Oh God be merciful to me. To glory bring me, Lord, at last. All my fears are past. Do you like that? Every sinner should. Go back with me to Psalm 130.
Thank you, Sherry. Psalm 130, and thank you, John. Let's read verses 3 and 4 again. Psalm 130 verses 3 and 4. If
thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee. that thou mayest be feared." Now, I bring this message to
those who make a profession of faith, those who say they believe the gospel,
believe Christ, and everyone, for that matter, and hopefully There'll be something in here
for everyone, but you know, we all have doubts and fears about
our salvation at times. All of us, we have such inward
and outward struggles with sin. And they make us doubt, sometimes
doubt, whether we are God's people or not. Is anybody in here? have those doubts and fears at
the time. I talk to you and you talk to
me and I hear your doubts and fears at times, but these doubts
and fears never seem to have anything to do with belief in
Christ or belief in God's Word or faith or believe in God but
always it has to do with the flesh. So I want to ask you some questions.
Or that question I got this message. It was for me. I was working
in my garage. The other day. I have a box full
of cassette tapes. And I wanted to listen, I needed
something, I needed to hear some good news. And I silently asked
the Lord to give me something, speak to me through somebody's
preaching. And I just reached down in that
box, didn't look. Pulled one out, still didn't
look. Stuck it in tape. is my pastor preaching from this.
Someone. And it touched my heart. Let
me ask you some questions questions that he asked. Do you believe
I ask everybody. Do you believe that this is God
Almighty's word. You really believe that. No doubt. Do you believe this is God almighty. He wrote it. God you believe
that. Do you believe. According to
God's word. Salvation is of the Lord. One hundred percent. Well I'm getting some good response
now. Yeah, I mean, it's of the Lord
in its origination. In its application, in its ultimate
perfection, it's of the Lord who calls, it's of the Lord who
brings, it's of the Lord who justifies, sanctifies, it's of
the Lord who keeps us. Do you believe salvation is of
the Lord? Do you believe? that God Almighty
sent Jesus Christ down to this earth to save the lost. We just
read that in. Matthew 18, do you believe that
Jesus Christ, God Almighty sent his son Jesus Christ to redeem
a people from their sins? To do the work for them. Do you
believe that God Almighty sent his son down here to be the surety or center like old Judah was
the surety for Benjamin. Remember that story? Judah said
to his father, if I don't bring him back, you hold me accountable.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is that surety of that covenant
you've heard so many times? Do you believe that he is the
sin sacrifice, not lambs, bulls, bullocks, goats, turtle doves,
anything else? Anybody else that he is the one
sacrifice for sin for ever just one and it's Jesus Christ. And
he made that payment 2000 years ago. Do you believe that? Remain
with no more sacrifice for sin? Doesn't need to be. That he by
the sacrifice of himself put away sin forever? Do you believe
that? That's what God's word said.
Do you really believe that? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is your righteousness? I mean, all of. I mean, all of. That if you're accepted by God
and be in him completely in him, do you believe that? Do you believe, truly believe
that the blood make up atonement for the soul? God said that when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. And he said that to
a bunch of. Good for nothing is realized,
but when I see the blood, do you believe it's the blood that
make the tone of the soul? Nothing else. Do you believe
that he's the only mediator between God and me? There is no other. There's one
whom God here is one whom everyone can come to and God will hear
them on their behalf. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God is love? That whoever he loves, he loves
forever? His love is an everlasting love? Do you believe that God is merciful? That God delights to show mercy?
That he's ready to pardon? He delights to show mercy. Do
you believe that his mercy, when he shows it, endures forever?
Do you believe that? Do you believe that God is gracious,
that he's the God of all grace? In other words, every good and
perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, with whom
is no variableness nor shadow of turning. He's the God of all
grace, and he delights to give, and he giveth, and he giveth,
and he giveth more with grace. And whoever asked to give it
and right it's not you believe that he's the god of all that
God is great that God love to be great. Do you love do you believe in
that salvation is by grace. That is one hundred percent free
gift from God to the undeserving. completely a free gift from God. No conditions. Do you believe that? Do you? Anybody? Do you love
this gospel? Do you not have another? Do you love Jesus Christ? I know you But do you love to
hear him exalted? Do you love? This is how you
know you love him. Do you love to hear him exalted? Do you love
to hear him preach? Do you love to hear his story?
Do you love to hear? Do you need this gospel? Do you
need to hear this gospel? Want to hear this gospel? Do
not grow tired, for the most part. Do not grow tired of hearing
the gospel. Maybe the same old preacher,
but not the same old gospel. Do you love the brethren? Do
you love these brethren? This stained them as the salt
of the earth. Nothing in the world is not worth
it. Do you? Do you want to be like Jesus
Christ? Do you want to be just like Jesus
Christ and you'll not be satisfied until someday you'll wake with
His likeness? Do you? Do you want to be like Jesus
Christ? Then I'll ask you what my pastor asked. What's the problem? If anybody in here from the youngest
to the oldest. From the heart, answer all those
questions. I believe the Lord revealed himself
to you. I believe you're one of his own. Why not rest? Why not write. Why not trust. You know you pray that Lord give
us rest well then why not. Why not. What's the problem. Why not believe
God this is God's word and all those things that we ask. Come
from God's word. He's promised. Why not rest in
the Lord Jesus Christ well. Here are some objections that
may come in our mind. Here are some objections that
we may have. You may say, but Brother Paul,
I have such awful, awful thoughts in my mind all the time. You just don't know what Oh, yes, I do know. I do know. Would you like to
trade places with me for just for a week? I'm just willing to bet you that
I'm bombarded even more so than you. But I have such awful thoughts.
And reading the Bible, I want to read the Bible, I need to
read the Bible, but I try to read the Bible, and I get tired
real easy. I can sit down and read something
else and not get tired and just stay interested in it, but it
seems like the minute I pick up God's Word, I just grow tired
and weary. Anybody? I'm not getting as many
admissions. Go ahead. Prayer. I have a hard time praying for
longer than five minutes or so. I run out of things to say. I
don't know. I just have a hard time praying. And I worry. I worry, I shouldn't
worry, I know it's unbelief, I know it's mistrust, but I worry.
I worry about my family, I worry about my job, I worry about money,
bills, and so forth. I worry. Anybody have this problem? Anybody
say this? I can't, I don't seem to make
much spiritual progress. I just feel like I don't make
any progress whatsoever. I feel like I'm going backwards
more than forward. I don't feel like I'm growing in grace and
knowledge of Christ. I feel like I'm digressing more
than progressing. I'm just not making any progress
like I want to. I hear the preaching. And I love
to hear the preaching. But if you ask me what you preach
a couple of days later, I forgot. I believe everything you said.
But a few days later, I've forgotten it. That's why we have two or three
services a week. And I sometimes, I get mad. I just get mad. Get angry. I mean, I get real
mad. If it was in my power, I'd do
something awful. I get selfish. I have selfish
thoughts. And I'm so often, I'm so covetous.
The things I want, I never don't need. Anybody? And I get my feelings
hurt. I'm too sexy. People hurt my
feelings. And that shouldn't be. I know
you shouldn't Then the chief of center but I get offended. And I get depressed. At times
I get depressed for no reason at all. I know I ought to be the most
happy, joyful person on earth because the Lord has blessed
me so much, but yet I get depressed and I don't know why. And my thoughts are not always
on Christ. I'd like for them to be, but
they're not always. Sometimes they're very covetous.
Sometimes I'm like, well, I'm envious of the world, envious
at the prosperity of the wicked, like old David said. Anybody? Well, let me ask you two questions
then, two questions. And like I said to begin this
with. Our doubts and our fears don't seem to have it don't have
anything to do with. Christ God's word promises and
all that I have everything to do with us. Let me ask you this question.
Aren't you glad. That salvation is in Jesus Christ
and not you. Aren't you glad. Truly. Actually. Really. Eternally. Finally. That salvation
is in Jesus Christ. That all of your salvation is
in Jesus Christ. It's not in you. It's not up
to you. None of it. Aren't you glad? If salvation was up to me. If my salvation was up to me.
My works or my faith. or whatever, I'm a goner. And I'm your preacher. I'm supposed
to be an example of sort, but if it was up to me, I'm a goner. But if God Almighty delights
to show mercy, and He does, He said so. If Jesus Christ came
down here to save lost sheep, the lost sheep of the house of
Israel, Center. If the Holy Spirit delights to
keep instructing ignorant people. To keep picking up fallen people. To keep instructing the foolish
in the center. If he delights in that. If God
Almighty delights to show mercy. If God Almighty keeps giving
grace. If God Almighty loves forever. If Christ redeems the
fallen, lost people. If the Holy Spirit keeps, guides,
leads, protects, and so forth. And I'm a candidate for that
salvation. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? Salvation is
of the Lord. That's not just a doctrine, people.
That's a person. It's in a person. I mean, it
really is. There's a mediator right now
at the right hand of God, interceding for sinners. Sinners. There are real sinners right
now, they're not sinners now, but they were sinners on this
earth, sitting with him who were the off-scouring of the earth.
If you could interview a few of them, their names would be
Mary Magdalene, thief on the cross, and on and
on. Well, aren't you glad that salvation's
in Jesus Christ, not up to you? That's why it's called Good News.
Here's the second question. Do you think you're the only
one with these problems? As I was asking all those questions,
nearly every head in here was nodding. Everybody in here has
the same problem, starting with me. Here in Psalm 130, David
in verse 1 cries, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee,
O Lord. The depths of what, David? David could have been sitting
on the throne at this time. David could have been sitting
in a lap of luxury at this time. But he says, Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee. Out of the depths of sin. Out
of the depths of the depravity of my heart. Out of the depths
of depression. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. out of the dead. Lord, he says, hear my
voice. David knew who had salvation. David, who knew who his only
hope was, he didn't turn to anybody but the Lord. Lord, hear me. Verse 3, If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Now,
this is David talking. This is David talking now. Would
you like to be like David? Anybody in here think Do you,
does anybody in here think, if I could just be like David, I'd
be alright? David wouldn't say that. David's
the one that wrote this. David's the one that said, I'll
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. I'll behold thy
face in righteousness, he said, and I'll be satisfied when I
awake like him. I'm not satisfied with me. David's
the one that said, I hate myself. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquity, who shall stand?" If we think we're the only real
sinners, or, if you want to use the word, backslider. Now, God's Word is our cheap
source of comfort. It is our comfort. And God Almighty
writes the biographies of His people in this book. those whom
he was pleased to write their story. He writes their biographies
in this book, Teresa. Now, they're not like the biographies
of men. I like to read biographies. Some
of them I like to read, some I don't. Some of these religious
biographies, especially, I don't like to read because I hear I
read of these men that seem to pray 24 hours a day and never
had any problems or anything, you know, just so pious and they
leave me thinking I'll never be like them. Well, God doesn't
write biographies like that. God's word exposes men and women
for what they really are. God's word is the revealer of
the thoughts and intents of the heart. And that's just what he
does. I'm quite sure that Moses and all of them may have thought,
well, I wish you wrote that about me. You think? Well, they didn't know it until
later, and they were glad he did for the edification of God's
people. But could they have known? Could they have known that the
Lord was going to write it for everyone to read? They would
have thought, Lord, please don't put that in there. Wouldn't they? Can we omit that
one point? Peter would say, can we omit
half of my life? Lord, don't expose me. No. That
God does. God reveals the thoughts. These
are the best of his people. Listen now. These are the best
people on earth. You think, you know, Abraham
is called the father of the faithful. Abraham is the father of the
faithful. That's what God calls him. Friend of God. Father of the faithful. Abraham.
You think, if I could just have Abraham's faith. Well, if you'd
ask Abraham, if you'd read the story, Abraham twice. Was so afraid. Of men, because
his wife was so beautiful. Sarah must have been something
to look at, because when Abraham had her in a foreign country,
he was scared to death. He was scared to death. And he
told her, don't tell her you're my wife. twice. His son, Isaac, did the
same thing. Faithful father, believing, strong. Yes, God does write where Abraham,
you know, forsook all. But he also, thank God, he writes
that about him. He was fearful. I might be the
same way if I walked down New York in the lower parts of New
York City with my wife, Mindy. Now, listen, Who knows? Abraham could not wait on God.
God promised Abraham. God spoke to Abraham and told
him, you're going to have a son by Sarah. And Abraham believed
God. Well, he waited two years, three
years, four years, ten years, fifteen years. Maybe God meant
for Sarah, so he listened to his wife. Sarah said, we need
to do something. We need to do something. Why
don't you go into my handmaid? That's wrong, that's adultery. What Abraham did. All along it goes. These are
the best men. These are God's, these are the best men. Jacob. There's not enough time to deal
with Jacob's life story. David said, my years have been
few and evil. Talking about himself. You know his underhanded ways. Jacob. Job, now Job, he said,
now there's one, Job, he's a good man, the Lord said he was a good
man, excuse evil, upright man, perfect in all his way. God had
40, nearly 40 chapters written where Job started opening his
big mouth. And finally, Job started arguing
with the Lord. Didn't he? Revealed his self-righteousness. He was a good man. Yeah, he was.
But he was self-righteous. He ended up revealing what we
all have in us. Defending himself. And then the
Lord's one. You remember, Stan, the Lord
spoke to Job first before he dealt with his friends. And he
said, you hitch up your britches. I've got something to say to
you. You've spoken long enough. You've darkened counsel by words
without knowledge. Now just shut your mouth and
listen to me. David took a great fall, didn't
he? He's a great man, but he had
a great fall. Solomon, wisest man Brother Nybert
and I have discussed Solomon, why the Lord allowed him to do
what he did. The best reason why the two of
us could come up with, why the Lord allowed Solomon to do, he's
the greatest enigma in all of Scripture. He really is. The
wisest man on earth. Why the Lord allowed him to do
what he did end up is, number one, to show that man at his
best state is altogether man. The wisest man on earth is still
a fool, can still act like a fool, and he did. And more than anything
else, to magnify God's mercy and to show us beyond the shadow
of a doubt that God is merciful and gracious. that what God promises,
He keeps. And on and on it goes in the
New Testament. Would you like to be like Philip?
Would you like Stephen to walk with the Lord for three and a
half? I mean, actually, walk side to side with the Lord Jesus
Christ for three and a half years. Do you think you'd have just
rock solid faith that nothing and nobody could move you, that
no trial could affect you, nothing, that you'd just be solid as a
rock? Do you believe that? Our Lord said to Philip after
three and a half years, I've been so long time with you, you
don't even know me. Thomas? Simon. On and on it goes. Oh, my. Listen to this. This
poem, this is many of you have. Have. Heard this before, but this is
a great old poem. Maybe some of you haven't heard
it. If I can find it, here it is. This is the heart's cry, I believe,
of every believer. Listen to this. Here's a point
I long to know. It often causes me anxious thoughts. Do I love the Lord or not? Am
I His or am I not? If I love Him, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who never knew His name. Could my heart so hard remain,
and prayer a burden, a difficult proof? Every trifle give me pain,
if I knew a Savior's love. When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin, can I
deem myself a child? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it this way with you? I mourn my stubborn will, find
my grief, my sin a grief after all. Should I grieve for what
I feel if I did not love God? Could I enjoy His saints to meet
and choose the things I once abhorred, find at times the promise
sweet if I did not love the Lord? Lord, decide the doubtful case. Now, who are thy people's son,
shine upon thy work of grace, if indeed it is begun. I believe it is, Brother Moot.
I believe it is. Sounds pretty good to me. This is the heart's
cry of all these people. Let me love thee more and more,
if I love it all, I pray. If I have not loved before, help
me to begin today. And listen, in closing, listen
to Well, you all know this by heart. Someone said this, said,
I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. To will is present with me, but
how to do that, I just don't know how. The good that I would, I don't
do. The evil I don't want to do,
that's what I do. Oh, there's something warring
in me. Bring him into captivity in times of law of sin and my
miserable, wretched man that I am." Who said that? The greatest
of all the apostles. An old man at the time. About
your age, Roy. About sixty-three or so. The
apostle Paul. An old, wretched man that I am.
Now, some would say, particularly so-called reforms and people
I know, men I know. Some would say this kind of preaching
gives people a license to sin. It's dangerous. I say it's good news. I say it
helps people that are struggling with sin. And we should mortify
our member we should we should crucify the place we should strive
to do better we should hate the plan would never never put any. Competent. Any. At any time. Your best day your
best prayer your best day Spurgeon one said the. And I believe I
agree with. The times when you think you
might be the closest to the Lord, you might be farthest away. But the times, now here's the
good news, the times when you may feel like you're farthest
away, oh, He won't have anything to do with me. Is His mercy clean
gone? Who said that? David. How long, O Lord, how long? My
God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Who said that? A time when you might feel the
furthest from the Lord and not be the closest. He says there is forgiveness
within. That thou mayest be feared. Fear doesn't mean a slavish fear. Fear means to reverence God,
to respect God, to be in awe of God, worship God, honor God.
Fear sin. Fear the reproach that sin brings
upon your God. Fear the shame that it brings
upon your God. And he says, I await for the
Lord. That's a good place to be. I hope in His Word. Do you hope in His Word? I started
this out by asking you, do you believe this is God's Word? You cannot lie. Nearly every
head in here nodded yes. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, do
you believe it's God's Word? There is forgiveness. What kind of forgiveness? Christ
said, all manner of sin. Cheapest sin. There is forgiveness.
So he says, hope now. Hope thou in the Lord. Hope in
his word. Wait on the Lord. Wait, I say. Let Israel, the church, hope
in the Lord, in him. With the Lord there is mercy.
There is mercy. And with him is plenteous redemption.
That means there's a lot to go around. That's what plenteous
means. Plenty. A lot to go around. Why not me
then? Huh? Why not you? And he shall
redeem Israel from all his iniquity. He shall. We have been saved,
yes we have, when God justified when Christ died. We are being
saved. I hope some of you just got saved
tonight, or felt like it. And we will yet be saved, believe
me, someday, from the presence of sin itself. If he marks a nick with it, nobody's
going to stand. David, Abraham, certainly not
me. But there is forgiveness. Okay,
stand with me. Our Lord, we thank You for Your
Word. It is truly good news. The Gospel
of our salvation. And it speaks of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We're so glad. We are so thankful that He is
our salvation. He is. As He is, so are we in
this world. We are accepted in the blood
of the Lord. That's more than a doctrine. It's a heart's cry
of your people, a prayer of your people, a belief, a trust of
your people. We dare not trust the sweetest
frank, holy, lean, on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in him we met here tonight,
giving thanks for forgiveness of sin. Amen. You're dismissed. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. you