Psalm 1 teaches us a lot about the blessedness of the believer and that all stems from the blessedness of our Holy God. Before we get into the scriptures, let's open in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, I thank you for this opportunity we have here at Sunny Hill to look into your word and hear your word preached. I pray that you'd open our understanding so that we may better understand your word today. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. Psalm 1 verse 1 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 scornful. I want to open with a question. When I say the word blessed, what does that word mean? Anybody have any idea? Vicki. What's another word for blessed? What would you think? Happy? Happy would be a good word. Or prosperous? What has been your greatest blessing in life, you think? Maybe your spouse, your husband, your wife. Or if you're not married, I don't know. But blessing is not something we often think about, though we use the word so often. What does it mean to be blessed? By God, certainly salvation is a part of that, or our church could be a part of that. The word means to be happy, fortunate, or prosperous. How would you describe that person? Have you ever met somebody that just, when they go away from you, you just say, that person is blessed, or blessed by God. What does that look like? Some things to think about. He or she that you're looking at, the blessed person, might be experiencing peace, maybe prosperity. That is part of the blessing of God. They may be experiencing the goodness of God, joy, fullness of life, God's wisdom, happiness, kindness, the abundant life, is another phrase we often hear, satisfaction, A life of delight and fruitfulness is in the life of the blessed believer, or one who's experienced rescue from a great trouble. And that's what our salvation is, isn't it? A great blessing, our great rescue from sin. How often do we really seriously ponder how good our God is to us and his blessing of us? I would like us today to consider some verses from the book of Psalms to see what we can learn about being blessed by God. We too often overlook God blessing us daily in countless ways. Psalm 68 verse 19. One of the Psalms I often, at least in the preparation of this message today, I often go back to Psalm 68 verse 19 because it's so simple. And this is not the entire verse, but a really good part of that verse is, He daily loads us with benefits. In his blessing of his people, we learn something of the goodness and kindness of God. Forms of the word bless are found in just under 100 times in the book of Psalms alone. Michael Wilcox has said, the blessed life is the life with a sense of worth. God's long-term purpose for us is that we should be blessed. But practical theology begins with holiness rather than happiness. It must begin with God rather than with man. And it is significant that the book of Psalms, beginning with chapter 1 verse 1, does begin with God. So let's hear Psalms chapter 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 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 does 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 so Do you want to be blessed by God? I think all of us would answer yes. I would like to be blessed by God. According to this first Psalm, man is not free to live as he pleases. This is affirmed in verses one and two. Again, listen to verses one and two. 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. This blessed man is not free to find his own path to happiness. Did you know that our Constitution and Declaration of Independence are both rooted in a Judeo-Christian view of God and man? Our nation is founded on Judeo-Christian values. The phrase, the pursuit of happiness, is found in the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, who tweaked the phrase, which he had borrowed from John Locke, the pursuit of happiness. It is also interesting that the preamble to our Constitution states that the Constitution exists to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity. So, in the nation's beginnings, we made it obvious that we recognized God and we were seeking His blessing. So, do you know who it is that God blesses? Well again back to Psalm verse 1 from Psalm chapter 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 scornful. Psalm 2 verse 12. Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are those who put their trust in him. And chapter 3, verse 8, salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon your people. Psalm 5, verse 12, for you, O Lord, will bless the righteous with favor. You will surround him as with a shield. Chapter 40, verse 4, blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Psalm 147 verse 13. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you. In this introductory chapter to the book of Psalms, Psalm 1, we are immediately focused in on the character of the believer. Here is a three-fold description of the believer. Here we see first of all what he does not do. He does not company or counsel with the ungodly, sinners or the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord day and night. The believer has different interests from the crowd. So what do you delight in? Do you delight in whatever It is others delight in all day and all night, but the psalmist delights in God and His Word day and night. That is how much delight the believer has in the Word of God. The believer will be like a tree in three ways. He brings forth his fruit in its season, His leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. But the ungodly, in verses four through six, are not so. Great contrast here. It's interesting to me, as I've been studying this, how much the book of Psalms says about a false, counterfeit kind of blessedness. That the wicked pursues, he delights not in God or in the things of God, Rather, he delights in sin, evil, and life without God. Moving on to Psalm 2, we learn further about this blessedness of the believer. The theme of Psalm 2 is the Messiah's triumphant kingdom. Chapter 2, verse 12, kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. The context of this verse is the wrath of God, who is the same Lord that we met in chapter one. His blessedness and the believer's blessedness that flows from that, but in chapter two, we see the wrath of God. So man faces either salvation on the one hand, or God's wrath. Which would you prefer? Blessedness verses have much to say about trusting God for salvation. For example, what we just read in chapter 2 verse 12. 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. And chapter 3 verse 8. Salvation belongs unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people. Chapter 18, verse 46. The Lord lives and blessed be my rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted. Chapter 24, verse 5. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Chapter 34, verse 8. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts in him. That word kiss that we passed over in chapter 2 verse 12, it means to pay respect or homage to, to show that you are loyal to Him, to bend down low in front of Him. Here's a promise, all those who put their trust in Him are blessed by Him. But being fully blessed by God cannot happen unless and until one trusts in Him for salvation. So do you know something of the great variety of the overflowing blessings in the lives of the saved? I mentioned a few of them earlier. Here are some more. There's peace, prosperity, the goodness of God, joy, life, wisdom, happiness, the abundant life, satisfaction. Patience and supernatural strength for hard times and difficult days. Confidence in uncertain shaky times. I believe our country in our day right now is going through some shaky times and the believer has some extra resources he can draw on from the blessedness of God and the believer's relationship with him. In God's blessing, we have a shield against trouble and deliverance out of trouble. In Psalm 3 we see, the Lord helps his troubled people. This may have been written by King David when he fled from his son Absalom. The summary or theme verse is the last one of verse 3. Psalm 3, a Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. Lord, how they have increased who trouble me. Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, there is no help for him in God. But you, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice, and he heard me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept. I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for you have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone. You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. And verse 8, salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon your people. Selah. We notice in Psalm 3 verse 8 that salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon your people. Here's a shield blessing, we could call it. God is telling us that he is our protection, our security. When thousands threaten to attack, we have a sure defense. We have a defense against what man might do to us. No one on earth is as blessed as believers in Christ. You ever think much about that? No one on earth is as blessed as the believer in Christ. Here is our assurance of spiritual blessing. It is a responsibility God has taken upon himself. He will do it. This is his responsibility by ownership. He owns every one of us if you're a believer. Salvation belongs to the Lord. God is our owner. He owns salvation. He owns his blessings that he continually showers upon his people whom he also owns. God's people possess both, both salvation and God's blessing because God has given it to them. Next psalm we come to with the word blessing or blessedness is Psalm chapter 5. Its theme is when we are assailed by many enemies. Here in Psalm 5 is David's prayer cry for guidance and protection from trouble. This could be at the time of his son Absalom's revolt. And here is the Lord's answer, his promises to bless David and us by surrounding us as our shield of defense. Chapter 5 verse 12, For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous with favor. You will surround him as with a shield. This world can be a scary, troubling, dangerous place, but we are surrounded with one as our protection, our shield. Another promise of deliverance out of trouble is in chapter 41 verse 1. Blessed is he who considers the poor. The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Back to the earlier psalm, Psalm 10, is a song of confidence in God's triumph over evil. Here, there is a focus on the evildoer and his wicked mouth and speech. The wicked give out false counterfeit blessings that harm and manipulate people. Did you ever consider the lies of the wicked as false blessings? To them, they think it's a blessing by the way that they talk. They're lying continually. But here is the destructive mouth of the wicked we need to be alert to and watch out for in chapter 10 verse 3. For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire. He blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord. The blessings of the wicked only promote and multiply further wickedness in himself and in others. Also from verse 3, to read it again. The wicked boasts of his heart's desire. He blesses the greedy and renounces or despises the Lord. And we have other Psalms that speak of how the wicked falsely blesses. The wicked man blesses himself in chapter 49 verse 18. Though while he lives, he blesses himself. For men will praise you when you do well for yourself. Adam Clark says on 49 verse 18, the wicked man blesses himself. He did all he could to procure himself animal gratifications, and he was applauded for it. For it is the custom of the world to praise them who pay most attention to their secular interests, and he who attends most to the concerns of his eternal soul is deemed weak and foolish, and is often persecuted by an ungodly world. The wicked bless hypocritically or outwardly from the lips, not from the heart. Psalm 62 verse 4. They only consult to cast him down from his high position. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. The wicked delight in lies rather than being sick and tired of them and disgusted with them. Psalm 62 verse 4. They only consult to cast him down from his high position. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Believers are to pray for God's judgment on the wicked. Psalm 104, verse 35, May sinners be consumed from the earth, and the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord. Believers are to bless and praise the Lord at the judgment of the wicked. We know this from chapters like Revelation 19 But in Psalm 104 verse 35 may sinners be consumed from the earth and the wicked be no more Bless the Lord. Oh my soul praise the Lord and in Psalm 16 As a title for Psalm 16, we may have descriptions of people who are right with God, the hope of the faithful, and Messiah's victory. This is the person whom God welcomes. Here in chapter 16, verse 7, I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. This psalm was written by David, the pursued refugee from the throne of Israel. Good words, quoting Michael Wilcox again. Here is the resolve of the righteous. The blessing of the Lord from his presence with his people is multiplied in the believer as he spreads it to others. The Lord gives counsel and instruction. Here is the sense of security found in the presence of God. Such people will not be shaken. To them, God is their cover, their concealment, their security, and their refuge. Psalm 18. Now, Psalm 18 has 50 verses. We're not going to read all of those. But Psalm 18 is a vivid and powerful song of thanksgiving. It's 50 verses speak of God, our sovereign Savior. In verse 46, the Lord lives. Blessed be my rock. Let the God of my salvation be exalted. This is from a doxological section dealing with the Lord's unfailing kindness to his anointed. Jesus is our living and immovable rock who strengthens us. And in conclusion, what has been your greatest blessing again? If we could think about that question one more time, or blessings plural. We too often overlook our great gods blessing us daily in countless ways. I think we're reminded of that today. I keep coming back to Psalm 68 verse 19. Our God daily loads us with benefits, showing us his great goodness and kindness. The Bible certainly presents to us a great variety of overflowing blessings in the lives of believers. We have surveyed quickly about where blessing appears in a range of about 20 chapters of the Psalms. Not in every chapter, but often enough that it really gets our attention. We have seen in the book of Psalms that our Lord has daily loaded us with countless benefits by his grace. We know that the blessedness of Christians far exceeds the happiness of the unbeliever. Have you known the blessed, happy life of the psalmist in Psalm 1? The person who does not go the way of the crowd, but instead follows after God? Have you trusted in Christ? Again, to read through 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 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 does 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. Does that describe your life? Let's close in prayer. Dear Lord, I thank you for these reminders that we've had from the book of Psalms about the blessed life, the abundant life, the life of 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. Lord, sometimes that way is hard, But we just thank you for that sustaining grace of yours. Thank you for the blessedness that you continue to shower upon us from day to day because of what Christ has done for us. We pray in his name. Amen.