Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. The message this morning is going
to come from Psalm chapter 32. We're going to look at the first
two verses in Psalm chapter 32, but I would like to read a few
verses out of Romans 3. I want to begin this message
by reading just a few verses out of Romans 3. We're going
to begin in verse 10. It says, as it is written, There
is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. Now this chapter, Romans 3, the
verses we just read, they tell us how rebellious and how sinful
and how guilty and how wicked we are in the flesh. It just
tells it like it is. It just gives the fact of the
matter for all of us, concerning all of us. But it also brings
to us, those verses we just read, they bring to us a greater understanding
and a greater appreciation for what our text tells us. If you want to look with me now
at Psalm 32, just listen to verses one and verse two, based on what
we just read, based on the truth that was just given. Listen to
what Psalm 32 verses one and two say. 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. David said that's a blessed man.
Isn't that immediately relieving? When we read what this scripture
says about us, me and you, And most people are not willing to
admit that that is indeed the truth concerning us. But if God's
word says it is, it is. And once we hear this truth concerning
how we are in this flesh, guilty, ruined rebels. Isn't it so relieving,
isn't it such good news? to hear what David had to say
about a blessed man or a blessed woman. David is describing an
earthly man here. He uses four words to describe
all men and women. Transgression, sin, iniquity,
and guile. Those are the four words. that
he used to describe every single one of us, every one of us, not
in theory, in reality. Those words describe the reality
of us. Now, in what we're about to look
at, I don't want to view it as just a doctrine. This is not
just a religious doctrine or a religious outline. I want to
take it to heart. I personally want to take this
to heart. This is what I am. And this is what you are. And
it's sad to say, I wish it was not so, but it is. This is what
I am. and this is what you are. Now
let's look at a few scriptures here. The first one is Isaiah
58. Isaiah 58 verse 1 says, cry aloud,
spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people
their transgression. Show my people. That's what God
Almighty said to do. He said, show my people their
transgression. The word transgression means
rebellion. Show them their rebellion. Remind my people, my people,
my chosen people, remind them of their rebellion. Deuteronomy
9 verse 24 says, You have been rebellious against the Lord. Who's that talking about? Me. You. Every man and woman on this
earth is true. And I say again, I don't want
this to just be a doctrine. I don't want us to only look
at some truths in the scripture. I want to acknowledge in my heart
truth, Lord. This is truth in every possible
way. I, we, this flesh has rebelled
against the Lord. We have rebelled against the
Lord. Ezra said, this city is a rebellious city. And it's true. David said this is a rebellious
generation. David said that about his generation.
I repeat the same thing about the one we're living in today.
It's just the truth. Isaiah said this is a rebellious people. Jeremiah said this is a rebellious
heart. This is a rebellious heart. Ezekiel
said it's a rebellious nation. It was the message of all of
God's prophets. It's still the message today.
It is still the truth of God's Word today, and we have to admit
that it's so, don't we? If we're going to be honest before
God, and if we're going to be honest toward His Word, we just
have to admit that it's so. Everything that makes up this
flesh, everything, this man naturally, is a rebel against God. We have rebelled against God's
Word. We see what it says to do, don't
we? Do we do it? No. No. Many people have themselves fooled
into thinking they're doing it, like that rich young ruler. All
these things he told the Lord, all these things I've kept from
my youth up. He didn't. Not in mind, not in heart. We've
rebelled against God's word. We've rebelled against God's
will. We have rebelled against God's
authority. We have not overthrown his will
and we have not overthrown his authority. But the scripture
says that this flesh cries, I will not have that man reign over
me. We've rebelled against it. And we acknowledge our transgressions,
just like David said in Psalm 51, Lord, we acknowledge our
transgressions. Our sin is ever before us. We
acknowledge all of our rebellion. against you. Over in Matthew
chapter 18, if you want to look with me there at Matthew 18,
the next word that David said to describe this man, the man
and the woman of the earth in Psalm 32 was sin. That was the
next word he used. Sin. He said this is a sinful
man. Matthew 18 verse 7 says, woe
unto the world because of offenses. For it must needs be that offense
is come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh."
The word offense means sin. The same word David used in Psalm
32. It means sin. Sin is the actual committing
of the offense. Rebellion is where it starts.
Rebellion against God brings the actual committing of the
offense. And we've all committed the offense,
every single one of us. How many times does God say the
word sin in his scripture? How many times has he recorded
that word sin? Sin, what a horrible thing. What
a horrible thing to be reminded of, but how many times Does God
bring it up? And what does He say about it
every single time? What does God have to say about
sin? It must be punished. It must be. The wages of sin
is death. Woe unto the world because of
offenses. Woe. Woe to them. If we don't have Christ, if we
don't have the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no second half to that
verse of scripture. There's no second half to that
announcement. It's just woe unto the world
because of sin, because of offenses. Lord, please don't let us leave
this world without Christ. That's what brings us to that
realization. We must have Christ. Please don't
let us leave this world without Christ. Our Lord said right here
in Matthew 18 in verse 6, but whoso shall offend one of these
little ones, which believe in me, it were better for him that
a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned
in the depths of the sea." It would be better for a man that
a millstone were hanged around his neck and he was dropped into
the sea, than to go meet God with all of these offenses on
him. All of us are covered in offenses,
covered in sins. And it's something that we just
have to acknowledge before God is the absolute truth. All of
the transgression, all of the rebellion, all of the committing
of offenses that has caused us to be something. Isaiah told
us what that was in Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 4 says,
our sinful nation. A people laden with iniquity. Iniquity means guilt. Iniquity means fault. It means
worthiness for punishment. He said, oh, offense committing
nation, sinful nation, a people laden with worthiness for punishment,
laden with guilt, laden with fault. He said, a seed of evildoers,
children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord,
they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are
gone away backward. How terrible. How terrible. David said, I was shapen in iniquity. That's how I was made. I was
conceived in guilt. I was conceived in fault. I was
conceived in worthiness to be punished. In sin did my mother
conceive me. That's what he said, in sin.
Jeremiah chapter two, Jeremiah said in chapter two, verse 22,
for though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap."
He said, you can grab all the soap you want to. Yet thine iniquity
is marked before me, saith the Lord God. He said, I see your
guilt, that iniquity, that guilt. You can just keep scrubbing with
soap and scrubbing with soap and scrubbing with soap. But
he said, I see your guilt. He said in Exodus 34, I will
by no means clear the guilty. If we're at fault, we must be
punished. If we are at fault before God,
we must be punished. Rebellion, offense, guilt, every
bit of that has plagued us, cursed us, ruined us, ruined by the
fall into sin. And it goes all the way into
the core, all the way deep into the core, not just on the surface.
That's why you cannot scrub it off. You cannot do a few deeds
to wash yourself clean. The problem goes all the way
deep into the core. Jeremiah also said in chapter
17, verse nine, the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. The heart is. where everything
originates, rebellion, offense, guilt, it's made it all the way
into the depths of the heart. Jeremiah chapter 9, in Jeremiah
chapter 9 verse 8 says, their tongue is an arrow shot out,
it speaketh deceit. And that word means guile. All
of these things that David described in our text, the last one he
said was guile. And he's about to describe what
guile is and what guile does. He said right here in verse eight,
their tongue is an arrow shot out. It speaketh deceit. One speaketh peaceably to his
neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his weight. If that does not describe the
sinful flesh, I don't know what does. The amazing news, though,
this is the amazing news of God's word. This is what David said
that man is, who is a blessed man. A blessed man. How can a man be blessed? Why
would God bless a man like this? This has been a very exposing
thing concerning our flesh, this exposes us for what we are. How
could a man and why would God bless a man like this? Why is
it this man that David describes to be a blessed man? Why is that? Here's the reason. It's because
of the blessed man. We sinful men and women can be
blessed sinful men and women because of the blessed man, Christ
Jesus, the Lord. Over in Psalm chapter 65 verse
four says. Blessed is the man. Whom thou
choosest. And causes. To approach unto
they. That's a blessed man. This sinful
man or this sinful woman that God Almighty chooses to lay hold
of and calls that sinful creature to come to Him, He draws that
sinner to Himself. Unto Thee, He said. Christ Jesus
the Lord. Blessed is the man. whom thou
choosest and causes to approach the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in Psalm 34, verse 8,
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that
trusteth in him. After you see, after I see what
the scripture has to say about us, And after we see what the
scripture has to say about what God chose to do with us, what
God chose to do with his sinful people, all we can say is the
Lord is good. The Lord is so good. We're so
bad. And the Lord is so good. He's so kind. He's so loving.
David said, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is
the man that trusted in him. It's a blessed man that God chooses
to lay hold of and bring to himself. And it's a blessed man that God
puts faith inside that man and causes that man to trust him.
That trust doesn't naturally come from inside the man. That
approaching does not naturally come from inside the man. We're
wicked to the core, desperately wicked. This heart is deceitful
above all things. It will not come. It will not
trust. It will not bow. All it wants
to do is rebel. And sin and commit transgression
against this good and kind Lord, but oh, what a blessed man. When
God overrules that sinful nature. And God chooses to show mercy
and kindness and goodness by laying hold on that man through
his gospel net. He throws the message of the
gospel out like a net. And he surrounds that sinful
creature, brings him to himself, causes that man to trust him,
call on him, cry out to him. David said that man The man that
God does that for, he's going to have all of his transgressions
forgiven. Whoever God does that for, God
out of his kindness, not the man who makes the first move
toward God, man won't do that. The man that God makes the move
toward. and shows mercy to, that man
is gonna have all of his transgression forgiven. Back in our text, Psalm
32, verse one says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. Forgiven, that word means lifted
up. When you look the word up in
the Bible concordance, it means lifted up, carried up, born up,
This is what our Lord said. He said, if I be lifted up, I
will draw to myself every single man and woman that my father
has given to me. If I be lifted up, I'll draw
every single one of them to myself. Why, Lord? Why would you do that
for us? Why would you do that for us?
It's because all of our transgression is forgiven. That's why he will
bring us to himself. All of our transgression will
be forgiven. Blessed is the man whose rebellion
has already been lifted up. before God Almighty and dealt
with. Blessed is the man who all of
that guilt and shame has been lifted up before God. Dealt with
in the Lord Jesus Christ when he was lifted up. On the cross. That's a blessed man. Somebody
will hear all this and say. But the problem for me is my
offenses are so many. My sin is so much. Is that you? I've talked to people before
who've said that very thing. Oh, my sins are so many. I'm
not just a little white liar. Oh, my sins are so many. My offenses
are so many. Offense after offense after offense. David said, blessed is the man.
who approaches and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ, who God
causes to approach and causes to trust. And the reason is because
all of his offenses, all of his offenses, every single one of
them, are you covered in offenses? Are you a sinner who sins and
sins and sins and you try to stop this mind, but it won't
stop and you try to stop this heart, but it won't stop. And
you wish you were not the way you were, but you are. Are you covered in sin, covered in
offenses, David said, all of your transgressions. All of your
offenses will be covered. covered. The word covered means
overwhelmed. It means clothed. David said,
the man or the woman who comes to Christ and trust Christ will
be able to say, my hope is built on nothing less than the Lord
Jesus blood and righteousness. The covering flood of his overwhelming
blood, and the covering robe of His perfect righteousness.
Blessed is the man who Christ was made sin for. Blessed is the man who is made
righteousness through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
took all those offenses and all that guilt and laid it on himself.
He was lifted up on that cross before God, and God dealt with
him, dealt with that sin, and through that, blood flowed out
of him. and covered his people. And that
robe of righteousness he earned, he clothed his people with. That's
a blessed man or a woman who comes to Christ and receives
that. Now verse 2 says, blessed is the man unto whom the Lord
imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile. He will not charge that man or
that woman. That's what impute means. He
will not charge it to them, write it on their account, that there
is any fault or any guile. And the reason he will not do
that is because he cannot do that. There is no fault. There is no guile. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. There is therefore now no condemnation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. None. All rebellion forgiven. All offenses covered. No fault
laid to their charge. David said the man or the woman
who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Christ is totally forgiven. Let's come to Christ. Let's trust
Christ. Let's cast our all on Christ.
Lord, all of these sins I committed, I cast them on you. I cast them
on your blood. I cast them on your worthiness
before God. If we do that, we will be blessed
men and women. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and cast your all on Him. Until next week, may the Lord
bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of sovereign grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.