Turning this evening to the book
of Psalms, the first one, the first one, Psalm 1, blessed is
the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. Blessed man. Now, I don't know
about you, but I trust this is true. I think it is for all of
God's people. They enjoy reading the Word of
God. truly enjoy reading the Scriptures,
but especially in reference to the book of Psalms. I enjoy reading
and meditating and preaching from the book of Psalms, don't
you? God's Word. These Psalms, which
are songs of praise, they lift my soul, instruct my heart, and
cause me to fall before Him in reverence and worship. before God, causes me in my heart
as it describes God's blessedness and God's mercy to sinners. It causes us to adore the Lord
Jesus Christ and view Him as He is altogether lovely. The Word of God is about Him.
As in all other portions of Scripture, the Psalms speak about the Lord
Jesus Christ. They speak about Him, His person. His work, His righteousness,
His redemption, His salvation. You see, it's all about Him,
isn't it? It's all about Him. I've heard
before that some of the old timers referred to this book of Psalms
as the hymn book. H-I-M. It's all about Him. And that can be said of all of
Scripture. For all of Scripture speaks of
a person. the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
the beauty of the word is that it describes this person in whom
we are in love with. Our Lord said this in Luke 24. He said, All things must be fulfilled
which are written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning, He said, concerning me. The book
of Psalms is all about Christ. Martin Luther called the book
of Psalms, the little Bible, or the condensed version of the
Bible. Robert Hocker, another commentator
said, an old 1800, 1850, he lived, said the book of Psalms is the
epitome or the essence of the Bible, the essence of the Bible,
here in the book of Psalms, 150 Psalms. Jonathan Edwards, one of the
great theologians that lived in this country back in the early
1700s, middle 1720, 30, 40, 50, long in there. Jonathan Edwards
said of the book of Psalms, here Christ is spoken of in a multitude
of glorious, glorious hymns about Christ. Truly no other book in
the Old Testament is so often quoted in the New Testament as
the book of Psalms. Isaiah is referred to often,
but not as often as the book of Psalms. Peter, when he stood
at Pentecost, referred to the book of Psalms. The first sermon
that Paul preached, he referred to the book of Psalms again. Now the Lord, even the Lord Himself,
There, as he marches toward Calvary's tree, just a day or two before
he's crucified, as he's teaching in the temple, and all those
people, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and all of them come around him,
asking him various questions, the Lord Jesus Christ quoted
from Psalm 110, I'll read it for you as the Lord
presented it there in Mark chapter 12, it's recorded. And he said,
for David himself said by the Holy Ghost. That tells us a lot,
doesn't it? David himself said by the Holy
Ghost, the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till
I make thine enemies thy footstool. He is Lord. To the glory of God
the Father. Now, although David King David
was not used as the penman to record all the Psalms. Did you
realize that? All the Psalms are not given
or written by David, but I know this about all the Psalms and
all of God's Word, no matter who the scribe might be, all
the Word of God is given by God the Holy Spirit to show us and
to teach us The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. All Scripture
is God breathed. God given. Let me show you another
Scripture on that. If you'll find II Peter chapter
1. II Peter chapter 1. Look at verse 20. II Peter chapter 1 verse 20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the Scripture is of any private private interpretation, for the
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy
men of God spake as they were moved, spake as they were driven
by the Holy Spirit." All Scripture is God-breathed, God-given. I read it as such, I preach it
as such, I believe it as such, thus saith the Lord. Now the book of Psalms is a book
of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ, for the blessedness of salvation
accomplished by Him and the salvation that's in Him, salvation for
sinners in Christ, found and revealed, where is salvation
revealed? In Christ, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Notice the first word in Psalm
1 is blessed, blessed, Over in Psalm 150, the last Psalm, you
know how the book of Psalms ends? Praise ye the Lord. You see, He's the Alpha and Omega
of God's Word. He's the Alpha and Omega. That
means the beginning and the end of all salvation. He's it. He's everything. Christ is all
and in all. Now, in the first Psalm, Our
Lord is set before us as the blessed man, the blessed man,
the man who is blessed, the man who has earned blessedness, the
God-man mediator who by his sovereign power and will gives blessedness
to others, his elect. But we are blessed with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies only in the Lord Jesus Christ. God
has given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given him. He is the blessed
man. He earned that blessedness by
his righteousness, by his merit, by his obedience, by his death. And we are blessed only as we
are one in him. in Christ, for He has made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and He is my redemption." You
realize that everything this sinner needs to stand before
God completely justified, completely sanctified, is fully, eternally
supplied in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? Oh, to be found in Him. to be one with Him. Now, let
me give you this brief outline of Psalm 1. In verses 1 through
3, the Holy Spirit describes the blessed man, describes the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the blessed man. Our Lord
said, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He'll take the
things of Christ and reveal them unto us. In verses 1 through
3, we have the description of the blessed man. And then verses
4 and 5, we have a sharp contrast in the description of the ungodly
or those who are not blessed, but cursed of God. Cursed is
that man that trusteth in man, we read in Jeremiah 17. And then in the third point is
verse 6. Verse 6, a glorious reminder
for the believer resting in Christ, the Lord knows them that are
his. And then a strong warning for
the unbeliever, the way of the ungodly will perish, will perish. Now let's look at the first point,
the blessed man, the blessed man. Let's read verse 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, the word of the Lord, the testimony, the
statutes of the Lord, and in his word does he meditate day
and night, all the time. The holiness and perfection described
in these verses, verses 1 through 3, is a fit and proper description
only of the Lord Jesus Christ. This can be said of no son of
fallen Adam in himself, for we all like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to our own way. Our Lord when incarnate
as God in human flesh, He had no sin, He knew no sin, and He
did no sin. He is the blessed man, blessed
of God. He never walked in the counsel
of the ungodly, He never stood in the sinner's way as being
defiled by any inherent sin like we have. We're born in sin. He
never sat in the seat of the scorner like the scribes and
Pharisees. It's recorded in the Word. Our
Lord said, Beware of the scribes which love to go in long clothing
and love the salutations in the marketplaces and they love to
The uppermost seats, the chief seats, and the upper rooms of
the feast. He never sat in the seat of the
scorner. Ridiculing. Not at all. He never lifted up his soul to
vanity. He never did swear deceitfully.
Turn over here to Psalm 24. Psalm 24, Luke verse 3. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? Now how holy does one have to
be to stand in the presence of the Lord as holy as God? He that hath, there's the question,
who shall ascend? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn
deceitfully, He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and
righteousness from the God of His salvation." Now again, that
is a fit description of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never did lift
up His soul to vanity. He never did swear any deceit. There was no guile in His mouth.
Yes, He was a real man, but not a sinner. He never committed
sin. In the Scripture in Hebrews 7,
for such a high priest became us who was holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners. He's made higher than the heavens. He was tempted in all points
like as we are yet without sin. He came in a way of humiliation.
He came in a way of perfect obedience even unto death. He took the
place of the lowest as the righteous servant of God, but he never
lifted his soul to vanity. Not at all. He became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. He thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, but took upon him the form of
a servant. And as a form of a servant, obeyed
God and lived a perfect life honoring God's law for us. And
then died under the curse and judgment of that law, putting
away our sins. The first Adam did go astray. The first Adam did lift up his
soul to vanity. He did go after the counsel of
the ungodly. He believed, he allied himself
with Satan and did not believe God. The first Adam did go astray. He did go after the counsel of
the ungodly, the wicked ones, Satan himself. He did stand as
a guilty sinner. He did sit in the seat of the
scorner. I'll be like God. And all humanity has gone astray
in that first man, Adam. For in Adam all have died. In Adam by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners. We've all sinned to come short
of the glory of God. Believers, now believers find
their total and only hope of salvation and blessedness only
in Christ. Only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now one of the Apostle Paul, who was a very religious man
when he was known as Saul of Tarsus, he said, I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and I
count them but, you remember the word? Dung. You know what
that is? Manure. That's what barnyard
animals produce. He's equating his former religious
works as nothing but manure. And then he says, Oh, that I
may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness
of the law, but that which is through the blessedness of that
blessed man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers find their total hope
of salvation only in Him. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Him, in Him, we are complete. Now look at verse 2. Psalm 1,
verse 2. But, speaking of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Here's our Savior. Here's our
righteousness. Here's our acceptance before
God. His delight is in God's holy law. That law that thundered
there at Sinai's mountain when God gave the law. That law that
made the earth real and quake and smoke and lightning and thunder. And the people said, we don't
want anything to do with God. Moses interceded for us. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the giver of the law. And He delights in
His Word. He delights in His law. He delights
in that testimony of God, and in His Word, in His own law,
does He meditate day and night. The blessedness. His delight
is in His own holy law. Again, these words can be applied
to no other, to none other, than the God-man, Mediator, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That is His delight. the Word
of the Lord. Turn over here to, and the will
of the Lord. Turn over here to Psalm 40. Psalm
40, look at verse 7. Psalm 40 verse 6 says, Sacrifice
and offerings thou didst not desire, the blood of bulls and
goats cannot take away sin. My ear hast thou opened, burnt
offerings and sin offerings thou hast not required. Then said
I, lo, I come, and the volume of the book is written of me.
I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart."
He delights in the law of God. His delight is to honor God's
holy law for His covenant people, as I've said to you so many times,
in precept and in penalty. Now, Isaiah 42. 21. Jot that
reference down if you'd like to. But it tells us something
of the Lord Jesus Christ honoring God's law. Isaiah 42, 21. Let
me just quote it for you. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law. He will
magnify the law and make it honorable. Now, did He need a righteousness
Himself? No. He is the righteous Lord. As the God-man mediator, He's
working out a righteousness, not for Himself, but for His
people, for us. He magnified the law of God.
He honored the law of God. Matthew 5, 17, our Lord said,
ìThink not I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I came
not to destroy, but I came to fulfill.î Do you understand and
realize the believer resting in Christ, our Lord says to us
in His Holy Word that the Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Every believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ has honored the law as it's fulfilled
by our surety, by our substitute, by the representative man, the
Lord Jesus. You remember Romans 3, 31. The
Apostle Paul asked this question, do we then make void the law
through the gospel? Do we just cast aside the law
through faith? Do we cast aside the law? Not
at all. He said, God forbid. Yea, he
said, we establish the law. We honor the law. How? In the
Lord Jesus Christ. Do we make void the law through
faith? God forbid. We establish it. How? In Christ,
we have honored God's law in the Lord Jesus Christ. As a mediator,
he was always about the Father's business. As our mediator, there's
just one mediator, always obeying the will and word of God. He
prayed that way in the garden. He said, not my will, but thy
will be done. He prayed that way, ìMy Father,
Iíve glorified Thee on the earth. Iíve finished the work You gave
me to do.î He did meditate night and day. When we read through
the Gospels, many times we read of the Lord Jesus Christ going
out alone by Himself and praying all night. He did meditate night
and day, always about His Fatherís business, accomplishing salvation
for us. He did meditate night and day,
day and night. He had perfection of thought.
He had righteousness as motive and never had a contrary thought
or motive contrary to perfect holiness. Never. He was tempted
and tried in all points like as we are yet without sin. That's my Savior. That's my Lord. That's my hope. I pin all my
hopes on Him. All my salvation stands or falls
based upon His obedience, not mine. In His law, in His Word,
He did honor. In the law of God, the Lord Jesus
did honor God's holy law in all aspects. By the virtue of our
union with Him, being joined together with Him, we are blessed
with the very righteousness He worked out for us. Now let me
show you a Scripture. Turn over here to Romans chapter
4. Romans chapter 4. And Paul, when
he quotes this from Romans, written in Romans chapter 4, do you know
where it comes from? It comes from Psalm 32. And here
it describes the believer in Christ being a blessed man. In
Roman chapter 4, look what it says in verse 6. Even as David
also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness, imputeth, imputeth ongoing righteousness without
work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
whose sins are covered, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will
not impute sin." That's a blessed man. And that's the believer
in Christ Jesus. In the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are accepted in the Beloved. Now look at verse 3. Back at
Psalm 1 verse 3. Spending most of our time here
talking about the blessed man. The Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it great to have a Savior
that's owned and recognized, provided of God? You know what,
God? What the Lord has provided, and only what the Lord has provided,
will He accept. And we're accepted in the Beloved.
Look at verse 3. And He shall be like... He's
not like a shrub, not like a tumbleweed. He's like a tree. He's like that
giant oak tree that's planted by the rivers of water that brings
forth fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
it shall not fade, and whatsoever he doeth, it will prosper." Prosper. Now, again, this is talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall be like a tree, planted,
purposed and planted by God from all eternity as the surety and
Savior of His people. He's a Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, and in the fullness of time revealed and made manifest
in the flesh. Who else but Christ is called
the Tree of Life? And that's what He's called.
Find Revelation 22. He is the Tree of Life. Revelation 22, look at verse
1. He said, I'm the true vine, you're
the branches. Revelation 22, the last chapter
of the Bible. And 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 was a tree of life, which bare twelve
manner of fruits, yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves
of the tree were the healing of the nations. Christ is our
healing. Who else but Christ is the tree
of life? Who else but Christ is the one
who always flourishes, who brings forth fruit in his season? He says, because I live, you
shall live. Who else but Christ brings forth
salvation unto his people? Neither is there salvation in
any other. He said, I am the true vine. He said, without me,
you can do nothing. Who else but the Lord Jesus Christ
can it be said of, that whatsoever..." We can't say this. He can. "...whatsoever he does shall
prosper." Shall prosper. Isaiah 53.10, you remember? "...please
the Lord to bruise him." And then it says in Isaiah 53.10,
"...the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Whatever
he does, whatever he puts his hand to, It shall prosper. It shall and will prosper. Don't
turn, but let me just read this to you. It says here, Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that's what He did in heaven and earth and
the seas and all deep places. Whatever our great Lord does,
it will prosper. He said, My word will not return
unto me void, but He will be pleased to send it and prosper
it. whereunto it pleases Him. Only
about the Lord Jesus Christ is it written in Isaiah 42 when
God says, Behold My servant, My elect, and whom My soul delighteth.
You remember? And then it says of Him in Isaiah
42 verse 4, it says, He shall not fail. I'm a failure from
the get-go. Born a failure and will die a
failure. The Lord Jesus Christ shall never
fail. never fail. He shall not wither,
He shall not fade as a leaf. His power, His salvation is forever
and ever. He obtained for us eternal redemption,
He gives unto us eternal salvation, and He grants and bestows unto
us eternal life, and it shall prosper. Isaiah 65, I remind you of these
words, but we all are as a unclean thing, and all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, and we all do fade like a leaf. You look at these beautiful trees
right now as we're driving down the road. Some of those trees
last week had a lot of leaves on them. Now they're gone. We all do fade as a leaf, and
our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. It is only by Christ and through
Him and in Him that we have eternal life and salvation. Only in Him
are we nourished and sustained and kept by His power. That's the blessed man. He shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth
forth fruit in his season. It does. And his leaf will never
fail. His power will never diminish.
His kingdom will never end. And whatever he does, oh, I tell
you, it'll prosper. It'll prosper. Now, here's the
flip side. Here's the sad contrast. Sad
but true. The ungodly are not so. And here
he's talking about unbelievers, the rebel, the reprobate. The
ungodly are not so, but they're like the chaff. which the wind
drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. The ungodly are not so." Now
here he is talking about unbelievers. They do not walk, they do rather,
they do walk in their own ungodly counsel and way. They do stand
in the way, they do stand as sinners in the 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,
flourish, thrive, but rather will wither and perish in their
sin. All that are not engrafted into
the true vine, the Lord Jesus Christ, are like the chaff, the
worthless chaff, fit to be blown away and destroyed. When the
Lord comes to gather His wheat into His barn, He says He will
burn up the chaff. Now, you young people know what
the chaff is? You have to go back. Let me give
you a farming lesson. When you plant wheat, okay, bread,
when they take that, when the wheat is in full maturity, they
send out the combine or the harvest crew and they take the wheat,
and they crush the little wheat head, but out of that wheat head
is covered by what we call a thin skin of chaff. So what they do,
they beat that wheat to knock off all the chaff, and then you've
seen them old time pictures of the old farmers throwing that
thrashed wheat up into the air. and the wind blows the chaff
away and the whole grain falls to the ground, separating the
chaff from the grain. I hope I explained that right.
But the chaff is worthless, see? They just throw it up and they
get a good windy day and they blow it away. Nowadays we use
these fancy machines called combines which All that is mechanized
and they have a way of doing that. But still, the chaff, if
you look at the back of a combine, the chaff is blown out on the
ground and thrown away. While they take the wheat in
the grain bin and they offload it into a truck and take it to
the silo and put it in the silo and store it. Well, that's what
the Lord is saying here. All that are not engrafted into
the Lord Jesus Christ are like the worthless chaff that's blown
away from the wheat. Our Lord said, Every plant which
my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. The ungodly,
that is all the sons of Adam who are without Christ, are as
empty and meaningless as the worthless chaff that is stripped
from the wheat and blown into the field. The ungodly are like
the chaff driven with the wind. Now we read these words given
by John the Baptist. He said, I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance, that he that cometh after me is mightier
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand. He will throughly purge his floor
and gather his wheat into the garner, into the barn, but will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Look at verse 5. In our Psalm
1, verse 5, "...therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
When the great day of His wrath is come, who shall be able to
stand?" One page over, look at Psalm 5, verse 5. The foolish shall not stand.
You see that? Psalm 5, 5. For thou art not
a God that hath pleasure in wickedness. Verse 4. Neither shall evil dwell
with thee. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. Thou hatest all the workers of
iniquity. The ungodly shall not stand.
The foolish shall not stand. The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God. On the day of judgment, the righteous
judge shall eternally separate eternally separate the sheep
from the goats, the wheat from the tares. Our Lord said in Matthew
13, let them both grow together until the harvest time. In the
harvest time, I'll say to the reapers, gather ye first the
tares and bind them in bundles and burn them, but gather my
wheat into the barn. In Matthew 25, These words are written for us
concerning that day of judgment. He said, Before him shall be
gathered all nations. He shall separate them one from
another. As a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, he
shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the king say unto them on the right hand, His sheep,
come ye blessed of my Father, and inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now what a contrast. Now look
at verse 6 in closing. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, but the way of the ungodly will perish. The Lord
knows those sheep that are His. That's how He can wisely separate
the sheep and the goats, the wheat from the tares. The Lord
knoweth the way of the righteous. The Lord approves of the way
of the righteous because He is the way, the truth, and the life. He said, No man cometh to the
Father but by and through Me. The way of the righteous is the
way ordained of the Lord, as many as were ordained to eternal
life believe. The way of the righteous are
those who are written of over here in Psalm 37. Let me see
if I can find it for you. It talks about the steps of a
good man are ordered of the Lord And he delighteth in his way. Psalm 37 verse 23. The way of the righteous is the
way of faith, looking only to the Lord Jesus Christ. The way
of the righteous is the way of grace alone, Christ alone, faith
alone. For he established the way, he
upholds the way, and he puts us in the way. And the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself is the way. Christ is the way. The Scripture
over in II Timothy 2, 19 declares this, nevertheless the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them
that are His. How long has He known? That means
He loves them. The Lord loves those people who
are His. He's loved His people with an
everlasting love. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. Let everyone that name the name of Christ depart from any
other hope, which is nothing but iniquity. But the way of
the... And here's in closing a warning. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous. He knows his own. He loves his
own. But the way of the ungodly, the
way of the rebel, the way of the reprobate, the way of those
who say, away with him, we have no king but Caesar. That way
that appears right unto men, that way will perish. It will
end in eternal condemnation. That way that appeals to the
flesh, that seems logical and right according to the carnal
mind, shall end in total destruction. And then the Lord will say in
that day, depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never,
I never knew you. I never knew you. I leave you
with these words. May our great, blessed Redeemer
be pleased to reveal Himself unto us, who this blessed man
is. And may we find our total hope,
confidence, and assurance of salvation only in Christ. And may we say with the Apostle
Paul, as I quoted earlier, that we may count all things lost,
that we might win Christ and be found in Him." Well, I would
encourage you to study that psalm tomorrow in the days following. And see if you can't find some
other things that I haven't mentioned about the blessed man. Because
the book is an infinite book. An infinite book.