Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19951015.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm One: The Extreme Contrast Between Living By God's Word And Living Apart From It
(Psalm 1:1-6)
  1. Introduction
    1. Not only between believers and unbelievers outside of the faith, but even within the Christian faith there exists an incredible variation of divine blessing in life. Why? Why do some believers enjoy blessing and contentment while others struggle with anxieties and tragic defeats?
    2. Psalm One displays an extreme contrast between two opposing mindsets that we do well to heed!
  2. Psalm One: The Extreme Contrast Between Living By God's Word and Living Apart From It.
    1. The ungodly do not live according to God's Word, and this deflects their lives into a completely opposite lifestyle and ending to those who do obey God's Word, Psalm 1:1-2,4-5.
      1. The ungodly do not delight in God's Word so as to muse in it as a way of life (day and night), Ps. 1:2.
      2. Accordingly, their lifestyle from a worldly vantage point ascends into fame, but, from God's viewpoint, descends into immobility and defamation, Psalm 1:1.
        1. The verbs describing the ungodly who "walk," "stand" and "sit" describe an ascension in success from a worldly viewpoint: the ungodly order their lifestyles (walk) in the belief systems of the world to the point that they take their th eological stance (stand) in its beliefs only to rule (sit) with worldly power structures in city gates that scorn the godly, Psalm 1:1.
        2. However, the actual practices of "walking" then "standing" and then, finally "sitting" describe a deterioration of progress where one gradually comes to a dead halt! It all depends on your point-of-view! From the world's view, you advance where in God's eyes you come to a dead halt!
      3. As a result, the ungodly end up not seeing their sorry plight until it is too late! Like wild trees, they lose their leaves under stressful times, 3-4! Like chaff blown off a hilltop during sifting with the prevailing night winds (Z.P.E.B., Five, p. 939), they become unproductive and disrespected in their end.
      4. Finally, if they do not believe in God, they do not withstand the final judgment like the righteous do, 1:5
    2. The godly take their course of life from the Word of God with extremely opposite results:
      1. They take a stand against the way of life, the beliefs and the positions of activity esteemed by the world and so avoid the deceptive views of wickedness , Psalm 1:1.
      2. This stand against deceptive, evil viewpoints is caused by the godly man's absorption in the Word of God as his way of thinking and thus living (day and night), Psalm 1:2 with 1 Tim. 4:15-16.
      3. As a result, the godly know blessings both in this life and in the life to come:
        1. When the godly heed Scripture this way, they come under the care of the Gardener, the Author of Scripture, God Himself, v. 3. The words "planted by the rivers of water" is a figure referring to man-made ditches in an Eastern tree garden, cf. Bullinger, Figs. of Speech Used In The Bible, p. 98.
        2. As such, the godly have the advantage of seeing God provide for them unlike the ungodly who are left to fend for themselves with false ideologies. When life turns stressful, like trees cared for in the garden by the Gardener, the godly do not lose their foliage, but handle stress well, Psalm 1:3.
        3. Also, they reach their designed potential, bearing what God planned for them to do in their season, 3.
        4. Unlike the ungodly, whatever they try, being God's will since they heed Scripture, is a success, 1:3.
        5. Finally, since God recognizes them in the eternal state, they can remain standing during the judgment of God, Ps. 1:5. They have believed what they should to get into this state! (Gen.15:6; Jn. 3:16)
Lesson: Because the errant views of the world are appealing as rewarding when they are really deceptive and disastrous (Psalm 1:1), the DEGREE to which we adhere in our thinking to the strict teachings of Scripture determines the DEGREE to which we will adopt the right value system, and that affects the DEGREE of blessing in our lives. That is why even believers who know Christ can end up living unhappy, unproductive lives, for they can be saved but adopt deceptive, errant value systems to their own final confusion and destruction, Ps. 1: 3-4 with Lk. 8:10-18! Thus, it is in our best interests as believers to SATURATE our minds CONSTANTLY with SCRIPTURE as our sure defense against disastrous viewpoints that harm us, cf. 2 Tim. 3:13-17; Joshua 1:8!