to the first psalm. Someone asked me after we finished
the message last week, looking at the last days of Moses' life
in this world, what book I might preach from in the days ahead. And I didn't know, but I've had
this psalm on my heart and I thought I would bring a message tonight
from this first psalm. And if the Lord allows, maybe
on Wednesday evenings bring other messages from the psalms. Not
every psalm, but several messages from the psalms. Blessed is the
man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth
he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind draveth away. Therefore, the
ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the
congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. I'm sure tonight if you were
to ask the average person on the street, Who is the blessed
man? Who is a blessed man? And this
word that is translated blessed is a plural word, and it could
be translated the blessedness, blessednesses. Blessednesses
is the man. I wonder how many different responses
we would get from people on the street as to who and they think
is a blessed man. I'm sure there would be a number
of people who would think, well, a person who has great riches,
he would be the blessed man. Someone else would respond maybe
with the person who has great fame, who is well known, recognized
all all over the country. Others would think, well, a person
that has great power and great influence in this world. How
different do we say tonight does the Lord speak about the blessed
man? It's impossible for you and I,
for those of us who know the Lord is our Lord and as our savior. It's impossible for us to tell
just how blessed we are, how blessed every child of God is. The psalmist in Psalm 139 in
verse 17, he said this, how precious also are thy thoughts unto me,
O God. How great is the sum of them. How great is the sum, the number
of God's thoughts concerning his people. How blessed, blessed
is the man, the scripture says. Arthur Pink in his book, Leanings
in the Godhead, one of the chapters he has is on the gifts of God,
the gifts of God. And he begins that chapter with
these words, a giving God, what a concept. A giving God, what
a concept. Do I regret? Our familiarity
with it often dulls our sense of wonderment at it. There is
nothing that resembles such a concept in the religions of heathendom."
Nothing, he said, resembles such a concept, that God is a giving
God. And then, Arthur Pink lists in
that chapter seven gifts of God and makes his comments upon them. Number one, the gift of his son.
And number two, the gift of his spirit. Number three, the gift
of life. Number four, the gift of spiritual
understanding. And number five, the gift of
faith. And number six, the gift of repentance. And number seven, the gift of
grace. I thank my God always on your
behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. Now tonight, in this psalm, I
want to point out three positive things which are declared about
the blessed man, the man that God calls blessed. First, the
blessed man has a great esteem for the word of God. Notice in
verse two we read, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and
in his law doth he meditate day and night. The blessed man, the
happy man, has a great esteem for the word of God. Now I think
every one of us tonight would call Job The Old Testament patriarch,
Job, was a blessed man, and listen to what he said about the word
of God. He said, I have esteemed the
words of his mouth, that is the words of God's mouth, more than
my necessary food. Now Job, in comparison to David,
and David in comparison to us, had a very small portion of the
Word of God, the Word which you and I have. Yet they both had
a great esteem, great esteem for the Word of God. And I want
us to look at these two things that are mentioned here about
the blessed man and the Word of God. First, he delights in
the Word of God. He delights in the Word of God.
A person We show our delight in whatever it might be in various
ways. Our delight will be manifested. If you delight a certain type
of food, if you delight to eat seafood, that's going to be manifested
by the restaurants you visit or the food that you bring into
your house. If you delight in Mexican food, and that seems
to be something that this area of the world at least loves.
It's going to be manifested in your life by the restaurants
you go to eat at and the food that you prepare in your home.
And the same thing is true of a man who delights, whose delight
is in the word of God. It's going to be manifested in
his life. And I thought of these three
ways, at least, in which it will be manifested if I truly delight
in the Word of God. First of all, I'm going to read
the Word of God. I'm going to read His Word if
I delight in His Word. I'm going to study His Word.
And I'm going to hear His Word preached if I delight in His
Word. The Word of God, the written
Word of God is to our soul what bread is to our body. It is the
staff of life. The man who is blessed of God,
he delights in the Word of God. Now the second thing that we
are told about this man is, in relation to the Word of God,
he meditates in the Word of God. One of the writers compared meditation
to digestion. Meditation is to reading the
word of God what digestion is to eating. Without the slow and
lengthened process of digestion, food would not nourish our bodies. And without meditation, the word
read will not nourish our soul. Now I thought as I prepared these
notes of a practice that I learned many years ago, I'm sad to say
I haven't practiced it, but I'll give it to you. I'm sure you've
heard this, but every morning when you read the word of God
or every morning, take one verse of scripture. one verse of scripture,
and just write it out on a piece of paper, small slip of paper,
and put it in your pocket, and as you go through the day, and
as opportunity allows, pull it out and read it. And put it back
in your pocket, and then you have another opportunity, a break
at work, a lunch break, or however it is. You spend your day, but
over and over and over. Same verse, same verse of scripture,
And this is a way that we learn to meditate upon the Word of
God. And not only in that way do we
meditate upon the Word of God, but we commit the Word of God
to our memory. I remember the psalmist said,
thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I would not sin against
thee. The Word of God. We sang that
hymn a few weeks ago for the first time, I believe Bill led
us in it. about hiding God's word in our
heart. And I hope we can sing that again. But that's the first thing. The
blessed man has a great esteem for the word of God. Each one
of us can check ourselves tonight. If I am a blessed man, a happy
man, then I have a great esteem for the word of God. Now I know
I'm preaching to the choir tonight, but that's okay. We need to esteem
God's word, and we do, don't we? God's children do. David's
testimony was this in Psalm 119, and that psalm is the longest
psalm, of course, and it's all about the word of God. You say,
well, how could he find that many statements to say about
the word of God? Well, that's how rich and how
full. the Word of God is, but in verse 128, he said, I steam
all thy precepts, all thy precepts, or in other words, all the Word
of God, I steam all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. I steam thy precepts, all thy
precepts concerning all things to be right. In other words,
about creation. We hear other opinions and other
beliefs. David said, I esteem thy precepts
to be right about all things, about creation, about providence,
about salvation. It's not, well, I feel it ought
to be this way, or I think it ought to be this way. Well, that
may be good if your thoughts and your feelings are based upon
the word of God, but if not, Your thoughts and your feelings
are not that valuable, not in comparison to God's word. And I'm thankful tonight that
we may be able to say, I esteem all the precepts concerning all
things to be right. Now, the second thing we say
about this blessed man in this psalm, the blessed man is like
a tree. Notice that in verse three, he
shall be like a tree. Now he's likened, the blessed
man is likened to a tree, but it's not just any tree. There's
a lot of trees in the forest. No, he's likened to a tree, but
it's not just any tree that the blessed man is likened unto. He's likened unto these things. about a tree. First of all, it
is a tree that is planted. That's the first thing. He shall
be like a tree planted. Now, I want you to look with
me, if you will, in Matthew chapter 15. Who planted this tree? God did. He shall be like a tree planted. His planting is not the product
of the wind. It's not the product of accident
or chance or anything like that, but his planning is the product
of God's purpose and God's grace. In Matthew chapter 15, beginning
with verse 10, we read, and he called the multitude, that is
the Lord Jesus, called the multitude and said unto them, hear and
understand. Not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth a man. Now that's what the religious
leaders were teaching of that day. And that's the reason they
had all their ceremonies, washing their hands, and this, that,
and the other. But the Lord said it's not, that's not what defileth
a man. But that which cometh out of
the mouth, this defileth a man. That which cometh out of the
mouth cometh out of the heart. And the scripture says, the heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? Aren't you thankful for a new
heart? That's one of the covenant promises,
isn't it? A new heart. But let's read on. Then came his disciples and said
unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended? They
were offended, Lord, at what you said about Things that defile
a person is not that which goes in, but that which comes out.
And really, if I could just read into this a little, Lord, you
offended the Pharisees, now these people could help us. These people
could be a big help to us in getting this kingdom started
and off the ground. And here you have offended them.
Notice how our Lord responds. But he answered and said, Every
plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Let them alone. They be blind
leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both
shall fall in the ditch. Every plant which my Heavenly
Father hath not planted This tree, this blessed man is likened
to a tree, but it is a tree that is planted, is planted by God. As to its planting in God's purpose,
this tree was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. And as to God's work, He has
removed it from its native soil. This tree has been removed from
its native soil and been planted by God our Father. Now, the native soil in which
this tree came or was found, I thought of those verses in
1 Corinthians 6, where the apostle said, know you not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Know you not that the
unrighteous are not going to inherit the kingdom of God? And
such were some of you." In other words, that was our native soul.
That's what we lived in and were part of, born into sin. Sinners by nature, sinners by
choice, sinners by practice. Such were some of you. I'm so
thankful for that interjection, aren't you? But, that's what
you were. And then he lists a number of
other things there, but then that next verse says, and such
were some of you, but you were washed. Oh, praise God for his
washing, the washing of regeneration, washing. sanctified, but you're
sanctified, but you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God. He is planted somewhere else. He was in his native soil, but
now he's been planted in Christ in the household of God. And that's not all. He's likened
to a tree, a tree planted, but He's likened to a tree planted
by rivers of waters. For a tree to flourish, it must
have water. And you notice this word is plural. He's planted by the rivers of
water. Those of God's planting have
a constant supply of God's grace. a constant supply of God's grace. It's a reservoir of grace in
Christ that never runs dry. If you would, think about the
lake up here, Lake Conroe, that supplies water for this city.
That lake, Christ is, in a sense, pictured by that lake that's
full. It's full, and it's full for
his people. In John chapter 1 and verse 14,
we're told that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us
and we beheld his glory full, not partially full, not three
quarters full, no, full of grace and truth. And then two verses
later, John tells us of his fullness, of his fullness have we all received. and grace for grace. We're never
going to outuse His grace. He's full of grace. And we receive
grace upon grace from Him. No, He told that woman at the
well of Samaria, whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst. Never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. So the blessed man is like a
tree planted, like a tree planted by the rivers of water. And then
the third thing we're told, he is likened to a fruit tree that
brings forth fruit in his season. The Lord Jesus said, the tree
is known by its fruit. And in another place he said,
make the tree good and then the fruit will be good. A tree is
known by its fruit. Some of the fruit that the blessed
man must be, must be the negatives that this psalm begins with.
Some of the fruit that is produced in this man He walketh not in
the counsel of the ungodly. He standeth not in the way of
sinners, nor sitteth in the seed of the scornful. This is the
fruit that this tree is producing in his life. He no longer stands
and sits and walks in the same conversation of life that he
once did. He brings forth fruit. In Psalm
92 and verse 13, the psalmist said, those that be planted in
the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of God. And I like
this. In old age, these trees, you
know, a tree after so long, after so long of living in this world,
many times they just quit bearing fruit, don't they? An orange
tree or apple tree, and they just dig them up and replace
it with a new tree. That's not so concerning the
blessed man. The blessed man, because God
has planted him in his house, in his family, and even till
old age, he will still be bringing forth fruit. And that's a, that's
a message in itself, isn't it? How that, that God's people always
are bringing forth fruit and in many different ways. You know,
I think of someone who brings forth fruit by suffering. I mean,
that's all I can say. The suffering this person has
experienced and continues to experience and yet, bringing
forth fruit. You say, what, what is the fruit?
Well, one thing is the attitude. I mean, you go to visit this
person, you try maybe to go there to read the scriptures and pray
with them and be, be an encouragement to them and you come away and
you're the one who was encouraged. You're the one who was blessed
just by the attitude. And that's true in so many different
ways. But the believer, the blessed
man, I should say, the blessed man is like a tree, like a tree
planted by God, planted by the river, a tree that is a fruit
tree. It brings forth good fruit, not
evil fruit. And then number four, he is likened
to a tree whose leaf does not wither. That's strange, isn't
it? The leaf doesn't wither. In Psalm
52, in verse 8, again, the psalmist said that he was like a green
olive tree whose leaf does not wither. Like a green olive tree
in the house of the Lord. And John Gill said that the leaves
of the olive trees on the Mount of Olives are green and durable. In other words, according to
him, like an evergreen, an evergreen tree, his leaf also does not
wither. And not only are those leaves
on those tree olive trees, green but durable, and and they're
the leaves and the branches are signs are symbols of peace, peace,
And then here's the fifth thing, the last thing, whatsoever he
doeth shall prosper. Now think about that, this blessed
man, like a tree. And the last thing we're told
is that whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Whatsoever he doeth
according to the word of God shall prosper. Remember that
word in Isaiah chapter 3 and verse 10 where God told Isaiah
to say unto the righteous, it shall be well. It shall be well. Isn't it wonderful tonight as
a child of God to know that our God is in charge, that he's in
control, and that he worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will? and that he works all things
together for the good of his people? Isn't that a wonderful
truth and blessing to consider? No matter what trial or what
difficulty you're going through, what tribulation you may be experiencing,
you know that this didn't happen by accident. This is somehow
part of God's plan for me, and I know it's going to be It is
for my good, I know that. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Charles Spurgeon in his comment
here said, and I quote, it is not outward prosperity which
the Christian most desires and values. It's not outward prosperity. We've learned by the grace of
God to be content with whatever the Lord has given us, haven't
we? Having food and raiment, let us therefore, or therewith,
be content. We've all got so much. The Lord's
blessed us with so much. But Spurgeon said, it's not outward
prosperity which the Christian most desires and values, it is
soul prosperity which he longs for. And then he went on to say,
as there is a curse wrapped up in the wicked man's mercies,
so there is a blessing concealed in the righteous man's crosses,
losses, and sorrows. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. All right, here's the third,
the last thing. Notice in verse six, here's the third thing about
this righteous man. He esteems the word of God greatly. He's like a tree. And number
three, the third, the Lord knoweth the way of the blessed man. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous. What is the way of the righteous? There's only one way, right?
There's only one way. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father,
but by Him. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous. He's the only way to the Father.
He's the only way of peace with God. The only way of reconciliation
to God, the only way of justification, the only way of sanctification,
the only way of glorification. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous. And the Lord knows that he is
my way. By the grace of God, he's my
way. He's my only way of salvation. May the Lord bless these words
and thoughts to us here tonight concerning the blessed man, the
blessed man. Okay, if we could sing another
hymn before we're dismissed.