Now this evening we're looking
at Psalm number one. It's a good place to start, isn't
it? Psalm number one. Blessed is
the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, verse
one, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the
seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law,
the word of the Lord. And in his word he doth meditate
day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth fruit in his season. He
is the fruitful Redeemer, the fruitful Savior. In his season,
his time, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he
doeth Whatever the Lord doeth, it shall prosper. I love that
word prosper. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand, Isaiah 53, 10. The ungodly are not so. Now
what a contrast between the blessed man and the ungodly. The ungodly
man, the wicked, are not so, but are like the chaff which
the wind driveth away when the chaff is separated from the wheat.
Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, not
stand in the judgment justified, 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. There is a way that seems right
unto men. The end of that way is death.
The way of salvation is in Christ Jesus. Now, who do you think
this blessed man is? Who do you think this blessed
man is? What we know is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the blessed man and those in him are blessed in him
with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life, but the wrath of God abides on him. The Lord Jesus
Christ is called in Romans 9 of whom concerning the flesh Christ
came, who is over all, God blessed forever." Amen. God blessed forever. And His people in Him are God
blessed forever also in Him. Now, I truly enjoy reading and
meditating and preaching from the psalm. It's obvious. I preach
from every one of the psalms, 150 psalms. We started our study
in the book of Psalms back in 2009 and went through all the
Psalms. And I love to read and meditate
the Psalms. I put a portion of a Psalm in
the bulletin every Sunday. The first word you read in the
bulletin when you get down to the body of the bulletin is the
Word of God. When we meet together For worship,
the first thing we do is what? We read the Word of God. We make
much of the Word of God. I enjoy reading the Psalms, meditating
from the Psalms, preaching from the Psalms. They lift my soul,
instruct my heart, cause me to worship and adore our Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the blessed God and Savior. As in all other portions of Scripture,
the Psalms speak about the Lord Jesus Christ. His person, His
work, His righteousness. Remember Psalm 71? It's all about
His righteousness. His redemption and His salvation. The book of Psalms is all about
Him. All scriptures about Him, including the book of Psalms,
is all about Him. We've read this verse many times.
You remember the risen Lord said in Luke 24, 44, all things must
be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses. He fulfilled
every precept of that law and the penalty of the law. And then
the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, they all tell us about
the Lord Jesus Christ, one who is coming. And the Lord said
in the Psalms, in the law of Moses and in the prophets and
in the Psalms, and then he said concerning me. It's all about
him. It's a hymn book, H-I-M, H-I-M. Some of the old preachers of
the past, Martin Luther, called the book of Psalms the little
Bible. It's a condensed version of the
Bible. Robert Hawker, I enjoy reading Robert Hawker, he's got
a good commentary I read today on Psalm 1, said the book of
Psalms is an epitome and essence of the Bible. It's a sum of it.
Old Jonathan Edwards, back in the 1700s, said, here Christ
is spoken of in a multitude of Psalms. It's our psalm book. It's all about Him. Truly, no
other book is so often quoted in the New Testament than the
book of Psalms. It's quoted more than any other
Old Testament book. When the Lord was teaching in
the temple in Mark 12, 36, He quoted Psalm 110. David himself said by the Holy
Ghost, the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, till
I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord Jesus Christ took the
Psalms and preached the Gospel from the Psalms. How about Peter
on the day of Pentecost? How about Paul in his first sermon
there at Antioch? Always reading the Psalms and
saying this was done, that was done, that the Scripture might
be fulfilled. Although David was not used as
the penman to record all the Psalms, other men were used.
Probably four or five other men. All the Psalms were given by
God the Holy Spirit to show and teach us the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. All scripture is God-breathed. All scripture is given of God.
You hold in your hand the very inspired word of truth. We ought to read it as such.
respect it as such, believe it as such. These are not the words
of man, words of God, words of God. Holy men spake as they were
moved by God, the Holy Spirit. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
all the word of God. The book of Psalms is the book
of praise to Christ for the blessedness of salvation found and revealed
only in him. Psalm number one starts with,
That word, blessed, blessed, blessed. And Psalm 150, the last
word, said, praise ye the Lord. Bless the Lord and praise the
Lord. He indeed is the Alpha and the
Omega. He's beginning, He's the end
of all of salvation. I got to thinking about this
today, about that word blessed, and I looked it up how many times
the word blessed is used in the book of Psalms. And I found it's
used in the book of Psalms 46 times. 46 times we read about
those who were blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ. For example,
Psalm 84, 12, O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth
in thee. I want you to turn to two other
places. Psalm 32, turn over there, Psalm 32. The blessed man, the
Lord Jesus Christ and those who are blessed in him. Psalm 32,
look at verse 1. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sins are covered. Boy, that's a blessed man, isn't
he? Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
in whose spirit there is no guile, no sin, no hypocrisy. Boy, that's a blessed man, isn't
he? You see, it's all relative. Our blessings are all relative
to Christ. Turn to one other Psalm. I like
this one, Psalm 65. Verse four, blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he
may dwell on thy courts, we shall be satisfied with the goodness
of thy house, even thy holy temple. Now I was tempted as I was looking
up that word blessed, I was tempted to take all 46 of those scriptures
and read each one of them and make a comment out of each of
those scriptures. And I may do that at some, some
point down the road. In this first Psalm, our Lord
is set before us as the blessed man, the man who is blessed above
all, the man who has earned blessedness as a God-man mediator by his
sovereign power, sovereign will, and gives blessedness to others
whom he pleases to bless by his gracious choice, by his sovereign
love. He chooses who he will bless. His elect, His chosen. He blessed
them with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He has made unto us all things
that we need, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that with glory, let him glory
only in the Lord. Now, three-point outline, verse
one through three, the Holy Spirit described for us this blessed
man. And we know we're talking about
the only one who fits this description is Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Messiah. In verses 4 and 5, we have a
sharp contrast in the description of the wicked ungodly believer
who is a cursed man. And then verse 6, we have a glorious
reminder for believers who are resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous. And we're only righteous in him,
right? Isaiah said, all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. And we all do faith as a leaf.
Christ alone is our righteousness. Now look, verse one, blessed
is the man that walketh not Notice, walking not, standeth not, sitteth
not, walketh not in the counsel of ungodly wicked men, nor stand
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Now the holiness and perfection described in these verses is
a fit and proper description only of the Lord of glory, the
Lord Jesus Christ. This can be said of no other
fallen son of Adam in himself. For we all, like sheep, have
gone astray. We've turned every one to our
own way. There is none righteous, no,
not one. Our Lord, when incarnate, as
God in human flesh, had no sin, knew no sin, and did no sin.
He was tempted and tested in all points like as we are, yet
without sin. He never walked. in the council
or by the council of ungodly men. He never stood in the way
of sinners being defiled with an inherent sin nature. He never
sat in the seat of a scorner like the scribes and Pharisees
did. They loved the uppermost seat.
Remember, beware, our Lord said of the scribes and Pharisees
which loved to go in long clothing and love salutation in the marketplace,
and the chief seat in the synagogue, in the upper room to the feast.
They love that seat of the scorner, critical, critical heart. Our
Lord said to those Pharisees, you or they would justify yourselves
before men, but God knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of God. Our blessed Lord
Jesus Christ never lifted His soul unto vanity. He never did
swear deceitfully, did He? Not as a God-man mediator. He
had an impeccable character. Turn over here to Psalm 24, verse 3. Described our Lord here
in Psalm 24. who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord, nor who shall stand in his holy place, either hath
clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and the righteousness from the God of his salvation."
Now who's that describing? None other than the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. He never lifted His soul to vanity. He never did swear deceitfully. Such a high priest became us.
Hebrews 7.26. He was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. Aren't you
glad He is made to you exactly what you need? Aren't you glad
He is your mediator, your intercessor, your advocate? who mediates for
us with His perfect sacrifice, with His perfect faithfulness
unto God. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that's the man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came in the way of humility
and perfection, perfect obedience even unto death. He took the
place of the lowest. as the righteous servant of God.
He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but took upon
him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. The
first Adam, He did go astray, didn't he? He did go after the
counsel of the ungodly, the wicked one. He did stand as a guilty
sinner. He did sit in the seat of the
scorner. And all humanity has gone astray,
and we all sinned in that first man, Adam. By one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. By one man, death entered in,
and guilt and judgment and condemnation came by that one man's disobedience. But in the second Adam, by one
man's disobedience, many were made sinners. By the obedience
of another, what? Shall many be made righteous.
I love that verse. Isn't that good news? By the
obedience of another, shall many be made righteous. Believers find their total blessedness,
not in the first Adam, but in the second Adam. Who is that?
Christ, our Lord, the second Adam. Believers find their total
blessedness only in Him. The law was given by Moses, grace
and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ and of His fullness have
we all received grace for grace. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily and we stand in Christ, we stand complete.
Look at verse 2. Psalm 1 verse 2. But his delight
is in the word of the Lord. That word law can be rendered
word of the Lord. And in his word doth he meditate
night and day, day and night. Again, these words can be applied
to no other than the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, for his
delight. Remember Psalm 40? Turn over
there. Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Here's delight. He says in verse 6 of Psalm 40,
"...sacrifice and offerings thou didst not desire, mine ears hast
thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come, and
the volume of the book it's written me, I delight." What did it say
over here? His delight is in the law of
the Lord. I delight to do Thy will, O my God. Yea, Thy law,
Thy word is within my heart. He's a preacher of righteousness.
I've not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. I've not hid Thy
righteousness within my heart. I've declared Thy faithfulness,
Thy salvation. I've not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the gray congregation. all of His people, all of His
elect. The delight of the Lord Jesus
Christ is to honor the holy law of God for His covenant people
in every precept and every penalty. Isaiah 42, 21 says this, The
Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake. He will magnify
the law and make it honorable for us. And that scripture we
read earlier, Matthew 5, 17, remember? I quote this all the
time. Our Lord said, think not I come
to destroy the law or the prophets. I came out to destroy, but to
fulfill it, to honor it. God's law must be satisfied. And that's the glory of the gospel,
how God can be a just God and Savior, how he can be just and
the justifier. Every believer in Christ has
honored the holy law of God perfectly. by Christ our representative. You remember, Paul writes this
in Romans 3, do we make void the law through faith? God forbid. He says, yea, we establish the
law through faith. Faith looks where? Faith looks
to Christ, His obedience, His faithfulness. As our mediator,
as our intercessor, He always went about the Father's business,
obeying His will, His word. He prayed in the garden when
that great agony of our sin was put upon Him, and He's sweating
great drops of blood, and He prays, not my will, Thy will
be done, submitted to the Father's will. He did meditate night and
day upon the Perfection of God's Holy Word. He had perfection
of thought, righteous in every motive, never a contrary word
or thought to perfect holiness. His obedience was perfect. God speaks from Heaven. He said,
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Perfect holiness. By the virtue
of our union with Him, being joined together with Him, we
are blessed with the very righteousness that He worked out for us. We are accepted in the Beloved,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I don't turn because you're
familiar with this, but let me read it to you. In Romans 4,
verse 3, for what saith the Scripture, Abraham believed God, It was
counted to him for righteousness. What did Abraham believe? He
believed Christ. Our Lord said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. He saw it and was glad. Abraham
believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness, imputed
to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is reward,
not reckoning of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifies ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Faith works to Christ. Even as
David also described the blessedness of the man, we just read this
in Psalm 32, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works,
saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose
sins are covered. Blessed is a man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. That's a blessed man. That's
what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're accepted in the
Beloved. Now look at verse 3. And He,
the Lord Jesus, He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water. He is the tree of life. He is
the water of life. Rivers of water that bringeth
forth fruit in His season, His leaf. also shall not wither or
fade, and whatsoever he does, it shall prosper again. We have
another description of the Lord. He shall be like a tree planted,
planted by the purpose of God from all eternity as a surety
and savior of his covenant people, the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, and in the fullness of time revealed and made flesh,
and he dwelt among us. You remember Galatians chapter
4 verse 4 from our Bible study in the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law to
redeem them that were under the law. but now is made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who hath abolished
death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Who else but the Lord Jesus Christ could be called the tree of life?
Revelation 22, he showed me a pure river of water of life. clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And in the midst
of the street, on either side of the river, there was a tree
of life, which bared twelve manner of fruit, yielding her fruit
every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of nations. Who else but the Lord Jesus Christ
is called the rivers of living water? Don't turn when you read
this to you. In Isaiah 32, A description of
the Lord, verse 2. A man shall be a hiding place
from the wind, a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water
in a dry place, as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Who else could be called the
tree of life? Who else could be called the rivers, rivers
of water? Who else can bring forth fruit,
fruit unto salvation in his season? None but the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who else but Christ is the one that flourishes always. He brings
forth fruit in his season. Our Lord said, because I live,
you shall live also. Salvation to sinners is only
through the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the true vine.
I am the true vine. And those in that vine have life
because they're connected to the vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who else but Christ of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Can it be said, whatever he does
shall prosper? You remember Isaiah 53? Let me
read it to you. Don't turn. You're familiar with
this. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand." Prosper, everything he does prospers, prospers. Turn over here to Psalm 45. You
remember this Psalm, it's one of my favorite. Psalm 45 talks
about how he prospers. Psalm 45 Thou art favor than
the children of men, verse two. Psalm 45, grace is poured into
thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Gird thy
sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and with
thy majesty, and in thy majesty ride prosperously. or prosper
thou in your ride of truth, meekness, righteousness, and thy right
hand shall teach thee terrible or tremendous things. Thine arrows
are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people
fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. He shall prosper, and whatever
he does, it shall prosper. It shall prosper. His leaf also shall not wither,
shall not fade. His salvation is forever. He
saves us with an everlasting salvation. Now, here's the contrast. Here's the contrast. The ungodly are not so. The ungodly
are not so. Now this is what every man is
by nature. This is what every man is by
birth. In Adam we sinned. We're born in sin, shaped in
iniquity. There's none righteous, no, not
one. The ungodly are not so. The ungodly
are not like the Lord Jesus Christ. The ungodly are not so. They're
like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, The ungodly
shall not stand in judgment, not justified, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous." Now let's take a look at verse
4 and 5. Here's a sad contrast. Now what a contrast between the
blessed man and the wicked man. The ungodly are not so. They
do walk in their own ungodly counsel and way. They do stand
in the sinner's way of rebellion and unbelief. They do love the
seed of the scorner. They do not delight in the word
of the Lord. Therefore, they shall not prosper
or flourish or thrive, but rather shall perish in their sin left
to themselves. All that are not engrafted into
the true vine, the Lord Jesus Christ, are like chaff. worthless,
fit to be blown away and destroyed when the Lord comes to gather
his wheat into his barn and he will burn up the chaff. Our Lord
said this in Matthew 15, every plant which my heavenly Father
had not planted shall be rooted up. The ungodly, that is all
sons of Adam, who are without Christ, who are empty, empty
without God, without hope, and without Christ, meaningless,
worthless chaff that is to be stripped from the wheat and blown
out into the field. God hateth all the workers of
iniquity. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. Psalm 5.5, Thou hatest all the
workers of iniquity. The ungodly are not so. Our Lord
said this, Recorded in Matthew 3, I indeed,
this is John speaking, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall
baptize you with the oil of goats and with fire, whose fan is in
his hand. He will thoroughly purge his
floor, gather his wheat into the garner, his barn, but will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. When the great day of His
wrath has come, who shall be able to stand? Verse 5. Therefore,
the ungodly shall not stand. God has appointed a day of judgment
in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. In that day of judgment, the
righteous judge shall eternally separate the sheep from the goats
and the wheat from the tares, and do so righteously and justly. Our Lord said in Matthew 25,
And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd doth divide his sheep from the
goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats
on the left. Then shall the king say to them
on his right hand, Come ye blessed in my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. There's going to
be a great separation. between those found in Christ
and those who stand before God without Christ. Now, look at
verse 6 in closing. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous. The Lord is that way. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. The foundation of God
standeth sure, having is sealed. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. That's familiar, isn't it? Somebody
brought a message from that recently. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, those in Christ Jesus, but the way of the ungodly shall
perish. The Lord approves the way of
the righteous because He is the Lord our righteousness. The way
of righteousness is the way ordained of God. The way of righteousness
is the way of faith looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. The way
of righteousness is the way of grace alone, Christ alone, for
he established the way and he puts us in the way, doesn't he? The way of the ungodly, the last
part of verse six, but the way of the righteous is much different
than the way of the ungodly. That way that appeals to the
flesh that seems logical and right according to our carnal
mind shall end in destruction. Man by nature has this inherent
thought that if he's moral enough, upright enough, and he's good
enough, that he's going to pass the mustard of God's judgment.
Not going to happen. There is a way which seems right
unto men But the end of that way is death. If we could work
out a righteousness by our morality that would be satisfying unto
God, we don't need the Lord Jesus Christ. But because we are inherently
wicked, and because of carnal minded enmity against God, and
because we love darkness not light, thank God he came to save
us by his grace. May our great Redeemer be pleased
to reveal himself unto us and reveal himself to us as the blessed
man that we need. He is the God-man mediator, and
he is our Savior. And may we, by his grace, find
total confidence and assurance of salvation in him. We read a while ago, blessed
is the man that trusteth the Lord. Blessed is the man that
trusteth the Lord. Can you find Jeremiah chapter
17? Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jeremiah 17. There's a contrast again given
here in Jeremiah 17. You want to turn and read, you
can. If not, just listen. Jeremiah
17 verse 5. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be
the man that trusteth in man, that maketh flesh his arm, his
power, whose hearts departed from the Lord. For he shall be
like a heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh,
but shall inhabit the parts places in the wilderness, in a salt
land not inhabited. Oh, but blessed is the man that
trusteth in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is. He shall be a tree,
like a tree planted by the waters. That's that tree we read about,
that spread out her roots by the river, and shall not see
when the heat cometh. But her leaf shall be green,
and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall
cease from yielding fruit. That's us in Christ. Blessed,
blessed, blessed, blessed man. Blessed is that man.