Psalm chapter 1. We're going
to read this together and then we'll go through it. A long time ago, I don't know
how old I was, I committed this chapter of the Psalms to memory,
and so it's familiar. As I hear it, I am familiar with
the words, but for many years I would read it and did not really
understand it, but I would still continue to read it and think
about it. and really thought I knew something about it, but
how little I really knew. So what we talk about today and
in the course of our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ is always
a growing We're always learning more and we're gaining a better
understanding. And so hopefully whatever we
cover tonight will help you and help me and cause each one of
us to admire the Lord Jesus Christ from the Psalms. 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, as I opened up last week in the overview of the psalms,
I want to remind you that David wrote this psalm, and he wrote
most of the psalms. This was a psalm of David, as
most of them are, and as we also looked last time, we saw that
David was a prophet. David not only wrote the psalms,
but he was used by God as a prophet. And as a prophet, he wrote the
words of the Psalms that apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. These
words were spoken by Jesus Christ, and they were fulfilled by Jesus
Christ, and they were words of God concerning him. David was
a shepherd. Remember, he took care of his
father's sheep. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
called in Scripture the Good Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd,
and the Great Shepherd of the sheep. The sheep are his people. They are the ones that he saves. They are also called his brethren
and his body. Now, David also was a king in
Israel, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the king over his people.
Not the people of national Israel, but the true Israel of God, the
spiritual Israel. David was not only a prophet,
but the Lord Jesus Christ was a prophet. He's the one by whom
God has spoken in these last days. He's called the Word of
God. He's called the Wisdom of God.
And in John 1, verse 18, it says that no man has seen God at any
time, but the only begotten Son, the only begotten of the Father,
the only begotten Son, He has declared Him. So in this, we
see that David wrote of Christ, just like, and was a prophet
and a king and a shepherd, just like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the other thing to note here
is that David also wrote as a man, as a man the Lord saved. So when we read the Psalms, we
also understand that not only did the Spirit of God move David
to speak first of Christ, but he also moved him to speak of
his church, every one of God's people, and each member in particular. In fact, when you read the Psalms,
you'll probably notice that they're spoken as a prayer or as a Psalm
spoken by one man. So you read, for example, in
Psalm 4, it says, hear me when I call, O God. Or in Psalm 5,
give ear to my words, O Lord. And in Psalm 1, blessed is the
man. And so you can see that throughout
the Psalms, and in fact in Psalm 3 also, Lord, how are they increased
that trouble me? So it's written in the first
person. And that's because when we, what
we're doing when we read the Psalms is we're reading the words
of God the Holy Spirit, not only concerning Christ, but concerning
his people. So they're the prayers of one
man, but they're the prayers of everyone in the body in particular. So first and foremost, they speak
of Christ. Secondly, they speak of each
of us. And the blessing that we know, the reason we know this
blessing is because in speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ in his
experience in the Psalms, they're speaking of all of his people
in him. And that's important that we
understand that. So first in the Psalms, they speak of Christ,
then they speak of Christ's people. If you remember that, it will
help you. And when we go through these chapters in the Psalms,
we want to look at them, first of all, as speaking of, and speaking
the words of, and speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and secondly,
as speaking about, speaking about the believer, the one who is
joined to Christ in God's saving purpose. The psalms are prayers,
and the psalms are prayers of thanksgiving and praise, and
they're psalms of supplication, always asking God to help. They
are prayers of intercession. It's the prayers of a man for
God. not only himself but for his
people. And so it's the prayer and the
praise of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter 2, the Lord
Jesus says there, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church, I
will sing praise unto thee. So you know from that verse that
Jesus Christ is speaking as the head of his people, the leader,
the one who prays at the top of the order, if you will, or
the one who speaks for his people, the one who speaks to God for
his people as the mediator. And so when he prays in the Psalms,
he's praying for his people. When he praises God, he's praising
God so that his people can hear it. They would know the truth
of his praise and his prayers and take comfort in it. Okay,
so the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking in the name of his people, and
he's speaking to God as the godly man, the righteous man, the obedient
man, and the Psalms speak of him in this way. Okay, so that's
the first thing I wanted to point out. All right, the second thing I
want you to see here is this first verse in Psalm 1. Listen
to the words of the verse. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. The man. You see how it's talking
about a blessed man. A blessed man. Now, it's interesting
that in Matthew chapter 21, When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, do
you remember that? Maybe, Jimmy, maybe you remember
that. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people, even
the children, they cut down palm branches and they laid them in
the way and they praised him. One of the things they said was
this, they said, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name
of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. Now, those words, Hosanna, the
word Hosanna means, oh, save. Oh, save. Yeah, Hosanna, oh,
save. That's important. They were praying
in their praise and their song for the Lord Jesus to save them. And then they said this, blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. He's the blessed
one. Now that was a fulfillment of Psalm 118. Let me read Psalm
118 verse 22 through 26 with you. Psalm 118 and verse 22 says
this. This is talking about Jesus.
The stone which the builders refused is become the head of
the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It
is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord
hath made. the day of Christ's revelation as our Savior. We
will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord,
O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he
that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out
of the house of the Lord. So notice how in this psalm,
it explicitly calls Jesus Christ the blessed one. Blessed is he,
right? And so we know in scripture that
God is the blessed God and Jesus Christ is said to be the blessed
son. In Mark chapter 14, the high
priest was angry because he couldn't seem to get any advantage over
Jesus and he asked Jesus, he said, art thou the Christ, the
son of the blessed? talking about God as the blessed
one. And Jesus said, I am, and you
shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and
coming in the clouds of heaven. So he's the son of man, he's
the son of David, according to the flesh, and he's the son of
God, according to the spirit, and he is as much God as if he
were not man, and as much man as if he were not God, and yet
he is the God-man, he is the blessed one, the one who is blessed
of God, the son of the blessed. In this verse, Psalm 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, the ungodly are those who deny and do not know God. They know the truth of God, but
they suppress it and hold it down, and so they don't know
God in His character and in His saving character and work. They do not fear God. They do
not understand His word. They don't understand His ways.
They reject the counsel of God, and they trust themselves. They
honor and they idolize themselves, not God, and they don't honor
and worship Christ. They would rather worship themselves.
So first we see in this verse of the ungodly, that the Lord
Jesus Christ avoids all that is opposed to God. The first
thing that's pointed out here is he does not walk in the counsel
of the ungodly. He's opposed to all who are ungodly,
who don't know God, who hate God, who hate his truth, who
serve themselves and who trust themselves and trust man. So this is also true in other
places in the Psalms. Maybe you remember those words
in Hebrews chapter one where it says, thou lovest righteousness
and hatest wickedness. Therefore thy God has anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. So the Lord
Jesus Christ is exalted by God and anointed by God as the Christ
in order to save his people because he loves righteousness and he
hates wickedness. Okay? So you understand that?
That this blessed man here, who does not walk in the counsel
of the ungodly, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not take the
counsel of the ungodly. He does something else. Okay? He doesn't walk in the counsel
of the ungodly. He doesn't stand in the way of
sinners. He doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful. So, the
next thing I want you to see here is that the Lord Jesus Christ,
when spoken of in the Psalms as it is here, this is the first
Psalm. This is the first chapter and
the first song of the Psalms, the whole book. 150 chapters
are 150 different songs, and this one is the first, which
means it's the anchor point. It's speaking about the Lord
Jesus Christ as the blessed man. Here we also see this is consistent
with what God has said, that the Lord Jesus Christ acted for
his people. He acted for them just like Adam
acted for all of his children. Remember? In Genesis, God details
the disobedience of the first man, Adam. But in Psalm chapter
1, the beginning of the songs, the beginning of the revelation
of the songs, what does he do? He doesn't tell us about the
disobedience of the first man, he tells us about the obedience
of the second man, the last man, Adam. When I say man, when I'm
referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, I mean a man who represents,
who acts for his people. Everything he does, he does in
their name, as them. So that what he does, they do. Okay, this is the way God is
showing us. In Genesis, Adam's disobedience is laid out. In
Psalm 1, Christ's obedience is laid out. Adam brought shame
on himself and on his children. He brought condemnation on himself
and on his children. Jesus Christ brought honor to
his God and Father and upon his children. He didn't bring condemnation,
he justified them. So you see the two are put in
contrast. Adam the first, Christ the last. He was called Adam because that
meant man. The Lord Jesus Christ is called the Son of Man. Now,
God gave his holy law. Remember in the Garden of Eden,
he told Adam that, he says, in the day you eat of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, you'll surely die. Don't eat
of that tree. So God gave his law. He gave his holy law. And
in Romans chapter seven, verse 10, I blended seven and 10 together,
we got a new number, sen. But Romans chapter seven, verse
10, it says this, the law was ordained to life. So God gave
his holy law, and he gave it so that we might live. But we
know that we are not saved by the law of God, aren't we? Anyone
who breaks the law is condemned by the law. So the law isn't
able to save us, unfortunately. Or actually, it's not a fortune,
it's not a chance at all. I shouldn't even use the word
unfortunately. That's the way God designed it.
The law wasn't meant for us to be saved by our own personal
obedience to the law. We cannot be right before God
by our personal obedience to the law, and we can't be clear
of condemnation by our own personal suffering at the hands of the
law. There's only one way we can be
right before God according to the scripture, and how is that?
It's by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter
8 it says this, in Romans chapter 8 verse 1 and 2 it says, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death. Listen to what it says here.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh, that's our sinful flesh, the law couldn't make us right
before God because we're sinners, God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, he looked just like us and he had
the same weaknesses of hunger and sleep and other things, He
had to depend upon God, just like we do, in the likeness of
sinful flesh. And for sin, that's why he came,
he condemned sin in the flesh. That means he condemned it in
Christ's flesh, but it was really our flesh that was, sin in our
flesh that was condemned because he acted for us. that he did
this in order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. So,
what's happened here? Well, God gave the law, it was
ordained to life, we couldn't keep it so it called for our
death. The law, because of our disobedience,
calls for our death. But if God gave the law, ordained
it to life, how could it then be for our life? Because the
Lord Jesus Christ, the man spoken of here in Psalm 1, verse 1,
he did not walk in the way of the counsel of the ungodly. He
did not stand in the way of sinners. He did not sit in the seat of
the scornful. His delight was in the law of
the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night, you
see? Just like God gave the law to Adam, For and all who were
in Adam before they were born, they all disobeyed when he sinned.
So God gave the law to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he kept it. And all who are in the Lord Jesus
Christ obeyed God when he obeyed it." This is very important. This is the gospel. And we learn a lot from this. We learn a lot from this. God
gave his law to Adam and he gave it to all men who were in Adam.
Remember, the don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. Yet we all disobeyed when Adam disobeyed. And we all
disobey in our own personal lives, don't we? Each one of us sin.
In our own personal lives, we don't do what God tells us to
do, and we do what God tells us not to do. That's called sin.
But someone must obey God's law. Someone had to magnify God's
law. Someone had to honor it. That
someone is the Lord Jesus Christ. He came, remember, to do the
will of God. Look at Psalm chapter 40, verse
6. Psalm chapter 40, verse 6. This
is in the Psalms, and we'll eventually get there. But in Psalm 40, I
want you to see what's said here in Psalm 1 about the Lord Jesus
Christ. It says, His delight is in the
law of the Lord. Look at Psalm 40, verse 6. Sacrifice
and offering. This is Jesus Christ praying
to his father, sacrifice an offering thou didst not desire. God didn't
want animal sacrifices. They never pleased God in terms
of our sin. So he says, my ears hast thou
opened. In other words, as a servant,
And as his ear was pierced through with an awl by his master, because
his servant loved his master and would not leave his master
and would do all his master's will, so he says, my ear hast
thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required, not animals. Then said I, this is Jesus Christ
speaking to his father by the Spirit of God through the prophet
David, then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It
is written of me to do thy, or later on in Hebrews 10 it says
to do thy will, O God. Notice he said in verse eight,
I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my
heart. You see that? You see those words
there in verse eight? He's telling about how the scripture
from the top of the roll, you know what a scroll is. You've
seen a scroll, you roll it up onto one stick and then you let
it drape down and catch it by another stick and roll it at
the bottom. The scroll of scripture at the very top all the way through
and to the very bottom is called the volume of the book. In the
volume of Scripture, in all of Scripture, it is written of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what does it say about Him?
The Scripture testifies, I delight to do thy will, O my God. This is Jesus Christ as a man
speaking to His Father in prayer from his heart and he says, I
delight to do thy will. Now, when you read Hebrews 10,
you realize this is what Jesus Christ said when he came into
the world, when he took on the command of God to lay his life
down for his sheep. And he fulfilled that command.
John 10, verse 17 and 18 says, my father gave me this commandment,
and that's why I'm doing it. He's laying his life down for
his sheep. And he took it back again. Now, I say all this in
order to direct us to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the one spoken of here. He is the one who did the will
of God from his heart. He loved, he delighted in God's
law. He didn't walk in the counsel
of the ungodly. He didn't stand in the way of
sinners. He didn't sit in the seat of the scornful. He delighted
in the law of God. And in his law, he did meditate
day and night. Have any of us done that? Do
we delight in God's law? Well, we may want to. We think,
I want to do what's right, but when we're honest, if we understand
our true motives, and intentions, and words, and actions, what
do we find? We have to admit, we have to
confess, we haven't done, we have not kept God's law. If you
read even the best of the prophets, like Daniel, or Job, or Abraham,
or any of them, or any of the prophets in the Old Testament,
all of them confessed their sin. Peter said, I am vile. Job said, I am vile. Isaiah said,
I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. And
Daniel said, he said, we have sinned. We have not done what
we were supposed to do. We've done what we were not supposed
to do. And we didn't regard your prophets.
We didn't listen to them. And all these things have come
upon us because of our sin. That's what Daniel prayed. So
all these men in scripture always confess their sins. In Ecclesiastes
7, verse 20, it says, for there is not a just man on earth that
doeth good and sinneth not. So none of us can say the things
that are spoken of here, that we do not walk in the counsel
of the ungodly, we do not stand in the way of sinners, we do
not sit in the seat of the scornful, we do delight in the law of God
and we do meditate in his law day and night. But there is a
man who did, and that man is the Lord Jesus Christ. He says
in Psalm 40, verse 8, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.
So Adam sinned. Adam forfeited all blessings
by his disobedience. But the Lord Jesus Christ recovered
all that Adam lost, and much more, by his own submission and
obedience to the will of God. He took on our sins. He took
our guilt. He bore our shame. He bore God's
judgment. And all through that, he trusted
God and waited for his salvation. Do you understand? Let me read
this to you in Romans chapter five. In Romans chapter five,
it says this about the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 18, it says,
listen, as by the offense of one, The offense means the sin,
as by that sinful act, that offensive act to God, that one man, as
by the one offense of the one man, upon all men came condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift of God's righteousness came upon all men
unto justification of life." Not all men at all times throughout
all the world, but all who actually receive the life that God gives
because they're righteous. He first gives righteousness
in Christ, and He gives life in Christ, and then they believe
Him. Okay, so that's Romans 5.18. Romans 5.19 says this, as by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. One man sinned, many were made
sinners and were condemned. One man obeyed, and many were
made righteous and were justified. They were not condemned, they
were justified. They did not die, they live. One man that sinned, who was
that? Adam. The one man who obeyed, who was
that? The Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and
verse 22 it says, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive. And then in 1 Corinthians 15,
45, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last,
Adam, was made a quickening, a life-giving spirit. Why does
the Lord Jesus Christ give life? Because he first worked out righteousness. And wherever God sees righteousness,
he gives life. Okay, in Isaiah 53, verse 11,
it says, by his knowledge, Christ's knowledge, shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
So he not only obeyed God's law, but he fulfilled the law in his
condemnation by suffering for our sins. Okay, is that clear? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
man. Let's read the verses in Psalm again now. 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."
Notice how what is said here seems to be a decline. First he's walking, then he's
standing, then he's sitting. He's walking in the counsel of
the ungodly. What is the counsel of the ungodly?
Do you know something that is like the counsel of the ungodly?
What is that? Well, remember, the ungodly don't know God. So
everything they give advice on, they're going to tell you things
that are wrong, aren't they? It doesn't mean that we cannot
have, let's say a man who fixes our car. He doesn't know the
Lord. Should we not let him fix our
car then? Is that what it means? It doesn't mean that. He may
not know the Lord. He may be an ungodly man, but
it doesn't mean to not let him fix our car because he's just
taking the knowledge that doesn't require spiritual life. He's
taking the knowledge about the physical things of this world.
And you could think about this in any other way. What about
a man who builds your house? You're going to not let him build
your house because he doesn't know the Lord? That's not what
he's talking about here. Listen to some of the things
that I've heard, and maybe you've heard them too, as you listen
to people speak of this world. Have you ever heard these things?
Believe in yourself. Have you ever heard that? Trust
in yourself. Live for yourself. Make yourself
beautiful in the eyes of others. Put on clothes, put on jewelry,
put on makeup. Make yourself, I'm not just talking
to women here, men, same thing. Get strong, make yourself look
handsome, whatever. Do all those things to make yourself
appear to look nice in the eyes of others with your physical
appearance. That's what the world talks about.
Almost everything you see is an advertisement of what you
can do to make yourself look better, isn't it? That's the
message of this world. Another thing you'll hear the
world say, try to spend as much time in recreation and entertainment
as you can because really you should live for yourself. And
then another thing you hear people say, be who you are and don't
be ashamed of it, even if who you are is shameful. Is that
right? Should you live so that you live
without shame for your indecent or your unsound way of life? When we're doing things that
are shameful, we ought to be ashamed. But the world says,
no, don't be ashamed for doing shameful things. If you want
to do that shameful thing, and that's the way you feel about
it, then do what you are. Be who you are without shame.
That's not right, is it? It's not right. It's not right
when we don't... Well, let me go on. Here's something
else that the world says. Gain. not godliness and not contentment. Gain is contentment. If you're constantly striving
to get more and you finally get what you're after, then you'll
be content. Is that true? It's a bunch of
baloney. It's not true. No, those are
the things of the world because God says godliness with contentment
is great gain, not the love of money. The world says be ambitious,
seek gain, seek self-promotion, do what will cause others to
idolize you and idolize others. There's even shows on TV that
do this. There's one called American Idol. Yeah, I mean, I've watched those
shows, and you can find some enjoyment in watching them. But
there's a lot that comes with it that you think, this is nauseating. There's some of the things they
do there. So anyway, I'm just helping you remind you, what
the counsel of the ungodly is, is the advice of the world. It's
the view of life that the world has that don't know God. So if
you take the world's advice and you understand what the world
is saying and you teach what the world is saying in its philosophies,
in its politics, in its science and all these things, and you
live to make the world a good place for you, and for others,
then your focus is on what? A temporary life. You're spending
your entire life on something that's going to be destroyed
by God in the end. Abraham didn't do that, did he?
He lived his life looking for another inheritance, another
spiritual inheritance. So the counsel of the ungodly
is always going to be wrong when it comes to spiritual things,
always. You cannot trust that at all.
Now, don't walk in that counsel then. Walk away from it. Walk away from it. Here's what
the counsel of God is. What is the counsel of God? Jimmy,
what is it? Something good. It's the Bible. It's what the Bible says. How
do you know what God has said? The Bible, right? You know what
God has said because he wrote it down in the scripture. Remember when the devil tempted
Jesus? God sent him into the wilderness.
Jesus went out and he didn't eat for 40 days and 40 nights.
And it says in Matthew chapter four that the devil began the
temptation this way. He said, if you are the son of
God, then command these stones to be made bread. Remember that? He said, he's tempting Jesus,
you need to prove that you really are the son of God. And the way
I'm telling you to do that is just turn these stones into bread.
I mean, after all, you're hungry. And you know what Jesus said? He did not walk in the counsel
of that ungodly devil, did he? What did he say? It is written. Where was it written? in the
Bible, right? That's the counsel of God. So
he told the devil the counsel of God. He did not walk in the
counsel of the devil, the ungodly. When he was tempted to turn stones
to bread to prove he was the son of God, he said, it is written.
And then he said, this is what he quoted from scripture. The
devil said, prove you are the son of God. But Jesus said, it
is written, man shall not live by bread alone. He said to the
devil, he didn't say, I'm going to prove I'm the son of God.
He identified himself as man. Now that's a humble thing, isn't
it? He didn't take the temptation to exalt himself. He didn't take
the temptation to try to confirm by something he was going to
do God's Word to him. He took God's Word alone and
he rested on that and he lived himself, he lived his life that
way. Everything he did, he did according to the Word of God. In his law, he meditated day
and night. He delighted in it. So that's
the first thing. The counsel of God is scripture.
The gospel of God tells us what the counsel of God is. The eternal
will of God is revealed in scripture, and that will concerns the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what we're talking about
right now. What is the counsel of God? Everything God has said
concerning His Son. In the volume of the book, it
is written of Him. The second thing that the counsel of God
does is it teaches us not to trust in man. Jeremiah 17, verse
5 says, do not curse it is the man who trusts in man. In fact,
in Jeremiah 17, 7, just after that it says, blessed is the
man who make it the Lord his trust, whose trust the Lord is.
In Micah chapter six and verse eight, it says, love mercy, do
justly, and walk humbly with your God. So these are the counsels
of God, aren't they? In Psalm 37, let me read Psalm
37, the first eight verses to you. Psalm 37, verse one through
eight, it says this. And this is something that we
could think about today very carefully because today there's
all sorts of strange things going on with the world and its ways. Listen to Psalm 37 and see if
you recognize this as God's word to us. fret not thyself because
of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of
iniquity. Don't look at people who don't
know God and be jealous about their condition. They seem to
be doing well, they seem to have everything, their life seems
to be easy, they seem to have all the power. Don't be envious
of them. That's what he's saying, verse
two. For they shall soon be cut off, cut down like the grass,
and wither. as the green herb. Here's what
God says to his people, trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt
thou dwell in the land. And verily thou shalt be fed.
Not only do you receive an inheritance, the land, but God's going to
feed you. Verse four, delight thyself also in the Lord and
he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. In other words,
be content with what you have, find your delight in the Lord,
and you will find contentment, and you will find the desires
of your heart will be fully met. Commit thy way to the Lord. Trust
also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. You trust in God. He'll bring to pass His will,
and He will save you and work all things for your good. Verse
six. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,
and thy judgment as the noonday. God's gonna prove before the
universe that he has made us righteous in his son. Verse seven,
rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because
of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings
wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil. When we're tempted because we
don't have what we think we need or want, what do we do? We're
tempted to do evil, but he says, don't fret yourself to do evil
in any way, but just be content, trust in the Lord, delight yourself
in Him. So you see from this that in
the counsel of God, Not the counsel of the ungodly. In the counsel
of God, all greed, all constantly striving to get gain, is wicked. It's the root of all evil. How
does the world work, anyway? Why do men do what they do? Why
do they lie? Why do they seek power? The root
of all evil is the love of money. That's it. It's the love of money.
God unfolds. He reveals their heart. The love
of money is the root of all evil. This constant desire for gain,
for personal gain, and people put themselves in places of power,
however they do that, in order to get gain. See how the Lord
instructs His children in Proverbs 1. In Proverbs 1, verse 7, listen
to the counsel of the Lord. He says, The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and
instruction. Hear the instruction of thy father,
and forsake not the law of thy mother, for they shall be an
ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck. In
other words, the instruction of your father and the law of
your mother will be like jewels of a king laid on his son, an
ornament of grace to your head and chains about your neck, my
son. This is God speaking to his people. My son, if sinners
entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, come with us, let
us wait for blood. Let us lurk privily for the innocent
without cause. Let us swallow them up alive
as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit. We
shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with
spoil. Cast in thy lot among us and let us all have one purse.
my son, walk not thou in the way with them. You see, what
they're doing is they're seeking after gain and they murder in
order to get. That's what they're doing. So
this constant covetousness and seeking after the riches of this
world actually leads to murdering, taking the life of others in
order to get what they have. which is evil. And so the Lord
says, My son, walk not thou in the way with them. Refrain thy
foot from their path, for their feet run to evil, and make haze
to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread
in the sight of any bird, and they lay wait for their own blood. They lurk privily for their own
lives. So are the ways of everyone that
is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
God is saying here, if a person is constantly seeking gain, it
leads to hate and envy and murder in the heart, or real murder,
then they're setting a net for themselves and they're gonna
be taken in the very trap they thought to set for others. God's
gonna see to it. So these are the counsels of
the Lord. The third one is that righteousness before God comes
not by our own personal obedience, nor does holiness and purity
of heart come that way, but by the obedience and death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so God denounces pride and
he raises up the humble. He denounces greed and gain and
covetousness, but he is pleased with a cheerful giver. So don't
walk in the counsel of the ungodly. And this is what the Lord Jesus
Christ did, isn't it? He did not seek gain for himself. What did he do instead? It says
in 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
poor, that you, through his poverty, might be made rich. Not rich
in material things, rich in spiritual things, rich in righteousness.
Christ didn't take, he gave. In fact, he restored what Adam
took away and what we took away by our sin. He delights in the
will of God and that's why he's called here the one who delights
in that will, the one who delights in God's law. Okay? All right. And we know that none
of us could match this description because God describes us this
way. There's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Well, what about my little boy
over here, Billy? No, not one. You understand? Only the Lord Jesus Christ. God
says this, destruction and misery are in their ways. We just read
about that in Proverbs 1. And the way of peace have they
not known? There is no fear of God before
their eyes. And now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, Only the Lord Jesus
Christ has fulfilled God's law. He's the one who did, and He's
the one by whom we are justified before God. Okay? Let's go on
in the psalm. Verse 3 of Psalm 1. He shall
be like a tree planted, this one who doesn't walk in the counsel
of the ungodly, who doesn't stand in the way of sinners, who doesn't
sit 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. Listen,
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. Who is that describing? The man who delights in God's
law, the man who meditates in it day and night. And I used
to read this and think, I need to think about God's word all
the time so that I'll be like the man who's like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, bringing forth fruit, and my leaf won't
wither. I didn't know what those things
meant, but I was thinking about that. That's what I need to do.
The Lord says this is the right thing to do. I want to do it,
but I couldn't find it in me to do it, you see? but the Lord
Jesus Christ did, and he's the one who's like a tree. Now, how
is it that the Lord Jesus Christ is like this tree here? Does
the Lord Jesus Christ bear fruit? Does his leaf not wither? Is
his leaf always green? You know what an evergreen tree
is? the leaves don't fall off. Well, they stay green all year
round, don't they? They're evergreen, like a Christmas
tree, it's always green. So here, God is saying that the
man, we know now is the Lord Jesus Christ here, who delights
in the law of God and doesn't follow the advice of the wicked,
or go the way of the sinners, or sits in the seat of the scornful,
he's the one who's like a tree. Listen to these words in John
chapter 12, in verse 23. Jesus answered them, saying,
the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. To be glorified means God's gonna,
He's gonna declare Him to be great. It's gonna make Him known
as great in God's eyes. Verse 24, verily, verily, Jesus
said, I say to you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. If you take seeds and you don't
ever plant them, in fact, I just planted some seeds, some lettuce
and spinach about a week and a half ago, just before the rains
hit. And they've been in a bag for like two years, and they
just sat in the bag. Nothing happened. They were dry
seeds. So if you don't plant the seed, nothing happens. But
if you plant the seed, And then the rains come, the seed actually
dies in the ground, and it sprouts and brings forth whatever kind
of vegetable or fruit it is. Jesus said his death was just
like that. He died so that he could bring
forth fruit. And what was that fruit? The
salvation of his people. the salvation of his people.
So, look at this psalm again. He shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in a season.
How did the Lord Jesus Christ bring forth the fruit? He died. He was obedient to God's law.
His law was in his heart. He laid his life down for his
people. He took their sins and bore them before God and suffered
for them in order to answer God's justice and his law and save
them from their sins. Therefore, they are his fruit.
You see, he's like a tree because he bears the fruit of his people
saving them. Listen to this in Revelation
chapter 22. You might want to turn there
in Revelation chapter 22. Look at these words in Revelation
22 verse 1. It says, and he showed me a pure
river of water of life. Oh, that sounds a lot like what
it says here. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water. In Revelation 22.1, He, God, the Spirit of God, showed
me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal. And it was
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. So in
the vision that God gave to John, it was actually the Lord Jesus
Christ revealing it to him, he gave him the vision and there
was a pure river of water, pure as crystal, nothing in it that
was wrong, just as pure as water could ever be. And it was coming
out of the throne of God and the throne of the Lamb. Now,
what would this river be? It's the river of the water of
life. He says it right here, a pure river of water, of life. So out of God's purpose, that's
his throne, out of his sovereign rule, through the Lamb of God,
the one who was slain for our sins, comes what? A life river,
a river of life, water. And then he says in verse two,
in the midst of the street of it, in the city, where the throne
was, and there's water in the midst of the street of it. And
on either side of the river, there was what? There was the
tree of life. Well, that's what it's talking
about here. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water that brings forth fruit in his season. And then it goes
on in Revelation chapter 22, which bear 12 manner of fruits
and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are
for the healing of the nations. Wow, that's just like what it
says here. His fruit is born in his season, and his leaf does
not wither. So the Lord Jesus Christ is being
spoken of here, because it's the throne of God and of the
Lamb that this water of life comes, and the tree of life is
the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, because he was crucified, and
out of his death, fruit came. That's what he said in John chapter
12. So put it together now. Jesus Christ is the seed that
fell into the ground and died and brought forth much fruit.
He's also called the tree of life. He's also the water of
life, because as the Lamb of God, He was slain according to
the purpose of God. And in God's sovereign rule,
He gives this life to all of His people. Christ is like a
tree whose leaves do not wither, but in fact are for the healing
of the nations. Healing means spiritual healing.
Our sins are taken away. Christ has taken our sins, taken
them away so that we're pure before God and we live. With
eternal life, we drink in of what Christ has done from the
gospel. You see how it ties together
here? At the end of the revelation,
it corresponds to what the Lord is saying here in this first
chapter of Psalms. It's a song about the Lord Jesus
Christ and his obedience to God's law for his people, his rejection
of all that was false. He hated wickedness. He loved
righteousness. God has anointed him. for this
as a savior of his people, and he has fulfilled that salvation
in his own obedience, which was counted to them as their own
righteousness before God. Now look a little further in
this chapter. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. When you have wheat,
There's an outer part, it's very lightweight, it falls off, it's
called chaff, and the kernel of the wheat stays. And so they
used to throw it up in the air, the wheat, and the wind would
carry away the outer shell, and it would leave the heavy part,
the seed, the kernel. And that's the way they separated
the chaff from the wheat. So the ungodly, God says, are
going to be like the chaff, separated from the wheat, which are God's
people. The wind drives away the ungodly. Their end, the end
of the ungodly, is damnation. Verse 5, Therefore the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment, Why? Why won't they stand in
judgment? Because they were never justified. The judge of all the
earth won't justify them because he does not see them in the righteousness
of his Son, Jesus Christ. Nor shall sinners in the congregation
of the righteous... Sinners and righteous are two
different people. The people of God are not sinners
before God. They're righteous in Christ.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way
of the ungodly shall perish. So the Lord Jesus Christ is not
taking the counsel of the ungodly, not walking that way. He does
everything according to God's law. He does it in the name of
his people for them. So that all that he does is counted
as theirs and then he gives that life to them. as the river of
water, as a tree with fruit, as a tree whose leaves don't
wither, and is for the healing of their souls, the healing of
all their sins, because He's done it for them. And so that's
what you learn from this. And what you also see in this
psalm is that God's people look to Christ, they look at Him,
they're saying, this is the blessed man. And look at the fruit that
he bears, like a tree planted by the rivers of water. And look
how his leaves never wither, but are like healing for the
nations. All the people the Lord saves are healed by the Lord
Jesus Christ. and whatsoever he does shall
prosper. He never fails. He pleases the
Lord in everything he does and everything he puts his hand to
do is successful. He cannot fail. He's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Does that make some sense? I
hope that makes some sense to you. I hope you take this and
read it for yourself. It's showing the end of the ungodly
and the end of the righteous. Those that are in Christ are
righteous. That's the only way we can be righteous before God.
Paul, the apostle, prayed this way. He said, that I would be
found in him not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Christ. Let's pray. Lord, thank
you for the Lord Jesus Christ, that blessed man, that we can
cry to. Hosanna, oh, save us, you that
came in the name of the Lord, the blessed of the Father, the
blessed Son of God, the man who loved your law, who fulfilled
it too and delighted in it, and is like a tree for us, a tree
of life that has the fruit of his death and his resurrection
by which we're saved, sending his spirit to us to know these
things and trust him. Thank you for this prophecy of
David. We pray, Lord, it would be like a song in our heart.
We would see the Lord Jesus in all this. And since you so admire
Him, Lord, we pray that we would be given this grace to adore
and admire Him too, and to stand in awe how He could do everything
that was required of us instead of us, and recover all that we
lost by our sin, and help us to come to Him at all times,
because we need Him at all times, like those hungry people. who
need to drink of the water of life and eat from the tree of
life and live upon the Lord Jesus Christ in his work for us. In
his name we pray, amen.