Series: The Hebrew Hymnal (Psalms) [#1]
HYMN #1: CROSS ROADS
Psalm 1
Through the centuries God’s people have sang songs that express their relationship with God. The book of Psalms is a compilation of Hebrew hymns that still speak to us in the 21st Century.
This first hymn we find is one that concerns an important decision that we must all make in life. There are times in life when we come to a cross roads and have to decide which way to go. The text shows us two paths and where they both lead.
Psalm 1
Man’s Road
Matthew 7:13-14
This Road Is Easier To Travel
God has shown us what is right and wrong, but it is easier to go the same way everyone else is going. Most people do what is acceptable to man, not God. This road is wide and highly traveled, it is popular. Remember Moses sending out the 12 spies to look into the Promised Land, and what did they say when they returned. 10 of them said, “This road is too dangerous, there are too many road blocks and things that we cannot handle.”
Just look at your papers or watch the news. Watch a couple of popular television shows or movies and see if I am not right. Hey, what’s the use of a little profanity or a little nudity going to hurt? Remember when those things were unheard of! But now they are acceptable! Why? Simply because this road is becoming easier and easier to travel; but every road has its final destination. Where does this road lead?
It Leads To Destruction
Psalm 1:4-6
The ungodly are blown away like chaff. Chaff is the waste; the useless part of the grain after it is harvested. Chaff just lies there until the wind blows it somewhere or it decomposes. The ungodly will be judged in the end, but they will not be able to stand through it. The lost man will live eternally in hell, in torment and pain.
Luke 13:24-30
The road that refuses to recognize Jesus as the only way to Heaven will end up in Hell. There are no second chances in the end.
God’s Road
Matthew 7:13-14
This Road Is Harder To Travel
The text shows us the way of the righteous. “Blessed” or happy is the man who does not follow the counsel of the world. The phrase “who walks not” is referring to walking along side or sitting beside. This Christian is in this world but not affected by it. This is difficult to do isn’t it?
The righteous person does not try to stand in the road with the unrighteous. We can only serve one God. We cannot try to walk with one leg on each road.
This is also difficult to do. The righteous person does not sit in the seat of the scornful. God’s road is a road of love and as His children we must not treat others as a lost person would but as Christ would. We are to love the sinner and hate the sin. We often try to do both. Again this is difficult. Even the apostle Paul had difficulty with this.
Romans 7:15
The Things The Righteous Do
The righteous delight in the Word of God. They hunger for God’s Word. They find their enjoyment in God, not this world.
The righteous meditates, focuses their life on God’s Word. The word "meditate" actually means "to talk to yourself". When faced with a trial or temptation in your life, what wisdom do you search for in your mind?
The righteous uses the Scripture that God has given him in his daily life’s situations. You can only call to mind something you have heard or read. If you are not in God’s Word often, your references for help are limited. Notice this meditation is all the time, both day and night.
This Road Although Hard, Leads To Life
Look at the wonderful promises for those who walk on this road of righteousness.
“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.” A well-watered tree has deep roots and is stable in the midst of storms. Unlike the chaff, when the winds of life blow, the tree does not fall. A well-watered tree also produces fruit and is healthy. The only way to be a healthy Christian is to walk along side Jesus Christ.
The passage also tells us that whatever the righteous person does will prosper. Now this is not talking of worldly prosperity, but of spiritual prosperity. We that travel God’s road will prosper for all eternity in Heaven.
This is not to say that if the Christian gets off the path sometimes that he will lose his salvation. We all try to get off the path and go our own direction, and God has to set us straight and put us back on the path; but the passage here is referring to two paths, the world’s path or God’s path and one leads to Hell and the other Heaven. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”.
The rich man and Lazarus both had to choose a road. The rich man chose the road of the world and Lazarus chose the road of God. In the end, after they both had died we see Lazarus in the Bosom of Abraham, while the rich man was suffering in torment. The rich man finally realized that the road he had taken had led him to destruction, but it was too late. What road are you on? Christians how many detours have you taken?
