WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, please turn in your Bibles 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to Psalm 1. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our brother Craig said he felt inclined 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to preach from this psalm last week, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but he didn't, because the week before that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brother Nathan Rages 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 brought us a message on stability 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or stay-bility. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And Craig felt that he didn't just use 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this psalm as a launching point, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but kind of stayed here for quite awhile, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so Craig thought to move on, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I think it's interesting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that three preachers in a row 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 have been impressed as I have as well, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 even before Nathan brought that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've been thinking much about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the first psalm. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I am inclined to take us there again, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 even after Craig was done preaching last week, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I told Craig, I believe I am 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 going to deal with Psalm 1, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and, God helping us, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let's look at it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let's read it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in its entirety. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Blessed is the man..." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I'll tell you, if we know Scripture, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there are one in a thousand such men. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Blessed is the man 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 nor stands in the way of sinners, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 nor sits in the seat of scoffers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and on His law, he meditates day and night. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He is like a tree planted 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by streams of water, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that yields its fruit in its season, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and its leaf does not wither. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In all that he does, he prospers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wicked are not so..." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In fact, in the Septuagint, this reads 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as a double negative: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Not so the ungodly." Not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "...but are like chaff, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that the wind drives away. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Therefore the wicked will not stand 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the judgment, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 nor sinners in the congregation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the righteous." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Churches here are mixed, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but as we heard in the first hour, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 every church has at least one devil in it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're mixed here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They won't be then. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "For the Lord knows 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the way of the righteous, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but the way of the wicked will perish." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a psalm. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's the first one. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In it, you saw it, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's two men. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's one called (v. 1) blessed... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is the man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then when you look down in v. 6, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "The Lord knows the way of the righteous." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's one man - the blessed man, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the righteous man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then there's another man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you see him here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 V. 4 - "The wicked are not so." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 V. 5 "The wicked will not stand..." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 V. 6 "The wicked will perish." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We're all here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 All mankind encapsulated in this one psalm. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But see, I see a problem right off. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I mean, as I read this, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I think about preaching it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I recognize, you as you process this, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that man has a built-in disposition 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to deny and reject that he is wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Nobody takes that term upon themselves. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I know you've got certain crazy people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 out there that delight in such things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I'll tell you, when really pushed to it, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as far as their eternal welfare, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as far as their standing before God, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 men sarcastically will talk about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 being wicked, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or in their pride, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they will try to outdo one another 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in evil deeds, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but when they're pressed to it, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 men say, well, in the depths of my heart, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 really at the deepest level, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm a good person. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, I recognize there's a disposition. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because the word just sounds too horrible. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's too heinous. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's just too bad to describe me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And here's what happens: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, men think to themselves, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Ok, I'm about to hear the righteous 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 compared with the wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Well, I know I'm not wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So somehow or another, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what's said of the righteous - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it has to describe me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe not perfectly, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I'm in there somewhere. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because I'm not wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I know I'm not that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, somehow I've got to fit in over here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What's said of the wicked man 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 can't possibly be true of me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, men, men... presuppositions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're ideas about themselves. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In fact, what's interesting is how often 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the Bible has to tell us who we are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's amazing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It has to tell wicked people who they are, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it has to tell the righteous who they are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because we have a real hard time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 getting that straight ourselves, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 even as Christians. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Think about how often 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the New Testament is simply 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 telling Christians who they are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We don't get it right. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 As Christians, we tend to think less 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of ourselves than we ought to. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And as lost people, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we tend to think far more of ourselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 than we ought to. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We have a real hard time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 getting this straight. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so God comes along 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and over and over and over again, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He is telling us who we are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What we are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is why the Bible goes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to all these lengths 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to define us over and over. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's nothing that tells us who we are 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like this book tells us who we are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Nothing describes us like this book. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, here's the thing, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 v. 4, the wicked are not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If we could just tear that out - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we don't want to do that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but if we did, if we just replaced it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with "the man of the world..." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 intelligent, intellectual, wise, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 independent, fun-loving, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 free-spirited, free thinking, witty... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know what, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we might get more people to be honest. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because the problem is, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as soon as the word wicked comes up, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 oh, that's not me! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But you know, if we redefined it a little bit, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and put it in more acceptable terms, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 people would let their guard down. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But that word wicked... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what about that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It makes us think of wicked witches. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wicked - like the devil. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But notice the simplicity of it all. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Look at v. 4. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "The wicked are not so." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Just think about that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Think about the simplicity of that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wicked are not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no horns. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no pointed hat 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and black cats here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They don't torture people in their basement. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What is it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What's true of the righteous... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're not pedophiles. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Pedophiles are wicked, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but you get my drift here? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is just: show me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what the righteous man is; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the wicked man is just not like that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He doesn't have to run around 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 being an axe murderer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's just not like the righteous. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, there's only two categories here, folks. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And if you're not in the righteous, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the blessed man category, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you're in the other. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're just not like the righteous. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We need to see this for what it is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wicked are not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, this is God's teaching. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what Psalm 1 is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What we come to right here - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it was spoken by David in the beginning, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but this is no invention of man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is inspired language. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is God defining humanity. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There are only two alternatives here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Men are so disposed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to think in degrees. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Right? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not just black or white. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We like to think in degrees. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We like to think 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 somewhere in the middle. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That there's other alternatives. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But we're not given that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no middle ground somewhere here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 See, we tend to think, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 well, come on, are you righteous all the time? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Well, you know, I'm a sinner, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I'm not that bad. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, I'm somewhere in the middle. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Scripture doesn't allow that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We tend to think that way, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but Scripture doesn't allow this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 thinking in degrees. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's pretty radical. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Boy, how often does Scripture do this? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's everywhere - in the Old Testament 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and in the New. Everywhere! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That Scripture comes along and says 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Bang! Bang! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Two camps. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're in one or the other. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Radical. No in-between's. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That is such the language of Scripture 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 over and over and over. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Only two men in this psalm. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No middle ground. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Either you're one or the other. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We're looking at two men. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Just two. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're like one. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Or you're not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, let's consider this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let's consider the first four words. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Blessed is the man..." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've got five "P's" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I want to use to describe just this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Blessed is the man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The first is this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The first "P": Plurality. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a plurality of blessednesses. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Martin Luther points out, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I needed somebody else to tell me this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because I can make my way through Greek, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but Hebrew is out there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Luther says in the Hebrew, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the word "blessed" is plural. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's literally blessednesses. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 All blessednesses are the portion 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of this blessed man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 All things are well 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with a man like this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Spurgeon calls it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the multiplicity of blessings. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You want to be this guy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This means everything is good. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Everything is blessed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Blessednesses. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The second "P" is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the propensity towards blessedness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What do I mean by that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Propensity. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The desire. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We desire this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 All men desire this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, as was mentioned by Craig 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 last week, happy, blessed, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 blessed is the man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There are places such as Deuteronomy 33:29: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Happy are you, O Israel! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Who is like you? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A people saved by the Lord." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes, this word can be translated 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 directly: "happy." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The happinesses - it's plural. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 All the happinesses of the man 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's described here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And here's the thing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You think with me here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Of all that God could have done 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in starting out the book of Psalms, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the very first one, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the very first line, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He hits us with the thing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that all men have a propensity for; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that all men long after: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 happiness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We are all anxious to be blessed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we hear Esau, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 remember how he was? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 With his father Isaac? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Bless me, even me also, O my father!" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Bless me! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's how we all are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We want it! We want it! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 See, he was faced with the fact 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that he was losing it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And he was desparate. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Bless me! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We all want that blessing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know what gives man 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 even the ability to make it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from one day to the next 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is hope that ultimately, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he will receive that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Hell is such hopelessness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because it's all gone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The blessedness is all gone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But this is the longing of the soul of man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Right here at the beginning 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the very first psalm. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The third "P": 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The positivity of blessedness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Blessed is the man." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Is. I put stress on "is." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not just that he will be. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The first psalm is God telling us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that blessedness is not just for the future. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You can be sitting here right in this room 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this world at this time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and be a man or woman 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of all blessednesses. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I mean, you can sit here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and be the absolute envy - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if the truth were to be known - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the absolute envy of all mankind. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You have that which all men want. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a positivity here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's attainable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In this world, it's attainable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No matter if it's 106 degrees out. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's attainable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No matter if you're going through trials. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's attainable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the thing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Go with David some time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and visit the nursing home. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Or, come with John Sytsma 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when he goes over to Nepal, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you look at one of these Hindi people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in their seventies or eighties. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You look at the old people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there in the nursing home. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Their faces - empty, hollow, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're just sad. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They've lived their lives. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So many promises of happiness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we talk about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "blessed is the man," 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're one in a thousand. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know what the other 999 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are doing all the time? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The pleasures of sin for a season. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And those little pleasures in sin, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're saying, "Try me! You'll be happy!" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Try me! You'll be happy!" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you're grasping at the wind. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're grasping at mist. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because there's pleasure for a season 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then it's gone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you spend a whole life doing that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and all these promises of happiness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you get to the end 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and their religions haven't done it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Their false gods have not done it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And in all their old age, you look at them, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're miserable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're out of their minds. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They just cuss and they swear 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're mean. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You go there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Isn't that how they are? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Just nasty old people. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Just hopeless. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're getting to the end 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and everything has proven empty. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's just emptiness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Only fear looms before them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Happiness is one of the most elusive things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this world. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You have a world out there chasing it, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and few there be that find it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Few actually lay hold on it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But, the promise here is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that there is a blessed man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's attainable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the thing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And oh, brethren, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 don't we hear it in the very blood of Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If anything whispers "blessedness," 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's that blood. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The next "P" - the fourth: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The place of blessedness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 By "place," I mean, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where is it to be found? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Notice this: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Look at v. 2. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "His delight is in the law of the Lord 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and on His law he meditates day and night." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, brethren, hear me carefully. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is not a text, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you won't find it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Never found it in my Bible - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not any of the Bibles I've ever owned. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You will never find a beatitude that says, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 blessed is the man who hungers and thirsts 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for blessedness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You won't find it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Where is blessedness to be found? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Happiness is not to be found 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in just seeking to be happy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Think with me here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What does this man desire? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The law of the Lord. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He meditates on it day and night. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? Because it's in that he finds his God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In that he finds life; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he finds his Christ, his Messiah. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for righteousness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They will be satisfied. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, think of this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Think of this truth. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If you grab for happiness, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you miss it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It just turns to mist. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It slips away. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's only the man or the woman 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who actually seek for something else 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that find happiness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Do you notice that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Or listen to Psalm 119:2. Don't turn there, but listen. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who seek Him with their whole heart." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We seek Him. We find blessing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We seek His Word. We find blessing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We seek His righteousness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We find blessing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We seek first the Kingdom. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We find all things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Is that not how Scripture is? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh, brethren, that's a principle you don't want to lose. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because men desire blessing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They desire happiness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And most miss it, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because they look for it in the wrong place. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Fifthly, the person of this blessedness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Blessings and happiness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are not tied to the man's circumstances. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You need to see that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 See, the world tends to think, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 blessed is the man that gets a beautiful wife. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Blessed is the man that comes into money. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Blessed is the man that can afford to get that car, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 buy that house. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Blessed is the man that (fill in the blank). 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ...gets the promotion at work. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But do you notice nothing in this psalm 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 has to do with circumstances? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's the person. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's who he is, not the circumstances in his life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's critical. That's crucial. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Blessings and happiness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are tied to who you are, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not what's happening in your life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To who you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To what your relationship is with God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What your relationship is with the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the issue. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, there's those five "P's" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that have to do with "blessed." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, let's just broaden out 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and think about the whole psalm. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, hear me carefully. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This psalm is an entire indicative. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no command here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, I recognize Hebrew doesn't 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 necessarily have indicative verbs, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but in the Greek, in the Septuagint, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's exactly what it is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What am I getting at? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You don't want to know all about Greek and Hebrew. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But what am I getting at? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My point is this: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This psalm doesn't command you to do anything. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Look. Should you go to this psalm and say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 hey, I ought to be more disciplined in the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know, when you get indicatives, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they do imply, they suggest imperatives. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When you're told a fact, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they do sometimes imply 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a responsibility on our part. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's true. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't deny that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And there's many other places where 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you find this to be a reality. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But hear me carefully. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I am not going to preach commandments to you here, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because this psalm does not do that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This psalm basically lays down facts. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Notice, nothing in this psalm is telling you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or seeking to encourage you directly 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to not walk in the counsel of the wicked 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or to stand in a certain place 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or to sit in a certain place. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not commanding you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not encouraging you to be in the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not encouraging you to be a tree. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not encouraging you to be fruitful. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not directly. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You hear what I'm saying. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It basically is a statement of fact. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You say where are you going? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'll tell you where I'm going. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know the problem too often 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when you preach a text like this, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is people go away - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 especially the wicked - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they go away thinking, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 oh, I need to do better at that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's not what this is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a statement of fact. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a description. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is God coming along and He's saying 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you want to know what a righteous man looks like? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Here's what he looks like. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You want to know what a wicked man is? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's not that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's basically what's happening. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Make sure you see that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You say why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because this isn't a pep rally to do better. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a searching. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a spotlight shining on all of us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not an encouragement to go out and strive, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or to go out and run better. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a spotlight shining on you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that proves who you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Make sure you see that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The issue is not so much 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that you need to strive harder, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as much as it is the living God telling us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what is true of all of us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, notice this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 V. 1 is, "Blessed is the man who 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 walks not..." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The negative. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Before you get the positive in v. 2. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "His delight is in the law of the Lord." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You get the negative. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The negative is first. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Isn't that similar to - I think of Isaiah 55 oftentimes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let the wicked forsake his way, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the unrighteous man his thoughts, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and let him return unto the Lord. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So you get the negative first: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 forsake your way. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The positive: return to the Lord. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Or when Jesus came in the New Testament. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What did He say? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Repent! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Repentance is a change of mind. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is that change of mind about sin, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's this turning from sin. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a reversal in life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a forsaking and then believing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Calling upon the Lord in faith. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We often get this negative 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 before the positive. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know what the danger is? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You come along with just the positive 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and people think I need to tack that on my life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Nope, that's not it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's never how it is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's first turning. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a forsaking. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's things we step back from. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's things that the blessed man 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 no longer involves himself in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 before we get to the positive. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the way God often does it in Scripture. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Man in this world - evil, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he's wrong; he's vile - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and God's way is essentially different. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it's not just you staying on your own way, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and your old way, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then tacking on God's way. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is a forsaking of your way. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And a coming to God's way. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the issue. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Blessed is the man who walks not 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the counsel of the wicked, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 nor stands in the way of sinners." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, this is desire being described here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 God's not giving a commandment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a desire. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I know, someone says, exactly! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Negative. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Of course, that's how it starts out. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what Christianity is in a lot of people's minds. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Of course, that's exactly how Christianity is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You can't do this. You can't do that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But, brethren, listen to me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is not a psalm of "thou shalt not's." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a man who desires the Word of God, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the law of the Lord. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a man who has a heart 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that hungers after this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He delights in it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And because he delights in that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he disdains what's against it: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the ways of the world, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the ways of the devil, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the ways that are wrong, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the ways of the scornful, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the ways of the sinner. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're repulsive to him 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because he delights in the law of God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the idea. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, we have to get this in our heads. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Christianity is not just this set 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of external laws that tells us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 don't do this, don't do this... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Christianity is a transformation of heart 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where our delights are now toward the Word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we don't want that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a distaste. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We don't love what we used to love. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Christianity is God changing us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so that we don't desire 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the counsel of the ungodly. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We delight in the Word of Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And brethren, we find His yoke easy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the reality. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Notice the progressiveness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of this first verse. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then it's "stand." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You've got a man walking, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then it's like the man stops walking 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and he stands. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then the man sits. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's progressive what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Incomplete thought) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is a digression. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's like there's motion and then he stops 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then he sits. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's like this increasing grip of sin. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This increasing - Lloyd-Jones called it paralysis of sin. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The blessed man avoids it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And what is this? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What does he avoid? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You say, the wicked, the sinner, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the scoffer... brethren, where are they? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Think about your life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's voices, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We have these voices. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Things are coming in the eyes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and coming in the ears all the time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We see things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We hear things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Where are these voices in this world? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We have means of commication today 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like they never had in any other time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Think of the channels through which 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 these things come. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, you know what they are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Friends. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How often does Scripture speak about companionship? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You want to be a fool? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Hang out with the fools. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Plain and simple. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Social media. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You can hang out with people. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You spend your time there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, what kind of voices are these? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wicked, the sinner, the scoffer... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they're voices that take you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 off of running this race like you should. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're voices that turn us away from God 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and godliness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They scoff. They mock 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at the ways of the righteous. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They scoff and they mock 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at the ways of Scripture. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's all that's advserse to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and against and radically, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 essentially the opposite 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of what's in v. 2: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Loving the law of the Lord. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's everything that's opposed to that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's everything that shuns that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's everything that smirks at that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's everything that slights the ways of God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what we're talking about. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What we're talking about here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is the blessed man; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is the man who looks at the friends 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in his life and says, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I am not going to spend time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with those people anymore. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because you know what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I want to spend time in the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And there's something in their lives, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's something in their words 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that opposes this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I'm not walking there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I'm not standing there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not going to stop 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I'm not going to sit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, it's almost more 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of a progressive stagnation in sin. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not going to do it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not going to go there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm going to evaluate social media. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If that movie is going to take me somehow 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 away from what pleases God, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 why am I going to go do that? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Entertainment? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh you're going to entertain yourself 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by going and standing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the way of the sinner. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Is that it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, the righteous man doesn't do that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, brethren, hear me again. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not saying, ok, you better size up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what you're doing on Facebook 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you better size up what you're doing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the TV and with movies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and with all the technology. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No commandments here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Listen, brethren, what you need to recognize 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is God is telling you what we are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 See, if you're the guy that perpetually 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 has to look at your life and say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 well, I'm massively failing there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, it's not God telling you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you need to get your act straight. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's God telling you who you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Do you recognize that's what's happening 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this psalm? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's saying look at your life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If you walk in the way of the ungodly; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you stand in this place of sinners; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you sit there among those who 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 slight the things that are godly - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's telling you what you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because if you say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 no my delight is in the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Hey, this is all opposed to that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And see, if you say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 no, I'm a blessed man 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because I delight in the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Ok, there's going to be proof. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the proof on the negative side 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is what you no longer do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, there's evidence. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the point. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is indicative. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is indicating what is true. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not here today to tell you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to clean up your act. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There are definitely texts 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that talk about purging that out of your life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which ought not to be there, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and cutting off and gouging out. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No question about that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But brethren, what this is saying to us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is not so much that that's what you need to do, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's saying to us, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you're the blessed man, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's what you already do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's already true in your life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's already a reality. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, this is not commandment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is fact. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 God is not admonishing us specifically 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to be holier. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's telling us the truth about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what holiness looks like. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that holy man is that blessed man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's telling us that if you're that blessed man, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you're not going to run with that same crowd you ran with. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you're not going to do the same things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on the Internet you used to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you're not going to do the same things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at the movie theatre you used to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you're not going to do the same things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in front of the television. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because these are all the avenues 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by which those voices come. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're not going to do the same thing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with family. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're not going to do the same thing with friends. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're not going to do the same things with radio. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're not going to do the same thing with songs and music. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because look, you've got to bring this home. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The counsel of the wicked, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the way of the sinner, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the seat of the scoffer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is real. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You have to put familiar faces on this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is not just this ambiguous thing out there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is your life. This is my life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I'll tell you this, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what He's saying is the blessed man 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is a man who suddenly is not 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 doing all sorts of things that he used to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And one of the primary rationales, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 one of the primary motivations, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 one of the primary movers in all of this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is not external laws. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's what he delights in. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He now delights in the Word of God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so, naturally, if you delight in something, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you don't delight in that which is opposed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the something that you delight in. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the reality here, brethren. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And notice this last one. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because, I think this is key. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Nor sits in the seat of scoffers." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know what a scoffer is? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Or a scorner? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're somebody who mocks. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And even in the church, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we get those who scorn 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they scoff and they mock 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they make light of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 anyone they see who seems more radical. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know what you get in the church? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You get these people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who they want to keep a clear conscience. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And they come to Scripture, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they see something there, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like they look at modesty 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they think what that means 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is I need to wear a dress that's down 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the floor. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're not being legalistic. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're not coming along 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're not pressing that on you and me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They look at Scripture and they say 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 don't set anything that's vain or useless 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 before my eyes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And they say, you know what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think TV altogether is vain and useless. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so they're seeking to do it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And if you're the guy that's always out there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 saying legalism, legalism, legalism! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're likely in the seat of that scoffer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When you look at people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who are trying to keep a clear conscience 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're eradicating things, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they say my eye offends, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and so I'm getting rid of that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm tearing it out and I'm casting it from me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And they're people of conscience. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And they're walking through their life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're going to the Word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they delight in the Word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're looking in the Word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're saying my conscience says 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 oh, look what I find here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now look, you may look at them and say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you know what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Their conscience has not been 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 most accurately informed, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because if you think about other places 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in Scripture... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know what, that may be true, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but don't mock and don't slight at such people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who are trying to keep clear consciences 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 before God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And they're meticulous 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're diligent. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I remember one time when I was down 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at Stockdale, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and a woman came and she had been 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wearing a head convering before that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then she wasn't wearing the head covering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I said where's your head covering? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Did you study Scripture and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you came to another conclusion? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 She said, no, just because the people here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 don't wear them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I said you better get that thing on your head. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? Because she thought 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's what the Lord wants her to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And if that's what you think the Lord 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wants you to do, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and whether it comes down 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to how you raise your children 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or how you love your wife 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or how you drive your car, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or what you do at work - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 brethren, Spurgeon said it one time: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 better to live according to this Word - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how you interpret it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and be wrong, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 than to not do that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You understand what he's saying. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's not saying bad doctrine's good. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's saying you need to live up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the light of the lamp that is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 shining at your feet from this book. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And how you look at it - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's not what everybody else is doing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You do what you believe that God 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wants you to do from that book. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you seek to live with a clear conscience. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know who the scoffer is? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're the people always shouting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "legalism" in the church. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh, that's legalistic. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're just legalists. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You be careful. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You just be careful. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because I tell you what, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you're that person who's always looking 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you're looking down your nose 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at other people who are 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 really trying to walk before the Lord, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're trying to walk 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with a clear conscience, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're trying to please Him 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they're trying to be meticulous 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to God's Word - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you look at them and you call them legalists - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you have been sitting in the seat of the scoffer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let me tell you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not telling you don't do that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Repent of that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Of course, there's a place for that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What I'm telling you is this: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What God is doing is showing you who you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not what you ought to be. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's showing you who you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, notice his delight. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 His delight is in the law of the Lord. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And on His law, he meditates 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 day and night. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Again, brethren, this is not a commandment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the Word of Christ to dwell in you richly. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is a commandment like that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's instruction like that in Scripture. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not saying that there isn't. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm just saying that this psalm 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is basically - the gist of it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that God is telling us the truth 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about ourselves. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh, brethren, the blessed man 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that man who has come to this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 entirely new relationship 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the Word of God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Look, again, I'm telling you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, I am not here to tell you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that if you've not been in the Word, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you need to get in the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What I'm telling you is if you're not in the Word, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's because you don't delight in the Word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and Scripture is telling you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who and what you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the issue. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what's happening here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The blessed man - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he's the man that it's just not theory 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for him to say 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that man shall not live by bread alone, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but by every word that proceedeth 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 forth from the mouth of God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He knows that. He believes that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 His life reflect that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The exact same truth you heard 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from our brother in the first hour 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from John 8. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Listen, Jesus says it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Again, it's not a commandment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a fact. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He says if you abide in My Word, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you are truly My disciples. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's not saying abide in My Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yes, there's places where you can find 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 such statements, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but there are these factual statements 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 made all through Scripture, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that if you are His disciple, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 His Word abides in you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not just that it should. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And if it doesn't, it shows who you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what He was saying to these people. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Listen, brethren, be honest. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is the truth about the blessed man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 On the whole, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you were to drag this man into court, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and accuse him of being a Bible lover, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 guess what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's evidence to convict him. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Where are you? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh, isn't it amazing? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The first psalm - blessings which everybody wants. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it's got to do with where 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the Word of God is in your life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The first first is the negative of that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's the contrary. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You avoid all those voices that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are not like this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But you delight in the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You say, I've never killed anybody. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wicked? They're not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In other words, if you take them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 into the court room, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you say prove that you're a lover 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the Word, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the wicked are not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so if there isn't evidence, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the wicked is not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Well, I own a Bible. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In fact, I have three. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's not what's being said here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Do you delight in it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You say, yeah, I delight in it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Are you meditating on it day and night? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Can you go three days, four days, five days, seven days 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you're not in it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, again, brethren, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is not telling you what you ought 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to be doing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is telling you what you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is the delight of the man. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Look, what you don't want to do 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is walk away from this message and say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 well, you know what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My delight is really in video games; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 hanging out with my friends; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 listening to the new music. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know, what I find delight in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is sex and money and fun... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I guess I better start reading my Bible, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 even though it's not what you really delight to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, it's not doing that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's saying no, the truth is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you can leave that Bible on the shelf, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's not a panting in your soul after it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Look, I recognize there are dry seasons. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But do you hear what's being said? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 On the whole, I don't have to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 invent a bunch of exceptions here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I don't have to define this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in super amounts of detail. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because God doesn't think it's 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that necessary to do it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He simply says this, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the blessed man delights 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the law of the Lord 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and in that law, he meditates day and night. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Period. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what God says. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't need to amend that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't need to add to that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And brethren, what you need to ask 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is be honest. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Does that reflect your life? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because if it doesn't, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the wicked are not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like I said, the wicked isn't just wicked 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because he's torturing people in his basement. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wicked is just the guy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that doesn't delight in the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's not like the righteous person. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what we have here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The righteous man - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he hungers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's something desirable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because the Spirit has opened his eyes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and this Word is now living. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And when he looks into it, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's like... Wow! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's wisdom. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It opens the window to the glory of God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And in these pages, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he sees Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's never seen anything like it before. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He might have looked at it when he was lost, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but now it's just altogether new. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Don't fool yourself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If you're able to be away from this Word; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's just a dry, dead letter, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and basically being in it is a chore. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's like you know when you assess 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 your Christian life, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's like, well yes, I read. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yeah, I've kind of got that in place 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 these last few days. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've really forced myself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I disciplined myself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Although typically, I can go long seasons 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with watching a whole lot more TV 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 than I ever get in the Word; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and be on the Internet a whole lot more 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 than I'd ever be in the Word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Exposing myself to all sorts of voices. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, let's just be honest. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 His delight is in the law of the Lord, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and on His law, he meditates day and night. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the wicked are not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So we have a picture here in v. 3. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The righteous man - the blessed man, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he is like a tree 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 planted by the streams (plural) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of water that yields its fruit 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in its season. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it's leaf does not wither. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In all that he does, he prospers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wicked are not so, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but are like chaff 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that the wind drives away. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We're given this picture. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And again, brethren, I'm going to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 keep emphasizing this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This tells us the truth about ourselves. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Nothing tells the truth about us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like the Bible does. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Spiritually speaking, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 all men are either (incomplete thought). 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Have you ever been - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know up and down 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the San Antonio River - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't think I've seen much of the river 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 other than right here in San Antonio. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I've been to different places 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on the Guadalupe River. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Have you ever seen those cypresses? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh, there are some downtown 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 along the Riverwalk. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know those cypresses? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Great big, massive trees. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know where they grow? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They only grow right alongside the river. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You can try to plant them other places, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but if you don't give them steady water, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they just don't make it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Great big trees, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like a great big cypress tree 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 planted along the Guadalupe River 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with roots that go down into soil 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's moist and life-giving 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 all the time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what the righteous is like. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The unrighteous - a pile of chaff. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know what? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we look at each other 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like we can look at each other right here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I can't see that difference, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it's true. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Spiritually speaking, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if we could pull back the veil, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 some are these massive cypress trees, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 planted along the rivers (plural). 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Rivers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Abundance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And some are just a pile of chaff. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the comparison here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Tree. Chaff. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see the difference? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Your life. My life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Tree or chaff. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What's your life like? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's just radical difference. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, there's no shades here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no degrees here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not like, well, you've got 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a chaff-y looking tree over there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No, none of that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're one or the other. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 People don't tend to realize 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the radical difference between 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the Christian and the non-Christian. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The roots of this tree go deep down. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This man whose heart and mind 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and soul - the roots go down deep 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 into the words of Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The law of the Lord. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They go down into His commandments, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 His Word, and they're pulling the nutrients up. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, didn't Christ say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Sanctify them by Thy truth. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thy Word is truth." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The sanctifying power of the Spirit of God 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 comes through - his delight is in this law. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And in this law, he looks in. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He sees the character of God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He sees the beauties of Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it's transformative. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Those roots go down. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The chaff? The chaff has no roots. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You look at your life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No real roots in here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You don't memorize this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You don't meditate on this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Word is not controlling. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Instead, you've subjected yourself 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to worldly opinions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Wordly counsels. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Worldly mindsets. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 All the time, you're being bombarded. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So it's very easy to put a little Christian title 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on music that's just otherwise ungodly. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We can Christianize just about everything. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But the truth is, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the man who spends a lot of time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this Word - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he can smell out the difference. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He's not just looking at the name 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because you can be like Sardis. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You can have a name, but you're dead. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the person whose heart 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and mind and soul 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are down in the depths of this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 moisture-rich soil of the Word of Christ, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they can tell those things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because it gives them discernment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They see. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Which are you? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A tree versus chaff. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They have nothing in common. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The tree is fruitful. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The fruits of the Spirit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, there's a person 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who spends a lot of time in this book. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Their roots are planted here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that Word abides in them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It stays. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're not hearers only. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But they're doers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And they go forth 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and as they do the Word, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this fruit of the Spirit, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they go up and it's rich. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 By this, our Father is well pleased, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we bring forth much fruit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's an abundance of fruit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Love - the fruit of love. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And there's joy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And there's the fruits of the Spirit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Chaff is not fruit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Chaff is the stuff on the outside 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the kernel or the grain. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's the stuff that gets taken off 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it's winnowed away. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wind blows it away. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You don't want it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's useless. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no good use for it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Nothing like a tree at all. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's entirely different. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no roots. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no fruit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The fruit that it brings forth - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the fruit in this person's life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is really useless. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, the question is this, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 will you be honest with yourself? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Is the Word of God your light? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Your sustenance? Your love? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Your portal into the very mind of Christ? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Is that not what we're told? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We have the very mind of Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I can go into the recesses 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the mind of Christ in this book. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the Spirit reveals and teaches me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, is that what it is? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The window into the very glories of God? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The wicked are not so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let's be honest. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Be honest. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You say, wow, if I'm going to be honest, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm in the category of the wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It makes me very uncomfortable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't like that title. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I don't know much how I can 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 put myself in this other camp. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How do I get to where 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you're saying the blessed man is? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Notice v. 3. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "He is like a tree planted by streams of water." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Isn't that interesting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that God moves David 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (incomplete thought); 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We know that some trees - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a seed falls. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It germinates. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you get a tree. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But you know what's interesting? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's not the picture. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The picture is of a tree that gets planted. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've planted a lot of trees. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Trees just don't end up there, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 unless they get planted. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And a tree doesn't plant itself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Someone puts it there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And there's only one way that you get planted. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 See, this is what I don't want to have happen. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Don't say to yourself 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not like that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I better get my act together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and get like that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so you know what I'm going to do? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I am going to go home 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and even though I haven't been 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the Word much 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and there's dust on the cover... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And Spurgeon said one place 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 many of you can write damnation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the dust on your Bibles. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The way out of this is not to go home 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and clean the dust off 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and open it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Reading Scripture is not how you get planted. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not saying it's a bad thing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You can find the Christ in these words. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Undoubtedly. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But brethren, the ticket here... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The path 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is not to say, well, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I better start coming to church more. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Better get in the Word more. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I better start doing, doing, doing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Don't say that to yourself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Though I would really rather play 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 video games and watch movies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and spend endless hours on Facebook. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And though I'd rather hang out with my friends 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and do a thousand other things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I better force myself into the Bible. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Though I find it dull and lifeless, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for me - life, vigor, living it up... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's watching the game. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's in sports. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's in freedom. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's where it is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Even though I really don't 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 have a love for the brethren. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't have a love for 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the breaking of bread 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and remembering Christ and what He did 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and singing those songs. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't really have a love for all that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't have a love for 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the apostle's doctrine 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and for that preaching that goes on, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and for the Word, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and no love of prayer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I better get my act together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because I don't want to lose my soul. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, look, you don't need religion. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's not how you get planted. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think, "And can it be?" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You remember Charles Wesley? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 John Wesley? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 George Whitefield? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You remember where they were? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The holy club. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They gave their money. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They visited people in prison. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know what, in the end, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the Spirit of God convicted them all - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it was a hopeless path, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they were helpless. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Religion is never the way. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We talked about Luther. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Blessednesses - Luther tried it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Went to the monastery. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Religion never works. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's not the ticket. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's not how you get planted. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You say, how? Tell me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Tell me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The answer is this: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's found in John 3:3. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's, "Truly, truly, I say to you, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 unless one is born again, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he cannot see the Kingdom of God." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yeah, but you didn't tell me anything to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Again, you're just stating the fact. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What does this look like? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, here's what it looks like. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Jesus said - same discourse - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When the Spirit comes, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He is going to convict men of sin, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of righteousness, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of judgment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know what happens? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 God plants us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know what happens? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sin. Something begins to happen, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the Spirit causes it to happen. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You think about it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Conviction. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Where does that happen? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You might say the conscience. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it happens in the mind. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Spirit begins to cause us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to think different. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Suddenly, sin... sin! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And maybe at first, you're even agitated. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That was what was true with me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not that I'm the standard, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I remember in the very beginning, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this emptiness; this hollowness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I just wanted Him to leave me alone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 God, leave me alone 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and let me go back and enjoy... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and much like Pilgrim in Pilgrim's Progress, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you get worldly wise men. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Go try religion. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that's where he went. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He went hiking up there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sometimes we get upset. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But brethren, I remember clearly 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the night the Spirit of God showed me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my sin was wicked and I deserved hell, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and if God didn't put me there - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you see, that's the conviction that comes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We start to feel this weight of sin. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Salvation has to do with sin. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And Jesus said that He did not 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 come for the well. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it is not until we're unwell - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it's the Spirit of God who causes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that to happen. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not just to freak out 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because we happen to hear a message 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it says I must be one of the wicked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, it's when you want your sin 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 dealt with. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's the Spirit of God causing something to happen; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 beginning to disturb us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sin becomes disturbing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We can't just coddle with it anymore. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something is happening. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something begins to happen. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And maybe at first, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you don't know that it's God that's doing it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But something begins to happen to you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And something that never happened before. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something that hasn't happened like this before. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then, righteousness... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there's this desparate sense - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this in itself isn't salvation, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because I have a feeling 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the rich, young ruler felt this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But you begin to get this sense: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 something's missing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I need more than I have 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to get right with God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Do we know that religion isn't doing it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, that's what the Wesley's 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and Whitefield were trying. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This holy club. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They were trying to do all their stuff. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But John Wesley looked at those Moravians, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and he said, I'm missing something. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something isn't there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You see, the Spirit convicts of sin, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and righteousness - or a lack 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of our righteousness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The fact we need more than we have. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The fact we need something. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then judgment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not ready to stand before God. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not ready for this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not ready. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then something is happening in the soul. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, it doesn't always look identical 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in everybody, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but that's what Christ said 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that the Spirit of God would do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that's what happens. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When people are being born again, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the Spirit of God is doing something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the heart of men 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 concerning sin and righteousness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and judgment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then you know what happens. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He came to exalt Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And there, in our despair, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is all the crutches, and all the counsels, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and all the things we rested on, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and all our hopes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and all that we put our stock in. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's just crumbling away 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we can't find... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I need something else. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And sometimes the Spirit of God 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 lets people get to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 an amazing place of despair. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But look, it doesn't matter how much. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's not the issue. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The issue is that then 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the Spirit causes the scales to fall off. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's what happened to Paul. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The scales fell off. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Of you've got it in 2 Corinthians, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's like the veil is pulled back. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And just like God said in the beginning, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 let there be light. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He shows us this glorious light 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the very face of Jesus Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you know what begins to happen? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We hear this message of salvation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the Spirit speaks to us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's for you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's for you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's relevant to you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This crucified Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we see that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We see that this message is for us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We hear those life-giving words. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you will be saved. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And like that lady, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we become convinced, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if I can just touch the hem of His garment, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'll be healed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, that's what happens. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We accept the truth. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You accept the truth 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that Christ Jesus came into the world 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to die for sinners. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that is music to your ears. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That there is a way; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there is a remedy; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there is a Doctor; 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there is a way to be healed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You believe that truth for you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you will come to look up and recognize 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 God has planted me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 beside these waters 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I long after that book 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and for the truths and the promises in it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the Word of Christ. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Brethren, it's not a psalm of commandments. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a psalm that says it like it is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Word of God shows us who we are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Father, I pray 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this message would go deep into the hearts. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Lord, if there are imperatives 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and responsibilities and instructions 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for us to take practically 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to apply to our lives. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Then may it be taken 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and may it be practiced 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and may it be applied. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But Lord, I pray that this Word 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 would be what it seems like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You intended it to be. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A light to shine and expose and reveal 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the very character of every one of us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in this room. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I pray that it would have that effect. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I pray it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Amen.