Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sit it in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth 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 do it shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the shaft which the wind drive it away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in 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. You may be seated. There's so much I could say about this verse, this psalm. It's such a blessing. And one of the ways it became a blessing was when the Lord gave me the grace to memorize it. But the first time I ever heard it preached was, I believe it was at a retreat that I went to in 1983. And there was a man with an English accent. And I can remember him distinctly saying certain words. And I didn't know where it was after that retreat. But then the Lord brought it back to me. So this is the first psalm. And there's so much that can be said about it. The psalm also describes our Lord perfectly as Jesus was the only man that could meditate on the law of the Lord perfectly all day. But even though it does describe him, there are so many blessings for us. And the more that we can spend time in God's word, the more the blessing will be. When we listen to God's Word, when we read it, and we memorize it, there's one more step to meditate on it. And that's where you get the real meaning of it. It's, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. The more meditating on it, The more God reveals what's in it, God's word is infinite, the value of his word, the power of it, the blessing of it. There's three Psalms that I found particularly describing the importance of God's word. Psalm 1. Psalm 119, which is 19. And if you put those two together, you get Psalm 119, which is Psalm 119, the longest book in the Bible. In almost every verse, there's 176 verses in Psalm 119. Almost every verse, except for maybe two or three, directly mention God's word, God's law, God's judgments, God's statues. And I've enjoyed over the years studying it many times. And every time I get through studying it, or when I'm studying it, I realize we can never spend enough time in God's Word. We can never fully appreciate the treasure we have in God's Word. When I see unbelievers, the things that they are interested in, and God's Word has no place, they are so poor. They have no knowledge of God. They have no knowledge of the treasure. The fact that a man can read God's word is God's grace and his blessing. Spurgeon had said that the verse one, blessed, and he noticed a couple things that the Psalm opens with a benediction. And he compared it to the famous sermon that our Lord taught on the Mount when he said, blessed. And the word blessed, it can be translated as a very expressive word. The original word is actually plural. And it could also read, oh, the blessedness. or the multiplicity of blessings, many blessings, the greatness of the blessedness. So when it says, blessed is the man, there are multiple blessings that God gives us. And the more we spend time in God's word, the more the blessings grow. So I'm going to begin with verse one. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sit it in the seat of the scornful. Now a good way to begin a study is looking up the meaning of the word blessed and I did tell you some things about it but I looked it up in Strong's Concordance. And it says it's from the word, the number, Strong's Concordance. I don't know if you're all familiar with it, but you can look up any word and it traces it back to the original Hebrew or Greek. It's a very thick book, but now we get to do it online, so it makes things so much faster and easier. And this time I did look it up online, I must confess. It comes from the word Esher, and that means happiness. It says it's only in masculine plural construction as an interjection. How happy, blessed, happy. To be blessed, verse one teaches us things we are not to do. And the first one is walk not in the counsel of the ungodly. The ungodly are in the flesh and desire the things that satisfy the flesh, not the things that satisfy the living God. Nor stand in the way of sinners. Don't go where they go. Don't go to bars, massage parlors, strip joints, abortuaries. Don't march with the sodomites, the mutilators, and those that reject God's word. Stay away from them. In fact, Paul said, flee fornication. In 1 Corinthians, you may want to turn in your Bible to it, chapter 6, verses 18 to 20. Paul warns us. He says, What know you not that he which is joined to a harlot is one body for to say it, he shall be one flesh, but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man do it is without the body, but he that committed fornication sin it against his own body. What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now, originally I wanted the verse 18, flee fornication, because it says that nor stand it in the way of sinners. But to put it in context of all, and you could spend a lot of time studying those verses, but the main thing is that we are to flee sin, whatever it's, fornication, we get bad thoughts in our head, we need God's word to straighten us out. And then the next step is nor sit in the seat of the scornful. Now, first, the sinner on the other side walks in the counsel of the ungodly. Then he stands in the way of sinners, and then he sits in the seat of the scornful. Do not mock God or those created in his image. Be content with such things as you have. And that's from Hebrews 13 verse 5. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For he had said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now, I didn't look it up, but I believe when it says, let your conversation, it doesn't mean talking. It's conversation of your life. That's an old word that was used. Today, it's turned to when we have a conversation. But even in a conversation, we can reveal if we have covetousness. So it says, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. But the mocker, the scorners that are sitting there mocking us, get a life. Come on, it's the year 2024. We do what we want. No, there's one God and he's going to judge us. And men can ignore God or pretend he doesn't exist. But they won't on Judgment Day, and they won't when they die, and they won't when they reap what they sow. Now, J. Vernon McGee, through the Bible, I'm sure a lot of you know him. I have his books. He does a lot on Psalm 1. And I'll be mentioning him. I'll be mentioning John Gill. He was one of the Reformers around 1700. Very good commentary and very much to the point. And I earlier did mention Spurgeon. But J. Vernon McGee talked about the three stages a man walks in with sin. First, he associates with the ungodly. And second, he gets in with sinners. And third, he joins with the scornful. Now stage one, he's walking with the ungodly and he's getting advice from the world, the flesh, the devil, and the advice is not good or godly. We hang around the wrong people. We're going to do what they tell us or what they do. We see it. We spend time in God's word. He's going to restrain us. The second stage is he stands in the way of sinners. And now after listening to them, yeah, that's a good idea. Why should I be deprived of this? This is one life I'm going to live to the gusto. Or as that famous singer Frank Sinatra said, I did it my way. Although we can't, even he didn't do it his way. But in our flesh, in our sinfulness, we want to try to do it our way. And third, he sits in the seat of the scornful. Finally, he scorns and hates Christians, and more importantly, hates God. Vernon called the stages regression, when he walks away from God's counsel, deterioration when he stands with sinners, and then degeneration when he's mocking. Now John Gill had mentioned about how this verse opens up, as blessed is the man. How much like it's the Sermon on the Mount, which I mentioned earlier, in Matthew 5, 3, it says, blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So in there, God, Jesus was saying that they are blessed. There are many blessings with the word blessed. Nor stand it in the way of sinners. And all men are sinners because of Adam's sin. And such were the elect of God that Christ died for, and such are we, because no man lives without sin. But here it intends, and he put it this way, notorious sinners who are open and bold and daring in iniquity. These are the ones that they don't care about sin. When the believer sins, he'll cry out to God for forgiveness and repentance. But the others sinned. Without a conscience, they they rejoice in sin, because Romans 323 is we've been studying through the Book of Romans, and I believe next week we'll get back to it when Sean comes back. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, verse two. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law that he meditate day and night. After describing what not to do, God's word teaches us what to do, and the word but is the connection from verse one. His delight is in the law of the Lord. And we know our Lord kept this perfectly as he told us in John 1 that he is the word and the word became flesh. I'm going to read John 1 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. Our model is Christ. And if we do what he tells us, he will lead us to the best life, which is his will. It will have trials, it will have tribulations. Jesus promised us persecutions, but we'll be in his will and we will prosper. Our soul will prosper. A bank account does nobody any good on the day of debt, and many times it doesn't help in life. But notice the word is delight. If we delight in the law of the Lord, we'll want to spend time in it. How much time is enough to spend in God's word? Once a week. Once a day. twice a day? In his law, doth he meditate day and night. This is an active attempt at enjoying and respecting God's law. Man delights in many things and thinks of them day and night. But not all things profit as meditating on God's word day and night. For example, when a single man meets a single woman and they start to get to know each other, within a short time they're in love. They think about one another day and night, when they're at work, when they're at home, when they're sleeping. They can do that. Or something not as important, but it's important. A young person has a dream. I want to be a star. I want to be a ball player. I want to be a singer. I want a business. They'll work very hard at it. They'll be thinking about it. Why can't we think about God's word? If someone said to you, I have an investment for you. It's a sure investment. You put down $100, you'll get a trillion dollars. If you knew before you did, not going by their word, if you knew it was a sure investment, would you do it? What if I have a better investment than that? But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Investing in God's Word is the best investment of our time, of our life, of our talents, because God guides us. It's a treasure to read God's Word. It's so sad talking to people that don't know God's Word. Especially when you see the things that they get. They fall into the sins of sodomy, the mutilation, abortion. Being so consumed with riches. Yet knowing Christ is so much more. To delight in his word and in him day and night. What a freedom, what a blessedness. I'd like you to look at Psalm 37, verses 3 and 4. It's another Psalm of David. And it's one of the verses, verse 4 in particular, but I think it goes well with verse 3, that the Lord is really used to work on me. Trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Again, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. There are many times with the pressures of life that sometimes I'll cry out to God, what do I do? I don't know what to do, it's too much. And God reminds me, take the word out, pray, spend time with him. It can be 10 minutes, it can be a half hour. I will tell you, after that, God renews my strength and guides me. Who needs direction in life? Anybody that doesn't need direction? Who wants the best direction and counsel that they can get? Not just good counsel, the best from the Creator. Do you want to be blessed? Invest time in God's Word, which leads to blessing. It's the best investment in your soul, and in the souls of your family, your ministry, those in your sphere of influence, and yes, to the world, to share the glorious gospel. I would also like you to turn to Matthew 24 verse 35. Now I'm going to be reading three verses at once and you ask how that can be. When I looked up where that verse was, I got three identical verses. And it's interesting. The word is verbatim. Each one of them are the same. So I'm asking you to look up now to 2435, and I'm going to read it. But I want you to know that if you looked up Mark 1331 or Luke 2133, it would be identical. Our Lord is saying, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. All this is going to burn. All this is going to be gone. Our bodies are going to be gone, but our soul will live forever. And God's word in this treasure If you had a choice, you could either turn the $100 into $100 trillion or you could have God's Word. What would be the better choice? What would do you the best? And investing in time, God's Word, Now it only provides the best return for your investment, far better than riches, or power, or pleasure. Those are fleeting, but God's word is forever. As our Lord said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. People want things to have a legacy. What is a legacy compared to God's Word? And again, I'm gonna read Psalm 37, verse four. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. And I did mention Psalm 19. It's a beautiful psalm. If you want to turn to it, it's right next to Psalm 1. But I'm only going to read verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The more we spend time in God's Word, the more he converts us, the more he changes us. And the other one, Psalm 119, 97. The psalmist says, oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Again, I ask, how much time is enough in God's word? 10 minutes a week? 15 minutes a day, an hour a day, two hours a day, 24 hours a day. Are we more blessed the more time we spend in God's Word on a daily basis? Whatever time you spend in God's Word, I ask you, ask God for the grace to spend more time in it It's essential for growth in the Christian life, to learning God's will, to serving the Lord. And more than that, it's an investment with unmatched great gains for both now and eternity. The wisdom of God will guide us. Now in Galatians 6, I'm going to read Galatians 6 through 8. And it says, talks about sowing and harvesting. Whatever we sow, we reap. And it begins in verse 7, Be not deceived, for God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. If we sow God's word, we will reap God's blessings in rewards at this time, over a period of time, and in eternity. And so into the flesh, yes, it can mean carnal, but it can also mean our comfort zone, not wanting to do ministries. And we all get that way. And what we have to do is ask God, please, God, give me the grace. Give me the strength to serve you in this area. I can't do it on my own. But I can do all things through Christ, which strengthen at me. And God will give us the grace to do his will. He puts it on our heart. Again, verse two, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law that he meditate day and night, meditate day and night. to read God's word, to memorize it, and then to meditate on it. He's meditating day and night. And we all have jobs. We all are busy about things. Between work and other things. How much time can we think on God's word? Ask him. Ask him for the grace. And the scripture teaches in Psalm 1 that his delight is in the law of the Lord. It's not burdensome. We delight in things. I like looking at old cars. I love cars. I love looking at pickup trucks more. That's a delight. But the delight in God's word, it's a treasure. Let's pick up trucks and cars, they're all going to burn. The car I loved, my first car, that got junked a long time ago. I still look back in fondness to it, but it's gone, but not God's word. Where do men look that don't have God's word for advice and help? Psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, professors, experts, even ministers and scientists, the weatherman, as well as that wicked Google for advice. But God's word is the best advice, and he leads us in the way we should go. Verse three. 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 reward of meditating on God's word day and night is shown clearly in the picture of a tree planted by the waters. The verse compares a man to a tree planted by the rivers of water. How many of us have seen those big trees by the rivers of water? Strong trees with deep roots and leaves, plenty of them, and massive trunks. So the Christian that stays close to God's word, the living word, the water of life, will grow strong in the Lord. In John 4.14, Jesus said, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of springing, a well of water springing up into everlasting life. In Matthew 7.16, Jesus said, You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs or thistles? Even so, every good tree bring it forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bring it forth evil fruit. Jesus spoke about knowing a man by his fruit. One brother told me a long time ago, we're not called to be judges, as the world will always use those verses, judge not lest ye be judged, but they use it without discernment, they don't understand it. But he said we're called to be fruit inspectors. There are different trees that have fruit. There are different Christians with different fruit. God has given everyone different gifts. We can't expect everyone to have the same fruit, but the question is, is there any fruit that shows they are a Christian? Another way, one way to identify Christians clearly, and I would encourage you to open up your Bible, it's in Galatians 5, verse 22 and 23. Galatians 5, 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law. Now, our Lord had all these fruits. He was perfect in every way. But we can have these fruits to a certain degree. Yet the more time in God's word, the more these fruits get exhibited. Who is the living water? It's our Lord Jesus. In Jeremiah 2, 13, God's talking to Israel and he says, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. God's talking about the people of Israel, how they turned away from them and they made cistern. A cistern was just something, a pouch that carried water. But he says broken cisterns. They have these pouches with water that have holes in them. Doesn't profit them. But God is the fountain of living waters that would profit them had they served God and not the false idols. in Revelation 21.6. And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him the fountain of the water of life freely. Our Lord is the water of life. Now, J. Vernon McGee had some pretty interesting comments. And he talked about the word rivers. And he said in Hebrew, that means abundance. And he also mentioned that the believer is not like a wild tree that has no roots or that is weak and dry. But a believer is described as by the tree planted by the rivers of water. And he thought the word planted meant born again. I think it is a good analogy. The blessed has water for his soul, and God's trees are planted, not while growing. Now this was interesting. I never understood what this meant. His leaf also shall not wither. I mean, we can kind of understand it. It's an evergreen. But McGee made a point that the leaf of the Christian is the outward testimony of the Christian. And it kind of makes sense, because that's what you see. A tree, it's so beautiful in the spring when the leaves blossom, and you see the leaf. And God's trees are evergreens because they never lose their testimony, even when they are old. It talks about how God still blesses them and they still yield fruit. Verse four. The ungodly are not so. But I like the shaft which the wind drive it away. What a contrast to the man who delights in the law of the Lord, who is like a tree planted by the rivers of water with deep roots. The ungodly are compared to shaft which sways in the wind. And no shell and shallow roots. How do we see shaft amongst unbelievers? The way they spend their time, their life, and their money is a good clue. We could also add the words that come out of them. If there's some big event in the world, they'll flock to get there and pay any fee just to say, I've been there. And one of the most recent examples of people flocking was last week, the Super Bowl. I had heard that the average price was about $8,000 a ticket, maybe a high of $12,000. Maybe that was what scalp is. So I didn't believe it. And I checked with CBS, but CBS is one of the lying news networks. They lie about anything related to God. They lie about abortion. They lie about the sins of sodomy. I don't trust any of them. They claim to be in the news business. Anyways, they said the average price of a ticket on February 10th was $6,000. Maybe that's face value because the cheapest price was $2,000. But that doesn't include travel, hotel, foods, time off from work, to watch guys hit themselves in the head and possibly cause brain injury, and then the halftime show with all the lust that it generates. Oh, how idolatry is so rampant today. And yet people will do this to go to see a famous singer, they'll spend money, or an athlete, or like a football or a baseball game. But Jesus said, for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? That's in Mark 8, 36. The answer is obviously nothing. The shaft is what is separated from the wheat when they harvest. And the wheat will be burned, as our Lord taught, In Matthew 3, 12, and I believe if we looked it up, I'll look it up. I believe he's talking about when it's harvesting. If you want to look it up, feel free, because it's always good to see verses in context, especially when they're just taken, they're just one verse and you're not seeing the whole chapter. But Matthew 3, verse 12. Okay, he's talking about baptism before, but he says who's okay. Oh, okay. He's talking about the Holy Ghost in the previous versions. I'll read 11 and 12. It's actually not Jesus. It's John the Baptist. And he said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the shaft with unquenchable fire. And Gill was saying that the ungodly, they're not like the tree we read about in the previous verse, planted by the rivers of water. But they're like trees that are dry, not green trees. They have no sap, no moisture, and no virdu. Now, I had to look up the word because I didn't know what virdu meant. Verdu is described as a lush greenness of flourishing vegetation, a vigorous greenery of fresh. The ungodly, those trees, they're only fit for fuel for the fire. To the trees of the wood, to the wild olive trees, the trees in a parched land, but not to trees by the rivers of water. Trees that have no root and without fruit. And then it says, but I like the shaft which the wind drive it away. Without root, moisture, greenness or fruitfulness, they have nothing solid and substantial. They're destitute of all that is good, vain and empty, without the knowledge of God and Christ, without faith in Christ and love to him. They're sensual, not having the spirit, the graces and the fruit, like shaft for lightness, vain in imaginations, Light in principles, fraught in their words and unstable in all their ways. Verse five continues to talk about the ungodly. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Verse five perfectly answers the question Jesus asked, for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? The word ungodly can also be translated as wicked. One of the most important questions we can ask in this life is where will we stand on the judgment day? Other things in life are temporary. We have temporary bodies that need to be fed, rested, cared for, nourished, and then the body dies. It's the soul that lives forever. If only the world could understand how lost they are without Christ. It is the believers very important job to share the gospel. But keep in mind. The Lord and him alone can save the soul. We cannot say, I have saved this many people. I have done this. It is God's grace. We are a vessel. We are a signpost. But we cannot say, yet it's amazing that God uses us to share the gospel. On the judgment day, the condition of the soul will be forever. The soul without Christ will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and that will be forever. In Revelation 20 10, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone with a beast in the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever. Tormented day and night forever. Oh, how that verse makes a soul want to cringe before the power and justice of an almighty God. The congregation of the righteous will be with the Lord Jesus who saved them and made them whole, and that will be forever also. John Gill had made a comment about, therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, neither in temporal judgment, when God comes forth in a way of wrath and sore displeasure. For who can stand before him when he is angry? What are shaft and stubble and thorns and briars to a consuming fire? In verse six, for the Lord know it the way of the righteous. But the way of the ungodly shall perish. For the Lord know it. Is a beautiful following to verse five, which ends with nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord know it. There are two destinations pictured here. There's the destination of the ungodly first, not standing in the congregation of the righteous. And then there's the destination of the righteous. There are two paths. Reading God's word, we learn, we believe, we follow by his grace and his grace alone. The righteous will live forever with the Lord praising him. The wicked will perish forever in torment. What is the way of the righteous? Before I did this study, I often wondered what he meant. I know it meant to follow God, but if you just isolate that word for the Lord, know it the way of the righteous. Who is the way? When the Lord reminded me that, it was so clear. In John 14, 6, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. There's only one way to heaven, and that is the way of the righteous. Who is the righteous one? Jesus, and by his saving grace, he makes his people righteous. By contrast, the way of the ungodly shall perish. Stealing, cheating, lusting, fornication, adultery, abortion, murder, greed, pleasure and sin and all the ways of the wicked will perish one day. These wicked vices will come to an end. as this verse tells us. Now, J. Vernon McGee made a point of saying about, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. The word perish simply means lost. It's a word of finality. the wicked are going to perish. In Proverbs 10, verse 28, the hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. See, God will make us glad, and he has made us glad by knowing him. John Gill mentioned about but the way of the ungodly shall perish. It leads to destruction and death. It's a way the Lord knows not, nor does not approve. And the man that continues in it will be unhappy and wretched and miserable through all eternity, not only in this life, The last words show the reason of the happiness of one sort of men and the unhappiness of the other sort. The Lord knows, approves of, loves and delights in the one and does not approve in the other. And in conclusion, I'd like to say the delight of the believer is clearly shown in verse two. Everyone is interested in all things, but not all things profit. And when I read the book, of Spurgeon and Whitfield, they used a little phrase about a good employment. Today our meaning of employment means working for someone else. But back then it meant a good employment of our time. And the best employment of our time, spending time in God's Word, then he'll lead you in ministry, he'll lead you in life, he'll guide you more. Only delighting in God's law and his word and ultimately in Christ, because he is the word, leads to blessings in this life and the next. May we ask God for the grace to spend more time in his word than we ever did and to be more obedient to his will. Now, I'm going to read Joshua 1 8. I would encourage you to underline it in your Bible. It was a promise that God gave Joshua after Moses died. Moses had led the nation of Israel for 40 years and Joshua was a young man at the time. He was 40 years old when they went on the march to the wilderness. Now he is 80 years old. And God has given him the command. There were two million Israelites. And Moses, the people revered. Now all of a sudden, Joshua is in charge. And the command that God gives him, because he had to go forth and conquer the nations, the command that God gives him In Joshua 1.8, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shall make thy way prosperous, and then thou shall have good success. And good success is doing God's will. I would like to close reading Psalm 1 for the last time today. 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 doth 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 shaft which the wind drive it away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in 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. Amen. Stop this thing.