The Man of Psalm One

Several decades ago, I joined a church and the pastor of that church invited me to come to his office at 6am every Friday morning so he could disciple me. I believe that's a good practice for all shepherds who are giving sheep in their care. Anyway, this young pastor had me memorize Psalm 1 as my first project.

I wrote the verses down on an index card and that week I had to go out of town on a business trip so I took the index card with me and on the plane and in my hotel, I committed those verses to memory. And through the years, those verses have helped me time and time again in a refreshing way. I'm a big believer in memorization of scripture, friends.

I think we all must make it a priority to memorize God's word. The psalmist wisely declares, I have hidden your word in my heart that I will not sin against thee. But the lesson I learned from that wise pastor was a valuable one.

And years later, when I had my own discipleship group where several men came to my home each week, the first thing I did with those men was to have them memorize scripture. Each week, we would learn a new bible verse and commit it to memory. And the next meeting, I would go around the room in a circle and have each man recite the verse he'd been assigned that week.

It was very helpful to our Christian walk. And as I reflect on Psalm 1 today, I want to share with you its rich treasures which shine like brilliant gems within. Many of us are well familiar with Psalm 1, but friends, let not our familiarity with it keep us from studying it in depth today.

I believe that if a person is willing, they could learn something new every day of their life. The title of my message is The Man of Psalm 1. You may turn in your bibles there now to the first psalm as we go over its riches in detail. But before I read us our text, I want us to be aware that this psalm describes two very different kind of men.

One is the object of God's grace, and the other an object of his wrath. One is saved, and one is lost. One is good, and one is wicked.

One will enjoy the felicity of heaven and the presence of God forever, and the other will be tormented in a burning hell for the punishment of sin. There is both a positive and a negative aspect to be applied to Psalm 1. This psalm is also a clear warning to avoid bad company, for birds of a feather flock together. I'll never forget the time years ago when I joined a country club to play golf all the time.

And when I joined that country club, I was invited by a group of about 30 men to be part of their golf scramble every Saturday morning. They even had a name for themselves. They put it on their golf bags.

They were called the Wolf Pack. And when I joined the Wolf Pack, I told my wife it'd be a good opportunity for me to share Christ with my fellow golfing buddies, that hopefully I'd have some time to be a good influence upon their lives. But after a while, exactly the opposite occurred.

These men were captains of industry, powerful men, and money was their God. Many of them had filthy mouths and even filthier lifestyles. After playing a round of golf, we'd all sit in the dining room and have some food.

And I soon was laughing at their dirty jokes and being just one of the boys. Had I paid attention to the warning in Psalm 1 more in detail back then, I would never have agreed to stand in the way of sinners and to sit in the seat of mockers. Soon away, it was a valuable lesson for me for future friendships.

For I know that birds of a feather flock together. A young man, guard your company. Young lady, be careful in choosing your companions.

The person of Psalm 1 is a person of integrity, one who holds true to their convictions. I like what Charles Spurgeon had to say regarding Psalm 1 in his exposition of the Psalms. This is what the governor said.

This Psalm may be regarded as the preface Psalm, having ended a notification of the contents of the entire book. It is the psalmist's desire to teach us the way, to blessedness, and to warn us of the sure destruction of sinners. This then is the matter of the first Psalm, which may be looked upon in some respects as the text upon which the whole of the Psalms make up a divine sermon.

I like that, don't you? Well, allow me to read us this passage of scripture at this time and let each word sink down into our hearts and rest there as both a balm and a warning to us. Here now is the word of God and may the spirit of God bless the reading of his holy word. 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 doth 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. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way the ungodly shall perish. I want us to see several aspects of this beautiful Psalm that we can apply to our own lives as we study the word of God together. First, I want us to see that we must avoid bad company as companions.

We are warned here right away not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor to stand in the way of sinners and go in their direction. Neither are we to sit and prefer their company to the godly, for they are scornful of all that is holy. They hold God in contempt, and the things of God are mere foolishness to them.

They say in their heart there is no God, and they live their lives as if there is no God of a future judgment. And as believers, we must be careful to avoid the haunts of sin. Sam Jones used to say that a Christian man who would do things in New York City that he wouldn't do in his hometown wasn't much of a Christian at all.

The man of Psalm 1 is like Job in that he fears God and eschews evil. I am reminded of Peter's denial of the Lord in the courtyard that chilly evening. It was a picture of Psalm 1. Verse 1, for Peter entered his hour of backsliding by standing in the way of sinners and sitting in the seat of the scornful.

When he sat by the fireside and denied his Lord with oaths and curses, it was a downward spiral. There is an old saying which rings like a bell of warning, and it states, sin will take you farther than you want to go, leave you there longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you ever bargained for. And as true friends, sin is a downward spiral, a black vacuum, a pit of mire hard to extradite oneself from.

When I think of this psalm, I think of King David, who enjoyed all the favors and blessings of God, and who was a man after God's own heart, our Bible tells us. His public life began with a great victory in killing the giant Goliath, but soon David fell out of favor with King Saul, and he soon became a hunted man who lived in caves, fleeing from his enemies. But there came a day when David was no more hunted like a flea, and he had rest from his enemies.

But he would soon learn a hard lesson, for his newfound peace and prosperity came with a solemn warning to guard himself before the Lord, for although he no longer had enemies without, he soon had one within, and that was self. And the indulgence and gratification of self through sin became his downfall, as he did the thing which displeased the Lord. Oh friends, how easy it is to ignore the warnings of this first verse found in Psalm 1. We are to avoid sinful company, sin-loving habits, and shun evil continually.

We are not to walk in the direction of sin, nor sit down and enjoy it, nor sit side by side with the scornful of God and enjoy their company either. Now let us look at verse 2, and see that the godly man delights in God's law, in reading it, in obeying it, to bring God glory. And as he immerses himself in the Word of God, and spends time with the God of the Word, he will be like a tree, planted by rivers of water.

He will be a fruitful vine, producing fruit that is pleasing to the Father, to bring him glory. A tree is known by its fruit friends, and he will be a fruit-yielding tree, planted upon a firm foundation of a sound conversion. But the hypocrite is not so.

The hypocrite's leaf will wither, because the hypocrite has only the leaves of a profession without the fruit of a sound conversion. And that brings us to the negative aspect of Psalm 1, which is the sure destruction of the wicked, that the ungodly will indeed be judged, for there is no sinners in the congregation of the righteous. That means in heaven.

But here on earth, there is a multitude in our churches today. The chaff is mixed in with the wheat, the good fishes with the bad, and the dragnet of the final judgment will separate the good from the bad. But until then, there will always be a number of hypocrites in the church.

I remember a story that Vance Havner told. He said there was a farmer in a country town who had a pony that he used in evangelistic services. This farmer had trained the pony to do some tricks, which he used as Bible illustrations.

He would bring the pony out onto the platform of a church and say to it, now, Henrietta, how many disciples did Jesus have? And the pony would stomp the ground 12 times to the awe of the audience. Then the farmer would ask, now, Henrietta, how many commandments did God give to Moses? And then the pony would raise its hoof and stomp 10 times. Just then a teenage boy yelled out, hey, Henrietta, how many hypocrites are in this church? With that, the pony went to a little dance.

Like I said, terrors grow alongside the wheat in the average church. And the sad fact is our text from Psalm 1 describes the surety of their judgment and their final doom. For verse six tells us, for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way the ungodly shall perish.

That little word perish, friends, has the same force as in John 3, 16, which states, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That word perish means to perish in a burning hell for all eternity. The wicked dead will suffer the agonies of hell forever and ever and ever.

Some people don't want to believe that. Some ministers don't want to believe that. I've known some preachers who held to the doctrine of a finite hell that has an ending, that there's an end to the torments of the wicked.

But it's not so, friends. Jesus said hell was everlasting where the worm dieth not, and I believe Jesus. So as we have reviewed Psalm 1, we have noticed the positive aspects of the godly man of this psalm.

He should be as a tree planted by rivers of water. He will be a fruit-bearing tree because he is among the righteous. He will spiritually prosper as he lives his life for the glory of God.

But he must live with a warning, with a guard over him, not to fall into bad company, bad habits, or sin. He must fear God and shun evil, and his delight is in the word of the law, in the word of God, and the God of the word. I like what Martin Luther had to say about the psalm, friends, that the man of Psalm 1 was that his will is in the law of the Lord.

Hence, it is not only a love of the law, but that love and delight in the law, which no prosperity, nor adversity, nor the world, nor the prince of it can either take away or destroy, for it victoriously bursts its way through poverty, evil report, the cross, death, and hell, and in the midst of adversity shines the brightest. I like that, don't you? Oh, friends, what a joy it is to be a member of the body of Christ and to know our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be active in his vineyard, in the redemption of souls, to live unto him, to the praise of his glory. The person of Psalm 1 is a happy, happy man, a happy person indeed.

He is truly blessed. Our text says, blessed is the man. Let each one of us be more thankful to God for showing us mercy, and may each one of us live our lives in light of eternity, and may every one of us be a magnet to draw others to Christ and his gospel for the saving of their souls, so they will not be numbered among the ungodly.