Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Pardon for sin, and a peace that
endures. Thine, O dear Princess, to cheer
and to guide, Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings, O mine, with ten thousand
besides. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great
is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have need is Thy hand hath
provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Thank you, John. Thank you, Robin.
It has been a joy and a blessing to have Brother David Edmondson,
pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Madisonville, Kentucky, with
us, and Teresa. Thank them for coming. Thank the Lord for the messages
we've heard. And that's all. The Lord has given him the gift
to preach and play and sing. And he may not get around to
telling you this, so I'm going to tell it. Years ago, before the Lord revealed
himself to David, before he knew the truth, he was in religion.
Charismatic religion and big time religion. He auditioned
for the lead piano part with one of the most well-known evangelist
on TV today. If I said his name, you'd know
who it is. Everybody knows him. And then
another leading evangelist, whose name you would know well, offered
him the job. A lot of money back then. And
I don't know what happened. I do know what happened. He heard the truth. The Lord
revealed himself to him and saved him. The Lord saved him out of
religion. I'm so glad. I'm so glad now
he's a nobody like the rest of us. We sure are thankful for
him. Come preach to us again. Aren't you glad that it's his
great faithfulness that saves us and not ours? I can't express my gratitude
and thankfulness to you, this church, for having me. Paul and
Mindy are always so gracious. Teresa and I love coming to Rocky
Mount. We tell everybody we vacation
here every year. We do. We love to come here. We love you, each of you. You're
always so kind and so gracious to us. Go ahead and turn with me to
Psalm 72, if you would. Just one verse we'll look at
here, and then we'll go to the passage that Brother David read
in Ephesians. Psalm chapter 72. We live in a religious world,
don't we? Religion is just rampant. It's
a religious world that's obsessed with being blessed. Have you
ever noticed that? When you sneeze, people say,
God bless you. You can't go anywhere anymore
without someone saying, have a blessed day. Have a blessed
day. Parents teach their children
to pray. Their prayers are bless mommy and bless daddy and bless
Aunt Susie, even bless Fido. And they go down the list of
all that they desire to be blessed. Sadly, most people don't have
a true understanding at all of what it means to be blessed in
a biblical sense, in a godly sense. What do the scriptures mean by
being blessed? People just flippantly use the
word blessed and they have no idea what it really means. Oh,
I know they think they know what it means. They say, oh, I'm blessed,
you're blessed, we're blessed, everybody's blessed. But are they? But are they? The world's definition of blessed
means many things. Probably ask 10 different people
and get just as many answers. To some, being blessed means
good fortune, money, wealth, possessions, land, material things. To others, it means that things
are going well. Someone wins the lottery and
folks call them blessed. Oh, they're blessed. They're
blessed. A big inheritance, and people
call them blessed. Someone's happy the biggest part
of the time. Things seem to always go well
for them, whether they know God or not. And they are said to be blessed. But are they? I want to ask you a very serious
question. Can a sinner without Christ,
be blessed. The world and those of the world
consider a man or woman to be blessed. As I said a moment ago,
if they have good fortune, wealth, great success, notoriety, fame,
popularity, all they're blessed. What a blessed man or woman.
Prestige and power, all they're blessed. The Lord's really blessed
him. Has he? You know, oftentimes those things
prove to be a curse, not a blessing. I ran across a passage not long
ago in Malachi 2. Let me read it to you. Verse
2, it says, If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to
heart to give glory unto my name, sayeth the Lord of hosts, I will
even send a curse upon you and I'll curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed them already
because you do not lay it to heart. A sinner that doesn't
know Christ and the redemption that's found only in Him by the
mercy and the grace and the compassion of God gives no glory to God. What shall it profit a man if
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? If he
is said to be blessed? A faithful man shall abound with
blessings, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be
innocent. I remember a dear friend of mine
one time who was a believer, bought a lottery ticket, first
time he ever bought one. And he was literally scared to
death he was going to win. Things that people in this world
believe to be a blessing can often be a curse, most of the
time are. Now let me also say, so that
you don't misunderstand me, I know that everything that we have, Everything that we are apart
from being wretched, no good sinners who deserve nothing but
eternal wrath, judgment and condemnation is in one sense a blessing. I
know that. I don't want to be ridiculous
or radical or fanatical. I understand that. All things
are determined by the predestinating purpose and power of God. Yet,
I seriously ask you, how can any sinner who is without Christ,
the scripture says is without hope and without God in this
world, can be thought to be blessed? Here in Psalm 72, in verse 17,
the Holy Spirit through the words of the psalmist,
tells us what it is to be blessed. And speaking of Christ, we read
verse 17, His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued
as long as the sun. And notice these words, six words,
and men shall be blessed in Him. How are you and I blessed? In
Him. Where are we blessed? Well, we're
blessed in Him. Why are we blessed? Because of
Him. Did you know that the word blessed
in the original Hebrew language means to be made straight? It means to be made right or
to be made righteous. It means an act of being made
holy. Men shall be blessed. Men shall
be holy. Men and women shall be holy,
straight, and righteous in Him. That's all we want. The word blessed also means an
act of adoration. Look at the last part of verse
17. It says, And all nations shall
call Him, speaking of Christ, shall call Him blessed, adored,
holy, righteous. Why? It's because of our union
with Christ that you and I are blessed. You look up the word blessed
in the English dictionary, It tells you the same thing. It
means to be endowed with divine favor. Boy, I like that. I want divine favor. It means
to be endowed with divine protection. I'm pretty sure that when the
nice lady at the restaurant or at the pharmacy or at Walmart
takes your money and says, thank you, have a blessed day, that's
not what she had in mind. She doesn't mean for you to be
made holy, or made righteous, or adored of God. She means that
she hopes everything goes well for you, and I appreciate that. She's wishing you good health
and prosperity, and I appreciate that. So here's our subject for a few
minutes this morning. Just those six words is what
I want you to think about. shall be blessed in him. Blessed in him. It's about being blessed as God
defines it. The question I proposed to you
this morning could very well, John, be the title of my message. Has God blessed you? Has God
blessed you? We know that being blessed is
an act of God toward us. It has to be. If any man or woman
is going to be blessed, there's only one way they can be blessed,
and that's in Him. Men shall be blessed in Him.
So it's definitely an act of God toward us, not an act of
us toward God. We bless God only because He
blesses us, just the same as we love God because He first
loved us. Men shall be blessed. It's only
in Christ that sinners are blessed, made holy and righteous. No other
way. The elect of God are going to
have to be adorned. Boy, that's a good word. Adorned. Going to have to be
adorned in Christ to really be biblically blessed. That word
adorned means to be made beautiful and attractive. When you look like I do, that's
some interest to you. That'll mean something to you
if you see that you're an ugly and undesirable in the sight
of God. For a sinner to be adorned means
to be made holy and without blame before Him, before God. and love. It means to be made unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight. It don't matter much how we see
one another, it matters how God sees us. In God's sight. I want to be adorned. I want to be made beautiful and
attractive in His sight. One day the Church of God will
stand as the Bride of Christ You ever think about that? Him is my heavenly husband. And
there I am adorned in holiness, perfection, perfect righteousness. Oh, I can't get over the thought
of that. Made beautiful. before our Heavenly Husband,
Revelation 21. And the divine act of being made
perfect, adorable, acceptable, holy, and without blame is what
it means to be blessed. And you can only be blessed in
Him. Men shall be blessed in Him. God's sovereign act of blessing,
conforming a sinner to Christ, Making that sinner accepted in
the Beloved. I can't stand to hear folks say,
I accepted Jesus. Doesn't have anything to do with
salvation. Him accepting us has everything to do with it. Not our acceptance of Him, but
His acceptance of us. Accepted where? In the Beloved.
Who's that? That's Christ. And it all comes
back to Him, that men shall be blessed in Him. That's the very glory of God.
Isn't that what the Lord told Moses? Moses wanted to see the glory
of God, and the Lord said unto Moses, I'll do this thing also
that thou hast spoken, I'll do it. For thou hast found grace
in my sight, and I know thee by name." How is God going to
show a sinner his glory? First he said, I'm going to make
all my goodness pass before thee. Christ is the goodness of God.
Then he said, I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. How does God save sinners? By
the preaching of the gospel. This is God's glory. I will be
gracious to whom I'll be gracious, and I'll show mercy on whom I'll
show mercy. It takes great grace, doesn't
it? It takes marvelous mercy. Thou canst not see my face, for
no man shall see my face and live. Behold, there is a place
by me. Have you ever thought about that
place? Who's that talking about? Men
shall be blessed in him. And thou shalt stand upon a rock.
I wonder who that's talking about. Men shall be blessed in him.
And it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by. Whose God's
glory? That I'll put thee in a cliff
of the rock. I wonder who that cliff of the
rock is. We know who he is though. and will cover thee with my hand
while I pass by." Exodus 33. Now because of our redemption,
our being blessed in Him, being blessed in Christ, is the reason
the sinner blesses God. It's the reason we give all the
glory to God. He deserves all the glory. Look at verse 18. It says, Blessed
be the Lord. Same word, adored. Adored be
the Lord. Worshipped, praised, kneeled,
and submitted to be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only
doeth wondrous things. We bless God. adore, we kneel,
we submit, and we bow to God because of His loving, His choosing,
His calling, His justifying us in Christ. You know how I know? Because men are blessed in Him. What a glorious subject. What a glorious salvation. Men shall be blessed in him.
Well, are all men blessed? Are all men and women blessed? A sinner who does not know Christ
is certainly not blessed. Certainly not blessed. Not as
the Word of God describes it. By nature, men and women are
not blessed. Matter of fact, just the opposite.
By nature, we are all born under a curse. Adam is our federal head. I want
to say right now, I know you know how blessed you are to sit
under the gospel, to sit under the truth. Not everybody does. Very few
do. I think about the area there
that we live, Madisonville. It's got a sign there in town
that says, best town on earth. Well, I doubt it. But they're out there on Princeton
Pike. There's a little old church nobody
pays much attention to. It's been there for 50 years. Had
a faithful pastor, my pastor, for over 40 years. You say, now
where is it that you go? Bible Baptist Church. Where is
that? You tell them, they just kind of shake their head. But I'm telling you, the folks
there in that church, I'll tell you, they're blessed. Why? Because God was pleased to visit
them in His mercy and grace and reveal Christ to them. We had a Bible conference one
time. Cody Henson, he's been here.
I need to preach for you. Cody said, I saw that sign coming
into town, said Madisonville, best town on earth. He said,
I suppose this weekend it is. I like that. The blessings that we are freely
provided by God for the sustenance, the blessings that were, I'm
sorry, I read that wrong, that were freely provided by God for
the sustenance of Adam and Eve in the garden is now obtained
only by the work of the hands and the sweat of the brow. Why?
Because man was cursed. With great sorrow, women bring
forth children. These things are all included
and are a reminder to us of the curse that we're under. Apart
from Christ, men and women are not blessed. Not blessed. They're accursed. The bad news is for as many as
are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." If you're going to attempt
to be saved by doing a work of righteousness, you've got to
do them all, and you've got to do them all perfectly. If you
offend at one point, you're guilty of the whole law. How then can
a sinner be saved? Men shall be blessed in him.
The good news, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
How being made a curse for us, for as written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. And this has been pretty much
the theme for the preaching this weekend. The first thing God
shows a sinner after He gives them life is this, that the blessings
of God come through Christ and Christ alone. Preacher, do you ever preach
anything else but Christ? Nothing else is preaching. Nothing else is preaching. Folks
say, what are you preaching on this week? Same thing I preached
on last week, and the week before, and the week before that, I'm
preaching on Him. Because men and women sinners
are blessed in Him. That's it. Nothing else to preach. We find different places in this
book to preach Him from, but He's our message. Why? Because
He's salvation. Those of you who know that are
blessed. You're blessed. Only one way to be blessed, and
that's in Him, in Christ, the one mediator between God and
man. How many mediators are there? God's pretty clear about it.
One. Just one. Where are sinners blessed? Men
and women are blessed in Him. Folks say, have a blessed day.
You know, God doesn't bless days. I'm not trying to be cute. God
doesn't bless days. He blesses sinners and He blesses
them in Christ. May the Lord bless you. Well,
maybe He will and maybe He won't. But if God blesses you, it will
be in Christ and in Christ alone. I know that much. I sure am blessed. Well, if you are, it's only because
God chose you and God called you and God saved you and God
is conforming you into the image of His Son. That's why you're
blessed. It's not because you received,
achieved, or believed. The blessed man and woman that
has Christ And if they have Him, they have all that they need,
and they have all that God requires. I am so blessed. Okay, turn with me to Ephesians
1. An apostle of Jesus Christ by
the will of God. Why was Paul an apostle? By the
will of God. To the saints which are at Ephesus,
and look at this, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. How are men and women faithful?
In Him, in Christ. If you're faithful to God, if
you have faith in God, you must understand that faith is God's
gift. to a chosen sinner. People talk
about their faith today like it's something that they've conjured
up within themselves. Paul said you're saved by grace
through faith and that's not of yourself. Is that hard to understand? I
say that a lot, don't I? Because I'm a simple man. I need
it handed to me simply. It's not of yourself. I understand
that. It's the gift of God. I understand
that. God's gift to me. Not by works,
I understand that. By His mercy and grace. Saving
faith is given only to those who are found in Christ Jesus.
How do I know that? Because David said men shall
be blessed in Him. Now look at this, this was such
a revelation to me. Verse 3, how many times have
we read these verses? It says, blessed, verse 3. And here the Greek word means
the same as the Old Testament Hebrew word for blessed. It means
holy, it means made adorable, all that we've talked about.
But blessed, holy, and adorable be the God and the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us. And that's just a
small variation of the same word in the Old Testament. It means
to invoke or to appeal for. It means to call or to cause. You know, words in the Scriptures
mean something. God caused us to be blessed. God caused us to be holy, righteous,
and adorable. And in the courtroom of God's
justice, Christ makes appeal for us. The justice of God says,
guilty. Guilty. But Christ makes appeal before
his elect. What's his appeal? I died for
that sinner. I died for him. Ed Hill wrote
that old song years ago, Mercy said let that sinner go free. Mercy said that. What is his appeal? Let that
sinner go free. I died for him. I shed my blood
for him. I paid the debt. The wages of
sin is death paid. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. Nope, it's been paid. Christ makes appeal for His elect. And this shows us how blessed
we are. It shows us what Christ did for
us. As our perfect substitute, His sacrifice for sin was accepted. God accepted it. Why? Because
He was perfect. He was holy. He was righteous.
As our sacrifice for sin, our debt of sin was paid in full. Have you ever finally paid off a bank
note A few days later you get an envelope in the mail and you
open it up and there's that note that you signed 12 years ago.
And it's got a big old stamp on it that says, paid in full.
My, when I open up the charges of God against me and see that
stamped in blood, paid in full, I realize I'm a blessed man. Are you blessed? As our advocate, he cried from
the cross, it is finished. And that was his appeal and his
address to the justice of God. And because Christ was perfect
without spot and without blemish, you see, it must be perfect to
be accepted. God accepts nothing less than
perfection. And because of Christ's perfect
righteousness, He was accepted. And His people are blessed. And
now being in Him, Paul says here, all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places were given to the blessed Redeemer, how? In Christ. Where are these blessings found?
They're found in Him. You see, believing sinners shall
be blessed and healed. This is the message of the Gospel.
Blessed, adorable, worthy of worship is the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Read it here with me. By blessing us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places that we're blessed only in Him.
Did you know that there's no love of God outside of Christ? God loves you. Not outside of
Christ. There's forgiveness of sin, not
outside of Christ. There's no reconciliation with
God outside of Christ. We're alienated. We've got to
be reconciled only one way. Men shall be blessed in Him.
Look at verse 4. According as He hath chosen us,
where? In Him. You go through this chapter
and you Highlight all those in Him. It's just amazing. Why did the
whole chapter be marked up on it? 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. Where are sinners
chosen? In Him. When are sinners chosen? Before
the foundation of the world. Why are sinners chosen in Him? That they should be holy and
without blame before Him in love. This is all God's doing. Every
bit of it. How are sinners chosen? Look
at verse 5. Having predestinated, predetermined,
determined beforehand People say, but that's a long word. It just means that God does what
he wants to, and he did it before you and I could take any credit
or glory for it. That's what I love about election.
It removes all doubt about who does the saving. Before the two boys had done
any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, God does the saving. How are we having predestinated,
predetermined us unto the adoption of children? How? By Jesus Christ
Himself. According to the good pleasure
of whose will is will, men shall be blessed in Him. Look at verse
6. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath
made us accepted. Where are we accepted? In the
book. If you're blessed, If I'm blessed,
if we're blessed, it's only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I
mean to be redundant. You're thinking, oh boy, it's
like a skipped record. I mean to be redundant. Men and
women sinners shall be blessed, where? In Him. Who's made sinners accepted?
Jesus Christ has. Where are we accepted in the
beloved? That is Jesus Christ. Men are blessed in Him. Look
at verse 7. In whom? Not in a doctrine, is it? It's
in a person. In whom we have redemption. Where
is redemption? It's in Christ. How do we have
redemption? It's through Christ's blood.
Isn't that what it says? It was Christ's blood that was
shed to provide a perfect, righteous covering for God's elect. His
blood. Redemption is the forgiveness
and putting away of sins. God is too holy. God is too just. to just sweep sin under a rug,
to just ignore it. Well, you know, we parents, grandparents
especially, we overlook a lot of things with our children,
grandchildren, but God can't. He's too holy. He's too just. He will by no means clear the
guilty. If you're blessed with redemption,
then you're forgiven of your sins and you're blessed in Him.
Why are your sins forgiven? Why are you blessed according
to the riches of His grace? That's whose grace is. Not by
your works, not by your will, but according to the riches of
God's grace which are found only in Christ. Verse 8, wherein he
hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made
known unto us the mystery of his will, according to what?
His good pleasure, which he hath purposed where? In himself. The mystery of God's been made
known to us. The mystery of redemption is
revealed to us. What is that mystery? Sinners
are blessed only in Christ. Why is that mystery made known
to us? According to His good pleasure. How did our redemption come about?
He purposed our salvation to be found in Himself. And He gives all the glory. All
of it. And the child of God doesn't
want any of it. Look at verse 13, in whom, there's
that again, you also trust it. Isn't it a blessing to be enabled
to trust in Christ alone? For many years I'm trusting in
Christ, but I tell you what, I trusted in a lot of things
that old David did too. But now I trust in Him alone
because I see that my righteousness, my works, filthy rags, my righteousness. Can you imagine standing before
God and trying to present some work of righteousness that you've
done? After that you heard the word
of truth. After you heard the preaching of the unsearchable
riches of Christ, the gospel of your salvation. What is the
gospel? No, who is the gospel? In whom also after that you believe. Salvation is in a person. Salvation
is in Christ. Being blessed has to do with
believing in Christ. Why? Because men shall be blessed
in Him. Paul goes on to say, you were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, verse 18, which is
the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession. Have you ever noticed that word
in that verse? Purchased possession. Until the
praise of His glory. You see, our redemption was free
to us. But it wasn't free to Christ.
And it was purchased by Him. He purchased it for us. He paid
for our redemption with His blood. Our redemption is a purchased
possession. It's ours. It's our possession. Not purchased by us, no. Not
purchased by us, but purchased by God for us unto the praise
of whose glory? His glory. So let me say this. I don't know who you are. But this is my prayer for you.
Look at verse 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him. You know,
salvation is by divine revelation. You'll never You'll never believe
in Christ. You'll never trust in Christ.
You'll never rest in Christ. You'll never depend upon Christ
for the putting away of your sin until and unless God reveals
Him to you. He's got to be revealed to you. God has to show you. Look at verse 18, the eyes of
your understanding being what? Enlightened. Who does that enlightening? That you may know what is the
hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe according to
the working of His mighty power." Oh, it sounds like salvations
of the Lord to me. Verse 20, which he wrought, where?
In Christ. When He raised Him from the dead
and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and had put all things under His
feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is His body. We don't belong to ourselves,
friends. We belong to Him purchased. We're His body. The fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. Am I endeavoring to say just
this? Chosen sinners are blessed in
Him. All the blessings, the promises
of God in Him are yea, and in Him, amen, unto the glory of
God by us. That's pretty simple, really,
isn't it? Men don't have a problem understanding it, they just have
a problem believing it. They just don't like it. Who is the Lord? That I should bow to Him, should
listen to Him, should obey Him. People don't know God. So again
I ask you in closing, are you blessed? Are you worldly blessed? Or are you biblically blessed? Are you blessed by fame, fortune,
prestige, and comfort? Or are you made holy and righteous,
adorned with perfect righteousness? Made righteous in Him. For men shall be blessed in Him. I am so blessed. God has so richly blessed me. He's blessed me in Him. Have you been blessed? If you're yet lost and without
Christ, let me sincerely say, may God bless you. May God bless you. May God make
you holy and without blame before Him and love. And if you are
in Christ, then rejoice because you're truly blessed. And you will bless, you will
adore Him who made you so. You just will. He gives all the credit, all
the glory, all the honor. Brother Paul, thank you so much
again. Words just won't express our
gratitude. We love you. Thank you so much.