Our text for this morning's message is found in James, a little short epistle, chapter 1, verse 25. Hear now the word of God. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. Thus far, the reading of God's Word. Let us pray. Father in Heaven, we do pray that we would recognize the glory and the good news of the Gospel. Yet at the same time, Father, we pray that we would know, having been saved by Your grace, how we ought to then live. Help us, Father, to pursue the things that You have told us in Your Word to pursue. That we might be not only a trusting people, but an obedient people. And let us, Father, also take refuge and enjoy, Father, those promises that are attached to the things that You've called us to pursue. That we might, Father, be a blessing to You and to one another. So, we pray, Father, You would aid us in thinking correct thoughts about these things as the Scriptures declare. In Jesus' name, Amen. What is a blessing? And how do they come? So, what is a blessing? I remember being asked that years ago when I was on a mission trip myself as a young man. A guy got up there and said, you know, we say, you know, may God bless you. And we talk about blessing. What does it actually mean? If you had to define what a blessing is, what is it? And once we define it, how do they come? Where do they come from? We live in an interesting time in history with all the information and in the culture in which we live. Where the Christian faith is something that is very, very highly marketed. That is a very, can be a very profitable venture. while at the same time living in a culture that's becoming less and less literate, where people are less apt to actually study the Word of God for themselves. At one end of the spectrum, we have what's been called the Word-Faith Movement. It routinely promotes the notion that God wants all of his people to be healthy and wealthy. It's God's will for you to be healthy and wealthy. Similar to how God spoke things into the universe. He spoke the universe into existence. This particular movement is, at least they assert, that we as Christians have the ability to speak good things into existence. So, we can actually speak. It's the word faith. You say it and it becomes, at some level, a reality. There are all sorts of variations of this movement. Variations of this are found in churches which promise healing. Churches which promise supernatural deliverance from addictions. Churches which promise financial success to those who faithfully attend. Now, without questioning motives, because I've never found it all that healthy to question motives unless I actually am told what the motive is. I must say that this brand of Christianity, at least as I understand the faith, engages in serious theological error. It's my opinion on that. I think they really make some big mistakes. And I think the error borders on, if not extends over, what I call the abusive. I happen to have experience in this area in the past and now. And I'll talk to my wife and we'll drive by and we'll see this and I'll talk to people. And although there might be some good things that happen, I just like I tell my wife, I go, you know what? The one word that comes to mind when I think of churches like that is abusive. And why do I say that? Because this method of Christian Faith is kind of like lottery Christianity. You have one winner and the one winner usually ends up on the stage giving their testimony and a thousand losers. Who may try for years to receive that blessing and they fail and they grow discouraged and they walk away. I think it's so discouraging. I've been on the phone with people and they're like, oh, yeah, I just it doesn't work for me. I'm like, well, what were you promised? And I was promised health. I was promised that my wife would live. I remember having that conversation. I was promised my wife would live and she died. And, you know, part of me just thinks, what in the world? What are you thinking? Of course, they don't say that on the phone with a man whose heart is breaking. Friends, this method of Christianity, I think, targets the hurting, the weak, the poor, the vulnerable, and therefore, in my opinion, it's a pernicious brand of Christianity. where you come in here and it's all, all the bad stuff's all going to go away. All the monsters are going to go away. And you walk out and they don't. On the other end of the field of Christianity are those who almost utterly disassociate their faith with any material, observable, or temporal blessings or curses whatsoever. So we have the other end of the spectrum now, at least in my opinion. According to this view, any mention in the Bible of blessings for obedience is consigned to the world of the immaterial or heavenly kingdom." Now, let me just tell you, this is where I'm going with this. I'm not addressing so much the Word-Faith movement. I'm addressing this other movement. And the reason I'm addressing this is because it's much closer to home for those of us who might consider ourselves Reformed in theology. One popular radio personality who was of the Reformed. And by Reformed, I'm talking about People who are genuinely confessional, they believe in like what our church believes in, that the Westminster Confession is one of the best understandings of the Christian faith. People who focus on what happened at the Reformation, you know, where we learned sola scriptura, it's the Word of God, and we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone. It's that emphasis. Although I'd say anybody who's not Protestant or part of the Orthodox Church, not Orthodox Presbyterian, but Orthodox, like Greek Orthodox or Russian, are all really you know, products of the Reformation in one way or another. But one popular Reformed radio personality was adamant that the promise in the Ten Commandments of long life and things going well in the land or on the earth, Deuteronomy 516, Ephesians 6, 2 and 3, To those who honor their mothers and their fathers should not be applied to the new covenant church. He was adamant about the fact that when the Bible says, honor your mother and your father, and then it pronounces this blessing, this attending blessing. He was adamant about the fact that there is no correlation in the new covenant between honoring your mother and your father and the promise. That's what I'm addressing. Is there is there or is there not? I was reading a book written by The reformed people in the reformed camp. And the book starts off with a fictional candidate for the gospel ministry in a book entitled The Law Is Not of Faith. And they say of the blessings and curses found in the law. This is what's going on. You read the book and it opens with a fictional interview for the ordination of a pastor. Something I've gone through and I'm part of all the time. And so, the candidate gets up there and they start asking him questions. And it got down to the blessings and the curse that is found in the law, which is primarily found in the Old Testament. And the quote goes like this, that there is no promise of earthly blessing for the church today if we meet a standard of obedience. Saying either of those things that is blessings for obedience or curses for disobedience might be simple but of course they'd be misleading and damaging for the church to hear. So according to this brand of Christianity the Bible is very limited in what it has to say concerning blessings or curses in the material world. Governments. families, cultures, etc., are part of the kingdom of man. And it is a mistake to assume either blessings or curses in those venues based upon human behavior, or more specifically, man's adherence to God's law as it's revealed in the Bible. You kind of understand what's going on here. In one end of the spectrum, you have people who are saying, God wants you healthy and wealthy. And if you can't obediently put yourself in a, quote, receiving posture with God, you're going to get a lot of good stuff today driving home. You know, you've got, you know, get your hopes up. It's going to happen. Think positive. It's almost like the power to positive thinking mentality. You can think positive, get yourself in that right place, and God's just going to pour it out. On the other end of the spectrum, we've got this idea that no matter what you do in this life doesn't really affect blessings or cursings at all. It's just it's just not something God is primarily concerned with. I mean, there might be some concern, but it's certainly not something based upon the obedience or disobedience of the law of God. You see, all blessings, according to this view, are found in the intoning work of Christ alone and are spiritual in nature. The Old Testament which contains the majority of the teachings of blessings and cursings for obedience or disobedience is to be understood typologically. What I mean by that is that whatever blessings there are in the Old Testament for obedience are found in Christ. So, if you read in the Old Testament that there's a blessing, you know, long life, it'll go well, that blessing is spiritualized. And when you come to faith in Christ, now you have that blessing. It's done. Now, let me just say on behalf of this position, in the same way that I just taught that the word faith teaching can be abusive or pernicious, those who hold this view are concerned that the promise of any earthly blessing for obedience is misleading and damaging. They don't say no, if you start teaching the church that a standard of obedience yields blessings or a standard of disobedience will yield a curse that's misleading and that's damaging. In other words, that's abusive. So you understand the problem here. Now, you know, I don't like straw man. First of all, I'm writing this. Thinking, is anybody even going to be into this? Because I'm like, this is such a in-house debate. Yet at the same time, because it is something that is like close to us, I felt I had a responsibility to address it and tell you my opinion on this, because I think the way things unfold is you start losing the battle in the seminary. You know what I mean? And then the pastors come out of the seminary and they start teaching it. And then, you know, the congregation is still holding on to orthodoxy. And all of a sudden they start hearing this stuff. And then eventually the congregation starts going, you know, in my opinion, liberal. And then you end up where we've seen so many churches end up. So I'm really addressing this issue because I think it's important for us to understand what is a blessing and where do they come from? lest we fall too far in one way or the other. So, what is a blessing? You know, the Apostle Paul tells us that in Christ, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. I mean, that's a wonderful verse that I've quoted a trillion times. This is, of course, central to our faith and pertains, I think, to things not only material but things eternal. These blessings are spiritual blessings and they last forever. It is because of the uniformed agreement from everybody concerned in this discussion in relation to this that we can view this little debate that I'm going over right now as kind of an in-house debate among Christians. I'm not saying, quite frankly, as much as I might disagree with the word faith, some of them, I think, are out there, but I might disagree with the charismatic movement. I'm not saying they're not Christians. And as much as I'm disagreeing with these other guys who say it's all spiritual, I'm not saying they're not Christians either. I think it's an in-house debate because we all agree that all of the spiritual blessings that we receive are found in Christ. I mean, let me clarify that. Those, for example, who might teach that we receive these heavenly spiritual blessings through our own obedience are teaching a works righteousness which is outside of the pale of the Christian faith. You understand? I want to make sure that's clear. You know, what we all have to recognize is that the spiritual, the spiritual eternal blessings are found in Christ. And I'll get to that in a minute. And those are not a result of our obedience at all. It's a result of the obedience of Jesus. But friends, let me ask you this question. Is that the totality of it? Is the totality of my faith the fact that Jesus has procured for me every spiritual blessing? Therefore, the way I live, What I do, what we do, either individually or corporately, we should not expect blessings or cursings. That is all fulfilled in Christ. Do you understand? I'm hammering it home because I'm hoping you get the problem. Because if you don't understand the problem, the solution won't mean that much to you. Are all blessings spiritual? And is it accurate to say that human behavior, either obedience or disobedience, has nothing to do with God's blessings or curses in the material, observable world in which we live? So at one end, we have Christians claiming riches, health, and power. based upon putting themselves in this obedient receiving posture with God. And on the other hand, we have Christians who almost utterly dismiss the notion that human behavior can result in curses or blessings at all, calling it a works principle leading to or equivalent to gaining eternal life through obedience. That's what they'll say. All right. Looking at the clock, looking at my notes, looking at you. All right, let's go back now that I've kind of hopefully put the problem before you. And let me tell you, if you haven't been confronted with this problem, you will be. I went to seminary long after I was in the ministry. And it's really, I find, profitable to go to school when you're older because you're going, ah, there's the answer that I've been looking for for the last 25 years. Whereas when you're learning in a student and you haven't been out there yet, some of the stuff is so hypothetical, you're going, when will I ever need that? Like my kids say about math all the time. I would have to say that at some point you're gonna be confronted with this issue because it's kind of popular and it's gaining legs. Again, one is that blessings should be expected now, here, today, health and wealth, the other one is All of that is spiritual, it's all typological. Any blessing enumerated in the Bible should be understood as a spiritual blessing that it became ours the moment we came to faith in Christ. And that we shouldn't even, it's damaging and destructive to teach that there is a standard of obedience that will yield blessings. Okay, first of all, I guess we have to define what a blessing is. So what is a blessing? It's a gargantuan question. The Bible is so full of blessings that we could never accomplish answering this question in our given time this morning and next week. So it's going to be this week and next week we'll talk about this. There are two words in the Hebrew and two words in the Greek for blessing. In the Hebrew, the word is Barak. Easy to remember that word, right? And Asher. And in the Greek, the words are eulogio, where we get the word eulogy from, and makarios, where we get the word macarena. I'm just kidding. Cue music. No, I'm just kidding. So you won't forget it, will you, now, right? Quite frankly, the distinctions in these words are not a major deal. The word bless. It can be in the form of a verb, to bless someone or to bless something. It can be an adjective, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read in 1 Peter 1.3. Or it can be a noun, when out of the mouth, precede blessing or encursing, James 3.10. In its very basic form, bless means to pronounce or to request happiness or divine favor. That's the basic meaning of the word. But you have to realize this very often the context of words will furnish the key to determining what the word actually entails. For example we read of Abraham blessing God in Genesis 24 48 where the word evidently means to worship or to praise or exalt. The Word has a similar meaning in Psalm 145 and Psalm 103. You know, bless the Lord, we sing, O my soul, bless the Lord. I mean, it's a matter of recognizing that we're praising God, we're worshiping God, we're exalting God, we're thanking God, we're praising God. That's a way to bless God. We read of Jesus, and we do this all the time, blessing food. We see that in the feeding of the 5,000. We see that in the Lord's Supper. And there it kind of means, you know, to consecrate, to set apart for some kind of separate or sacred use. We see a similar use of the word bless with the Lord's Day. The Lord blessed the day and hallowed the day. So, we see the blessing of a day. As we read just a minute ago, there are manifold spiritual blessings and the heavenly places in Christ, which we just could go on and on about what those spiritual blessings are. But we also read of blessings in a very material sense. I mean, people say it just in our common vernacular, you know, you know, you got to really have you got a nice house. Yeah, I've been really blessed. Is that right? Is that accurate? Sometimes we use religious words inappropriately. Is it accurate to say, yeah, I've really been blessed with health. I've really been blessed with this or that and start naming things. I think it is accurate to do that and say that it was said that Abraham was blessed by the Lord who had given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and male and female servants. We read that Job had been blessed by the Lord with sheep and camels and oxen and donkeys and sons and daughters. Rebecca was said to have been blessed with this numerous progeny. In the scripture we see blessing associated with children, grain, wine, oil, cattle, Deuteronomy 7.13. Peter calls Christians to bless those who do us evil, since Christians are called to this, that they may inherit a blessing. And then he defines the blessing and the means by which the blessing comes in 1 Peter 3, 10 through 12. For he who would love life and see good days, similar to the other promise, right? That given to those who honor their mothers and their fathers. For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. So Peter is explaining what the blessing is and how you get it in that passage. He then explains. And I think this is very important that even if the outward manifestation or definition, which is usually something that appears positive, So, if the outward manifestation of the blessing is not present, that does not mean that God is not blessing His children. Peter goes on, he says, And who is He who will harm you if you become followers of what is good, that even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed? If we're willing to acknowledge, friends, God's fatherly discipline as a blessing, we know that we are continually the object of God's blessings, regardless of what the experience happens to be. Nonetheless, the Bible does seem to speak of blessings in terms of a positive experience. And by positive, I'm not suggesting that the discipline of God is negative, but it's loving discipline designed to produce the blessing of the peaceable fruit of righteousness. We see God in his discipline of us is blessing us to bring us to a certain place. So I guess I have to say, I don't think it's difficult to conclude that the full scope of God's blessing includes almost anything that can properly be understood as good or positive, whether material or immaterial, temporal or eternal. Everything that can accurately be defined as good or positive is a blessing from God. I don't think these lists, camels and sheep, You know, you don't see bulls in there. You don't go, OK, well, there's camels and sheep, but not a bull because it's not... I don't think those are exhaustive lists. I think when we receive things, we just go, you know what, this is a blessing from God, whether it's material things or health or discipline or what have you. All right, if that's the case, if anything good or positive or what have you is a blessing, how do the blessings come? How do we get that? How does it come our way? Now, let me just acknowledge right here at the get-go that blessings or curses often have little or nothing to do with human behavior. I'll say that twice, okay? Blessings or curses often have little or nothing to do with human behavior. I think Job is the obvious example of one who was cursed even though he was blameless and upright and one who feared God and shunned evil. So in a certain sense, Job was I mean, unless you are going to argue that having the devil full reign in your life isn't a curse. Now, you might there in Q&A, you might have some questions about this, and believe me, I will get into the depth of this. It may be either in Q&A or next week, recognizing again the limitations of the devil or the purpose of the devil in the hands of God. Nonetheless, we recognize that. So we recognize friends that blessings or curses may have little or nothing to do with our behavior. Nonetheless the Bible does often speak of a sort of and I'm going to put a big underline that star in the margin sort of cause and effect when it comes to blessings or curses. Our opening passage this morning tells us that the man who is the doer of the work of the law will be blessed in what he does, literally in the doing of him. He will be blessed in what he does. The association between human behavior and consequential blessings or curses enumerated in the Bible are copious. You don't have to look too far before you see blessings associated or curses associated with certain behavior. I had to limit myself just for the sake of time. The number of places in the Bible that blessings or curses are associated with human behavior. As stated in the fifth commandment and repeated by the Apostle Paul, by the way, in the New Testament, in Ephesians chapter 6, the honoring of parents results in things going, quote, well and long life on the earth. There are more Proverbs than we have time to examine where we see this principle at work. Proverbs 8.32 teaches that blessed are those who keep my ways. We see kind of a blanket statement there, but let me just give you some examples that are so obvious you'll know these, right? Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. We're all familiar with that, Proverbs 22.6. Proverbs 22.8 and 9, he who sows iniquity will reap sorrow. And the rod of his anger will fail. He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor. Proverbs 10.4 But he who is slack, he who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Proverbs 10.4 I mean, these are just a couple of examples from Proverbs alone. The Apostle Paul, by the way, does not shrink back from utilizing this principle in his instruction for New Covenant Christians. First Corinthians 15 33 do not be do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits. That leads to this. We also see in Second Corinthians 9 6 and 7 in relationship to giving the apostle Paul writes but this I say he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver. I don't know. Maybe this is just so obvious. You're going, well, Pastor Paul, why are you laboring the obvious here? We all know that certain behaviors result in good things and other behaviors result in bad things. And I guess if you wanted to find bad things as curses and good things as blessings, it just seems obvious, does it not? It just seems obvious. Now let me just say this next point I'm going to make some of you can just rest and not pay attention. There are certain people you know and I understand this who don't view the Protestant Reformation as a historically monumental turning point in the advancement of the kingdom of God. I think they're a mistake, and I think that in the 1500s everything turned around, not only religiously, theologically, but culturally. It's one of the big turning points in all of history. But if you don't view the Protestant Reformation as a big deal, what I'm about to say won't really matter to you. But since the view I am addressing, this idea of no promise, of earthly blessings or curses for a standard of obedience is something people are claiming to be historical reformed theology. And you see that term in one of the books over and over and over. This is historic reformed theology, historic reformed theology. And I'm like going, I've been reading reformed theology for 30 years, every single week. And I've never come up with that. I just don't see it. And then I started reading some critiques and they're going, this is not reformed theology. So I'm like, well, at least I'm not alone thinking that I'm that this is not historic reform theology. But let me just say what they'll say is John Calvin, who is the quintessential reformer, held this view. That's what they'll say. So, I mean, let me tell you, you know, and I mean, I view John Calvin as like one of my teachers. You know, I had him in class when I was in ninth grade. And so his word is in canon but you understand I'm addressing here kind of more of a cultural academic distinction. I don't think this was Calvin's view and let me give you a couple of quotes. Contrary to the radio personality we spoke of earlier Calvin's view of the promise connected with the fifth commandment goes as follows quote that the reward promise to the obedience of children is highly appropriate. Those who show kindness to their parents from whom they derived life are assured by God that Quote, in this life it will be well with them and that thou mayest live long on the earth. In this life. Calvin then explains the new covenant slant on this promise because you realize this promise was first given in the Ten Commandments, right? But then Paul quotes the promise in the New Testament in Ephesians chapter 6. Calvin gives his his explanation. He says Moses expressly mentions the land of Canaan that things may go well with you in the land because they're about to enter into the land of Canaan That by days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God is giving you giving you Beyond this Calvin continues the Jews could not conceive of any life more happy or desirable but as the same divine blessing is extended quote to the whole world and Paul has properly left out the mention of a place peculiar, the peculiar distinction of which lasted only till the coming of Christ. What does this all mean? In other words, the promise is not restricted to Canaan, but to the whole world, at least according to Calvin. Regarding the law in general, John Calvin said this, quote, that he, that is God, may encourage us in every way. He promises present blessings as well as eternal felicity to the obedience of those who shall keep his commandments while he threatens transgressors with present suffering as well as the punishment of eternal death. I just think it's not Calvin's view that it's all part of the atoning work of Christ and spiritual. I think Calvin's view is that there are promises in this life for blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Now, a reasonable question at this juncture might be this. Who is worthy of a present blessing? You see, the argument is if we're all sinners and all of our best works are just worthy of death, who's worthy of a blessing? Clearly, we cannot make God our debtor when it comes to the blessing of eternal life. But do we make God our debtor when it comes to earthly blessings? In other words, if we honor our parents, does God owe us a good and long life? Do you understand the question? I'm being my own enemy here. How good do you have to be to get the blessing? And if I honor my mother and my father, how much do I have to honor them? And if I honor them correctly, do I look at God and say, you owe me long life? It's owed to me. I've made God I have. I can't make God my debtor in salvation, but I certainly can make God my debtor when it comes to the blessings in this life. I mean, hopefully just hearing that should make you cringe. Calvin gives an explanation, and I think I really agree with it, and so I'm just going to use his words. But though in every passage where the favor or anger of God is mentioned, the former comprehends eternity of life and the latter eternal destruction. The law, at the same time, enumerates a long catalog of present blessings and curses. See, present blessings and curses. The threatening attests the spotless purity of God, which cannot bear iniquity, while the promises attest at once His infinite love of righteousness, which He cannot leave unrewarded, and His wondrous kindness. being bound to do him homage with all that we have. He is perfectly entitled to demand everything which he requires of us as debt. And as a debt, the payment is unworthy of reward. In other words, if I do everything God tells me to do, it's just me paying the debt. So if I pay it all, I still just paying the debt that I owe. He continues, therefore, he God forgoes his right when he holds forth reward for services which are not offered spontaneously as if they were not due. Maybe this is getting way past it. Let me explain. This whole cause and effect principle that I mentioned earlier is not entirely accurate as we might understand physics or human interaction. When God promises a blessing for obedience, say long life for honoring our parents, it cannot be said that God now has become our debtor. Calvin's point, and I think it's the point Jesus makes in Luke 1710, is that even if we have done all things commanded, we're simply paying the debt that we owe. That God promises a blessing is his way of graciously presenting the blessing as if we didn't owe him all. Now, let me illustrate this with a point that might make it clear to you. I may tell my children, if you brush your teeth and clean your room, I will pay for your college education. They shouldn't think that by brushing their teeth, which by the way is good for them, that somehow they've earned a college education. You understand the difference? I may say this is the condition that I've established for me to pay for your college education. So you brush your teeth, you clean your room. For you to walk up to me and say you owe me a college education would be the height of folly and short-sightedness on their part, would it not? And so I present it as if they've earned it, and yet we recognize that they haven't earned it at all, but it is all of grace. Perhaps all of this has initiated either a lot of questions or just sleepiness. I guarantee you, one of these days what's going to happen, maybe it's warm in here, maybe it's me, maybe it's you. I'm watching you, I look, you know. There are certain people who are very active listeners and I'm talking and they're doing this. I look at them all the time. This person over here is kind of doing this, you know. No, I'm only kidding, nobody's doing that over there. There will come a time when you're going to go, where's that CD? You know, because I just ran into a friend and all of a sudden you're realizing that this is something you're going to have to deal with. But all sorts of questions that I want to get to next week. First of all, how good do you have to be? I mean, clearly, the Bible teaches that all have sinned, that our righteousness before God is as a filthy rag. The heart of man is desperately wicked. So one of the questions is, well, how good do you have to be to get the blessing? The next question will be, how come blessings and curses, how come they don't come? You're talking all about the blessing, you're talking about the curses, but you know what? What I'm seeing is those who disobey God being blessed. How come it's not happening? The question last week in Q&A, you know, Jesus said, ask and it shall be given. How come we're asking and it's not coming? He's not giving. Really important question I want to get to next week. Can blessings become a curse? The Bible talks about blessings becoming a curse. I want to get to all that next week, but I'd like to end with a brief heralding of the ultimate blessing, a blessing which does have a mighty cause and a sure effect. You know, when Peter made a profession of faith, Jesus said, Who do you say that I am? And Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Remember what Jesus said to Peter? Blessed are you. Blessed are you, Simon, because you figured this out. Wait, is that what he said? Blessed are you because you have the presence of mind. Blessed are you because you are humble enough. Blessed are you because you are knowledgeable enough to figure out that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's not it, is it? How did it go? For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Oh, there's a cause and there's an effect. And it is an absolute cause and it is a sure effect. If our eyes have been opened, To see that Jesus Christ is, in fact, the Christ, the son of the living God. Friends, that's a sign that God has truly blessed us. He has opened our eyes. He has opened our hearts. He's inclined us to turn toward him. To apprehend that Jesus is the son of God reveals to us that we have been truly blessed. And the only cause is the love, grace, and mercy of God through the cross of Christ, who purchased us by his own blood. Let's not be unclear about that. And there may not be a better description of how this blessing comes, or what this blessing is, than the one explained by the Apostle Paul in the fourth chapter of Romans, verses six and seven, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." Friends, this is, if I can put it, the mother of all blessings, that our eyes have been opened to see that God has taken our sins and He has transferred them to the cross of Christ. And He has taken the righteousness of Christ and He has transferred that to us so that when God sees us, He doesn't see our sins, but He sees the righteousness of Christ Himself. This glorious double transfer, they call it the double imputation. When God sees us, He sees His own child who He has set free from sin. and upon whom he lavishes every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And friends, all of us, apart from this, have no relationship with God at all. All of this, apart from anything that we could possibly do, the grace of God the acceptance and the approval of God, all of this apart from anything any of us could ever possibly do. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we do pray that we would know deeply the love with which you have loved us, that we would, Father, commit our entire lives to understanding the depth and the profound nature of Jesus becoming sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Help us, Father, to recognize that because of this, there is no condemnation. That we have peace, Father, with you. That we have been justified by faith. And even this faith, Father, is a gift. It is a blessing itself that comes from above. Nonetheless, Father, let us also recognize that you have a call in our lives, that we have a master who we are called to obey. And you graciously, Father, have set before us both the blessings of rewards and the fear of curses. May, Father, we have eyes to see these things. And may we obey Jesus when He said that we ought to love you and love each other with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And, Father, forgive us if we leave anything, if we have any category in our lives which somehow we think are excluded from that call. Whether it's as husbands, mothers, wives, fathers, church members, citizens, whatever it might be. When the Scriptures declare that Jesus is the Lord of Lords, Father, let us recognize that that second, that Lord's, the King of Kings, that second Kings, includes anyone who has any authority whatsoever. So, help us, Father, knowing that in doing so, Not only does this honor you, but it is a blessing to all who recognize the kingship and the majesty of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.