Would you turn back to Psalm
one? I've entitled this message. The
blessed man. To be blessed means two things. First, it's to have the favor
of the living God. is to have the God of glory for
you. That's an awesome thought. If
God be for us, who can be against us? If you're blessed, that means
you have the almighty power of God working in your behalf. That's blessed. But it also means
happy. happy. The psalmist said, happy
is the people whose God is the Lord. So if you're blessed, that
means God's blessed you, you have him for you. Blessed be
the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. And if he's blessed you, it's going to make you happy. Psalm 1 is about this blessed
man. He's been blessed by God, and
he's happy. Let me give you some scriptures
from the Psalms that speaks of God's blessing. Listen to this
real carefully. Psalm 65, verse 4 says, Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. Now, here's
a blessed man, chosen of God. one of God's elect, caused by
God to approach into his presence. That's a blessed man, and that's
a happy man. Psalm 32.1, blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, here's a blessed
man. And I'll tell you what, there's
a happy man, too. Happy to have your sins forgiven. Oh, what
a glorious state. Psalm 212, blessed are all they
that put their trust in him. Now, if you're somebody who puts
your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, there's one reason you
can't give yourself the credit. God caused you to do it. You've
been blessed by God. And isn't it a joyous thing to
simply trust the Lord Jesus Christ when he's all you're trusting
and you look at nowhere else? Psalm 12, or 112.1, Blessed is
the man that feareth the Lord. If you're somebody who fears
God, God's blessed you. Psalm 85.5, Blessed is the man
whose strength is in thee. If you're a believer, you know
that any spiritual strength you have is His. He gave it to you,
and you've been blessed, and you're happy. You're happy that
it's his strength. Psalm 89, 15, blessed are the
people that know the joyful sound. You know, you discern, you understand
the gospel, you know the joyful sound, and you're blessed by
God in knowing that joyful sound. And it's a joyful sound to you.
Makes you happy to hear the gospel and the power of God, the Holy
Spirit. Psalm 94, 12 says, blesses the
man whom thou chasteneth. Chasteneth, oh Lord. To be chastened
by the Lord, what a blessing, because that means he loves you.
Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And he scourges every son he
receiveth. And in that sense, oh, it's a
blessing to be chastened. That means you belong to him.
These are happy and blessed people. This is why Paul could look at
King Agrippa in chains and say, I count myself happy. I count
myself happy to stand before you. Now, when someone is a description
of this blessed person, but first and foremost, this is a description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if I don't see it first and
foremost as a description of Christ, this psalm is going to
have one of two effects on me. It's either going to make me
be a Pharisee or it's going to fill me with despair. One of
those two, if I don't really understand that this is first
and foremost, the description of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
look in verse one and let's look at this psalm as Christ himself.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful. The Lord Jesus Christ never made
this descent. He never walked in the counsel
of the ungodly. Have you? He never stood in the
way of sinners. Have you? He never sat in the
seat of the scornful. Have you? Yes, we've done all
those things, but he didn't. Verse two, but his delight. Is in the law of the Lord and
in his law that he meditate day and night, what that means 24
seven. 24 seven at all times, our Lord delighted in the law
of his father. There's only one who fits this
description. Day and night. He meditated and
delighted in the law of God. He never had a simple thought
pass through his mind. Verse three, he shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring it forth
his fruit in his season. And that's talking really about
the fruit of his death, the salvation of the elect. His leaf also shall
not wither. What he does will remain. It
won't wither. And whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper. Now that's the Lord. Behold,
my servant, mine elect, in whom my soul delights, he shall not
fail nor be discouraged. Everything he does prospers. When he said it is finished,
prosperity to everybody he died for, he accomplished salvation.
Whatever he does prospers. successful. You know, the way
the Lord is presented by most religion, when they talk about
the cross and the Lord, he died for everybody. He died for everybody,
made salvation available for everybody. You know what that
means? It means he's a failure, because not everybody's saved.
But that's not the Lord of glory. Everybody he died for must be
saved, because he's successful. Everything he does is going to
prosper. And the ungodly are not so. They're like the chaff
which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall
not stand in the judgment, but he will, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous." What is the way of the righteous? Christ
is the way of righteousness. He is the way, and the Lord knows,
the Lord approves of that way. But the way of the ungodly shall
perish. So we see first and foremost
This is a description of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He
is that blessed man who had all and who has all of God's favor. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
happy. He's in control. What does he
have to be sad about? He's the successful savior. He's
the God man. He is the blessed man. But if this describes him and
it does, you can see that. It also describes every believer
because the scripture says, as he is, so are we in this world. Now, this is a description of
the man that God has saved. This is a description of the
man whom God has blessed. Let me show you something about
being blessed by God. Turn with me to Numbers 24 or
Numbers 23. I'm sorry. Hold your finger there
in Psalm 1. Now, you'll remember that Balaam
could ask Balaam to curse Israel. But here's Balaam's reply in
verse 20. Numbers 23. Now, this is the
state of everyone who God has blessed. He said, Behold, I have
received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed. Speaking
of God, I cannot reverse it. Now, here's what it is to be
blessed of God. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. Now, if you're blessed of God,
God looks you over. He sees no iniquity. He beholds no perverseness. Well,
how's that? Because you're in the Lord Jesus
Christ and he beholds no iniquity. He looks at me right now and
I behold plenty of iniquity myself. But the God of glory looks at
me right now and he beholds no iniquity, no perverseness. The Lord his God is with him,
and the shout of the king is among them. And I have no doubt
that that shout is, it is finished. That's the shout of the king
that we glory in. Now that's what it means to be
blessed of God. It means when God looks at you, he sees no
iniquity. And the only reason he doesn't
see it is because there's none there. It's been removed by the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Now back to Psalm
1. Now, notice this descent that
is spoken of, and it's a process. It's a process. Blessed is the man he's identified,
first of all, by what he does not do. That does not walk in
the counsel of the ungodly. But notice this walk turns into
standing. nor standing in the way of sinners. And then the standing turns to
sitting, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Now, blessed
is the man who walks not in the counsel, in the advice, in the
wisdom, in the philosophy of the ungodly. Now, I want to ask
you a question. I want you to think about this.
How much true wisdom does somebody who does not know God have? How much true wisdom does someone
who has no love for God have? How much true wisdom to someone
who does not believe the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. How much true wisdom do they
have? None. None. Not true wisdom. Blessed is the
man who walks not in the counsel, the advice, the maxims of the
ungodly. Now, notice All of a sudden,
it turns into standing, nor standeth in the way of sinners. Now, this
is a process. It starts with a walk, and all
of a sudden you stop and listen. And before long, you're seated
in this process. But what is the way of sinners?
It's the way of works. That's the way of sinners. It's
the way of salvation by works. You listen to the counsel of
the ungodly and all of a sudden you'll be standing in the way
of sinners, the way of salvation by works, salvations of the Lord
and everything else is wrong. Now, that man who stands in the
way of sinners is standing in the way of salvation by works.
And then we get to this sitting this he now sits in the seat
of the scornful. Now, the word scornful is translated
many times in the scripture Interpretation or interpreter. And here's what
the scornful man does. All of a sudden, instead of bowing
to what God says. He gives his interpretation of
what he heard. His interpretation, what he thinks. Now, you think about this. Here's
the truth. Here's the gospel. Here's the
word of God. Well, here's what I think it means. Here's how
I interpret it. You know the scriptures have
no private interpretation. The word of God is not to be
interpreted, it's to be bowed to and to believe. Now this man,
he interprets it. And there's always a scornful
derision toward anyone who doesn't follow along with his interpretation.
And that's what this scornful is. It's someone who all of a
sudden, instead of bowing to what God says, they give their
slant on it, what they think, and they deride and they feel
scorn toward anyone who disagrees with their interpretation. Now,
understand this. The Bible is not to be interpreted. It's to be bowed to. It's to
be believed. It's to be received. Now this
man, note this process. I was telling one fellow about
this. I thought this was interesting. He said, well, that sounds like
progressive sanctification. I thought that was pretty good. The walking,
the standing, and the sitting in the seat of the scornful.
Yeah, that is the progress right there. But blessed is the man
that doesn't go in that direction. He sees the counsel of the ungodly.
He sees the way of sinners. He sees the seed of the scornful
for what it is. Now, if you see that for what
it is, how blessed of God are you? Now, verse two, but his
delight, this blessed man. His delight, his pleasure, his
willingness. All these different words are
used for this word. His purpose, his delight is in
the law of the Lord. And in his law does he meditate
day and night. He finds his pleasure in the
law of the Lord. Now, what is meant by the law
of the Lord? Well, let's just take it First of all, it's God's
law. The Ten Commandments. Didn't
Paul say, I delight in the law after the inner man? I love God's
commandments. See, I don't have any reason
to fear them, because I've kept the law. I don't try to keep
the law. People say, well, I try to do my best. I try to sincerely
keep the law. No, I don't do anything like that. I've kept
it. Because if Christ kept the law, I did too. And I had nothing to fear from
that law, only to admire God's glorious character in the law. No other gods before him. We
see idolatry as evil. We don't want to take his name
in vain. Holy and reverend is his name. Sabbath, resting in
Christ, the day of rest, honoring all authority, not killing, not
committing adultery, not stealing, not lying and not coveting. It's
a glorious law, isn't it? I love God's law. We delight
in the law of God. It's perfect. It reflects the
character of the glorious God. And I love God's law. I delight
in it. But this means also the law of
the gospel. What in the world do you mean
by that? We'll turn to Romans 8 and I'll show you. Romans 8. Verse 1, there is therefore now.
No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law,
talking about the Ten Commandments of sin and death, the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Now, if you're a believer,
you have a law working in you. The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus. Now that's where the struggle
comes from, because you've got another law working in you too.
Look in verse 25 of chapter 7. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so that with my mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin. Look back up in verse 18. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, Paul speaking as a believer, dwelleth no good
thing. Do you know that? For to will
is present with me. I want to do nothing but perfection,
but how to perform that which is good. What does he say? What does he say? Does he say
I mess up sometimes? Sometimes I make mistakes? He says, I find
not. Now, there's an honest man. There's
an honest man. And only that is honest. For
the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not.
That I do. I remember hearing a preacher
say, would you buy a car off this fella? When he said something
like that, would you buy something from him? Well, he's really the
only honest guy you're going to talk to. Verse 20. Now, if I do that which I would
not, it's no more I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in
me. I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present
with me, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
Then I see another law in my members warring against the law
of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin,
which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Why thank God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that with my mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." Now,
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. We read in Romans
3.27 of the law of faith. I like that. The law of faith.
You know, there's a law in you that you can't get any comfort
from anything that's simply resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
a law. It's a principle within you.
And you can't get comfort from anything else. Do you delight
in that law? I do. I delight in that law.
And then we read in Romans 9 31 of the law of righteousness.
We can't rest. We can't have any confidence
in anything short of perfect, absolute righteousness. That's
the only thing I can get comfort in. I can't get comfort in God
looking at me in any other way but perfectly righteous in Christ
with no sin. I can't get any comfort or assurance
from anything but that. We read in James 125 of the law
of liberty. A believer has to have liberty. I can't be in bondage. I've got
to know I don't owe anything and I've got to do what I want
to do. That's what Liberty is not owing anything and getting
to do what you want to do. And a believer can't operate
in any other realm. We can't handle bondage, can
we? We can't handle the bondage of the law. Don't want to. There's
law of liberty. And I love that law. And then
we read in James 2, 6 of the royal law of love. This is that
law we delight in. Love to God, love to our brethren.
We delight in that law. We read of the law of Christ
in Galatians chapter 6. If any man be overtaken in a
fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted, bear
ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Isn't that a wonderful law? We
delight in the law of God. If you talk about the Ten Commandments
or if you talk about the gospel, everything God says is law, isn't
it? Everything God says is just so. It's absolute, whatever he
says. And we delight in everything
he says. Now, this blessed man, back to
Psalm 1, his delight is in the law of
the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. Verse 3, and this blessed man
who has God's favor, he shall be like a tree. planted by the
rivers of living water. A tree planted by God. Remember
when the disciples came up to the Lord and they were worried
about something he said? He said, don't you know that you offended the
Pharisees? You offended them. And he said, every tree that
my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. But the blessed
man is planted by God. He's rooted in the grace of God. He's planted by the rivers of
water. That's reference to the Holy
Spirit continually preserving him and keeping him and giving
him life. A tree planted by the rivers of living waters. Now, what does this tree do in
verse three? It bringeth forth his fruit in
his season. It's talking about the fruit
of God, the Holy Spirit. Every believer, everybody that's been
blessed of God, they have the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. love, joy, peace, long suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Now,
these, somebody said, I've read, and
I wouldn't argue against it, the fruit of the Spirit is love,
which manifests itself in joy, peace, and so on. I wouldn't
argue against that, but still, you take the fruit of the Spirit,
there's three clusters. The first have to do with our
relationship with God. Love, we love him as he is. Joy, the joy we receive. In believing the gospel. And
the peace we experience by knowing that all God requires of us,
we have in Christ. Love, joy and peace. The second cluster has to do
with our brethren. Long suffering patience. Patience. That gentleness is kindness,
graciousness, graciousness, you're gracious towards God's people
as he is toward you. Goodness, merciful. Goodness
is the capacity to have mercy. That's our attitude toward the
people of God. And the other three has something
to do with ourselves. Faith, meekness, and temperance. Faith, we believe the gospel.
And every believer is meek. We believe God's on the throne
and whatever he sends our way is right because he sent it.
And we bow in meekness and humility to whatever he says. We really
believe it's right. Temperance. Control from within. If you don't have temperance,
the Lord hasn't done anything for you. You've got God the Holy
Spirit controlling you. You don't go off in the sense
that You're temperate. You've got Christ in you, the
hope of glory, and you're temperate in that sense. So this describes
every believer. Faith, meekness, and temperance. And every believer is going to
bring forth the fruit of the Holy Spirit. His leaf also shall
not wither. That means whatever he does is
going to remain. He's not going to quit. He's
not going to be like the stony ground here. He's not going to
be like the thorn choked here. He's going to continue in the
faith, continue in the word, grounded and settled. He's going
to continue and his fruit will remain. And look what it says
next. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. I love thinking about
this. Anything I do prosper, prosper. Everything successful? Yeah,
everything, everything. You know why? Because all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose. Therefore, everything prospers
and everything is successful. And even my failures, God turns
them around for my good and His glory. Even my failures, even
my shortcomings, they drive me to the Lord Jesus Christ and
cause me to cry for mercy. Everything I do prospers because
of the great grace of our God. The ungodly, the wicked, are
not so. They don't delight in the law
of the Lord, nor do they meditate in it. They're not planted by
God. They have no fruit. They fade
away. And nothing they do prospers.
Nothing. It's just as true that nothing
works together for good to them who do not love God, who are
not the called according to his purpose. I think that's the ungodly
or not so. They're not like this blessed
man. But what are they like? They're like the chaff which
the wind driveth away, a husk, no root, no weight, no life. And they're driven away, unlike
the tree that is planted. Verse five. Therefore, the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. I love thinking about this. Now,
the ungodly should not stand in the day of judgment, but the
godly will. Every believer will. Now, there's
a day coming called the Day of Judgment, and what I love to
think about on the Day of Judgment, on that day, we're going to see,
we're going to look at everything as we really ought to look at
it, won't we? Everybody, everything will be
seen for what it is. We'll see the counsel and the
way and the seat of the wicked for what it really is. Now, that
standard of judgment, this Day of Judgment, is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn with me for a moment to
Acts chapter 17. Hold your finger there in Psalm
1 and turn to Acts 17. Verse 29, For as much then as
we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is likened to gold or silver or stone graven by art
and man's device. This is Paul speaking on Mars
Hill to the heathen, and the times of this ignorance God went
at, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because
he hath appointed a day into which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he raised him
from the dead." Now, here's what's going to happen on Judgment Day. Everybody is going to be placed
exactly by the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're not exactly likely
to be sent down. Now that's judgment day. If you
or if I are not perfectly conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ, God in his holiness and in his justice will say, put
him in hell. That's the only place he belongs.
But every believer will stand before God. Just like Christ. David put it this way, as for
me. I'll be satisfied when I awake and I likeness. And not before
them. When I stand in judgment, I will
be perfectly conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ,
so I'll stand. in judgment and in the congregation
of the righteous. Verse six, for the Lord knoweth,
esteems, loves, approves of the way of the righteous. Now, what
is the way of righteous? The righteous. Christ is the
way of the righteous. He said, I am the way. I'm it. No man comes to the Father,
but by me. If I'm in Christ, when He comes
to the Father, I come to the Father. When He's judged, I'm
judged. When He stands righteous, I stand
righteous. Now, this is the way that God
approves of. He delights in this way. He knows this way. He Himself
is the way. And He knows this way. The Lord
knoweth the way of the righteous. Now, I love the descriptions
of this way. It's called the narrow way. It's
called the way of truth. As opposed to the way of lies,
narrow as opposed to the broad road that leads to death. It's
the way of God as opposed to the way of man. It's the way
of peace. Oh, what peace we have in knowing
that Christ is the way to God. God's at peace with me, and I'm
at peace with Him. It's called the way of salvation.
And how blessed is that man, how highly favored is that man
who's blessed of God. He's in the way. The Lord knoweth
the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly, the way
of salvation by works, this way of the ungodly is any other way
than Christ. It doesn't matter if it's the
way of the legalist or the licentious. It's still some other way other
than Christ. That way will perish. But the
Lord knows the way of the righteous. Now, this psalm used to kind of scare
me. I'd read it and I'd think, well,
how do I measure up? Well, I measure up before perfectly.
Because I'm in Christ and Christ is that blessed man. And by his
grace, I'm not going to walk in the counsel of the ungodly
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful.
But by his grace, I'm going to delight in the law of God. The law of the gospel, his law,
And I'm going to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.
That's every believer, a plant of God's planting, having the
Holy Spirit, bringing forth fruit, won't wither, and whatever I
do will prosper, because whatever he did prospered. The blessed
man. Now that's blessedness, isn't
it? Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. Did you get
the word hath? Not he will. He hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. All. In heavenly places. In Christ. I'm looking at some
blessed men and women. What blessing. Let's pray.