The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly

The Two Ways in Psalm 1

I'd like to speak this morning on the way of the righteous and the end of the ungodly. The way of the righteous and the end of the ungodly. To study the Word of God together is such a joy and delight.

So you know where I'm going to go on this, so please turn with me in the Word of God, God's living Word, the Holy Scriptures, to Psalm 1. What a wonderful Psalm. Verses 1 -6, Psalm 1 verses 1 -6, it is quite clear that the psalmist here in Psalm 1 places all men into two categories, into two groups, none other.

There's a striking contrast between the blessed man and the blinded man. The world would have us to believe that this is a narrow and a harsh doctrine, and it surely cannot correspond to many shades of moral character which we find in the world.

But if we look very carefully into the Word of God and consider this by the absolute truth of God's infallible inspired Word, it proves that it does correspond to the facts, for if a person does not yield to God's Word as his supreme aim, and mark this down, and God's Word as his absolute law, God's will as his one desire and his absolute law, or he or she will give allegiance to something else as his supreme aim.

Mark that down. We are becoming what we love. Something else as his absolute law, something else as one's desire will become what that person loves. So Psalm chapter 1 is a black and white set of standards.

It sets the record straight, beloved, that there are only two kinds of people in this world. There's the righteous, which is the godly man, and the unrighteous, which is the wicked, the ungodly man. You're in Christ or you're not.

No exceptions. There's no gray area. Everyone in this world is either in Christ or outside of Christ. Either they're godly or wicked. Either they're in darkness or they're in light. It's one or the other.

Isn't it wonderful about the Scriptures? There's no gray areas. We may try to gray it, but God is always black and white. It's always the same. It never will change. These are six verses, beloved. Six verses that is absolutely packed, and I pray I've got enough time to pack this in.

My wife says, talk as fast as you can. So I'm going to do what I can and take some wise counsel. So just pack this in. Yes, she helps me in many ways. She said, get in there. Start with a bang.

I said, I'm trying.

So right before us, the way of the righteous and the end of the ungodly. Six verses, strikingly powerful. Hear the word of the living God. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.

Nor stands in the path of sinners. Nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

That brings forth its fruit in its season. Whose leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so. For like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous. But the way of the ungodly shall perish. May God bless the reading of His word to our hearts this morning.

Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Your holy word. It's quick, it's powerful, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. We thank You for Your great grace. We thank You for Your great love.

And Your great compassion that You have shown to us through Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Gave His life for a ransom. Who died, was buried, and rose again for the salvation of His people. Spirit of the living God, oh blessed Holy Spirit.

We depend upon You now. Breathe upon us. Breathe upon each and every one of us. Anoint each and every one of us. Because Father, it's just not about this preacher that's ministering the word. It's about each and every one of us receiving it.

And Father, as I speak, speak to all of us. Because it's not me really that's speaking. And it is Your word, through Your Spirit, that speaks to our hearts. So, my words will perish. Your words are enduring forever.

They are everlasting. They shall endure forever and ever. So Father, as I preach, as we hear. I would pray, open our eyes, open our ears to hear Your holy word. I would pray, Father, that we would apply this great truth to our hearts today.

In a very specific way. Father, I ask this in Jesus' precious holy name. John MacArthur said this. The wisdom psalm of chapter 1, here, basically functions as an introduction to the entire book of Psalms.

It's theme is as big as the whole Bible. Because it tells of the people, paths, and ultimate destinations. By two cycles of contrast, Psalm 1 separates all people into their respective spiritual categories.

End quote. And how true that is.

It's big.

This is the psalm that sets the pace for all other psalms. All 150 psalms. If you don't get this psalm, you're not going to understand the rest. There's several questions I'd like to set before you. And we're going to try my best to answer these questions.

Psalm 1, first of all, let me say this before I go to the questions. Psalm 1, what it does, this psalm teaches us about the will of God. It teaches God's will about His people. And one of the questions is, what does this psalm teach about the pattern of godly living?

It gives us a pattern. So what does it teach? And it answers this. To summarize it, let me say this. When we study the psalms, we realize in truth that they are Holy Spirit inspired. Reflections.

God breathed.

And convictions of the believer that's in Jesus Christ. Right here we have this. And even more specifically, we realize by God's grace, by His favor that's given unto us, nothing of ourselves. Through the Spirit of God Himself, that many of the psalms are asking this all important question.

And what question is this? It's this question I set before you. And this is going to set the pace of everything else I have to say. Because I am already loved. Because I'm already treasured. And adopted by God as His child, how shall I now live?

R .C. Sproul wrote a book, How Shall We Then Live? It's a great series. And I believe he got that from the late Francis Schaeffer. He did a whole series on that, which is awesome. If you've never seen it, you need to see it.

It's very comprehensive. It's in detail about how to live in this world. And stay unspotted from it. We need this. We need this. And another question is, what is the good and righteous way? What is the good and righteous way that God has designed for His people?

God has designed a way for His people that is good. That will be prosperous and have good success. But as God's people, there are conditions that we must live by. And God gives those conditions. There are choices we do make.

Sanctification is a choice every day that we make. Our choices assure you of that. Deuteronomy 10, verses 12 and 13. Hear God's word from Deuteronomy.

I love Deuteronomy.

It's so packed. And now, Israel, God says, What does the Lord your God require of you?

Hear that.

What does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God. And to walk in His ways. And to love Him. To serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Verse 13 says, And to keep the commandments.

There's obedience right there. To keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes, which I command you today for your good. For our good. And you know, it makes you think, the prophet Micah must have been reflecting from Deuteronomy here.

Because as Moses, through the Spirit of God, asked the question, What does the Lord your God require you? Micah asked the same question in 5 .8. He has shown you, O man, we are without excuse. He has shown you, O man, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justly. To love mercy. To walk humbly with your God in question. You see that? God desires good in our lives. The enemy of our souls, the world, the flesh, and the devil, would blind people to deceive them to think that God, and it's the same strategy that Satan's always used, has God's said.

God is holding something good from you. But God is the good. You see. But the enemy would want to think the way of the cross is terrible. You can't endure it. But I assure you, the way of the cross is the way of true happiness and true blessing.

And there's no other way. The enemy of our soul would think, Oh, take the course of the world. Live your best life now. Take the happiness that the world offers. Forget about that hard path. But as Brother Key said earlier, the way of the transgressor is hard.

The transgressor. So the enemy has not changed his strategies. He still lies. And he sets the trap to deception. And like a rat going to a piece of cheese and a bait, takes a man. And they believe it.

They believe the lies. And they do not believe God's Word. Same strategy. His ways have never changed. But to go back to the question, God desires good in our lives. And He is very specific about this.

He has shown you. He has shown you. We are without excuse.

Because we have His Word.

And by giving His Word, and that's why it's so important to know His Word. He has given us His promises. He has given us His blessings. He has given us His revelation. What He has revealed to us. God Almighty has come to us through His Word and no other, by the way.

There's no other revelations that's going to come outside of this book. So if somebody is going to come up and say, I've got a word of the Lord to tell you. If it's not chapter and verse, don't tell me.

Because there is no other great word from God that is not from Genesis to Revelation. So no, I do not believe in extra revelation. So people say today, God's given me a word. It must be chapter and verse, beloved.

If it's not chapter and verse, I don't want to hear it.

It's God's Word.

So that's why we must know God's Word. Hide it in our heart. Treasure it in our heart. All in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the Word. We have the written Word and He's the living Word. All in the person of Christ.

What does He require of you? And He answers it in this psalm. But to do justly, this is what Micah says, that's obedience to His Word. To love mercy, He tells us what to love. To love mercy. He tells us how to walk.

To walk humbly. With who?

With God.

With God. The triune God. The Father, the Son, the Spirit. So Psalm 1 basically is telling us as God's holy called out people, that's what the church is, called out from the world, placed back in the world, in an evil world, and Jesus prays even for His apostles, and for us, and for His believers, and His people.

Lord, keep them from the evil one. Keep them, James says, from being unspotted from the world. Because it can so contaminate you and deceive you and pull you in. And by the way, the pull is strong. It's come to our household.

It's come to our household. And it hurts. But I'm here to tell you, God's greater. God's more powerful. But see, right here, right away, the psalmist is reflecting on how, on the concept of blessing, on how to delight.

That's the blessings. And we're going to look at that word delight. On verse 1, it begins with a blessing. Blessed is the man. And do you notice how you're drawn in right away?

Blessed.

Blessed.

Blessed. Let's look at it. Blessed is the man. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. I'll stop right there.

Blessed. You're drawn in. We're drawn in. Blessed means happy. Extremely happy. A deep-seated joy, by the way. A contentment in God himself. That's what true happiness from God is. It's not this false happiness that the world offers.

I'll tell you a story real quick before I go any further about this word blessed. I met with this young man that supposedly likes my daughter, Abby. Abby said he takes his faith very seriously. I said, okay, we'll see about it.

I met with him at Barnes Noble Friday evening. Face-to-face. Right off the cuff, I asked him, you say you're a Christian, right? Oh, yes, sir. I'm a Christian. I said, define Christianity to me. Tell me what it means to be a Christian.

He answered, I follow Jesus. I said, okay, I can go for that. I said, define that. So you have to kind of narrow it down. Because people, when they think of... They can know the language. They can know the language.

You see what I'm saying? They're repeating something they've heard. We've got to get to the heart here. Define what it means to follow Jesus. Not one thing about self-denial. Not one thing about taking up your cross.

Not one thing. That I may be a better person. That was his answer. A better person to help this world. I said, oh, really? Yep, there you go. Works. And it led me to the next question I had. Tell me what would...

If you were to die right now and stand before almighty, holy God, you tell me what qualifications that God will allow you into his kingdom, into his heaven, into his holy city. You tell me, why would God let you in heaven?

You know what his first answer was? I've done good things. He told me right there, folks, he's lost. He's blind. Because everybody in here knows, if you know you come through the way of the cross, it is not by our good works.

It is by grace alone. Not of good works, lest any man should boast. I even told him, I said, let me just sit before you, young man. I said, let's just say salvation is 99%, and I've got 1 in it. 1 of your good works, my good works.

I would have something of that 1 before heaven to say, God, I've got a little part in this. And I told him, I said, young man, salvation is 100 of God's grace. Now, good works does follow. I made myself clear of that.

We are created for good works.

For his workmanship. But I said, the good works does not get you into heaven. It's all of God's favor alone, salvation alone. Then I went to Nicodemus. And then I went to born again. And what does regeneration mean?

I just kept throwing these where he didn't know. And folks, and then I asked him, I said, do you ever read the Bible? Can you quote to me John 3 .16? Sisters, brothers, you know what he told me? He could not quote John 3 .16.

I said, if you are a child of God, this is your love. This is your delight. This is your treasure. If you have a regenerated heart, you love this book. You love his word. Because you love the God of the word.

He speaks to you through this word.

It got me pretty riled up.

And then I went to other serious questions. It was a two-hour conversation. And I ended up telling him straight up to back away and get away from my daughter. And of course, he said, I disagree with you, sir.

He looked me right in the eye like he was challenging me. And I said, I want you to know, I'm Abby's father and her shepherd. I cannot decide for herself. And I said, but I assure you, she will be won back by God's love and grace.

And I told her, I said, and she will be saved from the wolf I'm looking at right now. Because I'm looking right at a wolf. And I said, you're part of telling her, you telling her the lies. But it's her heart that I'm concerned about too.

So mainly. But I thank God. And the reason I'm saying this because it ties right in what I'm saying. I thank God that I had the opportunity.

To witness to.

Now, if the seed germinates, I don't know, it's in God.

God, the results is in God's hands. I'm just a delivery boy. I say, here's God's word.

Here's God's truth. I'm not giving it. I'm not compromising it. Here it is. But you notice in Psalm 1, it's black and white. People, we tend to gray it up. Everybody, we want to gray it up. We want to soften it up.

But it's not soft. The way of the cross is hard, but it leads home. It's the way of prosperity in God's term of prosperity. We're not talking about just financial, worldly prosperity. We're talking about God's prosperity.

God's riches. So right away, the psalmist is reflecting in the concept of the blessing. How to delight. How he begins. He begins with the blessing. Blessed is the man. Do you not notice how we are drawn in?

Do you desire blessing in your life? Of course we want blessing. This precious lady every day, we always ask when I go to these schools, how are you today? And if I say I'm good, I'm in trouble. She said, you didn't say the right answer.

I said, what's the right answer? I'm blessed and highly favored of God, right?

Okay.

But I told her one day, I said, I don't serve God for the blessing. But I am blessed. And I tell you why I'm blessed, because he's the blessed one. Because outside of myself, there is no blessing.

Jesus is the blessing.

So I don't serve God for blessings. But there is a blessing. It means happy. It's a deep-seated joy. The Hebrew word for blessed, here it means in the richest, most fullest sense of happiness. A rooted, moral, mental, physical, spiritual well-being of the whole person.

It's deep.

That conduct is to be manifested. It is a blessed, is the man. So then, who is this happy person, this blessed person, who is the blessed person that the psalmist is talking about?

Who is it?

Well, apparently this person is the one who does not do something.

Okay?

And it also is the one who does something. There's something he does not do, and there's something he does. So there is a choice here that's set before us. That's the way of the righteous. And then we're going to be looking at the end of the ungodly.

But the blessed person, by the way, is the righteous. Notice what the Scripture says. He is the righteous man. He is the righteous woman. It is the way of the righteous. And it's not only the way of the righteous, the path that's set, but he is righteous because of Christ.

Now, notice some words that's very key here. It's he who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. The ungodly. So we have set before us the godly and the ungodly. I thank Brother Keith for this. He sent me this this morning.

He wrote it down. Spurgeon's definition of the godly. He gives the definition first of the godly. To be godly, them to come at once to the mark, to be godly is to have a constant eye to God. To recognize Him in all things, to trust Him.

You notice how he said, it's eye to God. It's God alone. Him in all things, to trust Him, to love Him, to serve Him. And then he defines the ungodly. And the ungodly man is one who does not have an eye to God.

That is the key.

Right.

The eye to God. A single eye to God. In his daily business. And who lives in this world as if there were no God. End quote. Thank you Keith for that definition. He sent that right away this morning. So I gotta use that.

It's a good definition. It's a very good definition. But notice there's a pattern here about walking. Blessed is the man who, what?

Walks.

That's his conduct. This is our everyday living. Every one of us walks, don't we? Everyday. We conduct ourselves. But notice he does not walk. I'm sorry. He walks not in the council of the ungodly. The ungodly is the wicked.

Some translations actually says wicked. So in the council of the wicked, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Remember how the psalmist speaks to us about the triple triplets here.

Notice these words. It's called the triple triplets. Walking, standing, sitting. Walking, standing, sitting. We're gonna look at that. Then there's the council. The way, the seat. Notice thirdly, ungodly, sinners, scornful.

That's the triple triplets. The walking, the standing, the sitting. The council, the way, the seat. The ungodly, the sinners, the scornful. So the council of the ungodly speaks of evil principles. The way of the sinners speaks of evil practices.

The seat of the scornful speaks of evil partnerships. Now, turn with me very quickly to Proverbs chapter 4. And it kind of goes into detail about this.

Amen.

Brother Keith knows where I'm going with this. Chapter 4 verse 14 is very clear. And I'm gonna read 14 through 19. Let the Word of God speak. Notice what it says. All the way to verse 19. Do not enter the path of the wicked.

That's a warning right there. Do not walk in the way of evil. Notice he speaks of walk. Notice again another warning.

Avoid it.

Do not travel on it. That's the way of the world, beloved. Turn away from it and pass on. For they do not sleep unless they have done evil. And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.

For they eat the bread of wickedness and they drink the wine of violence. But the path, he's talking about the path. The path of the just. The just is like the shining sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.

The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. Very clear. There you have it. That's the path. That's the walking. And notice the warnings. The warnings. The warnings to heed and to obey.

Walking, standing, sitting. So, from this definition there is a downward progression. You notice that? First it's walking, standing, sitting. Downward progression. Those things, those are the things that the righteous does not do.

The warnings that we are to heed. To obey God and to stay away from. But what does the righteous do? This, beloved, is the way of the righteous. There is a way he does not. He does not walk, nor stand, nor sit.

But notice the transition in verse 2. Back to Psalm 1. Verse 2. But, there it is. That's the transition word. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law he meditates. He contemplates. He ponders.

Day and night. That's a regenerate heart, beloved. That's the heart that longs after God. That's the heart that longs after holiness. That's the heart that loves righteousness and hates sin. But, his delight.

A strong word here, beloved, in the Hebrew. In the Hebrew, it actually means. In the original Hebrew, it means pleasure. Desire. A valuable thing. Also, it could mean purpose. But his delight, his pleasure, his desire.

What he, she, or values most is in what? The law of the Lord. That's why I told this young man. If you don't love this book, then you don't love the God of this book. I said, the only way you can even come to salvation is by this book.

We are born, again, from the incorruptible word of God. What else does it say? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It's not the word of a preacher. It's not any old word. I said, it's God's word.

So, believe me, by those two hours as it ended, he heard a lot of scripture. I jumped from John 3 and I went to Ephesians 2. And I went all over the scriptures. And then I handed him ultimate questions and I said, read it.

Now, if he does, I don't know. I doubt it. But, I don't need to doubt it, do I?

But, if he does it, he heard the word of God verbally.

His delight, his pleasure, his desire is in the word of God. In his law, in God's law. He meditates day and night. In other words, instead of finding pleasure in words or ways, a fellowship of the wicked, the one who he truly is blessed is finds pleasure in meditating and pondering in the word of God.

He loves to meditate. You love to meditate. I don't know about you. When I'm in trouble, no matter what my circumstances, what I'm going through, I run to the word of God. God has the answer for me. I may not like the answer, because his ways are not my ways.

Right?

But, he knows exactly what I need. He shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Why? Because he is my shepherd. He's all I want.

Right?

So, in his law, he meditates on it, what? Just in the morning?

No.

Just now and then?

No.

Day and night. Day and night. You love the word of God. In other words, instead of finding all the pleasures in the words, words and ways, and fellowship with the wicked, he finds himself loving and delighting and pondering and thinking in the word of God, the Torah, the word of God.

God's ways are better. So, in essence, the point of verse 2 then is to say that when you, the believer, experiences the word of God like that, it's so delightful, so satisfying. Nothing else really satisfies but God's word and God himself.

No one will give me delight like God. The world cannot touch it. That actually captures our mind. That's what we need to do. We need to renew our mind day by day by the word of God. Your heart, day and night, it weans us away from the counsel of the path of the pattern of the world and the wicked.

So when the sinners entice thee, as Scripture says, consent thou not, God commands it. There's warnings, there's promises, all in God's word. Listen to Psalm 119, 14 through 16. Psalm 119, 14 through 16.

You can go there if you like, but it's wonderful. I love Psalm 119. I wish I had time to go all the way through it, but you're looking at quite some time. It's comprehensive and it spans a great deal of the word of God, a commentary on the word.

What does he say? I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies. Notice what he rejoices in. He rejoices, he takes great delight and pleasure in the way of your testimonies. And as much and as all riches.

That's how much he loves it. Verse 15. I will, notice how he's determined to do this. He makes a choice. I will meditate, I will ponder. Remember a preacher one time gave a simple definition and illustration of what it means to meditate.

He says, if you like steak, I know some people here that love steak and ribs, and we had last week. Let's make it real. And I tell you, that sister can make some ribs. You love it. Matter of fact, if the bone was made of ribs, I would have eaten the bone.

But let me say this. The word meditate means it's like taking a big, fat, juicy steak, and I just don't take that steak and I just swallow it whole. I sit there and I chew on it and I take the flavor and I take the juice and I take everything that's in it and I chew it and I chew it.

Folks, that's the way we need to do God's Word. We chew on it and we chew on it and we take the flavor and we take the goodness and the smell of it and all that's good and then we devour it. We devour the Word of God.

Now if that's so for our physical body, how much more our spirit being. That's what we're made of. As much as in all the riches, I will meditate on your precepts. I will ponder and I will chew your Word up on your precepts.

And then he says this, and contemplate your ways. Contemplation. You know, you hear this word from the New Agers today. Meditation. Contemplation. But you know what they focus their meditation and contemplation on?

My inner self.

What?

I want to do that and there's nothing good in here. See, they don't know depravity, do they? They don't know that there's sin to come short of the glory of God. That's what I told this young man. I said, you are scum, buddy.

You're nothing like I'm nothing. You're depraved and you come short of the glory of God. Don't tell me about your goodness. I said, your goodness is filthy rags to God. I said, the only goodness is God's goodness and Jesus Christ.

I will contemplate your ways. All God's ways I will look at deeply, contemplate, meditate. And then verse 16, I will delight. There's that word. I will delight. Notice all the wills. He says, I made a choice.

I'm going to do this. I'm resolved. That's what he's saying. I'm resolved to meditate on your precepts. I'm going to contemplate on your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.

Branded in my mind. I need it. Oh my goodness. I will. I've resolved. Very similar language given to David. By David in Psalm 19. He speaks about this. You can jump to Psalm 19. By the way, Psalm 19 is a short commentary on Psalm 119.

It just packs it up. And notice in Psalm 19, you can go there if you like. Wonderful, wonderful chapter. The word of God is all sufficient, right? In other words, it has the power to do everything it says to do.

Special revelation, verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect. It's perfect. God's law, God's Torah. It converts, converting the soul.

That's what it does.

It has the power to convert the soul. Can we do that? No, sir. We can't even touch it. But the spirit of the living God can through his word. Notice what he says. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

Verse 8. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Verse 9. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

And then what does he say? Verse 10. More, more to be desired. It's his ultimate desire. It's his ultimate love. Are they then gold? Yes.

Yay.

Then much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. And notice what he says in verse 11. Moreover, by them your servant is warned. See, it gives discernment. It warns us. And in keeping them, obeying them, that's the same word, keeping them there is great reward.

Don't listen to the devil, right? If he's offering you something else the world offers you, there's great reward in obeying God's Word. I know it's hard and it's difficult and there's suffering that comes with it and there's heartache that comes with it, but I'm here to tell you there's a great reward waiting on the other end.

It may not be in this life all the time, but I'm here to tell you there's a great reward on the other end. That's the eternal heavens. It's not only heaven that God has for you. It's eternal life.

It's Jesus.

It's all the riches forever and ever that will not fade away. It's ours in Jesus. And ours for the taking, beloved, in faith. So back to verse 2 in Psalm 1. It teaches us those who are blessed by God not only turn from evil, but also build their lives on and around the words of God alone.

There's no other foundation. It is the sure foundation. God's holy, called-out people seek to obey God's will out of hearts that genuinely take pleasure and delight in God's ways and commands. Yet, yet, with the wicked, it's not so.