Our choir would march in off the street into the building and that was one of their old stand-by. It's appropriate because our text is Psalms 1, it's not that I miss old as the song but I was old enough to remember the song as a child. But Psalms 1 was actually the first portion of scripture that I memorized as a child. In fact, it was my older sister who was preparing for something and our Sunday school class and she was learning Psalms 1. And to help her, I was going over with her and then I learned it. So Psalms 1 was the first scripture that I memorized and so I find great delight as I'm thinking of it, I can't help but see Ms. Viola Johnson, my next door neighbor. And when she started her vacation, her little Bible Club next door to us and she wanted to know if we knew any scriptures and so everyone was quoting John 3.16 so she would know where we were. And then I quoted Psalms 1, amen. And I remember getting rice crispy treats as a result of it. Psalms 1, let us read it in its entirety. Blessed is the man who walks not in the council 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. He 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 wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which 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. May God richly bless both the reading and the hearing of his holy word. Now as we look at this very familiar, and it is a familiar Psalm, it's the one that opens up the whole Psalter, we want to look at it along seven lines of analysis, seven lines of analysis, as we look at this particular Psalm. The first one is this, and it's sort of a departure from our ordinary way of looking at this Psalm. So the first line of analysis is that this Psalm, even though it is universally considered to offer a contrast between the righteous and the wicked, or ungodly, and certainly while there is, it is certainly true in effect, in other words, we do some see some aspect of the righteous, but in actuality, and according to the actual wording of the text, the contrast is not between the wicked and the righteous, or the righteous and the wicked, but the contrast is actually between the blessed and the wicked, the blessed and the ungodly. And that might not seem like a big thing, but it really is, it kind of changes that, and we'll see that in some of what follows. So really the word here is, as a matter of fact, it's not describing, it's not saying the righteous man versus the wicked man, which would be typical of wisdom literature, but actually the whole point of this Psalm is to sort of give us an insight into the blessed man. Now that word blessed is important, it comes to us in English as blessed, the Hebrew word that's translated as equivalent to the word asher. In fact, that is the Hebrew word asher, asher, which is translated as in some, some of the King James, it has happy, and in many places it is read as happy, but that word asher or happy or blessed. It's really, it's in relation, especially for the people of God, it's in relation to the name of one of Jacob's sons. In fact, it is one of Jacob's sons that was born to his unloved wife, Leah, and remember he had four sons first that she actually bore, but then when she could no longer bear any children, she had her maid servant bear a child for her. And one of the children that was born to her was asher, and the words that sort of surround the birth of asher and Genesis 30 verse 13 says this, and Leah said, happy am I for women have called me happy, so she called his name asher. Now it's very similar, in fact, a very, very expression that's used by Mary at the birth of Jesus, at the announcement of the birth of Jesus, which she says, I will be called blessed among all women, and that word blessed is the same word that's used here. And so the idea, even though we use it as happy, happy is in, and most Otasmas scholars would recognize that happy doesn't really do justice to that word, and especially in contemporary use of the word happy, which is based on happenstance or circumstances, happy doesn't really convey the full meaning of either what Leah means in Genesis, nor what Mary means. And so therefore it is recognized that rather than happy, that term blessed is probably better understood as being specially favored by God, especially favored by God. It's not, it's certainly a little bit more than just being happy. So first thing that we need to understand, that the contrast in this song is not between the righteous and the unrighteous, even though certainly the blessed man is described as being righteous, but that's not the label that's given to him. He is called the blessed man. And so the contrast is between those who are specially for the one who is specially favored by God, and the wicked, and we will see the characteristics of them both. That's the first point. That's the first line of analysis that the real contrast of this song is not between the righteous and the wicked, but it is between the blessed and the wicked. This is the second line of analysis, and that is in terms, it's a grammatical note, and that is the grammatical mood or mode of this song is indicative. It is written in the indicative rather than the imperative mood. Now because I'm always conscious of Sister Josephine Smith's presence as a school teacher, I have to be careful of these things, no one speaks as distinctly as Sister Smith. So let me explain what I think what is meant by indicative versus imperative mood. And an imperative is to say that a statement is written in the imperative mood is when the statement is issuing a command. And in the indicative mood, a statement is in the indicative mood if it is simply explaining or describing a certain situation. And so the mood of this song is really indicative. In other words, it is not intended to tell you how to become the righteous man. It's not written from the standpoint of prescription, which is telling you what to do and therefore in the imperative mood. And I'll wait to get my report card later from Sister Smith, but it's not intended to tell you what to do is simply describing a state of affairs and in the contrast. It is describing certain things and saying certain things that are true about the blessed one and certain things that are true about the wicked. So grammatically, grammatically this is not an instruction manual. And we'll see the correlation and why that's important, but really what this song does. In giving this comparison between the blessed and the wicked, it is also just explaining. This is a snapshot. This is what they are. It's not telling you how to be this, but it is telling you how to be the blessed man. We will address that is simply saying what is true of the blessed man and what is true of the wicked. So we see the first line of analysis is what the real point of comparison or contrasts are. The contrast is between the blessed and the wicked and grammatically it is presented to us in the indicative rather than the imperative mood. So the third observation or the third line of analysis is that the trajectory of this song, the trajectory of this song, it's not just giving you an explanation of their day-to-day activities, but the trajectory of this song is forward. In fact, it's not only forward, but it's actually ultimate and eternal. In fact, you noticed that the end for the blessed man, the eternal end for the blessed man is in verse 3, he will be eternally planted. He will be eternally fruitful and everything that he does will prosper. That's pointing forward. That's dealing with ultimate eternal truth. So the end therefore, the end of the righteous will, because he will be eternally planted, we see also in verse 5 that he'll be able to stand in the day of judgment just by way of inference. We see that in the day of judgment that he will be able to stand and he will have a place of fellowship in the congregation of the righteous. I think we can see that, that this is where it's not just saying this is what's going to happen on it. This is not what it's saying, hey, the trajectory of this song is to show you that the blessed man, what his ultimate end is and the blessed man, his ultimate end, is that he will be able, he will prosper in all that he does, he will be eternally planted as a tree planted by the rivers of waters. Everything that he does will prosper. He will be able to stand in the, there's that eternal projection, that trajectory, the day of judgment. This song reeks with the idea that there's a day of judgment coming. It just permeates with that truth. And it says that the blessed man is the one who will be able to stand without fear in the day of judgment. Because you have a place in the congregation of the righteous. Now on the flip side of that, we also see the end for the wicked. In the end for the wicked, we are told that they will have no enduring acceptance before God. In fact, we are told that the wicked are not like the righteous and that they will not be, or the blessed one, and that they will not be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. In fact, it's the very opposite. A tree planted by the rivers of water has deep roots. And it's able to stand even as the, as the river moves, the tree stands. But instead he says that the wicked are like the chaff, which the wind blows away. And therefore we are told that the end of the wicked is that because they have no enduring worth and value on the day of judgment, when it says that they will not stand in the day of judgment, it simply means they will not be able to stand in face God in the day of judgment. And then not only will they not face God or be able to stand up to the judge, but we also are told that they will not have a seat in the congregation of the righteous. They will be excluded from eternal fellowship with all of the saints in light. And then finally we get that, that one description of them that follows over into the New Testament. Remember John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. And the end of the wicked is that they will perish. So the, the trajectory of this psalm is ultimate and eternal. The point of contrast being between the blessed and the wicked, the grammatical mode is that it is indicative. And then the trajectory of it is that it is ultimate and eternal. This psalm deals, not just with daily living, this psalm deals with eternal destinies. That's one of the reasons we kind of need to get it right. But here's the fourth thing that we'll see, and that is the fundamental difference between the blessed one and the wicked are also set forth. And the fundamental difference is this, it's found in verse two. The fundamental difference between the blessed one and the wicked is that the blessed man delights in and is devoted to the Word of God. The blessed man in verse two, he, he, he is, he delights. And that word delights it. It means that he takes great pleasure in. He takes great pleasure in the law of God. And, and, and he, he meditates in it both day and night. That's a, that's a heavy word that he meditates in it. Some people like to read and, and they, you know, they, they tend to be a little pedantic. Pedantic is to say that you know just so that you can say that you know. And so some people read, but they, they don't really, do you really meditate? And, and that's, you know, that's what, this word meditate means to think deeply on something. So this, this blessed one, this, this one who is specially favored of God is one who, who takes delight in God's word. And then he meditates in God's word. And therefore, because he takes delight in, and, and, and meditating and devoting himself to the word of God, this is manifest in what we, in the three things that we see set forth in verse one. See, this is the, the, verse one is really the fruit of verse two. Verse two says that he delights in and meditates in the law of God. And so therefore, to go backwards in verse one, we see the fruit of his delight in the word of God. And the three things, one, we are told that he is able to therefore discern between the foolish counsel of the ungodly and true wisdom. You see, there's a correlation being having delight in God's word. And then being devoted to God's word causes him to listen to the counsel of the ungodly and rejected. So he doesn't, so, so is presented to us negatively, blessed it, blessed it is the man who walked not in the counsel of the wicked. Now, notice that walked not in the counsel. It doesn't mean he doesn't listen, he listens, but he understands his foolishness. The example that comes to mind is that of Ray Boam. Remember Ray Boam, the son of Solomon? And when Solomon died, the young, the older men, the older counselors came to Ray Boam and said, listen, your father, he built, he did a lot of stuff, but he was a, he was a heavy task master. Here's what you need to do. If you want the hearts of the people, then tell them, then ease up the workload off of them. And then they will follow you. His peers came along. And they said, well, listen, dude, your father, he, if you really want the people to do what you say, your father was tough, tell him you're going to be ten times as tough. You know what Ray Boam did? He said, wow, that sounds like a good idea. And he came out and he was tough and lost the confidence of the people. You see brothers and sisters, here's the matter. Here's the issue. And especially as we are bombarded with so much, so many, so many sources of information, it's helpful to be able to hear and discern. It's not that the, the blessed man doesn't hear foolish talking, he just recognizes it as being foolish. And the reason he's able to recognize foolish counsel is because his delight is in the law of God. And he's able to hear foolish counsel and recognize it. But not only does he not take foolish or the counsel of the, of the wicked, but also in verse one, we, we, he has a different manner of living. Verse one, he says, not only does he not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor does he stand in the way of sinners. Now, as a child, you can imagine how I imagine that verse. I imagined it as someone standing in the middle of the street blocking sinners. But as Paul says, when I was a child, I spoke as a child and understood as a child, but now that I'm a man, I've put away childish things. He's not talking about blocking the way. When he says stand in the way of sinners, another way of putting that is he doesn't stand on the things that sinners stand on. In other words, that his manner of living, his conduct is different from sinners, that he conducts himself in a way that is different from sinners. The reason that his conduct is different is because he delights in the law of God, and he meditates on it day and night. So therefore, when he hears foolish counsel, it doesn't matter where it comes from. He recognizes it as being foolish, and his conduct is marked by his love for God's law. Not only that, we see a third thing that is descriptive of him, and that is he does not join in with the scoffers. He does not, in verse 1, it says, nor does he sit in the seat of scoffers. Scoffers, that's an interesting word. It basically means derisive speech. And I would argue that scoffing is not only derisive, but it's a contemptible speech. It's what Paul would call in the New Testament corrupt communication. And again, the righteous or the blessed man, the one who is favored of God, he does not listen. He doesn't take the counsel of fools. He doesn't conduct himself as unbelievers, and he doesn't make himself party to conversation that is corrosive and corrupting. Now, you can add a bunch of stuff in there as scoffers, derisive language, backbiting, gossip, slander, irreverence speech. All of those things would be scoffers, and basically the idea is that's what some folk do. That's what the wicked do. You can kind of understand how they are stopped at various points that if they imagine if a person is not able to discern wise counsel from unwise counsel, or if a person just lives according to their own, especially if they're not able to take good counsel, how they conduct their lives, but more importantly, how they use their tongues. And so here's what the blessed man is, the blessed man, he does not join in with the scoffers. He does not participate in derisive or contemptible speech, or again, as what Paul refers to as corrupt communication. Now, these things are true of the blessed man than the opposite is true for the wicked. You see, everything that is true of the blessed man in verse 1, the opposite would be true of the wicked. And the reason is because if we begin in verse 2, the wicked does not delight in the law of God. And the wicked does not meditate in that law day and night. Therefore, the wicked thinks that the counsel of the ungodly is wise. Therefore, the wicked thinks that the way of the flesh is good. Therefore, the wicked has no problem with corrupt communication. Well, that brings us to a fifth observation or fifth line of analysis, because understand that if the trajectory is ultimate, then the descriptions here are really absolute. So the final, the fifth line of analysis is that we must see this psalm as a means of self-assessment. I do think that it's healthy to do so. In other words, we must be able to look in this psalm, and as we look into it, it is a matter of asking ourselves, do we match up with the description of the blessed man in verses 1 and 2? And therefore, have earned the rewards that are set forth in verse 3 and 6 or 3 and 5? Do we match up? In other words, when we see ourselves, do we see ourselves as do we recognize the counsel of the wicked and reject it? Do we conduct ourselves in a manner that's different from unbelievers? Do we abstain from scoffers? Do we not make ourselves a party to those things? Now, hold in mind that what's set forth here is not progressive. In other words, what is presented here is absolute. So as you assess yourself, in other words, are we more like the blessed man or do we find ourselves really being perfectly described by the wicked? Now, before we answer, understand that what's set forth of both of these, both categories are presented in absolute terms. And by that, here's what I mean. It doesn't say that the blessed man, most of the time, he does not stand in the counsel of the ungodly. It doesn't say that 99% of the time, he does not stand in the way of sinners. It doesn't say for the most part, he does not sit in the seat of the scornful, is presented in absolute terms. It doesn't say that he likes God's word, delights in God's word most of the time. But then, you know, everybody, nobody's perfect. That's not the portrait that's presented here. If you assess yourself, if you want to use this song, and I think it is helpful to do so, and we'll see why. But if you're going to assess yourself in this song, you need to assess yourself in the manner in which it's presented. And the manner in which it's presented is absolute terms. In other words, brothers and sisters, what is said of the blessed man is true absolutely. The blessed man, what is said of him in verses 1 and 2, is absolutely true at all times. And also the wicked, the wicked are like the chaff, which the wind drives away, because even though they may not be 24-7 equally as wicked at all times in all situations. If they are wicked, they are wicked. And we can't be fooled by the seasons in which they put on a happy face. The wicked are wicked. There's no path on here in this song to tell you how not to be. It just simply says this is what's true. And the end result is that if you are in that category of the wicked, then here is your ultimate end. You will perish. Parish does not mean disappear. Parish is the eternal, it's living eternally outside of the fellowship of God. It is whatever God has prepared for those workers of iniquity. It is perish. Parish from the presence of his favor and of his grace. So I think it is healthy and I think it's right to look in this song and see where we stand. That brings us to a sixth issue and that is if we have looked in this song properly, and I'm not even going to ask for a show of hands of how we come out. Then there must be there's a question that is raised. How can I become blessed? Brothers and sisters, if that's not the question that comes to you, then you have an assess yourself right. Because if you look in the song and you assess yourself, am I the blessed man in verses one and two? Or am I the wicked? If your answer is anything other than the wicked, then you've deceived yourself. So the question that comes naturally from a true accurate assessment of self on from this song, because it deals with eternal matters and eternal destinies. The question that is left in, how can I become the wicked man or the blessed man? How can we become the blessed man? And I would argue that there are really two options. You only have there's two ways that you can become the blessed man, because again if you look at this and you think that you are described as the blessed man, that's you say, yeah, that's me. I never stand in, I never walk in the counsel of ungodly folk. Boy, that's me. I have never not once have I acted like a sinner. Boy, that's me. That's me. I tell you. Whoa, corrosive conversation. Oh, my goodness. No, never would I sit down and people were talking ungodly. No, I would not do that. Since that's not us, you say, well, how can I be that? Well, there are two ways. One way that you can become that blessed man is by proper and perpetual affection for God's law and then perfect and perpetual obedience to that law. If you look at verse two, how can I become the blessed man by having a proper affection and not just proper but perpetual affection for God's law? I have had three sisters, Lord, call one home, but my youngest sister, she was growing up. She, man, she was a pistol. She was something. She was the youngest one and she just brought out, ooh, man. And my wife and I would tell her, Shonda, we love you but can't stand you. When we see you coming, you are just a party unto yourself. You are drama walking. And so we teaser about it now that, yeah, we were always there with you and for you as you were growing up but couldn't stand you. That doesn't mean there was any less affection and love. It was just being truthful that sometimes your presence is not as enjoyable as others. Brothers and sisters, so when we talk about a proper and perpetual affection towards God's law, that means exactly that. It means that we can't be like the people that we love and we have a hard time with them on occasion. No, no, no. Here's what it says, that there is nothing that is unpleasant in God's law and there is no time and no circumstance in which I do not delight in it.
But not only proper affection and perpetually so, but there must be continuity that if the affection is there, then devotion to it must also be there. So how then do I become the blessed man? Well, one way is by having a proper perpetual affection for God's holy law and then perfect and perpetual obedience. To his law so that we are conformed to it because anyone, brothers and sisters, understand this. Anyone who keeps all of God's law will be rewarded as the blessed man is. So if you, and that's what Jesus tells the rich young ruler, how do I get to heaven, okay? What does the law say? And his whole point is that if you keep every detail of God's law in thought, word and deed perpetually, then you earn your way to heaven. Now we'll be having a sign-up sheet in the lobby for everyone who wants to go to heaven based on that or everyone wants to, but on the sign-up list it will only be for those who think you have met those qualifications. So here's the second way to become the blessed of this psalm. The only other way, the only other way to be the blessed person in this psalm is to cling by faith to the only one who has properly and perpetually, and has proper and perpetual affection for God's law and who has perfectly and perpetually performed everything that is demanded in God's law. In other words, who has done such a thing as that? Well, let me turn you to Philippians chapter 3 verses 8 and 9. These are the words of the Apostle Paul. Philippians chapter 3 beginning in verse 8. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. And to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. So here's their two ways as you take a true assessment of yourself in this psalm and it's important to have a self assessment because this psalm deals with eternal destinies. So now, are you the blessed man or are you the wicked? And if you see yourself as the wicked, then here's the question, how can I be blessed? And you have two ways that you can become blessed, either by keeping the law or by clinging to faith, by faith to the one who has. Well, the choice is yours. Well, here's the final line of analysis and that is if we cling by faith to the true blessed one who is Jesus Christ. And brothers and sisters, here's good news for our failures and here's good news for our shortcomings. The good news is we are in this psalm. Problem is, when we're in the psalm, we don't know where to look for ourselves. Now, we are naturally in this psalm as the wicked. But we are, and unfortunately a lot of people see themselves as the blessed man. I always think of the Flintstones. I remember there was an episode of the Flintstones and looking up on YouTube. But in this particular episode, Fred Flintstone, who let's just say he was a little chunky, he was approached by someone about taking a picture. And they took a picture of him and they used his picture as the before figure for a before and after diet program. So they had a picture of the one person before and then they had a picture of Fred or he was, he was the before picture and then they had a picture of a person who was a model of health and he was after. And so when he was, he was boasting that he was going to be on a commercial and he had all of his family to watch the commercial and he was in the commercial and he swore up and down that he was the after picture. Is it not, not Fred, you were before many of us have that Fred Flintstone moment when we look at psalms one. We swear up and down that we are the blessed man but you are in the psalm. If you cling by faith to the blessed man and you know where you are, you're the leaves that do not wither. You, you are the fruit that he bears in due season. You are in fact your salvation and your hope of salvation is guaranteed in this statement that whatever he does shall prosper. So brothers and sisters, your hope for eternal glory, your hope, your, your ability to make it is, it's, it's all based on the fact that you're in the psalm but you're not, you were, you wicked. That was your before picture. But after clinging to him by faith, you are the leaves that do not wither. You are the fruit that is proper in its season and your salvation is the prosperity that is in his hand. Brothers and sisters, here's the good news of this psalm is that even though we find ourselves taking ungodly counsel as we shouldn't, even though we find ourselves conducting ourselves as in the manner of sinners and even though we find ourselves taking a seat in the circle of the scornful and the truth of the matters we do not delight in God's word. We twist his word. We reject that which we don't want to hear. But if we look by faith to the blessed one, the one who was highly favorite of God and that means we are in this psalm as fruit in due season. You know what that means is because you have clung to him. Therefore you will be able to stand in the day of judgment and therefore you have a seat with the righteous and the congregation of the righteous. As we look at ourselves, we say, wow, I've done this and I've done that. That's not the issue. If you cling to the blessed one and brothers and sisters, here's the good news of the salvation that is in Jesus, he doesn't try to save anybody. He saves and if you are in him, you're saved. He's not trying to get us whole. He's home and where he is we are also and we know that whatsoever he does shall prosper. So take your sin seriously and take your Savior even more seriously and therefore walk as those who have been granted a seat in the congregation of the righteous because we are his everlasting fruit and we are the unwhithering leaves that cling to him. Whatever he does shall prosper and brothers and sisters, that's where our hope is and that's where our confidence is. It's in that whatever he does, it will prosper. Thank God for the blessed one. Amen.