Well, let us turn to the Word
of God once again, and I direct you this evening to words that
we find at the beginning of the book of Psalms. In Psalm 1, and
reading for a text the opening three verses of the Psalm, Psalm
1, verses 1 to 3, 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. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And
he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not
wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Here then we read
in the opening words of the Book of Psalms something concerning
the Blessed Man. We were thinking of that Blessed
Man again this morning but saw him there in the wisdom literature,
in a sense the wisdom of the Blessed Man. Spoken of in Proverbs
8.34, Blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at
my gates, waiting at the post of my doors. And the one who
is speaking, of course, is wisdom, as we're told there in the opening
verse of that 8th chapter, doth not wisdom cry, and understanding
put forth her voice. And that wisdom, we were saying
this morning, ultimately is to be understood not so much in
terms of Solomon, that wise king, that wisest of all kings, but
a greater than Solomon is the one that says, blessed is the
man that heareth me. So we thought of the hearing
of the blessed man. But I thought it would be profitable
to turn back to the book of Psalms and see something of what's said
concerning the blessed man here. And interestingly, we meet him
at the very beginning of the Psalter, here in the opening
verses of this first Psalm. And what do we see? We see something
of the prosperity of that blessed man. Sometimes we might wish
others a happy year or a prosperous year. What is true prosperity? What is real happiness? Is it
not that that in many ways is being spoken of in these verses
that we've just read for our text? And as I'm sure you're
aware, really in the psalm we have a remarkable contrast. We
have the blessed man in the first three verses, but then we have
the ungodly man in the last three verses. The ungodly. I am not
so, but I like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. But even when we come to the
first verse where we have the blessed man introduced to us,
we see something of his character in negative terms because he
is so unlike the ungodly man. That's what's said here in verse
1. We see in this opening verse the awful progression of sin
in the ungodly. Blessed is the man that walketh
not, it says. He walks not in the counsel of
the ungodly, nor does he stand in the way of sinners, nor does
he sit in the seat of the scornful. And so when we think of this
ungodly man we see him at first he's walking, but then he becomes
more settled, he stands still, he's in the place that he wants
to be and ultimately we see him seated. He's just where he belongs. There's an awful progression
in the words that we have in this opening verse and there
is such a progression. As James reminds us with regards
to the history of sin, there in James 1 at verse 14, every
man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. then when lust hath conceived
it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth
forth death. All man knows the beginning of
sin but who can who can why the the consequences thereof in his commentary, the Puritan
Thomas Manton, remarking on those words in James 1, 14 and 15,
simply says, after the birth, death. In the compass of that
short passage that we've just referred to in the opening chapter
of James, we have sin in its conception, in its birth, and
immediately in its end. or the dreadful progress of sin. And we see something of it also,
of course, in the psalm that we were reading. Psalm 94 speaks
of the ungodly in no uncertain terms. What does the psalmist
say here? Verse 3, Lord, how long shall
the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall
they utter and speak hard things, and all the workers of iniquity
boast themselves? They break in pieces thy people,
O Lord, and afflict thine heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger,
and murder the fatherless. Yet they say the Lord shall not
see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand ye
brutish among the people, and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall
he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall
he not see? And then at the end, the last
verse, He shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall
cut them off in their own wickedness. Yea, the Lord our God shall cut
them off and really even there in Psalm 94 we see something
of the contrast he doesn't just speak of the of the wicked and
the ungodly and the sinners and the scorners but he speaks of
the blessed man there in the middle of that 94th Psalm blessed
is the man Whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out
of thy law." Oh, there's a relationship between the blessed man and the
law of God. And when we see the word law,
we're not simply to think in terms of the mosaic law. Often
the word law is used in a more broad sense. It's used in reference
to the Word of God. And we have him here, of course.
in the words that I read for our text, he's opening words
in the psalm, in the first psalm concerning the blessed man, his
delight is in the Lord of the Lords and in his Lord that he
meditates day and night. Well let us come to consider
the content of these verses at the beginning of the book of
Psalms, his first three verses. 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, but his delight is
in the Lord of the Lord. And in his Lord doth he meditate
day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his
leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
Or the prosperity of the blessed man, or the blessed man's prosperity. And four things I want to observe
from the verses that we've just read concerning this blessed
man, this godly man. This is the planting of God. This is the planting of God.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Of course in the Old Testament
we have to remember that Israel, ethnic Israel, is always really
a type of the true spiritual people of God, the spiritual
Israel. And how did God first establish
that nation of Israel? Well, he takes them out of the
bondage that they were enduring there in the land of Egypt and
brings them into the promised land, the land that he had promised
to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and there he plants
them. And remember how the Psalmist
elsewhere, Psalm 80, speaks of them as a vine that God has planted
there in the midst of that promised land. Psalm 80, verse 8, Thou hast brought a
vine out of Egypt, Thou hast cast out the heathen and planted
it, Thou preparest room before it, and it caused it to take
deep root, and it filled the land, the hills were covered
with the shadow of it, the boughs thereof were like the goodly
cedars, She sent out her boughs onto the sea and her branches
onto the river. Then the psalmist goes on to
speak of how God is dealing with his people in the way of judgment.
Because of their folly and because of their sins, the many disobedience
that they were guilty of. But the godly, you see. The godly are those who are clearly
planted by the Lord God Himself. and we have it not only with
regards to Israel but in the book of the Prophet Isaiah there
in Isaiah chapter 60 and again in the opening words the opening
verses of chapter 61 Isaiah 60 and verse 21 like people also
shall be all righteous it says they shall inherit the land forever
the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may
be glorified." Oh, this is that righteous people. It is the Lord
who has made them righteous, it is the Lord who has planted
and established them. And so he repeats it, verse 3
of the following chapter. The end of that verse we read
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that He might be glorified. And so this godly
man, he's like a tree, planted by the rivers of water. It is God who makes the Christian.
It has been well observed that only He who made the world could
make a Christian. We do not make ourselves Christians. It is the work of God and it's
a mighty work of God that must be accomplished in the soul of
those who are dead in trespasses and sins and there are those
who imagine that they can make themselves Christians. They simply
make a commitment and that makes them the Lords. That is not the
truth, is it? What does the Lord Jesus Christ
himself say in the course of his ministry? Every plant which
my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up. For there
will be a day of reckoning and a day of judgment. God forbid
that we should presume to imagine that we can make ourselves Christians.
No, the Lord brings a man to the end of himself. the man has
to see that he can do nothing for himself he has to learn the
solemn truth of total depravity that he is dead in trespasses
and sins he has no ability of himself to do anything thou turnest
man to destruction and sayest return ye children of men all
this blessed man, this godly man it's the Lord's plunging
And as the Lord has planted the man, so the Lord makes provision
for him, so that what the Lord has planted will not die, but
it's going to flourish. Look at the place where the Lord
plants the tree. He shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water. In other words, it's a fertile
place, a fertile spot where the Lord has set the blessed man
by the rivers of water. And we read of that river in
another psalm, there in the 46th psalm, in the fourth verse, there
is a river. The streams whereof shall make
glad the city of God. The holy place of the tabernacles
of the Most High God is in the midst of her. She shall not be
moved. God shall help her. And that
writes early. Oh, there is a river, you see,
that makes glad the city of God. Oh, this tree is well watered. But what does the river represent?
That river that we read of here in the text that we have in the
first psalm but the same river that's spoken of there in Psalm
46. Well, in a sense we might say
that that river is representative of God himself. It represents God himself. And
isn't that the image that's taken up right at the end of Holy Scripture? The very last chapter of the
Bible there in Revelation 22. I'm sure you're familiar with
those opening words. He showed me the pure river of
water of life clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. in the midst of the street of
it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life
which bared twelve manna of fruits and yielded a fruit every month
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So this is that river that river
that we were just singing of or you sang of it really I didn't
sing all of that second hymn 996 but how The hymn writer Samuel Medley
takes up that blessed theme and sees the river as that that is
God ministering to his people. While the dear saints of God
below travel this vial of sin and woe, there is a river through
the road makes glad the city of our God. This river is his
heavenly love proceeding from the throne above. and all its
streams which here are found with comfort joy and peace abound
and so he goes on through the hymn he speaks of it then in
terms of God himself and God in his attributes the love of God all the goodness of God all the
grace, all the mercy all that that ministers to the souls of
needy sinners all those healing balms that are spoken of there
in the last chapter of scripture but it's interesting isn't it
that when we come back to our text we read of the tree being
planted by the rivers in the plural He shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water. Isn't that in some
ways direct us to the fact that when we come to deal with God
we find in God a threefold blessing or the great truth of the doctrine
of the Trinity. There is that ministry of Father
and of Son and of Holy Ghost there are rivers of blessing. In Jeremiah the Lord God rebukes
his people near foolishness. My people have committed two
evils, he says. They have forsaken me, the fountain
of water. Endure them out, cisterns, broken
cisterns that can hold no waters. Father, of our sinful hearts,
thinking we can make some provision for ourselves. We are to look
to God, we are to look to the Father, the source of all blessings. That One who in the eternal covenant
of course is representative of God Himself. That covenant entered into by
the three persons and there are blessings from the Father. He
is electing love. but then there's a provision
that is made in the person of God the Son who would in the
fullness of the time be God manifest in the flesh and in that day
in that day there shall be a fountain open for sin and uncleanness
and where is that fountain opened? it's open for David in the city
of Jerusalem or that fountain of the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, there is provision, you see,
every provision in God the Father, in God the Son, in God the Holy
Spirit. And the promise of the Lord Jesus
that He will send the Blessed Spirit we refer to the passage
this morning there in the seventh chapter of John where Christ
is at Jerusalem it's the Feast of the Tabernacles and there
he is ministering the Word of God preaching to the people and
what does the Lord say? What John tells us in the last
day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying,
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. And it is the promise of the
Holy Spirit because then we have that little parenthesis in verse
39 John says, "...this bakery of
the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive, for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
Or Christ tells us, "...whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst." That is the ministry of the Blessed
Spirit. Rivers, rivers of water, the
love of the Father, and the grace of the Son, and the blessed quickenings
of the Holy Spirit, the refreshing, the revivings that come by that
ministry of God the Holy Ghost. And so, when we see that the
Lord God has made a wonderful provision, He has made it in
Himself, in all the fullness of His glorious Godhead. planted by rivers of water how
God himself will water it but then thinking of the significance
of rivers in the context are we not also here to recognize
that there is some reference to the scriptures to the word
of God look at the previous verse we're told in verse 2 is delight
is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water." Can we not say that in that opening clause of the
third verse we're referred back to what is being said in the
second verse? The rivers of water is that law. And I said just now that we're
to understand the word law not simply in terms of the Lord of
Moses, but we're to think of the Word of God, the wholeness
of the Scriptures. And there's another hymn that
makes some allusion to these words of the Psalm, and we're
going to sing it as our closing praise tonight. And there, Isaac
Watts interprets it in terms of the Word of God, that sacred
stream, thine holy words, that all our raging fear controls,
sweet peace thy promises afford and give new strength to fainting
souls. All that river, the streams whereof,
make glad the city of God. We observe out there in the 46
Psalms it says streams, again it's the plural, as here we have the word rivers
in the plural the streams whereof make glad the city of God or
the tree planted by the rivers of water and we're thinking there
not so much in terms of God himself but in terms of the Word of God
and what does the plural in both of the Psalms suggest to us does
he not remind us that there's a glorious fullness in the Word
of God wonderful fullness in the Holy Scriptures. The psalmist
says in the 119th Psalm thy commandment is exceeding broad. Oh what a
breadth there is when we come to the Scriptures of truth it
reaches us in every condition of our lives it finds us where
we are and ministers to us as we are And sometimes it might
come as a word of reproof or a word of rebuke, but then other
times it comes as a word to console us. Oh, there are comforting
words in Holy Scripture. There are exceeding great and
precious promises. Remember how Paul reminds us
there in 2nd Timothy 3.16 that all scripture is given by inspiration
of God, he says, and is profitable. It ministers to us, it's profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished
unto every good work. Oh, it's rivers of water, it's
streams that make glad the city of God. There is a blessed fullness
in it. And of course the great thing
with the Word of God that ultimately it brings us back to him who
is the word of God incarnate it brings us back to the Lord
Jesus Christ who said search the scriptures in them you think
that ye have eternal life and these are they that testify of
mercy and so the two truths really come together we can think of
the rivers in terms of gods and all that God is, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, all that God has revealed to us of Himself,
all His glorious attributes, but where do we see these things?
We see all in the face, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the image of the invisible God. And the Scriptures will
bring Him before us time after time after time. All the godly
man then, It's the Lord's planting. And as the Lord has planted the
tree, so He has made provision for it. He's planted it in a
fruitful place, even by the rivers of water. But then, furthermore, with regards to
this blessed man that the psalmist is addressing, what does this
man do? What does this man do, this godly
man? Well, he meditates in the word
of God. He ponders over the word of God. He loves the word of God. His
delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he
meditate day and night. Now, this word, to meditate,
the literal meaning is to mutter. in a sense to talk to oneself. Think of the experience of that
gracious godly king Ezekiah in his song of thanksgiving after
he had been restored from his sickness, Isaiah 38. He says,
like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter, I did mourn as
a dove. And there of course we have repetition,
parallelism, and the use of synonyms. He speaks of birds, a crane,
a swallow. He says, I did chatter like a
crane or a swallow, I did mourn as a dove, the mourning cry of
the dove. And it's interesting because
the word that we have there in Isaiah 38.14 to mourn is really
the same word as we have here in the second verse of the text
in Israel that he meditates day and night and sometimes when
we meditate in the word of God we are brought to that, to mourn
to mourn over our many failings, our shortcomings, our sins now God finds us out by his words
as the word of God is the revelation of God so as man was made in
God's image and after God's likeness we should see some reflection
of ourselves in the word of God but because of the entrance of
sin and the fall of Adam and we're all conceived in sin and
shaping in iniquity what do we see? or we see man alas mangled
by the fall the image of God so defaced it's a cause then
for mourning when we ponder the word of God when we seek to look
into the word of God but I like the comments of the great Protestant
Reformer, Luther. Luther says, as chattering is
the employment of birds, so continual conversing in God's law is the
employment of the godly. Think of the language there of
King Hezekiah, like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter,
I did mourn as a dove. Well, Luther says, that's the
employment of birds. But the godly, what do they do?
They converse in God's law. Law, that's their continual employment. And when do they do it? Day and
night, it says. His delight is in the law of
the Lord, and in His law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. So we have day and night, we
have season. And of course, this is how God has ordained things
in creation. We know that. We're coming to the end now of
the old year, we anticipate in God's goodness that we'll see
the dawning of a new day, the first day of what we will call
the year 2024. We know that day follows night
as night follows day, because God himself has assured us there
in Genesis 8.22 while the earth remaineth seed time and harvest
cold and heat summer and winter day and night shall not cease
there are seasons in nature but there are also seasons in grace do we not live to prove that? sometimes the people of God feel it's night time, it's dark
we've looked on previous occasions at that blessed man, that godly
man spoken of at the end of Isaiah 50 you is among you that feeleth
the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in
darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the
Lord and stay upon his God sometimes we are walking in in the darkness
sometimes in the soul it's not the season of summer not those
nice bright warm days alas sometimes it's winter in the souls of the
people of God there are these various experiences these different
seasons in the life of the godly man but here is the comfort you
see Psalm 78 and verse 16 the day is thine the night also is
thine verse 17 thou hast made summer and winter our God is sovereign in all of
these things and this is the God that we are to look to this
is the God that we are to trust in even when we feel that we're
in a low place. We're to look to this God who
is sovereign, who's too wise to be mistaken, who's too good
to be unkind. We find our comfort there. Or
we're to meditate. We're to meditate in His words.
And we're to look to Him that He will bless that word to us
as we seek to think upon all that the Lord is saying to us.
Again, The Puritan Thomas Watson says, as the meditation is, such
is the man. As the meditation is, such is
the man. I remember as a young believer
being, I think, well instructed on one occasion. Now we need
to be careful as to what Christian books we read. We need to be careful as to what
Christian books we read. Sometimes we might be reading
something that encourages us to be somewhat too introspective. There's a place, of course, for
self-examination. But we need to be balanced in
our reading habits. It's not always wise to read
those books that would encourage too much of an indulgence in self-examination. You know
the quote that's attributed to Robert Murray McShane. He says,
one look at self, a hundred, a thousand looks of Christ. You
must never lose sight of the blessed objectivity of faith.
The great object of our faith is always the Lord Jesus Christ.
we're to be looking to him ponder we're not to ponder on self too
long we're to be those who would sooner be flying away to the
Lord Jesus himself as a man thinketh in his heart
so is he says the wise man in the book of Proverbs we're to
think then on on those better things think of the language
that we have there in the end of the epistle to the Philippians,
the practical part of that epistle, Philippians chapter 4, and the
words that we find in the 6th verse. Finally, brethren, whatever
things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are
just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, Whatever
things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there
be any praise, Paul says, think on these things. Think on these
things. And that verse, that verse in
the Psalm that we read, Psalm 94 and verse 19, he says, In
the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight
my soul in the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts
delight my soul oh there's profit you see when we give ourselves
over to that sort of meditation when we think of the Lord and
the ways of the Lord and the grace of the Lord it brings comfort
and consolation here is the activity then of the godly man, the blessed
man he meditates in the word of God, he ponders over the word
of God and finds that word to be so extensive there's no state
or condition he can ever be in and yet that word will come and
minister to him the glorious fullness of the scriptures of
truth and then finally, I said four four things to consider
tonight how this blessed man is planted by the Lord it is
the Lord who makes every provision for him but the man is not passive
the man is active in that he's meditating he's pondering the
words of God and then finally we see his prosperity at the
end of verse 3 He bringeth forth His fruit in
His season, His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever He
doeth shall prosper. Oh, ye know them by their fruits.
Isn't that what the Lord Jesus Christ Himself tells us there
in His Sermon? You know the Sermon on the Mount.
I'm sure you're familiar with those three chapters in Matthew's
Gospel and there in Chapter 7. At verse 16, the Lord says, Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, and a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them." All there is, you see,
to be the bringing forth of fruits, the light shining as it were.
Let your light so shine before men, says Christ, that they may
see your good works. and glorify your Father which
is in heaven. Oh the godly man, how he's made
to prosper in all the ways of God. The Lord is no man's debtor. It's for us then to look to ourselves,
to examine ourselves. Is this a description of the
sort of people, the sort of men and women that we are? Are we
really these blessed ones? That blessed man spoken of by
Solomon where we were this morning. The blessed man who hears that
word. He heareth my word says wisdom. And here we see him again in
the very beginning of the book of Psalms. 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.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord. In his law doth
he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit. In
his season his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he
doeth shall prosper." Now the Lord Grant that we might be those
who are indeed prosperous believers as we're looking, trusting, walking
with the Lord Jesus Christ, who depart the way of the ungodly
and seek only to walk in that narrow way that leads to life. The Lord grant his blessing for
his name's sake. Amen.