For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.For Jehovah knoweth the way of the righteous; But the way of the wicked shall perish.
4 sermons cite this verse
… nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Okay, so let's ponder, reflect on what this means. So let's, all right, blessed is the man, all right? Blessed, like, seems like a pretty key word from the very beginning. And unfortunately, somewhat of an unfortunate translation. So if you're not a Christian, you may think, what does blessed mean? That sounds like a really Christian word. I'm not really sure what it means. Well, what it really means is happy. Now, at this point, you'll hear Christians say, well, actually, the world has happiness. We have joy. Like, I hear that, like, as if happiness is like some flighty, fleeting emotion, and joy is some deep reality, devoid of feeling. The problem is, that just doesn't square with the Bible. The Bible actually uses both joy and happiness, oftentimes interchangeably, and both are emotional, and both are deep and wide-ranging. So this psalm is a description of a happy person, And part of the way we know that is because when it gets the description of this person, verse 2, it uses the word delight. …
… of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." In the mail that came most recently during the past week, part of it was a letter that was accompanied by a book, a book that I had never seen, an older book. It was written by Alexander White, who lived in the 19th century into the 20th century. He was the minister of Free St. George's in Edinburgh, and for 40 years or so, he went there as an assistant to a man called Candledge, and eventually he became the senior minister. Anyway, amongst his writings, apparently, he wrote this book about a fellow called Thomas Shepherd, of whom I'd never heard, who he describes as Pilgrim Father and Founder of Harvard College. So that intrigued me and I had a little difficult actually figuring out who was writing and who was saying what. But I finally figured out that it was Alexander White that was describing these things and recounting aspects of his own ministry. And the part that intrigued me because I went to a chapter, I looked at all the chapters, and one of them, the chapter was The Thought of My Death. And I thought, well, I want to start with that one. …
… nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. What does that mean? You know the way of the wicked in the sense of being aware of it ahead of time. You know it, but that's not what this is saying. That's not what this means. He knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. That means he chooses the way of the righteous as is favored. I love the way you're acting. I love this righteousness. I recognize this righteousness. I put my favor upon this righteousness. but here's a text that seals it for me Acts 13 the Lord has commanded us saying I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth and when the Gospels and when the Gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. …
… righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." God is saying to the worshipers as they enter the temple, I know who you are. You can't fool me. I know you. You don't belong in the assembly of the righteous because you're going to perish. You're among the perishing. This is the gate to worship. God expects worshipers to be true worshipers. God is not honored in the false and hypocritical worship of the wicked. That's from the get-go in the Psalms. Any effort to amalgamate the righteous and the wicked in an act of worship is a foundational violation of God's expectation for what worship is. This Psalm is there at the gate to stop the wicked from entering worship. And the Lord knows the righteous, and He knows the wicked, and the wicked will perish." This was a stunning reality for the Jews as they came to worship. Do an inventory. Do you belong here? Psalm 2, really another sort of gatekeeper psalm, points in verse 11 of Psalm 2. …