Well, we stand on holy ground. I trust that you have removed
the sandals from your feet and that you hear the voice from
the bush of His Word as God speaks to us through His Word. This
is a good place to be. In the midst of God's people
on the Lord's Day, where His name has been so honored and
so glorified and so magnified, And now we come to look into
a careful study of His Word. If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to Psalm 1. And I want to speak to you today
on the blessed man, Psalm 1. And I first want to begin by
reading what will be the passage that will be our focus today. As I read this, we will work
our way carefully through it verse by verse and line by line,
but as I now read it, I desire that you just drink this in with
me, that we be encouraged just even as we hear this portion
of Scripture read and that it would sanctify our hearts. Psalm 1, beginning in verse 1,
this is the inspired, the inerrant, and the infallible Word of God. How blessed is the man who does
not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path
of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight
is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and
night. He will be like a tree, firmly
planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its
season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does,
he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they
are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked
will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of
the righteous. But the Lord knows the way of
the righteous. But the way of the wicked will
perish." Northeast of Los Angeles is a
barren wasteland known as the Mojave Desert. in its midst is
the Joshua Tree National Park, so-called because of the rare
tree that lives there. In this dry, brown, barren desert
grows an oddity. Where nothing else is virtually
growing, there is growing in this desert the Joshua Tree. Amidst all of the brown and all
of the barrenness, there is this thriving tree. And where nothing
else grows, this tree flourishes. Where all else is dying, this
tree grows to be 40 feet high and often lives to be a century
and a half old. It has many useful properties,
green leaves, flowers, food. And it stands out like a star
on a dark night, as this green tree is surrounded by the brown
parched badland. And this is something like what
the psalmist is saying, that the righteous man and the righteous
woman is. In the midst of this world in
which we find ourselves, in which we are surrounded by a culture
of death, a society that is marred by barrenness and the loss of
spiritual life. You and I have been planted by
streams of water. And in the midst of days of drought,
unparalleled days of drought, You and I are to thrive like
this lonely tree that has been planted by streams of water,
and we are to be vibrant, and we are to be growing, and we
are to be bearing fruit, and we are to stand out as a witness
and testimony of the grace of God in this decadent age. As we consider this first psalm,
there are several things you need to know about this first
psalm. The first of which is, this was
not the first psalm to be written. The psalms are not arranged in
the chronological sequence with which they were written. The first psalm is Psalm 90,
it was written by Moses during his wilderness wanderings, approximately
1410 B.C. The last psalm to be written
is Psalm 126. That was written about the year 400 B.C. There is a span of a thousand
years from the first psalm that was written until the last psalm. There were compilers who came
in after the psalms were written and compiled them in a particular
order. The first 41 Psalms comprise
book one and many say they are a reflection of the book of Genesis.
And then there were four more installments and each individual
book is said to be a reflection of each of the five books of
the Pentateuch. Psalm 1 is intentionally placed
here. I believe it is the most important
of all the Psalms. It could be argued that the entire
rest of the book of Psalms is simply an expansion and an explanation
of what we find in this first Psalm. And so it is placed here
strategically, intentionally, and purposely so that every time
you open the book of Psalms, you have to walk past this psalm. In fact, the first two psalms
were originally in the Septuagint, clustered together as one psalm,
such that they stood as two gatekeepers through whom you must walk to
enter into the temple of worship in the book of Psalms. Psalm 1 verse 1 begins, how blessed
is the man. Psalm 2 verse 12 concludes, how
blessed are all who take refuge in Him. That is a literary device
known as inclusio or inclusion. They're like brackets or bookends
around these first two Psalms that group them together as one
voice. And they stand as two sentries,
as two guards, so that everyone who comes into this house must
hear their testimony. And in Psalm 1, the testimony
is very clear, that there are two ways of life. And there are
those who are on the way of the righteous and there are those
who are on the way of the wicked. And in verses 1 through 3, we
see the way of the righteous and those who are the blessed
of God. In verses 4 through 6, it's very
clear it is the way of the wicked and those are not in a state
of neutrality, they are under the curse and judgment and wrath
of God. Psalm 2 follows immediately and
it is an evangelistic psalm, if you will, for those who are
not yet on the path of the righteous but still linger on the path
of the wicked. It shows the moral insanity of
resisting God, though the nations are in an uproar and the peoples
devise a vain thing. And verse 4 says, the Lord who
sits in the heaven laughs and scoffs at any attempt to resist. is kingdom. You come to the end
of Psalm 2 and it is very much an impassioned evangelistic plea
to those who are on the way of the wicked. He says, show discernment,
take warning. He calls them to worship the
Lord with reverence and to rejoice with trembling. In verse 12,
do homage to the Son. In the King James, it says to
kiss the Son, to come and bow before the Son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is mentioned in verse 7 that God has a Son
whom He has highly exalted. and bestowed upon Him the name
that is above every name, and all must come and bow to the
Son and kiss Him in saving faith." Psalm 1 is a wonderful psalm
that speaks to the blessedness that rests upon those who know
the Lord. If you know the Lord, and I trust
that most of us here this day do, this is your psalm. This is your spiritual biography. This is your life. This is you. Look into the mirror of God's
Word and see yourself. This is the blessing that God
has pronounced upon you and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There are four things that I
want you to note about this psalm as we look at this psalm. And
the first is the pronouncement of blessing. That's where this
psalm begins. In the first line, how blessed
is the Lord. Excuse me, how blessed is the
man. Can you imagine a psalm that could start more positive
than this? Can you imagine a book in the Bible that could begin
at a higher level of positive blessing to be pronounced upon
the reader? How blessed is the man? This
is a declaration from heaven. This is an exclamatory statement
of fact. And for those who are in the
Lord and in the kingdom, how blessed is this man and this
woman. In fact, the word blessed is
used 25 times just in the book of Psalms. This is a book that
pronounces the blessing of God. upon the life of the believer. And there are several things
that I want you to note about this line, how blessed is the
man. And the first is the implied
blesser is God Himself. This blessing does not arise
out of the chaos of the culture. It's not dredged out of the empty
wells of this world. It doesn't come from society. It doesn't even come from within
ourselves. This blessedness comes down from
the throne of grace above. It is lavished upon us. It is a blessing that has come
out of a different environment. It's come down...it's transcendent.
It has come down from another world. This world could never
give this blessedness. A second, the word blessed is
in the plural. We can't see it in the English,
but in the Hebrew it's in the plural and could easily be translated,
oh, the blessednesses. that are streaming upon our lives. This stresses the fullness of
this blessedness. It speaks of the abundance of
this blessedness. God is not in heaven with an
eyedropper just measuring out tiny little drops of blessing
to fall upon us. Instead, God has swung open the
windows of heaven and he has poured out in abundance His blessing
upon us. I hear John 10, verse 10, Jesus
saying, I've come that they might have life and have it abundantly. Third, this blessedness, it's
first vertical and then it is internal. It is first vertical
in the sense that To enter into this blessedness is to enter
into a right relationship with God. There are only two classifications
of people in the world. There are those who are blessed
and those who are cursed. There are those who are in the
kingdom and there are those who are outside the kingdom, those
who know the Lord, those who do not know the Lord. And so
the first aspect of this blessedness is to have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. But then second, it's internal
in the sense that for all who enter into this favored relationship
of acceptance with God in heaven, there is the internal experience
of the peace of God. And there is inward joy. There
is contentment. There is satisfaction of soul. There is a sense of well-being
and resting in the Lord. The world knows happiness, and
we at times know happiness. Happiness is built upon our happenings
or our happenstance. And when our happenstance is
good, we're happy. And when our happenstance is
down, we're down. When your football team wins,
you're excited about it. And when your football team loses,
you're in depression. That is the way the world operates
and we understand something of that, but what is being referred
here is not dependent upon circumstances or happenstance. What we are
reading here is rooted and grounded in the Lord who never changes
and who is transcendent above this world. No, this blessedness,
one could be in a prison cell in Rome and know this blessedness.
One could be in a hospital room and receive a very poor report
from the doctor and know this blessedness. Next, I want you
to know that this blessedness is reserved for believers only. This could read, how blessed
is the man and only this man. There's not one drop of blessing
redemptively outside of this favored state with God. And so this is known only by
those who have put their faith and trust in the Lord through
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And finally, I want you to know
that this psalm was exactly what was coming out of the mouth of
our Lord as He began His public ministry. As Jesus stood up and
preached the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, He was
an echo chamber of Psalm 1 as He began His Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who
mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."
Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed pronounced the Lord of those
who are in His kingdom. There is no greater life that
any one of us could ever live and could ever know. that exceeds
what we see in this psalm. The greatest life that anyone
could ever live is to give his or her life to the Lord Jesus
Christ and to be pronounced with this blessedness. And as you find yourself here
today, and perhaps the circumstances in your life may not be exactly
what you would want them to be, and we all face the up and down
and the mountaintops and valleys of life, the ebb and the flow
of the ocean coming in and coming out in our life. Aren't you glad
that we do not have to live like the world and be dependent upon
our circumstances and be dependent upon what is transpiring around
us? Aren't you glad that we are tethered
to something far above us? And in the darkest hours of our
night, in the most difficult circumstances that we will ever
face, God says from His throne of grace, blessed, blessed are
you. This is the pronouncement of
blessed. Have you heard the Lord pronounce
His blessedness upon you? I do not mean with an audible
voice, but with something much louder than that. Have you heard
Him speak through pages of Scripture which you have received by faith? And have you heard Him pronounce
His blessedness upon your soul? Second, I want you to note the
prerequisite for blessedness because there are degrees of
experiencing this blessedness. Some here today are more joyful
than other Christians. Some Christians here today have
more peace than others. Some believers here today have
more patience or more self-control. Some have a greater enjoyment
of this blessedness. And so the rest of verse 1 and
verse 2 give us what is the prerequisite to experience the fullness of
this blessedness. What we see in verse 1 is a negative
You'll notice threefold the word not. How blessed is the man who
does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the
path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. Three consecutive
times the psalmist says not, nor, nor. And then in verse 2,
there is the positive. His delight is in the law of
the Lord and His law, He meditates day and night. This is the pattern
of the Christian life. It's not either or, it's both
and. It's the heads and tails of the same coin. There must
be the negative separation from the world system. And there must
be the positive saturation with the Word. And that is what we
have here. Verse 1 is all about Verse 2 is all about association. To put it in Pauline terms, verse
1 is about the putting off of the old and verse 2 is about
the putting on of the new. And if we only focus on verse
1 to the exclusion of verse 2, that will ultimately lead to
legalism where you're just about everything you don't do. That
ultimately leads nowhere. And others want to be just verse
2, and that ultimately leads to antinomianism. Verse 1 and
verse 2 are welded together, here is a well-balanced Christian
life that experiences the fullness of this blessedness that the
Lord has for us. And I want to say one thing very
quickly before we look at these threefold negatives, does walking
the counsel of the wicked, does not stand in the path of sinners,
does not sit in the seat of scoffers." Let me tell you what this is
not saying, that you and I need to sell our house and move to
the mountains and live in a cave and just withdraw from the world.
That is the last thing this is calling for. We are to go into
the world. We are to go into the highways
and in the byways of this world. We are to be the light of the
world and the salt of the earth. We are to penetrate this evil
world system and carry the gospel of Jesus Christ with us. There
is no note of retreat that should ever be sounded from any bugler
in God's army. It is always forward, forward,
forward into the world with a torch of the gospel of Jesus Christ
that we would rescue the perishing and care for the dying. What
this is talking about is not isolation. It is talking about
insulation. And while we're in the world,
We are not duped by the world. And we do not come under the
sway and the influence of the world. Listen, our boat is to
be in the water. There's just no water to be in
the boat. And you need to get your boat off of dry ground.
It's not helping anything. And you've got to get out into
the stormy seas of this world and carry the gospel of Jesus
Christ with you. But as you are in the world,
verse 1 says these three things, that we are not to walk in the
counsel of the wicked. That is to say we must refuse
worldly thinking, what J. Bernard McGee would call stinking
thinking. where man is in the center and
man is the measure and man is the standard and all things are
from man and through man and to man. And that's what secular
humanism is. That is what a worldly worldview
is. And the psalmist here says that
we must not walk in the counsel of the wicked. We must be like
the Heisman Trophy and stiff arm the counsel of the wicked. And then it says, nor stand in
the path of sinners. This says we must refuse to join
in to the sinful activities of this world and not run with the
world in its pursuits of sin. You see that it starts with the
mind and then it goes to the behavior, and then finally our
belongings. Look, he says, nor sit in the
seat of scoffers. We must refuse close company
with those who mock God and who ridicule holy things. Now, we are to witness to the
scoffer, but we are not to sit down with the scoffer and join
in with some kind of partnership. No, 1 Corinthians 15, 33 is still
in the Bible. Bad company corrupts good morals. You tell me who your friends
are and I will tell you either what you are or what you're soon
to become. They are a huge influence upon us. And while we are to
reach those who need Christ, we are not to sit in the seat
of the scoffer. This blessed man refuses to adopt
the thinking of the world, refuses to embrace the values of the
world, refuses to enter into the path of the world, refuses
to laugh at the vulgarities of the world. This blessed man does
not abuse his Christian liberties. This blessed man does not push
the limits of his freedom in Christ. This blessed man does
not see how close he can get to the fire of this world without
being burned. This blessed man guards what
he allows to come into his mind because garbage in, garbage out. You see, it really does matter
where you walk. It really doesn't matter where
you stand. It really doesn't matter where you sit. If you
are to enter into the fullness of the experience of this blessedness. And then the positive, beginning
in verse 2, it begins with this word, but. It's a word of sharp
contrast. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord." What a contrast between the counsel of the ungodly
and the counsel of the law of the Lord. No, he has a new heart. because He has been born again.
He has new affections. And Ezekiel 36 says that God
has taken out His heart of stone that was hardened towards God,
lifeless towards God, resistance towards God, and put in a heart
of flesh that is alive to God and loves God and loves the things
of God. And God has written His law upon
the tablet of His heart and put His Spirit within Him and causes
Him to keep his statutes. That is a sovereign work of grace
that only God can do. And all of those who have been
born from above, they now, to one degree or another, delight
in the law of the Lord. Listen, they're not forced into
Bible study. They flee to Bible study. They
love it. They have new affections. They
have a new heart. And their delight is in the law
of the Lord. The law here refers to God's
divine revelation that is written and recorded in Scripture. At
the very least, it's the Pentateuch in the first five books of the
Old Testament, but I think with each portion of Scripture that
is written and added to the canon of Scripture, it too finds itself
included in this. And would you note the verb tense,
His delight is? present tense is in the law of
the Lord. I didn't bring this out in the
first service, this is worth saying now, now that I have the elect with
me. Yeah, the earlier service, they're
just coming in from Saturday night, now here are the real
believers. All right, I've got an amen over
there. His delight is present tense. It's not just Sunday morning. It's not just Wednesday night.
It is a constant state where He is continually delighting
in the Law of the Lord. And then He says in His Law,
He meditates day and night. In other words, He doesn't just
delight in it, but He chews on it. He reflects upon it. He meditates. He contemplates, he processes
all that he is studying and he's working it in to the very fabric
of his heart and his soul. Literally out of the Hebrew,
this word meditates is kind of like a low moaning sound like
this, hmm. Like as you're thinking on the
law of the Lord and there are times you just go, hmm, that
is so good. And I see how this applies to
my life. And so, this blessed man is continually
delighting in and meditating upon the Word of God. In other
words, his mind is never leaving God. His mind is never leaving
the truth. He is setting his mind on things
above, not on things of the earth. He is seeking first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness and trusting that all these other
things would be added unto Him. And note the last two words,
the last three words, day and night. Again, it's all day, every
day. It's not an occasional drop-in
at a Bible study. But he is habitually contemplating
the truths of the Word of God and being washed and sanctified
and sanctified as he's out and as she is out in the world. This is a prerequisite. This
is not optional. This is not a suggestion. And
this is the way that we must live to enter into the fullness
of this blessedness. There are things that we must
refuse and there are things we must receive. First Peter 2,
2, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the Word, that
by it you may grow in respect to salvation. And when we feed
on the junk food of this world... It takes away something of our
hunger for the Word. We become stuffed with the wrong
things. And so there are some things
that we need to neglect and pass over that are even lawful so
that our appetite is not falsely satisfied with that which is
not God's Word. Well, do you see what the Lord
is desiring of your spiritual life? that there be this negative
separation from the world. It almost sounds old-fashioned,
almost like you're a dinosaur to read these verses and yet
it is just as true today as when this psalm was first written
some three thousand years ago. And there must be this continual
hunger for the Word. Does this describe where you
are today? And if not, what midcourse correction
does there need to be knowing that the outcome is the fullness
of God's blessedness upon you? Third, as we look at verse 3,
I want you to note the picture. In verse 3, we have the picture
of the blessedness and the psalmist is a master teacher. He's a skilled
poet and he's painting a picture on the canvas of our mind. He
not only tells us about the blessed man, but he shows us. And verse 3 is in reality an
illustration of the instruction that he just gave to us. Please note what verse 3 says,
he, referring to the blessed man, will be. There's a note
of certainty about this, not he could be, might be, should
be, ought to be. No. If there is this separation,
if there is this saturation, he will be like a tree. It's a figure of speech, a simile,
a comparison between a tree and the godly, righteous man. And there are two things that
I want you to note about this tree. Number one, it is transplanted. Number two, it is thriving. And number one, note, it is transplanted. He will be like a tree, firmly
planted by streams of water. You know what's an obvious observation
of this? This tree did not start out by
streams of water. It is implied that this tree
was once someplace else and had to be uprooted. and carried by
streams of water and then planted by streams of water. And the
imagery here, I believe, is of sovereign regeneration. It is
the picture of the new birth. It is the invisible hand of Almighty
God and the blowing of the Spirit like the wind that comes and
uproots our hearts and plants us in the fertile soil of the
saving grace of God. Let me tell you, trees do not
transplant themselves. Trees are not tremendous. Trees
cannot move themselves. Someone else has to come along. And what is represented here
is where we once were and where we now find ourselves. We once
were dying in a brown and barren desert. You could have been in
church but if you didn't know the Lord, you were dying, you
were spiritually dead in trespasses and sin. And the Lord by His
grace, He came to you, He found you, He passed over other dying
trees and He came to you and He laid hold of you and He planted
you by streams of water. All glory to our great God for
doing this. It is by His grace that you are
in Christ Jesus this day. And then note, not only transplanted,
but thriving. He says three things now about
this transplanted tree. He says, transplanted by, watch
this, streams of water. Wow. Multiple rivers. More than enough water that this
one little tree needs. And would you note that streams
is in the plural? streams of water. And behind these streams of water
are oceans of grace, saving grace, strengthening grace, sanctifying
grace, serving grace, grace upon grace. that this little tree
in the hottest day of the drought will never lack for the supply
that it needs? And when other trees are dying
all around, this tree is thriving because streams of water. Do you see what is available
to you in the Lord Jesus Christ? Here is the sufficiency of Christ,
the sufficiency of the Spirit. The sufficiency of the Scripture,
all that is needed for us to grow and bear fruit and to thrive,
the Lord has provided for us. We just set our roots down deeper
and deeper into the law of the Lord. And as we set down our
roots, we're delighting in it. And then as we meditate, we're
drawing up the water into our branches. that is producing the
fruit. Now, note what he says, how it's
thriving, which yields its fruit in its season. Our lives have
passing seasons. Sometimes within the same day,
we have passing seasons. There are times we need patience.
There are times we need joy. There are times we need encouragement.
There are times we need a peace that surpasses all comprehension. There are times we need strength.
There are times we need love. And in every season of our lives,
this stream is providing everything that we need in abundance. And then he goes on to say, and
its leaf does not wither. That is to say, this tree that
represents our life is an evergreen tree. The leaves just never wither. And when others are wilting and
bowing over and cannot grow, we are thriving in the office.
We are thriving in our family. We are thriving in our neighborhood. This leaf does not wither. And
we are vibrant in the faith. and lush and healthy and beautiful. And then he concludes, and in
whatever he does, that covers a lot, my friend, home, work,
recreation, church, worship, and in whatever he does, whatever
she does, he prospers. That's pretty good. This is not
talking about a prosperity gospel, that if you'll just take in the
Word of God, you'll have a Lexus waiting for you in the parking
lot. It's not what this is saying. And those people that say, send
your money and you'll have that, I always want to say to them,
no, you send me your money and you can be blessed. And whatever he does, he prospers.
Let me tell you what this word prospers does, what it means. This Hebrew word for prospers,
you need to write this down. It means to accomplish the purpose
for which something is created. It means to fulfill the design
for which something is intended. You and I were made to glorify
God. You and I were made to know God and to serve God and to follow
God and to carry out His work here upon this earth. And that
is what real prosperity is. It is to accomplish the work
that the Lord has given us to do and it is to glorify Him in
carrying out His mission for us here upon the earth. This
tree, this lonely tree. is so prolific and is so prosperous,
it grows taller, it bears fruit, it spreads its branches, it deepens
its roots, it maintains its leaves. That's the picture of your life
in Christ. This is not a representation
of some super saint that you could never even begin to touch
the hem of this garment. This is front-loaded on the front
doorsteps of the entire book of Psalms so that everyone who
comes into the public gathering in the temple among the people
of God who have come to worship the Lord, that everyone who comes
in knows that they may have this blessing from God. No matter what difficulty you
may be facing, you may thrive spiritually and emotionally.
You may be a widow or a widower and just a lonely tree and your
loved one has been taken from you and yet you can still thrive
by the grace of God right where you are. You may be a single
adult, just a lonely tree. I want you to know that you can
thrive right where you are as God has planted you. You may
be a single parent and raising children all by yourself and
the odds are stacked against you and you wring your hands
and you wonder, how will I do this? I want you to know if you
have been planted by streams of water, you can grow, you can
thrive and you can bear fruit. There is more than enough water
in these streams to supply everything that you need in your life. Now
finally, and I must say this very quickly, in verses 4 through
6, just a quick flyover, the prohibition of God's blessing
because not...this is total contrast. Not everyone knows this blessing
from the Lord and there are those, verse 4 tells us, who are the
wicked. The wicked are unbelievers. The
wicked are those, they may be outwardly moral, they may be
outwardly religious, they've just never been born again. They
are not inwardly religious. righteous but inwardly wicked. And he says the wicked are not
so. Literally the Hebrew word order is not so the wicked. Are they blessed? Not so. Are
they joyful? Not so. Are they fruitful? Are they prosperous? Not so. They may look successful on the
outside. They may look very gregarious
but not so. They do what the Lord forbids
in verse 1. They actually walk in the counsel
of the wicked. They actually stand in the path
of sinners. They actually sit in the seat
of scoffers. And as Spurgeon points out, that
is a downward spiral into sin. You start out In verse 1, walking
in the counsel of the wicked and it affects your mind and
the next thing is going to happen to you, you'll be on the slippery
slope and you'll be standing in the path of sinners and before
long, you will come all the way down to the basement of immorality
and you will be sitting in the seat of scoffers. As you go from
bad to worse, no one ever just stays the same. You're either
growing up or growing down. And he says that these who are
the wicked... They're like the chaff which
the wind drives away. The wheat grain would be harvested,
be taken to a high hill where the wind would be blowing the
strongest. There would be a threshing floor right here with a pitchfork. The farmer would throw the grain
up in the air and the heavier kernel, which was very valuable,
it would fall straight down on the threshing floor and be gathered
up and taken to market. But as the wind would blow, it
would cause a separation and the chaff, it was just worthless. It was...it amounted to nothing. There was no substance to it.
It would just be blown away into oblivion. And that is exactly
what the wicked are. They are spiritual lightweights.
There is no gravitas about their life. There is no weightiness
about them in the things of the Lord. And they are just swept
away ultimately into the bowels of hell below. And therefore
the wicked will not stand in the judgment. Oh, they'll be
at the judgment, they just won't stand there with God's approval
and they will be blown away. And the Lord Jesus will say to
them, depart from Me, you who work iniquity, I never knew you.
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous." Oh, they presently
meet in the assembly of the righteous and they presently come into
the temple and join their voices with others who sing. It's just
that they're religious but lost. They've never been born again.
They remain unconverted. And now in the judgment, they
will not stand in the assembly of the righteous. Verse 6, for
the Lord knows the way of the righteous. This word knows means
far more than merely know about, far more than just a mental awareness. This word for knows means to
be intimately involved with. It speaks of a loving personal
relationship with. The Lord knows the way of the
righteous. He planned it. He ordained it.
He built it. He paved it. He travels with
it, us on it. He is in us. The Lord knows the
way of the righteous. But the way of the wicked will perish, will undergo eternal punishment
and destruction forever and ever and ever. Why would anyone be
so stubborn, be such a procrastinator as to put off the way of the
righteous and remain on the way of the wicked? knowing that at
any moment you could come to the end of your life and wake
up in hell, knowing that if you die without Christ, you will
appear at the great white throne judgment and you will be sentenced
to eternal condemnation with the torment of the damned in
hell forever. As I bring this to a close, if
you're not on the way of the righteous, If you're not one
that the Lord has pronounced His blessing upon, I call you
this day to come to Christ, to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The free offer of the gospel,
He extends His invitation to you and He invites you to come
into His kingdom. You must turn away from your
sin. You must repent of your sin and come to Christ. And he says, him who comes unto
me, I will in no wise cast out. The Lord Jesus loves to gather
in lost sinners. He's the friend of sinners. He's
come to seek and to save that which is lost. Oh, how he longs
to gather in sinners just like you. And if you have never committed
your life to Jesus Christ, I want you to know that He died upon
the cross for sinners. He shed His blood to make the
only atonement for sin. By His death upon the cross,
He made the only bridge from earth to heaven, the only way
that you may be able to enter into the very presence of God.
Come to the Lord. Believe upon Him and trust your
life to Him, and you will enter in. to the fullness of His blessedness. Why would you remain cursed when
you could leave here today blessed? Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved. Let us pray. Father, thank You
for this amazing psalm, for our instruction. Help us to even
meditate upon this portion of Scripture. In Jesus' name, amen.