Text:            Psalm 1:3

By:               Joshua Whisky

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Introduction: 

• What is the measure of your life? How do you define the level of your success?
• Do your feel you’re not blessed living in this world? Even with the struggles of this world do you think God’s blessing is far from you.
• OR

• Do you measure your success nature by the wealth you have acquired? Well if you do you will always consider yourself not blessed at all points of life.
• Today we are considering the topic, “The blessedness of the blessed.”
• Our text is taken from the book of Psalm chapter one.
• One interesting thing in the study of the book of Psalm is that the psalmist analyzes two ways –the ways of the righteous and the ways of the wicked.
• Then he tells the better way to live.
• Since the psalmist tells the better way to live, the book of Psalm is classified as a wisdom literature.
• The Wisdom literatures tell people how to live and how to make a living.
• Those who embrace the wisdom taught in the book are wise.
• They will live well and so are said to be the upright, the righteous or blessed people.
• But those are who are crooked in their ways are said to be the wicked or fools.
• The Psalmist shows that the wicked may prosper in their ways but their prosperity will not last and all together the wicked will not last.
• This is because the Almighty will not allow them to last.
• He will cut them down.
• The Psalmist therefore lays it bare before all that it is only the blessed that is, the upright or the righteous that is blessed.
• Since it is only the blessed that are blessed, we shall therefore look at the blessedness of the blessed.
• To put it in another way, the blessings of the upright.
• Because of the way things appear in life, one may be tempted to think that it is the wicked that are doing well in this life.
• But the psalmist shows that such thinking is not proper.
• He therefore shows those who are doing well in life.
• There are those who are truly blessed.
• In Psalm 1.1 we read of those who are blessed.
• “Blessed 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 the Psalmist says that the ungodly have a counsel.
• A counsel is an advice
• The ungodly will give you an advice not for your good but it may be painted as if it is for good.
• The man who does not follow such advice is blessed.
• You remember the counsel of Satan to Eve in the garden of Eden.
• When Eve told him that they were not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden and that the day they eat of it they will surely die, the Serpent says, You will not surely die but you shall be like God.
• When Eve and Adam ate the fruit their eyes were indeed opened to good and evil but they did died.
• Those who follow the counsel of the ungodly are not blessed.
• Brethren, Let us be cautious of the advice we may receive.
• Some of the advices are meant to lure us to sin and we need to be careful.
• Some of the advices may be coated and appear to be for good, but it is full of deception.
• Some of the advices may also come from fellow brethren, but we need to be careful and weigh everything carefully.
• This is because it is possible for Satan to use a brother against a brother or a sister against a sister.
• Those who are blessed and will be blessed are those who will not follow the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of the scornful.
• We are not to stand in the ways of sinners.
• The sinners have their own ways and the people of God have their own ways.
• The Psalmist moves on to say, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law he meditates day and night.”
• It is high time we make the law of the LORD our delight.
• When we delight in the law of the Lord, we will talk about it freely.
• When we make the law of the LORD our delight, we will not speak evil of one another, we will not keep malice, we will teach our families and the LORD will be confident of us as He did Abraham.
• Listen to the comments of God about Abraham in Genesis 18.17-19:
• And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸ “since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹ “For I have known him, 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.”
• The one who delights in the law of the LORD is blessed.
• This is because as he meditates on the law of the LORD, he will adjust his ways.
• He will try to live as God has commanded.
• He will be careful with his life.
• Verse 3 describes the blessings of the blessed or the righteous one.
• “He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water.”
• A tree by the water side always gets nourishment.
• The righteous person will ever get nourishment.
• He will not lack because the LORD will provide for him.
• For such a reason, he will be like a plant that brings forth fruits in its season.
• There is no more blessing for the farmer than to see that his trees are bringing forth fruits in their seasons.
• The righteous will always be bearing fruits.
• In other words, the righteous will have enough at the right time.
• The psalmist further says, “Whose leaf also shall not wither.”
• The righteous will be like the evergreen.
• Leaves wither or die when they lack enough water or nourishment.
• The righteous will not lack, therefore he will be like the ever green.
• He will always have enough for himself.
• What a blessing!
• “And whatever he does shall prosper.”
• Since the Lord has promised to multiply the seed for the sower, the righteous shall prosper in whatever he does.
• Brethren, let us live righteously and we shall see the promises of the LORD fulfilled in our lives.
• How do you feel when you prosper in all that you do?
• You feel happy and fulfilled.
• Such will be our portion this year in Jesus name. Amen
• Let us be diligent and committed to the Lord, he will prosper us.
• It does not matter how small is our business the Lord will prosper us.
• The righteous will prosper in his ways. Brethren, let us develop clean minds toward others, the Lord will prosper us.
• Verse 4. “The ungodly are not so. But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.”
• It is possible to see the ungodly as if they are prospering but because they don’t have substance, they will be driven away.
• They are like the chaff.
• The chaff may tend to be more than the substance but the chaff is just a waste. They have no value.
• Verse 5. “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
• The ungodly will not last.
• He will not stand in the judgment.
• He will be destroyed.
• The righteous will prosper because the “Lord knows the way of the righteous.”
• The Lord knows the ways of the righteous and is concerned about the welfare of the righteous.
• But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
• The ungodly will perish with his ways.
• But the godly will prosper in his way.
• Brethren for us to enjoy the blessedness of the blessed, we need not stand in the counsel of the ungodly nor stand in the way of sinner nor sit in the seat of the scornful.
• We should rather delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on his law day and night. When we do that we shall be like a tree planted by the riverside whose leaf will not wither and who shall prosper in whatever we do.

Conclusion

• To enjoy the blessedness of the blessed, we need to live a righteous life.
• God expects His own people to live a righteous life. It is only by so doing that His people get the reward of His promises.
• As we start this week, May God smile His face upon us and be gracious to us. May God give us peace. May we give ourselves completely to God and He will blessed us beyond all we can ask or imagine. May God be with us all in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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