But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

 

  This is a Psalm written by King David, a man after God's own heart. He is writing about a righteous man for the first 3 verses, then the wicked the last 3.

It opens up with the picture of a man who has completely separated himself from the world. He takes himself away from those who will seek to stumble him, whether it be intentionally or unintentionally, and has removed any weight that will hold him back from being a true man of God (Hebrews 12:1-3).

 His delight is in the Law of the Lord is a reference to the scriptures, and that's where he finds his joy, because that is the only way to have the fullness of joy...in the presence of Jesus! And what other way to be in his presence than to immerse yourself into his Word!(2 Tim 3:16-17). This is something that this Man of God does. He gets up in the morning wanting to spend time with the Lord, and goes to sleep wanting to spend time with the Lord! How beautiful is that? That's a Father's dream! For his son to want to do nothing more than to spend time with him, to laugh with him, weep with him, and to take him by the right hand and guide him in all of his ways. Knowing that all God wants to do is bless us with his joy and his peace as we delight in him and His Word.

  Every child is also disciplined by his father when he gets out of line, at least by any father who truly loves his son and doesn't want to see harm come upon him. But my friends, don't despise the chastisement of the Lord, for any child of God will be disciplined by him out of Love, for if you are not disciplined by God, you are illegitimate and you are not His (Hebrews 12).

 When you seek to take these steps in separating yourself from the world and all of its sinfulness, and you seek to crucify your flesh with Christ, you will be like that tree planted by a river. You will have a constant source of fresh water to help you grow in a healthy relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! You will not wither, because you will be completely dead to self and alive in Him. To do that though, we need to stop living for ourselves and our selfish wants. We need to surrender all to Him who loves us and yield to what the Holy Spirit wants to do in and through us. We need to stop trying to serve God on our own terms and serve him on his terms, according to His Word. You will bear fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5), and you will prosper in the things you do because you will be living in God's perfect will, and living in His grace, his unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor, His Grace. Oh how beautiful a thing it is to live in Christ knowing that he is a reality in our lives which humbles us to the point of unworthiness but serving him out of a love not trying to seek anything but to please our Father! When Jesus is a reality in our life, we will be like Isaiah when he saw a vision of God and said "Woe to me I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among people of unclean lips!"

 Friends! We don't even deserve to see our Lord! The only thing we deserve is Hell, but because He loves us so much, He gave us the gift of His Holy Spirit to dwell IN us! Are we able to fathom the reality of the LIVING GOD dwelling IN us?!?! He LOVES us so much while we were yet sinners, he died for us! Think about that. It's our reasonable service to be a LIVING SACRIFICE to Him! O, out of nothing but a child's love for His Father, not seeking anything but to please Him because He first loved us and chose us out of this world.

 But friends...the Ungodly are not so.

  They will be driven away from the presence of God by their own sin and selfishness. Those who choose to rebel against our Lord do not have these promises. They won't receive the Bema seat judgment where believers will receive their reward for their works (do not get this confused with being saved by works, we are saved by Grace through Faith in Jesus, we receive rewards for our works that are evidence of our salvation), but they will stand in the Great White Throne Judgment in which they will receive their degree of punishment while they spend the rest of eternity in the Lake of Fire with Satan, his demons and the False Prophet. Those who don't place a saving faith in Jesus, still have the wrath of God abiding in them, according to Jesus (John 3).

 Look, this isn't a scare tactic, this is reality. If you place you're faith, your life, in Jesus, you will receive eternal life, and every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1) you will ever need. But if you don't, eternal punishment.

  Anything a wicked person does will perish. I just read of a guy who had a roofing business. He was a billionaire...he died by falling through a roof. If you trust in material possessions or wealth, or women, or men, or anything besides our Lord for satisfaction in this earth, you will be disappointed and cast away from the presence of God. You can have all the earthly success you want, but if your life isn't in the hands of Jesus, it's all in vain. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?

  Listen, if your life doesn't show evidence that you are saved (fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5), you really need to do a heart check. This isn't a game. You don't play games with God. If you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption. The wages of sin is death, but the Gift of God is eternal life. In Matthew 7, Jesus says, "You will know them by their fruits." and "Not all who say to me Lord, Lord, shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven." The will of the Father is to believe in His Son...not a mental ascent or a mere mental belief that is in your head, but the belief that is defined in the Greek as 'abide  by, adhere to, cling to, trust in'. THAT'S a belief.

  Just because you prayed a prayer one time doesn't mean your saved. It's a faith that is placed in Jesus Christ that is evidenced by the way you allow Christ to work in and through you. If you are saved, you CAN'T lose your salvation, but if you were never saved in the first place and it was just a show of emotions, you really need to check your heart, and ask Jesus to be the Lord, the Master, and Savior of your life. Maybe you are backslidden and you're feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit, maybe you're a friend of mine, or maybe you're someone who thinks I'm the biggest hypocrite in the world for writing this because you know my past mistakes. Regardless, you will be held accountable to God for your actions here on earth. Maybe you say you love Jesus, but by the way you live your life you spit on his face and beat him and mock Him. Stop, living in sin. You cannot please the Father and walk in the flesh at the same time. Stop playing church. Why waste your time going church if you want to do nothing but live in sin? Go rob a bank or something, go all out, but if you are going to play church and be a carnal Christian, just stop it already, and get your heart right with God. Stop hurting yourself and those around you. If you are a child of God and living in sexual immorality, just stop. He loves you too much for you to do that. He wants you to be Holy and blameless, a sacrifice in return for what he did for you. He loves you so much, and don't ever forget that. But at the same time, we need to have the fear of God. For the believer, fear him because of his discipline and chastisement, knowing that OUR SIN WILL FIND US OUT (Numbers 32:23). But for the unbeliever, Do not fear man who can kill your body, but fear God who can kill your body and cast your soul into hell, yes I say to you, fear Him -Jesus (Luke 12:4)

 But friends, know this, If you confess your sins, he is Faithful and Just to forgive you of your sins, and cleanse you of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). If you have done things to sin against someone and cause hurt to them, or have done something they don't know about but God does, tell them, confess it, there is HEALING in confession. Trust me, I've made enough mistakes to know. We need to stop excusing and justifying our sin for it to be ok to live in it. We need to identify it through the Word of God, and deal with it. Sin is never a season, Sin is sin, it is rebellion against God, and it needs to be dealt with, but know this: We all fall short of the Glory of God, but we need to strive as if we can attain perfection even though we know it's impossible.

 Jesus loves you, know this, and so do I, take care everyone, and let the peace of God rule your hearts.

 

John 14:15-21