Which Path Should I Take? Part 2
Psalm 1:4-6
- Last week, we looked at the first part of Psalm 1, and started by comparing the paths of the righteous and the wicked.
- We saw that both those paths have companions, and that both paths have a direction.
- This week, we’re going to look at the second part of Psalm 1 and learn a little more about the unrighteous path.
- Then, we’re going to look at the destinations of both paths.
- When I think of a good path and a bad path, 2 pictures come to mind.
- The good path is kind of like one of the paths over at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge.
- It’s a nice, paved path that takes you through about ½ mile of woods and has a couple of spots with benches for you to sit on.
- That path is well taken care of.
- The bad path is nothing like that.
- It’s a muddy path, with weeds growing and huge potholes…
- It’s not taken care of at all.
- Obviously, there’s a huge difference between a good path and a bad one.
- So let’s look at 3 more things about these paths tonight.
I.) The Unrighteous Path is Worthless- Vs 4
- One of the tv shows I like to watch is called 19 Kids and Counting.
- It’s about a man named Jim Bob Duggar, his wife Michelle, and their 19 kids.
- They live in Arkansas and love to go around to different places and find fun things to do with their kids.
- In one episode, they went to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.
- The kids had a blast, going around, digging in the dirt and mud, trying to find diamonds.
- One of the older kids named John David likes to play practical jokes on his family, so he decided that he was going to hide a huge, fake diamond in the mud for his brothers to find.
- Well of course, when they found it, they were super excited.
- They showed it to their dad who looked surprised, and thought it was real at first.
- But then, when John David started laughing, it became obvious that it was fake, and they all had a good laugh about it.
- Obviously, even though that diamond looked like it was precious and worth a lot of money, it actually was worthless.
- That’s kind of like the description given here in vs 4…
- “The path of the ungodly does not lead to a blessing, like the righteous who become like a fruitful tree planted by water…instead, they are like the chaff which the wind blows away…”
- In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, the difference between the godly and ungodly has a more forcible description…
- “Not so, the ungodly, not so!”
- So, all these good things that can be said about the person on the righteous path cannot be said about the person on the unrighteous path.
- He is compared with chaff.
- Chaff is the fine, dry, scaly, protective casings of the seeds of grain…
- It’s worthless, it is dead, it is unserviceable, it is without substance, and it’s easily carried away.
- Adam Clarke gives a good description of the way chaff was separated from the wheat in ancient times.
- “They either throw [the grain] up in a place out of doors by a large wooden shovel against the wind; or with their weights or winnowing fans shake it down leisurely in the wind. The grain falls down nearly perpendicularly; and the chaff, through its lightness, is blown away to a distance from the grain.”
- So the ungodly person on the unrighteous path might think they’re just fine while they’re still part of the grain, but once they’re separated, they find out quickly that they’re dead.
- Think about humanity for a moment…
- All men and women who live on this earth need air to breathe…
- That air comes from God Almighty, and He’s providing it for the godly and the ungodly.
- All men and women who live on this earth needs there to be enough gravity so that we don’t go flying off the earth as it spins in orbit.
- That gravity comes from God Almighty, who provides that gravity for the godly and the ungodly.
- All men and women need our world to stay just close enough to the sun that we don’t freeze to death, but also just far enough away that we don’t all burn up and die.
- The distance the Earth is from the Sun was determined by God, and is kept that way by Him, and He does it for the godly and the ungodly.
- Those are just a few examples of the blessings that God provides to His people, that the ungodly get to enjoy the blessings of as well.
- Sadly, this won’t last forever for the ungodly.
- The chaff will be driven away by the wind, which is translated “whirlwind.”
- So the ungodly on the unrighteous path will be blown away in a whirlwind when they die, no longer protected by the blessings of the godly.
- Just picture in your mind the comparison between a tall, strong, growing tree, planted by the water, and a tiny, weak, worthless chaff, being blown away.
- As you can see, there’s really no comparison!
- So what should you and I as Christians think about this?
- Well for one thing, instead of looking at unsaved folks as “worthless” and on their way to hell, we need to look at them and think, “Jesus died for them, too.”
- John 3:16 is very clear that God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”
- Then in vs 17, He made clear that He didn’t come to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved!
- 1 John 2:2 says, “He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours alone, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
- If God wanted us to just give up on the unrighteous, then He wouldn’t have died for them.
- He wouldn’t tell us that He died for them, too.
- He wouldn’t have given us the Great Commission.
- God created every person on this earth, and every person who has ever lived before us.
- He knows each of us by name, He knows our personalities, He knows how many hairs are on our heads, He knows our thoughts…
- He created us.
- So to just give up on unsaved folks and say, “They’re worthless!” is to say that you don’t care about God’s creation, your fellow man, who He created!
- No, this Psalm gives us a description of what happens to a person on the wrong path, and where they’re headed, but it doesn’t tell us to give up on them.
II.) The Unrighteous Path Brings Judgment- Vs 5
- Many years ago, I was at a restaurant having breakfast with a friend.
- For whatever reason, the topic of our conversation changed to a person we both knew.
- I started talking about this man’s business, and how he had wanted to send his son to Bob Jones University, but his son didn’t want to go there, and instead went to the University of Maine.
- I started saying that this man was really upset with his son for taking a different direction, and that they were having family problems because of it.
- About 10 minutes into our conversation, I looked to my left, and lo and behold, that gentleman I was talking about was sitting right next to us, up on one of the stools, and he had heard the whole thing.
- He looked at me and gave me a stare that I’ll never forget…it’s almost like it shot right through my soul because I knew I was wrong to be gossiping.
- He didn’t say anything, he just paid his bill and left, but I’ll never forget how horrible I felt.
- Obviously, I couldn’t stand before him and make any excuse or defense because there was no excuse for my horrible actions!
- That’s kind of where we find the ungodly on the unrighteous path here in vs 5…
- They can’t stand in the judgment before God, and can’t stand in the congregation of the righteous in Heaven because it’s too late…
- There’s nothing they can do and no words they can say that will make them righteous and acceptable before God.
- Here on Earth, yes, it’s possible for the ungodly on the unrighteous path to be part of our churches, the tares mixed with the wheat…
- And a lot of them have a lot of people fooled…
- Charles Spurgeon says, “God’s precious diamonds still lie in the same field with pebbles.”
- But God sees their hearts, and He knows that they are really on the unrighteous path.
- On the day of judgment, at the Great White Throne Judgment, they will be found lacking.
- Just like in Daniel 5:27 when Daniel told King Belshazzar, “You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting.”
- We’re actually given a description of this judgment of the ungodly in Revelations 20:11-15. (Turn there?)
- “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
- As you can see, that’s going to be a serious judgment, and it’s one that you and I don’t want anybody we know to be a part of!
- John Trapp says, “The Irish air will sooner brook a toad, or a snake than heaven a sinner.”
- That’s because Ireland has been known for many years as a country that doesn’t have any toads or snakes.
- So, in the future, the ungodly on the unrighteous path will not stand in the judgment because of their ungodly works, and they will not be in Heaven with us for eternity, but will be in the lake of fire.
- But we can look at this verse and also see its truth in the present.
- The ungodly who are on the unrighteous path aren’t comfortable in Church.
- I don’t know how many times I’ve invited someone to church, and they’ve told me, “I can’t go there. The walls would fall down, or the roof would cave in on my head…”
- I’ve seen it at funerals and weddings…
- Once the name of Jesus is proclaimed, people get uncomfortable and fidgety in their seats.
- I’ve seen angry looks…
- I’ve seen people cross their arms and glare…
- I’ve seen people roll their eyes…
- I’ve seen people stare off into space…
- It’s sad, because church is a beautiful place meant to bring people to Christ, but Satan has the ungodly on the unrighteous path deceived.
- And one day, they will realize that they were wrong, but it will be too late, and they won’t get to enter Heaven, but will be cast into the lake of fire.
III.) Both Paths Have a Destination- Vs 6
- An August 12, 1969 news article from the San Francisco Chronicle read, "The blazing summer heat of the Death Valley area has killed two men and a youth who tried to reach habitation by setting foot across the desert."
- Arnold Dobson, Harold Mast Sr., and his son Harold Jr., apparently became stranded in the barren Saline Valley without water.
- One of the three bodies was found 7 miles from their abandoned car, another 14 miles, and the last 17 miles.
- Deputy Red Landergren said, "It looks like they just went the wrong way."
- It would seem that they turned in the direction toward a ranch house they had passed 30 miles back.
- However, just a mile the other way was a grove of willows with a spring.
- Life is like that…
- One path, the path of the godly, leads to life, and of course is the better path.
- The other path, the path of the ungodly, leads to death.
- Sadly, according to Jesus, more people choose the wrong path over the right path because the wrong path looks easier, but it leads to death…
- In Matthew 7:13-14, He said “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
- As Christians, we are on the narrow path, but it’s really hard to convince people it’s the correct path, the better one, and that it leads to life.
- But we know it’s the right path.
- The Hebrew meaning of “the Lord knoweth” here has a deeper meaning…
- “The Lord is knowing the way of the righteous.”
- That’s because when the godly man is on the righteous path, his eyes are on God and God’s eyes are on him.
- The narrow path isn’t the easier path, and there are a lot of obstacles along the way, but God knows and won’t let us be lost.
- And as He watches over us, He approves of our motives, purposes, and works when we do them for His glory.
- And on this path, He provides for us and He defends us along the way.
- The path of the righteous is special, it’s personal, it’s intimate, and those who are on it belong to God.
- Doesn’t it bring peace to your mind to know that God has already established the number of your days on this earth, and when that day comes, when you’re absent from the body, He promises that you will be present with Him?!
- Not a day sooner or later…His time!
- Job 23:10 says, “He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
- Unfortunately, the unrighteous path of the ungodly is the complete opposite.
- Everything they’ve done on this earth will perish.
- Nothing will last because none of it was done for the Lord.
- On the unrighteous path, they have a lot of company, and everything seems to be easier.
- But when it comes to eternity, they’re headed for the lake of fire, and that’s a sad and scary thought!
- It’s one that should make us tremble for the lost, and should motivate us to share the Gospel with all who will listen.
- In the book of Acts, at least 4 times, Christianity is called “The Way.”
- That’s because the path of the righteous is “The way” to life.
- We must be pointing people there, otherwise, they’ll be on the other path, the way of the ungodly, which ends in judgment.
