Psalms chapter 32. Our purpose to spend the day in this
Psalms this morning service and this afternoon service. We are
going to look at verses 1 and 2 this morning, but I want to
read the whole psalm. Psalms chapter 32. Blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones
waxed whole through my roaring, my groaning, all the day long. For day and night your hand was
heavy upon me. My moisture is turned unto the
drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin unto thee,
and my iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions
unto the Lord, and thou forgivest the iniquity of my sin. For this
shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when
thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great
waters they shall not come near unto him. Thou art my hiding place. Thou
shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with
songs of deliverance alive. I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with my
eye. Be not as the horse or as the
mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with
bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows
shall be to the wicked, but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy
shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice. and shout for joy all ye that
are upright in heart." Here in verses 1 and 2 we have this marvelous
declaration. What a blessed, blessed declaration. And in these two verses he tells
us different ways in which God deals with our sins. And this
is what makes it such a blessed declaration. He tells us in verse
1 that He forgives our transgressions and that He covers our sins. And in verse 2 that He does not
impute our iniquity unto us. That's a blessed declaration.
But what He doesn't say is also very informative. This word blessed
means happy. And the title of my message this
morning, I guess we can think of it like this, is Happy, Happy,
Happy. And I tell you why, because these
three ways in which he deals with our sin. Happy is the man
whose transgression is forgiven. Happy is the man whose sins are
covered. Happy is the man to whom the
Lord does not impute iniquity. So he's happy, happy, happy. A happily declaration. But let's
read it like this, and it's not so happy. Happy are those who
are rich in material things. Happy are those who have abundance
of this world's goods. and property and things. Aren't
you glad it doesn't read like that? It's not always happiness
to be rich, is it? Sometimes the greatest ruin that
anybody has ever known has been brought to them by the love of
riches. The time it takes to get them, the weary in keeping them, The
fear of losing them, riches, doesn't make you happy. It won't make you happy. We even
have a warning in the scripture. Warn those who are rich in this
world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches. Riches, the wise man said, are
like birds sitting on the fence. They take their flight and they're
gone. They're gone. Somebody said there's
two things that's certain in this life. Taxes and death. But you know there's something
else that's certain. We brought nothing into this world and it's
certain we ain't going to carry anything out. These two fellows were standing
on the street watching the funeral procession go by. This rich man. Filthy rich. And one said to
the other, how much did he leave behind? And he said he left it
all. He left it all. Happy are the
rich. No. He didn't say that, did he? And he didn't say this. Even
this. Happy is the man who is blessed
with good health. Oh, how we crave good health.
I long for good health to work. good health to play, good health
to be independent, not have to trust in other people to take
care of me. I hope I stay in relatively good health until
I die, but die I shall. This body's growing weaker just
like yours, and soon it's going to get feeble and flimsy, and
then the heart's going to quit beating, the lungs are going
to stop pumping, and we're going to die. We're going to die. I want good health. I want good
health. But I tell you, it's not going
to last forever, is it? It ain't. He didn't say this. Happy is
the man who has a loving spouse and his quiver full of obedient
children. And he lives to see his grandchildren
grown and become citizens. Happy is that man. You know all
that is wonderful, but it's temporary, isn't it? My wife and I, Bill and Diana's
having an anniversary, but you know that's temporary. So I'm
probably thankful for that. Bill and Diana aren't, but it's
temporary, isn't it? A temporary relationship is going
to be over with. He didn't say this. Happy is
that man who is loved by this world. And everybody speaks well
of him. And everybody likes him. And
they can't wait to build a monument to him when he's gone. He didn't
say that. You know what the Master said
about that? Woe be to you when all men speak well of you. They
didn't have very much good to say about our Lord, did they?
He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow and acquainted
with grief. No, here's what he said. Blessed
are those whose iniquities are not charged to them. Blessed
are those whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man who is forgiven
of his transgressions. A man may be of Lazarus. full
of sores, have to bag crumbs from a rich man's table. But
if his transgressions are forgiven, he is a happy man. A person may be an Abigail and
have a fool for a husband. A woman may be a Naomi and lose
her husband and lose her children and be wound up with nothing.
But if your transgressions are forgiven, you are a happy person. Anybody that's persecuted to
this world, anybody that's hated of this world, anybody that has
friends forsake them, they know what that means. That hurts you.
But I tell you, if your transgressions are forgiven, you're a happy
person. You are a happy person. Anybody
who knows anything about the nature of God, His holiness,
His eternal power and His deity, anybody that knows anything about
God's sovereign prerogative that Glenn just sang to us about,
His sovereign will, you can't force Him to do anything, can
you? You can't stop Him from doing anything. He does according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of this earth, and no man can stay his hand and say unto him,
What doest thou? One man said, God is out of control. He's out of our control. He does
according to his will. David said, Whatever he's pleased. That's what he does. Oh, we know
something about God's sovereign prerogative. That we don't force
Him. We don't make Him. We don't coach
Him. Anybody that knows anything about
the evil nature of sin, what it deserves, sin, when it's finished,
brings forth death. The wages of sin is death. Anybody that knows anything about
the endless eternity that we're facing, where the soul never
dies, He that is filthy, let him be filthy still. For all
eternity, for all eternity. But he that's righteous, let
him be righteous still. He that's guilty, let him be
guilty still. But he that's forgiven, let him
be forgiven still. For all eternity, for all eternity. And when we know something about
these things, boy, doesn't it make us happy. when we know that
our transgressions are forgiven. Happy, happy, happy. Ask those saints in heaven if
anything else matters in this life. What else matters when
you look back upon your life upon that earth? Was there anything
more important than having your transgressions forgiven? Ask
those in hell. Ask those who are in torment.
Looking back upon it now, what would have been the single most
important thing? What would have made you happy?
Oh, to have my transgressions forgiven. What is that worm that
our Lord talked about that eats upon the souls of men? What is
that worm that never dies? Is that not that gnawing guilt? that men would have to endure
through eternity. What makes the saints joy and
rejoice in heaven? What are they singing about up
there? He loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood. Happy, happy, happy. Our Lord was preaching One day
in a house, there were so many people there that nobody else
could get in the door. And they brought a man that had
the policy to bury swollen, retaining his water, having difficulty
breathing, full of pain. And they let this man down through
the ceiling, right in front of our Lord where He was preaching.
And the Lord looked at that man, laying there on that little cot,
and He made a wonderful statement to him. He said, Son, be of good
cheer. Now, Lord, we appreciate Your
kindness to this man, but look at him. Look at him, how sick
he is. He can't even walk. Be of good
cheer. Let the Lord finish, would you?
Stop interrupting him until he's finished what he has to say.
Lord, we're sorry. Would you finish what you had
to say? Alright. Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins
be forgiven thee. Oh, it doesn't matter what we
face. It doesn't matter if we don't have a spouse. It doesn't
matter if we've lost our head. It doesn't matter if we have
nothing and we beg for a living. It doesn't matter if this world
hates us and our friends forsake us. I tell you, brothers and
sisters, that which would make a poor sinner happy is to live
in the knowledge and faith of this. Happy are those whose transgressions
are forgiven. Will you agree with that? I've
said this so many times, but I just love saying it. What would
it mean for everybody here this morning to leave this place and
know that all your sins were forgiven? Wouldn't that make you happy?
Happy as you lived your life in this world? That all your
sins were forgiven? Happy when you come down to die?
when the cold dew of death, as we say, lies upon our brow. Happy
when we stand before God in the judgment and happy for all eternity
because our transgressions are forgiven us. Happy. To be envied
is the man whose transgressions are forgiven. And the second
thing he says about it, and here's a wonderful thing about this
aspect God dealing with our sins. Not only happy are they who transgressions
are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. I used to read this
as a parallel passage where the Apostle quoted it over in Romans
chapter 4. And when the Lord first saved
me and I read that, I thought, I don't like that. I don't like
for my sins to be covered. I didn't understand this aspect
of the way the Lord deals with our sins until I began to think
about it. You know, when the Lord forgives
us our sins, He forgets about them. He throws them behind His back.
I'll never remember them against you again. Ain't that what He
says? Do you ever remember them? He never sees them. He cannot
see them. But boy, you can, can't you? When the Lord first saved me,
and you probably can relate to this in yourself, I thought,
man, I'm free from the knowledge of sin. I had such a sense of
sins forgiven, but it wasn't long till I began to see my sins
in such a light that I never saw them before. They were awful. Stinking. And I'd look at them with my
mind's eye, and I'd think to myself, oh my soul, does God
see this? Does God see this? Well, here's
the blessing of this particular verse. Blessed are those whose
sins are covered. God cannot see the sins of His
people. He keeps them. There's that parable in Luke
15 about the prodigal son. Remember the prodigal when he
was down feeding the hogs, the swine? And he said, I'm going
home to my father's house. I'm starving to death. I'm perishing
down here. And he goes home to his father's house. But nothing's
ever said about him changing clothes. He didn't have any.
And nothing's ever said about him taking a bath. He goes home
just like he was when he was in the far country. He's stinking. He's got the smell. You've been
working around swine, and you know what hogs smell like. You
get it all in your skin. And he went home that way, and
this is what the father said once he fell upon him and kissed
him. He said, bring the best robe and put it on him. And I
used to think, wait a minute, give him a bath first. But nothing
was said about that. You know, I think what the Holy
Spirit leaves out sometimes is just as inspiring as what he
puts it here. Can you see this robe being brought
and put over his old nasty body? Over his old stinking body? But
it was such a robe that you couldn't see his filth. And it was probably
such a thick robe you couldn't smell his stink. Oh, what a beautiful picture
of when God clothes us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
He washes us from our sins. We know He does that. But you know, in our own eyes,
in our own sight, He covers up our sins. There is such a thing
as covering our sins. We see them. And to us, they
stink to our heaven, don't they? We feel so filthy. The more you
grow in grace and knowledge, Don't you see more of your sin
than you've ever seen? Did you ever dream when the Lord
first saved you that you could be as bad as you are now? But you know the way you see
yourself is totally different than the way God sees you. You
see your sins, you cry, you groan, but you know He's got them all
covered. He's got them all covered. Listen to this passage. I will
greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall rejoice in my God. Why? For he hath clothed me with
the garments of salvation. He hath clothed me. He didn't even trust me to do
it for myself. He did it. And listen to this. He hath covered me with a robe
of righteousness. He has covered me. He has covered
my sins. He can see through this robe.
He can smell through this robe. He covers them. And I see them. And you see them. But He does. Oh, the perfect marriage of Jesus
Christ. How full of merit he must be
that he can put his robe over a man's sins and God can't see
him. Blessed are they whose sins are covered. Thou wilt cast all
their sins into the depths of the sea. Why did he use a phrase
like that? You know, you get down so deep
and you can't see anything in the sea. It's dark. It's dark. You can't see them.
You can't see anything. God put our sins and He covered
them up. He covered them up with the depths.
I imagine when Israel saw the Egyptian army covered, they thought,
man, He's covered our enemies. I can tell you a greater blessing
than that. He's covered our sins. That high priest once a year
went into that holy place. And boy, there was that law,
that Ten Commandment law in that little ark. And he had to remember
when that law was given. The angels and the lightning
and the threatenings. But you know something? That
ark was covered with the mercy sin. Covered. God is a God who covers. Is your
sins covered? You see Him. You have knowledge
of Him. But He doesn't. He's put a robe
over the garment of the righteousness of His dear Son. Here's the third way. Here's
the third happy. It's found here in verse 2. Look
at this. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Now, we have these three things
here. Sin is described as transgression. We know what that means, don't
we? I saw a sign. My wife and I were walking yesterday
in the neighborhood. We had a fellow move in the neighborhood,
and now he's got his property posted. No trespassing. No trespassing. That's where we get our sign.
Get this transgression. No trespassing. How would you
trespass? You go beyond that sign. You
go beyond the bounds. That's what transgression is.
God has set the bounds. And He said, don't you cross
over. He tells us what we can do and what we can't do. And
He says, don't you cross this line. And when we cross that
line, that's transgression. We trespass. We're on forbidden
land. And this word sin, it's a falling
short. It's falling short. God says
you live up to this standard, and we fell short. We sinned
and come short of the glory of God. But this word iniquity,
as it's used here, this is Webster and some of the theologians.
They give this definition of iniquity, that which is turned
out of its proper course, that which is turned from good to
evil, from anything moral, from anything moral, from the way
that's moral, to that which is distorted and perverted." Boy,
that's a way to describe us, ain't it? Turned out of the way. That's right. To go astray. From that which is good to that
which is evil. That's what our iniquity means.
Here's what David said about it. Lord, I am gone astray like a
lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not
forget thy commandments. I am gone astray. That's what his iniquity meant.
He's astray. I'm astray, I've gone astray.
All we like sheep have gone astray. That's our iniquity. We've gone
from that which is right to that which is perverted. We stopped
following that which is good back in the garden, and what
happened to it? We went after that which is evil.
That's our iniquity. That's our iniquity. But David
was such a paradox, for listen to what he said. I do not forget
thy commandment. I do not forget thy commandment.
And yet I am going astray. Which one is the truth? Which one is the truth? David,
have you gone astray? Or do you remember his commandments? Both of them. Both of them. We're two people, aren't we?
When the Lord saves us and washes us from our sins and He covers
them, He leaves this old man untouched. He puts a new man,
an inner man inside. He's created in righteousness
and true holiness. He remembers God's commandments.
He delights in the Lord His God. But you have this old man. What's
he like? He's gone astray. He's gone astray. What's the Lord going to do with
it? Does the Lord even know it? Yes, He knows. I know your down
settings. I know your uprisings. I remember
that you're nothing but dust. You know what He called His apostles
one day? He was talking to them about
how would you treat your children? If one of them came up and asked
a piece of bread, would you give him a stone? If one of your children
asked you for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? And then
he said something to them that's amazing. He said, if you, then
evil. Lord, these are your children.
Yes, and they're evil. What does that mean? That means
they've gone astray. That means they follow that which
is perverted. And it's amazing. You know what
the Lord says? You know what this word imputed
means? Not to charge with it. And what the Lord basically says,
I know you. I know you thoroughly. I know
what you're like. I've known you ever since the
fall. I know you now. I know you're evil. But I'm not
going to hold it against you. That's my language, but ain't
that what he's saying? I'm not going to charge you with
it. Brothers and sisters, this is
one of the most blessed things. It's wonderful to be forgiven.
Oh, thank God that we're forgiven. Thank God that this sin is covered. But what about what we are? He can't forgive what we are.
He doesn't so much cover what we are, but he says, I'm not
going to hold it against you. Isn't that wonderful? I'm just not going to hold it
against you. Pronged to wonder, Lord, I feel it. But I'm not
going to hold it against you. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. I will not impute their guilt
unto them. Oh, happy. Happy. If He imputes
it to us, Then He'll kill us. He'll destroy us. And we can't
stand before Him. But here's what He says. Here's
the covenant. Here's covenant language. I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness. As long as they live in this
lifetime, they're going to be that way. They're going to be
straying. What makes you pray? Lord, don't
leave me to myself. What makes you pray, Lord, draw
me and I'll run after you? Your way is not in you to correct
yourself. Straying. Straying. Always going to stray. I'm not
going to hold it against you. Oh, my goodness. That's the most
wonderful thing. This is the gospel. No one is
told good news. Always the gospel. Now, some
self-righteous legalist, he's going to stand up and he's going
to say this. Bruce, it's this kind of teaching that leads to
antinomianism, to lawlessness, to carelessness, to blatant disregard
of God's worship and His service. If you want men to be holy, you've
got to bind their conscience. You've got to make them fearful. When they do anything wrong,
you've got to hold them over hell. And if you don't do that,
they won't be good Christians. Well, here's the way he closed
verse 2. After saying, happy, happy, happy.
Here's the way he described those happy people. In whose spirit
there is no doubt. Oh, if this won't make you honest
with God, if this gospel won't make you love Him and adore Him
and humbly walk with Him and be honest with Him, nothing will. You'll never beat the gospel
for a motivating force to cleanse yourself from all hypocrisy and
self-righteousness and vain deceit. Happy, happy, happy. Oh, you'll not beat that gospel,
brothers and sisters. You may beat the messenger. You
may improve on him, but you will not beat this gospel. Happy,
happy, happy. Let us pray.