All right, if you'll take your
Bibles now and turn with me to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. And I had three points for this message. I do not believe I'm going to
get through them tonight. So I'm just going to get through
the first. And then we'll maybe look at
the other two points either briefly or maybe at another time. I've entitled this message Hope
from the depths. Hope from the depths. The scripture 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. If thou shouldest mark iniquities,
O LORD, who should 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 waiteth 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 her iniquities. Now my text will be found in
verse 7 and verse 8. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
The Holy Spirit here in these last two verses I believe gives
us a very clear division, a very clear division, three divisions
in this text that every believer can benefit from. First of all,
he gives us a divine exhortation, a divine exhortation. What is
that? Let Israel hope. Let Israel have confidence in
the Lord. And secondly, we see the reason,
the divine reason for such confidence, such hope is this, for with the
Lord there is mercy and with Him is plenteous redemption. And lastly, the third point would
be in the last verse, it is a point of promise, a gracious promise. Here's God's promise, you that
hope in the Lord, you that have found him merciful, you that
found his redemption plenteous, listen, this was his promise,
he shall redeem Israel from what? All his iniquities. Is there a better promise? Can
you be found a better promise? The Lord says he shall redeem
Israel from all his iniquities. Now then, this divine exhortation,
I want us to give us the background of where this exhortation comes
from. The psalmist here is in the depths. We see that in verse 1. He says,
Out of the depths, out of darkness, out of sorrow, out of grief and
shame and misery, the psalmist cries unto the Lord. Now, we
do not know specifically the occasion of the psalmist, and
I believe it's for good reason. Some believe it could have been
David when he was chased by Saul and he thought that surely he
would perish at the hand of Saul. Some believe it was after he
had committed the sin with Beersheba and murdered her husband, Uriah. You remember Nathan had come
to him and said, Thou art the man. And surely that was a great
death, his sin had brought him to great sorrow. But whatever
it is, the psalmist was in a state of darkness. He felt the sharpness
of God's judgment looming over his soul. He felt despair. He felt the blackness of his
own nature questioning whether he himself was accepted of God. He cried out, Lord, hear my voice. Lord, open your ears unto my
supplication. Now listen, this was the painful
part in verse 3. He said, Lord, if you should
mark iniquity. If you should mark iniquity,
who shall stand? That reminds me of Psalm 24. When he asked Psalm 24 in verse
3, Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord? Or who shall
stand in the holy place? That's a question, isn't it?
Who shall be accepted with God? David said this, If you mark
iniquity, who in the world could stand before you? Because we
have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And at this
point, He was His lowest mark. He found Himself in the depths
of sin, the depths of grief, and He asked this very important
question, Lord, who should stand? I'll tell you this, if you haven't
asked yourself this question, then you don't know Christ. You have no need of Christ if
you've never seen Him. You know who sees this? God's
people. God's people are often found in the depths. I know that's
not a popular opinion. The popular religious world thinks
that God's people should be happy, healthy, wealthy. But we know
this, that we spend most of our lives in the depths. We spend most of our days in
trouble. This is the lot of God's people. Do you imagine those people that
looked on and saw the rich man and saw that beggar Lazarus,
What do you think they thought of Lazarus and what do you think
they thought of the rich man? They thought the rich man was
blessed of God. They thought the rich man was
the one that God honored, that the one that God loved. And Lazarus
who had sores, dogs licking his sores, begging for bread every
day at the rich man's gate. They surely thought he was cursed.
But we see that it was the opposite, wasn't it? God's people are often found
in sorrow. But what is the joy of the believer? What is the hope of being heard?
I'll tell you this, if you're in the depths, there is nothing
going to silence you except God here. You think of blind Artimaeus,
that man, he's a son of David. Have mercy on me! You think anybody
could silence him? The only one that could silence
Him was if Jesus, the Son of David, had mercy. And so it is
with us in the depths. There is nothing that could quench
our sorrow. There is nothing that could help
us except God hear us. But if God mark iniquity, how
then should we be heard? Here it is. Look. But... I like that. But... There is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. In spite of
my sin, in spite of the corruptness of my nature, in spite of the
fact that God is just and must punish all sin, in spite of this,
I know this, I shall be heard because of this. But there is forgiveness within. There is forgiveness with God
because of Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness with God
because of Christ and Him crucified. This is the only means by which
God is able to forgive sin. The only way that God can be
just and justify the ungodly is by Jesus Christ. This is the only way forgiveness
can be given. And the psalmist tells us, there
is forgiveness with thee. The thing that brought the psalmist
to the depths is the very thing that God forgives. The thing
that brings us to the depths. There is nothing that brings
the believer to the depths more than unbelief and doubt. Aren't we ashamed that we doubt
God so much? Isn't it a shame that we should
not trust Him at all times? Surely I am not worthy of your
trust. Surely I could fail you. But He can't. He can't fail. And yet we doubt His power. We doubt His love. We doubt His mercy. And that doesn't help. It drags
us down into the depths But this is our hope that because Christ
has been crucified, there is forgiveness for every believer
in Christ. There is hope for us to stand
in the great day of judgment. Because Jesus Christ has by His
one offering, by His one offering, He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. I like that. He gives that illustration
to those I have preached, and he said, these guys stand daily,
daily, daily, offering the same sacrifices that can never take
away sin, but this man. I'm going to divert your attention
away from these guys. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin, sat down forever, and he expects something. He expects something. expects
every one of his enemies be made his footstool. Now, how could
he expect it? For by his one offering, he is
victorious. He is triumphant. He is successful
to put away all of the sins of his people. And how do I know
that? God raised him from the dead. God says, Enoch, rise. And he rose from the dead. And
not only that, God says, you sit on my throne. Well, you deserve it. You deserve
it. You did it. You did it. And so
then, with this in mind, the psalmist now, he's still in the
depths. Now, I want you to see this.
He's still there. He's crying unto the Lord to
be heard. He recognizes there is forgiveness. But notice this
in verse 5. He says, I wait for the Lord. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in His word do I hope. He says, I will wait on the Lord
to perform what He has promised to do. When you ask for forgiveness,
John says this, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us all our sins. Now, when you confess your sins
and ask for His forgiveness, you are what? Forgiven. You who are a believer in Christ,
I'm not talking to the apostate, I'm not talking to the mere professor
of faith who just wants to quench his guilty conscience for a minute,
I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to you who are believers
in Christ. You are forgiven. One of the very things that may
be the cause of this death, you remember when Nathan came and
said, Thou art the man. And David, Lord, forgive me. Have mercy upon me. And what
did Nathan say? He said, Fear not. The Lord hath
already put away thy sin. Don't you see
that? Before you even were brought
to the depths and saw the need of forgiveness, God had already
put away your sin. That does not negate the necessity
of coming. David needed to be brought there,
didn't he? He needed to be exposed. He needed to confess, and God
did bring him there. But God had already preemptively
pardoned David. So before you come to God and
ask for forgiveness, know this, we are already pardoned, already
forgiven. The Lord hath already put away
thy sin. That does not negate the fact that we need to come
and repent. That's why God brings you to
the depths. But I want you to see what he
means by waiting on the Lord. He's waiting for the Lord to
fulfill this promise in his heart, in his soul. When you ask for
forgiveness, you are forgiven. Do you feel forgiven? I don't. I think my pleading for forgiveness
is not sufficient. My tears are not sufficient. Have you ever felt guilty enough?
Have you ever wept enough? Cried enough? Pleaded enough?
You can never plead enough. And yet God says, I forgive thee,
but sometimes we don't feel forgiven. And what is the psalmist waiting
for? He's waiting for God to give him that peace. He's waiting
for God to give him the assurance of that presence of the Lord. He's waiting for God to perform
what he promised to do. God promises this. He says, I
will remember thy sins and iniquities no more. God promises, I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now, isn't that always
true? Yes. Do you always realize the truth
of that? No. Do you want to? Yes. Yes, I do. So does the psalmist.
He's down there in the depths and he wants to experience the
deliverance from the depths. I believe it's over in Psalms
50. He said. I believe I wrote down here it
is. Psalm 50 in verse 15 call upon me in the day of trouble. James Smith says this. He God
says call upon me in the day of trouble. His throne of grace
is always accessible. His ears always open, but especially
in trouble, especially in trouble. His ears always open, especially
in trouble, but I want to feel His presence. I want to be delivered
from the debts. I don't want to stay in trouble.
I want to be delivered from the trouble. And so what must we
do while we're in the trouble is what? Wait. Wait. God promises He will never
leave you nor forsake you, yet you don't feel His presence.
Well, wait. Wait. Believe and wait. He will come. He will deliver
you. So now that he has resolved to
wait on the Lord for His manifested presence, So now that the psalmist
is content to set all his hope, all his hope on what? The Word
of God. Where do you find any hope at
all in the depths? You have it right there in your
hand. This is the Word of God. He says, I will wait and all
the while I wait, I'll wait hoping in what you have promised to
do. In what you have promised, you
promised to forgive my sins. I will wait until you give me
grace to know that my sins are gone. You have promised never to leave
me nor forsake me. I will wait until you come and
manifest your presence unto me. And he's content to hope in the
Word of God not in his feelings or his present circumstances.
That's not the grounds of his faith and confidence. The grounds
of our faith and confidence is simply, thus saith the Lord. What else do you need? Is God
a man that he should lie? You and I, we lie. We lie. We usually lie to defend ourselves
or try to clean up some mess that we made. God need do that? No. God doesn't need to clean up anything. Everything
he does is perfectly good and right. He doesn't need to explain
himself to man. God is not a man that he should
lie. And so the grounds of our faith
is the Word of God. And so the psalmist then turns
his eyes toward, now, the people of God. Now look what he says
to us. The psalmist, in the depths,
he cries unto the Lord. He is troubled concerning God's
holiness and justice, but he realizes by faith there is forgiveness
with the Lord that he may be feared. So he waits on this promise
of God's expected coming and deliverance. He hopes in God's
word, his soul waits, and then he turns to us. He turns to Israel
and he gives this divine exhortation. This divine exhortation. Here
it is. Let Israel hope in the Lord. Now, this is one for you and
me. Can you identify with the psalmist?
Have you been in the depths? Have you cried? Then what did he do? He hoped
in the Lord. He had confidence in God to deliver
him. And so what does he say? He now
turns to us. And by this, the Holy Spirit
gives us this, let Israel hope in the Lord. Now, I want you
to see that this exhortation is exclusive. It's not inclusive. It's very
exclusive. It is only to one group of people
is this exhortation given. To who? Let who? Hope in the
Lord. Let all men hope in the Lord. If you are lost tonight, you
have no hope. At one time, when we were without Christ, we were
without God and without hope. But you who are in Christ, only
those who are in Christ may have this. He said, let Israel hope. This is not a general statement
of wisdom to be performed, not a duty given to man so that he
might escape some kind of grief or sorrow. But this is only reserved
for the people of God, for Israel. For Israel. Now, truly, national Israel had
confidence in this. They had a covenant with God
that if they were to serve God and honor God, that He would
keep their enemies from invading their countries, He would give
them peace round about, He would prosper them. But all of that
was a carnal covenant. Because we know this, Paul says,
Not all they that are of Jacob are of Israel. Not all the descendants
of Israel are Israel. But the true Israel of God are
those according to the election of grace, those who are redeemed
by the blood of Christ. And we know then that the nation
of Israel was only a type. So who I'm talking to tonight
and who this text is talking to is spiritual Israel. Those who have circumcision not
in the flesh, but in the heart. Paul says in Romans chapter 2
in 28 and 29, he said, He is not a Jew that is one outwardly
in the circumcision of the flesh, but he that is a Jew is one circumcised
inwardly with the circumcision of the heart. So simply this, to you who are
born again of the Spirit of God. That's who are called to have
hope in the Lord. Only you. Only you. If you are born again of the
Spirit of God, how do I know if I am born again, preacher,
if I'm born again of the Spirit of God? What's the evidence?
It is simply this. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you trust Him completely, wholly? for all your salvation, then you are the Israel of God. And notice this. He said, let
Israel hope. Now, I've mentioned that word
hope several times. What does it mean? Because most
people believe it to be nothing more than a vain wish. What do
you hope to get on your birthday? Gee, I hope I don't get into
a car accident. I mean, all of that is nothing
more than a vain, empty wish. That's not what the word means
in Scripture. The word hope simply means rock-solid
confidence. I am standing on this slab and
I am rock-solidly confident this thing is going to hold me up.
I've not once had to step around on this floor. I know this floor
is going to... I'm confident. It's not a guess. And so it is
with the Lord we have confidence, solid confidence in the Lord. Now, when are you to hope in
the Lord? That's a good question, isn't
it? When? When are you to hope in the Lord? Listen, someone wrote this and
I just thought it very inclusive. Listen to this. In every state
stage or circumstance of our experience of life, we are to
hope in the Lord. I'll repeat it, every state,
every stage, and every circumstance throughout our whole life, we
are to hope in the Lord. We are to hope in Him continually. I like this. In sickness, in
health, in poverty's veil or abounding in wealth, at home
or abroad, on the land, on the sea, as thy days may demand,
shall thy strength ever be, hope in the Lord. Hope at all times,
in all places, in all circumstances. Hope, have confidence in the
Lord. From the first moment of our
conversion of faith and love in Christ until our final breath
is exhausted and we are ushered into the presence of God, hope
in the Lord. Have confidence, not in your
circumstances, not in the stage you are in, not in the state
you are in. Have confidence in the Lord. no matter where you find yourself. Let us hold fast to Jesus Christ. Let us hope in the God of our
salvation, casting every care, every care upon Him. For I am confident He cares for
you. Let us now look at some of these
circumstances in which we find ourselves, some of these stages,
these states in which we find ourselves. First of all, let's
just deal with the one that the psalmist is in at the very moment,
conviction of sin. Hope in the Lord under the conviction
of sin. When you are under the conviction
of sin, hope in the Lord. When the Lord is pleased at the
appointed time of love, to give one life, a person life. The first thing He must do is
convince you, convict you of sin. Isn't that right? If you're
ever going to need a Savior, you're first of all going to
have a need. You're first of all going to have to recognize
who and what you are. You must know the state in which
you find yourself. Scripture says, Wherefore, as
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death
passed upon all men. When God found you, how did He
find you? He found you dead. And the first thing, when God
quickens a man, the first thing he knows is this, I was dead. I was dead. I like this, in Psalm
43, the Lord here is speaking of Christ, and He says to Christ,
the Father says to Christ, gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most
Mighty, with thy glory and with thy majesty. and in thy majesty ride prosperously."
Now let me ask you, when Christ came into the world, did He not
ride prosperously? Was He not victorious? Did He
not gird on the sword of truth and ride prosperously, accomplishing
righteousness and redemption by His obedience and by His blood,
saving His people from their sins? His ride was prosperous. He said, ride proselytically
because of truth. He established truth. And meekness,
He came in meekness. And righteousness, He obtained
righteousness. And thy right hand shall teach
thee terrible things. Did He not learn terrible things
at Calvary Street? Did Christ not learn terrible
things when He was made sin for His people? for the judgment of God in our
stead. And he was prosperous. He was
victorious. But not only this, he says this
in verse 5 of that chapter, he says, Thine arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee. When the Lord rides prosperously
to save His people from their sins, His arrow always hits the
mark. strikes through the heart of
the sinner, and the sinner falls under him as dead. Isn't that
what happened to you? The hero of the gospel came,
and he hit his mark, and you fell dead. I always liked that in the Old
Testament when the pre-incarnate Christ comes, they all fall as
dead at his feet. You know that? When they find
out who he is, they just fall dead. I found out who he was, I fell
dead at his feet. His arrow hit the mark and convicted
me of my sin. Convinced me of my nature. And like that publican, I cried, Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. You know, the Pharisee was looking
around at the public, wasn't he? The publican only was looking
at himself. Be merciful to thee, sinner. When God ever convicts you of
sin, you're not going to care about other people. You're not
going to care about their sins and what they've done. You'll
only be convicted of what you've done. We cry unto the Lord, what shall
I do to be saved? How may I flee from the wrath
to come? He convicts us of our sin, that
we are incapable of saving ourselves. Have you ever known that? You
know that, that you are incapable of saving yourself? That there
is nothing you could do? Nothing. In this country, we
always say, well, there's got to be something we can do. You
ever hear that? God says there's nothing you
can do. You won't ever be saved unless
God teaches you this first. There is nothing you can do. When Israel, when God's
elect, in that moment of conviction, I'm so thankful God does not
leave us there, but He gives us the light not only to expose
our sin, He gives us the light of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. He says, God commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. You read that in Genesis 1, right?
God said, let there be light, and there was what? A debate. No, there was no debate. God
said, let there be light, and there was light. And He said
it's the same way when you're saved. When God says, let there
be light, there is light. When He says, let there be life,
there is life. God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, so that He shine in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where is God glorified? How may I honor and glorify God in the face of Jesus Christ? I'm so glad He shines the light.
I can honor God. I can be accepted with God. How can you be accepted with
God? Jesus Christ. The gospel is preached and we
flee. We flee to Christ as that man
who was guilty of slaying the blood of his neighbor was fleeing
to the city of refuge. Even so, we flee to Christ for
refuge. And He alone, because He alone
has accomplished salvation, He alone provides righteousness
acceptable unto God. He alone provides the sacrifice
we need His blood alone can cover my sins and cleanse me from my
unrighteousness. And so we flee to Him at once. And all who by faith receive
Him, He gives them the right, the privilege, the honor to be
called the sons of God. And so by faith we receive Him.
And at that moment of faith, what do we begin to do? We hope in the Lord, don't we?
Now let me ask you this. Have we ever stopped being convinced
of our sin? No. As a matter of fact, the
more we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
more convinced we are of the depravity of our own nature.
And to do this, God allows us to experience these things. It's
not that you weren't always that bad. You just didn't know it.
And God reveals it to you and you say, oh! Out of the depths
have I cried. Have you found out how depraved
you are? Do you actually know how depraved you are? Of course
not. But the Lord, as we continue
to grow, convinces us more of our wickedness, of our sinfulness. Why? So that we might glorify
Christ more. And so as you may be even now
convinced of your sin, what must you do? Hope in the Lord. Even in the
teeth of your conviction. Hope. Trust in Christ. Second of all, hope in the Lord
when you're seeking mercy. Now the moment we are born again,
we begin to cry for mercy. Isn't that right? If you're truly
born again in the Spirit of God, you're not asking for merit,
are you? You're not seeking something
by which you may earn your favor with God. You've already realized
there is nothing you can do. All you can do is sin. I like
the way Todd put that. You cannot not sin. That's the
nature of man. He cannot do anything but sin. So what do we need? We don't
need merit. We don't need works. We don't
need religion. You don't need to give me something
to do. I can't do anything. What do
I need? I need mercy. Free, absolutely
free mercy. Matter of fact, if it's not free
mercy, it's not mercy, is it? Mercy. Be merciful to me sinner. And such a cry cannot be satisfied
until God manifests this mercy to our souls. Now those, the
cries of the reprobate are not for mercy. They cry to God for
many things, many things. The reprobate cries to God for
his possessions. Lord, give me a new house. Lord,
give me a new car. Lord, give me this. Give me that.
Make me healthy, wealthy, and prosperous in this world. That's
the prayer of the reprobate. Why? Because he thinks God owes
it to him. Well, I've been going to church
all this time, and surely I deserve something. So he asked God for these things
of earth, things of time. Lord, satisfy my earthly lusts. but they have no need of mercy."
Mercy. Now listen, I know this. We,
as the Israel of God, we have needs. We have earthly needs,
don't we? Food, clothes. Matter of fact, Jesus said, you
know, your father knows you have need of these things, even before
you ask him. In other words, he anticipates
you to ask for these things. It's not that we shouldn't ask
for our earthly things. We do have wants, and we do make
them known to God. But I'll tell you this, that
is not our main need. It is not our central need. Our
central need is the mercy of God. We need mercy of God upon
our souls. The main cry of our souls is
the seeking the mercy of God. The Lord has planted in us this
cry. this cry for mercy and urges
us to seek it with all of our hearts. Are you seeking mercy? Do you need mercy? Are you in
the depths? What does a person in the depths
need? He needs mercy. If you need deliverance, on what
grounds will you ask for it? Lord, be merciful to us. Are you in dark clouds and floods
that are so high that they've overwhelmed you? Your sin has
overwhelmed you and you need His presence? The Lord will not
let His begging saints seek Him in vain. This is what you should
hope for when you ask for mercy. Listen what you should hope for.
Listen what you should anticipate. Mercy. When you ask for forgiveness,
what should you anticipate? Forgiveness. When you ask for
mercy, what shall you receive? You shall receive mercy. Ask,
and it shall be given unto you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. He said, which of you having
a children, and he asked for a bread, will you give him a
stone? If he asked for a fish, will
you give him a serpent? He said, how much more your heavenly
father shall give you the spirit to those who ask him? Isn't that
what you want? His presence? Isn't that the
only way you're going to get out of the depths is to experience
his presence? Are you seeking the Lord? Then
hope and have confidence. Are you longing and hungering
and thirsting after Christ? Then hope to be fulfilled. Blessed
are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness. They shall
be. Is that what you want? Do you want
righteousness? Do you need righteousness? Why
are you going to ask for that? Give me right. That's not mine. Give me an offering that I can't
make. Give me what Christ has already provided. And you know, the only way he
gives it is through mercy. And I want you to know, how much
mercy does God have? Scripture says, for with the
Lord there is mercy. Constant, continual, perpetual,
immutable mercy. Mercy. The psalmist says, as the deer
panted for the water brook, so my soul panted after the Oh God,
my soul thirsteth for God. Does your soul thirst for God? How then will you ask, Lord be
merciful? So then how is it you should
seek God for mercy? How is it that you have such
hungering and thirsting while others have no need of Christ?
How is it that you long for God? and will not be satisfied except
you receive mercy. It is because God has given you
a new heart. The Father has chosen you with
an immutable, changeless love. It is because Christ's blood
was shed for your sin, and the Spirit of God has quickened you
and given you such faith. Therefore, all who seek for mercy,
all who seek for the mercy of God, the righteousness of Christ,
the presence of the Holy Spirit, may hope, have confidence, that
God will give them what He's already provided. And the last thing here, let
Israel hope when he is tempted. Tempted. All Israel are men made
up of two natures. Two natures. In Song of Solomon
6, verse 13, he says, Return, O Shulamite, return, that we
may look upon thee. And when God looks upon the Shulamite,
what does He find? He finds a company of two armies. Isn't that true of you and me?
We are a company of two armies, two natures in constant opposition,
one with the other. So then, believer, we are not
always enjoying the manifest presence of God, We are often
tempted and tried and plagued with manifold temptations and
trials of our faith. We are encouraged. So then when
we are encouraged to hope in the Lord, so that we are not
swallowed up by these temptations, seeing that we are still prone
to sin, how then may we have any hope of not being fully entangled
and finally lost? Isn't that a question? How in
the world can we have any hope at all that will not be lost
in the end? How many of you have seen in
your lifetime who have made great professions of faith only to
make shipwrecks of faith? Have you seen people like that?
I have. I have seen people who started well, started better
than me, They seem to run faster than me. They seem to know more
than me. And yet, here comes temptation. Here comes trouble. And they're
gone just as fast as they came. Isn't that what the Lord says?
That seed that's on the stony ground? Hear it? They spring
up. But when what temptations come,
troubles come because of the word, they wither away. They
wither away. What makes the difference? Why
are you still here? You've been through a lot of
trouble. You've been through a lot of trials. You've been
through a lot of temptation. How is it you still hold in the
Lord? What made the difference? What makes a difference between
the true believer and the reprobate? The believer constantly hopes
in the Lord even in the teeth of his temptation our Lord tempted his disciples
with this remember he in John chapter 6 he preached the word
to them me he said no man can come into me except the Father
which sent me draw him as it is written they shall all be
taught of God and you know what they hated that Everyone hated
that. He had thousands of people following
and all of them hated it. And you read in the end of that
chapter what they do. They left. And he turned to his disciples
and here is the trial of their faith. He said this, will you
go away also? In the depths of your trouble, Will you go away? Where are we going to go? Peter
said, where are we going to go? There's nowhere else to go. Listen,
you got somewhere else to go, you'll go. The believer has no
place else to go. I don't understand what you're
doing. I don't know why I'm in the depths. I don't understand the circumstance
I'm in. I don't know how this is going
to work together for my good. But where else am I going to
go? You have the words of eternal
life. You see how the believer hopes in his God, in the very
teeth of his afflictions? the very teeth of his trials,
he's got nowhere else to go. I'll tell you the truth, I don't
want to go anywhere else. I got nowhere else to go, but
I don't want to go anywhere else. There's no help anywhere but
at the feet of Christ. No help. Your wife can't help you. Your
husband can't help you. Your children can't help you.
Your job can't help you. Only He can help you. He has the words of eternal life.
And I am sure that He is the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Are you sure of that? Then in the very depths of your
trouble, hope. There's something to be sure
about when you're unsure about everything else. You can be sure
about Him. You can be sure that every word He says is true. Let God be true and And every
man a liar. Let Israel hope in the Lord. Even in the very depths of his
sorrow and grief and suffering. Hope in the Lord. And then he
gives us those reasons. Why? For the Lord, there's mercy. And there's plenty of redemption. How much redemption you need?
Well, there's plenty. There's more than you need. And he promises this, that he
shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. What a promise. You had hope in the Lord. I pray
God will bless this to you. Let's be dismissed in prayer.
Gracious Father, please dismiss us with your blessing. Please
pour out your Spirit to us. If we have not longed for Thee,
give us longing. If we have not panted for righteousness,
give us a panting. And then give us hearts to hope
and set our love and affection and faith only on Thee. I pray
you would do this in the name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.