Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. I'll get there
in a few minutes. To be blessed in the sense in
which the scriptures use the word blessed is to be fortunate,
well-off, happy, even highly esteemed. But the fact is many
who appear to be blessed and think themselves blessed are
really cursed. And those things that they esteem
to be blessings of God, health, prosperity, property, power,
are really things by which God Almighty is just fattening cares
for the slaughter and they are cursed. And many who appear to
be cursed and even think themselves cursed are blessed. So my question
today is, who is blessed? That's my subject. Who is blessed? I know you've got your hands
at Romans chapter 4, but let's turn back to the Psalms. I want
you to look at something. Psalm 1. The Word of God specifically
identifies some people in this world as people who are blessed
of God, people who are in a perpetual state of blessedness, an everlasting
state of blessedness, a people who are extremely well-off, supremely
favored, fortunate, highly esteemed, and highly exalted by God. Here in the first Psalm we read,
blessed is the man that walketh 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. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his
season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Now obviously the only
man who fits the description of this blessed man is Jesus
Christ the Lord. He alone is that man of whom
it can be said, whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Christ is
that man who is the blessed man of the first Psalm. I begin with
this because I want you to understand that all others who are blessed
are blessed because of him, from him, in him, and with him. In Psalm 2, verse 12. The psalmist
speaks to sinners like you and me and says, kiss the son lest
he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled
but a little. Blessed are they that put their
trust in him. That's 33rd Psalm. The psalmist
says, blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord. and the
people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. So he speaks
of a nation, not a physical nation. Not a physical nation. There
is no such thing as a physical nation whose God is the Lord. We have in our nation, on our
monetary system, I think all the coins and all the dollar
bills we have issued by our government have stated, in God we trust,
would to God that were so. But the fact is there is no physical
nation, even including the nation of Israel physically, even in
the days of Moses and the children of Israel in the Old Testament,
there is no physical nation of whom it can be said their God
is the Lord. But there is a holy nation, a
nation of people chosen, redeemed, and called by God, born again
of His Spirit, in whom Christ dwells, who worship God in spirit
and in truth. You who believe are that holy
nation, the Israel of God, whose God is the Lord. The psalmist
urges us in Psalm 34, verse 8, Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. Oh, would to God, you who do
not know our God, would this day taste and see that the Lord
is good. Blessed is that man that trusteth
in him. Then the psalmist tells us in
Psalm 65, 4, blessed is the man whom thou choosest, those who
trust him. These who are His holy nation
are those whom He chooses and calls us to approach unto Thee,
that He may dwell in Thy courts. We shall be satisfied, these
who are chosen and called of God. We who dwell in the house
of our God shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house,
even of Thy holy temple. And then in Psalm 84, listen
to this, verse 4, Blessed are they that dwell in thy house,
that dwell in thy house. Speaking of the house of worship,
they that dwell in thy house, dwelling not just in a physical
building, but as we day by day walk with God. As we gather in
our public assemblies in the name of Christ, we gather with
the saints of God at the altar of God in heaven itself, the
New Jerusalem, the General Assembly, the Church of the Firstborn.
They will be still praising Thee. They will be still praising Thee.
I wonder why he put it that way. They will be still praising Thee
until. That's not what he said. They
will be still praising thee when? That's not what it said. No,
no, no. Those who dwell in God's house, worshiping God, walking
with God by faith in Christ, will still be praising God wherever
they're found, whatever their circumstances, in time and to
eternity. Blessed is the man whose strength
is in thee. whose heart are in the ways of
them, of them who dwell in God's house. Oh, Lord of hosts, blessed
is the man that trusteth in thee. But turn to Matthew chapter 5.
Matthew chapter 5. Here in his sermon on the mount,
our Lord Jesus identifies those who are numbered among the blessed. But you'll see that he speaks
of these blessed ones. These who are blessed of God,
fortunate, well-off, happy, highly exalted, highly esteemed, appear
to be anything but blessed. Matthew chapter 5, seeing the
multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples
came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught
them. He taught them. Remember we read
Psalm 32? Psalm of David, my skill, Psalm
of instruction. And David says, I'm instructing
you now about those who are blessed. Here our Lord teaches us the
same thing David did. And he opened his mouth and taught
them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit. Not the poor,
the poor in spirit. So everybody's poor in spirit.
Yes, but they don't all know it. Blessed are they who know
the poverty of their souls, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn, mourn for what they are, mourn
for their sins, mourn for their Savior who suffered for their
sins, mourn for Him as one mourns for his only Son, for they shall
inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Who hunger and thirst for perfect
righteousness before God. Righteousness that will stand
them in good stead with God. Righteousness by which their
own consciences are satisfied. For it is the righteousness by
which God is satisfied. For they shall be filled. they
shall have it. Blessed are the merciful, those
who are gracious and kind and merciful, for they shall obtain
mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
made pure by God's grace in the new birth, for they shall see
God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are
they which are persecuted Not just persecuted, persecuted for
righteousness sake. Persecuted because of the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. Not persecuted because they pretend
to be good. Not persecuted because they act
so superior to others. We are living in a day of church
signs. Everywhere you go, you see church
signs. If you were to keep a record of the nonsense on church signs,
you could write a comic book if it weren't so sad. The best
church sign I ever saw was a long time ago, Brother Larry Brown
and I were in Anchorage, Alaska, driving down a road, and it wasn't
hanging over a church building. It was hanging in front of a
bar. It said, if you wear your halo too light, it gives the
rest of us a headache. If you wear your halo too tight,
it gives the rest of us a headache. He's not talking about that kind
of righteousness. He's not talking about folks who pretend to be
righteous. Oh, no. No, no. Blessed are those
who are persecuted because of the testimony of the gospel,
of righteousness by Christ Jesus alone. For theirs is the kingdom
of God. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you. Revile you because of the gospel
you believe. revile you because of the faith
God has given you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding
glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you." All right, let's
look at Romans chapter 4. According to this book, there
are some people in this world who are truly blessed, blessed
of God, blessed from eternity, blessed now and blessed forever
in Christ, blessed with all grace here and with all glory hereafter. There are some sons and daughters
of Adam who are truly blessed. Who are they? Who is blessed
of God? Here the Apostle Paul quotes
Psalm 32, which we read earlier, and tells us who they are. Even
as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom
God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. I despise religious cliches. And I despise the tendency of
men to use language that appears pious. I just despise it. I cringe every time I hear it.
You ask somebody how they're doing, oh, I'm blessed. I want
to say I doubt it. I'm blessed. Because most people
who say it have no idea what they're talking about. You ask
somebody how they're doing, oh, so much better than I deserve.
That may impress some fellows. It doesn't me. It doesn't me. I despise religious cliches and
pretensions of piety. Those who are blessed of God,
may be very poor, and they may have troubled lives, and they
may be sick, they may be crippled, they may be in many ways afflicted
in such ways that men would look at them and say, oh, what a miserable
life that man has. Who would look at Lazarus sitting
at the gate of the rich man begging for some bread As the dogs came
and licked his sores, look at him and say, oh, what a disgusting
way to live. How miserable he must be. He
was blessed of God. And the rich man whose bread
he begged was cursed of God. Who is blessed? Oh, the blessedness of the man. unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Paul begins this chapter
by asking how Abraham was blessed He answers, by believing God. How was Abraham justified? By
believing God. Then he asks, how was David blessed? How was David justified? He answers,
by believing God. In both cases, they were blessed
by the righteousness of God. A righteousness without works. Righteousness without the law. a righteousness witnessed by
the law and the prophets. That is, these men, David and
Abraham, were given of God this blessedness of perfect righteousness
to which all the scriptures in the Old Testament gave testimony. How did they have this righteousness? Only by believing God. What is it that makes a man blessed?
It is by that faith which God gives, that faith which God alone
can give, that faith which God puts in the soul, causing sinners
to draw near to God by faith in Christ Jesus. Come back to
the 32nd Psalm. You might want to put a bookmark
of some kind here. We'll be going back to it a couple
more times. In this passage, the Apostle
Paul is talking about free justification by faith in Christ. That's been
his subject from the 20th verse of chapter 3 and will be his
subject through the end of chapter 5. He's talking about free justification
by faith in Christ. I find it instructive that he
is inspired by God the Holy Spirit to quote here Psalm 32. There are many Psalms he could
have quoted by which David spoke of righteousness and justification. But in this portion that he quotes,
David says nothing about righteousness, he says nothing about justification,
he says nothing about faith. But the Apostle is inspired by
God the Holy Spirit to tell us that what he's talking about
is righteousness and faith. David's talking about forgiveness.
Paul says he's talking about righteousness and faith. David's
talking about blessedness, happiness, being well off, being highly
esteemed of God, being favored of God. What's he talking about?
Psalm 32, verse 1. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. And then David says something
that Paul omits, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Paul, writing by the same spirit
of inspiration, interprets David's words to speak of righteousness,
the righteousness of God imputed to us, freely by His grace without
works and faith in Christ, the righteousness of faith. The blessed
man is that man to whom God imputes righteousness without works. There is no blessedness any other
way than by the free gift of perfect righteousness before
God Almighty known in the soul. There is no blessedness to be
obtained in any other way than by the free gift of perfect righteousness
given by God Almighty, that righteousness made known in your soul by faith
in Jesus Christ. In spite of weariness, sorrow,
conflict, cares, fears, and burdens, there is such a thing as blessedness. That's worth repeating. In spite
of weariness, sorrow, conflict, cares, fears, and burdens, there
is such a thing as blessedness, real blessedness. extreme favor,
extreme happiness, extreme delight, extreme satisfaction, blessedness. And this blessedness God freely
gives to every poor, miserable, sorrowful, burdened, weary, thirsty,
hungry, heavy laden sinner who trusts his dear son. Would you
know blessedness? Blessedness with which to live
in this world. Blessedness with which to walk
with God. Blessedness with which to deal
with the cares and the burdens, the sorrows, the griefs, the
pains, the heartaches, the troubles by which our lives day by day
throughout this sojourn must be affected. Would you know this
blessedness? Believe on the Son of God and
this blessedness is yours. The apostle, in quoting David's
words, prefaces them this way. and interprets them in the way
he prefaces them. David describeth the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness. If we would have
dealings with God, we must approach God in righteousness. If God
deals with us, he must approach us in righteousness. There is
no other way for the holy God to deal with man, and no other
way for sinful men to deal with God, except by perfect righteousness. And if sinful men would have
perfect righteousness, it must be a righteousness altogether
without works. A righteousness freely bestowed
upon us in Christ Jesus the Lord. Righteousness of faith. Let me
see if I can illustrate it for you. The prodigal son didn't
work for the best robe. His father put it on him. Joseph
didn't work for his robe of many colors that distinguished him
from his brothers. Rather, his father made it and
his father gave it to him. Adam didn't work for the skins
with which the Lord God clothed him. God stripped him of his
fig leaves and put the skins upon him. So it is with the sinner. Coming to God by faith in Christ
Jesus, God gives us righteousness without works. Righteousness
without works. Righteousness without us doing
or feeling or saying anything. Righteousness obtained not by
us making a decision, not by us altering our lives, not by
us reforming our conduct, not even by us exercising our will. It is righteousness given to
us, received by faith, taken from the hands of God as our
own because God makes it our own. That's the righteousness
of God given to us in Christ Jesus. That's the righteousness
of faith. Now, in the text we have before
us this morning, we have here five things vital to the existence
of blessedness. Five things vital to the existence
of blessedness. The first, I've already been
talking about, righteousness. Righteousness must be imputed
to us. This is what Paul declares in
this portion of scripture. Our Lord Jesus is that man who
fulfilled the commandment of God given by John the Baptist. You remember what John said?
He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none. You're walking down the street
on a cold day and you've got two coats. You're wearing one.
You've got one at home. And here comes a fella who doesn't
have any. and you go back to the house
and get a coat and give it to him. Our Lord Jesus did just
that. He has two coats of righteousness. That which is his because he
is God. That attribute of righteousness.
That he does not impart or give to anyone. But he has another
coat. A coat of his making. A coat
performed by Him, made by Him as the God-man, our mediator,
in His obedience to God as our substitute. And that He gives
to sinners who have no coat. The Scriptures speak of imputation
very clearly. And the Scriptures speak clearly
of a three-fold imputation. When Adam sinned in the garden,
we sinned in Adam. and because we sinned in our
father Adam his sin is imputed to us so that we are all born
sinners with sin imputed to us with a consciousness of guilt
before God when the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cursed tree
when he was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him our sins were imputed
to him. They became his sins so that
he stood before God responsible for our sins made his and suffered
all the wrath of God due to our sins and thus put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. And when God comes to sinners
in saving power and grace, creating us anew in Christ Jesus, imparting
to us the very nature of God's own Son, making us partakers
of the divine nature, imparting righteousness to us. He imputes
the righteousness of Christ to all who believe so that now the
sinner who was born and went astray from his mother's womb,
speaking lies, and lived all his life with a consciousness
of guilt and sin, being made clean by the blood of Jesus Christ,
washed again in the regenerating grace of God the Holy Spirit,
now has a conscience clean before God of righteousness imputed
to him by God's free grace. Second, our iniquities must be
forgiven, consciously forgiven, consciously forgiven, forgiven
so that we know they're forgiven. You remember what David said
when Nathan came to him and spoke to him about his sin. David said,
I've sinned. And Nathan said, the Lord hath
forgiven thy sin. He didn't say the Lord will.
He didn't say the Lord is, he said the Lord hath forgiven thy
sin. It's already done. But David
needed that word from God to know his sins are forgiven. He must have God speak to him
by his word in his soul. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions. And if we would know anything
of blessedness in this world, we must know our sins are forgiven. The psalmist uses these words
to speak of sin. One won't do. Iniquities, transgressions,
sins. David even uses the word the
iniquity of my sin. The inequity of my corrupt nature. The word forgiven means to lift
up, send forth, lay aside, cast off, take away. That's what God
has done with our sins by the sacrifice of Christ. The Lord
Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the tree and he put them
away. Now, once in the end of the world,
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The psalmist says, as far as
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. Years ago, Brother Daniel Parks
made this observation. He said, I'm so thankful David
didn't say as far as the north is from the south. Because you
can travel north until you reach the north pole. Or you can travel
south until you reach the south pole. But you can travel east
and you will never reach the end and find the east pole. And
you can travel west and you will never reach the end and find
the west pole. So far hath He removed our iniquities
from us as far as the east is from the west. He's put them
away, cast them behind His back, cast them into the depths of
the sea. In the sweet experience of His
grace, as soon as a poor guilty soul looks to Christ, confessing
his sins, The Spirit of God lifts them up and casts them away. I have a beautiful picture of
it on the Day of Atonement. The great high priest was commanded
of God to take two goats, one to be the Lord's goat and one
to be the scapegoat because it takes two to portray the work
of our Redeemer, our Passover. The Lord's goat the high priest
would take and lay on his head his hands and there confess all
the sins of Israel on the head of the goat and as he did he
took a knife and slit his throat and caught the blood in a bowl
and he carried the blood and sprinkled it on the altar and
he carried the blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled
it on the mercy seat and he came back out And he gave the scapegoat
over which he also confessed the sins of Israel into the hands
of a fit man. And that fit man carries the
scapegoat out into the wilderness. It had gone a long time. And
before the sun sets, here he comes. But now the goats go. So Christ carried our sins away. And he will never bring them
back. He carried them away. If we confess our sins, God is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to carry them away. Turn over to Psalm 51. Psalm
51. Look at this. David says, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy lovingkindness. Oh, what mercy that must be that's
according to the lovingkindness of our God. According to the
multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Blot
out my transgressions. We were over here late last night
and just before we went home, Shovel was finishing up some
things cleaning the church building and I decided to polish my shoes
And I was being very very careful. Just being very very careful
and I did something horrible. I Got polished right there on
my shirt One of my favorite shirts more important one of her paper
shirts Cordovan polish right there on that yellow shirt You
can't imagine how I hated to tell her that Here it is nearly
midnight and she's got to go home and work on that shirt.
And you know what she did? She blotted it all out. She got every speck of it out.
I mean she worked and worked and worked until she got it all
out. To blot out is not just to cover
it up, but to take it away. So Christ has blotted out our
transgressions. so thoroughly blotted them out
that God himself does not behold iniquity in Israel or sin in
Jacob. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. against
thee. Thee only have I sinned, and
done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."
He's not offering an excuse, he's just telling a fact. Behold,
thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part
thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop. Purge me
with hyssop, that same hyssop with which you carry blood into
the Holy of Holies. Purge me with the blood of Christ,
and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. If you do this, Lord God, make
me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast
broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins. Blot out my iniquities. Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Will you hear me? There is forgiveness
with God that he may be feared. What on earth can that statement
mean? There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. Meryl Hart, you were afraid of
God all your life. Afraid of God all your life.
Without forgiveness. What's that talking about? There
is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be worshipped. That
thou mayest be worshipped. Do you remember what we read
in Psalm 212? Kiss the son lest he be angry when his wrath is
kindled but a little. I heard someone just recently
preaching. I forgot who it was. I saw him
preaching with his brother Greg Elmquist down in Sarasota. He
said, if I had pets, I'll have a dog, not a cat. A cat, you've
got one. That's about all you can say
about it. But a dog, a dog comes and licks your hand. He said,
if I have a pet, I'm going to have one that adores me. That's
the very word. Come and lick the Master's hand with adoration and worship Him. That's it. Kiss the Son. You
can only do it if you're conscious of forgiveness. There's forgiveness
with God. He delights in mercy. Come then,
kiss the Son. Adore the Son. Worship God in
Christ Jesus. Third, our sins must be covered. This covering speaks of atonement.
Atonement by the sin-atoning blood of the Lord Jesus. That
blood by which our sins are covered. Covered from the eye of God.
Never seen again. Never brought up again. The mercy
seat sprinkled with blood covered the broken law. Noah's ark was
pitched within and without with pitch. Completely covered. Completely covered with pitch.
So that no water seeped into the ark. No water came through
the cracks. It was completely covered. The
wrath of God could not have a drop inside that ark because it was
covered. So it is with all who believe
on the Son of God. With all who are forgiven of
their sins, covered. Covered so that God doesn't see
them. Covered so that there's reconciliation,
atonement made with God. The word atonement, the word
reconciliation are synonyms. They speak of the same thing.
God says, Will meet you on the mercy seat And that's where I'll
talk to you nowhere else where your sins are covered. Oh Come
to God and enjoy the blessedness of sin covered from his eyes
Born away by blood atonement Buried with Christ in his tomb
buried there forever so that they are never brought up again
We know because he came forth without sin in the resurrection. And so our sins are born away
and buried, covered by blood atonement. Fourth, if we would
enjoy blessedness, blessedness. I know what it is to live in misery. cursed. Do you? I know what it is. People look
at you. Boy, there's a leader. That's
a look. Look who follows him. He stands
out in the crowd. Look at him. Oh, but that leader
miserable. Tormented in his soul. Tormented
with guilt and sin. Tormented in the nights. Tormented as he thinks about
God, tormented when he contemplates eternity. Would you be blessed? If you would be blessed of God,
you must have the non-imputation of sins. The non-imputation of
sins. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. What horrible, horrible teaching
it is. It is but a remnant of paganism
and a remnant of papacy amongst Protestants and Baptists alike.
To teach that a man comes to God and he believes on Christ,
he trusts Christ and all of his past sins are under the blood. But now you got to watch out
for what you do next. You got to watch out for that.
God'll get you. God'll get you. Some of you been around this
nonsense. You got to tithe. If you don't tithe, God'll kill
your babies. What kind of God are you talking
about? What kind of forgiveness you talking about? If you don't
live right now, God'll send you some cancer. You'll suffer a
long time. And if you can't correct you,
he'll just kill you. That doesn't sound anything like
grace to me, does it, Jim? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. That's not
this blessedness. I'm talking about blessedness,
Don. The confident assurance that God will never charge me
with sin. How can you have that? I believe
him whom God made to be sin for me. And God, having imputed my
sin to Christ, will never impute my sin to me again. Christ, having
put away my sin, will never bring them back. God, having forgotten
my sins, will never call them to memory. Never. Oh, blessed
is the man. to whom the Lord will not impute
iniquity. David said to Nathan, I've sinned. I can just almost imagine the
thoughts going through his heart. What now? Oh, what's going to happen to
me now? What's going to happen to me now? The thing that David
did displeased the Lord. And God's going to show that,
but not by punishing David. No, no, no, no, no. He's going
to show it manifestly by his works of providence, but not
by punishing David. Nathan says to David, David,
no need for you to be afraid of God because you've sinned.
The Lord hath put away But the boy, he's gonna die.
He's gonna die. I want to make everybody know,
I'm displeased with what you've done. And the sword will never
depart from your house. You're gonna have a house full
of rebels the rest of your days. I want to make everybody know,
I want to make everybody know what you've done displeased me.
But you understand, I punished your sins in a substitute. I won't punish them in you. It
won't happen. And so David's son, while he was sick, you know
what David did? Prayed. Fasted. Prayed. He worshiped God. And when he
found out his boy had died, he said to his servants, bring me
something to eat. And he washed his face. We don't understand. While the child was living, you
were fasting and praying. Now that the child is dead, you've
washed your face and you go about your business. He said, that's
just it. Who can tell if God will be gracious?
But now my boy's gone, and I know, I know, I know that he can't
return to me, but I'll soon go to him. Everything's all right.
Because I am a blessed man. God will never impute sin to
me. He imputed my sin to my Savior. Now, turn back to Psalm 32. There's
one more thing. One more thing essential to this
blessedness. Only those in whom there is no
guile, no deceit, no double-mindedness, no cunning craftiness, Only those
who are holy can enjoy this blessedness. Blessed is the man, verse 2,
unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit
there is no guile. What? But Brother Don does much
guile in me. There is in you, in your old
nature, what you are by nature. But that man who is blessed of
God is the man unto whom righteousness imputed has righteousness imparted. He has been given a new nature,
made a new creature in Christ Jesus, made partaker of the divine
nature, and in that new man created in righteousness and in true
holiness being born again by God the Holy Spirit, by the mighty
operation of God's grace, in that new man there is no guile. There is no guile. That which
is born of God sinneth not. When our Lord Jesus saw Nathanael,
he said, behold, rachad, rachad, rachad. Let's make it a little more personal. That's Lindsey Campbell, right
yonder. A man, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Now, I know Lindsey Campbell
well enough to know that he'll tell you, I hope you don't see
it, but there's plenty there. Is that true? Plenty. Oh no, oh no. God looks on the
heart. And God looks on the heart of
that man, that woman, that sinner born of God. And behold, here
is a real son of Abraham, an Israelite indeed, a man, a woman
born of God in whom is no guile. That, my friend, is blessing. May God make it yours for Christ's
sake. Amen.