The Lord hath blessed His people (Quality: Average)

[0:00] As the Lord shall be pleased to help me this evening, I would desire to ask your attention to the second book of the Chronicles, chapter 31, and a clause out of verse 10.

[0:24] For the Lord hath blessed his people. The second book of the Chronicles, chapter 31, and a clause out of verse 10.

[0:47] For the Lord hath blessed his people. We can say of the words of our text that in blessing his people the Lord hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

[1:17] It has pleased him to bless them. For they never deserved it. They never merited any blessing.

[1:29] But it has pleased him to bless them. There are two words which are very prominent in these few words that I have read for a text.

[1:49] And they are his people. Now I trust each one here believes that there are a people who are his people.

[2:05] God has a people. And whether men believe it or deny it does not alter the fact that while the earth remains, the Lord will have his people, his people are turned in the word of God, his elect.

[2:32] And no doubt many of you are aware that the doctrine of election is one which is hated by natural men.

[2:44] And there is a reason for this. It is their ignorance of this blessed truth.

[2:56] For where it is understood, my friends, it is loved and prized. Because God's people are his.

[3:11] And by electing love, the choice of God regarding or respecting his people, his spiritual Israel is the same as that which we read concerning his natural people, in the early part of the day.

[3:36] Not because they are greater or more in number than others, but because the Lord loved you. Oh, to see election in its right light is to see it as an act of God's love.

[3:57] And not only to see it as an act of God's love, but to see it as an act of God's grace. And when I say that, I mean that they are chosen for nothing in themselves.

[4:19] Some people will allow God's love. Some people will allow God a choice. But the choice is according to some merit in the creature.

[4:33] Not so is the choice of God. Oh, how clearly did the apostle Paul, who knew well, this truth set it forth.

[4:47] And if one man, we might say, had some right to claim some merit, surely the apostle, with his pedigree and his zeal, even if it was somewhat misplaced, might have said that he was deserving of some credit.

[5:12] But not so. This is what he writes concerning the election of grace.

[5:23] Even so then, at this present time, that also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

[5:36] And if by grace, then is it no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace.

[5:50] Otherwise, work is no more work. Oh, it is of grace. He turns itself. And therefore, his people are those who he has set his love upon.

[6:11] And his choice is an act of this love. It is an act of his grace. Now, when an individual is brought to know this truth and to see that God has a people, it will bring that person to the spot where the poet was who said, though God's election is a true, small comfort there I see, till I am told by his own mail that he has chosen me.

[6:52] Now, I would ask you this. Do you want God to tell you that he has chosen you? Is this something that you desire? Or is it something you have known and felt and the Lord has shown you?

[7:10] Real religion will bring a sinner there. You will not turn from this, but desire an interest in it, the electing love of God.

[7:24] And my friends, when you are brought to know it, it will humble your heart. Nothing humbles a sinner more than the knowledge that the Lord has chosen them.

[7:43] Oh, how humbling this is. It lays them in the dust of self-abasement and causes them to say, What was there in me to merit esteem or to give the Creator delight?

[8:00] T'was even so, Father, I ever must sing, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Well, now it is of his people that our text speaks.

[8:16] And here the word is, The Lord had blessed his people. Some people like to talk of the Lord blessing everybody, you know, if they will only accept the blessing.

[8:34] That is not found in the Scriptures. Oh, no. And it won't be found at last, because even then, a separation and a final separation will be made, and those on his right hand will be blessed, while those on his left hand will be cursed.

[9:03] Oh, how solemn. But here is the truth. For the Lord hath blessed his people.

[9:14] I am not going to speak of the way in which the Lord blessed his ancient people, but the Lord hath blessed them, and they acknowledged them.

[9:25] But, my friends, this is true. Respecting his spiritual Israel, Israel, the Lord hath blessed his people. In that epistle to the Ephesians, the apostle brings this before us, declaring that he has blessed them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

[9:54] And so it is. They are blessed in Christ, and shall be blessed forever. And those, the blessings which are theirs in Christ, can never be reversed.

[10:12] The Lord showed Balaam this. You know how Balaam sent for Balaam, saying, Come, curse me, Israel.

[10:24] Promising him a reward for so doing. But he had to acknowledge this. I have received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

[10:42] And that is true of everyone who is found in Christ. For the Lord hath blessed his people.

[10:53] And my friends, no man can reverse that, and no devil can reverse it. That will never be reversed. They are blessed, and blessed forever.

[11:06] We might speak of the text in that way, setting forth that the Lord has blessed them eternally in Christ, and that they are blessed with all spiritual blessings.

[11:28] But it was not quite in that way that this text took hold of me, I want to speak of it in a somewhat different way.

[11:42] Here, we have an acknowledgement, for the Lord hath blessed his people. It was spoken of his people at that time.

[11:55] It can be said still, for the Lord hath blessed his people. And if the Lord tarry, and when we are laid in our graves, there will still be a people on the earth, you know.

[12:13] Oh yes, to the end of time, and still will this be said of them, for the Lord hath blessed his people.

[12:25] So as helped, I want to bring before you some of the blessings wherewith the Lord hath blessed his people, and does bless them, and will bless them, all down the ages.

[12:40] And if we find that we are the recipients of these blessings, or of some of them, my friends, we shall know them all, and it will bring us in, in these two words, his people.

[13:01] For the Lord hath blessed his people. And first of all, I am going to say, the Lord hath blessed his people with life.

[13:13] When the apostle wrote to the Ephesians, he went on to say, and you have he quickened. Now, it is true, they are blessed with life in Christ.

[13:27] God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son, but they are blessed here with spiritual life.

[13:43] Oh, are we the recipients of spiritual life? This is a blessing. And my friends, where there is spiritual life, there will be feeling.

[13:59] The dead do not feel anything. But where there is spiritual life, such will feel their sin, their sorrow, their disease.

[14:12] You know, Solomon prayed for every one who should feel his own sorrow. You never heard of one dead feeling feeling his sore, feeling his wound.

[14:31] It is the living that feels. My friends, it might be very painful living, but nevertheless, it is a mark of life, this feeling sense of sin.

[14:46] Do you know what it is to feel sin? To mourn on account of it is the evidence of life. Though you may come in more with the language of the poem, that you feel death within you and all about you.

[15:05] Ah, but the dead never felt that. The dead never felt it. The Lord has blessed his people with life.

[15:17] I know this life is manifested in feeling. Real religion is a feeling religion. True religion is more than notion.

[15:30] Many people have notion, but true religion is more than that. Something must be known and felt.

[15:40] Ah, this is it. a feeling religion. But then where there is life, it will be manifested in this way.

[15:54] It will want food. You know well that however helpless a babe is, however weak, it manifests this, it wants food.

[16:10] food. And it matters not how weak, how helpless the child of God is. Oh, there will be a desire for food.

[16:23] There will be hunger felt. There will be something of thirst known and experienced. Does not the Lord say, blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.

[16:43] Do you know anything of this hunger? Do you know anything of this thirst? The psalmist said, my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.

[16:56] Here's the evidence of life when there is this hungering and thirsting after God. when you have within an aching void that the world can never fill.

[17:19] Well, now, the Lord hath blessed his people and he's blessed his people all down the ages with life.

[17:30] and it is this life which makes them different from all the rest of religious folk.

[17:42] This is why a person in a dead profession cannot understand a living child. But, my friends, this living child feels and this living child hungers and thirst and there's something else.

[18:03] This living child cries. He cries. He cries unto God. You know, it was not until the Lord blessed Saul of Tarsus with life that he said of him, Behold, he prayer.

[18:26] Though many times, no doubt, like the devout Pharisees, he would have stood at the street corners praying before men.

[18:39] Ah, what a difference. Well, now, I would ask you this. If you are concerned as to whether you are included in these two words, his people, I would ask you this.

[18:55] Ask yourself, have I life? Have I a feeling religion? Do I feel my ruin?

[19:07] Do I feel my lost condition? To see sin smart and not slightly, to own with lip confession is is easier still?

[19:24] But oh, to feel cuts deep beyond expression. Do I feel my sin? do I feel my guilt?

[19:40] Do I hunger and thirst? Have I an aching void that the world cannot fill? Do I cry after God?

[19:52] Are these things sweetly evidence that the Lord has blessed you? For the Lord hath blessed his people.

[20:10] But all down the ages, the Lord has blessed his people with faith. Oh, he has, and he is the same God still.

[20:22] The Lord hath blessed his people with faith all down the ages. You can turn her to Noah. Yes, the world was to be destroyed, but by faith Noah moved with fear, prepared an heart to the saving of his hands.

[20:48] We can come on to Abraham and see his faith, faith that he was blessed with, faith which enabled him to leave his own people and to obey God's gracious command, faith which enabled him to offer up Isaac, accounting that God was able to raise him up again from the dead.

[21:24] Oh, you trace out God's people throughout the sacred record and you will find that he hath blessed them with faith.

[21:38] Now, faith is God's own gift. This is a mark of real religion, faith, God-given faith.

[21:51] without faith, and there's many people with religion without faith, without faith, it is impossible to please God.

[22:04] Oh, we may do many things. This is the thing to look for. Have I faith? And what faith is this? It is the faith of God's elect.

[22:16] faith. It is a faith that believes that God is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. It is a faith which believes his word to be true, and my friends, those who possess it will never believe that they are anything but poor, ruined, wretched, and undone sinners by nature.

[22:46] And those who possess this faith will know this and believe it, that there is no salvation outside of Christ.

[22:59] This faith looks to him. This faith reaches out to him. This faith says, if ever my poor soul be saved, tis Christ must be the way.

[23:19] Ah, this is the faith which God honours, a faith which obtains victories. Oh, think of it, it is God given, the Lord hath blessed his people.

[23:39] Oh, we have in many cases, even in history, where faith has triumphed over the greatest of cruelties.

[23:51] And in that list of Hebrew worthies, there we have this truth brought before us, that the Lord hath blessed his people all down the ages with faith.

[24:07] Moses, by faith, this blessed gift which God bestowed upon him forsook Egypt, yes, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

[24:26] This is where faith brings a person, it looks beyond the things of time, and sees the things which are eternal.

[24:38] all. For the Lord hath blessed his people. Our friends, the Lord hath blessed his people, not only with life and faith, but with righteousness.

[24:57] Now, he has blessed them with righteousness in Christ, and this is the righteousness which he blesses them with, even here below.

[25:11] That is feeling, eh, when it is imputed to them. Oh, what have we of our own?

[25:22] Why, the word of God tells us that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, a mercy to have them torn off us.

[25:34] and to be covered in the righteousness of Christ. This is the righteousness which he blesses them with.

[25:46] The Lord Jesus Christ spent his life to work this righteousness out, and he blesses them with it, feeling glad.

[25:57] So there he covers them. Oh, it is a righteousness which exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

[26:11] And when by faith the Lord imputes it, blesses it, to them they can sing, Tis he adorned my naked soul and made salvation mine.

[26:29] It is as they are viewed in this righteousness that they are viewed without spot.

[26:40] This is why the Lord hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob nor seen perverseness in Israel.

[26:51] It is because he hath blessed his people with righteousness, a righteousness which fully covers them and which gives them a meekness to sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

[27:14] For the Lord hath blessed his people. But the Lord hath blessed his people with peace.

[27:27] Now again this is a blessing which is theirs through a precious Christ.

[27:40] When I say that I mean long before they know it they have peace with God through the atoning blood of Christ.

[27:54] When he shed his precious blood on Calvary's cross my friends he made full satisfaction.

[28:05] He has full atonement made and they have through his atoning blood peace.

[28:16] But the Lord will bless his people with peace and has done all down the ages feelingly so. Perhaps this is what you want.

[28:30] Perhaps this is what you desire. Oh it's a mercy if he has blessed you with life and made this your desire so that you want this peace.

[28:47] peace. Well this peace he blesses his people with by applying to the conscience that precious blood that was shed.

[29:01] Now while ever the conscience feels its guilt while ever the conscience feels something of those wounds oh there can be no peace but now this blood when applied heals the wounds it has a healing virtue in it this blood when applied removes sin it has a cleansing power and then it is that the individual knows what it is to say and through his atoning blood I have settled peace with God this is how he blesses his people ah my friends his people are blessed with peace and they are brought in his own good time and way to feelingly know it and to rejoice in it and this is peace through his cross the poet rightly says it's when to me the blood is applied tis then it does me good but you know we can say this that the

[30:32] Lord blesses his people with peace among themselves and it's a blessing to be sought after it is a sad thing when this blessing is not realized it is one which the Lord does give to his people and we might ask how are they brought to know and feel something of this peace well I think we can say when the gospel is attended with divine power to the heart you know it will have this effect I think perhaps if I bring before you the words of Jeremiah it will explain it more clearly than words of my own care that is if I can just see it therefore they shall come and sing in the height of

[31:50] Zion and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord for wheat and for wine and for oil and for the young of the flock and of the herd and their soul shall be as a watered garden and they shall not sorrow any more at all well now as there is this flowing together as the ministry is blessed as the gospel comes with power as the hearts are warmed my friends then is this blessing known but then as we think of this all down the ages the Lord has blessed his people with peace in death oh never lose sight of that however hard the struggle when they come there this can be said of every child of

[33:00] God the end of that man or that woman because it includes mankind the end of that man is peace for the Lord hath blessed his people oh my friends because of this they shall enter into peace and yet while here below his people have to contend with much opposition they have a rough and rugged path to tread but still this is proved in their life and walk as they journey on the Lord hath blessed his people and what does he bless them with throughout their trials and throughout their difficulties

[34:07] I tell you he blesses them with divine support and to this end he bestows upon them daily grace and they live to prove of what the Lord said unto his servant Paul to be true in their own case my grace is sufficient for thee what a mercy it is that his grace shall to the end stronger and brighter shine nor present things nor things to come shall quench that spark divine the Lord hath blessed his people all down the ages with access to the throne of grace isn't this a wonderful thing perhaps we get at times into those conditions where we forget what a privilege we have in prayer but nevertheless the

[35:22] Lord all down the ages has blessed his people with access to the throne of grace have you ever found sweet access you will know the difference between I was going to say and I will hard prayers that is when the heavens seem as brass and when the Lord is pleased to grant access how different from a formal calling upon his name when the spirit is melted and when we feelingly realize that we have the ear of God it's a great mercy an unspeakable blessing to have access at the throne of grace but my friends he has blessed his people all all down the ages with ancestor prayer of what use would it be to call upon his name to cry unto

[36:46] God most high if he never heard if he never answered oh look at the many instances Israel in Egypt they called unto the Lord and he said I have heard their cry my friends it entered he came down with gracious answers look at Hezekiah when that great army threatened why he took his case to the Lord and what a wonderful answer what a wonderful deliverance or look at him in his sickness oh my friends what a wonderful answer he had and it is still true the Lord blesses his people in this way oh the Lord hath blessed his people all down the ages with answers to prayer a prayer hearing prayer answering

[37:51] God has supported them again and again in their trials and difficulties and needs and they have proved that wrestling prayer can wonders do bring relief in deepest praise for the Lord hath blessed his people he has blessed his people with communion with himself this is a wonderful blessing do you know anything of it you know this that if you are going to heaven and I will tell you this and if you forget everything else I hope you remember this if you are going to heaven when you get there you will not be a stranger to

[38:57] Christ and Christ will not be a stranger to you if we live and die knowing nothing of communion my friends how can it ever be said that we have gone to heaven ah communion what is communion I know sometimes people are apt to think that it is something like having visions in the sky or something that is not communion I'll tell you what communion is as simply as I can this is communion when the Lord is pleased by his spirit to open up his word to a poor sinner's heart and that word being opened up warms the heart with love draws forth love have you ever turned to his word and it's just been like ink and paper of course we have many times but have you ever turned to his word and oh the sweetness and the blessedness and your heart has been melted and perhaps the tears have dropped from your eyes that's communion now we have this beautifully and blessedly set forth on the day the Lord arose from the dead those two went on their way to

[40:44] Emmaus and Jesus himself drew near and went with them and what are we told we told that he opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures and what effect had it it had this effect did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures now that's communion do you know anything of it for the Lord have blessed his people ah my friends but you know all down the ages the Lord has blessed his people with strength have you stopped to think of his people in themselves they are weak and they are unable to accomplish anything and yet he has decreed that this people shall do his will and it is his will that they shall endure to the end and my friends he has blessed them all down the ages with strength to persevere we believe in the final perseverance of the saints and this is through the blessing of the

[42:10] Lord blessing them with strength to persevere it is the will of God that his people shall be overcomers that they shall obtain victories and he has blessed them all down the ages and they have overcome there have been times when his people could say oh I have seen the day when with a single word God helping me to say my trust is in the Lord I could have quenched a thousand foes fearless of all that could oppose do you know anything of that one says oh the happiness arising from the life of grace within when the soul is realizing conquests over hell and sin now it is the will of God that his people should glorify him and my friends that purpose would be defeated if one did not endure to the end if one was overcome that purpose would be defeated if they did not obtain victories but all down the ages the Lord hath blessed his people with strength and through that

[43:49] God given strength they obtain victories yes for they are more than conquerors and shall be through him that loved them for the Lord hath blessed his people ah my friends I have but briefly spoken of the way in which the Lord has blessed his people all down the ages do you know anything of these blessings in any measure then it brings you in and remember this the Lord hath blessed his people with an eternal inheritance ah and every one of them shall enter upon him the Lord hath blessed his people the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and so we can say of the people of

[44:56] God they are enriched by him yes enriched by him and thus are enriched forever for that blessing which is upon them will never be reversed oh that we might be found amongst them for the Lord hath blessed his people and they are blessed and will be blessed eternally the Lord have his blessing amen