Blessed is the Man
Psalm 1
I. A man is blessed when he does not (vs. 1)
A. Listen to the counsel of the wicked.
1. Character of the wicked. (Ps. 10:7-11)
2. Nature of their counsel.
a. Unreliable (Ps. 5:9)
b. Unwise (Ps. 36:3)
B. Walk with the sinners (Wicked)
1. They stumble in the dark (Prov. 4:14-19)
2. They commit spiritual suicide (Prov. 1:19-19)
3. Death is their fate (Ps. 49:13-14)
C. Live with the scoffers (wicked)
1. God scoffs at the scoffers (Prov. 3:34)
2. Judgment is prepared for scoffers (Prov. 19:29)
3. Scoffers are an abomination to men (Prov. 24:8-9)
4. Scoffers will be finished (Isa. 29:20)
5. I Cor. 15:33
There is an old fable in which a bird meets a fisherman with a can of worms and asks him for one. The fisherman says, “Sure, all I ask in return is one of your feathers.” Well, a feather for a worm seemed a reasonable exchange for the bird, so he made the trade. The next day, the bird was hungry again. He weighed the inconvenience of searching for food against the expediency of trading with the fisherman and decided in favor of the easier way. After all, it was only one feather. But after a few days of making such a trade, the bird had exchanged so many feathers that he couldn’t fly. At this point, the fisherman picked up the fat, naked bird and cooked him for dinner.
It’s very easy for the same thing to happen to us spiritually. We make an unwise decision. We say, “That won’t affect me spiritually” and in face, we may not be able to see the effect. But slowly, almost imperceptibly, one rationalization leads to another, until before we know it we’ve ended up on a road that we never intended to travel.
Do you see the progression that the Psalmist makes here, from “walking” to “standing” to “sitting?” You see a person, and especially a Christian, doesn’t usually jump right into the middle of sin. Usually it goes in stages. He starts out by walking along with the wicked. Pretty soon, he finds himself standing in their midst, and then it’s not long before he is sitting down with them.
II. A man is blessed when he:
A. Delights in the law
He has true counsel (Ps. 119:24)
B. Meditates in the law day and night. (119:97,148)
1. He is made wise (Ps. 119:98)
2. He has insight (Ps. 119:99)
3. He has understanding (Ps. 119:100)
4. He is not led astray (Ps. 119:104)
III. Therefore (verse 3)
A. He is a tree firmly planted by streams of water
1. Irrigation canal
2. Placed or planted near the water on purpose.
B. He bears fruit
1. He is not barren but constant sustained growth culminating in reproduction of its kind.
2. Prov. 11:30
C. He doesn’t wither (Jer. 17:8)
D. He prospers in all he does. (Joseph in Egypt, Gen. 39:2-3,23)
IV. The Ungodly Life (verse 4-5)
V. The Rest of the Story (verse 6)
