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Good morning, brothers and sisters.
I'm Joey Liu. Glad to see you again. I preached
once last year, September. Now I'm glad to come with you,
worship our tri-union God again. May God bless our hearing and
preaching his word. Please turn your Bible to the
Old Testament. Today we will see the first song. So I ask
you turn your Old Testament Bible to song one. in your chair Bible
of 481, 481. I will read the word of God and
prayer. Psalm 1, this is God's word,
authoritative, this is God's word instructing us how to live
and how to worship him and his gracious will. If you remember,
Elder John read the New Testament God hid something from someone,
from some people, but revealed his words to his people. This
is God's gracious will, revealing to us this is his word. Psalm
1, 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 scoffer,
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 the 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 shaft 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. Let's pray. Gracious
Father, we so thank you. We give you thanks for your salvation. We give you thanks for the day,
the first of seven. The day reminds us who we are
and what you did for us, reminds us the salvation, reminds us
what we need, certainly. We need your words. We need your
church nourish us spiritually. We need your words in our life. We praise you. You have given
your words, your gospel, your son, Christ Jesus, who is our
mediator, who is our merciful, faithful high priest. We give
you thanks. Also, you remind us you are beautifying
your church. which is so comfortable to us.
You love church, we give you thanks. We praise you, we bless
you all while hearing and preaching your word. We praise you when
we pray these things in Jesus name, amen. Have you introduced church to
others? Introduced church to your unbeliever
families, your unbeliever friends? How do you introduce church to
others? The church is a covenantal assembling
with tri-union God. People in the church are called
from this world. This is the reason on every Lord's
Day you came to church, you come to church, different from your
unbeliever friends, different from your unbeliever families.
People in the church are called from this world by God himself
to worship him. When you introduce church to
others, you should realize and emphasize the uniqueness of church,
covenantal assembling with the tri-union God. In today's passage,
we see two groups of people, the blessed man and the ungodly
man. The blessed man represents The
covenantal assembly, they are church, they are blessed, they
love the word of God, they love the law of God. And the ungodly
man, they are not people of God, they are out of the church, they
are out of the salvation. They are against God and his
anointed one. Brothers and sisters, by God's
grace, you are the blessed man, by God's grace, only with Christ
Jesus, by union with him. Therefore, in today's passage,
God calls you to worship him with a thankful and fearful heart,
because you are blessed man by him. You belong to the blessed
group by union with Christ. About this blessed identity,
I want to know three facts about this blessed identity. There
are two group of people with two different features. coming
to two kinds of final ending. Two groups of people, two different
features, and two different final ending, two different final judgments. The first fact I want you to
know, there are only two groups of people in this world. We see there are First verse,
blessed is the man. We have to ask a question, who
is the blessed man? Or what kinds of blessing does
this man received? Who is the blessed man? Or what
kinds of blessing this man received? If you continue read this passage
in verse four, we have this comparison between the righteous man and
the ungodly man. With this comparison, we see
only two groups of people in this passage, also only two groups
of people in this word. If you continue read the whole
book of Psalm, we will see this comparison clearly showed in
God's word. Psalm 32, verse one and two. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no deceit. Who is the blessed man? What
does he receive? The blessed man is a group of
people who have the forgiveness of sin, who received forgiveness
from God. This is the blessed man. Also,
33 verse 12, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people
he has chosen as his own inheritance. The blessed man is a group of
people who are near with God. We have read Deuteronomy chapter
4. So who is the blessed man? Blessed
man is a group of people who receive the forgiveness from
God and has a very close imitated relationship with God. Very interesting
if you read Psalm 37, you can see the comparison is in fact
between the righteous group and the ungodly or wicked group. Therefore, in verse one, we see
the blessed men, the blessed men are those who have God's
forgiveness and imitate relationship with God. Someone tells us this
comparison, this comparison is four of the whole book of the
psalm. If you come to the New Testament,
if you remember New Testament, the Beatitude in Matthew's Gospel
chapter five, Matthew's Gospel chapter five, verse one through
10, we call this Beatitude. Beatitude chapter five, Matthew's
Gospel chapter five, verse three, are the poor in the spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is verse three. If we come
to verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness'
sake. For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. The same word, blessed, in the
Old Testament, in the New Testament. Therefore, we can see who is
the blessed man. The blessed man, they are the
citizen of the kingdom because they have the forgiveness of
God with a close and imitated relationship with God. They come
to the presence of God as a righteous people, only by God's grace in
Christ Jesus. Verse one, blessed is the man,
and verse four, the ungodly man. This comparison are four of the
Bible. In the beginning, verse one presents
us two groups of people. The first group, they are blessed. The second group, They are wicked. Brothers and sisters, let me
remind you of a fact. Only two groups of people in
this world, according to the scripture, either you belong
to the righteous group or you belong to the wicked, the ungodly
group. If you give a glance at the redemptive
history, if you remember in the beginning of the Bible, Genesis
chapter 3, either you are the offspring of the serpent or you
are the offspring of the woman. If you continue to read the Old
Testament, in God's eyes, before God, Israel, this is the group
of blessed men. This is the group of people.
Other nations, they are another group of people. Israel and other
nations, we have read chapter four Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy
chapter four, especially verse seven and verse eight, God said,
Israel, they are very near to God. What's the meaning of near
to God? Because they receive the statutes
and the law of God. Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse
six, four, you are a holy people to Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen
you to be a people for himself. a special treasure above all
the people on the face of the earth. Israel has been chosen
by God. They are distinguished from other
nations, Israel and other nations. In the New Testament, Paul in
Roman chapter five presents to us with two men, the first Adam
and the last Adam. They each represent two different
group of people. Brown sisters, only two groups
of people in this world. This is what the Bible teaches
us. Now the question you have to
ask yourself, which one do you belong to? This is very important. This is concerning your final
ending. Which one do you belong to? You are supposed to know that
by your nature, you were in the last Adam. You indeed belong
to the ungodly man group. You belong to the ungodly group.
Westminster Short Catechism 16 said, did all mankind fall in
Adam's first transgression? This is the question. The answer
is, the covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but
for his posterity. mankind descending from him by
ordinary generation sinned in him and filled with him in his
first transgression. this is what who we were in the
last Adam by our nature we are ungodly we belong to the ungodly
people but just like the Bible teaches us by God's mercy by
his grace alone now we belong to the blessed group we are not
the ungodly man by God's grace. Twenty question Westminster's
short catechism. Did God leave all mankind to
perish in the estate of sin and misery? God, having out of his
mere good pleasure, from all eternity elected son of true
everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver
them out of a state of sin and misery and to bring them into
a state of salvation by Redeemer. So by God's mercy, by God's grace
alone, now we belong to the blessed group. New Testament Ephesians
Chapter two, if you read verse one through three, which described
who we were. We were working in our transgressions. We were working in the sins. But, in verse four through five,
Paul says to us, but God, who is rich in mercy, because of
his great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead
in trespasses, may us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have
been saved. So when I ask you, which group
do you belong to? We, by grace alone, we are now
belonging to the righteous group. We are blessed men. Therefore,
we as God's church are blessed. We have been saved. This living,
imitated relationship we have received in God's grace, by his
grace, in Christ Jesus, claims God's mercy and goodness. His mercy manifested in Christ
alone. This blessed identity reminds
us who we are in Christ Jesus. Also reminds us the church's
responsibility. The New Testament, 1 Peter chapter
2, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence
of him who called you out of the darkness into his marvelous
light. Also this blessed identity reminds
us reminds the church we should preach Christ because by God's
grace only in Christ we become the blessed we become the blessed
man, but you should know by our nature in the last Adam, we are
ungodly. The ungodly makes us to receive
our final judgment, which is God's eternal wrath, wrath. This is why we should preach
Christ. This is why every lost you come
to church, you are supposed to desire to hear his gospel. In fact, Not only our identity
is blessed, our daily life, the reality of our life is different
from the ungodly people. Let me remind you again, not
only our title, now we become, we are the blessed man. The reality
of our life should show the difference, the different fact, the difference
between we, the difference between us and the ungodly people. Let's come to the second heading,
two kinds of features. There are two groups of people
with two different features. Different people have different
features. What is the feature of blessed
man and ungodly man? Let me put it this way, how does
their life express their righteousness and ungodliness? Verse one tells
us, 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 scoffer. The psalmist used three common
verbs to describe the life of the righteous, the blessed man. Not walk, stand, and sit. His daily life and the most common
actions tell us and express he is different from ungodly man. Brown sisters, your daily life
brings out who you are. Your daily life, your common
daily life, brings out the real you. What is more important is
in verse 2, the psalmist said, but his delight is in the law
of the Lord. Now, the psalmist used a very
passive way to describe who the blessed man is, what he does
daily. His delight is in the law of
the Lord. The features of the blessed man,
the righteous man, is his delight is in the law of the Lord. He
loves God's word. He loves the statutes of God. Why does the blessed man not
walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of the
sinner, nor sits in the seat of the scoffer? The reason is
he loves the word of God. He loves the law of God because
he loves the law of God. We have read Old Testament and
New Testament. We know receiving the Word of
God is the mark of God's people. Israel, what's the uniqueness
of this nation? They have the Word of God because
God giving them the Word of God. In the New Testament, Matthew
11, God hidden something, hidden His Word, His will from the people. understanding and wise man, but
reveal his will to the children, to the godly, to the poor man. This is the mark of the God's
people. They receive the word of God. Psalm 19, the longest psalm,
Psalm 19 verse 1, blessed are the undefiled in the way who loves the law of the Lord. Verse nine, how can a young man
claim his way by taking according to your word? Verse 15, I will
meditate on your precepts and contempted ways. I will delight my life in your
word. Well, I will not forget your
word. This is the feature of the blessed
man. Brothers and sisters, maybe you
can find many things, many joy in this world. Maybe you can
find the joy and the satisfaction in this world. But let me remind
you, only in the church, the word of God can be preached. Preaching the word of God as
a means of grace, granted by God only to church. Only the gospel can bring you
life, the eternal, not the temporal joy, satisfaction. Verse 3 very
clearly said, when the blessed man, his delight is in the law
of God, he is very near the source of life. Verse 3, he shall be
like a tree planted by the river of water that brings forth its
fruit in a season whose leaf also shall not weather and whatever
he does shall prosper. This is a picture, this picture
shows a very a very life-bearing picture. Because this tree planted
by the river of the water, this tree is very near the source
of the life. The Word of God brings us life. This is an internal life we receive
by the Word of God. Here again, we see our Lord Christ
Jesus. Because Christ Jesus, he is the
Word of God, who gave his people life. In the New Testament, the
author of Hebrew tells us, in the Old Testament, God spoke
to his people in many ways and many times. But in the Last Age,
he spoke to his people by his Son. His Son is the capital W,
the Word of God. Also, in the New Testament, We
should know when God gave his people his word, this is the
shadow of coming in the New Testament, because in the New Testament,
God gave his son to us. He is the word of God. Roman
chapter 10, verse 5, for Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness
to everyone who believe. Christ, he is the end of the
law in the new testament we receive the shadow in the old testament
we receive the reality who is christ our lord christ jesus
the blessed man loves the word of god the capital w the word
of god because their life controlled, their life is controlled by the
Word of God. If you remember in the Old Testament,
in the New Testament, John, he said, in John 14, 15, Jesus says
something like this. He said, if you love me, you
will keep my commandments. reality is, the fact is, when
you love God, when you love his word, when you love Christ Jesus,
your daily life, your daily life, your whole life will be controlled
by his word. This is the feature of the blessed
man, the righteous man, their daily life and the moral conduct
of are controlled by the law of God. On the contrary, the
ungodly men, verse four and verse five, shows the situation of
ungodly men. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the shaft which the wind drives away. Verse four, the
Psalms tell us the situation of ungodly men. compared with
a tree planted by the river of water. Shift is worthless. It's removable. Why is this the
ending of an ungodly man? Worthless and removable. Why? Because their light is not in
the law of God. Because they dislike, they hate
the word of God. Song two, if you continue, read
song two. Why do the nation rage and the
people plot in a vain thing? The king of the earth set themselves
and the ruler take counsel together. They gather together, they plot,
they gather together, they take counsel together, for what? Verse,
song continues, the sing the song continues, to tell us they
take counsel together for they against the Lord and against
his anointed one. Psalm 119 continues tells us
indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked who
forsake your Lord. 119, 155, salvation is far from
the wicked for they do not seek your statutes. So what's the feature of the
blessed man and ungodly man? The blessed man loves the word
of God. The ungodly man, the wicked,
they hate the word of God. In the New Testament, when Jesus
come to this world, he said himself, he is the light of this world. And this is the condemnation,
he said, that the light has come into the world, and the man loved
darkness rather than light. Because their deeds were evil,
for everyone practicing evil things hates the light. and does not come to the light,
lest his deeds shall be exposed. Why does the wicked hate the
word of God? Because the word of God, his
deeds shall be exposed. The word of God, the light expose
their evil deeds. So when we refer to two groups
of people in this world, the blessed man, and ungodly man,
we shall know their feature, that righteous loves, that righteous
man loves the word of God. They love Christ Jesus. Their
daily life, their daily life are controlled by the word of
God. The ungodly man, they hate Christ
Jesus. They hate the word of God. They
plot and take counsel together against God and his anointed
one. Brown Sisters, the Christian
life is a procedure of sanctification, which is a whole life to learn
how to understand and obey the word of God. The word of God
can give you life. The word of God is God himself. He is the source of life. His
word is the eternal life. Psalm 63, verse 1, the psalmist
say, O God, you are my God. Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you. Why, the psalmist say, I desire
you? Because man is made in God's
image. We are the image of God. We desire
as a creature. We desire our creator. Only our
creator, only the word of God can satisfy us. Only we can find
satisfaction in God. Only in God alone. Brown sisters,
do you love the word of God? Do you have the feature of the
blessed man? Do you love Christ Jesus? You should know and you should
acknowledge only by him, through him, you are blessed. This is
the reason we love him, only by him, because by our nature
we are the ungodly man. Therefore, only two groups of
people in this world, either the group of the blessed man
who love the word of God, who love the law of God, meditates
day and night so that they don't do the evil things. Or the group
of ungodly men who hate the word of God. They do not seek God's
statutes, though their minds and their behaviors are full
of evil. This is not a simple moral teaching,
but this is the word of God. Scripture is not a moral conduct
handbook like other religions, but God revealed by his gracious
will to his people. And the Holy Spirit sent to God's
children, God's people, dwelling in them, walking in their hearts,
transform them into the likeness of Christ Jesus. I want to remind
you again, which the psalmist tells us is not a simple moral
teaching. You should do good things, you
should do good things. No, this is what the salvation
wants you to do. This is the purpose of salvation,
transforming us into the likeness of Christ Jesus. This is the
purpose of salvation. This is the teaching of the Bible,
which is different from any other religions. Because the Bible
teaches us we are supposed to be responsible for our behaviors. What you do every day will bring
a different final judgment in the future. This is the third
fact I want you to know. Two groups of people with two
different features coming to two kinds of different final
judgment. Verse three and verse four are
comparison in which two pictures are used to describe the quality
of the ungodly man and the blessed man. Verse five and verse six
refer to their different ending. Verse five, therefore, the ungodly
shall not stay in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. Because verse four refers to
The ungodly, who are like shafts that the wind drives away, they
are worthless. They are removable. Therefore,
the ungodly will not stand in judgment. Here we see a very
important thing in God's word. We will face the final judgment. The psalmist also reminds us
a eschatological judgment in the future. The ungodly man will
not stand in the final judgment. This is the ending of the ungodly
man. Very interesting, the basic meaning
of this word stand, the Hebrew word, the basic meaning of this
Hebrew word is arise or stand up. When the Septuagint translated
this word using a Greek word, this Greek word, the basic meaning
of this Greek word is also arise, stand up. But in the New Testament,
the New Testament author often used this word to describe resurrection. Arise, stand up in the New Testament
means resurrection. In Acts chapter 2, 24, whom God
raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was
not possible that he should be healed by it. Jesus, he was raised
up by God. His resurrection in the New Testament
is described raised up. Jesus was raised by God. So you can understand verse five,
the ungodly will not be raised in the judgment. They will not
be raised in the congregation of righteous. Congregation, this
word in the Old Testament, often to be described the nation of
Israel. They are God's people. Therefore,
the ungodly will be not raised in God's people, among God's
congregation. The congregation of righteous
is church. The ungodly will not be raised
in the congregation of church. The second part of verse six. Verse five said, the way of ungodly
will. This is the second part of verse
six. What about the blessed man? The
ungodly will face the ending. The ending is a perish ending. What about the blessed man? For
the Lord knows the way of the righteous. We don't know the
way of the righteous. Verse one tells us the way of
the righteous, they don't stand alone. in the way of the sinners. They don't do the evil things.
But here we don't exactly know the way of the righteous, but
we know God knows the way of the righteous. The way of the
righteous is not something we concerning or we talk about the
moral things, but the way of the righteous. is the way of
God's Word. They're working in the way of
God's Word. Very important, God knows them. In the beginning, I mentioned
the psalmist, the first song is similar, is very like the
Beatitude in the New Testament, the Beatitude in the New Testament,
Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 through chapter
7, they are the Sermon on the Mountain. In the end of the Sermon
on the Mountain, chapter 7 verse 15 through 19, the New Testament, Chapter 7, Matthew's Gospel,
Chapter 7, 15 through 19, A Tree and Its Fruit. This is the title
of this passage. But following Jesus said 20,
Chapter 7, 20, Matthew's Gospel, and then, well, I declared to
them, I never know you. Depart from me. You work of the
lawlessness. lawlessness. In the New Testament
Jesus said I never know you. Jesus who is a god of the second
trinity. He knows everything. Even man's
heart, he knows everything. But here Jesus say, I never know
you. So when we consider the first
song, the psalmist said, the Lord knows his people. The Lord knows the righteous
group of people. There is a very close covenant
relationship between God and his people. He knows his people. But about the weakened man, the
ungodly man, God say, I never know you. No covenant relationship
between God and the ungodly man. Also in the New Testament, the
John's Gospel, Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd. I know my
own, and my own knows me, just as the Father knows me, and I
know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. The God has the covenantal relationship
with his people. Therefore, God knows the blessed
man, the godly people, the righteous man. There is a common whole
relationship between God and his people. Therefore, Jesus
says, I know them. I lay down my life for them,
for his church. But we should know God knows
everyone, knows everyone's heart. Therefore, God knows what the
ungodly man, they desire. They plot. They take counsel
together against God and his anointed one. 2 Timothy 2, verse
19. Nevertheless, the solid foundation
of God stands. Having this seal, the Lord knows
those who are his, and let everyone who names the name of Christ
depart from iniquities. God knows his people. So in the final judgment, the
righteous, they are those who are blessed by God's grace. God
knows them because they know God. Why? Because they love the
word of God. They love the law of God. They
love the capital W of God. They love Christ Jesus. And the
ungodly, they hate the law of God. Therefore, they don't know
God. They don't like God. They hate God. If you continue
read this song, in song two, the second song, we see the last
verse, the first verse of song one, Blessed is the man. The
last verse of Psalm 2 said, kiss the son, lest he be angered,
and you perish in the way, when his wrath is kindling but a little. Blessed are all those who put
their trust in him. Who is the blessed man? The blessed
man are those who love the word of Lord, who love Christ Jesus. The last verse of chapter 2 said,
blessed are those who put their trust in him. This is Lord, the
Son of God. We are closing to the final judgment
day by day. Every lost day reminds us we
are closing to the final judgment. Every lost day when we come to
the church to worship the triune God, you stand in the congregation
of righteousness. Remember, the ungodly will not
stand in the congregation of righteousness, but by God's grace,
You are now standing in the congregation of God's people. Sing the song,
hearing the word of God, give thanks to God. This is the fruit
of lips that acknowledge his name. By God's grace, we are
the blessed men. By God's grace, we are the righteous
men, only through Christ Jesus, by union with him. When you introduce church to
others, Do you know or do you realize you have had this blessed
identity? Not by your own grace, not by
your own good works, by your merits, but by God's grace. By God's grace, now we are the
blessed man. Very interesting, the first verse,
blessed is the man. The man is masculine singular. Blessed is the only man. We know
there is only one blessed man. By union with him, we become
the blessed man. He is the head of church. He
is the last Adam who gives us life. Let's pray. Gracious Father, we give you
thanks. We give you thanks for your salvation,
for your amazing grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ, he is
the one blessed man, because in him, through him, we are becoming. We are now becoming the blessed
man. We are blessed men. We are righteous
men as your church come to your presence. We ask you bless our
church. We ask you. Help our church to
discern the responsibility in this last age, to preach the
word faithfully, and to proclaim the excellence of our Lord Christ
Jesus faithfully. And we give you thanks for your
words, because you review your words to us, you review your
will to us, and help us to cherish your word because this is a mark
of christian and we ask you help us in our christian life help
us to learn how to understand and obey your word and help our
daily life to be controlled by your word because we love you
lord our jesus we pray these things in our lord's name amen
The One Who Is Blessed
| Sermon ID | 32241926425913 |
| Duration | 45:01 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Psalm 1 |
| Language | English |
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