The Blessed Man

for them. And so we would cover your prayers for wisdom and resources in that manner. and especially for God's spirit to continue to save souls as some of the men are showing a true interest in Christ and his church. We thank you for your participation with us in that great work in Sacramento. And this morning, what I thought I would do is I would preach from a text that is central to what we do at the Union Gospel Mission, which is Psalm 1. So, if you would please turn to Psalm 1 with me. In Psalm 1, it is written, "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. 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 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. This is the word of the Lord. Let us go to him in prayer and ask for his help this morning. Our father in heaven, we thank you for giving us life today. We thank you for the gift of every breath that we take that comes from your good and perfect hand. And we thank you for such a great salvation that you've given to needy sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray as we consider this psalm this morning that you would help us to see the glory of your son that we might love him more and walk after him with all of our lives. For he is our hope, he is our righteousness and we ask it in his name. Amen. Well, Psalm 1 is near and dear to us at the Union Gospel Mission. It's part of our program that we have the guys go through. In the first month, they're required to memorize Psalm 1. Why would we do that? Why Psalm one? We have them memorize the Ten Commandments. They memorize the Lord's Prayer. We even have them memorize the Apostles Creed. This is the basic early church catechizus for those that would be participating in life in the church. But why Psalm 1? Is it random? Is it just because I like hearing guys make raps to Psalm 1? That's how a lot of them memorize it. Or is it more basic? Could it be it's because Psalm 1 and two stand together as a unit through which we enter the entire collection of Psalms is what we call the psalter. Now, Acts tells us that Psalm 2 was pinned by David in that speaking as a prophet. And I think if we do a little linguistic study between Psalms 1 and two, we can see that they actually work together. David probably wrote Psalm 1 as well. And we see at the beginning of Psalm 1, he writes, "Blessed is the man who does these things and does not do these things." And at the end of Psalm 2, we see, "Blessed are all who take refuge in him." You see, Psalm 1 is law. It is a law psalm. Psalm 1 says, "Do this in order to live." And Psalm two is gospel. We see in Psalm 2, the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord. But in the middle of all that, God is doing what God does. As for me, verse 6, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. Psalm 2 is gospel. It says, "This is what God has done. Embrace his son." In verse one of Psalm 1, we see blessed is the man. And that's a clue for us. Man, all men, men, women, and children were made to be blessed in God. That is the end for which you were created to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And in verse four, we see the wicked. The wicked who perish. Well, the wicked are those who pursue that blessedness in anything other than God. Much like my neighbors at the Union Gospel Mission, I have a window where I sit and sometimes I open it and I have a view onto the street. It's called Bannon Street. Drug use, prostitution, right outside my window. Sometimes it's really easy for us to draw a comparison. How could they do such awful things? But really, what we ought to be thinking is what do we actually have in common? And the thing that we have in common, the thing that all humans are trying to do is to pursue blessedness. That's what you were made for. It's what your soul craves. The blessed man finds true delight and blessedness in God. But the wicked pursue blessedness in anything other than God. Work, drugs, you name it. But we also see in Psalm 1 that there are two ends for these different types of people. One is life like a tree verse three that's planted by streams of water. It never withers. And in verse six, the way of the wicked will perish. It is a present reality for everyone that exists. And so I ask you this morning, which one are you? Are you the blessed or are you the wicked? Perhaps you've not considered like truly considered the reality that God could so choose to not give you another breath even after this very next one that you draw and your soul hangs in the balance. Whether you are the blessed or the wicked is a matter of eternal significance. So this is a question of eternal significance. How you answer this question. How you answer this question is your entire eternity before you. Are you blessed or are you the wicked? So let us consider Psalm 1 and examine this psalm together. I want us to see three things from this psalm. The first thing I want us to see is that there are two ways. The second thing is that there are two ends. And then the third thing that I want us to do is to draw some applications. Two applications. Two ways, two ends. And two applications. Let us consider first the way of the blessed man over against the way of the wicked. The blessed man in verse one does not do three things. We see it right here. He does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. He does not stand in the way of sinners. Nor does he sit in the seat of scoffers. Now, to walk in the council of a wicked, a walk is just your life. It's your pattern of life. It's what you're all about. It's how you conduct yourself. And to take counsel from someone is to let them speak into the way that you order your life. And while the wicked, wicked, wickedness is a status before God. That's who you are before a holy God. And so we see the first thing that this blessed man does is that he does not order his life based on the standards of those who are contrary in nature to God. It can be very easy for us to do this in life. We can start to believe what the world says. Love is love. all the agendas that are out there. Kids can have sex changes or do whatever. That's buying into what the world says. But the blessed man does not buy into that lie. And the second thing that we see is that he doesn't stand in the way of sinners. Now, going from walking to standing, many have noted it shows a little bit of comfortability in the way. You're becoming more comfortable. You're getting more rooted in place. And that way is the general direction of a people. So the Lord Jesus will say in Matthew 7 that there is a narrow way and a broad way. The broadway is easy and leads to destruction. That's where people go on that way that goes to hell. But the narrow way is hard and leads to life. The blessed man doesn't stand in that broad way that the sinners are going. And sinners are those who are wicked before God that have outward displays of that. We call that moral rebellion. They are in moral rebellion to God. But the blessed man is not comfortable in this way. And finally, we see that the blessed man does not sit in the seat of scoffers. To sit is is to assume a position of comfortability. And the scoffing is that of intellectual rebellion. I want you to consider this intellectual rebellion. We have moral rebellion in being a sinner and then scoffing as an intellectual rebellion. It is a deliberate rejection of God's will. We can consider the Pharisees as a very good example of intellectual rebellion. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, stood before them as the way, the truth, and the life. And they literally scoffed at him while crucifying him on a tree. They rejected the Lord of glory. What about today? Do we do this today? Atheists can hear the gospel preached and straight up reject it. You can go out and evangelize and get all kinds of responses. What about practical atheism? Psalm 14, the fool says in his heart there is no God. and then lives in a manner consistent with that. It's very easy for us to fall into these patterns. So in comparison, we see that the blessed man does not do these three things, which means that the wicked man does do them. The wicked man does do these three things. He walks in the counsel of the wicked. I'm going to flip to some texts. You're welcome to join me or you can listen as I read. Romans 1 describes this process in Romans 1 verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Note this, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. They know the truth and they suppress it in unrighteousness. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Well, who are these that suppress the truth and unrighteousness? Who is it that does this? We see in verse 28, they did not see fit to acknowledge God. And God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malicious maliciousness. Their gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, hotty, boastful. What a list. inventors of evil, disobedient to parents. Has anyone in here ever been disobedient to their parents? Isn't it peculiar that being disobedient to parents is here on a list with murderers and those in strife and deceit? It's because the outward act of being disobedient to your parents reveals a heart condition. of one in Adam who is contrary to God. What about this wicked man who stands in the way of sinners? Well, we know that Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:11 that Christians who are in Christ are not to partake of unfruitful works of dark darkness. They're not to do those things. And so I would say that standing in the way of sinners would be to partake in unfruitful works of darkness willingly. By the way, Christians are supposed to expose these things, to bring them to the light, to speak the truth in love, to bear with one another while they do it. But there are those who will partake in unfruitful works of darkness, might I add, even in the church. And that's why we see the wicked who sit in the seat of scoffers in 2 Timothy chapter 3. Second Timothy chapter 3, read it from verse one. But understand this, in the last days there will come times of difficulty. People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents. There it is again. Being disobedient to your parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Note, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. Paul elsewhere describes those people in Titus as those who profess to know God, but repudiate him through their works. These are the the contrasts here between the blessed man and the wicked man that we see in verse one. Now the psalm continues with things that the blessed man does do. What does the blessed man do? Well, he delights verse two in the law of the Lord. To delight in something is to find rest and satisfaction in it. I don't know about you, but I don't think I've ever woken up in the morning and thought, "What am I going to do today that's just going to bring me so much joy?" The law. I've never thought that. It's never happened. But this blessed man does that. Has anyone in here ever been in love? Here we go. In the beginning, all you can think about is the other person, right? Calling, texting. Remember you used to have the long phone call cords and you'd stretch it in the bedroom and then your mom would list it on the other side of the phone. Today they call it cupcaking. Have you ever heard of cupcaking? Cupcaking is when your friends don't see you anymore because you're hanging out with this person that you're interested in. You're spending all your time with them. It's cupcaking. You see this blessed man? He delights in God's law like that. Everything about him says, "I want to do the law of the Lord because that is how I draw near to God in communion." That's why secondly, he meditates on it day and night. It brings him great joy. It brings him happiness, delight. He is blessed, drawing near to God in the law. Notice the blessed man doesn't do these things to get blessed. He's already blessed. And so he does this thing. But what if the wicked man then? Well, he does not delight in God's law and he doesn't meditate on it. God's law, his teaching, his word, it has no place in his life. It has no say in how he orders his life. He's uninterested. Perhaps you know someone like this. Yes, I used to be the uninterested one until the Lord grabbed a hold of my heart. Or it could be the heart heart of a guy who sits under the preaching of the word. Consider the parable of the sewer. A sewer went out to sew some seed and there's four types of rocky, four types of soil. But I ask you, where does the sewing of the seed happen? In church to sit under the preaching of the word and be hard of heart and say, "I'm a good guy. I've got this figured out." And then there's the worldly like Deeus who left Paul because he was in love with the world. James says it's like looking into the perfect law of God as in a mirror and having something wrong with your face and then walking away from it. The wicked man does not delight in God's law. He does not meditate on it day and night. It has no place in his life whatsoever. Or at least the place that it takes is for self-righteousness. That's quite a comparison between these two men, these two ways that are set before us this morning. So think of the question again. Are you the blessed or are you the wicked? Are you blessed or are you the wicked? Let us consider secondly the two ends that are set before us. The two ends we see the first one in verse three. That of the blessed man. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. Its leaf does not wither and all that he does, he prospers. And you can see it in your mind as you read it. It's almost like Eden. Peaceful streams of water and a tree that yields fruit and never dies. That's actually what the tree of life was in Genesis. There was no death before Adam fell into sin. And it's interesting that Ezekiel takes this up in Ezekiel 47:12 and describes the true temple as having a river flowing through it and on its banks are many trees whose leaves do not wither nor does their fruit fail because their water flows from the temple. Isn't that interesting? Living water coming from the true temple. What does that sound like? It's even similar to the river of life that we see in Revelation 22. That final image of John's revelation where the tree of life is there and what of this fruit? It bears its fruit in its season. God's people were always supposed to bear fruit and multiply. That's how it was. That was the first commission given to Adam and Eve. Bear fruit. Israel was supposed to bear fruit and be a light to the nations. But what does what does the Bible say about Israel's role for bearing fruit? In Isaiah chapter 5, God says of Israel, they were wild grapes. Isn't that interesting? These aren't the grapes I planted. You are wild grapes. Jeremiah 24, they're called bad figs. And in Hosea 10, they are selfish fruit. God's people were always called to bear fruit. It's interesting that the Lord Jesus will take this up again in Matthew 7 and talk about you will know them by their fruits. Good trees that bear good fruits and bad trees that bear bad fruits. What does this wicked meant? What what is what is the end of the wicked man? Verse four, the wicked are not so, but they're like chaff that the wind drives away. Much like Adam and Eve were driven away east of Eden and could not partake in the tree of life. You see, chaff, chaff is the husk of the grain that would be sifted during the winnowing. It's the worthless part. It's of no use. It's light. They would winnow and it would fall away and the wind would blow it away. It's for nothing. And winnowing is often referred to in the Bible as God's judgment. So we see in Isaiah 41:16, you shall you you shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away. That is a judgment of God. Or we see in Jeremiah Jeremiah 13, remember what Jeremiah is doing with Israel here and how they were unfaithful to the Lord, unfaithful to the covenant. Let me read from you for you Jeremiah 13 from verse 22. If you say in your heart why have these things come upon me? It is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil. I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert. This is your lot. The portion I have measured out to you, declares the Lord, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies. It's judgment. You see, Israel's biggest problem was that they were sinners in Adam, just like the rest of us. They got that same wicked heart. And when Jesus comes on the scene, John tells us that Jesus is the one with his winnowing fork in hand. Jesus says that bad trees with bad fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire. You see? So on the one hand here in Psalm 1, we get a picture of those who will have life forever. They will bear fruit. Their leaf will not wither. It's almost like they're doing exactly what they were created for. And on the other hand, we have those who will perish in in eternity in hell forever. That's what's before us this morning. And why do we teach this at the mission? So often this psalm is read or preached like a checklist. five steps to have a good life with God. And so they say things like, "Well, we don't want to receive counsel from the wicked, so I don't go get therapy from secular counselors." No, we need to have all of our counsel from the Bible. That's a good practice, but common grace suggests that maybe some counselors out there have something good to say as well. We certainly don't want to stand in the way of sinners. So, I watch the company I keep. All of my friends are religious. Those religious types, they really know what to do. You don't know me. Apparently, my wife will tell you I make all kinds of mistakes. We certainly don't want to sit in the seat of scoffers. So, let me tell you, dear brother, dear sister, never ever ever in your whole life ever go to Vegas. Whatever you do, don't go there. So, cancel your cable, read your Bible, pray more. God will be happy with you and your life will be better if you do these things. You know what the problem with that kind of reading is? You can tincture it for however you want to read it, but it comes out in different ways. It's called moralism, and it's not true. You know how I know it's not true? Because I could be stranded on a desert island and still have wicked thoughts. I could be stranded in the middle of the ocean with nobody around for thousands of miles and still be sinful in the eyes of a holy God. I don't need a secular self-help coach to inform my mind to make me wicked. It turns out that wicked counsel comes from right here. It comes from inside. I am never very far removed from the council of the wicked am I. One of the addages that we have at the mission, no matter where you go, there you are. And it's true. You see, if we read this psalm, Psalm 1 as moralists, there really is no hope for us in it. There's nothing there for you. Paul tells us in Romans, "By the works of the law, nobody will be justified. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin." That's the role of the law, to highlight sin so that you would be driven to a savior who is greater than yourself. So if you're trying to be justified on works of the law, if you're trying to be the blessed man by doing five steps to have a better life, you've missed the point of the law entirely. Through the law comes the knowledge of sin. And through a knowledge of sin and a humble heart comes a knowledge that you need a savior. That's why if we read this psalm as Christians, well, there's nothing but hope for it in it for you. There's nothing but hope here because as Christians, we know that Jesus Christ accomplished salvation for sinners by fulfilling the law on our behalf. He fulfills this law. What did Jesus do while he was here on this earth in his ministry? Did he avoid the council of the wicked? Jesus defeated Satan himself in the wilderness. You remember what Peter told him when he told him he had to go to the cross? And Jesus also corrected his misguided input, didn't he? Get behind me, Satan. Jesus didn't get comfortable in the way of sinners. He is certainly a friend of sinners. What a friend of sinners he is because he came to call sinners to repentance and save them by trusting him. But he was without sin. Hebrews tells us even though he was tempted as we are. And Jesus did not sit in the seat of scoffers. He very clearly distinguished himself from those who perverted the law for their own ends. Those who scoffed at him while he was dying on the cross. He faced them and loved them by telling them the truth even while they were crucifying him on the tree. Jesus doing this very thing from Psalm 1. His delight was to do the will of his fathers. John 4, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish the work. Of course, we know that he meditated on scripture. It is the Lord's word after all. everything he spoke, exhortations in scripture, correcting bad teaching, withdrawing in prayer constantly. As Christians, this psalm is hope for us. It's only hope for you if you have the right lens. And my wife and I before a fish and two dogs and then two girls. We used to like to travel some. So we went to Hawaii once and when we travel we like to see like what church are we going to go to? Is there a good church nearby? And then we'll kind of shift our plans based on it's a good practice. You get to meet good brothers and sisters in the Lord and you don't end up some weird church where they're smacking people on the head, right? We don't want to do that. So, we go to Hawaii and we go to this church and I'll never forget after the service. I got into a conversation with the pastor and we're talking about liturgy and what are you doing in your worship service and all this and he says, "We don't sing the psalms in our services because we actually want to sing about Christ." That always stuck with me. You know, Jesus says the Psalms are about him. I think we should believe him. And I have to say that if you can read the Psalms without seeing your savior, you're reading them wrong. Jesus is everywhere in the Psalms. He's right here in Psalm 1. Here he is, the blessed man accomplishing salvation on behalf of sinners. This is Jesus Christ. You see, by nature in Adam, this psalm will bury you in guilt. If you can be honest with yourself for a second, this psalm will leave you hopeless. But if you can be humble enough to see it, oh, the glory that lies here for you in Jesus, we just can we be honest with ourselves? Do do we do these things by nature even for one second? One prayer. Can you pray one prayer without having your thoughts drift? Are we blessed or are we wicked? With the right lens, do you see the mercy of God for us here in Psalm 1? Do you see the richness of God's grace before you as a sinner? Hell stands before you ready to accept you. And Satan stands ready to pounce on you and accuse you justly before a holy God. Satan's most powerful tool is not lies. It's not deceiving. It's that he's going to tell the truth about you when you die. But Christ stands here in his word and tells you to come see what I've done for you. It is accomplished. Come to me and rest. Turn and live. Jesus calls to you from his word here that you might see your need of him. Trust him, rest in him, and might I say, be blessed in him. I have two applications for us here to close out our time. The first one, if you're not a believer, is to consider the words of these Psalms, especially Psalm 1, and fly to Jesus Christ. Run to him. Do not think for a second that you could be the blessed man. There is no middle ground out there. There is only blessed and wicked. There's no separate space where people exist, where they kind of do good stuff sometimes and well, God just sees my heart and he knows I'm a good guy. That's not a real category. You're either blessed in Christ or you're wicked in yourself. What will you do? Would you stand before a holy God and contend with him? Your own life testifies. I'll have you remember anyone in here ever been disobedient to their parents? The unanimous vote said, "Amen. Fly to Christ. Secondly, if you're a believer this morning, here's my encouragement for you. Every time you open your Bible and you read Psalm 1, oh that you would see the glory of your savior here. Oh, that you would see nothing but Christ here. That it would drive you to love him and walk after him. Certainly want to do these things, right? We want to practice what Jesus did, but this psalm is for you to draw near to your savior and adore him and see his beauty for what he's done for you and how he's loved you. It is a map for Christian living, but you have to be a Christian first to do Christian living. Psalm one is near and dear to us at the mission because we pray that this psalm will haunt the men who never turn to Christ every day of their life until they see Jesus. And then we pray when they do see Jesus, they see the richness of the grace of God in him for them. Jesus Christ who saves sinners to the uttermost. In Psalm 1, we see it here. Two types of people, the blessed and the wicked with two different ends. Eternity with God or eternity in hell. So I ask you this morning, which one are you? Psalm 1, blessed is the man and blessed are all who take refuge in him. Amen. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, we thank you for the wonder of the grace of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to fulfill the law on behalf of unworthy sinners. Lord, we thank you for such a rich salvation that in him we can be righteous and blessed. We who did not deserve it. And oh how we pray for anyone in here this morning, maybe the hard-hearted, maybe those who truly haven't come to see your son yet. Would today be the day, Lord, that they would