The Prosperity of the Blessed (Psalm 1:3-4)

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We've looked at the first of three contrasts in Psalm 1 the path Contrasting the path of the wicked and the path of the of the righteous or the blessed man. We saw last week that the blessed man avoids the instruction of sinners.

He does not walk in the way of the ungodly the wicked. He does not stand in the path of sinners and he doesn't sit in the seat of scoffers. That is to say he is not swayed by them. He does not stand with them and he does not seduce with them.

Those are two or three different degrees of involvement in relationship to evil. Instead the righteous man or the blessed man delights himself in Yahweh's instruction Which is an entirely different path than the path of the wicked.

The righteous man is informed by the Word of God by his righteousness and by his truth Which is found in the instruction of Yahweh. So that kind of summarizes what we covered last week in verses 1 and 2 and I want to offer just a note of Clarification before we move on.

This is not the path of the legalist verses 1 and 2. It's not the path of the legalist. The legalist is somebody who delights in His use or abuse of the law of God as a means for his own righteousness or a measure of his own righteousness.

The legalist uses the law of God to show how righteous he is in his own eyes and Holds other people up to that sort of man-made standard. That's what a legalist does. But the righteous man or the blessed man who delights himself in the law of the Lord is Not delighting in the law because it condemns him.

He's not delighting in the law because he cannot achieve the standards of the law. Even though the law condemns all of us the righteous delight in it because we see even in that thing that condemns us.

We see something that is holy and good and righteous and true and we delight in that. We delight in the righteousness That is revealed in the law the instruction of the Lord. We delight in the God who is revealed in the scriptures and in the righteousness that is revealed in the scriptures.

We don't delight in the law in some sadistic sense where we think we have achieved the standards of the law and we have kept its perfect standards of righteousness because We can't and we don't but instead the righteous one delights in the God who is revealed in that word and in the instructions that.

That the instruction that Yahweh gives to us in that law. So the blessed man receives all kinds of different content all kinds of different blessings a Variety of blessings he is blessed in a variety of ways.

He can look at his life and say that he is blessed by God because of God's goodness and grace to him. He is blessed in salvation. He is blessed in the fruit of that salvation and he is blessed in ways that the wicked cannot even perceive or even understand.

So here at the outset of the Psalms in Psalm 1 we have this question. Are we the righteous man described in? In this psalm or are we the wicked that is described in this psalm and before we even enter into Worshipping God in and through the Psalms the Psalter.

That's the question that confronts us. Which one are we? Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm that calls us to consider two paths two products and two outcomes. And we see in this psalm the way of blessedness. So the outline that we're working using to work our way through the psalm in verses 1 to 2.

We see two contrasted there two paths and we've called verses 1 and 2 the path of the blessed man. Verses 3 and 4 we're looking at today this describes the prosperity of the blessed man and then verses 5 and 6 the prize of the blessed man that the Lord knows the way of the Righteous, but the way of the wicked or the path of wicked will perish and here is a second contrast the prosperity of the blessed Man, the righteous and the wicked are contrasted with these two Agricultural similes you'll notice it.

Let's read together verses 3 and 4. Actually, let's back up and just started verse 1 again. We can read the whole psalm. It's not that long. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners?

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law He meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season.

And its leaf does not wither and whatever he does he prospers. The wicked are not so. But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

But the Lord knows the way of the righteous. But the way of the wicked will perish. Person 3 and verses 3 and 4 are our text for this morning. We're going to notice there with each of the phrases in verse 3 a different kind of distinct kind of blessing and this gives us some idea of what the author means when he talks about the blessedness or the blessings of Righteous man in verse 1 we're notice in each of those phrases a different and distinct blessing.

The first one we notice his provision. He's like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. Then we'll see his produce or product it yields its fruit in its season. And then we'll notice his permanence his leaf does not wither and then finally his prosperity and whatever he does he prospers.

We'll break those down spend most of our time in verse 3 because verse 4 is simply the negated contrast of that. But the wicked are not so and then just a brief description of the wicked so we'll spend our time in verse 3 so we can see what it is that really is the blessing of the righteous and Then we can just simply say all of that.

For the wicked not so none of that is true of the wicked person in verse 4. Let's notice first of all his provision. Psalm 1 verse 3. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water again. This is a simile and there's a simile in verse 3 and a simile in verse 4.

Verse 3 says the blessed man is like a tree and verse 4 the wicked is like chaff and this these two similes agricultural similes are intended to Contrast these two men and their prosperity or the we would say the product or produce of their life.

The imagery used here of a tree flourishing by streams of water is one that's used frequently in the Old Testament and it's really used. To picture here a flourishing and fruitful life under the blessing of God.

I want you to notice something in verse 3 that probably flies under your radar as you just read over the verse. Notice that he is describing here a tree that is planted. It is a planted tree. Not a wild tree.

It's a planted tree. Those are two entirely different images in in Old Testament scripture a planted tree and a wild tree. A wild tree pops up next to a river of water its seed is planted by the by the dung of a bird or just by accident or happenstance or the wind blows the seed in next to a stream.

A Wild tree is is there by accident or by chance it springs up on its own but the author is not describing a wild tree is not describing a tree that just so happened to pop up next to a Undefined stream of water out somewhere in the wilderness instead.

He is indicating here by calling this a planted tree. A tree that is chosen with intention and care and design and then is intentionally and specifically by God's providence planted where it is by the grower.

A Tree that is cared for by the husbandman who plants the tree with intention and purpose. In other words in this picture God himself is the farmer and he chooses the tree. He chooses the place by which in which the tree is planted and then he cares for that tree.

He tends it he plants it. The blessed man is a man who is attended by God's providence and as a planted tree He is the special object of that special divine providence to not only choose the tree, but also choose the place where it is planted.

This last spring I went to a local nursery and I I bought two two trees. Honey crisp apple tree and an apricot tree and when I showed up at the nursery I I look for of course I find the section that has the trees specific tree that I want and then I don't just grab any tree you guess which tree I pick.

I pick the best tree that is there now. That's not what God did when he chose you and I but every analogy breaks down a little bit, but follow me here I choose the tree. I select a tree that is green and lush.

It looks healthy. It's got lots of leaves on it. It's got lots of new shoots that year. Maybe even has some blossoms or some fruit starting to form on it. It's taller. It's it looks like something that I can shape and mold as I prune it over the years I bring that home with great care and I know exactly on my lot where I want to plant it in direct Sun and a place that sort of Catches the eye and it's specific to the landscaping whatever landscaping I have in my yard and I plant the tree Specifically there and I fertilize it.

I dig the hole I I put the food in there a little shot of some some liquid whatever it is. That's supposed to make it sort of take root and then I water it over the course of the summer and these two trees I put wire cages up around them to protect them from the deer and then I'm Observing them not just for their health and their vitality, but also eventually for their fruit-bearing quality and I watch them I guard them I protect them.

Now that's a lot different from just a tree that's planted out in the wilderness that I could care nothing about. Spurgeon says this it is the particular characteristic of the Christian man and woman.

That he is like a tree planted that is to say there is a special providence exercised in his position. You all know the difference between a tree that is planted in a tree that is self-sown. The tree that is planted in the garden is visited by the husbandman.

He digs about it. He fertilizes it. He trims it prunes it looks for its fruit. It is an object of property and of special care. The tree in the forest the tree which is self-sown upon the plain. No one owns no one watches over it.

No heart will sigh if lightning flash shall shiver it. No tears will be wept if the blast should light upon it and all its leaves should wither. It is no man's property. It shelters no man's roof. No man cares for it.

Close quote. That's the difference between a cultivated tree and a wild tree. The blessed man is like a tree that is planted. Which means that you believer are by God's choice and by God's providence the special object of his care.

That's the imagery that is used here. Not a wild tree out in the middle of the wilderness that you could care less about. But a specific tree chosen and planted and watched over that you would be fruitful and flourish.

Now the tree symbolism is a rich symbolism. It's used throughout the Old Testament and obviously into the New Testament. Israel was an agrarian a land with a lot of agrarian culture. And so we see these types of agrarian similes and metaphors and pictures used all the way through our scriptures.

The first episode or the first incident of this type of imagery and it's in a literal place a literal time. That's in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 2. So this picture occurs early Genesis chapter 2 verse 8.

The Lord God planted a garden toward the east in Eden and there he placed the man whom he had formed out of the ground. The Lord caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and from there it divided and became.

Four rivers.

So here early in Genesis you have a tree that is planted at a place where there are four Rivers that water that lush garden and in that garden God walked with man in in in his innocence before the fall God walked with man and there was Consummate provision there everything that Adam and Eve could have needed.

Everything that could have desired was provided for them by God and they had God to walk with and commune with. It's also the same picture that we see at the end of our scriptures in Revelation. Chapter 22 and and in Ezekiel 47 describes the same thing in the restored creation.

Here's how Ezekiel describes it by the river on its bank on one side and on the other will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary and their fruit will be food for their leaves will be for the Healing.

And then Revelation 22 says. Then he showed me a river of water of life Clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street on either side of the river was the tree of life bearing 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit every month and The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

So we have at the beginning of God's Revelation tree the tree of life planted by Rivers in the garden where everything was provided and men walked with God in community and fellowship with him. And then we have at the end of God's Revelation the tree of life planted by the river which flows from the throne of God where Abundance is provided for all God's people and he walks with us just like he did with Adam and Eve in the garden beforehand.

That's the imagery that is used here a tree that is planted that that is flourishing and it is well watered and it is it Is lavish in its fruitfulness? The imagery of the tree also reminds us of judgments that were promised as sometimes the opposite of the flourishing tree becomes the Specific point of the metaphor when a nation when the nation of Israel forsook the law of God and turned from Yahweh's instruction.

Then scripture likens that nation to a tree that withers and dries up. Isaiah 1 verse 30 Judgment upon Israel's described in these terms. For you will be like an oak whose leaf fades away or as a garden that has no water.

Isaiah 34 1 through 4 describes the judgment of God upon all the nations at the end of time and listen to how the judgment upon The nations for their rebellion and they're turning away from the law of God as described Isaiah 34 verses 1 to 4 draw near o nations to hear and listen.

Oh peoples let the earth and all it contains here in the world and all that springs from it. For the Lord's indignation is against all the nations and his wrath against all his arm all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them.

He has given them over to slaughter so their slain will be thrown out and their corpses will give off their stench and the mountains will be drenched with their blood and All the hosts of heaven will wear away and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll all their hosts Also will wither away as a leaf withers from the vine as one withers from the fig tree.

So here's the summary of the Old Testament imagery. The man of God the Blessed Man is like a tree that is firmly planted by multiple streams of water that nourish it and and and Cause it to grow and that tree ends up producing fruit because that man meditates on the Word of God day and night scripture becomes his source of sustenance and food and Nourishment and because he is nourished by the Word of God.

He flourishes like a tree that is firmly and intentionally planted right next to multiple streams of water and. The streams in the analogy is the instruction of Yahweh that is mentioned in verse 1 and 2 we are to not walk in the path or the instruction of the ungodly but instead in the instruction of Yahweh and When one does that he becomes like this tree planted by the streams.

The streams are the Word of God which Nourishes and feeds the soul of the Blessed Man. Second I want you to notice his produce that's his provision in the first phrase next notice. The Blessed Man's produce verse 3 second phrase which yields its fruit in its season.

He's like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season. This tree is a fruitful tree. It yields fruit. In fact, it is the the reason the tree is planted is so that it would bear fruit and so one may expect that if it is nourished by the streams or by the Word of God that it is going to bear fruit that is in keeping with the Nourishment that it receives you you plant a tree that's to bear fruit and you expect it to bear fruit.

Now I have on my yard one tree that one fruit tree that does not bear fruit. I Planted this ten years ago. I planted it in my yard because it came from my mom's Italian plum tree which came from my great-grandmother's Italian plum tree, which I wanted to have sort of that in my yard.

I thought that'll be cool someday my grandkids or great-grandkids will take a little shoot off of this. I planted it ten years ago. It has never produced a single plum or a single blossom or a single Sprout that shoots up.

It's it looks beautiful. It's flourishing, but I tell you right now. It's a dead tree standing because this fall it's coming up. It's coming down out of there. If it does not bear fruit, it goes to the fire.

That's biblical the vine that does not bear fruit. It's gonna be cut off and burned. So that's what I'm gonna do with this fruitless tree. There's another fruitless tree in my yard, which is my wife's Canadian maple tree.

Because I love my wife like Christ loved the church. One tree in my yard that I will mow around and we'd eat around it does not give me something to eat. So which fruit is it that is intended that the righteous man of the blessed man?

Produces you'll notice the text doesn't say. Text doesn't say it produces the fruit of this or the fruit of that just says that it produces each fruit in its season. When the season is right and when the season is ripe this tree produces fruit.

I don't think I think that the author is does not describe the fruit or name the fruit. Because I think that there are varieties of fruits that the blessed man produces in his life. It's not just one fruit patience or thankfulness or kindness.

But it is a whole bunch of virtues. So that in times of plenty there there is produced by this blessed man generosity and thankfulness and graciousness in Times of privation in seasons of drought there is produced thankfulness and hope in times of affliction or seasons of suffering.

He produces patience and long-suffering. In times of grief and sorrow he produces faith and trust. In Seasons of turmoil peace and seasons of temptation prayer and obedience when he is wronged their blessed man produces forgiveness and mercy and gentleness.

Those are the fruits that are produced in the blessed man. And when the Word of God is at work in the heart of a Believer and he is nourished by the Word of God whatever season it is that God has brought into his life He will produce the fruits that are in keeping with that season.

Multitudes of fruits all kinds of varieties of fruitfulness the work of the Word is seen in the fruit that is born in the lives of those who are planted by the streams of Water. And if you starve yourself of God's Word and cut yourself off from that then do not be surprised to see your spiritual fruit.

Begin to fade and wither and even fall off. Notice that it says that it produces this in its season that can take time. It can take time. The tree doesn't bear fruit overnight. There has to be growth and nourishment and maturing and development and ripening.

In the case of my plum tree It's had ten years. That's more than sufficient. That's why it deserves to be burned and I'm going to do that. It is only a fool who says, you know I tried reading scripture meditating on the Word of God for a whole month and I didn't see any difference.

Nothing happened. I tried daily devotions for a couple of weeks and I didn't see any magic pill. This is not a magic pill. Seasons are seasons. They're long periods of time. It takes a while for a tree to develop over years and sometimes the growth of fruit can be imperceptible to the naked eye.

When you try and observe it I can stand outside in my yard and watch my apples or my peaches or my apricots or my cherries and I can stare at Them from dawn till dusk and I will not notice any growth whatsoever.

None, but I promise you they have grown because if I do it week by week. Then I will notice growth week to week or month to month. Fruit takes sometimes a long time to develop and to grow and to mature.

The growth of a tree can sometimes be entirely imperceptible. You don't notice it day to day hour to hour, but you do year to year. I told you about the Canadian maple tree that my wife Convinced me to plant it was when we planted it it was the one of the smallest trees on our yard just a small little sprig and and Now I that was 20 some years ago I think it's at least 20 years old and I was just driving up to my house this last week and I noticed that it dwarfs.

Every other tree for tree in my yard. I Thought to myself we need to cut this thing down. It's way too big. All that I see now driving up here. But I didn't there's no point in any any one day. Did I think oh, I've noticed how big it has grown since yesterday.

It takes a while. The fruit is born in its season. Third I want you to notice his permanence verse 3 again. It's leaf does not wither. This is an evergreen tree. It's it's odd because it's an evergreen tree that is always producing fruit.

We have evergreens around here, but they don't produce fruit in this sense. This is a tree that is constantly nourished by the Word of God. It never runs dry and the imagery here is the imagery here is very simple and powerful.

In an arid region like Israel you can imagine trees that would be planted by these canals of water that the farmers would bring on to their piece of land to irrigate irrigate all of their trees and their their plants that you would have a dry season in which the ground would dry up and even Crack and yet the tree would be green and flourishing and even bearing fruit.

It's leaf does not wither. You might look at the landscape around it and say this is dry and it is parched and everything here is going to die and yet this tree has roots that go down deep into the soil and it is it is Nourished and it is fed and it is sustained by something that you cannot see on the surface of the of the ground.

That's the imagery here. This is an evergreen tree that is vibrant. It is flourishing. It is fruitful because it is nourished by things that the the average person. You know, the people do not see the wicked do not observe what it is that nourishes these trees.

These trees are nourished by things that are out of sight by deep roots. Third or fourth I should say once you notice his prosperity and that's the fourth phrase of verse 3 and whatever he does he prospers.

Let's read all of verse 3 again. He will be like a tree firmly plant by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season. Its leaf does not wither and in whatever he does he prospers. Now here is where the simile can be abused and where we can misunderstand what the author is intending.

And it's helpful for us to consider what he is not promising and what he does mean here. The word that is translated prosper can describe something that is profitable. Something that is prosperous something successful or completed or even something brought to its ordained end.

In other words, it is brought to completion. So now the question is what kind of prosperity is it that the author is describing and what is he saying? That is being prospered. No notice that his it is he who is prospered in whatever it is that he undertakes now prosperity.

Gospel preachers like Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland they love verses like this because these verses seem to suggest that they will have a life of unending prosperity and wealth and health and happiness and That nothing that they ever do will fail.

They will never be involved in a business venture that will go south. They'll never lose their job. They'll never have a building project that never gets completed. They'll never fail at anything that everything that they touch will turn to gold like Midas.

They'll never lose money never their house will never burn down. They'll never get sick or ill or have a child die or a car that breaks down. That's how the promise of prosperity is often abused and used in our day.

But that's not what the author is describing here. Because if you will notice that sometimes the wicked do prosper as well right in those terms the wicked do in fact that's the the whole crux of the issue that is at the heart of Psalm 73 and Psalm 37 which we're going to get to and We're going to deal with some of these these Old Testament statements that seem to promise prosperity and abundance to the people who are righteous when we get into Psalm 37 because they're in that Entire Psalm all 40 of those verses that question is really taken up and addressed at length.

So we're gonna leave sort of a wrestling through the how you understand those passages for later on when we get into that Psalm but I want you to understand here at this point that The fact that sinners can sometimes be prosperous is no.

Is no malignancy upon questions upon promises like what we find here in this phrase. In fact in Psalm 37 to give you an example of how sometimes the wicked do prosper. In fact. Let me back up for a second.

It is obvious sometimes that the prosperity seems unbalanced on the side of the wicked. Does it not? That causes us real angst because while we is as Righteous as God-fearing people do enjoy a level of comfort and abundance and and provision.

That most of the world does not in fact most of humanity has never enjoyed the things that we enjoy. The wicked seem to enjoy those things in a greater abundance than we do all told when taken as a whole and Yet the issue that is raised in Psalm 73 about what about the wicked and why is it that the wicked prosper it?

It is answered in Psalm 73 this way verses 18 and 20 surely you that is God. You set them in slippery places you cast them down to destruction how they are destroyed in a moment. They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors like a dream when one awakes.

Oh Lord when aroused you will despise their form. The prosperity that the wicked enjoy is a preparation of their judgment. God is fattening the wicked up for destruction. By abundantly giving to them this world's goods.

That's the teaching of Psalm 73 and Psalm 37 the success or the good that is promised to the righteous in this passage and in other passages like it is a good or a blessing a success that is described throughout wisdom literature in the Psalms and in Proverbs and it encompasses more than mere material prosperity if we think that prosperity begins and ends with wealth business.

Success in this life ease and comfort and temporary and temporal blessings. If that's what we think prosperity is then we will miss the point of wisdom literature because true prosperity is far more than that.

Let me ask you this question. Is it better to have barns that are filled with plenty or a soul that is filled with God's goodness and grace? Which one is better? Is it better to have? All the world could offer you and your soul shrivel or would it be better to have none of this world's goods and yet to Have a soul that is fat and flourishing and fruitful obviously, the latter is better and it is the latter that is Incorporated into the idea of prosperity and blessing in this psalm and in other places the blessedness happiness Peace joy and delight that is the lot of the righteous is something that is enjoyed without any reference to material or financial Prosperity.

Now material blessings and abundance may be involved in God's blessing to us in this life, but it is not necessary. In fact, we have to think of that blessing that God gives to the blessed man or the righteous in terms of not just the soul Flourishing in this life and the fruitfulness in this life, but also of the ultimate prosperity which is the end that both the righteous and the wicked will be at when it is all said and done and When you zoom out and you say in terms of the righteous and the wicked the end result is not similar at all.

In fact, it is entirely different and that is really where the prosperity of the righteous can be seen and that's in Psalm 37. And we'll get to that more when we get there. There are limits notice the fourth phrase of the of verse 3.

It says in whatever he does He prospers. I think there are limits pronounced on that by the text itself. In other words, the righteous does not prosper in his sin. The blessed man does not prosper in endeavors that leave God out or in pride or presumption or any endeavor that he undertakes.

The limitations are on the endeavors or the things that he does. That are in keeping with his meditation upon the law or the instruction of Yahweh. So the whatever is to include the things that spring out of a life that is lived in Obedience to the law to the Word of God in which he delights day and night.

It's not every single thing. He does that is promised to succeed or to prosper. It is the things that he does that are in keeping with the meditation on the law of Yahweh. So a blessed man may have a business failure.

A Blessed man's house may burn down. A blessed person spouse may get sick and die. The car may break down. He may lose his business. He might lose his job. Bad things will happen to the righteous, but here is the promise of Scripture.

Everything that that man does that is an obedience to and in keeping with the law of God in which he meditates day and night. Every one of those things will be brought to its God-ordained God appointed end and will result in the prospering of his soul.

My your your every act of obedience. Your every act of service your every act of sacrifice will have its God-ordained Completed end and that end will prosper you it will be for your good and for your soul's blessedness.

In other words The ultimate outcome of the blessed man's obedience to the instruction of God is his temporal and eternal good. All that God appoints for the blessed man he accomplishes the blessed man's good.

He ordains his ultimate joy and good. And everything the Lord does for this man of Psalm 1 is Guaranteed to produce his ultimate and eternal happiness and joy. Catch that. Everything that God appoints for the blessed man of Psalm 1 is intended for your ultimate and eternal blessing and joy.

That includes your suffering and affliction. You say how does that work? How does it work that I can suffer and be afflicted and yet prosper? Because one thing we do not understand in our context and we need to wrestle through is the reality that our Affliction and our suffering can actually actually result in the prospering of our soul.

The Lord chastens those whom he loves. He brings to us affliction and suffering and trials and temptations and difficulties all because In meditating on the law of God day and night God intends the good.

For that child of his to whom he has brought those things He intends our good and the flourishing of our soul. And he knows exactly how to use those things in order to accomplish that God ordained end in the life of his child.

Spurgeon said this it is often for the soul's health that we should be poor bereaved and Persecuted. The trials of the Saints are the divine husbandry by which he grows and brings forth abundant fruit.

In all things even your affliction God intends your good in all things even your suffering and your trials and your difficulties. God is working for the good of your soul and for your eternal joy and your eternal prospering.

Now how is it possible that we could speak of somebody's affliction and somebody's blessing. Well, who is the blessed man of Psalm 1 verses 1 and 2? Who is the one who never walked in the counsel of the ungodly never sat in the seat of sinners and Scoffers and never stood in the way of the transgressor.

Who is that one? There's only one person who has never done that and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, correct. He's the only one and yet here is what Isaiah 53 the chapter that talks about the suffering of the suffering servant.

Here's how what Isaiah 53 says listen verse 10. But the Lord was pleased to crush him putting him to grief if he would render himself as a guilt offering. He will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

Same word prosper. The suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ is described as the the result of that as the good pleasure of the Lord Prospering in his hand. So here's my question to you. If you could go back to the original first Good Friday on that Passover weekend almost 2 ,000 years ago and walk into the city Jerusalem a walk past those three men hanging on the cross and you were to look at the man on the middle cross.

Would you have said to yourself that is the blessed man of Psalm 1? Would you have said that you would never say that curse. It is everyone who hangs on a tree. That's what you would have said not blessed as he on the middle cross.

Here is the king of the Jews. You would have never considered him a blessed man. And yet he is the blessed man of Psalm 1 why? Because through his affliction the Lord has caused the good pleasure of Yahweh to prosper in his hand meaning he Has paid the price for all his people and he will gather in all his people accomplish everything that Yahweh sent him to do.

He will receive the kingdom and he will turn it over to us in that final day prospering. All those for whom he has died the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. The man of Psalm 1 is the Lord Jesus Christ and the man of Psalm 1 hung on a cross and as a result of that affliction The Lord has caused all the sin of his people to fall upon him and the good pleasure of the Lord is prospered in his.

Hand.

Now verse 4. Very brief not so the wicked. In fact, there are manuscripts would have that have a of this passage that have a double negative here. So that it says not so the wicked not so in other words.