Well, I'm honored to be with
you, see you again, and to bring God's gospel. God's gospel concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what God's gospel is all
about. It's about our blessed Savior,
isn't it? Who He is. What He has done. I want you to take your Bible
and find Psalm 130. 130, and I want us to take a verse-by-verse,
word-by-word study from Psalm 130. Now, I love the Psalms. The Psalms are all about the
blessed Savior, aren't they? Let's read these eight verses,
then we'll come back and take a little bit closer look out
of the depths. Have I cried unto thee, O Lord?"
Here's the cry of a sinner in need of mercy, isn't it? O Lord,
Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplication. You know, prayer is a personal
thing. It's calling upon the Lord. It's the sinner calling upon
the Lord in my supplications. Now look at verse 3. If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark or count iniquities, my sin, my transgression,
O Lord, who shall stand? I can't stand. The Lord would
count all my sin, number all my sin. I can't stand before
the Lord. He's holy. I'm a sinner. Who
shall stand? That blessed word in scripture
gets our attention, doesn't it? Often, be you too. It's a little
word, but it's a big word, isn't it? But God. But God. But there might be forgiveness
with God. No, it doesn't read that way.
There is forgiveness with the Lord, with thee, that thou mayest
be feared. And this is a reverential fear
and awe of worship in the heart. I wait for the Lord. His blessings
are worth waiting upon, are they not? My soul doth wait, and in
his word We sang just a moment ago, Lord, give thy word success. In thy word, the written word
that testifies of the living word, the incarnate word, the
Lord Jesus Christ, in his word I wait, and in his word I hope. I hope, we have a good hope.
You know, our hope is not just a wish, a shot in the dark. Our
hope is a person. Jesus Christ, our hope. The Apostle Paul addresses the
Lord Jesus that way. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that would watch for the morning. I say more than
they that would be anxious for the sunrise. Now verse 7, let
Israel hope in the Lord. And here he's talking about his
covenant people, his elect, the elect of God. Let Israel hope
in the Lord, for with the Lord there might be some mercy. No, just as sure as there is
forgiveness with the Lord, so is there mercy. You know, he delights to show
mercy. And with Him, there could be some redemption. It doesn't read that way, does
it? You see, the promises of God
are yes, and amen, and in Him they're certain and sure, aren't
they? With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him, with Him
is redemption. A whole lot of redemption. He's
plenteous. He's plenteous in mercy. He's
plenteous in redemption. For He is the Redeemer that really
does redeem. He is the Savior that doesn't
try to save. He is the Savior that actually
saves His people from their sin. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save. His people. He's able to save
to the uttermost all that come to God by Him, seeing that He
ever liveth to make intercession for Him. With Him is plenteous. He's a plenteous Redeemer. He shall. He shall. The last verse. Look at verse
8. He shall. He shall. He will. He shall redeem. his people, Israel, from most
of their sin. Now again, I misread that on
purpose. He shall redeem Israel from all
his iniquities. And he has. He has. That's the promise of Scripture.
He will come, he will redeem, he will save, and he has. For
he said upon Calvary's tree, It is done." Mission accomplished. Satisfying God Almighty. Now, I'm entitling the message
from Psalm 130, the experience of grace. The experience of grace. You who know the Lord Jesus Christ,
and who find all of your salvation totally in him, you can identify
with David as he writes about the experience of salvation in
his heart. Now we know that a mere religious
experience of feelings or excitement is not salvation. There are a
lot of people that have some strange religious experiences
and they call that salvation. But a mere religious experience
is not salvation. But we can say this, salvation
is by the grace of God revealed to the sinner is certainly something
that we do. experience in the heart, for
it's a reality, isn't it? It's a reality of God commanding
the light to shine in our hearts that we might see the glory of
God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, salvation is
the invasion of God in you. You see, salvation consists of
the Lord Jesus Christ doing a work for us, but it also consists
of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of God the Holy Spirit
and the power of the gospel doing a work of grace in you. For Christ
in you is the hope of glory, is it not? Christ in you. I think
of that scripture in Philippians chapter 1, God who had begun
a good work, where? in you. He will finish it. That which God starts, He will
finish. That which begins in grace will
end in glory. He never leaves a work undone,
does He? And He does a work of grace in
the heart, making us new creatures in Christ. You see, salvation
is invasion of the heart, the mind, the will, the understanding,
the affections by God the Holy Spirit revealing unto us the
blessedness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just not learning
Bible facts or Bible doctrine. Salvation is a revelation of
Christ in your heart, mind, will and understanding. It permeates
the whole being of what we are. It's a total invasion by God
in you. That is the hope of glory. We
see when this work of grace is done in the heart, we see not
only the blessedness of the Lord Jesus Christ, but you know what
else we see? We see the vileness of who we
are. We see the rottenness of our sin. We see our ugliness.
I noticed coming up the road today, there was a place called
Big Ugly. Big Ugly Road is just down the street from Big Something
Else. What was the other one? Big Church
or Big Something? These folks in West Virginia,
they like everything that's big. Big Ugly was right down the road
from Big Rock, which is right down the road from Big Creek
or something like that. But you see, we are big and ugly. By nature, aren't we? We're sinners.
We're sinners in God's sight. But when God the Holy Spirit
invades us, when we see Him high and lifted up, who is holy, holy,
holy Lord God Almighty. You remember what Isaiah said,
Nick? What was me? I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips. My eyes have seen the Lord. You
see, when we see His beauty, we see our ugliness. I am big
ugly. Through and through. For I'm
a sinner, I'm a sinner, a sinner that God has chosen and saved
by His grace. Now this psalm begins with the
cry of the heart of a believer. and end with complete confidence
and assurance of all sin completely, totally, forever forgiven. For it says, He shall redeem
all Israel from their sins. Now, let's consider for a moment
verse 1 and verse 2. This is the experience of grace.
This is the pattern of salvation. There's got to be a stripping
before there's a closing. There's got to be a convicting
before there's a comforting. Right? And this is where David
begins here. Out of the depths. Out of the
depths of what? Out of the depths of sin, despair,
depravity. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee. You're my Lord. Oh Lord. Lord, If none of this sweet Jesusism,
if none of this God wants to but you won't let Him, no, it's
taking our place before God as a center and acknowledging that
Thou art God. Beside Him there is no other
Lord. Hear my voice. Let Thine ears
be attentive to the voice of my cry, my supplication. You see, I'm the one That's in
need. I need Him. I need His mercy. Here we see the conviction of
sin, which leads to the cry of the heart out of the depths.
Have I cried, Lord, hear my prayer. Hear my cry. Here we see the
pattern of grace. The Lord makes us to know that
we are guilty, that we are sinners in His sight, What do we call
this? When the Lord invades our heart,
our mind, our soul, and teaches us what we are, what do we call
that? Holy Spirit conviction. When He, the Spirit of truth,
has come, He'll take the things of mine and show them unto you,
and He will convict us when He has come, God the Holy Spirit,
our Lord said He will convince and convict of sin What I am,
remember from John 16, of sin what I am, of righteousness what
I need, and of judgment what I deserve. The wages of sin is
death. I don't deserve mercy, do you?
I deserve condemnation and judgment. Thank God He delights to show
mercy to sinners. We call this Holy Spirit conviction. The revealing of what we are.
Not what I've done, as Brother Scott and Brother Henry used
to say, it's not the watermelon you stole. It's convicting of
sin, showing us not what we've done, but what we are. What we are in God's eyes. If
we say we have no sin, what? We deceive ourselves and the
truth's not in us. I-M-S-I-N, from the top of my
head to the bottom of my feet, that's all this flesh, this old
man, this old nature is totally sinful, totally wicked before
God. When the Lord is pleased to bring
us to that state by His power, by His grace, humbling us in
His sight, then what do you have? It's the cry of mercy, isn't
it? Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner. The cry of mercy. We will never cry for mercy until
we know that we're in need of mercy, will we? We'll never cry
out for mercy. Not truly, not sincerely. Call upon the Lord and tell the
Lord is pleased to show us that we're in desperate need of mercy
because of what we are. There has to be a stripping before
there's a clothing. There has to be an emptying before
He fills us with His grace, with His powers. We'll never cry for
pardon from sin until we know that we're guilty of sin before
the Lord. That we have sinned against the
Lord. Remember what David said in Psalm
51? Lord, against Thee, and Thee
only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. And Lord,
if You would judge me and condemn me, You'd be right. You know,
we really never are convinced that we are totally depraved
when we talk about other people being depraved. That's one thing. But we're never really totally
convinced of sin until we say that that's what we are. in His
sight, guilty, guilty, guilty as charged before God. And if
God would send me to eternal condemnation, that's exactly
what I deserve. That's right. For we've all sinned
to come short of the glory of God. God does bring us to see
the depths of our sin, but not to the depths of despair. Because
He causes us to cry out for mercy, And we do come before the Lord's
throne of grace as, and I love this phrase, mercy beggars. There's a dear brother down in
the church in Ashland, Brother Roach. Carl, you probably remember,
Cecil Roach. He used to use that phrase all
the time when he would pray for us publicly. Lord, we come as
mercy beggars. And we do, don't we? We come
before the Lord as beggars, as impoverished before the Lord,
and we cry out for mercy. And you know what the good thing
about that is? All those that I read about in
Scripture who cried out for mercy unto the Lord receive mercy. You know, it's a wise thing to
seek mercy where mercy is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
remember blind Varames heard The Lord Jesus coming through,
he heard about that and he cried out, Thou Son of David, have
mercy upon me. And his buddy said, you know,
he don't have time for you. Why don't you just hush? And
he cried out some more. Why did he cry out? He was in
need. And he knew that his need can only be met in the one who
had all power and all authority. And he cried out again. And the
Scripture said the Lord stood still. What do you need, Bartimaeus? Mercy. Mercy. And the Lord restored
his sight and gave him mercy. You see, the Lord instructed
us to come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy,
find grace to help in time of need. When the Lord is pleased
to convict us of sin, to show us what we are in His sight,
we can be assured He will hear our cry. That's right. I've never read in the Word of
God, in the Word of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ ever turning
away a mercy beggar. We don't come demanding mercy,
but we come begging the Lord for mercy like that leper. came
to the Lord Jesus Christ and worshipped Him and said, Lord,
if you will, you can heal me and make me whole. And the scripture
said, the Lord said, I will be thou clean. You see, we don't
come demanding mercy. Lord, if you will, you're able
to say, have mercy upon me, thee sinner. That's what the publican
prayed, wasn't it? Be merciful to me, thee, sinner."
Do you take your place before God as a sinner, as a mercy beggar? Well, I do. All the time. Every
day. Every way. All the time. Now
look at verse 3. Here's the confession. Here's
a confession of a repentant heart. Taking God's side against myself
as guilty. If thou, Lord, shouldest count,
mark all my sin, all my iniquity, all my transgression, O Lord,
I can't stand. I can't stand before God. Not
on that ground. God's holy and I'm a sinner.
But here's a confession of a repentant heart. Taking God's side against
myself. And that's what repentance is.
When God says guilty, what do we say? You're right. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. When God said you're a vile sinner,
a repentant heart said you're right. That's me. I'm a sinner. Upon my merit, upon my works,
I cannot stand. I dare not stand. No sinner can
stand. Who shall stand before God based
upon his sinfulness? Because the best we have is nothing
but what? Filthy rags in God's eyes. Man, his best state is altogether
vanity. Who can stand upon that ground
before God? No one. See what he's saying
here? Lord, if you would charge me
with my sin, I cannot stand before you justified. I have to take
my place before God's holy throne, guilty as charged. If the Lord would count and impute
all my sin and charge them unto me, I cannot stand. Not before God. If thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, Oh Lord, who can stand? But here's the good news in verse
4, but, but, there is There is forgiveness with thee. You mean all my sin, all my transgression,
all my iniquities are forgiven completely because of the Lord
Jesus Christ? His sacrifice? His coming, His
dying, His doing, He means all my sin is put away because of
what the Lord Jesus Christ did for me, wounded for me, bruised
for me. The chastisement of my peace
is upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. Yes, my friend. There is forgiveness with the
Lord, because the Lord Jesus Christ paid all our sin debt. With Him there is forgiveness
of not some of our sin, but all of our sin. Now here is our confession
of faith, is it not? But God. But God. You remember that Scripture?
Whenever I see that in Scripture, but God. I think of that scripture
in Ephesians chapter 2, where it talks about in those first
three verses of everything we are by nature, dead in sin, children
of disobedience, by nature children of wrath, even as others, when
it says in verse 4, remember, but God. But God who is rich
in mercy. For His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us
together by His grace. For by grace are you saved, and
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies
in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared, worshipped, and honored. And here's our confession
of faith. Hold your place there and find
Psalm 32. Psalm 32. Blessed is he, verse 1, blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven. Now, who is the blessed
man? that man whose sin is forgiven, whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no hypocrisy,
no guile, just sincerity before the Lord. I am a sinner. I need
mercy before God Almighty. Here is our confession of faith.
But with God, but God who is rich in mercy. With Him there
is forgiveness of sin. You know, some of the old writers
that we read after said the whole message of Scripture is summed
up in verse 3 and verse 4. The whole sum of the Bible is
given to us in two verses, verse 3 and verse 4. I'm a sinner and
He's a great Savior. I'm a great sinner and He's a
greater Savior in the Lord Jesus. Isn't that the sum of the whole
book? In Adam we died. We're sin abounded. Thank God
grace does much more. I love that phrase. Much more
abound. Sin does abound. But thank God
His grace does much more abound. He is. the great Savior. But there is forgiveness with
the Lord. With the Lord Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness with Him.
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all
our sin. You see, we read in Scripture,
let's turn to Psalm 86 a minute. Psalm 86. Psalm 86, look at verse 5. For
thou, Lord, art good, he's good and ready to forgive. There is forgiveness with the
Lord. Thou, Lord, art good and ready
to forgive, plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon
the Lord. I'm going to call upon the name
of the Lord. You know, the Scripture said, Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. God given me grace to
call. To call upon the name of the
Lord. With the Lord Jesus Christ there is forgiveness of sin based
upon what? Based upon my merit? Based upon
my goodness? Based upon my repentance? Based
upon my faith? No. There is forgiveness of sin
based upon one foundation, His atonement. The full payment,
not partial payment now, the full payment for all our sin
for our great High Priest. You studied that in the book
of Hebrews, didn't you? Hebrews 9. Seeing that we have such a
great High Priest that is passed into the heavens. You see, the
Lord Jesus Christ didn't bring that typical animal sacrifice,
did He? He came. as the God-man mediator,
and he gave himself as a sacrifice for sin, not with the blood of
bulls and goats, but with his own blood, he obtained for us What? Eternal redemption with
His own blood. There is forgiveness with sin
based upon His full payment for sin. You remember in the book
of Job chapter 33, deliver them from going down to the pit. Why?
Ransom. The ransom is paid. When the
ransom is paid, the prisoner is set free. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, He has ransomed all of His people. Not one sheep for
whom the Lord Jesus Christ died can perish. You see, without
Christ crucified, we have no forgiveness of sin. Without the
shedding of blood, His blood, His precious blood that redeemed
us, without the shedding of His precious blood, there is no forgiveness. There is no forgiveness. Thank
God for the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. No wonder
Paul says, I'm determined to know nothing from you but Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Apart from Christ crucified,
there is no pardon. There is no forgiveness. There
is no salvation. It is a must. You remember the
Lord told His disciples on more than one occasion, I must go
to Jerusalem. I must be betrayed. I must be
delivered into the hands of the Pharisees and the Romans. And
I must be crucified. I must be raised again. This
is a must. Without it, blood things shed. We have no forgiveness of sin. But with Him, There is the forgiveness
of sin. And you know what that leads
to? Those who have forgiven much, those who are forgiven much,
you know what? They love much. Look at the last part of verse
4. To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much, that thou
mayest be feared. I tell you, pardon of sin, forgiveness
of all of our sin that's against God, making us to know that all
of our sin is atoned for by the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ, gives us a spirit of worship before God. He's forgiven
me all my sin. And that causes us to love Him,
to worship Him, to honor Him, to preach His gospel, to fellowship
with His people. But there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be honored Worshiped, submitted unto. Now look at verse 5 and 6. Here we see the believer's firm
resolve to wait in hope. To wait in hope. We wait on the
Lord with certain, sure hope. We wait upon Him and in His Word. His Word. His Word. Because His Word is a promise,
isn't it? His Word is a promise unto us.
I like what it said of Abraham. He was fully persuaded that all
that God had promised, he was able to perform. We wait upon
the Lord. His forgiveness is worth waiting
on, isn't it? His blessings are worth waiting
upon. My soul doth wait. And in His Word, His Word, I
do hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that would watch for the morning. I say, he says
again, more than they that would watch for the morning. I wait. I wait. I wait upon the Lord. In His Word, I do hope. You see,
the hope we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a good hope. You remember that scripture over
in 2 Thessalonians 2, where it says, in Him we have an everlasting
consolation and a good hope through, what's that next word? Grace,
isn't it? We have a good hope. A good hope through the grace
of God. That sovereign grace. That effectual
grace. That redeeming grace. That electing
grace. That fetching grace. We have
a good hope through grace. You see, His Word written tells
us about the Living Word who is our hope. Let's see if we
can find that scripture. Let's see if I can make good
on that. I didn't write this down, so
let's go to 1 Timothy. Turn over there. Let's find 2 Timothy 1, verse
1. There it is. You see, the hope
we have in Christ is not just a mere wish, not just a mere
shot in the dark. You see, it's Christ in you that's
our hope. He's the hope of glory. Paul
and Apostle. This is 1 Timothy 1. We'll get
it right here. It's best to write these things
down. Thank God I should have learned
that by now. Timothy chapter 1, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus
Christ, and I like to read it this way, God our Savior, Lord
Jesus Christ, and the two words, which is? Just leave them out. They've been added. God our Savior,
Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. He's our hope. He's our hope. Hope of forgiveness? What's the
sum of your hope of forgiveness? Christ. You see, in Him grows
all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in Him we are complete.
Christ is all and in all. He's everything. He's our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We wait with
assurance of hope based upon the promise of God found in His
Word. For we read in Scripture, it
is impossible for God to lie. He cannot act contrary to His
holy character. It is impossible for God to lie.
All that He speaks in His infallible record of Holy Scripture is absolutely
and eternally true. One thing I've learned about
truth, it never changes. Truth never changes. The lies
of men and the lies of religious men What they say always changes. It has to change to meet the
need of that generation. The lives of men always change. The truth of God, what He said
in Genesis, is the truth that is all the way through the Word
of God. He said, I am the Lord, I change not. All the way to
the Revelation. God does not change. His Word
does not change. His character does not change.
His truth cannot change. You see, God is absolute truth
in all things. His truth never changes because
He never changes. He said that He will have mercy
on whom He will have mercy. He will be gracious to whom He
will be gracious. What was said way back then to
Moses is still true today. Truth never changes. The lives
of men always change. He said that the Lord Jesus Christ
died for the ungodly. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. He said that thousands
of years ago and it's still true today. God's truth in His gospel
never changes. We read in the Word that the
Lord Jesus Christ justifieth the ungodly. That truth never
changes, because God never changes. It says in the Word that the
Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Has that changed?
No. You see, God never changes, His
Word never changes, His truth never changes, His gospel. Do
we ever need to improve it, update it? No! It's the constant same
blessed truth because God does not change. His Word does not
change. The way He saved the first sinner,
is exactly the same way that He'll save the last sinner. By
His grace. By His purpose. God saves every
sinner whom He saves on purpose. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. Has that truth ever been altered?
Ever been changed? Does it need improvement? No! Let's go declare His truth that
does not change. You see, saving faith takes God
at His Word, doesn't it? Saving faith takes God at His
Word. Now, let me just read this to
you because you're familiar with this Scripture. But in 1 Thessalonians
2, look at verse 13. Well, I'll read verse 13 to you. For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, because when you receive the Word of
God which you heard of us, You received it not as the word of
men, but added it in truth, the word of God that does what? That effectually works in you. This word of truth. Saving faith
takes God at His word. I think of that scripture when
the disciples were out fishing all night and had caught nothing. You remember? And the Lord Jesus
Christ came and said, well, cast the net upon the right side.
And they said, Lord, we have fished all night and we have
caught nothing, but nevertheless at Thy Word we'll cast the net. That's what faith takes God at
His Word. Doesn't it? Yes, it does. His Word is the very foundation
of faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Faith is not based upon emotion
or feeling, is it? You remember what Luther said?
Feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My
warrant is the Word of God, and nothing else is worth believing.
You see, my soul doth wait upon the Lord, and in His Word I do
hope. And we wait. We wait with joy
and anticipation of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ blessing
the hearts of His people. Preach the gospel of Christ and
leave folks alone. Brother Scott preached that.
Brother Henry preached that for years and years and years and
years. I'm not afraid to declare God's gospel and leave sinners
in the hand of Almighty God. We don't need to browbeat them
and buttonhole them and pressure them and force them and push
them. God will convict of sin. I can't convict a sinner of sin.
I can tell you you're a sinner, but I can't teach you that. God
will have to convince you of that. So we preach the gospel
and leave folks in the hands of God, and He will convict and
convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now, verse 7
and 8, here's our joyful expectation. Let us hope in the Lord. You see that? Let Israel hope
in the Lord. For with the Lord there is not
only forgiveness, with the Lord, and there is mercy with the Lord. But let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy." There is forgiveness and there
is mercy with the Lord. Mercy, mercy, mercy. With the Lord there is mercy,
and we can say this. Without the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is no mercy. God, apart from Christ, is a
consuming fire. Thank God He delights to show
mercy. Remember, Moses asked the Lord, show me
your glory. Remember what he said? I'll cause
all my goodness to pass before you, and that's Christ. And I
will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will show compassion
upon whom I will show compassion. Lord, show me your glory. God's
greatest glory is showing mercy to sinners. And you know what?
His greatest glory is my greatest need. I need mercy. I need mercy. You see, we read in Scripture,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy, He saved us. He saved us. I think of that
Scripture often over in that lamentation where it talks about
His mercy, His grace, His truth unto His people. He said this. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed, because His love does not fail. They
are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, my stead, my soul. Therefore will I hope
in Him. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation It is
of the Lord. Of the Lord. Let Israel hope
in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy. And with Him,
with Him is plenteous, plenteous redemption. Here we see a Redeemer
who is plenteous. in His redeeming blood. Here
we see Him as plenteous in redemption, and this is talking about particular
redemption for His covenant people. Here we see the redemption in
the Lord Jesus Christ is a powerful redemption. How cleansing is
the blood of Christ? Do you ever think about these
things? God said, their sin and their iniquity will I remember
no more. The blood of Jesus Christ had
completely taken away all the sin of God's people forever. Never to be brought up again.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is a plenteous redemption,
a particular redemption, a powerful redemption, And this is redemption
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by His
grace, by His purpose, by His redeeming blood. We are redeemed
not with the blood of bulls and goats. We are not redeemed by
our tradition or our deeds or our works, but we are redeemed
with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the
last verse. And he, our Lord, shall redeem Israel
from all his iniquities. He shall redeem from all sin. Here we see again this particular
atonement for his covenant people. He shall redeem Israel. His sheep. The Good Shepherd laid down His
life for His sheep. Not one sheep for whom the Lord
Jesus Christ died can perish. Can they? Not at all. Our Lord plainly says in John
chapter 6, all that the Father hath given to me, they'll come
to me. I will in no wise cast them out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And
this is His will that sent me. Of all that the Father had given
me, I'll lose. I'll lose. Not one. But raise
Him up again at the last day. He shall redeem. That's a promise. And He did.
He did. He said on Calvary 3, it is finished. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? All things in Christ. You see, with the Lord Jesus
Christ, let Israel hope in the Lord. With the Lord Jesus Christ
there is endless hope. Endless hope. But without the
Lord Jesus Christ, there is hopeless end. Without Him. With the Lord
Jesus Christ, there is endless, eternal life. Without the Lord
Jesus Christ, there is lifeless end and eternal death. You see what he's saying there?
Let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord, there is mercy. And with Him is plentous redemption. He shall. He shall redeem Israel. Now, remember where we started?
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee. And you see the progression
of the soul, and we end with, He has redeemed me from all my
sin. That's confidence, isn't it?
That's confidence and assurance, not in me. Not in this flesh. We are the true Israel which
worship God in the spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
we have Well, no confidence in the flesh. We have complete confidence
in Him. He's able to do all that He said
that He will do. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
His Word and bless that psalm to your heart. Maybe the rest
of the week that you can turn back to Psalm 130 and meditate
upon those things and think about those things that God has blessed
us. We're so blessed. We're such
a blessed people. I feel ashamed of myself even
complaining about anything. We're so blessed. I remember
running into an old couple. We were down in Lexington visiting
with the children down there and we stopped into one of those
little hamburger joints and we were over there We placed our
order, and we were over there getting some drinks. You know
how you have that drink fountain? And there was an older couple
standing in line there. And I'm just kind of making some
casual conversation like I do. I said, well, how are you folks
doing today? And the old gentleman said, we're
blessed. We're blessed. You know, they
were old and just barely getting along, and I thought, well, my
soul, I'd like to have that kind of attitude all the time. How
are you doing today? Well, you know, my... Oh, you know what? Are we like that? I am. But why
don't we say sometime when somebody says, well, how are you doing
today? I'm blessed. We can say that. We've been blessed with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies. in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
blessed. We're blessed above all people
here. God bless you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate
this congregation and how it has stood for the gospel for
all these many, many years. And the Lord gave Brother Scott
for all those years and was pleased to send another gospel preacher.
You know, that's kind of an unusual thing anymore. to have one man
stand for many years and the Lord be pleased to raise up another
man and send him. Maybe the Lord gives you 50 years.
I hope so. I hope so.