Psalm 72:17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him… I. A SINGULAR CONDITION. 1. By nature, men are not blessed. The trail of the old serpent is everywhere. 2. The text promises that men shall be delivered from the curse, that they shall be uplifted from their natural unhappiness, that they shall be rescued from their doubtful or their hopeful questioning, and shall even come to be blessed. God shall pronounce them blessed. He shall set upon them the bread seal of Divine approbation; and with that seal there shall come streaming into their hearts the sweetness of intense delight, which shall give them experimentally a blessing to their own conscious enjoyment. 3. Let me tell you what Christ does for a man who is really in Him, and then you will see how He is blessed. (1) The man who comes to Christ by faith, and truly trusts Christ, has all the past rectified. (2) He has present favour. (3) His future is guaranteed. II. A WIDE STATEMENT. 1. To make this wide statement true requires breadth of number. The text says, "Men shall be blessed in Him," that is to say, the most of men, innumerable myriads of men shall get the blessing that Jesus purchased by His death on the cross. 2. It implies great width of variety. "Men" — not merely kings or noblemen, but "Men shall be blessed in Him." Men — not working men, or thinking men, or fighting men, or this sort of men, or the other sort of men, but men of all sorts — "Men shall be blessed in Him." It is a delightful thought that Christ is as much fitted to one rank and one class of persons as to another. 3. Our text indicates length of period: "Men shall be blessed in Him." Men have been blessed in Him; these many centuries, Christ has shone with all the radiance of omnipotent love upon this poor fallen world, but His light is as full as ever; and, however long this dispensation shall last, "Men shall be blessed in Him." 4. The text suggests fulness of sufficiency concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a wonderful depth of meaning in this passage when it says, "Men shall be blessed in Him." "Oh!" says one, "Men shall be blessed by philosophy, or by Christ and philosophy." Not at all; it is, "Men shall be blessed in Him." "But they shall be blessed in Him through trade and commerce and the like." Not so; "Men shall be blessed in Him." Have not we, who are half a century old, heard a great number of theories about how the millennium is to be brought about? I remember that, at one time, free trade was to bring it, but it did not; and nothing will over make men blessed unless they get into Christ: "Men shall be blessed in Him." III. THE FULL ASSURANCE expressed in the text. It is a grand thing to get a sentence like this with a "shall" in it: "Men shall be blessed in Him." It is not "perhaps they may be,"but, "Men shall be blessed in Him." Not, "perchance they may be blessed under certain conditions"; but, "Men shall be blessed in Him." 1. They shall not try Him and fail. 2. They shall not desire Him and be denied. 3. They shall come to Christ and get the blessing. IV. Now, with all your hearts, think of my text with a PERSONAL APPROPRIATION: "Men shall be blessed in Him." Are you blessed in Christ? Will you personally answer the question? Do not pass it round, and say to yourself, "No doubt there are many who think that they are blessed, and who are not." Never mind about them; for the present moment, ask this question of yourself, "Am I blessed in Christ?" ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. |
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