The Lord Knows the Way of the Righteous

Psalm 1
October 6, 2019
Peter Yoo

Sermon Script

By way of preface, the book of Psalms is a very special book. There’s not another book in the Bible quite like it. And one of the many reasons why the book of Psalms is so special is because of what it does.

Nowadays, we memorize little blurbs and catchy sayings to encourage people with wise advice. If someone is not content and they want more out of life, you might say, “The grass is greener on the other side.” Or if someone is really sad or depressed, you might say, “This too shall pass.” In any case, we memorize these little blurbs and catchy sayings that give us wise advice in this life, to either comfort us or help others.

And back in Israel’s day, this was no different.

The book of Psalms is a book of wisdom. And in one sense, you could memorize these little blurbs and catchy phrases, such as “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (I think some of you actually remember this one) or “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

And so the book of Psalms was used for this very purpose, to memorize these little blurbs, little bits of wisdom to help us get through life and to help the people of God continue in this world.

But there’s another use of the book of Psalms. It was pretty much used as a hymnal to the people of God.

This songbook, if you will, reminded Israel about their God and reminded about who Israel was in their God. And this wonderful reminder scoped the span of their entire life. And they were reminded about God in every element, every aspect of their life. And so this book was used also to that end as well.

Even to this day we can see this happening. Do you ever doubt God’s authority? Do you ever question God? Read the Psalms. Do you ever wonder how he could be so cruel and uncaring in your life? Read the Psalms. Are you electric with joy, are you so joyful to know who God is and what he has done for you? Read the Psalms. Are you sometimes jealous of those around you? Read the Psalms. I think this is a big one: Do you struggle with sin and fail to see any light at the end of the tunnel? Read the Psalms.

The book of Psalms scopes so many aspects of our life. And just as we say that the eye is the window into the soul, Psalm 1 the window into the book of Psalms. In fact, all 150 psalms should be interpreted through the lens and funnel of Psalm 1. And so, this is a very important psalm.

So how does the Psalmist begin the book of Psalms?

He writes, “Blessed is the man.” “Blessed is the man.” What does “blessed” mean? We say this word a lot, don’t we? “You’re so blessed” or “He’s so blessed to have her” or “She’s so blessed to have him” or “He just got a new car; he’s so blessed.” But what does this commonly-used word actually mean?

And to give the complicated yet simplified answer, it can mean a lot of things. In Matthew 5, it can be in the form of beatitude, where the Lord Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” (Matt. 5:3) and where “blessed” means in this context “to have favor with God.” And that those who are poor in spirit have extreme favor before a holy God. That’s one use. Or even earlier today we were learning about Psalm 32 or Romans 4, which says, “Blessed is the one whose lawless deeds are forgiven,” right? And that’s another use of the word “blessed.”

But when the psalmist writes, “Blessed is the man,” he is talking about “how happy is the man.” “How happy is the man.” This might even be translated as, “O how great and how high are the supreme joys, the heavenly happinesses, the immeasurable blessednesses is the man!”

And we would like to meet this person, wouldn’t we? Who is this person that has extreme joy and happiness? Not many of us can say that we are this person. And the psalmist unpacks for us who this person is by first telling us who he is not.

He says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.”

Very interesting way to structure it, it’s in a very profound progression. The blessed man does not walk, the blessed man does not stand, and then the blessed man does not sit. You see the downward progression. There’s another progression: there is the counsel, going into the way, and then the seat. And yet one more progression: the wicked, the sinners, to scoffers. What is the psalmist trying to tell us with this trifold progression?

I think you can actually see the picture a little bit. This is a progression of going from bad to worse. This is a progression that is slow and gradual. Adoption of the wisdom of the wicked. We consider their advice. We consider their lifestyle. Then finally, we start to live it out. We even start to speak like them. We start to look like them. And then finally, this progression, this downward spirals into a culmination of you finally living out their advice and lifestyle.

We know this, don’t we? We know that one single sinful thought can lead into a never-ending downward spiral through the deep and dark hole of a lifestyle of sin. A single thought can become a way of life, and in this case a single ungodly piece of advice progresses into a deep world of utter despair and misery. Our first parents Adam and Eve know this very well.

The psalmist tells us that the one who is supremely happy does not traverse down this dangerous progression.

Rather, the psalmist shifts now from what the blessed person does not do to what the blessed person does. In verse 2, the psalmist says with a very sharp, very strong and distinct contrast that the blessed does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, does not stand in the way of sinners, does not sit in the seat of scoffers. But rather, on the contrary, totally differently, completely different manner, “his delight is in the law of the LORD and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Brothers and sisters, I remind you this morning that any delight that comes from reading God’s Word is a gift of God. It’s a wonderful gift. It is a gift that God has given you. The Lord has changed your heart in such a way that you become delighted in reading God’s Word. O how delighted and happy and supremely joyful is the one who delights and loves God’s Word! Beloved of God, this is so simple that sometimes we miss it. Believers love God. Believers love His Word. We delight in His Word.

In fact, we love God’s Word so much, it becomes the very object of our daily study. We seek to know Him more and more every day. We meditate on his law day and night. And when the psalmist talks about meditation, he’s not talking about eastern, mystic forms of meditation, which suggests that we empty ourselves, clear your thoughts, clear your minds. Rather, this meditation is one of filling yourself up. When the psalmist speaks of “meditation,” he’s talking about memorizing. He’s talking about muttering to yourself, dwelling upon, reflecting, filling the cup of your mind with the Word of God.

Our whole lives ought to be characterized by the Word of God. We can’t seem to imagine a life without it. We would rather walk in the whole counsel of God than walk in the counsel of the wicked. We would rather stand on the firm truth of God’s Word than stand in the way of sinners. And we would rather sit at the feet of Jesus, listening to Him speak to us through His Word than sit in the seat of scoffers. This, brothers and sisters, is our delight. Our delight is in the Word of God.

But, beloved, I recognize this is not always the case. At least on this side of Christ’ return. Would we, at times, rather listen to the advice of the world rather than listen to God? Do we practice, do we adopt the lifestyle of the wicked as our own? Do we even sometimes begin to join the world in shaming other Christians in their attempt to faithfully live out the Christian life? Our brother John Calvin warns us that little-by-little, we are induced to turn from the right path, especially through very subtle, very small, very ordinary means. It can be like the frog in the pot of water, and you slowly raise up temperature and then slowly to its death.

And so I ask, how do you learn how to live your life in this world? What is your source of wisdom in this life? Do you learn wisdom from this world? Think like, speak like, act like, live like. How do we conduct ourselves in the workplace? How do we conduct ourselves in school? How do we raise our children? How do we live before family or friends, believers or non-believers? Are we not characterized by God’s word? Is the world shaping us according to its wisdom? There is a progression, people of God. An ungodly lifestyle does not just happen overnight.

On the flip side, do you delight in God’s Word? When is the last time you memorized Scripture? When is the last time you read God’s Word and cherished? Delighted in it? Or is reading the Bible somewhat of a burdensome task, something that we know we have to do rather than something we know that we love to do?

I remember when the very popular Pokemon Go first came out, I was so excited. I played it so much, it was my delight. I couldn’t imagine not playing this game. In the day, when I commuted to Moody for summer school, I was playing it. In the night, as I commuted back home, I was playing it. I was literally playing this game day and night.

But then I recognized that when my hour and a half commute to and from Moody was dominated by playing Pokemon Go, I resolved in my mind to try and read God’s Word, regardless of what people thought of me on the train. And to keep me accountable, I deleted the app and then I picked up the Bible and read it. And if I’m perfectly honest, it was really hard. The Bible at that time was not my delight. It was my way of falling asleep. But as I kept reading, committed myself to reading it, filling myself up with God’s word, I slowly but surely began to love it. I slowly began to delight in it and enjoy it. And I slowly began to see how the Bible, all of the Bible, Old and New Testaments, pointed to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even Psalm 1 points to the Lord Jesus, doesn’t it? That though Jesus walked among the wicked, He did not adopt their counsel. And that though He stood with sinners, He did not live according to their way. And though He sat and He reclined at the table with sinners, and though Pharisees and scribes condemned Him, and they said “Why would you eat and drink with sinners,” Jesus replies, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Matt. 9:13b; cf. Lk. 5:32)

The Lord Jesus Christ delighted in God’s Word, He meditated on God’s Word day and night. What do we think that He was doing in the wilderness when He was fasting? He combated Satan with God’s Word. It was His meditation day and night.

And that’s what the next illustration points at, doesn’t it? Starting from verse 3. This supremely happy, insurmountably blessed person is “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

Do you see the progression? You, dear Christian, as you read God’s Word, and you meditate on it, as you delight in it, you are like a tree planted by streams of water. You are deeply rooted by streams and streams of water.

And if you imagine back in the day in Israel, if I’m traveling, traversing through the desert, how many trees am I really going to find? Trees, back in the day, because of this very reason, are a sign of divine blessing. But to find a tree fed and fattened by the channels upon channels of water, streams upon streams of water, this tree has an embarrassment of riches of nutrients, water, always, constantly available.

Dear Christian, you are that tree in Christ. You have all that you could ever need in God’s Word, you lack nothing. More than that, you produce fruit, the sign of maturing in Christ.

This does not mean, as we know, that mature fruit is produced overnight. But with constant deep meditation, filling up with God’s Word, the tree will surely produce its fruit in its timing, so will Christ mature you by the promised work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Be encouraged, beloved, that the work of growth, that the work of becoming greater in this life, is not your own doing. It’s the gift of God. God is growing you.

And when the psalmist says that your “leaf does not wither,” what is he talking about her? He is referring to an ancient sign of immortality. Imagine a tree whose leaf does not wither. Every tree that produces leaves produces leaves that wither, do they not? We can even begin to see that even today as autumn is quickly transitioning making these leaves to fall. But if you are a Christian, and if you are united to Christ by Christ, then you have everlasting life. Your leaf does not wither. You have a hope that does not put you to shame. Your life is sustained by God himself.

And when the psalmist says that you prosper in all that you do, he’s not promising prosperity gospel, though it seems like it. He’s not promising that if you delight in God, if you seem to really like this idea of God, He’ll give you every material possession that you want. He’ll give you health, wealth, or prosperity. That’s not what he is saying.

He’s saying that if you meditate on God’s Word, you will succeed in your obedience to it. You will produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life, and sometimes we feel that is not the case. But this is a promise that Scripture gives us.

Dear Christian, if you ever feel stuck in your spiritual walk, so to speak, be assured that the Holy Spirit is working in you, slowly but surely, you are becoming more and more conformed to the image of Christ. As a child may eventually come up to parents and say, “Mommy, daddy, I don’t feel like I’m growing, I don’t feel like I’m getting taller!” Send them to the back wall, pull out your pencil, and reveal to them how much they’ve grown. In the same way, God brings you to back wall of His Word, so to speak, and shows you how much growth there is to be done, but at the same time how much growth has already taken place. Praise God for His gracious gift of sustenance and life and growth in our lives.

But what about the wicked? Are they too like a tree planted by streams and streams of water? The psalmist says quite the opposite actually. If the believer in Christ is like a tree deeply rooted by streams of water, the non-believer is like chaff, which is a thin shell over the grain that is easily snuffed out by wind.

Back in the day, farmers would harvest their grain, they go to these really windy hills, and when there’s a lot of wind, you take a shovel-like tool, you toss up the grain with the shell, the wind would carry away the shell, and the grain would fall back down. And that shell is the chaff.

The wicked are like chaff. They are not like believers. They have no root. Chaff is so easily carried away by even a slight breeze. But believers are deeply rooted in the word of God. And so we will not be moved by any wind. In fact, we remain firm. As John Calvin says, “For although the ungodly man rise high, … we may rest assured that he will be even as chaff … whenever God chooses to cast him down from his high estate, with the breath of His mouth.”

Sometimes, we may get this mixed up. We may be like the psalmist in Psalm 73, when he says, “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked…Behold, they are always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and my hands pure in innocence.” (Ps. 73:3, 12-13) Sometimes, we may ask God, “God, why is this happening? Why are those who hate you doing so well in life? They have a nice house, nice car, nice job, they have problems I don’t deal with or they’re doing so much better in life than me. What’s going on God, these people hate you. Why does it seem like you love them more than you love me!”

But the Psalmist in Psalm 73 continues. “But when I thought how to understood this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.” (Ps. 73:16-17) Brothers and sisters, remember their end! That the wicked may appear to do well in this world, but Scripture reminds us that they are receiving their reward in full now.

But you, dear christian, share in the joy and the delight of the psalmist in Psalm 73, when he says “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand; you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is my strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Ps. 73:23-26)

Brothers and sisters, are you like this psalmist? This psalmist is like a tree planted by streams and streams of water. In a world where the wicked seem to prosper and the righteous suffer, we would be reminded that God is sovereign and that He is in control of your and my salvation.

And so if the wicked are like chaff, of course they cannot stand in judgment. Of course they cannot stand in the congregation of the righteous, as it says in verse 5. Only those declared righteous by God himself can stand in judgment. Brothers and sisters, that’s you. That’s you. That is God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into the new heavens and new earth,” You don’t have to say, “Oh because I was a good person, I did this and that.” No, you go to heaven because God declared you righteous, by sacrificing his Son on your behalf. And that is why you get to go into his glorious and gracious presence in the new heavens and new earth. As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove your transgressions from you. But the wicked, they will have to account for their sin on that day.

I’m actually very thankful I was reminded of this earlier today in earlier Jewish forms of judgment and trials and so forth, the person who was seated is the one who was being defended, but the person who was standing is the one who defends. And I love this when I’m reminded of Acts 7, the first martyr of the early church, Stephen.

As he testifies to the gospel and he talks about the Lord Jesus Christ, and everyone hates him, they stone him to death. But right before he dies, full of the Spirit, gazes into heaven, and then he sees the Son. He sees the Lord Jesus Christ, standing at his defense. And because Stephen will stand too in that judgment, and though the wicked prospered at that time, he knew that he was being brought into glory. As he rejoices with the psalmist in Psalm 73. 

Finally, verse 6, the psalmist comes full circle and summarizes psalm 1 into this one verse. The Lord knows the way of the righteous. The Lord knows. He knows. And this is not some merely factual knowledge, some purely cognitive and intellectual knowledge of your way. Instead, He personally and intimately knows your way. He cares for you. He provides for you. He knows the way that you are on. He knows that the way of the righteous is the road less travelled, in the words of Robert Frost.

This is not an easy or popular decision to make, to live for God in this world. You will most likely suffer. You will most likely struggle in this life. You will go against the traffic, the grain of the world, buffeting against the waves and currents of peer pressure and group-think. But remember, that the way of the righteous is the one of ultimate joy and gladness and happiness. Blessednesses is the word used. God watches over your life, He works in your life, and by grace through faith, He will bring you into eternal life. This is the true path to happiness and life.

When the psalmist describes the wicked as perishing, to be perfectly honest, this is a dreadful thought. Children of God, do you believe this? Do you know that many people will perish in their sin? Do you believe that they will not stand in judgment before God? Do you believe that they can easily be snuffed out by the mouth of God? They may enjoy this life now, but they will receive their due judgment when Christ returns.

I encourage us, Children of God, let us be a people who are supremely happy, glad, even in the midst of this world, because of our great salvation that we have in Christ and in him alone, the one who was sacrificed, the Lamb through whom there is salvation for the world. May our delight be in God’s Word. Let us meditate on it day and night.

Let’s also pray though that God would save others swiftly, that God would bring them into the fold of the Beloved. Why? Why should we do that? Why if we’re so different from the wicked, why should we pray for them? Because you were once like this person too. And God has chosen to extend mercy to you and now what more can we do but praise God, praise God in the assembly of the righteous. No matter what happens in this life, we are safe His hand. We know that we are safe. We know that we will see our Savior soon. And so I encourage you, bothers and sisters, let us pray for those who don’t believe in God, the wicked, the scoffers, and let’s pray that they would come to repentance and have the joy of salvation in Christ alone.

Soli Deo Gloria