If you would open your Bibles
with me to Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. We want to
remember Brother Eric Floyd who's preaching at Todd's Road Grace
Church this evening. He preached there Sunday and
tonight and Lord willing Sunday, this coming Sunday he'll be preaching
in San Diego. I told him he's going to need
a vacation when he gets home. He said I'll try to take a nap
on the plane. Let's remember him as he travels and preaches.
Hebrews 17 will begin or seven will begin reading in verse 17
for he testifies, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek
for there is barely a disannulling of the commandment going before
for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof for the law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did by the which
we draw an eye unto God. And in as much as not without
an oath, he was made priest. For those priests were made without
an oath, but this with an oath. By him that said unto him, the
Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better Testament. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
But this man, because he continue with ever, hath an unchangeable
priesthood. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them to the uttermost, to come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. We'll end our reading
there. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn to song
number 168, Even Me. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing,
Lord's care, drink full and free. Showers the thirsty land refreshing,
let some drops now fall on me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O tender Saviour,
let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy favor whilst
Thou art calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty Spirit,
Thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
Speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, Let Thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me, even me. Even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, thy lost one, bringing
by my heart, O Lord, to thee. ? While the streams of life are
springing ? ? Blessing others, oh bless me ? ? Even me, even
me ? ? Let thy blessing fall on me ? Okay, if you would now
turn to Psalm 340. Nearer, still nearer, close to
thy heart. Draw me, my Savior, so precious
thou art. Fold me, oh, fold me close to
thy breast. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Nearer, still nearer, Nothing
I bring, naught as an offering to Jesus my King. Only my sinful, now contrite
heart Grant me the cleansing thy blood doth impart. Grant me the cleansing thy blood
doth impart. Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to
be Thine. Sin with its follies I gladly
resign. All of its pleasures, hope and
its pride, Give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified. Give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified. While life shall last, till safe
in glory my anchor is cast, through endless ages ever to be nearer,
my Savior, still nearer to Thee. All right, let's open our Bibles. Now, Genesis chapter one. Genesis, the first chapter. We'll begin our reading in verse
20. And God said, let the waters
bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl
that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
And God created great whales and every living creature that
moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their
kind and every winged fowl after his kind. And God saw that it
was good. And God blessed them, saying,
be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas,
and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the
morning were the fifth day. Let's bow before our Lord in
prayer. Our Father, we bow before you
this evening, a thankful people. How thankful we are that sinful
men and women, such as us, can come before the presence of God
Almighty and call you our Father. We know it's only because of
your eternal, electing, adopting grace. We know it's only because
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We only dare come before you
in Him, pleading His obedience, pleading His blood. Father, how
thankful we are for your mercy, your grace, and your wisdom that
would provide a savior, that would save your people to the
uttermost, completely and fully, all because of the doing and
dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, how we thank you for
your life-giving power that you continue to bless your word,
to call out your people, to give them faith and life. How we thank
you that you continue to bless your word and feeding and instructing
your people. Father, I pray that this evening
that you would enable us to worship you in spirit and in truth. Don't let us just go through
the motions of religion, but Father, give us a word from thee
and enable us to hear it and to believe it. What we pray for
ourselves, we pray for your people who are gathering all around
the world tonight to worship. Father, bless your word. We pray
a special blessing on our brother, Eric, that you'd bless him in
preaching, to give him traveling mercies back home. Father, we
dare not forget to pray for those who are in deep waters and in
difficult times. We pray that you'd heal, that
you'd comfort. We pray for Erin and Barb and
Ron. We continue to pray for Lynn,
that you'd heal and strengthen her. Fathers, those who are broken
hearted and those who, who suffer silently, you know, and we pray
you comfort their hearts with your presence. All these things
we ask in that name, which is above every name, the name of
Christ, our savior. Amen. I've titled the lesson or the
message tonight, blessed in Christ, blessed in Christ. Now the third
day, let's review just briefly. We saw a picture of Christ's
resurrection. Remember, when the land appeared
from underneath the waters, it was like Christ appeared again
as he came back up out of the earth, out of the tomb, and he
arose from the dead. On the fourth day, we saw a picture
of Christ, our high priest, mediator, who's ascended into heaven. And
now on the fifth day, we're gonna see a picture of God's people
being blessed in Christ, our risen, exalted saint. Since Christ
has ascended on high as our high priest mediator, his people will
be blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.
And we get the clue of this in verse 22 says, and God blessed
them. Now this is the first time the
word blessed is used in scripture. And the picture that I want us
to see tonight is that every spiritual blessing is found in
Christ. God blessed them. God blesses
his people. in Christ. It's always in Christ. Now, God's blessings are more
than can be numbered, so we can't look at them all tonight, but
I want to give you 10. I promise you I'll be brief.
10 blessings that are found in Christ. I believe they'll be
a comfort to your soul. These are blessings every believer
has from God, and they're all found in Christ. Now, if you
think of other blessings that I don't list tonight, you can
be sure of this. If it's a blessing of God, you find it in Christ.
It's all in Him. And that ought to tell us something.
That if you want any blessing from God, if you need any blessing
from God to tell you what you ought to do, you ought to go
to Christ. Because they're in Him. They're
in Him. Remember when the famine came in Egypt, Joseph told Pharaoh,
famine's coming. Pharaoh said, what will we do?
Joseph said, I'll tell you what we'll do. And he saved up those corn in
the seven years of plenty. And when the famine came, And
people needed corn, they came to Pharaoh. What'd Pharaoh tell
them? Go to Joseph. He's got it all. And that's what
the scripture tells us. If you need any blessing from
God, you go to Christ, because it's all in him. And the first
thing we see is this. God blesses his people with life
in Christ. Verse 20. God said, let the waters
bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl
that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Now on the fifth day, God created fish and birds and creeping things. Moving creatures mean creeping
things. Now you think on this day, God
created so many different forms of animal life. He created plankton
and whales. He created minnows and sharks. He created sparrows and eagles.
He created ravens and doves. Every form of fish and bird life
that there is. So many different forms of life.
So many different shapes that they all have. They all have
the life and the form that God gave them. It all came from God.
And I can show you a picture of Christ in that. In the world,
there are many different kinds of people. There are different
races, different sizes, different shapes, but they all get their
life from God. God gives them and sustains their
physical, natural life. They get it from God. In him,
we live and move and have our being. And God, the Holy Spirit,
moves in the world. He comes through the world. You
don't know where he's come from, where he's going, but he moves
in the world. It's like the wind blows through the world. He moves,
and he creates spiritual life in some of those people. Some
of those people have physical life, but the Spirit moves. They have physical life, and
the Spirit moves and gives them spiritual life. Now, I've showed
you this before in this study on creation, that the waters
represent all people. Remember the Lord's parable when
he's talking to his disciples about fishing, and he talked
about casting a net into the sea, and you pull in fishes,
some good fish, some bad fish. Well, the seas, the waters in
that parable represent all the world, all people in the world.
Some of them are good, some of them are bad. Some of those people
only have physical life, because that's what God gave them. Some
of those people have physical life and spiritual life. because
that's what God gave them. They have it because God gave
it to them. God, the Holy Spirit moved in power. He gave them
life. He gave them spiritual life by the preaching of the
seed of the word of God and Holy Spirit caused it to take root
in their heart. He prepared their heart. He made their heart good
ground. He caused that seed to be planted and to grow, to take
root and give them life. God did that. He gave them life
by the preaching of his word. In verse 22, God blessed them
saying, be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas
and let the fowl multiply in the earth. God blesses his people
and causes them to be fruitful. He causes them to multiply through
the preaching of the word. It is such a blessing that we
have here to have the word of God. And not just have it in
your lap like you do now, that's a great blessing. Everybody don't
have that. In the history of the world, Many people never
owned a Bible, never had one. We do. We also have a place to
hear preached. God's given us a place where
his word is expounded and preached. That's how God blesses his people,
causes them to be fruitful and multiply. It says, Christ our
Savior is ascended on high. He's seated in glory at the Father's
right hand. God's elect are guaranteed the
life that Christ purchased for his people. By his death is their
substance. You see the one who died to purchase that life, he
also rose again, ascended on high where he reigns to ensure
his people have everything that he purchased for them. And they
can never lose that life because their savior rules as their king
to ensure it. He gives them life. The second,
God blessed his people by delivering them from the grave. Those two
points kind of go together. Then God gave you life. He's
delivered you from the grave, but there's a picture here being
delivered from the grave. Verse 21 I never did see this
before. I was studying for this message
and God created great whales and every living creature that
move it, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their
kind and every wing file after his kind. And God saw that it
was good. Now, have you ever wondered,
Why it is that the Holy Spirit only moved Moses to mention God
creating whales. There are millions of species,
I guess there's millions, there's more than I can number of species
of fish and of whales. How many species? Just so many.
And the only one Moses specifically mentions here is whales. You
ever wonder why that is? Well, I can tell you this, it's
not an accident. Not an accident. There's a purpose behind it.
Whales in scripture are given to us as pictures of the grave.
Remember Jonah, God told him, go down there to Nineveh and
preach. And Jonah ended up being swallowed by a whale, didn't
he? And what Jonah was in that, that, that belly, the belly of
that whale, you know what he called it? The belly of the grave. He called it the grave. Now,
why was Jonah in that grave? Well, it's because Jonah rebelled
against God. He did not go to Nineveh, like he tried to run
from God, and he ended up down there in the belly of that grave
because of his sin and his rebellion. And it's sin that causes all
flesh to die and to go to the grave. Then another example,
when the religious people of his day, they came to the Lord
and said, we want a sign from you. We want a sign that you're
a Messiah. If you can show us a sign, we'll
believe you. After all the many, many miracles
that he performed, they said, we want another sign. And our
Lord told them, you will receive no son except that of the prophet
Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. That whale
is given to us as a picture of the grave. Now, before God ever
created man, God gave us a picture of the grave. God knew that Adam
would sin. He knew that Adam would sin.
God knew in his creation, there's going to be sin and death in
the grave. And God also gave us a picture
before he ever created a man that the Lord Jesus Christ is
going to conquer the grave, that their life is going to come out
of this grave. Life is going to come. His people
are going to be delivered from the grave because Christ is going
to conquer the grave. He's going to conquer death for
them. The Lord Jesus Christ died bearing the sin of his people.
And just like our Lord said, after three days, he rose from
the dead. He rolled that stone away and
walked out of that tomb. And when he did, death and the
grave were conquered. They were defeated. So God's
people, God's people who died, they're not defeated. Those who
die in the faith, they do not perish. Their bodies lay in the
grave, but they do not perish, because God's elect have eternal
life. Eternal life. Eternal life, by
definition, can never perish, can it? It's eternal. It can
never be lost. So when the bodies of God's people
die, yes, we lay their body in the grave. But they, their soul,
goes to be with the Lord. To be absent from this body,
is to be present with the Lord. They leave this body, this decaying,
dead, dying body of flesh behind, and they go be with the Lord.
But you know, that's not the end of the story. Now, that's
not the end of the story. Someday, when our Lord returns,
their soul is gonna be joined again to that body. The difference
is now, that body is gonna be raised a perfect, sinless body. A body just like the body of
our Lord Jesus Christ That body has been raised from the grave.
We lay that body in the grave, but don't you think that means
the grave has the victory? No, it doesn't. The Lord's going
to bring them out of the grave. The grave cannot hold the body
of God's people. It's impossible for the grave
to hold that body forever because the Savior already conquered
the grave for us when he walked out of it. And since he walked
out of it, you will too. You will too. See, the resurrection
of God's elect in a perfect body, that's guaranteed. Our Savior
is ascended. He's seated at the Father's right
hand, and you know what he's doing right now? Sitting there,
ruling and reigning, making intercession for his people, waiting that
moment he comes back to gather to himself all of his people.
It's guaranteed, because he's the reigning Savior. All right,
now third. I looked up this word, blessing,
and just like I said, I chose 10 of these words. This is the
third one. Look at Genesis chapter 22. This is a very important
thing. We talk about God's blessings
to his people. All of God's blessings for his
people, all of them, are found in Christ. This is after Abraham
took his son Isaac and was ready to slay him as a sacrifice to
God, just like God told him to do, God stopped him and Abraham
turned and saw that ram caught in the thicket by his horns and
he offered that ram up in the stead of his son Isaac. And scripture
tells us on this day, Abraham rejoiced. Now it's not just that
he rejoiced that Isaac was spared because he already believed he
was coming down that mountain with Isaac. He rejoiced because
Abraham saw the picture of Christ in this. He saw this is how God's
going to save his people. The death of a substitute. Now
look at verse 17. This is God speaking to Abraham.
He says that in blessing, I will bless thee. And in multiplying,
I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, as the sand,
which is upon the seashore and thy seed shall possess the gate
of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice.
And the Apostle Paul told us in Galatians 3.16 that this seed
that God promised Abraham here, it's not Isaac. It's not Jacob. It's Christ. And to thy seed,
which is Christ. God prophesied to Abraham that
every spiritual blessing for his people all over the world,
Jew and Gentile alike, is all going to be found in Christ.
Look over to Ephesians chapter 1. Here's the fulfillment of
that promise made to Abraham, spelled out for us. All of God's
blessings, every blessing he has for his people is found in
Christ. Ephesians one, verse three. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, where? It's in Christ. The Father has blessed his people
by giving them Every spiritual blessing, every one of them.
He's held nothing back, and it's all in Christ. He made it easy
to find. It's all in one person. It's in Christ. We're elected. That's a blessing to be chosen
of God, isn't it? In Christ. Look at verse four. According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. And
God predestinated a people. He predestinated. predestinated
a people to be made just like Christ. Verse five, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. And God has accepted his people
in Christ. Verse six, to the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved, in Christ. We have the redemption of our
souls. We have the forgiveness of our sin. Where? You guessed it, it's in Christ.
Verse seven. In whom? In Christ. We have redemption
through his blood. The forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace. You see that? Every spiritual
blessing. It's all in Christ. It says Christ
the Savior has ascended. He's seated in glory at the Father's
right hand. This is what we know. All those
spiritual blessings are safe. because they're in Christ. God
didn't give them to us and expect us to keep them because we'd
lose them, wouldn't we? He kept them all in Christ. See,
we know, believers know this, we have an inheritance. It's
incorruptible, it's undefiled, it fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. Because all
those blessings, all that inheritance, It's all safe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if you would have them go
to him. All right, now turn back to Genesis chapter 33. This is
a blessing. When God blesses his people,
he blesses them with everything, everything. He holds nothing
back. Now here in Genesis 33, this is the time when Jacob,
remember, he ran away from home. He stole Esau's birthright. He
ran away from home because Esau was going to kill him. Now he's
coming back. And Jacob is afraid Esau's going
to kill him now. Esau just waited all this time.
Now Esau's going to kill him. He's going to kill his whole
family. So Jacob, in what I cannot explain, Remember
he had these wives and all these children. He sent them all ahead
of him. Instead of being the leader and
him going first, he sent all these wives and all these children
and all these servants all ahead of him. And he gave them all
loads and loads and loads of gifts for Esau. So that when
they saw Esau, they gave him these gifts. And Jacob thought,
well, maybe he won't kill him because they're giving him this
gift. And he hoped that in giving them all these gifts, by the
time old Jacob got there, he thought maybe Esau would be worn
down and softened and he won't kill me. Not the way it should
have been done, but that's what happened. Now look at verse eight,
after Esau has received all these gifts and finally Jacob, his
brothers got there. Genesis 33, verse eight. And
Esau said, what meanest thou by all this drove which I met?
And he said, these are to find grace in the sight of my Lord.
And Esau said, I have enough, my brother, keep that thou hast
to thyself. And that word Esau uses there
enough. It means much. It means abundant. It means great. Esau had become
a man of abundant wealth. He was a very, very wealthy man,
but look at what Jacob says in verse 11. He says, take, I pray
thee my blessing, which is brought to thee because God has dealt
graciously with me and because I have enough. And he urged him
and he took it. Now the word enough that Jacob
uses there is an entirely different word. It means I have all things. God's dealt graciously with me.
God's blessed me and given me all things. And you know why
Esau took the gifts that Jacob gave him? Oh, Esau had enough,
didn't he? Yeah, he's wildly wealthy, but
he could have more. He could have more. You know
why Jacob could give all those gifts and not hurt him a bit?
He had everything. Even after he gave, he saw all
that. He still had everything. He couldn't
have more. And that's what a believer has
in Christ. We have all things, all things, every spiritual blessing. God blesses his people. He blesses
them with everything he requires. Everything He requires of us,
He blesses us with and gives us freely. Everything God requires
for salvation, He gives His people. Everything He requires for eternal
life, holiness, righteousness, peace with God, everything, He
gives it all. He gives it all to Him. And since
Christ is the sender, all this is because of what Christ bought
for us and earned for us. He's seated at the Father's right
hand. The Father's already accepted
our Savior. He's already accepted our substitute.
He's already blessed his son. His people are gonna have full
possession of everything, too. Christ, the risen Savior, lives
to insure it. All right, now look at Genesis
chapter 39. When God blesses his people, it's
always for Christ's sake. Now, we need to remember this
now. When God blesses his people, it's always for Christ's sake.
Genesis 39 verse one is after Joseph was sold by his brothers
into slavery. Joseph was brought down to Egypt
and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard and Egyptian
bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought
him down thither. And the Lord was with Joseph
and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master,
the Egyptian and his master saw that the Lord was with him and
the Lord made all that he did to prosper. in his hand and Joseph
found grace in his sight. He served him and he made him
overseer over his house and all that he had, he put into his
hand and it came to pass from the time that he made him overseer
in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the
Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the
Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field.
And it was for Joseph's sake. Now Potiphar was a heathen man. He was an Egyptian. He was a
heathen, just like every other Egyptian. Didn't know God, didn't
love God, didn't trust God, didn't want to know anything about God.
But Potiphar ran into this boy, Joseph. He bought him. He bought
him to be a servant in his house. And Potiphar was blessed for
Joseph's sake. Potiphar wasn't blessed because
of Potiphar's good management of all his possessions. Potiphar
was blessed for Joseph's sake. And every believer is born into
this world a Potiphar, an unbeliever, a heathen rebel. Don't know God,
don't love God, don't want to know anything about God. But
God blesses that person. God has chosen them. He's chosen
to save them. It's God's purpose to save them.
He blesses that person. He protects them. He preserves
them. And one day God crosses their
path with the Lord Jesus Christ. with a man preaching Christ and
he gives them life and faith in Christ and he blesses them
with everything God has for a sinner. And it's for Christ's sake. It's
for Christ's sake. Don't ever let us forget that.
It's for Christ's sake. It's not because of who we are
or what we've done. It's not because of all the good
works that we've done. God blesses his people for Christ's sake.
God doesn't bless us because of what we've done. God blesses
his people because of what Christ has done for us. God blesses
his people because of what Christ has done in us. It's all for
Christ's sake. God's people are forgiven of
their sin. Our sin, which is more than the
hairs of our head, which is more than we can number, our sin debt,
which is infinite, all that debt is forgiven. And it's for Christ's
sake, because Christ took that sin. And He made it His own.
He took it in His own body on the tree and gave Himself a sacrifice
to put that sin away. And the Father sees that sacrifice
and says, it's enough. Your sin is forgiven. For Christ's
sake. Because Christ paid the debt
for you. We're blessed with every spiritual blessing. God accepts
His people, sees them as righteous. As sinless. Because that's what
they are. For Christ's sake. because Christ
was made a man and he earned that righteousness by his perfect
obedience to the law for his people. It's for Christ's sake. So if I can tell you again, trust
Christ. Just trust Him. Believe Him.
Believe on Him. Just quit your works that you
think might make God happy with you and trust Christ to be everything
you need. Quit trying to earn God's favor
by your works and rest in Christ and ask God to bless you for
Christ's sake. Not because of what you do. And since Christ
has ascended, He's seated on His Father's right hand, ever
living, to make intercession for His people. The Father's
always going to bless His people. There's His darling Son, who
fulfilled all of God's purpose in the covenant of grace, making
intercession for His people. He loves His Son so much, He's
always going to bless His people, for Christ's sake. Because of
how much He loves His Son. All right, here's the sixth thing.
Turn to Numbers chapter 23. God's blessings cannot be reversed. We can say we want to bless somebody,
we want to give somebody something, but it can be lost. It can be
reversed. We may change our mind and take it back. God's blessings
cannot be reversed. Now Numbers 23 is a story of
Balak. Balak was the king of Moab, and
he had paid Balaam, this false prophet in Israel, He paid him
to curse Israel. Balaam was a prophet. It's a
false prophet. He's a prophet in Israel. And
Balak paid Balaam to curse Israel because Balak wanted to defeat
them in battle. And Balaam, he kept trying. He
kept trying, he kept trying, he kept trying to curse Israel.
He said, well, let's go over here and see if I can curse them.
Let's go over here and see if I can curse them. Let's do this and see if
I can curse them. He kept trying to because he wanted the money.
He wanted the money. But this is what Balaam found
out. He cannot. He cannot curse the people that
God has blessed. It's impossible. He kept trying
to curse Israel, and what he ended up doing is blessing them. And Balak saw this. Look what
he says in verse 11. And Balak said unto Balaam, what
hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse my enemies,
and behold, you've blessed them altogether. He just couldn't
help it. He tried to curse them, but he couldn't. He just kept
blessing them. It was impossible for him. to curse the people
that God had blessed. And he finally figured that out.
Verse 20. Behold, I have received commandment
to bless, and he hath blessed. God's blessed these people, and
I cannot reverse it. I like what Balaam says. He's
a false prophet, but he knew something. God had given commandment,
commandment from the throne of glory, given commandment to bless
his people. Then they shall be blessed. They
shall be. They're going to be blessed because
Christ, our high priest mediator has ascended to the throne of
God in heaven. He's commanded that his people
be blessed and they shall be. They shall be. False prophet,
an enemy, Satan himself cannot reverse it. God's given commandment
to bless his people and they shall be blessed. All right,
now look at Deuteronomy chapter 28. This is something for us to get
a hold of and try to remember. God's people
are blessed in everything they do and everywhere they go. Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse
2. And all these blessings shall
come on thee and overtake thee. You just can't stop it. They're
going to come on thee, they're going to overtake thee. if thou shalt
hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou
be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed
shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground,
and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kind, and
the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and
thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou
comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to
be smitten before thy face. They shall come out against thee
one way and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord shall command
the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses and in all that thy
set thy hand unto. He shall bless thee in the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Well, that pretty much
covers it, doesn't it? Everywhere we go, everything
you put your hand to, God's going to bless his people. Everywhere
they go, God's going to bless them. Everything God's people
do is going to be blessed of God. When you go in, when you
come out, when you lie down and when you rise up, God's blessing
you. When you plant, when you plant in the spring, when you
harvest in the fall, God's going to bless it. If you're in the
city, in the country. I got some friends that say you
can't be blessed in the city. This says you can. They say you
gotta live in the country. Anybody that lives in the city
is cursed. Now, God says if his people are in the city or if
they're in the country, they're gonna be blessed. Whether you're
in a time of peace, prosperity, what we call peace and prosperity,
or whether you're in a time of trial, God's people are blessed. And I said, we need to remember
this, because there's going to be times it don't feel like it.
Well, there's times it doesn't feel like it. But you are. If you belong to
Christ, you're blessed. Whether you feel like it or not,
he's keeping you. Yes, this is a trial, and it's
painful, but you know what? He's blessing you in it. He's
using it to teach you more of himself. He's using that to teach
you to trust him more. He's using that to bring you
closer to himself. Everywhere you go, anything you
do and everywhere you go, God's people are blessed. And you know
why that's true? Because God's everywhere. God's
everywhere, blessing his people. He's got nothing left but blessing,
love for his people. All right, now look at Psalm
32. Psalm 32. God blesses his people. by taking
their sin away. Psalm 32, verse one. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. I've told you this often, but
I want to remind you of it. This word impute is an accounting
term. God doesn't make his people righteous
by imputing righteousness to them and calling them righteous
even though they're not righteous. Impute is an accounting term.
Impute means you charge something to an account because it's actually
there. That's what the word impute means.
It's just like your bank book. You record a deposit in that
bank book. Well, you impute that deposit
to your checking account, to your bank account, because you
already deposit the money in the bank. If you record a deposit
and you didn't put the money in the bank, your books won't
bounce, will they? Your books will be inaccurate.
You'll start bouncing checks. God's books are always accurate. They're always in perfect balance.
Almighty God will never bounce a check. He'll keep every promise
that he made. And here's the reason that God
does not impute sin to his elect. is because he took that sin away
from them and he made it his son's. At Calvary, he imputed
sin to his son. You know why? Because he made
him sin. That's why he imputed sin to
his people, or imputed sin to Christ. And when that sin was
charged to Christ, the Father imputed that sin to him. He charged
him with it because he made him guilty of it. The sacrifice of
Christ covered that sin. It blotted it out and took away
all that sin that was charged to him. And God forgives the
sin of a sinful people and does not impute their sin to them
because their sin was charged in substitute. His blood covered
it, removed it. People, when they talk about
God blessing them, almost always they talk about God blessing
them with stuff, more money, better job, better house, better
car. God blesses them with health
and you know, Now, I'm for all those things. I mean, hold on,
I'd rather be healthy than sick. But when God talks about blessing,
this is what he talks about. Your sin's forgiven. Your sin's
forgiven. He's not gonna impute your sin
to you because he made his son sin for you. How blessed is a
person? How blessed? I mean, can you
imagine, can you quantify how blessed a person is that the
father took your sin and charged it to his beloved son? I mean, it's just more than a
human mind can comprehend. The sin of God's people will
never be charged to them, ever, because Christ took it away from
Calvary's tree. And the evidence of that sacrifice
is always on full display to the father. There sits his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, a man is sitting beside the father.
And in his body, he bears the scars of a sacrifice. And the
father sees those scars and he's always well pleased. He sees
those scars and he always forgives the sin of his people because
he sees the evidence. The sacrifice of my son put it
away. How blessed can we be? God forgive me for ever complaining. And even that sin was put away
by the blood of his son. Isn't that something? That's
a blessing. All right, now look at Luke chapter
11. Luke chapter 11. This is the ninth thing. God
blesses his people to hear and to believe his word. Luke 11 verse 27. And it came to pass, as he spake
these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her
voice and said unto him, blessed is the womb that bare thee, and
the paps which thou hast sucked. And he said, yea, rather, blessed
are they that hear the word of God and keep it. Now this congregation
has been blessed. According to what the Savior
said there, this congregation is blessed, blessed. to be able
to have a place where God's word is taught, where it's preached.
Some of us our entire life long, some of us. God's not blessed
every town that way. He's not blessed every city that
way, not blessed every county that way, but blessed this town
that way. And what's more, not only is
the word taught here, God has a people here that he's blessed
to hear his word. And keeping God's word simply
means this. It doesn't mean you keep God's word in the sense
that you obey all God's laws and all His ways. Keeping God's
word just means this, you believe it. You believe it. You bow to
and you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ who's the subject of the
whole book. And we don't believe this word.
We don't believe this gospel. We don't believe this Christ
because we're any better or any smarter than the rest of the
people on God's earth. We have faith in Christ. We believe
this word. We love this word. This word
is our bread. It's our life. You know why?
Because God's blessed us. He's blessed us with faith to
see Christ in this word and believe it. He's not blessed it because
we've had better preachers and better teachers than anybody
else. He's blessed us for Christ's sake. He's given us faith to
believe in a heart that loves and needs his word and the credit
For all that blessing goes to the Lord, doesn't it? Who so
graciously and freely blessed us. Now I don't know about you,
but I sure would like to not take this blessing for granted,
wouldn't you? I sure would. All right, now
here's the last thing. Look at Revelation chapter 14. I wanted to close with this because
this is something that we deal with often. The death of a loved one, one
who we feel pretty confident that they knew and loved the
Lord. God blesses his people to die in the faith. He blesses
them. Revelation 14, verse 13. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord. From henceforth, Yea, sayeth
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them. Now, the dead who die in the
Lord are blessed. They're blessed. Don't be sorry
for them. Don't be. Weep for yourself.
It's a loss to us. Don't be sorry for them. For
them, it's all gain. All gain. They are so blessed. They have every blessing that
God's promised them in their possession. In their possession. We hold those things by faith.
They have them in their hand. We see Christ by faith. They
see him face to face. They're blessed. Believers on
earth enjoy these things, don't we? We enjoy the gospel. We enjoy
the hearing of Christ. We enjoy it. But we have them
in a body of flesh. that makes it so I just can only
take so much of it. I got my little recorder here
telling me, don't go much past 40 minutes. The spirit can only
take as much as the hind end can take. That's just the way
it is. Those who died in the faith,
they have this in perfection. Perfection. We have it in promise. We have the earnest. We have
the down payment. they have it in fulfillment. Oh, that's blessed. That's blessed. Every single person who believes
and trusts Christ like that is going to be blessed like that
one day. Unless the Lord returns first and changes our vile bodies
into a body like in his glorious body, every believer is going
to be blessed to die in the faith, close their eyes in this life
and open them in glory. looking at the face of our Redeemer. He will say, oh, I'm blessed. And I'm here blessed for Christ's
sake. All right, I hope that'll be
a blessing to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your blessing. How we thank you for your blessing
to your people that are more than we can ever number, that
are more valuable than we can ever estimate. Father, we thank
you. And Father, I pray you'd bless
your word to the hearts of your people to comfort us, to encourage
us, to draw us closer to Christ our Savior. Father, let us leave
here tonight rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his
blessed name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn to song
number 118. And if you would, let's stand
as we sing. When I Surveyed the Wondrous
Cross. When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count
but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm
me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from his head,
his hands, his feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow
meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm
of nature mine That were a present far too small Love so amazing,
so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all