Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the book of Psalms, Psalm
1. Reading from our text, the first
three verses. Psalm 1 and verses 1 through
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. Psalm 1 and the first
three verses. And what is upon my spirit is
hell, the godly are known. And yet it is to be noted that
in the words of our text, it is not godly that is set forth
as the ungodly are mentioned, And yet the godly are known as
those that do not walk in the way of the ungodly and what they
do do. And yes, in verse 5 we have the
godly that are described as the righteous. But you know, when
the Lord separates a people to himself from amongst the ungodly,
It is a contrast, a difference that is made. And in this book
of Psalms, which deals with the experience of the people of God,
we have immediately in the very beginning a contrast given us
between the godly and the ungodly. And though the godly are not
Named as such, they are described by how they are known. And really, God's dear children,
God doesn't come to them and say to them, you are godly, or
you are one of my children. They are known by God's work
in them and for them. He sets his mark upon them. By His grace they are separated
unto Himself. And so we see in these verses
of our text how the godly are known. We needn't be surprised at the
reaction of the ungodly to the things of God. All of us by nature,
we are ungodly. We do not like the Lord nor walk
in his ways. I think sometimes we have a thought,
well, if only we could explain ourselves clearly, then surely
the world would all know and all agree and all believe that
the more we have contact or speak and live as a Christian should
live in contact with the world, The more we will find the truth
of what our Lord says in John 17, I have given them thy word
and the world hath hated them. So may we not be surprised when
we come up with those that really do oppose the things of God,
the people of God, and the word of God. And may we not be ever
ashamed ashamed of being different, ashamed of, accused of being
different. Haman accused the Jews to King
Ahasuerus that they were a different people, that they had laws that
were different, and because of that, they shouldn't be permitted
to live. There will always be that hostility,
but the Lord has pronounced a blessing on those that are not ashamed
of him or of his word. The Lord will not be ashamed
of them. Before all worlds and before
the angels, before the Father, he shall own them as his own. I feel we need to be constantly
reminded of this in the world in which we live, lest we do
become ashamed, lest we be discouraged, But when we have the marks of
what God does in a poor sinner's heart, to pluck him as a bran
from the burning, and put him, not leave him amongst the ungodly,
but put him amongst the righteous, righteous in Christ's righteousness,
made godly by God's work in the heart. Well, we have then a difference
that grace makes and thereby shows who the godly are in the
words of our text. Three points. Firstly, they are
known in what the godly don't do. And then secondly, known
in what they do. And then thirdly, they are known
in the blessing, God's blessing upon them. And he shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water. The text begins, blessed
is the man. Well firstly then, they are known
by what they don't do. Reminded of what repentance is,
Repentance is to turn from and to turn to. It's a complete change,
of course, to stop doing what we have been doing and to begin
to do what we haven't been doing. To turn away from one way, the
way that leads unto death, and to turn to another way which
leads unto life. And it will be a separation,
a stopping, doing. Now the way it's described here
is in the relationship to others. It's not taking, we might say,
things, or doctrines, or specific actions. Yes, there are actions,
but the difference is made between Man and man, woman and woman,
it divides amongst people, how people are acting. You know, we might get a change
of sentiments. You say, well, we have changed
from believing in the Arminian doctrine, free will, the doctrine
of man's ability to choose and save himself, or a Calvinistic
doctrine, which is all of grace, God's sovereign choice and irresistible
grace. And we might describe a change
in that way, but in that way it's not relative to a person,
to people. But here it is emphasizing a
change, a separation in people, And it is more in the way a person
applies the truth, or the way they walk in as opposing to the
truth. When we think of the end of the
world, the solemn separation between the righteous and the
wicked, That separation is a separation of persons. And we will either
be with one lot of persons, or with another lot of persons.
It is with a people. This is why one token of a child
of God is given in the epistles of John. We know that we are
passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. Again, it is a people that is
being emphasized. We think of the account of Ruth
and the book of Ruth. And what is emphasized there
is not first a change of doctrine, change of teaching, change of
religion, but it is a leaving of Ruth's own people, her land,
her parents, her gods, and cleaving to Naomi, cleaving to the people
of God. Thy people shall be my people,
thy God, my God. And it's relating to a person,
the Apostle Paul. He says, be ye followers of me,
as I also am of Christ and it is again a person and it is a
following a person because of their following of Christ or
it is a separation from a person because of their not following
Christ and not walking in the ways of the Lord and I believe
if we were to realize this more it would deliver us from entanglements
and snares and from those that we really should be separating
from and not be influenced by. And so here is the way that the godly are known,
or God's people are known, the righteous are known, by what
they don't do. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. The world and those that have
no regard to God or the ways of the Lord will be able to counsel
and to give advice in how to walk and how to act in this life,
and that leaves out God. God does not feature in their
counsel, in their thoughts, in what they consult. We have even
the children of God, the children of Judah, consulting with Jeremiah,
whether they should go down into Egypt or not. And yet, Jeremiah
said they really, they had dissembled. They weren't really consulting
with God. Really, they'd consulted with
themselves. They were like really the ungodly. We can be like that, be professing
to ask God's counsel, but really walking in the counsel of those
that do not have a God. at all. God's people are in the midst
of the ungodly. David often had this when he
was being pursued by Saul. Several times the counsel of
the ungodly was that he should kill Saul. Saul was put in his
power, he could have killed him. But David says, how shall I put
forth my hand unto the king's anointed? The time when he was
fleeing because of Absalom and Shimei, he cursed and cast stones. And some said, let us go over
and take off his head. But David says, let him curse,
for the Lord hath bidden him It may be the Lord will requite
me good for His cursing this day. And all the time there'll
be that which grace desires to do and to walk in, and there'll
be the counsel of those who do not pray, do not ask of God,
do not regard His word, His ways at all, and the mark of the godly,
the mark of a man that is blessed, they don't walk in that counsel.
We think of Ahab, and Ahab, he says to Jehoshaphat, come with
me, let us go to Ramoth Gilead, let us fight. But Jehoshaphat,
he says, let us ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord. Ahab has
his 400 prophets, but Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet
of the Lord besides? That is the desire of a godly
soul, does not want to walk in the way of the ungodly or false
prophets, he wants to know what is the word of the Lord. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my path. But here it's put in the negative
way. You and I through life will have
from many, many sources that direction, a counsel, advice
that is given by those who do not regard the Lord. Now sometimes,
of course, that counsel material things might be good counsel,
but may we be very careful. We think of Joshua in the promised
land when the Gibeonites came and made out they came from a
distant land and they didn't ask counsel of the law, they
just did what they thought themselves and therefore made a league with
them when in fact they dwelt among them. The counsel of the
ungodly will leave out the Lord. It must do, because they do not
recognize or serve him or obey him. So the first thing is what
they do not do, that is walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
then there is not standing in the way of sinners. Those that
are walking contrary to the Word of God may remember sin is a
transgression of the law of God. Walking in ways that are sinful
and wicked and wrong. And there is a separation from
those here from that way of sinners. In that sense, there is what
the world hates, a judgment or a discernment is made. And we
say we cannot, we cannot go with you, we cannot join with you
in this way. Proverbs speaks of many warnings
about casting in our lot, our purse, with those who do not
fear the Lord and being partaker of another man's sins. And so
there is a separation from that way of sinners, those that are
openly walking against the ways of the Lord. Then there is not
sitting in the seat of the scornful. To the people of God, the things
of God are solemn, they are real, and the fear of the Lord is before
their eyes. One real mark of the ungodly
in the world is to be scornful of the things of God. They scorn
a God that creates. They scorn a six-day creation. They scorn a young earth. They
scorn anything that goes against evolution. They scorn holiness. They scorn The separation from
those that are walking in sin, saying it is nothing, is nothing. Satan, with our first parents,
in effect, he scorned the commandments of the Lord, made light of them,
despised them. By the mark here. is that these
people, these people are known of godly and righteous. They
don't sit where the scornful sit. Where do we sit? Where do we
walk? Whose counsel do we take? And
do we stand in the way of sinners? How much as that which the Lord
has wrought in our heart has had this effect, has caused us
to not do things, to stop doing, to separate, not as it were,
just from doctrines and things, but people, people that give
counsel, people that walk in sinful ways, or people that show scorn to
the Word of God and the things of God. So this is the first way that
the godly or righteous are known. We might say it is a painful
way, it is a crucifying way, If we were in a company and we
just said we've changed our sentiments, we're still all going to be friends,
we're all going to be getting on well, and everyone agreed
with that, there'd be no cross. But our Lord calls out, coming
out from among them, touch not the unclean thing and I will
receive you. You shall be my sons and my daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. Whosoever will be a friend of
the world is an enemy of God. And the Lord makes that difference
as plucking his people as brains from the burning. And part of
that is painful. Whosoever does not leave father
and mother and brother and sister for my sake is not worthy of
me, and the word here, the mark here, is that which actually
costs something, is a separation in terms of our friends or acquaintance
or those that we have walked with. Well then secondly, they
are known in what they do, what the godly do. This is in verse two, and it
centers around the law. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And we might think in the first
place, surely that law speaks of the Ten Commandments, the
moral law as given on Mount Sinai. But we know, we've sung of it
in the hymns that we have sung. The law that is spoken of is
another law, a law of the Gospel. And it is that which is set before
us in the Gospel according to Lou, The Lord speaks of this
in the 24th chapter. He says unto them after he'd
risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples, These are the
words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that
in all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms. And then he
says this, concerning me. concerning me." And Moses, in
the law, those first five books of the law, the books of Moses,
there is Christ. They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. The apostle, when he writes to
the Romans, in Romans chapter 3, verse 27, he says this, where
he's boasting then, It is excluded by what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law
of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified or counted free from guilt by faith without the
deeds of the law. And he says, and regarding the
moral law, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid,
yea, we establish the law. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
came to fulfil the law. We see that especially in Exodus
33, where we have the broken tables of the law restored and
placed in the ark, a beautiful type of Christ, and then the
Lord's promise to be with them, and that His goodness will pass
by them in the way. We have it prophesied as well
in the prophecy in Isaiah, that there should be that law that
went forth from Jerusalem, that there shall be established in
the last days, that is these gospel days, This is Isaiah 2
in verses 2 and 3. Now the mountain of the Lord's
house shall be established in the top of the mountains and
shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto
it. And many people shall go and
say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths. for out of Zion shall go forth
the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Now, of course,
the apostle says the law is a schoolmaster unto Christ, but the law that
is set forth here is the law of the gospel. It is the Lord
Jesus Christ fulfilling that moral law in every jot and tittle,
working out a righteousness for his people and proving that he
is the spotless and sinless Lamb of God, a nail in a sure place,
able to bear the sins of his people, to carry them away, bringing
them to judgment, and then suffering and bleeding on the cross and
putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And so the law spoken
of here is the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is that way that God has ordained
that man should be saved, his people should be saved, not just
doing away with the law, Not imagining we have not sinned,
but providing a ransom. Deliver them from going down
into the pit. I have found a ransom. We have the law that is set before us here,
which is to be the delight, the delight
of the people of God. Again, as we had in what they
are not doing, they're turning away from, which was emphasizing
on people. So with here, we have really
an emphasizing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the law-fulfiller, the
one that made it honourable, the one that came according to
the law as what set forth in all the scriptures concerning
himself, and not as what Paul reproved the Corinthians for
in the first epistle he wrote to them in chapter 3, where he
said, there was a people that said, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos,
I'm of Cephas. They were following men. Then he said, who are these?
But men by whom he believed. And he directed them to Christ. He says, I determined to know
nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. When
he comes to the Galatians, who would bring back under the moral
law and say, well, you must be circumcised, you must keep that
law to be saved. No, he says, that is going away
from Christ. That is not good news, that's
not the gospel, that's not the way. or when he writes to Romans
in Romans 14, is not what we eat and what we don't eat. We read in the epistle Paul wrote
to Timothy of those that were forbidding to eat certain things
as if it was wrong to do so. But all things are acceptable
to be received with thanksgiving. But our religion is not in whether
we eat or whether we don't, it's not the days that we keep and
the days that we don't, again in Romans 14, or what we put
on and what we don't put on, but it is centred in the law
of God, what was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, that
which is set forth in the two ordinances of our Lord, baptism,
believers' baptism, not adult baptism, believers' baptism,
and the Lord's Supper. You do show forth the Lord's
death till he come, this do in remembrance of me. It is what
the Lord hath accomplished at Calvary. Now, there's two things
that are said of the man that is blessed. of the godly, of
the people of God, their delight is in the law of the Lord. Their delight is in it. To look at what the Lord has
done to make the law of God honourable and to put it away with no jar,
put away the transgression and put away sin, by the sacrifice
of himself, with no joint to holiness, righteousness, the
glory of God. We think of how it could be done.
If it was not done by a holy, righteous, and just God, he would
just say, well, I want these people in heaven, and these people
I'm going to leave, and I'll just take them to heaven. And
people would say, well, how can they be brought to heaven? The debt is not paid. The sentence
is still against them. How can that be a just or a holy
God when he doesn't make any payment, any restitution? He goes against his own law. He breaks his own law. But that
can never be said of God because we see justice and mercy and
faithfulness and righteousness in all that the Lord does. He
doesn't save his people without cost to himself. How many times
is it said, like when there was offered to David the sacrifices
and instruments on Mount Moriah for sacrifice, he says, no, I
will pay. I'll not offer sacrifices without
cost. And we have to remember the cost
of the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And for the
people of God, they delight in what the Lord has accomplished
and what the Lord has done. Their hope for heaven rests on
that. their hope for the forgiveness
of sins and the deliverance from the wrath to come and from the
judgment and being able to stand in the judgment, all is centered
in that. It means so much to them, what
the Lord has done for them, because that is what the law is. We mentioned
in the first part about being people, But in the law of God,
when it comes down to the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ dying for the persons of his people, it is a substitutionary
offering. It is an everlasting love of
God bestowed upon a sinner. It is that which shows the love
of God to a sinner. I pass by thee when thou wast
in thy blood, And when thou wast in thy blood, I bid thee live,
God commandeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. And again, it is people, and
the people of God are drawn to Christ. No man can come unto
me except the Father which sent me draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. His delight is in the law of
the Lord, and that law is centered in Christ, the fulfiller of it,
that one jot or tittle shall not pass from the law till all
be fulfilled. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that law-fulfiller on behalf of his people, and he gives then
to them eternal life, He gives to them an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and reserved in heaven. He gives them every blessing
and every favor, a deliverance from sin, a deliverance from
hell, and a deliverance to heaven. And the people of God that have
an interest in that will delight in it." What a test that that
is. Do we delight in what is vital
for our salvation? Do we delight in the Angel of
the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of the New
Covenant? Do we delight in Him? Our delight
is in the law of the Lord. Not only is there a delight,
but it affects the meditation, not just in daytime, but in night
as well. David, he says, he prevents the
night watchers that I might meditate upon thy word and upon thy law. We read how that Paul exhorted
Timothy Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them,
though profiting appear unto all. It is the work of the Lord,
the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ and his work. If thou
put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be
a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. And it is
that which goes on in the thoughts and affections. Paul, when he
writes to the Philippians, speaks of how necessary it is that we
think on those things that are true, that have virtue, that
are right things, that we meditate upon those, girding up the loins
of our minds. And in his law doth he meditate
day and night. That is how it is that God can
be just, and yet the justifier of sinners. How it is that God
saves his people. Why it is that God cannot forsake
his people. Why it is that God the Father
views his people as righteous because they are in his Son.
All that is said about what the Lord has accomplished at Calvary
to meditate, think deeply, go over in our minds and our thoughts. because it is those things that
strengthen faith, that encourage the people of God in the Lord
their God, are their hope of heaven in what the Lord has established
in that New Testament in His blood. So they are known then
in that which is in a positive way, If it is not seen in one
way, it will be seen in the other. But really both of these must
be true. If there is a void, it will be
filled with something. If we turn away from the ungodly,
then there must be a turning to something. And so the Apostle
Paul, He ceased to be a persecutor of the people of God, and wasn't
with those that were hailing men and women to prison any more
than he sought to join himself to the disciples as going from
one unto the other. May we be of those that join
with those that alight in the gospel, in the provision of our
Lord, and that answers every demand of the holy law of God,
and is the law of the wise, law of mercy, law of the way of salvation
through Christ alone. Was known then in the third place
by God's blessing Having verse 3, 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 we know that many of the
Lord's dear people are afflicted and tried, and in a materialistic
way, those things that God in mercy causes that they don't
prosper in. but the blessing nevertheless
very often does apply in temporal things, but it will especially
be in spiritual things. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them that are the
called according to his purpose. Now, the Lord said in John 15,
of himself as the vine, his people as the branches, From me is thy
fruit found, that it cannot bear fruit of itself, ourselves, same
as a branch can't, but it must be united. And here is a soul
that is united, not to the ungodly, but to the Lord. And from Him
comes that fruit. From Him comes those rivers of
water and that provision. And notice it says, that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season. We have that all the time around
us. We come into springtime here,
the blossom is coming. We know that after the blossom,
then we can expect there to be some fruit. But there are fruit,
and there are seasons of it. And again, with the people of
God. They know those changes and those seasons, and those
roots are to the Lord's honour and to the Lord's glory. And
it flows from Him, ready unto every good work, His servants,
to obey Him and to walk in His ways. It's a blessed thing to
learn of the Lord in His meekness, in His lowliness, humbleness
in his grace, to learn of the holiness of our Lord, and to
have that semblance to him. They took knowledge of them,
that they had been with Jesus, that there is that mark, that
this people are the people of the Lord. And the disciples,
as they spent time with the Lord, They learnt of him. They learnt
what he would do in those different situations. And they were made
to be what they were by the grace of God and by the work of God.
Peter, he went through that, sifting time with Satan, trying
him and sifting him. And the Lord said, when thou
art converted or when thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren
We can read of the fruit of that in the epistles of Peter. And
so with the people of God, the world will say there's no profit
in religion, there's no profit in the word, no profit in serving
the Lord. But the Lord says, no, there
shall be profit. There shall be the Lord's blessing
here. the blessing of the Lord in the
soul and the blessing to be above. We are to be pilgrims here and
the true blessing of the Lord is to be more like the Lord and
less like the world. A people that live for their
God, a people that show forth the praises of him who hath called
them out of nature's darkness and into his marvellous light.
It is a solemn thing. If the only reason why we follow
religion or follow a faith is as a bargaining thing, Lord,
I've done my bit. I've heard one service on Lord's
Day. I've attended the house of God.
Therefore, the things must go well with me in my life. You've
got to do your bit. And we're looking at the things
of God in that way. Many will follow the Lord for
loaves and fishes, but they'll not follow the Lord. for his
honour and glory and for the blessed hope of an eternity with
the Lord in heaven. Again, may we remember that we've
spoken a bit this morning on the separation from persons adjoining
to persons joining to the Lord and the fruitfulness, the end
result The Lord prays in John 17, Father, I will that they
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. And those fruits, those fruits
of heavenly peace and love and joy, they are found, those fruits
of holiness and godliness and of union, one with another, with
the people of God. Those are found with those that
walk in this way described here. That is a blessing. It is the
Lord's blessing that they have these fruits. 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. 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. He is blessed because he is what
he is by the grace of God, and our text describes what he is. and the blessing that attends
that change wrought by divine grace. May these verses describe
us. The Lord at His blessing. Amen.