We're going to start going through
the Psalms. 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, but his delight is
in the law of the Lord. And in his law does 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, not so, but 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. Let's pray together. Lord, we're so thankful that your God and
beside thee as none else We're so thankful for the salvation,
the acceptance, the forgiveness of sins, the riches of your grace,
the completeness we have in thy dear son. Lord, we pray for your
spirit, that your gospel would be preached. in the power of
your spirit that you deliver us from hearing the words of
a man, but that we might be privileged to hear from thee, the living
God. Lord, we confess our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing. We pray that we might be this
blessed man you speak of. Lord, we pray for our friends
that aren't here, that you'd keep them by your grace. Those
that are sick, we pray for your blessing upon them. And we pray
wherever your gospel's preached, you'd bless it, honor it for
Christ's sake. In his blessed name we pray,
amen. The blessed man. Now the Psalms, I believe are what expresses
to us what's going on on our inside, more so than anything
else. As a matter of fact, when I read
the Psalms, they express what's going on in here better than
I can express it by words. What a blessing the Psalms are. Many of the psalms are written
by David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the man after God's
own heart. And this psalm has been called
the Old Testament beatitude. Blessed is the man. Now, there
are a lot of explanations of blessedness in the Old Testament,
but here we have the blessed man. And I couldn't help but
think of what the New Testament beatitudes say about what a believer
is in blessedness. poor in spirit. And you know a believer never
gets away from that. I don't have anything but Christ, which
is to have everything. Blessed are they that mourn all
the time over their sin. Blessed are the meek. Now what
is this thing of meekness? This is an attitude toward God.
that believes that whatever he does is right, therefore it bows,
an attitude toward God. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. You always hunger and thirst
because it's something you know you can't produce yourself, righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Having experienced God's mercy,
they're merciful people. I want to be that, don't you?
If I'm a believer, I am. Blessed are the pure in heart.
Now that is someone who's been given a new heart. The new man
in Christ Jesus, they've been born of the Spirit and given
a pure heart. That's what that's a reference to. You know, that
used to always bother me, because although my heart's not very
pure, well, the new man is. Blessed are the peacemakers.
They preach the gospel of peace, and they're not looking for a
fight. They're not looking for contention. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are they that are persecuted
for righteousness' sake, Christ's righteousness' sake. I want to
be one of those people, don't you? Oh, the blessedness. Now, as a young believer, this
first Psalm always discouraged me. Because when I would read
this psalm, I would just think, I don't measure up. I don't measure
up to this description. I feared that I was somebody
who would walk in the way of sinners, and then all of a sudden
I'd Well, I'd stand listening, then all of a sudden I'd walk,
and then all of a sudden I'd be sitting down in the seat of
the scornful. I feared that. I don't want to
do that. And when I would read things
like his delight is in the law of the Lord, I'd think, well,
I don't measure up very well there. And in his law, does he
meditate day and night? Well, I don't meditate on the
law day and night. I might go a long time not even
thinking about the Lord. Not even coming into my mind.
And then it says in verse 3, 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. Always colorful and powerful
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. And I thought, would
that describe me? Psalm 1. And then one day, I heard a man
preach that the Lord Jesus Christ is this blessed man. This describes him perfectly. He is this blessed man and every
psalm is of the blessed man. Now remember when you read the
Psalms, and this is so important. I went through the Psalms 20
years ago, I think, and I don't think I had this understanding.
Every Psalm, first of all, is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking.
I remember I used to read about the Psalms and they'd say there's
22 Messianic Psalms where it's Christ speaking. No, there's
150 Messianic Psalms. Every one of them, first off,
is Christ speaking. Somebody says, well, what about
when he's confessing sin? Well, what about that? Turn to
Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Verse 6. Sacrifice and offering that it's
not desire. Mine ear hast thou open. Burnt
offering and sin offering is thou not required. Then said
I, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It's written of me,
I delight to do thy will. Oh my God. Now, who's speaking? We know from Hebrews chapter
10, that's Jesus Christ speaking. This is actually quoted as the
words of Christ himself. Now, look at verse 12. This is
still Christ speaking. Yes, it's David speaking. David
speaking of his own experience. There's no question about that.
But look at verse 12. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I
am not able to look up, there more than the hairs of my head,
therefore my heart faileth me. Now, yes, David is speaking.
But Christ is speaking. He doesn't say the iniquities
of Todd imputed to me. He says my iniquities. That's
how truly the sins of God's people became Christ. When they were
imputed to him, they became his. He owned them as his. Now, remember that with regard
to every Psalm. First of all, the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, they're David's words too.
And I'm so thankful for that. But first of all, they're the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this psalm describes the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look back in Psalm 1. Blessed. Blessed. is the man that walketh
not. Now look at the progression. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor he ceases walking and stands
in the way of sinners. And then the third progression
is he sits in the seat of the scornful. This blessed man is
someone who doesn't walk, doesn't stand, doesn't sit. Now that used to trouble me so
much because I thought of me standing, listening, me walking. me sitting in the seat of the
scornful. And you know, I know what it
is to preach and see people who appear to be in all three different
places. Somebody walking, somebody stopping, listening, somebody
sitting in the seat of the scornful. That's a scary place to be. But you know, the Lord never
did that. He never did that. You see, he
could say the prince of this world has come and found nothing
in me, nothing to work with. The Lord didn't even have the
potential to sin. And this is so important. I've
heard preachers say, well, you know, he had, I know he didn't
sin, that's the point, but he could have, I mean, where would
his power be? Where would the glory be in his
obedience if he didn't have the potential to sin? Well, that's
silly. That's all I can say about that.
Well, I can say worse things about it. Christ Jesus, the Lord,
He doesn't have the potential to sin. If He had the potential
to sin, He's not immutable. He's not God. But He could not
sin. He could not be tempted to sin. That's the glory of His person.
He didn't walk in the counsel, the way of the ungodly, salvation
by works. He didn't stand in the way of
sinners. He never sat in the seat of the
scornful. When somebody gets to the point
where they're judging God and being critical and so on, no,
he never did that. But here he is, his delight,
verse two. His delight is in the law of
the Lord. Now we just read out of Psalm
40, I delight to do thy will, O God. Ten commandments. He kept every one of them without
exception perfectly. Isn't that glorious to think
of? He never sinned. He honored God's holy law perfectly. I love to think about that. His
delight was in the law of the Lord. He delighted in the law
so much that he would rather die than see his father's law
dishonored. Now, somebody says, what are
you talking about? I don't know. But it's so. He would rather
die than see his father's law dishonored. That's how much he
delighted in the law of God. He never had a momentary lapse
of perfect obedience. I love that passage of scripture
in Matthew chapter three, verse 15, where he said to John the
Baptist, thus it becometh us. Us. Me and you, John, and all
of my elect. Thus it becometh us. Everything
the Lord did, he did as an us. Thus it becometh us to fulfill,
to complete, to bring to an end all righteousness. He delighted
in the law of God, and in his law doth he meditate day and
night. There was never a lapse in his
obedience. Perfect righteousness. Now look
at verse three. And he, the Lord Jesus, shall
be like a tree. Not a weed, not a bush, but a
tree. Speaking of his strength and
his stability. He shall be like a tree, planted
by the rivers of water. And this is talking about where
the Lord Jesus, as a man, and once again, this is something
I believe. I don't know if I could, well I know I don't comprehend
it, but I believe it. He had the spirit without measure.
That's why he never sinned. Now you and I, if we're believers,
we have a measure of the spirit. But John the Baptist said the
Lord gives to him the spirit without measure. He's that tree
planted, planted by God, by the rivers of water that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season. Now this is talking about the
fruit of perfect obedience, yes, but it's also talking about the
fruit of the complete salvation that he accomplished for everybody
he stood for as a surety. I love thinking about this. The
Lord took full responsibility for my salvation before time
began. Isn't that wonderful to think
about? Jesus Christ said, I'll be surety
for him. Yes, he did it for them, for
the whole body, but each individual believer. He said, I take full
responsibility for their salvation. And he fulfilled his responsibility. He brought forth the fruit of
everybody he died for. Every one of them were saved.
That's his fruit. His leaf shall not wither. His righteousness is permanent.
His fruit, his people, they never wither. They never fade away. You see, His righteousness is
always new, and I always have a brand new, perfect, powerful
righteousness before the Father. That's the fruit of Christ's
death that He brought forth. His fruit shall never wither,
and whatsoever He doeth, what? It shall prosper. Turn with me
to Isaiah 55 for just a moment. Isaiah chapter 55. Verse 10. For as the rain cometh down in
the stove from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud that it may give seed
to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish the thing which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing wherein do I have sinned." Now, usually
when we think of this passage of scripture, what do we think
about? We think about how his word, his gospel, is never preached
in vain. It's always gonna prosper, always,
without exception. Somebody says, well, I didn't
get anything out of it. Still prospers. Whenever his
gospel is preached, the Lord's purpose is being done. He never
sends it out in vain. It always accomplishes what he
purposes. But you know what I think this
means more than anything else? is the word of God. It comes
out of God's mouth. And he prospers in what he does. He accomplishes whatever God
sent him to do. That's what he does. It's prosperous. I mean, everybody he represented,
he saved. Now, one of the reasons, there's
a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons I hate And let me
put an underline under that. I hate universal redemption,
people saying that Jesus Christ died for all men and intended
to save all men. One of the reasons I hate that
is because it says that Jesus Christ failed in his intentions.
That's bad. That's evil. He prospers in whatever
he does. He is incapable of failure. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise, for no reason whatsoever cast out. For I came down from
heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will
which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me. He's
gonna prosper, isn't he? Of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. Here's my hope. that Christ took
full and complete responsibility for my sin, and he put it away,
and I'm not gonna fade because of his prosperity. I'm gonna
be ever new, always vibrant before the Father because of his prosperity. Oh, he's not gonna fail. Everything he does is gonna prosper. Verse four. The ungodly, not
so. Everybody that is not in Christ
is ungodly. Everybody that's in Christ is
godly. Everybody that's not in Christ is ungodly. Now look what
he says about those who are not in Christ. The ungodly, not so,
but are like the chaff the husks of the wheat which the wind drives
away. Why? Because there's no substance
to them. No substance. A believer has substance. He's
got a new nature, a nature that God is pleased with. That's his
substance. It's not that he has all this great character. Now,
I want to have great character, but that's not my substance. My substance is Christ in you,
the hope of glory. Now, that can't be blown away.
That's the believer's substance. But an unbeliever, he's like
chaff. He has no substance, nothing
that God could be pleased with. The wind will blow away the chaff. Verse five, therefore the ungodly
shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. They're not going to be accepted
on judgment day. They're going to be sent to hell.
There is a place called hell and it's fueled by the justice
of God and all unbelievers will spend eternity there. I don't
want to go to that place. Neither does anybody else. As
far as, you know, I want to go to hell. Nobody wants to go to
hell, but I want to be safe from my sins. I don't want to simply
be safe from hell. I want to be safe from my sins.
I want to be made just like Christ. But that's not going to happen
with the ungodly. Verse six, for the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous. What's the way of the righteous?
Christ said, I am the way. The Lord knows that. He approves
of that. He loves that. He delights in
that. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Now, in closing, not only does
this describe the Lord Jesus Christ, this describes every
single believer. If you're a believer, this describes
you. First of all, you're blessed.
Blessed of God. You know, when somebody, you
see this all the time when you go out and you say, how you doing?
I'm blessed. And I just think, don't say that. You know, you're
trying to tell me how, I'd rather just say fine. Doing good. And
as far as that goes, don't say, well, let me tell you about all
my problems. No, I don't want to know that either. I do, I can't, well I'm
digging myself into a hole here. The point is, every believer
is blessed of God. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly places in Christ. What a state of blessedness
that belongs to every believer. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly." Now, what is the counsel of the
ungodly? Salvation by works. Well, they're trying to tempt
you to sin. Well, I'm sure that's included in it, but it doesn't
take much to bring that on. He's really talking about the
counsel of salvation by works. And the believer rejects it because
they know Christ is their salvation. nor stands in the way of sinners. What's the way of sinners? There's
a way that seemeth right to a man. The end thereof are the ways
of death, the way of salvation by works. Nor sits in the seat
of the scornful, that scornful person who sits in judgment on
God and agrees with or disagrees with things with regard to God
and says, this is not fair, this is not right. proud and an arrogant
spirit as God's judge sitting in the seat of the scornful.
Now blessed is the man that doesn't walk or stand or sit, but his
delight is in the law of the Lord. Now you can delight in
the law of the Lord if you've kept it. Nothing to fear. Now listen to
me. I don't try to keep the law of
God. I've kept it. When Christ kept the law, I kept
the law. It's what the Bible calls justification.
I'm justified before God. And I delight in that holy law
of God. I love the law of God. And didn't
Paul say the same thing when he said, I delight in the law
of God after the inward man? Now he also said, I see another
law in my members, talking about the old nature, but I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. And upon his law does he
meditate day and night. When Christ meditated on the
law day and night, I did too. I claim that as my own in Christ. He shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water. Now, the Lord talked about every
plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted will be rooted
up, but every believer is a tree that God has planted. That's
the security. God has planted that tree. He
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, the Holy
Spirit, the rivers of grace that come from him. And he bringeth
forth his fruit in his season. Every believer brings forth fruit,
the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. Love to God, joy, peace that
comes from Christ. Long suffering, knowing God's
on the throne. Gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Every believer has the fruit
of the Holy Spirit. He's gonna bear it. He must bear
it because he's born of the Spirit. His leaf also shall not wither.
You know, Isaiah said we all do faith as the leaf and our
righteousness is our filthy rags. But my leaf is Christ's righteousness.
It doesn't wither. It's always new, it's always
powerful. And whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper. You know why? We know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. All he does. This is true with regard to every
believer. Oh, all he does. Well, I feel like a failure.
All he does is gonna prosper. Well, what about all he does
will prosper? Now, that's the promise of grace.
You know, I've heard of people say, well, I feel like I'm living
a defeated Christian life. There's no such thing. You can't
live a defeated Christian life. If you're a Christian, you're
more than conquerors. There's no such thing as a defeated
Christian life. All he does shall prosper. What about their sin? Sin's a
horrible thing. We ought not ever sin. Anybody
got any problem with that? We ought not ever sin. Period.
Ever. Even your fall will be used by
God to bring you to Christ and look to Him only. You see, God
brings good out of evil. all he does shall prosper. The ungodly, not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment, they won't stand accepted, they'll
hear those awful words depart. Nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous, for the Lord knoweth The way of the righteous
he approves, he loves the way of the righteous, the way of
Christ. But the way of the ungodly shall perish. Okay.