Would you turn to the book of
Proverbs? I sure I've been looking forward
to this meeting, and I'm so happy and honored to be here. Proverbs
chapter 10. Verse 12, I've got two verses
of scripture I want to read from Proverbs. Proverbs 10, verse 12, hatred
stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins. Proverbs 17 verse 9. He that covereth a transgression
seeketh love. But he that repeateth a matter
separateth very friends. I've entitled this message, Love
Covers All Sins. Love covers all sins. Now I'm interested in having
my sins covered, aren't you? I want them covered. so that
you don't see them, most especially that the Lord doesn't see them. Love covers all sins. Now my view and your view of
sin and transgression is dependent upon our view of God. I have
a low view of God, sin's not gonna bother me much. If I have a high view of Him,
Sin is exceeding sinful. Now, my sins and my sin is a
present reality. By present, I'm not talking about
the past. I'm not talking about the sins
of my youth. I'm not talking about the way I used to be. I'm talking about right now. Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.15 that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom not
I was the chief. Not that's the way I used to
be, but of whom I am right now, present tense, the chief. That's how Paul felt about himself.
What about in Romans chapter seven, verse 25, when he said,
Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? He didn't say, Oh, wretched man that I used
to be, but that I am right now. I read that verse of scripture
in the bulletin. Romans chapter five, verse six,
for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. Now, listen to me, I don't read
that verse and say, yes, that's the way I used to be. Right now. Without strength. And ungodly. When David said
my sins are ever before me. Mine are too, David. The sins of my nature. The sinfulness
of my deeds. Sins of omission, not doing what
I know I should do. Sins of commission, doing what
I know I shouldn't do. Secret sins. Daily sins. Oft repeated sins. Sins that I judge other people
for when I'm committing the very same things. Sins. David said, my iniquities have
taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than the hairs of
my head, therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. Now let me say something about
my sins. I desire for them to be covered. I don't know of anything I desire
more than that. I desire for them to be covered so that no
one sees them. So that I will not bring reproach
on the gospel by my sin. I don't want to hear somebody
say, yeah, there's one of those grace believers, but what has
grace done for them? Oh, Lord, cover my sin so that
my sin doesn't bring reproach on the gospel. Somebody's thinking, well, if
you wouldn't commit them, you wouldn't need to worry about
them. That's true. All the more reason I need them
to be covered. but more than a desire for my
sins to be covered from you. And you want your sins covered
from me. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if we knew what, I know who I
really am, you don't. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if
we all knew what had gone on in our hearts in the last 24
hours? But an even greater desire than
that is for them to be covered so that God does not see them. Is that possible? For God to
actually not see my sin. Where he looks at me and there's
no sin there for him to see. And this is not pretend. This
is not him thinking, well, I know it's there, but I'm going to
treat him as if it's not. No, no. I think of that passage of scripture
regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, where he presents his church
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. In his sight is how things really
are. If he sees me as holy and unblameable
and unreprovable, there's one singular reason. I'm holy, I'm
unblameable, and I'm unreprovable. Turn with me to Jeremiah 50 for
just a moment. Verse 20. In those days, Jeremiah chapter
50, verse 20, in those days. And in that time, saith the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. And there shall
be what? None. None. God in his holiness is going
to look me over. searching for my iniquity. And
you know what the result is going to be? There shall be none. And the sins of Judah and they
shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve. Now I'm so thankful for these
scriptures I just read in Proverbs chapter 10 verse 12 and Proverbs
chapter 17 verse 9. Let's read them once again. Proverbs chapter 10 verse 12.
Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth. How many sins? All sins. And Proverbs 17 verse nine. He that covereth the transgression
Seeketh love. And my marginal reading says
procureth love. Procureth love. Now if I cover your transgression,
you know what you're going to do? You're going to love me for
it. You'll just love me. You'll become
a big fan of me if I do that. And if I cover your transgression,
you know what you're going to do? You're going to love me for
it. And if you cover mine, I'm gonna
love you for it. That's what that means. Most especially if God covers
my transgression, I'll love him for it. If you ever see that
God has covered your transgressions through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, there's only one response. You're gonna love him
for it. You're gonna be so eternally
grateful. Do you want to be beloved? Cover
transgressions. Cover them. Don't tell anybody
about them. Cover them. Cover them with silence. Do you want to love somebody? Cover their sins. Do you want
to be loved? Cover their sins. Now, hatred,
the opposite of love, is always stirring something up. Strife
and discord, instead of covering the sin, it exposes it and makes
it known to everybody. It brings on separation. I love
what Peter said, charity shall cover the multitude of sins. And Paul tells us that love keeps
no records of wrongs and covers with silence all things. You know, this is so different
from religion, isn't it? Expose, bring them before a mission board
or a mission board and a disciplinary board for church discipline.
That's so contrary to the gospel of God's grace. Love covers all
sins. Now, this I want you to cover
my sins. Give me a break. Have my back.
Have my back. I want to cover your sins. I
want to have your back. Wouldn't that be a blessing if
everybody just has each other's back? I mean, you know what we
are. There's no hiding. You know what we are. So let's
cover. But this is primarily speaking
of God covering our sins, His love covering our sins. Now, the scripture says in Psalm
85, 2, thou has forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou
has covered all their sins. Now I want to speak for a few
moments about the love of God for his people. This love that
covers all sins. If he loves you, if he loves
you, he has covered all your sins. Now God's love is not a
generic kind of love the way most religion presents his love.
God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. God
wants to save everybody. He loves everybody and desires
everybody's salvation. Christ died for everybody. And
all you got to do is accept what he did for you. If you'll just
accept his forgiveness, everything's going to be fine. That makes the love of God meaningless. and worthless. If God can love
you and your sins be not covered, what good did that love do for
you? That would make the love of God
worthless. As far as that, what about these
scriptures? Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Psalm 11, five, that's a pretty
big demographic, isn't it? Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Esau, have I hated? God said twice in his word. And Esau didn't think God was
worth a bowl of soup. Don't anybody think, well, he
was wrong and hating him. And as far as that goes, God's
hatred is not like our hatred. Our hatred is indicative when
somebody does us wrong and we feel like we've been offended.
God's hatred is based on his holiness and his justice and
his righteousness. Now, when we're talking about
the love of God, it's not the kind of love that religion presents. Somebody that presents that kind
of love doesn't know who God is. They never really learned the
gospel. They never really bowed the knee to Christ. But I can
tell you who God does love. God loves Christ. Oh, the father
loveth the son and hath given all things into his hands. And
God loves those who are in Christ. God loves the elect. I like saying
that. God loves the elect. I've heard
preachers try to dance around that. God loves the elect. God loves those for whom Christ
died. Now here's my favorite one. God loves sinners. For God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God loves everybody. God loves
everybody who looks to Christ only as all they have in salvation. That's who God loves. I'm interested
in being loved by God, aren't you? God loves his people. Matthew 121, thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Having loved his own, which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. The Lord said, I pray for them.
I pray not for the world, but for them, what you've given me,
for they are thine. And regarding every one of these
people he loves, he says, behold, I have loved you with an everlasting
love, a love that had no beginning. You know, we were singing that
song about meeting God's people on Canaan shore and say that
I was thinking, you know, I heard Greg Elm will say this and I
love this statement. When we go, when we get to heaven, we're
going to find out we've always been there. United to the Lord Jesus
Christ in him. That union is so real that we're
going to find out we've always been there in the beloved. Now, how is it? that this love covers all sin. Now, why do I ask that question?
Why ask why? Well, I've got a reason for asking
it. How is it that this love really does cover all sin so
that God doesn't see it? The reason I ask that question
is these sins deserve to be punished. God is the judge of the earth.
and shall not the judge of the earth do right, these sins actually
deserve to be punished. What if someone brutally murdered
your child? What a trial that would be. Can't
even imagine it. And the police apprehend that
person and they're brought before the judge. And the judge says,
well, I'm a loving judge. I'm going to pardon this murder. How would you feel about that?
You would be outraged, wouldn't you? That's a great miscarriage
of justice. That's wrong. There's nothing
right about that, if that's what took place. The judge looks at
the murder and says, I'm a loving judge. I'm going to forgive you
if you'll accept my forgiveness. Have you ever thought about how
stupid that is? I mean, that's really, well,
I don't want to use that kind of language, but that kind of,
well, I'm sorry. Lynn tells me don't use the word
stupid. And I try not to, but I did just
now, and I'm sorry. But how is it that God's love can
cover my sins when they really are so evil and deserve punishment? Well, turn with me to 1 John
chapter four. First John chapter four. Verse nine. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live through him here in his
love. Well, that catches my attention,
doesn't it, you? Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation of our
sins. Now herein is love. And if I'm
going to talk about love, I'm not going to talk about my love
to God. Now I do love him. I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
I wouldn't change him if I could. I love everything about him.
I love his way of saving. I do love him. Do I love him
the way I should? No. Do I love him as strongly as
I should? No. As earnestly as I should? No. I'm not going to
talk about, I can say every believer in here, you're ashamed of your
love, aren't you? It's nowhere near what it ought to be. And
when you're going to talk about love, you're not going to talk
about your love. Neither did John. John's writing under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he says, herein is love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us. Now, we love him, but it's because
he first loved us. And what did he do about our
sins? He sent his son to be a propitiation
for our sin. Now that's a word that's not
used much. If you ask the average person
tomorrow when you go to work or whatever you're doing, you
ever heard of propitiation? How many of them would say, what?
What's that mean? That's a weird word. Well, it's
not a weird word, it's a good word. It's a scripture word. And here's what propitiation
means. A sin removing sacrifice. A sin removing sacrifice. Because that sin has been removed
by his sacrifice, his anger has been removed. My sin was removed
and he now has no reason to be mad at me. There's no reason. My sin was
removed. It was taken off of me and it's
not out there in cyberspace somewhere. Where did it go? The Lord hath
laid upon him the iniquities of us all, who his own self bear
our sins in his own body. on the tree. Now, when he was
drinking that cup, he said, the cup that the father gave me to
drink, shall I not drink it? That was the cup of the sins
of all of his people. Now listen real carefully. He
never sinned. When he was made sin, he never
sinned. He knew no sin. But when my sin
became his sin, he was not dying for Todd's sins. He was dying
for his own sins. You know, that's scary to say
that, but it's the truth. It wouldn't be fair for me to
die for your sins, would it? You got to die for your own sins.
It wouldn't be fair. It would be miscarriage of justice.
But on Calvary's tree, He took my sins and my sorrows and made
them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. And just as truly as my sin became
His sin without Him committing sin, His righteousness becomes
my personal righteousness without me ever doing anything that is
righteous. That's called the mystery of
the gospel. That's called substitution. That
is the sinner's hope. That's why God says, I will be
propitious to their unrighteousness. and their sins and their iniquities,
I will remember no more." Now, why is it that he doesn't remember
them? There's nothing there to remember. You've got a new history,
and it's the true history. You've got a new history, and
it's the true history. When God looks you over, there
will be no sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? There's nothing to lay to their
charge. God justified them. What else needs to be said? Now,
when God covers my sin, it's not at all like me covering my
sin. You know why? When I cover my
sin, you know what it is? It's a cover up. That's all it
is. It's a cover up. But when he
covers my sin, he makes it to where that sin is no more. It's gone. He put it away. Now he that covereth transgression,
he seeks love, doesn't he? He procures love. And oh, how
blessed is that man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. Blessed is the man whose sin
is covered. and in whose spirit there is no guile. What a blessing
to have your sin covered. He that covereth the transgression
seeketh love, but he that repeateth the matter, he that repeateth
the matter. You know, every anytime I read
this passage of scripture, I feel such guilt. How many times have
I repeated a matter? Far too many times. How many
times have you been hurt by somebody repeating a matter about you
that was even true? But if they would have loved you like they
should, it wouldn't have been brought out. He that repeateth a matter, separateth
very friends. He calls all kinds of problems.
I think the main one who repeats the matter is Satan himself.
He's called the accuser of the brethren. And what accusations
could he make against you that weren't true? Everything that
he would tell about you, true. But they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. I want God to cover my transgressions
so that you don't see him, yes, but even more so, so that he
doesn't see him. And when he looks at me, there's
nothing there to see. And if you see any of my transgressions,
do me a favor, cover them. Cover them. I hope by the grace
of God I do the same thing for you. Cover them. Genesis chapter nine is when
Noah got off the ark. And the first thing he did was
offer sacrifice. And then the scripture says,
he got drunk, he planted a vineyard and got drunk. Somebody says, would a believer
do something like that? I'm using the word stupid again.
That's a very stupid question, isn't it? Would a believer do
that? What would a believer not do
apart from the grace of God? So. His son, Ham, saw him. He saw his nakedness. I don't
know what all that means. Don't want to know, but I know
it ain't good. He saw his nakedness. And what did he do? He went and
told his other brothers about it. He let them know what took
place. What did his brothers do? They came in backwards, not looking
with a cover. They came in backwards and covered
their father's nakedness. Don't you want to be that person?
that covers. And aren't you thankful for the
way He's covered you? You see, love covers the transgression. And when I think of the Lord
Jesus Christ, His love, I think of, and this is true with regard
to all of God's elect, but I think of Him standing as my surety
before the Father. and saying the same thing that
Judah said of Benjamin. Let me read this scripture to
you. Genesis 43, 8 and 9. And Judah said unto Israel, his
father sinned the lad with me. and we will arise and go." Everything
he does, he does as a we. We, I'll have him with me. We
will arise and go that we may live and not die. Both we and
thou and also our little ones. I will be surety for him. Think
of the Lord saying that about you. I will be surety for him. Of mine hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. Now when the Lord stood as my
surety, he loved me. He knew my name. I was on his
heart. When he became flesh, the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us when he became flesh. He did
so. Yes, for his father's honor,
yes, for his father's glory, yes, for the vindication of divine
justice, but he did it for me. He did it for me. When he kept God's holy law perfectly
for 33 years, I love what he said to John the Baptist. John
the Baptist, he came up to be baptized. And John the Baptist
said, you're coming to me? And he said, suffer to be so
now, for thus it becometh us. to fulfill all righteousness.
He wasn't just talking about John the Baptist, he was talking
about all the elect, all those who are united to him. Thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. He loved me. When he was nailed to that cross,
forsaken by God, all alone, he loved me. He was covering my sins. When he died, oh, nobody died
like this man, the God man. Nobody ever died like him. But
when he died, he died loving me. Taking on his bride's debts
willingly. When he was raised from the dead, When he was raised from the dead,
my name was in his heart. He knew he did it for me. I stand
amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he
could love me, a sinner condemned unclean. He took my sins and
my sorrows. He made them his very own. He
bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. When
with the ransomed in glory his face I at last shall see, it
will be my joy through the ages to sing of his love. to me. When he ascended back to his
father, my sins all being covered, he loved me. I went with him. I was quickened together with
Christ. And when he returns, he's coming for me. Now, every believer can say that. You might be thinking, well,
I can see him coming for somebody else. Listen, if you're a sinner,
he's coming for you. Having loved his own, which were
in the world. Now, love. Oh, may God give us grace to
enter into this, to believe that it's been done for us, and to
be this kind of person. Love covers a transgression. May the Lord enable us to be
that person after.