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The Blessed Soul
Text: Psalm 1
Conditions of God’s blessing (vss 1-2)
- You may not be on blessing ground. Not everything is blessing ground.
- If you understand how a tree grows, then you understand why it is impossible to be blessed by God while drinking from the poisoned streams of lies.
- To walk in this counsel is to agree with lies.
- Can two walk together except they be agreed?
- It is to drink from waters that are corrupted in some way.
- Now, when Paul describes Christianity, and fellowship with God in Romans 8:1-8.
- Notice to be carnally minded, to have a carnal perspective is death.
- Paul reaffirms this in Galatians 5:16-18.
- Walking in ungodly counsel is not just exposure to bad ideas on the internet or media or through friends.
- You can have exposure to ideas without walking in them.
- When people fail to expose their doctrines and ideas to scriptural light, they often become well-intentioned dragons.
- They think they are doing right, but in reality are incredibly dangerous to the cause of Christ.
- You need to learn how to filter information and understand bad ideas and where they come from and why they’re ungodly. The defense of the child of God is to capture the imagination and make them subject to Christ. That’s 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.
- To stand in the way of sinners is to take a stand against God’s work
- This is a grief to the Holy Spirit of God. It can be as bad as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit of God.
- Ezekiel 2:4-5 For they are impudent children and stiff hearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
- The blessing of God is with the prophet, not the people. That was certainly true when Ezekiel and Jeremiah were preaching to the nation.
- Paul, once again gives the Christian view of standing. Ephesians 6:10-13 explains the weapons of warfare that help God’s children stand where they ought to.
- To sit with scorners is to be opposed to God’s blessings
- A scorner makes the things of God a laughing-stock. These people deride God’s words and blessings as jokes.
- Scorners criticize, but cannot take criticism themselves. Proverbs 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee…
- Blessed when you love the wellspring of water that is God’s words
- Meditates – Consumes the words and digests them on a regular basis.
- The Bible is meant to be read. Furthermore it is meant to be meditated on.
- You’re blessed when you have an appetite for the right things.
Blessedness is illustrated (vss 3-4)
- Planted by the rivers of water means the blessing is a description of your location in respect to your need.
- Not to repreach last week, but wisdom of God is likened to water.
- Moses said his doctrine would water the nation in Deuteronomy 32.
- Jesus would say the Spirit of God is like water and works by the word of God. John 7:36-38. Filled with the Spirit is filled with the words of God.
- Paul said that people would be washed with water by the word of God in Ephesians 5:25-27.
- Bearing fruit
- …bringeth forth fruit in his season…
- Fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-24. Fruit is born in his season. Peace in time of turmoil. Love in time of hate. Joy in time of depression.
- I’ll never forget watermelon in the summertime in the valley at a rig. Quench the thirst in the blistering heat and a juicy watermelon.
- Or oranges blossom in winter when the body needs vitamin C. You find in nature there is just the fruit for the season.
- The blessed is the fruit-bearing tree. Beware of the theology that separates fruit from blessing. You wouldn’t do this as a farmer or gardener. The good tree bears fruit. American churchgoers like to believe they are blessed, but disassociate the blessing from fruit.
- Opportunities are open-ended
- Whatsoever he does will prosper. Does that mean he’ll make money in whatever he does? Not necessarily. It means he’s connected to the source of life and is able to live life abundantly in love, joy, peace longsuffering, etc.
- Whether bearing fruit or enjoying the life-giving words of God, he is blessed.
- Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
- Jesus said he is the vine and his people are the branches.
- On the contrary, because the ungodly are not drinking from the water of life, they wither and die.
- Now, this is an illustration and a figure of speech.
- It’s illustrating the fact that there is no life in the ungodly so there is no way they can be a conduit for life.
- They are not drinking from the word of life therefore there is no life in them. Ungodly is temporary and worldly. Vanity as Solomon put it.
Congregational participation (vss 5-6)
- The ungodly can’t stand in the LORD b/c there is no life in them.
- The judgment is the day of temptation. It’s the day the winds blow against the house. It’s not everyday. It’s a day of trial.
- The two ways are compared at the point of judgment. Either the house stands or falls. Either you participate with sin to ruin the righteous or you walk with the righteous.
- 1 Corinthians 10:1-21 is the practice of this.
- The cloud of witnesses in Hebrews are the faithful in the day of temptation and decision.
