WEBVTT

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Brethren, please turn in your Bibles

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to Psalm 1.

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Our brother Craig said he felt inclined

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to preach from this psalm last week,

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but he didn't, because 
the week before that

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Brother Nathan Rages

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brought us a message on stability

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or stay-bility.

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And Craig felt that he didn't just use

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this psalm as a launching point,

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but kind of stayed here for quite awhile,

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so Craig thought to move on,

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but I think it's interesting

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that three preachers in a row

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have been impressed as I have as well,

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even before Nathan brought that.

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I've been thinking much about

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the first psalm.

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And I am inclined to take us there again,

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even after Craig was 
done preaching last week,

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I told Craig, I believe I am

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going to deal with Psalm 1,

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and, God helping us,

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let's look at it.

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Let's read it

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in its entirety.

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"Blessed is the man..."

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And I'll tell you, if we know Scripture,

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there are one in a thousand such men.

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"Blessed is the man

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who walks not in the 
counsel of the wicked,

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nor stands in the way of sinners,

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nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

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But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

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and on His law, he 
meditates day and night.

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He is like a tree planted

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by streams of water,

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that yields its fruit in its season,

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and its leaf does not wither.

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In all that he does, he prospers.

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The wicked are not so..."

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In fact, in the Septuagint, this reads

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as a double negative:

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Not so the ungodly. Not so.

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"...but are like chaff,

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that the wind drives away.

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Therefore the wicked will not stand

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in the judgment,

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nor sinners in the congregation

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of the righteous."

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Churches here are mixed,

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but as we heard in the first hour,

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every church has at least one devil in it.

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They're mixed here.

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They won't be then.

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"For the Lord knows

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the way of the righteous,

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but the way of the wicked will perish."

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This is a psalm.

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It's the first one.

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In it, you saw it,

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there's two men.

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There's one called (v. 1) blessed...

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is the man.

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And then when you look down in v. 6,

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"The Lord knows the way of the righteous."

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There's one man - the blessed man,

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the righteous man.

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And then there's another man.

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And you see him here.

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V. 4 - "The wicked are not so."

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V. 5 "The wicked will not stand..."

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V. 6 "The wicked will perish."

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We're all here.

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All mankind encapsulated 
in this one psalm.

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But see, I see a problem right off.

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I mean, as I read this,

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and I think about preaching it.

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I recognize, you - as you process this,

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that man has a built-in disposition

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to deny and reject that he is wicked.

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Nobody takes that term upon themselves.

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I know you've got certain crazy people

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out there that delight in such things.

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But I'll tell you, when 
really pushed to it,

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as far as their eternal welfare,

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as far as their standing before God,

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men sarcastically will talk about

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being wicked,

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or in their pride,

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they will try to outdo one another

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in evil deeds,

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but when they're pressed to it,

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men say, well, in the depths of my heart,

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really at the deepest level,

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I'm a good person.

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You see, I recognize 
there's a disposition.

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Why?

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Because the word just sounds too horrible.

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Wicked.

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It's too heinous.

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It's just too bad to describe me.

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And here's what happens:

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So, men think to themselves,

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Ok, I'm about to hear the righteous

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compared with the wicked.

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Well, I know I'm not wicked.

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So somehow or another,

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what's said of the righteous -

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it has to describe me.

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Maybe not perfectly,

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but I'm in there somewhere.

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Because I'm not wicked.

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I know I'm not that.

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So, somehow I've got to fit in over here.

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What's said of the wicked man

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can't possibly be true of me.

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You see, men, men... presuppositions -

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their ideas about themselves.

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In fact, what's interesting is how often

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the Bible has to tell us who we are.

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It's amazing.

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It has to tell wicked people who they are,

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and it has to tell the 
righteous who they are.

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Why?

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Because we have a real hard time

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getting that straight ourselves,

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even as Christians.

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Think about how often

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the New Testament is simply

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telling Christians who they are.

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We don't get it right.

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As Christians, we tend to think less

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of ourselves than we ought to.

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And as lost people,

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we tend to think far more of ourselves

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than we ought to.

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We have a real hard time

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getting this straight.

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And so God comes along

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and over and over and over again,

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He is telling us who we are.

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What we are.

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This is why the Bible goes

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to all these lengths

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to define us over and over.

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And you know what?

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There's nothing that tells us who we are

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like this book tells us who we are.

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Nothing describes us like this book.

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So, here's the thing,

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v. 4, the wicked are not so.

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You know what?

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If we could just tear that out -

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we don't want to do that,

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but if we did, if we just replaced it

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with "the man of the world..."

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intelligent, intellectual, wise,

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independent, fun-loving,

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free-spirited, free thinking, witty...

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you know what,

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we might get more 
people to be honest.

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Because the problem is, as soon
as the word wicked comes up,

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oh, that's not me!

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But you know, if we 
redefined it a little bit,

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and put it in more acceptable terms,

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people would let their guard down.

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But that word wicked...

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what about that?

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It makes us think of wicked witches.

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The wicked - like the devil.

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But notice the simplicity of it all.

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Look at v. 4.

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"The wicked are not so."

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Just think about that.

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Think about the simplicity of that.

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The wicked are not so.

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There's no horns.

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There's no pointed hat

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and black cats here.

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They don't torture people 
in their basement.

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What is it?

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What's true of the righteous...

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not so.

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That's the wicked.

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They're not pedophiles.

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Pedophiles are wicked,

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but you get my drift here?

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This is just: show me

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what the righteous man is;

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the wicked man is just not like that.

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He doesn't have to run around

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being an axe murderer.

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He's just not like the righteous.

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You see, there's only 
two categories here, folks.

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And if you're not in the righteous,

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the blessed man category,

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you're in the other.

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You're just not like the righteous.

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That's it.

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That's the wicked.

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We need to see this for what it is.

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The wicked are not so.

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Brethren, this is God's teaching.

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That's what Psalm 1 is.

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What we come to right here -

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it was spoken by David in the beginning,

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but this is no invention of man.

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This is inspired language.

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This is God defining humanity.

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There are only two alternatives here.

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You see it.

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Men are so disposed

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to think in degrees.

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Right?

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It's not just black or white.

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We like to think in degrees.

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We like to think

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somewhere in the middle.

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That there's other alternatives.

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But we're not given that.

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There's no middle ground somewhere here.

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See, we tend to think,

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well, come on, are you 
righteous all the time?

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Well, you know, I'm a sinner,

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but I'm not that bad.

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I'm not wicked.

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So, I'm somewhere in the middle.

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Scripture doesn't allow that.

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We tend to think that way,

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but Scripture doesn't allow this

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thinking in degrees.

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It's pretty radical.

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Boy, how often does Scripture do this?

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It's everywhere - in the Old Testament

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and in the New. Everywhere!

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That Scripture comes along and says

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Bang! Bang!

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Two camps.

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You're in one or the other.

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Radical. No in-between's.

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That is such the language of Scripture

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over and over and over.

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Only two men in this psalm.

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No middle ground.

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Either one or the other.

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We're looking at two men.

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Just two.

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You're like one.

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Or you're not so.

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So, let's consider this.

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Let's consider the first four words.

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"Blessed is the man..."

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I've got five "P's"

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that I want to use to describe just this:

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Blessed is the man.

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The first is this.

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The first "P": Plurality.

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There's a plurality of blessednesses.

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Martin Luther points out,

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and I needed somebody else to tell me this

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because I can make my way through Greek,

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but Hebrew is out there.

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Luther says in the Hebrew,

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the word "blessed" is plural.

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It's literally blessednesses.

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All blessednesses are the portion

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of this blessed man.

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All things are well

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with a man like this.

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Spurgeon calls it

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the multiplicity of blessings.

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You want to be this guy.

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This means everything is good.

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Everything is blessed.

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Blessednesses.

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The second "P" is

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the propensity towards blessedness.

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What do I mean by that?

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Propensity.

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The desire.

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We desire this.

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All men desire this.

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Brethren, as was mentioned by Craig

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last week, happy, blessed,

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blessed is the man.

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There are places such 
as Deuteronomy 33:29 -

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"Happy are you, O Israel!

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Who is like you?

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A people saved by the Lord."

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Yes, this word can be translated

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directly: "happy."

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The happinesses - it's plural.

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All the happinesses of the man

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that's described here.

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And here's the thing.

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You think with me here.

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Of all that God could have done

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in starting out the book of Psalms,

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the very first one,

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the very first line,

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He hits us with the thing

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that all men have a propensity for;

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that all men long after:

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happiness.

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We are all anxious to be blessed.

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When we hear Esau,

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remember how he was?

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With his father Isaac?

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"Bless me, even me also, O my father!"

00:14:34.292 --> 00:14:36.525
Bless me!

00:14:36.525 --> 00:14:38.334
That's how we all are.

00:14:38.334 --> 00:14:39.789
We want it!
We want it!

00:14:39.789 --> 00:14:41.411
See, he was faced with the fact

00:14:41.411 --> 00:14:42.759
that he was losing it.

00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:44.156
And he was desparate.

00:14:44.156 --> 00:14:45.028
Bless me!

00:14:45.028 --> 00:14:47.194
We all want that blessing.

00:14:47.194 --> 00:14:49.723
And you know what gives man

00:14:49.723 --> 00:14:51.311
even the ability to make it

00:14:51.311 --> 00:14:53.540
from one day to the next

00:14:53.540 --> 00:14:58.485
is hope that ultimately,

00:14:58.485 --> 00:15:00.949
he will receive that.

00:15:00.949 --> 00:15:02.747
Hell is such hopelessness

00:15:02.747 --> 00:15:04.704
because it's all gone.

00:15:04.704 --> 00:15:07.314
The blessednesses - all gone.

00:15:07.314 --> 00:15:09.540
But this is the longing 
of the soul of man.

00:15:09.540 --> 00:15:11.170
Right here at the beginning

00:15:11.170 --> 00:15:12.979
of the very first psalm.

00:15:12.979 --> 00:15:14.593
The third "P":

00:15:14.593 --> 00:15:16.933
The positivity of blessedness.

00:15:16.933 --> 00:15:18.182
What do I mean?

00:15:18.182 --> 00:15:20.693
"Blessed is the man."

00:15:20.693 --> 00:15:23.140
Is. I put stress on "is."

00:15:23.140 --> 00:15:25.021
It's not just that he will be.

00:15:25.021 --> 00:15:27.240
He is.

00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:30.274
The first psalm is God telling us

00:15:30.274 --> 00:15:34.002
that blessedness is not 
just for the future.

00:15:34.002 --> 00:15:36.967
You can be sitting here right in this room

00:15:36.967 --> 00:15:39.182
in this world at this time

00:15:39.182 --> 00:15:42.013
and be a man or woman

00:15:42.013 --> 00:15:44.818
of all blessednesses.

00:15:44.818 --> 00:15:47.732
I mean, you can sit here

00:15:47.732 --> 00:15:54.972
and be the absolute envy -

00:15:54.972 --> 00:15:57.731
if the truth were to be known -

00:15:57.731 --> 00:16:01.055
the absolute envy of all mankind.

00:16:01.055 --> 00:16:06.241
You have that which all men want.

00:16:06.241 --> 00:16:07.700
There's a positivity here.

00:16:07.700 --> 00:16:08.997
It's attainable.

00:16:08.997 --> 00:16:10.772
In this world, it's attainable.

00:16:10.772 --> 00:16:13.006
No matter if it's 106 degrees out.

00:16:13.006 --> 00:16:13.805
It's attainable.

00:16:13.805 --> 00:16:15.886
No matter if you're going through trials.

00:16:15.886 --> 00:16:16.856
It's attainable.

00:16:16.856 --> 00:16:21.061
That's the thing.

00:16:21.061 --> 00:16:22.806
Go with David some time

00:16:22.806 --> 00:16:24.819
and visit the nursing home.

00:16:24.819 --> 00:16:26.857
Or, come with John Sytsma

00:16:26.857 --> 00:16:28.389
when he goes over to Nepal,

00:16:28.389 --> 00:16:33.953
and you look at one of these Hindi people

00:16:33.953 --> 00:16:36.493
in their seventies or eighties.

00:16:36.493 --> 00:16:38.006
You look at the old people

00:16:38.006 --> 00:16:41.243
there in the nursing home.

00:16:41.243 --> 00:16:46.494
Their faces - empty, hollow,

00:16:46.494 --> 00:16:48.445
and they're just sad.

00:16:48.445 --> 00:16:49.322
Why?

00:16:49.322 --> 00:16:51.200
They've lived their lives.

00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:55.693
So many promises of happiness.

00:16:55.693 --> 00:16:58.939
When we talk about

00:16:58.939 --> 00:17:00.771
"blessed is the man,"

00:17:00.771 --> 00:17:03.916
they're one in a thousand.

00:17:03.916 --> 00:17:06.752
You know what the other 999

00:17:06.752 --> 00:17:09.250
are doing all the time?

00:17:09.250 --> 00:17:11.434
The pleasures of sin for a season.

00:17:11.434 --> 00:17:13.103
And those little pleasures in sin,

00:17:13.103 --> 00:17:15.228
they're saying, "Try me! You'll be happy!"

00:17:15.228 --> 00:17:17.868
"Try me! You'll be happy!"

00:17:17.868 --> 00:17:20.921
And you're grasping at the wind.

00:17:20.921 --> 00:17:22.750
You're grasping at mist.

00:17:22.750 --> 00:17:24.691
Because there's pleasure for a season

00:17:24.691 --> 00:17:26.625
and then it's gone.

00:17:26.625 --> 00:17:29.270
And you spend a whole life doing that

00:17:29.270 --> 00:17:31.083
and all these promises of happiness.

00:17:31.083 --> 00:17:32.525
And you get to the end

00:17:32.525 --> 00:17:34.254
and their religions haven't done it.

00:17:34.254 --> 00:17:36.021
Their false gods have not done it.

00:17:36.021 --> 00:17:38.144
And in all their old age, 
you look at them,

00:17:38.144 --> 00:17:39.045
they're miserable.

00:17:39.045 --> 00:17:40.444
They're out of their minds.

00:17:40.444 --> 00:17:42.209
They just cuss and they swear

00:17:42.209 --> 00:17:43.999
and they're mean.

00:17:43.999 --> 00:17:45.090
You go there.

00:17:45.090 --> 00:17:46.328
Isn't that how they are?

00:17:46.328 --> 00:17:47.621
Just nasty old people.

00:17:47.621 --> 00:17:48.359
Why?

00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:49.933
Just hopeless.

00:17:49.933 --> 00:17:51.233
They're getting to the end

00:17:51.233 --> 00:17:53.525
and everything has proven empty.

00:17:53.525 --> 00:17:55.450
It's just emptiness.

00:17:55.450 --> 00:17:57.862
Only fear looms before them.

00:17:57.862 --> 00:18:00.529
Happiness is one of 
the most elusive things

00:18:00.529 --> 00:18:02.176
in this world.

00:18:02.176 --> 00:18:05.081
You have a world out there chasing it,

00:18:05.081 --> 00:18:07.745
and few there be that find it.

00:18:07.745 --> 00:18:10.772
Few actually lay hold on it.

00:18:10.772 --> 00:18:13.437
But, the promise here is

00:18:13.437 --> 00:18:15.648
that there is a blessed man.

00:18:15.648 --> 00:18:17.383
It's attainable.

00:18:17.383 --> 00:18:18.670
That's the thing.

00:18:18.670 --> 00:18:20.310
And oh, brethren,

00:18:20.310 --> 00:18:23.843
don't we hear it in the 
very blood of Christ.

00:18:23.843 --> 00:18:28.243
If anything whispers "blessedness,"

00:18:28.243 --> 00:18:32.370
it's that blood.

00:18:32.370 --> 00:18:37.253
The next "P" - the fourth:

00:18:37.253 --> 00:18:41.025
The place of blessedness.

00:18:41.025 --> 00:18:44.561
By "place," I mean,

00:18:44.561 --> 00:18:49.899
where is it to be found?

00:18:49.899 --> 00:18:53.109
Notice this:

00:18:53.109 --> 00:18:54.849
Look at v. 2.

00:18:54.849 --> 00:18:59.452
"His delight is in the law of the Lord

00:18:59.452 --> 00:19:04.814
and on His law he 
meditates day and night."

00:19:04.814 --> 00:19:09.817
Now, brethren, hear me carefully.

00:19:09.817 --> 00:19:11.515
There is not a text,

00:19:11.515 --> 00:19:13.120
and you won't find it.

00:19:13.120 --> 00:19:14.524
Never found it in my Bible -

00:19:14.524 --> 00:19:16.925
not any of the Bibles I've ever owned.

00:19:16.925 --> 00:19:19.560
You will never find a beatitude that says,

00:19:19.560 --> 00:19:25.151
blessed is the man who hungers and thirsts

00:19:25.151 --> 00:19:27.420
for blessedness.

00:19:27.420 --> 00:19:29.264
You won't find it.

00:19:29.264 --> 00:19:32.493
It's not there.

00:19:32.493 --> 00:19:36.283
Where is blessedness to be found?

00:19:36.283 --> 00:19:38.784
Happiness is not to be found

00:19:38.784 --> 00:19:41.843
in just seeking to be happy.

00:19:41.843 --> 00:19:43.552
Think with me here.

00:19:43.552 --> 00:19:46.572
What does this man desire?

00:19:46.572 --> 00:19:48.621
The law of the Lord.

00:19:48.621 --> 00:19:50.565
He meditates on it day and night.

00:19:50.565 --> 00:19:53.013
Why? Because in 
that he finds his God.

00:19:53.013 --> 00:19:54.305
In that he finds life;

00:19:54.305 --> 00:19:56.315
he finds his Christ, his Messiah.

00:19:56.315 --> 00:19:58.684
(Incomplete thought)

00:19:58.684 --> 00:20:01.445
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst

00:20:01.445 --> 00:20:03.066
for righteousness.

00:20:03.066 --> 00:20:05.077
They will be satisfied.

00:20:05.077 --> 00:20:06.721
Brethren, think of this.

00:20:06.721 --> 00:20:09.719
Think of this truth.

00:20:09.719 --> 00:20:13.879
If you grab for happiness,

00:20:13.879 --> 00:20:17.157
you miss it.

00:20:17.157 --> 00:20:19.493
It just turns to mist.

00:20:19.493 --> 00:20:21.493
It slips away.

00:20:21.493 --> 00:20:23.515
It's only the man or the woman

00:20:23.515 --> 00:20:28.283
who actually seek for something else

00:20:28.283 --> 00:20:31.440
that find happiness.

00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:33.599
Do you notice that?

00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:38.051
Or listen to Psalm 119:2.
Don't turn there, but listen.

00:20:38.051 --> 00:20:41.833
"Blessed are those who 
keep His testimonies,

00:20:41.833 --> 00:20:46.194
who seek Him with their whole heart."

00:20:46.194 --> 00:20:47.706
You see?

00:20:47.706 --> 00:20:50.765
We seek Him. We find blessing.

00:20:50.765 --> 00:20:53.865
We seek His Word. We find blessing.

00:20:53.865 --> 00:20:55.731
We seek His righteousness.

00:20:55.731 --> 00:20:57.664
We find blessing.

00:20:57.664 --> 00:20:59.901
We seek first the Kingdom.

00:20:59.901 --> 00:21:02.449
We find all things.

00:21:02.449 --> 00:21:04.902
Is that not how Scripture is?

00:21:04.902 --> 00:21:09.373
Oh, brethren, that's a principle 
you don't want to lose.

00:21:09.373 --> 00:21:13.078
Because men desire blessing.

00:21:13.078 --> 00:21:16.255
They desire happiness.

00:21:16.255 --> 00:21:17.833
And most miss it,

00:21:17.833 --> 00:21:22.378
because they look for 
it in the wrong place.

00:21:22.378 --> 00:21:26.893
Fifthly, the person of this blessedness.

00:21:26.893 --> 00:21:28.681
Blessings and happiness

00:21:28.681 --> 00:21:32.435
are not tied to the man's circumstances.

00:21:32.435 --> 00:21:34.197
You need to see that.

00:21:34.197 --> 00:21:35.806
See, the world tends to think,

00:21:35.806 --> 00:21:38.682
blessed is the man that 
gets a beautiful wife.

00:21:38.682 --> 00:21:40.962
Blessed is the man that comes into money.

00:21:40.962 --> 00:21:43.468
Blessed is the man that 
can afford to get that car,

00:21:43.468 --> 00:21:45.558
buy that house.

00:21:45.558 --> 00:21:49.855
Blessed is the man that 
(fill in the blank).

00:21:49.855 --> 00:21:52.603
...gets the promotion at work.

00:21:52.603 --> 00:21:55.429
But do you notice nothing in this psalm

00:21:55.429 --> 00:21:57.776
has to do with circumstances?

00:21:57.776 --> 00:22:00.565
It's the person.

00:22:00.565 --> 00:22:08.391
It's who he is, not the 
circumstances in his life.

00:22:08.391 --> 00:22:13.292
That's critical.
That's crucial.

00:22:13.292 --> 00:22:15.198
Blessings and happiness

00:22:15.198 --> 00:22:17.783
are tied to who you are,

00:22:17.783 --> 00:22:19.474
not what's happening in your life.

00:22:19.474 --> 00:22:21.451
To who you are.

00:22:21.451 --> 00:22:23.450
To what your relationship is with God.

00:22:23.450 --> 00:22:26.221
What your relationship is with the Word.

00:22:26.221 --> 00:22:27.516
That's the issue.

00:22:27.516 --> 00:22:30.000
Now, there's those five "P's"

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.610
that have to do with "blessed."

00:22:31.610 --> 00:22:34.030
Now, let's just broaden out

00:22:34.030 --> 00:22:36.774
and think about the whole psalm.

00:22:36.774 --> 00:22:41.428
Brethren, hear me carefully.

00:22:41.428 --> 00:22:48.148
This psalm is an entire indicative.

00:22:48.148 --> 00:22:49.404
There's no command here.

00:22:49.404 --> 00:22:50.926
Now, I recognize Hebrew doesn't

00:22:50.926 --> 00:22:54.733
necessarily have indicative verbs,

00:22:54.733 --> 00:23:00.579
but in the Greek, in the Septuagint,

00:23:00.579 --> 00:23:02.131
that's exactly what it is.

00:23:02.131 --> 00:23:03.155
What am I getting at?

00:23:03.155 --> 00:23:05.663
You don't want to know 
all about Greek and Hebrew.

00:23:05.663 --> 00:23:08.050
But what am I getting at?

00:23:08.050 --> 00:23:09.787
My point is this:

00:23:09.787 --> 00:23:13.370
This psalm doesn't command 
you to do anything.

00:23:13.370 --> 00:23:19.123
Look. Should you go to this psalm and say,

00:23:19.123 --> 00:23:23.578
hey, I ought to be more 
disciplined in the Word.

00:23:23.578 --> 00:23:26.360
You know, when you get indicatives,

00:23:26.360 --> 00:23:30.086
they do imply, they suggest imperatives.

00:23:30.086 --> 00:23:32.485
When you're told a fact,

00:23:32.485 --> 00:23:36.725
they do sometimes imply

00:23:36.725 --> 00:23:38.597
a responsibility on our part.

00:23:38.597 --> 00:23:39.477
That's true.

00:23:39.477 --> 00:23:40.404
I don't deny that.

00:23:40.404 --> 00:23:43.500
And there's many other places where
you find this to be a reality.

00:23:43.500 --> 00:23:46.146
But hear me carefully.

00:23:46.146 --> 00:23:50.087
I am not going to preach 
commandments to you here,

00:23:50.087 --> 00:23:53.208
because this psalm does not do that.

00:23:53.208 --> 00:23:58.103
This psalm basically lays down facts.

00:23:58.103 --> 00:24:04.183
Notice, nothing in this 
psalm is telling you

00:24:04.183 --> 00:24:08.150
or seeking to encourage you directly

00:24:08.150 --> 00:24:10.814
to not walk in the counsel of the wicked

00:24:10.814 --> 00:24:13.588
or to stand in a certain place

00:24:13.588 --> 00:24:15.268
or to sit in a certain place.

00:24:15.268 --> 00:24:16.779
It's not commanding you.

00:24:16.779 --> 00:24:19.114
It's not encouraging you 
to be in the Word.

00:24:19.114 --> 00:24:21.084
It's not encouraging you to be a tree.

00:24:21.084 --> 00:24:23.794
It's not encouraging you to be fruitful.

00:24:23.794 --> 00:24:25.475
Not directly.

00:24:25.475 --> 00:24:27.231
You hear what I'm saying.

00:24:27.231 --> 00:24:31.002
It basically is a statement of fact.

00:24:31.002 --> 00:24:33.641
You say where are you going?

00:24:33.641 --> 00:24:35.179
I'll tell you where I'm going.

00:24:35.179 --> 00:24:36.724
You know the problem too often

00:24:36.724 --> 00:24:38.856
when you preach a text like this,

00:24:38.856 --> 00:24:41.603
is people go away -

00:24:41.603 --> 00:24:43.062
especially the wicked -

00:24:43.062 --> 00:24:44.219
they go away thinking,

00:24:44.219 --> 00:24:45.957
oh, I need to do better at that.

00:24:45.957 --> 00:24:47.467
That's not what this is.

00:24:47.467 --> 00:24:49.554
This is a statement of fact.

00:24:49.554 --> 00:24:50.621
It's a description.

00:24:50.621 --> 00:24:53.519
It is God coming along and He's saying

00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:55.989
you want to know what 
a righteous man looks like?

00:24:55.989 --> 00:24:57.432
Here's what he looks like.

00:24:57.432 --> 00:24:59.747
You want to know what a wicked man is?

00:24:59.747 --> 00:25:02.322
He's not that.

00:25:02.322 --> 00:25:04.498
That's basically what's happening.

00:25:04.498 --> 00:25:06.876
Make sure you see that.

00:25:06.876 --> 00:25:09.233
You say why?

00:25:09.233 --> 00:25:13.674
Because this isn't a 
pep rally to do better.

00:25:13.674 --> 00:25:15.312
This is a searching.

00:25:15.312 --> 00:25:18.489
This is a spotlight shining on all of us.

00:25:18.489 --> 00:25:21.018
It's not an encouragement 
to go out and strive,

00:25:21.018 --> 00:25:23.984
or to go out and run better.

00:25:23.984 --> 00:25:26.238
This is a spotlight shining on you

00:25:26.238 --> 00:25:30.494
that proves who you are.

00:25:30.494 --> 00:25:33.052
Make sure you see that.

00:25:33.052 --> 00:25:34.271
The issue is not so much

00:25:34.271 --> 00:25:37.233
that you need to strive harder,

00:25:37.233 --> 00:25:39.415
as much as it is the living God telling us

00:25:39.415 --> 00:25:43.045
what is true of all of us.

00:25:43.045 --> 00:25:45.357
So, notice this.

00:25:45.357 --> 00:25:48.594
V. 1 is, "Blessed is the man who

00:25:48.594 --> 00:25:51.345
walks not..."

00:25:51.345 --> 00:25:53.100
The negative.

00:25:53.100 --> 00:25:55.108
Before you get the positive in v. 2.

00:25:55.108 --> 00:25:57.147
"His delight is in the law of the Lord."

00:25:57.147 --> 00:25:58.418
You get the negative.

00:25:58.418 --> 00:26:01.579
The negative is first.

00:26:01.579 --> 00:26:05.994
Isn't that similar to - 
I think of Isaiah 55 oftentimes.

00:26:05.994 --> 00:26:09.085
Let the wicked forsake his way,

00:26:09.085 --> 00:26:10.978
and the unrighteous man his thoughts,

00:26:10.978 --> 00:26:12.619
and let him return unto the Lord.

00:26:12.619 --> 00:26:14.950
So you get the negative first:
forsake your way.

00:26:14.950 --> 00:26:17.143
The positive: return to the Lord.

00:26:17.143 --> 00:26:19.122
Or when Jesus came in the New Testament.

00:26:19.122 --> 00:26:19.936
What did He say?

00:26:19.936 --> 00:26:21.116
Repent!

00:26:21.116 --> 00:26:22.982
Repent is a change of mind.

00:26:22.982 --> 00:26:25.488
It is that change of mind about sin,

00:26:25.488 --> 00:26:26.604
about Christ.

00:26:26.604 --> 00:26:28.199
There's this turning from sin.

00:26:28.199 --> 00:26:31.967
There's a reversal in life.

00:26:31.967 --> 00:26:35.191
There's a forsaking and then believing.

00:26:35.191 --> 00:26:37.929
Calling upon the Lord in faith.

00:26:37.929 --> 00:26:40.154
We often get this negative

00:26:40.154 --> 00:26:44.442
before the positive.

00:26:44.442 --> 00:26:45.192
Why?

00:26:45.192 --> 00:26:47.698
You know what the danger is?

00:26:47.698 --> 00:26:49.777
You come along with just the positive

00:26:49.777 --> 00:26:52.104
and people think I need 
to tack that on my life.

00:26:52.104 --> 00:26:53.825
Nope, that's not it.

00:26:53.825 --> 00:26:56.095
That's never how it is.

00:26:56.095 --> 00:26:57.885
There's first turning.

00:26:57.885 --> 00:26:59.332
There's a forsaking.

00:26:59.332 --> 00:27:00.960
There's things we step back from.

00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.129
There's things that the blessed man

00:27:03.129 --> 00:27:06.009
no longer involves himself in

00:27:06.009 --> 00:27:07.490
before we get to the positive.

00:27:07.490 --> 00:27:09.799
That's the way God often 
does it in Scripture.

00:27:09.799 --> 00:27:12.503
Man in this world - evil,

00:27:12.503 --> 00:27:14.108
he's wrong; he's vile -

00:27:14.108 --> 00:27:16.363
and God's way is essentially different.

00:27:16.363 --> 00:27:19.384
And it's not just you 
staying on your own way,

00:27:19.384 --> 00:27:21.732
and your old way,

00:27:21.732 --> 00:27:24.365
and then tacking on God's way.

00:27:24.365 --> 00:27:28.097
There is a forsaking of your way.

00:27:28.097 --> 00:27:31.377
And a coming to God's way.

00:27:31.377 --> 00:27:37.576
That's the issue.

00:27:37.576 --> 00:27:43.264
"Blessed is the man who walks not

00:27:43.264 --> 00:27:44.813
in the counsel of the wicked,

00:27:44.813 --> 00:27:47.183
nor stands in the way of sinners."

00:27:47.183 --> 00:27:49.732
Not.

00:27:49.732 --> 00:27:53.590
Brethren, this is desire 
being described here.

00:27:53.590 --> 00:27:55.171
God's not giving a commandment.

00:27:55.171 --> 00:27:56.169
There's a desire.

00:27:56.169 --> 00:27:59.075
And I know, someone says, exactly!

00:27:59.075 --> 00:28:00.095
Negative.

00:28:00.095 --> 00:28:01.825
Of course, that's how it starts out.

00:28:01.825 --> 00:28:04.623
That's what Christianity is in 
a lot of people's minds.

00:28:04.623 --> 00:28:07.035
Of course, that's exactly 
how Christianity is.

00:28:07.035 --> 00:28:09.361
You can't do this.
You can't do that.

00:28:09.361 --> 00:28:12.899
But, brethren, listen to me.

00:28:12.899 --> 00:28:16.875
This is not a psalm of "thou shalt not's."

00:28:16.875 --> 00:28:24.087
This is a man who desires the Word of God,

00:28:24.087 --> 00:28:25.909
the law of the Lord.

00:28:25.909 --> 00:28:28.420
This is a man who has a heart

00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:31.583
that hungers after this.

00:28:31.583 --> 00:28:33.583
He delights in it.

00:28:33.583 --> 00:28:35.803
And because he delights in that,

00:28:35.803 --> 00:28:37.875
he disdains what's against it:

00:28:37.875 --> 00:28:39.104
the ways of the world,

00:28:39.104 --> 00:28:40.171
the ways of the devil,

00:28:40.171 --> 00:28:41.324
the ways that are wrong,

00:28:41.324 --> 00:28:42.574
the ways of the scornful,

00:28:42.574 --> 00:28:43.922
the ways of the sinner.

00:28:43.922 --> 00:28:45.606
They're repulsive to him

00:28:45.606 --> 00:28:49.476
because he delights in the law of God.

00:28:49.476 --> 00:28:50.826
That's the idea.

00:28:50.826 --> 00:28:53.648
Brethren, we have to 
get this in our heads.

00:28:53.648 --> 00:28:55.542
Christianity is not just this set

00:28:55.542 --> 00:28:57.483
of external laws that tells us

00:28:57.483 --> 00:29:00.479
don't do this, don't do this...

00:29:00.479 --> 00:29:03.585
Christianity is a transformation of heart

00:29:03.585 --> 00:29:07.092
where our delights are 
now towards the Word

00:29:07.092 --> 00:29:09.029
and we don't want that.

00:29:09.029 --> 00:29:10.901
There's a distaste.

00:29:10.901 --> 00:29:12.737
We don't love what we used to love.

00:29:12.737 --> 00:29:15.110
Christianity is God changing us

00:29:15.110 --> 00:29:16.691
so that we don't desire

00:29:16.691 --> 00:29:18.238
the counsel of the ungodly.

00:29:18.238 --> 00:29:19.882
We delight in the Word of Christ.

00:29:19.882 --> 00:29:23.570
And brethren, we find His yoke easy.

00:29:23.570 --> 00:29:26.255
That's the reality.

00:29:26.255 --> 00:29:30.341
Notice the progressiveness

00:29:30.341 --> 00:29:33.040
of this first verse.

00:29:33.040 --> 00:29:35.894
He doesn't walk in the 
counsel of the wicked.

00:29:35.894 --> 00:29:37.111
And then it's "stand."

00:29:37.111 --> 00:29:38.341
You've got a man walking,

00:29:38.341 --> 00:29:40.254
and then it's like the man stops walking

00:29:40.254 --> 00:29:41.694
and he stands.

00:29:41.694 --> 00:29:43.283
And then the man sits.

00:29:43.283 --> 00:29:46.433
It's progressive what?

00:29:46.433 --> 00:29:52.753
(Incomplete thought)

00:29:52.753 --> 00:29:54.888
It is a digression.

00:29:54.888 --> 00:29:58.412
It's like there's motion and then he stops

00:29:58.412 --> 00:30:00.024
and then he sits.

00:30:00.024 --> 00:30:06.303
It's like this increasing grip of sin.

00:30:06.303 --> 00:30:10.893
(Incomplete thought)

00:30:10.893 --> 00:30:16.629
Lloyd-Jones called it paralysis of sin.

00:30:16.629 --> 00:30:19.410
The blessed man avoids it.

00:30:19.410 --> 00:30:21.723
And what is this?

00:30:21.723 --> 00:30:23.967
What does he avoid?

00:30:23.967 --> 00:30:26.244
You say, the wicked, the sinner,

00:30:26.244 --> 00:30:31.047
the scoffer... brethren, where are they?

00:30:31.047 --> 00:30:32.994
Think about your life.

00:30:32.994 --> 00:30:34.500
There's voices,

00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:36.321
We have these voices.

00:30:36.321 --> 00:30:38.384
Things are coming in the eyes

00:30:38.384 --> 00:30:40.661
and coming in the ears all the time.

00:30:40.661 --> 00:30:41.780
We see things.

00:30:41.780 --> 00:30:43.821
We hear things.

00:30:43.821 --> 00:30:47.675
Where are these voices in this world?

00:30:47.675 --> 00:30:50.333
We have means of commication today

00:30:50.333 --> 00:30:52.429
like they never had in any other time.

00:30:52.429 --> 00:30:54.452
Think of the channels through which

00:30:54.452 --> 00:30:56.785
these things come.

00:30:56.785 --> 00:30:59.786
Brethren, you know what they are.

00:30:59.786 --> 00:31:01.314
Friends.

00:31:01.314 --> 00:31:03.859
How often does Scripture 
speak about companionship?

00:31:03.859 --> 00:31:04.950
You want to be a fool?

00:31:04.950 --> 00:31:06.935
Hang out with the fools.

00:31:06.935 --> 00:31:08.830
Plain and simple.

00:31:08.830 --> 00:31:10.197
Social media.

00:31:10.197 --> 00:31:11.671
You can hang out with people.

00:31:11.671 --> 00:31:14.450
You spend your time there.

00:31:14.450 --> 00:31:17.635
Brethren, what kind of voices are these?

00:31:17.635 --> 00:31:20.430
The wicked, the sinner, the scoffer...

00:31:20.430 --> 00:31:23.461
they're voices that take you

00:31:23.461 --> 00:31:25.650
off of running this race like you should.

00:31:25.650 --> 00:31:27.466
They're voices that turn us away

00:31:27.466 --> 00:31:28.766
from God and godliness.

00:31:28.766 --> 00:31:30.469
They scoff. They mock

00:31:30.469 --> 00:31:31.948
at the ways of the righteous.

00:31:31.948 --> 00:31:33.236
They scoff and they mock

00:31:33.236 --> 00:31:34.589
at the ways of Scripture.

00:31:34.589 --> 00:31:38.356
It's all that's adverse to

00:31:38.356 --> 00:31:40.721
and against and radically,

00:31:40.721 --> 00:31:42.415
essentially the opposite

00:31:42.415 --> 00:31:44.254
of what's in v. 2:

00:31:44.254 --> 00:31:45.710
Loving the law of the Lord.

00:31:45.710 --> 00:31:47.671
It's everything that's opposed to that.

00:31:47.671 --> 00:31:49.320
It's everything that shuns that.

00:31:49.320 --> 00:31:51.927
It's everything that smirks at that.

00:31:51.927 --> 00:31:55.061
It's everything that 
slights the ways of God.

00:31:55.061 --> 00:31:57.124
That's what we're talking about.

00:31:57.124 --> 00:32:01.506
What we're talking about here

00:32:01.506 --> 00:32:03.503
is the blessed man;

00:32:03.503 --> 00:32:05.340
is the man who looks at the friends

00:32:05.340 --> 00:32:06.818
in his life and says,

00:32:06.818 --> 00:32:08.206
you know what?

00:32:08.206 --> 00:32:10.421
I am not going to spend time

00:32:10.421 --> 00:32:13.598
with those people anymore.

00:32:13.598 --> 00:32:15.813
Because you know what?

00:32:15.813 --> 00:32:18.152
I want to spend time in the Word.

00:32:18.152 --> 00:32:20.464
And there's something in their lives,

00:32:20.464 --> 00:32:22.116
there's something in their words

00:32:22.116 --> 00:32:25.013
that opposes this.

00:32:25.013 --> 00:32:27.689
And I'm not walking there.

00:32:27.689 --> 00:32:29.505
And I'm not standing there.

00:32:29.505 --> 00:32:30.803
I'm not going to stop

00:32:30.803 --> 00:32:32.081
and I'm not going to sit.

00:32:32.081 --> 00:32:34.226
You see, it's almost more

00:32:34.226 --> 00:32:39.119
of a progressive stagnation in sin.

00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:40.443
I'm not going to do it.

00:32:40.443 --> 00:32:41.847
I'm not going to go there.

00:32:41.847 --> 00:32:44.005
I'm going to evaluate social media.

00:32:44.005 --> 00:32:47.301
If that movie is going to take me somehow

00:32:47.301 --> 00:32:49.785
away from what pleases God,

00:32:49.785 --> 00:32:51.451
why am I going to go do that?

00:32:51.451 --> 00:32:52.552
Why?

00:32:52.552 --> 00:32:56.159
Entertainment?

00:32:56.159 --> 00:32:57.984
Oh you're going to entertain yourself

00:32:57.984 --> 00:32:59.361
by going and standing

00:32:59.361 --> 00:33:01.550
in the way of the sinner.

00:33:01.550 --> 00:33:03.804
Is that it?

00:33:03.804 --> 00:33:06.454
You see, the righteous 
man doesn't do that.

00:33:06.454 --> 00:33:09.062
Now, brethren, hear me again.

00:33:09.062 --> 00:33:12.415
I'm not saying, ok, you better size up

00:33:12.415 --> 00:33:13.808
what you're doing on Facebook

00:33:13.808 --> 00:33:15.730
and you better size 
up what you're doing

00:33:15.730 --> 00:33:17.149
with the TV and with movies

00:33:17.149 --> 00:33:20.044
and with all the technology.

00:33:20.044 --> 00:33:23.149
No commandments here.

00:33:23.149 --> 00:33:25.524
Listen, brethren, what 
you need to recognize

00:33:25.524 --> 00:33:28.758
is God is telling you what we are.

00:33:28.758 --> 00:33:30.825
See, if you're the guy that perpetually

00:33:30.825 --> 00:33:32.556
has to look at your life and say,

00:33:32.556 --> 00:33:36.539
well, I'm massively failing there.

00:33:36.539 --> 00:33:38.919
Brethren, it's not God telling you

00:33:38.919 --> 00:33:40.598
you need to get your act straight.

00:33:40.598 --> 00:33:43.819
It's God telling you who you are.

00:33:43.819 --> 00:33:45.775
Do you recognize that's what's happening

00:33:45.775 --> 00:33:47.692
in this psalm?

00:33:47.692 --> 00:33:50.740
He's saying look at your life.

00:33:50.740 --> 00:33:54.541
If you walk in the way of the ungodly;

00:33:54.541 --> 00:34:00.479
if you stand in this place of sinners;

00:34:00.479 --> 00:34:03.481
you sit there among those who

00:34:03.481 --> 00:34:07.373
slight the things that are godly -

00:34:07.373 --> 00:34:10.995
He's telling you what you are.

00:34:10.995 --> 00:34:12.007
Because if you say,

00:34:12.007 --> 00:34:13.741
no my delight is in the Word.

00:34:13.741 --> 00:34:15.385
Hey, this is all opposed to that.

00:34:15.385 --> 00:34:17.521
And see, if you say,

00:34:17.521 --> 00:34:19.619
no, I'm a blessed man

00:34:19.619 --> 00:34:21.249
because I delight in the Word.

00:34:21.249 --> 00:34:22.823
Ok, there's going to be proof.

00:34:22.823 --> 00:34:24.471
And the proof on the negative side

00:34:24.471 --> 00:34:27.701
is what you no longer do.

00:34:27.701 --> 00:34:30.647
You see, there's evidence.

00:34:30.647 --> 00:34:32.159
That's the point.

00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:33.143
This is indicative.

00:34:33.143 --> 00:34:36.542
This is indicating what is true.

00:34:36.542 --> 00:34:39.408
I'm not here today to tell you

00:34:39.408 --> 00:34:42.646
to clean up your act.

00:34:42.646 --> 00:34:44.447
There are definitely texts

00:34:44.447 --> 00:34:48.264
that talk about purging 
that out of your life

00:34:48.264 --> 00:34:49.723
which ought not to be there,

00:34:49.723 --> 00:34:51.320
and cutting off and gouging out.

00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:52.961
No question about that.

00:34:52.961 --> 00:34:56.109
But brethren, what this is saying to us

00:34:56.109 --> 00:34:58.470
is not so much that that's 
what you need to do,

00:34:58.470 --> 00:34:59.429
it's saying to us,

00:34:59.429 --> 00:35:00.754
if you're the blessed man,

00:35:00.754 --> 00:35:03.634
that's what you already do.

00:35:03.634 --> 00:35:05.543
That's already true in your life.

00:35:05.543 --> 00:35:07.587
That's already a reality.

00:35:07.587 --> 00:35:10.279
Brethren, this is not commandment.

00:35:10.279 --> 00:35:12.034
This is fact.

00:35:12.034 --> 00:35:14.002
God is not admonishing us specifically

00:35:14.002 --> 00:35:15.216
to be holier.

00:35:15.216 --> 00:35:17.133
He's telling us the truth about

00:35:17.133 --> 00:35:19.006
what holiness looks like.

00:35:19.006 --> 00:35:21.594
And that holy man is that blessed man.

00:35:21.594 --> 00:35:24.020
He's telling us that if 
you're that blessed man,

00:35:24.020 --> 00:35:27.225
you're not going to run with 
that same crowd you ran with.

00:35:27.225 --> 00:35:29.300
And you're not going 
to do the same things

00:35:29.300 --> 00:35:30.939
on the Internet you used to do.

00:35:30.939 --> 00:35:33.929
And you're not going to do the same things
at the movie theater you used to do.

00:35:33.929 --> 00:35:36.150
And you're not going to do the 
same things in front of the television.

00:35:36.150 --> 00:35:37.844
Because these are all the avenues

00:35:37.844 --> 00:35:39.325
by which those voices come.

00:35:39.325 --> 00:35:41.337
You're not going to do the
same thing with family.

00:35:41.337 --> 00:35:42.782
You're not going to do the 
same thing with friends.

00:35:42.782 --> 00:35:44.459
You're not going to do 
the same things with radio.

00:35:44.459 --> 00:35:47.743
You're not going to do the 
same thing with songs and music.

00:35:47.743 --> 00:35:49.493
Why?

00:35:49.493 --> 00:35:54.433
Because look, you've 
got to bring this home.

00:35:54.433 --> 00:35:55.980
The counsel of the wicked,

00:35:55.980 --> 00:35:57.463
the way of the sinner,

00:35:57.463 --> 00:35:59.995
the seat of the scoffer.

00:35:59.995 --> 00:36:01.922
This is real.

00:36:01.922 --> 00:36:04.490
You have to put familiar faces on this.

00:36:04.490 --> 00:36:07.029
This is not just this 
ambiguous thing out there.

00:36:07.029 --> 00:36:09.426
This is your life.
This is my life.

00:36:09.426 --> 00:36:10.625
And I'll tell you this,

00:36:10.625 --> 00:36:12.490
what He's saying is the blessed man

00:36:12.490 --> 00:36:16.721
is a man who suddenly is not

00:36:16.721 --> 00:36:20.615
doing all sorts of things 
that he used to do.

00:36:20.615 --> 00:36:23.387
And one of the primary rationales,

00:36:23.387 --> 00:36:25.986
one of the primary motivations,

00:36:25.986 --> 00:36:30.203
one of the primary movers in all of this

00:36:30.203 --> 00:36:33.141
is not external laws.

00:36:33.141 --> 00:36:35.190
It's what he delights in.

00:36:35.190 --> 00:36:37.847
He now delights in the Word of God.

00:36:37.847 --> 00:36:42.029
And so, naturally, if 
you delight in something,

00:36:42.029 --> 00:36:43.677
you don't delight in 
that which is opposed

00:36:43.677 --> 00:36:45.183
to the something 
that you delight in.

00:36:45.183 --> 00:36:48.399
That's the reality here, brethren.

00:36:48.399 --> 00:36:50.531
And notice this last one.

00:36:50.531 --> 00:36:55.449
Because, I think this is key.

00:36:55.449 --> 00:36:59.231
"Nor sits in the seat of scoffers."

00:36:59.231 --> 00:37:00.582
You know what a scoffer is?

00:37:00.582 --> 00:37:03.236
Or a scorner?

00:37:03.236 --> 00:37:06.763
They're somebody who mocks.

00:37:06.763 --> 00:37:09.278
And even in the church,

00:37:09.278 --> 00:37:11.815
we get those who scorn

00:37:11.815 --> 00:37:15.301
and they scoff and they mock

00:37:15.301 --> 00:37:17.599
and they make light of

00:37:17.599 --> 00:37:22.481
anyone they see who seems more radical.

00:37:22.481 --> 00:37:24.282
You know what you get in the church?

00:37:24.282 --> 00:37:25.425
You get these people

00:37:25.425 --> 00:37:28.510
who they want to keep a clear conscience.

00:37:28.510 --> 00:37:30.095
And they come to Scripture,

00:37:30.095 --> 00:37:31.473
and they see something there,

00:37:31.473 --> 00:37:33.622
like they look at modesty

00:37:33.622 --> 00:37:35.189
and they think what that means

00:37:35.189 --> 00:37:37.049
is I need to wear a dress that's down

00:37:37.049 --> 00:37:37.901
to the floor.

00:37:37.901 --> 00:37:38.963
And you know what?

00:37:38.963 --> 00:37:40.511
They're not being legalistic.

00:37:40.511 --> 00:37:41.775
They're not coming along

00:37:41.775 --> 00:37:43.873
and they're not pressing 
that on you and me.

00:37:43.873 --> 00:37:45.836
They look at Scripture and they say

00:37:45.836 --> 00:37:48.812
don't set anything that's vain or useless

00:37:48.812 --> 00:37:49.639
before my eyes.

00:37:49.639 --> 00:37:50.989
And they say, you know what?

00:37:50.989 --> 00:37:53.027
I think TV altogether is vain and useless.

00:37:53.027 --> 00:37:54.580
And so they're seeking to do it.

00:37:54.580 --> 00:37:56.151
And if you're the guy 
that's always out there

00:37:56.151 --> 00:37:58.030
saying legalism, legalism, legalism!

00:37:58.030 --> 00:38:01.486
You're likely in the seat of that scoffer.

00:38:01.486 --> 00:38:02.843
When you look at people

00:38:02.843 --> 00:38:05.074
who are trying to 
keep a clear conscience

00:38:05.074 --> 00:38:06.795
and they're eradicating things,

00:38:06.795 --> 00:38:08.528
and they say my eye offends,

00:38:08.528 --> 00:38:10.135
and so I'm getting rid of that.

00:38:10.135 --> 00:38:12.339
I'm tearing it out and 
I'm casting it from me.

00:38:12.339 --> 00:38:13.941
And they're people of conscience.

00:38:13.941 --> 00:38:15.804
And they're walking through their life

00:38:15.804 --> 00:38:17.214
and they're going to the Word

00:38:17.214 --> 00:38:19.382
and they delight in the Word
and they're looking in the Word

00:38:19.382 --> 00:38:21.339
and they're saying my conscience says

00:38:21.339 --> 00:38:22.827
oh, look what I find here.

00:38:22.827 --> 00:38:24.701
Now look, you may look at them and say,

00:38:24.701 --> 00:38:25.949
you know what?

00:38:25.949 --> 00:38:27.449
Their conscience has not been

00:38:27.449 --> 00:38:29.817
most accurately informed,

00:38:29.817 --> 00:38:31.851
because if you think about other places

00:38:31.851 --> 00:38:32.600
in Scripture...

00:38:32.600 --> 00:38:34.009
And you know what, 
that may be true,

00:38:34.009 --> 00:38:36.395
but don't mock and don't 
slight at such people

00:38:36.395 --> 00:38:38.050
who are trying to 
keep clear consciences

00:38:38.050 --> 00:38:38.957
before God.

00:38:38.957 --> 00:38:40.026
And they're meticulous

00:38:40.026 --> 00:38:41.382
and they're diligent.

00:38:41.382 --> 00:38:43.202
I remember one time when I was down

00:38:43.202 --> 00:38:44.249
at Stockdale,

00:38:44.249 --> 00:38:45.869
and a woman came and she had been

00:38:45.869 --> 00:38:47.470
wearing a head covering before that,

00:38:47.470 --> 00:38:49.161
and then she wasn't 
wearing the head covering.

00:38:49.161 --> 00:38:51.200
I said where's your head covering?

00:38:51.200 --> 00:38:52.613
Did you study Scripture and

00:38:52.613 --> 00:38:53.973
you came to another conclusion?

00:38:53.973 --> 00:38:55.548
She said, no, just 
because the people here

00:38:55.548 --> 00:38:56.451
don't wear them.

00:38:56.451 --> 00:38:58.336
I said you better get 
that thing on your head.

00:38:58.336 --> 00:38:59.408
Why? Because she thought

00:38:59.408 --> 00:39:00.970
that's what the Lord wants her to do.

00:39:00.970 --> 00:39:02.360
And if that's what you think the Lord

00:39:02.360 --> 00:39:03.191
wants you to do,

00:39:03.191 --> 00:39:04.143
and whether it comes down

00:39:04.143 --> 00:39:05.280
to how you raise your children

00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:06.352
or how you love your wife

00:39:06.352 --> 00:39:07.950
or how you drive your car,

00:39:07.950 --> 00:39:10.065
or what you do at work -

00:39:10.065 --> 00:39:12.914
brethren, Spurgeon said it one time:

00:39:12.914 --> 00:39:15.280
better to live according to this Word -

00:39:15.280 --> 00:39:16.326
how you interpret it

00:39:16.326 --> 00:39:17.492
and be wrong,

00:39:17.492 --> 00:39:19.214
than to not do that.

00:39:19.214 --> 00:39:20.764
You understand what he's saying.

00:39:20.764 --> 00:39:22.591
He's not saying bad doctrine's good.

00:39:22.591 --> 00:39:24.466
He's saying you need to live up

00:39:24.466 --> 00:39:26.433
to the light of the lamp that is

00:39:26.433 --> 00:39:28.696
shining at your feet from this book.

00:39:28.696 --> 00:39:29.974
And how you look at it -

00:39:29.974 --> 00:39:31.876
it's not what everybody else is doing.

00:39:31.876 --> 00:39:34.606
You do what you believe that God

00:39:34.606 --> 00:39:36.394
wants you to do from that book.

00:39:36.394 --> 00:39:38.477
And you seek to live 
with a clear conscience.

00:39:38.477 --> 00:39:39.922
And you know who the scoffer is?

00:39:39.922 --> 00:39:41.236
They're the people always shouting

00:39:41.236 --> 00:39:42.325
"legalism" in the church.

00:39:42.325 --> 00:39:43.479
Oh, that's legalistic.

00:39:43.479 --> 00:39:45.749
They're just legalists.

00:39:45.749 --> 00:39:48.592
You be careful.

00:39:48.592 --> 00:39:50.224
You just be careful.

00:39:50.224 --> 00:39:51.522
Because I tell you what,

00:39:51.522 --> 00:39:52.981
if you're that person 
who's always looking

00:39:52.981 --> 00:39:54.155
and you're looking 
down your nose

00:39:54.155 --> 00:39:56.582
at other people who are really
trying to walk before the Lord,

00:39:56.582 --> 00:39:58.325
and they're trying to walk
with a clear conscience,

00:39:58.325 --> 00:39:59.746
and they're trying to please Him

00:39:59.746 --> 00:40:01.294
and they're trying to be meticulous

00:40:01.294 --> 00:40:02.364
to God's Word -

00:40:02.364 --> 00:40:04.200
you look at them and 
you call them legalists -

00:40:04.200 --> 00:40:06.625
you have been sitting 
in the seat of the scoffer.

00:40:06.625 --> 00:40:07.502
Let me tell you.

00:40:07.502 --> 00:40:09.203
I'm not telling you don't do that.

00:40:09.203 --> 00:40:10.219
Repent of that.

00:40:10.219 --> 00:40:12.002
Of course, there's a place for that.

00:40:12.002 --> 00:40:13.390
What I'm telling you is this:

00:40:13.390 --> 00:40:15.540
What God is doing is showing 
you who you are.

00:40:15.540 --> 00:40:16.729
Not what you ought to be.

00:40:16.729 --> 00:40:21.386
He's showing you who you are.

00:40:21.386 --> 00:40:23.956
So, notice his delight.

00:40:23.956 --> 00:40:27.529
His delight is in the law of the Lord.

00:40:27.529 --> 00:40:28.899
And on His law, he meditates

00:40:28.899 --> 00:40:29.995
day and night.

00:40:29.995 --> 00:40:32.110
Again, brethren, this is not a commandment

00:40:32.110 --> 00:40:34.337
for the Word of Christ 
to dwell in you richly.

00:40:34.337 --> 00:40:35.923
There is a commandment like that.

00:40:35.923 --> 00:40:37.997
There's instruction like 
that in Scripture.

00:40:37.997 --> 00:40:39.629
I'm not saying that there isn't.

00:40:39.629 --> 00:40:41.803
I'm just saying this psalm

00:40:41.803 --> 00:40:44.978
is basically - the gist of it

00:40:44.978 --> 00:40:47.154
is that God is telling us the truth

00:40:47.154 --> 00:40:49.196
about ourselves.

00:40:49.196 --> 00:40:51.104
Oh, brethren, the blessed man

00:40:51.104 --> 00:40:53.293
is that man who has come to this

00:40:53.293 --> 00:40:54.720
entirely new relationship

00:40:54.720 --> 00:40:56.524
with the Word of God.

00:40:56.524 --> 00:40:57.971
Look, again, I'm telling you.

00:40:57.971 --> 00:40:59.573
Brethren, I am not here to tell you

00:40:59.573 --> 00:41:00.991
if you've not been in the Word,

00:41:00.991 --> 00:41:02.121
you need to get in the Word.

00:41:02.121 --> 00:41:04.356
What I'm telling you is 
if you're not in the Word,

00:41:04.356 --> 00:41:06.163
it's because you don't 
delight in the Word

00:41:06.163 --> 00:41:07.878
and Scripture is telling you

00:41:07.878 --> 00:41:09.904
who and what you are.

00:41:09.904 --> 00:41:13.322
That's the issue.

00:41:13.322 --> 00:41:16.016
That's what's happening here.

00:41:16.016 --> 00:41:19.054
The blessed man -

00:41:19.054 --> 00:41:21.956
he's the man that it's just not theory

00:41:21.956 --> 00:41:23.624
for him to say

00:41:23.624 --> 00:41:25.609
that man shall not live by bread alone,

00:41:25.609 --> 00:41:27.245
but by every word that proceedeth

00:41:27.245 --> 00:41:28.807
forth from the mouth of God.

00:41:28.807 --> 00:41:30.411
He knows that.
He believes that.

00:41:30.411 --> 00:41:32.962
His life reflects that.

00:41:32.962 --> 00:41:35.523
The exact same truth you heard

00:41:35.523 --> 00:41:37.328
from our brother in the first hour

00:41:37.328 --> 00:41:38.815
from John 8.

00:41:38.815 --> 00:41:41.129
Listen, Jesus says it.

00:41:41.129 --> 00:41:42.591
Again, it's not a commandment.

00:41:42.591 --> 00:41:44.327
It's a fact.

00:41:44.327 --> 00:41:48.275
He says if you abide in My Word,

00:41:48.275 --> 00:41:51.442
you are truly My disciples.

00:41:51.442 --> 00:41:54.372
He's not saying abide in My Word.

00:41:54.372 --> 00:41:56.667
Yes, there's places where you can find

00:41:56.667 --> 00:41:58.040
such statements,

00:41:58.040 --> 00:42:00.974
but there are these factual statements

00:42:00.974 --> 00:42:03.066
made all through Scripture,

00:42:03.066 --> 00:42:05.228
that if you are His disciple,

00:42:05.228 --> 00:42:07.739
His Word abides in you.

00:42:07.739 --> 00:42:09.463
Not just that it should.

00:42:09.463 --> 00:42:12.163
And if it doesn't, it shows who you are.

00:42:12.163 --> 00:42:14.448
That's what He was saying to these people.

00:42:14.448 --> 00:42:17.269
Listen, brethren, be honest.

00:42:17.269 --> 00:42:19.230
This is the truth about the blessed man.

00:42:19.230 --> 00:42:21.106
On the whole,

00:42:21.106 --> 00:42:25.134
if you were to drag this man into court,

00:42:25.134 --> 00:42:28.164
and accuse him of being a Bible lover,

00:42:28.164 --> 00:42:29.387
guess what?

00:42:29.387 --> 00:42:33.796
There's evidence to convict him.

00:42:33.796 --> 00:42:36.633
Where are you?

00:42:36.633 --> 00:42:39.765
Oh, isn't it amazing?

00:42:39.765 --> 00:42:44.895
The first psalm - blessings 
which everybody wants.

00:42:44.895 --> 00:42:47.588
And it's got to do with where

00:42:47.588 --> 00:42:50.651
the Word of God is in your life.

00:42:50.651 --> 00:42:52.668
The first first is the negative of that.

00:42:52.668 --> 00:42:53.762
It's the contrary.

00:42:53.762 --> 00:42:55.948
You avoid all those voices that

00:42:55.948 --> 00:42:59.161
are not like this.

00:42:59.161 --> 00:43:02.419
But you delight in the Word.

00:43:02.419 --> 00:43:06.927
You say, I've never killed anybody.

00:43:06.927 --> 00:43:09.618
The wicked? They're not so.

00:43:09.618 --> 00:43:11.191
In other words, if you take them

00:43:11.191 --> 00:43:12.968
into the court room,

00:43:12.968 --> 00:43:17.475
and you say prove that you're a lover

00:43:17.475 --> 00:43:19.876
of the Word,

00:43:19.876 --> 00:43:21.501
the wicked are not so.

00:43:21.501 --> 00:43:23.061
And so if there isn't evidence,

00:43:23.061 --> 00:43:26.047
the wicked is not so.

00:43:26.047 --> 00:43:27.808
Well, I own a Bible.

00:43:27.808 --> 00:43:30.127
In fact, I have three.

00:43:30.127 --> 00:43:32.940
That's not what's being said here.

00:43:32.940 --> 00:43:34.042
Do you delight in it?

00:43:34.042 --> 00:43:40.514
You say, yeah, I delight in it.

00:43:40.514 --> 00:43:45.154
Are you meditating on it day and night?

00:43:45.154 --> 00:43:48.276
Can you go three days, 
four days, five days, seven days

00:43:48.276 --> 00:43:50.671
and you're not in it?

00:43:50.671 --> 00:43:52.135
You see, again, brethren,

00:43:52.135 --> 00:43:54.061
this is not telling you what you ought

00:43:54.061 --> 00:43:55.545
to be doing.

00:43:55.545 --> 00:43:59.544
This is telling you what you are.

00:43:59.544 --> 00:44:02.514
This is the delight of the man.

00:44:02.514 --> 00:44:06.063
Look, what you don't want to do

00:44:06.063 --> 00:44:07.982
is walk away from this message and say,

00:44:07.982 --> 00:44:08.937
well, you know what?

00:44:08.937 --> 00:44:11.867
My delight is really in video games;

00:44:11.867 --> 00:44:15.014
hanging out with my friends;

00:44:15.014 --> 00:44:19.084
listening to the new music.

00:44:19.084 --> 00:44:22.204
You know, what I find delight in

00:44:22.204 --> 00:44:28.848
is sex and money and fun...

00:44:28.848 --> 00:44:33.645
I guess I better start reading my Bible,

00:44:33.645 --> 00:44:37.526
even though it's not what 
you really delight to do.

00:44:37.526 --> 00:44:40.384
You see, it's not doing that.

00:44:40.384 --> 00:44:43.112
It's saying no, the truth is

00:44:43.112 --> 00:44:46.510
if you can leave that Bible on the shelf,

00:44:46.510 --> 00:44:49.191
there's not a panting 
in your soul after it.

00:44:49.191 --> 00:44:52.924
Look, I recognize there are dry seasons.

00:44:52.924 --> 00:44:55.941
But do you hear what's being said?

00:44:55.941 --> 00:44:57.423
On the whole, I don't have to

00:44:57.423 --> 00:44:59.808
invent a bunch of exceptions here.

00:44:59.808 --> 00:45:01.537
And I don't have to define this

00:45:01.537 --> 00:45:02.823
in super amounts of detail.

00:45:02.823 --> 00:45:04.261
Because God doesn't think it's

00:45:04.261 --> 00:45:05.431
that necessary to do it.

00:45:05.431 --> 00:45:06.631
He simply says this,

00:45:06.631 --> 00:45:08.328
the blessed man delights

00:45:08.328 --> 00:45:10.141
in the law of the Lord

00:45:10.141 --> 00:45:12.266
and in that law, he 
meditates day and night.

00:45:12.266 --> 00:45:13.162
Period.

00:45:13.162 --> 00:45:14.188
That's what God says.

00:45:14.188 --> 00:45:15.504
I don't need to amend that.

00:45:15.504 --> 00:45:16.846
I don't need to add to that.

00:45:16.846 --> 00:45:18.475
And brethren, what you need to ask

00:45:18.475 --> 00:45:19.354
is be honest.

00:45:19.354 --> 00:45:20.696
Does that reflect your life?

00:45:20.696 --> 00:45:21.844
Because if it doesn't,

00:45:21.844 --> 00:45:24.844
the wicked are not so.

00:45:24.844 --> 00:45:27.053
Like I said, the wicked isn't just wicked

00:45:27.053 --> 00:45:29.273
because he's torturing 
people in his basement.

00:45:29.273 --> 00:45:30.682
The wicked is just the guy

00:45:30.682 --> 00:45:32.432
that doesn't delight in the Word.

00:45:32.432 --> 00:45:36.825
He's not like the righteous person.

00:45:36.825 --> 00:45:41.014
That's what we have here.

00:45:41.014 --> 00:45:43.088
The righteous man -

00:45:43.088 --> 00:45:44.359
he hungers.

00:45:44.359 --> 00:45:45.890
There's something desirable.

00:45:45.890 --> 00:45:47.080
Why?

00:45:47.080 --> 00:45:47.827
Why?

00:45:47.827 --> 00:45:52.342
Because the Spirit has opened his eyes

00:45:52.342 --> 00:45:54.515
and this Word is now living.

00:45:54.515 --> 00:45:55.850
And when he looks into it,

00:45:55.850 --> 00:46:01.013
it's like... Wow!

00:46:01.013 --> 00:46:03.113
There's wisdom.

00:46:03.113 --> 00:46:06.333
It opens the window to the glory of God.

00:46:06.333 --> 00:46:07.647
And in these pages,

00:46:07.647 --> 00:46:11.741
he sees Christ.

00:46:11.741 --> 00:46:14.382
He's never seen anything like it before.

00:46:14.382 --> 00:46:16.706
He might have looked 
at it when he was lost,

00:46:16.706 --> 00:46:20.773
but now it's just altogether new.

00:46:20.773 --> 00:46:23.911
Don't fool yourself.

00:46:23.911 --> 00:46:26.390
If you're able to be away from this Word;

00:46:26.390 --> 00:46:29.499
it's just a dry, dead letter,

00:46:29.499 --> 00:46:32.621
and basically being in it is a chore.

00:46:32.621 --> 00:46:34.301
It's like you know when you assess

00:46:34.301 --> 00:46:35.344
your Christian life,

00:46:35.344 --> 00:46:37.779
it's like, well yes, I read.

00:46:37.779 --> 00:46:40.084
Yeah, I've kind of got that in place

00:46:40.084 --> 00:46:41.415
these last few days.

00:46:41.415 --> 00:46:42.799
I've really forced myself.

00:46:42.799 --> 00:46:44.038
I disciplined myself.

00:46:44.038 --> 00:46:47.163
Although typically, I can go long seasons

00:46:47.163 --> 00:46:49.084
with watching a whole lot more TV

00:46:49.084 --> 00:46:50.589
than I ever get in the Word;

00:46:50.589 --> 00:46:52.549
and be on the Internet a whole lot more

00:46:52.549 --> 00:46:54.282
than I'd ever be in the Word.

00:46:54.282 --> 00:47:00.473
Exposing myself to all sorts of voices.

00:47:00.473 --> 00:47:05.823
Brethren, let's just be honest.

00:47:05.823 --> 00:47:07.863
His delight is in the law of the Lord,

00:47:07.863 --> 00:47:11.098
and on His law, he 
meditates day and night.

00:47:11.098 --> 00:47:14.855
And the wicked are not so.

00:47:14.855 --> 00:47:17.232
So we have a picture here in v. 3.

00:47:17.232 --> 00:47:19.314
The righteous man - the blessed man,

00:47:19.314 --> 00:47:20.540
he is like a tree

00:47:20.540 --> 00:47:23.897
planted by the streams (plural)

00:47:23.897 --> 00:47:25.820
of water that yields its fruit

00:47:25.820 --> 00:47:27.719
in its season.

00:47:27.719 --> 00:47:30.611
And it's leaf does not wither.

00:47:30.611 --> 00:47:33.953
In all that he does, he prospers.

00:47:33.953 --> 00:47:38.067
The wicked are not so,

00:47:38.067 --> 00:47:41.144
but are like chaff

00:47:41.144 --> 00:47:45.698
that the wind drives away.

00:47:45.698 --> 00:47:47.658
We're given this picture.

00:47:47.658 --> 00:47:49.749
And again, brethren, I'm going to

00:47:49.749 --> 00:47:52.130
keep emphasizing this.

00:47:52.130 --> 00:47:56.583
This tells us the truth about ourselves.

00:47:56.583 --> 00:47:58.220
Nothing tells the truth about us

00:47:58.220 --> 00:47:59.545
like the Bible does.

00:47:59.545 --> 00:48:02.585
Spiritually speaking,

00:48:02.585 --> 00:48:05.069
all men are either (incomplete thought).

00:48:05.069 --> 00:48:06.430
Have you ever been -

00:48:06.430 --> 00:48:07.850
I don't know up and down

00:48:07.850 --> 00:48:09.413
the San Antonio River -

00:48:09.413 --> 00:48:11.627
I don't think I've seen much of the river

00:48:11.627 --> 00:48:14.753
other than right here in San Antonio.

00:48:14.753 --> 00:48:16.413
But I've been to different places

00:48:16.413 --> 00:48:18.433
on the Guadalupe River.

00:48:18.433 --> 00:48:20.249
Have you ever seen those cypresses?

00:48:20.249 --> 00:48:22.352
Oh, there are some downtown

00:48:22.352 --> 00:48:23.957
along the Riverwalk.

00:48:23.957 --> 00:48:26.268
You know those cypresses?

00:48:26.268 --> 00:48:28.506
Great big, massive trees.

00:48:28.506 --> 00:48:30.043
And you know where they grow?

00:48:30.043 --> 00:48:31.568
They only grow right alongside the river.

00:48:31.568 --> 00:48:33.026
You can try to plant them other places,

00:48:33.026 --> 00:48:34.588
but if you don't give them steady water,

00:48:34.588 --> 00:48:36.741
they just don't make it.

00:48:36.741 --> 00:48:39.575
Great big trees,

00:48:39.575 --> 00:48:41.616
like a great big cypress tree

00:48:41.616 --> 00:48:43.836
planted along the Guadalupe River

00:48:43.836 --> 00:48:47.888
with roots that go down into soil

00:48:47.888 --> 00:48:51.107
that's moist and life-giving

00:48:51.107 --> 00:48:53.729
all the time.

00:48:53.729 --> 00:48:56.650
That's what the righteous is like.

00:48:56.650 --> 00:49:02.327
The unrighteous - a pile of chaff.

00:49:02.327 --> 00:49:03.415
You know what?

00:49:03.415 --> 00:49:04.668
When we look at each other

00:49:04.668 --> 00:49:09.905
like we can look at each other right here.

00:49:09.905 --> 00:49:12.299
I can't see that difference,

00:49:12.299 --> 00:49:14.217
but it's true.

00:49:14.217 --> 00:49:15.559
Spiritually speaking,

00:49:15.559 --> 00:49:17.238
if we could pull back the veil,

00:49:17.238 --> 00:49:21.349
some are these massive cypress trees,

00:49:21.349 --> 00:49:26.281
planted along the rivers (plural).

00:49:26.281 --> 00:49:27.568
Rivers.

00:49:27.568 --> 00:49:31.131
Abundance.

00:49:31.131 --> 00:49:36.224
And some are just a pile of chaff.

00:49:36.224 --> 00:49:39.089
That's the comparison here.

00:49:39.089 --> 00:49:41.740
Tree. Chaff.

00:49:41.740 --> 00:49:42.978
You see the difference?

00:49:42.978 --> 00:49:45.810
Your life. My life.

00:49:45.810 --> 00:49:48.586
Tree or chaff.

00:49:48.586 --> 00:49:51.345
What's your life like?

00:49:51.345 --> 00:49:53.388
It's just radical difference.

00:49:53.388 --> 00:49:57.504
You see, there's no shades here.

00:49:57.504 --> 00:49:59.534
There's no degrees here.

00:49:59.534 --> 00:50:01.159
It's not like, well, you've got

00:50:01.159 --> 00:50:03.873
a chaff-y looking tree over there.

00:50:03.873 --> 00:50:07.591
No, none of that.

00:50:07.591 --> 00:50:09.977
You're one or the other.

00:50:09.977 --> 00:50:11.346
People don't tend to realize

00:50:11.346 --> 00:50:12.887
the radical difference between

00:50:12.887 --> 00:50:15.721
the Christian and the non-Christian.

00:50:15.721 --> 00:50:20.492
The roots of this tree go deep down.

00:50:20.492 --> 00:50:23.877
This man whose heart and mind

00:50:23.877 --> 00:50:27.152
and soul - the roots go down deep

00:50:27.152 --> 00:50:29.328
into the words of Christ.

00:50:29.328 --> 00:50:31.238
The law of the Lord.

00:50:31.238 --> 00:50:34.175
They go down into His commandments,

00:50:34.175 --> 00:50:37.707
His Word, and they're 
pulling the nutrients up.

00:50:37.707 --> 00:50:43.579
You see, didn't Christ say,

00:50:43.579 --> 00:50:47.284
"Sanctify them by Thy truth.

00:50:47.284 --> 00:50:48.983
Thy Word is truth."

00:50:48.983 --> 00:50:53.009
The sanctifying power of the Spirit of God

00:50:53.009 --> 00:50:56.412
comes through - his 
delight is in this law.

00:50:56.412 --> 00:50:58.972
And in this law, he looks in.

00:50:58.972 --> 00:51:01.719
He sees the character of God.

00:51:01.719 --> 00:51:03.645
He sees the beauties of Christ.

00:51:03.645 --> 00:51:06.018
And it's transformative.

00:51:06.018 --> 00:51:07.570
Those roots go down.

00:51:07.570 --> 00:51:11.428
The chaff? The chaff has no roots.

00:51:11.428 --> 00:51:13.154
You look at your life.

00:51:13.154 --> 00:51:14.568
No real roots in here.

00:51:14.568 --> 00:51:15.750
You don't memorize this.

00:51:15.750 --> 00:51:18.954
You don't meditate on this.

00:51:18.954 --> 00:51:22.064
The Word is not controlling.

00:51:22.064 --> 00:51:23.767
Instead, you've subjected yourself

00:51:23.767 --> 00:51:25.337
to worldly opinions.

00:51:25.337 --> 00:51:26.840
Worldly counsels.

00:51:26.840 --> 00:51:28.510
Worldly mindsets.

00:51:28.510 --> 00:51:30.822
All the time, you're being bombarded.

00:51:30.822 --> 00:51:33.846
So it's very easy to put 
a little Christian title

00:51:33.846 --> 00:51:36.796
on music that's otherwise just ungodly.

00:51:36.796 --> 00:51:40.353
We can Christianize just about everything.

00:51:40.353 --> 00:51:41.455
But the truth is,

00:51:41.455 --> 00:51:44.014
the man who spends a lot of time

00:51:44.014 --> 00:51:45.411
in this Word -

00:51:45.411 --> 00:51:46.977
he can smell out the difference.

00:51:46.977 --> 00:51:48.552
He's not just looking at the name

00:51:48.552 --> 00:51:50.131
because you can be like Sardis.

00:51:50.131 --> 00:51:53.084
You can have a name, but you're dead.

00:51:53.084 --> 00:51:55.776
And the person whose heart

00:51:55.776 --> 00:51:57.157
and mind and soul

00:51:57.157 --> 00:51:59.051
are down in the depths of this

00:51:59.051 --> 00:52:02.818
moisture-rich soil of the Word of Christ,

00:52:02.818 --> 00:52:05.009
they can tell those things.

00:52:05.009 --> 00:52:07.964
Because it gives them discernment.

00:52:07.964 --> 00:52:11.247
They see.

00:52:11.247 --> 00:52:12.749
Which are you?

00:52:12.749 --> 00:52:14.474
A tree versus chaff.

00:52:14.474 --> 00:52:16.800
They have nothing in common.

00:52:16.800 --> 00:52:19.073
The tree is fruitful.

00:52:19.073 --> 00:52:21.793
The fruits of the Spirit.

00:52:21.793 --> 00:52:24.254
You see, there's a person

00:52:24.254 --> 00:52:27.262
who spends a lot of time in this book.

00:52:27.262 --> 00:52:30.641
Their roots are planted here.

00:52:30.641 --> 00:52:33.928
And that Word abides in them.

00:52:33.928 --> 00:52:35.379
It stays.

00:52:35.379 --> 00:52:36.693
They're not hearers only.

00:52:36.693 --> 00:52:38.138
But they're doers.

00:52:38.138 --> 00:52:39.054
And they go forth

00:52:39.054 --> 00:52:40.577
and as they do the Word,

00:52:40.577 --> 00:52:42.219
this fruit of the Spirit,

00:52:42.219 --> 00:52:43.981
they go up and it's rich.

00:52:43.981 --> 00:52:48.983
By this, our Father is well pleased,

00:52:48.983 --> 00:52:52.411
that we bring forth much fruit.

00:52:52.411 --> 00:52:54.308
There's an abundance of fruit.

00:52:54.308 --> 00:52:56.434
Love - the fruit of love.

00:52:56.434 --> 00:52:59.300
And there's joy.

00:52:59.300 --> 00:53:02.460
And there's the fruits of the Spirit.

00:53:02.460 --> 00:53:04.264
Chaff is not fruit.

00:53:04.264 --> 00:53:06.288
Chaff is the stuff on the outside

00:53:06.288 --> 00:53:08.200
of the kernel or the grain.

00:53:08.200 --> 00:53:11.026
It's the stuff that gets taken off

00:53:11.026 --> 00:53:12.958
and it's winnowed away.

00:53:12.958 --> 00:53:14.177
The wind blows it away.

00:53:14.177 --> 00:53:15.200
You don't want it.

00:53:15.200 --> 00:53:16.172
It's useless.

00:53:16.172 --> 00:53:17.734
There's no good use for it.

00:53:17.734 --> 00:53:19.100
Nothing like a tree at all.

00:53:19.100 --> 00:53:20.358
It's entirely different.

00:53:20.358 --> 00:53:21.564
There's no roots.

00:53:21.564 --> 00:53:24.146
There's no fruit.

00:53:24.146 --> 00:53:29.718
The fruit that it brings forth -

00:53:29.718 --> 00:53:32.626
the fruit in this person's life

00:53:32.626 --> 00:53:38.662
is really useless.

00:53:38.662 --> 00:53:45.965
So, the question is this,

00:53:45.965 --> 00:53:48.782
will you be honest with yourself?

00:53:48.782 --> 00:53:52.694
Is the Word of God your light?

00:53:52.694 --> 00:53:54.737
Your sustenance? Your love?

00:53:54.737 --> 00:53:58.736
Your portal into the very mind of Christ?

00:53:58.736 --> 00:54:00.245
Is that not what we're told?

00:54:00.245 --> 00:54:03.586
We have the mind of Christ.

00:54:03.586 --> 00:54:06.674
I can go into the recesses

00:54:06.674 --> 00:54:10.363
of the mind of Christ in this book.

00:54:10.363 --> 00:54:14.998
And the Spirit reveals and teaches me.

00:54:14.998 --> 00:54:16.960
Brethren, is that what it is?

00:54:16.960 --> 00:54:20.206
The window into the very glories of God?

00:54:20.206 --> 00:54:23.525
The wicked are not so.

00:54:23.525 --> 00:54:25.738
Let's be honest.

00:54:25.738 --> 00:54:29.499
Be honest.

00:54:29.499 --> 00:54:34.361
You say, wow, if I'm going to be honest,

00:54:34.361 --> 00:54:36.155
I'm in the category of the wicked.

00:54:36.155 --> 00:54:37.685
It makes me very uncomfortable.

00:54:37.685 --> 00:54:39.202
I don't like that title.

00:54:39.202 --> 00:54:40.905
But I don't know much how I can

00:54:40.905 --> 00:54:43.377
put myself in this other camp.

00:54:43.377 --> 00:54:45.545
How do I get to where

00:54:45.545 --> 00:54:48.695
you're saying the blessed man is?

00:54:48.695 --> 00:54:52.550
Notice v. 3.

00:54:52.550 --> 00:54:57.482
"He is like a tree planted 
by streams of water."

00:54:57.482 --> 00:54:59.064
Isn't that interesting

00:54:59.064 --> 00:55:02.954
that God moves David

00:55:02.954 --> 00:55:04.863
(incomplete thought);

00:55:04.863 --> 00:55:08.432
We know that some trees -

00:55:08.432 --> 00:55:11.299
a seed falls.

00:55:11.299 --> 00:55:13.338
It germinates.

00:55:13.338 --> 00:55:14.763
And you get a tree.

00:55:14.763 --> 00:55:16.561
But you know what's interesting?

00:55:16.561 --> 00:55:18.861
That's not the picture.

00:55:18.861 --> 00:55:23.442
The picture is of a tree 
that gets planted.

00:55:23.442 --> 00:55:27.460
I've planted a lot of trees.

00:55:27.460 --> 00:55:30.482
Trees just don't end up there,

00:55:30.482 --> 00:55:34.803
unless they get planted.

00:55:34.803 --> 00:55:37.215
And a tree doesn't plant itself.

00:55:37.215 --> 00:55:38.970
Someone puts it there.

00:55:38.970 --> 00:55:44.093
And there's only one 
way that you get planted.

00:55:44.093 --> 00:55:46.552
See, this is what I don't 
want to have happen.

00:55:46.552 --> 00:55:48.579
Don't say to yourself

00:55:48.579 --> 00:55:50.306
I'm not like that,

00:55:50.306 --> 00:55:53.211
so I better get my act together

00:55:53.211 --> 00:55:54.402
and get like that.

00:55:54.402 --> 00:55:56.297
And so you know what I'm going to do?

00:55:56.297 --> 00:55:57.618
I am going to go home

00:55:57.618 --> 00:55:59.500
and even though I haven't been

00:55:59.500 --> 00:56:00.559
in the Word much

00:56:00.559 --> 00:56:02.335
and there's dust on the cover...

00:56:02.335 --> 00:56:03.662
And Spurgeon said one place

00:56:03.662 --> 00:56:06.657
many of you can write damnation

00:56:06.657 --> 00:56:11.523
in the dust on your Bibles.

00:56:11.523 --> 00:56:14.073
The way out of this is not to go home

00:56:14.073 --> 00:56:16.443
and clean the dust off

00:56:16.443 --> 00:56:20.242
and open it.

00:56:20.242 --> 00:56:24.178
Reading Scripture is not 
how you get planted.

00:56:24.178 --> 00:56:27.093
I'm not saying it's a bad thing.

00:56:27.093 --> 00:56:31.691
You can find the Christ in these words.

00:56:31.691 --> 00:56:35.540
Undoubtedly.

00:56:35.540 --> 00:56:39.023
But brethren, the ticket here...

00:56:39.023 --> 00:56:41.933
The path

00:56:41.933 --> 00:56:42.899
is not to say, well,

00:56:42.899 --> 00:56:44.913
I better start coming to church more.

00:56:44.913 --> 00:56:46.711
Better get in the Word more.

00:56:46.711 --> 00:56:49.271
I better start doing, doing, doing.

00:56:49.271 --> 00:56:53.379
Don't say that to yourself.

00:56:53.379 --> 00:56:55.114
Though I would really rather play

00:56:55.114 --> 00:56:57.694
video games and watch movies

00:56:57.694 --> 00:56:59.416
and spend endless hours on Facebook.

00:56:59.416 --> 00:57:01.327
And though I'd rather hang 
out with my friends

00:57:01.327 --> 00:57:02.835
and do a thousand other things.

00:57:02.835 --> 00:57:04.693
I better force myself into the Bible.

00:57:04.693 --> 00:57:07.208
Though I find it dull and lifeless,

00:57:07.208 --> 00:57:13.219
for me - life, vigor, living it up...

00:57:13.219 --> 00:57:15.046
it's watching the game.

00:57:15.046 --> 00:57:16.994
It's in sports.

00:57:16.994 --> 00:57:19.648
It's in freedom.

00:57:19.648 --> 00:57:22.050
That's where it is.

00:57:22.050 --> 00:57:23.691
Even though I really don't

00:57:23.691 --> 00:57:27.006
have a love for the brethren.

00:57:27.006 --> 00:57:28.131
I don't have a love for

00:57:28.131 --> 00:57:29.183
the breaking of bread

00:57:29.183 --> 00:57:31.020
and remembering Christ and what He did

00:57:31.020 --> 00:57:32.171
and singing those songs.

00:57:32.171 --> 00:57:34.147
I don't really have a love for all that.

00:57:34.147 --> 00:57:35.888
I don't have a love for
the apostle's doctrine

00:57:35.888 --> 00:57:37.488
and for that preaching 
that goes on,

00:57:37.488 --> 00:57:39.256
and for the Word,

00:57:39.256 --> 00:57:41.575
and no love of prayer.

00:57:41.575 --> 00:57:43.799
But I better get my act together

00:57:43.799 --> 00:57:47.114
because I don't want to lose my soul.

00:57:47.114 --> 00:57:49.341
Brethren, look, you don't need religion.

00:57:49.341 --> 00:57:52.098
That's not how you get planted.

00:57:52.098 --> 00:57:58.078
I think, "And can it be?"

00:57:58.078 --> 00:57:59.446
You remember Charles Wesley?

00:57:59.446 --> 00:58:00.163
John Wesley?

00:58:00.163 --> 00:58:01.758
George Whitefield?

00:58:01.758 --> 00:58:03.753
You remember where they were?

00:58:03.753 --> 00:58:05.603
The holy club.

00:58:05.603 --> 00:58:07.115
They gave their money.

00:58:07.115 --> 00:58:12.100
They visited people in prison.

00:58:12.100 --> 00:58:13.880
And you know what, in the end,

00:58:13.880 --> 00:58:16.271
the Spirit of God convicted them all -

00:58:16.271 --> 00:58:18.323
it was a hopeless path,

00:58:18.323 --> 00:58:20.229
and they were helpless.

00:58:20.229 --> 00:58:23.345
Religion is never the way.

00:58:23.345 --> 00:58:26.202
We talked about Luther.

00:58:26.202 --> 00:58:28.803
Blessednesses - Luther tried it.

00:58:28.803 --> 00:58:30.260
Went to the monastery.

00:58:30.260 --> 00:58:32.742
Religion never works.

00:58:32.742 --> 00:58:35.172
That's not the ticket.

00:58:35.172 --> 00:58:38.946
That's not how you get planted.

00:58:38.946 --> 00:58:40.088
You say, how? Tell me.

00:58:40.088 --> 00:58:41.181
Tell me.

00:58:41.181 --> 00:58:43.656
The answer is this:

00:58:43.656 --> 00:58:46.213
it's found in John 3:3.

00:58:46.213 --> 00:58:48.695
It's, "Truly, truly, I say to you,

00:58:48.695 --> 00:58:50.351
unless one is born again,

00:58:50.351 --> 00:58:55.239
he cannot see the Kingdom of God."

00:58:55.239 --> 00:58:58.562
Yeah, but you didn't 
tell me anything to do.

00:58:58.562 --> 00:59:01.134
Again, you're just stating the fact.

00:59:01.134 --> 00:59:02.839
What does this look like?

00:59:02.839 --> 00:59:07.666
Brethren, here's what it looks like.

00:59:07.666 --> 00:59:15.350
Jesus said - same discourse -

00:59:15.350 --> 00:59:18.190
When the Spirit comes,

00:59:18.190 --> 00:59:22.936
He is going to convict men of sin,

00:59:22.936 --> 00:59:25.138
of righteousness,

00:59:25.138 --> 00:59:27.556
of judgment.

00:59:27.556 --> 00:59:30.668
And you know what happens?

00:59:30.668 --> 00:59:33.181
God plants us.

00:59:33.181 --> 00:59:37.078
And you know what happens?

00:59:37.078 --> 00:59:41.079
Sin. Something begins to happen,

00:59:41.079 --> 00:59:43.855
and the Spirit causes it to happen.

00:59:43.855 --> 00:59:44.844
You think about it.

00:59:44.844 --> 00:59:45.882
Conviction.

00:59:45.882 --> 00:59:47.074
Where does that happen?

00:59:47.074 --> 00:59:48.479
You might say the conscience.

00:59:48.479 --> 00:59:49.797
But it happens in the mind.

00:59:49.797 --> 00:59:51.973
The Spirit begins to cause us

00:59:51.973 --> 00:59:53.357
to think different.

00:59:53.357 --> 01:00:00.642
Suddenly, sin... sin!

01:00:00.642 --> 01:00:02.878
And maybe at first, you're even agitated.

01:00:02.878 --> 01:00:04.562
That was what was true with me.

01:00:04.562 --> 01:00:05.932
Not that I'm the standard,

01:00:05.932 --> 01:00:07.836
but I remember in the very beginning,

01:00:07.836 --> 01:00:11.191
this emptiness; this hollowness.

01:00:11.191 --> 01:00:13.222
And I just wanted Him to leave me alone.

01:00:13.222 --> 01:00:15.165
God, leave me alone

01:00:15.165 --> 01:00:17.385
and let me go back and enjoy...

01:00:17.385 --> 01:00:19.967
and much like Pilgrim 
in Pilgrim's Progress,

01:00:19.967 --> 01:00:21.379
you get worldly wise men.

01:00:21.379 --> 01:00:22.510
Go try religion.

01:00:22.510 --> 01:00:23.786
And that's where he went.

01:00:23.786 --> 01:00:25.522
He went hiking up there.

01:00:25.522 --> 01:00:29.864
Sometimes we get upset.

01:00:29.864 --> 01:00:32.275
But brethren, I remember clearly

01:00:32.275 --> 01:00:35.504
the night the Spirit of God showed me

01:00:35.504 --> 01:00:37.673
my sin was wicked and I deserved hell,

01:00:37.673 --> 01:00:39.365
and if God didn't put me there -

01:00:39.365 --> 01:00:41.729
and you see, that's the 
conviction that comes.

01:00:41.729 --> 01:00:43.756
We start to feel this weight of sin.

01:00:43.756 --> 01:00:46.993
Salvation has to do with sin.

01:00:46.993 --> 01:00:48.902
And Jesus said that He did not

01:00:48.902 --> 01:00:50.257
come for the well.

01:00:50.257 --> 01:00:52.357
And it is not until we're unwell -

01:00:52.357 --> 01:00:54.682
and it's the Spirit of God who causes

01:00:54.682 --> 01:00:55.783
that to happen.

01:00:55.783 --> 01:00:57.345
Not just to freak out

01:00:57.345 --> 01:00:59.209
because we happen to hear a message

01:00:59.209 --> 01:01:02.553
and it says I must be one of the wicked.

01:01:02.553 --> 01:01:05.286
Brethren, it's when you want your sin

01:01:05.286 --> 01:01:06.434
dealt with.

01:01:06.434 --> 01:01:10.872
It's the Spirit of God causing 
something to happen;

01:01:10.872 --> 01:01:14.250
beginning to disturb us.

01:01:14.250 --> 01:01:16.719
Sin becomes disturbing.

01:01:16.719 --> 01:01:20.057
We can't just coddle with it anymore.

01:01:20.057 --> 01:01:21.659
Something is happening.

01:01:21.659 --> 01:01:22.950
Something begins to happen.

01:01:22.950 --> 01:01:23.870
And maybe at first,

01:01:23.870 --> 01:01:26.088
you don't know that 
it's God that's doing it.

01:01:26.088 --> 01:01:27.959
But something begins to happen to you.

01:01:27.959 --> 01:01:29.413
And something that 
never happened before.

01:01:29.413 --> 01:01:31.631
Something that hasn't 
happened like this before.

01:01:31.631 --> 01:01:33.394
And then, righteousness...

01:01:33.394 --> 01:01:38.748
there's this desparate sense -

01:01:38.748 --> 01:01:40.954
this in itself isn't salvation,

01:01:40.954 --> 01:01:42.147
because I have a feeling

01:01:42.147 --> 01:01:43.769
the rich, young ruler felt this.

01:01:43.769 --> 01:01:47.139
But you begin to get this sense:

01:01:47.139 --> 01:01:49.466
something's missing.

01:01:49.466 --> 01:01:52.077
I need more than I have

01:01:52.077 --> 01:01:54.096
to get right with God.

01:01:54.096 --> 01:01:56.282
Do we know that religion isn't doing it?

01:01:56.282 --> 01:01:58.904
You see, that's what the Wesley's
and Whitefield were trying.

01:01:58.904 --> 01:01:59.872
This holy club.

01:01:59.872 --> 01:02:02.219
They were trying to do all their stuff.

01:02:02.219 --> 01:02:04.790
But John Wesley looked at those Moravians,

01:02:04.790 --> 01:02:08.565
and he said, I'm missing something.

01:02:08.565 --> 01:02:10.729
Something isn't there.

01:02:10.729 --> 01:02:13.689
You see, the Spirit convicts of sin,

01:02:13.689 --> 01:02:15.369
and righteousness - or a lack

01:02:15.369 --> 01:02:16.526
of our righteousness.

01:02:16.526 --> 01:02:18.352
The fact we need more than we have.

01:02:18.352 --> 01:02:20.197
The fact we need something.

01:02:20.197 --> 01:02:22.700
And then judgment.

01:02:22.700 --> 01:02:24.629
I'm not ready to stand before God.

01:02:24.629 --> 01:02:25.957
I'm not ready for this.

01:02:25.957 --> 01:02:26.837
I'm not ready.

01:02:26.837 --> 01:02:29.012
And then something is 
happening in the soul.

01:02:29.012 --> 01:02:31.124
Brethren, it doesn't always look identical

01:02:31.124 --> 01:02:31.974
in everybody,

01:02:31.974 --> 01:02:33.352
but that's what Christ said

01:02:33.352 --> 01:02:34.983
that the Spirit of God would do.

01:02:34.983 --> 01:02:36.275
And that's what happens.

01:02:36.275 --> 01:02:38.649
When people are being born again,

01:02:38.649 --> 01:02:41.144
the Spirit of God is doing something

01:02:41.144 --> 01:02:42.274
in the heart of men

01:02:42.274 --> 01:02:44.732
concerning sin and righteousness

01:02:44.732 --> 01:02:45.741
and judgment.

01:02:45.741 --> 01:02:47.278
And then you know what happens.

01:02:47.278 --> 01:02:51.366
He came to exalt Christ.

01:02:51.366 --> 01:02:53.654
And there, in our despair,

01:02:53.654 --> 01:02:56.139
is all the crutches, and all the counsels,

01:02:56.139 --> 01:02:57.942
and all the things we rested on,

01:02:57.942 --> 01:02:59.073
and all our hopes

01:02:59.073 --> 01:03:01.785
and all that we put our stock in.

01:03:01.785 --> 01:03:04.408
It's just crumbling away

01:03:04.408 --> 01:03:08.042
and we can't find...

01:03:08.042 --> 01:03:10.203
I need something else.

01:03:10.203 --> 01:03:11.732
And sometimes the Spirit of God

01:03:11.732 --> 01:03:12.962
lets people get to

01:03:12.962 --> 01:03:16.321
an amazing place of despair.

01:03:16.321 --> 01:03:19.618
But look, it doesn't matter how much.

01:03:19.618 --> 01:03:22.797
That's not the issue.

01:03:22.797 --> 01:03:26.881
The issue is that then

01:03:26.881 --> 01:03:31.522
the Spirit causes the scales to fall off.

01:03:31.522 --> 01:03:33.127
That's what happened to Paul.

01:03:33.127 --> 01:03:34.696
The scales fell off.

01:03:34.696 --> 01:03:36.656
Of you've got it in 2 Corinthians,

01:03:36.656 --> 01:03:42.764
it's like the veil is pulled back.

01:03:42.764 --> 01:03:45.062
And just like God said in the beginning,

01:03:45.062 --> 01:03:48.002
let there be light.

01:03:48.002 --> 01:03:50.529
He shows us this glorious light

01:03:50.529 --> 01:03:53.288
in the very face of Jesus Christ.

01:03:53.288 --> 01:03:56.245
And you know what begins to happen?

01:03:56.245 --> 01:03:59.757
We hear this message of salvation

01:03:59.757 --> 01:04:02.721
and the Spirit speaks to us.

01:04:02.721 --> 01:04:04.564
It's for you.

01:04:04.564 --> 01:04:07.270
It's for you.

01:04:07.270 --> 01:04:12.983
It's relevant to you.

01:04:12.983 --> 01:04:16.516
This crucified Christ.

01:04:16.516 --> 01:04:17.643
And we see that.

01:04:17.643 --> 01:04:19.947
We see that this message is for us.

01:04:19.947 --> 01:04:22.596
We hear those life-giving words.

01:04:22.596 --> 01:04:26.973
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

01:04:26.973 --> 01:04:30.671
and you will be saved.

01:04:30.671 --> 01:04:32.233
And like that lady,

01:04:32.233 --> 01:04:34.300
we become convinced,

01:04:34.300 --> 01:04:37.261
if I can just touch the 
hem of His garment,

01:04:37.261 --> 01:04:40.531
I'll be healed.

01:04:40.531 --> 01:04:43.589
Brethren, that's what happens.

01:04:43.589 --> 01:04:47.595
We accept the truth.

01:04:47.595 --> 01:04:49.944
You accept the truth

01:04:49.944 --> 01:04:52.363
that Christ Jesus came into the world

01:04:52.363 --> 01:04:55.175
to die for sinners.

01:04:55.175 --> 01:04:59.900
And that is music to your ears.

01:04:59.900 --> 01:05:00.959
That there is a way;

01:05:00.959 --> 01:05:01.967
there is a remedy;

01:05:01.967 --> 01:05:03.091
there is a Doctor;

01:05:03.091 --> 01:05:06.637
there is a way to be healed.

01:05:06.637 --> 01:05:11.378
You believe that truth for you.

01:05:11.378 --> 01:05:15.863
And you will come to look up and recognize

01:05:15.863 --> 01:05:18.124
God has planted me

01:05:18.124 --> 01:05:20.444
beside these waters

01:05:20.444 --> 01:05:23.021
and I long after that book

01:05:23.021 --> 01:05:25.441
and for the truths and the promises in it

01:05:25.441 --> 01:05:31.309
and the Word of Christ.

01:05:31.309 --> 01:05:38.481
Brethren, it's not a 
psalm of commandments.

01:05:38.481 --> 01:05:41.237
It's a psalm that says it like it is.

01:05:41.237 --> 01:05:48.334
The Word of God shows us who we are.

01:05:48.334 --> 01:05:50.414
Father, I pray

01:05:50.414 --> 01:05:56.194
this message would 
go deep into the hearts.

01:05:56.194 --> 01:05:58.831
Lord, if there are imperatives

01:05:58.831 --> 01:06:00.996
and responsibilities and instruction

01:06:00.996 --> 01:06:02.544
for us to take practically

01:06:02.544 --> 01:06:04.101
to apply to our lives.

01:06:04.101 --> 01:06:05.663
Then may it be taken

01:06:05.663 --> 01:06:06.979
and may it be practiced

01:06:06.979 --> 01:06:09.020
and may it be applied.

01:06:09.020 --> 01:06:11.357
But Lord, I pray that this Word

01:06:11.357 --> 01:06:12.893
would be what it seems like

01:06:12.893 --> 01:06:15.214
You intended it to be.

01:06:15.214 --> 01:06:22.215
A light to shine and expose and reveal

01:06:22.215 --> 01:06:24.628
the very character of every one of us

01:06:24.628 --> 01:06:26.670
in this room.

01:06:26.670 --> 01:06:28.954
And I pray that it would have that effect.

01:06:28.954 --> 01:06:31.301
I pray it in the name of 
our Lord Jesus Christ,

01:06:31.301 --> 01:06:33.288
Amen.