1 00:00:00,791 --> 00:00:05,748 Brethren, please turn in your Bibles 2 00:00:05,748 --> 00:00:12,971 to Psalm 1. 3 00:00:12,971 --> 00:00:19,735 Our brother Craig said he felt inclined 4 00:00:19,735 --> 00:00:27,586 to preach from this psalm last week, 5 00:00:27,586 --> 00:00:33,089 but he didn't, because the week before that 6 00:00:33,089 --> 00:00:39,170 Brother Nathan Rages 7 00:00:39,170 --> 00:00:42,540 brought us a message on stability 8 00:00:42,540 --> 00:00:45,404 or stay-bility. 9 00:00:45,404 --> 00:00:50,321 And Craig felt that he didn't just use 10 00:00:50,321 --> 00:00:53,076 this psalm as a launching point, 11 00:00:53,076 --> 00:00:56,178 but kind of stayed here for quite awhile, 12 00:00:56,178 --> 00:00:57,739 so Craig thought to move on, 13 00:00:57,739 --> 00:01:02,930 but I think it's interesting 14 00:01:02,930 --> 00:01:05,558 that three preachers in a row 15 00:01:05,558 --> 00:01:09,003 have been impressed as I have as well, 16 00:01:09,003 --> 00:01:11,429 even before Nathan brought that. 17 00:01:11,429 --> 00:01:13,865 I've been thinking much about 18 00:01:13,865 --> 00:01:18,178 the first psalm. 19 00:01:18,178 --> 00:01:28,426 And I am inclined to take us there again, 20 00:01:28,426 --> 00:01:30,883 even after Craig was done preaching last week, 21 00:01:30,883 --> 00:01:33,445 I told Craig, I believe I am 22 00:01:33,445 --> 00:01:35,842 going to deal with Psalm 1, 23 00:01:35,842 --> 00:01:40,097 and, God helping us, 24 00:01:40,097 --> 00:01:43,282 let's look at it. 25 00:01:43,282 --> 00:01:46,745 Let's read it 26 00:01:46,745 --> 00:01:48,767 in its entirety. 27 00:01:48,767 --> 00:01:56,548 "Blessed is the man..." 28 00:01:56,548 --> 00:02:00,769 And I'll tell you, if we know Scripture, 29 00:02:00,769 --> 00:02:07,359 there are one in a thousand such men. 30 00:02:07,359 --> 00:02:11,202 "Blessed is the man 31 00:02:11,202 --> 00:02:15,799 who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, 32 00:02:15,799 --> 00:02:20,919 nor stands in the way of sinners, 33 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:28,603 nor sits in the seat of scoffers. 34 00:02:28,603 --> 00:02:31,377 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, 35 00:02:31,377 --> 00:02:37,045 and on His law, he meditates day and night. 36 00:02:37,045 --> 00:02:38,527 He is like a tree planted 37 00:02:38,527 --> 00:02:40,468 by streams of water, 38 00:02:40,468 --> 00:02:43,591 that yields its fruit in its season, 39 00:02:43,591 --> 00:02:47,427 and its leaf does not wither. 40 00:02:47,427 --> 00:02:51,240 In all that he does, he prospers. 41 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:59,399 The wicked are not so..." 42 00:02:59,399 --> 00:03:03,824 In fact, in the Septuagint, this reads 43 00:03:03,824 --> 00:03:05,308 as a double negative: 44 00:03:05,308 --> 00:03:11,393 Not so the ungodly. Not so. 45 00:03:11,393 --> 00:03:12,680 "...but are like chaff, 46 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,036 that the wind drives away. 47 00:03:16,036 --> 00:03:17,767 Therefore the wicked will not stand 48 00:03:17,767 --> 00:03:19,086 in the judgment, 49 00:03:19,086 --> 00:03:20,883 nor sinners in the congregation 50 00:03:20,883 --> 00:03:25,866 of the righteous." 51 00:03:25,866 --> 00:03:29,273 Churches here are mixed, 52 00:03:29,273 --> 00:03:31,028 but as we heard in the first hour, 53 00:03:31,028 --> 00:03:35,111 every church has at least one devil in it. 54 00:03:35,111 --> 00:03:36,145 They're mixed here. 55 00:03:36,145 --> 00:03:38,604 They won't be then. 56 00:03:38,604 --> 00:03:40,600 "For the Lord knows 57 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,852 the way of the righteous, 58 00:03:43,852 --> 00:03:50,399 but the way of the wicked will perish." 59 00:03:50,399 --> 00:03:52,956 This is a psalm. 60 00:03:52,956 --> 00:03:56,587 It's the first one. 61 00:03:56,587 --> 00:03:59,854 In it, you saw it, 62 00:03:59,854 --> 00:04:03,062 there's two men. 63 00:04:03,062 --> 00:04:07,689 There's one called (v. 1) blessed... 64 00:04:07,689 --> 00:04:10,218 is the man. 65 00:04:10,218 --> 00:04:12,649 And then when you look down in v. 6, 66 00:04:12,649 --> 00:04:16,736 "The Lord knows the way of the righteous." 67 00:04:16,736 --> 00:04:19,157 There's one man - the blessed man, 68 00:04:19,157 --> 00:04:20,906 the righteous man. 69 00:04:20,906 --> 00:04:23,498 And then there's another man. 70 00:04:23,498 --> 00:04:25,686 And you see him here. 71 00:04:25,686 --> 00:04:31,353 V. 4 - "The wicked are not so." 72 00:04:31,353 --> 00:04:34,932 V. 5 "The wicked will not stand..." 73 00:04:34,932 --> 00:04:40,126 V. 6 "The wicked will perish." 74 00:04:40,126 --> 00:04:43,054 We're all here. 75 00:04:43,054 --> 00:04:49,907 All mankind encapsulated in this one psalm. 76 00:04:49,907 --> 00:04:52,079 But see, I see a problem right off. 77 00:04:52,079 --> 00:04:53,615 I mean, as I read this, 78 00:04:53,615 --> 00:04:55,835 and I think about preaching it. 79 00:04:55,835 --> 00:05:03,294 I recognize, you - as you process this, 80 00:05:03,294 --> 00:05:08,623 that man has a built-in disposition 81 00:05:08,623 --> 00:05:13,097 to deny and reject that he is wicked. 82 00:05:13,097 --> 00:05:19,597 Nobody takes that term upon themselves. 83 00:05:19,597 --> 00:05:22,285 I know you've got certain crazy people 84 00:05:22,285 --> 00:05:25,857 out there that delight in such things. 85 00:05:25,857 --> 00:05:29,072 But I'll tell you, when really pushed to it, 86 00:05:29,072 --> 00:05:30,966 as far as their eternal welfare, 87 00:05:30,966 --> 00:05:34,246 as far as their standing before God, 88 00:05:34,246 --> 00:05:36,988 men sarcastically will talk about 89 00:05:36,988 --> 00:05:38,675 being wicked, 90 00:05:38,675 --> 00:05:40,774 or in their pride, 91 00:05:40,774 --> 00:05:42,451 they will try to outdo one another 92 00:05:42,451 --> 00:05:43,875 in evil deeds, 93 00:05:43,875 --> 00:05:46,462 but when they're pressed to it, 94 00:05:46,462 --> 00:05:48,726 men say, well, in the depths of my heart, 95 00:05:48,726 --> 00:05:50,086 really at the deepest level, 96 00:05:50,086 --> 00:05:53,066 I'm a good person. 97 00:05:53,066 --> 00:05:56,249 You see, I recognize there's a disposition. 98 00:05:56,249 --> 00:05:57,340 Why? 99 00:05:57,340 --> 00:06:00,426 Because the word just sounds too horrible. 100 00:06:00,426 --> 00:06:02,112 Wicked. 101 00:06:02,112 --> 00:06:03,923 It's too heinous. 102 00:06:03,923 --> 00:06:08,338 It's just too bad to describe me. 103 00:06:08,338 --> 00:06:10,534 And here's what happens: 104 00:06:10,534 --> 00:06:14,675 So, men think to themselves, 105 00:06:14,675 --> 00:06:19,484 Ok, I'm about to hear the righteous 106 00:06:19,484 --> 00:06:23,137 compared with the wicked. 107 00:06:23,137 --> 00:06:25,567 Well, I know I'm not wicked. 108 00:06:25,567 --> 00:06:27,441 So somehow or another, 109 00:06:27,441 --> 00:06:30,470 what's said of the righteous - 110 00:06:30,470 --> 00:06:33,311 it has to describe me. 111 00:06:33,311 --> 00:06:34,723 Maybe not perfectly, 112 00:06:34,723 --> 00:06:36,921 but I'm in there somewhere. 113 00:06:36,921 --> 00:06:39,190 Because I'm not wicked. 114 00:06:39,190 --> 00:06:40,960 I know I'm not that. 115 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,627 So, somehow I've got to fit in over here. 116 00:06:45,627 --> 00:06:47,008 What's said of the wicked man 117 00:06:47,008 --> 00:06:48,764 can't possibly be true of me. 118 00:06:48,764 --> 00:06:52,187 You see, men, men... presuppositions - 119 00:06:52,187 --> 00:06:53,823 their ideas about themselves. 120 00:06:53,823 --> 00:06:57,924 In fact, what's interesting is how often 121 00:06:57,924 --> 00:07:01,140 the Bible has to tell us who we are. 122 00:07:01,140 --> 00:07:02,130 It's amazing. 123 00:07:02,130 --> 00:07:04,234 It has to tell wicked people who they are, 124 00:07:04,234 --> 00:07:06,430 and it has to tell the righteous who they are. 125 00:07:06,430 --> 00:07:07,143 Why? 126 00:07:07,143 --> 00:07:08,733 Because we have a real hard time 127 00:07:08,733 --> 00:07:10,626 getting that straight ourselves, 128 00:07:10,626 --> 00:07:12,069 even as Christians. 129 00:07:12,069 --> 00:07:13,432 Think about how often 130 00:07:13,432 --> 00:07:14,938 the New Testament is simply 131 00:07:14,938 --> 00:07:18,686 telling Christians who they are. 132 00:07:18,686 --> 00:07:20,938 We don't get it right. 133 00:07:20,938 --> 00:07:23,729 As Christians, we tend to think less 134 00:07:23,729 --> 00:07:25,307 of ourselves than we ought to. 135 00:07:25,307 --> 00:07:26,614 And as lost people, 136 00:07:26,614 --> 00:07:28,508 we tend to think far more of ourselves 137 00:07:28,508 --> 00:07:29,403 than we ought to. 138 00:07:29,403 --> 00:07:30,571 We have a real hard time 139 00:07:30,571 --> 00:07:31,642 getting this straight. 140 00:07:31,642 --> 00:07:32,759 And so God comes along 141 00:07:32,759 --> 00:07:34,379 and over and over and over again, 142 00:07:34,379 --> 00:07:37,003 He is telling us who we are. 143 00:07:37,003 --> 00:07:38,040 What we are. 144 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:39,425 This is why the Bible goes 145 00:07:39,425 --> 00:07:40,698 to all these lengths 146 00:07:40,698 --> 00:07:42,552 to define us over and over. 147 00:07:42,552 --> 00:07:43,678 And you know what? 148 00:07:43,678 --> 00:07:46,629 There's nothing that tells us who we are 149 00:07:46,629 --> 00:07:49,157 like this book tells us who we are. 150 00:07:49,157 --> 00:07:52,339 Nothing describes us like this book. 151 00:07:52,339 --> 00:07:54,396 So, here's the thing, 152 00:07:54,396 --> 00:07:57,641 v. 4, the wicked are not so. 153 00:07:57,641 --> 00:07:58,538 You know what? 154 00:07:58,538 --> 00:08:00,598 If we could just tear that out - 155 00:08:00,598 --> 00:08:01,822 we don't want to do that, 156 00:08:01,822 --> 00:08:06,362 but if we did, if we just replaced it 157 00:08:06,362 --> 00:08:10,273 with "the man of the world..." 158 00:08:10,273 --> 00:08:15,790 intelligent, intellectual, wise, 159 00:08:15,790 --> 00:08:19,462 independent, fun-loving, 160 00:08:19,462 --> 00:08:24,040 free-spirited, free thinking, witty... 161 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:24,940 you know what, 162 00:08:24,940 --> 00:08:26,808 we might get more people to be honest. 163 00:08:26,808 --> 00:08:29,391 Because the problem is, as soon as the word wicked comes up, 164 00:08:29,391 --> 00:08:31,503 oh, that's not me! 165 00:08:31,503 --> 00:08:34,741 But you know, if we redefined it a little bit, 166 00:08:34,741 --> 00:08:37,804 and put it in more acceptable terms, 167 00:08:37,804 --> 00:08:42,151 people would let their guard down. 168 00:08:42,151 --> 00:08:45,050 But that word wicked... 169 00:08:45,050 --> 00:08:47,771 what about that? 170 00:08:47,771 --> 00:08:52,454 It makes us think of wicked witches. 171 00:08:52,454 --> 00:08:55,222 The wicked - like the devil. 172 00:08:55,222 --> 00:08:57,131 But notice the simplicity of it all. 173 00:08:57,131 --> 00:08:59,555 Look at v. 4. 174 00:08:59,555 --> 00:09:03,736 "The wicked are not so." 175 00:09:03,736 --> 00:09:05,274 Just think about that. 176 00:09:05,274 --> 00:09:07,154 Think about the simplicity of that. 177 00:09:07,154 --> 00:09:11,953 The wicked are not so. 178 00:09:11,953 --> 00:09:13,191 There's no horns. 179 00:09:13,191 --> 00:09:14,456 There's no pointed hat 180 00:09:14,456 --> 00:09:16,397 and black cats here. 181 00:09:16,397 --> 00:09:20,103 They don't torture people in their basement. 182 00:09:20,103 --> 00:09:21,677 What is it? 183 00:09:21,677 --> 00:09:24,271 What's true of the righteous... 184 00:09:24,271 --> 00:09:27,813 not so. 185 00:09:27,813 --> 00:09:30,140 That's the wicked. 186 00:09:30,140 --> 00:09:32,542 They're not pedophiles. 187 00:09:32,542 --> 00:09:33,846 Pedophiles are wicked, 188 00:09:33,846 --> 00:09:37,312 but you get my drift here? 189 00:09:37,312 --> 00:09:39,123 This is just: show me 190 00:09:39,123 --> 00:09:42,061 what the righteous man is; 191 00:09:42,061 --> 00:09:46,367 the wicked man is just not like that. 192 00:09:46,367 --> 00:09:47,906 He doesn't have to run around 193 00:09:47,906 --> 00:09:50,843 being an axe murderer. 194 00:09:50,843 --> 00:09:53,141 He's just not like the righteous. 195 00:09:53,141 --> 00:09:55,564 You see, there's only two categories here, folks. 196 00:09:55,564 --> 00:09:58,707 And if you're not in the righteous, 197 00:09:58,707 --> 00:10:01,184 the blessed man category, 198 00:10:01,184 --> 00:10:02,937 you're in the other. 199 00:10:02,937 --> 00:10:08,639 You're just not like the righteous. 200 00:10:08,639 --> 00:10:10,109 That's it. 201 00:10:10,109 --> 00:10:13,152 That's the wicked. 202 00:10:13,152 --> 00:10:17,233 We need to see this for what it is. 203 00:10:17,233 --> 00:10:19,386 The wicked are not so. 204 00:10:19,386 --> 00:10:21,688 Brethren, this is God's teaching. 205 00:10:21,688 --> 00:10:23,491 That's what Psalm 1 is. 206 00:10:23,491 --> 00:10:25,224 What we come to right here - 207 00:10:25,224 --> 00:10:27,975 it was spoken by David in the beginning, 208 00:10:27,975 --> 00:10:29,835 but this is no invention of man. 209 00:10:29,835 --> 00:10:31,258 This is inspired language. 210 00:10:31,258 --> 00:10:34,466 This is God defining humanity. 211 00:10:34,466 --> 00:10:36,384 There are only two alternatives here. 212 00:10:36,384 --> 00:10:37,664 You see it. 213 00:10:37,664 --> 00:10:40,529 Men are so disposed 214 00:10:40,529 --> 00:10:42,965 to think in degrees. 215 00:10:42,965 --> 00:10:44,374 Right? 216 00:10:44,374 --> 00:10:47,415 It's not just black or white. 217 00:10:47,415 --> 00:10:49,399 We like to think in degrees. 218 00:10:49,399 --> 00:10:50,790 We like to think 219 00:10:50,790 --> 00:10:52,714 somewhere in the middle. 220 00:10:52,714 --> 00:10:55,668 That there's other alternatives. 221 00:10:55,668 --> 00:10:57,495 But we're not given that. 222 00:10:57,495 --> 00:11:01,088 There's no middle ground somewhere here. 223 00:11:01,088 --> 00:11:02,377 See, we tend to think, 224 00:11:02,377 --> 00:11:06,092 well, come on, are you righteous all the time? 225 00:11:06,092 --> 00:11:08,543 Well, you know, I'm a sinner, 226 00:11:08,543 --> 00:11:10,400 but I'm not that bad. 227 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:11,330 I'm not wicked. 228 00:11:11,330 --> 00:11:14,005 So, I'm somewhere in the middle. 229 00:11:14,005 --> 00:11:15,768 Scripture doesn't allow that. 230 00:11:15,768 --> 00:11:17,085 We tend to think that way, 231 00:11:17,085 --> 00:11:18,632 but Scripture doesn't allow this 232 00:11:18,632 --> 00:11:20,171 thinking in degrees. 233 00:11:20,171 --> 00:11:24,619 It's pretty radical. 234 00:11:24,619 --> 00:11:27,889 Boy, how often does Scripture do this? 235 00:11:27,889 --> 00:11:30,597 It's everywhere - in the Old Testament 236 00:11:30,597 --> 00:11:32,828 and in the New. Everywhere! 237 00:11:32,828 --> 00:11:34,778 That Scripture comes along and says 238 00:11:34,778 --> 00:11:36,175 Bang! Bang! 239 00:11:36,175 --> 00:11:37,176 Two camps. 240 00:11:37,176 --> 00:11:38,612 You're in one or the other. 241 00:11:38,612 --> 00:11:41,025 Radical. No in-between's. 242 00:11:41,025 --> 00:11:43,833 That is such the language of Scripture 243 00:11:43,833 --> 00:11:47,605 over and over and over. 244 00:11:47,605 --> 00:11:49,478 Only two men in this psalm. 245 00:11:49,478 --> 00:11:50,575 No middle ground. 246 00:11:50,575 --> 00:11:52,192 Either one or the other. 247 00:11:52,192 --> 00:11:53,528 We're looking at two men. 248 00:11:53,528 --> 00:11:55,725 Just two. 249 00:11:55,725 --> 00:11:58,898 You're like one. 250 00:11:58,898 --> 00:12:03,906 Or you're not so. 251 00:12:03,906 --> 00:12:06,500 So, let's consider this. 252 00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:08,354 Let's consider the first four words. 253 00:12:08,354 --> 00:12:11,288 "Blessed is the man..." 254 00:12:11,288 --> 00:12:16,441 I've got five "P's" 255 00:12:16,441 --> 00:12:19,683 that I want to use to describe just this: 256 00:12:19,683 --> 00:12:22,901 Blessed is the man. 257 00:12:22,901 --> 00:12:23,958 The first is this. 258 00:12:23,958 --> 00:12:26,453 The first "P": Plurality. 259 00:12:26,453 --> 00:12:29,061 There's a plurality of blessednesses. 260 00:12:29,061 --> 00:12:31,994 Martin Luther points out, 261 00:12:31,994 --> 00:12:34,446 and I needed somebody else to tell me this 262 00:12:34,446 --> 00:12:36,925 because I can make my way through Greek, 263 00:12:36,925 --> 00:12:42,426 but Hebrew is out there. 264 00:12:42,426 --> 00:12:47,400 Luther says in the Hebrew, 265 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,977 the word "blessed" is plural. 266 00:12:50,977 --> 00:12:55,906 It's literally blessednesses. 267 00:12:55,906 --> 00:12:59,611 All blessednesses are the portion 268 00:12:59,611 --> 00:13:03,349 of this blessed man. 269 00:13:03,349 --> 00:13:06,969 All things are well 270 00:13:06,969 --> 00:13:08,655 with a man like this. 271 00:13:08,655 --> 00:13:10,014 Spurgeon calls it 272 00:13:10,014 --> 00:13:13,267 the multiplicity of blessings. 273 00:13:13,267 --> 00:13:17,189 You want to be this guy. 274 00:13:17,189 --> 00:13:19,817 This means everything is good. 275 00:13:19,817 --> 00:13:21,577 Everything is blessed. 276 00:13:21,577 --> 00:13:22,781 Blessednesses. 277 00:13:22,781 --> 00:13:24,500 The second "P" is 278 00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:26,960 the propensity towards blessedness. 279 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:28,091 What do I mean by that? 280 00:13:28,091 --> 00:13:29,127 Propensity. 281 00:13:29,127 --> 00:13:31,458 The desire. 282 00:13:31,458 --> 00:13:33,407 We desire this. 283 00:13:33,407 --> 00:13:35,627 All men desire this. 284 00:13:35,627 --> 00:13:38,421 Brethren, as was mentioned by Craig 285 00:13:38,421 --> 00:13:40,945 last week, happy, blessed, 286 00:13:40,945 --> 00:13:42,580 blessed is the man. 287 00:13:42,580 --> 00:13:46,496 There are places such as Deuteronomy 33:29 - 288 00:13:46,496 --> 00:13:48,344 "Happy are you, O Israel! 289 00:13:48,344 --> 00:13:49,335 Who is like you? 290 00:13:49,335 --> 00:13:51,693 A people saved by the Lord." 291 00:13:51,693 --> 00:13:54,625 Yes, this word can be translated 292 00:13:54,625 --> 00:13:57,444 directly: "happy." 293 00:13:57,444 --> 00:13:59,992 The happinesses - it's plural. 294 00:13:59,992 --> 00:14:01,782 All the happinesses of the man 295 00:14:01,782 --> 00:14:02,880 that's described here. 296 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:03,888 And here's the thing. 297 00:14:03,888 --> 00:14:05,043 You think with me here. 298 00:14:05,043 --> 00:14:07,403 Of all that God could have done 299 00:14:07,403 --> 00:14:10,252 in starting out the book of Psalms, 300 00:14:10,252 --> 00:14:12,187 the very first one, 301 00:14:12,187 --> 00:14:16,546 the very first line, 302 00:14:16,546 --> 00:14:18,161 He hits us with the thing 303 00:14:18,161 --> 00:14:21,205 that all men have a propensity for; 304 00:14:21,205 --> 00:14:23,404 that all men long after: 305 00:14:23,404 --> 00:14:25,510 happiness. 306 00:14:25,510 --> 00:14:27,740 We are all anxious to be blessed. 307 00:14:27,740 --> 00:14:29,048 When we hear Esau, 308 00:14:29,048 --> 00:14:30,107 remember how he was? 309 00:14:30,107 --> 00:14:31,419 With his father Isaac? 310 00:14:31,419 --> 00:14:34,292 "Bless me, even me also, O my father!" 311 00:14:34,292 --> 00:14:36,525 Bless me! 312 00:14:36,525 --> 00:14:38,334 That's how we all are. 313 00:14:38,334 --> 00:14:39,789 We want it! We want it! 314 00:14:39,789 --> 00:14:41,411 See, he was faced with the fact 315 00:14:41,411 --> 00:14:42,759 that he was losing it. 316 00:14:42,759 --> 00:14:44,156 And he was desparate. 317 00:14:44,156 --> 00:14:45,028 Bless me! 318 00:14:45,028 --> 00:14:47,194 We all want that blessing. 319 00:14:47,194 --> 00:14:49,723 And you know what gives man 320 00:14:49,723 --> 00:14:51,311 even the ability to make it 321 00:14:51,311 --> 00:14:53,540 from one day to the next 322 00:14:53,540 --> 00:14:58,485 is hope that ultimately, 323 00:14:58,485 --> 00:15:00,949 he will receive that. 324 00:15:00,949 --> 00:15:02,747 Hell is such hopelessness 325 00:15:02,747 --> 00:15:04,704 because it's all gone. 326 00:15:04,704 --> 00:15:07,314 The blessednesses - all gone. 327 00:15:07,314 --> 00:15:09,540 But this is the longing of the soul of man. 328 00:15:09,540 --> 00:15:11,170 Right here at the beginning 329 00:15:11,170 --> 00:15:12,979 of the very first psalm. 330 00:15:12,979 --> 00:15:14,593 The third "P": 331 00:15:14,593 --> 00:15:16,933 The positivity of blessedness. 332 00:15:16,933 --> 00:15:18,182 What do I mean? 333 00:15:18,182 --> 00:15:20,693 "Blessed is the man." 334 00:15:20,693 --> 00:15:23,140 Is. I put stress on "is." 335 00:15:23,140 --> 00:15:25,021 It's not just that he will be. 336 00:15:25,021 --> 00:15:27,240 He is. 337 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,274 The first psalm is God telling us 338 00:15:30,274 --> 00:15:34,002 that blessedness is not just for the future. 339 00:15:34,002 --> 00:15:36,967 You can be sitting here right in this room 340 00:15:36,967 --> 00:15:39,182 in this world at this time 341 00:15:39,182 --> 00:15:42,013 and be a man or woman 342 00:15:42,013 --> 00:15:44,818 of all blessednesses. 343 00:15:44,818 --> 00:15:47,732 I mean, you can sit here 344 00:15:47,732 --> 00:15:54,972 and be the absolute envy - 345 00:15:54,972 --> 00:15:57,731 if the truth were to be known - 346 00:15:57,731 --> 00:16:01,055 the absolute envy of all mankind. 347 00:16:01,055 --> 00:16:06,241 You have that which all men want. 348 00:16:06,241 --> 00:16:07,700 There's a positivity here. 349 00:16:07,700 --> 00:16:08,997 It's attainable. 350 00:16:08,997 --> 00:16:10,772 In this world, it's attainable. 351 00:16:10,772 --> 00:16:13,006 No matter if it's 106 degrees out. 352 00:16:13,006 --> 00:16:13,805 It's attainable. 353 00:16:13,805 --> 00:16:15,886 No matter if you're going through trials. 354 00:16:15,886 --> 00:16:16,856 It's attainable. 355 00:16:16,856 --> 00:16:21,061 That's the thing. 356 00:16:21,061 --> 00:16:22,806 Go with David some time 357 00:16:22,806 --> 00:16:24,819 and visit the nursing home. 358 00:16:24,819 --> 00:16:26,857 Or, come with John Sytsma 359 00:16:26,857 --> 00:16:28,389 when he goes over to Nepal, 360 00:16:28,389 --> 00:16:33,953 and you look at one of these Hindi people 361 00:16:33,953 --> 00:16:36,493 in their seventies or eighties. 362 00:16:36,493 --> 00:16:38,006 You look at the old people 363 00:16:38,006 --> 00:16:41,243 there in the nursing home. 364 00:16:41,243 --> 00:16:46,494 Their faces - empty, hollow, 365 00:16:46,494 --> 00:16:48,445 and they're just sad. 366 00:16:48,445 --> 00:16:49,322 Why? 367 00:16:49,322 --> 00:16:51,200 They've lived their lives. 368 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,693 So many promises of happiness. 369 00:16:55,693 --> 00:16:58,939 When we talk about 370 00:16:58,939 --> 00:17:00,771 "blessed is the man," 371 00:17:00,771 --> 00:17:03,916 they're one in a thousand. 372 00:17:03,916 --> 00:17:06,752 You know what the other 999 373 00:17:06,752 --> 00:17:09,250 are doing all the time? 374 00:17:09,250 --> 00:17:11,434 The pleasures of sin for a season. 375 00:17:11,434 --> 00:17:13,103 And those little pleasures in sin, 376 00:17:13,103 --> 00:17:15,228 they're saying, "Try me! You'll be happy!" 377 00:17:15,228 --> 00:17:17,868 "Try me! You'll be happy!" 378 00:17:17,868 --> 00:17:20,921 And you're grasping at the wind. 379 00:17:20,921 --> 00:17:22,750 You're grasping at mist. 380 00:17:22,750 --> 00:17:24,691 Because there's pleasure for a season 381 00:17:24,691 --> 00:17:26,625 and then it's gone. 382 00:17:26,625 --> 00:17:29,270 And you spend a whole life doing that 383 00:17:29,270 --> 00:17:31,083 and all these promises of happiness. 384 00:17:31,083 --> 00:17:32,525 And you get to the end 385 00:17:32,525 --> 00:17:34,254 and their religions haven't done it. 386 00:17:34,254 --> 00:17:36,021 Their false gods have not done it. 387 00:17:36,021 --> 00:17:38,144 And in all their old age, you look at them, 388 00:17:38,144 --> 00:17:39,045 they're miserable. 389 00:17:39,045 --> 00:17:40,444 They're out of their minds. 390 00:17:40,444 --> 00:17:42,209 They just cuss and they swear 391 00:17:42,209 --> 00:17:43,999 and they're mean. 392 00:17:43,999 --> 00:17:45,090 You go there. 393 00:17:45,090 --> 00:17:46,328 Isn't that how they are? 394 00:17:46,328 --> 00:17:47,621 Just nasty old people. 395 00:17:47,621 --> 00:17:48,359 Why? 396 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:49,933 Just hopeless. 397 00:17:49,933 --> 00:17:51,233 They're getting to the end 398 00:17:51,233 --> 00:17:53,525 and everything has proven empty. 399 00:17:53,525 --> 00:17:55,450 It's just emptiness. 400 00:17:55,450 --> 00:17:57,862 Only fear looms before them. 401 00:17:57,862 --> 00:18:00,529 Happiness is one of the most elusive things 402 00:18:00,529 --> 00:18:02,176 in this world. 403 00:18:02,176 --> 00:18:05,081 You have a world out there chasing it, 404 00:18:05,081 --> 00:18:07,745 and few there be that find it. 405 00:18:07,745 --> 00:18:10,772 Few actually lay hold on it. 406 00:18:10,772 --> 00:18:13,437 But, the promise here is 407 00:18:13,437 --> 00:18:15,648 that there is a blessed man. 408 00:18:15,648 --> 00:18:17,383 It's attainable. 409 00:18:17,383 --> 00:18:18,670 That's the thing. 410 00:18:18,670 --> 00:18:20,310 And oh, brethren, 411 00:18:20,310 --> 00:18:23,843 don't we hear it in the very blood of Christ. 412 00:18:23,843 --> 00:18:28,243 If anything whispers "blessedness," 413 00:18:28,243 --> 00:18:32,370 it's that blood. 414 00:18:32,370 --> 00:18:37,253 The next "P" - the fourth: 415 00:18:37,253 --> 00:18:41,025 The place of blessedness. 416 00:18:41,025 --> 00:18:44,561 By "place," I mean, 417 00:18:44,561 --> 00:18:49,899 where is it to be found? 418 00:18:49,899 --> 00:18:53,109 Notice this: 419 00:18:53,109 --> 00:18:54,849 Look at v. 2. 420 00:18:54,849 --> 00:18:59,452 "His delight is in the law of the Lord 421 00:18:59,452 --> 00:19:04,814 and on His law he meditates day and night." 422 00:19:04,814 --> 00:19:09,817 Now, brethren, hear me carefully. 423 00:19:09,817 --> 00:19:11,515 There is not a text, 424 00:19:11,515 --> 00:19:13,120 and you won't find it. 425 00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:14,524 Never found it in my Bible - 426 00:19:14,524 --> 00:19:16,925 not any of the Bibles I've ever owned. 427 00:19:16,925 --> 00:19:19,560 You will never find a beatitude that says, 428 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:25,151 blessed is the man who hungers and thirsts 429 00:19:25,151 --> 00:19:27,420 for blessedness. 430 00:19:27,420 --> 00:19:29,264 You won't find it. 431 00:19:29,264 --> 00:19:32,493 It's not there. 432 00:19:32,493 --> 00:19:36,283 Where is blessedness to be found? 433 00:19:36,283 --> 00:19:38,784 Happiness is not to be found 434 00:19:38,784 --> 00:19:41,843 in just seeking to be happy. 435 00:19:41,843 --> 00:19:43,552 Think with me here. 436 00:19:43,552 --> 00:19:46,572 What does this man desire? 437 00:19:46,572 --> 00:19:48,621 The law of the Lord. 438 00:19:48,621 --> 00:19:50,565 He meditates on it day and night. 439 00:19:50,565 --> 00:19:53,013 Why? Because in that he finds his God. 440 00:19:53,013 --> 00:19:54,305 In that he finds life; 441 00:19:54,305 --> 00:19:56,315 he finds his Christ, his Messiah. 442 00:19:56,315 --> 00:19:58,684 (Incomplete thought) 443 00:19:58,684 --> 00:20:01,445 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst 444 00:20:01,445 --> 00:20:03,066 for righteousness. 445 00:20:03,066 --> 00:20:05,077 They will be satisfied. 446 00:20:05,077 --> 00:20:06,721 Brethren, think of this. 447 00:20:06,721 --> 00:20:09,719 Think of this truth. 448 00:20:09,719 --> 00:20:13,879 If you grab for happiness, 449 00:20:13,879 --> 00:20:17,157 you miss it. 450 00:20:17,157 --> 00:20:19,493 It just turns to mist. 451 00:20:19,493 --> 00:20:21,493 It slips away. 452 00:20:21,493 --> 00:20:23,515 It's only the man or the woman 453 00:20:23,515 --> 00:20:28,283 who actually seek for something else 454 00:20:28,283 --> 00:20:31,440 that find happiness. 455 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:33,599 Do you notice that? 456 00:20:33,599 --> 00:20:38,051 Or listen to Psalm 119:2. Don't turn there, but listen. 457 00:20:38,051 --> 00:20:41,833 "Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, 458 00:20:41,833 --> 00:20:46,194 who seek Him with their whole heart." 459 00:20:46,194 --> 00:20:47,706 You see? 460 00:20:47,706 --> 00:20:50,765 We seek Him. We find blessing. 461 00:20:50,765 --> 00:20:53,865 We seek His Word. We find blessing. 462 00:20:53,865 --> 00:20:55,731 We seek His righteousness. 463 00:20:55,731 --> 00:20:57,664 We find blessing. 464 00:20:57,664 --> 00:20:59,901 We seek first the Kingdom. 465 00:20:59,901 --> 00:21:02,449 We find all things. 466 00:21:02,449 --> 00:21:04,902 Is that not how Scripture is? 467 00:21:04,902 --> 00:21:09,373 Oh, brethren, that's a principle you don't want to lose. 468 00:21:09,373 --> 00:21:13,078 Because men desire blessing. 469 00:21:13,078 --> 00:21:16,255 They desire happiness. 470 00:21:16,255 --> 00:21:17,833 And most miss it, 471 00:21:17,833 --> 00:21:22,378 because they look for it in the wrong place. 472 00:21:22,378 --> 00:21:26,893 Fifthly, the person of this blessedness. 473 00:21:26,893 --> 00:21:28,681 Blessings and happiness 474 00:21:28,681 --> 00:21:32,435 are not tied to the man's circumstances. 475 00:21:32,435 --> 00:21:34,197 You need to see that. 476 00:21:34,197 --> 00:21:35,806 See, the world tends to think, 477 00:21:35,806 --> 00:21:38,682 blessed is the man that gets a beautiful wife. 478 00:21:38,682 --> 00:21:40,962 Blessed is the man that comes into money. 479 00:21:40,962 --> 00:21:43,468 Blessed is the man that can afford to get that car, 480 00:21:43,468 --> 00:21:45,558 buy that house. 481 00:21:45,558 --> 00:21:49,855 Blessed is the man that (fill in the blank). 482 00:21:49,855 --> 00:21:52,603 ...gets the promotion at work. 483 00:21:52,603 --> 00:21:55,429 But do you notice nothing in this psalm 484 00:21:55,429 --> 00:21:57,776 has to do with circumstances? 485 00:21:57,776 --> 00:22:00,565 It's the person. 486 00:22:00,565 --> 00:22:08,391 It's who he is, not the circumstances in his life. 487 00:22:08,391 --> 00:22:13,292 That's critical. That's crucial. 488 00:22:13,292 --> 00:22:15,198 Blessings and happiness 489 00:22:15,198 --> 00:22:17,783 are tied to who you are, 490 00:22:17,783 --> 00:22:19,474 not what's happening in your life. 491 00:22:19,474 --> 00:22:21,451 To who you are. 492 00:22:21,451 --> 00:22:23,450 To what your relationship is with God. 493 00:22:23,450 --> 00:22:26,221 What your relationship is with the Word. 494 00:22:26,221 --> 00:22:27,516 That's the issue. 495 00:22:27,516 --> 00:22:30,000 Now, there's those five "P's" 496 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,610 that have to do with "blessed." 497 00:22:31,610 --> 00:22:34,030 Now, let's just broaden out 498 00:22:34,030 --> 00:22:36,774 and think about the whole psalm. 499 00:22:36,774 --> 00:22:41,428 Brethren, hear me carefully. 500 00:22:41,428 --> 00:22:48,148 This psalm is an entire indicative. 501 00:22:48,148 --> 00:22:49,404 There's no command here. 502 00:22:49,404 --> 00:22:50,926 Now, I recognize Hebrew doesn't 503 00:22:50,926 --> 00:22:54,733 necessarily have indicative verbs, 504 00:22:54,733 --> 00:23:00,579 but in the Greek, in the Septuagint, 505 00:23:00,579 --> 00:23:02,131 that's exactly what it is. 506 00:23:02,131 --> 00:23:03,155 What am I getting at? 507 00:23:03,155 --> 00:23:05,663 You don't want to know all about Greek and Hebrew. 508 00:23:05,663 --> 00:23:08,050 But what am I getting at? 509 00:23:08,050 --> 00:23:09,787 My point is this: 510 00:23:09,787 --> 00:23:13,370 This psalm doesn't command you to do anything. 511 00:23:13,370 --> 00:23:19,123 Look. Should you go to this psalm and say, 512 00:23:19,123 --> 00:23:23,578 hey, I ought to be more disciplined in the Word. 513 00:23:23,578 --> 00:23:26,360 You know, when you get indicatives, 514 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:30,086 they do imply, they suggest imperatives. 515 00:23:30,086 --> 00:23:32,485 When you're told a fact, 516 00:23:32,485 --> 00:23:36,725 they do sometimes imply 517 00:23:36,725 --> 00:23:38,597 a responsibility on our part. 518 00:23:38,597 --> 00:23:39,477 That's true. 519 00:23:39,477 --> 00:23:40,404 I don't deny that. 520 00:23:40,404 --> 00:23:43,500 And there's many other places where you find this to be a reality. 521 00:23:43,500 --> 00:23:46,146 But hear me carefully. 522 00:23:46,146 --> 00:23:50,087 I am not going to preach commandments to you here, 523 00:23:50,087 --> 00:23:53,208 because this psalm does not do that. 524 00:23:53,208 --> 00:23:58,103 This psalm basically lays down facts. 525 00:23:58,103 --> 00:24:04,183 Notice, nothing in this psalm is telling you 526 00:24:04,183 --> 00:24:08,150 or seeking to encourage you directly 527 00:24:08,150 --> 00:24:10,814 to not walk in the counsel of the wicked 528 00:24:10,814 --> 00:24:13,588 or to stand in a certain place 529 00:24:13,588 --> 00:24:15,268 or to sit in a certain place. 530 00:24:15,268 --> 00:24:16,779 It's not commanding you. 531 00:24:16,779 --> 00:24:19,114 It's not encouraging you to be in the Word. 532 00:24:19,114 --> 00:24:21,084 It's not encouraging you to be a tree. 533 00:24:21,084 --> 00:24:23,794 It's not encouraging you to be fruitful. 534 00:24:23,794 --> 00:24:25,475 Not directly. 535 00:24:25,475 --> 00:24:27,231 You hear what I'm saying. 536 00:24:27,231 --> 00:24:31,002 It basically is a statement of fact. 537 00:24:31,002 --> 00:24:33,641 You say where are you going? 538 00:24:33,641 --> 00:24:35,179 I'll tell you where I'm going. 539 00:24:35,179 --> 00:24:36,724 You know the problem too often 540 00:24:36,724 --> 00:24:38,856 when you preach a text like this, 541 00:24:38,856 --> 00:24:41,603 is people go away - 542 00:24:41,603 --> 00:24:43,062 especially the wicked - 543 00:24:43,062 --> 00:24:44,219 they go away thinking, 544 00:24:44,219 --> 00:24:45,957 oh, I need to do better at that. 545 00:24:45,957 --> 00:24:47,467 That's not what this is. 546 00:24:47,467 --> 00:24:49,554 This is a statement of fact. 547 00:24:49,554 --> 00:24:50,621 It's a description. 548 00:24:50,621 --> 00:24:53,519 It is God coming along and He's saying 549 00:24:53,519 --> 00:24:55,989 you want to know what a righteous man looks like? 550 00:24:55,989 --> 00:24:57,432 Here's what he looks like. 551 00:24:57,432 --> 00:24:59,747 You want to know what a wicked man is? 552 00:24:59,747 --> 00:25:02,322 He's not that. 553 00:25:02,322 --> 00:25:04,498 That's basically what's happening. 554 00:25:04,498 --> 00:25:06,876 Make sure you see that. 555 00:25:06,876 --> 00:25:09,233 You say why? 556 00:25:09,233 --> 00:25:13,674 Because this isn't a pep rally to do better. 557 00:25:13,674 --> 00:25:15,312 This is a searching. 558 00:25:15,312 --> 00:25:18,489 This is a spotlight shining on all of us. 559 00:25:18,489 --> 00:25:21,018 It's not an encouragement to go out and strive, 560 00:25:21,018 --> 00:25:23,984 or to go out and run better. 561 00:25:23,984 --> 00:25:26,238 This is a spotlight shining on you 562 00:25:26,238 --> 00:25:30,494 that proves who you are. 563 00:25:30,494 --> 00:25:33,052 Make sure you see that. 564 00:25:33,052 --> 00:25:34,271 The issue is not so much 565 00:25:34,271 --> 00:25:37,233 that you need to strive harder, 566 00:25:37,233 --> 00:25:39,415 as much as it is the living God telling us 567 00:25:39,415 --> 00:25:43,045 what is true of all of us. 568 00:25:43,045 --> 00:25:45,357 So, notice this. 569 00:25:45,357 --> 00:25:48,594 V. 1 is, "Blessed is the man who 570 00:25:48,594 --> 00:25:51,345 walks not..." 571 00:25:51,345 --> 00:25:53,100 The negative. 572 00:25:53,100 --> 00:25:55,108 Before you get the positive in v. 2. 573 00:25:55,108 --> 00:25:57,147 "His delight is in the law of the Lord." 574 00:25:57,147 --> 00:25:58,418 You get the negative. 575 00:25:58,418 --> 00:26:01,579 The negative is first. 576 00:26:01,579 --> 00:26:05,994 Isn't that similar to - I think of Isaiah 55 oftentimes. 577 00:26:05,994 --> 00:26:09,085 Let the wicked forsake his way, 578 00:26:09,085 --> 00:26:10,978 and the unrighteous man his thoughts, 579 00:26:10,978 --> 00:26:12,619 and let him return unto the Lord. 580 00:26:12,619 --> 00:26:14,950 So you get the negative first: forsake your way. 581 00:26:14,950 --> 00:26:17,143 The positive: return to the Lord. 582 00:26:17,143 --> 00:26:19,122 Or when Jesus came in the New Testament. 583 00:26:19,122 --> 00:26:19,936 What did He say? 584 00:26:19,936 --> 00:26:21,116 Repent! 585 00:26:21,116 --> 00:26:22,982 Repent is a change of mind. 586 00:26:22,982 --> 00:26:25,488 It is that change of mind about sin, 587 00:26:25,488 --> 00:26:26,604 about Christ. 588 00:26:26,604 --> 00:26:28,199 There's this turning from sin. 589 00:26:28,199 --> 00:26:31,967 There's a reversal in life. 590 00:26:31,967 --> 00:26:35,191 There's a forsaking and then believing. 591 00:26:35,191 --> 00:26:37,929 Calling upon the Lord in faith. 592 00:26:37,929 --> 00:26:40,154 We often get this negative 593 00:26:40,154 --> 00:26:44,442 before the positive. 594 00:26:44,442 --> 00:26:45,192 Why? 595 00:26:45,192 --> 00:26:47,698 You know what the danger is? 596 00:26:47,698 --> 00:26:49,777 You come along with just the positive 597 00:26:49,777 --> 00:26:52,104 and people think I need to tack that on my life. 598 00:26:52,104 --> 00:26:53,825 Nope, that's not it. 599 00:26:53,825 --> 00:26:56,095 That's never how it is. 600 00:26:56,095 --> 00:26:57,885 There's first turning. 601 00:26:57,885 --> 00:26:59,332 There's a forsaking. 602 00:26:59,332 --> 00:27:00,960 There's things we step back from. 603 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,129 There's things that the blessed man 604 00:27:03,129 --> 00:27:06,009 no longer involves himself in 605 00:27:06,009 --> 00:27:07,490 before we get to the positive. 606 00:27:07,490 --> 00:27:09,799 That's the way God often does it in Scripture. 607 00:27:09,799 --> 00:27:12,503 Man in this world - evil, 608 00:27:12,503 --> 00:27:14,108 he's wrong; he's vile - 609 00:27:14,108 --> 00:27:16,363 and God's way is essentially different. 610 00:27:16,363 --> 00:27:19,384 And it's not just you staying on your own way, 611 00:27:19,384 --> 00:27:21,732 and your old way, 612 00:27:21,732 --> 00:27:24,365 and then tacking on God's way. 613 00:27:24,365 --> 00:27:28,097 There is a forsaking of your way. 614 00:27:28,097 --> 00:27:31,377 And a coming to God's way. 615 00:27:31,377 --> 00:27:37,576 That's the issue. 616 00:27:37,576 --> 00:27:43,264 "Blessed is the man who walks not 617 00:27:43,264 --> 00:27:44,813 in the counsel of the wicked, 618 00:27:44,813 --> 00:27:47,183 nor stands in the way of sinners." 619 00:27:47,183 --> 00:27:49,732 Not. 620 00:27:49,732 --> 00:27:53,590 Brethren, this is desire being described here. 621 00:27:53,590 --> 00:27:55,171 God's not giving a commandment. 622 00:27:55,171 --> 00:27:56,169 There's a desire. 623 00:27:56,169 --> 00:27:59,075 And I know, someone says, exactly! 624 00:27:59,075 --> 00:28:00,095 Negative. 625 00:28:00,095 --> 00:28:01,825 Of course, that's how it starts out. 626 00:28:01,825 --> 00:28:04,623 That's what Christianity is in a lot of people's minds. 627 00:28:04,623 --> 00:28:07,035 Of course, that's exactly how Christianity is. 628 00:28:07,035 --> 00:28:09,361 You can't do this. You can't do that. 629 00:28:09,361 --> 00:28:12,899 But, brethren, listen to me. 630 00:28:12,899 --> 00:28:16,875 This is not a psalm of "thou shalt not's." 631 00:28:16,875 --> 00:28:24,087 This is a man who desires the Word of God, 632 00:28:24,087 --> 00:28:25,909 the law of the Lord. 633 00:28:25,909 --> 00:28:28,420 This is a man who has a heart 634 00:28:28,420 --> 00:28:31,583 that hungers after this. 635 00:28:31,583 --> 00:28:33,583 He delights in it. 636 00:28:33,583 --> 00:28:35,803 And because he delights in that, 637 00:28:35,803 --> 00:28:37,875 he disdains what's against it: 638 00:28:37,875 --> 00:28:39,104 the ways of the world, 639 00:28:39,104 --> 00:28:40,171 the ways of the devil, 640 00:28:40,171 --> 00:28:41,324 the ways that are wrong, 641 00:28:41,324 --> 00:28:42,574 the ways of the scornful, 642 00:28:42,574 --> 00:28:43,922 the ways of the sinner. 643 00:28:43,922 --> 00:28:45,606 They're repulsive to him 644 00:28:45,606 --> 00:28:49,476 because he delights in the law of God. 645 00:28:49,476 --> 00:28:50,826 That's the idea. 646 00:28:50,826 --> 00:28:53,648 Brethren, we have to get this in our heads. 647 00:28:53,648 --> 00:28:55,542 Christianity is not just this set 648 00:28:55,542 --> 00:28:57,483 of external laws that tells us 649 00:28:57,483 --> 00:29:00,479 don't do this, don't do this... 650 00:29:00,479 --> 00:29:03,585 Christianity is a transformation of heart 651 00:29:03,585 --> 00:29:07,092 where our delights are now towards the Word 652 00:29:07,092 --> 00:29:09,029 and we don't want that. 653 00:29:09,029 --> 00:29:10,901 There's a distaste. 654 00:29:10,901 --> 00:29:12,737 We don't love what we used to love. 655 00:29:12,737 --> 00:29:15,110 Christianity is God changing us 656 00:29:15,110 --> 00:29:16,691 so that we don't desire 657 00:29:16,691 --> 00:29:18,238 the counsel of the ungodly. 658 00:29:18,238 --> 00:29:19,882 We delight in the Word of Christ. 659 00:29:19,882 --> 00:29:23,570 And brethren, we find His yoke easy. 660 00:29:23,570 --> 00:29:26,255 That's the reality. 661 00:29:26,255 --> 00:29:30,341 Notice the progressiveness 662 00:29:30,341 --> 00:29:33,040 of this first verse. 663 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,894 He doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked. 664 00:29:35,894 --> 00:29:37,111 And then it's "stand." 665 00:29:37,111 --> 00:29:38,341 You've got a man walking, 666 00:29:38,341 --> 00:29:40,254 and then it's like the man stops walking 667 00:29:40,254 --> 00:29:41,694 and he stands. 668 00:29:41,694 --> 00:29:43,283 And then the man sits. 669 00:29:43,283 --> 00:29:46,433 It's progressive what? 670 00:29:46,433 --> 00:29:52,753 (Incomplete thought) 671 00:29:52,753 --> 00:29:54,888 It is a digression. 672 00:29:54,888 --> 00:29:58,412 It's like there's motion and then he stops 673 00:29:58,412 --> 00:30:00,024 and then he sits. 674 00:30:00,024 --> 00:30:06,303 It's like this increasing grip of sin. 675 00:30:06,303 --> 00:30:10,893 (Incomplete thought) 676 00:30:10,893 --> 00:30:16,629 Lloyd-Jones called it paralysis of sin. 677 00:30:16,629 --> 00:30:19,410 The blessed man avoids it. 678 00:30:19,410 --> 00:30:21,723 And what is this? 679 00:30:21,723 --> 00:30:23,967 What does he avoid? 680 00:30:23,967 --> 00:30:26,244 You say, the wicked, the sinner, 681 00:30:26,244 --> 00:30:31,047 the scoffer... brethren, where are they? 682 00:30:31,047 --> 00:30:32,994 Think about your life. 683 00:30:32,994 --> 00:30:34,500 There's voices, 684 00:30:34,500 --> 00:30:36,321 We have these voices. 685 00:30:36,321 --> 00:30:38,384 Things are coming in the eyes 686 00:30:38,384 --> 00:30:40,661 and coming in the ears all the time. 687 00:30:40,661 --> 00:30:41,780 We see things. 688 00:30:41,780 --> 00:30:43,821 We hear things. 689 00:30:43,821 --> 00:30:47,675 Where are these voices in this world? 690 00:30:47,675 --> 00:30:50,333 We have means of commication today 691 00:30:50,333 --> 00:30:52,429 like they never had in any other time. 692 00:30:52,429 --> 00:30:54,452 Think of the channels through which 693 00:30:54,452 --> 00:30:56,785 these things come. 694 00:30:56,785 --> 00:30:59,786 Brethren, you know what they are. 695 00:30:59,786 --> 00:31:01,314 Friends. 696 00:31:01,314 --> 00:31:03,859 How often does Scripture speak about companionship? 697 00:31:03,859 --> 00:31:04,950 You want to be a fool? 698 00:31:04,950 --> 00:31:06,935 Hang out with the fools. 699 00:31:06,935 --> 00:31:08,830 Plain and simple. 700 00:31:08,830 --> 00:31:10,197 Social media. 701 00:31:10,197 --> 00:31:11,671 You can hang out with people. 702 00:31:11,671 --> 00:31:14,450 You spend your time there. 703 00:31:14,450 --> 00:31:17,635 Brethren, what kind of voices are these? 704 00:31:17,635 --> 00:31:20,430 The wicked, the sinner, the scoffer... 705 00:31:20,430 --> 00:31:23,461 they're voices that take you 706 00:31:23,461 --> 00:31:25,650 off of running this race like you should. 707 00:31:25,650 --> 00:31:27,466 They're voices that turn us away 708 00:31:27,466 --> 00:31:28,766 from God and godliness. 709 00:31:28,766 --> 00:31:30,469 They scoff. They mock 710 00:31:30,469 --> 00:31:31,948 at the ways of the righteous. 711 00:31:31,948 --> 00:31:33,236 They scoff and they mock 712 00:31:33,236 --> 00:31:34,589 at the ways of Scripture. 713 00:31:34,589 --> 00:31:38,356 It's all that's adverse to 714 00:31:38,356 --> 00:31:40,721 and against and radically, 715 00:31:40,721 --> 00:31:42,415 essentially the opposite 716 00:31:42,415 --> 00:31:44,254 of what's in v. 2: 717 00:31:44,254 --> 00:31:45,710 Loving the law of the Lord. 718 00:31:45,710 --> 00:31:47,671 It's everything that's opposed to that. 719 00:31:47,671 --> 00:31:49,320 It's everything that shuns that. 720 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:51,927 It's everything that smirks at that. 721 00:31:51,927 --> 00:31:55,061 It's everything that slights the ways of God. 722 00:31:55,061 --> 00:31:57,124 That's what we're talking about. 723 00:31:57,124 --> 00:32:01,506 What we're talking about here 724 00:32:01,506 --> 00:32:03,503 is the blessed man; 725 00:32:03,503 --> 00:32:05,340 is the man who looks at the friends 726 00:32:05,340 --> 00:32:06,818 in his life and says, 727 00:32:06,818 --> 00:32:08,206 you know what? 728 00:32:08,206 --> 00:32:10,421 I am not going to spend time 729 00:32:10,421 --> 00:32:13,598 with those people anymore. 730 00:32:13,598 --> 00:32:15,813 Because you know what? 731 00:32:15,813 --> 00:32:18,152 I want to spend time in the Word. 732 00:32:18,152 --> 00:32:20,464 And there's something in their lives, 733 00:32:20,464 --> 00:32:22,116 there's something in their words 734 00:32:22,116 --> 00:32:25,013 that opposes this. 735 00:32:25,013 --> 00:32:27,689 And I'm not walking there. 736 00:32:27,689 --> 00:32:29,505 And I'm not standing there. 737 00:32:29,505 --> 00:32:30,803 I'm not going to stop 738 00:32:30,803 --> 00:32:32,081 and I'm not going to sit. 739 00:32:32,081 --> 00:32:34,226 You see, it's almost more 740 00:32:34,226 --> 00:32:39,119 of a progressive stagnation in sin. 741 00:32:39,119 --> 00:32:40,443 I'm not going to do it. 742 00:32:40,443 --> 00:32:41,847 I'm not going to go there. 743 00:32:41,847 --> 00:32:44,005 I'm going to evaluate social media. 744 00:32:44,005 --> 00:32:47,301 If that movie is going to take me somehow 745 00:32:47,301 --> 00:32:49,785 away from what pleases God, 746 00:32:49,785 --> 00:32:51,451 why am I going to go do that? 747 00:32:51,451 --> 00:32:52,552 Why? 748 00:32:52,552 --> 00:32:56,159 Entertainment? 749 00:32:56,159 --> 00:32:57,984 Oh you're going to entertain yourself 750 00:32:57,984 --> 00:32:59,361 by going and standing 751 00:32:59,361 --> 00:33:01,550 in the way of the sinner. 752 00:33:01,550 --> 00:33:03,804 Is that it? 753 00:33:03,804 --> 00:33:06,454 You see, the righteous man doesn't do that. 754 00:33:06,454 --> 00:33:09,062 Now, brethren, hear me again. 755 00:33:09,062 --> 00:33:12,415 I'm not saying, ok, you better size up 756 00:33:12,415 --> 00:33:13,808 what you're doing on Facebook 757 00:33:13,808 --> 00:33:15,730 and you better size up what you're doing 758 00:33:15,730 --> 00:33:17,149 with the TV and with movies 759 00:33:17,149 --> 00:33:20,044 and with all the technology. 760 00:33:20,044 --> 00:33:23,149 No commandments here. 761 00:33:23,149 --> 00:33:25,524 Listen, brethren, what you need to recognize 762 00:33:25,524 --> 00:33:28,758 is God is telling you what we are. 763 00:33:28,758 --> 00:33:30,825 See, if you're the guy that perpetually 764 00:33:30,825 --> 00:33:32,556 has to look at your life and say, 765 00:33:32,556 --> 00:33:36,539 well, I'm massively failing there. 766 00:33:36,539 --> 00:33:38,919 Brethren, it's not God telling you 767 00:33:38,919 --> 00:33:40,598 you need to get your act straight. 768 00:33:40,598 --> 00:33:43,819 It's God telling you who you are. 769 00:33:43,819 --> 00:33:45,775 Do you recognize that's what's happening 770 00:33:45,775 --> 00:33:47,692 in this psalm? 771 00:33:47,692 --> 00:33:50,740 He's saying look at your life. 772 00:33:50,740 --> 00:33:54,541 If you walk in the way of the ungodly; 773 00:33:54,541 --> 00:34:00,479 if you stand in this place of sinners; 774 00:34:00,479 --> 00:34:03,481 you sit there among those who 775 00:34:03,481 --> 00:34:07,373 slight the things that are godly - 776 00:34:07,373 --> 00:34:10,995 He's telling you what you are. 777 00:34:10,995 --> 00:34:12,007 Because if you say, 778 00:34:12,007 --> 00:34:13,741 no my delight is in the Word. 779 00:34:13,741 --> 00:34:15,385 Hey, this is all opposed to that. 780 00:34:15,385 --> 00:34:17,521 And see, if you say, 781 00:34:17,521 --> 00:34:19,619 no, I'm a blessed man 782 00:34:19,619 --> 00:34:21,249 because I delight in the Word. 783 00:34:21,249 --> 00:34:22,823 Ok, there's going to be proof. 784 00:34:22,823 --> 00:34:24,471 And the proof on the negative side 785 00:34:24,471 --> 00:34:27,701 is what you no longer do. 786 00:34:27,701 --> 00:34:30,647 You see, there's evidence. 787 00:34:30,647 --> 00:34:32,159 That's the point. 788 00:34:32,159 --> 00:34:33,143 This is indicative. 789 00:34:33,143 --> 00:34:36,542 This is indicating what is true. 790 00:34:36,542 --> 00:34:39,408 I'm not here today to tell you 791 00:34:39,408 --> 00:34:42,646 to clean up your act. 792 00:34:42,646 --> 00:34:44,447 There are definitely texts 793 00:34:44,447 --> 00:34:48,264 that talk about purging that out of your life 794 00:34:48,264 --> 00:34:49,723 which ought not to be there, 795 00:34:49,723 --> 00:34:51,320 and cutting off and gouging out. 796 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:52,961 No question about that. 797 00:34:52,961 --> 00:34:56,109 But brethren, what this is saying to us 798 00:34:56,109 --> 00:34:58,470 is not so much that that's what you need to do, 799 00:34:58,470 --> 00:34:59,429 it's saying to us, 800 00:34:59,429 --> 00:35:00,754 if you're the blessed man, 801 00:35:00,754 --> 00:35:03,634 that's what you already do. 802 00:35:03,634 --> 00:35:05,543 That's already true in your life. 803 00:35:05,543 --> 00:35:07,587 That's already a reality. 804 00:35:07,587 --> 00:35:10,279 Brethren, this is not commandment. 805 00:35:10,279 --> 00:35:12,034 This is fact. 806 00:35:12,034 --> 00:35:14,002 God is not admonishing us specifically 807 00:35:14,002 --> 00:35:15,216 to be holier. 808 00:35:15,216 --> 00:35:17,133 He's telling us the truth about 809 00:35:17,133 --> 00:35:19,006 what holiness looks like. 810 00:35:19,006 --> 00:35:21,594 And that holy man is that blessed man. 811 00:35:21,594 --> 00:35:24,020 He's telling us that if you're that blessed man, 812 00:35:24,020 --> 00:35:27,225 you're not going to run with that same crowd you ran with. 813 00:35:27,225 --> 00:35:29,300 And you're not going to do the same things 814 00:35:29,300 --> 00:35:30,939 on the Internet you used to do. 815 00:35:30,939 --> 00:35:33,929 And you're not going to do the same things at the movie theater you used to do. 816 00:35:33,929 --> 00:35:36,150 And you're not going to do the same things in front of the television. 817 00:35:36,150 --> 00:35:37,844 Because these are all the avenues 818 00:35:37,844 --> 00:35:39,325 by which those voices come. 819 00:35:39,325 --> 00:35:41,337 You're not going to do the same thing with family. 820 00:35:41,337 --> 00:35:42,782 You're not going to do the same thing with friends. 821 00:35:42,782 --> 00:35:44,459 You're not going to do the same things with radio. 822 00:35:44,459 --> 00:35:47,743 You're not going to do the same thing with songs and music. 823 00:35:47,743 --> 00:35:49,493 Why? 824 00:35:49,493 --> 00:35:54,433 Because look, you've got to bring this home. 825 00:35:54,433 --> 00:35:55,980 The counsel of the wicked, 826 00:35:55,980 --> 00:35:57,463 the way of the sinner, 827 00:35:57,463 --> 00:35:59,995 the seat of the scoffer. 828 00:35:59,995 --> 00:36:01,922 This is real. 829 00:36:01,922 --> 00:36:04,490 You have to put familiar faces on this. 830 00:36:04,490 --> 00:36:07,029 This is not just this ambiguous thing out there. 831 00:36:07,029 --> 00:36:09,426 This is your life. This is my life. 832 00:36:09,426 --> 00:36:10,625 And I'll tell you this, 833 00:36:10,625 --> 00:36:12,490 what He's saying is the blessed man 834 00:36:12,490 --> 00:36:16,721 is a man who suddenly is not 835 00:36:16,721 --> 00:36:20,615 doing all sorts of things that he used to do. 836 00:36:20,615 --> 00:36:23,387 And one of the primary rationales, 837 00:36:23,387 --> 00:36:25,986 one of the primary motivations, 838 00:36:25,986 --> 00:36:30,203 one of the primary movers in all of this 839 00:36:30,203 --> 00:36:33,141 is not external laws. 840 00:36:33,141 --> 00:36:35,190 It's what he delights in. 841 00:36:35,190 --> 00:36:37,847 He now delights in the Word of God. 842 00:36:37,847 --> 00:36:42,029 And so, naturally, if you delight in something, 843 00:36:42,029 --> 00:36:43,677 you don't delight in that which is opposed 844 00:36:43,677 --> 00:36:45,183 to the something that you delight in. 845 00:36:45,183 --> 00:36:48,399 That's the reality here, brethren. 846 00:36:48,399 --> 00:36:50,531 And notice this last one. 847 00:36:50,531 --> 00:36:55,449 Because, I think this is key. 848 00:36:55,449 --> 00:36:59,231 "Nor sits in the seat of scoffers." 849 00:36:59,231 --> 00:37:00,582 You know what a scoffer is? 850 00:37:00,582 --> 00:37:03,236 Or a scorner? 851 00:37:03,236 --> 00:37:06,763 They're somebody who mocks. 852 00:37:06,763 --> 00:37:09,278 And even in the church, 853 00:37:09,278 --> 00:37:11,815 we get those who scorn 854 00:37:11,815 --> 00:37:15,301 and they scoff and they mock 855 00:37:15,301 --> 00:37:17,599 and they make light of 856 00:37:17,599 --> 00:37:22,481 anyone they see who seems more radical. 857 00:37:22,481 --> 00:37:24,282 You know what you get in the church? 858 00:37:24,282 --> 00:37:25,425 You get these people 859 00:37:25,425 --> 00:37:28,510 who they want to keep a clear conscience. 860 00:37:28,510 --> 00:37:30,095 And they come to Scripture, 861 00:37:30,095 --> 00:37:31,473 and they see something there, 862 00:37:31,473 --> 00:37:33,622 like they look at modesty 863 00:37:33,622 --> 00:37:35,189 and they think what that means 864 00:37:35,189 --> 00:37:37,049 is I need to wear a dress that's down 865 00:37:37,049 --> 00:37:37,901 to the floor. 866 00:37:37,901 --> 00:37:38,963 And you know what? 867 00:37:38,963 --> 00:37:40,511 They're not being legalistic. 868 00:37:40,511 --> 00:37:41,775 They're not coming along 869 00:37:41,775 --> 00:37:43,873 and they're not pressing that on you and me. 870 00:37:43,873 --> 00:37:45,836 They look at Scripture and they say 871 00:37:45,836 --> 00:37:48,812 don't set anything that's vain or useless 872 00:37:48,812 --> 00:37:49,639 before my eyes. 873 00:37:49,639 --> 00:37:50,989 And they say, you know what? 874 00:37:50,989 --> 00:37:53,027 I think TV altogether is vain and useless. 875 00:37:53,027 --> 00:37:54,580 And so they're seeking to do it. 876 00:37:54,580 --> 00:37:56,151 And if you're the guy that's always out there 877 00:37:56,151 --> 00:37:58,030 saying legalism, legalism, legalism! 878 00:37:58,030 --> 00:38:01,486 You're likely in the seat of that scoffer. 879 00:38:01,486 --> 00:38:02,843 When you look at people 880 00:38:02,843 --> 00:38:05,074 who are trying to keep a clear conscience 881 00:38:05,074 --> 00:38:06,795 and they're eradicating things, 882 00:38:06,795 --> 00:38:08,528 and they say my eye offends, 883 00:38:08,528 --> 00:38:10,135 and so I'm getting rid of that. 884 00:38:10,135 --> 00:38:12,339 I'm tearing it out and I'm casting it from me. 885 00:38:12,339 --> 00:38:13,941 And they're people of conscience. 886 00:38:13,941 --> 00:38:15,804 And they're walking through their life 887 00:38:15,804 --> 00:38:17,214 and they're going to the Word 888 00:38:17,214 --> 00:38:19,382 and they delight in the Word and they're looking in the Word 889 00:38:19,382 --> 00:38:21,339 and they're saying my conscience says 890 00:38:21,339 --> 00:38:22,827 oh, look what I find here. 891 00:38:22,827 --> 00:38:24,701 Now look, you may look at them and say, 892 00:38:24,701 --> 00:38:25,949 you know what? 893 00:38:25,949 --> 00:38:27,449 Their conscience has not been 894 00:38:27,449 --> 00:38:29,817 most accurately informed, 895 00:38:29,817 --> 00:38:31,851 because if you think about other places 896 00:38:31,851 --> 00:38:32,600 in Scripture... 897 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:34,009 And you know what, that may be true, 898 00:38:34,009 --> 00:38:36,395 but don't mock and don't slight at such people 899 00:38:36,395 --> 00:38:38,050 who are trying to keep clear consciences 900 00:38:38,050 --> 00:38:38,957 before God. 901 00:38:38,957 --> 00:38:40,026 And they're meticulous 902 00:38:40,026 --> 00:38:41,382 and they're diligent. 903 00:38:41,382 --> 00:38:43,202 I remember one time when I was down 904 00:38:43,202 --> 00:38:44,249 at Stockdale, 905 00:38:44,249 --> 00:38:45,869 and a woman came and she had been 906 00:38:45,869 --> 00:38:47,470 wearing a head covering before that, 907 00:38:47,470 --> 00:38:49,161 and then she wasn't wearing the head covering. 908 00:38:49,161 --> 00:38:51,200 I said where's your head covering? 909 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:52,613 Did you study Scripture and 910 00:38:52,613 --> 00:38:53,973 you came to another conclusion? 911 00:38:53,973 --> 00:38:55,548 She said, no, just because the people here 912 00:38:55,548 --> 00:38:56,451 don't wear them. 913 00:38:56,451 --> 00:38:58,336 I said you better get that thing on your head. 914 00:38:58,336 --> 00:38:59,408 Why? Because she thought 915 00:38:59,408 --> 00:39:00,970 that's what the Lord wants her to do. 916 00:39:00,970 --> 00:39:02,360 And if that's what you think the Lord 917 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:03,191 wants you to do, 918 00:39:03,191 --> 00:39:04,143 and whether it comes down 919 00:39:04,143 --> 00:39:05,280 to how you raise your children 920 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:06,352 or how you love your wife 921 00:39:06,352 --> 00:39:07,950 or how you drive your car, 922 00:39:07,950 --> 00:39:10,065 or what you do at work - 923 00:39:10,065 --> 00:39:12,914 brethren, Spurgeon said it one time: 924 00:39:12,914 --> 00:39:15,280 better to live according to this Word - 925 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:16,326 how you interpret it 926 00:39:16,326 --> 00:39:17,492 and be wrong, 927 00:39:17,492 --> 00:39:19,214 than to not do that. 928 00:39:19,214 --> 00:39:20,764 You understand what he's saying. 929 00:39:20,764 --> 00:39:22,591 He's not saying bad doctrine's good. 930 00:39:22,591 --> 00:39:24,466 He's saying you need to live up 931 00:39:24,466 --> 00:39:26,433 to the light of the lamp that is 932 00:39:26,433 --> 00:39:28,696 shining at your feet from this book. 933 00:39:28,696 --> 00:39:29,974 And how you look at it - 934 00:39:29,974 --> 00:39:31,876 it's not what everybody else is doing. 935 00:39:31,876 --> 00:39:34,606 You do what you believe that God 936 00:39:34,606 --> 00:39:36,394 wants you to do from that book. 937 00:39:36,394 --> 00:39:38,477 And you seek to live with a clear conscience. 938 00:39:38,477 --> 00:39:39,922 And you know who the scoffer is? 939 00:39:39,922 --> 00:39:41,236 They're the people always shouting 940 00:39:41,236 --> 00:39:42,325 "legalism" in the church. 941 00:39:42,325 --> 00:39:43,479 Oh, that's legalistic. 942 00:39:43,479 --> 00:39:45,749 They're just legalists. 943 00:39:45,749 --> 00:39:48,592 You be careful. 944 00:39:48,592 --> 00:39:50,224 You just be careful. 945 00:39:50,224 --> 00:39:51,522 Because I tell you what, 946 00:39:51,522 --> 00:39:52,981 if you're that person who's always looking 947 00:39:52,981 --> 00:39:54,155 and you're looking down your nose 948 00:39:54,155 --> 00:39:56,582 at other people who are really trying to walk before the Lord, 949 00:39:56,582 --> 00:39:58,325 and they're trying to walk with a clear conscience, 950 00:39:58,325 --> 00:39:59,746 and they're trying to please Him 951 00:39:59,746 --> 00:40:01,294 and they're trying to be meticulous 952 00:40:01,294 --> 00:40:02,364 to God's Word - 953 00:40:02,364 --> 00:40:04,200 you look at them and you call them legalists - 954 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:06,625 you have been sitting in the seat of the scoffer. 955 00:40:06,625 --> 00:40:07,502 Let me tell you. 956 00:40:07,502 --> 00:40:09,203 I'm not telling you don't do that. 957 00:40:09,203 --> 00:40:10,219 Repent of that. 958 00:40:10,219 --> 00:40:12,002 Of course, there's a place for that. 959 00:40:12,002 --> 00:40:13,390 What I'm telling you is this: 960 00:40:13,390 --> 00:40:15,540 What God is doing is showing you who you are. 961 00:40:15,540 --> 00:40:16,729 Not what you ought to be. 962 00:40:16,729 --> 00:40:21,386 He's showing you who you are. 963 00:40:21,386 --> 00:40:23,956 So, notice his delight. 964 00:40:23,956 --> 00:40:27,529 His delight is in the law of the Lord. 965 00:40:27,529 --> 00:40:28,899 And on His law, he meditates 966 00:40:28,899 --> 00:40:29,995 day and night. 967 00:40:29,995 --> 00:40:32,110 Again, brethren, this is not a commandment 968 00:40:32,110 --> 00:40:34,337 for the Word of Christ to dwell in you richly. 969 00:40:34,337 --> 00:40:35,923 There is a commandment like that. 970 00:40:35,923 --> 00:40:37,997 There's instruction like that in Scripture. 971 00:40:37,997 --> 00:40:39,629 I'm not saying that there isn't. 972 00:40:39,629 --> 00:40:41,803 I'm just saying this psalm 973 00:40:41,803 --> 00:40:44,978 is basically - the gist of it 974 00:40:44,978 --> 00:40:47,154 is that God is telling us the truth 975 00:40:47,154 --> 00:40:49,196 about ourselves. 976 00:40:49,196 --> 00:40:51,104 Oh, brethren, the blessed man 977 00:40:51,104 --> 00:40:53,293 is that man who has come to this 978 00:40:53,293 --> 00:40:54,720 entirely new relationship 979 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:56,524 with the Word of God. 980 00:40:56,524 --> 00:40:57,971 Look, again, I'm telling you. 981 00:40:57,971 --> 00:40:59,573 Brethren, I am not here to tell you 982 00:40:59,573 --> 00:41:00,991 if you've not been in the Word, 983 00:41:00,991 --> 00:41:02,121 you need to get in the Word. 984 00:41:02,121 --> 00:41:04,356 What I'm telling you is if you're not in the Word, 985 00:41:04,356 --> 00:41:06,163 it's because you don't delight in the Word 986 00:41:06,163 --> 00:41:07,878 and Scripture is telling you 987 00:41:07,878 --> 00:41:09,904 who and what you are. 988 00:41:09,904 --> 00:41:13,322 That's the issue. 989 00:41:13,322 --> 00:41:16,016 That's what's happening here. 990 00:41:16,016 --> 00:41:19,054 The blessed man - 991 00:41:19,054 --> 00:41:21,956 he's the man that it's just not theory 992 00:41:21,956 --> 00:41:23,624 for him to say 993 00:41:23,624 --> 00:41:25,609 that man shall not live by bread alone, 994 00:41:25,609 --> 00:41:27,245 but by every word that proceedeth 995 00:41:27,245 --> 00:41:28,807 forth from the mouth of God. 996 00:41:28,807 --> 00:41:30,411 He knows that. He believes that. 997 00:41:30,411 --> 00:41:32,962 His life reflects that. 998 00:41:32,962 --> 00:41:35,523 The exact same truth you heard 999 00:41:35,523 --> 00:41:37,328 from our brother in the first hour 1000 00:41:37,328 --> 00:41:38,815 from John 8. 1001 00:41:38,815 --> 00:41:41,129 Listen, Jesus says it. 1002 00:41:41,129 --> 00:41:42,591 Again, it's not a commandment. 1003 00:41:42,591 --> 00:41:44,327 It's a fact. 1004 00:41:44,327 --> 00:41:48,275 He says if you abide in My Word, 1005 00:41:48,275 --> 00:41:51,442 you are truly My disciples. 1006 00:41:51,442 --> 00:41:54,372 He's not saying abide in My Word. 1007 00:41:54,372 --> 00:41:56,667 Yes, there's places where you can find 1008 00:41:56,667 --> 00:41:58,040 such statements, 1009 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:00,974 but there are these factual statements 1010 00:42:00,974 --> 00:42:03,066 made all through Scripture, 1011 00:42:03,066 --> 00:42:05,228 that if you are His disciple, 1012 00:42:05,228 --> 00:42:07,739 His Word abides in you. 1013 00:42:07,739 --> 00:42:09,463 Not just that it should. 1014 00:42:09,463 --> 00:42:12,163 And if it doesn't, it shows who you are. 1015 00:42:12,163 --> 00:42:14,448 That's what He was saying to these people. 1016 00:42:14,448 --> 00:42:17,269 Listen, brethren, be honest. 1017 00:42:17,269 --> 00:42:19,230 This is the truth about the blessed man. 1018 00:42:19,230 --> 00:42:21,106 On the whole, 1019 00:42:21,106 --> 00:42:25,134 if you were to drag this man into court, 1020 00:42:25,134 --> 00:42:28,164 and accuse him of being a Bible lover, 1021 00:42:28,164 --> 00:42:29,387 guess what? 1022 00:42:29,387 --> 00:42:33,796 There's evidence to convict him. 1023 00:42:33,796 --> 00:42:36,633 Where are you? 1024 00:42:36,633 --> 00:42:39,765 Oh, isn't it amazing? 1025 00:42:39,765 --> 00:42:44,895 The first psalm - blessings which everybody wants. 1026 00:42:44,895 --> 00:42:47,588 And it's got to do with where 1027 00:42:47,588 --> 00:42:50,651 the Word of God is in your life. 1028 00:42:50,651 --> 00:42:52,668 The first first is the negative of that. 1029 00:42:52,668 --> 00:42:53,762 It's the contrary. 1030 00:42:53,762 --> 00:42:55,948 You avoid all those voices that 1031 00:42:55,948 --> 00:42:59,161 are not like this. 1032 00:42:59,161 --> 00:43:02,419 But you delight in the Word. 1033 00:43:02,419 --> 00:43:06,927 You say, I've never killed anybody. 1034 00:43:06,927 --> 00:43:09,618 The wicked? They're not so. 1035 00:43:09,618 --> 00:43:11,191 In other words, if you take them 1036 00:43:11,191 --> 00:43:12,968 into the court room, 1037 00:43:12,968 --> 00:43:17,475 and you say prove that you're a lover 1038 00:43:17,475 --> 00:43:19,876 of the Word, 1039 00:43:19,876 --> 00:43:21,501 the wicked are not so. 1040 00:43:21,501 --> 00:43:23,061 And so if there isn't evidence, 1041 00:43:23,061 --> 00:43:26,047 the wicked is not so. 1042 00:43:26,047 --> 00:43:27,808 Well, I own a Bible. 1043 00:43:27,808 --> 00:43:30,127 In fact, I have three. 1044 00:43:30,127 --> 00:43:32,940 That's not what's being said here. 1045 00:43:32,940 --> 00:43:34,042 Do you delight in it? 1046 00:43:34,042 --> 00:43:40,514 You say, yeah, I delight in it. 1047 00:43:40,514 --> 00:43:45,154 Are you meditating on it day and night? 1048 00:43:45,154 --> 00:43:48,276 Can you go three days, four days, five days, seven days 1049 00:43:48,276 --> 00:43:50,671 and you're not in it? 1050 00:43:50,671 --> 00:43:52,135 You see, again, brethren, 1051 00:43:52,135 --> 00:43:54,061 this is not telling you what you ought 1052 00:43:54,061 --> 00:43:55,545 to be doing. 1053 00:43:55,545 --> 00:43:59,544 This is telling you what you are. 1054 00:43:59,544 --> 00:44:02,514 This is the delight of the man. 1055 00:44:02,514 --> 00:44:06,063 Look, what you don't want to do 1056 00:44:06,063 --> 00:44:07,982 is walk away from this message and say, 1057 00:44:07,982 --> 00:44:08,937 well, you know what? 1058 00:44:08,937 --> 00:44:11,867 My delight is really in video games; 1059 00:44:11,867 --> 00:44:15,014 hanging out with my friends; 1060 00:44:15,014 --> 00:44:19,084 listening to the new music. 1061 00:44:19,084 --> 00:44:22,204 You know, what I find delight in 1062 00:44:22,204 --> 00:44:28,848 is sex and money and fun... 1063 00:44:28,848 --> 00:44:33,645 I guess I better start reading my Bible, 1064 00:44:33,645 --> 00:44:37,526 even though it's not what you really delight to do. 1065 00:44:37,526 --> 00:44:40,384 You see, it's not doing that. 1066 00:44:40,384 --> 00:44:43,112 It's saying no, the truth is 1067 00:44:43,112 --> 00:44:46,510 if you can leave that Bible on the shelf, 1068 00:44:46,510 --> 00:44:49,191 there's not a panting in your soul after it. 1069 00:44:49,191 --> 00:44:52,924 Look, I recognize there are dry seasons. 1070 00:44:52,924 --> 00:44:55,941 But do you hear what's being said? 1071 00:44:55,941 --> 00:44:57,423 On the whole, I don't have to 1072 00:44:57,423 --> 00:44:59,808 invent a bunch of exceptions here. 1073 00:44:59,808 --> 00:45:01,537 And I don't have to define this 1074 00:45:01,537 --> 00:45:02,823 in super amounts of detail. 1075 00:45:02,823 --> 00:45:04,261 Because God doesn't think it's 1076 00:45:04,261 --> 00:45:05,431 that necessary to do it. 1077 00:45:05,431 --> 00:45:06,631 He simply says this, 1078 00:45:06,631 --> 00:45:08,328 the blessed man delights 1079 00:45:08,328 --> 00:45:10,141 in the law of the Lord 1080 00:45:10,141 --> 00:45:12,266 and in that law, he meditates day and night. 1081 00:45:12,266 --> 00:45:13,162 Period. 1082 00:45:13,162 --> 00:45:14,188 That's what God says. 1083 00:45:14,188 --> 00:45:15,504 I don't need to amend that. 1084 00:45:15,504 --> 00:45:16,846 I don't need to add to that. 1085 00:45:16,846 --> 00:45:18,475 And brethren, what you need to ask 1086 00:45:18,475 --> 00:45:19,354 is be honest. 1087 00:45:19,354 --> 00:45:20,696 Does that reflect your life? 1088 00:45:20,696 --> 00:45:21,844 Because if it doesn't, 1089 00:45:21,844 --> 00:45:24,844 the wicked are not so. 1090 00:45:24,844 --> 00:45:27,053 Like I said, the wicked isn't just wicked 1091 00:45:27,053 --> 00:45:29,273 because he's torturing people in his basement. 1092 00:45:29,273 --> 00:45:30,682 The wicked is just the guy 1093 00:45:30,682 --> 00:45:32,432 that doesn't delight in the Word. 1094 00:45:32,432 --> 00:45:36,825 He's not like the righteous person. 1095 00:45:36,825 --> 00:45:41,014 That's what we have here. 1096 00:45:41,014 --> 00:45:43,088 The righteous man - 1097 00:45:43,088 --> 00:45:44,359 he hungers. 1098 00:45:44,359 --> 00:45:45,890 There's something desirable. 1099 00:45:45,890 --> 00:45:47,080 Why? 1100 00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:47,827 Why? 1101 00:45:47,827 --> 00:45:52,342 Because the Spirit has opened his eyes 1102 00:45:52,342 --> 00:45:54,515 and this Word is now living. 1103 00:45:54,515 --> 00:45:55,850 And when he looks into it, 1104 00:45:55,850 --> 00:46:01,013 it's like... Wow! 1105 00:46:01,013 --> 00:46:03,113 There's wisdom. 1106 00:46:03,113 --> 00:46:06,333 It opens the window to the glory of God. 1107 00:46:06,333 --> 00:46:07,647 And in these pages, 1108 00:46:07,647 --> 00:46:11,741 he sees Christ. 1109 00:46:11,741 --> 00:46:14,382 He's never seen anything like it before. 1110 00:46:14,382 --> 00:46:16,706 He might have looked at it when he was lost, 1111 00:46:16,706 --> 00:46:20,773 but now it's just altogether new. 1112 00:46:20,773 --> 00:46:23,911 Don't fool yourself. 1113 00:46:23,911 --> 00:46:26,390 If you're able to be away from this Word; 1114 00:46:26,390 --> 00:46:29,499 it's just a dry, dead letter, 1115 00:46:29,499 --> 00:46:32,621 and basically being in it is a chore. 1116 00:46:32,621 --> 00:46:34,301 It's like you know when you assess 1117 00:46:34,301 --> 00:46:35,344 your Christian life, 1118 00:46:35,344 --> 00:46:37,779 it's like, well yes, I read. 1119 00:46:37,779 --> 00:46:40,084 Yeah, I've kind of got that in place 1120 00:46:40,084 --> 00:46:41,415 these last few days. 1121 00:46:41,415 --> 00:46:42,799 I've really forced myself. 1122 00:46:42,799 --> 00:46:44,038 I disciplined myself. 1123 00:46:44,038 --> 00:46:47,163 Although typically, I can go long seasons 1124 00:46:47,163 --> 00:46:49,084 with watching a whole lot more TV 1125 00:46:49,084 --> 00:46:50,589 than I ever get in the Word; 1126 00:46:50,589 --> 00:46:52,549 and be on the Internet a whole lot more 1127 00:46:52,549 --> 00:46:54,282 than I'd ever be in the Word. 1128 00:46:54,282 --> 00:47:00,473 Exposing myself to all sorts of voices. 1129 00:47:00,473 --> 00:47:05,823 Brethren, let's just be honest. 1130 00:47:05,823 --> 00:47:07,863 His delight is in the law of the Lord, 1131 00:47:07,863 --> 00:47:11,098 and on His law, he meditates day and night. 1132 00:47:11,098 --> 00:47:14,855 And the wicked are not so. 1133 00:47:14,855 --> 00:47:17,232 So we have a picture here in v. 3. 1134 00:47:17,232 --> 00:47:19,314 The righteous man - the blessed man, 1135 00:47:19,314 --> 00:47:20,540 he is like a tree 1136 00:47:20,540 --> 00:47:23,897 planted by the streams (plural) 1137 00:47:23,897 --> 00:47:25,820 of water that yields its fruit 1138 00:47:25,820 --> 00:47:27,719 in its season. 1139 00:47:27,719 --> 00:47:30,611 And it's leaf does not wither. 1140 00:47:30,611 --> 00:47:33,953 In all that he does, he prospers. 1141 00:47:33,953 --> 00:47:38,067 The wicked are not so, 1142 00:47:38,067 --> 00:47:41,144 but are like chaff 1143 00:47:41,144 --> 00:47:45,698 that the wind drives away. 1144 00:47:45,698 --> 00:47:47,658 We're given this picture. 1145 00:47:47,658 --> 00:47:49,749 And again, brethren, I'm going to 1146 00:47:49,749 --> 00:47:52,130 keep emphasizing this. 1147 00:47:52,130 --> 00:47:56,583 This tells us the truth about ourselves. 1148 00:47:56,583 --> 00:47:58,220 Nothing tells the truth about us 1149 00:47:58,220 --> 00:47:59,545 like the Bible does. 1150 00:47:59,545 --> 00:48:02,585 Spiritually speaking, 1151 00:48:02,585 --> 00:48:05,069 all men are either (incomplete thought). 1152 00:48:05,069 --> 00:48:06,430 Have you ever been - 1153 00:48:06,430 --> 00:48:07,850 I don't know up and down 1154 00:48:07,850 --> 00:48:09,413 the San Antonio River - 1155 00:48:09,413 --> 00:48:11,627 I don't think I've seen much of the river 1156 00:48:11,627 --> 00:48:14,753 other than right here in San Antonio. 1157 00:48:14,753 --> 00:48:16,413 But I've been to different places 1158 00:48:16,413 --> 00:48:18,433 on the Guadalupe River. 1159 00:48:18,433 --> 00:48:20,249 Have you ever seen those cypresses? 1160 00:48:20,249 --> 00:48:22,352 Oh, there are some downtown 1161 00:48:22,352 --> 00:48:23,957 along the Riverwalk. 1162 00:48:23,957 --> 00:48:26,268 You know those cypresses? 1163 00:48:26,268 --> 00:48:28,506 Great big, massive trees. 1164 00:48:28,506 --> 00:48:30,043 And you know where they grow? 1165 00:48:30,043 --> 00:48:31,568 They only grow right alongside the river. 1166 00:48:31,568 --> 00:48:33,026 You can try to plant them other places, 1167 00:48:33,026 --> 00:48:34,588 but if you don't give them steady water, 1168 00:48:34,588 --> 00:48:36,741 they just don't make it. 1169 00:48:36,741 --> 00:48:39,575 Great big trees, 1170 00:48:39,575 --> 00:48:41,616 like a great big cypress tree 1171 00:48:41,616 --> 00:48:43,836 planted along the Guadalupe River 1172 00:48:43,836 --> 00:48:47,888 with roots that go down into soil 1173 00:48:47,888 --> 00:48:51,107 that's moist and life-giving 1174 00:48:51,107 --> 00:48:53,729 all the time. 1175 00:48:53,729 --> 00:48:56,650 That's what the righteous is like. 1176 00:48:56,650 --> 00:49:02,327 The unrighteous - a pile of chaff. 1177 00:49:02,327 --> 00:49:03,415 You know what? 1178 00:49:03,415 --> 00:49:04,668 When we look at each other 1179 00:49:04,668 --> 00:49:09,905 like we can look at each other right here. 1180 00:49:09,905 --> 00:49:12,299 I can't see that difference, 1181 00:49:12,299 --> 00:49:14,217 but it's true. 1182 00:49:14,217 --> 00:49:15,559 Spiritually speaking, 1183 00:49:15,559 --> 00:49:17,238 if we could pull back the veil, 1184 00:49:17,238 --> 00:49:21,349 some are these massive cypress trees, 1185 00:49:21,349 --> 00:49:26,281 planted along the rivers (plural). 1186 00:49:26,281 --> 00:49:27,568 Rivers. 1187 00:49:27,568 --> 00:49:31,131 Abundance. 1188 00:49:31,131 --> 00:49:36,224 And some are just a pile of chaff. 1189 00:49:36,224 --> 00:49:39,089 That's the comparison here. 1190 00:49:39,089 --> 00:49:41,740 Tree. Chaff. 1191 00:49:41,740 --> 00:49:42,978 You see the difference? 1192 00:49:42,978 --> 00:49:45,810 Your life. My life. 1193 00:49:45,810 --> 00:49:48,586 Tree or chaff. 1194 00:49:48,586 --> 00:49:51,345 What's your life like? 1195 00:49:51,345 --> 00:49:53,388 It's just radical difference. 1196 00:49:53,388 --> 00:49:57,504 You see, there's no shades here. 1197 00:49:57,504 --> 00:49:59,534 There's no degrees here. 1198 00:49:59,534 --> 00:50:01,159 It's not like, well, you've got 1199 00:50:01,159 --> 00:50:03,873 a chaff-y looking tree over there. 1200 00:50:03,873 --> 00:50:07,591 No, none of that. 1201 00:50:07,591 --> 00:50:09,977 You're one or the other. 1202 00:50:09,977 --> 00:50:11,346 People don't tend to realize 1203 00:50:11,346 --> 00:50:12,887 the radical difference between 1204 00:50:12,887 --> 00:50:15,721 the Christian and the non-Christian. 1205 00:50:15,721 --> 00:50:20,492 The roots of this tree go deep down. 1206 00:50:20,492 --> 00:50:23,877 This man whose heart and mind 1207 00:50:23,877 --> 00:50:27,152 and soul - the roots go down deep 1208 00:50:27,152 --> 00:50:29,328 into the words of Christ. 1209 00:50:29,328 --> 00:50:31,238 The law of the Lord. 1210 00:50:31,238 --> 00:50:34,175 They go down into His commandments, 1211 00:50:34,175 --> 00:50:37,707 His Word, and they're pulling the nutrients up. 1212 00:50:37,707 --> 00:50:43,579 You see, didn't Christ say, 1213 00:50:43,579 --> 00:50:47,284 "Sanctify them by Thy truth. 1214 00:50:47,284 --> 00:50:48,983 Thy Word is truth." 1215 00:50:48,983 --> 00:50:53,009 The sanctifying power of the Spirit of God 1216 00:50:53,009 --> 00:50:56,412 comes through - his delight is in this law. 1217 00:50:56,412 --> 00:50:58,972 And in this law, he looks in. 1218 00:50:58,972 --> 00:51:01,719 He sees the character of God. 1219 00:51:01,719 --> 00:51:03,645 He sees the beauties of Christ. 1220 00:51:03,645 --> 00:51:06,018 And it's transformative. 1221 00:51:06,018 --> 00:51:07,570 Those roots go down. 1222 00:51:07,570 --> 00:51:11,428 The chaff? The chaff has no roots. 1223 00:51:11,428 --> 00:51:13,154 You look at your life. 1224 00:51:13,154 --> 00:51:14,568 No real roots in here. 1225 00:51:14,568 --> 00:51:15,750 You don't memorize this. 1226 00:51:15,750 --> 00:51:18,954 You don't meditate on this. 1227 00:51:18,954 --> 00:51:22,064 The Word is not controlling. 1228 00:51:22,064 --> 00:51:23,767 Instead, you've subjected yourself 1229 00:51:23,767 --> 00:51:25,337 to worldly opinions. 1230 00:51:25,337 --> 00:51:26,840 Worldly counsels. 1231 00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:28,510 Worldly mindsets. 1232 00:51:28,510 --> 00:51:30,822 All the time, you're being bombarded. 1233 00:51:30,822 --> 00:51:33,846 So it's very easy to put a little Christian title 1234 00:51:33,846 --> 00:51:36,796 on music that's otherwise just ungodly. 1235 00:51:36,796 --> 00:51:40,353 We can Christianize just about everything. 1236 00:51:40,353 --> 00:51:41,455 But the truth is, 1237 00:51:41,455 --> 00:51:44,014 the man who spends a lot of time 1238 00:51:44,014 --> 00:51:45,411 in this Word - 1239 00:51:45,411 --> 00:51:46,977 he can smell out the difference. 1240 00:51:46,977 --> 00:51:48,552 He's not just looking at the name 1241 00:51:48,552 --> 00:51:50,131 because you can be like Sardis. 1242 00:51:50,131 --> 00:51:53,084 You can have a name, but you're dead. 1243 00:51:53,084 --> 00:51:55,776 And the person whose heart 1244 00:51:55,776 --> 00:51:57,157 and mind and soul 1245 00:51:57,157 --> 00:51:59,051 are down in the depths of this 1246 00:51:59,051 --> 00:52:02,818 moisture-rich soil of the Word of Christ, 1247 00:52:02,818 --> 00:52:05,009 they can tell those things. 1248 00:52:05,009 --> 00:52:07,964 Because it gives them discernment. 1249 00:52:07,964 --> 00:52:11,247 They see. 1250 00:52:11,247 --> 00:52:12,749 Which are you? 1251 00:52:12,749 --> 00:52:14,474 A tree versus chaff. 1252 00:52:14,474 --> 00:52:16,800 They have nothing in common. 1253 00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:19,073 The tree is fruitful. 1254 00:52:19,073 --> 00:52:21,793 The fruits of the Spirit. 1255 00:52:21,793 --> 00:52:24,254 You see, there's a person 1256 00:52:24,254 --> 00:52:27,262 who spends a lot of time in this book. 1257 00:52:27,262 --> 00:52:30,641 Their roots are planted here. 1258 00:52:30,641 --> 00:52:33,928 And that Word abides in them. 1259 00:52:33,928 --> 00:52:35,379 It stays. 1260 00:52:35,379 --> 00:52:36,693 They're not hearers only. 1261 00:52:36,693 --> 00:52:38,138 But they're doers. 1262 00:52:38,138 --> 00:52:39,054 And they go forth 1263 00:52:39,054 --> 00:52:40,577 and as they do the Word, 1264 00:52:40,577 --> 00:52:42,219 this fruit of the Spirit, 1265 00:52:42,219 --> 00:52:43,981 they go up and it's rich. 1266 00:52:43,981 --> 00:52:48,983 By this, our Father is well pleased, 1267 00:52:48,983 --> 00:52:52,411 that we bring forth much fruit. 1268 00:52:52,411 --> 00:52:54,308 There's an abundance of fruit. 1269 00:52:54,308 --> 00:52:56,434 Love - the fruit of love. 1270 00:52:56,434 --> 00:52:59,300 And there's joy. 1271 00:52:59,300 --> 00:53:02,460 And there's the fruits of the Spirit. 1272 00:53:02,460 --> 00:53:04,264 Chaff is not fruit. 1273 00:53:04,264 --> 00:53:06,288 Chaff is the stuff on the outside 1274 00:53:06,288 --> 00:53:08,200 of the kernel or the grain. 1275 00:53:08,200 --> 00:53:11,026 It's the stuff that gets taken off 1276 00:53:11,026 --> 00:53:12,958 and it's winnowed away. 1277 00:53:12,958 --> 00:53:14,177 The wind blows it away. 1278 00:53:14,177 --> 00:53:15,200 You don't want it. 1279 00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:16,172 It's useless. 1280 00:53:16,172 --> 00:53:17,734 There's no good use for it. 1281 00:53:17,734 --> 00:53:19,100 Nothing like a tree at all. 1282 00:53:19,100 --> 00:53:20,358 It's entirely different. 1283 00:53:20,358 --> 00:53:21,564 There's no roots. 1284 00:53:21,564 --> 00:53:24,146 There's no fruit. 1285 00:53:24,146 --> 00:53:29,718 The fruit that it brings forth - 1286 00:53:29,718 --> 00:53:32,626 the fruit in this person's life 1287 00:53:32,626 --> 00:53:38,662 is really useless. 1288 00:53:38,662 --> 00:53:45,965 So, the question is this, 1289 00:53:45,965 --> 00:53:48,782 will you be honest with yourself? 1290 00:53:48,782 --> 00:53:52,694 Is the Word of God your light? 1291 00:53:52,694 --> 00:53:54,737 Your sustenance? Your love? 1292 00:53:54,737 --> 00:53:58,736 Your portal into the very mind of Christ? 1293 00:53:58,736 --> 00:54:00,245 Is that not what we're told? 1294 00:54:00,245 --> 00:54:03,586 We have the mind of Christ. 1295 00:54:03,586 --> 00:54:06,674 I can go into the recesses 1296 00:54:06,674 --> 00:54:10,363 of the mind of Christ in this book. 1297 00:54:10,363 --> 00:54:14,998 And the Spirit reveals and teaches me. 1298 00:54:14,998 --> 00:54:16,960 Brethren, is that what it is? 1299 00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:20,206 The window into the very glories of God? 1300 00:54:20,206 --> 00:54:23,525 The wicked are not so. 1301 00:54:23,525 --> 00:54:25,738 Let's be honest. 1302 00:54:25,738 --> 00:54:29,499 Be honest. 1303 00:54:29,499 --> 00:54:34,361 You say, wow, if I'm going to be honest, 1304 00:54:34,361 --> 00:54:36,155 I'm in the category of the wicked. 1305 00:54:36,155 --> 00:54:37,685 It makes me very uncomfortable. 1306 00:54:37,685 --> 00:54:39,202 I don't like that title. 1307 00:54:39,202 --> 00:54:40,905 But I don't know much how I can 1308 00:54:40,905 --> 00:54:43,377 put myself in this other camp. 1309 00:54:43,377 --> 00:54:45,545 How do I get to where 1310 00:54:45,545 --> 00:54:48,695 you're saying the blessed man is? 1311 00:54:48,695 --> 00:54:52,550 Notice v. 3. 1312 00:54:52,550 --> 00:54:57,482 "He is like a tree planted by streams of water." 1313 00:54:57,482 --> 00:54:59,064 Isn't that interesting 1314 00:54:59,064 --> 00:55:02,954 that God moves David 1315 00:55:02,954 --> 00:55:04,863 (incomplete thought); 1316 00:55:04,863 --> 00:55:08,432 We know that some trees - 1317 00:55:08,432 --> 00:55:11,299 a seed falls. 1318 00:55:11,299 --> 00:55:13,338 It germinates. 1319 00:55:13,338 --> 00:55:14,763 And you get a tree. 1320 00:55:14,763 --> 00:55:16,561 But you know what's interesting? 1321 00:55:16,561 --> 00:55:18,861 That's not the picture. 1322 00:55:18,861 --> 00:55:23,442 The picture is of a tree that gets planted. 1323 00:55:23,442 --> 00:55:27,460 I've planted a lot of trees. 1324 00:55:27,460 --> 00:55:30,482 Trees just don't end up there, 1325 00:55:30,482 --> 00:55:34,803 unless they get planted. 1326 00:55:34,803 --> 00:55:37,215 And a tree doesn't plant itself. 1327 00:55:37,215 --> 00:55:38,970 Someone puts it there. 1328 00:55:38,970 --> 00:55:44,093 And there's only one way that you get planted. 1329 00:55:44,093 --> 00:55:46,552 See, this is what I don't want to have happen. 1330 00:55:46,552 --> 00:55:48,579 Don't say to yourself 1331 00:55:48,579 --> 00:55:50,306 I'm not like that, 1332 00:55:50,306 --> 00:55:53,211 so I better get my act together 1333 00:55:53,211 --> 00:55:54,402 and get like that. 1334 00:55:54,402 --> 00:55:56,297 And so you know what I'm going to do? 1335 00:55:56,297 --> 00:55:57,618 I am going to go home 1336 00:55:57,618 --> 00:55:59,500 and even though I haven't been 1337 00:55:59,500 --> 00:56:00,559 in the Word much 1338 00:56:00,559 --> 00:56:02,335 and there's dust on the cover... 1339 00:56:02,335 --> 00:56:03,662 And Spurgeon said one place 1340 00:56:03,662 --> 00:56:06,657 many of you can write damnation 1341 00:56:06,657 --> 00:56:11,523 in the dust on your Bibles. 1342 00:56:11,523 --> 00:56:14,073 The way out of this is not to go home 1343 00:56:14,073 --> 00:56:16,443 and clean the dust off 1344 00:56:16,443 --> 00:56:20,242 and open it. 1345 00:56:20,242 --> 00:56:24,178 Reading Scripture is not how you get planted. 1346 00:56:24,178 --> 00:56:27,093 I'm not saying it's a bad thing. 1347 00:56:27,093 --> 00:56:31,691 You can find the Christ in these words. 1348 00:56:31,691 --> 00:56:35,540 Undoubtedly. 1349 00:56:35,540 --> 00:56:39,023 But brethren, the ticket here... 1350 00:56:39,023 --> 00:56:41,933 The path 1351 00:56:41,933 --> 00:56:42,899 is not to say, well, 1352 00:56:42,899 --> 00:56:44,913 I better start coming to church more. 1353 00:56:44,913 --> 00:56:46,711 Better get in the Word more. 1354 00:56:46,711 --> 00:56:49,271 I better start doing, doing, doing. 1355 00:56:49,271 --> 00:56:53,379 Don't say that to yourself. 1356 00:56:53,379 --> 00:56:55,114 Though I would really rather play 1357 00:56:55,114 --> 00:56:57,694 video games and watch movies 1358 00:56:57,694 --> 00:56:59,416 and spend endless hours on Facebook. 1359 00:56:59,416 --> 00:57:01,327 And though I'd rather hang out with my friends 1360 00:57:01,327 --> 00:57:02,835 and do a thousand other things. 1361 00:57:02,835 --> 00:57:04,693 I better force myself into the Bible. 1362 00:57:04,693 --> 00:57:07,208 Though I find it dull and lifeless, 1363 00:57:07,208 --> 00:57:13,219 for me - life, vigor, living it up... 1364 00:57:13,219 --> 00:57:15,046 it's watching the game. 1365 00:57:15,046 --> 00:57:16,994 It's in sports. 1366 00:57:16,994 --> 00:57:19,648 It's in freedom. 1367 00:57:19,648 --> 00:57:22,050 That's where it is. 1368 00:57:22,050 --> 00:57:23,691 Even though I really don't 1369 00:57:23,691 --> 00:57:27,006 have a love for the brethren. 1370 00:57:27,006 --> 00:57:28,131 I don't have a love for 1371 00:57:28,131 --> 00:57:29,183 the breaking of bread 1372 00:57:29,183 --> 00:57:31,020 and remembering Christ and what He did 1373 00:57:31,020 --> 00:57:32,171 and singing those songs. 1374 00:57:32,171 --> 00:57:34,147 I don't really have a love for all that. 1375 00:57:34,147 --> 00:57:35,888 I don't have a love for the apostle's doctrine 1376 00:57:35,888 --> 00:57:37,488 and for that preaching that goes on, 1377 00:57:37,488 --> 00:57:39,256 and for the Word, 1378 00:57:39,256 --> 00:57:41,575 and no love of prayer. 1379 00:57:41,575 --> 00:57:43,799 But I better get my act together 1380 00:57:43,799 --> 00:57:47,114 because I don't want to lose my soul. 1381 00:57:47,114 --> 00:57:49,341 Brethren, look, you don't need religion. 1382 00:57:49,341 --> 00:57:52,098 That's not how you get planted. 1383 00:57:52,098 --> 00:57:58,078 I think, "And can it be?" 1384 00:57:58,078 --> 00:57:59,446 You remember Charles Wesley? 1385 00:57:59,446 --> 00:58:00,163 John Wesley? 1386 00:58:00,163 --> 00:58:01,758 George Whitefield? 1387 00:58:01,758 --> 00:58:03,753 You remember where they were? 1388 00:58:03,753 --> 00:58:05,603 The holy club. 1389 00:58:05,603 --> 00:58:07,115 They gave their money. 1390 00:58:07,115 --> 00:58:12,100 They visited people in prison. 1391 00:58:12,100 --> 00:58:13,880 And you know what, in the end, 1392 00:58:13,880 --> 00:58:16,271 the Spirit of God convicted them all - 1393 00:58:16,271 --> 00:58:18,323 it was a hopeless path, 1394 00:58:18,323 --> 00:58:20,229 and they were helpless. 1395 00:58:20,229 --> 00:58:23,345 Religion is never the way. 1396 00:58:23,345 --> 00:58:26,202 We talked about Luther. 1397 00:58:26,202 --> 00:58:28,803 Blessednesses - Luther tried it. 1398 00:58:28,803 --> 00:58:30,260 Went to the monastery. 1399 00:58:30,260 --> 00:58:32,742 Religion never works. 1400 00:58:32,742 --> 00:58:35,172 That's not the ticket. 1401 00:58:35,172 --> 00:58:38,946 That's not how you get planted. 1402 00:58:38,946 --> 00:58:40,088 You say, how? Tell me. 1403 00:58:40,088 --> 00:58:41,181 Tell me. 1404 00:58:41,181 --> 00:58:43,656 The answer is this: 1405 00:58:43,656 --> 00:58:46,213 it's found in John 3:3. 1406 00:58:46,213 --> 00:58:48,695 It's, "Truly, truly, I say to you, 1407 00:58:48,695 --> 00:58:50,351 unless one is born again, 1408 00:58:50,351 --> 00:58:55,239 he cannot see the Kingdom of God." 1409 00:58:55,239 --> 00:58:58,562 Yeah, but you didn't tell me anything to do. 1410 00:58:58,562 --> 00:59:01,134 Again, you're just stating the fact. 1411 00:59:01,134 --> 00:59:02,839 What does this look like? 1412 00:59:02,839 --> 00:59:07,666 Brethren, here's what it looks like. 1413 00:59:07,666 --> 00:59:15,350 Jesus said - same discourse - 1414 00:59:15,350 --> 00:59:18,190 When the Spirit comes, 1415 00:59:18,190 --> 00:59:22,936 He is going to convict men of sin, 1416 00:59:22,936 --> 00:59:25,138 of righteousness, 1417 00:59:25,138 --> 00:59:27,556 of judgment. 1418 00:59:27,556 --> 00:59:30,668 And you know what happens? 1419 00:59:30,668 --> 00:59:33,181 God plants us. 1420 00:59:33,181 --> 00:59:37,078 And you know what happens? 1421 00:59:37,078 --> 00:59:41,079 Sin. Something begins to happen, 1422 00:59:41,079 --> 00:59:43,855 and the Spirit causes it to happen. 1423 00:59:43,855 --> 00:59:44,844 You think about it. 1424 00:59:44,844 --> 00:59:45,882 Conviction. 1425 00:59:45,882 --> 00:59:47,074 Where does that happen? 1426 00:59:47,074 --> 00:59:48,479 You might say the conscience. 1427 00:59:48,479 --> 00:59:49,797 But it happens in the mind. 1428 00:59:49,797 --> 00:59:51,973 The Spirit begins to cause us 1429 00:59:51,973 --> 00:59:53,357 to think different. 1430 00:59:53,357 --> 01:00:00,642 Suddenly, sin... sin! 1431 01:00:00,642 --> 01:00:02,878 And maybe at first, you're even agitated. 1432 01:00:02,878 --> 01:00:04,562 That was what was true with me. 1433 01:00:04,562 --> 01:00:05,932 Not that I'm the standard, 1434 01:00:05,932 --> 01:00:07,836 but I remember in the very beginning, 1435 01:00:07,836 --> 01:00:11,191 this emptiness; this hollowness. 1436 01:00:11,191 --> 01:00:13,222 And I just wanted Him to leave me alone. 1437 01:00:13,222 --> 01:00:15,165 God, leave me alone 1438 01:00:15,165 --> 01:00:17,385 and let me go back and enjoy... 1439 01:00:17,385 --> 01:00:19,967 and much like Pilgrim in Pilgrim's Progress, 1440 01:00:19,967 --> 01:00:21,379 you get worldly wise men. 1441 01:00:21,379 --> 01:00:22,510 Go try religion. 1442 01:00:22,510 --> 01:00:23,786 And that's where he went. 1443 01:00:23,786 --> 01:00:25,522 He went hiking up there. 1444 01:00:25,522 --> 01:00:29,864 Sometimes we get upset. 1445 01:00:29,864 --> 01:00:32,275 But brethren, I remember clearly 1446 01:00:32,275 --> 01:00:35,504 the night the Spirit of God showed me 1447 01:00:35,504 --> 01:00:37,673 my sin was wicked and I deserved hell, 1448 01:00:37,673 --> 01:00:39,365 and if God didn't put me there - 1449 01:00:39,365 --> 01:00:41,729 and you see, that's the conviction that comes. 1450 01:00:41,729 --> 01:00:43,756 We start to feel this weight of sin. 1451 01:00:43,756 --> 01:00:46,993 Salvation has to do with sin. 1452 01:00:46,993 --> 01:00:48,902 And Jesus said that He did not 1453 01:00:48,902 --> 01:00:50,257 come for the well. 1454 01:00:50,257 --> 01:00:52,357 And it is not until we're unwell - 1455 01:00:52,357 --> 01:00:54,682 and it's the Spirit of God who causes 1456 01:00:54,682 --> 01:00:55,783 that to happen. 1457 01:00:55,783 --> 01:00:57,345 Not just to freak out 1458 01:00:57,345 --> 01:00:59,209 because we happen to hear a message 1459 01:00:59,209 --> 01:01:02,553 and it says I must be one of the wicked. 1460 01:01:02,553 --> 01:01:05,286 Brethren, it's when you want your sin 1461 01:01:05,286 --> 01:01:06,434 dealt with. 1462 01:01:06,434 --> 01:01:10,872 It's the Spirit of God causing something to happen; 1463 01:01:10,872 --> 01:01:14,250 beginning to disturb us. 1464 01:01:14,250 --> 01:01:16,719 Sin becomes disturbing. 1465 01:01:16,719 --> 01:01:20,057 We can't just coddle with it anymore. 1466 01:01:20,057 --> 01:01:21,659 Something is happening. 1467 01:01:21,659 --> 01:01:22,950 Something begins to happen. 1468 01:01:22,950 --> 01:01:23,870 And maybe at first, 1469 01:01:23,870 --> 01:01:26,088 you don't know that it's God that's doing it. 1470 01:01:26,088 --> 01:01:27,959 But something begins to happen to you. 1471 01:01:27,959 --> 01:01:29,413 And something that never happened before. 1472 01:01:29,413 --> 01:01:31,631 Something that hasn't happened like this before. 1473 01:01:31,631 --> 01:01:33,394 And then, righteousness... 1474 01:01:33,394 --> 01:01:38,748 there's this desparate sense - 1475 01:01:38,748 --> 01:01:40,954 this in itself isn't salvation, 1476 01:01:40,954 --> 01:01:42,147 because I have a feeling 1477 01:01:42,147 --> 01:01:43,769 the rich, young ruler felt this. 1478 01:01:43,769 --> 01:01:47,139 But you begin to get this sense: 1479 01:01:47,139 --> 01:01:49,466 something's missing. 1480 01:01:49,466 --> 01:01:52,077 I need more than I have 1481 01:01:52,077 --> 01:01:54,096 to get right with God. 1482 01:01:54,096 --> 01:01:56,282 Do we know that religion isn't doing it? 1483 01:01:56,282 --> 01:01:58,904 You see, that's what the Wesley's and Whitefield were trying. 1484 01:01:58,904 --> 01:01:59,872 This holy club. 1485 01:01:59,872 --> 01:02:02,219 They were trying to do all their stuff. 1486 01:02:02,219 --> 01:02:04,790 But John Wesley looked at those Moravians, 1487 01:02:04,790 --> 01:02:08,565 and he said, I'm missing something. 1488 01:02:08,565 --> 01:02:10,729 Something isn't there. 1489 01:02:10,729 --> 01:02:13,689 You see, the Spirit convicts of sin, 1490 01:02:13,689 --> 01:02:15,369 and righteousness - or a lack 1491 01:02:15,369 --> 01:02:16,526 of our righteousness. 1492 01:02:16,526 --> 01:02:18,352 The fact we need more than we have. 1493 01:02:18,352 --> 01:02:20,197 The fact we need something. 1494 01:02:20,197 --> 01:02:22,700 And then judgment. 1495 01:02:22,700 --> 01:02:24,629 I'm not ready to stand before God. 1496 01:02:24,629 --> 01:02:25,957 I'm not ready for this. 1497 01:02:25,957 --> 01:02:26,837 I'm not ready. 1498 01:02:26,837 --> 01:02:29,012 And then something is happening in the soul. 1499 01:02:29,012 --> 01:02:31,124 Brethren, it doesn't always look identical 1500 01:02:31,124 --> 01:02:31,974 in everybody, 1501 01:02:31,974 --> 01:02:33,352 but that's what Christ said 1502 01:02:33,352 --> 01:02:34,983 that the Spirit of God would do. 1503 01:02:34,983 --> 01:02:36,275 And that's what happens. 1504 01:02:36,275 --> 01:02:38,649 When people are being born again, 1505 01:02:38,649 --> 01:02:41,144 the Spirit of God is doing something 1506 01:02:41,144 --> 01:02:42,274 in the heart of men 1507 01:02:42,274 --> 01:02:44,732 concerning sin and righteousness 1508 01:02:44,732 --> 01:02:45,741 and judgment. 1509 01:02:45,741 --> 01:02:47,278 And then you know what happens. 1510 01:02:47,278 --> 01:02:51,366 He came to exalt Christ. 1511 01:02:51,366 --> 01:02:53,654 And there, in our despair, 1512 01:02:53,654 --> 01:02:56,139 is all the crutches, and all the counsels, 1513 01:02:56,139 --> 01:02:57,942 and all the things we rested on, 1514 01:02:57,942 --> 01:02:59,073 and all our hopes 1515 01:02:59,073 --> 01:03:01,785 and all that we put our stock in. 1516 01:03:01,785 --> 01:03:04,408 It's just crumbling away 1517 01:03:04,408 --> 01:03:08,042 and we can't find... 1518 01:03:08,042 --> 01:03:10,203 I need something else. 1519 01:03:10,203 --> 01:03:11,732 And sometimes the Spirit of God 1520 01:03:11,732 --> 01:03:12,962 lets people get to 1521 01:03:12,962 --> 01:03:16,321 an amazing place of despair. 1522 01:03:16,321 --> 01:03:19,618 But look, it doesn't matter how much. 1523 01:03:19,618 --> 01:03:22,797 That's not the issue. 1524 01:03:22,797 --> 01:03:26,881 The issue is that then 1525 01:03:26,881 --> 01:03:31,522 the Spirit causes the scales to fall off. 1526 01:03:31,522 --> 01:03:33,127 That's what happened to Paul. 1527 01:03:33,127 --> 01:03:34,696 The scales fell off. 1528 01:03:34,696 --> 01:03:36,656 Of you've got it in 2 Corinthians, 1529 01:03:36,656 --> 01:03:42,764 it's like the veil is pulled back. 1530 01:03:42,764 --> 01:03:45,062 And just like God said in the beginning, 1531 01:03:45,062 --> 01:03:48,002 let there be light. 1532 01:03:48,002 --> 01:03:50,529 He shows us this glorious light 1533 01:03:50,529 --> 01:03:53,288 in the very face of Jesus Christ. 1534 01:03:53,288 --> 01:03:56,245 And you know what begins to happen? 1535 01:03:56,245 --> 01:03:59,757 We hear this message of salvation 1536 01:03:59,757 --> 01:04:02,721 and the Spirit speaks to us. 1537 01:04:02,721 --> 01:04:04,564 It's for you. 1538 01:04:04,564 --> 01:04:07,270 It's for you. 1539 01:04:07,270 --> 01:04:12,983 It's relevant to you. 1540 01:04:12,983 --> 01:04:16,516 This crucified Christ. 1541 01:04:16,516 --> 01:04:17,643 And we see that. 1542 01:04:17,643 --> 01:04:19,947 We see that this message is for us. 1543 01:04:19,947 --> 01:04:22,596 We hear those life-giving words. 1544 01:04:22,596 --> 01:04:26,973 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 1545 01:04:26,973 --> 01:04:30,671 and you will be saved. 1546 01:04:30,671 --> 01:04:32,233 And like that lady, 1547 01:04:32,233 --> 01:04:34,300 we become convinced, 1548 01:04:34,300 --> 01:04:37,261 if I can just touch the hem of His garment, 1549 01:04:37,261 --> 01:04:40,531 I'll be healed. 1550 01:04:40,531 --> 01:04:43,589 Brethren, that's what happens. 1551 01:04:43,589 --> 01:04:47,595 We accept the truth. 1552 01:04:47,595 --> 01:04:49,944 You accept the truth 1553 01:04:49,944 --> 01:04:52,363 that Christ Jesus came into the world 1554 01:04:52,363 --> 01:04:55,175 to die for sinners. 1555 01:04:55,175 --> 01:04:59,900 And that is music to your ears. 1556 01:04:59,900 --> 01:05:00,959 That there is a way; 1557 01:05:00,959 --> 01:05:01,967 there is a remedy; 1558 01:05:01,967 --> 01:05:03,091 there is a Doctor; 1559 01:05:03,091 --> 01:05:06,637 there is a way to be healed. 1560 01:05:06,637 --> 01:05:11,378 You believe that truth for you. 1561 01:05:11,378 --> 01:05:15,863 And you will come to look up and recognize 1562 01:05:15,863 --> 01:05:18,124 God has planted me 1563 01:05:18,124 --> 01:05:20,444 beside these waters 1564 01:05:20,444 --> 01:05:23,021 and I long after that book 1565 01:05:23,021 --> 01:05:25,441 and for the truths and the promises in it 1566 01:05:25,441 --> 01:05:31,309 and the Word of Christ. 1567 01:05:31,309 --> 01:05:38,481 Brethren, it's not a psalm of commandments. 1568 01:05:38,481 --> 01:05:41,237 It's a psalm that says it like it is. 1569 01:05:41,237 --> 01:05:48,334 The Word of God shows us who we are. 1570 01:05:48,334 --> 01:05:50,414 Father, I pray 1571 01:05:50,414 --> 01:05:56,194 this message would go deep into the hearts. 1572 01:05:56,194 --> 01:05:58,831 Lord, if there are imperatives 1573 01:05:58,831 --> 01:06:00,996 and responsibilities and instruction 1574 01:06:00,996 --> 01:06:02,544 for us to take practically 1575 01:06:02,544 --> 01:06:04,101 to apply to our lives. 1576 01:06:04,101 --> 01:06:05,663 Then may it be taken 1577 01:06:05,663 --> 01:06:06,979 and may it be practiced 1578 01:06:06,979 --> 01:06:09,020 and may it be applied. 1579 01:06:09,020 --> 01:06:11,357 But Lord, I pray that this Word 1580 01:06:11,357 --> 01:06:12,893 would be what it seems like 1581 01:06:12,893 --> 01:06:15,214 You intended it to be. 1582 01:06:15,214 --> 01:06:22,215 A light to shine and expose and reveal 1583 01:06:22,215 --> 01:06:24,628 the very character of every one of us 1584 01:06:24,628 --> 01:06:26,670 in this room. 1585 01:06:26,670 --> 01:06:28,954 And I pray that it would have that effect. 1586 01:06:28,954 --> 01:06:31,301 I pray it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1587 01:06:31,301 --> 01:06:33,288 Amen.