I love your pastor and I thank
God for permitting me to be here with you, him, on this truly
blessed occasion. Your pastor has been my friend
a long time and Went through some tough times, and Clay was there. You were too, Donnie. Where are
you, Todd? Don? You guys? I thank God for
you. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to Psalm 130. the older that I get, there's something that is a greater
burden to me, or it's made to be known to me, to be a greater
burden than I ever realized before. And it's this thing. Sin is present with me. Almighty God has been pleased to call me out of darkness. Why am I thus? As Newton says,
why this dull and lifeless frame? Surely, could they be worse who've
never heard His name? David penned this psalm under
the inspiration of God's Spirit. And I know what he is talking
about when I began because I looked at verse 3. He said, If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? So I know something of the burden of his heart. How merciful that Almighty God would send these scriptures to
His people and would teach us out of His Word. He said, Thy
Word, David said, is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And this psalm manifests the
cry of a broken-hearted saint. This is a man that knows God. He's sensitive because of the
realization of the presence of sin and his continual need of forgiveness. I want you, if you don't have
a Bible, please get next to somebody that's got one. I want you to
look at these words. He says in verse 1, out of the
depths, I thought of that. Out of the
depths, how deep is that? I don't know. I don't know, but
I tell you this. What he felt, what he knew, what
he experienced was deep. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, and I want you to look at this wording now, O Jehovah. You know, we would naturally
avoid being overwhelmed. with calamity. I mean, that's
just the way we are. We just, if I can avoid it, Betty
Groover told me one time that Walter told her, I wish we could
go through this life without the burdens. She said, Walter,
it just don't work that way. Out of the depths have I cried
unto Jehovah, There is a fresh sense of the
presence of sin to a believer every day. And you know it. And you feel it. And you hate
it. That's what Apostle Paul said,
Oh wretched man that I am. He said in Romans 7, 23, 24,
I see another law in my members warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in
my members. Oh, wretched man that I am. This is the way I am. desire that there was no dealings with
this sin anymore. That's what he said, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? David was forgiven for taking
Bathsheba. God sent him a prophet and he
said, you're the man. I didn't think anybody knew.
I thought maybe only Bathsheba knew. And he said in Psalm 51, I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin as ever before me. Have you caught any fish? Well,
we fished all night. Cast the net on the other side. We're professionals. But at your
word, I read that and it just, maybe it's me, it just seems
like to me that he was saying, I'm just going to humor you.
We fished all night long. But at your word, and they caught fish and the
net started to break. And the scripture says, Peter
fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me for I am a sinful
man. Oh, what mercy that Almighty
God would give a man or a woman a heart to cry unto Jehovah out
of the depths. What mercy! that God would bring
a man to that point, cause him to see his need, then and then
only will a man cry. You know, when everything seems
to be going well, prayer is So much for me. It just seems
so lifeless. But Almighty God, bring a man
into the depths. And that man will cry. That's when a man will say as
David said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that
I might learn thy statutes. But I want us to look for just
a few minutes. What the Spirit of God has revealed
concerning our crying unto the capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D, unto Jehovah. Out of the depths have I cried
unto you, the I Am. You who are of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. You alone, You're the holy and just God. Out of the depths, I've cried
unto Thee, O Lord. Can mercy be found with You? The one before whom the stars
are not pure in Your sight. You who puts no trust in your
servants and charges your angels with folly, is there hope for
me? Hold your place. Turn to Isaiah
45. Isaiah 45, verse 22. Isaiah 45, 22. Listen to the words of
the Lord Himself. Look unto Me. And be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth, for I am God, there is none else. I have sworn by
myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return. That unto me every knee shall
bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say in the Lord,
have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men come, and
all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the
Lord, in Jehovah, shall all the seed of Israel, God's Israel,
spiritual Israel, God's people be justified and show glory. Out of the depths I cried unto
Jehovah. Is there mercy found? Yes. There's
mercy found. But I'll tell you where the mercy
is found. Look at verse 2. Lord, you see
that wording there? Capital L. Lowercase o, lowercase
r, lowercase d. Lord Jesus. You who are the mediator. You to whom a sinner flees. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. Now here is a needy sinner, a
suppliant, crying unto Jehovah in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The only one in whom God Almighty, the Father, is
well pleased. He alone in whom dwelleth all
the fullness, the completeness of the Godhead bodily. He who
has redeemed his people to God by his blood has met every demand
for righteousness. There's one mediator between
God and men and it's the man. Christ Jesus. He said of Himself,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. A needy sinner cries
out of the depths unto Jehovah in Christ Jesus the Lord. And in Him God hears. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Jehovah, Lord Jesus, my only hope. You alone who are worthy, my
mediator, let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. David said in Psalm 3, 4, I cried
unto Jehovah, unto the Lord with my voice. And He heard me out
of His holy hill. He heard me for the sake of Christ
who God has set upon His holy hill. Then the psalmist says
in verse 3, If thou, Jehovah, If Thou, Lord God, if Thou, O
Thee I am, if Thou, Lord God of heaven, if Thou shouldest
mark iniquities, and then look, Lord Jesus, who shall stand? Again, the psalmist acknowledges
Jehovah's justice, His holiness, Lord, if you regard or observe
iniquities against me, O Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord,
my substitute, You who were made sin for us, You who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in You. You were forsaken of the Father. Lord, You bore my guilt. Lord, You are my substitute. Lord, You bore all of my guilt
in Your body. And the Father forsook You. If thou, Lord Jehovah, shouldest
mark iniquity against me, Lord Jesus, you who have borne
the wrath of Almighty God in my stead, if He marks it against me, who
could stand? He marked it against you. I'm guilty. And I deserve punishment. Lord, I know that you're going
to mark iniquity. I know you are. Because you're
a just God. And you're either going to mark
it against me or you're going to mark it against the substitute.
But you're going to mark it. And Lord, if you mark it against
me, I have no hope. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. That's a blessed man. You find a man for whom Christ
has died and has revealed it to him. A man that God Almighty
has given faith to trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone. A man
who has no confidence in his flesh. And I'll tell you what
you're going to do. You're going to find a man that's
going to appeal to the Lord Jesus alone. Oh Lord, Jehovah, if thou shouldest mark iniquities,
blessed substitute, Blessed Christ, blessed Mediator, who should
stand. You who have eternally stood
as the surety of God's elect, your people. Lord, you are the great Judah. You are the one of whom Judah
was but a picture. Concerning us who are the Benjamins,
I love this, Genesis 43, 9. This was Judas' promise concerning
Benjamin. You know, Joseph had told him,
he said, you got any other brothers at home? Well, we've got one,
but he can't come. He said, well, if you don't bring
him, then don't come back. Judas says, Got to take Benjamin. Oh no, not Benjamin. And Judah
says this. Here's what Judah says. I'll be sure before him. Of my
hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. Verse 3, O thou Jehovah, if you
should mark iniquity, Lord, you who have eternally stood for
your people as their surety, given your word, if I don't bring
them back, I'll bear the guilt forever, and he shall not fail. Look at verse 4. But... Oh, what
a... I love... Boy, those little words
like that just have insurmountable meaning. But... But God... But there is forgiveness with
thee. How? He's borne our griefs, Scripture
says. Carried our sorrows. He is the
glorious scapegoat, born the iniquities of his people into
a land not inhabited, O blessed thought, there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. O blessed thought, there is forgiveness with God. For sinners, yes for sinners. How? In the surety, in the substitute,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you the moment a believer
considers, and how often we do, the presence of sin, how freshly
Do we flee unto Him? He that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. Years, I grew up in false religion. I just, and always spoke of,
well I came to the Lord, I was 14 I think. But then at about 17, I couldn't
remember if I was serious. So I had to rededicate. And some
of y'all have been there. You know what I'm talking about.
I mean, you forget to feel guilty and stuff like that. And so then
I had to, you know, I wanted to come to the Lord. But I'll
tell you what I would always consider. I always considered
coming to the Lord, He that cometh to me. You know when a believer
comes to the Lord all the time? He that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. It is Christ Jesus the Lord,
the one whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, the author
of peace and reconciliation through faith in His blood. There's forgiveness with Thee. What, that he might be loved?
Oh, we do love him. Here's what Scripture says, that
thou mayest be feared. Not the terror of a slave, but
the loving, reverential, obedient respect of a forgiven and accepted
child in the beloved. That thou mayest be feared, reverenced,
What do you think that prodigal thought? Came to his dad and
told him, he said, give me everything that's coming to me, let me have
it. And he took it. He went and spent all of his
money in righteous living. One day, he came to himself. What in the world am I doing? I'm over here eating. Stuff that we feed the hogs. And the servants in my dad's
house, they don't eat anything like this. I'm going to go back
to my dad. You know why he went back to
his dad? He reverenced him. He respected him. He loved him. There's forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. The fear, the reverence of the
Lord is the beginning. That's the first fruit of wisdom. The beginning. Robert Hawker
made this statement. He said, the fear of the Lord
is among the sweetest exercises of the renewed nature. The fear of the Lord, respect
of the Lord. You know why we're here tonight?
Those that know Him because of the reverence of the Lord. The respect that's due unto Him. David said, verse 5, I wait for
the Lord. My soul doth wait. And in His
Word do I hope. confidence. It has got to have
a solid foundation. Speculation on this is just not
going to get it. I have to have a solid, I want
something that's substantial. David said, I wait for the Lord,
my soul doth wait in his word. Or you said, your word is not
going to return void. It's going to accomplish the
purpose for which it was sent. I wait, I expect and patiently
look for Jehovah. My soul does wait. And I rest
my eternal soul on this one thing. and what you said. Abraham believed God. He believed
God. And that's a miracle of God's
grace. I mean, I've heard, I heard,
I heard what he said. But then to believe God, In His Word, do I hope? What,
His written Word? Yes. How about when God spoke
from heaven? That verbal, they heard it. I
read about it. We read about it. Yes. How about the Word made flesh? Yes. If we had not His Word, we'd
have no promise I'd have no proof of hope, but His Word never fails. It's what He said, this is my
beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased, you hear Him. Out of the depths, I cried unto
Jehovah, Lord Jesus Christ, the one that you have been told to
me to hear you by Jehovah. Lord have mercy on me. Verse
6, My soul waiteth for the Lord. Look at that one. There's the
Lord Jesus. My soul waiteth for the Lord
Jesus more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. A soul, a sinner saved by the
grace of God to see his need of Christ is waiting. for that man who is at the right
hand of Jehovah. And while he waits, God's word
is his confidence, comfort, and security. Have you ever noticed how I was
reading that last part, my soul waited for the Lord more than
they that watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch
for the morning. Have you ever noticed how things
are always worse at night? I had a dear friend in Louisiana
and he told me, He was in a combat zone. He was in Vietnam. He had gotten out of law school,
got a lawyer. He was drafted in 1970. And if he came back,
about ten years later he came back. He and I were talking one
day and we got talking about him being there. And he told
me, he said, Marvin, he said they gave me an M16 and put me
in a little, the perimeter around the fire base. And he said put
me in a little hut, an elevated guard tower. And he said it was
just pitch black out there. And he said I just I just wanted
to see the sun come up. He said, I just, he said, I waited,
oh, he said, I just wanted to see the sun, if I could just
see. I read that scripture there and I thought what my friend
had told me many, 40 years ago. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. Almighty God, put within a man
or woman's heart a desire to wait for the Lord. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there's mercy. With Him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. Let Israel, let God's Israel
hope, have confidence and expectation in Jehovah. For with Jehovah
in Christ, there is mercy and plenteous redemption. Let all of God's people, those
that know that they have no confidence in themselves and all their confidence
in Him, let them know that there is mercy. If the mercy that they
have is the mercy promised to our fathers, the Lord Jesus Himself,
then there's mercy with God. With Him, deliverance is full. It abounds, not limited, not
exhausted. It can't be exhausted. It's plenteous,
numerous, multiplied liberation, redemption. Let me ask you this. Do you find yourself in need
to cry unto the Lord? There is hope in one. There is
hope in one. God's Son, the one in whom He
is well pleased, you who cry out of the depths unto the Lord,
I thank God for that. I thank the Lord that He'd give
your heart to cry. Because I promise you, if He
gave you no sense of your need, you'd never cry. And if you never
cry, there's no forgiveness. But in Christ Jesus, the Lord,
There's hope. There's mercy. May the Lord bless
the word to our hearts for Christ's sake.