Without doubt, without a ray
of doubt, he is all I need. Christ is enough. I do believe
that the man or woman who has Christ, knows Christ. They say with Jacob, it's enough. I have enough. I have enough. That's something that doesn't
come out of the lips of men. Enough is not, unless it's troubles
or something, they can say, I've had enough trouble. But it's
hard to fill up this flesh with pleasures and material things. It's never enough. But with God's
man, it's enough. You know, in the Scriptures, when we read of the blessed man,
and those who are blessed, the emphasis is never upon what they
possess. It's always upon who possesses
them. I'm blessed by who possesses
me, the Lord. And I want us to look at this
psalm here. I know that for the most part,
people spend their lives trying to find some kind of happiness,
some kind of joy. And they try many things, and
they come up short of this. Oh, they'll be happy for a little
while, for a short time, and then it's gone, and they have
to repeat it. But what we have here is a description of the
man who is truly blessed and truly happy. This man has a joy
that the world knows nothing of. This man has a real joy and
a happiness that the world cannot take from him because the world
didn't give it to him. It's of God. And the Scripture
says here in verse 1, blessed is the man. And the first question
I ask myself, why is this man so blessed? Why is this man said
to be so blessed? Well, look over in Psalm 65.
Here's one of the answers to this. There are many answers. As far as spiritual answers,
look over here in Psalm 65, in verse 4. Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest, and causes to approach unto thee, that he may
dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. This man, this
blessed man, is chosen of God. Well, that's something to meditate
upon. That's something to go home and get into a quiet place
and think and meditate upon this fact, this truth that God chose
me, that God loved me and that He's called me, called me by
His grace. This blessed man is chosen of
God, He's called of God, and He's born of God. That's why
He's so blessed. I'll tell you another reason
why he's so blessed. It says here, 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.
He used to be that ungodly man. He was that ungodly man at one
time. At one time, the counsel of the ungodly came from him.
At one time, the way of the sinner used to be his way. And he used
to sit right there with a seed of the scornful at one time. But God saved him. God's called
him out. God took him out of there. He's
like a bran plucked from the fire. That's why this man is
so blessed. God has saved him and given him
a new heart and a right spirit and put him on a right path.
That's why. This man is truly blessed in
every sense of the word because he's God's man. If you are God's
child, there is no greater blessing. God cannot give you any greater
blessing than this. He's mine. I'm His, and He is
mine. What greater blessing can there
be than that? Now, this blessed man is still a sinner who needs
mercy, and he's a sinner who receives mercy. He receives mercy. And he's a man, listen, he's
a man like you and I. He hurts, this blessed man. He
still hurts. He still suffers trials. He still
suffers losses and crosses. I was reading last night. I wish
I had written it down. It says, Blessed is the man whom
thou chasteneth. Whom you chasten. That man is
blessed, not only whom God has chosen and called and he's born
of God, but God chastens him. He keeps him from running with
the wicked. Keeps him from running with the world. He still has
his losses and crosses, yet he is a blessed man because he's
God's man. You're mine. I've made you. We've been going through Isaiah.
He said, I made you. You're mine. Not everyone can
say that. Now look here, it says here,
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. This blessed
man does not trust in the arm of the flesh anymore. He used
to, but not anymore. He doesn't seek the advice of
the flesh anymore. He seeks his counsel from God. That's where he seeks his counsel
from. Lord, direct me. Lord, don't you pray. Lord, give
me wisdom. How often over the years, since
you've known the gospel, have you said, Lord, direct my steps?
I don't know which way to go. Lord, I don't have to go to a
man to do that now. I go to Him. I go to him. I don't trust the arm of the
flesh, nor do I seek my advice from the arm of the flesh. We
seek it from the Lord. And his companions are not the
ungodly anymore. I had some companions that were
not so good companions, and they're not my companions no more. I
don't enjoy their company, and they don't enjoy my company.
And I'm friendly with them. I don't tell them to leave. I'm
friendly with them. But they're not my companions.
One of the best friends I had in school, I met him, we ran
into each other about 10 years ago. I hadn't seen him for 20
years, about 10 years ago. And he and I had nothing in common. And in school, we had everything
in common. We have nothing in common anymore. Not at all. We're
friends. We were friendly, but there was
nothing there. It was just nothing there no
more. Not my companion no more. He doesn't walk. This blessed
man does not. He does not walk with the children
of darkness anymore. But he walks with the children
of light. His happiness is with those who speak often of his
Lord. That's where his happiness is.
It's with those who speak the same language he speaks. Look
over in Malachi, the last book here, right before Matthew, the
last page, chapter 3. Look in verse 16. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord, and that what? Thought. Meditate. That's what they meditated. They
that thought, they meditated upon his name. And listen, and
they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when
I make up my jewels. You know, we put a lot of emphasis
a lot of times on jewelry. They say a diamond forever, you
know, we put a lot of emphasis on that kind of stuff. Here,
his jewels are those that are his children. Those are his jewels. When I make up my jewels and
I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serveth him.
This man, this blessed man, his happiness is with those who speak
often of his Lord. Nor standeth in the way of sinners.
He does not lodge with those who hate God. Paul said he was
crucified with the world, and the world was crucified to him.
He finds no pleasure in the things he once enjoyed. Now, I'm not
saying he doesn't enjoy fishing if he used to enjoy fishing.
That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the ways and
principles of this life, this worldly life. That's what he's
talking about. He's talking about this life, the principles of
this life. He finds no pleasure in them no more, and he hates
sin. There was a time that I was talking to a man that stopped
out to shop Friday. And we were talking. We were
talking about the Word of God. And I said, you know, there was
a time that my thoughts did not trouble me. There was like a,
for lack of a better example, like an old couch in the cupboard.
You just chew over those thoughts and chew over those thoughts.
Now you run them off. You run off with bad thoughts.
Because you hate sin now. You hate sin. And you don't find
pleasure and happiness with those who continually oppose God. You just can't do it. Nor sitteth,
he says here, in the seat of the scornful. He gets as far
away from this group now as he can get away from. The scornful.
Who likes to be around scornful people? It's like being around
a critic. You hate to be a critic. You
can't enjoy... You know, a critic cannot enjoy anything. He's got
to criticize everything that comes before him. And that's
what this scornful... They've got to scorn everything
that comes before them, especially if it's of God. If it's truth,
if it's a true gospel, they're scornful of it. These are the
ones who blaspheme God. They speak evil of that way.
That's what he's talking about. He does not relax. He does not
sit down and relax by these people. These people are not happy. So
how in the world could a man find happiness relaxing beside
of them? They're scornful. But here's
where his happiness comes from. Here's where his joy, here's
where his blessedness comes from. But his delight, his joy, his
desire is in the law, in the Word of the Lord. I'll tell you
why. Because in the Word of God, we
find the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. As we heard this morning,
We find our Savior. We find our brother. We find
who one is truly a brother. We find our friend. We find,
in the Word of God, our Redeemer. We find our sacrifice. We find,
in the Word of God, our high priest. We find Christ. He said, and then you think you
have life? There they would testify of me.
In the Word of God, we find the living Word. Who is God? The
Lord Jesus Christ. And He's revealed in the pages
of this book. He's the bread from heaven. He's
the water of life. If you're hungry, you eat. If
you're thirsty, you drink of Him. And He is, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is our delight. Who's your delight? You know,
and I asked this question to myself, and I asked myself this
question sitting in the study, what is it and who is it that
I really, really delight in? You know, I know what answers
would be given in that lab, but, you know, we're pretty smart
in that area. We know how to answer. But sitting
by yourself. And the meditation of your mind,
what goes through your heart, who is it? Who is it? His delight is in the Word of
the Lord. And that's because of the One
that reveals. And in His Law does he meditate, that is, in
His Word does he meditate day and night. He doesn't just read
the Bible, to be reading the Bible, just reading from Genesis
to Revelation just so he can say that he read the Bible. But
this man, this man meditates. He meditates upon the Word of
God. He meditates upon the truth that
God's given him out of His Word. He meditates upon it just like
you would chew food and eat of it. He meditates on it. And I'll tell you this. If you
really want to get nourishment out of the Word, give a lot of thought to it.
Read it. And I find this to be so for
me. Read a smaller portion of it
and meditate upon it. Instead of reading a larger portion
of it, you can't retain it. You know, sometimes I'll sit
down and I'll read a whole book and I think, what did I just
read? And there have been times that I can take a book and I'll
read two or three chapters And I have to go back and read those
two or three chapters again because my mind was gone. But you can
take a little bit of this, and this is what got me started on
that bulletin. I wrote a little article on the
bulletin. And I was thinking about that blessed man. I was
thinking about how blessed I am, and I was thinking about myself,
that I am of God, that I don't walk like I used to walk. I don't
run with that same company I used to run with. I don't do those
things no more that I used to enjoy. You know why? Blessed
of God. Blessed of God. The Word of God is not an ordinary
book. This, I'm telling you, this is
not an ordinary book. This is the Word of God. And
read it like it's the Word of God. And meditate here. Meditate on it. He says day and
night. I cannot read the Word of God
day and night. I have to work. I have to go
to work, but you know what? You can meditate day and night.
You can meditate on it. You can't always read it, but
you can meditate on what you read. Put His Word. Put His Word in your heart and
think upon it. Think upon it. Look in Psalm
119. Let's turn over to Psalm 119. Look in verse 97. Psalm 119, verse 97. He says here, O how love I thy
law, thy word! It is my meditation all day. Thou through thy commandments
hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with
me. I have more understanding than
all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand
more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained
my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. I have
not departed from thy judgments, for thou hast taught me. How
sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto
my feet and a light unto my path. You want to know which direction
to go? Get in the Word of God. I find this. I find that if a
person saturates themselves with the Word of God, they will have
a general direction to go. They'll know which way to go.
They won't always be asking, well, what should I do? I'll
tell you what, when you're saturated with the Word, you'll get direction. You'll get direction. He said in Psalm 119, 97, Oh,
how love I thy law. It's my meditation all the day.
My meditation. And then we have here the blessed
man's end. We all have an end. Every one
of us. And here's his end. He shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. You ever see
a tree planted by the rivers? They're the greenest trees when
everything else is dying. They're greenest. They're the greenest.
He's planted. That means He is established.
This man is established, and He's established by the Lord.
This man is not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
He's not confused. This man is established. He stands
firm on the truth. He knows the truth. God's revealed
the truth to him, and He never moves from it. He's like that
tree planted. Not just sitting there, that
tree is planted by the rivers of water. And he never moves
from that river of truth and grace that comes from God. God
planted him. And if God planted him, he's
planted. And he'll stay planted. It says in Isaiah 61, 3, that
they shall be called trees of righteousness, the planting of
the Lord. God planted them. And listen, that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season. When the fruit should be there,
it is. When kindness should be there,
it's there. When joy should be there, it's
there. When love should be there, it's
there. When it should be expressed,
it's there. The fruit will be there in its
season. The very gospel that saved him enables him to bear
fruit. You cannot be alive and not bear
fruit. Not spiritually. You're going
to bear fruit. You're going to bear the fruit
of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering. And you know when you're going
to bear this fruit? It says, in His season, in God's season.
In those times that He brings you through trials and troubles
and heartaches and these things, that fruit will be there in God's
season. Scripture says this, all our
works in us. And it says this, his leaf also
shall not wither. It will not dry up. Not only
shall he bear fruit, but his leaves shall always be bright.
His leaves will not wither. No matter how long he lives,
how long he lives, he will still bear fruit. Henry's 80 years old. That's
some of the best fruit I've eaten in my life. The message he's
bringing now. Isn't it? He preached here just
a few weeks ago. I told someone in the mass, that's
the most powerful message I heard. He said, that's probably the
most powerful message you heard at that time. I said, well, whatever. I said,
it was one of the most powerful. Still bearing fruit in his old
age. You know, with things generally,
grow old, whether it's in nature or what it is. It quits bearing,
doesn't it? There's a time that women cannot bear children. But
his children, no matter how old they are, no matter how long
they live, he says, they will still bear fruit because the
fruits of him. It's his fruit. And his leaf,
his leaf will not wither. He'll always be young in spirit. I'm not young in body. I know
that. You're looking at a body that's getting older and older.
But I'm telling you this, in spirit, you mature, but you're
forever young in that spirit. I tell you, if I didn't have
to move sometimes, I'd feel young. This old body. I mean, I was
sitting in the study. I was sitting there reading this,
and I thought, if I didn't have to get up, I could just sit here.
As long as I'm sitting here, I feel young. But boy, when I
had to get up, I've got a problem going on with my ankle. I thought,
nah, that reminds me that this body's getting old. But forever
young, I'm telling you, forever young in spirit. And that river
by which he's planted will keep him green. Here's what keeps
him green. It's that river of grace. It's
that river of mercy by which God planted you by a river of
mercy and grace. And as long as you drink of that
river, as long as you now drink of it, you'll never dry up. He
says you'll never dry up. It's like the coal that's been
on fire. If you take it out of the fire
and send it over here to the side, it doesn't take long for
it to go cold, does it? You can see the fire going out.
But as long as it's in the fire, It's still going to be a hot
coal. As long as I'm planted by that river, as long as He's
the one planting me and I'm planted by that river, and I drink deep
of that river of grace and mercy, I'll never dry up. And whatsoever He doeth shall
prosper. Scripture says this. It is God
who worketh in you both the will and do of His good pleasure.
That's who's working in you. It says that we are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus under good works. God shall bless him. God will bless him, whatsoever
he does. He's talking to me here about
soul prosperity. I know there's some things that we put our hand
to and we think, man, it just went to disaster. But really,
it didn't. Because the Scripture says, all
things work together for good to them that love God. To them
are called according to His purpose. Now, if it's for my good, then
it's soul prosperity. It may not be for temporal prosperity.
It may not be good for me right now, at least to what I think
anyway. But boy, it's good for my soul. It's good for that glory that
we're going to receive in eternity. It's good for us. As he said,
blessed is the man whom thou chastenest. Paul said this, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. Blessed is that man. Who can count all things as loss?
Not who can count all up to the owns, but all that he counts
as loss, even though I may have gained, even though I may have
much possessions. Yet when I look at it, I say,
that's just loss. That's just baggage. That's all that is.
My gain is Christ. If I have Christ, that's my gain.
He's my gain. But the ungodly, he says, are
not so. None of these things apply to the ungodly. I don't
care if it was a, it doesn't matter if it was a mother who's
been a faithful wife and good to her children. If she's not
in Christ, she does not love Christ. God
has not brought her to that place. It's not so. These things cannot
be applied. None of these blessings can apply
to that person. He's like the chaff which the
wind drives away. He has nothing to hold on to.
He has absolutely nothing to hold on to when the wind blows.
All the false refuges that he's clinged to and held on to and
made, it's going to leave. God's going to blow it away.
He is not planted. This man's not planted. He runs
after anything and everything that will fulfill His desires
and lusts, or anything that will quiet His conscience. He just
wants to quiet His conscience. He has nothing solid to hold
on to. We have the solid rock. We stand
on Christ the solid rock. He doesn't have that. His house
is built on sand. They keep building these houses
down on the beach on sand. And this hurricane's come through
and blown away, and the insurance company puts them back. How stupid to build on sand. It's just, you know, it's stupid.
It's just stupid. But this man built his house,
his hopes, on sand. And there's nothing more shifting
than sand. You ever stand out in the ocean,
And the water comes out, and when it goes back, you feel the
sand going out from under your feet. There's nothing more shifting
than that. And when the wind of God's wrath
blows, it'll take him away. And in time, it'll blow. And
it'll take him away. And that's why it says here in
verse 5, Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment.
He will hear, depart from me, I never knew you. No matter what
he pleads about his goodness, he cannot stand in judgment. We will stand in judgment because
we stand in Christ, the believer. He stands in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's our standing. But the ungodly, not everyone
outside of Christ, he says it's not so. When God reveals the
secrets of men's hearts, their own hearts are going to condemn
them. Nor sinners are going to stand in the congregation of
the righteous. One day God will separate the
tares from the wheat. He will separate the sheep from
the goats. Those who have the wedding garment
on from those who don't have it on. One day He's going to
make that separation. And there will be no one there
who has not been washed in the blood of the Lamb and does not
have on the robe of His righteousness. It says here in verse 6, For
the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. Here's what it's saying. He is
knowing. He is knowing their way. He knoweth
their way. He knows their way because their
way is of Him. And that way is Christ Himself. He said, I am the way, the truth
and the life. His eye is always, it is always
upon them. He never takes His eye off the
righteous, not for a second. Boy, what comfort that'd give
us if we could get a hold of that. You know, my sons were growing
up at home. I could not keep my eye on them all the time. I could just see them when they
were standing in front of me. Boy, when they get left, who knows? But God's eye is always on the
righteous. He never, ever blinks. Never even blinks. He always
sees them. But the way of the ungodly shall
perish. God hath put his feet, the scripture
says, in slippery places. Slippery places. Scripture says
there is a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof
is destruction. The way of the ungodly is a broad
way and it leads to death. And it says his way shall perish. Not so, he said, with the ungodly.
Let me close by reading Psalm 112. Psalm 112. It says, Praise you the Lord. Blessed
is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his
commandments. His commandments are not a burden.
His seed shall be mighty upon earth. The generation of the
upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches, spiritual,
shall be in his house, and his righteousness endureth forever
until the upright there arises light in the darkness. He is
gracious and full of compassion and righteous. A good man showeth
favor and lendeth. He will guide his affairs with
discretion, judgment. Surely he shall not be moved
forever. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil
tidings." Listen, his heart is fixed. What's it fixed on? The Lord. Trusting in the Lord. His heart is established. As
I said, his way is established. He shall not be afraid until
he sees his desire upon his enemies. He hath dispersed, he hath given
to the poor, his righteousness endureth forever. His horn shall
be exalted with honor. The wicked shall see it and be
grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked shall
perish. Okay, Mike.