Psalm 1: Two Ways to Live

Intro

How do you have the abundant life?

The fullness of life? The kind of joy in the Lord all of know we should have but always feels just out of reach.

That’s the question for our sermon today from Psalm 1.

Psalm 1 is a wisdom Psalm. A Psalm that teaches us how to live and invites us to fullness of life.

It says there are two ways to live.

Verses 1-3 describe the Righteous Man blessed by God and 4-6 the Wicked Man cursed by God.

There is no middle ground. No gray area. No ambiguity.

You are either on the path of life and righteousness or the path of death and sin.

There’s no in between.

The impact of the Psalm forces us all to ask which man are you? Which path are you on?

Here’s the Big Idea of Psalm 1...

God blesses the Righteous with the fullness of life, but the Wicked are doomed to perish.

Which are you? Which is the path of your life?

Those questions shows us all how we can have the good life. The fullness of joy. The life abundant.

And those questions also proclaim the glorious grace of the gospel all along the way.

we are going to have two points today. Let’s start with point number 1...

I. God Blesses the Righteous

Psalm 1:1-2 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.

Blessed is the man...

Now this is key. Without this we’ll miss the whole point of the Psalm.

Psalm 1 will just become moralism where you try to earn God’s blessing by doing good things.

But no one can earn God’s blessing. Rom 11:35 Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

Nothing we do, no good works, can put God in our debt. He owes us nothing. He gave us life and we thanked Him with our sin.

No. The word Blessed in this Psalm presupposes salvation. Assumes salvation.

This is a Psalm about a man who has already been born again. Saved by God’s grace.

And out of that salvation flows a righteous and godly life that is blessed by God.

Just the way the Word is used throughout the Psalms tells you this.

Psalm 32:1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Psalm 112:1 Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!

The Blessed Man is the one who is saved by God and from that salvation follows God in a righteous and godly life.

So what this is, is really the testimony of the believer.

If you are a Christian you should look at Psalm 1 and say this is the testimony of my life.

God has Blessed me with salvation.

He has given me every good thing in Christ, and now by and because of his grace I no longer live for sin, I live for Him.

So Psalm 1 is really a powerful testimony of the power and grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ for everyone who believes.

We were walking in sin, living a vain and empty life destined for destruction and God in His goodness and grace picked us up, turned us around, and set us on the road of life and blessing.

If you’re not a Christian, on the other hand, Psalm 1 is very bad news.

It shows you, you are on a different path. One of cursing and death.

A fruitless life squandered in sin, absolutely devoid of the blessing of God and will ultimately end in Hell under the wrath of God.

So as we read through this Psalm, I want you asking yourself which man am I?

Am I the Blessed man or the Cursed man?

Am I on the path of righteousness and life or am I on the road to sin and death?

It doesn’t matter if you are old in the faith or a brand new believer. If you’re just 10 years old or a 100.

Everyone of us that calls ourself a Christian should read Psalm 1 and see:

The great grace that God has given us in Christ...

And two what our life should look like in light of that grace.

Do we delight in the Word and walk in obedience to God. Or are we living a double life filled with sin and laziness that contradicts our profession of faith?

Now none of us are perfect, but all of should see at least some of our reflection in the mirror of Psalm 1.

And if not, we need to ask ourselves why not and take hold of the eternal life to which we’ve been called, wake up from our stupor and strive to worship God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. (1 Tim 6:12).

Now let’s talk about blessing.

Blessed

Another way to translate Blessed is happy.

But it doesn’t just mean happy in general.

Its must stronger than that. Its more like supreme happiness. The most happiness.

Its a deep seated joy. Complete fulfillment. Total contentment in all of God’s abundant goodness.

Its that feeling, that moment, of waking up on a cold winter morning at the cabin on the lake with that first cup of coffee in one hand and the Bible in the other and everything is just perfect. There could be nothing better.

But even that falls short, because that moment fades away when this blessing is perpetual. Overflowing. Never ending.

The Hebrew word itself is even plural as if to hammer home this idea of Blessed upon blessed upon blessed is the man...

With all that in mind, you could actually translate this How exceedingly happy…

How abundantly joyful…

How satisfied, content, lacking in nothing abounding and overflowing with nothing but God’s goodness and grace...

That sounds pretty good. Right?

Who wouldn’t want that? This abundant life of exceeding blessing.

Only a fool would turn away from a promise like that. Only a fool would give a deaf ear and go the other way.

So how do we have it? Who is this blessed man?

Who is the Blessed Man?

The Psalmist gives us a negative and a positive description of who this Man is. A stark contrast written in such a way that its meant to hit you like a ton of bricks.

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.

Very simply, the Blessed Man, the Happy Man, is the Righteous Man.

The one who turns from sin and delights in the Word of God.

So we could say two things.

The Blessed Righteous Man number 1. Renounces ungodliness in every way.

And number 2. Delights in the Word of God.

Renounces Ungodliness

First, he renounces ungodliness.

The first step to living a righteous life is turning from sin.

Renouncing every crooked path of ungodliness.

Counsel of the Wicked

It starts with blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.

The word Counsel is the word for advice or way of thinking.

Just in everyday life, when you don’t know what to do or which way to go you ask for someone’s advice. Someone’s counsel.

And if you think their counsel is good, follow it.

Well here, the Righteous Man does not follow the counsel of the wicked.

He does not think the way they think. He does not follow their advice.

What he thinks is the good and right way to live is not determined by the wisdom of the world which calls good evil and evil good (Is. 5:20).

His follows the counsel of the holy Word of God.

The counsel of the wicked says, Do you want to be happy? Remember our word blessed? Live for your sin!

Satisfy every lust and desire of your own heart.

Follow what you want, and then you will have a good and blessed life.

But wasn’t that the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden?

You will be like God, knowing good and evil? (Gen. 3:5).

You can follow your own counsel. You can be your own wisdom. Set your own law and your own standard and live for yourself.

And that’s just what the wicked do. Everyone does what is right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6).

So whose counsel do you follow? Do you follow the world’s or what seems best do you?

Whose wisdom teaches you how to live?

The Righteous Man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. He follows the Word of God.

His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps. 119:105).

Every moment in life is a fork in the road. Which path are you going to take? The righteous path or the wicked path.

And every fork in the road is a decision. What is the best path? What should I do?

In that moment ask What does the Word say?

And the Righteous Man walks in the counsel of the Lord.

Way of Sinners

Nor stands in the way of sinners.

The word way is the word for path, road, or course of life.

If the counsel of the wicked focused on how we think and view the world around us (what is good, what is bad, what’s the most desirable way to live), then the way of sinners focuses on our actual living or behaving.

Our actions. What we do.

The Righteous Man does not stand in the way of sinners. He does not set foot on their paths or follow their course of life.

He comes to that fork in the road, that small moment where the Spirit pricks your conscience and says, “You can sin or obey...”

And he says, “I know where that road goes. I’m not even stepping foot on that road to death.”

He turns aside and goes the other direction.

Seat of Scoffers

Finally, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

Elsewhere in the Psalms the word seat is also translated as home, dwelling place or congregation meaning the group of people you belong to.

So continuing on with the Psalm, the Righteous Man does not think like and live according to the same standards of the wicked.

He does not live the same way as sinners.

And he does not have a home or have any part with scoffers.

Now scoffers are the most high-handed of sinners.

Proverbs 21:24 “Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.

A scoffer is someone who has no fear of God before their eyes.

Who mocks God and sins without restraint almost taunting him to judgment.

This describes every unbeliever because everything about their life, every thought, word, action and dead, scoffs at the idea that God is their Creator, Savior, and Lord because otherwise they would turn and be saved.

So what is God saying?

He’s saying the he Righteous Man, the Blessed Man, has no home with sinners.

He is not even a welcomed guest.

He does not belong to them or have any part of them.

He is separated. Called out. He is consecrated to the Lord.

So when we put all of these together, the Psalmist says the Righteous Man thinks differently than the wicked, lives differently from sinners, and is completely separated from scoffers in the world.

As Nehemiah 10 says, he is separated unto the Word of God.

In every way and at every turn, he renounces ungodliness and sets his heart to follow the Word of God.

And that’s where we come to the positive description of the righteous man.

He not only renounces ungodliness in every way, but he also delights in the Word of God.

Delights in God and His Word.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

the Law of the LORD is not so much the 10 commandments or all 613 Laws of the Mosaic Covenant. Its not the Law proper.

The word here is Torah and can refer to all of God’s revelation and instruction.

For us, its all of Scripture. Every word God has breathed out and inspired to be written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Where the wicked and cursed man lives for sin according to their own sinful lusts and desires, the Righteous Man lives for God according to His Word.

And right here is one of the clearest indicators that what we are talking about in Psalm 1 is not just any person but someone who has been born again.

Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

In our sin, all of us hate God’s Law. We inherit our sin from Adam and we are all born dead in our trespasses and sins.

Every one of us, outside of God’s grace has a heart of stone that hates God and hates God’s Law.

There is no delighting in the Law of God for sinners. We hate it and we gnash our teeth at it.

Every command that God gives only feeds our hunger to sin more.

That is until God makes us born again.

In His grace, God gives us faith in Christ. He shows us our sin. Shows us the path of Hell we are sprinting on, and snatches us from the fire.

In Christ, God takes out our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. A new heart. One that is alive in every way and beats for the glory of God.

And on that heart God writes His Law.

And from that New Heart, we delight in the Word of God.

God said I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules (Ezek. 36:27).

How does God cause us? By giving us a new heart with new affections. Instead of hating God’s Law we love it, and our greatest joy is to walk in it.

So you see the amazing thing about the gospel is that even our obedience is a work of God’s grace.

Which means all the blessings of God that come from a righteous life in Psalm 1 are not ours to lift up to say look what I’ve done.

They’re ours to lift up as powerful testimonies of God’s amazing grace. We hold them up to say look what God has done in me.

Your Blessedness is not earned, its a gift of God’s grace through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So let me ask you…Do you delight in God’s Law? This is the distinguishing mark of the New Birth.

Is God’s Word your greatest joy? Is there anything sweeter? Your Word is honey to my lips (Psalm 119:103).

That is the heart of the Christian.

Well what does it mean to delight in the Law of the LORD?

The Psalmist tells us. And on his law he meditates day and night.

The word meditate means to ruminate on it. Obsess over. Turn it over and over again in your mind.

The idea is a picture of a cow chewing on the cud.

They hold that grass in there and chew it over and over to get out every last bit of nutrient and juice.

That’s how we should be with the Word.

And the Psalmist says day and night meaning continually. All the time. That is what it means to delight in the Word.

It because a sweet morsel in our mouth and like a perfectly cooked steak or if you’re really holy Pad Thai, you want to savor every bit.

That should be our hunger for the Word. Yet how many of us don’t even realize we are starving ourselves while our Bibles collect dust in the corner?

Remember, this is the testimony of the believer.

This isn’t just for pastors or super Christians if there even was such a thing. There is only one and His name is Jesus.

This is for every believer from the most young and immature in their faith to someone whose been walking with the Lord for 60 years.

Let me tell you the truth. If you want to grow in your Christian life, you need to feed on the Word.

Jesus said Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt. 4:4).

Just as food nourishes and strengthens our body, the Word of God nourishes and strengthens our spiritual life, and you must feed on the Word.

How much do you want to grow in Christ? How much do you want to grow in righteousness? How much of the joy and blessing of the abundant life that Christ promised to us do you actually want?

Show me how much you delight in the Word and I will show you how much you really want to grow in Christ?

As Christians, we must be saturated in the Word.

How much you want to grow will have a direct impact on and correlation with how much you study, delight in, and meditate on the Word of God.

You will not grow in Christ and you will not live a blessed and righteous life without it.

We are transformed by the renewal of our minds (Rom. 12:2).

Well how? Just by magically reading it? By osmosis? You just read the Word and start looking around wondering where this massive life change comes from?

Look at the parallel passage in Joshua 1:8

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

We meditate on the Word, chew it over, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

Delighting in the Word and meditating on the Word, and planting it into our heart so that it might then bear fruit in our life when we obey it.

Like James says James 1:22-24 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Someone that hears the word and doesn’t do it James says is like a man who looks at himself in a mirror and then immediately forgets what he looks like.

In other words, the point of studying the Word is not just to grow in knowledge and theology out to put that knowledge and theology into practice by living out the Word of God.

Anything else is totally pointless.

Only when we delight in the Word, meditate on it, and put it into practice will we make our way prosperous and enjoy the abundant life Christ has promised us.

That’s precisely the promise of Psalm 1 verse 3.

Psalm 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

What a beautiful image.

The Righteous Man, the one who lives in all things according to the Word of God, is like a tree firmly planted by streams of living water.

Here again we have another picture of God’s grace because the word planted, in Hebrew, literally means transplanted.

The Righteous Man didn’t start here. He was plucked up out of the wilderness of sin and death and planted here by God himself.

And he’s planted by streams of water. Grace upon grace upon grace upon grace.

There is no end to this water. In John 7 Jesus says this is the Holy Spirit who flows in the life of the believer to empower the word of God in their life.

And because He is infinite God, He is the infinite fountain head of this spring.

It will never stop flowing. It will never run dry.

Your need will never exceed what God has. You can never drain the well.

He has more than enough Grace. More than enough Love. More than enough Joy, Patience, Power and Peace than you can ever need.

The springs of God’s grace will flow and flow and flow and even overflow in the life of the believer because of the gracious work of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

And by the power of the Holy Spirit the Righteous Man will yield his fruit in its season and his leaf will never whither.

This fruit is godliness and Christlikeness.

It is in its season because in every season, good and bad, rich and plenty, God is always producing in us the fruit of godliness and life.

Even in the greatest droughts of life, the hardest seasons, God promises to sustain us and glorify His Name in us.

That’s why it says In all that he does he prospers.

This is not mere physical blessing. Health and wealth theology. It can mean that, but its so much more than that.

Consider the context of the entire Psalm. The whole thing is about godliness. Joy. Living a righteous life. Following hard after God.

The word prosper means succeed in everything that he does. Everything he puts his heart and mind to. Well what is that?

His delight is in the Law of the Lord.

So the prospering the Psalmist has in view here, first and foremost, is a spiritual prospering.

A life full of godliness, joy, and blessedness that overcomes every sin and brings glory to God’s Name.

Summary

That is the promise of Psalm 1.

Let me try to wrap it up with a bow.

Jesus said I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).

Jesus came to give us the fullness of life. The abundant life overflowing with God’s grace and blessing.

And Psalm 1 says You want that life? Do you the fullness of life that will never leave you thirsty again?

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.

Follow God and obey His Word and you will be like a tree planted by streams of living water always bearing fruit and growing in godliness.

God blesses the righteous with everlasting life and the fullness of Joy.

Its not found in money. Its not found in stuff. Its not found in free time or your dream...whatever.

Its found in Christ and Christ alone.

He is the path of life.

In Him we have the true blessedness of happiness, joy, contentment and full satisfaction of our souls.

In Him we are able to live in line with the very purpose God made us for. The praise of His glorious grace.

That is the path of the righteous, and that is the path God blesses.

But then Psalm 1 gives us another path. And that’s point number 2...

II. God Curses the Wicked

Psalm 1:4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

After describing the righteous like a tree firmly planted by streams of water full of life and always bearing fruit, the Psalmist says the wicked are not so.

Are they blessed? Not so.

Are they happy? Not so.

Are they alive and prosper in all of life? Not so.

They are like chaff that the wind drives away.

When a farmer would gather in the wheat of his harvest, he would take the grain to the threshing floor.

He would grind it out and then throw it all into the air.

The grain was heavy so it would fall straight to the floor, but the chaff, the waste, all the husks and fruitless part of the crop would be scattered by the wind.

That’s the wicked.

Chaff is empty. Weightless. Fruitless. Good for nothing but to be burned.

Where the life of the righteous is fruitfulness and brings life, the life of the wicked is empty and brings death.

That’s what sin is. Empty. Fruitless. Vain.

Sin brings nothing emptiness and death in our life.

The counsel of the wicked says if you run after your sin and you satisfy every lust and desire, then you will have blessing and life. You will have the utmost happiness.

Psalm 1 says not so.

The streams of living water are found in God and obedience to His Word.

Our sins are nothing more than broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13). They always leave us dry and thirsty. Always wanting more. Dying of thirst in a barren wilderness.

So here’s what I want to say to you today.

Your sin will always leave you empty.

The path of sin leads to nothing but cursing and death.

The fullness of life is found in Christ and only Christ.

As Augustine said in his Confessions God made us for Himself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him (Confessions i.1).

No sin can satisfy.

So why do we hold onto them? Why do we believe the lie that its good and we can’t live without it?

Why are we so hesitant to let them go in confession and repentance?

The great lie of Satan and the lie of the world is that your life will be missing something without that sin but how can you miss something that is empty and worthless.

The abundance of life is not found in any sin. Its found in God and obedience to Him.

All our sin can ever give us is death and the wrath of God.

Verse 5.

Psalm 1:5-6 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

The Psalmist looks ahead to the ultimate destination of the wicked.

Not only is their life filled with emptiness and vanity all the days of their life.

The only thing that awaits them is the judgment and wrath of God.

Conversely, this also tells us something of the blessing of the righteous.

They have salvation. The forgiveness of sins. The peace of a clean conscience and no fear of judgment.

All of these things are part of the blessing of God.

The fullness of life in this life and the fullness of everlasting life in the next.

The wicked, on the other hand, will fall under God’s judgment and be cast out or excommunicated from heaven to suffer for all eternity in Hell.

Like Nahum 1:6 says Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

And here’s why. Verse 6

for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Again we have this stark contrast of two ways to live. The way of the righteous and the way of the wicked.

One way is straight and leads to safety, the other is crooked and leads to destruction.

What is the way of the righteous?

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

And when it says that the Lord knows the way of the righteous, that word knows does not just mean intellectually aware of.

God knows all things the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked.

His Law is the one that defines both.

This is an intimate knowing. A caring.

The idea is that the Lord watches over and cares for the way of the righteous which obviously means that will be safe and carried all the way home.

Protected from perishing with the wicked.

The way of the wicked on the other hand only leads to death.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

The way of the wicked will perish.

This is the opposite of blessing. This is nothing but curse.

The word perish means come to nothing. Ruin. Lost forever with nothing but tears and grief or as the Bible says weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is what awaits everyone destined for Hell, and this path is so dangerous that Proverbs 4:14-15 says don’t even set your foot on it.

Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on (Proverbs 4:14-15).

But this is really bad news.

Because outside of Christ every single one of us down to the last man, woman, and child is on this road to death.

All of us walked in the counsel of the wicked.

All of us stood in the way of sinners and sat in the seat of scoffers.

We aren’t the Righteous Man!

Who can honestly say I delighted in the Law of God and meditated on it day and night. I never strayed from its path?

No one!

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one... in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3:10-18).

And that’s bad news because according to Psalm 1 everyone of us deserves God’s judgment and curse.

And its here that we start to see the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in the very first Psalm.

Connection to Christ

If the blessing of God only rests on those who live a perfectly righteous life, every one of us is dead in the water.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me (Ps 51:5).

We were born in sin and we never looked back.

But God in His grace sent Jesus Christ.

He and He alone is the righteous man of Psalm 1:1-3.

He alone is the Blessed 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.

Jesus never once sinned. In fact He did just the opposite. He lived a perfectly righteous life in our place.

Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

This doesn’t just mean that He fulfilled all the prophesies of the Law and the Prophets.

It means He fulfilled the righteous requirement of the Law. Do this and you will live (Lev. 18:5). He offered to God a life of perfect obedience on our behalf.

When tempted with sin, He quoted Scripture. He walked in all the paths of the Lord.

He was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

In His active obedience, in His obedience to all of God’s commands, He lived the perfect and sinless life we failed to live.

And in His passive obedience, in His suffering and death on a cross with nails driven through His hands and His feed, He offered His life as a perfect sacrifice to pay for all of our sins.

He rose again three days later and God planted the Tree of His cross by streams of living water.

Through faith in Him, the Holy Spirit floods into our hearts and brings life from the dead.

He takes our sin and puts it on Christ and He takes Christ’s righteousness and credits it to us as our own.

Christ is our righteousness and in Him we become the righteousness of God.

And so now all the blessings of God flow to us through Him.

All the blessings of God’s love, grace, mercy, and salvation.

The fullness of joy and abundant life.

Through Christ God takes us off the road to destruction and sets us on the road of life. Like we saw earlier, He gives us new hearts that love God and now delight in His Law.

So you see, Christ is the fruitful tree. And all of us are His fruit. The fruit of a perfectly righteous life that satisfied all the righteous requirements of the Law.

He yields His fruit in every season and His leaf does not wither.

He is the God of eternal life and there is no sin His shed blood cannot forgive.

In all that he does He prospers.

He will save His people.

And He knows the way of the righteous.

He has promised to carry us all the way home.

So now through Christ, the Blessed Man, all of us are blessed.

All of us have received grace upon grace; the forgiveness of all our sins, and we have been born again to walk in the newness of life.

To walk in the righteousness God has given to us to find the fullness of life in living a life that brings glory to God.

Conclusion

Psalm 1 is the good news of the gospel the testimony of every Christian.

God blesses the Righteous with the fullness of life, but the Wicked are doomed to perish.

There is no righteousness without Christ.

A dead tree cannot produce any fruit no matter where it is planted.

If you want blessing and the fullness of life, the only answer is Christ.

You must be born again. Put your faith in Him.

Turn from your vain and empty life. Your sin is nothing but broken cisterns. They promise you life. They promise to quench your thirst, but they are only poison.

On that road you will perish. But the good news of the gospel is...

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

All the promises of God, including this blessing of supreme happiness and joy-filled life, find their yes and Amen in him.

Come to Christ. Renounce your sin and Jesus promises Whoever comes to me I will never cast out (Jn. 6:37).

For all of us believers, is Psalm 1 the testimony of our life.

Do we delight in the Law of the Lord, meditate on it day and night and run hard after God with relentless godliness?

God created us for joy. The fullness of life.

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

God has already given us eternal life in Christ. The question is will we walk in it?

Which path will you take?

Let’s pray

Scripture Reading

Romans 8:1-6 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.