Romans 4. In preaching and in hearing the
Gospel, we declare and we believe the one true message of salvation. When we preach the Gospel, and
hear the gospel, we are declaring and we are believing
the one true message of salvation that God has given to us. While
others may not declare it, and they may not believe it,
by God's grace, by God's grace, we stand for it. All glory be
to Him. But we stand for it. We support
it. We promote it. By God's grace,
we learn it. We learn of Him. And we live for it. We feed on
it. We live on it. We vary dogmatically. The word dogmatic does not mean
arrogantly. It just means firmly. No two
ways about it. We dogmatically declare the truth
of how God saves sinners. We don't stand up and say, well,
it's a number of ways and you pick the one you like and we'll
just all meet you there in the end. There's one way. We very
emphatically declare this one truth of how God saves sinners. But do you know that sometimes
in the midst of this setting forth of the truth, this dogmatic
declaration of the truth, the scripture calls it the fight. The apostle Paul said, I fought
a good fight, meaning I set forth the truth as God has declared
it. He told Timothy concerning pastoring and preaching the gospel
in Ephesus. That's where Timothy was. He
said, war a good warfare. Take a stand for it. Take a stand
for it. You will be persecuted for it.
You will be accused and abused and all those kinds of things.
But take a stand for it. Teach it. Preach it. Promote
it. In spite of the opposition, faithfully
preach and teach God's truths that He has set forth in His
Word. And in doing so, in declaring the truth of how God saves sinners,
the authority of it, the sovereignty of it, the particular
exactness of it, the completeness of it, the result
of it, and declaring the truth of how The way, the facts, the
means in declaring the truth of how God saves sinners. Do
you know that sometimes we lose sight of the blessedness of it? We're just up here fighting that
fight, warring that warfare. This is how it is. Sometimes
we lose sight of the blessedness of it. May we never lose sight of the
authority of it. Never. and never lose sight of
the sovereignty of it and the exactness of it and the completeness
of it and the blessedness of it. May we never lose that. Romans 4 verse 6 says, David
described the blessedness of it. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works." You think about that. Think about that. The blessedness
of the man. That God imputes righteousness
without works. Grace is truly amazing. A few of us were just standing
back here a moment ago talking about how amazing grace is. So amazing. It is marvelous. It's infinite. It's matchless. There's nothing like it. It's wonderful. It's greater
than all my sin. How can my tongue describe it?
Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, setting
my spirit free, because the wonderful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
reaches even me. Paul right here is quoting Psalm
32. Our brother just read that for
us. Verse six, he said, even as David also describeth the
blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, 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. Oh, the blessedness of that. I would love to get a hold of
that. I would. I pray the Lord will bless you
today, but I pray the Lord will bless me today. I would love
to get a hold of that. We're going through this book.
And we know the context of everything that Paul has said leading up
to this. In Romans 1, Paul said the Gentiles
are such sinners. That's what Romans 1 is all about. They're just so ruined. They're
such reprobates. They're completely lost without
law. They're just lawless. So God's
given them over. They're just lawless. In Romans
2, he said the Jews are such sinners. They're so ruined, they're
so self-righteous, they're so completely lost in the law. They have all that law and they're
just flat lost in it. In Romans 3, He said, all of
mankind is so ruined, and so wicked, and so destined for destruction. And if you look at Romans 3,
verse 24, He said, but God. being justified freely by His
grace. Verse 23 just said, All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. But being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. What
does that mean exactly? Paul said, well, David described
it back in Psalm 32. He just quoted all that and somebody
say, well, what do you mean by that? And he said, well, David
described it. He described it back in Psalm 32, chapter 4,
verse 6. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, 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. Blessed, blessed. People say, I'm so blessed. They say it all the time. I'm
so blessed because I'm just so healthy. I'm just so healthy. I've lived a long life and I'm
so healthy. And if the Lord gives us good
health, I'm very thankful for that. I really am. But good health
is not the great blessing of God on a man or a woman. People say, I'm so blessed because
I'm so wealthy. And if the Lord provides for
our material needs, we will be very thankful for that. But earthly wealth is not the
great blessing of God on a man or a woman. People say, I'm so
blessed because I'm so happy. I'm just so happy. And if God gives us contentment
in this life, that's a wonderful thing. But contentment in the flesh
and happiness in this world is not the great blessing of God
on a man or a woman. The greatest blessing that God
could ever bestow The greatest gift that God could
ever give to a man or a woman is a covering for his or her
sin. That is the greatest blessing. Men and women have left this
world just flat broke, hurting in pain from every disease that
you could imagine, in just sorrow and agony, covered in the blood
of the Lamb. Paul said the Gentiles are such
sinners. He said the Jews are such sinners.
The whole world is full of nothing but sinners. But God has provided
a covering for man's sin. There is a place where a man
and a woman can find forgiveness from all of their iniquity. There
is a place where a man and a woman can hide under the protecting
cover when the fire of God's judgment comes down on a man's
sin. Where is this place? Where is
that cover? It is in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's where it is. God's wrath
is coming down on man's sin. But there is a place of safety,
there is a place to hide. It's in the person of the Son
of God. Romans 3 verse 24 it says, let's
read it one more time. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in. That word right there. In Christ Jesus. Sin demands the payment of wrath. And wrath demands the payment
of death. And Christ made the payment.
The whole payment. Romans 3 verse 25 says, God the
Father set His own Son forth to be a bloody victim for every
sinner that the Father placed inside Him. Inside Christ. It is hard to fathom God's judgment
on sin. You stand up and say judgment's
coming. We say it's coming. It's coming
to man's sin. And you just can't fathom it. And mankind will never be able
to fathom it until he is under the judgment. At that moment,
he will fathom it. Man thinks everything is fine
and everything is going to be fine until the day I just lay
down in peace. He does not realize at that moment
God's judgment is going to fall down on him. A horrible judgment that cannot
be described is coming because of sin. Because of man's sin. God's judgment will come down
on all sin. Therefore, God's judgment will
come down on every man and woman on earth. We think, well, I wonder
if I'm going to be one of the ones that his judgment is going
to come down on. Yes. Let me just answer that
question. Yes. All have sinned. God's judgment will come down
on all sin. That means God's judgment will
come down on all men and women, every single man and woman. But let me see if I can describe
the blessedness of the man or the woman that God the Father
has put in Christ. All of the souls that God the
Father chose to save had to have His judgment come down on them
too. All of them. They could not be
excused. And the reason is because God
is holy and He must punish sin. So God punished every single
one of His people, individually. For all of their individual sins,
He poured out the fury of His wrath to the point of death for
every single one of His people. And I don't know if I've ever
said it this way, but this is absolutely true. God killed every
single one of His people. That's what was owed to Him.
The wages of sin is death. God killed every single one of
His people because of their sin. And He did it because that's
what holy, justed, demanded. But even though He killed His
people, they live. And the reason is because God
in mercy chose to kill them in the person of His own Son. They were all crucified with
Christ. Their sin was forgiven. That word means removed. That's what that actual word
means. Their sin was dealt with and it was removed in the person
of God's Son. God hid them in the covering
of Christ. For the sake of His people, because
they were dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, Christ
was oppressed. And Christ was afflicted. Yet
Christ opened not His mouth, Christ was brought as a lamb
to the slaughter. And He was wounded for their
transgressions. He was bruised for their iniquities. And the
chastisement that was owed to them was upon Him. Because they
were in Him. Inside of Him. And in Him. with His stripes, because the
lashing came down on Him, blow after blow after blow, with His
stripes they are healed. God's judgment comes down on
man's sin one time. One time. The judgment that God
gives is so full, and it is so complete, and it is so devastating,
and it's so destructive, It only needs to and it only can come
down one time. And for all of God's people,
that one time was in the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of
Calvary. Judgment came down. Every one
of them. If a sinner would like to see
what's waiting for him, In the judgment, if he goes to stand
before God outside of the covering of Christ, if a sinner would
like to know what is in store, look to the cross. What God poured out on Christ,
that is what's coming to every sinner that goes to meet God
outside of Christ. But if a sinner fears God, and
fears His judgment on sin, and fears standing before Him, outside
of the blood of Christ. If any sinner needs a covering,
do you need a covering? If any sinner needs a hiding
place, when that moment comes, would you like a hiding place?
If any sinner needs that, look to the cross. Look to the cross. If God has caused you to seek
Christ to be your only hope, then that's faith in Him. If you see the judgment of Christ
to be your only hope, if the only hope you have before
God is that you're one of the ones that God the Father put
in Christ and then bore all that judgment on Christ, If that's
your only hope, then that's faith in Christ. And that faith is
not of yourself. God gave it to you. And that
faith is your evidence that God indeed put you in Christ. That's
the earnest. All who need Christ, all who
must have Christ are in Christ. All who must be in Him are in
Him. You cannot need Him until you are in Him. And that's good news to me. You
cannot need Him until you are in Him. Sin does not need Christ. Sinners do not need Christ. God
has to remove that first. And once that rebellion is gone
and once that desire to just run from Christ is gone, all
that's left is a desire to run to Christ. So that faith in Him,
that's the evidence of being in Him. Now, what makes the work
of Christ's salvation for His people so blessed is the willingness
of it on His part, the selflessness of it, the completeness of it,
and the result of it. Paul said in our text, David
described the blessedness of it by describing the result of
it. David told us the result of this
covering. He told us the result of our
iniquities being forgiven and our sins being covered. And he described the blessedness
of that with one word used two times. And I pray this will be
blessed to you. I believe if we see this, understand
the definition of this word, this will be blessed to us. Verse
6, he said, Even as David also describeth the blessedness of
the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
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." Impute does not mean give to. It does not mean that. It does
not mean transfer to. It does not mean put it there. That's what the word sounds like
whenever you first read that word. That's what it sounded
like to me. But that's not what it means. God does not put sin
in man. He does not give to or transfer
sin to man. Man is covered in sin. He's conceived
in sin. Sin is not something that's separate
from the flesh. The flesh is sin. That's what
it is. So impute does not mean put it
there or transfer to. Impute means to acknowledge the
current condition of something to take an inventory of. That's
what impute means. If a hardware store took an inventory
of their merchandise, to see what the current condition
of their stock was. I used to work for Home Depot,
and every so often we took an inventory of that place. And you see, what do we have
on hand? All right, if a hardware store took an inventory of their
stock, and they counted 25 shovels, they would impute that they have
25 shovels. They would not impute 26 shovels
because they don't have 26 shovels. They have 25 shovels. So they cannot impute if they
want to be accurate. They cannot and they will not
impute 26 shovels. They will not acknowledge their
current condition as having 26 shovels because they don't. You impute the reality of a matter. What it actually is. I right
now impute this pulpit to be white. In saying that I'm not saying
that I'm going to add white paint to this pulpit. I'm saying white paint is already
on this pulpit. This pulpit is white. After taking
an inventory of it, I looked it over. That's the current condition
that I acknowledge it to be. All right, now let's read these
three verses again. Verse six says, even as David
also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness." After taking an inventory of,
after calculating the current condition of the man as he stands
in Christ, this is what God sees, this is what God acknowledges
him to be, righteous. Verse six says, even as David
also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, 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. He will not acknowledge it to
be so. He will not declare it to be
the reality of the current condition because it is not the reality
of the current condition. If our sin was put in Christ
and dealt with in Christ, covered and forgiven in His blood, then
it's gone. It is gone. And God will not
acknowledge it to be there. It is not there. It's not there. Now that's blessed. I don't understand
that, but that's blessed. That is so true. That's dogmatic. That's factual. And that's blessed,
so blessed. I want to close with David's
exact word, and go with me over where our brother read. Psalm
32. Psalm 32, verse 1 says, Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth, not iniquity. And David adds, in whose spirit
there is no God. That's why God imputes it to
be that way. In the blood of Christ, that's
the way it is. If Christ put it away, it's gone. It's gone. And the last verse
of this chapter, verse 11 says, Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,
ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are. In Christ, by God's grace, all
ye that are upright in heart. That's blessed. I'm so glad God
is true and I'm a liar because when I look at my heart, that's
not what I say. But in Christ, when God looks
at my heart, that's what He says. And whatever He says, that's
the way it is. All right, Brother Eddie, you come lead us in a
closing song.