Category: Weekly Devotional

The Gift from GOD to You

The Christmas Present, if you will.

 

I love to see people happy; I like to crack jokes and see if I can bring a smile to someone. (Like I said it runs in the family my Uncle Dee and my Dad was like that too, even with Alzheimer’s he tried to play with people everywhere he went and to make them laugh.)

I also love to give things to people; I guess that why I love to preach so much, what better one can give to someone than Jesus’ message of salvation.

With that said I have learned the past few years that I am not a good receiver.

I truly would rather give than get.

Moreover, I do not know if I feel that I do not deserve the gifts as much as others, and they may need it and I should pass it on to them.

When we come to the Christmas season, I see a lot of Christian post on Facebook, and other outlets saying “Jesus is the reason for the Season”. I don’t want to take away from them pointing to Jesus rather than shopping, buying, wrapping, giving, and cooking, and eating, and all the lights, and trees, and the tinsel and bows.

But I believe if we ask God the Father, what’s the reason for the season?

He might just say, “YOU”.

Allow me to take a little freedom with a few verses that we know and love so well and change a few words, so we can see it a little better.

John 3:16 For God so loved YOU that He gave His only begotten Son, that if YOU believe in Him YOU would not perish but have everlasting life.  17 For God did not send His Son to YOU to condemn YOU, but that YOU through Him might be saved.

Or to put it directly to you, read it this way.

For God so loved me that He gave His only begotten Son to me, that if I believe in Him, I would not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son to me to condemn me, but that I through Him might be saved.

Are you getting the reason for the season? Is it YOU?

Isaiah said it this way without me changing a word.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; NKJV

Are you getting this? “Unto us” all of us!

Me, you, that dirty stinking sinner that you don’t want anything to do with, the cheat, the liar, the thief, the adulterer, the homosexual, the bigot, we need to see that “Unto us” covers all of them too.

Luke 2:11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  NKJV

Again, I didn’t have to change a word.

We have to get better at receiving, but also sharing the story of His Son our Lord Jesus.

Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season, but look at the reason he came, so

He, some 33 1/2 years later on Calvary’s cross could say:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

And Paul said:

Christ in Our Place

Romans 5:6-11 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 1 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.  NKJV

 

The reason for the season was for you and me. Let’s not miss the cost of the gift that God gave some 2000 years ago.

He did it all for His Love for You.

I pray you receive His Present to you.

The Gift that had Worth, Jesus gave it all.

Therefore, who did He do it all for?

You that is who!

The Gift That Keeps Giving

Chapter 11 “Something to Ponder”

Years ago, I was fishing in Pine Valley Lake with my Uncle J D Swann. Everyone called him “Uncle Dee”, whether related to him or not.

Whenever Uncle Dee would show up, he always had something with him, doughnuts, fruit, cookies or candy.

More than the things he brought was that he brought his sense of humor. (I think it runs in the family) He always had a joke or two. And they were always clean, sometimes a little corny, but always funny.

He was the kind of person (when he was in a good mood) that you just loved being around. A very smart man and Inventor, very kind to kids and I even saw the day that he let my sister put curlers in his hair, just because she asks if she could.

As we were fishing that day, he was catching fish after fish and I was not. He would reel in one after another as I was reeling in moss. Cast after cast I am bringing in nothing. After about an hour of this, I had enough.

I said, “Uncle Dee, what are you fishing with over there?”

He said. “This little Rapala lure.”

I asked, “You got another one of them?”

He didn’t say anything, so I thought he didn’t hear me. How could he not hear me in this old 14-foot boat? Or maybe he didn’t want to share.

He then reeled his line in and cut off the lure and threw it to me. I asked if he had another one, and he told me no, not with him, but he had other lures he could fish with and knew that I didn’t, so he tied a different lure on and went back to fishing.

I tied the Rapala on my line and started catching some fish.

He still was catching more than me, but at least I was catching some now.

At the end of the day fishing with Uncle Dee, I reeled in my line and cut his lure off and tried to give it back, and he said it was mine and I could have it.

It was a gift.

I then asked him if he didn’t want it any longer?

He said yes, he wanted it, but that’s what made it a gift.

He said if he didn’t want it, he would have thrown it away, but it had worth and value to him, so it was worthy of being called a gift.

From then on, I have tried to live by that rule when giving or even buying gifts.

If it doesn’t have worth to me, why would I think it would be something someone else would want it.

If it’s not something I would want to keep, then again, why would anyone want it. It has to cost me something for it to be a gift and not just trash.

The Bible says over 170 times to Receive but it says over 860 times to Give.

That’s 5 times more.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”  NKJV

If you give a certain amount of money, that amount and more will be coming back to you? No.

You give to help the expenses of the Ministry or Church. Look at the return — Preachers get paid, the church bills get paid, Missionaries are sent to share the Gospel. Churches can do more to help reach others.

As a return, souls will be saved, lives will be changed and great is your reward.

Luke 21:1And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites.  3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”  NKJV

Understand this, if you give to get you got. But if you give because of Love you get. Get it?

Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. NKJV

Remember “You can’t take it with you when you go, but you can send it on ahead.”

“You can give without love, but you can’t love, without giving.”

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. KJV

He Gave and you Got. Ponder on the cost of that Gift.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. NKJV

The gift my Uncle Dee gave me that day has brought me hours of enjoyment.

It gives me memories of a better time and carefree days.

It gave me a life lesson that I can pass on to you today.

That was some 45 years ago.

I still have that little Rapala lure, I don’t fish with because I am afraid, I could lose it.

It has more value than just being a lure, it was a gift from my Uncle Dee.

I told this story when I preached his funeral in March 2008, and I held up the lure.

It was a gift.

It was something of worth to him.

When thinking about supporting a ministry or giving to your church, helping a missionary, or the youth ministry (and I am talking above your tithes) You may say, “Well, that is going to cost me something.”

Yep, that right, that’s what makes it a gift.

That brings us to the next weeks chapter:

Psalms 3 INTRODUCTION:

The Lord Sustained Me

HELP, I NEED SOMEBODY

 

Sermon: A Psalm of David, when he fled from Ab’sa-lom his son.

Do you live with the consequences?

One day, a mother explained to her five-year-old daughter that if she chose to disobey her, she would have to live with the consequences. “Oh, Mommy!” she said with a terrified look on her face. “Please don’t make me live with the Consequences. I want to live here with you!”

Well, we all live with the consequences, don’t we?

We all live with the consequences of the choices we have made.

This is also true of a familiar Bible character known as “the man after God’s own heart.”

David had to live with the consequences of his sin.

We are giving study to Psalm 3 that was written by David.

The background of the psalm is the betrayal of his own son, Absalom.

To truly understand the betrayal, though, we must look further back into David’s life.

2 Sam 11:1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. KJV

David’s problems began when he took to himself the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

This act of adultery led to an even more despicable act on David’s part.

Instead of protecting and looking out for the interests of loyal Uriah, he chose to take Uriah’s life to cover up his own sin.

David’s adultery led to murder.

From this point onward, David had to live with the consequences of his sin.

2 Sam 12:1-15

Nathan’s Parable and David’s Confession

12:1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. 4 And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

5 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! 6 And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.'”

13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 15 Then Nathan departed to his house. NKJV

What we do as Christians reflect on how the world sees Christians and how they see Christ.

Many years later, one of David’s sons, Amnon, became a bit too captivated with his half-sister Tamar and raped her.

This enraged Tamar’s full brother, Absalom who sought revenge, and got it, by killing Amnon.

When David learned about Absalom’s crime, instead of dealing with him in a just manner, he simply allowed him to leave Jerusalem. Because David had committed the same crime.

He too had committed the crime of murder over a sexual sin.

Thus, as a result, David had lost the moral authority to deal effectively with Absalom.

In time, the undisciplined Absalom, who thought he was morally superior and a worthier leader than his father, mounted a rebellion. He then Sat at the gate saying, ” if I were King. ”

It was a rebellion that caught David by surprise, so much so, the historical text tells us that he fled barefoot and weeping.

Think for a moment of the shame David must have felt being opposed and hunted down by his own son.

But David was reaping the consequences of the bad choices he had made.

So, as a result, this man who was known as “the man after God’s heart” and who had rejoiced in great victories because of God’s intervention, now was characterized by failure, loneliness, disappointment, and agony.

Has that ever been true for you?

Have you ever felt like a failure because of the poor choices you have made?

And you know that more than anything else, you need God’s intervention in your life because you are powerless to make it different.

Well, this study is for you, four unfolding stages that reveal God at work in the life of those who will believe.

1. PROBLEM (1-2)
2. PRAYER / PRESENCE (3-4)

3. PEACE (5-6)

4. PUNISHMENT / PROTECTION (7-8)

 

The psalm reveals that God is at work in David’s life. And same can be true of us as well.

Psalms 3 OUR STUDY: Part 1 of 4

1. The first stage is the PROBLEM (1-2).

Psalm 3:1-2 (NKJV) ¹ LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.
² Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for him in God.” Selah

 

1. There are times when we feel outnumbered.

David cries out to God because he was dealing with the rising tide of disloyalty.

Both family and friends have turned against him.

Now they are enemies and they surround him.

It was a real mess.

It all seemed so hopeless.

2. There are times when we feel like giving up hope.

David’s enemies were saying that God had given up on him.

God was not going to deliver him.

These are words that make a profound emotional impact, don’t you think?

It not only seemed hopeless, but it was communicated to him that he was hopeless.

Have you ever felt like that?

The situation was hopeless.

You felt hopeless. That’s why the word Selah is placed there it means to take a breath or as the Strongs Concordance says the word Selah OT:5542 Celah (seh’-law); from OT:5541; suspension (of music), i.e., pause:   KJV – Selah.

Or just Stop and think about that!

Daily Prayers of Thanksgiving

 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Give Thanks to the Lord

“Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:7

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians 3:15

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Phil 4:6

 

How Great Are Your Works Oh Lord

Psalm 92:1-15 (NLT2)
¹ It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to the Most High.
² It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, ³ accompanied by the ten-stringed harp and the melody of the lyre.
⁴ You thrill me, LORD, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done.
⁵ O LORD, what great works you do! And how deep are your thoughts.
⁶ Only a simpleton would not know, and only a fool would not understand this:
⁷ Though the wicked sprout like weeds and evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
⁸ But you, O LORD, will be exalted forever.
⁹ Your enemies, LORD, will surely perish; all evildoers will be scattered.
¹⁰ But you have made me as strong as a wild ox. You have anointed me with the finest oil.
¹¹ My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the defeat of my wicked opponents.
¹² But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.
¹³ For they are transplanted to the LORD’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green.
¹⁵ They will declare, “The LORD is just! He is my rock! There is no evil in him!”

 

Let Us Sing Songs of Praise

Psalm 95:1-7 (NLT2)
¹ Come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
² Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
³ For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.
⁴ He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.
⁵ The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.
⁶ Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,
⁷ for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today!

 

Faithful Instruction and Blessing

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 (NLT2)
¹² Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance.
¹³ Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other.
¹⁴ Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.
¹⁵ See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.
¹⁶ Always be joyful.
¹⁷ Never stop praying.
¹⁸ Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
¹⁹ Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.
²⁰ Do not scoff at prophecies, ²¹ but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.
²² Stay away from every kind of evil.
²³ Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
²⁴ God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.
²⁵ Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.
²⁶ Greet all the brothers and sisters with Christian love.
²⁷ I command you in the name of the Lord to read this letter to all the brothers and sisters.
²⁸ May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

 

Psalms 2 Close

Why Do the Heathen Rage

 ~We need to look at PS. 2: on two levels—the human and the divine

The truth is that these terrorists, heathen, stands in rebellion against the Lord God

Peter used this psalm to explain the opposition that led to Jesus’ crucifixion and the opposition the early church was experiencing in

Acts. 4:25-28  25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? 26The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

The sad truth is when we are born into this human race; we are born in rebellion against God with the old Adamic nature.

Paul refers to Psalm 14:1,2 For the director of music. Of David.

Ps 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.  KJV

 

Paul points out in these verses to express this universal rebellion against God in Rom 3:10-18

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:

16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:

17 And the way of peace have they not known:

18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.   KJV

That’s a sad picture of mankind, but it’s universally true

Rom. 3:23 “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,”

That is the condition of people’s heart today if they are not in Christ Jesus.
The rebellion toward God is obvious in the hearts of these terrorists.
These nations are in an uproar around the world that constantly dwell on killing innocent people, even the citizens of their own country often times.
But the root of the whole matter is, the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s certainly of the devil without a doubt.

They’re always planning, plotting and thinking on ways and means to rebel against King Jesus.

Lets notice the contrast, –the righteous man mediates on the Word of God –—the unrighteous man mediates on ways to rebel against God
This is why the terrorists rage, –They are in rebellion against God

The kings of the earth take their stand in defiance against King Jesus. In reality it appears that these Terrorists are standing and shaking their fists in the air at God.

Psalm 2Amplified Bible (AMP)

The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed.

1 Why are the ^[a]nations (Or Gentiles.) in an ^[b]uproar (I.e. a confusion of voices.) [in turmoil against God], And why do the people devise a vain and hopeless plot?

2 The kings of the earth take their stand;
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and His Anointed (the Davidic King, the Messiah, the Christ), saying,
 
3 “Let us break apart their [divine] bands [of restraint]
And cast away their cords [of control] from us.”

4 He who sits [enthroned] in the heavens laughs [at their rebellion];
The [Sovereign] ^[c]Lord (Heb Adonai. “my lords’ ”) scoffs at them [and in supreme contempt He mocks them].

Adonai is the verbal parallel to Yahweh andJehovah. Adonai is plural; the singular is adon. In reference to God the plural Adonai is used. When the singular adon is used, it usually refers to a human lord. Adon is used 215 times to refer to men. Occasionally in Scripture and predominantly in the Psalms, the singular adon is used to refer to God as well (cf. Exd 34:23). To avoid contravening the commandment “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain” (Exd 20:7), sometimes Adonai was used as a substitute forYahweh (YHWH). 

Adonai can be translated literally as, “my lords’ ” (both plural and possessive).

5 Then He will speak to them in His [profound] anger
And terrify them with His displeasure, saying,

6 “Yet as for Me, I have anointed and firmly installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

7 “I will declare the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son;
This day [I proclaim] I have begotten You.

8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will assuredly give [You] the nations as Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth as Your possession.

9 ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall shatter them [in pieces] like earthenware.’”

10 Now therefore, O kings, act wisely;
Be instructed and take warning, O leaders (judges, rulers) of the earth.

11 Worship the Lord and serve Him with reverence [with awe-inspired fear and submissive wonder];
Rejoice [yet do so] with trembling.

12 Kiss (pay respect to) the ^[d]Son, so that He does not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled and set aflame.
How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] are all those who take refuge in Him!

 

Footnotes:

Psalm 2:12 The word in the original is bar, taken to be the Aramaic for “son.” But it is surprising that an Aramaic word would be used here. The ancient rabbis maintained that a different word with the same spelling in Hebrew was intended, whose meaning is “pure.” They claimed that it is a reference to the Torah, on the ground that all the words in the Torah are pure.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.

Psalms 2 Part 3

Why Do the Heathen Rage

 3rdly—the Lord’s call for mankind to repent and be saved

1. The lost are Speaking 1-3
2. The Lord Speaks v4-7

III. Let us Speak v8-12

The Recommendation Of God

The greatest thing we can do in this hour of human history is to have a bold testimony for Jesus Christ God makes several recommendations to mankind:

1. Be wise. God is the only way to salvation.
Here comes the action.

8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

1. What we see in these verses is a battle to the finish.
   a) However, no one can stand before God’s anointed.
   b) God has destined Him to be the ruler of the world.

(1) Philippians 2:9 – 11

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

 

Do Everything Without Grumbling

2. And He will become the ruler of everything.
   a) He will be victorious – even if He has to break people and nations like a potter does His clay.

(1) And that is exactly what He has done in many cases.
(a) Powerful Nations have crumbled.
(b) Kings, Presidents and Leaders have fallen.
b) If He has the ability to subdue and break nations that rebel against Him.

(1) I wonder why we think that we as individuals stand a chance of getting away with rebellion.
(2) I wonder if we actually think we can stand in the way of the progress of God’s Kingdom.
(3) I wonder do we really believe that we can block the progress of His cause.

3. God will “break in pieces” those who stand in His way.
   a) He has done it many times before.

 

1. No one or thing will be able to survive if it blocks the progress of God’s work.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

 

God makes several recommendations to mankind:
1. Be wise. God is the only way to salvation.

2. Be warned. Don’t continue to rebel against God.
3. No individual.
4. No Nation.
5. No Church.
6. No Church member.

 

Amplified Bible (AMP)

7 “I will declare the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son;
This day [I proclaim] I have begotten You.

8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will assuredly give [You] the nations as Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth as Your possession.

9 ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall shatter them [in pieces] like earthenware.’”

 Scene four; God’s Invitation (10-12)

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.    KJV

 

Scene Four – The Grand Finally.

1. The poet gives Solemn warning to all of the judges and kings of the earth and really to all who, on earth, would rebel against the Great Jehovah.
2. a) In light of all that has been said, here comes a word of wisdom.
3. b) Undoubtly they can now see how silly it is to try and rebel against God and His Anointed.
4. Rebellion and revolt will only bring ruin.
5. But faith and trust brings salvation.

Conclusion:

If you are here today and rebelling against God by rejecting His Son – My friend you are on dangerous ground. I advise you to heed the warning in those last few verses.

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

God makes several recommendations to mankind:
1. Be wise. God is the only way to salvation.
2. Be warned. Don’t continue to rebel against God.
3. Be God’s people. Take refuge in God.

11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Those who trust in God will find true happiness. Don’t worry about what God is doing. God is still on the throne.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.    KJV

 

Amplified Bible (AMP) 10 Now therefore, O kings, act wisely;
Be instructed and take warning, O leaders (judges, rulers) of the earth.
11 Worship the Lord and serve Him with reverence [with awe-inspired fear and submissive wonder];
Rejoice [yet do so] with trembling.
12 Kiss (pay respect to) the ^[d]Son, so that He does not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled and set aflame.
How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] are all those who take refuge in Him!

Footnotes:

Psalm 2:12 The word in the original is bar, taken to be the Aramaic for “son.” But it is surprising that an Aramaic word would be used here. The ancient rabbis maintained that a different word with the same spelling in Hebrew was intended, whose meaning is “pure.” They claimed that it is a reference to the Torah, on the ground that all the words in the Torah are pure.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.

 

Psalms 2 Part 2

Why Do the Heathen Rage

2ndly —is the Lord’s response to mankind’s rebellion:

1. The lost are Speaking 1-3
2. The Lord Speaks v4-7

The Response Of God

Scene one; God’s Indignation (4-6)

4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.   (mockingly scornful: showing contempt or ridicule)

5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

Scene Two – The Father.
1. This scene takes place in heaven.
a) As the scene pans in, we see God, Our Father, sitting in the throne room – Laughing.
(1) He doesn’t become alarmed or disturbed at what the men of earth are doing.
(2) He simply chuckles at man’s belief that they can rebel against Him.
b) He has them in derision…mockingly scornful: showing contempt or ridicule
(1) … That is, He mocks them.
c) Then He speaks to them in His wrath and disturbs them in His displeasure.
(1) He tells them, “I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.”
(2) He is letting everyone know that when it is all said and done, He has the final say.
(3) Man can plan rebellions all they want, Jesus is still King!

How does God respond to the evilness of man?

1. He laughs. When you think about it, man thinking he is as powerful as Almighty God is hilarious.

4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: * [this is not a laughter of humor]  the Lord shall have them in derision. .* [God views man’s rebellion as utterly ridiculous and scornful.)

OT:7832 sachaq (saw-khak’); a primitive root; to laugh (in pleasure or detraction); by implication, to play:

KJV – deride, have in derision, laugh, make merry, mock (-er), play, rejoice, (laugh to) scorn, be in (make) sport.

(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

And in

Prov 1:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; KJV

Prov 1:31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.  KJV

There is no need to worry fear or fret God is in control.

How does God respond to the evilness of man?

1. 1. He laughs. When you think about it, man thinking he is as powerful as Almighty God is hilarious.
2. He pours out His wrath. God can destroy or remove anyone who opposes Him.
3. He calls the shots. Zion is another name for Jerusalem. Although Jerusalem has experienced many problems and will continue to until the end; Jesus will sit as King in the New Jerusalem, which is Heaven.

5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex* [trouble]  them in his sore displeasure.

 

1. This scene encourages me.
   1. It encourages me because I know that Islamic terrorism will not win out.
   a) God has already set His Son upon the throne.
   b) And one day every nation and every people WILL bow down at His feet.
2. It is encouraging that our country will one day return to God.
   a) Even though we have turned our back upon Him.
   b) Even though we have tried to break the cords that have made us a great nation.
   c) Even though we have kicked God out of our homes, schools and churches.

6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. * (a permanent capital -Jerusalem)

1. It is great to know that He is still in control and when everything is over – He has the last word.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

4 He who sits [enthroned] in the heavens laughs [at their rebellion];
The [Sovereign] ^[c]Lord (Heb Adonai.) scoffs at them [and in supreme contempt He mocks them].

Adonai is the verbal parallel to Yahweh andJehovah. Adonai is plural; the singular is adon. In reference to God the plural Adonai is used. When the singular adon is used, it usually refers to a human lord. Adon is used 215 times to refer to men. Occasionally in Scripture and predominantly in the Psalms, the singular adon is used to refer to God as well (cf. Exd 34:23). To avoid contravening the commandment “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain” (Exd 20:7), sometimes Adonai was used as a substitute forYahweh (YHWH). 

Adonai can be translated literally as, “my lords’” (both plural and possessive).

5 Then He will speak to them in His [profound] anger. And terrify them with His displeasure, saying,

6 “Yet as for Me, I have anointed and firmly installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

 Scene three; God’s Intention (7-9)

7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Scene three – The Son.

7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

1. The Son is thrilled at what the Father has just spoken and now He speaks.
2. He speaks of God’s choice of Him as the ruler who will carry out the Father’s divine plan for His creation.
   a) The plan of judgment.
   b) The plan of chastisement.
   c) The plan of warfare against evil forces.
   d) The plan of ultimate victory.

 

Psalms 2 Part 1

Why Do the Heathen Rage

1st—is the fact that mankind stands in rebellion against God’s anointed, the Lord Jesus. Notice this rebellion is universal.

1. The lost are Speaking 1-3

Let’s look at this Psalm, scene by scene.
1) Human society rebels against God’s anointed Messiah,

2) provoking God’s scorn and sure judgment.

3) God has decreed that His Son will rule the Earth.

4) It is essential that we submit now and by taking refuge in the Son find blessing rather than destruction.

Psalms 2

2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

 

The Response Of Man
These verses ask questions that many have asked.
1. Why does God allow man to rebel against Him?

2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

This is the voice of the sinful nature found in each of us

These verses ask questions that many have asked.
1. Why does God allow man to rebel against Him?
2. Why does God allow evil nations and rulers to grow more and more powerful?

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

Verse 1. [Why do the heathen rage] “Why do nations make a noise?” Prof. Alexander. The word “heathen” here – gowyim (OT:1471) – means properly “nations,” without respect, so far as the word is concerned, to the character of the nations. It was applied by the Hebrews to the surrounding nations, or to all other people than their own; and as those nations were in fact pagans or idolators, the word came to have this signification. Neh 5:8; Jer 31:10; Ezek 23:30; 30:11; compare ‘aadaam (OT:120), Jer 32:20. The word Gentile among the Hebrews (Greek, ethnos (NT:1484) expressed the same thing. Matt 4:15; 6:32; 10:5,18; 12:21, et soepe.

The word rendered “rage” – raagash (OT:7283) – means to make a noise or tumult and would be expressive of violent commotion or agitation. It occurs in the Hebrew Scriptures only in this place, though the corresponding Chaldee word – regash (OT:7284) is found in Dan 6:6,11,15 – rendered in Dan 6:6, “assembled together,” in the margin “came tumultuously,” – and in Dan 6:11,15, rendered “assembled.”

 

The psalmist here sees the nations in violent agitation or commotion as if under high excitement, engaged in accomplishing some purpose-rushing on to secure something, or to prevent something.

The image of a mob, or of a tumultuous unregulated assemblage, would probably convey the idea of the psalmist. The word itself does not enable us to determine how extensive this agitation would be, but it is evidently implied that it would be a somewhat general movement; a movement in which more than one nation or people would participate. The matter in hand was something that affected the nations generally, and which would produce violent agitation among them.

[And the people] uwlª’umiym (OT:3816). A word expressing substantially the same idea, that of people, or nations, and referring here to the same thing as the word rendered “heathen” – according to the laws of Hebrew parallelism in poetry. It is the people here that are seen in violent agitation: the conduct of the rulers, as associated with them, is referred to in the next verse.

 

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

[Imagine] Our word “imagine” does not precisely express the idea here. We mean by it, “to form a notion or idea in the mind; to fancy.” Webster. The Hebrew word, haagah (OT:1897), is the same which, in Ps 1:2, is rendered “meditate.” See the notes at that verse. It means here that the mind is engaged in deliberating on it; that it plans, devises, or forms a purpose; in other words, the persons referred to are thinking about some purpose which is here called a vain purpose; they are meditating on some project which excites deep thought, but which cannot be effectual.

 

[A vain thing]

OT:7385 iyq (reek); from OT:7324; emptiness; figuratively, a worthless thing; adverbially, in vain:

KJV – empty, to no purpose, (in) vain (thing), vanity.

(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with

Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

 

That is, which will prove to be a vain thing or a thing which they cannot accomplish. It cannot mean that they were engaged in forming plans which they supposed would be vain-for no persons would form such plans; but that they were engaged in designs which the result would show to be unsuccessful. The reference here is to the agitation among the nations in respect to the divine purpose to set up the Messiah as king over the world, and to the opposition which this would create among the nations of the earth. See the notes at Ps 2:2. An ample fulfillment of this occurred in the opposition to him when he came in the flesh, and in the resistance everywhere made since his death to his reign upon the earth. Nothing has produced more agitation in the world (compare Acts 17:6), and nothing still excites more determined resistance.

The truths taught in this verse are:

(1) that sinners are opposed-even so much as to produce violent agitation of mind, and a fixed and determined purpose-to the plans and decrees of God, especially with respect to the reign of the Messiah; and

(2) that their plans to resist this will be vain and ineffectual; wisely as their schemes may seem to be laid, and determined as they themselves are in regard to their execution, yet they must find them vain.

What is implied here of the particular plans against the Messiah, is true of all the purposes of sinners, when they array themselves against the government of God.

 

1. Scene one; Man’s Insurrection. (1-3).
   A. Scene One – Rebellious Man.

2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

1. There is wild commotion as the nations and people rush madly to one central place.
   a) The purpose of this meeting is to set in motion a well planned revolt against their ruler.
   b) They are rebelling against the Lord and His Anointed (Jesus).
2. The Psalmist can’t understand and asked the question:
   a) Why would men do this?
   (1) How can they be so silly to even think that they CAN do this?
   (2) Every day men are doing it

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

2. Men think they can get along without God.
   1. Every day man is living lives that are in rebellion against God.
   a) Every day people are living in rebellion against those things that are holy.
3. How pathetic is it for us to think we can do it all on our own.
   a) We don’t need God in our homes.
   b) We don’t need God in our schools.
   c) We don’t need God in our Nation.
   d) And we have even gotten to the point where we think we don’t need God in our churches.
4. What is the most heartbreaking thing I ever see as a Christian?
   a) To see young people leave home and go to school, get a job, and/or get married.
   b) They then start a new home with a new family.
   c) All the while throwing off all those bands that tied them to the spiritual things of God.

(1) It is as if they are saying that I am going to be Captain of my fate.
(2) I am the master of my own soul.

These verses ask questions that many have asked.
1. Why does God allow man to rebel against Him?
2. Why does God allow evil nations and rulers to grow more and more powerful?
3. Does God care?

3 Let us break their bands *[restraint:] asunder, and cast away their cords* [what is restraining]  from us.

1. Our world and our nation are just like the people and nations mentioned here in the first three verses; now look at God’s response.

The passage (Ps 2:1-3) proves:

(1) that the government of Yahweh, the true God, and the Messiah or Christ, is the same;

(2) that opposition to the Messiah, or to Christ, is in fact opposition to the purposes of the true God;

(3) that it may be expected that men will oppose that government, and there will be agitation and commotion in endeavoring to throw it off.

The passage, considered as referring to the Messiah, had an ample fulfillment

(a) in the purposes of the high priests, of Herod, and of Pilate, to put him to death, and in the general rejection of him by his own countrymen;

(b) in the general conduct of mankind-in their impatience of the restraints of the law of God, and especially of that law as official by the Saviour, demanding submission and obedience to him; and

(c) in the conduct of individual sinners-in the opposition of the human heart to the authority of the Lord Jesus.

The passage before us is just as applicable to the world now as it was to the time when the Saviour personally appeared on the earth.

 Amplified Bible (AMP)

1 Why are the ^[a]nations (Or Gentiles.) in an ^[b]uproar (I.e. a confusion of voices.) [in turmoil against God], And why do the people devise a vain and hopeless plot?

2 The kings of the earth take their stand;
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and His Anointed (the Davidic King, the Messiah, the Christ), saying,
 
3 “Let us break apart their [divine] bands [of restraint]
And cast away their cords [of control] from us.”

Psalms 2 Introduction

Why Do the Heathen Rage

We see all this terrorist madness that is going on every hand. It’s not just here in our country, there’s an ever-growing pattern of terrorist bombings and killings around the world. And according to God’s Word, it is not going to get better but worse, that is until He says enough is enough.

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. KJV

2 Tim 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.  KJV

So let us be reminded that God said it would be this way in the last days.

God is not surprised at all that these ungodly terrorists are doing what they are doing, in fact, it should in one way of looking at it be a reminder to us that are saved and that God is allowing this ungodliness to run its course, it’ll not always be this way.

 

Let’s keep in mind that the people who do these ungodly killings are religious people, they reject our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

Osama Ben Loden said that Jesus couldn’t save anybody, years ago (1/1/2011) these poor deceived people think if people don’t believe as they do that the only remedy is to destroy them. Little do they know that they are on a sure road that will destroy them all, and they’re surely going to be destroyed.

It is an empty, and futile thing that has brought these Terrorist together in trying to kill God’s people no matter where they might be in Israel here, or in England are any place else in the world.

This is a great worldwide movement that is against God and against Christ, and all Christians. It’s all a vain and hopeless thing that they are in “…Acts 4:24–25.

Acts 4:24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? KJV

This is a movement against God and His Christ. It has been snowballing as it has come down through the centuries, and it will break out finally in a worldwide revolution against God and against His Christ. There is an opposition against Jehovah God and Christ today like the world has never seen.

As I look about at the world situation with all of its gloomy uncertainty, all of its unrest, and tension, all of the evil in high places, and ungodly nations and leaders making a bid for supremacy. It makes you feel kind of discouraged about the future of everything.

When we begin to feel this way, we need to think of this 2nd Psalm. It has a way of comforting our hearts and reminds me that God is in control. It reminds me that this is my Father’s world; He created it and He still rules over it and that one day righteousness WILL triumph.

THE HEBREW HYMNBOOK begins with two according to John Phillips “orphan” psalms, that is, with two psalms the authors of which are not given. During the entire Old Testament period, like its companion, it stood fatherless on the sacred page. There they are, two psalms without author or inscription, owning no stated author but God.

 

There is something fitting in the grand isolation of these first two Hebrew hymns, for the first has to do with law, and the second with prophecy. The Law and the prophets!

On these two great hinges, all Old Testament revelation hangs. On these same two hinges, all the vast themes that make up the Psalms are suspended as well.

 

They have other points in common.

Psalm 1 is emotional. It begins with an overflowing rush of emotion: Oh, the happiness of the man who delights in the law of God.

Psalm 2 is intellectual. It deals with a moral problem. It begins with the word “Why?”  so it is ok to ask why.   But know this He probably will not answer the way you want. But he will answer. Ex. Ship in the storm.

Psalm 1 begins with a blessing and ends with a curse;

Psalm 2 begins with a curse and ends with a blessing.

Psalm 1 is essentially a psalm of Christ;

Psalm 2 is essentially a psalm of Antichrist.

Psalm 1 shows the meditation of the godly;

Psalm 2 shows the meditation of the ungodly.

These two psalms form the introduction to the Hebrew hymnbook and they summarize for us the content of the whole.

What is so special about this Psalm? Let us read it and listen to God as He speaks out of His Word to His people and against the rulers of the world.

Psalms 2

2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.     KJV

In this Psalm, there are four stanzas of three verses each. Each is perfectly balanced and each is almost the same number of words. The picture in each stanza is perfectly finished without the slightest hint of hurry and crowding. It is excellently written.

God Is On The Throne

In this Psalm, we are reminded that God is still in control.

This Psalm exalts our Savior and gives the prophetic references to our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the human level, this psalm is about the coronation of a new king in Israel and the desire of the nations and peoples to rebel against him. As it often was in the old Biblical days.

In days of old when a king died there was political instability and often those in the far reaches of his kingdom would take this opportunity to rebel before a new king could be appointed.

 

Sounds like us here in the U.S.   We as Christians need to trust God is in control and can and will put in office the right person, whether to bless us or even the possibility of cruising us.

Yet, this psalm plainly says God has appointed the King, and therefore God will crush His enemies, It is futile to rebel against God’s anointed king, and so the nations are called on to submit to the king and avoid certain judgment and destruction.

This psalm is about the enthronement of King Jesus and all of mankind’s rebellion against HIM.

Yet, because God the Father has appointed Jesus to be the King of kings and Lord of lords, He will crush His enemies, therefore mankind is called on to submit to Jesus as Lord and escape His judgment and wrath.

Notice the terms the psalmist uses to show the universal nature of this rebellion

1. “The nations are in an uproar”–

2. “The peoples devise a vain thing”–
3. “The kings of the earth take their stand”–
4. “The rulers take counsel together against Him”

This is a universal call to salvation. This psalm breaks down into 3 parts and we look at them in the coming weeks.

The Blessed Man Part 4

 THE GODLESS MAN (1:4-6)

This is the person who leaves God out of his life. The “ungodly”-that is the mildest description of the lost man in the Bible. By definition a man is either married or unmarried, he is either happy or unhappy, he is either thankful or unthankful, he is either godly or ungodly. Everything about the ungodly man in this psalm sets him in complete contrast with the godly man. The ungodly man is driven, doomed, and damned.

*The Exclusions*

   *The Distinctiveness*

   *The Promise*

1. He Is Determined (l:4)

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

 

CHAFF

The fine, dry material, such as husks (seed coverings) and other debris, which is separated from the seed in the process of threshing grain.

In the Bible, chaff symbolizes worthless, evil, or wicked persons (or things) that are about to be destroyed (Ps 1:4; Matt 3:12; Luke 3:17).

It is a fitting figure of speech to describe complete destruction by judgment.

“The ungodly,” said the psalmist, “are like the chaff which the wind drives away (Ps 1:4).

(from Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

Having described the godly man, the Holy Spirit, with studied and deliberate contrast, introduces the ungodly man: “The ungodly are not so.”

In the Septuagint version there is a much more pungent way of expressing the double negative of this verse:

“Not so the ungodly, not so.

In contrast with the towering tree, with its roots deep in the soil, nourished by a permanent stream, the ungodly is likened to the chaff which the wind driveth away.

The unsaved man is at the mercy of forces he does not see what he cannot control. Here is a ship, its engines broken, its steering out of order, caught in the grip of a wind. It is being driven by wind and tide toward the jagged rocks that guard the coast. Gripped by forces beyond its control it is being driven straight to disaster.

Such are the forces at work in the life of the ungodly. They are satanic forces, wielded by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,

The unsaved man doesn’t believe in Satan or in evil spirits. His education has taught him to believe only in what he can test with his senses, but these are invisible forces and the pressure they exert is secret pressure.

The ungodly man is not the master of his own soul. the captain of his own destiny. He is being relentlessly driven. He is as powerless against these forces as the chaff is before the wind. That is how God describes the ungodly.

1. He Is Determined or Driven (l:4)
2. He Is Doomed (l:5)

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

The sinner has no standing on the day of judgment. He will be summoned to the great white throne there to find the heaven and the earth have fled away.

Everything familiar will be gone. Everything he has sought to build, everything in which he has invested his time and his talents-gone!

He has nowhere to stand. He has built his house upon the sand and the judgment has swept it all away.

1. He Is Driven (l:4)
2. He Is Doomed (l:5)
3. He Is Damned (1:6)

6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

“For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

There are only two ways. There is the way of the cross, the way that leads by Calvary to glory.

And there is the way of the curse, the broad and popular way that leads to a lost eternity.

Jesus said in John 14:6

 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man come to the Father, but by me.

By nature, and by practice our feet are set on the broad way.

 

“We have turned every one to his own way,” the prophet declares.

But, by deliberate choice, we can make the change. We come to Jesus, “the way, the truth, the life,” the One who says, “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.

We take Him as Savior and become numbered with the godly We are no longer driven but directed. The lost man, on the other hand, can no more fight his end than the chaff can fight the wind. “The way of the ungodly shall perish.” That is the Holy Spirit’s sobering, closing word in this first great Hebrew hymn.

The central lesson in Psalm 1 is this: There is not the slightest similarity between the spiritually accelerating life of the righteous and the slowly eroding life of the wicked. Look at the contrasts:

 

Godly                                                      Ungodly

Godly Happiness many times over                   Ungodly Not so!

Godly Uncompromised. purity                          Ungodly Driven by the wind

Godly Has a guide-Word of God                       Ungodly No guide mentioned

Godly Like a tree                                                   Ungodly Like chaff

Godly Stands upright before God                     Ungodly Unable to stand at all

Godly Special object of God’s care                   Ungodly No right to stand, among the righteous assembly

Godly Destiny secure, safe, prosperous           Ungodly Perish

 

Let’s bring this study of Psalm 1 to a close with an expanded paraphrase:

Oh, the happiness, many times over, of the man who does not temporarily or even casually imitate the plan of life of those living in the activity of sinful confusion, nor comes and takes his stand in the midst of those who miss the mark spiritually, nor settles down and dwells in the habitation of the blasphemous crowd. But (in contrast to that kind of lifestyle) in God’s Word he takes great pleasure, thinking upon it and pondering it every waking moment, day or night. The result: He will become treelike-firm, fruitful, unwithered, and fulfilling the goals in life that God has designed for him.

 

Not so, the ungodly! They are like worthless husks beaten about and battered by the winds of life (drifting and roaming without purpose). Therefore-on account of their inner worthlessness without the Lord-the ungodly are not able to stand erect on the day of judgment, nor do they possess any right to be numbered among the assembly of those declared righteous by God, because the Lord is inclined toward and bound to His righteous ones by special love and care; but the way of the one without the Lord will lead only to eternal ruin.