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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/john-meekin/blessed-man-of-psalm-1/
Turn together to the book of the Psalms, please. I'll ask you to read with me in the book of the Psalms, and we'll read together in Psalm number one. Again, it's a privilege to be here with the Assembly in Stout, and of course, it's equally a privilege to be back amongst the saints from Iowa and Wisconsin and from the surrounding areas.
Let's turn to Psalm number one, please, and we'll take a reference from the scriptures tonight for a short word. Psalm one, and we read from verse number one, and it says, 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 fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, and really, I believe that the force of the Hebrew says this, not so the ungodly, not so, 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, but the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. And God blessed us this very precious reading from the sacred scriptures.
Most will know that if I could describe, I think if I was describing a building to our hearts, and if you could stay with me as I try to give the analogy, as you're moving into the building, just as you're moving into the rotunda, there are two great pillars.
And if you look closely at those pillars, you will see over here on the left-hand side, or at least my left-hand side, you will see that there's something marked upon that first pillar. And as you look over here, there's a second pillar, and you will see something marked on that pillar, and we'll take a look at that in a moment.
As you're moving through, you will notice as we're standing from the vantage point that we have, that there are actually five doorways, which are right there before us. If we look at the doorway, the first doorway over here, it says above that first doorway, 3 to 41.
We look at the second doorway, and it says 42 to 72. Over the third doorway, 73 to 89. Over the fourth doorway, it says 90 to 106. And over the last doorway, this fifth doorway, it says 107 to 150. Now I'm sure you're, I'm sure you're deeply enlightened.
I can see you think I'm up here, and I'm talking in tongues. Well, really what I've done for you, the book of the Psalms, it divides into five sections. And so there are two pillars that give an entranceway into the book.
And the first pillar is Psalm number one. If we take a look at that pillar, you will see marked on that pillar is one. If we take a look at this pillar, you will see marked on that pillar is two. And then of course, there's a five-fold division in the book of Psalms.
As I mentioned, this first doorway, you walk towards the first doorway, and the miraculous thing is this. You go through the door, and you find that that first room leads into the second room. And you reach Psalm number 41.
And just before Psalm number 41 concludes, just before amen, amen, the end of Psalm number 41, it says, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel. And you're moving into the second compartment, and you see just before you come to the end of the second book of Psalms, Psalm number 72, it also ends, amen, amen.
And before you get to the end of Psalm 72, it says, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel. And you move into the third compartment of the book of Psalms, and just as you get to the end of Psalm number 89, just before the amen, amen, you'll find it says, blessed be the Lord.
And then you move into the fourth book of the book of Psalms, Psalm 90 to Psalm 106. And just at the end of Psalm 106, there's the amen. Now, of course, you know just what comes before the amen. You've got it now.
Blessed be the Lord. And then of course, you come to the end of the book of Psalms, and there's no amen. And you say, what is there? There's a hallelujah. In fact, you see those last five Psalms, Psalm 146, Psalm 147, Psalm 148, Psalm 149, Psalm 150, each one of those opens with, praise ye the Lord, hallelujah.
And it closes with, praise ye the Lord, hallelujah. You say, what's the relevance of this? Well, you see before the last amen of this conference on Sunday evening, I hope there's some of the beloved saints of God that will gather with us.
And from their hearts, they will say, blessed be the Lord. And maybe they're coming with a variety and a depth of need. As I'm standing here before you tonight, I recognize that there is a variety, and there's a depth of need here.
And none of us know that need, but the Lord knows the need. And the wonderful thing is this, by the time this conference in stout has rolled its course, and Sunday evening has come, and the last gospel session has rolled and come to its conclusion, and someone stands up here behind this podium and says, amen.
When the last amen sounds, I hope there are some of the Lord's beloved people, and they will be saying, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel. Now, I want to introduce to you Psalm number one, just for a few minutes.
I won't spend long at this. And perhaps there's a, there is a depth of material here, a wonderful body of material in Psalm number one. In fact, I mentioned the other night, this was Israel's hymn book.
I would almost, if I'd been compiling the book of Psalms, and that's a study in itself, who compiled this book? Oh, you say the Lord compiled the book. Yes, I admit that there was a divine hand behind the book of Psalms, no doubt about that.
But you think of the book of Psalms now, likely the oldest Psalm in the book was written by Moses. Okay. And if you go from the life of Moses, we could prove from the book of Psalms, some of those Psalms were written in the days of Haggai and Zechariah.
Now I won't tell you how long that time space is, but someone directed by the Lord sat down, a compiler, an editor, and he put together the book of Psalms. I wonder who that was. I have my own suspicions.
When I get to heaven, I'm going to be looking for a man. His name is Ezra. He was already scribe in the law of the Lord. You see, when I get to heaven, I'll be looking for Isaiah. I'll maybe speak to him second after we see the Lord Jesus.
And when I get to the glory, I'll be looking around and Daniel will be there. And some of those other notable worthies, there's a man I'm going to be looking out and his name is Ezra. And I want to ask him a few questions about the book of Psalms.
Well, if I'd been compiling the book of the Psalms, I would have inverted the order. I would have put Psalm 50 where Psalm number one is. But whoever compiled the book of the Psalms directed by the Lord, he didn't do that.
You know what he starts with? He didn't start with hallelujah. He started with the object of the hallelujah. And you say, what? He started with the great man's Lord. He starts with the Lord Jesus himself.
And he says, blessed is the man. Now, if I was giving, if I was giving you a clue tonight for some of our brethren, who is this man? This blessed man. You know that that Hebrew phrase, we could literally translate it.
Happy is the man. There was a man that moved on planet earth, beloved saints, that he was a blessed man. Mind you, he was a happy man. And you see the Lord Jesus moving in a pathway, the pathway of faith.
And as I look at the Lord Jesus, I see again, the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the spirit of God, directing our hearts and directing our thoughts. Psalm number one. And the author, he says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly.
Now there's four things I'm going to suggest to you, four things that we will see from Psalm one. I won't touch all of the four things, actually. I'll give you a little bit of homework. That means you do the homework tonight.
So brother Kent, when I see you tomorrow morning, sorry to pick on you, brother. A little bit of homework, but here I want you to notice the life of this blessed man and his details. You say, what are the details of this man's life?
Well, it says he walketh not in the council of the ungodly. It says he standeth not in the way of sinners. It says he doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful and we've got the details of his life. The second thing I'm going to speak about, and I think I'll spend most of the remaining time on this point.
I want you to notice the devotion of this man's life. Well, you say, what's his devotion? His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night. The third thing I'm going to speak about is the development of this man's life.
You say, what is this man's life like? Well, look at verse number three. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. It brings forth fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper.
You think of the pathway of faith of the Lord Jesus. You think of the stability that marks his pathway. You and I know that we are at best very unstable people. Well, look at the stability of the Lord Jesus.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Look not only at the stability of his life, look at the vitality of his life by the rivers of water, the refreshment that was seen in the life of Christ.
Look at the productivity of his life. It bringeth forth fruit in his season. Tell me, do you bring forth fruit? One of the great challenges that we will have at this conference is that the Lord would desire that there might be fruit.
You remember John 15. You remember the Lord Jesus, as he was speaking about the vine, the Lord Jesus mentioned fruit and much fruit and more fruit and fruit that's abounding. I tell you, beloved saints, the challenge of our hearts in this conference session is this, fruit abounding for the glory of God.
And you can see the productivity that the life of the Lord Jesus. What about the adversity in his life? You say, where do you get adversity here? Well, just take a look. His leaf also shall not wither.
I know there's some beloved saints here and they have faced adversity. And when adversity comes, you think of the thing that we do. Naturally, we would almost shy away from adversity. Not so the Lord Jesus, this blessed man, his leaf also shall not wither.
And of course, just at the end of that section, it's not just his stability or his vitality or his productivity, or even those other things I've mentioned, adversity. You will notice that right here, we've got his prosperity.
Whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper. Was there ever a prosperous man like the Lord Jesus? You see him, beloved saints, whether we look at his boyhood days, you remember there he is in the temple. And I see the prosperity that marked his life.
You remember as a man coming forth out of the waters of Jordan. And I see again, the prosperity of his life. I see those, and they bring to him those that are deaf, those that are blind, those that are demon possessed.
What prosperity! I tell you, beloved saints, this was a happy man. I should have challenged our hearts, of course. Are you a happy Christian? Sometimes we sing it, don't we? Happy people. And sometimes I wonder, I know it would never happen here.
No, no. Maybe Ireland or some of those places, but not here. It almost sounds like a funeral dirge, doesn't it? Happy people. Maybe I shouldn't do that from a conference platform. But this was a happy man and a blessed man, and the prosperity that marked his life.
The last thing in the Psalm, of course, you will notice the distinctiveness of this man. Because verse number four, I gave you the literal rendering from the Hebrew. This man is set in contrast with all other men.
Not so the ungodly, not so. And of course, that's the distinctiveness of this man's life. I want to come back to that second point. It's not just the details of his life. It's not just the development of his life.
It's not even the distinctiveness of his life. I want to speak for a moment about the devotedness that marked his life. His delight is in the law of the Lord. Tell me now, why have we come together for this conference?
Well, you say it's a wonderful social occasion amongst the beloved people of God. So it is. Have you ever tried the food at Stout Conference? Pretty good. Well, the Lord bless you if you've come for the food.
I hope it's the spiritual food. But mind you now, Margaret, this blessed man, there was one focus of his life. And you say, what was the focus of his life? His delight was in the law of the Lord. How many times does that expression occur in the book of the Psalms?
Should ask our brother Bill. It occurs in three Psalms. And it's very easy to remember, just as a memory aid. You'll find it in Psalm 1, the law of the Lord. You'll find it in Psalm 19, the law of the Lord.
What's the third one? Well, one, one nine. And the third one's very easy. It's one, one nine. Psalm number one, the law of the Lord. Psalm number 19, the law of the Lord. Psalm 119, the law of the Lord.
Did you ever consider that there was something that met a need in the life of the Lord Jesus that has the same ability to meet needs in the lives of God's people still? It is the law of the Lord. I was thinking I'll pass on a few of these, not too many of them, because I realized I have only a few minutes left.
Do you ever think of that temptation of the Lord Jesus? He's there 40 days in the wilderness and he's tempted. Tell me, what was the focus of the meditation of the Lord Jesus in the wilderness? I see some of the saints that are already whispering it.
Don't give it away now. No, don't give it away. You say, do we know? I think we do know. You say, you mean to tell me in the wilderness for those 40 days, Christ was meditating on the scriptures? He was.
I think I could actually tell you the book of the scriptures he was meditating on. In fact, he parallels Israel's experience most directly. You remember, Israel was in the wilderness and from the wilderness, Israel went through the river Jordan.
What about the Lord Jesus? The Lord Jesus went through the river Jordan. Where did he go? He went into the wilderness. So you can see that you've got a direct parallel, almost a mirror image in the life of Christ to the nation of Israel.
They were in the wilderness. They came through the river. He went into the river and he went into the wilderness. What do you say? He's tempted. He was tempted. And at the end of the 40 days, Satan came.
And you remember the first temptation that the devil presented to him. The devil says, command these stones that they may be made bread. You'll recall the second temptation. The devil took him up to that pinnacle of the temple.
And you remember the temptation that ensued. You recall the third temptation into the mountaintop. And he says, I'll give you all the, he showed him all the kingdoms in a moment of time. But you see, you still haven't told us what book he was meditating on.
But you see that first temptation, the Lord Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy chapter eight. The second temptation, the Lord Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy chapter six. The third temptation, the Lord Jesus again comes back to Deuteronomy.
That was the wilderness book. You know, I learned from that beloved saints that if we could get the context of scripture, if we could understand that there were certain books that were written in certain contexts, that would actually meet our need as God's people.
So keep in mind, there are certain books that deal with church doctrine. If you have a problem in church living, let's go to the books that deal with it. There are certain books that deal with God's family, first job, a family epistle.
And we look to those books for direction when it comes to the family. Deuteronomy of course, was the book that Moses wrote in the wilderness as he's recapitulating the journey and the Lord Jesus picked up the book of Deuteronomy and he was able to take God's word and apply it and use it to Satan himself.
Now we could go through that. John three, you say, okay, Nicodemus, tell me what was the Lord Jesus musing upon when Nicodemus came to him by night? I would suggest to you, he was actually musing on the book of Ezekiel.
That's a deep one, isn't it? Tell me, when did you last read in the book of Ezekiel? You sisters, sorry to pick on you. When did you last read in the book of Ezekiel? Well, he was musing, I believe in the book of Ezekiel and the book of numbers.
You say, how could you prove that? Well, you remember in Ezekiel 37, you'll recall the context of John three. It's the Passover time. The Passover time was the beginning of the nation of Israel. It was the birth of the nation.
Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel is shown a valley of dry bones and the call comes out, son of man, can these bones live? And then he's told prophecy unto the wind. As some of you, brethren already know, some of you sisters too, that that word wind is the same word in Hebrew for the word spirit.
Prophecy unto the spirit. You say what? Remember what the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus? He said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. And then he moves from Ezekiel 37 and he goes over to the more familiar one.
Nicodemus knew both of course. And he says to Nicodemus, as Moses lifted, and Christ had the scriptures at his fingertips. He gave the scriptures of course. He was the originator of the scriptures and now he is using the scriptures, the dependent man devoted in the law of the Lord.
What about, I got to finish. They'll be telling me no more speaking at the conference. You've done your speaking meeting. You sit down now. Well, Peter Orsak used to tell us this doesn't count. We were at a Kansas city conference one time.
Our brother Bill was there actually. And when we were there at Kansas city, he spoke at the prayer meeting and he looked down over the rows of preachers and he says, you know, brethren, he says, this don't count.
Well, whether it counts or not, let's go to the cross. It's a very precious thing to think of the scriptures that Christ was meditating upon, even on the cross. Psalm 22 evidently. Psalm 69, you remember John says, I thirst and the Lord Jesus was meditating on Psalm 69.
In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink. I could hardly finish without going to Luke's gospel chapter 24. Do you remember there were two that were brokenhearted and they were on their way out of the city and a stranger drew near to them, just came alongside.
And as he came alongside, he began at Moses and all the prophets and all the scriptures in the book of the Psalms. And he expounded onto them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. I hope beloved saints, I hope that by the time the stout conference, 2022, isn't it?
This COVID business, it's a bad business. 2022, by the time this conference is over and the last amen sounds, I hope there will be hearts, the hearts of God's beloved people. And you will just be exalting and rejoicing as the scriptures are unfolded to us.
May the Lord bless his word. Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.