Counseling In The Psalms (part 2)

Bethlehem Bible Church

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Turn down to Psalm 1. We are continuing our series in the Psalms. Last week we did page 10 in your handout.

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Today we're going to be doing page 11. We looked last week at the fear of God and its connection with wisdom.

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How do we want to grow wise? What is the means ordained in the

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Bible for us to make wise choices? We found that it begins and ends with the fear of the

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Lord. It is God who grants us wisdom as we live life on a daily basis.

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Today we are going to be looking at page 11. Does everyone have one of these?

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Does anyone not have one? We still have a few that we can pass out.

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We're going to be looking at at least two Psalms. If we have time we'll look at three. We're going to look at Psalm 1 and then we're going to look at Psalm 32.

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Both of these are going to show two very different points in life where you may be when you're looking for wisdom.

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The first one is going to be looking at when you're approaching an event.

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So you are in the cusp of some major area in your life, something that you need wisdom for, that you don't know about.

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How do you approach the problem in looking for God's wisdom? And then let's say you walk through that particular circumstance that God has placed you.

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Maybe you did not make the wise choices. Maybe you didn't take heed to Psalm 1. And now you're on your back.

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How do you respond? What is the wise choice to make when maybe you have sinned?

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Maybe you haven't followed God's counsel. Is that no hope for you? So we're going to see wisdom in that as well.

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So let's begin with Psalm 1. Before we read that, I just want to read the introduction right there on the top of page 11.

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So like I said, this is an instruction. This material comes from my course that I took in Southern.

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And this instructor had some pretty good words that I think we'll use before we dive into Psalm 1.

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So here, Professor Borrelli, he says, Adam and Eve were created to depend on external or outside counsel.

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They needed to trust in God for his counsel in the way that they had to act.

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They were not wise in and of themselves. They had been created by God in God's image, but they needed to trust in God.

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So then he goes around and my prof gives this little bit of speculation, but I think pretty, pretty close to the truth.

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He says how God walks in the cool of the day in the garden with Adam. So God was communing with Adam while he lived in the garden.

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And so he says, was it at these times that God instructed him about life, teaching about which specific tree he must not eat, how he could name these animals based on what their characteristics were and what a woman is.

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So this is how God was counseling and giving Adam the wisdom that he needs.

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And then before long, you have the serpent who comes in into the scene. And so the serpent brings a completely different kind of counsel.

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Now you have for Eve and Adam, you have God's counsel on the one hand.

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And then now you have the serpent, which comes and questions the counsel of God, which says, is

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God really good? Is God really in keeping you from that tree?

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Is he actually suppressing the way you could grow wise? You could have all the knowledge if you did eat from this tree.

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Why would God keep you from that? So here is the serpent that brings up another counsel.

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And so Adam and Eve, they have the godly counsel and they have the ungodly counsel.

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And we know what happens in the garden when Eve and Adam follow the counsel of the serpent.

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And that's a very fatal result resulting in the death of their relationship with God and for all humanity.

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So now let's now take a few moments to read someone. I'll just read it. Actually, I'll have maybe one of you read it out loud.

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Read it really slowly and loudly. And then we will walk through these questions and I'll explain the questions once we get there.

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Can I have a volunteer who can read loud and clear but slow? Thanks, Bruce. Thank you.

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So those of you who are coming in new, we have some handouts to give to you. So you can just raise your hand and you can get it.

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All right. And thinking of this counsel, you know, sometimes when life goes on pretty smoothly, you'll be thinking, you know, am

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I really in need of making such a conscious choice?

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I think a good place to be would be maybe you are in circumstance. Let me back up a little bit.

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So before we began the series in the Psalms, we are talking about how Psalms can be used for counseling. So there are times when, you know, maybe life is just kind of broken up and we don't know how to pick up the pieces.

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And then you go to someone in the church or you open the Bible and you look for wisdom.

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And we said how the Psalms can be helpful both for yourself in those times when you need

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God's wisdom, his clarity, so you know what steps to take. And also when you want to counsel someone who is maybe not seeing

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God's word and his truth specifically applied in their particular area.

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So maybe I can give you an example just to kind of get you thinking about maybe your own circumstances or those whom you are helping.

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So here is someone maybe who is having a very difficult marriage. So here is the circumstances.

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It is just frustrating year after year, decade after decade. You're just not able to enjoy life the way

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God says it must be like this tree on this planted by streams of water. And so you have the Bible that says some things about what a marriage ought to be and how you need to respond.

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And then you have someone who is maybe in the world who says, you know, what's the point of this all?

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You know, just give it up and then enjoy your life. You know, you're going to be young only so much longer.

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And then this is it. Your entire life would have been wasted. So you have two paths that are laid before you.

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And then what should you choose? And for someone, maybe if you're not in this circumstance, you may like, you know what, it's very obvious.

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But if you are the person who is actually struggling in this particular question, this is a very real choice.

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You know, one of them is godly and one of them is ungodly. And how would you commit to the path that God has placed?

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And how would you seek this godly counsel? And that's basically what the psalm sets the stage for.

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It doesn't have to be marriage. It could be a choice with a job. It could be choices with regards to various temptations that you might face.

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How do you heed godly counsel? Fear of the Lord, beginning of wisdom. So with that, let's go down these questions that I have.

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The first four questions are pretty straightforward. They're just looking at the text and then finding out what

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God says about counsel. So what I'm going to do is I'll just read the question.

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Maybe if there's a specific verse, we'll have Bruce read those verses again. And then you can just answer to those questions.

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So the first question. Name the two kinds of counsel from verses 1 and 2 that are open to the individual.

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What are the two kinds of counsel that are open to an individual? Bruce, do you want to just read verse 1 and 2 again?

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Yeah, so the two counsels are? Yes. Yeah, so you get counsel from wicked, specifically individuals, that, you know, have this advice, this worldly wisdom that they want to give to you.

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And then in verse 2, it is the law of the Lord. It is God's counsel, his precepts that we have from the scriptures.

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So those are the two means from which you can get counsel. Question 2.

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Which of these counsels leads to a blessed life? Yeah, it's kind of obvious.

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So you do not want to heed. In fact, if you don't heed the ungodly counsel, but on the other hand, you delight or take the heed to the law of God, to the scriptures, then you would be blessed.

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The word begins with blessed. Blessed is the man. It's like a B attitude. Now, according to verses 1 to 3, what is a blessed life supposed to look like?

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Again, verse 1 provides it in negative, 2 and 3 provide it in positive. Maybe we'll just have verse 3 read because we had verse 2 read before.

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Let's now take the negative side first from verse 1. When it says, I mean, and this is one of the challenges with Psalms because it's written poetically, it's got a lot of alliteration.

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Let's take a few minutes to just look at verse 1 a little more closely and say, in what ways is this supposed to be, not supposed to be?

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What do you think the text in verse 1 is asking us to avoid? Worldliness, yes, in James.

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So you're going to be having a lot of different opinions. And if you're not grounded and rooted in the word, you can get tossed about.

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And ungodly wisdom can do exactly that. Excellent.

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And I think that's a wonderful way of saying it. So you have here the godly and the ungodly.

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The ungodly do not have spiritual life in them. They are dead in their trespasses and sins, and their eyes are completely incapable of seeing the ways of God and the blessedness that comes with it.

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So all they can tell you is on the sphere of this world, which is basically a dead life.

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And so someone who is saved, who knows that their life is in Christ, in the heavenlies, ought not to be looking to the people who are dead.

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And that's a very practical counsel too. So many a time when we look for wisdom, when

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God has given everything we need in His Scriptures, it is sufficient for all our needs to look for ungodly, human -centered advice can be very dangerous, as we just see here.

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So let's leave the negatives now. Let's look at the positives. So what do you think verse 3 is talking about?

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Yes. So he is comparing a person to a tree, and then he says this person actually bears fruit.

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So what does that fruit really mean? Obviously, I'm not an apple tree.

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So what kind of fruit is this psalmist referring to? Fruit of the

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Spirit? That is true. I mean, I don't want to stretch this too much because, you know, those words...

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Let me just stop there. If I do it, I think I will already stretch it. But that's very true. So you will exhibit the fruit of the

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Spirit because as a believer, you have the Spirit of God in you, and every single believer will exhibit the fruit of the

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Spirit. Yeah, because your life is changed and transformed by the Spirit, that you will act in a way that is godly and that those will result in good works.

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Anything else that comes out from verse 3? Excellent.

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And I think, just going back to what Becky was saying, the first part is tree planted by the streams of water, and you're talking about the source of life that this, instead of withering and dying, you need to be right in this.

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You will be in the right in the source of life when you are delighting in the law of the Lord, and you are firm, and I forget,

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I don't know who said this about being tossed about. Maybe Becky did. And so you want to live life with confidence, knowing

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God's ordained universe and the laws by which it operates. My daughter is going to go to kindergarten, and she's never sure what life is going to look like when she walks into those doors.

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Sometimes our life can look like that. I open, wake up this morning, and I know these guys are all going to be calling me.

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I don't know what the order of this universe is going to be. Maybe it's going to crumble around my life by noon, or how do

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I walk through this life that God has prepared for me this day or this week or this year?

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When you are delighting in the law of the Lord, it's like that firm planting. It is not being tossed about by every single circumstance that comes, and you have the life of God undergirding you.

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And just going back to the counsel giving and getting counsel, and that's exactly what happens.

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When God takes you through a trial, and you are able to respond in a godly way, God changes you, transforms you, and equips you to help others who are going through similar trials.

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So someone else going through that says, you know what? I know this person lost his job for this amount of time.

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I never heard a peep, but they were constantly trusting in God. I just lost my job today, and I'm feeling like I'm all over the place.

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Let me go talk to this person. What was it that, you know, how did they trust in God during their times, and how can

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I keep my heart firm when I walk through this same trial? Very true.

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Actually, we will look at this more as we conclude this, but I think it's important just to kind of think about what you said.

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Because many a time when I just say, you know, black and white, it's like, oh, it's very obvious. I shouldn't take what is black.

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I need to take what is white. But the deceptions of Satan are not as simple.

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You know, even when Eve was tempted, you could see how he asked her, did God say not to eat of any tree? And he's like, no, yeah, except this one tree we can eat of all of this.

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And then did God say this? And so he just walks her down this path to get her to look at the fruit and say, you know, this must be good for you, you know, just the way in which he goes around trying to deceive her.

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And the same thing we'll be looking at Matthew 5. You know, there is a way that is broad that is easy for destruction that everybody walks down.

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It's not because it is narrow and difficult to go. It comes subtly. Most of the choices we have that we consciously choose are because there is a truth, and then that truth is just turned a little bit, and it makes it a little convenient for me or convenient for somebody else.

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But it is untrue because it is twisted. And part of sin is perversion. It is twisting, turning something from the way

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God intended to make it convenient for myself or someone else. Very good point. So as I'm speaking, think about those subtle ungodly counsel that you get as well.

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Let's move on. So let's actually we just were in verse 3, question 3.

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Let's look at question 4. So what image does he describe the ungodly man in verse 4?

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Bruce, if you want to just quickly read that. Not so, not like the tree planted firmly, but like the chaff.

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Chaff, we don't do this. So when the psalmist writes this, in agrarian culture, you know, you separate the grain from the chaff and then the wind blows away the chaff.

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There is no hope of stability for such a person because he may just have his own counsel, but when the wind blows, he's gone.

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What kind of maybe a modern imagery would you have for this agrarian illustration that the psalmist uses?

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A dandelion, yeah? Dandelion is the one that, you know, starts yellow and then it's all that seeds.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, great example. You know, illustrations only go that far.

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Exactly. And I think, you know, maybe we'll just pull that a little bit further. So when you think of a trial, some circumstance that you need counsel, meaning, you know, you recognize you don't have within yourself the resources to handle this, and you look at what the

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Bible says, and it might seem sometimes, you know, it doesn't really help me get through the immediate problem because this is tough.

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Maybe I might lose money if I did this choice. I might lose friends. But then you have the ungodly counsel that comes alongside, and it's like, oh, you know,

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I can just kind of walk through this and get past this immediate thing, and then later I can deal with the issue.

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And then when the real storm comes, like Pastor Steve was saying, I mean, it was tragic when

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I was reading about this latest tornado. People who thought, like, for example, the bathroom fittings would help, and this was just too much for it.

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There was nothing that could stand up against this unless you had a proper shelter. And I think when we walk through those trials,

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God places trials for Christians, if you're a believer here, in order to sanctify you, to grow you.

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And instead of seeing those trials as, you know, these drive me to the scriptures so that I would saturate my mind with this truth so that I would make those baby steps.

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So, you know, these are difficult, but I make those baby steps. Those, by the Spirit, they strengthen you so that when the next trial comes, you are equipped to handle those things.

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But instead, if I just follow the ungodly, that's basically what happens. The tornado comes, and you're gone, you're wiped away.

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And I think that's an excellent imagery for us to keep in mind. So when we have a godly counsel, maybe it isn't easy.

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It isn't sweet to my mouth, but I need to remember this is the means that God has ordained, and this is the life -giving water that roots me down firmly.

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All right, so let's… Yes, exactly.

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Amen. The truly purpose -driven life is in delighting in the law of the

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Lord, and then he makes you useful in honoring him in your own transformation and in the life of others, as we heard before.

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And the contrast is to be chaffed, like you said, placed in the shelf. I mean, what…

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For someone who has been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, to say, you know, my life here is just, you know, on the shelf.

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I just lived here 50 years, and I just didn't flourish like God intended me to.

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I wasn't used by the Lord as God. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying by flourishing you need to be, you know, dazzling everybody.

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You could be just back in your kitchen, and your children, like Jodie was saying, there are things that you may not even know.

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But when you follow in the ways of the Lord, God uses your life for his glory.

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So, excellent point. Contrary to chaff, which is useless. Let's pick up the pace a little with verse 5.

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What ideas of the image of the ungodly bring to your mind? I think we just talked about a few. Let's maybe…

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I think you guys also gave some examples of practically, you know, what are some of the ungodly imagery that you have.

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Did anybody else want to add anything to what we just heard? All right, let's move to question 6.

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So, according to verses 4 and 5, how does the psalmist describe the person who follows ungodly counsel?

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We already saw 4. Let's read verse 5. So, if you look at 4 and 5 together now, what is it that the ungodly ought to be a caution for, as we think of ungodly counsel in particular?

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What is the danger that the ungodly is in? And I think, you know, this is one of the things that we need to constantly remind ourselves.

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So, while we are living in the world, we are not off the world. The world's goals are, you know,

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I get that better job, or I get the more beautiful spouse, or I get that, you know, kind word spoken to me, and I have, you know,

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I wake up every day with a smile on my face, everybody's nice to me. You know, there are certain goals, not all of them sinful, but those are the terminus, that's where it ends.

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There's nothing more beyond this world for those who do not know God. Whereas, as someone who does have eternal life in you, you know what extends beyond.

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So, the choices you make are not just that better job, but a God honoring job. Is that higher paying job something that will honor my family with the choice

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I make, or would it be better to take a pay cut in order to glorify God in the present, so that I do not walk after those who are going to be judged for the choices that they make, eternal choices that they will make.

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Question 7, what does the psalmist predict for the ungodly? We just saw that. Question 8, according to verse 6, the psalmist's conclusion regarding the ungodly is that he shall perish.

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What is the reason for this, and what does it mean to be known by the Lord? Can you just read that again,

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Bruce, verse 6? Yeah, let's take the last part of the question.

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What does it mean to be known by the Lord? It says here, the Lord knows the way of the righteous.

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What do you think that means? Yeah, so it's something more than just God is omniscient, so he's got the data of all my life, but he is intimately aware and loves the way of the righteous.

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It is not just that God gives me the prescription for life. It is not just, he says here is the order, there is a path filled with danger on both sides, here is a narrow path, so I've given the prescription to you, and then

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I'm just disconnected, I've seen what you're walking, fine.

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It's not that way. We have an intimate relationship with God, who actually observes, who knows what is happening.

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Sometimes it might feel like when you're taking that narrow path, you're the only one who actually knows that you are doing what is right.

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But there is a God in heaven who observes, and who actually loves his saints, who delight in following that path that God has ordained for them.

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But the way of the wicked will perish, and I think the answer for that is pretty obvious.

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God is righteous, and the end of the way, the path that the wicked will follow, results in destruction because God is not pleased with such action.

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God is going to judge that person, and that person, although in his human limited sight, is looking to benefit himself, to find the best thing for himself.

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Without God's way, such a path will lead to destruction. Let's quickly go through verse question 9, and then we'll move to Psalm 32.

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So here, it says the two ways of life are completely opposite. One is blessed by God, and the second is futile, and it will perish.

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And then, taking the instructions of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 talks about the narrow way and the broad way.

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And I think we want to constantly always remember the path that God calls us to is the narrow way, and it is narrow for a reason.

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For those of us who are still in the flesh, it is going to be a struggle to follow after God.

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I was just teaching junior church, but Jesus says, My yoke is easy, Matthew 11, come follow me, because he will enable you to follow after him.

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It's not that you're an unbeliever who is just suddenly called to obey the precepts of God, because it is impossible.

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But now that you have a new heart, sin no longer has dominion over you. You are capable of following after God, because you have the

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Spirit of God within you, who strengthens you, who empowers you to live the life that God has called you to. So you can choose godly counsel, whereas the ungodly have no means within themselves to imitate

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Christ, if you will. But going back to what Bob was saying right there in the middle of the paragraph on question 9,

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Satan is the, maybe backing up a little bit more, as opposite as these two ways are, their divergent directions are not as obvious to us as we might think or would hope.

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So Satan is the great deceiver and would not offer his counsel and direction in clearly marked box.

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He counterfeits God's way and then his counsel would come to us distinguished as the truth. And this is very important.

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Believers who are not familiar with godly counsel will take the bait that Satan has set in the form of the truth and consequently embark, and it says here, on a progression of compromise that is virtually undetectable.

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And the outcome is hard to believe and if left unchecked will ultimately lead to scoffing at biblical truth.

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Whenever a believer allows himself to be so estranged to godly counsel and so steeped in ungodly counsel, he will ultimately mistake each for the other.

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Truth is regarded as error and repudiated and error is regarded as truth and embraced.

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And let's just take a few minutes to talk about this. One of the characteristics of a believer is humility.

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You know, when we get saved, we are, we recognize that my entire life was built on a foundation that was not a foundation.

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It was just sand. So I come before God and say, God, I am the sinner. My life as it stands before me is completely unworthy and it is only in you and in your power that I can live life.

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So that's the position of humility with which I start my Christian life. And as I walk through Christian life,

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I recognize that my patterns of thinking, everything has been trained by the world that I've lived in so far.

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And as I continue to walk, if I just say, here is the way I used to think, and this is the way

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I'm somehow going to rely on my wisdom that I have acquired so far, and then live the life by my own wisdom.

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How foolish is that? What should instead characterize this? What should instead characterize the believer is the humility that began my life ought to continue to govern my life as I walk.

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So now that I've saved, I've become saved. I know that Christ is my savior. He is the only hope

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I have for living life and to attain to heaven. And now when

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I run into a problem, the first thing that I want to check myself is, yes, my natural inclinations are telling me this is the solution to the problem that I have.

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But what does God's word instead say? And so when a godly council, a brother or sister in Christ, come alongside and say something from the scriptures, and it doesn't seem pleasant to me,

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I want to say, is what they're saying from the word of God? And if so, even though I am trained to think differently, even though all my other friends tell me this is the better way to do,

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I want to say, no, I will commit to the way of God.

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And like he said here, it often comes in very subtle forms. Can you think of some of the subtle ways in which you mentioned one in the workplace, for example?

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You have a customer. You can say a white lie, maybe hide some unpleasant data, and then you can get rid of this problem, and then your report looks good, you've been a great sales guy.

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Or you have a direct question. Will you give an honest answer? That's one example.

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What are some of the other examples in which lies come packaged in what seems to be true or good?

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Yes. Great.

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Good example. Yeah, and the way that can be subtle is this.

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I mean, I've heard of some people, and I grieve for them because maybe they've gone to a church that is, you know, a cult.

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Maybe they've gone to a church which is, you know, really horrible in its doctrine or its practice or abuses, whatever it is that they've gone through.

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They say, you know, here's the church. You know, I don't want any of that. You know, I can read the

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Bible. True, you can read the Bible. I have the Spirit of God within me. Yes, you do have the Spirit of God within you. But then someone like you comes along and says, you know, here's what the

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Scripture says about forsaking the fellowship. And there is a reason why God has ordained the church and not

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Mr. X or Miss Y as the means for growth in the body.

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And like you said, you know, I can be so blinded to my own sins that while we come together as a body, the

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Spirit of God uses us as one another. There's a thousand, not thousand, lots of commands that we need to obey by loving one another within the body, which you cannot actually execute.

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You are actually disobeying God. So when someone comes alongside and says, here are all this, yeah, I understand where your problem is.

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But the solution is not to stay home, but rather look at what the Scripture says. Find a godly church and not the perfect church.

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Find a church that teaches God's Word and go there because by not doing so, you are actually sinning against God.

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And then at that point becomes a question. What was subtle now becomes clear in counsel. And now that person has a choice to say, well,

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I see this and I need to obey or no, I don't care. I'll do what I want. And that would be a dangerous path to follow.

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And I think that's very true. And if you want to just elaborate that a little bit more, as Christians, our main focus ought to be

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God. You know, God is the only object of worship. And then

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God has given us a lot of good things here on Earth, whether it is work or it is a spouse or it is any number of things.

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But when these good things that I can enjoy and give thanks to God can become idols when they become my little universe.

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And, of course, I wouldn't take one of them and make them my universe. I would just say, you know, nine to five, my work is my

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God. Or we just recycle through our idols through the day, if you will, because they just consume me to the point where I...

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So if I go to my work forgetting that God is my primary object of worship,

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I can actually live like the devil and work, make the best sales and then forget and make my idol my

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God. And your example,

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I don't know if all of you heard it. I'll explain some of it. There's a cost to some of the choices you make, and some of the choices are not that simple.

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You want to honor God. You have someone above you who is instructing you to do something very clear.

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You have someone who is a brother or a sister in Christ that you want to please. It's not, you know, an unbeliever.

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And yet the path that is laid before you is sinful. It is not God honoring. So when we walk through all of these things, ultimately our allegiance is still with God.

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And we say, you know, this is a painful option. Maybe you try to find the easiest way to walk in the right path instead of having a full -blown war.

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But when this is over, it's a good thing to go back and speak with those people when the context is not hard.

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But ultimately the choice is still clear. There is a right way and there is a wrong way. And when you take the right way, there may be a consequence that is very costly.

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And are we willing to pay the price? And more than that, are we willing to trust in God that he who has placed me in that circumstance with all these things?

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First of all, we should thank God for the discernment to say, oh, you know what? My boss just asked me. I just do it.

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You know, God will get him. You know, I don't have to worry about this. That's the easy way to do it. But to be able to discern and say, you know, there is a way that is honoring to God and I will do it no matter the cost.

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And that's a good conversation to have once the issue is behind. Yes, Marie? I just had him in junior church.

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I know exactly what you mean. You know, that's just up.

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Oh, we're out of time. But yes, tell a great council.

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I think, you know, as just to counterbalance that a little bit, you know,

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Charlie, with your 30 years of growing in the Lord, I'm sure there are some things that you walk through before that you would say, oh, you know,

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I can sense the danger already. But still, while we are still in the flesh, we want to be cautious to say, oh, you know,

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I know everything. I'm just going to walk down this path and never presume upon the

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Lord's grace. Always, like you said, trust in God. Go back to the word. Make sure that your choices are based on God's clear directives.

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Great, great council. So let's let's stop with that. We'll we'll pray and close. God, our heavenly father, we thank you,

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Lord, for saving us. We thank you for giving us your word. And we thank you for empowering us by your spirit.

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Help us, oh, father, that in the choices that you place before us even today, that we would seek to honor you and that we would seek to delight in your word and that we would consciously walk away from from the council of the ungodly.

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Lord, we commit the second service as well into your hand. We pray, Lord, that you would be honored and glorified in Christ's name.