Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/lw/sermons/39749/the-blessed-life/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] All right, if you've got your Bible, go to Psalm chapter one.

[0:30] Psalm chapter one is where we're gonna be this evening. For the first time in about several months, we're not talking about anxiety. All right, you good with that? We finished, some of you are like, no, we keep talking about that.

[0:43] For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, we finished last week a series called what? Anxious for nothing. That's right, we took about 11 weeks or so and looked at what the Bible has to say about anxiety and stress and worry and things like that.

[1:00] So we finished that series up last week. And again, thank you so much for your gracious feedback from that series. But all good series must come to an end.

[1:11] And so we're gonna start kind of a short series as we're on the other side of the 4th of July, kind of in the middle of summer. Don't really wanna start a big series or a big book study or something like that in the middle of July.

[1:25] So I thought what we would do is kind of do a short series called Summer in the Psalms. And so what we're gonna kind of do for the rest of the summer is just spend some time meditating, looking at, reflecting on some of the Psalms in the book of Psalms.

[1:41] And I don't know about you, but this is one of my favorite books of the Bible because there's so many different Psalms that speak to us in different times of our life. And so tonight, we're gonna start with Psalm 1 for our first Psalm of this series.

[1:56] So if you're able to stand, please do so as we honor the reading of God's Word. Psalm chapter 1, and look here at verse 1.

[2:07] It says, Bless is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

[2:19] And on his law, he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.

[2:34] In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff in the wind that drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

[2:51] For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. This is God's Word. Will you pray with me?

[3:01] And please pray for me as we ask God to talk to us tonight from Psalm 1. So God, here we are. We're ready to hear from you. Teach us.

[3:12] Lord, speak to us. Help us not only understand this psalm, but help us apply this psalm. And I just pray, Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, that you would guide us tonight into the truth of your Word.

[3:28] And I pray this in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, Amen. You can be seated. Well, if there's one thing that all the greats have in common, it's their obsession.

[3:40] Their obsession. That was kind of the main idea of an article that I read recently in The Atlantic. And what it did is it detailed some of the obsessive habits and behaviors of some of the world's greatest athletes.

[3:57] The article described some of the different characteristics and obsessions that these different great athletes had. Let me give you just a few examples. So for example, Tom Brady, who many consider to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, the GOAT of the NFL.

[4:16] Greatest quarterback ever. Seven-time champion. Played 22 seasons in the NFL. Has numerous passing records. Well, he was described by one of his teammates as, quote, a psychotic competitor.

[4:31] There's a description. A psychotic competitor. But the obsession that they really pointed out that Brady was just absolutely obsessed about was his diet.

[4:43] Many of you may know this, but he is extremely disciplined with what he eats. He drinks over two gallons of water a day, avoids dairy, sugar, white flour, caffeine, and his idea of a treat is avocado ice cream.

[5:02] Sounds awful. All right? I would much rather have bread pudding and all God's people said, amen. Like, that's his obsession. And then the article went on to talk about Michael Jordan, another great athlete with an obsessive nature.

[5:16] And it talked about how one of Jordan's unique obsessions was his obsession for revenge. It described, and I would not want to be on this list, Jordan kept a list of players that he thought disrespected him throughout his career so that whenever he played against them, he did whatever he could to embarrass them on the court.

[5:41] That was one example right there. Then it went on to talk about Wayne Gretzky. And it talked about how Gretzky, one of the greatest to ever play hockey, was obsessed over details.

[5:53] That he could remember the smallest little thing and that obsession with details allowed him to play at such a higher level. The article described that Gretzky once met a man he had played against when they were 10 years old.

[6:10] Gretzky remembered the team he played for, the team's colors, the final score, and that the goalie was left-handed. Then the article talked about Serena Williams and her obsession, one of the greatest to ever play tennis, and talked about her obsession to compete.

[6:29] In 2010, when she suffered an injury that required hospitalization, she had to take a year off of tennis. When she returned, she lost in the first round of the French Open.

[6:43] Rather than leaving town, which most people do when they lose, certainly in the first round, she stayed in town, met up with a new coach, and immediately started practicing.

[6:55] And she went from losing in the first round of the French Open to winning Wimbledon that same year. And finally, Tiger Woods.

[7:07] The article described his obsessive work ethic and routine. This is crazy. It described this. His routine is, get up at 4 a.m. in the morning, run four miles, go to the gym and lift, hit golf balls for three hours, play then a round of golf, spend a few hours working on a short game, and then run four more miles.

[7:30] I'm exhausted just reading that. And that's his daily routine. In other words, the point that I'm trying to get across is this. Listen, listen. One of the things that takes people to a place of greatness is their obsession.

[7:47] Their dedication and discipline to something. And of course, we all could give examples where obsession can be expressed in unhealthy ways.

[7:57] Yes, we are aware of that, but it is one of the things that can lead to success and progress. So let me ask you this question. What is your obsession?

[8:08] What are you obsessed with? What are you captivated by? And it might be something big or something small. For some of you, you're obsessed with sports.

[8:19] Like you are a sports fanatic. Like come Sunday afternoon, everything shuts down. I see some of you like turning and looking at somebody else. That's you, all right? Some of you, you're obsessed with books.

[8:31] You can't buy enough books. You can't read enough books. Some of you are obsessed with food. Like you're a foodie. Just the mention of pizza and your whole world just shuts down, right?

[8:43] Or maybe you're obsessed with fitness. Maybe you're obsessed with your work and you work long hours and you just love to work. Maybe you're obsessed with politics. Probably not.

[8:54] No one in this culture would be obsessed with politics. Maybe you're obsessed with cats. I read about this woman. She owns 40 cats.

[9:06] Her husband asked her to choose between him or the cats. She chose the cats. I think he got the good end of that deal.

[9:17] Anyways, maybe you're obsessed with another person and that's all you think about and you're just obsessed with them. Maybe you're obsessed with cars. You love to work on cars and clean cars and collect cars.

[9:30] Maybe you're obsessed with your lawn and you're like my father that mows like four times a week. You're obsessed with that. Maybe you're obsessed with a musical group. Whatever it is, listen, all of us have obsessions in life.

[9:44] Things that we delight in. Things that we love. Things that we are captivated by. And what we know is this. Our obsessions influence our life.

[9:57] Amen? Would you agree with that? Our obsessions influence our life. Notice this here on the screen. That is, what captures our minds influences our behaviors.

[10:09] What captures our minds, the things that we're obsessed with, influences the way we live. Think, for example, of the examples that I just gave.

[10:19] Think of those obsessions that I listed. Will those obsessions influence how you spend your time? How you spend your money? How you prioritize your schedule?

[10:30] That's the idea behind Psalm 1. Listen, Psalm 1 forces us to ask ourselves, what do we delight in?

[10:42] What are we obsessed with? What are we captivated by? What do we desire most? What is our obsession? Why? Because, listen, what captures our minds influences our behavior.

[10:57] What captures our minds influences our behaviors. Notice how the Psalm begins in verse 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

[11:14] So, the Psalmist begins by describing one that is obsessed, and what he is obsessed with is he is obsessed with righteousness. He is obsessed and delights in righteousness.

[11:30] He's the blessed one. The one that, by God's grace, has found true satisfaction and true greatness. He has, to use a phrase, the good life.

[11:41] And isn't that something we all want? The good life? We want to be happy? We want to feel blessed? To be satisfied? Well, how does the man of Psalm 1 obtain this greatness?

[11:56] It's because of his obsession with righteousness. Notice, for example, first, that he avoids worldly influence. He avoids worldly influence.

[12:08] The text says he does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. And you and I know this. Like, we live in a world that has inescapable influence.

[12:20] Every single day we are the target. Our minds are the target of people trying to persuade us to their worldview and their way of thinking.

[12:31] Is that not true? I mean, anytime you watch TV, anytime you read a book, anytime you have a conversation with someone else, there's a worldview going on there. There's a way of thinking about life that's being put forth.

[12:45] And listen, what Psalm 1 is saying is not all counsel is godly counsel. not all ways of thinking is godly ways of thinking.

[12:59] Would you agree with that? And this man in Psalm 1 is he avoids worldly influence. He doesn't want to be influenced by anything other than righteousness because he's obsessed with righteousness.

[13:13] That's all he wants. That's all he wants influencing his mind. And so we have to be careful who or what we let influence us.

[13:24] We have to be cautious as to the things that we're letting speak into our lives. Here's why that's important. Look at verse 1 again. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.

[13:38] And then it says nor stands in the way of sinners. Now, that's kind of hard to understand in English because the phrase stand in the way is like somebody's in your way and you want them to get out of your way.

[13:54] Like, hey, you're standing in my way. Move! That's kind of how we would interpret that but that's not what the Hebrew means. The Hebrew means to stand in somebody's way.

[14:05] Think of it this way. is to walk in their way. To follow their footsteps. In other words, what the psalmist here is saying is, listen, listen, why would it be so important not to listen to the counsel of the wicked because if you listen to the counsel of the wicked, you'll begin to act wickedly.

[14:31] Notice this here on the screen. If you listen to them long enough, you'll act like them soon enough. If you listen to them long enough, you'll act like them soon enough.

[14:46] You see, if you're letting worldly influence influence the way you think and what you set your mind on impacts your behavior, eventually, you'll walk in their way.

[14:57] You'll walk in their footsteps. Proverbs, for example, says, he that walks with the wise will be what? Say it. Wise. And he that walks with fools will be fools, will be foolish.

[15:12] That is what shapes our thinking, shapes our lives. How many of you have ever heard the expression, you are what you eat? You ever heard that? Aren't you glad that's not literal? Right?

[15:23] I'm so glad that phrase, you are what you eat, is not literal. It doesn't mean like if you eat a donut, you're going to turn into a donut. I'm so glad that's not true. I would be a lot of donuts.

[15:34] All right? So, anyways, that's not what that means. You are what you eat means what? There's a direct relationship between how you eat and your health. If you eat unhealthy, you're going to what?

[15:47] Be unhealthy. In that sense, you are what you eat. What the psalmist is saying here is this, in Psalm 1, you are what you think. You are what you think.

[16:00] There's a direct relationship between what influence comes into your mind, what captivates your thinking, and the way in which you walk, the path in which you follow.

[16:13] This is why Scripture repeatedly talks about what we are to do with our minds. Just when you thought we were finished with Philippians chapter 4, let's go back there.

[16:24] We actually did a sermon just a couple weeks ago on this. Look at Philippians 4, verse 8. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, whatever is excellent, if there is anything worthy of praise, say it with me, think about these things.

[16:48] Why? Because what you set your mind on influences your life. Listen to Romans chapter 12, verse 2. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed how?

[17:02] Say it. By the renewal of your mind. Colossians chapter 3, verse 2 says, Set your minds on things above, not on the things on earth.

[17:16] And there are so many other scriptures that would tell us, listen, what are you thinking on? What's being absorbed by your mind? Listen, the blessed man doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, and because he doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, he doesn't stand in their way.

[17:36] He doesn't walk their path. You with me? It's so critically important. And I thought, let's play a game. Right? Let's just play a little game right here in the middle of the sermon.

[17:47] We'll call it finish this phrase. Finish the phrase. You ready? The way this game works, I'm going to start a phrase, and you're going to finish it. Everybody, out loud, okay? You ready? Let's start with an easy one.

[17:59] Like a good neighbor. Yes, very good. See, this game is so easy. By the way, there's no cash prize for winning this game. All right, let's do another one. Melts in your mouth.

[18:11] Very good. You are so smart. All right, this is for a bit of the older crowd. Some of you younger people won't get this one, but I remember it, so what does it say about me? Help, I've fallen and I can't get up.

[18:25] That's exactly right. Okay, here's a more recent one that's been around a while. What's in your wallet? Very, very good. Okay, here's another one.

[18:36] To all who receive him, oh, let me say it for you. To those he gave the right to become children of God.

[18:46] That's okay, hey, that's okay, no worries, no worries. All right, how about, you better get this one right, okay? Do not be anxious about anything but in everything prayer, supplication.

[19:00] All right, yeah, you got it, you got it. If nothing else, just mumble and it sounds like you're saying it, all right? For he who has the Son has life and he who does not have the Son does not have life.

[19:15] Now, be honest, which one of those were easier to do? Now, listen, some of you are thinking, well, I'm really glad I came tonight to feel really guilty about my Bible memorization.

[19:27] Thank you, pastor. You know, I didn't go to Awana or some Bible memorization when I was a kid. Thank you for making me feel guilty. Listen, you know, my point actually isn't to make you feel guilty.

[19:38] The point I'm trying to make is the reason why you know those other things so easily is you're bombarded with them all the time.

[19:50] I mean, how many State Farm commercials can there be? Or whatever it is. Like, it's just over and over. So, my intent is not to make you feel guilty that you don't know your Bible.

[20:02] My point is to say you're bombarded more with worldly things than godly things every day. And it's important for us to be intentional to absorb our minds in godly counsel.

[20:20] That's my point. So, don't feel bad. Just be aware of the imbalance in the world in which we live. And here's what happens next. So, the blessed man, the one who's obsessed with righteousness, doesn't listen to worldly counsel.

[20:35] And as a result, he doesn't stand in the way of God. He doesn't walk in their way or walk their path. And then notice the final phrase. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

[20:49] Now again, the psalmist here is giving a progression and the progression goes like this. And some of you will be able to think of people that you know that fit this description.

[21:01] It starts out by listening to ungodly counsel or influence. Then it moves to walking the path of ungodliness.

[21:13] And where it ends up is scoffing or making fun of or ridiculing the godly. At one point, it was you wanted godliness, you pursued godliness, you wanted righteousness, you obsessed about righteousness, but then you started listening to other people.

[21:33] Then you started actually believing everything you saw on Google or on the news. And you started reading different books and you started being influenced by other things and what you set your mind on began to influence your behavior.

[21:47] And so then you begin to walk that path and where that path led is you actually look back to the person that desired godliness and you mock them.

[21:59] You scoff them. You don't want anything to do with that anymore. It really is a slow fade. And again, some of you can probably think of family members or friends that at one point it appeared they were obsessed with godliness and at some point down the road they were making fun of it.

[22:22] The blessed person, the one who is obsessed with righteousness doesn't listen to worldly advice, doesn't walk that path, and doesn't sit in the seat of scoffers.

[22:36] Notice secondly what he does is not the negative which is doesn't listen to worldly influence, but the positive. Verse 2, but his delight, so he doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers.

[22:49] Instead, his delight, his obsession, his passion, his love is what? The law of the Lord. And on his law he meditates day and night.

[23:05] So the second thing of this man in Psalm 1 is he absorbs godly instruction. He doesn't just avoid worldly influence, but he absorbs, he eats, he craves, he delights in godly things.

[23:20] Listen, it is not enough to turn away from the counsel of the world if you don't turn to the counsel of God. It's both.

[23:31] I don't want to be influenced by the world, I want to be influenced by God. And notice the text says it is mental that is he meditates on it. It's emotional.

[23:44] Oh, this is so important. If you've zoned out, I don't know how you could, but zone back in, right? He doesn't do it because he's obligated. He's not meditating on God's word because legalistically he has to.

[24:00] He's doing it because it's his joy. He delights in it. It's what he's obsessed with. It's what he loves. And he's faithful to it.

[24:13] That is, he does it day and night. Day and night. He meditates on it, delights in it, and he does it throughout the day. It reminds me, I've used this in, well, actually in a verse I'll mention in just a moment, but Ernest Shackleton who was famous for his Antarctic expeditions, and in the first three expeditions they were headed to the South Pole, and on one occasion he and three of his men lost all of their supplies and they had to walk all the way back to their base.

[24:45] Listen, they walked 127 days in the bitter cold. And in his book, this is what he writes. He said, quote, every waking hour was occupied with the thoughts of eating.

[25:02] They were so hungry and starving, they obsessed day and night about that day when they would finally be filled.

[25:14] Again, Matthew 5, 6, this is the verse I take that from. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst are obsessed for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.

[25:27] Everybody with me? He doesn't listen to worldly counsel, but instead his delight is in the law of God. And what is the outcome then of this path, this approach to life?

[25:43] He achieves greatness. He achieves greatness. That is, he experiences the good life. Notice the description now in verse 3. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, its leaf does not wither, and in all that he does he prospers.

[26:06] Now prosperity here does not mean financial. That is, that misses the metaphor. What it means here to prosper, listen, this is important. What it means to prosper is that he gets the life he's been obsessed with.

[26:24] He accomplishes, like he gets the thing he desired the most. And you say, well how do you know what that means? Well how else does the Hebrew use this word prosper?

[26:36] Let me give you just one example in Isaiah chapter 55 11. It will not be on the screen. It says this, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.

[26:48] You know this verse. It will not return void or empty but it shall prosper. It shall, that is, accomplish that which I purpose.

[27:02] That is, my word's going to go out, it is not going to return void or empty but it's going to prosper, that is, it will accomplish the point to which I sent it out.

[27:13] In other words, the idea here in the psalm is this, listen, this is beautiful, he gets the righteousness he's been obsessed with. He gets the righteousness he's been obsessed with.

[27:28] The man is blessed because he avoids worldly influence, he absorbs himself in the word of God and the result is he gets prosperity, he gets righteousness and that is why he's blessed.

[27:45] And now notice the contrast between that man in the first few verses and this one, verse 4. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff that the wind drives away.

[28:00] Now the Hebrew here is actually very, very strong. Literally it reads this, not so the wicked, not so the wicked. This won't be on the screen, let me just go back and read it so that you feel the emphasis, right?

[28:14] This is back to the righteous man, the one who obtains righteousness. He's like a tree planted by streams of water, yields its fruit in its season, his leaf does not wither, and all that he does he prospers.

[28:26] Not so the wicked. That's the Hebrew emphasis. Not so the wicked. That is, everything that has just been said about the godly person is not true about the ungodly person.

[28:41] The wicked do not get the good life. Oh, they may think they have the good life, but time, as we'll see in the text, will play itself out and they will realize they don't have the good life.

[28:52] They not only don't get the good life, they don't delight in God's word, they don't delight in God's word because they're influenced by the world around them, and therefore they never ultimately or eternally obtained the blessed life.

[29:05] the life that is truly satisfied. No, instead, they're like chaff. They're dead. They're dead. And they're blown away by whatever wind comes along.

[29:19] And listen, I will tell you, I could mention examples, I probably should, I won't, but there are things I look at in our culture and I think, how in the world did we get here?

[29:34] How in the world are we accepting of that kind of thinking? Are you like me and you just look at certain arguments out there and I'm like, you have a brain and I know you're too smart to believe that.

[29:52] I know you can't actually believe that. I know on basic human logic and understanding, you can't possibly be swept up in that.

[30:04] But thus is the world. Thus is the world of the ungodly and but by the grace of God go we. Amen? But listen, the point here is that they're blown away with whatever wind comes along and give it 10 years, it's going to be something else.

[30:23] And give it five years, it'll be something else. The culture continues to be blown to and fro by all the different winds of worldly influence.

[30:35] And here's why, even if they think, this is so important, even if they think they have the good life because they get the life that their personal autonomy really wants, here's why at the end of it all it'll be shown that they don't get the good life, verse five.

[30:54] Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

[31:09] Listen, there are people who think they have the good life because they've listened to the world and they've obtained everything the world allows them to have, God, and it may feel like they have the blessed life for a while, but when the final reckoning of all things before God comes, they will be shown they missed the good life.

[31:33] They missed the blessed life because they were obsessed with ungodliness rather than obsessed with the things of God.

[31:45] God. And that person will not be able to stand on the day of judgment because they will have nothing to stand on. So you've got two people.

[31:56] Do you see them? In the psalm, there's two people. There's one who avoids worldly influence, absorbs godly instruction, and gets righteousness. The other one, influenced by the world, not concerned about the word of God or the ways of God, and consequently, they will not stand in the day of judgment.

[32:15] So what do we do with this psalm? Well, there's a bit of a dilemma in terms of what to do with this psalm and how to apply it. And I think, as I think about, you know, my time as a Christian and people that have taught Psalm 1, I think about 90% of preachers, teachers, or Christians will apply this psalm this way.

[32:43] Are you listening? So as we land the plane and we talk about application, here's the application. Read your Bible more. Wouldn't that seem to fit the psalm? No, I'm serious.

[32:54] Wouldn't that seem to fit? This psalmist delights in the law of God, so you should delight in God's word. And so how much time are you spending in God's word?

[33:05] Or the application might be, you need to spend more time with God. God. Or it might be, you need better friends. And by better friends, I mean godly ones. People that are actually speaking godliness into your life.

[33:18] And you need to turn off the news, and you need to stop reading certain things, and you need to make sure that you're not walking in worldly influence. Right? Wouldn't that? That would seem to fit the psalm.

[33:29] You need to stop watching things that are having a negative impact on your mind. And on and on and on. We would go with Psalm 1 application. And let me just say this.

[33:40] I'm okay with those takeaways on a smaller level. I mean, listen, if this message inspires you to spend more time in the word, isn't that a good thing?

[33:52] And all God's people said, yes, like absolutely. That would be a great thing. If tonight the spirit of God lays on you, your heart, somebody, or something that is being a bad, negative influence in your life, and you decide that you're going to leave tonight, and you're going to address that, so that you're no longer influenced by ungodly things, that would be a good thing, right?

[34:11] Absolutely. But if that's all you do, you miss the point of the psalm. If that's the only way you apply this psalm, you miss the point, which is why I feel like maybe it's not 90%, but so many preachers and so many teachers and so many Christians just don't understand the context of Psalm 1, and so they apply it at a lesser level.

[34:36] you say, what's your point? To understand the psalm, and one of the things that I have taught you in just about every Bible study we've done, or sermon series, or whatever, is listen, context is king, and one of the most important things in biblical interpretation is you have to understand the genre, right?

[34:57] How many times have I told you in the book of Revelation? If you don't understand anything about apocalyptic genre, you're not going to understand the book of Revelation. Most people get the book of Revelation wrong because they don't have a clue about apocalyptic genre.

[35:11] They treat it just like Romans, and you can't do that. You have to understand, I'm totally off script, and I'm in teacher mode. Okay? The Bible, take this not too extreme, the Bible is like walking in Barnes and Noble.

[35:29] Everything in Barnes and Noble is not history, right? There is a history section, but it's not all one genre in Barnes and Noble. There's different genres organized according to its genre.

[35:43] You have fiction, and you have history, and you have self-help, and you have religion. You know what I mean, right? Well, when you walk into the Bible, you're doing the same thing.

[35:53] You've got wisdom literature. You've got apocalyptic genre. You've got epistles, which are letters. You've got gospels. You've got history like Acts and Exodus, and so you have to understand what genre you're dealing with if you're going to interpret it right.

[36:10] And so the reason why we often get Psalm 1 wrong is that we don't understand wisdom literature. And one of the common things in wisdom literature is this.

[36:24] There's polarities. Listen to me. I'm going somewhere. There isn't a middle ground. You don't get to be the person that doesn't listen to world, or I'm sorry, you don't get to be the person that listens to worldly instruction and absorbs godly instruction.

[36:45] You're one or the other. You don't get to be the person that walks a little bit down the path of the world and a little bit down the path of righteousness. That person doesn't exist.

[36:57] It's one or the other. You're either the blessed man or you're not the blessed man. You're either the righteous or the wicked. You don't get any other option in wisdom literature. Let me prove it.

[37:08] In the book of Proverbs, you're either following lady wisdom or lady folly. There isn't another lady to follow. John does this.

[37:20] He says you're either a child of the light or you're a child of darkness. There's no child of a little bit of light, a little bit of darkness. You're one or the other. Jesus says you're either on the narrow path or the wide path.

[37:32] Your house is either on the rock or it's on the sand. Your tree either produces good fruit or bad. Don't you see? There are certain things in Scripture that do not give you middle ground. them. So which one are you?

[37:51] Are you the person who never listens to worldly influence and therefore never, never, ever behaves ungodly and never, ever, ever fails to apply God's word and prospers in everything you do as a Christian?

[38:14] Is that you? Then you're not Psalm 1. Because you're either one or the other. You don't get to walk the middle ground.

[38:26] In fact, pick your favorite Bible person. Do they fit? Is Moses, does he fit the person described in Psalm 1? Moses, the great mediator of Israel that lost his temper and killed a man?

[38:39] He's out. Or what about Abraham? A friend of God who also is a liar? He's out. Paul, the great apostle, killed Christians.

[38:52] He's out. Peter, Jesus' closest disciple, a denier of the faith. Just wait till what I say about you and I. Even on our best days, we don't love the Lord our God with all our heart and delight in the law of God.

[39:12] Now you're starting to get to the point of the psalm. Oh, this is the point of the psalm. Look at it on the screen. There's only one that fits the description of Psalm 1.

[39:27] There's only one that fits the description of Psalm 1. That is, there is only one that perfectly avoided evil. There is only one who absorbed the Word of God and did everything by eating his father's food, which was his Word.

[39:43] There is only one that was obedient and prospered in all that he did. There is only one that achieved greatness and his name is above every name for his name is, say it, Jesus.

[39:56] He's the only one that fits the description of Psalm 1. Psalm 1. And if you think I'm pressing this too far, I'm actually just telling you what Jesus has already told us.

[40:11] Luke 24, verse 27. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

[40:23] Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the, say it louder, Psalms.

[40:39] The Psalms must be fulfilled in the words, Jesus has already told you that Psalm 1, the Psalms were pointing you to who? Himself.

[40:51] He's the one of Psalm 1. So finish the sermon. Land the plane. What's the point?

[41:01] Faith family, listen, listen, listen. It is true, it is true, it is absolutely true. Obsession, obsession leads to greatness. But there is a greatness that is far greater than any athlete has ever known.

[41:20] And that greatness is the righteousness of God. There is nothing greater than that. Amen? And listen to me. there is only one man who was obsessed with righteousness.

[41:38] That is doing the Father's will to the point that he achieved greatness. So here it is. Are you ready for what Psalm 1 is all about?

[41:50] Listen to me. if you really want the good life. If you really want the blessed life. If you want the life that is planted by streams of water whose leaf does not wither, who truly prospers, there is only one way to get that.

[42:07] Be obsessed with Jesus. Be obsessed with the righteous man that is Christ Jesus. Why?

[42:18] Because he is the good life. Because he is the good life. And all God's people said amen. Let's pray together. Let's pray together.

[42:29] God thank you so much for this time tonight to study Psalm 1. And yes there are lots of lesser applications like being in your word and being discerning of what influence is coming into our life.

[42:44] All those things are true but they're not the ultimate point. The ultimate point is the good life, the blessed life, is the life of Jesus.

[42:57] He's the one that fulfills Psalm 1. And so our obsession, our love, our delight, our joy, our treasure must be him.

[43:11] It must be him. when it is, then we get the blessed life. The life that experiences true satisfaction.

[43:26] The life under your grace. So help us tonight, yes, be inspired to think about influences and be in the Bible more and all those very important things but stir our affections for Jesus.

[43:48]  May we be obsessed with him. In Jesus' name we pray and God's people said, amen, amen. If he goes to goes to us, he goes to goes to us, he us, he goes to us, he goes to us, he goes to us, he goes to us, he goes to us, he goes to goes to us, he goes to us, he us, he goes to us, he us, he goes to