I Almost Slipped

4. Be not conformed, but be transformed. Only the internal pressure of the Holy Spirit can keep out the pine beetles of the world from invading our souls and destroying us.

C. CARES & AFFAIRS

1. [They are] "always carefree, they increase in wealth" (12). These emblems of the affluent Society embitter those who have less.

2. Maintaining a level of affluence has become an obsession with millions of Americans, even believers. Affluence is now more important than Christianity to many.

D. BAD LIFE EXPERIENCES

1. "They are healthy... not plagued by human ills" (4-5). "Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure... wash my hands in innocence." "I have been plagued and punished" (14).

2. Many tragic experiences, like an untimely and unexpected death in the family, inability to conceive, persecution, spouse divorcing, long-term loss of employment, or long-term illness can make people question God's reality or if He does exist, why He doesn't care about them.

3. ILLUSTRATION

a. A man was a janitor at St Peter's Church in London. One day the man’s employer discovered that the janitor was illiterate and fired him.

b. Jobless, the man invested his meager savings in a tiny tobacco shop, where he prospered, bought another, expanded, and ended up with a chain of tobacco stores worth several hundred thousand dollars.

c. One day the man's banker said, "You've done well for an illiterate, but where would you be if you could read and write?"

d. "I'd be janitor of St. Peter's Church in Neville Square." Somerset Maugham, Bits and Pieces, June 24, 1993, p. 23

4. Asaph experienced this. He was "plagued." “Never attempt to bear more than one kind of trouble at once. Some people bear three kinds--all they’ve had in their past, all they have now and all they expect to have.” Edward E. Hale

E. OFFENSES BY CHURCH MEMBERS

1. "They lay claim to heaven... They say, "How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?" (9, 11).

2. Evidently Asaph was seeing people who claimed to have a relationship with God but were really scandalous in their values & morals.

3. This created an "offense," a stumbling block. Many times believers are hurt or betrayed by other believers. They are wounded and think, "If this is how Christians are, I don't want to be around Christians anymore."

4. But Christians are just people too. They backslide, they get worldly, they fall back into old fleshly patterns from time to time.

5. They don't follow through on being conformed to the image of Christ. They have parts of their old fallen nature that still have a foothold.

6. We can't get our eyes on people, but must keep them on Jesus. He's the perfect standard. Others WILL fail us, but not Jesus!

7. The N.T. churches were full of people making mistakes. At Corinth there were divisions, Christians suing each other, getting drunk, being selfish, etc. etc. -- yet it was still God's church!

II. SOLUTION: RESTORED VISION & PRIORITY

A. VISION RESTORED (16-20)

1. TEXT: 16 When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. 18 Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. 19 How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!