If you turn your Bibles to Psalms 130 Psalms 130 To the true believers and saints of God. The true Israel of God. Have you ever felt alone? Have you ever felt the depths of your sin? That your sins are so great. It's like everything is closing in on you. And you can't even breathe. What did you do? Child of God, who did you turn to? Who did you cry to? Did you reach over? Grab the Bible? Start reading the word of God? Were you comforted? Did God talk to you through his word? Did you find comfort? Did God hear your cry? We have an advocate with the Father. We have an intercessor. Did he hear you? Did he comfort you? In your depths, has God ever brought you to those depths. If you're a true child of God and believer, I'm sure he is, more than once. And I'm sure he will.

If so, let's read Psalm 130. It says, out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to my voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, should 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, for my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they which 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.

There's forgiveness. There's forgiveness, child of God, out of our depths. In verses one through three, the psalmist is crying unto the Lord out of the depths of his sins. Only a believer, only one born again of the spirit of God, by his will, even has an understanding of our sinfulness, just a glimpse of our continual sin. For only a true believer has two natures, that old man, that old nature that we're born with, each and every one of us, after falling Adam, and it's sinful. We don't even understand how wicked we really are. And that's all it does is sin. And then, bless God, we have that new nature, that new man in us. The divine nature that God gives only to his elect. His Holy Spirit that dwells within us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. The only hope and acceptance to God that we have. And in him, there is no sin. And those two natures of war against each other, so that we can't do what we would. Oh, but he's greater.

When God brings us yet again to see our sins and how sinful we really are in those depths, we are brought by God to the feet of his son. To confess our sins, we have a high priest. We have an intercessor. And he brings us to repentance. into faith now. Faith now. We're not worried about yesterday, it's gone. Tomorrow we have no idea. Faith now. He gives us faith now. Agreeing with God, confessing your sins to him, agreeing with him. agreeing with God and his word, what he says about us, and what he says about his son and himself, that we are sin, and God, the justifier, is holy. And we need his forgiveness, and we need Christ, our righteousness, our holiness. We have a need. And we cry. He brings us to cry to him and him alone. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. Oh God, hear me. In Christ, against him that we've sinned is the one we cry to.

And in verse three, if our Lord should mark iniquities, oh Lord, who shall stand? Only a true believer knows that God does mark iniquities. God's just and holy. Every sin will be punished. None will go unpunished. Because no flesh will stand in glory before God. Not in his presence. All sins must be punished and he demands perfection. Perfect obedience and perfect righteousness. That we're not born with.

And God knows our hearts. He looks to the heart. Jeremiah 17, in verse nine, says, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit. of his doings.

God knows all. He sees all. And only God can bring a man to see his wickedness and his continual sin, his total depravity. Only God can give you a broken heart and a contrite spirit. You look in Psalms 51 verse 17. The Lord says the sacrifices, the psalmist says the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not despise.

God's going to break your heart. He's going to break your spirit. He's a gracious, sovereign, holy God. He tries our faith that He gives us. That's a gift of God. To believe on Him, natural man cannot do it himself. God must give you life, spiritual life, and faith to believe. That's a gift of God. He gives it only to his elect in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In that faith, Christ is the object of that faith. That's who our faith looks to. We look to the faithful faith of the Lord Jesus Christ because he's the author and he's the finisher of our faith. One day he's coming again and we're going to see with our own eyes the object of our faith.

How does the Holy Spirit comfort God's people? He convinces you of your sins, of Christ's righteousness, and that judgment, judgment's passed because Christ paid it all. That's how it comforts you.

How does God the Father show you His grace and mercy and love? He shows you in His Son, His darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He chastens us. He chastens us. We're not bastards, he loves us. Yeah, it's to humble us. And we're being conformed to the image of his son. And it's for our good. Everything God does is good, is right, and it's just. It's not to make you sorry. With worldly sorrow. That works death. 2nd Corinthians 7 verse 10. It tells us for godly sorrow. Work with repentance to salvation not to be repented of. Godly sorrow. But the sorrow of the world works death. Works death. It's not to make you sorry. God gives us godly sorrow.

What does that make us do? Makes us look to Christ on the cross, crucified. It's through those trials and those tribulations that the Lord sends our way. And they won't last forever. Only as long as he's purposed, he's going to deliver you out of it. But our Holy Heavenly Father will graciously lead you to his word. He will lead you to your salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, your Redeemer. He will reveal himself to you in the face and only in the face of his darling son. Not to destroy you, but to comfort you.

Through the trial and through the grief of it, there's no comfort. It hurts. It's painful. It's supposed to be. But God only does everything for our good. It's to keep you, to teach you, Only God reveals this to the believer. His spirit in you teaches us. We are taught of God. Taught by God that there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Not to terror. That fear does not mean to terror. Not mean to scare. No, that means we reverence Him as holy. We know He is holy. He's just. He's right. In whatever He does, we reverence God as holy, just, and righteous in Christ Jesus. As God draws us over and over again to the mercy seat, the place where he said he would meet us. And that place is a person. It is the propitiation. He is the propitiation, the mercy seat for our sins to Christ, our Redeemer and Savior on that cross at Calvary.

He brings us to the throne of grace and we behold the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. It was done because God decreed it in eternity. It was accomplished when Christ sent his only begotten Son who came voluntarily to die and suffer for our sins. And he's coming again to complete it, make us complete in him.

He brings us to Christ crucified on that cross. He brings us to remembrance. Remember his son. Who he is and what he has done for us. His chosen people, chosen in Christ, elected by the Father before the world was in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

For all the fullness of Godhead resides in Him bodily. He sits now exalted on the right hand of the majesty and he is ruling and he is reigning over all his creation, over his church, over his people. Sovereign, holy, just, righteous. Right now, the one God sent into the world to take away our sins, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus, to redeem us with his own precious blood. The one who loved us and laid down his life for us.

There is forgiveness with thee. In Christ Jesus, God made thee way to remain just and holy and justify the wicked and ungodly sinners that we are. How else could God look on us? All the wisdom of God, Christ the propitiation, he is the sacrifice, the sacrifice God foreordained, the only sacrifice God ever accepts to atone for the sins of his elect people. the only one whose sacrifice of himself that could appease the holy justice of God that we offended.

Consider him. When God made his son to be sin for us who knew no sin, God the Father justly and rightly punished him. His son, to his justice, that we offended, was fully, totally satisfied. Think about it, there is a hell. And people spend eternity in it and never pay for one sin. They can't do it. God's not pleased with them. God gets no joy out of that. God sent his son and he died. He bore the sins and the wrath of God. It would have took an eternity to pay for just one sin. He paid for All your sins, all my sins, took away all the guilt and the shame for all the elect of God. Every single one. He poured out his wrath on him. It was for our sins he bore the fury of God. Our sins he bore all the wrath and fury of. His blood was shed, because there must be blood shed or there's no forgiveness of sin. There might be a sacrifice to appease God, because he does mark iniquities, and every sin must be punished. And he did it in his own body, and it was our sins that he died for. that he suffered and died for.

And when Christ Jesus, the Son of God, cried it is finished on that cross, and he bowed his lovely head, so beaten he couldn't even be recognized, he gave up the ghost. He gave up the ghost. He died. The giver of life, life itself, himself died. He truly died because the wages of sin is death. Somebody had to die. God made a substitute for us. Christ died on that cross that we might live in Him. He paid the ransom. He paid our sin, debt, and fool, and made us the righteousness of God in Him. And we can stand before God justified, sanctified. That new man. Christ in you, the hope of glory. There's no sin. All the sins of all that God gave him, chose in him before the foundation of the world. Redemption is accomplished. Christ did it. And God was satisfied. with his son's one-time offering of himself for the atonement of sins for all of his elect. And he's satisfied with each and every one that Christ died for. Because we were in him. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, sanctified in Christ Jesus.

We were with him when he came to this earth. We were in Him when He walked perfectly before God and obeyed the law in full. Every dot and every, every tittle. He walked perfectly, obedient to God, relying on Him for everything. God, manifest in flesh, walked among us to redeem us, to reconcile us to Himself. Christ glorified the Father because He declared when He's up on that cross and sin, He was made sin. God punished His Son. He killed Him. He remained holy. just and righteous. He saved the ungodly. He justified us. He justified God's elect. He sanctified us. By grace, by grace, we are saved.

Now in Christ, we reverence God as holy. We know he's holy. And we fear the Lord. In Christ, we reverence Him. We fear Him. We know He's holy and just, because we live by faith, knowing there is forgiveness with God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And now when God looks on us, He sees His Son. He sees His blood. We're washed in His blood. He sees us robed in His righteousness. His imputed, His imparted righteousness to us. We're fully immersed in Him. And His love constrains us. In Christ, there's no sin. He's made us holy and unblameable before the Father. And God shows us his free and sovereign grace. He shows us his glory, his righteousness, his mercy, his love, and it's all in his son. You know the son, you know the father. Christ the Lord, our righteousness, and all praise and glory belong to him, as he did it all.

Sinner, where else would you want to be? Where else could a child of God need to be but at his Savior's feet, confessing our sins to the one who's put them away forever? There's forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared He put them away forever in his body on that cursed tree. We behold Jesus. We see Jesus. That Hebrews chapter two and verse nine. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. And you read that in its context and you know that that is for every elect of God. He didn't shed that blood for everybody or there wouldn't be a hell. There wouldn't be an Esau. Only his elect.

Do you want to see God's grace? Don't we want to see God's grace? Don't we want to see God's glory? Huh? Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. Do you want to experience his sufficient grace? Have the experience of God's grace? Do I need mercy? Do you need mercy? I do. I'm a sinner. We come to Christ. That's who we cry. We look to God's Son. And even when we don't, God brings us there. Our Heavenly Father brings us there. Because that's where we need to be. He knows. And His grace is sufficient. He brings us there.

Zechariah 12 verse 10. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. That's his elect. The spirit of grace and supplications. And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him. as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Godly sorrow. Godly sorrow. Not worldly sorrow. It's for our sins, for my sins, Christ died on that cross. We murdered him. We hated him. We were born hating him. God says if you hate him, you've murdered him. We were born hating God. It's for our sins, he died.

God will put you in remembrance of that hope that is in you, because he loves his son, and he loves his children. So as Moses held up that serpent in the wilderness, made of brass, and all that were bitten by those fiery serpents, and they looked upon it, they lived. So must the son of man be uplifted. That's who that was a type of.

Because there's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. God is holy. Christ is holy. We live looking to Christ Jesus. He's the healer of our souls. He took all my sins away. We reverence him. We look to him. We believe on Jesus by the faith that God gives us. And we live. He says live. Because he is our life. He is our only hope. And we are in total awe of him. That inward man is in total awe of him. We love him. We adore him. We worship him because he was sent to take away our sins. He was made sin for us who knew no sins and he made us the righteousness of God in him. The wisdom of God. Christ Jesus put away our sins in his own body. He bore all our sins and guilt.

Now does all that make you want to sin? That's our motivation. Does that make you want to sin? Are we teaching lasciviousness? Are we? Is it okay to sin? Does this in any way make sin okay? No, no, God forbid. If so, if that's your thinking and you've never You've never been brought to those depths. You've never been delivered out of them. You've never seen the grace of God. You don't know Jesus Christ, and you don't know his father.

Turn to 1 John, chapter one, verse five. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and we don't do the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is the light, we have fellowship one with another. In the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sins. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Christ is the light of the world, the light that shines in our darkness, that exposes our sin and who we are. All things are visible to him. There is nothing invisible. And God shows us His glory, His grace, His mercy, and His love. The light is Christ Jesus, but some will say, well, this just pertains when you're converted, when the Lord saves you.

Sinner. Does God born you again and then leave you to yourself to figure it out? No, absolutely not. He keeps you. God never stops being gracious to his redeemed child. If he shows you mercy, he'll never stop showing you mercy. He'll never stop being propitious to you. Look over in chapter two of first John chapter two. Say the first one, my little children. He's talking to his children. It's not everybody, it's his children. My little children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the propitiation. He's the sacrifice. that appease God's holy justice for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Who'd he just talk about? He's talking about his little children, not the whole world, not every man or there wouldn't be a hell. And there wouldn't be an Esau. He's talking to his children. All the elect. And elect children of God, you continually sin. This old man's gonna be with us till God is pleased to take it away. And there's a purpose for it. There's a reason for it. And it's for a good. Because God did it. God does it. He leaves us in it.

I pray not for the world. I pray that you don't take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil that is in the world. And you continually need his perpetual grace and mercy. If you continually sin, you continually need his grace and his mercy. He sanctified you. He justified you. He gave his son to die and shed his blood, precious blood for you. He bought you. You belong to God. You're his jewel. The apple of his eye. He's gonna keep you. And he's gonna keep being propitious to you.

Look on down in verse 12 of the same chapter. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. Your sins are forgiven you. It was done in eternity, accomplished when Christ came, died on the cross for your sins, accomplished your salvation in full in your redemption, and it's all for his sake. It's all for Christ's sake. Why do we say it's for Christ's sake? Because it's for Christ's sake. It's for His name's sake. It's for the Christ's sake that He forgives you. Because His grace and His glory, His mercy is magnified in forgiving you. God had a purpose. He has a purpose. And it's for Christ's sake. It's for His honor. And it's for His holy namesake that He forgives you.

God, before the world was, He made a covenant with Himself. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Made it with His Son to choose a people in Him and His Son And he's gonna redeem them with Christ's own blood. And he's gonna call them by his gospel, by his word. He's gonna born you again. Born you of the spirit, born you of the will of God. He's gonna give you life, spiritual life that you are not born with. It wasn't there before. Create a new man in you, because it wasn't there before. You weren't born with it. Going to give you a divine nature. You weren't born with it. You're born with the nature of Adam. Hating God, sinful.

God's got a purpose. He's going to make you his people. And he's going to be your God. You know, if one sin he failed to not take away, if he loses one that God gave him, just one, he ceases to be God. It ain't gonna happen. It can't happen. God don't fail. God does not fail. God does not fail. God does not change. He's holy. He's just.

I come to do thy will, O God. Isaiah 48 verse 9 tells us, For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. It's because he don't change. Because he made a promise to himself, and he's gonna keep it. He gonna make sure he keeps. It's for God's praise. Why, why? It's that no flesh shall glory in his presence. Salvation is of the Lord. All the glory goes to God. There's forgiveness in Christ. We have a union with Christ Jesus. Atonement was accomplished by Christ Jesus.

And over in verses five and six of Psalm 130, I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in the Lord do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than that which did watch for the morning. I say more than that watch for the morning. We wait for God's light to shine in our darkness, to expose our sins, and that we may see his glory in the face of his son, who is the light, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Go over to Jonah real quick here. Go to Jonah. Turn over to Jonah chapter two, verse one. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of a fish's belly. Can you imagine any darker than that with your own physical eyes? Can you imagine that darkness that's represented here? Can't even see your hand in front of your face. He's in the belly of a fish in the sea.

And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, out of the grave, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed about me. All my billows and thy waves they passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

Who's he looking to? Who do you look to in your depths? The waters can pass me about even to the soul. The depth closed me around about. The weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains and the earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet has thou brought up my life from corruption. Oh Lord, my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came in unto thee in thine holy temple.

They that observe lying, vanities forsake their own mercy. There is only one God. There's only one God that's gonna hear you when you cry. There's only one, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.

And look here, look here. And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited him up on dry land. Huh? There's Jonah in the belly of a whale. In the dips, you look out over the ocean. You see the waves, you see the billows roll. You don't see Jonah. You didn't see the fish. And he cried from the dips of his corruption. Has God ever brought you there? from the depths of his sins. And he cried, salvation is of the Lord.

The Lord's going to break you. He's going to give you a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And you're going to look to him. You're going to cry to him. And it's going to be for your good and for his glory. And he thanked the Lord. He confessed his sin to God in the depths. And God heard him and God delivered him. Do you see what God does for you, child of God? Over and over and over again.

Who else can hear Jonah? He can cry and holler all he wants, nobody's gonna hear him anyway. But God heard him. God heard him. God put him there and God delivered him. Only God can do that.

When Peter, remember when Peter was walking on the water, as long as he looked upon Christ, he was safe. But as soon as his eyes looked elsewhere, as soon as his eyes looked elsewhere, he sank in the depths. And who delivered him? Who reached down and pulled him up with a mighty arm? out of the dips. That's Christ. Christ did.

Hebrews 11, 1. Now faith is a substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. If you look in Romans 8, Romans 8, verse 24. Says, for we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for? We wait. We wait on Christ. We wait on our hope. He is our hope of glory. We wait on the Lord. We have no other place to go. There's nobody else who can deliver us from our depths.

Back in our text in verse 130, in verse five it says, and in his word, Do I hope? I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. What does that mean? God's word. God's word. Christ is the word of God. God's word tells me that every one that Christ died for is justified. Justified, that means no sin, you have no sin. I stand, that means I stand perfectly righteous before God in Christ right now. Do I see it? When you look in the mirror, do you see it? Oh, child of God. No, we don't. But by faith, I am confident and I am expecting that Everything that God says in His Word is truth. And everything that He says He's going to do has come to pass. Because He said it. That's where my hope lies. I'm expecting it. By faith, I have hope in God's Word. By faith in Christ Jesus, what He promises He will do.

Look, you know, This scripture very well, in 1 Corinthians 1.30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. God's word tells me that in Christ Jesus, I have wisdom. Right now standing before you, I have wisdom. I have righteousness that God demands. I have been sanctified. I have been declared holy by God. I've been redeemed. His blood's taken away all my sin and guilt, and I'm completely delivered by Christ's blood. Do you see that? I don't. You see it in yourself. No, we don't. Do I see these? No, I don't see these things. But by God's gift of faith in Christ, the faithfulness of Christ, I believe. I believe God's word. And in his word, do I hope. Right? That's what we do. We just live by faith, don't we? That's what the Lord tells us. And we wait on the Lord. We hope in the Lord. We believe by faith.

That one day when he comes again and we stand before God and the books are open, we're all judged by our works. Oh God, see me in Christ. See me in his person and in his works. Not mine. Not mine. Excepted in his person. Look over in verse seven. It says, let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy. And with him is plenteous redemption. Israel does not mean that nation over there. That's not what he's talking about. God has his elect spread all over the world and there is a remnant. There is a remnant in Israel, but he's not talking about that place over there. No, we know better. He's talking about his chosen elect in Christ. We are the true Israel. Remember when he wrestled with Jacob? We are Jacob. We are also Israel. God prevails us in Christ. The true Israel, we are a prince with God. Our union with Christ has made us the sons of God in him. Because God predestinated us to be the adopted children in Christ. God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his son.

Philippians 3 3 we read for we are the circumcision Which worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and we have no confidence in the flesh We trust in Christ and him alone and his righteousness So let all of God's elect hope in the Lord And look what God has done for you when God brings you to those depths and when God reaches in and pulls you out of those depths and shows you his glory and you experience his grace that is so sufficient. You see his glory in his son. Go tell your brothers. Go tell your sisters. Go tell others what God What great things he's done for you. Because you were without hope. And you were without God in this world. Look what he's done for you. Look what he's given you. You don't deserve it. It's not for our. No, we didn't. That's God's grace is an unmerited favor. We don't earn it. We can't buy it. We don't deserve it.

pleased to give it to us just because it makes him happy. So you go tell others, you want to love your brethren, you tell them about Christ. You want to love each other, you want to love those that despitefully use you, declare the gospel to them. That hope that's in you, be ready. Be ready to tell them. Make sure you know how to explain the hope that's in you. It's Christ. It's Christ Jesus.

We're ambassadors. He's made us ambassadors in Christ. We're the bride of Christ. We're the church of God. Love ye one another as Christ loved his church and lay down his life for it. And tell them that there is mercy with the Lord. There is mercy. Tell them that there is plenteous redemption. Because His blood, His blood is a continuous fountain. And His grace is never ending. His mercy never ceases.

Salvation is of the Lord. His grace is sufficient. He gives His grace and it is endless. And He gives it as you need it. Just what you need.

Verse 8 in closing. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Yeah. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1, 21. It's finished. It's done. The great transaction is done. We're waiting for him to come again. With that hope, with that hope, with that With that faith, we're looking for him. We groan within. Words that can't be uttered. We ache for him to come. And all Christ Jesus, all that he died for, he's going to gather us together in him.

Let's go back to 1 John chapter 4. Verse 9. And this was manifested, the love of God towards us, because God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. You want to know what love is? Here is love right here. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The acceptable, effectual sacrifice that God's pleased with.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. It's your reasonable service. God gives you the ability, gives you the new man, gives you the love. Believe him, trust him. He's merciful and holy, and there is forgiveness in him. There is forgiveness.

Out of the depths have I cried unto the Lord. Oh, my prophet, my priest, my king, my all in all. Ever living to intercede for us, our only advocate, our only hope, our only acceptance with the Father. Out of the depths, hear my cry, O Abba Father, in Christ. As the publican said, he couldn't even lift up his eyes. And he just beat on his chest. We cried, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Be propitious to me.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.