Growing in the Word

[00:00:00] We ask that you would bless us now as we hear the reading and preaching of your word, and that you would continue to minister to us as sinners who are in need of your grace. Thank you for loving us while we were yet unlovable. Thank you for making us lovely. We ask that you would help us to hear your word, to receive it, and to be doers of it. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. [00:00:24] Let's turn to psalm one. [00:00:43] Psalm one and psalm two serve as an introduction to the whole psalter. Many of the psalms in the book of psalms were written by David, whom we'll be thinking a lot about in one Samuel. [00:00:57] These two psalms provide an important introduction for us as we consider God's word in this book. [00:01:06] Today, we will hear God's word from psalm one, and then next week, Lord willing, psalm two. [00:01:18] 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. [00:01:28] But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. [00:01:36] 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. [00:01:47] The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. [00:01:53] Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. [00:02:06] Amen. You may be seated. [00:02:33] I love this psalm and come back to it often, along with the psalm that follows it, which is a good thing, because here it tells us that it's good to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night, to chew on it, to. [00:02:52] Sometimes I think of this word meditate. I use the image of a sort of a lemon drop. [00:02:58] You put a lemon drop in your mouth and you do not understand lemon drops. If you chomp, chomp, chomp, swallow. Right. The joy of a lemon drop, the joy of certain candies, is to suck on it for a while, to roll it around in your mouth, to taste its sourness, to experience it. Right. It's not just getting full. In fact, that would be really a bad idea to get full on a candy. It's to have an experience of the sweetness and the sourness altogether. And it takes time, which isn't a bad thing. That's the joy of it. The time spending time moving and thinking and exploring all the different shapes that that drop will take as you, as you eat it. [00:03:48] Meditation is kind of like that. [00:03:52] You pick a passage, a truth, a doctrine taught in God's word, and you roll it around, sometimes literally in your mouth. [00:04:04] It's a very useful thing to say God's word and then say it again. And then say it again and say it. Different ways to consider what the different meanings are, as you say it, different ways. [00:04:20] Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. [00:04:38] Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. [00:04:44] With these various, as we mull these things over, as we say them, as we repeat them, as we memorize them, we come to a better understanding of God's word. [00:04:55] We come to understand its parts, its whole, its connections. [00:04:59] And so it doesnt surprise me that I am able to return to this and really every other portion of scripture over and over and over again. [00:05:11] Another reason that its so valuable to come to scripture over and over again, and there are many, is that were not just perfect learning machines, where you put in some information, it improves the system, and then we get a little better next time, right? We forget things, we ignore things. We come into contact with new information that changes old understandings. [00:05:36] There is imperfection in us. There's sin in us sometimes. You have heard me encourage you that when you're in Bible studies, when you're reading the scriptures, to ask a question like this, how would the devil want me to read this passage? [00:05:53] How would Satan want to, how would he want me to hear this, or rather mishear it? Right. And to be sensitive to the ways that God works in our hearts, but also the ways in which we're influenced by our flesh, by the evil one, by the world. [00:06:12] And for that reason, because of this is who we are and this is the situation we're in, it's so useful to come to God's word over and over again. [00:06:20] And if we could be really particular, as the psalmist says here, not just over and over again occasionally throughout our lives, but what he says is, blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night, every day, continually, multiple times a day, bookending his day in mornings and in evenings with God's word. [00:06:46] Well, as we begin to apply some of that, those instructions, those exhortations to this psalm in particular, what are some of the things that we see, what do we learn? [00:06:58] And one of the things that we learn that's so important, especially here at the introduction of the psalms, is that there are these two paths. There are these two ways, two roads that lead two particular places and very different ends. [00:07:15] And like a lot of forks in the road, both paths, we could say, begin with one step, right? You deviate just slightly this direction or that direction, and six months later, if you keep heading, you can be way away from where you originally intended. [00:07:35] Or to think of it positively, you can be much further away from where you were trying to get away from. [00:07:41] Right? One step in a different direction can make a big difference. [00:07:47] Let's begin by thinking about these two paths. And our goal will be to be thinking about Christ at the end of this psalm, to thinking about his character, who he is, how that comes across in this psalm, to thinking about the call that we have in him as christians, and to think about the connection between his character and our call with the cross of Christ, and how the Lord in his suffering and his death bridges these two things between who he is and who he calls us to be. [00:08:24] But first, these two paths. [00:08:27] One of the things we see, as I mentioned, is that there is these trajectories. And the way that the psalm puts it is there's kind of a setting, a settling that happens for those who walk in. The counsel of the wicked. Notice the progression. [00:08:45] One of the things that happens when we meditate is we notice things. We notice that he walks first, then he stands, then he sits. [00:08:55] Right. [00:08:56] There's this sense and maybe an implication here that if you do the first one, you're likely to do the second, and if you do the second, you're likely to do the third, that it goes somewhere. And the place it goes is to a settledness that is not good. [00:09:13] The counsel of the wicked, the way of sinners, the seat of scoffers. [00:09:20] Sometimes people get themselves in these situations and they say, how did I get here? This is not what I thought would happen, but a lot of times it happens progressively, slowly, one step, another and another. [00:09:35] We begin by just saying, well, I'll just listen. I'll just be interested and curious. I'll just walk this way for a little while. And the next thing we know, we find ourselves standing around talking. The next thing we know we're sitting and settled in places and with people that we ought not to be. [00:09:55] How is this avoided? [00:09:58] Verse two tells us by taking another path a different way. [00:10:03] Blessed is the man who does not do these things, but instead delights in the law of the Lord, and on his law meditates day and night. [00:10:13] This word law can refer to a number of different things, and people have proposed different interpretations. One is that it refers to the first five books of Moses. The Torah, sometimes called the law. The books of Moses could refer to specifically commandments, stipulations, rules. [00:10:33] David talks about these throughout the psalms. And the joy of knowing God's rules, the joy of knowing what he wants. [00:10:44] Sometimes when we hear the word rules, our spirits in us immediately tighten up and. [00:10:52] And almost want to disobey when hearing that God would have something for us. [00:11:00] If you feel that in yourself that's worth paying attention to, why do I immediately bristle hearing that God wants something that's a concerning thing, and we ought to not just pay attention to it, but try to subdue that? [00:11:15] There's another way of thinking about God's rules that I think are helpful, especially to those of us who love him. And it's to think about things in terms of his will. Not to say that they aren't rules or aren't commandments, but to put it in the way of, what does he want? [00:11:30] What does he command? [00:11:32] Who is this one who has saved me, and what does he want for my life? Isn't this what so many people are asking anyway, they want to know? What does God want for me? What is the plan? How am I supposed to act? What is a good way to live? [00:11:48] It's a great irony and, of course, attributed to our sin. When we ask this question, he tells us, and then we say, well, that's not the answer that I wanted. [00:11:57] No, we ought to hear his word and delight in it and be thankful for it, for the good path it sets, the direction it gives to us. [00:12:08] I think, though, as we take this word law in light of all of the scripture, we can say it doesn't just apply to God's rules, but it does apply to the word as a whole, because there's no blessing to us in understanding the law apart from the gospel. There's no blessing to us in understanding what the law is if we think we can just do it on our own. We haven't really understood the law then, or the gospel. If we approach God's law and we say, okay, give me the checklist now let me execute, then you've not understood the law, because the law not only tells us what we should do, but the law condemns us for what we have not done. The law puts us under judgment. The law reminds us that we are sinners and worthy of God's punishment. [00:12:57] And in that way, hopefully, it generates some questions inside of us. It makes us say, well, what am I going to do about that? What are my options? Or, as people have eloquently and quickly put it, what must I do to be saved? [00:13:15] Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. Maybe I can just touch the hem of his garment or be near him or hear his word. Something, something it should produce in us a kind of desperation to know the Lord and to experience his salvation. [00:13:32] And what he tells us is his salvation comes not from obedience through the law, but through faith. Receiving that Jesus has fulfilled the law for us. Again, the law becomes so central for us here. To hear that the Lord Jesus has fulfilled the law for us begins to help us to think about how to understand psalm one in light of Christ, which is what all the scriptures are about. [00:13:58] Jesus 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. Jesus is the one in whose delight was in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditated day and night. [00:14:15] Jesus didn't say, I don't really want to spend any time with my father today. [00:14:19] Jesus was one with the father and found, as we may say, in a human way, delighted and gloried in the union that he had with the Father. [00:14:32] In his humanity, Jesus often took time away. He left his disciples, he left sick people, desperate people right in front of him, and said later, so that he could go spend time with the Father, so he could be away in the wilderness and pray, where is Jesus? [00:14:53] Was a question that was sometimes asked. [00:14:59] Jesus loved the word of the Lord, and Jesus was the word of the Lord. [00:15:09] 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. [00:15:23] What adjectives come to mind as you hear this description of this tree, as you hear a description of Christ and ultimately of all who are grafted into that tree, who belong to him. [00:15:36] What adjectives come to mind? [00:15:39] Here's some for me. [00:15:41] A living, living, strong, sturdy, safe. [00:15:50] 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, prosperous, happy, being what it is called to be. [00:16:07] This tree does not have an identity crisis. [00:16:10] This tree is not wandering around going, what am I supposed to be? Who am I? [00:16:16] This tree is a tree. It's simple. It's satisfied. [00:16:23] It's calm, it's productive. It receives, it gives, it prospers. [00:16:34] This is the path of righteousness. This is that way of righteousness that the Lord is calling us to. [00:16:41] And it's the character of the righteous, one of our savior. It describes him steady, happy, joyful, safe, productive, helpful. [00:16:59] The wicked are not so. [00:17:02] They are back to the other path, back and forth, back and forth. The wicked are not so. Take all of those adjectives. Steady, productive, good, happy. Here the wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away. [00:17:20] Chaff is not steady. [00:17:23] It blows away with barely any effort. Barely any effort. Chaff is this leftover material, this light of, at least as I understand it, coffee brewing or roasting, it's the shell cracks and the stuff is left over and it's this very light, fluffy stuff and you just barely breathe on it and it just floats away, which why it's good to do it outside, not in your living room. [00:17:50] Chaff is blown away. [00:17:53] The wicked are like this. The wicked, as we will see in psalm two, as some of these themes get picked up, they think they're all that. They think they're strong. They think they're like those trees, right? Look at psalm two, verse two. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers counsel. Hear that? That word comes back. Take counsel together against the Lord and anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast their cords from us. [00:18:21] They're ready. They're strong. The war council has met. The planning has happened. They're ready to execute the planned and ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:18:34] But it's not going to happen. [00:18:36] Why? [00:18:38] Because the truth is not how they are saying it is. [00:18:42] They say they are strong. They look strong, but they're not. [00:18:46] What is the truth? This is where God's word is helpful. The truth is that they are like chaff that the wind drives away. [00:18:55] Whenever you find yourself afraid of the wicked, remind yourself what God's word says. Chaff. [00:19:03] Chaff. This is no threat to me. The Lord can drive them away as easy as just a little breath on a few light and unproductive things. [00:19:18] Because the wicked are like chaff. [00:19:22] They will not stand in the judgment. Right. It's sort of obvious to say at this point of verse five, they will not stand in the judgment. Verse five speaks of the wicked's relationship to the Lord and then their relationship to us. They will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. [00:19:44] We're going to be fine. We're going to be okay. The Lord will drive them away. They will not stand before him in his judgment as mighty as they are. The Lord is so much mighty, and we, as the congregation are protected. Sinners will not be long in the kingdom of God when the Lord comes and brings his judgment on all in the church, the visible church, right now, we experience a mix of wheat and weeds growing up together. [00:20:21] We live in a world as sojourners, as exiles. We live in a world where the sheep and the goats are not always easily distinguished and where they live and work and play and mix together. [00:20:34] But this will not always be so. [00:20:37] There's coming a day when the Lord will return and he will separate the sheep and the goats, the righteous and the unrighteous, the sinners and the repentant, on one hand and on the other. [00:20:50] And the sinners will not stand. [00:20:53] For those of us who are plotting against the Lord, for those of us who are taking counsel together and putting our confidence in ourselves and in our power. This ought to be terrifying. [00:21:05] It ought to be a great warning to you. [00:21:09] You must stop. [00:21:11] You're on a dangerous path if you are meditating not on the law of the Lord a day and night, but you are meditating on your greedy, on the things that you want, if you're meditating on your lusts, if you're making plans, as the scriptures say, of the fool making plans on his bed, of the wicked things he will do, if that's where your mind is, if that's what's in your heart, you are on a very dangerous path, because you will be like chaff that the wind drives away. And that wind is God in his wrath, his breath, his wind, his spirit was breathed into Adam, and a man was born. [00:22:04] That same breath that brings life can also bring death. [00:22:09] God can bring his wind on the people and institutions and kingdoms of this world, and they can fall instantly, overnight. [00:22:21] And on the great judgment day of the Lord, when the Lord returns, there will be no more tomorrow, no more provisional. And so we must be made aware. [00:22:34] For those of us who know our wickedness and have confessed it and have said, Lord, please save me, save me from myself, save me from your judgment, save me from your world. He promises to make you and call you righteous. [00:22:51] He promises that you will be like that tree. [00:22:55] For the character of the Lord is not just on display here, but also is this call to us to choose the right path. [00:23:06] When Jesus says, my sheep, hear my voice, when Jesus speaks to his disciples early in the gospels and says, come, follow me, there's something similar going on here in psalm one, he's calling us to come and to follow him, to not go a different way, but to follow him. But to say, make me a tree, and not just a tree, maybe we could say a branch. [00:23:35] Make me one that belongs to you, that's united to you. Make me one that is strong and happy and safe and secure. [00:23:46] Keep me from the paths of wickedness. Keep me in the law of the Lord. Help me to meditate on you and the things that you have said day and night. [00:24:01] The promise at the end of the psalm, the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish, underlines that call to us. [00:24:11] And when we think of the cross, which, as I said earlier, bridges these two things, the character of the Lord and the call that he places on our lives, the cross bridges these two things, and it does it this way. [00:24:27] If the law the Lord did was call to us and say, okay, be righteous, follow the right path, we'd be utterly ruined for all reasons we've already talked about. [00:24:41] But what does the Lord do on the cross? [00:24:44] He perishes. [00:24:46] He shows us in his own body, in his own shed blood. What happens because of wickedness? [00:24:54] The scriptures tell us in so many ways and explicitly that Jesus himself knew no sin. [00:25:01] Jesus was like this tree. Jesus was perfect. Jesus was righteous. So why did Jesus die? [00:25:07] He died for you. [00:25:10] He died not because he had his own sins to pay for, because he had done some great and horrible thing, but because we have. [00:25:20] When we look to the cross, we can say with confidence the way of the wicked will perish. [00:25:29] And what do the scriptures say about us who have put our faith in him? [00:25:34] It says that you have died in him. [00:25:38] You can say to the Lord, praise you, God, because the way of the wicked has perished in me. [00:25:48] The bondage of sin that enslaved me has been broken, the blindness I had to seeing where I was standing, the places I was walking, where I was sitting down. [00:26:03] We have become like the prodigal son, where our eyes have been opened up, we say, what have I done? What am I eating? Who am I with? [00:26:12] What have I given up? [00:26:15] When we look to the cross and we see that the way of the wicked will perish, not just as a warning, but in some ways as a hope. Because the Lord has died for us, because the Lord has taken care of our wickedness, we can look to him, we can trust him, and we can come to our heavenly Father, who, as we read in the prodigal son, comes running toward us in his love and grace. [00:26:45] This is the hope that we have in Christ. [00:26:50] And so as we sing a psalm, one which we'll do in a moment after we pray, I want you to sing with Jesus in your mind, with Jesus in your heart, knowing that when you sing of the righteous one and of the blessed one, you sing of him. [00:27:09] And when your heart desires to be like him and be in him, and to follow this path and to follow this way, let your prayer be that the Lord will bring that about in your life. [00:27:23] He promises to do so. [00:27:26] Our desire to be like him and in him is a good thing. Let's pursue it by his grace. [00:27:34] Let's begin with prayer. [00:27:36] Our heavenly Father, we thank you for clearly presenting to us these paths so often. We make our hearts and our worlds more confusing than they really are. There is blessedness and curse. There's life and death. There's delight. There's danger. There's joy in the Lord. There's wrath in the Lord. There's safety among sinners. There's exclusion from the saints. We ask that you would help us to discern these two paths and the various ways in which they weave themselves through our lives and help us to see that the only path of righteousness is found in Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through him. [00:28:20] So let us learn not just from his way, but learn to walk in his way. Let us learn not to just be like him, but to be in him, to put all of our faith and hope in his righteousness, in his blessedness, in his salvation. [00:28:37] We thank you, Lord, that you. [00:28:40] That you have died for us, that you went to the cross so that the way of the wicked would perish not just at the end of the world, but in our own lives. And we ask that you would continue to mortify within our hearts the way of wickedness, that the flesh may not rule over the spirit, but that the spirit would rule over the flesh. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.