I love the scripture that says,
play skillfully with a loud noise. Twenty-something years ago, I
started teaching Sunday school, the Bible class here. And Mindy
says I stole it from her, but I don't recall it being that
way. I did that for four years and
then I preached in this pulpit for the
first time in my life. And I did this two times before
Henry and Doris moved here. My third time of doing this was
Henry and I doing the Lord's Table. And I was scared to death. And then for the next five years,
every time Paul would go out of town, he would have us flip-flop. I would do the Bible study and
he would do the message. And then the next time he would
do the Bible study and I'd do the message. And then after the
service, we'd always go to Henry and Doris' house for lunch. Just
wonderful times. And quite often, Henry would
do things like this. We'd be sitting there, you know,
Doris would be in the kitchen, and I guess Paul and Mindy would
be out of town, Hannah would be in the kitchen with Doris,
and Henry would say, you know, he did the Bible study, I did
the message, and he would say, when I was doing the Bible study,
could you hear me okay? Oh yeah, I could hear you. I
was loud? Yeah, oh yeah. So I lifted up
my voice really well, and you could really hear me. Yeah, what
he's telling me is, get louder. That's what he's saying to me.
He always had a roundabout way of, you need to be louder. But here's my point, I'm torn
right now. I want to scream this at the
top of my lungs. And I also want to say this in
a still, small voice. Because this is so good. Turn
over to Psalm 130 with me. Psalm 130, verse 4 says, But there is forgiveness with
thee. I'm pretty sure that's the gospel
in one line. But there is forgiveness with
thee. How amazing. There is forgiveness. That's the message. There is
forgiveness. Have you ever needed forgiveness? Have you ever needed forgiveness? Have you ever had to say to somebody,
I beg you to forgive me? How often do we have to say that
to our God? How often do we have to say that
to our God? Lord, I beg you to forgive me. Forgive me, please, please just
forgive me. Do you know when a sinner will
truly cry that? All sinners don't cry that at
all times. Do you know when a sinner will
truly cry that? It's when he's down in the depths.
When he's down in the depths. Look at verse 1. It says, Out
of the depths. The depths is a place that God's
people get to know very well. It's a place that God's people
are constantly in. That is not just a figure of
speech. David was always saying that
the world is not in trouble like we are. You know it when you're there.
You know it when you're there. David was there and he knew it.
Verse 1, he said, Out of the depths have I cried. Out of the depths have I cried. Lord, that's where I am. That's
where I'm crying to You from. The depths. The depths of what? The depths
of what? Well, the depths of fear. I was talking to a very dear
brother in Kingsport a while back, and he was going through
a great trial. He was honestly going through
a great trial. And he told me, he said, I hate
to admit this, but I'm afraid. A grown man, I hate to admit
this, but he said, I'm afraid. And I said, it's okay. I would
be too. We know that our God is sovereign
over all things. I believe both of us tried as
hard as we could last night to declare that. But sometimes we just can't help
it. We're down in the depths of fear. We're down in the depths
of anxiety. Anxious. Anxious about things. Down in the depths of worry.
Do you ever worry about things? Do you ever worry about anything? Every believer here knows we
don't have to. But do you? You ever worry about things so
much you can't focus on anything but the one thing that you're
worried about? Just completely swallowed up
by fear and worry and sorrow. If we have not been there, we
will be. We will be. Have you ever been
so far down in the depths of sorrow that you would love to
smile, but your face muscles just won't do it? You know what
I'm talking about? When you're in that place, you're
in the depths of need. Helpless, hopeless need. And when you're down that low,
there's only one place to turn. When you're down that low, there's
only one place to look. When you're at the bottom of
the pit, there's only one direction to look. There's only one person
to cry out to for help. Verse 1 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. Lord, out of the depths I'm crying
to you. Hear me. Hear me. Oh, Lord, would You hear me all
the way down here at the bottom? Look with me at Psalm 69. Psalm 69 verse 1 says, Save me,
O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there
is no standing. I am come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying. My throat is dried. My eyes Fail
while I wait for my God. Oh, hear me. Please hear me. Please hear me. Thank God every single time He
says to His people, I do. I will. I do. In the day of your trouble, I
mean real trouble, deep trouble. I'll hear you. I'll hear you. Isn't it His mercy that He would
put us in deep trouble so we could cry out, so we could be
heard? Throughout the recent years in
Kingsport, we've had the privilege of having some little babies
born into our congregation. And you know how it is, they
tend to come in batches. You know, like they all come
at once and then you wait a little while and then they all come
at once. And when we were in our old building, for those of
you who visited our old building, our nursery was down in the basement
right below our auditorium. And while we were in the middle
of the service, and those little babies were down in the depths
of that dungeness nursery, down there in their little sorrow
and their fear, they would cry out to their moms.
They did it all the time. They'd cry out to their moms,
and their moms would hear them. I know their moms heard them
because we all heard them. Every adult up there heard them.
But the one that got up and went down there was always the mom. All the adults heard them. But every time, the one who got
up and went running down there was the mother of the baby, depending
on which baby cried. And I don't know, I don't think
we ever had a case where two moms got up thinking it was their
baby. And, oh, I'm sorry, I thought
that was my baby crying. I don't think we ever had that
happen. One particular baby would cry. One particular mother would get
up and that baby would be down there in the depths crying, Mama,
please. Please, I need you right now. And that mother would hear that
baby's cry. And that mother would know, that's my little one. Crying down there. That mother
knew the baby was fine. That mother knew the baby was
safe. That mother knew the baby was fed. But the baby was still
in need. In his or her own need. And the
mother would go running down. What a beautiful thing that is.
The cry and the answer of the cry. Lord, as a father pitieth
his children, as a mother goes running to the cry, hear my voice. Hear my voice. Look back at Psalm
130 again. Verse 1 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. Now here's
the arresting truth that comes to all of God's people, alright?
Verse 3 says, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O
Lord, who shall stand? If you mark inequities. A true believer hears that and
says, if. What do you mean if? If he marks
inequities? He does. He does. Look with me at Psalm
90. Psalm 90 verse 8 says, Thou hast
set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins, in the light
of Thy countenance. The things we know about, the
things we don't know about. He has marked, He has recorded,
He has remembered Every sin we have ever committed. What an
awful thought. You've set our iniquities before
you, our secret sins, in the light of Thy countenance. Look
at Psalm 139. Verse 1, Psalm 139, verse 1. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting
and my up rising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. You know every time I sit down,
every time I stand up, and everything I think. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down. That means you are looking at
me at all times. You're watching me do everything
I'm doing. You're acquainted with all my
ways, verse 4, for there's not a word in my tongue, but lo,
O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Every sinful word that comes
out of my mouth, you hear it. He knows everything about me.
Every sin I've ever committed. Doesn't that make you want to
say, I am sorry. I'm so sorry. Doesn't that make
you want to say, I'm sorry. I beg of you, Lord, forgive me.
David cried in Psalm 51, have mercy on me. Forgive me, forgive
my transgressions, forgive my sin, according to your loving
kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies. That's
what I need. I need a multitude of tender
mercy from you. Forgive me. Forgive me. When
the Spirit of God Almighty speaks the gospel to one of His own,
alright, the first thing that happens is the holy law of God
comes and confronts a soul. A soul realizes, wait a minute,
I've sinned against God. I've sinned against God. And that law and judgment pierces
the heart and pierces the soul. When the gospel comes, when the
gospel follows that by the Spirit of God, when it comes to one
of his broken, hurting, down-in-the-depth sinners, do you know what he
says? Do you know what the gospel says to the heart of a sinner,
one of God's own? This is what it says. There is
forgiveness with me. That's what the gospel says.
You'll find yourself just worrying and your heart's just anxiety
and fear. And then the gospel comes and
just touches your heart and says, there's forgiveness with me.
Fear not. I'm your God. I'm the one. I'm the one who holds the keys
of hell and death. There is forgiveness with me.
The Gospel comes and says, there is a place. There is a place. There is a way of peace and forgiveness. And that way is in the blood that was shed for
that very sin. You know that thing you did?
Blood was shed for that. Not just sin, you. You. The blood of Jesus Christ, in
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness for the
worst, most vile sins that have ever been committed. Sins that
we all would think there can't be forgiveness for that one,
not that one. In the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, there is forgiveness for the vilest, most wicked sin
that has ever been committed in this world. Look at Psalm 86. Verse 1 says, Bow down thine
ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul,
for I am holy. And that word means one whom
thou favorest. O thou, my God, save thy servant
that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant,
for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art
good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them
that call upon thee." Is that good news? You're good, you're plenteous in mercy, and
you're ready to forgive. Ready. That is beautiful. To a soul
who desperately needs forgiveness, that is gorgeous. Lord, according to your Word,
according to your mercy, according to your grace, according to your
blood, there is forgiveness with you. Thank God you're ready to
forgive. Thank God He's so ready to forgive
us. Turn to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, verse 31, it says, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was in husband unto them, saith the
Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and
will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall
teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Amen. Our Lord said, there is so much
forgiveness for sin with me, I won't even remember it anymore.
That's how much forgiveness there is. I hear that and I think,
how? How? If you mark iniquities,
if you write them down, even secret iniquities, how can you remember them no
more? How can you not even remember
them anymore? It's because the blood of the Lamb of God has
washed them all away. You ever heard of out of sight,
out of mind? They're gone. In Christ, they're
all taken away. All taken away. That is forgiveness. Sin, so forgiveness, they don't
even exist anymore. That is forgiveness. Look with
me at 1 John 1. 1 John 1. Verse 5 says, This then is the
message which we have heard of Him and declare unto you, that
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that
we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just, faithful and just, faithful with his blood,
faithful to supply his blood and just to forgive us because
of that blood. His faithful blood demands it. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. I don't know if I've read this
here, but it doesn't matter. You'll like it too. If you've
heard it before, you'll like it again. I read this a lot.
This is from a message by Charles Spurgeon. This is an excerpt
just taken right out of his message. During this last week, I have
been with Brother Alford conducting prayer meetings And he told one
evening a tale, which I made him tell every evening afterwards,
for I thought it so good. You know, Spurgeon preached most
nights, I think, a lot, a lot. And they would, you know, he'd
travel to different places through the week. So Brother Offord went
with him and Spurgeon, after he told it Monday night, he made
him tell it Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. He
said there was a poor man living on Dartmoor who had been employed
during the summer in looking after horses and cows and so
on that were turned out on the moor. He was a perfect heathen and
never went to a place of worship, perhaps since he was a child.
For him, there was no Sabbath. After a time, he grew very ill.
He was over 60 years of age and having nothing to live upon,
he went into the work house. I don't know what that is, but
I assume it's like a assisted living, government,
something. While he was there, it pleased the mysterious spirit
to make him uneasy as to his soul. He felt that he must die. And the old man had just enough
light to let him see that if he did die, all was wrong with
regard to a future state. He had a little grandchild who
lived in a neighboring town, Plymouth I think it was, and
he asked leave for his grandchild to come in every day to see him. As he was very ill and near death,
this was allowed. She came in, and he said unto
her, Read the Bible to me, dear. She complied, and the more she
read, the more wretched the old man grew. Read again, said he. The more she read, the more dark
his mind seemed to be with a sense of guilt. At last, one day, she came to
that passage in the first epistle of John. You know it. The blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Is that there? He asked. Yes, grandfather, replied the
little girl. That is there. Is that there? Oh, yes, grandfather, it is there. Then read it again. Read it again. She read again. The blood of
Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. My dear, are you sure it is just
like that? Yes, grandfather. Then read it
again, dear. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanses us from all sin. Then he said, take my finger
and put it on that verse. Is it on that text, child? Is
my finger on that blessed text? Yes, grandfather. Then, said
he, tell them, alluding to his friends, that I die in the faith
of that. And he closed his eyes and doubtless
entered into eternal rest. And I will die in the faith of
that truth by the grace of God. And so will you, I trust, brethren
and sisters, die with your finger on that text. The blood of Jesus
Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. There's so much
forgiveness with him. Now, I've got more pages, but
it just feels like a good place to stop. Nothing else needs to
be said. Thank God. Amen.