I invite you this morning to
turn with me again to Matthew chapter 16. I want to ask and answer this question. When is a man blessed of God? Somebody marries a wife, lovely
young lady, lives out his life without any major trouble. He
retires, enjoys the fruits of his labor, plays with his grandchildren,
and people look at him and say he's blessed. He's blessed. Man starts a business, works
hard, labors night and day, works weekends, over time becomes successful. People look at him and they say,
the Lord's blessed him. He's blessed of God. Another
man goes to school, gets a good education, becomes a professional,
respected in the community, perhaps even holds some offices in the
community. highly respected and renowned
in the place where he lives and folks say he's blessed. He's
blessed of God. But the truth of the matter is
that many reprobates and enemies of God have enjoyed all of these
things and died being cursed of God. David was angry with
the wicked. He said, they don't have any
band. They're not even troubled when
they die. There are no bands when they're
dead. They live a life of luxury and
ease they've never wanted for anything. Then he went into the house of
God and learned their end, and then he understood. When is a man or a woman truly
blessed of God? How do you determine the difference
between just having a form of religion or having the hand of
God upon our heads? How do we know? According to our text here in
Matthew 16 and verse 17, it has something to do with a revelation
from God. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. When you think about salvation,
eternal life, being blessed of God, does the word revelation
even enter into your thinking? Huh? Or do we tie that all together
with things that we see and feel and where we live, the house
we live in, the garden we raise? In 1 Corinthians 2, the Apostle
Paul tells the church that the gospel he preached was the wisdom
of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world under our glory, which none of
the princes of this world None of them knew, for had they
known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, and it's
written in Isaiah 64, four, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, now
listen, neither have entered into the heart of man, that is
mankind, any man, anywhere, the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. A man is blessed when he receives
this revelation of God. So how does this revelation come
to pass? Are we just going about our business
and suddenly one day the spirit of God just overwhelms us and
suddenly we just know? We just know. We're just out
there pulling weeds out of the garden and boom, it hits you
and you know. Does he come to us in the middle
of the night in a heavenly vision and tell us all these things?
How does this revelation of God come to men and women? Well,
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2.4 that his speech and his preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. What's he talking about demonstration
of the spirit and a power? Well, the spirit reveals these
things. He's already told us that. And
so his main focus was to preach the word of God and to preach
in simplicity, understanding that these things are hidden
from the wise and prudent, but revealed unto bad. This thing
is a revelation. It's in God's hands to reveal.
I can teach it. And the gospel I preach is the
revelation of God. But it's not the revelation of
God to everybody that sits in here. It's the revelation of
God to them that he reveals it to. They acknowledge it. They hear
it. They enter into it. They act
on it. They obey it. They rejoice in
it. They hear, he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. In 1 Thessalonians 1, 4, Paul
said he knew their election of God. He knew the Thessalonians
that gathered together, he knew their election of God. I'm not
sure they all knew it, but he did. And he tells them why. He said, because our gospel came
not unto you in word only. But it came in power and it came
in the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost attends the preaching
of the gospel. And through this, he convinces
men of sin, that they are sinners. Convinces them of what sin is,
what sin does, who's sin against. What are the consequences of
sin? He convinces men of sin. And of righteousness, that is
the righteousness of Christ. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. And of judgment, not that there
is one, but judgment satisfied. When he's come, our Lord said,
this promised comforter He will not speak of himself, but he'll
take the things of mine and show them unto you. And that's what
we preach. We preach these things. If you
read through that whole second chapter there in 1 Corinthians,
you'll see what Paul says. These things of the Spirit, this
is what we preach, this is what we teach. But the natural man
receiveth not. Now listen, the things of the
Spirit of God, he's not gonna receive them. Paul identified himself as a
steward of the mysteries of God. He said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. So whatever this thing is to
be blessed, it's to receive a revelation from God. Flesh and blood didn't
reveal this to you, Peter, but my Father which is in heaven.
Secondly, I know this about the revelation of God. It is concerning
the promised Messiah, the Christ of God. Whom do men say that
I, the Son of Man, am? Whom do you say that I am? Paul didn't say, I know what
I believe. No, he said, I know in whom I
have believed. The revelation that marks the
blessedness of a man has to do with knowing who Christ is and
why he came and what he did and where he is. The salvation of
God's elect and thus their being blessed
is altogether resting upon their union with Christ. Turn with
me to Ephesians chapter one. And we're talking about a revelation
of God that determines the blessedness or blessed state of a man or
a woman. Now look with me. here at what
God says about this. He says in verse three of Ephesians
chapter one, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. You see what I'm saying? This
whole thing read. on your union with Christ. Well,
how did you get in union with Christ? Of God are you in Christ
Jesus? And that's what he's saying right
here. 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. Being blessed of
God is not a percentage thing. When our Lord looked at Peter,
he didn't say, now you're about 50% blessed. That ain't what
he said. He said, blessed art thou. Now if we're blessed, according
to what I just read you here in Ephesians chapter one, you're
blessed with all spiritual blessing. It's not a percentage thing.
It's not something you can measure by little or a lot. Well, the
Lord, for the most part, blesses him. No, he's either blessed
or he's not. One or the other. If you're one of his, everything
is a blessing. Everything's a blessing. Things we see, things we see and can't stand
are blessings. Now I don't understand, I don't
understand it, I grumble about it as much as you do, but this
whole virus thing that's going on here is in the providence
of God, and it'll work out to be a blessing. Now you just wait
and see. You wait and see. and we're just grumbling against
the hand of God that's blessing us, that's what we do. Things
we see and can't stand are a blessing. Life or death, either one, they're
a blessing. Sickness or health, both are
blessings. You know, the disciples seen
that blind man sitting there, pitiful blind man sitting there
on that, and they just blurted it out. They said, who sinned? Did he
sin or his parents that he was born blind? And the Lord said,
neither one of them sinned. Both of them sinned, but that's
not what brought about his blindness. He was born blind, now listen,
for the glory of God. Oh, you mean his blindness was
a blessing. That's exactly what I'm trying
to tell you. Doesn't matter, if you're blessed, even your
sickness, even your illnesses, even your death is a blessing,
isn't it? Paul said for me to live is Christ
and to die is gain. They're blessings because we're
in Christ and we've been marked out of God as objects of his
blessing. The revelation that leaves us
blessed is the revelation of Christ. He said, whom do men
say that I the Son of Man am? Well, they'll say everything
about Christ but the truth. Sure they will. They'll give
him the title of forerunner, the office of a prophet. They
would have taken him by force when he fed the 5,000 and made
him king. Religion has always been willing
to give Jesus a part in their salvation. Always. They'll give
him a part in their worship. They'll hang his picture on the
wall. They'll put his statues in the garden. They'll put his
image in their stained glass windows or hang his cross over
their entryway going into the This building, we'll put his
name in our hymns, we'll celebrate his birth on Christmas and his
resurrection on Easter. We'll even set apart one day
a week to commemorate him and his work. And we'll call it the
Christian Sabbath. Who do men say that I, the son
of man, am? Well, Some of them say he was
a great reformer, a great example, even a great
martyr. And they all say that his appearance
on earth brought to pass the possibility of salvation. But whom do you say that I, the
son of man, am? This is the dividing point. This
is what determines if a man is blessed or not. This is how he
determines it. God's already determined it.
God's not doing this for his information. He's doing it for
yours. Whom do you say that I am? And
Peter said, thou art the Christ. This thing of a revelation that
God He gives this revelation to men. It's an individual thing. He didn't name them all up, he
just named Peter. Because Peter's the one who made
the profession, who made this declaration. Thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bartholomew. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Actually, the revelation of Christ
is eternal life. Because that's how you know God. There's no other way to know
God except through Christ. In John 17 3, he said, and this
is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and
Jesus Christ whom thou sent. The gospel is the gospel of Jesus
Christ. It's the declaration of the testimony
of God concerning his son and the salvation of chosen sinners. I'm going to tell you something.
You do with it whatever you want. has relegated the gospel to the
scrap heap. It's not even important anymore. What's important is getting a
college-trained man up there who knows his religion. He knows how to get men down
the aisle. He knows how to fill the pews.
He knows how to build a bigger building. He knows how to work
his way into the community. He's both politician, entertainer,
and preacher. They've relegated the gospel
to the scrap pile. And yet it's too important to
throw away, but not important enough to center on and to key
on. It's like some old piece that
a dead loved one left, and you don't really want to get rid
of it, but it's not something you want to hang up in the living
room. Don't want to throw it away. You want to remember them.
It's got some memories there. So we'll just take it and find
it a place somewhere in the house and put it there. If anybody
asks, we'll tell them, oh, that belonged to old Uncle Joe, you
know. Jesus Christ is not a part of
anybody's salvation. He's not a piece of your eternal
blessing. Christ is all. He's all. Paul said we've put on the new
man. which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him. Well, who created you? Christ. All things were created by him
and for him, what Scripture says. It's renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him, where there's neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free. But Christ is all. and in all. The gospel of Christ is not just
another religious theory. It's the revelation of God. Paul said, God revealed his son
in me that I might preach him among the heathen. And that man
or woman who truly knows Christ is blessed of God. How so? Because in him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in him. Is
that a blessing? Huh? Don't ever leave him. Don't ever leave him. In him,
everything you could possibly ever want is in him. Jesus Christ is God our Savior,
God and man in one glorious person, God and man inseparably fused
together for the salvation of our souls, showing our union
with Him. How are we blessed? Well, secondly,
we're blessed because being chosen of God in Christ, our sins were
charged to Him. Listen to this, Psalm 32.1. We're
talking about this blessed man, this man, blessed art thou, Simon
Barjah. When is a man blessed? Well,
listen to this. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. If you're his, he's never, never
from before the day you were born. after the day you were
born, at any time in your life, your sin has never been charged
to you, it was charged to your substitute. Every sin you committed
was charged to him as though he committed it. Paul said that the ministry of
reconciliation is too wit, 2 Corinthians 5. Listen to this, too wit. that God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. Now listen, not charging their
trespasses unto them. Wow. We're blessed in him for God
hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Are we blessed of
God? We are if we're in Christ. And
we're blessed in Christ, thirdly, being chosen in him by God our
Father. In Psalm 65, four, it says, blessed
is the man whom thou choosest. He's blessed. If God has chosen
him, he's blessed. And calls us to approach unto
thee that he might dwell in thy courts. Our Lord said in John
6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. You reckon there's somebody out
there that ain't gonna come? Know what he says? He said they're
gonna come. Why are they gonna come? Because
they're blessed to God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you. You was out on the fishing boat,
you remember? You had one thing on your brain,
catch as many fish as I can get in the boat. That's what was
on your brain. And then the Lord passed by and
he said, follow me. He said, you not chosen me, I
chose you. I chose you. And we're blessed. in our election. And then we're blessed with his
incarnation, his appearance on this earth as a man. Paul said
in Galatians 4, 5, that his appearance on this earth was to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because you're sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. We're blessed of God. Blessed
in the heavenly gifts given to us immutably by the Father. You
can read about it over in James chapter one. No variableness,
neither shadow or turning. All these gifts come down from
heaven, come down from God. Blessed in the heavenly gifts.
Gifts of his providence, gifts of his ministers, gifts of his
spirit, worldly sustenance and preservation, gifts of His sovereign
grace and eternal mercies, blessed of God. By grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The resurrected Christ gave gifts
to the church, apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastor-teachers.
Men are not your employees or appointees, they're gifts of
God. Gifts, gifts by which you're
blessed. Listen to this scripture, how
shall they preach except they be sent? When is a man blessed
of God? When he hears and understands
the gospel of Christ. That is the revelation of God
and that which works out the salvation of chosen sinners. In John chapter nine, the disciples
said of that old blind man, who did sin? Oh, my soul. And that's how a natural man
thinks. He's blind, so he's not blessed. This Samaritan woman, my soul,
with all her failed marriages, living in adultery with the man
she was with even now, coming out early so she didn't have
to deal with all the self-righteous women in the village. This Samaritan
woman with all of her failed marriages and all of her religious
ignorance. You worship in Jerusalem, I worship
out here in the mountains. He said, you worship you know
not what. But she's blessed with the revelation
of Christ. How many beggars and blind men
and lepers and tax collectors were blessed of God, fishermen? Nothing they did or didn't do
had anything to do with their being blessed. They were blessed
in Christ and then brought to see the blessings through the
revelation of God. and by the Spirit of God. When is a man blessed? He's blessed
when he hears the gospel. Our Lord had been teaching these
men who he is. Teaching them through the Word
of God. Teaching them through the parables. Teaching them through
his teaching. Took them under his wing and
taught them. They shall all be taught of God. And then he said, you're blessed,
you're blessed. God has given you the revelation
of his son. You're blessed. And that's what
I want you to see this morning. No matter what, if you're a believer,
if you believe the things that I've been preaching, the gospel
of Jesus Christ, if you believe God and his testimony and this
book concerning his son, you're blessed. I can look you in the
face and say you're blessed. Well, I don't feel bliss. Why?
Because you got a headache? What's that got to do with eternity?
My soul. I look at Paul, day and the night
in the deep, beaten three times within one lash of his life,
taken out in stone, left for dead, perils of robbers, perils
of weather. He couldn't get on the train.
He had to walk. or take a ship, ride a donkey
or whatever he had, and he's staying out here in the middle
of nowhere, blows up a big storm, where you gonna go? Perils, perils, perils, perils
of the churches, all the responsibility of the churches on him. And he
said, this light afflicts you. You know why? Because compared
to eternity, isn't it light? That's because you're blessed.
You're blessed, you're blessed. Don't let these, all of the things
that happen daily in God's providence, you think about it when it happens
and you know that this is by the hand of God. And somehow
or another, you may not see it, you may not understand it right
now, but you're being blessed of God, blessed of God. And the
rest of the world, no matter how much luxury they live in,
no matter how much they're not sick, they're not ill, they don't
have to struggle to pay bills, they're still not blessed. They're
not blessed. To be blessed is to be in Christ,
and to know it, and to know it. All right, thank you.