Psalms 32. If you'd like, you can sit your
Bibles down in your laps. We'll stay right here in Psalms. I like to try not to too often
go to too many scriptures. We tend to lose a little bit
of our attention when we're flipping
through scriptures. So you'll allow me this morning
to go to many different scriptures today and if you'd like I can
be happy to sit down with you afterwards and list them all
off so that way you can go and see them yourselves. Psalms 32 verses 1 and 2. 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. I can't express in words I mentioned
this in Bible study, we sing this song, Amazing Grace, how
sweet the sound. But the more we come to know
what we are before a thrice holy God, and we see the mercy and
grace that He has shed upon us, His people, the bigger, the more magnified
that grace becomes. to where it even grows bigger
than any words that we can express. David, king of Judah, twice in his word, he is called
a man after God's own heart, wrote in Psalms 32 verses 1 and
2, blessed is the man. Blessed is the man whose transgression
is forgiven. Can you read that about yourself? Is it not a wonderful thing to
read God's Word when it applies to one's heart? Oh, how blessed we are! Oh, how
blessed you are! If you're one of God's people
that can read this, these very words, as though they were your
own, whose transgressions is forgiven,
the man whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. The Apostle Paul He wrote it this way, he said,
Blessed are they whose iniquities are all forgiven. Blessed are
they whose sins are covered and blessed is the man to whom God
will not charge sin. My subject for this morning and
title for today's message is Blessed is the Man. Now neither
David nor Paul denies the fact that we are sinners. They weren't
denying our sins. In fact, they were rather acknowledging
the truth that we are sinners. You see, to know that you are
blessed of God means to know that you are a sinner. That's
the whole point that I made a moment ago. We see the grace of God
and the blessings of God towards us personally. Because we know
what we are before God. We know what we deserve before
God. We deserve His wrath. These men
who both wrote this very thing know that. They know that we
have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. They know
that we have transgressions and we have iniquities in us all.
They know the Scripture, they wrote some of it, there is none
that doeth good and sinneth not, it says. There is not a just
man upon the earth that doeth good or sinneth not. David said
in Psalm 51, he says, my sins are ever before me. We are constantly
reminded that we are sinners again. He said, if thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquity, who shall stand? John wrote it this
way, he says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. He also says it this way, if
we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar and His Word
is not in us. So you see, David and Paul, when
they write, this blessed is the man whom the Lord does not impute
iniquity, they're not denying the fact that we are sinners.
And they're not excusing sin in any way. They're not claiming
to live above sin. Neither of these men claim to
live above it. In fact, Paul himself says it this. He says,
the things that I would do, I do them not. And the things I would
not do, I do. Oh, wretched man that I am, Paul
says. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? We read that in last week's message.
Neither of these men deny the fact that they are sinners, nor
do they excuse it. They do not claim to live above
sin, but rather, what they are doing is this, they are rejoicing. They are sinners, saved by grace,
rejoicing in the very fact. Blessed is the man. Paul says this over in Romans
verse 8, he says, who can lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It is God that justifieth. He
also says, therefore now there is no condemnation in verse 1
to them who are in Christ Jesus. So blessed is the man whose transgressions
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not charge or impute iniquity." Folks, this is good news to those
who are honest with themselves about what they are. What would
it mean to you? What would it mean to you to
know that every sin of yours is forgiven? Every sin that you can look back
through the time of your life and remember, has been laid to the charge of
our Savior. What would it mean to you to
know that? Every thought, every deed, every
imagination, every sin past, present, or future, what would
it mean to you to have your sins, every one of them, great or even
what we call small? Let's not forget those. forgiven. What would it mean to you to
know that every sin totally would be eradicated, totally forgiven,
blotted out forever, covered over, and cast into the depths
of the sea and to be remembered no more? Folks, this is a reality
to those who are in Christ Jesus. This is a reality to each and
every one of you if the Lord dwells in you. My sins are forgiven. They've been laid on my Savior.
He who knew no sin was made sin for me. Are you getting the picture of
that magnified grace that I spoke of a moment ago? All of God's children see that
very same thing. That wonderful news, my sins
have been laid on my Savior. The reality to those who are
in Christ Jesus, this blessing that all who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and they enjoy it to the fullest, their sins are
blotted out. God says it this way, He says,
I have cast them into the depths of the sea. God says it another way. He says,
I have cast them behind my back. And He also says in another place,
I have forgiven them and I will remember them no more. That's
why Christ came to this earth. That's why He left heaven's glory
and came to this earth and robed Himself in the human flesh. He
did it to put away our sins. That we would have the righteousness
in Him. When the angel announced his
birth to Joseph, he said this to Mary, he said, Mary is with
child, and she will bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's
why he came to earth, to save his people from their sins. This
is the fulfillment of the promise that was made to the prophet
Isaiah when God said, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth
a child and you shall call his name Immanuel. Immanuel means
God with us. God walked with man on this earth. Wonderful news. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ has come into
the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Paul said that. Paul said that about himself,
of whom I am chief. We can't see the hearts of men
and women around us, but we see our own hearts, don't we? This is the only thing I know
of where everyone is chief who's a part of this group. We see
our own sins and we can say, I am chief of sinners. Our Lord came to redeem sinners,
to put away sin, he came to put away the sins of his people,
and that's exactly what he did. as we read in the article that
Don Fortner wrote, he shall not fail. This drives me nuts to
hear a preacher get on the radio and start telling the world about
how God has saved everybody and he's waiting for you to do something.
What a pitiful God this man speaks of, a God who's waiting for something. The God of Scripture is not waiting
for anything except for his own time. In the day of His love
He will come to His people and He will save them. He will not
fail. Christ was made flesh And He
took upon Himself the form of a servant, made in the likeness
of sinful flesh, that He might put away the sins. In Galatians
4 it says this, in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them who were
born under the law, that we might receive the righteousness of
God in Him. In Romans 5.19 it says this,
by this one man's obedience. Many were made righteous. Is
that not good news to you? Does that not show us how blessed
we are? Can you not cry out, Lord, I
am blessed? For you look upon this worm,
this one who deserves the wrath of God, but that wrath was laid
upon your son for my sake. That wrath was laid upon your son and he
was crucified for this very reason. He put away sin once in the end
of the age. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Whose sin did he put away? He
put away the sins of all who believe him. He says in John
3.16, whosoever Are you part of the whosoever?
Are you one of those that God has given life to, to believe? The very word that He says, I
shall not leave you nor forsake you. The very word that He says,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Are you one
of those? Do you feel how blessed you are
for that very reason? We could be going to one of those
religious places like Mike used to go to, Mike and Shirley used
to go to, or like some of you others have gone to. Thinking
that we're doing all the right stuff, walking around proud with
ourselves for making a decision. Because that's what some of us
have done, isn't it? Or walking around thinking, I
don't need a God, I'm just as fine as anybody else is. And we know that's what we thought,
because we all thought those things at one time or another.
Yet in the day of His love and His power, He came to each and
every one of us, and by His grace and mercy, woke us up, called
us out of that death, gave us life, healed our sickness within us. John wrote this, he said, the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Not from some of our sins, or
most of our sins, or the greater part of our sins, but all of
our sins. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sins, it says. He cleanses us from
every sin. I'm talking about every sin in
word, Every sin in thought, every sin in deed, or imagination. Yeah, that's right. You don't
have to actually go do it. All you got to do is think about
it, and you've sinned. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us. He who knew no sin that we might
be made righteous, the righteousness of God in Him. So I say to you
this morning, What would it mean to you personally to know that
every sin inwardly, outwardly, were remembered no more? Is that not good news? Well,
that's what our Lord is telling us, folks. Blessed is the man. Blessed is the woman. Blessed
are you. who have had your sins blotted
out and remembered no more. What would it mean to you if
every sin of which you are associated with, every sin about you and in you
were forgiven? What if every transgression,
every iniquity, every thought of hatred, anger, lust, whatever
you want to put in, was put away, blotted out, and covered forever,
and remembered no more. That is what every believer in
Jesus Christ experiences and enjoys. That is what the Word
of God says. Nothing needs to be added to
what He is and to what He is doing. He put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself, and that's His Word. Learn two words if
you learn anything else. If you learn nothing else, learn
these two words. The first one is substitution. Christ is our
substitute. He says in his word he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on him and by his stripes we are healed. That's substitution. He died instead of sinners. He
died as a substitute. He died in the place of. He died
for his people. He bore all the judgment and
the wrath of God upon our sins, and he was made to be sin for
us that we might be made righteous, the righteousness of God in him.
The second word to learn, satisfaction. What Christ attempted Christ
accomplished. He is not attempting still. What He has desired shall come
to pass. Every one of them. When Christ
came to do, Christ did. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hands, it says, and as we read in that article,
He shall not fail. He came to put away sin, and
He did put away sin. But He put away sin for His chosen
people, not for the whole world. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. I guarantee you that if Christ
Jesus, the Lord, God Almighty, had come to this world and put
away the sins of the world, everybody would be saved. Because He's
God, and He could do that. But that's not what He did. He
came to save His people. And that is what He did. And
we are His people. And our trust, our peace, is
in Him, not in this flesh. We have no confidence in this
flesh. I've said this before, quit looking
in the mirror. Okay, once in a while you want
to look back and remember what it was, that's fine, but look
to our Lord and Savior. You want something accomplished,
you want to look at the blessings we have in this world and eternity
to come, look at our Savior. Look to Him and look to Him alone. In the Old Testament tabernacle
there were no chairs. Did you know that? They don't
have comfortable seats like we have. Nope. There were no benches. You know why? It was the priest's
job to go about doing the service of the sacrifices in the tabernacle
and they were to never sit down. They never sat down because their
work was never finished. Their sacrifices couldn't put
away sin, but this man, Jesus Christ, after He had offered
one sacrifice for sin, sat down forever at the right hand of
God. Isn't that wonderful? That's
our blessings. Blessed is the man who is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I ask you, isn't that good
news? What would it mean to you to
know that the holy, eternal, living God is reconciled unto
you? He dwells in a light to which
no man can approach. That's how holy He is. He wouldn't
let anybody come near the mount or they would die because that
was the mount that He was on, Mount Sinai. dwells in the light which no
man can approach. He is incomprehensible, unapproachable,
the invisible God, the God of perfect holiness, purity and
truth. What would it mean to you to
know that you are totally reconciled to God and will be in His presence
at one time? Is that time now? If He has given you a new heart,
If He has cut away that old stony heart that said, I will not have
that one to rule over me, and given you a heart of love that
sees the love and mercy that God has for His people, that
time is now. You are in the presence of God
right now. It says in Ephesians that the
God Almighty has made us to sit in heavenly places, not in this
flesh that we walk in, but in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
That's His Word. We're made to sit in heavenly
places right now. God looks upon each and every
one of us right now as we are as holy as His Son. Because if
we weren't as holy as His Son, He could not look upon us. That's
how holy He is. Do you have peace with God? Are
you at peace with God? Now I'm not talking about crying
out, peace, peace, when there is no peace. And I'm not talking
about somebody saying, well I made my peace with God. Really? You made your peace with God? Oh, no you didn't. You can't. Doesn't matter what you do, you
never will if you keep trying to do it in the flesh. There's
only one who made peace with God between God and His people,
and that's our Savior. And the reason we have peace
is because of the blood that He shed on that cross. God's
blood, perfect and holy in every way. The very blood that covers
your and my souls, that makes us white as snow. He is the only
one who can satisfy God's law, and God's justice, and God's
righteousness. Would you like to have that perfect
love? Would you like to have that perfect
peace? How would you like to have all
the wrath, all the judgment, all the condemnation, have it
all gone? Gone forever. Placed upon your
substitute. Let me ask you this. Do you hear these words? God
is not angry with you. This is the blessing that every
person enjoys who is in Christ Jesus. Every person who believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul wrote it this way, therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. being justified,
declares righteous by the faith in Christ, we have peace with
God. Now I'm not saying going to have
someday or might have or could have or even perhaps have someday. Folks, we have peace with God
through our Lord and Savior right this moment. That's what Paul
wrote in 2 Corinthians 5 where he says, God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. David is saying that very same
thing here. Happy is the man to whom God
will not charge sin, with whom God is at perfect peace with.
If our Lord is at perfect peace with you, it's because of His
Son, and you will have peace with Him. I have to collect myself for
a moment. I love Pastor Gene Harmon like
I can't even put into words. God has blessed me so much with
the ability to speak to him on a daily basis on the phone. So
one of my most difficult conversations with him, and we've had this
conversation many times over the past month, has been the conversation of
going home for him and Judy. You all know this. This is nothing
new. Pastor Gene shared it with all of you at one point or another.
He said, from this very pulpit, my body shutting down. Over the
past year, he says, I felt my body getting worse and worse,
and it was. It was. Last Monday we found out why,
because he's got blockage in his heart. You know, we can go
on for years with that kind of stuff going on in our bodies.
We'd never even know it. We just know something's not
right. Talking with Pastor Gene about
this subject, if I can say it this way, is a great blessing. When God's children know that
they're close to going home, none of us know the day that
the Lord will take us home or how, but we all know the day
is going to come. And when the Lord's people know
that they're getting close to that very day, they can feel
the body is shutting down. It amazes me at the grace and
mercy that our Lord shows in them when they give Him all the
glory for everything that's happening. I can't even express in words
how Pastor Gene has just been praising our Savior for everything. His wife, His children, this
church, this body, this body, you. A people He still holds
so close to His, dear to His heart. There's no doubt in my mind that
this man and several others who I've had the pleasure and the
honor to be with before they went on to be with the Lord.
There's no doubt in my mind that they have peace with God. For
it is expressed from their heart. Let's learn two more words, shall
we? Let's learn the word atonement.
Scripture says, I have given you the blood upon the altar
to make atonement for your soul. We're talking about reconciliation
to our Lord. Reconciling those who at one
time were nothing but sin, but now are righteous in our Savior. I have given, he says to you,
the blood upon the altar to make atonement for your soul. In Romans,
the Word of God says this, by Christ we have now received the
atonement. Henry Mahan wrote this, he says,
I think it's pretty good, the word atonement. It means this,
at one mint. The two who were divided by sin
and the two who were separated by sin, God was angry, is now
at one, Christ has provided a perfect at-one-ment, a perfect atonement. Did I read that right? Everybody
understand that? I think I might have left a word
or two out of that or something. Let's erase that part. The other word I want us to learn
this morning is reconciliation. In Scripture it says, Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. God has reconciled to us. God
has reconciled to us by the works of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is what Paul comes along and says, now be you reconciled
with God. Christ has performed that work
of reconciliation. He has put away the cause of
anger, the cause of judgment, the cause of the curse, the cause
of condemnation. God is not angry with the righteous,
and the chosen of God were made righteous in His Son, the Lord
Jesus. What would it mean to you to have a new nature, a new
heart inclined to God? Would this not make worship not
a duty, but a delight? How many people go to church
this morning because they feel that they have to? Thousands, millions, all over
the world show up to a church because they have to. The Catholic
religion is built upon that very thing, and many others. Why are you here this morning? You realize that if you're here
because you feel you have to be here, you are an abomination
to God. God's people come willingly because
we want to be here. I couldn't understand that. I
had to go to Steve Doyle, and I've shared this with you time
and time again. I had to go to Steve Doyle and Pastor Gene several
times in the first years, the first year of coming here. What
in the world is going on? What is it that you're saying?
Why is it I'm so attracted to what it is you have to say here?
Well, John, could be the Lord doing a work
in your heart. Is the Lord doing a work in your hearts? Oh, how
I love to hear more about Jesus. How would you like to have a
new heart, a new nature, which can say, I know my Redeemer lives? I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I committed
to Him against that day. John wrote it, said this, he
said, we know that we have passed from death unto life. Who of you can say along with
David, the great psalmist, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely,
surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my
life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Those
who love Christ and who believe Christ have that very new heart.
This is the heart that you will have in you if the Lord has moved
in. Those who love Christ and believe
Christ have that new heart. God said it this way, He says,
I will give them a new heart, a new nature. If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature. True religion is not a reformation
and it's not an association. It doesn't matter what church
you belong to, it's not education or how smart you are in the Bible,
it's regeneration. Christ in you, that's the hope
of glory. That's the peace that you have.
That's the blessedness that you have. Blessed is the man who
has Christ dwelling in them. Next, what would it mean to you
to know, how would you feel when you know,
when you know for a fact that every trial, and I know there's
plenty, our brother Darryl, no, no, not Darryl, Cody, his son, And Cheryl knows this very thing,
for she just recently went through one of these trials. Cody, his son, is going through
the trial. Daryl's happy as can be. Praise
the Lord. I'll take whatever he gives me. I'm going through the trial. The trial of watching my brother
deal with the cancer going through him, or the trial of my pastor. I haven't talked to him every
day this week, and I can't tell you how that rips my heart. This
is my trial, not Pastor Gene's. He's praised the Lord all happy
as can be. What would it mean to you to
know that every trial and every trouble, every sorrow, every
disappointment in this life is all designed and purposed by
our Heavenly Father. Everything that comes our way,
whether it be good or bad, is designed by our Heavenly Father
and it will serve His eternal glory and our eternal good. How would you like to know that?
I've heard preachers talking about Satan doing this and Satan
doing that. I'll tell you this, Satan is
our Lord's dog. And he has a chain around the
neck. If you don't believe that, then read the book of Job. Satan
was running about to and fro in the earth. What are you doing? Running about. Roaring like a
lion, seeking whom I may devour. Have you thought about this one,
my son, my child, Joe? Oh, you got that one all hedged
up. I wouldn't bother with that one. Well, you go ahead. But
you know, you can only do this. And he yanks the chain. That's
all that dog's going to get to do. Satan has no power. God Almighty
Jesus Christ has all power. Our Lord is the shepherd of the
sheep. He is the good shepherd. He is the great shepherd and
He is the chief of all shepherds. Do you think that He is going
to neglect His sheep? Can anything separate us from
the love of God that is in our Savior Jesus Christ? No. Blessed is the man who knows
that. We can go through any trial just like Gene and Daryl both,
praising our Lord and Savior for whatever comes our way. When you have a disappointment,
when you as believers have trials and troubles, do not think that
it is some strange thing the Scriptures tell us. To think that it is no strange
thing is expected for that is part of this world, this part
of life, and this part of the flesh. That it is part of this
decay and corruption left by sin. But I tell you this, I encourage
you to do this, rejoice. Rejoice for these trials are
true and they try our faith. They come to us to strengthen
us. to comfort us. Our trials are to bring us more
and more to be reliant upon our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Rejoice in as much as you are
partakers of His sufferings. All things, it says, and I don't
care how they come or when they come, it's all things, work together
for the good to them who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose. Folks, our God is almighty. He
says He will never leave you nor forsake you. Those are encouraging
words to those who are blessed by God. We say we believe God. We say we believe that He is
God in the flesh. But that doesn't stop there.
We believe that everything he says, when he says, I will never
leave you or forsake you, oh, do we forget it at times? Oh,
absolutely. In the 22nd Psalm, David cries
out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I've never had to deal with the
death of a loved one so close, but I don't dare, I don't doubt
one bit that those who have cry out, my God, my God, why hast
thou, Forsaken me? Why have you taken my loved one
from me? All things, folks. All things. Our Almighty God
rules all things, and Satan is not almighty. He is under the
control of Him who is. God gives His angels charge over
you and I, and His angels are sent to be ministers to you and
I, the heirs of salvation. So let me make one more point.
Let me ask you one more question, and I'll close with this. What would it mean to you to know that old age and even
death will serve your good and your gain and your glory. This was a tough subject to talk
about with Lamar. Those of you who have lost a
husband and married for a long time know exactly what Lamar
went through. for our life. What would it mean to you to
know that old age and even death will serve your good, your gain,
and your glory? Did not Paul say this? Did not
Paul say these words? For me to live is Christ and
for me to die is gain. What's he saying when he says
that? He says, I am in straight between the two things. I'm not certain which one I want
right now, he says. I'd like to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better. But I'm concerned about you.
You. You, my friends here on earth. I was talking with Pastor Norm
Wells a little bit ago, and Norm truly loves Pastor Gene. I know
we haven't seen the two of them together in a while, but he truly loves Pastor Gene,
and Pastor Gene truly loves him. And I was sharing with Norm,
do you know what Pastor Gene's big concern is today? this day
where he sits in the hospital right now wondering what's happening. His biggest concern is his wife
and his children. I'm ready to go home. I'm ready to go home, he tells
me. I'm not certain which way I want
to go right now. I'd like to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better, but I'm concerned about you,
my friends on earth. I am to minister unto you and
to preach to you and to help you. I still want to go home
and be with the Lord, but for me to die is to gain. In the
18th verse of chapter 8 of Romans, we read this, I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
to the glory that shall be revealed in us. For this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality,
and our weakness shall be turned into strength, and our shame
into glory." And we're going to wake in His likeness. David said this, that's when
I will be satisfied. Folks, this is the blessing for
all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see why David
and Paul both rose to the occasion, even after the troubles that
they had gone through in this life? And they both sang this
song. Blessed is the man whose transgressions
is forgiven. Are you blessed this morning?
As our Lord and Savior blessed you, knowing that your transgressions
have been forgiven, blessed is the man whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not charge sin. Amen.