[0:00] I can't preach up there. I've got to preach down here. Y'all notice my pattern. So with this transition into summer, we're transitioning to a new series that's going to last throughout the summer.
[0:13] It's a series in the book of Psalms. So this morning we're going to put a pause on the book of John. We're not finished with it. Obviously we're going to pick it back up after the summer.
[0:24] Summer tends to be a time when many of us are traveling and it's not consistently here. The Psalms, each Psalm can stand alone. Certainly there's a connection of the Psalms. The first and second Psalm actually sets the scene for all the rest of the Psalms in the book.
[0:40] But we can preach each one separately for those who will be in and out during the summer because of family and vacations and stuff. So that's the game plan for us as a congregation over the summer.
[0:52] And I have the privilege to preach on Psalm 1, which many of us know by heart. Of all the Psalms we're going to memorize, it happens to be fairly short, six verses, and it happens to be at the beginning.
[1:03] So we tend to start there and we tend to memorize that one. So it'll be familiar to you. But what I hope is going to be powerful to all of us is the truth that's woven into this Psalm.
[1:13] So this morning it's my privilege to unfold or at least hope that God will unfold to us a beauty of Psalm 1.
[1:23] And we'll see a depth of what's being said to us through Psalm 1. So I'd ask you to open to that Psalm. And I'd ask you to open your Bible.
[1:34] If you didn't bring a Bible, there's one in the seat back in front of you. If you want to use that Bible, you would turn to page 418 and you would find Psalm 1 there. But I would encourage you to keep it open this morning because we're going to look at phrases and words and the truths that are in the Psalm.
[1:50] And we're going to be referring to it often this morning as we look at this Psalm. Let me ask you, if you will, to pray with me one more time after we read this. So let me read it and then I'll pray and then we'll share about the truths here found in Psalm 1.
[2:04] So read with me starting in verse 1, Psalm 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.
[2:19] But his delight is in the law of the Lord. 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.
[2:34] And its leaf does not wither. In all that he does he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff that the wind drives away.
[2:45] 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.
[2:59] Let's pray. Father, this morning, open our eyes spiritually that we might see the truth in this passage. I pray that you'd open our ears that we might hear from you this morning as you speak independently to each of our hearts.
[3:14] And Father, I pray that you would move us in the depth of our hearts that we might live in a way that honors you, in a way that brings you glory. Father, open our understanding as we open your word, and I pray in your name.
[3:27] Amen. Amen. You know, this psalm talks about two distinct groups of people. Do you see it? It's the righteous and the wicked.
[3:40] And there's a contrast that is woven into this psalm. We see an aspect of those who are considered righteous, and we see an aspect of those who are considered wicked.
[3:55] And so I want us to look and see what the psalm says about the righteous and about the wicked at the contrast here, the vast contrast.
[4:05] And I would say this. We know that there's a day coming because the psalm talks about this day of judgment that's coming, and it talks about this congregation of the righteous, the gathering of the righteous together and the judgment of the wicked.
[4:22] There's a day coming when that will take place. And we see the vast distinction as we look at the word of God is that there's going to be a day when Christ is going to gather.
[4:35] He's going to separate the wheat from the tares. He's going to separate the sheep from the goats. And what is he going to do? He's going to take those who know him, and he's going to say, Come, and he's going to say, into the kingdom of my Father, those who have been blessed, those who have honored him.
[4:53] But he's going to say to the wicked, Depart and be away from me, get away from me. And they will be eternally separated from him. And this psalm shows us this distinction, these two groups.
[5:05] And I want to look at what is said about the righteous and what is said about the wicked. So about the ones who are blessed.
[5:17] Notice that the psalm starts with this. Blessed is the man. Blessed is the man. So it's talking about this man who has been blessed, not this guy that has achieved.
[5:30] I want to make the distinction here. It's not blessed is the man who's done all these good things. And all these good things have yielded a blessing. That's not what's being said in this psalm.
[5:41] You know what's being said in this psalm is, God has done something to the man such that now he is considered blessed. This man has been blessed.
[5:53] And what does this psalm say about the blessed man? It says the blessed man walks not like this, but like this. You know, we've seen this before where the negative comes before the positive.
[6:06] Not this way, but this way. And in the original language, that's like an exclamation point saying, this is important. When the negative comes before the positive, it emphasizes the positive.
[6:22] So listen at what is said about the righteous man. It says he doesn't walk like this. Like what? He doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked.
[6:32] He does not stand in the way of sinners. He does not sit in the seat of scoffers. He doesn't do that. The man who has been blessed, which later that man is called righteous in verse 6.
[6:46] The righteous man does not live like that. The righteous man does not make choices in that arena. What arena?
[6:56] Do you see the progression of sin here? Isn't it interesting that if we look closely at what the righteous man does not do, notice it's walking, standing, or sitting.
[7:10] It's this progression of sin that's being pictured here. As we walk in our lives, we see that which is detestable, that which is sinful.
[7:25] And what do we do? How do we respond? Do we walk by it? Do we just notice it as we walk in? Do we walk along with others who are participating? Perhaps do we stop and listen and partake?
[7:36] Or even worse, do we sit down and say, I'm going to be a part of this? There is illustrated here this progression of sin. And do you find that to be true in your life?
[7:50] Do you find that sin often starts as a fault and a temptation? And then as that fault and temptation rattles around, it becomes something you meditate on? And then do you find that often when you meditate, you participate?
[8:06] It's not uncommon for that to happen in our lives in this way. But I want to make this distinction. It says, not this way, but this way. Not like this, but like this.
[8:17] And the positive side of this contrast is the blessed man delights in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night.
[8:32] So the contrast is this. The blessed man doesn't live in the sinful way, but instead he lives like this. He meditates and delights in the ways of God.
[8:47] I love the way the scripture uses illustrations. And here we have an illustration of each of these two types of people. It's the word like. Do you see it in the text?
[8:59] The blessed man, the righteous man is like this, but the wicked man is like that. What is it, David? What are you saying? What is the righteous man like?
[9:11] He says, the righteous man is like a planted tree. And he's planted by this stream that never goes dry. And this stream provides the nourishment that that tree needs.
[9:26] And that tree produces fruit and continues to produce fruit. And continues to produce fruit. And continues to produce fruit. Why? Because his roots are deep.
[9:38] And he draws from this water, this source of life. He draws, the tree draws it. And it's an illustration of the man who is righteous, the woman who is righteous.
[9:51] Those who are righteous draw living water from the king, from the provider of living water. And there's fruit produced in the life of the one who is tied to the vine.
[10:05] You know the story of the vine and the branches, that we are as branches and God is as the vine. And as we are tied in, we receive the nourishment from the Lord.
[10:19] I'll take a look and read out of Jeremiah something very, very similar in an illustration.
[10:30] It illustrates the exact same thing and gives a little more depth. And I want you to hear it out of Jeremiah 17. It says this, Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. Whose trust is the Lord.
[10:44] He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when the heat comes.
[10:57] For its leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought. For it does not cease to bear fruit.
[11:09] Do you see the picture? Even if there's a drought, even if the circumstances are severe, the life of the righteous one is always producing fruit.
[11:23] And even though the circumstances are tough, they're tied into, they're rooted into the source of the nutrient, the water, the life-giving of the water, and they continue to produce.
[11:38] You know, this talks about us. Right? For those people who are righteous, there is a component about their life that is illustrated here, is that they always produce fruit.
[11:55] They continue to produce fruit. Even when circumstances in life are extremely difficult, you know what happens to the one who's righteous? Is there's fruit that's still pouring out of their life.
[12:08] You know what fruit does to others? Or for others? It blesses them. If you ever receive the fruit from the life of another person, have you ever been loved by someone?
[12:21] Have you ever been forgiven by someone? Have you ever seen the joy that is shared by someone? Have you ever watched their patience as they interact with you?
[12:34] And we would know the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness. We see the beauty of those characteristics of the righteous. And it's illustrated biblically by this concept of fruit.
[12:49] And fruit spills out of the life of the righteous. And this illustration in Psalm 1 is beautiful. And do you see the great contrast? In the life of the wicked, guess what?
[13:02] There is no fruit. It is illustrated with this other picture. So during the harvest, let's say, during the wheat harvest, in the nation of Israel, not that I've ever been a farmer.
[13:18] So farmers, if I mess this up bad, y'all please tell me, and y'all can correct me, and I'll do it right next time. But it's my understanding that when wheat is harvested, they bring the wheat to the threshing floor.
[13:30] And they'll take a... In the old days, they would take this sheet-looking thing that was... What do you call it? Like a sieve.
[13:41] And they would take it, and they would scoop it, and they would throw the wheat up into the air. And the husk around the kernel of wheat, as it was broken, you would throw it up in the air, and the wind would take the chaff, or those husk, and it would blow them away off of the threshing floor.
[13:58] And what would fall, because it was heavier, is the wheat, the grain of wheat. And so as you continue to do this and continue to do this, the wind just takes the chaff, and it blows it away. And what you have left over time is you have this pure wheat that's on the ground, but the chaff is worthless and is blown away.
[14:17] It has no stability at all. Isn't it interesting that it refers to the wicked in this way? The wicked are like this worthless chaff that has no use, and it just needs to blow away.
[14:29] It's just no stability, no worth at all. That's what the wicked are like. And we see that displayed in this psalm when it talks about the judgment. When the ingathering happens, when the harvest of souls are gathered by the Father, guess what's going to happen to the wicked?
[14:48] They're going to be blown away like the chaff. They're going to end up separated eternally from God. We've talked about the intensity of hell.
[15:05] The intensity of a place without the grace of God. The distinction here couldn't be greater between the righteous and the wicked.
[15:17] One is like this stable tree that gives life to all who come by. The fruit that gives life. The fruit that comes from being tied into the source of life.
[15:29] The other is worthless and should just be blown away. Do you see the intensity of this? We go on. I want you to notice the delight of the righteous.
[15:41] What is the righteous delight in? Take a look in verse 2. His delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night.
[15:51] So it begs the question, what is the law of God? What is being said here? So we would know the law of God as being the first five books of the Bible, right?
[16:03] The Pentateuch. The law is often referred to as the law of Moses. In truth, it's not the law of Moses. He received it, right? It's the law of God that was handed to Moses.
[16:14] And Moses gave it to the people. And what does the law say? What is it that the righteous meditate on? Well, you know, it's interesting.
[16:25] In the New Testament, in the book of Matthew, there was a lawyer that asked Christ about this very law. And it's revealing what Christ said about the law.
[16:40] He summarized the whole thing with his answer. And the question was this. Out of Matthew 22, it says this. Teacher, this is a Pharisee, a lawyer of the Pharisees.
[16:51] Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? And we know what he answered, right? This is familiar to us. And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.
[17:08] This is the greatest in first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commands hang all of the law.
[17:18] In other words, if we were to summarize the law, it would be summarized like this. Love God and love others. If you do that, then you're obeying the law.
[17:34] If you love. What does love look like? Real quickly, I will share out of the book of John, and this is Christ speaking.
[17:51] And Christ says this, if you love me, you will obey my commands. You know, the Father would say that through his law too. If you love me, you will obey my commands. Why would that be true? Let me ask this.
[18:03] If you deeply love someone, don't you want to do what pleases them? You go out of your way to do what pleases them. You go out of your way to gift to them things that are pleasing them.
[18:16] Do you all understand what I'm saying? In an earthly relationship, that's what love, how love displays itself. And it's true here in the word of God as well. If we love God, what do we do?
[18:26] We desire to please him. And how do we please him? Obey his commands. Where is commands found? The law. Listen, the righteous man loves the law.
[18:39] The righteous man meditates on the law. And in summary, what is the law? It's the way to rightly relate to God. Do you all see this as true?
[18:50] Is that those who are righteous desire to rightly relate to God? You know, we read, I think Sean read, if I'm not mistaken. Sean, was that a Deuteronomy you read? Yeah.
[19:01] So we're going to read out of Deuteronomy again. I want you to hear it again about this law. Here's what Moses said. Moses was the giver of the law. And Moses said this.
[19:11] I'm going to just read a real brief portion of what Sean read earlier. But I want you to hear it about the law. And this was what God gave to his people. What people? The nation of Israel.
[19:24] He said, nation of Israel, this is how you rightly relate to me. Israel lived this way. And Moses said this. He said, listen, he said to Israel, you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes which I command you today.
[19:39] And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
[19:51] And these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Listen to that. These blessings will overtake you. You know what happens in the life of a man who's righteous?
[20:04] You know what happens in the life of a man who obeys the word of God? But these blessings of God overtake you. These abundance, this extravagant love that God has is poured into your life.
[20:20] Don't hear me say that you have a smooth life, you never have a problem, you never have an issue, you never have a circumstance. Don't hear me say that. But what I want you to hear me say is the blessing of God is spiritual.
[20:33] The blessing of God is something that gives you joy and peace and rest and contentment. It is what we're made for. God has gifted to His people these blessings.
[20:48] But I want you to hear the other side of this. But if He says, in a sense to us, church, if you'll obey the commands of God, you'll experience intimacy that you've never even known existed.
[21:00] But, if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all His commandments and His statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
[21:13] Let me ask this question. How did they do? As you've read the Word of God and we've read about the people of God, if you will, the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, how did they do?
[21:25] Do you think that they honored God and all these blessings overtook them or do you think they turned their back on God and all these curses overtook them? Well, it's the latter, isn't it?
[21:39] Think about the nation of Israel. We have two tribes, right? We have the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. What happened to the northern kingdom? God whistled, if you will, He called the nation of Assyria and what did they do?
[21:53] He sent them down there to do what? To destroy the nation. Why? Because they went after other gods and they would not go after Him. They worshipped idols. They did all these abominable things.
[22:04] They did not honor God. They did not obey His commands. They chose to go their own way and what happened? They were destroyed. They were scattered to every corner of the wind, if you will.
[22:15] And then you have the southern kingdom. What happened to them? At some point, God was more patient with them and we know the story about Hezekiah and the prayer of Hezekiah.
[22:25] when they had the army outside the walls, 185,000 were killed at one time and so they had reprieve for a period of time. But what happened? Nebuchadnezzar happened, right?
[22:38] And what did Nebuchadnezzar do to the southern king and destroyed it? Why did he destroy it? Because they did the same thing. Because they didn't obey the commands of God. Because they chose to go on their own way.
[22:48] Because they chose to worship Baal. Because they chose to sacrifice their children to Moloch. Because they chose to do these lewd things on top of every high hill in the country.
[23:00] Because they turned their back on God and didn't worship Him. And what happened? All these curses came upon them. So what is being said in Psalm 1? So it begs a question.
[23:22] I'm going to look at what Paul says about this. But it begs a question here. Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord.
[23:34] Did the Israelites delight? They didn't. Was there a righteous man in the nation of Israel? Well, we might remember one. At least.
[23:46] We might remember more than that. We remember it was said of David. He's a man after God's own heart. Did David obey the law? Guess what?
[23:57] David didn't obey the law. But he was still a man after God's own heart. Let me just make this point. David had Uriah put to death. David stole, David stole, took, Uriah's wife, that's Sheba, had sexual relations with her adultery, then had Uriah killed.
[24:20] David's guilty. Nathan had to go to him and say, tell this story. And David was so overwhelmed with his own sin that he was full of grief.
[24:31] And for David, he repented. And God is gracious to those who repent. But my point is this, David did not obey the law. So, therefore, how in the world was he considered a man after God's own heart?
[24:46] What would have happened to David if he didn't obey the law? Think about what it says about, in Genesis 15, about Abraham. It said, and he brought him outside.
[24:59] That is Abraham who had no heir. And he's saying to God, God, I don't have a son. I don't have an heir. My whole belongings and everything that inheritance is going to a servant of mine.
[25:12] Are you not going to give me an heir? He said, yes, I'll give you an heir. He says this, and he brought him outside. He said, look toward heaven and number the stars if you're able to number them. Then he said to them, so shall your offspring be.
[25:23] And how did Abraham respond to that? And he believed the Lord. And listen to this. And it was counted to him as righteousness. Do you hear the source of righteousness in the life of Abraham?
[25:40] What was it? It's belief. It wasn't obedience to the law. It was belief that God is who he is. This concept of faith was present in the Old Testament.
[25:52] Who are those that were righteous in the Old Testament? Those who by faith believed in him. What does Paul say over in the New Testament?
[26:03] He says this. Listen to Romans 3. This is a direct quote from Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. Both written by David. And he says this.
[26:14] None is righteous. No, not one. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Paul, are you saying there's not a righteous man on the planet? That's exactly what I'm saying. There's not one righteous man on the planet.
[26:26] So wait a minute. Psalm 1 says, blessed is the man who's righteous. And Paul's saying there's not one on the planet. Where's the disconnect here?
[26:39] Listen further on what Paul says. There's none righteous. No, not one. There's no one who understands. There's no one who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they've become worthless.
[26:50] No one does good. Not even one person. There's no one righteous. Unless something happens to them. Unless something happens through the power of God.
[27:04] Unless God touches the man. Do you think Abraham was touched by God? Do you think David was touched by God? Do you think there were any righteous men in the Old Testament?
[27:16] Yes, not because of what they did. We know from the New Testament that righteousness is not achieved. You know where righteousness comes from? It's imputed. You know what it means to be imputed?
[27:28] That means you've received something that you didn't earn. It's imputed to you. Where do we see that in the New Testament? Listen to this beautiful picture of where righteousness comes from.
[27:40] For our sake, He, God, made Him, Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin. So that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
[27:51] Can you hear that? We might become the righteousness of God. Do you realize that God is doing a work in every one of His children? You know what that work is? He's making us righteous.
[28:03] He's imputing righteousness to us. Not by what we did, but by what Christ did. The great exchange is this. In our sin, Christ came and He died on a cross as a righteous man who had never sinned.
[28:17] And God did this. He took the righteousness of Christ and He placed it on those who bowed their knee to Him. And their sin He took and He put on Christ. You know that 1 Peter says that by our stripes He's healed?
[28:31] That He hung on a cross and He took our sins with Him to the cross. The great exchange is this. I'm a sinner deserving hell.
[28:42] Jesus went to hell on my behalf. He is righteous and didn't deserve it, but God took His righteousness and clothed me in it. Do you realize when God looks at me and you as those of us who are born again, do you know what He sees?
[28:53] He sees the blood of Christ poured on us. He sees the perfect sacrifice on our behalf that we are now considered righteous because of what Christ has done on our behalf.
[29:07] And so we now as those who are righteous enjoy what's being said here in Psalm 1. Do you realize that those who are righteous are like trees planted by water?
[29:24] Do you realize that those who are righteous that is you and me on this side of the cross? Do you realize that there's fruit that pours out of our life? Do you realize there's an association with meditating on the Word?
[29:40] Let me just share the beautiful picture of the New Testament for those who are His children. You know what God has done? You know He's taken our old man and He's crucified the old man.
[29:52] He's united us with Christ and He's come the Holy Spirit's come to dwell within us. The righteous one has come to dwell within us. And because the righteous one dwells within us and because we're clothed with the righteousness of Christ He looks at us as pure.
[30:08] He looks at us as righteous. And you know what happens in the lives of those who are righteous? It always happens like this. There's always fruit. John 15 says it like this.
[30:23] When we look at the concept of fruit you know what that is? The fruit is the picture of practical holiness. So as I look as someone would look at our life would they see holiness?
[30:37] Yes they see holiness. What does it look like? It looks like fruit. What do I mean by that? Listen to what the Word of God says. Abide in me and I in you. John 15. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me.
[30:55] Let me say this church. I hope we hear this. This is to me the most powerful aspect of the New Testament when it speaks about how to live.
[31:07] Listen there's never going to be fruit produced by your flesh. Never. It's not possible. You know where fruit comes from? It comes from the Holy Spirit. You know how it comes out of your life when you yield to the Holy Spirit?
[31:20] And the Holy Spirit begins to live His life through you and what has produced? Fruit. That's what it means when it says abide in me. What does it mean to abide in me? It means to say God here I am in all my weakness.
[31:31] I'm not capable of doing anything good. Your Word declares it. But God I give myself to you and I ask you to do whatever you want in and through my life. And you know what he does? To the person who genuinely desires that?
[31:44] The person who genuinely desires to honor God? To the person who meditates on His Word night and day? To the person who wants to rightly relate to God? You know what God does? Through the power of the Holy Spirit He does this amazing work that Philippians talks about.
[31:56] For it is God who works in you. You know how it finishes here? Y'all know the rest of the verse? I hesitate. I pause because this is so powerful.
[32:07] It is God who works in you to do what? Both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Listen to what the truth is said here. You know that if there's any desire it comes from Him.
[32:21] A desire for His honor and His glory comes from Him. It is God who works in you to will to give you the desire for Him. The desire to honor Him.
[32:32] Both to will and to work. The working of holiness the fruit is not yours it's His. It's through your life. As you yield to Him He lives His life through you.
[32:44] Where do I get that from? John 15. Again, listen. I am the vine you are the branches whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit.
[32:55] Whoever abides in me and I in him that's the one that bears fruit. The righteous ones. The ones that yield the ones that are abiding.
[33:06] For apart from me that is apart from my life-giving power you can do nothing. Y'all realize that we in our flesh don't have the power to do anything good but those of us who yield to Him we're going to experience this life-giving this fruit that's going to pour itself out of our life.
[33:22] It's like we talked about in Sunday school this morning it's the overflow. It's the overflow of a life that's saturated with God. It's the overflow of one who's yielded his life to God. Back to Psalm 1.
[33:34] Where is Christ in this passage? Y'all know that all the Psalms point to Christ?
[33:48] You know that all the Word points to Christ? The Old Testament points forward the New Testament points backwards but it all points to Christ. Where do you see Christ here? Let me just ask it this way.
[34:01] Blessed is the man who delights in the law who doesn't counsel with the wicked or stand with sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers. How many people in the Old Testament and New Testament how many people have rejected those things?
[34:16] How many of us would say that I've never ever received the counsel of the wicked? That I've never ever walked in a sinful way?
[34:27] That I've never ever sat sat with people that scoff and mock God. How many of us would say that? You know there's not one of us in this room that can say that. There's not one of us that can say we've not walked in these sinful ways.
[34:41] You know what's true in the Old Testament as well? There's not one who could say that they were righteous but there is one, right? You know what this is? This is a picture of Christ.
[34:53] You know Christ meditate on the Word of God night and day? You know what it is to delight? What is the word delight connotate? Is it just an intellectual consent or assent?
[35:06] You know what delight is? It's something that captivates you. It's something in the center of your being and when you delight in something you give it your all. Is it true that Christ delighted in the things of God?
[35:21] You know it says He never did anything except what the Father told Him to do. He never said a word except what the Father told Him to say. Do you think He delighted in the Father? Do you think He would go up in the mountains and pray all night because He didn't delight in the Father?
[35:36] He delighted in the Father. He wanted to do the will of the Father and did He? Perfectly. Without sin. He perfectly honored. You know there's only one who truly meditates and delights on God's Word and who is perfectly righteous, genuinely righteous.
[35:53] This Psalm points to Jesus but it also points to the ones who have been affected by Jesus. You know we've been made righteous and this is now true. We've been given a new heart.
[36:04] We've been given new desires. The old man has been crucified. Behold we're called to walk in newness of life that we would present our members as instruments of righteousness not unrighteousness.
[36:15] We're now capable of doing that. We're no longer slaves to sin according to Romans 6. And I love what is said in verse 6 for the Lord knows the ways of the righteous.
[36:28] What do you mean he knows? The word know connotates relationship. Do you realize that this scripture talks about the fruit that is the Holy Spirit living his life through you and it talks about knowing that we're known by him in a relational way?
[36:43] Y'all with me? Am I? Am I making any sense at all? Do you see how this ties together? Father, is that there's no one that's ever been righteous except Jesus, genuinely righteous who genuinely desired God with the exception of this, the ones who've been changed by God.
[37:00] The ones who've been made righteous, they've been given a new heart. You realize that God is growing us into the image of Christ? It means a lot of things, but one of the things it means is more and more and more and more and more we desire the things of God.
[37:15] He's growing us into the image of Christ. What is the image of Christ? He served God with all his life, with everything it was. He's willing to die for the kingdom. You know what God's working in our life?
[37:26] A willingness to die for the kingdom. A willingness to say no to all sin. A willingness to plant our roots so deep that we're rooted by the life giving of Christ, the living water that the woman at the well heard about.
[37:41] You remember the woman at the well, right? Right? You don't have anything to draw with and the well is deep. He said, if you'd have asked me, I would have given you living water. You know that's what we need?
[37:53] We need living water. So how does this apply to us? Let me ask you this question. If you're honest with yourself this morning, would you say this is true for you?
[38:04] Do you delight in the law of God? Do you delight in rightly relating to God? Does it captivate your life?
[38:16] Are you captivated with the desire to be in a deep right God honoring relationship with him? Is it the delight of your soul? You know what's true about this life?
[38:27] It's going to distract us. It's going to tempt us. It's going to lie to us. And we're going to be walking down these roads away from this place that we're called to that is this place of delighting in him.
[38:41] Church, I can't encourage you enough to make this your passion. Let me ask you this as well. Is there any fruit in your life?
[38:54] I'm not talking about self-acts. I'm not talking about things you create. I'm talking about genuine spiritual fruit. Is there fruit in your life?
[39:05] You know where it comes from? Abiding in him? Let me ask this question for each of us. If you're honest with yourself, do you have a heart's desire to truly abide in Christ? To walk in his strength and his power?
[39:19] And then lastly, I'll ask this. Is there any wicked way that's prevalent in your life right now? Are you in any way listening to the counsel of the wicked?
[39:32] In any way standing in the way of sinners, the same way that they live and walk, in any way sitting in the seat of those who mock God and scoff at religion?
[39:43] Is any of that true for you? Have you confessed every known sin in your life before God and repented of it?
[39:53] Every known sin? I'm not saying you know them all. I'm just saying of every sin that you're aware of, have you genuinely turned away and repented from those and confessed? Do you have a delight in him?
[40:04] Are you seeking to be fully yielded to him? Let's pray. Father, I confess that we are weak.
[40:18] And Father, so easily I'm drawn away to look at or listen to or even participate in things that are selfish. Father, I ask that you would do a supernatural work in each of our lives.
[40:32] That Father, we would not pursue self to gratify ourselves. But God, that we would truly be transformed by you and your word.
[40:44] And that transformation would be such that we would present our bodies as a living sacrifice to you, holy and acceptable. That we would set our mind on things above, not on things of this earth. That God, you would transform us by the renewing of our mind.
[40:58] And Father, you would give us a heart that, desires to abide. But Father, we can't find the capacity in ourselves even to abide. And so God, I ask you to do a work in our lives that you would take us there.
[41:12] Father, you would do whatever it takes to take us to this place of abiding. Father, we desire to know you in that way and I pray in your name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[41:23] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.