1C. As to this man’s walk, he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. The word for ungodly here is the Hebrew word for unjust. So, the righteous man does not listen to the advice of that person who is without God in the world, that person who withholds from God the honor that is due Him.

2C. As to this man’s stand, he does not stand in the way of sinners. Notice the progression of sin, with each of these three worsening in intensity, farther down in its expression of depravity. You start out with a bad walk and you come to the place where you take the wrong stand, the stand that misses the mark, the stand that is itself a transgression. The unsaved first counsel people do wrong so that they might justify their own evil deeds, but then they make it a way of life that they stand in. The righteous man, the blessed one, doesn’t subject himself to that.

3C. As to this man’s seat, he does not sit in the seat of the scornful. See how the unconverted slide? They may think they have slowed down and do not commit the rambunctious sins they committed in their younger days. But they’ve only gotten worse as they advance in age and wicked experience, moving from one who casually sins to being one who transgresses routinely, to finally taking the seat, that is the position of instruction. They postulate and pontificate their wicked philosophy and justify. They take on the role of senior statesmen of sin, advising and counseling those younger. The righteous man stays away from such people entirely, and enjoys life so much more. Ah, what you can tell by watching the way a person actually behaves, how he actually conducts himself. Amen?

1C. His concern is declared: "But his delight is in the law of the LORD." The righteous man cares what God thinks, is concerned about God’s will for his life, seeks to please God. And the law of the LORD is his delight because in it is revealed the character and nature of his God, the demands and the standards of his God.

2C. And how is his concern displayed? Not by what he says, but by what he does: "and in his law doth he meditate day and night." He is eager to transfer the information that’s in his head, by a process of meditation and consideration and application and implementation, into rich nutrients for his heart and soul.

3C. Ever see a guy who truly loves peaches eat a perfectly ripe peach? Oh, what delight and enjoyment there is as he bites into the succulent fruit, as he slurps the juice into his mouth, as he slowly and deliciously chews that bite of the peach, letting the taste linger on his tongue and palate, before swallowing. That’s what we have here. And that guy, I promise you, is one who does not miss a service in which God’s Word is preached, so he might know where on the branches the ripest fruit can be found.

1C. First, there is his planting. Like a tree planted by the rivers of water. He doesn’t grow up wild. And the rivers of water speak of irrigation, not a naturally flowing stream. So, everything about him is the result of the unseen hand of Another.

2C. Next, there is his productivity. He brings forth fruit in his season. That is, he possesses the capacity to reproduce.

3C. Third, there is his protection. His leaf not withering means he is not exposed to the harsh winds of winter, the cold and dry time of spiritual barrenness. My friends, this guy is living in a veritable spiritual oasis of benefits and bounty.

4C. And whatever he does shall prosper. Not the material prosperity that is promised by the name it and claim it crowd, but the eternal dividends that accrue to the child of God who enjoys the blessings of God and who experiences that eternal life that comes only in Jesus Christ.

1C. In the first phrase of this verse it’s declared: "The ungodly are not so." In what way are the ungodly not so? In every way the ungodly are to be contrasted with the righteous.

2C. Notice how the wicked man is illustrated: "but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." There is, to God, substance to the righteous, but no substance to the ungodly. The righteous is durable, with God’s protection, but without God’s protection there is no durability for the ungodly.

3C. With the harsh wind of God’s righteous judgment the ungodly, like the chaff, are driven away.

1C. Their prospects for judgment are grim. There is coming a judgment day, Revelation 20.11-13. And to not stand in the judgment means you will not bear up under the judgment, you will not pass the judgment, you will be found guilty in the judgment.

2C. As for eternity, the final verdict is rendered in Revelation 20.15: "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

1C. Consider the LORD’s knowledge: "For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous." The Lord knows who are His. There will never be a mistake concerning who is His and who are not His, except the mistake that is made by those who are lost.

2C. Matthew 7.21-23: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

2C. The LORD’s decree concludes this psalm: "but the way of the ungodly shall perish." God has decided that there are two ways, His way and the way of the ungodly. And they are divergent paths, leading away from each other. One road leads to heaven, and the other leads to destruction.

1C. And this word may perfectly describe you right now, especially if you are rather young. As mentioned before, this word "ungodly" refers to someone who is unjust. And it is as an unjust person you are born into this world; godless, ungodly, without God in the world.

2C. You are a person who does no good in your life. And how could you do good? You are lost and undone and estranged from God by the nature you were born with? About the only thing you have going for you is the fact that Christ died for the ungodly such as you, Romans 5.8.

3C. So, though you are lost, though you are headed for Hell, though you cannot in any way please God, though you are condemned because you’ve not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God, you are a candidate for conversion because Jesus Christ died to save the ungodly.

1C. Now you are the kind of person who not only does not do good, but you also do actual evil. You are now physically mature enough to engage in deeds you’d not even thought of before. And you are old enough to have the mobility and the opportunities denied to those here who are younger.

2C. So, it will be only a matter of time before you begin to actively step over the lines of prohibition drawn by God, before you will begin to add to that wickedness of your evil heart the outward transgressions that make you unmistakably a sinner.

3C. Now, you will think that as you become more experienced with sin you will outgrow your youthful inhibitions and lay aside the outmoded restrictions and values of your parents. That’s what you will tell yourself. But what will actually be happening is that you are searing your conscience and hardening your heart and callusing your mind by the deeds that you are contemplating, or the deeds you will actually do.

4C. And then, if you are like most people, and most people are like most people, then you will stop committing certain sins. That will convince you that you’ve settled down a bit, that you are better than you once where, that you are more mellow, that you’ve even become somewhat spiritual.

1C. David makes reference to the seat of the scornful. In his culture one would take a seat among all the others who sat and take upon himself the mantle of authority, presuming to speak as one who knows what he is talking about.

2C. Picture in your mind one who first walked through the gates of the city, who then stood at the gate of the city, and who now sits at the gate of the city. There’s a progression in all this, as evil and wickedness becomes more and more thoroughly entrenched in the mind, and in the heart, and in the soul of the unrighteous man . . . making any possibility of conversion less and less likely over the passing of time.

3C. You are now, as a scorner, one who presumes to know much. From a word that means to mock and to deride, as a scorner you have a superior attitude toward the things of God, toward eternity. Where you might have been one who attended Church and even considered the claims of Christ in the past, you are now come to the point in your life that you’ve decided that this stuff doesn’t work.

4C. You may not outwardly do the things you used to do, but inwardly your heart is much more wicked and hardened than it has ever been. And it is as a scorner that you’ll go to the grave.

1C. That’s what the wind speaks of here. You see, for a while the wheat and the tares grow together. For a while the chaff and the corn are stored together in the barn. But there comes a time when the two are separated.

2C. You are greatly blessed, right now, by being able to live amongst those of us who are God’s children. While we are all together you are safe and protected. But when the winnowing time comes, when the time of separation comes, you will be cast into the fire.

3C. Tossed up into the wind of God’s judgment, the grain, the righteous, will fall straight down into the basket and be escorted to heaven, while the chaff, while you, are blown by the wind into the fire.

4C. Thus, when it’s all over, the product of your life will be utterly meaningless. In the grand scheme of things you will be a cipher, a zero, a speck of cosmic dust in God’s universe.