00:00:01 Of going to double what I\'m going to give you to your neighbor. So the person actually quickly thinks and then says, \"I want to poke the eyes out of me, one eye out of me.\" So that\'s how actually envy works in us, right? We always look at others and judge them, and we are so critical, and it makes us irrational. I was trying to look at my life to see where I am feeling envy, and then when I was thinking about it, the list went on and on. I almost think this whole week, and I couldn\'t stop. 00:00:36 Then finally I said, \"Okay, I\'m going to pick up petty stuff,\" which actually can really show you the magnitude of what envy is. So this is what happens at our home. There are parking lots which are outside my home, which are meant for your second car because our garages are small. People try to park their car outside. So what happens is people started doing this. When they take one of their cars, there\'s a second person standing, it\'s a family member, brings the other car and parks it. 00:01:05 And when I come from work late, I don\'t have place at all, and there\'s no place for me in the parking lot. When I see these people, they just get out their house, and they get into the car and go away. I have parked my car five minutes away, and I have to walk. So this really made me envy them. Man, they are just getting out of their car and going, and then it turned into resentment and anger. I felt my neighbors were very selfish and didn\'t care about others. 00:01:33 And then it went on, and then I start, \"I\'m the only good person there. I\'m trying to walk, and I love my neighborhood, but these people are not like that.\" And even finally, it made me even question God, \"God, why did you bring me into this neighborhood where these people are very heartless?\" It\'s just a simple problem where it was just parking a car, and that caused some envy and just kept on going, and finally, I was trying to question God here. 00:02:01 So I first understood this message was for me first before it can be for you all. Even the world knows that envy is such a big problem. They say envy is a thief that grabs the happiness away. Living in this age of social media, we can call it the age of envy. We see perfect people on the social media posts, beautiful holidays, great careers, adorable kids. All these comparisons will always lead us to resentment. 00:02:35 Even psychologists say that these envies actually manifest in competitiveness, criticism, putting others\' success down, resentment, insecurity, feeling of unworthiness about yourself, feeling ill will towards other persons. Numerous studies actually have linked envy to depression. So that\'s what envy does to us. And then in 1 Peter 2:1 it states, \"So put away all malice, all deceit and hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander.\" How can we do it? It\'s just a base emotion. It is coming from us. 00:03:15 Anytime we see it, we try to start comparing to other people, and how are we to get out of this? I think we will try to find this answer today in the psalm we read. This psalm was written by a person called Asaph. He was a Levite musician who was appointed by David to be the lead singer when the Ark of the Covenant was brought. Asaph is mentioned as a seer or a prophet in 2 Chronicles 29. 00:03:42 There is no mention of him in the Bible otherwise, but it says that the sons of Asaph his lineage continued up to 600 years, and they served as these people who were singing in the court of the Lord for almost 600 years, even after the Babylonian exile. When I was reading Psalm 73, it felt like there was no other information, and it felt like 73 was a personal testimony of Asaph, his spiritual journey, where he was starting to understand God and how his life changed and how he committed to God. 00:04:19 So my purpose of this sermon today is to show Asaph\'s experience in 73 and how we can learn to have this deeper understanding of God that can transform our lives, especially when it comes to overcoming envy. Before we go into this message, I want to first examine the first verse. Asaph starts with this core statement. He says, \"God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.\" The psalmist knows that God is good to whom he has made a covenant with. 00:04:50 He knows he\'s the covenant people, and they have to have a pure heart if they want the goodness of God. But when he says pure heart, he understood the covenant requirement that it was just not obeying the law, but having a deep personal relationship with God. That was the ultimate requirement when it says, you are going to have a pure heart. John Piper defines the purity of heart is that it is willing one thing, namely a full total allegiance to God. 00:05:22 So Asaph understood this and what the law meant. \"You shall have no other gods before me.\" He really understood this, and Asaph wants this goodness from God, and he also knows what the requirement is, but he was not there, and his journey of how he transforms to get to this place is what the psalm is about. So I have decided to make this psalm into three divisions today. The first one is called the empty religion that brings envy. I\'ll repeat it. 00:05:56 So second one is the transformation at the sanctuary. And the last one is a transformation that drives away envy. The first one is empty religion that brings envy, transformation at the sanctuary, the transformation that drives away envy. When I read this Psalm, I see the transformation actually happened in verses 15 to 17. That is where the transformation happened. And before and after that is what is happening before this transformation and then what happens after the transformation. 00:06:31 So that\'s how I\'ve divided my sermon today. So the first point, empty religion that brings envy. First, let us see what envy is and what it does. Paul Tripp actually defines envy is focusing more on what others have, what God has graciously provided for you, causing you to want what they have and to question the goodness of God. We see the same actually happening with Asaph here. If you read the verses from three to 12, there are a lot of verses today, so I\'m not going to read all of them. 00:07:05 I\'ll just read some of the excerpts. In verse three it says, \"For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.\" And in verse four he says, \"The bodies are fat and sleek.\" He just sees them. These people are really prosperous. \"They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace.\" He just sees that, and he sees these people are wealthy. They\'re all doing well. And you know what? 00:07:36 When they\'re doing well, it happens. They\'re actually starting to mock God. In verse 11 it says, \"And they say, \'How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?\' Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.\" This is what envy will do to you. It will make you look at others and compare yourself against them. It starts to see all the flaws of others. First, you see they are prosperous and that you are not, and they are getting away with anything. 00:08:08 You might feel you are the one who is doing good stuff and they are the ones who are doing the bad stuff. When you see they are never punished and they don\'t even deserve it, your heart starts to become really bitter. You are actually confused at their prosperity, and this is what Asaph was experiencing. Has this happened to you? 00:08:33 You might have grown in a Christian environment all your life thinking you\'re a good person and everything you have is God\'s blessing because you keep His laws and you\'re obedient to Him. But you look around, and then one day you look around and see people around you who are not worshiping other gods, are not even having a proper religion. They don\'t even believe in God. All these people are smarter. They are better. They are well-to-do. Their kids are doing well in school. 00:09:02 But you who believe the true God, you are nowhere close to these people. When you start thinking off in this line, it takes you into a rabbit hole. You know where it ends up? You think that God is not good, or He doesn\'t care about you. It might even get worse. You might lose confidence in God. You may start to believe all this religion stuff is just a creation of the mind, it\'s just fictitious. I\'ve been trying to do all this life and I\'m like this? 00:09:34 And the worst of it, you might even reject God. This is the power of envy. That\'s what it does. It just leads you into a process where you finally reject God. I was trying to understand what was Asaph\'s spiritual condition as he went through this. Does he know God already? Where is he? Reading this passage about Asaph\'s struggle, it looks like he is a person who is trying on his own, and he is trying to keep the laws by his own strength. 00:10:06 So that is why I titled this section as empty religion which causes it. When Christianity is just a religion for you, a set of do\'s and don\'ts, that is probably what will happen to us. If Christianity is attracting you for a better life, and that\'s what you have been taught from childhood, it\'s just a set of rules just to follow to please God, then this is the sorry state you will be. You will be full of envy and jealousy. Actually, this is made very clear in verses 13 and 14. 00:10:39 It says Asaph was trying to get to God with a self-effort-based religion. Let\'s read verse 13, and it says, \"All in vain have I kept my heart clean, washed my hands in innocence.\" And verse 14 he says, \"For all day long I\'ve been stricken and rebuked every morning.\" As you can see, Asaph now feels that all the laws he has kept was just in vain. Asaph thought he had a clean heart, but what God required was a pure heart. 00:11:13 A clean heart, he thought that if he had kept all the laws, that was enough, but what the Lord was saying was a pure heart, a truly dedicated heart to God, but he was not desiring that. And he was complaining just because of his clean heart, he has to be better. That\'s what happens when religion is just about rules. If you try to please God on your own effort, it can eventually become pointless. 00:11:39 Some people turn to religion just for prosperity or to have a better life morally or even materially. This leads one day to start comparing yourself against others. That\'s what the Pharisees did, and Jesus was really brutal and criticized them for that attitude. Comparison will make you good for a while, as long as you feel you\'re better than others. 00:12:05 But that there comes a time where you will see people who are better than you, and it will start to make you bitter, and it will start to dislike your faith. Your problems will start to seem bigger and everything you have done, it will seem useless. Why did I come to church all this time? Why was I doing things to God? That would be your question. I believe that was what was happening to Asaph and that I believe that empty religion is what brings envy in us and in also in Asaph. 00:12:37 Now, I like to highlight three main distortions with this envy by religion causes to us. The first is a wrong view of God. We see that in the life of Asaph, although he knew the true God, he confers that when envy came, his faith slipped and he turned aside. When envy takes root, it reduces God to the limits of our own understanding. We begin to shrink the nature of God and we start to adopt misconceptions about God. 00:13:12 We assume that God is a distant, non-emotional God, incapable of understanding our struggles. Sometimes we might be thinking God is not fully in control of this. If he was in control of this, he would have taken care of it. Sometimes doubting God will make you think God doesn\'t know anything about future. When you have these views, God will get smaller and you will start to handle things on your own. 00:13:41 And you should remember that because of our sinful nature, even with all our efforts, we can never please God. Second, envy also distorts how we see others. It makes us jealous. I was trying to see what\'s the biblical opposite of envy and actually it was interesting to see the opposite of envy. Can anyone guess what it is? Opposite of envy? Biblical opposite. So it is actually love. It was interesting to see the biblical opposite of envy is love. 00:14:17 I don\'t know what when he was talking about these people who are evil, I don\'t know whether it was his own people or the people surrounding him, but Asaph should have shown the love to those who are struggling. He should help them to see God, but he got envious of them. Envy also changes how we see ourselves. It can lead to self-pity or make us so much focused on our own abilities. And that\'s what we see in verses 13 and 14. 00:14:49 He\'s just focusing on himself and saying he\'s feeling really bad about it. Have you had this experience? If you had been living a religious life all this time and trying to please God on your own strength, probably this is what you\'re going through. But you can be in Christ, you might say you have accepted Christ, you are in Christ, but you have gone back to please God by the laws and not by really abiding in Christ. 00:15:19 Whatever your state is, if envy and jealousy is troubling you and you\'re seeking to seek answers for it today, the answer actually is in the next section. So the next thing is the transformation at the sanctuary. In verse 15 it says, \"If I had said I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand it, it seemed to me a wearisome task.\" Asaph was troubled by his condition. 00:15:50 You can live your whole life in envy and jealousy and never reach this point of being troubled by your state. But Asaph says, when I try to understand all this, it troubled him deeply. He was tired of a state. He wanted to understand deeply what is the difference between the covenant people and the other people and why he is like this. What made him think like this? What do you think would have changed him? Are you also fed up at this point of your envy and jealousy? 00:16:22 I think this was God bringing him to the breaking point. Struggling in our own minds can always lead to depression and rejecting God. If you\'re trying to process this on your own, that\'s what will happen. It will bring depression. But this godly sorrow will lead you to seek answers at the feet of God and that\'s what happened with Asaph. Asaph also understand that envy and jealousy not only affects him but also adversely affects the people around him. 00:16:56 His cynical attitude not only affects him but also causes the generations. In verse 15 it says, \"Betray the generations of your children.\" So it might affect the children. Generations around him will also be affected because of the envy. Our envy just doesn\'t stop with us. It also spreads around. It affects our children. My resentment towards my neighbors who are parking incorrectly will also, the words I say will affect my children. 00:17:25 How they view our neighbors will also be affected because of my envy. Envy also harms others. In envy, Cain killed Abel. The first murder took place. When I was young, I once failed to tell a friend about the study opportunity out of jealousy. I thought if he also has it, he was a better student than me so I thought this was a special opportunity I could grab and I didn\'t tell him. 00:17:54 And he missed the application deadline and he did not get the opportunity and I later heard that he emotionally broke down in front of his parents because he couldn\'t get to apply for this Until today, I really feel bad for it. I bear the weight of that guilt. Because of my envy, my friend got affected. Have you overcome this guilt? I was trying to see online what people are saying about envy and guilt. They say, \"Cut down your screen time. Practice gratitude. Focus on your path.\" 00:18:31 It might help in some circumstances, but my envious heart always stays the same. Where can we find the answer for envy and jealousy? And what Asaph says is it is found at the sanctuary of God. Verse 17 says, \"Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.\" It is this place where his perception of people and even himself changed. What is so special about the sanctuary? Asaph\'s experience in sanctuary is very different from probably the church building we are in today. 00:19:09 He did not have a welcome desk when he went in or a coffee table of people welcoming him. There was no musical shows. Sorry, Calvin. No sound systems or special lightings. They entered into the single gate leading to the courtyard. In the courtyard was a bronze altar. The Holy of Holies was inside. There was a courtyard around it, and there was a bronze altar, which was actually for the burnt offerings. It was where the animal sacrifices were made. He would have seen knives. 00:19:44 He would have smelled the blood. He would have seen the animals getting sacrificed, the blood all over that place on the altar. He knew the shedding of blood was not just a ritual. It was a reminder of God\'s justice as innocent animals suffered for the people\'s sins. There was a bronze water basin after that where the priests had to go and cleanse themselves to get into the holy place. The priests washed their hands and feet to avoid death. 00:20:16 Before going into the holy place, they had to wash their hands and feet. Asaph being Levite, probably he stopped there in this courtyard. In this place, the blood of the bulls were drained, were sprinkled and offered. Each part of the ritual probably reminded him the real cost of sin. Without the shedding of blood and cleaning in water, no one could enter this holy place. Asaph\'s transformation probably took place at these moments. 00:20:48 He realized the true cost of sin and saw that it required a blood sacrifice. Asaph also caught a glimpse of what would later happen on the cross, where justice and mercy came together. He may not have fully understood what Christ\'s atoning work was, but that glimpse was enough for him to change his perspective. 00:21:11 Just like Asaph, at the time when we are looking for answers and we want changes to happen, have we encountered our High Priest, Jesus Christ, who have made himself a sacrifice for our sins? It is only by looking at him and his finished work on the cross we can change. People often look at things for security that really cannot protect them, but the true safety is only found at Calvary. Because God is completely holy, he cannot ignore sin. His law must be fulfilled. 00:21:47 And at the cross, Jesus took our penalty, turning judgment into grace. And when we feel guilty, when we feel envy, the sanctuary gives us the lasting protection. In the end, crosses are true sanctuary where Christ welcomes everyone into the safety of forgiveness. It is this understanding that help us to see who God is and our perspective about others. Until we come to the sanctuary of the cross, everything will be based on our own understanding and knowledge. 00:22:26 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, \"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but for us who have been saved, it\'s the power of God.\" Logically, cross will not make sense to how God of the heaven and earth had to come for us and be sacrificed for our sins. But the cross is the place where the God\'s wrath, his judgment, love, and grace are seen at the same time. This is what changes our perspective. More of the cross becomes clearer to us, the more we can also have the transformation. 00:23:00 So you might ask, how can I grow in the understanding of the cross? By coming to the sanctuary. I think I covered this also in my previous sermon on the yoke. How can you really be transformed? God speaks through his word. So let the word reach your heart. Read it until it can transform you. Don\'t skip church since it is where God\'s word is shared. So give opportunity for God\'s word to speak in your heart so you can really understand what the cross is. 00:23:34 The third point, the transformation that drives away envy. So now what has happened is he has now transformed. He has seen the cross. He has seen who God is and what he is, and all his perspective starts changing. At the sanctuary and in the light of the glimpse of the cross, Asaph is now having an eternal perspective. We just read the catechism question today. What happens to the wicked on the day of the judgment? They are cast from the favorable presence of God. That\'s what happens. 00:24:10 He understood this. And verse 18, he says, \"Truly you set them in slippery places. You make them fall to ruin.\" \"How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors. They dream. When one awakes, O Lord, when you arose yourself, you despise them as phantoms.\" He sees godless people not as invincible anymore, but as those who are destined to fall someday. As Asaph now understands that everyone is condemned in God\'s presence. They all look good outside. 00:24:46 They may do really well, but they are already on the slippery ground because everyone is under God\'s wrath. In his famous sermon, \"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,\" Jonathan Edward mentions about Psalm 73 and here are some excerpts. Bear with me, I\'m going to read few of those. On Psalm 73:18, he says, \"It implies they were always exposed to sudden, unexpected destruction.\" He\'s talking about those people who are in slippery places. 00:25:17 \"As he walks in slippery places, in every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next. And when he does fall, his fall at once without warning.\" And then he goes on to say that, \"The reason why they have not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God\'s appointed time has not come. For it is said that when the due time or the appointed time comes, their foot shall slide.\" 00:25:48 And later he goes on to say in the sermon, \"They deserve to be cast into hell. They are already under the condemnation of hell. They are now objects of the very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed in the torments of hell.\" This is what Jonathan Edwards says. 00:26:10 And then he makes this very scary statement at the end of the people in the slippery slope that, \"God is holding you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over fire abhors you and is deadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like a fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire.\" This is what we are all in, and he was able to see it only when he came to the presence of God. 00:26:45 God reveals him to a bigger picture, a greater state we are in. A sin in us, which is condemning against us, and which we have to be punished. For Asaph, he and the godless people are now all in level playing field. He knows we are all condemned to go to hell because of the wrath of God is on us, whoever it is, unless God can save us through his shed blood and Asaph knew that. Actually, what happens is with this view, it also starts to change the view about himself. 00:27:23 Earlier he was saying he was feeling self-pity about himself. And now in verse 21 we see, \"When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant. I was like a beast towards you.\" Now he sees his own faults. Before he was focused on others and felt envious. But in the presence of God, he sees himself clearly. He realizes how wrong he was. That is what happens when you come to God. 00:27:53 You stop comparing yourself to others and see your true state in the light of God\'s holiness and justice. But he doesn\'t have to stay in this miserable state feeling just bad about himself. He knows he\'s the covenant child of God, and now he\'s in God\'s presence. So that\'s why he continues in verse 22. He says, \"Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold my right hand.\" In verse 24, he says, \"You guide me with your counsel, and afterwards you\'ll receive me to glory.\" 00:28:27 And probably it\'s a favorite verse for everyone. In verse 25, he says, \"Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth, nothing I desire besides you.\" He now understands God who chose him will also not leave him. God is the one who changed his heart. God is the one who convicted him of his sin, and he is the one who\'s going to help him see the truth. And God is the one who will guide him all the way to the end. A similar verse is seen in Paul, Philippians 1:6. 00:29:00 Paul says, \"I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.\" That\'s what Asaph believed in. His hope was now only in God. He was not looking at the people around him to feel envious. His eye has turned heavenward. All his desire is in God. Finally, he has the pure, devoted heart he really was seeking. He made that as a statement at the starting. We see he has a renewed perspective that God is the only hope in verse 25 and 26. 00:29:36 And in verse 27, it says, now Asaph knows people who are far away from God and looking to prosper have bigger problems because of God\'s wrath and anger. He gets it now. He exactly gets why people are doing good, but the wrath of God, which is bigger than everything, is upon these people all the time. In verse 28, he says he knows that the people will perish if they\'re not in God\'s refuge. 00:30:06 That is why he concludes that being near to God and being in his refuge, that is where he can see the real goodness of God. Have you seen that the wrath of God is upon all of us if you don\'t take refuge in him? This is the perspective which will really make you get away from envy and jealousy. It is by the mere grace of God we are all saved. Has this perspective come to you? If you\'re religiously trying to do on your own, I request you to stop today. 00:30:42 See that only in the presence of God you can change, and you will never ask this question: why are people who are following false God are doing better? You will never ask that question anymore. He will make you see that you are first worshiping a false god, a God of your own imagination, and not God of the Bible. God of the Bible needs complete surrender and seeing cross as your sanctuary. 00:31:07 If you\'re already in Christ and still struggling with envy and jealousy, today examine where you\'re depending on your own strength. Have you brought all your thoughts into captivity in Christ? 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, \"We destroy arguments, every lofty opinion against the knowledge of God, and take every thoughts captive to obey Christ.\" I want you to check what your thoughts are and have you taken it captive to Christ. This is a practical application I want you to take today. 00:31:40 Write down all your thoughts that causes jealousy and envy in your life. Try to examine them in the light of the cross and eternity. Cross will tell you that you are no better than others, and God\'s mercy only saves you. And when you have this perspective of eternity, it takes away envy from you because you know that if not for Christ, you\'re condemned in hell forever. Please meditate this week and really try to examine your hearts. God revealed to me last week when I was preparing. 00:32:18 He revealed to me in several areas of my life where envy and jealousy is ruling me. I could see how shallow my faith was in Christ in certain areas and how a Pharisee in me was ruling me. Hope this exercise will also help you to bring all your thoughts captive to Christ. The second takeaway is from verse 28, where the psalmist says, \"But for me, that I may tell of all your works.\" So what he says is, \"I may tell all your works.\" 00:32:52 He is now excited that he wants to actually tell about all God\'s works. He\'s literally doing that. He\'s writing this as a song. So I want you to take specific actions from this. First, it is okay to bring all your thoughts and struggles about your envy to God. Tell your struggles to God in your prayer. Be honest with your struggles when you\'re praying. In his presence, God will make things clearer to you. 00:33:21 I have been in several circumstances where I have felt our sins really driving me and really when you go to God, you will really see that God makes things clearer for you. Your whole perspective will change when you do that, when you bring it to God, all your envy and jealousy. Second, when you share your life with your kids, friends, and loved ones, be honest and true to tell how you feel about your jealousy and enviousness, your shortcomings, and how God\'s perspective has changed your life. 00:33:59 When your kids and friends see them, they will see your raw, honest perspective, and following Christ will become more genuine and real to them. Asaph expressed his genuine thoughts and changed, and that affected his generations. They served in the temple of the Lord for the next 600 years. When Asaph was true to what he really felt and when he was able to express it, it affected generations. Similarly, we can hope that our genuine sharing will impact the generation, our generations to come. 00:34:32 We are at the end of the sermon. I just really want to quickly recap of what we heard from this sermon. Relying on your own efforts and religion will always lead to envy. You might find yourself comparing to others and doubting God\'s giftedness when you see others succeed. However, when you come into God\'s presence and focus on the cross, our perspective changes. We will start to recognize our brokenness and the overwhelming power of his grace. 00:35:06 Seeing things from an eternal perspective will take away jealousy. Instead of focusing of what others have in this temporary world, we will find lasting hope and refuge only in Christ. I want to leave with this as the end. Keep this in mind. You can remember about envy, whatever I taught you today, but this is the most important thing. Jesus is the only one who was truly pure in heart. Jesus, through his death and resurrection, gives us the ultimate sanctuary. 00:35:47 Even when he faced God\'s anger against sin, his ultimate desire was still for his Father. Jesus is the only person who ever wanted nothing on earth more than God. Anything the Psalm says what was there, only Jesus was able to fulfill it. Jesus made God his refuge even in death. Now he stands in heaven, leading his church, telling all of God\'s work through his gospel. He is the one who is doing it. We just heard it last week. It is God\'s gospel. It is not our gospel. 00:36:23 Because Jesus lived a perfect life, God looks at what he had accomplished, and he doesn\'t look at our doubts, our envy. Jesus understands our pain because he has experienced it himself. He is also victorious, and we can rely on him rather than our own efforts. So the answer to envy is life in Christ and Christ alone.