Well, I thank you ladies for
the meal. It was delicious. We appreciate
it. Charles Spurgeon said that In
his eloquent way, he said, roast beef and mashed potatoes weigh
heavy on the hearts of the hearers. So rouse yourselves, if at all
possible. I feel the same way. It's nap
time. Just wait a little while. I promise
you, I won't keep you long. This should be a blessing, though.
Just six verses that I want to do an exposition of in the Psalms. Psalm number one, the first psalm. We couldn't begin. As I said
this morning, I think we'll pick back up with Wednesday night
worship services very soon, and I believe probably I'll just
start going through some select psalms. I know without a doubt
that we couldn't begin a more profitable time of study. together
than the study of the Psalms. I've said this before, that the
believer can find something he needs at any given time in the
Psalms. The Lord directed the life of
David in such a way that he went through seemingly everything
that we will go through, or have gone through, or are going through,
or will go through. This man, after God's own heart
so often spoke in a way that touches our hearts. More importantly,
though, so often he used the very words of our Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Here in the first psalm we have
two divisions, or two themes, that are repeated throughout
the rest of the psalms. We have the way to life, peace,
joy, and happiness, that's through Christ. And then
we see the sure and certain end and destruction of those who
go their own way, who will not go that way. In other words,
we have God and mammon, and we have grace and works clearly
shown here, themes in this psalm. So let's just go through these
six short verses. I looked at these verses and
I thought, well, that won't take long. And I ended up spending
as much time on this as any other message. I had a good time with
it, too. I hope the Lord will bless it.
I hope you'll answer Brother Terry's prayer. Psalm 1. He said he begins this psalm
with blessed. Blessed. He begins this in the
same way that that our Lord began his sermon on the mount. Blessed,
blessed. And that's, I think that's prophetic
of a man after God's own heart, beginning in the same way as
the very Son of God. Blessed. The happiest, sweetest,
most precious description known to man is a man blessed, or a
woman blessed, of God Almighty. Blessed. Made happy. God has
abundantly supplied that person's need. And oh, how the Lord has
blessed us, hasn't he? My, my. Oh, how blessed we are,
Terry. How blessed we are. His blessings
are innumerable. Scriptures say they're unsearchable.
They're indescribable. He's blessed us in so many ways,
too many ways to number. And he says, he goes on and says,
is the man, truly happy, blessed of God, is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. I ask you, who directs your course
of action? Who or what is it that sets your
path, that guides your steps through this life? What is it
that influences you the most? Or who is it, rather? I used
to be under the complete influence of this world. I mean totally
dominated by it. Complete influence of this world
and its people. My cronies, my peers, my buddies,
you know. What they did, I did. What I
did, they did. My mama used to think that I
was running with a bad crowd. What she didn't know was that
crowd was running with a bad boy. Every mama's boy is a good
boy, aren't they? What my mama didn't know was
that they were running with me, they were following me. I never
was a follower, I was a leader, and I drug them down into the
pit. Scripture says here, walks not in the counsel of the
ungodly. I used to be, like I said, under
the complete influence of this world and the people I ran with,
but now, but now, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love, wherewith is loveless. Love me. Now, I don't run with
the same crowd. I don't run with them to the
same excess of riot, wherein they think it strange. You know,
I was talking about this. Peter said, they think it's strange
now that you don't run with them, and they speak evil of you. What's
wrong with you, Steve? Man, you used to be such a good
guy, you know? We used to hang out together. What's up now,
buddy? Come on. Blessed are you. Blessed. We don't know, like that song
says, we'll never know until the end how much we owe and how
blessed we have been. Oh, how blessed. I am, that I
don't feel like doing what I used to do. I just don't. I'm not what I want to be, John
Newton said. I'm not what I want to be. I'm
not what I'm going to be. I'm not what I used to be, though,
thank God. Well, blessed is that man that
doesn't walk with the crowd, doesn't walk in the counsel of
the ungodly. I think this can mean also the
counsel of this religious generation that's without God and without
hope. It's not seeking God, really,
they're just seeking numbers and names and so forth. And you're
not influenced by their wicked ways, their counsel, their gospel,
and so forth. He says, blessed is the man that
doesn't stand in the way, look at it, doesn't stand in the way
of sinners. I used to like to stand around
with my buddies, just stand around. You ever do that? Just hang out,
hang around. What are you doing? Just hanging
out. Now at the pool hall or whatever, what are you all doing?
Ah, not much. What are you doing? Not much.
How's it going? Oh, okay. All right. Just shoot
the bull, you know. Hanging out. Standing around.
Just hanging around. Lordering, they call it. It's
the proper word for it. Not now. Now I'm standing on
the promises. Now I'm standing on the rock.
I stand in him," the psalm says. He is my mediator. He's the one
I like to stand in and talk about. Once I was lying in the gutter,
now I'm standing perfect and complete in Christ, and how blessed
I am. How blessed is the man that finds
his standing in Christ. Blessed is the man also that
doth not sit in the sea of the scornful. I am, by nature, a cynic. Are there any other cynics in
here? I am a cynic. I used to be worse than I am,
believe it or not. I used to love to sit in judgment
of everybody and everything. Ah, you know. Anybody like that? Yeah, he ain't much. That ain't
nothing. Somebody got something, ah, you
know. I was cynic. I used to love to
sit in judgment and to mock and to ridicule and to scorn. That's what the word scorn means.
To scorn anything and everybody that came along. Make fun of
it. Big joker. That was me. You know, the people
you work with, the fellow sitting at the lunch table with you at
work, or the fellow that sits on the bar stool, or on the courthouse
steps, you know, those guys sitting on the courthouse steps, they're
experts about everything. Ain't nobody knows nothing but
them, you know. Ain't nobody's got anything worth anything but
them. They know everything. Nobody's as smart as that fellow.
Nobody. Especially in religion. Especially
in religion. Well, everybody's a hypocrite
but him, you know. I had a fellow at work one time
tell me that. He said, we were sitting talking,
and he said, he said, I ain't nothing to these church people.
He said, they're all just a bunch of hypocrites. He said, I don't
make any pretense about it. He said, I don't go to church.
He said, I don't go to church. He said, I know, you know, if
I die, I know I'm going to hell. I said, no, you don't, bud. No,
you don't. If you had any inkling, if you
had the slightest, if you really believed that, that when you
die you're going to perish eternally, oh, no. You wouldn't say it like
you're saying it. You'd be on your face before
God Almighty, begging Him to have mercy on you. Begging Him.
Well, I used to like to sit and see the scornful, but not anymore.
Not anymore. I find my greatest pleasure and
contentment right now sitting in the pew, listening to the
gospel. Listening to the gospel. Just listening to the gospel.
Sitting or sitting, hearing God's word or reading God's word. I
used to sit for hours. Rick and play cards or music. You did too. Play music and just,
you know, shoot the bull, make fun of the world. Just laugh
at the world, you know. Now I like to sit with my friends
like you and I did yesterday. Just sit. I can sit for hours.
Rick came over yesterday and we started talking. We went and
ate lunch together and we talked a little more. And we came back
and we talked a little more. And finally we said, and we were
talking about the Scripture, about the Gospel. Finally, we
both say, hey, if we're going to get anything done, we're going
to have to quit. We're going to have to go back to work. But
that's what I like to do now. I like to sit and discuss the
scriptures with my brother and sister. I like to sit, don't
you? I like to talk about the gospel, talk about the Lord.
Sit, not in scorn, but in blessing and praise to God. Nothing, I
mean nothing, gives me any more pleasure. I just don't delight
in anything else anymore. You can take what you want, but
give me a few hours of fellowship with the brethren. That's what
I'll take. And I used to sit in the seat of the judge of others,
in judgment of others, until I finally sat in the seat of
the accused of God. Now I'm seated in Christ on the
throne of grace. And how blessed I am. How blessed
is that man that's seated in Christ in the heavenly. Look
at verse 2 there. It says, This man is truly a
blessed man. His delight is in the law or
the word of the Lord. His delight is in the word of
the Lord. The song says, In evil long I
took delight, Unawed by shame or fear. till a new object struck
my sight and stopped my wild career." The Word of God is meat
and drink to a true believer. Preaching of the gospel, the
gospel is daily bread, and it's what the believer needs. It's
what he needs. I told Mindy, I think we're going
to start up the Wednesday service. She said, good. Weeks too long. Weeks too long between Sundays.
It's the believer's daily bread. I used to find more pleasure
in reading and thinking about all sorts of things, you know,
popular hot rodding or whatever, all sorts of things. And now,
by God's grace, I find my delight in the Word of God and the preaching
of the Word of God and the hearing of the preaching of the Word
of God and the reading of it. That's what I find my delight
in. Look at the next part of verse 2. That blessed man, he
delights in the word of God, and in his law, in his word,
does he meditate day and night. It's providential that Brother
Terry mentioned meditating in his prayer. What is it that takes up the majority of
your thoughts during the day? We need to ask ourselves this.
This passage plainly says that blessed is the man who is always
and continually taken up with or thinking about God and his
word. That's what it says, isn't it?
Now, I know it's difficult to read the word of God. I know
it is. It's tough. The Spirit is willing. The new
man within you wants to read. But the flesh is so weak and
the aversions to it, to reading the Word, are so many, I know
it's difficult. But it's like a child. Hannah, we've been trying and
trying and trying to get her to eat. And you know, if we don't
get some food in her, she's going to get sick and she's going to
die. And we keep trying to tell her, eat, please eat this. Honey,
mama, I don't like this. And she'll even say that about
food she's never even tasted. Come on now, eat your dinner.
I don't like that. Have you ever tasted it? No, but I don't like
it. And that's kind of us by nature.
I can't read the Word of God. Are you reading it? No, but I
can't. See what I'm saying? There's a real discipline involved
here, it is, and I exhort you. The flesh is so averse and contrary
to them. We can sit down with a magazine
or the newspaper and devour it, every word, and yet the Bible
will fall asleep reading it. That ought to tell us that it's
going to require a whole lot more than just a casual glance,
isn't it? Just a whole lot more than Oh well, time to read, you
know. Blessed is the man that is walking
out of the Council on God. It's going to take a whole lot
more than that. A whole lot more. The scripture
says here, meditate. Meditate. Meditate. The word meditation here says
that it takes more than a mere casual glance at the word to
find anything. Like digging for gold, panning
for gold. Joe, they used to, men used to
take a claim, go out panning for gold, and sometimes they'd
pan for months, wouldn't they? Some of them years, till finally
struck gold. And then it was worth it, wasn't
it? Finally. In the plainest text, I think
it was, I don't know who said this, somebody said in the plainest
text, There is a world of knowledge and help if we would, by prayer,
sit down and study it. I mean really study it. Use scriptural
references. Go to your center margin and
follow the references it uses. Use helps, folks, people. My
pastor has written something that'll flat help you now. I
mean, it'll flat help you. You just gotta follow along and
he'll read it for you. Those commentaries down there?
That's what they're for. Get them and use them. They're
helpful. I mean helpful. If you can't
understand the bees and the doves of King James, get you an Amplified
Bible. That's the one I recommend, an
Amplified Bible. It speaks in twentieth-century
language, but it doesn't take away from the true meaning of
the word. Well, this meditate, listen to this. There's gold
to be found, but it takes much searching. Elijah's servant,
you remember when Elijah told his servant to go outside and
look? They that be with us are more
than they that are against us. You remember that story? The
servant, you know, the camp was, the enemies were encamped against
them, were coming out against them, and Elijah said, you just
go take a look out there. Elijah knew that the Lord was
with him. The host of angels were encamped
around about him, protecting him. He had not come by. He said,
Go out there and look. And the fellow went out. He came
by. He didn't see anything. Go again. He went out. He came
back. He said, I didn't see anything. Go out again. He came back. He
said, I didn't see anything. Seven times. He had to go look
seven times. He had to go look. Finally, he
saw. And he saw the glory of God himself. I know from experience, some
of you know this from experience, that it takes much digging, but
finally, finally, that nugget will appear. Oh, looky there. And you get so excited. And you
want to tell somebody about it. You want to preach to somebody.
Well, meditation. Martin Luther said this. He said
to meditate also usually means to discuss. To discuss. You know what's usually on your
mind, you'll talk about it, won't you? Did you know man is a talker? Men and women. Did you know women
are talkers, Barbara? You didn't know that, did you?
Big talkers like to talk a lot. We like to talk a lot, don't
we? I confess, I'm guilty. You know, if our talk would finally
turn around to the Word of God, we might get a real blessing
out of it. We might get some benefit. We might profit from
it. Meditation on the Word is kind
of like a cow chewing his cud, you know. He's thinking about
that cud, that's all he's thinking about. I used to chew tobacco. And I know it wasn't too good
when you first put it in there, is it Rick? You got to chew it
a while, you know. You got to cut it a while. After
you cut it a while, it starts to get real good and juicy. Yeah.
But really, I used to like it still. And after a while, if
you cut it for a long time, you really start enjoying it then.
You don't want to spit it out for nothing. Well, that's the
work of God. It really is. Chewing on it,
meditating on it. Meditating. You chew it, you
think it over and over and over again, one scripture. Think it
over and over again. I just don't see that. We'll
run a reference. I just don't see it. Well, walk
off and think about it. I just don't see it. Ask somebody,
what do you think about this? I see it. I see it. You chew on it and chew on it
until you get all the nourishment out of it, finally. Well, that's
meditating. And the proverb says this to
our conviction, as a man thinketh or meditateth in his heart, so
is he. What you meditate on, that's
where your heart is. Well, verse 3, this happy, this
blessed man, this man blessed by God Almighty above all else,
verse 3, he shall be, this man that's delighting in the Word
of God and meditates upon that Word of God day and night, he
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Not a
wild tree. Do you notice what it said there?
A planted tree. A planted tree. You know, what
do you do when you plant something? If you go to—I got Ellen's money. She thinks I'm going to buy a
tree out of it. I may go spend—no, I'm going to get that tree. But
she gave me some money to go get a tree to plant here. When
you plant something, you go to the nursery, and you pick it
out. You look at all the trees available
there, and you choose the one you want. That's mine. You take
it home with you. You plant it in the ground. You
take care of it. You nurture it. You water it.
You cultivate it. You fertilize it. You care for
it. You feed it. It's yours. You planted it. It's yours. You're going to make
sure it grows, aren't you? Well, that's the blessed man, chosen
of God Almighty out of the masses, chosen, picked up, loved of God,
joined heirs with Christ, planted in Christ. Planted, not a wild
tree, but a planted tree. What did Christ say? Every tree
which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Rooted up by all kinds of things.
I'll get to it in a minute. A tree begins as a seed. If God's
word comes in, it begins as a seed and starts growing and becomes
a twig or a reed, the scripture said. He says he will not break
a bruised reed. He will not break him. A sapling
full of juice. Young people are full of wild
oats. They'll never perish, the scripture
says. Those lusts and things, if they're God's, those lusts
and things will not get the best of them. It will not drag them
down. It will not uproot them. The Lord will take care of them.
Then finally become a strong oak in the Lord, with deep roots,
grounded and settled in the truth. which he meditates on. And it
says, a tree planted, God's vineyard, God's handiwork, that's his people. Salvation and regeneration is
of the Lord. And look at it there, it says,
by the rivers of water. Just like a tree planted by the
rivers of water. Who is that? What is that? That's
Christ. Scripture speaks of Christ as
that river of water so many times. There is a river. We're in the
stream, make glad. The river from whom every believer
drinks, the water of life, out of whom, after you drink it,
out of your belly flows rivers of living water. That's Christ.
You know, if you ever notice trees that are around water,
like a willow tree, beautiful, healthy, strong, green, robust,
the house we sold or selling We have some wild cherry trees. There's a spring down over the
hill on our property. There's a freshwater spring that
comes out of the hill, and there's some wild cherry trees down there. Oh, they must be that big around,
and they must be a hundred feet tall. They're huge, beautiful,
strong, robust. Other trees may be dying from
lack of water. Not that tree. Oh, he's drinking
in the water. He's reaching up to the sky,
too. Strong, robust, healthy. Green. And those trees, they're
unmoved. They're unmoved. Nothing to worry
about any little wind that comes along. Unbent. It'd take hurricane gale forces
to bend those big trees. Unmoved, unbent, unafraid of
anything. Anything. Well, that's what it
says here. It says, The blessed man of God
is like a tree planted in Christ that brings forth his fruit.
in his season. The man that is firmly planted
on Christ the Rock, who draws his nourishment from the water
of life, he's a fruitful man. He is. You don't have to exhort
a follower of Christ too much. Oh, you do occasionally. He falls
occasionally. But you don't have to continually
prod him and prod him and prod him. Uh-uh, he's feeding on Christ. And he's a fruitful vine because
of that. He's a gracious man. He's a working
man. Yeah, he's full of good works.
He is. A merciful man, an active man,
a disciple, an active follower of Christ. The man that's feeding
on Christ. He's a faithful branch. It says
there, look at this. It says, His leaf shall not wither. His leaf shall not wither. The
believer will never die. Never. Never die. Because Christ
lives, we shall live also, as the promise said. And the one
who trusts and hopes in Christ shall never utterly quit. and
fail or perish. That gives me some hope. The
man that's really trusting in Christ, Lord, I feel so weak
and so helpless and so pliable and malleable, so prone to wander. Lord, I feel so prone to be bent
by every wind of this and that. And the other, Lord, help me.
I'm resting in you. I'm trusting in you. You're not
with her. Not completely. He'll turn brown
around the edges, maybe. But he'll trim you, water you
a little more, fertilize you with the gospel, and you'll be
all right. Look at this last part of verse
3. And whatever he does shall prosper. You say, now, wait a
minute, that can't be right. That can't be right. I've failed
miserably at most about everything I've done. Anybody here feel
that way? That can't be right. Whatever
he does shall prosper? Well, that's what it says, and
the scripture says all things work together for good, for prosper,
doesn't it? That's what it says. All things
work together for good to them that love God and are called
according to his purpose. Here's the key. Outward prosperity. is not real prosperity. That's
not prosperity. Uh-uh. The scriptures are clear. David, didn't he step back one
time and say, I was envious of the prosperity of the wicked.
And what did he say? I was envious. Look at that guy. He didn't have any troubles. He got three or four cars, no
payments, all kind of. I was envious until I saw their
end, until I went into the house of the Lord. heard the gospel,
saw their end, and realized true prosperity is eternal prosperity. So whatever a believer goes through,
you can count on it, he's going to prosper because of it. He's
going to prosper. Make no doubt about it. That's
what the scripture says. Look at verse 4. The ungodly
aren't so. Aren't how? Well, they're not
planted. They're wavering, tossed to and
fro. They're withering, withering away to nothing. They're not
spiritually prosperous. Oh, they're physically and materially
prosperous, but not spiritually. You can see it in their eyes.
You can see it in their eyes. You just go in someplace and,
you know, this always amazed me. This is indicative of the
depravity of man. You can hear a man You can hear
a man take Jesus Christ's name in vain, and it's popular now
to use the name of Jesus Christ to curse with. And everybody
just laughs, you know, and men say, oh, blankety-blank, you
know. Just laugh and carry on. But then you let a believer just
in conversation or something say something about Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you about my Lord Jesus Christ. It'll get quiet, won't it? Well,
you're a nut. Well, you're a fanatic. What's
wrong with you? You see what I'm saying? You make a cuss with
the name. Use the name to blaspheme with.
Everybody laughs, have a big time, doesn't thought of it.
You praise that with that name, and you'll put a parable over
everything. You'll cast a shadow over everything.
You're spoiling our fun, man. Well, the ungodly are not so. They're like the—look at it here.
They're like the chaff which the wind drives away. They're
blown about with every wind of doctrine, every fancy that comes
along, every philosophy. They're taken up with all manner
of new ideas, just anything and everything, charismatic movement,
whatever, something new. Ever learning, but never coming
to the knowledge of the truth who is Christ. And they're driven,
like the chaff beaten by the wind, they're driven to despair
by winds of trouble, winds of trouble and trial because
they have no foundation, nothing to rest on, nothing to get a
hold of, Nancy, nothing to cling to, nothing but one another,
you know. And they're all being blown away,
and they're trying to cling to one another. No roots, no hope. And verse 5, The ungodly shall
not stand in the judgment, shall not stand. The psalm says, Psalm
24, who shall stand in his holy place? Who? Who's going to stand
before God's holy presence? He ain't going to have clean
hands and a pure heart that's never lifted up his soul unto
vanity or sworn deceitfully. That's it. We say, I don't know
anybody like that. I do. But Lord Jesus Christ,
that's who. And if I stand in him, I'll stand
in the judgment. But the ungodly are not so. The
ungodly. This word ungodly is used throughout
the Psalms and Scriptures. That means those who are without
God. Ungodly. We were without God
one time, weren't we? Without God, without hope, without
strength. Ungodly. We were without God. We weren't seeking God, not seeking
to know God, not resting, hoping, trusting in the Son of God. No
God. The fool said, No God. Ungodly. That's what ungodly
meant. Therefore, a man without God, without Christ, without
hope, has no righteousness but their own filthy rags, and they're
going to go to the judgment someday, before God's holy judgment, before
God's holy presence. They're going to get weak in
the knees. They're going to tremble at his presence, going to get
weak in the knees, and their hearts are going to
fail them. They're going to fall on their faces. Hiatus and cry,
and there's going to be a prayer meeting. Like that song says,
when I see them start and shrink from that fiery deluge brink,
then, Lord, shall I fully know, but not until then how much I
owe. that I'm standing on the rock of Christ Jesus. I'm clinging
to the rock when that big overflowing scourge of God's wrath, that
tidal wave, comes through. I'm hanging on the rock. The
rock's hanging me. Hanging on me. There it is. I hold not the rock, but the
rock holds me. Well, look at this. The ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous." There's not going to be any sinners in heaven. There's not going to be any sinners
in heaven. Wait a minute now. I thought
now that sinners were the ones that Christ came to save. Yes,
he did. But they don't stay sinners. They have to be made perfect
to be in God's presence. Well, listen to this. Christ
said, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils,
and in thy name done many wonderful works of morality and religious
works? We've just been good from day
one, good Christians. Then will I," Christ said, "'I
will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you
that work iniquity.'" Now, wait a minute. You're casting out
devils and doing many wonderful works, preaching in the name
of iniquity? Here's the key. Those who claim their morality
and their works before God will be counted as sinners. Sinners. filthy, rotten, wretched sinners. They have their own filthy rags
of self-righteousness on them. They are dirty before God. But
that man, that woman, that believer who is in Christ, dependent upon
Christ, they are declared holy, unblameable, and unapprovable
in God's eyes. Sinners aren't going to stand
there, but righteous people are. Those that have been made righteous
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 6. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous. He knows. Why? Because he is
the way. He is the way, and he showed
them the way. And he led them in the way. And he led them in
the way and he drew them along the way. Christ said, I am the
way, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. And he said in another
place, if any man try to get into heaven any other way, he's
a thief and a robber. Thief and a robber. So the believer
looks to and believes in and trusts in and hopes in, depends
upon and rests upon the Lord Jesus Christ as his only hope
of acceptance with the Father. His only way unto life everlasting,
His only hope, His only way. The Lord knows His way, and it's
the good way. It's the right way, and He'll
get there that way. It's straight, and it's narrow,
but we'll get through. We've got to go through naked.
You know, somebody said that gate, it was so narrow, we had
to take off all our clothes to get through it. So narrow, and
we've got to take off all our works. not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. We've
got to chimmy through that way, Christ. But, the last sentence
there, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Their hope is built
on the sand. Their hope is that just like
the unwise man that built his house on the sand, it's going
to crumble in time. They're going to find out that
their house is going to crumble. Their refuge that's built upon
lies, that refuge that's built upon tradition and custom and
lies is going to fail in time. It's not going to hold them up
under a real trial. And the scripture says there's
a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death
and destruction. truly happy, blessed of God Almighty,
is the man or the woman who has Christ as his hope, whose hope
is built on nothing less than the blood and the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Blessed is that man, is that woman or young person. Number 272, stand with me, we'll
just sing, let's sing two verses, first and last.