Collierville First Baptist Church

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Well, I want to say these men knocked it out of the park.

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Amen.

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Hey guys, thank you for getting outside your comfort zone. I was coming down from the baptistery and I heard this wonderful sound of a group of men singing praises to God.

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You realize that when we get to heaven,

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we're going to worship the living Christ

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and not a single soul around the throne of the Lord will refuse to sing. Everybody will sing before King Jesus. Amen. Amen.

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Well, today I got word that we have a special guest with us today. Now, all of you are special guests if you're not a member of the church, but we have a returning special guest.

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I heard that A.J. Keat and Melinda and their family are here. Would you guys stand up, please?

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Amen. Amen.

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Hey, we love you. We pray for you and pray that God's anointing will be upon you as you lead the great church at your pastoring. Amen. Amen.

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All right.

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I want to make you aware of some things. We're in the midst of nominating deacons

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and the time has come for every member of this church to take that nomination sheet and to write down some nominations for deacons.

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There are two offices in a local New Testament church. It's pastor and deacon.

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So this is a very spiritual thing that we do and our deacon do a great job of ministering to the body of Christ, especially to our widows and widowers.

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And I'm so thankful for them. So I want you today to write down some men that you would like to recommend to be deacons at Cariaville First Baptist Church and place them in the offering box when you leave. By the way, if you're a member of the church, you can also put your offering in the offering box. Amen.

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And also, I want to remind you that our BKCs starts from our backyard kids clubs. Do you realize we have 11 backyard kids clubs that scattered all over the community? What an opportunity we have to get into young lives and young families and minister to them and share the gospel.

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So I want you to join me in just a moment and we're going to pray for our BKCs. I want you to pray for good weather.

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Now the BKCs start in the late afternoon, so we need some good weather.

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So the Bible says, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you." So let's ask the Lord to give us good weather so that we can have the BKCs and get the gospel to our community. Amen.

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All right. Now, let's see. I need to pray now. Let me pray.

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I've got so much stuff here I've got to do. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I am so thankful that you are a gracious and kind and loving God.

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I'm so thankful that the men stood up unashamedly and they sang for your glory. And Lord, I am so thankful for Cardville First Baptist Church and for the opportunity we have to make a difference in this community this week.

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Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus

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that your hand of favor would be upon Kelly and Al and Whitney and the leadership teams of all of these 11 backyard kids clubs. And I pray Heavenly Father that you would give us great weather and I pray that we would be able to share the gospel and your truth, the truth of your word with young kids and with their parents, Lord. Lord, I pray that people will be saved. I pray that those who are straight away from you would come back to you in heartfelt repentance. And Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus that the kingdom of God would go forward in Cardville this week.

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And Lord, I want to pray also for our Deacon nominations.

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Lord, you know the heart of every man in this church and I pray that you would lay upon the hearts of the members of this body to recommend and nominate good, solid, spiritual, Bible-believing, Christ-honoring gospel-centered men to serve as Deacons in this church in this new year.

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And Lord, I pray also for Gracie Driver and Weston Driver and Adeline Riley who are serving you in different places. Gracie is in Orlando.

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Weston is in Thailand. Adeline is in London. I pray that your hand of favor will be upon them as they share the gospel, as they minister to people that you bring across their path. And I pray that you would do a deep work in their hearts as they serve you.

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And Lord, I'm so thankful that we can come and we can pray for those in our church family who are going through difficulties. I lift before you Weber Walker, Richard Bennett, John Fox,

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Stephen Stires, Glenn Pierce, Bonnie Nance, Ron McDaniel and Jim Selvey. And I pray in the name of Jesus, Lord, that you'd be with them, that you would strengthen their bodies, that you would heal them,

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that you would minister to them, that you would open doors for them to get the care that they need.

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And Lord, be with their families.

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I know what it's like, Lord, to be a family member and to see a loved one go through a difficult time physically.

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And I pray that you would be with these family members, Lord, and encourage them and bless them. And Lord, we just want to say that we love you. I ask you to fill me with the Holy Spirit and speak through me today for your glory. Lord, I pray that your spirit would take the word of God and plant it in our hearts. And I pray that every person, whether by live stream or in person, would be not only hearers of the word, but doers of the word today. And we ask it in Jesus' precious name. Amen.

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Now, I want to ask every father to stand up. Every father, stand up. Amen. Let's give them a hand, church family. Amen.

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Thank you for being a man of God. Thank you for loving your family. And I hope and pray that you're encouraged today by the message the Lord has laid on my heart. Thank you. You can be seated.

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Okay. I think I covered all the to-do lists. Now let's get to the word of God. Amen.

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In the movie Braveheart, William Wallace made this statement.

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Every man dies, but not every man really lives.

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That's quite a statement.

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But what does it mean to really live?

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It is true life defined by a shiny new car or a shiny new truck.

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Is it defined by chasing hard after pleasure, after money, after fame or success?

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For the next 30 minutes or so, I would love for you to take your Bible, open it to Psalm 1. We're beginning today a series, Psalms for the Summer. So this summer, we're going to be preaching through the book of Psalms.

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Now the book of Psalms contains Jewish songs and prayers that was such an integral part of the Jewish faith, but it also became an integral part of New Testament Christianity. Well, here we are today and we're starting a series on the Psalms. And I'll tell you, it presents an opportunity for us to really get into the heart of God

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and to really be ministered to in the depths of our soul.

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Now the book of Psalms serves as an introduction to the rest of the Psalm. Psalm 1 serves as an introduction. It presents two ways to live.

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Let me make this clear. There's only two ways you can live.

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You can either live for the Lord or you can live your way, the Burger King way. Have it my way. You can live like that, but I assure you, you would be far better served to choose to do what Psalm 1 insists upon you doing. And that is that you live for the Lord and be blessed.

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That's what he wants to do in your life.

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Now this concept of two ways was highlighted by the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew chapter seven, verse 13 and 14,

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enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction.

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And there are many who enter through it for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life.

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And there are few who find it.

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So just like Psalm 1, Jesus said, there's only two options.

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Either you can go through the narrow gate and get on the narrow road that leads to life,

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or you can go through the wide gate, the broad gate that leads to the broad road that leads to destruction.

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It's your choice.

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I want you to remember what I'm about to tell you. I want you to put it in your mind, in your heart, and I don't want you to ever forget it.

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The truth of Psalm 1 can be reduced down to this one statement.

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Live for the Lord and be blessed. How many of you would like for God to bless you? Raise your hand.

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I can't imagine anybody not raising your hand and wanting God to bless you. But if you really want God to bless you, there's certain criteria you've got to meet in your life. Now this Psalm, Psalm 1 can be divided into two parts.

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Verses 1 through 3 deals, number one, with the godly.

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And verses 4 through 6 deals with the, secondly, with the ungodly.

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Now look at verse 1.

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Psalm 1, verse 1. "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

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nor stand in the path of sinners,

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nor sit in the seat of scoffers."

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Now there's something you've got to understand about a godly man.

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A godly man or a godly person, by nature, has a separation. There's a separation that they have bought into, and it's described right here in verse 1. The separation of the godly person. The word blessed describes a happy, joy-filled, rewarding, fulfilled life.

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What kind of person lives this kind of life?

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Now it's interesting that the Hebrew word for blessed here is plural.

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And it tells us that the God of heaven loves to give multiplied blessings to those who believe in Him, who choose to live His way.

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The godly person who chooses to live for the Lord does not govern his or her life on the basis of bad advice from bad people.

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Notice it talks about the counsel of the wicked. The word counsel, let's substitute the word advice.

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There are all kinds of people who want to give you advice. There's all kinds of people who want to give the young people advice, children advice, adults advice.

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And not every piece of advice is good advice.

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So here's what a godly person does.

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A godly person makes sure that they never, ever take bad advice from bad people.

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Now the advice of the wicked crops up in personal conversations,

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in magazine articles, in TV shows, in movies, in podcasts, in social media. Their voices cry out in unison. They cry out for the heart of teenagers, for the heart of young families, for the heart of even senior adults and children.

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They cry out and they say, "It's foolish to be religious."

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That's what they say.

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You can't trust the Bible.

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It's got holes all in it.

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Jesus is not the only way to heaven.

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You don't have to go to church to be religious.

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Sin is fun and pleasurable.

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You have the freedom to live your way. That's what the voice, the voices of the ungodly and the wicked are constantly calling out into our lives and our hearts. It's all a lie, by the way. It's all a lie.

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I've noticed that when a lot of teenagers go off to college,

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they come under the influence of people who have bad character and bad intentions, and they come away more as a Marxist than they do a solid New Testament believer.

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It's all a lie.

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Make sure that you never get bad advice from bad people.

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Then he talks about the path of sinners.

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Now, this conveys the idea of hanging out with those who have chosen to reject the Lord and His Word.

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They're everywhere. They're on street corners.

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They're in schools, and they sort of clump together.

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They will willingly invite you into their group as long as you embrace their agenda.

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But a godly person does not fall into the trap of walking on the path of sinners.

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The godly person avoids that path.

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I notice in Proverbs 4, verses 18 and 19, look at this. "But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

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The way of the wicked is like darkness.

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They do not know over what they stumble."

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So stay out of the path of sinners. Stay on the path of the righteous.

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And then he talks about the seat of scoffers. Look at verse 1 again. "How blessed is a man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers." Now, scoffers are those who hold nothing sacred.

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There's nothing sacred in the heart and mind of a scoffer, a mocker.

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They ridicule God, and they ridicule everything related to God. They ridicule God's Word. They ridicule God's people.

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They ridicule biblical morality.

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And to sit with such people indicates remaining with them, enjoying an accompany and joining them in their ridicule of God in His Word. Spurgeon said something very interesting in a sermon.

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He said that those who move from being influenced by the counsel of the wicked into the path of sinners and then finally sitting in the seat of scoffers, there's an obvious movement from bad to worse.

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Bad to worse.

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And he referred to these who finally sit in the seat of scoffers as doctors of damnation.

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I remember there was a man who was a part of this church years ago when I first came.

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And this man was inquirer, this man was faithful.

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And this man somehow got sidelined theologically.

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And he began to accept the advice of ungodly people.

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He began to walk in the path of sinners.

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And finally, he sat down in the seat of the scoffer.

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What a sad thing it was.

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He became a doctor of damnation,

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encouraging other people to join him in his foray into the ungodly.

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Now look at Psalm 1 verse 2. We've talked about the separation of the godly man.

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But now I want you to see the dedication of the godly person. Look at verse 2. "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night."

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Now the law of the Lord here does not just refer to the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. It refers to the entire scope of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

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The godly person takes his advice from the word of God, not from ungodly people. The Bible is his delight.

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He finds it to be interesting.

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He finds it to be relevant to the things he's walking through in his life. And he finds joy and satisfaction in reading it and studying it and applying it to his life.

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The Bible goes on to say, "In his law he meditates day and night." You say, "But what does it mean to delight in the law of the Lord, in the word of God?"

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Well, many of you in this room are husbands.

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And the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5 that you are to love your wife as Christ loved the church.

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That means that you find it interesting to be able to sit down and talk with her.

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You find it interesting to be able to spend time with her. You look for ways to encourage her and to help her to be the very best she can be.

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And that's what it means to delight in the word of God.

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In his law he meditates day and night. The godly person ponders over the word of God and studies it consistently.

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When they are depressed or distressed, the godly calls to mind the great promises of the Bible.

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When they are uncertain or perplexed about the next move they need to make in their life or a decision that's on the table, then they go to the word of God and they look for direction and guidance from the word of God.

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When sin looms before them like evil monsters, they go to the word of God and they find the great promises of the Bible, the great promises of forgiveness and the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. They find promises like Romans chapter 8 verse 1, "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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And they are blessed, the Holy Spirit takes those truths and the Holy Spirit sends the evil monsters that are plaguing them and mocking them away. And they're free to love Jesus and to resonate with His word."

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He finds that the word of God has a joy for every sorrow, an answer for every question, and a truth for every situation. In Joshua 1a, the Bible says, "this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success."

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The Bible says that if you want to be prosperous, now understand we're not talking about the prosperity gospel here.

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We're not talking about being healthy, wealthy and all that garbage. Okay. We're not talking about that. We're talking about being prosperous in your spiritual life, prosperous in your family life, prosperous in your spiritual life.

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The Bible says you'll have success. If you learn to meditate on the word of God, let me ask you a question.

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When something tragic happens, like for instance, when you get the news that Israel has attacked Iran and they are taking out nuclear scientists and they're taking out leaders of their military and they're taking out nuclear facilities and they're taking out oil refineries. What comes to your mind? You know what came to my mind? I'm telling you instantly. I began to think of Old Testament prophecies.

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I began to think of Genesis 12, 1-3 where God promises that if we are a blessing to Abraham and the people of God, the Jewish people, that God will bless us. That's the first thing that came to my mind. And then I thought about Ezekiel 36 through 39 and I quickly surmised that this was not Ezekiel 36 to 39. It's not. But the first thing that came to my mind was the word of God. Let me ask you a question.

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Is that what happens in your life? Something tragic happens.

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What's the first thing that comes to your mind? In a 24 hour day, a 10,080 minute week and a 2,592,000 second month, how much time do you spend memorizing and meditating on the word of God? How much time? You see, the more you put in to studying and memorizing and meditating on the word of God, the more the Holy Spirit has to work with when a time comes when you really need an answer from God.

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So here's the challenge for us today.

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Live for the Lord and be blessed. Live for the Lord and be blessed. So we've seen the separation of the godly person, the dedication of the godly person. Now I want you to look at verse three. Look at it. I love verse three.

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He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers.

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This is the inspiration of the godly person. What motivates him to be godly? I'll tell you, it's the promise that God makes here. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water.

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The godly man delights in the word of God and meditates on it consistently. He receives spiritual nourishment from the word of God, just like a tree sends its roots down into subterranean water so that that tree can flourish and be nourished.

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But what does a tree suggest? Have you thought about that? The tree suggests beauty, stability,

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prosperity, strength, vitality, and refreshing shade. I remember when I was a boy growing up, I worked with my granddaddy on the farm. And my granddaddy grew watermelons and cantaloupes and tomatoes. And he would have these huge watermelon patches. And we had to go out there and we had to hoe those watermelons.

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Nothing I hated worse than hoeing watermelons under a blistering sun. But every field that he had had a large shade tree at the end.

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And I remember we would work through some rows and finally he would say to me, "Chuck, it's time for us to take a break." And he didn't have to say it twice.

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And man, I grabbed my hoe, I went to the shade, and he would always have a big thing of ice water. And we would drink ice water and he would talk to me about the things of life. I love my granddaddy.

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I learned a lot from him. I tell you that tree provided refreshing shade. There's something about a tree. And the Bible says that if you are a godly man, if you're a godly woman, a godly teenager or a godly child, that you will be like a tree which yields its fruit and its season.

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And its leaf will not wither even in a prolonged drought. See, I want you to lock something in your mind. I really want you to get this. Here it is. The more you delight in studying God's word and obeying God's word and meditating on God's word, the more fruitful you will be.

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On the other hand, the more you are influenced by the ungodly, the more you will be depleted of the spiritual nourishment you desperately need to be whom God has called you to be.

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If you want God's blessing and favor on your life, spend time with those who love the Lord and his word. And he will make sure you have the strength and the stability to withstand any storm in life that comes your way. That's the truth.

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Now, what is this fruit that he's talking about? Well, let me give you an idea of what I think that fruit is, at least part of it. It's the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23, Paul wrote, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

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Against such things there is no law." And those kind of things pop out of your life when you don't get your advice from bad people.

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And you dig into the Word of God and you delight in the Word of God and you meditate on the Word of God and you allow the Word of God to saturate your mind, your spirit, your soul, and it influences your actions.

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And you build your whole life on the truth of God's Word. Now keep this in mind. Trees bear fruit so that others are blessed and refreshed.

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And God wants to do that in your life. God wants to put you in a position where you are fruitful, where others can come under your shade, your influence, and where they can be refreshed and replenished and encouraged.

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So here's the deal. Live for the Lord and you'll be blessed. Now we've seen the separation of the godly person, the dedication of the godly person, and the inspiration of the godly person.

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Now I want you to see the second part of this psalm. It begins in verse 4, verses 4-6. And verses 4-6 does not deal with the godly, it deals with the ungodly.

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Now the idea of a wicked here means that they have no foundation, no roots, no substance whatsoever. That's what wicked means in the Hebrew.

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So the man whom God blesses prospers because he puts God first in his life. And he seeks to live within the framework of God's will, God's Word, and God's way.

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Listen, the author of psalms, and we don't know who the author is. We know that David wrote a lot of the psalms. We know that.

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We know there were fewer other authors, but we don't know all of the authors of all of the psalms. And we don't know who wrote psalm 1.

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But the author of this psalm sets before us here in verse 4 a startling contrast. Look at verse 4. The wicked are not so. So you got the godly? And then the wicked are not so. But they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Now this refers to the futility of the ungodly person.

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They are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Now the psalmist's mention of chaff reminds us of how the Jewish farmer would handle his wheat crop.

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He would gather the wheat. He would go to a stone threshing floor. He would just lay out his wheat there on the stone threshing floor.

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And he would take his oxen, and he would allow the oxen to just walk all over the wheat. And what he wanted to happen, he wanted the wheat kernels themselves to be separated from the stalks and the chaff.

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And then he would take some kind of shovel or pitchfork, and they seem to always have the threshing floor up on a hill where the wind could catch stuff. And he would take his shovel and he would get a shovel full and he would throw it high into the air. You know what the wind would do?

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It would take the chaff, the husk, and blow them away. And the wheat kernels, which were heavier, would fall back to the floor. And he would do that until he had a floor full of wheat kernels. And then he would gather the wheat, but the chaff was absolutely useless. And it was blown away.

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Now listen, the ungodly, it's a picture of the ungodly. The ungodly are spiritual lightweights.

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They have no roots, no foundation, no substance. It's a picture of a useless and meaningless life.

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John the Baptist prophesied about the Messiah's ministry. In Matthew chapter three, verse 12, he said that when the Messiah comes, his winnowing fork is in his hand.

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It's that thing that the farmer uses to throw the wheat and the chaff up into the air. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor and he will gather his wheat into the barn and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. What a picture. How sad it is to see men, women, boys, and girls who bind to the philosophy of a secular culture, who listen to the continuous voices that cry out for them to reject God, to reject the things of God, to reject the Word of God, to reject the gospel of God.

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And they begin to take the advice of bad people. They walk in the path of sinners and they end up in the seat of scoffers, doctors of damnation. What a sad thing. But Jesus said that one day there's going to be a separation and the wheat will be gathered into the barn.

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But the chaff will be burned up. Look at verse five.

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"Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous."

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This refers not only to the futility of the ungodly person, but to the destiny of the ungodly person. What happens to it? The Bible says right here they'll not stand in the judgment.

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These last two verses distinguish between the destiny of the godly and the destiny of the ungodly. I want you to understand Judgment Day is coming. It's coming.

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You've heard it all your life. You've heard it and you've been listening to these voices. The voices of secular humanism, the voices of liberal theology.

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And they say it's foolish to believe that you'll stand before God in judgment. I'll tell you my friend, you will stand before God in judgment. I promise you, nobody can miss that date. That's going to happen.

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In fact, in 2 Corinthians chapter five, verse 10, the Bible says, "For it must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for the deeds in his body, according to what he had done, whether good or bad."

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So he says the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. I read that and I said, what does that mean? Well, here's what it means.

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Those who stand with the ungodly in this life will never stand with the godly in the next life. That's exactly what it means.

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My friend, I promise you this. You can't live for the devil and go to heaven. You can't do that. If Jesus causes you to be born again, it will affect the way you think, the way you live. It will affect every aspect of your life.

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And then verse six, the Bible says, "For Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

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This verse sums up all that has been said. We've already seen the futility of the ungodly person and the destiny of the ungodly person. Finally, I want you to see the penalty of the ungodly person.

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The Bible makes clear in verse six that God's judgment is based on knowledge. He's not pulling stuff out of the air. Can I tell you this? God knows everything that you've ever said in your life. He knows everything you've ever done in your life. He even knows the motives of your heart. He knows.

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And I tell you, his judgment will be fair and just, I promise you, because of his knowledge. He knows the way of the righteous. You see, judgment will be based on your response to the word of God and the gospel it champions.

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So I ask you today, will you choose to believe in Jesus and to live a godly life that puts you in a position to receive the blessings of God?

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But notice, the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

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What a frightening word that is, perish.

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For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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It's not God's will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It's God's will that you turn from your sin and place your faith in Jesus as your savior and your Lord today.

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In Matthew chapter seven, verse 24 to 27, Jesus said this,

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"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

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And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house, and yet it did not fall.

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For it had been founded on the rock."

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Verse 26, Jesus said, "Everyone who hears the..." Excuse me.

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I hate to do this.

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That's my flow of thought.

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Jesus said, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

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The rain fell and the floods came and slammed against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall."

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So let me ask you a question today. Are you built on the rock or the sand?

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Jesus said, "If you hear these words of his..." By the way, can I tell you, the words of Psalm 1 are Jesus' words too.

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They're His words.

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And if you hear them and you act upon them, you'll be like a man who built his house on the rock. So let me ask you today, are you getting bad advice from bad people?

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Have you rejected the Lord and His Word?

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I tell you, Jesus can save you and open up the floodgates of God's blessings for your life.

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Turn from your sin today.

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Place your faith in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord.

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And He will save you. He will forgive your sins. He will change your heart.

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He'll give you a new heart, a new life, a new destiny, a new desires.

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I want to encourage you to do that today. I'm going to ask our staff to come. I'm going to ask our worship team to come.

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And we're going to have a time where you respond to the Word of God. That's what Jesus said in Matthew, chapter 7, right?

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How you respond to the Word of God that counts with Him.

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And I want to invite you today to come to one of our staff members

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and just tell them that today you want to believe in Jesus. You want to receive Him as your Savior and your Lord. I encourage you to do that. But if you're a believer here today,

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do you realize that sometimes even in the lives of believers,

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we can sort of backslide away from the things we've talked about today.

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And we don't read the Word of God like we should, and we don't meditate on the Word of God. The first thought that comes into our mind when a tragedy occurs or a disappointment occurs is not the Word of God. I tell you, the Holy Spirit who indwells you will revitalize you and revive you. I encourage you to come to the altar and just ask the Lord to help you to live for the Lord and be blessed today.

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Father, in the name of Jesus, have your way in our hearts. Lord, we don't want to live the Burger King way.

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We want to live for you.

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And we want to be on the receiving end of your multiple blessings.

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Oh God, have your way in our hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand and worship and you come as God leads you.