No Iniquity on You and Me
8/24 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 16; Romans 14; Lamentations 1; Psalm 32
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8/24 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 16; Romans 14; Lamentations 1; Psalm 32
Psalm 32:2
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
BLESSED
Paul quotes this in the eighth verse of Romans’ fourth chapter, one of the most sterling chapters in the New Testament, which lays out God’s atoning grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. For those of us who trust in the substitutionary sacrifice of our precious Lord, of whom the third verse of this wonderful psalm tells us that as Jesus hung upon the cross, He kept silent while His bones wasted away. Moreover, while the third verse also tells us that Christ’s groaning all day long was due to His suffering God’s unbridled wrath for sins He did not commit, after having been brutalized physically to the point of utmost weakness, Jesus was silent concerning this. Why? Because the Lord Jesus took our punishment upon Himself for our sins, iniquities, and transgressions as if they were His, never once saying aloud, “These sins are not Mine!” Indeed, how blessed we are who trust in Christ’s atoning sacrifice. He is our sufficient Substitute, taking our place and suffering the holy anger of God for our sins! How blessed we are that God does not count a single iniquity against us because we trust by faith in Christ’s perfect life and substitutionary penalty and death! And though our feeble lives fail in faithlessness time and again, the Spirit of Christ shines upon us to empower us to confess our sins to Him, who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn 1:9). His cleansing from all unrighteousness gives us a spirit which has no deceit because He, Jesus, walked upon earth with no deceit in His mouth and no guile in His person, yet He suffered and died for your sake and mine (1 Pet 2:22-24). We are blessed because we are “at one” with God because of Christ, whereas before, our sins separated us from His holiness. Hallelujah! What a gracious Savior!
Yes, you and I are blessed indeed,
Our sins are counted paid
Through Christ’s atoning sacrifice:
On Him, our sins were laid.