The Blessed Man
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Gateway Psalms
“the text upon which the whole of the Psalms make up a divine sermon.” - Spurgeon
1 & 2 together
No superscriptions
Inclusio
“Blessed”
‘Way’ that perishes
Meditate & Plot
Blessed man prospers, King conquers
2 Men
2 Portraits
2 Destinies
2 Men
2 Men
Blessed (righteous) man
Wicked man
Blessed
Happiness
Joy
Flourishing
Cheerful exclamation
Enjoys the favor of God
Blessed man has the favor of God and enjoys the favor of God
Blessed is the man
“Who is it that is the blessed man?” “Anyone who does what comes next?”
3 Things he doesn’t do
Walk in counsel of wicked
Stand in the way of sinners
Sit in the seat of scoffers
Walk in counsel
Wicked give counsel. The wicked give advice. The wicked love to tell
Be very careful receiving counsel from secular sources
Follow your heart
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Be true to yourself - be authentic
Luke 9:23 “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Love yourself
Love others
Believe in yourself
Only have people in your life that help your grow
You deserve happiness
We all deserve wrath
Notice the progression
Walk
Stand
Sit
Counsel
Way
Seat
Wicked
Sinners
Scoffers
Rom 1
Unrighteous
Sexual perversion
evil
Coveteousness
Envy
Murder
Strife
Romans 1:32 “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
They scoff
Scoffing at God is an effective strategy for the devil
If everyone scoffed, would you continue to be faithful
We do what people tell us to do, not what is true
Your mind
Your actions
Your identity
Sins our society has sits and scoffs in
Pride month - 57%
Pre marital sex - 57%
2 things he does do
Delights
Meditates
Law of the Lord
At the time, this is the law from moses
But it includes all of God’s revelation. All of the Bible
Delights
His Joy
His deepest desire
The wicked man desires wealth, and fame, and status, and power. The righteous man desires to encounter God through his word
You can meditate on God’s word, but do you love God’s word?
Meditates
This isn’t eastern hindo meditation of mind clearing
Counsel from wicked
Low muttering
Didn’t have bibles to read
Memorization, reflection, repetition
The blessed man loves God’s word, craves God’s word, feeds on God’s word
Psalm 119:20 “My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.”
Matthew 4:4 “But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ””
Day & Night
This isn’t a phase, this isn’t a season, this isn’t an occasional visitation. This is the life of the blessed man.
“It is the background music of his life. Here is both the nourishment and the outflow of the delight of his heart” - ash
Only God’s word can protect him from this. To not walk in the counsel, to not stand in the way, to sit in the seat, the blessed man must find his desire and deliverance in God’s word
Ps 19
2 Ways Portraits
The blessed man
Like a tree
Strong
Rooted
Stable
This is not a sapling, this is not a flimsy little tree, this is an oak tree
Isaiah 61:3 “to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.”
Notice a few descriptors of this tree
It’s planted by streams of water
In the dry desert climate, trees needed to have a good supply of water
This tree is nourished
Because of that
It bears fruit. This is a healthy tree.
The blessed man is a righteous man. Because of the word, it is nourished and bears fruit.
A good tree bears good fruit
Matthew 7:17–20 “So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”
It’s leaf does not wither
This tree lasts
The heat may come, but this tree won’t be scorched
This is a beautiful tree
He prospers
The wicked “prosper”
Jeremiah 12:1–2 “Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit; you are near in their mouth and far from their heart.”
The righteous suffer
Psalm 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
This is a final success, an eternal success
To contrast, that is not what the wicked man is like
The wicked man is not like a tree planted by water
He is not nourished, he constantly thirsts for more
Our souls are restless…
He doesn’t bear fruit. He is a dead tree
He is not lasting
His prosperity here may be cause for his scoffing but his prosperity will result in despair
He is like chaff in the wind
Farmer would through the harvested grain into the air. The wind would blow away the chaff (straw, husks)
Chaff is powerless. A slight breeze will blow it away
Is not of any value. It is to be discarded
There are only two types of people here
Blessed & Wicked
No in between
No neutral
No indifferent
Two Destinies
The wicked will not stand in the judgement
This is God’s final Judgement. None are able to stand on that day
They may have sat down and scoffed but they will bend the knee and confess
The day of judgement is coming and it is a terrifying thought for the wicked
They will not stand in the congregation of the righteous.
There is going to be a gathering of the righteous. The blessed will be together forever
But the wicked won’t be there
Because they will perish. The wicked will stand guilty before the throne and have no answer. Like chaff they will be blown away. They will be discarded. They will be cast aside
But the righteous will be gathered. The lord knows the way of the righteous
He cares for, he watches over
Now I could do what many preachers here may do. And tell you to read your bibles more. To love God’s word. To obey it. To not walk, stand, sit, with the wicked. To not think, act, and identify with sin.
But there is a problem with that, is there not?
This is law
As you read about the blessed man
3 Responses
Self righteousness
Self determination
Self despair
Self righteousness
I do love my bible
I do meditate on it
I don’t sin
I am the blessed man
Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:48 “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Self determination
Wow, I have failed to desire the law of the lord
I don’t meditate on it day and night
I have walked, I have stood, and If I’m honest, I have sat
But I will grind it out.
I will become the blessed man
Self despair
I can’t desire the law perfectly
I can’t meditate day & night
I can’t perfectly obey
I can’t be the Blessed man
The question was, Who is the Blessed man in Psalm 1. The answer was so right, “the one who does whatever comes next”
You aren’t the man of psalm 1
Story
Harry Ironside, the Bible teacher, told of a visit to Palestine years ago by a man named Joseph Flacks. He had an opportunity to address a gathering of Jews and Arabs and took for the subject of his address the first psalm. He read it and then asked the question: “Who is this blessed man of whom the psalmist speaks? This man never walked in the counsel of the wicked or stood in the way of sinners or sat in the seat of mockers. He was an absolutely sinless man.”
Nobody spoke. So Flacks said, “Was he our great father Abraham?”
One old man said, “No, it cannot be Abraham. He denied his wife and told a lie about her.”
“Well, how about the lawgiver Moses?”
“No,” someone said. “It cannot be Moses. He killed a man, and he lost his temper by the waters of Meribah.”
Flacks suggested David. It was not David.
There was a silence for a long while. Then an elderly Jew arose and said, “My brothers, I have a little book here; it is called the New Testament. I have been reading it; and if I could believe this book, if I could be sure that it is true, I would say that the man of the first Psalm was Jesus of Nazareth.” (Boice, Psalms 1–41, 19)
J. Josh Smith and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2022), 10.
Jesus is the one who doesn’t walk, stand, or sit in sin
When all scoffed at him he continued to be faithful
When they reviled he did not revile in return
Jesus is the one who’s delight is in the law of the Lord.
Jesus is the one who meditates on his word perfectly because he is the incarnate word
Jesus is the blessed man
We are the wicked
1 Timothy 1:15 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”
And by grace, through faith, because of that blessed man, we have become the congregation of the righteous
Remember how I said 1 and 2 are together
Inclusio
Blessed are who?
Those who take refuge in him
Who find their safety and security in him
We have become blessed men and woman not because we are the one in the psalm but because Christ is and by faith we have taken refuge in him
You are the congregation of the righteous because there was one man who fulfilled it on your behalf
So yes, We ought to love God’s word, to meditate on it. To pursue righteousness, to flee sin. Not to become have the favor of God but because in Christ we already do.
We rejoice that Jesus Christ is the blessed one and wonder at his marvelous righteousness. And then, stirred by the Spirit of Christ within us, we resolve, under grace and with joy, to walk with him in the way of Psalm 1.
Christopher Ash, Psalms 1–50, vol. 2, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), 14.
