Two Ways, No Middle Ground - Part 2 | Pastor Paul McGee

Want to see him someday and we're in the preparation room

now to see him in the preparation.

It's like a like a bride in her room preparing to get ready for

that, that processional down the aisle.

Amen. To meet the groom.

Amen. What a day that will be.

I'm going to be turning to Psalms chapter #1 Good to see

each of you this morning. A man in the House of the Lord

and I'm piggybacking off of where I start.

I told you last week I just gave you my introduction and so just

kind of piggybacking off that. Continuing with Psalm chapter #1

this morning. Glad to see each of you our

guest today. We welcome you.

Thank you for being here. Others that have been unable to

be here. We're glad to have you back in

the House of the Lord today. Psalm one, I'm going to read the

entire Psalm. It's just 6 verses.

So don't don't get nervous here today.

The Bible says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the

counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in

the law of the Lord, and in his law doeth he meditate day and

night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of

water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall

prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are

like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the the judgment, nor

sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of

the ungodly shall perish. I didn't really have anything

better to call this than what I called it last week and call it

Part 2. This is not turning into like a

50 week series, though. This will be the conclusion of

it today. But this morning with

continuation two ways, no middle ground, because that's

essentially what the psalmist has presented to us here in

chapter one among all these 150 psalms.

It's presented what is presented all throughout Scripture.

It just reiterates it. In essence, he meant that there

are there are two ways. Verse 6 tells us.

There's the way of the righteous and there is the way of the

ungodly. That's that, that's it, that's

it. There is no middle ground.

Help us to pray today, Father. I thank you Lord, for your

spirit. I thank you, oh Lord Jesus, God,

for meeting us here, God, for ministering and touching the

lives. Lord already this morning, God

through our song service today, I pray God, you would continue

to help us now open our hearts and our minds to your word God

and will not Lord Jesus fail to return glory and honor unto you

God for it to do unto your name with the lovely name of Jesus

Christ that I pray Hallelujah in the church.

Amen, Amen. You may be seated this morning

in Jesus name without totally recapping last week this morning

I do just want to mention that last week we examined the

exclusivity of God and I know sometimes that it's hard for

maybe modern day society to digest and to process, but he is

quite exclusive. He speaks about that there is

one door that leads into the sheepfold.

He speaks of himself be in that door.

Anybody that comes up or attempts to come up any other

ways, the same as a thief and a robber and the one door.

He speaks in the book of Ephesians how that there is one

faith and 1 Lord and 1 baptism and one God and Father who's

above all and through all and in us all speaks of this oneness.

I closed out last week. He talked about how his his name

was even 1 and he was 1 Lord and his name was 1.

So there's exclusivity to God and exclusivity to his word that

Psalm 1 picks up on yet again and iterates yet again.

It confronts us with that same reality.

It presents only two ways in Psalm chapter #1 which is an

echo of the ways that is presented all throughout

Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

And in these two ways, the way of the righteous, in the way of

the ungodly, they are two vastly different ways.

As a matter of fact, we can know of that because their

destination, the end place, does not seem to be the same or is

not the same. To say more clearly, the Bible

says that one of the ways leads to prospering, the other way

leads to perishing. And there is, Brother Reese, no

middle ground, no Gray area, no in between.

And in our world today, living in the world, as I mentioned

last week of, of the idea and the concept of participation

trophies, where a world that tells us everybody wins, nobody

loses, every path leads to somewhere good type of cotton

candy, peak elephant type of, you know, idea and idea that the

Scripture refuses though to soften the truth.

The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians chapter #3 and verse

#14 he said very explicitly Paul and he's using language from

really Olympics, even all the way back at that time, Paul

said, I press toward the mark for the prize.

And that WordPress that he uses, I press.

It's a word that it's not passive language.

But again, he's still in this imagery from the Olympic Games

of his time. It was the picture of a runner

that is straining forward with everything that is in him in

order to meet the finish line. When Paul said that, he pressed.

He wasn't saying I'm in a casual jog here.

He wasn't in a casual jog. He he wasn't just there with

well, I got the I showed up mentality.

So, you know, pin, pin something on my lapel because I'm here

type of scenario. No, he was in a pursuit, a

pursuit. He was pressing.

It was urgent. And what was going on with the

Apostle Paul, what he was relaying to us in Scripture is

this is that he was refusing to let anything keep him from the

finish line, refusing from anything keeping him from the

finish line. And Paul understood what the

Scripture relayed, that there was a prize.

There was one prize in the ancient Olympic Games.

I know we just came through the Olympics here just recently, but

the ancient Olympic Games, there was no silver medal.

There was no bronze medal. There was 1 winner, 1 crown, and

that person's name was recorded as the winner.

And so Paul is illustrating to us, he's like, well, this is the

way that I'm living life. I'm pressing for the prize, the

prize. And he understood that his

competition, though, in this life, this journey that we call

Christianity, that his competition was not another

runner. I'm not in competition with

Brother Reese and I'm not in competition with Brother Fred.

But if anything, I'm in competition with anything that

will try to pull me off the course.

I'm in competition with anything that might be in the way of

that. And the things that we war

against according to Scripture, is our flesh.

I'm in competition with my flesh.

I'm in competition with my past. I'm in competition with the

constant pool, even in today's world of all of the quote UN

quote, alternative ways of life that would say choose me here am

I go this way, go this path. And so his competitors were not

necessarily runners or people, but they were other things that

would attempt to divert him, deter him off the course.

Because from the very beginning of time, let's be honest, one

with one another, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden,

from the very beginning, the enemy has always been good at

trying to offer humanity another way.

From the very beginning, another way.

All of these trees Adam and Eve can partake of, but don't eat of

the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And that's the other way than that the enemy submits to Adam

and Eve. Amen to try.

Amen. And so that is the tactic of the

adversary. There's two ways, one that leads

to destruction, one that that leads to life.

And the enemy of our soul is always trying to give us an

alternative. Amen to the way of the Lord.

But the psalmist declares that there are still only two ways.

And to just boil it down really to what they are, it's the way

of the word or the way of the world, the way of the word or

the way of the world. And here's here's what is

absolutely true today, each and every individual center.

And the sound of my voice this morning is walking in one of

these two ways, every single one of us.

There's no qualms about it. It's not accidental that in

Psalms chapter #1 that it stands at the very entrance of the book

of Psalms. There's 149 other psalms found

in this book of Psalms. Yet the writer, Christ even has

it strategically placed as the first chapter of these 150

Psalms. This Psalm, according to

history, this Psalm wasn't the first written Psalm of the 150

Psalms, but it was chosen to be placed first out of the 150

Psalms because of its importance of describing to us how there

are only two ways. When you read through the

Psalms, how many just love reading the psalms Sometime you

know when your soul was overwhelmed or when you're

discouraged and you're reading the Psalms about, about praise.

There's a lot of praise that's mentioned throughout the Psalms.

There's, there's a lot of Psalms that can be used.

It's just really David offering a prayer.

It's almost like a recorded the prayer of David that's within

the Psalm. There's other places in Psalms

that the Bible records. It's the psalmist or perhaps

someone else that they're pouring out their complaint

before the Lord. We have these different things

throughout the Psalms. Praise again like Psalms 150.

Let everything that have breath, praise the Lord, praise ye the

Lord. But before all or any of that

takes place, the Lord is an inviting us as the first place

Psalm chapter #1 He invites us that before we ever utter that

prayer, or before we're ever invited in, in one of the other

Psalms to a place of worship, or before we're even invited to

pour out our complaint to the Lord, He's really confronting us

with a question. Which way are you on?

Which way are you on? And so when we look at Psalm one

becoming a lens through which we view all the other Psalms, Amen,

that that is a truth not just for the Psalms, but it's a truth

for our own lives. Then we must understand this

because every prayer that I pray and every praise that Ioffer and

all these things, every struggle that I endure, it will all be

shaped about what path you're on.

That's the truth. By what path you're on, Amen.

And so there's only two ways, the word and the world.

And so Psalm one almost stands as a gatekeeper for the rest of

the Psalm. It says blessed is the man.

And of course the word man here is not just for the males, but

it can be for male or female, all humanity.

It doesn't matter their age or their demographic.

But nonetheless, it arrests our attention because the psalmist

is telling us this is what this is.

What a blessed life looks like. This is what a blessed life.

It grabs our attention and bless.

Being blessed still grabs the world's attention today.

We have all the terminology out there, right?

We hear it everywhere. I'm blessed.

I'm blessed and highly favored. Hashtag blessed.

Blessed life. Hashtag so blessed, huh?

If I'm not the only one that sees it, surely you see it as

well. But we have all of that

terminology out there. But somewhere along the way,

society has redefined what blessed means.

We put hashtag blessed day. I'm blessed.

That's what we hashtag blessed when everything's going well on

our life. Hashtag so blessed because the

bills are paid, highly favored and blessed before the Lord

because the promotion came through at our job.

Listen, I'm just saying what I see being blessed then is all

about just being being favored or feeling that we have been

favored. And sometimes people use that

little terminology, blessed just as a way to give a little humble

brag about some achievements they've made and they're still

trying to be modest about. Well, OK.

But Psalms is not describing the blessed man who's blessed

because of what he has. He's describing a blessed man

because of how he lives. Look at the blessing here in

Psalms chapter #1 when you begin to look at it, he does not say

the blessed man is the man that has all the material

possessions. He does not say the blessed man

is the man who got the promotion on the job or everything is

going just oh peachy in his life.

It's the blessed man. It's not the man that has all

the achievements, if you will, of awards upon his mantle, but

the blessed man is a man that is headed in the direction that God

wants him to be going. A blessed man is about his

direction. A blessed man is about going the

right way. And whenever we start to see

what the Bible describes as the blessed man, there's 2 levels in

which it describes the blessed man.

First you look in Psalms. The blessed man is first

described by what he avoids, and then he is described about what

he embraces. Someone say man.

And so there are some things that the blessed man, according

to Psalm one, he'll refuse to get close to.

And there are some other things that the blessed man will refuse

to live without. And so he distances himself

according to Scripture, from what things that may be labeled

as ungodly, and he draws himself close to other things.

Amen. That would be termed godly,

Amen. Notice what the Scripture says,

that the blessed man walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.

The blessed man walketh not in the counsel, if you will, of

just the carnal world, because here's a fact that I think we

all need to come to terms with today.

You cannot walk in the counsel of the world and the counsel of

God at the same time. Years ago, they called that type

of scenario trying to straddle the fence.

It's impossible according to Scripture.

And so when we look at the verses of Scripture, we

understand that true blessedness is not accidental.

It's not like you just stumble into a blessing, like it's just

happenstance. No true blessedness is

intentional and the Bible tells us that it's reserved or it's

exclusive for the person who makes a decision that I'm not

going to build my life. What's on that's what's on

temporary. But what is rooted a man in the

eternal things? All right, because in reality,

again modern day terminology, the blessed life is all about

just a life of comfort. No.

According to the Word, a blessed life is about a life that's

aligned with God's Word. And you know what there are, you

can still have some uncomfortable times in life and

be blessed because again, it's about direction.

It's about direction, not necessarily about things and

accumulation and achievements and things of that nature.

And so, so let's look at the order of the Scripture again.

Before the Bible tells us what the the blessed man does, it

tells us what he refuses to do. Blesses the men that walketh not

in the counsel of the godly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Do you see the progression of those verbs in that verse?

Blesses the men walketh not, standeth not and sitteth not.

Notice it starts with walking and then just with standing, and

then was sitting. There's a progression because

this man is getting more comfortable not doing those

things. He's not going to allow himself

to be snapped food by becoming comfortable where he would used

to walk alongside counsel of the ungodly and then get to a

certain comfort level where he would just stand, stand in the

way of sinners to a degree then that he got comfortable enough

to sit down in the seat of the scornful.

Said a blessed man doesn't take the progression.

He doesn't follow the downward spiral.

Can I say it like this, real today, No one makes plans to sit

with the scornful. No one makes plans to sit with

the scornful. The Bible describes the

scornful. The actual definition of

scornful here in this this chapter is the scornful are

those that reject and disdain both the wisdom and the

correction of God. Both the wisdom and the

correction of God. Nobody just just wakes one more.

And you know what? I'm just going to go sit in the

seat of the scornful. I'm just going to reject.

I'm just going to disdain God and his correction, his wisdom.

No, no, no. You know how a person gets to

sitting in the seat of the scornful?

They start by walking with wrong counsel.

They start by walking with wrong counsel and they start listening

to voices among that council that are not favorable toward

the Lord. And so when you start to allow

of walking in the counsel of the ungodly, and you allow that

influence to start shaping your thinking, when you allow that to

start shaping your thinking, you'll walk among that long

enough. Before long, you'll find

yourself pausing and standing in the way or the conduct in the

behavior of the Sinner. And when you stand, I see it

sometimes even even even as a pastor in other episodes,

whenever a person is maybe comes around, a group of people that

they're real not sure of yet. Sometimes you see they're a

little anxious, right? And so they, they might, they're

those people might be sitting down and stuff, but they're not

sitting down. They're they're kind of, you

know, on the peripheral and they're just kind of there and

they're checking everything out. And then as a comfort level

grows, you can see it even sometimes with kids, you know,

and teenagers. And as a comfort level grows,

rather than just doing the little pace something they kind

of there a little bit and if they're real comfortable,

they're going to sit down right among the group.

But usually. If if there's a certain level of

disconnect or comfort to begin with, they're not going to do

that. But as they grown more and more

comfortable, they'll. Just sit right?

Among the group. And So what happens, though,

when we walk long enough in the counsel of the ungodly, then

we'll stand, And when we have stood long enough in the way of

sinners, then we'll find ourselves sitting.

And see, we think, well, how in the world did I get from here to

here? Because there's people who look

over their shoulders and they say, well, I would never disdain

the Lord to reject the correction of God or the wisdom

of God. And then somewhere in their life

they find themselves. They're like, how did I get

here? Well, you didn't just arrive

there. You've done some standing and

walking before you did any sitting.

Amen. Because the enemy never invites

you to the table just to sit first.

He wants you just to walk nearby 1st and the blessed man,

according to the scripture, he refuses the entire progression.

It's not that he just refuses the sitting, he refuses The

Walking. He refuses the.

Walking in the council, a man of the ungodly, godly, he says.

I'm not going to. I'm not going to walk somewhere.

I'm not going to walk somewhere I wouldn't stand and I'm not

going to stand somewhere I wouldn't sit.

Huh. No, no, no, no, no, He

understands that his walk and this is all times in Scripture.

The Bible says, you know, that it describes our walk and our

walk is our manner of life. It's our behavior, it's our

conduct. It's the way that it's the way

that we conduct ourselves and direct ourselves.

And so he understands this. This blessed man understands

that his walk is his way of life.

So I can't even compromise on the walk level.

Amen. Among the council of the ungodly

because this is the way of my life.

Look what the Bible says in Psalms chapter #10 and verse #4

It says the wicked. This is the exact same Hebrew

word that is translated ungodly in our chapter.

So the wicked or ungodly through the pride of his countenance

will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts.

This is the type. Of people that counsel walking

among the council. This is the type of people that

we're talking about. Those that seek not after God,

those that not even maintain God in any of their thoughts.

Look at Psalms 50 again, the word wicked here absolutely

interchangeable with ungodly. That's in our Psalm chapter #1

Psalm 50 and verse 16. But unto the wicked or ungodly

saith God, what has thou to do to declare my statutes, or that

thou should just take my covenant in thy mouth?

Look at verse 17. See thou hatest instruction and

casteth my words behind me. This, this is the, this is the

mentality, this is the characterization of the wicked

or the ungodly. They don't want anything to do

with God. They don't want to seek after

God. They don't want to entertain the

thoughts of God. They hate God's instruction and

anything God has to say, they're just going to castaway.

The blessed man says I don't want to walk in that council.

The blessed man says. I'm not walking among that

council because what does the blessed man understand?

He understands that if they have cast God's words behind them,

then they're not going to be any benefit to me in helping me walk

according to God's will because God makes His will known through

His words. So I can't I can't I can't be in

that council because that's not going to be beneficial to me.

So I refuse. He will not walk in their

counsel. And you see the words there in

Scripture that he that walketh not standeth not sitteth not

what that tells you and I is this that wasn't just a solitary

one time decision that the blessed man made.

What it means is this is that he did not walk in the council that

got ungodly. He, he is not walking in the

counsel of the ungodly and he will not walk on the counsel of

the ungodly. He will not stand.

He will not stand, Amen, In the way of sinners, He did not

stand. In the way of sinners, He is not

standing. It's saying that past, present

and future, he's not going to be involved in that.

He's not going to be involved in that, Amen.

And so Scripture warns us. It warns us concerning what we

rub shoulders with the Bible says in the New Testament, First

Corinthians 15 and verse 33, and to borrow the three words that

we kind of leaned on a little bit last week with the false

prophets that just want to tell you what you want to hear rather

than what you need to hear. Here we hear again, be not

deceived. The apostle says to the church

at Corinth, evil communications corrupt good manners.

Now the word communication there is beyond just talking about

conversation. The word communication there is

talking about evil association or evil influence, evil being in

proximity or near close to evil. It's about being together or in

contact or companionship with evil.

In other words, Paul's telling the church at Corinth, he says

don't be deceived. He says the the company, if we

can say it like that, the company that you keep will have

an impact on your manners. Let's break it down as they used

to say Gerber style, right? We won't you be able to swallow

this the company you keep. Whether that company?

Is people. Whether that company?

Is the literature you read, whether that company is the

music and the podcast you listen to, whether that company is the

entertainment you fancy yourself with, whether that company has

any inkling of evil? He says it can corrupt.

That word corrupt is strong that it can shrivel, it can wither,

it can spoil, it can ruin your good manners by the company you

keep. You know what the blessed man

says? I'm not walking among the

council. I'm not sitting there because

the company I keep has a direct influence on how I live my life.

Oh yeah. It does, and so the Scripture

tells us, the ungodly as they are listed here in Psalm 1.

The ungodly was one that may commit a sin occasionally, but

the sinners are more defined as one who have made sin the

practice of life. And then when we get to the

scornful again, they've even moved beyond just just the

practice of a daily living like that, but they've taken pride in

it. They no longer struggle with

sin. They defend sin, they reject

correction, they despise instruction.

And so the blessed man refuses to sit in that seat because

again, he knows I cannot walk with the world and remain rooted

in the Word. I know anybody.

That tries to accomplish that is only fooling themselves.

James told us. And it seems like we've

mentioned the Scripture here recently on a Sunday morning of

James four and four, and the Bible says whosoever is will be

the friend of the world is the enemy of God.

There's no two ways about it, all right?

There's no two ways about it. But notice the contrast.

The blessed man, he does not walk in the counsel of the

godly. He does not stand in the way of

sinners. He does not sit in the seat of

the scornful. Yet there is something.

That's the things that he avoids.

Those are the things that he doesn't do.

Yet the Bible says there is something that he does do,

something that he takes pleasure in, even something that the

Bible says he even delights in. Above everything else the Bible

says, but his delight is in the law of the Lord above.

In other words, that is his chief desire.

That is his chief joy. He meditates upon it day and

night, just meaning all the time he is meditating upon the word

of the Lord. Look what the Bible says

concerning the Word of God in Scripture.

In Second Timothy three and verse 16.

The Bible says all, everyone say all.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, which is

literally all Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for

doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and

righteousness, That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly

furnished unto all good works. The blessed man is all about

delighting in the word of the Lord, and look what the word of

the Lord can do. It can correct you, it can

rebuke you, it can, if you will instruct you.

That's why you're not going to find someone ungodly or a

Sinner, Amen, or the wicked, Amen.

That's going to have the same type of mind frame as those that

are associated with the Word, because the scornful is going to

reject any correction. Hear me.

That's the reason why this, this, this is an impossibility

to walk in both ways. Amen.

Because the word is going to hold us accountable and the

blessed man is meditating upon that word.

He's not just glancing down at just a verse.

He's meditating upon that word. He's continuously.

He has an ongoing, never ending reflection upon the word of God.

When you talk about the word meditate, that word is really

derived from a modern word that we use today, particularly in

farming. It's all about rumination.

That's what cows do. They ruminate out there in the

field. They got multiple stomachs out

there eating what chew in their cud.

They swallow that. Somewhere along the way, they

regurgitate that back in their mouth where they do it.

They're chewing on it again. They're deriving as much as they

can from that food. Swallow it, bring it back up,

swallow it. I'm not trying to make anybody

say, all right, swallow it, bring it back up, choose some

more, Drive all the nutrients we can, extract everything that

that has out of it. That's the picture that we

should get about the blessed man meditating on the word of the

Lord. Amen.

He's heard it before, but he's going to bring it back to his

mind. He's going to think about it

again. He's going to ponder on that

again. He's going to swallow it and

he's going to bring it back up. He's going to derive everything

he can out of the word of God. That's what the blessed man does

with it. He chews in the day, he chews on

it at night, He chews on it when things are going well.

He chews on it when things are going bad.

He chews on it when he has a terminal illness and he chews up

on it when he gets his new promotion.

He chews, huh? He just chews and choose and

choose. If I'd say it like this, he

doesn't. When he's walking, when he's

standing, Amen. Anytime, all the time, He's

doing it. Amen.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter #6 and this, this is the

Lord. And he's admonishing Moses to

tell the children of Israel what they need to do and how they

need to teach and instruct their children in the ways of the word

and in the ways of the law. And he says in Deuteronomy 6 and

verse 6, And these words which I commanded thee, this day shall

be in thy heart. Look at this in reflection on

Psalms. One look at this, and thou shall

teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk to them

when thy sit us in thine house, and when thou walkest by the

way, and when thy lie us down, and when thy risest up.

It's interesting to me because Moses was instructed the Lord to

tell the parents of Israel, whenever you're walking,

whenever you're standing, whenever you're sitting,

whenever you rise up, be implementing the Word of God and

sharing it with your children. Tell them about it and what it

is. In all of those modes where a

person could walk in wrong counsel, stand in the wrong way,

sit with the scornful. God's telling Moses.

Tell them as they walk. Talk about the Word as they sit.

Talk about the Word as they stand.

You know what our best combat is?

To be refraining from walking in the council is to walk in His

council. The best, The best, if you will

force against standing in the way of sinners is as we go and

stand about the way. Talk about the way, you hear me?

There is a counter. Action Amen.

That takes place here. And so the blessed man refuses

all of that. But while it's not a refusal

without a replacement, he refuses that with the

replacement, with the instruction of God's Word, this

way of life, this way of blessing, now that he adopts for

himself. And so when we look at the

Scriptures of the few verses here of The Walking in the

standing of the sitting, and his delight in his meditation of

chewing the cut of God's Word, the Bible says it gives us a

metaphor. Here.

We didn't get the picture yet in the 1st 2 verses he gives us a

metaphor. He says such a man, such a

blessed man that avoids these things and embraces these other

things. Such a man shall be like a tree

planted by the rivers of water. Notice the.

Wording and this man shall be. It becomes a future reality for

this man. He shall be as a tree that's

planted by the rivers of water. Let me back it up and say this

in order for the man to shall be in order for the man to have

that future reality, he has to have a word meditation reality

today. In order for that to be his

future reality, he has to be a diligently delighting in the law

of the Lord man today. The reality of a future planted

tree is all based upon a engrossed man in the word today.

And so for that for that tree to take root, it's got to be a man

that is meditating upon God's law and rooted in the word.

And so that planted man or that planted woman, again, regardless

of of age or dynamics, he's delight in the word of the Lord.

He's not casual about it, but he's continue about it and the

Bible then begins to describe him being like this tree

planted, landed by the rivers of water and it gives some other

descriptions concerning him. This tree bears its fruit in its

season and also its leaf does not wither.

Now that is. Quite.

That is tremendous. It's going to bear it's fruit

when it's time to bear fruit and it's leaf is not going to

wither. Why is all this happening to

this tree that's being described?

Because this is a tree that is picturing a life that's grounded

in the word of God. And again, it's a tree planted

by the rivers, plural of water, which in the Hebrew 2 brother

Mason is plural. This tree has more resources

than it will ever use. I like that because it is

planted in such a way in such a position, but there's more

resources around it than it will ever use.

It has all that it needs where it's planted.

Hey man, all that it needs. The Bible says in Ezekiel 19 and

verse 10, and it reminds us, it says she and it's Speaking of

Jerusalem, but it says she was a was fruitful and full of

branches by reason of the many waters.

Hey man, it's planted there. It's established there by the

river. It should be no surprise that

there's fruit on its branches and that its leaves are not

withering A solitary tree by many channels of water.

What more could a tree need? What more could a person need?

That tells me that droughts not going to overtake that tree

because it has a source that is abundant, it has a source that

is steady, it has a source that is sustaining.

And look to it says the tree shall be planted.

So this is not accidental that the tree ends where it is at.

This is not like a wild tree just growing up somewhere.

The word for planted is actually even more correctly that this

tree shall be transplanted. That means that tree was

purposely placed there when anything arbitrary about this.

This tree had an establishment somewhere, but it was uprooted

from there and it was transplanted right here.

Now my good news. For you with that today is this.

You might not be on the path of the way of the righteous today,

but if you engorge yourself in the Word and obedient to the

Word, we can have a transplanting session where God

will uproot you from where you are and place you where He think

that you'll flourish the most by rivers and channels of water

where you can have a great resource.

And the Bible says whatsoever he doeth now this tree shall

prosper. The things that he touches, it

seems the things that he undertakes, the things things

are are are flourishing. It's not by chance.

It's because he's rooted in the word and he's not left to wither

and he's not left to not have any fruit.

It's just on going the Bible. We see this tree terminology and

imagery and other places, the Scripture, the prophet Jeremiah

picked up on it as well. And Jeremiah 17 and seven.

The Bible says blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord,

and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree

planted by the waters, that spreadeth out her roots by the

river, and shall not see when he cometh, but her leaf shall be

green. It's not going to wither, and

shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease

from yielding fruit. Amen.

Again, it's talking about the prospering Amen of a tree that

is planted by waters. For that matter, folks, when we

talk about all this walking and sitting and trees and water

stuff, does your mind go anywhere?

Because my mind goes all the way back to the beginning.

Amen all. The way back to the beginning

where there were people walking with God, there were a river

that flowed out of that Eden, there was fruit upon the tree,

there was all these different concepts that were taking place.

And so a real blessed life is a life that's planted in the word.

And so everything that we said up to this point about the the

blessed man and the way that he walks and the way that he stands

and sits and meditates and delights and how he is planted,

the Bible is quite emphatic in verse 4.

The ungodly are not so for a grand contrast, for a grand

difference. The ungodly are not so.

They're the exact opposite, the exact opposite of the blessed

man. The ungodly walk in the counsel

of the ungodly. The ungodly stand in the way of

sinners. They sit in the seat of the

scornful. They could care less about the

laws of God. They refuse the laws of God.

They cast aside the laws of God. They don't delight in them,

quite frankly, they ignore them, hate them, don't meditate upon

them. And then the result of them, the

metaphor, the simile is used. The result of them.

Then they are not like a tree planted.

They are like chaff that's blown.

No roots, no stability, no connection.

The image is quite. Different.

You got a productive tree, fruitful tree, and then you have

chaff that's just swirling around in the wind,

directionless, powerless, blown by whatever comes by.

Warren Wears me said it well, he said the chaff, and this is

true. The chaff is so near the grain,

but in the end the two are separated.

The chaff is really the husk that's around the grain so

close, but in the end, they're separated because that old

farmer would take that grain with that husk, that chaff

around it, and take it up to a high mountain where they had a

threshing floor. And they get a old pitchfork or

what was known as a winnowing tool tool.

And he'd scoop up some of that grain.

And guess what he does? He throws it in the air and the

wind that's blowing on top of that mountain takes the chaff

that's around that grain and blows it and separates it from

the grain that that that it is around.

And the Bible tells us though, even this, that if the chap

isn't blown away, if there's any chap that even remains on the

threshing floor, this is what your New Testament scripture

says in Matthew 321. If any chap remains, it's

describing again this whole process, Amen, of the separation

up on a hill where the wind's blowing.

It says whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly

purge his floor, Speaking of Christ, and gather his wheat

into the garner. Notice this last phrase.

And it's quite poignant. But he will burn up the chap

with unquenchable fire. No one wants to talk.

About this today, do they? Right?

And nobody church across America that wants to talk about a

heaven to gain and a real hell to shun?

No. One wants to talk about that.

Because that that like brings the whole level of the

atmosphere down. You know, we don't want to talk

about that, but but we need to talk about that.

We need to talk about. That.

Because we got. Two ways, two ways, No middle

ground, he says. If there's any chat that remains

that was likened unto the ungodly.

That are walking among. The ungodly sitting among the

way of sinners, or the scornful standing in the way of sinners,

rejecting God's Word. I don't.

I don't expect a hand clap right here.

OK, that's fine, you know, I understand.

But what I'm saying is, he said that champ, if there's any that

remains, it will be given over to unquenchable fire.

The Bible speaks. Up in the Book of Revelation of

even the doom for Satan himself for the false prophet, Huh.

A lake of fire. It talks about an everlasting

fire. The Gospels talk.

About where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.

Remember, you don't talk about that.

You just brought this. You just brought this hope,

gloom and doom down. Listen.

I'm doing this all a. Favor talking about this.

I said there's two. Ways you know, you remember when

using scorn, it's like, oh bless God, Hallelujah.

It's multiple choice. And why are you saying that?

Because I got a 5050% chance. I'm either right or wrong.

Everybody. Hear me.

Today, there's two ways. This is not ABCDE at No, no no.

There's two ways we. Huh.

We got 2A's and, and good enough for us.

We got instruction in God's word about which way leads to life

and which way leads to destruction.

And so it would behoove me to be introspective about my life.

Amen. Right.

And, and see and understand, oh, that way leads to destruction.

That way leads to life. And so I'm going to allow these

things that lead to life be a part of my life because I don't

want the destiny of unquenchable fire.

I don't want the destiny of burning up.

I don't want the destiny of eternal agony.

But here we doing all right. So we need to talk about this.

The church needs to be talking about this.

Hear me if the Bible. Declares that hell hath enlarged

herself. You hear me?

If the Bible talks about hell hath enlarged herself, we are

doing a injustice to society. Hear me?

And I'm going to get a little straight here for a moment.

Standing at every casket and preaching people in the heaven.

We're doing a. Injustice.

There's two ways we talked about last week.

There's the broad, the narrow, the broad, the narrow, there's

the straight, the wide, there's the destruction, the life.

There's the few there be that find it, and the many there be

that find it. Hell's enlarged in herself.

Yet in the Book of Revelation, the Bible describes heaven as a

1500, a 1500 mile cube. What?

Are you? What are you saying?

I'm saying there's two ways, and we're given here in the book of

Psalms as we are in other places of Scripture.

Amen, the the characterization of these ways.

And so the result is clear here. The blessed man, Look at it,

you'd see it in verse #5. Therefore the ungodly shall not

stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of

the righteous. It's interesting because the

blessed man's not standing in the way of sinners.

What this is telling me is this, it's clear you will not find the

blessed man, the Sinner and the ungodly.

They do not stand in each other's way.

And I'm not talking about being an obstruction.

I'm saying they're not standing in each other's path because

they are two different and two characteristically different to

mix. And I'm not saying that you do

not witness. And no, no, you, you missing the

picture on that one. All right.

I'm not saying we don't have a world that we're trying to.

Yes, until Rapture Day comes, that is our objective.

But I cannot fall in love with the world that I'm living in.

I'm in it according to John 17, but I am not of it. 2nd

Corinthians 6 and verse 14 state some of these things plainly.

The apostle Paul to the church, to the church at Corinth, he

says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for

what fellowship have righteousness with

unrighteousness? He's asking some rhetorical

questions that they're they're mulling over in their mind.

What what fellowship have righteousness with

unrighteousness? What communion have light with

darkness? What concord hath Christ with

Belial, Or what part hath he that believeth with a infidel,

which is with a unbeliever? And verse 16, What agreement

hath the temple of God, which these bodies he told us, is

ours, the temple of God with idols?

For ye are the temple, the living God, as God hath said, I

will dwell in them and walk in them.

I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

What is he saying? It's plain there's two.

They're too different to mix. You.

Can't have light and darkness because light dispels darkness.

So there's a judgment. Day coming.

Verse 5 tells us. The ungodly shall not stand in

the day of judgment. The ungodly will not stand.

In other words, the ungodly will not be in the word is there in

the word judgment. The ungodly will not be approved

in that day affirmed for the way and manner of life.

They will not be affirmed in that day.

But you have the tree like you have the tree like God rooted

person prospering according to Psalms.

Then you have the chaff like ungodly person perishing in the

book of Psalms. And again, that's not like a

temporal. They perish and continue to

perish because it's an unquenchable fire.

And they'll have a body that can endure whenever rapture day

comes, huh. Whenever rapture day comes, all

godly ungodly will resurrect. All will.

All will someday, all will resurrect.

Yes, the church will first by virtue of the rapture, but

whenever it comes, Judgment Day, whenever that day comes, all

will resurrect. Whether ungodly or godly,

they're all going to resurrect and we'll all have different

bodies. According to First Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15, that which is planted is not that which is

which comes up. That's the scripture.

You put acorn in the ground, you don't you get something

different that comes from the soul than what what it looked

like the wet in the ground. And so whenever you come for

from the ground, Amen, There's going to be a different you'll

have a different body and that body is going to be able to go

through eternity with unquenchable fire or live for

eternity in heaven. Amen.

Bible says. Again in Mark 9.

It says where the worm die, if not the fire is not quenched.

There will be a separate separation at that moment.

Two ways, no middle ground. Absolutely.

You'll stand with me today and I'm coming too close.

So, Brother McGee, you said all this and then again then?

Sometimes we have to be. Sorry and somber, Amen.

Just to have a reality check in our own lives, what I'm asking

us today. And you close your eyes and you

don't have to raise a hand, but just for, for, for meditating

upon yourself. The question that I asked us

today is this Which way are we walking?

Which way are we? Walking I asked us today, what

counsel are we following? What counsel are we following?

I asked us this morning. Are we the tree planted by the

rivers of water? Are we the chaff being driven by

the wind? Are we drifting with every wind

that just blows? Whatever, whatever way that that

society, whatever the mentality it is of the majority taking

place right now that I'm just being blowing this way and that

way. Or are you taking root?

You taking root? Are you, are you stable?

Are you steadfast? Are you unmovable?

I would implore you this morning that you make a decision.

Make a decision that your life will be delighted in and rooted

in God and His word, that you would meditate upon that word.

You would live in that word. You would delight in that word.

You do as the psalmist said when he prayed, Lord, order my steps

in by word. Why?

Because I want this word to shape every way I take.

Why do you want to do that? But I mean, that's just, you

know, it's a Bible and there's 66 books in it and blah, blah,

blah, blah. Again, this is God.

This is God breathed. We talked about that.

This is God breathed. Not only that, when the Bible

says that the books were open on judgment, the book.

Of the Lamb's Book of. Life where names are written and

the books, the very ones that you could hold in your hand and

read. Those 66 books of instruction

that we have right now will be opened.

I think that's a good enough reason to want to delight and

shape my steps by the books that will be opened then.

Said it for years, some comic or cute, but we really do have an

open book test here. We really do have an.

Open book test here every choice that we make.

Sir, ma'am, I'm. I'm I'm.

I'm. I'm want to encourage you today

that you need to stand firm in God, in His Word.

You need to walk according to the counsel of the Lord.

Stand in the way of the righteous path that he is laid

before us. Sit if you will.

Sit with the wise, sit with the wise.

Be rooted in that. Be fruitful with that.

Your leaf will not wither in that.

And then not because of your promotion or your achievement or

because you know someone gave you $1000.

Hashtag blessed life. Then because of the direction of

your life, maybe you can correctly put there blessed.

Because the blessed. Man does not do this, but he

delights in that and he's like a tree and there's no middle

ground. And here's the awesome thing

about your God today. I can't make you do.

Anything I can't Nope I. Can't make you do.

Anything. I can't make you obey the word

I, I can't make you, you know, surrender yourself to the Lord.

I can't make you do anything. God is such a gentleman that

he's given humanity from the very beginning until now.

He's given them a choice and you have a choice as well.

He presents all the. Evidence.

He presents all the information and then he leaves the choice up

to you. And so you have a choice, so

that someday when we stand before God, we can't blame our

neighbor, we can't blame the pastor.

We can't blame. Society, we only have one place

to point blame ourselves. You have a choice, you have a

choice. You have a choice today.

The way of the righteous, the way of the you have a choice

today and those are the choices you say, well, I got a 50%

chance. Listen folks, I don't want to be

leaning on a hope so I. Don't want to be leaning on.

A hope so I want to go to the word and find a know soul.

And it's there for you. Sir, it's there for you.

Ma'am, can we talk to the Lord right now?

Can can we ask the Lord just to help us?

Search me. Oh God, I know my heart.

Try me. Know my thoughts.

If there be any wicked way in me, help me.

Oh Lord. God, I know, Lord, you died for

me and you shed blood for me and I'm appreciative of that.

God I know, Lord I. Can be accounted as yours, but

God, you also brought us out of darkness, the apostle said New

Testament. You brought us out of darkness

into this marvelous light, and you set our feet on a street

called Straight. You set our feet.

On a street called straight, that's a way of the righteous

Lord, there's a path to walk. There's a place to stand.

There's a place to sit, God. There is a place to delight in

the things of the Lord. This is going to instruct us.

This is going to help us. It's going to be a manual, Lord,

a manual of guidance, Lord, for us in our lives and how we live.

I pray, Oh Lord, today I don't want to be driven by the wind

like chaff. I don't want, Lord God just to

just just just go on with the flow of whatever comes by and

whatever, whatever is the new fad and whatever is the new

thing to believe. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I want to go back to your word. I want to go back to your word.

The truth of Your word sanctifies through Thy word,

John 17 said, For thy word is truth.

Hallelujah. There is no compromise in that.

There's no bending in that and it'll be truth whether you

believe in it or not. Truth is truth.

God sanctify me by thy word. What sanctify mean?

Set me apart, set me apart by thy word, Hallelujah.

Order my steps today. Come on, can you pray to the

Lord Hallelujah, you can open your mouth right where you are

today, wherever you're standing. Amen.

Begin to talk to God. Order my steps, Lord, order my

steps. I know God, there is a way that

seemeth right to man, but the end there ever the ways of

destruction. God, I don't need that.

I don't want to lean on my my own understanding, but in all of

my ways to acknowledge you and you'll direct my paths.

God, that's what I need today. That's what I need today.

That's what I need today. Help me Lord, to be conscious of

what I keep company with, conscious of what I invite and

be in close proximity to me. God, I pray, oh Lord, I cannot

walk both paths. I must decide.

I must decide. I must decide.

If you need transplanted today, the Spirit of the Lord is

capable of transplanting you. It's capable of uprooting where

you are and putting you by rivers of water channels.

A resource, Amen. That will be more than what you

can ever consume. Hallelujah, Jesus.

Hallelujah, let's talk to him. This altar is open the day of

someone wishes or desires to come and pray.

Hallelujah, Jesus.