I've entitled the message for
this morning, Blessed. We read in Luke chapter 24, verse
50, this is right before the Lord ascended back to glory,
having finished the work the Father gave him to do. And he
led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and
blessed them. I'm sure that you probably hear
during the course of the week when you go into a store or go
somewhere, someone says, have a blessed day. And they mean
well when they say that. I know that. They mean, I hope
your day is prosperous. I hope you have a good day and
not a bad day. But the term is used quite often. Have a blessed
day. Do you realize that no son or
daughter of Adam can confer that? Only God can cause someone to
be blessed. Now this thing of being blessed
by God, This is not talking about you're not having any troubles
and not having any trials and have plenty of money in the bank
and plenty to eat and not so much conflict in your life. That's
not what the blessing of God is about. Right now, I am either
under God's blessing or I am under God's curse. There's no
in between. In Matthew chapter 25, the Lord
says, come ye blessed of my father. That's what he says to the sheep.
It's not what he says to the goats, it's what he says to the
sheep. Come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. And to the ones on
his left hand, the goats, He says, depart ye cursed into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Now that lets me
know that I'm either under God's blessing, his favor, or I'm under
his curse, his disfavor. Now, if I'm under God's blessing,
you know what that means? That means God's for me. If God
be for us, who can be against us? I have his favor. And we know that all things work
together for good. This is God's blessing. And we
know that all things work together for good. To them who love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now that's God's
blessing. And if God is not for me, that
means he's against me. And it's not wrong on God's part,
God's holy. It's my sin that's caused him
to be against me. And if he's against me, nothing
can be for me. everything will be working together
for my destruction. And if God is against me because
of my sin and I'm cast into hell, all of creation will clap their
hands toward him saying, you're giving him exactly what he deserves. Just and right are you. God's
blessing and God's curse. And do you know that outward
appearance doesn't say anything about God's blessing or God's
curse. You can't look at someone's circumstances
and say, well, they're being blessed by God. And you can't
look at someone's bad circumstances and say, well, they're not being
blessed by God. You just can't do that. The first example that
comes to my mind is the rich man in Lazarus. Lazarus was a
beggar, depended on crumbs. He had sores covering his body,
dogs coming and licking the sores. And you had the rich man who
fared sumptuously every day and was clothed in purple and fine
linen. The world would look at the rich
man and say, he's blessed. They'd look at Lazarus and say,
well, he's not blessed by God. But who was blessed by God? Lazarus
was. The rich man was under God's
curse. What about Job and his three
friends? Job had everything taken from him, his family, his health,
his wealth, everything. He was left with nothing but
boils and potsherds to scrape the boils, and his three buddies
Always accusing him, what have you done? What sin have you committed
to bring yourself into this position? Which one was under God's blessing
and who wasn't? Job, the man of whom God had
taken everything, he was under God's blessing. His three buddies
that were making accusations against him were not. Now to have the divine favor,
and that's what God's blessing is, is infinitely more important
than anything else. I need his favor. I hope I'm
just like Jacob when the Lord wrestled with him there in Genesis
32. It was the Lord who precipitated
this. It wasn't just Jacob wrestling
with the angel. The angel was wrestling with
Jacob to bring him down. And at the end, when Jacob was
disabled, he held on and said, I will not let thee go except
thou bless me. I need his blessing. I have to have his blessing.
I have to have his favor. I have to have his mercy. I have
to have his grace. I need him to be for me. I have
to have this. And his brother Esau, When given
the opportunity to sell the birthright, the symbol of God's blessing
to the firstborn, it wasn't worth anything more to him than a bowl
of soup. And he sold it to Jacob. Jacob had to have the blessing.
It was not important to Esau. Now listen to these scriptures.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity.
He won't charge him with his iniquity. And in whose spirit
there is no guile. David said in Psalm 65, blessed
is the man whom thou choosest. and cause us to approach unto
thee. David gloried in God's electing
grace. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. And then we can read of those
where it says, surely thou did set them in slippery places,
places where they would slide in due time their foot. Thou shalt despise their image."
These are people who do not have God's blessing. Now, when we
read of the Lord blessing the disciples in our text, He led
them out as far as Bethany where Martha and Mary and Lazarus lived,
where Simon the leper lived. The name of Bethany means the
house of affliction. And he's saying, I'm leaving
this house of affliction. Oh, how our Lord suffered when
he was here on the earth as the sin bearing substitute. But now
all that's over. And right before he ascends,
he lifts up his hand and blesses him. Now, the reason the Lord
blesses is that there's no reason to curse. You see, he was made
a curse. He removed the curse. He removed
the sin. And everybody he died for has
no sin. And there's no reason for God
not to bless them. Let me read you some scriptures
from the Old Testament in the book of Numbers. We read, And
God said to Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them, thou shalt
not curse the people for they're blessed. You can't curse someone
who God has blessed. Chapter 23, verse 7. And he took his parable and said,
Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram out of the mountains
of the east, saying, Curse me, Jacob, and come defy Israel.
How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy
whom the Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks
I see him, from the hills I behold him. Lo, the people shall dwell
alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count
the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end. be like
his." Now that is the description of the people that God has blessed. Look in verse 20. Behold, I have
received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed. I cannot
reverse it. God's blessing cannot be reversed. He hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel." Now, when God sees the believer, he beholds no iniquity
because there is no iniquity. Christ removed it. When he said
it is finished, it was put away, and he has no reason to do anything
but to bless. Now, the blessings the believer
enjoys are eternal blessings. Let me repeat that. I want you
to think about this. The blessings that the believer enjoys are
eternal blessings. The Lord said in Matthew 25 verse
34, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. The blessings every
believer has were given him before the creation of the world. Second Timothy 1.9 says, he saved
us and he called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works. but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Now, men think
God's blessings are here in time and given in response to what
we do. If you tithe, God will bless
you. If you're kind to others, God will be kind to you. If you
do good to others, God will do good to you. What comes around,
goes around. Now, I'm all for being kind and
good and generous, but if that's my thinking with regard to God's
blessing, all that is is salvation by works. That's saying I merited
these blessings, I earned these blessings, but the blessings
every believer possesses is what was given them before time began."
Listen to this scripture, Romans 9, 11, for the children, talking
about Jacob and Esau, being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil. They had no evil works to disqualify
them. They had no good works to recommend
them. They weren't born for the children. being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand not of works, but of him that calleth."
Every blessing I have was given me in Christ Jesus before the
world began and is not given to me in response to me doing
anything. This is why none need despair
of God's blessing, because it's not according to your works.
If it was according to your works, you'd have reason to despair.
You won't have any. But God's blessings are those
that were given in Christ Jesus before the world began. And the
blessings of God are complete. You don't have 90 percent of
them. You don't have 10 percent of them. They are complete. Listen to the scripture in Ephesians
1, 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. in heavenly
places in Christ. Every blessing that God has,
the believer possesses because he hath given us all spiritual
blessings. Now, when men think of blessings,
they usually think of temporal blessings, having plenty of money
in the bank and being healthy and not having conflict and having
a relatively trial-free life. That's not God's blessing. I
mean, I'd like to have enough money to pay my bills and I'd
like to not be sick, but you know, I'm sick. I've been sick,
had cancer twice. Does that mean God doesn't bless
me? No. The next time you hear some kind of preacher talk about
it's God's will for you to be healthy and wealthy and wise,
you're listening to a false prophet. That's a man that doesn't know
God. God's blessings are spiritual blessings. He names them in verse
four, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. What a blessing to be chosen
of God, to be one of the elect. I'll tell you who loves election,
the elect do. I know people complain about it and say, how can it
be fair for God to choose one and pass by another? If you believe
you're a sinner, you know it's fair for God to pass by you.
The only thing that causes somebody to object to election is they
don't really believe they're sinners. If you really believe
you're a sinner, this is good news. 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. Somebody says, do you believe
in predestination? Sure do. As a matter of fact, if you don't
believe in the God of predestination, the God you believe in doesn't
exist, because the God that is is the God of absolute predestination. He predestinated us under the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. That's why he does what he does,
is simply according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted. This is every believer accepted,
embraced, loved in the beloved, in the Lord Jesus Christ. What
blessedness. We have all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places, in Christ. Verse seven, in whom we have
redemption. We've got it. What is that? The
forgiveness of sins. All my sins are forgiven according
to the riches of His grace. The riches of His grace are infinite. He never runs dry. Now, this is God's blessing. It's complete. It's concerning
all things. I think of that scripture in
Romans 8.32. How shall he not? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not? What could
possibly prevent him from freely giving us all things? Now, these
blessings are eternal. These blessings are complete.
And these blessings are personal. The angel came to Mary and said,
Hail thou. aren't highly favored of God. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. And the same thing can be said
of every child of God, without exception. Thou, you personally,
are highly favored of God. You are blessed. You are a part of Christ's body
if you're a believer. Now think about that. You're
a part of Christ's body. Without you, he would have an
incomplete body. The church is said to be the
bride of Christ. Ephesians 5 25 husbands love
your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it that he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word that he might present it to himself a
glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing
but it that should be holy and without blame before him. Now,
if you're a child of God, you are beautiful to Jesus Christ. You are without spot or wrinkle
or any such thing. You're perfectly holy. And here's why. Because the blood
of Christ has washed away your sins and he has given you his
perfect righteousness. He has blessed you. And if he has blessed you, that
blessing cannot and will not be taken away because it's an
eternal blessing. It's not something just from
time. It's eternal. It's complete. It's personal. It is for you. How blessed you
are. Now, in closing, here's my question. How can I know if I am one of
these blessed people? I know that if he blesses you,
you're blessed. I know his blessings are eternal.
They were given before time began. His blessings are complete. If
you have one of his blessings, you have all of them. His blessings
are personal. They're to every child of God. Now, how can I know if I'm one
who he has blessed? Well, let me read this passage
of scripture in Galatians chapter three, verse nine. So then, they
which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. Now here we read of two people. those who are of faith, and those
who are of the works of the law. Now, what does it mean to be
of the works of the law? In Galatians chapter 4, Paul
gives a story that took place in Genesis chapter 16. Maybe
you can remember it's where God had promised Abraham and Sarah
a child. Years pass, still no child. Sarah says to Abraham, God's
promise is not going to come to pass unless we do our part. I mean, obviously it hadn't happened.
We need to do something. So here's what we need to do.
There's Hagar. my Egyptian servant, you go into
her. She's a young woman. Seredar
had been through menopause. She's a young woman and God will
use her to bring us a child. I'll call him my child and we'll
enable God's promise to take place and we'll have a son. And
Abraham said, okay. And he went into Hagar and they
had Ishmael. Now, there was nothing miraculous
about this birth. He's called the child of the
flesh, and God never acknowledges him as a son. You remember in
Genesis 22, years after this took place. Take now thy son,
thy only son, Isaac, whom you love. Ishmael is never acknowledged
by God as a son. Now, some years later, Abraham
goes into Sarah, who's already gone through menopause, and they
have a supernatural birth of a son, Isaac. A hundred-year-old
man and a woman who had already gone through menopause. They
had a child that they named Isaac, according to God's promise. Now,
with that in mind, Galatians chapter 4 verse 21, tell me the
desire to be under the law. Remember those who are of the
works of the law? Here they are. Tell me the desire
to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? For
it's written that Abraham had two sons, the one by bondmaid,
the other by free woman, one by Hagar, one by Sarah. But he
who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh. There was
nothing miraculous. And he of the free woman was
by promise. He was born because of the promise of God. Which
things are an allegory, they're given to illustrate something,
for these are the two covenants. The one for Mount Sinai, which
genders to Bardij as Hagar, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai." Now
here's what it is to be of the law. Sarah said, we need to do
our part for God's promise to take place. That's works. If you've got to do your part
or it won't happen. If you believe that Jesus Christ died for everybody,
but you might end up in hell unless you do something to make
what he did work for you, that is works. That means you have
to complete something to make it good. Now, as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. but they that be of
faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." Those who are of faith.
Now, what does it mean to be of faith? It means you are relying
100% upon Jesus Christ only as everything in your salvation. Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy
1.12, whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day." Now,
a lot of folks don't give Christ full commitment. What do I mean
by that? Well, they don't look to Christ
only, they look to Christ and. Their hope of salvation is because
they've changed. Their life has been changed.
They're not the way they used to be. They're different. They're
more holy and less sinful. They have quit smoking. They've quit drinking. They've
quit gambling. They've quit going to pornography.
They've really straightened up their lives, and surely that's
an evidence that God has done something for them. Now, I'm
all for us stopping those things. But that's not what saves, nor
is that an evidence of salvation. The only hope I have of being
saved is not because of some changed life I see in myself.
My hope of salvation, my only ground to salvation is that all
I need, all that God requires of me, all that I have, is who
He is and what He did for me. I'm relying completely on Christ
Jesus, and I have no hope in anything else." Now, that's what
it is to be of faith. All you have is Christ. You don't
have Christ and your experience, Christ and your baptism, Christ
and your walking down in the front of the church and accepting
Jesus as your personal Savior. You see all that's foolishness.
All you have is Christ. Now, what is it to be blessed
of God? It's to be turned by God. If
he leaves you to yourself, if he leaves me to myself, we do
not have his blessing. All God's got to do is leave
you alone and leave me alone. And it's over for us. Listen
to this passage of scripture in Acts chapter 3 verse 26, Peter
said unto you first, God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent
him to bless you in turning every one of you away from his iniquities. Now, the only way I'm going to
be blessed by God is if he turns me. Jeremiah said, turn us and
we'll be turned. And this is what every believer
cries. Turn us again, O God of our salvation,
cause thy face to shine and we'll be saved. I need to be turned
by God because if he doesn't turn me, I will not be turned.
Can't you turn yourself? No. The Lord said, without me,
you can do nothing. But thank God, those he blesses,
he turns. He turns them away from their
selves. He turns them away from salvation by works. He turns
them away from their iniquities. He turns them toward Christ,
to where I look only to him. Now, to be blessed is to be turned,
turned away from any hope. other than Christ Jesus alone
as everything in my salvation. I want to be turned from everything
but that. Christ is all. He's all to God, he's all in
the Bible, and he's all to me. Now someone who sees Christ as
all has been eternally, completely, personally blessed by God. We have this message on DVD and
CD. If you call the church or write,
we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Knappert praying
that God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's
our prayer. Amen.