Sermon Tone Analysis

! INTRODUCTION

It was /way/ past midnight and Bob still wasn't home.

He'd been working late for the last few months, working hard with his new business partners to grow the business.

Bob's wife had been worried lately, and this particular evening she was more worried than usual.

He'd never been this late before and he normally called to let her know he'd be late.

In the early hours of the morning she called his cell phone yet again but still got no answer.

The reason was that Bob was on a high – the highest high he'd ever experienced in his entire life.

You see, that evening his new business partners had invited him to a party to celebrate their recent success.

Many important businessmen where there, and Bob had so much wanted to please his new associates and keep the venture capital flowing ("keep the taps open" as he would say) that he hadn't said no when offered cocaine.

He had /just/ a little, but it was enough to tear his life apart.

!!!!!! CONTEXTUALIZATION & CREATION OF LONGING

Bob is a friend of mine, and though Bob is not his real name, his story is true.

And though he fell into deep trouble, he is not unique – all of us are like Bob, in one way or another.

You see, like Bob, all of us take counsel and "get input" from those around us.

And like Bob, we don't think too hard about whether the counsel we get is good or bad.

Like Bob, ungodly counsel appeals to us, promising the most immediate success and rewards.

And, like Bob, we usually don't recognize how powerfully the counsel we receive affects our thinking and actions, especially when we want or /need/ the approval of the one giving the counsel.

!!!!!! BIND TO SCRIPTURE

The Bible says much about these things and thoroughly addresses the challenges and temptations we all encounter.

Yet, in all the Bible, few passages get to the heart of the issue as directly as Psalm 1.

It shines as brilliant flashlight, lighting up the dark path ahead of us.

And we /need/ its light.

!!!!!! PROPOSITION

You see, *because* bad counsel so /resonates/ with our sinful nature, we must rely on /God/ to find the right way.

TRANSITION

Psalm 1 shows us that there are two "ways" in life, the /“way of the righteous”/ and /“the way of the wicked”/.

Unfortunately, because of our sinful nature, our internal compasses are broken and we naturally gravitate toward /“the way of the wicked”/.

Given our predicament, we might wonder "How can I avoid going down the wrong road?”

It's fairly simple, really.

God has graciously given a complete, step-by-step roadmap in Psalm 1.

----

!! MAIN POINT

1      Firstly, We must follow the /way/ of the righteous (v1)

So, what must we /do/ to follow the /way/ of the righteous?

SUB POINT

1.a   We must not /listen/ to the wicked

Look at the first part of verse 1… “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.”

This says that the blessed man is blessed because he doesn't follow the counsel, or advice, of the wicked.

Counsel, simply put, is words or ideas expressed by someone, with the goal of getting us to go in the direction /they/ recommend.

And when accepted, counsel changes our /thinking/.

Counsel is all about what we /think/.

It’s like an archer, deciding where to point his arrow.

Once counsel has done its work and the bow-string is let loose, the direction the arrow flies is predetermined.

Likewise, once counsel has done its work and a man's /thinking/ has been altered, the course of his life is set.

And unless the counsel he receives /changes/, his course and destination are fixed.

SUB POINT

1.b  We must not /behave/ like the wicked

The second half of verse 1, “nor stands in the way of sinners”, shows that the blessed man is careful about /how/ he lives, and /who/ he associates with.

He doesn't hang out with sinners, with “/those who have missed the mark or the way/”, learning their counsel or enjoying ways.

He certainly spends time /among /the lost, sharing God’s counsel with them, but he isn’t “one of them” and his ears are turned /away/ from their counsel.

To “/stand in the way of sinners/” means to act and behave in the same way that they do.

Spend enough time with someone and you’ll become like them with /their/ counsel and ways becoming /your/ thinking and actions as surely as osmosis moves fluid through the cells of your body.

In Proverbs we’re told, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

(Proverbs 13:20).

And 1 Corinthians says, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals’.”

SUB POINT

1.c   We must not /become/ /like/ the wicked

The last part of verse 1 says: “nor sits in the seat of scoffers”.

Here the progression is complete – /walking, standing, sitting; /that is to say, /thinking/, /acting/, and now finally */being/*.

Bad ideas and counsel lead to sinful actions, which lead to /being/ a scoffer – /thinking/, to /action/, to /character/.

If we are to follow the way of the /righteous/ then we must recognize this sequence, the /“path of the wicked”/, and avoid it.

To /fail/ to recognize this progression is to ultimately find that you have become a scoffer – one who sins openly without any fear of God.

SUMMARY

Verse 1 presents a clear picture of what to /avoid/ if we want to find blessing.

We're told to turn our ears /away/ from the counsel of the wicked, not be influenced by or draw counsel from the lost, and avoid the catastrophe of becoming scoffers.

Instead of laughing, joking with, and easing the consciences of sinners on their way to eternal damnation, we are to take the life and counsel of God to the lost.

The reason God gives us such instructions is simple – /all/ of us have a sinful nature that makes us wants to run down the path to destruction at the first suggestion.

\\ ILLUSTRATION

Imagine for a moment that you have a large, open barrel of highly flammable liquid strapped to your chest.

And try as you might you cannot get it off.

We can be sure that you’d avoid sparks and open flames like the plague, and you'd take great pains to avoid anyone who smoked or carried a lighter.

INTERPRETATION

It might seem a silly picture, but the truth is that each of us carries just such a thing in our hearts.

We each possess a fallen, sinful nature that /delights/ in wicked counsel, bursting into life and gaining new strength with each mouthful of ungodly counsel it gets.

Hence God's loving warnings to avoid the sparks of ungodly counsel, and the open flames of sinful association and being.

APPLICATION

So what does this mean practically?

How are we to /avoid/ wicked counsel and association?

We can start by identifying /all/ sources of ungodly counsel in our lives and commit to “turn off the taps”.

/Pray/ asking God to show you where ungodly counsel flows into your life.

An obvious source is the lost from whom we might be /seeking/, instead of /giving/, counsel.

The two strongest, and most overlooked, sources of bad counsel, however, are /ourselves/, and that most foul and potent counselor of all – the /television/.

The Bible says /we/ are our own /worst/ counselors; /blind/ to our own faults and blind to the ungodliness of our /own/ self-counsel.

The Bible says “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

(Proverbs 14:12).

Not only are /we/ our own worst counselors, but we also willingly /fill/ ourselves with ungodly counsel.

If you are an adult in North America, then TV is likely the single largest source of counsel in your life.

By watching it, you allow thoughts, ideas, images and ways of thinking into your mind that would cause Christians of earlier generations to turn over in their graves.

Most of us would not let the people we see on TV into our homes, and certainly wouldn’t allow them to spend time alone with our children in a room with the door closed, yet we fill our minds /daily/ with /their/ ideas and way of thinking.

The US Department of Labor’s 2007 /American Time Use Survey/ shows the average American watches TV for */3/*/ hours per day/.

That’s nearly /70,000 hours/, or /8 years/ of counsel by age 70.  /8 years/ of watching and listening to people who, for the most part, hate God and scoff at His ways, can make you a scoffer good and proper.

So, grab pen and paper and create a “bad counsel” list and then purpose to cut off ungodly counsel.

Tell someone and ask them to hold you accountable.

Carefully choose what you watch on TV from what little good there may be, and /think/ about whose ideas you’re absorbing.

Do likewise with Internet usage.

Also, list where you get sinful counsel by /association, /by “standing in the way of sinners”.

Do you go to parties with unbelieving friends, not with the express purpose of sharing the Gospel with the lost, but to have fun with the wicked?

Do you go for drinks after work with unbelieving co-workers, not to show them the way to Christ, but to have /fun/ among the lost, in their pursuit of one last drink on board a sinking Titanic?

Think about this carefully.

/Whenever/ and /wherever/ you purposefully associate with those who reject God and His counsel with the goal of “just having some fun”, you are purposefully connecting yourself to a “bad-counsel infusion system”.

GOSPEL CHAIN