Wednesday, October 8, 2025 PM

We thank you for the true unity that we have being created in your image and being reconciled to you.

We have true unity, and I thank you for that. I thank you that we are able to come here and have fellowship with one another, that we are able to bring our needs and our concerns to you, who vastly cares for this world that you have made, and you are deeply involved in it, that we get to be stewards of the circumstances we find ourselves in, taking note and bringing them to you.

And in bringing them to you, we get your grace and your mercy and your wisdom, that you equip us to meet those circumstances, and we get the privilege of watching how you work in this world.

So we thank you for this time of prayer, and we ask that as we go to your word, your spirit would be ever -present with us, illuminating the word.

We ask that you would apply it to our lives, that we would be more equipped, more transformed into your likeness, that our hearts and our minds and our souls, our strength and everything that we are would be in conformity to the word of God.

And it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. We are continuing our study of Psalm chapter 1.

So if you will turn to the Psalms. Psalm chapter 1.

Psalm chapter 1, starting in verse 1. 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 whatever he does will prosper.

The ungodly are not so, but are 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.

The way of the ungodly shall perish. We've discussed what the blessed man is like.

We've discussed who he does not keep company with. And now we'll turn our attention to the ungodly.

We left off with the blessed man prospering, and in everything he does he prospers, and he also gives cover and shade for others.

And we mentioned how he is like a tree that puts out its roots. He is fruitful.

The Christian has the fruit of the Spirit in which he walks in this world, being conformed more to the likeness of Christ, and with the fruit of the

Spirit comes the healing of the nations. And that's our role.

But in verse 4 of Psalms, it says, the ungodly are not so. If our leaves and our fruit is to bring healing to the nation, what do the ungodly do?

It does not bring healing to the nations, but rather it says, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

The wicked are not so. They do not delight in the law of the Lord. They do not meditate on it day and night.

They are not like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water. They are described as shrubs in waterless places.

They have no fruit, and they wither. Thus the psalmist describes them as chaff, which the wind blows away.

One defining characteristic of the Messiah from the Old Testament, the

Old Covenant, is that he separates. He separates. When he would arrive, he would bring salvation to some and judgment to others.

And the New Testament is rife with metaphors and examples of this, this type of separation.

The first example is this example. It's chaff. In Matthew 3,

John the Baptist comes on the scene, and he's out in the wilderness calling people away from the temple, calling people away from Jerusalem, saying, come out here.

And there's some religious leaders that show up. And John warns them. He says that the ax is laid at the root of the tree, that you ought to bear fruits worthy of repentance.

And then he talks about a person. He talks about someone who will come after him.

He's not unworthy to tie his sandals. And it says that he has a winnowing fan that will blow the chaff away.

The grain will be brought into the barn, but the chaff, which is worthless, is to be blown away, is to be taken and thrown in the fire.

These ideas of separation, this first one being the chaff, come on the occasion of judgment.

Judgment is the occasion for the separation. As with the sheep and the goats, the tares and the wheat, if you think of the tares and the wheat, the tares are a distinctly different plant.

It says that there's a field, and the enemy has come and sown tares in the field.

So you've got tares and wheat, and those are gathered up and separated. The tares are thrown into the fire.

Chaff, if you know, with wheat, they take the wheat, and you have to thresh it.

You have to separate it out. You get the grain, but you also get all this extra stuff that's worthless. It's called chaff, and you have to separate it.

You have to blow it away. Chaff is part of the plant. It's part of the wheat plant, but unlike the grain, which is gathered and to be used, the chaff is tossed aside because it has no value.

Israel, the metaphor here, John the Baptist speaking to the nation of Israel, Israel was full of people that grew up together, that worshipped together, that went to the temple together, who looked a lot like wheat, but for many, it was an empty endeavor.

Being spiritual gave them the appearance of being part of the plant, but some of them were chaff that were separated and blown away.

John states, John the Baptist, there in chapter 3 states that bearing fruit is the purpose of the plant, to bear fruit, and that's what separates them.

So the ungodly do not bear fruit. They wither, and then it says, they're like the chaff that is blown away.

Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

So we have ungodly, we have sinners, and then we have the congregation of the righteous.

So if judgment, if God's judgment is the occasion for separation, what does this separation look like?

We saw a great separation happening between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, but what does separation look like on a broader?

I'm sure many of you have seen an image. It was often presented to us as children.

There's a, usually it's a cartoon, and there's a man standing at a fork in a road, and he's got this path that he can go down, and it leads to hell, and then he's got this path he goes down, and it leads to heaven, and the question is, which way are you going to choose, right?

Are you going to end up in hell, or are you going to end up in heaven? I think that that's good as far as it goes, but biblically speaking, it's a little bit different.

We get the sense that if you choose the way of unrighteousness, you go to hell where Satan rules, or if you choose the way of righteousness, you end up in heaven, which is the place where God rules.

Actually, it should be two paths that lead to the same place. They lead to God, in which there is a judgment, and then there is a separation unto hell and unto heaven.

Both people are on very different paths, but both of them are going to God.

There is not a place where Satan rules, and he has his will happening here, and then

God has his will happening in heaven. No, it says that everyone will stand before God.

Hebrews 9 .27, and as it is appointed for men once to die, but after this, the judgment.

Both paths lead to God, and then the judgment. And so both paths leading to God, when they get to God, there is a separation.

There's a separation, and we talk about judgment often in, when we use the term judgment, it's used in the negative light, but biblically speaking, there are two different judgments.

The unrighteous face a judgment unto death, unto damnation, but there's a judgment that awaits the righteous, and this is those that are in Christ.

There is now no condemnation, so we don't fear judgment in a punishment sense, but rather we stand before God, and our obedience, the way that we followed him, and he says, well done, my good and faithful servant.

It's a judgment unto reward for being faithful. So there are two paths.

The righteous walks one, the unrighteous walks another. We see in Psalm 1, the blessed man does not walk the path of the unrighteous.

There's a completely separate path. We know that sinners cannot stand before God's righteous judgment.

Psalm 130 says, If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

The idea being that no one could stand if the Lord is to mark iniquities.

We cannot stand. We also know that he does not mark iniquities for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8 .1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the

Spirit. That verse in Psalm 130, verse 3, where it says that no one could stand if God were to mark iniquity.

In verse 4, it says, But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.

So if the Lord marks iniquity, none can stand, but there is forgiveness in the

Lord. Psalm 1 is about the blessed man. It starts with the blessed man.

It tells us what he is not like. It tells us what he is like. And we see that he is like a tree, and he will stand before God unto blessing, unto life.

The ungodly and the sinner have no part in that judgment. Not only would they not be able to stand, but they will not be there as part of that group.

They will not be present among the congregation. They will not be present among those to whom

Christ says, Well done, my good and faithful servant. They are not able to stand, and they will not be there.

What about the paths? What about these paths? Proverbs 14, verse 12 says,

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death.

And notice it says, It seems right. It seems right to a man.

It's deceptive, but it leads unto death. It is not the correct way to go.

Isaiah 53, 6, All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way. Everyone to his own way.

So there are paths that are followed that lead unto death, that do not go to life. They're on the wrong trajectory.

They're going the wrong way. Now there's more to be said.

Matthew 7, verse 13. And this is a really famous verse that we use, particularly in evangelism.

But I'd like to give a little bit of context to it. When we're talking about the way and talking about how we are to walk, it says in Matthew 7, verse 13,

Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

Small is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and only few find it.

So we can get an idea just by reading these couple of verses that evangelism is going to be very difficult, that very few will come, that many people will find destruction, many people are on the wrong way, and that way is broad, and the way to God is narrow, and only a few come.

This is the same concern that the disciples had. If you read in Luke 13, it says,

And he went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one of them, the disciples said,

Lord, are there few who are saved? So the disciples had this same question, are there few that are saved?

I'd like to give a little bit of context as this is talking about the way, the way that leads to life, and here it says that the way is narrow.

Context in Matthew 7 is that Jesus is talking primarily to a

Jewish audience. Matthew is speaking, he's writing his gospel, and it's to a

Jewish audience, and so he uses Jewish terms. He presents two paths to this

Jewish audience. In verses 15 through 20, he explains how to know which path or which plant is the one that they should be on or which plant they should be gathering from.

If it doesn't have good fruit, then it's not a good plant. Can you get figs from thistles?

No. Can you get grapes from a non -grape plant? No, you can't.

So he talks about examining the fruit of a thing to see whether it is of the

Lord or not, and that's still in chapter seven. He's using all that Jewish imagery.

Then he turns in Matthew 7, verse 21 through 23, and he says this, not everyone who says to me,

Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my

Father, who is in heaven. Many, there's this word again, many will say to me on that day,

Lord, Lord, did we not? Notice what he says here. Did we not prophesy in your name?

Did we not drive out demons and perform many miracles? Who prophesies, who drives out demons, who does miracles?

This was the Israelites. This is not the pagan people. These are the things, they're doing these things in the name of their

God. He's talking to a Jewish audience. He says that many will say to him on that day,

Lord, Lord, did we not do all of these things? And then I will tell them plainly,

I never knew you. Depart from me. There's that separation again.

Depart from me. And notice what he calls them. You workers of lawlessness.

The people who were seeking to keep the law. We did all of these things in your name.

He says, you're workers of lawlessness because they were not doing the will of father in heaven.

They were checking off the boxes. We're God's people. This is what we do. We have the temple.

We are God's special and chosen people. And he says, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Further context to this, talking about the narrow way and the Broadway. As he's talking to the

Jewish people, and he says, enter through the narrow gate. For you Jews, the narrow gate.

In the next chapter, Jesus has dealings with the unclean.

So the lepers and the Gentiles are also considered unclean. You don't touch them.

They're like the swine. They're like the pigs. You don't go around them. You don't enter their homes. They are unclean.

And in chapter eight, Jesus heals a leper. Then Jesus meets a centurion.

Not only is he the enemy, but he's a soldier for the enemy. The Roman occupation who is oppressing

God's people. And what does he say? The centurion asks, please heal.

Please heal on my behalf. You don't have to come to my house. I know how it works. You have authority.

You can speak the words and they'll be healed. And then Jesus says this. This is

Matthew chapter eight verses 10 through 12. When Jesus heard it, he marveled and he said to those who followed, assuredly

I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And I say to you that many will come from east and from west and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In the previous context where he's talking to the Jewish audience, he says, few can enter.

Few can enter. And he meets the Gentiles. He meets the centurion.

He says, many are going to come from this group of people from east and from west.

And they're going to come and sit with the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

They will sit at the Jewish kingdom. And he says, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.

And then continuing on in that vein, in Matthew chapter nine, we get the statement, the harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his field.

Something interesting about that passage as we walked through Matthew seven, talking to a

Jewish audience saying, few can come, the way is broad, shifting into a wider context of the world.

Many will come from east and west. And then in nine, where it says the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

He also says this, it says, then Jesus went about the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every sickness and disease among the people.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep with no shepherd, like sheep with no shepherd.

Jesus is the Messiah, the shepherd to the Jewish people.

In John chapter 10 verse 16, it also says, and I have other sheep, which are not of this fold, them also

I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Earlier I quoted Isaiah 53, 6. It says, all we have gone like sheep, that is

Jew and Gentile. Everyone has gone astray, has turned everyone to his own way.

And then it says, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all,

Jew and Gentile. So, having said this, this sin, this iniquity, being laid on this one, and the ungodly is walking down the wrong way, what is the nature of the way?

The correct way, the way that the blessed man walks. John the

Baptist was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He says, prepare ye the way of the

Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord. And then he tells them to bear fruit, which are worthy of repentance.

Worthy of repentance. Thomas had a question about the way. Thomas asks this question.

Jesus is saying, I have to go and prepare a place in my father's house, there are many mansions, there's many rooms.

And Thomas says this, Lord, we do not know where you're going. And how can we know the way?

How do we know how to, wherever you're going is where we want to be. But we don't know how to get there.

Jesus says, I am the way. I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the father except through me. In Psalm chapter one, right after saying, therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in judgment.

They're not going the right way. They won't be able to stand. They will not stand in the congregation of the righteous.

Verse six, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous. It is

Jesus Christ. We do not enter unless we have the righteousness of God and we only get the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ.

He is our righteousness. And so we see that there are two paths.

Praise be to God that those that are on one path, they're,

I think in the scripture, it says we were taken from the kingdom of darkness and placed in the kingdom of light.

Christ can move anyone who is on the way to destruction. He can save them.

He can pluck them out of that path. He calls them, hey, sheep, hear my voice and his sheep come.

Oh, I'm wandering off in the wilderness. I'm going the wrong direction, but his sheep hear his voice for the

Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the ungodly shall perish. So we should pray for the ungodly.

Join me in prayer. God, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the hope that we have.

I thank you that you died to save us sinners that we did not deserve it.

We did not know that we needed it. And then one day you spoke and you called to us and we saw the state that we were in.

Lord, you grant repentance and faith and it's all a gift from you.

So we thank you for dying on that cross. We thank you for rising from the dead, for showing us the way through death, for, for taking on the curse that we deserved and making us the blessed man in you for planting us next to the waters of life.

Lord, we thank you for that. And we ask that as we bear fruit, it would be all for your glory and that many would come from North, South, East and West.

May we bring people with us to your table. We thank you for giving us this kingdom.

We pray that as you are ruling and reigning, that we would rule and reign well. Help us to fill, fulfill the commission that you've given us.

And may we always look to you for our hope, for our assurance and for everything that we need to fulfill this commission.