Psalm 1

Joshua chapter 1 verse 5, There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.

Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whethersoever thou goest.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Now there's three words in these readings I want you to notice, and you'll see why in a moment.

Verse 7 we read about prospering, verse 8 we read about the law, and God says to meditate thereon day and night. Now look over to Psalm 1, the first Psalm, blessed or happy or really all the blessednesses. The word blessed is never in the singular in the Hebrew, it's a plurality of blessings.

All the blessednesses is a man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Now a final reading in Jeremiah chapter 17. Isaiah, Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 7. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall green, be green or prosper, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Now I just want to point out before speaking a little word from the first Psalm, that it's interesting to me that David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, learned from Joshua's writings, and Jeremiah learned from the writings of David. And so that's a lesson for each one of us as we read the Word of God.

We can learn as our brethren were telling us yesterday. It's line upon line, here a little, there a little. And as our brother Smith mentioned, we need in our day to study the Word of God.

Not merely to tear off the calendar and read the verse or two, and think now I've done my study for the day. That's not study of the Scriptures. God wants us to apply ourselves, and there are young men here with brains and intelligence.

You know all about the farming machinery, how many RPMs those big tractors produce, how many bottom plows they can pull, you know all about automobiles, racing cars, you know all about them. But what about when it comes to the Word of God? How much do you really appreciate? And so I would encourage young brethren especially because there's a number here that, and I include myself as being older, some will remember that I'm a veteran of World War II, not too many around. There were 16 million in the forces in this country in World War II.

There are 4 million left alive, and there are approximately 1,100 that are dying every day. So one day you'll hear that this little preacher has gone. But we need young men.

We need the ranks to be being filled in. Men with intelligence, men with a heart for souls that recognize that there's only one life, it'll soon be past, and only what's done for Christ will last. And personally, I can look back over 53 years now of full-time service.

I would do the very same thing again. It's wonderful to be able to see the hand of God step by step. A missionary told me years ago when he knew that I was preaching around a bit with Oliver Smith and Paul Elliott, and someone must have told him that I had an interest in the work of the Lord, and he gave me good advice.

Here's what he said, don't go until you can't stay. Don't go until you can't stay. So make absolutely sure that it's the mind of God.

Now David was called by God as you know. David was raised up, taken from the sheep coats, and eventually arrived at the throne over the people of God. And so now he's writing this lovely Psalm.

The Psalms are an interesting study in themselves. You can link them with the first five books of the Old Testament. Psalm 1 through Psalm 41 is equivalent to the book of Genesis, the seed plot of the Bible.

By the way, there's no chapters in the Psalms. I hear preachers talking about Psalm chapter 20 and so on. There's no chapters.

They're just Psalms. So Psalm 1 through 41 corresponds to the Genesis. That's the seed plot of the Word of God.

And then from Psalm 42 through 72 is the second book of the Psalms, corresponding to the way out, the book of the Exodus. Then from Psalm 73 to 89 we have teaching that's equivalent to what the book of Leviticus brings before us. God's people learning the law of God, God's purposes in worship.

Then from Psalm 90 to 106 it answers to the book of Numbers, going through, passing through the wilderness experience. And then from 107 to the end we have onward, answering to Deuteronomy. And each of them ends with a lovely song of praise.

Praise the Lord. Oh, praise the Lord. In fact, the happy man of Psalm 1 that I want to look at, he blesses man in Psalm 1. And in the very last Psalm, man is blessing God.

Thirteen times over he says, praise Jehovah, praise the Lord. And that's what God wants from your heart and from my heart as we will see. Now the first thing I want you to notice is this happy man in verse 1. Happy is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

And the only one who was the ultimate of not walking in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standing in the way of sinners, nor sitting in the seat of the scornful, was the person of our Lord Jesus himself. He always enjoyed communion with his Father. But here's the happy man.

He's enjoying God. It was Jonathan Edwards that said many years ago that the enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which your soul and mind can be satisfied. The enjoyment of God, our brethren were dealing with that yesterday, knowing something of God in the experiences of life, recognizing that God is working out his own purposes, seeking to conform us to the image of his Son.

That will be the ultimate. When at last we arrive home in heaven, he will complete us in all of his purposes down here. So the happy man, he doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly.

Now Brother Shutt touched this yesterday and it got me thinking about it. The man that walked with God, Genesis 5, was Enoch. 65 years and then he begat Methuselah.

And then it says he walked with God 300 years. And he knew the meaning of the name of Methuselah was that when he is come, it shall be sent. That is the flood.

He knew the purposes of God. And here's a crisis experience in this man Enoch. He walked with God, you know, when the world was wrong.

And God expects you and I to do that in the midst of a godless scene, to walk in conscious fellowship with him. But it was a crisis in the life of Enoch. A son born into the family.

And oftentimes it's a crisis in my life or your life that causes a complete change. And if you went to Hebrews chapter 11, you would learn that Enoch pleased God. And the man that walks with God, he pleases God.

He may not always please others, but he's pleasing God. And that's all that matters. And so Enoch was the man that walked with God.

Then it says the happy man standeth not in the way of sinners. I was thinking about Abraham, you remember, in chapter 18 of the Genesis. It says about Abraham, he stood yet before the Lord.

What's he doing? Interceding. God, he says, if there's 50 righteous in the city, won't you spare it? And he comes down to 45 and to 40 and right down to 10. But Abraham stopped.

And there weren't 10 righteous found in the city. And God destroyed those cities. Not only Sodom and Gomorrah, but Admah and Zoboam.

And you know the story how the judgment of God fell upon them. But Abraham, he intercedes for them. And there's a lovely expression in that verse that I was looking at the other day in Genesis chapter 18.

God says about Abraham, I know him. I wonder if he knows me or if he knows you. We say that we know him, but does he know us? Does he govern our ways and our activities? That's the man that knows what it is to stand in the presence of God.

And then it says the happy man doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful. I could take you over to the book of Samuel and show you that David sat before the Lord. And the Lord said to him, I'm gonna raise you up.

David says, who am I that thou has brought me into this blessing? I'm just a shepherd lad. But God said, I'm gonna raise you up. And he brought him right to the very throne, ruler of his people.

And so David was the man that knew what it was to sit before the Lord and be a worshiper. Now dear brethren, I want to say this. God desires the worship of my heart and of your heart more than service.

We get occupied with activities. Young people get saved and the first thing we'll say, well we'll give them a Sunday school class, get them busy. God wants the worship of our heart.

And before anyone should stand upon a public platform, there should be evidence that there's worship in their heart, that they appreciate the person of the Lord Jesus. And so that's what characterized this man, David. Now quickly, in verse 2, it's not the satisfied man so much as a satisfied man.

Listen to what he says. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Where did David learn that? He must have been reading Joshua.

We read in chapter 1 about the law of God and about meditating in it and about the resultant blessing. And so the satisfied man delights in God. You remember Psalm 37, the psalmist writes, delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart.

Again Psalm 40, that psalm that tells us so much about the Lord Jesus. He says, I was daily thy delight, rejoicing always before thee. I wonder if my delights are in God's things.

You see, dear brethren, particularly younger men, let me remind you, in spite of all the input of life, so many inputs in our day, so many avenues that appeal, what brings satisfaction is delighting in the Lord and in his interests. Again, the end of that verse, it's a studious man. He meditates in the law of God all day and all night.

Now that doesn't mean that you should constantly read the Word of God, but you should meditate upon it. In the quiet of the night, maybe those restless nights, there should be meditation. The idea is like an animal that ruminates that hay or whatever it is that he feeds upon over and over again.

It's returning, and that's what God wants you and I to do with his Word. If we meditate upon it, this Word becomes part and parcel of our being. You remember the words of Romans 12, present your bodies a living sacrifice? How is it to be done? By the renewing of the mind.

How can the mind be renewed? You see, we become what we think, and what we're involved in is what eventually comes out. And so God wants us to enjoy his book, to meditate upon it. You know, there's no end to this book.

Any other book, any textbook, you can memorize it and get to the end of it, but when it comes to the Word of God, there's no end. There's always more. That's Romans chapter 5. More, much more, much more.

There's no end to it. There are heights that we'll never scale and depths that we'll never plumb in the Word of God. We can never exhaust it.

And so the Lord helped us to appreciate something about meditating upon the Word of God. Then in verse 3 I want you to think of this happy man as a steadfast man. It says, he shall be like a tree planted.

Now it just didn't spring up there, it was planted there, like a New Testament assembly. Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians chapter 3, it's God's doings, planted by God. Many years ago the assembly here was planted, and other assemblies in the area, planted by God.

And you remember Dr. Luke the physician tells us in chapter 2 of the Acts, they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine, in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. It was steadfast. Not if it was convenient, it was something that they were enjoying and involved in steadfastly.

And we appreciate the people of God in this part of the vineyard that will come. Gospel meetings in the area, not too hard to fill the halls, the Lord's people come. Why do they do that? Because they have an interest in the souls of man.

And I can tell you places in this country where they're happy to see one or two unsaved come in to hear the gospel. And I can remember years ago right here in this assembly, we would get 30 or 40 unsaved on a Sunday night. You see, that steadfastness, putting your all into it.

And so the Lord help us brethren to continue in that realm. Then in verse 3, it's a fruitful man. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

Jeremiah mentions that, fruitfulness. Joshua mentioned it, fruitfulness. Wonderful to see fruit, not only in the preaching of the gospel, but in the ministry of the Word of God.

We who would attempt to minister the truth of God, we should expect results in the life of the people of God. Not just speaking to try and impress people with what I think I know, but to try and reach the heart. That's what I listen to when I hear a man speaking.

Is there warmth in it? Is there feel? Not all hard doctrine, but warm truth that stirs up the people of God and revives them and refreshes them and it brings fruit in their life. Now I finish. Verse 3, the end of it, it's the prosperous man.

Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. You remember Daniel? It tells about him in the early chapters of that book, chapter 1, long about verse 8, that he purposed in his heart. He wouldn't defile himself with a king's meat.

David recognized there was a higher, Daniel recognized there was a higher interest in his life, not bowing to the wishes of the king. Then not only that, he was preferred among the princes, set higher than all the princes. And chapter 8 of that book tells us he prayed and he prospered.

God prospered him. Why did he do that? Because his desire was to please him. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

You know Daniel couldn't be touched by the lions. By the way, he was in a den of lions, not a lion's den. The lion's den may be empty, but where he was, there were living wild beasts.

And I think I see Daniel putting his head down and maybe sleeping on one of them. You know they couldn't touch him. You know why? He was all backbone.

Someone has said he wouldn't bend and he wouldn't bow and he wouldn't budge. A man that purposed in his heart. And God wants you and I to purpose in our hearts to live to honor the blessed man of Psalm 1. If we do, there'll be prosperity in our lives.

In every realm we would like to be prosperous. The Lord help us like David and like Joshua and even Jeremiah to know something about prospering in God's things. The Lord bless his word and what will follow for his name's sake.