If you listen or have listened
to this program, you have heard us talk much about sin, about
sinners, much about Christ, the Savior of sinners, because this
whole book is about Christ, the Savior of sinners. It's about
sin and the consequences of sin upon this world, upon human beings,
the putting away of sin, or how sin is put away. Beginning in
the garden where sin entered, the Son of God came walking and
spoke to the first sinners on earth, spoke of the seed of woman,
which is Christ, who would come to put away sin. Scripture says
Christ came into this world to save sinners. Now once in the
end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Scripture says, Call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Yes, in the volume of the book
it is written of Him, the Savior of sinners. Now if you're not
a sinner, The Bible doesn't speak to you. God has nothing for you.
The Gospel is good news. It's only good news for sinners.
I'm talking about sinners in the past, sinners in the present,
and yes, sinners in the future. All have sinned and come far
short of the glory of God. All have been, are now, and will
ever be sinners until the day we die. The Psalms, which I'll
be speaking to you from in a moment, were written mostly by David.
David was the king. David was called the sweet psalmist
of Israel. But David was a sinner. David
was a righteous man and yet a sinful man. You may not understand that. All of God's people do. David
wrote psalm after psalm confessing his sins to God, begging, pleading
for forgiveness, asking for pardon, cleansing from sin, which we
will never be rid of until we die. Psalm 130 is the psalm of
David, the psalm of a sinner. This is a sinner's psalm. If
you are a sinner, oh, I hope and pray the Lord will speak
to you through this psalm. This psalm speaks of crying unto
the Lord. This psalm speaks of iniquities,
of forgiveness. Forgiveness and fear and waiting
and hoping and watching. It speaks of mercy. It speaks
of redemption. Any of that appeal to you? Do
you need any of that? Verse 1, David says, Out of the
depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice.
Let thine ears be attended to the voice of my supplication.
Out of the depths. David was in a deep hole. And
he's cried unto the Lord to get him out. Now there are depths
of troubles and sorrows that people go through, and I would
not diminish any of these troubles. There are depths, there are deep
troubles, the depths of sorrow, grief, bereavement, the loss
of a loved one, a spouse, a child, a parent, whoever, deep sorrow. There are depths of deep troubles
that we go through, personal troubles. inward troubles, family
troubles, oh, the depth of trouble that a wayward child brings us
through, or a marriage, broken marriage, or sickness, pain,
suffering, sorrow, deep troubles. Many, if not all, go through
these things. if not most, call on God to bring
them out of these deep troubles, these dark and deep holes that
we get into. But sadly, if and when God does
bring them out, and He does, if anyone's healed, God heals
them. If anyone gets out of trouble, it's God that brought them out.
But sadly, if and when He does bring them out, many quickly
forget God. Quickly forget God when the troubles
are over until the next troubles begin. Now this is not the depths
of which David is speaking of here. He is speaking of the depths
of sin, guilt, shame, fear of judgment. He fears being cast
out of God's presence, of not being allowed into God's kingdom. He fears punishment for his sins.
This is a cry of a sinner unto the Lord, a sovereign judge and
ruler, a cry of a sinner unto the Lord for mercy. Listen to
verse 3. Well, let me read it all again.
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, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, Oh Lord, who shall stand? Iniquities. That means
that we've come far short of what is right, what is equitable,
what is just, what is true, what is holy, what is good. That means
whatever God is, we're the opposite of that. God should mark iniquities. Who shall stand? Who shall stand
before the holy presence of God? Scripture says the sun doesn't
even shine in His presence. Psalm 24 says, Who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? And He answers, He that hath
clean hands. Never sinned. Perfectly clean
hands. No sin. A pure heart. A perfectly pure, clean heart. Is that you? Who hath not lifted
up his soul unto vanity. Never been covetous. Never gone
after anything but God. nor sworn deceitfully." Your
words have been perfect. Nothing but thanksgiving and
praise and glory to God and goodness and mercy and truth out of your
mouth. Is that you? Is that you? If so, you're blind. You don't see yourself. You don't
see yourself as God sees you. In Psalm 14, this is what God
says about the sons of men, about human beings. God looked down,
Psalm 14, verse 2, from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand, understand anything of the holiness
of God, understand anything of themselves, any that did seek
God. They are all gone aside, He said.
They are all together become filthy, and the Word is stinking.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. And Romans 3 and
Romans 5 all speak of the utter sinfulness of man, the depravity
of human beings. If you don't see yourself as
God sees you, you're blind. If you don't know something of
your own sinfulness, you don't know yourself. You don't know
God, you don't know the Scripture, you don't know yourself. And
you better think again. If you think you are pure and
holy and righteous and good and moral and not a sinner, you better
think again. God looks on the heart. God looks
on the heart. The Lord Jesus Christ on the
Sermon on the Mount, He said to look, to lust upon a man or
a woman is to be guilty of adultery, guilty, fornication, to be angry,
to be guilty of murder. Whatever the law saith, Scripture
says, it says to all that are under the law, why? What does
it say? Guilty. Guilty. All flesh, Scripture
says, shall stand before the all-seeing eye of God, the all-knowing
God, someday to be judged by Him. Scripture says the books
will be opened. Scripture says all secrets shall be revealed,
all secrets, all sins, before the all-seeing eye of God. Now
I warn you, And I remind you, I just said it, all the world
is guilty before God. David said, If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who shall stand? Who shall stand? We all come
far short of the glory of God and perfect holiness, perfect
obedience, perfect love, perfect love of God with all your mind,
heart, soul, and strength. Your thought is perfect. Your
word is perfect. Your deed is perfect. You say,
God won't hold us accountable for our thoughts. Yes, He does.
He said so. He said, you think it, you are
guilty. The only reason you didn't do it is God kept you from it.
Now I warn you, O holiness woman, O holiness man, you proud, self-righteous
person who says, I'm no sinner. I used to be, but not now. I
warn you, the harlots, our Lord said, the harlots, the whore
on the street is going to enter heaven before you do. But if
she doesn't, you'll be there in hell with her and her punishment
will be less than yours. Jesus Christ said so. In Luke
chapter 18, the Lord told the story of two people that went
to church. One man was a religious man.
The other man was a sinner. Everybody knew he was a sinner.
Everybody looked down upon him. The other man, everybody looked
up to him. He was a religious man. And the religious man stood
and prayed with himself, because God didn't hear him. He prayed.
He liked the sound of his voice. He loved to stand on the street
corner for everybody to see him pray, hear him pray. Oh, how
pious he was! Oh, how holy he was! And he said,
I thank thee God I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, even as a publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. The other man, the sinner, nothing
but a sinner. All he could do was smite on
his chest as if there is something in here I can't get out. And
he said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Seven words. I'm here to tell you, Christ
told us that this man, a seven-word prayer, he said he went down
to his house justified, cleared of all guilt, completely forgiven
of all his sins. What did he cry? God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. And he said the other man condemned.
Condemned. What about you? How do you plead?
Which one are you? Which man are you? How do you
plead? Do you plead your goodness or
His goodness, God's goodness? Do you plead your choice or His
choice? Do you plead your works or Christ's
works on your behalf? Do you plead your will or God's
will? Like the leopard, Lord, if thou
wilt. Do you plead your righteousness or His? Do you plead your sinlessness
or His? Now, verse 4 says, in our text,
Psalm 130, says, "...there is forgiveness with thee." All manner
of sin shall be forgiven, our Lord said, but only for those
who are poor and contrite, who are broken over sin, who repent,
who call, who ask for forgiveness. He said, there is forgiveness
with thee. It's up to God. Suppose a man
or woman stood guilty before a judge. Guilty. And whatever
the law says, it says guilty. The law says prison or death.
Scripture says death. What if a man or woman stood
before the judge and said, I have decided to let you forgive me.
I have decided to accept your forgiveness. Yes, I have forgiven
myself, so I know how much you love me and need me. Oh, judge,
I have decided. Oh, what a fool. Where is the
fear? No fear. But here it says, there
is forgiveness with thee. It's up to Him. It's sovereign
mercy. Our Lord said, I will be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. And there is forgiveness with
thee. All judgments given to the Son, before whom all shall
stand judged in that last day. Acts 17 verse 31 says, God has
appointed a day in which He will judge all men in righteousness
by that man That is Jesus Christ whom He hath ordained to be the
judge or be the righteousness of His people. You will be judged,
we will be judged by Him, by His perfect life. Stand beside
Him and you will come far short. Or you will be judged, or God's
people all were judged in Him on the cross, and that punishment
against their sin was laid on Him. The iniquity of us all,
all God's people, is laid on Him, and they are all justified
from all things, because Christ died. Which are you? Which are
you? Oh, may the Lord reveal to you
your sin, and the one Savior of sinners, Jesus Christ. Amen.