The Lord has preserved for us
in his scriptures many wonderful books, many wonderful epistles,
many wonderful truths. And in the midst of the scriptures,
he's preserved for us in the book of the Psalms 150 wonderful songs of praise, thanksgiving,
supplication, cries of help to God. Cries for deliverance from
God. Cries of repentance. Cries of
misery and woe. Cries of hope. Statements of
faith and trust. He's provided in these psalms
the range, the richness, the heights and the depths of the
experience of the child of God. As the child of God comes to
know the poverty of his own heart, the desperate state he is in
because of the wickedness and deceit of his heart. the corruption
of sin within, the depravity of the flesh, the hopelessness
of his state by nature, as he comes to know the just condemnation
of God against his sin, and how small he is before a holy God. But as he comes to know through
the Gospel, and through the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, the wonderful
hope, strength, deliverance, peace, salvation and righteousness
which he has in Christ alone. So many of these psalms were
written by David, that great king, that man after God's own
heart, who was brought by God's grace to experience so many of
these things, to have so much experience of life in its highest
heights and its greatest depths. David was a man who by the grace
of God walked close to his God, and knew the nearness of his
God, and knew the promises of God, and knew the gospel of God,
and knew the Saviour. He was a man who knew what it
was to be poor and what it was to be rich. He knew what it was
to be persecuted and hounded even unto death. And he knew
what it was to be exalted as the king of God's chosen nation. But he was also a man who knew
the depths of sin. He was an adulterer, a murderer,
a liar, a deceiver, He stooped about as far as many have gone
and yet God loved him, God saved him and God made him his king
and God gave him to know the richness of his grace and the
wonder of his salvation and the glory of his son and God moved
him to write. to take up his pen, to sing of
God's grace and to put it down in words that you and I should
read and should say, yes, that's the pathway I have trodden. Yes, that's the state of my heart. Yes, that's the place where my
strength is in God alone. That's the God I know. That's
the salvation I've been shown. That's the Saviour revealed unto
me. O believer, I'm sure you will
know the comfort of the Psalms. For so many of God's children
it's one of the most famed books in their Bibles. when they fall
into trouble, when they feel cast off, when they feel persecuted,
when they feel like their sins have set themselves at a distance
to their God, and that His presence and His blessing seems removed
from them, so often they'll turn to their Psalms and they'll hear
the cries of David and others, help Lord, forgive me, hear my
cry, and they'll echo those words. and they'll find that comfort
that David found in Christ and Christ alone. The first psalm in this collection
of 150 reads as follows, Blessed is the man that walketh not in
the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sit if 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. 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. A short psalm, but
a psalm that presents unto us two men, two descents of men,
two posterities, that man who's blessed and walks in the way
of the righteous and the ungodly who are like
the chaff which the wind driveth away who shall not stand in the
judgment nor dwell in the congregation of the righteous and who in the
end shall perish Blessed is the man. 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. Blessed is the man. Blessed is the man. Who is this
man? Who is this man? He's not the
ungodly man. The ungodly is not like him.
The ungodly is like chaff which the wind driveth away and shall
perish in the end. But who is that man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly? Who is this man? Well ultimately
it's Christ. It clearly speaks of those men
who are righteous, those who don't walk in the counsel of
the ungodly. But by nature there is none righteous,
there is none that doeth good, there is none that have served
God or sought God. Then by nature the ungodly here
is all men. Then where is that man who's
blessed? Where is amongst the children
of men, the children of Adam, where is a man that walk if not
in the counsel of the ungodly? You find me a man that stand
if not in the way of sinners. You find a woman, a child, a
man who sit if not in the seat of the scornful. We've all walked
in the council of the ungodly, we've all stood in the way of
sinners and we've all sat in the seat of the scornful and
many of us still do and you today may still do. Where are you walking? Where
are you standing? Where are you sat this day, this
hour? Are you blessed? Or are you the
ungodly, like chaff which the wind driveth away? There is none
righteous, then who does this speak of? It can only speak of
one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. who was made of the seed of David,
who took upon him human flesh, made a little lower than the
angels, even for the suffering of death. He was a man, just
like us, but unlike us, without sin. He had humanity like we
have humanity. He had flesh like we have flesh. He felt what it was like to be
tired and to be weak and to hurt. He lived among men. but He was
God among men. God with us, Emmanuel. And He,
unlike all men, was without sin. He was the only man to truly
walk not in the counsel of the ungodly, to truly not stand in
the way of sinners, to truly not sit in the seat of the scornful,
the only man to truly walk in the way of the righteous. That's
the man of whom this psalm speaks. That's the man ultimately whom
all the psalms speak of. Christ. Christ in all the scriptures. Blessed is the man. And it speaks of God's children. Those who are united and wed
unto Christ. Those who by faith have been
brought to behold Christ, and to hear the voice of Christ,
and to see Christ crucified in their place for their sins, to
see his blood shed for them, to be washed in his blood. It speaks of those who are in
Christ as blessed. For all those in
Christ are as Christ. All those who are in Christ have
the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. All those who are in
Christ have the faith of Christ. To believe and trust in Him.
All those who are in Christ walk in Christ and live in Christ.
Love Christ and know Christ. And what is true of the Son is
true of them in Him. They in Him are blessed. Are you in Him? Are you blessed
with Christ? Or are you yet in your sin, walking
in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners,
and sitting in the seat of the scornful? Blessed is the man. Blessed is the Son of God. Blessed
is the Saviour, Jesus Christ. Blessed is the man. Do you know this blessed man? Do you know his salvation? Do you know his way? First verse speaks of walking,
standing and sitting. Every action which you might
perform, whether you're active, walking, whether you're at a
standstill standing or whether you're resting, sitting. Where is your activity? Where
is your stand? And in what do you rest? Are
you actively walking with the ungodly in their counsel, hearing
their advice, going where they go, taking their praise, following
them, leading them in a way which is set against God. Is that your
pathway? Is that what you do when you
get up? Is that what you put your energies
into? A walk in the council of the
ungodly, A walk which says in your heart there is no God. A
walk which seeks your will, your desire. A walk which rages at
any that gets in your pathway. A walk which rages against authority. A walk which rages against the
rule of others. A walk which rages against parents
and teachers and employers. and government and anyone that
says and directs your path and ultimately a walk which rages
against God and his son and says I will not worship thee, I will
not follow thee, I will go my way. A walk which denies that
God exists and denies that God is true and denies that God is
God and denies that what God has said unto you and said unto
this world regarding His Son and His Gospel is true. So you walk contrary. You walk away from. You walk
in the counsel of the ungodly. Where is your stand? On what
do you stand? Do you stand in the way of sinners? Stand in the wisdom of man? Stand in the knowledge and the
intellect of man? Do you stand in untruth? Do you
stand in rebellion? When God says, go here, you stand
and say, I will not. Where are you standing? Where
are you found? You might say, oh, I'm not doing
anything. I don't actively oppose the gospel. If somebody wants to worship
God, that's fine for them. I'm neutral. I don't mind. I'm
apathetic. Oh, you might pretend that you're
not walking, but you're still standing. And are you standing
in the congregation of the righteous with those who worship the Lord
Jesus Christ? Or are you standing in the way
of sinners? I spoke to someone recently where
we were talking about this day and age. And he bemoaned the
fact that with most men, it's not so much an enmity against
the truth as just total apathy. Nobody's got any interest, nobody
thinks about God. It doesn't enter their minds,
it doesn't cross their paths. They just get on with their lives.
They get up, they go to work, they earn their money, they indulge
their pleasures, they go to bed again. They never think about
God. but they are standing in the
way of sinners whether they are actively walking away whether
they are conscious of their walk or not they are standing in the
way of sinners there's no neutrality your apathy will be no excuse
in the day of judgment Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in
the judgment. When they're brought to stand
before God, they won't stand, they'll fall, they'll be judged,
they'll be cast out, they've got nothing to stand on. They've
been stood on foundations of sand. They've been building a
house upon the sand. And when the storms of God's
judgment comes their way, they will be washed away, swept away
to destruction. There were storms this week.
And some will know of those who were swept away into the sea
to their death. Simply because they thought they
would have a dare and see if they could stand and they couldn't
stand because the power was too great for them. And there are
lessons to be learned in the natural realm there. That God's
power even in nature is immense. His power in storms, His power
with the weather is immense. You can't fool about with these
things. But you can't fool about with
God. There is a storm of judgment
coming your way. And unless you're standing on
the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, unless you're standing
upon the rock, unless you're set upon the foundation of Christ
and his apostles, unless you're stood in Christ, you will not
stand in the judgment. You'll be swept away. And you'll
be swept away because you were found in this day and age standing
in the way of sinners. You aren't in a neutral place. You've shut your ears and shut
your eyes and shut your mind to the things of God. You will
not listen. And in that day when you want
Him to listen to your cries for mercy, you will find that he
will not listen because the day and the hour of listening has
gone by where are you walking? where are you stood? where are
you sitting? where do you rest? when your
strength has run out when all your strength has run out so
you cannot even stand up where are you sitting? Have you been
brought to rest in Jesus Christ and his grace and his salvation?
Knowing you have no strength, knowing you have no righteousness,
knowing you have no wisdom, knowing you're full of sin, knowing that
God must save you or you will perish. Have you been brought
to rest in Christ and sit with Christ? Or are you sitting and
resting in the seat of the scornful. How scornful the heart of man
is. How scornful. He says he's neutral,
well he's neutral when nobody speaks to him of Christ. But
you go to one of these men in the street who never think of
Christ and start to speak to them. How scornful they become! How they ridicule the things
of God. How they've been told that these
things are just myths and fairy tales and not for a scientific
modern age. How scornful man is. How scornful
the media is. How scornful the television and
radio are. How scornful the press is. How
scornful the pride and the intellect and the wisdom of man is. How
man exalts those men. who make a living out of pouring
scorn upon Jesus Christ and his gospel. How they make movies
and write tales and exalt those who try to prove the existence
of God is a fairy tale. They're scornful. Well the scornful shall not stand
in the judgment. You may sit in the seat of the
scornful perhaps because you haven't the strength to stand
or the ability to walk but you still sit in the seat of the
scornful and you scorn to your own destruction. Use every last ounce of strength
you've got in this life to scorn at Christ if you will, but he
shall laugh. You are no might for the power
of Almighty God. 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. Blessed is the man,
blessed is Jesus Christ. for he did not walk that way
he did not stand that way and he did not sit in that place where are you walking? where
are you standing? where are you sitting? oh believer
how do you walk? how do you stand? how do you
sit? it's said of God's children that we walk in the Spirit We walk in the Spirit. We're
wed to Christ, united to Christ, our life is in Christ and we
walk in His Spirit, not by sight but by faith. We walk not by
sight but by faith. We walk not by the law but by
the Spirit of God. We're not under the law, we're
led by the Spirit. If ye be led by the Spirit then
ye are not under the law. Ours is not an outward walk where
we seek to reform ourselves and make ourselves righteous. by
shaping the outside and putting on an appearance before men which
is exactly what the religious did and the religious do because
there are many religious who walk according to religious counsel
of ungodly religious men and there are many religious who
stand in a sinful way of religion standing in their own righteousness
standing in the works of man, standing in the will of man.
And there are many religious who sit in a seat of scorn, scorning
those who know the free grace, the sovereign grace of God in
Jesus Christ. Don't think you've escaped that
walk, that way, that stand, that sitting, simply because you're
religious. There are more religious that
scorn the truth than there are irreligious. There are as many
religious who are ungodly as those who are unreligious. And
as many religious who are still full of sin. The child of God walks not in
the way of sinners. not in the council of the ungodly
he walks in the spirit and he stands in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath set him free Galatians 5.1 that's where he stands he
stands in Christ he stands upon rock he stands upon righteousness
and he stands in liberty and he will not be moved from it
He's set upon that rock of the gospel and the rock of gospel
liberty. He will not be moved. He will
not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. He will not
go back to his works and his will. He knows that he's utterly
corrupt. He knows what his works and his
will brought him to. He knows it led to destruction.
He knows that he cannot stand like that in the judgment. He
knows that that way will perish, but he stands in the liberty
of the gospel, the liberty wherewith Christ has set him free. And
he finds his rest in Christ alone. He sits in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. That's where he sat. He sat down
with his saviour in heaven above. He sat with his saviour upon
a throne. Blessed is the man. That's the man that brought his
salvation and every man that knows this blessing knows it
in Christ. And Christ walked in the Spirit. Christ stands in liberty and
Christ sits in heavenly places upon a throne. Where is your
walk, your stand and your sitting today? Are you sitting listening
to this message? Are you in a seat of scornfulness? Well by grace, as God made you
to sit with his Son in glory. 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. Oh, are you blessed.
Blessed is the man. What a wonderful phrase. Blessed
is the man. Happy is the man. Rejoicing is
the man. How blessed he is. How blessed
is Christ and all who are in him. We find this exact phrase
used throughout the scriptures in a number of other places,
around a dozen other places. Psalm 32, 2 speaks of, Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile. How blessed that man is because
he's been washed, he's been cleansed, he's righteous. And he's righteous
because he's in Christ. God could not impute iniquity
to Christ because there was no iniquity in Him. But Christ came
to save and deliver those who were full of iniquity. And to
deliver them, God had to take their iniquity and lay it upon
His Son. To deliver them, God had to make
His own Son to be their sin. He had to bear their sins in
His own body on the tree. And when he did, those things
were imputed to him, charged to him and he was slain. But
having been slain, he took the sins away. He took the sin away. and He brought in for them the
righteousness of God, and He washed them clean in His blood,
and having washed them, having cleansed them, having delivered
them from all that was against them, God can say of them, there
is no guilt in you, I find you not guilty. God can say of those
in Christ, blessed are you, because I impute not iniquity to your
charge, there's no guile in you. There's no sin in you. Blessed
is the man under whom the Lord impute, if not iniquity, and
in whose spirit there is no guile. True of all God's people in Christ. Psalm 34, verse 8 says, O taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. Where are you trusting today? Psalm 44, blessed is the man
that maketh the Lord his trust and respect if not the proud
nor such as turn aside to lies. There's only one that you can
truly trust and that is God. Psalm 65, for blessed is the
man whom thou choosest, and causes to approach unto thee, that he
may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Oh, what a wonderful
verse, what a wonderful verse in keeping with what we spake
of last week in terms of God's elect in grace. Those who are
delivered by Christ, Those who walk not in the counsel of the
ungodly, who stand if not in the way of sinners, who sit not
in the seat of the scornful, those who are righteous in Christ,
those under whom God cannot impute iniquity, are those whom God
has chosen and none else. Blessed is the man whom thou,
God, choosest and causes to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. What a place to dwell. Psalm
84, 5, Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose
heart are the ways of them. And later in 84, O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Psalm 94, 12, Blessed
is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out
of thy law. That's a blessing. For all things
work together. to the good of those who are
called, those who love the Lord, His elect. All things, even the
chastening of God, it's sent for His good. God will correct us, God will
deal with our flesh, God will point us unto the sun alone.
Every time that we seek to do something for God's glory in
our own strength, He'll show us how we can fail in it. He'll show us the weakness of
it, He'll show us the sin in it. Every time that we resort
to our own will and our own ways, He'll chasten us and correct
us. And there's a blessing in it. Psalm 112-1 reads, Blessed
is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his
commandments. Do you fear God? Do you know
that God is all-powerful? Do you know He's the Creator
and the Sustainer of all things? Do you know that He is the One
who will judge the wicked? Even you should you stand before
Him with no cover for your sin. Do you fear the Lord? Do you
respect? Do you revere the Lord? Do you have a godly fear of the
Lord? A sense of his being? A sense
of how glorious and righteous and holy he is? It's a blessing
if you have. Proverbs 8.34 reads, blessed
is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at
the posts of my doors. Oh, have you heard the word of
God? Have you heard him? There's no
better voice to hear than the voice of the Son of God speaking
unto those who lie in the graves, dead in their sins. That's where
you are by now. Have you heard his voice? Blessed
is the man that doeth this, Isaiah 56 says, and the son of man that
layeth hold on it, that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it,
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. What's this speak of?
It speaks of resting, sitting with Christ in glory. not polluting
the Sabbath by working, not polluting the rest we find in Christ by
working, but standing in the liberty wherewith Christ has
set us free. Blessed is the man that doeth
this, that doeth standing in liberty. Oh so often men read
of doing in the scriptures and think they must be up and doing
but the doing that God will have of us is to rest in Christ and
believe on Christ and to trust in Christ. and all else flows
from that when God exhorts us and leads us and corrects us
and chastens us and causes us to turn from this sin and that
thing and to do this and go there all these things flow from our
doing that which is commanded in the gospel which is to believe
on the Son of God and to rest in Him and to cease from our
own works Jeremiah 17, 7 says, Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. Is that your hope? Is
God your hope? Romans 4, 8 quotes Psalm 32 again,
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And
James 1 verse 12 tells us that, Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation. For when he is tried he shall
receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them
that love him. Well who endures temptation? By nature we're swept away by
temptation, we're swept away by sin. It's like a storm, a
force of water that we cannot stand before. It sweeps us away. But Christ endured all temptation. The devil sought to tempt him
in every respect he could from top to bottom and found no sin
in him. And all God's people in Christ.
In him. as they walk in Him, as they
stand in Him, and as they sit with Him, all Christ's people
are blessed because they do, in Christ, endure and overcome
temptation. Oh, a blessed man. Verse 2 reads,
His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth
he meditate day and night. Oh what is the delight of this
man so blessed? It is in the word of God, the
law of the Lord. Now the Law referred to here
is not the Ten Commandments as such or the Mosaic Law. It's
the whole Law of God, the whole Word of God. All God's teaching,
all God's speech, all God's direction, God's Gospel. God's ultimate
law, God's ultimate teaching of man, when you take his scriptures
and you take the gospel as spaken by the Spirit of God, when you
take it as a whole, God's speech, God's law unto man is to tell
man, you are a sinner without strength. You cannot do as you
should do. You've failed. You need a saviour. Here is my son. Look unto him
all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved. That's God's law. Believe on the Son of God. The law of Moses, the Ten Commandments,
is a part of God's scriptures, God's overall law, included to
show us that we cannot keep it. and to show us that we are full
of sin. But when God speaks of delighting
in His law, and walking in His judgment, and walking in His
commandment, He's speaking of His law as a whole, which is
His gospel, which says, You cannot, but I have. You will not, but
I did. You shall not, but I have done. Believe, look and rest in Christ
alone. And any who turns from resting
in Christ alone and any who turns back to the law of Moses or to
the works of man or the will of man and says I will be up
and do it is simply turning to walking in the council of ungodly
religious men. They are not standing in the
liberty of the gospel, walking in the spirit and sitting in
heavenly places in Christ. You fulfill God's law as an entirety
in Christ alone. You fulfill the gospel in Christ
alone. For he has fulfilled it for you.
God's people's delight, the man's delight, Christ's delight is
in the law of God, in the word of God, in the scriptures, in
the gospel. And he meditates in it day and
night for he sees how depraved he is by nature, how weak he
is in the flesh and how glorious. Christ is in the Gospel. How
wonderful God's dealings with men are through the Son. The
Lord Jesus delighted in His God. He delighted in the Father. He
delighted in the truth of God, the Word of God. He delighted
in Him. He meditated with His Father
day and night. The Word of God Himself embodied
as Christ. The Word of God. communed with
God and all his children, all those blessed men found in Christ,
delight in the word, in Christ and in the written word, in the
scriptures and in the gospel. To think that this verse speaks
specifically of the law of Moses is foolishness and folly and
the wisdom and understanding of ungodliness. It speaks of
the whole word of God, which teaches us that we are nothing
and can do nothing. And we stand, walk, and sit in
and with Christ. And if you do, You will know
what it is like Christ to be as a tree, planted by the rivers
of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His
leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Well,
by nature we're not trees planted by the water. We're not trees
of righteousness. And we bring forth no fruit,
certainly not spiritual fruit under God. And I'll leave absolutely
with us because we're full of death. Sin entered and death
by sin. Even so death passed upon all
men. For yet all have sinned. There's no leaves and fruit upon
us, we're dead. And whatever we do brings failure
and tragedy and ruin. But what the blessed man does.
shall prosper because he is as a tree planted by the rivers
of water, he is the tree of life. He is the tree of life and all
his people in him are found to be united to the tree of life
and they bring forth fruit and leaves that will not wither and
all they do in Christ prospers. In Colossians, Paul speaks of
being rooted and grounded in the truth. Because we are rooted
and grounded as part of the vine, which is Christ, we're branches
in his vine, we're rooted to him in the truth. I am the way, the truth, and
the life, he said. It's because we're part, we're
branches of his vine that we bring forth fruit. That we reach
up and grow up under heaven. That we are planted by the water. We are nothing in ourselves.
John 15, Christ says, I am the true vine and my father is the
husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit
he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are
clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide
in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch and is withered. and men gather them
and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If ye abide
in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and
it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue
ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments of
the gospel, to believe on me and rest in me, if ye keep my
commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept
my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. A tree planted by the rivers
of water, is that new? Because as verse 4 says, the
ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth
away. Oh, they seem to stand for a
moment, but when their life comes to an end, and the winds of God's
judgment come upon them, They're driven away. And should God send
winds of judgement before their last day? Should some trial or
difficulty come their way? How they're blown about. How
the religious, ungodly religious are blown about. Blown about
by every wind of doctrine. One day they profess this, another
day they reject it and they go off somewhere else. How often
I have seen religious men change their understanding. How often
I have seen so-called Calvinists become Arminians again. For they
never were Calvinists, so-called. How often do you see people blown
about according to the fashions of the day. Oh, people will stand
in the congregation of a reformed orthodox meeting when there's
plenty of people there. But when the meeting dwindles
down to two or three, and some charismatics come into town,
oh, they're off with them instead. They don't stand. They change
with the fashions and the times. The ungodly are not so, but I
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Does it drive you
away? Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. There comes a day when all men
will stand before Almighty God and there are two destinations. You will either stand in the
congregation of the righteous with the Lamb of God or you will
not stand and you will be cast aside with the ungodly to perish
in hellfire forevermore. It's one of two ways. No neutral
ground. No room for apathy. No room for
claiming you didn't know. No room for saying it's not fair.
You do know. You know if you've heard this
message, you know if you've read the scriptures, you know if you've
heard the gospel, you know if you've heard the truth from any
man's lips, you know because of that conscience within you,
you know because of the witness of nature and the stars and the
heavens and the earth all around you, you know. But where will you stand? For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly. shall perish. The way of the ungodly shall
perish. The way of the righteous will lead to everlasting glory.
To sit forever with the Son of God. To throw their crowns before
his feet and praise his name and his grace forevermore. The
way of the righteous is a way of blessing. They know that they
are a blessed man because they know they're in Christ and He
is blessed. They know that they walk in Him.
They know that they stand in Him. They know that they sit
with Him. They walk through this world
in the Spirit. They stand in the liberty where
Christ have set them free. And they sit with Him in heavenly
places. They're in Christ and they know
it and they know His blessing. and they rejoice in it even though
all things in this world may be said against them, even though
they may know the scorning of the wicked against them, even
though they may know the hatred and persecution of others, even
though everything in this life may not apparently go their way,
they know the blessing of being in Christ. They know he is their
righteousness. they know they have the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ because of his faith because he laid
his life down for them freely as an act of his faith because
he trusted that God the Father would give them to him to be
his bride because he loved them and he loves them and he will
always love them and they know they're blessed because he loves
them and they know his love and they serve him and love him and
look unto him and trust in him and rest in him because they
know his love Do you know his love? Has his blood washed you? Has he cleansed you? Has he saved
you? Are you blessed? Are you blessed? with the man
who is blessed, with the man Christ Jesus. Are you blessed? 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 whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Amen.