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The Happiness & Ruin of the Godly & Ungodly

Explore the contrasting paths of the godly and ungodly individuals through Psalm 1. Discover the ultimate outcomes and choices each person faces.

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The Happiness & Ruin of the Godly & Ungodly

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  1. The Happiness of the Godly Man,The Ruin of the Ungodly ManPsalm 1Message 2 in our series called The Blessed Person Sunday, August 16, 2009 Speaker: Doug Virgint

  2. Psalm 1 The happiness of the Godly man The ruin of the Ungodly man

  3. To every man there openeth A Way, and Ways and a Way And the High Soul climbs the High way And the Low Soul gropes the low And in between, on the misty flats, The rest drift to and fro But to every man there openeth A High way and a Low And every man decideth The Way his soul shall go. John Oxenham

  4. Two roads diverged in a woods, and I – I took the one less travelled by, And that made all the difference. Robert Frost

  5. Midway this way of life we’re bound upon, I woke to find myself in a dark wood, Where the right road was wholly lost and gone. Dante Alighieri (The Divine Comedy)

  6. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Jesus Christ (Matthew 7: 13,14)

  7. 1) Introduction 2) The Godly person: a) His path b) His pleasure c) His prosperity 3) The Godless person a) He is driven b) He is doomed c) He is damned 4) Conclusion

  8. 1) Introduction 2) The Godly person: a) His path b) His pleasure c) His prosperity 3) The Godless person a) He is driven b) He is doomed c) He is damned 4) Conclusion

  9. 1) Introduction This psalm is called the “Preface “ Psalm (Jerome, Spurgeon) It finds its parallel in Jeremiah 17: 5-8

  10. This is what the LORD says:        "Cursed is the one who trusts in man,        who depends on flesh for his strength        and whose heart turns away from the LORD.   He will be like a bush in the wastelands;        he will not see prosperity when it comes.        He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

  11.  "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,        whose confidence is in him.  He will be like a tree planted by the water        that sends out its roots by the stream.        It does not fear when heat comes;        its leaves are always green.        It has no worries in a year of drought        and never fails to bear fruit.“ (Jeremiah 17: 5-8)

  12. 1) Introduction It is a wisdom psalm – with themes and vocabulary similar to the book of Proverbs: the company we keep two ways set before us moral types scoffers images from nature Its wisdom is rooted in the Law of the Lord

  13. 1) Introduction The Psalter is introduced by two untitled Psalms: Psalm 1 – the law Psalm 2 – the prophets

  14. 1) Introduction This Psalm stands as a faithful doorkeeper, confronting those who would be in the “congregation of the righteous”: with the basic choice that alone gives reality to worship with the divine truth that informs it and with the ultimate judgement that looms up beyond it. (Kidner)

  15. 1) Introduction This Psalm does not say everything about life: the seeming prosperity of the wicked troubles in the life of the godly injustice and the origin of evil It is an introduction – it presents a simple universal principle – a long term principle

  16. 1) Introduction 2) The Godly person: a) His path b) His pleasure c) His prosperity 3) The Godless person a) He is driven b) He is doomed c) He is damned 4) Conclusion

  17. 2a) The Godly person – his path He is happy ! Blessed is plural in the original - the plural of intensity - there is no such thing as a single blessing! “O how very happy is the person …” The word is found 26 times in the Psalms. Our Lord started his first sermon with this word.

  18. 2a) The Godly person – his path Three parallel descriptions of lifestyle: walk counsel wicked stand way sinners sit seat mockers Three aspects – three degrees Note the progression - a downward spiral!

  19. 2a) The Godly person – his path Three parallel descriptions of lifestyle: walk steps stand practices sit settled attitude

  20. 2a) The Godly person – his path Three parallel descriptions of lifestyle: counsel thinking, plan, principle way behaving, manner of living sit belonging, These verbs are all in the perfect tense - settled behaviour

  21. 2a) The Godly person – his path Three parallel descriptions of lifestyle: wicked - internally corrupt (restless) sinner - active, habitual doers of evil mocker - scoffs at God and holy thinking

  22. 2a) The Godly person – his path Think about the word “counsel”: (advice, opinions, content) The Psalm begins with the mind as the first bastion to defend. Whatever shapes a person’s mind shapes his life. Avoid sinful philosophies, practices and associations.

  23. 2a) The Godly person – his path Think about the word “counsel”: Think about Satan’s promise to Eve: “You will be like God” It was a lie! She became like Satan!

  24. 2a) The Godly person - his path Think about the word “mockers”: (openly deriding what they reject) “Scoffers, if not the most scandalous of sinners, are the farthest from repentance.” (Kidner) “The seat of the scoffer may be very lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell! (Spurgeon) “That which a man spits against heaven shall fall back on his own face.”

  25. 2b) The Godly person - his pleasure Verse 2 starts with the word “but” - a very strong adversary word “But it is in the law of the Lord that he takes delight.” Meditate – the same word as “plot” (Ps. 2:1) “The law of the Lord” in contrast with “the counsel of the wicked” in verse 1.

  26. 2b) The Godly person - his pleasure Parallel passage in Joshua 1: 8 “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Positive delight – meditation – continuance

  27. 2b The Godly person - his pleasure Think about the word “delight”. Reading and thinking about God’s word is not a troublesome or unwelcome fetter!” “Delighting in the law of God is an indication of the new birth, for the natural mind is hostile to God.”(John Stott)

  28. 2b) The Godly person - his pleasure Think about the word “meditate”. “The order of the divine mind embodied in the Divine Law is beautiful. This is the language of a man ravished by moral beauty”(C. S. Lewis) (An illustration)

  29. 2c) The Godly person - his prosperity It is hard for us to capture the force of this illustration for a people who regularly experienced drought and lived near to the desert.

  30. 2c) The Godly person - his prosperity Note: tree vitality planted stability streams of water fertility in its season appropriateness leaf does not wither perpetuity whatever… prospers prosperity

  31. 2c) The Godly person - his prosperity “The God-centred life draws its life-sustaining nourishment and spiritual vitality from its roots in the Word of God”. Fruit in its season – “distinct and quiet growth” “The immunity of the leaf from withering is not independence from the rhythms of seasons, but freedom from the crippling damage of draught.” (Kidner)

  32. 2c) The Godly person - his prosperity For the tree is no mere channel, piping the water unchanged from one place to another, but a living organism that absorbs it, to produce in due course something new and delightful, proper to its kind and its time. (Kidner)

  33. 1) Introduction 2) The Godly person: a) His path b) His pleasure c) His prosperity 3) The Godless person a) He is driven b) He is doomed c) He is damned 4) Conclusion

  34. 3a) The Ungodly person - driven Not so! – the worst that can be said of them. Not trees – chaff! Once again, an image less familiar to us than to the people in that agriculturally based society… The contrast is not just between a healthy tree and a dry shrub !

  35. 3a) The Ungodly person - doomed This judgement goes far beyond ordinary calamities chaff: what unsparing conclusion! worthless, rootless, weightless The tree defies the windstorm - the chaff is driven before it!

  36. 3a) The Ungodly person - damned The ultimate end of a life lived without God – wind blown chaff – useless and lost forever !

  37. 1) Introduction 2) The Godly person: a) His path b) His pleasure c) His prosperity 3) The Godless person a) He is driven b) He is doomed c) He is damned 4) Conclusion

  38. 4) Conclusion There are only two ways and two destinies - on which way are you travelling? He who stands in the way of sinners will not stand in the day of judgment! What a terrible thing to perish! The very “way” of the wicked will perish!

  39. 4) Conclusion Since the time of Augustine and Jerome, this Psalm has always been understood to point to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only when we know Him, turn to Him, can we live this type of life – and enjoy this type of destiny

  40. Psalm 1 The happiness of the Godly man The ruin of the Ungodly man

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