Let's turn back to Psalm 69,
if you would. I have in the bulletin that the
reading was to be from Psalm 69, the first 18 verses. There are 36 verses in this psalm.
And rather than read it all, I'm gonna focus in on basically
those verses leading up to verse five. And the reason is is because
these are gospel verses. The whole psalm is a gospel psalm. All the psalms are gospel psalms
because they deal in some way, in some facet, to the glorious
person and the finished work of Christ. And that's why we
are animated and consistent to preach the true gospel that concerns
those two points of truth. The person of Christ. Who is
Jesus Christ exactly? If he's my savior, I need to
know who he is. Wouldn't you agree with that?
And the Bible teaches it from Genesis to Revelation, Old Testament
and New Testament. The person of Christ, he is God
and he is man without sin. He's God manifest in the flesh. That's why you have so many verses
that speak of his deity, speak of his humanity. That's the kind
of person that it took to save his people from their sins. God
alone For example, we're gonna talk about his death here. Look
at verse one. It says, save me, O God, for
the waters are come in unto my soul. Now David wrote this psalm,
King David. He didn't write all the psalms,
but he wrote this one. And it is a messianic psalm,
a psalm of the Messiah. No portion of the Old Testament
scriptures is more often quoted in the New Testament with the
exception of one other psalm, and that's this psalm. And the
other Psalm that's quoted even more than this is the one I preached
on last week in Psalm 22, concerning the personal work of Christ.
And so we look at these words, and there's ways that you can
apply them to King David in the experiences that he went through
on earth, especially in his down times. He saved me, O God, for
the waters are coming to my soul. Verse two, I sink deep in deep
mire, where there is no standing, I'm come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me, I'm weary of my crying, my throat is dry,
mine eyes fail while I wait for my God, they that hate me without
a cause." You know, when I look at that, I think about David's
relationship to King Saul, how Saul hated him without a cause. It was only Saul's evil spirit
and his jealousy that caused him to hate David. And then I
think about David's relationship with his son Absalom, who hated
him without a cause. Now there are probably other
places you can find where David went down into the deep mire
of sorrow and despondency and all of that. But he did go through
that. And he says, they hate me, verse
four, they that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs
of mine head. and they that would destroy me
being mine enemies wrongfully and are mighty, then I restored
that which I took not away. Oh God, verse five, this is where
I'm gonna focus on. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness
and my sins or my guiltiness are not hid from thee. Now, as
I said, these Psalms have a twofold application. They can apply to
David in a limited sense. But most of all, what they apply
to is Christ in his sorrow. You know, the Bible says he was
a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. All of the sorrows
and the pain and the suffering that he went through, David is
what we call a type of Christ. In other words, what David went
through in his person as king of Israel, what he went through
in his humanity, it's typical of what Christ as God-man went
through for the sins of his people. Now obviously there's no salvation
in King David. He was a sinner saved by grace.
He was one who delighted in the Lord just like we who believe
the gospel do. But God set this up for David. to typify and foreshadow and
prophesy of Christ. And I wanna show you an example
of that that is clearly stated in the New Testament. Look at
Acts chapter two with me. This is the Apostle Peter preaching
at Pentecost. And he quotes one of the Psalms.
In fact, I believe it's Psalm 16. Now Peter is talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ here. He's not talking about himself.
And in essence, even though he quotes King David from the Psalms,
he's not talking about David and he says that. If you look
at verse 22 of Acts chapter two. It says, ye men of Israel, hear
these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.
Now, Jesus Christ was fully man, and we have to understand this
now. This is so important if we're to understand that Psalm
that I just read. Psalm 69 and verse five. He was
a man, but he was not a sinful man. He was a sinlessly perfect
man in his humanity. And he remained so throughout
his life on earth, even through his crucifixion. Christ knew
no sin, had no sin. And that's the reason I chose
Psalm 22 last week and Psalm 69, because a lot of preachers,
a lot of false preachers, And we need to say it that way. We'll
take verses like Psalm 69 and five, and they'll talk about
how Christ, when he bore our sins on the cross, that he himself
became corrupted with our sins, became contaminated with our
sins, had our sins infused or imparted to him, and that's a
lie. And you need to stay away from
that. I'm telling you, if you hear a preacher say that, he's
not preaching the same Christ that we preach, the Christ of
the Bible. Because Christ is not only man,
sinless man, he is God also. But for the reasons of our understanding,
sometimes the emphasis is on his Godhead, and sometimes it's
on his humanity without sin. For example, when he controlled
the winds, the emphasis there is on his Godhead. Only God can
do that. And on the cross, you think about
it this way, only God can forgive sin and pay the debt of sin,
but he cannot die. God cannot die, but that's the
penalty of sin, is death. So why did Christ become man
without sin? So that he could die. So you
understand this. Well, look back here at Acts
chapter two. It says in verse 23, him being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. In other words, Christ
is coming to this world He has obeyed the law unto death, his
crucifixion, his burial, his resurrection. That was no afterthought
with God. That was no plan B. God didn't
go through the Old Testament trying to save people by the
law or by their works. And since that didn't work, well,
I'll sin and cry. No. This was set up, salvation by
the grace of God. And that means we don't earn
it and we don't deserve it. Salvation by the grace of God.
in the person and work of Christ was the plan from before this
world was ever created. And that's what Peter's saying
here. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. And then he says, you have taken,
verse 23, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. whom
God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holding of it, for David speaketh."
Now listen to this. David spoke. Well, when did he
speak? When he wrote the Psalm. This one, Psalm 16. Concerning
him, concerning Christ. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad, moreover
also my flesh shall rest in hope." Now there are limited applications
to David himself, but this is talking about Christ. And he
says in verse 27 of Acts 2, because thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, hell there being the grave, Neither wilt thou suffer thine
holy one to see corruption. Christ didn't lay in the grave
and rot like you and I will. I know that's not a very pleasant
thought, but that's the reality. If you go up and you dig up the
grave of somebody who's been dead for 20, 30, 40 years, you're
not gonna see the same person. But God would not suffer or allow,
God the father, would not allow his son to lay in the grave and
rot, to see corruption. Now why? Well, we'll see in just
a moment, but basically it's because in his death, he accomplished
the ground of spiritual and eternal life. How do you know that? Came out of the grave. Look at
verse 28. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou
shalt make me full of joy in thy countenance. Men and brethren,
let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto
this day. Now, you don't know where the
sepulcher of Christ is. I know they'll tell you that
if you go to what they call the Holy Land, but that's just a
money-making thing. They don't know. And it says,
men and brethren, let me freely speak that David's in the sepulcher
and his sepulcher is with us unto this day, verse 30, therefore
being a prophet. In Psalm 16, David was speaking
as a prophet of someone to come. And knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him, that is the father swearing an oath to
the son, that's the covenant of grace. that of the fruit of
his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit
on his throne. He, seeing this before, spoke
of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." You see that? The
Holy Spirit inspired Peter to preach at Pentecost that that
Psalm 16 was speaking of not David personally, but of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what would he do? So that's
what this psalm is about, Psalm 69. All of these can apply to
Christ. Save me, oh God. Hang it, listen,
think about his suffering. All the suffering, all the pain
that he went through. And this is not recorded in the
Bible to make you feel sorry for him. And I've heard preachers,
I grew up hearing that. Preachers wanted to make you
feel so sorry for Christ that you'd walk down the aisle and
as they say, give your heart to Jesus, which is not biblical.
I don't want you to feel sorry for the Lord of glory. Listen,
your life is in his hands. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father, ever living to make intercession for his people
because he conquered death. and he put away the sins of his
people. And he's in control. So don't you feel sorry. You
remember when he was carrying the cross and he looked down
the street and he looked at the women, they were crying. You
remember what he told them? He said, don't you cry for me, cry
for yourselves. You're the sinners. You're the
ones who need salvation. Verse two, he sunk deep in Myer,
Psalm 69. Christ did that. where there's
no standing. He came into the deep waters.
Over in Isaiah 53, and this is so descriptive of the death of
our Savior. Talking about how he was despised. Isaiah 53 in verse three, despised
and rejected a man of sorrows. We're gonna sing a hymn at the
end of the service here. Man of sorrows, what a name.
Acquainted with grief. Verse 3 of Isaiah 52. He knew
grief. You think you've seen grief?
I've seen grief. Haven't you? You've seen it. Oh, not like our Lord saw it.
Not even compared. We hid as it were our faces from
him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. The only person that
ever walked on earth who did not deserve to be despised was
despised, hated. Surely, verse four, now this
is where we're coming to the text. Surely he hath borne our
griefs, carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. That word bruised means crushed.
The chastisement, the punishment of our peace that would bring
peace between God and his people, That was on him. And with his
stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Now the all there refers to his
sheep, not everybody without exception. The good shepherd
gave his life for the sheep. And that literally means this,
it means that God made the iniquity of all his people meet on Christ. Now how did he do that? Look
back at Psalm 69 in our text. He says, save me, O God. That's what he cried. But look
at verse five. He says, O God, thou knowest
my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee. Now here's the question. How in the world could a person
who is in himself sinlessly perfect, how could
he cry out in this way, my sins, my sins, he says. Oh God, thou
knowest my foolishness. We know how that could apply
to David. David did a lot of foolish things, so do you and
I. My sins, that word sins is the word guilty, my guiltiness.
subject to condemnation. We talk about we've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. You agree with that, don't
you? That means you fall short. Well,
what do you fall short in? You fall short, I fall short
of the perfection of righteousness, perfection of righteousness of
the law of God that can only be found in the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that means. Doesn't
mean you just made some mistakes. You've made some, I've made some,
we've made a lot of them. But it means this, when you read
that Romans 3.23, you know people talk about the Roman road. When
you read that Romans 3.23, what it means, we say, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. What that means is this, that
at our best, whatever time that is on earth, we still fall short. of the perfection of the law
that can only be found in Christ. And the Bible says the wages
of sin is death. The only thing that can pay for
sins is death. But your death and my death won't
do it. It has to be the death of a God-appointed, able, willing
substitute. Now who did God the Father appoint
to be the savior of his people from death. His son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. And who is able
to do that? Christ as God manifest in the
flesh. This is why he became man. This
is why he took into union with his deity, a perfect sinless
human nature, body and soul. He had to die. And who's the
only one willing to do it for his people? Christ is. So he
says, my sins are not hid from me. How could they be his sins?
And they are his sins, because he's a sinlessly perfect person.
And the one word, and you hear me preach it all the time, the
one word that answers that question perfectly according to the word
of God is the doctrine, the truth of imputation. Imputed sin, sin
imputed, that means it's charged to him. It means that the sin
debt that you and I ran up in Adam and in our own sins was
put to his account. And if that confuses you, let
me clear up all the confusion. Don't raise your hand on this,
please. This is a rhetorical question. How many of you have
a credit card? If you have a credit card, you
know something about debt being imputed to you. You go to the
store, you give them that credit card, and if you don't pay the
money for it, the debt is imputed to you. It's charged to you,
and it will be until it's paid. Well, that's what happened with
the sins of God's chosen people when Christ was made their surety. You know what a surety is? as
somebody who takes the responsibility for another person's debt. Christ
is called the surety of the covenant, the surety of his people. That
our sins, my sins, and this is the sins of his elect, his sheep. How do you know who they are?
Because at some point in time, God's going to send the spirit
to bring you under the preaching of the true gospel, not a false
gospel. But the true gospel, and He's
gonna give you life from the dead, that's called the new birth.
You must be born again. And what's the evidence of the
new birth? You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you look
to Him alone in the glory of His person and in the power and
success of His finished work to save you from your sins, to
pay your debt in full. Jesus paid it all. all to Him
I owe. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. You see what I'm saying? And
not only did He put away my sins, which were given to Him and became
His, my guiltiness, which did not corrupt Him, did not contaminate
Him, but were laid on Him. He laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all. How did He do so? By our sins,
our debt being imputed to Christ, and He willingly took that debt,
and He willingly came to this world and united with a sinless
humanity, walked this earth under the law perfectly as the substitute
of His people, and suffered and bled and died on the cross. to
pay for our sins, and to establish a perfect righteousness, which
God has imputed to all of his people, so that we who are sinful
people are saved by grace, which Romans 5 and verse 21. Grace reigns even so as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's how it happens. I stand before God not in my
own works, not even, listen, it's not my faith that makes
me righteous. My faith in Christ is the fruit
of His righteousness that He alone accomplished for my sins. And His righteousness imputed
to me. I stand before God in Christ. based upon the merits
of his obedience unto death. And that's why he could say,
oh God, thou knowest my foolishness. Not the foolishness of his mind,
because he's the, you know, Christ is portrayed in the scripture
as the personification of wisdom. Read passages like Proverbs 8.
He wasn't a foolish person like you and I are. And especially
when it comes to salvation, man by nature is foolish. because
he thinks that salvation in some way is conditioned on him, at
some stage, in some way, to some degree, either on his works or
upon his will, his decision, but that's not the condition
for salvation. The condition for salvation is
perfection. And the only one who can bring
about that is the perfect God-man who died for my sins, who took
my sins, And so much so that he could say, my sins are not
hid from thee. Over in Psalm 22 that we read
last week, he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
He knew why. He made that statement to make
a point. God forsook him because of our sins given to him. And that's the answer. Look at
Romans chapter four. And I'll hurry here, I'm just
not trying to belabor a point, but I'm just telling you that
this is the heart of the gospel. And I grew up in religion not
hearing any of it. That's the truth. I went to seminary
and didn't hear this. Oh, I was learning seminaries,
how to try to be a good person. Well, listen to me, and I'll
tell you young people, I'll speak to you directly. Try to be the
best you can be in everything you do. I know you're not gonna
do that, but I'm serious. Try to be the best you can be.
Be the best student, be the best athlete, be the best musicians
that you can be. Do well. And when you get to
college, be the best student there. When you grow up and you
get married, be the best husband. You have children, be the best
father. Try to be the best. Try to be examples to the community.
But know this, that will not save you. Are you getting my
point? That will not put away your sins. That will not pay for your sins.
That will not make you righteous in the sight of Almighty God.
There's only one way of salvation. And that's the blood, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. None other. Well, look at Romans
chapter four, look at verse six. Now here's the apostle Paul inspired
by the Holy Spirit to quote from King David in Psalm 32. And he
says in verse six, even as David also describeth the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. In other words, David was not
considered righteous in God's sight by his works, but it was
by an imputed righteousness. And whose righteousness was it?
It was Christ. And he says in verse seven, David said this
when he wrote Psalm 32, verse seven, saying, blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Now
that doesn't mean hidden from view, that means covered by the
blood. When he said, verse eight, blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. God doesn't charge them with
sin. Now look over at Romans chapter eight. Use your Bible. You need to do that. What he's saying here is there's
a people to whom God does not charge with their sin. They're
sinners, but God doesn't charge them with their sin. He doesn't
impute their sins to them. What did he do with them? He
imputed them to Christ. You turn to Romans 8, but there's
a verse over in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21 that speaks of
that. For God made him sin, made Christ sin. How? He imputed,
charged, accounted the sins of his elect, his chosen people,
his sheep to Christ. And so he does not charge them,
blessed is he whose iniquity is forgiven, to whom the Lord
imputeth not iniquity. and he imputes righteousness
to them. We'll look at Romans chapter eight and verse 31. It
says, what shall we then say to these things? If God be for
us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. That's all his people for whom
Christ died. How shall he not with him also
freely unconditionally give us all things? Look at verse 33.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justified. Now, what is it to be justified?
It's to be forgiven of all my sins on a just ground. It's to
be accounted righteous in God's sight on a just ground. And what
is the only just ground? The merits of the obedience unto
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he says, who shall anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. What
is the ground of that justification? Look at verse 34. Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again.
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. You know what that verse teaches?
It teaches if Christ died for your sins, God will not charge
you with them. He charges you with righteousness.
You cannot perish. There'll be no sinners in hell
for whom Christ died for him. You say, but what if they don't
do what's required? Christ already did what's required for them.
And God will bring them to faith in Christ. They will believe
the gospel. Christ said that the good shepherd
gives his life for the sheep. And he said, my sheep hear my
voice. I know them. They'll know me. They'll be saved
eternally. Nobody's going to pluck them
out of my father's hand. That's the gospel. the ground
of salvation. And so when you read passages
like that in Psalm 69, when it says my sin, I had a man ask
me that one time. He said, how could Christ say
that my sins are ever before thee if he didn't become a sinner?
Well, I'll tell you exactly how. The Bible tells us it's by the
imputation, the accounting, the charging of the sins of his sheep
to him. And how can he call me a righteous
person? I'm a sinner. I still fall short
in my character and conduct of the perfection of the law in
Christ. How can God call me righteous? And let me tell you something
about God now. He knows your thoughts. Whatever you're thinking right
now, He knows. I don't. You look okay to me. You look
like you're listening. But you may be off in Honolulu
or somewhere, I don't know. I don't know, but God knows. So how can God look at me or
you or anybody and say, I'm righteous? It's only by Christ's righteousness
imputed to us. Now that doesn't give us an excuse
to not listen to the word of God and not live by the word
of God, it doesn't. It inspires us to do so. Because
God has so freely and unconditionally blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. Christ all right