The Path You’re On

Psalm 1

1. ONLY TWO WAYS (vv. 1–2)

• Ps 1:1
• HOW HAPPY - BLESSED - is the one who DOES NOT 
• Walk in the advice of the wicked or 
• Stand in the pathway with sinners or 
• Sit in the company of mockers!
• BLESSED:
• This is the purpose and intent of the Father. He desires for us to be "blessed" - SUPREMELY HAPPY
• A BLESSED LIFE STARTS NOT WITH WHAT YOU ACQUIRE BUT WITH WHAT YOU YOU REFUSE.

1. WHAT WE NEED TO REFUSE
2. WALK IN THE ADVICE OF THE WICKED

• The advice of the wicked is not just the advice of obviously bad people

1. STAND IN THE PATHWAYS WITH SINNERS

• Pr 4:14–15 
• Keep off the path of the wicked; don’t proceed on the way of evil ones. Avoid it; don’t travel on it. Turn away from it, and pass it by. 

1. SIT IN THE COMPANY OF MOCKERS

• Mockers are not necessarily violent people
• They’re not visibly destructive 
• They just MOCK….GOD and the things of God
• Ps 26:4–5 
• I do not sit with the worthless or associate with hypocrites. I hate a crowd of evildoers, and I do not sit with the wicked. 
• We are called to be separate:
• 2 Co 6:14–15.
• Do not be yoked together with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial (a name for the devil)? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
• THIS IS A SLOW DRIFT, not sudden rebellion. (And some of you are on it)

1. WHAT DO YOU DELIGHT IN

• AND then verse 2 flips the script:
• Ps 1:2
• Instead, his DELIGHT is in THE LORD’S instruction (direction, law, rule) , and he meditates (growl, mutter, speak in an undertone, proclaim) on it day and night.
• This isn’t rule-obsession.
• HE SAYS IT IS HIS DELIGHT - HIS PLEASURE
• IT GROWS NATURALLY
• MEDITATES: 
• Growl, mutter, speak in an undertone, proclaim, speak

1. DEEP ROOTS (vv. 3–4)

• Ps 1:3-4
• He - THE BLESSED MAN -  is like a TREE PLANTED beside flowing streams that bears its fruit IN IT’S SEASON, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does PROSPERS
• TREE
• FORMED OVER TIME
• BUILT FOR THE LONG HAUL
• DEEPLY ROOTED
• THIS IS NOT wild tree.
• PLANTED. On purpose.
• TRANSPLANTED
• FRUIT comes IN SEASON
• Trees don’t grow fruit by EFFORT.
• They grow fruit by connection to the SOURCE OF LIFE
• There is NOT always fruit
• PROSPERS: Advance in a successful way
• THE WICKED
• Ps 1:4
• The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
• CHAFF 
• Chaff looks substantial until pressure hits.
• Here’s the hard truth:
• A distracted life eventually becomes a hollow life.
• DRIFT ALWAYS FEELS EASIER - UNTIL THE STORM

1. GOD IS NOT ANGRY; HE IS HONEST (vv. 5–6)

• Ps 1:5-6
• Therefore THE WICKED will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the RIGHTEOUS. 
• For the Lord watches over THE WAY of the RIGHTEOUS, but THE WAY of the WICKED leads to ruin.
• Wicked in Judgement
• There will be NO JUSTIFICATION for their actions nor the way they lived their life.
• THE WAY: Notice: both have A WAY
• God is a good Father saying,
• “DON’T WALK THERE! IT ENDS BADLY!”

1. JESUS: THE TRUE PSALM 1 MAN

• This is not about a to-do list
• Meditate more
• Read the Bible more
• Avoid bad people more
• THIS IS ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED
• JESUS is the only one who perfectly walked Psalm 1.
• Perfect DELIGHT
• Perfect OBEDIENCE
• Perfect TRUST
• He took the place of the WICKED so we could live abundant - BLESSED LIVES
• HE TOOK THE JUDGEMENT OF THE CHAFF

1. APPLICATION — TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR INPUTS
2. WHAT and/or WHO is shaping YOUR LIFE?
3. WHERE ARE YOU PLANTED

• YOU’RE NOT STUCK
• You are headed down a path
• But you are becoming.
• BUT WHO ARE YOU BECOMING?
• THERE ARE ONLY TWO DESTINATIONS
• THE STREAM IS RIGHT HERE IN JESUS

Reflection & Application Questions

1. Where in your life are you “walking” near compromise that could eventually become sitting in it?
2. What is shaping your thinking more consistently than Scripture right now?
3. If your current habits continued for five years, who would you become?
4. When pressure hits, do you become reactive or rooted? What does that reveal?
5. What is one distraction you need to cut during Lent because it is quietly discipling you?
6. Are you trying harder to grow or intentionally planting yourself in Christ?
7. What would repentance (total change of mind and direction) actually look like in one specific area this week?
8. Do you believe God is restricting your joy or protecting it? What evidence supports your answer?

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHILE READING SCRIPTURE

What does this reveal about God?

What does this reveal about you in relation to God?

What do you need to do about it?