Book of Romans, chapter 4, please. What grace it is, what mercy
it is to be blessed of God. In Ephesians chapter 1 we are
told all spiritual blessings come by way of Christ Jesus the
Lord. That's in verse 3. We are also
told that there are those who are chosen in Christ before the
foundation of the world in verse 4. And in verse 5 we see we were
predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto
himself. What mercy to be blessed of God. You know, we all have so much
to be thankful for right here in this country of ours. In May,
Brother Lance Heller is coming here from New Guinea. I cannot
stress how blessed you're going to be if you can sit and listen
to this man preach and then spend a little time talking to him
about the world that he lives in. and the differences of his
world than ours. We have so much to be blessed
of right here in this United States. God has been good to this country,
way more good than this country deserves. But nothing Nothing that we have today, the
cars that we drive, the comforts that we have, even this building,
and the warmth thereof, or the coolness thereof in the summertime,
compares to the blessings of a holy God. To be children of
a holy God, to be a people who belong to him, who have belonged
to Him from before the world was ever created. If you belong
to God, He has always loved you. There has never been a time,
even before there was time, that the Lord Jesus Christ did not
love His people. He says, I have loved you with
an everlasting love, and that's a love that goes on. You realize
that that means that everything that is happening up to this
point in history has happened exactly for that reason, because
God has loved somebody in that time. Everything that has come
about from this country, the birth of it, coming across the
oceans, wherever, every single drop of every point has happened
because God has loved somebody in this country. He loved me.
My parents had to be there so that I could be born. And everything
that happened up until that had to happen for that very reason.
It wasn't by chance. It wasn't accidental. It wasn't the Big Bang Theory.
It's all purposed by God. And he's loved his people so
much so that he sent his son to be our propitiation, to be
our substitute, to pay our price, that we could be with him in
eternity. Oh, what grace, what mercy. to be one of God's people. We also read in Ephesians, because
the Son of the living God, Christ the Lord, we have been redeemed
by the shedding of His blood. What a most wonderful blessing
it is to learn our state before a thrice holy God. To have it
revealed to our hearts that we are sinners, Because to see Jesus Christ,
you must understand that Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
He didn't come to save the righteous. He came to save sinners. The gospel is fulfilled in and
through our Savior Jesus Christ, a thrice holy God. He who came
to us when we were yet dead in trespasses and sin, we who were
laying in our own blood and filth, the Lord walked by just as He
did to that child who was left in the field. The one who was
left in their own blood in the mud. And He said, live. That's
exactly what He does through the preaching of the Gospel.
He comes to us in our hearts and He says, live. And if He
doesn't say live to the heart, the heart will remain dead in
trespasses and sin. Oh, what mercy and grace there
is in being blessed of God. In chapter 2 of Ephesians, he
says he quickened, he gave life We walked according to the prince
of this world, living as others, fulfilling the desires of our
flesh. We were by our very nature as others, children of wrath. But God, it says, God who is
rich in mercy, has a great love for His people, so much so that
He sent His Son to be their substitute. He provided Himself our sacrifice,
our scapegoat, our Redeemer, our Lord, our King, our Priest. Are you with me in Romans? Chapter 4, look at verses 7 and
8. 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. My title this
morning is Iniquities Forgiven. You see, there was a time in
my life where that word iniquity would not have been heard coming
from my mouth. No, I'm a truck driver. Most of you know what that means.
And if you don't know what that means, you're too young to. You
need to ask your parents later by yourselves. Truck drivers
are real good at forcing words. That's a iniquity that I still
have this day. I will not deny that. To be quite
honest with you, all my sins I still have to this day. I'm able to fight them a little
better, but that's because I have the strength of God in me. The one who has convicted my
heart that these are sins against God. And if I'm able to turn
from those sins at all, it's because of His power in me. It's
because He who has began a good work in me will complete it to
the day that He comes. till the day that he comes and
takes me out of this flesh, this sinful flesh. This word iniquity is a strange
word. It's one of those kind of words
where you go, wow, it doesn't even sound good. Ice cream. That's a pretty good word. It
sounds good. You know, iniquity doesn't even sound good, does
it? If you were to tell somebody
who didn't understand the English language They might fight you back. Just
from the sound of it, it's like, ooh, that's not a good word.
What are you saying to me? Iniquity. It's a rather large word that,
according to the Webster's Dictionary, it means immoral, grossly unfair
behavior. Here are some of the synonyms
that are used to describe this big word, iniquity. How about
wickedness? Sinfulness, immorality, evil,
sinful, vileness, criminal, offensive, violation, wrongdoing. And that's just a sample. There's
a list that goes on from that even. A sample to give us an
idea of what God's word is telling us when he says, blessed are
those whose iniquities are forgiven. Do you see your iniquities? That's because God is showing
you. I remember a time when I didn't
have any iniquities. I was a pretty good guy. And I've done some pretty rotten
things. But I didn't think they were that bad. I didn't think they were that bad.
Turn to Numbers chapter 15 if you would. No. I thought I was a pretty
good guy. I hadn't killed anybody. At least not in reality. How many
times have we killed somebody in our hearts just thinking,
oh, if I could just get rid of that one. If I could just make
that one go away. Do you know thinking sin is the
same as doing it? Not believing the truth, the
Word of God. That's a sin. The God of all creation is a
holy God, just as we sang a moment ago. Perfect in every way. Are
you with me in Numbers 15? Look at verse 30. But the soul that doeth ought,
willfully, presumptuously, whether it be born in the land or a stranger,
the same reproaches the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off
from among his people." Meaning, in other words, if you sin willfully
or accidentally, you're still a sinner. Whether you are part of or outside
the camp of Israel, you are still a sinner if you've committed
a sin. and shall be cut off from the
people. Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath
broken his commandment, that soul shall be utterly cut off,
his iniquity shall be upon him." Now remember, I asked you a moment
ago, do you have iniquities? Every single head here this morning
went like that. And we said the Lord is the one
who's showing us that iniquity. That iniquity would be on our
heads if it wasn't for the Lord Jesus Christ taking that iniquity
into the grave with him when he died. Now drop down to verse 32. And while the children of Israel
were in the wilderness, they found a man. We're about to read
about an example of how our God thinks of iniquity. Remember
He's holy. Now what does that mean to be
holy? That doesn't mean that you're some kind of a pretty
good guy, you sit up on your little throne there in Rome,
whatever they might call you, the Pope or whatever like that,
you know. It doesn't mean that. Holy means perfect. There is
no iniquity. And our God is so holy that He
cannot even look upon what we are. It's a wonder our Lord didn't
just destroy everything and start all over again, isn't it? But like I said, He has loved
His people from before the world was. Everything was for that
reason. to take care of those that He
has loved, to provide a way for them to be with Him forever,
in eternity. And here this man, while the
children were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered
sticks on the Sabbath day. He's just picking up sticks to
go build a fire, maybe to keep warm. And they that found him gathering
sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and unto all the congregation.
And they put him in the ward because it was declared that
what should be done. And the Lord said unto Moses,
The man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall
stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation
brought him without the camp and stoned him with stones and
he died as the Lord commanded Moses. That is a picture of the cost
of sin. The iniquities was upon this
man, is that correct? That's what we all deserve, folks.
Our iniquities are ever before us. Yet there is One, and this
is the Gospel, there is One who took the iniquities of His people
upon Himself. He was made to be sin for them,
that they would be righteous in Him. That's a story that can
be told over and over again because we walk through this world in
the flesh which has its iniquity. I need to hear about my Savior
over and over again because my iniquity is ever before me. This man was stoned to death
for picking up sticks. Oh, how much I deserve to be
stoned. Oh, how much I have earned the
reason to be stoned for sinning against my Lord. That's why the Gospel is such
good news. All of our iniquities were laid
upon Him. By His stripes we are healed. But only His people, only His
chosen, only those for whom He has loved from before the world
was. Let's not just pass over this
too quickly and overlook what this man's sin was. He was working
on the Sabbath. It wasn't just for picking up
sticks, it was because he was trying to do something on the
day when the Lord said, you shall rest. Our Lord says to us, you
and I right now, rest. Rest in Me. Stop working for
your salvation. Stop trying to earn your salvation. That doesn't mean to stop doing
good things. No. We still want to go out and do
the things the Lord would like us to do. We still want to go
out and do what our God leads us to do. But don't do it to make yourself
more presentable before God because you cannot do that. If God looked down and saw anything
of us, He would have to turn away. Just for picking up sticks,
the iniquities were brought against this man. The Sabbath was a day of rest.
Even the work of preparing your meals or any other type was proclaimed
to be a sin. They were told to make their
meals the day before. The people of God, and that's
what Israel is a picture of. God's chosen people, remember?
Remember what it says in the Lord's will? I've chosen you,
you have not chosen me. And I didn't choose you because
you were some big people, big nation. No, in fact, I chose
you because you were the smallest, the weakest, the least of. They were God's chosen people
and one of the laws that was given to Moses was to rest on
the Sabbath day. All that you might need for that
day was to be prepared the day before. So on that day there
would be no works by the hand of men. This too is a picture
of not mixing works of men with the grace of the deliverance
by God. See, God declares that grace
and works cannot mix. In the book of Romans we read,
where if it's grace, then it's not works. And if it's works,
it can't be grace. We're a sovereign grace church
here. We preach that our God is sovereign over every little
detail, and that we are saved by grace. Nothing I can do, nothing
you can do can earn you a right to sit with God. But what Christ
did is enough. His grace is sufficient. Our works are iniquity in the
sight of God. Our sin, our flesh is full of
sin. But as I had said earlier, God
has loved a people from before the world was. A people chosen
unto salvation through the wonderful works of Christ. who is the Lord
of the Sabbath. He's not just the Lord of the
Sabbath, He is the Sabbath. The fulfillment of it. He is
our Sabbath, our day of rest. We rest in His works. Turn over
to the 51st Psalm if you would. The people of God are brought
to an understanding that we have nothing to offer God for our
iniquities. We are broke, completely depraved
of any righteousness in ourselves. Our righteousness is as filthy
rags, according to the Word of God. And one must be perfectly
righteous to stand with God. One must be holy as he is in
the presence of the Most High. David, a man after God's own
heart, knew this very point. And when sin had risen up in
his flesh, he cried unto the Lord in the 51st Psalm, Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness. According unto the multitude
of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. Are you washed in the blood? The blood of our Lord Jesus? There's power in that blood,
you know? The power of God. Perfectly cleansing every single
one of His people. And if you're sitting here this
morning and you're wondering, am I a child of God? Does the blood of Christ shed
on the cross bring joy to your heart? Because that blood is so powerful
it has washed his people clean forever. When God looks upon
his people, he sees that blood and he sees us as perfect as
himself. Perfect enough to go to heaven
and stand with Him. Perfect enough to spend eternity with Him and
praise Him and glorify the name of our Savior. Cleanse me from my sin, for I
acknowledge my transgressions in verse 3 and my sin is ever
before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in
me a clean heart. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Notice
what his cry was for. What did we read in verse one?
David cried out, have mercy, have mercy upon me, O Lord. Blessed
is the man whose iniquities are forgiven. Well, how? How are our iniquities forgiven?
Turn over to Isaiah 53. While you're turning there in
Ephesians 2.4 it says, But God, who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us, hath quickened us together
with Christ. Together with Christ, by grace
ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us to
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the
ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are
ye saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It is a gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now let me read
the 53rd Psalm for you before I go into Isaiah. The fool hath
said in his heart there is no God. Corrupt are they, and have
done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good.
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and did seek God in every one
of them. is gone back. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good, no not one. Have the workers
of iniquity no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they
eat bread they have not called upon God? They were they in great fear,
where no fear was. For God hath scattered the bones
of him that encampeth against thee, that thou hast put them
to shame, because God hath despised them. Oh, that salvation of Israel
were to come out of Zion, when God bringeth back the captivity
of his people. Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel
shall be glad. Blessed is the man whose iniquities
are forgiven. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
will not impute sin. You see, Abraham believed God
and righteousness was imputed to him. In Ephesians 2 verse
8 we read, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. God the Father gave God the Son
of people, and God the Son suffered their just reward, and God the
Spirit is going about this very day with the day of His power,
giving life to those who are loved with an everlasting love.
Love from before the foundation of all creation. Who can resist
the will of God? Who can turn the hand of God?
I missed something, didn't I? Let's
go back to Isaiah 53 and read about who and how. How can our
iniquities be forgiven? In verse 1 of chapter 53 it says,
Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Well, if you read chapter 1 of Ephesians, it's
all of those who were predestinated by God. Isn't that correct? Isn't
that what it says? Those for whom were predestinated
to be conformed to the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Who hath believed
our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no
form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no
beauty that we should desire Him." How often have we heard
the Gospel before the Lord did a work in our hearts? I don't know about you, but I
can look back into my life as a childhood, and my parents went
to a church. And I know the man that preached
in that church was a true preacher of God, because I have gone back
and heard some of his teachings. O.C. Harris. He was a sovereign
grace preacher when I was a little kid. But I never heard anything. It wasn't until the day the Lord
prepared my heart to hear it that I heard his gospel preached.
It takes the Word of God. It takes the power of God to
apply it to our hearts. I had no desire in him. My desire to be here and preach
to you now is because of Him. I want to tell you about my Savior
because of Him. I wanted to come here and hear
the gospel preached because of Him. My heart burns to hear more about
Jesus because of Him. I'm not any smarter today than I
was before. If anything, I'm dumber. Because I know I don't know that
much. Have you ever had your grandpa
say that to you? Someday, you'll realize just how smart you're
not. It takes age to come to that
conclusion. I'm seeing it with my own children now. He is despised,
in verse 3, and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed
Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. How are our iniquities forgiven? He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. Blessed is the man whose iniquity
is forgiven. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
will not impute sin. Verse 6, All we like sheep have
gone astray and have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord
hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Not the whole world. There's power in that blood.
And if all the iniquity of the world was laid upon Jesus, and
I'm not saying it couldn't have been, because he's all powerful
and could have done it. But if he would have done it,
there would nobody be going to hell. Either that or how can you call
him God? God's blood was shed for somebody,
and they still went to hell, and that God is a failure. And
the God of Scripture has never failed at anything. He was oppressed, in verse 7,
and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He took
it, because He knew it was the only way. It was His plan. It
was His purpose. It was His love for you. God loved you that much that
He planned to go to the cross for us. That He planned to die. God died. And He did. Just as Jonah died in the belly
of that fish, our Lord Jesus died in the belly of the earth. And yet he'd open not his mouth.
He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and the sheep before
her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from
prison and from judgment. Who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off of the land of the living. For the transgressions
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death. Because he had done no
violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. Our Lord
Jesus was just as perfect as God the Father. Just as holy
as God the Father. There was no deceit in His mouth. He who knew no sin was made to
be sin for us. Yet it pleased the Lord. It pleased
God. It pleased God the Father to
bruise His Son. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul, and shall be satisfied. The blood was shed, and God is
satisfied. He accepts us in His Son. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong. Because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for their transgressions."
Abraham believed God, and righteousness was imputed to him. Blessed is
the man whom the Lord will not impute sin. God the Father gave
God the Son of people, and God the Son suffered their just reward.
And God the Spirit is going about this very day into power, giving
life to those who were loved with an everlasting love, love
from the foundation of all creation. Who can resist the will of God?
Who can turn the hand of God? Oh, what it is to be blessed
of God! What mercy! What grace! This is what is left for man
if God is not for you. If God was not for us, this is what we would get. Luke
13, 24, it says, Strive to enter the straight gate, for many,
I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. Oh, how many there are in buildings
just like this today. Worshipping something. And I'm
not talking about those who worship trees, or snakes, or whatever
else they might come up with in their imagination. I'm talking
about those who say they believe and worship Christ. Yet they deny the power thereof. We could be right there. Just
like that. Because there's a whole lot of
them. Our Lord calls us a remnant.
That's just a little teeny border that goes along the bottom of
the dress. When once the master of the house
has risen up and has shut the door, ye begin to stand without
and to knock at that door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. How
many people knocked on the side of Noah's ark when the water
got up above their heads? Water that they had never seen.
According to scriptures, it never rained. The earth was fed with
a mist of dew. Imagine the fear that was going
through everyone's mind as they saw this box starting to float
on the top of the water, knocking on it. Let us in. Let us in.
This is what's in store for those who are not in Christ. And I
tell you this for this reason, folks, not to point at, oh, look,
see what they are over there. I'm telling you, this is what
we deserve. We deserve to be right there,
knocking on that door saying, Lord, let us in. And He shall answer and say unto
you, I know you not what you are. Then shall ye begin to say,
We have eaten and drunk in the presence of thou, and thou hast
taught in our streets. You go to these churches of Christ
and you'll hear, Oh, we did this in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Oh, we did that in the name of Jesus Christ. I quit drinking
in the name of Jesus. I quit smoking. I don't cuss.
I don't hate people anymore. I love everybody in the name
of Jesus Christ. It's all I. You go into a church of God,
the true and living God, and you hear, My Lord has done this. My Lord has done that. We have eaten and drunk in thy
presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he, God,
shall say, I tell you, I know you not which you are. Depart
from me, all ye workers of iniquity. What do you trust in this morning? Do you have your trust in something
that you have done? Even your decision to follow
God is a gift from God. Dead men can't do anything. God must come to us and give
life to us for us to follow Him, or we will not. But if He does, He'll keep you
in that love forever. Because He doesn't come and then
quit. If God comes to one of His chosen,
they'll know that love, and that love will be forever. What is it you trust in this
morning? Is it something you have done
or does the event at Calvary, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ,
does it cover your iniquities? Blessed is the man whose iniquities
are forgiven and Calvary covers it all. Let's close with that
song, shall we?