Well, it's certainly a joy to be with you and to spend these days with you. They've been very full days, very rich days, overflowing with much blessing from the Lord. And when I will leave later today, I will go with much wind in my sail from this time having been with you. I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Psalms, to the first Psalm, to Psalm one. focus of our study this morning will be upon this first and initial Psalm. I want to begin by reading this Psalm, setting it before you, and we'll spend our time today more carefully considering it, looking at it and considering its implications for our lives. I want to begin now by reading Psalm one. This is the inspired, the inerrant, In the infallible word of the living God. It begins, how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law, he meditates day and night. It will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf, it does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous. But the way of the wicked. Will perish. And this time we have laid before us two different people on two different paths. Living two different lives. headed to two different destinies, and the contrast could not be any more stark. One is blessed. The other is cursed. One is like a tree. The other is like chaff. One is fruitful. The other is barren. One is planted by streams of water. And the other merely exists in a dry and barren desert. Here are the two kinds of people that are present in the world. In all of the world, there are not three or four different kinds of people, not 10 or 20 different categories of people. As God sees the human race, there are in reality only two kinds of people. Of course, we see people with different labels and place them within different categories. We see rich and poor, Republicans and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, athletes and non-athletes, Americans and foreigners. educated and uneducated. And so it goes. But not God and not through the lens of someone. In reality, there are only those who are the blessed and those who are the curse. This psalm, Psalm 1, is intentionally placed number one in the lead position out of all 150 psalms. It is strategically placed number one. It was not the first psalm to be written. The psalms, as they appear in our Bibles, were not written in this same order. The first psalm to be written was Psalm 90. some 400 years before writing Psalm 1. The last psalm to be written was Psalm 126, almost a thousand years after the first psalm was written, Psalm 90. The compilers of the Psalter placed each Psalm in a particular place and in a particular order according to design. And Psalm 1 intentionally stands first so that every time you open the book of Psalms, you are immediately confronted with this message, this contrasting message that there are those who are blessed and there are those who are cursed. And as you come into the temple of the Psalms in order to worship God, the psalmist is most aware that not everyone who is in a public gathering of worship is actually in a favorable relationship with God. that in the gathering of people together in the public worship of God, there will be a mixed gathering, a mixed assembly. And there will be those who are the blessed and there will be those who are a part of the worship service who are the cursed. In fact, Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 stand together. I'll show you just very briefly a literary device that is called inclusion. Psalm 1, verse 1 begins, How blessed is the man. Psalm 2, verse 12, which is the end of Psalm 2, concludes with virtually the same language. How blessed are all who take refuge in the Lord. These are like bookends that bracket the first and the second Psalm together, and they are intentionally evangelistic. such that every time one would come into a public house of worship, there would be the recognition of a careful discrimination by God, that God recognizes the blessed and there are those who are the cursed. Psalm 1 makes the contrast between the two. Psalm 2 follows up and gives more expression and description of the one who is the wicked. And then at the end of the psalm, calls the wicked to kiss the sun and to show him homage. It is an evangelistic call and appeal in the public gathering of the people of God for those who are religious, but lost to commit themselves to the son of God. That is what is going on. So Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 are in reality like gatekeepers, doorkeepers, ushers, if you will, as you come into the sanctuary of God, these two gatekeepers are testifying to the two roads of life. So we looked at this psalm. It it easily divides into two halves. In verses one through three, I want you to know the blessed man, the blessed woman. And in verses four through six, I want you to know the cursed man or the cursed woman. Let's begin where the psalm begins. By looking at the blessed one, the blessed person, this song begins by pronouncing the supreme blessedness that belongs to true believers. There are four things he will tell us in these three verses about the true believer. Number one. He is satisfied in the Lord. Note how this begins. How blessed is the man? Could any book start more positive than this? Could any piece of literature recorded by human hand have a more pronounced, positive message than how this book begins? And this is exactly how Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, verse three, Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are those who are persecuted. What what Jesus did was in reality was to take this evangelistic psalm and amplify it into the Sermon on the Mount, which was the greatest sermon that has ever been preached. But this begins by stating that the blessed man is satisfied in the Lord. This word blessed, how blessed is the man, is a Hebrew word that refers to deep-seated joy. an internal, supernatural contentment, to be supernaturally happy, to be fully blissful, to be genuinely satisfied. You see, salvation is more than just paperwork in heaven. It's more than just having the righteousness of Christ being being imputed to your account in heaven, whereby you are now made righteous before God. That is true. But there is also a work that God does down in the heart, down in the soul as well. And it begins with regeneration and it begins with the new birth. But God also pours out into the soul of the believer something that the world can never give nor never offer. And it is a genuine happiness and joyfulness of heart. In other words, once we commit our life to Jesus Christ, we're not just biting a bullet here upon the earth and just enduring religion until one day we can get to heaven and then the joy will start. No, the very moment one is born again and birthed into the kingdom of heaven, heaven comes down and the Lord Jesus Christ comes and reigns inside of that heart. And Jesus said in John 15, verse 11, These things I have spoken unto you, that my joy might be in you and that your joy might be made full. There is a total transformation from the inside out and where we were once empty and void, now the joy of Jesus Christ. is ours, the burden of sin has been has been rolled off. And there is now this indescribable joy, joy, unspeakable and full of glory. Sometimes people talk about, oh, how hard it is to be a Christian. What's hard about this? How blessed is the man? That's the devil's lie. If you give your life to Christ, you're going to be miserable. No, if you'll give your life to Christ, you will know joy, the height and depth and the breadth and the length of it. If I had 10,000 lives, I'd give every one of them to Jesus Christ because he does what the world cannot do. He gives supernatural joy. That's where this starts. There's so much more I would love to say about this, but I must bring to your attention this word blessed one more time. In the original Hebrew, when the psalmist wrote this, he wrote the word blessed twice. Blessed, blessed. And in Hebrew, that is raising it into a plural intensive, meaning this is talking about the multiplicity of blessing. The overflow of blessing, our hearts cannot even contain the fullness of what the Lord has put within us. It speaks of abundant blessing. It speaks of the riches of blessing. And this could easily be translated, oh, the blessednesses of the man. Don't think God is just measuring out joy with an eyedropper into your heart. and just giving you a few little drops here and there, and just hoping you can hang in there and tell heaven. No, He has opened the windows of heaven already, and He has poured out the fullness of His joy into our hearts. And this is exactly how this psalm begins, how blessed is the man. And by the way, This is intended to be very emphatic, meaning this man and no other man is blessed. The exclusivity of blessedness that comes to this man that no one else knows, the blessedness that comes to this woman that no one else perhaps in her family knows, no one else in her neighborhood knows. But she uniquely knows because she knows the Lord. How blessed is the man. So, first of all, he is satisfied in the Lord. And I want to ask you this morning, do you know this blessedness? Do you know this supernatural happiness? Do you know the very word happiness in a sense? is dependent upon your happenings or your happenstance. And if your circumstances are good, you're happy. And if your circumstances are down, you're unhappy. If your football team wins, you're excited. When they lose, you're depressed. This is a happiness that the world can give. It's temporal. It's passing. It's like cotton candy. It's just it evaporates in your mouth. It melts away. The moment you have it. But joy is different. Joy is not dependent upon circumstances, joy is not dependent upon my happenstance that is around me. In fact, you could find yourself in a Roman prison cell chained to the Praetorian guard and write rejoice in the Lord always again, I say. Rejoice, this blessed man, this blessed woman is satisfied in the Lord. I trust that you can live on a higher level than just the circumstances of this world. I pray that you're living above the circumstances and that your joy is not dependent upon the roller coaster ride of the things of this world, that you're up and down and all around, but that there is a transcendent, supernatural, heaven wrought joy that rises above the circumstances of life. This is where this psalm begins. Number one, he is satisfied in the Lord. Number two, he is separated from the world, satisfied in the Lord, separated from the world. Notice how Psalm 1 continues in his description of this blessed man who does not. And when he says the word not, there will be three consecutive negatives, not, nor and nor. Do you see that? So there is a positive negative. And these three negatives are positive. And they say that the blessed man who will know joy must be separated from these three aspects of the world. Now, let me just tell you at the outset, you and I are to be in the world. We're just not to be of the world. Our boat is to be in the water. There's just not to be any water in the boat. And we're not to be like some Christians who want to just withdraw from the world and live in some kind of a holy huddle and almost as if it's a commune, which is close to becoming a cult. No, we are to penetrate the world. We are to invade the world. And we are to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're to be rubbing shoulders with tax collectors and even harlots who were drawn to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to be out there in the world. But as we're in the world, there must be a separation from the world. We're not to be isolated. We are to be insulated from the world. Now, three things he tells us. Number one, the blessed man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. This is referring to worldly beliefs. This blessed man may make this more personal. You. if you are to be one who experiences the fullness of the blessedness of God. And let's face it, some people are far more joyful in their Christian life than others. Some Christians look like an advance agent for The Undertaker, you know. And other Christians just seem to have a smile on their face. If you want to be blessed by God, With internal joy and peace, he says, you and I must not walk in the counsel of the wicked. We must put our fingers in our ears and refuse ungodly counsel. We must reject worldly wisdom. We must see through the stinking thinking of this world. And the battle of the Christian life begins for the battle of the Christian mind. And your mind is a battlefield. And the world is encroaching into the battlefield of your mind. And you must put up your defenses. And the devil is prowling about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. And he is the father of lies. He is a liar and the father of all lies. And he is wanting to perpetrate his lies into your mind. And the psalmist says that the man, the woman who would be blessed must not, must not, must not walk in the counsel of the wicked. It is the naive simpleton in the book of Proverbs who just throws his mind open to everything. Only a fool would be open minded. When you go to sleep at night, you leave the front door open, just wide open. For some parts of the country, if you just go to sleep at night and leave the door open, you're going to wake up with a zoo in your living room. That's the way some people live their Christian lives. Just because something's in print, just because something's on Christian television, just because something's on the Christian radio, they're so gullible, they're so naive. They don't see that it's the world's thinking that has been gift wrapped with Christian wrapping paper. But on the inside, it is still the poison of the world that has come perpetrating in their mind. And no wonder they're so down and desperate and discouraged. No wonder they lack joy and peace. But this blessed man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. I hope you're narrow minded. I don't want to be any broader than the truth. And I don't want to be any more narrow than the truth, either. There's no virtue in either direction. You just want to be anchored where the truth is. Second, he says, nor stand in the path of sinners. He moves from worldly beliefs to worldly behavior. He moves from counsel to paths. And he says the one who would be blessed by God. Refuses worldly activities that violate God's word and that contradict God's character, a path indicates the direction of one's life. It represents where the rubber meets the road, where the foot is on the path of life. It represents the activities of one's life. And there are certain activities that are unlawful for a Christian. And then third, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. This refers to worldly belongings. worldly associations with those who are mockers and scoffers of holy things. The one who would be blessed while in the world must not succumb to worldly beliefs and worldly behavior and worldly belongings. The blessed man, the blessed woman refuses to adopt their standards, refuses to buy into their worldview, refuses to follow their path, to go their direction, refuses to participate in their revelry, refuses to attend their brawls, refuses to identify with their causes, to laugh at their vulgarity, to be entertained by their lewdness, to associate with their agenda. The blessed one separates himself from what they stand for. This blessed man does not abuse his Christian liberties and push the limits of his freedom in Christ. And this blessed man does not presume upon grace nor cross the line or want to live in such a way as to color outside the box. This blessed man understands that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So he guards what counsel and what belief systems he allows into his head. Listen, this blessed man understands that bad company corrupts good morals. This blessed man understands that if you lie down with dogs, you're going to wake up with fleas. This blessed man understands that you cannot take a fire into your bosom and be not burned. This blessed man understands garbage in, garbage out. This blessed man understands that he will soon become like what he reads, what he is entertained by, what he listens to, and what he watches. This blessed man understands what the Apostle John would write later, do not love the world, referring to the evil world system that is anti God and anti Christ. Do not love the world. I've studied this in the original language. You know what it means? Do not love the world. It means what it says and says what it means. Second Corinthians 614, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Can light have fellowship with darkness? Can Christ have fellowship with Belial? These are rhetorical questions. Any thinking person who has two brain cells that are touching somewhere between their ears knows the answer. Light and darkness have nothing in common. There can be no fellowship. And Christ and the devil have no point of reference. The psalmist is very straight talking. And he says the blessed man is satisfied in the Lord. He is separated from the world. Third, he is saturated with the word. This is the heads and tails of the same coin. The psalmist is a master teacher. Good teachers use good pedagogy and they speak with negative denial, positive assertion. Here is what you must avoid. Here is what you must embrace. And when you speak in such a way with negative denial, positive assertion, there is no room for misunderstanding and there is no wiggle room for anything to slip through the cracks. And so in verse one, he gives the negative denial, in fact, a threefold negative denial. Now, in verses two and three, he gives the positive assertion. But, he begins verse two, sharp contrast, total antithesis. But his delight lies in a totally different area. His delight is based on something else. His heart, his mind, his affections, his hungers, his appetite, his craving. is in a totally different area than the counsel of the wicked or the path of sinners or the seat of scoffers. His delight is in the law of the Lord. Please note, the verb is present tense, continual state, not once was not will be. But every time this is picked up, it is to be a habitual present, true of our lives, every moment of every day, 24-7, not just on Sunday, but Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, throughout the week. His delight is, it is to be always in this state of delight, is in the law of the Lord. The law of the Lord here refers to the written word of God. It refers to the Scripture. Every portion, every precept, every promise, every prophecy, is his hunger and is his delight. And of course, it is because in the new birth, God takes out the heart of stone. He puts in a heart of flesh, Ezekiel 36, and he writes God's word upon the tablet of the heart and puts his spirit within that heart and then causes that one to keep the commandments. It's an inside job. And everyone who is born again is given a new appetite and a new hunger. And it is a delight in the word of God. And not only a delight in it, but notice he goes on to say, and in his law, he meditates day and night. It's not just that his heart longs for it, but his head meditates upon it. And to meditate means reflective thinking and continual pondering, that you're replaying something in your mind over and over and over again. It's where your mind runs to. It is the dominant thoughts of your mind. It's like a cow chewing its cud and just chewing on it throughout the day and pulling all the juice out of it to internalize it. Paul would say, set your mind on things above and not on things of this earth. And if you're meditating on television or movies or a relationship or a hobby or your body or a house or a career, if that's where your mind is continually running to, is it any wonder that your joy factor and your happiness is is sinking? But if you will delight in the law of the Lord and if you will meditate on his law day and night, your experience of the blessedness of God will be rising. Also note, he says day and night in his law, he meditates day and night. That means all day, every day. Every waking moment, habitual lifestyle, daily pattern, ongoing experience, constant focus. And please note here in verse two, we see the primacy and centrality of the word of God in this person's life. It's not his emotional experience, it's not some mystical experience. But here is the place of the Scripture, the objective, written, canonized Scripture. It is sweeter than honey and more valuable than gold and silver in the one who is blessed. But not only is he saturated with the word, he is supplied by the Lord. Note in verse three, he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. He will be rooted and grounded in that which is like streams of water. This is metaphorical language. The psalmist is using a figure of speech to communicate to us that if you will delight in the law and meditate in the law, if you will be separated from worldly counsel, you will be like a tree planted by streams of water. Now, think with me for a moment. That means this tree did not start there. This tree had to be planted. This tree had to be transplanted. This tree started somewhere else, and by implication, it started a long ways away from streams of water. This tree started by analogy in a barren, dry desert. This tree was once dying on the vine, if you will, no foliage, no fruit, no growth, death. And then someone came along and uprooted this plant, this tree, and moved it someplace else by streams of water and planted it there. You know what this is a picture of? This is a picture of the miracle of regeneration, the miracle of the new birth. You see, when you and I were born into this world, we were born separated from God. We were born dead in our trespasses and sin. We were born strangers and aliens from the grace of God. But by sovereign grace, by a monergistic regeneration, Trees don't move themselves. Trees do not transplant themselves. And the imagery here is of the invisible hands of a sovereign God uprooting you from your dead existence as a barren bush. and planting you now in a new place, right by streams of water, so that you set down deep roots and you now have an underground reservoir from which to draw. And in days of drought, when everything else around you is dying, when everyone else around you is dying, you are thriving. Because though it is barren in the region, you are planted by streams of water. And please note the plural streams. of water. There's more water for this little tree than this tree will ever be able to take in and ever be able to draw up and will ever be able to convert into sap and will ever be used to produce leaves and fruit. There is a super abundance of grace, grace upon grace, the multiplying of grace. The all sufficiency of the grace of God, not just saving grace, but sustaining grace and strengthening grace and serving grace. All of this, like streams of water, life giving grace, living water. That's where you and I live. That's your address. That is your street address. You, sir, you, ma'am, if you know the Lord, you have been planted by streams of water and just as natural as it is for a little baby to draw milk from his mother's breast. So it is supernatural for you and for me. to draw up this water out of the Word of God that is transformed in our lives and gives to us all that we need. Here is the sufficiency of the Scripture. Here is the sufficiency of the Spirit. Here is the sufficiency of the Savior, that you may be like a tree, thriving, Not just surviving. Now, continue to read. I want you to know it keeps getting better. Which yields its fruit in its season. This blessed man is so watered by these streams that are gushing by him that his life can only be described as prolific. There is no explanation. for what is happening in this life, except God is giving a greater grace. Year around, in season, out of season, it bears fruit, while others all around are dying on the vine. This tree is fruitful. And there is the fruit of the Spirit. And there is the fruit of Christ's likeness. And there is fruitful ministry. And it's as if every aspect of his life has this element of God's grace surging into the life and its leaf, he says, does not wither. The spiritual life remains vibrant and green and lush and healthy and beautiful. There are no changing seasons. Just always bearing leaves in good times and in bad times, on the mountaintop and in the valley, in prosperity and in adversity. Constantly. Bearing leaves and producing fruit because of these rivers of grace. And finally, he says in whatever he does, that means across the board at work, at home, travel, worship, church, recreation, wherever he is in whatever he does. Please know what it says. He prospers. Now, this is not a prosperity gospel. The prosperity here is of the soul and of the heart. And yet in the goodness of God, He does provide for us all that we need for our earthly life, even physically as well. He clothes the birds of the field. How much more so does He care for you and me? But He prospers in His heart and in His soul where it really matters and where it really counts. His life does not dry up in days of drought. Instead, he or she, let me make it more personal, you grow taller, bear fruit, spread your branches, maintain your leaves. And the whole key is for you to set your roots down deeper and deeper and deeper in the law of the Lord. And for you to be separated from this nonsense out in the world and for you to be absorbed in the goodness of God. Before I move on, I must ask you this question. Does this describe your life? And I'm not asking this in a way like you have to be living at some level of perfection, that's not the point of my question, it's not to put you back on your heels. But it is to simply call you to audit your heart and your life. Does this describe your soul this morning? Do you see an increasing separation from the world? Do you see an increasing delight in His law? Have you been transplanted from a very barren place and placed into the fullness of his grace, this is the blessed man. Only very quickly, because my time is entirely gone, this may become a series. I want you to note. Thank you for laughing. Just very quickly, the cursed man. I'm glad we spent more time on the blessed man. But I would be less than faithful to you this morning and less than faithful to God than to not mention the cursed man, because this is the polar opposite. This is the complete antithesis and there are no shades of gray in the middle. It is they are juxtaposition. They are extreme opposites. Though they may sit in the same worship service, though they may live in the same house, though they may have a hand-holding relationship, though they may work in the same office together, though they may play on the same team together, nevertheless, their soul, what's on the inside, who they really are, it is stark contrast. He says the wicked are not so. Literally, in the Hebrew, the wording of this is not so the wicked. Are they blessed? Not so. Are they happy? Not so. Are they successful, as God would define success? Not so. Are they fruitful? Not so. Do they bear their leaves in every season? Not so. Now, they may look successful and they may sound gregarious. And they may appear happy, but the Word of God says not so. They actually do what God forbids in verse 1. They walk in the counsel of the wicked. They stand in the path of sinners. And they sit in the seat of scoffers. But they are not so blessed. The wicked are mentioned here in verse four, the wicked are not so. They were described earlier in verse one. And I want you to know just very quickly in verse one, there is this downward spiral. There is this slippery slope that the wicked, he puts his foot on this slippery slope and he just starts out by entertaining the counsel of the wicked and it seeps into his mind. But it never stops there. It never stays there. It works its way down into the rest of the body, all the way down to the feet, from the head to the feet. And the wicked now become the center on the path of the sinful ways. But it never stops there. They continue this downward spiral until we read at the end of verse one, they now sit in the seat of scoffers with everyone else. And what we see here is they go from worldly counsel to a worldly path, now to a worldly seat. Sin goes from bad to worse in a person's life. It says they are like chaff. The blessed man is like a tree, but the wicked are like chaff. which the wind drives away. Let me just explain this. In the Middle East, an agrarian society, a farmer would sow his field for wheat. Harvest time, he goes into the field and with his sickle, he cuts down the wheat. He needs to separate the chaff from the wheat to sell the kernel in market. So if there's a high mound in his field, he builds a threshing floor and he takes all of his harvest up to the threshing floor because as the winds blow in this hot, arid desert, especially in the afternoons, it blows strongest in the highest places. And he would take what would be for us a pitching fork and throw it into the wheat and throw it up into the air, and as the wind blows, the heavy kernels fall straight down, but the light chaff, it's just so basically useless. The wind just blows it away, and what remains is the kernel of the wheat, and he can gather it up. That's valuable. He can take it to market and sell it for a profit. The cursed man is like this chaff. He's a spiritual lightweight. There is no gravitas in his life. There is no weightiness. There is no gravity. There is no anchor for his soul. He's not tied into God. He's not tied down to the things of God. He's blown about by the winds of this day and this age. And on the last day, on the day of judgment, there's coming a separation. Right now, the wheat and the tares worship together. But there is a day coming when unsaved husbands will be blown away and separated from their saved wives and saved children. And there's coming a day when unsaved teenagers are going to be blown away by the wind and separated from a godly mother and a godly father. This day of separation is coming. And the chaff are like, Or the unbelievers are like the chap which the wind drives away. So he says in verse five, therefore, the wicked, they're mentioned in verse one, they're mentioned in verse four. Now they're mentioned a third time in verse three. The wicked will not stand in the judgment. Now, this does not mean they will not appear in the judgment. They will stand in the judgment. They just will not stand with the approval of God. They will not stand with acceptance with God. The wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. These centers were mentioned earlier in verse one. They're now mentioned again in verse five. He says in verse six. For the Lord knows. The way. Of the righteous. This means far more than he knows about because he knows about the way of the wicked as well. This word for knows means he's intimately acquainted with and intimately involved with. Lovingly, so the way. Of the righteous, but. The way. Of the wicked, the fourth time, the word. The wicked are mentioned. but the way of the wicked will, not might, not could, not should, but will perish. Suffer eternal destruction and eternal damnation in the lake of fire and brimstone as the gnashing Of teeth. The weeping forever. And ever. And ever. This song. Is placed here. To get my attention. And to get your attention. And only a fool here today would not give strictest attention. to what this psalm says. As Moses parted the Red Sea, so there will be a separation at the end of the age. Families will be separated. Nations will be separated. Churches will be separated. And the wicked will be like chaff. blown into the bowels of hell forever. But the righteous are blessed, and they know they're blessed, and they do not presume upon this blessing. And they choose not to flirt with the world, nor to tease with the counsel of the wicked. But while they're in the world. They remain insulated from the world. And delight in and meditate upon the word. Where are you today? Sir, maybe your wife has been longing for a preacher to ask you that question. Where are you today? Teenager, young person, In your twenties or thirties, maybe your parents have been longing for you to hear such a contrasting black and white sermon and for your ears to hear that probing diagnostic question, where are you today? If you were honest with yourself and you come to the realization that you're not on the way of the righteous. I want you to know today that the gates of paradise have been swung wide open. And you have an opportunity this very moment, perhaps like you will never have again, to respond to the offer of Christ and his gospel And perhaps today would be the day you would be actually transported from the barren desert in which you have been faking it and be planted at last home in grace by streams of water. The Bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and I urge you to come be the greatest decision you would ever make in your life. And you would enter into a banquet feast. And you would be blessed. And you would thrive. And you would have the Lord with you. And you would have abundance of grace surging up the roots and into your branches. And in everything you do, you would prosper. That is the offer that is extended to you. And one day it would take you home to heaven forever. And you would not perish. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for this psalm that just stands out. It sticks out. And it's so evangelistic to us. I pray that every heart here today would rightly respond to your word in Jesus name. Amen.