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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So this morning it's my privilege to unfold or at least hope that God will unfold to us a beauty of Psalm 1.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Amen.
You know, this psalm talks about two distinct groups of people.
Do you see it?
It's the righteous and the wicked.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Notice that the psalm starts with this.
Blessed is the man.
So it's talking about this man who has been blessed, not this guy that has achieved.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The righteous man does not live like that.
The righteous man does not make choices in that arena.
What arena?
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.
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.
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?
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
And that tree produces fruit and continues to produce fruit.
And continues to produce fruit.
Why?
Because his roots are deep.
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.
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.
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.
I'll take a look and read out of Jeremiah something very, very similar in an illustration.
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.
He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when the heat comes.
For its leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought.
For it does not cease to bear fruit.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
The intensity of a place without the grace of God.
The distinction here couldn't be greater
between the righteous and the wicked.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If you love.
What does love look like?
Real quickly,
I will share out of the book of John,
and this is Christ speaking.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Did the Israelites delight?
They didn't.
Was there a righteous man
in the nation of Israel?
Well, we might remember one.
At least.
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?
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,
took,
Uriah's wife,
that's Sheba,
had sexual relations
with her adultery,
then had Uriah killed.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
None is righteous.
No, not one.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Where is Christ
in this passage?
Y'all know
that all the Psalms
point to Christ?
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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?
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
we desire
the things
of God.
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?
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.
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?
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?
Do you
delight in
the law
of God?
Do you
delight in
rightly
relating to
God?
Does it
captivate your
life?
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?
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.
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
Is any
of that
true for
you?
Have you
confessed
every known
sin in your
life before
God and
repented of
it?
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?
Are you
seeking to
be fully
yielded to
him?
Let's pray.
Father, I
confess that
we are
weak.
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.
That Father,
we would not
pursue self to
gratify ourselves.
But God, that we
would truly be
transformed by
you and your
word.
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.
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.
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.