Okay, let's go back to Psalm
chapter 1. Psalm chapter 1. I pray the Lord
would bless this. Let's read it one more time. Six verses. 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. In Adam all die. Now I prayed about this message
greatly because it starts out by saying, And my first word is, in Adam
all die. In Adam, every man and woman
is separated from God. And do you know what that makes
them? Ungodly. The ungodly are not
just those who look like they worship Satan. Tattoos all over
them, black fingernails. The ungodly are also the good
church-going people. It's any person who has a will
and a nature that is contrary to God. The ungodly. Verse 1 says, Blessed is the
man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners. The scripture also says, and come short of the glory of
God, every single person. Verse 6 says, The Lord knoweth
the way of the righteous. But the scripture says there's
none righteous, no not one. Verse 1 says, 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."
That word means mockery, a liar. And any person who says they're
not is making a mockery of God. Because He said, they go astray
as soon as they be born speaking lies. Now verse 2 says, This blessed man, his delight
is in the law of the Lord. He reads it, he learns it, he
follows it, he lives it. It's his natural delight. It's
his natural love. But listen to this, this is Isaiah
66. The Lord said, Yea, they have
chosen their own ways, and their soul delighted in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions
and will bring their fears upon them, because when I called,
none did answer. When I spake, they did not hear,
but they did evil before mine eyes and chose that in which
I delighted." That's the reality. That's the reality. Not only
now does this blessed man delight in the law of the Lord, but verse
2 says, in his law does he meditate day and night. It consumes his
thoughts. It consumes his heart. But God
said, He looked down from heaven and God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Do you know what I fear? By nature, I'm not a blessed
man. By nature, I'm not a blessed
man. By nature, the blessed man walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. By nature, the blessed man doesn't
stand in the way of sinners. By nature, this blessed man doesn't
sit in the seat of the scornful. By nature, He does what's good
and what's right. Now the Scripture says, examine
yourselves. Alright? So let's examine ourselves. Which is easier to read? Alright? Which is easier to read? To get engrossed in, to become like
you can't put it down. The Holy Word of God. Or the
latest Nicholas Sparks novel? Or whatever it is you're into?
Car magazine? Really? Which one is easier to
read and get engrossed in and crawled in so that you just can't
put it down? The Holy Word of God? Or just
something else? Alright, now which one holds
our attention span more? Thirty minutes of the preaching
of the Lord Jesus Christ, or two hours of the latest Hollywood
blockbuster on the big screen, or four hours of surfing the
internet. If we get completely honest with
ourselves, we're ungodly. That's what we are. Now, if the
roles were reversed and if you were standing up here and I was
sitting there, 30 minutes is a long time. I get finished and
everybody says, it's so short. It's a long time. It is. It's hard. It's hard. And it's
because we're ungodly. We just are. We just are. There is only one person that
Psalm 1 could possibly be talking about. The man, the God man, the only
one that hath clean hands and a pure heart, the one that hath
not lifted up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed, blessed is the man. that has never, ever, not one
time walked in the counsel of the undaunted. Not one time. Listen to this. Isaiah chapter
40 verses 13 and 14 say, the Lord says, Who hath directed
the Spirit of the Lord? Or being His counselor hath taught
Him? With whom took He counsel? and
who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment and
taught him knowledge and showed to him the way of understanding. Who did that? Whoever counseled me. That's
what the Lord is saying. He asked Job, where were you
when I laid the foundation of the world? Where were you? Isaiah
9 says, He is the counselor. He is the Counselor. All counsel
comes from Him. Every bit of it. And not once
has He ever walked in the counsel of the ungodly. Not once has
He ever stood in the way of sinners. Not once. When He was baptized
and He came up straightway out of the water, He was justified
in the Spirit. to prove that he was perfect,
he was sinless, he was acceptable. The scripture says, he knew no
sin. He who knew no sin. Not one single time did he ever
have a sinful thought. Not one single time. Think about how many people reviled
him, questioned him, right? He never had that backlash thought. Not once at a time. He never
ever said one sinful word. Not one time. He never did a
sinful deed. Not once at a time. set in the seat of the scornful."
Lies. Mockery. He said, I am the truth. Everything about him was true.
His delight, his heart, his love was in the law of the Lord. Every bit of it. He said, I delight
to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. That's what he said. When I see
His godliness, it proves to me that by nature
I'm ungodly. When I see His perfection, He
shows me how imperfect I am. Verse 3 says, 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. But verse 4 says, the ungodly
are not so. But are like the chaff which
the wind driveth away. Chaff. I'm just a dead husk. That's all I am. Just dead shell
with no substance. That's all I am. Now turn with
me over to Isaiah 29. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind drives away. Isaiah 29, look
at verse 5. Moreover, the multitude of thy
strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the
terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away. Yea, it shall
be at an instant suddenly. Now look at verse 6. Thou shalt
be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake,
and great noise, with storm, and tempest, and the flame of
devouring fire. That's what's coming to the child.
That's what's coming. So our text, verse 5 says, Therefore, because they're going
to be driven 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. The Lord knows the way of righteousness. The Lord will keep the way of
righteousness. It says, but the way of the ungodly,
my way, shall perish. What terrible news. Isn't that
terrible? That's just terrible. It says,
blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. Well, if we want to be blessed,
then we just shouldn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. I can't. I am the ungodly. I have a problem here. It seems
so simple. Just read it. Oh, how could you
stay away from that? ungodly. It's terrible news. How sad. Are you ready for the good news?
Go to Romans 5. Romans 5. Look at verse 6. For when we
were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. That's who he died for. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Everything that's going to come
down on that chaff, all the earthquakes and the fire and the brimstone,
We're going to be saved from wrath. Man, that's good news. Any ungodly sinner whom Christ
died for, any ungodly sinner who has received the blood of
Jesus Christ is a blessed man. Man, that's a blessed man. Because
if we're in his blood, And if we're in Him, then we
have a brand new nature. We have a brand new nature. We
have a godly nature. We have His nature. And in Him,
we live and we move and we have our being. As He is, so are we. And now because of Him, the first
three verses of Psalm 1 apply to us. They couldn't before,
now they do. Now they do. So let's go back
to Psalm 1. All of the us who have received spiritual blessings
in heavenly places. Psalm 1. Now, religion will take
this, take these first three verses and say, Here's what you've
got to do in order to be saved. All right, now here's what we
just said. I got no hope for the first three
verses. I have no part in it. So the Lord Jesus Christ did
something for me, died for me, saved me, and he made me acceptable
to this. Salvation's over. Christ died. It's finished. I'm in him. Okay? Now, because of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because He has shed His blood and saved us,
because we're already secure in Him, and there's no more work
to be done for salvation, it is finished. Because of all of
that, let's not walk Let's not listen to them. Let's not listen to their opinions.
Let's not listen to their statistics. Man, statistics get me. They
do. Can't help it. Don't trust them. Don't believe them. The counsel
of man gets us torn all to pieces. That's the only thing it's good
for, is to just tear us all to pieces. We come here for the
good news. Have you ever noticed that Channel
2 or Channel 7 or whatever it is, is all bad news? So-and-so was murdered. Got a
big car wreck out on such-and-such. They're closing all the schools.
It's all bad news. The counsel of man just tears
us all to pieces. The Lord God is now our counselor. Period. Period. Whatever he says, let's hold
to it. Let's cling to that. The Apostle
Paul said, I am absolutely determined not to know anything among you
save one thing. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. Outside of that, I
don't even know about it. I don't even know about it. Now,
we cannot stop our lives. We have to keep living. Right?
But the hope and the goal is don't listen and cling to and
hold to and believe and let it get us down. We're going to hear
a lot of things amongst the world be ungodly. And such were all
of us. But it's just going to put us
down. That's all it's going to do. All right? Now, because of the
Lord Jesus Christ, because of His love to us, and because of
our love to Him, let's not stand in the way of sinners. Let's
not. Now even though Christ paid the
debt of our sin, He died and it's gone. But even though He
paid the debt of our sin, we're not going to be rid of it until
we leave this earth. We're just not. We're going to
have to deal with it. It's going to hang on us. It's
going to grieve us. We're going to sin. We're going
to continue to sin. We are. But should we just excuse the
sin? Should we just say, well, you know, I'm a sinner. I'm a
sinner. I'm just going to keep sinning.
Scripture says, God forbid. God forbid. No. Let's strive
to do away with rebellion against the God we love. Because of love. Not for salvation. Because of
salvation. Because He loved us. And because
we love Him, let's strive to do away with rebellion against
God. What's one way that we can help
that, help to do that? Our Lord said, be not unequally
goad with unbelievers. That's what He said. Now we all
have relationships with unbelievers. Every single one of us. Every
one of us. and we love people. We love people. Paul said, I would that all men
were saved. I really do. It does not mean
that we shun other people as though we're better than them.
Not at all. It does not mean that at all.
What it means is when you see open rebellion against the Lord
our God Don't yoke yourself to it. Don't
be involved in it. Don't be okay with it. Don't
excuse it. Remove yourself from it. Here's
why. If we decide to walk just to
dabble in the counsel of the ungodly, I know the Scripture says this,
but they make a good point. If we decide to walk in the counsel
of the ungodly, there's a chance we might stop walking and stand in the way of sinners. You're saying we might sin? Oh,
I know we're going to sin. I know we will. May God help
us from just standing We stay in it. Because the longer we
stand in it, the more willing and ready we're going to be to
sit down. We started out walking through it. Now we're sitting
in it. Does that make sense? Now, if the Lord has had mercy
on us, He is going to pull us out. He will not leave us. He will not. We will fall. He'll pull us out. What man that
has a sheep that's fallen into a pit won't pull him out. He
will pull us out. But we're going to have to endure
his chase. We'll have to endure chasing.
You know, you probably told that boy, don't do that. And if you do, go get me a twig
or a stick or something. Now, you're still here, so He
didn't disown you. But you had to endure some chastening.
Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth. This is the same exact teaching
any father would give his child. So verse 1 says, don't do these
things. Don't do these things. Verse
2 says, but rather delight in the law of the Lord. When the
Lord enables us, when His Spirit opens up the Word to us, reveals
Christ in it to us, causes our heart to burn for it. When the
Lord enables us, we delight in His law. I delight to do thy
will. It's delightful. We're not under
the law in bondage. We're not under it. We're in
it. We're not under this law. We're
in it. Christ is the law. He fulfilled the law. He's the
end of the law. And if we're in Him, we're in
the law. We delight in Him. Is there any
commandment in here that you say, I don't like that, I don't
like that? No. I delight in every single
one of them. Because Christ fulfilled them
all for me. I'm in them. Now turn over to Proverbs 1. Proverbs 1, verse 1 says, The
Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to
know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding,
to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment,
and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man
knowledge and discretion, a wise man will hear and will increase
learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.
To understand a proverb and the interpretation The words of the
wise and their dark sayings, the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son,
hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy
mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head,
and chains about thy neck. My son, if sinners entice thee,
consent thou not, If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait
for blood. Let us lurk privately for the
innocent without cause. Verse 15 says, My son, walk not
thou in the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path. Refrain thy foot from their path.
That's good counseling. That's the counsel of our Lord. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. Right? He says, refrain from
that. Verse 3, verse 1 says, My son, forget not my law, but
let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life
and peace shall they add to thee. Chapter 4 says, Hear ye, children,
the instruction of a father, and attain to know understanding.
For I give you good doctrine. Forsake ye not my law. For I
was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of
my mother. He taught me also and said unto
me, Let thine heart retain my words. Keep my commandments and
live. Get wisdom. Get understanding. Forget it not, neither decline
from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall
preserve thee. Love her, and she shall keep
thee. Wisdom is the principal thing.
Therefore, get wisdom. And with all thy getting, get
understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote
thee. She shall bring thee to honor
when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head
an ornament of grace. and a crown of glory shall she
deliver to thee." The Lord teaches us, counsels us. Our text says,
Psalm 1, 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." Planted. He'll be planted. That's what
I want to be, is planted. Planted. It's not going to grow
wild. Do you remember that the Lord said, every tree that my
father didn't plant is going to be rooted up? Every single
one of them. But all those in Christ, the
tree of life, are going to be planted on purpose in a particular
location, right next to the rivers of living water. Verse 3 says, "...that bringeth
forth His fruit in His season." If you plant a tree, you want
some fruit on it, don't you? Think about that. If you plant
an apple tree, You want to see apples. You might
give it a season or two to let it come into season. But if it
doesn't produce apples, it's not good for anything. You're
going to cut it down. You're going to uproot it. If you plant a
tree, you want to see fruit. Well, so does Iowa. Now, I'm just going to read this
to you because I've already run way over on time. But just listen
to this, okay? Listen to this. This is Galatians
5. Bring forth his fruit and his
season. His fruit. The fruit of the Lord,
okay? Galatians 5 verse 22 says, But
the fruit of the Spirit is The Lord says, now I died for
you. I paid your debt. You're free
and clear. You're clean in the blood of
the Lamb. There's a place that's prepared
for you. You're never going to die. Have some joy. Have some joy. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, fruit. Fruit. It goes on to say, "...against
such there is no law." And it says, "...they that are Christ
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust." And
he says in verse 25, "...if we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit." Let's walk in the Spirit. That's our exhortation. Well, because of Christ, verse
3 says, "...his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he
doeth shall prosper. Now, those outside of Christ,
verse 4 says, 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. What maketh us to differ? Everything that we said at the
beginning of this message, what maketh us to differ? It's just
the grace of God. Grace of God. Verse 6 says, For
the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. The righteous way. That's His way. That way is going
to stand. He's going to keep that way.
And verse 6 says, The way of the ungodly. That's our way. It's going to perish. I don't
care. It's just going to be done away with. I know of some believers,
some aged believers, that I look at and I see the fruit of the Spirit. I do. There's some men that we
all know and love, and I've seen them as they've grown older,
They're a little less hard. Some people say they've just
gone soft. I think they've grown in grace. That's what I think.
They're a little bit more forgiving. They're just a little bit more
tender. They're a little bit more loving. They've grown in
grace. Fruit of the Spirit. Let's pray
that the Lord would begin conforming us into His image right now. Right now. It would be a good
thing.