the Spirit of God would come and testify to our hearts the great things that God has done for us. Remember those congregations who still have no pastors, those who are depending upon others to bring the Gospel to them. I'm thankful for their faithfulness that they desire and have men come and we desire that God would send them a man after his own heart and fill those empty pulpits. That God would not take the light out, but rather be gracious to let it continue in those places.

I ask your prayers this morning. God give me the liberty of His Spirit that I can preach to you these things that Christ has given to you. I pray that God would use the light in this place. That means you and me. Not just me, but you and me. To send the gospel forth into this world. That's our purpose, isn't it? What good is a light under a bush? It needs to be put on a candlestick so that the whole room is full of light. And that's what we are. You are the light of the world, isn't it? Isn't that something? Our light stems totally, completely from Christ, but it is a truth. He has given us to be lights, salt and light, in a very dark world.

And as the darkness doesn't like the light. They're not going to like you. They're not going to like your message, but the children of light will. God's people will hear it, and they'll believe it, and they'll adore it, and they'll be thankful. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. May God direct our feet to be salt and light as he has told us we are. I like that. He don't say, you're going to be light someday, or you'll be salt someday. No, you are. And we know that's a totally, completely given to us of Him. And we thank Him for it.

I pray the message will bless your heart today and comfort you. Remember those that have sicknesses and trials, difficulties, afflictions, You don't have them now, just wait. They come to us, don't they? They come to us in a moment. And I'm so thankful that Christ is still our rock and our refuge, our shelter. I read that this morning, a high tower. And that's something that nothing is able to get to us. if you're in Christ, nothing. Nothing can remove you from Him. If you're in Him, there's nothing that can remove you from Him. I'm so thankful for that.

Well, that's a time for another message. I've got this one. I need to preach this one. Let's go to Him in prayer one more time and ask for His mercies.

Our gracious Father, again, we beg you for mercies. Oh, Father, mercies. By very nature, Father, mercies are undeserved, unmerited, how many times even unwanted. Yet you are full of mercy. I know that mercy is found in Christ. And I pray for it. I ask you for it. May the Word fall as the dew upon the tender heart. May it be received by the power of Thy Spirit through faith in Christ May it provide nourishment and strength and comfort to the weary believer. May it provide life to the dead, comfort to the living. Father, whatever you intend, reprove, rebuke, exhort, whatever you intend for your Word, Pray that you would do it for your own glory and the good of your church. Thank you for Christ. Thank you for his blood and his righteousness. Thank you for his ascension to the throne of grace. Thank you for his intercession. May he be glorified and praised in all that we say and do. Give me the words. I pray you would do this in Christ's name and for Christ's sake. Amen.

I take your Bibles and turn back with you to Psalm 130. The title of this message, A Cry from the Depths. A cry from the depths. I've got four things that I want you to see. I'll give them to you. in this cry, in this plea.

First of all, we're going to see a great plea. He says in verse 1, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Then we're going to see an humble confession, a confession of his sin, If thou shouldest mark iniquities, O LORD, who should stand? And a great confession that there is forgiveness with God. Thirdly, we're going to see His earnest resolve in verse 6, My soul waiteth for the Lord, and in His word do I hope. And the last one, we're going to see a great exhortation and expectation. Here's His expectation, Let Israel hope in the Lord, for there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. His exhortation is, Let Israel hope in the Lord. Let Israel hope in the Lord.

Now then, great plea. Look at this in verse 1. He says, 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.

The psalmist here expresses the greatness of his sorrow with those words, out of the depths. We find him in the depths. He cries as one covered by the sea. Remember Jonah as he was swallowed up and ascended down to the depths. It has the same idea. The psalmist is in the depths as in the depths of an ocean, overwhelmed, overwhelmed. He is one who is brought into a pit or a dungeon and cannot find a way to deliver himself out, out of the depths. He is one who has been brought from prosperity to poverty, who cannot pay the debt of his bondage.

All of those are horrible things, but these things that I'm speaking of and the psalmist is speaking of are not just carnal. Yes, they manifest themselves in carnal things. Tribulation and troubles and difficulties and sorrows. We say when we're in sorrow, I'm in the depths of sorrow, or I'm in the very teeth of my affliction. But we know that this is more than just carnal, this is spiritual. We know that the psalmist here is writing spiritual things because of what he says in verse 2. He says, If thou shouldest mark iniquities, we find out what caused his depths was the guilt of his sin. The cause of his sorrow and his concern was his acceptance with God.

Now who among the sons of God have not felt this? The spiritual depths. And again, they may be manifested first outwardly. We're going to see the reason why these things are done to us, these outward physical things. But these outward troubles, they bring a believer to see one thing, his sin, his need. We who are sons of God and heirs of grace, we confess daily that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. We're not like the world, just a foolish thought that we get better in this flesh. We can somehow chain it and tame it. We know this, if we are kept, we must be kept by the power of God. I cannot keep myself. And so Paul, in Galatians, you remember, he exhorts the believer to walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

What is it to walk in the Spirit? Itís not this euphoric feeling that religion tells you it is. To walk in the Spirit is simply this, it is to walk by faith. Thatís the gift of the Spirit to the believer is to walk by faith. We walk by faith looking to Christ. He said, ìYou shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.î Why? Why is this necessary? Lust is against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to another, so that you could not do what you would. In the teeth of our trouble, the time we look to our own strength is the time we begin to sink into the depths. Remember Peter, when he walked upon the water, he was perfectly well looking to Christ. As long as he looked to Christ for strength to walk on the water, he was fine. The moment he looked to the wind and the waves, the circumstance, he began to what? Sink. We as believers, we sink into the depths because we take our eyes off of Christ. We look at the circumstance, the thing, the difficulty, the trial, the affliction. And it doesn't help. It causes us only to sink lower.

So, I know this. Have we sinned against Christ? Have we in our weakness rebelled against our Savior? Have we been made to see the vileness of our own nature? Have you been swallowed in the depths of your own depravity? Does this cause you trouble? Has the depths of grief and unbelief completely covered your eyes of faith so that you doubt that you even have any interest at all? Tis a point I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thoughts. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? Is that not the depths? For the believer, it is the depths. It is the greatest of sorrows to not know or even feel our interest in the things of Christ.

It is in this position that the psalmist cries from the depths of darkness, from the dust of death, because of the afflictions and sufferings of the body and mind, because of the dark providences, because our flesh and body fail and our soul are cast into the depths. What is the remedy? What a great depth, what a great place. It causes a great what? Plea. Notice what he does in the depths. He says, Lord, I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. let thine ears be attentive unto my supplications. He cried unto the Lord. Picture a man in the bottom of the ocean trying to cry. Who could hear him? Who could hear me in the depths? There's only one that could hear him. If a man cried in the bottom of the sea, who could hear him but God? In your depths, who could hear you but God?

He cried unto the Lord. There is no depth of sin or sorrow or sickness or pain that the child of God cannot be heard. In fact, it is in the depths of our sin and suffering that God uses to stir us to make our appeals to the throne of grace. How often in prosperity will we not cry? How often in prosperity will we give lip service but no heart service? Therefore God brings us to the depths so that we should cry to Him. It is in the depths Our only source of hope and help is found in God. Notice he doesn't want anybody else to help him. He's not crying to his wives or his children. He's not crying to other men. In the depths, there's only one who you need. Now listen, if anybody else can help you, you're not really in the depths. Somebody else come along and take care of you, then you're not really in the depths. In the depths, you can only find one who can help, and that's God.

I like that scripture, he that liveth. It says, greater is he that liveth in you than he that liveth in the world. That's the one I'm crying to. I'm crying to the one who is greater than the depths. And so in our sorrow and grief, I would exhort us not to excessive grief." Excessive grief. I read an article one time that expresses that there is such thing as too much sorrow for sin. Too much. There is such a thing as feeling too much guilt so as not to seek mercy. Go to 2 Corinthians. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 7. I'm going to show you this. 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Look at verse 9. The apostle says, Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to what? Repentance. For you were made sorry after a godly manner. that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but sorrow of the world worketh death.

You see, there are two kinds of sorrow here. There's sorrow of the world that worketh death, but the godly sorrow does something totally different. What does the depths do for the worldly man? The depths They send the worldly man, not to Christ, but to the things of the world. When He is in the depths, His solution is within Himself. His solution is in other men.

But see, God brings His children into the depths so that their solution is only God. That's godly sorrow. Godly sorrow works what? Repentance not to be repented of. In other words, when I turn to Christ, I'm not willing to turn back to something else. Religion does that. Religion says, well, we turn to Christ, and then once we turn to Christ, we go back to the law. No, no. Godly sorrow is repentance to Christ not to be repented of. I don't want to go anywhere else.

What makes me to know this is what? The depths. God sends us into the depths of sorrow so that we should be stirred to cry to Him. I've seen many people's sorrow over sin. I remember someone was in an accident one time and this person They laying there cried out to God, confess to me, they cried out to God for mercy. They didn't want to die. They didn't want to go to hell. Okay, who does? Nobody wants to go to hell if they actually understand what it means to go to hell.

But how do you know that that was godly sorrow or the sorrow of the world? Well, godly sorrow always brings you to Christ. Worldly sorrow only brings you to religion. It brings you to works religion. It brings you to self-salvation. Remember the people that were bitten by the serpents, the fiery serpents in Exodus? When they were bitten by those serpents, remember the Lord had made provision. He put a brazen serpent up and He said, Look, you that are bitten, look and live.

Now listen, everybody that was bitten sorrowed. There was no cure. But not everyone looked. See, everyone's been bitten with sin and guilt. You may sorrow over it, but if your sorrow, no matter how excessive it is, if your sorrow is not into repentance, it's not godly sorrow. And so when he says, I cried unto thee, O Lord, this is godly sorrow. How do you know if your sorrow is godly sorrow? Who are you turning to? Who are you crying to? Is it a cooperative effort? If you'll do this, then I'll do that. No, that's not godly sorrow. That's worldly sorrow.

Godly sorrow brings us to Christ and leaves us there. with no other hope, no other place to go. We cry to God by faith. We know that only God could deliver us. I like what Peter said. He said the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly. How many times we imagine how we should be delivered in the depths? We got it all figured out. We think this is how. No, no. The Lord knoweth how to deliver us from the depths. He knoweth how, and more specifically, He knows when. He knows when.

Listen to what God says about Himself. He says, I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but will put my fear in their hearts. What's good for you? What's good for you is the reverence of God. What's good for us is the fear of the Lord. And they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good.

This is not something begrudgingly. God is not doing this, giving us His goodness begrudgingly. He said, I rejoice to do them good. Therefore, when we cry unto God in our depths, we cry unto God only through Jesus Christ. Now, we have no merit to cry to God except through Christ. No other reason, and we're going to get to this, as to how we could be heard. Seeing that we're in the depths of our guilt, how then can we be heard? He cries unto God. And know this, if we who are His, we cry unto God, listen, because of our union with Christ we'll be heard. Regardless of how deep the depths are, God swears to hear His people. Why? Because of Christ, not because of them.

Now, look at this humble confession. We see the depths that he's in, we see the remedy he undertakes is to cry unto God. Now then he makes a confession to God. He makes a confession here. Look at this, verse 3. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who shall stand? Now it was sin that caused him to plunge in the depths of darkness and sorrow, and in his great plea in this darkness he sees the root cause of his difficulty. cause of every difficulty we face is sin. It is the root cause of everything. Regardless of what providence or what darkness we face or difficulty in body, in soul, in spirit, the root cause is what? Sin. Sin is the root cause of every evil that takes place. And what causes us to know our sin except the view of God's holiness? And look, you can't look at me and really see your guilt. You can set yourself above me, right? You can say, well, look what that man did. I don't do that! Well, you may step just a little bit above me. What makes a man see his sin is a view of God. See, I'm not the standard. What's the standard of heaven? The standard of heaven is holy perfection. You will not be received into heaven unless you are as holy as God. You see why he's crying in his depths? Because he realizes there's no good in him. He's crying out of the depths of his sin and his sorrow and he makes this statement, Lord, if you should mark iniquity, tell me, who can stand? Who can stand?

Now I want you to see that this is a truth, this is a maxim, this is not a theory, this is fact. God does mark iniquity. God will, without fail, judge every thought, every motive, every deed, and every word that comes out of your mouth and heart. God will judge it all. Then He will give a reward specifically based on what you deserve. Listen, what you deserve. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. That's God's judgment. Jesus said, when he comes, every man shall receive a reward according to his works, Matthew 16, 27. In Revelation, John declares this, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which was the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things that are written in the book according to their works. Do you see why he's in the depths? Why? Because there is none righteous, no, not one. You can imagine John's sorrow when he stood before the throne of heaven and the book was sealed and no one could open it. We are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

So then, if the Lord should mark iniquity, who should stand? I love the Scriptures are a great leveler, aren't they? They put us all on a real true plane with God, unworthy, guilty before God. But I'm so glad the Lord doesn't leave us without an answer to this. How then can a man stand? Look, but there's no hope for me without this. But there is no hope for me. But there is forgiveness with thee. There is forgiveness with thee.

So then it is the knowledge of sin and the knowledge of God's justice that brings us into the depths to confess that I have sinned. I have sinned and all I can do is sin. You know, every time in Scripture when God appears to those prophets in the Old Testament, you know they all fall down. Not one of them stands up. When they all see Him, they all fall down. I would have said of Daniel, Daniel said, I fell as dead. Isaiah fell down and said, woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips. David confessed against thee and thee alone have I sinned.

But let's see God's purpose for bringing us to the depths, exposing our sin. What is His purpose? That we might be humbled. That we might be humbled. Man must have some understanding of his own depravity or he would never plead for mercy. You see that you would never plea for mercy if you didn't know your need of it. What does God bring us to the depths for? To show us our need of mercy. There is forgiveness with thee.

The psalmist reveals something about the nature of God, though God is holy and does mark sin, yet he is merciful. Now, how can these two things be? When Moses was in the mountain and God revealed himself to Moses, this is what God said. He said, I am the Lord, merciful and gracious. First thing God reveals about himself. Merciful and gracious. Long-suffering. Abundant in goodness. Keeping mercy for thousands. Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and, listen, two things. and will by no means clear the guilty."

Now wait a second, how can God be merciful and just? It's the conundrum of all religion, isn't it? How can God be just and yet show mercy to the really guilty sinner? Would that be mercy? Judge comes up and the man is guilty. The man committed the murder. He's guilty. Redhead caught. Everything. He's guilty. And the judge says, I'm just going to show mercy. Let him go. The judge would be unjust. He would be unjust and there would be a cry for him to be put out. He's not just. Well, how can God be just and still show mercy?

There is only one answer for this and it is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is the only way God could be just and the justifier of the ungodly. The word forgiveness here in our text, but there is forgiveness with thee, is the word propitiatus. It means mercy seat. And that has to do with the great day of atonement. Remember on that great day of atonement the high priest who represented Israel would take two goats. On the one goat he would lay his hand and confess all of the sins of Israel on the head of that one goat. And some strong man would come and take that scapegoat and he would take him away. Which pictured what? Christ bearing away our sins.

But how could he bear away our sins? That's what the other goat was for. They slit the throat of the other goat and his blood was shed. pictures Christ bore away our sins. How? By the shedding of His own blood. You see, our sins didn't get just forgiven arbitrarily. They were forgiven because they were paid. There is forgiveness because Christ was propitious to us. He was the mercy seat. And that high priest would take the blood of that goat and he would bring it into the presence of God and sprinkle it on the Ark of the Covenant. All this pictures Christ. He's the high priest. He's the scapegoat. He's the strong man. He's the blood offering. He's the mercy seat. He's the Ark of the Covenant. He's everything.

How can God be merciful to me? There's only one way. By the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the means by which God could forgive sins. And so when God took our sins, listen to this, you that are in the depths, that thing that brings you to the greatest sorrow is your guilt, and God has taken the very guilt of your sins and made Him to bear it.

And when He bore my sin in His own body, God Himself punished my sins. I didn't escape. My sins didn't get out. I didn't get over. My sins were actually punished. But not in me. I'm punished in a substitute.

In Christ there is forgiveness with thee. There is forgiveness with thee. Why? Listen to what he says, that thou mayest be feared. I know people forget that section there, legalists, listen to this, they read this text like this. If thou should mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? That thou mayest be feared.

Terror, that's what religion is Don't they use terror? That's not what it means. Look, if there is forgiveness, there is always going to be reverence. That's what the word means. It's not terror. It means reverence. We that have forgiveness, that we may reverence God.

So we see His great plea. We see his humble confession here, that he's a sinner in need of what? Forgiveness. And what does he find? He knows this. There's only forgiveness with thee. There's only forgiveness in the blood.

Now notice his great resolve. After hearing this, what does he want to do now? Look at this. He says in verse 5, I wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait, and 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.

So two things I see here, he waits and trusts in God's word. I know this, the scripture says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. That's true, isn't it? Isn't that true? Do you believe that? He is faithful and just to forgive us. The moment, listen, I know even before that, but the moment we confess our sins, we have that promise. He is faithful, faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

When we first came to Christ, in that moment, we were forgiven. And ever since we've come to Christ, guess what? In that moment, we've been forgiven. Forgiven. Why? Because His forgiveness of us is constant. Don't you need constant forgiveness? Perpetual forgiveness? I'm not talking about just when you confess. What about the gaps in between that? No, His forgiveness is perpetual, it's constant.

I like this, He cleanseth us from our sins. It's a constant cleansing. That's what I need. Isn't that what you need? But why does the psalmist in here say, I'll wait? If forgiveness is instant, perpetual, constant, then why must he wait? He resolves to wait and hope in God's Word because He is at this moment still in the depths. He is still in the depths.

When we confess our sins, we have the promise of forgiveness, but we always do not recognize or feel it or know it. We believe it. How many times do you know this? You feel alone and yet God says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Now you claim the promise, which is true, it's yours. I am never going to leave you. I will never forsake you. I don't feel like he's here. What does that have to do with it? Wait. That's what he's going to do. He's in the depths, and what is he going to do? He knows that he has nothing in himself to save him. He knows he is trusting totally on the forgiveness of God through the blood of Christ. So what is he waiting for? He's waiting for God to come and deliver him out of the depths.

So what is his resolve? I'll wait. I know there's forgiveness with you, so what am I going to do? I'll wait. Wait doing what? In thy word do I hope. If you want to know what God says, you have it right here. And often what God says is against how you feel. It's against the providence that you're facing. Have these dark providences, you say, how in the world can this be true? It's true. So what is he saying? I'm putting all my confidence, hope, in your word.

Now hope has the idea of a future benefit. He's not saying it's happening right now. Don't feel it now. Don't think it now. But guess what? I do hope, anticipate that it's coming. Why? Because you said it. This is our resolve in the depths. If we've cried unto God and we see forgiveness is with Him, then what do we do? Wait for it. Wait for it. Wait, how? In His Word. In His Word.

Friends, pardon is a divine work of God, but yet our revelation of this pardon is only revealed in God's time. Now, the pardon is just as sure whether you felt it or not. But we should anticipate God coming and revealing it to us and giving us peace to deliver us from the depths. God will not always or often speak pardon to our first cry. He makes us feel the bitterness of our sins and to learn the exceeding sorrow of sin. But when his pardon comes, There is exceeding greatness of love and joy and forgiveness that is felt in the heart of his people. So David says, I'll wait for it. I'll wait for you.

And notice what he says, more than they that watch for the morning, I like this because I understand a little bit about this. He's talking about a soldier. A soldier at night. When I was in the military, we'd have guard duty at night. And there is nothing more fearful than the night watch because you can't see a thing. You can't see a thing. So every little shadow, every little wind is, every little noise is exaggerated. You know what I always waited for? I waited for the morning. That was always the most joyful time when that thing was over. and the morning come up, because I could see. I could see. So what do we do in the darkness? We wait for the morning. God rises in the morning and his word comes to our hearts and we have what? We have light. We have understanding now.

Lastly, a great exhortation and expectation. He says, let Israel hope in the Lord. What I'm doing is my exhortation to you who are the Israel of God. This is only for the saved.

Listen, there's no expectation of joy or peace or acceptance with God for anyone outside of Christ. If you're outside of Christ, none of this is yours. You're in the depths and your sorrow is worldly, it's unto death. There's no light for you, but the light is for Israel.

Let Israel hope in the Lord. that nation over there that's God's elect that's God's people that's those who believe on Christ you are the Israel of God let Israel hope in the Lord that word hope doesn't mean wish in the Lord it means be confident in the Lord where's your confidence where's your confidence

Just as sure as the soldier is expecting the sun to come up, we should be expecting Christ to rise and deliver us. That's not presumption. It's not presumption to expect Him to deliver us. He will. When and how is up to Him. But He will.

And so He exhorts all Israel, He said, For with the Lord there is mercy. Who needs mercy but the guilty? Who needs mercy but the sinner? Listen, no one but God's people need mercy. No one else wants mercy. They want merit.

I don't want merit. I want mercy. I want to be found in Christ. You want to be found in Christ? I don't want to be found anywhere else. I don't want to be washed by any other thing but the blood of Christ. I don't want to be robed in any other righteousness but His. I don't want to be found before God in my own works. I want to be found before God in His works.

Look, here's my hope, the Lord, with the Lord there is mercy. And notice this, plenteous redemption. Oh, man. When you're in the depths, the thought is, How could God forgive this sinner? How could God be merciful to me? Listen to me, His redemption is more than plenteous. It doesn't just cover all your sins, which in your estimation are all there is. He covers all of the sins of all His elect. All of them. You know, if Christ determined to save 10 million worlds, His blood would have been sufficient. But He didn't determine to save 10 million worlds. He determined to save His elect people from their sins, and that's exactly what His blood did. And it's sufficient. It's sufficient. That's what he's telling you. It's enough. It's plenteous.

And he shall redeem Israel, listen, from all his iniquities. He is only going to redeem Israel. But that redemption is so great that all the iniquities of Israel are redeemed. None of them are missed. This is the glorious gospel of Christ, that all who believe on Christ, they have plenteous redemption, and there is constant mercy. Why? Because I find myself in the depths more than I find myself in the sunshine. Out of the depths have I cried. To who? Unto you, O Lord. What's your problem? Sin. What's your hope? There's forgiveness with thee. In Christ there's forgiveness with thee, that you may be reverenced. So what are you going to do? I'm going to wait. Wait on the Lord. What's your hope? I'll hope in His Word. And I won't trust how I feel or how I think. or what men think, or the opinions of men, or the world. If all the world go away, I have no other place to go. I'll wait on Him. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to encourage you to do the same. Israel, let Israel hope in the Lord. Why? There's mercy. Mercy for people in the depths. There's plenty of redemption for people in the depths. Why? Because Christ has redeemed Israel from all his iniquity. What's left? What's left to redeem? What's left to pay? All your sorrow in the depths would never pay for sin. You can wallow in it all eternity and your sorrow would never pay for sin. Jesus Christ alone paid for sin.

God caused us to flee to Him, finding Him what God promised. Plenteous redemption. Because that's what I need. I need plenteous redemption. I don't need to make this end by the skin of my teeth. Isn't that wonderful? You're not going to make it into heaven by the skin of your teeth. You're not just going to barely get in. Why? When God judges my works, He's going to judge me by His works and not mine. Remember, my works are sin and my works have already been paid for. So what works are left? His works. I'm going to hope in His works. I'm going to hope in His blood. In the depths or out of it. May God help us. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.

Our gracious Father, thank You for Your kindness. Thank You that You have sent Your Word. That You reveal the heart of Your saints, which are mirror images of the hearts of Your people. Those that are in the depths of sin and guilt, show them again there is forgiveness within. Bless your people, Father, to patiently wait on your deliverance and trust in your word. And know this, that Christ is victorious. He has redeemed us from our sins. Show mercy again, constant mercy, perpetual mercy upon your people. Deliver us, keep us, sustain us, use us. according to your sovereign will and purpose. In Jesus Christ's name, amen.