Dr. Kevin DeYoung | Two Ways to Live

father in heaven we ask that you would speak to us for it is no less your word on Sunday evening and Sunday morning it is no less your spirit that we need to hear from and so we pray that you would give us just the word of comfort of rebuke of encouragement of training in righteousness that we may be the man the woman the child who is truly blessed we pray in Jesus name our blessed Savior amen I want to tell you a story a true story it's about a young man who at the age of 18 went off to school his family background was difficult his mother was a Christian and his father who had died when he was 16 was not a Christian when this young man went off to school he did what many students do he threw off the faith of his mother began laughing mocking the teachings of the church he wandered down all sorts of religious dead ends later in life he wrote publicly I was a teacher privately I professed a false religion in the former role arrogance in the latter superstitious and in everything vain this young student was extremely smart just like your children I'm sure but unlike your children I'm sure he had two crippling vices familiar vices one he was horribly proud he studied hard so he could be the best the brightest the smartest and he did it not for some great love of learning but so he could show everyone he was the best and the brightest he did it to astound them he was a man full of himself and he thought far too intelligent for his mother's Christianity he said my inflated conceit shunned the Bible's restrain my gaze never penetrated to its inwardness yet the Bible was composed in such a way that as beginners mature its meaning grows with them he said later in life yet I disdained to be a little beginner puffed with pride I considered myself a mature adult and so as many young people do he thought he was too smart for God too smart for the Bible that was his first vice a horrible pride his second vice was women like too many young men his mind was sound but his hormones made him stupid he was in love with erotic love he wrote that his soul was rotting from the inside out he said to me it was sweet to love and be loved the more so if I could enjoy the body of the beloved he later reflected that puberty had clouded his heart so that he could not quote see the difference between loves serenity and lusts darkness would not be the first nor the last young man or young woman to have such an experience where puberty clouds the difference between loves serenity and lusts darkness confusing one for the other for the next several years this young man traveled farther and farther away from God and more and more he said later into unhappiness proud in my self-pity incapable of rest in my exhaustion I wonder if that has ever described you or perhaps someone you loved or perhaps your very self never finding rest no matter how exhausted you are his life was a mess looking for love in all the wrong places he was filling up his soul with salt water he was carrying his hopes and dreams in cisterns with holes and leaky buckets and it wasn't until he was an older adult in his thirty that God sovereignly miraculously drew this man back to himself this young man went off to school chased his pride chased his sexual passions and years later he would become the most influential theologian in the entire history of the church his name Agustin born in 354 ad died for 30 god made a saint and a scholar out of a sex-crazed teenager there is hope for your loved ones there is hope for you God set him supernaturally onto a different path plucking him off of the path that was leading to foolishness and death on to the way that would lead to life and blessing there's a way that looks like blessing but in the end it leads to death and there is a way that though more difficult at first it leads to life to full life to true life and though our story will not be a gustin's story and very likely we will not become world famous theologians for the next two millennia and perhaps our stories will not be as dramatic and we won't hear a voice saying pick up and read and we'll pick up and read from Romans and have a word speak right to our heart it may not be as dramatic as that and yet the choice is the same for every one of us there are two paths there are two ways and they lead one to life or the other to death here's what we read in Psalm chapter 1 which lays before us these two waves these two paths Psalm 1 blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and it's leaf does not wither in all that he does he prospers the wicked are not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked will perish you can see that this is the first song of the Psalter 150 Psalms and in many ways this Psalm and some scholars think we should combine psalm 1 and 2 different Psalms but coming together to form an introduction to the entire Salter this is what the Book of Psalms is about it's about the way of blessing which leads to life and it's the way of wickedness that leads to death you see that the Salter begins with this word blessed lesson it's a good word now it's come down to us it sounds like such a spiritual kind of word something you put a hashtag in front of when you're having a great day the Hebrew it's the word Asher it means as it's translated here blessed but let's not miss the point of the passage blessed means happy happiness it's the word the Queen of Sheba used when she visited Solomon in first Kings 10 8 how happy how blessed how I share your men must be how happy your officials who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom so when you hear bless it at the beginning of Psalm 1 I want you to think first of all in terms of rewards if you live like this you get this blessing in return but rather think how happy are those who live like this how good it is to be the person described in this Psalm this is the way to live it's like when you study the Sermon on the Mount and you have the Beatitudes all of the blessings blessed are the meek blessed are the merciful blessed are the pure in heart blessed are those who mourn and it sounds so very Bible and spiritual and that's good but we need to sometimes sort of cut through the fog think of the word congratulations that might be a good word that's what Jesus is talking about congratulations are the meek congratulations to the pure in heart well in the same way the psalmist says congratulations to this man or this woman who lives in this way here's what we have in this passage see if you can follow with me we have three negatives one positive two metaphors and a conclusion three negatives one positive two metaphors in a conclusion look at the three negatives in verse one before we do that let me say something about Hebrew poetry which will help you as you read from the Psalms and will help in this short series from the Psalter Hebrew poetry is full of parallelism that means instead of saying the trees are tall full stop Hebrew poetry says the trees are tall The Cedars stretch to the heavens that is they state the same idea twice in parallel this parallelism is used thousands of times in the Psalms and in the prophets it's not saying exactly the same thing often there's a slightly different angle or nuance but it is basically saying in parallel phrases the same big idea if you have your Bible open look at chapter 3 verse 1 Oh Lord how many are my foes many are rising up against me that's parallelism or chapter 5 verse 1 give ear to my words O Lord consider my groaning same thing chapter 6 verse 1 o Lord rebuke me not in your anger nor discipline me your wrath thousands of times in Hebrew poetry you find this parallelism says one thing then it says the same thing in a slightly different way well these three negatives in verse one are three ways of saying more or less the same thing blessed is the man who stays away from wickedness but the three parallels are not redundant why wouldn't the psalmist just say it once and save some ink and some paper well each line especially here in verse one adds a little twist the three verbs show progression you've probably seen this before first the man is walking then he's standing and then he's sitting surely we are meant to see a progression a negative progression in our familiarity with sin that we move from casual acquaintance with sin to involvement in sin to entrapment in sin that's how sin works at first you say I'm just I'm just going to see what's on this click on the other side of the website I'm just walking here with the wicked and before you know it what you thought was just a casual stroll you're not really moving you're just walking with sin pretty soon you're standing and now you're you're in it and you're involved and you're staring at it and before you know it you've gotten comfortable and you're sitting down with sin sin does not want part of you sin wants all of you the devil lies to us he tells us a little sin will make you more of a person if you do this you're more of a man you're a more attractive woman you're a real teenage American but the truth is sin wants mastery over you sin wants to turn your walking understanding into sitting so that's the progression here but there's another progression of sin in verse one when you are living the wrong way first you take counsel from the wicked then you begin to act like the wicked and finally you join the wicked you see that first I just walked just taking the counsel I'm just entertaining options just hearing perhaps what the wicked have to say yes I'd like to get your opinion on my life a wicked person and before you know it was started out as mere counsel from the wicked leads to walking in the way or standing in the way of sinners and then eventually you're not just taking their counsel or walking in moving in their way but you join them it's from thinking to behaving to belonging what started out as a bad idea from a bad person has ended up shaping who you are this doesn't mean that we never can know non-christians or an immoral person of course not we understand that we live in the world and we are not taken out of the world but what this does mean is once you start listening to fools thinking like a fool soon you will act like a fool and eventually you will become a fool you will walk you will stand you will sit you will have counsel you'll be in the way and eventually you will be in the very seats gathered around the table with these scoffers so be very careful we do not end up where this verse ends up namely sitting in the seat of scoffers or some translations mockers I want to go on a rant here but just notice this about our culture our culture loves scoffers it loves mockers you can make a living being a scoffer you can get late-night television shows being scoffers you can make a lot of money you can get a lot of followers being the two cool for school I look down on everybody else I always have something funny something dry something pessimistic something cynical mockers are cool they're cool they stand above it they're there hipper than thou nothing gets to them they can look down on the rest of us simpletons they are scoffers and if you ever find yourself in that place where you have become nothing but a mocker one who no longer can delight and simple pleasures no longer who can smile at innocent beauties then you should cry out to God for mercy because your heart has gotten very hard indeed there are plenty of smart people in this world exceedingly smart people who are religious fools they have forgotten more than you and I will ever know but there mockers and that is the way of sin at its most exquisite three negatives in verse 1 verse 2 1 positive 1 positive if that's the way of sin to walk to stand to sits counsel way sitting down here's the positive here's the other way to live your delight is in the law of the Lord now sometimes people will say you know I don't really want a religion with doctrines and rules and Commandments I just want a relationship with Jesus sounds good sounds really spiritual tip if those of you who are married you ever try having a relationship with your husband or wife without any rules just go off and sleep with whatever you whoever you want and do whatever you want spend your money any way you want when your spouse is hey wait wait a minute I thought you loves me you say chill out it's about the relationship not about these rules man he got to be so legalistic no you cannot have a relationship without rules and the best rules are meant to preserve the best relationships the psalmist is just the opposite to our contemporary pablum the psalmist says blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord in other words the happy man the congratulation man says Oh give me the book let me read it let me study it let me pray and let me meditate on it my soul thrills to pour over God's Word because it reveals to me God delighting have you thought before how strange it is to delight in the law of the Lord you may remember this famous few sentences from CS Lewis he says this was to me at first very mysterious thou shalt not steal thou shalt not commit adultery I can understand that a man can and must respect these statues try to obey these laws assent to them in his heart but it is very hard to find how they could be so to speak delicious how they exhilarates surely a statute could be more aptly compared to the dentist forceps no offense to the dentist here or to the front line than to anything enjoyable and sweet see what Lewis is saying I can get it a commandment a law maybe it's necessary you got to get your teeth cleaned it's good for you but delight but the blessed man is cheered as gladden is pleased to hear God's law the psalmist will say later more to be desired than gold and much fine gold sweeter than honey and from the honeycomb why delight in law well it's not just law narrowly conceived that he doesn't just mean Commandments it's another way of saying God's revelation God's written word here's what CS Lewis says delight in the law is a delight in having touched firmness like the pedestrians delight and feeling the hard road beneath his feet after a false shortcut has long entangled him in muddy fields ever do that you see it you think that's gonna be really great you know cut off the corner here of that run I tried that before came out through the muck fields looking much worse for the wear and when you finally hit pavement again you feel some exhilaration you can move you're solid you realize what a mistake it was to think that this shortcut through the muck and through the mire was going to be worth it that's the law of the Lord it's hard solid in a world where everything is squishy and uncertain it is a sure path and the one who truly loves God will love God love God's Word because the word reveals God it sets us on a firm ground that's the way to live if nothing else as you look at the new year surely for you as well as for me we ought to make verse two of the prayer of our heart that we would more and more delight in the law of the Lord and on his law meditate day and night I'm sure I've shared with you the line before I think I heard from John Piper that God invented Facebook to remind us all that we really have time to read the Bible yeah Psalm rather Romans 8:7 says the sinful mind is hostile to God it does not submit to God's law nor can it do so but by contrast the mind that is quickened by the Spirit delights in the law of the Lord meditates on it day and night now I'm preaching to myself as much as to all of you I have a phone I have all of those distractions but you think of all the time that so many of us spend just filling in the cracks in the day some of you check it when you're at a red light you you bring it places I don't even want to know all the places that we bring in the phone you got five minutes here you got ten minutes here you got fifteen minutes I'm not shaming us for catching up on text and even you know funny silly memes that go around but think of all the time in all those cracks meditating we could be meditating on the law of the Lord what what might your life or mind be different in this coming year if we filled in the cracks of life with God's Word or a good Christian book or singing a hymn rather than whatever the world tells us we need to see in the few inches on our screen the Blessed man delights in the law of the Lord so there's three negatives there's one positive than two metaphors two ways to live can be pictured in two metaphors first the happy man the congratulation man is like a tree start with endurance he has endurance like a tree planted by streams of water if you live God's Way you will not be blown all over when the storms come and then say if the storms come when the storms come I didn't say that you won't hurt and you won't suffer and it won't be difficult but you will not topple the promise here is not that the righteous will have a life free of difficulties read the rest of the Psalms David and the other writers had plenty of difficulties the promise is if you live God's Way you will be routed the blessed man who delights in the law of the Lord has a fruitfulness of a tree yields its fruit in season I like that phrase in its season there's a season when trees bear fruit there's a season when their roots are growing deep there's a season when their trunk is being strengthened and there's a season where you can see all the the beauty of the fruit or the flower just like there is quiet growth in a godly man or woman not every season is spectacular fruit don't think that you're not blooming with the brightest flower right now and it means that God is not at work in you now sometimes we need to be rooted and when we are rooted in time the Lord will make you blossom he will give you fruit he will give you life and in time people will see it which means that the path of blessing is the path that chooses long-term fruitfulness over short-term fanciness you have to practice delayed gratification you have to be investing now for long-term benefits I'm sure you've seen those posters you maybe have some up in your office cubicle somewhere they're really inspiring ones that say teamwork integrity leadership and there's some inspiring picture with Eagles flying or people pulling a rope together skydiving together for some reason well I like the ones that I've seen sort of mocking those posters that I hope not to be a scoffer one I saw one time had a man standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking clouds and the caption said procrastination hard work often pays off after time but laziness always pays off now suppose that's true but it's spiritually deadly yes there is a payoff right now for laziness there's a payoff right now that's what sin tells you that's what the devil tells you he wants to present the bait and hide the hook wants to tell you you eat from this Apple it looks good it tastes good you're gonna have pleasure now and you do for a moment click on that website pass it around that gossip repeat that slander get angry let the yelling voice come out and you feel something good right there there's short-term pleasure but there is not long-term gain you're not building roots that eventually bear fruit do something very unamerican I guess it's just unfallen humans practice delayed gratification make a decision to live the kind of life that will seem harder now but will make life much easier and better later the kind of life that is harder now and better later and incidentally young people whatever you want to put yourself in the category of young this is why we need to be a church of generations why you need to listen to parents and pastors and mentors and people who can maybe help you avoid some of the mistakes that they made to say look I know that seems like a really smart idea now and it will be really fun for six months but I want you to think of six decades from now so the way of blessing is the way of trees the way of folly here's the second metaphor is the way of chaff the wicked verse four are not so they are like chaff chaff is the non seed part of grain it's what gets thrown out it's light it's insignificant it's blown away by the wind in the ancient world they would often separate the wheat from the chaff you've all heard that expression and they would do it very simply they would simply throw the threshed grain into the air and because the the chaff was this paper sin thin sort of membrane it would simply blow away in the heavier part the good part of the grain the seed would fall to the ground and be kept and all of those husks and the debris would be blown away by the wind it was worthless and weightless that's chaff and we're kidding ourselves if we don't open our eyes and realize almost everything in our world is driving us to be chaff not to be trees to be weightless trivial light ephemeral easily blown away here today gone tomorrow a culture where people are famous for being famous who look impressive look with it but actually live hollow weightless insignificant lives do not be fooled people are people even the people you might think are amazing people or have everything that a person could want whether it's a athlete or a beauty queen or the rich or the powerful or a politician or a brilliant academic or the person at the head of your industry or who sits at the top of your big tall building they all come from dust and to dust they all will return we are not as strong as we think we are and the Lord is not as weak as we imagined him to be so the psalmist is laying out for us you have two ways to live you can put your roots into streams and it will be slow and it will look paltry at times but you will grow stronger than you know and over the years you will grow another ring and another ring so that sometime later you will bear fruit in season and your leaf will not wither because you will have roots going down into depth but that's gonna take time it's gonna mean delayed gratification it's gonna mean saying no to all sorts of things that the world thinks obviously are yes and then the other way is the way of immediate satisfaction of instantaneous smiling and it's the way of chaff look so impressive throw it up into the wind it's a wisp it's gone if you walk in the ways of the wicked you will forever be less than you could have been you want to make a difference you want to leave a legacy all those things that your teacher tells you and that the world and well those are biblical ideas too but the Bible tells you a different way to do it Jesus knows you want to make a difference Jesus knows you want to have a legacy Jesus knows you want to have a lasting inheritance Jesus doesn't set that aside he just says let me tell you how you can do it the right way the Bible says here's how you do it the real way be a tree not chaff and then a final conclusion three negatives first one one positive verse two two metaphors verses 3 and 4 and then a final summation in verses five and six here's the conclusion it looks past this earthly life into eternal life the wicked now notice this coming full circle the wicked who stand in the way of sinners in this life will not stand in the judgment to come there's obviously a deliberate echo those sinners in verse one who thought they were so smart to walk to specie did to stand here we are standing with all of our sinners well when it comes to the points where you really need to stand at the judgment verse five they will not and the sinners who sit in the seat of mockers now will not sit in the Assembly of the righteous later you see that the second half of verse 5 nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous so there's a deliberate play on words you can make a choice stand with sinners now or stand in the judgment later sit with scoffers now or sit in the Assembly of the righteous later you have a choice you're all gonna stand you're all gonna sit do you want to do it now when it doesn't count you want to do it later when it does two ways to live the way of the wicked will perish for six but the Lord will watch over the way of the righteous whereas the ESV rightly translated the Lord no the way of the righteous when your brother gets diagnosed with cancer the Lord knows when your grandkids are too far from home for your liking or too far from the Lord he knows when your whole week gives way from one sleepless night after another the Lord knows when it seems that you've had many more hours of Tears than minutes of laughter the Lord knows the way of the wicked perishes it's here it's gone but the Lord knows the way of the righteous he has not forgotten you he has not left you he knows the way of the righteous because as we know and as the psalmist could only begin to imagine God himself would come to walk the way of the righteous surely there is significance in what Jesus says in John 14:6 if we have two ways to live then Jesus not only shows us the way he tells us he is the way he is the man who received all the blessings from the Lord he is the one who never walked with the wicked never sat with sinners never stood with scoffers and so all of his blessings can be ours I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me so don't think that Psalm 1 is just the psalmist way of saying get your act together clean yourself up be a good person not a bad person this is a profoundly covenant 'el Psalm it's speaking of the way that God's people that God's family lived the happy people the congratulation people and even more than that it's pointing to the one who will live the way most fully most truly most freely most eternally live your life in Jesus for Jesus following Jesus and that is the best most blessed most delightful way to live you see the psalmist about two things it's about eternal life yes it's about being able to stand in the judgments receive that well done good and it's about that but it's also about the happy life the blessed life yes God God tells you you have a cross to carry God warns you that in this in this world you will have trouble but he says take heart I have overcome the world now I don't know if you're like this but me and my weak faith I have to often remind myself no one wants what is best for me more than God God if you are in Christ is always for you never against you he does not give his commandments to steal joy to lead you into joy not to rob you from abundant life to promise you abundant life he is not trying to withhold good things from you he wants to give you the blessed happy congratulations life there are two ways to live one leads to death and only one is real life let me close where we began with agustin who by God's sovereign grace found the way to be blessed and happy he wrote this there is a delight which is given not to the wicked but to those who worship you for no rewards save the joy that you yourself are to them that is the authentic happy life to set ones joy on you grounded in you caused by you that is the real thing and there is no other those who think that the happy life is found elsewhere pursue another joy and not the true one let's pray our Father in heaven you have shown to us the path of life we pray that we would be the Wise Ones the happy ones who loved the Lord Jesus follow the Lord Jesus walk in his way for he is the way Lord give to the people here courage faith confidence that you want what is best for us give to those who are in mourning grief fear this evening that the hope and the promise that you mean blessing for them when we walk in your way and when we trust and when we obey we pray in Jesus amen

Channel: Christ Covenant Church

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Keywords: Kevin DeYoung, Christ Covenant Church, Psalm

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Length: 38min 47sec (2327 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 06 2020