The two paths in life
Notes
Transcript
WELCOME:
What a week it has been. As we are all aware of the evil that has taken place in our country this week…it is shocking how far we have fallen as a nation and even so far as to celebrate murder of another person.
What has taken place and even seen by many of us has allowed us to see the evil that exists in our world.
I would like to take a moment to pray. To pray for this nation, to pray that people would turn to Jesus today and be saved from this perverse generation.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Psalm 19:7–10 “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.”
LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!
“The Goodness of God”
Words and Music by Hillsong’
PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS
Lord, thank you for your constancy. For never turning Your back on us, for never getting frustrated with us, for forgiving our sins, for allowing us to be part of Your plan. We ask that You would look down upon this gathering of people and fill our hearts with great joy today as we focus on You. Amen!
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS
Lord, give us ears to hear Your voice and eyes to see Your glory. Would you this morning illuminate Your Word and make it known to us? Help us no to make application to others peoples’ lives, but to apply every Word to our own lives. Amen
SERMON
INTRODUCTION:
Turn to Psalm 1 please. We will be looking at “The Two Paths in Life” today.
It has been said commonly “that there are many paths in life that we can take” and even that “many paths lead to the same place”. Our children are taught at the beginning of adulthood to choose their path, their future, their destination.
But Scripture paints a different picture of reality and teaches that there are really ONLY two paths in life, and ALL people are on one of those two paths. There is no middle ground, there are no alternate routes, there are no other options but to walk on one of these two and each path leads to a very difficult outcome.There are only two categories according to Scripture. Over and over the Bible teaches us that there are only two ways to live.
Let’s read about them in Psalm 1 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”
The Blessed man
The Blessed man
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Explanation:
What does it mean to be blessed?
I think the church often gets confused about this word. We consider ourselves blessed ONLY when good things happen to us…or when we feel good….or when good is projected to come our way.
When bad things happen we don’t say we are blessed, we say, God why me?! I’m cursed!
But Being blessed is to ALWAYS live in favorable circumstances. If we were to evaluate our lives from God’s throne, from God’s perspective, at any point in the believers life we would immediately say that we are blessed.
It is always well with the person who is blessed. This does not depend upon circumstances, nor upon heartaches, nor triumphs. It is not circumstantial.
What the world calls a “lucky man”, the Scriptures call “blessed”.
The blessed man lives in the favor of God. He lives under the protection of God. He lives under the providence of God. He truly is a child of God.
And because of that he lives constantly in favorable circumstances whether they seem good or bad!
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God”
If you have a CSB or NRSV or possibly other translations then you will read “how happy is the man” instead of “how blessed is the man”
But the problem with being happy is that it is circumstantial! People are not happy all the time. If you read the book of Psalms you will read many of David’s Psalms that are cries of despair!
So let’s not think that by following Christ and following the teaching in this Psalm that we are going to be happy happy happy. The better translation is blessed.
Notice what is the blessed man does not do:
“does not walk in the counsel of the wicked”
Who are the wicked? The wicked are not just murderers or devil worshipers. The wicked are those who simply do not obey God. They do not live according to God’s standards. They walk according to the ways of the world. They do not follow the Lord!
But notice that the blessed man does not walk in the COUNSEL of the wicked.
In other words he does not take his advice on how to live this life from people who do not obey God! He does not seek counsel from lost people, no matter how eloquent or smart or even religious they may be.
Church, we live in an age where there is an information overload. We have so much information right at our fingertips. It is overflowing all around us and so easily accessible today.
But not all advice is good advice. And what qualifies good advice is not because a person who seems to have their life together in a worldly sense, BUT WHETHER OR NOT PEOPLE TRULY OBEY GOD! The primary test of whether or not we take advice from another is whether that advice lines up with the Word of God.
“nor (does the blessed man) stand in the path of sinners”
Now think about a path like a worn down trail going through a field. It’s a path because it is well traveled. If you have an outside dog, they likely have a path around your yard they travel all the time.
The point here is that the blessed man does not walk where in the footprints of sinners. They No matter how well things may seem to go for them, or are pleasurable for them, the blessed person keeps himself free from the practices of people who live contrary to God’s Laws.
“nor (does the blessed man) sit in the seat of scoffers”
A scoffer is someone who mocks God. The world is full of scoffers.
If you’ve followed this Charlie Kirk thing at all and seen any of his debates, you will hear from people who mock God.
They ridicule the Lord, the Bible, and the church. Anything that has to do with God or even mentions God, they scoff at it. And they do it, because they hate Him.
A scoffer is not someone who is an unbeliever, he scoffs because he is hostile toward God. The Name of the Lord makes them angry, the Scriptures make their blood pressure rise, Christians who speak out about their faith breed anger within them.
Observation about all three of these warnings:
OBSERVATION 1: These are stair steps away from God.
One begins the journey in his life, and the first step in departure from the Lord is by accepting the counsel of the wicked. By taking advice from people who do not know God, and then believing it.
But then this departure progresses continues as now they come to the very path that sinners walk on. It’s no longer about the advice, now it is the call to come and adopt the ways of the wicked, by standing in the path of sinners. They pick up the sinners deeds and begin to practice the things sinner practice.
Finally, after taking advice of the wicked, and doing the things that sinners do, now they develop the worst of all attitudes: the attitude of a scoffer who hates God. And these are those who are furthest away from repentance.
Proverbs 3:34 “Though He (God) scoffs at the scoffers, Yet He gives grace to the afflicted.”
OBSERVATION 2: These three groups of wicked people are plural. The wicked (plural), the sinners (plural), and the scoffers (plural)….meaning that the majority of people we encounter in this life are going to be on the path that leads to hell.
Jesus affirms this when he said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
The path God calls us to walk down is the path less traveled. It is the path that we are often on by ourselves, maybe the only person in your family who is walking down that path, maybe the only person in your workplace, EXCEPT when we gather with the church.
When we come into this place, we join together with people who are are the same path in life. In here we are encouraged, we are strengthened, we are reminded that we are a people set apart from this wicked world.
This is just another reason why the church is so essential in the life of a believer.
We have seen the list of things to avoid, now lets see the things the blessed man does: (verse 2)
“His delight is in the law of the Lord”
His pleasure, his joy, what makes him truly happy is in the law of the Lord. What a blessed person loves to hear and practice are the great precepts and truths and commands and instructions written in the Word of God.
Those who are blessed are not burdened by the call of Scripture to repent, for they lives a life of repentance. Those who are blessed are not burdened by the call to come die with Christ, for he dies daily! The blessed man loves the Law of the Lord, he loves the principles of Scripture, they are an encouragement to him because he lives them!
When I first came to Christ, and so much was so unknown to me. I knew so little about this great deep faith. But the Holy Spirit was teaching me and growing me.
And by the providence of God I was in a place where I could listen to Christian radio and hear great preachers and teachers all throughout the day and I remember them teaching about the Christian life and it was the life that i was living!
And I remember it was so encouraging to hear that what they were saying how Christians ought to be living, I was living!
And I rejoiced over those sweet words from the Scripture affirming what i had in my heart.
“And in His law he mediates day and night”
The word “meditate” here is the same word used in the next psalm that is translated “devise” or “plot”.
When a person meditates on God’s Word, they thinks deeply and about God’s will for their life.
Imagine sitting down at 21 y/o and planning out a business adventure for your life. All the details, timing, costs, the research, the joy of it, and of-coarse the results. And it’s so exciting you think about it everyday. During school, while you lay down at night before you got to sleep, while you drive, it’s in your prayers, it’s in your dreams…this business adventure is what consumes your mind.
This is the life of the blessed. He thinks about God’s will for him both day and night. What he wants most is not his own personal wants, but what God wants for him.
In contrast to the wicked who advice people to join them, the blessed man receives his advice from the Word of God.
What will the blessed man be like?
(v 3) “He will be like a tree, firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither And in whatever he does, he prospers”
Why the metaphor of the tree? Because the tree is a solid firm living organism who produces something new and delightful in its season.
The person who delights in the Law and mediates on the Law will discover that their lives become very fruitful:
Imagine a tree being planted in the middle of a dry desert like climate such as Israel was. They have hot and dry summers and rainy and cool winter.
Trees without a water source during growing season produced little or worthless fruit. They simply did not have the water supply needed to be truly fruitful.
But trees planted near streams of water, would then extend their roots down into that constant water supply and produce fruit in its appropriate season.
The water in this metaphor is the Word of God. Those who make it their life ambition to be firmly planted near that water so that we may draw from it day and night will most certainly bear much fruit.
The Word of God is never ending, it never dries up, it never runs out of nutrient needed to produce fruit.
Fruit is what trees live for! Without fruit trees lose their real purpose.
Application:
That is my heart for this church. That we would be a place who offers that water to the people that they may drink of it regularly, and be a fruitful people.
I think that is the most essential thing that the church can give to the world.
What about fellowship? Fellowship is very important, but not as important as His Word preached and taught.
What about worship? Isn’t singing praises to God the highest good? It is important, but not as important as the Word of God.
We must ask ourselves, what matters more: what we say to God in song or what God says to us from His Word
What about mission? Also essential but not the highest. But without His Word the mission becomes misguided.
More important than programs, or popularity, or population, or prominence is the preached and lived Word of God.
That’s what we want the character of this church to be. Streams of water flowing into the lives of all those who will come and be planted here.
Now the contrast with the wicked
Now the contrast with the wicked
The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
Explanation:
Notice the difference: He does not compare the fruitful tree of the faithful to an unfruitful tree, but to the chaff which the wind drives away.
Now if you take a seed from a plant, like a wheat seed, there is a shell that covers that seed. Threshing grain is to take that grain and toss it in the air, and the wind would blow and separate the chaff from the wheat. The wheat would fall tot he ground in a pile, and the chaff would be taken off by the wind.
That is the way it is for the wicked. They are like the chaff, that will be taken away by the wind when the owner comes to thresh his wheat.
How does this metaphor relate to the sinners life?
(v 5) “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement”
At the end of this life, there will be a judgement. God will judge all the people of the earth. And they will be judged according to the path in life that they walk down.
When the sinner stands before God, he will be swept away like the chaff in the wind. It is a picture of divine judgement, eternal punishment, of the unrighteous being swept into hell
“Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous”
In other words no one who lives a sinful life will NOT be included among those who live a righteous life. They will be separated into two groups.
Jesus said Matthew 13:49–50 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.
Notice here that there are ONLY two ways in life. There is the way of the righteous, and there is the way of the wicked.
“For the Lord knows the way of the righteous”
For the first time in this Psalm the name of the Lord appears. And it is this verse that tell su why the righteous are blessed.
“For the Lord knows the way of the righteous”
He does not just have knowledge about the righteous, this word “know” means He watches over those who are righteous.
What a tremendous comfort for us to hear that. That God is watching over our lives day and night. Though we cannot see it, nor sometimes wonder where God is, but time after time He reveals this truth to us in our lives. Answering prayers, guiding us here or there, opening doors, closing doors, protecting us from evil, growing, maturing, and producing fruit in our lives. He watches over you my dear friends.
“But the way of the wicked will perish”
This Psalm ends with destination. The destination of the wicked is to perish. Their end will not be prosperous, but destruction.
CONCLUSION
Here’s the sum of the Psalm: The righteous are not so because they choose to live better lives. Nor are they righteous because they have been brought up differently and have better habits. They are righteous becuase Christ has called them out of their life and into a relationship with Him.
This is what Christ does with people. He moves into their lives and picks them up off the road of death and places and them onto the road of life. Jesus takes the sinner who has known nothing but the sinful life and gives him His righteousness and puts him on a different path.
And He can do that for you this very morning. Not by your own strength, but simply by your willingness to forsake this world and the life of sin and come follow Him. If you don’t know Christ, you can today.
~PRAYER~
