Turn to Psalm chapter 1. Psalm chapter 1. Blessed, happy 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. The ungodly are not
so, but are 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. Our Father, once again we thank
You for Your Word. We pray for instruction out of
Your Word. that You would teach us, that we would grow in grace
and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would be
able to give unto You the glory due unto Your name this morning.
We pray for those in this congregation that are sick, those who are
under affliction. Father, we pray for them. Thou
art a great physician. We look to Thee, Father, for
all things. We look to Thee to fill all our
needs, to take care of us, to lead us and guide us. Lord, we
don't know which way to go, but we do look to Thee. Thou knowest
all things. All things are before You. Help
us this morning. Help us to worship. Be among
us. Enable me to preach the Word
in power. Enable me to rightly divide the Word of truth. In
Christ's name we pray, and amen. And have perfect blessedness
through all. In counsel all ungodly men, Nor stands in
sinners way, ? Within the slaughter's chair
? ? But places his delight ? ? Upon God's wall and meditates ? ?
On his fall day and night ? He shall be like a planted tree
near to the riverside. The sun is its root, its green
leaves shall abide. And all he doth shall prosper
well, the wicked are not so. But they are like unto the chaff
which wind drives to. In judgments therefore shall
not stand such as the God we love, nor in the assembly of
the just shall we Because the way of God beneath,
Unto the Lord is known, Whereas the way of wickedness, Yeah, that was planned, but not
by us. And it was planned, I guarantee
you. Yeah, Lord, nothing ever happens
I said one time years ago in a message, we might die in an
accident, but it won't be an accident that we die. Everything is purposed of God.
Nothing is left to chance. Nothing. He directs even the atoms that
float in the air. We can't even see. They are under
His direct control. Let's turn back to Psalm chapter
1. Psalm chapter 1. The title of the message is Jesus
Christ the blessed man. Jesus Christ, the blessed man.
Christ is that blessed man spoken of here in Psalm 1, and we are
blessed in Him. Because as He is, so are we in
this world. The Word of God was written by
several men over a period of many years. And they wrote as
they were moved by the Holy Spirit. None of them just sat down and
wrote out of thought. When they wrote, they were under
the direct control and power of the Holy Spirit. Now, they
wrote of their own experiences, as David does here in the Psalms,
but God was moving him. at putting him through these
experiences. But who's he really speaking
of? Christ. Christ said in the gospels that
the Psalms and the prophets, he said, they spoke of me. They
spoke of me, they wrote of me. And when the word of God was
assembled together, as we have it now, And these men did not
collaborate with each other. Some of these men were a thousand
years apart. But when this book came together, it speaks of one person, doesn't
it? From Genesis to Revelation, all these different men in different
periods in history, when they wrote these things down under
the influence, direction of the Holy Spirit of God, when we're
all brought together, it speaks of one person. And that one person
is the man Christ Jesus. He's the message of this book. If we miss Christ, we miss this
book, we miss the purpose. This Bible is no good apart from
Christ. It's all about Him. It's all
about Him. Christ is the primary focus of
the Word of God. Charles Spurgeon said that when
he found the Scripture that he was to preach from, he made a
beeline to Christ. Because somehow Christ is in
that. Christ is in it. Christ is the
key of knowledge to all the word of God. And apart
from him, we can't understand the scriptures. This is a closed
book until I come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he
opens the book, just like he did in Revelation chapter five.
He stepped forward, he took the book, and he opened the seals
thereof. And when he did that, things begin to happen. We cannot
know anything in this book until Christ gives us an understanding.
The Son of God, it says in 1 John, the Son of God has come and given
us an understanding that we may know Him that is true and we
are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. He's
the key of knowledge. The book of Psalms is a book
that reveals the Lord Jesus Christ in His person. In this Psalm,
our Lord Jesus is set before us as the blessed man, the man
who is blessed of God, the man who was anointed with the oil
of gladness above his fellows. This is the man in whom we are
blessed. In Adam, we die. In Christ, we
are what? Made alive. What a blessing. What a blessing. All right, verse
one. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. What does ungodly mean? Well,
it means this. It means unjust. It means rendering
to none his due. It means without God. Without
God. Nor standeth in the way of sinners. What's a sinner? It's one who's
missed the mark. That's what it means, he missed
the mark. He's passed over prohibited limits. It means to transgress. Nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful. Who are the scornful? They're the ones who mock. They're
the ones who deride. They're the ones who has no religion,
lives in open rebellion to God's law. Do you know anyone who's
done that? I've sat in every one of those
seats at one time or another. In my past, and you too, at one
time or another, we were among the ungodly, we were among the
sinners, and we were scornful, mocked, made fun of, made fun
of. There has only been one man who
truly fits this description. Only one. There has only been
one man who never walked, who never walked in the counsel of
the ungodly. He never sought counsel from
the ungodly at any time. He never asked any man, except
one time, he never asked any ungodly man what he thought.
Now he did ask Peter, he said, what think ye of Christ? What
think ye of Christ? Now I'll tell you what, what
you think of Christ depends on whether you're saved or not.
Your answer to that question depends on whether you know God
or not, what you think of Christ. That's the only time he asked
that. The scriptures tell us that there was one man who was
holy, Harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. And this
one man never, he never sought counsel from the ungodly. He
never sat in the seat of the scornful. He never made any kind
of a gesture or anything like that toward men. He didn't do that. Nothing like
that came out of his mouth. This one man is the God-man,
Christ Jesus. That's who this is speaking of
first. Speaking of him first. It can only be said of him, he
knew no sin. That is the only man who's ever
walked on this earth, and how many billions have walked on
this earth? How many billions? And there's only one man. out
of all the billions that's walked on this earth that knew no sin. Adam can't lay claim to this.
Not long after he was created, he sinned. I don't think he lasted
too long at all. He sinned and all his posterity
sinned in him. And now the charge that's laid
against you and me is this, none good, no, not one. I wrote in my Bible beside that,
even me. Even me, lest I forget it. Lest I forget it, I wrote that
out, even me. Now this word blessed means happy.
Happy. Someone will say, I thought that
Christ was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was. He was, and you're right, he
was. That's what it says in the scriptures. But I believe he
was a happy man. He was a man that found joy in
the Lord. He's a man who said, I delight. Now, if you delight in something,
you're pretty happy, aren't you? I delight to do thy will. He is God manifest
in the flesh, that's who he is. He knew no sin. That'd make you
happy, to not know any sin. Sin is what caused all the problems
we have, all the heartaches we have, all the weeping we have. It's caused by sin. God is his
father. He knew he would not fail. If you knew when you started
out on a mission, Let's say you start a business or whatever,
and you knew 1,000% that you would not fail. Would that make
you happy? If you knew you would not fail.
He knew he would not fail. He knew he would be victorious.
He knew this. But his delight His delight is
in the law of the Lord. His delight, His joy. He said, my meat is to do the
will of Him that sent me. That's what makes me happy. That's
what drives me, is His will. I delight to do it. His delight
is in the law of the Lord, in the word of God. And in His law,
in His word, I believe He's speaking here of His whole word. In his
word, in his law, he meditates. This blessed man, this blessed
man, he meditates in God's law, God's word, day and night. The first application of this
verse has to be to the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to be. I delight,
he said, to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my
heart." He's the only man who magnified the law and made it
honorable by his obedience. As he would go throughout the
day, his Father's will would be on his heart. I wish I could do that, don't
you? Don't you wish that when you get up in the morning, and
you get ready to start your day, that the number one thing on
your heart is the Lord's will for you that day. When he get up and he go throughout
the day, his Father's will be on his heart, and at night, at
night, what do you do at night? What's the first thing you do
at night? Same thing I do, turn the TV on. Isn't it? That's the
first thing I do. I'll go in and sit down and I'll
watch a program or two, three, four programs. Next thing I know,
it's bedtime. I'm telling you this, if he walked
on this earth in the flesh in this day, it's still at nighttime. He still would meditate on God's
Word. He wouldn't be caught up with
all that's going on. He wouldn't be caught up with
all these shows we watch. I mean, he wouldn't be. He wouldn't be.
At nighttime, he would meditate on his Father's Word. On His
Word. He never thought about, listen. Oh, I'm so glad He's my Savior.
He never thought about, what am I gonna eat? What's the first
thing I usually say when I come home from work? Vicki wants to
eat. That's usually the first thing I say. Wants to eat. He
never thought about, where am I going to sleep? He slept wherever he was at that
time. Either under the stars or on
someone's house. He never owned a pillow. He had
no place, he said, to lay his head. The One who made the world,
the One who created all things had no place to lay His head.
Isn't that sad? That's sad. What a sad world. He came into
His own and His own knew Him not, wouldn't receive Him. Came
into His own world and the world wouldn't have nothing to do with
Him. The Creator came to His own creation and it had nothing
to do with Him. How sad are we? He never worried about what am
I going to put on? He only had one change of clothes.
Look in my closet. Look in your closet. I'm not condemning it for having
different things to wear, but this is our Lord. This is how
he lived. He lived free of all care of
this life. He didn't worry about what he's
gonna eat. He didn't worry about where he's gonna sleep. He didn't
worry about what he's gonna put on. He left all that to his heavenly
father. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added
to you. Do we believe that? I have to
say, John, do you believe that? Then live like you believe it.
Act like you believe it. Talk like you believe it. He
did. He did. We are given a glimpse into his
heart. Nothing ever passed through his
heart but the will of God. This is our substitute here.
This is our redeemer. This is our God. He's representing
us. And nothing passed through his
heart but the will of God. God's word ever filled his soul. He would go out at times and
pray all night long. All night long. He would commune
with his Father all night long. This is the substitute for sinners.
This is the mediator. This is the Lord, our righteousness.
This is the blessed man. This is the blessed man. We can only be blessed as we
are in Him who's truly blessed of God. 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. A tree planted. He shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water. You ever see a tree
planted by the, that's the most fruitful in it. It's got plenty
of water. Plenty of water. Jesus Christ
is a tree planted by the Father before the world was. He's that
tree. He's that tree. He was established
in the covenant of grace to be what? The tree of life. He's
the tree of life. He is that tree of life and paradise.
And it says, and his leaves shall not fade. Time has no effect
on Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. You and I are fading. We're growing
older. He's not. And he shall bring forth fruit
in his season. What is this fruit that he's
gonna bring forth? What is it? Everyone whom he
saves is his fruit. It's you. You who believe. And they will be brought forth
in his time. There's a time to be born and
a time to die. And for God's children, there's
a time to be born again. I'm in a sick time. It can't
go past it, and it can't be earlier. You know, I believe my youngest
son was born, no, he was born right on the day. My first son
was born like two or three weeks early. We weren't expecting it.
You know, we looked at the calendar, doctor said he was gonna be born
on this day, was surprise, surprise. He came two weeks early. My granddaughter
came, she was premature. She was born like four or five
weeks early. God has no premature children. They're born at the
exact time. It says that Christ, when he
came into the world, when the fullness of time was come, when
that appointed time was come, he came into the world. God is a God of order. And he
is exact. He's exact. And then whatsoever
he doeth, it says, shall prosper. Whatever this blessed man does,
everything he does, he says, shall prosper. And Isaiah 42
says, he shall not fail. He can't fail. Look over in Isaiah
53. Isaiah chapter 53. Let's see here, let me look at the verse.
It's verse number 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He had put him to grief. for
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed. He will see everyone whom he
has died for. Not one of his children will be stillborn. He
shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. And
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong. Because he had poured out his
soul unto death, he was numbered with the transgressors. He bared
the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. He's victorious. He's victorious. And whatsoever
he doeth, Whatever he put his hand to, prospered. Prospered. He failed at nothing. Have you
ever failed at anything? He failed at absolutely nothing. And this is our Savior. Now let's go back and apply this
to the believer. We first applied it to Christ.
Now we apply it to the believer. Because as he is, as I said,
as he is, so are we in this world. True happiness, true blessedness,
the true happiness of God's children is this, Christ. Christ. God's children find their
true happiness in that blessed man. Is this real to you? How real is Christ to you? How
real is salvation to you? How real are these blessings
of Christ and in Christ to you? In Him we are forgiven of all
our sins. I can't dive into that depth
of evil and explain that, what sin is. All I can do is look
at the cross and see what I did to my Savior. In Him, we are
made the righteousness of God. In Him, we are justified from
all things, which we could not be justified by the law of Moses,
by keeping any commandment. We're justified, cleared of all,
bunch of criminals, justified. That's so, brother, that's so,
justified. Cleared of all charges. And in Him we have obtained an
inheritance. Go over to Revelation, I believe
it's 21. I'll find it when I get there,
but I believe it's 21. Revelation chapter 21. This is, I'm gonna read our inheritance
to you. This is what I look forward to.
The older I get, when I was young, even as a young believer, I didn't
give a lot of attention to this at all. Didn't think much about
it. Didn't think much about eternity. I didn't think much about it.
But I do now. I think a lot more about it now.
This is more real to me now than ever before, ever. John said,
I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away, gone. This thing we're standing
on right now, one day is gonna be gone. And there was no more
sea. You don't need the sea. Why do
you not need the sea? Right now we need it because
we need water. That's where most of our water comes in. Vapor
comes up, comes over, rains. Christ is the water of life.
We don't need none. We don't need no more. He's the
water of life. So we don't need no more sinning.
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, And there shall be no more death. I had buried
a friend of mine, a close friend of mine, Henry's. And Henry and I were walking
away from the grave site. And Henry said, I'll sure be
glad when we quit dying. I said, I will too. I'll be glad
when I never preach another funeral. When I never have to attend another
funeral. I'll be so glad. There shall
be no more death. Neither sorrow, I'll never cry
myself to sleep again. You ever done that? Some of you
have, I know, some of you have. There'll be no more crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain. Any of you in pain in here this morning? Heavy in pain? He got back pain. No more pain. For the former things are passed
away. This life is finally gone. In just a little while, it's
over. It's over. And He that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write,
for these words are true. and faithful, it'll happen. Just
as sure as you're sitting where you are, this is gonna happen. And he said unto me, it is done. Now, you and I are waiting for
all this. We're waiting to experience it, aren't we? But for God, it's
done. It's settled. It's over. This
matter's done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. In him we have obtained an inheritance. This is our inheritance. There is no lasting happiness
in the things of this world, When are we the least happy?
I can tell you when we are the least happy is when we make ourselves
the center of attention. When we become the center of
our own attention. That'd depress anybody. These
things are fading. That which we have in Christ
never fades. Never fades. His leaves shall
never fade. planted by the river of living
water, Christ. If you really know Jesus Christ,
I know this, you are happy whether you have little or much. You'll
learn through experience to find your real joy and your real happiness
in that blessed man. Because everything else will
disappoint you. And I want you to notice this,
that not one material possession is mentioned in reference to
happiness. Not one material thing is mentioned. Our happiness is not in material
things, it's in our relationship. Isn't that where real happiness
is? Isn't real happiness in our relationships,
in our family? Isn't that where it is? You know, I can go out and buy
a new car, man, enjoy it for a few weeks, and then here comes
the payment. Boy, that just puts a, that's
a Debbie Downer. It is. But when our happiness,
when our happiness is really in our relationship to Christ,
that's just gonna grow. That's gonna grow. And that's
why the Lord sends these trials and things to wean us from this
world. And for us to find our real happiness, our real joy,
our real contentment in Him. Paul said, I have learned in
whatsoever state I am, whether I'm doing fine or whether I'm
down here begging, don't have much to go on at all. I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. I have learned this. My contentment
is in direct relationship to my contentment in Christ. When
I grow discontent with Him, I grow discontent with everything else.
That's a problem. That's a problem. But the ungodly,
He said, are not so. They are not blessed of God. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind drives away. What a sad contrast.
All that are not saved in Christ are like chaff, nothing to them. They're like a flower that fades
away in the heat of summer. In the springtime, he said, all
those flowers are so pretty, where are they now? They're gone. They're gone. They're gone and
they're forgotten. And the place, the scripture
says, the place thereof shall know them no more. Every plant that my heavenly
Father hath not planted, Christ said, shall be rooted up. All
the sons and daughters of Adam who are without Christ are doomed,
are doomed to eternal torment. Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in the judgment. There is judgment. You and I
don't stand. We don't have to fear judgment, do we? We do not
have to fear the wrath and judgment of God. That was taken out on
Christ. It's gone. Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in the judgment of sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
In that day when the Son of Man shall come in His glory with
all His holy angels and sit upon the throne of judgment, He's
gonna separate the sheep from the goats and the wheat from
the tares. Judgment's real. It's real. Now, he's going to do the separation,
not us. He told us, he said, let the
wheat and the tarry grow together. But you and I can't tell the
difference. I can. I can tell you this over the
years, I've seen some people leave that was around for a long
time, and I've seen him leave and just you never thought it.
no way you never thought it. I've seen it happen. Last verse. Verse six, for the Lord knoweth
the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall
perish. Our Lord said in John 14, I am the way. I'm the way. Christ himself is the way of
righteousness. And his people are called what?
We are called the people of the way in the book of Acts. That's
what they called the Christians, the people of the way. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous. Scripture said, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them
that are his. But the way of the ungodly shall
perish. It shall perish. Their way Their
hope, their works shall perish. That way that seems right to
all men, the way of free will works, salvation is gonna perish. Lord, we preached in your name.
We've cast out devils in your name. We've done many mighty
works in your name. He's gonna say, depart from me,
I never knew you. Christ alone is that blessed
man, and we are blessed in him. We are blessed with forgiveness.
We are blessed with cleansing. We are blessed with righteousness.
We are blessed with everything we need. When God created, well, before God
created Adam, he created the Garden of Eden. I don't read anywhere where Adam
brought anything into the garden. I don't read anywhere where Adam
added something to the garden after he got there. God prepared everything. And
then he made Adam and put him in the garden. Christ has prepared
everything. He has done everything needed. And you and I are just going
to just inherit the kingdom. That's why he says, come inherit
the kingdom prepared for you of my father. Christ is that blessed man and everyone who believes are
blessed in him. You know this of what he has
I have. Everything that belongs to him belongs to me. Does not the Scripture say, all
things are yours in Christ? All of it. All right, pray.