Alright, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. I've entitled this message, Hope,
Mercy, and Plenteous Redemption. Hope, Mercy, and Plenteous Redemption. I know we've been over this psalm
the last week we went through this psalm and its entirety.
But I, as I draw to a close last, last time we went through this,
um, had to rush through these last two verses. And I, I think
there's a treasure here. There's a lot of, uh, wonderful
gems of comfort and assurance and encouragement and strength
in these last two verses. And so that's what we're going
to focus on this morning, is these last two verses, verse
seven and eight. Let's read these together. The
scripture says, let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord
there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And
he shall redeem Israel from all his sins. Iniquities. Now this Psalm, as I've said
before, can be broken down into four sections. Verses 1 and 2,
we see the great plea. The great plea. Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee. And we know this, it was the
cause of it was sin. And so we see this confession
in verses 3 and 4 when he said, If thou shouldest mark iniquities,
O Lord, who should stand? And here's his confession. His
hope is there's forgiveness with thee. There's forgiveness. God
is holy. He recognizes in the depths.
God is holy. And he recognizes that only forgiveness
is found with God. And then in verses five and six
is his resolution to wait upon the Lord. I will wait on the
Lord. I wait for the Lord. My soul
does wait. And in his word, do I hope his
promises. His promises, He hopes in the
Word of God, though He has not yet experienced the deliverance
from the depths, He is waiting, He is enduring by faith. And then we come to these last
two verses, this is the last division of this psalm, and I
see three things here. Three things, and these are my
points. First of all, a divine exhortation. Divine exhortation here. It is
let Israel hope in the Lord. That's an exhortation and Secondly,
I see a spiritual reason for hope in the next two phrases
he says for because let Israel hope in the Lord because here's
one with the Lord there's mercy and to the second reason is with
him is plenteous and Redemption. So you have a divine exhortation,
hope in the Lord. The reasons are mercy and plenteous
redemption. And the third point is a gracious
promise. Here's the promise to all who
hope in the Lord. He said this, He shall redeem
Israel from all his iniquities. Now let's look at these together.
First of all, a divine exhortation. Let Israel hope in the Lord. Surely, we know national Israel
was commanded to hope in God. They were commanded to hope in
God. They were promised as a nation that if they kept His commandments
that God would bless them and God would keep them from their
enemies. They would be protected. But
we must understand that national Israel and all their history
was intended by God the Holy Spirit to be a picture and a
type of the true Israel of God. What is that? That is spiritual
Israel. Spiritual Israel. Paul said, not all they that
are of national Israel are of the promised Israel, the promised
seed. And so this is speaking to spiritual
Israel. Let me give you a few illustrations
of this. The nation of Israel was chosen of God. They were
chosen of God. The scripture says in Deuteronomy
7 and verse 6, he said, Thou art a holy people unto the Lord
thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people above all the people of the face of
the earth. The Lord did not set his love nor choose you because
you were more in number. you were the fewest but because
the lord loved you because he would keep His oath that he swore
to your fathers had the Lord brought you out with a mighty
hand and redeemed you from the bondman and from the hand of
Pharaoh king of Egypt. You see that national Israel
was chosen. They were chosen of God to be
a holy people, peculiar people. They were given the promises
of God. They were given the law of God. They were given the ordinances
of God's worship. But we know this, not all national
Israel was redeemed. Not all national Israel was saved.
They were intended to be a type of spiritual Israel because all
spiritual Israel was chosen of God too. They were chosen of
God not in temporal time, but in eternity. They were given
in a covenant of grace. And I'll tell you that God made
a covenant with national Israel, didn't he? He made a covenant
and gave them the law of Moses. That was a covenant of works.
And you know what God says? He says, with spiritual Israel,
I'm gonna make a covenant. And he says in Jeremiah 31, not
after the covenant I made with Israel, which covenant they break,
the law. He said, I'm going to, this new
covenant, I'm going to put my law on their inward parts and
write it in their hearts, not on tables of stone. but in their
hearts. He's going to give us a new heart,
God says. And you're going to know me from
the least of them to the greatest of them and I will forgive your
iniquities and remember your sins no more. Now that's a covenant.
That's a much better covenant. That's what he said in Hebrews.
He said this is a better covenant that speaks better things. A
spiritual covenant. And so as we look at our text
today, I want you to see when it says, let Israel, I want you
to know that's spiritual Israel. That's not that nation in Palestine. This is God's elect. This is
the one God made a covenant to save. These are the ones Christ
came to save. And I'm going to be more specific
than that. Because listen, not all Israel yet hopes in the Lord. Some of you out there are Israel,
but you don't even know it. You've been chosen, you've been
redeemed, yet you are still in darkness. So this, we know this,
that those who are of Israel in election have not yet hoped
in the Lord. How can you encourage them to
hope in the Lord if they're not yet hoped in the Lord? They don't
know what that is. So rather this is spiritual.
Israel is talking to those who are quickened by the Spirit of
God. I'm talking to believers in Christ.
I'm talking to those who are born again to the Spirit of God.
Those who by faith have laid hold of Christ and believed on
Him. You, this is yours. God intended this for you. Can
you imagine the care God took to seal this scripture so that
you can have it today? This is yours. It is divine exhortation
to you who have been quickened. Paul said this, as many as walk
according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy from the
Lord God, even upon the Israel of God. Now, what rule is that?
Well, that rule is faith in Christ alone without the works of law.
It's what he means. He's talking, remember in Galatians, he's talking
about the division between grace and the law. You can't be under
both. You're either under one or you're
under the other. And He said, you walk by this rule, this grace,
faith in Christ. He said, look, peace be on you.
Why? Because you're the Israel of God. That's why. Now listen,
people may know the doctrine of election and they may even
acknowledge the perfect redemption of Christ. You may acknowledge
that the unconditional election and the proto-depravity, you
might know all the points of Calvinism. But unless you are
quickened by the Spirit of God, you have no claim to this exhortation. You must be born again. You're
without hope if you're without Christ. But to you who believe
on Christ, this is given for your comfort. This is given for
your comfort. Now, you who believe on Christ,
I want you to get this, because this is going to be the point,
it's going to be kind of the summation, I'm going to give
you several instances in which Israel is living. So, it doesn't
matter, if you're born again, it doesn't matter what state
or stage or circumstance you are experiencing right now. If
you just believe now on Christ or whether you believed on him
for years. It doesn't matter your stage, you get it? It doesn't
matter your maturity level in Christ. It doesn't matter if
you're at the heights of joy or the depths of sorrow. It doesn't
matter if you have strong faith or weak faith. It doesn't matter
if you are sick or well or sad or happy. It doesn't matter if
you're in dark providences or rejoicing in the very presence
of Christ. If you believe on Christ, you
are the Israel of God. You see, your circumstance don't
change who you are. You are the Israel of God. You are the elect. You are the
redeemed. You are the called. You are the
quickened. You are the chosen. You are His
church. And now then I want, therefore,
this word of divine exhortation is specifically for you. Let who? Hope. Let Israel, no matter your
state, stage, or circumstances, let Israel what? Hope in the
Lord. Now, I want us to look at various
circumstances you may be under, various stages and states in
which Israel may. First one is this, Israel under
conviction of sin. Are you under conviction of sin?
You know, when God was pleased to give us life, that's the first
evidence of life, wasn't it? We began to be convinced of our
sin, convicted of our sin. It was the arrow of God's law pierced our hearts. He pierced our hearts and convicted
our souls. We began to feel the ruin of
our nature, The hopelessness and helplessness of our works
and religion. Have you felt that conviction?
Every believer has in some measure felt that conviction. Unless
if you never felt that conviction in any measure, something's wrong
with you. Cause that's, that's the, that's
the first fruits of salvation is you must have, he must expose
your sin. What did you see when you first
came? You saw this, there's none righteous, no not one. You see
that? And that none means me. I didn't
say none out there. I said none in here. None righteous. We are all together become unprofitable. There's no good, none good, no
not one. All our righteousnesses, here
it is, are as filthy rags. We're an unclean thing. That's
what we find out by the experience of grace Only then will a sinner
cry to mercy. Isn't that right? You won't cry
for mercy if you don't know who you are. If you've never been
convicted of sin, you won't cry for mercy. And it's then, when
we're crying for mercy, doesn't the Spirit of God gently lead
us to Christ? Gently. The law comes and strikes,
but then in grace and healing, the Spirit comes and Come unto
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest, Christ says. And we find by the Holy Spirit
that Christ's blood has satisfied the justice of God, and His righteousness
alone is acceptable. It is then what we begin to hope
in the Lord. We begin to trust in God, to
believe. But such conviction doesn't end
with the new birth, does it? How often are you still convinced
of your sin? Every believer is still brought
low by the abiding presence of the old man of sin. So I'm talking to Israel. I'm
talking to Israel. I'm not talking to the lost.
They have sin, they don't have any care for it. Israel does. Israel feels the stain and shame
of the old man still abiding. Paul said, oh, wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Are you convicted? Are you brought
to the depths? That's what the Psalmist was,
oh, out of the depths have I cried. But let me tell you this, If
you're convicted of sin, I've got one exhortation for you.
Listen to this, hope in the Lord. Hope in the Lord. Second kind
of stage or circumstances, seeking Israel. You've been convicted,
seeking Israel. Let Israel that seeks the Lord,
hope in the Lord. If you are seeking the Lord,
I want you to have total confidence in this. He will be found. If
you're seeking Him, He will be found. When we were first convicted
and cried, we began to seek mercy, didn't we? We began to seek Him. We do not just seek the knowledge
of God's mercy, but rather the experience of it. If I just have
mercy in my head, what good is that? I need Him to reveal it
to me. I need to experience mercy. This
cry for seeking, you know, that's planted of God. That didn't come
naturally, did it? You seeking the Lord is not natural.
No man seeketh after God. But that seeking is a product
of divine power of the Holy Spirit. We begin after conviction to
seek the Lord. This is Israel I'm describing.
Describing Israel, they seek the Lord. The dead professor
is seeking what his work may accomplish. The dead professor
is trying to add his work to the work of Christ. But we seek
the Lord and only his merits. We seek the Lord Jesus Christ
to be found in his righteousness and not our own. And when Israel
is quickened by the grace of God, he sues for free grace. Is that what you want? You want
free grace or you want merited favor? I don't want merited favor. I can't earn it. I want free
grace, free mercy. We seek not to be found in our
righteousness, but that of Jesus Christ is perfect work. Oh, how
perfect was his work. Oh, how complete was his work. so perfect that God himself said,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Not with whom
I am well pleased, but in whom I am well, I am thoroughly pleased
with him. That's a complete work. I want
to be found in that work. I want to be found in that obedience. We seek not an offering that
we could make, but we seek that offering that Christ has made. Is this what you seek? Is Christ
the one you seek? David said, one have I desired,
and that will I seek after. What is the one? The one is the
Savior. The one is the Redeemer. He sought
after the mediator. He sought after a high priest.
He sought after an offering. He sought after Christ. One have
I desired, and that will I seek after. And I'm telling you this,
Israel seeks after Christ. We always seek after Christ to
be found in him. If you seek the Lord, If you
seek the Lord and long to be saved by him, I want to encourage
you in this, hope in the Lord and he will be found. Listen
to what he said in Jeremiah 29, 13, you shall seek me and find
me. I like that. Isn't that wonderful
encouragement to you who are seeking? You seeking Israel? He said, you will seek me. Isn't
that divine purpose? He said, I know you will seek
me. I'm purposing you'll seek me,
and I'm also purposing it. You'll find me. You'll find me. So then, if you're seeking today,
you want the presence of Christ? You want to be found in him?
Then you listen, hope in the Lord, and he will be found. Thirdly, hungering and thirsting
Israel. Hungering and thirsting. Jesus
said, blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after what?
Righteousness. And what's the promise? They
shall be filled. You hungering and thirsting after
the righteousness of Christ? That in him alone to be found
even? So does Israel like David say, as the deer panteth for
the water broke. So does my soul pant after thee. Do you often feel like a deer
chased? That's what that phrase is. It's as a deer being chased by
the hunters, being pursued and pressed out beyond measure, and
he's panting. He's longing for water or he'll
die. Isn't that how we want Christ?
Do we not hunger and thirst for Christ? That's what Israel does. We pant after Christ. We long
after His presence. Do you pant and long to be found
in Him? This desire, friends, springs
from the Father of lights, from whom comes over every good and
perfect gift. You know, if you don't desire
Him, you know why? God's left you to yourself. If
you have any desire for Christ this morning, God put that there.
That's it. Why? You're Israel. You're Israel. What is Israel encouraged to
do? Listen, hope, have confidence,
not in your state, not in your stage, not in your circumstances,
not in your seeking, not in your conviction, hope in the Lord,
in the Lord. Have confidence in Him. What about believing Israel?
There's convicting Israel, there's seeking Israel, there's panting Israel, there's
longing Israel, and then there's believing Israel. What a joy it is to have faith.
Have you contemplated how blessed you are to be able to believe
on Jesus Christ? Faith, friends, to the religious
world is nothing more than a mere decision. They think faith in Christ is
like choosing a hamburger or choosing French fries. They think
it's nothing more than a mere act of will, determination. No, the Scriptures are plain.
That is an act of God. Faith is a gift of God. Listen to this Scripture. Go
to John chapter 1. I'm gonna turn a couple of pages here.
John chapter one. Look at this in verse 12. It says, as many
as received him, to them gave he the right to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. So receiving him
is the same as what? Believing on him. To receive
him is to believe on him. And to believe on him is to be
counted a son of God, to be counted one of Israel. But how did this
come about? by a birth, which were what? Born. This is a spiritual birth,
that quickening I was talking about earlier, that Israel must
have in order to experience hope in God, which were born, not
of blood, not of kinship, not of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man. You see, you're born again by
the will of God. And when God wills you to have
life, He also gives you the gift of faith. These two come together. In Ephesians chapter one, Paul
says that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may
know the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of
his inheritance is what is the exceeding greatness of his power.
You see, the exceeding greatness of his power is to open your
eyes, to give you understanding. He says in chapter two in verse
eight, for by grace you are saved through faith. That, what? That faith. That salvation, that
grace is a gift of God. All of it is a gift of God, isn't
it? Not of works, why? Because we would brag, we would
boast, we would take some of the glory. So then, if you are
believing Israel, why is it that you believe? How is it that you've
been convicted? How is it that you've been seeking?
How is it that you've been hungering and thirsting after Christ? How
is it that you now believe on Christ? It is a gift of God and
is by the power of God alone, not a mere act of will. What
a horrible doctrine that is. What a blasphemous doctrine is
free will works religion. It goes against the Holy Scripture
of God. Jesus said, this is the work
of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent, John 6, 29.
Now, if you believed, you believed, then hope in the Lord. Then trust in the Lord. Continue. Trust in this. Look, if you have
believed, I want you to trust this. Trust in the Lord. That's
one thing. You will continue to believe.
How many times we felt our faith is on the precipice? How many
times we felt we were on the edge, on the verge of being lost
and cast off forever. We're like Asaph in Psalm 73. Me and him, I think we're brothers. I mean, I really do. I read that
Psalm and I see myself in so many stages of my Christian life. I know God's good to Israel,
but as for me, my faith is almost nigh well slipped. But here's
hoping in the Lord. Not hoping in your ability to
keep your faith, but hoping in His ability to keep your faith.
Hope in the Lord. Why? Listen, he that hath begun
a good work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
That's why believing Israel will always believe. Believe our Lord
has promised us that our faith, though given to us, Now listen,
this is the fifth stage or circumstance of Israel. Tempted and tried. Oh, tempted and tried. Believer,
the Lord has promised us that our faith, though given by God,
must be tried and proven. How? Through much affliction,
through suffering. In Acts chapter 14, it says that
the apostles were confirming the faith, the souls of the disciples
and exhorting them to continue in the faith. And that we through
much tribulation should enter the kingdom of God. Don't you
realize being a Christian doesn't relieve you of suffering. It
causes you to enter into suffering. Why? Because our faith must be
tried. It must be proven to be true. Is there anything worse than
to think you have faith and then end up in hell? There will be
many in that day who think they have faith in Christ and will
end up in hell. Why? Because these have faith
in themselves. They're trusting in Christ plus
themselves. But true faith will always be
tried so that it might be proven to be real and genuine. Now listen, you and I as believers
in Christ, we've been through manifold temptations. We've been
through many trials and how many times have we failed? Oh, the shame of my failures. But I tell you this, I still
believe on Christ alone. I still believe on Christ alone,
though I've been tried, though I've been put through the mill,
and I know you have too. We have this promise, who shall
separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus? So tribulation, what about distress? What about persecution? What
about famine? What if you're naked and you
don't got anything? Will that separate you? What
about peril? What if you're on the verge of
being killed? What if you are killed by the
sword? Will that separate you from the
love of God that's in Christ? Paul said, I am convinced, I
am convinced over much experience of this, that nothing shall be
able to separate me from the love of God that's in Christ
Jesus, nothing. What is that? Tribulation, work of the patience,
and patience, hope, and hope, what? Experience, experience.
Experience, it makes not a shame that the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts. You see, this is a chain of things. So
in tribulation, are you tried, Israel? Are you tried? Matter of fact, Peter said the
trial of your faith is precious. I don't feel precious. Does it
feel precious to you when you are persecuted? No, but it is. It is. The trial of your faith being
much more precious than gold that perisheth though it be tried
with fire might be found to the honor and glory at the appearing
of Christ. I'm gonna give you one more.
What about backsliding Israel? How often does God's people being
snared by Satan and the lust of their flesh and the cares
of this world. How often have we grown cold
in our love and affection to Christ, callous toward the things
of God. What is this but backsliding
Israel? Sometimes we become reckless
and we neglect the throne of grace and rely upon our own strength. Am I talking to myself? I know
I'm speaking to me. Well, I know this, I'm speaking
to Israel. Have we left our first love? Are you in such a state of indifference
so as to doubt even your state and standing before God? Well,
you hope in the Lord in this. Listen to this. He says in Jeremiah
3, he said, return you backsliding children. And listen, I will
heal your backsliding. Is that something to hope in?
Is that something to hope in? Is that confidence? Even when
you're backslidden, even when your affections are low, even
when you're callous, even when you're heart of heart, he said
this, return unto me and I will heal it. I will heal it. And this is the answer of Israel,
behold, we come unto thee. For thou art the Lord our God. Now, in these things have I,
have I not, can you not identify with these
things? So in whatever state or stage or circumstance you
find yourself in, does it matter? Here's the exhortation. in every
stage, state, and circumstance. Here it is, hope thou in the
Lord. Hope, let Israel have confidence
not in herself, not in her state, not in her standing, not in her
circumstance. Let Israel hope only in Jehovah,
in Jehovah. May God be pleased then to turn
our hearts and set our affections to hope on Christ To lean on
a bruised reed of the flesh. Don't you see that's what he's
doing? He's causing us to turn away from our flesh. He's telling
us by this exhortation, stop hoping in yourself. Stop hoping
in your strength. You don't have any. To lean on
the arm of flesh is like leaning on a bruised reed. Matter of fact, God said, cursed
is everyone that makes He said, cursed is the one that trusts
in man and makes flesh his arm. Cursed. But when we are in our trials
and afflictions and convictions of sin, we are made by the power
of the Holy Spirit then to trust and wait on the Lord. Why? Because He cares for us. Cast
all your care upon Him. for he careth for you." Now, so then, if you are Israel,
Israel is the hope in the Lord. Now listen, there are many types
of useless hope. There's the hope of the hypocrite,
right? The hypocrite hopes in something. Job said this, for what is the
hope of the hypocrite? though he hath gained when God
taketh away his soul." What does it matter if he's gained the
whole world and lost his own soul if he's a hypocrite? There's the hope of the Pharisee,
the self-righteous. You remember that Pharisee prayed
thus with himself, Lord, I give this and I do this. I'm not like
that sinner over there. But these hopes are a refuge
of lies. The true hope comes from God
is one of salvation by grace that springs from the Holy Spirit.
That is true hope. This grace of the Holy Spirit
gives us his mark by faith in Christ alone. And that all my
hope, all my confidence is grounded upon Christ. Is that you? Have
I identified you this morning? Can you identify with these things? And what is God's exhortation
to you, Israel? Have confidence in me. Have trust
in me and not yourself. Now the second point is this.
The reasons for hope. He said, let Israel hope in the
Lord for, here's the first reason, with the Lord there's mercy.
In other words, mercy is in the hands of God. It's in the heart
and is part of God's divine nature. It is with God, it is bestowed
by God upon those who feel their need of it. Do you have a need of mercy? Because one thing that marks
Israel is this, they are always in need of mercy. always in need
of mercy. Thus, we are encouraged those
who are convicted, those who are seeking, those who are longing,
those who are tempted, those who are backsliding Israel. We
are encouraged to fall into the arms of Christ for what reason?
Why would you fall into the arms of Christ? Because with him is
what? Mercy. Mercy. A couple things
about mercy. First of all, mercy intimates
compassion. In order to have mercy, you must
have compassion. Listen to what James says about
God. He said, the Lord is pitiful and of tender mercy. Is there any other kind? Is there
any better kind of mercy than tender mercy? I know you think
you've had mercy on somebody and you just scoff at them and
laugh at them, and then you give them a piece of bread, you throw
them a piece of crumb or something. That's not mercy. Mercy intimates
compassion. I think it's best described in
that prodigal son, don't you? The prodigal son who took his
inheritance, squandered it, and he finds himself ruined and hungry
and bankrupt. He returns to the father. He's
clothed in those rags and smells like swine. He's confused, he's
full of shame and guilt. He doesn't even know if the Father
will receive him and deserves, he knows he deserves, that he'll
be cast out. But what was the reaction of
the Father? The Scripture says, He saw him
afar off and had compassion. He ran and fell on his neck and
Kissed. You think that's what the son
expected? You pay attention. I didn't expect
that. When I came for mercy, I didn't expect compassion. I
expected a great lecture. I expected a bunch of work to
be done. But I got what? Compassion. Mercy. Why? Because that is God's
nature to be merciful. The scripture says he is full
of mercy. I like when the father saw him
afar off. You know how far God saw me?
How far off God saw me? He saw me from eternity. Made
every preparation to receive me so that when that time came,
he had compassion. Compassion flowed from God to
me. It's all Israel, not just me.
It's every born again child of God. Compassion, that's an aspect. What about pardon? Pardon is
a necessary aspect of mercy, isn't it? You may have compassion
without pardon. Isn't that right? A judge, you
have a criminal before his court and the criminal is guilty. Now
the judge may pour out in tears for this man. And at the same
time, if he's just, he has to condemn it. You see, God is not
only compassionate, but he's also able to pardon, to pardon
sin. The sovereign act of free pardon
and forgiveness that only comes by the substitutionary work of
Jesus Christ. That's how he may be merciful,
is only through Christ. God will never be merciful apart
from Christ. But in Christ, he is both compassionate
and forgiving. Another aspect of mercy is this,
mercy is only for the guilty. Now, right? If you are not guilty, you do
not need mercy. Mercy is never for the righteous,
but for the guilty, the transgressor, the criminal. Therefore, God's
people do not come to the throne of grace, laying down their merits, but they come to receive mercy.
I like that story of Napoleon, that mother that came to Napoleon
seeking pardon for her son. And the emperor replied, the
man, young man committed a certain offense twice and justice demands
his death. And the mother exclaimed, but
I'm not, I don't ask for justice. I plead for mercy. He said, but
your son doesn't deserve mercy. She said, sir, it would not be
mercy if he deserved it. That's wisdom. That's exactly
right. Without guilt, there's no need
of mercy. Who is more guilty than God's
people? We confess. We confess. And so what do we need? We need
mercy. And so what does God say? He says this, hope in the Lord
because with God is what? Mercy. What does that mean? With
God, there's compassion. With God, there's pardon. For
who? The guilty. Listen, if you're
guilty this morning, here it is. Hope in the Lord. Stop hoping in yourself and your
religion and hope in God. Trust in Christ. Believe on Christ. Lay hold of Christ now and hope
in Him. Set all your hope on Him and
leave none for yourself. No standing for yourself. And
secondly, here's the second reason is this, with the Lord is plenteous
redemption. Now, who is this redemption for? There's plenteous redemption,
but who is it for? Mercy is for the guilty, but
I'm going to be more specific. Who is redemption for? Listen,
it's only for Israel. Only for Israel. Look back at
your text. Look at that last verse. What
does it say? He shall redeem who? Israel. Oh, so this redemption
is limited in its scope. It's only for a particular people. But listen to this, for that
particular people, it's limitless. That's what it's saying. You
that are Israel, I want you to know how much redemption Christ
purchased. He purchased plenty. I could ask you this, how much
sin you got? How much sin? Do you suppose we could count
that high? as to how many sins of the eyes,
sins of the lip, sins of the thought, sins of the imagination
of the heart that you know nothing of. You can't count them. But here is why Israel should
hope in the Lord, because there's more than enough to cover your
sins. How do you know that? What is
redemption? What is redemption? Redemption
is a buying, isn't it? It's a purchase. You go to the
store, you lay down this cost is this, you lay down your money,
you redeem that object, whatever it is, you bought it, you paid
for it. So the object has a value, doesn't it? And so you lay down
that value and you receive it. Well, listen to this. We had
a value. What was it? Death. The soul
that sinneth it shall surely die. That was the price. Blood
was the price. And yet our blood was not sufficient
to redeem ourselves. We could die for eternity and
our blood would never pay for our sin. But here comes the Son
of God. Here comes God manifest in the
flesh. Now how much value is the blood
of God? Peter said this, you were redeemed
not with corruptible things as silver and gold of your vain
conversation received by tradition of your father, but with the
precious, precious blood. Why? It's a one of a kind. Paul
said that God purchased his church with his own blood in Acts chapter
20 and verse 28. God purchased it with his own
blood. How much value is the blood of God to cover your sins? Infinite. It's an infinite value. Matter
of fact, in Isaiah chapter 40, he said, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, sayeth the Lord. Why? Because the Lord has received
of his hand, how much? Double. For what? All your sin. Double. How plenteous is that? It's twice as much redemption
as you have sin. Now then multiply that times
all the church. There's not just plenty for me.
There's plenty for the whole church. That's how broad and
wide this river of grace is. And this blood is so plenteous,
John says, he cleanseth us from all our sins. That is a constant,
perpetual cleansing. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's face. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose what? All their guilty stains. How
much? All of them. How do I know that? Because that's the gracious promise
in the last verse. Look at this. Here's the gracious
promise. He says, he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Here's the promise of God to
every sinner who knows his need of redemption. Every sinner who
comes to Christ by faith. This is God's promise God lays
his own name to it He swears This will be accomplished He
shall redeem Israel From what all his iniquities? You know
what that means? He's going to be a complete Savior
of Isn't that what you need? Religion needs a partial Savior.
False religion, they say Jesus needs to do this much and I can
do the rest. That's not what Israel needs.
Israel needs a complete Savior. I need somebody to do the whole
thing for me. And then apply it to me. And
then keep me in it until I die. That's what I need. I need complete
salvation. Well, isn't that what He promised? All His iniquities. All His iniquities. Since sin is mixed with all I
do and feel and think, I need to be redeemed from every part
of my life. And here's the promise of God
suited only for Israel. He redeems Israel from all His
iniquities. For only Israel will feel and
confess our iniquities, and therefore Christ promises to Israel that
his redemption is limited only to them. Even though this redemption
is limited only to Israel, it is most surely not limited in
its power and scope concerning the amount of their sins. Psalm
103 and verse two says, bless the Lord, O my soul, forget not
all of his benefits. Why? He heal, he forgiveth all
thine iniquities. all thine iniquities. How did
he do that? In that same chapter in verse
12, he says he has removed them from us. Go look in the mirror and see
if you feel as though they're removed. Go live a little and see if you
feel as though they're removed. We may not feel it. that's why
we hope in the Lord and in his word do I trust what is his word
he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities therefore take
heart Take heart for the Lord is blood at all thy sins so that
there's none remaining, not a shadow, not a shade, not a hint of thy
sin. Every spot, every wrinkle, every
blemish has been removed by the blood of Christ according to
the sovereign eternal purpose of God. Yet what happens? There remains
still a conscience and feeling of sin. We're made to groan under
it. The filth of our sin defiles
us and puts us to shame. The power of our iniquity in
the old man is striving for mastery. But God says he shall redeem
us from all our iniquities. Is there not enough here then
to hope in the Lord? Have I not covered enough? so that you might have hope in
the Lord in every stage, in every circumstance, in every providence,
in seeking and believing and conviction, in backsliding, in
every state and dark providence. Here it is, hope in the Lord.
Why? With him is mercy, with him is
compassion, with him is forgiveness for the guilty. With Him is plenteous
redemption, for Christ was made to bear our sins in His own body
on the tree, and God was satisfied with Him. And because God is
satisfied with Him, listen, He hath redeemed thee from all thine
iniquities. All thine iniquities. Now you say this, well, Pastor,
I believe God, there's hope for Israel. I believe there's hope for Israel.
I believe that exactly what you said. But I don't know if I'm
Israel. Well, are any of those marks
yours? Are you convicted of sin? Are you convinced there's nothing
you can do? Have you believed on the Son
of God? Do you long to be found in Him?
Do you abandon all your righteousness and cling only to Him? If so, you're Israel. And let
me tell you, you're gonna be tried. You're gonna be tested.
You'll backslide, you'll fall. But here's our hope. There's
mercy. There's plenteous redemption. Why? He's redeemed Israel from
all her sins. I pray God, the Holy Spirit,
will comfort you in this. I do. I need it. I know you do,
too. And I pray He will. Let's go to Him in prayer. Gracious
Father, please be merciful to us. Be kind. Be compassionate. Remember our frame that we are
but dust. Consider us only in Christ. Look upon us only through the
blood and righteousness of our dear Redeemer. Set our affections
on Him. Cause us to seek Him, to long
for Him, to believe in Him. And I pray You would put this
on our hearts always to trust and hope in You. In Christ's
name I ask. Amen.