Grace: The Blessing of Faith, Part 2

Salvation that Paul, the subject
of salvation that Paul had introduced in chapter three. In chapter
three, he said that the righteousness of God has now been manifested,
that which mankind most needs because it is that which prohibits
him from entrance into heaven, the righteousness of God. There
was an attempt for thousands of years to live according to
the law, to try to gain access to heaven by adherence to the
righteous standard of God. But now, in a new way, this righteousness
has been opened and unfolded to humanity. And it’s done so
in a new way, as we have meditated and considered for several weeks.
This righteousness that saved sinners, we saw, was able to
do what the law could not. Adherence to the law would have
opened the gates of heaven, but there was none that could attain
to that. None except the Lord Jesus Christ. No one that could live up to
those righteous standards. So heaven, by means of the law,
was no access at all. We saw that the righteousness
that saved sinners was a key feature in the long declared
plan of redemption. It was interesting, even in the
reading of Hebrews chapter one, we saw it again, didn’t we? That
long ago in the prophets, in many portions and in many ways,
these things were told. The salvation by the righteousness
of God is nothing new. Salvation by the righteousness
of God was always the standard, even as it was foretold by God’s
prophets. The righteousness that saves
sinners, as we go on in that passage, verse 20, 21 through
25, we see that this righteousness that saves sinners is exclusively
received by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and for any
who are Christians. We have to just keep we can’t
help but to keep rejoicing in what God has provided in a savior.
We can’t meditate upon this enough. We can’t get enough of this idea
that the righteousness of God was bestowed upon us, imputed
to us merely because of faith in the most glorious Savior that
was ever conceived, the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid our penalty
in sin. We see also that this righteousness
that saves sinners was freely bestowed upon all for all those
who believe, Paul says in verse 22, for there is no distinction. Well, we spent many weeks on
those verses, but Paul has not exhausted yet the subject of
salvation. In fact, he’s just getting started.
Paul has introduced the idea of salvation, and he has given
us some great things on which to meditate as Christians, great
elements by which to approach any sinner with the gospel. As we saw that whether you chose
the word redemption or propitiation, or justification, whether you
took any one of those elements, those are the gospel. Those are
the means of proclaiming Christ to others. What Paul does is
pile them one upon another in a great discussion of salvation
where he just overflows. Justification, redemption, propitiation,
but Paul’s not done yet. As we saw in chapter four last
week, as we began to get into chapter four, this newly revealed
means of salvation through the righteousness of God is wholly
and completely of God. We’ve seen that for several weeks.
And in that, it takes away all boasting. It takes away all attempts
at laying claim to something that we might do or something
that we might lend to God or some way that we might repay
God so that we can lay hold of some of the credit. What Paul
does here in Romans 4, is begin to give us a divine history of
justification. And it’s a divine history because
there is no justification outside of God. God is the one ever and
always who justifies. There is no justification outside
of God. And so it is a divine history
of justification. We began to look at it last week.
If Paul, what he does is immediately lay hold of the one great argument
that the Jews might and often did advance as the person who
had achieved justification by adherence to the law. We spent
no little time and I’ll review a bit of that in a moment. But
if Abraham could be pushed up as the great example of justification
by works, then Paul’s argument of justification by faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ alone is dead, dead completely. Men do have cause for boasting
because men or at least a man has done it, which means others
can do it if they would only knuckle down and get after the
great attempt to live according to God’s law. That’s what the
Jews taught. That’s what they preached. What
Paul seeks to do here is to enhance and to expand what he had already
said, where then is boasting. Here’s how he got into it. We
looked at that little word then, and it’s a key word. Because
it focuses us back to 321-326. What took place there? Just a
few things. Follow with me in your mind’s
eye. Since the righteousness of God has been manifested, where
then is boasting? Since the saving righteousness
is completely apart from the law, where then is boasting? Since it was proclaimed throughout
the Old Testament, where then is boasting? Since it comes only
through faith in Jesus Christ, where then is boasting? Since
it comes to any and all who believe regardless? of ethnic background. Where then is boasting since
there is no distinction between Gentile and Jew? Where then is
boasting since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God? Where then is boasting since we are justified by his grace
alone? Where then is boasting since
justification, redemption and propitiation are all accomplished? through and by the Lord Jesus
Christ, where then is boasting? Where then is boasting? And as
one preacher said, a plan of salvation which strips man of
merit and places all sinners on the same level before God
cuts off all assumption of superiority of one class over another. The
result of the gospel plan of salvation is to prevent all self-approbation,
self-congratulation and exaltation on the part of the sinner. Where
then is boasting? It is excluded, essentially is
what he says. Paul says it much more succinctly.
Where then is boasting? It is excluded. It is, and the
tense of this we saw, it is utterly done away with. It is utterly
excluded. It is done away with once and
for all. There isn’t anybody who has come
prior to Christ who could live according to the law, nor will
there ever be. No one will ever have cause for
boasting before God. What Paul is doing here in Romans
chapter four is echoing that great theme, where then is boasting? Give me your best. Israel, give
me your best. And they would bring up Abraham.
They would pose Abraham before him and to say, here is a man
who has accomplished salvation by works or has he? Paul begins this attack on salvation
by human merit, and he begins with the greatest example that
any Jew would ever propose. The great father Abraham. There are there aren’t any who
would deny that Abraham was just and justified. The question that we’ve begun
to examine is how how was Abraham justified? It began by looking
last week. But first and foremost, in the
course of this divine history of justification, salvation is
a divine reckoning, and we’ll review that word here in a moment.
But salvation is a divine reckoning, someplace that takes place in
the heart and mind of God, in the counsel of God. But salvation
is a divine reckoning, first and foremost, that is exemplified
as that which was wrought by Abraham’s faith. Paul takes the
great father Abraham and totally dismantles this idea of salvation
by works by using the very one that the Jews would propose.
And uses him as an example of justification by faith. It’s
exactly what he does. Justification by faith, it isn’t
salvation by human effort. It isn’t justification by human
effort. It is justification by faith. We saw and we spent a little
time on these various views of what this little phrase, according
to the flesh, referred back to, referred back to Abraham as our
forefather. As one said, he was the human
standard of a genuine Jew and of a man who is right before
God. There’s no doubt about that. Even Hebrews 11 declares that
that he was a man of faith, great faith, and in that exemplary. The whole Hebrew race came from
his loins and what was true regarding his relationship to God must
therefore be true of all his descendants. It refers to physical
lineage. And so when it says our forefather,
according to the flesh, all nations were going to come from him.
And such is the case. But there’s another hint there.
And only one picked it up. And he says that it also suggests
human effort with regards to justification. Our forefather,
according to the flesh, that he was just like us and he, too,
tried just like we so often tend to try. Salvation by works, salvation
by human effort. And Paul says, what then shall
we say? In this great theme of justification
by faith, what should we say? Should we really consider? Should
we really ponder? Are we really to believe that
Abraham, after the means of salvation that has just been laid out before
us, justification by faith in Jesus Christ alone, even though
it was announced in the Old Testament prophets, are we really to believe?
that Abraham has found salvation by works, what should we say
that Abraham found? What then should we say that
Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, has found? What
Paul offers here by way of a, you know, a hint for the sake
of argument, this idea he proposes, look at verse two, for if Abraham
was justified by works, he has something to boast about. And
Paul is saying this for the sake of argument. He’s not for a minute
buying into it. He’s advancing exactly diametrically
the opposite. But he says, let’s take for a
minute that Abraham might possibly have earned his salvation, his
justification by works. If that was the case, then he
has cause for boasting and not just among men, not just among
his fellow temple goers. Abraham has cause to boast before
God himself. Look, God, I did it. I lived
according to your standard. And as we saw last week in this
by way of review, there were many Jews who really thought
that he had done this. They really thought that he had
lived according to this great standard, this impossible standard. One said in the course of these
Jewish ideas of Abraham, one rabbi said that he was perfect
in all his deeds, another that he had performed the whole law.
Get this before it was even given. I mean, this is some guy. Not needing any repentance, said
another rabbi, because he had not sinned against God. I mean,
this is just this blasphemous, this blasphemous is what it is. The syllogism we saw goes essentially
like this. If Abraham is justified by works,
he has grounds for boasting before God. Abraham was justified by
works. Therefore, Abraham had grounds
for boasting. Paul knows, Paul knew that his
opponents would seize on the example of Abraham, this example
of works and human merit, and that if Abraham had been justified
by his works, he had great cause to boast. Because he was the
first one in history to save the Lord Jesus Christ to live
according to this standard. As one said, Paul proves that
Abraham was not justified by works. By proving this, he refutes
the conclusion. He disproves the minor premise
simply by an appeal to Scripture, Genesis 15, 6, which says nothing
of works. It is the faith of Abraham. that
is in view. There is no grounds for Abraham
to boast. There is no grounds for Abraham
to boast before God or before men. Look at verse three. For
what does the Scripture say? With that little saying, he drew
in the attention of any self-respecting Jew. What does the Scripture
say? We have our opinions. We have
our interpretations. But what does the Scripture say? And Abraham
believed God. And it was reckoned to him as
righteousness. You see, when those divine promises
that we reviewed last week, when those promises came to Abraham,
even in the face of impossibility, really, from a human standpoint.
Oh, you’re going to give me a son. You’re going to give me all these
nations. You’re going to bless me. Even in the face of an impossible
promise. From a human perspective, Abraham
believed God and he continued to believe and he continued to
walk with God. And even when he would stumble,
he would get back up and immediately take hold of God’s hand again
and walk with God. He took God at his word. He believed
God. Paul says that because of that
and that alone, As he quotes Genesis 15, 6, it was reckoned
to him as righteousness. And we saw this word. In fact,
we saw it five times in this passage. Just glance down. I don’t know how your passages
have translated it or your versions have translated this word, because
a lot of times it gets lost or muddled over in the translations.
But in verse three is the first occurrence of it, this word reckoned.
What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was
reckoned to him as righteousness. And then the argument that we’ll
review in a moment, the one who works his wage is not reckoned
or considered or imputed to his account as favor. It doesn’t come by way of grace.
He earned it. And then again in verse five,
but the one who does not work, he believes, but believes in
him who justifies the ungodly. His faith is reckoned or considered
or imputed, placed into the account of his as righteousness. Then again, in verse six, we
see it again in verse six, just as David also speaks of the blessing
upon the man whom God reckons righteousness apart from works. And then the one that most people
would probably overlook, depending on your translation, is verse
occurs again in verse eight. Quoting from Psalm 32, blessed
is the man whose sin the Lord will not reckon, will not take
into account, will not impute to the man’s account. He will
not hold him accountable for that sin will come to that. This theme is nothing new in
Scripture. We reviewed many of those passages
just briefly. Second Corinthians 519. God was
in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, not imputing those sins to their
account. God refused to do that. Abraham
wasn’t justified by works. He has no cause for boasting
before God, that’s Paul’s point. The second point. Second point,
and again, by way of review, salvation is a divine reckoning. A divine consideration, if you
will, but it goes much beyond just a mental consideration,
it is an act, it is a deed on God’s part. Salvation is a divine
reckoning which was exemplified as that which was wrought by
Abraham’s faith, but it is distinguished from the obligation that work
reckons. It’s a simple argument. We’re
not going to belabor it much, because if you look at it, you
can figure it out, a child can figure this out. I have two of
them. If I offer to pay them for a
job. They come to me immediately when
the job is completed with their hand out. That is the argument. The one who works, his wage is
not reckoned as a favor. When I give them the five dollars,
it’s not a favor. They earned it. That’s the argument. Don’t try it on me at home. Now,
to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but
as one who is due. Such was not the case with Abraham.
If Abraham’s work made him righteous, he would have cause for boasting
before God. This is essentially just a reiteration
of the argument already advanced. Abraham. If he had worked. It wasn’t a
matter of grace was his salvation, his salvation would not have
been a matter of grace at all, it wouldn’t have anything to
do with God’s mercy, and it certainly wouldn’t have anything to do
with Christ. Abraham, if he worked and worked according to God’s
standard, earned it and God owed it to him. But that’s not the
case. Genesis doesn’t mention anything
about works as we saw. It was faith and because it was
by faith that salvation that Abraham and all others who place
their faith in Christ. Is a matter of grace, look at
verse five. Salvation is a divine reckoning
we’ve seen. Salvation is a divine reckoning,
first and foremost, that is exemplified as that wrought by Abraham’s
faith. Secondly, it is distinguished from the obligation that work
reckons. Thirdly, it is completely a faith
devoid of works. Look at verse five, and this
argument is even more simple to the one who does not work. But believes in him who justifies
the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. This is one, not who does a little
bit of work. To add to what God has already
provided in Jesus and To that, I’m going to add my church attendance.
Oh, God, I believe in your son, but I also am a good church attender
and I also have been baptized and I also partake of the Lord’s
table. I’ve even taught Sunday school.
That’s the idea. It’s not a little work. Paul
doesn’t say to the one who does a little bit of work and believes
in the Lord Jesus Christ, he does no work at all. He does
not work. To the one who does not work,
but believes. That’s the that’s the contrast
that is set up here, as we saw last week, it’s not against a
worker and a non worker. That would be a simple enough
contrast. And that much is true. But Paul
even goes beyond that. The contrast is between a worker,
one working to try to earn their salvation by their obedience
into heaven. Not only him, but the contrast
between one who not only works, but not only works and believes. That’s the contrast. We saw that
this faith is no Passive faith, it’s an active trust. It is a
throwing oneself upon Almighty God for salvation. It is living
out the words of that hymn. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to the cross I cling.
I don’t come with anything, not with my heritage, not with my
denomination, not with my means of baptism, not with anything. It is an acknowledgement. And
we found the shocking. Even though the passage says
to the one who does not work and Abraham is always in view
throughout this entire passage to the one who does not work,
Abraham didn’t earn his salvation by works, but to the one who
does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly. And we said there were those
that wanted to take Abraham out of this equation way Abraham
may not be that good, but he’s not that bad. Abraham may not
be the righteous one who has never sinned like some of the
Jewish rabbis thought, but he’s not ungodly, isn’t he? Sure he is. It’s exactly what
Abraham believed. Abraham threw his hands up and
said, there’s no way I can do this. There’s no way I can live
according to God’s standards. There’s no way. We saw his first misstep when
he went to Egypt, remember? And he concocted this crazy lie
with his own wife. Tell them that you’re his sister,
because I don’t want him to kill me. And on and on it goes with Abraham
to the point where he even takes his wife’s counsel that in order
to have a son, he was going to have to take a handmaid, Hagar. Well, Abraham, we don’t need
to go any further. Abraham was not a perfect man.
Abraham was ungodly, just like you and I are ungodly. He was
a sinner, just like you and I are sinners. He was every bit in
need of God’s grace, just like you and I are. There isn’t a
human that’s ever been born that wasn’t ungodly. But he also believed. If you
look at the passage, look at verse five again, he believed
in him who justifies he was able to justify the ungodly and to
do so without damage to his own reputation, to do so without
going against himself. As we’ve already seen, he was
able to justify the ungodly. What else did he have to work
with? What else did God have to work with? He didn’t have
anybody who was really kind of pretty good. He had sinners,
sinners just like Abraham. I had cause to dig a little deeper
this past week, and I came across this statement by Martin Lloyd-Jones,
one of my absolute heroes of the faith. He said, this is,
I do not hesitate to assert, one of the most important verses
in the whole Bible. Did you get that? What? Romans 4, 5? Nobody even remembers this. Nobody
memorizes this, not even in Iwana, right? But to the one who does
not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his
faith is reckoned as righteousness. Nobody remembers that. And yet,
Martin Lloyd-Jones said, this is one of the most important
verses in all the Bible. In many ways, the strongest statement
concerning justification which this apostle ever made. The apostle
tells us two things about this man. First, he does not do any
work. He does not produce any works. Here is a man who has no good
works to show. He has nothing to commend himself. He certainly cannot present an
account and a bill because he has done nothing. Beyond that,
he is actually ungodly. God does not first make us godly
and then justify us the ungodly. The unrighteous are justified
as they are without works and while ungodly. What a powerful
statement. And Abraham believed that. Abraham
believed that God was able to do that, to take a sinner like
himself and to justify him, to make him righteous. But Paul’s not done even that.
I mean, what a great place to stop. Amen. And we all walk out
singing. What a great and glorious truth.
But Paul’s not done. Paul is just getting warmed up
talking about this great theme of salvation. And there’s another
Old Testament example that lies close at hand for Paul to use
and is the great example of David, King David. Paul quotes the opening
two verses of Psalm one or Psalm 32. As a clear example of someone
else who absolutely knew. The sinner, there’s no argument there,
David was absolutely a sinner and yet one who had somehow some
way received God’s forgiveness. In the midst of this great, great
sin. We’re considering the history,
the divine history of justification that could only be God’s. Because there is only justification
through God himself, this salvation Is a divine reckoning, first
and foremost, that is exemplified by as that which was wrought
by Abraham’s faith. Secondly, it was distinguished
from the obligation that work reckons. And thirdly, that is
completely a faith devoid of works. But there’s a fourth point
that we need to consider this morning. Salvation is a divine
reckoning. which deals with man’s sinfulness. It’s not just that God makes
us righteous. He drains the account of sin
that was full to the brim. Pick up with me in verse five,
would you? But to the one who does not work, but believes in
him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness,
just as David. also speaks of the blessing upon
the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works. Blessed are
those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins
have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin
the Lord will not take into account. Now, in verses six through eight,
as I said, there is this second example from the Old Testament.
Remember, Paul had already declared the Old Testament prophets. They
spoke of this. The law and the prophets spoke of salvation. By justification, the righteousness
of God, the prophets have had extolled this. This is only the
second of Paul’s examples, but he there are plenty more available,
but none better than these two. Abraham and King David. And so,
in order to prove that justification by faith is found throughout
the Old Testament scriptures, he goes secondly to David. And
he uses David and cites one of his Psalms in order to establish
and prove that the greatest king of Israel was justified by faith
alone, not by works, Now, by a little bit of works and his
faith by faith alone, apart from completely apart from works.
As one said in this section, sin and what he’s referring to
is these this quote in verse seven and eight in this section,
sin is viewed as a wrong against God, which needs to be forgiven. David knew that. It was a loathsome
thing which needs to be covered in a crime which needs to be
avenged unless some satisfaction is rendered to justice. It is
an offense against God’s majesty, his purity and his justice. What this commentator alludes
to is there’s essentially three completely different words for
sin in the Hebrew. Now, depending on what translation
you have, you may just have a really bland consideration of these
things. The Greek text dulls that that
distinction a little bit. But in the Hebrew, there are
three distinct words for sin. Transgression, typically translated
as transgression, thinks of sin as a rebellion against authority,
a proper rightful authority. Sin, the more general word for
sin, the second of three, is just a missing the mark, just
being a degree off of true north. And then the last word, the third
of three, iniquity, just means utter crookedness. Now, describing
it, I love the way one put it. Sin is called transgression,
a breaking loose or tearing away from God. What a terrible thing. And yet, David says that was
true of me. The tearing away from God’s sin,
the general word, a deviation from that which is well pleasing
to God. Well, David certainly knew that as well, didn’t he?
And then this iniquity as a perversion, a distortion, a misdeed. And
if you only think, only think back to David and Bathsheba and
that incident, well, David knew sin in its fullness, didn’t he?
He did. It was more than just stepping
over a boundary. Dabbling in that which God had
prohibited, missing the mark, not doing which God had clearly
commanded. He already had a wife. The sinfulness,
this this iniquity, this moral distortion, this perversion of
the divine order. As one said, these three expressions.
are also met, get this, with three expressions for pardon.
This is a rich passage, this Psalm 32. Three expressions for
pardon are also eloquently in their variety. The first word
forgiven means taken away or lifted off as a burden for making
shoulders the removal of sin itself. The second covered paints
pardon as God’s shrouding the foul thing from his pure eyes. And the third describes forgiveness
as God’s not reckoning a man’s sin to him, canceling out a debt. We’ll get to those in a moment.
Look at the opening statement. This is Paul’s transition here,
and he says, Just as also David speaks of
the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness
apart from works. And that’s an interesting thought. That’s where Paul’s been all
the way along. He started back in 321 justification by faith. The righteousness of God has
now been manifested. We’ve just learned about it from
Abraham. He wasn’t justified by works. He was justified by
faith. And Paul is just reiterating
that point here once again. The blessing upon the man to
whom God reckons righteousness apart from the works that has
nothing to do with the passage that he quotes. Or does it? So this justification by faith.
This concept of God reckoning a person is righteous merely
by way of their faith, it is in the Old Testament. And it
was seen not only in God’s dealing with Abraham, but in Paul, as
Paul declares here, it was also seen in God’s dealing with David.
We’ll see how in just a moment. One said this in my way of introduction
to the section David’s pronouncement leads the apostle to the enunciation
of another aspect of the history of Abraham. David pronounced
blessed those whose iniquities are forgiven whose sins are covered.
It is this that is in view in verse six when Paul refers to
what David spoke of in terms of this non-imputation and forgiveness
of sin. If that’s thick and rich for
you, pardon me, bear with me, we’ll get there and we’ll smooth
it out and thin it out as we go. The blessing that David speaks
of, even that Paul alludes to, this blessing is salvation. That’s the great blessing. We’ll
get there in a moment. We’ll look at Psalm 32 and I’ll
show you how and why. The only ones who can receive
this salvation are those whom God reckons righteous. They can’t earn it on their own.
They can’t achieve it on their own. David clearly understood
the workings of divine grace, and David knew that only God
could purify what he had sullied with his choices and with his
life. Only David knew that. David knew that full well. He
knew that only God could purify. Only God could deal with his
sin. Turn back, if you would, to where
Purely by God’s providence, we’ve already been this morning to
Psalm 51. Psalm 51, I didn’t plan it this
way, even when I made out the new worship reading list. Psalm 51 is where we landed today,
but it also happens to be in my notes. Psalm 51. Psalm 51 says it well, when David,
a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him after
he had gone in to Bathsheba. What a dreadful scene. And you
can hear the anguish in David’s heart. Pleading out to God, be
gracious to me, O God. According to Your lovingkindness,
according to the greatness of Your compassion, blot out my
transgressions. They’re still there in full view.
I can feel them and taste them. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. I know that I am completely impure
before You. Essentially is what he says.
Cleanse me from my sin. He hasn’t experienced it yet. For I know my transgressions
and my sin as ever before me against you only. You only I
have sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you
are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in my sin, my mother
conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the
innermost being and in the hidden parts. You will make known make
me no wisdom. Purify me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow because right now he is black as sin. Make me to hear
the joy and gladness, which tells me that it was utterly absent
from him. This is a man in utter anguish,
people. Let the bones which you have
broken rejoice, hide your face from my sins, blot out all my
iniquities, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast
spirit within me, because he knew that his heart was dead. Do not cast me away from your
presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore
to me the joy of your salvation. Sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be
converted to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, the God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully
sing of your righteousness. David had heard all of it. He
knew all about God. He knew all about salvation and
all about righteousness, but he didn’t know it yet. Not as he would. Kyle and Dalech, and they’re
just great commentaries on the Old Testament, especially good
in the Psalms, said for a whole year after his adultery, David
was like one under a sentence of condemnation. In the midst
of this fearful anguish of soul, he composed Psalm 51. Whereas
Psalm 32 was composed after his deliverance from the state of
mind, Psalm 51 in the midst of struggle with repentance, Psalm
32 after he had recovered this inward peace, if you would flip
back those few chapters to Psalm 32. Psalm 32. where David wrote how blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven any speaking of himself. First and foremost, he’s speaking
of himself. It’s freely available to all
Through repentance and faith, justification is available to
all. But he’s talking about himself
first and foremost. How blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered? How blessed is the man to whom
the Lord does not impute iniquity? And in whose spirit there is
no deceit. When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted
away. Through my groaning all day long
when he refused to confess his sin, that presumed year. His body wasted away, we don’t
know how or in what manner. But we know the sentiment, don’t
we? We know the Holy Spirit knowing
at us when we have refused to confess sin, don’t we? We know
what sin is. We don’t need anybody to tell
us. For I acknowledge my sin to you
and my iniquity, I did not hide. I said I will confess my transgressions
to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore, let
everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be
found surely in a flood of great waters. They will not reach him.
You are my hiding place. You preserve me from trouble.
You surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct
you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel
you with my eye upon you. Do not make me as the horse or
the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and
bridle, to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come
near to you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts
in the Lord, loving kindness shall surround him. Be glad in
the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy all you
who are upright in heart. You see, the theme of this song
is the treasure that David, by God’s grace, had laid hold of
that being dug out of that pit of hell. Wrapped in sin. The truth and the blessedness
of forgiveness. Spurgeon said it this way regarding
this very verse, he said, pardoning mercy is of all things in the
world the most to be prized. For it is the only sure way to
happiness. Blessedness is not in this case
ascribed to the man who has been a diligent law keeper, but to
a lawbreaker who by grace, most rich and free, has been forgiven
a full, instantaneous, irreversible pardon of transgression, which
turns the poor sinner’s hell into heaven and makes the air
of wrath a partaker in blessing. You’ve got to be dead not to
realize what’s going on here. The day that is looking up to
the God of his salvation and giving him the thanks that is
due. This psalm overflows with gratitude
towards God, because David came face to face with himself, he
knew He knew that he couldn’t do anything. He knew that he
couldn’t work his way back to heaven. He knew about heaven
and he knew about the righteous standard of God. But he had also
come to know about sin. And he embraced sin in full. And his soul was dark and black
because of it. And so David rejoices here. Not
because he knows he had earned sin, he knew that his lawless
deeds, this word that as we saw signified rebellion, he knew
that that rebellion had been covered and dealt with. Covering
sin in scripture is not always used in a good sense. There is
a kind of covering of sin that is bad and harmful. Richard,
a lion, a Puritan, said there is a covering of sin which proves
a curse. Some proverbs rather twenty thirteen. He who conceals his transgressions
will not prosper. There is a covering of it by
not confessing it or worse, by denying it, a covering of it
by of sin, by lie. All these are evil coverings,
but there is a blessing. of a covering of sin. It is the
forgiveness of sin. It is the hiding it out of sight,
and that is the blessedness. Blessed is the man, David said,
whose sin is covered, covered by God, just like the ark was
covered, remember, with the mercy seat, just as Noah was covered
from the flood David says. As he comes before Almighty God.
He said, blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven
and whose sins have been covered, and he knew it firsthand. But
he closes with this great statement. Blessed, oh, how very happy.
Is the man who sinned. The Lord will not take into account
God has drained the account. God has drained the account of
sin for you and I, and he has filled it up with the righteousness
of Christ. Passage here emphasizes God’s
truly dealing with sin. And it is this lack of imputation,
this lack of taking into account the sin, not only of David, but
the sin of you and I, the willingness of God to drain the account And
when He drained it, He put it all on Christ there on the cross. And when it was finished, He
filled up our account with the righteousness of Christ. We didn’t
earn it. We did nothing to fill up that
account. Not with anything good. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply
to the cross I cling. Let’s rejoice before our Almighty
God. Our Father and our God, we thank
you for this reminder. Of these Old Testament examples
of justification by faith. And Lord, if there are any greater
arguments, we do not know them. They do not exist, not in Scripture. Of men that anybody could present
as being righteous men, godly men who somehow earned their
salvation. Lord, we thank you that that
argument is completely obliterated by Paul. That it is salvation
by Christ and by faith in him and nothing else. Nothing in our hands we bring. We thank you and praise you for
our Lord Jesus. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen. If you would take your hymnals
and turn to 465. Marvelous grace of our loving
Lord, and let’s stand. Marvelous grace of our loving
Lord, Praise that exceeds our sin and
our guilt, yonder on Calvary’s mount have poured, there where
the blood of the Lamb was spilled. Grace, grace, God’s grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse
within. Grace, grace, God’s grace. Grace that is greater than all
our sin. Sin and despair like the sea
waves cold. Threaten the soul with infinite
loss. Grace that is greater, yes, grace
untold. hoist to the refuge the mighty
cross. Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace
that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace
that is greater than all our sin. Dark is the day that we
cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? For there is flowing a crimson
tide Wider than snow you may be today Grace, grace, God’s
grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God’s grace. Grace that is greater than all
our sin. Oh yeah.