The bulletin, if you look at
it, says, well, I've changed it. I'm going
to save that message on precious things for Wednesday night. And the message on Abraham and
Isaac will follow this Bible study. Psalm 1 is what we're
going to look at in our Bible study. Blessed Psalm, I hope it will
be a blessing to you, speaks of the blessed man. And since the Lord Jesus Christ
is first and last and has preeminence in all things, since all things
speak of him, the Father wrote everything concerning him, and
the Scriptures are written for us to look to Christ as our salvation,
as our all, then we must see Him as that blessed man first,
shouldn't we? Preeminently. Blessed is the
man. All right, look at verse 1. Blessed
is the man. As we said, the Lord Jesus Christ
must have the preeminence, and He is the man. The man of whom
God is writing here. When Pilate said, Behold the
man, as Christ stood before him in that judgment hall, no truer
words were ever recorded. Behold the man. The only true
man who ever lived. The man truly in the image of
God. the express image of God with
the heart and mind of God, a holy man, the only truly holy man
who ever lived, the man. Blessed is the man. The word
blessed or blessed in Scripture means a couple of things. Principally,
it means to be consecrated or favored, favored by God. That certainly describes the
Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't it? And it also means happy. Happy. Holy, consecrated, and happy. And we're going to see that as
it applies to the Lord. It says in 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." The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
was holy harmless, separate from sinners, as Scripture says. Sin
is the cause of all of our unhappiness, all of our grief, and all our
sorrow. And in Him was no sin. He had no sin. He knew no sin.
So, don't think of the Lord Jesus Christ as being mostly somber
or grave in His in his manner or even certainly not morose
or always solemn. The word blessed means happy. And the opposite of being somber
is cheerful. And how many times does the Lord
tell his disciples, Be of good cheer. Now, he wouldn't tell
them that. He was not himself cheerful and
happy. He delighted. He was happy. It was his delight, the Scripture
says, to do his Father's will. He delighted to do his will.
It made him happy. It made him happy. And happy
will be the man who does. Happy to do the Father's will.
Scripture says his delights were with the sons of men, the children
of God. Do you delight in your children?
Do you delight in being with them and observing them? How
much more did the God-man when he came here? Now, he's called
the man of sorrows and acquainted with the great, isn't he? But that was because he took
the sorrows of his people. He sorrowed over us. But he was
not sorrowful as a man living here in God's will, in God's
perfect will. That man would be happy, blessed,
and he was. But he was sorrowful at the prospect
of being made sin. Right before he went to the cross,
he said, Now is my soul exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. When he was being made sin, which
was the opposite of his holy nature. His holy nature recoiled
at that and made him exceedingly sorrowful. And it was going to
be grievous, it was grievous to him, so much so he sweat as
it were great drops of blood at the thought of being separated
from his God. So that's the sense in which
he was a man of sorrow acquainted with grief. But he was a blessed
man, a happy man, favored by God. The Lord said he's well
pleased for his righteousness sake. Highly favored of God. He did not walk in the counsel
of the ungodly, but he walked with his God. Walked with God. Walked by faith. I love to think
about the Lord Jesus Christ as a man walking by faith. He somehow limited himself, made
himself to be as we are, to where he had to walk by faith. He had to depend upon his Heavenly
Father for everything. That's amazing, isn't it? Amazing. And he never did anything to
provide for his own needs, but rather he did for others, such
as feeding the 5,000 and so forth. But he depended. on the Father
to feed him, and he walked by faith. He did not walk in the
counsel of the ungodly, but rather walked with his God. He did not
stand in the way of sinners. No, he is holy and separate from
sinners. Nor sit in the seat of the scornful, but rather in
the seat of the blessed and the seat of the praising and the
thankful. was completely impervious to
everything that everyone said and did around him. Everything
and everyone else, he was impervious to that. Nothing anyone did or
said influenced him, bothered him except for his holy
nature as he heard and observed the sin around him. That's a
happy man who nothing and no one can bother, can threat. Nothing that happened in the
world bothered him, didn't worry him. Wouldn't you be happy if
you didn't have a worry? Happy. Why? Because he knew. He knew God. He knew God was God, reigning,
ruling. That's a happy man. That's a
happy man. It says, verse 2, His delight
is in the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate day
and night. Our Lord being completely mindful
of God's Word, the will, the Word of God, knowing that all
things were written and everything written must be fulfilled. Knowing
that all things were working together to fulfill God's absolute
purpose and cannot be changed, it's all for good. Knowing that
all things work together for good according to God's immutable
covenant of mercy and grace for the good of them that love God,
and he did love God, he had perfect peace. Perfect peace. I love the psalm that says, Great
peace have they who love thy law, and nothing shall offend
them. That described Him, didn't it?
Great peace. When He was about to leave, He
said, My peace I give unto you. My peace. So, He is that man
whose delight was in the law of God. Verse 3. It says, He
shall be like a tree It would be like a tree planted by the
rivers of water. visiting Brother Greg years ago,
he took me over to a park near where he lived in Orlando, and
there was the oldest tree in North America, and there's a
cypress tree. You saw that tree, didn't you?
A cypress tree, 3,500 years old. There were two of them. Someone
vandalized one of them and it died. But this one is still standing. 3,500 years old. That's when
Moses lives. And that tree, Brother Greg was
telling me, the cypress tree, you know, the tree that needs
a lot of water. And that tree, Brother Greg's
quite knowledgeable, he said, is rooted. The roots are so deep
that it's It goes all the way down into an underground river
of water, an aquifer he called it. Underground river. And it
just feeds off of that. And there it stands. And imagine
all that has come and gone around that tree. And there it stands.
All that have come and all that have gone. All that has passed
away. And there it stands. There it stands. That's a good
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? There He stands. I
don't know if there was a literal tree in the garden, a tree of
life that our Lord spoke of in the garden. God planted a tree,
a tree of life. I don't know. And I don't know
if there's a literal tree over in Revelation that talks about
the leaves of that tree for the healing of the nation. But I
do know who those represent. The Lord Jesus Christ. In the
beginning and in the end, there He stands. When all else has
come and all else has gone, there he stands like a tree, a tree
of life, whose leaves, well, read it, verse 3, be like
a river of water that bringeth forth his fruit, his fruit. Because that man, and the Scripture
says, our Lord said that. He said that we might bring forth
much fruit to the glory of God. Well, oh my. That's what our
Lord Jesus Christ did, didn't He? For the glory of His Father.
He bore much fruit. And He did that for us, for His
people. He bore much fruit. He was a
righteous man by His fruitful life. And He imputed that to
us. And he'll bring forth his fruit,
fruit to the glory of God, love, joy, gentleness, goodness, meekness,
faith, temperance, all of these things and more. That fruitful
man, the tree, tree of life. And his leaf in his season, in
the time of his days on earth. And his leaf, it says, shall
not, also shall not wither. His leaf shall never fade. His leaf. What's a leaf? Well,
the leaf has a covering in it. It's a covering. Adam and Eve,
when they fell in the garden, you knew I was going to say this.
Adam and Eve, when they fell in the garden, they were naked. They realized
they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together
to try to cover their nakedness. And that, as you know, is a picture,
most of you know, is a picture of how man tries to work out
some kind of covering for his sin. Man will so put together
good works and life, he thinks of morality and so forth, to
try to cover his nakedness. God looks on the heart. God sees
us clearly. Nothing hid from his eye. And
our little works and so forth and turning over a new leaf can't
be hidden. It won't cover us. It won't cover
us. One thing will cover. One thing
will cover a sinner. And that's the blood of Christ.
One thing will cover a sinner. It will make us righteous before
God. The righteousness of Christ. Those leaves didn't cover it.
When the Lord was on this earth, there's one thing He cursed. It's not mere coincidence. It
was a fig tree. A fig tree. Of all trees. It had no fruit on it that day,
remember? And we can't produce the fruit that's acceptable to
make us righteous with God. Only Christ can do that. And
His leaf, His covering, His righteousness will not wither, will not fade. It will cover us completely. That's why David said, I'll make
mention of thy righteousness and thine only. Alright? He shall
not wither. All we do fade like the leaf,
don't we? All our righteousness, Isaiah
64 says, are like filthy rags And we all do fade as the leaf,
but not him. Not his righteousness. And it's
an eternal one. All right, look at the next line.
It says, Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Whatsoever he
doeth shall prosper. God said if he's a righteous
servant, he'll prosper. He shall not fail, won't even
be discouraged, but he'll prosper in the thing that I sent him
to do. When the Lord came to this earth,
he came to do the Father's will, to save God's people, to bring
in an everlasting righteousness, to establish his kingdom and
call out his subject. And the first recorded words
by the Son of God were when he was a 12-year-old boy. Do you
remember what they were? He said, it must be about my
father's business. The last words that he spoke
were when he was hanging on the tree and he said, it is finished. What? The father's business.
All he came to do. Christ didn't come to try to
save anybody. He came to save. Christ didn't
come to make an attempt to save. He came to make an atonement.
Christ didn't come to make a partial payment or a down payment for
salvation. He came to make the full payment.
His name is Savior because that's what He did. He prospered in
the thing that God sent Him to do. Whatsoever He doeth. This
is a prophecy of our Lord's coming. Whatsoever He doeth shall Men
talk of God trying, God wants to, God's done all He can. That's
not the God of the Bible. That's not the Christ of Scripture.
Whatsoever He doeth shall prosper. He says, I will, and it shall. It shall. I'll read on. It says, the ungodly are not
so. Those that are not in Christ are not so. They're like the
chaff. And what's the chaff to the witch? 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. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, but the way of the ungodly Now I want you to look
at this with me as the believer. Look at this whole psalm briefly
with me as it applies to everyone in Christ. John said in his epistle, he
said, as He is. So are we in this world. Christ
in you is the hope of glory. When God Almighty gives birth,
those that are born of God, they're created in the image of Christ.
They're a new creature in Christ. And they bear His image. It does
not yet appear what we shall be. But, beloved, behold, now
are we the sons of God, those that are in Christ. Those that
are in Christ are as He is, and God shall perfect that which
concerns them and shall make us into the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ, a blessed man, a blessed man. And according
as we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, will
we be blessed and happy. Look at it. Blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. How blessed is
the believer, the person who does not pay any attention to
the thoughts and the wisdom, so-called, of this godless world.
Ungodly. That's those whom God is not
in all their thoughts. The supposed wise of this world,
professing themselves to be wise. God calls them foolish. Do you?
Do you see how God has made foolish the wisdom of this world? Do
you? Now that God, because they were not, in Romans 1 clearly
describes how the things of God are clearly seen, the wrath of
God revealed from heaven, the things of God clearly seen, His
eternal power in Godhead, they're without excuse. But because they
were not thankful and didn't like to acknowledge God, God
was not in all their thoughts, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. That means a mind void of any
good sense. Don't have good sense. Do you
see how the wisdom of this world, so-called, is foolishness? Utter
foolishness. A pack of lies. Beginning with evolution and
on and on. Man's supposed wisdom. It's utter. Those of you who God has revealed
the truth to, it clearly exposes foolishness, doesn't it? Clearly. take into account the counsel. God will bring all counsels to
naught. That's what the Scripture said
of the ungodly. Blessed is that man that doesn't
pay any attention to, walk in that counsel, nor standeth in
the way of sinner. Standeth in the way of sinner.
The way of the transgressor is hard. Many of you, if not all
of you, have been in that way. The way of this world, it seems
right, but the end of it is destruction. If you were in that way, but
God, rich in mercy, Scripture says, takes His people and plants
their feet in paths of righteousness, in the way that He chooses, the
way that He has chosen for us. Oh my, we stand. Where do we
stand? We stand in Him. We stand on the promises. We
stand on His Word. We walk, we stand in Christ. Not in the way of sinners, nor
sitteth in the seat of the scornful. You know, most people in the
world are scoffers and mockers at God's Word. cynical, proud,
self-righteous, cruel because they know not the truth, because
they have no answer and no hope. We don't sit in the seat of the
scornful, but rather in the seat of the believing, the seat of
the worshipful. Where do we sit? We are seated
together with Christ. We are seated in the heavenly.
We sit at His feet. We come here today to sit at
the feet of Him who is the answer, who is the way. We come to sit
with the congregation of the righteous, don't we? To listen
to Him. Verse 2, the believer's delight
is in the law of the Lord. Do you delight in what we're
doing right now? Now, delight means something
you find great pleasure in. There was a time when I had no
pleasure in this thing. I saw no beauty in Christ, no
need for Him, but I can honestly say that I find
great delight in the Word of God when He blesses it. When
He breaks this bread of life, it's a great delight. For those
who delight in the law of the Lord and says, verse 2, in his
law to meditate day and night. Do you find yourself needing
a word from God day and night? Something to go in the strength
of like Elijah and that meat given him by the raven? Oh, my. Well, that person who does says
it will be like a tree, just like him, planted. You know,
every tree that the Heavenly Father does not plant will be
rooted up. Whoever the Lord did not choose
and predestine and call and plant and put in Christ and give new
birth to will be rooted up. But now, the opposite is true.
Whomever the Lord does plant, Whoever the Lord does put that
seed of life, Christ, in them, can't be rooted up. That's my
hope. My hope. If I'm in Him, nothing
and no one is going to uproot me. If the root of the matter
is in me, like Job, what's the root? Somebody. Christ is the root. The root
of the matter. The root of all. Christ is all.
If that root is in you, You will not be uprooted, but planted. And it says we'll prosper. We'll prosper. Bring forth his
fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. The leaf won't wither. And you'll
prosper. John one time said this, I pray
that you might prosper materially and even as your soul doth prosper. We get discouraged at times with
our lack of growth. As a matter of fact, if you're
honest, you feel like you digress rather than grow. But that's
growth. That's good. Read Brother Joe
Terrell's article in the Bulletin this morning. That's a good one.
Growth in grace is not as you might think. It's a growth in
humility. It's a growth in humility. It's
a growth in dependence. It's a growth in faith or dependence
upon the Lord. Look into Him more and more as
you go on. You'll prosper. You look to Him,
you'll prosper. And it goes on to say here that
the ungodly or not so, it will be like the chaff which the wind
driveth away. I thought about that scripture
that says they go after every wind of doctrine. People go after
every wind of doctrine, don't they? Go here, blown away with
this, taken away with that. They're not God's people. Grounded
and settled in the truth. Grounded and will not be moved
away. We're the wheat. God's people
are the wheat. They're the chaff. That's what Christ said, didn't
He? Separate the wheat from the chaff. And what separates them
now is the preaching of the truth, the gospel. And whoever's wheat,
whoever's sheep, whoever God's people, stay right there. That's
what they've got to hear. That's who they believe. That's
who they look to. But the wind driveth away. And the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. They'll be cast out. Sinners in the congregation of
the righteous? That means that great congregation. That means
that last congregation. That one never to be, always
to be together. Gathered together at his feet. Not going to be sinners there.
not going to be a sin. They were sinners, but they're
now sinners saved by grace. No, they're holy and righteous,
unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight, standing before
the great white throne, standing in Christ, righteous, righteous. Verse six, the Lord knoweth the
way of the righteous. What's your way? This is the
question we need to ask ourselves, we need to ask every single person
when we're talking about salvation and eternal life. Ask them this
question, one simple question. What's the way you plan to get
to heaven? What makes you think you'll get
to heaven? What's the way? How are you going
to get there? How are you going to get there? If you get there, how will you
get there? The way of the righteous is Christ. He said, I am the
way. If you get there, it will be
by Him. Is that your hope? Is He your
hope? The Lord knoweth The foundation of God standeth sure, having
this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. He knoweth because He put us
in Christ. He's the way of the righteous.
But the way of the ungodly shall perish. As we quoted already,
there is a way that seems right unto me. Their own righteousness. But it's ill-ended destruction.
There's only one way. Only one way to not fade, to
not be uprooted, to prosper, to be fruitful. It has to be
found in Christ. Okay.