Psalm 112 will be our study this
evening. And I'm entitling the message
from this Psalm, Jesus Christ, the blessed man. Jesus Christ,
the blessed man. Blessed is the man that feareth
the Lord, verse one, that delighteth greatly in the decrees mandates,
commandments of the Lord. And we know that is true of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the blessed man and believers
are blessed in him with all spiritual blessing because we are one with
Him. I in them, thou in me, that we
may be made perfect in one. What's true of Christ is true
of His people. Psalm 111 and Psalm 112 and Psalm
113 are all considered the Hallelujah Psalms. Look at Psalm 111 verse
1, Praise ye the Lord, That's hallelujah. I will praise the
Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright in the
congregation. Psalm 113, praise you the Lord. Praise all you servants of the
Lord. Praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. We have every reason to praise
our Lord, don't we? Praise ye the Lord. This exhortation is never given
too often. The Lord Jesus Christ always
deserves all praise, honor, and glory for such great salvation
that he has accomplished for us. Not only accomplished for
us, but he's freely given that unto us. We have all of our sin
forgiven, plus we have righteousness imputed unto us. So we say with
the Apostle Paul, God forbid we should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must always be ready to give
him all the honor and glory. We are frequently forgetful of
it, and it's always good to be stirred up in our heart. This
is one reason we should always be eager to attend to the preaching
of the word, and always be swift to hear, slow to speak. Ready to hear. Ready to hear.
Swift to hear. This psalm describes the blessedness
of our God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the blessedness
of all salvation we enjoy in Him. Remember, Ephesians chapter
1, we bless God who had blessed us with all spiritual blessing
in the heavenlies in our Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 112 echoes
the blessedness of the God-man mediator the same as it says
here. Don't turn back to it, but let
me just read it to you in Psalm 1. Psalm 1 kind of sets the trend
for the whole 150 Psalms. Blessed is a 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, talking about our Lord
Jesus Christ. His delight is in the law of
the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. He
shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of water. He said,
I am the true vine, you are the branches that bring forth fruit
in his season, his leaf also shall never fade, never wither,
and whatsoever he does prospers. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand." Everything he does, he prospers in it. And we are blessed in the Lord
Jesus Christ with all spiritual blessing, aren't we? The believer
and the Lord Jesus Christ are so united as one, It's interesting,
I looked at this word here in verse five, a good man showeth
favor and lendeth, see that word lendeth? You know what that word
means? Two together, twine together. We're together with him, we're
one with him. The believer and the Lord Jesus Christ are so
united as one, as the head and the body, that which is true
of the head, the Lord Jesus Christ is true of his body. The head
is holy and the body is holy in him. You remember the scripture
in Romans 5, by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by
the obedience of another, shall many be made righteous. And Adam
all died and Christ all shall be made alive. All that the Lord
Jesus Christ is and what he has accomplished is freely, fully,
eternally imputed unto His covenant people. You know, it's sad in
our day that most religious people are totally ignorant of what
we call imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness. We have
in Adam imputed guilt. We have in Christ imputed righteousness. We see on Calvary 3 that the
Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us. Our sin was imputed to
Him. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. So it's a really, it's a basic
biblical principle, the doctrine of imputation. We've been made
righteous, his righteousness has been imputed unto us. Paul
describes that as the blessed man to whom God imputes righteousness
without work. You remember Romans chapter four.
God who spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with them also freely, fully, eternally give
us all things in Christ? He said, I give them eternal
life and they'll never perish. He has brought in for us an everlasting
righteousness that he freely gives unto us. That's the blessedness
of the gospel, is it not? Now let's take a look at verse
one. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye God our Savior. Blessed is a man that feareth
the Lord, that delighteth greatly in His commandments. We do reverence
the Lord and fear our God and Savior. We do fear Jehovah, Almighty
God. Right up the page from Psalm
112, In Psalm 111 verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. A good understanding have all
they that do. His praise endures forever. Those two words, His commandments
have been added. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. A good understanding have all
they that do. What? Do fear the Lord. And we
do praise Him, and that worship will be forever and ever. The
Lord Jesus Christ perfectly feared God the Father as the obedient
Son. He fully honored the law of God
for us, being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
You remember these words from Hebrews chapter 5 that we studied
not too many days ago? "...who in the days of his flesh,
when he offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was
heard in that he feared as a son, he learned obedience by the things
which he suffered. Being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation." The Lord Jesus Christ perfectly
feared God the Father. He fearlessly, because he feared
God, he did not fear men. He fearlessly preached the gospel
of God without reservation, and he went right into the camp of
the enemy and preached the gospel, didn't he? They hated him for
it. They took up stone to stone him.
Our Lord was fearless. And He was fearless of men because
He feared God. He feared God. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the second part of that, He delighted greatly in the commandments
of the Lord. Remember He said, My will is
to do the will of Him that sent Me. The Lord Jesus Christ greatly
delighted in the commands of Almighty God. His delight was
to perfectly obey and perfectly fulfill the law of God for us.
The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake. He will
honor the law of God for us. We are accepted in the Beloved. Turn back to Psalm 40. You remember
Psalm 40 talks about the Lord coming. Psalm 40 verse 7. Psalm
40 verse 7. Then said I, lo, I come, and
the volume of the book is written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O God. My God, O my God, yea, thy law
is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation, O Lord. Have not refrained my lips, O
Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness,
thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
in thy troop in the great congregation, O Lord. delighted in the will
of the Lord, delighted in the commandments of the Lord, to
go and preach the gospel to all that would hear it. Look at verse
2. So the Lord Jesus Christ is that
blessed man that perfectly feared the Lord, that greatly delighted
in doing the commands of God, the will of God. He said, I didn't
come to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. You
remember John chapter 6? And then look at verse two, Psalm
112 verse two. His seed shall be mighty upon
the earth, and the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Not maybe, not could be, they
shall be blessed. His seed shall be mighty upon
the earth. Now, who are these people? His
sheep. His people that were given to
Him in that eternal covenant. You remember in Galatians chapter
3, if ye be Christ and are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise, and his seed shall be mighty upon the earth. How is that? As we are one in
Christ, He is the mighty God and Savior. He said in Isaiah
63, I that speak to thee in righteousness, mighty to save. He's a mighty
Savior. He's the almighty Savior, isn't
he? His seed shall be mighty upon
the earth. His seed is his people, called
his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
the earth, from their sin. He shall save his people from
their sin. His seed shall be mighty upon
the earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. Now by nature, we're fallen,
aren't we? God created man upright, but
what happened? Sin entered in. And Adam fell,
and we fell in him. But he has uprighted us. He has
raised us from the dead. He's made us new creatures in
Christ. And we shall be blessed, and
we are blessed in him. We are blessed in him. We are
blessed in him. spiritual blessing we have in
Christ Jesus. That's the blessed man. That's
the blessed man, those who are blessed in him. Turn back to
Psalm 32, you remember? The book of Psalm talks a lot
about the blessed man. We know that speaks of Christ
and those who are in him. Psalm 32, look at verse one.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Now that's the blessed man. Blessed
is a man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and whose spirit
there is no guile. Turn to one other scripture on
that. Look at Psalm 65. Verse four, Psalm 65, verse four. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even thy holy temple. Believers are satisfied
with the Lord Jesus Christ. But more importantly than that,
God is well pleased. God is satisfied. with everything
the Lord Jesus Christ did for us in the way of accomplishing
our salvation. Back to Psalm 112. His seed shall be mighty. He's uprighted
us a generation, a generation of believers, chosen from all
eternity, made new creatures in Christ, and they are blessed.
Look at verse three. Wealth and riches shall be in
his house. And his righteousness endures
forever. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
wealth, doesn't he? He has all riches, doesn't he?
Is there anything the Lord doesn't own? The earth is the Lord and
the fullness thereof. He has all wealth and all riches.
And this wealth and riches shall be in his house, in his family,
in his household. And his righteousness endureth
forever. Wealth and riches belong to the Lord and they belong to
his people. Remember the scripture from 2
Corinthians 8, 9. He said, though you know the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be made what? Rich. Rich. You're looking at
the world's richest man. Did you know that? We've been
made, every believer can say that, we've been made heirs of
God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer is rich in Christ
because we're in His household. Listen to Scripture. Ephesians
2, Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints in the household of God, and
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. We're rich
in Him, rich in righteousness, rich in redemption, rich in salvation,
with all spiritual blessings, We have in the Lord Jesus Christ,
he has obtained for us eternal redemption. Peter writes about
this inheritance this way. We have an inheritance that's
incorruptible. We have an inheritance that's
undefiled. We have an inheritance that fate
is not away. We have an inheritance that's
reserved for you in heaven who are kept by the power of God
to our Lord Jesus Christ. The righteousness the believers
enjoy is not a righteousness of our doing, is it? It's a righteousness
of His doing. He is the Lord, our righteousness. And His righteousness, His righteousness
endures forever, forever and ever and ever. Look at verse 4. Unto the upright, those who have
been uprighted, those who have been raised up in Christ, those
who have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into
the kingdom of God's dear Son, unto the upright there ariseth
light. Now who is light? Now we're born
in the dark. By nature we love darkness rather
than the light. But He has uprighted us, and
He's caused the light of the glory of God to shine in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has shined that into our
heart. Unto the upright there arises
light, the light of the gospel, the light of Christ. It shines
out of darkness. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at these next few words
here in verse 4. He has uprighted us in that he
has enlightened us, called us out of darkness into his marvelous
light, and then it says that he is gracious. These are the
attributes of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. He is gracious,
he is full of compassion, and he is righteous. He is righteous
and full of compassion. If you look across the page at
Psalm 1-11, verse 3 and 4. His work is honorable and glorious.
His righteousness endures forever. He has made his wonderful work
to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full. Full of compassion. What is compassion? Love. He loved his people with
an everlasting love. So the Lord is full of Grace, He's full of grace, He's
full of compassion, and He's full of righteousness. Of His
fullness, you remember John chapter 1, of His fullness have all we
received grace for grace. Grace for grace. We have the
fullness of grace because He is gracious. The Lord is gracious,
long-suffering, full of compassion. The second thing He says there,
the Lord is full. He's full. He's full of holiness. He's full of righteousness. He's
full of mercy. He's full of love. God is love. We've been going through the
book of Matthew, and we've seen the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrate
this, haven't we? With all those multitudes. We've
seen this, I don't know how many times we've read this. Multitudes
followed Him, seeking healing from Him, And it said the Lord
was moved with compassion. And what did He do? He healed
them. He healed all those that were in need of healing. So of
His fullness, we have grace for grace. We are complete in Christ. The Lord is full of love toward
His people. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. I like this scripture, Lamentation
3. It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Because
His compassions fail not, they're new every morning. Great is His
faithfulness. His love never fails. We read
recently from 1 Corinthians 13, that chapter about love, where
it says, charity, that's Christ, love. You remember that verse?
Love never fails. Never fails. Never fails. And
then third, the third attribute, God is not only gracious, verse
four, He's full of compassion and He's righteous. Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God Almighty. God is holy in all His ways. The Lord is righteous in all
His ways and holy in all His works. The judge of all the earth
must do right and everything He does is right. He can't do
anything wrong because He's holy. He is righteous. He is full,
full, full of righteousness. Now, Psalm 112 verse 5, a good
man, a good man showeth favor. Now you know what that word favor
is, don't you? Sovereign mercy, favor, grace. God is gracious. And lendeth,
and he will guide his affairs with wisdom, justice, discretion,
judgment. Notice the marginal reference
on the word discretion. Judgment, a good man show us
favor. Now, who is a good man? There's
none good but God, is there? Who is a good man? The God man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're gonna see in our study
from Matthew 19, when that young rich ruler came to the Lord seeking
salvation by works, and he called him good master. And the Lord
said, there's none good but God. If you call me good, because
I am God. Well, there is none good but
God, and the only goodness we have is through him. The only
goodness and favor that we have and that we show to others is
because of his favor to us. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall show mercy to others. The only goodness we have is
through him, and the only goodness and favor we show to others is
because of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace. Because God
has forgiven us, and been merciful to us, and loved us, we forgive
others, we're merciful to others, as he's been merciful unto us.
And I like this part here, the good man showeth favor, He showed
favor to us, and we ought to show favor to others, to love
and forgive one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has
forgiven you, and he lendeth. He lendeth to us. That is, we're
entwined with him. We're made one with him. We are
in union with him, and he will guide us. Because He has shown
us favor, because He has made us one with Himself, He will
guide His affairs. Salvation is His affair. Salvation
is His doing. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
called our Good Shepherd. What does the Shepherd do? He
leads the sheep. He guides the sheep, doesn't
He? The Lord is our good shepherd. He will guide us and lead us.
He will never forsake us. He gives us wisdom. He gives
us understanding in the ways of the gospel. He leads us in
paths of righteousness for His namesake. You remember Psalm
23? Where David said, The Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not want. He restores my soul. He leads
me in paths of righteousness for His namesake because we've
been joined with Him. joined with Him together, one
with Him. Look at verse 6. Surely, certainly,
most surely and certainly, guaranteed, He shall not be moved. He shall
not be moved forever. His righteousness, the righteous
rather, the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. Now, The righteous are those
who have been made righteous in Christ. We have no righteousness
of our own, do we? Surely he shall not be moved
away from his people. The righteous shall be in everlasting,
everlasting remembrance. He shall not be removed from
us. The Lord said, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the earth. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's not moved from his eternal purpose to accomplish our salvation. You remember when he was among
men, he said, I must go to Jerusalem. I must suffer many things. I
must die. I must be raised up again. And
Peter said, oh, wait a stop. No one could move him from his
purpose to accomplish our salvation. You remember Isaiah 50 said he
set his face like a flint None could stop him, persuade him
from doing the Father's will. Not Satan, not the Pharisees,
not the disciples. That's good news, is it not?
He shall not be moved forever. The righteous, and I like this
part too, the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. Now, how long has the Lord remembered
his people? Everlasting remembrance. I love
thee with an everlasting love. Everything God does for us, we've
been in him from all eternity. The righteous shall be in everlasting
remembrance. He'll never forget us. He said
to Jeremiah, before I formed thee in the womb, I knew you. and ordained you to be my prophet. He will never leave us. He'll
never forsake us because we're blessed in him with an everlasting
righteousness because the Lord Jesus Christ has forever put
away our sin. He shall never forget the people
of his pasture or the sheep of his hand. Remember he said, I
will be their God. and they shall be my people.
I will not depart from them, and they won't leave me. He has
us in everlasting remembrance. I think of what the dying thief
said to the Lord. You're coming into a kingdom.
Remember me when you do. And the Lord said, today you'll
be with me in paradise. He said that to all of his people.
He has an everlasting remembrance of God's elect given to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 7 and 8. He shall not be afraid of evil
tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting
the Lord. Now this is describing our blessed
Savior. Wasn't afraid of evil tidings
when they called him a wine-bibber, a gluttonous man. They even called
him the friend of sinners, didn't they? His heart was fixed. They could
not turn him away from God's purpose. His heart was fixed,
trusting the Lord. Verse 8, his heart is established
in that eternal covenant of grace. He shall not be afraid. until
he see his desires upon his enemies. You remember Psalm 110, right
across the page. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou with my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule
thou in the midst of thine enemies, and he does. Verse 3, Psalm 110,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the
beauty of holiness, from the womb of the morning thou hast
to do of thy youth. He shall not be afraid of evil
tidings, because his heart is fixed. And the Lord has also
given us a heart that's fixed upon Him, hasn't He? What's true
of Him is true of us. He has established us upon that
foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we shall see the
desire upon our enemies. What are our enemies? Our sin,
death, judgment. We shall see the satisfaction
of our salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Look at verse 9. He hath dispersed. He hath dispensed. He hath dispersed. He hath given
to the poor. His righteousness endureth forever. He says that twice. Wealth and
riches shall be in his house, verse 3. His righteousness endureth
forever. He hath dispersed. He hath given
to the poor. Remember, David says often in
the Psalms, I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinks upon me.
He has freely dispersed to us. He has given to us. His righteousness
that he has given to us endures forever and ever and ever. The Lord disperses His gifts
of grace to whom He will. He will have mercy upon whom
He will. And we know that whatsoever the
Lord doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it. Nothing
shall be taken from it. Now I love the last part of verse
9. He hath dispensed all spiritual blessings unto his poor, needy
people. His righteousness that he gives
us is an everlasting righteousness. And then it says, his power,
the horn, shall be exalted with honor. His power is exalted with
honor. Honor. He honored God for us,
didn't he? When Christ put away our sin
by the sacrifice of Himself, He sat down at the right hand
of God, exalted in honor, not dishonor. God highly exalted
Him. God had given Him a name which
is above every name, that at that name every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Verse 9
again, He hath dispersed he hath given to the poor, his righteousness
that he gives us, which is himself the Lord our righteousness, and
his power shall be exalted with honor." Verse 10. The wicked shall see this, that
salvation is all of his doing, that salvation is of the Lord,
that the Lord had blessed his covenant people with all spiritual
blessings. The wicked shall see this and
be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth. And the wicked shall melt away,
and the desire of the wicked shall perish. Now, if you go
back to Psalm 1, you want to turn back there when it describes
the blessed man. He shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bring forth fruit in its season. His
leaf also shall not wither. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Now here's the contrast. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment, neither be justified. They'll
stand there to be condemned. In the congregation of the righteous,
the Lord will separate the sheep from the goats. Remember? Matthew
25. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. But the wrath of God, the wrath
of God abides on him.