Turn with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 1. Let's read these six verses again. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat 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 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. I want to illustrate to you this
morning, or show you this morning, the difference in the right view
of scripture and the wrong view of scripture. I want us to see
the difference in the true God-given message of Scripture and the
false man-made message of not Scripture, religion, false religion. What I want us to see is the
difference in grace and works. All right? Grace and works. God's grace. and man's works. Grace is the truth that God has
given or set forth in His Word. Works is the lie that man has
twisted from what God has said and brought bondage to himself
because of it. Our Lord said in John 8, you
shall know the truth And the truth shall make you free. We
just sang free from the law, oh happy condition. I love that
song. Children of God, oh glorious calling. Our Lord said you'll
know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And to just
go ahead and give you the punchline of the whole message, in John
14 our Lord said I am the truth. I am the truth. To see Christ
in the Word is to see the truth. To see Christ in the Word is
to see the truth. To not see Christ in the Word
is to see a lie. And lies are damning to the soul.
They are damning to the soul. I want us to really see this
difference today. Eternity depends on it. Man's
lie on the scripture is damning to the soul. I want to show you
that in 2 Thessalonians 2. Turn with me over there. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse 3 says, let no man deceive you by any
means. Let no man deceive you. For that
day shall not come except there come a falling away first. A falling away from the truth.
And that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. That means destruction. He's warning against the lies
of false preachers and the twisted lie that they tell on God's word. He said, let no man deceive you.
And in verse eight, he said, those who preach the lies and
all who believe the lies are going to be destroyed. Verse
eight, then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with
the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish because, here's the reason why, they received not the love
of the truth that they might be saved. If a man or a woman
is going to be saved, it will be evidenced in this way. God
will give that man or woman faith to believe and love the true
message of His Word. But because men and women do
not naturally love and believe the true message of His Word
and they don't want to hear the true message of His Word, verse
11, He said, For this cause God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. that they all might be damned
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Paul just declared right there
what the true message of scripture is. all Scripture. Verse 13, we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord. He said I'm talking to all those
who were beloved, beforehand loved of the Lord. The ones that
God chose to love in eternity past. Verse 13, we're bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. He said God chose men and women
to salvation. God chose men and women to salvation.
Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord said, here
it is. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. and I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. He said my sovereign right as
God Almighty to do what I want with who I want, that's my glory. That's my glory. I have the power
to kill, I have the power to make alive. That's my glory. I am God and beside me there
is none else That's my glory. Verse 13. We're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit. That's God's spirit laying hold
of you and setting you apart. And he does that by giving faith
to believe the truth. The end of verse 13. Through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Verse 14 says, Where unto he
called you, you didn't call him. He called you. That's an important
thing to take note of. He calls you, verse 14, were
unto He called you by our gospel, you hear this gospel preached,
which is His Word, and it opens your eyes, and it
opens your heart, and it resonates with you, and you say, wow, I
never saw that before, but it must be so if God said it. Where unto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true message of scripture.
Okay, here it is. He did the loving. It's not that
we love God. It's that he loved us. He did the loving. He did the
choosing. The decision was His. I didn't
make a decision for Him. He made a decision for me. He did the saving. He did the
setting apart from the lies to the belief of the truth. That's
what God's people are set apart from. The lie of man to the belief
of Christ. He did the calling. He gave the
obtaining of the glory. So in a nutshell, here is God's
message of scripture, okay? He, he, he, he, he, he, and he. Not me, he. That's the message. Look at 2 Timothy chapter one.
2 Timothy one. Verse 8, Paul said, Be not thou
therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, the gospel message
of His Word, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. He said, be partaker
of the preaching of this message, the believing, the preaching
of this message. And he said, here it is, verse 9, Who hath
saved us? and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel. Where unto I am appointed
a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. He
said that's what I was appointed to preach and to teach to the
Gentiles. He saved us. We didn't save ourselves. We
did not help him save us. He by himself purged our sins. We didn't let him save us. We
were dead in trespasses and sins. He had to call us from death
to life. Lazarus, come forth. Did the Lord say, Lazarus, I'm
gonna give a command, but I need you to accept it first. Did he say, Lazarus, I'll call
you forth, okay? if you'll let me call you forth. I would love to call you out
of this tomb, but I need for you to give me your heart first.
If you don't give me your heart first, then I just can't do it. I can't do anything unless you
make the first move. If you'll just move a finger,
just make the first move, and then, no. Lazarus, now. That's what he said. Now. What
happened? That is grace. That doesn't sound like grace.
Grace sounds like a sweet word. That is sovereign grace. That means now. Live now. Be free now. No condemnation now. That's God's grace. That is God's
grace. Grace is not an offer. It's a
command. Now. Not by man's works, but
by God's grace. Look at Titus chapter three. Verse 3, For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, But according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Savior. That being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Not by our works, but by his grace. All right, now, let's see what
that looks like in rightly dividing the word, okay? From man's works
to God's grace and God's truth, which is in Christ. Go with me
back to Psalm 1. Let's read these six verses again. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is
in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night, all day, all 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. And 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.
All right, now listen to this. After reading that, the lie of
man's works will say. There it is. Did you read it? There it is right there. If you
want to be blessed, you better not walk in the counsel of the
ungodly. Better not. You better watch where you're
standing You better not stand where the
sinners stand. You better watch out. You better
stand somewhere else. You'll lose your blessing if
you sit in the seat of the scornful. You better throw that chair away. If you want to be saved, you
can't be an ungodly sinner. The ungodly are not going to
stand in the judgment. Sinners are not going to be in
the congregation of the righteous. If you want to go to heaven,
you better not be one. Is that what Psalm 1 is saying? Is that the true message of Psalm
1? Here's the answer. No. No, it's not. Turn with me to Romans 3. Romans 3 verse 10 says, As it is written, there is none
righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seek after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open grave with death pouring out of it,
sepulchre. With their tongues they've used
lies, deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. The way of peace have they not known. There's
no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. The law of God was never given
to show us how to be justified before Him. It was not given
for that reason. The law of God was given to show
us that all we do is walk in the counsel of the ungodly. And you know why that's so? We
are the ungodly. Look at Romans 5 verse 6. Romans 5 verse 6, it says, For
when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for... Do we want to believe He died
for us? Do we want to believe Christ
died for us? Well, who did He die for? The
ungodly. Us, we are constantly walking
in our own thoughts and our own opinions and our own decisions,
our own counsel, constantly. Therefore, there's not a soul
on this earth that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
We are the ungodly. Think about the thoughts that
go through our minds, okay? There are times when I think,
surely nobody is as ungodly as I am. But I know that you are
all just as ungodly as I am. I know you are. It's hard to
imagine, but I know you are. Even the sweetest and kindest
of you, you are all ungodly, just like me. And we are constantly
walking in the thoughts and the influence of this mind. Ungodly. You know, we can try
to fool each other on the outside, but God looks on the heart. People
try to use that as a good thing. Well, God looks on the heart.
That's only a bad thing. Ungodly. Verse six, when we were
yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure
for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Verse 12, wherefore as by one
man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed
upon all men for all have sinned. Wherever we're standing, we're
standing in the way of sinners. Wherever we're standing. If we
move over there, we'll be standing in the way of sinners over there.
That's all we can do. It's all that we are. Sin is
not just what we do, it's what we are. Some will say, well,
don't call me a sinner, I'm not a sinner. Yes, you are. 1 John 1 says, if we say we're
not sinners, we're deceiving ourselves and calling God a liar.
God said every man and woman standing on this earth is a sinner.
It's not just what we do, it's what we are. Man at his best
state is altogether sin, altogether vanity. Look at Romans 7. Verse 14, we know that the law
is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. This is the apostle
Paul saying that, man at his best state. Verse 18. He said, for I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, nothing good. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. Verse 24,
oh, wretched man that I am. In 1 Timothy 1.15, he said, I'm
the greatest sinner that's ever walked the face of this earth. Every soul that's ever walked
the face of this earth is an ungodly, scornful sinner. Every soul is an ungodly, scornful
sinner. But one. All right? But one. One man. One blessed man walked
this earth without one time ever walking in the counsel of the
ungodly. Only in the counsel of God, only. One blessed man never, not one
time ever, stood in the way of sinners. He knew no sin. Thank God he stood in the place
of sinners, but he didn't stand in the way. of sinners. He was tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. Not one time ever did he sit
in the seat of the scornful. They laughed him to scorn, but
he never reviled again. He never did to others what they
did to him. Never. Only one man could be called
by the truth of God Almighty, the blessed man. His name is Jesus Christ. He's
the only man. Psalm 1 is speaking of Jesus
Christ. Go back there with me to Psalm
1. He is the truth in this passage
of scripture. He gets the glory for being the
only man who truly obeyed the commandments of God. Let's read
it one more time, okay? Let's hear Christ in this. Speaking of Christ, verse one.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat 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 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." That's Christ. That's only speaking
of Christ. That is condemning all others
and giving all the glory to Christ. Now, I'm done. I'm closing. But this is the most important
question of the message. If that's the case, what hope
do we have? Okay. If that is only describing
Christ, and only declaring the blessing, the blessed man, only
declaring the blessing to go to Christ, then what hope do
we have? Here's the answer. The cross
of Christ. If he is so blessed, if he is
so godly, if he is so sinless and he is so pure, why was he
sacrificed on the cross of Calvary? It's because God made him to
be the substitute of his people. Christ came here to trade places
with his people. He gave them his blessedness,
spiritual blessings, all spiritual blessings in him. He gave them his blessedness.
He took their wretchedness. In the sin of his people, he
was made to be like the chaff that the wind drives away. That's
what Christ was made to be. He was made to be like chaff
that the wind just drives away. He was cut off, he was cast out,
and he perished. And because of that, now, Bearing
His blessing, bearing His righteousness, His people have been planted
like a tree by the rivers of water. They bring forth His fruit
in His season. Their leaf is never gonna wither.
And in Him, in His righteousness, in His worthiness, in His accomplishment,
everything they do shall prosper. Because they can only do what
He does, they're in Him. As he is, so are they. That's the difference
in seeing man and seeing Christ in this. That is the difference. That's the difference in grace
and works, the truth and the lie, bondage and freedom, death and
life, condemnation and salvation. That's the difference. It all
hinges on Christ. It all hinges on Christ. It all
hinges on seeing Christ in it. May the Lord reveal Christ in
it. Here, every page, may we see Christ in it. Amen.