Alright, let's turn to Psalm
chapter 1. The first Psalm. Psalm 1. Let's read this together. Psalm
1. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel, the instruction, the wisdom, the word of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful, of the mockers, those that scorn and shame. 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 the chaff which the wind driveth away. 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. Now the psalmist encourages us
here not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, but to delight
in the law of the Lord, in the Word of the Lord, and to meditate
on His Word. So we're going to walk through
this psalm tonight in the counsel of God our Savior. The counsel
of Christ Himself, that Word of Christ Himself, concerning
the whole volume of the scripture is this, they are they which
testify of me. Psalm 40 and verse 7 Christ is
speaking and he says in the volume of the book it is written of
me. So when we're reading the Psalms
along with all the rest of the scriptures we must always first
look to see Christ. Christ is the light. If we can
see Christ the light, by His light, then we walk in that light,
heeding the instruction that He's given us in the Word as
He makes this Word effectual in our hearts by His Spirit.
Psalm 1-1 here says, Blessed is the man. Another translation,
and just as true to this, would be, Oh the blessedness of that
man. The book of Psalms is a book
of praise. If you'll go through at your
leisure and read the first word of every Psalm, you will find
that almost every first verse of these Psalms begins with a
praise to God. A praise to Christ. Rejoicing
in Christ. These are songs of praise. That's
what they are. And the last verse of the Psalms,
in the 150th Psalm, says, Praise ye the Lord. And that's how this
Psalm begins. Praise ye the Lord. Psalm 1-1. Blessed is the man
Oh, the blessedness of Christ Jesus, the man. Do you remember
how Paul expressed his praise in the third verse of Ephesians? He said, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as He chose
us in Him before the foundation of the world. Blessed be the
God and Father. Well, this psalm begins with
the same expression. It's the same word. Blessed is
the man. Oh, blessed is that man. And he's talking about Christ.
Turn over to Psalm 72 and look at verse 17. Psalm 72, verse
17. This is Christ it's speaking
of here. His name shall endure forever.
His name shall be continued as long as the sun, and men shall
be blessed in Him. and all nations. Every man that's
blessed in Him, called of Him, shall call Him blessed. The literal translation of Psalm
1-1 is this. Let me read this to you. Oh,
the happiness of that one who hath not walked in the counsel
of the wicked, and in the way of sinners hath not stood, and
in the seat of scorners hath not sat. Now, who has ever not
done those things? Who has ever not done those things? There's only one who has ever
not done those things, and that's the God-man. That's Christ Jesus,
our mediator and Savior. He never did these things. Look
here in Psalm 1-1. It says, the blessedness of that
man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." You know what
beguiled Eve in the garden? You know what it was that tricked
Eve in the garden? It was the counsel of the ungodly,
Satan. came to her in the garden and
he tricked her. He said, hath God said you'll
die? And he said, you won't die. This
was his counsel to her. In the day you eat, you'll have
some wisdom like you never would have otherwise. Reach forth your
hand and take by your own hand that which God has forbidden.
You reach and take by your hand what God's forbidden and you'll
have something God's not given you. That's the counsel of the
ungodly. That's the counsel of self-righteous,
worldly, false religion. You reach forth your hand and
you'll get something God hasn't given you. That's counsel of
the ungodly. And Adam, through that counsel
of the ungodly, Adam sinned against God and the whole human race
fell in spiritual death, complete and total ruin. Well, Christ
was tempted in all points like as we are. Satan tempted him
in all points, and he never once heeded the counsel of the ungodly. We come forth from our mother's
womb heeding the counsel of the ungodly. We come forth from our
mother's womb heeding the word of the prince of darkness. You
think about this. You think of all of the superstitious
sayings we have that we'll just throw out and say. That's just
the word of men. And sometimes you get to thinking
about those things and you think, that's not even true. But we
just become so accustomed to saying things that we just heard.
And it's just ungodly counsel. It's not even true. When will
a sinner cease heeding the vain wisdom of men? When will we cease
to hear the wisdom of the wicked? When will we stop listening to
the self-righteous who would have the sinner to mingle grace
and works? Or listening to the world's wisdom
and philosophy, which Paul said is just utter foolishness. When
will we stop listening to all that mess? When of God, Christ
is made unto us wisdom. That's when we'll stop heeding
the counsel of the ungodly. Oh, happy is that man. Happy is that man that has received
this blessedness from Christ Jesus, the Holy and Righteous
One, who didn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. That's when we'll
heed His counsel and walk in His life. Look here at the next
thing. It says, Nor standeth in the
way of sinners, Now Christ came and He took upon Him the likeness
of sinful flesh. Christ came and He walked among
sinners. Christ ate with publicans and
sinners. Christ laid down His life as
the substitute for sinners. Willingly made sin by God that
He might justify all for whom He died. But Christ never stood
in the way of sinners. He never wants sin. himself. This is what the Hebrew writer
said, for such a high priest became us who's holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens.
When is it? When is it that we're going to
stop walking in the way of destruction? When is it we're going to be
turned out of this way that we, thanks wise, When are we going
to be turned out of that way? And stop looking to this way
that ends in death. That ends in complete and total
destruction. We're going to turn out of that
way when we behold that way's not in us. The way of life's
not in us by nature. The way of life is Christ. Christ
is the way. He's the only one that this could
ever be said of. He never stood in the way of
sinners. Never. We're conceived in sin.
We come forth from our mother's womb speaking lie. This is our
way. But Christ is that way. And when
the Spirit of God makes us to rest by faith in Christ, trusting
that by His one offering He's perfected us forever, He's made
us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
life. When the power of the Father has overcome the power of the
darkness in us and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son, we'll find rest in Christ the way. We'll rest in Him. Look
here at the next thing He says. He says, blessed is the man that
doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful. The word scornful is
proud and men who consider, they're proud and consider others beneath
them. Who is it here who's never sat
in the seat of the scornful? I can't believe they did that.
I wouldn't do that. We just put ourselves in the
seat of the scornful. who has never sat in the seat
of the scornful. There's only one that never has,
and that one's Christ. He never has. He's the only one
that really and truly had reason, if he would have been against
the law of God, it was truly the law of God for him not to
make himself a reputation, but he's the only one that had reason
to make himself a reputation. He's God. He's very God. But He didn't come and boast
of Himself. He came and He made Himself of
absolutely no reputation. He took the form of a servant.
And He came to serve for His people. And being found in the
form of a servant, He humbled Himself and became obedient even
unto death, even the death of the cross. You know those Pharisees
that mocked Christ. That's what they did. They appeared
to be so zealous for the glory of God, and they were very zealous,
but it wasn't according to knowledge. Very zealous. Appeared very zealous
to keep the law of God. And when Christ came, they looked
down upon Him because of his lowliness, because he made himself
of no reputation, because there wasn't anything in him that when
they saw him made them think, now there's a holy man. Nothing
about him drew their attention and they mocked him. They scorned
him. They spoke shamefully of him. And you know those who That day
when they took him into Pilate's judgment hall, and they put the
crown on his head, and they put that robe around him like he
was a king, and they put a scepter in his hand, and they smote him
on the face, and they bowed down and mocked him and said, Hail,
King of the Jews, and all those things that they did. That was
the very same scorning that those most zealously pious religious
folks did sitting in the synagogue claiming to be doing all for
the glory of God. The same exact score. There's
only one who's never done that, and that's Christ. When are we
going to stop sitting in the seat of the scorner? When will
we be separated unto God to no longer sit in the seat of the
scorner as if we have anything at all to be proud of? We'll
do it when we see Christ, and then we're put in the dust like
Saul of Tarsus, so that we become the chief of sinners. So that
there's absolutely nobody beneath us for us to look down on. That's
when we'll stop sitting in the seat of discord. That's only
going to come about when we behold that Christ is the only one. He's the only one worthy of this
praise, this blessedness. Every blessing God gives, and
God gives all spiritual blessings. Every blessing that a sinner
has comes from God freely by God's grace, and He gives it
in Christ Jesus. And Christ Jesus is Himself the
very blessedness that's given to the sinner. And Christ, all
blessings flow up to us through Christ. And we don't have anything
at all to pat ourselves on the back and say, oh, well, I'm. I've separated myself and I don't
I don't listen to the counsel of the ungodly anymore. Oh, I've
I'm standing now not in the way of centers anymore. Oh, I'm not
sitting in the seat of the scornful anymore. If that's our attitude.
I guarantee you what we're doing. is everything that Christ didn't
do. We haven't been stopped listening
to the counsel of the ungodly. We haven't been made to hear
Christ. We haven't been separated unto Christ away. And we have
not been made to see how thoroughly, totally worthless, useless, And
what a worm we are, if that's our attitude, if that's our spirit.
That's just the fact. The Lord said this, blessed are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He
said, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. You
know what we saw in Isaiah 42 on Sunday? He's the covenant
given for the people, the light to open the blind eyes, to bring
the prisoners out of the prison house. When's a person's heart
broken? Does Christ come to them because
they mourn and because they get all humble and say, oh, I'm just
such a sinner? No. That's not how a man's heart's
broken. And that's not a broken and contrite
heart. A man's heart's broken. When Christ comes to him first
and makes him to see, he's absolutely, thoroughly undone. When Christ,
he said, the Lord said, I will take away the stony heart and
I'll give you a heart of flesh. Christ comes and he breaks the
stony heart. And then He makes us to have
a heart to truly seize that what we are is absolutely broken,
absolutely undone, absolutely ruined. And then we'll begin
to mourn. And then we'll begin to cry out.
And then we'll begin to sorrow over our sin. That's when we
become meek. And that's a man who's received
the blessedness of Christ Jesus. This one who is this perfection
of holiness. We're looking at Christ's character.
We're looking at what true holiness is. We're not looking at ourselves. And we're not turning to ourselves
to see if by ourselves we've got this holiness. Christ is
this holiness. He is this holiness. He's the
only one. Look at verse 2. Still looking
at Christ now. But His delight is in the law
of the Lord, and in His law does He meditate day and night. You
know what Psalm 40 verse 8 says. I'm going to have you turn back
here in a moment, but you can go ahead and look there with
me. Psalm 40 verse 8. Christ said, verse six, let's read this, sacrifice
an offering thou didn't desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said
I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it's written of me.
I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my
heart. This word, law, is it's the Word
of God. It's the will of God. It's what
God, what God willed, what God purposed. Christ came to fulfill
His Father's Word. And He said, that's all that's
in my very soul. That's all that's in my very
heart is to fulfill Your word, Father. I've come to do what
you've given me to do. For God, for His Father, Christ
fulfilled the holy law, declaring that God is just and God's the
justifier. He fulfilled it. And for His
people, He fulfilled the holy law. Look at Matthew 5 and verse
17. This is probably one of the ungodly's,
the wicked's most used passages of Scripture to give false counsel. Right here. And it's taking Christ's
own words and making them say what they don't say. Here's what
Christ said, Matthew 5, 17. He said, think not that I am
come to destroy the law. He didn't come to do away with
the law. He didn't come to destroy the
law. The law had to be fulfilled.
The law has to be upheld. Our God's not God. The law has
got to be completely, thoroughly magnified and honored, or God's
not God. He didn't come to destroy it.
Here's why He came. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the prophets. He said, I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfill. He didn't come to take them,
He came to do them. He came to fulfill them. If I could fill this cup right
here, it's not full right now. It's got more space. It can take
more water. But if I fill it all the way
up, you can't put any more water in it. It's absolutely completely
filled full. It's full. It's complete. You can't put another drop in
it if it's filled full. He said, I came to fulfill it
for, verse 18, verily I say unto you, please listen to this, verily,
this is of utmost importance, till heaven and earth pass, one
jot or one tittle, not even the least little bit of this law,
in no wise shall pass, it won't be done away, till all be fulfilled. Now who fulfilled it? Who fulfilled
it? Who fulfills it? He did. The righteousness of the law.
Look at Romans chapter 3. Men will quote that scripture
right there and they'll say, They'll quote verse 20, except
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you can't enter the kingdom of God. So that means
you've got to be even more righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees.
Yes, indeed you do. I do. We have got to be more
righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees. But you and I
are not going to do that. And we're not going to get one
ounce of glory for doing it. That's why Christ came. Christ
came and He is that righteousness that exceeds all righteousness
of men. That's what, blessed is this
man. Oh, blessed is this man, Christ
Jesus. His righteousness is the righteousness. He is the Lord our righteousness.
Look at Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. And look at
verse, look at verse The whole chapter is talking about our
complete and total thorough lack of righteousness in which we
are not at all going to be found righteousness. Righteous and
it's talking about Christ being the righteousness of God the
complete and total manifestation of Everything God's been saying
about his glory of everything God's been saying about who he
is Everything God says about how it is we can come to God
in whom we could come to God the righteousness of God is manifest
by the fidelity this holy character This holy nature, this holy perfection,
this holy obedience of this one man, Christ Jesus. And He is
the holiness and He is the righteousness. And look at what He says, verse
31. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. How
did He just say we establish it? The very verse, how does
He say we establish it? Do we put it behind our backs
through faith? No. Through faith, we actually
establish it. I'm not saying through faith
plus our works, we do it. I'm not saying through faith
plus our obedience. I'm not saying through faith
plus something we do, we establish righteousness. I'm saying Christ
is the righteousness and through faith in Him who is all righteousness. The believer has completely and
totally done everything the law says. Totally. Look at Romans 8 verse 3. Romans 8 verse 3. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh. There's the weakness. It's saying, man, you couldn't
do this. Man, you could not do that. God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh. So then that now we can, that
we can bring in an everlasting righteousness by our obedience?
No. Not at all. That the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us. You know what that word
fulfilled means? Filled to the brim. Completely
full. So that there is absolutely nothing
else that remains to be done. That's the righteousness Christ
is. That's the righteousness we have through faith in Him.
Look at Romans chapter 10. Romans 10 verse 4. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For
Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law. Now listen
to it. The man which doeth those things
shall live by them. Do them and you'll live. Do those
things and you can have life. Do those things and you come
into God's presence. If we could do them, we'd be
as righteous as God is righteous. If we could ourselves do the
things contained in the law, we would be as righteous as God
is righteous. But the righteousness which is
of faith, here's what it says, verse 9, that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, that is, that he's
the complete and total fulfillment of righteousness, or else God
wouldn't have raised him from the dead, if he wasn't. If he
hadn't fulfilled the whole word of God, God wouldn't have raised
him from the dead. That's what we're confessing.
For, look at this, with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. Man believeth unto righteousness.
Man believeth. He believes on Christ and the
righteousness Christ is. The righteousness Christ has
accomplished by completely, totally fulfilling the Word of God, the
will of God on behalf of the sinner. That's the righteousness
that's given to us. That's all we need to come into
God's presence. Completely, totally righteous,
as right as God is right. That's right. And this righteousness
was performed by him who alone is the only one who ever delighted
perfectly in the Word of God to do the Word of God. He came
to do the will of God. This, what I've just been saying
to you about fulfilling all righteousness, this is the law of God. This
is the law given to Christ, the word given to Christ that can't
be broken. This was the word given to Him
and Christ came and did it. And He preached this very same
gospel I'm preaching to you while He was here because the Father
gave it to Him to say. He said, I've not spoken of myself,
but the Father which sent me gave me a commandment what I
should say and what I should speak, and I know that His commandment
is life everlasting. His Word. The word's life. Christ's word is, God's word
is life, everlasting. And whatsoever I speak therefore,
he said, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. Turn back
to Psalm 40 now. I want you to see this. He delighted. He's the only one who delighted
in the law of God. and meditated in this work day
and night so that God is completely, totally, thoroughly satisfied
with His holiness. You have to come into God's presence. He's been raised from the dead.
He's been able to come into God's presence. That means this. He is holy. He's holy. Because it's got to be holy to
come into God's presence. It's got to be holy. Absolutely,
without any defect. Absolutely whole. Absolutely
full. Absolutely, completely holy. Look what he said. This is Christ
speaking. He said, I delight to do thy
will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.
He meditated on this day and night. He said, I speak that
which he's given me to speak. And look at verse 9. I have preached
righteousness in the great congregation. You know who he preached? He
preached himself. He told folks, there is no way
to come to God but by me. He said, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you can't
come to God. And he said, now any man that breaks this law
and teaches others it's okay to break this law, he's going
to be in the lowest depths of hell. Any man who himself breaks
this law and tells anybody that God has somehow made the law
of a lower standard for you who claim to believe on it, That
man is... But he said, he that does it
and teaches others... Christ did it. He did the law. He fulfilled it. And he taught
others, I am the only doer of the law. I am the only fulfillment
of the law. You can't keep my law. You can't
keep my commandments. He's the righteous. And he said,
and I preach this in the great congregation, lo, I have not
refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have declared thy,
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I didn't come
in knowing my heart. Now this is the only way sinners
can come to God, but I'm going to somehow make it appear to
them that they can mingle their works with my works and come."
He didn't hide this in his heart, but this is what he did. I've
declared thy faithfulness, he said, and thy salvation. I've not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. That's what Christ did. He fulfilled
the actual letter of the law. declaring God just and justifier.
He did it for his people so that he is the very righteousness
of God. And he spoke this very word and
said, I'm the only way you're going to come. You can't come
any other way but by me. That's the only way. And he fulfilled
everything that was written of him. He said, don't think I came
to destroy the law or the prophets. He fulfilled everything that
was written before of him. Even this scripture in Psalm
1 that we're reading now, it's about him and he fulfilled it. He truly meditated upon the law
of God, the word of God, the will of God day and night. even
in that night when He was going to the cross, even in that night
when He was going to be made sin for His people, that they
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Even when He was
about to be completely and totally rejected of God, He said, not
My will, but Your will be done. He completely, thoroughly, totally
laid down his life. Now let me ask you something.
When is a man going to stop hiding this truth in his heart and and and proclaim and rest
and meditate in and delight in this very fulfillment of the
Word of God who is Christ alone. When's a man going to do that?
He's going to do it when Christ the Word is made life to him. When he's born of the incorruptible
Word. Until then, he'll speak out of
this side of his mouth and this side of his mouth. He'll make
it sound like righteousness is of Christ, but sanctification,
holiness, without which no man can see the Lord, that's something
you have to do. That's a lie. That's a bald-faced,
arrogant lie of the ungodly counsel of wicked men. The holiness without
which you cannot see God is Christ Jesus, our sanctification. He is the only one who has ever
done this right here. And we won't be sanctified and
set apart from the lie of thinking we're the holiness and we're
doing that sanctifying and perfecting our flesh by our flesh. We haven't
been separated from that until we're born of this incorruptible
Word of God. And then we'll delight in the
Word of God. I love to meditate on His Word. I love to think
on His Word. I love to think about this. He said, if you love Me, you'll
keep My commandments. All of the commandments of God,
the whole righteousness of the commandments of God, are summed
up this way. It's how we keep them. Believe
on Christ and love one another. You know when we love one another?
When the love of God is put in our hearts. And that's when we
believe on Him. They come at, it's the whole
law of God is fulfilled. It's faith and love. It's given
by God. And we know we're begotten of
Him when we do what He says. I love to delight in this word.
It is finished. I can't find peace anywhere else.
You know what gives me rest? Whenever I find myself looking
to myself, I find myself thinking I can't possibly be God's because
I don't think right, I don't speak right, and I don't do right.
And when I find myself looking to myself, breaking out that
legalistic yoke on my own self, and losing all my assurance,
accusing myself. That's the crazy thing about
the darkness of the flesh of a man. We will accuse and completely
and totally separate ourselves from any assurance in Christ.
by looking at our flesh. That's craziness, isn't it? But
anytime that's the case, you know the only place I can find
any peace is it is finished. It is finished. It is finished. It is finished. Alright, we're
still looking at Christ. Now let's look at verse 3. And
He Blessed is that man. This is Christ now, 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. You know who the tree
of life is? It's Christ. Christ is the tree
of life. He said, I am the vine. I am the tree of life. You're
the branches, He said. I'm the tree of life. And He
bringeth forth His fruit in His season. He'll never wither. Christ shall
never wither. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And whatsoever He doeth, shall
prosper. Can these things be said of me
or you? I'm not a tree of life. I'm the
branch. Engrafted into Christ is the
tree of life. I don't bring forth fruit in
my season. I bring forth fruit by His grace
in His season. And the only reason I don't wither
is because I'm in Christ. And I can't say that whatever
I do is gonna prosper. But God said of him, he shall
not fail. Whatever he does, prospers. Whatever Christ does, prospers. Now, when are we gonna stop? And will a sinner, when will
a sinner stop trying to bring forth fruit by his own hand,
stop looking to himself and think he's some kind of mighty, stable,
tall oak tree whose roots run so deep by his own strength,
or what he's done, or what he's thought, or what he's said. When
are we going to stop doing that? When are we going to truly receive
this blessedness through Christ when we're engrafted into that
vine. When the Spirit of God comes
in the season of His love and He brings forth every one of
His fruits, every one of His children, He brings them forth
like fruit. And He breathes into us life. And all the sap, all the, you
know, a tree and a branch, all that makes that leaf green. And
everything that makes that leaf not wither away is because it's
getting everything from the tree. It's getting everything in the
tree that's by the river of water. He is that water of life. The
tree that is by water, it stays green because its roots are running
into that water and it's coming up, the nutrients coming up through
that tree and it's going out into those branches and it's
causing those branches to bring forth fruit and it's causing
those leaves to be green. You know when we're going to
have, we're going to be fruit and bring forth fruit? When we're
in that tree. When we're in Christ the tree. That's the only way. That's the
only way. He said, except you abide in
me. You can't bring forth any fruit.
A man that's not in Christ may appear to bring forth fruit.
I was thinking, me and Melinda was talking about this on the
way over here. All these things that this psalm says, I can appear
to do all these things, but have no happiness whatsoever. But I can appear not to do any
of these things to you and be completely and totally happy.
You know how? in Christ. He's all my joy. He's all my happiness. Now, will
you hear this solemn word? Everybody sitting here, hear
this solemn word. Especially you who are yet without
Christ. Listen to this, verse 4. The
ungodly are not so. There's no man outside of Christ
that is this way. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. No root in them,
no stability, no strength, no sap, just dry chaff. You've seen the old westerns
with the tumbleweeds that just blow across the desert and just
tumble, tumble, tumble. Chaff, which the wind driveth
away. 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. Is there anybody who's yet walking
in the counsel of men who say to you, well, that all sounds
good. But now, you've got to do those
things yourself. You've got to do those things
yourself. You've got to look to yourself.
You've got to do those things by your own will. You've got
to do those things by your wisdom. You've got to do those things
by your works or you won't be perfect with God. That's counsel of the ungodly. If it's by grace, it is. No more by works. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. But if it's by works, it's no
more of grace. Otherwise, works are not works.
You see, you can't mingle. The two can't be mingled. I can't
be doing nothing and be doing something all at the same time. We can't be working and resting.
We can't be resting in Christ and trying to come to God by
our own work. It's just, it's impossible. It's absolutely impossible. Is
there anybody standing in the way of sinners? He says here,
the way of the ungodly shall perish. Christ is the way. We're standing in the way of
the sinners. Like the ostrich, they say, sticks
his head in the sand. Just acts like nothing's going
on around him, like all these things don't apply to him. Like
none of the dangers are coming to him. It's what the world's
doing. You know why the world is running
so headlong after pleasure? To try to ignore the fact that
we're about to meet God. Soothe that conscience. and get
it out of our mind. Is there anybody seated in the
seat of the scorners? Pretending to believe God, pretending
to be doing all for the glory of Christ and yet just mocking
Christ, not looking to those things, thinking by those things
we are made righteous. You see the progression of those
words? Walking, standing, seated. That's a dangerous progression.
Start out walking in the council of ungodly. To start standing,
to stop in the way of sinner, and just sit down in the seat
of scorners. That's a dangerous progression.
Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and
being deceived. Is there anything, let this be
the test, is there anything I've said to you here today that gives man glory? Is there anything I've said here
that doesn't completely give Christ all the glory? Let that be the guide. I'm appealing to your conscience
now. Is it so? Is that so? This is what the Lord said. Every
plant that my Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Every one of them. But hear this
word of salvation. In the middle of all that, hear
this word of salvation. Verse 6. The Lord knoweth the
way of the righteous. You know why the Father receives
everybody who comes to Him in Christ? You know why He receives every
sinner that comes to Him, trusting Christ only? Because He knows
Christ. He knows the way. The man who
comes that way is righteous. in Christ's righteousness. And
the Father knows Christ. And He says, I'll receive you
in Him. Because I know Him. I know the
way of the righteous. And you know, this is something
else I thought about. This is the blessedness of having Christ
in our hearts. It's this blessedness right here.
And this is, this is the blessedness. The same one God has rested in
from eternity is the one we rest in. God, the Lord God Jehovah,
and this nobody sinner standing right before you are both trusting
the same one. God trusts Him to glorify Him
and make His name and His glory known, and I'm trusting Him to
present me to the Father spotless and without blame. That's what it is to be a happy
man, to have the blessedness of Christ. Are you happy? I'm happy. I just, oh, happy. is the man that hungers and thirsts
after righteousness. I'm happy. Amen.