I got to looking at this Psalm.
I was considering bringing the second part of Psalm 34, but
I got looking at Psalm 32 after having read Romans 4 recently,
and I referenced this back, and I just couldn't put this down. And I felt impressed to bring
a message this evening to you from Psalm 32, entitled, The
Blessedness of the Believer. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE BELIEVER. THIS WORD THAT WE READ OFTEN
IN THE PSALM, BLESSED, MEANS HAPPY, MOST HAPPY. THOSE WHO ARE IN THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST ARE BLESSED ABUNDANTLY. YOU REMEMBER PAUL IN EPHESIANS
CHAPTER ONE, HE SAID, BLESS GOD, WE BLESS GOD. WHO HAD BLESSED
US WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN THE HEAVENLY IN THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST. GOD'S PEOPLE ARE BLESSED ABUNDANTLY. I LOOK THIS UP IN THE PSALMS. THAT WORD BLESSED IS USED 47
TIMES. 47 TIMES THE LORD SAYS HIS PEOPLE
ARE BLESSED. BLESSED. LET ME GIVE YOU A FEW
EXAMPLES. LOOK JUST OVER AT PSALM 33. Psalm 33 verse 12, blessed is
the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen
for his own inheritance. Remember, our Lord said, you
didn't choose me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you
should bring forth fruit unto my glory. And then another one
we could look at, we had this last week, Psalm 34, verse eight. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. Blessed is that man. Blessed
is that man that trusted in him. Now in Him is everything. In
Him is all salvation. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we are complete. Now let
me show you one more. Turn over to Psalm 65. Psalm
65. We transcribed a sermon by Brother
Mahan yesterday, and I proofread it today, and he brought a message
about election. And one of the references in
that message was Psalm 65, verse four. Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts, we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
even of thy holy temple. That man whom God has chosen
in that eternal covenant of grace, he's a blessed man. And that covenant of grace is
the eternal covenant of grace. Now, Psalm 32 verse one, 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. Now, notice he uses
three different words to describe the same problem. Did you notice
that in those two verses? What are those three words? Well,
the first one is transgression. The second one is sin, And the third one is
iniquity. Now, they all describe the same
problem we have as totally depraved sinners. Transgression, sin,
and iniquity. That's us by nature. Let's look
at those three words for a minute and think about what the Lord
says about, first of all, let's consider the word sin. Now, a
lot of people think they live without sin, especially a lot
of religious people. They have the saying, well, you
know, I used to be a sinner, but I'm not anymore. Or some
people say that we, now, we live above sin, or we live without
sinning against God. Now, the man who says that is
the man who's deceived in his heart. Remember what John writes,
John says, if we say we have no sin, S-I-N, he didn't say
S-I-N-S, sins, he says if we have no S-I-N, we deceive ourselves
and the truth's not in it. Now what he's saying is this,
if we say we have no sin nature, no totally depraved nature, WE
ARE DECEIVED IN OUR HEART. NOW, EVERY BELIEVER HAS THIS
UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HE IS BEFORE GOD. SIN IS NOT BASED UPON WHAT
I DO. SIN IS WHAT I AM. THE THINGS
I DO FLOW OUT FROM THIS CORRUPT FOUNTAIN OF SIN THAT I HAVE. DAVID SAID, I WAS BORN IN SIN,
SHAPEN IN INIQUITY. WICKED ARE BROUGHT FORTH FROM
THE WOMBS, SPEAKING LIES. How did we get that way? We're born that way. We're born
with that inherent guilt from Adam's fall, Adam's transgression
by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin.
So death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned. We have this terrible, rotten,
sin nature, and we are all by nature sinners through and through. Word, deed, thought, and practice. Preacher, you don't sin anymore,
do you? More than I want to. I'd stop if I could, but I can't. Now, the second word he uses
here is transgression. Transgression. That is what I
do. For sin is described, and this
is a good description of what sin is. Sin is a transgression
of the law. That's what it says in 1 John
chapter three. Sin is a transgression of the
law. The old timers called that a
sin of commission. There's a sign that says, no
trespassing. Well, when you cross that line
and you go beyond that sign, you have violated that law that
said no trespassing, and you become a transgressor against
that law. And that's what we have done
with God's holy law. We have transgressed the holy
law of God, TO FAIL IN ONE POINT OF THE LAW OF GOD IS TO BE GUILTY
OF ALL THE LAW. WHAT I DO IS A RESULT OF WHAT I AM. SIN
IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW. AND THAT'S WHAT WE ARE BY NATURE,
SINNERS AND TRANSGRESSORS. AND THEN THE THIRD WORD THAT
HE MENTIONS THERE DOWN IN VERSE 2, Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Now, what is iniquity? Well,
you can look these words up, but the Lord uses these three
words to describe our problem, and we have this problem through
and through. Iniquities, the definition is
moral perverseness, or lack of doing what is right, or what
I should have done, knowing it was right, I did not do what
was right, what I should have done. And the old timers called
that sin of omission. We have original sin, actual
sin, sin of commission, and sin of omission. Remember in James
chapter one, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not,
What is it? To him, it's sin. Now, we're
guilty of all three, through and through. If thou shouldest
mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? You remember Psalm
130? But, remember, there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. Now, the old timers,
one of them called these three words, the trinity of my sin.
sin, transgression, and iniquity. The trinity of my sin put away,
forgiven, covered, not imputed to me by the trinity of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit." I thought that was an interesting comment. What a blessedness we have in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect It is God who justifies. Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ who's already died
and taken away our sin. Transgression offenses against
God. Think about this. He says here,
the blessed man is that man whose transgression is forgiven. Now you think about that. Get a hold of that for a moment.
transgression forgiven, that is lifted off me, taken away,
pardoned, and purged forever, not just temporarily. not based
upon my performance or my anything. Offenses, transgression, forgiven,
taken away, how? By the blood atonement and the
blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, he was wounded
for our, what? Transgression. Bruised for our,
what? Iniquities. And with his stripes,
we are healed. Now, sin has to have a payment. because God's holy. God's holy. He said the guilty must die.
The Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute took our sin, bare
our sin in his own body on the tree. You remember? First Peter
2, 24. Christ suffered for our sins,
the just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God. When he by himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of God. Now that's good
news, is it not? You think of it, all your transgressions
against God, and that's what makes sin so terrible. David
said, against thee and thee only have I sinned, and done this
evil in thy sight. All your transgressions blotted
out as a thick cloud. God said their sin and their
iniquity, well, I remember no more. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. So, is that good news? It's good news to transgressors,
is it not? Suppose you were sitting on death
row. Your execution scheduled for
6 a.m., sunrise. 5.30, quarter till six, they march
you down to the chamber, gas chamber, electric chair, or lethal
injection, or however they do it. And the phone rings, and it's
the governor. I'm gonna pardon him. His transgression
is pardoned. You reckon that man would be
happy? You reckon he'd be sad? Not at all. I read a story recently
of a, this is over in England back when they used to publicly
execute people by hanging. And there was a man who was marching
up to the gallows and noticing that noose up there waiting to
slip around his neck. And about the time that he got
up there and they were putting on the noose, the king intervened. The king of England said, I'm
gonna pardon that man. Well, the story goes, the man
was so happy and so delighted that he died. I guess maybe that's
where they got the statement he was tickled to death. I don't
know, but you get the idea. Transgression, completely, totally,
forever forgiven, forgiven. Do we deserve such mercy? No,
sir. We deserve justice. I don't want
justice, though. I want mercy. And then the second
thing he mentions here, notice this. Sin covered. Now, this covering here is just
not, it's not like, you remember when Adam sinned against God
and he took, what did he take? He took some fig leaves to try
to cover his sin. TO COVER HIS NAKEDNESS BEFORE
GOD? WELL, THAT DIDN'T WORK, DID IT?
A FALLEN SINFUL MAN HAS BEEN TRYING TO DO THE SAME THING,
TRYING TO COVER HIS TRACKS, TRYING TO COVER HIS SIN AGAINST GOD. SIN COVERED. THINK ABOUT THIS. THE ONE THAT WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST
IS THE ONE WHO HAS PUT AWAY OUR SIN. WHEN HE BY HIMSELF PURGED
OUR SIN, HE SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. SIN COVERED, NOT
BY OUR WORKS, BUT BY HIS BLOOD. AND THAT WAS TYPICAL. AND WE
HAVE A PICTURE OF THAT, OF THAT BLOOD ATONEMENT ON THE MERCY
SEAT. WHAT DID IT DO? IT COVERED. THAT
LAW THAT WAS IN THAT ARK OF THE COVENANT AND THAT BLOOD ON THAT
MERCY SEAT COVERED THAT LAW THAT WE'VE TRANSGRESSED AGAINST. HERE
IS LOVE, JOHN SAID, NOT THAT WE LOVE GOD, BUT THAT HE LOVED
US AND THAT HE SENT HIS SON TO BE THE SACRIFICE FOR OUR SIN. CHRIST AND HIS BLOOD ATONEMENT
IS OUR SIN COVERING BEFORE GOD. THAT'S THE ONLY PLACE IT COUNTS. GOD SAID, WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD,
I WILL PASS OVER YOU. CHRIST IS OUR SIN COVERING AND
OUR ATONEMENT BEFORE GOD. HE IS SET FORTH TO BE OUR PROPITIATION
FOR OUR SINS. OUR SINS ARE COVERED SO WELL
THAT THE VERY ALL-KNOWING HOLY JUSTICE OF GOD CANNOT DISCOVER
THEM OR CHARGE US WITH OUR SIN." I'd say that's a pretty complete
atonement, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you say that is a full
pardon for sin? God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. Over here just a few pages of
Psalm 103. Psalm 103, as far as the east
is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. From us. There's another scripture
I'm thinking of over here in Isaiah 44. Turn over to Isaiah
44. Verse 21. He appeared once in
the end of the age, remember, to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Hebrews 9, 26. But look at Isaiah
44, 21. Remember these, O Jacob in Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art
my servant. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten
of me. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgression, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto
me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and
every tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob. and glorified
himself in Israel. Now, whom did he redeem? Jacob. The Lord Jesus Christ put away
the sin of God's covenant children, and their sin is totally put
away forever. Now, notice the third thing. Blessed is that man unto whom
the Lord imputed not Iniquity imputeth not. We read a moment
ago over here in Romans 4, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, that again is good
news. Iniquity not charged to us, but
rather righteousness imputed to us. I repeat what I said earlier,
2 Corinthians 5, 21, God made him to be sin for us. Our sin
was laid on him, reckoned and imputed to him. And he gives
us his righteousness, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember what it says in
Romans 8, 1? There is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. I need not only my sin put away,
redemption and deliverance from my sin, but I need a righteousness
charged in my account. And I have both those things
in Christ. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputed righteousness without works. That's good news, is it
not? Now, look back at the text. Part
there, verse two. And in whose spirit there is
no guile or deceit or hypocrisy. Now that's a blessed man. This
is part of that description of God's people and how they're
blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ. In whose spirit, and I take that
to mean our heart and our soul, there is no sham, no hypocrisy,
no deceit. Those who are made new creatures
in Christ and redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
are not deceived as to who put away our sin and how we are justified. You remember that verse I quote
all the time from Romans 3? Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. and whose spirit there is no
hypocrisy and no guile. Those who have been granted saving
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they sincerely believe and trust
Him that He accomplished salvation, that He put away sin. We're not
deceived on this matter, are we? Saving faith is always looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ who COMPLETED, HE SAID, IT IS... WHAT? FINISHED, DONE, FOREVER. NOW, HOW DID WE ARRIVE THERE? LOOK AT VERSE 3 AND 4. HERE WE SEE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTION. HOW DO WE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT
OUR SIN, OUR INIQUITY, OUR TRANSGRESSION? BY NATURE WE DON'T. BY NATURE
WE THINK TOO MUCH OF OURSELVES, DON'T WE? We love darkness, not
life. When I kept silent, David said,
my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. Or day and night, thy hand, the
hand of the Lord. Oh, he's heavy-handed, is he
not? None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
Thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought. THE DROUGHT OF SUMMER. NO ONE KNOWS THE PAINS OF HOLY
SPIRIT CONVICTION, BEING CONVICTED OF SIN, KNOWING THAT GOD SAYS
YOU'RE GUILTY. AND THIS IS WHAT REPENTANCE AND
CONVICTION OF SIN IS. IT'S AGREEING WITH GOD. WHAT
HE SAYS ABOUT YOU IS TRUE. WHEN HE SAYS GUILTY, BELIEVING HEART AND A CONVICTED
HEART. HE'S NIGH THEM OF A BROKEN HEART.
LOOK RIGHT ACROSS THE PAGE IN PSALM 34 18. THE LORD IS NIGH
TO THEM OF A BROKEN HEART. SAVE US SUCH AS BE OF A CONTRITE
SPIRIT. ONLY THOSE WHO KNOW WHAT THEY
ARE BEING CONVICTED BY GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT THEY EXPERIENCE THE
REALITY OF SIN IN THEIR HEART. THEY KNOW THEY'RE SINNERS. They
can say with Paul that I'm the chief of sinners. They can say
with Paul, wretched man, that I am. David said, I was once
silent, and sin did not disturb me or bother me. Now my bones
wax old. The strength of my flesh melted
away into corruption, much like what Isaiah and Job said. Remember
Job said, I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but
now my eye I see you, therefore I hate myself, I repent in dust
and ashes. Repentance is agreeing with God
against yourself. And as Isaiah said, woe is me,
woe is unto me, I have seen the king. The hand of the Lord was
heavy, heavy upon me. Look over at Psalm 38 too. Psalm 38, verse 1. Oh Lord, rebuke
me not in thy wrath, either chasten me in thy hot displeasure, or
thy narrow stick fasten me, thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh
because of thine anger Neither is any rest in my bone because
of my sin. For my iniquities are gone over
my head as a heavy burden. They're too heavy for me. He said, my wounds stink and
are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled. I am bowed down. I go mourning all the day long. That's Holy Spirit conviction. And that's what God does. When
he does a work of grace in our heart, he convicts us of what
we are. Sinners, the very same hand that
wounds us in love raises us up in grace and heals us. The same hand that convicts us
is the same hand that converts us. You have the quickened who
were dead. The very same hand that strips
us is the same hand that clothes us. with the righteousness we
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. The very same hand that crushes
and pushes down our pride, lust, and self-righteousness is the
same hand that creates and gives us a new heart and makes us partakers
of a divine nature. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things become new. Someone said this, and I think
it's very good. If you miss Holy Spirit conviction,
you'll miss true repentance and faith. And if you miss true repentance
and faith, you will miss the Lord Jesus Christ altogether. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. He's nigh unto them of a broken
heart, as I read a moment ago. I want to close by looking at
verse 5. David said here, I acknowledge
my sin. Now this is not going into some
booth and confessing and acknowledging your sin before some man who's
just as sinful as you are. This is acknowledging my sin
unto thee. against thee, and thee only have
I sinned. David said in Psalm 51, I acknowledge
my sin unto thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I confess
my transgression unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin. Now let's look at this for just
a moment. Those born of the Spirit by the
Holy Spirit and a quicken from the dead, own who they are and
what they are before God. I acknowledge my sin is against
God. The publican cried out, have
mercy upon me, the sinner. Mine iniquity said I've not hid,
mine iniquity I have not hid. Now, it's useless to hide from
God. You can't hide from God, I'll
show you why. Go over here to Psalm 139. Psalm
139. Psalm 139, look at verse one. I acknowledge my sin unto
thee, my iniquities I have not hid, And then David said this in Psalm
139, oh Lord, verse one. Thou hast searched me and known
me. Thou knowest my down sittings and my uprising. Thou understandest
my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path by lying
down and acquainted with all my ways. There is not a word
in my tongue, but oh Lord, thou knowest it all together. God knows all. Just confess it. Own it. You're the problem. It's all your fault. Don't blame
anyone but your own wicked heart, your own wicked thoughts. That's
what David said. And that's what a believer does.
He pleads for mercy before God. I acknowledge my sin. I acknowledge
my sin unto thee. Let me read this to you here
quickly. You know this, Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O God.
according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of
thy tender mercy, blot out my transgression. Wash me throughly
from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge
my sin and my transgression is ever before me. Against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when you speak and clear when
you judge. Here's what he prays, Lord purge
me with your hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I'll be
whiter than the snow. I confess my sin unto thee. And look what it says, thou forgave
us. Thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin. Now turn to Psalm
130. Psalm 130. Forgiveness of sin is based upon
his mercy, based upon his love, based upon his atonement, not
based upon anything we do. Out of the depths, Psalm 130,
have I cried unto thee, O Lord, hear my voice, let thine ears
be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thy Lord
shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand but There is
forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Reminds me
of another verse. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. But it reminds me of that verse over here in Ephesians. You remember Ephesians chapter
one, where David said, we're accepted in the beloved to the
praise of the glory of his grace in whom we have redemption. THROUGH
HIS BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS ACCORDING TO THE RICHES
OF HIS GRACE." GRACE, GRACE, GRACE, AND MORE GRACE. CONFESSION
AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND REPENTANCE ARE NEVER THE GROUND OR REASON
THAT SIN IS PUT AWAY. Sin is not based upon or the
ground or reason of my sin being put away. It's not based upon
my repentance, my faith, my baptism, or anything else I do. That is totally owing to the
mercy of God, the love of God, and the blood atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have not owned and
confessed their sin unto God know nothing of true pardon. Pardon is of the Lord. And this
pardon of God, I was looking at this scripture earlier today,
let me turn and see if I can find it, about pardon. Thou art
a God, remember from our study in the book of Nehemiah where
we read, thou art a God ready to pardon? READY TO PARDON. BUT THIS PARDON AND THIS MERCY
OF GOD AND THIS FORGIVENESS OF SIN IS SOVEREIGN MERCY. IT'S
SOVEREIGN PARDON. IN THOSE DAYS, JEREMIAH 50, VERSE
20, IN THOSE DAYS AND IN THAT TIME, SAYETH THE LORD, THE INIQUITY
OF ISRAEL SHALL BE SOUGHT FOR, AND THERE SHALL BE NONE, AND
THE SINS OF JUDAH, AND THEY SHALL NOT BE FOUND, FOR I WILL PARDON
THEM WHOM I RESERVE. It's his prerogative to show
mercy to whom he will. You remember he said, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have pardon on
whom I will have pardon. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Thank God for his mercy. Thank
God for his pardoning grace in the Lord Jesus Christ and through
his blood atonement.