I've entitled this message, Blessed. Blessed. You know, I have always,
since the Lord made himself known to me, and I don't know exactly
when that was, but I have some idea of the general time. And when the Lord made himself
known to me, I was always right off the bat drawn to this message. what's known as the Sermon on
the Mount. I love the way it says, seeing
the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. Now, there were not
any high mountains in that region. And yet, it says he went up onto
a mountain, I guess, compared to other places, it might have
seemed to be a mountain. But could this not tell us that
Moses received the law on a mountain, Mount Sinai. And the Lord Jesus
is going to tell us what the law means from this mount. This is the true exposition of
God's holy law in the Sermon on the Mount. Does anyone know
what the last word of the Old Testament is? Well, if you don't, turn to the
book of Malachi. Just a few pages back, last book
in the Old Testament. What's the last word in the Old
Testament? Curse. Curse. Now, in our common vernacular, the world thinks of a curse as
bad luck. I'm cursed. Like a witch doctor
with a voodoo doll, sticks a pin in it, makes somebody feel pain. Or a gypsy causing a curse on
somebody and they have tons of bad luck and everything goes
wrong. But that's not what a curse is. Proverbs chapter 26 verse 2 says,
a curse causeless shall not come. Do you know the only one who
can curse is God? No one else has the ability or
the authority to curse. And a curse causeless does not
come. A curse is given according to
the justice and the holiness of God, and there's always sin,
and the one who committed the sin, who is under the just and
righteous curse of God. And to be cursed, I don't even
like talking about this, but it's the truth. To be cursed
is to spend eternity in hell, suffering the just wrath of God
against sin. And what a thought. that Christ
was made a curse for us. I don't know of anything more
overwhelming to think of than that. All the horror of whatever
God's curse is, Christ was made to be. Cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a tree. A curse is the disfavor, it's
the displeasure of God. It's the end of salvation by
works. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not to do all things in the book of the law to do them. But what word are we given in
this first word when our Lord opens his mouth on the Sermon
on the Mount? Blessed. blessed. And he's the only one
who really knows what blessed is. And he's the only one who
has power to confer the blessing. And he speaks in his divine authority
as God in telling us who the blessed are. I can't do that. You can't do that. But he does. He tells us who the blessed are. The Sermon on the Mount, we're
given what blessedness is. Blessed
are the poor. If you're poor in spirit, God's
blessed you. Blessed Are they that mourn? Why do people mourn? Because
they've been blessed of God. That's why they mourn. They would
not mourn if they were not blessed of God. Blessed are the meek. Oh, how blessed you are if you're
meek before God. Blessed are they that do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. This is the Lord's description
of blessedness, not men's. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are they that are persecuted
for righteousness sake. Now the Lord manifests his divine
authority by announcing to us who is blessed. You know, the end of this Sermon
on the Mount ends with these words. They were astonished at
his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority. In his
divine authority, he tells us who the blessed are. Now, none of these states of
blessedness is what the world would call blessed. Blessed of
the poor? No. Blessed of the rich? Blessed are they that mourn?
No. Blessed are the happy. Blessed are the meek? No. Blessed
are the powerful, the movers and the shakers. Blessed are
they that hunger and thirst after righteousness? No. Blessed are
the full. On and on. This is not what the
world would call blessed, is it? Yet he who has the authority
to announce who is blessed tells us who is blessed. Now, this is the one who's obtained
God's favor, not the one that has reached the status of becoming
poor, the one God has made poor in spirit. Not the one who's
attained to this thing of mourning, but the one God has caused to
mourn. Not the one who has attained
this meekness, but the one God has made meek. Not the one who
finds himself hungering and thirsting after righteousness, but the
one God has made to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Not
the one who has attained the status of being merciful, but
one God has made merciful, having experienced the mercy of God.
Not one who has attained purity of heart, one whom God has given
a pure heart. Not one who enjoys being a peacemaker,
one God has made a peacemaker. One God has made to be persecuted
for righteousness sake. Now, all I want to do, I'm going
to take some time in the next few weeks. I want to bring a
message on blessed. And then I want to look at all
the attributes of the Beatitudes. One on poverty of spirit, one
on mourning, one on meekness, and I'm so looking forward to going
through the Sermon on the Mount, and I pray the Lord blesses this
to us. But I just want to talk about this thing of being blessed
this evening. Being blessed. Ephesians 1, 3
says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. And beloved, the only kind of
blessings from God there are are spiritual blessings. You
can have material blessings and be under the curse of God. You
can have health and wealth and prosperity and everything going
your way and be under the curse of God. His blessings are spiritual
blessings. Now, in Luke chapter 16, we read
of a rich man. Scripture says he was clothed
in purple. and fine linen and lived, fared
sumptuously every day. This guy was living the dream.
He had it made. He was very happy. That fared
sumptuously means he was happy. This guy wasn't depressed. This
guy wasn't anxious. He was living the dream. And
there was a beggar that was laid at his gate daily and had no
means to take care of himself. would be grateful for any crumbs
that fell his way. And he was full of sores, and
the dogs would come and lick his sores. Now, which one was
blessed of God? The rich man? No. The scripture says, in hell,
he lifted up his eyes, being in torments. What about the beggar? He was brought by the angels
into Abraham's bosom in glory. Which one was blessed of God?
Well, it wasn't the man who fared sumptuously every day. It was
the beggar filled with sores, with dogs licking his sores.
Now, somebody thinks, I'd like to have the rich man's blessing.
I'm sure you would, but wouldn't you rather be the poor man? Because
whose? Eternity's all that counts. Eternity
lasts a long time. Who was the man that God blessed? I don't think I'm exaggerating
when I say, I've asked people, how you doing?
I'm blessed. I'm blessed. Well, I hope you
are. I hope you do have God's favor. I really do. I hope you are. And you are if
you're poor in spirit. You are if you mourn over your
sin. You are if you're meek before
God. You are if you hunger and thirst
after righteousness. You are blessed if you're merciful. You are blessed of God if you're
pure in heart. You are blessed of God if you're
a peacemaker. You are blessed of God if you're
persecuted for righteousness sake, but if that does not describe
you, you're under God's curse. That's how important this is.
The Beatitudes are who a believer is. It's not what he's striving
to become. It's who he is. This is the person
that's blessed of God. Now, somebody says, I'm blessed.
I'm enjoying God's favor. Well, as I said, I hope you are. But who does God's Word declare
to be blessed? Now, I'm not going to look at
the Sermon on the Mount tonight as far as the Beatitudes. We're
gonna get more into that. I've already mentioned enough
of it. But the first person I would
like to consider who is blessed is God Himself. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. How blessed He is. Listen to this scripture. Paul
spoke in 1 Timothy 1 11 of the glorious gospel or the gospel
of the glory of the blessed God. God is one God in three distinct
persons. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. And God is not unhappy. God is not anxious. God is not
troubled. God is utterly blessed in himself. Every attribute of God is his
state of blessedness. The God of glory is the blessed
God. You know, the word is translated
five times, happy. Happy. God is the happy God. Father is the, and I say this
reverently, but He's the happy Father. God the Son is the happy
Son. In His Father's presence, God
the Holy Spirit is the happy, blessed Spirit of God. You think of His attributes,
how can He not be happy? He's sovereign. His will, He's
always done. He's all-powerful. There's no
impediment to His will being done. He's eternal. He's always
been blessed. He always will be blessed. He's
independent. He's not dependent on some outside
source to make him blessed. He is blessed in and of himself.
He's immutable. His blessedness never changes. He's omnipresent. Everywhere
he is, there's blessedness. He's omniscient, all wise. What blessed wisdom. He's absolutely
just and righteous. What blessedness there is in
all of his attributes. He's gracious. He's merciful. God's blessed. the blessed and
only potentate, the scripture says with regard to the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord of Lords. and the king of kings. Blessed is he in the trinity
of his sacred persons, and he is the one who has the power
to confer blessedness. God is blessed. Now, I could
go into the Old Testament and look at all the different statements
regarding blessed. Blessed is the man who walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. who standeth not in the way of
sinners, or sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight
is in the law of God. On his law he doth meditate day
and night. And I have no doubt that the
first application of that is the Lord himself. He's the blessed
man. That can really only describe
him perfectly, but it's us in him. Blessed is the man that
thou choosest, and causes to approach unto thee. Don't you
want to be that blessed man? Blessed are they that know the
joyful sound. Blessed is the man who maketh
the Lord his trust. Blessed is he whom thou chastest. All the states of blessedness,
but we're going to limit ourselves to what the New Testament calls
this blessed man. Listen to this scripture, Matthew
11, verse 6. Blessed is he whosoever is not
offended in me. Now, note the language. Blessed,
oh highly favored, greatly favored by God is that man who's not
offended in me. Now notice the language, in me,
it doesn't say by me. We're not offended by Christ.
We love everything he says. Every word that comes out of
His mouth, we bow to, we worship Him. Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God. We love everything He says concerning His Father, Himself,
His Spirit, His salvation. We're not offended by what He
says to us. I think what He said to His disciples, if you then
being evil know how to give gifts to your children. Is He calling
us evil? Yeah. Are you offended? No. You know
it's the truth with regard to you. We're not offended by anything
he says. We love everything he says, but
that's not really what he says. He doesn't say, blessed is the
man that's not offended by me. But he said, blessed is the man
who's not offended in me. What does it mean to be in Christ?
It means that when God sees you, All he sees is Jesus Christ. That's what it means. Of him
are you in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom. and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Now that's what it means to be
in Christ. It means that all God requires of you, you have
simply because you're in Him. He is your salvation. You understand
exactly what Paul meant when he said, Oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. not having my own righteousness.
I don't want to have anything to do with standing before God
on anything with my fingerprints on it. I don't want it. I want
to simply be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. I simply want to be found in
Him. I'm not offended by that at all. You know, people say,
well, where's your motive for good works if all you need is
What's in Christ, and that's all God looks at, where's your
motive for obedience? You can say every objection you
want to it. I don't care. I want to be found
in Him. That's it. That's it. I'm not
offended. The world may be offended by
that. The world doesn't understand it. I do. Blessed is that one. Oh, how highly favored you are
by God. How blessed of God you are in Him. Matthew chapter 13, verse 16,
these are the words of the Lord. He says, blessed are your eyes
for they see, and your ears for they hear. Do you see the beauty of being
saved by the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not by your
works? Do you see the beauty of it, the glory of it, how it
glorifies God? Do you see how God can be just
and justify somebody as sinful as you in a way that magnifies
His honor and righteousness and justice and holiness? Can you
see that? Can you hear the gospel? It's good news! You hear it and,
this is great! This is what I need! This is
all that will save me! Oh, you're so blessed of God. You're so highly favored of God
if you see. Many don't. Many don't even care. It's not even important to them.
It's dull. It's uninteresting. It's theology. But, oh, if you
have ears to hear, eyes to see, not everybody does. You know,
the Lord said, him that hath ears to hear, let him hear. If you hear, let me say to you,
you are blessed of God. You have the high favor of God. In Matthew chapter 16, the Lord
said to his disciples, whom say men that I the son of man am?
Well, they said, they put you in some high cotton. Some say
you're John the Baptist. Some say you're Jeremiah or Elijah,
one of the prophets. They say good things about you.
Whom say ye that I am? Let's forget about the crowd.
Whom say ye that I am? Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. What did the Lord say to him?
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood have not revealed
that to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Do you believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? I'm not
even asking you right now if you know you're saved, but I
am asking you this. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? the Son of the Living God. Do you believe that? I do. Blessed are you. God's high favor,
the greatness of His grace is resting upon you if you believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In Matthew, chapter 24, verse
16, we read these words, Blessed is that servant who, when his
Lord cometh, he shall find him so doing. Blessed is that servant. He's
not beaten his fellow servants or all the other things the Lord
talked about the unjust servant. No, he finds him John 13, 17,
we considered this just a couple of weeks ago. If you know these
things, happy are you if you do them. And he's talking in
context, washing the disciples' feet, washing your brother's
feet with the gospel. But this is talking about endurance. Blessed is that servant whom
when his Lord comes, he finds him so doing, looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now right now, if the Lord would
come, Would he find one who, by his grace, is resting only
in Christ? Not looking anywhere else. Resting
only in Christ. And that's where you're going
to be until the day you die. That's what it is to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ. You're not looking at your walk.
You're not looking at others. You're not looking behind you
for evidences to convince you that I must be saved because
of fill in the blank. No, you look to Christ right
now as all in your salvation. You look nowhere else. You continue
in the faith. Oh, if you do, how blessed of
God you are. It was said of Mary by Elizabeth,
blessed is she that believeth. Now, I love to think of Mary.
I mean, she, 16-year-old, had never known
a man. The Lord comes to her and says,
you're going to have a child begotten of the Holy Spirit.
And she believed. She believed. You see, if you believe, you
believe everything God says. Doesn't matter what it is. How
much you gotta believe to be saved? Everything God says. Is
there something God says you say, I don't believe that? Then
you're not a believer. Blessed is she that believeth, for there
shall be a performance of those things said of her. You know if you believe it's
because God's blessed you by His grace. You know that. By
grace are you saved. Through faith, and that faith
is not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest
any man should boast. You know that if you believe.
You know you found yourself believing. You didn't decide to believe.
You just found yourself believing because God, by His grace, caused
you to. That's your experience. And you
know you're blessed of God in believing. We have, we're far
too unthankful. You're blessed. You believe the
gospel. How blessed of God you are. Luke 11, 28 and 29, a man said
to the Lord, blessed is the womb that bare thee. And the paps
that thou hast sucked, would anybody deny that? Oh, how blessed
Mary's womb was. But look what our Lord said.
Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and
keep it, believe it, won't let it be changed. That's God's blessing. Yes, Mary was blessed, but let
me tell you something that's a greater blessing than even
burying the Lord in your womb. He could have done that with
an unbeliever. He didn't, I'm thankful, you know, but he could
have, he could, but to believe the gospel? That's why the Lord
corrected this man. Yea, rather, blessed are they
that hear the word of God. and keep it, hearing and keeping. I love this. John chapter 20
verse 29, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou
hast believed. Blessed are they which have not
seen and yet believe. I've not seen my justification
before God. I can't look at myself and see
I'm sinless. I can't look at myself or my experience or my
thoughts and see I stand before God's holy law without guilt,
without sin, standing perfect. I can't see that. I believe it
though. I've not seen, but I believe.
I don't see how everything's working together for my good.
Don't see it. but I believe it. Blessed are
they who have not seen and believed. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. I'd like you to turn to this,
Romans chapter four. I've been quoting them, but I
want you to read this with me. Romans chapter four. Verse four, now to him that worketh
is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If salvation is by works in any
measure to any degree, if your salvation is dependent upon you
doing something before God can do something for you, God's your
debtor. He's paying his debt. It's not
a gift. He's paying you what he owes
you. Verse 5, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Now somebody's
going to read that and say, well, it seems to me that faith itself
He's counting for righteousness. Is that what that means? If you
believe that's kind of a substitute for righteousness and that's
counting for righteousness? No. He goes on to tell us exactly
what he means by this. Verse six. Even as David also
describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works. saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. And you want to talk about blessed.
To have my iniquities forgiven. The only way I can look upon
my sins is as forgiven sins. How are they forgiven? They were
covered in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and made not to
be. Is that blessed? blesses the man to whom the Lord
will not impute sin. Now how is it that he cannot
impute sin to that man or does not impute sin to that man? Because
there's no sin to impute. It's all been washed away, blotted
out by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ made not to be. You want to talk about blessed
Blessed, blessed by God, having the high favor of God to have
your sins forgiven, covered in the blood of Christ, not imputed
to you because he put them away to where there's nothing there
to impute to you. Oh, how blessed is that man. James 1 12 says,
blessed is the man that endureth temptation. Now, in this life,
You're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. I am
too. It began with me, September 9th,
1959. God's hand's always been on me
from the womb, but I've been walking through the valley of
the shadow of death with one trial, Another one's coming. When that's over, another one's
coming. The trials, the temptations, the difficult, difficult. Life's
hard. Life's hard. But oh, how blessed
is that man who endures all the way to the end. That's what that's
talking about in enduring. Blessed is that man who endures. And that endurance is not just
staying religious. That endurance is looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ as all you have till your dying breath. Never graduating past that. That's
the best place you can be. Oh, how blessed is that man who
endures temptation. Peter said in 1 Peter 4.14, if
you be reproached, For the name of Christ, happy are you. Now that's the same thing as
being persecuted for righteousness sake and here's what it is to
be reproached for the name of Christ. It's because you maintain
and believe and will not accept anything short of the righteousness
of Jesus Christ being the only righteousness there is. And you
hold onto him as your only righteousness before God. All other righteousnesses
are filthy rags and nothing more. Happy are you if you're persecuted. reproached for the name of Christ. How blessed of God you are. And what I'd like to mention
lastly, I'm just going to mention them. This deserves a message
in itself, and I've actually preached this message some years
ago, but the Beatitudes of Revelation. There are seven of them. Seven
blessednesses that are called upon in the book of Revelation.
First, Revelation 1.3, blessed is he that readeth, and they
that hear the word of this prophecy." You're blessed of God to read
and to hear what's being said, the words of this prophecy. Revelation 14, 13, I love this. Blessed are the dead. that die in the Lord. Yea, from henceforth saith the
Spirit they have rest from all their labors, and their works
do follow them. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. And then Revelation 16, 15. Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Now what does that mean? That
means you always want to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ
and anything else will be nothing but shame to you. And you watch
to keep your garments, the righteousness and merits of Christ. Revelation
19, nine, blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper
of the Lamb. What a blessing that is. His
marriage supper, to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
to spend eternity at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 20, verse 6, blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. That's
regeneration. That's the first resurrection. Do you know if
you've been born again, you've been resurrected from the dead?
The same almighty power that was used in raising Christ from
the dead raised you up from spiritual death and gave you life. Blessed
is he and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,
regeneration, on such the second death hath no power. Revelation
22 7, blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of
this book. And Revelation 22 14, blessed
are they that do his commandments that they might have right to
eat of the tree of life. They believe the gospel. They
love one another as he has given them commandment. They have right
to eat. Right. Right. You got it coming. To eat of the tree of life. Now, to be blessed of God. And I love the way the Lord Jesus
announces to us that he is the one who tells us who is blessed. I can't do it. No man can do
it, but he does. The last word of the Old Testament,
curse. The first words that come out
of our Lord's mouth in this glorious Sermon on the Mount, blessed,
highly favored of God. I want to be one of those people. The gospel begins with blessed. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are, how we thank you that you're the blessed God, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed in yourself. How we thank you
for all your glorious attributes, the revelation of your character.
How we thank you for the forgiveness of sins we have in your son. How we thank you for his perfect
righteousness as our righteousness before God. How we thank you
for giving us ears to hear, eyes to see. How we thank you that
you've bestowed the blessing of your grace, the blessedness
of You saving us by Christ, by Your grace, for Your glory, we
give thanks in Christ and we pray. Amen.