Rooted in the Word

The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind will be.

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.

And if you've memorized any Psalms, that may be one that you've memorized growing up. I know it's one that I did. But it starts off, blessed. Blessed is the man.

So we're going to talk about the blessed man. The word in Hebrew is the word Asher, which is also the name of one of the twelve sons of Jacob. But when you think about the word blessed, there's many ways you could think of it.

First of all, blessed by position. If you are in Christ, if you have been saved, you are indeed a blessed individual. He has taken you out of the pangs of death and brought you into life.

Your position, your position before the Lord is a blessed position. That's one way to look at it. Another one is in thought. For your own mind. As you think what God has done for you, there's joy and gratitude for this undeserved standing before God.

So, there's position. There's a mind. Blessed person. He has joy. But I think what the psalmist is going for in this psalm is through activity.

As a result of the other two. We are saved. It is transformed how we think about life, how we approach life. And now it has something to do with what we do through our activity.

And chiefly, as we've read, it's disassociation from the wicked and association with God and with His Word. Putting away the things of old and pressing on to the things that are new with the Lord.

James 4 also warns us of this. Verses 4 and 5. It says, You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, He yearns jealously over the Spirit that He has made to dwell in us.

The Spirit is in us. We are a new creature. So, we're not supposed to be friends of the world. We shouldn't be doing the same things we were doing before we were saved. We need to come out and be separate.

So, blessed is the man. And it's through activity, and we're going to flesh some of this out here. Who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. Some of your translations probably say ungodly.

Who's that talking about? The wicked are willfully and persistently evil. Not a good group. And he's saying, don't walk in their counsel.

Makes sense, right? This counsel that they give, while it may seem to be a good thing on the front end, is very crafty. You search the commandments of God.

And sometimes you may be hearing wise counsel, you think, from somebody. But the person you know is not really, well, they're not really a believer. They're not Christian. I can tell they're not, by the way they live their life.

But what they say sounds right. You need to be wary of that. Because they don't have the Lord in their heart. And that whatever counsel they're giving is going to be usurping the commandment of the Lord.

So, don't walk in the counsel of the wicked. The blessed man avoids the devices of the ungodly. There's a bunch of negative things here.

You do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. You do not stand in the way of sinners. You don't sit in the seat of the sparful. But it also, on the flip side of it, has a positive implication. That you would abide in the wisdom of the Word of God.

You avoid the devices of the ungodly. And you abide in the wisdom of the Word of God. How is it contrasted? Well, the Word of God, this counsel is authoritative.

It's the very Word of God. The blessings derived from this counsel will glorify God. So, it's very simple. It's a basic thing. But it's just, think about it.

Back up where you get your counsel with the Word of God. Proverbs 2, verses 6-15, really fleshes this out wonderfully. By the way, this psalm is classified a wisdom psalm.

So, I'm probably going to be in Proverbs a little bit throughout tonight as it kind of correlates with the wisdom found there. Proverbs 2, starting with verse 6. Proverbs 3, verses 7-15.

Proverbs 3, verses 7-15.

Ungodly counsel will drive you away from the Word. They work against each other. So, stay in the Word that you may understand what wise counsel is. Abide in the Word of God. The next phrase, nor stands in the way of sinners.

Sinners. And the word sinners here is describing those who miss the mark of God's standards, but the attitude as they miss it is that they don't care that they are missing it.

Nor stands in the way of sinners. The blessed man departs from evil. I'm not going to stand there. I'm departing. True believers will not continue in sin.

They may force you, but they're not going to continue in it. They repent of the sin as a sign of the Spirit's conviction. You're not going to continue sinning in one direction forever because the Spirit's going to convict you.

He's going to discipline you until you turn back. Because there's a testimony of Him inside you. You must be different. So, there's a negative. The blessed man departs from evil.

Well, what's the opposite of departing? He draws near to the instruction of the Word. He draws near to the instruction of the Word. True believers strive for obedience rather than continuing in sin.

They follow the voice of their shepherd. When the voice of our shepherd calls to us from His Word and says, Go here. Well, we go there. We don't ignore it.

We follow. 1 Timothy 6, verses 9-16. He's talking about those who are loving the things of this world.

It starts with verse 9. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus, who in His testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will display at the proper time.

He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion.

Amen. I couldn't find a place to stop, so I had to go finish the thought there. Just a wonderful, wonderful end to that. You see the examples of the wicked, how they go after these evil things, the love of money.

And He's saying, flee that, go somewhere else. Go after the Lord. Fight the good fight. And the reason why is because the Lord, He is the Lord and the King of glory, and we're doing it for His honor and His glory.

So we draw near to the instruction of the Word of God. Okay? Nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Some of you may have scornful. These words scoffers are those who make light of God's laws and ridicule that which is sacred.

And we're in a world where that is rampant. On the TV, the internet, and maybe some of our friends, if we think about it, those who ridicule the things of God.

Think about that. The blessed man dissociates himself from mockers. A believer's friends will not be those who laugh at sin. The idea is who you hang around, you're going to be defined by.

So, what he's saying here, a believer is not going to be mistaken for a mocker. He's not going to be one of those sitting there, well, that's a believer, but he's over there. No, those are all going to be mockers there.

You're not going to be sitting there. Psalm 10, verses 2-15. Talking about the wicked here. In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor. Let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised, for the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.

In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high, out of his sight.

As for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity. His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression.

Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages. In hiding places, he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless. He lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket.

He lurks that he may seize the poor. He seizes the poor when he draws them into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. And he says in his heart, God has forgotten.

He has hidden his face, and he will never see it. Arise, O Lord, O God. Lift up your hand. Forget not the afflicted. Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, You will not call to account?

But you do see. For you note mischief and vexation. That you may take it into your hands. To you the helpless commits himself. You have been the helper of the fatherless.

Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer. Recall of the wickedness to account till you find none. The psalmist there is asking the Lord, Hold him accountable, Lord, in your timing.

I know you will, but that's up to you. You're going to hold him into account. And the scoffers, they come against the Lord saying, He's not going to do anything to me. That's for you all over there, just the holier-than-thou group.

Criticizing the Word of God and the things of the Word of God. But a believer is not going to be mistaken for one of those people. While you dissociate from mockers, You should associate yourself with those who love God's Word.

The reverse of that is, Hang around folks who love the Word of God. Fellowship with those like we are tonight. A believer's friends will hold him accountable to the Word. And these friends uphold and celebrate the Bible's authority in your life and in their life.

It's the great leveler, the Bible, Because we're all under its authority. We all need to respond to it. None of us is above it. Galatians 6, 1-10 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, He deceives himself.

But let each one test his own work, And then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each one will have to bear his own load. One who has taught the Word must share all good things with the one who teaches.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

And let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, Let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

So as we go about our lives, Let's hold one another accountable to the Word of God. If one of us is going off in a direction over here, Let's pull him back in. Say, no, let's not do that.

Remember what the Word says. Associate yourself with those who love God's Word, And you'll have the wise counsel that you need. So that's all in verse 1. The point to consider, Warren Wiersbe says this, If you follow the wrong counsel, Then you will stand with the wrong companions, And finally sit with the wrong crowd.

He says it's a progression. You're listening, you're walking, You're standing, and then you're sitting. It gets worse and worse, So don't even start. Don't listen to the unwise counsel.

Alright, verse 2. See the awe-inspiring Word. The awe-inspiring Word. That His delight is in the law of the Lord.

He delights in it. There's life-changing power from the Word. Before salvation, Did you have any delight in Scripture? Did it make any sense to you at all?

It was nothing to you. It was just a bunch of words in a book. Well, that sounds nice, But I don't know what that has to do with me. There's life-changing power from the Word. After salvation, God's Word becomes a treasure chest of joy.

How many times have you been down and depressed, And you've read something in the Word, And it just flooded your soul with joy? And it couldn't have done that before. After salvation, it can. It's an amazing thing.

Psalm 119. I'm not going to read the whole psalm. We'll just read a couple of verses here. Verses 17 and 18. Deal bountifully with your servant, That I may live and keep your Word.

Open my eyes, That I may behold wondrous things out of your law. The great thing about it is that you will continue To find new things in the Word Over and over and over again.

There's a reservoir of joy to be had. Not only is it life-changing power, But there's captivating attraction to the Word. Where he says, It's delight is in the law of the Lord.

It's not merely avoiding evil, It's rushing to the source for righteous living. The laws of God were given so that we would know Him. So that we would have fulfillment in life.

It's not just, Don't do this. Don't do that. Don't do this. It's just a bunch of rules. It's in obeying these laws and these rules That you see more of Him. And you can say, Well, look at Him.

Look at Him. Look at Him. There's more of a delight in it. Because you are obeying and you're seeing more of Christ. You're seeing more of Him and His glory. Psalm 119 also, verse 77 says, Let your mercy come to me that I may live.

For your law is my delight. Who rejoices in rules? That's what he's saying. I'm rejoicing in the rules because it shows me more of you. Alright.

Next phrase, And on His law He meditates day and night. He meditates day and night. Careful reflection on the Word. This is what the blessed man is doing.

He's reflecting on the Word. God's Word is so valuable, It demands thorough study. This study is the means to knowing God in a deeper way.

In the great high priestly prayer that Christ prayed for us in the garden, John 17, verses 6-8, Just listen to this. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.

Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me.

And they have received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from you. And they have believed that you sent me. As they believed the Word of God, it testified to Christ.

And it testifies that He is the Son of God. Knowing God in a deeper way, study the Word of God. Careful study. And this word meditation also connotes persistent contemplation of the Word.

In other words, a passing glance will hardly suffice. We need continuous engagement of the mind with the Word.

Our mind has to be in the Word constantly. Why? Because our minds are swift and running to evil. So we need the Word to guard our minds and keep them on the right track. Sam Storm says this quote, We meditate when we slowly read, prayerfully take in, and humbly rely upon what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures.

So slowly read, prayerfully take in, and humbly rely upon the Word of God. Psalm 19 has a great passage in it. Verses 7-14.

Very familiar passage, but it's just another time where the psalmist is celebrating God's Word. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned. In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Just a great, great passage there. Celebrating, contemplating, meditating, staying in the Word. I'm reading a lot of passages tonight, and that's by design because of the subject here.

And I hope that when you're hearing the Word of God, it is doing for you what it's done for me already today. It just fills you up with joy. It helps you almost burst into praise of what God has laid there for us.

A point to consider from Jonathan Lehman. Do you want to measure your regard for God? Then consider your regard for the Bible. If you want to know more about the Lord, get in His Word.

What is your opinion of the Lord? How much you're in the Word tells everyone else what your opinion of God is. How big is your God? How wonderful is your God?

How often are you in His Word? Verse 3, we have the fruitful tree. The fruitful tree. He is like a tree planted by streams of water.

Planted by streams of water. Well, we take a step back here just for a second. There's an intentional strategy for agricultural growth right here.

Okay? This tree is planted. It's not a wild tree. It's a chosen, cultivated piece of property which has a purpose.

I'm putting you right here. It's a planted tree. It's also by streams of water. And it's not just one stream. It's streams, plural, or rivers of water. And this is designed to have a source of nourishment both in location and volume.

You're near the water. You're planted there. But you also have enough water to keep you going. Where the roots of the tree have access to grow. So it's an intentional strategy for agricultural growth.

And I guess Kylie would tell you how tall a tree is depends on how much roots are underneath it. And what thing do you hate to remove most? The roots of the tree.

They're hard to get out when they're deep and they're healthy because they're everywhere. Well, I'll correlate that to intentional strategy for spiritual growth. We have been planted. We have been chosen and are being cultivated for a purpose by our Lord.

We have been put next to and have access to the Word of God from which we can draw abundant nourishment. The most important part of the believer's life is the spiritual root system that draws on the hidden resources we have in Christ.

That's right here in the Word. Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

So you're rooted in Christ Jesus. Rooted in Christ Jesus. Next phrase, that yields its fruit in its season. Yields its fruit in its season.

Well, there's an intentional plan for the harvest. A intentional plan for the harvest. And for us, it's to bring glory to the Lord who has produced this fruit in us.

Our fruit is being produced so that we glorify God, but also to be channels of God's blessing to others. How many trees eat their own fruit? They don't.

It's given to others. The fruit is not for the tree to eat, but for others. That's the same thing for us. The fruit that God puts in us is to be shared with others. Proverbs 11 and 12.

11 verse 30 says, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise. Proverbs 12, 12 says, Whoever is wicked covets the spoils of evildoers.

But the root of the righteous bears fruit. It bears fruit for all to be able to partake of it. Not only is it an intentional plan for the harvest, but it's also an intentional yield of the harvest.

How much is going to come out? Even that is taken care of by the Lord. God is in charge of our fruit to be used as He sees fit. We will bear fruit in the proper season when it is to be used to encourage and nourish others.

Even in this time of our lives, we're all here in this room, in this church, for a reason. And that's to benefit one another.

To stir one another up to love and good works. To point one another to the Word of God. But the fruit that we're yielding is for one another right now. And God has put us here because we need each other. That's part of what He has done.

Warren Risby says, Fruit has in it the seed for more fruit. Fruit comes from life, the life of God flowing in and through us.

So when we're using the Word of God to share with one another, it's His life going from us to others and back and forth. Ephesians 2, 8-10.

A familiar passage. We often hear the first two verses quoted. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast.

Verse 10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So He has the yield.

He knows the crop that's coming out. And He's put us in place to yield that harvest. Next phrase. And its leaf does not wither. In all that He does, He prospers.

Well, and there's intentional health of the tree. If you water and fertilize a tree, it will be healthy. If you don't, it will not be healthy.

It's pretty simple. It's basic agriculture there. And it's as simple as that in the Word of God as well. Deuteronomy 30, 19 and 20. It says, Through famine, drought, or storm, those rooted in the Word will not wither, because they have a deep root system.

God's promise to those who obey His Word is His sustaining hand. So intentional health of the tree, intentional growth of the tree. And all that He does, He prospers.

Prosperity is meant for the good of others, like we've talked about already. God's Word should reverberate from one heart to another, that all may be strengthened for living. Let's go back to Colossians again.

Colossians 3, verses 12 through 17. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other.

As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. So let the Word of God dwell in you richly, so that you may share it with one another.

Point to consider here, trees do not plant themselves, neither do sinful people transport themselves into God's kingdom. Salvation is His marvelous work of grace.

Yet there is a genuine responsibility in appropriating the abundant resources of God, which lead to eventual productivity. He wants you to be in His Word. He wants you to stay attached to that which is going to give you nourishment.

All right, verses 4 and 5. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

So the wicked are not so. Or are woe, they're not what? They're not the same as the righteous. They're different. They are not rooted in the Word.

They are not being cultivated for spiritual fruit. They are dead and lifeless, as opposed to being a tree that bears fruit. They are like the chaff that the wind drives away, and there's no substance.

They don't have the same substance like the righteous do. Chaff is intrinsically worthless. It's dead, unserviceable, and is easily blown away.

The biblical roots of the righteous help them to stand firm, but the wicked have nothing to keep them from destruction. They'll blow away. They'll burn up, because they don't have anything of substance.

When you think about it, the chaff and the wheat, the grain, are so close, yet one is harvested, and one is burned up, burned up in the fire.

Matthew 7, verses 21-23, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. In their mind, they looked a lot like the wheat, but they were chaff. They looked real close to it, but they weren't. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment or sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

They're not the same as the righteous. They don't have the same substance like the righteous, and they don't have any standing with the righteous. Though the wicked seem to prosper in this life, they will have no part of heaven.

You think about it, the wicked cannot stand on their own merit any more than the righteous can on their own merit, apart from the righteousness of Christ. If we do try to stand on our own merit, it will burn up.

We're not going to do anything worthy of the Lord. He has done it all for us. And this long quote from Spurgeon, I put in your handouts there. Well may the saints long for heaven, for no evil men shall dwell there.

All our congregations upon earth are mixed. Every church has one devil in it. The tares grow in the same furrows as the wheat. There is no floor which is as yet thoroughly purged from chaff.

Sinners mix with saints as dross mingles with gold. God's precious diamonds still lie in the same field with the pebbles. Righteous lots are this side of heaven continually vexed by the men of Sodom.

Let us rejoice then that in the general assembly and church of the firstborn above, there shall by no means be admitted a single unrenewed soul. Sinners cannot live in heaven. They will be out of their element.

That is so true. There is no sin in heaven. Sinner could a fish live upon a tree than a wicked in paradise. Heaven would be an intolerable hell to an impenitent man, even if he could be allowed to enter.

But such a privilege shall never be granted to the man who preserves or perseveres in his iniquities. May God grant that we may have a name and place in his courts above. So last verse, verse 6, we see the righteous way.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous. And that way is eternal life. Eternal life for the righteous. God has established this through the blood of Christ and through faith in His Word.

He knows this way because He has ordained this way for His own glory. He says He knows the way. He has laid it out for us. Isaiah 26, verses 7 and 8.

The path of the righteous is level. You make level the way of the righteous. In the paths of Your judgments, O Lord, we wait for You. Your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.

So He has made it straight. He has made it plain. In contrast from the eternal life for the righteous, the way the wicked will perish. There's eternal death awaiting the wicked.

Not only do the wicked perish, but you see their way also perishes. Sin itself will be eradicated one day. Just as God has ordained heaven by His Word, so He has also ordained hell by His Word.

Remember from Romans 6.23, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So a point to consider here as believers, we are blessed in Christ with His Word.

We ought then to be a blessing to others. That includes the chaff that will one day be thrown into the fire. If God is the avenger of wickedness, as we kind of established at the beginning, as promised in His Word, then why would we try to take the matters into our own hands as trying to make things right here?

I'm going to make this right. The Lord has told us how to handle this. Give Him the Word. You realize what's laying in store for them, and you think you're going to give them something that's worse than that anyway.

Matthew 5, verses 43-45, gives us clear instructions how to handle things when those who come against us. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Sometimes it's easy in this psalm to say, to pronounce judgment on the wicked. You're a sinner, you're scornful, you're a mocker. Your way is going to perish. You're condemned to die, but the problem with that condemnation is that they're dead already, as each of us was.

We were dead in our sins and trespasses before the Lord saved us. The psalmist is not calling us to rejoice in their judgment, but rather to come out and be separate, be holy as God is holy.

So the question that this psalm is raising is, for some of you, why is it that you look like some dead people? Are you walking in the counsel of the wicked?

Are you standing in the way of sinners? Are you sitting in the seat of the scornful? If you are, you're not behaving as one who's received life. If you're behaving as those who are going along the way of the perishing, rather, delight in the law of the Lord.

May you meditate on it day and night. May you have fruit that gives blessings to others. And in the end, more glory to the Lord, as we learn more of His Word, learn more of Him.

So Psalm 1 is being rooted in the Word. Thank you.