(Taken down by a Hearer.)
I SHOULD like to direct your attention to-night, as the Lord may be pleased to enable me, to the whole of this Psalm. We have been familiar with the Psalm from our infancy. We have read it for ourselves and we have heard it read by others. We have heard it sung over and over again; yet it is to be feared that it has been a meaningless song to the most of us. This Psalm is a most beautiful Psalm, and every word in it is significant. It is brimful of meaning from beginning to end, and if we took one verse without considering the Psalm as a whole, we would lose the meaning of this precious Psalm, for it is concerned about two things from beginning to end. It is concerned about the godly and the ungodly, or we might put it otherwise, and say it deals with the two divisions into which men have been divided since the Fall, and into which they will be divided till the end of time, and shall be divided throughout an endless eternity. Let us consider, then, these two divisions of this Psalm.
I.—
You notice here that the Psalmist begins the Psalm with “the blessed,” or “the righteous,” or “the godly,” and in dealing with the blessed man, the Psalmist speaks (1) about his character; he speaks (2) about his state; and he speaks (3) about his end.
(1)
You find the character of the righteous man brought before you when it is said that “he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly; that he does not stand in the way of sinners; that he does not sit in the seat of the scornful”; and further, that “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” This is the character of the good man. And you will notice, further, that his character is also divided. It has, as it were, two sides. It has an outward side and it has an inward side, or, to speak otherwise, it has a negative side and a positive side. In dealing with the character of the righteous man we shall notice, first of all, the negative side. “He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.” That is to say, the godly man is known outwardly by his walk and conversation. There is a difference between the righteous and the wicked as to their outward walk and life in the world, yet you often hear such an expression as this, “Oh, we must not judge men.” Well, you find Christ Himself saying, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Now, here we have the outward character of the godly man. He is one who seeks to abstain from all appearance of evil; he is one who is not found associated with the world and with its vanities in any shape or form. In our day religion has come to such a low ebb that there is practically no difference to be seen between the world and the professing Church; but God has put a difference between the world and His Church, and the difference is seen by the godly in this life—even those whose eyes have been opened by the Holy Ghost—and it will be seen by an assembled universe on the day of judgment.
Nevertheless, we have to say about this negative part of the character of the righteous man, that an unconverted man might, to a certain extent, lay claim thereto. You remember the young man in the gospel. He laid claim to this negative side of the character of the godly. “All these,” he said, “have I kept from my youth up. What lack I yet?” So we see that men who are unconverted may have in their life and conversation this outward side of the Christian character. It may not be laid to their charge that “they walk in the counsel of the ungodly, that they stand in the way of sinners, or that they sit in the seat of the scornful,” yet they lack something still—they lack the “new heart.” It ought to be true of every one to whom God has sent His word, that they should be circumspect in their life and conversation, but at the same time, while all this may be true, they may be still “without God and without hope in the world.”
We see, however, in considering the positive side of the character of the godly, that there is a great distinction drawn here between outward morality and inward religion. Men may have outward works, commendable in themselves, and yet be destitute of vital godliness; and here we have a distinction drawn between the outwardly moral and the truly pious as to their minds or dispositions with regard to the word of God. We see that the Psalmist says, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord,” or “in the law of Jehovah,” for that is the meaning here. Not only does he keep himself unspotted from the world, but he has a heart to know the word of God—he has a heart that delights in the law of Jehovah; and no unconverted man can lay claim to that. This is where the distinction comes in between the unconverted and the converted. It is not at all so much as to their outward character in the world, but the inward religion of the heart. “Man looketh at the outward appearance; God looketh to the heart.” And it is said here, “His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Does this mean that the godly have unbroken fellowship with God? Does it mean that the godly have a sense of constant delight and unbroken meditation in God’s law? Oh, no; it does not mean that. What does it mean, then? It means, just in one word, that it is the bias of their minds to meditate in the law of the Lord. And you see that may be a test for each one of us. We may ask ourselves the question—”Is it true about us that we do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful?” Is it true about us that we have outward morality? And if we answer “Yes,” then let us consider further this question—”Do we love the law of the Lord?” Can we say what the Psalmist says in another place?
“Upon my heart, bestowed by thee,
More gladness I have found
Than they, even then when corn and wine
Did most with them abound.”
Can we say that about the law of the Lord? Now, the law of the Lord means here the written Word of God. The Psalmist had not the Bible as we have it. It is very probable that he had only the five books of Moses, but there was enough in the five books of Moses to give delight to the heart of the Psalmist.
What does this delight in the law of the Lord mean? It means that one has found in the Scriptures more joy and more satisfaction than can be found in anything else under the sun. It means that one has come to experience joy which the world cannot give, even life, through the Word of God. This is then the first thing to which our attention is drawn here—the character of the godly man. He is outwardly religious, but he is also inwardly religious. He has a heart to know God; he has a heart to love holiness, and I may ask yourself the question—What do you know about this delight in the law of the Lord? What do you know about finding in the Word of God more consolation and more happiness and more joy than ever you found in anything in this world? Did the Word of God become to you the “Word of Life?” But some of God’s people may say:—”Well, the Scriptures are often very empty to me, and I cannot say that my delight is in the law of the Lord, as the Psalmist puts it, “day and night.” You may say:—”It is true about stony-ground hearers that they rejoice for a while, and who knows but I may be one of them?” The Psalmist, however, takes away the foundation from the stony-ground hearers when he says:—”His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” To “meditate day and night” means simply this that they continue to meditate in the law of the Lord, even in spite of sin and Satan. You see sin claims our thoughts as well as our actions, and God’s people will be carried away in their thoughts very often by sin. They are often led into captivity in their minds. Sin robs them of this delight; robs them of this sweet meditation. Sin wants them to delight in itself, wants them to have their meditation on itself. Oh! how miserable sin makes God’s people! When they consider how much of their life is spent in the grasp of the carnal mind, and how little of their life is spent in delight and meditation in His law, they are ready to conclude that the character of the righteous does not belong to them, but at the same time it is true of God’s people that their mind is continually biassed towards the Word of God. They know this for a fact that, if they are to have any enjoyment in this world, if they are to have any comfort in this vale of tears, it must come through the Word of God.
(2)
In the second place the Psalmist draws our attention here to the state of the godly; and how does he describe the state of the godly? Well, he describes the state of the godly by a comparison with something in nature, and he takes here a tree—”a tree that is planted by the rivers of water.” And you will notice that when he makes mention of a tree he does not say any kind of tree, but he makes mention of a tree that is planted by “the rivers of water.” God Himself hath planted His people in His own vineyard in the world, and this vineyard is watered by a river “whose streams make glad the city of our God.” And what are the rivers of water by which this tree is planted? Well, there is the river of the pardon of sin, as we sang in the thirty-second Psalm:—
“O blessed is the man to whom
Is freely pardoned
All the transgression he hath done;
Whose sin is covered.”
The stream of pardon of sin flows by the roots of this tree. And another stream that flows by this tree is the stream of grace—the grace of God! “By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” We might say also that the streams here are just everything that God has done for His Church in connection with her salvation; that all the provision of His grace is, as it were, streams which continually keep this tree living, for we have here this tree said to be “bringing forth fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
You know yourselves that in the winter trees lose their leaves; and is it true about God’s people that they are in such a state as that they are always green? Oh, no! God’s people have their winter as well as their spring and their summer. You also know that there is a great difference between a tree that is withered and a tree that is leafless in the winter. You have seen trees which were altogether withered, and they were easily distinguished from those which were not withered, and you have also seen trees which were leafless in the winter, and when the spring-time came those trees broke out in leaves as if they had never seen a winter. That is what is meant here when he says: “His leaf shall not wither.” It does not mean at all that they have not got their winter at times. You remember what Isaiah said: “We all do fade as a leaf.” That meant that, as far as the feelings of God’s people were concerned, they were just like trees in winter—without a leaf at all; but when “the time of the singing of birds is come,” then the leaves will appear as if there never had come a winter, and they will be thinking then that they really have marks of grace.
The Psalmist says here also that this tree “shall bring forth his fruit in his season.” Now, God’s people have their seasons. They have their seasons of joy and their seasons of sorrow. They have their seasons of prosperity and their seasons of adversity, and they bring forth fruit in these seasons. When they are troubled and tried, their faith appears and brings forth fruit which they may not, however, be seeing, but God sees it. You remember that, when Abraham was tried, he brought forth the fruit of great faith, and he was recommended for the fruit that he bore. You remember Job also when he was afflicted, and how the great patience that he exercised is spoken of as “the patience of Job,” as if there never was any patience like this. And so right down through the Scriptures you see God’s people in different circumstances, bearing fruit in all their seasons. You see them in their spring, in their winter, in their summer, and in their harvest. You see them in their youth, in their manhood, and in their old age; and they bring forth fruit in their season.
(3)
Now, in the third place the Psalmist describes the end of the godly. Remember, friends, there is an end before you and before me. And what is the end of the godly? The end of the godly is this: “They shall stand in the judgment; they shall form the congregation of the righteous” at last, and in that congregation there will not be found one of the wicked. There is no congregation of the righteous just now but the wicked are to be found along with them, but when the end of all things will have come—when God shall call the world to an account—then there will be an eternal separation made between the righteous and the wicked, and the righteous shall form one congregation then. They shall stand on the right hand at the judgment of the great day, and shall be eternally welcomed into the everlasting happiness that has been prepared for and awaits them. Such, then, is the Psalmist’s description of the righteous man—of the godly man. He brings before us his character; he brings before us his state; and he brings before us his end. Many a one has said, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.” And likely every one here would like to die the death of the righteous. Well, lay this to heart: you will never die the death of the righteous unless you live the life of the righteous. The two things are inseparable. The end will correspond with the life. “As the tree falleth, so shall it lie.” And if the tree has not been like this tree—”planted by the rivers of water”—then the fall into eternity will be a terrible one indeed.
II.—
Let us turn our attention now to the other man that is brought before us in this Psalm, or the other class or the other company—even the ungodly. And what does the Psalmist say about the ungodly man? The Psalmist speaks also about the ungodly (1) as to his character; (2) as to his state; and (3) as to his end.
(1)
Let us, first, then consider the character of the ungodly. You notice here that there are degrees in a life of sin—that he speaks about walking; that he speaks about standing; and that he speaks about sitting. Some men begin to walk in a course of sin in their youth, and then they begin to stand in the way of sinners, and at last they sit down in the seat of the scornful; and it is a terrible thing to be sitting in the seat of the scornful. I cannot bring this matter before you better than by a practical illustration. There is such a class in the world as drunkards. Well, the drunkard is not a drunkard to begin with. The drunkard becomes a drunkard by degrees. The drunkard begins his career by listening to and walking according to the counsel of his companions. Many a young man begins a course of sin by just walking first of all in the counsel of his ungodly companions. When they say to him, like this, “There is no harm in taking a little whisky now and again,” the young man might be ashamed perhaps to refuse, and perhaps ashamed also to begin to take strong drink; but he does not walk very long in the counsel of his associates until you see him standing in their ways. You will soon see him drunk on the street, and there is not a word about shame now. Perhaps, to begin with, he was ashamed to be seen going into the public-house—he would sneak in; but he has cast his shame aside, and now he will stand at the public-house door and enter it quite boldly, glorying rather in his shame. But, again, the matter does not end there, for the aim of sin, friends, is to ruin the creature—body and soul. And when the drunkard has begun to stand in the way of sinners—when he stands boldly up for strong drink—he will very soon “sit down in the seat of the scornful.” He will ridicule religion altogether, and he will go headlong on in the ways of sinners, as if there was nothing now to be done but “to eat, drink, and be merry.”
We might take another illustration to bring out the significance of this walking and standing and sitting. If you saw a man going through a miry place, and if you saw him walking through it, you would say—”There is hope that the man will come out of it when he is only walking through it;” but, if you saw the man standing in the miry place, you would say—”What does the man mean that he stands in such a place as that?” but, if you saw the man sitting down in it, you would say—”This is a terrible case indeed. A man sitting down in the mire!” This is the way, friends, sinners begin courses of sin which may not appear, and which are not so terrible to begin with, as that to which such courses lead.
This is then the character of the wicked. They “walk in the counsel of the ungodly,” they “stand in the way of sinners,” they “sit in the seat of the scornful,” and these three conditions are terrible conditions, and any one of them is sufficient to ruin you for ever. In other words, if you are walking in the counsel of the ungodly, although you are not standing in the way of sinners, walking in the counsel of the ungodly will bring you to hell; and if you are standing in the way of sinners, and not altogether ridiculing piety and godliness, yet your standing in the way of sinners, if you do not repent of it, will bring you lower than the grave. If, on the other hand, it is true about you that you are sitting in the scornful’s chair, and that you laugh at everything that belongs to God and the everlasting welfare of your own soul, then mark this, that there is only a step between you and going down into everlasting woe. You remember what was true about Lot’s sons-in-law—”He was to them as one that mocked,” and that is what is true concerning those who are sitting in the seat of the scornful. Everyone who speaks to them seriously is just “as one that mocked,” but the fire and brimstone from heaven soon put an end to the indifference of Lot’s sons-in-law. Now, how is it with yourself? What is your character? Are you going along with the ungodly and taking their counsel? Well, if you are, rest assured of this that the end of these things is death. Or, is it true of you that you are standing in the way of sinners, that your delight is in wickedness? If your delight is in your ungodly ways, then know assuredly that you are in a terrible condition. Or is it true about you that you are just a mocker? Well, if it is so, as I said already, there is nothing between you and hell but the very breath which you breathe, and, if you slip a mocker into eternity, you will lie down in everlasting sorrow.
(2)
Secondly, the Psalmist describes the state of the ungodly, and he describes their state also by a figure. And what figure does he use? He uses the chaff, and there is a great difference between chaff and a tree. You see the chaff is the most worthless thing that is to be found on the face of the earth. You remember what John the Baptist said about the chaff—”He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Why do you think does the Psalmist describe the state of the wicked as being like the chaff? Well, you know yourselves that it requires a high wind to have any effect upon a tree, but very little wind will carry the chaff away. There is a storm coming, friends, which will try our standing, and, if we are not like the tree planted “by the rivers of water,” we shall be carried away like the chaff before the wind. That, then, is what is meant here when the Psalmist compares the state of the ungodly to the chaff. They are in such a state as this that, if a breath of the wrath of God will blow upon them, they shall be carried away into outer darkness. There is nothing at all about which the farmer is so indifferent as he is about the chaff. The husbandman was not indifferent about the tree, although it was not bearing fruit. He said—”Let it alone this year also until I dig about it,” but there is no thought taken about the chaff at all. It is a thing that is very easily got rid of, and the farmer has no thought whatever about sustaining any loss when the wind carries away the chaff. Ungodly man and woman, remember this, that God will not consider that He sustains loss in sending you away into hell, if you persist in following a course of sin. Remember that, and remember this also, that your present condition is just like the chaff—you are liable at any moment to be driven away by the wrath of God. You would think that the farmer would be willing to get rid of the chaff at once. Why does he keep it in his barn? Because it is mixed with the wheat. That is the reason, but the day will come when it shall be eternally separated from the wheat. “He will gather his wheat into his garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
(3)
Let us now, in the third place, consider briefly the end of the wicked. What does the Psalmist say here about their end? He says—”The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” They may now be side by side with the righteous, they may be associated with them in such a way that they may be counted by their fellowmen as righteous, but the day will come when the wicked will be calling on the mountains and on the rocks to fall upon them and cover them from the face of Him who shall sit on the great white throne, because they shall not be able to stand before Him. God will separate the wheat from the chaff, and He will send the wicked away everlastingly into outer darkness, as we have it brought before us in the 25th chapter of Matthew, where Christ speaks about the great day of judgment. He says there that the wicked will be on the left hand, separated from the righteous, and He will say to them on the left hand—”Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” This is then the awful end of the wicked.
Well, how should we be disposed towards these things? How should these things affect us? We have here the two classes brought before us, and their different characters, their different states, and their different ends, and we must belong to either class. We must have the character of the godly or the character of the ungodly; we must be in the state of the godly or in the state of the ungodly. And if we are like the tree “planted by the rivers of water,” then let us rest assured of this, that our end will be a happy one indeed; but, on the other hand, if we are like the chaff—if we are the servants of sin—if we are like a dog which never did a good turn for his master, but, on the contrary, snarled and barked at him continually—then let us lay this to heart, that the Great Master will soon get rid of us. You would think that the master who would keep an animal that would be of no service to him at all would be a foolish master. God will not be foolish. He will bear long with sinners, but He will not bear for ever with them. He will get rid of those who are His enemies, and who delight to be alienated from Him, and who have not a thought about His claims upon them.
The Psalmist closes this Psalm by saying, “The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Now, what does he mean here by saying, “The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous”? He means by it that the Lord knows and delights in the way in which the righteous walk. You remember the Church said of old, “My way is hid from the Lord.” Now, her way was not hid from the Lord, for “the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous.” He knoweth their way when their way is through troubles and trials, and God will see to it that, whatever will befall them in the world, He will bring them at last to be with Himself. Yea, He says that all things shall work together for good to them who are His people.
It is said here, on the other hand, “that the way of the ungodly shall perish.” And what does that mean? It means that the ungodly shall not find satisfaction in their ungodliness in another world, for their very way shall perish. There will be no strong drink to satisfy the drunkard in eternity, for “his way shall perish.” No satisfaction there for the unclean; no satisfaction there for those who spend their time and their talents and their substance in the sinful pleasures of this world.
Oh, then, what manner of creatures ought we to be! Do you think it is wise on your part to say that you will go on a little while longer in your wickedness? Do you think it is wise for you to say you will turn some day? Remember this, that the longer you go on in a course of sin, the more entangled you become; the more impossible, humanly speaking, you make it ever for yourself to turn again to God. God says in His word—”Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation,” and He counsels us in this Psalm to make choice of Himself as the way to blessedness, and He warns us, on the other hand, what the end of a course of sin will be. Do not then contemn His counsel and His warning, but turn now to God in Christ, who is “reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” All manner of sin is forgiven freely through the efficacy of the blood of Christ. God invites you to come unto Himself, and He will not cast you out now on account of your sins, but if you enter eternity and meet Him there clothed in the guilt and corruption of your sins, He will cast you out for ever into the place where He hath forgotten to be gracious. “He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
May God bless our meditation on His word!