Well, I want to turn your attention
this week to Psalm 130, Psalm 130, which is a short psalm,
but it's rich with gospel truth, and I've called it the Israel
of God redeemed, this message, the Israel of God redeemed. Now,
as you know, today is what's called Easter Sunday, and Christendom,
I'll call it that, making a big fuss of it as they
always do and there's lots of sentimental traditionalism and
all sorts of things have done these passion plays that seem
to becoming more and more popular and uh... Where does it get them
to? They're all trying to please
God as they think fit. All of them. They're all trying
to please God. Meanwhile, flying in the face of clear instructions
in the Word of God. You know, like some of the ones
that we saw last week in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, or was it the week
before, about letting the women keep silence in the churches.
And yet, half of these church places, their services will be
led by women today. They're doing that which they
think is trying to please God while flying in the face of what
the word of God says. But meanwhile, for the true Israel
of God, the true people of God, in a little passage of scripture
like this in Psalm 130, There's tremendous encouragement. You know, there's not a kind
of a beating of the air trying to make ourselves feel good with
God. There's rock solid truth here. Let Israel hope in the
Lord, says verse 7. For with the Lord there is mercy.
No doubt. And with him is plenteous redemption. I wonder if there's enough to
say. Plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquity. There's an exhortation there.
There's a reason for that exhortation. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
There's a reason for it. Because there's mercy and plenteous
redemption. Why should you hope? in the Lord,
because there is mercy with the Lord for sinners. There is plenteous
redemption with the Lord for sinners. There is the promise
that he gives. He shall redeem his Israel, his
people, from all of his iniquities. And that state is arrived at
by way of ascent. Do you notice it's a song of
degrees? Lots of these psalms are songs of degrees. Songs of
going up. Songs of ascent. It's a song
of ascent from the depths. From the depths. Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Out of the depths. It's arrived
at this state of joy in the Lord and His salvation beginning in
the depths, arrived at by way of ascent. How different the
tangible, rational well-being of God's true people that we
see here to that intangible mysticism of baseless human religion that's
out there in the world today. Let's read this psalm through.
It's well known. I mean, again, you know, have
you not been noticing as we've been looking at several psalms
in recent weeks, you know, you hear people say how Beautiful
is the language of the King James translation of the scriptures.
It is, isn't it? It's awesome. Absolutely beautiful. 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, 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. 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 iniquity." Israel. This is, we want to see Israel.
Who is this? Who is this? Then where do they
start from? And what do they see on their
way concerning eternal justice? And then they're waiting for
God to give light, and then they're glorying in that light. So who
is this Israel? Let Israel hope in the Lord. You might read it, as I'm sure
many do, and say, oh, this is the folks that live around Jerusalem,
in the land of Palestine, in that which is called Israel,
in the Middle East, in these days. Let me tell you, it has
nothing whatever to do with that. We read Romans chapter 4 before. We could also have read Galatians
chapter 4. It is perfectly clear what the
Apostle Paul teaches there concerning those who are the true Israel
of God. Those who are God's people. And
it's those that have the like faith of Abraham. This is what
Galatians 6 verse 16 says. I know you know it because I
quote it many times. It says, and as many as walk
according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon
the Israel of God. They're the same thing. The Israel
of God. God's Israel. There's an Israel
which is a political Israel, the manufacturing of man, but
this is the Israel of God. Upon the Israel of God. Blessings
he's talking about. Upon the Israel of God. It's
God's people. It's his elect people. What was
the land of Israel in the time before Christ came, in the Old
Testament time? It was a picture of the true
people of God. It was a picture. Physical Israel
was a picture of the Israel of God. It contained the Israel
of God as it was at that time. It contained those who had true
faith, who truly looked for the Messiah to come. It contained
them. But they are not all Israel,
says Paul, which are of Israel. They're not all Israel. They're
not all true Jews who are just born by descent. No, not at all. No. It's having the like faith
of Abraham. It's having the like faith of
those patriarchs. They're sinners. as Jacob was
a sinner. Genesis 32 verse 28 was the,
that chapter 32 is the account of where Jacob wrestles with
a man and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the pre-incarnate
Lord Jesus Christ. He wrestles with a man and you
know his hip socket goes out of joint and he always limps
thereafter because he spent the night wrestling with the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in that encounter, in that
wrestling, he would not let him go till he blessed him. And God
blessed him. God in Christ blessed him. But
here's the sinner, Jacob. The cheat. The swindler. The
deceiver. Is that not what we are by nature?
In our flesh? In our sins? As the children
of Adam, we have the nature of Adam. He's our first parent and
we have that nature of his. That nature of sin. That nature
of defilement. We're sinners, Jacob. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the one with whom he wrestled, appeared to him
and said, what is your name? He said, Jacob. He said, you
will no longer be called Jacob, but you will be called Israel.
for you're a prince with God. A prince with God. A sinner. He says, I'm going to call the
name of this place Peniel, because I, a sinner, have seen God face
to face, and I've lived. I've seen God face to face. This is what it is to be one
of these people, to be like Jacob, a sinner, chosen of God, and
shown the presence of God in the Lord Jesus Christ shown that
you're loved of God everlastingly for the scripture says Jacob
have I loved Esau the rest have I hated have I left to their
own devices Jacob have I loved and how has he done it because
of what they are because of the good that they have no by grace
alone it's by grace alone it's by the gift of God alone It's
just absolutely, it's not as one old man once said to me,
he believed in the doctrine of election. What's the doctrine
of election? I'll elect whoever will have
me. That's not what the scripture says. It's what the heart of
man likes to think, but it's a lie. It is not true. It is
not true. He makes his people willing in
the day of his power, but he doesn't choose them because they
might have chosen him. Not in the slightest. As the
scripture says, those, John chapter 1, those that are born, not of
blood, not of natural descent, nor of the will of the flesh,
they didn't will it, they didn't decide to choose God, nor of
the will of man, but of God. But of God. It's God that makes
the difference. As Romans 9 says, it's not of
him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God who shows mercy. They're redeemed, Revelation
5, 9 and 10. Christ, it says there, has redeemed
us to God by His blood out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue,
and made us kings and priests to God. Israel, princes with
God. Jacob, make princes with God.
It's the world of his elect. It's the world of his elect.
Not just one race, the world. God so loved the world. A world
of his elect. Out of every tribe and kindred
and tongue. No distinctions, no barriers
of race, a world of his elect that God so loved that he gave
his only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in him. Whosoever?
Those whom he gave. The father gave to the son, those
that he made willing in the day of his power, those whom the
spirit quickened by the sovereign grace of God. It's a specific
thing. Israel quickened. Israel made
alive. The people of God made alive.
And this is it. It's not just the elect, because
I'm sure, as we're still here, and the end has not yet come,
there must be those who are out there who are God's people. who
were ordained to eternal life from the beginning of time, as
Acts 13, 48 says. Those that were ordained to eternal
life believed the gospel, and they do. There'll be some out
there, now, who are children of wrath, even as others, who
don't believe these things. They're the elect of God, but
they must believe. They must come to believe the
truth, because it's those who are made alive. This is the Israel
of God that rejoices in these things. This is the Israel of
God that is exhorted to hope in the Lord. It's those that
have believed the truth, those that have been made alive. It's
said in that verse, Galatians 6.16, and as many as walk according
to this rule and upon the Israel of God. As many as walk. It's
an active thing. An active thing. You know in
Romans 8 when it says at the end of chapter 7, Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Oh, what a dilemma. The things
I want to do I don't do and vice versa. Who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? I thank God through Christ Jesus,
my Lord. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. And then he qualifies it with
a very important qualification. No condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. It's an active walk now. It's
those who are now believing the truth of God. It's the Israel
of God who believe the gospel of grace. Are you numbered with
God's Israel? If you're numbered with God's
Israel, some things will characterize your walk. Look at verse one.
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." Out of the depths. You've come
from the depths. What depths am I talking about?
I'm talking about depths of knowing what you are by nature. Knowing
about sin. Knowing the truth of sin. Knowing
that sense of conviction of sin. Of what I am. You know, it is
such a precious thing to be a sinner. What's that, Hame says it, doesn't
it? A sinner is a precious thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
There are so few that are sinners in this world, by which I mean
so few who know or acknowledge or have any sense of the fact
that they are sinners. We see sin and its effects all
around us, but so few people think that they are sinners. God be merciful. As those men
stood by the temple wall, and Jesus pointed out to his disciples,
and he said, look, there's the Pharisee. And he's praying, oh
Lord God, I thank you that I'm not as other men. I give tithes
of everything I own, and I do this and I do that, and surely,
Lord, Lord, haven't I done all these things in your name, and
surely you must accept me. And he said, he's not accepted
by God. God will say to him in that day, depart from me, I never
knew you. But he said, look over here.
Here's the publican, despised for his sinnerhood, for his immoral
behavior, for his dishonest, untrustworthy behavior. And he
knows what he is. And he beats his breast. And
he says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Be merciful to
me. I'm only aware of one thing.
I am a sinner who must meet a holy God. He's in the depths. He's
crying out to God, out of the depths. have I cried unto thee,
O Lord, Lord, hear my voice. God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
It's to be in the place where Jonah was, in the belly of that
fish. I don't mean literally, but there,
God brought him to his senses. And he cried out of the belly
of that fish. And he prayed to God. And he
knew something of the gospel of his grace. He knew there,
you can see gospel seeds in what he saw. It's to be like Jeremiah
who was let down. Jeremiah 38 verse 6, they let
him down, they tied ropes around him under his armpits and they
let him down into that miry pit where he had to dangle in that
horrible mire for days on end. And that's where he was, he was
in those depths, as the psalm says. Words of our Lord Jesus
Christ on the cross when he bore the sins of his people. Psalm
69 verse 2, I sink in deep mire. I sink in deep mire. Psalm 40
verses 1 to 3 say this, I waited patiently for the Lord and he
inclined unto me. I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. Lord, hear my cry! He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the depths, out of the miry clay. He set
my feet upon a rock. What's that rock? It's the rock
which is Christ. It's the rock which is Christ,
the solid rock, to which he anchors the soul of his people. He set
my feet upon a rock, he established my goings, and he hath put a
new song in my mouth. Me? Sinner? Who is in the depths
of sin? He, God, has put a new song in
my mouth. It's a song of praise unto our
God. Why? Because he's taken me out
of this horrible pit. He set my feet upon a rock. Many
shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Out of the
depths. The true people of God, the true
Israel of God, the true believing Israel of God have known what
it is to hunger and thirst for righteousness. To have that soul
aching desire to be right with God. for it to be well with my
soul, to know that I'm in a position by nature where I'm not right
with God, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God, that our God is a consuming fire who must
judge sin, and to long for it to be well with my soul. To cry
out with Job, how shall a man be just with God? To have cried
out to him, out of the depths, have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications." Now I want
to show you something. In your King James Version of
the Bible, you know, the very words, the very The very structure is very, very
important. It carries meaning. You know,
there's that one place in Galatians where Paul is explaining about
the seed of Abraham and he says, it's not unto seeds as of many,
but unto the seed, which is Christ. You know, it's subtle. One letter.
You talk to the peddlers of the modern translations. Oh, we just
bring it into modern language. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter. It doesn't matter what it says. Let's just do it so
that people can understand it today. And in the process, they
completely lose the true meaning. Look at verse 1. How is LORD
written there? Is it not written in what we
call small caps on your computer? L, capital O, capital R, capital
D. Now look in verse 2. LORD. L,
little o, little r, little d. Same again in verse 3, Lord and
Lord. Look at it, you see, there's
a difference. What's the difference? It's this. Lord in capitals is
the word Yah, Jehovah. Lord in small letters is the
word Adonai. the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
God in Christ, God manifested in Christ. O Lord, God manifested
in Christ, the one who met and wrestled with Jacob. Lord, hear
my voice. I cry unto you, O Lord, my God,
who dwells in unapproachable light. How am I going to know
you? O Lord, in Christ adonai, hear my voice. Let thine ears
be attentive to the voice of my supplications. He is the Word
of God. He is the Word. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. No man has seen God. No man has
seen Yah at any time. But Adonai, He has revealed Him. He has revealed him. He's the
manifestation of God to fallen man. He's made him known. Religion
cries out to its idea of a supreme God. You know, like the Muslims
cry out to Allah and so on and so forth. But only God's true
Israel truly cries out to Adonai, to God in Christ, to God in the
revelation of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. Oh, please hear me. Is this not
just a plea for mercy? It's a plea of helplessness.
Out of the depths I've cried, Lord hear my voice, let thine
ears be attentive. And in so doing, you must be
believing that he's there. Because it says in Hebrews 11
verse 6, that chapter of faith, it says that he who has faith
must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of those
that diligently seek him. We believe this God, who He is,
who He says He is. And then we see His eternal justice,
coming out of those depths. Lord, show me what I need to
know. Verse 3, the eternal justice of God. Coming out from the depths,
I must learn, I must experience something of God's justice. If
thou, Lord, God the Father, dwelling in unapproachable light, that
no man has seen at any time nor can see. If you, Lord, should
mark iniquities, if it's the case that you mark iniquities,
O Lord, O Adonai, O Lord Jesus Christ, O Son of God, O Messiah,
who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee, that thou mayest be feared. If you should mark iniquities,
of course he marks iniquities. Does God mark iniquities? It's
not a question that maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. It's
a hypothetical question. Of course he marks iniquities. Job chapter 10 and verse 14,
Job says this in his pain and anguish, if I sin, then thou
markest me. And thou wilt not acquit me from
mine iniquity, because the justice of God is absolutely rigid, inflexible,
unbending, cannot be changed. Psalm 90 verse 8. Thou hast set
our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy
countenance. Does God mark iniquities? Oh,
you bet he does. The scripture is clear. The scripture
is clear. If he should mark iniquities,
of course he marks iniquities. O Lord, O Christ, who should
stand? Who shall stand? Is there any
hope? Is there any hope there? There's
a God in strict justice. How dreadful is that justice!
But God in Christ, is there hope? Verse four, yes, there is forgiveness
with thee. There is forgiveness that thou
mayest be feared. Do you mark iniquities? Of course
he marks iniquities, but there is forgiveness with him that
thou mayest be feared. What does it mean here? It means
that there is everything that is needed for the sinner in the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's accomplished. There is forgiveness
with thee. And having been forgiven our
sins, not just swept aside, not just swept under the carpet,
not just hidden from sight, but taken away and dealt with and
paid for and put into a right relationship that in that relationship
you may be feared. You may be feared not as a terror
fear as the children of Israel before Mount Sinai when the law
was given, and they were terrified. They pleaded with Moses to cover
his face because they couldn't stand to look upon the glory
where he had been, speaking and communing with God. They were
terrified. They said they trembled exceedingly.
No, not that sort of fear. This is the filial fear. This
is a childlike reverence. Childlike reverence. It's like
in Exodus. God gave the law in chapter 20.
He gave the Ten Commandments and the thunderings and the lightnings
and then he gave, bit by bit, the means by which a sinful people
were to approach him, to find acceptance with him. As sinners
despite the fact that he is a God of severe judgment. And it was
in that which was all the Old Testament type and ritual and
service which pictured what Christ would do as the substitute for
his people. And in giving that, when we get
to chapter 25 of Exodus, he's giving the Ark of the Covenant.
and telling them how that should be. The Ark of the Covenant that
would go in the Holy of Holies, in the holiest place in the tabernacle.
And then later when Solomon built a temple, it was in the Holy
of Holies in the temple. And it was there that in verse
22 of Exodus 25, God said, I will commune with you. The terror
of Sinai is turned to the reverence, the reverence, the filial fear
of the mercy seat, but acceptance there. the mercy seat. And that's
what we have in Christ. There is forgiveness with thee,
O Lord, Adonai, that thou mayest be feared. There is forgiveness
with thee that we might come into that right relationship
with our Lord Jesus Christ, with our God in Christ. This is where
Yah, Jehovah, communes with Israel. Turn with me to Isaiah 42. Where
are we going to look You know, the religious world wants to
know how to do that which is right in the sight of God. And
yet the word of God tells us exactly what to do, to do that
which is right in the sight of God. Turn to Isaiah 42. What does God say to his people? What does God say to his Israel? He says, look, behold, Behold
what? Behold whom? Behold my servant. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect. Do you remember when we were
singing that first hymn? It says that Jesus was God's
first elect. They're profound words. Think
over that. Mine elect. Here it is. This
is where the hymn writer got it from. Whom I uphold. Mine
elect in whom my soul delighteth. This said God from heaven when
his son in human flesh walked this earth. This is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Listen to him. Look to him. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, that brass serpent, look at it
and you will live despite the bites of the things that are
the living embodiment of that thing which the brass serpent
represented. Look to him, Christ, who on a cross, a symbol of shame
and despising, despised thing. There he bore the sins of his
people. Look to him. I have put my spirit
upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles." He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
He shall not cry, but He'll do it gently. Nor lift up His voice,
nor be to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break.
It will be voluntary. And the smoking flax He shall
not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
into truth. Now look at verse 4. In doing
what he's doing, he shall not fail. He shall not fail in what? In saving the people from their
sins that the father gave to the son. He shall not fail. They shall not be left to chance. There shall not be one of them
who might or might not. It's absolutely certain. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth
and the isle shall wait for his law. Behold my servant. Behold my servant. This is what
God says. Behold my servant for there is
forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. And then going
on, we've learned something of the justice of God. We wait for
God's light. I wait, verse five, 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. Did you notice again there? I
wait for the Lord, Yah, Jehovah. My soul doth hope, and in his
word, who's the word? Christ is the word. In the beginning
was the word. My soul waiteth for the Lord,
Adonai, our Lord Jesus Christ, more than they that watch for
the morning. Do you see how those who try to make out in their
religion that Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, is not very God
of very God, so completely miss what the scriptures clearly declare? They clearly declare it. My soul
waiteth for the Lord. My soul waiteth for God manifest
in the flesh. More than they that watch for
the morning. I say more than they that watch for the morning.
They wait for God. They wait for God to speak. You
know there's a time when we should wait for God to speak. We should seek mercy, we should
cry out of the depths, but we wait for God to speak. We know
what he's like, we know how he's a just God who cannot overlook
sin and must punish sin. We know that we have no rights
to demand when it comes to God. We know there was a song that
we used to listen to years ago and it said quite rightly, blessings
are thine Lord to give or withhold. They're not mine to demand, blessings
are thine Lord to give or withhold. We don't come noisily demanding
into the presence of God, we wait, we wait. Ecclesiastes 5
verse 2, be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart
be hasty to utter anything before God. God is in heaven. You're on the earth. You remember
where you are. Wait for the Lord. Wait. But
I hope, I hope, I hope in his word. In his word do I hope. I hope in his suffering servant. Behold my servant, mine elect.
I hope in him. My only cry is, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. And we see pictures In the New
Testament, in the Gospels, of people who have been waiting.
There was that, obviously there were the ones in the temple who
were waiting for Christ to be revealed, Simeon and Anna. And
then there were various people that Christ came across, and
there was one in Matthew chapter 9 and verse 2, a man who was
sick of the palsy. He'd been bedridden for years,
many, many years waiting. And Christ came to him. Christ
came of Christ's own volition and said, son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. Arise, take up your bed and walk. They complained that he'd said,
thy son, thy sins be forgiven thee. And they said, who is this?
It's blasphemy. Who has the right to forgive sins but God alone?
And Jesus said to them, what's easier to do? To say your sins
be forgiven you or to say, take up your bed and walk? but that
you might know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive
sins. I say to this man, rise, take
up your bed and walk. And he did. And that said to
them, that said to them, here is the only man who is the God
man who has the power to forgive sins. Why? Because has he just
forgotten about them? Has he just said that we're not
going to make the rules apply anymore? No, he's dealt with
them. He's dealt with them. He's paid for them. He's paid
the price. So wait. It's like waiting for
the morning. I wait for the Lord more than
they that watch for the morning. I don't know if you've ever been
out in a situation at night where you're waiting for the morning
to rise. It's a thing to do once or twice
in life, is to get up while it's still dark. and wait for the
morning. It's a lovely experience at times,
but you know, there's that longing, is it going to come light? And
you see the very, very first glimmers of light in the eastern
horizon, watching for signs of light. This is waiting for Adonai,
for Christ, for Christ to come, to look to Christ, to shine. What does he shine? He shines
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in his own face,
in the face of Jesus Christ. When he was taken to the temple
as a baby and Simeon saw him, he said, rejoicing that God's
Messiah, that God's servant had come, he said, the day spring,
the morning, the day spring from on high has visited us. Here
he is. He held a little baby in his
arms and he said, the day spring from on high has visited us to
give light to them that sit in darkness, to give light to them
that are in that horrible pit, that are in those depths of darkness,
to give light to them that they might glory. in that morning
light, that they might glory in God's light. Verses 7 and
8. 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. This is the morning light of
the gospel. And Israel is exerted to hope
in the Lord. In all of your states of life's
experience, you know, there are ups and downs. There are trials
and there are difficulties. But what does it say? Let Israel
hope in the Lord. Where are you going to seek for
help in your distress? Let Israel hope in the Lord. Let Israel wait for the Lord. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because why? Because with Him, there is mercy. With Him, there is plenteous
redemption. This God, who is an inflexible
God of justice who must punish sin, with Him is mercy. With Him is mercy. Why? Because
He has found a way to be merciful to sinners. Not as if He was
looking for one. He formed that way before the
beginning of time. He determined that way. He's
found a way to be merciful to sinners. Deliver him, says Job. Deliver him from going down into
the pit. Deliver the sinner from going
down to that pit of hell that he deserves. Why? I have found
a ransom. What has he found? A ransom.
Matthew 20 verse 28. The Son of Man came to give his
life a ransom for everyone? No, for many, for his elect. The Son of Man came to give his
life a ransom for many. A ransom speaks of a price, and
its payment speaks of liberty. You know when they take hostages,
it used to be a thing of history, but with Somalian pirates in
the Indian Ocean on the east coast of Africa. It's a fact
of modern life if you dare risk taking your sailing yacht over
there. You get captured and they demand
a ransom for your liberty. And when they've been paid the
ransom, they set you free. You have liberty. This is what
it's speaking of. Payment equals redemption price. It equals satisfying the debt. It's the price to God's unbending
justice. And it's plenteous. Plenteous
redemption. Plenteous payment. How much?
Sufficient. Enough, sufficient for the sins,
mark my words carefully, sufficient for the sins of all of God's
Israel. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
let the Israel of God hope in the Lord, because with Him is
enough redemption price to pay for every sin of all of His people. None left to waste, And that
gives us a good reason to hope in the law. He's done enough.
He has finished it. He has finished the work he came
to do. He's done enough to clear every law debt of the Israel
of God. Verse eight, and he shall redeem
Israel from all his iniquities. What shall his redemption accomplish?
The redemption of Israel from all his iniquities. Does that rejoice your heart
when you hear that? doesn't get you so far. There's
so many preaching a gospel which is no gospel. It's not good news,
it's terrible news. You've been taken. We've just had that
terrible ferry disaster. Just imagine, you've been taken. For most of us, say we were just
crossing the English Channel. Let's say that that is something
that the vast majority of us could not swim. and you've been
taken across that channel and you get within, say, a mile of
the port of Calais, and the boat turns over and sinks, and there's
no one to rescue, you know? Some people preach a gospel which
is, the gospel has taken you so far and then left you to your
own devices, to do the last mile in the water by yourself, living
as if you're responsible to the law to do it. You can't do it. It's impossible. You will never
ever get there. But the truth says this, he shall
redeem Israel from all his iniquities, which is why that hymn writer
wrote, my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to his cross,
and I bear it no more. Many will go home from their
Easter church services today perplexed as to whether they're
in a good relationship with God. And that's quite right that they
should do that. It's quite right when you listen
to what they here, and what they're told to believe, it's quite right
as to whether they should question whether they're in a good relationship
with God. That's quite right. There is no peace outside of
Christ. There is no peace outside of
not what they call Christ, but outside of God's Christ. who
has redeemed Israel, his Israel, from all his iniquities. These
are the key things. Do you know God's Christ? And
do you know that you're among God's Israel? Have you trusted
him? Have you got a good hope that
you're among his people? If you do this morning, this
is cause for rejoicing. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
Let Israel rejoice in this light. He's brought us out of this pit,
out of the depths. He's brought us and shown us
what he is like, but he's given us cause to hope because with
him is mercy and plenteous redemption and that promise of redemption
from all iniquity. If you're there, rejoice in it.
If you're there, rejoice in it. It's something to bring forth
praise, which is why the scriptures so often show praise coming forth
from that situation. But if not, if not, we're still
here. Seek the Lord while he may be
found, says the scripture. Seek him while he may be found.
Call upon him. Ask him. Cry out from the depths.
Ask him to show you your true state and grant you his gospel
light.