Psalm 1

Well, this evening we begin a new series on selected psalms, and we begin with this brilliant jewel in Psalm 1. There's 150 psalms.

We're not going to go through all of them, but we will, Lord willing, deal with some of them. And we begin with Psalm 1. It begins by saying, blessed is the man. The psalmist is going to say that there is blessing for some people, but ruined for others. That is, we can live in such a way that we're blessed by God, or we can live in such a way that our life is worthless in the eyes of God. The good news is there's a wonderful blessing, promise in the psalm, that irrespective of your background, irrespective of your social standing, your education, your bank balance, irrespective of your personality, you may receive the blessings of God.

That's incredible news, isn't it? Whoever you are, you can be blessed by God. And so I want you to grasp the wonderful promises in the psalm, Psalm 1. Only six verses that you and I will have the joy of receiving the blessings of the Lord. The psalm begins, blessed is the man. The word blessed is plural in Greek, and it occurs 26 times in the book of Psalms. The first occurrence is right here at the beginning of this altar.

And very quickly, let me ask you to look at some other occurrences. For example, if your Bible is open, as I hope it is, look at Psalm 2, and the last verse of Psalm 2, verse 12. The psalmist says, blessed, here it is, are all who take refuge in Him.

Psalm 31, 32 rather. Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2, here are other blessings. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. What a blessing that is. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Another great blessing. And then Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the Psalter. Psalm 119, first two verses. Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.

And the last one we'll look at, 146, Psalm 146, verse 5, towards the end of this altar. Blessed is He whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord His God. Now as we read these verses, it's obvious that the one who is blessed is the one who has a true relationship with God, who is God-centered in her life, whose trust and joy and hope are not in the world, but are in Christ and in God. Do you know people who are blessed by God? Those blessed by God have a calm, have a dignity, have an inner strength. We'd say they have a spiritual depth, which comes from knowing that in the grace of God, that they have a right relationship with God.

They understand that God is watching over them, that everything they have comes from God, and that their lives are in God's hand, and they have this wonderful future to be forever with the Lord. The blessings of God. Now, these blessings, true blessings, come from God, and they transcend the most difficult and the most painful of circumstances.

I want you to grasp that. These blessings are not dependent on your circumstances. They're not dependent on your bank balance.

They're not dependent on whether life is going easy or not. They transcend your circumstances, because these blessings come from God. Well, let's look at Psalm 1.

Let's read it. Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He's like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. We summarize what the psalmist is saying.

He's saying this. Here is the way of blessing. Following God's word brings blessing. Violating God's word brings ruin.

That's the lesson for you and for me this evening. Following God's word brings blessing. Violating God's word brings ruin. So first of all, following God's word brings blessing, which are the first three verses. But notice what the psalmist does in the first verse. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

What's he saying? The way of blessing is not to be conformed to the world. Are you surprised at the way the psalmist begins? We're told as preachers, you need to be upbeat. You need to be positive that people need their spirits uplifted. You need to be inspirational.

You need to help people fulfill their dreams. Everything's got to be upbeat. Everything's got to be noisy. Everything negative. But the psalmist is a wise person. And the wise psalmist, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, deals with the truth which is often forgotten in our society, but a vital truth that we must understand for receiving the blessings of God. If you're going to be blessed by God, there are things that you must not do. So the psalmist begins in verse one with a negative. I referred to Winston Churchill this morning, excuse me, but I'm going to refer to him again.

He's got a book in the Defense of Freedom and he writes, Alexander the Great remarked that the people of Asia were slaves because they had not learned to pronounce the word no. Churchill says, let that not be the epitaph of the English-speaking peoples. We have to learn to say no. God's way, the way of blessing, is diametrically opposed to our own natural desires and inclinations. Left to ourselves, our lives are not God-centered, they're self-centered, they're pleasure-centered, they're comfort-centered. But the way of blessing is to turn humbly from evil, to have a repentant heart, to turn from evil and sin in our life so that we are not conformed to the world. Remember Paul, Romans 12, verse one? Don't be conformed to the world.

Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. And in the first verse, the psalmist is telling us to avoid the slippery slope of compromise. In verse one, there is the invidious downward regress of the individual. When you turn from God, inevitably you go downward. Now the downward path sometimes doesn't seem to be downward, sometimes it seems to be the path of enlightenment, the path of happiness, the path of success, the path of acceptance by others. But the psalmist is saying there's a slippery slope of sin.

Did you notice the regress? First, the psalmist says the individual does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. She's walking. What's the next stage? She's standing in the way of sinners.

Finally, she is sitting in the seat of scuffers. These verbs are in a perfect tense demonstrating that these are three attitudes, three decisions which the individual is making. And increasingly, the individual who is not blessed is spending more and more time with those who are hostile to God, for those who are opposed to the Word of God. Now how does the decline begin? This is very interesting, isn't it? It begins by listening to the counsel, to the advice of the wicked. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. Now this term wicked isn't necessarily people who are doing terribly, terribly sinful things, but they are unbelievers. They are ungodly. This individual then starts listening to ungodly device. He is walking, the idea is going alongside these individuals who are described as wicked. They're ungodly.

They're unbelievers. And their way of thinking then, our state of mind begins to change. To the wicked there's no rights and wrongs, but here is the beginning of the downward path. Be careful walking in the counsel of the wicked. Where do you get your counsel? Who do you listen to? Where do you turn to for advice? The media?

Your favorite show on television? What the society around us are doing? That is not the way of blessing. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. And this way of thinking then quickly changes to a way of living.

The regress continues. Blessed is the man, verse one, who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners. He's no longer walking, now he is standing in the way of sinners.

This man is now beginning to behave like a sinful person. Those who disobey God, those who are against God. And the company we keep, we tell this to our children, don't we? We tell this to students, but it's true for all of us.

The company we keep impacts our behavior, you know that. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, 33, do not be deceived, bad company ruins good morals. Those blessed by God do not regulate their lives on the advice of unbelievers. They do not stand in the way of sinners. Now, the Psalmist is not saying that we retreat into ourselves. Jesus is going to teach us that we're to be light and salt, but we don't go to the world, we don't go to unbelievers for advice. When we start listening to them, we begin then to act like them.

First the thinking, then the behaving, and now the belonging. Now this individual, end of verse 1, who has walked in the way of the wicked, who stood in the way of sinners, what's he now doing? He is sitting in the seat of scoffers.

He's now at home with the scoffers. The downward slope, walk, stand, sit, wicked, sinner, scoffer. Then the downward path culminates in open rebellion against God. You ever seen that?

I have. I remember particularly, I was at Edinburgh University, had this friend, came from a strong Christian home, and he was a bright student, a bit of an intellectual or would be intellectual. He's away from home, in an environment, a lot of unbelievers, and over a period of time, there's a dramatic change.

What's happening? He begins to listen to unbelieving professors. He begins to listen to unbelievers, their conversation, and then he begins to adopt their lifestyle.

He's not only listening to them, now he is actively behaving like them. And then, after about three years or so, I met him, and he told me that he had absolutely rejected the Christian faith, and he was mocking Christ. Listening to the advice, behaving, and then total rejection of God and of Christ.

He is not blessed. Initially, sin is attractive, isn't it? But when we continue the downward path, sin's grip on our soul becomes like a vice.

It becomes tighter and tighter. So be very careful that the unbelieving world is not impacting how you think. It's not polluting your mind and your actions.

What does Paul say to the Thessalonians? Abstain from every form of evil. Keep away from it. Keep away from the fire.

Don't see how close you can get to the edge in your sophisticated thinking. Keep away. The way of blessing is not the way of unbridled freedom. The way of blessing, the Psalmist is saying, here is the negative, don't be conformed to the world. Now you say, well, how may I be blessed by God? Verse two surely is one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible.

Look at it. His delight, what a difference. His delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law, He meditates day and night.

Now the positive. This individual who's going to be blessed by God delights in the Word of God. She's more influenced now by the Word than the world. She listens more to God than to her ungodly and worldly friends.

She's spending more time in the Word than on social media. This person who's blessed by God has the Word of God as her point of reference. She wants to know what does God say on a subject? What is God saying rather than what the contemporary world is saying? This individual, the Psalmist says, delights in the law of the Lord.

Notice the difference between the external, walk, stand, sit, and the internal delight. The blessing of God does not begin with outward obedience. We call that legalism. That's religion. You are going to behave in a certain way.

There's a list of things you do and a list of things you don't do. And if you do that, you're going to be blessed by God. That's not what the Psalm is saying, that's the Pharisee.

Outward compliance to an external code, legalism, no. The Psalmist is saying blessing for the individual comes from delighting in the Word of God. It begins by knowing God personally and having the inward joy, pleasure, delight of communing with God as we listen to His Word and as we humbly respond, meditating on it day and night.

A figure of speech saying that his life, his focus is centered on the Word of God. No, this is not reading your Bible as a legalistic chore. Check, check, check. Have you done that?

I've done that. You know, I read one chapter today, you've read two. Someone else says, I read three. And someone says, well, actually, in fact, I read four every day.

Check, check, check. It's great to read four chapters of the Bible. It's great to read five chapters. But the Psalmist is saying, no, this is not a checkbox. Oh, I've got that over, I've got to read my Bible every day, so well, let's get into it and let's get it over with. Have you ever done that?

Of course you have. That's not what the Psalmist is saying, to delight in it. David is going to say in Psalm 19 that the Word of God is more to be desired than gold.

Yes, than fine gold. It's sweeter than honey and honeycomb and the drippings of the honeycomb. In other words, to David, the most precious thing, the most sweetest thing to David was the Word of God, and he only had parts of the Old Testament. He didn't have the full canon of Scripture that we had, but he delighted in it. And when God's Word is treasured in our heart, remember Psalm 119 verse 11, your Word have I stored, have I hidden? The point is, I've treasured in my heart, I won't sin against you. We can reflect on it at any time.

God is our constant reference point. You say, well, John, I tried to read the Bible, but it's very hard, and some of it's very difficult. I understand that. But you know, when we love someone, we want to hear from them. When Goodney and I met over 50 years ago, was it that long?

Well, I'm a patient man, I know. But when we met 50 years ago, she spoke very little English, her native language, Faroese. She spoke Danish.

I didn't speak either of them, and she was learning English, and vocabulary very, very limited. So, we met. She's in the Faroe Islands.

I'm in Scotland. To show how old we are, there's no email, there's no texts, there's no mobile phones. I'm on this apartment at the top of a house, and the only phone is right at the bottom. And any time I was on the phone, the landlady was around the corner listening to my conversation, which really helped romantic conversations. And so, what did we do? We wrote. We write. Now, I was brought up writing.

Scottish education is a big focus on composition and writing. So I can write very easily, and it would take me about 10 minutes to write a letter to Goodney. But I found out that her letter writing took sometimes hours. She had an English dictionary, she had a Danish dictionary, she had a Faroese dictionary, and then she wrote. Beautiful handwriting, but sometimes very difficult to understand. And I read this, and I thought, what's she trying to say? And by the way, that grammar is really bad. You know, Mrs. McDonald in my school would not have been happy with this. Do you think I just threw away the letters and said, oh, I can't be bothered figuring this out? This is too difficult?

Absolutely not. This was written by someone who loved me, that I loved. And I would take these letters and try to figure out what actually did she mean? I remember sometimes taking them to the law office and putting them in a drawer, and during the day when no one was around, I took them out and reread them, trying to understand them why. Someone who loved me and who I loved was communicating.

You see, we're sometimes we give up too easily, don't we? We're reading God's Word. Of course, you don't understand everything. I don't understand everything, and I've virtually been reading the Bible all my life.

I was brought up to read it. There are still difficult passages, but to think this is my heavenly Father. This is God eternal, who has spoken, who has given us in this living, inspired Word. And this is the God I'm to love with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And He's communicating with me. Slowly I can stop and pray like the psalmist, teach me Your Word. The individual who is blessed by God meditates on God. Now what's the result of this blessing? Well, we heard it in a beautiful song.

Thank you to that trio for singing it. What's the result of the blessing? Verse three, he uses an image, the person who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The tree with deep roots, we know this, stands firm in the storm.

What's the point? Those who follow God's Word are secure, irrespective of the circumstances. Whether they're in the storm or in the most beautiful day there is, they are standing strong because they are deeply rooted in God and His Word. The tree is planted by streams of water, it's really transplanted. The tree is positioned so it's close to the streams of water. As a follower of Christ, I have to be close to the Word of God.

I don't just look at it when I come to church once a week, no. It's my companion, it's there, I'm turning to it, I'm memorizing it, I'm meditating on it. I am planted by these streams of living water. Where are you planted?

What's your reference point? Listen to the psalmist says a similar thing in Psalm 92. Psalm 92 verse 12, listen to this, the righteous flourish like the palm tree. What's the palm tree?

Fruit, it has dates. We see, we see them in Israel, we see the palm trees with the beautiful dates. The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar in Lebanon.

Terrible, isn't it what's going on in Lebanon at the moment? The cedars of Lebanon are well known, they've still got the cedar on their flag, these beautiful, strong trees. The cedar of Lebanon, the righteous are fruitful, they're strong, they're growing like the cedar in Lebanon. Verse 13, they are planted in the house of the Lord.

Some of you are saying to me recently, well, you really don't need to come to church because a Christian has been wiser than God, isn't it? No, the righteous person is planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They're ever full of sap and green. They're living in the presence and in the fear of God, planted by the grace of God, sustained by the grace of God.

And this individual who's drawing daily from the living streams of water of the Word is living a life, do you know people like this? Fresh, vibrant, joyful, fruitful, flourishing, producing says the psalmist, fruit in its season. What kind of fruit are you bearing?

Fruit in its season. You know, different seasons of life may produce different spiritual fruit. We go through a difficult time, and what does that produce?

It produces endurance. And sometimes there's great joy. Other times the fruit may be peace and goodness and God working in our lives so that He is through the work of the Spirit supernaturally producing this fruit.

How wonderful. And this leaf does not wither. Listen to Jeremiah. I think he's read Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17 verse 7. He says this, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. He's like a tree planted by water, we've heard that before, that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when the heat comes, for its leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. The heat comes, it's still fresh.

The drought comes, and it still bears fruit. Not anxious, does not fear. Got anxiety?

You're fearful? Could it be that you're not drawing from the streams of the Word of God? This is the individual who's blessed by God. The unbeliever has no roots. They're anxious.

They're devastated in the storms of life. No, but this individual whose life is conformed to the Word of God has spiritual depth. We say they are grounded.

We as Christians need to be grounded. In all that he does, he prospers. You say, well that sounds like the prosperity preacher.

No, no. The blessings of God do not necessarily mean materially. God may bless you incredibly materially.

If so, thank God for that. No, the point is this, whatever this individual does is done in accordance with the Word of God, his choices, his attitudes, his values, his goals are rooted in the Word of God. This is what it means to live a God-centered life. Following God's Word brings blessing.

What's the opposite? Verses four through six, violating God's Word brings ruin. The psalmist, as he goes into verse four, dramatically changes his imagery from a fruitful tree to worthless chaff. Ultimately, the life of the unbeliever is worthless. Verse four, the wicked are not so, what a contrast. No, what are they like? They like the tree bearing fruit, leaf not withering.

No, the wicked are not so. They're like chaff that the wind drives away. Harvested grain is taken to a threshing floor in an elevated position, tossed into the air. The wind blows away the light chaff, which has no substance. It's worthless. It's empty.

It's zero value. That's what the psalmist is saying, the individual who does not follow God's Word is like chaff blowing in the wind. A person of straw, barren, hollow, lifeless, superficial, weightless, just like a dead husk, an empty person. Solomon says all is vanity.

It's a blowing in the wind. It's a meaningless life. Yes, they may prosper materially, but ultimately, they're no value. They're empty. They're not grounded. They have no stability.

In Ephesians 4, Paul warns us not to be like people who are tossed around by every wind of doctrine. They don't know what they believe. They're weightless. They live on hype. They live on fun. They live on thrills.

Life is regulated based on what everyone else is doing. They're ultimately hollow. They're self-centered. They don't bless others.

They're all about themselves. There's no fruit in their life. That, of course, is the natural working of sin. Galatians 6, whatever a man sows, he reaps. If you sow to the flesh, you'll reap of the flesh. If you sow to the Spirit, you'll reap of the Spirit. Life eternal, violated in God's Word, brings ruin.

Please hear me. You're going against God's Word? You think you've got off with it?

There's no thunderbolt. Life's going on. Pretty good. Be warned. Violating God's Word brings ruin. And the psalmist says, God's going to separate the wicked from the righteous.

Verse 6, therefore, here's the conclusion, therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, that's God's judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the sinner will perish. You live as if God doesn't exist. You're here this evening.

You want your children to sing, have a good time. You're here, but you don't believe in God. You don't believe in Jesus Christ.

Be warned. The time of judgment is inevitable for all of us. Each one of us, the Bible says, will stand before the judgment seat of God. Romans 14. And at the time of judgment, there's going to be a separation made by God Himself. There's going to be a separation of the righteous from the wicked, separation of the sheep from the goats, a separation of the saved from the unsaved. God, verse 6, knows the way of the righteous.

God decides that. Not you, not me, but God Himself. The way of the wicked is going to perish. See, there's only two ways, ultimately.

Did you notice that, the stark contrast in the psalm? There's the wicked and there's the righteous. And we'd say, well, is there a middle road here, a little bit of Christianity and a little bit of the world, you know, going to sit on the fence, come to church, you know, put my kids in Sunday school, sing the hymns, and even occasionally read my Bible, but my life is really, the real life is lived in the world following my own selfish desires.

No, that's not going to work. There is no middle way. There's a way of God and there's a way of Satan. There's a way of Abel and there's a way of Cain. There is the narrow way and there is the broad way. There's the way of the righteous, someone, and there's the way of the wicked. Question is, what way are you on?

Where are you? To reject God's Word and the offer of salvation found, we're going to see in a couple of weeks in Psalm 2, offered by the King, King Jesus. If you reject that, there is inevitable judgment. So my question is, first to myself and to you, are you following God's Word or are you violating God's Word? Are you experiencing the blessings of God or is it possible, in spite of your seeming success, ultimately you're going to be blown away like chaff in the wind, hollow.

Where are you planted? Following God's Word brings blessing. We have as one of our themes this year, read God's Word daily.

Not as a legalistic chore, I hope, but because we delight in it. This is my Father. This is my God. This is my Savior who wants me to be strong, who wants me to be wise, who wants to guide me, who wants to make me strong so that I can be like Esther. And when that defining moment comes, I will answer God's call and say, yes, here I am. Claim His promises, James says, a doer who acts, he will be blessed. Not in his knowing, he'll be blessed in his doing, James 1 verse 25. And as God blesses you, you'll be the instrument to bless others.

We know people like that, don't we? They're fruitful. We like being with them.

They bless us, not because they're perfect, but because they are God-centered and Christ-centered. And you say, well, John, I know you're trying to encourage me, but quite honestly, I come very, very far short of this. So do I. I haven't always delighted in the Word of God you're saying.

I understand. You know, this brings us to communion, doesn't it? Because we praise God that there was one individual, and only one, who always perfectly obeyed someone, our Lord Jesus Christ. He never walked in the counsel of the wicked. He never stood in the way of sinners.

He certainly didn't sit in the seat of the scoffers. And every day, every moment, he delighted in his Father's law, and he meditated on that day and night, drawing from the resources of God Himself, our blessed Savior. Always delighting. Psalmist says, morning by morning, his ear was opened to his Father. Not my will, but yours be done.

And here is our answer, and here is our hope. In our Lord Jesus Christ, there is, for you and for me, forgiveness for us to receive God's grace, so that the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ and the miracle of conversion, He takes all of our sin, all the ways we have broken the law of God, and He gives us, as a gift of grace, His righteousness, so that we're clothed with His righteousness. He died for our sins. He rose again, and when we place our trust in Him, our sins are forgiven, and we receive new life, new desires, and a new power, so that we can say, Lord, increase my love for you. Increase my desire to read the Word of God, because the more you read it, the more you will want to read it.

The less you read it, that desire will become smaller and smaller. So here is the way to receive the blessing of God. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

The wicked are not so, but they're like chaff, blown away by the wind. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the seat of the congregation, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked will perish. May all of us be on the way of the righteous, loving God's Word, receiving the grace of God that in our failure, the mess we make of our lives, this simple feast that we're going to celebrate reminds us that apart from Christ, all of us are lost, but in His grace, He forgives us and saves us. Lord, help us to have an increasing love for Your Word, to lighten it, to meditate on it day and night. We want to be fruitful. We want to bless others. None of us here wants to live a self-centered, self-focused life, but rather for You to use us in our failures, in the mess we make sometimes of our life as our Lord graciously forgives us, and we stand in the righteousness of Christ. And help us as we now prepare our hearts to take the Lord's Supper, a reminder of His great love and of His grace and of the forgiveness which is offered to guilty sinners like us. We praise You. Bless us, we ask in Christ's name, amen.