David Green's sermon, 'The Alternative to the Blessed Man,' explores the contrasting destinies of the blessed and the wicked as depicted in Psalm 1. The blessed man is likened to a tree planted by streams of water, yielding fruit and prospering. In contrast, the wicked are compared to chaff driven away by the wind, representing instability and ultimate destruction. The sermon emphasizes that everyone is either blessed or wicked, saved or unsaved, and that final judgment will reveal this separation. It underscores the urgency of being in Christ for salvation, as the wicked face inevitable judgment and separation from the righteous. The sermon uses biblical illustrations to depict the difference between those who follow the law of Yahweh and those who do not, urging listeners to examine their spiritual standing.

So, this is chapter one. And we're going to go ahead and read the entire chapter. Psalms 1, beginning of verse 1, How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of Yahweh, and in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season.

This leaf does not wither and in whatever he does he prospers. The wicked are not so, they are like chaff which the wind drives away, therefore the wicked will not rise in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish. Last week we looked at the blessed man of Psalm 1. Today I want to consider the alternative to the blessed man, the other man of Psalm 1.

You may say to me, preacher, I may not be quite like the blessed man who wasn't walking in the counsel of the wicked, wasn't standing in the way of sinners, wasn't sitting in the seat of the scoffers. The man who delighted in the law of Yahweh, the man who was delighting in the law of God, meditating day and night there, the one who was like a tree, firmly planted by the streams of water, yielding his fruit in its season, whose leaf do not wither. I may not be like that man, but I'm not as bad as the wicked. You might say I'm someone else, but I submit to you today that in this world, in this world, in this world every man, woman, boy or girl is one or the other. You're either the blessed man or the wicked.

You're either saved or you're not saved. You're either in Christ or not in Christ. You're either on your way to heaven or on your way to hell. You're either among the blessed or You're among the wicked. And so I ask you tonight, where are you?

Everything that was said about the blessed man, as we looked at him last week, is the opposite of the wicked. Just taking verses three and four, and He, the Blessed, He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season, its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. So we get these two pictures that are very much separate from each other. On the one hand you've got this tree that's firmly planted by the streams of water.

This tree, that beautiful tree, a solid tree that's firmly planted, meaning that it has good root by streams of water. Well watered, well planted, yields its fruit in its season. Leaves that are green all the time. Beautiful, beautiful tree. I think of the trees that we see around here, the nice palm trees that grow up along the waters, but here everything is pretty much wet.

The picture I get is the out west in the in the desert area. You could tell where the where the rivers were long before you ever saw the water because there would be little grass and shrubs, but there would be nice big trees growing out next to where the river was, where the lakes were, where the ponds were, because that's where they were well watered, firmly planted. That's where the blessed man is, but not so the wicked. Not so the wicked. The wicked who walks in the counsel of the ungodly, the wicked who stands in the way of sinners, the wicked who sits in the seat of the scornful, the wicked whose delight is not in the Word of God, the wicked who does not meditate on the things of God day and night.

These are not like the water tree, bringing four seasonable fruit covered with green leaves. Beautiful. They don't prosper. Oh sure, in the world it seems that way, but in the end their work is shame and overthrow. In fact, they sad and utter defeat of all their plans awaits the ungodly.

The Bible tells us here that they're like the chaff, which the wind drives away in a wheat field. The chaff is nothing compared to wheat. In fact, it is light and when the wheat is winnowed, then the chaff is carried away from the threshing floor. It's not good for anything. It just blows away.

Sudden removal awaits for the Sudden removal awaits for the wicked, the worthless chaff. John the Baptist used this same figure over in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 3. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 3. I believe it was in Mansfield where I preached through Matthew. I rather enjoyed it, but in chapter 3 and verse 7, it says, But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our father, for I say to you that from these stones, God is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I.

I am not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor. He will gather His winks into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." The illustration is, beloved, that the wicked, the wicked of this world will soon disappear in the fiery judgment of Almighty God. And that includes, beloved, even the arrogant wicked, the powerful wicked, the wicked that seemed to get away with so much in this world today, none will escape the almighty hand in the almighty hand of God.

As the psalmist says in verse 5 of our text, therefore the wicked will not rise in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. I love to go to a funeral of a believer. Because for a believer, there's great hope. There's great hope in the fact that When we lay that body in the ground, one day, one day there's going to be a resurrection, a glad resurrection. When the saints will rise, but all for the wicked.

But all for the wicked. It's not anything to look forward to. For the child of God, when we close our eyes in death immediately, we will be looking upon our Savior. The moment that someone looks upon this old body of mine and says, oh, David Green is dead, That's just a glad beginning for me because I'll be living with my Lord. I look forward to that.

And if you're a child of God, you ought to look forward to that as well. But if you're not a child of God, death is the beginning of great sorrow. The beginning of the overthrow of the wicked. And that's what he's talking about there in verse 5 when he says, the wicked will not rise in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. After death there is a judgment.

And this almost tells us here that they will not rise there. This means they will not be able to maintain their own cause. They will have no confidence. They'll have no comfort. They'll have no support in the judgment.

There will be no no jury, no mistrials, nothing like that. It will be a terrible sentencing. Go on and read it, Revelation chapter 20. It's a terrible place. He says, the sinners will, he says, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Righteous love to congregate, don't we? God's people love to get together. We enjoy getting together. That's why we've gotten together here. We enjoy it.

We love to congregate for the sake of worshiping our Lord, for the sake of encouraging one another. Guess what happens sometimes even in the best of congregations? Why, oftentimes sinners come in our midst. Even the most careful of churches, there are often sinners who come in the midst. Even the first church at Jerusalem, There was a Judas Iscariot in the midst.

Someday that will all be over with. Someday, there'll be no sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Go with me to Revelation chapter 21. One of the places that the righteous will congregate is in New Jerusalem. Look what the Bible tells us there in the back of the book, Revelation chapter 21 and verse 27.

And nothing defiled, and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. There's going to be a great separation. And only God's people will congregate in that glad, glad tomorrow, when all the saints of God will be gathered together in glory. When all the saints of God will be there together in those places that we read about in the New Heaven, the New Earth, the New Jerusalem. And our text tells us, The wicked will not rise in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of righteous.

And in verse 6 of Psalm 1, For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." Right now, saints and sinners sometimes get mixed up in this world. There are hypocrites. Hypocrites put on masks, pretend to be saints. They're not really, but they pretend. They enter into churches.

There are wolves that put on sheep's clothing, and they come in among the flock of God. They cause all kinds of havoc and trouble, destruction in churches and amongst God's people. The wink has tears in the midst. It's all sewn up together and sometimes hard to figure out who's who and what's what. Sometimes, sometimes saints, because we still struggle with this old flesh, Sometimes we fall in with the wrong crowd.

Sometimes God's people be out the wrong group. But check this out. There's coming a time when everything will be sorted out as it should be and as it is. The great difference between the blessed and the wicked will soon appear for the Lord. Yahweh knows the way of the righteous.

You see, he has a great understanding, a perfect understanding, The only true understanding of the real character of his people, his omniscience, the fact that is the only true guarantee against any of us being at last confounded with the wicked. God knows His people. He plants them. He will not lose any. And He will destroy the wicked.

He'll not mess that up either. And depending on where you're at tonight, all of these things ought to either encourage you, thrill your soul, or on the other side of it, you know, to steer you to death. But the reality is, He knows where you're at. And He'll know on Judgment day as well. Where are you?

The only safe place to be is to be in Him. If judgment day is would be today, where would you be? The only hope that we have is in Jesus Christ. Trust Him. Run to Him for salvation, for safety.

He died for sinners, was buried, rose again. And that's what makes all the difference in the world. May God add the blessing to the preaching of his word. Let's go ahead and have a season of prayer.