The Righteous Prosper, The Wicked Perish

The Foolish Chair

Psalm 1 has a love/hate relationship with my children. It is the first psalm they had to memorize, and it was usually a painful experience.

Stacy and I try to help the children understand there are two kinds of people in this world, the wise who seek the Lord while he can be found, and the foolish who says in their heart there is no God.

When the kids choose to walk in the way of the foolish-deny God’s existence through disobedience or foolish decision making, we have to help them get wisdom. One of the ways we do that is helping the children memorize scripture with some application. In this context the application came in the form of the foolish chair.

When the children acted foolishly, they had to sit against the wall with their legs at a ninety degree angle-in the gymn this is called a wall-sit. As they did their wall-sit, they had to recite Psalm 1 in it’s entirety. When they were done, as they kept sitting (and their legs were burning a bit), we would discuss how their decision to act foolishly was like sitting in a chair that was not there. It was foolish. To disobey God and dishonor your parents or to hate your neighbor, to act in anyway that reflected the wicked, was foolishness because it brings God’s disapproval on you, and if you continue in this foolishness, you will perish-forever.

Psalm 1 about two kinds of people in this world, the righteous and the wicked. And David’s point is simple.

The way of the righteous leads to life, while the way of the wicked perishes.

This morning we will explore two ways to live: the way of the righteous verse the way fo the wicked. The consequences to how you choose to live is a life or death matter.

The Way of the Righteous is Life (Psalm 1:1-3)

You will notice that the Psalm begins with the phrase “Blessed is the man.” The word blessed carries the idea of happiness, satisfaction, and evokes joy and gratitude. Jesus uses its equivalent in the Beatitudes as He describes how Christians should live out the kingdom of God today.

For human beings, blessing comes from fellowshipping with God and being in His favor. Adam and Eve enjoyed God’s fellowship and favor when they were in the Garden of Eden. They were blessed. In the Promise Land, Israel enjoyed God’s fellowship and favor. Of all the nations, they were the most blessed.

The righteous enjoy God’s fellowship and favor because they live by two convictions. First, they dissociate with the wicked. Second, they associate with God’s Torah. Or more importantly, they love God’s word.

How do the righteous dissociate with the wicked?

David uses three negatives sentences to show how the righteous dissociate with the wicked.

The righteous do not listen to foolish advice.

The righteous do not walk in the counsel of the wicked. In the bible, “to walk” often refers to the manner of life in which one lives. The counsel of the wicked refers to the advice of fools. To put it together, the righteous person lives his life in a way that seeks wisdom from wise people.

To be wise in God’s economy of things is to fear the Lord.

Proverbs 1:7 ESV

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The fool says in his heart there is no God (Psalm 14:1), while the wise person seeks the Lord while he can be found.

The righteous person is the wise person who fears the Lord and seeks Godly wisdom from Godly people.

A great example of a righteous man seeking wisdom from another man who fears the Lord is Moses.

In Exodus 18, Moses is about spent from leading God’s people. He cannot keep up with the problems of the people. His father-in-law, who came to him because he heard how God delviered Israel from Egypt, gave Moses some Godly advice.

Exodus 18:19–24 ESV

Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.” So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

Moses walked in the counsel of the wise and was blessed.

Second, the righteous do not pattern their life after foolishness.

To stand in the way of sinners is to adopt their behavior. If you take the counsel of fools, then you will begin to act like a fool. Paul says,

1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Because the righteous are wise enough to seek Godly wisdom from those who fear the Lord, their actions, the fruit of their living, is godliness.

I cannot think of a better example of a man whose life displayed righteous living, aside from Christ himself, than Job. God said to Satan,

Job 1:8 ESV

And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

Job is blessed because he fears the lord and walks wisely. His thinking and his actions show he associates himself with God.

The righteous do not become the cynical fool.

The three actions, walking, standing, and sitting, are not meant to be taken as being progressive. What I mean is, there is not an escalation of sorts, but it is to be looked at holistically.

A scoffer is someone who ridicules what is sacred and holy. A scoffer is also known as a mocker, one who has no regard for God and his commandments. Mockers or scoffers, are fools. The proverbs describe scoffers as

Fools who refuse instruction,

Proverbs 9:7 ESV

Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.

and stir up strife by their insults against the righteous,

Proverbs 22:10 ESV

Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.

They are fools who delight in their mockery

Proverbs 1:22 HCSB

“How long, foolish ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge?

and refuse correction

Proverbs 9:8 ESV

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

A scoffer’s foolishness is comprehensive. In essence, because he accepts foolish advice and acts on it, he’s a bad person, or what the Bibles says is a worthless person, who lives wrongly before the Lord.

By contrast, the righteous fear the Lord and listen to the counsel of Godly people. Godly wisdom informs their decision making which results in good living, right living, they are blessed.

They are blessed because their heart and mind are unified in loving God’s word.

The Heart of the Righteous Delights in God’s Word.

Psalm 1:2 ESV

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

The second verse shows a unity between the mind and the heart regarding God’s word. The righteous take pleasure in God’s word. David is using heart language. David does this is other places in the Psalm’s as well. For example,

Psalm 112:1 ESV

Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!

In Psalm 119, which man scholars believe David wrote, describes his love for God’s word. He says

Psalm 119:35 ESV

Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

and

Psalm 119:47 ESV

for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.

and

Psalm 119:92 ESV

If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

The entire Psalm expresses a profound love for God’s word as the supreme joy and help in life.

Jesus speaks about your heart worshiping what it loves. He says, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” For the righteous, they treasure God’s word.

Psalm 119:11 HCSB

I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You.

William VanGemeren rightly put it,

“Delight” expresses all that makes the godly happy. The law is more than their delight—it is their chief desire. The fear of the Lord, as the beginning of wisdom, is expressed as a delight in God’s law and not only in pious words or a good feeling about God.” William VanGemeren

The Mind of the Righteous Meditates on God’s Word.

If you love something or someone, you think of that think or person often. The righteous love God’s word and meditate on it often. The phrase “day and night” captures the idea that the word of God is always on the mind of the righteous. It permeates into everything they feel, and say, and do.

Pious Jews will spend time every day murmuring the word of God in a low tone, almost under their breathe as a form of mediation. Meditation, however, is moe than a morning quiet time. What David has in mind here is a deliberate reflection on the word of God throughout your day.

Joshua was commanded to meditate on the the law of God day and night so that all of his decisions would be ruled by the word of God (Joshua 1:8). His success as a military leader and the prosperity of the Jewish people in the conquests hindered, at least partly, on His understanding and application of God’s word.

In light of meditation, VanGermeren once again is helpful when he says,

“The Godly have trained their hearts to speak and act with wisdom.” William VanGemeren

Verse 3, use a tree to describe the fruit of righteous thinking and acting.

Psalm 1:3 ESV

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.

The tree is a common metaphor for the blessed life of the righteous. The prophet Jeremiah said

Jeremiah 17:7–8 ESV

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

What you notice about this tree is first where it is planted. Wild tress that sprout in the desert are subject to drought. This tree has been intentionally planted by stream so its roots can dig deep creating a strong foundation. The water nourishes the tree in every season, regardless of insufficient rainfalls. The leaves flourish and produce fruit. There is life in this tree, even when death surrounds it.

Rooted, Nourished, and Fruitful

The tree is a picture of the righteous who root themselves in God’s Law, whose heart is nourished by His by word. They bear the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of God’s Spirit: love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Furthermore, they provide life for those around them. The lost and desperate find shelter and care beneath the shade of their life.

The Way of the Wicked is death (Psalm 1:4-5)

Psalm 1:4-5, provide the contrast to the tree. The wicked are not like a tree. Instead they are like chaff.

Psalm 1:4–5 ESV

The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

The wicked take counsel with fools. They stand in the way of sinners and sit the seat of scoffers. They ridicule the sacred things of God. They say in their heart their is no God and spend their life scheming evil, as we have seen above.

Chaff is dry, rootless, and worthless.

David says they are like chaff. Chaff is the left over dust like particles from the grain. Chaff has no roots, no way to nourish itself, and worthless. It is driven by the wind in any which way the wind pushes.

The wicked have no solid convictions about anything. Like the chaff, they are blown about by their desires and appetites. They are ruled by their stomachs, as Paul says in

Philippians 3:19 ESV

Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

We learn from David that not only is chaff useless, but look how easily God deals with the chaff.

Psalm 1:5 ESV

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

God drives the wicked away like chaff, where no one will remember them. Using the metaphor of the chaff, John the Baptist describes what God does with the wicked

Matthew 3:12 ESV

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

The wicked will not have a leg to stand on in God’s coming judgement. Unrepentant sinners will not be able to gather with the righteous in God’s assembly. He will separate the wicked in the same way chaff is separate from barely or wheat. The righteous are guaranteed eternal life, while the wicked are guaranteed eternal judgment with fire.

The Way of the Cross (Psalm 1:6)

In vers 6,

Psalm 1:6 ESV

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

God told Adam and Eve to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge and Evil. If they did so, they would surely die (Genesis 2:17). They disobeyed God and ate from the tree. God judged Adam and Eve and the Serpent. The serpent will one day be destroyed. Eve will have difficulty in labor and be subject to her husband. Adam will have to work hard to sustain his life. All who are of Adam will die, as God promised in Genesis 2:17. Through Adam sinned entered the world and os death came by Adam.

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

All of us have broken his commands. All fo us are wicked by nature. Adam’s curse creates deceitful hearts in every human being.

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

And what we earn from that wickedness is eternal death, which is God’s judgment.

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We deserve to perish like the wicked in Psalm 1. We are like the chaff the wind drives away. And if we are left to ourselves, every single one of us would perish.

However God had mercy on Adam’s children. There was another tree, cross, and it rested on Calvary.

Because God loves us, he sent his Son into the world to take on flesh and do what Adam could not do.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus lived a perfect life fulfilling God’s Law perfectly. He was crucified on a cross as a substitute in the place of sinners.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God accepted his sacrifice and raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand. God promises that salvation will be given to all who come to Jesus and accept his gift, the work He did on His tree, the cross.

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

When you accept Christ as your Savior, he makes you righteous. He changes your heart, you are born again. God promised the prophet Ezekiel

Ezekiel 36:25–27 ESV

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

God fulfilled that promise when Christ ascended in to Heaven and poured out his Spirit at Pentecost, and He continues to fulfill that promise in every person who accepts Christ as their Savior. With a new heart that has been made alive in Christ, and His Spirit inside of you, you are made righteous and are equipped to live righteously. You become like a tree planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in every season.

The Lord Knows the way of the righteous. He has reconciled and restored them through the redemption of His Son. Only those who have Christ righteousness will stand in the congregation of the saints. The foolish ones who reject Him, will perish.

What you have before you is two ways to live this life. The way of the righteous is life in God’s kingdom and forever. Jesus explains to his disciples how to live the Blessed life now in His Sermon on the Mount. The righteous are the poor in Spirit, the Meek, and the gentle. They are the one who hunger for righteousness and are satisfied, fulfilled, in the righteousness of Christ. The righteous