I'd like to turn to James chapter
1. James, the first chapter. Pick up in verse 22, James chapter
1. But be ye doers. of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your own selves. Now if you had to sum up the
gospel in just three words, which three words would you choose? That's hard, isn't it? I would
choose the words our Lord uttered from the cross before he died.
The whole of the gospel is found in these three words. It is finished. Now who was he speaking to? First
off, he was speaking to his father. That was the first person he
was speaking to. God the Father, that's who he was addressing.
Because his father had put him there. His father had sent him
in human form with a purpose and a task. And this was the
task. He gave him a people. a chosen
people before the foundation of the world, and he said this
is your aim, this is your task, this is your errand. You're going
to save them. And you're going to do it all
by yourself. And they're not going to offer
a speck of help. You will have absolutely nothing but your own
power. That's it. And you will save
them. That is your task, that is your
errand. And from that cross he said to his father, I did it.
It is finished. There's nothing left to do. They're
all saved. What you sent me to do has been
done. Secondly, he spoke to his people,
that elect body, declaring to all of us, all his people, it
is finished. It means to you, if you're a
believer, if your hope is in Christ, there is nothing left
to do. Before God, right now, if all
you have is Christ, that is your only hope, that you will stand
before God in judgment on that great day, and He will say to
you, well done, that good and faithful servant. The only hope
of that you have is Christ and Him crucified alone. Understand
this, it's finished, it's done. If you need further assurance
that you are part of that number, it's very simple. If you're a
sinner, He speaks to you. If you have nothing before God,
If you can't move an inch toward Him, you can't make your peace
with God. If you are a sinner, He speaks
to you today. It is finished. And this is your
charge. This is your command. This is
your deed right here. Hebrews 4, 9 and 11. There remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered
into his rest, he also hath ceased. from his own works, as God did
from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
in to rest. That's your charge, and that
is your command. It's to rest, just to rest in Christ and just
trust him. That's it. Now, what about James
1.22? Is there a conflict between what
our Savior said from the cross, God himself, And what James says
here when he says, be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. No. In fact, what James is saying
here in James 1.22 is the exact same thing our Lord was saying
from the cross. James is just using some different
words to get the point across. That's it. Now, here's my question. What does he mean? What does
James mean? What does it mean to be a doer
of the word and not a hearer only? Because whatever that is,
I want to do that. I want to be a doer of the word. What does he mean? Our Lord tells
us, and I'm very thankful for this, our Lord Jesus Christ himself
addresses this very issue and he tells us in no uncertain terms
what James is talking about here. I want you to turn over to Matthew
chapter 7. This is what's called the Sermon
on the Mount, and this is Christ himself speaking. When you get
to Matthew 7, look at verse 24. Verse 24 of Matthew chapter 7.
Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth
them. Now that's exactly what James
is talking about, isn't it? Hearing and doing, doing the word. That's
what Christ is addressing right here. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that
house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. Now the Lord gives an analogy
here. That's what this is, an analogy.
He builds his house upon the rock. That's what the doer of
the word does. Who is this rock? That's Christ.
He is that sure, unmovable foundation, strong, solid, reliable. What
is this thing of building a house on Christ? Well, what do you
do in a house? What do you do in a good home?
You dwell there. And you find your peace there.
And you find your comfort there. And that's always where you come
back to. It's faith, folks. This thing of building on the
rock, this thing of building that house on that firm foundation,
it speaks of trusting and resting in Christ alone. That's what
James is talking about. That's the whole kit and caboodle
right there. Now the emphasis of this, notice
this, the emphasis, it is not the house. Yes, the man who does
the work, he builds the house. He believes on Christ. He rests
and he trusts in him. But the emphasis is not on the
house. It's not on the faith. It's on the foundation. It's
on the rock. Why won't the house be destroyed?
When the winds and the waves come against it, why will it
stand? Because of the rock. Because of what that house is built on.
Christ and him crucified alone. Now with that in mind, let's
see what the scriptures say about this rock. This rock, Christ
Jesus. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 28. Both Isaiah and Peter have a
lot to say about this rock. Isaiah 28, look at verse 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, Isaiah 28, 16. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tridestone, a precious cornerstone, Assure Foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Now this whole analogy, it all
revolves, it all hinges on this thing of Christ being the cornerstone
of his people. Now what's a cornerstone? I didn't
know, I had to look it up. It was very interesting, very.
The cornerstone back when things were built back then, it was
the first brick, the first stone that was laid in the building
project, the very first one. And the cornerstone was the most
important part. It was the structure. The cornerstone
had to be perfect. It had to be square, it had to
be flush, and it had to be level. It had to be absolutely perfect.
It was for this reason. Every other stone that was laid,
it was laid in relation to that cornerstone. As long as that
cornerstone was straight, and level, and flush, and square,
every brick that was laid in relation to that cornerstone
was laid flush, and level, and square, and perfect. What's that
talking about? That's talking about the true
union every believer has with the Lord Jesus Christ and always
has had in Him. This is what John says in 1 John
4, 17, and this is an amazing scripture. He says, as He is,
so are we in this world. Now, right now, if you build
your house on this rock, if your hope is in this rock, Christ
and Him crucified alone, understand this, it's for this reason. You
do that for this reason, because you share an eternal union with
this rock, Christ Jesus. And that means everything He
has, and everything He is, you have in Him. Well, what does
He have? Who is he? What is it? What's
the next thing that's said? He's a tried stone, a tried stone. You know what that means? It
means he's a proved stone, a tested stone. Listen to this, this is
Hebrews 4.15. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet, yet, this
is the big part, without sin. Satan tempted him for 40 days
and 40 nights in the wilderness and he just left him alone. Why?
Because he couldn't find anything to work with in him. He's a tried
stone. He was placed against God's holy
law. And you know what he did? He kept it. He kept it every
job. He kept it every tittle. He worked
out a perfect righteousness. He never sinned. He honored his
father in all things. As he is, so are we in this world. You know what that means? That
means we did that. That means we're that tried stone.
We've been tried. And you know what the law has
to say about us? Righteous. Righteous because Christ is our
righteousness. Not only a tried stone, and not
just a cornerstone, but he calls them a precious cornerstone. Precious. Now we could talk all
evening about the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
preciousness of his grace, the preciousness of his love for
sinners, the preciousness of his righteousness, but if you
had to nail down one thing, one thing so precious about him and
his work and his character. Here's what Peter said, and I
tend to agree with him. First Peter 1, 18 and 19, for as much
as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things
as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. His blood,
it is precious. Why? What does that say? Because
it redeemed us. Redeemed in Christ Jesus. To
be redeemed means this. It means you are bought with
a price. God demanded justice. Our sins had to be dealt with.
Somebody had to die. And through his death and taking
on the sins of his people and going to that cross and suffering
the wrath of God, he paid for all our sins. For everyone he
died for, he put them away and now we're bought with a price.
We belong to him. And there is absolutely no sin. As he is,
so are we in this world. When he went to that cross, he
went bearing us. He went bearing our sins. And
when he died, that's when we died. When he suffered under
the wrath of God, that's when we suffered under the wrath of
God. And now the justice of God demands no more from us. It's
over. It's done. He's called a sure foundation. Now I looked up that word sure,
I wanted to see what it meant and there's many different definitions
for it but I thought this one was very interesting. It speaks
of something that can be reclined upon. Something that can be leaned
upon. It will support your weight.
You can put all your weight on this object and it will not fail.
It will support you the entire time. He is that sure foundation. Who is Jesus Christ? I'll tell
you exactly who he is. He's God. He is God himself. He is God's sovereign. Is He
in absolute control of everyone and everything and every event
up to and including salvation? He absolutely is. That means
who is Jesus Christ? He's Jesus Christ the Sovereign.
Is God omnipotent, having all power? None can stay His hand.
None can say unto him, what doest thou? Everything he does must
be done. He must be successful. He cannot
fail. It is impossible for him to do
such a thing. So how is Jesus Christ? He is
omnipotent. He cannot fail. He must be successful in whatever
he does. That's who God is. That's who
Jesus Christ is. Can God lie? Is he capable of
telling a lie? Is he capable of not following
through with a promise if he makes that promise? He absolutely
is not. Therefore, can Jesus Christ make
a promise and not follow through with that promise? No. Absolutely not. So when he says,
come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will
give you rest, you know what that means? That means you can
take that to the bank. That is a solid statement from
a man who cannot lie, and I cannot fail, the God-man, the sovereign.
Come to him. He'll give you rest. He's a sure
foundation. And he ends this, Isaiah ends
this, with a very interesting comment. He says, in the last
part of the verse, he that believeth shall not make haste. I thought
that was interesting because, you know, I want to believe in
haste. I want to come to Christ right now. But, you know, it
has absolutely nothing to do with it. Peter actually gives
us the understanding of this. He actually quotes this verse,
and he tells us what is meant by that statement. This is 1
Peter 2.6. It says, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture.
Peter's telling us. I'm quoting Isaiah 28.16. Behold,
I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he that believeth
on him shall not be confounded. You know what that means? That
means there will not be anybody who builds their house on this
rock, who trusts this rock, who believes on this rock, who will
stand before God and will stand ashamed. Not a one. Not a one
of them are going to be confounded. Everybody who looks to Him, everybody
who trusts Him, every sinner who looks to Him for everything
in their salvation before God, not a one of them are going to
be ashamed on the Day of Judgment. They're all going to hear the
same thing. Well done. Well done. Now what about the accessibility
of this rock? Is this rock accessible? Listen
to this. This is Matthew 21, verse 44.
And whosoever, that's very, very important, whosoever shall fall
on this stone shall be broken. But on whomsoever it shall fall,
it will grind him to power. What does he mean by that? Whosoever
shall fall on this rock shall be broken. Whoever shall fall
on this rock and beg for mercy on your knees, you'll have it. And when you have it, here's
where you'll experience a broken heart. I'm broken, I have nothing
before you, I need you to do everything for me. Whosoever
comes to him, any sinner, any sinner in need of mercy, you
come and you ask for that mercy and you will have it. And this
is the result of broken heart. The rest of your days, I'm broken,
and I need the same thing every day. I need more grace. I need
more mercy. I need you to do something for
me all over again. It's a never-ending cycle. Here's
the back end of the verse. But on whomsoever it shall fall,
that stone, it will grind him to powder. Everybody who doesn't
come begging for mercy, everybody who doesn't come bending the
knee, everybody who builds their house somewhere other than Christ
and Him crucified alone, that stone's gonna fall on them and
it's gonna ground them to powder. But that is the accessibility
of this rock, whosoever. If you're a sinner, this is your
command, you come to Christ right now. Now, what does it mean to be a hearer
only? So James talks about it. He says,
be not hearers of the word only, but doers of the word. What does
he mean by being a hearer only? Go back to Matthew chapter 7. Once again, the Lord makes comment
on this. He gives us an illustration that we might understand. Matthew 7, we'll look at verse
26. And everyone that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them not. Now that's what we're talking
about, right? A hearer only, one who hears
the word only, but he doesn't do the work. And everyone that
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be
likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall
of it. And once again, the Lord gives
an analogy. This man who is a hearer only, what does he do? He builds
his house on an unstable foundation. He builds it on sand. That's
what he's talking about here. I thought it was very interesting.
It was very telling in this verse. Every man builds a house. Every
man, woman, and child at some point, they build a house. What
that means is they develop some hope for the afterlife. Even
the atheist. Atheist who believes and has
convinced himself that there is no God, he still builds a
house. He still has a foundation. He still has something he hopes
in. He just hopes that there is no God. That's his hope. If
there is no God, there is no one I'm accountable to. And his
hope is that after he dies, he simply is annihilated. He ceases
to exist. There is no accountability. But
we know that's not true. The light of the creation alone
declares that God is. The sun as it rises with perfect
precision every single day right on time and it sets with perfect
precision every day right on time. It declares that God is. Somebody made that. That sun
is subject to someone. It is under His dominion and
under His control. It rises at a particular time,
it sets at a particular time, because the One who made Him,
the Son, He's the One who set the rules. He is under His dominion. He must do as He says. There
is in fact a God, and if He controls that Son, and if that Son is
under His dominion, that means you and I are under His dominion
as well. A man will make a false foundation, an unstable foundation,
out of just about anything. Free will. A man says, well,
I allowed Jesus into my heart, and I allowed him to save me,
and therefore that is my foundation. That's my hope. Let me be very
clear about this. Any God who needs your permission
to save you is no God at all. And everybody knows that's true.
That's no God at all. That is not the God of the Bible.
God of the Bible does this. He chooses. Make no mistake,
there is a choice involved in salvation and it is not ours. It's up to Him. What other foundations works
in any way, shape, or form? And it always comes off this
way, it's better by comparison, right? So a man thinks, well,
God grades on the curve, right? I'm not perfect, but nobody is.
And as long as I'm better than this guy over here and roughly
51% of the population, I should be fine, right? At foundation,
that house won't stand. Our works in any way can't stand
before God. Experience. The man says, I had
an experience. I felt something at one point.
I made my peace with God. You can't. You can't make your
peace with God. God has to make his peace with
you through Christ. A familiar relationship. Well,
my parents are believers. My grandma, she believes the
gospel. I'll be saved that way. Absolutely not. This is personal.
Those are all false foundations. There's only one foundation where
the house will not fall, and that foundation is Christ and
him crucified alone. James tells us back in our text
why this here only is comfortable with building on this false foundation. I want you to see this. Turn
back to James 1 and look at verse 23. This is James' commentary on
what our Lord just said. James says, For if any be a hearer
of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding
his natural face in a glass, or in a mirror. For he beholdeth
himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner
of man he was. Now this man who hears only,
why is he so comfortable building on this sandy foundation, this
foundation that will not stand? It's because he does not see
himself as the scriptures describe him. It's like somebody walking
by a mirror and glancing at the mirror and then going about their
business. We used to have a mirror in our living room, our old house.
When I was going to work, every day I'd walk out and I'd glance
at that mirror. I'd get a snapshot of myself. And I'd walk out to
the car and I'd forget about everything I saw. But this is
the man who hears only. He gets a snapshot from the Word.
The Word declares who God is, also declares who we are. He
gets a snapshot, but he neglects. That word forgetful means neglects.
He loses track. He forgets what manner of man
he was. And here's who I thought of.
I immediately thought of Paul when he preached to Felix. You
remember that? Acts 24. Felix said, come preach
to me, Paul. And this is what Paul said. And
as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,
Felix trembled. It was just for a minute. And
answered, go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient
season, I will call for thee. What did Paul tell him? Well,
he reasoned of righteousness. Felix, who is God, he's a God
of absolute righteousness. That is his demand. Felix, this
is what he will accept, and this is the only thing he will accept,
is perfect righteousness. To be accepted by God, you have
to be good as God, Felix, and temperance. That doesn't mean
what we think it means. We think it's holding things
off, right? Being temperate and eating and
drinking. It's not what it's talking about. It's talking about
self-denial. I know what you're thinking, Felix. You think you
can do something about this. You think you can work your way
into favor with God. You think you can stop doing
this and you can start doing these things and it'll earn you
some brownie points with God. You'll earn some favor with God.
I'm here to tell you that's not the case, Felix. You're a sinner.
There's not a chance that that will work. His demand is perfect
righteousness and all you can do is sin. That's it. Any reason
with him of judgment? He's a God of judgment and justice,
Felix. And anybody who doesn't meet
this bar, this bar of perfect righteousness, his rat's going
to fall down on him. Now those are sobering words,
Lord Felix say. I don't like that very much.
I don't like what you have to say. That's scary. I got other
things going on. We need to talk about this, but
another time. I'm going to wait for a more convenient season
to call upon you. But you know what? That more
convenient season never came. And he never once asked this
question, is there any hope for me, Paul? Because Paul would
have told him, absolutely, you look to Christ, Felix. What does the scripture say about
you and me? What does it declare about us?
You all know the scriptures. Genesis 6, 6, 5, and God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, and
that continually. We're born that way. with a fallen,
evil, wicked nature that does only evil continually, and it
infects every facet of us, every faculty of the man. And here's
the outcome. Paul talks about it in Romans
3, verse 10. He says, there is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Not a one understands, not by
nature. Not a one seeks after God lacks the ability Can't believe
can't change his mind. Can't love God has absolutely
no ability doesn't do any good Our best works just filth before
God Infected by this old wicked evil nature and here's the worst
part Romans 8 verse 7 the carnal mind is enmity It's put itself
at odds, is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed deed can be. The entire person, the
entire man, revolts in revolution against God. By nature, that
is every man. That's you and me, by nature.
I think it's interesting that men war against election. God
choosing. God choosing who he's going to
show his mercy to. God choosing who Christ is going to die for.
Men get mad at the concept of election, of God choosing. What
is wrong with God withholding from men what they do not want
in the first place? Because this carnal mind is enmity
against God. You know what that means? He
does not want to be saved by grace. Because if you're saved
by grace, that means Christ gets all the glory and the man doesn't
get any. And that means he has to take his rightful place as
a sinner, groveling at the feet of a sovereign God. And he says,
I will not have that man to rule over me. What's wrong with God
withholding from men what they do not want anyways? Absolutely
nothing. Now that's what the scriptures
have to say about you and me. But here's the point. All that
is good information. But that's all it is. It's just
good information, unless Leroy reveals to us that that's me. He's not talking about the natural
man, and he's not talking about all men by nature. He's speaking
specifically to me. And God saw my heart, only evil
continually. I don't do good. I don't understand. I don't seek after God. I'm unprofitable. I've set myself against God.
I picked the fight. He didn't pick the fight with
me. I did that. That's my fault. I made myself God's enemy. This
is all my fault. My pastor said this for a couple
years now. And the first time he said it,
it hit me like a ton of bricks. There's a big difference between believing
in the doctrine of total depravity and total inability and believing
that you personally are totally depraved and totally unable.
This is how dependent of creatures we are on God himself to save
us. A man can't even see that about
himself unless the Lord enables him to. This book, this word,
it's a mirror, right? And the only way the Lord would
make it a mirror that we would see ourselves in these scriptures
is if he shows us. You know how he does that? It's
in the oddest way. It's by revealing Christ to us.
Isaiah 6, verse 1, in the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the
Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and His train
filled the temple. And you go down, you don't get
down until verse 5, and he says, woe unto me, I'm undone, I'm
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips.
My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. When did he see
himself and say, woe is me? It's when he saw Christ. That's
it. That's a blessed thought. Any
man who sees himself, when he looks at these scriptures, Genesis
6, 5, Romans 3, verse 10, when he sees himself in those scriptures
for one reason, because God has revealed Christ to him, he wouldn't
see himself that way if he hadn't. Now, James talks about the hearer
only and the one who does not do the word. And he talks about
the one who does the word. He hears and he does. Now let's
see James' commentary on the one who hears the word and he
does the word. Look down at verse 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, This man shall be blessed in
his deed. Now this man who is a hearer
of the word and a doer of the word, what does he do? He looketh. That's what he does. That word
is interesting. It does not mean what you think
it means. I'm not even quite sure why the translators translated
it into the word looketh. You know what it literally means?
It means he stoops. He gets low. This man who does
the word, you know what he does? He gets low. He gets on his face
before God. He takes his rightful place as
a sinner before a sovereign God in need of mercy. In full understanding
that if he's passed by, he's just getting what he deserves.
He stoops and he looks. You can't see Christ from a high
and lofty vantage point. You can't. You can only see Him
down at the bottom as a sinner in complete and utter need of
Him to do everything in your salvation. That's what this man
who does the Word, this is what he does. He looketh. He looketh
to who? But whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty. That's Christ. Perfect. In Him, looking to Him, we find
our perfection before God. This is Hebrews 1014, for by
one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
That is our hope, that when he offered himself for me, he put
away my sins and he made me perfect before God. How can I stand righteous
and perfect and holy before God? In Him, that's the only way it
can be done. Just in Him. That's it. He looks to Him. He's
the perfect law of liberty. Liberty in Him. We look for that
liberty. Where do we find liberty from?
Law? How are we liberated from the law? Because He kept it.
And we kept it too. In Him. The law has absolutely
nothing to say to us because it is satisfied. It's satisfied
in punishment. My sins have been put away. They
died in Christ. They were put away in Christ.
Now the law says there's no sin. But the law had to be kept. I
couldn't just be neutral. Christ kept the law. I kept it
in Him. And now there's complete and
utter liberty from the law. Reckon yourselves to be dead
to the law. What does the law say to a dead man? Absolutely
nothing. You have complete and utter freedom
and liberty because you've kept the law in Christ. Liberty from
sin. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. You're not under law. You're under grace. That's a
hard one to understand, isn't it? It's contrary to our experience. It feels like sin has dominion
over me. But you know what? If you look
to Christ, that's the evidence it doesn't. When sin has dominion
over a man, when it has complete control over a man, he can't
look to Christ. He's completely and utterly unable.
But if you've been freed from the dominion of sin, what do
you do? You looketh. You get low and you looketh to
Him for perfection and for liberty. We've been saved from the power
of sin. We've been saved from the punishment of sin. One day
we're going to be saved from the presence of sin. We put down
this old man, and we don't have to deal with him anymore. That
sin is gone, folks. Complete and utter liberty. He's
the perfect law of liberty. He's our law. And I don't mean
that in the manners, he's a law we keep. What's a law? It is
something that is grounded, and it is settled, and it is unmovable.
Christ, in him crucified, is my salvation, and that's it.
That is unshakable, that is unmovable, that is my banner, that is my
anthem, that is my law, that's all I have before God. We look
to Him. And this is the next thing he
says. He says, and he continueth therein. Is this a one-time look?
He just looks once, he gets low, he looks once, and that's a done
deal? No, he continues therein. Why? Because he's a sinner every
day. And I need cleansing every day. And I need mercy every day.
I need grace every day. So we just keep on looking to
Him every single day. But this is the beautiful grace
and power of God. Why are we going to do that?
Because He's going to preserve us all the way to the end. That faith, it's His gift. The
preservation of that faith, it's His gift. It's His power that
keeps us all the way to the end. And He says this, but a doer
of the work. Now, last illustration, last
scripture, what does he mean? I want to nail this down. What
does James mean when he says, be a doer of the word, be a doer
of the work? What is he talking about? Turn
over to John chapter six. Look at verse 28. James says,
he's a doer of the work. What does he mean? John 6, 28. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? What they're saying is, what
shall we do to be saved? That's the question right here.
What shall we do to work the works of God? Look at the answer. Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work, that is the exact same word that James
uses, of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. What does it mean to be a doer
of the work? What does it mean to be a doer of the word? You
believe on Christ, that one who the Father sent. And this man
is blessed in his deed. Notice he says just one. Not
deeds, plural. In his deed. What is the one
deed? Looking to Christ. That's it. And here's the best
understanding of that end of that verse right there. He's
blessed in his deed. He is not blessed because of
his deed. He is not blessed because he looks to Christ. He looks
to Christ because that man is blessed. from the foundations
of the world, he has had the blessing of God, he has had the
love of God, he has had the choosing of God, and he has always been
secure in Christ Jesus. Doers of the word. What does
it mean? Believe on Christ. It's the gospel. I'll leave you there.