Psalm 1

Psalms, so why don't we go ahead and have a little bit of coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for what a rich blessing it is to get to be in your Word, to rest in you, to know you, to hear from you. What a great God you are. In Jesus's name, Amen.
All right, here we go. We are going to jump over to the screen here. There we go, so we are at Psalm 1. Real quick, if these videos are helpful to you, hit the like button and let Facebook, YouTube, and other places know that this is valuable to you. It helps other people find it, helps me out. Why don't we go ahead and go and read God's word now. Psalm 1.
Blessed is a 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 leaves also shall not wither. and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but they are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in 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.
Oh, we need to ask ourselves, what is this about? What are we going to underline here as the best verse to summarize this in? Last, see calling. What are we called to do in response to this? So if you're just joining us for 2021, you might not have gone through all the gospels with us last year, but that's our ABCs of devotions. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this in? C, what are we called to do in response? So first, A, what is this about? Well, there's a compare and contrast here, isn't there?
The way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. The way of the righteous is a way of blessedness and happiness. The way of the unrighteous or the wicked is a way of destruction. The way of the righteous is meditating on the law of the Lord day and night, being firmly fixed in the judgments and the statutes of the Lord. The way of the ungodly is like the chaff scattered about by the wind, judged by God, never fully affirmed, never established. But that righteous man is what verse three says, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaves also shall not wither, but whatever he does shall prosper.
A, what is this about? The righteous one. What is this about? Well, the psalmist is crying out, this is what the righteous person is like. The righteous person is meditating on God's word, established by God and blessed by God. And so, what are we going to underline here? The best verse to summarize this, well, that's going to be pretty hard. I might do verse one, verse two, or verse three, maybe all three of the verses. This is going to be really hard, right, because poetry all hinges together. There are different sides and different parts, different similes and different pictures.
And so I think I would underline one, two, and three in my Bible. Would you underline something different? I'm going to go ahead and do that in my Bible. I'm going to underline those. And you might underline something different. That's fine. But we also need to ask ourselves, see calling. What are we called to do in response to these words? Well, I want to be careful here, okay?
Because I think that we can read the book of Psalms Christologically. Meaning, I think that we can read the book of Psalms knowing that they're ultimately speaking about Jesus. And Jesus is this blessed man. Jesus is the one who meditated on God's law day and night. Jesus is the one who was going to be perfectly fixed. Now, it also does apply to us, though. See, I think sometimes theologians can go too far on the other side. So we are called to things. How are we blessed? How are we happy? How are we firmly fixed? How do we become like a tree planted beside the water, yielding fruit in its season?
Well, it comes by meditating on God's word. It's exactly what you're doing right now. It's coming to God's word and soaking it up, chewing over it, thinking of it, right? It's this idea like in Joshua chapter 1 verse 8, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. Meditating, thinking about it, wrestling it over, you know, trying to fit it into your life. This isn't like transcendental meditation. It's not stuff like that. This is soaking it in, chewing it over, thinking about it. And so, again, that's what you're doing right now.
I want to thank you for doing that with me, but also want to encourage you, don't let this become something that falls off towards the end of the year. Don't let this be something that just goes away. If you're on YouTube, one of the things you can do is you can hit that bell button and get notified every time this goes live. If you're watching on Facebook, you can go up and you can hit the notify button every time we go live. get into God's Word on a regular basis.
This is how we find fruitfulness. But we know that it's not just God's Word. God's Word isn't some magic wand, you know, hocus-pocus, boopity-boop. Oh, you're going to be happy and healthy and righteous. No, no. Actually, what does Jesus tell us in John chapter 15?
That if we abide in Him, then we'll bear much good fruit. And so even as we read, we need to be abiding in Jesus. Even as we read God's Word, we need to be resting in Jesus Christ. As we go to Him, we rest in Jesus, we believe through Jesus, and it is in Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, that then we bear good fruit.
So, I pray that this year, as we go through the Psalms, that you might enjoy soaking in God's Word here, but that most of all, that you might grow in your love and knowledge of Jesus Christ. and that as you grow in your knowledge and love of Jesus Christ, you would see the fruit of righteousness in your own life.
Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for the book of Psalms. We thank you for the poetry and the songs that you've given us. We pray, Lord, that you would care for us, watch over us, and bless us. In Jesus's name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May He fill your heart with joy and peace, and may your Sabbath be filled with resting in Jesus Christ. Bye.