This first psalm is one of the shorter psalms, but it is kind of a summary psalm. Within the first psalm is contained a bird's eye view of the entire book of the psalms. The first chapter gives us a contrast in what is right and what is wrong. What God blesses and what he doesn't bless. what those who name the name of Christ should be doing or not doing. And so we begin with this. We're going to look at the first three verses and the psalm begins with blessed is the man. I've always been encouraged by the Psalms, even as Wayne was talking this afternoon. We find strength in it. We find direction in it. We find promise. We find stability. We find a sure foundation. We find God's promises in the Psalms. I've always been encouraged by reading the Psalms, and I find it very interesting that the book begins with the word blessed. Blessed. The word blessed means happy, and that's in all caps, by the way. H-A-P-P-Y, all capital letters. Happy. And there's some reasons for the happiness of this one. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly and so forth and so forth. We'll look at that in a moment. But there are some reasons why this man is happy. First of all, point one, he's placed his trust in the Lord. He's placed his trust in the Lord. Psalm 2, 12 says, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Psalm 34, 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Psalm 40 verse 4, Blessed is the man that makes the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside from lies. So we find this man is happy because he's put his trust in the Lord. Secondly, his sin is forgiven. Psalm 32 verse 1, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. whose sin is covered. Third, he continually fellowships with God and therefore he is happy. Psalm 84, 4, blessed are they that dwell in thy house. They will still praise thee. So he's happy because he's placed his trust in the Lord. His sin has been forgiven. He continually fellowships with God. Fourth, he rests in God for strength he needs for everything. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them. Fifth, he has a reverential respect for God and his word. Psalm 112, verse 1 and 2. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon the earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. And then Psalm 128, 1. Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways. And then six, this man's happy because he walks in obedience to God's word. Psalm 119 verse two, blessed are they that keep thy testimonies that seek him with the whole heart. So this man has a lot to be happy about and he is blessed. He's rejoicing. Well, as we looked at this blessed man, let's see, first of all, point two, the behavior of the blessed man. In verse 1 through 3, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the sea of the scornful. So first of all, verse 1a, we see his outward behavior. His outward behavior. We see, first of all, that he does not go to the unsaved for his life advice. He does not go to, the word to should be added after go, he does not go to the unsaved for his life advice. It says he, A, he walks not. He does not come alongside, he doesn't keep pace with. He doesn't keep pace with or come alongside the counsel or the advice, point B, and C, of the ungodly. those who do not demonstrate the control of God on their life. He just chooses not to go and get counsel from that caliber of person. He says, this is not going to be good for me. They're definitely not going to lead me in the path of the Lord. Therefore, I'm not going to go seeking out the counsel of the ungodly. Also, point two, he does not surround himself with the unsaved. He walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, standeth not in the way of sinners. He doesn't surround himself with the unsafe. Now, this doesn't mean he doesn't work with unsafe people. A lot of people work in a factory environment or a construction environment or some other environment where there's a lot of unsafe people around. That's not what we're talking about. This is where the man has a choice here. He has a choice of what he's going to do and he chooses not to surround himself with unsaved people. He realizes it's going to be a bad influence on him. So we see that he standeth not in the way. He establishes oneself in the path of or life cycle. He does not choose to do that with sinners. He standeth not in the way of sinners. And sinners are those who are offensive to God, could be saved and unsaved. So he makes a decision. This is an outward behavior pattern. He does not go to the Unsafe for Life Council. He does not surround himself with the unsaved or the ungodly. And third, he does not make himself a self-appointed judge of other people and their motives. Verse one, last part. He does not sit in the seat of the scornful. We see that the idea of sitteth means to place oneself in, to make a decision, to do something. put oneself in a particular situation or a particular position of authority. He chooses not to sit in the seat of the scornful. The seat of the scornful is a place of location. It's a particular position that someone takes. It's like someone getting up on a stump. You know, you say, OK, that person's on their stump. And you tell him, get down off your stump now, you know, you've said your piece. Well, this man places himself on the stump of the scornful. And he does not do that as a blessed man, as a follower of God. The scornful is one, the literally word means to make mouths at, to make mouths at. The idea is to show contempt or disdain for something or someone. This man just is not going to be one who's going to stand around being a scorner of other people. Now notice, if you would please, that there's a downward progression. Point four, verse one, or point one through three, is a downward progression of the behavior of the sinful. Starts out with the counsel of the ungodly. Then it grows to the environment of the unsaved. Then it escalates or goes down even farther to the seat of the scornful. Blessed is the man who does not have this kind of outward behavior. Then we see point verse two, his mindset. his mindset. Verse 2, his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night. The word delight means he loves exposure too. He loves exposure. You know the people that in the summer they just want to get a good tan. So they love to go out and expose themselves to the sun. They take every opportunity they can to elevate their tan because they just love doing that. I'm not faulting them for it. I think it's a little crazy, but you know, who am I to say? But that's what they do. They enjoy doing this. So they expose themselves to the elements of the sun to help their tan become even darker. So this one exposes himself. He's constantly looking for opportunities to have personal exposure to God's word. And he's not afraid of it. He's not ashamed of it. He looks forward to it. He's seeking opportunities out. How can I have exposure to God's Word here or there or in this or in that? What can I find from God's Word that will help me and guide me and direct me? So his mindset, he delights in the law of the Lord. He delights in God's Word. And he does so in order to grow. Now, point C, in order to delight oneself In the Word of God, one has to be a student of the Word of God. It's not just, okay, I'm gonna have somebody, I'm gonna pick up a recording and just play a lot of verses. It's not just that. It's exposure, it's involvement with the Word. It's spending time in the Word personally. It's spending time maybe doing a Bible study with someone or with a group. It's going to church. It's reading the Bible just to be reading it. It's listening to it, maybe on the radio or some sermon. It's an all-involved thing. It's not just, okay, well, I spent three hours in the van today or in the car today, and I had Bible verses playing the whole time. Now, that's a great thing, but that's not complete exposure. That's the only part of it. So his mindset is, he delights in the law of the Lord. And also, point two, in the law of the Lord, does he meditate day and night. Again, his law being God's word, the idea of meditate is to ponder and murmur. That's what the word means. To ponder and murmur. You say, well, have you ever worried about something? And you pondered it, and you talked yourself all through every aspect of it in your mind, or maybe found yourself saying some things out loud because you were worrying about something. You worry about going to get your car repaired, because you don't have any idea what it's gonna cost, but boy, you're afraid it's gonna cost you a fortune. And you don't have a fortune to put into it. So you're trying to think this through and you're, you're thinking, what is wrong with my, what could possibly be wrong? How could I get it repaired? And maybe you find yourself talking to yourself about your, your pondering it and your murmuring. Well, this person ponders God's word. They may read a passage of scripture or a verse and that verse just seems to grab hold of them and they just, they meditate on it, they think about it, they study it, they ponder that verse. How does that verse apply to me? How does that verse apply to this situation or that situation, to this life problem or that life problem? How does that verse give me direction here for tomorrow or next week or with my life choices? And they're pondering and you find themselves talking and repeating, saying the verses over and over, having memorized them, reviewing them in their mind so that they are constantly exposing themselves to God's Word. So they meditate on it. And they meditate on it all the time, day and night. All the time he's pondering and speaking God's word to himself and others with whom he comes in contact. This kind of person that has this mindset and he delights himself in God's law, he's gonna find somebody to tell what he's learned. He's gonna have somebody, maybe his children. You know, adult children are good people to share God's word with as a parent. Let me tell you something that God has shown me. Or maybe you're talking to them about something that's going on in their world and you have an opportunity to share a verse with them. Or tell them a biblical principle that maybe you just learned or that God's teaching you. And it's that type of environment. Day and night. Day and night. This guy's mindset is on staying away from those that are not going to help him grow in Christlikeness. So his outward behavior is staying away from the ungodly. His mind is going to be constantly training on God's Word. Because he's going to be exposing himself to the Word of God. Spending time in the Word. And third, His testimony. His testimony. It says, He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Verse 3, the first part of the verse. I found this interesting as I was thinking through this and came up with these thoughts that God gave to me. He shall be like a tree planted. He didn't self grow. He didn't plant himself. Someone planted him. So he has been planted, point A, by a husbandman or a gardener in a specific location. He's not where he is by chance. He's where God wants him to be. for that moment, for that time, for whatever it may be. God has put him there. B, his source of life and strength is not within himself, but his source of strength and life comes from the river of water. So he doesn't grow on his own. He doesn't exist on his own. Point C, may have two Bs there, should be C, from the river, he gets the nourishment needed to survive, grow and produce fruit no matter what the outward conditions might be. Heat, cold, drought, they will not destroy him because he is like a tree planted by the river of water. We see something else about him. He brings forth his fruit in his season. I thought this also interesting. He brings forth his fruit in his season. You know, we were taught and and we hear you gotta be producing fruit as a Christian. You've got to be producing fruit and we should. But none of us produce fruit all the time. There are times in our lives where there's little or no fruit as we would call it. You see, point A, he bears fruit representative of the type of tree that he is. He shall bear his fruit, his fruit. And his fruit is different from some other Christian's fruit. Some other godly person's fruit. Every tree produces its own fruit. And it's not good when one tree compares its fruit to another tree's fruit. Because walnut trees and pecan trees are totally different. And if the pecan tree feels really bad because it didn't bear any walnuts, We're going to say to the pecan tree, you're a pecan tree. You're supposed to bear pecans or pecans, whatever you want to call them, whatever you call them. You are going to bear your fruit from the type of tree that he is. We see point B, he bears fruit when he's supposed to bear fruit in his season. No fruit tree bears fruit all the time. It has a season. It has a season. And we expect the fruit to be there in its season. And that's the same way with this godly man. He has a season. And God determines that season. You see, his fruit will be in its season. One, there is a season when that tree will lose its leaves and look bare. And there'll be times in our lives when we think we have lost our leaves and look really bare. I just feel bare. Two, there will be a time or a season when the tree will develop new leaves. It's part of the cycle. We're getting ready to go into, in another month or so, the leaf-losing cycle for trees. And they'll lose their leaves. And there'll be that season without any leaves. Are they dead? No. It's just the season. But come spring, they'll begin to reproduce, and here will come the buds, and here will come the leaves, and here will come all the pollen. but there will be a season. So there's a season when it loses its leaves and looks bare. There's a season when it develops new leaves. Three, there's a time for the tree to grow without bearing fruit. It has its leaves, looks good, growing well, but there's no fruit. No fruit. You know, there are a lot of apple trees up in the North Carolina area, just across the state line, just now beginning to bear fruit. Didn't start in April and May. It took time. Now they're getting lots of apples. And every apple tree will have its own season. If you go to some of the apple farms up in the mountain there, you'll have times where you ask them about it. Well, it's not in season yet. It'll be in season next month. And when next month rolls around, the apple that's in season now will be pretty much done. So there's a season. There's a time for the tree to grow without bearing any fruit. And then there's a time for the tree when it does bear its fruit. Ecclesiastes talks about this. To everything there's a season and time to every purpose under the heaven. Time to be born and time to die. Time to plant, time to pluck up that which is planted. Time to kill, time to heal. A time to break down, a time to build up. A time to weep, a time to laugh. A time to mourn, a time to dance, a time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, a time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silent and a time to speak, a time to love, a time to hate, a time to war, a time of peace. He bears his fruit in his season. I think it's an important point as believers that we need to remember for ourselves. Then we see point three, his leaf also shall not wither. When the season's there and he has leaves because of his life source is not within himself, but comes from a source much greater than himself, he will not lose his life even in the worst of times. He has that source outside himself. We as believers, and this man here, his source is the Holy Spirit. His source is God. and the word of God. So he gets his life and his strength from God and the word of God. And therefore his leaf does not wither. His life source is the river from which he was by which he was planted. And it is a continual life source. There should not come a time as believers when we feel that we have no source to go to. We never get fully depleted. Our God is always there. The river of life is always flowing. He's always giving to us what we need. And so we find encouragement in that. His leaf does not wither. And then forth whatsoever he does shall prosper. He shall be productive doing what the gardener planted him to do. Remember, he was planted by the river of life. Not every tree has the privilege of being planted by the river of life or by the river. Some trees are out in the middle of some field where there is no known water source. It all is underneath the ground. And it may look a whole lot more sickly than the tree right by the river, but there's still a life source there. And so we find whatsoever this one does, he prospers. He's productive where the gardener has planted him doing what the gardeners planted him to do. And B, he will see the blessing of the gardener on his growth and productivity. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. And all through these 150 Psalms, you'll find this theme repeated over and over and over and over again. And it never gets old. Never gets old. Lord, help us that we We'll be the man that chooses to follow God and one that you can bless. Help us to be happy Christians because of what we have in Christ and the source of life that we have. Keep us through this week. Help us to be faithful to you. We'll thank you in Christ's name, amen.