Psalm 1: 1-6 – The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

Red Village Church Podcast

Audio Transcript

My name is Trevor Barlow, and I am very grateful to the elders for being able to come back and to be here again, to visit and to open the Word of God with you. I will actually be going through Psalm 1, so you can open your Bibles to Psalm 1, and I’m excited. There’s a baptism, man. Praise the Lord! That’s a blessing that I get to visit here and see the Lord adding fruit to the church—more believers.

I will pray, and then we will get into the Word of God.

Heavenly Father, we truly thank You, God, just for who You are. Lord, I thank You for Your Word, that it is true. Lord, I thank You for how You have opened up our eyes to Your Word, and how patient You are with us, Lord God, as we sometimes come to it without You, Lord, and Your forgiveness for that. I just thank You for that, God. I pray that You would continue just to give us a hunger for Your Word, that You would humble us before You, God, that we would truly desire to want to know You more. What a privilege it is to know that You love us and the gift that we have. I truly thank You for that, Lord. We need You here today as I get into Your Word, and I pray these things in the name of Your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

As I said, I will be going through Psalm 1, so you can open your Bibles there. The time of this psalm, when it was written, is unknown, as well as the writer of the psalm. However, this psalm is also known as a wisdom psalm. It is wise to apply the things that are in this psalm.

I’m going to kind of go through, starting where wisdom begins and kind of going backwards here. Wisdom is the applying of knowledge. In that, it is very easy to read this psalm and think that it is talking about ourselves. We must remember that a fool is wise in his own eyes.

So how does one gain wisdom? Wisdom is gained by the applying of knowledge, and knowledge is gained by learning. This can be learning from life experiences or from others. A wise person is one who is teachable. In order to be teachable, you have to be humble.

Now, with humility, there is true humility, and then there is fake humility. You can’t deal with those who have fake humility, and I pray that the Lord would prayerfully rebuke our prideful hearts in that. But to truly learn, we must be humble. Those who are truly humble are teachable. Just because you are teachable does not mean you learn and take in everything everyone says. There needs to be discernment because we must remember that there are false teachers.

We must stay humble while at the same time having discernment and boldness to rebuke and turn away from falsehood. We will actually see all this in Psalm 1. All of this is wrapped in wisdom. As we get older in life, we should be gaining wisdom; we should be becoming wiser, as that’s what happens throughout time.

The definition of wisdom is this: and this is the world’s definition of wisdom. Wisdom is the quality of having experience—experience, which is time. We can’t just. That takes time. There is struggle through that. So it’s the quality of having experience, which is time, knowledge—gaining knowledge—and good judgment, which is discernment. That is the world’s definition.

Now, this definition is true but lacks one thing, which is the fear of the Lord. If we go to any wisdom literature and read it without that one thing—the fear of the Lord and looking to Jesus Christ—it is worthless.

With Psalm 1, if you just merely try to apply the wisdom in the psalm, it becomes a law to you, and you have to follow it. You may live a slightly happier life; you may save yourself from many hardships and struggles, but that’s as far as it will go. You will go to your grave like those who thought they could follow the law. You will go to your grave thinking yourself wise and good according to man’s standards. But when you are on your knees before the risen Christ, all your childish wisdom will be revealed as foolishness.

See, on that day, it will not be enough to say, “Look at these other bad people. I was better than them.” I’m not trying to say I know exactly how that day is going to look, but on that day before the Lord, it will be you and Him. Every thought you have ever had, every word that you have ever allowed to come out of your mouth, and every action you have ever performed in your life will all be revealed and accounted for. If there is but one sin, one wrong in any of them, you will be condemned to hell, and God will be glorified in it.

This is what our culture does not like. We don’t like judgment. We like to speak about the blessings, but we don’t like the judgment. See, God will be glorified in it. God is glorified in His just judgment because He is not a judge that can be bribed.

This is how we have to look at it. We all hate unjust judges in the judicial system—judges that can be paid off and allow criminals to go free. We all hate that. Yet, when it comes to God, we then say, “You, O God, should not be just. You, O God, should allow me to pay you off with my dirty, filthy rags of so-called prideful good works.”

See, He is just, and we should glory in His just judgment as a good judge. So then the question comes up: when seeing this true statement and seeing God for who He is in this, we ask, and we cry out to the Lord, “If this is true about You, how can anyone get saved, Lord? There is none good enough. All are guilty. You would be just. You would be so good, and it would actually be the right thing for You to do in sending all to hell for our wicked sin in Your just judgment.”

This is where we come to the beginning of Psalm 1. Quite the intro, but I have broken up Psalm 1 into three parts. I’ve broken verses 1 through 3, which are the blessed man, verse 4 is the wicked man, and verses 5 and 6 are the conclusion to those lifestyles.

So, I’ll begin to read Psalm 1. It declares, “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 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.”

An awesome psalm I have meditated on many times. I have come to it, and I wouldn’t want to say in a bad manner, but I always looked at myself. As we will see in this psalm, there is true wisdom—not just because it is the Word of God and that there is wisdom in that—but we will see the life of the blessed man.

So verse one here declares, “Blessed is the man.” In the entire book of Psalms, which there are 150 psalms broken up into five separate books, we have these 150 psalms. There are three Hebrew words that are translated as “blessed.” This is where a lexicon is beneficial, and a lexicon is just a Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic word dictionary.

Of these three Hebrew words that are translated throughout the book of Psalms as “blessed,” two of the three are actually related to each other, and they mean “to bless.” They are derived from the word “knee” or “kneel,” with the idea of bending the knee and giving honor to another. So those are two of the three.

Then there is the one other word that is used here in Psalm 1:1. This word that is translated “blessed,” it actually means “happy.” So when we read verse one, “Blessed is the man,” a literal translation would be “Happy is the man.” But this happiness is rooted deep inside him and coincides with life choices and is not based off of life experiences or emotions.

What I mean by this is that in every decision that is made in this man’s life, he chooses what is right because of the deep foundation within him. Remember that deep foundation, because we’re going to come to that. It’s because of the deep foundation within him that, therefore, whatever the outcome of his experiences, he is happy. He is content, even if something bad ends up happening.

See, this happiness is not based on life experiences and the roller coaster of emotions that go with it. It does not move with the wind. It is not like the chaff that we see down in verse four. It is actually foundational and cannot be moved. This is a deep contentment within the man.

Whatever the circumstances, he always falls on that deep foundation within him. If the man is praised, he falls on the deep foundation within him, giving glory to God. If the man is mocked, made fun of, and bullied, he falls on that deep foundation within him and is not moved from it, giving glory to God. If he is beaten up with deep sorrows and tested with great trials, he falls upon that deep foundation within him and is not moved, giving glory to God. Whatever comes his way, he can declare, “Happy am I!”

This is not how we see happiness, and that is why it is a better translation to say “blessed.” See, we see happiness as giddy. We see happiness as separated. Sorry, the microphone is not sure if I need to lower it. It’s friction. Oh, sorry. A lot of friction. But we see happiness as giddy. We see happiness as separated from sadness.

See, if you are sad, you are not happy. That is why this word is talking about something much deeper than the emotion. The word here for happy means that even when you are sad, you can call upon this blessedness, this happiness.

I could actually probably do it without the microphone, but down here, that’s going to put me in a bind. Sorry. All on stage. All right. Is that good?

So whatever the circumstance, we can still declare that we still have joy in the Lord. We can still declare, “I am blessed.” See, my hope is not moved and depends upon something much deeper than the emotions. That’s how we see happiness. We see happiness as separated from anger and sadness because we run with our emotions, and they’re all over the place.

The blessed man is not based on his emotions. His emotions are not his foundation. That’s what we must remember. We can still have emotions, but they are controlled. This man, this is the joy that comes only from the Lord and from a relationship with Him, coming to trust and rely upon Him, His Word, and His work alone.

See, this joy is actually something that fills us. It does not leave us empty. Just in that one word “blessed,” there is such a deep foundation, and we will see how this foundation is built here in Psalm 1.

Looking at the Scriptures in verse 1, it declares, “Blessed is the man.” Then if you go down to verse 2, it says, “His delight.” At the beginning of verse 3, it says, “He is like a tree.” We see in these examples that this psalm is talking about a certain type of man or a person.

So who is the man who is foundationally happy and completely content within himself at all times, in all circumstances? He is steady. He is on one path, and he knows the path. See, he’s not looking to the world for direction. He truly knows where he is going and is not deterred from that path.

We will see this here in verse 1. We see three places where the blessed man does not go. He does not even consider them. So the first: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.” The blessed, happy, foundational man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.

“Walks” here means how he goes about his way of life. His life choices demonstrate something different—different from what? Wicked counsel. This man does not listen to the advice of the wicked. He does not allow the wicked to speak into his life. It does not say he doesn’t hear the counsel; it says he does not walk in it, and therefore is one of great discernment.

Again, going back to wisdom, he is one of great discernment and walks carefully in great wisdom. He is one who can discern right counsel from wrong counsel and always chooses that which is right. He is a man that lives a disciplined life. Counsel, as we all know, is taking advice—what we allow others to speak into our lives and then living it out and applying it in our lives. The blessed man, the happy and foundational man, does not allow wicked counsel into his life.

He actually is one who runs after and desires wise counseling. Verse 1 continues, “Nor does he stand in the way of sinners.” “Stands” is talking about one who now joins in the way or the path of sinners—those who are guilty. The blessed man does not join in the same path, the same lifestyle.

He does not join in their foolish sinful behaviors. He is one who takes control of his bodily parts and uses them to choose to do that which is righteous. He chooses to do what is truly good, and that is the behavior of his lifestyle. He walks in true love—not as a coward and not as a pansy. He is bold, and he is foundational in everything that he does.

The blessed man, the happy and foundational man, does not stand in the way of sinners. He doesn’t even want to join their path. See, it is a foolish path of grown men and women walking like children.

Continuing in verse 1, the last and third declaration says, “Nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” “Sits” and “sitting”—we see that this is different, obviously, from standing and walking, but it is a restful joining. The blessed, happy, and foundational man is different. He does not sit in the seat of the scoffers.

Scoffers are those who mock the righteous. Their mouths are wicked and despise any righteous deeds. They are arrogantly prideful fools who declare their own wicked deeds as righteous, and that the righteous one’s deeds are wicked. They think they can save themselves with their mouths and bold proclamations of how good they are, or even of how bad they are, thinking their bad deeds to be good.

The blessed man does not even consider their foolish tongues. He is not moved by their bully tactics as they try to instill the fear of man into him. Instead, we are given the foundation of the blessed man here in verse 2. This is the foundational verse, and I want to say if anyone highlights in their Bible or marks their Bibles, this is the verse to mark.

Verse 2 declares, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” The law of the Lord. First, I want to note that the law of the Lord is right and it is righteous. Second, this is the Word of God. The blessed man—this person—delights in God’s Word and delights in righteousness.

The word “delight” is the expression of someone who goes after what they want or need. I should say what they want and need. But not only that, it gives them great joy to go to the Word of the Lord. It is not a burden. This person is not burdened when going to the Word of the Lord. This is what actually drives the person. This is the foundation of the man’s life—wisdom.

We see here in verse 2 two things this person does. He desires the law of the Lord, and he meditates on the law of the Lord. He meditates on the Word day and night. This is 24/7. The word of God consumes this man 24/7. He cannot survive without the Word of the Lord, without the law. He meditates day and night.

I want to ask: can anyone here raise their hand and say that every second of every day that we have walked, that you have meditated on the Word of the Lord and followed His Word 24/7? I could dream I might have made it an hour. I think about this, but even after that hour, it passes, and a couple of hours pass, and I’m like, “What did I just study?” Frustrations come in. I have children. They start, “Papa, Papa, Papa,” and then I get annoyed, and I’m totally doing what I did not just study in the morning. I’m a sinner. I’m broken. I have not done this.

Listen to Jesus. In John 4:34, it declares. Jesus said in John 4:34, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” Jesus Christ declares that His food is to do the will of the Father. Jesus Christ lived His life out according to the Word of God, and for it, He was beaten by men, whipped with cords that ripped His flesh off His bones. He was mocked by worthless men who put a crown of thorns upon His head as His crown as king.

The one and only true King, who actually sat upon the throne and created everything, was there mocked. He had legions of angels He could have called down if He wanted to destroy them, but He didn’t let them mock Him. He was then hung on a cross, probably one of the most ruthless ways that the counsel of the wicked has come up with to kill a man. He did it all willingly, knowing that you and I would one day take it all for granted and count it as nothing.

But there on that cross, naked and bloodied, beaten and unrecognizable, He hung as the only man to have truly delighted in the law of the Lord and truly to have meditated on the Word of God day and night—24/7. No sin—never sinned. He lived every word of God out in His life. All the prophecies Jesus the Christ fulfilled.

I mean, Jesus Christ is not Jesus’ last name; it is His position. He is the Anointed One. He is the Christ. Jesus the Christ—the Anointed One—fulfilled them all. He left nothing undone. He hung as a sinless, spotless Lamb of God, to whom God then poured out His wrath of judgment that was owed to us for our sins.

He was and is the only one who could live out the perfect Word of God, suffer under the wrath of God, go to His death with complete contentment, be buried, taking all that sin and putting it into the grave. God then raised Him from the dead, revealing His glory, defeating death, our last enemy. He was the firstborn from the dead because He takes first place in everything.

At the work that Jesus Christ did in His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension into heaven, we, church, are now declared righteous through faith in His work and in His alone. As I told you before, when I had come to Psalm 1 before, I used to say, when reading that he doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

I would say, “Oh yeah, that’s not me. This is the politicians. This is Hollywood. This is them and who they are. This is the world, and they follow wicked counsel. They do all these things.” But then the Lord revealed to me that that’s not true. I’m stained by walking in wicked counsel. I have stood in the path of sinners, and I have sat in the seat of scoffers.

This church was you and me apart from Christ, and I pray we remember that. But I also pray that we can declare, “This is who I was, but this is not who I am. I am now a servant of the living God through the saving work of my blessed Savior, Jesus Christ, the one true blessed man.”

He then comes to live in us, and His Spirit opens the eyes of the blind. Think about that. He opens the eyes of the blind and reveals His Word to us. He gives us a hunger for His Word like no hunger before. He gives us great discernment so that we can see the counsel of the wicked and reject it as justice, that He gives us the heart of repentance so that we stay steady standing on the narrow path of righteousness that few find.

He leads us in wise speech, desiring for peace and peacemaking, crying out for unity and desiring to serve one another in love through the power and strength of our Lord and Savior. We then take our bodies under control. We are not controlled by our body’s desires anymore, but instead, we have self-control. We declare that which is wickedness as wicked. We say no to the path of sinners, and we will submit to the righteous path of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As we stand mocked by the scoffers, ridiculed and made fun of for our righteous deeds in Christ, we stand unmoved by their words and mockery. We are not deterred to move towards their so-called cool, wicked, childish behavior.

Brothers and sisters, quit looking at man and what man declares as right, and serve the Lord your God with the gifts He has given to you through the saving work of Christ. I do not want to be a Paul or a Peter, but I will only follow them as they followed and died for Christ. I pray we are to stand strong in the Lord.

When you fall short of these things and you do sin, repent and turn to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Know that His work has covered your failures and walk in His ways, glorifying Him, knowing that you are forgiven. Dig into His Word and please understand: the Word of God is the foundation to the blessed man. If you are not in His Word and prayer, you are cutting off your very life source.

So run to His Word and see His promises and believe them to be true. Trust in them and know that you are truly loved, and you need to fight for that. Know that you are loved. We no longer need to fear the Day of Judgment, for our debt has been paid. God can allow a sinner like us into His presence only because the punishment that I owed was put on another.

See, my debt was put on Jesus Christ, the only man to walk in righteousness. He was cursed, and God can now look at us as righteous and bring us into His presence and still be declared as a just judge. Remember how I talked about the unjust judge? He’s still not unjust. The penalty was paid. Someone had to pay it. He can still be declared as a just judge because the penalty was paid.

See, that’s a good God. So don’t let Satan lie to you. Repent and turn from your sins. Run to your Savior. Don’t run from Him. See, everybody wants to look at when they start hearing judging and judgment; they want to say, “Oh, He’s a mean God. How could He judge?”

He is a God who saves. Yes, judgment does come, but He is a God who wants to save. What a joy that we can be used by God because of His saving work. Then He even uses us. That’s the crazy part. He takes us, and He uses us. He gives gifts.

I mean, you see it as everyone who’s serving around here through the singing, the coffee, the soundboard. He raises up people to be used for His work. Then we get to go out and we get to proclaim this gospel of Jesus Christ to others. He would use a sinner to proclaim His Word.

Verse 3 continues, “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 blessed foundational man is like a strong tree whose roots dig deep into the streams of living water, which is the Word of God.

Because he is receiving all the nutrients he needs, he will bear his fruit in his season. No matter if there are strong winds, they will not blow it over, or the trials of the scorching sun will not burn it up. He is foundational, trusting in the Word of God.

Just know trials are going to come. You will be tested. But know it’s not because He doesn’t love you. And that’s the thing. It is truly the very opposite. It is because of His great love for us. He is tearing out our love for the things of this world and drawing our desires for Him and His Word and for His kingdom.

So that finishes the first section, verses one through three. I’ll be speeding up through the next two sections. Verse 4 declares, “The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.” Look at how verse 4 starts. Compared to the blessed man, it says, “The wicked are not so.”

First, the wicked. This is speaking of those who hate God and despise His righteousness. They are the ungodly. They are nothing like the blessed man. They are nothing like a tree that is planted and foundational. See, their roots are shallow, and their fruit is curled up, brown, and rotten. They are described as empty lightweights.

Here in verse 4, it says, “The wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away.” They have no foundation, and they are moved here and there and then taken away.

So what is chaff? When the Israelites would harvest grains like wheat, they would cut the wheat and then bring it all to a threshing floor. The threshing floor is just a level, circular area about 25 to 40 feet in diameter. It is located near the grain field, and for convenience, they located it right next to the grain fields.

It’s just this circular pad, a hard surface. They also put it on a hill because they wanted it to be open to the wind. They would take all the wheat and put it on the threshing floor. Then they would have horses and donkeys and oxen, or one of those three, pull a large wooden sled over top of the wheat in the circle.

This would break the grain from the shell of the wheat. They would then have all the wheat on the threshing floor broken up. They would begin to take it with a pitchfork-type tool and throw it all in the air. Because of the weight of the grain—the part they wanted, which had weight—it would immediately drop back to the floor. The weightlessness of the rest of the wheat would be driven away by the wind.

This is why they like to put the threshing floor in a heightened location because it is open to the wind. The weightless material driven away by the wind is called chaff. It is a useless material that they do not keep.

The wicked here in Psalm 1 are described to be like this chaff that gets driven away by the wind. They have no substance. We can see this in the wicked around us as well as remember this in our own lives as we try to fill ourselves with the wicked deeds of this world to make ourselves happy—trying to impress other people or hiding our past traumas with drugs, alcohol, sex, money, work, knowledge, and all the pleasures that those things boast of giving you—only leaves you feeling more empty in the end.

They give you the one and only thing that wickedness can ever promise, and that is death. See, sin does not care, from the greatest, the smartest, to the least and the dumbest. Sin will take all of them and distract you long enough by empty promises of pleasure and fulfillment and entertainment, only to leave you empty and shallow, enslaved to its chains of deceit.

Think about that. It only takes you and enslaves you to its chains. Because the wicked have no foundation, they will be driven away by the wind. They cannot stand. They may look like they are prospering, but it is only for a season. And that season will end. When it ends, it ends badly. We will see that at the end of this psalm.

They are looking only for all that this world can give them, and this world is passing away. They are completely self-consumed. It is all about self.

The conclusion here in verses 5 and 6 says, “Therefore,” the conclusion, “therefore.” Looking back, okay, so now that I’ve said all this: “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.”

In these last two verses, we have the conclusion of all that has been said, and this is how it ends. In verse 5, we see there is a judgment. This is speaking of a time when the righteous are defended and protected. Remember that this is saying this is speaking of a time when the righteous are defended and protected.

For it says, “The wicked will not stand in the judgment.” This is a future thing. The judgment is coming. When or what this judgment is is the question: what is the judgment that is being spoken of here?

We know, we have seen, is it the judgment when God, and we see this throughout the Old Testament, raises up a nation, and He will then take that nation? He’ll raise that nation up to come and destroy a wicked nation. Sometimes He even uses a wicked nation to destroy another nation. We see that with Israel a lot, where He raises up nations. When Israel turns against Him, for judgment, He raises another nation up to come in and judge them and take them into imprisonment.

So is that the judgment that’s being spoken of here? Also, if you go to Matthew, you can just listen as well. Just listen through. Is this talking about the final judgment that Jesus talks about? Jesus talks about the final judgment here in Matthew 25:31-46. It says, and this is Jesus: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him, He will gather all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

The King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then He will say to those on His left, to the goats, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me naked, and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.’

Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger, or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The final judgment. So which judgment is being spoken of here in Psalm 1? I actually don’t think either of these two examples. He’s not speaking of either of these examples here in Psalm 1, and yet he is speaking of both of them.

What I mean by this is that both of the judgments I’ve spoken of are true because God is God, and He is just, and He will judge the sinner and the wicked. See, that’s the point of the psalmist: judgment is coming. We don’t know which judgment. I mean, the psalmist isn’t specific on which judgment he’s speaking of. The point he’s making is judgment is coming. God is not slack on judging.

God is not sleeping. God is not growing weary. The wicked will not stand in the judgment. Where will they be? Look at verse 6 of Psalm 1. It says, “But the way of the wicked will perish.” Jesus declared back in Matthew 25:46 that the wicked will go away into eternal punishment.

If you are playing with wickedness, I highly encourage you to run from it and run to your Messiah, for there will be a punishment in hell where the wicked will go. Be very careful whom you listen to in a time where there are many counselors—YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, which I think is X now at this point—and all.

I mean, they just keep adding and adding. Those are, I mean, think about it: those are the greatest distractions. We live in an age where there are many, many counselors. You can get it—whatever you feel, whatever you want that makes you feel good, you can find it.

Be careful whom you listen to because they will influence you—your music, your movies. Choose wisely your friends and those you spend all your time with; they will influence you for good or for bad. The way of the wicked will perish.

But the Lord, as it says here in verse 6, knows the way of the righteous—the one blessed man. The Lord knows the way of the righteous. He knows it. It’s His knowledge, it’s His experience, it’s His confession, it’s His testimony—Jesus Christ. He is the only man in whom we have to look to so that we can see and know the path of the righteous.

If you look anywhere else, you will find deceit and empty promises. But as it also declares in Matthew 25:46, it says, “But the righteous go to eternal life.” Think about that—eternal life. They can’t take our hope; they can’t take our joy, for it has already been completed.

Satan is working hard to deceive. Think of how Satan is described in the Bible. It says that he is the father of lies. Do you know what that means about how good he is at lying and deceiving? If he is the father of lies, how good of a liar is he?

See, he is really good. He doesn’t want you in the Word of God because he knows it is our very life source. He will distract you with good things as long as it isn’t in the Word of God. Think of how long you will watch a video or read other books other than the Bible.

But then when you come to the Bible, it takes 15 minutes to read the book of Philippians. When it comes to the Bible, are we slack? I pray we aren’t. I pray we can see these deceptions and we can run to the Word of God.

If you want to know the Gospel, it’s right here. If you want to know who wants to give it to you, He wants you to know His Gospel. He commanded us. He said, “Go to all the nations.” Why would He tell us that and then not send us out?

Why would He send us with nothing to give? Grow in who your Savior is. Grow in who God is, and pray that He gives you boldness to go out and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Because, like I said in Matthew, where He says to go to those who are broken and who were in prison and who were naked—think about it.

I asked my kids this, and I’ll just close with this. I asked my kids, “How many kids in your classroom, if you ask them to raise their hands, how many of them would say, ‘How many in here can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ?’ How many of you can tell me the gospel of Jesus Christ? How many in your class would raise their hands?”

My youngest, he said two, but I think he was kind of exaggerating. My daughter, she said one, but she was a little iffy. My oldest, he said zero. Then I said to my kids, “Tell me the gospel of Jesus Christ.” They told me the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I said, “Why do you think God has you there if no one else is going to tell them? Who’s supposed to tell them if we’re not going to do it, church? Who’s going to do it? Are we afraid of being mocked? Are we afraid of embarrassing ourselves?

Yeah, we might not get everything right. Do you know what? You’re not going to. My preaching isn’t going to save anybody. You might not even remember it tomorrow. You’d be like, ‘Man, I think he was on Psalm 1.’ It’s not about that; it’s about coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ and who He is, His Holy Spirit, man. He uses us. He even uses the lack of our forgetting.

He brings it. I want to encourage you—get into the Word of God, get into prayer, and trust in Him. I’ll just close this in prayer.

Heavenly Father, I thank You, God, just for who You are. I thank You for Your Word that it is true, Lord, for Your patience with us, God. How awesome You are, how good You are. Help us to be patient with others. Help us to be loving to others. Lord, give us boldness. We are so weak and we are so frail.

Give us the strength to walk in great boldness, Lord, to proclaim Your Word to others. God, I pray that You would use us, that we could see others get saved. Lord, I thank You so much today for this baptism. I thank You so much for Pastor Aaron and the elders of this church and the leaders, God, and all those who are serving. I truly thank You, Lord.

It is in the name of Your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that I pray. Amen.

Audio Transcript

My name is Trevor Barlow, and I am very grateful to the elders for being able to come back and to be here again, to be able to visit and to open the Word of God with you. I will actually be going through Psalm 1, so you can open your Bibles to Psalm 1, and I’m excited. There’s a baptism! Man, praise the Lord. That’s a blessing that I get to be able to visit here and see the Lord just adding fruit to the church—more believers.

I will pray, and then we will get into the Word of God.

Heavenly Father, we truly thank you, God, just for who you are. Lord, I thank you for your Word, that it is true. Lord, I thank you for how you have opened up our eyes to your Word, Lord, and how patient you are with us, Lord God. Sometimes we come to your Word without you, Lord, and I thank you for your forgiveness for that. God, I pray that you would continue to give us a hunger for your Word, that you would humble us before you, God, that we would truly desire to know you more. What a privilege it is to know that you love us and to have that gift. I truly thank you for that, Lord. We need you here today as I get into your Word, and I pray these things in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

So, as I said, I will be going through Psalm 1, so you can open your Bibles there. The time of this psalm, when it was written, is unknown, as well as the writer of the psalm. However, this psalm is also known as a wisdom psalm, and it is wise to apply the things that are in this psalm. I’m going to start where wisdom begins and kind of go backwards here.

But wisdom is the applying of knowledge. It is very easy to read this psalm and think that it is talking about ourselves. We must remember that a fool is wise in his own eyes. So, how does one gain wisdom? Wisdom is gained by the applying of knowledge, which is gained by learning. This can be through life experiences or from others. A wise person is one who is teachable, and in order to be teachable, you have to be humble.

Now, with humility, there is true humility and then there is fake humility. You can’t deal with those who have fake humility, and I pray that the Lord would prayerfully rebuke our prideful hearts in that. To truly learn, we must be humble. Those who are truly humble are teachable. But just because you are teachable does not mean you learn and take in everything everyone says. There needs to be discernment because we have to remember there are false teachers.

So, we must stay humble while at the same time having discernment and boldness to rebuke and turn away from falsehood. We will actually see all this in Psalm 1. All of this is wrapped in wisdom. As we get older in life, we should be gaining wisdom; we should be becoming wiser, as that’s what happens throughout time.

The definition of wisdom is this: the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment, which is discernment. This is the world’s definition. Now, this definition is true but lacks one thing, which is the fear of the Lord. If we go to any wisdom literature and read it without that one thing—the fear of the Lord—and looking to Jesus Christ, it is worthless.

With Psalm 1, if you merely try to apply the wisdom in the psalm, it may become a law to you, and you may live a little happier life. You may save yourself from many hardships and struggles, but that’s as far as it will go. You will go to your grave like those who thought they could follow the law. You will go to your grave thinking yourself wise and good according to man’s standards. But when on your knees before the risen Christ, all your childish wisdom will be revealed as foolishness.

See, on that day, it will not be enough to say, “Look at those other bad people! I was better than them!” I’m not trying to say I know exactly how that day is going to look, but on that day before the Lord, it will be you and him. Every thought you have ever had, every word that you have ever allowed to come out of your mouth, and every action you have ever performed in your life will all be revealed and accounted for. If there is but one sin, one wrong in any of them, you will be condemned to hell, and God will be glorified in it.

This is what our culture does not like. We don’t like judgment. We like to speak about the blessings, but we don’t like judgment. God will be glorified in it. God is glorified in his just judgment because he is not a judge that can be bribed.

And this is how we have to look at it. We all hate unjust judges in the judicial system—judges that can be paid off and allow criminals to go free. We all hate that. But yet, when it comes to God, we then say, “You, O God, should not be just. You, O God, should allow me to pay you off with my dirty, filthy rags of so-called prideful good works.” See, he is just, and we should glory in his just judgment as a good judge.

Then the question comes up when seeing this true statement and seeing God for who he is in this: we cry out to the Lord, “If this is true about you, how can anyone get saved? Lord, there is none good enough! All are guilty! You would be just. You would be so good, and it would actually be the right thing for you to do in sending all to hell for our wicked sin and your just judgment.”

This is where we come to the beginning of Psalm 1. Quite the intro! I have broken up Psalm 1 into three parts. I’ve broken verses 1 through 3, which are the blessed man; verse 4 is the wicked man; and verses 5 and 6 are the conclusion to those lifestyles.

So I’ll begin to read Psalm 1. It declares, “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 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.”

An awesome psalm I have meditated on many times. I wouldn’t want to say in a bad manner, but I always looked at myself. As we will see in this Psalm, there is true wisdom—not just because it is the Word of God, and that there is wisdom in that—but we will see the life of the blessed man.

So, verse one here declares, “Blessed is the man.” In the entire book of Psalms, which there are 150 Psalms, broken up into five separate books, we have three Hebrew words that are translated as blessed. A lexicon is beneficial here; a lexicon is just a Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic word dictionary.

Of these three Hebrew words that are translated throughout the book of Psalms as blessed, two of the three are actually related to each other, and they mean to bless. They are derived from the word “knee” or “kneel,” with the idea of bending the knee and giving honor to another. So those are two of the three.

Then there is the one other word that is the word used here in Psalm 1:1. This word that is translated as blessed actually means happy. So when we read verse one—“Blessed is the man”—a literal translation would be “Happy is the man.” But this happiness is rooted deep inside him and coincides with life choices; it is not based off of life experiences or emotions.

What I mean by this is that in every decision that is made in this man’s life, he chooses that which is right because of the deep foundation within him. Remember that deep foundation because we’re going to come to that. It is because of the deep foundation within him that whatever the outcome of his experiences, he is happy. He is content, even if something bad ends up happening.

See, this happiness is not based off of life experiences and the roller coaster of emotions that go with it. It does not move with the wind. It is not like the chaff that we see down in verse four. It is actually foundational and cannot be moved. This is a deep contentment within the man. Whatever the circumstances, he always falls on that deep foundation within him.

If the man is praised, he falls on the deep foundation within him, giving glory to God. If the man is mocked, made fun of, and bullied, he falls on that deep foundation within him and is not moved from it, giving glory to God. If he is beaten up with deep sorrows and tested with great trials, he falls upon that deep foundation within him and is not moved, giving glory to God. Whatever comes his way, he can declare, “Happy am I!”

This is not how we see happy. That is why it is a better translation to say blessed. We see happiness as giddy; we see happiness as separated from sadness. See, if you are sad, you are not happy. This word is talking about something much deeper than the emotion. The word here for happy means that even when you are sad, you can call upon this blessedness, this happiness, and I can declare, “I could actually probably do it without the microphone, but like down here, that’s going to put me in a bind. Sorry, all on stage. All right. Is that good?”

So, whatever the circumstance, we can still declare we have joy in the Lord. We can still declare, “I am blessed.” My hope is not moved and depends upon something much deeper than emotions. That’s how we see happiness—as separated from anger and sadness—because we run with our emotions, and they’re all over the place.

The blessed man is not based on emotions; his foundation is not emotions. That is what we must remember. We can still have emotions, but they are controlled. This man is filled with joy that comes only from the Lord and from a relationship with him, coming to trust and rely upon him, his Word, and his work alone.

This joy fills us; it does not leave us empty. Just in that one word, blessed, there is such a deep foundation. We will see how this foundation is built here in Psalm 1.

Looking at the Scriptures in verse 1, you can see it declares, “Blessed is the man.” Then, if you go down to verse 2, it says, “His delight.” At the beginning of verse 3, it says, “He is like a tree.” We see these examples that this psalm is talking about a certain type of man or a person.

So, who is the man who is foundationally happy and completely content within himself at all times, in all circumstances? He is steady; he is on one path, and he knows the path. He is not looking to the world for direction. He truly knows where he is going and is not deterred from that path.

We will see this here in verse 1. We see three places where the blessed man does not go. He does not even consider them. The first: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.” The blessed, happy, foundational man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.

“Walks” here means how he goes about his way of life. His life choices demonstrate something different—different from wicked counsel. This man does not listen to the advice of the wicked. He does not allow the wicked to speak into his life.

It does not say he doesn’t hear the counsel. It says he does not walk in it, and therefore he is one of great discernment. Again, going back to wisdom, he is one of great discernment and walks carefully in great wisdom. He can discern right counsel from wrong counsel and always chooses that which is right. He is a man that lives a disciplined life. Counsel, as we all know, is taking advice—what we allow others to speak into our lives and then living it out and applying it in our lives.

The blessed man, the happy and foundational man, does not allow wicked counsel into his life. He actually is one who runs after and desires wise counseling. Verse 1 continues, “Nor does he stand in the way of sinners.”

“Stands” is talking about one who now joins in the way or the path of sinners who are guilty. The blessed man does not join in the same path, the same lifestyle. He does not join in their foolish sinful behaviors. He is one who takes control of his bodily parts and uses them to choose to do what is righteous. He chooses to do what is truly good, and that is the behavior of his lifestyle. He walks in true love, not as a coward and not as a pansy. He is bold, and he is foundational in everything that he does.

The blessed man, the happy and foundational man, does not stand in the way of sinners. He doesn’t even want to join their path. See, it is a foolish path of grown men and women acting like children.

Continuing in verse 1, the last and third declaration is, “Nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” “Sits”—sitting is obviously different from standing and walking, but it is a restful joining. The blessed, happy, and foundational man is different. He does not sit in the seat of scoffers. Scoffers are those who mock the righteous. Their mouths are wicked and despise any righteous deeds. They are arrogantly prideful fools who declare their own wicked deeds as righteous and that the righteous one’s deeds are wicked.

They think they can save themselves with their mouths and bold proclamations of how good they are or even of how bad they are, thinking their bad deeds to be good. The blessed man does not even consider their foolish tongues. He is not moved by their bully tactics as they try to instill the fear of man into him.

Instead, we are given the foundation to the blessed man here in verse 2. This is the foundational verse, and I want to say, if anyone highlights in their Bible or marks their Bibles, this is the verse to mark. Verse 2 declares, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

The law of the Lord. First, I want to note that the law of the Lord is right and it is righteous. Second, this is the Word of God—the blessed man delights in God’s Word and delights in righteousness. The word “delight” is the expression of someone who goes after what they want or need—but not only that; it gives them great joy to go to the Word of the Lord.

It is not a burden. This person is not burdened when going to the Word of the Lord. This is what actually drives the person. This is the foundation of the man’s life—wisdom.

In verse 2, we see two things this person does: he desires the law of the Lord, and he meditates on the law of the Lord; he meditates on the Word day and night. This is 24/7. The word of God consumes this man 24/7. He cannot survive without the word of the Lord, without the law. He meditates day and night.

I want to say, can anyone here raise their hand and say that every second of every day you have walked and meditated on the Word of the Lord and followed his word 24/7? I could dream I might have done it for an hour. I think about this, but even after that hour, a couple of hours pass, and I’m like, “What did I just study?”

Frustrations come in. I have children—they start, “Papa, papa, papa!”—and then I get annoyed, and I totally do what I did not just study in the morning. I’m a sinner. I’m broken. I have not done this.

Listen to Jesus. In John 4:34, it declares, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” Jesus Christ declares that his food is to do the will of the Father. Jesus Christ lived his life out according to the word of God, and for it, he was beaten by men, whipped with cords that ripped his flesh off his bones. He was mocked by worthless men who put a crown of thorns on him as their king.

The one and only true king, who actually sat upon the throne and created everything, was sat there mocked. He had legions of angels he could call down to destroy them, but he didn’t let them mock him. He was then hung on a cross, which is probably one of the most ruthless ways the counsel of the wicked has come up with to kill a man.

He did it all willingly, knowing that you and I would one day take it all for granted and count it as nothing. But there on that cross, naked and bloodied, beaten and unrecognizable, he hung as the only man to have truly delighted in the law of the Lord and truly to have meditated on the word of God day and night—24/7.

No sin! He never sinned! He lived every word of God out in his life. All the prophecies Jesus Christ fulfilled. I mean, Jesus Christ is not Jesus’ last name; it is his position. He is the Anointed One; he is the Christ. Jesus the Christ—the Anointed One—fulfilled them all. He left nothing undone.

He hung as a sinless, spotless Lamb of God to whom God then poured out his wrath of judgment that was owed to us for our sins. He was and is the only one who could live out the perfect word of God, suffer under the wrath of God, go to his death with complete contentment, be buried, taking all that sin and putting it into the grave. God then raised him from the dead, revealing his glory, defeating death, our last enemy.

He was the firstborn from the dead because he takes first place in everything. With the work that Jesus Christ did in his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, and ascension into heaven, we, church, are now declared righteous through faith in his work and in his alone.

As I told you before, when I had come to Psalm 1 before, I used to say when reading that he doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. I would say, “Oh yeah, that’s not me! This is the politicians; this is Hollywood; this is them and who they are. This is the world, and they follow wicked counsel. They do all these things.”

But then the Lord revealed to me that that’s not true. I’m stained by walking in wicked counsel. I have stood in the path of sinners, and I have sat in the seat of scoffers. This church was you and me apart from Christ, and I pray we remember that.

But I also pray that we can declare, “This is who I was, but it is not who I am. I am now a servant of the living God through the saving work of my blessed Savior, Jesus Christ—the one true blessed man.” He then comes to live in us, and his Spirit opens the eyes of the blind. Think about that! He opens the eyes of the blind and reveals his Word to us.

He gives us a hunger for his Word like no hunger before. He gives us great discernment so that we can see the counsel of the wicked and reject it as just. He gives us the heart of repentance so that we stay steady, standing on the narrow path of righteousness that few find. He leads us in wise speech, desiring for peace and peacemaking, crying out for unity, and desiring to serve one another in love through the power and strength of our Lord and Savior.

We then take our bodies under control. We are not controlled by our bodily desires anymore, but instead, we have self-control. We declare that which is wickedness as wicked. We say no to the path of sinners, and we will submit to the righteous path of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we stand mocked by the scoffers, ridiculed and made fun of for our righteous deeds in Christ, we stand unmoved by their words and mockery.

We are not deterred to move towards their so-called cool, wicked, childish behavior. Brothers and sisters, quit looking at man and what man declares as right, and serve the Lord your God with the gifts he has given you through the saving work of Christ.

I do not want to be a Paul or a Peter, but I will only follow them as they followed and died for Christ. I pray we stand strong in the Lord, and when you fall short of these things and you do sin, repent and turn to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Know that his work has covered your failures, and walk in his ways, glorifying him, knowing that you are forgiven.

Dig into his Word and please understand: the Word of God is the foundation of the blessed man. If you are not in his Word and prayer, you are cutting off your very life source. So run to his Word and see his promises and believe them to be true. Trust in them and know that you are truly loved, and you need to fight for that.

Know that you are loved! We no longer need to fear the Day of Judgment, for our debt has been paid. God can allow a sinner like us into his presence only because the punishment that I owed was put on another.

See, my debt was put on Jesus Christ—the only man to walk in righteousness. He was cursed, and God can now look at us as righteous and bring us into his presence and still be declared as a just judge. Remember how I talked about the unjust judge? He’s still not unjust. The penalty was paid; someone had to pay it. He can still be declared as a just judge because the penalty was paid.

See, that’s a good God! So don’t let Satan lie to you. Repent and turn from your sins. Run to your Savior. Don’t run from him. Everybody wants to look at when they start hearing about judgment; they want to say, “Oh, he’s a mean God! How could he judge?”

He is a God who saves! Yes, judgment does come, but he is a God who wants to save. What a joy that we can be used by God because of his saving work! Then he even uses us. That’s the crazy part! Then he takes us and he uses us. He gives gifts.

I mean, you see it as everyone who’s serving around here through the singing, the coffee, the soundboard. He raises up people to be used for his work. Then we get to go out and we get to proclaim this gospel of Jesus Christ to others. He would use a sinner to proclaim his Word.

Verse 3 continues, “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 blessed foundational man is like a strong tree whose roots dig deep into the streams of living water, which is the Word of God. Because he is receiving all the nutrients he needs, he will bear his fruit in his season.

No matter if there are strong winds, they will not blow it over, nor will the trials of the scorching sun burn it up. He is foundational, trusting in the Word of God. But just know, trials are going to come. You will be tested. But know it’s not because he doesn’t love you.

That is the thing; it is truly the very opposite. It is because of his great love for us that he is tearing out our love for the things of this world and drawing our desires for him, his Word, and his kingdom.

So that finishes the first section—verses one through three. I’ll be speeding up through the next two sections. It says, verse 4 declares, “The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

Look at how verse 4 starts. Compared to the blessed man, it says, “The wicked are not so.” First, the wicked—this is speaking of those who hate God and despise his righteousness. They are the ungodly; they are nothing like the blessed man. They are nothing like a tree that is planted and foundational. Their roots are shallow, and their fruit is curled up, brown, and rotten. They are described as empty lightweights.

Here in verse 4, it says, “The wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away.” They have no foundation, and they are moved here to there and then taken away. So what is chaff? When the Israelites would harvest grains like wheat, they would cut the wheat and bring it all to a threshing floor.

The threshing floor is just a level, circular area, about 25 to 40 feet in diameter, located near the grain field. For convenience, they located it right next to the grain fields. It is just this circular pad, a hard surface. They would also put it on a hill because they wanted it to be open to the wind. They would take all the wheat and put it on the threshing floor, and then they would have horses, donkeys, and oxen—or one of those three—pull a large wooden sled over top of the wheat in the circle.

What that would do is break the grain from the shell of the wheat. They would have all the wheat on the threshing floor broken up. They would begin to take it with a pitchfork-type tool and throw it all in the air. Because of the weight of the grain—the part they wanted—it would immediately drop back to the floor. Because of the weightlessness of the rest of the wheat, it would be driven away by the wind.

This is why they liked to put the threshing floor in a heightened location; it is open to the wind. That weightless material that is driven away by the wind is called chaff, and it is a useless material that they do not keep. The wicked here in Psalm 1 are described to be like this chaff that gets driven away by the wind. They have no substance.

We can see this in the wicked around us, as well as remember this in our own lives as we try to fill ourselves with the wicked deeds of this world to make ourselves happy—trying to impress other people or to hide our past traumas with drugs, alcohol, sex, money, work, knowledge, and all the pleasures that those things boast of giving you. In the end, they only leave you feeling more empty.

They give you the one and only thing that wickedness can ever promise, and that is death. Sin does not care—from the greatest to the smallest; the smartest to the least and dumbest—sin will take all of them and distract you long enough with empty promises of pleasure, fulfillment, and entertainment only to leave you empty and shallow, enslaved to its chains of deceit.

Think about that! It only takes you and enslaves you to its chains. Because the wicked have no foundation, they will be driven away by the wind. They cannot stand. They may look like they are prospering, but it is only for a season. That season will end, and when it ends, it ends badly. We will see that at the end of this psalm. They are looking only for all that this world can give them, and this world is passing away. They are completely self-consumed; it is all about self.

The conclusion here in verses 5 and 6 states, “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.”

In these last two verses, we have the conclusion of all that has been said, and this is how it ends. In verse 5, we see there is a judgment. This is speaking of a time when the righteous are defended and protected. Remember, this is saying that the wicked will not stand in the judgment. This is a future thing.

What is the judgment that is being spoken of here? We know we have seen—is it the judgment when God raises up a nation? He raises up a nation to come and destroy a wicked nation. Sometimes he even uses a wicked nation to destroy another nation. We see that with Israel a lot, where he raises up nations. When Israel turns against him for judgment, he raises another nation to come in and judge them and take them into imprisonment.

So, is that the judgment being spoken of here? If you go to Matthew, you can just listen as well. Is this talking about the final judgment that Jesus talks about? Jesus talks about the final judgment in Matthew 25:31-46.

It says, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him, he will gather all the nations, and he will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

The King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Then he will say to those on his left—the goats—‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.’

Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?’

Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”

So which judgment is being spoken of here in Psalm 1? I actually don’t think either of these two examples are the only ones being spoken of here in Psalm 1, and yet he is speaking of both of them.

What I mean by this is that both of the judgments I’ve spoken of are true because God is God, and he is just, and he will judge the sinner and the wicked. That is the point of the psalmist. Judgment is coming. So we don’t know which judgment. The psalmist isn’t specific on which judgment he’s speaking of. The point he’s making is that judgment is coming. God is not slack on judging. God is not sleeping. God is not growing weary. The wicked will not stand in the judgment.

Where will they be? Look at verse 6 of Psalm 1. It says, “But the way of the wicked will perish.” Jesus declared back in Matthew 25:46 that the wicked will go away into eternal punishment. If you are playing with wickedness, I highly encourage you to run from it and run to your Messiah, for there will be a punishment in hell where the wicked will go.

Be very careful who you listen to in a time where there are many counselors—YouTube, Facebook, Twitter (which I think is X now), and all the other platforms. Those are the greatest distractions. We live in an age where there are many, many counselors. You can get whatever you feel; whatever you want that makes you feel good, you can find it.

Be careful who you listen to because they will influence you—your music, your movies. Choose wisely your friends and those you spend all your time with, as they will influence you for good or for bad.

The way of the wicked will perish. But the Lord, as it says here in verse 6, “the Lord knows the way of the righteous.” The one blessed man. The Lord knows the way of the righteous. He knows it; it’s his knowledge, his experience, his confession, his testimony—Jesus Christ.

He is the only man in whom we have to look to so that we can see and know the path of the righteous. If you look anywhere else, you will find deceit and empty promises. But as it also declares in Matthew 25:46, “the righteous go to eternal life.”

Think about that—eternal life! They can’t take our hope; they can’t take our joy, for it has already been completed. Satan is working hard to deceive.

Think of how Satan is described in the Bible: he is the father of lies. So do you know what that means about how good he is at lying and deceiving? If he is the father of lies, how good of a liar is he?

See, he is really good, and he doesn’t want you in the Word of God because he knows it is our very life source. He will distract you with good things as long as it isn’t in the Word of God. Think of how long you will watch a video or read other books other than the Bible.

When it comes to the Bible, it takes 15 minutes to read the book of Philippians, but are we slack? I pray we aren’t. I pray we can see these deceptions and we can run to the Word of God. If you want to know the Gospel, it’s right here!

He wants you to know his Gospel. He commanded us; he said, “Go to all the nations.” Why would he tell us that and then not send us out? Why would he send us with nothing to give?

Grow in who your Savior is. Grow in who God is, and pray that he gives you boldness to go out and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

Like I said in Matthew there, he says to go to those who are broken, to those who are in prison, and to those who are naked. Think about it!

I asked my kids this—I’ll just close with this. I asked my kids this: “How many kids in your classroom, if you ask them to raise their hands, how many of them would say they can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ? How many of you can tell me the gospel of Jesus Christ?”

How many in your class would raise their hands? My youngest said two, but I think he was kind of exaggerating. My daughter said one, but she was a little iffy. My oldest said zero. Then I said to my kids, “Tell me the gospel of Jesus Christ.” And they told me the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I said, “Why do you think God has you there if no one else is going to tell them? Who is supposed to tell them if we are not going to do it, church? Who’s going to do it?”

Are we afraid of being mocked? Are we afraid of embarrassing ourselves? Yeah, we might not get everything right. Do you know what? Your preaching isn’t going to save anybody. You might not even remember it tomorrow. You’ll be like, “Man, I think he was on Psalm 1.”

It’s not about that; it’s about coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ and who he is—his Holy Spirit, man. He uses us! He even uses the lack of our forgetting, man. He brings it.

I want to encourage you: get into the Word of God, get into prayer, and trust in him. I’ll just close this in prayer.

Heavenly Father, I thank you, God, just for who you are. I thank you for your Word, that it is true, Lord, and for your patience with us. God, how awesome you are, how good you are.

Help us to be patient with others. Help us to be loving to others. Lord, give us boldness. We are so weak and we are so frail. Give us the strength to walk in great boldness, Lord, to proclaim your Word to others.

God, I pray that you would use us, that we could see others get saved. Lord, I thank you so much today for this baptism. I thank you so much for Pastor Aaron and the elders of this church and the leaders, God, and all those who are serving. I truly thank you, Lord.

It is in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that I pray. Amen.

The post Psalm 1: 1-6 – The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked appeared first on Red Village Church.