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This evening our text is found
at the end of Psalm 72 and verse 17. And partway through that verse, men shall be blessed in him. Psalm 72, the second part of verse 17. The psalm, as clear from the
very beginning, concerns the greatest of kings, even God's Son, the Messiah. King mentioned in Psalm 45, to
whom God says, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The Messiah King mentioned in
Psalm 2, where God says, the Father, that is, I have set my
King upon my holy hill of Zion. Now the inscription to the psalm
says that it is a psalm for Solomon, possibly about Solomon. But what is written in this psalm,
though it may have some initial reference to Solomon, was never fulfilled in Solomon. For example, in verse 5, They
shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout
all generations. How long did Solomon reign? Forty
brief years. So the psalm speaks of another,
a king who shall be honored and respected as long as the world
lasts. throughout all generations. If we turn to verse 8, he shall
have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto
the ends of the earth. Solomon had a great empire, but
he never reigned universally, and this was never fulfilled
in him, therefore. I could say of this psalm what
is recorded in the New Testament from the lips of our Lord, a
greater than Solomon is here. The subject of the psalm is another
son of David, great David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we turn to our text,
which says, men shall be blessed in him, that is true of our Lord. And what a statement that is,
men shall be blessed in him. The Lord Jesus is the blessed
one and he is the source of all good. It says in the Gospel of John
chapter 3 that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things
into his hand. All the blessings which God has
decreed for his people all the blessings that have been promised
in the everlasting covenant. All those blessings are put in
the trust of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus. It pleased the
Father, Colossians 1, that in Him should all fullness dwell. That fullness is not the fullness
of deity or Godhood. It's the fullness of benefit.
He became the trustee of all that had been secured for the
people of God. He becomes the executor, the
administrator of it. As in the days of Joseph, everyone
who was needy and hungry turned to Joseph. who supplied their
need. So in these days, everyone in
spiritual need must turn to Christ, who has the wherewithal to meet
the needs of every man. Christ has only to speak a word and the blessing comes. Had we
sung Psalm 133 tonight, as was intended earlier, It says, he commandeth his blessing. That's what he does. He just
speaks the word and the blessing comes. So he has a fullness of
that there is no doubt, an abundance and a variety of blessing, but
he has the power to confer it, to bestow it upon men, despite
all the obstacles that there may be to that. You remember
the man in the Gospels who said to Christ that he was unworthy
for him to come under his roof. But Lord, he said, speak the
word only and healing shall result. Well, he is able to command and
command This man or that man shall be blessed in him. And the blessing which comes
to a man from Christ is marvelous indeed. There was a man in the
Old Testament whose prayer is recorded and says, Oh that thou
wouldst bless me indeed. Only the Lord can bless indeed.
Blesses no other. Bless in a greater and fuller
way than any other benefactor can. And in the New Testament
we read that the Lord is able to bless with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Men shall be blessed in him,
but men who are sinful and guilty, men abandoned to evil and therefore
to sorrow. Yes, men shall be blessed in
him, however unworthy they may be, because the Lord responds
to such wretchedness in grace. We remember the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And grace is conspicuous when
the Lord blesses those who never deserved it and never therefore
could reasonably expect and all God's blessings are grace in
Christ. And that is why the Gospel of
John says in chapter one, of His, that is Christ's fullness,
have all we received grace upon grace. Everything that I as a
sinner receive from Jesus Christ has not been in any way worked
for. It has not been earned. It is
free. And it is out of respect to his
love, not out of respect to my worth. He blesses for his own
name's sake, to use a Bible term. Men shall be blessed in him,
multiplied are the blessings. Daily, the psalmist says in Psalm
68, he loatheth us with blessings. So blessed sometimes that we
can hardly bear the weight of the blessings of God. I love to read of that great
man William Tennant, friend of George Whitefield in the 18th
century. Going out into the wood one day, lost in prayer and in
meditation, and feeling the goodness of God upon him, the blessing
of God upon him. And Old Tenent says, he breaks
off from prayer and he says, hold, Lord, hold. I can take
no more. It is possible for God to bless
us in that way, that we can reasonably take no more. And that may be
extraordinary, and it is beyond the experience of most of us,
I would suggest, but it shows the manner of the blessing of
God. And the term loath in Psalm 68
indicates that it's not a benefit here and a benefit there, but
it's piled up upon us and pressed down upon us as if really no
more could be expected. Men shall be blessed in Him.
Whatever their needs, those needs are satisfied, and all their longings fulfilled. God gives them, in Christ, the
desire of their hearts. No good thing will he withhold.
The Lord giveth grace and all that makes for salvation here,
and glory, all that makes for salvation there. Everything is in Christ. The apostle writes, Christ is
all. in all. Meaning that all that a blessed
man has is from Christ. And every man so blessed is blessed
in him. He's everything to everyone. And no wonder therefore Christ
Alluding to this, men shall be blessed in him, likened the seeker
in the parable to one who found, hidden in a
field, a treasure. And it indicates that the believing
sinner discovers in Christ and in his salvation a most worthy treasure. A treasure which would be sold
at tremendous price. A treasure that really is invaluable. Now all I wanted to do tonight
was to look with you at some of the treasures in the treasure chest. Men shall
be blessed in him, but what are the blessings with which men
are blessed in Jesus Christ? Well, I have several and therefore
I shall not dwell at any length on every one of them. But the first thing I will mention
that we find in Jesus Christ is divine love. To know the love of a friend
is very special, very precious. To know the love of a spouse,
husband or wife, is dear indeed and not worthy to be compared.
But to know the love of God in Jesus Christ is the greatest
good and the greatest possession a
man can have. God so loved the world. That's how the gospel verse begins. Romans 8 speaks of the love of
God which is in Jesus Christ our
Lord. Do you remember how the poet
put it? The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever
tell. It goes beyond the highest star
and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair Adam and Eve
bowed down with care. God gave his son to win, his
erring child he reconciled and pardoned from his son. The love of God is one of the
things that comes to us as a doctrine in the gospel and as an experience
in the heart. We know and have believed the
love that God hath for us, writes John. And what is so special about
the love of God? Well, it's divine love. There
lies its uniqueness. It's the love of the greatest
and the best of all beings. The glorious God. This love had no beginning, because God has no beginning. And wherever He was, He loved
his people and will never cease to love them. It's the love of God Almighty,
who in time made the heavens and the earth. So it is tremendous
love, not only eternal, but powerful love. thy maker is thy husband,
he says. And the love, therefore, which
proceeds toward us is the love of the God who made everything
out of nothing. It's a love that still exists and will always exist, because
God still is. He's not died. God lives. And the scripture says, He rests
in His love. Meaning that His love is unchanged,
unchangeable. And God himself can abide in
that love, because it will never be overturned,
it will never cease to be. It proceeds from the heart of
the eternal, and is eternal at heart. The love of God. And if we know anything of the
love of God, Then, my dear friends, we can
entertain the brightest of hopes, because whatever our state, whatever our fallen condition,
if God loves us, then he will remedy it, and he
will deliver us. That love is strong as death. It is stronger than the grave
itself. And therefore, to have the love
of God is infinitely consoling. It was Abraham Lincoln who was
asked once, do you think God is on your side? And he answered, I don't know
about that, but my concern is to be on God's
side. And when you are lost, Yes, you have God on your side,
but you're on God's side. He is for you and with you and
in you. And He saves you from your sins
in love. And He keeps you in all life's
changes in love. And He brings you at last in
love to his heavenly kingdom. And what's that kingdom like? Jonathan Edwards called heaven a heaven of love. And on the basis of those words
found in 1 Corinthians 13, the greatest is love. Love abides. And if love abides
beyond all other emotions and graces and gifts, then love must
be in heaven. The love of God there. And the love of glorified people
there. The kingdom is a heaven of love. And you can know that love if you become a Christian. An overwhelming sense of divine
love. Now let's look again into the
treasure chest. What else is there of value? Men are blessed in Him. I must say this. Precious Jesus is there. God in His love gave Christ to
be the Redeemer of sinners. And when you're blessed, You're
blessed not only with what Jesus has, but you are blessed with
all that Jesus is. That's a wonderful gift, to have a Redeemer, to have a Savior. One of Scotland's greatest scientists
was asked once in public, what, sir, was your greatest discovery? He stood before hundreds of people
and said, my greatest discovery was to learn that I had a savior. Precious Lord Jesus, How precious he is, because he
is divine. He was God, the scripture says. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, the scripture says. He says in the scripture,
I and my father are one. precious that, that the one who is resolved
upon saving us comes not in the strength of mere humanity, but
in the strength of deity. So that there is nothing he cannot
save us from, and there's nothing he cannot save us to. He is mighty
to save. to you that believe he is precious. He's precious in the engagements he undertook, in the plan of salvation drawn
up before the world began. He was set up from everlasting,
ere ever the world was. And he determined to do the will
of his father, though that meant leaving the glory of heaven and
the splendor of that eternal dwelling place and taking a journey
unto him which would bring him into the regions of the darkness
of sin and of shame in order to do what was necessary
to bring fallen sinners to God and then to the Kingdom of Heaven. Man shall be blessed in Him, but He's the greatest of blessings. All this He did for us. He lived a sinless life to satisfy
the law as to the demand of obedience, but he did it for us, that we
might have merit, that his righteousness might
avail for us to secure the favor and blessing of God and ultimately
the everlasting kingdom. when he suffered for us and died
an atoning death to satisfy the law as to its judgment, and he
exhausted it. He suffered for our sins. The chastisement of our peace
was laid upon him, and it was by his stripes that we are healed. He died that we might be forgiven.
He died to make us good, that we might go at last to heaven,
saved by his precious blood. Men shall be blessed in him. But he is the greatest blessing
of all. Compared to blessings, he is like a golden casket, which
when opened yields scores of trinkets, but not one of them
compared to the casket, which is of greatest worth, inestimable in value. So Christ. One day this Christ is returning. At the end of time, in the time
appointed, I will come again, he said, and surely he will.
He that will come, will come, and will not tarry. And when
he comes, he will raise the believing dead Through the instrumentality of
angels, he shall gather all his people together. He shall pronounce their acquittal
at the tribunal of God. He will declare them blessed.
And he will bid them enter the kingdom prepared for them. And when at last he concludes
all those things, we shall see what a blessing
he is. Without him sinners would have
languished in hell, but by him sinners rejoice in
heaven. Precious Lord Jesus. Men shall be blessed in him Open
the casket again, the chest. What now? So great salvation. You notice all these words are
qualified with adjectives of one kind or another. Divine love,
the love of God. To you that believe he is precious,
precious Christ. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? The salvation we have is exceedingly great. Because God is the author of
it, it's not the salvation of a man. And it's not deliverance from
some petty minor kind of ailment, it is
liberty from the greatest evil that ever beset this world. Sin is the greatest evil because
it damns men forever. It consigns men to the abyss It hurls men in the bottomless pit. And salvation is deliverance from that. And who saves? There is salvation
in no other. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. And he's mighty
to save. Then shall be blessed in him
with a salvation so great that it is comprehensive. It covers everything. Saved from sin, yes, he shall
save his people from sin. Saved from the law and its penalty,
yes. Redeemed from the law, there
is remission. Saved from death, yes. Christ gives life, and he that
believeth shall never die the sinner's death, but shall live
forever. Saved from the wrath of God.
Yes! He delivered us from the wrath
to come. Saved from hell. Yes! He saves that none may perish. A comprehensive salvation which
is available to every sinner on the face of the earth in the
gospel. That every sinner will not avail
himself or herself of it is sure, but nevertheless it is set before
men in the gospel as accessible and obtainable. It is the gift
of God. to you, Acts 13, 46, is this
salvation scent. Great salvation. I raise the lid of the chest again. Men shall
be blessed in him. I find a gem here, which I'll
call spiritual union. 1 Corinthians 6, 17, he that is
joined to the Lord is one spirit. When a man is joined to his wife,
they are one flesh. Because it is a physical relationship,
essentially. But when a man is joined to Christ,
The relationship is spiritual, not natural. So not one flesh,
but one spirit. How does that come apart? Well, it is necessary, my friends,
to hear the gospel, because there the gospel presents Christ to
us as God's gift. And men are called upon to receive
Christ, For as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God. And if men do receive Christ,
abandoning hope in themselves and in everyone else and in every
refuge in which they have sought relief, and receive Christ as
their hope for time and for eternity. I tell you a wonderful thing.
He receives the believing sinner. Whosoever cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. And that means that a friendship
is established. A friendship which will never
be broken, A friendship which will never
cease. We have found the greatest of
all friends. There is a friend, the scripture
says, that sticketh closer than a brother. In the worst of times, he cleaves
to us. When we are ready to fall, he
holds on to us. And when we are suffering decay,
he supports us. He sticketh closer, clingeth
more than a brother. And that friendship, which I
call here union, because it's a connection to Christ, it's
a relationship to Christ, that will never end. For I am persuaded,
says the apostle, that nothing shall separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So what you have in the treasury
is a friend who, unlike the friends we often meet in this world,
are not fickle. They are not unfaithful. They
are not changeable. What you have in Jesus Christ
is the best friend a sinner ever had. One that will love him even though
he fails. One that will love him even when
he falls. One who will love him even when
he dies. A friend for life and for eternity. Men shall be blessed in him with
that union. I open again the lid. I find here, now, before me,
and my wandering eyes, unsearchable riches. Paul's phrase in Ephesians
3.8, that I might preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ. What are these unsearchable riches? All the things that bring us comfort and support
in life. All the things that enable us
to continue in this life. All the things which give us
consolation in this life and enable us to enjoy fullness of
life. All that is in Christ. Unsearchable riches. And they're
unsearchable, my friends, because the source of these is divine
and you can't find out fully to satisfaction the source. Unsearchable because the riches
of Christ are vast. You cannot begin to count up
the worth. You cannot assess what you have
in Christ. Because it's beyond calculation. If a man is blessed in Jesus,
he's no pathetic millionaire. He's an heir of God and a joint
heir with Christ. Unsearchable riches because they're
never exhausted. Christ blesses us every day,
all our days to our last day, and then for eternal days. Unsearchable because they are
more than everything a man has ever had or could ever hope to
have. Unsearchable because The complete whole of these riches
will not be seen until we enter heaven. That's yours in Christ. If you
become a Christian, that's yours. You are enriched. Don't you realize
that you're living a poor life? But if you find Christ, you live a wealthy life. Let's go back. Open the treasure box again. Perfect peace. The words are taken from Isaiah
26. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed upon thee, because he trusteth in
thee. Similar Expression in the New Testament, peace which passes
understanding. There is no peace when you're
an unconverted sinner. God is angry with the wicked.
Why? Because they dishonor his being
by their very nature. Because they pour contempt upon
his law by breaking it. because they run counter to his
will, living for self and not for God. And therefore God is
against the unbelieving sinner, as he would be against all of
us, were it not for the interposition of Jesus Christ, who goes to
the cross of Calvary and says, all their wrongdoings, all their
crimes, Father in heaven, load upon me, and then judge it. and pour out all your indignation
upon it. Let me be made sin and let me
bear the whole punishment for it." And thus he died at Calvary. And justice, even the justice
of God, satisfied by the satisfaction of Christ God is reconciled. God is appeased. God is propitiated. God is at peace. And the sinner can be at peace with God. Perfect peace. You won't find
that anywhere else. You won't find that in the market. You won't find that at the auction. Where will I find it? Men shall be blessed in him. Let me look again. Unspeakable
joy. We rejoice with joy unspeakable
in Christ, Peter says. Happiness distinguishes the Christian. Why is the Christian happy, a
happy man? Because God is his Father. Christ is his Savior. The Spirit
is his Comforter. Why is he happy? Because his
sins are forgiven. His prayers are heard. His life
is blessed. Why is he such a happy man? Because
he has every comfort in the troubles of this life. And he has every reward in the
life to come. I ask you a question, why shouldn't
he be happy? With God as his God, all his
sins forgiven, his person accepted through Christ, his life blessed
from beginning to end and heaven in waiting. Lachlan McKenzie preached and
wrote a poem on what he called happy man, the Christian man. And the world
laughs, but hollow is their laughter. They've never found abiding joy.
But the Christian's object for joy is Christ, who is unfailing. And therefore he has joy unspeakable. If I am to do justice to this
hoard which I found tonight, I must go back again quickly
to the treasure chest. And in it now I see certain promises. To us are given exceeding great
and precious promises. All the promises of God in Christ
are yea and amen. and to the glory of God. I say certain promises not meaning
a few or a selection of them, but meaning sure or secure promises. Let me tell you a brief story. There was a famous preacher in
America in the 19th century called Wilbur Chapman. And at one point, while he was
pastor of a large church, he was in some difficulty. Sad to say, in financial difficulty.
And he couldn't see his way to pay his bills and settle his
debts. Until one morning, he received
a letter in the post. And it was from one of the members
of that church, and this is what it said, Dr. Chapman, I understand you are having a
difficulty financially. It may be a comfort for you to
know that my entire fortune is behind you. These cheques, there were 20
or 30 in the packet, these cheques are all signed. Feel free to write them for whatever
amounts you need. God's promises are his cheques,
all signed. We have to claim them and the
bank of heaven will honour them. Whatever is written on the cheque
will be granted. What promises? Promises of help in trouble. Promises of succor in sorrow. Promises of hope in depression.
Promises of strength in weakness. Promises of life in death. Promises to cover every emergency
of this mortal life. promises to cover the ultimate
enemy, which is death and the grave, promises every one of which God
will keep. What did Chapman do? He took
the packet, he used the checks. What does the believer do? He
takes the package, he uses those promises and he comes, he comes
before the bank of heaven and says, This I have been promised. I promise to give the bearer this amount. O God, thou hast promised. I ask for the gift. And God is bound by his own honor
to hold to his word. certain promises. Look again. Good hope. Scripture says we have everlasting
consolation and good hope through grace. What is hope? It's hope It relates to something not seen. It relates to something which
is good, otherwise it would be dread, but it's hope. So as believers in Christ, we have hope of goodness and
mercy all the days of our lives. And when our walking days are
done, and the journey of life is over, we have another hope. I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. It's a good hope, isn't it? A hope of companion on the walk, and a hope of being with him
at the destination. For me to live is Christ, to
die is gain. Man shall be blessed in heaven. I must open the box before I
close the sermon one last time. And what is this I find? I was once in the bookshop in
the basement there at the old SPCK in Salisbury. And the manager, who'd become
a friend, he said to me, I've just received a great library.
He said, go down and help yourself. He's a very good friend. It was a Monday and I descended
the steps and I got into this dusty, murky old basement. Well, I was beside myself for
joy for two hours as I went through every box. There were some nice
things there. But as I came laden with these
precious books and I was going up the stone steps to the shop,
There was a box in the corner, and on it was a large folio book. Men like me love folios, you
know. The bigger the book, the better it is. I went over to
it. I put my books down. I thought,
this is going to be interesting, to say the least. Well, it may mean nothing to
you, but it meant a lot to me. My heart missed three or four
beats. It was the commentary by John
Rogers of Dedham on the whole of 1 Peter. Spurgeon said of it in his comments
on commentaries, the rarest book in divinity. A scarce could believe my eyes. I took it upstairs, and my friend
was at the till, and I said, Robert, I'd really like this
book. He said, well, it's old, isn't
it? And it's very dusty. The spine needs attention. I
said, yes, that's true. But it's a valuable book, I said. a very valuable book. You give me two pounds for it,
he said. One of the rare times when I
had a conscience with a bookseller. I said to him, I can't give you
that. It's worth hundreds of pounds.
And he smiled at me, winked at me, and he said, I know it is.
But you'll read it. You take it with my good wishes.
Well, I didn't walk out of that shop. I flew out. I was such an easy man to live
with for a whole month after that. I couldn't believe. Now on the top of the treasure
here is something like that book. What is it? Everlasting Life. He that believeth in him shall
not perish but have everlasting life. So that death isn't the end,
It's not the termination of the best that God can give. It's an end, but it's a beginning. There's another chapter. There's
another experience which is unending. And it's life as I have never
known it in this world. It is the life which God lives.
It's the life that they know in heaven. And if I have Christ,
it is mine. Men shall be blessed in him. Are you unconverted tonight? Oh, you poor man. You poor woman. You are poor. And you'll be poor forever, unless you believe in Christ. You will be blessed in Him. O
come to Him. Receive Him. Rely on Him to bless
you. And He surely will. Amen.
Men shall be Blessed in Him
| Sermon ID | 312141830441 |
| Duration | 59:29 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Psalm 72:17 |
| Language | English |
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