Go with me if you would now to
Psalm 32. Psalm 32. We just read Romans
3 for our scripture reading. And it told us how rebellious
and how sinful and how guilty And how wicked every single one
of us are, didn't it? It laid it all out there. It
left us no room to glory or boast or everybody. None good, no not
one. Isn't that right? All have sinned. Filthy. That's all man is, right? 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 in whose spirit there is
no guile. Now that's wonderful, isn't it?
That's wonderful. That is so immediately relieving. Just immediately. Relaxing. That is good news. That's good news. That is good
news. Sin gets to us. Sin gets to us. That sin Our God has given every
soul on earth a conscience, but especially his people. Our sin
gets to us, our sin gnaws at us, the guilt consumes us, and
then we come in here and read, 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 describes a man right here, and he uses four
words to describe him. Transgression, sin, iniquity,
and guile. Four words. Those four words
describe all of us. Every one of us. Not in theory,
in reality. Not in theory, in reality. I don't want to view this tonight
as a doctrine. I don't want to view this as
the first point of the outline. Not in theory, in reality. Those words describe every single
one of us. This is what I am, and this is
what you are. Look with me if you would now
at Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58 verse 1 says, Spare not, lift up thy voice
like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression." That's
what God Almighty said. Show my people their transgression. The word transgression means
rebellion. He gave these different words,
transgression, sin, iniquity, guile. Transgression means He
said, Show my people their rebellion. Remind them of their rebellion. Remind them of their rebellion.
Don't turn to these, but Deuteronomy 9.24 says, You have been rebellious
against the Lord. And that's true, isn't it? That's
just true. It's so sad to hear it, but it's
just true. And again, I mean this, I don't
want to view this as a doctrine. I don't want to view this at
all as a doctrine. I want to acknowledge the truth
before the Lord. I acknowledge the absolute truth
before our Lord. In every possible way, I and
we, this flesh has rebelled against the Lord in every possible way. Well, I'm above that now. No. No. Well, I used to be, but I'm saved
now. No. In every possible way, this
flesh has rebelled against the Lord. Ezra said, this city is
a rebellious city. And it's true, isn't it? This
city is a rebellious city. David said this is a rebellious
generation. It's true. Isaiah said this is
a rebellious people. Jeremiah said this is a rebellious
heart. And it's true. Ezekiel said it's
a rebellious nation. And we have to admit that's the
truth. That's so. We have to admit that. Everything
that makes up this flesh, this man, naturally, is a rebel against
God. We have rebelled against His
Word. He's laid it out so clearly for
us. We have rebelled against His
Word. We've rebelled against His will. Something happens, and the reason
it happened is because it's His will. Isn't that right? Aren't all things according to
His will? But as soon as it happens, we
don't like it, and we rebel against it. We've rebelled against His authority,
and we acknowledge it. We acknowledge our transgressions. We acknowledge all of our rebellion
against Him. Look with me, if you would, at
Matthew chapter 18. The next word that David used
to describe this man in our text is sin. He said this is a sinful
man. This man that he's talking about
is a sinful man. Matthew 18 verse 7 says, Woe
unto the world because of offenses. For it must needs be that offenses
come But woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." The word
offense means sin. That's what it means. Sin is the actual committing
of the offense. Rebellion against God brings
the actual committing of offense and we've all committed the offense. All of us. How many times does
God say the word sin in this book? How many times does he
say the word sin in this book and what does God say about it
every single time? Every time He says it must be
punished. It must be punished. The wages
of sin is death. Verse 7 again, woe unto the world
because of offensive. If we leave this world without
Christ, If we leave this world without
Christ. I don't want to leave this world without Christ. I
don't want to have preached for years and years and years and
get to the end and leave this world without Christ. The thought
just struck me. I'm certain of it because of
history. I'm certain of it. I will preach
to people for years who will leave this world without Christ. That's scary, isn't it? I pray
it's not a soul in this room right now. If we leave this world without
Christ, there's no second half to this story. Woe unto the world
because of offenses, sins, the sins that have been committed.
He said in verse 7, Woe unto the world because of offenses,
for it must needs be that offenses come." They're going to come
because the world is full of offenders, sinners. All they can do is commit offenses.
He said, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. Our Lord said in verse 6, the
one before it, He said it would be better for that man to have
a millstone hanged around his neck and for him to be drowned
into the sea than to go meet God covered in offense. Covered
in offenses. Every single one of us is covered
in offenses. It's true. It's true. We can point the finger all we
want to. But every single one of us is covered in offense. All the transgressions, all of
the rebellion, all the sin, all the committing of offenses that
has caused us to be something. Look with me if you would at
Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 4 says,
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. Iniquity means
guilt. It means fault. It means worthiness
for punishment. Ah offense committing 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. David said, I was shapen in iniquity,
I was shapen in guilt, I was shapen in fault, in worthiness
to be punished did my mother conceive me. That's how I came
forth. Look with me at Jeremiah chapter
2. Jeremiah 2 verse 22 says, For though thou wash thee with
niter, and take thee much soap, you can scrub and scrub and scrub,
much soap, he said, yet thine guilt. He is marked before me,
saith the Lord God. I see your guilt. I see your
guilt. He said in Exodus 34, I will
by no means clear the guilty. If you're at fault, you will
be punished. If you're at fault, you will
be punished. And that's the key. If you're
at fault, you will be punished. Rebellion, offense, guilt, it's
all plagued us. It's all plagued us. It's ruined
us all the way down to the core, to the heart of the matter. Not
just on the surface. All the way to the core. Look
at Jeremiah 17, verse 9. Jeremiah 17 verse 9 says, The
heart is deceitful above all things. Everything that we've
talked about that is wicked and sinful and deceitful, the heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? The heart is deceitful above
it all. Rebellion, offense, guilt, it's made its way all the way
down to the core. of every soul, the heart of every
soul. Now let me show you something
in Jeremiah 9. Jeremiah 9 verse 8, it says, Their tongue is as an arrow shot
out, it speaketh deceit. That word means guile and he's
about to describe what guile is and what guile does. This
is guile. He goes on to say, one speaketh
peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he layeth
his weight. And if that doesn't describe
man, I don't know what does. He speaks peaceably with his
mouth, but his heart is laying weight, his heart is waiting
attack. The amazing news of God's Word
is David said that man, that's the man David just described.
That's the man David just described. The amazing news of God's Word
is he said that man can be a blessed man. Why that man? The reason is because
of THE blessed man. Jesus Christ the Lord. Go with
me over to Psalm 65. Psalm 65 verse 4 says, Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. Who is thee? Christ Jesus the Lord. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto
Christ Jesus the Lord. Every man that God chose is the
man that David just described. Every man that God chose, well I'm going to choose him
because he's a good man. Every man that God chose is the man
David just described. Every single one. Blessed is
the man that God chooses and causes to approach unto Christ. Go over to Psalm 34. Psalm 34 verse 8 says, Oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. Why? Why is that man who approaches
to the Lord Jesus Christ and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ,
why is he a blessed man? is because David said that man
is going to have all of his transgressions forgiven. All of his transgressions. Go back to the text, Psalm 32.
Verse 1 says, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. That word forgiven means lifted
up. carried up, born up. Our Lord 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. Why would the Lord do that? Why would the Lord do every bit
of this for us? That song, why? That was sung at our conference.
Why? Why would He do? Why tell me
why was He there? I know He was there. I know what
He accomplished for a filthy, rotten, rebel, offense committing,
guilty at fault Guile-filled sinner like me. Why would he
do that? It's because all of our transgressions
will be forgiven. Every single one of them. Blessed
is the man whose rebellion, all of his rebellion, has already been lifted up before
God Almighty. And it's already been dealt with.
Blessed is the man who has had all of his rebellion already
dealt with in Christ. Already forgiven in Christ. That's
a blessed man. That is a blessed man. Well,
yeah, that is a blessed man, but it wasn't just my rebellion.
My rebellion produced offenses. I've committed offense after
offense after offense after offense. David said, blessed is the man
who approaches and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ because
all of his offenses will be covered. Every single one of them. The
word covered means overwhelmed, clothed, David said the man or woman who
comes to Christ and trusts in Christ will be able to say, my
hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. That covering flood of His overwhelming
blood. That covering robe of His perfect
righteousness. Blessed is the man. Blessed is
the man who Christ was made sin for. That that man might be made
the righteousness of God in him. That's a blessed man. All this is going to come to
light in the last day. It's all going to come to light
in the last day. Men are going to be exposed for what we are
by nature. God is going to be exposed for
what He is by nature. And we're going to see some blessed
people, covered in the blood of Christ, covered in the robe
of His righteousness. All that rebellion forgiven, blessed. Why is this work of Christ such
a blessing for men or women who are in this condition? Why is
it such a blessing? It's because verse 2 says, the
Lord will not impute. He will not charge that man or
that woman with fault. He will not charge them with
guilt. He will not do it because He
cannot do it. That man is not worthy to be
punished. Romans 8 says, Who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Cannot
be charged, cannot be condemned. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. I would love to hear the intercession
that Christ makes to His Father. I would love to hear that intercession. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. None. Not only is there no condemnation,
rebellion is forgiven, all offenses are covered. Can you imagine
that? All offenses. You know how many offenses we've
committed that we don't know about? The ones we know about
are horrible. They're horrible. Can you imagine
how many offenses will be brought up to men and women that they
never even knew about? Things they thought they were
doing good. Every single offense covered,
every single one of them. No fault laid to the charge of
God's elect. No fault. But David said, not
only that, not only will all those things be so, David said,
the man or the woman that comes to Christ and trusts in Christ
is a blessed man or woman because the Lord will not only do a work
for that man or woman, He'll do a work in that man or woman.
That's what we're waiting on. That's what we're waiting on.
My sins are done. They're paid for. I cannot wait
to experience that work fully in me that He has done for me. Verse 1, He said, 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." There is no guile. The man or
the woman who the Lord draws and causes that man to come to
Christ, they are not only going to receive a new record, they
are not only going to receive a new slate, they are going to
receive a new heart. Brand new heart. He said, I'm
going to take out that heart of stone. I'm going to take out
that deceitful, guile-filled heart. Aren't you so ready to
be done with this heart? A man wrote an article one time,
and he was talking about how false preachers stand up and
say, give your heart to Jesus. Won't you give your heart to
Jesus? He said, what would God want with that old stony thing
anyway? That old vile wretch? He doesn't
want that heart. Aren't you so ready to be done with this heart?
Aren't you so ready to have a new heart, a new spirit? One where
no guile dwells. Wouldn't that be wonderful? No
guile at all. He said, I'm going to take out
that stony, deceitful, Guile-filled heart, and I'm going to put in
my own heart." That's the heart of flesh he replaces it with.
The heart of Christ, the new man. He said, I'm going to make
a brand new creation. A brand new creation. A pure
creation. A clean creation. One that God
will actually accept. One that God will actually accept.
One that God will actually dwell with. One that actually loves Him.
One that actually looks like Him and acts like Him. That's
a blessed man. Our Lord said, I'm going to deal
with what you are. I'm going to pay for what you've
done. I'm going to take all your blame on myself and I'm going
to make you absolutely spotless." That's a blessed man. What do
I have to do in return? What's the catch? What's my part
of the deal? There is no your part of the
deal. I'm going to totally deal with
everything you are. I'm going to pay for everything
you've done. I'm going to take all your blame upon myself and
I'm going to make you spotless. And all we can say is to God
be the glory. To God be the glory, great things He's done. That's
a blessed man. Lord, make us to be blessed men
and women. Make us to be blessed men and
women. Cause us to see your goodness. Cause us to see your kindness.
Calls us to cherish this. Calls us to desire this. Calls
us to desire Christ. Lord, calls us to get on Christ
and stay on Christ and never leave Christ. That's a blessed
man. That's a blessed man. May the
Lord bless us all. Let's stand together.