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| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) * Song of Praise: “He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought!” # 526 Service of God’s Holy Word Scripture Reading: Psalm 1 |
Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
I believe that Psalm 1 is the Old Testament equivalent of that same truth. It also speaks about two roads, two paths, but only two. There is the pathway of the righteous – which is the narrow path. And then there is the pathway of the wicked, of the ungodly, of the fool – which is the broad path.
One path leads to life, to prosperity, to blessing, and to fruit bearing. The other leads to death, to destruction, to barrenness and emptiness. And as Jesus pointed out, many take the broad path that leads to destruction. Why do you think that is? Because the broad path is the easy path. It is the pathway of least resistance, the pathway of preference, of indulgence, of our sinful human nature.
Whereas the narrow path is the harder path because it is the way of self-denial, of self-restraint, of saying no to sin, of cross bearing and dying to our sinful human nature. If I could use this illustration – and by no means am I calling chocolate and sweets a sin -- but if you place before two trays: one filled with carrots, cucumbers and celery, and then with M&M’s, Reese’s Pieces, I already know which way my hand is going (so does my family which is why they keep that tray far out of reach).
It takes effort, it actually takes a radical life-change NOT to reach for the things we crave, and NOT to reach for the things which we have (in a sense) trained ourselves to indulge in and enjoy.
That’s a picture of the narrow path. It’s the hard path because it requires course correction – and that does not come naturally for us physically – much less spiritually, and yet this is what Psalm 1 is all about: it’s pictures us walking the narrow path and delighting in it – not complaining, not disappointed, not yearning for anything else, but finding joy and contentment and delight in it.
A second thing I want to say about this Psalm before we get into the specifics is this: the blessed man described in Psalm 1 is Jesus himself. All the scriptures speak of Jesus, and Psalm 1 is no different. Jesus is the only righteous man who ever lived.
Psalms 14 and 53 remind us that there is no one righteous, no, not one. It’s important to point this out at the beginning, to “frame” this Psalm in this way, because as Christians we confess that Jesus Christ is our righteousness. The pathway to eternal life, the pathway to blessing, the pathway to fruit bearing runs through Christ.
So, Psalm 1 must be read in the light of our redemption in Christ, of our adoptions as children of God, and of Christ living in us and through us. The simple truth is, if Christ lives in you, if Christ lives in me, then what we read about “the man” in Psalm 1 should be plainly evident in our lives – by the fruit that we bear. If we are connected to Christ by faith, then we will yield fruit in season.
Here in Psalm 1, the Psalmist Describes the Blessed Life. It is a life marked by 3 things:
1. By Avoiding all Wickedness
2. By Delighting in God’s Word
3. By Yielding Good Fruit
1. By what is Avoided
First of all, the blessed life is a life that is marked, that is distinguished by avoiding wickedness. Psalm 1 begins with that familiar phrase “Blessed is the man”. In many ways, this blessedness is similar to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. There, Jesus gives a list of Kingdom virtues and principles:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled…etc.”
Each kingdom principle touches on a unique facet of what it means to be a child of God, of what it looks like to follow Christ. And, of equal importance, each principle describes a virtue that is a clear break and ‘disconnect’ from the sinful world around us and from our sinful nature within us. The blessed life is kingdom life; it is life in Christ, and unto Christ, and it is a life that stands in antithesis, in stark contrast and opposition to the world around us.
Now, let’s take a look at the word blessed in verse 1. It means to be happy, even most happy, and when used as a verb it can also mean to go straight, or to set straight. I think both those meanings come into play here as the blessed man is a man, the woman, the child of God who is happy and content and joyful in Christ. And this person is most blessed and happy when they are living uprightly, when they are walking the straight narrow path – without wandering to the left or right.
Verse 1 describes this blessed life from a negative perspective – by an intentional, deliberate avoidance of the very sorts of things that would be a threat and a hindrance to this blessedness. Such a blessed man, such a righteous person, does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.
Notice there are three sets of three things set before us: walking, standing and sitting (which is an action); there’s the counsel, the path, and the seat (the arena in which we do those things); and then finally there’s the identity or description of those who do such things: wicked, sinners and mockers.
Walking standing and sitting represents the entirety of our existence. One commentator suggested that these represent thinking, behaving, and belonging. The righteous man and the ungodly man are different in how they think, how they behave, and to whom they belong. I think it is helpful to relate this to the head, the heart and the hands: what we think, what we love and what we do.
Think of the summary of the law of God, where we are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That kind of love engages the affections of the heart, it takes captive the thoughts of our mind, and it makes our will more willing to yield to the perfect of God.
The end result, we hope and pray, is that what flows out of that is the good fruit of righteousness.
But as we know, whenever and at whatever level sin creeps in, even if it short circuits one area (our thoughts), it short circuits everything because the heart and mind and will are all inter-connected. The mind tells the heart what to love and what to desire; the heart tells the will what to long for, and what to choose and so forth.
And then there are the words counsel, which has to do with wisdom and advice; the word way has to do with direction or path; and the word “seat” has to do with our dwelling, our associations or our affiliations.
Sadly, in our sinful, fallen world there is a type of wisdom and counsel that not just ungodly, but it is godless. It is pure humanism. You can’t watch a movie today it seems (especially a Disney production) without writers trying to indoctrinate moviegoers with the world’s twisted and perverted concepts of race, gender, diversity, masculinity, justice, and even what salvation is about from a godless perspective. We are surrounded by worldly, godless teachings and philosophies.
Notice too, the blessed man does not stand in the ‘way’ of sinners. The way of sinners is a pathway of life that leads in the wrong direction – it leads to folly and death and destruction. And finally, for the seat of mockers -- the word “seat” suggests an association, an affiliation with the wrong kind of people. We often teach our children: “bad company corrupts good character; that one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch; a man is known by the company that he keeps.”
Yes, it’s true that Jesus dined with tax collectors and sinners. He did so to teach the Jews and Pharisees that this is why He came – to save sinners. But Jesus did not approve of the sinner’s lifestyle, nor did he engage in their sinful lifestyle, nor was he wrongly influenced by their company. Rather, he preached to those sinners, he ministered to them, and he called them to repent and to leave their sinful lifestyle. So that’s an important distinction.
So, if we’re spending all our free time hanging around with that group of high school friends, or college buddies or people from work or school who don’t know Christ, who don’t believe in God, and who don’t share our values or our love for Christ – we could be in great spiritual danger.
The chances are, they’re going to change and influence us much more than we are going to change them. I’m not suggesting that we can’t have non-Christian friends and acquaintances. I would hope that we all do. But what I am suggesting is that our closest friends and acquaintances should be our brothers and sisters in Christ who can encourage us and help us on in our walk with the Lord.
In I Corinthians 6 Paul wisely commands us: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common.”
The truth of Psalm 1 is a Gospel truth. Once we’ve been united to Christ by faith, we can’t go back and join ourselves to the world again or pretend that if we’re Christians, then it doesn’t matter how we live or who we associate with. Christ calls us to come out and be separate.
Finally, we see that this group of people are identified as the wicked, sinners and mockers. The word for wicked or ungodly refers to one who is a criminal or hostile to God; the word for sinners is guilty or offender, and the word for mockers has to do with someone who proudly and arrogantly scoffs, who criticizes and mocks in derision.
What I want you to see is that this trio of wickedness, ungodliness and mocking represents a lifestyle that is set against, antithetical to, and diametrically opposed to God and His Son Jesus Christ. Such a person lives in deliberate self-willed rebellion, hostility and hatred against God.
The child of God who is “blessed” understands this, and desires to make a clean break with the activities of sin, with the arena of sin, with the people around us who openly embrace this lifestyle. I close this first point with this appeal from 1 John 2: 15-17 says: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes, and the pride/boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
2. By Delighting in God’s Word
The Blessed Life is a Life Marked by Avoiding Wickedness. Secondly, the Blessed Life is a life marked by Delighting in God’s Word. Verse 3 states what this blessedness looks like in a positive way: But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on that law he mediates day and night.
The word for delight can also mean desire, longing and pleasure. So again, negatively, the blessed man hates and avoids and will not be party to those things in life that are offensive to God, that are unholy and ungodly, that would cause him to veer off the pathway of righteousness. Positively, the blessed man takes great delight, pleasure and joy in the things of God, in pursuing the ways of God. In other words, he takes delight in the very things which brings God glory, honor and praise.
I want to spend a few moments talking about this idea of delighting in the law of God and of meditating on that law day and night. First of all, the reference to the law of God is not to be restricted to the Ten Commandments, or even the first 5 books of the Old Testament (which in Bible times was what “the law” always referred to.
We’re to interpret this reference to the law of God as applying to the entirety of God’s Word. But I want to ask you this: how and why would we find such delight, such pleasure, such enjoyment in God’s Word? If you were asked the question: what makes you happy? What brings you the richest sense of pleasure and delight? What makes you excited to get up in the morning and start a new day? What would you say? Work perhaps. Golf. Vacation maybe. Food? Coffee?
Where on that list would this fall? Where on that list would you plug in: “time spent in God’s Word, meditating on His Word and taking time to pray?” This should really humble us and make us re-think our priorities and affections. Do we truly delight in God’s Word.
And maybe you ask or wonder -- why would we take such a delight in His Word? Isn’t God the object of our affections? Yes, He is. Absolutely. But never forget, we don’t have true knowledge of God outside His inspired Word. God’s word is able to make us wise unto salvation. We cannot know ourselves, or know God, or Jesus Christ His Son, or what Jesus did for us, or how we are to live, outside of what is revealed to us in God’s Word.
In Psalm 19, David provides a wonderful commentary and insight into what this delight looks like, as well as some of the reasons we desire and long for God’s Word. From verse 7-11 David writes: “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are sure/firm, and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” Then verse 11 wraps it up by saying: “By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”
You see, the reward of living the blessed life is not prosperity and blessing the way the world perceives it. I suppose an unbeliever could read Psalm 1 and come away thinking it’s no wonder these Christians believe in God. He promises riches and prosperity and good health and wealth to everyone who lives a good life.
But that’s not the blessing in view here. The blessing and reward is God – it is knowing God. It is knowing our Savior Jesus Christ and the way of salvation. The blessing and reward is knowing that we have been saved from our bondage to sin and the tyranny of the devil.
All of you here know what it is to live under the power and dominion of sin. Have you ever been so angry with someone that you shake in anger, you can’t sleep, you can’t function? Have you ever been so filled with lust that the thoughts of your mind are preoccupied with sinful desires and how you can satisfy that lust? Have you ever been so excited about the prospect of making a profit, or of obtaining an asset that you block out everything else and can only think about that?
Whether its greed, anger, lust, covetousness, jealousy, pride, drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography, whatever sin you struggle with – if you have any spiritual discernment at all, you will be able to recognize that sin enslaves, it consumes, it exhausts us and it will eventually destroy us and our relationships around us.
So then, we can hopefully see then what a precious and priceless gift it is for God to give us grace and power to break free from that deadly grip of sin. Paul wrote to the Galatians – it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. The blessedness of knowing God, of receiving the free gift of salvation in Christ, of walking the pathway of the righteous IS the reward.
There’s no greater gift and reassure than that – and once we understand that our eyes will be open, our hearts and souls will overflow and rejoice, and we will have a newfound delight in God and a desire to read and meditate on His Word.
And if you lack that, brothers and sisters, if you find that joy, that delight, that pleasure to be missing or lacking in your heart and soul, then make it a priority to pray to God that He, by His Holy Spirit, would instill within you that joy and delight. And then don’t ever stop praying that petition.
3. By Yielding Good Fruit
The third and final point is this: The Blessed Life is a Life Marked by Yielding Good Fruit. I spoke about the importance of fruit bearing in the sermon on New Year’s Day, and I do so again on this first Lord’s Day of 2025, because there are few things more important than this. Will you produce good fruit for the Master Gardner in 2025? Or will this be another year of barrenness, of wasting your life. Of you heading in the wrong direction?
Verse 3 provides an image, a word picture, of what our lives should look like. The blessed man is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
This tree is planted by streams of water. We can think of that water in two ways. On the one hand, it is the refreshing water of God’s Word which we just talked about – the Word in which we delight. But on the other hand, that stream is Jesus Christ -- the living water. As Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4, we are to drink of the living water so that we will never thirst again, and it will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
So, Christ is the key to Psalm 1, of course. The only way that tree survives, the only way that tree can bear fruit, the only way that tree can survive the season and avoid being cut down and thrown into the fire, is by drawing its life source from that stream of water.
For us, it means the only way anyone can find true blessedness in this life, true happiness, fulfillment, and satisfaction, the only way anyone can break free from that pathway of sin that leads to destruction and start walking the pathway of righteousness, the only way a person can produce good fruit is by believing in Jesus Christ and abiding in Him by faith.
What is this good fruit? This good fruit is essentially the product of living a life of obedience to God and striving to live for His glory. Peter has a list of things such as faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.
Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, and you can read that as well as other passages in the Epistles where Paul explains what it means to live a transformed life in Christ. But I leave you with this: It was Jesus who said: This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
So, you see, the blessed life is not only its own reward, but it also produces fruit for the glory and honor of God. Such a person is sure to stand in the judgment, because he is saved by the grace of Jesus Christ and he remains connected to Christ by faith. But anyone who is not, anyone who does not believe in Christ, who is not connected to Him by faith, is not producing fruit.
In fact, his entire life and existence is a waste – he is like the chaff -- the dry, lifeless, useless husk that the wind blows away. That’s the way the cursed life ends in this world – but worse yet, it says he will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
If we live our earthly life walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of mockers, it’s no surprise that in the end, we will not be standing in the assembly of the righteous – but rather we will be condemned to an eternity in hell with the unrighteous.
So, let’s be both warned and encouraged people of God. The Lord sets before us two pathways. One is a narrow path that leads to life. One is a broad path that leads to death. Which path are you on? Which way are you headed? With whom will you stand on the final day of judgment? Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Pastor Keith Davis, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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