Good morning. Turn to Psalm 1. Psalm 1. We're going to read the entire Psalm. Psalm 1. Verse 1. 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. 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. Now the word Psalms, since this
is the first Psalm, we should speak a little bit about this
book. The word Psalms means praises. So that the book of Psalms could
be called the book of praises. And in this book we learn how
to worship our God. Our Lord teaches His people how
we are to worship our God, and the experiences, the heartache,
the hardships that His people go through, we see this traced
out here in the book of Psalms. It's a sweet book, because in
there we see and identify, I know that, no, I'm not crazy. This
is the Lord doing this work. He's bringing me to this point,
bringing me to see these things, because this is how the Lord
works in His people, so that we might learn how to worship
our God, to fall down flat on our faces, prostrate before holy,
almighty God with our face, our proud faces, in the dirt, in
the dust, because God is God, and we're not God, and He shows
us that. He brings us all to see that very truth. In this
psalm, this first psalm, we see the blessed man. And that the
blessed man is the Lord Jesus Christ. This isn't us. This is
the Lord Jesus Christ who is blessed. Now we, in Christ, we're
blessed. but we're only blessed in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that once we see and know
that, oh, this is Christ being spoken of here, this is Christ
who is that blessed man, then we have no problem seeing that
we are nothing and that everything that we have, every blessing
that we have of God, is through the Lord Jesus Christ. But if
we remain hard in our heart, if we keep thinking, no, this
isn't about the Lord, this is about me, this is what I need
to do, this is about my righteousness and how I'm blessed. When we
hold that position, then we're not going to hear, we're not
going to receive that we're nothing, we're not going to see that Christ
is everything, we're not going to believe that we're only blessed
of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're not going to lie prostrate
flat on our faces in the dirt before holy God. the way that
we ought to be, the way all men shall be in that great and final
day. Our title this morning is Christ
the Blessed Man. So that our first point, we'll
see that we must be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must
be found in Him. And secondly, we'll see that
the Blessed Man is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's that Blessed Man
in that we, in Christ, are blessed in him. And then third, we shall
consider the ungodly. So we'll have three points, found
in Christ, second, Christ the blessed man, and third, the ungodly,
the sinner, and the scorner. All right, so Psalm 1.1 says,
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 scornful."
Now notice here there's a contrast that you can see by looking at
this verse. You see between this blessed
man and you begin to see some things about that carnal fleshly
man, that man of the world. And we'll see, though, that if
we're to be blessed, we're only going to be blessed of the Father
being found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote to the Ephesians
1-3, and he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places, in Christ. In Christ. That's where every
believer is blessed. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, some of you sitting here might be thinking back on your
lives and thinking, well, I don't know about that. I think things
have gone pretty well for me so far in this life. Many things
that I set my hand to do have gone well for me. I've done well
in this life. I don't think I need the Lord.
I don't see what you're talking about. If that's true of you,
if things are going well for you in this life, then know this,
that you are nothing more than a cow being fattened for the
day of slaughter. The Lord brings His people to
see that they are nothing. You might think things are going
well for yourself, but if you're not in the Lord, if God the Father
hasn't put you in His Son Jesus Christ, then you are nothing
more than a cow being fattened for the day of slaughter. Paul
wrote to the Thessalonians 5, 2, and 3, and he said, The day
of the Lord, so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall
say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them,
as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. James speaks of these people
that are in the world, that are wealthy, and wise, and have things
going well for them. And they look down upon the poor,
and the lonely, and those people whose hope is not in themselves,
not in their riches, not in the things that they have, but their
hope is in the Lord. And they look upon them, and
they think very lightly of them. They don't think much of the
Lord's people at all. And he says of them, James 5.5,
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, And Bin Watten, he
had nourished her hearts as in a day of slaughter. They slaughter the Lord's people.
They take advantage of the Lord's people. They mock them, they
think little of them, they don't care for the Lord's people, and
they fatten their own hearts as in a day of slaughter themselves. But we won't have time to look
at it, but in Psalm 73, it says of a righteous man there, I think
it was Asaph, who said, my feet had almost slipped. When I looked
at the wicked, and everything seemed to be going well for them.
Everything, they seemed to come to a happy end. Everything goes
well for them. And my feet had almost slipped
by looking at those people. And he says, but then I went
into the house of the Lord. Then he heard the gospel being
preached. And when he heard the truth being
preached, then he knew their end. Then I knew their end, he
says, that their end, their life is a slippery slope going down,
down, down. And they shall find themselves
in great terror and in being cut off and cast off from the
Lord. So, James tells the brethren,
he tells us, Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of
the Lord. Right there in verse 1, notice
that path, that progression of a path, if you will, so that,
for a moment, you think not of the blessed man, but think of
the carnal man that's being spoken of here in Psalm 1-1. One who
is not in Christ. One whose path is outside of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Watch this, it says, If you look,
you can see where it says that they walk in the counsel of the
ungodly. They stand in the way of sinners.
They sit in the seat of the scornful. That's that carnal man outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All their actions are actions
of flesh. So that, you can picture it.
If you're older, you probably have experiences of this. When
you're younger, you're either going through it or you will
go through it. Somebody at some point is going to say, come here
son, let me talk to you. Let me tell you how to get things
done in this life. Let me tell you how to make friends
in this life, how to do business, how to set yourself up for success
in this life. Just listen to me. I got some
words for you so that when you're going by and you're hearing them
and you stop and you listen and they say some things and then
you try them out and you see, wow, that's pretty good. seems
to work out pretty well in this world. When I listen to this
one's advice, they're going by and they're heeding that counsel
of the Angavi. Next thing you know, they're
now standing among sinners. They've heeded their counsel
They've tried some things out. Things seem to be going well
for them when they do those worldly things. And now they're standing
among sinners. And they're picking up their
ways and their things. For one man, it may be drunkenness.
For another man, it may be covetousness. And so that he thinks, I'm just
going to get all the toys that I can in this world. And I'm
going to collect riches. And I'm going to set myself up
for a life of ease and comfort. And eventually, After some amount
of time he finds himself sitting in the seat of scorners so that
first he's just walking by then he's standing among them and
now he's sitting in the seat of scorners so that he himself
too is now teaching others who are coming up saying come here
son let me tell you how to do things in this life. You can
go to church once in a while, but don't get caught up too much
in that stuff. It'll drive you crazy. It'll drive you nuts.
That's just for the sheeple. That's just for people who can't
stand on their own. And they tell you things like
that so that they say don't get too caught up in it and don't
listen to those things. It's fine if you're going there
for a social club or to make some deals and get things done,
but don't get too caught up in it. But John the Apostle said,
He is Antichrist who denieth the Father and the Son. If it's
your uncle or your dad telling you these things, or your friend,
He is Antichrist who denieth the Father and the Son. He is
Antichrist who denieth the Father and the Son. Thank the Lord if
He has delivered you from that. The Apostle John said in 1 John
2 verse 15, Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. So there in our text it says,
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. Our Lord's Word says of us that
we are wretched, we're miserable, we're poor, we're blind, and
we're naked. And because we are those things,
wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, that's what we all
are by nature, He says there in Revelation 3.18, I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest
be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that
the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine
eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. Brethren, my friends
that are sitting here, Christ is that gold trodden in the fire. He was proven of God the Father
to be faithful and just and holy and righteous in all that He
did in the days of His flesh here on earth. He's that gold
trodden in the fire. He's the one who makes the poor
rich. He's the one whose white raiment
clothes us. We are in shame and naked. Our
Lord's righteousness clothes us and He makes us righteous. He's the one who makes His people
the righteousness of God. Christ is that eye staff, so
that when we see Him, He's the one who gives us light and life
to behold that He is eternal life Himself. Only in Christ
are we blessed of God. Only in Christ. Turn to Matthew
5. We're just going to read this. Matthew
5 verse 1, just see the blessings that we have in Christ. This
is where our Lord, in teaching us, in filling us with His Spirit,
in guiding us and turning us from ourselves to the Lord Jesus
Christ, this is what He makes His people. Matthew 5 verse 1.
In seeing the multitudes, Jesus went up into a mountain, and
when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened
his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall set all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. So first we know, when we read
these words, this is the work of Christ doing this in His child.
He's the one who brings us to this point, to be blessed in
Him, to have the character of His saints, because none of us
by nature has these things. But you might have a couple of
these things. You might be quiet and shy and things like that,
but none of us in truth have all these things, but the Lord
makes us so in Him. And second, you'll be hated of
men. You'll be hated of them. When
you speak the truth, it's never in fashion. It's never a good
time to speak the truth as far as the world is concerned. They
took Jeremiah and they threw him in a slimy pit prison for
speaking the truth. That's after Babylon had already
come at one time and taken away the cream of the crop. Over 3,000
persons they took. And Jeremiah's telling them they're
coming again, the Lord's sending them again, and they wouldn't
hear it, so they threw him in a slimy pit prison that he might
be killed and die. to the Lord delivered him from
it. The world, if you speak the truth, if you speak Christ and
you preach Christ to those who hate Him, which are many, they
won't want you walking among them. They won't want you standing
among them. They won't want you sitting in
their company. And ultimately you'll learn and
see that that'll be just fine with you because there's really
no joy and comfort and peace in sitting and walking and standing
among them. All they're doing is just tearing you down and
taking your eyes off the Lord so that the Lord again has to
remind you and bring you to see that He is your all. The scriptures
say, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
It's Ephesians 5.11. All right, Christ the blessed
man. Christ the blessed man. This is the one who's spoken
here in Psalm 1.1. Christ is that blessed man, because
only He perfectly fulfilled this word in every jot and every tittle. Only He is the one who did it.
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. Consider our Lord, who does not
walk in the counsel of the ungodly, John 6.15 tells us, when Jesus
therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force
to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself
alone. He knew what they were coming to do. Their bellies had
been filled with food, and now they thought, this would be great.
We can go against the Roman army. They could come against us in
a rock fortress, and our Lord could just keep making food,
and they'll never vet us out because We've got this guy with
us. He can fill our bellies and we'll
be fine. But the Lord didn't want to hear
their counsel. He wasn't moved by the counsel
of ungodly men. Our Lord refused it. And then
consider him in the way of sinners. Hebrews 7.26 says, For such an
high priest became us who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. And brethren,
what that's saying is there's no guile found in our Lord's
mouth. He committed no sin. No unrighteousness is there in
our Lord. He committed no unrighteousness.
Everything he did was faithful and just and holy and pure. It was faithful works to God
his Father, trusting him always. But To those of us who are sinners,
who have been taught of the Lord that we're nothing in ourselves,
that there's nothing good in this flesh, to those of us who
think, well, if the Lord's separate from sinners, what's going to
become of me? Well, the Scriptures say this in Luke 15, 1 and 2, all the publicans and sinners,
for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
It's because they didn't know, they didn't see, they didn't
understand. But as holy as our Lord is, He has that irresistible
power and grace to draw those of us who have been shown and
made to see that we are sinners. There's nothing good in us. We
desperately need the grace of our God to save us. And He draws
us forward to hear Him. He draws us near by His grace
and His power. What a mercy our God is. He doesn't
go the way of this world's sinners, but oh, how sweet He is to draw
those of us who have been shown that we are sinners in the need
that we have of God's grace. Then we see our Lord there among
that seat of the scorners there, when our Lord hung on the cross,
being faithful to God his Father in all things, trusting him,
never wavering, never doubting that God had called him to this
work, and there he was being faithful to his bride, that while
he was being scorned and mocked and people were trying to get
him down from the cross, he remained faithful to you who believe."
Think about that. It says that in Matthew 27, 39,
And they that pass by reviled him, wagging their heads, and
saying, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in
three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests
mocking him with the scribes and elders said, He saved others,
himself he cannot save. If He be the King of Israel,
let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.
He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him,
for He said, I am the Son of God. They mocked Him, they tried
to get Him to come down off that cross, but remaining faithful
to His Father, to do that work which God sent him to do, and
remaining faithful to his bride. He did that for us who are enemies,
sinners, people who despised him and treated him without the
respect that Almighty God deserves. And yet he endured that shame
and that cross and trying to get him down from it, yet he
remained faithful. He didn't go the way of the ungodly,
the way of the sinner, and the way of the scorner. Our Savior
remained faithful to his God and he remained faithful to you
who believe and have no righteousness of your own. He remained faithful.
Because had he come down off that cross, that would have been
the end. Yeah, he could have put them away, but all of us
would have been lost too. And we would have no hope. And
the Lord would have probably just ended the work right there.
It would have been done. Psalm 11 again, 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.
So I ask you, can we boast of that? Can we boast that this
is us doing that work? Do we really do this perfectly
and walk perfectly before men? Not if we're honest. Not if God
has made you honest. You can't boast of that. On your
best day, on my best day, I can't say that this is me. Not on my
best day. But when you consider the Lord
Jesus Christ, that He fulfilled all righteousness on behalf of
His children, then we see that Christ is that blessed man. and that if we are to be blessed,
we're only blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where God
puts us. He puts us in His Son, Jesus Christ, and that's where
He blesses us with all blessings. Our Lord, to do this, had to
empty Himself of glory. It says that He was in the world,
and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He
came into His own, And his own received him not. And we also
read from the scriptures that he did this for us. It says,
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be rich. And then we read in Psalm 1-2
that he did this willingly. It says, Psalm 1-2, but his delight
is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night. Now last night when I was reading
before bed, I saw this verse, Joshua 1-8. This is speaking
of the Lord. It says, This Book of the Law
shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein
day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all
that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly. Turn to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10,
verse 7. Thank you. Speaking of our Lord doing the
will of his Father, Hebrews 10.7, Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second, verse 10, by the
which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all." So that brethren, the law and
the ordinances given of God there at Mount Sinai, they were against
us because we are not able to keep that law perfectly. We can't
keep the law perfectly. If righteousness comes by the
law, then Christ has died in vain. So that we know that Christ
must do this. He fulfilled the will of God
and he fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf. Knowing this,
before the foundation of the world was even laid, the Father
covenanted with the Son, that the Son would come bearing flesh,
that He might bear the sin of His people, that He might carry
that sin to the cross, and there had the wrath of Almighty God
poured out upon Him, and that He put it away sufficiently,
perfectly, completely, so that all who hope in Him are comforted
and know that, indeed, we shall stand before God righteous, not
in our own righteousness, but in the righteousness which is
by Jesus Christ and Him alone. Paul told Timothy 3.16, and without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up
into glory. As God had given His Son a peculiar
people, a royal priesthood, a people who have no boasting, no confidence
in themselves, but a people who are brought low and are meek
and are brought to see that they are nothing and have all their
need must be fulfilled in Christ and in Him alone. Alright, look
there in Psalm 1-3. Let's see what Christ accomplished
while He was here in His flesh. Psalm 1-3. The psalm says, "...and
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth His fruit in the season. His leaf also shall not
wither, and whatsoever He doeth shall prosper." So that we understand
there a picture of how our Lord is that The gospel tree, the
one who is mighty and strong and has all provision. Think
of it like you see a great tree in a field and all the birds
and all the animals of the plain, they run there for shelter and
for safekeeping. A man may go there that he might
be comforted from the heat of the day or receive some fruit
All these things, our Lord, is all provision to His people.
We have nothing of our flesh, there's nothing that we can boast
Him, so that Christ becomes all things, and it's through this
Gospel that we see the strength, and the might, and the power
of our God. The Scriptures say in Romans
3.21, So that, brethren, when you see that you have no righteousness, that's
a good place to be. You might be fearful, and afraid for a time, because
the Lord is going to bring all his people to see that they have
no righteousness, that there is no goodness in them, that
there's nothing that they're going to be proud of and boastful
of to stand before God, so that we might see that we need the
righteousness of God. And that righteousness of God
is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by His grace to us who are
sinners that through His Son Jesus Christ, that's where we
need to be. The Lord is going to show us
that. We've broken the law of God. Even if you only think you've
broken it in the smallest sense. Even if you can see that, well,
I'm not that bad, but maybe in this thing I did do this one
little thing. Well, the scriptures say that
he who has broken the law in the least thing, in the least
little offense of the law, has broken the entire law. And you
are guilty of breaking the entire law of God. You might think,
well, surely my fruit is something that might merit something with
God. Surely I do all these good works,
or I'm a pretty good guy, I'm a pretty decent person. Surely
these things might earn me something with God. But the scriptures
are clear that the fruit that we bring forth, it's dead rotten
fruit. Some of you are probably gardeners.
I do a little bit of gardening and there's times when I go out
and look at my tomato bushes and I look at them and I look
at the tomato and I think it looks good. And then I pull it
off, it's still on the vine and it's rotten. It's God. Like it's
just eaten out and cankered and just, it's vile and rotten. That's
the fruit that we by nature are able to bring forth to God. That's
what we can do. The best that we can do is bring
forth that cankered, nasty, rotten, poisoned fruit. That's all that
we can do. Only in Christ can we bring forth
good fruit. He said in John 15.6, If a man
abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered.
And men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they
are burned. So that, apart from Christ, you
cannot bear good fruit unto God. So don't think, well, okay, I
hear about this religion stuff, and I'm going to do better, I'm
going to do my best. The best that you're going to do is bring
forth cankered, rotten, poisoned, dirty fruit. But here's how we
bring forth good fruit to God. John 15, 4 and 5 say, Abide in
me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches,
he that abideth in me, and I in him. The same bringeth forth
much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing. When we preach the Gospel, we
preach Christ. We're preaching not what man
needs to be doing. Not what man should be doing.
Not what we need to stop doing and start doing. We preach Jesus
Christ. Because without Christ, ye can
do nothing. It's only in the Lord Jesus Christ,
as it says, 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. Apart from Christ, we wither
and we die, and we're brought to see that we do not bring forth
anything that is pleasing to God the Father. But turn to Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 28,
we see again, those who think that
there's something apart from Christ, those who think that
that Christ isn't sufficient and that you've got to add your
work or those who think that Christ isn't true at all and
that somehow they can please God. Usually that might not be
young people but older people when they realize that all this
time they've pushed God aside and wanted nothing to do with
Him, and now the terrors of hell begin to seize upon their hearts
and they realize, I hope I can find something that I can look
back to and have some form of hope and encouragement. But it
says in Isaiah 1, verse 28, the second half after the comma,
"...and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed." For
they shall be ashamed of the oaks, that is, any tree that
is not Christ, they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye
have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that
ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose
leaf fadeth, that's that same word in Psalm 1-3, withers, fadeth,
and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be
as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both
burn together, and none shall quench them." So I hope you hear
me today that apart from Christ, ye can do nothing. Look to the Lord because He's
the Savior that God the Father has provided. Christ is that
Savior and He's a successful Savior, able to save all of them
that come to Him. Turn to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53
verse 10. Again, thinking of that verse,
Psalm 1-3, thinking of how the Lord shall prosper everything
that's in this blessed man's hand. Isaiah 53 verse 10 says,
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief.
When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall
see a seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He is successful. He shall
see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities." Our ways are oftentimes frustrated. That's a good thing,
though. It's a good thing when we see
that the things that we thought, all the schemes that we thought,
They're frustrating. I don't know if you ever played
chess. I used to play chess. I don't play it much now, but
I thought I had some really good moves ahead, and I would start
to plan them out, a few moves out, and every time, they would
do the very thing that I thought, didn't even enter my mind, didn't
even come into my mind. And that's us, by nature, so
often. We think that we're so wise,
and we're so smart, and we got things so figured out, but there's
always something that's coming from the other side that we just
didn't see, right in our blind spot. to knock us off our high
horse. If the Lord does that, be thankful.
If He shows you that you're nothing in yourself, be very, very thankful
for that, because not all people see that. Most people never come
to see that God is all and that they themselves are nothing.
And if in this life you do believe Him, you do trust Him, you do
hope in the Lord, And you think, well, the Lord brings us through
adversity, He brings us through trials, He brings us through
afflictions, all to show us that we are nothing. Because there's
times when we begin to think that we're something, and we
start to climb that ladder of self-righteousness, or just whatever
we think we are, and we start climbing higher and higher, but
the Lord faithfully brings us low, brings us down in ourselves,
that we might not have confidence and trust in our own strength
and in our own works and in the things that we can figure out
and do. But the Lord will bring us and
continually lead us back to the Lord Jesus Christ and show us
our need of this gospel. Turn now, if you're still in
Isaiah, to Isaiah 30. And we see this. Isaiah 30, verse
20. Isaiah 30, 20, And though the
Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more,
but thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall
hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, not that way
of sinners, but this is the way, walk ye in it. When ye turn to
the right hand, and when ye turn to the left, and ye shall defile
also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament
of thy molten images of gold, thou shalt cast them away as
a menstruous cloth, thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. Now the world, who trust in their
own flesh, trust in their own wit, in their own charm, in their
own abilities, they from time to time have to reach into their
bag of tricks and they pull out something that says, all right,
this will get me out of it. And they're happy and they go on
their way. But when you're the Lords, there'll come a time when
you're being pressed out of measure and you're being Just hard, very
hard, difficult times. And you'll turn to that old bag
of flesh and you'll reach down into that bag of tricks of yours
and you pull it out and think, this is surely going to get me
out of it. And then the Lord brings you to see you're holding
a menstruous cloth, anything that you're distrusting and that's
of your own flesh, you're going to say, ah, that's nasty, I don't
want anything to do with that. The Lord brings you to see, he
opens your eyes to see that all our works, all our tricks, all
our gadgets and things that we rely on, They're not of the Lord. But pray. Let it drive you to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Fall on your face before Him.
Worship Him. He's that blessed man. If you're
going to be blessed in the thing that you think is set before
you, it's going to be because the Lord God Almighty is blessing
you. And it's going to be in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's not going to let you get away with working
out these things in your own flesh. And it might be years. There's been years where things
seem to be going well for me. And time and time again, things
just went well, but I wasn't seeking the Lord, and I wasn't
trusting in Him. I mean, I was doing my thing, and I'm not saying
I wasn't saved, but I was really relying on myself. And there
comes a day, a hard day, when everything just gets pulled out
from under you, and you realize, where am I? How far have I gone
from the Lord? Lord, have mercy on me. Save
me, Lord. Please be merciful. Because we'll
keep going, we think we're so clever, until the Lord just pulls
it away. So I encourage you. Seek the
Lord. Beg the Lord for mercy to show you that you're nothing
in yourself. I know it's hard. The flesh doesn't
like to pray those things. Pray for grace, really. Pray
for grace. Because He will show you. But pray that the Lord keep
your heart. Because you will go for a long
time. You'll be surprised at how far
away you can walk away. But the Lord will bring you back,
if you're His. He'll bring you back to see that
you are nothing in yourself. And say, there's the way. It's
in Christ. That's where you need to be.
And He'll bring you there. He'll put you in there Himself.
It's His grace. Alright, our third point. The
ungodly, the sinner, and the scorner. So in contrast to Christ,
we see Christ is the blessed man. Now we see here in these
last four verses in Psalm 1-4, the ungodly, the sinner, and
the scorner. It says, the Angavi are not so. They're not like Christ. They're
not so. But are like the chaff which
the wind driveth away. Therefore the Angavi shall not
stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the world knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way
of the Angavi shall perish. The ungodly shall see in that
day that there is no place for them among the righteous congregation. They were once wise in their
own eyes. They thought they had it all figured out. And then
they come to the end, if they're given time to think about it,
brought to see that they have nothing. And then they're scrambling
around in their thoughts, trying to find something that they can
lay hold of that gives them hope that if there is a God, maybe
he'll receive me for this thing. But all that is, it's just a
phantom, it's just a ghost that is reaching for straws that are
not going to save them. Today is the day of grace. If
the Lord is going to save you, it's going to be today. It's
going to be now, that if you're His, hear His Word and beg Him
for mercy and for grace to save you from your blindness and your
darkness and your deadness. Beg Him to save you from your
sin. The ungodly have no place. They
speak of their peace and their prosperity and their hope and
their things, but there's coming a day, because it says, not so
the way of the ungodly. They shall say, peace and safety,
and then sudden destruction is going to come upon them. It's
so easy now. And when things are going well
and you're healthy or you've figured out how to deal with
your aches and pains for now and things seem to be going well
and you can boast and you think you've got life before you, especially
if you're young, you think that Things are just going well. You'll
deal with those things later on. But hear his voice now. Now
is the day to seek the Lord. Hosea said, 13-3, Therefore they
shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth
away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the
floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. That's just saying
it's fast. Our day comes up like the rising
sun and sets just like the setting sun. It comes just like that.
It's over very, very quickly. And that day when they realize
that they've shunned the Lord, that they've had nothing to do
with Him, And they don't know, they don't remember the Gospel. They
can't remember how a man is justified, even if they sat under the Gospel
for years and years and years, it won't come to their mind.
They shall seek to walk among wise counselors, but in that
day they're going to be driven away from the Lord's presence.
They'll seek to stand among the righteous in judgment that day,
but they shall not stand among the righteous in the day of judgment.
They'll desire then to be sitting with the righteous in that righteous
congregation when they see all these things are so, everything
that the Lord said, they're so, and it's all in Christ. They'll
seek to sit among the righteous, but they shall be cast out in
their shame and in their nakedness into darkness. They trusted in
their own flesh. They would not hear what the
Lord said in the day of His grace." Alright, turn to Jeremiah 17.
This will be the last scripture I have you turn to. Just a few
more remarks. Jeremiah 17, and look in verse
5. See, this passage is a very good
parallel passage to Psalm 1. Jeremiah 17, 5. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be
the man that trusteth the man, and maketh flesh his arm, and
whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be not like
that tree, but he shall be like the heath in the desert. and
shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched
places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. That's the way that the ungodly
shall go." So don't look to your heart. Don't refuse Christ, the
grace that is only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that great?
And that final day, it's approaching. Hear Him. Look in verse 9, Jeremiah
17, 9. The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord,
search the heart. I try the reins, even to give
every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of
his doings. So to those wicked who think
their righteousness is sufficient in their own eyes, it says, Not
so the ungodly. They are not planted, they shall
not bring forth fruit, they shall wither, and they shall not prosper. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. The Way
of the Angali, it shall perish. But now look in verse 7, Jeremiah
17, 7, and hear the Way of the Righteous. It says, Blessed is
the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord
is. For he, in Christ, for he shall
be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out her roots
by the river, and shall not see when he cometh. Think of that
hot Judgment Day when When you stand before the Lord and you
realize that God is God and that everything he said in his word
is true and right. But the righteous, they'll not
see when that heat cometh. But her leaf shall be green,
and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall
cease from yielding fruit." So brethren, look to the Lord. He's that blessed man. If you're
to be blessed in the Lord of God, it's only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's where He puts His people.
That's where He blesses His people, in the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray
to the Lord, encourage your hearts to get to the Lord Jesus Christ,
to flee to Him, to look to Him, to trust only in Him. Let's pray. Blessed Lord, Father, we thank
You for Your Word. Lord, we know that in our nature
we can't hear, we can't receive Christ, we can't believe on You. But Lord, we pray that Your Spirit
of grace would fall upon us now, that You would awaken our heart
to see that Christ alone is salvation, and that in Him is refuge and
safety, that He is that righteous tree who brings forth fruit in
His people. Lord, let us not trust in our
own righteousness. Let us not trust in our own wisdom.
Lord, if we be far away from You, I pray that You would call
Your people back. Help them to see that they're
not in the way of righteousness, Lord, if they're going their
own way according to the flesh. But, Lord, save them. Save them
back. Get them back from it. Bring them to Christ. We pray
this in Jesus' name, our Lord and Savior. Amen.