In this sermon titled 'O Happy Man', Jason Dohm examines Psalm 1, focusing on the characteristics of the blessed person who avoids the counsel of the ungodly, the path of sinners, and the seat of scoffers. The sermon highlights the importance of delighting in and meditating on the law of the Lord, presenting it as a path to spiritual prosperity. By contrasting the blessed person with the ungodly, who are likened to chaff driven away by the wind, Dohm emphasizes the importance of sowing seeds of righteousness to reap happiness and prosperity. The sermon also underscores the timeless principle of sowing and reaping, drawing connections to Galatians 6:7-9. Dohm encourages listeners to plant themselves by the rivers of spiritual nourishment found in God's Word and to avoid influences that lead to spiritual corruption, ultimately pointing to Jesus Christ as the source of righteousness.

Psalm chapter 1. 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 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 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. Heavenly Father, as we study your word now together, I pray that you will open our ears and open our eyes. Please help us to be good hearers and good doers of your word. Please help us to be attentive and to remove any distractions from our minds please be with Jason as he comes now please bless him and speak through him in Jesus name amen In Jesus' name, Amen. Do not be deceived.

God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Now where in the Old Testament am I reading from? That sowing and reaping sounds like Deuteronomy to me. Or maybe Leviticus, getting what you deserve from what you sowed, harvesting what you sowed sounds like Leviticus to me.

Maybe one of the prophets where the prophet is talking about how through hundreds of years of disobedience, it's coming due, and the people are finally going to receive it. Not Deuteronomy, not Leviticus, not the prophets, Galatians. Not just the New Testament book, but the go-to New Testament book for salvation by grace alone through faith alone. The New Testament book that wages war against legalism and self-righteousness and lays it low. In this book that wages war against self-righteousness and legalism and lays it low, Here in the last chapter of the book is, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.

Whatever a man sows that he will reap. This is a great mistake that is often made, that the Gospel universally overthrows the law of sowing and reaping. No, it's not an Old Testament law. It's a law for all time. Old Testament, New Testament, new covenant.

And it is a mistake to think that just because Jesus has come and He'll not deal with you according to what your sins deserve if you repent and believe the gospel. That is true. That is the glorious truth of the Bible. The most glorious truth, possibly, of the Bible. But to take that truth and then say, it no longer matters what I sow.

I'm only going to ever reap good no matter what kind of seeds I put into the ground is not true. It was Galatians chapter 6 verse 7. So Psalm 1 comes to us and it tells us the seeds that we should be careful not to sow. Don't sow weeds says Psalm 1. And it tells us the seeds that we should be careful to sow if we want to put our feet on the way of blessing, on the way of happiness.

There are four things that I want you to keep in mind as we come to Psalm 1. Here are the four things. Number one, verse one says, blessed is the man. There is nothing about Psalm 1 that is gender specific. It just means that the man of Psalm 1 is just a representative person.

He stands in the place of one who will carefully avoid these things and also give himself to this thing And in doing that he puts his feet on a way that is blessed, a way of happiness. So one is, this is not gender specific. Don't be thrown off by blessed is the man. Okay, blessed is the woman. Blessed is the child.

It's a representative person. Number two. Someone is written to the redeemed. It's not telling you how to redeem yourself. This is not a recipe for how to redeem yourself.

There is no such thing as redeeming yourself. If you could redeem yourself, you wouldn't need to be redeemed in the first place. So this is not a recipe for workspace righteousness at all. It is telling the redeemed, the one who God has already poured out His mercy upon, what you should give yourself to. Verse 2, His delight is in the law of the Lord.

Verse 6, For the Lord knows the way of the righteous. This can only be said of the redeemed. Psalm 1 is written to the redeemed. Number 3. We have this Psalm, Psalm 1, the Psalm that is given a place of honor and prominence by God because it is Psalm 1.

Because God wants His people to sow the right seeds and be blessed. He wants His people to sow the right seeds and be happy. God is concerned with your happiness. God is concerned with your blessedness. And he's telling you how to be happy.

In Psalm 1, the Psalm that gets the honor. Number four, if we knew Hebrew we would recognize this as an exclamation. In other words, blessed or blessed is the man is not a bad translation but it doesn't really do it justice. It is an exclamation. Oh happy man!

That's why the sermon is titled that, because that's what's in the Hebrew lexicon. This is Hebrew. The Hebrew lexicon says that This is a plural form of the word. Like, blessed, blessed, blessed, happy, happy, happy is the man who carefully avoids these things and does these things. It's an exclamation.

Oh, happy man who lives according to Psalm 1. The King James Version renders this Hebrew word blessed 27 times and happy 18 times. So you can see it's rendered as either blessed or happy many times, but both. I think we should feel comfortable using them interchangeably. And I want us to think of Psalm 1 in terms of my happiness, in terms of your happiness.

Those are the four things I ask you to keep in mind. So go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Oh God, what is man that you are mindful of him, and yet you are mindful of us. You even care about our welfare, our happiness, our blessedness. Thank you for putting before us today the paths of happiness.

I pray that time would find us planting our feet so firmly on these paths of happiness. Thank you for telling us what we should carefully avoid, and what we should give ourselves to that our lives might be happy lives in Jesus. Pray that you would use these words mightily in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Alright, let's look at verse one together. Psalm 1 verse 1. I'll read it. Follow along. I'll read it, follow along.

Blessed is the man, or happy 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 Here in this verse we have three things that the blessed man Doesn't do if you're filling in blanks on the handout. It's three doesn't Three things the blessed man doesn't do. Oh, happy man! If you would be the happy man, or the happy woman, or the happy child in Jesus, these three things are put forward by God in Psalm 1 are things that we should carefully avoid. First, an introductory comment.

It seems like there's an escalation in these three things, Going from bad to worse. In other words, carefully avoid these things, but see the progression from bad to worse. Walking then to standing then to sitting, there's an increasing entrenchment in these things that are not good, that are ungodly. There is an increasing comfortability with ungodliness that we see as these three things progress from one to the other. The ungodly to sinners to scoffers.

Now there's not much difference in the ungodly and sinners in terms of looking at those words and what they mean and how they're used in the Old Testament. But then when you come to scoffers it really is at another level. A scornful person is really an evangelist for unrighteousness. They not only partake of it, but they scorn righteousness. They scoff at God and his ways.

They are an evangelist for ungodliness. So in going from walking to standing to sitting and becoming entrenched more in the ways of ungodliness and going from the ungodly to sinners and scoffers, we see a progression from bad to worse. Here are the three things that verse 1 tells us the blessed man doesn't do. Number one, The blessed man doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. The ungodly have a stream of never ending counsel for you.

You don't have to solicit it. Usually you don't have to ask the ungodly for counsel. It's ready on their lips. They're always ready to give their unending stream of advice for your life. Listen to the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2 verse 8.

Paul writes, Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, According to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Paul is describing the counsel that the ungodly man has for you. It's the basic principles of the world. It is worldly philosophy. It is empty deceit.

What is the end of that for you? You're robbed blind. Beware lest anyone cheat you. It literally means rob you. Don't let anyone cheat you.

Don't let anyone rob you with worldly philosophy, the basic principles of the world, the empty deceit that the world has to offer. If you regard ungodly counsel, if you follow ungodly counsel, you will be cheated, you will be robbed, you will not be blessed, you will not be happy. If you would plant your feet on the pathway of blessing, the counsel of the ungodly will be far from you. You will not regard it. You will not follow it.

I think it should be said that we can't think of the ungodly as Adolf Hitler. The mass murderer is ungodly, yes. But anyone who does not know God and will not obey the Gospel is ungodly, as we've been studying in 2 Thess. Those who don't know God are the ungodly. Those who will not obey the Gospel are the ungodly.

They're nice, they're respectable, they're winsome, they're convincing. They're ungodly. And if you regard and follow their counsel, you take your feet off the path of blessing. Off the path of happiness. So you should ask yourself this question, who is this for me?

Who is the counsel of the ungodly for me? Who is the one who is nice, respectable, but not in Christ, whose mouth is full of advice for me. Have I regarded it? Have I been following it? Have I taken my feet off the pathway of happiness because of it?

That was number one. The blessed man doesn't walk in the council of the ungodly. Number two, the blessed man doesn't stand in the path of sinners. I was thinking about this, there are not a lot of paths here. If we're going anywhere, we jump in the car.

Or if we walk, which almost never happens, we're on a sidewalk. But two months from now, Michael and I will be in Blandtire, and we will be going to Polytechnic University there in Blandtire. And there are these, just, there's grass between the buildings. And you find real paths there, meaning dirt paths with grass on both sides, very well defined and you would think it's so well defined you would think it had been cleared. Nothing's been done to clear these paths.

Why do they exist? Because people have walked over them, and walked over them, and walked over them, and walked over them, and walked over them, and the grass doesn't stand a chance because they're so well-worn. That's where the term well-worn pathway comes from. The feet have been there so the grass can't be. This is the well-worn path of sinners.

This is where sinners are always going. Are always putting their feet there. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 and 14. Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction.

And there are many who go in by it. It's a well-worn path. Many people have their feet eliminating the grass there. Wide, Broad is the way that leads to destruction and many go in by it because narrow is the way and difficult. Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are a few who find it.

There might be some grass on the pathway that leads to life. Not as many feet. The grass stands a chance. But the road that leads to destruction is so well-worn. So Psalm 1 comes to us and says don't put your feet there if you want to be happy.

It's not, the well-worn path is not the path of blessing. Don't put your feet on that path. So we should ask ourselves this question, where am I standing on the well-worn path of sinners? If there's no grass down there, You might ask yourself if that's where you should be. If it's so well worn by the people of the world, by people who have no interest in Christ, one month turns into another and their thoughts never turn towards God, and you're walking down the same path, that should make us think.

That was number two, the blessed man doesn't stand in the path of sinners. Number three, the blessed man doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful. The NASB and the ESV render it scoffers. They don't sit in the seat of the scoffers. The NIV renders it mockers.

All good translations of that word. Listen to Proverbs 3 verse 34. Proverbs 3 verse 34 says this, surely he, God, scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble. Listen to that again. Surely God scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble.

There is an arrogance, there is a pride that infuses the scornful, the scoffer, the mocker that makes God your adversary when you sit in that seat. God gives grace to the humble. God comes and helps the humble, but the scornful, God scorns. He is their adversary. Now, Think about not just walking in the council of the scornful or standing in the path of the scornful, but sitting in his seat.

There's a sense of making yourself at home. Here I am, You just plop yourself right down in that seat. The seat of the scornful, making yourself at home. We should ask ourselves the question, Is there any way in which I have become a scoffer at the ways of righteousness? God's ways, the things that God calls good.

Is there any way where I have sort of become scornful of God's ways, of ways of righteousness? Am I mocking any of God's ways? Oh, there goes the long skirt patrol. There goes the denim long skirt patrol. There they go.

Now is it possible to make the length of skirts or wearing skirts into something that we consider for self-righteousness. Yes it is. But is it possible that young ladies or ladies would wear long skirts in order to preserve modesty, which is a way of righteousness, and to preserve femininity, which is a way of righteousness, as opposed to what the world is doing. But we sit in the seat of the scornful. There are many ways in which we can do that.

That's one that I thought up, but if we were to make a list, I don't think it would take us long. Any time we're tempted to say, to scorn a conscientious life. We should beware. So someone is living a little tighter than you are. And that's something in our hearts that rises up to make us a mocker of them.

Because they're a little too uptight about that. Now you wait just a minute. You make sure that's not really sitting in the seat of the scornful. Not making yourself a mocker of things that God actually calls beautiful. And they're just trying to cultivate it in their life.

They're a little more sensitive to it than you are. I get it. There are some times where people do these things and they consider it a badge of honor and they consider it as it makes them better than you and that's not good. I'm not promoting that, I'm just saying what does it mean to sit in the seat of the scornful? It can mean that.

And we should beware. We might think my happiness in Jesus depends on doing certain things. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey like the hymn. So there are things that I do that increase my happiness in Jesus, true, but that's not where Psalm 1 starts. Psalm 1 starts with Not doing.

Not walking in the way of the ungodly. Not standing in the path of sinners. Not sitting in the seat of scoffers. Carefully avoiding certain things. Why?

For your own happiness. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 33, Paul says, Do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits. That's such a good summary statement of verse 1. Don't be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits. Some translations render it corrupts good morals.

We have to be very careful in our relationships with the ungodly. I think the New Testament, actually the Bible makes it clear we should have relationships with the ungodly. They should be certain kinds of relationships that have an awareness of the corrupting influence of those who don't know God and will not obey the Gospel. They can be and so often are a source of corruption for us. And we're insensible to it and so we get corrupted and it happens by degrees and we don't even see it.

Do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits. And in 2016, in the age of iTunes and Spotify, in the age of Fox News and Netflix, in the age of Internet access to anywhere and everywhere, your counselors don't have to be people you've ever met. You don't even have to know them for them to offer you all sorts of counsel on every topic under the sun. Do you regard their counsel?

Do you follow their counsel? Do you stand on their well-worn path? Do I? You don't even have to walk outside your door to put your feet on their path. It can all happen in the privacy of your own room.

That was verse one. Three things the blessed man, the blessed man doesn't do. Now verse two. What the blessed man does do. If you're filling in blanks in the handout.

Does. What the blessed man does do. Let's read together verse 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law he meditates day and night.

It's a contrast, okay? Not that, but this. Not putting yourself in evil company that will corrupt your good habits, but immersing yourself In the law of God. By the way, in this verse, I'm just going to use law of God as a synonym for the Word of God. The Bible frequently uses it that way.

It could just be the law and specifically the commands of God, but I don't think there's any reason to restrict the definition to that in this case, so I'll just use it interchangeably with the Word of God in my comments here. First, we learn something about the affections of the blessed man's heart. The blessed man delights in the law of the Lord. His heart is turned towards the words of His God. Because He finds the God whom He loves is reflected in His words.

He can look at the words of God and He sees God reflected in those words, in those commandments. And because he loves God, he loves the words of God, and he delights in the law of the Lord. During our singing time, we read Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is an exposition of this verse. 160-some odd verses in Psalm 119.

Just an unfolding of Psalm 1 verse 2. Let me read you another sprinkling of what we have in Psalm 119. Verses 14 and 15. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways.

I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word. Verse 35, make me walk in the path of your commandments for I delight in it. Verse 47, and I will delight myself in your commands which I love. Verse 92, unless your law had been my delight I would have perished in my affliction.

Verses 97 through 100, oh how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. You, through your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts.

The author of Psalm 119, whoever it was, I think it was David, but it doesn't say, Loved the law of God and said it over and over and over again, I meditate on the law of God because I love the law of God. I delight in the law of God. This much is clear when we look at Psalm 1, when we look at Psalm 119. This is more than having a checklist which includes Bible reading. Hello?

Are you with me? This is more than having a checklist with Bible reading on it. Okay, I've read my chapter. Check! Done for the day.

I hope you have a checklist for your days. So that you can get something done. You can have accomplished something at the end of it. So I'm not against checklists. And I'm not against having Bible reading on your checklist.

I'm just saying Psalm 1 and Psalm 119 reflect so much more than just that. It is a heart turned towards God, a heart that loves God, and then so it hangs on every word that God has given as a gift. Do you delight in the Word of God? I know you read the Word of God. I know you hear sermons on the Word of God.

Do you love it because you love God? That is what is put before us in Psalm, chapter 1. So first we learn something about the affections of the blessed man's heart. He delights in the law of God. Second, we learn how those affections shape his day.

Here's a hint. If what you think are your affections don't shape your day, they're not really your affections. I love this, but I never give time to it. Nope, that's not how it works. The things that we love get our time.

The things that we really love. We all give lip service to things that aren't really in our hearts what we say they are in our hearts with our mouths. The blessed man continually meditates on the law of God, on the Word of God. Day and night is what the verse says. Day and night.

What's left? After day and night, when is there? Nope, that's it. That's all the time. It's a continual meditation.

The blessed man can't devote all of his time to reading. He has a job. He may have a wife. He may have children. He has obligations.

He can't spend every minute of every day reading the Word of God. But he can fix his mind on the Word of God over and over and over and over again during the course of the day. He can think about it while he is attending to his other obligations. The blessed woman can think about it while she is doing all the work that God has given her to do. She can turn over a precious part of the Word of God in her mind over and over and over again.

She can meditate on His Word. Eastern meditation, yoga and the like, is about emptying your mind. This is not Christian meditation. The Bible knows nothing of emptying your mind. The Bible knows of filling your mind with All good things from the Word of God filling our minds with what God has said.

I came to this realization this week as I was studying Psalm 1. I know almost nothing about this except in concept. Meaning, I don't know what Psalm 1 is talking about here experientially. And that's not good. And you're probably a lot like me is my guess.

Psalm 1 puts it forward as something that is so fundamental. How can We say that we only know about meditation on the Word of God in concept. I would like to suggest a progression. Reading to memorization to meditation. I think we need to take this category of neglect, meditation on the word of God, and install this progression into our lives, our schedules, our patterns.

Reading to memorization to meditation. Now I'm not arguing that memorization always has to be the middle point. We can't just read and meditate on the Word of God. I'm just saying that if we're going to do it day and night, we're going to have to have it in our minds with us when our Bibles aren't. We're going to do Psalm 1 meditation day and night, a continual meditation on the Word of God, we're going to have to memorize portions of the Word of God so that we can turn it over in our minds again and again and again.

We can think about what it really means, we can think about how it applies to us, we can think about its implications in our lives and the world. And I want to suggest, as we're memorizing Ephesians 2, what a great place to start. Begin committing that firmly to memory and then make that a source of your meditations during the day, just as you think about it. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone. These are good things to feed your mind.

We're given the picture of a person saturated with the Word of God. Saturated with the Word of God. Now let's look at verse 3. I'll follow along as I read verse 3. Psalm 1 verse 3, He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper." Here in verse 3 we have what results from the man's not doing and doing.

So if you're filling in blanks on the handout, not doing, doing. What results from the man's not doing his careful avoidance of these things that could corrupt him and Doing his delighting in the Word of God and his meditating night and day on the Word of God What are the results where we're given a word picture? To help us understand what this results in. And it's the word picture of a tree planted by rivers of water. It's not a wild tree that just happened to spring up.

It is called a tree planted by rivers of water. This tree brings forth its fruit in its season. And I think we should think of the fruit on this tree as the signs of spiritual health. It could be a thousand things. The fruit on the tree that is planted by rivers of water could be a thousand things.

But whatever they are, they are signs of spiritual health. They say that the tree is flourishing. Like what? Well, here are some that I thought of. Like the ability to trust and have joy and hardship.

That is a fruit of a tree planted by rivers of water. That is a sign of health for a Christian. Hardship comes into my life and yet it doesn't make me trust less, it makes me trust more and I can even experience joy in the middle of the hardship. That is a sign of spiritual life and health. Or treating others as I would like to be treated.

Remember the golden rule? I think That's a sign of spiritual health. It's easier said than done, you might have found that. It's a fruit of a tree planted by rivers of water. It's a sign of spiritual vitality.

Or using the resources that God has given me, my time and money, and all the resources that God has given me in ways that bring honor to Him. How are we using the resources that God has given me, my time and money, and all the resources that God has given me in ways that bring honor to Him. How are we using the resources that God has given us? Are we using them? Are we putting all of the resources that God has given us in play to bring honor to Him?

Is that how you're using your money? Is that how you're using your time? If it is, if you can see marks of that, then you would say, I'm a tree planted by streams of water. There's spiritual vitality here. There are signs of spiritual health.

Or what about a thriving life of worship? I don't mean that you just happen to come to church on time. I mean that your heart is engaged. You're thrilled by the worship of God. It's not a dead thing to you, but it's an alive thing in your heart.

Your heart sings when you worship. These all might be signs of spiritual health. The fruit of a tree that's planted by rivers of water. Also, the leaves of this tree don't wither. When drought comes the tree still thrives.

All of the other trees are withering up because of the drought but not this tree. It's still green. The leaves are still healthy. The trees around are withering up, but this tree is not showing the effects of the drought. It's not withering up.

Why? Because the roots are down into the water. Now, we live in North Carolina. There are trees everywhere. But the whole earth isn't like that.

The readers of this psalm probably wouldn't have, the original readers of this psalm wouldn't have lived in a place like North Carolina where there are trees everywhere. My dad grew up in western Kansas. So a number of years ago we were out in western Kansas and it's nothing like North Carolina. There's not a lot of trees. We went into a gas station and a guy had a t-shirt that said Kansas State Tree and it was a telephone pole.

The Kansas State tree is a telephone pole. Not really, but it might as well be, because there's not a lot of trees out there. But when you find them, you find them in a line, And you know that's where the creek is. Okay, in Kansas, western Kansas, the trees are where there's a distinct ongoing water source. If there's not, the trees aren't there.

And so if you want to find a creek, you just look for the snaking, winding pathway of trees, and that's where the creek is. Because there's a lot of drought. Also whatever he does prospers. So that means that he's rich, right? That means that he's always healthy, right?

That means that he never has relational conflict, right? No, we are talking about spiritual prosperity, which is sometimes better served by poverty, by sickness, by conflict. Not always, but sometimes. Your spiritual prosperity is served better by hardships sometimes. But the man whose roots go down into the living waters knows that God is working everything, even his poverty, even his sickness, even his conflicts.

He's working all these things together for his good. It's Romans 828. We know that all things work together for good for those who are the called according to His purpose. Question, what are the sources, what are these rivers of water? Maybe they really are rivers, plural.

Clearly, one river is the Word of God. That's completely within the context. That's what Psalm 1 says. The Word of God is a river of water. It will cause you to yield your fruit in season and will cause your leaf not to wither in the drought.

But also, consider John chapter 4 verses 13 and 14. This is Jesus speaking to the woman of the well. In John chapter 4 verses 13 and 14, Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but the water that I shall give him will become within him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." Jesus is at the well. He says, you drink the well water, you'll be thirsty again in no time.

You drink the water that I give to you, it becomes a fountain inside of you, ever replenishing fountain inside of you that wells up to eternal life. Life in Jesus is a river of water that we send our roots down into. Christ and His Word will cause us to yield our fruit in season. Christ and His Word will cause our leaf not to wither in the drought. Please turn to Jeremiah chapter 17.

Jeremiah chapter 17 is a stunning cross reference in that it uses almost all of the same words of Psalm 1 to say something very very similar to Psalm 1. Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 5-8. Follow along as I read. Jeremiah 17 verses 5-8. Thus says the Lord, Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.

For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness and assault land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit." It sounds like Jeremiah wrote Psalm 1, he didn't. But he could have. Cursed is the man who trusts in man.

That's the man who walks in the council of the ungodly, who stands in the way of sinners, who sits in the seat of the scornful. His trust is manward, and it's a curse. It makes you like a shrub in the desert. This shriveled up shrub in the desert. It always is lacking.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. That is the man who delights in the law of God and meditates on His law day and night. He is the tree planted by rivers of water. He will not fear when heat comes, but his leaf will be green, and he will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit." Amen! This is the way of happiness.

This is the way of blessing. God is setting before us the way of happiness and blessing. And if we don't grab a hold of it, our misery will be our own fault. God told us. Back to Psalm 1.

Verses 4 and 5. 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. The contrast, if you're filling in blanks on the handout, the contrast, Not so. Not like the righteous who cultivate these things in their life.

The ungodly are not so. They are a living contrast. The ungodly don't avoid sowing weeds. They do walk in the council of the ungodly. They do stand in the well-worn path of sinners.

They do sit in the seat of scoffers. They don't delight in the law of God. They don't fill their thoughts with the Word of God. Days, weeks, months go by and they never think of God. Not so, the ungodly.

What is the result? Instead of being a tree planted by rivers of water, fruitful and drought proof, they are like chaff. Here is what the ESV study bible says about chaff. This is the husks and straw removed by threshing, and it is lighter than the edible kernels. When a farmer tosses threshed wheat into the air, the wind drives away the chaff." Okay, so this is farming.

This is farming. You grow grain and you have the edible kernels of grain, but it's not by itself. After harvesting, it's mixed up with these husks and the straw. So how do you separate them out? This is how farmers did it for hundreds and hundreds of years.

You toss it in the air. The edible kernels of grain have substance to them, have weight to them, so they go up and they come down but the chaff, the husks and the straw that's mixed in have no substance. They have no weight and so the breeze just carries it away and you're left with what you wanted. You're left with the kernels. Now think of the contrast.

You have a fruitful tree that is drought proof. And you have the husks and the straw that don't even have enough weight to go up and come straight down. It's just carried off by the breeze. Not so the ungodly. The contrast could not be more stark.

Now where is the end of all this? Trace it out, trace it out for the godly, Trace it out for the ungodly. What are the end points? It ends in irrevocable separation. Irrevocable separation.

Eternal unending separation. Friends, this is literally taught all over the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. If the Bible teaches anything at all, it teaches that when Jesus Christ comes again, there's going to be an irrevocable. Meaning you can't, you'll never be able to backtrack on what happens in that moment. It will be an eternal separation.

There will be no passing from one side to the other after that point in time. Turn to Matthew chapter 3. Turn to Matthew chapter 3. John the Baptist is going to preach us a sermon on the irrevocable separation that will happen. Matthew chapter 3, I'll be reading verses 7 through 12.

But when he, John the Baptist, saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, brood of vipers, Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandal I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. The winnowing fan of the Lord Jesus Christ is just what's being described. It's the breeze that takes the chaff away, but John the Baptist goes further and says the chaff will be burned up.

So you're left with fruit trees and chaff that is burned up. In Psalm 1 and in Matthew chapter 3 you get the same sermon. We get the same sermon. Fruit trees. Or if you will not bear fruit, the axe is at the root.

You will be separated away. It is an irrevocable separation. It is an eternal separation. Don't say we have Abraham as our father. Brother, we will stand or fall on the one whom John the Baptist testified of.

John the Baptist pointed at Jesus Christ and he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Either the Lamb of God will take away your sins, or you'll be a barren tree and the axe is at the root. Back to Psalm 1. Final verse. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Here in verse 6 we have the conclusion.

If you're taking notes on the handout, the conclusion. We've just dealt with the endpoint of the ungodly. They perish and their way perishes. There's only a certain amount of time where people will walk in the counsel of the ungodly. There's only a certain amount of time where people will stand in the way of sinners, the path of sinners.

There's only a certain amount of time where people will sit in the seat of the scornful. Their way will perish. They will perish. But now let's look at the way of the righteous. The text says that the Lord knows their way.

The Lord knows their way. There are two things I think I should say about this. First, God knows everything. Of course God knows their way. He knows every detail of the lives of the righteous.

He knows the count of the hairs on their head. So it could be that it is just an encouragement to understand that you're living under the gaze of your God. That He sees everything. This makes us live in a very sober minded way, doesn't it? To know that He knows our way.

He knows the number of hairs on our head today. But I think there's something more here. Listen to Genesis 18 verse 19 and consider how God knowing is used and what it means in Genesis 18 verse 19. For I, God, have known him Abraham, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. In Genesis 18-19, God says that he has known Abraham in order that.

Meaning that him knowing Abraham was causative. It was to cause something that he intended to be caused. He had a purpose in mind in knowing Abraham. It's not just that he knew how many hairs Abraham had, but he had something in mind. He knew him in a way that caused him to fear God.

He drew him to know God, to be the friend of God. The Bible calls Abraham the friend of God. And he drew him into fellowship with himself in order that he would command his children to follow Him also. I believe the knowing God in Psalm 1 verse 6 is that. It is a causative knowing.

It is God knowing you in order that He would bring you into fellowship with Himself and cause you to walk with Him. Secondly, only in Jesus Christ can we fit the bill. To fit the bill means to meet the description, to be properly described that way. If you fit the bill, you are properly described that way. Have you carefully avoided the corrupting influences of the ungodly?

Remember the ungodly is not just Adolf Hitler. The ungodly are just simply those who don't know God and won't obey the Gospel. Have you carefully avoided the corrupting influences of the ungodly? Have you delighted in the law of the Lord? Have you meditated on His law day and night?

Have you been like a tree planted by rivers of water, always yielding fruit in season? Never having withered leaves? The answer for Jesus is yes. Jesus fully avoided the corrupting influences of the ungodly. Jesus fully delighted in the law of God and meditated on his law day and night.

Jesus was the tree planted by rivers of water. The righteousness of the righteous comes from outside. If you go into your heart to look for righteousness, you are going to look a long time and you are not going to find any righteousness. Our righteousness comes from Christ. He obeyed.

He fulfilled the law and then he imputes his righteousness to his people. Applications, I have three. Number one, where are the gaps in the careful avoidance that Psalm 1 is calling me to? Psalm 1 is calling you to careful avoidance of these things, these three things. Where are the gaps?

Identify them. Where are you walking in the Council of the Ungodly? Where am I standing in the well-worn paths of sinners? Where am I sitting in the seat of the scoffers? If you don't identify it, it's not going to change.

Identify it. Number two, am I planted by rivers of water? Are you planted by rivers of water? Are your roots going down in? So that you're not afraid of times of drought, your leaves are green.

You don't wither up in times of drought. When the trees around you are withering up, your leaves are green and you're still bearing fruit. Because your roots are down in the life of Christ and you are feeding on His Word. Number three. Do you want to be happy?

Just end with an absurd question, it's not a stupid question. Do You want to be happy? No, not me. You want to be truly happy? Do not be deceived.

God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6, 7 through 9.

So good a mixed seed and reap a harvest of happiness. Put your feet on the path of blessing. God has said it before us so clearly in Psalm chapter 1. God I thank you that you have done this, that you have told us the things that lead to misery and the things that lead to our happiness. You've beckoned us, you've pleaded with us in Psalm 1 to put our feet on the way of blessing and I pray that we would do it.

Oh send your spirit into our hearts to stir us up to put our feet on this path of blessing. I thank you that you give us a path of blessing through the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh God may our roots go down into the living waters. May this well up like an ever replenishing fountain in our hearts. Pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen.