Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 40 from your hardbacked hymnals, Great
is Thy Faithfulness. Let's all stand together, number
40. Great is thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions
they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever
wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. ? All I have needed thy hand
hath provided ? ? Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me ?
? Summer and winter and springtime and harvest ? Sun, moon, and
stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold
witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness, morning by morning, new mercy I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord
unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that
endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, Strength
for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine
with ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
Please be seated. What a glorious hymn, worship. All that I have needed, thy hands
have provided. He's a faithful God. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 141. 141. Janelle had back surgery today. It was arthroscopic and she should
be home by now. but she'll be recovering from
that for a few days. So I remember to pray for Janelle. Psalm 141, Lord, I cry unto thee. Make haste unto me. Give ear
unto my voice when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set before
thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening
sacrifice. Set a watch, O Lord, before my
mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Incline
not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with
men that work iniquity, and let me not eat of their dainties. Let the righteous smite me."
Let the righteous smite me? Yeah. That means to be corrected. By your brother be corrected
by the gospel. Let the righteous smite me and
it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me. It shall be an
excellent oil which shall not break my head. For yet my prayer
also shall be in their calamities. When their judges are overthrown
in stony places, they shall hear my words for they are sweet. Our bones are scattered at the
grave's mouth. You know your bones are scattered
at the grave's mouth right now? Yeah. We're just one step away
from the grave, aren't we? Our bones, our bones are scattered
at the grave's mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood
upon the earth. But mine eyes are upon thee,
O God. the Lord in thee is my trust. Leave not my soul destitute. Keep me from the snares which
they have laid for me and the gins of the workers of iniquity.
Let the wicked fall into their own nets whilst that I with all
escape. Let's pray. Oh, our merciful, gracious, loving
Heavenly Father, how desperate we are for you to provide that
way of escape. We might be able to bear the
troubles of this flesh and this world. Lord, we need for you
to turn us this hour enable us to look to Christ, to rest in
him, to believe on him, and Lord, to rejoice in all that he's accomplished,
knowing that thy hand hath provided everything necessary for our
salvation and for our life. Lord, enable us to worship. Send
your spirit and power. Open my mouth and enable me to
speak and open our hearts and our ears, enable us to hear thy
voice. Lord, open your word, make it
sharp and powerful, effectual. Lord, we thank you for our sister
Janelle and we ask that your hand of strength and healing
would be upon her. We pray that you'd give her extra
grace in this time of need and draw her heart near to thee.
and give her a full recovery from the surgery. We ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 39 from the spiral gospel hymns. And we're coming up. Wretched, lost, condemned, and
dying Guilty, I deserve God's wrath Long I fought against my
Master Hell-bent, I was courting death But the blood of Christ
had bought me, He refused to let me die. This poor sinner, loved by Jesus,
Must be conquered by and by. At the time which was predestined,
In the covenant of God's grace, God in mercy sent His Spirit,
Blessed time of love and grace, To reveal His Son's great merit,
as the sinner's substitute. I saw Jesus bleeding, dying,
suffering as my substitute. Precious blood for sin's atonement,
justice could not ask for more. I heard Christ cry, it is finished,
and I could resist no more. Thanks to God for intervening. Grace that broke my stubborn
will. Grace that would not let me perish. Grace that rescued me from hell. Sovereign grace, I will proclaim
it Irresistible and free Grace that chose me and redeemed me
God, by grace alone, saved me Sinner, now you've heard my story. Now I bid you trust my God. Christ, my all-sufficient Savior,
saves poor sinners by His blood. Please be seated. We open your Bibles with me to
Psalm 1. Psalm 1. The Lord has directed my heart
the last few days to read through the book of Psalms. And as he
enables us, we'll plan to try to bring a message from a psalm
on Wednesday nights for however long the Lord allows us to do
that. And it just impressed me in reading
through all the Psalms, what a summary of all that's in the
book of Psalms is in these six short verses of Psalm 1. And
I've titled this message, The Blessed Man. The Blessed Man. These Psalms reveal the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed is the man. He is the man. And our blessings
are to be found in him. That's, you know, you hear people
say all the time, well, God bless you. God bless you. You know,
he sneezed. Somebody said, God bless you.
And I know they're just trying to be polite, but I want to say
to them, he already has. He already has. He's put me in
Christ and all the blessings that Christ deserved from the
Father for His faithfulness. We just sang about that. I enjoy
by virtue of the fact that I'm in Him and all the blessings
of God, all the blessings of God. All the promises of God
are yay and amen in him. Now Psalm 1 identifies the blessed
man. Psalm 2 speaks of the Lord's
anointed. Psalm 3 speaks of the Lord Jesus
Christ crying out to the Father from the cross to save him. In Psalm 4, ye sons of men, how long, how
long will you turn my glory to shame? That's what we do every
time we sin, don't we? We turn His glory into shame. Deliver me from my enemies, Psalm
5. In Psalm 6, my bones are vexed
within me. Now that's just the first six
Psalms and they all speak of Christ. They are the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking. And if he's pleased to reveal
that to us, then we can find hope of being found in him. Then we'll understand how the
Lord speaks to our hearts through these Psalms as well. But first
and foremost, I can remember in religion, you know, we've
talked about Messianic Psalms. And there were certain individual
psalms that related to Christ. Well, and generally speaking,
those were psalms that were so clearly related to New Testament
events that even an unbeliever could see it. But if we're going
to see Christ in all the scriptures and in all the psalms as he is,
as he is in the volume of the book it is written of being,
You remember in Luke chapter 24 when the Lord went to the
upper room and met with the disciples and the scripture says, and beginning
with Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, he expounded unto
them those things concerning himself. This book is about Christ. And if the Lord enables us to
set our affections on him and to see him, to rest in him and
to believe on him, we'll have peace, we'll have comfort, we'll
have strength, we'll have His grace and His glory. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, Savior. And that's our hope, isn't it? Our hope is, Lord, show me Thy
ways. Show me Thy ways. Show me Christ. Give me children, lest I die.
Lord, reveal Yourself to me." He is the man. You see that in
verse 1, blessed, blessed, blessed of God is the man. He's the God-man. Scripture says
that there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. One mediator. That's why the
Lord was able to say, I'm the way, the truth and the life.
No man can come to the Father but by me. To know me is to have
life. To know me is to have salvation.
Salvation is of the Lord. I am your salvation. I am your
salvation. He is the last Adam. But I want you to notice in our
text in Psalm 1 verse 1, There are two words in the Hebrew language
for man. One word is the word Adam. And
Adam, when not speaking of the particular man Adam, is generally
used to refer to mankind. And so there's no reference to
gender when the word Adam is used. The other word, on the
other hand, is the word Ish. And it's always used in reference
to a male. It always has identification
of a man in contrast with a woman. And so these blessings are for
men and women. There's no question about it.
But if we're going to enjoy the blessings of God, we're going
to have to be found in the man. The man. The man, Christ Jesus. What did Pilate say? After scourging
our Lord and standing before the crowd, behold the man. Oh, that God would give us grace
to behold the man. If we can see the man, we'll
be blessed in the man. And then what did in that parable
the Lord gave about the the king that was had the sun
ruling and what they say will not have this man reign over
us we're not going to do it and uh... and that's the that's the
difference and that's what the song does look at look at verse
uh... verse four the ungodly are not
sore so this these six short verses distinguish the difference
between those who are blessed in the man and those who will
not bow to the man. That's it. And it shows the distinction. You know, the world loves to
make lots of different categories for people, don't they? You've
got different races and different genders and different things,
you know, that people use to identify people, pigeonhole people. But in fact, there's only two
kinds of people. is those who are blessed in the man and those
who raise their fist in rebellion against the man. And that's it. Blessed is this man. He's blessed of God. He's called
the one who is anointed with the oil of gladness above his
fellows, the Christ. He came in the full power of
the Spirit of God, blessed of the Father, blessed of the Father. All power has been given unto
me in heaven and in earth. I've been given all authority.
And what did I say? Never a man spake like this man
before. He speaks with one having authority. not as the scribes. He doesn't
just give pious platitudes and doctrine and theology and philosophy. He speaks with authority. When
he speaks, we're captivated by what he says. Why? Because he's blessed of God.
He's blessed with the full anointing of the Spirit of God. He has
the approval of the Father. This is my beloved Son. In Him,
I'm well pleased. Blessed is this man. He's been
blessed of God. And the only hope that you and
I have to be blessed of God is to be found in Him. If we're
not in Him, there's no blessings. All the blessings of God are
in Christ. He's the one that God blessed. He's the one that
God was pleased with. He's the one that satisfied all
the demands of the Father and fulfilled the law perfectly. He was rewarded for his work.
He was. He was given his rightful place
at the right hand of the majesty on high. He returned back into
glory and took with him the names of those he lived and died for.
And he was rewarded with children. His quiver is full. He was rewarded
from the father with a wife, a wife that is as beautiful as
he is. a wife that's as perfect and
righteous as he is. He was rewarded, blessed of God
because he was faithful. Faithful, know what we're just
saying about his faithfulness. Blessed is the man. Why was he
blessed? Because he walked not in the
counsel of the ungodly. Why would he? Why would wisdom
seek counsel from ungodly? God has made him to be our wisdom. All our righteousness, all our
sanctification, and all our redemption, everything that we have from
God is found in him. He is wisdom personified. Proverbs chapter 8, verse 14. Turn with me there to Proverbs
chapter 8. Verse 1. Let's begin there. Doth not wisdom
cry? Now, he's not crying out in the
streets. He's not begging men to let him
have his way, but he did cry out to the father. My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Wisdom has cried and understanding
has put forth her voice. She standeth in the top of the
high places by the way in the places of the path. She crieth
at the gates. at the entry of the city, at
the coming into the doors. Unto you, O men, I call." That's
the effectual call. He's not pleading with men. He's
calling effectually. And when he does, my voice is to the sons of men. Oh, ye simple, understand wisdom,
and ye fools, be you of an understanding heart. Hear, for I will speak
of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right
things." How does God speak? Well, He speaks by His Word.
He speaks by His Word. For my mouth shall speak truth,
and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are
in righteousness. There is nothing forward or perverse
in them. They are all plain, plain to
him that understandeth and right to them that find knowledge."
And then look down at verse 14, counsel is mine. Now, what does Psalm 1 say? The blessed man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. Why would he
seek counsel from ungodly when he himself is wisdom? Counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding. I have strength. I have no need to go anywhere
else. And if the Lord's put us in Christ, we have no need to
go anyplace else. We have no need to go anyplace
else. Why would we seek counsel from someone who doesn't know
God? When He is our counselor, when He has all wisdom, Romans 11, verse 33, oh, the
depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are His ways. And His judgments are past finding
out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord and who hath been His counselor? Who's gonna counsel
God? He walks not in the counsel of
the ungodly. He has perfect knowledge, perfect
wisdom. Who hath first given to Him that
He shall recompense unto Him again? For of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things. To Him be all the glory. He walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly. If you're in Christ, you have
no reason to seek counsel from anyone else. You've got wisdom. Who knows the mind of God? We
have the mind of Christ. We have the truth of God right
here in his word. We don't have to go anywhere
else. He said in Psalm 50, if I were
hungry, I would not tell thee. For the world is mine, and the
fullness thereof. I've got no need from you. You've
got every need of me." The ungodly did try to counsel
the Lord Jesus Christ, beginning with his own mother. Now, outside of Christ, we're
all ungodly. I know that Mary was blessed
of God, but at 12 years old, she was not able to counsel her
son. She rebuked him for not telling. Woman, who are you to rebuke
me? Did you not know that I must
be about my father's business? You're not here. Men have always tried. In Mark
chapter 8, The scripture says that the Lord spoke plainly to
the disciples about his death, at which point Peter rebuked
him, said, Lord, it's not going to be that way. And what did
the Lord say to Peter? Get thee behind me, Satan, for
thou savorest not the things of God, but the things of man. Men tried to counsel him. Blessed
is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. He
didn't listen to what they said. Even those who loved him the
most, even those who were nearest to him, and that's true of his
children yet today, isn't it? How many times do we go to God
and try to counsel him? Lord, this is the way you should
do it. This is the way you ought to do it. Oh, Lord, forgive us. You walk not in the counsel of
the ungodly. Lord, I'm in need of hearing
from you, not you from me. Teach me. Teach me, Lord, thy
ways." And then, of course, his enemies try to counsel him. Show
us a miracle and we'll believe you. No, it's a wicked and perverse
generation that seeketh after a sign. I'm not going to do it
your way. I'm taking my orders from the
Father. I walk not in the counsel of
the ungodly. And then those thieves on the
cross, they tried to counsel Him, didn't they? If thou be
the Son of God, save thyself and us. I am the Son of God, and I'm
gonna save one of you. I'm gonna save you through my
death. I'm not taking my counsel from the ungodly. The Lord Jesus
Christ is wisdom personified. He is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Everything we need to know, we
learn from him. Everything we'll ever know about
God, we'll learn from him. And so he says, blessed is that
man who walks not in the counsel
of, he never walked in the counsel of the ungodly. How many times
we do. And every time we do, we lose
sight of that blessing, don't we? Because he is the blessing. Christ is the blessing. Blessing
is not having your circumstances changed or having a life of ease
or having a sudden income boost or whatever. People think those
are blessings. No, not necessarily. He is the
blessing. Blessed is the man that walks
not in the counsel of the ungodly. We're looking to Christ alone
for all my wisdom, the world and all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life,
everything that man looks to for blessings. See, man thinks
he's blessed. With a perverse mind, supposing
the gain is godliness, he thinks he's blessed because he's prosperous
or he's popular or because he's got power or because he's enjoying
the pleasures of the world. He thinks those are blessings. The blessings of God are all
in Christ. They're all in him. And you and
I We can have blessings beyond
comprehension, beyond measure, in the midst of the most difficult
circumstances. He walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly, and he standeth not in the way of sinners. What is the way of a sinner?
There is a way that seems right unto man, but in the end that
way leads to death, doesn't it? That man's ways, well we saw
that Sunday. My ways are not your ways. My
thoughts are not your thoughts. As the heavens are high above
the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts. He walketh
or standeth not in the way of sinners. No, contrary to that
He is the way. He is the way. Turn with me to
Acts chapter 24. The way of man is free will. That's just what man, man just
believes that. He believes it. He's been sent
a strong delusion and he's believed the lie He believes that he has
the power in his own will to determine the destiny of his
immortal soul. He believes it. He thinks, well,
I'll come to God when I get ready to come to God. He walks not in the way of sinners. Walks not in the counsel of the
ungodly. He stands, he stands not in the way of sinners. And
those who are blessed in Him don't stand there either, do
they? If you've been blessed in Christ,
you know your salvation didn't have anything to do with your
will. You know it didn't have anything to do with your works.
You know it didn't have anything to do with your wisdom. You know
that it was all because He did everything for you. You know
that because he was blessed of the Father, you enjoyed those
blessings by free grace. Free grace. In Acts chapter 24,
the Jews took Paul and drug him before the governor of Judea,
Felix, and accused him of being an insurrectionist. They accused
him of trying to overthrow the Roman government. And Paul stands
to defend himself and declares clearly to Felix that these accusations
are not true. They're not true. I am not an
insurrectionist. I know my Lord and His kingdom
is not of this world and He has called me to a life of respect
and obedience to those governing authorities. He wrote that himself,
didn't he, in Romans chapter 15. That's not what I'm here
for. Those accusations they're making
against me, Felix, are not true. However, they have made one accusation
against me that is true. They're accusing me of heresy. And look what he says in verse
14. But this I confess unto thee,
that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the
God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and in the prophets." They say, I'm following after
the way. I'm following after the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm looking to Him for all my
salvation. I'm looking to his successful
work of redemption. I'm looking to his obedience
to the law. I'm looking to his shed blood
and the justifying work of grace that he accomplished on Calvary's
cross. I'm looking to Christ alone. And they call me a heresy.
They call me a heretic because I'm doing that. And what they
call heresy, they heard me clearly. By that which they called me
heresy, that way I worship God. believing everything that's written
in the law and in the prophets. Now, when he speaks of law here,
he's not speaking of the Ten Commandments, he's speaking of
the whole of scripture in the volume of the book it is written
in me. What did the Lord say to those Pharisees? You search
the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life,
but these are they which testify of me. And so he said, I know
that everywhere I go in the scriptures, it's pointing me to Christ, pointing
me to Christ. That's why Paul said, we profess
to know nothing among you save Christ and Him crucified. We're
just gonna preach the Lord Jesus Christ because He is the way. We're not gonna make our own
way. We're not gonna satisfy the demands of the law. We're
going to look to Christ And in looking to Him, we're not going
to walk. We're not going to walk after
the way of the ungodly. We're not going to stand in the
way of the sinner. We're not looking to that for
our salvation. We're not doing what the world
is doing to be saved. We're looking to Christ. Go back
with me to Psalm 1. I was listening to an interview
recently of a man that was asking a Jewish man, why don't you think
that Jesus is the Messiah? And I have no idea about the
interviewer, where he was spiritually, but I was intrigued by the question
that he asked this Jewish man. And I wrote down his answer.
I wrote down the Jewish man's answer, word for word. He said,
because the redemption has not yet arrived. For, had the redemption
arrived, we would not need to work nor do the commandments. We have to fulfill the commandments
now because there has not yet lived a man who has lived in
perfect joy so it is clear that the redemption has not yet arrived. And I thought, well, he's got
some understanding. He was saying the same thing. In 2017, that that woman at the
well said in John chapter 4, we know that when Messiah comes,
when Messiah comes, everything's going to be good. He's going
to lead us into all things. He's going to keep the law. Redemption
is going to come. We're not going to be under the
law anymore. They rejected the Lord Jesus
Christ as the Messiah, not believing. that the perfect life had been
lived. And so they're still looking
for a way. The way to God. Keep the commandments. Keep the
commandments. The Lord said, no, I am the way.
Don't stand. Don't stand in the way of sinners.
Don't walk after the counsel of the ungodly. And don't sit
in the seat of the scornful. What is a scornful? A scornful
is a mocker, a profane person, a blasphemer. Now, the more irreligious
our culture becomes, and I've noticed in my lifetime that it's
become much more irreligious than it used to be, the more
you hear people profane the Lord openly. Denying Him and His Deity. And they are very scornful. They're very blasphemous about
those things. They deny His Deity directly,
openly, without shame. But their condition is no different
than the religious person who denies the Lord's deity by doctrine. They call him Lord. They call
him Lord, but then they'd say, well, you know, his hands are
tied. He's really not able to do what he wants to do. He wants
to save everybody and he can't do it because although he's Lord,
he doesn't have power over man's free will. And they are mockers. They're
blasphemers. They're being scornful and profane
in their doctrine. They honor him with their lips
in one sentence and then they dishonor him in the next, don't
they? They call him savior. They call
him savior. but they're just as profane as
the irreligious man who stands and raises his fist to heaven
and declares himself to be an atheist and curses God. They're just as guilty before
God. They're just as scornful. Don't sit in the seat of the
scornful. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't. He didn't sit with them. He knew who he was. They call
him Jesus. but they don't believe that he
actually saved his people from their sins, which is what Jesus
means. They say he's the Christ but
his ability to redeem his people and to establish righteousness
before God is limited by man's works and by man's will. You
see, Whether you deny the deity of Christ directly or whether
you deny the deity of Christ by doctrine, you're being scornful. You're being blasphemous. You're cursing God. You're being
profane. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Now, I know the people read Romans
Psalm 1 and I say, you know, don't go here and don't go there
and don't do this and don't do that. There's places you ought
not to go. There's things you ought not
to do. You know that. You don't need to be told what
to do and what not to do. You need to have the power to
do that which is right, don't you? Where does that come from?
Not by being told what to do and not do, but by looking to
Christ, the man, the blessed man. Blessed is that man who
walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, who stands not in the
way of sinners, who sits not in the seat of the scornful. Look at Hebrews 10, verse 12. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. You see, he didn't
sit in the seat of the scornful, he sat on his own throne. The
father said, sit down here at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. And the Lord Jesus Christ took
his rightful place at the right hand of the majesty on high.
He wouldn't sit with the scornful. No, the scornful denied him. And he stood all through that
denial. In the passion of Christ's crucifixion,
you don't hear about him sitting down anywhere. You hear about him being crushed.
You hear about him being crucified. But sitting? Oh, that was reserved
for after he had finished the work of redemption. Verse 14. I'm sorry, verse 13. From henceforth, expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. Now, every single one of us came
into this world at enmity with God. God-haters. Not looking to Christ for our
righteousness, looking to ourselves. Denying Him. Profaning His glory
and His deity. Either religiously or irreligiously. We did it. What does the Lord
do? He causes us to sit at His feet,
doesn't He? and listen to His words, for
by one offering, verse 14, He hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified, so that He that does the sanctifying, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ, and all them which are sanctified, made
holy by His perfect work are all as one. Wherefore, he's not
ashamed to call them his brethren. We have union with Christ. You
see, the blessings of God are given to the man and all those
who are in the man. And those that are in the man,
they walk not after the counsel of the ungodly. They look to
Christ for their counsel. They stand not in the way of
sinners, or sit in the city of the scornful. But His delight,
His delight is in the law of the Lord. And
again, the word law here is the word Torah. It's the whole canon
of Scripture. His delight, the delight of Christ,
every thought that He had was consistent with the Word of God.
That's not true of me and you, is it? When God writes his word on our
hearts and impresses them on our minds, he gives us a love
for God's word. We love his law. We love his
word. But how many thoughts we have that are contrary to his
word. The Lord Jesus Christ never experienced such. Every thought
that he had, he delighted in the law of God. I delight to
do thy will, O God. Thy law is written in my heart. Every thought that he had was
holy. Psalm 119, when God puts his
law in one's heart, he meditates on them day and night. He meditated
on them all the time, didn't he? All the time. He never had
a thought. that was inconsistent with the
Word of God. And if tempted, what did He say? What did He
say if tempted? Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ was blessed of God because He delighted in
the law of God perfectly all the time. All the time. And them that are found in Him,
they love His Word. They love what it reveals to
them about Him. They love the hope, the peace,
the joy. Thy Word shall be a light unto
my path, a lamp unto my feet. Of His own will begat He us with
the Word of truth. It's His Word that reveals to
us the glory of who He is, isn't it? And we delight. That's why
you're here tonight. That's why we're here, isn't
it? To see what God says about Christ. Why? Because He's put
in our hearts a desire for Christ. And we know that the only way
that we're going to see Him is as He speaks to us through His
Word. The delight of the blessed man
is in the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate. He meditates day and night. Now the Lord Jesus Christ meditated
on God's word. Well, he was, he is the word
of God. He is the word of God. All he had to do was have a thought
and it was the word of God. You see, he wasn't like us. He
was holy, undefiled, separate from sinners. Every thought that
he had. You know, you and I have thoughts
and we've got to discern what's right, what's wrong. All the
Lord Jesus Christ had to do was think something and it was right.
It was holy, it was perfect. And God blessed him for that.
He was blessed of the Father. And those that are found in him,
all the blessings that God gave to Christ are for all those who
are in Christ. and he shall be a tree planted
by rivers of water." What do we see in Revelation chapter
22? Turn with me there, last chapter of the Bible, Revelation
22. Revelation is filled with symbolic
language and it all points us to Christ, doesn't it? Look at
verse 1 of chapter 22, and he showed me a pure river of water
of life. Well, who's that river? That's
Christ, clear as crystal. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. Out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. And so John gets this vision
of heaven and he sees this river, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. and in the midst
of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the
tree of life." The tree of life on both sides
of the river. So you've got this river, you've
got this tree. It's the same tree of life that
was in the garden. that Adam was blocked from eating from
after he ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thinking he was going to be virtuous and have
free will. And so the Lord guarded the garden
with the flaming sword of an angel. Why? Because they couldn't
partake of the tree of life. Otherwise, they'd live forever
in a sinful, broken state. They had to die. That was God's
mercy keeping them out of the garden. Now what do we have? We have everything restored.
The Lord Jesus Christ is that blessed man who never walked
in the counsel of the ungodly, never stood in the way of sinners,
he never sat in the sea of the scornful. In God's law he delighted
day and night and he's like a tree planted by rivers of living water. producing its fruit and its leaf
shall not wither. What is the hope that we are
a tree which is, as the scripture says, the planting of the Lord,
a tree of righteousness? What is the hope? To be in Him,
to be found in Him. He is the tree of life. Go back with me. He shall be
like a tree planted by the river of water, and bringeth forth
his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Can you say that about yourself? Can you say everything I put
my hand to is just, everything I touch just turns to gold. It's
just everything I do is prospers. No, he can't. Everything he put his hand to
prospered. And if you're in him, you enjoy
the same prosperity that he has. And you're blessed, blessed because
you're in Christ. Blessed because God has revealed
something of His glory in His Word to you. Blessed because
you know that the way of the sinner is the way of free will
and good works. And that's not the way of God.
The way of God is free grace and the finished work of Christ. You know that the scornful who
blaspheme Him, that's not That's not the blessings you
know anything about, is it? The ungodly are not so. But they're like the chaff with
the wind driveth away. The Lord said He takes the wheat
and He brings it to the threshing floor. And what the Lord's doing,
every time the Gospels preach, the Lord is threshing the wheat
from the chaff. Lord, don't let me be chaff.
Give me ears to hear. Give me hearts to believe. Don't
let me be blown away. Gather me up and put me into
the barn, lest I be burned in the furnace. That's the analogy
the Lord gave, isn't it? Of the wheat and the chaff. And
only He can do that. He said it's not up to man. We
can't tell who the tare and the wheat are, can we? Sometimes
we have a hard enough time telling about ourselves whether we're
terror or we. He knows. He knows. The wicked, the unbelieving, they're like the chaff. Therefore,
the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the
congregation of the righteous. Oh Lord, save me by your grace. Don't let this be a description
of me. Cause me to be found in Christ.
Reckon the work of Christ to my count. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous. He knows Christ's way and He
knows those for whom He did His way. But the way of the ungodly
shall perish. If the Lord enables us, we're
going to spend Wednesday nights for some time looking through
the Psalms and seeing Christ in the Psalms. But these six
verses, three verses and three verses, really provide a summary
of everything we're going to see in more detail and glory
about Christ. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're thankful for Your Word and the revelation that You've
given us of Thy dear Son. And we pray for the faith to
rest our hope and our hearts in Him. Thank You for the blessed
man. And bless us, Lord, for Christ's
sake. Amen. Let's stand together brother
Tom. Number 18, stand. We'll sing the refrain just as
if it was verse two. you God gave his holy inspired word
for only one great end. The prophets and apostles too
revealed the sin The Bible is a book of Christ. It only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ. The prophecies of old record
God's wondrous mighty deeds. Those deeds of power and of grace
set forth the The prophets all reveal our Lord
as prophet, priest, and king. The types, the great redemptions
show, Christ's blood and grace now bring. Behold the Lamb, the Baptist
said, As it was promised long before
God's Son as man has come. Our substitute obeyed the law,
then died and rose again. And in His word our Savior said,
Rejoice, I come again.