Expository Notes: Psalm 1

Alli and I have started a weekly Bible study on the book of Psalms, and plan on going through one each week together. I thought I might start putting up my notes that I prepare for the study. Feel free to agree, disagree, or just comment!

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An introduction to Psalms, a preface to the entire book. The themes of the book are already represented here in the first chapter.

How does one recognize the man of God?

-Negatively:
-He walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.
-He stands not in the path of sinners.
-He sits not in the seat of the scornful.

(Note the downward gradation, the corruption of sin: walk, stand, sit.)

-Positively:
-He delights in the law of the Lord.
-Not under, but in.
-He meditates on His law, both day and night.

How is the man of God blessed?

-Finds delight in God’s word.
-Is always near to God’s word, as a source of water.
-He will bring forth fruit.
-His leaf will not wither.
-Whatever he does shall prosper.

Images of water and growth:

-How is God’s word represented? As life-giving water.
-An ever-flowing stream, one that will never cease to give life.
-Man who meditates on God’s law = tree planted by the rivers of water.

-The tree is planted and cultivated by God, not a wild growth.
-Secure: “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.” (Matthew 15:13)

-How does a leaf wither?
-From lack of water.
-From lack of fruit-bearing. If there are no nutrients to bear fruit, there will not be any to keep the leaf from withering either.
-Perseverance of the saints and necessary fruit-bearing! :o) !!!

What about the ungodly?

-They are not eternal, their ways will not stand.
-Like the chaff which the wind drives away.
-The way of the ungodly shall perish.

-They shall not stand in the judgment.
-Doesn’t say that they will not face judgment, but that they will not stand up against their final judgment. They will have no defense to give. Their mouths will be made silent.

-Similarly, sinners will not stand in the congregation of the righteous.
-Our earthly congregations may be filled with both wheat and chaff, but in heaven it will not be so.

The righteous are saved because the Lord knows their way.

-The translation in Hebrew is closer to is knowing their way.
-God is constantly looking on the way of His children, and although there will be times when the path may be dark or obscure for us, we can be sure that He certainly knows our way.

-They delight in His law.
-They meditate on His word, day and night.
-His word and presence is as important and supporting to them as water to a tree.
-They bear fruit.
-Their leaf does not wither.

Christ's Ceaseless Love

He who has loved thee and pardoned thee, shall never cease to love and pardon. He is Alpha, and He shall be Omega also: He is first, and He shall be last.

-Charles H. Spurgeon, from "Morning & Evening", February 4

A Righteousness That Is By Faith

I can't encourage you enough to download this morning's amazing sermon on justification, Law, and faith! Please, please. I'm serious. (Just click, and then go to "File", "Save Page As" when the new page pops up)

Don't think you have enough time right now? Download it, and keep it around until you do.

Think that you don't need to because you already heard a sermon this morning? Well... I ate physical food this morning... and sort of plan on doing it again later today. Why not the same for spiritual food??

I don't want to give anything away by commenting on it here, so I'll just put a verse from "Before the Throne of God Above" (which I've posted here before), followed by a few of my notes from this morning:


My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heav'n He stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart.
Because the sinless Savior died,
my sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
to look on him and pardon me.


"The Law, in principle, is able to give life; but the Law, in fact, cannot give life because of sin."

"Righteousness was indeed the goal of the Law, but that goal could only be attained apart from the Law, by faith in Christ."

"We cannot be saved by practicing the Law of Moses, nor can we be saved by practicing the Law of Christ."


Listen, and by most blessed, brethren.

We Are Debtors

'Therefore, brethren, we are debtors.'
Romans 8:12

As God’s creatures, we are all debtors to him: to obey him with all our body, and soul, and strength. Having broken his commandments, as we all have, we are debtors to his justice, and we owe to him a vast amount which we are not able to pay. But of the Christian it can be said that he does not owe God’s justice anything, for Christ has paid the debt his people owed; for this reason the believer owes the more to love. I am a debtor to God’s grace and forgiving mercy; but I am no debtor to his justice, for he will never accuse me of a debt already paid. Christ said, “It is finished!” and by that he meant, that whatever his people owed was wiped away forever from the book of remembrance. Christ, to the uttermost, has satisfied divine justice; the account is settled; the handwriting is nailed to the cross; the receipt is given, and we are debtors to God’s justice no longer. But then, because we are not debtors to our Lord in that sense, we become ten times more debtors to God than we should have been otherwise. Christian, pause and ponder for a moment. What a debtor thou art to divine sovereignty! How much thou owest to his disinterested love, for he gave his own Son that he might die for thee. Consider how much you owe to his forgiving grace, that after ten thousand affronts he loves you as infinitely as ever. Consider what you owe to his power; how he has raised you from your death in sin; how he has preserved your spiritual life; how he has kept you from falling; and how, though a thousand enemies have beset your path, you have been able to hold on your way. Consider what you owe to his immutability. Though you have changed a thousand times, he has not changed once. Thou art as deep in debt as thou canst be to every attribute of God. To God thou owest thyself, and all thou hast—yield thyself as a living sacrifice, it is but thy reasonable service.

-Charles H. Spurgeon, "Morning & Evening", January 5

More happy... but not more secure!

I love, love, love, love, love...

...love hymns!!

There's nothing like the solid meaty truths threaded into the lyrics of a good hymn to get the blood pumping! Whew!

During this morning's service, we sung the hymn "A Debtor to Mercy Alone", by Augustus Toplady, author of the famous "Rock of Ages". My favorite line from this hymn comes at the end of the last verse:

Yes, I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is given;
More happy, but not more secure,
The glorified spirits in heaven.

Why is this my favorite line? Assurance, baby!! Those who are already in heaven may be more happy than we on earth, for they now exist in the eternal glory of God, but the fact that they are already there does not make their eternal security any more sure than our own! Some may disagree with the idea of the "perseverance of the saints", but I believe that it is well supported in Scripture, and is a source of great joy for us who are redeemed sons and daughters of the LORD!

The apostle Paul wrote about this security in the eighth chapter of his epistle to the Roman believers, verses 28-30:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Notice something very important in the "golden chain" of glorification here: Paul wrote about it in the past tense! Sure, there have been, and continue to be, various debates surrounding the different translations of the Bible, but however you slice it... the past is the past, and it is finished! Paul wrote about the future glorification of those "who are loved by God and called to be saints" (Romans 1:7) as if it had already happened!

At the risk of being deemed a Scripture-meddling heretic, I would like to try something with this golden chain; I would like to put it into the perfected past tense, and add the word already to highlight this perfected action, just to put emphasis on this chain having already been completed:

And those whom he has already predestined he has also already called, and those whom he has already called he has also already justified, and those whom he has already justified he has also already glorified.

Wow. What? Really?! It's as good as done?!?! You've got to be kidding me!!

Nope. Not kidding. God's calling is surely effectual, and He will perfect His own:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
-Philipians 1:6

Wow. Wow. Wow. Assurance of salvation? How is this possible?! Because God is just, that's how:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
-1 John 1:9

How is glorification of the redeemed a necessary reaction of a just God? Because our LORD is not a God of double jeopardy: we can't be tried twice for the same crime in the courts of the Almighty Judge! The wages of sin is surely death (Romans 6:23), and God demands payment for offense to His holiness. But I don't believe that Jesus paid for the mere possibility of forgiveness at the cross... I believe that He actually satisfied the payment for the specific sins of specific people at the cross! If my debt has already been paid by Another, how can God, who is just, ever demand that I pay for that debt a second time by my own blood? He can't: for Him to do so would make Him unjust, which He is not. And furthermore, once a judgment of righteous status has been truly rendered by the LORD, how can it possibly be revoked?

But this doesn't mean that we get to continue sinning like we did before our spiritual rebirth! This objection to absolute justification and effectual perseverance was foreseen by Paul, and was therefore addressed in the sixth chapter of Romans, verses 1-11:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

We would do well to consider ourselves already glorified even in our present state, for our justification has already been purchased for us by Christ, and "we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." However, because of this holy transaction - this imputation of Christ's justification and righteousness - we should first consider ourselves dead to sin... to live in it no longer... and to then rejoice with the glorified spirits in heaven that we also, being dead to sin, are already alive in Christ! Truly, truly: a new creation!!

Sweet mercy.

And God saw the light

'And God saw the light'
Genesis 1:4

This morning we noticed the goodness of the light, and the Lord's dividing it from the darkness. We now note the special eye that the Lord had for the light. "God saw the light" - He looked at it with complacency, gazed upon it with pleasure, saw that it "was good." If the Lord has given you light, dear reader, He looks on that light with peculiar interest; for not only is it dear to Him as His own handiwork, but it is like Himself, for "God is light."

It is pleasant for the believer to know that God's eye tenderly observes that work of grace that He has begun. He never loses sight of the treasure that He has placed in our earthen vessels. Sometimes we cannot see the light, but God always sees the light, and that is much better than our seeing it. Better for the judge to see my innocence than for me to think I see it. It is very comfortable for me to know that I am one of God's people - but whether I know it or not, if the Lord knows it, I am still safe. This is the foundation, "The Lord knows those who are his."

You may be sighing and groaning because of inbred sin, and mourning over your darkness; yet the Lord sees "light" in your heart, for He has put it there, and all the cloudiness and gloom of your soul cannot conceal your light from His gracious eye.

You may have sunk low in despondency, and even despair; but if your soul has any longing toward Christ, and if you are seeking to rest in His finished work, God sees the "light." He not only sees it, but He also preserves it in you. "I, the Lord, do keep it." This is a precious thought to those who, after anxious watching and guarding of themselves, feel their own powerlessness to do so. The light thus preserved by His grace, He will one day develop into the splendor of noonday, and the fullness of glory. The light within is the dawn of the eternal day.

-Charles H. Spurgeon, "Morning & Evening", January 5

But grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ!

The devotional reading for this morning was from 2 Peter 3, the first half of verse 18:

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

There are many of these admonishments in the epistles that have often been very dear to my heart, since I find that they are filled - even in their brevity - with many Gospel truths that often escape us. This one is no exception.

Spurgeon, in commenting on this text for the morning devotional reading, says the following:

"He who does not long to know more of Christ, knows nothing of Him yet. Whoever hath sipped this wine will thirst for more, for although Christ doth satisfy, yet it is such a satisfaction, that the appetite is not cloyed, but whetted. If you know the love of Jesus - as the heart panteth for the water-brooks, so will you pant after deeper draughts of His love. If you do not desire to know Him better, then you love Him not, for love always cries, 'Nearer, nearer'. Absence from Christ is hell; but the presence of Jesus is heaven. Rest not then content without an increasing acquaintance with Jesus. [...] An increase of love to Jesus, and a more perfect apprehension of His love to us, is one of the best tests of growth in grace."

I believe that this is the flipside of the coin that I tried to look at in July (here and here). It's not an easy coin for us to examine, to be sure, but it is a necessary one. On the one side we find an exhortation to fight against sin, as in the words of John Piper:

"The distinguishing mark of saving faith is not perfection. [...] The mark of faith is that I fight. I fight anything that dims my sight of Jesus as my glorious Savior."

On the other side we find a calling to seek after Christ, to know Him more today than we did yesterday, and more tomorrow than we do today. This is why the regenerated believer should seek to fight against sin: not in an attempt to justify himself, but as a means of growing closer to his Savior. We die to ourselves daily so that, daily, we might be able to love Christ more fully.

This is absolutely essential to the Christian life! Our own human attempts at holiness will not gain us anything before the judgment seat of the Almighty God (John 6:63), for the Law was not meant to save, but to point us to a Savior (Romans 5:20-21). Our right living does not justify us before a perfectly just God, for it is impossible for man to be holy in His sight on the basis of his own righteousness. Christ is righteous; we don't have to be...

...but! This striving for holiness is a mark of true regeneration, not because we sons and daughters are holier-than-thou legalists... but because it is sin which keeps us from growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior! This is why we should strive to keep God's commandments, and to exhort others to do the same, not in an attempt to polish our rusty exterior to pass it off as a shiny one, but in order to throw off all that might keep us from from running our race (Hebrews 12:1).

And this distinguishes the sons and daughters of God, for the world can try to appear holy through means of dressing up outward appearances, but only the Spirit of God can give the desire to know the Son more fully by turning from sin, and to Himself, the One who has already paid its penalty. And this can be a great encouragement to us in times of darkness, failure, and holy conviction. We will sin, it is inevitable. But when we sin, let's embrace God's loving rebuke, mourn the sinfulness of our hearts, and turn from our ways, all the while relishing in the full knowledge that it was never our own holiness which ever justified us in the first place. And let us be grateful for the fact that, even when we sin, the desire to turn from our sin, to be made whole, to know Christ more fully, is, itself, a wonderful priceless gift from the Author and Finisher of our faith.