Now let's turn back to Psalm
32 that our brother just read. Psalm 32. Now the message this morning is impossible to overemphasize
the importance of it, the need for it in our generation, but
also in every generation. Because we're going to talk about
the very heart of the gospel. The heart of the gospel. And
this is a message of comfort for the people of God. You who
have been convinced of your sin, of your transgression, of your
iniquity. You who know your frame, as they
say. will understand the importance
of this. I've entitled the message, A
Sinner Without Charge. A sinner without charge. And that in and of itself is
a marvelous, miraculous message of God's grace. A sinner whom
God does not charge with sin. The psalmist David, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, in verse 1, said, Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth. That means he doesn't charge.
Iniquity. Doesn't lay it to his account.
That's what the word means. Impute. to account, to charge. Like a criminal in a court who's
being charged with a crime, this person here who's blessed is
not charged. There's no charge against him.
Can you imagine that? Doesn't the Bible say, we've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God? Doesn't it
say that? Does that include you? Does that include me? Yes, it
does. And yet what this verse teaches is that if I'm blessed
in this way, I'm not charged. That's what it means. I preached
that one time here and a fellow walked in and he said, you really
confused me today. You're not charged if you're
blessed in this way. Is that confusing? I don't think
it is. I think what's the problem there
is unbelief. But that's amazing, isn't it?
And then he says, and imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit
there is no guile. What's guile? That's dishonesty
and deception is what it is. We'll talk about that. That's
the two verses I want to preach on this morning. You know, in
these two verses, we have every, just about every Hebrew word
that you can use for sin. In other words, whatever he's
talking about in this blessing, it covers the whole gamut of
sin. Transgression. In the New Testament, it says
sin is the transgression of the law. Breaking the law. That's what it means. It's when
you break the law. If you've ever sinned, you broke
God's law. That's a transgression. And so
he says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. And
then the word sin, that means something that falls short or
misses the mark, over in the New Testament especially. The
most common word used for sin, that's what it means, you miss
the mark. You're trying to hit a mark and you're trying to hit
the bullseye and you miss it every time. You may come close,
you say, but you miss it. And if you miss it, it's sin.
And then iniquity. The base word for that is equal,
equality, inequity. In other words, it doesn't measure
up. There's an imbalance there. What causes a sinner to measure
up? What causes a person to measure up to the standard? Well, whatever
it is, we miss it. You see an example of that in
the book of Daniel, when the old Babylonian king was was misusing
and abusing the temple instruments that they had stolen from Jerusalem
from the temple. He was having a party and they
were getting drunk and doing all those things and God sent
a message, remember the finger of God that wrote on the wall,
the writing on the wall, and he says, you are weighed in the
balance and found wanting or lacking, you don't measure up.
And that's sin. Well, every word for sin there
can apply to us in our character and in our conduct. Transgressors,
sinners, and those who commit iniquity. Now, every word there
can apply to each one of us in some degree or another. You say,
well, it doesn't apply to me as much as it applies to that
fellow back there. Well, that's not the issue here. You see,
that's the problem with man's judgment. That's the kind of
judgment that God forbids when He says, judge not that you be
not judged. You look at any person and you
say, I don't care who they are. And you say, well, now that person
deserves to go to hell because they're a sinner. Well, I'm going
to tell you something. You're right. But the problem
is you're in the same boat they're in. You say, wait a minute, I
go to church. measure up. Going to church will
not make you measure up. You say, well, I try to do the
best I can. Well, the best you can is not
good enough. It's still iniquity. I had a fellow tell me one time
about his preacher. And I know the preacher. And
he preached the gospel. And he said, would you please tell him
that I'm not as bad as he thinks I am? And I said, well, you've come
to the wrong person. I said, because you're worse
than he ever described it. And so am I. You see, we're all in the same
boat. And that's based on our character
and conduct. I mean the best of us and the
worst of us now. And I'll say this to you. I'm glad that we have in this
building today some of the best of the best. Now I am. And I think we ought to do our
best to be the best of the best. But that's still not going to
save us or make us righteous before God. Do you understand
that? Now that's the key. And so David says here, blessed.
Now a lot of translations will say that means happy. I agree that can be translated
happy. Happy is he whose transgression
is forgiven. I tell you what, if I know my
transgression is forgiven, I'm happy about it. How about you?
But that doesn't mean you're happy all the time in feelings
and emotions. It's just like I dealt with last
week. This thing is not based on feelings
and emotions. If it were, we'd all be doomed. It's based upon what God says
and us knowing by the power of the Spirit that what God says
is true and right and just and good and real. And not what I
think or what we argue about or how I feel or what I'm going
through. I mean, you know, you can use the
example of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Here's
the rich man. The world says the rich man's
blessed. No, he wasn't. He's cursed, but he feels blessed.
Oh, Lazarus out there laying at the gate with the dogs licking
his sores. He's cursed. No, he's not. He's
blessed. How do you know that? Not by looking at him. And I
guarantee you it wasn't by how Lazarus felt. It's what God says. And that's the only way. There
is no other way. It's just what God says. God
says it, that settles it. But you could say happy, that's
okay. But it means graced. These are
blessings of grace, these are covenant blessings that he's
talking about. And the Bible says that grace and covenant
blessings come one way to a sinner, and that's through Christ. Isn't
that right? Through Christ. It's not through
what I do, it's not through my going to church or doing this
or doing that, it's through Christ. Ephesians 1, 3, we're blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Now, outside of Christ, you may
receive some good things in this life, but they're all temporary
and they will all eventually be your undoing. Whether it's
riches, health, it won't last. But in Christ, there's no end
to it. And that's why we preach the
Word of God and preach the Gospel because that keeps telling us
more and more about this inheritance that we have and the riches we
have in Christ. But read it this way, how happy
is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered?
How happy is the man the Lord does not charge with sin? Iniquity. And in whose spirit
is no deceit? That spirit there is the new
heart. That's the inner man. That's talking about a regenerated
person. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom
the Lord counts no iniquity. There's no sin, no iniquity,
no transgression laid to their account or to their charge. And
in whose spirit there is no deceit. Now look what he says here first.
He said, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. He's
talking about forgiveness. What is forgiveness in the Bible?
I know we talk about forgiving one another. And we should be
people who forgive one another. We should. In fact, the Bible
tells us to forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us. On
the cross, he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they
do. What a statement that is. That wasn't based on how he was
feeling, was it? He was separated from the Father.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Notice there, he
still said, my God, my God, didn't he? We can talk about that another
time. But you know what forgiveness
in the Bible is, and what David's talking about here, and I'll
show you why I know this is true. Forgiveness is the removal of
the guilt and punishment of sin. That's what forgiveness is in
God's eyes. It's removal of the guilt and the punishment of sin. Now, we've talked about the three
words for sin, and I've told you so many times, people, we
need to learn to think right about this matter of sin and
righteousness. And so many preachers, when they
talk about sin, they kind of portray it as if it's some kind
of a substance or some kind of a liquid or solid or some kind
of a germ in your body. And that's not what sin is. Sin
is not a germ in your body. Now the germs in your body are
the consequences and results of sin. That's what death is. But sin is not something you
can pick up and drink. Now I know the Bible says we
drink iniquity like water. But that's a metaphor. That's
symbolism, you see. Christ said it's not what goes
into the mouth that defiles them. That's what comes out of the
heart. I heard a preacher say one time, he was talking about
how Christ was made sin, and he said, well, Christ was made
the thing itself. Well, sin is not a thing. It's
not a thing. What is it? It's transgression
of the law. It's breaking the law. What is it? It's missing the
mark. That's what sin is. Sin is not measuring up. Sin has to do with the desires
and the motives and with the actions. We say sin is not what
you do, it is what you are. Sin is both. It is what you are
and what you do. You mean what I do is not sinful?
Well, sure it is. But it is the result of what
I am inwardly. So it is both. That is why I need what? Forgiveness. If what I do is
not sin, then I don't have to ask God for forgiveness of what
I do. But I do. And what I am. I think the point
that needs to be made there is that it's not just in what I
do. It's in my thoughts. It's in
my motives. It's in my desires. Everything I do misses the mark.
What's the mark? Perfect righteousness as displayed
in the character and conduct of Christ. That's the mark. God's going to judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained and that
he hath given assurance unto all men and that he raised him
from the dead. In other words, I want to do my best to love
you and to love God. But until I can honestly from
my heart of hearts say that my love equals the love that Christ
had to his Father, and the love that Christ had to his people,
I'm missing the mark. Now, isn't that right? You say,
well, it's not fair for God to require that of me. Oh, yes,
it is. Now, there's a problem when you
talk about forgiveness. I've told you that in the last
three or four messages. When God says he forgives, and
that's what David's talking about here, there's a problem. And
it's a legal problem. It's a legal problem. I know
people don't want to hear it. That's what it is. It's the problem
of the law. The Bible says where there's no law, there's no charge. There's no sin. The law is the
standard. Now why is it a legal problem?
Because God's got to be just. He's got to do right. He can't
do wrong. He can't lower the standard to save me or to save
you or anybody. He's holy. We sang that. Holy,
holy, holy. The thrice holy God. Isaiah saw
Him high and lifted up. Holy, holy, holy. He can't be
anything less than perfectly, sinlessly, righteous and holy. So if He's going to forgive sin,
He's got to do it in a righteous way. A just way. Some way that's
legally right. There's a moral problem too.
God forgives sin. Sin's immoral. Any sin's immoral. in God's sight. And God can't
do anything or put his stamp of approval on anything immoral. There's an ethical problem. This
is ethics. This is ethics 101. God must do what's right. Shall
not the judge of the earth do right? The answer is yes. Yes,
he will. He must punish sin. But here
he says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. Forgiveness
is the removal of the guilt and punishment of sin. God is the
one who forgives us. Only God can do so. Remember
when Christ talked about the forgiveness of sins, the Pharisees
accused him of blasphemy. He said, what did I do that was
blasphemous? And they said, you make yourself
to be God. Only God can forgive sin. Now,
what they were talking about was not the forgiveness that
we're required to have with each other as sinners on this plane. It's talking about the removal
of the guilt and the punishment of sin. Well, how do you know that's
what it is? Well, look at the next line. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is what? Covered. Now, that word covered
there doesn't mean covered up or covered over. If that's what
it meant, then Adam and Eve's fig leaves would have worked.
If all you had to do was cover it up, and people try to cover
it up, how do people today try to cover it up? With religion.
Don't they? I know I did. Religion. Get religious. Outward reformation. Doing this, doing that works.
That's how people try to cover it up. Won't do. Won't do. Forgiveness comes, this covering
here is a reference, it's an atonement. Back in the Old Testament,
that's what they called it, because it was a reference to the mercy
seat. The covering over the ark. Remember the broken, the law
of God inside rather? Broken by man. And it was that
covering that was in the Holy of Holies. And remember what
that, you know, the whole tabernacle, that whole temple was built to
center around that one piece of furniture. And that lid that
covered it, the Ark of the Covenant. And what happened on one day
a year, remember the high priest come in with the blood of a lamb.
And he alone could enter into the holiest of all that one time
on that year and sprinkle that blood on the mercy seat. And it was an atonement all the
way through the Old Testament. In the New Testament, it's called
a reconciliation. What does that mean? Well, forgiveness
comes through the shedding of blood of a God-appointed, able,
and willing substitute. That's what it means. Whose sin
is covered. Not covered over, but dealt with. Whose sin is put away by a God-appointed,
able, that is he can do the job, and willing, that means he's
willing to do it, substitute. So it refers to that atonement,
back to the mercy seat, the blood of the Lamb that was sprinkled.
It pointed to justice satisfied. Sin deserves death. Transgression
deserves death. Iniquity deserves death. What's
going to satisfy that penalty? That's what we're talking about.
There's a debt. In the New Testament, one of
the words for sin is debt. Owing a debt. Charging a person
with a debt. Well, who's going to pay the
debt? That's satisfaction. Well, there has to be a God-appointed,
able, willing substitute. If you come to me today and said,
Bill, I'm going to pay your debts off. Boy, I'd love you. And I'd
be happy. But if I ask you, well, do you
want to know how much they are? And you'd say, no, I don't have
a dime. Well, that'd sure deflate me, wouldn't it? So you've got
to be able to do it. And that's why man cannot substitute
for man. That's why a sinful man could
not stand in the place of a man. He owes a debt himself, and he
can't pay it. How could he pay yours? That's
why Christ was never made a sinner. But that's a debt, you see, debt
satisfied. Now that's what that word propitiation
in the New Testament means, satisfaction by a substitute. The sin debt
paid in full. Now this covering here points
forward to the death of Christ on the cross as our mercy seed
and our sin bearer. He's the one whom God appointed,
foreordained of the Father. He's the one who's able, he can
do the job. He's God-man, perfect God and
perfect man in one person. And he's willing to do it. Aren't
you glad he's willing? You know, he said, no man takes
my life from me. I give it. I love that. He loved his own until the end.
That's the finishing of the work, John 13. Well, so it pointed
forward to Christ. It says in Hebrews chapter 10
and verse 4, for it's not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sin. See, this is not talking about,
this covering Dave is talking about, it's not talking about
animal blood. even though animal blood was
required under the old covenant but that was a picture the animal
blood couldn't do anything to bring about forgiveness or remove
guilt or pay the debt but it pictured and typified and prophesied
and looked forward to one who could and did the Lord Jesus
Christ and that's what David has in mind whose sin is covered And then
he says, verse two, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity. Now to impute, you know, a lot
of times in the New Testament, the word impute is translated
to think. Over in Philippians chapter four,
think on these things. That word think there is the
same word that's translated in the New Testament, impute. And
you know what it's talking about? This is how you're to think.
This is how you're to judge. This is how you're to set value
on. And so this imputeth not here,
imputeth not iniquity, what David's talking about, this is how God
thinks of his people. Somebody told me one time, said,
well, salvation is just more than how God thinks. And I said, well, I said, I don't
know what you're driving at, fella, but I tell you what, it
sure comforts me to know that God thinks of me this way. And
I'll tell you what, God's thoughts are a whole lot more real than
our thoughts, aren't they? This word impute means to account.
Account. Somebody said it's not a legal
term. My son reminded me that accounting is a function of the
law. Why do things have to balance out on the sheets? Because the
law says they have to balance. This is inequity here. God doesn't
account it to me. It means to charge. I've said
that. Charge it to me, charge it to
you. God doesn't charge it to me, David says. It means to reckon. You know that word reckon? That's a good word, isn't it?
I reckon. That's a biblical word. I reckon this, I reckon that.
This is how we evaluate, how we think. God does not charge
him with the guilt of sin. The guilt of sin is removed.
What is guilt? Now, think about that. We use
that word guilt in two different ways. Somebody says, well, I'm
guilty. Well, if you mean that you're
the one who committed the sinful deed, you're right. I did it. I'm the sinner. Christ is not
the sinner. He's the sinner substitute. I'm
the sinner. What is a sinner? One who sins.
Christ has never been one who sins. And so he didn't commit the deed,
I did. But guilt here is a legal term
that means subject to condemnation. It means you deserve and will
get condemnation, damnation. And what David is saying here
is that's removed. I'm not condemned. I'm not subject
to condemnation or damnation. Why? Well, Paul said in Romans
8.1, there is therefore now what? No condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. That's why. So this means the
guilt of sin. God doesn't charge him with that
guilt. And when God does that now, He's not pretending. He's
not acting as if David didn't commit the deed, because David
did. In fact, David acknowledges that over here. Remember over
here in verse 5, look at that. He says, I acknowledge my sin
unto thee. I'm a sinful man, Lord. That's
what I am. And mine iniquity have I not
hid. I'm not trying to hide mine iniquity.
I'm a sinner. I said, I'll confess my transgression
unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. God's
not acting as if David didn't commit the sin. If that were
the case, there would be no need for this blessedness. There'd
be no need for this non-imputation of iniquity. So it's not an acting deal at
all. It's not pretense. It's not legal
fiction at all. Some way, somehow, the debt has
been removed from David. Would you like to enter into
that? Boy, I tell you, I sure would. Does this mean that God was faking
it? No. This is the reality of the
non-imputation of sin. in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to me very carefully.
I'm going to give you something here that will float your boat.
Now listen to this. It floats mine. In and by the
Lord Jesus Christ, based on His death in my place, in the place
of His people, He's our substitute, our surety. What's that surety? It means He's responsible to
pay the debt. The Lord God does not mark, charge,
or impute the sins of His people against Him. That was just as
true in the Old Testament as it is in the New. God does not
impute sin to His chosen people. He does not look upon their sins
with the eye of His justice, but He hides His face from those
sins and He forgives them. Now there is much sin in us and
done by us. We know it so. David says in whose spirit there
is no guile. If you said that there's no sin
in you, that would be guile. That would be dishonest. You'd
be deceived. There's much sin in me. Somebody
says you're a sinner, we all just say you don't know the half
of it. Yet God sees no sin in His people
by way of legal imputation. He doesn't charge it. In other
words, now that doesn't mean that God doesn't see what we
do. I think some preachers give you that impression, God doesn't
see what I do. God sees everything we do. God's
omniscient. When David committed that sin
with Bathsheba, is David saying here that God didn't see that?
What was going on? Well, he said in Psalm 51, he
said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil.
What's the next three words? In thy sight. And if God doesn't see what we
do and don't do, why would we need chastisement? Oh, he knows what I do. He knows
what I think. The worst thoughts that come
through this old brain, he sees them and knows them, hears them
all. And here's the key. He doesn't charge the guilt and
the debt of that sin to me. That's amazing, isn't it? The
Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to destroy, to purge, remove,
and take away the sins of His people, and He's done it. Look
over at 1 John chapter 3 with me. Let me show you this. 1 John 3 and verse 1. He says, Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we, sinners, should
be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be. We're going to be made perfect
like Christ in ourselves. We're already perfect in Him,
but not in ourselves. He says, but we know that when
he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him
as he is. And every man that hath this hope, the hope of eternal
glory with Christ in him purifies himself even as he is pure. That
means looking to Christ and being purified by his blood. Whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law, and sin is the
transgression of the law. And you know that he was manifested,
Christ was sent into the world to take away our sins, and in
him is no sin. That phrase, in him is no sin.
Now a lot of people will go to that and say, well that proves
that in Christ himself there was no sin. That's true. But
the emphasis here is not on that fact. That is true. In Christ,
there was no sin, is no sin, never has been any sin in Christ.
Christ has always been the perfect God-man. Even when he was on
that cross, having the sins of his people charged to him, he
remained sinless in himself. But what this is saying is His
people, as we are considered in Him, as we are represented
by Him, as He is our substitute and our surety, there's no sin
charged to us. No sin laid to our account. As long as I'm in Christ, no
sin. No debt. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. All the sins of God's people
were laid upon Christ. And He bore them in His own body
on the tree, endured and satisfied the wrath of God, the full wrath
of God for our sins. And He bore them away like the
scapegoat. The Son of God redeemed us from
the curse of the law. He made an end of our sins, justified
and sanctified us by His blood. And God Almighty has, through
the through Christ as our propitiation, our satisfaction, so thoroughly
blotted out our sins, that He says He will remember them no
more. That means He doesn't hold them
against us. He doesn't charge them to us. The Bible says it in symbolic
language like this, He's cast our sins behind His back. He's removed them from us as
far as the East is from the West, and he remembers them no more.
Therefore, God sees no sin in his people. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? What's the next line? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather is risen again and
seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for us. This non-imputation of sin to
God's people means three things. Number one, it means our sins
were imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to 2 Corinthians
5. You see, God cannot just arbitrarily
say, well, I'm not going to charge you with your sin. He can't do
that. You see, sin has to be dealt
with. God must punish sin. We've talked about that. He's
holy. He's just. He's righteous. He can't just
say, well, you know, I feel sorry for you guys. You've made a few
mistakes. Just forget it. He can't do that. The penalty
has to be paid. Well, if He doesn't charge the
penalty to me, if He doesn't charge the debt to me, what does
He do with it? Well, He charged them to Christ.
Look at verse 18 of 2 Corinthians 5. He says, all things are of
God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and
hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit, or
namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Now, who is this world? Well,
they're those who are reconciled to God. And how did he do it?
Look, not imputing their trespasses unto them. What did David say? Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. Well, it says here, God did not
impute their trespasses unto, He didn't charge them with sin,
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then,
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Now, what did He do with them? Here it is. For He hath made
him sin for us. He imputed them to Christ. That's
what that means. Some say that's not what it means.
But it is what it means. That's what the context means.
That's what the whole Bible will teach you. They'll tell you, well, God would
be unjust and dishonest to impute sin where somebody was not already
made sin. Well, that's foolishness and
it's confusion. It just confuses you. Didn't
that confuse you? It confuses me. Well, God's not
the author of confusion. No. How was Christ made sin? God charged Him with our sins. And God was just in doing so.
For some preachers say, God was unjust in doing that. Well, where
does He get off saying that? Thinks too highly of Himself.
No. God imputed sin to Christ. Charged it. And Christ willingly
said, charge it to me. Just like Paul told Philemon
to charge that debt that Onesimus owed to you, charge it to me,
I'll repay it. That's what Christ said in the
everlasting covenant. He said, charge it to me, I'll
repay it. And God was just in doing so.
That's what He did with it. And that's how Christ can In
the prophetic Psalms, like Psalm 22 and Psalm 40 and Psalm 60,
call them my sins. Christ called them my sins. They were His by amputation. God charged them to Him. It's
my debt. I'm the surety. I'm the substitute.
It's mine. Not because He was made a sinner.
He wasn't. That's blasphemy. That's anti-gospel. But he said, lay it to my charge.
And it was. Secondly, go to Romans 4. This non-imputation of sins means
his righteousness is imputed to his people. His righteousness
is charged to his people. Now, it's possible for somebody
to pay your debt and not give you, that'd be enough, wouldn't
it? Just to pay my debt. But it's possible for them to
pay your debt and not give you anything more. But that's not
the way God works with His people in the covenant of grace. Not
only does He pay our debt through the gift of His Son, He gives
us righteousness by His Son. And that's the way He works it.
So when it comes to the gospel message, when it comes to salvation
in the covenant of grace, here's what I'm saying. The non-imputation
of sin automatically means the imputation of righteousness.
Now look at Romans 4 and verse 6. Paul's talking about grace
here. Salvation by grace. And he says,
Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto
whom God imputeth righteousness without works. You know what
he's talking about? Our text. Psalm 32. 1 through
2. Now, remember reading that? What
David said? Blessed is the man. whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not a nigger." David did not write anything
down about righteousness there, did he? Back in Psalm 32? And
yet God the Holy Spirit, by the Apostle Paul, right here in this
book, tells you and me that that's exactly what David meant. Right
there. Here's what David meant by that.
Now if I just came up here and told you now, let me tell you
what David meant, you'd have reason to be suspicious. But
God says it right here. What does it take? Blessed is
the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without word. Christ
was charged with my debt. I'm charged with his righteousness.
It's automatic. Verse 7, saying, Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. You see, 2 Corinthians 5.21,
Christ was made sin for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might
be what? Become or be made the righteousness
of God in Him. I am made the righteousness of
God. My sin imputed to Him. His righteousness
imputed to me. I have a righteousness that answers
the demands of God's law and justice. It's a perfect one.
I'll tell you what, I didn't have anything to do with it.
It was all the work of Christ. His obedience unto death. It
satisfies the justice of God. It pays my debt in full. It made
an end of sin. And it cannot be taken away from
me. It was charged to me before the foundation of the world when
Christ was made my surety. It was worked out on Calvary's
cross. when He did the work of a substitute in redeeming me
by the shedding of His blood, He died the death that I deserved. And He gave me the life that
I didn't deserve. I have His righteousness imputed
to me. And then lastly, the non-imputation of sins means His life is imparted
to His people. Remember over here in Psalm 32
it says, It says, in whom there is no guile, or in whose spirit
there is no guile, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity, and whose spirit there is no guile. The spirit there is spiritual
life imparted by the Holy Spirit that comes as the result of His
righteousness charged to us. Let me show you in Romans 5. You see, where sins are not charged,
righteousness is charged. And where righteousness is charged,
spiritual life is given. Faith is given to believe in
Christ, to receive Him. Sinners are born again by the
Spirit because Christ died on the cross. Sinners are given
a new heart, a new spirit, because Christ took and paid my debt. on the cross of Calvary. That's
why. And that no guile, that means
no deception. I know what I am. I know what
I need. Those who are trying to be saved
by their works, that's guile. That's dishonesty. That's deception.
They're in darkness. They're blinded. But those who
seek Christ, well, look at Romans 5 and verse 18. Therefore, as
by the offense of one, Romans 5, 18, Judgment came upon all
men to condemnation. That's Adam's sin, bringing the
whole human family into sin and death. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. That's Christ dying for the sins of his people. The all
there are all whom he represented, all for whom he died, all whose
sins he took, and all whose righteousness he gave. For as by one man's
sin or disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That is, sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. There it is. Paul wrote in Romans
8, 10, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin,
but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. Isn't that beautiful?
All right.