Chapter 10
Section 10 of David and His Friends. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. David and His Friends.
A series of revival sermons by Louise Albert Banks. God's covering for sin. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32, verse 2 Man cannot cover his own sin.
Solomon declares that he that covereth his sins shall not prosper. And David, in giving us his experience in that matter, assures us that when he tried to cover up his sin and hide it, It brought him into the deepest anguish and sorrow. Some of the most tragic stories of mankind are those connected with men and women
who have tried to hide away their sins, and in so doing have only hastened their uncovering. But what man cannot do, God can do. The difference between man's hiding and God's is that man tries to cover up the sin and keep it. God blots the sin out and prejudges it from the heart and soul
and causes the man to have a new purpose, gives him indeed a new heart. God covers sin with forgiveness and abolishes it. The next verse shows how clearly David understood this. Speaking farther about this man whose sin is covered, he says, Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth, not iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no guile. God never covers up a man's sin to leave his heart full of cunning and guile and craftiness to go on in his sin. But when God covers a transgression by forgiveness
and blots out a sin with a divine blotting pad of his infinite mercy and grace, he leaves the heart changed and cleansed, having no guile and a spirit which has no purpose of iniquity in it.
God never imputes iniquity where there is no evil motive. If we give up our hearts to Christ to do His will, He leads us day by day, and we live in such peace and fellowship with God that we are conscious that our purposes and motives and deeds are pleasing to Him.
We have pointed out here the only way to get rid of sin. There is no way that a man can get rid of his transgressions except through pardon. And pardon can only come from the God whose laws we have broken and whose love we have disregarded. God can pardon our transgressions and still uphold His law if we will accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. Christ came and suffered in our stead.
He took our place and if we will accept Him, God will forgive us, not because we are able to make it right, for we never shall be able to do that, but because of Christ having suffered for us. If we will accept his salvation, God will pardon our transgressions. Mr. Moody used to illustrate this by a story of a French war.
In the time of the great Napoleon, in one of the conscriptions during one of his many wars, a man was balloted as a conscript who did not want to go. But he had a friend who wanted to go in his name. And this friend was sent off to the war in his tent. By and by, a battle came in which he was killed, and they buried him on the battlefield.
Sometime after, the emperor wanted more men, and by some mistake, the first man was balloted the second time. They went to take him, but he remonstrated. You cannot take me, he said. Why not? they asked. I am dead, was his reply.
You are not dead. You are alive and well. But I am dead, he insisted. Why, man, you are mad. This is peculiar. Where did you die? At the Battle of...
And you left me buried on the field. You talk like a madman, they cried. But the man stuck to his point that he had been dead and buried several months. You look up your records, he said, and see if it is not so. They looked and found that he was right.
They found a man's name entered as drafted, sent to the war, and marked off as killed. Look here, they said. You didn't die. You must have got someone to go for you. It must have been your substitute. I know that, he said.
He died in my stead. He cannot touch me. I go free. The law has no claim against me. The authorities would not recognize this doctrine of substitution, and the case was carried
to the emperor. But he said that the man was right, that he was dead and buried in the eyes of the law, and that France had no claim against him. But in order to get that freedom, this man had to accept his friend's substitution. And that is just what you must do.
Christ came and died in your stead. The Apostle says that He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And again it is declared that He tasted death for every man. But we must accept Him, and until we do accept His mediation in our behalf, we make His death
and sufferings of no effect for us. I wish I could make you feel how simple and straightforward are God's dealings with us, and that if you will come to God tonight with the simplicity of a child and accept forgiveness in Christ's name, your sin may be blotted out forever. I was reading the other day of a little girl named Nelly, who had just recovered from a
serious illness. One morning, she said to her mother, Mama, I prayed last night. Did you, dear? Don't you always pray?
Oh yes, but I prayed a real prayer last night. I don't think I ever prayed a real prayer before. I lay awake a long time. I thought what a naughty girl I had been so often. I tried to reckon up all the bad things I had done.
There seemed to be lots of them. And I tried to remember what I did in one week. But there seemed to be such a heap. Then I knew that I had not remembered them all. And I thought, what if Jesus had come to me when I was ill?
Then I thought about Jesus coming to die for bad people. and that he delights to forgive them. So I got out of bed and tried to tell Jesus how bad I was and I asked him to think over the sins that I could not remember. Then I waited to give him time to think of them
and when I thought he had remembered them all, I asked him to forgive them. And I am sure he did, Mama, because he said he would. Then I felt so happy and I got into bed and did not feel a bit afraid of God anymore.
Could there be more striking illustration of our text? Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. You may lose your fear of God, your trouble about your sin, in the same way this very hour. One of the comforting things about God's way of covering up sin
is that it will put you in a new attitude toward the sad results of your sins in the past. Perhaps you say, If I had only come to God a year ago or ten years ago, before my sins had brought upon me so much trouble and anguish, and had caused so much sorrow to others,
it would have been worthwhile. But it is too late now. Oh, my brother, if you will repent of your sins and come to God in faith, nothing has ever surprised you so much as you will be astonished at God's goodness and mercy in brightening up your whole life.
Reverend Ford C. Ottman tells how he once went to help a friend who was holding a series of meetings in a large city. Shortly after his arrival at the hotel, a bellboy brought up to his room the card of a reporter from one of the daily papers. He told them to show that gentleman up. He came in, was kindly received, and had all his questions
answered. When he rose to go, Mr. Oddman said to him, since you have interviewed me, would you have any objection to my interviewing you? Oh, not in the least, he replied. Well, said the minister, Take a seat. He sat down and the preacher asked him, are you a Christian? No, said he. I'm not a Christian. I am a reporter. Being a reporter, would there be any inconsistency in your being a Christian as well? It would be quite impossible for me to be a Christian. Why impossible? Well,
said he, for the simple reason that the man who is compelled to do the work I do can't be a Christian. They continued the conversation for a while when Mr. Altman finally said to him, You know that we are here to preach the gospel. You are the first man I have met and you are unsaved. I should very much like to see you saved and God has a much deeper interest in it than I have. As a reporter, you could do much good. It may be that sometime during the
meetings, God will have a message for you. I trust that you will think seriously about it. He promised that he would. For some days, the minister saw nothing more of the man. But one night, he came to his room. It was nearly 11 o'clock. He appeared to be in deep distress. He said, I have come to tell you something about myself. It was a sad story. He had deserted his wife and children who were living in a distant city. For years he had been living in sin,
but now, under the discipline of the Spirit of God, he was utterly wretched. It was long after midnight when they knelt together and the reporter gave his heart to God. A few nights later, when the preacher left the city on a midnight train, this reporter was the last to shake his hand and say goodbye. Sometime afterward, Mr. Oddman received from him a letter in which he said, perhaps you would like to know what has occurred. Well, Satan has stood out in the cold for a long
time. Although he has knocked many a time, he has found a way barred. I thank God that when the stone was rolled away, it was too heavy to roll back. I have sent for my dear ones, and tonight as I write this, they are about me in a cozy home of our own, our castle, and God's. I wish I were an artist that I could draw you a picture of a home just rebuilt from the ashes of an unholy past and held together by the bond of God's merciful love. Oh, my friend, it is glorious. I would that you
were here to see us as we are. Tomorrow is Christmas and my thoughts will be denied the pleasure of even a single present, for I have not a cent except for the bare necessities of the table. However, they love me so fondly that they say if I will stay at home my half-holiday, they will be satisfied. Thus, we are happy, for my dear wife says she is satisfied with just my all-time love. So you see that God in covering up that man's sins was able to cover up to a far
greater extent than the man himself could have dreamed the sad results of his sins. I bring you the sweet and beautiful message tonight. If you will accept the dying love and sufferings of Jesus Christ in your behalf, God is able and willing to forgive your transgressions and cover up your sins forever out of sight. Could I bring you a more cheering message? End of section 10. Read by Christelle, Canberra City, 7th of August 2021.
