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Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

How to Study the Bible- A Contextual Analysis of Psalms 1

Father in heaven, thank you so much for this time that we have to study together again.

And Lord, I pray that you would please bless, that you please lead, that you please guide, that you'd grace us with your presence, that Jesus Christ might be the center of our thoughts and your word might be our sole focus.

Lord, help us to put aside all distractions, that truly as we come to study your word, that as we hear it and we read it for ourselves, that we will begin to experience revival in our hearts as the Word of God will be implanted in there.

But Lord, that cannot happen without the blessing of your Holy Spirit.

You promised that if we ask, you will grant Him to us.

So please Lord, please give us your Holy Spirit to be with us now, we pray.

I'd like to invite you to turn your Bibles to Psalms chapter 1.

Let's turn the Bibles to Psalms chapter 1.

We're going to be spending pretty much our whole time here this morning and we'll be jumping to other different texts, but our main passage this morning is going to be Psalms chapter 1.

We had studied about how to study the Bible, but I've not given you a practical illustration.

And so I wanted to go through Psalms chapter 1 today.

The Sabbath school lesson is still on creation and it's a good read and I read through that and you know please do make sure that you are spending time in the Sabbath school lesson understanding what the world church is studying together.

But this morning we're just going to take a little diversion and we're going to get into Psalms chapter 1.

Psalms chapter 1, starting in verse 1, the Bible says this, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." The main focus of verse 1 really is the blessed man.

Even though it doesn't talk much about the blessed man, it gives this contrast about what he is not, what he does not do.

He doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly, he doesn't stand in the way of sinners, He doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful.

And you know, the first step really to studying the Bible is to make sure that you understand every word there, to understand the meaning.

This is just English language, making sure you understand the full meaning of what these words are.

And there's 1 word that we kind of look at here that we kind of know, but we don't really know what it is.

If you're called a scornful person, that's not a compliment, right?

This is where dictionary becomes important as well, as I'll show you later on.

But if you just look up that word scornful in the concordance this is what it means it means to make mouth at to have in derision to make a mock meaning making fun of people making fun of things or maybe even godly things as well like the Bible.

So friends, the end result of what this blessed man is not is a scornful person, a mocker.

But there are some patterns here that you look at here in verse 1.

It says you start with the counts of the ungodly, then you become a sinner, and then you become scornful.

And what you see attached to this is walking in the way of the ungodly, standing in the path of sinners, and sitting in the seat of the scornful.

It seems like the relationship is getting more intimate.

You're just walking along the way And then you're standing there talking and then now you sit down and chit chat or have a meal together.

The relationship is getting more intimate and deep.

It starts off with an ungodly person and ends up being a scornful person.

Of all the characteristics of scornful coming up, Why that?

I don't know why a mocker of all things is brought up.

Why not a murderer or a liar or a Sabbath breaker?

And sometimes when you don't have the answer to these questions, it's okay to ask it.

It's okay to put that thought up on the shelf and revisit it later on.

And Don't, remember, don't do an eisegesis and read into it your own thought of what you know about mocking.

Oh, I mock and this is why it's bad, and I've seen people mock and why it's bad.

Friends, we've got to make sure we let the Bible interpret itself.

However, what we do see that is clear and obvious is, it says, the first step, don't walk in the counsel of the, what?

Friends, be careful who you get advice from.

The blessed man chooses his friends wisely.

I want to show you a passage taken from the Spirit of Prophecy and it is taken from Ad Venestum 456 paragraph 2.

A truly Christian life is a powerful good, But on the other hand, those who associate with men and women of questionable morals, of bad principles and practices, will soon be walking in the same path.

The tendencies of the natural heart are downward.

He who associates with the sceptic will soon become sceptical.

He who chooses the companionship of the vile will most assuredly become vile.

To walk in the counsel of the ungodly is the first step towards standing in the way of sinners and sitting in the seat of the scornful.

Friends, we have to be so careful with whom we associate.

Because who you become like or who you hang around with is who you will soon become like.

That I may know him 319 paragraph 3, when any open their minds and hearts to those who would advise them to do wrong in any way, they are walking in the counsel of the ungodly.

They are standing in the way of sinners and in the next step, they will find themselves sitting in the seat of the scornful, unconcerned.

The message of mercy, of love, of peace, is scorned and those who associate with this class will become like them, despises of God's mercy.

It is surprising to see how far the influence of the 1 ungodly youth may extend.

What a power he becomes in the hands of Satan for evil.

How much sorrow and sadness and grief he can bring.

Friends, look, we gotta be careful with whom we associate ourselves with.

We gotta be careful with whom we take counsel with.

Because taking counsel with the ungodly is the first step in this downward spiral and soon we will scorn what?

So look, we must choose our friends wisely.

The saying goes, show me your friends and I'll show you your character is so true in this context.

So we got to make sure we never confine in the ungodly.

And friends even within church, sometimes you got to even in the Seventh-day Adventist church, you've got to be careful who you take counsel from.

Remember, the wheat and the tares grow together until the end of time.

Make sure you don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly.

It means a counted guilty, an offender, A criminal.

So when you start taking the counsel with the ungodly, of course, criminal to what extent?

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How to Study the Bible- A Contextual Analysis of Psalms 1

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