The Sin of Comparing

Now, we're going to turn to Psalm 73. Psalm 73 we want to look at this morning. And in progressive sanctification that you and I go through as believers in Christ that put off, put on principle that we see in Scripture. Hopefully and prayerfully, and it should be that as you and I grow in our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, there's things that when we come to faith in Christ, for a lot of us, there's some immediate things that take place. For some of us, it's a growing process.

And that's the theological term, progressive sanctification that you and I are to be growing to be more like Jesus Christ every single day, every week, every month, every year that goes past. And so as you're coming to the end as I am the year 2023, it's probably a good time to do an examination to see how was 2023? Where did you advance and grow in your spiritual walk with the Lord? It's a time to really look back and to examine and then to get ready for 2024. And so hopefully that we as believers, if we've been serving the Lord for a little time or a long time, that we're looking more like Christ every day.

And so there's probably some big ones that maybe when you came to faith in Christ that you just knew the end that that was a big one and we're dying to self, we're gonna grow. And you had some victory in that. And then there's some others that are some strong points in your life and some that sin that so easily entangles that you're just battling with it. And so it's a process of putting off, putting on, it's a process of saying, here's some things that I know that are unbecoming to a child of God that I must by the Spirit of God conquer these particular sins. Well, this one today that we're looking at from ASAP may not even be on your radar.

It may not be anything that you've even thought about. And I'm convinced in my life as I'm 62 years old, been serving the ministry for 40 years, this is one of those in my life that just has sticked to me, not all the time, but it's one of those that if I'm not careful, I find myself struggling with this same sin that ASAP dealt with. And so I hope this morning in the time that we have together that you would leave here today and say, you know what? That's, I see that in my life as well because we battle with this so often.

And so as we look through ASAP's life, don't be that pious Christian to say, I can't believe he did because you and I struggle with some of these same things. And you know what it is? It's called the sin of comparing. Where we compare ourselves to other people, we compare what we have, what we don't have to other people. And that's what ASAP struggled with. This is the Psalm of ASAP. There's 12 Psalms that are recording in scripture that are designated as Psalms of ASAP. I wanna remind you that he was a music leader. That's what he was assigned to do for the nation of Israel. He was the one that would lead in worship.

He was the one that would put the music together. He was the music leader of King David. And you've gotta understand to be the music leader and to be one that David gave the charge to even do the music for the Ark of the Covenant, that he was a godly man. He was a godly leader, a mature believer in Christ. That is important that you see that and understand that. So he's not a novice in Christianity. He didn't just come to faith in Christ. He was a mature believer in God. And yet this sin of comparing, this sin of envy, almost ruined ASAP. It almost ruined him. And you gotta agree that life doesn't always make sense, does it?

That's why we need Psalm 73. Life doesn't always go the way that we think life ought to go. Life doesn't always fit the way we think it ought to fit. When you're working hard and you're laboring at work and you're trying to do all the right things and yet the guy across from the hall from you is the one that gets the promotion who's not trying to do things right, who's not trying to advance the company, who gets the promotion. The one who may steals or cheats or covers up financial reports. You see, guys are doing the right things sometimes doesn't succeed in the life at which you and I live.

And so doing these dirty deals, we see people who are getting promoted and it doesn't make sense sometimes. Those who have all the nice stuff, that drive the nice cars, that get the biggest paychecks. When you look at all this that goes on in your world, in my world, you have to wonder, is righteous living actually worth it? Because the evil seem to prosper so much and it is hard to hold to your convictions and my convictions when those who have no convictions whatsoever are the ones that are prospering. It is troublesome to think about these things. And so that is the reason that Psalm 73, the sin of comparing was put in Holy Scripture.

And that's what we're gonna look at and to look at ASEP and look at his life that almost ruined him, a godly man, a spiritual leader in the church began to compare. I've got four points this morning. Number one, we're gonna see the cornerstone, or rather the foundation of all that ASEP begins with and he's stuck to. And then number two, we're gonna look at the comparing itself and then point number three, the contentment that came in his life and then finally the confession. The cornerstone, the comparing contentment and confession. And so the cornerstone is verse one. That's where we see the cornerstone of all that ASEP stood on.

It was a fact that was settled. He started right here because this had to be the thing that held him together because he was going to struggle. And so he started with the conclusion at the very beginning of the chapter. Verse one in Psalm 73, "Surely God is good to Israel, "to those who are pure in heart." He settled it. That was the conclusion. He said, "Surely God is good to Israel, "those who are pure in heart, "surely God is good to me." That's because he knew there was gonna be some confusion. So he started with the foundation that absolutely, God is good to Israel. Absolutely God is good to those who are pure in heart.

And so you have to understand that. You've got to believe that. You've got to teach yourself those things. You've got to talk to yourself on a daily basis when the world and the system causes us problems. That surely God is good to Israel. Surely God is faithful to those who walk in their pure life. And so that's the cornerstone. That's the thing that holds it all together. Years ago, whenever this building was built, someone put a cornerstone here. That was the thing that set the course for the entire structure here. To make sure it was straight, to make sure it was sound. And that's where ASEP starts. A fact that is settled, a cornerstone.

And so I gotta remind you today, because the world is a world of chaos. The world is unbalanced. There's not balance in the world. I mean, those who are so evil and wicked are prospering so much, you've got to understand the cornerstone that God is good to Israel. In his time, in his season, and in his way, surely God is good to those who walk in pure life. Point number two, after he starts with a conclusion, which he had to have the conclusion, he had to hold on to it because the struggle is about to happen. We see the sin of comparing. Verse two, "But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling.

"My steps had almost slipped." And let's continue to read here. "For I was envious of the arrogant. "I saw the prosperity of the wicked. "For there are no pains in their death, "and their body is fat. "They are not in trouble as other men, "nor are they plagued like mankind. "Therefore, pride is their necklace. "The garment of violence covers them. "Their eye bulges from fatness. "Their imagination of their heart run riot. "They mock and weakly speak of oppression. "They speak from on high. "They have set their mouth against the heavens "and their tongue parades throughout the earth.

"Therefore, his people return to this place "and waters of abundance are drunk by them. "And they say, 'How does God know? "'And is there knowledge with the most high? "'Behold, they are wicked and always at ease. "'They have increased in wealth, "'surely in vain. "'I have kept my heart pure "'and washed my hands in innocence. "'For I have been stricken all day long "'and chasing every morning.'" And we see here that ASEP says he had almost slipped. That's a word that means to fall. That's a word that means to be unsteady. He's speaking spiritually here. Not a physical fall, but a spiritual fall.

He says, "I almost slipped, "and we've got to understand what is it that calls ASEP, "a godly man, a leader of worship of Israel, "what is it that could have made this godly leader "almost slip spiritually?" And verse three tells us it's envy. It's the sin of comparing. He starts this entire list out from three to 14, but being envy and comparing. He says here, he says, "For I was envious of the arrogant." There it is. He was envious, he was complaining, or rather comparing what they have and what he didn't have. So what is it for you this morning? What is it that you're comparing? Are you comparing your bank account to someone else's?

Are you comparing your home to someone else's home? Are you mothers comparing your children to other children, even in the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, because they're more obedient, they're more pliable than some other children. Is that the sin that entangles you? What is it? Even for us as pastors. Maybe it's comparing the sermons. I'm a better preacher than that pastor. I've got a bigger church than that pastor. I've got a bigger budget than that pastor. I've got multiple staff in the other pastor, doesn't. And even we as pastors struggle with that sin of comparing, if we're not careful.

And so A$AP was comparing his life to that of the wicked. And he sat there and he looked and he saw them of their boastful pride of life. And so A$AP was envious, he was comparing. He says here, the wicked prosper abundantly in verse three, the arrogant is the word that denotes boastful presumption in their prosperity. He says, I look at that and it causes me trouble. It causes me problem. And because of that, the envy and the comparison, A$AP said I almost slipped spiritually. He goes on to say that their deaths were seemingly at ease in verse four, they seem to have a peaceful end to life.

He said, even their death, they didn't seem to have agony. It makes absolutely no sense. Verse five, they are not troubled and played as other men are. He said, I see them and I saw them and I'm envious of them. I'm prideful of their way of life because they don't even seem in trouble. They don't seem in difficulty. And sometimes if we're not careful, we can do the very same things. And we look at someone else's life and we see things that we go through and we get envious and we get comparison because they seem to have no issues going on in their life. And yet we go through some of these things.

But then maybe some very righteous comparing is really to compare the suffering that some go through that we never by the grace of God ever have to go through. This past week, we have a study break. The pastors grace life, we get a study break. So it's a week that we can go off wherever and we can read a book, study, we can pray, whatever. And so we went away to the North Georgia mountains and we got a cabin up in the Blue Ridge and we were excited about that. And we took our food as a couple of days and over Thanksgiving and we like the mountains, we like the cabins and basically we get there, take our own food, we don't do anything.

We don't even leave the cabin. We just build the fire and we just do nothing. And we enjoy those times. The second night that we were there, we were sitting in the cabin and watching a Christmas movie and getting ready for the holidays and all of a sudden one family member said, I smell something burning. And we said, really? I don't smell anything burning. And again, my family, they say, I have the curse nose because I can smell about anything. It drives my family crazy. I smell all kinds of stuff. So I don't smell anything. And it came again from the other family member, no, something's burning.

I got up, I went over, looked at the gas stove 'cause we had some problems with that and then the gas had a problem. There's nothing burning and here's what she said. It smelled like a campfire burning. Immediately I knew that that didn't need to be happening because there was a no burn that was sent out through the entire county. We opened the door of the back of the cabin on the balcony and as soon as we opened it, it was filled with smoke. I walked out there and I was looking for what you would look for. Where's the fire? And I looked and I looked over to the right side on the other side of the long balcony.

I went over there and there was a massive wall of flames about 50 or 75 yards from us heading our way. Massive and the only thing I knew was to get off of this mountain. I went back inside. My wife was upstairs. My son and daughter was downstairs. Me and my daughter, I said, "Let's go." I grabbed my wallet and grabbed my keys. I said, "Let's get out of here." And we got in the vehicles and we got down the mountain. When we turned around one of the other side of the mountain, there was another wall of flames heading our way. We finally got out of there, met the fire truck on the way up. This is about 1130 on a Monday night.

We had to find a place to stay. The mountain was evacuated and the next day, we found out that nine cabins almost were engulfed and ours was one of them. They fought for seven hours to contain the fire. We went back up there. It was smoke everywhere. The cabin was filled with smoke. There was a fire line all around the house. It was just by a miracle that it wasn't burned. We just assumed it was all gonna be burned up. All of our stuff was left inside. I just wanted to go home. I didn't want to stay on top of the mountain. I called the rental company and they said, "We don't have any other place." They said, "But the firemen are there.

The Georgia Farsi people, they came up. They assured us there's a couple of hot spots, but it won't be moving. Rains were coming." And so we stayed there. We were inconvenient. But something happened else that week that my dear friend Conrad in Bellways, 32 year old son had an aneurysm and died and went to heaven. We were in convenience. The cabins smelled like smoke for the rest of our time. There was burnt stuff everywhere you walked out. It'd get on your feet. It really didn't matter anymore then. So sometimes we do need to compare our lives to other people that go through so much more. But A$AP here was looking at all the wrong stuff.

He was looking at their ease of life. He was looking at their fruitfulness. He was looking at the blessings. You and I struggled with that. So don't throw A$AP on the bus this morning. We look around our neighbors. We look around our people. You look around people at this church sometimes and you compare. And that may be one of those sins in our life that we don't hardly think about it, but it's a pretty serious sin. And so he sees here, then he goes on and he says that they are full of pride in verse six. They're arrogant. Actually they wore it as a jersey almost to promote their arrogance and pride. Verse seven, they prospered greatly.

Uses the word fat. Now you and I time, you and I try to fight against getting fat. We've spent a lot of money. Weight watch and all these things. Now we're gonna have our time 'cause I've eaten this food before. So I'm gonna get a little fatter this morning. But in this particular setting, that was a word of prosperity. 'Cause if they were fattened, they had more money. They had more things to buy things. And he said that greatly bothers me. They were insulated, it seemed, even from divine correction that A$AP was looking at. They were no conscious, they had no guilt. They do wrong. It bothers me.

That is the thing that almost caused him to slip. They were corrupt, they were boastful in verse eight. They, in verses nine and 10, he uses the word that they were going to literally eat up the earth or swallow all the world because they were just so into themselves. And so when A$AP saw that, in verse 12, he gives a summary. He said, "How could God allow this to happen? How could God bless them?" And here's the point that A$AP was struggling with. As we see there in verse 12, "Behold, these are the wicked and always at Eve.

They have increased in wealth." And so A$AP summed it up in reality, said, "How could God bless them and not bless me?" That's what it came down to. A$AP said that he was blessing them and he wasn't blessing me. And that's what the sin of comparing will do to us. We begin to look at other folks and say, "Now why them and not me? Why do they get the promotion and not me? Why do they get to lead in small groups and not me? I don't know how to teach." Why? It's an ugly sin. It led to bitterness, verse 13 and 14. When he says, "Surely I've worshiped God of Israel in vain. I've kept my way pure." What good did it do is what A$AP is saying here.

He says, "It was just nothing but heartache, just nothing but heartache. All that I tried to do as the worship leader is just to do what's right and yet it prospered me nothing. What is the use? Why? All you get is pain and mockery. Even for us today in the Christian life, it seems that that's all that results from living for Christ. Dear friends, do you see the spiritual crises in the life of A$AP right now? An incredible spiritual crisis. He's viewed his life from his own perspective and not from God's perspective. Well, what brought him back to the conclusion in verse one?

He had this season, and we didn't even already just unfold it this morning, but this season of comparing and he was looking at all the wrong things, well, what brought him back to his conclusion? Point number three, the contentment. And so in verse 15 is what changed his focus. If I had said I will speak thus, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight. A$AP for the very first time, since verse three all the way to 14, he was thinking only about himself for the very first time he began to think about somebody else except himself.

You see, A$AP, I've already told you, was the spiritual leader. David had appointed him to lead in worship. He is the spiritual hero of Israel. And he realizes for the very first time, if he didn't get a control of his thoughts, if he didn't get a control of his thinking, what would happen to the sheep that are under his leadership? That's what he's saying here. That's exactly what he's saying here. He says, but behold, if I would just simply speak, if I would let this come in my house, how would I have betrayed the generation of children?

And you and I have got to be careful as well when we start to talk bad about the things of God, when we start to doubt God, when we start to struggle in those things, we got to put a guard over our mouths because these little ones are watching us and they're learning from us and these weak Christians that are around us. And A$AP realizes, oh no, if I would get up and preach a sermon about how this is causing me to envy and complain and to get bitter, oh, it would be such a stumbling block to so many. And so he realizes if he didn't get control of his thought, it would be damaging to the sheep under his leadership.

He began to realize that other people are more important than himself. And you and I have that struggle as well. We got to realize it's not about me, but it's about others. It's about the kingdom. It's not about my advancement, but it's about the advancement of other people. One of the great motivational speakers in Christianity that I used to listen to, still listen to him, some in my treadmill university, when I work out on treadmill, I'm trying to do something to educate myself. And so just listening to music, I wanna hear some edification. One of those was Zig Ziglar.

I don't know if you know Zig, Zig's been home to the Lord for a number of years now. But Zig used to, is famous for saying, you can get whatever you want if you help other people get what they want. It's just the principle of dying to self and helping others. And one of the things that I've learned in my life in my 40 years of ministry, that when I get comparing, when I get inwardly focused, when I get a little down in the mouth, down the dump, it always helps if I would turn my focus from what I'm not getting and try to be a blessing to someone else.

If I'm not getting encouragement, then I just take out my phone, I take out a piece of paper, a note card, and I just write an encouraging note. It always helps. Why? Because the focus gets off of me and it gets on others. And that's what A$AP did. Boy, he was only thinking about himself. Boy, I look at them, it caused me trouble. They're fat with prosperity. They don't have any trouble. They're dead, it's not painful. He's just thinking about himself. And he gets content here because he says, you know what, it's not about me. Boy, it's about the children of Israel, all these people that I'm responsible for. That's what's important.

That's what made the difference in his life. And then he talks in verse 16 and 17, we see something else that took place in his life. When I pondered to understand this, there was troubles in my sight. Until I came into the sanctuary of God, then I perceived therein. He came to the sanctuary, he came to public worship. That changed everything. That changed his perspective. It all started to make sense again when he got with God's people. And so perhaps, perhaps he just went to public service. Perhaps he just simply went to the sanctuary because it was his job.

He had to go there, he had to lead the music, and he was still struggling with these thoughts. Perhaps that's the case. But he came to public worship and to do his job and why he was leading in worship, things changed in his mind. He was thinking about the words, not just leading and singing. And sometimes even as pastors, when we stand and preach, sometimes I know it'd be true, your pastor, the number of years he's been pastoring. And to come and say, sometimes, I just don't wanna go preach. I just don't wanna do it. When I was serving as a senior pastor, I knew Sunday came once a week. It came every seven days.

And there was times I just didn't want to go preach. I would rather do anything but preach. There was times in my life that I just didn't wanna go to the house of the Lord. But I had to because that was my job, that was my responsibility. So I just went, maybe that's ASAP. He just went because of, he just had to do it. But almost every single time that I've had those doubts in my life, when I was there with God's people, when I would begin to sing, when I would begin to fellowship, when I would begin to worship, things took place in my life. And that was what happens to a child of God. And so that's why you and I need God's people.

When you get down, when you get out of focus, when you began to compare and get envy, never underestimate the importance of being around Godly people. You see the help that you need is right here at Gresh Life of Brooke Avenue. That's the help you need in your struggle of comparing and envy. You see ASAP, he moved from comparing to contentment and things changed. It all changed when he got content. Verse 15, or verse 18 rather, surely you have set them in slippery places. You have cast them down to destruction. You see his focus changed from verse two. And verse three, he said, no, I'm not the one that's slipping.

They are the view changed of what he was seeing because of contentment. Verse 19, how they are destroyed in the moment. They are early swept away by sudden terrors like a dream when one awakes. Oh Lord, when aroused, you will despise them. And so don't think God's not up to anything. He's just like a dream. One of these days he's waking up. He's not dreaming, but he's gonna wake up. And everything that's been done wrong is gonna be corrected, done right. And so he began to look at that.

And then last point is the confession. 'Cause you see, every time when you and I get involved in sin, whether it's a major sin or a light sin is still sin, and whether it's sin of comparison or comparing, he said, you know what, man, I was focusing on wrong things, so there must be confession. That's verse 21. When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant. I was like a beast before you. His view of self has changed. From envy, comparing, you see in verses three through 14, Asep thought he was a victim, the victim of his environment. He was no victim. He was guilty.

He was guilty from his focus on the wrong things. You see, there's these verbs here in verse 21 and following are reflective verbs. Basically they mean my heart embittered itself. I pierced myself from within. That speaks of personal responsibility. That's what Asep is saying. He said, I did this to myself. People didn't do this to me. God didn't do this. It wasn't God. It wasn't other. It was my own desires and my own expectation of what he desired for his life. You remember the point where he said, "God, you seem to be blessing them, "but you're not blessing me." He said, "I did it to myself.

"I did it." And then verse 23 and 24, we see contentment is made complete. God is good. God is the rewarder. He said, "God's presence is there all the time," in verse 23. He said, "God's protection is there." In verse 24, the wisdom of the Word is there. It leads to contentment. Verse 25, "Whom have I in heaven but you? "And besides you, I desire nothing on earth." That's what he says. God is issue. You're my contentment. It's not the lust of my eyes. You see, the lust of his eyes deceived him, just like they deceive you and me. He says, "But now he's in public worship." And he said, "God, you're satisfying me.

"It's not what I thought I wanted. "It's you and you alone." He says, "I am content with you and you alone." And you and I need to answer the question as well. Compared to God, we don't need anything else. And that's what ASAP came to. Compared to you, God, I don't need anything else. Nothing. So question and conclusion. What are you comparing today? What is it in your life that you're comparing, that you're envious? And I will leave you with the statement that ASAP says, "God, compared to you, "there's nothing to compare. "There's nothing else that I should desire "won't compare to you." Because you alone are all that I need.

And that is why he said in verse one, "Surely God is good to Israel. "Surely God is good to those who appear in heart." Because God, you orchestrate my life. You know what's best for me. It's not what I think. It's not what I want. It's not what I desire. It's you and you alone. And we've been having a lot of death and dying around "Anchored in Truth" and "Grace Like Muscle Shoals" the last several months. I've told you about Conrad and Belway's son. I knew him personally. I was with him in July. That's Wendula, who we support, his brother. Robert Eaton, past chairman of the "Anchored in Truth" board. Was playing pickleball on Friday.

Went to the hospital on Sunday and three weeks later, he was in heaven. I miss Robert. Robert was a dear friend. Robert was a confidant. He was someone I could go to and had "Grace Life" and just share my heart. And although I miss him and miss theirs, there's only one person that I can't live without and it's the one that you can't live without. It's the one that says, "I'll never leave you or forsake you." Can't live without him. You can live without a spouse. You can live without children, but you can't live without him. And that's what A$AP said. He said, "God, I can't live without you." Father, thank you so much for allowing me.