There are some things in life that are black and white. Either it is or it isn't. Either you're in or you're not. So, for example, either you're a human being or you're not. There is no third category. There's no partial human being. Either you are or you're not. There's no gray area. There's no need for nuance. It's one or the other. It's black and white. Well, Psalm 1, if you will, is a black and white psalm because the psalmist draws a clear, sharp line between two kinds of people, the righteous and the wicked, and between two kinds of lifestyles, the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous, and between two kinds of fruit, blessing and curse, and two kinds of outcomes, life and death. There are no third options here. You're either in one camp or the other. We see the same sort of thing in the book of Proverbs, but also we see it in Jesus's sermon on the Mount. In that sermon, Jesus says there are two gates, two ways, two outcomes or two ends. You can enter the narrow gate that leads to life, or you can walk on the broad road that leads to destruction. There is no third option. He also says there are two types of trees that bear two types of fruit. There are good trees that bear good fruit, and there are bad trees that bear bad fruit. There are no, as D.A. Carson says, so-so trees that bear so-so fruit. There's no gray area here. There are two options, good and bad. Jesus says there are also those who build their house on the rock, which stands firm in the storm. And then there are those who build their house on the stand, and that house comes crashing down during the storm. Again, just two options. And so again, Carson says, Hard pan clay is not an option, something that withstands, say, most storms, but perhaps not all storms. No, it's black and white here. Either your house stands or it doesn't. Now, when the Bible speaks in such clear, stark, absolute terms, it is, of course, not denying the reality of sin in the life of believers, or for that matter, that the wicked do good things. Nor is it denying that the righteous suffer and the wicked can prosper. I mean, the Bible does acknowledge these things time and time again. Think of David. He was a righteous king, and yet he was in desperate need of cleansing and forgiveness and salvation from his sins. Job was a righteous man, we're told, and yet he suffered tremendously. The psalmist Asaph struggled with the fact that he saw the righteous suffering and the wicked prospering. John says that if anyone says he is without sin, then he is a liar and the truth is not in him. Yet he also says that the one born of God cannot keep on sinning. It's quite clear from scripture that apart from Lord Jesus, there are no perfect people in this present evil age. Even the most righteous among us wrestle with sin. And so we need to understand that people are complex. In some ways, things are not black and white, because we are not a finished product. The righteous aren't perfectly righteous, and the wicked are not perfectly wicked. And this means, therefore, that we shouldn't read the stark terms, the absolute terms that we find in Psalm 1 through the lens of perfection. In the same way, we should not read the Sermon on the Mount in this way. So we shouldn't think, as we read this, that unless I never ever listen to the counsel of the ungodly, and unless I always at every time delight in the law of God, and unless I always bear good fruit that therefore I can't be part of the congregation of the righteous, but I must therefore be one of the wicked, and therefore will perish along with the wicked. Now we mustn't think in those terms. That way of reading Psalm 1 would certainly lead to utter despair because we would look at our lives and say, well, we do bear some bad fruit at times. Therefore, we can't be one of the righteous that the psalmist talks about here. But that's not true at all. Because such a view fails to also understand that the law of God teaches us that the righteous are those who are in need of salvation and find salvation in Christ Jesus. The blessed man or the righteous man is therefore someone who confesses his sins and finds forgiveness and salvation in the promises of God. One who is cleansed from his sins by the Lamb of God. Again, we can take David as an example. He was a righteous man. He was part of the congregation of the righteous. And yet, of course, he was a sinner, but a sinner who was forgiven by God. Also, if we read Psalm 1 through this lens of perfection, it might lead us to think that this psalm doesn't really apply to us. It might show us our sin, and therefore our need for a savior. But we might begin to think that Psalm 1 isn't really urging us to avoid the way of the wicked and to walk along the way of the righteous and be one of the righteous. But of course, that is exactly what Psalm 1 is urging us to do. In fact, that's why Psalm 1 and Proverbs and Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount speak in such black and white terms. They want us to get the picture. God doesn't want us to get lost in nuance and complexity. He wants us to know that he does discriminate, that he distinguishes between two types of people, between those who are his people and who truly love him and those who do not. He wants us to know that he clearly distinguishes between those who are in Christ Jesus and are saved by him and those who are not. In other words, there are really people on the narrow road, and they are sharply distinguished and set apart from those who are walking on the broad road. There are clearly people who are building their house on the rock, and they are distinguished in clear terms from those who are building their house on the sand. And we don't want to get lost in nuance and complexity while everybody's a sinner and that sort of thing. No, there are two types of people, the righteous and the wicked. That's what Psalm 1 is teaching us. There is, after all, a clear difference between Cain and Abel, between King David and King Ahab. There is a difference between Peter and Judas. between Saul when he persecuted the church and then Paul after he was converted and was suffering for the church. And God through Psalm 1 is saying that we want to be one of the righteous, that we want to be on the right side of this divide. urging us to walk on that narrow road, to be the man who is blessed, to walk in the way of the righteous. One commentator says that Psalm 1 depicts the two ways tersely and in black and white because it wants to be clear regarding its message. Psalm is saying to you, nothing is so crucial as your belonging to the congregation of the righteous. Now, at this point, I think it's worth pointing out that the difference between these two types of people is not a matter of, well, you're a member of a church or you're not a member of the church. Now, obviously, if you reject the church and the people and the bride of Christ, then you are rejecting Christ, too. You are not part of the congregation of the righteous if you do that. But we do need to understand that even if you're baptized and part of the church of Jesus Christ, that does not necessarily mean that you truly love the Lord Jesus and are following him. After all, there are people who claim to be Christian, there are people who claim to be part of a congregation or a church that claims to be Christian, when in fact they're not Christian at all. And you can tell that by what they believe and by how they live their life. This is why when someone distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked, the focus might well be on distinguishing between these two types of people within the visible church. One commentator thinks that the psalmist is talking about the people of Israel, not distinguishing between Israel, God's people, and the pagan nations, those who are not God's people, but distinguishing between the wicked and the righteous within Israel. So even within the people of God, you have those who truly love God and those who don't. You have those who are building their house on the rock and those who are building their house on the sand. And if that is what Psalm 1 is addressing, then it's saying essentially what Jesus says in Matthew 7, where Jesus notes that there are false prophets. And he notes that not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is, in fact, a Christian. There are people in the church that are not true believers. And the difference will be seen in how they walk. in their lifestyle. That's what Psalm 1 and what Jesus himself says in the Sermon on the Mount. And Psalm 1 does talk about the differing lifestyles, the differing fruits of the righteous and the wicked. And here we see that the righteous, those who truly love God, are characterized by what they do not do. You can tell who a Christian is by what they don't do. Now, a professional athlete, if he wants to be successful, he will have to say no to certain things, even things that the rest of us get to enjoy. He will have to say no to certain foods. He will have to say no to skipping the gym. He will have to say no to alcohol and many other things if he wants to be a successful professional athlete. But of course, saying no isn't just for athletes. It's for all of us. If we get married, we are saying no to every other single woman out there. If we take a job, we are saying no to all the other jobs. If we take up hunting, we are saying no to other activities simply because you can't do both at the same time. And the same is true when we choose Christ, when we become a Christian. If we're going to follow him, if we're going to be married to him, We are saying no to certain things. We are denying ourselves. We are saying no to the world, the flesh, and the devil. And so in verse one, we read that the righteous man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. That's to say that the righteous man, the one who loves Jesus, He doesn't adopt the beliefs, the values, the thinking, the worldview of those who do not love God. He rejects that way of thinking, that way of looking at the world, those values of the world. He says no to them. The righteous man also doesn't stand in the way of sinners. Now, the word way here simply refers to one's lifestyle. And to stand in that way, or in that lifestyle, is to live in it. One translation puts it this way. He does not stand in the pathway with sinners. Which is simply to say, the righteous person, the one who loves Jesus, does not live like the wicked. They don't do what they do. So, for example, the wicked affirm sexual immorality, and they live in it. They practice it. They embrace it. The righteous, though, denounce that. They don't live in it. They reject that, and they have a different way of living. Again, this is not to say that the righteous never stumble in sexual immorality, never commit sexual sins. They certainly do. But the point is, is that they understand and know that it is sinful to do so. They are ashamed when they do so. And they confess their sins. And by God's grace, they get back up on their feet and continue to pursue righteousness in Jesus Christ. They don't revel in it. They don't encourage others to do it. and they don't remain in it like the wicked. They don't stand in the way of sinners. But they also, the righteous people, do not sit in the seat of scoffers. Now, sitting here conveys the idea of belonging, which is to say that you are one of them, that the wicked, they're your people, you feel comfortable with them, they are your group, you feel at home among them. And scoffers are those who are hardened in their rebellion against God, and so they mock the way of the righteous. They look at Christians and their beliefs and their values, their lifestyle, and they ridicule it. They think that Christians are oppressive and ridiculous, and that you should reject what they think and how they live. And so the righteous man, then, doesn't, as it were, change sides and join with the enemy. He doesn't look down upon God's people and mock them for what they believe and for how they live. The righteous man doesn't sit in the seat of scoffers. Now, some people see a progression here with not walking the counsel of the wicked, not standing in the way of sinners, and not sitting in the seat of scoffers. They see a progression. So first you listen to what the wicked say, and then the more you hang out with them, the more you listen to them, you surely but slowly begin to adopt what they believe and live out what they believe. Bad company corrupts good character, as Paul says. And then after that, you become one of them. You join them entirely. Alexander Pope, put it this way, vice is a monster of so frightful mean, as to be hated needs but to be seen. But seen too oft, too familiar that face, we must first endure, then pity, then embrace. Well, that kind of progression is true to life, isn't it? That if you fill your life with these sorts of things, before you know it, you become desensitized to them and you begin to embrace them and live them out. But even if the psalmist is not really making this point of progression, the main point is clear. The righteous person doesn't adopt the beliefs and practices of those who hate God. He doesn't think like them, and he does not live like them. And he does not become one of them. He stands out from them. And this, of course, is what Moses had exhorted Israel to do in Deuteronomy. He told them time and time again, don't be like the nations that surround you. Don't be like those nations that you're going in to dispossess. Don't think like a Canaanite and don't live like a Canaanite and don't worship like a Canaanite because you belong to the Lord your God who redeemed you. You are to love him and follow him and keep his word. And of course, the same is true for us today. We are not to love the world or the things in the world. John says, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. Or, as Paul says, simply in Romans 12, do not be conformed to the world. And so the righteous person is characterized by what he does not do. But that, of course, is not enough. To be against certain things is necessary, but it is not sufficient. We must also be for something, to believe something, to love someone. And the righteous man, someone tells us, delights in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. Now, the word Law here refers to all of God's word, not just his commands, but to all of it, including the promises of salvation, the promises of forgiveness, the promises of grace, to walk in newness of life. The gospel includes everything. And to delight in the law of the Lord, then, is to delight in God's word, in his instruction to us for what we are to believe and for what we are to do. And that word meditate seems to carry the idea of muttering or murmuring in an undertone. It's kind of like someone reading a book under their breath. You know, they're not reading silently, but they're actually reading the words, but very in a whisper tone. And the goal in doing this is to learn what you are reading, to impress upon your heart, so you don't forget it, but you actually imbibe it and embrace it with the goal of living it out. Golf is a tough game. It's something I've recently taken up, and I certainly enjoy it. But it is a tough game, and if you want to achieve the best score possible, it is wise to have a game plan. And part of that game plan might be something like this, that when you hit your ball in the trees, you are going to take the easy shot out. Because sometimes when you hit it in the trees, you see a narrow opening, and if you hit your ball just right, you can make it to the green, maybe even get a birdie, and score really well. But the thing is, if you miss that shot, even slightly, it could be disastrous, and you could just blow up your golf score. And so the best thing, really, if you want to have a good game of golf, is don't go for the risky shot, go for the easy shot. Just put the ball back into the fairway, and it's better to get a bogey than a triple bogey. So that's the best game plan, at least for us amateurs. And so when you play a round of golf, you want to talk to yourself. If you're in the trees, take your medicine, don't go for the risky shot, take the easy shot. You might want to say that to yourself all through your round of golf. And so when you do hit your tee shot in the trees on the 10th tee, and you get to your ball, and there you see it, there's just a narrow opening, and if you just hit it perfectly, You can get it to the green. And you always think you can do that. You're severely tempted to take that risky shot. In fact, that's what happened to me yesterday when playing golf with Sean. I was in the trees, and there it was. If I could just hit it right through, keep it low, I could get it to the green. And sure enough, I went for it, and I hit the tree, and it came back towards where I was standing. And so I lost one shot right there. And it was a blow-up hole. And I should have just taken my medicine, just punched down to the fairway and get on with it. But I didn't. I needed to say to myself over and over again, if you're in the trees, take your medicine, take the easy shot. Well, that's what we need to do with the Word of God. It's our game plan for life. We need to know it, to speak it, to imbibe it, mutter it to ourselves, especially when temptation comes our way or when we are in a difficult time, to say to ourselves, the Lord is our shepherd, I shall not fear, over and over again, so that we are encouraged and strengthened and that we're able to walk in the way of the righteous. And we do that not begrudgingly or willingly, rather we delight in God's word to us. Because the righteous man knows that God's way is always the best way. We know that it is for our good and for our benefit. It's the way of blessing in life when you follow God. The righteous man knows that at God's right hand are pleasures forevermore. The wicked though, as verse four says, are not so. They do the exact opposite of the righteous. They walk in the counsel of the wicked and stand in the way of sinners and sit in the seat of scoffers. They don't delight in the law of the Lord and they don't meditate on it day and night. And so the wicked are characterized, like the righteous, by what they don't do and by what they do. It's just the very opposite of what the righteous do. And so there are two ways of life. Which one should we take? Well, the answer, at least part of the answer is found in the fruit of each and the outcome of each lifestyle, both in this life and in the life to come. Verse 1, the righteous man we learn is blessed. He is objectively and subjectively blessed. He is happy. He enjoys objectively and subjectively a new relationship with God. He enjoys the good life. The word blessed is, in fact, plural, and so it literally says, oh, the blessednesses of the man. How completely blessed and happy is the man who is righteous and walks with God. And then verse three provides a picture, a poetic picture, of how blessed the righteous man is. 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. What a beautiful picture of a person who knows God. He lives the abundant life. The righteous man experiences stability, vitality, productivity, longevity, and prosperity. And this is true through the vicissitudes of life. Because the man who trusts and follows the Lord remains firm and true and productive through every season of life, in good times and in bad times, when they're young and when they are old. Psalm 92. The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. And then verse five says that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. That's a striking phrase because it doesn't say that the Lord knows the righteous, which of course the Lord knows, but the Lord knows the way of the righteous. And know here is in the sense of love and delight. God delights in the way of the righteous and he blesses them, richly rewards them. The wicked, though, are not so. The psalmist says that they are like chaff that the wind drives away. And their end, like their lifestyle, is the exact opposite of the righteous. They will not last or prosper. Instead, they will be judged. They will die in their sins and excluded from the congregation of the righteous. They and their way will perish. First John 2.17, and the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. So we have two different types of people with two different lifestyles, with two different outcomes. And what should we do? Well, we need to trust and love the Lord Jesus. Don't join the wicked. Don't believe as they believe. Don't do as they do. Rather, enter the narrow gate. Walk on the path that leads to life. Why would you want to die? Don't stray from that path. Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Jesus, and you will live.