Go back to Psalm 32. Psalm 32. Titled this message, The Path
to True Blessedness or True Happiness. To truly be blessed of God and
to truly be happy. I'm not talking about a happy
that's giddy and goofy and giggling. I'm not talking about that kind
of happy. I'm talking about a settled contentment. You're really content
in Christ. And we have here the path to
that true happiness. Now this psalm is an instructive
psalm. It's the first psalm that is
said to be an instructive psalmist. We are instructed by one who
has tasted of the grace of God. One who knew something about
the depths of sin and sorrow and forgiveness of that sin. David. David knew what it was
to be guilty. He knew what that He knew what
that was all about. Nathan said, Thou art the man. That to me would be like standing,
it's far greater than that, but be standing in court and a judge
slams the hammer down and says, guilty. You're guilty. But Nathan said, Thou art the
man. He felt the weight of that sentence come from the throne
of God. He felt it. And I want us tonight to receive
some instructions given to us in His Word, and maybe we can
find this path of true happiness and true contentment that we
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven. Boy, did he know what that was
about. And you know what it's about.
You've been forgiven. You've tasted of the grace of
God. You know something of what David's talking about. Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered,
blotted out, put away. That man is blessed. You know,
over here in Psalm 1, it says, Blessed is the man that walks
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is
in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night." The first application of that is to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is that blessed man. He is
that man that walked not in the counsel of the ungodly. He is
that man that did not stand with the sinners or sit in the seat
of the scornful. That applies to the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the first application
of it. But here in this psalm, we have the blessed man who has
been saved in Christ and washed from all his sins. He knows what he's talking about.
He knows what he's talking about. And he's writing this under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit that others, who come under this conviction
of sin will be encouraged to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ
for mercy and forgiveness. Here is a true child of God speaking
and pouring out His heart in order to encourage others to
do the same, to seek the Lord, to seek His mercy. And when David
speaks here of being blessed and happy He speaks of things
spiritual and not carnal. Now it is a blessing to have
a comfortable home. It's a blessing to have a job,
a good job in these things. But the real blessing, the real
blessing, is it not transgressions forgiven? Is it not sin covered? Is that
not the real blessing? All the material wealth in the
world cannot bring peace to the heart. Cannot do it. Can't do
it. Nor can it bring lasting happiness.
Not at all. The poor man, Lazarus, lying
at the rich man's gate. Would anyone have looked at him
and said, what a blessed man. Oh, what a blessed man he is. You know, when they even came
close to Him, they went around Him. But who was really blessed? Was
it the rich man who had all those riches, but no knowledge of Christ,
no love of Christ? The truly blessed man was Lazarus,
who was taken to heaven when the Lord took him home. He was
taken to heaven, and that rich man was in hell, lifted up his
eyes in hell, in torment. We need to weigh, we need to
value everything in the light of eternity and our relationship
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to weigh everything in
the light of death, judgment, and eternity. Weigh everything
in the light of those things. Everything. Forgiveness of sins
is the greatest of blessings, is it not? It is if you know
what sin is all about. If you know something of sin,
You know it's the greatest of blessings. You know it is. If
my sins are gone, if they're gone, then who can condemn me? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect if God justifies them? And if God justifies them,
He justifies them in Christ. Well, they had no sin. It's gone. It's covered. It's put away. Oh, listen to these words again.
Forgiven. Forgiven. Do you ever offend
somebody and know you offended them and they've truly forgiven
you? They just put their arm around
you and say, forget it. Don't make nothing of it. Forget
it. Oh, doesn't that feel good? Isn't that a blessing to have
someone do that? To forgive you? How much more
God? Forgiven. Covered. Oh, what blessed words these
are. As the mercy seat covered the broken law, so Christ's blood
and righteousness covers our sins. They are no more. They
are no more. They're gone. Scripture says,
There is forgiveness with thee, complete, absolute forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. He delights to show mercy. And blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Paul said, as I read to you in
Romans, will not impute sin. He will not do it. And that man,
he says, is blessed whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and
in whose spirit there is no guile. This is the same man whose transgression
is forgiven and sins covered. But now he speaks here of imputation. He speaks here of imputation.
You see, the man's been forgiven. Sin has been covered. Now he's saying that blessed
is that man to whom the Lord will not charge his own sins
to him. You know your sins. You know
who you are. I know who I am. I know things
I've done, thought. And there's many things that
I don't even realize that's sin. And not one of them charged against
me. Not one. Not one charged against
me. David said, Blessed! Oh, you
know, his heart was in this. His heart was in this. Nathan
said, Thou art a man. And he felt the guilt of that.
He felt the convicting power of that. But he also knew the
blessedness of this. God didn't charge it to him.
He did not charge it to him. He did not impute it to him.
Blessed is that man whom the Lord does not charge his own
sins to. I'm chargeable. You can charge
me. You say, I know what you did. But God won't charge me. God
will not charge me. My sins are all taken away. I
want you to look over 2 Samuel chapter 12. I marked that. 2 Samuel chapter 12. Right when Samuel tells him this, he also tells him good news.
2 Samuel chapter 12. I used a different Bible studying
today and I marked it. I marked that one. That's the
reason I was confused here. I thought I marked that. Okay,
look in verse 12, 2 Samuel 12. For thou didst it
secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before
the Son. This is David with Bathsheba
and Uriah. And David said unto Nathan, I
have sinned against the Lord. I have sinned. He felt it. He knew it. He felt
the weight of it. And Nathan said to David, The
Lord also hath put away thy sin. He put it away. Thou shalt not die. But somebody's
going to. Someone's going to. Because the
law demanded death for what he did. But David, thou shalt not
die. There's only one reason why.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ did. Because he died in his stead. The substitutionary work and
person of the Lord Jesus Christ is the reason thou shalt not
die. And he told David, he said, thy
sins have been put away. That was a long time before Christ
ever came into this world. He called those things that be
not as though they were. With God, it was put away. It
was as good as done. It was as good as done. Oh, the blessedness. David said,
Oh, the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord will not impute
His own sins to Him. And the reason He has imputed
them, charged them to His Son. He hath laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. Of all His elect, He has laid
the iniquity of every last one of His elect upon His Son. That's
the reason we'll not die. Now these scriptures that we've
just read, it says your transgressions are forgiven, sin is covered, your sins are not imputed to
you. That has to do with justification. But now listen, in whose spirit
there is no God. This is the internal work of
sanctification. in whose spirit there is no guile. Is there no guile in your spirit? There is a spirit in you in which
there is no guile. Turn over to Ezekiel 36. I saw
this today. Ezekiel 36. Look over in verse
26. A new heart also will I give
you, and listen, and a new spirit. I'm telling you, in that spirit,
in that new spirit that God says I'll put within you, there is
no guile. There is no sin. There is no
deception. That Spirit is honest. And listen,
I want you to catch this. I've never caught this before.
And whose spirit, a new heart also will I give you and a new
spirit will I put within you? I'll take away a stony heart.
Now let me go down here and find another verse. And look at verse
27. And I will put My Spirit within
you. He's talking about two different spirits here. That which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. I'll give you a new spirit and
then I'll put my spirit in you. As Charlie said last week in
a message, that's deep. That's deep. He gives us a new spirit and
he puts his spirit in us, in that new man. That's what he's
talking about, that new man, that new nature, that new spirit
is what he's talking about. And he says, in whose spirit
there is no doubt. Everyone whom God saves, He gives
a new spirit. And that person, listen, that
person is honest before God. That person is honest. He's honest
before God. His faith is unfeigned. His faith
is genuine. His faith is real. When the Lord
spoke to that Gentile woman, that Syrophoenician woman, He
said, it's not right to give the children's bread to the dogs. And you know what she said? Truth,
Lord. Honest. She was honest. She said, truth, what you have
just spoken is truth. Oh, there's a spirit in whom
there's no guile. There's a spirit in whom there's
no guile. Truth, Lord. A true work of grace in the heart
reveals itself by confessing sin without deception. He's not
just saying I'm just a sinner in general like most people confess. Everybody says, well, I know
I'm not perfect. No, this is a true confession of wretchedness. A true confession of sin. In
whose spirit there is no guile, no deception. It's genuine. It's
real. Salvation is a heart work. As
David said, thou desires truth in the inward parts. It is a heart that justifies
God in His judgment. In whose spirit there is no guile. Listen to these words again.
Trespassing. Sin. Iniquity. That's us by nature,
isn't it? That's us by nature. It's a description
of ourselves and our ways by nature. And when a man is born
of God, man or woman, they own up to that. They own up to that. Truth, Lord, that's who and what
I am. But forgiven, covered, not impute. That's a description of the grace
of God to us in Christ. Oh, that's a description of God. Now, David lets us look into
his inmost being. He lets us look into his heart.
He lets us look into what was going on in his heart. He opens
up here. You know, you can't get people
to open up, can you? Most people don't want you to. They don't
want you to see them. But David, he just opens up here. He knows that someone else, he
knows someone else will read this and he'll encourage them. They'll be encouraged to seek
the Lord. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my
roaring all the day long. Silence, ignoring my sin, And
the accusing conscience will not put it away. It will not
put it away. It will not quiet it. Not at
all. Not doing it anymore. So I'm
not going to do that again. That won't put it away. Well,
I hope you don't, but it won't put it away. Only the blood of
Christ can quiet an accusing conscience. Only the blood. And
I want you to notice here what it does to the body. I never
really caught this before. My bones, he says, waxed old. It was destroying him physically. It was just breaking him down
physically. The stress of my sins, the stress
of them, of my sins, Unconfessed, is breaking down even my body. The very strength of my body
is gone. He tried to carry this burden. And the Lord's hand, it says
here in a minute, was heavy upon it. The Lord didn't let up on
it. He will not let up on His own.
He'll bring them to the feet of Christ. But He says, My bones
wax old. The strength of my body was broken. It would amaze us. I thought about this before I came
over. It would amaze us to know how many of our ailments, how many of our ailments are
linked to this, my sin. That would amaze us. I guarantee
you, it would amaze us. To know how many of our own ailments comes from just the stress of
sin. Sin unconfessed. David said, the longer I kept
silence, the louder it got. The longer I kept quiet. He's
not talking about the longer I kept silence, not telling anybody
about it. He said, the longer I did not just fall down before
Him and confess my sins, the louder it would get until it
became like a roaring beast. I tell you what, when God brings
conviction of sin, now He's going to convict a sinner of sin until
He brings him to the feet of Christ where He finds comfort,
where He finds forgiveness, where He finds mercy. That's the whole
purpose of conviction. That's the whole purpose is to
bring us to Christ. David's saying, I was silent
on the outside. But on the inside, oh, he said,
I was roaring. No rest. No peace. Even my body was falling apart.
Even my body was falling apart. For day and night, thy hand was
heavy upon me. Where does true conviction of
sin come from? It comes from God. It comes from
the work of the Holy Spirit, His hand heavy upon us, heavy
upon the heart, revealing sin. When the Holy Spirit lays His
hand of judgment or chastening upon the heart, there is no rest,
day or night, until we find it in the blood of His Son. That's
where you find rest, is in Christ. Sin robs the believer of a true
joy in Christ. He said, my moisture, my moisture
is dried up. All my joy is gone. Why can I be happy anymore? David
said, my moisture is all gone. It's all dried up. Thank God for his heavy hand.
Thank God for conviction of sin. Thank God for it. Thank God if
His hand has been heavy upon your heart. It's evidence of
His love. There's a whole lot of people,
a whole lot of people who don't know anything about this. And
they die. And they meet God in judgment.
I'd rather have this. I'd rather have God remove my
joy my moisture until he brings me to the feet of Christ and
enables me to fall down at his feet and beg for mercy. I acknowledge my sin unto thee,
not some priest, not some preacher, but the Lord whom I sinned against.
He said that is who I acknowledge my sin unto thee. This is the purpose. This is
the purpose for the heavy hand. This is it. To bring the transgressor
to repentance and faith in Christ that he might experience and
have forgiveness. That you might have forgiveness.
Boy, I tell you what God has to put us through to forgive
us. For us to experience forgiveness.
What we have to go through. Boy, what does that say about
us? We cannot experience forgiveness without repentance and faith
in this conviction of sin. You can't do it. And he says,
mine iniquity have I not hid. I haven't hid it. Full confession brings full forgiveness. It brings full forgiveness. Thou
forgave us the iniquity of my sins. Listen, as soon as I fell
at his feet, as soon as I begged for mercy, As soon as I confess
my sins, thou forgavest. Ready to forgive. Ready to show
mercy. Thou forgavest the iniquity of
my sins. If we confess our sins, it says
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. David says this in verse 6, for
this. For what? For this. Mercy. Forgiveness. Look back here in this verse
6. For this, for this mercy, for
this forgiveness, shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee
in a time when thou mayest be found. You know, here's what David is
saying. And he knows this, as he writes
this, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, he knows this. By my
example, by what I've gone through, others will be led to pray for
forgiveness also. Others will be encouraged. If he'll forgive David, he'll
forgive me. If he'll forgive David what he
did, he'll forgive me. It's what David's saying. Others
will be encouraged to seek for mercy. Others will be encouraged
to sue for mercy. And you notice he says here,
everyone that's godly shall pray for this. Everyone. This forgiveness and
this mercy is for everyone, he said, that's godly. That seems
like a contradiction, doesn't it? What he did seem was ungodly.
David knows that what he did was ungodly, and yet he says
everyone that's godly will pray for this. Do you know
what godly is? God-likeness. Here is a transgressor, and yet
he's saying he's godly. He's godly. Godliness is god-likeness. Same judgments against sin. The
godly have the same judgments against sin that God has. They
think the same thing of sin as God does. They are partakers
of the divine nature. The godly are. Yes, he's godly. Just like Lot is just Lot. That's
his righteous soul. In Christ, everyone whom God
saves in Christ is godly. God-like. And he says every one
of them will pray for this mercy. Seek mercy. Seek forgiveness.
Every one of them will. And then he says here in verse
7, he encourages himself in this. Thou art my hiding place. Not the law, but a person. A man shall be a hiding place
from the wind, it says over in Isaiah. Who is that man? That
man is the Lord Jesus Christ. Who's David speaking of here
in verse 7? He's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou art
my hiding place. The very one who chastens me
is the very one I find refuge in. The one who convicts me of
sin is the very one I find refuge in. Thou art my hiding place. Christ
is our hiding place in His person. Our lives are hid with Christ
in God. He's our hiding place in His blood, in His salvation,
in His righteousness, in His power, in His love, in His grace. Christ is my hiding place. He's my hiding place. That's
what true conviction of sin will do. It will run you to the Son
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt preserve me." Oh, thou shalt preserve me. The
purpose of chastening and conviction of sin is not to destroy, it's
to save. You are the preserved in Christ. God chastens His own that they
be not judged with the world. And now God speaks in verse 8.
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt
go. All thy children shall be taught
of God. How does God instruct His children?
First, He does so by the Holy Spirit. Believe me, He doesn't
leave this up to us. We are instructed by the Spirit
of God, the Holy Spirit. He shall take the things of mine
and show them to you. Reveal them to you. And then
He instructs us by His Word. Read Psalm 119. Instead of me
quoting a verse or two from it, just read Psalm 119. He instructs
us out of His Word. That's why it's so important
to study the Word and to be here and hear the Word preached. I
cannot tell you how important that is. Then He instructs us
by His providence. I'm telling you what, God teaches
His children by providence. He knows how to direct their
paths. He knows how to hedge their way. He knows how to teach
us. He knows how to instruct us. He knows. And then He does so by His pastors
and teachers that He's given. Those who would be instructed
should be where the gospel is preached by those whom God has
called to preach it. As we saw last Sunday, where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst. He sanctions this service by
His presence. And I will guide thee with mine
eye. He will direct our steps. He sees and knows all things.
Job said he knows the way that I take what he's tried me. A
father can give his child just a look. could just give me a look. I
knew whether it was a good one or a bad one. Real quick. If He can give me a look, He
can go. And you know to get over there. It didn't have to say
a word. Or He can just give me a look and you know by the countenance
on His face that there was something good going to happen. He said,
I guide thee with my eye. His eye is never off. of his
children. We can't comprehend that. You
know, our children, they get older and they go off. They go
out and we can't see them. We can't see them. We don't know
what's going on. You go out there in the nighttime. They're teenagers,
18, 19 years old, and they're out there in the nighttime. We
can't see them. You think, I wonder what's going on. And you worry.
You do. You worry. You get anxious about
them. You get anxious. And if he told them to be in
at 11 o'clock and it's 1101, you're anxious. His eye is never off his children. There's never a time that we
are out of his sight. Never a time. Never a time. And he's saying here, listen,
I will guide thee. He guides us even when we don't
know it. He guides us, like I said, by
His providence. Things will come along providentially
that will move you in a different direction, make you think something
different, act differently. That's God. That's the providence
of God. Guiding. Guiding us. You remember when Christ looked
at Peter. Remember, he said, you're going
to deny me three times. Peter said, no, no, no. He wasn't
going to deny him. He didn't think he was going
to deny him. And when he did, when he
denied him the third time, what happened? The Lord looked at
him. And I'm telling you, there was
not a mean look on that face. And it wasn't a mean look. He
just looked at Peter. And Peter knew from that look
what he did. But it was a gracious look, I
guarantee you. Peter, I told you. You didn't believe me, but
I told you. Oh, he said, I'll guide thee
with mine eye. And don't be like the beast.
I'll hurry up and wind this down. Don't be like the beast. who
has to be controlled with bit and bridle. A horse or a mule,
that's what he said, they don't know which way you want them
to go. And if they did, tell your horse you want to go two
miles down the road. He's not going to go two miles
down the road. He doesn't know a thing about what you're talking
about. He said, don't be like that. I made you an intelligent
creature. My Spirit dwells within you. Now don't be like a dumb animal
that has to be controlled and guided by bent and bridled. No, we are guided by His Spirit.
And we need to be keen to it. We need to be keen to it. You
know the way? You know what's right? That's what God said to Abraham.
Abraham, walk before me. Walk before me. Many sorrows shall be to the
wicked. David said, I was envious of the wicked until I went into
the sanctuary of God and I saw their end. I wasn't envious anymore
after that. Oh, he said, many sorrows are
to the wicked. This is the light of the wicked. That's everyone who does not
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone. But he that trusteth
in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Surrounded by mercy. Listen. Wrapped about in a blanket
of mercy. Like you would wrap a child,
a baby, you wrap it real tight in a blanket and you lay it down
at night. You are wrapped about in a blanket
of mercy. David, your sin has been put
away. You're not going to die. You're
not going to die. Now, the sword didn't leave his
house. And a lot of trouble was caused over that, the consequences
of it. But he said, your sin has been put away. You're not
going to die. You're not going to. You ought
to. You deserve to. But I have laid thy sins upon
my Son, and he died. He died. I don't know, but next
week I might preach from Psalm 31, and that is a messianic psalm
of Christ in Psalm 31 being tormented and dying. You're not going to die because
my Son died for you. And I assure you, no one's going
to perish for whom Jesus Christ died for. Not one. And all who
believe, he said, be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous,
and shout for joy, all you that are upright in heart. Oh, we
have a reason to. We have a reason to. As it says
back in verse 7, thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Here's our reason
to shout and rejoice. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.
Thou shalt accomplish me about with songs of deliverance. Songs
of deliverance. The floods of great waters shall
not come neither. You are preserved in Christ as
Noah was preserved in the ark. And that flood didn't touch him,
did it? Didn't touch him. The flood of great waters are
not meant for you. Not meant for you. Meant for the wicked. And Christ
tasted this flood of great waters. He tasted of the wrath of God.
And that's why we want it. Rejoicing the Lord, all ye righteous. That's how he ends it. Rejoicing. Blessed is the man. Blessed is
the man. whom the Lord will not impute
sin. He will not charge his own sins
to him because he charged them to his son. All right, Mike.