Turn with me this morning to
Psalm 65. I want to talk to you this morning from Psalm 65-4 about the blessed man. I'm not talking about the blessed
man Christ, although we'll be talking about him, but I'm talking
about that man blessed. of Christ, this man blessed of
God. A man is not truly blessed unless
he's blessed of God. Now, let that sink in. A man
is not truly blessed. I don't care what he experiences.
I don't care what he has. I don't care what he's attained.
I don't care what he knows. I don't care what his IQ is.
A man is not truly blessed unless he's blessed of God. But if a man is truly blessed
of God, he is blessed eternally and blessed in everything that
he experiences in this world and in the world to come. He's
blessed. Now, let's read our text together
here in Psalm 65, 4. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto
thee, that he might dwell in thy courts, We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. May the Lord
be pleased to bless that portion of scripture which we've read. I hear a lot of talk in our day
about being blessed, don't you? I hear it every day. I hear it
every day. Give, and the Lord will bless
you. I heard a man say that on the
radio the other day. Give, and the Lord will bless
you. A famous preacher, Robert Shuler
from Mountain, California, he had this great, I guess they
called it the Crystal Cathedrals, all glass. He used to start every service
with this saying, something good is going to happen to you today. It will if you're blessed. I'm told by people who've acquired
a bountiful living, I heard it again this past week, the Lord
has blessed me. And I don't know if He has or
not. I don't know. Scripture said the love of money
is the root of all evil. To acquire it takes covetousness,
which is idolatry. And yet the scriptures also say
that money answereth all things. What are you going to do without
it? Huh? You can't do anything without
it. I've been without it. It's no
fun. I see bumper stickers. Smile.
God loves you. He does if you're blessed. And I told you about this the
other day. I just hear this everywhere.
Have a blessed day. What is a truly blessed man? When can a man say, I'm blessed
of God? I'm blessed of God. A man who
has the favor and love of God, what is it to be blessed of God?
Well, I believe the Holy Spirit tells us three things right here
in this psalm that sum up what a man is who is blessed of God.
The first thing He tells us about the blessed man is that he has
been chosen of God. Blessed is that man whom thou
choosest. Blessed. He is a blessed man. Now, I don't wish to shock anybody
here, but no others are blessed. Now, that's just so. Nobody else
is blessed. Nobody else is going to be blessed.
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest. That's where salvation
begins. That's where the love of God
is first spoken, is in your election, in your election. And I know that this is a doctrine
that most of you have cut your teeth on here in this place,
but there may be some here who don't understand what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is this. Mankind, by sovereign decree,
don't you listen to me. Mankind, by sovereign decree,
was left in their father Adam to stand or to fall. God created
man. From that man took a woman. Put
that couple in his garden and gave them a law to obey. Gave
them one commandment, just one commandment to obey. Put them
there. Their whole race depended on
what they did. You want to talk about a salvation
by works, here it is, right here in the garden. Do this and live. Do this and die. There it is. It was demonstrated.
He took the wisest man, the purest man, the most holy man that's
ever been in his race and put him in this garden, gave him
only one commandment to keep, and he fell. He was left in his father Adam
to stand or to fall, to walk with God or walk contrary to
God, to love God or treat God as an enemy. And so in Romans
5, it states very clearly that, by one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. We sinned in Him, and we sinned
as individuals. Mankind, as they are represented
in their father Adam, have been convicted of sin, sentenced to
death, and the sentence has been carried out. They're not in a state of innocence
waiting their choice of destinies. They're not wounded and given
a short amount of time to be healed. They're not in some kind
of spiritual vacuum waiting to see who might and who might not
bow to Christ. They are right now, according
to the scriptures, they are right now children of wrath even as
others. That's what the scriptures say.
That sound like somebody under the curse of God to you? It does
to me. Eat, sleep, and drink sin. Eat,
sleep, and drink darkness. Eat, sleep, and drink lust. Sinners. Sinners by nature. Sinners under the curse of God. right now under the curse of
sin and children of wrath. They're not blessed. They're
not likely to be blessed. They're not able of themselves
to merit God's blessings. God's blessings is born in eternal
election. That's where the blessings are
born. They're not born in time. They're
born in eternal election. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. I want you to read it for yourself. I want to change the way I think,
and I want to change the way you think when we think about
being blessed of God. Get a check in the mail from
somebody, and we wasn't expecting it. And we run home and say,
boy, the Lord blessed me today. I hope so. But maybe he didn't. Maybe he
didn't. Might have been a curse with
your name on it. Might have been. Listen to this, Ephesians 1 verse
3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us, not blessed everybody, blessed
us. Ain't that what that says? With
all spiritual blessings, not a couple, but with all of them
in heavenly places, in Christ. Now watch this. 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, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will. Now, you can and will hear a
multitude of whatabouts and every kind of human reasoning and rejection
based on logic and feeling about what I just read to you. But
it doesn't change the declaration of Scripture one iota. All men stand under two heads,
two representatives, Adam or Christ. Now, listen to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15, 21. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive." He says the same thing over in Romans 5. Romans
5.18, Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all
men the condemnation, Even so, by the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. That is, all those represented
in Adam fell under the judgment and condemnation of God, and
all those represented in Christ, by His accomplished redemption,
received the free justification of grace in Christ Jesus. No
man, no woman, no boy or girl is blessed who is not chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now I know judgment
is going to involve every work, every evil thought, every intention,
every false motive that men ever thought or did in their lifetime
is going to be made known at the judgment of Christ. And then He is going to bring
His saints up before up before all men, and He's going to justify
them through that accomplished redemption in Christ. And He's
going to make this thing clear and known to all. But I'm telling
you this, if you really want to know what this is all about,
you turn to the last page in the book, and you read there,
and what it says is, everybody whose name was not found written
in the Lamb's Book of Life was cast into hell. Do you reckon those blessings
were in election? You see what I'm saying? They're
blessed and nobody else is blessed. I don't care what he has. I don't
care how many millions he's accumulated. I don't care how much land he
owns. I don't care if he's the king of Siam. I don't care who
he is. I don't care what title he carries.
I don't care if he's a preacher or people that hate preachers.
It don't make any difference. If he wasn't chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that man is cursed of
God. And everything comes his way,
comes his way as a curse. Even the gospel becomes a curse
to him because he won't have it. Isn't that what our Lord
said to those people who heard the gospel and didn't believe
it? He said, it's going to be better on those folks down in
Sodom and Gomorrah than it's going to be for you. If they'd
heard what you heard, they'd have repented in sackcloth and
ashes. God's blessings and favor were
given to His people in Christ before the world began. And because
they were given in Christ, they can never fail and they can never
change. Watch this. Turn with me over
to James chapter 1. We're talking about blessed.
How are we blessed? Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. He's blessed. James 1, 17. Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above
and cometh down from the Father of lights. Now watch this. With
whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Huh? Has God purposed to bless the
people in His Son? Who's going to prevent Him? You
going to prevent Him? You going to shake your fist
like some of those monarchs did in His face at their dying breath? Who's going to prevent Him? Who's going to change His mind?
Is there somebody out there wiser than God? Is there somebody out
there with more power than God? Someone who can see better than
God can see? He said, I'm the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Those that I purpose to bless
are going to be blessed. I'm going to keep right on blessing
them right through eternity. They're going to be blessed.
You see the impact of what the psalmist is saying here? This
man had a life of ups and downs. David did. But he said, after
all of that and looking back on it, he said, blessed is that
man whom God chose. Blessed is he. He's a blessed
man. The Lord said, I am the Lord. He said, I change not, therefore
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. And there is no hope of blessing
except through the eternal election and predestination of God our
Father through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it
means to be blessed. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. Nothing can prevent, destroy,
or change the God of glory who's chosen us to be blessed, not
Satan's presence in the world. Is Satan powerful? You bet he
is. He can take you captive at his will. But His presence in the world
is not going to change these blessings. Adam's fall is not
going to change these blessings, and not all the influence of
a deceived world is going to change these blessings, not all
the trials and troubles of time. God's people are blessed, and
provision has been made that they shall forever be blessed.
They're blessed in poverty. Man, I think about that old woman
that Elijah came over. And here she was. She was raking
the last little bit of oatmeal out of the bottom of that barrel.
Last little bit. Going to fix a meal for her and
her little baby, and they're going to die. Now, that's poverty. Here comes Elijah, and he said,
would you fix me a cake first? How many of you would have got
the oatmeal out and give it to him? Not very many. She did. And you know what? She got out and there's some
more down there. She said, well, I'll fix us a
cake. She scraped some more out. She looked down there and there's
more down there. That meal never did run out. It never did run
out. You know why? She was blessed. She was blessed. Oh, my soul. I don't know how
many occasions hundreds, thousands of occasions that we would fall from grace.
We'd fall from grace. But why don't you? Because you're
blessed. Blessed. And those who are blessed
are going to keep on being blessed. Oh, you go in there and that
doctor, oh, you've got cancer. You eat up with cancer. You're
blessed. Huh? We're blessed no matter what
we do. We're blessed. Nothing in this world can touch
you. No disease can touch you. Nothing can touch you. All they
can do is usher you into glory. That's all they can do. Because
you're blessed. You're blessed. God's people are blessed, and
a provision has been made that they shall forever be blessed,
and blessed are they no matter what comes their way. They're
blessed. All right, here's the next thing.
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, now listen to this,
and causest to approach unto thee. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Every man chosen of God in eternal
election shall be blessed with an effectual calling. God's already
predetermined this. This is going to be. He's going
to be called with an effectual calling. In other words, I stand
up here every week and I call everybody that's in here, I call
you to faith in Christ, commanded by my Lord to believe on Him,
commanded to repent of your sins. There's a general call. It goes
out to everybody who hears the Gospel. This message may go up
on the Internet. If it goes up on the Internet,
everybody listens to it. And it goes on and on and on.
That's a general call. It goes out there. But I'm telling
you, there's an effectual call. And it's a private call. And
it calls an individual. And he can't resist it. It comes
with irresistible power and comes in the Holy Ghost. And he hears. He hears. What's the difference?
That man who truly hears obeys. That's the difference. He obeys. Paul said, when you obeyed from
that form of doctrine which was delivered to you, when you obeyed
from the heart, that form. How come you obeyed from the
heart? Because God caused you to. That's what this is saying.
He causes you to approach unto Him. Listen to this, 2 Thessalonians
2.13. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, Beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning, that is in his eternal election and purpose
of grace, chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit. That's that inward working of
the spirit of God, that changing work, that turning work. Sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now wait a minute, Preacher,
I'm getting all confused. The Bible says natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. You're talking about
a man receiving the things of the Spirit of God. The Bible
says they're foolishness unto him, neither can he know them
because they're spiritually discerned, and he won't receive the things
of the Spirit of God. That's absolutely true. The Bible
says the carnal mind of man is enmity against God. It's not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. That's true. And
no man is of the ability to seek God. There's none that seeketh
after God. There's none that understandeth.
There's none righteous, and there's none good. There's none that fear God, believe
God. or who will willingly receive
anything God has to say. And you can pile up Scripture
around unbelievers, men and women who are rebels in their heart,
and the Spirit of God doesn't work on them. You can pile up
Scripture like cordwood on them, and it doesn't have any effect
whatsoever. But God has from the beginning
chosen him to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. And he can't resist that call. In spite of everything that he
is, he believes. He believes. And he can't explain
it. Can't explain it. Can't explain how it happened.
It's God's eternal decree that all his elect hear his gospel,
repent of their sins, and lay hold of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My people, God said, shall be willing in the day of my power. They're going to be willing.
They're going to receive. He said, you'll find me when
you seek for me with your whole heart. When are you going to
do that? When God calls you to approach unto him. Paul speaks of his gospel coming
in power, and then the Holy Ghost is evidence of the election of
the Thessalonians. And then he tells them this,
he said, when you receive the Word of God which you heard of
us, and he's not talking about the reading of it here, he's
talking about the preaching of it here. He said, you didn't
receive it as the Word of men, but as it is in truth the Word
of God. This is God's Word, His gospel. And then our Lord said this.
He said, all that the Father giveth me is going to come to
me. Every one of them is going to come to me. They're going
to come knowing me and me knowing them. And they're going to come
understanding what I have to give and what they need to be
given. They're going to come to me.
And all that come to me, He said, I'm not going to cast them out.
They're blessed. Their blessings began way back
yonder in eternity in election, but it didn't end there. It didn't
end there. And I can't explain all the drawings
and the providence of God nor the inward workings of the Holy
Ghost. I just know this. The Scripture says in Proverbs
16, 1, He said, The preparations of the heart of man, and the
answer of his tongue is of the Lord. He causes His elect to
approach unto Him. And He doesn't bring them to
curse them, He brings them to bless them. He causes them to
approach Him because He's already determined to bless them. So the blessed man is a man whose
hearing has been arranged, whose heart has been newly created,
and who himself has been caused to seek the Lord. All right? Here's the third thing. I want
you to look at here in Psalm 65. Here's the third thing. We're
talking about the blessed man, the man blessed of God. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and causes to approach unto thee, that he might dwell
in thy courts. And we're going to be satisfied.
All of us that dwell in His courts are going to be satisfied with
the goodness of His house, even of His holy temple. The blessed
man is a man that God has brought to dwell with His people as they
are assembled together in this world. I read every old writer I could
find, and every one of them said the same thing. Every one of them said the same
thing. Make no mistake about it, His temple and His house
are those who are built together for a habitation of God through
the Spirit. They are said to grow into a
holy temple in the Lord. And Peter said, Ye as lively
stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And I cannot find a single verse
of scripture relating to any individual encouraging them to
remain separated from God's local church. Find it, read it, underline
it, and bring it to me because I've never, I can't find it.
I can't find one time in here where he tells you that. But
I can find in here where he says, forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together as the manner of some is. I can find that. Everything God had to say to
comfort and encourage his saints in the book of Revelations was
by way of seven established churches in Asia, each one having a pastor. Isn't that something? An entire
book. And it's prefaced by those things. Here's what the Spirit saith
to the churches. Isn't that what that says? I've been outside God's churches,
and there's no blessing out there. Everything out there is darkness,
lies, and deceit. Everything out there is a mirage.
It promises meat. It promises fullness. But it
leaves you empty and alone. I've been there. I know what
it is. His churches are described in
John's prophecy as candlesticks. I read to you over there in Matthew
chapter 5, he said, you don't take a candle and put it under
a bushel, you put it on a candlestick. His churches are candlesticks.
They're like a lighted city set on a hill that cannot be hid.
They're the pillar and ground of the truth, the Bible says.
And their pastors over in the book of Revelation, he calls
them stars. Stars. Why would God call his
pastors stars? Because they guide men in the
way. You remember what we call the
wise men coming to find Christ? They looked up there at that
star, and that star showed them how to get to Bethlehem. Didn't
it? His preachers are called stars.
You want to know how to find Christ? Find a star and follow
it. Stars guide men in the way. Stars
light up the darkness, and stars light the way to Christ. And
I tell you this, the only thing I have in common with natural
men is my nature of sin, and even that they deny, and so it
becomes a wedge that Satan used to drive between. I've got nothing
in common with them, nothing. And I don't know what holds men
where they are except a false sense of security and a love
for this world or just ignorance of how God saves sinners. I don't
know. I only know this, that His eternal election and all
the provisions of His everlasting purpose of grace and all the
inward and outward workings of the Spirit of Christ is to bring
this blessed man to dwell in His courts. Isn't that what David's
saying? Oh, David, he was angry and mad.
He looked over here, and he's sacrificing everything for the
Lord, and he's working for the Lord, and he's doing all these
things for the Lord. And he looks over here at these
rich men, and they're not in any kind of pain. There are no
bands in their death. They're not worried. They're
not upset. There's no stress in it whatsoever. And he was angry. And then he said, I went into
the house of the Lord. And I learned therein." Where
did he learn it? In the house of the Lord. He does not leave his straying
lambs to fend for themselves, but he goes to them, picks them
up, cradles them in his arms, and brings them back to where?
Isn't that what they say to the folk? And this is not set forth as
a dreaded work here in this psalm or some kind of sacrificial offering,
but as a blessing. It's a blessing. God finds that
sheep, and He causes him to approach unto Him, and He brings him into
His courts to comfort him. and to keep him and to watch
over him. Oh, you say, but my children, my family, my wife,
my parents, how can I bear to leave them? Well, you can think
about this. Matthew 10, 36 said, a man's
foes, his foes, what's that mean? We don't use that word today,
do we? It means enemy. A man's foes shall be they of
his own, Household. How in the world can a man's
children, his wife, his mother, and his father be his enemy? How can that be? Well, a foe
is one who attempts to get you to go contrary to the will of
God. and contrary to the good of your
own soul and contrary to the Word of God. How does a man's
household become his foe? By becoming a stumbling block
to his obedience to the Lord. Matthew 10.37 said, He that loveth
father or mother more than me, not worthy of me. And he that
loveth son or daughter more than me, not worthy of me. The blessed man is that man that
God causes to approach unto Him that he might dwell in His courts. That's where He's going to draw
him. That's where He's going to bring him, to His courts. Dwell
in the presence of His true tabernacle. Dwell in the presence of the
great high priest. And dwell in the presence of
the King of kings and Lord of lords. Now watch this. Listen to what
David says after this. He said, They or we, if you will,
shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy
temple. What about you? What are you
satisfied with? What does it take to make you
happy? That man truly blessed of God finds all he could ever
desire in God's house. That's where he finds it. God's
house. There, he's assured of the Spirit
of grace. There, he'll find the very light
of God. Anybody here ever went out on
the river and got anything from God, any kind of understanding
or any kind of The revelation of the glory of Christ. You've
never found that in the woods and you've never found it out
on the lake. Where'd you find it? You found it in the house
of God. That's where you found it. He'll find the very light
of God. There he'll be comforted by the gospel of Christ and comforted
by understanding saints. There his heart and mind's filled
to capacity and all his worries should be put at ease. A preacher, are you saying that
families are not blessed who separate themselves or stay separated
from the local church? No, sir, I'm not saying that.
I'm not saying that. Even Lot was blessed in Sodom. But here's what I want you to
understand. Lot's being in Sodom, what did he accomplish in Sodom?
What did he accomplish for the good of his soul in Sodom? Nothing. He didn't win anybody, he didn't
win souls, he didn't do any, he was, everything that happened
to him was a curse there. Everything that happened to him
went against the grain. He was of no use in God's kingdom
whatsoever, except as an example of what not to do. Oh, what a blessed privilege
it is to come here and meet with God's elect and rejoice in the
blessings of God. Would you rather be somewhere
else? I tell you, if you'd rather be somewhere else, go on and
go. Go to the races. Go to wherever. Just go. But
God's elect find everything their hearts can desire right here. Right here. And the older you
get and the more mature you get in the faith, the more you'll
learn to appreciate what I'm saying. It ain't out there. It ain't out there. What do I
do about my family that I leave? You can't give your family any
better witness than your obedience to Christ. That's what you need. You need to set an example for
them. Set an example. And I tell you
this, they might not admit it, but every day they're not in
church, That's on their conscience and in their mind. That's where
I ought to be.