Page 23 - Psalms Ebook

Oh, the joyfullnesses. Oh, the fullnesses. Oh, the happinesses. Oh, the
blessednesses of the man that delights in the Lord.

2: The second principle I want to call attention to has to do with
positives and negatives. Psalm 1 gives us the full picture of what it
means to be separated unto and separated from. In other words, it tells
the direction of the Christian’s life. Usually we think about separation
from. We say, I am a Christian, and I do not do that, and I do not go
there, and I do not read that, and I do not associate with those people. I
am separated from this or that. You open the Psalm and it looks like He
is saying: Blessed is the man who does not stand with the sinners and
walk with the sinners and sit with the sinners. Blessed is the man who is
separated from. But if that is all you see, you are going to miss the
Christian life. The psalmist is saying: Blessednesses, contentments and
fullnesses don’t come by being separated from.

There is no question that there is a progression here. First the guy stands
with the sinners and then starts to walk with the sinners, and then he sits
with them, and you get involved with them, and, by and by, you will get
more deeply involved with them. That is a fact of reality but it does not
communicate the heart of God in this matter. Look at verse 2,

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he
meditates day and night.”

That is separation unto. Clinging unto the Lord for all things.

For years I wanted to be the best Christian God ever saved. So I quit
everything. You talk about being in a monastery. I separated myself
from everything. My poor wife Lillian had to put up with this mess, I
basically wouldn’t do anything. “I am a Christian. I do not do that, and I
do not go there, and I do not wear that”. I threw away my fancy tie clips
and all the stuff I thought was vain. Then God revealed to me in 1965
what the Christian life is really all about! It is not separation from. It is
separation unto. There is a God to know and I could find His beauty in
His Word.

When David said, “His word is sweeter than honey,” there was a time I
called him a liar, because to me it was as dry as dust. I did not get
anything out of this Bible. It was dead! It was like sand in my mouth! I
might as well be reading the Yellow Pages. Oh, not anymore. When
you get to meet the author and you start walking with the Spirit, the
23