Alright, turn with me, if you
would, back to Psalm 32. Psalm 32. I would like to take
the title for this message from the last verse, the very last
verse in the Psalm, verse 11. It begins by saying, be glad
in the Lord. That's the title of the message. Be glad in the Lord. This Psalm is a beautiful prayer
to God. And it's a beautiful answer from
God. That's what's happening here.
David is praying to God and God gives an answer to David's prayer. This is a prayer that can be
prayed by every child of God, every single child of God. And
he can pray this, or she can pray this from the absolute depths
of his or her soul. This is a wonderful Psalm. If
you've never really entered into this Psalm, this is a wonderful
Psalm. And it begins with this truth
right here. If you look at Psalm 32 verse
one says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Blessed. Blessed. So blessed. Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. You know, people
are always talking about being blessed. Always. Always. They'll say things like, Oh, I've been so blessed with
good health. We've been so blessed with good
health. Or they'll say, I've been so
blessed with a good job, boy the Lord has blessed me with
a good job. I've been so blessed with a good
home life, just so thankful for that. I've been blessed with
a good wife, and blessed with good kids, and blessed with good
friends, and blessed with good material things,
and blessed with good inner feelings, blessed with a good outlook on
life. A very common way of saying goodbye. Now, a lot of people do this
very common way of saying goodbye. Yes. Have a blessed day. Meaning have a prosperous day. That's what they're saying. And although I want all those
things for people, I honestly do. I honestly do. Although I truly do want all
of those things for people. None of those things are the
great blessing from God. None of those things. Although
he is the giver of all those things. And although they are blessings,
when he gives them, they are. None of those things are the
great blessing of God almighty to his people. None of those
things, none of those things, that great blessing, the true
blessing, the blessing from God of eternal significance is. Verse one says, blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Transgressions are what we do. Sin is what we are. Transgressions, that's what we
do. Sin is what we are. We do what we do because we are what we are going
out into the world and sinning is not what makes a center, a
center, a center goes out into the world and sins because he
is a center starts in here and eventually works its way out. but we commit transgressions
because in the flesh, sin is all that we are. That's why we
commit transgressions because sin is all that we are. And in our flesh, because we
are what we are and do what we do, In our flesh, we are naturally
by nature, cursed. We're cursed people. We are cursed. That's what every man and woman
in the flesh outside of Christ is. Cursed. Come into this world. Cursed. The Lord told Adam, cursed
is the ground because of you. That's how cursed. Man says blessed and man thinks
blessed, but that's not his natural condition, not blessed, cursed. Because of everything that we
brought on ourselves, everything we're condemned. We're exposed. We are convicted. And had God just left us alone,
if that's all he had done, it just left us alone. We would
have died in our cursed condition and we would have spent an eternity
bearing a condemnation that we could never fulfill. Never, it would have lasted forever. There's no end to it for a sinner
because he cannot fulfill it. He cannot ever say, it is done. Finally, it is finished. Condemnation
over, fulfilled. Never can a sinner say that in
his own sins. That is why, that's why for a
sinful soul before God, one thing truly constitutes as the great
blessing from God. One thing. One thing is needful. Just one thing. The forgiving,
atoning blood of the Lamb of God. That one thing. The blood of the Lamb of God. For God so loved, He gave. Because He loved, He gave. He gave the great blessing to
man. Sinners that He chose to save.
To all of His people, He gave His only begotten Son. I wish we could enter into that
like we ought to enter into that. He gave because God loved sinful
man. He gave two sinful man, four
sinful man, His only begotten Son. Christ Jesus our Lord came and
took all the transgressions. See if this is a blessing to
your heart. You know what you are. You know what you've done.
All you gotta do is just go back into your life a few years or
maybe a few moments and just think about what you've done.
God knows, God sees it, that's the whole reason he sent Christ.
And Christ came and took all of your transgressions. All of the transgressions and
all of the sin. What we've done and what we are. He took it from all of his people
and he laid all of it on himself, all of it. And he made himself
to be cursed for his people. He made himself to be exposed
for his people and convicted for his people and condemned
for his people and he died. in our cursed condition. He died in our cursed condition. He bore the fullness of God's
judgment. He fulfilled the fullness of
God's punishment and God's wrath, and he put away every sin, every
transgression, every spot of iniquity, every spot Every blemish,
He put it all away forever. Now I'll tell you, that's a blessed
man. That's a blessed woman right
there. That truly is. I want all of us to have happy
days rather than sad days. I honestly do. This is me to
you right now. I truly do want all of us. I
would rather us have happy days rather than sad days. I would
rather us have more money rather than less money. I really would. I'd rather us have good home
lives rather than bad home lives. But what difference to those
things make really what difference to those things
make as long as an eternity with Christ is forever settled in
heaven. If that is secure, if that is
bought and paid for and signed and sealed and secure, we're
a blessed people. In that one thing, in the blood
of Christ, we're an eternally blessed people. Oh, so blessed. Verse one says, blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgiven, covered. in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse two says, blessed is the man unto whom the Lord
imputeth. That word imputeth means acknowledges
the condition to be. The word does not mean charge
to or apply to, give to, that's not what it means. It means that
he assesses the condition and acknowledges this is the way
it is. After assessing everything about
it, this is the current condition. Verse two, he said, not iniquity. Not iniquity. After assessing,
Verse 2 says, blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth,
looks at, assesses, and after he sees what he sees, this is
what he says, not iniquity. I don't see iniquity. Iniquity
is not there. And in whose spirit there is
no guile. There's no guile there. Nothing
wrong there. No transgression there at all. I love this verse of scripture
right here, I truly do. I remember the first time I saw
this, someone pointed it out to me, had me turn over there
and read it to me. It blessed my heart then, it
blesses my heart every time I see it. Turn with me over to Jeremiah
chapter 50. Jeremiah chapter 50. Look with me at verse 20. Jeremiah 50 verse 20. It says, In those days and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.
For I will pardon them whom I reserve." Talking about his elect. I'll
pardon the ones that I chose to redeem. I will pardon all
of their sins. Their sins will be put away forever,
never to be found again, never to be found again. Go with me
back to Psalm 32. Psalm 32, verse one says, blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth, not iniquity. And in whose spirit there is
no guile. Now David says in verse three,
when I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring
all the day long. For day and night, thy hand was
heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. You know, Every word in this
book is the Word of God, the words of Christ. And these Psalms
are pictures of our Lord. We can hear the voice of our
Lord right there as He was suffering in the stead of His people. We
hear His suffering from the cross and the agony that He endured. But the voice of David also represents
every child of God who cries Lord, I cannot not confess unto
you. I can't, I cannot not confess
unto you what I am. I cannot keep that to myself.
I can't hide anything from you. I don't wanna hide anything from
you. It eats at me, it weighs heavy
on me. You know everything about me.
You see me for what I am. That's what David said over in
Psalm 139. Turn with me over there. Psalm 139, I love this Psalm
too. He said in verse one, Oh Lord,
thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting
and my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
of far off. You know what I'm thinking before
I even think it, you know, what's going to come into my mind. Thou
compasses my path and my lying down and art acquainted with
all my ways for there is not a word in my tongue, but low. Oh Lord, thou knowest it all
together. Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid Thine
hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto
it. Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from
Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and
the light are both a light to thee." Doesn't matter. There's
no hiding. So he said down in verse 23,
search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts
and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the
way everlasting. Is that not our cry? Lord, we
have nothing to hide from you. Nothing, never would we want
to hide anything within us from you. We don't, do we? Lord, we
want you to search all of our sin and redeem us from every
last speck of it. Lord, redeem us from all of our
transgressions. Don't let one of them go unpaid. How awful would that be if one
went unpaid? Lord, don't leave one spot on
me before God. Purge every last stain. Search me, know me inside and
out. Purge me from all my sin. Is
that not our cry? Go with me back to Psalm 32. Verse 5 says, I acknowledge my
sin unto thee, in mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest
the iniquity of my sin. That right there is worthy of
a sellah. David put a sellah right there.
That is worthy of a pause. That is worthy to take a moment
to just dwell on it. Just let that sink in. He said,
I acknowledge my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not
hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions
unto the Lord. And thou forgave us the iniquity
of my sin. He said, I didn't do anything
to redeem myself. I didn't bring anything of any
value or any worth to you. I didn't earn anything. I didn't
deserve anything. I just confessed what I was. That's all I did. And I said,
whatever you choose to do with me is good and right. You're
justified in whatever you're pleased to do with me. David
said, and lo and behold, that's a great phrase, lo and behold,
to the praise of the glory of your grace. David said, this
is what you were pleased to do of your own will and your own
purpose. This is what you chose to do.
He said, you forgave me of all my sin. I just acknowledged all
of it to you. And you forgave me of all my
sin. Amazing. Amazing. David said, Silla. What can you
say about that? Verse six, he said, for this
shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when
thou mayest be found. If you are a center in need of
mercy, If you are a sinner in need of a Savior, this is what
the Word of God commands of us and tells us to do, and I strongly
urge all of us to do this. If you are a sinner in need of
a Savior, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon
him while he is near. He's near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, his own works, his own will, his own path, his own plan,
his own desire. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man, his thoughts, and let him return
unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him. and let him turn
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. He'll abundantly have
mercy and pardon in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
six says, 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. The temporary
floods of this world. We've talked a lot recently about
how the billows of this world, they just keep crashing over
us like waves of the sea. And the temporary floods of this
world may come and will come, but the eternal floods of damnation,
eternal damnation, they will never come. near to a soul that
Christ has redeemed from his sin. Never. Verse seven says, thou art my
hiding place. Love that. Don't we love the
song? Hail sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. We hide in him, don't
we? Verse seven says, thou art my
hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with
songs of deliverance. That's what we're going to sing
throughout all eternity. That's our song right now. And
it always will be the songs of deliverance. This is our song. Our message is our song, songs
of deliverance, songs of glory and honor to Christ, our King. All right, now that was David's
prayer to God. In this Psalm, in this first
portion, that was David's prayer to God. This is God's answer
to David. Verse eight, he said, I will
instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. He said, I will, I will, and
you shall." That's the greatest thing that a sinner could ever
hear from the Lord. That truly is. Verse eight, he said, I will
instruct thee and I will teach thee in the way. In my word,
through the preaching of my word, I'll teach thee in the way which
thou shalt go. Which way should a child of God
go? You ever wonder that? Which way should I go? Which
way should a child of God go? Whichever way Christ goes, whichever
way His Word goes, we follow Him through His Word. We follow
Him. And He said in verse 8, I will
guide you with my eye. I'll guide you with my all-seeing
eye. Verse nine says, 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 thee. He said, don't resist, come willingly. You come to me, follow me and
do it willingly. And all of God's people do. all
of his people, he makes them willing in the day of his power.
Verse 10 says, many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he that
trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Mercy through
the gift of Christ, forgiveness through his blood. So verse 11, he said, be glad
in the Lord. That's our that's our message.
Be glad in the Lord. Even if life on this earth doesn't
reflect what most people consider to be blessed. Even as you look
around and you see your life and and what you have and what
you're going through, even if it does not reflect what the
average person would consider to be blessed. Even if, when you look around,
you don't see much at all in this world that you can be glad
in. A blessed, sin-forgiven, iniquity-covered
child of God can always be glad in the Lord, even when there's
nothing else out there. A child of God can be glad in
the Lord who saved him and blessed him in the blood of the lamb. Verse 11 says, be glad in the
Lord and rejoice ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that
are upright in heart. That's what God's people are.
That's what God's people are. I've gone a little longer than
I wanted to already, but I want to tell you this story. It's
been a while since I've... It's been a long time since I've
told this story. But we were down in Mexico and
we had breakfast one morning with Walter and Betty Groover.
And Brother Walter was telling some stories about some wonderful
things that he had seen throughout his life as a missionary down
in Mexico. And he told of this one time,
a long time ago, when he was traveling to meet a woman in
a village that was far away. He had been there once before
and preached, and she wanted him to come into her home and
preach to her family. And so he agreed to do so. And
he said it was a good distance, but he said the roads were terrible.
And you could only drive about 15 to 30 miles an hour. It just
took forever to get out and get anywhere. The roads were, they
were just walking pads, really. And he said you're, you're, he
had a Jeep. He said the tires would be on
both sides and you'd hit rocks and holes. And a lot of times
there was nowhere to turn around. There's nowhere to pass. If you
met another vehicle, he said one would have to back up until
you could find a spot to get around each other. So he said
one day he was driving down this path headed to meet this woman
and her family. And he came up on these two native
men who were holding muzzleloader rifles. And he said, there was
nowhere to go, no way to get around, nowhere to turn around.
So he, they didn't get out of the road. So he anxiously came
up to them and stopped and his windows were down. It was hot.
He didn't have air conditioning and they came to each side of
his car. This one here asked him, are
you a missionary? And not knowing if outsiders
were being accepted, he very reluctantly almost said, yes,
I am. And this man said to him, He
said, we just finished burying my 16 year old daughter. She
died. And he said, we just finished
burying her. And he said, I am so sad. He
said, I know that there is a God, but he said, I don't know who
he is. And I don't know where he is. He said, would you come
into my house? He said, it was a hut. It was
a grass hut with dirt floors. He said, will you come into my
house and tell me who God is? And brother Walter said, I can't,
I'm so sorry, I have an appointment to meet a lady in another village,
her family's waiting on me. But he said, I'll come back through
at a certain time tomorrow and I'll stop at your house and I'll
tell you who God is. So brother Walter went on and
the next day when he came back, he pulled up to this grass hut
and he said he could not hardly get in the front door. He said
the hut was packed full of people. This man had gone into town and
told everybody he could. He said, there is a man who is
coming tomorrow to tell us who God is. And he said, if you want
to know who God is, you better get to my house. And all these
people came and he said, Brother Walter said, the Lord gave him
such great liberty to preach the glory and the goodness of
the Lord in the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said,
God saved that man. And he said, the man's name was
Feliz. And in English, that means happy.
The man's name was happy. And he said, boy, he was. That
man was so happy from that moment on, knowing who the true and
living God is. Happy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sad in the world,
but joyful in the Lord. And that's what we can be. That's
exactly what we can be. We may be sad about everything
else that's going on, but we can be glad in the Lord and we
can rejoice and shout for joy. if God has caused us to be upright
by His grace in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I pray that
God will make it to be so. I pray He will. All right, I
will dismiss us with a word of prayer.