Hopeful Contrast
Notes
Transcript
next 9 weeks will be in the psalms; can’t cover all of them, so highlighting some top notch ones that point us to having hope in our worship
150 books of poems or songs; many authors, 73 psalms come from David, Solomon and Moses have several and many are anonymous
Today look at Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
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.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
want to highlight this contrast; wickedness vs. righteousness; God’s word is clear that it is one or the other; no fence riding in the kingdom
we all have choices to make; some simple choices(clothes, shoes, food); some more difficult; choices will lead us on one of two paths; wickedness or righteousness
Which way will you chose?
urgency to this; today is the day
Psalm 1 makes it clear that there are obvious ways that righteousness is different from wickedness
The Righteous Delight in God’s Word
The Righteous Delight in God’s Word
talk about delighting in things and give examples
but does me enjoying and delighting in those things make me righteous?
I desire to be righteous; not because I get anything out of it, but because I love God and want to be like him; but our Psalm tells us what happens with the man who pursues righteousness
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
he is blessed; we all want to be blessed; I hear it in our prayers all of the time; “Lord, bless me”
if you want to be blessed, let’s look at what not to do; sometimes we learn better by knowing what not to do because that list is shorter; this is a progressive list that the psalmist gives us
don’t walk in the counsel of the wicked; doing the things that go against God; I call this “the easy way”; in the kingdom of heaven, it is often easier to do what is wrong; in the long run, the way of the righteous will pay off; the wicked are those who are morally guilty before God
what does your 5 closest friends tell others about you?
don’t stand in the way of sinners; not just surrounding yourself with wickedness, but actually participating; this is not a call to perfection; but avoiding the lifestyle of someone characterized by sin
Home for hope for ALL; we know that people will come in here and our prayer is that everyone, no matter what hangup they have, will come to a saving knowledge of the hope that is only found in Jesus; everyone who comes to faith will have been living in a lifestyle of sin; we pray that God will miraculously deliver them from whatever sin it is immediately, but that might not happen; might actually continue in that lifestyle for some time after coming to faith if we do not step in and disciple them;
So we fight against the next thing
don’t sit in the seat of scoffers; someone who has settled into a place among the world and will not come out of it; we know these people, friends, neighbors, family members; you bring up the gospel and their walls come up and their attacks begin
yesterday we celebrated 250 years as a nation; we did not get to where we are without opposition and it is still out there trying to come in against us; much of what led to the formation of the USA came due to religious persecution;
the warning is clear, if you want to be someone who is wicked, give your life over to the world and the sins that will keep you from Christ;
But…; so if you are going to be a man of righteousness, then you deny all of those thing and you do what he says next
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
back to this idea of delighting; enjoying; you cannot delight in something that you don’t enjoy
law = torah; not just a set of rules to live by; this refers to God’s revealed word
it has expanded for us today; We have one great big account now; 66 books written by over 40 different human authors that we inspired by God himself to write commands and accounts for us to have today
scripture is more than rules, it is God revealing himself to us; hard to serve and obey a God that we don’t know;
we delight; we must have affection; use the example of a married couple; hard to grow in affection when there is no time spent with each other; talk about the rare date we had last night
it is a relationship not an acquaintanceship; we meditate on what God has spoken to us; Why?
scripture is the most important thing that has been handed down to us as Christians; Yes we have our testimony and the Holy Spirit, but meditating on God’s word is how we not only get to know him, but how we prepare ourselves
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
time with God should never be a reaction to the trials of life; it is how we prepare for those trials so that we can keep our heads up
I would go so far as to say that when hard times come, even the wicked will turn to God in some way to seek relief; “God, if you get me out of this, then I will…”
But the righteous know God’s word, because they meditate on it; knowing leads to trusting; and trusting leads to a deeper relationship; and the deeper relationship is the only way towards righteousness
The Righteous Are Planted Firm
The Righteous Are Planted Firm
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.
a tree; we are living in a great example right now of the necessity of water for plants; only thing that isn’t struggling right now is the things we don’t want to grow
at a glance, we are often misled by the most important part of a tree; not a trunk or limbs but the roots; roots are where it gains its nutrients and drinks its water
researched the deepest roots on a tree ever found; a wild fig tree in South Africa had roots 400 ft deep; 40 stories below the ground; talk about a good base
it is like the scripture that talk about our foundation; a tree being planted is like a house built on the rock and not the sand; it is in the right spot
that spot for us is in God’s word; that is how we become more and more planted; that is where we are watered and fed; that is where we grow, so that when the season comes, the tree stands firm and tall
he is clear that a man like this, he will prosper; talk about how the prosperity is not for the tree but for everyone who eats of it; same goes for the prosperous man, it is not for himself but for everyone that he serves
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
unlike the righteous, the wicked are not planted firm;
the righteous hear God’s word and they obey it; the wicked ignore it; James talked about this James 1:22 “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
Jesus gives us a wonderful example of this with the houses being built on different foundations
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
there is a distinction between the righteous and the wicked; in the Psalm, he is saying that the wicked are of no use; that is the chaff
instead of a flourishing tree, he says that the wicked are the worthless hucks of grain after they took out what was valuable
what is chaff? they are rootless, fruitless, weightless, and temporary; whole sermon right there
the Psalmist says we have a choice; a tree or chaff; fruitful or useless
let’s equate this to kingdom work; where are you right now? are you chaff or are you a tree? or are you a seedling that needs to be planted deeper?
How do you do that?
be in God’s word
be regular at the church
find out what God has gifted you in, and do that(we grow when we serve)
are you planted firm or when the first bit of storm comes, is your foundation gone? the righteous are planted firm
The Righteous Trust in the Lord
The Righteous Trust in the Lord
last couple of verses deal with the outcome of life for the wicked and the righteous
scripture is clear that every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord
this is either going to be in response to believing the gospel of Jesus Christ or in response to his judgment
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
the wicked will fall with judgment; level of judgment that happens here for the wicked on earth; but this is pointing to the final judgment; we always say it like “when I stand before the Lord”; he says that the wicked won’t even stand
sinners will not enter into the congregation of the righteous, that is what eternity is going to be for the believer, being part of an everlasting congregation
righteousness will gain you access into the eternal congregation, it will give you the legs to stand before God in judgment
but it isn’t your righteousness that gets you this, it is the righteousness of Jesus
talk about imputed righteousness; my sin being put on Jesus while his righteousness is placed on me; that is what grace is; you have not earned it and you definitely don’t deserve it, but righteousness is offered to us
God desires for you to be righteous; talk about God’s good design for us and how Adam and Eve let sin pervert that design; all throughout scripture, we see people try to make their way back to God but they constantly fall short; that is where grace comes in; Talk about what Jesus did for us on the cross
Conclusion
This is what the last verse is pointing us to; chose righteousness
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
blessed is the man who is righteous; God will know you for the righteousness that is upon you by way of Jesus; but the way of the wicked will perish
maybe you don’t think you are wicked because you are measuring by your standard and not God’s; he is clear that the wicked are the ones who chase after the things of the world, the things that go against God; if this is you, if you live a lifestyle of this, then you will perish
But there is hope; gospel presentation
End with a call to repentance and a call to renewal for everyone
closing song is Tis So Sweet
