Ray Ortlund Jr. Talk 1 @ Clarus 09

The first talk of Clarus 09 was given by Ray Ortlund Jr.. Ortlund went over Psalm 1 and helped to identify what makes up True Spirituality.

Ortlund started off asking the questions: Delighting in Truth, is it Biblical? Does it matter?

Ortlund then proceeded to go on to tell how indeed it does matter. How delighting in God cannot be separated from the gospel. By going through Psalm 1 Ortlund showed that the righteous man was the one who delighted in the law of the Lord. He emphasized 3 keywords in the Psalm.

1. Blessed. This is a congratulatory view, it is a Biblical High Five. This man in Psalm 1 has had his spiritual vision purified. Even in the face of scoffers and sinners he stands firm and delights in God and nothing else. This man is saying no to a lot, so he can say yes to God. That is why the Psalm calls him Blessed.
2. Delight. This raises the bar and lowers it. I raises it by showing there is no such thing as half-hearted Christianity. God wants our full delight, our full devotion, not just a moderate acknowledgement. God made the Bible clear on this point. God made the Bible in simple language so we would delight in Him as He has revealed Himself to us.
3. Therefore. Before the word “therefore” in vs. 5 the psalmist is speaking in present tense. Following “therefore” the psalmist now looks toward eternity future. This is where the Psalm turns to show where the wicked and righteous will end up. Delight determines destiny. What we enjoy, matters now, it will matter forever. What we enjoy reveals the deepest reality in us that has been wrought in us by the Holy Spirit and will matter forever. When dark things about God enter our mind we need to talk about them.

Ortlund then asked us. Can we identify with this righteous man and his delight. His delight not in the law, but in the law of the Lord. In other words is there an aliveness in us that will never die. Will we desire this taste of delight, that in reality, ultimate reality is just a foretaste of heaven?