The Way of the Righteous, Psalm 1:2-6

Psalm 1:2-6

The Way of the Righteous

Last week we looked at the introduction to this Psalm. It is the way in which the ungodly walk and the righteous do not. This verse was given as instruction to the wise man so he would know how to walk in the way of righteousness. The brilliance of it is this: we need to know what to not do, or what to put off in order to know what to do. We find that principle in Eph 4. There are sins or dispositions that need to be put off or thrown away from us in order that we might put on what is right. Another old world metaphor of dressing in robes. It is also a wonderful word picture used in a number of godly ways.

For our purposes, we have been looking at the picture of walking. We progress in the Psalm in order to learn how to walk as a godly person. Where does the walk of faith begin? What do we do once we are on the straight and narrow? Why look at the Old Testament to learn how to live as New Covenant Believers?

This word picture or metaphor is as powerful in the OT as it is in the NT. It is one way among very many that shows us that living by faith before the coming of Christ is the same as during his sojourn on the earth and in this age after his death and resurrection. The faithful are tied together by a common faith that manifests itself in the same basic way throughout all ages. That is an important principle to remember. The OT is very relevant for our life before God along with other Christians in this age under the New Covenant.

Let me show you some verses that show how similar the life of the faithful is through all time:

Psalm 128, a Psalm of ascent: each feast they would recite on their way to Jerusalem. This is how it begins. These are the sentiments in their minds as they walk step by step to the Holy City to worship at the temple--1 A Song of Ascents. Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways….

Two important concepts in the Old and the New. Fear God and walk in his ways. That has always been God's expectation of his people. Do you come to meet with God and each other with an awesome respect of who God is, what you really deserve, but what he holds back as he gives you underserved grace? Do you seek to use your strength to conduct your life according to his principles, his law, his statutes and his commands? This Psalm is the most basic expression of how to do both of those things.

Part of what is promised in the fulfillment of the New Covenant. We are those upon whom these great promises come to pass: Ezek 11:19-20 tells us what God is going to do when the New Covenant has begun. Those who believe after the coming of Jesus are the recipients of all that he purchased with his blood. In part:

19 Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

It is not optional. This is what God does for all and in all who come to faith in Jesus.  He changes our hearts. We are no longer hard-hearted. Our hearts have been made workable--and God is the one who works on our soft hearts. He makes us walk on the path of obedience. We are no longer our own--God owns us. He is our God with all that that means.

He places us on the godly way. Let me read the passage again. We have already opened up verse 1, today I hope to wprk through more of this important passage. A passage worth committing to memory, or as the Psalms calls it, hiding it in your heart, in order to think about it regularly.

1. What he does not do

1.Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
    Nor stands in the path of sinners,
    Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

2. What he does do
² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    And in His law he meditates day and night.

3. The effects of the way to life

³ He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

4. The effects of other ways

⁴ The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

5. The end of all men

⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Let's look at the text:

2. What he does do
² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

What does it mean to delight in something?

It is to admire something while giving our affection to it. Mothers usually delight in their newborn babies. Mothers get a glow about them when they hold, and sometimes when they feed a newly born child. The baby is the reward after all of the labor: the months of pregnancy and the time of delivery. There is something special about a mother holding, or wanting to hold her newborn.

We had one baby who was immediately put in an incubator. The baby was hard to see as doctors and others were working on the child. I remember Sue trying to see the baby. That gave way to wanting to hold the baby. When she finally did, relaxation and delight came all over her.

Delight is what happens to us when we experience something, well, the best word is "delightful." Even when eating, we used the description of delightful. What we really experience is called Gustotorial Sensuousness. I have never heard someone else express their delight in eating that way. In the Chronicles of Narnia the coveted snack is Turkish Delight. It is what everybody wants.

Well, the delight of the Godly man or woman is the law of the Lord. Most commentators agree with the small case L in law meaning all of God's revelation. The law often has that commutation. But, using the Psalm under the New Covenant includes all of God's revelation, even the first five books of the Bible.

God's Word is something to delight in spiritually. We should desire it, we should want to understand it and apply it to our own hearts and minds to drive out the sin that remains. The Word of God ought to be precious. The Prophet Jeremiah once wrote, 15:16, 16 Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.

The Word of God when taken into our hearts through our minds affects the totality of what we are and directs us to what we ought to be. One of our chief goals ought to be to sit under the faithful instruction of it. Your own private interpretation might send you off in a wrong direction. Peter tells us that no scripture is of private interpretation. I have often been amazed at how well-meaning people can twist the scriptures to make a verse here and another there say things that the rest of scripture contradict. But, that's another message for another time.

Suffice it to say for now, the Godly believer delight in the Word of God really says? They tremble at it. Do you?

But his delight is in the law of the Lord….

The text continues:
    And in His law he meditates day and night.

Enough of God's Word has been hidden in the heart so that it can be recalled by the mind in order to preach its content to oneself. That is an old definition of meditation. Meditation breaks down a text into bits to be thought about, then put back together for more thought and then with application to the heart and soul of the one meditating. Meditation is often commanded of God's people. I find that many think about other things that are more important to them. One way to tell where your heart is, is to ask what does it spend its time thinking about? Do you even know? We are called to think about the Word of God all the time. It doesn't mean a little bit in the morning after waking up and a little bit at night before we go to sleep. The Hebrew idiom means every time in the morning and in the evening and the space in between. Always be thinking about the Word in your waking hours. If we do, the Lord will use it to keep us on the right path. How much do you think about and apply God's words to the situations in your life? At work, at play, with your family, and friends, all times are worthy of the influence of God by his word. Think about it often.

Poetically, we are taught about….

3. The effects of the way to life

³ He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;

What a beautiful image that is easy to understand. A plant with plenty of water grows bountifully. In some of our yards and gardens when we can't plant so the roots are deep down to a water source, we have the technology to bring the water to the plants. Hoses with or without sprinklers, buckets and watering cans are all technologies to help irrigate the plants so they might grow and not wither. We are in the beginnings of a drought. We are over 7" below the rainfall of last year and a little less than that below the average. We need water for our gardens and to keep our lawns green-- plenty of water brings a type of gardening prosperity, just like being planted in or near the Word of God along the way to life gives spiritual prosperity to us--if we are bold enough to use what we have been taught. Follow-thru on hearing the Word is the key.

But, being fed and watered in those spiritual ways by the Word of God brings about..

And whatever he does shall prosper

This is prosperity worth pursuing. And, it is the only way to attain true spiritual prosperity. Materialism, and the love for money and what it can bring is at least the root of all sorts of evil. Riches can deaden the heart of any man or woman. I've known many who were prosperous by this world's material standards who don't want anything to do with the God revealed in the Bible. They prefer a god made in their own image and after their own desires.

The Godly planted deep, added to the previous pictures of what a godly man is not, speaks so much to our day when even the most downcast in our society has so much more than the needy in other parts of the world. Our prosperity should humble us to thank God for all the gifts he has given, instead of coveteous brutes who just want more and more. One of the Rockerfellas was asked, What is enough? His response, Just a little more. Most of us are more like that than we are sensitive to the many needs around us. We need to be planted deeply in the Word of God. 

Consider,

4. The effects of other ways

⁴ The ungodly are not so,

This is another contrast from the world of farming and agriculture. The godly are planted near the source of sustenance and prosperity, But not so the wicked. This is what they are like:

But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Chaff is the useless part of the wheat plant. When the wheat was winnowed for the good grain separated from the hard skins, the wheat would be thrown into the air where someone was fanning. The chaff would blow away leaving the useful grain. In other words the ungodly man is useless when we consider spiritual realities. The wicked are of no ultimate use in the kingdom of God. The Lord doesn't want just a person's wealth and pocketbook or purse, he wants all of them for true spiritual wealth and its effect among his people.

Listen:

Prov 13:7 7 There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.

Psalm 37: 16 A little that a righteous man has, Is better than the riches of many wicked.

Prov 23:4 4 Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease

God knows about our lot in life. He takes notice of what happens in this life and will call all to account. To stand is to be able to stay upright when accusation is made. But, the crooked will have a different posture.  We read:

⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Phil 2:9-11 uses this imagery in a powerful way. Giving meat to the bones of judgment, we read God's Word:

9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

It is at this judgment that the ungodly will not be able to stand. He will be forced to his knees in submission the Lord Jesus Christ, that name above all names.  Those who believe, will gladly bow in adoration of our great king.

Be careful, all men, women and children will stand before the Lord at the judgment. Their mouths will be unable to speak, they will have no excuses. It will tragically be too late to repent and believe. Yet, they will bow in submission to the Lord as he judges them to an eternity away from God's comfortable presence in a place called Hell.

You can either bow your knee and take him as your Lord and Savior now, or bow in utter amazement that his Word was found out to be true in the judgment to come. Many will take their time and live with these realities in their mind until it is too late. Jesus must save you from your sins or you will die in them.

Each and every sin is worthy of punishment. Either Jesus has taken your punishment for you on the cross, or you will be left to pay for it yourself.

You might think, My sin isn't that bad. Compared to the holiness of Christ, your sin is infinitely bad, evil and what makes you ungodly and wicked. Only God can make you good by putting you on the straight and narrow path that leads to life. Jesus is that path.

None of us can fool God. We try to bargain with him all the time. I know as an early teenager, I used to ask him to get me out of trouble all the time. I used to tell him that I would serve him, if he would get me out of trouble. Part of the reason I am in the ministry today may be the empty promises made all those years ago. But, God knows all about your past, he knows what you are like now, and he knows the future. And all of that knowledge is perfect knowledge--none of it is a bad opinion, or misinformed gossip. God knows the truth about all of us. Sinners will not stand in the judgment unless Jesus has taken their sin upon himself and paid for it by his sacrifice. He is the only WAY. The final verse in out psalm reads:

5. The end of all men

⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

They are not my words; they are God's. They are part of that law the godly will walk in. For the sake of your own eternal soul, believe in this Jesus, trust him by faith, submit yourself to him and his Word before t is too late.

If you have already believed, use these words to provoke you to thank God for placing you on that straight and narrow way. Make sure you are on it properly by virtue of his work in you changing you in the ways promised. What a glorious God we have, what a wonderful savior is ours. AMEN!