Go with me if you would back
to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. There is a difference. This is an important difference. There is a difference in knowing
that I need to cry out for mercy and crying out for mercy. There's a difference. It's the
difference of the head to the heart. Salvation is roughly 18 inches. It really is. It's the difference
of the gospel going from the head to the heart. There is a
difference. There's a great difference. In
knowing that Christ came to save sinners. And being a sinner who needs
for Christ to save him. There's a difference. There's
a difference. Here in Psalm 130, David penned
the true heart experience of a child of God. This is what
happens in the heart. This is the prayer of every child
of God. This is what takes place in the
heart. Every soul that is born into
this world is born into a cesspool called sin. Every single soul. Every one of us begins. We all began and every soul begins
in the depths and the darkness of sin. And this right here is
the truth. There is not a soul on earth
that knows it. Not one soul knows it. We are all dead to it. There is something taking place
spiritually that every man and woman is dead and blind to. But God chose to take his children. He chose not to leave his children,
those that he loved, those that he bought, those that he called
to himself. He chose to not leave his particular
children in that deep darkness. And one by one, in His time, He opens their eyes. One by one. It's called particular redemption. God chose a people and when He
deals with a person, He deals with that person individually. One by one, in His own time,
He opens their eyes and when He does, He causes them to see
the darkness. He causes them to see what a
vile, horrible, putrefying cesspool of sin they are in. Isn't that
right? Isn't that right? For the first
time God opens up our eyes to see, oh, wait a minute. And when they see that, when
He does that, and when they see that, something happens. You cannot produce it in anybody. You cannot wish it for somebody. Something happens. God does something. Something happens in the heart. Just like Saul of Tarsus. It
was said of him, Behold, he's praying. He's praying. Now, everybody
learns at a young age to pray at a meal. If you're in the South,
you do anyway. We teach our children before they go to sleep at night
to say, God is good, God is great, and all those kinds of things. But there comes a point when
God opens the eyes of His child That child starts for the first
time in his life, he starts praying. For the first time, this really
happens. This happens in sincerity. It happens in sincerity. God's
child does not pray this because he's told to pray this. God's
child is not trying to repeat someone else's prayer. He's not
just trying to repeat the sinner's prayer. Repeat after me. This is the true heart experience
of every child of God after God opens his eyes. That heart acknowledges
to God, number one, where I am. Verse 1 in Psalm 130 says, Out
of the depths. Out of the depths. For the first
time, he sees, when God opens eyes, for the first time, that
sinner sees where I am. Wait a minute. Out of the depths. There's a song in our hymnal,
and I believe God opened the songwriter's eyes. He said, out
of my bondage, sorrow, and night. He went on to say, out of my
sickness, out of my want, lack, out of my sin. He went on to
say, out of my shameful failure and loss, out of earth's sorrows,
out of life's storms, Out of distress. He went on to say,
out of unrest and arrogant pride. Out of myself. Out of despair. Out of the fear and dread of
the tomb. Nobody fears and dreads the tomb
until God opens the eyes. He went on to say, out of the
depths of ruin untold, ruin that just couldn't be imagined. He
said, that's where I am. Now, do our hearts cry the same
thing in this flesh where we are as men and women on this
earth? Do our hearts cry out to God
the exact same thing? Out of the depths, Lord, this
is where I am. I'm in the depths. Number two,
this is what I'm doing. This is what the heart says to
God. Lord, this is what I'm doing. Verse one says, Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee, O Lord. I'm not demanding. I'm crying. I'm not announcing
to you, Lord, I don't have an announcement to make to you.
I'm crying. I'm crying. That Pharisee and
the publican went into the temple to pray, right? That Pharisee
prayed in all his arrogance and all his pride. And that's what
this flesh wants to do. We have to stop ourselves from
asking all the time. And we have to, by God's grace,
remember to start thanking because it's all about the flesh, isn't
it? Lord, give me this and give me this and give us this. And
would you do this for us? And how about this? But all of
his arrogance, all of his pride, the publican, on the other hand,
he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, crying, crying. Which one did God say
had his eyes opened? Lord, this is where I am. I'm in the depths. This is what
I'm doing. I am crying unto thee. This is
how I'm doing it. Verse 2 says, Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. You know what supplications are?
It's begging. That's what supplication means. Hear my begging. I'm begging. I'm begging, Lord,
hear me, please hear my cry. That's all I can do is cry. That's
all I can do. Beg you to hear me. While this
world is asking the question, what will you do with Jesus? God's people are asking, Lord,
what will you do with me? What are you going to do with
me? Just like blind Bartimaeus, they're beggars. They're beggars
and they know it. I'm in the depths. I'm crying. Please hear me, Lord, please.
Now, here's the next thing that a child that has had his eyes
opened acknowledges to God. He says to God, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Look at verse three.
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall
stand? Who could pass your inspection,
Lord? The sad thing for most is that
they believe in their hearts they will pass inspection. That's what they believe. They
believe I'm going to go pass inspection. Turn with me, if
you would, over to Psalm 90. Psalm 90 verse 8, Thou hast set our iniquities
before Thee, our secret sins, in the light of Thy countenance. Lord, You not only mark the things
that can be seen on the outside, You mark the things that can't
be seen. Lord, you mark the sins of the
heart. You mark the sins that I don't
even know about. How many things have I done that I don't even
know about? I had no idea. Secret sins. This right here
is the realization that God brings his child to. Lord, who shall
stand? Who shall stand? I can't stand. I am a sinner. I'm in the depths. And I'm crying and I'm begging
because I'm a sinner. And this is what I need. Lord,
this is what I need. This is what I'm begging for.
I need forgiveness. I need forgiveness. Go back over
to Psalm 130 and look at verse 4. But there is forgiveness with
thee, that thou mayest be feared. Lord, I've heard about it. Somebody
told me about it. I've heard where I can find it.
There is forgiveness with thee. There is forgiveness with thee.
It's not in my morality. It's not in this new leaf. It's
not in my gifts. It's not in my works. There is
forgiveness with thee. You, you are the forgiver. Psalm
86 says, For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive, and
plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Lord, I'm
calling. There's a difference. There is
a difference. I wish that, you know, my only hope is that God
will keep me. I wish somebody could impart
the kind of heart I would love to have from here on out. I wish
it could happen and I wish I could impart it to somebody else. But
God will keep us, but I will tell you there's a difference
in knowing that we need to call out for forgiveness and calling
out for forgiveness. There is such a difference, Lord.
Oh, may God truly put it in this heart. I'm calling. I'm calling. Lord, I'm crying. I am begging
for forgiveness. Lord, there is forgiveness with
you. I've heard that there is forgiveness
with you. Only you, and I'm begging for
it. Turn with me over to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse 7 says, let the wicked forsake
his way. Now who's the wicked? That's
all of us by nature. And we all have this on our own
fleshly way. He said, let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man, his thoughts. Well, I thought. Oh Lord, let me forsake my thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. He will abundantly forgive. How can a wicked, unrighteous,
down in the depths of the cesspool sinner receive forgiveness from
God? How does a sinner receive forgiveness
from God? If somebody asked us that, what
would we say? How does a sinner receive forgiveness
from God? Look with me at Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 3 says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Verse 7 says, In whom we have
redemption through His blood. Ask the average person, how can
a sinner find forgiveness with God? Well, the answer is, first
you've got to be a better person. That's not what it says. That's not what it says. Every
way that this flesh thinks is not the way. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of His grace. In order for a sinner who is
down in the depths of sin. In order for that sinner to receive
forgiveness and redemption, Christ is going to have to trade places
with that sinner. Christ is going to have to come
down into the cesspool. Moses, all of the scriptures
are an illustration of the gospel. And Moses was the son of Pharaoh,
wasn't he? He was a Hebrew who was taken
into Pharaoh's house. He was next in line for the throne. And do you know what he did?
He left the throne and crawled down into the slime pits with
his brethren. And that's what Jesus Christ
did for us. He left his throne And this cesspool
of sin that we were all in, He came down into the cesspool in
order to deliver us out. Traded places with us. He took
our condition upon Himself. All that filth that we were covered
in, He took it upon Himself. He suffered the punishment for
it in our place. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. Grace, grace. This right here
is the only hope for a sinner. This is the saving cry for a
sinner. I'm in the depths. I'm crying
unto you, Lord. Please hear me, because I'm just
a beggar. I have nothing to offer you,
I'm just a beggar. I come to you just as I am. I love that song. Just as I am,
without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that
you bid me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. I'm a sinner
who needs forgiveness. So this is what I'll do. Go back
to Psalm 130. Verse 5 says, I wait for the Lord. My soul
doth wait, and in His word do I hope. That's all I can do. Wait and hope. Wait and hope. Beg and believe. Lord, this is
all in your hands. I acknowledge that. I know that. So that's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to wait and I'm going to hope. That's what I'm going
to do. But this is how I'm going to
do it. Verse six says, My soul waiteth for the Lord more than
they that watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch
for the morning. Over in Psalm 107, I was going
to turn over there, but I won't. It talks about different ones
that cried unto the Lord and he delivered them out of their
distresses. It talked about they that go down into the depths
of the sea. They do great business out there.
He said they see the fear of the Lord. Those waves, swell
up, they go down, they're at their wits end. Then they cry
unto the Lord. They're crying. They that watch
for the morning are in the terror of the night. Things are always
so much worse at night. Lord, please let the sun rise. Please let the sun come up. Crying
to the Lord. I'm going to wait and I'm going
to hope as hard as I can. Urgently. Our Lord said, The
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. I have to have this. I want to close my notes right
now. I have to have this. I have to have this. This is
not optional. This is not the better of two
ways. I have to have this. This is my all. This is my all. This is what David's saying,
and I believe this is what you're saying. This is my all. Jacob said, I will not let you
go. And it was so kind of the Lord to
allow Jacob to say that Jacob's not going to do anything unless
God lets him do it. But God allowed him in his heart
to say, I can't let go unless you bless me. I have to have
this. Is that what's in our heart? A man in our history books named
Patrick Henry, he said, give me liberty or give me death.
Do we say, give me Christ? or nothing at all, nothing at
all. It's Christ or it's nothing. It's either I have him or I have
death, one of the two. Jesus Christ is made to be all
I need, all I need. All of our eggs are in one basket,
aren't they? All of our eggs are in one basket. That's what our heart cries.
Lord, verse 7 right here in Psalm 130. Let Israel hope in the Lord. The Lord. For with the Lord there
is mercy. And with Him is plenteous redemption. It's with Him. It's with the
Lord. I've been told that by the Spirit. I've been told that
by the Word, I've been told that by the preacher, and this is
what God has convinced me of. This is what the heart of a child
of God says, this is what God has convinced me of. Verse 8,
and He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Do we believe that? The heart
of a true believer says, this is what God has convinced me
of. Christ made the payment and he paid it in full and not one
single sin is going to be left on the account of his child.
I think that is excellent. I just think that's excellent.
Not one single sin will be left on the account of his children.
Every single child who cries this from the absolute depths
of his heart is going to hear this in return. Don't you love
whenever the Lord said in Job, he said, deliver him from going
down to the pit. I found a ransom. I found a payment. Now, watch this. I'm going to
close out with this. This was pointed out to me and
this is absolutely precious and this is absolutely glorious.
This right here is the reason I wanted to preach from this
chapter this morning. Capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D, stands for Jehovah, God Almighty, the Great I Am. Capital L, lowercase o, lowercase
r, lowercase d is our Lord Jesus Christ. Now if this is not proof
that Christ is all, I mean Christ is all. And when it comes to
prayer, you tell me if you have the same problem I have. Sometimes
while I'm praying, I pray to our Father. Didn't our Lord say,
you pray to the Father? Do you ever wonder in the middle
of it, wait, I'm praying to my Lord. I'm praying to my Father. I'm praying to my Lord. Well,
they're one, aren't they? They're one. And if this is not
proof that Christ is all, I don't know what is. prophet, priest,
king, judge, mediator? Is He not the judge and the mediator? Just and justifier? Verse 1 says,
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Jehovah. Lord Jesus Christ, hear my voice. Let thine ear be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. Verse 3 says, If thou, Jehovah,
shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord Jesus Christ, who shall stand? Verse 4 says, But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for Jehovah. My soul doth wait in His Word,
and in His Word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord
Jesus Christ, more than they that watch for the morning. I
say, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope
in Jehovah, for with Jehovah there is mercy, and with Him
is plenteous redemption, And He shall redeem Israel from all
his iniquities. Who shall? The Lord Jesus Christ
shall redeem Israel from all his iniquity. Do you know what
that means? Do you know what the final thing that a child
of God will truly cry from the depths of his heart to God? You
know what the final thing is that He will acknowledge to God
Almighty. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is God. I'm crying
out to my only hope. I have a good hope. I have a
sure hope. And the reason is because my
hope is God Almighty. I'm crying out to my Lord, and
my Lord is God Almighty, and He shall redeem Israel from all
his sins. Wonderful, isn't it? May the
Lord truly cause us to cry that from the heart. Stand together
with me.