Psalm 1 (Whole Service) - Dr. Steven Lawson - 11/5/17

[Music] [Music] [Music] well what a great reminder of the faithfulness of our great king our Savior Jesus Christ this is why we have come today we've come to exalt our Savior and to exalt our King and we do it best by giving ourselves to the Word of God God has given to us his word and every week here we get to go in and find them and explore the depths of the riches of the Word of God to find out what he has to say for us so that we would grow and become less like ourselves and more like Christ so I'm so glad to have you here we know every week but especially this week there are folks that are visiting here with us and if you're here for the first time or perhaps even first time in a long time thank you so much for taking your time to be with us we're glad to have you here and if you haven't stopped by our Welcome Desk please on your way out stop by the desk it's in the hallway right behind me as you walk out please stop by there we have a special gift for you just as a token of our love and appreciation for your time here with us but also it's a it's a copy of the Book of Luke and we want you to go home and read God's Word and and know God's Word because this is what we get to be about here this morning so glad to have you here there are several life in the body things that are going on this week that I don't draw your attention to I want to say first of all how absolutely proud I am if I can say that of the way this body believers served this week about a hundred and sixty-eight pastors that were here Thursday Friday and Saturday I cannot tell you what a blessing you were personally to me but also to these men I I don't know I I was stopped all the time on a regular basis I I was it actually smother hugged by one guy who just said I have not seen a body believers serve with such great joy like this in a long time and I I just it just made my heart rejoice because that demo straights the heart of Jesus Christ served us in a way that we could never serve ourselves and we saw glimpses of our Savior through the way you loved one another and cared for one another this week there wasn't a mumbling word there wasn't there wasn't an argument well there was a frustration though if you look out here you'll see the frustration the garbage men couldn't come and help us fast enough and so we have a little pile of garbage out there that we're gonna have to take care of hopefully hopefully by Monday because not the raccoons and the mice and they're having a hay day out there so but things like that always happen when you try to serve God so thank you so much from the bottom of my heart I can't name everybody but let me just highlight a few names of course my wife Cindy who just oversaw the running of the the the feeding of the five thousand as it were Dan Whitehead was here to do nothing but serve coffee and boy was that good and let me just say a special thank you to Joseph Mannion as he supplied the coffee we heard such wonderful compliments about the the delicious coffee melody peelers thank you for taking on the the cooking of the food the Scott where is Scott Scott yeah you're back here Scott Bryant and he just like everything was spotlessly clean because scott oversaw that and there were ladies who signed up to do nothing but clean the bathrooms bravo thank you thank you and it worked it really worked well we appreciate it so much and Michael who by the way we're able to if you haven't seen the the auditorium please do so before you leave it's a beautiful place to use now and Michael did a much of that work and Dave Saxon helped so much and the rest of you thank you we love you this is this is how you serve thank you so much for doing that also because we had leftover food drum roll we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna the ladies are going to warm that up and we're leftovers for lunch today and you're welcome to stay and be a part you say well you know we didn't plan on it that's fine plan on it okay plan on it now and if you give the ladies about 15 minutes though after the service to kind of get things in order and we're gonna serve it as long as we have it all right so and so the tables are set up and I know you'll enjoy it will have some lasagna we'll have some barbecue and it will be good also the Ligonier ministries left over a whole bunch of these these are the Table Talk Magazine it's free so take one as you leave maybe one per family or one per adult as long as we have it and take one it's it's a wonderful resource of good material that you may want to subscribe to and learn from but that's and also a very very good thing to be a part of I want to introduce our speaker because once we we jump into the the morning worship part we won't stop and he'll just mount the pulpit and preach to us the Word of God this morning but dr. Lawson is someone that I followed for years and it's been a joy and a privilege to have my heart shaped by his preaching but he's the founder and president of one passion ministries and that ministry is particularly designed for one purpose and that is to energize and equip a new generation of Bible expositors and I say bravo to that we need that desperately and the focus of dr. Lawson's ministry is the verse by verse exposition of God's Word this is what he will do this morning and he's going to take Psalm 1 so we're I'm excited to hear it this morning he is the author of more than 20 books and he's a man who's followed other men and has learned well from them he's also a fellow a teaching fellow with Ligonier ministries he's the professor of preaching and Dean of the Doctor of ministry program at the Masters seminary and he's the executive editor for the expositor magazine and so he's got enough on his plate he he leaves here quickly after the service to head to Orlando and then he's headed to Indonesia to kenia tabatha Nia and aja but fear for 37 days he will be preaching 78 times so this is a man who loves the Word of God and I'll tell you I've watched him this week he loves God's people and it's evident when He pours his heart and he entered it with the energy that he gives he gives a hundred and ten percent so that people will know God and know the Word of God so it's a it's an honor and a privilege to have them here with us and dr. Lawson will come up right after our him this morning and he'll just take us to the throne of grace all right or take your order to worship with me this morning will you let your heart rejoice as we speak of how we stand on Christ alone and this is not only the call of the Reformation it is the call of every child of God we stand on Christ alone read responsively with me from Hebrews and every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins but when Christ had offered for all of us a single sacrifice for sins he sat down at the right hand of God waiting from him until his enemies should be made a footstool for by a single offering he is perfected for all time those who are being sanctified where there is forgiveness of these there is no longer any offering for sin stand with me and let's sing a mighty fortress is our God [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] seated [Music] [Music] [Music] let's pray together it is good to give thanks unto the Lord Lord we know that even if the only thing if the only thing you had done for us was to give your son for our salvation that one thing would be deserving of our eternal praise and yet you give us so much more you give us your word to live by you give us common grace we look around at the beauty of the fall the trees the change in seasons were reminded of your creativity of your greatness you make our ways smooth you are for us that is a promise that we rely on and even when things are difficult we can rely on the promise that all things work together for our good you are working out good in our lives we are grateful you are a good God and it is good to give praise unto the Lord pray your blessing now as we praise you through our offerings and give to you so that you can magnify that gift in Jesus name we pray amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you gentlemen let's read together in the order of worship I'll begin reading and then you join me in the bold text from Hebrews 11 I'm sorry Hebrews 10 therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh and since we have a great priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering or he who promised is faithful [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen let us pray our Father we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ through his sinless life and through his substitutionary death through his bodily resurrection we come with confidence and boldness before your throne of grace this day knowing that we are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ that we are accepted in the beloved and that you have seated us with Christ already in heavenly places Father we rejoice in this hymn that we have just sung that Christ holds us that it is not a matter of us holding on to Christ but Christ holding on to us and our soul is thrilled that we are eternally secure that neither height nor depth nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come shall ever separate us from your love toward us through your son the Lord Jesus Christ Lord I pray that as we will now in just a moment sit under your word I pray that it will have great effect in our hearts and lives this day and that you will meet each one of us exactly where we are and that from this one passage of Scripture that you will address needs and issues in our lives that we will have been met by you today father I pray that as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ that this day we will be all the more resolved to follow Christ Father we pray this in Jesus name Amen you may be seated well I believe it would be entirely appropriate for me at this moment to say a very warm thank you to this church family in this church body that has hosted our conference on expository preaching you have opened your arms and opened your hearts to me and to the some hundred and sixty-eight pastors and church leaders who have come from all over the country and your service has been multiplied many many times over as pulpit as pastors even this very moment are standing in their pulpits here in Ohio and around the world around the country and have been ministered to by you I also want to thank your pastor Eric site for his warm friendship and the way he has so encouraged me and ministered to me and you are in a wonderful place you have a wonderful pastor and I know the bloom is on the rose here and to God be the glory for this I want to invite you to take your Bible and turn with me to the Book of Psalms Psalm 1 and today I want to speak to you on this subject to people to pass two destinies I want to begin by reading some one and this will be the focus of our study today in the Word of God and there perhaps could not be a more encouraging Psalm in the entire Psalter and then this first Psalm this is God's inspired inerrant and infallible word 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 it's 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 and therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the Assembly of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked will perish in this Psalm we have laid out before us very clearly to people to pass two lives two destinies these two people are not to be any more differentiated are contrasted than what they are here the one is blessed the other is cursed one is like a tree the other is like chaff one is fruitful the other is barren one is planted by streams of water the other merely exists in a dry and barren desert these are the only two kinds of people that there are in the entire world and these are the only two kinds of people that there are in church and there are not three kinds of people in the world or four kinds or five or or even ten there are only two classifications of people in the world there is this blessed man and there is this cursed man and we of course see people so very differently from outward appearance man looks on the outward appearance the Bible says we see male and female we see rich and poor we see Republicans and Democrats we see northerners and southerners athletes and non-athletes we see Americans and foreigners we see educated in uneducated but God sees only two kinds of people in the world those that are blessed by him and those who are cursed by him this Psalm Psalm 1 makes this distinction so very clearly and this Psalm is intentionally placed here as the first Psalm not because it was the first to be written and the first sound to be written is Psalm 19 a psalm of Moses Psalm 90 was written at least 400 years before Psalm 1 and the last Psalm to be written is Psalm 126 some 600 years later from Psalm 92 some 126 is a span of approximately a thousand years and The Book of Psalms was compiled in five different installments at five different times and it required a thousand years for it to be pulled together this Psalm Psalm one I believe is the most important Psalm of all the Psalms this Psalm is intentionally placed first here so that so that every time we open the Book of Psalms or we enter into the public gathering of the worship of God every one of us is confronted with this reality that there were only two kinds of people in the house of worship there are those who are blessed by God and there are those who are cursed by God someone is some to actually stand together as a pair and you'll note at the end of Psalm 2 the last line of verse 12 is an echo of Psalm 1 verse 1 the very first verse which reads how blessed are all who take refuge in him then as a literary device known as inclusio or inclusion which serves as brackets or bookends around someone into such that they are but rest together and they stand like two gatekeepers as you walk into the house of worship and someone is the reminder to every one of us that every person who comes into the house of worship either knows God or does not know God is either blessed or it's cursed and some too follows up someone and reminds us that if you are not one who has committed your life to Jesus Christ then you will be cursed and you will perish forever and Psalm 2 makes an evangelistic appeal to comment and to kiss the son the Lord Jesus Christ and to come and take refuge in him these first two Psalms are intentionally very evangelistic as they set before us the two paths of life and so I want to ask you as we begin our time together which one are you are you this blessed man this blessed woman or are you this cursed man this cursed woman I understand we're all in church today I understand we have all lifted up our voices together and sung I understand that we have all recited Scripture together but the question is not where your body is today the question is where your soul is today so as we look at Psalm 1 it breaks out very easily verses 1 through 3 is the first stanza verses 4 through 6 is this second stanza in verses one through three we see the Blessed man in verses four through six we see the cursing man and again the contrast is stark it is antithetical it is black and white it is polarized it could not be any more of a stark contrast so let's note first the Blessed man and if you're a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ if you have been born again by his spirit from above this is your life this is who you are this is what God is doing in your life not for some believers but for each and every believer today so as we look at verses 1 through 3 there there are four things that I want to bring to your attention from verses 1 through 3 the first is that this blessed man in this blessed woman we could say is number one satisfied in the Lord notice how it begins how blessed is the man then this word blessed means deep seated joy it speaks of a genuine satisfaction that you are super naturally happy that you are fully blissful that there is within you a contentment and a satisfaction and a joy in the Lord that is is the reality of the inner soul of your life now this blessedness does not come from the world it does not come from a job or from even a family or a career this blessedness does not come from circumstances or adversity or prosperity of what's going on this blessedness is found exclusively in the Lord I can hear the Apostle Paul say in Philippians 4 verse 4 rejoice in the Lord always again I say rejoice in the Lord our true joy is found in the Lord and so therefore it is not governed by our circumstances or by what is going on in the world it is fact it has come down from another world it is coming down from the throne of grace and it is being poured into our lives when he says how blessed is the man it is a declaration it is a very strong statement of the reality of your heart in my heart in our soul this is not to say that there are not times in our Christian life when we have sorrow or or that we grieve the loss of a loved one but even in the midst of our losses even in the midst of our difficulties even in the midst of of our adversities there is a supernatural reality of this blessedness that is flowing like a mighty river into the depths of our soul and there is peace like a river that is flowing into our being this morning do you experience this happiness and this joy in the Lord can you say that I am genuinely satisfied in the Lord and that is the mark of the blessed man abbis second there's more I want you to note that not only is he satisfied in the Lord but second he has separated from the world for he goes on to say in verse 1 that there is a severe separation from the evil world system now before I read these three negative in which he will say does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners nor sit in the seat of scoffers before I even unpack this I want to put out a disclaimer and this is not saying that as Christians we are to retreat from the world in fact the Great Commission commands us to go into the highways into the byways now the Great Commission commands us to go into the world and to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ that we cannot always remain in the holy huddle but we've got to break the huddle and go run the play and go to the line of scrimmage of this world and to live out the reality of Jesus Christ in the nitty-gritty of life and to tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ so this is not talking about isolation this is talking about insulation that we are to be in the world but not of the world metaphorically our boat is to be in the water there's just to be no water in the boat so please note what he says here in this separation from the world as you and I are working in the world going to school in the world rubbing shoulders with people in the world notice he says number one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked as we're watching television as we're reading the newspaper as other people around us are in our ear as things are placed literature before our eyes books etc we are to refuse and godly counsel we are to reject secular humanism and we are to reject worldly wisdom and secular thinking that has man in the center of everything you want the summation of secular humanism from man and through man and man are all things to man be the glory forever and ever amen no we are to reject the counsel of the wicked and then he says nor stand in the path of sinners counsel refers to to to our to our mindset to our to our thought life to to our worldview but that leads inevitably to our activities in the foot path that we take and he says the blessed man does not stand in the path of sinners he refuses worldly activities that violate God's Word and that contradict God's character and there is to be a a a repudiation of entering into activity that is contrary to the commandments of God and the patterns of wisdom and then finally says nor sit in the seat of scoffers and and I hope you see the downward spiral here in verse one from walking to standing to sitting as a person is being sucked into the black hole of this world in descending downward in the downward spiral of the influence of this world you see it starts out with counsel and then pretty soon you're standing with them and the next thing you know you're sitting with them and fully identified you know this blessed man refuses to adopt their thinking refuse this to follow their path refused us to go their direction refuses to participate in their revelry refuses to attend their brawls refuses to identify with their causes refuses to associate with their agenda refuses to laugh at their vulgarities refuses to by their lewdness this blessed man separates himself from their beliefs from their behaviors and from their belongings they he's put a firewall around himself as he is in the world and in the midst of even sodom and gomorrah this blessed man does not abuse his Christian liberties and push the limits of his freedom in Christ he does not presume upon the grace of God and see how close to the fire he can possibly be without being burned or since he keeps a safe distance because he understands that he must guard what enters his mind and comes before his eyes what is allowed to enter into his ears because it becomes translated into that which drives the direction of one's life this blessed man understands that bad company corrupts good morals and this person understands that when you lie down with dogs you wake up with fleas now this blessed man understands that you cannot take a fire into your bosom and be not burned that this blessed man understands garbage in garbage out this blessed man understands that either the world is his mission field our he is the mission field of the world this blessed man understands that he will soon become like that which he reads what he has entertained by what he listens to and what he watches there must be this separation from the world first John 2 verse 15 is still in the Bible do not love the world in that refers not to the people of the world it refers to the evil world's system that is anti-god Antichrist anti truth anti Family Values anti every thing that is set forth as wholesome and holy in the Word of God do not love the world nor the things in the world and in 2nd Corinthians 6 verse 14 it says do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers what fellowship does light have with darkness what fellowship does Belial have with Christ those are rhetorical questions the answer of which is we have nothing in common so there must be this separation from the world and I believe it is good for us to hear this today as we live in a day of Tolerance as we live in a day in which everyone's opinion is good as we live in a day in which we are wanting to be accepted by other people let us remember that God hates the evil world system that is governed by the god of this age and the spirit of this world and if we are to know the fullness of God's blessing there must be this positive negative in your life so what can we say about this blessed man this blessed woman and what can we say about your life let's make this very personal number one we are satisfied in the Lord and number two we are separated from the world you know what the word church means we've been called out called out of what called out of the world ekklesia to come be the people of God but there's a third distinctive here that I want you to note that describes the life of everyone who is the blessed man and third he is saturated with the word saturated with the word notice how verse two begins but and this is in sharp contrast to that which preceded he's unlike the scoffer and the sinnerman and the wicked no but and the word but here signals he has a totally different belief system he has a totally different set of behavior he has different belongings he he has a different authority than what the world has he has a different world view he has a different moral standard he is living in a going in a different direction but and this is what marks his life in the positive direction his delight is in the law of the Lord he has different affections it's different desires different loves different hungers different cravings and it is because what is implied here is what Ezekiel 36 says he has a new heart he has been subject to the new birth and God has taken out his heart of stone which was cold and and indifferent towards God and the things of God God has performed divine surgery in the soul of the one who is the blessed man the blessed woman and God has removed that heart of stone and God has implanted a whole new heart a heart of flesh a heart that is alive unto God a heart that has a pulse a heartbeat and this new part has new hungers new desires and a new appetite but what is mourn is equal 36 describing this new heart it goes on to say that God has written his law upon that new heart he has inscribed the law upon the heart and put his spirit within him in order that listen to these words to cause him to walk in these statutes it's a whole new life if any one be in Christ he's a new creature the old things passed away behold new things have come and where previously the Word of God was drudgery when is the preacher ever going to stop now from drudgery its delight he loves to hear the things of God because he has an internal god-given desire for the Word of God please note it says but his delight is in the law of the Lord not was or will be but is that is a present tense which indicates continual ongoing appetite and delight this is the state of his heart as he lives not just on Sunday morning but on Monday night and Tuesday night and Wednesday morning throughout the week his delight is in the law of the Lord and the law of the Lord here referring to the entirety of divine revelation that is recorded and found in the Canon of Scripture and as the rest of the books of the Bible were written and compiled and added to the holy scripture the law of the Lord here representing all that God has inspired and given to us notice what he says in verse 3 or at the at the second line in verse two and in his law he meditates day and night that word and is very important and it shows how the a line is inseparably connected to the B line the one who delights in the law meditates in his law and to meditate means that you you reflect upon it you turn it over and over in your mind you ponder it and the word was used of a cow with it with a it's cheek and just chewing on that cut of grass extracting every last drop of juice that throughout the day you're continually thinking of the Lord and those thoughts of the Lord are being shaped by the law of God and we know that it is to be ongoing because at the end of verse two he says these three words day and night that's a figurative expression just to simply say all day every day hey this is this is basic Christianity 101 this isn't like PhD Christianity that only a few reach in their lifetime no this is entry level type reality for every born-again believer we delight in the law of God and we meditate upon the law of God we are saturated with the scripture we see here the primacy and the centrality of the Word of God in the life of the believer and I am safe to say this that your Christian life in my Christian life will grow in direct proportion to our intake of the Word of God and we will not grow one inch beyond our intake of Holy Scripture we may not measure up to all the scripture that comes into our lives but be assured we will not grow one millimeter beyond the the flow of Scripture into our life and our delighting in it and our meditating upon it and you ask me so how how much should I be studying the Bible in reading the Bible and the answer to that is how much do you want to grow you tell me how much you want to grow and you've answered your own answer so where does this lead oh please no we've said he's satisfied in the Lord he is separated from the world he he is saturated with the word and now in verse 3 I want you to see he is sustained by the Lord verse 3 is as positive and as good as it gets notice what he says in verse 3 this is the result of delighting in the will in the word and being saturated with the word and meditating on the word and this is the result of being separated from the world this is where it ends up in verse 3 this is the bottom line this is the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River flows into it and verses 1 and 2 flow into verse 3 well first he says he referring to the blessed man in verse 1 he will be like this is a figure of speech known as a simile in which a comparison is being made one object to another he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water now the fact that he is planted by streams of water means he did not start by streams of water that he started someplace else he's been transplanted he's been moved from point A to point B and he started far away from these streams of water he started in a barren wilderness he started in a desert he started in the wilderness of sin he started in the desert of this world where where nothing grows spiritually he was a dead bush wilted and withering with no life no growth no fruit no productivity whatsoever and someone has come and up rooted him and transplanted him by streams of water so he sets then roots and can draw up the streams of water now dead bushes don't transplant themselves someone had to come and uproot it and Transplant it and implied in this metaphor is the invisible hand of God that God by His mercy and His grace God by his initiative God by the miracle of regeneration God by the power of the new birth has transplanted every one of us here today who are the blessed man the blessed woman and when we were born into this world we were born in a desert in a wilderness we were born in this evil world system even if we grew up in church and it is God by His Spirit who has arrested us and laid hold of us and has drawn us and has has sovereignly planted us by streams of water this is your testimony that this is your spiritual autobiography if you're truly saved this is what God has done in your life and please note it says plant it firmly planted meaning it will never it'll never be moved from here firmly planted by streams of water streams is in the plural and abundance of water gushing rivers not just creeks or riverbeds streams of water in days of drought when when all the other others around you are are just drying up on a vine and they're wilting you have a super natural reservoir of water that you draw upon that enables you to thrive even in the most difficult times of your life it could be the loss of a husband it could be the loss of a child it could be the loss of a job okay whatever the the difficulty is you have tapped into streams of water far more water then this one little tree could ever drink up and drink in and pull up into its trunk and into the branches oceans of grace grace upon grace upon grace Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote a book entitled all of grace in which he pictures by analogy a little fish in the Thames River Thames river is that mighty river that flows through London that carries these large ships Spurgeon pictured it as this little fish was so scared to take in the water of the Thames river for fear there would be no more water and sparks Spurgeon is only he can says Oh little fish take in all the water you possibly can you will never drain the Thames driver dry it is continually flowing there is more than your little gills could ever take in and that is what God has provided for us grace upon grace grace that has been multiplied to us Jesus said I've come that you might have life and have it abundantly the word abundantly means his supply far exceeds your need and whatever your need is God has far more peace far more joy far more self-control far more power far more self-discipline whatever it is you need he has an abundant supply so look at it verse three he will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season the idea here is whatever the season of the year whatever the need that has come in your life at this particular period he yields the fruit in your life that you need when you need it and this fruit is true godliness it is Christlikeness and it is year-round in season and out of season because he says in its leaf does not wither that this isn't trees like we're used to for the most part that lose their leaves in the fall and are barren in the winter and little buds come in the spring and grow in the summer no this is a very unusual tree this is an evergreen tree that is just constant in good times and bad times and challenges and in comforts when you're on the mountaintop and when you're in the valley when there's adversity and when there's prosperity no matter what is going on it's leaf does not wither this person's spiritual life is vibrant and green and lush and healthy and beautiful it stands out compared to the other dead shoes that are in the desert of this world and it becomes obvious that this one has the reality of the streams of grace flowing into this person's life and Jesus did say you will know them by their fruit and notice the end of verse three and whatever he does that's very open-ended in whatever he does that's an across-the-board statement whether he is at work whether he's at home whether he's at school whether he's on the road whether he's a church wherever he is whatever he's doing in whatever he does notice if he prospers he thrives his soul prospers his spirit soars his heart rejoices he doesn't dry up and days of drought like everyone else he stands out like a bright star on a dark night he prospers and this prosperity is not a material prosperity it is far more valuable is that which money cannot buy no matter how much money you would have it is the internal blessedness and peace and joy and contentment and happiness within the soul and you are divinely enabled to fulfill the very purpose for which God has placed you here upon the earth have I just described your life have I just outlined the profile of your Christian walk if you're saved I have some to more degree others to a lesser degree it's just how much need to light in the word how much do you actually meditate upon the word how much have you separated yourself not from being in the world but from being of the world how deeply rooted are you by streams of water but in this spectrum we just described the true believer not some all now ii and i must hasten ii the cursed man and it's good that we spent more time on the blessed man but please note the cursed man in verses four through six and one thing i love about the Bible the Bible tells it like it is the Bible doesn't sugar coat or candy coat its message the Bible is very frank the Bible is very straightforward the the Bible addresses the issues of life without vagueness without being oblique but with being with being perfectly clear so this is the only other option by total contrast so he says in verse four the wicked are not so now we've already been introduced to the wicked the wicked man is in verse one line one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked and so the wicked man reemerge is now in verse four and we seem again in verse five therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment the wicked man is the unconverted man the the wicked man is the one who's not been born again the wicked man is the one who is still in a barren wilderness of sin who has caught up and consumed with the things of the world the wicked man is the one who has never been planted by streams of water now this wicked man is it shriveled up he is spiritually dead he has no life no foliage no fruit everything about him is wicked his thoughts are wicked his mouth is wicked his attitude is wicked his desires are wicked this is what we call total profiting from the top of the head to the bottom of the feet every inch every ounce it'd be like taking a glass of water and I have some sign ID and I pour some drops of cyanide into the glass of water and the cyanide now permeates the entirety of the glass of water the whole glass of water is now polluted and contaminated with the deadly cyanide original sin from Adam has contaminated and polluted the entirety of this wicked man down to you and me when we see him downtown Columbus and his affluence sitting on the 50-yard line at the Ohio State game parking just right next to the stadium we see him in his mansion as we see him going to his party he may look successful he may sound gregarious he may appear happy but notice what the Bible says the Bible gives the accurate diagnosis of the human dilemma and the Bible says the wicked are not so are they blessed not so are they happy not so are they satisfied not so do they prosper in all of life not so are they fruitful not so they are in this downward spiral of sin that we saw in verse 1 they walk in the counsel of their own wickedness they stand in the path of other sinners they sit in the seat of other scoffers [Music] they're like a fish that is in the river that doesn't even know it's wet he says in verse 4 they are like chaff they're not like a tree that's fruitful they're like chaff which the wind drives away now in this day and time a farmer would sow his seeds in the field and grow grain and harvest time he would gather in the grain and in order to take it to market he would have to separate the chaff from the kernel and so he would find the highest place on his farm because the wind would blow the strongest on the highest hill and he would build a threshing floor on top of that hill at a stone and he would gather his crop and he would take it up to the high place where the threshing floor is and then he would have some heavy objects and some animals would pull the heavy objects and grind up the wheat and then he would take like a shovel and toss it up into the air and the wind would blow and the kernel the the grain that was heavy would just go straight down onto the threshing floor but the chaff that had no substance that it's just worthless fit to be burned cannot be sold in the market has zero value whatsoever the wind just blows the chaff away that's the sinner man that's the sinner woman that's the cursed man he's empty his life is of no value the Luke 14 will say he's not even good for the manure pile he's a spiritual lightweight there's no reality of God or of Christ in his life they're like the chaff which the wind drives away and they are driven into the bowels of hell the lake of fire and brimstone it's a verse 5 therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment now what this does not mean it does not mean that the wicked will not appear at the judgment oh be assured revelation 20 verses 11 through 15 I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it heaven and earth fled away and the books were open and the book of life was open and the sea gave up the Dead which were in them and and the graves gave up the Dead which were in them no there is a final judgment for every person to stand before the Living God what this means when it says the wicked will not stand in the judgment they will not stand with acceptance they will not stand with an acquittal they will not stand with a divine pardon they will not stand and be welcomed with the smile of God no they are they are cursed they are to be damned the wicked will not stand in the judgment there is no standing in grace Psalm 5 verse 5 says the boastful shall not stand before your eyes you hate all who do iniquity you destroy those who speak falsehood the Lord a pores the man of bloodshed deceit there's a whole lot more to the story than smile God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life the Lord of Poor's not just the bloodshed Hyup the man of bloodshed at the universe five nor sinners in the Assembly of the righteous there's going to be a separation right now the Blessed man in the curse man they're in the same family they live under the same roof they come to the same church they work at the same office they attend the same school they travel in the same bus they they they they they co-op together that but in this day it says the sinner will not stand in the Assembly of the righteous there will be a great separation unconverted husbands will be separated from saved wives unconverted teenagers will be separated from godly mothers and godly fathers and why is it well verse 6 gives the answer 4 introduces the explanation for the Lord knows the way of the righteous the word knows there means far more than to have intellectual cognitive knowledge of because God knows everything about the cursing man as well you know this word for nose means to be intimately acquainted with in a loving relationship with and the word is used for example in Genesis 4 verse 1 that Adam knew his wife and she conceived and gave birth to a child this word know is synonymous with the most intimate personal relationship that can exist between two people and in this case the intimate loving personal relationship between God and those who are in his kingdom for the Lord knows the way of the righteous and the reason the Lord knows the way of the righteous is the Lord has foreordained the way of the righteous the Lord has paved the way of the righteous the Lord has built the way of the righteous the Lord travels the way of the righteous with the righteous the Lord goes before the righteous and prepares the way the Lord comes behind to protect the Lord is intimately acquainted with the way of the righteous I will never never leave you nor forsake you lo I'm with you always even to the end of the age but at the universe six the way of the wicked will perish it means to undergo destruction it speaks of eternal punishment it does not speak of annihilation it means to be ever perishing yet never perish it means their hopes will perish their pursuits will perish that their entire soul will be undergoing the torment of the Damned for ever and ever and ever without end and without relief the weeping the gnashing of teeth this could not be any more stark in its contrast between the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked and there are no other paths there are no other ways and Jesus himself when he preached the greatest sermon that's ever been preached just echoed Psalm 1 he began by saying 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 they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied and when he comes to the end of the Sermon on the Mount he uses this same imagery and he says enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter it but the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it have you ever entered through the narrow gate maybe you've seen others go through the narrow gate maybe you studied in Sunday School the narrow gate maybe your toes have been right up to the narrow gate have you ever taken that decisive step of faith and turned away from the world and come through the narrow gate who is Christ himself and entered into the kingdom of of heaven and the kingdom of his glory and of his forgiveness and of his of his grace and if you've never entered through the narrow gate you must exit the broad path that's headed for destruction you must exit it now and you must repent of your sin and you must believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you must commit your life to the Lord Jesus Christ who entered this world was born of a virgin who lived a sinless and perfect life who went to the cross was lifted up to die for sinners and upon the cross him who knew no sin God made to be sin for us and there upon the cross through his death on behalf of sinners Jesus satisfied the righteous anger of God towards all who believed in him there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and with the shedding of his blood and the giving of his life Jesus reconciled holy God and sinful man through the blood of his cross that Jesus was the god man fully God fully man the only mediator between God and man who has brought the two offended parties together through his death upon the cross and Jesus through his death the shedding of his blood has redeemed his people in the slave market of sin and if the Sun shall set you free you shall be free indeed he was taken down from that cross he was buried in a borrowed tomb and on the third day by all the authority that was his as the son of God and the son of man he raised himself from the dead he said I have authority to lay my life down I have authority to take it up again this commandment I received from My Father he has ascended back to heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high and the Bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved there is salvation in no other name for there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but through me if you're without Christ today you are cursed if you are in Christ you are blessed and if you're without Christ today enter through the narrow gate run to Christ he loves to receive sinners he is a physician who has come not for those who are well he has come for those who are sick telling us sick you are telling us sinful you are he didn't die for good people he died for awful people he died for four rebellious people he died for sinners tell him how sinful you are telling you know that you're a cursed and he will gladly receive you to himself and he will wash away all of your sins he says come let us reason together but your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be white as wool from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet every inch every ounce will be washed in the blood of the Lamb and he will then take his perfect righteousness through his obedience to the law and his death upon the cross and he will clothe you with his perfect righteousness so that when God looks upon you he sees the righteousness of his own son Jesus Christ and you are accepted in the beloved as though you have lived a sinless and perfect life which Jesus lived on your behalf so the Bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved if you have never called upon the name of the Lord the Bible says behold now is the accepted time behold today is the day of salvation the Bible says if you hear his voice harden not your heart the Bible says to him who knows to do right and does it not to him at his sin come to Christ flee to Christ exit the broad path enter to the narrow path and you will find life and grace blessedness joy happiness peace acceptance with God in a home in heaven forever and if you reject it you will spend all eternity held in Chains of darkness under the Vengeance of God let us pray Father in heaven the psalm is so potent it's so strong it's so discriminating it's so separating it's so truthful it's so straightforward father open our eyes open our ears open our hearts to receive the truth of this Psalm and may those without Christ find grace and mercy by running to Christ in Jesus name Amen what a joy it is to be blessed what a warning to take for the curse is very real and Jesus is very real and I trust that if you're here today and you are not sure please hang around afterwards to talk to us would be glad to take you to the foot of the cross where Jesus gave all so that you could have life today I want to thank you for being here in fact why don't you just stand with me in a moment we're going to we're gonna pray and then if you would give our ladies just a few minutes to get downstairs and get things set up there will be two lines one table in the middle come break into two lines and we'll will serve people as long as we have food all right and we'd love for you to stay if you're visiting we'd love for you to stay we will take off we've got to get him to the airport very quickly and so I hate to I hate to leave I wish you could stick around and have him chat with you but we really need to go but thank you so much for being here if you don't have a home church please stick around let us talk to you and tell you a little bit more of what God is doing right here at Calvary Bible Church pray with me this morning father what a joy and a privilege it is to have Jesus as our Savior as our rescuer our redeemer our Lord and God what a joy it is to to live this blessed life and I pray father that we would find great d'lai delight and great satisfaction in the Word of God and may our walk with Christ be demonstrated by by the kind of life that is so different from the curse from the from the dryness from the death existence of what it means to be under the curse and I pray father that you would reign and rule in hearts today bring salvation to the heart of stone give them a heart of flesh so that they may learn you and love you and walk with you all their days now Lord bless this food that we're about to eat nourish this us in our bodies that we may have the energy to walk with you today we pray we pray and ask these things for the glory and the name of our Savior Jesus Christ amen god bless you [Music]

Channel: Calvary Bible Church

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Length: 96min 11sec (5771 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 20 2017