If you would turn with me to
Psalm chapter one, we've, as you know, finished the book of
Numbers and I can have considered moving on to the study in Deuteronomy
or possibly even Joshua. I'm still seeking the Lord on
the direction to go, but I've wanted for some time to study
through the book of Psalms. We'll soon finish our study,
maybe one more study out of the book of Hebrews, so it could
be that we may do the Psalms study on Sunday morning, but
until I get a more clear direction, we'll tonight begin a study in
Psalms. And actually, we began the study
a couple Sundays ago when we looked at Psalm chapter one,
the first three verses. And the first chapter of Psalms
consists of two parts. In the first part, verses one
through three that we looked at a couple Sundays ago, we saw
the way of the blessed and happy man and woman. And I was so encouraged
by that study personally and studying it and also in preaching
it. And I know several of you were
too, because you mentioned it to me. Blessed, happy is the
man or woman that knows the Lord. We saw in that first study their
manner of life and the blessings that they receive and the blessings
they possess in the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, all. Men are blessed in Him. That's
where God's blessings are. They're in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's no love for a sinner apart from God's love for His
beloved Son. There's no mercy, there's no
grace, there's no forgiveness apart from Him. We are blessed
in Him. Without Him, there are no blessings
from God. We saw in that first study what
the blessed man and woman, what they don't do, and we saw what
they do. They walk not in the counsel
of the ungodly. They don't stand in the way of
sinners. They don't sit in the seat of
the scornful. And their delight The light is
in the law or in the word of God in which they meditate on
day and night, we're told. And then in the second part of
this psalm, chapter one, verses four through six, the psalmist
here contrasts the state and the character of the ungodly
with the righteous. A real contrast between the two.
God reveals the future of the ungodly, describing in detail
their impending doom. So in this first Psalm, we have
the blessedness, the happiness of the righteous, and we have
the misery of the wicked. And this is a reoccurring subject
throughout the Book of Psalms. We saw in that first study the
warnings given for the ungodly man's persuasions to take heed
to his manner of life and our keeping of his company. And that's
what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians when he said, be not deceived,
evil communications corrupt good manners. Most always they have
an influence on us, the ungodly does. And I've learned that from
personal experience, the negative influences and the bad principles
the ungodly can have. And the truth of the matter is
this, if we're honest with ourselves and one another, it's easy to
be persuaded by ungodly men and women because by nature, we ourselves
are ungodly. You don't have to teach a child
how to be selfish and how to sin. It just comes very natural. Boys and girls and men and women
don't have to be taught how to be ungodly. It's easy for us,
very easy for us to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, to stand
in the way of sinners. And it's very easy for us to
like it. It's easy for us to sit in their
seats, the seat of the scornful and make our abode with them. And then in verse two, we saw
that the blessed, happy man and woman takes delight and pleasure
in God's word. How can any of us profit in what
we take no pleasure in? You know, you'll never really
excel at something that you don't enjoy. If someone takes up a
hobby or a young person takes up a sport or, for example, I've
used this illustration, the playing of an instrument. If they don't
find any delight or pleasure in that undertaking, whatever
it is, they'll more than likely never be skillful at it. Passion
is a great motivator. A young person taking up a sport,
as I said, or someone learning to play an instrument, if they
have to be coerced or if they have to be shamed or threatened
to practice, if they do excel at all, and they probably won't
if they have to be made something that their parents want maybe
more than they do, they usually won't stick with it either. Why? Because they don't have any passion
for it. They find no pleasure or delight in it. And it's the
same with the Word of God. It's the same with the things
of God. But when you love its author, when you love the one
that wrote this book, when you love the one that this book is
about, when you see what he has done for someone like you, undeserving
of his love, mercy, and grace, and forgiveness, Oh, I'm telling
you, you'll find pleasure and delight in looking into this
perfect law of liberty. When you love the story it tells,
you can't help but to meditate on it day and night. And I'm
not saying this to try to convince you that I'm more spiritual than
someone else, but often I wake up in the middle of the night
thinking about the scriptures. And I'm so thankful that the
Lord's given me an interest and calls me to delight in his word. And I thank God that he's done
the same for you. You wouldn't be here tonight
or Wednesday night. It could turn out for a small
group. And you're here because you take
delight in the preaching of the gospel. You take delight in the
Lord Jesus Christ who loves you and gave himself for you. And
what a blessing that is. If we would be motivated to first
seek the kingdom of God and Christ and His righteousness, everything
else that we need be added to us. Matthew 6, 33. May God enable
us. I sincerely mean this. May God
enable us to make Christ and His word our delight. Make it
our life. If we do, in the end, I can assure
you, it'll profit us a great deal spiritually and eternally. And really, that's all that matters.
This life's like a vapor, it's flying by us so quick. We tease
and talk about the years clicking by, but they really are. Pretty
soon it'll all be over. I'm sure there'll be many that
have wished they'd have paid more attention and sought the
Lord more. Now, the psalmist lets us know
here in verse three, the spiritual and eternal benefits of such
a one. And I know this isn't a way of
review, but it says, and he, speaking of the righteous, the
believer, the one who loves God's word, shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth fruit. forth his fruit
in his season, and his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper." What a great blessing those things
are. What a comfort to know that in Christ, we are just like him,
a mature tree, steadfast, strong, planted by God, planted next
to the rivers of living water. And we'll bring forth spiritual
fruit, Our leap, our righteousness shall not fade, it shall not
wither. It's forever. If my righteousness is his righteousness,
it's gonna be forever. and we'll prosper in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not because of what we do or
not because of what we are, but because of who Christ is and
because of what the Lord himself has done for us. And that's our
hope, isn't it? May God teach us to put first
the kingdom of God. May God enable us to seek Christ
and his righteousness. We will eternally profit if we
do so. And then we come to verse four.
Look at the first words there in verse four. It says, the ungodly
are not so. Now that word are, as you can
see, A-R-E is italicized. It was added. So the correct
rendering of these first words would be the ungodly, not so. The ungodly, not so. What are
they not? Well, they're not like a tree
planted by God. They're not drawing their life
from the rivers of living water. They're not bringing forth spiritual
fruit. Their leaf, their righteousness
is fading. Nothing they do prospers spiritually
or eternally. And you know, when the word ungodly
is used, most folks have a preconceived idea of what it means and most
believe it to mean morally depraved and actively wicked, those who
violate the law of the land and also the law of God, those one
who's vexed with sin and no doubt ungodly men and women are all
those things. But the things that folks claim
to be ungodly could really be said of all of us by nature,
even those who profess to know and believe in the Lord Jesus.
And in my life, I have been morally wrong more than right. I have. I'm not proud of that. And I'm not bragging on my sin.
But I'm just saying that if that's what it is to be ungodly, It
sure be easy to say that of me. In and of myself, I've been actively
wicked more than I haven't been. Oh, we're able to refrain from
doing things outwardly, but the ungodliness still within and
the things we think and the things that we often say, my, my. I'm often guilty of violating
God's law and offending His justice. So I think really a very simple
and accurate and correct definition for ungodly would be godless,
being without God, being without Christ. You know, Paul wrote,
among whom also we all, all of us, had our conversation. And that word conversation there
is not talking about speech. It's talking about way of life.
how we've lived in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we were by nature,
the children of wrath, even as others. But I'm so glad that
says were, because if we're in Christ, we're not children of
wrath anymore. We're children of God. How thankful
we ought to be that that's what we once were and are no longer.
And this is why Paul goes on to say, but God, and how many
times we read that in the scriptures, God gives us the bad news, and
then he gives us the good news. But God, who is rich in mercy. Don't you love to think about
that? Our God is rich in mercy. There's always enough to go around. He's not gonna exhaust His mercy
on one of us who needs it more than another at the time. No,
He's rich in mercy for His great love. His love is great. Wherewith
He loved us. Even when we were dead in sins,
He's quickened and He's made us alive together with Christ. By grace are you saved and He's
raised us up together and He's made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. He made us willing to bow to
His lordship and His kingship. And the only difference between
the godly and the ungodly is the difference that God makes.
We know that. God's revealed that to us. Who
maketh thee to differ from another? The child of God would be quick
to tell you, God did. He made me to differ. No difference
that we makes, it's the difference that God makes. And we, like
the ungodly, didn't live right, and our way of life was in the
lust of our flesh and of our mind, and we, like the ungodly,
fulfilled our fleshly desires, and we, like the ungodly, were
children of wrath, even as others, even as the ungodly. The difference
is, but God, but God. God's the one who's rich in mercy.
He's the one who loved us with great love. God is the one who
quickened us and made us alive. And it's by God's grace that
we're saved. God has raised us up. God has
made us sit together. No, not in the seat of the scornful,
but together in heavenly places in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
we've got so much to be thankful for. Lord, help us to be thankful.
It's God who shows us the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. And there we are, have it again.
It's all through Him. He's that channel from which
God's blessings flow to us. It's by grace that we're saved.
And it's by faith that God is pleased to give us. That's God-given
faith. And it's the gift of God. Ephesians
chapter two, it's all of the Lord, salvation's of the Lord.
The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. We wouldn't be
righteous if it wasn't. And it's most definitely not
of works, there's nothing for us to boast about. I cringe when
I hear men talk about their great faith, when we know that it was
God that gave it to them. We need to brag on the one who
gave it. That's who gets all the glory for it. And the only
reason the child of God is no longer considered by God to be
ungodly is clearly stated in Romans 5, verse 6, for when we
were yet without strength, that's where we all were, when God made
the difference in two time, Christ died. Who did he die for? For
the ungodly. There are many who profess to
be saved, but they're without God. And Paul said in Ephesians
2, verse 12, to be without Christ is what? To be without hope.
To be without Christ is to be without God in this world. It's
to be ungodly. It's to be godless. It's to be
Christless. It's to be an alien. An alien
from the commonwealth of Israel. Now, what is it to be an alien
from the commonwealth of Israel? It's to be one, the word in the
scriptures actually means foreign or distant. It means unknown. To be an alien is to be unknown,
unknown by God. God said, I never knew you. It's
to be opposed to, it's to be conflicting with, it's to be
contrary, it's to be hostile. We've talked about that word
enmity, the carnal mind, the fleshly mind is enmity, hostile
toward God. It's to be contrary to, hostile
to God, His people, and Christ and His kingdom. Paul said that
the ungodly, those without Christ, are without hope and without
God in the world. They are strangers, foreign,
alien, unknown. Basically the same word. They're
strangers from the covenant of promise. God's promise, God's
covenant of promise. And what does the Psalmist say
in verse four of our text? The ungodly? Not so, not so. Oh, may God enable us to quit
trusting in what we do, stop trusting in what we've done,
and rest in that finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know what? It's perfect. It's a perfect work. How do I
know? Because God accepted it. And
he sat down now at the right hand of God, making intercession
for us. Now, notice also in verse four,
the ungodly are compared to chaff. We've all heard. in Matthew 3,
the verses that talk about the weed and the chaff. The ungodly
are like the chaff, which the wind drive it away. You see that? What is chaff?
Well, chaff is that inedible part of a grain-producing plant,
kind of like the husk around the corn that grows. It's that
loose outer covering of wheat that's got to be separated from
the wheat. You know, chaff is considered
to be a worthless thing. That's why they whittled it. That's why they separated it
from the wheat. It's waste, it's garbage, it's
rubbish. Chaff is useless. It serves no
purpose. It's gathered and it's burned.
It has no substance. It's got to be whittled. It's
got to be removed. It's thrown in the air and separated
by the wind or separated by the fan. Chaff is easily carried
away. They'd throw that up and whittle
with that fan and that chaff would blow away and the wheat
had substance and it would fall to the threshing floor. In Matthew
chapter three, the chaff and the wheat picture and illustrate
the wicked and the righteous. Chaff rightly and very appropriately
pictures the wicked and the ungodly. The Lord will gather the wheat,
speaking of his people, unto himself. And then it says he'll
burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. In the book of Jeremiah,
Jeremiah asked, what is the chaff to the wheat? That's a very good
question. There's no comparison between the two. And there again,
it's God that makes the difference. So we don't have anything as
wheat to be proud about or to brag about. The two, chaff and
wheat, cannot and will not be mixed together. The wheat and
the chaff must be separated. And it's the wind of the Holy
Spirit that does that. Look at verse five here. Therefore,
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous. When they stand before God, God
will say, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew
you. And that word, therefore, you
know what that means. It means you need to look back
before it and see what it's there for. Therefore, here's the reason. This is why the ungodly, like
the chaff, will not stand with the righteous. They're dead,
dead, without substance, easily carried away. They're useless,
worthless. They shall not stand in the judgment. That's what the ungodly are,
like the chaff. Why? Because God can by no means
clear the guilty. And the same holy, thrice holy
God can by no means condemn the righteous. The two cannot stand
together. The righteous go the way that
God has ordained and the wicked go the way that God destroys. And that's what His justice demands. You know, we live in a day where
Men talk a great deal about the love of God, but they don't talk
much about His justice. They talk about His love, but
they don't talk much about His holiness. They talk about salvation
and how He loves sinners, but they don't talk much about His
wrath and His judgment and His condemnation to those that aren't
in Christ. Verse six, for the Lord knoweth.
the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall
perish. The way of the righteous is Jesus
Christ. Salvation's in Him alone. In
Christ, there's justification and there's redemption. In Christ,
there's pardon and forgiveness. You know who pardon will mean
something to? to one who's imprisoned by sin,
to one who has no hope of liberty, pardon. Pardon, what a wonderful
word. Christ is the way of the righteous.
He's the only way that we can be pardoned. He's the only way
we can be made righteous. And the man and the woman that
goes the way of the righteous, oh, they're happy and they're
blessed. Those of you that are trusting
in Christ tonight and in Him only, not in any work of righteousness
that you're done, you're so blessed, so blessed, and you're happy. But the way of the ungodly shall
perish. The way of the ungodly is a wicked
way. It leads to destruction. It leads to death. It's a way
that the Lord knows not. It's a way that He abhors. Wherefore,
the one who continues in sin will be unhappy. They'll be wretched
and miserable throughout all eternity." Well, look at Psalm
2. I know this is a separate psalm
and we'll look at it next time, but this goes so well, it just
kind of continues on the same theme. Verse one, the psalmist
asked such a reasonable question here. It says, why do the heathen
rage? and the people imagine a vain
thing. Why don't some of my children
and many of my friends and family find no beauty in the Lord Jesus
Christ and just the opposite? The heathen mentioned here are
the ungodly. The heathen are unbelievers.
They're men and women who are unenlightened. Why do they rage? Why do they imagine vain things? Well, the simple answer is, you
already know, is God has not divinely intervened in their
life. God hasn't made them to differ.
Now, is there unrighteousness with God because He hadn't? No.
No, God has the right to do what He will with His own. All men
and women by nature rage against God. There was a time that I
once did. All men and women by nature imagine
vain things. And Satan is so subtly working
through men and women and religion and the world and attempting
to wipe out God's name and all thought of him. And you know
that soul. What makes the heathen, the ungodly to rage so? They
will not have Christ to reign over them. There was a time that
I once would not have Christ to reign over me. I don't want
any part of that religion stuff. I can remember it all so well.
What changed? Who made me to differ? Who made
that to change in me? Why do these unbelieving people
imagine such foolish and vain things? They've imagined God
to be altogether such a one as they themselves are. And the
fool, it says, has said in his heart, no God for me. What a
foolish and vain thing. No God for me. And the fool,
doesn't know that God already reigns over them. They deny the
Lordship, they deny the kingship of the omnipotent potentate who's
over all things, who rules and reigns over all things, who works
all things by the counsel of his own will. He who is in the
heavens and he does whatsoever he's pleased. Whatever the Lord
pleased, that did He. And they've made a God of their
own imagination. Why do men and women sinners
imagine or think that they can, by a work of righteousness of
their own, be saved and reconciled to God? When God has plainly
said in His Word that it's got to be perfect. Whatever you offer
God has got to be perfect for it to be accepted. No God for
me is what they're saying. What a vain thing to think. They're not only adamant, refusing
to be persuaded, but they rage and they set themselves against
the God and His anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ. That word
rage means an uncontrollable anger. Men hate the Lord Jesus
Christ without a cause. The word rage means furious and
violent action against. It refers to, as I said a moment
ago, hostility with force and intensity. Why do men and women
rage? Why do they murmur and roar against
and become so violent against a God who can just speak but
a word to their eternal destruction? Why? How vain, how futile, how
useless. Their efforts are vain. Look
at verse two. The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord. How vain and
how ridiculous. How futile and foolish. To rage
and imagine that you can somehow effectively get rid of God by
rendering him helpless. That's what religion has done.
How vain to come against His anointed, the Lord Jesus is His
anointed, who is Himself God. Why would men and women reject
the only one who can save them? The kings and the rulers of the
earth will not have God the Son to rule over them. They intentionally
set themselves against God and His appointed Savior. What a
foolish and empty scheme. Why do the heathen rage? Why
do ungodly people imagine such vain things? Paul said, for they
being ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to establish their
own righteousness. have not submitted, they've not
bowed themselves unto the righteousness of God, who is the Lord Jesus
Christ. It all comes back to that, bowing
to Him who is God. He who has done for us what we
couldn't do for ourself. He who has provided for us a
perfect righteousness, taking our sin upon Himself and making
us, conforming us to His image. There's nothing more beautiful
than the thought of substitution, God doing for me what God requires. Look at verse three, it says,
let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from
us. What are these bands? The word means like a halter,
like a bridle, a horse bridle. This represents the rules of
God, the commandments of God. This is talking about God's law. They deliberately break them.
Let's break their bands asunder. We're not gonna abide by the
law of God. They deliberately break them.
What are these cords? Well, they're godly values and
principles and morality. And these ungodly, these heathen,
they say, let's cast the cords of God from us. Don't want any
part of it. They have not submitted. They've
not bowed to the righteousness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what's happening in
our world and in our society today. Brother Henry preached
on Psalm chapter two, verses two and three, and he titled
the message, Goodbye, God. Goodbye, God. Don't want anything
to do with you. Goodbye, God. Let's rid ourselves
of such a God. Let's break his laws. Let's break
his rules. Let's cast his bands asunder.
Let us cast His cords from us. Let's rid ourselves of His principles
and His morality. We don't want to have Him or
His bands and cords reigning over us. Now, it's fine if God
rules in heaven. He can be God up there. And it's
all right if God dwells in churches. After all, we built them for
Him. Let Him stay there. But He's not welcome in our homes.
And He's not welcome in our schools. And He's not welcome in our government. He's not welcome in our businesses.
It's business as usual. Goodbye, God. He can be your
King of Kings. He can be your Lord of Lords,
but we won't have Him to rule over us. We don't want Him as
our King. We're doing just fine without
Him. What a rude awakening that's gonna be. What a rude awakening. Why are men and women raging
so? When He gives eternal life to
those who are dead in sin. God's got to show you that. He
brings happiness to the miserable. Why would anyone want to cast
him away and be rid of him? He gives comfort to the brokenhearted. He gives liberty to those who
are captive. And only a fool would say, no
God for me. Goodbye, God. His laws are perfect. His rule would be good for anyone. Thou shall not kill. That's a
good law. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
What's wrong with that? Thou shalt not covet, thou shalt
not bear witness. Is there anything wrong with
those laws? Why are men and women raging so? Why do they imagine
such vain things? It's vain because to do away
with God is impossible. Why would we want to and why
would we endeavor to do so? How do these things affect God?
Look at verse four, I'll finish this up. He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.
You see, men and women rage, they imagine vain and selfish
things. Is God affected negatively by
all that? No, he laughs. Paul wrote in
Romans 3 verse 3, for what if some did not believe? Shall their
unbelief make the faith of God without effect? No, not gonna
change God. Does man's unbelief make void
the promises of God concerning Christ? Absolutely not. Does
unbelief make void God's covenant with Abraham? No, God forbid. Let no such thought enter your
mind. Does man's rebellion and unbelief affect redemption for
those who by grace, through faith, trust in Christ? Perish the thought. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. Now let me just make a couple
comments before I finish. Do you notice there where God
is? He's in the heavens. You know what He's doing? Whatsoever
He pleases. The ungodly asked David, they
said, where's your God? He said, they said, we know where
our gods are. They're right where we put them.
They're right where we set them. But David, where's your God?
He said, my God's in the heavens. Whatsoever He pleases that He
does. And that's the case everywhere
all the time. God never ceases to do what He
wills and what He pleases, never. Did you notice God's position?
He's sitting. They're raging, He's sitting.
They're upset and God's laughing. They're upset and angry and He's
sitting and He's calm. He's resting because His work's
finished. What else does God do? He holds
them in derision. Now that word means contempt.
Holds them in contempt. That word derision means mockery. How does man's foolish raging
affect God? He mocks and he laughs. For men
and women, those whom God compares in His word to be worms and maggots. Oh, our people don't like that.
God says we're maggots. I can't hardly look at a maggot,
so I'm just disgusting about them. That's what we are by nature
when God sees us. Disgusting, repulsive maggots. And for them, maggots, to think
that they can dethrone God is to God humorous. God laughs at
their ignorance. Verse five, then shall he speak
unto them in his wrath and vex, he'll trouble them in his sore
displeasure. The thought of God's sore displeasure,
oh, that's just frightening to me. But one who has no fear of
God does not fear him. His warnings go ignored, His
judgments ridiculed, the promise of His wrath is unheeded. And
unless God divinely intervenes, unless God divinely interrupts,
unless God shows a sinner their need of a Savior, the ungodly
will continue to rage and imagine that they can rid God and they
themselves will be the ones destroyed. It would be wise for us to kiss
the Son, lest God be angry. We need to kiss Christ right
now, today. We need to kiss Him tomorrow.
We need to constantly kiss the Son. We need to bow ourselves
to Him, acknowledge Him as our Savior, as our only substitute
and sacrifice for sin. He's the only one that can save
us. He's the only one that can provide for us what God requires. May God be pleased to make it
so. We need to kiss him. He's worthy
of our love and affection, is he not?