Psalm 1:1-6 The Blessed Man and His judgment of the Wicked
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Psalm 1:1-6 The Blessed Man and God’s judgment
Psalm 1:1-6 The Blessed Man and God’s judgment
*Come to Pulpit
*Layout Items
*Greet Congregation -Good Morning I welcome you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
, ESV
PRELUDE — Use these moments to prayerfully consider the Scripture meditation above, so you may properly give God the glory due to His name.
THE LORD CALLS US TO WORSHIP HIM
*God’s Word of Greeting
*Call to Worship……………..…...…………………………… Matthew 6:14-15
Matthew 6:14-15
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Let us turn in our Trinity Psalter Hymnal
Hymn of Praise…………… TPH #1B How Blest the Man TUNE -PSALM 107A in BOPFW
*Invocation
OUR RESPONSE TO GOD’S CALL
Responsive Reading………………………………….. Psalm 1 (TH p. 785)
1. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he mediates day and night.
3. He 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.
4. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Prayer of Confession and Repentance
I call on you, O Yahweh; hasten to me.
Listen to my voice when I call to you.
Let my prayer be set before you as incense,
the lifting up of my palms as the evening offering.
Set a guard, O Yahweh, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
to practice wicked deeds
with men who do iniquity;
and do not let me eat of their delicacies.
Let a righteous one strike me in kindness,
and let him chasten me.
It is oil for my head; let not my head refuse.
Elliot Ritzema, ed., 400 Prayers for Preachers (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).
Hear now our Assurance of Pardon
Assurance of Pardon 1 Peter 2:9-10
1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Let us turn in our Trinity Psalter Hymnal
Hymn of Thanksgiving ........................ TPH #24B The Earth and Its Riches - Psalm 9B in the BOPFW tune Joanna
Congregational Prayer
Father we come to you in prayer for the congregation. We Pray for _____________
Yahweh, be gracious to us, we wait for you. Be our arm in the mornings, indeed our salvation in the time of trouble.and we ask for all these things in the powerful, glorious, majestic, and wonderful name of Jesus Christ Amen.
THE LORD FEEDS US FROM HIS WORD
Scripture Reading……...……………………..…………………. James 1:1-27
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Hearing and Doing the Word
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Sermon…………………………………....The Blessed Man and God’s Judgement
Sermon Text………………...…………….……………. Psalm 1:1-6
Turn in your Bible to Psalm 1:1-6 that’s Psalm 1:1-6
English Standard Version Psalm 1
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;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 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.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
*Brief Prayer of Illumination -LET US PRAY
Father in heaven give us your people ears to hear what your Word and Spirit would have us to learn in Christ name AMEN
HP -So we will be speaking today about The Blessed Man and His Judgement of the Wicked.
Brief preliminary context.
To display his glory. “The Blessed man doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked." verse 1
To bring salvation to his people. “The blessed man delights in the law of the Lord.” verses 2-3
To meet the requirements of the law. “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.” Verse 3
To punish sin and To turn people to God. “The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” verse 6
This Psalm is apart of what some have called the wisdom Psalms
Those Psalms being
Psalm 1; 19; 37; 49; 50; 73; 78; 112; 119;
So this would be great Psalms for a believer to go to for wisdom from Gods song book.
This Psalm Also contains what we call Psalm Didactic and Poetry, Psalm wisdom,
The Lexham Glossary of Literary Types Psalm, Didactic
Psalm, Didactic — (OT) A psalm designed to give guidance or instruction to an individual or group.
The Lexham Glossary of Literary Types Poetry
Poetry — (OT and NT) Literary compositions characterized by figurative language, wordplay, rhythm, balance, and emotional expression that are crafted in order to produce an emotional response in the reader.
The Lexham Glossary of Literary Types Psalm, Wisdom
Psalm, Wisdom — (OT) A psalm that emphasizes wisdom themes like right living or the contrast between the righteous and the wicked.
But specifically we will be looking at Psalm 1 - The Ways of the Righteous and the Wicked.
This sermon was titled The Blessed Man and Gods Judgement - Becasue this narrows what this Psalm is about to a phrase you can easily remember.
So when someone asks you what the sermon was about you can say “The Blessed Man and Gods Judgement”
And this The Blessed Man and Gods Judgement - is preaching to us in Psalm one the Gospel
of a Blessed man who Who lived a perfect Blessed life and calls you to one.
But this Blessed man also reveals the nature of sin and how it has corrupted me and you.
and those who are servants of Satan or the Wicked according to our text.
To display his glory The Blessed man doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked. verse 1
vs. 1Blessed 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;
This is how he displays his glory.
He walks differently.
He stands differently.
He even sits differently.
This is how he displays his glory
Becasue he is not in love with the things of this world.
He doesn’t take counsel from those who are wicked.
He doesn’t stand before those who are wicked.
He doesn't sit with scoffers.
And so a logical question that might come to your mind is who on this earth could ever be this blessed man?
And if this Blessed man walked on the earth did he ever speak with men and women?
Becasue all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
If you are unsure of who this blessed man is then you are in need of him.
Not because you aren't wicked.
But rather because you are.
And If you do know this blessed man than you know it is the Lord Jesus Christ, and you know your need of him.
Your need of Him for counsel in how to walk in this life.
Your need of him for how to flee wickedness.
Your need of him to discern who is a scoffer and how to interact with such men and women.
This is why we can look at the passage like John 4:17-18 with the woman at the well that Jesus confronts about her sin of fornication and exposes her sin and draws her to himself as the Messiah.
John 4:17-18 states, "The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true." Christ exposed the truth and brought this woman to speak at the end of the passage in verse twenty-nine, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him."
This is how this Blessed man encounters sinful men and women and exposes there sins and draws them towards himself.
He doesn’t run from you, but rather confronts you
To change you, and give you a new heart, so that you might follow him.
So how do you follow Christ? Our text tells us in verses 2-3
In our world today, we want to be happy; but do we want to obey the Lord? Philip Eveson, in his work “The Book of Psalms: From Suffering to Glory,” states:
There is a general longing for happiness, and the world offers so many ways of achieving it, but too often, they lead to more unhappiness and eventually to final misery.
From God's perspective, the sort of person who is truly happy is the one described here.
It is another way of describing the wise person who, like Job, steered clear of evil and feared God (Job 1:1; Proverbs 3:7; Romans 12:9).[1]
There is also the thought in some Christian circles that we need to be isolationists and only do business with other Christians and those who hold with our belief system.
There is a difference between taking someone's counsel and altogether avoiding it. I think the psalm is instructing us to sometimes avoid people by not standing or sitting in their presence without objecting to their ungodly counsel.
Believers must engage the culture and correct them with God's word. We cannot be salt and light in this world if we do not interact with those who have not come to faith yet.
John F. Bettler has some great insights on this when he states:
Some of us think that means don't go to non-Christian lawyers or counselors. That is one application. But it's much broader than that. It means don't listen to the lies of the wicked. Don't listen to their godless explanations and reinterpretation of life. Don't listen to the lies that we tell ourselves even about the past when we interpret the past without God in view. People believe lies. That includes selectively and creatively remembering events from the past. They reinterpret those events to fit their lies.[2]
If we seek happiness in the things of this world by עָמָ֑ד standing and ישׁב sitting in the מֹושָׁב seat of the רְשָׁ֫עִ֥ים wicked and those חַ֭טָּאִים sinners and לֵ֝צִ֗ים scoffers who hate God and who God calls wicked, we will ultimately not be happy.
"The scornful mocks God. The scornful is the atheist, the infidel. The godly do not settle down in this company.
"The seat of the scornful may be very lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell" (Spurgeon).[3]"
Rather, we should seek to avoid what the psalmist calls wicked and cling to what he calls good; then we will genuinely be happy like this blessed man, Christ Jesus, the only one who perfectly did what of Psalm one is describing.
To bring salvation to his people the blessed man delights in the law of the Lord. verses 2-3
verses 2-3 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 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.
Ps. 1:2 Talks about the fact that we are to כִּ֤י indeed חֶ֫פְצֹ֥ו delight in the וּֽבְתֹורָתֹ֥ו law of the יְהוָ֗ה Lord. We are to have devotion to the Word of God in private and in family and public worship.
Christ kept the law perfectly for you .
He meditated on it because his law is a delight.
The remaining vocabulary יֶהְגֶּ֗ה meditate יֹומָ֥ם day and וָלָֽיְלָה night speaks to how we are to go about delighting in the law of the Lord.
Gods law is wonderful at its glorious because it represents Christ’s nature
His law was like looking in a mirror for Christ
Because the law represented who he is and what we are called to be like.
Because this is the law of liberty as the book of James puts it showing us our sin and misery and our need for mercy.
James 2:10-13 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become
John MacArthur points out something that should be obvious about what we meditate on from the text but still needs to be said. He states:
What kind of meditation and what kind of words are acceptable? Scripture, according to Joshua 1:8. It is the only resource that is all-sufficient, guaranteeing success to the one whose mind is fixed and meditating on its immense richness. Psalm 1:1–3 echoes the same thought:[1]
If you think back to the last time you did meditate on scripture or sing Psalm one, it does bring joy and delight to your heart if you are in Christ? The believer must remember that this passage only promises this joy if you meditate on the Word of God.
The result of meditating in this law we see in verse 3.
To meet the requirements of the law. “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.” Verse 3
This verse describes the result of what happens to the man who meditates on the Word of God.
Its colorful and beautiful language. Imagine a עֵץ tree that is שָׁת֪וּל planted עַֽל by the פַּלְגֵ֫י streams of מָ֥יִם water.
The word עַֽל by can also mean on as though it is growing in the very water, so it has a continual source of food. The word of God is that to believers, a never-ending source of spiritual nourishment.
And so you will grow as Christ grew like this tree.
If you feed on the Word of God Day and Night
Not just sometimes.
But just the way you feed on food when you rise in the morning.
Your stomach tells you that you need food.
Well you need spiritual food to his law is that food for you, day and night.
So that you will learn how to not walk as these wicked scoffers do in our text
And so you will be a light to them.
If the the Law of the Lord is your delight then share it with those around you. tell them about this blessed man who yield his fruit in its season.
This עֵץ tree יִתֵּ֬ן yields its פִּרְיֹ֨ו fruit at a specific time not too late and not too early but in its בְּעִתֹּ֗ו season. So men that follow the Lord will produce fruit in their lives and glorify God in Gods timing.
They show discernment.
The believer knows that there is a right time to speak to someone and when there is a wrong time to speak to someone.
The Lord Jesus yielded his fruit at his appointed time during his death, burial, and resurrection.
Christ yielded this fruit that you might live and not die.
So if we are in the Lord, we will be preserved, and we will be productive for God's glory. We will produce the fruit of the spirit that Galatians speaks of in Gal 5:22, 23.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
And if we are not producing this fruit and our church members are not producing this fruit of the spirit, then we are probably not of Christ yet Matt. 7:16 "you will recognize them by their fruits."
Becasue if you die without Christ you are like the wicked we read about in verse 4 and 5
To punish sin the wicked are not so and are judged in verses 4-5
verse 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Ps. 1:4 The רָשָׁע wicked spoken of in this verse are the unbelievers, and it contrasts them with the blessed man in verse three, whom they are לֹא not like.
They are like the מֹץ chaff that the רוּחַ wind נדף drives away. The blessed man's leaf didn't even crumble, but the wicked will crumble and dissolve like chaff in the wind.
The very wind that they once enjoyed blowing in there faces perhaps on the beach or just another sunny day will now be the instrument in which God describes them being blown away by.
You were a successful man or women in this life.
Maybe you owned land
Maybe you were wealthy
maybe you were poor and starving most of your life
Maybe you lied to get fortune.
Maybe you have hurt many people in this life.
Maybe you justify yourself with thinking you have lived a moral life.
A life where you haven't broken Gods law like the Pharisees claimed.
Do you remember the rich young ruler.
Matthew 19:20-23 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.
We can not justify ourselves in this life.
Without Christ we are like this chaff that the wind will blow away.
We need Christ to forgive us of our sins if we are not to be judged.
Becasue this Blessed Man will judge of the Wicked is judging the wicked and will judge the wicked when he returns.
verse 5 says Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
The רָשָׁע wicked simply will לֹא not קום standup or remain standing when the מִשְׁפָּט judgment comes from God the judge of all the earth.
"The ungodly will never win in the court of heaven. The ungodly are doomed.
John G. Butler said “He may stand tall in the world, but in eternity, he will wilt in the Divine court.[1]"
And the answer to why they are wicked comes in the second half of the verse. It is because they are וְ֝חַטָּאִ֗ים sinners specifically unregenerated sinners because we hear of the בַּעֲדַ֥ת congregation or assembly of the צַדִּיקִֽים righteous or just or guiltless ones that are cleansed by the blood of Christ.
Henry Cowles said “They are separated from the assemblies of the righteous, they can never stand, i. e., stand up with the divine favor, before God in his days of judgment, whether in the present life or the future. Their doom is to be disowned of God, condemned, and made monuments of his eternal justice.[1]”
And how could the wicked stand?
When even the saints in the Old Testament fell on their faces before a thrice Holy God?
And without the blood of Christ, they Shirly will not stand when the final judgment comes.
This Blessed man Christ will punish sin and will turn people to God. The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. verse 6
The passage begins by speaking about the יְ֭הוָה Lord knowing the דֶּרֶך way of the צַדִּיק righteous.
Isn't this true that the Lord knows not only are ways, but our beginnings and our end? God is all-knowing, and he knows the רָשָׁע wicked and who they are, and he knows who is going to אבד perish.
This verse shows us that God is sovereign, and nothing catches him off guard and that everything is done according to his knowledge and will.
God has for his own glory, decreed some צַדִּיק righteous and some רָשָׁע wicked from all eternity.
When the Lord states that he knows the ways of the righteous and the way of the wicked will perish is a great declaration.
God is saying that sin will be annihilated, and the curse will be removed after the final judgment.
John G. Butler says They will perish for all eternity. Their eternal future is one of ruin. They may laugh their way through this life, but eternal ruin is no picnic. Thousands every day are perishing without Christ because they have chosen to walk the path of the ungodly. It will be a terrible jolt to come to their senses in hell and realize they are ruined for eternity.[1]
The righteous will finally be united to the Lord and sinless in his presence.
But there is one thing that will never change for the wicked, which is their hatred for God. Those who are not the צַדִּיק righteous cannot and will not love God even after the judgment.
What a blessing it is for the Lord to know the way of the righteous and to have called them from all eternity to faith in his son Jesus.
Mark D. Futato points out
that the opening word of Psalm one is, ashre (joy), begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet Aleph, while the closing word, to'ved [6, 6] (destruction), begins with the last letter of the alphabet Tav (Psalm Ps. 112 uses this same poetic device). The psalm is thus an "incipient acrostic" articulating the diametric opposition between life and death: The two are as far apart as Aleph and Tav.[1]
So The very structure of the psalm in the original Hebrew demonstrates the difference between those that are righteous and those that are wicked, those that will live and those that will die in this life and the life to come.
The Blessed Man and His Judgement of the Wicked
John G. Butler said They will perish for all eternity. Their eternal future is one of ruin. They may laugh their way through this life, but eternal ruin is no picnic. Thousands every day are perishing without Christ because they have chosen to walk the path of the ungodly. It will be a terrible jolt to come to their senses in hell and realize they are ruined for eternity.[1]
It will be a wake-up call for the unbeliever in that they can longer delude themselves into thinking everything will be ok when they die.
But there is one thing that will never change for the lost, which is their hatred of God.
Those who are not the צַדִּיק righteous cannot and will not love God even after the judgment.
What a blessing it is for the Lord to know the way of the righteous and to have called them from all eternity to faith in his son, Jesus.
And we who are righteous are trusting in this promise which is repeated regarding Gods final judgment upon the whole earth.
Acts 17:31 says because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
The righteous are trusting in this blessed man who delighted in the law of God and kept it perfectly and was raised from the dead.
And we will meet him in the new heavens and the new earth.
Amen.
Let us pray
In you, O Yahweh, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
Be for me a rock of refuge to resort to always;
you have ordained to save me,
because you are my rock and my fortress.
Upon you I have leaned from birth.
It was you who took me from the womb of my mother.
My praise is of you continually.
I have become a wonder to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise,
with your glory all the day.
Do not cast me away in the time of old age;
when my strength fails do not abandon me.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and up to now I have proclaimed your wonderful deeds.
And even when I am old and gray,
O God, do not abandon me
until I proclaim your strength to this generation,
your power to every one that comes after.
And your righteousness, O God, is to the height of heaven.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have caused me to see many troubles and evils,
you will again revive me.
And from the depths of the earth
you will again bring me up.
You will increase my greatness,
and you will comfort me all around.
On my part, I will praise you with a stringed instrument,
and your faithfulness, O my God.
I will sing praises to you with a lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will sing for joy when I sing praises to you,
and my soul, which you have redeemed.
My tongue also
will speak of your righteousness all the day,
because they have been put to shame, because they have been humiliated
who seek my harm.
Amen
*Hymn of Response ...………………….... TPH #148A From Heaven O Praise the Lord! TUNE is 148A in the BOPFW
WE ARE DISMISSED WITH GOD’S BLESSING
*God’s Word of Blessing
May the Lord be with you and keep you throughout the week.
Our closing hymn is from the TPH #566
*Closing Hymn…………………..………………………. TPH #566 Hallelujah! Hallelujah! TUNE is 978B in the BOPFW