All right, brethren, let's go
back to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. Brethren, God dwells only with
His child whose heart is broken and contrite. He said in Psalm 51, 17, the
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. There can be no reconciliation
until the heart is broken and contrite. No reconciliation until
our heart's been broken by God, made contrite by God. A haughty,
a proud, a hard heart God will not receive, nor will He bless. He said, to this man will I look,
even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit. A poor spirit, a contrite spirit
who trembleth at my word. But only God's able to break
the heart. Only God's able to give a humble spirit. Proverbs
3.11 says, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither
be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he
correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Did you ever, when you were growing up, did your father ever send
one of your siblings to tell you to come to him when you were
in trouble? And your sibling did it in a
proud way? Did our fathers let our siblings
do the chastening? Our fathers chastened us and
the sibling. When did that happen? God our
Father may use us, but the chastening is only between the father and
his child. And it's deeply, deeply personal. It's deeply, deeply personal.
What's our father's purpose in chastening? What's his purpose? It says in verse 1, 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. It's never the father's purpose
in chastening his child to hurt us. Certainly not to destroy
us, but not even to hurt us. That's not His purpose. It's
for our good. It's to bring us down to the
depths. To the depths. The only thing
we can do when we're in the depths is look up and cry to Him. That's a good place to be. But it's not forever. Maybe a
while, but it's not forever. Once He breaks our heart, He
will revive. He said in Isaiah 57, 15, Thus
saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose
name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy
place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit
to revive the spirit of the humble. to revive the heart of the contrite
ones. When He brings us to cry for
mercy, I mean really cry from the depths for mercy, He hears. He hears you. And His purpose
then, secondly, is to teach us our thorough ruin in sin in light
of His holiness. He's gonna teach us our complete
and total ruin and sin in light of how holy He is. He says here
in verse 3, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? God is holy, holy, holy. I can't tell you what that means. I can't even enter into the fullness
of what that means. But there's not one that could
stand before Him if He marked iniquities. We're all together unholy. Listen to Solomon. There's not
a just man upon the earth. not one who's dead in his sins
and not one who's justified by God. There's not a just man on
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. What is man that he should be
clean? He which is born of a woman that
he should be righteous. Behold, he puts no trust in his
saints. He puts no trust in his saints. The heavens are not clean in
his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water? How then can a man be justified
with God? How can he be clean as born of
a woman? Behold, even the moon, it shines
not. The stars are not pure in His
sight. How much less man, that is a
worm, and the Son of Man, which is a worm. He makes our sin deeply, deeply
personal. Deeply personal. Not only the worst deeds that
we've committed become personally offensive to us, but the best deeds. Everything that we do, our very
best, is full of self and covetousness, ideology, wanting the glory that
belongs to Him, wanting the glory that belongs to Him alone. Everything we do is full of that.
Everything. And everything we do, our best
deeds, are full of malice. Absolutely full of malice. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. But that's not deep enough. That's
just not deep enough. He's going to go all the way
down to our heart, to that obnoxious cesspool of corruption where every imagination of the
thoughts of our hearts is only evil continually. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. To wash with, to eat with unwashing
hands, That doesn't follow man. It's
what's in us. It's what's in us. When we're crucifying Christ
and crying on the name of God. all malice and all guile and
hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings. He makes us acknowledge our sin
as our own. In my flesh, my name is sinner. In my nature, I am sin. And all the fruits
I produce from my nature are sins. And every bit of it is against
God, and He's going to bring me and each of His people to
confess that. Psalm 51.3, David had killed
Uriah and he had committed adultery with Bathsheba, his wife. And
David is brought to repentance and he says, I acknowledge my
transgressions. Who are you thinking about right
now? Think about your transgression. I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. Now listen to what he said. Against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. What if the Lord marked iniquities? Could anybody here stand before
his all-knowing holiness if he marked iniquities? But here's the grand lesson He
keeps making us learn in a greater light. This is another one of
those things He makes you see, like we saw in the first hour.
In a greater light He makes you see that. Verse 4, But there
is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Now that's a blessed thing to
discover. That's a blessed thing to discover.
There is forgiveness with thee. Now here's what honestly I can't
understand. I can't understand sinners not
forgiving because we're nothing but offenses. But the one who's holy, who's
never offended, the one who's righteous, He does forgive. That's why He does. And that's
why we don't. He's holy and that's why He does
forgive. It's to His glory to forgive.
It's for His name. Jeremiah 33, eight, I will cleanse
them from all their iniquity whereby they've sinned against
me, and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they've sinned,
whereby they've transgressed against me, and it shall be to
me a name of joy, of praise, and an honor before all the nations
of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them. and they shall fear and tremble
for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure
unto it." That's the opposite of how we
think in our flesh. We think we've got to protect
his name and cast out devils. He said, You want to glorify
my name? This is how I'm going to do it.
I'm going to cleanse and I'm going to forgive and that's going
to glorify my name. I'm going to bring a people to
glorify my name. The people I've forgiven are
going to glorify my name. We see how unlike us he is by
his mercy and his forgiveness. He said, let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. and let him return to the Lord.
And by nature we won't do that. We won't come to the light because
our wicked way is going to be reproved. Because we're so accustomed
to receiving that from one another. We're so accustomed to receiving
that from one another. So we hide from one another.
You do and I do too. All of us do. Why? Because we're afraid of what
they're going to find out. That's why. That's exactly why. And we prove we have a warrant
to be afraid when the reaction comes hard upon us. He's not
like us. You want to exalt His glory? He says, return to the Lord.
He'll have mercy. Come to our God. He will abundantly
pardon Not just pardon you, He'll abundantly pardon you. My thoughts
are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. I will have mercy, He said. I'll
abundantly pardon, He said. That's so unlike us. Do you know why our Lord told
Peter that if a brother sinned against him seven times in a
day, to forgive him seven times in a day. Do you know why He
said that? and just not ever stop. Because that's how Christ
forgives me and you. The Lord our God belongs, to
Him belongs mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against
Him. Well, but that's just in conversion
though. Well, thankfully, it's as long
as we carry this body of sin and death. Thankfully. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. The truth is not in us. If we
confess our sin, who? To who? To a priest? He said, come to me, return to
me. He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Well,
that's talking about conversion too. Well, okay then, my little
children. Who's that talking to? My little
children? These things write unto you that
you sin not. We're charged with preaching
licentious doctrine. We don't. We don't ever say sin,
and we're not saying sin's okay, and we're not covering over sin,
it's not okay. But I tell you who's gonna convince
you of that, that's God. I tell you who's gonna deal with
you on that, that's God. I tell you who's gonna forgive
you on that, and that's God. If you're His, if you're His. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He's the propitiation
for our sin, for His people everywhere. That's what that man in the parable
said when he said, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. The
word is, Lord, propitiate for me. Our holy God and our Father is
a God ready to pardon, and He's ready to abundantly pardon. He
is ready to forgive the deepest, darkest, foulest sins from the
deepest, purest springs of His eternal love. He is the treasure house full
of pardoning grace and His mercies never fail because they cannot
be exhausted. Aren't we glad? You know, if you're like me,
when you pray to the Lord, when you're in your closet, you pray
to the Lord, don't you say things to Him that
you would never tell anybody in this world? They stay with Him. They stay
with Him. That's why you tell them to Him.
And He forgives you and He has mercy on you. That's why you
tell them to Him. Because His mercies are as large
as God is Himself. His forgiveness covers every
form of iniquity. There's no mountain of transgression
that's too high that the blood of Christ won't cover it. Because from everlasting His
wisdom purposed, His wisdom provided His only begotten Son. Now this
is the fear-producing, amazing grace of God right here. He provided
His own Son. It's not just that by His grace
and His love He chose a bunch of vile, habitual offenders like
us, but that He sent His only begotten Son to justify us. You pick out somebody who is
a sinner, who you are offended by, would you give your son to
die for him? We don't love like he does, do
we? So we really can't be too offended. We don't love like
he does. And here is the thing, hate is
not just an absence of love. It's what we are, it's sin by
nature. This is how He exalts and magnifies
His holy majesty and His holy kingdom. His holiness demands
every sin that He forgives must be punished. Every one of them. His holiness demands that His
wrath must be inflicted. His vengeance must receive its
just due. And in holiness He provided His
Son to bear that. He willingly became the substitute. And His atoning sacrifice, it
atones. His sacrifice atones. He died
the death we owed. He suffered the wrath of God
in place of us. And He cast our sins into the
depth of the sea. And so where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That as sin has reigned unto
death, So grace might reign through righteousness into eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. And so when you cry out from
the depth and you beg for mercy for the sake of His Son, the
only thing that you receive is abundant mercy and full pardon. He even purges our sin shot prayer
that comes up to Him so that it comes up a perfect plea through
Christ. And Christ speaks into the heart
and He says to you, Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven
you. Go in peace. You talk about taking a burden
off of you. God forgives me. Now why does God do that? Why
does He do that? There's forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. Now, think about it. Law and
judgment never melted a hard heart. Never. And somebody answers you
and me in judgment. How do you answer? If grace is
on you and His hand is upon you, you don't revile back, you commit
it to Him that judges righteously. If He lets you go in your flesh,
you're going to answer back with judgment. What's going to melt the heart?
What's going to make you free to approach and just know that
you can be honest and say what's in your heart and say what you
are and what you've done and you're not going to get any judgment
back? forgiveness. It's called fearing God. It's
called reverencing God. It's called having a parental
love and a fear that you can come to Him, unlike an earthly
father. You can't even do this with an
earthly father. But with this heavenly Father, this is a holy
reverence. He's put in your heart and He
has in His heart and you can come to Him and tell Him anything.
I wish I was a father like that. You just come lay your heart
bare to Him. He's going to receive you as
forgiven. He'll gently correct you. And He's very long-suffering.
He won't lay a heavy hand on you unless it's necessary. But
He's very kind and He's very gracious. We know that when we receive
it. Why are we so quick to cry down
fire on others? We're not slow to do that. He brings us again to that depth
when we cry down fire He turns it around. He brings
us down to the depths to see, I'm the sinner. Because as I said in the beginning,
He's not going to bless anything but a broken and a contrite heart.
We just got to, if there's two broken and contrite hearts, you
just can't You just can't kick somebody when they're as low
as you are. You just can't. Beholding Christ and His precious
blood, washing all my sins away, creates a far deeper conviction
than the conviction of sin and judgment. It's a constraining
love. You look upon Him. It's not just
for your sin. You look upon Him. And you see Him, and you see
that you pierced Him. And you're in bitterness, not
just for your sin, you're in bitterness for Him. And you mourn
for Him, as one mourns for his only son. When He brings you there, can
there be a happier, stronger change in your heart than that?
I don't think there is. I don't think there is a happier,
stronger change of heart than when He brings you to behold
your sin on Him. Darkness leaves, true light shines,
tumultuous passions calm down into holy peace. The desert rejoices
and blossoms as a rose. Instead of the thorn comes up
the fir tree and instead of the briar comes up the myrtle tree.
The ransomed of the Lord return and come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads, and they obtain joy and gladness
and sorrow and sigh and flee away. And here's sin-cleansing
blood. We talk about being strengthened.
It once again makes you serve Him with all your mind and with
all your heart and with all your body. He renews you inwardly. He strengthens
you inwardly so that you can reject the devil's temptation
by his strength. And he strengthens you by this
forgiveness to make you take revenge on yourself. Here's what
forgiveness does. With this fear it puts in the
heart, it opens the cell door. And you step right out of one
cell and it takes you captive in another one. It's a good sale. You're free now. You're forgiven. Forgiveness takes you captive.
Let others abstain from evil through selfish, slavish fear
of some pharisaical thumb. Let them be afraid that they're
going to let somebody find out. That's what most of you came
out of. But it's a sinner crying out
of the depths asking for mercy and beholding a loving father
forgiving him freely for the sake of his Redeemer. That's
what puts fear and reverence in the heart and makes you want
to serve him. Makes you serve him. If you are granted repentance
for any outward act of sin that you do, that's how it's done. Every time. Every time. And if you can't drop some outward
act of sin, it's because He just ain't come and done that to you.
You're guilty, it's your fault, but He just ain't come to you
and done it. Because that's the only time you'll drop it, is
when He's done this to you. But it'll take when He does it.
Will he be cured of all his sins? Before God, yes. In himself,
no. No. But the father will keep
teaching. He'll be more watchful. He'll
be more abhorrent of whatever that particular viper was. And God will grow him in an increasing
knowledge of the purpose and aim and end and fruits of his
dying love. And he'll have more assurance
and he'll have more peace like a river. He'll hear his Redeemer
once again intercede, Father, forgive him. It'll make him a little more
patient, a little more hopeful, a little more watchful. He'll
say, verse 5, wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, in his word
do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. He'll put you on the tiptoe of
faith and hope looking for the Lord. And He'll give you a ready
word for your friends that He knows, that you know from experience
now. And you'll say to Him in verse
7, let Israel hope in the Lord. Hope in the Lord. For with the
Lord there is mercy. With Him is plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. From the
ones you're in right now, today, personally. Tomorrow He'll deliver
you from those, personally. Just like He's officially done
it at the cross. He'll keep delivering you from
all your iniquities. And He won't lose you. And one
day He'll redeem you from this earth into His presence, fully,
finally, freely, forever. Hope in the Lord. Lord, we ask You to teach us
this. We ask You to make this effectual,
make it real in our hearts. Lord, help us be like You. Help us be like You. Help us to wait on You. Help us to hope
in You. Lord, if You've done this in
us, we know You can do it. And we look into You and this
will glorify Your name, Father. And that's what we want. We thank you, Lord, for your
son. We thank you for his shed blood and his broken body. We
ask you now, Lord, to bless the elements as we observe it, the
table, and bless the food that we partake after the service.
In Christ's name we ask it. Amen.