View Resource Online
SUBJECT: The Secret of Happiness
SCRIPTURE SETTING:
Psalms 1:1-2 – 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.
(2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
I. The Blessed Man knows that happiness is not defined by what you do not do, where you do not go, or what you are against.
A. “Negative goodness” can not and does not produce true blessedness.
B. Duty and happiness are vital acts, and must be products of vital principles.
C. A life lived from a negative viewpoint of doing all that is right because it must be done, and not doing all that is wrong because it can not be done, has a severely limited potential for fulfillment, peace or happiness.
1. One mistake can dash the entire foundation of this life to pieces and leave a person floundering, confused, condemned, and hopeless
D. The things listed in Psalm 1:1 that the Blessed Man does not do is contrasted in Psalm 1:2 with what he does do and why he does them. Psalm 1:2 is the reason he does not do the things of Psalm 1:1, not vice versa.
E. The motivation to not do wrong things is much more powerful when it is based on wanting to do good things.
F. Think of it this way:
1. I only have 60 minutes in each hour of my day.
2. If I spend this time doing what I want to do and what I want to do is good, then it is not a struggle to not do wrong things, because I do not have time to do them.
3. Philippians 4:8 tells us to choose to think on good things. If I spend my time thinking good things, there is no time to think of wrong things.
Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
4. Ephesians 5:16 teaches us “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
a. Paul is saying use your time of each day wisely for good, because of the evil that could consume it.
II. The secret of happiness is the right attitude of the soul to the Truth of God.
A. The first part of this is the right attitude of the will to the Law of God.
1. The bias of the will is toward Divine Truth.
2. The ungodly and self-willed walk after their own thoughts, opinions, and ideas.
a. But the “Happy” man consults God’s will and is always longing for the path that God’s Word lays before him.
3. The “Will” in Psalm 1:2 could be defined as that delight of heart, that certain pleasure in the Law, which does not look at:
a. What the Law promises,
b. Nor what it threatens,
c. But only that “The Law is Holy, Just, and Good. Romans 7:12
Romans 7:12 – Wherefore the law is holy; and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
4. Therefore, it is not just a love of the Law, but a loving delight in the Law, which no prosperity, nor adversity, nor the world, nor the devil can take away or destroy.
a. This delight in the Law victoriously bursts its way through poverty, evil reports, the cross, death and hell, and adversity
b. In fact, in the midst of all these things, it shines its brightest!
B. The second part of this secret is a right relationship of our affections to the Law of God.
1. One man said, “The Law is love defined.”
2. The godly man sees in the spiritual law the declaration of the Divine Nature, which is the essence of Love.
a. This causes him to delight in that Law after the inner man.
C. Last, the intelligence must be in right relationship to the Law of God.
1. “He meditates in the Law, day and night…”
2. We must know the Law if we are to perceive its beauty and appreciate its worth.
a. The more we know of it, the greater shall our joy be in it.
3. If a man is ignorant of the Divine Law or is full of misconceptions of it, he cannot know true freedom and happiness.
a. If his eyes are open to the deep things of the Law, he can walk in liberty, peace that passes all understanding and joy that is unspeakable.
III. Let us not seek for happiness in things that are based in the realm of time or whose foundations are the five senses, but let us labor to know the Will of God, and to have our hearts harmonized with that will, and we shall find true rest to our souls. Matthew 11:28-30
Matthew 11:28-30 – Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
(29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
(30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
