The message of God's entire word,
the blood of Jesus. From the very beginning, the
Lord sacrificed an animal and clothed Adam and Eve. Abel offered
a sacrifice unto God. The Lord said, when I see the
blood concerning that Passover lamb, I'll pass it over you. And we'll see that blood for
all eternity and sing its praises. Psalm 130 tonight. We'll read our text. David said, out of the depths
have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waited for the
Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord for
with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption
and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Let's pray. Our dear heavenly father, Lord,
I pray that you would once again
be with us here tonight as we have gathered together to open
your word and to hear your gospel and to worship your son. And
I pray that his presence would be with us once again, Lord.
May this truly be a time where Christ is honored and Christ
is praised. And would you just give us the
ability in his flesh to worship him tonight. It's in his wonderful
and blessed name that we pray, amen. David, in this psalm, writes that he was
in the depths. And in many of the psalms, and
we'll look at quite a few of them tonight, actually, David
was in this place, in the depths. This is actually a place that
the children of God find themselves quite often. Salvation begins
in the depths. And there are many times in our
life that we find ourselves in those depths once again. What
is it to be in the depths? I was listening to a message
the other day and the preacher asked a question. He said, have
you ever felt the pain of sin in your soul? Have you felt the
pain of sin in your soul? Has it pierced your heart? If
you felt the pain of sin in your soul, then you know what conviction
is. And in the deaths, we experience
conviction. Conviction of sin is a deep,
deep work in the soul. Salvation begins here in the
deaths. When God Almighty begins a work
of grace in the sinner, it is a work of conviction. And that
conviction is performed in the depths. And here David in our
text says, out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. It is in the depths of conviction
that a sinner comes to know some truths. It
is in the depths of conviction that a sinner comes to know that
he is sin. A sinner comes to understand
who and what he is, that he is sin, that he is vile, that he
is corrupt, that he is dark, that he is depraved, that he
is nothing but sin. David said, I was shapen in iniquity
and conceived in sin. There is nothing good in this
flesh, nothing. In the depths, a sinner comes
to know that he is sin and all he does is sin. The Lord looked
down from heaven to see if there were any that did good. There
is none that do with good, no, not one. They have all gone astray.
They've all corrupted their ways. There is nothing good that we
do. Everything we do is mixed with
sin. In the depths, a sinner comes
to know who God is, comes to know that God is holy, that God
is sovereign, that God is just, that God is righteous, that God
is true. Isaiah, upon seeing the Lord
on his throne, cried out, woe is me. I've seen the God on his
throne. Woe is me, for I'm undone. I'm
a sinful man. Isaiah was in the depths there.
He was in the depths. In the depths, a sinner comes
to understand the weight of his sin. He knows that he has sinned
against God and is under the judgment and condemnation of
the law. That publican, that publican,
who would not even lift up his head to heaven, but smote on
his chest and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I know what
I deserve. God is just and holy. I deserve
God's wrath. I deserve God's punishment. The
world doesn't know that. The world doesn't know that.
The world believes that God owes them a second chance. That God
owes them an offer. That God owes them something. The only thing that God owes
us is judgment. The wages of sin. You know what
wages are? It's what you are owed. The wages
of sin is death. In the depths, a sinner understands
that there is absolutely nothing he can do to save himself. He is in the depths and there's
no way out. He is hedged about by God's law,
hedged about by God's justice. He is condemned and he has no
escape. He cannot do anything to save
himself. That's why David so many times
in the Psalms said, Lord, I'm poor and needy. I'm poor and
I'm needy. I need you. If we're going to
be saved, God's got to do something for us. He's got to save us. Look at Psalm 51. We're going
to look at a couple of songs. I want us to see this. Psalm
51 describes quite a few of these very well. What is it to be in the depths? Davis said in Psalm 51, this
is after Nathan had revealed unto him, and he declared that he had sinned.
He said, Lord, have mercy upon me, O God. Have mercy upon me. That's what the sinner is going
to cry in the depths. Have mercy on me. Oh God, according
to what? According to thy loving kindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions. I need your loving kindness.
I need your mercy. Wash me, wash me thoroughly from
my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. If I'm going to be clean,
the Lord has to wash me. He's got to wash me. Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. How is that
going to happen? The Lord's got to wash you. He said, I acknowledge
my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. Lord, I'm
a sinner, and I've sinned against you. Against thee and thee only
have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. He understood who
he sinned against. His sin was against God. That
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and clear when
thou judgest. Lord, I justly deserve your condemnation. I deserve the full penalty of
God's law. I deserve all your wrath for
I've sinned against you. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. And God is holy. God is just. God is of pure eyes
and behold evil. God will not simply clear the
guilty. Behold, thou desire is truth in the inward parts. And
guess what? There's no truth in my inward
parts. Who's going to approach unto God? He that has clean hands
and a clean heart? There's no purity in me. And in the hidden part, thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Again, if I'm going to be clean,
you have to do something for me. You have to purge me. Wash
me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and
gladness at the bones which thou has broken. May rejoice. The Lord lifted the beggar up
out of the dunghill, doesn't he? He bringeth load that he
will lift up. He kills that he will make alive.
Look at Psalm 38. Psalm 38 and verse one, O Lord,
Rebuke me not in thy wrath. That's just another way of asking
for mercy, isn't it? Lord, don't rebuke me in your
wrath. Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine
arrows stick fast to me, and thy hand presses sore. There
is no soundness in my flesh because of mine anger. What was it Paul
said when the law came, sin revived? God shows us a law. and we see
that we haven't kept it. There is no soundness in my flesh
because of thine anger, neither is any rest in my bones because
of my sin. For mine iniquities have gone
over my head as a heavy burden, they're too heavy for me. My
wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I
am troubled, I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the
day long. My loins are filled with a loathsome
disease, a disease of sin. and there is no soundness in
my flesh. I'm feeble and sore, broken. I've roared by reason
of the disquietness in my heart. And we do feel it in the heart,
don't we? It's not just something we know.
It's not just something that we know here. It's something
we feel here. It's something we feel in the
soul. We grieve over our sin. We mourn over our sin. Lord, all my desires before Thee,
and my groaning is not hid from Thee. In the depths of despair,
and only in the depths of despair and pain, a sinner of God, or
a sinner by the power of God, cries out for mercy and forgiveness. Only in the depths will a sinner
cry out for mercy and forgiveness. And thanks be to God, from the
throne of heaven, God Almighty hears the cries of his people
from the depths. David wrote in Psalm chapter
three, I cried out unto the Lord with my voice, And he heard me
out of his holy hill. He said, the sorrows of death
compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
The sorrows of hell compassed me about, the snares of death
prevented me, and in my distress, I called upon the Lord, and cried
unto my God, and he heard me out of his temple, and my cry
came before him, even into his ears. God hears the cries of his sheep,
doesn't he? God hears the cries of his lost
sheep. He knows where they are. And
God Almighty goes out into the wilderness, and he finds those
sheep. He searches and seeks for them,
and he finds them as they're crying out to him, lost, helpless,
unable to do anything for themselves. And he takes his sheep, and he
puts them on his shoulders, and he carries them home. What a comfort for sinners to
know that God hears their cries. Thought about over in Exodus,
when the Lord spoke unto Moses, there the children of God are
in bondage on the Egyptians. And Egypt always, in the Old
Testament and throughout the whole word of God, Egypt always
represents this world. Egypt represents the state of
man in this world under the bondage of sin, living in this world
of corruption. And they cried out unto him under
that bondage. And the Lord appeared unto Moses
and he said, I am the Lord. You go tell my people I heard
their cries. You go tell them. And you tell him I'm going to
deliver them. And he did. They have the sacrifice of the
Passover lamb. The Lord revealed the gospel
unto them, revealed Christ unto them. So when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And as Moses stood before the
Red Sea, what did he do? He said, be still and see the
salvation of the Lord. And the Lord delivered him right
out of Egypt on dry land. And for 40 years, they wander
through the wilderness. And that's what we do, isn't
it? We wander through the wilderness of this world. Unfortunately, constantly complaining,
just like they did. Constantly rebelling, just like
they did. Nevertheless, he remembered his
covenant. And that's what he does for us. And then Moses sat there on the
top of that mountain. As Joshua led them across the
river Jordan to the promised land. God hears our cries. The depths, the depths are a
place of darkness, The depths are a place of corruption, bitterness,
pain, sorrow, and bondage. However, the depths are not a
place of despair. The depths are not a place of
complete loss or absence of hope. You see, the depth is where Christ
meets sinners. It is there that a sinner sees
and experiences the power of God and salvation. It is there
in that deep, dark depths that grace and mercy and peace are
found. Davis said, I waited patiently
for the Lord. He cried out unto him. He said,
I waited patiently for the Lord. And he inclined unto me and he
heard my cry. And you know what he did? He
brought me up. Brought me up out of a horrible
pit and out of the miry clay. And he set my feet on Christ. He set my feet upon a rock. And
he established my goings, and he put a song of rejoicing and
praise in my mouth, a song of praise unto God. Reading psalm, he shall deliver
the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath
no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy
and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their
soul from deceit and violence and precious shall be their blood
in his sight. When we cry out, my friends,
God shall deliver us. He shall. He promised he would. He shall. The eyes of the Lord
are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. The
face of the Lord is against them that do evil, that cut off the
remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and
the Lord heareth. The righteous, God's people,
and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh
unto them that are of a broken heart, and save as such that
be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all. There in
the depths salvation is found when a sinner cries out. It is
a place of darkness, but it's not a place of despair. I pray
to God he would place every one of us in the depths tonight. I pray he would place my children
in the depths tonight, your children in the depths tonight, and cause
us all together to cry out unto him for mercy. I love the Lord because he has
heard my voice and my supplications, because he hath inclined his
ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The
sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold
of me. I found trouble and sorrow, then called I upon the name of
the Lord. O Lord, I beseech you, deliver my soul. Gracious is
the Lord and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. He is gracious,
abundant in mercy, abundant in grace. There is no depth that
is too deep for the arm of God to reach down and save his people.
His arm is not shortened that it cannot save. How deep is the
depths that you are in? His arm's not shortened. He knows
exactly where you are. The Lord preserve us is simple.
I was brought low and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my
soul. Return unto thy rest. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation, David said. That wasn't the first time David
was in the depths in Psalm 51. God, don't let us go. Don't let me go. Don't let me
go. Don't let me go out into this
world. What do you say? Will you go
away also? Lord, to whom shall we go? God has delivered my soul from
death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. He's able
to keep us. We're to thank God at all times
for all things, aren't we? We talk about going through trials
and temptations. We talk about the sufferings
that we endure in this world. But thank God for him. Thank
God for him. Next time I'm in the depths,
I pray the Lord calls me to thank Him for that. The Lord God Almighty has saved
us from the depths and thanks be to God there is forgiveness
with Him. And this is important. Forgiveness. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How is it covered? By the blood
of the Lamb. That's how it's covered. Blessed is the man unto
whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and whose spirit is no God. While
I kept silent, my bones waxed old, and my roaring all the day
long. For day and night, thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture
is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin
unto thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess
my transgressions unto the Lord. Thou forgavest the iniquity of
my soul. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive. There in the depth, the Lord's
gonna lay you bare. He's gonna strip you. He's going to take away all that
pride. He's going to take away all that haughtiness. He's going
to take away all that self-righteousness. He's going to take away of every
good thing you think of yourself, and he's going to strip you bare
to where the only thing you are is sin. And you're just going to cry out
for forgiveness. Peter said, Lord, depart from
me. I'm a sinful man. I'm a sinful man. There is forgiveness with God. Look at Psalm 103. We've only got a couple more
passages I want us to look at tonight, but I want us to look
at this Psalm 103. David said in so many passages,
Lord, thou hast heard my cry, thou hast answered my prayer. He said in Psalm 103, bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that was in and all within me, bless
his holy name. When the Lord delivers us up
out of that miry pit and sets our feet upon Christ, upon that
rock, he gives us a new song. What is that song? Bless the
Lord, bless the Lord, bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all of his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies,
who satisfies my mouth with good things, so that my youth is renewed
like the eagle's. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. He may know in his
ways unto Moses his acts, and to the children of Israel the
Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous
in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever, and he has not dealt with us
after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
We saw that this morning. The children of God, they'll
suffer in this world, but they will never suffer for their sins.
He hasn't rewarded us. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The Lord has not dealt with us
after our sin. He forgave us. Thank God for that. That's why
David said, Lord, don't rebuke me in your anger. How does God
deliver sinners out of the depths? As we mentioned, the depths is
a place of bondage, the place where a sinner realizes that
he is shut up to God's law. It is there that he understands
in order for him to be set free, the law of God must be satisfied. God will not simply clear the
guilty. God's law must be satisfied. God's holy. God's holy. It has to be satisfied. He's
just. He is a just God and a savior,
but he's a just God that cannot be compromised. There is forgiveness with God,
but understand that forgiveness does not come at the sacrifice
of the satisfaction of God's law. It must be satisfied and
sin must be punished. God Almighty entered into a covenant
of grace with his son before the foundation of the world.
He chose a people in Christ, gave them to Christ, who became
their surety. And in order to save those whom
the Father gave him from the depths of the pit, Christ had
to go into the pit. He hath made him to be sin, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, the curse that held us in that depth, being
made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. When Christ suffered and died
on the cross as a substitute for his people, he entered in
to the depths. He entered into the depths. But for Him, there was no mercy. For Him, there was no grace. For Him, there was no forgiveness. And Christ entered
into the depths There was only the wrath of God. Look at Psalm 22. These are the words of our Savior.
My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me? By the grace of God, I'll never
know what it is to be forsaken by the Father. Forsaken? The children of God
are accepted in the beloved. We'll never know what it is to
be forsaken by God because we are accepted in the Beloved. Why art thou so far from helping
me? And from the words of my roaring? He helped us when we roared.
He was nigh unto us when we cried. But when the Son of God cried, He was far from helping. O my God, I cry in the daytime,
but Thou hearest not. And in the night season, and
am not silent, but Thou art holy. O Thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel, our fathers trusted in Thee, they trusted, and Thou
didst deliver them. Why are You so far from helping
me? They cried unto thee and they
were delivered. They trusted in thee and were not confounded. But I am a worm and no man. How does a great I am declare
I am a worm? He was made sin. That's the only way I know to
describe it. And that's, I can't even enter into that. A reproach of men inspires of
the people. All they that see me, they laugh
at me to scorn. And that's what they did as our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, hung on the cross of Calvary.
They laughed at the scorn. All day they see me laughing
and scorn, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying
he trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver
him, see if he delighteth in him. He said he saved others himself
he could not save. As we said this morning, it was
love that kept him on that cross. It was love. He had to endure
the wrath of God in order to save those from God the Father
gave him. He had to drink a cup full. He had to satisfy God's
law and God's justice. He could not save himself. But thou art he that took me
out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from
me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls
have compassed me, strong bulls have bashed me. have beset me
round. They gaped at me with their mouth
as a ravening and roaring line, and I am poured out like water.
All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou has brought
me into the dust of death. There on the cross at Calvary
the Son of God suffered in the depths under the wrath and punishment
of God for the sin of His people. He was perfect. He was spotless. But He suffered for the sins
of His people. Suffered like no man suffered. And do you know that there on
the cross He made a plea for forgiveness? Look at Luke chapter
22 or Luke chapter 23. There on the cross of Calvary After he
had been mocked, beaten, the beard stripped out of his face,
the crown of thorns placed upon his head. There, the cross of Calvary,
bloody, marred, unrecognizable. The pain, the suffering. They're the apex of man's sin, where man's hatred for God was
most revealed. They cried out, crucified him.
We cried out, crucified him. He was delivered into the hands
of the people, and that's what they wanted to be done. Luke
chapter 23, our Savior is there suffering. Verse 33. And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. And
the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left,
then said, Jesus, Father, forgive them. Forgive them. In His darkest hour, what was
on His heart, Father, forgive them. For they know not what
they do. What a gracious Savior we have.
What a God. What a Savior. Truly His ways are not our ways,
are they? They're just not. They're just not. There in the depths, the sinner
waits, hoping in the Word of God. And that's our only source
of hope. Only source of hope is God's
Word. Everything written here, that's my hope. That's my hope. Why do I know that God's going
to deliver me out of the depths? Because of his word. Why do I
know that he will deliver his people out of the depths? Because
he said so. He is God. He cannot lie. He has declared the end from
the beginning. Everything here is my hope. And I'm going to
hope in his word. And I'm going to wait by the
grace of God patiently. We wait. He knows there is forgiveness
with God, with the Lord there is mercy and redemption, and
he shall redeem his people. Wait on him. Wait on him. Are you in the depths tonight?
Are you in the depths right now? Wait on him. If you're not, you
soon will be. Remember these words, wait on
him. Hope in his word. I pray I remember it, because
I don't most of the time. Usually I fret. Usually I murmur,
and usually I complain, and usually I fear, and I doubt. David said, lo, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear. I
do fear most of the time, and I'm just being honest. God give us faith. God give us
faith to, anytime we're in the depths, to cry out to him, knowing,
knowing, that he will never leave us nor
forsake us, knowing that he shall reach down and pick us up every
single time. Until that time, when he gathers us and takes
us home. Truly my soul waiteth upon God,
from him cometh my salvation. What else am I gonna do? From
Him comes my salvation, so I'm gonna wait on Him. And whatever
it is that I'm going through, however long I'm in that depths,
I know it's for my good and He's coming. God calls me just to
wait patiently, patiently. He only is my rock and my salvation,
I got nowhere else to go. I got nowhere else to go, even
in the depths. I got nowhere else to go. I'm
waiting on Him. I'm not going to try to escape. I'm not going
to try and do something to get out. Although we do do that a
lot in this flesh. We try to make the best out of
situations, don't we? Thinking we can do something,
but we can't. We can't. That's a vain hope. I shall not be greatly moved.
How long will you imagine mischief against a man? You shall be slain,
all of you. There's a bowing wall, a tottering
fence. They only consult to cast him
down from his excellency. They delight in lies. They bless
with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Wait, my soul. Wait thou only upon God. Only. For my expectation is from
him. He is only my rock and my salvation,
my defense, I shall not be moved. And God is my salvation and my
glory, the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Wait and hope in him. David said, behold, the eye of
the Lord is upon them that fear him. Do we fear him? Do we fear
him? upon them that hope in his mercy,
to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waited for the Lord. He is our help and our shield.
For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in
his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon
us according as we hope in thee. Is there anyone tonight in the
depths? Is there anyone in the depths? Maybe it's for the first time.
Maybe we find ourselves in the depths again. Is anyone in the
depths? Come to Christ. Come to Him. Look to Him. Cry out to Him. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him
return unto the Lord. He will have mercy on him. He
will. And to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. How much forgiveness do you need?
He will abundantly pardon. How great is your sin? He will
abundantly pardon. Say, come on to me, all you that
are labor, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest. Rest for your souls. The Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and I will unknowwise cast him out. Out of the depths, out of the
depths, If you find yourself in the depths,
my friends, cry out to God. Cry out to Him for mercy. Cry
out to Him for grace. Cry out to Him for forgiveness.