Good morning to everyone. We'll
go ahead and begin. And let's find in our Bible then,
Psalm 130, when Brother Todd called me originally and asked
me to come and bring the gospel message. He just asked me to
bring the morning worship and the evening worship message.
Then he called back about six weeks later and said, oh, by
the way, How about taking care of the Bible study as well? And
I said, well, I'll be happy to do that for you. But when he
asked me, Psalm 130. It's been one of my favorite
psalms for many, many years. And when he asked me, immediately
my thought was to bring a study of this psalm. So let's just
read it, and then we'll have prayer, and then we'll glean
a few thoughts, okay? 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? I love
this word, B-U-T, but there is forgiveness with thee that thou
mayest be feared or worshipped. 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. And this is talking about the
true Israel of God, His elect. And the Lord is all our hope,
is He not? For with the Lord there is mercy,
and with Him, with Him, There is salvation. With him, there
is redemption. He's plenteous in redemption.
He shall redeem. He shall redeem Israel from all
his iniquities. Let's bow together and ask the
Lord to bless his word. Our Heavenly Father, again, What
a privilege to meet with your people, gather in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and ask for your mercy upon us today.
We thank you for the gospel of your grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ, for all the blessings you've freely given unto your
people for Christ's sake. May we honor you in our worship
today. May we honor you in the preaching
of the gospel. We pray for Brother Todd as he
is away in preaching. We thank you for him, for the
ministry you've given to him, and the blessings that you've
given upon this congregation. In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we do give thanks. Amen. Now, I'm entitling the
message, and what we read here is what I'm calling the experience
of grace. The experience of grace. or the experience of salvation.
And we know that a mere religious experience, a mere religious
feeling or excitement is not salvation. A lot of people have
experiences and they rest upon some feeling or some religious
experience they have had and think that that is salvation.
That is not salvation. That is just what it is, an experience. But salvation by the grace of
God is certainly something that the believer does experience
in the heart. And that's what salvation is.
Salvation is a heart matter. We're confident the apostle said,
that God who has begun a good work in you, He will perform
it. He will finish it. He will complete
it. The Lord, everything He starts,
He finishes right well. When God is pleased to work in
your heart, He'll never stop. That's an ongoing, continuing,
blessing of God that he works about the hearts of his people.
You see, salvation is more than just a religious experience.
Salvation is the invasion of God, the Holy Spirit, influencing
the mind, the will, the understanding, the affections by the power of
God, the Holy Spirit, revealing the blessedness of Christ in
your heart, in your mind, in your soul. I'm thinking of that
scripture that the Apostle Paul tells us about in Galatians chapter
1 when he said, but when it pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb, call me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. Salvation is a revelation of
Christ to your heart. His beauty, His glory, His righteousness. And when that happens, you see
in the Lord Jesus Christ that He is indeed altogether lovely
and that He indeed is all my salvation before God. This psalm begins with a heart
cry, doesn't it? Out of the depths, out of the
depths have I cried. It begins with a heart cry of
a believer and ends in verse 8 with complete confidence. He
shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Now the confidence
we have is not in us. We are the true Israel which
worship God in the Spirit that rejoice in Christ Jesus and we
have how much confidence in the flesh? None. No confidence in
the flesh. The whole of our salvation rests
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. All the assurance we have and
the confidence we have of forgiveness and pardon of sin is in Christ
and it's salvation by, and I love that word, grace. Grace. Sovereign grace. It's the only
kind of grace that there is. Now here we see in verse 1 and
2, 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. Now, God is no mere idol. He is the living, almighty, eternal
God. And because he is, he knows all
things, sees all things, and he hears the cry of his people. What a privilege we have as sons
of God. to call upon our Father, Abba,
Abba Father. Hear my cry, hear my plea. This is a pattern of grace. The
Lord makes us to know that we are guilty. He makes us to know
that we are sinners in his sight. We call this, well, we call this,
when he makes us to know that we are guilty. And when he makes
us to know that we're deserving of nothing but his wrath and
judgment, what do we call that? What is it known as? Conviction
of sin. That's what we call Holy Spirit,
Holy Spirit conviction. My pastor used to say this all
the time. If you miss Holy Spirit conviction,
you'll miss true repentance. If you miss true repentance,
you'll miss true faith. If you miss true faith, you will
miss Christ. If you miss Christ, you've missed
all of salvation. Where salvation is in a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse two. Lord, hear
my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
my cry. The cry of mercy will never go unheard. In the cry of mercy, we will
never cry for mercy until we know that we're in need. This is crying out of a need,
our need. What do you need? What do you
really need? I need Christ. I love that Scripture in Philippians
4 verse 19. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. I need Him. But you'll never
cry out for mercy until the Lord shows you you're in need. that
you are guilty, that you're in need of mercy. We'll never cry
for pardon from sin until we know that we're guilty before
the Lord, and that we indeed have sinned against Him, as David
said in Psalm 51, against thee, and thee only have I sinned and
done this evil in my sight. Has the Lord ever taught you
that? That you're a sinner? I'm not talking about what you've
done, I'm talking about what we are. what we are before God. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no,
not one. God by his grace does bring us
to the depths of our sin that we might cry unto him, but he
does not bring us to the depths of despair because he causes
us to cry out for mercy and we do come to him Dear brother David
Parker back here, I've known for 35 years, but you remember
the dear brother in the church there at Ashland, brother Roach,
he always had this, you remember what he talked about when he
prayed? He always talked about being a mercy beggar. You remember? That's what we
are. This is one beggar telling another
beggar where bread is found. I'm a mercy beggar. The Lord
says, come boldly unto the throne of grace that you may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. When the Lord is pleased to convict
us of sin, He will hear our cry and he will point us and show
us and reveal Christ into our heart. I've never read in the
word of the Lord, not one time, not one example, I've never read
in the word of the Lord that the Lord ever turned a mercy
beggar away. Now he turned some religious
folks away who came seeking salvation upon the ground of their works. But he's never turned a mercy
beggar away. One of my favorite stories is
Blind Bartimaeus. Why was he crying to the Lord
for mercy? He was blind. He needed sight. And when he heard of the Lord
Jesus coming by, what did he do? He cried out, Lord have mercy,
thou son of David. The fellows around him said,
he doesn't have time for you, just hush. And he cried the louder. Thou Son of David, have mercy
on me. I love what the scripture says
next. He stood still. I tell you, the cry of mercy
stopped the Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ showed mercy to
blind Bartimaeus. Is that you? May we never graduate
above being a mercy beggar. Taking our place at the throne
of grace and begging the Lord for mercy. Now look at verse
3. Here's a confession of a repentant
heart. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? If you're going to deal
with me upon strict justice because of what I am, guilty, sinful
before you, upon that ground, Who's going to stand? If God's
going to charge me with my sin because I'm guilty, and rightly
so, deserving of His wrath and judgment, can I stand before
God upon that ground? If I do, I'll perish forever. I'll perish forever. God is holy. God just won't sweep sin away. Sin demands a ransom. Sin demands payment. Thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our ransom. He is our pardon. He paid the full price for the
salvation of His people. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Not me. I can't stand upon anything I
have done, but I tell you where I can stand. I can stand in Christ. Look what he says in verse 4.
But, I love that word, don't you? B-U-T. It's a big word. It's a big word in scripture.
I often think of that verse there in Ephesians chapter 2, verse
1 down through verse 3 talks about everything that we are
by nature, dead in sin, children of wrath, even as others. And
then it says in verse 4, but God, But God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. For by
grace are you saved. But there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared. Now, we don't have time to turn
and read this, but I'm going to read it to you. but there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared." Now, when he's talking here about
fearing the Lord, I tell you, it's a good thing. It's a healthy
thing. Because only those who really
fear the Lord worship Him in spirit and in truth. Holy and
reverent is His name. We do fear the Lord. It's not
a slavish fear. It's a fear of awe, love, and
respect. We do fear the Lord and we do
worship Him. But there is the forgiveness
of sin. over in Romans 4. David also
described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes
righteousness without work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Wow. Ye mean there are some
people to whom the Lord will not charge them with their sin. Our sin has already been charged
to another, our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. When God made
him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. That's the only ground upon which
we can stand, and that is that ground found in Christ. But there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared. Now, take a look at verse 5 and
6. I wait for the Lord. I wait for
the Lord. Is He worth waiting on? Some
of you men. I bet you did what I did or have
done many times. I'm all ready. I get my clothes
on, ready to go, and out the door. Are you ready? I'm waiting. I'm waiting. And finally, finally, you see,
she's worth waiting on. But how much more? David, you
remember Psalm 27, wait on the Lord and again I say, wait upon
the Lord. His blessings are worth waiting
upon. We get ourselves in big trouble
when we try to force the issue. We try to make it happen. I guess
that's the thinking of today's society isn't it? Make it happen.
Force it. Get her done. Whatever happened
to that waiting upon the Lord? waiting upon the Lord, crying
unto Him in prayer, and then waiting, waiting upon the Lord. I wait upon the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in His Word, that's what we hope. His Word
is His unfailing promise. You know, it is impossible for
the Lord our God to do some things. It's impossible for Him to change.
He said, I'm the Lord, I change not. It's impossible for Him
to lie. All that He has promised, all
that He has promised, will it all come to pass? I love
the last words of Joshua. I've been reading through Joshua
recently and all the victories that God gave him at one time. He conquered there in the land
of Canaan when they came across Jordan, those 30, was it 31 or
32 kings. But when he came to die, the
Lord kept promising victory after victory after victory. And God
gave him victory over this king and that king and the other king
and all the different kings. And when he came to die, he said
this, these were the last words of Joshua. You can look it up,
Joshua 23. He said, of all that God had
promised, not one word has failed. That's our hope. His word is
certain and sure. Everything he says is true. Is
there salvation for sinners? Yes. Is there righteousness to
be enjoyed in Christ? Yes. He is the Lord, our righteousness. All the promises of God in him
are yes, and in him, and to the glory of God. In his word, do
I wait. And in his word, I hope. Now that word hope, you know,
it's a good word. It's a good word. It's not saying,
it's not using the word like I wish that that would come to
pass. We hope, and the basis of our
hope is connected with his word. I think of that scripture in
2 Thessalonians 2, 16, where it says, in Christ we have an
everlasting consolation. and a good hope through grace. That's our hope. For all that
God had promised, not one word shall fail. My soul waited for
the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. More. More than they that would. You
ever get anxious to see the sun come up in the morning? When
you've had just a terrible night? And as you get older, I found
out one thing about getting older, you don't sleep so well. And
you just lay there in bed and roll and roll and then you just
peek out the window with that sun coming up. You wait, you
wait, you wait. But we wait more than those who
watch for the morning. Now, verse 7, verse 7. Here's our joyful expectation.
Let Israel hope in the Lord. It goes right back to that hope.
You see, my friend, it says over in 1 Timothy 1, I believe it
is chapter 1, verse 1 maybe, where it says, the Lord Jesus
Christ who is our hope. He is our hope. Christ in you
is what? The hope of glory. Let Israel
hope in the Lord. Is there any hope of salvation
apart from the Lord? No. Neither is there salvation
in any other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the way,
the truth, the life. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord, there is, there is with the Lord, there
is mercy. Mercy is to be found with the
Lord. It is sovereign mercy. He said,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, right? It's not of
him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. But remember this, he will show
mercy. I'm going to ask him. I'm going
to take my place as a mercy beggar and ask the Lord for mercy. Let
us hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy. There
is mercy, and with Him, there's plenty. There's plenty of everything. There's plenty of redemption.
I love that word, redemption. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. This redemption here is deliverance
by a payment. And that payment for redemption,
and we're talking about having our sin put away, That payment
for redemption, the redemption of God's people, God's Israel.
We definitely believe in particular redemption, don't we? We believe
in effectual redemption, don't we? But this redemption here
is with the precious blood of Christ. As Peter said, we're
not redeemed with corruptible things, are we? But with the
precious blood of Christ as the lamb without spot and without
blemished for ordained to be our sacrifice for sin before
the foundation of the world. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous, plenteous
redemption. With Him. I'm thinking I was
going over my notes this morning and I was just doing some Refreshing,
and I thought about when I read that with him is plenteous redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all,
not some of their sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son cleanses us from All of our sin, aren't you glad? Original
sin, actual sin, past, present, future sin. He shall redeem Israel. He's plenteous in redemption.
I thought of this scripture. I was reading this earlier today.
Isaiah 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand Double for
all her sins. Plenteous in redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ with, not
with the blood, as our great high priest, you remember from
your study in Hebrews 9 verse 11 and 12, the Lord as our great
high priest didn't bring that typical animal sacrifice, did
he? Like those other priests? We know the blood of bulls and
goats cannot take away sin. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
bring that typical animal sacrifice as the typical priest did. He
obtained eternal redemption for us with His own blood. How effectual is the blood atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ? How effectual is it? He said,
their sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. That is one of the most amazing
blessings of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sin of
God's people, his elect, completely Atoned for. We call that definite
atonement. We call that particular redemption.
But I love this word when we talk about being redeemed from
all our sin. I love to talk about it. Yes,
it's definite. Yes, it's particular. And yes,
it is eternal. But it's effectual. It's effectual. He got the job done. He said
on Calvary's tree, it's not started. He said it's finished. The atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ is not an attempt to put away sin, he
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's our testimony,
is it not? He redeemed Israel from all his
iniquities. Well, my time is gone. May the
Lord bless his word.