Friday, February 10, 2012

THE BEATITUDE OF FORGIVENESS
...the fruit of the cross

Feast your soul on these truth-filled encouraging words from the pen of Charles Spurgeon. This is hope for the hopeless; restoration for the wayward; and comfort for every weary child of God.

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. -Psalm 32:1

"Blessed..." Like the sermon on the mount, this Psalm begins with beatitudes. This is the second Psalm of benediction. The first Psalm describes the result of holy blessedness, the thirty-second details the cause of it. The first pictures the tree in full growth, this depicts it in its first planting and watering. He who in the first Psalm is a reader of God's book, is here a suppliant at God's throne accepted and heard.

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven..." He is now blessed and ever shall be. Be he ever so poor, or sick, or sorrowful, he is blessed in very deed. Pardoning mercy is of all things in the world most to be prized, for it is the only and sure way to happiness. To hear from God's own Spirit the words, "absolvo te" is joy unspeakable. Blessedness is not in this case ascribed to the man who has been a diligent law keeper, for then it would never come to us, but rather to a lawbreaker, who by grace most rich and free has been forgiven. Self-righteous Pharisees have no portion in this blessedness. Over the returning prodigal, the word of welcome is here pronounced, and the music and dancing begin. A full, instantaneous, irreversible pardon of transgression turns the poor sinner's hell into heaven, and makes the heir of wrath a partaker in blessing. The word rendered forgiven is in the original taken off or taken away, as a burden is lifted or a barrier removed. What a lift is here! It cost our Saviour a sweat of blood to bear our load, yea, it cost him his life to bear it quite away. Samson carried the gates of Gaza, but what was that to the weight which Jesus bore on our behalf?

"Whose sin is covered." Covered by God, as the ark was covered by the mercy seat, as Noah was covered from the flood, as the Egyptians were covered by the depths of the sea. What a cover must that be which hides away for ever from the sight of the all seeing God all the filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit! He who has once seen sin in its horrible deformity, will appreciate the happiness of seeing it no more for ever.

Christ's atonement is the propitiation, the covering, the making an end of sin; where this is seen and trusted in, the soul knows itself to be now accepted in the Beloved, and therefore enjoys a conscious blessedness which is the antipasti of heaven. It is clear from the text that a man may know that he is pardoned: where would be the blessedness of an unknown forgiveness? Clearly it is a matter of knowledge, for it is the ground of comfort."

10 comments:

Jeremy Weaver said...

Now, where did I hear a song about this before? (He Covers Me)
You may have heard of it. Lol.

Bhedr said...

I like the second verse of It Is Well. The Holy Spirit gripped my heart years ago while singing this song. I had spent endless days wondering how I could have been saved at the age of six and yet walk in my own lusts. After reading one day through Leviticus my heart began to tremble. I realized if I had lived back then I would have been stoned to death. With this thought in mind I attended a Bible Study on board ship with a mix of sailors and Marines. We sang the Hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" as we began to sing verse 2 "my sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord oh my soul.

What blessed peace and assurance then entered into my heart as I began to weep in a fashion unlike I'd ever experienced. It was the first time I began to understand what Godly sorrow was. What a Saviour we have in Yehovah as He bled & died for us and is now raised and sitting at the right hand of Abba. Yada Papa.

gigantor1231 said...

SJ

It is so good to be reminded that HE so freely forgives because I need to take advantage of His forgiveness all of the time! My mind does not want to believe that it is that easy, there must be some work that I need to do to earn it? No, it is free, just ask and it is yours! WOW

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donsands said...

"Over the returning prodigal, the word of welcome is here pronounced, and the music and dancing begin."

Amazing that the father of the prodigal, "saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him". Luke 15:20

Beyond belief that the Lord would love His children with such love.

Thanks for posting these encouraging words from the princeof preachers.

Don P said...

Last night I had a dream. I was in a mausaleum, when the realization came over me that I was looking at my own coffin. Reasoning that I had been dead for some time I called out to God, asking Him to bring me up to heaven.... nothing happened... I waited yet longer, wondering if the room were not getting warmer. I woke up. I thought today about how my life hasn't been right with God for awhile. When I looked up your page(first time in a month), I found this. Thanks -God truly is Great

SJ Camp said...

To All
Great comments!

What hope to rest in His unchanging grace! Blessed in Christ through His sacrifice eternally.

SDG,
Steve

Anonymous said...

One of the aspects of God's forgiveness toward us that always struck me as significant is how his forgiveness was/is so proactive. It took steps to secure -- painful steps of self-sacrifice.

Christ's death shows us that forgiveness is not just some passive thing; not a weak, empty resignation to wrongs that have been committed, followed by ignoring the obvious.

God himself reached out to us with forgiveness in Christ, and he actively took the steps needed to make that forgiveness possible.

What a great example that is of how we, too, need to be active and aggressive in trying to reach out to those who have wronged us in hopes that at some point there will be the possibility of forgiveness.

God bless you, Steve.

R. Abanes

SJ Camp said...

RA
Amen.

And the Lord's standard is set high for us, isn't it? 1. Forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. 2. Forgive seventy times seven.

IOW, because of the great debt God has forgiven us, we are to continually live in forgiveness - forgiving the smaller debt between each other.

I appreciate your words here greatly, my brother.

VIVIT ( He lives!)
Steve
2 Cor. 13:11

donsands said...

I watched the Passion of Christ last night with my wife. It has flaws, but it does show that Christ was the only one who could do what He did.
He took the sins of the world upon His shoulders, and His Father's holy wrath dealt with all our sins, once and for all. We are forgiven, and also made righteous in Christ. 100% Christ alone. He did it.

He cried "It is Finished! Father into Your hands I commend My spirit!" He made all things New, and is making all things New.

"He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us: he will subdue our iniqities; and You will cast all their sins into the depth of the sea." Micah 7:19