Welcome to our third lesson in the book of Psalm. The first Psalm, I might add. And I've entitled it, Will You Stand in the Day of Trouble? And I want that question to rest on your mind. I want it to sit there like an itch that you can't scratch. It should always be bothering you. You should always be looking or thinking of that day. You say, well, I'm saved, and I have no worries. You should always be thinking of standing before Christ, always. Everybody, saved and lost, stand before Christ. Everybody is accountable as we've discussed before. Let's look at a couple of slides from our last lesson just to put us in the right frame of mind. However, the believer was associated or is associated with the Tree of Life, and this motif runs from the first chapter of Genesis, but specifically addressing the Tree of Life from the second chapter of Genesis all the way to the last chapter of Revelation. It is in the background of every page of the scripture, this idea of the tree, and this contrast between the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. And there's this tension in us, who are lost, and we're all born lost, so that's everybody. There's this tension within us to have knowledge, and more knowledge, and more knowledge, and more knowledge. Because we think that knowledge will give us power, will give us control. But our knowledge is incomplete, as we've discussed many times throughout our study of Daniel. And if you've not listened to any of our lessons in Daniel, I would invite you to do that. Where we look at some of these elements in great detail, especially as applies to last times, But without running down the rabbit hole like so many tend to do, and wanting to name names, and provide dates, and all this nonsense that Christ says, not only is it a waste of time, but it's impossible because the Father hasn't even told Him, and therefore He's definitely not going to tell you. And besides, there is no first place. There is no prize for guessing, number one, ever is there a prize for guessing. But there's never a prize for guessing about that because God already knows. He has set that time. It will come when it's supposed to. Not a moment earlier, not a moment later. Back at two, two and three, it will come when it's supposed to. Remember in the garden, though, in Genesis chapter three, that man chose knowledge without God over life. Man, Adam, he did this. It was a conscious decision on his part. Woman, not so much. She was tricked. But it forever asundered him from that tree of life. So we have this dichotomy and once again we see this duality tension. We have the trees, tree of knowledge, parents without God, and tree of life, parents with God. Now inherent with tree of life with God comes knowledge provided by God. And as God so deftly and tactlessly, plainly, bluntly pointed out, that if you choose knowledge without God, that's death. Dying, you shall die, is what it says in the Hebrew. You kind of have to ignore the English there. They tend to ignore the subtleties of what the Hebrew is actually saying. You don't die immediately physically, but you are in the process of always dying. We call it aging. And then at some point, you do die. Your soul is separated from the body. Well, that's one aspect. But the soul died, was separated from God immediately. And everybody who was born from man and woman, which is all of us, was born separated from God, conceived in iniquity, conceived in sin with the fallen nature. Thus God proffered wisdom as a tree of life to those who would lay hold of her. Now wisdom is this metaphoric feminine ideal. It's not philosophy. It's not knowledge per se. It is wisdom. It's how you discipline yourself and what you learn, your knowledge, how you discipline it to be in line with God. That is wisdom. It's not about knowledge and how much knowledge you can acquire, because you can never have enough. Because there will always be things you cannot know. because we're finite and God is infinite and he created everything, so it is never gonna be possible for us to know all that the infinite God has done. We'll always have severe gaps in our knowledge. So you'll always have unintended consequences, you'll always have negative side effects, you'll always be having issues. But God, through Christ, has offered up salvation. This wisdom, this discipline, in fact, self-control, is a fruit of the Spirit. And it demonstrates the truth of your own salvation. Are you under the self-control of the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit disciplining your mind? Is He disciplining your emotions? Is He disciplining and guiding you even when you can't see around the bend? Are you following in faith and trust. See, the tree of life is beside the river of life, flowing from Christ's throne in the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22. We get access to the tree of life again. And they say freely partake of the fruits for eternity. But the lost are associated with chaff, grass of death, Grass is wild. A tree is cultivated to produce fruit. Christ used that metaphor consistently throughout his ministry. But the grasses, the grains, they provide nutrition, but like the sweetness and goodness of salvation. And remember how they planted in those days. They broadcast, they just scattered it. And one of Christ's most well-known parables is the parable of the sower. And some of the seed fell on thorns, some fell on rocky soil, some fell on good soil, so on and so forth as they just threw the grain out there. It sprouted and it grew. And in its early phases, you can't tell the wheat from the weeds, from the tares. Christ discussed how the field grasses were even above Solomon in his regal garb. But remember Solomon got lost in his own self-importance and led Israel into idolatry, and it nearly cost him eternity. Now you can't lose your salvation. But how do you know you are saved? It's by what you decide to do in the next breath, and the next breath, and the next breath, and the next breath. Your behavior, your thoughts, your words are your only clue to your spiritual condition. And you have to look at them Clearly, the hyazzo process is how God removes the scales from our eyes so that we can see ourselves as God sees us. Turning from maggots to flies, with every wart, every ugliness, everything there. We're not turned to butterflies. We are covered in Christ's righteousness as We talked about and we'll talk about again because it's never our own righteousness. It's always about Christ. And John the Baptist warned that every tree, every life that does not bear righteous fruit will face the fires of judgment. There's always that day of accountability. Always. Otherwise, There is no purpose. If you're a government and you make laws, but you do not enforce the laws, those laws have no purpose. And pretty soon your society is lawless. And those people in positions of power who are not held accountable, guess what? They quickly become lawless and corrupt. And if not brought under the same exact standards as the masses over which they exercise great control, then the masses themselves start to rebel, seeing the difference. And their lives are not producing righteous fruit. They think they're above the law, but nobody is above God. Each person is recognized by their fruit, by what they do, say, and think. It's either works of the flesh or it's the charisma of the spirit working through you. So we have this day of trouble, this day of accountability. Let's look at our two verses. by which Psalm 1 comes to a conclusion. Therefore the wicked will not stand in 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. There is this judgment time, this accountability time, See, in Romans 1, 18 through 28, when God says He lets them go, He gives them up, as it says in the King James, He lets them live and fashion and govern a world without Christ. Now they don't learn from that. We don't learn from that. It's full of degradation and violence and lies and corruption and death. And the longer we are on this planet in sin, the worse it gets. And the more technology control that we're able to exert over others, the worse we make it. Why should one seeks Christ's narrow path when nearly everyone is on the broad highway? There's a day of accountability that is coming, this day of trouble. Remember, Satan's delusion. There will be no accountability. There will be no judgment. Let's turn to Proverbs 1. Eight through 19, obviously we're not going to read all of that. I'm going to point it out because I want you to read it. But it lays the groundwork in Proverbs over the purpose of Proverbs. Hear my son your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching. You know, the biggest conflict the teens have is honoring their parents. And believe me, I know I was there, but I was lost. That's not an excuse, I'm just explaining that I understand this for both sides now. But it's there to keep you safe. Now the writer of Hebrews says, in Hebrews 13, Parents may discipline us for their good pleasure, and it may not be consistent all the time with Scripture. Deal with it. You're honoring them not for them. You're honoring them for Christ. Because through them, you're honoring Christ. Now, That doesn't mean that you stay in a place where you're being abused and being put in personal danger. And we go back to David, who was under the authority of Saul, and Saul was trying to kill him. Well, David, he didn't stay in court. He left. He hid out in the wilderness. He had two or three opportunities to kill Saul, but he would never raise his hand against him, because Saul was God's anointed. That is why David was given the kingdom. But my son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, do not go. Do not listen. to their guidance, because it is the guidance of death. Be careful that you follow your own heart, because that is a trap. You can be very sincere. You can't see. You cannot know. You rely on the guidance of others. We all do. When I'm at the head of the table in surgery and providing anesthesia, I depend on those who have more experience and skill than I do for guidance. And I will call them up and pick their brains, so to speak. Any person who doesn't do that is a fool, a simpleton, setting themselves up to fail. And if others rely upon you, you're setting them up to fail also. And that is the problem with parents, that if you do not demonstrate humility to Christ, and submission to each other, and living the scriptures, you cannot demand that your children do the same. We are all here to serve and have the mind of Christ, which is humility. But with Satan's delusion, he says there is no accountability. You're just going to plunder others. You're going to do what you want to do. But in the end, all these schemes that you devise will be successful for a time, maybe. but it's like digging a pit for your own soul. Because in this day of trouble, this day of judgment, you have to give an account. And the books of works of your life will be opened, and your life will testify against you. That is the day of accountability. And it is near. Let's turn to Nahum. Chapter 1, verse 6. Many people don't often go to the minor prophets, but you should. There's a lot of wisdom there. Who can stand before his, God's, indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire. Remember that lake of fire thing? And the rocks are broken into pieces by him. Revelation 6, rocks fall on us, hide us from the face of Him, of God. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge in Him. But with an overwhelming flood, He will make a complete end of the adversaries and will pursue His enemies into darkness. Because they are always in darkness. but they can't hide in darkness, because God sees the darkness. And what is coming at the end of this dispensation, this great tribulation, this megaslipsis, will be a replay, but over a seven-year extended time period, of Noah's cataclysm, described in Genesis 7 and 8. This is this accountability. And we see this tension in duality between the saved and the sinner, the climactic end, facing God. The saved rejects the sinner's path. to meditate in God's law. Now when we say law, we're not talking about the cultic aspects of the Mosaic Law, or the civil aspects of the Mosaic Law. That was specifically designed for Old Testament Judaism. And that ended when Christ said, it is finished. That is all done. Now, what they're doing since then, that's on them. That's something apart from God that they're doing. That's why John in Revelation calls them of the synagogue of Satan, because they are not doing God's will. Paul was turned from that path. A Jew born out of time to be a Christian, to do God's will. and was a missionary to the false Jews, the lost Jews, and many were saved, but many more were hostile and were not. And we see this tension, this between the saved and the lost. As the saved is cultivated and matured to produce this good fruit, but the lost, they grow wild producing chaff, blowing away before the wild satanic winds of changing doctrine. And remember, God gives us the idea, these gifts to the church in Ephesians 4, 11 through 14, so that we may stand and not be carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Yeah, that'd be delusions to you. And it brings us all together, because there's only one God, one Christ, one faith, one church, one baptism, one body of Christ, and one unity. And we all come to the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood in the fullness of Christ. Those who are tossed about are children. Well, children, you expect them to be tossed about. They don't know. They need to be disciplined. They need to be guided. They need to be trained. But that doesn't mean they're going to do that, because they're all sinners. And unless they're saved, And you can't force salvation on anybody. You can only present them. It's the spirit that must move upon them. And you know when they're saved when they evidence the mind of Christ, when they evidence the humility and submission of Christ. Christ submitted himself to the Father, came to earth, and then died a horrible death, willingly. Philippians 2. But we are not asking children to do that. God may tell you to do that like he told Stephen, like he told Paul. But we are to protect, we are to guide. But we are to guide in truth and honesty, being a sincere, truthful reflection of character. Because this day of accountability is coming. Parents will be accountable for how they guided their children. And children, adults or otherwise, will be held responsible for how they followed. But more than that, the saved are like children before God. When Christ had suffered the little children to come under me, he didn't just mean the little children playing around him. He was looking at his apostles and telling them, you know, I'm kind of infinite. I'm kind of eternal. I kind of know everything. And you guys are arguing over who's the best? You gotta be kidding me, right? They couldn't even grasp the comprehension of what it was they were doing. They were as children. We are all his children. fighting for a place, fighting for ourselves, fighting for a position, fighting for something. Thus, we start out wild, but God comes and cultivates us. But if you're a false Christian, you're not producing fruit, you will be cut down. It will be made known in the day of judgment, in this day of trouble. It's a day of trouble for the lost because they stand there before Him, but because they're not covered in Christ's righteousness, they will not stay standing. They will be removed to the lake of fire. When it says, who can stand, be proofed righteous, now you proof, that's an old baking term for bread, you proof your bread. Did that sourdough actually have enough leaven to raise the bread? Is it good leaven? And of course it proves it is because the bread rises appropriately over time. You proof the bread. Well, what is your life producing? You are proofing your life. Is it producing love, joy, peace, long suffering? Are you experiencing these things? But sinners, they can't humble themselves. They do not want to humble themselves before Christ. They reject His salvation sacrifice. Let's go to Psalm chapter five, verse four. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies. The Lord o'ers the bloodthirsty and deceitful person. The boastful will not stand. They have no defense. They can wax eloquent, we are made in God's image. So God lets them stand before him to give an account, to give a defense. And then he plays the record of their lives. And they wanted a world without Christ, they're going to get a world without Christ. They're going to get an eternity without Christ. But anyone who stands before God without Christ faces his wrath. Only when we're covered in Christ's righteousness. Being saved does not make you righteous. That is a prideful mindset out of the pit of hell. to keep you from being completed in Christ's image, following Christ. See, they are arrogant, and that is one of the chief characteristics of sin. So their arrogance reveals sinners who will not humble themselves. Let's go to Psalm 73, where the writer here, he acknowledges this. He sees them and he's having a little crisis of faith right here. And he starts off in verse four. They have no pangs until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek. Of course, he's talking about the lost or well-off. They're not in trouble as others are. They are not stricken like the masses of mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace and violence covers them as a garment. They scoff and speak with malice. Loftily, they threaten opposition. They set their mouths against the heaven and their tongues strut through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to him and find no fault in them." And they say, how could God know? He ain't here. He ain't in heaven. If he exists at all. He ain't never going to know. And here is a believer who's struggling. Who's struggling in this life. Who sees the evil prospering. who sees people who claim to be followers of God clinging to these people that are obviously sinners and not following God. And he says, all day long, I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. But he says, if I had spoken this, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. I would have been uttering lies. How did he understand this? He couldn't until he went into the temple and meditated on God's word. Then he understood their end. Truly, you set them in slippery places and you make them fall to ruin, how they are destroyed in a moment and swept away utterly by terrors, like a dream when one awakens. Oh Lord, when you arouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms, dark visions. My soul was embittered. I was pricked in heart. I too was returning to being brutish and ignorant. But God called him back. He repented. See, the lost do not fear God. They fashion their own worldview of lies and death. Of course, John 8, 44, Satan is their father. He's a liar and murderer from the beginning. In Romans 3, 10 through 18, I would encourage everyone to memorize this passage. In the King James it flows very well, making it easier to memorize. As it is written, none is righteous, no not one, no one understands, no one seeks God, all have turned aside, together they are worthless, no one does good, not even one. And it talks about the throat is an open grave, their tongues deceive, the poison of acid is under the lips, their mouth is full of curses and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, they spread ruin and misery in the way of peace they do not know, there is no fear of God before their eyes. You talk to them about the day of judgment and they laugh, they scoff, it ain't never happening. But as we saw in Psalm 73, like a terror, it will come upon them in an instant. In Luke 16, when you turn to Lazarus and the rich man, and the rich man opened up his eyes in hell, in torment, then his horror came upon him. But then it's too late. You can't do anything from there. See, the lost will have no part of God's new Jerusalem with the righteous. None. Revelation 21 and 22 are quite clear on this. Without are the sinners, the dogs as they're called, because they're animals. They rejected the opportunity to be as men, to be as people, to be saved. They became as brute beasts. And their behaviors demonstrated that. The saved give an account, and they will. We will all stand before Christ and give an account. The lost do it at the white throne. The saved do it at the Bema seat. So if you're thinking you got fire insurance and all you have to do is whip off an I forgive, forgive me please every so often to cover those things that you do, you're gonna get shocked. Now, if you're saved, you're not going to lose that. But I'm telling you, there's going to be a lot of weeping and wailing at the beaten shed, as we used to call it in earlier days, at the woodshed. That's where you got dragged out to to get you spanking so you didn't disturb everyone in the house. Then you will be comforted. See, the Sabe, we call on Christ's name for salvation based on His word properly understood because it's only and always about Christ. And we're back to the way. Notice the language here. Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. He knows the way of the righteous because it is developed from His nature. Not by works, but by Christ who carries us on this path. And we talked about that in our very first lesson. This is not our way. This is not something that we're paving and leveling out and we're building up and Christ's gonna be so proud of us because we're good, we're workmen who need not to be ashamed. Oh, you're gonna be ashamed a lot if that's your attitude, if you think that's how it's done. Because that's works and there's a lot of building on that broad highway, making it wider. But it's not, we're working for you. It is Christ who carries us. It is His finished work of salvation. It is His humility. Let's turn to Philippians 2. And I believe we're going to start in verse Three, do nothing from selfish ambition, because that's from the flesh, yet that's what we do. Or conceit, pride, arrogance, which we should know better, but that's what the flesh does. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ, though he was in the form of, he was God. But he did not count equality with God a thing to cling to. When the father said, you need to go and take on the form of flesh, and you're gonna have to die on that tree. It's not gonna be pretty, and it's not just dying on the tree, but while you're up there, I'm gonna have to punish you for their sin. I don't know about you, I can't stand before Him for my sin. In fact, none of us can. That is the whole point of the broad way. Sinners cannot stand before the Father because our sin demands punishment. If you've gotten murdered someone in your 20s, and they finally discover you in your 80s, but you've been living a life of goodness and philanthropy ever since, you're still going to jail. You have to account for that life you took. There is no, well, you've done good, you didn't kill anybody else, you get a pass. That's not how it works. their blood still cries out from the earth. Somebody has to give an account. Somebody has to go to jail. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the flesh, being found in the flesh. He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even on the starters. Therefore God highly exalted him and bestowed him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. That's those in Sheol, or Hades, under the earth. Every tongue shall confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Every. But after death, that doesn't buy you salvation. You're just acknowledging what you should already have known, but refuse to know. Romans 1, 18 through 28. You refused to know God. You did not want a world with God or with Christ. You wanted a world without Him. You were in the process of making a world without Him, and now you have an eternity without Him. And this is the second death. And you'll spend that not in a form of repentance for all eternity that nobody can hear, but you will spend it with the same lost, arrogant, prideful mindset cursing God for why you're there, and cursing everyone who ever gave you the gospel, everyone who ever tried to set you on the path, whether it be parents, pastors, teachers, even your own conscience. That is the mindset of the lost. This is the second death. God rejects that path of sinners. They seek to do it their way, like the song, based on their rightness, which is not rightness, but evil, apart from God, though it seems good to them. Why would you do this? Because that's what sin does. That is the mindset of sin. You think you're being reasonable. You think you're being quote unquote logical. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. The haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. You cannot, of your own volition, give up your sinful ways. I know there's a lot of people who say, free will, I get to choose. Sad to say, the Bible doesn't say that. You say that. It is God who must come and save you. See, that's arrogance. There's a lot of people who are saved who believe that lie. Some are well-meaning, well-intended, but it's still a lie, it's still prideful. But this is the total mindset of the lost. It's always and only about them. The lost reject Christ, but the saved seize God's hand in Christ and marvel at his salvation. The day of the Lord for them is a day of life. Is it life for you? I said a prayer. I remember. I was 14. I said that prayer. I didn't live it. And I'm referring to myself. And it wasn't until I was 27, thereabouts, when I literally was saved. Before that, I go to church time to time. I saved the Bible from time to time. I teach others about the Bible from time to time. But I wasn't saved. My life didn't evidence any fruit of salvation. It was always about me. It was always about doing what I wanted to do. I was justifying myself. I was trying to make a shelter so that I could stand in the day of judgment. But God blew that shelter away like a bomb hit it, poof, and I was exposed. And in that moment, I understood that I was lost and what that meant. Have I struggled since? Yep. Have I reached maturity in Christ? Nope, no more than Paul. 1 Corinthians 13, 12, he says, I see us through an enigma. I'm struggling to know, but I'm still struggling. And that's what we all do. But God carries us. But the lost, they don't struggle. Well, they struggle in other things, but they don't struggle with their relationship with Christ. They want a world without Christ. They think there will be peace and happiness and sunshine. It is degradation. It is violence. It is slavery. It is control. And then they have to be accountable to God, and they cannot stand. And there is no place for them in the new eternity. Their congregation is gonna be in the lake of fire, and it's not going to be a party. You are in a dark, Flaming, fiery inside a building and stuff, or even in a forest is dark. If you've never been in a fire, around a fire, not from the outside, but I mean around it, where it's around you, it is dark. It's not giving you light, it's giving you smoke, it's giving you poisonous gases, it's giving you heat, it's threatening, it burns you. It's accurate to breathe. you will see no one else. You will hear everyone cursing and screaming and it'd be a symphony of moaning and crying and cursing of God in each other. But you'd be in chains, hand and foot, in the form of the worm, the dragon, Satan, and he's gonna be right there with you, and he's not in control. Trust me, this is not his kingdom. And he'll be howling loudest of all. This is what it means when it says, the way of the wicked will perish. What path are you on? What path do you think you're on? And what path are you on? So we come back to where we started in this psalm, talking about the path, talking about the difference between the saved and the lost. We start off with you making decisions, because we're all accountable for what we think, say, and do. All of us. You sit down and read the Bible, it doesn't make any sense to you, and it won't unless the Spirit illuminates you, because it makes no sense to the lost. They throw it away. They make their own philosophy. But that doesn't relieve you of responsibility, buddy. You are still accountable. But then it goes to, God has planted you. He doesn't so much plant the lost as plucks them out and turns some of them into trees. But in the end, it's about accountability. You should always be thinking about accountability. What you're going to do, do you want that accountability? Now I guarantee you, in the heat of passion, in the heat of arrogance, and even in the cold blood, it's a sin. You think you got this. Trust me. God sees everything. You got nothing. Like the wealthy, rich elites in Psalm 73, you speak against the heavens because you think you will never be accountable to God. Everybody dies. Everybody faces that accountability. Everybody. Thank you.