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welcome to everyone for our call to worship you can turn in your Bibles to psalm 32 psalm 32 i'll begin reading in verse 1 hear the word of the Living in the true God a psalm of David a contemplation blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit when I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long for day and night your hand was heavy upon me my vitality was turned into the drought of summer say law I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity I have not hidden I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin say law for this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found surely in a flood of Great Waters they shall not come near him you are my hiding place you shall preserve me from trouble you shall surround me with songs of deliverance say law I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go I will guide you with my eye do not be like the horse or like the mule which have no understanding which must be harnessed with bit and bridle else they will not come near you many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he who trusts in the lord mercy shall surround him be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous and shout for joy all you upright in heart amen we'll turn in your Trinity hymnal to number 422 422 will use a familiar tune please stand as we sing together Oh let us pray a God in our Father we gather again on this Sabbath day and we come to acknowledge your holiness and your majesty and your glory we acknowledge that you are the God who made this world and all things in it by the word of his power in the space of six days and all very good you are the God who is in the heavens and you do whatever you please you govern all your creatures and all their actions according to your most holy why isn't powerful preserving we acknowledge as well on this that this day the work of redemption how we praise You Father for sovereign grace for predestination for election the Apostle says you chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and we praise you that in the fullness of the time you sent forth your son our Blessed Lord Jesus who for us men and for our salvation has come down from heaven we thank you for his life his death his resurrection we thank you for his current session at your right hand and we look forward to that day when he comes again in glory to judge the living in the dead we praise you as well father for sending the Holy Spirit taking the word of truth and effectually calling us out of darkness into marvelous light by the power of the Holy Spirit and we praise you that you've granted us the grace to see our sin and to see the Savior and we give all praise to Father Son and Holy Spirit for so great a salvation we pray that tonight God would be exalted in this place the psalmist said you are enthroned upon the praises of Israel we know the church and the New Covenant is the Israel of God and we pray that as we sing and as we pray as we look to Holy Scripture in all of this our God would be magnified and glorified as the psalmist says in many places you're great and greatly to be praised so grant us help tonight grant us the spirit that we may worship you as as is fitting to such a great and glorious God as we consider your holiness and majesty we see our own sinfulness we confess that iniquity now we ask that you would forgive us for our transgressions and our iniquities we ask that you would cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ we know God even as believers we have remaining corruption we find that principle at work in our hearts the flash lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary to one another we cry out to you and ask for mercy and forgiveness and grace and may it indeed promoting us the fear of God and joy in our hearts considering the fact that we have been forgiven of much by such a gracious and a loving father for all those who have come here tonight that are outside of Christ those who have not believed the gospel we pray that this would be the day of salvation she would open eyes and open ears and open hearts to receive wondrous things from your word may the gospel go forth in this pulpit and throughout this this city and this nation and may many people turn from their idols to the true and living God we pray that you would be pleased to demonstrate your power and might your sovereignty in your grace and the salvation of a great multitude that no man can number and we do pray that you bless other churches in our community we thank you that we're not alone here we pray father that you would bless and prosper those who are preaching the truth as it is in Jesus we ask God that you would grant peace and unity to the people of God in the various churches here in chilliwack and we do pray for an outpouring of your Holy Spirit throughout this nation we pray for revival in your churches and we pray for awakening among those who are dead in their trespasses and sins do this for your glory and for your honor and for your praise our God we pray for your blessing to be upon the people in our church that have many physical challenges and trials we think of several brethren and we just commit them into your gracious hand and into your care we know that you are a good God and we know that you caused all things to work for good to those who love you to those well those who are the called according to your purpose and may you in the midst of their their decaying outward man renew their inner man and strengthen them day by day and may they consider these momentary light affliction nothing in comparison with the exceeding weight of glory and that does stand in the future for your people we pray our Father that you would bless the Bible study on Tuesday evening we pray that many people would come and we pray God that if it is your will we would see a plant developed in that part of the world we ask God in heaven that you would guide us with wisdom and grace give us a spirit of peace and joy and happiness as we go about these things and we do pray that you'd be pleased to plant several more churches in this lower mainland and we ask that you would do so so that more people could come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and our God bless our missionary brethren we thank you for the saints that have left the comforts that we often have in North America that have gone to other countries we just commit them to you and pray that you would watch over them and you would protect them and bless them and cause your word to go forth throughout the nations of the earth as the psalmist said let the nation's be glad cause your face to shine upon them and may the way of the Lord God most high be known among the peoples of the earth save from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and do this for your great name's sake continue with us now we pray and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen we can turn again in near trinity hem NAL's to number 441 441 will stand as we sing together Oh Oh well you can turn in your Bibles to the prophet Ezekiel for our scripture reading this evening as II kial chapter 26 Ezekiel chapter 26 as I mentioned last Sunday night we started the section God is not simply the God of Israel he is the Lord God over the entire Earth and the prophet of God functions not only to call Israel to repentance and faith but the Prophet as well pronounces judgment against the nations around Israel so he has comprehensive sovereignty over all things beginning in chapter 26 at verse 1 and it came to pass in the 11th year on the first day of the month that the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man because tire has said against Jerusalem aha she is broken who was the gateway of the people's now she has turned over to me I shall be filled she has laid waste therefore thus says the Lord God behold i am against you Oh tire and will cause many nations to come up against you as the sea causes its waves to come up and they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down our towers i will also scrape or dust from her and make her like the top of iraq it shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea for I have spoken says the Lord God it shall become plunder for the nations also heard also her daughter villages which are in the fields shall be slain by the sword then they shall know that I am the lord for thus says the Lord God behold I will bring against tire from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon King of Kings with horses with chariots and with horsemen and an army with many people he will slay with the sword your daughter your daughter villages in the fields he will heap up a siege mount against you build a wall against you and raise a defense again jus he will direct his battering rams against your walls and with his axes he will break down your towers because of the abundance of his horses their dust will cover you your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen the wagons and the chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached with the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets he will slay your people by the sword and your strong pillars will fall to the ground they will plunder your riches and pillage or merchandise they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses they will lay your stones your timber and your soil in the midst of the water I will put an end to the sound of your songs and the sound of your hearts shall be heard no more I will make you like the top of a rock you shall be a place for spreading nets and you shall never be rebuilt for I the LORD have spoken says the Lord God thus says the Lord God to tire will the coastlands not shake at the sound of your fall when the wounded cry when slaughter is made in the midst of you then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered garments they will clothe themselves with trembling they will sit on the ground tremble every moment and be astonished at you and they will take up a lamentation for you and say to you how you have perished oh one inhabited by seafaring men Oh renowned City who was strong at sea she and her inhabitants who caused their terror to be on all her and AB inhabitants now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall yes the coastlands by the sea are troubled at your departure with us says the Lord God when I make you a desolate city like cities that are not inhabited when I bring the deep upon you and great waters cover you then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit to the people of old and I will make you dwell in the lowest part of the earth in places desolate from antiquity with those who go down to the pit so that you may never be inhabited and I shall establish glory in the land the living I will make you a terror and you shall be no more though you are sought for you will never be found again says the Lord God amen we'll let us pray our Father we see your judgment not only upon the Covenant people but upon those nations outside of Israel we know that this certainly translates into this new covenant era we know the judgment of God is over all men all men everywhere and so we pray that the gospel would go forth calling sinners to repentance and faith and we trust and we expect and we know that you will indeed save a great multitude so we pray even tonight you bless our time here together the Word of God would go for that the spirit would empower it and enable it that sinners would open or by grace would be open to receive the truth of Holy Writ we thank you for your mercy we thank you that you have provided a refuge you have provided safety and protection in the Lord Jesus Christ now as the the wise man said that the name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous run to it and are safe and we pray that such would happen even tonight and we ask through Christ our Lord amen well you can turn in your Trinity Salter to Psalm 51 Psalm 51 will sing versus one the first section there hang on let me just double check yes the first 11 verses Psalm 51 will stand it and sing together well please turn with me in your Bibles to 2nd Samuel chapter 22 excuse me second Samuel chapter 22 this is a psalm of David it's also included in the Book of Psalms no doubt David sang it throughout his life this is toward the end of his life and he submitted it to the chief musician to include in the Book of Psalms so that the church may sing it as well there are some differences in wording between 2nd Samuel 22 and Psalm 18 but it is the same song the same doctrine the same rehearsal of God's faithfulness the same ascription to praise to Yahweh of Israel well I do want to begin reading in chapter 22 at verse 1 then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul and he said the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer the God of my strength and whom I will trust my shield in the horn of my salvation my stronghold and my refuge my Savior you saved me from violence I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be safe from my enemies when the waves of death surrounded me the floods of ungodliness made me afraid the sorrows of shield surrounded me the snares of death confronted me in my distress I called upon the Lord and cried out to my god he heard my voice from his temple and my cry entered his ears then the earth shook and trembled the foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken because he was angry smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth coals were kindled by it he bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under his feet he wrote upon a chair of and flew and he was seen upon the wings of the wind he made darkness canopies around him dark waters and thick clouds of the skies from the brightness before him coals of fire were kindled the Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered his voice he sent out arrows and scattered them lightning bolts and he vanquished them then the channels of the sea were seen the foundations of the world were uncovered at the rebuke of the Lord at the blast of the breath of his nostrils he sent from above he took me he drew me out of many waters he delivered me from my strong enemy from those who hated me for they were too strong for me they confronted me in the day of my calamity that the Lord was my support he also brought me out into a broad place he delivered me because he delighted in may the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands he has recommenced me for I have kept the ways of the Lord and have nots wickedly departed from my god for all his judgments were before man as for his statutes I did not depart from them I was also blameless before him and I kept myself from my iniquity therefore the Lord has recommenced me according to my righteousness according to my cleanness in his eyes with the merciful you will show yourself merciful with a blameless manual show yourself blameless with the pure you will show yourself pure and with the devious you will show yourself shrewd you will save the humble people but your eyes are on the haughty and that you may bring them down for you are my lamp o Lord the Lord shall enlighten my darkness for by you i can run against a troop by my god i can leap over a wall as for God his way is perfect the word of the Lord is proven he is a shield to all who trust in him for who is God except the Lord and who is a rock except our God god is my strength and power and he makes my way perfect he makes my feet like the feet of addie of deer and sets me on my high places he teaches me or excuse me he teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a Oh of bronze you've also given me the shield of your salvation your gentleness has made me great you enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed and I have destroyed them and wounded them so that they could not rise they have fallen under my feet for you have armed me with strength for the battle you have subdued under me those who rose against me you've also given me the necks of my enemies so that I destroyed those who hated me they looked but there was none to save even to the Lord but he did not answer them then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth i trod them like dirt in the streets and I spread them out you've also delivered me from the strivings of my people you have kept me as the head of the nation's a people I have not known shall serve me the foreigners submit to me as soon as they hear they obey me the foreigners fade away and come frightened from their hideouts the Lord lives blessed be my rock let God be exalted the rock of my salvation it is God who avenges me and subdues the people's under me he delivers me from my enemies you also lift me up above those who rise against me you have delivered me from the violent man therefore I will give thanks to you O Lord among the Gentiles and sing praise to your name he is the tower of salvation to his king and shows mercy to his anointed to David and his descendants for evermore amen will let us pray God we thank you for the written word we ask now that you would add your blessing by the power of the Holy Spirit as we look specifically at this Psalm we give you praise and glory for the Grace and the mercy and the goodness that is so richly displayed in this passage we give praise to you for deliverance not only in the life of King David of Israel but certainly in our lives as well we know and we can trace and we can see the good Providence of God and the way that you have sustained us and brought us here even tonight we would ask God that we say as we see this song as we read or as we study portions of it that we would join with David and praising this God that we would take the Psalms that we would sing them as our own and that we would praise you for you are worthy Father Son and Holy Spirit again forgive us now for all of our sins and give us grace and we pray through Christ Jesus our Lord amen well this particular song breaks down into four parts the first is the deliverance wrought by God in verses 1 to 20 secondly the faithfulness of David in verses 21 to 31 sorry three parts and then the third large section is the invincibility of the kingdom in verses 32 2 51 now as we read through that Psalm I would like to ask everybody was there any problems or anything that stood out in the reading of the psalm that you know not isn't just maybe makes you scratch your head a little bit I think that some in the modern church probably don't like the sort of martial language and the language of conquest and victory that that David speaks of here he says I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth I i trod them like dirt in the streets and I spread them out we're a gentler nicer sort on this side of the cross and we don't like to think about such things like this I I think that's a pervasive view and much of evangelicalism and probably underscores the weakness of much of Angelica lism but I think there is a particular section in here that ought to at least give us a cause to reflect and a cause to pause and a cause to ask a few questions and I think it's the section verses 21 to 25 where David rehearses or recounts or highlights his own righteousness let me just read that section again he says the Lord rewarded rewarded me according to my righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands he has recompense me for I have kept the ways of the Lord and have nots wickedly departed from my god for all his judgments were before me and as for his statutes I did not depart from them I was also blameless before him therefore I kept myself from my iniquity therefore the Lord has recompense me according to my righteousness according to my cleanness in his eyes now if you study the books of first and second Samuel you will agree with me that David was a great man one of the greatest men that ever lived a very righteous and a very godly man a man described as a man after God's own heart he is after all the composer of the songs of Israel he wrote a bulk of the Psalms in the Book of Psalms and these are expressions of the heart of a man who does love and honor God but if you've read those same books of first and second Samuel you will know that David was not perfect in fact some of David's sins were especially scandalous they were notorious they were vicious and they were vile so when we consider this passage this escription to david's righteousness in lights a of the incident with Uriah and bathsheba we need to ask the question wherein does david's righteousness why so i want to address this particular section of scripture under three considerations or probably just get to to tonight first the problem in light of david's in and then secondly the resolution in light of david's theology but notice he highlights the fact that he is righteous the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness this is the same man that writes in Psalm 133 and for if thou Lord should smark iniquities Oh Lord who can stand here he says that the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness I will argue in the evening tonight that his righteousness is not intrinsic to himself it's not inherent to himself but rather it's an alien righteousness it's the righteousness of another it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to him received by faith alone as I've already pointed out there are several sins notorious sins that were conducted by David you can turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 11 this is not to pick on David as those who have attended the wednesday night studies will know I'm a big fan of David I love this man I can't wait to meet him in that eschatological kingdom of glory but nevertheless we need to understand that David was a man who was flawed he ultimately points us to his greater son the Lord Jesus Christ who never engaged and sent whose righteousness was inherent whose righteousness was because he obeyed the law his righteousness was not something imputed but rather by God's grace his righteousness is imputed to us notice an 11-1 it happened in the spring of the year at the time when Kings go out to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all israel and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged raba but David remained at Jerusalem then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the King's house and from the roof he saw a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful to behold so David sent and inquired about the woman and someone said is this not Bathsheba the daughter of a lion the wife of Uriah the Hittite then David sent messengers and took her and she came to him and he lay with her but she was cleansed from her impurity and she returned to his house and the woman conceived so she sent and told David and said i am with child to breach of the second a seventh commandment the king of israel was forbidden against multiplying women weapons and wealth in deuteronomy seven he was told to have bought one wife he was to be consistent with God's plan for marriage I realized that a multitude of Israel's Kings married several women but because they did that doesn't legitimize the practice they were supposed to be man of with one woman and here David goes into another woman and commits adultery with her now as we read the narrative continued through we see that David has to cover up he goes into that thug mode and he wants to cover his tracks so he calls Uriah back from the battlefield tries to have Uriah lie with wife so that as it is discovered that she is with child persons will think that it's Uriah's baby seems an ingenious plan seems to be a no-brainer seems like it will be an easy crime to pull off except that Uriah was a man of integrity Uriah was a man of faithfulness Uriah said what David should have said how in the world can I do such things well the Ark of the Covenant and the children of Israel are in battle against Philistines and so then David tries to ply him with alcohol make no mistakes about it brethren and young people david knew what he was doing his second plan failed but he knew what he was doing he thought if I can get this man drunk this will lower his inhibitions and then he will go into his wife drugs and alcohol have that effect young people need to understand that because more often than not when your inhibitions are lowered you go off and commit even more cent it's not the case that when your mind is altered by those things that you are thinking sanely and wisely and conscientiously and make good decisions david was not a fool he tried to get him drunk I'm not saying this is a good day but he was trying to get his tracks covered again Uriah stays the course and so David resorts to Plan C and has him executed in battle now David lived with this in for a time he didn't immediately repent he didn't immediately confess he didn't immediately come to it wasn't until God sent the Prophet Nathan and the Prophet Nathan told David a story about a man who out of you lamb and a rich man wanted to BBQ the poor man's you lamp David got incensed and outraged and he and he was all upset and then the Prophet says thou art the man godhra proves him God rebukes him and God says the sword will never depart from your house I will raise up from within your house adversity and I will indeed show your wives violated before all Israel there were consequences for David's and so when we come to that passage in second samuel 22 again we affirm david's righteousness we're not saying that he's a liar but we need to find the location of that righteousness it's not intrinsic it's not inherent it's not something that he himself accomplished it is that given by God to his servant David there's also the instance where a man goes and engages an incestual rate I mean this is one of the consequences of David's in chapter 13 is a sordid account of in sexual rape and then rapes his sister Tamar note specifically David's response in second samuel chapter 13 verse 21 when David heard all of these things he was very angry I'm sorry but that's not enough father's it's not enough to get angry you gotta deal with the violation it's not enough to get upset you've got to implement corrective measures David was the king of Israel David had the authority to punish that crime David doesn't do it it exasperates his other son Absalom who takes justice into his own hands engages in vigilantism and destroys m-net now David's got more problerms in his family certainly what the Prophet said in terms of the sword not departing from his house comes to fruition comes to pass so back to second Samuel 22 David is a righteous man but I argue that it's not a righteousness that is indeed intrinsic to himself some try an attempt to deal with 21 to 25 in one of three ways they say this is really not David song higher critics of those who butcher the Bible so well well this isn't really David Psalm somebody else put that in there and they just claim that it's david's some say it was composed prior to the Bathsheba and Uriah incident I don't think that meets the time frame as it flows in the book of 2nd Samuel and some suggest the material was added later I don't know that how that would mitigate the problem if it was added later we still have a problem David was an adulterer and murderer and David then claims that the Lord rewarded him according to his righteousness let's look at the resolution in light of David's theology the first place David recognized that he was a sinner we need to appreciate that in fact we just sang that in Psalm 51 I hope you paid attention to the singing tonight the scripture reading and the the singing is in tune with this particular passage he recognizes his sin notice in verse 24 in our passage i was also blameless before him and I kept myself from my iniquity he understands that he has iniquity now probably something going on in this particular brief section is David's righteousness over against Saul's other words David guided the kingdom in a righteous manner contra Saul who drove the kingdom into the ground saw was a wretch he was a sinner he was a covenant breaking God hating reprobate David is not that and David though however does acknowledge that he has iniquity we sang it in Psalm 51 you can turn there this is a man who understands his own sin so that the righteousness that he claims in second samuel 22 is the righteousness of christ notice in Psalm 51 verse 4 against you you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me young people do not conclude anyone conclude that somehow the conjugal relationship and marriage is a sinful thing that's not what David is saying the conjugal relationship and marriage is a blessed thing God gave us that and the Covenant context of marriage and it's supposed to be frequently engaged it David is saying that when I was conceived when there was on me and that me was David I was a sinner David understood the doctrine of total depravity he traces that native depravity back to his mother's womb and says as much as soon as I was I was dead in Adam I am a sinful man so David's theology he recognizes his sinfulness secondly David understood atonement atonement I hope to show tonight that David and us aren't any different when it comes to salvation I think there's that mindset among even professing Christians that think that Old Testament believers were saved in some other way they were saved and so far as they obeyed God's law if anybody's ever saved in so far as they obey God's law they are hellbound no one can get engaged in the sort of obedience to God's law that God demands it must be perfect exact entire perpetual it must be a constant and always sort of obedience David understood atonement look at second Samuel Chapter 12 second Samuel chapter 12 I hope we're all on the same page you see what we're doing we're looking at David's righteousness and trying to see if it is indeed his own righteousness according to the law or that which is from God through faith in Jesus Christ the Lord I argue it's the latter notice in second samuel chapter 12 at verse 13 so David said to Nathan I have sinned against the Lord now some say you know that's it that's all he didn't have to grovel he didn't have to whine he didn't have to put you know ashes in his soup or wear hair shirts or good live out on poles or go live in a cave and grovel before the almighty in order to get forgiveness if he did any of those things the forgiveness wrought would be due to those things this simple confession of sin is what acknowledges the gracious forgiveness of God I have sinned against Yahweh Nathan said the day that the Lord had also has put away your sin you shall not die David recognized atonement we saw that in second samuel 21 there is atonement at Gibeah Saul had broken covenant God sent famine to the land David cries out to the Lord and the Lord tells him what's going on and the atonement wrought is the death of seven of Saul's sean's substitution ery curse bearing and then we saw on Wednesday night David understood atonement in second samuel 24 david numbers the children of Israel God is angry with the children of Israel God sends judgment upon the children of Israel to the tune of 70,000 people dying and then the Lord God tells David to take offerings to the threshing floor of Iran ax and offer sacrifice there and the Lord accept the sacrifice his wrath is appeased the sin is atoned for the bookends on that crescendo that I note of a debt of redemption accomplished and apply to Israel David understood atonement notice in Psalm 65 Psalm 65 which is packed with excellent theology we need to understand that David was not only a king not only previously a shepherd in his life but David was a theologian he knew his God he knew doctrine notice in verse 1 of Psalm 65 praises awaiting you O God in Zion into you the bow shall be performed o you who hear prayer to you all flesh will come iniquities prevail against me as for our transgressions you will provide atonement for that you see David was not operating in a bartering system he doesn't say well I'll do 15 units of good and righteousness and that will deal with my sin and God will no no he need an atonement he needed sins covered notice appeal to Sovereign Grace predestination election verse 4 blessed is the man you choose and caused to approach you that he may dwell in your courts David was every bit as much a Calvinist as Calvin himself if we can speakin distally and read that back into the life of David he understood atonement and of course atonement presupposes the existence of sin atonement highlights the holiness of God an atonement underscores the necessity of blood the book of Hebrews tells us without the shedding of blood there is no remission David understood these days the righteousness that he claims in the twenty-second chapter of Samuel is not because he's a perfect man it's because his Christ is Lord is his Jesus his anointed he's a perfect man and as a result of that this is imputed to David he understands his sin he understands atonement and he understands what I just said the doctrine of imputation notice in psalm 32 we read that at the outset of worship psalm 32 david says blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit that's reformed theology isn't it that's what the Reformation thundered forth that's what the emphasis in the battle cry was were not saved because we're good were saved because God is good and he's full of grace and he's full of mercy and he has provided away in that he is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus look at this tax in the hands of Paul look at Romans chapter 5 and sour Romans chapter 4 the larger context is Paul's discussion of justification by faith alone in chapter 4 verses 1 2 3 he highlights abraham abraham believed God and it was accounted for to him as righteousness wasn't works that landed Abraham in heaven you know we think of Abraham he is the father of the Fae full he was a great guy but you know what Abraham was before God called him out of her the Chaldeans he was an idolaters was a God hating pagan he wanted nothing to do with y'all way of Israel the Lord God calls him graciously to himself and Covenants that through his seed the families the nations of the earth would be blessed Abraham seat of course is Jesus Christ Galatians chapter 3 but Abraham is a picture of this doctrine of justification by faith he believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness now notice verses 4 and 5 now to him who works the wages are not counted as grace but his debt but to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly his faith is accounted for righteousness listen to that statement he justifies the ungodly God's not justifying those who are wonderful specimens in society he's not justifying those who are upright citizens he's not justifying those who pay their taxes and cut their grass and participated in their civic responsibilities he justifies the ungodly the ungodly is a description of us the ungodly is a description of those who took God's law and rebelled against it and rejected it the ungodly are idolaters are blasphemers their Sabbath breakers their insubordinate to their parents and civil authority they're murderers they're adulterers they're thieves they're liars and they're covetous they're the ungodly that the Lord Most High justifies not because they deserve it but because Christ died in their stead and all those who by grace look to him in faith will be forgiven this is David saw blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity look at what Paul then does in verses 6 to 8 he confirms vs. 4 and 5 and corroborates the experience of Abraham with an appeal to David notice in verse 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works you understand what he's saying we need a righteousness that avails with God because we are all unrighteousness we are undone in our sin we are foul we are polluted we stink we're wretched were vile we're guilty we deserve the damnation of God we deserve condemnation we deserve as wrath and curse both in this life and that which is to come we need forgiveness from our sins and we need this righteousness so that we can scan clothes before the Lord Lord God Almighty and this is what comes in the gospel Paul says David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works imputes is a legal word it's a forensic word God takes the righteousness of christ and he imputes it to our account he gives it to us it's received by faith alone but it comes to us by God notice he quotes psalm 32 blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin now brethren the imputation of the righteousness of Christ didn't become a reality in Romans 5 i'm sorry in Romans 4 it was a reality for David David recognized it David celebrated it David rejoices in it David's Psalms about it in psalm 32 you need to understand that David's theology is as Pauline as Paul's theology is Davidic it's like Paul says concerning Adam in Romans 5 he tells us that Adam was a type of him who was to come does that mean that Adam became a type when Paul wrote Romans 5 absolutely not Adam was a type in Genesis 1 2 3 of our Lord Jesus Christ Paul simply interprets calm expounds and shows us the theology of the situation in the same way imputation of righteousness was there for David every bit as much as it is for us and Paul underscores that David's is a negative or a not a negative assessment but notice he says blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin Paul reads that and understands that and interprets that as the imputation of righteousness apart from works Murray says what David spoke in terms of the non imputation and forgiveness of sin Paul interprets more positively as the imputation of righteousness you see David in Psalm 32 sounds reformed that's where in his righteousness way so when you read David and when you understand what's happening in his heart and in his life you cannot say well David was just a better man than I know David was a sinner saved by grace David was a wretch deserving the condemnation of God most high for his sins against the majesty of the Holy One of Israel and yet he found grace in Yahweh notice second Corinthians 5 21 the Apostle deals with this doctrine of imputation the most important doctrine if you haven't come to grips with it I urge you to do so read the book of Romans chapters four and five listen to what Paul says in second Corinthians 5 note verse 19 that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us we implore you the U is supplied is writing to Christians I believe he's expounding truth for them the U is implied he's basically highlighting or characterizing what he does we implore on Christ behalf be reconciled to God is he here as an apostle affirmed that an apostle a firm predestination an apostle who understood the reality that no one comes to God through Christ apart from Sovereign Grace and divine enablement Paul knew that and it never diminished him or discouraged it or caused him to decrease in imploring man to be reconciled to God some persons take the doctrines of sovereign grace predestination and election and they start peering into the secret things and they conclude if nobody comes because they're unless they're predestined well then we'll just have to wait until persons get zapped that's not the apostolic preaching these men understood the truth of God's comprehensive and absolute sovereignty and yet they address Jerusalem sinners Peter does and he says repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins for the promises to you your children and to all or a far off as many as the Lord our God will call they were never discouraged from preaching the truth believe on him and you will be saved in light of the fact of predestination election or sovereign grace they held that and they preach the truth the same thing is true here Paul says we implore on Christ behalf be reconciled to God they would go to audience whether Jew agree and he would call them to be reconciled to God if they said how do I become reconciled to God Paul would say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ look and live as the Hebrew prophet raised that serpent in the wilderness and those Israelites looked they lived he would say the exact same thing we have the pattern of apostolic preaching recorded for us in the book of Acts and then notice how he ends this particular section for he god the father made him god the son who knew no sin to be sin for us it's a beautiful concept he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that doesn't mean that Jesus went out and come crime it doesn't mean that Jesus went out and did misdeeds it means that our sin was heaped upon the holy Son of God the way that the imputation of his righteousness doesn't need we go out never sin not transformative in nature initially or in terms of justification it's forensic it's legal it's accounted to us the same is true here our sin is accounted to the Savior for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him notice in Philippians chapter 3 Paul is Davidic and David is Pauline notice in Philippians chapter 3 beginning in verse 7 but what things were gain to me these I have counted loss for Christ yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord is that a beautiful statement and sentiment let the expression of every redeemed heart if it's not the expression of your professor redeemed heart then you need to align yourself with Paul we need to be able to say what things were gain to me these I have counted loss for Christ what in context were gain to Paul well he was a prestigious Pharisee it was a recognized leader he was a religious man he had a religious pedigree he was looked upon favorably he was probably fawned over because he was a very intelligent theologian he says all that means nothing to me notice yet indeed I also presently count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord can we say that is that our experience I count all things loss for what for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord you see brethren if that's our confession our lives will make it real we can't say I gladly accept the loss of all things for the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord and then neglect our Bibles and neglect prayer and neglect the public means that God's ordained for our well-being and for our growth in grace and knowledge you see it's one thing to look at Paul and say yeah that's just like me what things were gain i count loss and I presently count everything that's gay has lost for the excellence of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord if that is true of you your life will manifest it you will want more of Christ you will want to understand you will be a student of Scripture you will learn these things because that's what's important notice he says for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ I don't want any of that stuff I don't want any of those things I don't want anything that borrows my access I want to gain Christ this is the confession of a saved man he wants to gain Christ notice and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law see this is what I'm suggesting David's righteousness was not from the law he committed adultery he committed murder he was an inactive father in his home there were other things that punctuated his life along the way his righteousness was not from the law no man's righteousness is from the law if you think you can go out and obey the law in order to be saved you are desperately deceived and you need to repent and flee to Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith this is the answer to David's situation so his recognition of his iniquity his understanding of atonement his understanding of imputation and as well his appropriation of Christ by faith you see we need to understand that anyone has ever been saved has been saved in the same way grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord loophole say this in second Timothy 3 15 and you have known the sacred writings from childhood which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus now the sacred writings that Timothy knew as a child wasn't Romans it wasn't second Corinthians it wasn't Philippians the sacred scriptures that Timothy had as a child was Genesis to Malachi it was the Old Testament and Paul says that those old testament scriptures are able to make you wise through faith in Christ Jesus Jesus said you search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me he's talking not to you know reformers he's talking to Jews he's talking to religious Jews they search the Scriptures the Old Testament Scriptures and they think they find life he says these are they which testify of me so David is saved with an understanding of his own iniquity the atonement of Christ the doctrine of imputation and it's appropriated by faith note Genesis 15 6 we've already alluded to this or at least read it when we looked at Romans chapter 4 but Genesis 15 6 talking about Abraham he believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness that's justification by faith it's not as developed as romans for but that's justification by faith David New Genesis 15 6 David New Genesis 22 wherein Abraham takes Isaac up to Mariah in order to sacrifice and Abraham's about to drive the knife into Isaac and the angel the Lord stays his hand and lo and behold there's a ram caught in the thicket for Yahweh had provided a substitute to die in his stead this is Old Testament theology pointing us to the Lord Jesus the first promise given in Genesis 3 15 is moved along by farther steps this promise is fully mature de comes to fruition and the new covenant under our Lord Jesus but it was there and these Old Testament Saints knew it notice in Psalm to Psalm 2 just a highlight that david understood justification was by faith alone song to david's instruction to the nations around him remember he's the king of israel imagine this in our day the king or a prime minister or a president in a particular country in north america gave religious counsel to those muslim nations gave religious counsel to those hindu nations gave religious counsel to those buddhist nations david says now therefore be wise o kings verse 10 be instructed you judges of the earth serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little bless it all those who do what work their way into his favor believe and work visa V Rome federal vision new perspective noblesse it or all those who put their trust in him justification is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone not for the Apostle Paul alone but for King David of Israel this is the explanation of his righteousness notice the psalm we started off with tonight will end here psalm 32 psalm 32 verse 10 many sorrows shall be to the wicked it's not true Solomon says in the book of Proverbs the way of the transgressor is hard if you're living your life tonight without Jesus Christ your life is hard I mean it may not always seem that way because after all you live in Canada the air is nice and the waters fresh and the roads are decent and you probably have a job and you make money and you get a steak once in a while so you probably don't see the sorrows and the miseries as you will one day your life is hard the way of the transgressor is hard that's what Solomon's us that's what David says many sorrows shall be to the wicked doesn't mean that Christians don't have sorrows doesn't mean Christians don't get cancer doesn't mean Christians don't lose loved ones the Christians always have that rock David celebrates and second Samuel 22 Christians always can be still and know that God is God that he will be exalted among the nations and he will be exalted in the earth Christians always have the realization that when I awake I will be in the presence of God Christian's always have that as non-christians you don't have that many sorrows shall be to the wicked note what David says in verse 10 be but he who trusts in Yahweh mercy shall surround him you want mercy to surround you grace forgiveness kindness what's the means by which we appropriate that it's not your works I hope we've seen that your works ain't going to get it it's faith in Christ and then he says this in verse 11 be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous and shout for joy all you upright in heart I actually think that when we gather together and we sing our hands it ought to look something like that we are not to mumble and murmur through him singing or song singing we had a shout for joy we've been redeemed by the sovereign grace of God through the blood of the land we're heaven bound there's that child's Diddy this train is Bound for Glory choo choo or whoo-whoo however you do it there's a there's a joy there's an excitement there's a there's an aliveness about it and we come to sing the songs of Zion and we're half asleep brethren if we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good if we have been delivered from the many sorrows of the wicked if we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of God be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous this is a reproof to those of us who walk around downcast and melancholy like we're bearing the weight of the world Christ bears the weight of the world the government is upon his shoulders we don't have to do that we can be glad we can be content we can know that peace that does surpass all understanding we can know that joy when we come the same we get to cracks at it a week we get Sunday morning and Sunday evening we ought to do the best we can to sing praises to God with the Saints in Zion as we come before the throne of our Most High God be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous and shout for joy all you upright in heart I lied I said we'd stop there I just got to get this quote in Martin Luther said this concerning the doctrine of imputation those of you who know of Luther realized that he had a spotted past Luther's not in heaven because of Luther Luther's in heaven because of Jesus Luther's in heaven because God is gracious and God is merciful and God is kind not to think that I'm picking on Luther many of us may get to heaven it's for the very same reasons the Luther had a way of sort of reflecting the glory of Christ when he pressed sinners with the truth of the gospel he said we read at length with your own righteousness rejoice and confide in the righteousness of Christ learn my dear brother to know Christ and Christ crucified and learn to despair of thyself and to sing to the Lord this song Lord Jesus thou art my righteousness but I am thy sin thou has taken what belong to me thou has given me what was thine thou became as twas I were not in order that I might become what I was not myself it's the blessedness of those to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity but he imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ he gives the forgiveness of sin and that is received by faith alone so if you have not believed believe look and live be saved know the joy of being found in him not having your own righteousness which is from the law but that which is from God through faith in price Jesus will let us pray our Father we thank you for the word of God we thank you for the consistent testimony of both both all the new testament scriptures that the way of salvation is Christ alone I pray that you would drill this into our minds and in our hearts and as believers we would be glad and rejoice and delight and find great comfort in these truths I pray for any unbelievers tonight that you'd give them grace to close with Christ to believe on Him who is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000 we pray that you would go with us into this week cause us to shine as lights and a crooked and perverse generation give this opportunity to hold forth the word of truth and we pray these things through Christ our Lord amen we'll close by singing the doxology and the trinity hymnal sound on page Roman numeral 16 standing shine upon you and be gracious to you Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace you