Introduction
- The Psalms:
- Combine theology with personal biography.
- Express every human emotion > the antidote to intellectual formalism.
- They move us from Trust > Obedience > Praise.
- Psalm 1 teaches us how we are to offer our praise to God.
Read Psalm 1
- The pursuit of happiness drives everyone.
- No one has said it more succinctly, clearly and repeatedly than John Piper:
“God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him.”
- Where am I finding satisfaction?
- Our happiness in this life and in the life to come is directly tied to our love of God’s Word.
The Way of Life (1-3)
- A1 Earthly Distinctiveness (v 1): Walks > Stands > Sits implies the progression of comfort with wickedness. The way of blessedness begins by cutting ourselves off from the path leading us to destruction. Likewise, there appears to be a progression in the terms (Kidner):
- Counsel > Thinking.
- Way > Behaving.
- Seat > Belonging.
- Depicts departing from God and conforming to this world.
So how does the godly person prevent this process from developing in their lives?
- B1 Continuance (v 2): Meditating on God’s Word day and night! “Law” = Whole counsel of God’s Word.
- Our counsel comes from God, not the world. Scripture determines our behavior, not the wicked. The Bible determines for us where we ought to find our deepest fellowship.
- The same Hebrew word translated “meditate” is translated “plot” in (2:1). Our worldview determines our lifestyle.
- Plumer, “No man can really perceive beauty without being affected by it.”
- C1 Security (v 3): The metaphor in this verse is that of a thriving fruit tree planted by streams of flowing water. This tree’s leaves never dry out and it will never stop bearing its fruit at the proper time.
- Such is the one who meditates upon the law of God day and night.
- Spiritual security and prosperity accompany him.
The psalmist transitions from the characteristics of the righteous to those of the wicked.
The Way of Death (4-6)
- C2 Insecurity (v 4): Worse than a dead tree, the wicked are like weightless chaff driven away by the wind.
- What is chaff?
- Oxen threshed the grain (separating the grain from the husk).
- Fling the grain into the air so the chaff would be blown away.
- It is inedible, worthless. No root, fruit, or security.
- August Tholuck, “He who has nothing sure in heaven, cannot have anything firm on earth.”
- B2 No Continuance (v 5): Incapable of standing on the day of judgment – cast out from the congregation of the righteous (those right with God).
- This is a picture of the final judgment that awaits. There will be a separation between the sheep and the goats.
- Who is singing this? The Church. We do the warning.
- I’m convinced one of the reasons we become ineffective at reaching the lost is because we don’t really believe this.
- A2 Eternal Distinction (v 6): The Lord “knows” in the sense that he cares about the righteous and what they are going through. The way of perishing. The opposite of being blessed.
- We need to hear of the misery of living a life of wickedness lest we become tempted, or indifferent.
- Do we consider that coming day of separation? It is not something to take lightly.
There is an eternal separation coming.
Conclusion
- The portrait of the righteous man is perfectly represented by Jesus Christ. And those who are united to him experience the delight that comes from obedience.
- Waltke, “His gospel fulfills the righteousness of the law for the elect, and his Spirit writes the law upon their hearts.”
- Part of what we do whenever we take the Lord’s Supper is examine the state of our own hearts.
- Tonight, it would be good to ask whether we are currently living in the way of the righteous or the wicked.