Well, as I said, it's good to
see you out under the preaching of the gospel. We're met as brethren
around this gospel to worship God in spirit and in truth. As
you can see, the title of the message today is There Is Forgiveness. I'll be looking at Psalm 130
and mainly at verses three and four, but we'll look at those
first four. Let me just introduce the lesson
this way. You know, forgiveness is something everybody wants. I mean, we all want to be accepted. And if we've wronged someone,
we want forgiveness. We want things to be right. We
want to get that relationship back together. That's just our
nature. We don't want to stay at odds.
Well, when it comes to forgiveness from God, we're the same way. And in our natures, we work to
make things right with God. We think we're doing right. But
of course, when God brings us to the gospel, we find out, hey,
we were on a dead end course there. We were headed for eternal
destruction and didn't know it. So it's important that we understand
the forgiveness that God gives his people in Christ. And that's
what we'd be talking about here today. Look at Psalm 130 verses
one and two. David writes, Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. You see
that first Lord there in verse one, that capital L-O-R-D, that's
Jehovah who saves, or Jehovah our Savior. We make our plea,
our cry to God, and as Bill said, we plead for mercy. That's our
only plea before God. Lord, show me your mercy in Christ,
like the publican. Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. Look on at Psalm 130 in verse
three. As I said, we'll be looking at
verses three and four in a little more detail. He says, if thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Now, we've looked at this psalm
and quoted this verse hundreds of times. And there's a one-word
answer to this question asked here. If God marks iniquities,
who shall stand? The answer is no one. None will
stand. If God marks iniquities, nobody
will be left standing. None will stand justified. None
will stand forgiven. None will stand blessed of God.
None will stand in the favor of God. If God marks iniquities,
none will stand. Now the thought conveyed by that
word stand here is endurance. Who will endure? Who will go
on standing is what it means. The issue here is who will stand
ultimately? Who will continue standing? Who
will stand in the end? Who will stand at the judgment?
That's the question being asked here. When God marks iniquities,
all are condemned. Where God marks iniquities, all
will suffer the eternal misery of God's wrath. Now, in comparing
the blessed man with the ungodly, Psalm 1 says of the blessed man,
this is a contrast in Psalm 1 we're fixing to take a look at briefly. Psalm 1 says of the blessed man
that he's delivered from the counsel of the ungodly, he's
delivered from the way of sinners, and it says of this blessed man,
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. But it says something very different
of the ungodly in that Psalm. Look at Psalm 1, verses 4 and
5. The ungodly are not so. Now this is a contrast between
the blessed and the ungodly. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the
ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the
congregation of the righteous. The ultimate fate of the ungodly
is clearly recorded in the scriptures for all who will see it. But
the question we must always answer is who are the ungodly? This is something we don't know
by nature. This is something we have to be taught. Everybody
knows that the lawless and the perverse and the religiously
unconcerned in this world, in any generation, they're ungodly. They have no concern for God.
They have no fear of God. They have no reverence for God.
They're not looking for God. They're just unconcerned and
they're ungodly. But Psalm 1 is dealing with spiritual
ungodliness, not physical. The ungodly, it says here, are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. The ungodly are
those who have an appearance of good, in other words. You
know, chaff is that outer shell around the wheat. When the wheat
kernel is separated from that outer shell, you've got that
shell. It still has the appearance of
wheat, but it has no substance. That's what he's talking about
here. That's the way the ungodly are. They have an appearance
of good. They can be religious. They can be zealous. They can
be sincere and dedicated. They can appear righteous unto
men. They're those who trust in themselves
that they are righteous and despise others. But their appearance
is like that shell. It's like that chaff. It has
no substance. They're tossed to and fro by
every wind of doctrine. They reject God's gospel. They
reject God's Savior. They reject his salvation. that's
in Christ alone, they're marked with iniquities. They're those
who will not stand at the judgment. That's the bottom line on the
ungodly. Look back at Psalm 130 in verse three. It doesn't take
much to see that the marking of iniquities, it's a serious
issue. It's a life and death issue.
It's a vital thing, certainly worthy of our consideration.
What does it mean to mark iniquities? Well, the word means to keep. to retain, to treasure up, to
hold in memory. That's what that word means.
Those marked with iniquities are those charged with the legal
guilt of sin. They are those that must bear
in themselves the just punishment that their sin deserves. Sin
deserves death, and they must bear that punishment in themselves.
Let me give you a little illustration. You're like you and me, those
of you who drive. When you drive, you break the
law a lot of times, just like I do. Every time I get behind
the wheel, you go faster than the posted speed limit many times,
oftentimes. You fail to turn on that turn
signal a lot of times when you're making that turn. You let your
vehicle veer over on the broken line there. All of those things
are violations of the law. We do it all the time. But let
me ask you this, which of those violations that you broke on
your way to church today or the last time you drove, which of
those violations are you concerned about this morning? Which ones
are you worried about? They just have you beaten down
and you can't hardly stand it. Which ones? Only the ones that
you've been cited for. only the ones an officer stopped
you and wrote you a ticket for. You're not really worried about
the rest of them. It's just those that are marked against you.
Because those that are marked against you, you've got to go
to a courthouse and appear before a judge or either a representative
of the judge, and you've got to settle that matter with that
judge. There's a payment got to be made. There's restitution
that has to be done. There's a punishment involved,
so you're not worried unless an officer writes you a ticket.
You're not worried unless that citation comes, unless that sin,
that law-breaking has been marked down somewhere. In other words,
if you're not charged, no charge, no worry. You're not worried
about those. Now, man's laws are much less
rigid and much more flexible than God's laws are. We break
the law every day, and we're seldom even cited. The law of
the land seldom marks anything against us. But when it does,
when we are charged, those charges must be answered. If you're written
a ticket, you can't just throw that ticket away. You can't just
ignore it because there'll be an officer of the court, probably
a county mountie knocking on your door one day saying, listen,
Let me put these cuffs on you because we're going to take you
down to the courthouse unless you see the judge or something worse. So we can't just ignore it because
that would just bring more charges. Under God's law, every sin brings
a charge. God doesn't overlook anything.
He doesn't miss anything. He sees everything. And every
charge demands payment. Every charge demands punishment.
And the punishment of every charge, every sin, is eternal death. No matter how slight, how small
we may see it, the punishment of that sin is eternal death. God's justice will not, His justice
cannot fail to charge and it cannot fail to punish or let
go a charge unanswered. It has to see it through. Every
sin must and shall be dealt with according to the strict and inflexible
justice of God. Every sin will be paid the wages
that sin has earned. What's that? The wages of sin
is eternal death. If God marks iniquities, if he
charges any sinner with sin, if he leaves any sinner to bear
their own just punishment, none will stand. Now, thankfully,
that's not the end of the psalm. There's more. Look on at Psalm
130 and verse 4. But there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared. But here's a word of contrast.
If God marks iniquities, none will stand. But God does not
mark the iniquities of all. He does not impute sin to everyone. There is forgiveness. Forgiveness
is found where God doesn't impute sin. It's found where God does
not mark those iniquities against the sinner. This is an act of
God toward the objects of his love. The scriptures teach that
God's people, those chosen in Christ, those redeemed by Christ,
those justified by the righteousness of Christ, God's people are already
forgiven. for Christ's sake. They're already
forgiven in Christ. His blood continually cleanses
them from all unrighteousness. God will not treasure up. He
will not hold in memory. He will not mark against. He
will not remember the sins and iniquities of his people. Now
we see that statement. He will not remember twice in
the book of Hebrews. Look at Hebrews chapter 8 verses
10 through 12. The writer of Hebrews says, For
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not
teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord. For all shall know me from the least to the
greatest, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." That phrase
there that I underlined, their sins and iniquities I will remember
no more, that's repeated in Hebrews 10, 17, and we'll deal with that
a little further in just a minute. The scriptures also teach that
God has separated His people from their sins. He separated
them from their sins as far as the east is from the west. In
other words, He separated His people from their sins infinitely,
an infinite distance. If you go east, you'll always
be going east. You'll just circle the globe
and you'll never be going anywhere but east. Look at Psalm 130 in
verse 10. It says here that God has not
dealt with us. He's talking about His chosen
people here now. He has not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded
us according to our iniquities. Now, notice this doesn't say
that God has not dealt with our sins here. For God to not deal
with sin would be injustice. If he deals with one sinner's
sin and fails to deal with another sin, that would be injustice.
He must and he shall deal with every sin. This says that God
has not dealt with us after or according to our sins. He's not
rewarded us according to our iniquities. What is God's justice
of man of any sinner who is rewarded according to his iniquities?
I've already read it. The wages of sin is death, eternal
death. If God gives any sinner the wages
that sinner has earned, he must send that sinner to eternal misery.
He must separate himself from that sinner eternally. Look on
at Psalm 103 verses 11 and 12. For as high as Now, as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. Now, what does it mean that God
has removed the transgressions of his people as far as the east
is from the west? Does that mean that his people
are no longer sinners? If he's removed our transgressions,
does that mean we're no longer sinners? Does that mean that
we're now without sin? Well, of course it doesn't mean
that. In this life, all are still under the presence. We're all
still under the very powerful influence of sin. And we will
all remain sinners until the day we die. What does it mean
that God will remember the sins and iniquities of his people
no more? Can God forget the sins and iniquities
of his people? Does God lose his memory again? Of course, that's not the answer.
These terms mean that God has removed the judgment, the condemnation,
the punishment of the sins from his people. He will not remember
their sins in judgment. He will not remember them in
a way of punishment. He has separated them from the
legal guilt of sin as far as the East is from the West. It
means he will not mark them. He will not charge the legal
guilt. the just condemnation of the sins and iniquities of
his people. He won't charge those sins to
them. God's elect people have been
blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.
One of those blessings is the forgiveness of sin. It's the non-imputation of sin.
Sin is not imputed to those that are blessed of God. If you're
blessed of God, that means God has forgiven you. He's pardoned
your iniquity. He will not charge you with sin. The psalmist is very clear about
this. Look at Psalm 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 whose spirit there is no
guile. The blessed are those not charged with sin. The blessed
are those whose sins are not imputed to them. The blessed
are those whose iniquities are not marked. The blessed are those
who are already forgiven of their sins. In this reasoning, a question
ought to be rising up in your mind. How can God mark the iniquities
of some? Because we're looking at a contrast
here, just like in Psalm 1, between the blessed and the ungodly,
we're looking at a contrast here between those to whom God will
mark iniquities and those who are forgiven, to whom God will
not mark iniquities. So a question should be coming
up in your mind. How can He mark the iniquities
of some? but not mark the iniquities of
others? Upon what basis can God impute
sin to some but not impute it to others? How can he charge
some but forgive and cleanse others of all sin? Upon what
basis are sinners blessed of God? It's the basic, it's the
ultimate, it's the one question of the Bible that sinners need
to be able to answer. How can God be just and forgive
any sinner, any one of us? How can he remain just? How can
he be doing right and not charge any sinner with sin? Fail to
charge them with sin. How can he be just and do that?
How can he be just and not punish every sinner with the just punishment
that every sinner deserves? How can he be just and forgive
one sinner's sins while holding another eternally accountable
for theirs? Now we're considering the basis
here of forgiveness. How can he do that? Upon what
basis can he do that? The regenerate sinner, the one
taught of God, the one brought to fear God in this life, is
the only one in this generation that can rightly scripturally
answer these questions. Old Testament saints knew the
answer to these questions. The saints did, those taught
of God. Paul the apostle considers two
of these saints in the first verses of Romans chapter four.
And Paul first considers Abraham and what we're looking here is
the basis of Abraham's justification before God. Look at Romans chapter
4 verses 1 and 2. The fourth chapter starts out
here. What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as
pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. Now the question of Abraham's
justification here, that's not what's being considered. His
justification is not in question. How is he justified? That's the
question that's being answered here in these verses. Upon what
basis has God justified Abraham? Well, if it was by works, it
says, he would have wear off to glory. He'd have something
to boast in, he'd have something to brag about, but not before
God. We have to add a few words right
there to make that make a little sense. But Abraham had nothing
to boast in before God, as any other sinner has nothing to boast
in before God. Look on at Romans 4 and verse
3. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham believed God. What does
that mean? What did Abraham believe? Can we know what Abraham believed?
Well, we can. The scriptures say God taught
Abraham the gospel. What's always revealed in the
gospel? the righteousness of God. Abraham knew something about
a Messiah who would come, who would bear the sins of his people,
who would put those sins away in a just satisfaction, who would
bring in an everlasting righteousness. He knew that God would be just
to justify sinners only based upon Christ's righteousness imputed.
You see, Abraham's hope was in the same Savior. You're in my
hope is who believe the gospel in the same Savior. He was looking
forward to him. We're looking back on him, but
it's exactly the same Savior. When it says Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him for righteousness, he's talking
about the work, the merit of that work, which would be the
merit of the substitute's work when he came. It would be the
righteousness he worked out in his life and death. Look on at
Romans 4, verses 4 through 5. It says, now to him that worketh
is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. In other words, if you work for
it, it's not grace. It's the reward of debt. It's
something you earned. You get it because you earned
it. but to him that worketh not, but believes on him that justifies
the ungodly. You see, Abraham believed that
God would justify him and all who are in Christ based on Christ's
righteousness imputed. Abraham believed that God justified
the ungodly on the basis of Christ's work alone. And therefore, Abraham's
faith, that is the one he looked to, the righteousness of Christ,
was counted to him a righteousness. Now, Paul considered Abraham's
justification, and what was the basis of it? It was the righteousness
Christ worked out by his obedience unto death. He also considers
David in this psalm. Look on it, Romans 4, verses
6 through 8. He writes, Now you can see in
verses 7 and 8, that's just a quote of Psalm 32 which we read earlier. What I want you to see is the
New Testament commentary on what David was explaining when he
wrote Psalm 32. This is a commentary on that. Look at it in verse 6. Paul had just explained that
Abraham was one blessed of God because God charged to him the
righteousness that Christ the Messiah would establish when
he came. Now he says that David also describes
the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness. In other words, when David wrote
Psalm 32, He didn't mention the righteousness of Christ imputed
to a sinner. He didn't mention imputed righteousness.
But the commentary on Psalm 32 by Paul the Apostle here, that's
what he was describing. That's what he was explaining.
The blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness
without works. What the Apostle's stating here
is the bottom line on the sinner that is blessed of God. The bottom
line, the basis of that blessing. He's stating the bottom line
of why one sinner is forgiven of their sins and why another
is not forgiven. What's the bottom line? God imputes
righteousness to the one he blesses. He imputes righteousness based
on the righteousness Christ worked out and on that basis alone.
God charges the one with the righteousness of his substitute.
And he imputes righteousness to him without works. That is,
without any contribution from the sinner. Without any consideration
of what the sinner does or what the sinner might be unable to
do. The bottom line on justification, God imputes to the blessed sinner
the righteousness that he provided. He imputes to that sinner the
one Christ worked out on the cross. and brought in, he imputes
the righteousness that the Holy Spirit points sinners to under
the gospel in every generation. And that, my friend, is the one
reason why God will not mark iniquities to any sinner. That's the one reason why any
sinner is forgiven of their sins. That's the one reason why God
will not impute sin to a sinner. That's the one reason why any
sinner is not facing the eternal wrath of God, which every one
of us justly deserves based on our sin. The reason? Because Christ represented
a chosen people and God laid on him the iniquity of that chosen
people. And he bore their sins in his
body on the tree. He was delivered up to the cross
because of their offenses. God marked their iniquities to
him. He charged Christ with their
sins. He made Him to be sin for them. And Christ answered those
charges. He paid their sin debt in full.
He satisfied the law in precept and penalty. He established the
righteousness of God, that righteousness by which God is just to justify
ungodly sinners. There are no charges remaining
against those Christ lived and died for. Their sins cannot be
charged to them. Their iniquities cannot be marked
against them. Those Christ represented are
removed from those charges as far as the East is from the West.
God holds no memory of any charges against his elect. God sees those
sinners that Christ represented. He sees them now as he has always
seen them, unchangeably righteous based on Christ's righteousness
imputed to them. Now look back at Psalm 130 in
verse 4. We've got one more thing we want to say here. It says, but there is forgiveness
with thee, and this is the one thing we want to look at, that
thou mayest be feared. If God marks iniquities, none
will stand. But all are not marked with iniquities. There is forgiveness with God.
He has chosen a people. He's imputed to them the righteousness
of Christ. They are already forgiven for
Christ's sake. They stand forever. They stand
unchangeably righteous before God. They cannot be charged with
sins. Their sins have been punished
in full and put away by the death of Christ. Now, who are these
in this world, in this generation, or any generation, who are these
that are so unchangeably blessed by God? Who are these so unchangeably
righteous? Who are these that cannot be
charged with sin, whose sins have already been forgiven? How
are they identified in this world? How are they distinguished from
other sinners in this world? I mean, they have to be. If God's
making a contrast, you've got to be able to tell the difference
between the one and the other. Well, there are those in every
generation who fear God. There is forgiveness with thee,
he says, that thou mayest be feared. It's through the knowledge
of God's forgiveness, that forgiveness that's in Christ. It's through
the knowledge of that forgiveness that sinners are taught to fear
God. It's the Spirit's power under
the gospel that brings sinners to this fear. Now, this is not
the legal fear that all of us are born with, the fear that
causes us to try to work ourselves into salvation, try to win the
favor of God, try to deliver ourselves from the wrath of God.
It's not that fear. We're all born with that fear.
But this is the reverential fear that God puts in his people. Look at Jeremiah 32, verses 37
through 40. God says, you behold, I will
gather them. He's talking about his elect
people here. Gather them out of all countries, whether I have
driven them in mine anger and in my fury and in great wrath.
And I will bring them again into this place and I will cause them
to dwell safely. And they shall be my people and
I will be their God. And I will give them one heart
and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. that I will not turn away from
them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts that
they shall not depart from me." How do we get this reverential
fear? God puts this fear in the hearts
of his people. In other words, he reveals to
them that the only way he can be just The only way he can be
doing right in saving them and giving them all the benefits
of his mercy and grace is by the finished work of Christ alone.
He brings us to himself through Christ and him crucified. And
he keeps us the same way. They shall not depart from me.
If you fear God, if you see that salvation that's in Christ, you
can't leave this message, you can't leave this Savior, you
can't go outside here to worship. He brings us to Himself, the
only true and living God, a just God and a Savior, and He keeps
us by the knowledge of the forgiveness that is found in the doing and
dying of Christ alone. God is feared, He is revered,
He's honored, He's worshiped only by sinners brought to rejoice
and rest in Christ alone for all of salvation. These alone
worship God in spirit and in truth. These are those in every
generation that God is seeking to worship Him. It is this fear
of God, this fear that God puts in each of His people, it's this
fear that distinguishes them in this world in every generation.
Under the law, a sinner can never be certain. No matter how well
we've obeyed the law in the past, if we disobey it right now, that
law demands our punishment. There's no certainty there. Any
charge of misconduct must be answered by whatever punishment
the justice of that law demands. But God's elect, those in Christ,
those called by the gospel, are not under law. We're not under
any condition that we must meet in order to be justified. God's
elect are under grace. We're under a salvation conditioned
on and accomplished by Christ alone. We are forgiven for Christ's
sakes. Our sins were charged to Christ
and put away by his death. We are forever righteous by the
righteousness that Christ has earned and that's charged to
us. Look back at Psalm 130 in verse four and I'll close. It
says, but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be
feared. There are always two categories of sinners in the
world in any given generation. We looked at the one in Psalm
1, the blessed versus the ungodly. The blessed who will ultimately
prosper. They may not prosper in this
world, but in the end, they'll prosper. And the ungodly who
will perish, they may prosper in this world, but in the end,
the ungodly will perish. And in this Psalm, there are
those marked, there are those charged with iniquity, and those
forgiven are not charged with iniquity. Those forgiven are
distinguished from the rest of the world by their fear of God.
They're distinguished by their reverence for and their worship
of a just God and Savior. I urge you, I implore you to
seek and learn of that forgiveness that God has provided in Christ
alone. Bind your confidence before God
in that imputed righteousness that Christ worked out. God is
seeking sinners in this generation as He has in every generation
since Abel. He's seeking sinners to revere
and worship Him, a just God and Savior, by the doing and dying
of Christ alone. There is forgiveness with God. That forgiveness is in Christ
alone. At the judgment will you be among
those found in that forgiveness.