And that song was fantastic,
wasn't it good? Wow. It's so good to be with you. I was sitting there a second ago
thinking how many years that I've been
having the privilege to be associated with this assembly. And I thank
God for his mercy that I'm still here. I'm thankful for that.
I still want to be here. And I'm thankful to see you.
So many friends. I thank God for you. Pray the
Lord bless you. Day doesn't go by. Lord knows my heart. I'm not
going to say I'm never forgetful, but as far as I can remember,
the day doesn't go by I don't pray for this assembly. I pray
in God, have mercy. Be pleased to maintain you, keep
you. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Psalms, Psalm
130. I truly believe in my heart that
this is the psalm to my heart for today. Think how merciful the Lord is
to speak to His people. He said, My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow
me. And I think, when he said two
or three are gathered together, when two or three are gathered
together, I am in the midst of them. What a glorious thought. Somebody
would say, you truly believe the Lord's here, Jimmy. I truly
believe He's here. The Spirit of God moved the psalmist
to say, Psalm 130, out of the depths, have I cried unto thee, O Lord?
Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? but there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mightest mayest be feared. I wait for
the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My
soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning. I say more than they that watch for the morning. Let
Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy,
with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. What comfort that we've got the
Word of God. We've got a book that has been
maintained by the grace and power of Almighty God. The Spirit of
God moved. upon David to say, Thy word is
a lamp unto my feet. This word that shows us, number
one, who God is. Shows us who we are. And shows us how God can be just
and justify a sinner. Now this psalm sets forth the
direction of the cry of one that's been made to see what he is by
nature, a sinner. A sinner. What a blessed Revelation. Somebody said, you talk about
a blessed revelation and know that you're a sinner? Yeah. This is the kind of people that
Christ came to save. He said, I didn't come to save
righteous, but to cause sinners to repentance. Here's the heart of one that's
been made sensitive to what he is. Listen to it. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee. Where else are you going to go?
When all those folks left the Lord, When they heard Him preaching,
they said, that's a hard saying. Who can hear that? Who can know
that? Who can believe that? Who can
find rest in that? That's a hard saying. And they
followed Him no more. The Lord turned to His disciples
and said, will you go away too? Will you go away also? Peter said, where am I going
to go? You that know Him, where are you going to go? Unto thee
have I cried, O Lord." I want you to hold your Bible. Turn
with me to Matthew 15. Matthew 15. I'm not going to tell you anything
you hadn't heard before. You've been blessed to sit under
a faithful pastor. It's taught by the grace of God.
I'm going to just tell you some things you've heard before. That'll
be okay. You don't want to hear anything
new anyway. You want to hear just exactly what these scriptures
have to say. Tell me, tell me again, tell
me one more time what God said. Tell me that. Matthew 15. The Scripture says in verse 21,
Then Jesus went thence, and departed unto the coast of Tyre, and sighed.
And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast, and
cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son
of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. And the Scripture says that this
woman came and she cried unto him. Now that word right there
means she called out. That's what it means. She called
out unto the Lord. Look at verse 23. But he answered
her not a word. She called out unto the Lord
and he didn't say anything to her. Now this woman's in trouble. And the next thing that we know
is that His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her
away, for she crieth after us. Now that word right there, that
second word, that's not the same word. She cried unto the Lord,
called out to Him. She's in trouble. Why? Her daughter's grievously vexed
with the devil. And he doesn't say anything to
her. And then his disciple says, send
her away because she is shrieking now. She's crying out like a
raven, that's what it means. What she's doing is she's screaming
out a cry that's not even utterable. This woman, they're saying, you
send her away. She's beside herself. Two different
words. She called out. He didn't say
anything. And she started shrieking after
him. This was her last hope. If he doesn't say anything, what do I have? Send her away. David said back
in Psalm 130, out of the depths, I don't know, I don't know the
depths to which some have suffered. I don't even know the depths
that I can describe it. When you come to a point where
you have no Where else to go? You have nowhere else. Out of
the depths have I cried unto thee. Now look at the word at
the end of that first verse. I've cried unto thee Jehovah.
Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital T. I cried unto Jehovah. Then he says though in that second
verse Adonai, Messiah, Lord, hear my voice. I cried unto Jehovah,
but there's only one way that Jehovah's going to hear me. One
way, Al. The Lord said, I am the way,
I'm the truth, I'm the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. So the psalmist says, Lord Jesus, hear my voice. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. Lord, out of the depths have I cried
unto Thee. Not to the second causes, not
to my faith, not to my church membership, not to anything that
I've done, my walking down the aisle, my being baptized. Lord,
out of the depths I cry unto You. Can mercy be found for somebody
like me? The one before whom the stars
are not pure in his sight? The one that puts no trust in
his servants and charges his angels with folly? Is there any
help for me? Hold your places again. Turn
to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45, verse 22. Now listen, here's some hope. I've entitled this message, Hope
for Those in Trouble. If you're in trouble, if you've
got trouble. Isaiah 45, 22, "...Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For
I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself the Word
that is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not
return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall
swear." Surely shall one say in the Lord, have I righteousness
and strength. Even to him shall men come. All
that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord
shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. Back in Psalm 130. Verse 2, Lord. Lord Jesus. you who are the beloved Son,
you in whom the Father is well pleased. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. Lord, hear my voice. Lord, I
know you've heard others. Hear me. But your ears, your
ears, no one left to appeal to, but the Lord to you. Now here's a needy sinner calling
out to God Almighty, to Jehovah, but he knows, he that hath a
son hath life. He that hath not the son, Hath
not life. So Lord, I'm calling to You.
Lord, the Father, we're here to You. I love that passage over
in Revelation 12, when that mighty angel had that incense, had much
incense, and he took the prayers of the saints. These prayers,
we don't even know what to pray. I don't know what to ask. I'd
say this assembly comes crossed my mind, I don't know what to
ask. Lord, would you take what I don't
know what to ask and would you ask it? On the behalf of a needy
sinner, would you present it before the throne in the incense
of your merit? Would you say what I don't know
what to say? Lord, hear my voice. Lord, you, you, you that has
redeemed your people by the shedding of your own blood, you that's
met every demand for righteousness. Lord, there's one mediator between
God and men, and it's you. And I know it's you. Lord, hear me. Hear me. You know, a needy sinner cries
out of the depths. What is the depths? I don't have
anything of myself to offer. I don't have anything. I'm a
sinner. This is what I am. I am a sinner
that needs a savior. I've told people I grew up in
false religion thinking that, you know, They always told me,
you know, these people are floating down the river, just throw them
a lifeline, stuff like that. You know, throw them something
to grab hold of so you can haul them in. I'm thinking, no, according
to the Scriptures, there's corpses out there just floating down
the river that can't do anything. God's gonna have to rescue them.
God's gonna have to save them in spite of them. Psalm 3, verse 4, says, I cried
unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy
hill. He heard me out of the one in
whom He set the king on His holy hill. Psalm 130, verse 3, If
thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, Who shall stand? Now again, look at it. If thou, Jehovah, shouldest mark
iniquities, Lord Jesus, who will stand? He's crying out unto Him who
is Almighty God Jehovah, and the One who is at His right hand. the great high priest, one who
ever liveth, to make intercession for us, that you go call to him. Lord help me. The psalmist again
acknowledges that. Turn to Psalm 110. Let me show
you why I'm saying what I'm saying. Psalm 110. Psalm 110, verse one, the Lord,
Jehovah, Senator my Adonai, sit thou at my right hand till I
make thine enemies thy footstool. So this is who the psalmist is
appealing to. He's going to cry unto the Father.
He's going to cry unto Jehovah. He who is of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. I'm going to appeal to him. and
whom the Father is well pleased. I'm gonna ask Him. Come unto
me, all ye labor, ye heavy laden, you come to me, and I'll give
you rest. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, now listen to this,
I will in no wise cast out, I'm not gonna cast you out. Lord,
I believe you. I believe what you said. Lord,
I'm guilty. Out of the depths. And I deserve
punishment. And I admit it. Lord, if you don't mark iniquity against
me, I know you're going to mark it. You're going to mark it. Because you're not going to sweep
it under the rug. But Lord, you're either going
to mark it against me or you're going to mark it against your
son. Lord, if you mark it against me, who's going to stand. I have no hope. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now you want to know a blessed
man, a blessed woman, Those to whom the Lord will not charge
them. Are we chargeable? We're chargeable. Are we guilty? We're guilty.
Have we sinned? I think we just heard what God
has to say from Psalm 51. I know, I know. Yeah, are we
guilty? Our sin is ever before us. Oh,
the blessing. that you won't charge me with
it. But charged it to Him to whom I appeal right now. He was made sin. He was made sin. That we might
be made the righteousness of God. One of these days I'm going
to understand that by the grace of God. I believe it by faith,
oh, the depth of what we just considered in 2 Corinthians 5. Lord, you've answered the law's
demand for justice. You said that you laid down your
life for the sheep. Lord, your Spirit moved upon
the Apostle Paul to write, Romans 8, 1, There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which be in Christ Jesus, to them who
walk not after flesh, but after the Spirit. Lord, you have eternally
stood as the surety of your people. You're the great Judah. It stands for your Benjamins.
Remember that passage in Genesis? I love this. I wrote this down.
Genesis 43, 9. I will be surety, is what he
said. I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt I require him,
if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee. Let
me bear the blame forever. Our great Judah said that. All
that you've given Me, if I bring them not to you, I'll bear the
blame forever. And you know what? He shall not
fail. He shall not fail. Verse 4, But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. There is forgiveness
with Thee. There is forgiveness with Thee.
Lord, You forgave David. Lord, You forgave Peter, the
thief on the cross, the woman caught in adultery,
Paul the apostle. There is forgiveness with thee that you might be feared, that
you might be reverenced. There's forgiveness with thee,
not that you might be presumed upon. You just say, well, you
know, if I sin, I'll just, you know, I'll ask the Lord to forgive
me. No, no. That's just not a good attitude.
That's horrible. That's not the heart of a believer. There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mightest be reverenced, and honored, and hailed in awe,
and worshipped, that you might be feared. Not
the fear of a slave, but that loving, reverential respect. There's forgiveness with thee
that you might be feared. You know, when that particle,
by the grace of God, came to himself, he's going back to his
daddy and he's rehearsing. He's got his story down. He's
got it rehearsed. I just love the way his dad just
disregarded all the stuff he was getting ready to say. He
started confessing why. He reverenced his dad. What a
picture of the reverence that God's people, a sinner, regenerated
by the grace of God, has for the Lord. There's forgiveness
with you. There's forgiveness with you.
The Scripture says the fear, the reverence of the Lord is
the beginning, and that's the first fruit of wisdom. You respect
Him. When we pray, Lord, we come before
you in the name of the Lord Jesus. Respect. Robert Hawker made this
statement. He said, the fear of the Lord
is among the sweetest exercises of the renewed nature. God's
people reverence Him. Reverence Him. Not too long ago, he stood up
and he said, you know, the greatest fear that I have is disrespecting
the Lord. Not meaning to, but just disrespecting
Him. I thought, that's right. That's
right. I was sitting here a moment ago,
getting ready to stand up and speak. And I'm telling you, I just tore
all the pieces inside. Somebody said, Still? Still? Yeah. You just don't get up here. Y'all don't sing. You don't do anything. Read the
Scriptures. There's forgiveness with thee
that thou mightest be feared. The psalmist said in verse 5,
I wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait, and in His
Word do I hope. I wait. Here's what it means. I look
eagerly. I look eagerly. I look for. I look for. I wait for the Lord,
my soul doth wait. In His Word do I hope. That is,
I expect that He shall do as He says. In His Word, do I hope? I expect. I'm expecting. What He said He's going to do,
He's going to do. I expect that. Why? Because His Word's not going
to fail. It's not going to turn void.
It's going to accomplish exactly. I wait, the Lord, my soul does
wait. I rest. I rest in Him. You know what I believe the Lord's
going to do today? Just exactly what He's pleased to do. That's
what He's going to do. What is that? I don't know. Don told me one time. He said,
Marvin, we never know what God's doing. We never know. I don't
know how many times I've repeated that. You've heard me tell it
a thousand times. We don't know what God's doing.
But I know whatever He's doing, it's right. And it's just. And it's going to be according
to His will. I know that. I wait on the Lord. I wait on the Lord. What are we going to do today?
We're going to assemble ourselves together. We're going to read
the Scriptures. We're going to sing praises to
His name. We're going to preach the Gospel. We're going to ask
Him to bless it. And we're going to wait on the
Lord. Believer says that's all I want
to do. That's all I want to do. That's all I can do. Where else
we going from there? My soul, verse six, waiteth for
the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say
more than they that watch for the morning. A soul that's been made to behold,
to see. The Lord Jesus Christ is pleased
to wait. Waiting by nature, that's the
hardest thing in the world for me to do. Just sit there. Just sit there. I probably told
you this last time I was here, my dad had a saying when I was
growing up. He said, boy, We're going to
do something today if it's wrong." I thought, yes sir. Whatever. He just couldn't stand for me
to stand there. He could not stand for me to be idle. But
a believer in his heart. Where else you going to go? What
else you going to do? My soul, my soul. waiteth for
the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I've used this illustration when
I think about that scripture right there. I had a dear friend and he got out of college in the
late 60s and immediately he was in Vietnam. He's got his degree
as a lawyer. Here he was. He told me, he said,
Marvin, he said I'd be out in one of those guard towers on
the perimeter of a base. And he said, I'm up there in
this guard tower with a rifle. And he said, I know they're out
there. And he said, I just could not wait. just to see the sun
start coming up, so I could see, he said, I couldn't see anything.
He said, I just wanted it to be daylight again, so I could
see. I read that right there, and he said, I, my soul waiteth
for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say
more than they that watch for the morning. You know, it's always
worse at night, isn't it? It's always worse, night. You've just been through some
tough times, trying times. The night, the night. Oh, I just
wish I'd get my mind settled down, not be going so. As it does. If it would just
be morning, David said, I wait, my soul waits more, more than
they. More than they that watch for
the morning. Israel hope in the Lord. With the Lord there's mercy.
With Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from
all its iniquities. Let Israel. You know who Israel is? You know
who Israel is? Remember who Israel was? What name did his mom and daddy
give him? Jacob. Jacob. One night he was out. A man wrestled
with him, the man Christ Jesus. They wrestled till the morning. And the Lord said to him, he
said, let me go. And Jacob said, I ain't letting
you go till you bless me. he said, what's your name? You
know, that question was asked that boy one time before. His
daddy asked him that one time. Remember that? Remember he was
going to go in, he was going to stand before his daddy, Israel.
Isaac, Isaac. And here's Jacob, he came in
and he had on the raiment of his brother Esau, his mama, Rebekah,
had a word from the Lord. This woman was walking in the
light she had. She was walking in the light
of God's revelation. God told her, the elder is going
to serve the younger. She heard her husband, Isaac,
say to Esau, go out there and kill a deer. Prepare that venison
that I love. Bring it back, that I may eat,
and I'll bless you. And Rebecca, who heard that, said to Jacob, her son, you go
kill two goats. Bring it to me, I'll prepare
savory meat, such as your father likes. I'm gonna give it to you,
and you're gonna go get the blessing. He said, how, how? He don't know. He don't know. He don't know.
I'm a smooth man. Esau's a hairy man. She took
the goodly raiment of Esau, put it on. Took skins of those goats,
put it on his neck, his hands. I'm telling you, if you don't
see the blessing of standing before and receiving the blessing
in the person, of the Lord Jesus Christ robed in it, and if we
don't see that, we've missed the whole message. He walked
in, and his daddy asked him, he said, he said, are you Esau? You sound like Jacob. You feel
like Esau. Come here. Come here. Kiss me. He came and he smelled him. He
smelled that raiment. And he said, that's the smell
of my son. Now I'm telling you, Look at the beauty of this glorious
picture of standing. What are we in ourselves? What
are we? What are we? Jacob. Rolled in him. Isaac smelled
the smell of the females, smelled the smell of his son. And he
blessed him. Now years later, we're back to
the story of the wrestling. Let me go, not unless you bless
me. Years before, his daddy asked
him, he said, who are you? He said, I'm Esau, I'm Esau. Now the Lord asked him that night,
they wrestled, and the Lord said, what is your name? What did he
tell him? Jacob, my name's Jacob, that's
what I am, I'm Jacob. That's the point. God-ordained vessel of God's
mercy. This is what he's going to say.
What's your name? My name's Jacob. He said, I'm old. Your name's
Israel. A prince with God. Psalm 130,
verse 7 and 8, let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord,
there's mercy. with Him that is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from
all of his iniquities. Again, as I said a while ago,
all that the Father giveth me, I'm going to have Him. He shall
come to me. And Him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast him out. Lord, thank You that You'd be
pleased to take this Jacob right here. And by Your grace, and
by Your power, and by Your mercy and compassion, You would make me an Israel in
Christ.