All right. Thanks, Sherry. All right, back to Psalm 130.
Let's read the first two verses. Psalm 130. 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 have I cried
unto thee. That's the title of this message,
A Cry from the Depths. Now, if we live long enough,
we are going to fall into the depths of many things. Depths of sadness, sorrow, deaths. Depression, believers are not
immune to that. Even despair at times. If we
live long enough, we may find ourselves in the depths of loneliness. Certainly all of us will be in
the depths of fear and worry and doubt at times. and deep troubles, depths and
deep troubles. And now we're not talking about
temporal troubles like unpaid bills and inconveniences of this
life. We're talking about deep troubles
out of the depths. David was a man acquainted with
deep troubles. Job said this, man that is born
a woman is a few days, just days. He says, number your days. Teach
us to number our days. And in those days, that short
time we're here on the earth, he said, they're full of trouble.
Man that is born a woman is a few days, and then those are full
of trouble. Turn with me to Psalm 107. Psalm
107. And sometimes we go down into
the depths of trouble and sorrow and sadness and fears and doubts. And for the believer, there's
only one place to turn. Psalm 107. Let's read a few verses
here. Psalm 107. Do you remember this
verse 23? They that go down to the sea
in ships that do business in great waters or deep waters,
believers, those in Christ the arch, we do business in great
or deep waters. You may remember, I was reminded
today, just glancing at a portion of in Luke, where our Lord was
first revealing himself to his disciples. Now, he'd already
called them and all, and he got into their boat and said, let's
launch out into the deep. Christ got in the ship, but he said, now we're going
to have to go away from the shore, where I really teach you something,
out into the deep. It was out there that he really
revealed himself. Read on. So these see the works
of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. To be a great God has
to be a great trouble, doesn't it? To experience great mercy
has to be a great sin. For him to reach down and pull
you up miraculously, you have to be, he has to reach way down.
Read on. And then we go out into the deep,
verse 25, and he commanded and raises the stormy wind. He's
the one. Lifteth up the waves there. He's the one. They, that is God's people that
go down in the ship and into deep water. Then they mount up
to the heavens. Go up on the mountain. We're up and down.
We're up and down up to the heaven and then we go down again to
the depths. You see that? Their soul is melted because
of trouble. They reel to and fro. Stagger like a drunken man
or at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble. And He bringeth them out of their
distress. Then they cry unto the Lord. O Lord, David said,
out of the depths have I cried unto thee. Hear my voice. And
the Lord only answers one way. The Lord only answers his people
one way. He doesn't speak audibly. The
Lord hasn't spoken out loud in almost 2,000 years. And He only speaks one way. He
only answers one way. He only gives comfort one way.
He only gives assurance one way. He only gives answers one way. He only speaks one way. Look at verse 5. David said,
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His Word do
I hope. In his word, it is God's voice. His word is his voice. And it is our only help in these
deep troubles. There are no special revelations.
Now this is really to our comfort. We have one place to go, but
you can always go there. You can always go there. It's
always there. It's always the same. It's there for you to read.
And it's the same thing. But now, special revelations
and signs and wonders and feelings and so forth. Those... The Lord doesn't give
those, first of all. And for those who take comfort
in those things or look for those things, they're not always going
to be there. Try to drum up. That's the reason preachers keep
trying to be cheerleaders to people. Drum them up in a more
lively, more special spiritual anointing or whatever. It's always
something new because the other doesn't last. But God's Word is the same. Yesterday,
today, and forever. No supernatural events, no mystical
visions, the same truth. But that's good because it's
always there. You can always turn to it. You
can always go to it. I just, I thought Psalm 119,
I thought of that. And I just flipped over there,
go over there quickly. And the first words my eyes lit
on were these, Psalm 49, Psalm 119. Verses 49 and 50. Remember the
word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction. But thy word is quickened me. I just turned to Psalm 119. I
thought, well, let's go over there and find something for
us to read. And you can turn anywhere in this psalm. and find
something to help. God's Word. That's how he answers
us. That's how he answers us. Now
listen very carefully. Listen very carefully, OK? David
says, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee. The Word of
God is not written to merely help us with our social problems. That is, everyday problems of
life that the whole world experiences. You understand? The whole world
goes through problems, social problems. It comes with being
a human being. The gospel is not a mere social
gospel. God is not a God to help with
our social problems. In other words, job, I've got
problems on the job, Lord help me. Well, everybody has problems
on the job. My house is nothing but a grievance.
My family, I have problems at home. I have financial problems. I'm facing this moral dilemma.
I have physical problems. I have sickness and so forth. The world has these problems.
And you know they find help from various places for these problems. Financial problems. Well, you
mortgage your house. Or you go somewhere. Physical
problems. You find a doctor until he finds
your problem. So on and so forth. The believer's
troubles are much deeper than that. Not mere social ills. social
problems. It's not that we cannot go to
the Lord for those things. And we do and we should. Let your request be made known
and everything get back. Let your request be not made
known. You can go to your father concerning everything, no matter
how minor or how worldly you may think it is. He's your father. You can go to a father about
anything, can't you? You can go to your earthly father
about things, anything, can't you? How much more? You're heavenly
father. But what I'm trying to say is
God's Word is not written for these relatively minor problems. They're going to keep occurring. But the believer goes through
much deeper trouble. Believer's troubles are deep. And I'll tell you why. The believer,
his troubles, he's got troubles, he knows the source of his troubles.
He knows what the source of all his troubles, the root of the
matter, and that which really brings certain consequences upon
us. David said, Man that is born
of woman is a few days and full of trouble. Why? Why do all of these troubles
come upon us? And what is the believer's deepest
trouble? Sin. Sin. If you were reading carefully
and you browsed down through there, David talks about iniquities. forgiveness, redemption. That's the theme
of this song. Now, David's no stranger to troubles. I venture to say no one in here's
had the troubles that David had up to this point. David was in exile. David had
every other person was his enemy. He knew what it was like to be
without, live in caves and so forth. He knew a lot about sorrow
and things like that, didn't he? But David knows the source,
the real source of our trouble, that which we really need to
have. And let's face it, I'll face it, you'll face it. Many, if not most of our problems,
are our own doing. Right? Because of the sin that
lies within us, due to our own sinful selves and our own sinful
actions. Right? Turn with me to Psalm,
you're there, Psalm 107. Look at the same Psalm again,
Psalm 107, and look at what else. This is Solomon. Well, no, it's
not Solomon, this is David. I was thinking about Solomon's
prayer, so we're going to read that, but we don't, we're not
going to have time. Jot this down, 1 Kings chapter
8. And you go read, if you want someplace to read, tonight, tomorrow,
whenever. 1 Kings chapter 8. It's Solomon's
dedication of the temple and his prayer to the Lord. And throughout
that prayer, he says, now when we get in trouble, Because of
our own simpleness. Can we pray toward this place?
And you'll hear us. And that's all. And think of,
when you read that, think of that temple as Christ's. Think
of that temple, whatever he says, let us pray toward this place
that you've chosen. Think of Christ, who is the temple
of God. But Psalm 107, look at this,
Psalm 107, Look at verses 11 through 13. He says, Because
they rebelled against the word of God and contemned the counsel
of the Most High, therefore He brought down their heart with
labor. They fell down. They went down. Now, we don't
have to absolutely out and out rebel against the Word and say,
I don't like that and I refuse to do it. Just to not do what it says.
is rebellion. And contempt, that means we don't
have to pour contempt on the Word, scoff at it, we just have
to ignore it. And we've contempted. We counsel
them, and so we go down with labor, soul labor. Labor and
heavy laden in sin. Read on, verse 13. Then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them. out of their distresses. Look
at verses 17. Fools, because of their transgression
and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul and
whoreth all manner of need, they draw near unto the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth
them out of their distresses. On and on he goes like in that
same vein. You see, Our unbelief brings
upon us fears and worries and doubts. We get down into the
depths of fears and worries. It's unbelief. And that's based on not consulting
His Word. His Word, faith, cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. So
where does unbelief come from? Not by hearing. Well, we're prone
to selfishness. We think only of ourselves. We withdraw into ourselves. We think only of ourselves. We
do for ourselves. So we get into the depths of
loneliness. We get into the depths of depression.
If you yourself are your best bosom buddy and constant companion,
if that's it, you ought to be depressed. Right? You'll find nothing but
depression in your own company. Covetousness. We all through
covetousness get into the depths of discontentedness, the depths
of debt, and failures after failures.
So you see, and I'll take, I'll face it if you'll face it. Many,
if not most of our problems are our own doing, our own sinful
selves. Right? And yet, yet, in spite of, or rather because
of our sinfulness, we turn to the Lord. And like these children
of Israel, he hears us. Every time. How many years have
you been living that? How many times have you gone into the
depths of these things, huh? And cried to the Lord, and He
delivered you. Went back up on the mountain a little bit. Or
at least on an even plane. Only to find yourself back down
there again. Possibly by our own doing. And David, back in
our text. David says, Hear my voice, O
Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attended. Psalm 130. Let thine ears be
attentive. Lord, hear me. To the voice of
my supplication. That word supplication means
you ask for supply. A supply of this. A supply of
that. A supply of mercy, grace, wisdom. A supply of bread. Whatever you
need, you call on Him for. Hear my supplication. Hear my voice. And David says, hear me, Lord, hear
my voice as if he's almost demanding it. Lord, you've got to hear
me. As if the Lord is waiting on
us to come. And will just hear us always.
You know what? He will. He does. He does for the believer. Listen
to this. For the believer, it says he waits to be gracious. He says he's more ready to pardon
than we are to ask for. You parents, tell me, is it not
so? Is it not so? You're gracious. You're going to be gracious.
You know your thoughts toward them, thoughts of peace. And
you're just waiting, humanly speaking, for them to bring some
fruit of repentance or whatever. You're going to be gracious.
That's what you are. So is our God. His true child,
He always hears their cry. Yes, He does. Have you ever not
heard your child Now, you may have ignored them. You may have ignored them, like
the Lord ignored that woman. You may have, on purpose, they
kept crying, and you ignored them. Because you didn't want
to answer them. But you didn't, it wasn't that
you didn't hear them. Was it? Oh, you hear them. And for those in Christ, He grants
every request. That is for our good. Every request
for our good. Some, he even grants, to teach
us a lesson. Well, verse 3, and that's for
our good. Verse 3, David says, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who shouldst thou? This whole song was very dear to me. I have to say, the
very first time I ever stood up publicly to read, I was asked by someone. I went
to a Bible conference somewhere. I had never publicly read or
prayed. And the day before, the pastor
asked me, I wish he'd just shot me. Really, I wish I would have
rather he just shot me. I did not sleep that night. And searching, searching, searching.
You men know what I'm talking about. Searching, searching,
searching for something to read. And my eyes fell on out of the
depths. Hear me, oh Lord, give me something
to read. I'll read that. Now whether I got it out without
sounding like mumbling, I don't know. But I do know it meant
a lot to me at that time. And even more so now, many years
later. But that verse 3 in particular,
if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, who's going to stand? Who shall stand? Turn over to
Psalm 90. Psalm 90. Psalm 90. Do you know the Lord doesn't
mark iniquities? The word mark, you know, we use
the term, is that a mark against me? Is that a mark against me? There's a mark against you. There's
another mark. You know, we get marks against
us in various things, back in school or whatever. That's the
same thing. See, if he should mark iniquities,
there's one. There's one. There's one. Who's going to stand? But the
Lord does. The Lord is incapable. Forget
Him. Look at Psalm 90. Every... Hebrews 2 says this. Verse 2 says, Every... The angels
who He cast down. Every sin, every transgression
shall receive a just recompense. Because God is just. That's what it says, Hebrews
2, to every transgression, receive of the just recompense of the
war. God, being holy and just, must. He cannot merely pardon
sin. He cannot merely pass over it.
He cannot just let it go, or he wouldn't be just. He wouldn't
be holy, would he? He does. He marks. He knows. Look at Psalm 90, verses 3 through
8. It says, Thou turnest man to
destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men. A thousand
years in thy sight are as but as yesterday, when it is past.
As a watch in the night, thou carryest them away as with a
flood. They are as asleep. In the morning they are like
grass that groweth up. In the morning it flourishes,
and groweth up. In the evening it is cut down and withered,
and we are consumed by thine anger. Talk about the human race,
mankind in general. And by thy wrath are we troubled? Thou hast, verse 8, thou hast
set our iniquities before thee. Our secret sins are in the light
of thy countenance. The Lord does see us. The Lord
does mark iniquity. But now, David, go back to the Psalm,
Psalm 130. But now David is a child of God. This is the prayer of every child
of God, and they say, Lord, if you should mark iniquity, if
you should mark our iniquity, if one iniquity is on the record,
who's going to stand? Who's going to stand in His holy
presence? Psalm 24, who shall stand before
God in His holy presence? Who shall ascend under the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy presence? He that
hath clean hands. Perfectly pure, spotless hands
that have never sinned. A pure heart that's never lifted up his soul
in the vanity. Absolute perfect motives. And never sworn deceitfully.
Never spoken a word but absolute truth. That's who will stand before
the Lord. and be accepted by this holy, thrice holy God. That's
it. Well, who's going to stand? If the Lord should mark iniquity,
who shall stand before Him? Justified, holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in God's sight. Who's going to stand there? Look
at verse 4. But, but, but, there is forgiveness
with thee. that thou mayest be feared. All
right, now, what Lord is David talking to? Who is David talking
to? But now, Lord, there is forgiveness
with thee. What Lord is David talking to?
I'll ask you the question that our Lord asked those Pharisees. When he said, Who's son is this? The Messiah, whose son is he?
They said he was the son of David. Well, our Lord said, then why
did David say, the Lord said unto my Lord, set thou at my
right hand? What Lord is he talking to? He's talking to the Lord Jesus
Christ here. David is talking to the Lord Jesus Christ here.
Because listen to this, God has, all authority has been given
unto Christ. All souls have been given unto Him, that He should
give eternal life to as many as God has given Him. We're talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. All judgment, didn't Christ say
this? All judgment has been committed
unto the Son. He's the judge and He's the jury. He decides whatever He decides.
All judgment, all flesh, all souls. He's the Lord. David says,
There's forgiveness with you. There is forgiveness with thee.
David is praying to Him in whom we have redemption through His
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. We have redemption. We have forgiveness
because the sin's been paid for. In that same Colossians 1, it
says, because He hath made propitiation for our sin, the chastisement
of our peace. He's the propitiation for our
sin. He made peace by the blood of His cross. The reason He forgives
our sin is because He paid for it. Every one of them. David's crying to the only one
who can forgive sin. The only one who's got the payment
for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 4 again. He says,
There is forgiveness with thee, with thee, O Christ. Verse 4,
That thou mayest be feared. Now, listen. We all get in sorry,
get in a sorry shape. Don't we? We all get down into
the depths of sin, sinful states, every one of us, through our own thought, through
our own sin, sorry, sinful selves, that either, that all of them
be grouped in the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the
pride of life. And we all get in a bad shape.
We get in the depths of sin, and sometimes it lasts for a
long time, like David. But then, by God's mercy and
God's grace, and that's what it takes to bring us to ourselves,
like the prodigal. You remember the prodigal? Boy,
he got down in the depths, didn't he? Where? In the hog pen. That's
where sin will find us, wallowing where we don't belong, acting,
talking, doing as we don't belong. The sun in the hot pit. We get down into the depths.
But by God's grace, that prodigal says he came to himself. Or that
is, he came to see. And it's not a one-time thing.
We repent of our sins, and we go on and trust Jesus, and then
we're free from sin from that day. No, it's a lifelong thing.
David said, my sin is ever before me. Just as soon as I get up
out of this pit, and I'll get on the mountain, and I'll fall
down in this pit. My own doing, generally. And then, but God's Word comes,
and conviction, our consciences. He said, a new law. I'll write my law on the tables
of their heart. Our hearts and our minds prick
us, and the law says to us, you're guilty. The law says, you're
guilty. The law says, you ought to die.
And all we hear running through our head is, you're going to
get it now. You need to be punished. You will be punished for that.
He's going to get you for that. You've done it now. Conscience
says it's all over now. There remaineth no more mercy
for you. You've sinned willfully. Be sure your sin will find you
out. And we cry with David, I've sinned
against thee, O Lord. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. in thy sight, that thou mightest
be just when you speak, and clear when you judge me." You're going
to be clear. David, when he came before, when
Nathan approached David, it was, see, the word of God came to
David. David was in such a sorry state. He didn't know he was
in a sorry state. But the Word of the Lord came
to him. That's the way it always is. The Word of the Lord comes
to us. He said, I'm going to seek my lost sheep. And it comes
to us. God's Word comes to us and finds
us in a sad state, a sorry state, in the depths of sin. And Nathan
came to David and he convicted him and said, what he said to
him, and David said, I've sinned against the Lord. But what did
David hear just immediately? Nathan said, and if you want
to read sometime 2 Samuel 12, Nathan said, you've sinned against
the Lord. Or David said, I've sinned against the Lord. And
the first thing Nathan said to him was, the Lord has put away
my sin. That's awful quick, isn't it?
Don't I think? Go through months of penance. He's ready to pardon. I've sinned
against the Lord, and the Lord put away the sin. I was waiting
on you to say that. That thou mayest be feared. And
doesn't that produce more fear? Doesn't that produce more fear
than anything else? What if the Lord had punished
me? He could have. What if the Lord had exposed
him? He could have. But there's forgiveness for thee,
that thou mayest be feared. Now don't let it happen again.
The woman, he said, the woman caught in the act of adultery,
the Lord convicted everybody, including her. She was convicted. Everybody left and finally he
said, does no man accuse thee? No man. Neither do I. Go and send no more. Do you realize
the consequences? What could have happened here?
Do you realize what could have happened here? The law says,
stone, but there's forgiveness with me. And I say, forgive us,
but go and sin no more. Have you learned your lesson?
Yes, Lord. We do for a little while, but
he remembers our praying. He knows we're children. Our
children learn temporal lessons. Oh, I'll never do that again.
I'm bad. I'm sorry. You'll just forgive me. Don't
punish me, please. Okay, sir. And that produces
fear. You understand that? That produces
more fear. I haven't had too many brushes
with the law, but the one in particular that I had was very
severe. It frightened the living daylights
out of me. I was 18 years old, and I'm not
going to tell you the nature of my crime. But standing before
that judge was absolutely the most fearful experience I've
ever had in my life. He had in his power to throw
the book at me. I know I've got your curiosity.
Just forget it. It's not that bad. I didn't rob
or... It's bad enough, but I didn't...
Your dad's not a convict. But nevertheless, for me, at
that time, it was horrifying. And the judge spoke very sternly
with me, told me the consequences of my actions. And he said, I'm
going to let you off. Man, oh man. I don't want to
go before that judge again. I feared. There is forgiveness
with thee. Do you see that? There is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Oh, he's a merciful,
gracious God. There's forgiveness with him,
that he might be feared, not that we might take liberty. I got by with that. Let me try
this. Oh no, that's not the attitude
of the child of God. Verse 5, he said, now I wait
for the Lord. After he got himself in trouble,
now he said, I'm waiting for the Lord. I'm going to wait for
the Lord. The reason I got into such shape
is because I didn't wait for the Lord. I wasn't looking. Waiting
for the Lord. What is it to wait for the Lord? Well, it means you don't want
to move without hearing from me. It means you don't want to speak.
You don't want to act. You don't want to think. We're
not sufficient of ourselves to even think right thoughts. You know? Well, this is what
I think I'll do. I'll be all wrong. I'll wait
for the Lord to To wait for Him means to wait for direction,
to wait for grace, to wait for His... What do we wait for? Verse
5. And this waiting is from the
soul. My soul must wait. And in His Word do I hope. Wait
for His Word. I just get into sin if I don't
wait. Would you all remind me of this
verse tomorrow? David said, In His Word do I
hope. Now, we hope, in His Word, we
hope, you remember Sunday before last, faith is the substance
of things hoped for. We believe God is God. We believe
His Word, what He says Himself. Thank God that God is God, gracious,
merciful, compassionate, kind. Ready to pardon. How do we know
we're forgiven? How do I know I'm forgiven? Because
he said so. All manner of sin and iniquity
shall be forgiven. Come unto me. How do we know
there's no condemnation? My conscience condemns me. The
law condemns me. How do I know that there's no
condemnation? before God, and I'm not going
to stand someday in the judgment, He's going to condemn me. How
do I know? Because Romans 8 says so. There is therefore now no
condemnation. See, our hope is in His Word.
Where else are you going to go? How do we know that we won't
perish? How do we know that we won't
perish someday? After I die, that's it. I die
like a dog, and that's it. How do I know? His word, because
he said, I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never perish.
Because the Lord is my shepherd, that's how I know. And the Lord
has said, they'll never perish. Who's they? Well, Abraham, strong
in faith. No, Mary Magdalene. Well, Moses,
strong in faith. No, Peter. Well, Joseph, that's
who will never perish. No, the people on the cross.
Oh yes, Joseph, and the thief on the cross. Both of them, their
hopes in the same wine. How do we know we'll never perish? Ask Lot. God's Word said, just Lot. just law. Though we condemn ourselves,
though the law condemns us, though the devil condemns us, neither
do I condemn them. Go and sin no more, our Lord
said. How do we know sin won't have dominion over us? How do
we know? Because he has said, sin shall not have dominion over
us. Huh? We hope in His Word. You see that? Our hope is in
His Word, completely in His Word. Verse 6, My soul waited for the
Lord. Wait for mercy, wait for grace,
wait for help in time of need. My soul, that's the innermost
being, just wait for the Lord. My soul waited for the Lord more
than they that watch for the morning. I say more than they
that watch for the morning. We wait for a person. We wait for a person. We need
my soul, he said this way, for a person. Your soul is not going
to find help in the doctor. Your soul is not going to find
help in your profession. Your soul, your innermost being
is not going to find help in the preacher. He's got a soul
problem. That your soul's not going to,
your innermost being is not going to find health and real comfort
except in a warm body. I'm talking about the Lord. This
is the warm body, the body of His dignity. The Lord, person,
the world, we're waiting for the Lord. You could sum it up. The characteristics of a believer
in this, he fears God and he waits for God. He fears the Lord
and he waits for God. David, all through his song,
when doth my redemption come? How long, O Lord, how long? I'm
waiting. We're just waiting for the redemption of our salvage. The world's waiting
for their ship to come in. Waiting to win the lottery. Women
are waiting for Mr. Wright. That's going to be waiting
a long time. We're waiting for the Lord. We're
waiting for Him. More than they that watch for
the morning. Have you ever watched for the morning? I know you mothers
have. I know every one of you. That little sick child, high
fever, you're full of anxiety and fear. No sleep. Everything's bad at night. Everything's
worse at night. Your fears are heightened in
the dark. Just like children, huh? Your worries are worse at
night. You lay in your bed and you worry.
You lose sleep. You watch till the morning. Look
at the clock. And then when the sun comes up, things
are just somehow better. Well, why is that? I mean, the
same, whatever it was is still there. It's just the sun's up. That's no coincidence. We wait on the Lord. Our soul
trouble, believers look to Him. To wait for the Lord is to look
to Him, to hope in Him. Serious heart trouble must wait.
on the Lord, and sometimes He makes His way. And when the answer comes, it's
worth waiting for. I say more than they can wait
for, of course. This is serious. This is a serious
speaker here, isn't it, huh? This is a person who's seriously
seeking some serious answer to a serious problem. This is no
mere... See why I say it's no mere social
gospel. This is no mere social problem. Able's got more than
problems on the job. Oh, my soul waited for the Lord.
I need Him to stay under my soul. I am thy salvation. Verse 7,
let Israel hope in the Lord. Who's Israel? Well, all Israel's
going to be saved. You know, I'm glad He calls us
Israel. You know, that's... If I didn't
know all Israel was going to be saved, I wouldn't want to
be called one of those ungrateful, unbelieving Jews. But we just read Psalm 107. They're
a sorry lot. Israel was a sorry bunch of people. They were worse than the Philistines.
Even David at the time was worse than the Philistines. There was
a couple of kings that were more noble than he was. He pained
himself a madman, remember? There was a couple of men that
were more noble than he was. They were faithful to David when
he was not faithful to them. Abraham. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
Let Israel, all you ungrateful, sinful, worthless, no-good Jews, excuse me, There's hope
for Jews. There's hope in Israel. I remember
as a young believer reading everything I could get my hands on by John
Bunyan. He was one of my favorites. John Bunyan. And one message
in particular was Jerusalem Center saved. The Jerusalem Center saved. And he used a text where our
Lord was leaving the earth, and he said, you go into all the
world and preach the gospel, beginning at Jerusalem. Start
there. But Lord, they killed you. They
hated you. Those are the worst. I know. Go to the worst first. The worst
first. The chief of sinners. Go to them
first. Oh, that helped me so much. Jerusalem set her safe. salvation of the Jews. You see
that? That is Israel. Are you Israel,
Dan? Hopeful. There's hope for Jews. Just got to be a Caleb, that's
all. Just got to be a Caleb. You know what Caleb means? No. Caleb went in with his gospel
All right, verse seven. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy. There's mercy. And it's new every
morning that once he gives it, it endureth. Oh, yeah. With him is plenteous redemption. Redemption for plenty of people. I mean, there's more than the
stars of the sky, the sands of the seashore. Just try to number. He says his people are more than
the sands of the seashore, all the seashores in all the world.
Put one handful of sand in your hand. Can you count the grains
of sand in that one, I mean, just one little handful? Was
that a figure of speech? No, the Lord's never given the
exact question. The Lord does not give figures of speech. Well, why not me? Can you imagine all types of
sinners that they are? And the Word gives descriptions
of them. There's no matter of sin or uncleanness or whatever
that we don't find in the Scriptures that God's saints were guilty
of nothing. The Lord delivered them all.
Because there's plenteous redemption in him. Plenteous. We have plenty
of problems. We don't need plenty of redemption.
Our problems hasn't even begun. David started when he was fifty. Abraham started when he
was ninety. His worst problem was he was
about 114. Take Isaac. Not an old man's
son, Isaac. But there's plenty of significance. He shall, verse eight. Oh, I
like this. Starts out in the depths, doesn't
it? He starts out in the depths, almost despaired, crying out.
Lord, hear me." And he ends up, after thinking about forgiveness
with the Lord, the Lord won't mark our iniquities. That all
of Israel hopes in the Lord, they hope in His Word, there's
plenty of redemption, plenty of mercy with Him, and he just
concludes, he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Now, if that won't help you, nothing
will. Nothing will. If you don't need
it now, you will. Okay? May the Lord hide one of
these words in our hearts, that we might not sin against Him,
and that in the coming time, we'll be out in the desert like
Like Elijah, the Lord bring this leaf. We live on the strength
of that leaf. Bring it up. This is that well
spring, the Lord says, a spring up that you can drink the water
that we're going to need. All right, stand with me. Our Lord, we hope in your Word.
We truly do. All our hope is in thee, Christ,
the Word. Let Israel hope in the Lord. And we believe in our... Well,
we believe. We take you at your Word, believing
that you will forgive us all our iniquities and all our transgressions. There's plenteous redemption
within. Lord, bring this home to our hearts, and yet make it
cause us to fear. Because of your abundant mercy
and grace and goodness and kindness to us, make it cause us to fear
today. Because against thee and thee
only do we sin. Do these things in thy sight.
Have mercy upon us. In Christ's name, amen. So I'm going to show you a little
bit of what it looks like.