Now open your Bibles to Psalm
130. would like to follow along, Psalm
130. I desire to preach a message that would touch my own heart,
and in turn touch your own not to just deliver a discourse or another sermon, but a message
that would touch me and touch you, your own heart, and do it
in such a way as for you to recollect that message
over and over again. so that you'd rehearse it in
your own mind and rehearse it with others as well. We quickly
forget everything we hear, nearly everything. I'd like to preach one message
that would stick, really stick, in our hearts. We're totally
dependent upon the Holy Spirit. I know that more so than anybody
here, I believe. where I feel it anyway, totally
dependent upon the Holy Spirit to receive any blessing at all
from this book. Yet I'm not going to use that
as an excuse for my own laziness or take a fatalistic approach
to preaching, and neither should you in hearing I am a young preacher, yes, but
I have tried nearly every approach to preaching, and it still comes
down to that wind that bloweth where it listeth. In the words
of Solomon, it still comes down to that wind blowing sovereignly
and mysteriously on our garden or our hearts, that the spices
may flow out, or the garden of his word, that the spices or
the blessings may flow out. God must give the increase from
his word. And as I said, we should not
take a fatalistic approach to the thing of preaching or to
hearing the word. We shouldn't take any comfort
any comfort from the fact that the Holy Spirit must bless us. But we ought to sow to the Spirit. Scriptures tell us plainly that
they that sow to the flesh shall reap flesh, and they that sow
to the Spirit shall reap the Spirit. So we need to do a little
more spiritual sowing. If we come to this service with
an empty heart, with an empty bucket, that is, we can expect
to be filled. But if we are full of all sorts
of nonsense, we will not gather much, will we? If we come with
a heart prepared, somewhat prepared to worship, the scriptures talk
about a plowed heart, a plowed ground, then perhaps the seed
of God's word will be sown. If we call upon the Lord, we
have the precious promise that we will be heard. If we pray,
I've said this many times, if we pray for the preacher, then
we ourselves will be blessed. But we can't expect it without
those things. God is sovereign, yes, and we are responsible. Now, I intend to make this short.
But I hope the Holy Spirit will make it live long in your own
mind. Look at Psalm 130, beginning
with verses 1 and 2. David 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 supplication. A lot of people get into depths
of poverty and despair and misery and pain and so forth and cry
unto the Lord. Many people do cry unto the Lord,
or a Lord, to deliver them from poverty, to deliver them from
pain and sickness, to deliver them from grief. But most people never give God
a thought until trouble comes, do they? fully expect God to run to their
aid just as soon as they get in trouble. And many times the
Lord does answer the prayers of people like that for deliverance. Sometimes not, most often not. Someone said the crying stops
when upon the mountaintops, and then only to get back into
the depths again. But the depths that David is speaking of here
is only the depths that a believer can enter into. You know what
those depths are, some of you. He's talking about the depths
of sin. The depths of sin, a sense of
one's own wickedness and depravity and ungodliness and corruption,
which is, as David said, ever before me. Gone over my head. And he says in verse 3, If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? The omniscient God, who sees
all, knows all, whose eyelids try, his eyes behold the sons
of men, knows all, remembers all, and is truly marking iniquity. He is marking. He is recording
iniquity of some people. I looked at a startling passage
of scripture over in Revelation 20 that says this, verse 13.
I'll write it down and look it up another time. It says, after
the Lord opened the Lamb's Book of Life, another book was opened
which was called the Book of Life. Quite a different book. It says, Another book was opened,
which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of these
things written in the books according to their works. I don't want
my name to be found in that book. Because if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? No one. No one. Especially, most of all, those
who claim to be God's people. They sinned against love. They
shall not stand. No one shall stand in God's holy
sight if God should mark iniquity. If we are found with one sin
on us from before God's holy presence, then we will not stand,
but will be swept away and cast into hell. But he says in verse
4, thank God, but there is forgiveness with thee. God who cannot forget
says he forgives and forgets. There is forgiveness with thee,
there is forgiveness. But God, who is rich in mercy,
love and grace to some, though he is truly marking iniquities
of some people, every single transgression of his holy law
is put down in a book. That's what Revelation 20, verse
13 says. But for some people, their sins are completely blotted
out. If our sins were recorded just
as they said about our Lord's deeds, wonderful works and marvelous
deeds, if all were written down that was said by him and done
by him, the world could not contain the libraries. Neither could
the world contain the libraries of the books that are written
concerning our evil and our iniquity and our sins. But the scripture
says he's blotted them out, totally blotted them out, all the sins
of his people, covering them with Christ's blood. The only thing God can't see
through is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even his holy eyes
can't see through the blood. See through our hearts, but can't
see through the blood. You see the importance of the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ as being ours? And he says this,
he's cast our sins behind his back. He who has no back. Cast our sins behind his back.
In other words, what those scriptures say is they're gone. Did you
hear what Jesus said to me? The song says they're all taken
away. Why did he do this? Why does
he forgive? Well, for Christ's sake, yes.
But verse four says there's forgiveness with thee. that thou mayest be
feared." Look at it, every eye, look at that verse. There is
forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. In other words, he forgives us
to teach us just how holy he is, how just,
how righteous he is, how good, how merciful, how gracious he
is. And we ought to fear doing it again. We ought to fear doing
it again. We ought to be mindful of the
depths, of the depths we plunge ourselves into when we get into
sin and guilt, right? We ought to be mindful of that,
of God's goodness and God's forgiveness. It ought to make us a fearful
people. It ought to make us obedient children, mindful of our Heavenly
Father's great love and kindness toward us, shouldn't it? It ought
to make us fear, fear sinning against him or losing his communion
or losing his precious face or his presence. One old writer
said this, only those who need mercy fear him. Only those who
know they need mercy fear God, and it's only the mercy of God
that will make them fear him. Only those who know they need
mercy fear him, and only the mercy of God will cause us to
fear him. So he says their forgiveness would be that thou mayest be
feared, not that we should live for ourselves, but that we should
fear him. We should fear him. Now look
at verses 5 and 6, and this is where I want to dwell. This is
what caught my attention one night. Verses 5 and 6. This message
was brought to my mind and heart, at least these verses were. One time, I got up and wrote
down these thoughts, and I hope they will be a blessing to you.
I've been waiting to preach this message, and I hope they will
be a blessing to you. Let's dwell here, and this is
where I take my title and my text from. David says in verse
5 and 6, 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. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. more than they that
watch for the morning. True worshippers, true disciples,
true believers, true Christians are in a constant state of worship,
are in a constant attitude of worship. And the word weight
here is the same word as same exact word as worship. True worshipers,
our Lord said, worship the Father in spirit, that is, from the
innermost depths of their being, from their heart, from their
soul, their very inward selves, with all that is in them. They
worship the Father in spirit and truth. It says, The Father
seeketh such to worship him. The soul, like David said in
Psalm 42, is a heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth
my soul after thee, O God, my soul thirsteth for thee, as in
a dry and a parched land. The words worship and waiting
are synonymous. Any of you who have a dog, one
of the most precious definitions of the word worship I saw was
when that Syrophoenician woman called herself a dog, and the
man who was a leper came and worshiped at the Lord's feet.
The word worship there meant like a dog licking its master's
hand. That leper came and fell down
before the Lord and worshiped him like an old dog who gets
the sight of his master and just wants to lick his hand, or that
woman who came to his feet and just desired a few crumbs. And
like a dog, like a dog that worships and loves its master so much,
any of you who have a dog, you know that it will wait patiently
for hours on the porch just to get a word, just a word. You
may not even touch that old dog. You might not even hardly look
its way. But it'll wait patiently for hours on the porch just for
a word, hello, dog, and it'll wag its tail. Or even better
yet, if it gets a pat on the head, it's made its day. That
is made its day. My soul waiteth for thee, David
says, like a dog just wanting a few crumbs from the table. My soul, my real heartfelt desire
and affection, waited for the Lord, looks for, longs after,
desires, seeks the Lord, the Lord, because truly, whom have
I in heaven but him? And there is none on earth I
desire beside him." That is the heartfelt cry of the true believer. No mere formalist can say this. No mere formalist can say this. No mere religious professor can
say this. What does that say about a half-hearted
devotion or some nominal profession of religion? I wait for the Lord. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. See if I can't put this in perspective
for you, what it means to watch for the morning. What does it
mean to wait on the Lord? What does it mean to wait on
the Lord? And it says here, I watch more than they that watch for
the morning. What does it mean? Listen to these verses of Scripture
that speak of David's devotion, David's diligent seeking after his Lord. David was called a man in spite
of David's sinfulness, in spite of David's humanity, in spite
of David's corruption that the Lord so clearly reveals to us
and exposes for us to see. In spite of all that,
David was a man after God's own heart. You read the psalms, you
read all the way through the psalms, you start in Psalm 1
and keep reading through that, you'll find a man who sought
God, who was not happy when he did not experience God's presence,
when he was outside of God's will. And you'll find a man that
sought the Lord morning, noon and night. Listen to these verses
concerning David's watching more than David watched for the morning.
Listen to these, I am weary with my groaning all the night, make
I my bed to swim, and water my couch with my tears. He says,
I'll bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. My reins, or
my innermost being, hath instructed me in the night seasons. Has
the Lord ever awakened us with a word? Thou hast proved mine
heart, thou hast visited me in the night. Oh my God, I cry in
the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season,
and I won't be silent. The Lord will command his lovingkindness
in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me." Listen to this, "...my soul shall
be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise
thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate
on thee in the night watches." I call to remembrance my song
in the night, I commune with my heart, my spirit make diligent
search. O Lord God of my salvation, I
have cried day and night before thee. Mine eyes prevent the night watchers
that I might meditate in thy word. At midnight I will arise to give
thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgment. That's a man who was waiting
on the Lord, wasn't it? My soul waited for the Lord more
than they did watch for the morning. What does it mean to watch for
the morning? What does it mean to watch for the morning? Have
you ever watched for the morning? Have you ever anxiously, diligently stayed up through
the night watching, waiting for the morning? What does that mean? What does
that mean? Well, let me give you a few things
here that are worth remembering, that are worth writing down if
you're taking notes, OK? What it means to watch for the
morning. Number one, we watch for the morning at times out
of fear, out of fear. Spurgeon said a sentry sometimes
keeps guard over a fort. or a village or a house, a night
watchman, he's called a sentry. And he's anxious for the morning
light to come, because the enemy is very strong out there. Thieves
and murderers and attackers are most active at night, are they
not? Is that not when they do most
of their work, at nighttime? Well, if I, like a watchman,
fear the loss of my soul at the hands of that greatest of murderer
and thieves, I should be on guard, shouldn't I? And I should long
for the Son of Righteousness to rise with healing in his wings
to come to my rescue. Fear in the night, fear in the
darkness. Do you ever hear noises at night?
Huh? Has your wife ever awakened you
at nighttime saying, I hear something, I hear noises? And perhaps she
did or perhaps she didn't. And then if you're like me at
times, you try to play the part of the strong and courageous
man, you know, and you say, there's nothing there, and you roll over
and say, go to sleep. And you roll over and you can't
get to sleep. And you begin to listen for noises. We hear noises at night, and
we have a hard time returning to sleep. If only we were more
attentive to the noise of the intruder, that greatest of intruders,
and to the signs of apostasy within our own hearts and souls.
If only we were more attentive, perhaps we wouldn't sleep the
sleep of death, but we would watch and look to Christ. I really believe this could be
one of the most important messages somebody in here ever heard.
Number two, watching for the morning. We watch, number one,
out of fear sometimes. We watch. We lay awake out of
fear. Number two, when we should fear,
we should fear God, we should fear the loss of our souls more
than anything else, more than they that watch for the morning
out of fear, more than that earthly century. Number two, we watch
for the morning out of worry. Do you ever lie upon your bed at
night and worry over financial problems, over being in debt,
over personal problems? Do they ever keep you awake at
night? Sure they do. And when the morning comes, it
seems like things are a little bit brighter and more hopeful. You don't seem to worry. But
if only some people didn't sleep so well, but were awake to their
need of Christ, their spiritual indebtedness, not their financial,
their heavy sin debt. If only some people were not
so sleepy concerning these things. And I personally look forward
to when the day spring shall arise from on high when Christ
comes for me and completely rids me of my sin debt. I pile up debts daily, it seems
like. They're ever before me, ever
before me. And I will be satisfied, David,
like David said, when I awake with his likeness. So fear, fear
causes us to watch for the morning. And then worry causes us to watch
for the morning. And then thirdly, sickness, sometimes
sickness will cause us to watch for the morning. You fathers
and mothers, especially mothers, they're a little more prone to
do this. There's a real nursing spirit and sense within a mother
for a child. Have you ever waited, have you
ever watched all night and kept constant vigil over your sick
child? Have you? Anybody? Sure you have. It seems like the fever is at
its highest at nighttime. It doesn't. But it always seems
to break at morning light. It always seems to break. If
only we kept half as much vigil over our children's souls. Have we ever spent a sleepless
night over the souls of our children? If only we would watch in that
manner over their souls and never be truly at ease until the light
of the gospel dawns upon their little faces. And I tell you what, personally
speaking, sickness, my sin sickness, has kept me awake at night, as
yours ever. Have you ever been awakened by
a sense of your own sin? and wickedness and kept awake? Do your passions ever seem to
rise like a fever in the night? That's why we need to wait, I
say, more than they that watch for the morning. We need to seek,
mock, ask, press and be more serious about and concerned about
Christ than they that watch over a sick child. And then fourthly,
another thing that causes us to watch for the morning is eager anticipation of the
morning. Something that causes us to watch
is eager anticipation of a new day, eager anticipation of the
next day, of enjoying a big day. You've got big plans, you've
got Something coming up, a favorite pastime, something to do in the
morning, will cause us to lie awake at night, won't it? Silly things, trivial things,
a man going fishing, whatever, you know, a woman, some recreation
for the next day. It will cause you to lie awake
at night waiting for the next morning. son of God is about to walk on
this planet. We ever laid awake for an hour
and thought about him, waiting and watching. You know, anticipation of a day,
a child at Christmastime, a child at Christmastime can hardly sleep
that night waiting for an anticipation of those riches and those gifts
that are about to be his. Shouldn't a child of God watch
for the morning at times in anticipation of the unsearchable riches of
Christ? A woman the night before her
wedding day. How many of you women could sleep the night before
your wedding day? Our wedding day draws nigh. Behold, the bridegroom cometh."
There is a very strong parable about that, isn't there? About
ten people who went, and five entered in. How about the return
of a loved one? If any of you ladies, your husbands
have gone off to war, and you anxiously awaited their return,
and you heard by post that they were to do to arrive the next
morning, how much did you sleep that night? Well, our Lord is coming. Let me ask you this, let me get a little
deeper. I've turned our laughter into mourning, haven't I? That's
all right. Does anyone look forward to these
services with half that much anticipation? Huh? Does anyone look forward to worshiping
the Lord? The Lord says, where two or three
are gathered together in my nay, that's where I'm going to be.
Does anyone look forward to his coming with half as much anticipation? He says, I wait for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. The Lord says he's
going to be somewhere. If we ever lie awake at night
in anticipation of it, it's almost laughable. How about just get up early in
anticipation of it, and prepare our hearts and our bodies to
meet our precious Lord? Come early. What about we come
early? Do we ever come early and wait, eagerly, expectantly,
even impatiently? No, most of the time folks keep
God waiting rather than waiting on God. Do we ever eagerly anticipate
the gospel? wait eagerly in anticipation
of the gospel. I fear that if we don't eagerly
anticipate the gospel, at least sometimes, that we've left our
first love, if we ever had it to begin with. Another thing
that keeps us waiting, waiting for the morning, is the end of a night's work,
the end of a vigil, a long vigil. that we've kept. That will cause
us to watch for the morning. If any of you men ever worked
a midnight shift, any of you, I know Brother Joe there, he
has driven all night long and couldn't wait for the morning
to come. I've worked shift work many, many, many hours of shift
work. And working through the nights,
you can hardly wait for the sun to come You can hardly wait for
the sun to come up. I remember when I worked that
shift, that when the sun would start coming up, that was a difficult
time to stay awake. But it seemed like after the
sun finally came and shined in its strength, I was renewed in
strength. And I was expecting what I was
anxiously awaiting and expecting. with eager anticipation was rest. I was renewed in strength to
wait for rest, to go home and rest. That's what I was anxiously
looking forward to, the end of the night's work. And people,
I'm thirty-seven years old. That's very young to most of
you, I realize that. But I feel old and tired. And I'm anxious for this whole
thing to be over with. I want rest from my own sinfulness. I want rest from this world of
toil and trouble. There's nothing here for a believer.
If we think we are, we're fooling ourselves. But I've known men who, much
younger than myself, I was telling one of our men before the service
that I have shelves full of books by men
much younger than I am now, whose lives were totally spent before
they reached their mid-year. Totally spent. And I'm anxious for this thing
to be over with. I've lived in darkness too long.
I'm ready to see the sun. And you know, when I see a ray
of light, every time the gospel is preached, every time we get
together, every time I look at this word and the Lord blesses
it to my heart and gives me a true sense of his self and makes the
reality of all this press home to my understanding, my heart,
my affection. I see a little ray of light,
and it makes me that much more anxious to see the Lord. It's like a bolt of lightning
in the dark. Have you ever been in the middle of the night? A
streak of lightning comes, flashes, and you see so clearly, and then
it's gone. It just lasts so—it doesn't last
very long at all. And that's what the gospel does.
It enlightens us. to see in the darkness, and then
we're cast back into darkness again. It just makes me long
for him all the more. Turn with me over to Romans 13,
and I'll quit. Romans chapter 13. A very pressing, sobering passage
of Scripture here in Romans 13. My soul waiteth for the Lord."
Does your soul wait for the Lord? Maybe that's what I do. He said,
I say more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. Romans 13, he says in verse 11,
beginning there, knowing the time. Do we know the time? There's so much said about the
time. Time is short. Time draws nigh. Oh, that they
were wise, consider their latter end. And then knowing the time,
he says, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for
now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Some of you
were very young when you started attending here. One of our ladies turned sixty
years old, and I bet she very clearly remembers when she was
thirty years old, or twenty years old. It seems like just a snap
of the fingers, doesn't it? Well, now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed, much nearer. Those of you who are sixty years
old, you're only promised seventy years, ten more, ten more years. Ten years. Those of you who are
sixty-five, you've got five years. Maybe. Seventy times up. Oh, that they were wise. Oh, that we would watch for the
morning. Oh, that we would watch for the morning. He says, The scriptures over and over
talk about the last days, how we're in the last day. We are
in the last day. If the Lord does not come in
a few short years, I'll be surprised. I'll be surprised. But don't
you be surprised if he comes for you in a few days. Right? Most not thyself of tomorrow.
You don't know what tomorrow may bring. You may not have tomorrow.
This may be your last message. The night is far spent. The day
is at hand. The day is at hand. The day is at hand. What day
is that? The great and coming day of our
Lord. When he either comes for all of his people or he comes
for you. Do you wait for that day? Let us therefore cast off
the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light,
let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. But wait, wait, oh my soul, wait
on the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say
more than they that watch for the morning. Stand with me. Heavenly Father, we need messages, we need messages
of of clear and forthright rebuke. We need
messages of warning. Not only do we need messages
of comfort, but we need messages to awaken us from being far too
comfortable. Lord, we need messages to awaken
us. We need messages of rest. We need messages that tell us
always. We need the message to tell us
to rest in Christ, to look to Christ. But we also need messages
to tell us to labor, to enter into that rest. We need messages
to tell us that our Lord is truly coming for his people. And we need messages to tell
us to wait. The coming of the Lord draws
nigh. Let us not be at ease in Zion.
Let us not be in those people that very confidently thought to enter
into the wedding, but did not have the oil in their
lamps nor a wedding garment upon them. We ask you, Lord, that
you would make us true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
you would bind our hearts our affection, our very souls to
him in love and adoration, admiration, worship, fear. We're so thankful
there's forgiveness with thee. We need much forgiveness. Pray, Lord, that we might fear
you, though. We might fear thee. Thank you, Lord, for the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thank you for his blood, his
righteousness. Thank you. Thank you for your word. that
tells us about Christ, and thank you for your word that tells
us to watch and to wait. If you didn't tell us that, we'd
be as little children, and we would be so prone to wander.
Lord, help us. Forgive us. Remember our frame
that we're dust. Have mercy upon us, compassion
upon us. Do all this for Christ's sake,
for his praise, his honor and his glory, and Lord, mature us
causes us to grow up in him in all things, and do what we do
that may redound to your glory. We pray these things in Christ's
blessed name, for his sake. Amen. Now, wait a minute. I hope that message was somewhat
useful to you. If not now, get the tape, and
you may need it at another time. I know you will. I know we need
it. But you may not feel a particular need for it right now. But when you get in the depths,
you will. You get into the depths. If you ever awaken in the middle
of the night with a sense of your own sinfulness and true
desires, then maybe the Lord will bring this to your mind.
My soul waited for that. We'll go downstairs and have
some refreshments. And all of this is in honor of
our dear sister, Barbara Ross. And we don't, you know, birthdays,
everybody has them. You have one every year. But
60? That's a lot. But we're not doing
this. We're not being silly and all
of that like people do so much on birthdays. But we want you
to know, Barbara Ross, that we love you and appreciate you.
and highly esteem you as a dear sister in Christ, and we want
you around at least ten more. And God bless you. This is in
our dear sister's honors. Come on downstairs.