Tonight, if you will, I want
us to open our Bibles to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. I want to read these eight verses.
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 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. and with him is plenteous redemption,
and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. I want to
ask the question tonight, and I want to answer that question
in these verses. Who is it who in this world has
hope? Who in this world has hope? The fact is, many people have
a false hope. Many, many people in this world
have a false hope. And even we who know the Lord
Jesus Christ, who have heard His Word, heard His Gospel, at
one time the Apostle Paul says, this was our condition in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 12. He says, at that time, excuse
me, 2.12, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants
of promise, having no hope, no hope and without God in the world. Who are the people who have hope? And I want us to look at these
verses and see if this is answered in this text. First of all, I
want us to see, you see in verse seven, it says, let Israel hope
in the Lord. Our hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope. He is our hope. But the people who have hope,
first of all, and I'm going to have, I think, eight points.
I'll try to go through them quick. I know everybody is tired, but
I trust the Lord visits with us and speaks to us in His Word,
and I know you'll be comforted. That's what the Lord does to
His people. He comforts us with His Word. The first thing I want
to notice here of the people that have hope, first, are true
sinners. True sinners have hope. You see,
it says there, out of the depths have I cried, David is saying,
out of the depths. When a person is in this condition,
the depths, that means there is no soundness in me. So long as a person believes
that he has something with which to commend him to God, that person
has no hope. The scriptures talk about the
man that comes before the priest and he has a condition of leprosy.
Do you remember? He comes before the priest and
if he has a little spot of leprosy, the priest is to look upon him
and say, unclean. You're cast out. If the man has
all leprosy but a little bit of good, a little bit of good
skin, he's still unclean. But when that man is covered
from the head to the foot and there is no soundness in him,
when all he is is putrefying sores, there's nothing that could
commend you to God in yourself. That's a true sinner. It's not
so much what you do, what I do, it's who I am. I am a sinner. This is not just an agreement
that says, well, you know, I know I've sinned, everybody sins. But this is Holy Spirit wrought
conviction in the heart. All I am is sinner, a sin. Sinner
by birth, sinner by practice, and sinner by choice. I don't
blame anybody else for my sin. I am the sinner. A sinner justifies
God when God condemns him. What you say of me is true. Do you remember that Syrophoenician
woman when the Lord said, I'm not sent but to the lost house
of the children. I'm not sent to dogs. It's not
right to take the children's bread and give it to dogs. She
didn't get offended by that. You cannot offend a true sinner
by calling him a sinner. My dad has a dog, and that dog
doesn't know he's a dog, but I tell him he's a dog. I tell
him, you're just a dog. And you know what? That dog has
never been offended by me calling him a dog. I can't offend that. I can tell him any way I want
to. You're a dog. And he's not offended. I don't
care if I tell it to him soft or tough. I could yell it to
him. He's a dog. And that's the way a sinner knows
he... And this is a Holy Spirit conviction
of who I am before, out of the depths. There's no soundness. Oh God, there's no soundness
in me. Look at what Psalm chapter 40,
the psalmist says this, and what is really amazing is this is
what our Lord said when He was made sin for us. But this is
what we are made to understand and see of ourselves. This is
who we are. Psalm chapter 40, it said, verse 12, for innumerable
evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up There are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. There's no soundness in me. Out of the depths, the psalmist
said, I cry unto thee. Notice, it's only a person that
is lost that seeks the Savior. Out of the depths. A sinner someone
said is a sacred thing, a holy thing. The Holy Spirit made Him
so. The Holy Spirit revealed who
He was. Do you know who the Lord Jesus
Christ came to save? Sinners. True sinners. He didn't come to save those
who say, well, I've got a little problem with sin. He came to
save true sinners. He did not come to save His people's
finances. His people's jobs, or His family,
or marriages. He came to save sinners from
their sin. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. The psalmist said here, out of
the depths have I cried unto thee. Depths. This is not a superficial. This is not a superficial thing.
Depths. Depths of pride. Depths of self-righteousness. Depths of unbelief. Have you
ever tried to not just believe? What did that man say? Oh, Lord,
I believe. Help Thou mine unbelief. Do you
know how unbelief is sin? And even when you would do good,
evil is with you. Our faith, though, The Lord Jesus
Christ gives us faith and by that faith we believe. Our faith
is full of holes. Our faith is like a, it wasn't
whole water. It's like a, what do you call
those, colanders? It's like a colander, water just
go through it. At the same time that we believe,
we have doubts and fears, anxiety. What's that? That's just another
name for unbelief. Unbelief. These ones who have hope are
those who know they're sinners. The Apostle Paul said, I'm the
chief of sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came to the world
to save sinners of whom I'm chief. That's the first thing. God does
not hear a man who has a light problem with sin. A light problem
is, I'm a sinner and I have no hope. Out of the depths Have
I cried unto thee? You see, when a man cries out
of the depths, the Lord hears his cry. Can you see blind Bartimaeus? Think of this example we have
in the Scripture. Blind Bartimaeus. He's in the
depths of his darkness and his blindness. He'd been there all
his life, blind from birth. And he heard, there's a man,
his name is Jesus. He's the Christ. And everywhere
he goes, he's saving, he's healing people. He's healing people. And he hears the commotion going
on, and he says, what's going on? And they say, it's Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. He didn't
say, well, if I could just see him, I think I'd call on him.
No, out of the depths of His blindness He said, Jesus, Thou
Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus the Christ, the One that
was sent, have mercy on me. You have the power. Have mercy
on me. Out of the depths. The people
tried to make Him quiet, but He cried the louder. Can you
see that man dying on the cross? That one thief? That's all he
could do was die. That's all he could do was die.
He said, we're here because we rightly deserve to be here. But
this man has done no evil. He said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. That's depths. Depths at the
point of going into eternity. There's no hope for him if Christ
doesn't Hear His call. But the Lord saves sinners. Those who are true sinners. That's
who has hope. Those who are in depths of sin.
Not a shallow thing. Not a shallow thing. And number
two, those who have hope are those who call on the name of
the Lord. Out of the depths have I cried
unto Thee, O Lord. It's those who call on the Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let Thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. This cry
must be to the one who can say. This cry, when the Holy Spirit
convicts a man of sin, He convicts him also of righteousness and
judgment. The Holy Spirit is not convicting
everybody in the world of sin. He's convicting the same one
He convicts of sin because they have not believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, I can't believe unless You give me faith. It's the same one that convicts
them of the justice and the judgment that's in Christ Jesus because
He put away the sins of His people. This cry is to the one who can
save. Oh Lord, Jehovah. It's there
in capital words, L-O-R-D, Jehovah. Jehovah is the one who saves. Salvation is of the Lord. Our Lord said this in Isaiah
chapter 45 verse 20, they have no knowledge. They have no knowledge
who set up the wood of their grave and image and pray unto
a God that cannot save. If a man is going to have hope,
he's going to have to call on the one who has power to save. He's going to have to call on
the one who has the right to save. Our Lord said to these
men one time, they brought this bed in with this man on the on
the bed, and the Lord said, that sins be forgiven thee. And these
self-righteous religionists, they thought, oh, he's blaspheming.
No man can forgive sins but God only. They thought this in their
mind. They didn't say it out loud, they just thought it. And
Him being God, the Lord Jesus Christ being God manifest in
the flesh, said unto them, what's harder to say? What's easier
to say? Is it easier to say, take up
your bed and walk, or your sins are forgiving you? Well, it's
easier to say your sins are forgiving you. Look at all these priests
around that are doing it. They go on and they say, oh, I've
done this, that, and the other. They say, well, you know, you
repeat this and that, and say so many Hail Marys, and so many
Father, and your sins are forgiving you. That's easy to say, but
it doesn't go away. The only one that has the right
to forgive sins is the one to whom sin is committed. And only
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only because in Christ
God can be just and justify the ungodly. Only that way. But our
Lord said to these men, He said, what's easier? He said, well,
for you to know. So you know that the Son of Man
has power to forgive sins on the earth. He said, I say to
you, take up your bed and walk. And the man walked up and leaped
up and took his bed and walked out. My English is getting bad,
I can tell. But you know what I'm saying. Lord, the one who has the authority. Lord, if thou wilt, thou can
make me clean. He has the authority. All power,
all authority is given to me in heaven and earth. All authority. Jehovah, Lord,
is the name of God and His covenant mercies. The God of promise. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
has all authority, all power to save you? Then that's who
you'll call upon. There's no sense calling on somebody
who doesn't have power to save. But you know, that's what religion
says today. Religion all over the world.
God has done all he can, and now if you just let him, he'll
save you. What a blasphemy. What a lie. What a false hope. There is no hope in that one.
They have no knowledge. They're praying to a God that
cannot save, doesn't have the authority, doesn't have the power.
Notice, those who have hope are those who are sinners, and those
who have hope are those who call on the name of the Lord. Unto Thee, O Lord. Out of the
depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. Not to the church. The
church can't save you. Not to a man, a preacher, a pope,
pastor, evangelist. Not to the Virgin Mary. There
is no salvation. In any other name, there's only
salvation in that one name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not salvation, not a doctrine or a creed. The person, unto
Thee, O Lord, do I cry. I don't want to hear somebody's
sins. Take it to the Lord. I've got enough of my own. Keep
your trash. I'm sorry, that's just true. I had a man come the other day
who wanted to tell me what he did. And you know what he said? He said he was torn up. I'm not
going to tell you what he said, but I'm going to tell you what
he said. He was torn up. He wanted to talk to me after
service. He said, I have this problem with this sin, this one
sin. And all sin is bad. We're not promoting. sin or licentiousness
or anything. But I looked at him and I said,
is that all your problem? He said, yeah. I said, you've got
a bigger problem than you think. You've got a bigger problem than
you think. Because if that's your only sin, well, you just
about arrived. You just about arrived. You don't
know what sin is. You don't know what sin is. I
said, you keep coming to here. It's not just one sin. It's who
I am. Who I am. Whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. One of the sure marks
of one who has hope is he's calling. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. You know what the Lord said to
Ananias when He told him to go He talked to Saul of Tarsus.
He knew who Saul of Tarsus was. That one that was wrecking havoc
on the church. He thought, I heard about this
man. He said, Saul, he prayeth. That's all these religious Pharisees
did all the time. They prayed at the corners. They
did all this thing. But that was the first time he's prayed.
Calling on the name of the Lord. calling them. So those people
who have true hope, a lasting hope, a blessed hope, are those
who are true sinners, those who call on the name of the Lord,
those who cry unto the Lord. The Lord hears that cry. It's
like mothers, you know, when children are playing. They could
get real rowdy, but whenever there's a cry for help, the mother
knows exactly when that is. It says, O Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
my supplication. There's a third thing I see here
about those who truly have hope. Those who truly have hope are
those who own God's sovereign right to do with them as He pleases. Hear the voice of my supplication. It's not, well, I think I'm going
to let you save me. It's not, I think I'm going to
let you save me. It's my supplication. I'm coming as a beggar. Those
are the ones who have hope. As long as a man is coming, going
to save face, you know, he's going to come and make some grand
entrance or something. Everybody that's going to come
and have hope are coming like that one man that came to the
Lord and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me. I'm in your hands. hear the voice
of my supplication. It's a beggar. We come as beggars. The Lord Jesus Christ saves his
people in sovereign mercy. It's mercy. It's not because
a man deserves it. We come before the throne of
mercy. Mercy. And mercy is for the guilty. David, judging himself in his
personal judgment, he does not make excuses. He's not talking
like a bunch of religious people. He said, Lord, be attentive to
my supplication. He said, Lord, if Thou should
mark iniquities, who shall stand? He admits he's a great sinner.
Lord, if You call me, before your throne to answer, give account
for all my thoughts and all my deeds, just one, that's enough.
If he calls you before his throne and calls you to give an account
for your best deed, if he calls me to give account for my best
prayer, it's enough to send me to hell. I said enough, it's
more than enough. It's more than enough. Well, no man is going to seek
mercy until he confesses his guilt. No man is going to cry
for mercy until he's miserable. Lord, if thou shouldest mark
iniquity, who shall stand? I cannot stand. If you call me
before your throne to give an account, there's no hope. Where is he looking? A man that has hope, a man that
has true hope, where does he want God to be looking? Notice
it says, verse 4, but there is forgiveness with thee. Here's
the next thing, a person who has true hope is the one who believes God concerning
his word concerning, believe God's word concerning the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross to put away the sins of
his people. Look it again, he says, but there
is forgiveness with thee. He's not just guessing at that.
He's not just guessing at that. That's what God says. That's
what God says in His Word. There is forgiveness of sins
by the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. The man who
has hope believes God's Word. There is forgiveness of all sins
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the person who has hope.
That comes to God as a sinner, looking and saying, Lord, look
to your Son. There is forgiveness of sin. You said it. The Lord has said
it in His Word. There is forgiveness with thee.
It's not there may be forgiveness with thee. No, there is forgiveness
with thee. See how a man that has hope is
looking in faith, believing God's Word? He says, all that the Father
gives me shall come to me, and in Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Some people hesitate because
they think, well, I'm such a sinner. I've never kept anyone from coming
to Christ. Someone said that, I think it's
dispersion. He said, oh, I'm such a sinner. He said, it's
not your sin that keeps you. It's your supposed righteousness
that keeps you from coming to Christ. It's not your sin. He
came to save sinners. A person that believes God, believes
His Word, comes to the Lord. There's redemption
through His blood. And Ephesians chapter 1 says,
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. We have. Forgiveness of sin. The Scriptures
tell us this, that He was made sin for us. God did this. God did this. God took the sins
of His people and laid them on His Son. How could I know I'm
His people? Do you believe God? Do you believe
God? There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And then in 1 John 1.7 it says,
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. There is forgiveness of sins. All sins. That person has good
hope who comes to God by Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness
within that thou mayest be feared. A just brief note there, it says
that thou mayest be feared as worshipped, feared, reverenced,
honored. God's grace, the message of God's
grace is not a message of licentiousness. It's not a message that promotes
licentiousness. On the contrary, on the contrary. But anyway, let's look in the
next thing. There is forgiveness. with sin, of sin. There's forgiveness
of sin. The fifth thing I want us to
see. Who are those who have hope? Those who believe God's Word
concerning the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know I'm not going to be
able to say everything there is to say on that. But a person who
believes God, who Jesus Christ is, He's the Word of God coming
to this world, made flesh, established righteousness here in the world
as a man, obeyed God's holy law, and then went to the cross and
paid, died in the place of His people, put away the sins of
His people, that person that believed has hope, a sure hope,
a lively hope, He didn't stay in the grave. He's risen. And who are those who have hope?
Are those who wait for the Lord? Who wait? It says, I wait for
the Lord. My soul doth wait. In His Word
do I hope. I wait. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. The
Scriptures show us, tell us that we have been saved from eternity. We were saved when the Lord Jesus
Christ came into the world and put away the sins of His people.
We were saved when the Holy Spirit revealed Christ in us. But we're
still being saved. We're being saved today from
the power of sin. If the Lord didn't keep you,
you would go away. We're kept by the power of God
through faith. The faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ to His Word. And keeping you in faith. The
faith that saves us is the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. I wait for the Lord. Salvation
is of the Lord from beginning to end and everything in between. Our hope, like I said, is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ in you is the hope
of glory. And those, note verse 6, it says,
My soul waited for the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning. Who are those that hope? Are those that continue to believe,
to continue to wait, continue to wait on the Lord. My hope,
my soul waited for the Lord more than they that watch. One day
when you open your eyes, you who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and who are trusting in Him, one day when you open your
eyes and you see Him face to face, then you'll know you're
plumb saved. That's when you'll know you're
saved. That's the only, the only, there
have been many people who say they believe and by and by fall
away. But notice in Hebrews it said
these all died in faith. That's the work of God. He keeps
us until He comes and gets us. I wait more than they that watch
for the morning. Watch for the morning when the
Lord Jesus Christ comes for. I wait. I keep waiting. I keep
waiting. He's coming one day. Those have
good hope. Those people that make a profession
of faith and then they can't ever remember that He's not real. But those who have true hope
are those who are waiting. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming.
He's coming again. More than they that watch for
the morning, that continue to believe the Lord until He comes
for them. Who are those that hope? Verse
7, let Israel hope in the Lord. All God's people have this same
hope. Hope in the Lord. Those who are
the ones who have a hope in this world, though they hope in the
Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy,
and with Him is plenteous redemption." Mercy. You know, it's not like
we're just inventing this. We can't say anything of God
that He hasn't first said of Himself. That would be idolatry. That would be will-worship, to
say something of God that God hasn't said of Himself first.
But it says here, let Israel, let God's chosen people hope
in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy. God has said
this about Himself. God has said this about Himself.
He says, I will be merciful. I will show mercy. If He is determined to show mercy,
He must show mercy. You know, He passed by the angels
and they are left in chains of darkness to the day of judgment. But He is determined to show
mercy to His people. And so He is going to show mercy.
Mercy is for the guilty. The reason for our hope in the
Lord is He will show mercy. Another reason is when God shows
His mercy, it says He's as chief as glory. It says He's as chief
as glory. You know, Moses asked the Lord,
show me Your glory. Show me Your glory. And you know
what the Lord did? He said, I'm going to put you
in this cleft and I'm going to pass by and I'm going to proclaim
the name of the Lord. And I'm going to go over there
because I can't say it in Spanish, in English, in Exodus chapter
34. And this is the glory, the chief glory of God. How can God,
who is holy, holy, holy, save a sinner and still be God? How can He show mercy and still
be holy and righteous and just? That's His chiefest glory in
Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus, He's both just
and the justifier. In Exodus chapter 34, Moses had
seen all the works of the Lord and Moses said, show me your
glory. And the Lord said, I'm going
to pass by and I'm going to proclaim the name of the Lord. Verse 6
of chapter 34 says, So the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed
the Lord as Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful. Jehovah God, gracious, long-suffering,
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children and upon the children's children under the third and
the fourth generation. How can He say, I will by no
means clear the guilty, and at the same time say, I'll be merciful? Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ,
there's hope. It's His chief glory. So we have,
these things encourage us. It's His chiefest glory. And
here's another thing I want us to say, a reason for hope. He
has the power. He's able to say. We don't pray to a God that's
not able. Lord, He's able. He's able. He's able to save
to the uttermost them that come to God by Him, it says in Hebrews
chapter 7. I like that word, uttermost.
The uttermost. That means that He's going to
save the chief of sinners. Find the chief of sinners. Paul
said it was Him. Well, you can disagree with that,
can't you? You see, no one knows a sinner like himself if the
Holy Spirit shows him. Yeah, I'm convinced we don't
even know it then. I think we would go mad if we really knew
the evilness of our heart. But nevertheless, we say, oh
God, I'm the greatest sinner. If I describe the greatest sinner,
he's going to have mercy. Paul said it. He's already saved
the chief. That word uttermost means continually. It also means
the furthest one. The furthest one. He's able. You know, when you see people
that are hard, hard, hard, and you say, I don't think that person
can be saved. Well, you're right, you can't,
but God can. Isn't that great? You know, you think a person
is so far gone, I don't know if God can save him. That's wrong. That's wrong. He has power to
save to the uttermost. He could produce a broken heart.
I can't give myself a new heart, but he can. I can't save a sinner, but he
can. I can't put away guilt, but he can. He has the power.
He has the right. And the Lord is faithful. The
Lord is faithful. It says, He shall redeem Israel
from all this. I love that, shall. It doesn't
say He's going to try. He shall. That's God's will. That's God's
purpose. Can anybody stay in God's hand
and say, what are you doing? Ah, no, not our God. Our God
does whatsoever He wills. And He says, I, He shall. save
his people. He shall redeem, there's plenty
of redemption, plenty of redemption. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin. That's who has hope. That's who
has hope in this world, a sinner. A sinner who calls on the name
of the Lord in faith. A sinner who continues, who takes
his place. before God owns God's right to
do with me what you will. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Come to Him as a begging, as
a beggar. Believing His Word concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness. And waiting for the Lord to do
His will. That's a person that has hope.
May the Lord bless His Word. Thank you for having me here
this night. It's been a real joy.