Let's come to the Lord in prayer. Let us pray. Our loving, gracious God and eternal Heavenly Father, we draw near to you this evening through our Lord Jesus Christ and how we thank you that we have this wonderful access into your presence. And we thank you, Lord, that we do not have to remain in the outer courts like the Israelites of old in the days of the tabernacle and temple, Lord, when they have no access into your immediate presence. And how we thank you for the privilege that is ours as new covenant believers that that veil has been torn in two from top to bottom signifying access into the presence of God for every believing sinner. and how we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ who takes us by the hand and ushers us into your wonderful presence. We thank you Lord God for the privilege of worship tonight, being able to come aside from the things of this life and to look up and to worship you, the one in whom we live and move and have our being, the one who is the fountain of life and the fountain of all blessing. We thank you that we can turn to you Lord and enter your gates with thanksgiving and enter your courts with praise. And we thank you that all this has become possible because of that wonderful love that has reached down to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for that love that has lifted us from the depths and has raised us to the heights. We thank you that we are cleansed through our Saviour's blood and clothed in his righteousness divine. And we thank you that you have adopted us into your family. Lord, that we can draw near as your children this evening and that we can indeed, Father, rejoice that the secret of the Lord is with those who fear you and you will show them your covenant. And we thank you, Lord God, that you reveal secrets, Lord, to your friends. We thank you for Abraham, who was the friend of God. And we thank you, Lord God, for that friendship that we have through our Lord Jesus Christ, the best friend, the lover of our souls, the one who gave his life for us, that we might enter into that eternal bliss. And we thank you Lord God for that relationship that we have that nothing can sever. And we thank you for the one who has saved us from death, destruction and despair. Lord, we long to exalt our glorious saviour tonight. We long to have real heart dealings, Lord, with him and we pray that our eyes may be opened by your spirit tonight and that we may see our risen, exalted, glorified saviour, the one, O Lord, who sits upon the throne of the universe, the one who is full of majesty and glory and beauty. We pray that our souls would love him more and we pray that we may have that fresh vision of Jesus. O Lord, may we have that longing in our hearts like those of old who said, sirs, we would see Jesus. Lord, meet with us tonight, we pray. Meet with each one of us, especially to any, Lord God, who may be strangers to your wonderful grace. And still, Lord, in nature's darkness, may that light dawn upon them, and may they be brought face to face with our glorious Saviour. And may, Father, they come to rejoice in Him who is our salvation, who is our all and in all. We pray tonight, O Lord, that you would quicken us in our worship, that we may indeed, Lord, not merely draw near with our lips tonight, but that we would present our bodies as living sacrifices of praise, and that we would be in the spirit on this Lord's Day evening, caught up, Lord, with our glorious Saviour. And we pray that each one of us may go, Lord, home tonight rejoicing that we have met and had an encounter with you, the living God. So cleanse us and forgive our many sins, and tune our hearts to sing your praise for we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well our reading from the scriptures tonight is found in the Gospel of Matthew and we're reading from the 7th chapter Matthew chapter 7 and we're commencing to read at the 7th verse. Here is the Lord Jesus speaking He is coming to the conclusion of his famous sermon on the mount And he says, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Or what man is there among you, who if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Therefore whatever you want men to do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets. Enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits, you will know them. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. I'd like you to turn with me in your Bibles this evening to the book of Psalms and we're going to be looking this evening at the first Psalm. In my Bible it's entitled the way of the righteous and the end of the ungodly. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away, Therefore the ungodly shall 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 ungodly shall perish. Now this first psalm has often been described as the preface psalm for the simple reason that in this psalm consisting of only six short verses, we literally have contained the subject matter of the entire Book of Psalms. And therefore we may regard this psalm as the text upon which the whole of the Book of Psalms makes up a divine sermon. Thomas Watson, the Puritan, said of this psalm, It is short as to its size, but full of length and strength as to its matter. This psalm carries blessedness in the frontispiece. It begins where we all hope to end. It may well be called a Christian guide, for it discovers the quicksands where the wicked sink down in perdition, and the firm ground on which the saints tread to glory. And so there's clearly much instruction and much encouragement to be found in this tremendous psalm. Now the psalm itself is naturally divided into two parts where we are presented with two pictures, two portraits. The first is brought out in verses 1 to 3 where the psalmist describes the portrait of the godly man. And the second is found in verses 4 to 6 where we have the portrait of the ungodly. That's the first of these portraits that I want us to focus our thoughts upon this evening and God willing we shall consider the second next Lord's Day evening. But let's begin first of all with the portrait of the godly man. The psalmist writes, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree that is planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. The picture of the godly man. But the question that confronts us initially this evening is who exactly is this man? Who is this godly man? Well you'll notice how the psalmist immediately describes him as the blessed man. He says blessed is that man. And that word blessed there is a rich word which means literally the happy man. The man who is to be envied above all others. the spiritually prosperous man. Blessed is that man. And this word blessed in the Hebrew is a very expressive one because the word is actually in the plural. And therefore it should literally be translated, O the blessednesses of the man. O the blessednesses of that man. You see, the man that the psalmist describes here in this psalm is not simply a man who has experienced a single blessing or even a few scattered blessings here and now. No, no, he is a man who has received blessing upon blessing. He's received a multiplicity of blessings. Indeed, he has been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. all the blessednesses of the man. Christian friends, what a tremendous description, what a benediction this is. But can this be applied to your life tonight? Is this a description of you here this evening? Can you be portrayed and painted as this blessed man, this truly happy man? You'll notice that the psalmist immediately goes on to describe in verses 1 and 2 the characteristics of such a man. He says, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the swornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night. Now before we proceed to look at those characteristics in detail, I want to begin this evening by pointing out the way in which the psalmist describes the godly man. Because you'll notice that he describes him both negatively and positively. Did you notice that? In verse 1 he describes the things that the godly person will not do. And then in verse 2 he describes the things that the godly person will do, both negative and positive. And friends I believe this is a matter of the most vital importance. It's most important that we grasp this fact. Because the world tonight would describe the Christian in purely negative terms. How does the world regard the Christian? Well he sees him as rather a pathetic person. Someone who has given up this and given up that. Someone who will not do this and he will not do that. Someone who engages in a rigorous self-denial of the pleasures of life. Someone who is lost out. Someone who is stoically trying to endure this stark and harsh lifestyle. someone who constantly says no to temptation he regards the Christian in purely negative terms shortly after my conversion to Christ at the age of 15 I can remember a school friend of mine coming up to me one day and we were discussing my conversion to Christianity and this person said to me do you know if I stopped doing that and if I didn't go there I would be a Christian and I had to tell the person they wouldn't be Because it's not just a case of giving up certain things that makes you a Christian, a child of God. It's something far greater and far more glorious than that. It's becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus. But you see that is exactly how the world regards the Christian life. That's precisely how the unbeliever views the Christian. But I believe there is something even more tragic than that. And that is when the Christian himself begins to regard the Christian life being purely negative to us. And there are many in the Christian church tonight who have fallen into that particular trap and error. And they only see the do-nots and they have become legalistic in their Christian experience. They only see the negative. And what miserable people they have become. And they're constantly looking down their noses at other Christians who do not live and walk as they do. Oh my friends, how we need to beware this danger of legalism. This danger of becoming like the Pharisees and the scribes of old. Those who only saw the negative element in everything. Those who were hypocrites. But then the pendulum always swings, doesn't it, to the opposite extreme. And there are those in the Christian church today who only see the positive aspect of Christianity. And they completely bypass the negative. These are the people who are enthusiastic about meetings for fellowship and for prayer and for worship. They're always there at every meeting. They can't get enough of it. They love the fellowship of God's people. They're always attending this meeting and that. They're enthusiastic about Christian service. They're actively involved in Christian evangelism. But their particular problem is that they have not separated themselves from the world. they still attend those questionable places, they still engage in those former questionable habits and thus they have compromised the Christian life and are not walking worthy of the calling with which they have been called. But the psalmist shows us here clearly that the truly godly person and the normal Christian life is one that involves these two aspects both negative and positive. Friend, let me ask you in this service tonight, is this a picture of your life? Are these two elements to be seen in your Christian experience? Is there that clear negative separation from sin and from the world and from temptation and from everything that defiles and pollutes and everything that displeases God? And is there that wholehearted positive devotion and commitment and consecration to your Lord and Master Jesus Christ? Are we living balanced Christian lives? Well having seen then the way in which the Psalmist describes the characteristics of the godly man, let's look at the description itself. And in verse 1 we have the negative description. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. In this statement the psalmist reveals three things that the godly person will never do. And the first is he will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Now what exactly does that mean you say? What is the psalmist actually getting at here? Well the word walk of course refers to a deliberate action or choice to take or to follow the counsel of the ungodly. And the word counsel, well I am sure we are all familiar with that word today. We hear a lot of talk about counselling and people can't seem to live their lives or stand on their own two feet without getting advice from a counsellor. And people need these life coaches and these counsellors to keep them going and to give them something to live for. And of course when a person counsels someone, well he's literally giving that person advice. He's advising them on important things. And so what the psalmist is telling us here is that the godly man or woman will not follow or take the advice of the ungodly. Now whilst we are living in this world, we will have to listen to the advice of the ungodly. It's inevitable. Whether it comes from non-Christian family members, whether it comes from work colleagues, whether it comes from friends in society today, they will come to you and they will advise you and counsel you. And they will say such things that you're becoming too narrow-minded. They will tell you that you're becoming fanatical and unbalanced and unhinged in your attitude towards spiritual things. They will say to us there's no need to make such a fuss of religion as you do, and you're becoming too unsociable. No, no, people don't like you, they prefer the person you used to be, and you need to tone it down a little bit more. But friends, let us not listen to them. Let us flee from it, let us not take the advice of the ungodly. Let us overheed that warning of Ahaziah whom we read in 2nd Chronicles 22. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly. Therefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab. For they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction. Friends, if we would be godly tonight, if we would live that life that overcomes the world, the flesh and the devil, let us not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. But secondly, the psalmist tells us that the godly man will not stand in the path of sinners. And that word path of course refers to their way of life, their conduct, their lifestyle, their mindset on this earth. And therefore the truly godly person will not stand with sinners in his way of life. He will not do as they do, but rather he will live a separated life. He will live the Christian counter-culture. He will stand against the tide of public opinion and public living. Do you remember how Paul brings this out in the New Testament? 2nd Corinthians chapter 6. Therefore he says, come out from among them. Paul was talking about these Christian believers in the city of Corinth, that Corinthian city which was notorious for its sin and immorality and wickedness. To Corinthianise was a term that was used for someone who had become perverted and debased. these people living in that corrupt city and yet they were saints living in that city and Paul's advice to them was come out from among them and be separate says the Lord and do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you there was to be a clear demarcation line in Corinth between the world and the church between saint and sinner Ephesians 5.11 Paul says and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather repruser. This doesn't mean of course that we should never socialise with the ungodly. Thank God that the Lord Jesus Christ was the friend of tax collectors and sinners. He associated with them without becoming corrupted and perverted by them. And it's not an easy thing that we need to maintain that balance. The Christian is called to be in the world, but not to be of the world. And he is called to shine as a light in this dark world of sin. And that light is to burn brightly and distinctly. That is why John warns us, Christian love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life is not of the Father, it is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God shall abide forever. If we would be those godly people tonight, we must separate ourselves from all that is in and of this world and not stand in the path of sin. And then thirdly, the godly person will not sit in the seat of the scornful. People have often pointed out that there is a downward spiral here mentioned. Notice the verbs. We start by walking, then standing and then sitting. You see sin has this snowballing, escalating effect upon our lives. One sin, unless it is dealt with, will soon lead to another and to another. Once we start walking in the council of the ungodly, it will not be long before we find ourselves standing in the path of sinners. And it will not be long after that, before we find ourselves sitting in the seat of scoffers. I like the amplified rendering of that third characteristic. It says, blessed is the man that does not sit down to relax and rest. where the scoffers and the mockers gather. I like that. Blessed is the man, happy is the man who does not sit down to relax and rest where the scornful and the mockers gather. And there are many ways that we could apply that to our daily lives as Christians but I believe that there is a clear application here to entertainment and particularly to the television today. for what a subtle source of evil and temptation that box can often be. We may find ourselves, for example, one night just sitting down innocently relaxing and resting in front of the screen, we soon become engrossed in some film or other, and before we know it we find ourselves sitting in the seat of the scoffers. How often these days do we sit in front of the screen and we find somebody coming on some program saying that the Bible is wrong in saying this and some scholar or some bigwig telling us that we can't believe this and we can't believe that. Trying to undermine the authority of God's holy word, the Bible. these pathetic beings who are pitting their wits against the wisdom of the Most High. They know better than the Almighty. And how often do we hear the devil being knocked out on the screen? He's depicted as this kind of cartoon character and demons and evil spirits in this cartoon fashion. And how often even in the adverts now we see a mockery made of the Garden of Eden and original sin and Adam and Eve, all these things come in. And how often do we hear the name of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ blasphemed and vilified in front of the screen. And yet how often honestly friends do we turn off, do we flee from this, Do we refuse to accept it? How often do we just sit there watching it through, being brainwashed by it, turning a blind eye to these things, becoming desensitised to these things. And thus before we know it we find ourselves sitting in the seat of the scoffers. But if we would be those godly men and women tonight, if we would know victory over the world, the flesh and the devil, if we would be overcomers through the Lord Jesus Christ, there must be this threefold separation in our lives. A separation from the advice of the ungodly. A separation from the lifestyle of the ungodly. And a separation from the place of the scoffers. A Christian friend tonight is This is a portrait of you this evening. Is the Psalmist really describing you? Are you that blessed man? That happy man? Or is there compromise in your Christian life? Are you weighed in the balances tonight and found wanting? Such then is the negative aspect of the life of the godly. But the Psalmist doesn't stop there. In verse 2 he shows us the positive aspect of the godly life. And he begins with that word, but. It's a wonderful word in scripture, the great but of contrast, the great but of Christian testimony. But God, this great turning point, he avoids all these things, and then, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. And once again the psalmist tells us three things that the godly man will do and they're all in connection with the law of the Lord. And the first is that he is a man who now delights. He delights in the law of the Lord. In other words he is now a man who is in love with the word of God. Do you remember how the psalmist David wrote of the scriptures in Psalm 19? We sang about it tonight. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. More to be desired are vain than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Yes, David was a man who was in love with the Word of God. And then do you remember how Job, one of the earliest believers in the Old Testament, how he wrote of the, spoke of the Scriptures? He says, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Just think about that for a moment. What a statement, what a testimony. He regarded the words of God more important, more precious than his physical food. We are living in a society where people seem to live to eat today rather than eat to live. Think of all the cookery programs and all the magazines with recipes and all the emphasis upon food and eating and dieting and doing this and that. Think of the number of hours each day people Spend thinking about food, planning their meals, shopping in Tesco's or wherever, filling up those trolleys. The money that is spent on food. Think of the great emphasis today. People are thinking about it all day long, snacking here, snacking there. And you see that should be the attitude of the Christian now to the word of God. It should be constantly in our thoughts, constantly in our heart. It should become more prominent, more important to us than our daily foods. We eat three meals a day, don't we, most of us? How many meals do we have in the Word of God daily? Do we consider it more important than our daily food? You see, this is the testimony of the true Christian believer. You see, before our conversion to Christ, we had no love for the Bible. The Bible was the most despised neglected book on our bookshelves. We had no interest in it. We were bored by it. We didn't read it. People have this book, they never read it. It just fills their shelves and it's full of dust. But you see, the testimony of a Christian is that suddenly his eyes are open and the Bible becomes a living book. And it thrills us and we can't stop reading it and we want to read it and read it over and over again. We find it more precious than gold and rubies and silver. It's the most precious and wonderful thing on this earth. Paul tells us in Romans 7 that the carnal mind is enmity against God, is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can it be. You see the non-Christian hates God's law. His life is diametrically opposed to it. He's living and walking in a different direction. He's declared his autonomy from God. But you see, a man or woman who has been born again by the Spirit of God and received new life in Christ, suddenly they receive a new heart, a new inward disposition, a change comes over them and now they delight in God's law. They can say His commandments are not burdensome, they're not grievous. We love them, we delight in them. And if we truly love the Saviour, friends, we will love His Word, we will love His Law. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God, the Logos, the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. He is the one who said, the Scriptures testify of me. And it doesn't matter where we turn to in this book, the Bible, the Old Testament or in the New, we come face to face on every page with the glory of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Oh may God give to us a greater love, a greater appetite, a greater appreciation for his words. That we may be able to say with Jeremiah of old, your words were found and I did eat them and your word was to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart. This is the testimony of the godly man he delights in the law of the Lord. But not only does he delight, secondly he meditates in it. And in his law he meditates. Now the two main Hebrew words that are used in the Old Testament for meditate and meditation are particularly interesting words. Because we often tend to think of meditation today purely in terms of silent thought and contemplation. We've been so influenced by these mystical religions from the East and the New Age movements, transcendental meditation and the like, that we think of meditation in terms of going into a dark room, lying down, relaxing and emptying our minds. But you see that's the very opposite of Christian biblical meditation. And these words, these Hebrew words that are employed here in the Old Testament, are used throughout the Old Testament to describe talking, uttering, murmuring, speaking, complaining, conversing, declaring and praying. You see they mean that as a person thinks he talks to himself either inwardly or outwardly and thereby he frames his thoughts in words. Now I know that we are often told to talk to oneself is the very first sign of senility and madness. But what a tremendous blessing it can be when we muse and utter the Word of God to ourselves. So many Christians today read their daily portion in their devotional hour. Then they go off to their places of work, but by the time the evening has come, they've completely forgotten what they've read. And they've lost out. Because they did not meditate upon God's Word. They did not extract the sweetness and the nourishment and let the word of Christ dwell in them richly in all wisdom. You may say, but pastor, I'm so busy, I've got such a hectic lifestyle, you don't know what I've got to do in a day, I haven't got time for meditation. You say it's enough just to be able to read my passage for the day. Well, that may be true, but my friends, although we may not have much time, surely we can all take one verse of scripture with us through the day. Maybe a verse that strikes us in our daily reading of scripture. Write it out on a piece of paper. Take it with you through the day. Look at it at every spare moment you have. Ponder it. Talk to yourself about it. As you chew it over in your mind and prayerfully consider it, what light will often be shed upon that seemingly unintelligible verse. And what a tremendous blessing it will become to your soul. It will become part of your very life. part of your fibre and being. Joseph Carroll the Puritan said this about Bible meditation. In the plainest text there is a world of holiness and spirituality. If we in prayer and dependence upon God did sit down and study it, we should behold much more than appears to us. It may be at one reading or looking we see little or nothing. Just as Elijah's servant went once and saw nothing. Therefore he was commanded to look seven times and by and by the whole surface of the heavens were covered with clouds. So you may look lightly upon a scripture and see nothing. Meditate often upon it and there you will see a light like the light of the sun. The godly man delights in the law of the Lord and he meditates in it. And notice when he does this, he meditates in the law of the Lord night and day. You see there is a continuance in the word of God. The godly man is not a person who is sporadic in his reading and meditation of the scriptures. This is not something that he does once in a blue moon, or when he feels like it, or when he can fit it into his schedule. No, no, he is a man with disciplined habits of Bible reading and meditation. It's something that is part of his very life. It's part of his very existence. He meditates in the word night and day. And I cannot, friends, impress upon you enough this evening the importance of, at the very beginning of our Christian lives and experience, while we are still young, to develop disciplined habits of Bible reading and meditation. And it will be with you throughout your life. And there is no, friends, substitute for it, the meditation of the Word of God. to remember the words that God spoke to Joshua after the death of Moses God said this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success May each one of us meditate much upon God's Word, that we may observe to do according to all that is written in it, that there may be that negative separation from sin and that positive delight and continuance in God's Word. That we may become trees planted by the rivers of water, bringing to the throat in season, whose leaf also shall not wither, And whatever we do, it shall prosper. The portrait of the godly man. But before I close, I want us to return to our original question. Who is the godly man of Psalm 1? Of whom is the psalmist speaking? Blessed is the man. There's a wonderful story told by Harry Ironside of a man called Joseph Flax who went to Palestine one year. And while he was there in Palestine he was asked to address a group of Jews and Arabs together. And he was thinking much upon what passage of scripture he should share with them. And he decided to take Psalm 1. And so he commenced the meeting by reading to them this wonderful Psalm. And then he addressed them with this question. Now tell me, he says, who is this blessed man of Samwah? Who is this godly character? The one who will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful, that his delight is day and night in the law of the Lord. Who is this person who lives a sinless, blameless life? And there was complete and utter silence. They didn't have a clue. And then suddenly Joseph Flax decided to stir them up a bit. He said, well, let's think about this. Could it be Father Abraham? Is that whom the psalmist is referring to? And one of them eventually put up his hand and said, well, no, it can't be Father Abraham. because he denied his wife and he lied about her. It can't be Abraham. Well then said Joseph Flax, but what about the law giver Moses? Could it be him? And immediately someone responded, no it couldn't be the law giver Moses either because Moses killed a man and at the end of his life he struck the rock twice, he disobeyed God and he was excluded from the promised lands. It can't be Moses. Well then, said Flats, could it be David, King David? No, they said, it can't be David. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for the murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite. No, no, it's none of these people. Well then, said Joseph Flats, who on earth could it be? Blessed is that man. And after a moment's silence, an old Jewish man got up and he said, well brothers, He said, I have here in my hand what is called the New Testament. And he said, if only I could believe it, if only I could know it was true, I would have to say that the portrait of the godly man in Samoa is the portrait of Jesus of Nazareth. And he hit the nail right on the head, he was absolutely right. There has been no one else who has walked on the surface of this planet, who was without sin, who lived this blameless life, who lived that life of full, complete, perfect separation and that delight in God's holy law. And the wonderful thing is that right at the very entrance and portal to the book of Psalms, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the man Christ Jesus, stands before us showing us the way. showing us how we are to live our lives, showing us that life that is pleasing to God, showing us that life and that way to true blessedness and true happiness and the One who has come to enable us to live such a life. Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth and I am the life. He said, I am the door, by me if any man enters in He shall be saved. Blessed is that man. Let us pray. O gracious God, how we thank you for your precious word. How we thank you for this first psalm. How we thank you for this portrait of the truly happy man. We thank you Lord God that your word leaves us in no doubt as to how we can obtain true happiness. And we thank you that happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Happy are those who are united by faith to the man Christ Jesus, the one who came to save sinners, the one who came to deliver us from sin and from that broad way that leads to destruction, in order that we might indeed become that godly man and woman. We thank you for the one who is able to give us a new life, a new birth, a new start, a new beginning. And we do pray, Lord, that you would speak to any here tonight who, Lord, may be still outside your kingdom, and know nothing, O Lord, of that description that we have looked at tonight. And help each one of us, Lord, who have experienced, Lord, that description to some degree. Help us, Lord, to long to be holy, and to take time to be holy, and to speak off with our Lord, and to cultivate, Lord, those godly habits, and that we may live, Father, that truly fruitful and happy Christian life to the glory and praise of your wonderful name. Amen. Now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory, majesty, dominion and power now and for evermore. Amen.