[0:00] If you'll please open your Bibles to Psalm 1. We're continuing our series, short, brief series, but our series in the book of Psalms.
[0:18] At least some selection of the Psalms and developing a Christian worldview. So let's read together Psalm 1. Verse 1.
[1:00] Let's pray together.
[1:24] Oh Lord, we again ask for your Spirit's help as your Word is open to us. That we might rightly understand this contrast that's made in the passage.
[1:37] That we might learn how we should live. That we might be counted among the righteous. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. As I said in this brief series that we're looking at in the book of Psalms is focused on how do we think and live and view the world around us.
[1:55] How should we view God? How should we view the world? How do we view ourselves? And so we're working through those things. And we've acknowledged that one reason we want to do this is because these are difficult times that we're living in.
[2:06] And I read some about that in a previous sermon. And in these difficult times we need to hear God's Word. It's not to say that these times are more difficult than others.
[2:17] They're just different. Right? We know that there's been difficult times throughout human history. Probably times far worse than what we're facing. But it seems that now is a good time to be reminded of what God's Word says.
[2:28] And how it teaches us how we should live in such a world as the one we're living in. So last time Paul Thompson took us to Psalm 14.
[2:39] And we consider the fool who denies God's existence. Or the one who lives as though God doesn't exist. And so that's what we looked at last time.
[2:51] And really there are ways even believers can foolishly go about their lives and live their lives as though God doesn't exist. Practical atheists we sometimes call it. We affirm that there's a God.
[3:02] But sometimes don't we live our lives not mindful of God. Giving thought to how God changes the things that we're facing. And then you may remember in our first two messages we looked at Psalm 2.
[3:14] I told you I kind of reversed the order. We went to Psalm 2. We'll come back to Psalm 1 as we are today. And there we saw that like all times in human history, unbelievers are opposing God's rule today.
[3:26] And they're seeking to throw it off. Because they find God's rule oppressive. If I have to obey God, then I can't do whatever I want to do.
[3:37] And the reality is that those who are unbelievers are declaring what's right to be wrong and what's wrong to be right. And that's not just a commentary on what we see in the world this week, right?
[3:52] Psalm 2 tells us this. This is the nature of what it means to be apart from God. That we delight in what's wrong and we oppose what's right.
[4:04] And so we concluded that likewise, that means they're going to oppose those who bear the name of God. If they're in opposition to God, then if you bear his name, they're going to oppose you as well.
[4:15] But remember, we also saw that God's not threatened by this opposition. God's not afraid. Rather, remember, he laughs at it. It's humorous that puny men would oppose a holy God.
[4:31] And he answers their opposition by seating Jesus on the throne to reign as Lord of Lord, King of Kings over all the earth. So our hope now, and this is important, our hope now, like all times in human history, is what?
[4:48] It's in God. It's in his sovereign power. It's in Christ who's reigning on the throne. And so we saw Psalm 2 concludes, blessed are all who take refuge in Christ.
[5:02] And so that kind of summarizes how far we've gotten with our worldview so far. Blessed are those who take refuge in Christ. And so our hope, remember our knowledge is, the world's going to oppose God and those who follow God.
[5:18] And that the fool says that there's no God and lives as though there's no God. But we don't want to be like that. We don't want to live as though there's no God. So what do we do instead? We take refuge in Christ. And that's the blessed state.
[5:31] And so now I want us to go back and look at Psalm 1 with that foundation. The foundation, again, we're encouraged to trust our sovereign God, to take refuge in Christ, and to live by God's existence.
[5:45] That's what dictates and shapes how we live. And now I want us to go back and look at Psalm 1, where we see the wicked and the righteous contrasted in a way that's very similar to the book of Proverbs.
[5:58] If you've read the Proverbs, you're familiar with wisdom and folly being compared. We see something similar here in Psalm 1. And I think here in Psalm 1 we can further learn how God's people ought to live in such a world.
[6:11] So there are three points I want to look at. First is the fate of the wicked. Secondly, the life of the righteous. And third, the state of the righteous.
[6:21] So the fate of the wicked, the life of the righteous, the state of the righteous. First, the fate of the wicked in verses 4 through 6. You can look there with me again. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff, that the wind drives away.
[6:35] Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners of the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Now, I'm starting with the end of the psalm because it ties together nicely with what we've already seen in Psalm 2.
[6:54] Why do the nations rage? Who are the nations that are raging? It's the same who are the wicked here in Psalm 1. And again, I've gone kind of in reverse order. We're looking at it backwards. But it's good for us to start in this part because it ties together so nicely with all we've seen in Psalm 2.
[7:10] And really, it's the bridge to the first part of Psalm 2. Plus, that means, starting here means, I save the good news for last. Which I like to do in sermons anyway. So we'll start with the wicked and then move to the life of the righteous and end on a positive note.
[7:25] So in a little bit, we're going to see that the righteous are planted. While the wicked here are compared, it says that they are like chaff that the wind drives away. Now, my guess is that most of you have a fair concept of what chaff is.
[7:40] I'll explain that. I know we're not, most of us, farmers today. And we probably don't, a lot of us have an experiential knowledge of chaff. But the chaff is the husk of grain, like wheat.
[7:54] So I don't know if you've ever done this. But if you have wheat that's still in the husk, you can rub it together in your hand. And if you have a sheet down under you, you can kind of throw it up in the air. And the wind will blow away the chaff.
[8:06] It's just that very paper thin, thinner than paper even, husk that blows away. And the wheat falls to the ground. That was one way that you would harvest wheat. And so that's the picture that's being presented. We know now we have more advanced harvesters.
[8:18] We have machines that crush it. And then they have fans that blow it. And they're blowing the chaff off. And the grain's dropping down. And so maybe some of you have seen even a more advanced machinery. But you can get the idea of what's being compared here.
[8:31] The chaff is the waste. It's what you don't want. It's inedible. It's the part that's not going to be food for people. And again, it's blown away by the wind.
[8:45] And so we're told here in the psalm that this is what the wicked are like. They're like the chaff that's blown away. What do we mean by this? Or what does the psalmist mean by this? Well, I think what he's saying is they have nothing that holds them in place.
[8:59] There's no firm foundation for them. They're blown away by everything and everyone. Now, we see this in two ways. Here, even in the passage, I think one way we see this is in terms of the false teachings that may come along.
[9:22] And so when we see that the wicked are like chaff that are blown away, we could say even by every false teaching, everything that comes along, there's nothing to hold them in place. And think about what we talked about already.
[9:33] The age in which we live in, the major concept that we're maybe coming out of but still dealing with is post-modernity. And the premise there was there's no absolute truth.
[9:45] And so the foundation's been, it's gone. Without absolute truth to plant yourself in, then what determines what makes a man a man and a woman a woman?
[9:58] We've lost even that. And so these false teachings come along and it's blown away. And so I see it there. To me, here's an example of how we've been talking about equipping in the life of the church and how equipping addresses this.
[10:12] Listen to Ephesians 4, 12 through 14. To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.
[10:41] So help us to understand this maybe by contrasting this with what we see there. What does equipping do? What is the goal of discipleship? That we may reach mature manhood, the full stature of Christ, spiritual manhood.
[10:58] Why? Well, it says so that we will no longer be like children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.
[11:09] So what does immaturity look like? You believe whatever. You're carried off into these deceitful schemes. There's no firm foundation that holds you steady when false teaching comes along.
[11:22] And so the goal with discipleship and equipping is that you can reach maturity, that your roots might be deep and firmly planted, so you're not blown away by all these false teachers and the craftiness, the schemes of men.
[11:34] Now, again, we're talking about the wicked here would be even those outside the church. But there's no foundation whatsoever. And so when these false teachings come along, they scarf it up.
[11:45] They're easily blown away. So if it's true for immature believers, how much more true is it for the wicked? They have no foundation of truth to hold them steady in controversy or false teaching.
[11:57] Likewise, we understand that in God's Word that chaff is symbolic of judgment. Matthew 3.12, John the Baptist quoted Isaiah and Malachi, who both said, His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
[12:21] And so the chaff is to be consumed, not in eating but in fire. It's to be disposed of. And so we have at least those three places that it's compared to the final judgment. And I think likewise we see that here in this passage.
[12:36] Verse 5. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment. The wicked won't stand in the judgment. They will be like chaff. So again, we're going to contrast in a second, but the righteous that are firmly planted.
[12:50] When the judgment comes, so it's not just the false teaching, but when God's judgment falls, there's nothing that's going to hold them steady in the face of God's judgment. They're going to be consumed, blown away, burned up by God's righteous fire.
[13:11] So they're not just blown away by false teaching. They're also blown away by the judgment itself. And stated plainly to say that in the judgment, they're going to be eternally damned.
[13:22] That's what's being proclaimed to us here in Psalm 1. If we are not firmly planted in God's word, then we will have nothing to stand in in the day of judgment. So the wicked have nothing to hold them in that day of judgment.
[13:35] The Lord does not savingly know them. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. God's omniscient. It's not saying He doesn't know the way in terms of the path that they walk or where they go or know them personally.
[13:51] He knows all things. But He doesn't have that saving relationship with them. And so therefore, they're consumed. They will not stand with the congregation of the righteous.
[14:03] Again, I think in the judgment, I don't think He's speaking of just they won't present themselves at church. He's saying in the day of judgment, the righteous will stand, but they will not stand with them.
[14:15] Maybe another way of saying this is they will not be in the new earth and the new heavens. When God recreates His world and those who are His dwell with Him forever, they won't be there.
[14:26] They won't be counted among those people. Now that is then contrasted with the life of the righteous. Let's look at verses 1 and 2.
[14:40] Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law He meditates day and night.
[14:56] So interestingly enough, the psalm begins with what the righteous man doesn't do. What does he not do? Well, he doesn't listen to the wicked, he doesn't follow their counsel, and he doesn't join them in their ways.
[15:09] I think that's a good summary of what we see there in that first verse. He doesn't listen to the wicked, he doesn't follow their counsel, or join them in their ways.
[15:21] Some of you have probably seen before, but there's a clear progression in verse 1. From walking, to standing, to sitting. So you can even imagine, I thought maybe a good analogy of this might be pilgrim's progress.
[15:35] You think of the pilgrim who's making his way to the heavenly city, to the new Jerusalem. He's progressing. And it begins where he starts walking with the wicked, then he stands with them, and then ultimately he sits.
[15:49] Is he going to make it to the finish line? Right? Is he making it to the new Jerusalem? And so you see a progression of stagnation, let's call it, where he's more and more, he's becoming more passive, less active, in his following of the Lord.
[16:08] So a progression from walking, to standing, to sitting. It begins by listening, and heeding the counsel of the wicked. Who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.
[16:24] What's guiding him, what he's listening to, is not the counsel of the wicked. So let me paint this in today's picture. And that may mean stepping on some toes.
[16:34] But what is God's word telling us today? I think it means we're not listening to the world and our culture. We are in the world. We know we're in the world. And there are ways in which we have to interact with the world around us.
[16:48] And there are good ways of doing that. I think we see even positive examples of Paul, at Mars Hill, quoting pagan philosophers. Right? There's room for some of this.
[17:00] But, guys, let's be honest. Aren't there ways in which probably all of us in this room, have given an open door, to listen to the world around us, and our culture, in ways we never should have. And so we're being warned, not to listen to the wicked.
[17:17] What does that look like? Well, I think it means, we turn off the media. We be careful how we use social media. I'm not declaring that Facebook's inherently evil.
[17:32] But there are good and wrong ways to use it. I think there are positive ways that we can communicate the truth of God's word. There are also ways we can absentmindedly surf it and read the counsel of the wicked.
[17:45] We can listen to it. Because our friends are sharing it. In general, I think it's calling us to watch out about what we watch, what we set before our eyes and what we read, what we listen to.
[18:01] We need to be far more mindful of that than we are. So the counsel of the wicked is all around you, and the righteous man doesn't listen to it.
[18:12] He avoids it. And so, as we begin, even thinking of this Christian worldview, we're not giving an open door to the counsel of the wicked in our hearts, in our minds.
[18:24] There's no room for that. And then next, we see, after listening to it, they join the sinners in their way. They stand.
[18:37] It says, nor stands in the way of sinners. So, I think there's this progression. You start off listening to the counsel of the wicked, then you begin to live like they do.
[18:48] You begin to believe that evil is good and good is evil. You buy into the lies that they're telling you. Maybe you even begin to justify your sin with their arguments.
[19:00] They've said it's okay. Instead of going to the Bible to determine if it's right for you to do this or not, you listen to the counsel of the wicked. You live your life by that. Then finally, you reach the stagnant state of joining them in their scoffing.
[19:16] You argue the things that they do because your thinking has been influenced by their arguments and their lifestyles. I think ultimately it's saying you become the wicked. You begin by listening to the wicked.
[19:28] You begin acting like the wicked. Ultimately, you end up like the wicked. You are the wicked. You sit in the seat of scoffers. You do what they do. Even this idea of scoffing, you begin to ridicule.
[19:39] I think those who stand for what's true and what's right, you become critical. You become critical. Derek Kidner, one commentator, he describes these three in terms of mindset, behavior, belonging.
[19:56] It begins with buying into their mindset. Then it goes on to behaving like they do and ultimately to belonging with them, to them. So in summary, the righteous or the blessed man, he doesn't listen to the wicked.
[20:12] He doesn't follow their counsel. He doesn't join them in their ways. He is set apart from the evil of this world and from the wicked.
[20:22] I think a way of saying this is the blessed man is countercultural. And I know there have been some blessed periods in human history where there's been some nations that have stood for what's right and what's good for a time.
[20:37] But I think the summary that we see in God's word is that the blessed man is a countercultural man. He stands in opposition to a wicked culture. Or again in God's words, Romans 12, 2.
[20:55] Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
[21:09] So do not be conformed to this world. You're standing in opposition to the world. You're not conforming to them. It's that against the flow mindset. The world around us is going one way, but we're standing for what's true and what's good, what's acceptable and perfect in God's word.
[21:26] So that's what he doesn't do. Now what does he do instead? Well, we see in verse 2, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law he meditates day and night.
[21:36] That is what Romans 12, 2 means when it says to renew your mind. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
[21:48] It's God's word that transforms and renews our mind. And so you see this, if we go back to our parallelism, even though it's not a direct parallel, since there's a repetition of three here, but we have an antithetical parallelism.
[22:03] It's an opposite of what's being stated already. What we've seen, the negative is, you listen to the wicked, you begin acting like them, you join them. The contrast is, rather than that, what do we listen to?
[22:18] What does the blessed man, the righteous man listen to? His delight is in the law of the Lord. Let me just make clear, because maybe it's confusing, law of the Lord doesn't mean he meditates solely on the Ten Commandments.
[22:31] The law of the Lord just means the scriptures, God's word, what he's given to us as his word. And so the contrast is, the wicked listen to the world around them, they begin to act like them, they join them in their ways.
[22:43] And I want to argue that this is an inevitable progression. If you let the world in, the more you let them in, the more you're going to begin thinking like them. By contrast, the righteous man meditates, instead of listening to that, what does he listen to?
[22:56] The word of God. It's God's word that he meditates upon. And it says, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
[23:09] Now, day and night may be literal. He may say that he has time, that he spends in God's word in the morning, and in the evening. And if so, that's a good message. It's the bookends of the day.
[23:20] We begin the day, and we end the day with God's word, and everything in between is meant to be permeated by God's word. I think it's a beautiful picture. I think it can also mean that he is continuously throughout the day, both in the morning and in the evening, he's in God's word.
[23:36] He's delighting God's word. He is totally immersed in the word of God. He's immersed in the Bible. That's what guides him. That's what dictates how he lives and how he thinks.
[23:47] That's where he goes for counsel. It's not to the world. He goes to God's word. And so whether it be literal or not, the reality is, he is continuously feeding his mind with the word of God, with the Bible.
[24:01] And I think this is more than just mindless reading, right? Maybe some of you are looking at this and saying, yeah, I could check that off. I'll read my Bible. I'll read a chapter in the morning.
[24:11] I'll read a chapter in the evening, and just check that off the list. And that's not what it's saying, is it? He doesn't just read it. He meditates on the word of God. It's a careful study, as if your life depended upon it, because spiritually and eternally it does.
[24:34] And it's his meditating upon the word that keeps him firmly planted when the lies of the wicked come, when those who would oppose, when the counsel of the wicked is inevitably heard around you.
[24:46] It's the word of God that keeps that righteous man planted, that he's not led astray by that. He's not deceived. Why? What's the soil that he's got his roots in?
[24:57] It's the Bible. He knows God's word. And so he knows how to respond in various situations in his life. And so this is really God's answer for us.
[25:10] When we wonder how we should live today, here's the answer. Meditate on the word of God. Let that be your delight.
[25:21] Even consider what it means for it to be your delight. We're not, again, just begrudgingly reading God's word. We find joy in the word of God. It's more pleasurable for us than surfing Facebook or watching the news or even the movies.
[25:40] And so I had prepared a series of questions and applications. Then I read something online that I'll share with you in a second. But my questions were this.
[25:51] Do you spend more time reading and watching the news than you do meditating on the word of God? Do you spend more time on social media than you do meditating on the word of God?
[26:04] Do you spend more time searching the internet than you do meditating on the word of God? Do you spend more time being entertained than you do meditating on the word of God?
[26:16] Do you spend more time listening to the counsel of the wicked than you do meditating on the word of God? I think if our answer is yes to any of those questions, it's no wonder that the church today is struggling and that Christians are frightened at such a time.
[26:32] Because we've fed ourselves on everything that the world gives us and it ought not surprise us that we respond in the same way the world does. We're blown away because we haven't been planted in the word of God.
[26:43] We've neglected the foundation and so we've joined the chaff and been blown every which way. Now, I read this week from the G3 conference, you guys may be aware of that, down in Atlanta this week, Paul Washer said something almost identical.
[26:57] I think he challenged it in a positive way. He said, I want to challenge you over the next week to spend more time in prayer than you do, was it watching television or something like that, he said.
[27:12] Screen time. Screen time was the word he used. And I think that's a good summary of all I've said. Do we spend more time on the screen than we do reading God's word or that we do praying?
[27:23] And so he challenged him. I want to extend that challenge to you, applying it specifically to what we see in Psalm 1. Prayer is great. I hope you're doing that more too. But maybe over the next week, spend the next week more time in God's word than you do on your screen.
[27:40] Whatever that may be. That includes watching TV, surfing the internet, Facebook, listening or watching the news. And see how that changes your world view.
[27:54] How we view everything that's going on in the world around us. How we might be more firmly planted in the truth of God's word. Which that really leads me to our third and final point, the state of the righteous.
[28:08] Look at the state of the righteous from verse 3. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
[28:20] Now, I've already alluded to this in many ways, but he's like a tree planted by streams of water. Maybe some of you guys have noticed. Maybe some of you never pay attention to this.
[28:33] But on our bulletin, we always have a theme. So, this time it's the Psalms, a world view from the Psalms. And we have a picture that tries to communicate that theme the best we can with one picture.
[28:44] And so, my picture for the whole series has been a tree planted next to water. Now, it's not a fruit-bearing tree. Look, I could only go so far with my pictures and what I could find, okay? But, I really think this is that foundation.
[28:58] I'll tell you Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 really set up all the Psalms. They're the introduction to the book of Psalms. And to me, this is that foundational truth. The righteous man is planted in the Word of God.
[29:13] And so, I've said already, the Bible is that Word, that soil that he's planted in. And likewise, he's fed, I think again, maybe if I carry the analogy too far, the water as well.
[29:23] It's feeding him. He's nourished by God's Word. And there's this obvious contrast to he is planted, contrasted with chaff.
[29:35] It's blown away. There's no home, no foundation, no root. His foundation is sure so that he is not blown away by the judgment nor is he misled by the wicked.
[29:48] This is that mature man of Ephesians 4 that I pointed you to earlier. Reaching to the Lord the stature of Jesus Christ. Conformed to his image. Maybe another way of saying this, you know how we sometimes tell kids you are what you eat?
[30:04] Right? The same thing is true for us spiritually. You are what you take in. If we're struggling in ways that the world's struggling, we ought not be surprised if we're feeding on the same things the world's feeding on.
[30:16] But if we're feeding on the word of God, we ought to be firmly planted in that truth so we're not blown away. If you listen to the wicked, you become like them, you join them.
[30:27] If you meditate on the word of God, you become like Christ is what it tells us. And you're firmly planted in God's truth. And it talks about by streams of water that are resulting in producing fruit and not withering but rather prospering.
[30:47] I've said already, I think the streams of water is the soil. Maybe some of you guys do gardening, either plants, excuse me, either vegetables or flowers.
[30:59] You guys know I've done a vegetable garden. It was neglected this year. I tried doing some flowers. And it doesn't take long to not water a potted flower for it to wither as we quickly learned.
[31:12] You know, you go away two days and you come back and those things, they look completely dead. Typically, at least my vegetable garden, rain somehow, I mean, it stays in the soil but potted stuff, that's the comparison here.
[31:29] A tree planted next to water even in a drought, it's pulling from that river. When there's no rain, it still has a source to feed it so it doesn't wither. By contrast, my petunias, are they petunias?
[31:43] My petunias, were not planted next to the river. And it doesn't take long, a day or two, to go without that water that it withers. And again, consider that truth for us spiritually.
[31:57] I don't know all your routines but I feel that I can comfortably say that there are some of you who no doubt get fed spiritually once a week.
[32:10] This is it. You depend upon Sunday and then you go the rest of the week without feeding yourself and you wonder why spiritually you're withering. Guys, you cannot depend just upon me or the elders or this church.
[32:24] we have to be feeding ourselves with the word of God meditating on it day and night that it would be that water for us and that soil that keeps us planted and keeps us from withering. I even see a connection of course I do.
[32:39] I'm working on my project with Union with Christ and I see a real connection to the doctrine of Union with Christ and what we see Jesus' words in John 15 verses 1-11 I know that's a longer passage but I want to read that to you.
[32:52] It's the parable of the vine Jesus says I am the true vine and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit.
[33:09] Already you are clean because of the words that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me.
[33:21] I am the vine you are the branches whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing.
[33:34] If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.
[33:51] By this my fathers glorify that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the fathers loved me so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.
[34:08] These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. So Jesus' desire is that our joy would be full. Which I think corresponds nicely with all that he does prospers there in verse 3.
[34:26] I don't think he is saying necessarily that we are successful in all our business endeavors because we are righteous people. But we know the joy of the Lord. But where does that come from?
[34:38] Well again we have this analogy of the vine and it is here Christ which we encounter and we commune with in the word of God. And so if I want to paint a full New Testament cumulative picture the righteous man is the man who meditates on the word of God who communes with and lives out of union with Christ.
[34:55] He abides in the love that Christ has for him. And so he prospers. He knows joy. Regardless of the circumstances around him.
[35:09] Regardless of what the world looks like and what the culture has to say and how much opposition there is to Christ and to the Christian even if it means he is being martyred. There is joy.
[35:24] He can sing hymns of praise to his Lord right before they chop his head off. He knows joy. Why? Because his delight is in the law of the Lord and he meditates one day and night.
[35:36] So the ones who do not produce fruit are thrown away in this analogy as well.
[35:48] Into the fire they wither and they burn in the fires of hell. And so again my New Testament application would be that Christians must be planted in the word of God.
[35:58] They must live out of their union with Christ and abide in his love. And by contrast they cannot listen to or follow the counsel of the wicked. And so the Psalms begin with this Psalm because there is nothing more important than your being in the congregation of the righteous.
[36:17] That you are being counted among them. And we need to be reminded that life is found in the word of God alone. That is our sure foundation. It's what's going to keep us planted not only when controversy and false teaching comes but in the day of judgment.
[36:35] And it's also what's going to water us so that we are fruitful for the kingdom and that we don't wither and are thrown away with the wicked to burn.
[36:46] Let's pray together. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father we do thank you for your word and the truth that it presents to us.
[37:00] We pray that we would be people who would value that word highly. That we would meditate upon it. In so many ways it seems easier to spend time in front of our screens and passively absorb whatever the culture tells us and the world around us is saying that Lord let us not be those who walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers but may our delight be in your word and Lord we pray that we would be those who would meditate at day and night.
[37:34] Lord even this week we pray that we would begin new habits of spending time in your word above and beyond everything else that we hear throughout the day.
[37:45] and Lord that we would be planted in your word and your truth that we might be counted among those who are righteous. Lord we pray for any in this room who would fall into those who are wicked or that you would melt their hearts today that they would know your truth that they would put their fathers all those who are mighty happy and can we we we we we we we