together again at this 32nd Psalm. Some say that this Psalm was
written even before Psalm 51, where David confessed his sin. and for his sin that he had with
David and Bathsheba and murdered Uriah. But I don't know that
that would be so because there he just asked the Lord to cleanse
him, to have mercy on him and confess his sin. And here he's
talking about how blessed a man is to whom the Lord doesn't impute
sin. And he didn't talk about that
in Psalm 51, so I think this is a later psalm. I think 51
was first and this was later, in my opinion anyway. But it's
called a psalm of penitence, a psalm that's dark, a psalm
that's got some confession to it. And David starts out here,
I'm telling my message this evening, the blessed man and the preserved
man, or the kelt man. God not only blesses a man in
forgiving him, but he blesses a man in keeping him, preserving
him. And David starts out here, he
says, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputes not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no God.
David uses three different words a couple of times in this psalm
to describe sin. He talks about transgressions
and John said that sin is a transgression of the law. He transgressed. God had a set standard and he
transgressed that. He went over that. He went above
it. Crossed over it. And then sin itself. Sin is a
thing we're born with is our nature and when he talked about
blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and
blessed is he who sins not sin, sin if God covers one he takes
care of them all as far as God concerned we have a body of sin
and that's what Paul said in Romans 6 we have a body of sin
and he says that that body of sin was crucified with Christ
And when you're dead to sin, you're no longer subject to sin,
and sin can't do anything to you. And so he talked about transgression,
and he talked about sin. Sin, the nature. Sin, the act. Sin, the problem. Sin, that's
everything that's against God. Sin, something that is so deceitful. Something so powerful. Something
that unless God forgives a man of it, it will torment him to
death unless he just has no sins at all. And then he talked about
iniquity. Three words, transgression, sin
and iniquity. And I believe that iniquity means
sin with lawlessness involved in it. Just lawlessness, disregard
for law and it's a thing that you do and you just It's an inequity
in you against God and you have this disregard and you just deliberately
do what you do. I think that's right. And some
people think that these three words have described three different
phases in a believer's life, or three different phases of
guilt. But I think they all just go together. I think they're
just the same one description of everything. I think it's just
a three-word description of sin. Because we do all of it. Transgress, sin, and have iniquity. And so you see, beloved, I tell
you what, no iniquity. And then he says, you're blessed
is the man to whom sin is forgiven. Oh, to be forgiven. Forgiveness
is one of the hardest things that a human being can do, but
it seems to be one of the most blessed and glorious attributes
of God Himself. He says a man is happy, he is
blessed, whose sin or transgression is forgiven. You transgress a
law and God says you're forgiven. You transgress again, God says
you're forgiven. You just keep transgressing and
God just says forgiven, forgiven, forgiven, forgiven. No end to
the forgiveness of God. There's an end to our forgiveness.
There's an end to how far we'll go to somebody. But there's no
end to how far God'll go with the man. There's no end to how
many times we transgress. But yet God said, Blessed and
happy is that man who is forgiven. If thou shouldst mark the niggled
in the Lord, who would be able to stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. And I tell you, and then
he goes on to say, whose sin is covered. How's it covered? It's like that mercy seat over
that broken law and that blood on top of that mercy seat. I
tell you what, you get under that thing and you get in there
and that blood's applied there and you're under that mercy seat
and that broken law and that blood's there and as far as God's
concerned, sin has covered all you. Blood has covered all you
sin. The blood of Christ has forgiven
you of all your iniquity. And I don't know how in the world
to describe what it means for the Lord not to impute iniquity
to somebody. Not impute it, not to charge
it to it, not to put it on their account. And not a soul on the top side
of God's earth that would not stand in this building that has
been saved by the grace of God and say, The Lord imputeth not
iniquity to me. He does not charge it to me.
He does not put it on my account. He says, you know, here's my
account. Here's all my liabilities. Born in Adam, shaken in sin,
conceived in iniquity. Born a sinner, raised a sinner.
Do sin, commit and have actual sins. And here comes God and
He says, I tell you, I will not impute. I'll take all those liabilities
and I'll put them on my blessed son over here. And then I'll
turn around and take all that's against you and I'll impute it
to him and take all that's his and impute it to you. And there'll
be no iniquity ever imputed to your account. Never charged to
your account. Now you keep Romans, I mean Psalm
32 and look in Romans 4 just a minute. I tell you what, this is what
makes the gospel the gospel. Nobody, none of us would say,
you know, I am not what I should be by no
stretch of the imagination and I am what I shouldn't be. I'm not what I should be and
I am what I should. I should be more like Christ,
but I'm more like the flesh. I should be more kind, tender-hearted,
patient, loving, gentle, forgiving, forbearing, generous, serving. And then I turn around and I'm
impatient, I'm frustrated, discouraged, depressed, aggravated, everything
that's against Christ. What I should be, I'm not, and
what I shouldn't be, I am. Now how in the world am I going
to, how's God going to deal with me like that? He's going to say, blessed is
that man. Never what he should be. Always
what he should be. Blessed is that man to whom I
will not impute. Amen. What a gospel. What a gospel. That's a gospel for people like
me and you. Look over here in Romans 4. Oh
my. He said in verse 2, if Abraham
were justified by works, he can glory, but he can't do it before
God. He may glory before man, but
he can't glory before God. Because this is what the scripture
said about Abraham. Not what men say about Abraham,
not what the Jews said about Abraham, and their relationship
to Abraham. But what does the scripture say
about Abraham? Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him and imputed unto him for righteousness. Now to
him that works is the reward is not accounted or imputed or
reckoned of grace, but is dead. But to him that worketh not. But believeth on him that justifies
the ungodly, his faith is counted righteousness." And here's David,
he goes to what Davis said, and you know what Davis said? He
describes the man, how blessed the man is to whom God imputes
righteousness without worse, saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And he said that's
the way Abraham was and that's the way everybody who God died,
Christ died for us, that's what he said. Alright, so blessed is that man,
saved, oh how blessed he is. Now look what happens here. David,
now this is what went on. Because of this sin, you know
we can't sin as far as in this flesh goes. And our conscience
not bothers us. So when David said, when I kept
silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all day, all the day
long. For day and night, thy head was
heavier upon me, my moustache turned into the drought of summer.
So God says here, you know you sinned and what I'll do is I'll
make you know you sinned. I'll make you understand you
sinned. I'll make you feel you sinned. I'll make you conscience
aware of your sin. I'll make you aware that how
blessed you are. I'll make you understand just
how... I'll turn my hand on you. I'll
put my hand against you. And I'll take all that warfare
that you've got and all that... Trust you have and I'll turn
it into a drought just like summer and you'll go roaring all day
long And he said in your hand was heavy on me And that's what
he said, you know, I tell you what sin calls him. There's always
consequences to seeing God he kept silence, but seeing caused
his conscience to start to roar and I tell you what, that's what
Paul said when our Lord Jesus struck him down on the Damascus
Road and He said, Saul said, it's hard for you to kick against
the pricks, ain't it? Hard to kick against the pricks.
Now look what he said. Then he says, but I acknowledge
my sin unto thee. Who in the world else would we
dare acknowledge our sin to? Who would you dare acknowledge
your sin to? Huh? Who else would you tell your
sin to? Who else would you acknowledge
your sin to? Would you turn, would you find you somebody to
get in front of and start telling how all the things that you've
done? No, no. I acknowledge my sin. My sin,
my nature. All that I am. I confess it unto
you. I acknowledge it and my iniquity
have I not hid. I said, what he said is, Lord,
you know him. He's all the way down in front
of you. I acknowledge it. I confess it. That's why he started out saying
how blessed he was not to have it, because he confessed it,
he admitted that there's nothing to me whatsoever without being
blessed of you, without being saved by grace, without the mercy
of God, there'd be no hope for me, that's what he goes on to
say. And then look what he said, and he said, and I said I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and listen to what
he said, and thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin. Oh my! You know, I think the
hardest thing that anybody has to do in making a confession
of faith, and I think that holds people back from it, is because
they think they have to get up and tell all that they've done,
and all how bad they've been, and you know, but all you're
doing is when you stand up and saying, I acknowledge, by just
confessing your faith in Christ, all you're saying is that I have
no place else to go. That I am a sinner. I have no
strength. I have no ability. I acknowledge
my transgressions. I acknowledge my iniquity. I
confess. And they don't have to say that. But just by turning
from themselves and having the grace, by His blessed grace,
to stand up and say, I confess Christ right now. I confess that
I need Christ. And I believe He saved me. then
you're admitting right then and there that He's saving you from
your sin, your iniquity, your transgressions, and everything
that's against you. And then when you hear, Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, then you'll say,
Oh, that's what I believe. Huh? Oh, it's like that prodigal son.
When he went back to his father, he didn't go back there saying,
Father, He didn't go back there saying, you know, I've made a
mess out of things. I really have. And I'm sorry
I wasted all your money. I'm sorry I wasted what you've
done for me. But now listen, I'm back home now and I'm going
to do better. No, no. When he went back to
his father, the first thing he said when his father hugged him
around the neck, he said, Father, I've sinned against you and against
heaven. And I'm not even worthy of being
called your son. But you know what the Father
said then? That's what David said. He said, I confess this.
And you know what the Father said? Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord infuses not iniquity. Oh man. I tell you what. He said
God's forgiven grace goes down deep. What did he say there in
verse 1 about having no guile? As bad as God gave him no guile,
I mean, this is a man where there's no guile, that means that he's
no deceit in him. Before God, there's no deceit,
there's no guile, there's no hypocrisy. And he don't like
deceit, he don't like guile, he don't like hypocrisy. He don't
like covering things up. He don't like not being outward
and honest with God, and honest with those people around him.
There ain't a, you know, does anybody here think that one,
if you just, you think of the person sitting next to you, behind
you, in front of you, wherever you are, and you think there's
any difference between you and them? No. No. Why is that? Why is that? Because we all acknowledge that
there's no sense in us being guileless, having guile and deceit
and hypocrisy because we all know just exactly what we are.
You ain't going to fool me and I ain't going to fool you. And you know what, this is what's
so wonderful. God gives us grace, in spite of all these things
that we know about one another, to love one another and just
enjoy one another because we are just as honest before God
and honest with one another as we can be. And that's the grace
of God that does that. Oh my. And now look what happens
now. And now look what he says, I'll
go down here and say it now, what he says now. Here's where
he's preserved. Here's where he's preserved.
And he's kept, he's saved. He's confessed. And then he says,
you know, but now in verse 6 he says this, So everyone that is
godly pray unto thee. Now you notice that, godly pray
unto thee. And you know when they'll do
it? They'll do it when you can be found. And oh, when the floods of great
waters, they said, these waters of sin, the waters of Satan and
the waters of God's wrath, they'll never roll over you. They won't
come nigh unto you. And then look what he said. Preserve. Thou art my hiding place. Thou
shalt preserve me from trouble. Do we need a hiding place? Oh,
my. We need a hiding place. Where's
our hiding place at? Paul said our life is hid with
Christ in God. We're hid from foolish men. We're hid from the things of
the world. We're hid from God's wrath. We're hid from no condemnation. We're hid from the judgment of
God. And where are we hid at? We're hid in God. God's our hiding
place. Where do you go hide at? You
know we used to play hide and seek and I mean the kids love
to do it now. And the little old young will
hide and you see them just as plain as day because they don't
know what hiding means. And they're just hiding places
to hide. But oh my, we got a hiding place and I tell you what, we're
in a place where sin can't find us, death can't find us, judgment
can't find us, wrath can't find us. The devil can't even get to us. Where's that place at? It's in
Christ. Oh boy. And then look what he
said there in verse 8. And here's another thing he'll
do for us. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which
thou shalt go. I tell you what, those that have
been forgiven of their sin, those whose iniquity is not imputed
to them, God says this, He said, I'll teach you. All thy children
shall be taught of God. And I tell you, the man who is
blessed of God is taught of God. When you remember when the Lord
taught you, remember this now, you remember when the Lord taught
you that your sin, all of it, was gone once and for all. Now who taught you that? God taught you that. Who taught
you that your sins were covered by the blood of Christ? God taught
you that. The Holy Spirit taught you that.
Who taught you what sin really is? Before you had sins, before
you had faults, but then all of a sudden you understood what
sin is. Who taught you what sin is? God
did. Who taught you what salvation
is? That salvation was by a person. By the obedience of a person.
The worth of a person. The virtue of a person. The merit
of a person. The worth of a person. And that
person was the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He by
Himself purged our sins. He by Himself put away sin by
the sacrifice of Himself. He by Himself offered Himself
without spot to God. And He by Himself put our sins
away. And He, beloved, by Himself saved
us. Who taught you that? Who taught you that you had nothing
whatsoever that you could ever do to get anything from God?
God taught you that. It's a blessed man. He said,
I'll teach you. I'll teach you. Who taught you to seek the Lord? Who taught you to pray? Most
places they got to teach you to pray. Most places they got
to read a prayer. They don't know what it is to
pray from the heart. They don't know what it is to call on God.
They don't know what it is if they ain't got to wrote it down. John Bunyan went and spent 12
years in prison because he would not read a prayer book. He'd
preach in bars, he'd preach in the street, he'd preach in the
square, he'd preach in Bedford Chapel. But they'd come and they'd
impose this, said, now this is what you gotta do, you gotta
read from this, and you gotta let people say prayers from this
and teach people from this. And Mr. Bunyan said, I will not
do it. 12 years in prison because he believed that he was
taught of God and this thing here is not come from God this
come from the hands of men and he wouldn't do it and that's
why he said I'll teach you that's why John said you have the anointing
of the Holy One and you need not any man teach you, God will
teach you. And then look what else he said
there. He said, not only will I instruct and teach thee in
the way, but I'll guide you. But let me
make a comment about teaching and instruction. But look what
he went on down to say in verse 9. He says, now when I teach
you in instruction, in the way, in the way, in the way, You know,
Paul actually talked about the way so many times. But look what
he says, but don't you be like a horse, and don't you be like
a mule. They have no understanding. Sometimes you feel like, you
know, sometimes you just, you know, some people say all the
time how to give mules attention. Two by four. But I tell you what,
his mouth must be held in with a bitten bridle, lest they come
near unto you. Now don't you be like that. I'm
going to teach you, but don't you act like a horse and don't
you act like a mule. That's what he's saying. So I'm
going to teach you. Don't you be like that. Oh man, mules and
horses don't have any way of reading the mind of God. And
then he says that he'll guide you. He said, I'll guide you
with my eye. That means, that tells us that
His eyes on us. We sing that song, His eyes on
the sparrow. And it says in the scriptures,
you know, He said the sparrows don't even fall to the ground
without Him. And I tell you, He'd close the fields of the
lilies and He'd close up. But He said, His eye, He said,
I'll guide you with my eye. I'll put my eye right in front
of you and I'll guide you. My eye will be right in front
of you, guiding you along. My eye will. My will. Oh, bless His name. Oh, bless
His name. And then look what He says there
in verse 10. Many sorrows shall be to the
wicked. Oh, they shall be. They shall be. I was thinking
of a man just yesterday. A fellow shot him, killed him.
He was a mean man, wicked man. Oh, he was an awful man. A relatively
young man. And a fella killed him because
he was going to come and run over him, run in his house, take
over. He said, you ain't going to do it. And it was either him
or that other. And he just killed him. And I
thought, man, that boy was so mean. I mean, he was a mean,
mean man. And he's been in hell since the
day he was shot in the tail that quick. And he's just as mean
in hell right now as he was when he was on this earth. Sorrow is going to be on the
way forever and ever and ever. People say, I don't know why,
but listen, death does not change a person's nature. And if you've
got a nature that knows God now, you'll have a nature that knows
Him in glory. If you've got a nature that loves
Him now, you'll always love Him. If you die with a nature that
don't, and that's why He says, blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord. There'll be no sorrow for us,
there'll be no sorrow for us, there'll be no, no, but he that
trusts in the Lord, what, look what he says, mercy shall go
all the way around him. Mercy goes all the way around
him. Compassion without. The world of mercy is over here.
Wherever I go, there's a circle of mercy in there. That's why
Satan said to the Lord, he said, you know, if you can... Job said,
the only reason the world... that he serves you is you got
a hang around him. He said, you take that down,
he'll curse you to your face. Well, God took it down. Job said,
oh, he's neither charged God foolishness nor charged him with
sin. Never one time. And boy, when it was all said
and done, God put that hedge back up and blessed him double
with everything he ever had before. I mean, even if God takes it
down, but he says, I'll compass them that trust in the Lord with
mercy. With mercy. And then look what else he does
to him. Back up there in verse 7. Not only does he compass him
with mercy in the last part of verse 7, thou shalt compass me
about with songs of deliverance. palms of victory, crowns of glory. Deliverance has come. That's why you know what I'm
saying. But he says here, you know, he said, I'm not only compassionate
with mercy, but I'm going to sing songs of deliverance to
you. You're going to sing songs about how I saved you. You're
going to sing songs about the mercy of God. Sing songs about
the grace of God. Sing songs about the power of
God. Sing songs about Christ. Sing
songs about the blood. You're going to sing songs that's
going to honor me because I did it all. He said, I'll give you
them songs and I'll confess you with them. And then look what
he said last of all. Be glad in the Lord. Oh my, that's a... Be glad in
the Lord. I am. I really am. I'm glad in the
Lord. I can't find anything to be glad
about in this world, but I can certainly find plenty to be glad
about in Him. You know, it's the Lord that
blesses us. It's the Lord that helps us. It's the Lord that
strengthens us. Be glad in the Lord. And then look what He said.
Rejoice! Again, I say rejoice, a royal
way rejoice in the Lord. And who does this, you righteous?
The righteous. Those men that he just started
out saying, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity. Blessed is the man whose transgressions
are forgiven, whose sin is covered. And he comes down and says, you
be glad in the Lord. Just knowing that our sins are
forgiven, And no iniquity is ever going to be charged to our
account. That in and of itself is reason
to be glad in the Lord and to rejoice. And you righteous, the
righteous, the one to do it. And listen to this, and shout
for joy all ye that are upright in heart. Well, if you're ever upright
in heart, you know who it is who made you that way? God did.
Now rejoice in the Lord. Look with me in Psalm 115 and
I'm through. Oh my, rejoice in the Lord always
and I'll tell you why. Because He never changes. He
never changes. It's impossible for Him to change. So we can rejoice in the Lord. And that's what David is saying
here. Psalm 115 verse 1. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Oh, what a blessed truth. Blessed
is the man whose transgressions are forgiven, are covered, and
blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven, sins are covered,
and blesses the man to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity. That's
why we say, we have a hiding place, and not unto us, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory. Amen. O gracious, gracious Father,
in the blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Oh, how blessed
we are, how happy we are, how you cause our hearts to rejoice
in the gospel. And Father, it's hard, faith
is the only one can grasp it. Faith that you gave us can grasp
this blessed truth that you never ever charge your children with
sin or iniquity or transgression, that you put them all away. You
don't regard them. You don't care for them. You
don't look at them. They're gone. And oh God, how
we thank you for that. Oh what joy it brings to our
heart to know that there's no more wrath, no more judgment,
no condemnation right now to them who are in Christ, put there
by you. Blessed be your holy name. Bless
these saints as they go home. And again, remember those we
prayed for at the beginning. Lord, we love them. Ask for your
guidance and strength for them. See them safely home. And those,
Lord, whose bodies are so weak, pray for Darren and Kim. God
help them. Lord, help them. Strengthen them.
Encourage them. Hold them up by your blessed
power and grace. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Go sing one verse. Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. was lost, but now am found, was
blind, but now I see." See you Sunday. God bless you.