Psalm 73: 1-14

“Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish.

They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, ‘How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?’ Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning.”

This Psalm was written by Asaph, one of the chief musicians for King David. He wrote Psalm 73-83. In this Psalm, he recounts for us his observations of the wicked and their lives here on Earth. So, back in David’s day, about 1,000 years before Jesus walked on Earth, Asaph was able to observe that life Is not fair. This is a mantra we often hear from teenagers and the like about life. But if we adults, and yes, we Christian adults, were to be honest, we too often cry out to the Lord that life is not fair.

Asaph lays out his case, and he tells us in verse 1 that his ‘feet almost stumbled’; when he observed that life is not fair, it almost caused him to question why he served the Lord. Why would he obey and submit to the word and ways of God if the wicked seemed to prosper? This can happen to us as well, and sadly, it has happened to too many Christians along the way. Life, yes, even the Christian life, is not fair. God never promised it would be, and neither can anyone else. The only part in this life that we can be guaranteed of is the very first statement that Asaph makes: God is good to the pure in heart.

Asaph saw how rich the wicked are; he saw that even their deaths were peaceful, they had lots of food, they did not seem to have the worries like other men, and had more than one could even dream of having. Today, our world is not much different. We see that many evil people have become very wealthy. They have so much money that they, their children, and maybe even their children’s children will be rich without any worries. Some people have so much money that they have to invent ways to invest it, give it away, and use it. Now we would be okay if ‘good’ people had these kinds of riches, I think. But when we see evil people getting ‘filthy rich,’ it eats at us.

I recall a documentary about Pablo Escobar, and the commentator mentioned that at the height of his drug trading, he was making more money per day than General Electric, which was the largest multination corporation in the world.

There is the movie “American Made” with Tom Cruise that portrays the life of Barry Seal, a pilot who ended up working for the cartels and the US DEA at the same time; he made so much money, he ran out of land to bury the cash. These are just two of the names, but there are hundreds we can mention who had more money than most of us could dream of, and yet, they were evil persons. Many of them died a horrible death, and in the case of Escobar, he spent a lot of his life being hunted by various governments in the world.

Asaph also observed that these folks seemed to have an arrogance about them. They defied God and almost dared God to judge them. But it would appear that they could go on and on, abated in their evil. Why? Where was God? Did He not see? Why would He allow these arrogant people to live? They just seemed to get richer and richer, their lives easier and easier, and it is NOT fair.

Asaph and many, even I, have looked around us at the prosperity of evil men and wondered why. Why do we try to live godly lives? Why not just do a bit of evil, not too much evil, just a bit, and get some wealth. Think of all we can do with money. We can give more to missions, help repair the church building, make life easier for my family, and on and on.

Asaph goes on to tell us that he went to the sanctuary of God, the Tabernacle (remember, Solomon built the Temple), and there he was able to see their end. God is not blind; rather, he is gracious. God is not indifferent; rather, he is merciful even to evil men. God is just, and one day, sooner than they think, this life will come to an end, and then they will have an eternity of torment to endure because they defied the God of Heaven.

God is not fair; He is just. So, don’t get discouraged when evil men prosper; don’t get down when evil men seem to have a better life here; their kids eat and live well; they never lack or have to penny pinch. Without Jesus as their Savior, their riches mean nothing, and their eternity is going to be Hell.

Look at Psalm 73:18-20, “Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.”

Asaph repented of his shortsightedness. He understood that he was thinking as a mere human and not as a redeemed human. We have all we need in Jesus for this life. And, while we may not be rich in man’s terms, we have more than we need and certainly more than we deserve.

In verses 23-24, Asaph rejoiced that God knew him, that God guided him, and that one-day God will bring him to glory. These are true, eternal riches that no one, no government, and not even death can take from us. Life is not fair; thank God!! One day we will get to meet Asaph and maybe even chat about his Psalms.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

1 Timothy 4: 1-2

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.”

As many of you know, the Pope died this last week. The world is awash with Catholicism as the Pope lies in state awaiting his interment. Not too long ago, over Christmas at my in-laws’ home, I was put in the place to explain salvation to a predominantly Catholic family. They admit that Jesus is God, they are sorry for their sins, they believe in the resurrection, and yet so many are lost. The ‘beliefs’ are crowded out by idolatry, the rosary, the Eucharist, child baptism,’ revering a man as God, allowing the ‘church’ to alter and at times hide the Word of God from the people… I could go on, but you know the truth if you are an oft reader of this website and the work that is offered.

Yesterday, I was at a men’s fellowship with the men in the church I pastor. We were at Tim Horton’s, a popular coffee chain here in Canada. We had a devotion and were chatting when a man, Mike, came in and began to hand out very obvious Catholic tracts and artifacts. One of the men pointed out that I was a pastor, and Mike launched into his story.

He told me that he had met Jesus face to face when he was sixteen. He had died, and when he was dead, he was in a place where Jesus was, and Satan as well. He submitted to Jesus, and he revived and has been serving the Lord ever since. I asked him if he had confessed his sins and trusted Jesus as his Savior, and he said yes. But then he began to account that he prays the rosary many times per day, he knew that Mary prayed for him daily, and in one truly riveting story, told me that he had rented a movie about the Shrine of Fatima, a Catholic shrine in Portugal and that when he had tried multiple times to turn the movie off, it would not turn off, and so he watched it twice. He was convinced, as are many Catholics, that Mary was and is sinless and that she ascended just like Jesus.

This where I jumped in and began to speak. One of my brothers later remarked that I had remained calm even as he got more and more agitated. I asked him if Mary could have died for his sins and he said ‘no.’ Only Jesus could. I began then to ask simply what verse could he show me that states that Mary was sinless? We have many verses that either state or infer that Jesus is sinless. Of course, he could not, using that the angel had addressed her as ‘blessed.’ This is the same word used in ‘The Beatitudes’; it simply means spiritually happy. A joy that is out of this world.

Mary, that was, should have been spiritually overjoyed because God had chosen her to bring his only begotten Son into the world. If Mary was sinless as they claim, then she could have been our substitutionary sacrifice on the cross. As well, so could have been her father, and his father, and so on, as the father has to be sinless so as to pass on sinlessness to the child. Thus, ALL of Mary’s siblings from the same father would have been sinless.

You see, the Bible is a consistent book all the way through. The only way for a child to be sinless is for the father to be sinless. Jesus is sinless because His Father is Sinless, NOT his mother. In Romans 5:12-18, we are told about the sin nature and Adam.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

“(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”

If Mary were sinless, she could have been a sacrifice for sins, and Jesus would not be the ONLY way. And this is how the idolatry creeps into the Catholic doctrine.

Again, Mike talked about Mary praying for him, and I asked him to point out the scripture that states that she does; he could not. He mentioned many other things, and all I kept asking was, “Please point out the scripture that supports that belief.” He had none; not one. This was the same kind of encounter that Jesus had with the religious sects of His day: they looked and sounded pious, they believed in Yahweh, and some of them were even looking for the Messiah, but they had so polluted the true scriptures that they were blind to the Messiah standing within their midst.

Sadly, there are countless Mikes out there. They have had a spiritual experience and think they met Jesus, but they don’t know Him. Once you try to introduce them to the real Jesus, they cannot get their heads around Him. They can’t find any scriptures to align with what they experienced and what they saw; but what they saw changed their lives, and they are so hard to talk to. What they felt overrides what the Bible says, and they are caught in darkness. There are millions like this and not just in Catholicism; many Baptists grew up in church, teach Sunday school, and on and on, but they have never come to know Jesus as their Messiah.

Jesus is the only way! If you have Jesus, you have all, and if not, you have nothing.

Peter warns us to be sure in 2 Peter 1:10-19:

“Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario