Way of Righteous, Way of Ungodly

Reading and Prayer

0:00 Psalm 1. his law doth he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,

0:46 and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

1:17 Let us pray. O Lord, again we come to take thy word into our hands and to set its truth before our minds. And we have been reminded in the singing of this previous hymn that we need thy Spirit's ministry to give both heat and light, to illuminate our minds and then to kindle our affections, that thy word may have its sanctifying influence upon us in this hour. O Lord, be pleased to instruct us.

1:56 May the mind of the Holy Spirit as embodied in this psalm be understood by us. May we not project our own thinking into the psalm, but O give us wisdom to extract from this psalm thy mind, thy thoughts, which are for our good and to thy glory. Hear us, Lord, and may thy word run and have free course and be glorified in this time that we spend together studying this portion of it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Review: The Psalm's Theme, Structure, and Christ as the Blessed Man

2:38 This wonderfully instructive psalm, the first psalm, is a description of the way of blessedness embodied in the man or woman who is walking in that way. As we have said on numerous occasions, there is only one who perfectly meets the description of the first psalm, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ himself. He was the truly blessed man who never walked in any regard whatsoever in the counsel of ungodliness, who never under any circumstances was found standing, identified in the way of sinners, that is, loving what they love and seeking what they seek. He stood amongst sinners.

3:24 He was the friend of publicans and sinners, but he never stood in the way of sinners as far as having any affection for that way of rebellion to God, that way of indifference to his glory. Nor did he ever take the seat of the scornful. but he had the mind of utter subjection to the revealed will of his Father. He ever and perfectly delighted in the law of his God, and in that law he meditated day and night, and he, in a way that it can never be said of any of us, was like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

4:01 Though we cannot fail to see our Lord in this passage, certainly it would not be doing justice to the teaching of the psalm to say this is simply a description of our Lord. For he that saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk even as he walked, 1 John 2, 6. And to the extent that by the Spirit of God we are enabled to follow our Lord, and this is a scriptural concept that we should follow his steps as we read in 1 Peter 2, then we share in that blessedness that he knew. Whereas for him it was what he rightfully deserved, it is for us the reward of grace, for we deserve anything but the blessing and blessedness of God. We deserve his curse. We have seen the blessed man described in the first

4:52 three verses. First of all, negatively, the things he does not do. Then in verse 2, positively, what he does do. And then the issue and fruit of that negative, positive experience. He's like a tree that's planted. Verses 4 to 6, we have the contrast of the wicked. As you'll remember, we said in verse 4, we have a statement of fact. The ungodly are not so. Unlike the righteous who are like planted trees, they are like driven chaff. Last week we considered verse 5, which is a conclusion drawn from the fact of verse 4. Since the ungodly are not so, are not like the righteous, planted trees, but like driven chaff, he draws this conclusion, therefore the ungodly will not

5:40 stand in the judgment, meaning that they shall stand before God in judgment, but they'll not stand, they will not abide, they will not endure the day of judgment, but it will overflow them and crush them in its terrible weight, nor will sinners be found in the congregation of the righteous. Because the righteous are like planted trees, there is stability for time and eternity. The ungodly are not so, but like driven chaff shall ultimately be rooted out of the company of the righteous. And the day is coming when there will be a pure church, when the church will be comprised not of a mixed multitude, but of all the redeemed of God, the elect from the four corners of heaven, as they are called, in the words of our Lord,

6:27 when he shall send forth his angels to gather his elect from the four corners of heaven, and we shall be forever with the Lord. The fact, then, of verse 4 leads to the conclusion of verse 5, and now in verse 6, and this will be our concluding study, we have a reason given for all that has preceded. For. And whenever you find a for, you ask, why for?

Verse 6 as the Reason for Everything That Precedes

6:53 Generally, it's giving a reason for something that has preceded. Is it true that the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scornful, is blessed? Is it true that the man who delights in the law of God is blessed? Is it true that he shall be like a tree?

7:17 Is it true that the ungodly are not so, but are like chaff? Is it true that the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment? Well, what's the reason for all of this? Four, here's the reason, The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

7:35 And it would seem that the reason with which we are dealing in verse 6 applies not just to verse 5, but to the entirety of the psalm in its contrasting of the blessed man as compared to the cursed man, the righteous as compared to the wicked. And so let us focus then upon the sixth verse, and consider with me as we try to think our way through this text of Scripture, the two ways contrasted in themselves. Notice there are two ways set before us. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

What Is a 'Way'? A Trodden Path, a Habitual Pattern

8:19 There are only two ways called in this text, the way of the righteous, the way of the ungodly or the wicked. Now, what is a way? Two ways, but what is a way? As I have often said when trying to define this matter of way, for it confronts us many times in Scripture, the way of the Lord, the way of the righteous, the way of the wicked, it means a pattern or course of action or attitude or disposition.

8:49 The Hebrew word, its root concept, is that of to tread. It's the idea of a trodden path. You see, a path over which a man goes again and again, over which many people go, becomes a way. If someone just goes through a certain part of a wooded area one time, there is no way through the woods.

9:10 But if that same person goes through that area, the same direction and same footsteps, morning and night, over a period of weeks and months, suddenly you see a way through the woods, a path, a beaten down area. It speaks then of the concept of frequency, the concept of pattern, of persistence over a period of time. So we may say then that the word way means a pattern or course of action or attitude that takes in a range of time. We say of a certain person, well that's his way.

9:49 What we mean is over a period of time as we've observed him, that's his continuous action. That is his way. It's not speaking of isolated, insulated deeds. Deeds that may be insulated from the rest of the pattern or an isolated deed here, isolated, unrelated deeds.

10:10 But this whole concept of pattern. Now this is imperative to keep this in mind because the whole text stands or falls on our understanding of what the way is. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Having asked the question, and I trust sufficiently answered what is a way, notice that there are but two ways.

The Way of the Righteous: Imputed and Imparted Righteousness

10:33 That is, there are but two beaten courses of life for all men. One is called the way of the righteous, which the Lord knows, the other the way of the ungodly, which shall perish. Consider then briefly the way of the righteous. This is a way that is the possession of people who are called righteous.

11:02 Now in our reaction against salvation by works, we have been afraid of biblical terminology. The Bible says of certain men in Scripture, he was a righteous man and full of the Holy Ghost. Now we recall it, recall it, calling a certain person a righteous man. For every man in his best state has much of the remains of sin in him.

11:26 But nonetheless, let's not be more fastidious than the Holy Ghost is. We need not to be overly concerned about the abuse of the term if God isn't. And here, this way is called the way of the righteous. That is, it is a way that is traversed by righteous men.

11:46 In fact the course of their account is put the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed righteousness. No man is righteous in the biblical sense until, first of all, he is declared righteous on the basis of the death and merits of Jesus Christ. But that's not primarily what the psalmist has in mind in this text. For every man who is truly righteous

12:36 in the biblical sense not only has an imputed righteousness, which is the ground of his acceptance before God, but he has an imparted practical righteousness, which is the fruit of his acceptance. Namely, his life is framed by the righteous standard of the law of God as we saw this morning. Righteousness is always considered in terms of an absolute moral standard, that standard being the holy law of God. In this case, the righteous is the man who's been described.

13:11 He's not suddenly changing the whole subject. He's been talking about the blessed man who walks not. You see, this is talking about practical righteousness, about the way a man walks. He walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.

13:23 He stands not in the way of sinners. He sits not in the seat of the scornful. But he meditates, he mumbles in the law of God day and night. You see, he's describing here, using another term, to describe the same person that he's been talking about in the entire psalm.

13:42 So then the righteous, in this particular context, is not primarily concerned with imputed righteousness, which is a glorious truth. And if I were preaching from Romans, where it says, that to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, then I would say that righteousness has nothing to do with how I walk or talk or live. It has solely to do with the basis of my acceptance before God. And I would try to be true to that text.

14:14 But if I'm true to this text, I must insist that the way of the righteous here is not speaking of the righteous primarily in terms of imputed righteousness, but in terms of imparted, practical, experimental righteousness, the kind of person described in the first three verses. Now, I would remind you that when Scripture uses this term, it doesn't at all flinch at saying, this is the only kind of people that are getting to heaven. 1 Corinthians 6, 9. Be not deceived.

14:52 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? And then he goes on to say, Neither, what did he say, unbelievers, those who reject the imputed righteousness? No, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor idolaters, nor abusers of themselves with men. You see, there he's saying the unrighteous, those who have not been so wrought upon by the Spirit of God that their feet have been set in the way of righteous living shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

15:25 Just as surely as no man can have his feet set in the way of holy living unless he believes unto salvation and has his record changed in heaven, so Scripture teaches if he does believe unto salvation, his feet will be planted in the way of righteous living. So God says, Be not deceived, the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven. We find in Matthew 25 that parable on the judgment of the last day, that when the judge issues the sentence, he will say in Matthew 25, 37, Come ye righteous, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Verse 46, Then shall he say to the righteous, then shall the righteous go into everlasting life and the wicked into everlasting torment.

16:18 So let us not be more fastidious than God. Let us think biblically. A Christian is a righteous man, not only righteous by imputation, but righteous by impartation. Now the difference is that imputed righteousness is imperfect and changeless, whereas the imparted righteousness is imperfect and develops, and it sometimes is in a greater development than others.

16:45 So much then for the way of the righteous. Can we put the two things together now? This is talking about the course or pattern of action of a man whose feet are set in a way of conformity to the will of God. That's the way of the righteous.

The Way of the Ungodly: No Middle Ground

17:03 Now, what God says about it will hold off, but we just want to know what the way of the righteous is. Now, he contrasts that with the way of the ungodly or the way of the wicked. Now, what is that? Well, that's the course or pattern of action characteristic of all others.

17:24 See, there's no middle ground. So that if a man is not a righteous man, that is, his life being framed by the description of verses 1 to 3, he is a wicked man. And whatever way he may be walking, as far as the world evaluates it, it may be a useful way or not so useful. It may be a way in which he's doing good to humanity or evil to humanity.

17:49 But whatever estimation the world puts upon it, God says it's the way of the ungodly. And there's no middle way. Two ways. The way of the righteous.

18:04 Meditating in the law of God day and night. Shaping and framing one's life by the dictates of Scripture. Refusing the counsel of ungodliness. Refusing to stand identified in the lawless ways of sinners.

18:17 To take the part of the skeptic. ruminating, chewing over, mumbling in the law of God day and night, having mind and soul and heart steeped and marinated in Holy Scripture that the life might be governed. That's the way of the righteous. And any other way, any other pattern of living, any other path that is tread in the day-by-day experience by any other motivation, by any other governing principle than the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God moving a man into the ways of the will of God, that's a way of wickedness.

18:51 It's a way of ungodliness. We don't think in those biblical categories, do we? We've got about 13 different ways.

19:00 A few way over here in the way of the righteous, then a few real bad people way over here in the way of ungodliness, and all kinds of little ways in between. God only has two ways. There they are. Two ways.

19:13 Two ways. Two ways. And that way of ungodliness is the way, basically, of those who disregard the law of God and the salvation of God. The blessedness described in the first few verses that comes God's way is refused.

The Lord Knoweth: Not Mere Awareness but Special Favor

19:32 And blessedness is sought in their own way. Well, so much then for the two ways viewed in isolation. Now consider with me these two ways contrasted in relationship to God.

19:47 For really, we don't understand this concluding verse until we understand what the psalmist is saying about these two ways as they relate to God. For ultimately, we are all answerable to God. And the way in which we walk is going to lead us at the end to face God. And to give an account of why we've walked in the way that we have walked.

20:09 Now, what does he say about the way of the righteous? For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. Well, you say, what's so hot about that? Sure, God knows everything.

20:23 So the Lord knows the way of the righteous? That doesn't tell me much. Well, just don't pass over the word know so quickly. Does the word know here mean simple knowledge that God is acquainted with the way of the righteous?

20:38 No, because God is just as acquainted with the way of the unrighteous. For Scripture tells us all things are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Scripture tells us the eyes of the Lord behold the evil and the good. This is why in the day of judgment God is going to shock people.

20:57 At times when I think of the day of judgment, my mind can't meditate too long upon it because it's too staggering. But imagine what it's going to be like. as Scripture says, when God will judge the secrets of men's hearts, as we read in Romans 2.16, and by every idle word that they've spoken, by the deeds done in secret as well as openly as we read in Luke.

21:23 What a shocking thing, when in that day all the thoughts that men have thought throughout an entirety of a lifetime shall, as it were, be flashed before them. and then if they never believed in the omniscience of God will believe it in that day when God drags from what they thought was the oblivion of nothing God brings before them or the abyss of nothing God brings before them all the thoughts all the deeds sure God knows the way of the wicked he knows every thought he knows the intents of the heart every idle word well then this word know cannot mean mere knowledge In fact, that's the very thing that God indites the wicked with, that they think God doesn't know about their wickedness.

22:10 In Psalm 50, verses 16 through 22, we have a record of this. But unto the wicked God said, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, so that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Psalm 50, verse 17. Seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee, When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentest with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

22:37 Thou hast given thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother. Thou slanderest thine own mother's son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence.

22:50 Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself. In other words, time makes you forget. And you said, huh, you thought I was like you. You thought that I would forget that I didn't know.

23:01 But now notice what God says. But I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes. God says, regardless of what you think, I know. I know all about your way of wickedness and everything that happens in the way of wickedness.

23:17 All right, then. If it doesn't mean mere knowledge, what does this word know mean? The Lord knoweth. This is given as the whole reason for everything that's preceded.

23:28 The blessed man is the blessed man and shall stand in the day of judgment and shall abide in the congregation of the righteous because for the Lord knows his way. well will you look at several other scriptures that I think will give us an insight as to what this word know means in scripture turn please to the 31st Psalm and see if the word know here can merely mean knowledge Psalm 31 and verse 7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy,

24:13 for thou hast considered my trouble and hast known my soul in adversities Now does it bring any comfort in adversity just the knowledge that God is aware of my adversity I don't know about you, but that doesn't bring any comfort to me. Just like a man might be aware, as the people were who passed that poor, beaten-up, half-dead Samaritan. They knew his need. They looked at it, fully aware of it, and walked by on the other side.

24:46 you see what the psalmist is saying here that he had tremendous comfort from the fact that God knew his adversity not just aware of it but regarded with special concern his problem his adversity notice another verse that indicates this same thought of the word no Psalm 37 and verse 18 here he's contrasting the righteous and the wicked and he says perhaps we ought to back up to verse 16 a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked for the arms of the wicked shall be broken but the Lord upholdeth the righteous the Lord knoweth the days of the upright

25:33 does that mean he's simply aware of how many days they'll have no that's true of the wicked it's appointed unto men once to die wicked and righteous But he regards with special concern and favor the gaze of the upright. He is there overshadowing them all the days of their life, like as a father pities his children. So the Lord pities those that fear him. He knoweth our frame.

25:58 He regards with special concern our frailty and our weakness. Psalm 103. And so I could multiply verses. We could look at Exodus 1.8.

26:08 We won't, but then Amos 3, 2, God says of his people Israel, you only have I known of all the peoples of the earth. Now what does the word know mean? Well, it's obvious again that it means something more than mere knowledge. God knows all the nations.

26:28 He'll judge all the nations. To judge them accurately, he must know everything about them. And yet he says of Israel, you only have I known. The word know then means again to regard with special favor and distinguishing love and purpose.

26:45 Now if that's the meaning of the word in these other contexts, see if it fits in Psalm 1. Why is it true that the man who walks not in the counsel of ungodliness nor stands in the way of sinners, etc. is the blessed man? Why is it that he is like a tree planted?

27:07 Why is it that he is not like the wicked, who is like driven chaff, who shall cringe and fall in judgment and be rooted out of the congregation of the righteous? Here's the reason. For the Lord regards with special distinguishing care and love the way of the righteous. And that's it.

27:29 That's the meaning. And it's it. the reason behind all of this is the love the mercy the care the concern of the God of grace so that the psalmist having declared the blessed man described what he's like in something of his present and future blessedness he traces the source of that blessedness back to the Lord himself And he says the reason for all of this is that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. And so this word here is pregnant.

28:11 It is filled with all of the tremendously weighty concepts that later come out in the full development of this word when it comes to foreknowledge. Some of you remember we studied that word back a couple of years ago on a Sunday night, where this same word, to know, has the prefix, the word to know beforehand, the preposition before. And it has in it the whole concept that deals with God's distinguishing, electing love and mercy. And here for years I've read this song, and even for months we've memorized it, and didn't realize that right here on the surface this very word no is teaching us, at least in a latent form,

28:59 all of the precious truth of God's prevenience in grace. Because the Lord regards them and their way with special purpose and delight, they are what they are. It is God who chose them to this way. It is He who induced them to choose it, and it's He who guides them in it.

29:19 and that's why the way is so blessed now and so secure for eternity for the Lord knows the way of the righteous. And there's no other reason why it would be so. There's no man who by nature would be that blessed man described in verses 1 to 3. For by nature, rather than ruminate, meditate, mumble in the word of God day and night, Scripture says we have minds and hearts that are enmity against that law.

29:50 Isn't that the teaching of Scripture? Romans 8, 7? Well, how in the world did I ever come to be a preacher who no longer hates that law but loves it?

30:01 There's only one reason. Only one answer. That God was pleased in grace and mercy to work in me, to put me into that way. And now why have I been kept in it?

30:13 A way that is entirely contrary to everything I've ever known. Everything the world about me would encourage me to be and do. Everything which the remains of my own sin would dictate to me and everything which the power of hell and the devil would encourage me in. And yet wonder of wonders, I'm still kept in that way.

30:32 What's the answer? The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. And the God who in grace placed me and it is the God who sustains me in it. And the God who will one day let me know its full fruition when I stand in His presence.

The Way of the Ungodly Shall Perish: God-less in Its Issue

30:46 Now by contrast, And this is one of the most sad portions, I think, in all of Scripture. God is completely omitted in describing the way of the wicked. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but, if it only said the Lord does not know the way of the wicked, in terms of he does not regard it, but God is completely omitted, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. I think God is telling us in a very eloquent way, the utter emptiness of any other way but the way of blessedness.

31:22 It's the God-less way. And as it is God-less in its experience, it shall be God-less in its fruit and in its issue. And what is the worst thing that can happen to a creature made in the image of God, made to know God, to fellowship with God, to commune with God? What's the worst thing that can happen to it?

31:42 to be cut off and given up by this God.

31:49 That's the worst thing that can happen to him. Isn't that what hell is? To be finally and eternally cut off from God.

31:59 And so the psalmist holds before us the reason why the wicked are like chaff and they shall not stand in the judgment. Having lived without God, It's as though God says, I'll ratify your choice. Will you live without me in time? Will you shape and mold your life not by my word, but by the advice of ungodliness coming from your own heart and the world about you?

32:27 Will you stand in the way of other sinners rather than repent and flee from the way of sinners and stand in the way of righteousness? Will you sit in the seat of the scornful and put yourself up as a judge over my word? All right, if you will live without me, and that's what this means, to live without God, it's as though God says, I'll ratify your choice, and I'll stamp it with a stamp that says over it, Sealed for eternity. And in that way, you perish.

32:55 You live without me in time? Order your life, your home, your joys, your pleasures without regard to my law in time? Then that will be your course for all eternity.

33:09 The way of the ungodly shall perish. You see, there is built-in destruction to all defection from God. God doesn't need to do a thing. You see, he doesn't need to enter in and positively do a thing.

33:25 Just let sinners reap the fruit of their own doings.

33:31 Now, let's focus for a moment upon this concept. But the way of the ungodly shall perish. What is the way of the ungodly? Well, we've looked at it a number of ways.

33:42 We've touched on it many times. It's basically that course of action contrary to verses 1 to 3. It's the course of action in which the sinner lives according to the dictates of his own corrupt heart and the devil and the world and the flesh. Now, God says that way shall perish.

34:02 It shall come to naught. it shall be overrun, overthrown, swallowed up by the judgment of God. Not annihilation, but banishment from the presence of the living God. Now the word perish does not mean, as some would like to make us think it means, to bring to a state of extinction.

34:27 The best commentary I know in scripture upon the concept of perishing is one found in 2 Peter. Will you turn for a moment to 2 Peter? 2 Peter chapter 3.

34:47 You remember the setting of this chapter.

34:51 Peter is stirring up the minds of believers to be mindful of the words of Christ, that he would come back again, and that in the interim period there would be the seat of the scornful verse 3 knowing this that there shall come in the last days scoffers people who sit in the seat of the scornful they scoff walking after their own lust and saying where's the promise of his coming my grandfather used to talk about it and get a funny look in his eye and a gleam in a far away sort of a starry eyed look and he'd talk about Jesus coming back again he's dead I've seen him lay in his casket and he's rotting in his grave my mother now just about to go the same. She talked the same way. Nothing's happened. Where's the promise of his coming?

35:38 Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. You see, this is the uniformitarian, evolutionary hypothesis. Everything is going according to a process of gradual development. All things continue.

35:54 Now he says, for this they are willingly ignorant of. They're ignorant, but willingly. If only they'd open their Bibles and read it, they'd know. But they're willingly ignorant that the word of God, that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished.

36:15 Speaking of the deluge of the flood in which the world is said to have perished. Now, how did the world perish under the flood? Was it brought to a state of annihilation? No.

36:26 but it was submerged in the waters of divine judgment but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire What does it mean to perish The way of the ungodly shall perish. It shall be submerged and overrun and baptized, as it were, in the judgments of Almighty God. So that all of the things that men attempted to pursue and to realize in the way of wickedness, Why are men in the way of wickedness? Because they think they'll be more happy and blessed in the way of wickedness than in the way of righteousness.

37:06 No man in his right mind stays in a way that he thinks is going to be to his harm. Nobody in his right mind. You here tonight who have not repented and fled to Christ and had your feet turned into the way of God, why are you walking in the way you're walking? Because you think in that way you'll attain blessedness.

37:28 God says such a way contrary to his way shall receive the judgment of God and those in that way shall be immersed in his judgment the way of the unrighteous shall perish so much then for a brief overview of the ways viewed in isolation the two ways viewed in their relationship to God the way of blessedness has at its very core the fact that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. The greatest curse upon the way of the ungodly is that it's the godless way now in time and then in eternity. May I make several concluding observations and applications.

Destiny and Way Inseparably Joined

38:16 Will you notice with me that a man's destiny and his way are inseparably joined?

38:27 When God comes to deal with the end of the righteous and the wicked, he speaks of the way, indicating that the way in which you walk and the destiny which you will attain are inseparably joined, even as our Lord Jesus joined them in Matthew 7, 13 and 14. Enter ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereath because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. You can't separate your destiny from your way. Now there's no more common folly amongst the sons of men than to suppose that because of this thing or that thing, somehow my destiny will be different

39:13 from the way in which I'm presently walking. I submit to you, your destiny will simply be the logical extension of the way in which your feet are planted. Are you walking in the way of blessedness? If not, your hopes of heaven are a delusion from the devil, an absolute delusion from the devil.

39:35 Do you hope, well, somehow, some way, I don't know how, All in the end, God will sort of be merciful and jumble all things up, so that though my feet have walked in this way of the counsel of ungodliness, the way of sinners, the way of the scoffer, the way of refusal to submit to his ordinances and his statutes, somehow God will just shuffle all the cards in wonder of wonders. Though my way has been the way of the ungodly, my destiny shall be the destiny of the godly. that's folly unfounded upon scripture based upon delusive self-deception in this psalm and in the entirety of holy scripture the way in which a man walks is inseparably joined to the destiny

40:22 which he will know you would cleave to the way of the wicked what you're saying is I don't want salvation now or in eternity But if you would know the end of the righteous, then you must know the life of the righteous. So when God summons sinners to salvation, how does he do it? I quote now from Isaiah chapter 55, which is a beautiful commentary on this. Verses 6 and 7.

40:51 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. If you are not in the way of blessedness, that course is not fixed for eternity.

41:20 God says now, seek Him while He may be found, while the door of mercy is open. He is a forgiving God. He is a merciful God. He is a God who pardons and He says, return to me and I will pardon.

41:33 But notice, that promise of pardon is inseparably joined to this command to forsake your way. For God to put a pardon in the hands of men while they still are disposed to walk in the way of sinners would be simply to confirm them in their sins and to overturn the whole goal of his salvation in Jesus Christ. when I have someone tell me like one of our own told me just this past week that somebody was actually teaching them in the name of truth that Gentiles get saved simply by believing but Jews have to repent repentance is not primarily for us I wonder what in the world can they think about God

42:19 for what is repentance but the sinner forsaking his way and asking God to plant his feet in his way the way of blessedness isn't that repentance? and for God to save men apart from repentance will you be to overturn the whole end and goal of redemption. And this God is not about to do simply to stick a pardon in the back pocket of a man who is in the way of wickedness. Blessed be God he pardons and blessed be God he will abundantly pardon.

Closing Appeal: Repent and Enter the Way of Blessedness

42:51 But here is the condition that God sets before him. He must forsake his way. Now, are you in the way of the righteous tonight? The Lord knows the way of the righteous.

43:04 Are you in that way? The way describes in verses 1 to 3. If you aren't, you're in the way of ungodliness, and that way shall perish. And there's only one way to get out of this way into that way.

43:15 And that's as you repent, forsake your way. Come to this God through Christ who says, I will abundantly pardon, plead with him for mercy, cry to him that he would change your heart and move your feet into his way. And God has promised that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Second principle that I see and want to stress as we conclude our study is that if you're in the way of blessedness, you have none to praise but God.

43:49 And if you perish, you'll have none to blame but yourself. I've heard people say when they begin to confront the biblical doctrine of foreknowledge and election and the Lord's eternal love of his people, they say, well, it looks like God's got his cake and eats it too. If he saves people, he gets all the glory, but if people are damned, they get all the blame. Maybe you've even thought that.

44:12 You wouldn't quite state it so crassly and bluntly, but perhaps you've thought that. well if you think that my friend it's simply because you haven't from the heart embraced the teaching of scripture because that is precisely the teaching of scripture if anybody is saved God gets all the glory and if anybody is damned man gets all the blame and we see that right here you see the reason for the present state and future state of the righteous is attributed to the activity of God the Lord knoweth He regards with distinguishing love and favor and purpose the way of the righteous. But God is completely omitted from the ultimate issue of the wicked. But the way of the wicked shall perish.

44:57 So that the way of the righteous in all of its present blessedness and future glory is all of God and all of grace. And the way of the wicked in its present state and future judgment is all the responsibility of the wicked. And so Scripture speaks. And so the Word of God comes to us demanding our faith and our implicit trust.

45:24 Has that principle gripped you? As we think tonight of a crazy, mixed-up generation, and certainly we live in one, clamoring after blessedness in so-called release from all standards, all guidelines. I heard an interview the other night with an English educator a man who's on the board of a school what was the name of it dear you remember the name of that Summerhill School in England where this man has adopted the philosophy of complete permissiveness that children are inherently good and on that premise he's ordered and structured his whole educational system they come in at ages 4 or 5 there are no rules and regulations the only rule, if you could say there is one,

46:11 that you must never do anything that in any way infringes on the liberty of another. You don't have to go to classes. The boys and girls use the same toilet facilities, swim in the same pools in the nude. Complete freedom.

46:29 Complete freedom. And this man's whole philosophy is that he is going to bring about at least a few people in our generation who've really learned the way of blessedness when they get free from all the inhibitions and regulations and scriptures that have been imposed upon us by, quote, the Christian ethic.

46:48 Now, that's his concept of the way of blessedness. And he's no fool. And he's a man who's intelligent.

46:55 Probably got a couple of earned doctor's degrees. Others say the way of blessedness comes this way, that way. Are you convinced that the only way of blessedness is found in verses 1 to 3? Are you convinced of that?

47:09 Convinced to the place where you're committed to seeking blessedness in this way? Have you this week, in order to know true blessedness, been refusing the counsel of the ungodly? Have you? Have you been seeking by God's grace to refuse to stand in the way of sinners?

47:27 Or sit in the seat of scoffers? Have you been seeking to meditate in the law of God day and night?

47:35 If so, dear child of God, may the wonder and the marvel that God should have rescued you from ever hoping for blessedness in any other way, may it so break in upon you that fresh gratitude wells up in your heart and you sing from the depths of your being. The song we sang tonight, it was not that I, I've got the other song, but I sought the Lord and afterward I knew it was he who sought me seeking him. The words of the hymn that have been going through my mind this week are it was not that I did seek thee for Lord that could not be. This heart would still refuse thee.

48:14 Hats thou not chosen me. Thou from the chains that bound me that set me free of all thou hast ordained that I should live to thee. the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous and that's why we're in that way tonight. And I say to any of you, young or old, if you persist in the way of the ungodly and one day stand in the day of judgment and hear those terrible, frightening words, depart from me, ye cursed, I never knew you.

48:46 Experience and lifetime familiarity with its precepts will not end, but may become increasingly precious. By God's grace, let us pray.