In Psalm 73, Asaph is mad at God. He’s been living right, but everything is going wrong. Yet all kinds of abusive people are having great lives. Life seems unjust. Asaph’s just about to chuck his faith. Yet at the end, he’s able to say in his pain, “God is always good.”

I’ll tell you, if you’re trying to live a decent life, this is going to happen to you. At some point, you’re going to say, “God, why are you letting this happen? You’re not running my life right. You’re not running history right.” It’s going to happen. How will you handle it?

How does Asaph do it? He goes through a number of steps: 1) he grabbed hold of a negative, 2) he entered the sanctuary for understanding, 3) he saw the big picture, and 4) he asked the ultimate question.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 28, 1993. Series: Modern Problems; Ancient Solutions. Scripture: Psalm 73.

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A lot of people are mad at God. People who believe. People who don’t believe. And people who don’t know what they believe. And in Psalm 73, we see Asaph get mad at the way God seems to be mishandling the world.

Asaph has been living a self-controlled, compassionate life, but everything is going wrong. On top of that, he sees all sorts of people who live abusive, immoral lives, and they’re having a great life. Yet we’re told that Asaph finally comes to the conclusion that God, in spite of it all, is good.

How does he get there? We’re going to look at this psalm over two weeks. This week I want to show you 1) the situation he was in, 2) how he escaped it, and 3) how he finally came to say, “God is good, no matter what happens to me.”

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 21, 1993. Series: Modern Problems; Ancient Solutions. Scripture: Psalm 73.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Jesus’ teaching about money here is triggered by an event: a Pharisee gets upset that Jesus didn’t wash his hands before he ate his food.

The ceremonial washings of the Old Testament were visual aids for the idea that you need to approach God with a clean heart. But the Pharisees had turned religion into a matter of externalities. Jesus slams that whole idea. He refuses to emphasize the external over the internal, but he also refuses to pit the external against the internal. Instead, Jesus says true religion is living externally out of an inner reality.

Jesus applies this to the issue of financial giving, teaching us three things about our attitude toward our possessions and our giving: 1) there’s an external aspect, 2) there’s an internal aspect, and 3) there’s a spiritual motor that energizes and drives both.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 14, 1993. Series: Modern Problems; Ancient Solutions. Scripture: Luke 11:37-42.

Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.