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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. 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.
So, in his law, he meditates on it, what? Just in the morning?
No.
Just now and then?
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.
It's the opposite. There's darkness, but there's light. That's why the Bible says you're children of light. You're not the children of darkness. You're not in dark. You notice darkness? In darkness, absolute darkness, you don't know where you're going.
You don't see the path ahead of you. I'm watching, I'm looking right now at those windows. There's sunshine out there, and there's daylight, and I see a tree out there, and I can see, I can see, and I see you.
And that's what God does. D .L. Moody says when he was born again, it was like he walked outside and he saw the sun in a different light. He says it's almost like everything took on different meaning.
In other words, his eyes was opened spiritually. 2 Thessalonians 2 .10 says, and with all the unrighteous, listen to this, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Verse 11, for this reason God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. God, in other words, it's a judgment, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Now I'd like to tie that in with Romans 1. Beloved, we are living in Romans 1. We are there. And I just want to read just a few verses from Romans 1 to tie this in because that's what it's talking about, about the wicked.
This is a comprehensive definition from God's Word, from the Apostle Paul, of the wicked, the state of the wicked. Notice in verse... I just want to pull out a few verses.
Let's look at...
Let me back up. Verse 21, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became fruitful. And their foolish hearts were darkened. Notice it's a darkened heart.
Their thought life is unpure. It's vain. Their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
Now, there's a digression here, folks. There's stages. Look at verse 24, verse 26, verse 28. We'll look at that.
It says,.
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness. Verse 26, For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. Verse 28, And as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.
That means a mind void of judgment all completely. The conscience is seared. So you see that there's a digression here. Verse 24, Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their heart to dishonor their bodies among themselves.
How many people are doing this today? You see this. They exchanged the truth of God for the lie. They believed the lie to be damned. They worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.
Amen. See, what he's saying, that's idolatry to the highest height. Verse 26, For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
We're talking about lesbialism and homosexuality here. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust, their desires for one another. Men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
Verse 28, As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to the base mind. That is the judgment of Almighty God to do those things which are not fitting. Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness,.
Malice,.
Full of envy,.
Murder,.
Strife,.
Deceit, evil mindedness. They are whisperers, back biters, haters of God,.
Violent,.
Proud,.
Boasters,.
Inventor of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. Does not that define the days we're living in today? Verse 32,. Who knowing the righteous judgment of God, they knew that, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
So he makes it very apparent that the whole world is guilty before God. But this is a severe judgment right here. This is the way of the wicked. That's why I wanted to read that.
That's the way of the wicked.
It's a definition of that. So back to Psalm 1. Look at verse 3. Let's look at the positive now. Verse 2 talks about those who delight, the blessed man, the righteous, the godly. He loves the law of God.
He delights in God's law. 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 not prosper.
Gives to us a beautiful, beautiful picture of the blessedness of the righteous. Fruitfulness. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Brings forth its fruit. There's fruitfulness. And it's season.
It's always seasonal.
Whose leaf shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper. This verse tells us of an illustration of the blessedness that he is going to describe here. Verse 3 gives to us how this blessed person looks like.
What he does. What he produces. This is the person who delights in God's word. He is consumed with it. He treats it like food and nourishment to his body. The righteous are the fruitful. The psalmist is saying, in essence, the will of God for his children and pattern of the believer's life is for his children to delight.
To have pleasure in God. In His word. In His ways. So that they will yield fruit and season. And that's spiritual fruit. It's talking about love, joy, peace. Goodness, gentleness, grace, faith. Christlikeness.
Running from them in abundance. John Piper said this. He's got a point on this passage. And I like what he says and I wrote it down right here. Piper says this. Oh, for more fruitful people. You know them.
They are refreshing and nourishing to be around. You go away from them fed. You go away strengthened. You go away with your taste for spiritual things awakened. Their mouth is a fountain of life. Their words are healing and convicting and encouraging and deepening and enlightening.
This is the effect of delighting in the word of God. End quote. Well said. They exhort you to holiness. They exhort you to good works. They encourage you to help you. They point you to the word of God.
They give you chapter and verse. They pray for you. They love you. They encourage you. They tell you the truth whether you like it or not. In love. Meditate. We've got to learn to meditate. Oh, that we might be more spiritually fruitful and nourishing and love with the things of God.
Loving holiness more. Hating sin more. Showing grace more. Loving God's law more. More and more. Give me more of Jesus. It's all in Jesus, by the way. In such a way that His word never departs from our lips.
Meditating on it day and night. Letting God's word shape our thinking, shape our attitude, shape in our conduct, shape in our lives, shape in our actions. And I'm telling you, it's work, isn't it? Sanctification's work.
If we stray away from this scripture, this wonderful book, we're going to be very weak. Just like if we don't feed our physical body, if we starve our spiritual being, our spiritual man, we're going to get weak.
I don't know about you. Have you ever gone without food like three days? That's probably the longest I've ever gone. And I tell you what, I about passed out. Almost fainted. Folks, could you imagine if we go without God's word for three days?
For a week? Be in trouble. There's another picture of blessedness. Yeah, amen. We love to eat. Could you imagine going without eating for a week?
No, I know they can't. Be too weak.
Folks, shouldn't we love God's word more? Our spirit being is far more important than our physical being. That's why the scripture says, bodily exercise profited a little. Oh yes, but the spirit man, see, that's who you really are.
We must feed our spirit being as much as we love to feed our physical being. Even more, even more. Now, there's another picture of the blessedness, and I hope I've got enough time to run through this.
Oh my goodness. I try, I try. She's watching, she's timing me. There's another picture of the blessedness, and that's enduring. It's enduring. He endures. Notice what he says, the leaf does not wither.
Again, the source of green, durable leaf is the tree that is planted by the streams of water. Notice, by the rivers of water. It's not accidental, that tree is planted by the rivers of water. Without water, that tree would die up and dry and would not produce fruit.
It's planted, amen. It's planted. Isn't that great? Scripture talks a lot about this, about being planted by the streams of water in spite of a desolate desert, hot winds blowing, rain not falling, and all other trees are not planted by the streams of water are withering and dying away.
But beloved, we're not dying, and we're not drying. Not so with the righteous. The blessed man is a person that is durable, he endures, he endures in satisfaction and does not die. That kind of reminds me of an illustration.
I always loved the commercial of the Duracell battery. That little pink bunny rat popping them drums.
Keeps on going.
Keeps on going. It endures. That's Duracell's theme.
And it keeps on going.
I think about the Word of God. And it endures forever. And people who abide in God's Word, they endure. They persevere.
They keep going.
Nothing will stop them. Because they're driven by the power of the living God in the Word of God. Keeps on going. Blessed is that man that's rooted in the Word of God. Rooted. Grounded. I didn't know your toes were put in like this.
Much that passes for Christianity today is a brief, bright effort of a severed branch to bring forth its fruit in its season. But laws of life are against it. Preoccupation with appearances and corresponding neglect of the out-of-sight root of the true spiritual life are prophetic signs which go unheeded.
Immediate results are all that matter. Quick proofs of present success without a thought of next week or next year. Religious pragmatism is running wild among the Orthodox. Truth is whatever works. Bless their heart.
They're trying to endure, too. Truth is whatever works. If it gets results, it's good. There is but one test for the religious leader.
Success.
Everything is forgiven him except failure. But Tozer goes on to say, a tree can weather almost any storm if its root is sound. Notice that. He's so right. He's talking about the root of the righteous.
The root is sound. It's grounded.
The roots go deep.
But when the fig tree, which our Lord cursed, dried up from the roots, the Scripture says, it immediately withered away. And he says this, a church that is soundly rooted cannot be destroyed, but nothing can save a church whose root is dried up.
Boy, that's strong, isn't it? But I need to hear that. Paul exhorts the church of Ephesus to be rooted and grounded in love. Rooted and grounded in love. He urges his readers to be rooted and built up in him, in Jesus Christ.
Notice that.
In Jesus.
That's how the love comes. It comes from Jesus. Abiding in the divine. Abiding in his word. Abiding in Christ. In Christ alone. In his word alone. That's the exhortation. In Christ. In Christ. Rooted, grounded in love.
Now, the latter end of this is speaking about the ungodly. We've got to see the picture here. Notice verses 4 through 6. I'm going to try to run through this and pull it all together quickly if I can.
The ungodly, because my time is almost gone. The ungodly are not so, but are like the shaft which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Notice the way.
The way. The way.
The ungodly are not so. The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
Wow.
Here the psalmist evaluates in light of eternity, beloved, and this is what we need to see. You see, when the psalm ponders the value of being wicked, the ungodly, or delighting, in the Word of God, in contrast, it measures its final value by what happens at the great and final judgment.
This is what we've got to look at.
Oh yes.
The psalmist was looking around. He sees a great deal of evil. Wickedness everywhere. We see it, don't we? We see hate. We see falsehood. We see defiance. We see rebellion. We see hypocrisy. We see pretense.
We see deception. We see lies. The list is on and on. It goes on. And yes, he sees some prosperity even in the life of the wicked.
He's like a... What's that scripture?
He's like a big bay tree. And here he is. And next it says, and was not.
That's Psalm 37.
Psalm 37. Thank you. That is a great verse of scripture. Yes, it is. I'm telling you, the wicked would be brought down. That's what scripture says. And, oh, it's easy for us to be discouraged at times, isn't it?
Because we see these things happening. We can be easily falsified. And we can get tunnel vision. And how easy it is for us to forget any sense of eternal perspective. And then we find ourselves getting envious and cynical and discouraged.
Have you been there? I have. But here comes our great reminder. Here comes the Word of God. God's going to get the last word. God will get the last word. That's why Paul says, let man be a liar and let God be true.
And he talks about every man a liar. The Word of the living God comes. It comes. It brings truth. Like a sharp two-edged sword, it brings us to help us and to encourage us and to correct us where and where we need it the most.
Because in the end, when it's all said and done, when the smoke is clear, beloved, and everything is final, the wicked will be swept away like the shaft. But those who have delighted in the Word of God, even those that have been hit by suffering and trials and hardship, their life will be a life whose labor is not in vain, beloved.
What the psalmist is saying about the shaft, the shaft is like refuse. It's blown away with the wind. The wind comes and it's blown away after the grain harvest. That's the way the ungodly,.
They have no stability.
Yes, they... blown away. They hear one moment, they're gone.
Blown away.
The ungodly have no stability. Now, that's just not me saying it. Psalm 35, 5. Let them be like shaft before the wind and let the angel of the Lord chase them. Psalm 83, 13. Oh my God, he prays. Make them like a rolling dust, like the shaft before the wind.
Notice he brings the wind in it. So when the judgment comes, the ungodly will no longer stand. Psalm 5, 5. The boastful shall not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity. This is very similar to the picture that Jesus gave on the final judgment of the Olivet Discourse when he talked about the judgment of nations.
I don't have time to look at it, but in devotional time, please read it. It's powerful. Chapter 25, verses 31 through 46. It speaks of the harvest of souls and the judgment of all nations. The goats will be on the left and the sheep on the right and Jesus judges them.
Both.
Powerful.
Notice verse 6. I'm going to tie this together. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. The Word of God speaks two ways here. Proverbs 2, 8 says, the way of the righteous.
He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of his saints. Then the way of the ungodly. Proverbs 4, 19. The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. But we know the way of truth.
Guess who the way of the truth is. He's the door. Actually, he's the one that told Philip in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man comes to the Father except through me.
He is the way.
And he's not the best way. He is the only way. There's another scripture. It ties in, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous. The verb, let me tell you about the verb here. The verb knows is an important word.
That word knows.
Knows.
In context, it refers to God's awareness, but to an intimate personal knowledge of God. Knowing Him. It's the same thing that Jesus prayed in John 17, 3, and this is eternal life, that they may know you.
The only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Philippians 3, 9 and 10, Paul said it. This is his longing. This is his desire. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but which is through faith in Christ.
The righteousness which is from God by faith. From God. And notice what he says. That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
Now, here's one more verse I've got to bring out here. Go with me to 2 Timothy 2. Here's a charge from the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy. His last letter before he departed. His farewell, his last farewell was in chapter 4.
But notice in chapter 2, he tells young Timothy, in chapter 2, verses 19. Notice in verse 19. Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands. Having this seal, what does he say? The Lord knows those who are His.
Can't fool God. He knows, He knows, He's bought those, purchased by His blood, redeemed those, and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Then he says, but in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, and some of honor and some of dishonor, for dishonor.
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel sanctified for honor, sanctified for useful, and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Then he charges them, flee also youthful lust, but pursue righteousness.
There's the negative, there's the positive. You to flee, to resist youthful lust, but pursue, go after, follow after righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
And I'll stop right there. You see what he says, but my point is, first and foremost, he says, the Lord knows those who are His. The godly, the godly. Here's some application. The righteous, in Psalm 1, teaches us what really constitutes righteous, a righteous life.
It forces us to look outside of ourselves, to look to Jesus. We read this, and as soon as we read it, we say within our hearts and minds, this really is it, me. The righteousness the psalmist is talking about is the pure and high and holy standard, right?
And we know it's not a righteousness of our own. That's what I'm talking about. It truly prospers before God. It's not our own righteousness, but it's God's righteousness. Our only righteousness that I have within myself is as filthy rags, right?
It's not going to do any good. But there is only one who has perfectly, fully loved God's holy law, kept it perfectly to the jot and to the tittle, and that is Jesus Christ. He is fully delighted. God the Father is fully delighted in Jesus.
And Jesus delighted in God's will, and He obeyed it perfectly, completely. And the only one who loves righteousness perfectly, and loved holiness perfectly, and obeyed the Father perfectly, so when we throw ourselves on Jesus and trust in Him, God the Father says, I am pleased in my Son.
The name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the righteous one, by the way, who became wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. In truth, Psalm 1 convicts us of our failures, forces us to flee to God for mercy, but only on this side of Calvary.
We see that the righteousness that God demands of us was fulfilled in Jesus. And Jesus Himself, who is our righteousness, so that the righteousness, the righteous demands that we see in Psalm 1, and we see it all through the Psalms, that we don't measure up to.
We see it, and we set it before our eyes. The righteousness which God requires of you and me has been imputed to us. Isn't that great? On our account, it's given to us, imputed to us, by faith in Christ, by faith in Jesus alone.
For our sake, God made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. So more important, if we do not know Him personally, we need to cling to Him, trust in Him alone for His righteousness, and that only comes from Jesus, by faith alone.
Only this will save us from the wrath to come on that great and final judgment day. I conclude with a wonderful illustration that came from Pastor John MacArthur's very first sermon, and I know Ben's heard this, I know Keith has heard this, and I think most of you have heard this, but I've used this illustration many a time.
I think it's one of the most wonderful illustrations I've ever heard of a real-life situation. And he used this on his very first sermon, How to Play Church, in 1969, at Grace Community Church, in which he's pastored there for over 40-plus years.
I think he's going on 50 years now. The illustration's very simple and it's very powerful. And Pastor John MacArthur, and I give him the credit for this.
Because of where I heard it,.
And he says this. I close with this illustration. There was an actor at a drawing room function who was asked to recite Psalm 23. He stood up and he wanted to be gracious to his audience, so he said, I'll recite anything you would like me to recite.
And no one suggested anything, and an old preacher happened to be there, and he was sitting in the back.
He says,.
I don't know how he got there, but he probably crashed the party. I'm sure he did. Normally preachers don't get invited to drawing room functions on a high society level. But he was there, and he stood up, and he said, I'd like to hear you recite the 23rd Psalm.
And well, at first the actor said, he was a little shocked at that, but he said he had thrown himself open since he was there, and he asked people, so he had to do what the man asked him to. So he happened to know it, so he said, all right, I'll do it.
So he repeated the 23rd Psalm, a very short and powerful Psalm that we pretty much all know by memory,.
With complete eloquence,.
Masterfully orated and interpreted. Diction was beautiful, and when he had done, there was a spontaneous applause throughout the whole entire room,.
And the actor,.
Figuring he'd get back at the old gentleman, and he said, now sir, after the shebang was over with, and he got the applause of people, hand clapping, and he says, now sir, I'd like to hear you recite it.
The old gentleman hadn't bargained for that, but because of his love for Jesus Christ, he stood up and repeated the 23rd Psalm. Folks, he said it with a voice that was broken up. You see, that word meant something to him.
They said it was beautiful. The interpretation was so good, and when he got done,.
There was no applause.
There wasn't a dry eye in the room. The actor, sensing his own emotions, stooped up and said, ladies and gentlemen, I reached your eyes and your ears, but this old preacher reached your heart. There's a reason for that.
The difference is this, and he said it. I know the Psalm, but this preacher knows the shepherd.
Folks, that's all that's going to matter.
In that great day.
You've got to know the shepherd. Let's pray. Father, thank You for this time together. We thank You. We can say the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. That whole wonderful word,.
It means something to us because it's in our heart. It's our passion. It's our everything because the shepherd is everything to us. The good shepherd. The great shepherd of the sheep. Lord, thank You for this time together with Your people.
And Lord, most of all, thank You for Jesus, the righteous One. Your beloved Son who gave His life a perfect sacrifice, Lord. The Lamb of God. The great shepherd of the sheep. The good shepherd that laid down His life for His sheep.
There's many sheep out there,.
Lord, that needs to be reached.
Help us to be obedient, Lord, to lead us in the paths beside the still waters, wherever it may be, for Your name's sake. So that, Father, by faith, a simple childlike faith, Lord, that we might be the righteousness of God come to You.
Father, that You provided that righteousness for us, Lord, we give thanks, praise for that. We do not deserve it. It's all by Your grace. It's by Your unmerited favor. So, Father, I pray that if we have it come to that great truth and knowing that truth, just not in our head, but our hearts, believe in our hearts unto righteousness.
May it be a personal, intimate, covenant relationship with anyone here that has not resolved that. Oh, for grace to trust in Jesus Christ alone for that eternal life, for Jesus is that eternal life. To know You more.
Father, I pray that this message will just encourage us to go more and more into Your heart, into Your Word, to dig deeper, to love You more, because there's oceans and oceans of unmined truth out there in Your Word that we have not even mined.
Lord, give us a hunger and a thirst after righteousness, and then You promise to fill it, to satisfy it, only by Your Son, Jesus Christ. In His blessed name we pray. Amen and amen.