Let us turn to God's Word and
we turn to the psalm that we were reading, Psalm 32. And I'll
read the first two verses for a text. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputed, not iniquited. and in whose spirit there is
no guile. And of course the text as you
know is repeated there in the New Testament in that portion
that we read in the fourth of Romans. There in Romans 4 verse 6 following
even as David also described that the blessedness of the man
unto whom God imputes righteousness without work, saying, Blessed
art thou whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. And it's all said, of course,
in the context of the faith of Abraham. What's at the Scripture? This is the question there at
verse 3. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. And so I want us once again to
look at this great theme, this great subject of righteousness,
the blessing of righteousness or the blessing of justification. It's not only spoken of in the
epistle to the Romans but it's very much a theme that runs through
the epistle to the Galatians also. There in Galatians 3.14
that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ he says. And again we're reminded here
in this fourth chapter of the Roman epistle that Abraham is
the father of all them that believe. This faith that is justifying
is very much then the faith of Abraham. Coming back to the psalm, we see this description in the
opening verses that I read just now for our text. Blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile. Three things I want us to consider
then as we come to look at the portion and to try to understand
it and interpret it really in the light of what we have there
in the New Testament because it is by that greater light that
has come with Christ's appearance that we're able to understand
so much more of the truths contained here in the Old Testament. Jesus,
the true light, is come. We sang it in our opening hymn,
that lovely hymn of William Gadsby. Now, three points. First of all,
to say something with regards to those who are the subjects
of justification, who are the ones that God justifies. Well again we are told there
in that fourth chapter of Romans that he justifies the ungodly. Those are the subjects. God justifies
the ungodly. Who are the ungodly? Well there
is of course that sense in which all are ungodly. All are dead in trespasses and
sins without God, without hope in the world. But God doesn't justify everybody. It's a certain type of the ungodly.
The Lord Jesus, in the course of His ministry, makes it quite
clear. They that are whole have no need of the physician. But
they that are sick I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
unto repentance. There are few sinners in that
sense, so many are self-righteous. The multitudes of men and women
look to themselves, look to their own works, and imagine if there
is a God that that will give them some standing in His presence. There are all the sinners in
God's sight, there are but few so in their own. Such as these,
our Lord was sent. They're only sinners who repent. And it's these who were to understand
in terms of the ungodly. They have that sense of their
sinnership. They've known something of the
real conviction of sin. And surely we see that in the
vocabulary that David is using here in the psalm. David is that
ungodly man who is justified, who is accounted righteous by
faith. And though David speaks so plainly
of his sin, what does he say at verse 5, I acknowledge my
sin unto them? And my iniquity have I not hid? I said, I will confess my transgressions
unto the Lord. And thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin. Selah. Interesting, isn't it? We have the Selah at the end
of verse 4, just before this verse, this fifth verse, and
then we have the Selah again at the end of the verse. You
know, the Selah is probably something that is useful with regards to
the way in which they were to sing the Psalms in the worship
of God in the tabernacle and in the temple. We might say it's
a musical sort of a mark, but it certainly indicates that there's
some pause. And surely where there is the
pause it means we're to stop, we're to consider, and I would
say that this fifth verse is the most striking verse. with
regards to those who are the subjects of justification. Look at what David says. He speaks
of my sin, mine iniquity, my transgressions. And again he
speaks of my sin. He uses these various words. In many ways they're all synonyms.
They're all speaking of the same thing. that sense that he has
of his great need before God as one who has sinned and transgressed
God's holy laws. Well, let us just for a while
think of the words, the vocabulary that is being used, because we
do believe that the words that we have in Scripture are the
words of God. And there is profit, I say therefore,
if we take serious account of the very words. And these words,
transgression for example, has the idea of rebellion. Here at the beginning of the
psalm, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. What is it to transgress? It's to be a rebel. That's the
basic meaning of the words. It has that idea of willful disobedience. Doing that that is contrary and
opposite to what God commands. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law. Sin is the transgression of the
law. It's a strong word then that's
being used, and David feels that. Oh, this is a man with a feeling
heart. This is a man after God's own
heart. Now we see something of the heart of God when we consider
the Lord Jesus in the days of His humiliation here upon the
earth, the days of His ministry. What a heart! He had a compassionate
heart. We were thinking only last Lord's
Day how there at the end of Mark chapter 1 He has compassion upon
the leper. Well David, David's a man after
the Lord's own heart and he feels the things that he is speaking
and writing of. He feels that he is one who is
a rebel against God, how he had sinned, how he had broken God's
laws, how he had transgressed in the matter of his adultery
with Bathsheba, in the matter of the way in which he organized
and arranged the killing, the murder we might say, of her husband
Uriah, trying to cover his sin. There's transgression, then we
have this word sin. His transgression is forgiven,
we're told, whose sin is covered. And as we've said on previous
occasions, The word sin can be understood in concrete terms,
because the Hebrew language, which is the language of course
of the Old Testament, is not like our Western languages. We tend to think in more abstract
terms, but they would speak and think more in concrete terms. And the basic meaning of this
word, to sin, is to miss. To aim at a target, and yet never
hit the mark. You're always falling short of
the mark. All of sin, it says, doesn't
it? And come short of the glory of God. We never reach the mark. There's not only sins of commission,
transgressions, there are these sins of omission, failing to
do what God is commanding, missing the mark. And then as we move
on through the psalm, He goes on in the second verse, Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. And so
he uses another word. What does iniquity mean? Again,
we can think in those concrete terms. It has that basic idea,
the word that's used here of being twisted, or bent, or warped. And isn't that what we are as
sinners? Though this only have I found says Solomon in the book
of Ecclesiastes is only if I found God's made man upright but they
have made out many inventions. Our man was made upright but
now man is so warped and twisted as a sinner. These are the words
that he keeps using and then we have this other word at the
end of the second verse, in whose spirit there is no guile doesn't
the word guile remind us that really sin is something inward
and spiritual wonderful thing to be guileless when the Lord
says of Nathanael, behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no
guile Men are so cunning and crafty
in the ways of sin. Are they not those who have fallen
into the very grip of Satan? And he's such a cunning foe.
He has his various devices. We're not to be ignorant of his
devices. There are many devices in the sinner's heart, aren't
there? The wise man tells us, many devices in the sinner's
heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. All God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, every imagination of the thought
of his heart was evil continually. That heart which is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. David knew it. wasn't
just the fact that he had done those things that he ought not
to have done transgressing God's commandments satisfying his own
lusts what does he say when he comes
to make his confessions there in Psalm 51 thou desirest truth
in the inward paths oh the root of the matter was there you see
the root of the problem was there in his heart. It was what he
was. He's a sinner. And he sinned because he was
a sinner. I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing, says the apostle. Here then we see something of
those who are the subjects of justification. Who are they?
They're sinners. All are sinners. Sin itself is
very much of man. God is not the author of sin.
We're all culpable in our sinnership. But this sense of sin, this sense
of sin can only come from God. And those who feel the reality
of their sin are the ones who will come and they will confess
their sins. And this is what David is doing.
I acknowledged my sin unto them, and my iniquity have I not hid.
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgave
us the iniquity of my sin, Selah." And we see David doing this time
and time and time and time again in the Psalms. We see it again
in that 51st Psalm, I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin
is ever before me, against thee, the only of my
sins, and I am this evil in thy sight. Psalm 38 and verse 18, I will
declare mine iniquity, I will be sorry for my sin. Or where
there is that real conviction and that realization of what
we are, what do we do? We have to confess it. We have
to acknowledge what we are. We can't do anything else but
seek to be honest before God. And we have that comfort. of
the forgiveness of sin that's spoken of at the end of the opening
chapter of John's first general epistle if we say that we have
no sin we deceive ourselves that the truth is not in us if we
confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say we have not sinned
we make him a liar and his word is not in us oh friends if God's
word is in us We will have to confess our sins,
but God is faithful. God is just. I do like that. He could say God is merciful,
God is gracious, but he doesn't, does he? God is faithful and just. All
God justifies the ungodly. That's the God that we're dealing
with. The subjects then of this justification, they are the ungodly.
They are great sinners. But in the second place, I want
us to consider something of the sinner's justification. The doctrine,
in other words. The doctrine. Remember how Martin
Luther said concerning this doctrine of justification by faith that
it is the doctrine by which the church stands or falls. It was
that great truth that the Lord revealed to him at the time of
the Protestant Reformation. There's the root of the Reformation,
what was wrought in the soul of Martin Luther. Luther had
a great love of doctrine. He would say, one point of doctrine
matters more than heaven and earth. To him, right doctrine,
biblical doctrine was all important. One point. more important than heaven and
earth. Well, what of this doctrine?
The doctrine by which the church stands or falls. It's the mark
of a true church, in other words. The true people of God will confess
this great truth of justification by faith. What does that mean? Well, there
can be no synthesis between faith and works. But there's always
that antithesis. In other words, you can't bring
these two together. Where there's works, there's
no place for faith, and where there's faith, there's no place
for works. They are exclusive, one of the
other. That's what it says, isn't it,
in Romans 11, verse 6, If by grace While by grace are ye saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. But there in Romans 11.6, if by grace, then it is no more
of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. If it be of works,
it is no more of grace, otherwise work is no more work. There's
an antithesis, you see. You can't bring these two together. And that's the great truth that
we find Paul emphasizing time and again in his epistles. There
were those Paul's constantly having to deal with who want
to bring Gentile believers unto the Lord of God. They must be
circumcised if they are circumcised he says they are debtors to the
whole law. But there's no salvation in the
law. All of salvation is in the gospel. And how Paul deals with
it in particular we see it in Romans, but also, as I said,
it's in Galatians, very much in the Galatian Epistle. He says
there in Galatians 2.16, "...knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." Even
we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by
faith. All is justification by faith.
And this man was once The Pharisee, the self-righteous soul of Tarsus
who said, touching the righteousness which is in the Lord, he was
blameless. And he had to learn that he was not blameless, he
was a sinner, he was a transgressor. That his heart was full of all
concupiscence, all evil desire. We had to learn the truth that
the law of God is spiritual. And he was a carnal man, sold
under sin. And what does he come to there
in Philippians 3? His great desire to be found
in him, that is in Christ, to be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. It's a great doctrine. And I want to mention two parts
to this doctrine of justification. Look at the language that we
have in the text here in the second verse of the psalm. It
says, Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. What does that imputeth not mean?
It means iniquity is not laid against him. Iniquity is not
charged to him. In other words, it's a judicial
term. We're to think in terms of the
law court, we're to think in terms of the verdict of the judges. And we see that in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 25 and the opening
verse of that chapter, if there be a controversy between men
and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them,
then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. To justify has to do with the
with the law court and the verdict of the judge. The judge is to
condemn the wicked, but is to justify the righteous. No charge
is to be brought against that man who is innocent. But we're all sinners. Now, this
man David, as I've said, he feels that. In Psalm 65 he cries out,
Iniquities prevail against us. As for our transgressions, thou
wilt purge them away. Iniquities prevail. He's not an innocent man, he's
a man who is a sinner. But he speaks of how God will
purge all the iniquity away. And here in verse 1, does he
not speak of how God forgives? Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven. Oh, there's pardon for the sinner. And how is that pardon obtained? It's by the Lord Jesus Christ,
the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now the Lord Jesus has come and
stood in that law place of His people and answered before the
law on their account. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son. Yes, made of a woman. He is the seed of the woman,
promised back in Genesis 3.15. The seed of the woman that would
come. He's made of a woman, but He's also made under the law.
And Paul goes on to say he's made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. He has paid the great ransom
price. You see, when it comes to justification
there is a cleansing, a way of all sin. There's the clearance
of any guilt at all. There's no charging this person.
because his sin has been purged and pardoned and forgiven and
Christ has paid the great price of redemption. Well, that's a
significant part of the justification of the synody. How has he obtained the clearance
of all his guilt and the cleansing away of all his sin? Because
Christ has come and Christ has died. And Christ has borne the
penalty that was the sinner's just desert. He has died the
just for the unjust, to bring the sinner back to God. But I
said there are two parts to this justification. Because it's not
just a matter of cleansing from sin and being cleared from any
guilt before the Holy Lord of God, but this man is also covered
in righteousness, he has a robe of righteousness. Blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How is it that the man has a
righteousness now? Not just a matter of his sin
being washed away, his soul being cleansed, and all the guilt removed
from him, and no charge laid against him. How was he obtained
a robe of righteousness? Well, it's the other part of
the work of the Lord Jesus. Christ comes and he's obedient.
But he is obedient unto death. It's unto death. Previous to
death, he's obedient. He's obedient in life. Oh, he has honored the law of
God not only by bearing its penalty, by dying, the punishment that
was due to the sinner, but he has honored that same law of
God by a life of full, complete, and perfect obedience. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness sake. He has magnified the law and
made it honourable. The words of Isaiah 42, 21. What
a statement it is. God is well pleased. The righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, how it pleases Him. He has magnified God's law, not
only by His dying and bearing the penalty that was due to the
sinner. But He has also lived. He has
obeyed every law, every statute, every commandment. He didn't come to destroy the
law, but to fulfill the law. That's what Christ has done. Oh what a righteousness! Again
the language of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 6.25 It shall be our righteousness
if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord
our God as He hath commanded us. It is Christ you see who has
done that very thing. And there there is an emphasis
there in those words of Deuteronomy 6 Our righteousness, if we observe,
we have to observe to do all these commandments before the
Lord our God as he has commanded us. And we don't. We don't do them. Because we
have sinful natures. That's how we're born. We have
that propensity to sin. Sometimes think of the words
of Charles Wesley in the hymn, Take away the love of sinning.
Oh, do you ever have to pray that prayer? Take away the love
of sinning. We love sinning. I love sinning. We want it. We are not those who are able
then to heed What the Lord of God says, we're not able to obtain
that righteousness that he's spoken of there in Deuteronomy
6.25, we will not observe to do all that God commands. But
the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who has come and done that
very thing. This is the name whereby he shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Sidkenu, that's the The
Hebrew, and there's that lovely hymn of Robert Murray McShane,
by Iain Gadsby, it's a beautiful hymn. And it centers on that,
the Lord our righteousness, I once was a stranger to grace and to
God, I knew not my burden, I felt not my load. When friends spoke
in raptures of Christ on the tree, Jehovah seek can you. It
was nothing to me. And so it goes on, beautiful
hymn. Jehovah said, Ken you the Lord, our righteousness. That's his name. And I direct
you to those words then in Jeremiah 23 and verse 6, but then just
go over 10 chapters into chapter 33 and verse 16. And there we
read, this is the name with which she shall be called, the Lord
our righteousness. He is called the Lord. Our righteousness
as Christ, surely that is His Church, bears the same name. Or doesn't the bride take her
husband's name? If Christ is the Lord, our righteousness
by name, that is the name of all those whose faith is centering
in the Lord Jesus. I want to turn for a while to
what we read there in Romans 4 because it's such a significant
chapter really. Romans 4 is really the New Testament
exposition of the words of our text. I said we'd take those
first two verses in the 32nd Psalm. Well here we have the
exposition, the explanation of it all. Look here at what it says from
verse 3 to verse 8 in this chapter in Romans. And you'll see certain words
counted, reckoned, imputed. Now really, that's all the same
word. That's all really the same word. To reckon. or to impute or to
count. Well let's just read through
Romans 4 from verse 3. What saith the scripture? Abraham
believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now
to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of
debt But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom the Lord imputeth or counteth
righteousness without work, 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. We have these words used repeatedly
here, counted, reckoned and imputed. And what is the significance
of all of this? Well, it means that that righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He accomplished by the obedience
to every commandment throughout all of His life, that man who
was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher
than the heavens, all that righteousness is reckoned over, counted over,
imputed, to those who are looking to him by faith and trusting
in him. We see what was reckoned to Abraham
there in verse 3. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. What was What was counted to him? Well, it says faith. He believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness. But it's not the act of believing
that becomes his righteousness, it's the object. It's the object
of his faith. And what is the object of Abraham's
faith? Well, when we come to the end
of that chapter, verse 20, we're told concerning this man, Abraham,
he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness." It's the
promise you see. He's fully persuaded what God
had promised God was able to perform and that promise that
his faith is centring in is imputed to him for righteousness. And what was the object of his
faith? Well, the object of his faith
was the promised seed that Sarah was going to have a son. Isaac, being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body near dead when he was about 100
years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. They're going
to have a child, this old couple, And he doesn't stagger at his
promise. The child is going to be born. But then, Isaac is but
a type. He's a type of the Lord Jesus.
And we see that quite clearly from what Paul says to the Galatians
in Galatians 3.16. To Abraham and his seed were
the promises made, and to thy seed which is Christ." Ultimately, you see, Abram sees
Christ. Doesn't the Lord say that? There
in John 8, your father Abram rejoiced to see my day and he
saw it and was glad. It was by and through Isaac that
Abram saw the promised seed. here in verse 18 then who against hope believed
in hope that he might become the father of many nations according
to that which was spoken so shall thy seed be oh the seed is not just Isaac
the seed of Abraham is Christ that's so clear so plain there
in Galatians 3.16 And justifying faith, therefore,
is that faith that centers in Christ, that one in whom all
the promises of God are yea and are me. The great
promise of the Gospel, you see, there is one who is the Savior
of sinners. And Abraham's faith centered
in Christ. and He is the Father of all them
that believe. All that are of faith are the
children of Abraham. Finally, tonight, having said
something with regards to the great truth, the doctrine of
justification, the importance of this counting and reckoning
and imputing, it's Christ's righteousness reckoned over to the account
of that sinner who is trusting in Christ. It's the Lord, our
righteousness. Finally, I want to say something
of the faith or the sincerity of those who are justified. You
see, justifying faith is real faith, true faith, sincere faith. Here in verse 2 of the psalm What do we read at the end of
that second verse? In whose spirits there is no
guile. No guile. Or where there is this
real faith, what is there? There's the confession of sin. We already noted how David goes
on to make his great confession here at verse 5, I acknowledge
my sin. My iniquity have I not hid. I
will confess my transgression. There's confession. I will declare
my iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. Now faith goes hand in hand with
real repentance. Isn't that the gospel that the
Lord Jesus Christ preaches when we read there in the opening
chapter of Mark, remember the opening verse, the beginning
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Or the beginning of the gospel,
the good news, the glad tidings of Jesus Christ. And then we
have the ministry of John, the baptizing of Christ. Then Christ, the head of the
Spirit, into the wilderness. There tempted 40 days. Then he
returns in the power of the Spirit out of the wilderness. And John
is put in prison. And Christ comes into Galilee
preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, saying, the Kingdom of
God is at hand. Repentance. and believe the gospel. How these two things go hand
in hand. Faith, repentance. And what God
joins, we're not to put asunder. Where there is that justifying
faith, there will be an evangelical repentance, a grieving over sin. The sacrifices of God to broken
spirits. a broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. There is that breaking up of
the fallow ground of the sinner's heart, breaking up the hard heart,
that sense of compunction, that grieving over sin. What does the Lord say? You shall
seek me and find me when you shall search after me with all
your heart. Oh, there's got to be that real
seeking And who will be seekers after salvation? Those who are
sinners. Salvation is for sinners. I say again, justifying faith
then is sincere, it's real. Abraham believed God. And it, that is the promise,
was counted or reckoned or imputed unto him for righteousness. Or are we those friends who desire
such a faith as that? Where can we obtain it? How can
we find it? We have to simply look onto Jesus. We have to look onto Jesus. We
have to look away from everything else, look away from ourselves
or any of our own deeds, anything that we've done. We have to look
and look and look away onto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. Oh God grant that we might be
favoured then, that we might know the blessing, the blessing
of this man who is the justified sinner. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputed not iniquity and in whose spirit there is
no guile. Oh the Lord be pleased to bless
His Word to us. Amen. Let us conclude our worship
now as we sing the hymn 111, the tune is Martyrdom, 182. Thine
are the hopes the sons of men on
their own works have built, their hearts by nature all unclean,
and all their actions guilt. Jesus, how glorious is thy grace,
when in thine own we trust. Our faith receives a righteousness
that makes the sinner just. 1112182