Verse 10 and verse 17, and the
title of my message is, Conviction. Conviction. Verse 10 says, And
David's heart smote him, after that he numbered the people.
And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly, in that
I have done. And now I beseech Thee, O Lord,
take away that iniquity of Thy servant, for I have done very
foolishly. Then in verse 17, And David spake unto the Lord
when he saw the angel that smote the people. and said, Lo, I have
sinned, I have done wickedly with these sheep. But these sheep,
what have they done? Let Thine hand, I pray Thee,
be against me and against my father's house. Now considering
what we looked at last week and what we're about to look at tonight,
I thought of what Spurgeon said many years ago. He said, Sometimes
the only reason we can put forth for doing anything is that it
turned out alright. The fact is that if you and I
want to know God's purpose in anything, we just have to look
at what happened. We can't know His purpose while
it's going on. We have no clue. The secret things
belong to God. That which is revealed belong
to us. But we can, when God sets forth in His Word a historical
account, we can look and say that was according to God's purpose.
And this is how it turned out. And in this passage tonight,
we see David in a great conviction, conviction of heart, because
he had numbered Israel. And we know that the sin itself
was that no atonement money was paid for those that were numbered,
which accounted that those numbered were not actually counted among
the people. For you're not counted upon the
people unless a propitiatory sacrifice, a successful propitiatory
sacrifice and price has been paid for your redemption. However,
David's confession does not list that particular element of the
sin, so we can assume and surmise that David was smitten because
of his own pride and presumption, and later for the lives that
his presumptuous evil cost. Seventy thousand people died
because of what David did. However, there's a great deal
of instruction for us in this passage, but as we consider it,
there are some things we need to remember as we look at these
words. First of all, Though David is
convicted and confesses his personal sin, that which being addressed
in this passage is the sin of the nation Israel. Now that sin
is not given, but we looked at it last week as in all probability
it had to do with the fact that everything was going so well
and so eased. The great victories had come
to pass and they were kind of at ease and pride entered into
the picture. David, however, is part of Israel,
even being the king. So God is angry at David and
at Israel. But David in the original part
is not singled out personally. David being suffered to sin in
numbering Israel is part of the purpose punishment that God has
ordained for Israel as a nation. all throughout the Old Testament
teaching what we are able to see. And really, I think it's
the greatest message in the Old Testament, though we know it
all points to Christ, is that we can see how God brings men
to Christ. Because He's reported it for
us over and again. We see the workings of His providence
to bring men to the appointed place they need to be. Over and
over again. And sometimes it starts in strange
ways. But it always ends up the same
place. God is angry with Israel. God is going to punish Israel
because He's angry with Israel. How is He going to do that? He's
going to have Satan tempt David to number Israel. That doesn't
seem like those two would work that way. But it does. Because
in the end, as God is angry with Israel, 70,000 Israelites lose
their life. There's the punishment that God
had already ordained. So David being suffered to sin
in numbering Israel is part of that purpose punishment that
God has ordained for Israel as a nation. Now because God was
angry with Israel, He suffered David to be tempted as part of
His process in punishing Israel. Now here we may not enter into
this because this is God's providence, we can only look at what happened.
Rather we must bow to God who does all things after the counsel
of His own will. I've been convinced for many
years I really don't want to know what God is doing at any
particular time. I really don't want, because
I might not like it. In fact, there's a part of me that just
don't seem to wash us right, and I know I'm wrong. It's right
because God does it. We can't find fault with God
because God always does what's righteous. But if He were to
confer with us, we'd say, well, why don't He just send hail down
on Israel and kill a whole lot of people? No, there's a way,
and there's a reason for everything God is doing and has done, and
we see it in this passage. We have the benefit of viewing
the finished product and see how mighty providence works to
bring things to their appointed end. Secondly, this entire episode
in the history of Israel takes place under the Old Covenant,
according to the law of Moses, handed down on the tables of
stone at Sinai. That's very important to remember.
The things that take place here are different than those things
that take place under the New Covenant. They're different.
They're different, and it's very important. This means that the
blessings or cursings, the punishment or reprieve, is conditioned upon
the obedience or disobedience under the directives of that
covenant. If you're under the covenant of works, then you can
be blessed or cursed according to your obedience or disobedience.
It's called a conditional covenant. Like when the Lord said, if my
people which I call by my name shall
humble themselves and pray, then I will heal their land. The converse
there is that if they don't, He won't. That's a conditional
covenant. That's that old covenant. Thirdly,
though conviction and confession and repentance are present, punishment
still must be exacted personally under that covenant. That is
to say, the offender, the man of the nation, under the law,
must receive personal punishment and recompense for his or her
crime, though he be penitent, sorrowful, confesses, and turns
from his wicked ways. Every crime under the law must
be punished. There is no escape from this.
That's under the Old Covenant teaching. Every crime must be
punished. It's also true under the New
Covenant. But the difference is, back here there ain't no
substitute. And the New Covenant declares
that that punishment was exacted. It was exacted. Wayne was punished
for his sin. He just didn't get punished personally.
His substitute was punished for his sin. And that's the difference.
Under this covenant, though, mercy may be shown. Personal
punishment is never set aside. It just never is. Under this
covenant, justice must be satisfied against the offender in person. And you'll find that throughout
the Old Testament. David himself, when he sinned against God, in
taking Bathsheba for his wife, and having her husband killed,
and getting her pregnant, and lying about it, that whole shame.
When he admitted what he was, he said, I'm the man, I'm the
one that did this. The prophet Nathan said, your sins are forgiven,
your sins put away. Now that was, David was not punished
for that. in that way. But he was, the
sin was punished, the iniquity was punished, fourfold. Fourfold. With the rape of Tamar, with
the death of his son, four different things happened. happen because
of that sin. Under that Old Covenant, sin
has a course, it's absolute, and it can't be changed. Now,
in verse 10, we see David's conviction. Remember those things as we look
at this. David's conviction, his confession, and his penitent
plea to God. First words that out of his mouth,
it says, and David's heart smote him after they had numbered the
people. His heart was smitten. His heart
was smitten. Now we know that that's the Holy
Spirit working within a man, but under the Old Covenant, it's
really the law that convicts. It's really the law that convicts,
and it doesn't convict the heart, it convicts the conscience. David
was a man after God's own heart, and he's brought to understand
what he's done. He feels guilt and shame for
his doings. And though David was counted
among the elect and his sin would be put away on the cross, he
is not at this time operating under the new covenant. He's
operating under that old covenant. Everything happening happens
under that covenant. So we can look at the book of
Galatians and see that he was under the pedagogue, wasn't he?
He was under the teacher, the one who garrisoned him and held
him in check and held him in jail and kept him until Christ
came until faith came toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and that
is upon the cross. That being the case, his smitten
heart had no remedy. You think about that. He had
a broken heart, but it didn't really have a remedy, unlike
those who have received benefits revealed in the gospel. What
happens when a believer in this age, under the new covenant,
what happens to him when his heart condemns him? Well, let's
look at 1 John chapter 3. In 1 John chapter 3, in verse
20 and 21, it says this, For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart.
He knoweth all things. He knows what's going on. He
knows what's going on. Beloved, if our heart condemn
us not, then we have confidence toward God. So when our heart
condemns us, we don't have much confidence toward God. But that
doesn't matter. God is greater than our heart
and greater than our confidence. So you as a sinner saved by grace,
when your heart condemns you, it doesn't change God toward
you. He's greater than your heart, greater than your feeling of
condemnation, greater than your shame. And when He brings you
to see that, then you'll have great confidence in Him because
He knows all things. It's not a surprise to Him. But
under the old covenant, the heart refers basically to the conscience,
which was the convicting agent under that covenant. Now men
under the law today are still convicted by conscience. And
their conscience is convicted by the law. The conscience operates
in the realm of the law. But children of God aren't convicted
by the law. They're convicted by the Holy
Spirit. And their conviction is in relation to their unbelief
toward the Lord Jesus Christ, not to having transgressed some
law. Because they have nothing to
do with the law, and the law has nothing to do with them. But
under that old covenant, that conscience was a convicting agent.
And men live by conscience today. All human beings have a conscience.
They're born with one. They're born with one. You've
got a conscience, and I've got a conscience. Our only hope is
that something has been done for us so much so that our conscience
will have no ground upon which to convict us or to accuse us. Because if the conscience can
accuse you, it will accuse you. And I'll tell you when it will
accuse you is when you're trying to undo your business or undo
some sin or trying to do something in order that by the doing you
might get God on your side. Those things will convict you.
The conscience will convict you and tell you you can't do that.
And then will tell you what to do. And then will tell you that
what you did was not enough. That's what the conscience does.
That's all it can do. The conscience still is under
the law. The Holy Spirit will never convict
your conscience. Holy Spirit will convict the
inner man, the heart of the man, and that concerning unbelief
toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Read John 16, 8-16. Now though the conscience is
obvious in the Old Testament, this is the interesting thing,
we know it because what did Adam do when he first sinned? He tried
to cover himself. That's conscience. That's conscience
speaking. Tried to cover himself. So the conscience is obvious
in the Old Testament. It's obvious here. David was
smitten. He realized what he's done. He's
under the law. He realized he's broken and transgressed
the law. The law said don't number Israel without an atonement money. And he's done that. And he's
convicted in his conscience. And though the conscience is
not mentioned in the Old Testament, but it is obviously there. It
is not mentioned because in the Old Testament, in all the pages
of the Old Testament, in all the sacrifices of the Old Testament,
in all the ceremonies and rites of the Old Testament, in all
the law of the Old Testament, all the priesthood of the Old
Testament, there is no remedy for the conscience. And so it
is not mentioned, though it is clearly seen throughout, but
there is no remedy for it. There's no remedy in the Old
Testament. So David, even after he's finished with this, the
next time he's smitten, it'll be in his conscience. because
he's under the law. And that's all the law can do.
That remedy was Christ crucified. He alone answers the issues of
the conscience. Look over at Hebrews chapter
10. Here the reference being to the law that was a shadow
of good things to come, but not the very image. It really couldn't
do anything. It pointed to things that were going to take place
that would be of help, that would be remedies, but it never was
a remedy. For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never, with those sacrifices which were offered year by year
continually, make the comers thereunto perfect." Now what
perfection is he speaking of? He's speaking of perfection concerning
the conscience. Perfection concerning the conscience.
Look back over to Hebrews chapter 9. I can't think of what verse it
is. But anyway, one of those verses, oh here it is, verse
9, "...which was a figure," all those things done back then,
they were a figure, "...for the time then present, in which were
offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that
did the service as pertaining to conscience," or perfect, "...as
pertaining to conscience." The conscience has to be perfected.
God's people are not walking around with that screaming banshee
in them all the time. God has, under that old covenant,
you couldn't do anything about the conscience, but something
has been done. And he says in verse 1 of chapter 10, Year by
year continually make the comers therein too perfect, for then
would they not have ceased to be offered? If they had made
the comers perfect as pertaining to conscience, would they not
have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once
purged should have no more. What? conscience of sins. The conscience was answered by
a perfect sacrifice on Calvary Street. But in those sacrifices
there was actually a reminder, remembering a sin of every year,
where it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should
take away sins. Now David is smitten in his conscience. And
though David's conscience brought the fires of conviction, he was
still under the law, and that is the realm in which the conscience
operates. And there is no remedy there. We just read it. There's
no remedy for the sting of the conscience under the law. It's
simply not there. So a person who's been born again,
to hear someone and obey someone, to go back under the law, that
person That person is bringing himself back under that conscience,
the sting of the conscience. And there's no remedy for that.
There's no remedy for that. There was only personal punishment
under the law to satisfy the law. Somebody got to be punished
for this. Now this is evidence in the fact
that though David's conviction and confession was real and sincere
and truly heartfelt, 70,000 Israelites died to assuage the
anger of God against Israel. Now most people say, well, all
you got to do is say you're sorry and God's okay. I don't think
so. David said he was sorry. And
David was a man after God's own heart. David was the apple of
God's eye. But David's number of Israel
cost 70,000 men their lives. That sin was punished. The old covenant was a teacher.
This whole book is a teacher. It served as a teacher for the
Jews, the elements of the world, and such were the tutors for
the Gentiles, but the Jews were under this old teacher. And this Old Testament teacher
teaches us this, though it pictures Christ on every page and every
line, it tells us that these are pictures and types. They
do not do the job. A type won't do the job, a picture
won't do the job because there's no substance. I've used the illustration,
if I go on a trip, I carry, I've got a picture in my briefcase
of my wife and one in my wallet of my wife and I often, when
I'm laying there at the motel the night before I go to bed,
I'll open it up and I'll think of her and think I sure would like
her to be up here with me, you know. But when I get home and
see her standing at the door, I don't open my wallet and kiss
that picture. That's just stupid. Wouldn't it? It'd be a horrible
slam against her if I did that. This old picture, pictures, pictures. We thank God for the pictures.
We thank God for the pictures because we already know the substance.
And we can see how these things picture. But this old covenant,
what did it really teach? What did it really teach? It
taught that there's no remedy for sin. That's what it taught. No remedy for sin, only personal
justice for the offender. That's all this Old Testament
teaches. No remedy for sin. All those types and shadows,
the giving of the law, all of it taught, hear me loud, there's
no remedy for sin. That's what the law tells you.
There's no remedy for sin. The new covenant says, oh, the
sin has been, a remedy has come, a ransom has been paid. Sin has
been put away by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
David is under that covenant. Now in the second phrase of verse
10, we are made privy to David's confession. We saw his conviction.
He was stricken in his heart about what he had done. And David
said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done.
I have sinned greatly in that I have done. The first thing
to note in those words of David in verse 10 is who he is confessing
to. The uppercase rendering of the
title L-O-R-D reveals that David is suing for mercy at the hand
of Jehovah God, the Savior. Jehovah, the Greek reading of Jehovah
is Jesus, if you take it to its end. Joshua in the Old Testament,
deliverer, Savior, Jehovah the Savior. Now he does not do a
public mea culpa. I know sometimes we read these
things and we don't think of where this takes place. This
is David's bedchamber. He's all alone. Because the next
morning, God, having heard it, sends Gad to speak to him concerning
it. This is not a public mea culpa.
I know David knows that his sin is against God. It's not against
Israel. It's against God and that Jehovah
alone is he to whom confession must be made. Religion, you see,
admires public confession. They admire it. They're respected. They're appreciated. They like
it when somebody comes down and opens up and pours out their
heart in public and confesses. And there's a reason for that.
Because it allows those who hear the confession to feel better
about themselves to start. Well, I didn't do that. Well,
I'm glad that wasn't me. Make you feel better about yourself.
So that's self-righteousness. They enjoy that aspect. And also
it gives them the ability to play at deity for a little bit
because they can show public mercy toward the confessor. It's
a real nice little game religion got going on. The problem is
God didn't tell us to public confess. He doesn't tell us to. I know Billy Graham says every
invitation God gave was a public invitation. Well, here's the
thing, God didn't give invitations. God gives commands. An invitation
can be disregarded. I've got invitations. RSVP it
said. RSVP. I didn't even RSVP. Why? Because it's an invitation.
It doesn't mean anything. It's up to me whether I want
to accept it or not. But a command is a whole different thing. The
gospel is a command. God commands you to believe.
God commands you to repeat. That leaves you in rebellion
against God if you don't. But it's not an invitation. That
whole thing was invented by old Charles Finney years and years
and years, probably 175 years ago. Maybe my math ain't right
on that. 150 to 175 years ago, he invented
the invitation because his church membership was falling off. And
his church membership was falling off because he was the dumbest
preacher that ever lived. He's counted as a great theologian
among most Baptists in the world today, sadly to say. He's called
the father of modern evangelism. No, he wasn't. He now had an
evangelistic bone in his body. So he invented the invitation
system where people come down front and openly confess so that
people could be involved and there's something psychologically
powerful about going in front of people and confessing. It's
kind of a purging, a regurgitation of sin and it feels good, it
makes you feel good. I can remember, I did it thousands of times.
I can also remember walking out on the church steps at Antioch
Baptist Church after I'd come down front and blubbered all
over the place. I can remember feeling so good when people would
pat me on the back and tell me they loved me, and they're so
glad that I got right with Jesus and all that stuff. And I'd go
out on the porch, and I'd usually walk to church because I only
had a couple blocks to walk. And I'd see that parking lot emptying,
and finally the preacher would get in his car and off, and I'd
just sit there, usually smoking a cigarette on the church step,
you know, while everybody's leaving. And I'd say, I ain't got nothing. I have nothing. I'm as empty as I was when I
come into this place. I can remember that, saying that. And I know it's true. But it
feels good. Public confession is not called
for in the Bible. Private confession between you
and the capital L-O-R-D, Jehovah God. That's who you confess to. People say, well, you've got
to be honest. No, you don't. You've got to be genuine. You forget that honesty
bit. I've heard married couples say,
well, you know, I've cheated on my husband or my wife. I think
I ought to tell them. Don't tell them, stupid. Boy, you're doing
that to ease yourself. You're doing that for you. You're
not doing that for them. It'd be better if they never
know. There's a lot of things I just
don't want to know. You want me to know everything
about you? I sure don't want you to know everything about
me. Well, you've got to be honest. Uh-uh. I don't either. I got to be genuine. I got to
be real. I got to be real. But religion loves that idea
of confession. Confession is made to Christ.
in your closet, all by yourself, Jehovah's Savior, because He
alone is who sin is against. David knew that in Psalm 51,
after he had sinned against Uriah, and sinned against Bathsheba,
and sinned against Israel, and sinned against God. He said,
Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned, and none this evening
have I sinned. No, he sins against God, and
therefore there ain't no little sins, because there ain't no
little God to sin against. All sin is against God. Secondly,
through confession, David's confession is assuming singular responsibility
for sin. David did not say, the devil
made me do it, though God used the devil to tempt him to do
it. He did not say, the devil made me do it. He wasn't Flip
Wilson. The devil made me do it. The
devil didn't make you do it. He didn't blame some set of mitigating
circumstances or point his finger at anyone or anything but himself.
David confesses that he did it. Look at the way he says it. I
have sinned greatly in that I have done. I did it. I did it. That's
what every true child of God. This is a mark of the child of
God under conviction. He does not point to anything
or anyone else outside himself. He assumes the blame for what
he has done, for what he's done. And also the child of God knows
that he's not an island and he's not sinning in a vacuum. His
sin is a contagious disease, the effects of which goes well
beyond the one who has sinned. Look at verse 17. David spake
unto the Lord when he saw the angel that spoke to the people
and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But
these sheep, what have they done? His sin had affected 70,000 lives. Seventy thousand lives. We think
our sins don't have an effect. They do. We're not in a vacuum. You know what we are? We're part
of a body. Deb was talking about, was it
one of your uncles that was a blacksmith? She had an uncle that was a blacksmith. What was his name? Kale. Like the leafy vegetable.
His name was Kale. He was a blacksmith. And when
he'd get mad at you, what'd he do? He'd put his thumb down on
that anvil and he'd hit it with a hammer. Now that bloodline is in my wife. But seriously, in a fit of anger
he would hit his own thumb with a finger and just cuss like a
sailor. Because he hit himself on the finger. He did that because he was crazy. He was crazy. David confesses
that he did it. He did it. But that only affected
that man. But I'll tell you what it did.
That thumb affected the arm, the nerves that went from the
brain to the thumb. It affected the heart. The heart
raced a little bit. It affected all his body. You
know what we are as children of God? We're part of a body.
We're not an island. When we sin, even if the body
don't openly find out about it, it affects the body. It affects the body of believers.
It just can't be set aside. Choices have consequences, and
the consequences fall on all that you are involved with and
all that you love. for the child of God, a member
of the body of Christ, his sin is pandemic, affecting the entire
body. Also it is clear that with the
prayer of confession comes the prayer of supplication. But remember
this, our Lord said don't commit fornication. Why did He say do
that? Because you can't commit fornication by yourself. It's
got to be, you've got to involve somebody else. So you're not
only sinning against God, you're involving someone else in your
sin against God. And David knew that. What did
these people do wrong? They didn't do anything wrong.
Well, they did whatever wrong God was angry about them, but
he said, my sin has cost their lives. My sin has cost their
lives. But when he prayed, and he was
praying, this is David's prayer. He was interceding. He was being
a supplicant for those who had lost their lives and those loved
ones who had lost loved ones. What have these people done?
What does he say? He says, Let thine hand, I pray
thee, be against me. They'd be against me in my house.
One man said, prayer for others is real when it is intercessory. It's real when it's intercessory.
This means that the supplicant is willing to take upon himself
the consequences that those for whom he prays has suffered. I
wonder how many times we pray at all. But it truly is. You remember the story of Parris
Reedhead, that missionary who was, I forget where he was at,
somewhere overseas. And he was walking through a
jungle with some, had some bearers with him who were bearing his
goods that he was taking back to different tribes to preach
the gospel. And off in the distance he heard
a faint cry. Someone was saying, Help me. That's all he could hear. And
he just held his bearers and he said, Can you tell where that's
coming from? And they said, Over in that direction.
And so they started to walk toward that direction and they came
to a clearing and there was a little fire there and some leaves had
been cleared out of the way and a man was sitting there who had
leprosy. And he was in the latter stages of leprosy. His fingers
were missing. His lips were gone. He had a
little slit for a mouth and he had gaping eyes and he was just
a thin, real thin, sick, dying human being. And he reached up
his stubby hand and with that little piece of a mouth he cried,
oh help me, help me. And Paris Readhead said, I understood
in a minute, in just a second, what Christ did for me. In order for me to truly help
this poor creature, I would have had to take him in my arms and
put my mouth to his mouth and hold him and give him my health
and take his disease. Have to give him my strength
and take his weakness. Have to give him my life and
take his death. That's intercession. David said, put the charge against them on
my account. So confession is intercessory.
supplication is intercessory. Paul said that about Onesimus,
the slave who had ran away from Philemon. He said, put what he
owes on my account. Charge me with it. Finally, confession
of sin is acknowledgment of the true problem. David knew that
he had done wrongly, and he did not shirk the responsibilities
for his actions. But his words reveal that he
knows that his actions were merely symptomatic of a truly grievous
condition, the one true grievous condition of humanity. He says
back in our text in verse 10, I have sinned greatly in that
I have done. Now I beseech Thee, O Lord, take
away the iniquity of Thy servant. The iniquity of Thy servant.
Iniquity is iniquity or unrighteousness. It's crookedness. It's crookedness. Though He seeks mercy for what
He has done, He knows that something is terribly wrong inside Him.
Take away mine iniquity. Take away that which caused me
to do that. His only hope is that this malicious
malady be taken away. Look at a few passages of Scripture
beginning in Psalms. Psalm 32. Blessed to be envied, happy is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Oh Lord, take away mine iniquity. Take away mine iniquity. Look
at Psalm 51, verse 6. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Turn over to the New Testament,
to Mark chapter 7. Mark chapter 7, beginning with
verse 18. And our Lord said unto them,
Are ye so without understanding? Do you not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without that entereth into a man cannot defile him?
Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly,
and goeth out into the draft, purging all meats. And he said,
That which cometh out of the man, that's what defiles the
man. For from within, out of the heart
of men, proceeds evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covenants, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these things come from within,
and they defile a man. David sought mercy for what he
had done, but he was looking for a substitute to take away
the true problem. The true problem. Look over at
Hebrews chapter 1. Verse 3, "...who, being the brightness
of His glory," that is, Christ being the brightness of God's
glory, "...and the express image of His person, Christ upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had purged our
sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Father." That's what
we need. Lord, take away my iniquity.
Christ purged the sins of His people. He took away their iniquity. Look at chapter 9, verse 12 of
Hebrews. Neither by the blood of goats
or calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. How did He
do that? Verse 26, For then must He have often suffered from the
foundation of the world, if He were just like every other priest?
But now, once in the end of the world, hath He appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. By the sacrifice of
Himself. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse
5 it says, He was manifested To take away sins, and in him
is no sin. David's desire was his iniquity
be taken away. He knew what the real problem
was. We're all sinners in our actions. And no doubt about that.
We're sinners in our choices. But those things are symptomatic
of what's inside us. And that's what has to be taken
care of. That's what has to be dealt with. That's what has to
be put away. put away. That's in God's great
justifying economy. Look at one more book, Romans
chapter 4. Here Paul is quoting Psalm 32,
which we just read a few moments ago. Romans chapter 4 and verse
6, he said, Even as David also described the blessedness of
a man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
You mean God will make you righteous without your works? That's the
only way He'll make you righteous. The only way. Your works are
not righteous. They are filthy rags. Our righteousnesses
are filthy rags. How am I righteous? He was made
to be sin for us and knew no sin that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. Christ Jesus is our righteousness. saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute or charge with sin. You know what blessedness is?
Well, it's I got a Cadillac. That ain't blessedness. People
say, Look what the Lord gave me in your Cadillac. Who's paying
for it? You got car payments? The Lord didn't give it to you.
You bought it. If He give it to you, It'd be
wrapped in a red ribbon sitting under your carport and you wouldn't
know a dime on it if he'd give it to you, because all his gifts
are free. One more verse, one more passage.
David's prayer is answered. Romans chapter 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. Now what that simply means is
what it says in verse 25. What is it to walk after the
flesh and not after the Spirit? It is to understand that with
my mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh I serve the
law of sin. That's what it is to walk in the flesh, around
the Spirit, not in the flesh. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and
death." Now what law is he talking about? The law of sin and death.
He just told us what it was. He said in verse 23 of chapter
7, "...but I see another law in my members." What law is that? That's the law of sin and death. Against the law of my mind, what's
the law of my mind? With my mind I serve the law
of God. Woe against the law of my mind in bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. That's the law of
sin and death. That law is with us always. Then
how can God say there is no condemnation? Because Christ hath made us free from it, from
the law of sin and death. He has no right to rule over
us. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through
the flesh, that simply means the law could not make us holy
because we couldn't be holy. That simple. God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin or set aside or put away or took away sin in the flesh,
that the righteousness of the law, which is holy, good, and
pure, might be fulfilled in us, not by us, in us who walk not
after the flesh but after the Spirit. David's confession worthy
of our attention because it gives us an understanding about our
own condition and the nature of confession and of conviction. Father, bless us for understanding.
We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Good night and God bless you.