TEXT: Psalm 1

SUBJECT: Kids’ Sermon #43: What the Ungodly are Like

Listen up, kids!

Today is the second Sunday afternoon of the month and time for another sermon especially for you. I thought about you while I was writing the sermon and I prayed for you, too. I prayed you would listen, that you’d answer my questions, that you’d believe what I say, but—most of all—that you’d become the kind of person that Psalm One describes—and the Lord wants you to be.

Some of you are—I know that. But others are not. Not every kid here is saved. And if you’re not saved, you’re under the wrath of God right now. And if you’re still not saved when you die, you will go to hell forever. Even if you’re a nice kid, if you obey your parents, and go to church every Sunday. Hebrews 12:4 says,

To "see the Lord" means to see Him smiling at you. Or to have His favor. Everyone will see the Lord—but some of them will wish they hadn’t. You’ve all seen your parents mad at you. God’s anger is something like theirs—only it’s infinite and eternal. "Infinite" means there is no limit to it; "eternal" means it lasts forever. Unless you believe in Jesus Christ and become something like the person of Psalm 1, you’re in trouble with the Lord. And will be forever.

I’m not joking with you. God is real; His anger is real; His punishment is real. You need to "Flee the wrath to come".

Right now.

The 1^st Psalm is about The happy person. It’s first word is "blessed" and "blessed" means happy—not kind of glad, but super-happy!

Is it possible to be happy? It is. Even if things aren’t the way you wish they were? Yes. But what if your parents are divorced? Or what if your dad has lost his job? Or what if you’re doing badly in school? Or nobody likes you? Is it still possible to be happy? It is. The writer of this Psalm was King David. And he had a lot of problems. Yet, he was also happy.

What does the happy person not do? He doesn’t

This means—without being a conceited know-it-all—he doesn’t like the company of bad people, he doesn’t take their advice, and he sure doesn’t follow their wicked example.

What does the happy person do?

To most people—especially kids—that sounds boring! But do you know why they think so? Because they’ve never tried it! The Bible says,

When I was a boy my grandmother lived with us. She was from the country and only liked "country food"—fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, biscuits, okra! When my parents had pizza, Ma used to say, "Michael, you don’t like that! That looks like cat guts!" I agreed with her. My parents begged me to try it, but I wouldn’t. But then one day, I did try it. And from then on I knew—no matter what Ma said—that I loved pizza!

If you delight yourself in the Lord and if you start thinking about His word, you’ll soon see that He’s not boring at all. But He’s the most exciting, most interesting, and most lovable of all things!

Then, finally, we saw what the happy person is like,

When it says, "he is like a tree" it doesn’t mean he’s made out of wood or that apples grow on his arms. This is an illustration; it means the happy and godly person is:

• Well taken care of by God.

• Useful to other people.

• Beautiful to God and to people who know what real beauty is.

The first three verses have all been about the happy person. But, in v.4, someone else comes to mind,

The language here is angry—"Not so! The ungodly are not so! Not one of them is! Never have been! Never will be!"

This means two things:

The ungodly are not happy. Even if they’re cool; even if they laugh a lot; even if they have all the toys and video games and bikes, and anything else they want! They are not happy and they cannot be happy…

Because God won’t let them!

What if I wanted to make your life miserable? There are some bad things I could do to you. I could annoy you; spread rumors about you; beat you up, maybe. But, no matter how hard I tried, you might still be happy. For example, maybe my annoying comments made you laugh. Maybe your friends didn’t believe the bad things I said about you. Maybe we got in a fight, and you beat me up! Or, maybe I really messed you up, but then I died—and couldn’t do it any more. Or, maybe, the Lord let me aggravate you, but He also gave you a special blessing that I couldn’t take away from you.

But the Lord is not like me at all. He knows how to make a sinner miserable, He can do it, and because He never dies, gets old, forgets, or changes His mind, He can do it forever.

If the Lord says "Not so! The ungodly are not so!" You better believe it.

It also means the ungodly are not like "a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither".

This means: he is not well-taken care of by God; he is not useful to other people; and he is not beautiful to the Lord or to good people. She may have a beautiful face; he may be a muscle man, but they both look bad to God. And He’s the only one who matters!

Do you want to be happy? Well-taken care of? Useful? Beautiful? If you do, you’ve got to become holy. That means believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior and obeying Him as your Lord. There’s no other way to happiness. Anyone can be happy. But only in the Lord’s way.

In v.3, we saw what the godly are like. But now, in v.4, we see what the ungodly are like—and it’s not a pretty picture!

"Chaff" is a word most of us don’t know too well. It’s a part of a wheat grain that is no good to eat. So, when the farmer harvested his grain, he "threshed" it with something like a pitch fork, the chaff (which is lighter than the grain) blew off in the wind, the grain fell to the floor. The grain was then picked up and turned into bread, while the chaff was left to fly away.

Can you picture that? It’s pretty hard for me to. So let me use another illustration. It makes the same point, but in a way that is clearer to us.

The godly are like ears of corn. The ungodly are like the husks. If you buy corn on the cob, what do you do with the husks? You peel them off and throw them away. Why? Because they’re no good for eating. What do you do with the ear? You put it in a pot and when it’s hot and soft, you eat it.

The ear of corn is good and useful. The husk is worthless. (Some people use them for tamales, but after they’re cooked, they’re tossed in the garbage).

The ungodly are like the husks! Because they don’t glorify God or help other people, they’re worthless.

Someone will say that’s mean and harsh. And maybe it is. But it’s also true. What’s a shovel good for? If it doesn’t dig, what’s it good for? What’s a pencil good for? If it doesn’t write, what’s it good for?

What’s a person for? He’s for glorifying God and doing others good. If he doesn’t glorify God and do others good, then what’s he good for?

Would you rather be wheat or chaff? Would you rather be an ear of corn or its husk? Would you rather be a shovel or a broken shovel? Would you rather be a bike with two wheel, or a bike without wheels?

You have to choose. If you choose "wheat", you have to believe in Christ and follow Him. If you choose to not do that, you have chosen "chaff"—a worthless life and something worse after life is over.

No man, no scientist, no machine can turn a corn husk into an ear of corn. It cannot be done.

Except by God!

Water can be turned into wine. Chaff can be turned into wheat. And unhappy sinners can be turned into happy saints. But only by God’s almighty power and wonderful grace.

Why don’t you ask Him to do it for you? Why don’t you do it right now?

God bless you, everyone.