Sermon notes from
Monday 23 September 2019
Psalm 1
I am sure every one of us is aware that the
greatest sermon ever preached was by the Lord himself and is contained within
Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7. It is
called the Sermon on the Mount. One of
the greatest truths contained in this Sermon is that there are 2 ways – the narrow
way and the broad way. People in every
day life use language from the bible – “keeping to the straight and narrow.” They have no concept that Jesus taught about
this in the Sermon on the Mount. That is
the message of the bible – there is a narrow way and it leads to heaven and
there is a broad way that accommodates all sorts of everybody and will eventually
lead to destruction. In short Jesus tells
that the narrow way leads to heaven and the broad way leads to hell. The entrance to the narrow way is a through a
straight gate and the entrance to the broad way is through a wide gate. That is the clear teaching of the bible. Some people would say they are not fully on
the narrow way but they are certainly not on the broad way either. In case there is any misunderstanding - there
is no middle road. By nature we are born
in a sinful state, we naturally choose the broad way. It is only when we come to realise our
sinfulness and turn to Christ that we begin to walk the narrow way. I want to illustrate that truth from this
Psalm. There are not only 2 gates and 2
ways but from this passage there are 2 individuals clearly talked about here –
the godly and the ungodly. The Psalm was
written by king David. Verse 1 “blessed
is the man.” Man is generic to mean men
and women. Some translations interpret
this word blessed as happy. The word
conveys the idea of plural happiness, multiple happiness. “O the happinesses” – might be bad grammar
but good theology. There are 3 things he
doesn’t do. The Psalm can be divided in
2 – 3 verses deal with the godly man and 3 with the ungodly man. Firstly look at the characteristics of the
godly man.
Firstly he doesn’t “walk in the counsel of the ungodly”
nor “standeth in the way of sinners” nor “sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” Notice the progression – walk, stand and sit. The person walking in the narrow way, putting
his faith in God doesn’t listen to the ungodly for the decisions in life, does
not take guidance from ungodly people, does not take morals from soap operas, does
not take advice from crooked individuals.
This man in Christ does not walk in the path of the sinful. He has a different attitude, a different
mind, he doesn’t listen. Secondly he
doesn’t linger “nor standeth in the way of sinners.” The bible has a lot to say about the company
you keep. You can tell a lot about a
person by the company you keep. One of
the marks of a Christian, truly converted, walking with God, is that they are careful
about their company, Company can either enhance our lives, build us in our walk
with God. The best illustration of this
is from the bible. The greatest godly
man in the bible is Abraham. A man of
faith. The bible paints a true picture
of him. He walked with God and was
called the friend of God. On one occasion
he went down to Egypt, he failed to trust fully in God. He was in a place he shouldn’t have been
living in, disobedient, ended up telling a little lie about his wife saying she
was his sister. If we find ourselves in
the wrong company or the wrong place we will compromise our Christian
principles. I could illustrate that from
Abraham’s nephew Lot. He was a shrewd
operator. As a farmer he could see a
good field of land from miles away. When
he and Abraham parted Lot chose the well watered plains of Sodom. He could see the good and fruitful land,
overheads would be low, cattle would thrive.
He ended up being the city governor in the city of Sodom. Sodom was synonymous with sin, immorality,
sexual perversion. Lot was a righteous
man – how did he end up here? He
lingered with the sinful and lost his testimony. When he warned his sons-in-law they laughed
at him. It is not just enough to witness
for Christ, we need to have the life to back it up. Lot lost his testimony. The mark for the man or woman on the narrow
way is they do not laugh with the scornful.
It is disconcerting to meet someone who once walked with God. People get hurt. Something has happened. Thought they should have known better, you
get wounded and hurt, it is not easily handled.
We must never be bitter. What
happens then – become snippers and scoffers.
They take a swipe at other Christians.
It is easy to sit on the sidelines but harder to walk in the narrow way
and glorify God. That is the godly man’s
path.
The pleasure of the godly man. Verse 2 “his delight is in the law of the
Lord.” We live in an age where people
are all into soundbites through multimedia.
The Psalmist’s sound bite is this – his delight is in the law of the
Lord. The Psalm is full of emotion. Not only is this godly man separated from the
world but he is satisfied with the word.
You don’t know if you are on the right road – one of the acid tests is
do you have an appetite for the bible? A
desire to read the scriptures, to understand the word of God, to know the God
of the word through the word of God? A
spiritual appetite is an indication of a spiritual reaction. Different counsellor, different company,
different cause. His delight is in the
law of the Lord. The word has claimed
his full attention. “In his law he
meditates day and night.” That word “meditate”
means to chew over, to think through. That
is a good thing to do, to listen to others, to think and meditate. What do we need to think about? To think about what it would mean to be in a
lost hell and without Christ. To think
about how Christ died on the cross and what price it cost him. Do you ever think about the fact that if you
went to bed tonight and never woke up, think about where your eternal soul
might be? One of the marks of a man or
woman walking with God is his appetite – to think, to chew over the word of
God. Think about it carefully.
The godly man’s prosperity - verse 3 “and he shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.”
Notice his position – “he shall be like a tree.” Here is a beautiful tree planted by the
rivers. When you and I are in Jesus we
are planted in Christ. If we are not
growing more Christlike every day it is not the soil’s fault because that is
Christ himself. Everything we need is
found in him.
His produce – “bringeth forth his fruit”. For the Christian who is walking in the narrow
way they have the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their life – Galatians 5 verses
22 and 23.
His perpetuity – “his leaf also shall not wither”. Isn’t it lovely when you meet people and
there is a spring in their step, a smile on their face, a sense of joy and
peace, confidence and direction, they have got it all together? No actually, they have got Christ.
“Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Not saying you will become healthy, wealthy
and wise. The bible does not teach
that. How do you qualify that with Jesus’
own words “the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests but the Son of
Man hath no where to lay his head.”
There is prosperity this world cannot give. When you have received eternal life there is
no greater prosperity that any man can know – to know it is well with my
soul. Is it well with your soul?
What does the ungodly man look life – “like the chaff”. We have had the image of a beautiful tree
planted by rivers of water decked with fruit then on the other side there is a
basket of chaff. What do you do with
it? Throw it into the fire, it is
rubbish, good for nothing. Here’s the
comparison. Outside of Christ? Yes it is possible to be a religious and
moral person but that only represents chaff in the scriptures “which the wind
driveth away”. Chaff has no direction
and that is what the man or woman without Christ is like.
The 2 ways – the broad and narrow ways.
The 2 gates – the straight and wide gates.
The 2 people – the godly and ungodly.
Where are you tonight? The beautiful thing is that God loves
us. He reaches out to us in mercy. He saves us by his grace. He wants us to put our roots down deep into him,
to grow spiritually and know spiritual prosperity.
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