Sovereign Grace Chapel, located at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. If you'd like to follow along, I'm gonna be in Deuteronomy chapter 33. Deuteronomy chapter 33. It's the next to last chapter. I want to begin reading verse one. Just gonna read the first three verses.

Deuteronomy 33 verse one. This is the blessing. Wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, the Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth from Mount Paran and he came with 10,000 of saints. from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Now here's the blessing. Yea, he loved the people. All his saints are in thy hand, and they sat down at thy feet. Every one shall receive of thy words.

this message I've entitled The Believer's Blessing. The Believer's Blessing. I read something by Spurgeon. I sent a copy of it to Walter and Paul. Spurgeon wrote this, I venture to say that the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness. Sickness has frequently been of more use to the saints of God than health has. And I got to thinking about that, and I'm thinking, well, you know, he's actually got a point. I believe it's true, because here it is. The weaker we know ourselves to be, the more dependent we are on God.

And here in Deuteronomy chapter 33, we believers are told the blessing of the Lord. Now Moses is getting ready to die. but he gives this blessing from the Lord. Now this is from the Lord, this is not from Moses, this is from the Lord. Oh my. Before his death. You need to know the blessing of the Lord before your death. Oh my. And these are the words of the Lord to his people, his saints. It's amazing to see that word sometimes in the Old Testament. It's a good word. And that's what believers are. They are the saints of God.

Now, I don't feel like a saint, but I am. You don't look like a saint, but you are if you believe Christ, if you know Christ. And this is his blessing, the Lord's blessing to believers through the words of Moses. So let's start it right here.

First thing. The believer is loved by God. Loved by God. And I like how he starts it out in verse three with that word, that little word, yea. Yea, here we are. Because listen, everything that comes from the Lord is yea and amen. That's what it is. All the Lord says for his people is yea. even when it doesn't feel like it, even when the internet doesn't work and we can't do a broadcast. It's yay, it's yay. Oh my, he says yay. This is a great word to begin the blessing of the Lord for his people. Start it with a positive, yay. Here we are, what's he say then, yay? He loved the people. He loved the people.

And notice very carefully, Moses wrote this, he said it in the past tense. In the past tense. Ah. Because let me tell you something. If God loves you, Christ loves you, he always has loved you. Especially when you didn't know it. Oh my. When you didn't know it, when they didn't know it, God loved them. In slavery, in Egypt, he loved them. In the wilderness for 40 years, he loved them. He loved them. Oh my. He loved them, actually, if you want to go down to it, before the world began. He chose them in his Son before the world began. And he loved them. He chose them in love in the Son, Jesus Christ.

And then the Lord, I talked about this a while back, the Lord gave them to his Son in times past. Oh my, you know why he gave them to his Son? Because he loved the Son. The father loved the son. The father loved the people. This is where, I'm gonna tell you something, this is where all blessing starts. In love. In love. God is love. And all his blessing starts out in love. For his son and for his people. That's good stuff. Toward his people, everything from the Lord flows from the love of God.

And here's the other part. From the beginning, every blessing flows with the love of God for his people and for his son. All blessings flow from God, from the love of God.

What? his saints, all his saints. The love of the Lord Jesus Christ is for his people, and I'm gonna tell you something, this love is perpetual. I like that word, I like that word. Doesn't have a beginning, doesn't have an end. Yay, yay, the Lord loved his people. Yay, he loved the people. And I'm gonna tell you, the people are his people. His saints, his saints. The love of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no end to it. There's no end to it.

Oh my, what'd he say? I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed, even though you might deserve to be consumed. even though we might deserve to be burned up. But no, yay, yay. The Lord loved the people. Oh, I like that, I do. John 13, verse one, put it this way. It says, now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, unto the Father. And what's it say? loved his own, which were in the world. He loved them unto the end. There's no end to the love of God, which is in Christ. And I'm gonna tell you something, folks, that's a blessing. That's a blessing. Yea, he loved the people. Oh, I like that. All his saints, all his saints.

So that's the first point, the believer is loved by him. The second point is this, the believer is secured in him. What's the next part of that verse say? Let me see. Yea, he loved the people, all his saints are in thy hand. Is there a better place to be? Is there a better place to be? Oh my. John 10 verse 28 says this. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Those are the words of Christ. But he didn't stop there. He says, my father. which gave them me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I'm telling you something, folks. Yea, he loved the people. All thy saints are in thy hand. Oh, all the saints are in thy hand. And even better, all his saints are in his hand. Oh, I like that.

I'm gonna tell you something. This is eternal life, to be in the hand of the Father and the Son. There's no more secure place to be. Oh, you know. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God's got him in his hand. Christ has him in his hand. The Father has him in his hand. Who's gonna pluck him out? Nobody, nothing. Oh my. This is eternal life, to be in the hand of the Father and the Son. Believers are secure in his hand, in his hand. Believers are safe in his hand. Oh my. Loved and secure. That's good stuff. That's good stuff, I like that.

Then who is it? What'd he say? All his saints. All his saints. All his saints. all that were chosen in the Son, all that were given to the Son, all that are called by the name of God. All his saints are in his hand. There's not one out there wandering alone. Doesn't matter. I'm gonna tell you something. You can read in the first little bit of Hebrews about where he's put his angels as ministering over you when you didn't know him. There is a truth to a guardian angel. It's not them idiot statues they got on sale at the gift shop, okay? That's not it, folks. His angels minister to his people. He's guiding your steps even when you're lost. You didn't know it, didn't want it. It's okay.

God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. Yea, he loved the people. All, all, what? All his saints are in his hand. I am the Lord, I change not. If you're in his hand now, you was in his hand then. If you was in his hand now, you've always been in his hand. Oh my, I like that. Oh my. He keeps us safe and secure in his hand.

In Isaiah 49, there's a question. Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, ain't no different now. Yea, they may forget, yet. Oh, here we go. Nevertheless, yet I will not forget thee. Behold, here it is, here it is. These are the words of the Lord in Isaiah. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me.

Listen, folks, the saints, all his saints, are graven in the palms of his hand. He holds us in his hand. He holds us. I said it last week, believers belong to him. They belong to him. He owns them. He bought them. Oh, he paid the price. And they're graven in his hands. You understand, I thought about this. Because I remember Earl used to like that, the old Mahalia Jackson song. He's got the whole world in his hands. And actually, that's true. I mean, there's nothing, he does have the whole world in his hands, but his saints are engraved in his palms. He's sovereign over the whole world, but his saints are in his hands, are in his hands. Oh, I like that.

He rules over all. But believers, the saints, are engraved, carved into his hands. What's that mean? Well, it means he made us and he keeps us. He keeps us. The believer is secured in him.

Now, the next part of this verse, I love this, They sat down at thy feet. That's good. Now he's still talking about the same people. Oh, the Lord loved the people, all his saints are in thy hand, and they sat down at thy feet. I'm gonna tell you something. Some days, sitting down is good. And in some places, sittin' down is the best. Sittin' down is good at the feet of Christ. At thy feet, at the feet of Christ. I'm gonna tell you, it's real good. It's real good.

Christ said one thing here himself. This is in Luke 13, verse 29. And they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north, what? And from the south. That's from everywhere. And shall sit down in the kingdom of God. Now there he was talking to Jews, but he was also bringing in the Gentiles. They're gonna come. North, east, west, south, it doesn't matter. All that matters is, are they his people? The Lord loved the people. All his saints are in his hands. and they sat down at his feet.

Here's the thing, do you wanna sit down in the kingdom of God? There's one place that says we're gonna sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And you know what that sitting down is? That's a reference to sitting down to a feast, to a feast, to be fed by the Lord at his table. Oh, I like that too. Do you wanna sit down in the kingdom of God? Because I'm gonna tell you something, that sounds good to me. That sounds good because it is good. Oh. Then there's that one particular incident with the fellow they call the Gadarene Demoniac. Once Christ, and here's the thing, once Christ set that man free from the bondage he was in, the bondage of being possessed by A legion of devils. What happened?

And they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion. How'd they find that fella? Sitting. Sitting. Sitting, what? And clothed. And in his right mind. In his right mind. And here's the kicker, and they were afraid. They were afraid.

I'm going to tell you something. If unbelievers ever get a glimpse of the power of God, they're going to be afraid. They're going to be afraid. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Oh, my.

Oh. Seated and clothed and in his right mind. That's where I wanna be. That's where I wanna be. Jesus gave the example, one part about the lost son. When he says, when he came to himself, he said, I'll rise and go to my father's house. His servants are living better than I do. I'll go and make myself a servant. No, the father received him when he came home.

But here's the thing, he was out there all that time and never came to himself. This gathering demoniac had never been in his right mind. But when God lays hold of you, oh, you're gonna be found sitting down, clothed, and in your right mind. Oh, I like that, I do.

Here's an astounding statement, because pay attention to this. What does it say? They sat down at thy feet. The saints, believers, the people, sit willingly at the feet of Christ. That's where they want to be. That's where we want to be, sitting at thy feet. And that's a position of submission and it's a position of interest, of interest.

They sat at Christ's feet when he taught. There were people who came, there was a woman who came and bathed his feet with her tears and wiped them and dried them with her hair. That's a place of submission. It's a place of worship. It's a place of interest in learning. And they sat down. I like that. They sat down. Why? He's got them in his hand. He loved them. And they sit down at his feet. Oh my.

Revelation 3 and 21 says this astounding statement. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me. These are the words of Christ. With me in my throne. Even as I also overcame and am set down with my father in his throne. We're seated and he's on the throne. Oh my, he's on the right hand of the majesty on high.

And you know where we are, where the people are, where all his saints are? They're right there with him. They're right there with him. Doesn't feel like it sometimes, folks. It doesn't feel like it, but you're there. If you're his, you're there. because you're there in him, not in yourselves, not in your works, not in your actions, but in him, you're there. Where? Sitting down, sitting down.

Oh, here's the thing. Believers sit and have been seated at his feet. By his grace and by his power, we are at his feet. Oh, and here's the thing. We're where we wanna be. You understand, that's a good place to be, is at the feet of Christ. That's a good place to be.

So where are believers right now? Well, every one of us. All the saints, all the people of God, all that are by, All that are in him and made by his workmanship, the believer is seated at his feet. And that's where we wanna be.

Now, the fourth thing. The believer receives his word. That's what it says. Everyone shall receive of thy words. Let's be clear, this is not optional. The believer shall receive his word, he shall. Also remember, as I just said, his word is only received when you're in your right mind. But he's gotta give you your right mind. But we are commanded, all people are commanded to hear his word.

24 times in the Old Testament, this exact phrase is used. I'm not gonna go into them all, but I'm just gonna give it to them, because I know you've read it. Here, the word of the Lord says it 24 times in the Old Testament. And you know what? He meant it 24 different times. And there are variations. That's just the one phrase I picked out and searched.

because we are to hear the word of the Lord. What's that mean? We are to receive it. We are to receive it. It's out there. It's right here. In black and white and maybe the words of Jesus Christ in red, I don't know. Depends upon what you got, but here it is. This is his word. We are to hear the word of the Lord. What does it say? Everyone shall receive of thy words.

Mm. Actually, in the New Testament, there was a voice came from the clouds at the Mount of Transfiguration. Matthew 17 five put it this way. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Hear ye him. Hear ye him. Understand, that was a commandment. That wasn't a suggestion either. That was a commandment of the almighty God. Hear, receive his words. receive his words.

And here's the thing. Believers do hear his word. Believers hear his voice. All his saints will hear his voice. All the people will hear his voice. They'll hear his voice, I'm gonna tell you. Because here's the thing, believers desire the sincere milk of the word. Believers want the meat of his word. His people love to hear his gospel. They love to hear his gospel. They like to hear his word. They wanna hear from the Lord the word of the Lord.