Psalm 130. And let's begin by reading the entire
psalm. And let's notice how many times
it says, Lord. 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, O Lord, who shall 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 his iniquities. That's a wonderful psalm, isn't
it? We come together on Sundays and Wednesdays to worship the
Lord. That's the thing I've been hoping
for and praying for this morning. I pray that we would worship
the Lord this morning. You know, it's not a feeling,
although we want to feel His presence. I just hope we worship
the Lord this morning. I hope we glorify His name. and
worship Him. We're here to hear what He has
to say through His Word. And we're here to hear what He
has to say about our souls is what we're here for. And we hope
it's good news. I want to begin by telling you
two accounts that I read connected with Psalm 130. These were wonderful
accounts. The first one was about a man
named Thomas Guthrie. And I'd never heard of either
one of these men. But it said that he visited a town once and
was sent to the local inn for lodging. And a man was there
at that inn who was dying. He was dying of something. It
was his last hours. And the priest had been called
to administer the last rites to this man. And Mr. Guthrie saw all of this happen.
He was sitting there watching all this happen. After the priest
left, he walked up to that man and he asked him, do you feel
that you now have peace with God? And the man said, no, sir, I
don't. I don't feel that I have peace
and I don't feel that I have hope. The account said that Mr. Guthrie talked to him about the
mercy and forgiveness of God in Christ Jesus, and he took
him to Psalm 130. And it said, as he talked to
him about the free grace in Christ, the man's face lightened. And his heart rejoiced. And it
said, like the eunuch of old, he received the gospel and believed
on the Son of God. Then it said, Mr. Guthrie went
to his room and wrote a letter to his wife stating, My dear,
I have witnessed a miracle this day. I found a man in the state
of nature, dead and dying. I saw him in a state of grace,
rejoicing in Christ Jesus. And I left him in a state of
glory. Oh, how great is the mercy of
our God to the chief of sinners. He said, pray for me that our
Lord will let me be the bearer of good news to the guilty. Of
mercy for the miserable. And salvation for sinners. He
said, I have no other desire but to win Christ and be found
in him. and to be his ambassador to tell
others of what I've seen and heard. Another account said a man named
James Vaughan, who it said was often quoted by Spurgeon. Spurgeon
liked this man. He called Psalm 130 the progress
or the progression of the soul. He said just as a barometer marks
the progress of the weather, So does this psalm, sentence
by sentence, record the progress of the redeemed soul. He said
we should ask ourselves as we read each line. First, have I
ever been there? Have I ever been there? Verse
one says, out of the depths have I cried unto thee. Have I ever
been there? The second thing he said we should
ask ourselves is, have I felt and experienced this truly? Verse
three says, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? Have I truly ever gotten a hold
of that? The third thing he said we should
ask ourselves is, do I know this to be true? Verse 4 says, there
is forgiveness with thee. Do I know that that's true? The fourth thing he said is,
is this my rock and my refuge? Verse 5 says, I wait for the
Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His Word do I hope. Is His
Word truly, in time of need, my rock? in my refuge, because
it's not for most people. And the fifth thing he said is,
do I truly now wait and hope in the Lord? Do I really? This is the progress of the redeemed
soul, he said. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes
chapter 12. Now, in Genesis 2, verse 7, the
Lord said that he formed man of the dust of the ground. He
made man out of the dust and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life. And man became a living soul. God gave life and man became
a living soul. And now in Ecclesiastes 12, It says, when this earthly life
is over, verse seven says, then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was. And the spirit or the soul shall
return unto God who gave it. God made man from the dust and
he breathed the soul into him. And when it's over, the dust
is going back to the dust and the soul is going back to God
who gave it. Ezekiel 18, verse 4, the Lord God said, Behold,
all souls are mine. Every single soul is mine. As the soul of the father, so
also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The soul that sinneth is going
to die. When the Lord God reveals to a sinful soul, you've sinned. And now here's your wages. These
are the wages of your sin. When the Lord reveals that, it
causes the soul to do something. If God performs a work on a soul,
this is going to be the response. Back in our text, Psalm 130,
verse 1 says, Out of the depths have I cried. Out of the depths have I cried."
That is what the soul is going to do. It's going to cry. It causes a deep, deep, deep,
true, honest, heartfelt conviction over sin. Not just lip service. It's something down deep. It's
something honest. A deep, deep out of the depths
have I cried. Turn with me to Psalm 40. Psalm 40, verse 12, David says,
Innumerable evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. so that I'm not able to look
up. I just can't even look up. I'm just ashamed. They are more
than the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart fails me.
My heart stops. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Please, Lord, please deliver
me. It's low. It's deep. The depths
have I cried. Out of the depths am I crying
of my conviction. True, deep conviction. Out of
the depths of my pride, I'm getting a hold of my pride in myself.
It's deep. It's deep. Out of the depths of my evil
thoughts and my covetousness, it's deep. It's honest and deep. Out of the depths of my doubts
and my fears and my unbelief, out of the depths of my pain
and my sorrow and my depression, it causes a true depression. That's what it causes. Loneliness. This is all me. And it's all because of my sin. That's why I'm where I am. I'm
thinking about my sin. And it's because of my sin that
I cry in. Out of the depths have I cried. Have I ever been there? Really
been there? Have we ever really, honestly
been there? Has the Lord ever in mercy put
us there? It's mercy to be there. Jonah
was there. He was there. Can you imagine
what Jonah felt because of his disobedience? He found in the
belly of a whale. Thinking, I'm here because I
disobeyed the Word of God. I mean, that's fear. That's honest,
deep fear and worry. The prodigal son was there. And
I thought about him. I cannot enter into his case.
My father loves me. And he receives me, and he's
happy to have me, and I cannot enter into this. But he walked
back thinking, he's not going to have me. This man is not going
to have me. True rejection. Blind Bartimaeus
was there. He was there, knowing. He's blind,
he cannot see, but he hears everybody say, and here he comes. He's
coming, he's walking by right now. He's walking by, there he
is. And he's knowing, right now,
the Lord is passing me by. I'm missing Christ right now. I'm missing him right now. This
is my only chance. This is my only hope. And he
starts crying, please have mercy on me. Out of the depths, he
cries, please stop and have mercy on me. He was there. That harlot was there. That prostitute. who cried and cried as she held
on to purity and goodness and holiness and right. She cried
all over the Lord's feet. She washed His feet with her
tears, crying, Oh God, I am so sorry. I'm so sorry. Our text 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. The progression
of the soul is first a true, a honest and a deep conviction
over sin. And then it is sincere, sincere,
open, honest prayer to God. I have nothing to hide. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Calling
on the name of the Lord is prayer. It's prayer. True, sincere prayer
is humble prayer. Humble. It's low. It's not proud
and it's low. Out of the depths. True, sincere prayer is fervent
prayer. Have I cried? Have I cried? Have I cried? It means active
and continual. Continual. True, sincere prayer
is prayer that is directed to the Lord God. It's not directed
to Mary. It's not directed to anybody
else. Directly to the Lord God. Out of the depths have I cried
unto Thee." I'm crying to you. True prayer is reverent prayer. It's not the flippant Jesus and
God prayer of religion. It's reverent prayer. Out of
the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. Verse 2 says, V. 3 says, Lord, O Lord. V. 5 says, Lord. V. 6 says, Lord. V. 7 says, Lord,
Lord. It's reverent prayer. That leper
cried, Lord, if you will. True sincere prayer is personal
prayer. Have I cried? I'm the one who's
doing the crying. Hear my voice. Be attentive to
my supplications. Even me. The repentant soul experiences
true conviction over sin. Sincere prayer, crying out unto
God. And the third thing is personal
judgment of myself. Verse 3 says, If thou, Lord,
Should it mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? I can't. Holy and true are all his ways. Let God be true in every man,
starting with me. Be a liar. I'm a liar. And he is true. The Lord told that woman in Matthew
15, it is not me. to take the children's bread
and cast it to dogs. He said, you are a dog. And she said, truth. You're right. But listen to this. 1 Corinthians
11.31 says, if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. Turn with me to Psalm 51. David said in Psalm 51, verse
3, I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. It's before me. I see it. Against thee, thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. That thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest.
Me is what he's saying. You're clear. And you're justified
when you judge me, I acknowledge it, too. That's what it means
to judge ourselves. The redeemed soul experiences
conviction over sin. Sincere prayer unto God. personal
judgment of self, and then the mercy and grace of forgiveness. After all that, forgiveness comes. Verse 4 says, But 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, O Lord, who shall stand? But. There is forgiveness with. That
now may be feared. Somebody said these two verses
contain the whole of the Scripture. The whole meaning of all the
Scripture are in these two verses, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark
inequities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness
with that thou should be feared. The Old Testament had the tabernacle. It had sacrifices and lambs and
sacrifices and lambs. And the whole point was to say
there is forgiveness. There's a way of forgiveness.
The New Testament sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ and His
blood and His righteousness. And the whole point is to say
there's forgiveness. The whole book is written to
say there is forgiveness. that thou mayest be feared. What
do God's people fear? What does the redeemed soul fear?
The first thing is missing Christ. I fear missing Christ, missing
his mercy. We fear presuming or assuming
upon his mercy. It's something we show up for
every week to make sure. I need you to tell it to me one
more time. I've got to make sure. We fear adding one thing to or
taking one thing from His person or His work. After we finish
studying, we're supposed to preach. And I look at this and say, did
I add one thing to or take one thing from His person or His
work? Not have I gotten, it's what
I received. Grace hath bestowed it, and I
have believed." It's boasting excluded. Pride I base. What do God's people fear? Departing
from His presence. He asked His own disciples, will
you go away also? Would I? Keep me, Lord, keep
me. Please, keep me. The progression of the soul is
conviction of sin and sincere prayer, judgment of self, forgiveness
with Thee. And forgiveness brings a very,
very tiny, tiny, small amount of patience and a lot of hope. Verse 5 says, I wait. for the Lord. My soul doth wait,
and in His Word do I hope. I wait for the Lord. I cry unto Him, but I wait. I seek Him, but I wait. I confess my sins, And I beg
His help, and I say, Come quickly, Lord. But I wait. And in His Word do I hope. While I wait, in His Word do
I hope. This is His Word. He said in
John 11, Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this? That's what
I hope in while I wait. He said, Come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He said, I will be merciful. We hope in His will. He said,
I want to be merciful. I'm so hopeful for that. He said,
He's able to save to the uttermost. We hope in His power. He's able. And it gives me hope. He said
the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. No matter what I do, He is not
taking it back. He is not going to change His
mind. We hope in His faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me." That is our hope. We hope in His Word while we
wait. To the redeemed soul, hope brings
perseverance. Thanks be to God. That's the
soul's next progression is perseverance. Verse 5 says, I wait, my soul
doth wait, Verse 6 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. I wait and I wait. By God's grace,
I keep on waiting. Why? Why do we keep waiting? It's because we are kept by the
power of God through faith. We hope in His Word. Faith looks
to, it trusts in, it hopes in, it waits on Christ. Turn with
me to Philippians 1. Philippians chapter 1. Paul is thanking the Lord God
Verse 5 says, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first
day until now. I got here ten years ago, and
I thank God for your fellowship from the first day until now. I'm so thankful that I'm still
here. I'm so thankful you're still
here. It's perseverance. Why are we still here? Verse
six says, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you, he's going to perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. Until the Lord comes back, he's
going to keep performing the work of perseverance in a believer. He's going to keep us. And that's
why we keep waiting. We keep going because we're kept. We are preserved, but we persevere. We're preserved, but we persevere. We rest in Christ, but we press
toward the mark. We wait as they that watch for
the morning. Actively waiting. The morning
star is coming. And I wake, but I'm waiting as
those that watch for the morning. Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy is coming in the morning. In our progression, hope brings
perseverance, and perseverance brings assurance. Verse 7 says in our text, Psalm
130, "...let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption."
Notice it doesn't say, let Israel hope for mercy, although that
would be good. It says, let Israel hope in the
Lord. For with Him, there is mercy. I like what Brother Henry said
about this verse, and I'm going to quote him word for word. He
said, Our first thoughts are not for mercy alone, but for
Him. And it is, isn't it? We love Him. If I have Him, I
have mercy. He said, You look for the tree
and you'll find the fruit. You look for the giver, and you'll
find the gift. You look for the physician, and
you'll find the cure. You look for the promiser, and
you will find the promise. Our Lord said, look unto Me,
and be ye saved. The saved soul experiences true
conviction over sin, sincere prayer unto God, personal judgment
of self, then mercy and grace, forgiveness, hope, and a small
amount of patience. Perseverance, assurance, and
finally, the soul experiences redemption of the purchased possession. Verse 8 says, he shall redeem
Israel from all his iniquities. He's going to do it. It's going
to happen. With the price being paid, he
said, I will remember their sin no more. The soul that sinneth
shall surely die. But the soul that has no sin,
because the Lord Jesus Christ paid it all, no sin, He's going
to live forever with Him, in Him. Those three initials, S.O.S.,
means Save Our Souls. Oh Lord, save our souls. I pray
the Lord will bless His Word.