Turn with me, if you would, back to Psalm 1. Let's read these six verses again. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in 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, 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. I want to illustrate to you this morning, or show you this morning, the difference in the right view of scripture and the wrong view of scripture. I want us to see the difference in the true God-given message of Scripture and the false man-made message of not Scripture, religion, false religion. What I want us to see is the difference in grace and works. All right? Grace and works. God's grace. and man's works. Grace is the truth that God has given or set forth in His Word. Works is the lie that man has twisted from what God has said and brought bondage to himself because of it. Our Lord said in John 8, you shall know the truth And the truth shall make you free. We just sang free from the law, oh happy condition. I love that song. Children of God, oh glorious calling. Our Lord said you'll know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And to just go ahead and give you the punchline of the whole message, in John 14 our Lord said I am the truth. I am the truth. To see Christ in the Word is to see the truth. To see Christ in the Word is to see the truth. To not see Christ in the Word is to see a lie. And lies are damning to the soul. They are damning to the soul. I want us to really see this difference today. Eternity depends on it. Man's lie on the scripture is damning to the soul. I want to show you that in 2 Thessalonians 2. Turn with me over there. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse 3 says, let no man deceive you by any means. Let no man deceive you. For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first. A falling away from the truth. And that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. That means destruction. He's warning against the lies of false preachers and the twisted lie that they tell on God's word. He said, let no man deceive you. And in verse eight, he said, those who preach the lies and all who believe the lies are going to be destroyed. Verse eight, then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because, here's the reason why, they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. If a man or a woman is going to be saved, it will be evidenced in this way. God will give that man or woman faith to believe and love the true message of His Word. But because men and women do not naturally love and believe the true message of His Word and they don't want to hear the true message of His Word, verse 11, He said, For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Paul just declared right there what the true message of scripture is. all Scripture. Verse 13, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord. He said I'm talking to all those who were beloved, beforehand loved of the Lord. The ones that God chose to love in eternity past. Verse 13, we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. He said God chose men and women to salvation. God chose men and women to salvation. Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord said, here it is. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. He said my sovereign right as God Almighty to do what I want with who I want, that's my glory. That's my glory. I have the power to kill, I have the power to make alive. That's my glory. I am God and beside me there is none else That's my glory. Verse 13. We're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit. That's God's spirit laying hold of you and setting you apart. And he does that by giving faith to believe the truth. The end of verse 13. Through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Verse 14 says, Where unto he called you, you didn't call him. He called you. That's an important thing to take note of. He calls you, verse 14, were unto He called you by our gospel, you hear this gospel preached, which is His Word, and it opens your eyes, and it opens your heart, and it resonates with you, and you say, wow, I never saw that before, but it must be so if God said it. Where unto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true message of scripture. Okay, here it is. He did the loving. It's not that we love God. It's that he loved us. He did the loving. He did the choosing. The decision was His. I didn't make a decision for Him. He made a decision for me. He did the saving. He did the setting apart from the lies to the belief of the truth. That's what God's people are set apart from. The lie of man to the belief of Christ. He did the calling. He gave the obtaining of the glory. So in a nutshell, here is God's message of scripture, okay? He, he, he, he, he, he, and he. Not me, he. That's the message. Look at 2 Timothy chapter one. 2 Timothy one. Verse 8, Paul said, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, the gospel message of His Word, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. He said, be partaker of the preaching of this message, the believing, the preaching of this message. And he said, here it is, verse 9, Who hath saved us? and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Where unto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. He said that's what I was appointed to preach and to teach to the Gentiles. He saved us. We didn't save ourselves. We did not help him save us. He by himself purged our sins. We didn't let him save us. We were dead in trespasses and sins. He had to call us from death to life. Lazarus, come forth. Did the Lord say, Lazarus, I'm gonna give a command, but I need you to accept it first. Did he say, Lazarus, I'll call you forth, okay? if you'll let me call you forth. I would love to call you out of this tomb, but I need for you to give me your heart first. If you don't give me your heart first, then I just can't do it. I can't do anything unless you make the first move. If you'll just move a finger, just make the first move, and then, no. Lazarus, now. That's what he said. Now. What happened? That is grace. That doesn't sound like grace. Grace sounds like a sweet word. That is sovereign grace. That means now. Live now. Be free now. No condemnation now. That's God's grace. That is God's grace. Grace is not an offer. It's a command. Now. Not by man's works, but by God's grace. Look at Titus chapter three. Verse 3, For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, But according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Not by our works, but by his grace. All right, now, let's see what that looks like in rightly dividing the word, okay? From man's works to God's grace and God's truth, which is in Christ. Go with me back to Psalm 1. Let's read these six verses again. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night, all day, all 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, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. And 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. All right, now listen to this. After reading that, the lie of man's works will say. There it is. Did you read it? There it is right there. If you want to be blessed, you better not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Better not. You better watch where you're standing You better not stand where the sinners stand. You better watch out. You better stand somewhere else. You'll lose your blessing if you sit in the seat of the scornful. You better throw that chair away. If you want to be saved, you can't be an ungodly sinner. The ungodly are not going to stand in the judgment. Sinners are not going to be in the congregation of the righteous. If you want to go to heaven, you better not be one. Is that what Psalm 1 is saying? Is that the true message of Psalm 1? Here's the answer. No. No, it's not. Turn with me to Romans 3. Romans 3 verse 10 says, As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seek after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open grave with death pouring out of it, sepulchre. With their tongues they've used lies, deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of peace have they not known. There's no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law of God was never given to show us how to be justified before Him. It was not given for that reason. The law of God was given to show us that all we do is walk in the counsel of the ungodly. And you know why that's so? We are the ungodly. Look at Romans 5 verse 6. Romans 5 verse 6, it says, For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for... Do we want to believe He died for us? Do we want to believe Christ died for us? Well, who did He die for? The ungodly. Us, we are constantly walking in our own thoughts and our own opinions and our own decisions, our own counsel, constantly. Therefore, there's not a soul on this earth that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. We are the ungodly. Think about the thoughts that go through our minds, okay? There are times when I think, surely nobody is as ungodly as I am. But I know that you are all just as ungodly as I am. I know you are. It's hard to imagine, but I know you are. Even the sweetest and kindest of you, you are all ungodly, just like me. And we are constantly walking in the thoughts and the influence of this mind. Ungodly. You know, we can try to fool each other on the outside, but God looks on the heart. People try to use that as a good thing. Well, God looks on the heart. That's only a bad thing. Ungodly. Verse six, when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Verse 12, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men for all have sinned. Wherever we're standing, we're standing in the way of sinners. Wherever we're standing. If we move over there, we'll be standing in the way of sinners over there. That's all we can do. It's all that we are. Sin is not just what we do, it's what we are. Some will say, well, don't call me a sinner, I'm not a sinner. Yes, you are. 1 John 1 says, if we say we're not sinners, we're deceiving ourselves and calling God a liar. God said every man and woman standing on this earth is a sinner. It's not just what we do, it's what we are. Man at his best state is altogether sin, altogether vanity. Look at Romans 7. Verse 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. This is the apostle Paul saying that, man at his best state. Verse 18. He said, for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, nothing good. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. Verse 24, oh, wretched man that I am. In 1 Timothy 1.15, he said, I'm the greatest sinner that's ever walked the face of this earth. Every soul that's ever walked the face of this earth is an ungodly, scornful sinner. Every soul is an ungodly, scornful sinner. But one. All right? But one. One man. One blessed man walked this earth without one time ever walking in the counsel of the ungodly. Only in the counsel of God, only. One blessed man never, not one time ever, stood in the way of sinners. He knew no sin. Thank God he stood in the place of sinners, but he didn't stand in the way. of sinners. He was tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Not one time ever did he sit in the seat of the scornful. They laughed him to scorn, but he never reviled again. He never did to others what they did to him. Never. Only one man could be called by the truth of God Almighty, the blessed man. His name is Jesus Christ. He's the only man. Psalm 1 is speaking of Jesus Christ. Go back there with me to Psalm 1. He is the truth in this passage of scripture. He gets the glory for being the only man who truly obeyed the commandments of God. Let's read it one more time, okay? Let's hear Christ in this. Speaking of Christ, verse one. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in 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, 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." That's Christ. That's only speaking of Christ. That is condemning all others and giving all the glory to Christ. Now, I'm done. I'm closing. But this is the most important question of the message. If that's the case, what hope do we have? Okay. If that is only describing Christ, and only declaring the blessing, the blessed man, only declaring the blessing to go to Christ, then what hope do we have? Here's the answer. The cross of Christ. If he is so blessed, if he is so godly, if he is so sinless and he is so pure, why was he sacrificed on the cross of Calvary? It's because God made him to be the substitute of his people. Christ came here to trade places with his people. He gave them his blessedness, spiritual blessings, all spiritual blessings in him. He gave them his blessedness. He took their wretchedness. In the sin of his people, he was made to be like the chaff that the wind drives away. That's what Christ was made to be. He was made to be like chaff that the wind just drives away. He was cut off, he was cast out, and he perished. And because of that, now, Bearing His blessing, bearing His righteousness, His people have been planted like a tree by the rivers of water. They bring forth His fruit in His season. Their leaf is never gonna wither. And in Him, in His righteousness, in His worthiness, in His accomplishment, everything they do shall prosper. Because they can only do what He does, they're in Him. As he is, so are they. That's the difference in seeing man and seeing Christ in this. That is the difference. That's the difference in grace and works, the truth and the lie, bondage and freedom, death and life, condemnation and salvation. That's the difference. It all hinges on Christ. It all hinges on Christ. It all hinges on seeing Christ in it. May the Lord reveal Christ in it. Here, every page, may we see Christ in it. Amen.