The Blessed Man
Psalm 1,
Notice how Psalm 1 starts off, it starts off with that word blessed. It's generally a plural word, oh, the blessedness. And that word blessed can be translated. You could pick up a number of English translations and they would translate it with the word happy. I'm almost hesitant to use that word happy because it's been so misused and misapplied. But the Puritans and Reformers, if you read them, they had no problem using the word happy. But we want to be clear, it's not the superficial happiness, but a full-orbed happiness that doesn't depend upon circumstances. And I think you could argue that the happiest or the most joy-filled men in our Bibles were our Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul, and both of those men had suffered a lot. But how do you explain the blessed man from Psalm 1? Well, let me just point out three things very briefly.
The blessed man enjoys spiritual prosperity and blessing. His spiritual prosperity is likened to a tree that bears forth fruit in season, planted by rivers of water. In other words, it's not a wasted life. It's a life that will count and be rewarded for all eternity.
The second thing we can say about this man is his durability. Verse 3, “His leaf does not wither.” You could say he's a man of perseverance, steadfastness, true faith endures.
And then the third thing that explains him better than anything else is he's a man of piety. And if you want to explain his prosperity, his long-term durability, why is that even possible? Well, it's because of who he is, he's a man of piety.
And verses 1 and 2 capture his godliness or his piety by way of a negative and a positive. And he starts off with the negative. And we could put it into one word, this man practices or has a discipline of rejection. There's a rejection of evil in every form and in every way. He does not listen to the counsel of the ungodly; he does not stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of scoffers. He's countercultural, you could say. And Paul picks up this same concept, you could argue, in Romans 12 when he says he does not conform to the world.
And then you have the opposite of that, the positive of piety or the positive of holiness. And I think you could capture it here, at least from one perspective, by the one word meditation. And this is not the typical kind of meditation that the world often talks about, this is a biblical meditation. In other words, he makes good use of his Bible; he diligently is searching and applying his Bible to all of life.
Going back to the past Lord’s Day we were reminded in the Sunday School hour when Dr. Ferguson said,
“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.”
Notice how Psalm 1 starts off, it starts off with that word blessed. It's generally a plural word, oh, the blessedness. And that word blessed can be translated. You could pick up a number of English translations and they would translate it with the word happy. I'm almost hesitant to use that word happy because it's been so misused and misapplied. But the Puritans and Reformers, if you read them, they had no problem using the word happy. But we want to be clear, it's not the superficial happiness, but a full-orbed happiness that doesn't depend upon circumstances. And I think you could argue that the happiest or the most joy-filled men in our Bibles were our Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul, and both of those men had suffered a lot. But how do you explain the blessed man from Psalm 1? Well, let me just point out three things very briefly.
The blessed man enjoys spiritual prosperity and blessing. His spiritual prosperity is likened to a tree that bears forth fruit in season, planted by rivers of water. In other words, it's not a wasted life. It's a life that will count and be rewarded for all eternity.
The second thing we can say about this man is his durability. Verse 3, “His leaf does not wither.” You could say he's a man of perseverance, steadfastness, true faith endures.
And then the third thing that explains him better than anything else is he's a man of piety. And if you want to explain his prosperity, his long-term durability, why is that even possible? Well, it's because of who he is, he's a man of piety.
And verses 1 and 2 capture his godliness or his piety by way of a negative and a positive. And he starts off with the negative. And we could put it into one word, this man practices or has a discipline of rejection. There's a rejection of evil in every form and in every way. He does not listen to the counsel of the ungodly; he does not stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of scoffers. He's countercultural, you could say. And Paul picks up this same concept, you could argue, in Romans 12 when he says he does not conform to the world.
And then you have the opposite of that, the positive of piety or the positive of holiness. And I think you could capture it here, at least from one perspective, by the one word meditation. And this is not the typical kind of meditation that the world often talks about, this is a biblical meditation. In other words, he makes good use of his Bible; he diligently is searching and applying his Bible to all of life.
Going back to the past Lord’s Day we were reminded in the Sunday School hour when Dr. Ferguson said,
"The key to maturity, growing in grace, is our union with Christ."
And he gives that explanation of that figure of speech,
"The vine and the branches. Christ is the vine and we are the branches. And like a branch depends upon the vine, we are dependent upon Christ for our nourishment. If we are going to abide in Christ, we must abide in His word, John 15:3."
He made this very point,
"You are clean because of the Word."
That is the same truth Paul echoes in Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
The point that Dr. Ferguson made, I thought it was very effective, he said,
The point that Dr. Ferguson made, I thought it was very effective, he said,
"The comparison between Christians today and Christians of yesterday; much of the modern Christianity today is anemic."
He used the word anemic which means lacking in strength, energy, force and effectiveness. Anemic, that is the modern Christianity of our day and he compared it to the Christianity of the past. You could call it a robust Christianity that was amplified in the lives of the Puritans and the Reformers. Then he referenced John Bunyan; it was Spurgeon who said,
"If you pricked him with a pin he would bleed Bibline blood."
And Spurgeon knew what he was talking about, he read Pilgrim’s Progress a hundred times, he started when he was age six.
Going back to the blessed man of Psalm 1, all Christians should be growing, and that will require brethren, it will demand that we make good use and regular exposure to our Bibles privately and publicly. I trust every Christian wants to be a growing Christian. That is one of the things Paul would pray when he prayed for the churches. He was excited, he was thrilled when he found that they were growing in faith and in love. So we should pray for that in light of every time we hear the word of God, every time we pick up our Bibles, “Lord, help me to grow in greater likeness to your Son Jesus. Help me to put on Christ and put off the old man.”
Going back to the blessed man of Psalm 1, all Christians should be growing, and that will require brethren, it will demand that we make good use and regular exposure to our Bibles privately and publicly. I trust every Christian wants to be a growing Christian. That is one of the things Paul would pray when he prayed for the churches. He was excited, he was thrilled when he found that they were growing in faith and in love. So we should pray for that in light of every time we hear the word of God, every time we pick up our Bibles, “Lord, help me to grow in greater likeness to your Son Jesus. Help me to put on Christ and put off the old man.”
Posted in Pastor Devotional