Amen. Thank you, Josh. Josiah has been playing on an instrument called the Cajon, C-A-J-O-N. It's a portable drum kit, if you can imagine that. He'll be taking to youth camp, Josh, Mary, Josiah, and I hope Pelly, too, will be leading the worship times at camp coming up. We're looking forward to that. Appreciate your prayers for that. Turning your Bibles, please, to Psalm 1, the first psalm in the 150 psalms called the Psalter. Recognized by many, this psalm is as the introductory psalm. Spurgeon maintained that this psalm sets forth two ways to live, and the rest of the book of Psalms answers it. It's considered a preface psalm. I want to think today about biblical manhood in a gender-confused culture. I want you to stand with me, if you would, as I read Psalm 1, verses 1 to 6, and then we'll look into this to see what we can learn from it. 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." What have we just read together? We've read the inerrant, infallible, all-sufficient Word of God. And my prayer today, of course, this psalm, when it speaks, blessed is the man will will cover men and women. But specifically today is that there will come to us as men a new steel in our backbones to be godly men, to be men of the book manifesting biblical manhood, because, folks, we are living in a day that has gone stark, raving mad. And if we don't stand, there'll be no one to stand. Thank you. Please be seated. Someone suggested that this is probably the best known psalm of all the Book of Psalms. It introduces it and it sets forth for us two different ways. I would say the path of biblical manhood and the other paths. The path of biblical manhood and the other path. It's very practical. It begins with the word used in the Beatitudes, blessed. In the New Testament, when Jesus speaks the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall, there's, I just went blank. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall be what? That's terrible. Well, look that up, somebody, and tell me. Just holler it out during the sermon, because I'm going to be distracted the whole time if I don't. But the word blessed there, mercurial, is the word for spiritually prosperous or strengthened. And this is the same thing, it's a different word in the Hebrew and the Old Testament, but it's the same idea. It is to be strengthened. It is to be honored by God. It is to be blessed so that you are fruitful, you bear fruit. I want us to see here three things from this text today. First, biblical manhood must choose between two paths. And then second, biblical manhood will flourish while others flounder. And third, biblical manhood will finish well. First of all, biblical manhood must choose between two paths. Verses one and two, blessed is the man who, it's interesting, who does not do these things. It's an unusual Hebraism here. Typically you would say the man is blessed who does this, this, this. But the Hebrew, right, the psalmist is going for something here to warn about where not to go. We can't be ambivalent about it. It's not blessed is the man and then because you're a man and then do whatever you want to do. Now listen to this. 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. Now you would expect at this point that the psalmist would say, but rather who does this? He doesn't do this, he breaks the parallel. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. The use of the word law here is one of those uses. We looked at this when we were looking at Psalm 119 on Wednesday nights in prayer meeting. It's one of those that speaks to the whole scripture, all of scripture, all the word of God. When I was in high school, I had a teacher, an English teacher, who really pressed me. In fact, I had her, I think, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. She was tough, and she stretched us. For example, she would come in to class. She wanted us to be able to write extemporaneously, to think, and to think through things. She'd come into class and lay out on the chalkboard several pictures of something. And then she would say, write about it. And so there you are, like a deer in the headlights. You've got to look at that, think about it. And then someone would inevitably ask her, well, how long do you want it to be, Miss Cashen? And she would say, how long is a piece of string? What we learned as we got over our trauma was that she would answer, a piece of string is only as long as it needs to be to tie up the package. One day she wheeled in a projector, played a 10-minute video of pigs. Not a word. Just pigs rooting. Running around, being pigs. Said, write on it. And so, in that class, I was stretched and I learned some things about poetry. And one of my favorite poets was Robert Frost. And Robert Frost, in one of his, I like Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, To the road not taken was one of my favorite Swinger of birches. I like that one too in the road not taken two roads diverged in a wood and I I Took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference now Robert Frost to my understanding was not a believer But it's interesting what he captured in this in this poem Based on Matthew 7 Jesus finale his finishing words from the Sermon on the Mount where he said in verses 13 and 14, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are few. Robert Frost, I took the one less traveled by. Jesus Christ, do not travel with the herd on the broad road. Do not get caught up in every cultural fad. Every twist, every nuance, every new thing that comes down the pipe. Rather, go through the narrow gate. If you remember the Sermon on the Mount, it ended with this strong crescendo. Two gates, two ways, two identities, sheep or goats, two houses, two foundations. One stands, one crumbles. powerful picture. And really and truly you could say that Jesus Christ was in his Sermon on the Mount teaching an application of Psalm 1. Charles Spurgeon said of this psalm, which is in the category by the way of wisdom psalms, there are about seven categories when you go through all 150. So wisdom psalm, we're looking on Wednesday nights at praying for wisdom. Spurgeon said, It's the psalmist's desire to teach us the way to blessedness and to warn us of the sure destruction of sinners. This then is the matter of the first psalm, which may be looked upon in some respects as the text upon which the whole of the psalms make up a divine sermon. Another writer said, Psalm 1 deliberately draws two portraits in our minds, the portrait of the wicked man and the portrait of the wise man. The question then is posed, which are we? As we enter the sanctuary of the Psalms to worship and petition the Lord, whose side are we on? Folks, we must lovingly, charitably, graciously, tenaciously, devotedly to Christ take sides in the war that is happening in our culture. We cannot sit behind our stained glass as a church thinking it will not come here. It has come to the Southern Baptist Convention. And I don't want to give a convention report this morning. I want to stay on point with this psalm. But I want to tell you that there were many good things that happened at the Southern Baptist Convention. You just can't imagine the blessing when missionaries are commissioned to go to the ends of the earth. When there was a wonderful pre-conference, pre-convention conference put on by Founders Ministries. You can go to founders.org and watch those messages. Tremendous messages. Much edification. Much encouragement. Great reports from our North American Mission Board, our International Mission Board. New institution heads installed in our seminaries. But underlying the whole time was an assault upon biblical manhood. You say, how can that possibly be in the Southern Baptist Convention? It's subtle. It's subtle. And so, Let's think about what this, what doesn't happen to the man. What does he not do? What is a man pursuing biblical manhood? In other words, a man who's been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and who wants his life to be conformed to this book above all else. Well, he will not walk in the Council of the Wicked. The psalmist has a purpose here in the different movements. He will not walk, he will not make his life one lived, that's what walking is, moving in life. He will not make his life one that is influenced by a wicked worldview, an ungodly worldview, an unbiblical worldview. It's all around us, by the way. It's all around us. NPR, National Public Radio, paid for by tax dollars, had a cartoon recently, these little kids, children that watch this cartoon know all about it, where they introduced the first male couple. It's happening at every turn. Women are being encouraged to cast off the yoke of being loving, submissive wives to their husbands. It's just unbelievable. If you're a straight, white male in the Southern Baptist Convention or in culture, you have a target on your back. And you should spend most of your time repenting for your whiteness, for your maleness, because that very fact triggers people, prompts microaggressions. You say, Pastor, what are you on? I'm not on anything. I've just come from Birmingham, where I've seen it on display. This word for us today has never been more pivotal. You don't walk in the counsel of the wicked. You learn to recognize it. You eschew it. You do what Bunyan's character did. Pilgrim's progress. Christian, when he was leaving the city of destruction, he put his hands over his ears and ran away from that. Crying life. Life. So he doesn't walk. in the council. It doesn't live listening to that. You have to filter. Now, you know me well enough to know I'm not suggesting that we just all crawl into caves and some of them push a rock over it so we can survive. We got to live in this world. You're going to be exposed to it, but I want you to be aware of what you're being exposed to. There is an agenda in the media. The folks at Hellywood are sold out to you and me surrendering biblical moral standards. It's their agenda now. You say, well, it probably always has been, but it's never been more aggressive than it is today. Nor does this one stand in the way of sinners. Watch the movement here. When he walks, he's living. When he stands, he's beginning to pay attention. You can walk through this world and the council of the wicked will bombard you on radio, TV, print, social media, Facebook. I couldn't name all these other things, but there's a bunch of them. You can be confronted with it. But you can live, and when you stand, you have stopped. You have begun to pay attention. You've begun to listen. You've begun to consider. He does not stand in the way of sinners. He doesn't ponder, well is that another way? Is there a better way? See the movement? He does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. He does not stand in the way of sinners. Nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Now sitting, You go into someone's home, they would not sit there and talk to you five minutes and let you just stand there unless they didn't want you there. At some point, you get to it. Most people, you go into their home, what? Have a seat. Have a seat. Make yourself at home. Relax. He doesn't sit in the seat of scoffers. The wicked give their counsel. The sinners make their arguments. The scoffers scoff God's worldview. The scoffers make fun of people who call sin, sin. The scoffers make fun of people like me who give out warnings and say, come on, preacher, come on, you're overreacting. Chill out. Take a chill pill. Relax. A man blessed of God, a man pursuing biblical manhood does not do these things. Rather, his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. What's he telling us here? Well, first of all, that this book, these 66 books put together as God's holy word, the holy Bible, scripture, are a delight. They're not a drudgery. You read the words. What a day we live in, by the way. You can download the Bible.is app on your phone, and you can listen to the word. You can actually read along with it on your device. See it in print, hear it read. It simply removes every obstacle for people to say, well, I don't read well. I hit words that I don't know how to pronounce. I feel silly. You can wash yourself with the word. Excellent versions today. English Standard Version, the one that I use personally to preach from. The Christian Standard Bible that has been put forth more recently by Southern Baptist scholars, and it's by and large a very good translation, talked to someone recently. who said that going from reading the King James to reading that had opened the Bible up for this individual. Delight in it. Don't let it be a document that just collects dust somewhere in your house. Paul said in Romans after struggling, after saying, I sin, and I know I shouldn't do that, and I do, and I know I should be doing this, and I don't. Oh. He basically says, I hate myself sometimes. But he comes to us, but I delight after the law of God in my inmost being. We've got to have a recovery in our day, not of the number of Bibles owned, Not of the number of Bible apps possessed, but a recovery of the feeding upon the word. Karen has learned to make on this way of eating journey that she and I are on, she's learned to make a cheesecake. Heartleading carbs. I delight after that cheesecake. I delighted in a piece last night. Lord willing, I plan to delight in a piece at lunch today. And if you'll ask sweetly, I'll see if I can get her to make you one so you can delight as well. You'd never know how it was made if I didn't tell you. You see, you know the things you delight in. The psalmist says, the blessed man, delights in the law of God, in the law of the Lord, and he meditates upon it. He muses upon it. He ponders it. What happens when we do that consistently? We develop a matrix of a biblical worldview. This matrix blocks all the fair-sounding things that are coming. But don't you want to be compassionate? Well then, then we need to make sure that we're not hurting anybody's feelings. The disciples thought about that and went to Jesus one time and said, Jesus, you've offended the Pharisees. Thank God Jesus was not a soft male, like, like's being promoted today, because he didn't go, oh my goodness, they may not listen to me anymore. What am I going to do? I offended the Pharisees. Know what he said? Remember the text? Let them be offended. Not because he was an offender for the word, just like to go around hurting people's feelings, because he was the way, the truth, the life. And to give a different message would be to encourage people to go to hell. He delights, he meditates. So what's this got to do with Father's Day? It's got everything to do with Father's Day. You show me a man, a dad, who delights in the Word of God, who meditates on it, who makes it part of his, it's a serious part of his spiritual diet. I'll show you a man who's a husband who loves his wife. I'll show you a man who loves his children and has raised them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I'll show you a man who, when he walks into the workplace, brings light there. I'll show you a man who will stand when prevailing currents howl at him that you're out of step. There's no place for you. Go back to your cloistered cathedrals. You cannot help but be that kind of man. If you, first of all, delight in the word of God, and then if it is your meditation, if you take it in, if you muse upon it, if you talk about it, you share it with others. You love when others share it with you. Secondly, biblical manhood will flourish while others flounder. What's a man, this blessed man, this biblical man, what is he like and how is he different? Well, it says in verse 3 to 5, he's like a tree planted by streams of water. that yields its fruit in its season. Karen and I were driving out to Birmingham. We saw still floodwaters heading down toward Muskogee and from Muskogee over to Fort Smith, Fort Smith on to Little Rock and Little Rock to Memphis all the way waters way over their banks. Coming back almost a week later, a lot of that had subsided and then you see the grass ruined, you see the crops ruined where the fields were flooded, you see trees with a strange brown halfway up them where the water had risen. We're not talking about that. We're talking about a tree planted by streams. It's root system. You know, if you know anything about planting and roots, you know that roots run to water. We learned that the hard way, the first house we ever owned in Shreveport, Louisiana, after moving in one weekend, we found out that the roots in those massive oak trees in the front yard had run to the water in our sewer system of clay pots, and the roots had strangled the clay pots and broken them. roots run to water. A tree planted by streams of water gives it easy access to saturation and to nourishment, and it produces a green leaf. And this would be true if it was sitting in an otherwise arid place, which is where this is that's being written about here. Its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Now, this is not the Kenneth Hagen prosper or the Joel Osteen prosper, right? This is about prospering as a man of God, growing in godliness, making an impact on your own life and the lives of others entrusted to you, meeting people in the way. You are blessed, but there is blessedness in the physical, material, emotional, relational realm. Again, show me a man who is delighting in the law of God, who is meditating upon this book day and night, who makes it his food, who likes opportunities to hear about it, study about it, learn about it, share with other people about it. I'll show you a man who is growing in a very sound way, becoming wise. Then the contrast. I told you about two ways. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff, that the wind drives away the chaff, of course, part of that whole wheat harvest, where they would take the grain, harvest the grain, take it into an area designed that was intentionally windy, and they would take it and rub it together. And the grains of wheat would come away from the stalk, and the chaff, the dust would do this, and the chaff blows, and the wheat falls to the ground. And that's how they would collect their wheat and make bread out of it. Chaff. The wind drives away. The blessed man, the godly man, the biblical man, prospers. Leafy green. The wicked? Chaff. Blown away. Dust. Therefore, here's the conclusion of the contrast, the wicked will not stand in the judgment. That doesn't mean they will not come to judgment. It means that when they come to judgment, the same lifestyle that was a withering lifestyle will wither at the judgment. These will be the ones described in the book of Revelation that says they will cry for the rocks to fall upon them and to crush them saying, save us. from the wrath of the lamb when they come before the judgment. Friends, brothers and sisters, men and women, boys and girls, we will all stand before the judgment. We won't escape that. Hebrews says in Hebrews 9, it's appointed to die once, every one, after that to come to judgment. And if we're alive when Jesus returns, he will carry us to the bema, everybody there, the judgment seat. The wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Now, do not misunderstand, it's not saying here that sinners are not allowed to come to church. The congregation of the righteous here is this, when he talks about judgment, he's talking about the final assembly, gathering, when the scripture tells us that on that great judgment day, that he will separate the sheep from the goats. the goats in the category of the wicked, the sheep in the category of those who trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior while they lived and lived for him while they lived, he will separate them, the great separation. And he will say to the sheep, come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, and he will welcome them. And he will say to the goats, to the wicked, cast this one into outer darkness, where there'll be gnashing, weeping and gnashing of teeth, where the worm eats and never consumes, where the fire burns and does not burn out. It's the great day of judgment coming. Contrast, one person said, between the two ways may be put like this. It's the difference between those who are in love with sin and those who love God. The first class loves sin's ways and follow it. The second love God and seek him in scripture where he may be found. Third, biblical manhood will finish well. Verse six, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Again, the righteous and the judgment, but those who have lived the life, reflective of that. But the way of the wicked will perish. The Lord loves the way of the righteous because he loves the righteous, and because the righteous delight in his law and walk in his way. I would remind you, if the question is, oh, preacher, then how do I get from because we're all born into this world under the category of the wicked. We're all born in this world sinners. We're all going that direction until there's something that comes to our lives called conversion to return. Well, how do I get there? You trust in Jesus Christ. His life perfectly lived, His death dying in your place, bearing in His body our sin when He hung on Calvary's tree. Hanging there, satisfying God's justice, because God is a holy God. He has an inflexible justice. It will not be compromised. It cannot be nuanced. It cannot be changed. And Jesus said, I will take your wrath upon me. And he does that. He satisfies divine justice by his suffering and death in the place of everyone who will repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior. And when that happens, you are what the Bible calls justified. And one way to remember that is you are treated just as if I'd never sinned. Just as if I'd never sinned, justified. And when you're justified, you're declared righteous. You put on the righteousness of Christ. And so God sees you through the lenses of Christ's perfection, of Christ's righteousness. Otherwise, you live life determined, as one woman told me decades ago, that made me shiver. She said, well, I'm willing to take my chance with God. I said, I'm not. She said, I think he knows what I deserve. I said, he absolutely does. And I do not want what I deserve. I want grace. I want mercy. And it's only found in trusting in Jesus Christ. Well, how do you know anybody can say that? You could teach a parent to say, I believe in Jesus. You could do that. Somebody probably has. How do you know? The Lord loves the way of the righteous. It's how you live. It's how you behave. It's how you grow more and more like him. It's how you come to hate your own sin more and more. And you love his law more and more. You discover his law is not restrictive. It's not a yoke to be cast off. I told you we drove in Colorado for the first time years ago. In fact, the funny thing is we got married 45 years ago yesterday on a Saturday. And so on that Sunday, we went and spent the night at a little hotel, took off on Sunday on a honeymoon to Colorado. I was so excited. We heard an ad on the radio from Safari something in Dallas. Driving through Dallas. Had a little Ford Pinto. No air conditioner. Hot as blazes. June 16th. Had to keep the windows rolled down and up, down and up. They said, it's Father's Day. Husbands and fathers get in Safari whatever free. I'm a brand new husband. We're going in for half price. So we found this place. Wasn't on the schedule. Delayed us. Of course, you're getting this thing. You can't keep your windows down. There's lions roaming around. So we're driving through this just about to burn up. Deep down, I was still trying to grin. I got in free because I'm a husband. Colorado, we got there finally. And I was terrified. There were no rails. You're driving on one side, looking straight up a cliff. I felt safe enough unless a rock fell. Then you make a turn or two, next thing you know, you're looking down a ravine. No rails. I thought if I swerved, we wouldn't stop falling until we got back to Texas, probably. See, I did not think, driving along, man, these rails, they're so constricting. I feel hemmed in. I can't express my freedom. No, I desperately wanted rails. That's what the law of God is to a believer, by the way. Guides you. Keeps you in what the psalmist says in 23, the wagon tracks of righteousness. Dads. husbands. There are strange winds blowing in the Southern Baptist Convention. There are race hustlers who are backing off men that I know, good men. They have been strong men, and they're caving. Beth Moore has caused them to put their tail between their legs. It's the strangest thing I've ever seen. And while I have breath, while I have my mind, some of you are going to say, too late, preacher, but that's not kind. I will speak for biblical manhood. Loving, caring, nurturing, Christ-like, tenacious manhood. As Jesus said, and I close with this, have you not read that in the beginning he made them male and female? Genesis is not archaic. If it is, then Jesus Christ is archaic. I'll have more to say on this when we find the time to report somehow on the convention. But today, I want to challenge you, and I thank God for you. I don't think there's a man in here that could be described as a soft male from First Corinthians. I don't challenge you. We got a man up. We'll be looking at First Corinthians 16 soon. King James says, quit you like men, be strong. ESV, I think, says act like men. We'll be hitting this again in a couple of weeks. But I appeal to you, love your wives, because Christ loves the church. Because there are voices out there trying to convince women that a husband, by nature of his position, is oppressive. Love your children, your grandchildren. My grandchildren, your grandchildren, the great-grandchildren are going to grow up in a very different America. A very different America. I've said this in the past, and I believe it, but I believe it more than I ever have. You look around at the young ones, the ones we want to see come to Christ. Unless God moves upon this nation, we are raising a generation of martyrs. Martyrs. Let's pray. Dear Holy Father, we bow before you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we thank you for goodness and mercy. We read this psalm and we know it challenges us to be blessed men, biblical men. We know also that it describes to a T, our Savior, Jesus Christ, that he is the consummate man. He did not counsel with the wicked. He did not stand with sinners except to call them to repent. And he certainly never got comfortable with sin. So I pray for the sake of Jesus' name, for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ who bears his name, for men whom you've called to lead your churches, help us to be Psalm 1 men. and use us to advance your glory, your kingdom, your cause, your gospel. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.