Sunday Night Meditations 56 Message and Song - 1950's — Welcome Detweiler

Greetings, radio friends. For nearly 20 centuries, God's messengers have been spreading the good news of the gospel. And during that time, many weary, sin-sick souls received Christ as Lord and Savior, and have become the possessors of eternal life.

Many others have heard the same life-giving message and have turned down God's offer of salvation. If you are in this latter class, we ask you to listen carefully as we seek to bring the claims of Christ to your attention.

This is Welcome to Twyler's Teachings.

The Blessed Man of Psalm 1

To bring to you a message from God's precious Word,.

It's my pleasure to introduce to you Mr. Bill Anderson from Florence, South Carolina. Mr. Anderson. Is it possible for a person to be perfectly happy? The Word of God has a prescription, indeed two prescriptions, for happiness.

The first is found in the first psalm. Blessed, in the Word, means happy. Happy is a man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but is delighted in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Here is a man who is supremely happy, and actually the Word says that he has never done any of these things. He has never walked in the counsel of the ungodly. He has never stood in the way of sinners.

He has never sat in the seat of the scornful. Many years ago, a missionary to the land of Israel had a group of learners about him, men of various ages, and he was discussing this first psalm. And he asked them, Brothers, does this psalm speak of our father Abraham?

They thought a moment and finally responded, No. No, Abraham had sinned in his day. Does it refer to that great king David? No, David was guilty of terrible sin. It doesn't refer to David. And so they went over the list of a number of the Old Testament patriarchs.

Well then, he said, Who is this man, this happy man, who has never done any of these things? And after a moment of silence, one man rose up with a little book in his hands. He said, Brothers, I have been reading this book.

It's called the New Testament. And this book being true, that happy man was Jesus the Christ. And that's true. He's the only man who fulfilled the requirements of the first psalm. Blessed is the man who has never done any of these things.

Now this prescription leaves you and me out. For we are not amongst those who have never stood in the way of sinners. We are sinners by nature and by practice. That's all too obviously true. And if we're looking for happiness by what we do, we'll never find it because we can't meet these standards.

We look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We put our own lives over against His. What dismal failures we are. And the way to blessedness or happiness does not lie, for us at least, in the first psalm.

That can never be completely true of us. But now God has a second prescription for happiness. It's found in the thirty-second psalm. David writes, Blessed or happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Forgiveness Through God's Provision

Now, there's a prescription we can all follow. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Surely there was never a man upon the face of the earth who could be happier about the forgiveness of sins than David. A great sinner before God. A man guilty of terrible, terrible sins. He could know what it is to be happy because sins are forgiven.

But two questions come to mind immediately. First, what right did David have to expect God to forgive him? He was guilty of sins for which, according to law, there was no forgiveness. There was no sacrifice.

God in the Old Testament made certain provision for some kinds of sins. Sins of which people were ignorant. They were unaware when they were actually doing them. But sins of a nature that made them deliberate transgressions of God's law, God made no provision for those.

There was no sacrifice. And in his great confession of the fifty-first psalm, David says, Thou desirest not sacrifice, else I would give it. There wasn't any sacrifice to cover David's sin. What right did he have to expect God to forgive him?

How could he ever say, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, when God says the man that sins like that dies? How could David expect forgiveness? Obviously, not because of anything in himself.

Looking at himself, he deserved to die. And don't we all? All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. What right do I have to expect God to forgive me? If I go to God and say, I'm sorry, I'll probably live a better life, please forgive me.

What right do I have to expect God to forgive me? Does the criminal before the judge, when that criminal is guilty of a sentence of death, does he say, well judge, please forgive me, I'll live a better life, let me go free?

Impossible. He must pay for his crime. Death must come in. And that's exactly what happened for David's forgiveness. Many, many years and generations after David, a son was born in his line and lineage.

That son had the name of Jesus. And one day, as a man of thirty-three and a half years of age, David's descendant walked out to Calvary's hill. And on that cross, he paid for David's sin. God's sentence against David's sin fell on David's son.

And that's the only reason David had for expecting the forgiveness of sin. That's the only reason you and I can have for expecting God to forgive our sin. Simply that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us.

That on Calvary's cross, his blood was shed, his life was given up, that our sins might be forgiven. It was the ground that that poor publican took when the Lord told the incident of the publican who went up and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

What he was saying was, I'm appealing to a sacrifice. For his prayer was, God, be propitious to me, the sinner. And that means a sacrifice before God in my place. That's what the man said. God, I have no ground to stand before you.

I have no right to expect you to forgive my sin. But I appeal to you on the basis of the sacrifice that's been offered for my sin. And the Lord Jesus said that man went down to his house justified. And that's the way we get the forgiveness of sin.

Christ's Sacrifice and Justification

The apocryphal priest, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. Through this man, the Lord Jesus. For again on Calvary's hill, he died for our sins.

And because of that death, because of his glorious resurrection, we may have the forgiveness of sin. But there's a greater question than that. And the question is, what right did God have to forgive David's sin?

God's law said death had to come in. God could not excuse sin such as David's. What right did God have to forgive David's sin when David came to him? The same right that David had to expect the forgiveness of sin.

You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ was dying on Calvary's cross, he was satisfying all the requirements of God's judgment against our sin. I stood in the courtroom of God guilty. The sentence of death was against me.

I would have to pay it. And then God's blessed son stepped forward and said, I'll pay it for him. And there, when the Lord Jesus was on that cross, all of God's judgment due to me fell on him. And since God has been satisfied by the death of Christ, and he proved it by raising his son from the dead, then God, for Christ's sake, has a right to forgive our sin.

Oh friend, when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ and take him as the one who died for you upon the cross, when you receive him as your Lord and Savior, when you believe on him and receive the remission of sins, that's your right to forgiveness.

And that's God's right to forgive you. And the man who knows his sins are forgiven is a happy man. You can be that happy person now. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive the forgiveness of sins.

The Universal Remedy in Christ

Blessed, happy, is he whose transgression is forgiven. The proven fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the universal remedy for all of the ills of the world, and that's why his name must be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

He stands ready to help you, whoever you are and wherever you may be. Perhaps you have tried everything else, but your need is as great as ever. It's high time that you should turn to Christ, for he never fails.

A magazine editor asked 51 newspaper editors of the United States.

What headlines they would most like to print. Some 40 editors replied, the majority wanted good news about world peace. Here are some of the headlines which the editors chose, which in their way of thinking would create the most interest.

1. Cold War Ends as Russia Agrees to Arms Control. 2. Russia Overthrows Communist Regime. 3. Russia Agrees to Real Cooperation for World Peace. 4. Anti-Red Revolt Sweeps Moscow. These are only a few of the headlines chosen, but at least they indicate that our country is most of all desirous of world peace, and it would be difficult for us to think of anything greater unless it would be that every individual had peace with God.

World Peace Versus Peace With God

It may seem strange, but it is nevertheless true that the very thing that man is crying for, God is offering in the person of his Son. The difficulty is that mankind is not willing to accept peace on God's terms.

It is needless to say that if every individual is at peace with God, the whole world will be at peace. But who's going to start? The sad commentary on the human race is this, that in general we want world peace without being at peace with God, without having the hideous sin question settled.

God has not promised world peace until the Prince of Peace shall come, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is good to know that two of the newspaper editors who replied to the headline question gave evidence of having some knowledge of the Word of God.

The editor of the Youngstown, Ohio Vindicator sent this one as a choice headline, Christ Returns to the Earth. The editor of the Houston Post sent a similar one, Christ Returns and All Dead Arise. These two showed that they believed there was only one way to world peace, and that was the return of the Prince of Peace.

And as those who know Christ as Savior, we have found a great consolation in being assured from God's own early word that there will come a day when the instruments of destruction will be banished from the earth.

I can almost hear you say, that will be wonderful, and so it will. But I know something more wonderful than that, to be at peace with God already. If you have the choice of living in a world of peace, being destitute of the peace of God in your soul, or living in a war-stricken world with a deep-settled peace in your soul, which would you choose?

The latter, of course, which proves that world peace is a secondary issue to individual peace with God. Let me ask you, do you have peace with God? If not, you are in some little manner hindering the progress of world peace.

Does it seem reasonable that you should anxiously wait for the Russians to change their mind, while all the time you have done nothing regarding the great individual peace question? That individual peace with God that you need is available, for according to Colossians 1 .20, Christ has made peace through the blood of his cross.

You cannot find peace with God on any other terms than through the blood of his cross. I am afraid that too many are resting on an imaginary ground of peace. By that I mean, the contest sinner has made a little talk with God regarding some questionable things, and has asked God to accept his terms of peace.

And without getting God's approval, he talks himself into believing that all is now well, and God has accepted his terms. Again I repeat, you cannot find peace with God on any other terms than through the blood of his cross.

All other grounds are imaginary, and not approved by God. I ask you, my friend, are you resting on an imaginary ground of peace? Or have you seen the sin question settled by God on a righteous basis, when God took all your sins and laid them on his son when he hung on Calvary's cross?

The blood that flowed from Emmanuel's veins tells me that my sins have been righteously dealt with, and my peace with God is found entirely in the blood of his cross. To know that the sin question is forever settled to God's satisfaction gives me peace and boldness to come into his presence.

The Permanence of Peace Through Christ

On the 11th of November, 1918, I heard the church bells ringing as they proclaimed peace, and I can well remember the thrills of joy that followed. I also remember the happy day of August 14, 1945, when the Japs surrendered, bringing an end to the Second World War.

But I can tell you of a greater day than either of these when, for the first time, the joy bells in my soul began ringing, when I stood by faith beneath the cross of Jesus, and took Christ as my Lord and Savior, and found that my peace with God was established on the written word of God, not something imaginary, not something that I talked myself into, but a divine reality.

The armistice bells of the end of World War I and those of 1945 did not mean that we have permanent peace. We had hoped that they meant permanent peace, but, alas, they did not. The peace that I found in Christ was and is permanent peace, for the joy bells of satisfaction ring louder today than they did the day I was born again, and they have never ceased to ring during that time, and I have the guarantee from God they never will.

Let me ask you the third question. Do you have permanent, settled, abiding peace with God? The reason so many church workers are in a state of confusion is because they're not quite sure of their mission.

The Church's Primary Mission

Some of them are striving to build a better world, while others are equally sure that we are called to erect a warless age of peace. Others are sure that our task is to purify politics and make democracy function.

All of these ideals are good, but they are not the primary mission of the church. After we are saved and certain of it, it is our privilege to tell others of the wonderful Savior we have found, of the peace we have found in knowing Christ.

We have a very simple message to present, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

This is the message that Paul preached, and it produced amazing results in the early days of the church period. It's the message that still produces amazing results today. Fellow Christians, let's keep on preaching peace by the blood of his cross.

I haven't found any other message that produces satisfactory results. It's wonderful to see a restless, sin-burdened soul find permanent peace by coming to Christ for salvation. If you, my patient listeners, stand in need of peace, if your life is filled with turmoil, well, the peace you need is available, but you must receive Christ as your Lord and Savior in order to get it.

Christ's Abiding Peace for Believers

No man ever lived. What had especially hedged him about, he would never have survived to be the sin offering at Calvary. Yet at the same time, no man possessed greater peace than that which Christ manifested.

That same peace he promises to those who will trust him as Lord and Savior, and all who have trusted him have known his abiding peace and have been quieted by his peace be still. May it be yours to have peace with God, an assurance that your sins are forgiven, and thus you can make your little contribution to the peace of the world.