Sermon on August 4 by Philip Fisk

Scripture: Psalm 1

Intro:

• Psalm 1 is “A well-chosen gateway into the holy precincts of prayer and praise.”
• The inscription over the gateway reads: Blessedness (Happiness) belongs to the man or woman planted by the river of Christ’s Spirit
• The word for “blessed” is ashre, like in the beatitudes. The word points to the life, character, conduct, and integrity of someone who enjoys the inner blessing of knowing God. The Hebrew meaning of “blessed,” and the older Christian idea of “happiness,” does not mean happiness in terms of whatever makes you happy (moral relativism).
  Sir Francis Bacon wrote an essay, saying, “Prosperity seems to be the blessing of the Old Testament, but adversity is the blessing of the New Testament.”

Lessons to learn:

• (v.1) Inner happiness in not related to outward circumstances (Jonathan Edwards).
• (v.1) Beware of the progressive entanglement of sin.
• (vv.1, 4, 5)
  Spurn the worthless “Babylon” culture around us. Like Daniel, we study the culture, but we are not to get entangled in its web of lies.
• (v.2) Delight in the Blessed (infinitely happy) character of God and the Promised Messiah foreshad-owed in the Old Testament.
• (v.3) Blessed is the believer whom God has uprooted and transplanted by the river of Christ’s Spirit.
• (v.3) God promises enough spiritual nourishment, in Christ, to survive dry sea sons in life.
• (v.6)
  Take comfort and courage in God’s personal knowledge of our lives and destiny and His All-Encompassing concern for our integrity.
• (v.6) Knowing God is the true foundation of happiness (Jonathan Edwards).

 

 

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