Only One Way or the Other

Transcript

GRM 1149
03/06/2016
Only One Way or the Other
Psalm 1
Gil Rugh

The first psalm, Psalm 1. We've looked at this psalm in past years but I thought it would be profitable for us to look at it again. The psalm has special interest because it is the first psalm and it really is the introduction to the book of psalms. The theme here is what will be carried on through the rest of the psalms. David we think of as the psalmist, and he is. I believe it is 73 of the psalms that are credited to David. That means that his name is at the top like at Psalm 3 where it says a psalm of David. I believe there are 73 psalms like that. He may have written others that do not have his name at the top, some of the psalms like Psalm 1 are not credited to anyone. So we think of David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. There were other writers as well, but he wrote about half of them for sure. And the book of Psalms is often known as the hymnbook of Israel, giving praise to God.

If you turn over and look at the start of Psalm 4 you'll see in the title of it, for the choir director on stringed instruments. So many of these psalms were psalms written to be sung. In fact for many years of the church's history they sang the psalms. I have a book in my library with some of the musical section that I don't use enough, but it has all the psalms set to music for current singing. In fact when the church moved from singing psalms to what we call hymns, it caused a great conflict because some people thought we shouldn't be singing anything but the pure word of God, shouldn't be singing the words of men. We've become accustomed to the hymns. In fact I believe it was Isaac Watts who is sometimes known as the father of hymns. His plan was to take Old Testament passages like the Psalms and just word them a little differently so they would be more applicable specifically to the church now that Christ has come. But the truths of the Psalms are truths that we turn to often, probably many of us would say it is our overall favorite book to go to, just read for encouragement. When you are going through trials and difficulties you often come to the Psalms. So it opens up much.

The first psalm is going to set down the basic issues, two distinctions—the one who belongs to God, the one who does not. You'll note verse 1 begins, “How blessed is the man.” That talks about the man who has a relationship with God, who belongs to God and receives all the blessings of God. Then you'll note how verse 4 begins, “The wicked are not so,” and it talks about the wicked. So the life of the child of God is to be one of blessings, of inner joy and happiness, peace, looking forward to all that God has promised. The life of the ungodly is not like that, in fact they are declared to be worthless in the sight of God, doomed to destruction. And that conflict and that difference will permeate the songs and the trials and difficulties that come into the life of one who belongs to God, the opposition to the children of God from the ungodly and their opposition to God, those become themes that run through the Psalms and we see that conflict coming out regularly through the Psalms.

In this psalm it talks about meditation. In verse 2 the second line, “In His law he meditates day and night.” I want to read you an article at the beginning rather than when we get to that, I'll refer to it then. I clipped this out of the Omaha paper a week ago, just a week ago this Sunday. It is entitled Why Mindfulness Has Become Such a Trend. And it's a good-sized article, you can see about the size of it so it covers a fair amount. Mindfulness has become a trend and drop-in meditation studios are proliferating in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles. And metagroups, meta-meet-up groups are becoming the new book clubs as more people are craving ways to unplug, pushing meditation practices and mindfulness movements from hippie to mainstream.

Of course you talk about meditation and what they call mindfulness, you think back in the '60s and the hippies and the Beatles. What did they do? They go to India, you meet with Hindu masters and you learn their techniques and so on. Those things become mainstream here with the passing of time.

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is staying connected to the present moment. You start to let go of all that accumulated stress and information so it's not only a time not to ingest, you don't take things in during this time, it's a time to let the body go. And they quote a series of experts in this article. The first expert is a woman who was a former Broadway actress and is a founder of Zeva meditation in New York. I don't know why that makes you an expert, but she'll be an authority in this article.

Mindfulness can help you with everything—overeating, other practices they'll talk about. Says another teacher, and gives her name here, “while meditating is usually associated with a sitting practice, often guided by the breath, mindfulness extends that practice into everyday life and focuses on cultivating awareness in the present.” So mindfulness is just the next step in meditation, meditation where you sit, you empty everything out of your mind and you sit and maybe you sit in a certain posture on a mat or something. Well mindfulness now takes meditation, you don't have to be a place where you can sit and be in a certain posture, everything you do can be doing it.

The point is to prevent your mind from wandering, projecting fear and worry from the past, the future, training yourself to accept and enjoy the moment. It all comes from Eastern stuff and your god within you and you want to cut yourself off from the body and the world around you. Empty yourself, open yourself up to experience the god that you are, if I can put it that way.

And why has mindfulness become such a buzzword? They keep saying, this section starts out, experts say; the next section starts out, experts say; the next section starts out, experts stress. The only experts they stress are several ladies and a couple men who practice it. Never says why they know anything more about the brain and how the brain operates and then how the mind works out of the physical organ the brain so we have thoughts. They are just experts. Experts say mindfulness offers a rest for the brain and it enables you to live in the present moment. There is a man, obviously has an Indian background from his name, he is medical director for the Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. You have those who come from that kind of background and the East and they bring their Eastern practices.

Experts stress the importance of starting with a teacher. And then another lady who is director, now note this, at the Art of Living Foundation who helped to bring mindfulness, meditation and yoga to New York City Public Schools. This is accepted as the world's way of dealing with stress, of having some peace within. But if you go to New York Public Schools and say, “I have another alternative I'd like to implement in the school program,” they may not be as open. But the practices of Eastern religions can be practiced throughout the whole school system and adapt our young people to them.

Now you might know there is money in this. Eight hundred people sold out a New York concert venue. They paid $20 apiece to sit in silence. Since this is just a building I'm thinking of renting it out Monday through Friday from 10-12, $20 a person. You can sit in here and be quiet. We can get more than 800 people in here. Silliness, silliness, silliness!

Well they also have here three quick ways to work meditation and mindfulness into your daily routine. Breathing is a powerful, simple way to come back to yourself and center yourself. It's also a good way to stay alive. And you get instructions. When the phone rings, don't answer it. Well that's good advice for anybody, but you have to let it ring a certain number of times, as you pause empty your mind, clear your thoughts, take a breath. Now you are ready to answer the phone. That's one lady who wrote a book on real happiness, that's what she says.

Another one, the former Broadway actress said, “gently hear the word one in the background of your mind. Other thoughts may intrude, you keep pushing them out.” You keep coming back to that, it's that mantra from the Eastern religions—you focus on a word, clear your mind. There is only one guy who has a good idea here, he is a former Buddhist monk. His title is enjoy your chocolate. You break off a square of really good chocolate, before you pick it up take a couple of deep breaths. Breathe in the through nose, out through the mouth. I wonder what happens if you breathe in through the mouth and out through the nose. Then you have to think, I mean this is three paragraphs of all I want is a piece of chocolate. Then you imagine all the ingredients in the chocolate.

This is the world looking for peace. I mention this because we are going to talk about meditating in this verse and it has nothing to do with what the world views as the word meditation for. But biblical meditation is biblical, but it's the opposite of emptying your mind, it is the process of filling your mind.

So let's look into Psalm 1 and the contrast drawn here between the man who has a relationship with God and enjoys all the fullness of God's blessings and the man who has no relationship with God and has a worthless life doomed to destruction. The psalm begins “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners, not sit in the seat of the scoffer.” That word blessed, the Greek translation of this Old Testament and what we have in the New Testament uses the word makarios, and that's the Beatitudes, the Beatitudes are the blessings. Blessed is the man who does that, blessed is the man who does that, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. Same word, the blessings. Some modern translations translate it how happy is the man. And the problem with translating the word happy, our word happy, it's like you are sitting in a room and someone tells a joke and everybody laughs and someone says they were all happy. We went to a happy birthday party. It tends to be somewhat superficial. This word is denoting the inner joy and satisfaction that a person who has a relationship with God is pleased to have. It's in the plural—the blessednesses, how the many blessednesses of the man. It emphasizes the fact this flows in his life, true inner happiness and joy belong to this man.

And first he is going to talk about what he does not do. And you see there is a progression here in the first verse. The word walk, he does not walk; then the next line, he does not stand; then the next line, nor sit. Walk, stand, sit. Then in the first line, counsel; the next line, path; the next line, seat. You have these parallels, three. The last in the first line, wicked; the next line, sinners, scoffers. Walk, stand, sit; counsel, path, seat; wicked, sinners, scoffers. And there is a progression, we'll see, from bad to worse. But this is the negative, this is what the man who has a relationship with God and enjoys the fullness of God's blessing in his life does not do. First he does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. That word wicked, again another word maybe we get the wrong idea of it here. We sometimes think, “wicked,” well that's a person who is doing really bad things, evil things. But the word here is used to refer to those who are the ungodly, who have no relationship with God. They may look very good, they may sit in a congregation like this, they may be credited for doing good deed as the world would look at them, but they have no relationship with God, they are the ungodly. From God's perspective all of them are wicked, the ungodly. Now for believers in the Bible and in Jesus Christ, we believe that because the New Testament says all have sinned. Does that mean they are all ungodly? Yes. Doesn't mean they are not religious, it means they have no true relationship with the living God.

So the man who has a relationship with God and thus is enjoying the fullness of God's blessing in his life does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, he does not take his counsel and advice from those who do not know God, who have no relationship to God. Because if we would turn over to the book of Proverbs we would find “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God,” as we see when we come to the New Testament. “The world and its wisdom does not know God,” 1 Corinthians 1. So why would a person in a relationship with God by faith belonging to Him turn to the ungodly for advice on how they should conduct their life. We are talking about spiritual things here. That doesn't mean you couldn't get advice, how to start your car, how to fix something, repair your air conditioner. Those things are irrelevant to what we are talking about here. But about life. Like why would a believer go to the world for counsel on how to have peace in the stressful life we have on earth? Why would we go to the ungodly to learn how to deal with life? They know nothing.

Now you have to be careful, there are things that seem to work. You realize we have the god of this world, small “g”, the devil, who has a world of followers. So you know it is like if you have a pain in a part of your body and you take a pill and the pain goes away, I found what works. But if that pain is caused by something serious like cancer or another disease, all it did was mask the pain.

I've been blessed with good health. One time many years ago I had a kidney stone. I ended up going to the hospital. They gave me morphine, I still had pain. The doctor said, should we give him more morphine? I interrupted the conversation, I said, “Yes, give him more morphine.” That didn't fix the problem, it covered it up. But it wouldn't be enduring because the real problem was still there and that's what happens often with the techniques and the ideas and the things the world comes up with. I found it, it works; my life is so much better since I started meditation or mindfulness, and I found it relieved my stress. But you haven't solved the problem, the problem is “there is no peace says my God, to the wicked.” There is great danger, it is a trap of the devil to make people comfortable in their sinfulness. That's fine, you have your beliefs and I have mine, and I found peace in this way and inner contentment and you found it that way. That's fine. No, it's not fine. If I said I got relief from my kidney stone, you got relief from yours a different way—it was removed. I still don't feel any pain but my problem hasn't gone away. We have to be careful. Not saying people can't give testimonies, I found relief, I found peace. It's not real. That's the contrast that is being drawn from here. The world's wisdom has nothing to offer us in these important matters of life—how we live, how we deal with life, how we deal with the pressures of life.

So the man blessed of God who walks in a relationship with Him does not “walk in the counsel (and the input) of the ungodly, nor does he stand in the path of sinners.” You don't join in with the sinners. You see if you are walking in the counsel, that's the pattern of your life. I take an input from them and shape my life and my thinking by that. Next step is you stand in the path of sinners. Sinners are those that are not walking according to God's Word, they miss the mark, they are in conflict with the Word of God, they are out of step with the Word of God. You are standing now in their path. You are not only walking your road, taking advice from them, now you have moved off the path you ought to be on, you are standing on their path. I don't belong here. The godly are not to be standing in the path of the ungodly, those who do not hear and obey and heed the Word of God. Nor sit in the seat of scoffers. You can see the progression. Now you settle down with them, those who are openly rejecting of God's truth. They scoff at it. You don't take their counsel, you don't open your mind to them. I have nothing to learn from the ungodly on how to conduct my life in a way that is pleasing to God. He has given me in Christ everything necessary for life and godliness. Again obviously that doesn't mean you can't use an unsaved person, an ungodly person to repair your air conditioner, to fix your car or do stuff like that. We're talking about dealing with life, matters that are God's domain and there are only two realms here—those who reject God and His wisdom and those who have submitted to Him and belong to Him.

“Sit in the seat of scoffers.” This is a continual warning in Scripture. Just turn after Psalms, we can't look at a lot of verses, but turn over to Proverbs 1:10, I referred to verse 7 earlier. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” They know nothing, really, this is just emptiness. What makes you an expert? Well, I used to be on Broadway and now I started a meditation group. That makes you an expert on the mind. No. It does in the world. The whole New York Public School system has adopted meditation, mindfulness and yoga because these experts who have brought over Eastern religion techniques? Of course, it's the devil's world. He is happy to have you Hindu, he's happy to have you Buddhist, he's happy to have you an unbelieving Protestant. It's fine as long as I keep them worshiping me. And that's all false worship is, remember. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, it's the worship of demons, it's the doctrine of demons.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Verse 10, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” Verse 15, “My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your feet from their path. Their feet run to do evil.” Turn over to Proverbs 4:13, “Take hold of instruction,” we'll get to that in a moment, “do not let go. Guard her for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, do not proceed in the way of evil men, avoid it. Do not pass by it, turn away from it.” On it goes.

Come back to Psalm 1, we could continue in Proverbs and other passages. 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Evil companions corrupt good conduct.” Doesn't mean we can't have any contact with unbelievers, but we can't allow them to influence our thinking, influence our conduct. The church continues to get corrupted by this. The Scripture is clear, the godly experience the fullness of God's blessing by not being involved with them.

Verse 2, that's the negative side. The blessed man, the man experiencing the fullness of God's joy, inner happiness does not do certain things. “But his delight.” You don't turn to the world. Where do you go? Where could I go but to the Lord? “His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in His Law he meditates day and night.” This is a strong contrast that shows the positive focus of the godly man's life is the Word of God, that's what brings him joy, happiness. It's not a wearisome drudgery, it's a delight. That's doesn't mean some day you come home from work and have worked hard and you are tired and you pick up your Bible and say I'm just too tired. I must not be spiritual. Obviously you just need to take a nap, get some rest. But the general overall picture, I delight in the Word.

This is where I get concerned, churches become happier to have less of the Word. The shorter the sermon, the better. I am one of the few professions where you can get paid for doing less and make people happier. I read books, people can't focus, 20 minutes is about what you should expect. We're not talking about how the world does their evaluation, we're talking about people who are in love with the Word of God. You know people you don't enjoy, 20 minutes with them is a long time. Isn't it amazing how much time you spend when you are in love? Think about when you were dating, not that you are not in love when you are married, of course you are. But think about, you spend all your time together. I don't spend all my time together. Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night. Well, Saturday night I worked. You love to be together. Well, we love the Lord, we love His Word, it's our delight. We want more of it, we delight to take it in. It's a delight.

The Law of the Lord is the Word of God, that's what they had, the Word of God as they had it, the Scripture. “In His Law he meditates day and night,” and there is our word meditate. It has nothing to do with what they are talking about, emptying your mind. You see what you are doing here, you are filling your mind. It is taking it in, you memorize it, you think upon it, you mull it over. The goal is not to empty your mind, the goal is it fill your mind. So what does the devil do with his counterfeit that he offers the world? Since God says fill your mind with My Word, the devil comes up with a solution to the world's problems—empty your mind of everything. You see we have the exact opposite. Why would the godly be taking advice from the children of the devil? He never does anything in an attempt to honor God or please Him.

“In His Law he meditates,” the word is set in the mind. That's the benefit of memorizing the Word; that day and night we are thinking about it, we're mulling it over. That word translated meditate literally means to utter or speak the words. We're going over the very words of it. We sometimes quote the Scripture out loud to ourselves, mulling over the very words that God has said. I'm speaking those words. How often something comes up with your life and the first thought is, I can't see any purpose in this. And then the verse of Scripture comes, “all things work together for good to those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose.” Thank you, Lord, I don't understand but I believe what you said. The Word comes to refresh us. Lord, I'm overwhelmed, there is so much pressure in my life and I come back and I have the God of peace who desires to give me His peace. We're going over the Word.

Some of you have fallen into the practice, I did for years, getting the 3x5 cards and every day you write a verse on it, that's your verse for the day and you are memorizing it. And you put it in your pocket or your purse and you pull it out through the day and you read it and that whole day when you have some spare time you pull out that verse and pretty soon you have memorized that verse. And you are thinking about it and you mull it over. The next day you have another and pretty soon you are filling your mind with the Word of God. And under pressure, in trial, in difficulty I have to find a way to be able to relax and unwind. Well, God's Word is my comforter, that's where I go for my counsel. I reflect on the Word and I am reminded, God, you are a sovereign God, you rule over all.

Watching some of the confusion going on in the political world, the debates, and reflecting on as I mentioned during the earlier part of the service, some of the verses from the Psalms and Isaiah, I went and read some of those sections and you think how amazing it is, God, that everything is under control, that You in Your plan over the millennias of time have brought us to this very place. And the world and all going on in the world and our own country, and all this confusion, You have determined the person of Your appointment will be soon taking the position of leadership to accomplish what You have determined will happen for good or evil. Why should I fuss? Why should I fret? Why should I be worried? My God reigns, He rules! What's going to happen to our country? What do you mean, what's going to happen to our country? Is that what determines things? I'll tell you who determines what is going to happen to our country—the God who rules over all, and that's true with every other country in the world. We have peace. I don't need someone's technique—don't answer the phone, wait; don't eat the chocolate, wait. That may not be a bad idea sometimes. But empty your mind. That's what the devil is saying, empty your mind, empty your mind. Am I going to listen to the devil? Or am I going to listen to God? Fill your mind, fill your mind.

You meditate on the Word of God day and night. What's the results of it? Turn back to Joshua 1, look at the end of verse 5, we're going to just pick out sections for time. “I will be with you, I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous.” Verse 7, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the Law which Moses My servant commanded you. Don't turn from the right or the left.” You will have success wherever you go. The blessing, prosperity of the wicked where we are going in Psalm 1. “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, you shall meditate on it day and night.” Five hundred years later, the time of David, nothing has changed. You meditate on the Word of God day and night so you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, then you will have success. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous,” don't tremble, don't be dismayed. I have the same God Joshua did, I have the same instruction from Him as Joshua did.

Turn over to Colossians 3. I was going to take you to Jeremiah but we won't go there, Jeremiah 15. Jeremiah said “Your words were found and I ate them, and your word became to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by your name, oh Lord God of hosts.” The Word of God, I ate it, I devoured it, I took it in to my soul. I thought upon it, I dwelt upon it. And Jeremiah the weeping prophet had joy and rejoicing in his soul because he belongs to the living God. The circumstances may be miserable, the situation may be dire, but God doesn't give His joy and peace and blessing just in good times. It is to be our constant privilege and possession.

Colossians 3:16, “Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Same thing. And then we teach, “admonish, sing with thankfulness in our hearts.” Fill our hearts with the Word. We meditate on it, we think upon it, we dwell on it. Psalm 119, you ought to read that psalm regularly. It as a psalm geared for memorizing when it was first given. We don't have time to go there, but come back to Psalm 1. You'll note in Psalm 119 it is broken down, about eight verses and at the top of each one it will start out Aleph and you'll have eight verses. Then it will be titled Beth and then you'll have eight verses. And you go through, Gimel, and you'll have eight verses. They are going through the Hebrew alphabet because each of those eight verses under Aleph began with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet like our “A”. The next eight verses began with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And that's what you move through, and it helped them to memorize the Scripture, fill their minds with it because it was God's intention when He gave it. It was not a device of men. The Spirit of God directed, they didn't get to have a Bible where you could take it home and read it and reread it and reread it and reread it. So they had to memorize it so they could meditate upon it and think about it.

Back in Psalm 1:3, “He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water which yields its fruit in its season. Its leaf does not wither, whatever he does, he prospers.” That picture often in the desert regions of the Middle East, you see it in pictures, some of you have been there. But we see it in films or how they can do aerial, and you come to an oasis in the desert and there are flourishing trees because there is water, it's an oasis. And this is a tree, it is planted by streams of water, there is an abundant flow. What is that? The picture, we are taking in is the Word of God, that is what is providing the vitality of the life. It yields it fruit in its season, the leaf doesn't wither. Whatever he does prospers. That doesn't mean he'll be rich, this is not prosperity theology. But in the worst of times we are prospering, we are fruit-producing because we are nourished and nourished on the Word of God. For the world the external circumstances decide. When you are running for office, you want to talk about your successes. But for believers in all times, good times, bad times humanly speaking, we flourish because our blessings come from within, not from without; our joy comes from within, not from without; we bear our fruit in season. What does Galatians 5:22 say? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.” See what God is producing? It is supernatural. Do you know what happens when we turn to develop the pattern of the world? We turn from God so we take their counsel, pretty soon we are standing over in their path. And you don't spend much time here, pretty soon you are sitting down with them and now their true character comes out and we join the scoffers of the Word. What a tragedy!

This happened. Reading some commentators and what the pattern happens, evangelicals commentating on Scripture. Well, they began to take input from the German theologians and they wanted to be recognized as scholars so they took their counsel and advice on how you handle the Word. Pretty soon they are over there with those who don't believe the Word, and now they are writing commentaries reflecting those who were the scoffers. It's not the way the godly are to function, it's not the way the godly do function. And so we prosper. That doesn't mean we are always successful as the world looks at us, but we have what the world cannot give. “There is no peace says my God to the wicked,” to the ungodly. We have the peace of God which passes all understanding, standing guard at our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. He is the God of peace, He is my God. I have what the world cannot give, I have what the world cannot take away. We come and find our sustenance, our strength in God's Word.

Let's look at the contrast. “The wicked are not so,” the wicked are not like this, the ungodly are not like this. “They are like the chaff which the wind drives away.” The contrast could not be any greater. You'll note he does not contrast two kinds of trees here, the contrast is as stark as you could make it—a flourishing tree by streams of water, nourished year around. The wicked are not like that, they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Do you know what the chaff is? It is worthless, it is of no value. The ungodly are worthless, they are of no value. I realize people will say, that's a terrible thing to say. Obviously we are created in the image of God and every human being in that sense is different from the animal creation, vegetation. But from the perspective of God and their value and worth to Him, it is zero. You say, you are saying people are worthless, valueless? No, that's not what I'm saying, I'm saying that's what God says. That makes it true. And that's the only perspective that matters. They are chaff. Do you know what the chaff is? In biblical times they built their threshing floor on a hill so the wind would blow across. You cut down the grain, you bring it up here, you beat it out and then you took your winnowing fork and threw it up into the air and the very light chaff is carried off by the wind. And the heavier grain falls down. You keep doing that until the chaff is all blown off in the wind. Do you know what the chaff is good for? Nothing. That's what he says here, it's the chaff which the wind drives away. “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment.” Do you know what we are talking about? The chaff is good for what? Nothing. Burn it up, be rid of it, in that sense. It is doomed to destruction. They will stand in the judgment.

Come over to Matthew 3:12, John the Baptist speaking about the ministry of Christ the Messiah. The end of verse 11, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand.” So that picture, He is coming to separate the wheat and the chaff. “He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor, He will gather the wheat into the barn and He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Sometimes we as believers go soft and thus unbiblical on this. Well, you are so valuable, Christ died for you. So we end up making sinners not so bad. What is Christ going to do? There are only two kinds of people, the wheat and the chaff in this analogy—the wheat will be gathered into His barn, gathered to Him, they will belong to Him; the chaff will be cast into an eternal hell. You understand that's what you and I were.

Remember in Titus 3 Paul tells Titus, you remind them you were just like the ungodly, lost in your sins, to summarize it. The amazing thing is in the salvation that only God could provide, He makes us new. One day I was chaff, worthless and valueless, but the grace of God took hold of that which was of no worth to Him, no value to Him. And in great grace redeemed us, made you and me new in Christ. Now some day we will be gathered into the glory of His presence. You know how Revelation 20 ends, the wicked are cast into the lake of fire forever and ever. They are only good for destruction. Understand, we so soften the idea of sin and mellow it. We think they are good people. From God's perspective they are not. Well, we were good people, I was raised in a good home. I realize sometimes we use that, talking about as viewed humanly, on the human level. But we have to see things from God's perspective. You can't be saved until the Spirit of God opens your eyes to enable you to see yourself as God says you really are. God, be merciful to me a sinner. I don't cry out, God, see how valuable I could be to you, how valuable I am. If it weren't for His mercy, that's what the Bible says—“all have sinned' there is none righteous, no not one; there is none that does good.” We read those verses and then we act like they really didn't mean what they say. We have to take hold of how awful the person apart from God's salvation really is. We forget ourselves, I was worthless, I have no value to God. What can I add to Him? What could I bring to Him? Nothing. I have rebelled against Him. The only thing I deserved was condemnation and destruction, but there is grace, there is mercy.

I don't think you necessarily have to start your evangelism presentation by grabbing someone and saying, I just want you to know you are a worthless, hell-bound piece of chaff. But sometimes you have to talk to people and they are telling you about their good things and their good works and their church practice and all they did. You say, do you know what God says about the both of us together, about you and about me? God says from His perspective we are both worthless, neither one of us has any value to God. I don't want to imply to him that you are so bad and I am so good. The Pharisee said I thank you, Lord, that I am not a sinner like other men. Until you are convicted of your sin, “when the Spirit comes He will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.” If that doesn't happen in life, there is no salvation. We don't want to skirt the work of the Spirit and try to bring about salvation. Again, we don't have to be rude in that kind of sense, but we want to talk to people, that we were just like them. I don't have to talk about them and us, I can talk about us sinners. At one time I thought I was all right.

Do you know what Isaiah says? “All our righteous deeds are like polluted rags.” You know you are familiar with that polluted rags, defiled rags, menstrual rags. You know a person with blood, you were defiled by having contact with the blood. You are something defiled before God, the best you do is viewed to Him as defiling. That's what he is saying here, this is the ungodly.

Come back to Psalm 1. So what would they be good for? Destruction. “The wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.” When God gathers His people, and Matthew 25 gives a picture of such a judgment. “Depart from Me, cursed ones, into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” But to the believers, come into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the earth. “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Two kinds of people, only two kinds in the world, only two kinds in this auditorium—the godly and the ungodly, the righteous and the ungodly. That's all there is, there is no middle ground, there are no seekers. We find all this terminology. They are not seeking because none are seeking after God. Maybe God in His grace is drawing you, that's why He brought you here so you might hear the truth. But then again you may scoff at it and leave without believing. Two kinds of people—righteous and the unrighteous. Two kinds of lives—lives of happiness and prosperity, inner joy and blessing and worthlessness. You understand the life of the unbeliever is worthless. It's like the chaff, they never do anything that pleases God. They never do anything that honors God. Because, at heart, it never comes from a desire to give Him glory, to honor Him, because if they had that kind of desire in their heart, they would believe in His salvation. It comes out of a heart that is desperately wicked, that has selfish intentions. Two kinds of destiny—for the believer we go from blessing to blessing, for the inner joy and blessings and prosperity He provides for our soul to the ultimate end. Read the end of Revelation 20, then read chapters 21-22 as the wicked are cast into hell and then to glorious place that God has prepared in His presence for those who love Him.

The way of the wicked will perish. We have a message from a merciful, loving God—we don't have to perish. In your present condition you are worthless, your life is worthless, but He can change you and make you new. He won't necessarily make you rich in material things, but He'll make you rich in His blessings and He will give you inheritance in His presence which will never fade away, and you will enjoy His glory, the glory of His presence forever. That's why Jesus Christ came to this earth, that's why He suffered and died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin, that's why He was raised from the dead, that is why it is a tragedy of infinite depth that you should not believe in Him. Why? It's free. Don't scoff.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word, thank You for Your grace. You are not willing that any should perish but that all should come to a knowledge of the truth, the simple truth that we are sinners, we are ungodly, we are cut off from you. Our lives are worthless, they are without value to You. In spite of that You loved us and had Your Son die for us so that by faith in Him, the work that He accomplished for us guilty, vile, worthless sinners, we might be made new, we might go from being worthless chaff to precious children, that we might flourish with the blessings that are ours in Christ. May that be true of each one. We pray in Christ's name, amen.