Bear with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 32. Psalm 32. We have a brother who
has expressed his desire to confess the Lord in believers' baptism
this evening. Not false religion's baptism. Not man's work's baptism. But believer's baptism. Believer. Believer in. Believer on. Trusting in. Hoping in. Looking to. It's what believers
do. They trust in. They hear the
promise and they trust in it and they hope in it and they
look to it and they believe it. Their cause to believe it, believers,
baptism. When we enter into the observance
of this ordinance, We're confessing something. That's what we're
doing. We are confessing something. And we're confessing it in the
way that our Lord commanded us to confess it. Why do we do this? Why do we do this? It's because
this is how our Lord commanded us to confess. And what I want
us to look at for our message tonight is what exactly are we
confessing? When we do this, what exactly
are we confessing? We're going to look at a Psalm
of David together. And through this Psalm, we're
going to look at the heart confession of a believer's salvation. The
heart confession of a child of God's salvation. Baptism is not what saves us. Water is not what saves us. But water baptism is a confession
of what saved us. And it's a beautiful confession.
It is such a beautiful confession. For God's people, this is a precious
announcement. This is a declaration. Our Lord
knows what he's done for us. This is a confession to God.
It's a confession to God's people. This is an open declaration of
union with God, the true and living God, and union with God's people.
In and because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what believer's baptism is. It's a confession of union with
God and His people because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The precious blood of the Lamb. The precious blood of the Lamb. What can wash away my sins? I have so many of them. You have
so many of them. We have so many of them. They
just keep piling up day after day. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of the
Lamb of God, the precious blood of God's Lamb. I just adore this,
I adore this, in declaring the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in declaring the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet
Zechariah said, And in that day, a fountain shall be opened. In that day, a fountain shall
be opened. Oh, the fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. Every sinner who God the Father
plunges beneath that flood will cry, unto him that loved me and
washed me from my sins in his own blood. To him be glory. To him be glory for what he has
done for me forever and ever. Amen. That's what we're confessing.
To him be all the glory. for this great salvation that
He has wrought for me. We're not confessing that we
are trying to complete our salvation. We are not confessing, well,
I want to go ahead and complete my salvation. We're not confessing
that at all. We are confessing the fact that
Christ already has completed our salvation. That's what we're
confessing. Christ has already done it. He has completed our
cleansing. He has completed our purifying. Christ did it. Everything that
had to be done, everything that had to happen to us in order
for God to accept us, Christ did it. He accomplished it. He washed us and saved us in
his own blood. So it's not baptism that saves
us. It's not water that saves us.
It's the blood of Jesus Christ. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what we're confessing. That's what we're confessing.
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what David confessed in
Psalm 32. He confessed the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And as we look at this, let's
notice that everything he says here in the first five verses
is past tense. And I just adore this. I was searching for what our
text would be for the message for tonight, for this occasion.
And when I ran across that, I just, My heart just rejoiced within
me. I thought this is every believer's
confession right here, every believer's confession. Our confession
is a past tense confession, a decision made a long time ago, not by
me. Our confession is a work finished
a long time ago, not by me. Our confession is a standing
before God that was secured a long time ago, not by me. I was just told about it and
caused to believe it. Isn't that our confession? I
was just told about it and caused to believe it. So let's see if
we can enter into this with David. Verse one, he said, blessed. Past tense. Already blessed, not will be. Already is, are, am, whatever
the right word is right there. Already blessed. Already blessed. We're so blessed. I'd love to
just stay right there and ponder this for a while. We're so blessed. I was talking to Ronnie after
the service this morning. talking about this, and I showed
him where to go and how we do this and all of that. And when
we were done walking out, he said, I'm excited. I said, me too. Not because of Kingsport City
tap water. That's what we talked about.
I'm not excited about Kingsport City tap water. I've already
been in that today. I'm excited over what this represents. This represents the blessing
from God Almighty. This is the blessing from God
Almighty. We're such a blessed people. Verse one says, blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven. Can we just dwell on that for
a second? Forgiven, forgiven, not will be. All of my sin and my transgression
already is. It already is forgiven, totally
forgiven. Every wrong I've ever done Every
sin against God in this flesh I've ever committed, all of my
sin, all of my transgression is forgiven, totally forgiven. We do not get into the pool of
water baptism so that our sins can be forgiven. We get into the pool of water
baptism to confess they already are. Thank God they already are. Verse one says, blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Oh, you talk about a blessed
man. Covered in the blood, just completely
covered, just poured blood all over all of it. Verse 2 says, blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. That word imputeth
means to assess something and to call it like it is, to
say this is the current condition of a thing. And you want to know
what a blessed man is? It's the man who stands before
God Almighty and after assessing that man in Christ, covered in
Christ, God imputes. He acknowledges there's not any
sin there. It's been removed. It's been
dealt with. It's been taken away. That's a blessed man, that's
a blessed woman, truly. We can't enter into how blessed
that is. We're going to one day, but we can't enter into what
a blessing that is. Blessed is the man, verse two, unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. That means God has revealed the
truth to the man. And he is honest to God concerning
himself. And he is honest to himself concerning
God. There's no guile involved and
there's no trickery involved. Honest before God. Honest before
God. That's a blessed man. That is
a blessed woman. Now David recalls how this blessing
came to him, okay? He said, this is how it happened.
Look with me at verse three. He said, when I kept silence,
my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. He
said, there was a time in my life when I tried to conceal
my sin. I tried to hide my sin. I tried
to ignore my sin. Have you ever done that? Have
you ever tried to ignore your sin? Well, let me just delete
that. We'll just forget about that and move on. He said, there was a time in
my life when I tried to believe that it wasn't really there.
And it killed me. It just ate at me. Ate away at
me. Ate a hole in me. Just the horror
of it haunted me. Verse four, for day and night,
thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. The thought of your judgment
crushed me. Your hand was heavy on me. The
burden was heavy. The thought of enduring the punishment
for what I've brought on myself, the thought of your vengeance
being poured out on me, I just could not, I couldn't bear it. So verse five, he said, I acknowledged
my sin unto thee. You know, that's what we're confessing
in this. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. And I deserve to die. Going down
under that water, when we go down under that water, it represents
death and burial. That's what it represents. And
what we're saying is, that's what I deserve. I am a sinner
and I deserve to die for my sins. All of this sin in my flesh,
the wages of sin is death. I acknowledge that. This life of rebellion I've lived
against God, I acknowledge that. And that's what I deserve. But
thank God. Thank God. This is what we confess,
all right? Thank God there was forgiveness
with Him. Thank God there was forgiveness
with Him. There was mercy to be had. There
was a redemption for me. Sometimes I get a hold of these
things. I say them over and over again, and then every now and
then I get a hold of it. There was a redemption for me.
I ruined everything, but there was mercy. There was forgiveness. There was redemption. A ransom
was paid. A ransom was paid. Verse five,
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not
hid. God's people don't do that. They confess. I'm worse than you know and I'm
worse than I know. I don't try to hide any of it. I acknowledge my sin unto me
and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my
transgressions unto the Lord. And thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin. You forgave it. That's what we're
confessing. Thank God you forgave it. You
forgave me. He forgave me. Look with me at
Psalm 51. This is David after God revealed
a great sin to him. Psalm 51 verse 1, he said, have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. According
to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. With what? Blood. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. It is ever before me. Against
thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. He said, whatever you do with
me is good and right. You're just in doing it. If you
judge me in my sin, amen. Verse five, behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. That means
sin is what I am. Not just what I do, it's what
I am. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the
hidden part thou shalt make me to know Christ wisdom. Purge me with hyssop and I'll
be clean. That's what they dipped in the
blood and sprinkled on the mercy seat. They took that hyssop,
they dipped it in the blood of the slain lamb and they just
poured it on the mercy seat. He said, you do that to me. You purge me with hyssop and
I'll be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than
snow. It's the only hope I have. That's
the only hope I have. Against thee have I done this,
but if you, the one I've offended, will wash me in your blood, I'll
be whiter than snow. In Psalm 32, David said, I acknowledge
my sin to you, I confess my transgression to you, and thank God you forgave
me. That's what we're confessing.
Forgiveness in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
we want to tell everybody. He forgave me. That's what I
want to tell everybody as I try to witness this glorious gospel
to people. He forgave me. Go tell how great
things the Lord has done for you, okay? He forgave me. Thank God. Go with me back to
Psalm 32, verse six. For this shall everyone that
is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Does it not honestly bless your
heart and bring great thanks to you That time is still right now. You hear all these stories, Noah's
day is over. God shut the door. We could have
heard a story about an ark that was built and had we been alive
back then and could have got on it, we would have been saved.
But God shut the door and judgment came and that was it. God's grace was here while the
apostles were still alive. They had those miracles, but
now they're all gone and that time is over. Does it not thrill
your soul to know that the time of mercy, the time of grace,
the time of love is right now? Right now, it's just in time.
I need it right now. When is the time of mercy? Right
now. Great, I need it right now. Verse six, for this shall everyone
that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be
found. Surely in the floods of great
waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Christ came to this
earth to be the substitute for his people. And as our substitute,
he stood for us. He stood in the stead of us as
us. He stood there for us as us. And he bore the flood. When he said, when those floods
come, when that flood comes pouring, the great waters, he bore for
us The flood of everything that
we deserved to receive from God. If he just hurled all the judgment,
all the wrath, everything that we deserved to receive from God. A tidal wave of condemnation. Christ stood there and bore it
for us. And because he bore it for us,
we don't have to bear any of it. Verse seven says, thou art my
hiding place. You know, that's what we're confessing
in this. Thou art my hiding place. Hiding
in thee, hiding in thee, thou blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding
in thee. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life
in the depths of his love and he covers me there with his hand. Verse seven says, thou art my
hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with
songs of deliverance. When we observe this ordinance,
we are confessing I'm hiding in him. I died in him. I was buried in him. I arose
in Him. I live in Him. I move and have
my being in Him. I am spotless in Him. I am holy in Him. I am accepted
by God in Him. I am loved by God in Him. Everything I have, I have it
in Him. Everything I owe, I owe it to
Him. This is what we're confessing
when we get into the pulpit. Him, Him, Him, Him, Him. All the glory goes to Him. Salvation's of the Lord. To every
soul that God reveals that to, this is the Lord speaking to
that soul. Verse eight. He said, I will
instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.
I will guide thee with my hand. And does he not do that for all
of his people? He brings all of them to a knowledge
of the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse nine, he said,
be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding,
whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come
near unto me. He said, don't resist, don't
even try to resist, this is irresistible grace. I will lead you, I will
guide you, I will teach you, I will call you. Verse 10, he
said, many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he that trusteth
in the Lord Mercy shall compass him about. Mercy, that's what
we're confessing in this, mercy. God's mercy, the mercy of the
Lord Jesus Christ has compassed me about. So verse 11 says, be glad in
the Lord. That's what we're confessing.
I'm glad in the Lord, thank God. I'm saved in the Lord, I rejoice
in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,
ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart. This is a confession of union
with Christ. Our Lord confessed His union
with us in His baptism. He joined himself to our sin,
and because of that, we are joined to his righteousness. And we
thank God for that joining. We thank God for that union,
and we want everybody to know this is why we do this. We want
everybody to know. We want everyone to know our
joy, our rejoicing, our thankfulness to God for what he's done for
us. over in Acts chapter 8. If you'll turn with me there,
I'll close with this. Acts chapter 8. Verse 26, it says, The angel
of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the
south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza,
which is desert. And he arose and went, and behold,
a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under Candace,
queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure
and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and
sitting in his chariot read Isaiah the prophet. Then the spirit
said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot.
And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet
Isaiah and said, understandest thou what thou readest? And he
said, how can I except some man should guide me? And he desired,
Philip, that he would come up and sit with him. The place of
the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to
the slaughter. And like a lamb done before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his
judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the
earth. And the eunuch answered Philip
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this, of
himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the
chariot to stand still, and they went down, both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they
were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught
away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went
on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus,
and passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came
to Caesarea. Our dear brother called me on
the phone a few weeks ago, and we had some small talk. And then
he said, I wanna talk to you about something. And I said,
okay. And he said, I've been thinking
about baptism for a while. And he said, I can't stop thinking
about it. And he said, I just wanted to
talk to you about it. And in many words, we talked for a long
time, but in many words I said, you know that baptism is not
salvation. And he said, I know that. But he said, it's been on my
heart to do it, and I can't get it off of my heart. And he said, I believe this. He said, the Lord has revealed
some things to him. And he said, I want to be identified
with this God and this message and these people. And my heart leaped within me because I do too. I do too. This is life. This is the goal
of life for a child of God. And we both thank the Lord for
the brotherhood that he has given us in Christ. And that's what
this is. There's nothing special about
what's about to happen. This is crying at the top of
your lungs in the way God commanded. I love you. I love God. I love
salvation. I love the blood. And we're family in this. We're
made to be family. I told him it'd be my honor to
baptize him. So, Brother, you go on back. Brother Eddie, you
come on up. Lead us in a hymn, and we'll go down into the water
together.