Psalm 1 | Two Ways

About this Episode

Preacher: Joel Fair
Scripture: Psalm 1

1. Two Ways - Psalm 1 - 2023-06-04
2. The Heart of the Psalm - VS 1&2
3. The Picture of the Psalm - VS 3&4
4. The Reward of the Psalm - VS 5&6

James Boice - Psalms
It stands as a magnificent gateway to this extraordinary ancient collection of Hebrew religious verse.… It is a text of which the remaining psalms are essentially exposition.

J.V. Fesko - Songs of a Suffering King
We often hear that the world is not black and white and that there are many gray areas, but the psalmist entertains no such ideas. He presents the two ways and, in a sense, introduces a conflict between them and the people who choose them throughout the rest of the Psalter

Matthew 7:13–14 (ESV)
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Pharrell Williams - Happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth

Jeremiah 17:7–8 (ESV)
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

Psalm 46:4 (ESV)
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.

Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50
What then does a spiritually prosperous life look like? To answer, we can restate verse 1. Such a person walks in the advice of the godly, he stands in the pathway of the righteous, and he sits in the company of the hopeful. He studies the Word. He acts with wisdom. He is devoted to God’s will. This life is the truly prosperous life.

Derek Kidner - TOTC Psalms
Chaff is … the ultimate in what is rootless, weightless … and useless

Romans 3:10 (ESV)
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

Romans 3:23 (ESV)
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Luke 24:44 (ESV)
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

J. V. Fesko - Songs of a Suffering King
How is anyone righteous? The answer comes from the earliest chapters of the Bible when God declared Abraham righteous by faith in the promise of the Redeemer to come—because of his faith in Jesus (Gen. 15:6). Christ was the One who did not walk, stand, or sit in the counsel, path, or seat of the wicked. Christ delighted Himself in the law of His heavenly Father; not only was He completely obedient to it but he also meditated upon it day and night. Jesus told His disciples: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34).

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (ESV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

John 15:4–5 (ESV)
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

J. V. Fesko - Songs of a Suffering King
In Luke 6:43–44 He says, “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.” This imagery reappears in the closing chapters of the Bible and symbolizes none other than Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, the last Adam, who stands in the midst of His heavenly Father surrounded by the saints, the righteous people of God, those who are planted by the river of life and yield the fruit of the Spirit in season. Rejoice that Jesus Christ is the blessed and righteous man and that He—by His life, death, resurrection, and ascension—makes us what we have been declared by faith alone in Him: a righteous and fruit-bearing people.