Episode 1
Psalms of the Summer - A Tale Of Two Paths (North OC)
We kick off our new sermon series "Summer of Psalms" looking at Psalm 1 where we learn about the two paths of life and where they lead to.
Transcript
Amen.
Speaker:Welcome to Church Unplugged.
Speaker:. My name is Marcel Hall and I want to, , express how grateful I am to
Speaker:be part of our church family and be able to worship God together, whether
Speaker:we have amplified sound or not.
Speaker:And I do want to thank Brian Turner and the Ushers always doing their
Speaker:job and Brian on his birthday.
Speaker:Over here serving.
Speaker:Amen.
Speaker:And and Chris just mentioned, you know, it's also Corinna's
Speaker:birthday today as well.
Speaker:So she was hooking up some sandwiches afterwards.
Speaker:So that's what, that was where she was right there.
Speaker:But amen.
Speaker:Alright, so we're gonna go ahead and we're starting up a new
Speaker:sermon series for the summer.
Speaker:And we're calling it Psalms of the Summer.
Speaker:The soundtracks of life and so we actually have we can have the ushers go ahead
Speaker:We have some handouts here for you that we want to I think we're gonna have it
Speaker:on the app as well But I don't think it's on there right now But we're gonna
Speaker:have some of these handouts and want to go over it real quickly because it's
Speaker:a breakdown of the book of Psalms And so I want to go over this real quickly
Speaker:here because we're going to be studying out now There are a hundred and fifty
Speaker:songs And we are not going to go over 150 songs over the next few weeks.
Speaker:If we were to do one song a week, that would be, what would that be?
Speaker:About three years almost, right?
Speaker:So we are not going to do that.
Speaker:But we will have some songs over the next two months here that I believe will really
Speaker:help us out in our relationship with God.
Speaker:And so, I see that ushers are passing them out here.
Speaker:So I'm gonna go ahead and go over.
Speaker:The handout that we have here, and again, this will be a guide
Speaker:and help you as well to go deeper in your own personal Bible study.
Speaker:And so, it starts off here with the purpose.
Speaker:The Psalms are a collection of poems used by the Jews as songs of worship.
Speaker:A hymn book, if you will.
Speaker:The Psalms express the full range of human emotion and display the
Speaker:writer's relationships with God.
Speaker:The thoughts and feelings they express help their readers
Speaker:draw near to the Lord as well.
Speaker:And so, one of the great things about the Book of Psalms is it's very real,
Speaker:honest vulnerable, and authentic.
Speaker:And and so as you read and study out the Psalms, it really reveals
Speaker:how to have a deep, personal, intimate relationship with God.
Speaker:And so you, because you know that these are psalms or poetry, it also helps us
Speaker:to make sure we interpret it correctly.
Speaker:Because as you read the psalms, if you are thinking that these are all commands
Speaker:from the Lord, then you will be confused on some of the psalms that you read.
Speaker:Because King David was, wrote several of the psalms and he gets
Speaker:very real in his prayers to God.
Speaker:Where he's like crush my enemies.
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:And so some of us would be fired up and like, yeah, God
Speaker:You want me to crush my enemies?
Speaker:Let's go, but that's not necessarily Correct theology.
Speaker:Okay, you with me here?
Speaker:So let's continue going over this the dates almost all of the Psalms written
Speaker:between the time of David 1000 BC and the time of the return of Jews from exile
Speaker:in Babylon about 500 BC this collection of Psalms was assembled gradually over
Speaker:time and completed by at least 400 B.
Speaker:C.
Speaker:Some of the author David is attributed with writing 73 A.
Speaker:Sasson, the Cora, Solomon, Moses and etcetera.
Speaker:Not all the songs are credit to a specific author.
Speaker:The titles were added later and should not be considered part
Speaker:of the inspired text structured.
Speaker:150 songs are arranged in five books.
Speaker:You have book one Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, and Book 5.
Speaker:Book 1 was probably the first organized collection of Psalms, and the other
Speaker:books were added successfully over time.
Speaker:Biblical scholars have attempted to classify the
Speaker:Psalms that are similar types.
Speaker:Lament Psalms expressing grief and appeal for help.
Speaker:More than 60 of those, the largest group.
Speaker:Royal Psalms concerning Israel's king.
Speaker:Thanksgiving psalms, praise psalms, wisdom psalms, and trust psalms.
Speaker:Other types of psalms that have been suggested, and some psalms seem to
Speaker:be a combination of different types, and some psalms are individual while
Speaker:others are meant for the Jewish nation.
Speaker:Important considerations, poetry uses symbolism and vivid imagery
Speaker:to communicate emotionally similes, comparisons, hyperbole, and parallelism.
Speaker:The New Testament writers quote for themselves more than any other book in
Speaker:the New, I mean in the Old Testament.
Speaker:And then there's some several recommendations to help you again
Speaker:go further in your Bible study in a couple chapters specifically.
Speaker:And then here are some of the topics.
Speaker:that we will hit on over the next several weeks there.
Speaker:So again you want to keep this, use this, this is a helpful guide for you
Speaker:to go deeper in your walk with God.
Speaker:Today we're actually going to go and we're going to study out Psalm 1.
Speaker:Since we're going to study out the Psalm, let's go ahead and start off with Psalm 1.
Speaker:Actually, the song that we just sang...
Speaker:It's based off of Psalm 1, and as we read it, you'll be able to go, Oh,
Speaker:okay, this makes some more sense, and you'll be able to connect it.
Speaker:And so the title for today is, A Tale of Two Paths.
Speaker:A Tale of Two Paths.
Speaker:Let's go ahead and let's pray before we get into the scriptures.
Speaker:God, thank you so much for your Word.
Speaker:God, I'm so inspired and excited about our Bible study in the book of Psalms.
Speaker:I'm excited about the things I've been learning.
Speaker:Been studying out specifically someone and God, I pray right now father, we will
Speaker:walk away with decisions about our life, decisions about our faith and decisions
Speaker:about what path we want to be on.
Speaker:We pray in the name of Jesus.
Speaker:Amen.
Speaker:Alright, let's go ahead, let's go on over to Psalm chapter 1.
Speaker:And so we have this, in order for us to again understand this as poetry, even
Speaker:on the screen, or if you're looking on the screen on your phone it's, the way
Speaker:it is, it's in stanzas, if you will, to help you again understand the type of
Speaker:literature that you and I are reading.
Speaker:So let's go ahead, and you know, here's another little cool thing, is that
Speaker:the word the first word in Psalm 1, again, the original language is Hebrew.
Speaker:And so the first letter of the first word in Psalm 1 starts with the
Speaker:first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Speaker:And the last word begins with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Speaker:You guys hear what I'm saying?
Speaker:So like A to Z.
Speaker:So if it started with an A and then the last word started with a Z there, right?
Speaker:And I believe that's intentional.
Speaker:We might make a reference to that later.
Speaker:But let's go ahead and let's get into it.
Speaker:It says, Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked.
Speaker:or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but
Speaker:whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day
Speaker:and night, that a purse that person is like a tree planted by streams
Speaker:of water, which yields its fruit and season and whose leaf does not wither.
Speaker:Whatever they do prospers.
Speaker:Not so the wicked.
Speaker:They are like chaff, the wicked, okay, I'm sorry.
Speaker:All right, there you go.
Speaker:They're like chaff, that the wind blows away.
Speaker:Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners
Speaker:in the assembly of the righteous.
Speaker:For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of
Speaker:the wicked leads to destruction.
Speaker:A tale of two paths.
Speaker:There's this idea, there's this imagery, there's this conjuring up
Speaker:this idea of one way and another way.
Speaker:Did you see that?
Speaker:And you see here, there's two paths, a path of blessing and a path,
Speaker:really, of eternal condemnation.
Speaker:And we all know that God wants His children, His creation,
Speaker:to be on the right path.
Speaker:And so, therefore, He encourages and He also calls and warns
Speaker:us to stay on the right path.
Speaker:And if we want the blessings of God, if we want God's favor, if we want to
Speaker:be aligned with our Heavenly Father, then we should heed the wisdom and
Speaker:the direction that is in this psalm.
Speaker:So let's go ahead and let's break down this psalm here.
Speaker:And so I believe that this is definitely by divine order, that this psalm is
Speaker:placed first of all the 150 psalms.
Speaker:Because it really is a great preface.
Speaker:It's a great introductory to all of the teachings and the wisdom that
Speaker:you will find in the book of Psalms.
Speaker:And it really serves as a summary, if you will, of all of
Speaker:the Psalms and their teachings.
Speaker:So let's go ahead and let's get into it here.
Speaker:First off, it says blessed.
Speaker:Now this word blessed in Hebrew means, it means blessed, but you can also
Speaker:translate it like, oh how happy!
Speaker:So even in some translations of this, it says, Oh, how happy is the one.
Speaker:Now think about that for a second.
Speaker:When you're feeling blessed, how are you feeling?
Speaker:Happy.
Speaker:You're like, man, I'm fired up.
Speaker:I'm blessed.
Speaker:You know, just the fact that we were able to have service today.
Speaker:I'm blessed.
Speaker:I'm happy to be here in the worship.
Speaker:My wife is happy that today is her birthday.
Speaker:You guys get what I'm saying.
Speaker:And so it says blessed is the one that would get remember that.
Speaker:Because that sets up the whole song.
Speaker:Blessed.
Speaker:Happy.
Speaker:Is the one.
Speaker:Now, there's something interesting here.
Speaker:It had this idea of walking, standing, and sitting.
Speaker:I don't know if you caught that.
Speaker:But there is really a progression, or you can argue, in this
Speaker:case maybe a regression, here, of someone in their faith.
Speaker:And you see this progression there of being loosely associated with.
Speaker:to being completely identified with the wicked.
Speaker:And so let's break this down.
Speaker:Church, are you still with me here?
Speaker:You better take some notes here.
Speaker:I'm going to drop a little Hebrew on you today.
Speaker:Okay, alright?
Speaker:I've been working on my Hebrew.
Speaker:Just like I work on my Greek.
Speaker:So that's very little.
Speaker:Alright, here we go.
Speaker:Alright, so here we go again.
Speaker:Let's look at this here.
Speaker:It says, Walk in step of the wicked.
Speaker:Now this idea, usually, especially the way NIV does it, walking
Speaker:step means the way you live.
Speaker:But really the way this should be translated, or literally translated,
Speaker:is really this idea of walking in the advice or the counsel.
Speaker:So blessed is the one who does not walk in the advice or the counsel of the wicked.
Speaker:And this word wicked wicked is Rasha.
Speaker:Can you say Rasha?
Speaker:Rasha.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:That's one of your Hebrew words for the day.
Speaker:Rasha.
Speaker:Now this word wicked here, it means wicked, but it means to have been
Speaker:judged or will be judged guilty.
Speaker:But in this regard, we know guilty as far as sinning and
Speaker:in defiance of God Almighty.
Speaker:So it says, Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel,
Speaker:in the advice, of the wicked.
Speaker:Now that seems to be smart.
Speaker:Doesn't it?
Speaker:Because the advice or the input that you receive has a huge influence
Speaker:on your thinking and your behavior.
Speaker:Doesn't it?
Speaker:And so, how blessed, it makes sense.
Speaker:How much wise it would be to go ahead and make sure that you avoid evil influences
Speaker:because they will influence your world view and then what your behavior.
Speaker:I remember, we were actually having this conversation yesterday, and I remembered
Speaker:yesterday how I used to listen to all types of rap music, and and when I became
Speaker:a Christian, and through the years, I started to realize that some of the rap
Speaker:music that I was listening to wasn't really healthy for me spiritually.
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:I don't want to mention any of the songs, cause y'all might start relapsing,
Speaker:and you know what I'm saying, you might get to tripping up in here.
Speaker:But some of the songs I realized that as I would listen to it, it would influence me.
Speaker:Because those words would come to mind later on.
Speaker:And so as situations would happen, I would battle, What, wait, wait, am
Speaker:I thinking like a man of God or am I thinking like a man of the world?
Speaker:And so I started to realize, well this is having a huge influence on me.
Speaker:And I realized for many years, That yes, I would probably have been as
Speaker:sinful as Worley without rap music, but it definitely enhanced my sinfulness.
Speaker:You guys get what I'm saying?
Speaker:And it affected the way I viewed, especially the way I viewed women.
Speaker:They were objectified.
Speaker:The way I viewed people was us against them.
Speaker:And so it had a huge, so I was walking in the council of wickedness.
Speaker:You guys get what I'm saying?
Speaker:And so, I have to mention this though, church.
Speaker:Can I just be honest for a quick second?
Speaker:Well, hopefully I'm honest the whole time.
Speaker:But you get what I'm saying.
Speaker:I hate when I have to say, Can I be honest?
Speaker:Well, what you been doing before?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We have to be honest.
Speaker:There is a concern for our congregation.
Speaker:There is a concern for our congregation.
Speaker:And it's who are we listening to?
Speaker:Who are we listening to?
Speaker:TV personalities, the four letter networks, podcasters, radio personalities,
Speaker:social media, TikTok and Instagram.
Speaker:Are these the ones who are having the most influence in our lives?
Speaker:I especially have to mention the parenting.
Speaker:You know, it's really concerning.
Speaker:When it comes to our parenting, how many of us are going to websites and books
Speaker:more than we're going to the biblical principles laid out in God's Word?
Speaker:We're going to books or we're just winging it and we're not going to people who can
Speaker:give us godly input or godly application of the godly principles in God's Word.
Speaker:And then we're wondering what's happening in our homes.
Speaker:Who are we listening to?
Speaker:But it says blessed is the one who doesn't walk in the advice of the world.
Speaker:Let's continue going forward here.
Speaker:Church, are you still with me?
Speaker:Stand in the way, or stand in the way that sinners take.
Speaker:Now this means to closely associate with them in their sinful behavior.
Speaker:If I'm standing in the way that the sinners take, that means I'm
Speaker:associating with their type of behavior.
Speaker:And so let's break down another Hebrew word.
Speaker:This word is a little harder than it sounds.
Speaker:It's haqta.
Speaker:There's a haq.
Speaker:Haqta, can you say that?
Speaker:Haqta, there you go.
Speaker:Hopefully that was right.
Speaker:If it was wrong, then go ahead and blame me.
Speaker:Okay, alright, there you go.
Speaker:But what this word means, it can be used as an adjective, but basically what it
Speaker:means as a noun, it's just sinful person.
Speaker:It's a sinner.
Speaker:But more in this context of one who's live.
Speaker:Is dominated and shaped by the inclination to sin.
Speaker:So I'm just inclined that we're all, to a certain extent, inclined to sin.
Speaker:But that's not really what we're talking about.
Speaker:This is a lifestyle which I'm inclined, so my life is dominated and shaped by sin.
Speaker:You guys get what I'm saying here.
Speaker:And so how can we see this in our lifestyle in, in our day?
Speaker:Well, when we have lifestyles or we have choices that are eerily similar
Speaker:to the sinful world that we live.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:When our lifestyles, when our choices look mirror, if you will, the world that we
Speaker:live in, that's how you and I can stand in this in, in the path that sins take.
Speaker:But again, blessed or those who don't closely associate you with sinful
Speaker:behavior, we keep moving forward or sit in a company of mockers.
Speaker:And this word mockers is, uh, it's loots, it's go ahead and
Speaker:say loots Luke's then, right?
Speaker:And so this is probably the worst and the furthest from God
Speaker:when it comes to being a sinner.
Speaker:So even what was mentioned before, this is the absolute worst because
Speaker:this type of sinner is one who's arrogantly defiant and mocking God
Speaker:and those who want to be righteous.
Speaker:So there's an arrogance.
Speaker:There's a mocking.
Speaker:Oh, you want to be like that?
Speaker:You want to be righteous and you mock it.
Speaker:That's why the word mocker is there.
Speaker:It's mocking God, but with an arrogant defiance.
Speaker:And so again, you see what you see this progression.
Speaker:Or maybe you could call it a regression in the faith.
Speaker:And so to sit in the company of mockers means that people
Speaker:are now completely identifying.
Speaker:With them in their proud, sinful plans and behavior.
Speaker:So all of you right now, you're sitting in the assembly of the church.
Speaker:So right now, you are associating, identifying yourself, in some form or
Speaker:fashion, with the church, with God's people, as you're listening to God's word.
Speaker:But now, if we were all a bunch of mockers, you would be sitting
Speaker:in the company of mockers.
Speaker:Therefore, clearly identifying yourself as one of them.
Speaker:He says, blessed is the one who doesn't sit in the company of mockers.
Speaker:And again, we see, if you will, three degrees of departure from
Speaker:God by conforming to the world at three different levels.
Speaker:First of all, accepting its advice, second, participating in its ways, and
Speaker:third, completely identifying with it.
Speaker:But again, blessed is the one who doesn't go down that path.
Speaker:Let's continue.
Speaker:It says, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord.
Speaker:Delight to enjoy, to value, to follow God's teachings and directions.
Speaker:This is what the blessed are like, the path of God.
Speaker:They delight in God's word.
Speaker:And if you think about this, whatever we enjoy, we tend to what?
Speaker:Think about and pursue.
Speaker:If you enjoy something, you tend to think about it and pursue it.
Speaker:So if we enjoy God's Word, we'll tend to what?
Speaker:Think about it and pursue it.
Speaker:And this is what the righteous are like.
Speaker:Meditate on God's Word.
Speaker:It says meditate on His law day and night.
Speaker:Even though we think about this for a second, right?
Speaker:If I'm delighting in the law of the Lord and I'm meditating day and night, that's
Speaker:going to influence the way I think.
Speaker:It will transform and shape my worldview and directly influence
Speaker:and determine the path, the steps, or the lifestyle that I live.
Speaker:And if I'm consumed, With God in some form or fashion, whether it's
Speaker:study, diligently studying the word, meditating on it, trying to talk
Speaker:about it, trying to live it out.
Speaker:Guess what's going to happen?
Speaker:I'm going to have behavior that follows that, but I'm not even
Speaker:going to have enough time to get involved with a whole bunch of sin.
Speaker:You get what I'm saying?
Speaker:Because if I'm delighting in God's word, if I'm going ahead and I'm
Speaker:meditating on it, then again, I don't even have enough capacity.
Speaker:To go ahead and indulge in sinful behavior.
Speaker:And it says meditate on it day and night.
Speaker:I don't think it means, hey, I thought about God's word in
Speaker:the morning and in the evening.
Speaker:Kind of like prayers before you eat.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Like, okay, I prayed, yeah, before I ate and then, you know, it's
Speaker:morning or lunch again or whatever.
Speaker:No, it's talking about this idea of the Lord's instruction governing
Speaker:and guiding the whole of our lives.
Speaker:God's word should govern and guide the whole of our lives.
Speaker:Now here, this hit me the other day.
Speaker:You know, the initial audience who read this, who stood up in the
Speaker:congregation as they read these things, who might have sang these.
Speaker:The initial audience, most of them were illiterate.
Speaker:Think about that for a second.
Speaker:Most of them were illiterate.
Speaker:And so how can they meditate on the law day and night if they couldn't read it?
Speaker:Well that meant that when they came together and they heard the word,
Speaker:that meant they valued the word of God so much that, Hey, I'm going to come
Speaker:together and hear the word of God.
Speaker:So they made it to their church service.
Speaker:But then they took it and they thought about it.
Speaker:And the Deuteronomy says you are called to talk about it and
Speaker:instill it as you walked, as you worked, as you did your day.
Speaker:And so I don't need to be able to read all of it if it's on my mind
Speaker:and I'm talking and I'm engaging it and I'm trying to understand what
Speaker:does God want me to do with this?
Speaker:And life was more simple back then.
Speaker:They didn't have as many things pulling at their attention so you
Speaker:can think more about God's work.
Speaker:But it made me think, wow, there is no excuse for us today when
Speaker:it comes to consuming God's Word.
Speaker:It's readily available.
Speaker:I think every one of us, except for maybe a couple of the kids don't have phones.
Speaker:And so every single one of us can get on an app and read God's Word,
Speaker:and allow it to minister to us at any point of the day that we want.
Speaker:And everyone here, I believe, is literate, so you can read God's Word.
Speaker:And you can consume it in a fashion that they couldn't even enjoy.
Speaker:Again, blessed is the one who delights in the law of the Lord
Speaker:and meditates on it day and night.
Speaker:It says that person is like a tree planted by streams of water.
Speaker:And the way to translate this, streams of water, is accurate.
Speaker:But literally it means channels or irrigation channels.
Speaker:And so you have this channel of water.
Speaker:So back in the ancient Palestine, the streams of Palestine regularly dried up.
Speaker:But the irrigation channels that came off the great rivers never did.
Speaker:And so they would see that the imagery is in their head.
Speaker:Hey, we know about these streams that dry up, but we know about those that never do.
Speaker:And so he gives this imagery for you and me, saying that the godly
Speaker:individual is like a tree that has a rich water supply, a strong root system.
Speaker:So then it's filled with leaves and fruits.
Speaker:Suggesting to us.
Speaker:That the godly will have a continual source of life, which produces
Speaker:stability and uninterrupted prosperity.
Speaker:But then it says it doesn't wither.
Speaker:And so this is helpful for us as well.
Speaker:Leap doesn't weather because there is a time when our seasons
Speaker:or natural seasons are dry.
Speaker:But it means we won't crumble.
Speaker:We won't fail or we won't fall.
Speaker:But that our faith...
Speaker:We'll be strong even during those times,
Speaker:and I love this.
Speaker:How it says yielded fruit in season or streams of water
Speaker:and whatever they do prospers.
Speaker:And it reminds me of what Jesus said in John 7 38.
Speaker:Look what he says here.
Speaker:He says, whoever believes in me as scripture has said, rivers of
Speaker:living water will flow from within.
Speaker:Wow, how incredible is that?
Speaker:We see this connection from the Old Testament to what Jesus is saying.
Speaker:And we know that in between, Jesus provides the Holy Spirit for those
Speaker:who would repent and get baptized.
Speaker:And so now we have the Holy Spirit who is readily available to provide
Speaker:living water that flows from within us.
Speaker:Calling us to be in step with the Holy Spirit, be close to God.
Speaker:Hence, why we should read our Bibles, why we should pray, why we should
Speaker:connect with each other in relationship, and build each other up, so that the
Speaker:living waters may flow through us.
Speaker:So no matter what the season may be, we will never wither, fail, fall, or crumble.
Speaker:I don't know about you, but that's some good news.
Speaker:I say hallelujah for the Lord Jesus.
Speaker:You know, I do want to mention this, though.
Speaker:This does not promote health and wealth teaching.
Speaker:Some can use this passage out of context and say, Well,
Speaker:this is a prosperity gospel.
Speaker:See, God provides all these material blessings.
Speaker:One thing, again, we have to remember, that as we're reading this as poetry, this
Speaker:is a general truth, not an absolute truth.
Speaker:So that's helpful to remember in the context.
Speaker:But also that the blessings that God refers to throughout the
Speaker:Psalms, and as we see in Christ, are more spiritual blessings
Speaker:than they are material blessings.
Speaker:Are you understanding what I'm saying?
Speaker:And even if we read the Psalms, even as your sheet shows, the most Psalms
Speaker:can be categorized as lament Psalms.
Speaker:Times of struggle, of hardness, of God, where are you?
Speaker:Why is this happening to me?
Speaker:But yet God pulling them through.
Speaker:And so again, this is not health and wealth gospel.
Speaker:This is a general truth that God provides, and we see what it's like for
Speaker:us on this side of the new covenant.
Speaker:Church, are you still with me here?
Speaker:Let's go to verse 4 here.
Speaker:It says, But not so the wicked.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:We know what it's like for the blessed.
Speaker:It would be like rivers, streams, and water.
Speaker:He says, But not so with the wicked.
Speaker:He says, They're like chaff.
Speaker:The wind blows away.
Speaker:And so we see this contrast from the well rooted, productive tree to the
Speaker:now, the dry plant that has no root system and is blown away by the wind.
Speaker:And chap is basically the husk on corn or seed.
Speaker:And so what they would do when you winnow that or whatever, is you
Speaker:get that off and it just blows.
Speaker:And especially during the wind in the Palestine area, you would just
Speaker:go ahead and you're winnowing your whatever it is, your seed or your coin.
Speaker:They just go like this and the wind will blow it away.
Speaker:He says, that's what it's like for the wicked.
Speaker:They're just going to be blown away at the eternal judgment.
Speaker:And this is the image of the destiny.
Speaker:For that path of the wicked.
Speaker:And he goes on and he says, Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment.
Speaker:Basically, the wicked won't have a leg to stand on.
Speaker:When it's time for God to judge, they won't have a leg to stand on.
Speaker:And he says, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
Speaker:Did you catch a little bit of word similarities from verse 1 in this one?
Speaker:This idea again of rising up within this one and sitting in
Speaker:the assembly of the righteous.
Speaker:And so those who sit in the company of mockers will not sit
Speaker:in the assembly of the righteous.
Speaker:Those who identify with the mockers will not sit with those
Speaker:who identify with God Almighty.
Speaker:And so we can see the path of God and blessing.
Speaker:And the path of destruction.
Speaker:And this serves to be really two things, at least for me.
Speaker:It's encouraging and it's sobering.
Speaker:It's encouraging because I feel like, Hallelujah!
Speaker:To be, in Christ, to be clear and confident that I sit amongst
Speaker:those who God considers righteous.
Speaker:Not because of what we've done, but because of what Christ's
Speaker:done and Him covering over us.
Speaker:And so we can rejoice and we can say that we can do that.
Speaker:Come on, man.
Speaker:I'm auditioning.
Speaker:I keep auditioning.
Speaker:They keep telling me, wait, keep working on it.
Speaker:That's what I hear.
Speaker:But we can be encouraged that by God's grace, where we sit amongst
Speaker:all those who are righteous from beginning of time until now.
Speaker:But yet it's sobering at the same time.
Speaker:It's sobering because it's God's warning and God's calling to get right.
Speaker:And so if you're here today, God is calling you and He's warning you.
Speaker:Come to me and get right with me now.
Speaker:I want you to get off of that path and I want you to get on to the right
Speaker:path which leads to eternal life.
Speaker:But it's also sobering for us who sit in the assembly of the righteous.
Speaker:Because know what that means?
Speaker:is that we have many family, friends, neighbors, co workers and classmates who
Speaker:are not right with God, who are right now currently don't sit in the assembly
Speaker:of the righteous and that's sober.
Speaker:And so I rejoice, but yet I'm sober and feeling a call in a pool.
Speaker:To do something about that, because somebody did that for me.
Speaker:They reached out and they helped me to cross over from that path to the other.
Speaker:Let's continue in verse 6.
Speaker:Church, are you still with me here?
Speaker:For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of
Speaker:the wicked leads to destruction.
Speaker:The Lord watches over, literally means He knows.
Speaker:And so what this implies, what this communicates to us is that our Heavenly
Speaker:Father has an intimate knowledge of us and intimate care for each single, every
Speaker:single one of us that he watches over.
Speaker:He knows he's there and he's trying to care, provide, protect and guidance.
Speaker:Again, we are God's chosen people by grace and mercy, and we can rejoice
Speaker:and celebrate, but may that lead us to great humility and gratitude.
Speaker:But we see here two paths that lead to two different lives or
Speaker:two different lifestyles that lead to two different judgments.
Speaker:God blesses and shows favor to one while the other stands condemned.
Speaker:One leads to joyful prosperity while the other to destruction.
Speaker:And this is true in part in our lifetime, but in fullness in the life to come.
Speaker:And so now we have to ask, well, what does that mean for you and me today?
Speaker:How should we apply God's word and direction to our lives today?
Speaker:Here's what I believe.
Speaker:I believe we need to go ahead and we need to go and choose our path.
Speaker:We need to decide today to choose your path.
Speaker:We must respond by choosing a path that we will take for our lives.
Speaker:Because we're on either one path or the other.
Speaker:We're not in both at the same time.
Speaker:You can't have one foot in one and one foot in the other.
Speaker:You guys get what I'm saying?
Speaker:They go in two different directions.
Speaker:It's like I always tell people, you can't be half pregnant, okay?
Speaker:You're either pregnant or you're not pregnant.
Speaker:You get what I'm saying?
Speaker:So I'm either on the path of God or I'm on the path of not.
Speaker:Right with God.
Speaker:And so we have to ask ourselves and especially those of us who might have
Speaker:grown up in a church, just because you grew up in a church, you know the path,
Speaker:you've been close to the path, but it doesn't mean you're on that path.
Speaker:And again, that's a sobering truth.
Speaker:And so we have to make a choice which path we will choose.
Speaker:Remember I told you earlier that the first word, that word blessed, that
Speaker:started with the first Hebrew letter.
Speaker:You guys remember that?
Speaker:And that word destruction, that actually is the...
Speaker:Last, it starts with the last letter of the Hebrew word.
Speaker:You guys get that, right?
Speaker:And I think God is really cool in this.
Speaker:Because you think about it, it's basically saying from A to Z.
Speaker:We pretty much have a poem that goes, It starts off with A and ends with Z.
Speaker:You guys with me here?
Speaker:And when we say from A to Z, we mean A from beginning to end.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And so at the beginning is blessing, and at the end is destruction.
Speaker:But in between, there's direction.
Speaker:On which path you can take and you say, wow, you're telling me you want me to
Speaker:learn something from beginning to the end and you want me to choose this path
Speaker:of blessing and of righteousness and a life with you and so we could choose to
Speaker:be faithful in our relationship to God or we could choose to be unfaithful.
Speaker:Now, the blessings that come along God's path for the here and now and for the
Speaker:life to come are awesome and incredible.
Speaker:But it's clear that there's a call to be righteous in the way we live.
Speaker:If we're going to remain on that path, there's clearly a call to live
Speaker:holy, meaning separate sacred of God.
Speaker:Then to live like those who are in the path of sin.
Speaker:Did you guys catch all of that?
Speaker:Yes, of course you did.
Speaker:And so we see here that we should have an unshakable, unmovable conviction that
Speaker:is those who are considered righteous.
Speaker:We will never flirt with the idea of
Speaker:We're not going to partake.
Speaker:We're not going to get a little bit.
Speaker:Just give me a little something, something of the evil.
Speaker:We're not even going to flirt with the idea.
Speaker:I'm not going to walk and step.
Speaker:I'm not going to stand in the path.
Speaker:And I'm for sure not going to sit down in the company of the mockers.
Speaker:And so again, which path are you truly on?
Speaker:Because if we're on the path of God, then our lifestyle and our
Speaker:choices should reflect that.
Speaker:So yes, that applies to the music that we listen to.
Speaker:Yes, that applies to the media that we consume.
Speaker:But it applies to how I interact in my relationships with the opposite sex.
Speaker:It applies to how I relate to the relationships in
Speaker:my home and in the church.
Speaker:Church, are you with me here?
Speaker:And so man, there's so many blessings that we all want that and hallelujah,
Speaker:but those are reserved for those Who walk in step with the Lord and God is
Speaker:gracious and merciful and he lavishes upon his people But if we want to
Speaker:stay in tune with him, we got to be in tune with the Holy Spirit church.
Speaker:Are you with me?
Speaker:And so the righteous love God's instruction.
Speaker:They love God's teaching and therefore live by his word Which
Speaker:makes us wise and live holy lives.
Speaker:And so, we are called to choose our path today.
Speaker:I want to get very practical here and give some action steps here real quickly.
Speaker:And go ahead and take a picture and write these down here.
Speaker:And I'm asking you here to do this.
Speaker:Either today, tomorrow, or Tuesday here.
Speaker:Do it sooner than later.
Speaker:Is answer these questions.
Speaker:Just go ahead and write them down as you answer them for yourselves here.
Speaker:But go ahead.
Speaker:First off, what path are you on?
Speaker:And let's be honest, honestly.
Speaker:Yeah, maybe I was on that path, but man, the way I've been living, it sure does
Speaker:reflect and look like the other path.
Speaker:Or maybe you know, Hey, you know what?
Speaker:I'm not on the path of God.
Speaker:I'd encourage you even as Chris welcomed us.
Speaker:Go ahead and seek some help today.
Speaker:Every single one of us who is a member of this congregation.
Speaker:We had somebody help us to cross from this path to that path
Speaker:and we are forever grateful.
Speaker:And so I encourage you to go ahead and seek that help out.
Speaker:But again, we can ask this question, how you respond to God's grace.
Speaker:Or God's calling and warning as you realize the path you are on.
Speaker:And in the second section here, answer this question.
Speaker:What path are your family, friends, and neighbors on?
Speaker:And what will you do this week to help those who are on the wrong path?
Speaker:Right now we're going to take communion.
Speaker:This is the time where we remember Jesus death upon the cross, the
Speaker:sacrifice that allows us to have an opportunity of eternal life.
Speaker:And we take the emblem representing his body and his blood that was
Speaker:sacrificed and spilled for us.
Speaker:And I want to close out right here with the passage that we read earlier.
Speaker:Because Jesus is the only way that we can even have a chance to be on the path of
Speaker:the righteous and the holy and of God.
Speaker:And he says, whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living
Speaker:water will flow from within them.
Speaker:Let's pray.
Speaker:God, thank you so much for Jesus.
Speaker:Thank you so much that he provides a path that he is, as we learned
Speaker:last week, or we're reminded of.
Speaker:He is the way, the truth, and the life.
Speaker:And God, we're so thankful that all of us who are in Christ, that
Speaker:we can celebrate our salvation.
Speaker:That we can celebrate and rejoice of the grace and mercy
Speaker:that has been extended to us.
Speaker:But God, we pray that we can soberly assess where we are before you.
Speaker:And God, that we can make choices in response to the resurrection.
Speaker:In response to the cross.
Speaker:To live righteous lives.
Speaker:God, to live in honor of what you have bestowed upon us.
Speaker:God, I pray for all those, maybe those online or those here in the room.
Speaker:God, I pray that they will see that this opportunity is there for them.
Speaker:And it came at a cost.
Speaker:It came at the cost of your son, Jesus died.
Speaker:And if that would move, that would stir and that will compel them to
Speaker:turn and to look toward you and to move from one path to the other.
Speaker:God, you are good and we are thankful that we had this
Speaker:opportunity to worship you today.
Speaker:It's in the name of Jesus.
Speaker:Amen.
