have you heard that saying? I think envy's right in there with that, explaining that, helping us understand that. It's kind of a thief of joy. In fact, I think we can say this strong. I thought about this. I thought, is that true? And I think this is true.

Tell me what you think. Any joy that is in our lives is not immune to envy. Any happiness that we have can be robbed and stolen from by envy. For example, you win the lottery and you're happy at first. But then envy can come along and say, well, yeah, you won the lottery. But look at all these people who still have so much more money. than you. Think of how much you had to pay in taxes. Think of all these other problems, right? It's like all of a sudden you're thinking you're getting agitated and you're getting annoyed and no longer

your joy is gone. You put up a post on Instagram and it gets 200 likes and your friends are supporting you in the comments and you feel joy at this. But then you scroll to the next post and it's someone who's always getting 2,000 likes on all of their posts and suddenly envy comes in and you start to compare yourself and you're saying, why do my posts only get 200 likes? You know? And all of a sudden your happiness is affected. and the scary thing is that can happen with anything. There is nothing in your life that is safe and protected from envy coming in. The way I put it is there's no heaven that envy can't turn into a hell.

In his commentary on the Psalms, Derek Kiddner talks about envy is happening in the Garden of Eden when humanity first fell. He says there is nothing so blinding as envy or grievance. This was the nerve the serpent touched in Eden to make. even paradise appear an insult. In other words, Adam and Eve are literally in paradise in total joy without any suffering, without any pain, and envy comes along and says, yeah, well, you may be in paradise, but you're not God. A lot of theologians think that envy was involved in the very first sin that ever occurred when a great archangel named Lucifer, whom we now call Satan, thought in his heart, well, yeah, I might be the greatest angel and have total joy and get to worship

God in total bliss, but I'm not God. And envy, this is the power of envy. It's always able to say, you know, okay, yeah, here's what you do have, but look over there what you don't have. And hopefully we can feel something of how destructive this is. As we begin to try to do some surgery on our own hearts, there was a runner in ancient Greece who wanted to

win a race so badly. He was training day and night for it. Ultimately, he came in second place. and they made a statue for the person that came in first, but he got nothing, no recognition. And he was getting agitated, he was feeling envy. The other persons get every day, you know, he's walking by the statue and feeling more agitated,

and it begins to poison his soul with envy. And so he began to sneak out at night and start chipping away at the statue. And his hope was that, you know, if I chip away enough, eventually the wind will knock this statue over. One night he chips away too much. and it comes crashing down and pins him to the ground. I always think about that story as just a horribly frightful reminder of what envy can do to us.

And again, sometimes it happens and we're not even noticing. Now, because this is kind of a sensitive topic, let me inject two notes of hope right here at this juncture before we go any further that might help some of us. Some of us, when we recognize this topic or relate to this topic, it brings up a lot of different emotions for us. And the first thing I want to say is we don't need to feel crushed with despair about this topic. We have a Heavenly Father who loves us and wants to give us joy.

Think of joy in the heart of God as this infinite fire, this throbbing fire, and he wants to share it with others. and he wants to do that for us this morning. And we know that he wants that for us because of Jesus. The measure of God's love for us is what Jesus did for us on the cross. That shows us how committed God is to our good, to our ultimate welfare. Jesus feels about you the same way this morning that he did when he was willing to go to the cross. So we know that as we repent of our envy, our father will receive us and pour out his joy. upon us. Second word of hope, let's make an important clarification that could ease some

pressure for some of us. And that is, desire for accountability is not envy. Okay, as we, you know, if someone robs you, you don't have to just wish well upon the thief without ever taking any actions against what they have done. That is not the message. Okay. It is normal to feel anguish when you are mistreated. It is right to seek justice when you are mistreated. That is not envy. Sometimes we might be uncertain. You know, is this something's rattling around in my heart? I'm not sure if this is envy or not. Sometimes it's complicated. We're trying to sort it out. Here's two diagnostic questions that could help us when we're struggling with sorting out. What's a legitimate desire for justice or accountability from an envious feeling toward people? Number one is why am I getting agitated?

at good in the lives of others. Help me, Lord, to see my motives. Help me to understand my heart. Is this a fair concern about a genuine evil that simply has not yet been addressed? Second question, am I praying for the ultimate repentance and restoration of this person? Do I ultimately want good for them?

Do I in my heart wish them toward heaven and wish them toward restoration to God? Okay, with those words of hope and place, let's do some surgery on our hearts and ask, you know, what are areas that we today struggle with envy? And I just lead the way in my own life, just kind of, you know, let's be honest about this. I think it helps if we can just be honest that all, none of us are beyond this. A big one is social media. By the way, social media is financially invested in our envy.

It is making money. of our miserable envy. Because the more envious we feel, the more time we're spending on their devices in certain ways. Knowing that helps us, you know, it's like, we just want to be so careful. We want to be honest.

We want to monitor the effect that it's having upon us. I really appreciate the honesty of this blogger. Many years ago, she wrote, when my self-esteem is shaky, which it often is, I have to be careful around social media. On Facebook and Twitter, everything is always wonderful for everyone.

And all their lives are amazing. I feel like an insecure middle schooler looking up to the tough high school girl with dark eyeliner and who does not care about anything and like, I could never be that cool. Now, though sooner we can all admit we have moments like this where we look to other people. You know, what's the emotion involved there when you're looking at someone saying, I could never be that cool. By the way, whoever we're thinking that about is thinking the same thing about somebody else. Okay, so we can depressurize it on all of us to realize,

nobody's sort of just arrived. There's always something to envy out there. But those words capture the emotion here. We all can relate to this. We all can feel this. And I think it's just good for us in our use of social media just to be mindful and monitor our hearts and ask, where is this stealing my happiness?

And where can that be an invitation to go to Jesus to meet that need instead? Another area I think is achievement, career, wealth, accomplishments, possessions. If you're in school, maybe middle schoolers, high schoolers, those of you in graduate school or college, you know, you ever look at someone, you say, how do they never study and yet they still get straight A's?

Right, this feeling, if you're looking over and you're, it can provoke these feelings. Pastors, any pastors in the room, can pastors struggle with envy? Yes, we can. And we need to bring that under the cross. You know, a great prayer to pray will often be, we're struggling to envy another person in our vocation to be mindful of that sense of competition

and just pray for God's blessing all the more on them. Whoever you're tempted to envy, pray for God to bless their socks off, you know? Isn't it better to have a heart like that? Another area I think we can be tempted toward envy is in relationships. Sometimes we envy relationships that we don't have, and this can cause us to be ungrateful and critical of the people around us, the relationships we do have. Shakespeare wrote a play called Othello.

He was the first person to talk about envy as what he called the green-eyed monster, which you may have heard about that. There's a character in this story who acknowledges the role of envy in his life and note these words that I underlined. He says, my jealousy or my envy shapes faults that are not. In other words, envy can make us see things

that aren't really there. It can make us more fault-finding. How about we just turn the page and move on in the sermon, but just kind of acknowledge and note, okay, this is not where we want to be. We want to move toward the joy of the Lord. We want to be. Have you ever known someone who's just so grateful,

so joyful in the Lord, mindful of others? This is where we want to move towards. Psalm 73 is here to help us move towards that. That's the key to this Psalm. Let's see how that works for Asaph. It comes in verse 17. not when his circumstances change. Okay?

He doesn't start to see anything changing in the lives of these wicked people he's been envying, but it's when his perspective changes. In verse 17, it says he answers the sanctuary of God or the holy things of God, okay? Picture Asaph, the worship leader, back in the temple. Suddenly he's seeing a new aspect of God's glory. He's playing the symbols, worshiping, leading, and he's, he's under, his perspective is changing. He's seeing who God is afresh. He sees two things that help him reinterpret his life.

And he overcomes. His foot almost stumbled, but it doesn't stumble because of these two things that he sees. First, he sees the end of the wicked, or literally in verse 17, there afterward, he sees where these wicked people he's been envying are ultimately headed. Now, there's a little Hebrew word translated surely or truly that happens three times in this Psalm. and at critical moments that can help us follow the threat of thought. We saw it in verse one, starting off the whole psalm, I underlined it there. You saw it though it's not often translated in verse 13.

And here we see it again at a key moment in verse 18. Truly, you have set them in slippery places. The key word here is slippery, and the idea here is that this cartoonish image that he had painted, in his own mind of these evil people he was envying isn't the full picture. From the higher perspective of being in the sanctuary of God, he's got a bigger vision. And what is emphasized here is the suddenness and decisiveness of God's judgment on evil. It's portrayed in verse 19 as a sudden flood that comes in a moment sweeping them away.

it's portrayed in verse 20 as a sudden waking from a dream. Do you ever wake up in the morning and you can vaguely remember a dream that you had, but you can't quite remember what it was about. It's kind of slipping away. Psalm 73 is reminding us that the evil that seems so strong around us in our world is like that. God has set it on a slippery path. Some of us struggle with the idea of God's judgment. but the Bible teaches us that God's judgment is actually just and good.

It restores the world to harmony, like the way you feel at the end of a movie when the good guys win. God's judgment is good. It also teaches us that because God has taken on his own judgment in the person of Christ, no one needs to face judgment. Anybody who trusts in Jesus is totally forgiven, and the judgment has already been cast upon Christ instead of you in your place. So we can approach all of this from that standpoint.

Praise God for that. But this is the first of two lessons that we want to learn from this Psalm. Don't mistake God's patience for indifference. Okay? We can be tempted to look around and feel envious at the way evil seems so prosperous, but it's actually on a slippery path. Suddenly, decisively, God will deal with all things. He will have the last word, and he is good and righteous in his judgments.

I was watching an ESPN 20 for 20 or 30 for 30. I can't remember what it's even called. It was about the... Some of you remember this happening, maybe. It was about the 1989 earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area. It took place during the World Series. And just massive damage. Huge amount of damage.

And it was talking about at Candlestick Park how the entire stadium was rippling. back and forth with shockwaves and it was giving testimony of people who were standing at the edge like a roller coaster hanging on to the edge. I don't like heights. I was thinking I can't imagine anything more terrifying than that. When we lived in Ohio, there were a couple of earthquakes. And I just, I remember one night I had just put my kids to bed and I was sitting in a chair with my back facing the kids' room and an earthquake hit. And my first thought was that my kids had snuck out and were shaking the chair. And I was saying, get back to bed, you know. And then it's just, if you you've ever been through an earthquake, you know it's this surreal feeling of you realize,

oh, the ground itself is shaking, and you don't expect that because you're used to taking for granted that the ground will be stable underneath my feet. This is the image of Psalm 73 for the judgment of evil. All of a sudden, what seems so strong and secure in just a moment, God will bring to justice. I think Psalm 73 is in our Bibles for those times when evil, seems to be winning and we're getting agitated like Asaph and we're saying, God, I'm not happy with how this is turning out. Is it really worth it to be on your side or is this all in vain? And we need to remember God will deal with all things. Our role in those moments is to keep walking with the Lord to seek justice as best we can here and now, but also to put our ultimate

trust in the Lord, that he will have the last word. And if this is something that you struggle with, I would love to encourage you to print off the first several verses of Psalm 37, which is another passage that deals with this theme. I think that would be encouraging for you. But there's a second lesson that Asaph learns that is really the key, and this is where we want to land the plane with the final lesson we're going to take away this morning, and that is that God gives a perfect happiness in His life. himself. I hope to just encourage you as much as I can in these last few moments here.

No matter where we're coming from, and no matter what burden might be upon your heart this morning, as surely as Jesus Christ rose from the dead, God can restore your joy. He gives what envy takes. when Asaph re-evaluates his life from God's perspective, he not only sees that the wicked are on a slippery path, he also says, look at what I have in God. And he describes his relationship with God in two ways. First, he says, God, you are always with me.

I think my favorite image in this Psalm is the words, You hold my right hand in verse 23. It's an image of intimacy and guidance, almost to the point of embarrassment, for what it means to walk through this life with God. Think of a shepherd walking right beside a sheep, touching the sheep, guiding the sheep, directing the sheep, consoling the sheep.

Asaph is saying, that is what God is to me, both in this life and into eternity. These words, you will receive me into glory, or to glory right here at the end. Think of this moment, you know, right after the Lord says, well done, good and faithful servant. What's the very next thing that happens is we enter into God's presence in heaven? You will receive me into glory.

And what a happy thought that for you and me who have trusted in Jesus, God is with you like that, holding your right hand. There is not one bit of suffering your heart has endured that he has not noticed. He is the most ten. sander shepherd. And after this life, he will receive you into glory. When we're having a basal moment, this is the kind of thing we need to come back to and get perspective. The second thing Asaf says, in verse 25 here, not only God, you are always with me, but God, you are all that I want. Verse 25, the second sentence there, there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. It's like he's

saying, if I have God, what else matters? So what if I don't have a big social media following? So what if my career isn't in exactly the spot that I would want? So what if I'm looking across the way and seeing someone else have a blessing that I may never have? I have God. There's nothing that compares to him. And if you and I have trusted in Jesus, we can say like this Psalm that God is our portion forever. He is the strength of our heart forever and ever. whatever else happens. What a joy to return to that. I have to say, I think the way this Psalm hit me at this juncture in my life

is to remind me of how easy it is for me amidst the busyness and clutter of life to simply forget what a treasure I have in God. Can anyone else relate to this where life is just, you're going and you're going and you're going, and all of a sudden you feel like you're a little more like Martha than Mary. If you know those two characters, you feel like a little bit of a little bit of, little bit more like you're doing all these things, and all of a sudden it's like, I've kind of forgotten that he holds my right hand. I've kind of forgotten, I desire nothing in this world

but you, and we have to return to this and allow the Lord to restore our joy. What a happy thought. Maybe I could just put it as bluntly as I can to our hearts to say, for each one of us, there is a fullness of happiness available to us in God. Particular to us, comforting, healing, strengthening. And we can go to him this morning and allow him to fill our hearts afresh with the joy that he gives. And to the point where we're saying like Asaph, you know, we're no longer in a Basel moment. We're instead saying, look how good I have it. In this life I have God.

And then in the next life, I have heaven. You know, what could be better? as we conclude let's consider what this psalm might mean for us for how the lord might call us to respond this morning maybe some of us who are here desire that happiness in god but feel unworthy of it and i would love to pastor you for a moment and just remind you or if you've never heard this i share the good news with you that we don't have to to be good enough to be worthy of the happiness of God. This is a gift of his grace that he pours out freely, indiscriminately to all who trust in Jesus.

Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, heaven is open, wide open. All we have to do is humble ourselves enough to receive it and come before the Lord with honesty and with humility and ask him. You know, the words of Psalm 51 are a great model for us. restore to me the joy of my salvation. If you've never experienced that before, or perhaps if you just feel far away from the Lord today, I would love to invite you to, as we respond and worship in just a few moments, to just come honestly before the Lord, ask him to forgive you, and ask him to pour out his happiness on you, and know that he's your father who wants to do that.

maybe others of us who are here are walking with Jesus and simply feel tired the world is very weary right now everywhere I go I'm always listening to the culture and wondering how is technology affecting us what's really going on right now and there's a lot of anxiety in the world and there's a lot of weariness in the world maybe we're walking with Jesus but we feel a little bit like more like the basil faulty moments of just being discontent and we don't have the joy of the Lord. Maybe we've drifted from that. This psalm would invite us to receive afresh, the joy of God, this morning.

And as we respond in just a few moments in worship, I'd love to just take the words of this Psalm and speak them to you for any weary Jesus followers in the room to say what God is saying to your heart through this Psalm. I am always with you. I am holding your right hand. I will guide you with my counsel. There is nothing on earth that you need other than me. Even when your body is dying, I will receive you into glory

because I am the strength of your heart forever. Let me leave you with this image. This is from one of C.S. Lewis's novels. It's a great image of the fullness of joy that our God can give. Because the joy of God is not halfway. God himself is not only half happy, and he gives us a fullness of joy, even amidst the suffering of life. In this novel, a character experiences redemption and reconciliation to a friend, and the moment

that it lands on her, she says these words, joy silenced me. And I thought I had come to the utmost fullness of being that the human soul can contain. Now take that word utmost. Okay. Why can't that be for you and me today in our relationship with God? That is available to us. Let's ask the Lord to pour that out on our hearts. Let me pray for us. Father, we are so grateful to be gathered in your presence this morning and we believe that all true Christianity is miraculous, that we are not just conjuring something up here. We believe that you are a real living God. You are here with us. You are speaking. You are working. You are calling. Some hearts in the room may need to hear from you in a fresh way this morning. And I want to pray

for my wonderful friends here that you would bless them. I pray for any who feel weary and distance and for whom it actually seems unrealistic to experience your joy? And I pray that you would do the miracle of just communicating to their heart, the depth of your love for them and the goodness of their salvation, that they would have the sense in their heart. What do I need other than God? For any who are carrying a burden this morning that makes it difficult for them to rejoice in you, I pray that you would ease their pain and comfort them and console them and pour out your Holy Spirit upon them to give them comfort and peace and joy even amidst that burden. For any who are here this morning who feel so far from you and don't know if they are worthy

of your love, I pray that you would communicate your grace to them so that they know they don't need to be good enough. You love them just as they are right now. and I pray that all of us would respond to you in the deepest places of our heart, allowing you to touch us in that place where we feel joy. Communicate Holy Spirit your joy to each heart in the room. And receive our grateful love and adoration and praise.