Well. The Lord has been pleased to
give us. The beginning of another year. And for that I'm thankful. I would like for you to be. Remember. As you. pray. Pray for this church. Pray for this assembly. That
the Lord might be pleased to maintain the hearing of the gospel
of His grace. Pray for those that are in our
midst that are sick. And I want you to especially be praying
for Our brethren in Japan, Kyle Brink and Hiromi, I never cease
to be made thankful as I continue the communication with these
two people and pray for them. Every time they cross your name,
Kyle and Hiromi, Pray that the Lord this day might
be pleased to speak to our hearts. I would desire to hear from Him.
This morning, the promise that we have, we know that He is here. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in My name, I am in the midst of you. The
holy angels are here. based on the authority of the
Word of God from Ephesians 3, 9, 10, in that area. We pray that we might hear, that
the Spirit of God might speak, that we might be blessed. Let's
pray together. Our Father, truly a joy and a
privilege to be able to assemble ourselves together in Your blessed
and holy name. We thank You for Your mercy and
grace that You would give us a heart to want to be here and to hear the unsearchable
riches of the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Would
you bless us this day in the hearing of your gospel? Lord
Jesus, we thank You for Your presence and ask You, cause us to hear Your voice by the Spirit of God for Your
sake. Amen. Revelation 22, verse 14. Revelation 22, verse 14. I've
entitled this message, Who Are the Blessed? There are some that are. Who are the blessed? Revelation 22, 14 says this,
blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have
right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates
into the city. This is the fourth truth that
is not sealed. The Lord told John, But don't
seal the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Don't seal them. Blessed are they that perform, that continue
in, that carry out. This truth has to do with God's
blessing and His people's Obedience. Obedience. Now there's a blessing that's
taught here, promised here, to all that are obedient to God
Almighty. Now this obedience is set forth
in 1 John 3.23. I want you to take your Bibles and turn to 1 John 3.23. 1 John 3.23 says, And this is His
commandment. If you want to know what the
commandment of God is, if you want to know what obedience to
God is, here it is, that you should believe on the name of
His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandment. the keeping or doing of His commandments. It's not optional. It's not optional as to the blessing. It's imperative. God's blessing
and man's obedience, his people's obedience. Not hit and miss, give or take,
now and then, maybe God's people are obedient people. No obedience to God, no blessing. But knowing something of the
frailty of my heart, the question is honestly asked, how can I
be accepted before Almighty God obedient to Almighty God, knowing
what I am, knowing something of my frailty. And believe me, I say something
of my frailty because I don't know the depth of what I am in
myself. I excuse myself. I'm not really
that bad. That's just the way I see it.
Oh, wretched man that I am. How is it that I can know something
of obedience before Almighty God? How can I be accepted? Turn to Ephesians 1, 1 and 2.
Ephesians 1. Verses 1 and 2, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus and to the faithful, now listen, in Christ Jesus. Faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. When we start talking about obedience,
true obedience, faithfulness, we cannot talk concerning true
faithfulness apart from Him. His faith, His faithfulness as
the Son of Man must be counted from my faith and my faithfulness."
You go back and you read. Read in the Psalms. Read the words of the Messiah
Himself. Read the words of Him who is
the Son of Man. I was reading the other day the
account of Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Now you have to
understand, I am going to quote a Scripture that you are very
familiar with. And here is absolute obedience and submission as the
man, Christ Jesus. Here is God Almighty in flesh and blood, and saying,
Father, if this cup can pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but
Thine be done." You say, how in the world can
it be that He who to set his face as a flint. How can it be? I'll tell you
exactly how it can be. Here he is in absolute submission to the Father. Here he is as
my representative, bowing. Father, if it be Your will, that
leper came to the Lord Jesus one day and said, Lord, If you
will, you can make me whole." And the Lord said, I will. The
Lord Jesus Christ said, Father, if it be your will that this
cup could pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Obviously, it was not the Father's
will. He was there to atone for His people, to redeem His people. But he was right there as my
representative in absolute submission and obedience. I want you to turn to Psalm 119.
Psalm 119. Listen to the words. I'm talking about obedience. Psalm 119. Now listen to the
words here as the Spirit of God reveals unto us, His people,
obedience. Verse 1, Blessed are the undefiled, the perfect, the sincere. Blessed are the undefiled in
the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Now we just read
over in Revelation 22, blessed are those that keep His
commandments. Blessed are the perfect in the
way who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are the upright
who are in Him who is the way. You see, that blessed are the
undefiled in the way. The Lord said, I'm the way. I'm
the truth. I'm the life. No man comes to
the Father but by Me. He is the way. So blessed are
the perfect, the sincere, the holy, undefiled, who are in Christ, who is holy. harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. Blessed are
those who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who walk by
faith in Christ, who is the fulfillment of God's
law. He has absolutely fulfilled the
law of God in flesh and blood. There's the fulfillment of it.
He's the end of it. Perfect. I love thy law. The law is holy and just and
good, as I said before. Don't ever talk down to God's
law. The problem is you just can't keep it. That's all. Don't
pat yourself on the back. Blessed are the holy, the undefiled,
the sincere, the perfect who are in Christ, who walk in Him
who has fulfilled the law of the Lord. Verse 2, Blessed are they that
keep His testimonies and that seek Him with a whole heart.
Blessed are they, that is, the people of God that keep, that
guard, that maintain, that obey, His testimonies, His witness,
His laws. How? How do they keep His testimonies? First of all, let me remind us
all of something. Who is the testimony of God? Who is the Word Himself? See, we're so prone to separate
and we start forgetting. Christ is all and in all. In
Him is life. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ. Blessed are they that keep Christ. the testimonies of God
Himself. He who has revealed the Father.
No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son. He revealed
Him. Blessed are they that keep His
testimonies and that seek Him with a whole heart. A new heart. A true heart. A heart given by God. I'll give
them a new heart. That's what He said. Look at verse 3. They also do
no iniquity. They walk in His ways. They also do no iniquity. They is obviously plural. It's
talking about the people of God. Are you telling me that in Christ,
you're telling me that being put in Him, kept in Him, you're
telling me that my union with Him, robed in His righteousness, you're telling me that given
a new heart, new mind, you're telling me that this says that
they also Do no iniquity. That's exactly what I'm telling
you. In Christ. In Christ. In Christ, the new creature,
He that is born from above, He lives upon Christ by faith. Christ is all of the righteousness
of His people. He is their holiness. He is our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, our redemption. We live with Him, in Him. That's why I just quoted, for
me to live is Christ, to die is gain. This is what Paul is
saying, living in this world, is to exist with Christ and to
die, to leave this world physically, is the profit or the interest.
That word gain, it means profit, like you put some money in the
bank and you've got some profit. For me to die, there's the profit.
That's the gain of it. also do no iniquity." Undefiled. 1 Peter 1.15. Can we back up what we say with
Holy Scripture? 1 Peter. We know this. In us, we know there dwells no
good thing. We know that that to will is
present with us, but how to accomplish that which we would we find not.
But what we're doing is we're talking about Him that Almighty God has looked
upon and said concerning His Son. That's my beloved Son. That's
who I'm well pleased with. He is our obedience toward God,
acceptance toward God. 1 Peter 1.15 But as He which hath called you
is holy, be ye holy in all manner of conversation, as it is written,
Be ye holy, for I am holy." In Christ this morning, in Him, in Him, the people of God, Accept
it in the Beloved. Hear those words of our Lord
in that great day, that great day of the judgment. Well done to the sheep. Well
done by good and faithful servants. How! How! How! Only in Him. back in Psalm 119, verse 4, Thou
hast commanded us to keep Thy precepts diligently. You, Lord, You, Lord God of heaven,
You've commanded us to believe upon Your Son. John 6, 28-29, Then said they
unto Him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom
He has sent." Obedience. God's people, as we've been dealing
recently, obedient people. They long for obedience. They
hunger for obedience. They thirst after Christ who
is their obedience. They're frail creatures. And
they see in this body of flesh and blood that's not going to
inherit the kingdom of God. This body can't inherit eternity. This corruption is going to have
to put on incorruption. And we find a struggle going
on in us. There's a new man that's within
this same body. This was the body in which I
was born over 60 years ago. And it's failing. It's going
down. And what happened was I was born
with an old nature. of disobedience. And old nature
that said this, I'm not going to have this man to rule over
me. And in conversion, in regeneration,
there was a new man put in. There was a new man imparted.
There was life imparted. It was the life of Christ Himself. In him was life. And this new creature, this new
man, he's alive. He's alive unto God. He hungers
after God. He loves God. He thirsts after
God. He thirsts after righteousness,
obedience, And there's an old man that's absolutely despising
this new man. And they struggle and they strive
one against another. And they hate, despise one another. They're contrary. They don't
get along. And here's this new man that
longs for obedience. And here's this body of sin that
fights against Him. You're not going to do that.
You can't do that. It's a struggle. Here's that
new man. This morning you're sitting here,
you that believe, you're sitting here and you're hearing the Word
of God. And you think, this is the sweetest
thing I've ever heard in my life. Here's God Almighty speaking. God's telling me that in Him,
in Christ, that I'm holy and without blame. Here's God telling
me that I do no iniquity. in him, this
new man, that which is born of God that sins not. And the old
man said, I don't care. I don't care about that. What difference does that make?
Who cares? Maybe he'll just hurry up. Maybe
we'll get out early. Who knows? He's done it a few
times, not many. But whether he does or whether
he doesn't, I don't care. In fact, I hate that. Who cares
about holiness? All I care about is despising
God. And the new man says, I don't like to think that. And that
new man hears these words. And this is what the new man
says in Psalm 119 verse 5, Oh, that my ways were directed to
keep thy statutes. All the statutes that are summed
up into this one ordinance. Philippian Jailer said, what
must I do? What must be found in me? What
sign is it? You guys, you servants of the
Most High God, tell me something. What it is. I've heard all of
these others. I've heard everybody else tell
me what I've got to do to be saved. All these other works that I'm
supposed to do. Tell me what it is. Tell me.
What sign is it? Paul said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thou shalt be saved. back in Revelation 22, verse
14. Let's finish this. Blessed are
they that do His commandments. And I'm telling you that doing
His commandments, blessed in Him, all of His commandments,
doing all of His commandments is summed up this one way. They believe on Him. That's all
of them. That's all of them. That they
may have right to the tree of life. That word right, right there
is a legal term. They have a lawful, legal right. Whenever we disobey God, Satan. I'm going to deal with
this in a week or so, Lord willing. But Satan, who is referred to
in the Scriptures that has the power of death. Now, you know
this. Satan does not... The Lord. The Lord killeth. The Lord maketh
alive the Lord. But when it's talking about Satan
having the power of death, what it is, standing upon a legal, standing. The soul that is sinning
is going to die. The strength of the law is sin. So Satan is standing here and
he is saying, wait a minute, whoa, lawfully, lawfully these are going to I'll tell you this, lawfully
the Lord Jesus Christ atoned for His people. Made sin. Being made sin, yet obedient. Never is the Scripture set forth
that He was made a sinner. Don't ever, ever, ever refer
to Him as a sinner. Sinner has to do with disobedience,
the transgression of the law. That's sin. He is not a transgressor. He
was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He's
not a sinner. But the Scripture says he was
made sin. And God dealt with him as our
substitute, our legal substitute. and absolutely in righteousness. He legally, righteously put away
our guilt. The law was satisfied. The law
was satisfied. And He took what we are, His
elect, His people, and made it His own. My iniquities, Psalm
40, my iniquities have taken hold upon me. He made them his
own. And he dealt with God Almighty,
God's law in absolute righteousness. And the law was satisfied. Its justice was satisfied. There he is as our representative,
all of the chosen in Christ, the elect, the bride, the objects
of his mercy. And there he is. And by one sacrifice,
He hath perfected, perfected forever them that are in Him." And God's law is satisfied. The law is satisfied. The law
is satisfied. And no condemnation by God's
law to them that are in Christ Jesus. None! None! None! Scripture
says, blessed are they that do His commandments. They have a
right. They have a right. They have a right. I can eat of Him. I love. I have a right to it. A right. If we confess our sins, If we
confess what we are by nature as being born in Adam, that's
what that's saying. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just
to forgive us our sins. He's just to do it. If we confess what we are, that
is the evidence of regeneration. If we confess what we are by
nature, that's a sign. That's the evidence that Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us. If we confess what we are by
nature, because by nature we won't unless God Almighty does
something for us. We won't. You say, can you make good on
that? Yeah. Two men went up to pray into
the temple. One of them was a publican. The other one was a Pharisee.
A publican wouldn't even lift up his eyes toward heaven. He said, God, be merciful to
me, a sinner. The Pharisee said, boy, I'm glad
I'm not like everybody else is, especially this publican over
here. I mean, I tithe and I fast twice
a week. Sinner? What do you mean a sinner? If we confess what we are before
Almighty God, that in ourselves we have no right, we have no
legal standing, we have nothing to merit us approaching God Almighty. If we confess what we are, that's
the evidence of life. God has made you to see what
you are by nature. Upon His merit, we have a right
to the tree of life. That's what Revelation 2 says.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree
of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. And may enter in through the
gates into the city. You know, for sake of time, you
know we looked at this last chapter. These gates over which was written
all of the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Spiritual Israel. There was the names. They have
a right. There's their names written over that gate. Three gates, three gates, three
gates, three gates. free on each side of the city,
holy city. There was their names. Marvin Stoniker. There's my name. I have a right to enter in. A
right that was given me in Christ Jesus, ordained by God Almighty
according to His everlasting love. He hath made me accepted
in the Beloved. And everyone that He calls out
of darkness, calls by His grace, gives them a heart Here they
are, in Christ Jesus, robed in His righteousness. Blessed people. Obedient people. And what's the evidence of their
obedience? They believe God. They believe Christ. Abraham
believed God. It was counted unto him for righteousness.
Not that his obedience was the merit of his righteousness. His
obedience was the evidence that Almighty God had given him a
new heart, robed him in the righteousness of Christ, charged him with the
blessed righteousness of the Redeemer. May God be pleased
to bless this word to our heart and be a comfort to us this morning.
For Christ's sake, Amen.