Psalm 1, verses 1 through 3. Let's read through
the text, then we'll pray. How happy is the man
who does not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path of sinners or join a group of
mockers. Instead, his delight is in the Lord's
instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside streams of water
that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf
does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Let's
pray. God, we thank you for this beautiful word.
God, our world is full of grief and sorrow and
sadness, God. But what we desire is to be happy.
And so I pray, dear Lord, that we would find...
Happiness in Jesus Christ today. That we would
find happiness in your word God. That we would
follow the instruction that is set before us
today. And that we in our life would make the
right choice. So God I pray that you just be
with us. Free us from our worries and distractions
today. I pray that your Holy Spirit would just
help us to hear from you. And all for your glory.
In Jesus name I pray it. Amen. Life is full of
choices. Some serious, some not so serious, but
we make choices every day. If you ever go to
Baskin -Robbins, you got 32 choices. Now, there's
really only one right choice. There's 31 wrong
choices. There's one right choice, chocolate.
That's the right choice, and you got 31 wrong
choices. But we all got choices, even now. Just
yesterday, I think, college football season kicked
off. Hundreds, maybe, I don't know how many college
teams. This is a lot. You've got a choice. Which
team are you going to root for? Which team is
the best? Well, we all know the right choice.
It's LSU. I'm just joking. I'm just joking. Everybody
knows it's Ole Miss. Except for you Mississippi
State fans, right? There's lots of choices, and
we don't always agree on the choices, but we
are faced with choices all the time. But really
in life, we really only have two choices that
matter. There's only two options that we can
choose between. And that's, I think, what this
psalm is about in some way. It's about making
choices. What's the choice? Here's choice number
one. Are we going to follow the ways of the wicked?
Are we going to follow the paths of sinners?
That's choice number one. To live in disobedience
to what God calls us to? Or are we going to live
in obedience to God? Are we going to delight
in the Lord and His instructions and obey Him?
Those are our two choices. To simplify it even
further, are we going to do what is right or
are we going to do what is wrong? That's a choice
that we are faced with. multiple times every
day. That's a choice that matters. What kind
of ice cream you like, it doesn't matter. If
you don't like chocolate, I'll pray for you,
but it's okay. You're not going to hell for that.
But there are choices that do matter. There are
choices that do separate us from God. Are we
going to choose sin, or are we going to choose
the Lord? Are we going to choose what's right,
or are we going to choose what's wrong? What
does the first one say? How happy is the man
who does not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path of sinners or join a group of
mockers. Okay? So you're happy if you don't make
the wrong choice. But what if you make the right
choice? You're happy. Here's the right choice.
Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction
and he meditates on it day and night. Now let
me ask you a question today. It's an easy one
for you to answer. Are you happy in life? Maybe
you are, and maybe you're not. If you're not
happy in life, then this verse may be the key
to all of your problems. Because happy is the
man or the woman who delights in the Lord and
follows His instructions. Now, if we're living
in obedience to God, there's a certain joy and
a certain happiness in our life. Even when things
are really tough, even when life is hard, there
can still be some happiness in our life if we
are living in obedience to God and delight in
His words and His instructions. If you're not
happy today, then I think the opposite of what
is stated is true. If you're not happy, it's
because you're walking and the ways of evil.
That is, you're making the wrong choices. You're
choosing things that do not bring you joy. There's
a lot of things that we think bring us joy, that
we think will make us happy. And you know it.
If we had time, I could ask everybody in there,
has there ever been something you thought would
make you happy, and you got it, and it didn't
make you happy? We probably all have things like
that. We think, okay, if I just get this new
house, I'm going to be happy. If I just get this
cool new car, I'm going to be happy. If I get
this new gun, or if I get this new boat, or if
I get this new technology, or if I get married,
or if I have a kid, or if I, whatever. The list
goes on and on and on, and not every one of those
things I mentioned, none of them are bad in and
of themselves. But the problem is, is that we
think that those things are going to make us
happy. And so we continue to make wrong choices,
bad choices in all the other areas, thinking
that if we just have the next thing, it's going
to make us happy. But that's not where our joy
comes from. Happy is the man or woman who trusts
in the Lord. That's the right choice. So God
gives us choices all the time. God's word says,
hey, here's some things that are right and good
for you to do. And here's some things that are
not good for you to do. You got the choice. If
you make the right choice in the ways of God,
you're going to be happy. If you're not happy
today, then praise the Lord that we're here to
look at this psalm. Because maybe the source
of our unhappiness comes from our bad choices
of living in sin. But there's good news today.
There can be joy and happiness in your life through
Jesus Christ if we would choose Him and choose
to live in obedience to what God says. So we
have to look at our life. Okay, what are some
bad choices that I'm making? Okay, I'm doing
something I shouldn't be doing. My attitude's
not right. I'm thinking in ways that I shouldn't
think. I'm just involved in stuff that I shouldn't
be involved in. And we keep making those choices.
Maybe today's a good time for you to reflect.
Maybe the Lord brought you here for that purpose
because it's already on your heart and you feel
that burden. And maybe today you need to say,
you know what, I'm not going to make that choice
anymore. I've made this choice time and time
again. And we make these bad choices and we say,
I just don't understand why I don't feel good
anymore. I don't understand why I'm always having
a bad attitude. I don't understand why I'm always
stressed. I don't understand. Well, maybe the
problem is that we're making sinful choices.
That affects us physically, emotionally, spiritually.
It has an effect on us. So we have a choice today.
We can do what is right and live in obedience
to God, or we do what is evil. It's going to
cause heartache and pain and suffering in our
life. So the choice is set before us. He calls
us, the psalmist does here, to seek. The Lord.
What does he say at the end of verse 2? He says,
Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction,
and he meditates on it night and day. Okay, so
the happy person is delighted in the Lord's instruction.
For us, where do we get that from? In the Word
of God. How happy is the one who delights in
the Word of God and meditates on it night and
day. Now, when we talk about meditate, I'm not
talking about sitting with your legs crossed
going, That's not what I'm talking about. Now,
there are people in the world that follow all
kind of meditation and do all kind of crazy stuff.
To meditate simply means just to stop and to
pause and to think about the Word of God. Now,
we need to be in the Word of God. You need to
read the Word of God. You need to get in the
habit of reading the Word of God. I understand
that we don't want to just do anything just for
the sake of doing it. Just say, oh, I read God's
Word today. Let me check that off. But we need
to get in the habit, and even if we get into
the habit for the wrong reason of just checking
the box, maybe even still we can hear from the
Word of God. We need to be in the habit of reading
God's Word. We need to want to hear God's Word
and to listen to God's Word, but we want to meditate
on God's Word. God's Word does not do us any
good if we just read words on a page and go on
about our business. It doesn't do us any good
if we hear a sermon and we hear God's Word and
we don't pay any attention to it. We need to
meditate on what we read. It's not a competition.
It's not like, oh, I've got to read 20 pages
in my Bible today. It'd be better to read one
verse and meditate on it for 20 minutes than
to read 20 verses and not think about it. And
so we need to meditate on the Word of God. You
need to pray for you to read the Word of God.
Say, God, I need you to help me to understand
this. Some scriptures are tough. There's some
scriptures that make us think a little bit. There's
some scriptures that we say, I don't know what
that means. There's other scriptures we read
them and they pierce to our heart instantly.
And we say, whoa, that's talking about me. If
that ever happens, that's a good time to meditate.
That's a good time to stop. And say, God, wow,
your word is talking about me right here. And
just stop and think about what that word means
and how it applies to your life. Maybe it's a
call to repentance. Maybe it's a call to rejoice.
Whatever it may be, God's word speaks to us in
a variety of different ways. But so many times
we are too busy to stop and listen to it. But
we need to take a moment. in our life, maybe
multiple moments throughout our day, that we
stop and we read the Word of God and we think
about the Word of God. And we've got to set aside
a time to do that because if we don't make time
for that, then we won't meditate on it. Because
as soon as we get through reading it, the next
thing is coming up. Oh, I've got to get the kids
to practice. Oh, I've got something at the church.
Oh, I've got something at work. Oh, I've got
to do this. Oh, I've got a water pipe busted
at the house. Whatever. There's always something.
As soon as we read it, the devil is always there
to yank that word away from us so that we don't
grow in it. But God's desire is that we meditate
on his word and think about it and just soak
it up and live by it and live on it. Verse 3.
He is like a tree planted beside streams of water
that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf
does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. So
this is what we're compared to in the psalm.
The godly man or the godly woman is like a tree
that's got plenty of water. There is one thing
that everything in the whole world needs to survive.
It's water. You have got to have water. If you're
a human, you go three days without it, you're
going to be in bad shape. You're not going to
make it very long. We have to have water to be
sustained. And this idea and this language, this
imagery, it's not just here but throughout the
scripture that is symbolic language that we are
like a tree. And we need to be soaking up the
word of God, the presence of God, the love of
God, the grace of God. God needs to be in our
life that we're soaking that up because that's
what's going to sustain us. Now, I was doing
some research this week about trees and their
need for water. I was amazed at how much water
a tree needs. I was also amazed at how much water
falls on the ground. Did you know this? That
if you have an acre of land and one inch of rain
falls on that acre of land, did you know that
that is 27 ,154 gallons of water? Did you know
that? That's a lot of water from one inch of
rain. Did you know that in one square mile, that
if an inch of rain falls, you're not going to
believe how much water falls. 17 .4 million gallons
of water from one inch of rain. That water falls
from heaven. It is given to us from God, and
it hits the ground, and it soaks into the ground,
and it goes deep into the ground, and it is necessary
for everything to be sustained, even the trees
that we see. Now, you may say to yourself, that's
a lot of water. How could anything ever drink
that much water? Well, I'm going to tell you
how. I'm going to tell you about some trees that
you may know. This is incredible information.
This will be on the test, so you all remember
this. All right, here's some facts for you all.
The mesquite tree. Now, I don't know if we have
those around here or not. Mesquite tree, a good,
healthy, mature mesquite tree can soak up 25
gallons of water per day. That's a lot of water
for a tree, 25 gallons a day. A poplar tree can
soak up 50 gallons of water a day. An oak tree
can soak up 100 gallons of water per day. Pine
tree, 150 gallons of water a day. Those big giant
sequoias, some of y 'all have probably seen those
before. They can soak up... 500 gallons of water
in a day. And listen to this. A cypress tree
can soak up 880 gallons of water in a day. And
our land, our earth, is full of these trees and
many more. And to make a good and healthy tree
requires a lot of water. But what happens when
there's not a lot of water? There's a lot of
water in the ground. It takes a little while
to soak up 17 .4 million gallons in a square
mile. But you go for a while without rain. A
week, in a month, two months. Trees are pretty
resilient. They can hold up for a while, but
as many of you probably remember, a few summers
ago, we had a really bad drought. We went a long
time without rain. And what do we see all around
now? Why? Because they did not have a source
of water. But some survived. Some trees survived.
And do you know why they survived? Because they
had a root system that reached far enough into
the earth that they could reach the source of
water and the source of life. The psalmist says
that we... Who trust in the Lord are like a tree
who is firmly planted with its roots right in
the source of living water. And the scripture
says that Jesus is that source of living water.
John chapter 7 verses 37 and 38 says, On the
last and most important day of the festival,
Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone is thirsty,
he should come to me. and drink. The one who
believes in me, as the scripture has said, will
have streams of living water flow from deep within
him. If we do not have the Lord in our life,
we are in trouble. We are not going to be a healthy
tree. We are going to be a tree that is going
to die. We are going to be a tree that does not
produce fruit. The one who trusts in the Lord
is like a tree who produces fruit. But what did
Jesus say in the New Testament? He said of the
tree that does not produce fruit, it should be
chopped down and thrown into the fire. So what
kind of fruit are you producing today? Are you
rooted in the Lord? Are you deeply rooted in
the Lord? Because there are going to be some
droughts that are going to come in your life.
There are going to be some seasons that are going
to be dry. But look, you can look up online.
This is true. There are trees in the middle of
the desert. There won't be nothing else around.
And every once in a while, you'll see a tree
that is thriving in the middle of the desert.
And do you know why? Because it's got roots that
are deeply ingrained into the middle of the earth
where it can be sustained by water that flows
from within. And so it will be for you and I.
That we are to be trees that grow and produce
fruit. That we are to be those who meditate on
the Lord. That we are to be those who are well
rooted in the Lord. That we have made the right
choice in our life. That we have chosen Jesus
Christ. Some of you are thirsty today. You may
not know it. You may have been living this life
with all of its struggles and its strains and
its difficulties. And you've just been trying
to find happiness in all the ways of the world.
And you have failed. But I want to tell you today,
your soul is thirsty for Jesus Christ. You may
not know it. You may be dying right now. You
may be in the middle of a drought in your life,
but I want to tell you today that Jesus Christ
has died on a cross for you so that you can come
and drink from Him, the source of our living
water, so that you can be well -rooted in Him
today. Are you well -rooted in the Lord today?
Maybe you know Jesus Christ, but maybe you hadn't
been meditating on His Word and living by it.
Maybe you've been making the wrong choices. Maybe
you're not happy today because you've been choosing
sin, and maybe today you need to choose Jesus
Christ. For happy is the one who delights in
the Lord's instruction. Do you delight in the
Lord's instruction? Does God's word mean anything
to you? Is it just something you come once a
week to church just to hear me read it so you
can mark it off your list and go on? Or is God's
word something that you desire and you hope for
and you just reach down, you want to be well
-rooted in it so you can get all the nutrients
out of it so you can thrive and be one who produces
good fruit? If we're looking for happiness in
our life today, it can only be found in Jesus
Christ. What are you rooted in today? Maybe today
it's time to make better choices. Maybe you've
been choosing the world. Maybe today it's time
to choose Jesus. Maybe you've been choosing sin.
Today it's time to choose the Son of God. Maybe
today you're in the midst of a drought in your
life. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I
think the quickest way for us to get back healthy
again It's to be in the Word of God. And there
we find the news that we need, that the source
of our life, that the source of our strength
comes through Jesus Christ. There's living water
available to us today. And praise the Lord, it's
enough that if every one of us are rooted, that
it's enough that we couldn't soak it all up in
a lifetime if we tried to. You have a choice
to make today. I hope you choose Jesus. Let's
pray. God, we come to you today. We thank you
for your good word. God, we want to be happy
today. Maybe we've been going about that in all
the wrong ways, but I pray today that we would
find happiness in Jesus Christ, that we would
be men and women that delight in your word today
and meditate on it. God, I pray that we would
be a tree that is rooted. in Jesus Christ today.
Maybe there are some that do not know Jesus.
I pray today that they would repent of their
sins, that if they've chosen the world their
whole life, that today that they would choose
Jesus. Maybe there are some here today, dear
Lord, and they've chosen Jesus, but they're in
a dry season, God, and it may be because of some
of the choices they made. It may be that they're
just not plugged into the source, dear Lord.
It may not be producing much fruit, but God,
You don't want us to stay in that shape. So I
pray today, God, that we would reach down, that
we would seek your word, that we would seek the
living water that comes through Jesus Christ,
that we would be well -rooted and sustained and
be a brother and sister in Christ that produces
fruit that is worthy of repentance, dear Lord.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.