All right, let's turn back to
Numbers chapter 23. Numbers chapter 23. I suppose one of the most puzzling
characters in all the Bible is Balaam. We know that this man
Balaam was a self-serving false prophet. The scriptures clearly
identify him as such. But at times, Balaam appears
to have been. I stress the word appears. He
appears at times to have been a man of character. He led Israel. to mingle the worship of idols
with the worship of God, persuading them to compromise the truth
and the glory of God in the name of unity and peace with those
who blasphemed God. And yet at times he seems to
be a man of truthfulness, so committed to the truth of God
that he could not be induced or bribed to depart from it,
not even by the power and money of the King of Moab. I can't
fathom it, but at times, at times, Balaam seems to be strong, steadfast,
and faithful. At other times, he demonstrates
clearly that he's a self-serving, self-seeking man who simply uses
the name of God for his own ends. This is one of the great problems
in recognizing false prophets. The fact is, sometimes they appear
to be men of integrity, principle, and character. Sometimes they
seem to be self-denying, rather than self-serving men. Sometimes
they speak the truth, fight for the truth, and even put themselves
at great risk for the truth. There are many men who despise
the gospel of God's free grace, who stand for the book, the blood,
and the blessed hope. There are many men who deny God's
total sovereignty and the efficacy of Christ's atonement, who will
put themselves in great hazard to declare the deity of Christ
and His incarnation and virgin birth. You see, many who are
false prophets come as though they were indeed great defenders
of the truth. Because false prophets always
come as wolves in sheep's clothing. And Balaam certainly fits that
category. He was just such a man. He was
a man like the one Bunyan described as Mr. Face Both Ways. He represents
all men who appear to have a great deal of Bible knowledge, but
in reality have no knowledge of God. They appear to have great
spiritual discernment, but really have no spiritual understanding
at all. They appear to serve God in all outward things. It looks like surely these men
are committed to God. But after all, they serve themselves.
They know much truth. I grant that. But they don't
know Him who is the truth. They have big heads, but cold,
empty hearts, and they shall at last perish with the wicked,
because they are the most wicked of all men. And yet our great
and glorious God is so totally absolutely sovereign that he
uses even reprobate false prophets like Balaam to accomplish his
purpose for the saving of his elect. Even false prophets serve
him, even though they fight against him. He who calls an ass to speak
to a man can easily cause that man who was instructed by an
ass to be the instructor of his people, though the man knows
it not. And this is what happened with Balaam. When Balaam would
not heed God, God calls Balaam's ass to turn around and speak
to him, and taught Balaam that which God himself was speaking. And Balaam, this prophet, who
learned by the mouth of an ass, becomes the mouth of God himself
to speak the truth of God. What a word. That shouldn't surprise
us. God did the same thing with Caiaphas,
the high priest in the year that our Lord died. In John chapter
11, Caiaphas knew nothing at all about what Christ was doing
or who he was. He had no idea what he was saying,
and yet Caiaphas prophesied of the death of Christ and the substitutionary
character of our Lord's death as clearly as any inspired apostle. In Balaam's parables, In this
passage here in Numbers chapter 23, we see a false prophet vindicating
the faithfulness of God and declaring the truth of God, though he has
no knowledge of God whatsoever. Now I've said all this because
I want you to understand that our God controls everything,
even the false prophets. These men must be denounced and
recognized and denounced because of who they are, but we ought
never to fret them. We ought never to be terribly
concerned about them. Recognize and understand that
God Almighty uses false prophets themselves to accomplish His
purpose, and when He wills, He will make them even to declare
His truth, though they know it not. Now today I want us to consider
one of the most wondrous, glorious aspects of gospel truth to be
found in all of Holy Scripture. My text is Numbers chapter 23
and verse 21. Listen to this. I want you to
get there and read it. Numbers 23 and verse 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. Oh, what a word. These words do not suggest that
there was no iniquity in Jacob. Or that there was no perverseness
in Israel. There was an abundance in Jacob. An abundance in Israel. But the
Lord God did not mark the sins of His people against them. He
did not impute sin to His chosen. He did not look upon their sins
with the eye of His justice and sovereignty and law, but rather
He hid His face from them, and He forgave their iniquity, their
transgression, and their sins. And that which God did for His
elect among the nation of Israel, He does for His elect today,
His true Israel, the Israel of God. The title of my message
this morning is God Sees No Sin In His People. It is possible. It is possible
for you. It is possible for you who are
nothing but sin. who live with the oppressive
load of guilt and sin, pressing your conscience down with the
very torments of hell. It's possible for you to walk
out that door today with this blessed confidence that God beholds
no sin in you. Oh pastor, I want to know about
that. Give me your attention. Give
me your attention. Though there is much sin in us, and much sin
done by us, as every true believer readily acknowledges and confesses,
yet God sees no sin in his people. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to destroy, purge, remove, and take away the sins
of His people, and He's done it, absolutely. All the sins
of God's elect were laid upon Jesus Christ. He bore them in
His own body on the tree. He bare and endured the wrath
of God because of our sin, and satisfied the justice of God
that was to be executed against our sins. So that the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, has, by His sacrifice, redeemed us
from the curse of the law, made an end of our sin, justified
us, and sanctified us by His blood. And now God Almighty has,
through the affectionate atonement of Christ, so thoroughly blotted
out our sins that He does not behold them. He sees no sin in
his people. He has cast our sins into the
depths of the sea. He has removed them from us as
far as the east is from the west. He has cast them behind his back. And the text declares that the
Holy Spirit, God Almighty, speaking now by David, declares that God
sees no sin in Israel. None. I'm fully aware. I'm fully aware that the doctrine
I'm preaching to you causes much controversy. It is rejected and
despised by men, literally, in all religious circles. It has
been described by some as a freak doctrine of perverted minds that
leads to licentiousness and sin. I recall the first time I preached
this doctrine, this particular thing, that God sees no sin in
his people. I recall the first time I preached
it publicly in a Bible conference. I was about 21, 22 years old. And I was immediately denounced
as a man who was an antinomian, a promoter of licentiousness
and of evil doctrine. And the accusation has been hurled
by many ever since then. Why? I simply can't tell you. I cannot imagine anyone who has
tasted the bitterness of his own depravity and sin by the
grace of God. and has experienced the forgiveness
of sin through God's grace and the blood of Jesus Christ. I
cannot imagine such a man objecting to the fact that God hath not
beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in
Israel. And I hope that before I'm done
here today, it will be the experience of every soul here. to know that
God sees no sin in him. Oh, I pray God will give you
faith in Christ. And will this day give to you
repentance and the forgiveness of sin with this thorough confidence
that your sins have been so thoroughly removed by the blood of Jesus
Christ that God himself sees no sin in you. No sin in you. We're saying just a little bit
ago What glory now, what matchless grace, Beams forth from God my
Father's face, He looks on Christ and smiles on me, And Christ,
my God, is pleased with me. This message of forgiveness,
this glorious truth that God sees no sin in his people is
such a glorious soul comforting doctrine of the gospel that without
it appropriately being declared the gospel ceases to be good
news and glad tidings to sinful men upon the earth. I want this
morning to be as crystal clear as I can possibly be. I want
to show you exactly what the Scriptures do and do not teach
concerning this matter of God seeing no sin in His people.
So follow me carefully. I want to show you these four
things. I'll show you what the Scriptures do not teach and then
what they do. First, when the Word of God asserts
that God sees no sin in His people, The teaching is not that there
is no sin in us. Oh, no. Oh, no. Believers know
better than that. Those who deduce from such passages
as our text that there is no sin in believers, or that the
Bible teaches the doctrine of sinless perfection, or even that
it teaches the possibility of sinless perfection, simply do
not know themselves, and they do not know God. They're not
being honest. They're liars. They deceive themselves. They are liars of the worst kind
because they attempt to deceive themselves and the truth is not
in them. Now that's not being harsh or
judgmental. That's just stating what God
says. You can read it for yourself in 1 John 1. God tells us plainly
that if a man says he has not sinned, he deceives himself and
the truth is not in him. God tells us plainly if a man
says I have not sinned, he makes God to be a liar and the truth
and the word of God is not in him. The fact is, God's people
in this world are sinners still. Redeemed? Yes. Justified? Yes. Forgiven? Yes. Regenerated
by the Holy Spirit? Yes. Heirs of God, eternal heirs
of God, and joined heirs with Christ? Indeed they are, but
sinners still. They never cease to be sinners.
To say otherwise is to speak in direct contradiction, both
to the Word of God and to the constant experience of God's
elect in this world. I don't have to convince you
of this. You're fully aware of it. You're fully aware of it.
It is the painful reality of your everyday life. There is
in every believer's heart a constant, unceasing, continual warfare
between flesh and spirit, between sin and righteousness. Turn to
the book of Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. Let me explain
what's going on inside you, in the words of scripture. If you're born of God, as many
of you are, there is within you a principle of righteousness
that loves righteousness. And if you could, if you could have anything on
this earth, you won't, honestly. You would live in perfect righteousness
before God. That's an honest statement of
what your heart desires. To be perfect, to be righteous,
to be without sin. Never, oh God, never to sin again. But it's utterly impossible in
this body of flesh. It shall not happen. It shall
not happen. Look at what Paul says in Romans
chapter 7 verse 17. Now then, it is no more I that
do it. It is no more I that commits
sin. No more I that does the thing
that I hate, but sin that dwelleth in me. Verse 20 says, now if
I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. Look in Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians 5 and verse 17. The flesh lusteth against the
spirit. The flesh constantly struggles
and fights and wars against the spirit. And the spirit constantly
wars and fights and struggles against the flesh. And these
two are contrary to one to the other, so that you cannot do
the things that you would. The text does not say, Ron Wood,
there's some possibility that maybe occasionally you can do
what you want to. The text says you can not do
the things you would. It is not possible while a man
is in this body of flesh for him to cease from sin, not for
a split second. Because sin is mixed with everything
we do. Without question, God's saints
do not live in sin. They are no longer under the
dominion of sin. If I live in sin and live under
the rule and dominion of sin, it's because I do not know God,
no matter what I've experienced, no matter what I profess. Read
the 6th chapter of Romans. But sin still lives in us. There
is in every regenerate person these two opposing natures, the
one flesh and the other spirit, the one the principle of nature,
and the other the principle of grace. And it is our responsibility
to modify our outward actions of sin. But we simply cannot
rid ourselves of sin. It is our responsibility to put
off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt
with the deceitful lust. And yet the old man never improves. The old man is never renewed.
The old man never gets better. The old man is never renewed.
Not until this body is dropped into the ground will this old
man of flesh die and be put away. That which is born of flesh is
flesh. The old man no longer reigns,
but he'll never surrender. And therefore we're constantly
at war with ourselves. Sin doesn't crop up in us now
and then. It doesn't just kind of spring
up in some unguarded moments. No. That's contrary to scripture. Sin dwells in us. It dwells, it finds permanent
residence in us. Paul says sin dwelleth in me. It dwells not like an old, idle
resident that has no power and no strength and no ability, but
rather like a constantly corrupting influence that defiles everything
about us so that our lives and our hearts are but a corrupting,
overflowing sewer of iniquity. Sin dwells within us. Like an enemy who has entered
the very heart of the city of man's soul and seeks rapidly
to destroy everything. Though this horrid enemy does
not rule the believer's life, he does at times bring us into
captivity. Though he cannot destroy us,
he constantly disturbs and harasses us. Is that not true with you? John Newton expressed it like
this. If I pray or hear or read, sin is mixed with all I do. Tell
me, you that love the Lord indeed, is it thus with you? With me
it is. With me it is. If you experience
things differently, then I'm totally ignorant. Totally
ignorant. of the teachings of this book
and of the experience you have. Totally ignorant of it. Not only
does sin dwell in us, not only is it true that we are sinners
and that sin marrs everything we do, we commit sin constantly. Every one of us, there are no
exceptions. The wise man said, there is not a just man upon
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. There is no such thing.
I know the Apostle John declares that whosoever is born of God
doth not commit sin, for his sin remaineth in him, and he
cannot sin because he's born of God. That new man, that new
nature, that which is born of God cannot sin. Yes sir, that's
exactly so. But as we've already seen, we
have two natures, flesh and spirit. The old man and the new man,
and the old man can do nothing but sin. The old man's nothing
but corruption. Our sins. Everything evil in
us. Everything evil done by us is
the work and the product of the flesh. Our goodness, if I can
be permitted to stretch the word goodness to apply to us. Our
goodness, if I can use that kind of language. Everything good
in us, everything good that is done by us is the fruit of the
Spirit. You hear in Galatians 5, look
at it. Verse 19. Now the works of the
flesh are manifest. These are the works of the flesh.
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. I know they're
popular today, but they're still works of the flesh. They're sin,
rebellion against God. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred. Those things are accepted today,
but they're still sins of the flesh. They are still the reflection
of man's inward principle of corruption and defiance of God
Almighty. Variance, emulation, wrath, strife,
seditions, envyings, murderers, drunkenness, revilings, and such
like. Of the which I tell you before,
as I told you in time past, that they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. It ain't gonna happen. Those
who live under the rule of this thing called flesh and sin shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. The fact is there is no evil
in the world. no sin committed by men other
than blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that we have not committed
or may not commit. Merle Hart, that's true of you
and of me. There is no evil, no corruption,
no wickedness in the world that we have not committed or may
not commit. I hate to burst your bubble,
but I've got bad news for you. As long as you live in this world,
you'll never stop sinning. Won't happen. I was talking to a young man
this week. He was discussing some things as to the cause of
so much counseling and psychiatric hospitals and all that stuff.
He said, he said, I ought to just tell folks to stop sinning.
And I said, that'd be a neat trick. If you learn how, let
me know. You stop sinning. No, not in this world. Not in
this world. And yet, when a believer sins,
he can say with the inspired apostle, if I do that which I would not,
and before God I'm telling you, I would not sin. Would you? I would not sin. There is nothing
I hate like sin. And no sin I hate like the sin
that's in me. I would not sin. Now if I do
that which I would not, then it is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. Even when we do good, that is
as good as we are capable of doing in this world, even then
we sin. And if we say that we have not
sinned, then we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. The
sins that we commit, are sins just as much as the evil deeds
of unbelievers are sins. I hear some of these religious
nuts talk about themselves and they say well we don't sin we
make mistakes but we don't sin. When David made a mistake Uriah
was just as dead and Bathsheba was just as pregnant as if somebody
else had done it. It's not called mistakes. It's not an error. It's not a slip. It's not just
a fall. It's sin. And when David confessed
his sin and sought pardon for his sin, he didn't cry, God,
forgive me of my mistake. I'm sorry I shouldn't have done
that. Forgive me because I kind of messed up a little bit, but
I won't do that no more. He said, God, pardon my iniquity,
for it is great. Look upon me and forgive my iniquity,
my transgression, and my sin. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
transgression, and sin. He acknowledged his sin for what
it was, and so must we. In fact, when you and I sin,
our transgressions are far more inexcusable than the sins of
other people. We sin against light, and knowledge,
mercy, and love, and grace, and goodness, and forgiveness. Such things as we have known
and experienced in our souls, that ought to make us Oh God,
that ought to make us most merciful, tender-hearted, compassionate
human beings on this earth. The sins of every man, I can
barely understand and excuse. They don't care what we have. My sins? I sin against the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. I sin against God's grace
and mercy and love experienced in my soul, bestowed upon me. And so do you who are born of
God. Though believers are justified
from all sin by the righteousness of Christ, though we have all
our sins pardoned through His blood, yet our sins do not cease
to be sins. justification from sin by the
righteousness of Christ, pardon of sin through the blood of Christ,
and the free, free, free total absolution from sin insofar as
God's justice is concerned, so that we have no obligation to
the punishment of sin, yet does not cause us to cease from sin. Our sin is a part of us. Our sin is our nature. Our sin is that which is most
natural to us. And it must never be forgotten
that our sanctification will never be finished in this world.
Now, listen carefully here. The Bible nowhere teaches the
idea of progressive sanctification. The Bible nowhere teaches that
meaning women who are born of God get more and more holy until
under this kind of Get too ripe for the earth and float off into
heaven as holy creatures. Too holy to be fit for the earth
anymore. That's utter nonsense. And you
know it. You know it. The Bible does not
teach that our sanctification in this world is a progressive
thing. But it does teach that our sanctification
is a continual, ongoing process. In Christ we are positionally,
completely, perfectly, absolutely sanctified and positionally our
sanctification is finished. Read Hebrews chapter 10. But
experimentally, that sanctification that is wrought in us by the
Holy Spirit is not yet perfect. The new man The new man is perfect
in all his parts, but not in all his degrees. Let me illustrate
it for you, if I can. That little baby in its mother's
womb, when it comes out of its mother's womb and draws the first
breath of air, that baby has all the parts of manhood. All of them, but it's just a
baby. Just a baby. It's got to grow and mature.
The Lord Jesus Christ when he came forth from his mother's
womb is the incarnate God and that baby Christ Jesus is a perfect
man. But he's not grown enough. He's
not mature yet. He must grow and mature into
manhood. Even so, the believer, as soon
as he is born of God, has all the parts of holiness, all the
parts of righteousness, but he grows in grace, and in faith,
and in love, and in the knowledge of Christ. In the scriptures
here in Galatians 5, the Holy Spirit tells us that the fruit
of the Spirit. He doesn't say fruits. He says
fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. in the full corn in the ear,
ready for harvest. Some have the fruit of the Spirit
just in the little seed springing up in life in the ground. But
all who are born of God possess the fruit of the Spirit. We've got a lot of growing to
do. We have faith, but our faith lacks much. We have love. We love him who first loved us. But I love Mrs. DeMarc. We have
hope, but our hope lacks confidence. We have joy, but our joy is mingled
with sorrow. We have peace, but our peace
is so easily disturbed. We have long suffering, but our
long suffering can have a very short fuse, can't it? We have
some meekness, but we're too proud for anybody to see it.
We have that which the scriptures describe as gentleness of character,
if we're born of God, we do. But it has a lot of roughness
about it. You see, the best of saints in this world are sinners
still. Those who are most fully grown
and most fully mature in grace still need to grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when the Word of God
declares that God sees no sin in His people, The meaning is
not that we have no sin. Secondly, the declaration that
God sees no sin in his people does not in any way deny or contradict
God's omniscience. God Almighty is omniscient. We don't have to believe that,
but it's so. Nothing can be hidden from God. Nothing. I frequently recall Brother Maurice
Montgomery telling me what his dad, Brother Hubert over here,
said to him when he went off to Okinawa when he joined the
military. His dad came back to the car
Took me by the hand and he said, son, God goes everywhere, sees
everything. I said, that's all he said. God goes everywhere. God sees
everything. He sees everything you think,
everything you do, and why? He doesn't just see the deed,
he sees the reason for the deed. Nothing is hidden from him. There
are no secrets with God. The secret things of our hearts
that we can't even perceive, God perceives. He sees the fountain
of our evil deeds that flow out against Him continually. His
omniscient eye sees the sins of His own people as well as
the sins of the reprobate. There can be no debate about
that. We recognize that God sees everything and he sees everything
about everyone and everything. Turn to the book of Job. Let
me show you two or three passages of scripture. Job chapter 34. He who is God Almighty is God
omniscient. Elijah learned this, he understood
it. In verse 21 he says, His eyes are upon the ways of man,
and he seeth all his doings. Turn out the lights, but there's
no darkness with him. Neither shadow of death, where
the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. Look in Psalm 11. Psalm 11 verse 4. The psalmist declares God's omniscience. He says the Lord is in his holy
temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold. His
eyelids try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous
as well as the wicked. Do you see that? Look in Psalm
139. Psalm 139. O Lord, Thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and my uprising. Thou understandest my thoughts
afar off. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is
not a word in my tongue, but, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.
Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid Thine hand upon
me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It's high. I cannot attain unto it. In Hebrews
chapter 4, in verse 12, the apostle writes and says, The Word of
God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even through the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And then
he says, All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with
whom we have to do. When the scripture declares that
he hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel, the declaration has no reference at all to the attribute
of God's omniscience, but rather to his justice. The meaning is
simply this. Insofar as God's law and justice
is concerned, he sees no sin in his people. Debts that are paid. Cancelled. Cannot be seen by
the law. That's what it's all about. They
cannot be seen by the law. So that the person whose debt
has been paid, whose debt has been cancelled, has no fear of
reprisal from the law, because the law cannot see the debt.
That's what the scripture declares. Insofar as God's law and justice
is concerned, our debts have been canceled, bloodied out,
paid for by the blood of Christ. And therefore God in His justice
sees no sin in Israel. God's eye of justice sees no
sin in his people, because the hand of justice has blotted our
sins out of his book. Justice, having been fully satisfied
by the Son of God through his sacrifice on our behalf, has
blotted out our transgressions. Let's see if that's the language
of Scripture. Turn to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. The Word of God uses many terms
to describe What happens when God forgives our sin? When Christ
by His blood makes atonement for sin. Sometimes the scriptures
talk about our sins being covered. That's good. Sometimes the scripture
talks about our sin being purged. Here the scripture talks about
our sin being blotted out. Blotted out of the book. of God's
judgment, blotted out from the ledger of heaven, blotted out
from the record of God himself. Look here in Isaiah 43, 25. I, even I am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions. Isn't that good? For mine own
sake, in having blotted out thy transgressions, I will not remember
thy sins. Look at chapter 44 verse 22.
I have blotted out as a thick cloud by transgressions and as
a cloud by sins return to me for I have redeemed Ho, ho, ho,
ho, ho. He will. Oh, may God speak it
to your heart. He says, I have by the blood
of my Son, blotted out your sins. I have redeemed you. Now return
to me. Return to me, and I promise you,
God declares as you return to Him, He has blotted out your
sins. Stay calm. Thirdly, The declaration that
God sees no sin in his people. That in Christ we have no sin
does not mean that God does not take notice of our sins or is
not displeased with our sins. For I rejoice to declare to every
believing sinner that God will never punish you
for your sins. God will never hold you accountable
at His bar for your transgressions. God will never withhold any blessing
of grace or glory from you because of your sins. For him to do so,
he must violate his own justice and overturn the satisfaction
of his own dear son. Either Christ bore the wrath
of God for us, or he didn't. Either he satisfied the justice
of God on our behalf, or he didn't. Either the Son of God has put
away our sins, or he has not put away our sins. If he has
not, then we must bear our sins. and the punishment of our sins,
and the wrath of God against our sins, and pay for our own
crimes, and perish under the wrath of God in hell. But this
is certain. If the Son of God satisfied the
law, wrath, and justice of God for our sins, we shall never
be punished for it. Justice will not allow it. God
will not, in justice, God cannot punish our sins. He declares
that He shall not twice punish iniquity. He will not punish
our sins both in Christ, our surety, and in those for whom
the surety died. The top way to put it this way,
payment God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's
hand, and then again at mine. But do not ever imagine that
God does not take notice of or is not displeased with our sins
as our Heavenly Father. It is plainly written in the
scripture that the thing that David had done displeased the
Lord. Only a very foolish father, and
there are a lot of them around, But only a very foolish father
refuses to observe and take notice of the weaknesses, sins, and
faults of his children. He doesn't publish them, but
he takes notice of them if he's wise and good as a father. He takes notice of them. And
he takes notice of them because he loves the child. Though God's
justice prevents His wrath against us, our Father's love will not
allow Him to let His children live in rebellion against Him.
And in great mercy, loving kindness, tenderness, He chastens us, He
calls us in, not to punish us, but to correct
us. This friend of mine spoke to
me, said his boy Carl wanted to come home. He said, now dad,
I'll come home under these conditions. And his dad said, oh no. If you
come home, you'll come home as my son and do what I tell you
to do. You can't come home. You just can't do it. And he
said it in such a way as to leave a question mark at the end of
it like, Don, what do you think? I said, you can't do anything
else. You can't do anything else. A loving father sees to it that
his sons and daughters are obedient to him. He takes notice of that
which is errant and corrects it. It's called love. It's called
care. It's called discipline. It's
called fatherhood. It's called fatherhood. More
to being a father than siring a son. A brute beast can handle
that all right. Fatherhood is caring for and
raising children, correcting and training them, disciplining
them in godliness, in the fear of God. Uprightly bringing them
up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. And so God our Father
graciously takes notice of and corrects our sins. in his love,
but in his justice he sees no sin in Israel. Now this blessed
declaration, he hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath
he seen perverseness in Israel, does not mean then that there
is no sin in us, that God is not omniscient, or that he is
not displeased with our sins. But it does mean this, It means
that in so far as God's law and justice are concerned, he sees no sin in his people. The record books of heaven record
no iniquity, no transgression, no sin against God's elect. Oh, wondrous, wondrous grace. God will not impute sin to his
saints. He will not require satisfaction
from us because of our sins. Because our sins were imputed
to Christ, paid for by Christ, expunged from the book of God's
offended justice by our Savior's precious blood and put away by
Him. Read the Word of God and rejoice. Let me read some scripture to
you. Turn to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. I know fellas
find all kinds of loopholes and things about which to argue in
preaching free grace, but let me quit preaching and just read
a little bit. Just read what the book says. Now this is not Don Fortner's
word, this is God's word. Romans 4 verse 8. Blessed is
the man. Oh, thank God. I'm one of those
men. I'm one of those men. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord will not charge sin. To whom the Lord will not impute
sin. Look in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 verse 1. There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation. Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath bled, and there is remission. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Look in
verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who is going to impute sin to
you? It is God that justifieth. Verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather than is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. Oh, I want so much for
every one of you who trust Jesus Christ to get hold of this blessed,
glorious fact. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. Neither have you seen perverseness
in Israel. Rejoice in it. Give God the praise
for it. And walk in the blessed comfort
and assurance of it all the days of your life. The Lord Jesus
Christ has, by the sacrifice of himself, put away our sins. All of them. Past, present, and
future. He put them away forever. The
Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The chastisement of
our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. He
has made an end of sin. He in one day by his one sacrifice
put away all the sins of his people according to Zechariah's
prophecy. By his blood we are justified
from all things from which we could not be justified by the
law of Moses. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
the 10th chapter verse 11. Every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering often times the same sacrifices that
can never take away savings. In the Old Testament, at the
Jewish temples, The priest offered sacrifices every morning, came
back every night, offered sacrifices. Every time somebody was polluted,
they offered a sacrifice. Every time somebody was made
unclean, they offered a sacrifice. Every time somebody, a woman
went through her monthly cycle, she offered a sacrifice. Every
time a child was born, a sacrifice was offered. They offered always
constant sacrifices, constant sacrifices, every day, but they
could never put away. But this man, this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, because the work was done. From henceforth
expect until his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering
he hath in the eyes of God Almighty perfected forever them that are
sanctified. God the Father has upon the ground of Christ
shed blood and righteous obedience upon the ground of his sacrifice
and satisfaction freely and fully forgiven the sins of his people
the blood of Christ like the blood on the mercy seat so covers
our sins that our sins are not visible to the eye of God's holy
justice The blood of Christ has blotted our sins out of the ledger
book of heaven so that God himself can't find them. For Christ's
sake, the holy Lord God has cast our sins behind his back and
forgotten them. He's cast them into the depth
of the sea and he'll never dig them up again. Turn to Jeremiah
50 and look at it one more time. Jeremiah 50 verse 20. In those days, at that time,
that is in the day of judgment, when all things are made known, when everybody is going to have
to answer to God, you and me. In that time, saith the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. The iniquity of Don Fortner.
God's gonna look for it. God's gonna look for it. And there shall be none. And the sins of Judah. You too. You who are born of God. You
who trust the Son of God, you who are washed in his blood,
robed in his righteousness, the sins of Judah, God will look
for them. But they shall not be found. How come? For I will pardon them whom I
reserve. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. In God's esteem, you and I, as
the Church in Bright of Christ, are the very perfection of beauty
and holiness. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit look upon us in Christ, washed in
His blood, robed in His righteousness, as beautiful, perfect, complete,
holy, unblameable, unreprovable, without spot, without blemish
in His sight. So that God declares, Thou art
comely, through my comeliness which I have put upon thee. Thou
art fair, my love, my dove, my undefiled. He hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.
That which I've endeavored to preach to you this morning, the
fact that God sees no sin in his people, to borrow the words
of John Gild is the glory of the Bible and the marrow of the
gospel. what most displays the riches
of God's grace, the efficacy of Christ's blood, the completeness
of his righteousness, and the fullness of his satisfaction.
It is the foundation of all solid hopes of future happiness, what
supports the life of faith, and the ground of the believer's
triumph. Now let me ask you, would you have this forgiveness? Would you? I mean forgiveness. Forgiveness, such forgiveness. Such forgiveness that God sees
no sin in you. That God will not remember your
sin. Other folks may never forget
it. While you live in this world,
you'll never forget it. Hope you don't. I was in my hometown a couple weeks ago. Every time
I'm there, I run across somebody who remembers me. Other folks never forget. They
never forget. Never let you forget. so thoroughly forgive sin for
Christ's sake that he says I will not remember their iniquities
against them forever. Would you have that forgiveness?
Would you be thoroughly completely absolved from sin so that you
can go to bed tonight and lay your head on your pillow with
these words ringing with joyful sound in your heart. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not imbue sin. God hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob nor perverseness in Israel. If you would walk
out of those doors in just a minute being absolved In the high court
of heathen, of all sin, come to Christ. Look to Christ. Confess your sin, trusting the
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. And He declares if we
confess our sin. That means if you confess your
sin. That means if you confess your sin. If you confess your
sin. If I confess my sin. God, here
I am. if we confess our sin. He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Amen.