Which Path Should I Take? Part 1
Psalm 1:1-6
- The Book of Psalms is one of my favorite books in the Bible because it’s full of treasure and a wealth of information.
- In it, we find every kind of emotion…
- Anger, sadness, happiness, fear, surprise, trust, and many more…
- It contains prayers and songs to the Lord, full of praise, and believers all throughout the centuries have memorized and used them in their spiritual walk with God.
- The book of Psalms is divided into five sections, labeled as books.
- Although the reason for this is not clear, many commentators believe that it’s similar to the way the Pentateuch is organized, into 5 books…
- So just like the Law was vitally important to Israel, contained in 5 volumes, so too were Israel’s praises to God, contained in the book of Psalms in 5 parts.
- Most of the Psalms have titles which identify the timeframe of when they were written.
- Many were composed by David while he was being persecuted by King Saul…
- Others were composed after David began to reign as King in Israel, after the death of Saul.
- Some were composed during the rebellion of Absalom.
- Others were written between the rebellion of Absalom and the Babylonian Captivity.
- Some were written during the Captivity.
- Some were written after the Jews were permitted by King Cyrus to return to their own land, Jerusalem.
- So as you can see, the book of Psalms has meant a great deal to generation after generation after generation.
- As we go through this great book, we’re going to take our time because it’s not something we should rush through.
- I don’t have a timeframe on how long it will take, but I think it goes well with prayer meeting because each of these Psalms can be read as a prayer.
- The goal as we move through these Psalms is to grow closer to our Great God and learn more about what it means to honor Him as a Church.
- Back when Sherri’s parents lived in Rockland, we used to go visit them for vacation.
- Usually, we’d try to make a trip in the Summer, so we could enjoy the nice weather, and one in the fall, so we could enjoy the foliage.
- One year, we ended up going later in the year than we wanted, sometime in November.
- I remember Sherri and I had tickets to go see the Christian band Third Day in Bangor, so we left the kiddos with her parents and off we went.
- Of course, since we were driving from Rockland to Bangor, it was a different route than what I’m used to on Route 9.
- We left during the day, and our GPS guided us to the correct location.
- We enjoyed the concert, and when it was over, it was dark.
- When we stepped outside, we realized it was snowing.
- But this wasn’t the white, fluffy snow…this was the snow mixed with freezing rain and ice.
- Of course, the road back to Rockland from Bangor was unfamiliar to me, but I thought, “I’ve got the GPS, and I can just go a bit slower, no big deal…”
- I was expecting it to lead me down the right path, so I relaxed and just focused on driving.
- I remember Sherri being on the phone with her parents, letting them know we were headed back, but they started chatting about something, and were on the phone for a while.
- Well, I’m on I95, and I know my exit is coming up, but I couldn’t remember which exit it was…
- I wasn’t worried though, because I had my handy dandy GPS!
- So I kept driving…but there was one problem…when Sherri called her parents, she muted the GPS…
- I knew she had done it, but I wasn’t paying attention, so the entire time, I’m expecting the GPS to say, “In 1 mile, take exit such and such…”
- It never did…
- About 10 or 15 minutes later, I said, “Sherri, I thought we’d be to our exit by now, I wonder how much longer…”
- That’s when we realized that we had passed our exit about 10 miles back and we were headed in the opposite direction of where we were supposed to go.
- Of course, the snow was still coming down, so I said, “Don’t worry Sherri. We’ll just take the next exit and turn around to head back the other way.”
- That’s what I planned to do…
- But when we took the exit, the GPS said, “Recalculating…” and instead of telling us to turn around and go back the other way on the interstate, it was telling us to stay on this road we were on.
- I figured, “Well, it must be giving us a shortcut to get back on the right track. I’m sure it must be faster than going back 10 miles on the interstate. We’ll just take this road and follow the GPS directions.”
- That turned into a scary night for Sherri and I because it was dark, it was freezing rain and snow, and we were in the middle of nowhere without a clue where we were and almost no traffic.
- The roads of course got slippery, and I remember driving down this one back road, going down a hill, and feeling the slush on the road start to steer me toward the ditch.
- The Lord helped me keep control, and eventually, we got back to some familiar sights, and a road that had more traffic on it, so we made our way back to Rockland safely.
- Sherri and I will never forget how scary that night was.
- I got myself all turned around and I was on the wrong path.
- Here in Psalm 1, we’re introduced to 2 types of people…the righteous and the ungodly.
- The righteous are those who are on the right path…
- They’re not lost, they’re not confused, they’re not turned around…
- The ungodly are those who are on the wrong path…
- They’re lost, they’re confused, they’re turned around, headed in the wrong direction.
- So let’s look at these 2 types of people and the differences between the paths they are on.
I.) Both Paths Have Company- Vs 1
- When I was a kid, I had a friend who was not a good influence on me.
- I was spending some time with him one afternoon, walking around bored, looking for something to do, when he made a suggestion.
- He pointed to an old house and said, “Let’s go break one of the windows.”
- Well, the building wasn’t being used for anything, but someone was trying to sell it, so obviously I knew it was wrong.
- I was hesitant, but I followed him to the back where we found a long, metal rod.
- He took the rod and smashed it through one of the windows, then handed it to me and told me to try.
- If I had been on my own, there’s no way I would have done this.
- But since I was with my friend, and he had already done it, I made the decision to do it.
- Once turned into twice, and before I knew it, we had broken several windows at the back of the house.
- Unfortunately, I had chosen a bad friend, and because of that, I ended up doing something I knew was wrong.
- These 2 paths we’re looking at in Psalm 1 are not lonely paths…
- No matter which one you choose, you will have company…
- You’ll have good company if you choose the path of the righteous, and bad company if you choose the path of the wicked.
- Here in vs 1, the very first word written to start the book of Psalms is the word “blessed.”
- I think that’s a proper way to start out the book because the man or woman who puts their trust in the Lord truly is blessed.
- But this word ‘blessed’ means more than just one blessing…
- The original word in the Hebrew was plural, so it means “blessednesses…”
- So it could be said, “The man who walks with the Lord has an abundance of God’s blessings…many more than just one!”
- I like what Sir Richard Baxter says…
- “Where the word blessed is hung out as a sign, we may be sure that we shall find a godly man within…”
- So why are they blessed?
- First, because they don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
- The ungodly person is one who walks through life without God, completely uninfluenced by God.
- This person makes it look like they are on the easier path, a path that is full of pleasures and happiness.
- They’ll say things like, “There’s no need for God. Live life as you want, to the fullest. It’s all about you!”
- Any counsel they give is completely opposite to what Scripture says.
- Just like my friend told me, “Let’s break this window. Nobody lives here anyways, what harm could it do?...” so too does the ungodly person say, “What harm could it do to live as if there is no God? Come on, give in to this sin…”
- That’s one of the common tactics that Satan uses against us…
- He’ll use the ungodly to tempt us to give in to sin just a little…
- “What harm could it do?”
- It starts out small and seems innocent enough, but in reality, it’s destructive and has eternal consequences.
- The second reason the righteous are blessed is because they don’t stand in the way of sinners.
- Sinners are those who do no good…instead, they transgress…
- The ungodly was without God, but the sinner adds their transgressions on top of being without God.
- They are comfortable in their sin and don’t see anything wrong with their sin, so their lives are full of habitual sins…
- For example, some are drunkards, others are adulterers, others are liars...the list could go on and on all day.
- A sinner might not be committing all those sins, but they certainly have some sins that are more controlling in their lives than others.
- I’m reminded of when I was in High School, and in the mornings, before the bell rang, everyone was hanging out in the cafeteria.
- You’d look around and see groups of kids standing together, different cliques…the athletes, the artists, the studious, the goths, the popular kids and so on…
- Each group had people who dressed alike and talked alike and did things together.
- They stood together…
- So too do sinners stand together.
- A drunkard is comfortable in a bar or night club with other drunkards…
- A gossip might not be comfortable in a bar or night club, but they’re comfortable being with other gossips, sharing the latest gossip with one another.
- Sinners stand together.
- The third reason the righteous are blessed is because they don’t sit in the seat of the scornful.
- The scornful are those who make a mockery of everything sacred…
- They have no religion and instead ridicule those who believe in and follow God.
- Adam Clarke says they are believers in all unbelief!
- One of the things I like to do is read Christian articles online, and after I read the article, I’ll go down to the bottom and read the comments section.
- Many times, you’ll find comments from atheists who don’t believe in God, and they’ll mock the author of the article, and any Christians who take the article seriously…
- Sometimes, you’ll hear it directly from their mouths, such as Stephen Hawking or Richard Dawkins who have done a lot of lectures over the years…
- I tried watching one of their lectures and had to turn it off because Richard Dawkins kept mocking God and Christians…
- It was almost like he couldn’t get through a sentence without bashing believers…
- Certainly, not all atheists are like that, but what they believe, their worldview, that there is no God, is a very hostile, anti-God view, and it’s everywhere…
- In schools, in books, on tv…
- So what does it mean to go from walking to standing to sitting?
- To answer this, I think it’s good to think of it the same way we think of our relationship with God…
- It’s a journey…
- We start out as new believers, feeding on the milk of the Word, and we grow as we are continually going through the process of sanctification…
- We go from milk to meat as we study His Word…
- Every day, we become holier and grow closer to our Lord…
- So too does the unrighteous person start out walking in ungodliness, then they stand with sinners, and then they sit with the scornful.
- They start out with small sins, then small sins become bigger sins, and bigger sins become even bigger, and more controlling…
- James addresses this in James 1:14-15…
- “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
- Sadly, many people are on the wrong path and they have lots of company.
II.) Both Paths Have Direction- Vs 2-5
- I’m not very good at either getting or giving directions.
- A person will ask me how to get somewhere, and I’ll start telling them, and by the time I’m done, they look more confused than they did before they asked me.
- Then, when I ask for directions, I can’t remember all the steps…
- I’ll scratch my head as I’m trying to follow the directions and ask myself, “Did he say go left, or right? What was the name of that street he said to take?”
- People give and receive directions in many different ways.
- It’s the same when it comes to choosing the right path…
- Whether a person chooses the right path or the wrong path, they are going to receive direction along the way, either good or bad.
- Let’s first look at the righteous person’s direction.
- First, he delights in God’s Law.
- It’s more than just delighting in His Law though…it’s delighting in the Law-Giver!
- The righteous person delights in the Law because the Law Giver has his or her best interest in mind…
- The Old Testament saints, and those of us under the New Testament grace of Jesus Christ, both groups look at God’s Law as a beautiful thing because we know that He gave His Law to us…
- It’s beautiful because it was given by God Himself, and every part of it, the Old and the New, was given in love.
- The Law is holy, just, and good.
- Adam Clarke says, the righteous person’s “…will, desire, affection, every motive in his heart, and every moving principle in his soul, are on the side of God and His Truth.”
- So for us today, living in Grace, everything about His Word gives us a reason to rejoice.
- Every verse, every chapter, every book of the Bible was given to us by the God of the Universe…
- I’ve seen videos of men and women in China receiving Bibles for the first time, and their reaction is beautiful…they’re jumping up and down for joy, smiling, holding the Bibles close to their hearts, giving praise to God for His Word!
- We must delight in His Word!
- Second, the righteous person takes it a step further and meditates on God’s Law, Day and night…
- It doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other…
- It doesn’t just go up in our brain as facts, and get stored there for knowledge, like in a computer…
- No, God’s Word enters our hearts, and stays there, because we love His Word.
- Day and night, the righteous feast upon His Word!
- And the meditation affects every part of our lives…
- For example, the way we treat people… “What does Scripture say?”
- Or The way we lead our families… “What does Scripture say?”
- How about the way we deal with discouragement…? “What does Scripture say?”
- Or perhaps, the way we forgive one another… “What does Scripture say?”
- Those are just a few examples…
- It’s like wheels turning in our head, never stopping, constantly running…
- Everything points us back to God and His Word.
- Joseph Caryl says that when we meditate often on God’s Word, we’ll “…see a light, like the light of the sun.”
- There’s no place for darkness when God’s Word is constantly in our thoughts and always in our hearts.
- Third, through the direction of God’s Word, the righteous person grows and bears fruit, just like a tree by a river of water.
- When you watch a tree grow, it truly is a fascinating thing to watch.
- Sherri planted three trees in our front yard.
- The snow plow ruined one of them, but there are still two that are still growing today.
- When Spring comes, their leaves sprout forth and in Summer, they’re so beautiful as they fully blossom.
- Every year, they get a little bit bigger.
- For the righteous person, our spiritual walk is a lot like those trees…planted in Christ and growing…
- God’s Word is like a river of water, and the closer we are to His Word, the more we grow, and the more we bear fruit.
- Just a little side note here…
- As Sherri and I watch those trees grow, we watch with pleasure, and it pleases us as they grow.
- I believe that our Heavenly Father watches the righteous person with pleasure as well, and as we grow, it pleases Him.
- Fourth, through the direction of God’s Word, the righteous person’s leaves won’t wither.
- I like what Charles Spurgeon says about this…
- “The Lord’s trees are all evergreens. No winter’s cold can destroy their [lush green vegetation]; and yet, unlike evergreens [in England], they are all fruit bearers.”
- The fact is that nothing we do for the Lord on this earth is in vain.
- He keeps a record, and one day, Christians will stand before Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ…
- 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
- When we stand before Him, we’ll receive rewards for our work done for Christ, and we’ll suffer loss for works we had the opportunity to do but refused to do or works done with the wrong motifs.
- So even though our works here on earth may seem small, they have an eternal significance.
- The more we do for Christ, genuinely and obediently, the more rewards we will receive; the less we do, the less rewards we’ll receive.
- So the work we do for Him with a true heart will not wither away…
- Just look back over the years, and see all the amazing works many men and women of God have done, and the impact they had in Christianity…
- Some of their work even continues today through others.
- Fifth, through the direction of God’s Word, the righteous person’s work will prosper.
- It’s important to understand that this is not referring to a worldly prosperity.
- I’m not going to go out and tell God, “Okay, prosper me. I want 1 million dollars right now, and I’ll give you more than 10 percent, I promise!” Of course not!
- No, this is a spiritual prosperity, the kind that comes as we grow in our walk with Him.
- Spiritual growth is a treasure, and the closer we grow to Him, the more treasure we gain, and the more we want of Him!
- And of course, as God blesses us spiritually, He blesses us physically as well, as much or as little as He chooses…the righteous person is okay with that!
- So we’ve looked at vs 1-3, and have seen that both the path of the righteous and the path of the unrighteous have company with them.
- We’ve looked at the direction of the righteous person.
- Next week, we’ll look at the direction of the unrighteous person, and we’ll finish chapter 1 by looking at the destination of the paths of both the godly and the ungodly.
