Well, good evening. It's great to be with you. I bring you greetings from your brothers and sisters at Redeemer over in Ada. And I think some of you mentioned that you were at the combined service for Good Friday. And so maybe, I don't know if I met you there, but at least you may have seen me there. So I'm so glad that we can be together in worship again and for having an invitation to bring the word to you tonight. It's a great joy to close the Lord's day meditating on the law of the Lord. Now, in the text I'm about to read, it tells us that meditating on God's law day and night is the way to God's blessing. And so, Psalm 1 actually sums up for us all of the wisdom literature of God's Word. Wisdom is choosing God's way rather than the way of the wicked. And it is only God's wisdom that can enable us to discern right from wrong, truth from lie, wise from foolish living. And so let us turn our hearts to the Lord as we go to his word, Psalm 1, reading verses one through six. The word of our God. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Let us pray. Oh, Father, as we come to your word, I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts might be acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, our rock and our redeemer. For your glory, we pray. Amen. Has anybody ever trained you to grow weeds? If you like to maintain beautiful landscape or maybe you keep a garden and you know the battle it is to fight weeds, I wonder, has anybody ever trained you to actually grow weeds? Well, obviously it doesn't require training any more than it requires a child training to be selfish. It is part of our nature. And so, do we require training to learn how to sin? Obviously not. But we do need training to learn how sin works, how these things can overgrow into our lives, and then how the Lord would use His word to help us grab those things by the roots and pull them up in our lives. But weeding out the root of sin is just the beginning. We have to replace it with a life that is rooted in Christ. And so, as we are thinking about this text, I need to ask you, do you want to be happy? It's kind of a silly question, right? Everybody wants to be happy. Well, when we think about this most basic part of human nature, the founding fathers of this country actually put it in there when they said that we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now note that they said you have the right to pursue happiness, not the right to be happy. All right, we would all have a big problem with our rights if we thought that was our right. But happiness, we learn, is very elusive in a fallen world. That's why you have to pursue it because you think you have it and then you have to run after it again and you don't have it. And so we consider, first of all in our text, a hunger for happiness. And so he says right there, blessed is the man. Now, there are similarities between what it means to be blessed and what it means to be happy. Scripture uses both, but I'm going to contrast the two for the use in this message. So, the key difference is the God-centered nature of being blessed happiness focuses on the experience of the person, while blessedness focuses upon what God has done. And so, if you ever use that with people who deny the existence of God, you could talk to the most ardent atheist and, you know, they would tell you that Yeah, I guess I could be more happy than I am right now. And so you're helping them to understand that this world is not exactly what it could be. It's something wrong with this world. And it's proof just because they're not as fully happy as they could be. And so you could tell them why there's something wrong with this world and then tell them what God's solution is. Now, most unbelievers would not condemn you. If you tell them that you are blessed by going and being part of your church, they'll say, good for you. And that you could tell them that reading your Bible makes you happy, and they'll say, that's nice, happy for you. But most people in the world don't have a problem if you tell them those things, but the psalmist, in God's word, draws the line and identifies what not to do. And that's when people object. Once you start speaking exclusively about one way to God and one way to happiness, they think that you are prideful for making such a bold claim. You see, the humanistic worldview puts man right at the center so that his preferences are the measure of truth. People today look at truth kind of like you look at ice cream flavors, right? So, you know, maybe some of you here have maybe strawberries your favorite ice cream flavor and you know, we would say that's nice for you. But if you told us that strawberry should be everybody's favorite flavor. Well, that's kind of taking it a step too far, right? That you think that your preference should be our preference. It's a little arrogant, right? But truth is not about preferences. Gravity is gravity, no matter who you are. And so if you jump off a building, doesn't matter what you believe, you're still gonna fall, whether you believe in gravity or not. God has established those laws of nature no differently than He's established the Ten Commandments as the design for the human life. And so when we break them, things are broken in our lives. And so He gave us His Word that we might find joy in doing things His way. He's the designer. He's the creator. And so I need to ask you, what does make you happy? Now, very often we begin that with a question, with a couple of words. We say, if only, right, you can finish the sentence. You know, if only I had more money. If only I had a better job. If only I had better health. If only, and you can fill in the blank. Well, many of us here could probably say, well, you know, I have a loving family, and I have loving friends, and I have a happy life. But then there's problems in relationships and life just ain't so happy. Why? Well, because relationships, the meaning of life is about relationships. The key point in this psalm is the psalmist wants us to understand it's not what is going to make you happy. It's who is going to make you happy. We will either seek happiness from the wicked or from the Lord. There's no third. option. Now, there are only two roads to choose from, and the psalmist lays it out very clearly for us. And so, we need to shift from a pursuit of happiness in the world to pursuing blessedness in Christ. But to do that, we need to understand, secondly, the weakness of wickedness. First, we looked at the hunger for happiness, and second, the weakness of wickedness. Again, verse one, it says, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Have you ever had your children correct the way you drive? I remember my dad driving one time, and I'm just like, you know, what are you doing? And he says, son, it's just yet another example of what not to do. And so the psalmist is trying to tell us clearly this is an example of what not to do. First of all, don't listen to wicked counsel. Notice the progression in the psalm from walking to standing, to sitting, right? When we walk in the council of the wicked, we are being influenced by their ideas. This happens all the time. Now, the devil never comes to you and says, Hi, I'm the devil. I'm going to deceive you now with a very wicked idea. Are you ready? He just doesn't do that. He lies to you and it's deception because you don't know it's a lie. Hence, deception. And so if we think about it, every commercial has an argument within it to try to persuade you of what is true and what you should value. How many times have you heard in a commercial, you're worth it. And so of course, if you don't buy the product, then you don't value yourself. And we value ourselves, so therefore buy the product. Marketers know human nature. And the more you hear the same idea over and over, the more likely you are to believe that it's true and then to respond. Now, there's plenty of people out there that I talk to and they say, oh, no, no, that doesn't happen with me. But you know, I can give you 4.5 million reasons why it happens to you. If you remember in the most recent Super Bowl, there are companies out there that spent $4.5 million for 30 seconds of your attention. Now, why would they do that if they didn't think that the ideas they share would actually produce a response from you? If it didn't work, they would never spend the money. They know it'll work, and so they realize that ideas control your life because ideas control your mind. We are in a constant battle for the mind, and that is why God's word says in Romans 12, 2, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. We hear battle language in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 when Paul says, we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. But when our thoughts are taken captive by the wrong things, we stop merely walking under the influence of their counsel and we stand in the place of sinners. We park our minds under the influence and we start to imitate the things that they do. And so we learn secondly, do not follow wicked examples. Okay, this doesn't translate well into English because when we stand in the way, we're opposing something, right? But in this particular case, when you're standing, it means you're being identified with certain ideas, right? They connect with you. They may appear very relatable to your life. It seems like very believable information, though they are lies. But somehow they connect with your heart. And so whether we see it or not, what we start to do is we start to imitate and repeat what those people are doing. We see it with children. Just watch any particular movie. What are they going to do? They're going to imitate one of the characters that they just saw. In the movie, it's not just children, it's human nature. And so all humans move through this process from new ideas to connecting those ideas with a new way of thinking, even if it's not true. Now, we learn lastly that we are blessed if we don't promote wicked ways. Now, we go from listening to imitating to promoting, right? You see it gets worse. And so once we have become persuaded of wicked ideas and we imitate those ways, the last step is that wickedness actually becomes your identity. You don't just listen to lies. You don't just imitate the lies. You have become a liar. We call these life-dominating sins. They characterize a person's life. But again, wickedness is not merely acting like Hitler. Anything that opposes the name and the truth of God is wickedness. And so the person that sits in the seat of the scoffer is not only being influenced by unbelief, he doesn't just ignore God, right? He is one who mocks God's judgment. He may even reject the reality of God's existence. but he also influences other people. He is a scoffer who mocks people who believe the truth. Now, I can't think of a clearer example than simply going through high school. At least it was my experience going through high school. I mean, how many freshmen get in you know, involved hanging around the wrong people. And before long, they begin imitating the things that those people are doing. And by their senior year, if not before, they have become that wicked influence on the incoming classes of other students. So, he or she may seem so cool, but he is really, in God's eyes, a fool. Do you want your life to be blown and tossed by the wind of people's opinions? Or do you want to be played like a puppet by the devil's temptations? That is the weakness of wickedness. Now after highlighting the strength of the righteous, which we'll get to in a minute, the psalmist then contrasted the way of the wicked by saying, the wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the ways of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Now chaff, if you're not familiar, is that dry, leafy, brittle husk of the wheat or of the grain. And so in ancient times, they would just throw the grain up in the air and the wind would just blow that leafy stuff away because it was worthless. And so that's the image that's shown here. And so being cool, we learn, is of zero eternal value. You may sometimes feel like Jeremiah in Jeremiah 12 when he said, Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? It's very frustrating when you see that happening. It's only temporary. They're only enjoying that for a split moment in comparison with eternity. No matter how cool the world thinks they are, they will not be able to stand confidently on the day of judgment. And so ask yourself, who am I trying to please? Am I living according to the world's expectations or according to God's word? You will be cut in half if you're trying to do both. And you'll fail if you're trying to do both. Biblical wisdom demands that we make a choice. Rebellion or righteousness? We cannot do both. And so notice when the psalmist shifts to talking about the righteous, that he does not say, blessed are those who walk in the counsel of the wicked, who stand in the way of the just, and who sit in the seat of the righteous. It's not what he says. He points to one. He points to one criteria. for the righteous life. And so we learn lastly, to be rooted in righteousness. Look back at verse 2. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law He meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that He does, He prospers. Now, if you truly delight in something, you can't get enough of it, right? Think about it. You probably think about it all the time. You meditate on it. Now, this is not some kind of new age thing, right, talking about meditation, right? Meditation is simply thinking and analyzing over something, right? Now, you may say, well, I'm not really sure how to meditate. Well, let me ask you, do you know how to worry, right? You don't have to be trained to worry. But what is worrying, right? You're just thinking about your problems over and over again. And what's meditating? Thinking about God's promises. Thinking about His solutions over and over. If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. And so we need to replace worry with meditating on God's promises. Now sometimes people stumble in this text over the word law. You know, I don't want to think about law, I want to think about grace. Well, that's not specifically what's being contrasted in this text. He's not contrasting law and grace. He's contrasting law and counsel or opinion, right? The wicked can only provide their opinion about things. You know, it's kind of like Pirates of the Caribbean when he said, you know, what about the Pirate's Code? They're more like guidelines. Well, God didn't just give us guidelines, right? He gave us His eternal and absolute law. God established reality when He spoke. He alone is King. And so to rebel against His design is to commit what Dr. R.C. Sproul calls cosmic treason. Now the context shows us that if we abide in God's Word, then we will become strong in the Lord. We won't be tossed to and fro. We won't be weak, right? Paul uses this exact same language in Ephesians chapter 4, talking about the the body of Christ, right? He talks about pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry. And then he says, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. No, when we root our minds in the word of the Lord, we become like that tree which is planted by streams of water and it yields its fruit in its due season and its leaf does not wither. It's a beautiful picture. It's a beautiful metaphor of the Christian life as the picture of that beautiful green tree thriving as it's planted by those streams of water. But do you think that the tree feels a strong sense of duty to suck in the water through its roots? You say, no, I don't think the tree feels anything. And you'd probably be right, it probably doesn't feel anything. But a tree is designed by God, right, for it to draw in that water. And so I want to ask you, do you feel when you're eating your absolute favorite meal, right, do you feel this incredible sense of duty to finish what's in front of you? No, that's not really what you're thinking about, right? You just can't get enough of it. You just want to take it all in. You're delighting in what God has provided in your favorite meal. And so scripture says in Psalm 34 8, Oh, taste and see the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge. In Him. You see, Jesus offered us another amazing metaphor to illustrate what it means to delight in the law and to meditate on it. He said in John 15, Abide in me, as I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." The only way to abide in Christ is to have union with Him by faith. You see, saving faith means trusting in Jesus Christ alone because He's the only one that ever lived the perfect life that you failed to live. He's the only one that died the death that you deserve for your sin. And He's the only one that rose again from the dead to conquer death and the devil and sin. so that we could be set free as we put our trust in Him alone. And when we trust Christ alone, we have that union with Him by faith so that we abide, we dwell in Him forever. But we don't merely abide in Christ for salvation. We need to abide in Christ for sanctification as well, to become like Him. You see, Jesus said, apart from me you can do nothing. Do you believe that? Is that something we just read over, or is it something that I say, you know, do I really function that way? Do I really think, wake up in the morning and just say, you know, apart from Christ, I can do nothing, right? It's not always the way that shapes our thinking, but it's true. We're bought at a price. We're not our own any longer. All that we have has been generously provided to us by the grace of God for us to steward, for us to manage for His glory. And so in that way, the psalmist says, in all that He does, He prospers. So does that mean all Christians are going to be rich? No, he prospers according to God's value system, right? Some of you will be, right? But it's not the point, it's God's value system. What is that? It means that we're gonna have rock solid character that will not be compromised no matter what. Scripture says in Colossians 2, therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him rooted and built up in Him, and established in faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Give yourself completely to the Lord. Entrust every element of your life to Him and to Him alone. if you've lived the Christian life long enough, you know that we have this great temptation. We want our fruit kind of like a drive-through. You know, it's like I just, I wanna just be able to go to this Bible study or read this book or whatever and just have drive-through sanctification. And it says you will bear fruit in its season, right? Constant watering, constant care. You know, you can't watch the plant grow. It takes time. None of us have it all together. We need each other's help. We are sinners saved by grace. But as we abide in him, there is no power of hell. There is no scheme of man that can pluck you from his hand till he returns and calls you home. Here in the power of Christ, we stand. Let's pray. Father, Rejoice in your word and in your truth. We long to be those trees planted by those streams of water. And as we engage in the study of your word, as we abide in you, resting in your promises, and as we seek to make you known to all nations. Father, may you pour out your blessing into our lives, into our families, into our churches, and across your church worldwide, that all would know who you are, what you've done, and that blessedness and happiness is found in Christ alone. And it's in his name that we pray, amen.