Pastor Welton Watson, Central Baptist Church
Psalms 1:4-6 “The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
In last week’s article, I looked at verses 1-3 and discussed the character, attitude and actions of the blessed man, who, by the way, is identified as righteous. We know this is the case because God will never bless unrighteousness of any kind. So, those who are blessed must be the righteous. God’s Word sets the standard for righteousness and morality as Proverbs 14:34 tells us, “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” It takes righteousness to build a strong nation, but sin is a reproach, and brings disgrace, shame and finally destruction to the people involved in it.
Today, we will consider the ungodly, and the word defines itself: un – godly; without God.
We find this word four times in six verses; and also the word sinners, twice; and the word scornful. These words, sinners and scornful, are related to the ungodly, in that, sinners sin, scoff, ridicule and mock the godly and godliness. This study starts with verse four, “The ungodly are not so.” This means they are not like the blessed in verses 1-3, because:
1. They do receive and walk according to ungodly counsel, which always moves them away from God and toward more ungodliness.
2. They do stand with and support sinners in their sinning, because they are walking in the counsel that leads them that way. 3. They do sit in the seat of the scornful and will show contempt or disdain toward someone they feel is inferior or unworthy of their attention. They will reject and ridicule those of different opinions. It reveals an attitude of pride and arrogance.
4. They have no regard for, nor desire the word of God, because they have been educated away from it. Their delight and meditations are on the pleasures of the world through selfishness.
Then, the last part of verse four speaks of the instability and utter helplessness of the ungodly: “but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” The chaff is the husks, hulls or empty shells with no fruit to give them stability and hold them during the winnowing process at the harvest. The ungodly are like that: there is no Biblical truth, or weight, and they are empty and hollow inside. Verse 5 continues, “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” They will face a different judgment, and with a different congregation (crowd). Also, they will be with their crowd that they supported and hung with in this life; the ungodly and sinners. And finally, verse 6. “For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: (chose Christ over the world, “And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.” John 10;28) but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” (chose the world over Christ, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15). This contrasting truth never changes throughout the scriptures!