I've entitled this message, Where
Is Then the Blessedness? They had it at once, and they
lost it. He said, where is it? First,
we should consider what is it, and then we should consider where
is it? Now, Paul had founded many of
the churches in Galatia. You can read about that in his
first missionary journey. in Acts chapters 13 through 15. And as a matter of fact, the
church at Antioch, one of the churches in Galatia, they were
first called Christians at Antioch, and Paul loved these people dearly,
yet he writes this epistle that is like no other epistle in the
New Testament. Look in verse nine of chapter
four, that he says to these people he loves so dearly. But now,
after that you have known God, or rather are known of God, How
turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto
ye desire again to be in bondage? He's talking about them turning
back to the law. You observe days and months and
times and years. I'm afraid of you, lest I bestowed
upon you labor in vain. Now, I tried to think of Paul
saying that to me. Can you imagine what you'd feel like if he said
this to you or if he said this of this church? I'm afraid this
has been a waste of time with you. I'm afraid that I bestowed
labor upon you to no purpose." Now, what had happened? Some
men had come into the church promoting the law. Look back
in chapter 2. But neither Titus, who was with
me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, and that because
of false brethren, unawares, brought in. These men came into
the church of Galatia, And Paul calls them false brethren, unawares,
brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, our freedom,
which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into
bondage. They wanted us to be circumcised. And you know, a lost religious person, someone
without a new nature, cannot conceive of liberty and freedom
doing anything but leading to sin. They think, if I had this
freedom, why? If I had freedom, they're scared
to death of it. We don't like this. We want you back in bondage.
If I had this freedom, I'd see him without restraint. You're
taking away my restraints. And that's, they couldn't understand
that. And you know, I was thinking about this. It takes a new nature.
It takes a holy nature. It takes being born of God to
experience and appreciate and love freedom. If you're lost,
all you'll think is that freedom will just give you license to
sin. It doesn't do any believer that way. It may do every unbeliever
that way, but it doesn't do any believer that way. Not at all.
Look what happened in verse 11. But when Peter was come to Antioch,
I was stood him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before
that certain came from James, the pastor at the church of Jerusalem,
the original church. And he did eat with the Gentiles
before they came. But when they were come, he withdrew
himself and separated himself, fearing them which were of the
circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him,
insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. So you see what was going on
here in the Galatian churches. These men were trying to introduce
law. Now I think it's interesting
the Galatians were Gentiles and they'd been brought up in pagan
idolatry and they left that and now these men are trying to entice
them into Jewish idolatry and they took the bait. You remember
the way Paul introduced this message? I marvel that you're
so soon removed from him that called you to the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. And he said in chapter three,
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Who hath bewitched
you? Who's cast a spell over you so
that you should not obey the truth? Paul was so grieved over
this. And I have no doubt that they initially thought law would
make them more holy. But in reality, it was having
the opposite effect, and it always does. Now Paul reminded them
of how it was when he first came to them. Look back in chapter
4, verse 13. For you know how through infirmity
of the flesh I preach the gospel to you at the first. When I first
came in your midst to preach, I came in infirmity of the flesh. And my temptation, which was
in my flesh, You despise not, nor rejected, but you receive
me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. That's how you
receive me. You receive me as if I were Christ
himself. And when I came with this temptation
that was in my flesh, and there's been a lot of speculation as
to what that could have been, but if you read down the next
verse, he said, if it was possible, you would have plucked out your
own eyes and given to me. I think this is some kind of
reference to Paul's eyesight at this time. And there are some
that have speculated that when he was on the road to Damascus
Road and the Lord appeared to him above the shining of the
sun, his eyes were permanently damaged. And it could be that
when he was preaching to the Galatians. It was offensive looking. He might have had some kind of
running sore coming out of his eye and he was really hard to
look at while he was bringing the gospel to them. But look
what he says. He says, My temptation which was in my flesh you despised
not or rejected but you received me as an angel of God even as
Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness
you spake of? For I bear you record that if
it had been possible you'd have plucked out your own eyes and
have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell
you the truth? Now, here's how you first received
me, and here's how you see me now, as an enemy. When I first
came preaching the gospel, you received me just as if you received
Christ himself. This message was so glorious,
so divine, so beautiful, so wonderful. You received me just as if I
were Christ bringing the message. That's how glorious the message
was to you. But it's not like that anymore. What happened? You're viewing me as an enemy.
What has happened? Now, the preacher is nothing
and he knows it. And if he doesn't know it, he's
not God's preacher. The preacher is nothing and he
knows it. Paul said this about himself,
he said, for nothing am I behind the very chief apostles, though
I be nothing. That was his assessment of himself,
though I be nothing. And that's why God uses preaching,
he's using nothings. He's using things that would
bring glory to him. I love the scripture, for after that in
the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. How
shall they hear without a preacher? God has manifested his word through
preaching. And when we love the gospel,
I know this from experience, when we love the gospel they
bring, we say, how beautiful are their feet. It's just feet. You're not thinking of the face,
or the man, or the abilities. It's the feet that bring the
message. So the emphasis is really not on the preacher, but the
message they bring. And we say, how beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. And we receive
them as we would Christ himself, and I've been received that way
so many times. What a blessing. When people
would receive the man who brings the message just as if he was
the one the message was about, they're so taken up with the
message itself. But something happened. Paul
is now viewed by the church at Galatia very differently. Look
what he says in verse 6. Am I therefore become your enemy?
Because I tell you the truth. He went from being an angel of
God even as Christ to an enemy. Now, how did that happen? What
took place? Now, Paul was no different. He didn't believe any differently.
He preached the same gospel. He'd always preached to them.
Look what he said in Galatians 1, verse 8. He said, but though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed. What language? And as we said
before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that which you've received, you've received this
as the gospel, as the way you're saved, as the way that gives
God all the glory. He says, if any man comes preaching
anything else, let him be accursed. So Paul hadn't changed his message
in any way. What has happened is through
these men coming in, these Judaizers, these lawmongers, their view
of the gospel had changed, therefore their view of Paul had changed. He's now viewed with suspicion.
Now, I'm speaking to myself, I'm speaking to you. When we
view the preacher of grace differently than we once did and become critical
and fault-finding, it's generally because we view his message differently. When love to Christ cools, tolerance
for that which is contrary to him gets bigger. It's always
like that. And then the preacher of grace
is now viewed as narrow-minded, self-righteous, legalistic, too
dogmatic, too nitpicky. And these people who once received
Paul as Christ himself now viewed him as an enemy. Now look what
he says in chapter 4, verse 15. Where is then the blessedness
you spake of? Where's that blessedness? Now,
when you first heard the gospel, you think of what a blessing
it was to you when you first heard it. You couldn't get over
it. You couldn't get over the freeness
of God's grace. You couldn't get over the fact
that your sins were forgiven. You couldn't get over the fact
that God loved you, that Christ died for you. You couldn't, I
mean, you were just so enamored with the thought of being saved
by his grace. Oh, what blessedness there was. Paul says to the Galatians, what
happened? He's asking where is the blessedness
you speak of, but first let's consider what the blessedness
actually is. And in the context, right here
in Galatians, he's talking about the blessedness of sonship. actually
being a son of God. And you know when you're a son
of God, when you're a daughter of God, God dominates your thoughts. Christ dominates your thoughts.
Everything you think of, you think in relation to Him. Doesn't
matter what it is. Doesn't mean you're always thinking
about Him. You might go all day without thinking about Him, and
you hate yourself when you do, when you would lay your bed on
your pillow at night and realize, I haven't even thought about the Lord.
But every opinion you have, every thought you have, is somehow
wrapped up with how it relates to the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, when the Lord talks about the wicked, he says God is not
in all their thoughts, but he is in all the believers' thoughts.
We judge everything by Jesus Christ, don't we? By its relationship
to him. And oh, the blessedness of sonship.
Look in verse 24 of chapter 3. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster,
And I love the way to bring is in italics. You know, the law
never brought anybody to Christ. Never brought anybody to Christ.
It made you scared. It made you resentful. It made
you resentful toward God, but it didn't bring you to Christ.
The law was our schoolmaster until Christ. and that word unto
can be translated until Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. But after the faith has come, we're no longer under a
schoolmaster, for you're all children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew
nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither male
nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be
Christ, then you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. You're now children. Children
of God. Go on reading chapter 4. Verse 3, Even so, when we were
children, were in bondage under the elements of the world, but
when the fullness of time was come, God's sovereign set time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem, not to make their redemption possible, but to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons, and because you're sons, God send forth the Spirit of
His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." We can actually
pray the same thing Christ prayed when He said, Abba, Father. He's
our Daddy. We're allowed this intimate relationship
with Him. He's my Father. I'm His Son.
What a blessed, blessed thought. There's a relationship. He loves
me. And I know He loves me. And I
love Him. He speaks to me from His Word.
And He allows me to speak to Him in prayer. He hears what I say. Oh, the joy of being an heir
of God and a joint heir of Christ. I love that scripture, the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink. It's not rules and regulations
and do's and don'ts. No, it's righteousness. The righteousness
of Jesus Christ is my personal righteousness before God. And
peace, the peace that comes from knowing Jesus Christ is my righteousness. And the joy that arises from
that. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. It's righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. Now, this is when grace is infinitely
more than a doctrine, we believe. It's a glorious necessity. That's what grace is, a glorious
necessity. You rejoice in the grace that's
in Christ Jesus. Now this word blessedness, he
says, where is the blessedness that you speak of? Did you know
this is only found in one other place in the scriptures? It's
found in Romans chapter four. And I think this is specifically
the blessedness that he's speaking of. And this is where true blessedness
comes from, where a sense of God-given blessedness, where
everything's wonderful. And I, you know, I know what
it is to have a horrible personal life, to be very sick, to be
very ill, and yet thinking things can't get better just for this
one reason. I really believe the righteousness
of Christ was mine. What else do I need? What else
could make me happy? Now let's go back to Romans chapter
4. This is where there's the only other time in the New Testament
this word is even used. Romans chapter 4. We're gonna set it up with the
first five verses. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but
not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
To him that worketh is the reward. Remember, Christ said to Abraham,
I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Jesus Christ himself
is the reward. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If you did something
to get him, then God owes him to you, and God becomes your
debtor. But to him that worketh not, but believeth. On him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Now where do me and you fit in
there in light of that verse? That's one of my favorite verses
in scripture. So clear, so unmistakable. To him that worketh not. Would
you be one of those people? You know that there's absolutely
nothing you can do to gain God's favor by what you do. To him
that worketh not. You believe that from the very
depths of your heart. To him that worketh not, but believeth. That means you're doing it right
now. I'm not real interested about where we were yesterday
or 10 years ago. What about right now? To him
that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. Is that gospel to
you? There is one who actually justifies
ungodly men and women and makes it to where they are righteous
before God. Now that's the gospel. To him
that worketh not, but believeth, relies, rests in, trusts him
that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Now here's the word, verse six.
Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto
whom God imputes righteousness without their works. Now this is Paul's comment on
Psalm 32, 1 and 2. What could be more blessed than
this? If God imputes righteousness
to me, I am in fact righteous. The very righteousness of God. Not simply legally or judicially
counted righteous, but I am righteous. The very righteousness of God. What could be more blessed than
that? I don't know how to answer that. Nothing. Nothing. Isn't it thrilling? Is this a doctrine we subscribe
to or is it thrilling? to be made the very righteousness
of God, so I can come boldly into God's presence and know
I'm accepted through Christ. Now, this thing of him imputing
is such a glorious thing. This word, I think, which is
interesting, is never used as an adjective. We never read in
the Bible of imputed righteousness. You see, if there were imputed
righteousness, there could be some other kind of righteousness.
There's this kind of righteousness and that kind of righteousness.
Imputed is never an adjective to describe righteousness. It's
always a verb. Righteousness. There's only one
righteousness. Amen? The righteousness of Jesus
Christ. Do you believe that's the only
righteousness there is? There's only one righteousness. Righteousness
imputed. Now, this word is used 41 times
in the New Testament. Nine times it's translated think. God thinks me righteous. That's
what he thinks. That's what he thinks about me.
Eight times it's translated imputed. Six times it's translated reckoned. God reckons me righteous. And
then, five times, it's translated count. God counts me righteous.
He's counted the numbers. It adds up. I'm righteous. It's translated four times, account. It's translated two times, suppose. It's translated one time, reason. And it's translated another time,
number. I'm numbered. righteous. I'm
in that role. Now, this thing of imputing that
God does, imputing righteousness, is done without any works on
my part. None at all. Now, is that blessedness?
Is that good news? Is that attractive? It's done
without any works. Even as David described the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. It is not God's response to anything
that we've done, including faith. Listen real carefully. He does
not impute righteousness because we believe. We believe because
he has imputed righteousness. It's altogether his work alone. Look in verses seven and eight.
Now, he quotes what David said in Psalm 32, 1 and 2. And let
me remind you the setting. Psalm 32, 1 and 2 were written
after that horrible sin David committed in committing adultery
with Bathsheba, having her husband murdered, and then trying to
cover it up for a year, and having others implicated in this foul
deed. And he went a year And then you
remember Nathan coming to him and telling that story. There
was a man who had one little lamb that he treated it like
a daughter. It ate at his table. And there
was another rich man who had flocks and herds and the rich
man had a traveler come by and he didn't want to use one of
his own flock. So he took this one man's lamb
and killed it and fed it to this man. And what did David say?
As the Lord lives, that man shall surely die. He's going to be
put to death. I think that's one of the clearest
examples of how we can so clearly see the sin in somebody else,
and we never can see it in ourselves. That man is surely going to die. And Nathan said, Thou art the
man. And he said, I've sinned against
the Lord. And Nathan said, but the Lord
hath put away thy sin. He went and penned this psalm. And David says, look what he
says. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now here's blessedness. Here's
blessedness to have your sins forgiven. to have your sins covered,
to have your sins not imputed to you. All my sins, all my sins,
all my transgressions, all my iniquities, forgiven, forgiven
by God. Now, if you forgive me, I hope
you will, but that won't do me any good if God doesn't forgive
me. But oh, if God forgives me. And then he says, transgressions
being covered. And listen, when the Lord covers
my sins in the blood of His Son, they're covered in such a way
that they can't be uncovered and seen because they're gone.
They're canceled. Here's my sin. When God covers
it, it's gone. It's not like He can remove the
hand and there it still is. No, it's gone. And what a blessed
thing to not have be imputed, have your sins imputed to you.
Now, I can't think of anything more
blessed than this. Not having my sin imputed, everything
that you could charge against me would be true. I asked myself if I really believed
this while I was going over my notes. I said, do you really
believe what you're saying? I thought, yeah, yeah. If I was charged with not
loving God with all my heart and loving my neighbor as myself,
right now you don't have to say guilty as charged. What about
putting other gods before God? Guilty. I'm not talking about
before I was converted. I put anything before God to
my own shame and detriment. What about making false ideas
of God? Making idols that you can feel
more comfortable with and justify yourself in? Oh, guilty, guilty. What about failure to reverence
his holy name? Oh, his name is holy. And anytime
I use his name, there's a reference. Failure to rest. Guilty. Failure to honor my parents and
failure with regard to honoring authority. Guilty as charged. I'm a murderer. I'm an adulterer. I'm a thief. I'm a liar and I'm
covetous. Every one of those things, I'm
not talking about the way I used to be. Now I've got to bring
this up and in a way I don't want to bring this up because
I don't want anyone to think they need to have an experience.
And most of you know this, some of you may not, therefore I'll
give it again. I can remember in 1988 when I
was in the hospital, And I thought I was going to
die that very night. I thought I didn't have two hours to live.
And I started looking within myself. The only thing you care
about at a time like that, am I saved? You're not thinking
about anything else. All you want to know is, am I
saved? Will I go to heaven or will I
go to hell? That's the one issue I wanted to be sure on, am I
saved? And I remember at that time looking within. I looked
in the wrong place. I looked within. And I couldn't
find, honestly, one thing in me that made me think I was saved. And I started crying. I thought,
I'm going to hell. There's no hope for me. I'm going
to hell. And I heard, I didn't hear it
audibly, but the Lord gave me this scripture at that time.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. Blessed is he whose
iniquity is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. And I remember, I thought everything
I thought about myself is true, but God doesn't charge me with
it. He didn't impute it to me. He
imputed it to his blessed son. What a state of blessedness that
is. There's no greater state of blessedness
than that, is there? To have your sins forgiven, to
have your transgressions covered. for the Lord to not impute his
sin, your sin, to you. Nothing gets better than that.
He says in verse nine of this chapter, cometh this blessedness
then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also?
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
How was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision or
in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. He wasn't a Jew then. He didn't
have the law then. but God reckoned righteousness
to him then through faith. Now, you don't have to have some
kind of experience to simply enjoy the blessedness of the
forgiveness of sins, of your sins being covered. of
your sins not being imputed to you because they were imputed
to your Redeemer. Now, I can remember the blessedness
of that time. And I wish I could bottle it
so I had it all the time. But I can remember. Now, I wonder How many of us have lost that
sense of blessedness? It's no longer amazing grace,
it's the doctrine of grace. Paul says in verse, back to our
text in Galatians 4, You know, when we've lost that
sense of blessedness, and all of us have from time to time, you lose the vitality of your
faith, don't you? Everything becomes mechanical and academic. Oh, we don't want that. He says
in verse 15, Where is then the blessedness
you speak of? For I bear you record that if
it had been possible, you'd have plucked out your own eyes and
have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy?
Because I tell you the truth." Now, Paul dealt with some very
hard things in here, what he said to him. He said, I stand
in doubt of you. He said, I'm afraid of you, lest I've labored
in vain. regard to you, I marvel at you,
you've been bewitched, all these things He said to them. And when
I think of the Galatians first going, being attracted to this
thing of law, the Judaizers coming in and them telling you need
to do this and do that and that'll make you a better Christian and
so on, I think their initial motive as far as what they thought,
well, this'll be good. I can make myself more holy.
I can be better. But remember, all the time, The
law is the strength of sin. That's all it is. Now, how do we do that? Let me give
you three things. I go back to the law. when I
return to the law and attempt to be sanctified by my obedience
to the law. If I take the holy law of God
and seek to be sanctified by my personal obedience to it,
I've gone back to the law. The law is the strength of sin
and I lose my blessedness. You can just write that down.
We love God's law. I would mean no disrespect to
God's law at all. The only way you honor the law
is by trusting Christ as your righteousness before God. That's
the way to honor the law. Now we return to the law when
we have toleration for that which is not 100% grace, but has elements
of law within it. You know, all you've got to do
is believe that somebody is saved because they did something, or
you're tolerant of that which is contrary to salvation being
100% works. As soon as you do that, and here's
the deal, folks. Here's the deal. When you love
Christ, you're sensitive about His glory. And if He doesn't
get all the glory, you're not going to have anything to do
with it. You're not going to go there. But when we become tolerant of
that which has some element of law in it, we've returned to
law and we've lost our sense of blessedness. We return to
the law when we lose our first love, that first sense of blessedness. Now, There's no sense of blessedness
in any of those things. And I say to myself, where is
the blessedness? I say to you, where is the blessedness? You see, in faith is not a feeling,
but it's not without feelings. Love is not a feeling, but it's
not without feelings. J.C. Ryle said this, he said
a good hope is first of all a hope that can
be found in scripture. If you can't show the scripture
as to why you have this hope, it's no good. He said secondly,
a good hope is a hope that a man can explain. If you can't explain
your hope, You have no hope. And then he said, a good hope
is a hope that affects a man on the inside. Isn't that so? And he said, a good hope is a
hope that'll be seen on the outside. I love that scripture in 1 Peter
3, 15, where he says, always be ready to give every man that
asks you an answer for the reason of the hope in you. May the Lord,
now, you know, I don't, how do I say this? May the Lord cause us to be so
gracious, so merciful, so forgiving, that people will say to us, what's
the reason for the hope in you? And we'll be ready to give them
an answer, won't we? Let's pray. Lord, let us never lose the blessedness
of simply being your child and having your righteousness
as our personal righteousness and having all of our sins forgiven
and covered. Lord, we thank you for the blessedness
of the gospel and truly we stand amazed that we've been made objects
of your mercy and your grace, and we bow at the feet of your
son and give thanks. In his blessed name we pray.
Amen. We got Dwayne. 299. We'll stand and sing.