Psalms 1:1-6

[0:00] Psalms in chapter 1 verses 1 through 6 began at verse 1, It says, Blessed is the man that walketh not on the council of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor siteth in the seed of the scornful, But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in his law doth he meditate day and night, And he shall be like a tree, Planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like chaff, which the wind driveeth away.

[0:36] Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

[0:49] Back to verse 1, Blessed is the man that walketh not on the council of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor siteth in the seed of the scornful.

[1:00] Here we have the writer of this psalm telling us how the blessed man, Not how he is to act, And not things that the blessed man is to do, But quite the opposite. He's telling us what blessed men are not to do, What blessed people are not to do. He's talking about their conversation with the wicked, As Paul puts it in the New Testament. He's talking about living and abiding Around those that are in a sinful lifestyle. Again it says, Blessed is the man that walketh not on the council of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor siteth in the seed of the scornful.

[1:42] So he's saying that a man that doesn't do these things, He shall be blessed of the Lord. Now folks, this is not saying, This is not telling us 100% that all it takes is for us to not hang out with ungodly people, And we will be safe. But ungodly people have no reason to be hanging out with ungodly people.

[2:05] I'm not saying that if you've got an unsafe person in your household, That you should cut ties with them. I'm not saying that if you've got a mother or a father, Or brothers or sisters or children or grandchildren, That you should have no dealings with them. Folks, I'm not saying that it's a complete cutoff From the ungodly to the ungodly. God will do that in his own time. There's a separation That is spoken of in the scriptures in Matthew and 25, where there will be a permanent separation, Where Jesus Christ says that he himself will separate those that are on the ride as sheep, And those that are on the lift as goats. That'll be a permanent separation between the godly And the ungodly. But if we separate ourselves from the world, how will they ever hear the gospel?

[2:55] They will never hear it from another lost person. They won't hear the gospel from someone who hasn't Been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ themselves. They won't get a true version of the gospel.

[3:06] What the world needs to hear is that the world is full of sin. The world is full of wickedness. But Jesus Christ was sent by Almighty God Jesus. The only begotten Son of the Father Was sent from upon high to save sinners. Christ says that himself in the gospel of John That he came to seek and to save that which was lost. We all know John 3.16 By heart that God so loved the world. He gave his only begotten Son to whosoever.

[3:38] Believe it, the name should not perish, but have everlasting life. But what the world Doesn't like to hear is that this therefore is the condemnation. Just a couple of verses After John 3.16. This is the condemnation that men love darkness rather than lie.

[3:55] These are the same Jesus Christ that spoke John 3.16. He said that men love darkness Rather than lie. And it's because men love darkness that Jesus had to come into the world as the lie.

[4:10] We know Jesus says in John 14, I am the way, the truth and the life and no man can come out of the Father but by me I saw that on the cover of the program that was handed out this morning.

[4:23] He is the way, he is the truth and he is the life. And if anyone wants to come to the Father It is by Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ alone that this will happen. If anyone wants to be saved It will be by Jesus Christ and he alone. It will be through faith alone and cross alone For the scripture alone and through the glory of God alone. Hallelujah.

[4:51] You can agree with that or disagree with that. But that's the way the Bible teaches salvation. It is in Jesus Christ and he alone. It is in faith in God and his perfect plan and that's alone.

[5:03] Blessed is the man who doesn't sit with the scornful. Blessed is the man that doesn't walk in the way of wickedness. It doesn't walk with the evil doers. If you notice here though in Psalms in chapter 1 It says blessed is the man that woke up not in the council of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor siteth in the seat of the scornful. It shows the progression here. Folks the world is out there and they are trying to entice us every way that they can. We have an enemy. The Bible refers to him as our adversary. The Bible refers to Satan himself as the accuser of the brethren. We have an enemy that is constantly trying to entice us out into the world. He is constantly trying to lure us into the world to lure us away from the things of God to damage our testimony or to completely destroy our testimony amongst the world, amongst our brothers and sisters and Christ, amongst everyone.

[5:59] Folks sin will do this very thing but if you notice the progression here. First someone, it's talking about someone that's walking with the sinful. Then it's talking about someone standing with the sinful. Then it's talking about someone sitting with the sinful. They walk along and then they stand there because something has caught their attention and they stand. They keep from having to do two things at one time to walk and to listen and before you know it they are sitting there with the sinful. They are sitting with the wicked and with the sinful. This is exactly what happened a lot over in the book of Genesis you read in Genesis in chapter 13 that Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom. He knew that Sodom was a wicked city. He knew the evil that went on there but nevertheless he pitched his tent towards there. Just a few chapters later in Genesis 19 we see Lot that same man the very nephew of Abram. We see him sinning in the game at Sodom. He began by pitching his tent towards Sodom though. He wasn't there yet. The folks before we go looking down our pharisexical noses at Lot before we go doing that you remember that Peter twice in the second chapter of 2 Peter twice it refers to the righteousness of Lot. It refers to him the scriptures themselves refer to him as just Lot. It says that he delivered that God delivered just Lot and it's not talking about only Lot because we also know that two of his daughters went out of that city unharmed. We know that his his wife come out of the city unharmed although she looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt but there were four people at least that were delivered out of that city so when it says that just Lot was delivered it is talking about Lot was justified in the eyes of God in that same chapter 2 Peter in chapter 2 it says that he vexed his righteous soul was vexed with the conversation of the wicked his righteous soul not his lost soul not his soul that was just as evil as those that were around him but Lot had been had had been lured into this sin Lot saw something attractive that was in it folks sin is awfully attractive it's attractive to you and it's attractive to me Satan knows how to entice us with sin Satan knows what we were before we were saved he knows what we were into before we were saved Satan would never tempt me with drugs because I was never a druggy Satan tempts me with the sin that I was part of though the sin that I that I that I did partake of those are the things that he tempts me with we won't get into what those things are they're none of your business and your personal sin is none of my business I know the Bible says a confession is good for the soul confess it to God he's the only one can forgive you of your sin they don't take us confessing to one another although there's nothing wrong with that anybody got anything going on in your life

[9:02] I'll be more than happy to listen to you I'll be happy to pray with you I'll be happy to pray for you I'll be happy to do those things but when when I say that confession is good for the soul though when I'm quoting that scripture I'm not saying that it's going to do you a whole lot of good to confess it to me you confess it to God you confess to God yes it's good to have one another praying for one another yes that's good but be careful be careful who who you vent to be careful who you let know let know what about you be cautious of those things I've seen things get blown way out of proportion in those matters verse 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night whose delight whose delight are we talking about here the man who was blessed in verse one blessed is the man that woke up not in the council of the ungodly nor stands in the way of sinners nor sit at them to seek of the scornful but his delight that same man his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night so it is not just keeping from sin or keeping from sinful people that will cause us to be blessed folks I've read in Revelation chapter one just to read the words of revelation will bless a man but it is not just that that will bless a man it is not just staying away from the sinful not and not not walking with them not standing with them and not sitting with them but his delight is in the law of the Lord this means to saturate your mind and saturate your heart with the word of God how much time are we spending in the scriptures per week or per day or per month folks we take time out of every day of our lives to nourish our body we take time out of every day to eat a sandwich or to eat a salad or to eat something that is going to bring some kind of nutrients to our body but how much time are we taking throughout the day to nourish our bodies and to nourish our heart and to nourish our souls with the word of God which is the bread of life we should be we should take more heed into doing that than to nourish our own physical bodies we should take more heed to take in more of God's word than to take in physical bread for our bodies

[11:32] God will supply us with what we need physically he'll supply us it might be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or it might be a ribeye regardless God will take care of his own God will take care of his people if we are still here and we are born again we are washing the blood of Jesus Christ and we are still here on this earth we are not of the world but we are in the world we are here for a purpose and that purpose is to carry the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a world that is full of sinners that needs salvation is that not the great commission that is given there at the end of the gospel of Matthew that great commission that we are to go into all all the world and preach the gospel and to every living creature we are to preach the gospel whether they accept it or not it's up to them and trust me there's a lot of rejection out there you all heard me say I do a lot of evangelism me and another brother from Kingsport we go out together and we do a lot of street evangelism there's a lot of rejection out there people will reject the word of God they reject me all day long it ain't gonna hurt my feelings but when they reject the word of

[12:45] God when they reject the gospel of Jesus Christ that's what brings tears to my eyes that's what that's that's what saddens me that's what grieves my heart is when they are rejecting the only thing that truly is hope and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night this is where our delight should be the the the words of God the law of God I'm not just talking about Exodus chapter 20 and the 10 commandments that are given there I'm talking about the entire word of God every precept and every line of the word of God this should be our delight there's some things in this Bible that still to this day stomp on my toes it still gets under my skin but folks it's for my good when that happens if that wasn't happening I'd be worried about my eternal state it should get on our nerves not on our nerves but under our skin it should get on our toes and that should bring us to a place of repentance it's just like

[13:53] Nathan the prophet when he come to David after David had had his affair with Bathsheba and we all know the story there in the books of Samuel David had his affair with Bathsheba there was a baby born out of that relationship Nathan the prophet comes to David tells him what he done David David begins to weep after it's after it's revealed unto him what he has done David begins to weep and he begins to mourn but what did he do he repented he repented after that child had died and he said he said he can't come to me but I can go to him after all these things that happen David it says that he arose and he washed himself he anointed himself he went to the house of the Lord and he worshiped folks whatever comes our way if we are delighting in the word of God if we are delighting in the law of God and the counsel of God and everything about God if we are delighting in God himself the world cannot overtake us I promise you that I promise you the world cannot overtake you as much as it seems like they may be going to as much as hard as the storms may come in your life there may be death come there may be financial problems come there may be sickness come there may be this come there may be that come but folks it's just as Jesus said in Matthew and chapter seven he that built his house upon the solid rock the house will stand when the storm comes but he that builds his house upon the sand that house will go away or be destroyed and great is the destruction of it where are we building our house are we building it on the counsel of God are we building it on the word of God and are we building it on Christ himself I highly encourage you to do so verse three and he and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring it forth his fruit in his season his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water who is this he again go back to verse one it's the one who is blessed he shall be like a tree that is planted by the waters that bring it forth his fruit in his season his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper now first and foremost foremost I want to get out of the way the very last line of this everything that he doeth shall prosper folks that doesn't mean God's giving us a blank check it doesn't mean that that whatever it is that we pray for I understand there's several times over in the New Testament that teaches Jesus taught taught of himself that whatsoever he asked he shall receive but folks that is not a blank check if our delight is upon the law of the Lord that we just talked about here in verse two and our delight is in the things of God and in the word of God and the further the calls of God and the kingdom of God and this is where our delight is then our prayers are going to line up with the will and with the heart of Almighty God and we won't be asking for things that as the book of James in chapter four says that we can consume upon our own lust we'll be asking for the things that God truly wants for us we'll be asking for things that that we truly want and need from God that align with his will and if it aligns with the will of God I promise you God will have no problem giving it to you and he will have no problem giving it to me he should be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth his fruit and do season this tree that's planted by the rivers of water it doesn't have to worry about drought it doesn't have to worry about a dry season like we had this past summer in the in our neck of the woods here in southwest virginia northeast Tennessee this tree doesn't have to worry about that because it is planted by the rivers of water it has constant nourishment Jesus says in John in 15 he says I'm the vine and you are the branches and if you about in me and I and you then you will bring forth your fruit you'll bring forth much fruit for me folks but it takes a biting and cross that word about it means to make your abode and to live and to concentrate on that to never leave that if we are abiding and Christ our fruit will show that we will have fruit fruit that shows that we are abiding and Christ and abiding in the things of God he should be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth his fruit in due season we will we will bring forth fruit and I understand in one of the parables that Christ himself spoke in the gospel account some people might bring forth 30 fold some people might bring forth 60 fold and some people might bring forth 100 fold and just add to that some person might bring forth two fold and somebody might bring forth 200 fold but regardless regardless it's not our job to envy one another if you're producing more fruit for the kingdom of God than what I am I say hey man praise God and hallelujah and I'm going to pray that much harder for you we don't need to envy our brothers and sisters in

[19:24] Christ we don't need to envy them we will bring forth fruit however much and however little that's up to God but we will bring forth fruit bring forth his fruit in due season his leaf also shall not wither folks it doesn't matter what dryness comes our way it doesn't matter what blot might come our way our leaf will not wither why because we are planting as a tree by the rivers of water we are getting constant nourishment from that stream we get constant nourishment from Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ Jesus says in the very last chapter of this blessed old book and in the very last chapter of revelation he says he who is a thirst let him come and take and drink of the water of life freely that water of life comes from him he said basically the same thing to that lady at the well in John in chapter four we all know that account do we not that him the disciples are going through

[20:28] Samaria he meets the woman at the well everybody knows her story she was uh she was constantly up to no good she was she was sleeping around all kinds of other things were going on with her but yet Jesus Christ sought her out he sought her out and he told her he said you drink of this water you're going to thirst again but anybody that drinks of the water the ah for them which will be that water of life anybody that drinks of this water shall not thirst again boy that picked your interest didn't it that picked her interest the folks it takes Christ to do that we can go out and we can preach the gospel we can go out and we can and we can have our fruit produced because we are as this tree that's planted by the by the rivers of water we can go and do all these things but it takes Christ to save that aggravated me when I when I first started preaching it aggravated me because I never saw people coming to the altars I never saw people repenting and trusting Jesus

[21:28] Christ it aggravated me to know when I was thinking there was something wrong with my preaching there was something wrong with the way I was presenting the gospel until I read something one day out of this blessed old book out of Romans in chapter one Paul wrote to the Roman church he said for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God under salvation it's the gospel of Jesus Christ that is the power of God under salvation not in my presentation of it not in any preacher's presentation of it not in your presentation of it if you're going out to your family if you're going out to your friends if you're going if you're handing out Bible tracks when you're out in town or going through a drive through somewhere whatever the case is it is not in your presentation of the gospel that is the power of God under salvation but it is the gospel itself that is the power of God under salvation and that relieve me that relieve me when I was getting so aggravated that's just a little extra story I threw in there verse four the ungodly are not so but are like chaff which the wind drives away this is the saddest verse in this entire passage of scripture the saddest verse thus far we've been talking about the godly man and the blessed man and what it is to be blessed to not sit or to not walk and stand and sit with the wicked and with the scornful and to delight in the law of the Lord and the man that does that he shall be as a tree that is planted by the rivers of water and he will bring forth his fruit nothing's going to wither his leaf up to this point we've been reading about what it is to be the blessed man then verse four the ungodly are not so but are like chaff which the wind drive us away what is chaff chaff is useless chaff is not even good to to to use as tender to kindle a fire it burns up too quick you can use it for nothing chaff is the part when they're threshing the wheat when they're thrashing the wheat they go up on the hill sides and they thrust the wheat y'all remember the account in the book of judges I believe it's judges in chapter six where Gideon is down at the wine press and he's thrashing the floor and it says to hide it from the million eyes Gideon was afraid the threshing floor was up upon a hill and if he was up there threshing wheat the million eyes would have seen him but he was down at the bottom of the hill where they couldn't see him but he was thrashing wheat in the wrong place but regardless of any of that when you thresh wheat and you take it and you scoop it up and you scoop it up and you throw it up into the air the chaff blows away the good grain the actual grain the chaff is the hole that holds the good grain but when they throw it up in the air the wind blows away what's useless and what's left what's good falls to the ground and it's swept up and it's used and it's used for grain purposes used for bread making food some some kind of sustenance but chaff is useless folks this here says again verse four the ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind travels away it is saying the ungodly are useless they are useless in as far as the furthermen of the kingdom of god goes they are useless in the plan of god that's not to say that a sovereign god cannot use them god used pharaoh over in the book of Exodus did he not and pharaoh was an ungodly person god used him and god can use the ungodly for his glory and for his honor and he is sovereign and he won't ask our permission nor does he need our permission to do so but the ungodly it describes them the bible describes them as chaff as something that's useless that's sad that is a sad statement that we find here in the scriptures the ungodly are not so are not so they're not like the ones that's planted like a tree by the rivers of water they're not like the blessed man the ungodly are not so but are like chaff which the wind drives away verse five therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the roaches the ungodly again verse four the ungodly are not so but they are like chaff which is driven away by the wind that says therefore because they are like chaff and because they are ungodly because they are ungodly is why they are like chaff verse five therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment they won't be able to stand in the judgment what judgment the judgment of god folks there we hear it said all the time i've heard it said all my life y'all probably heard it said all of your life that the judgment of god is coming folks to an extent the judgment of god is already here the judgment of god is here it's in it's in our country it's in our region it's in our cities it's in our world the judgment of god is already here but there's a worse judgment that is coming paul says in the new testament that we must all stand at the judgment seat of christ to give an account for what we have done in these bodies whether it be good or whether it be evil we will all stand at the judgment seat of christ but that final judgment that comes the great white throne judgment that i read about in the scriptures i won't be at that judgment that's a whole separate thing that is for those that is for the ungodly that's for those that have rejected christ that's for those that have rejected the gospel and they never received salvation they never received forgiveness that's what the great white throne judgment is for but these folks the ungodly the ones that the bible describes as chaff which is driven by the wind therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous in other words their chance is out the window it's gone you ever read the book of obadi very sad very sad book in the scripture it's only one chapter long i highly i highly recommend you read it sometime why is it so sad you got the edamites going against their brother their their own brother their own kin and god comes against them and nowhere in that scripture nowhere in the entire one chapter book of obadi is redemption or forgiveness offered to those people their judgment is sealed nowhere now there's salvation found in there there's salvation found in every book of the bible i'm happy to report to you but that salvation is for the people of god that's for the jew that's for the the jewish people for the israelites for the hebrus but nowhere nowhere in the entire scripture and obadi is an opportunity for giving us given to jacob's brother the edamite sad sad scripture i highly encourage you to read it sometime therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment the ungodly shall not stand you know what that says on the flip side of that coin the godly will stand in the judgment we will stand folks there is scripture in the book of revelation i believe it's in revelation in chapter six that talks about the mighty men and it talks about the kings of the earth and it talks about it talks about the higher ups and it says that they flee to the rocks and they flee to the mountains and it says who shall save us from the wrath of the land and the very next verse they're screaming for the rocks in the mountains to fall on them and it says who shall stand who shall stand no one except for those that god has redeemed those are the ones that will stand the ungodly cannot stand they might think that they will folks this world is full of pride i've heard people while i've been out preaching on street corners i've heard people say when i get to god i'm going to give him a good walk for i'm going to give him a piece of my mind and folks i i warned those people you will do no such thing you will do no such thing with the sovereign god of this universe with the god that spoke this entire world and this entire universe into existence you will have nothing to say to him and he won't hear anything that you had to say to him folks this is god's truth and this is god's word hebrus in chapter one and verse one says god who at sundry times and in diverse manners has spoken into us by the prophets and spoken to us in the dreams and in the visions but happened these last days spoken into us by his son jesus christ that's how god speaks this word is how god speaks to us now and jesus christ is all over this word from genesis to revelation jesus can be found all throughout the scriptures nor centers in the congregation of the righteous not only will the young god they'd be cut off from god but they'll also be cut off from god's people there'll be no more chance for them sad sad thought and sad scripture for the lord noeth the way of the righteous i say praise god for that the lord noeth the way of the righteous who is the righteous that's those of us that are born again that's those of us that have believed god and have believed his promises and god knows our ways why and how does god know our ways because god is the one that sets his ways before the righteous he is the one that determines our path he is the one that establishes our goings that's how the psalmist wrote it is it non is that know what david said when he said that he picked him up out of the barry play he set him upon a solid rock and he established his goings god knows the ways of the righteous because he's the one that made those ways christ says i'm the way yeah i'm sure you god knows that way through the lord know what the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish this doesn't mean god doesn't know the way of the ungodly it's just a warning to the ungodly that their way shall perish their way shall perish we see over at least a couple of times i can think of in the gospel of towns where jesus will heal someone jesus will heal someone of some infirmity and he'll say thy faitheth may be whole go thy way he tells them go your way but what do they do there's one over in mark in chapter five the one that we know of is legion in the scriptures you have had demon upon demon upon demon leaving inside of him but jesus christ cast those demons out jesus christ healed him not only physically but spiritually as well but he told them to go his way but that man wanted to follow jesus did he not people that crossed healed he said go thy way but what would they do they would go with him blind bar to mess that we read about in the scriptures in mark in chapter 10 jesus told him your faith has made you whole go your way but bar to mess followed the way of christ folks when we are made whole when we are truly made whole and we are truly made pure and we are truly redeemed by god's amazing grace his way becomes our way period so when the bible here says for the lord know what the way of the righteous it's because god made that way god knows the way of the righteous because he is righteousness but the way of the ungodly shall perish folks this fits right in line with something that that cross says in matthew and chapter seven when he's talking about the straight and the narrow way and the broad way that leads to destruction it is a straight way that leads to life everlasting and it is a narrow gate that leads to that life that is everlasting it's a hard way for those for those that believe on the son of god it's a hard way for those of us that have been redeemed but we have crossed with us we have crossed with us i believe that that way and that doorway is so narrow that only one person can go through it at a time this is just spencer's thoughts i believe only one person could enter at a time and maybe have to go sideways to fit through there the folks if i'm in Christ and Christ is in me he is going through that way and that that that straight and narrow way with me and if he is in you and abiding in you and you're in him and abiding in him as the scripture describes it he's going with you the folks that broadway the broadway that leads to destruction we got all kinds of company on that way there's millions and millions of people along that way the straight and the narrow path that's a lonely path to travel you might lose family you might lose friends i know when i got saved i had people turn their back on me i didn't think whatever turned their back on me some of my best friends from middle school oh not turn their back on me once i receive salvation but folks the word the word says it would be that way Christ said it himself if men hate you know that they hated me first they don't hate me because i'm spencer they hate me because of whom i'm affiliated with they hate me because i'm affiliated with jesus christ the son of god that's why they hate me the lord know what the way of the righteous but the way of the godly shall perish and folks that's not and it may perish that's not a it could perish it will perish the way of the ungodly will that's my message for you all this morning god bless you i appreciate your attention