Open your Bibles to the book
of Psalms. I'm going to speak this morning,
the Lord willing, from Psalm 130. Psalm 130. Now, I know that the Word of
God needs no recommendation from men. I know that. But I do know
this. that I've learned ninety-nine
and forty-four one hundred percent of what I know from these writers
and from these prophets and apostles and from the old preachers of
the past. Paul said, I'm a debtor. I'm
a debtor to all men. I'm a debtor to the wise and
to the unwise. I'm a debtor. I'm a debtor to
these great writers, not only in the Scriptures, but Spurgeon,
Gill, Knox, Martin Luther, Zwingli, and all the others. I'm a debtor. I thank God for them. And one
of the Lord's great servants, to my way of thinking, was Martin
Luther. I know that a lot of people have
a lot to say about Martin Luther, They have a lot of good to say,
too. A fellow asked me one time, he said, you believe Martin Luther's
saved? I said, I hope so, because he sure has been a blessing to
me. He's the one that wrote that
words and music to Mighty Fortress is Our God. In fact, he was really
the father of congregational singing. Back years and years ago in the
Catholic churches, they didn't sing, they chanted and the priest
took care of the music. But Martin Luther wrote a hymn
book for children. That was his first, I'm not sure,
but I think Way of the Manger he wrote for children. He wrote
a hymn book for children and then he wrote a hymn book for
the congregation, and he's the one that wrote A Mighty Fortress
is my God. That's one of my favorites. But this is what he said. This
is what I'm talking about. Martin Luther, somebody asked
him one time, which of the Psalms, which of the Psalms of David
and Moses do you consider to be your favorite? Well, he replied, there are three. I love all the Psalms. I've been
grated to God for all the Psalms. But I love three of my favorites. Number one is Psalm 32. Turn over there just a moment.
I'll just read a verse or two from Psalm 32. This was his first
favorite. Psalm 32. David says, Blessed
is he whose transgressions is forgiven whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."
Boy, that's a powerful scripture, isn't it? Well, he said the second
psalm that is one of my favorites is Psalm 51. Turn over there
a moment. Psalm 51. Just a verse or two. This is David's psalm of repentance,
someone said. Psalm of David, Psalm 51, verse
1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to Thy lovingkindness. according to the multitude of
thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly
from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Acknowledge
my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. Against
thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when you speak. and clear when
you judge. Powerful. Let's just read them
all. All right, here's the third what
he said. Psalm 130. Psalm 130. This is my text today, and I'm
going to try to touch on each of these eight verses in my message. In verse 1, the Scripture says,
Out of the depths, out of the depths have I cried under thee,
O Lord." You know, my friends, deep places and deep experiences
begat deep emotion and deep feelings. This is just true of me and you
and everybody else. Usually, when we're strong and
prosperous, our thoughts and our prayers come from our lips. Unfortunately, that's true. Usually
when we're rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,
our thoughts and our prayers come from our lips. But wait
a minute, but when we're troubled, when we're troubled, when we're
poor and needy, when tribulation oppresses us, our prayers and
our thoughts come from the heart. Somebody said this, God does
not hear people who have no need. David always said, I'm poor and
needy. Yet the Lord thinks upon me.
God does not hear people who have no need. You don't know
anybody who doesn't have any need? Well, God won't hear you.
And God does not hear people who do not cry. Out of the depths. out of trouble and sorrow have
I cried unto Thee, O Lord. Hear my voice and help me. I
do know this. I know that only the Spirit of
God can produce a broken heart, and God is nigh unto them of
a broken heart. I know only the Spirit of God
can enable us, like David, to say, You are just when You condemn
me. and you're righteous when you
speak against me. Only the Spirit of God can give
a person that kind of attitude and spirit. Only the Spirit of
God can make me rest in Christ and not in my own righteousness. And only the Spirit of God can
give a man peace. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. David wrote in Psalm 119, don't
turn to it, I'll quote it for you. David said, before I was
afflicted, I went astray. It is good for me that I've been
afflicted and chastened that I might learn thy statutes. I believe we learn more in the
valley than we do on the mountains. I've found that to be true. I've
learned more in time of affliction and chastening and in the valley
than I have on the mountaintop. We've learned so many valuable
and precious lessons by the providence of God through
the telescope of tears. We learn so much rich and valuable
lessons looking at the providence of God through the telescope
of tears. Verse two, Lord, hear my voice. Out of the depths, trouble and
sorrow, I cry unto thee. Lord, hear my voice. I've read
a lot of books about, on prayer. And I've heard men try to define
prayer. But one of my friends said one
time, be careful about defining spiritual things with natural
reasoning, usually you'll wind up wrong. If you try to define
spiritual things with natural wisdom, you'll wind up wrong. I've heard people argue about
who can pray and who cannot pray and that spells trouble as far
as I'm concerned. But before David prayed, he had
a request. He said, Lord, hear my voice. Hear me. Hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to
my voice. In other words, the secret of
prayer is not how long you pray. The secret of prayer is not how
often you pray. The secret of prayer is not where
you pray. The secret of prayer is certainly
not how eloquent are your prayers. But the secret of prayer is right
here. Does God hear me? It doesn't matter how often I pray
or how much I pray or how eloquent I pray, if God doesn't hear me. Oh Lord, He said, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplication." That's prayer. But I can see in this text the
marks of prayer. I'm not going to try to define
it, but I can see the marks of prayer right here. I see five
things. Number one, look, I see prayer
comes from a lowly position out of the depths. Prayer comes from
a lowly position, out of the depths. Secondly, prayer is a
fervent, a fervent appeal. I cried. Out of the depths, I
cried. And this prayer is a direct approach,
O Lord. A lowly position, out of the
depths, a fervent appeal, and I cried. A direct approach unto
thee, not to the mother, not to the disciples, not to the
apostle, to thee. And then there's a reverent spirit,
O Lord, O Lord, out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Jehovah,
Jehovah God, my Lord and my God. And then he said a single knee. hear my voice. I know one prayer that a fellow
prayed in this vein, and he was hurt. Our Lord came down from
the mountain, and a leper, talk about a need, a leper came running
and worshipped him, worshipped him, a reverent reverent attitude and spirit,
and cried, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And the
Lord said, I will. You heard him? I will be thou
clean. Look at verse three. Verse three. Here we have a confession of
sin. A confession of sin and need out of the depths of our
cry. There's a cry for help. Help
me, Lord. Hear my voice. Now, here, there's
self-judgment. This is so important. Self-judgment. Now, turn back to Psalm 51 a
minute, and let me read that verse again in Psalm 51. Self-judgment. Self-judgment. In verse 4 of Psalm 51, David
said, Lord, it's against You and You only that I've sinned.
We apologize to people all the time about what we've said, what
we've done, what we've said, but it's God against whom we
sin. It's against Thee and Thee only
have I sinned. I might do You wrong, but I sinned
against God. Against Thee and Thee only have
I sinned. I've done this evil in Your sight. Thou mightest
be justified when you speak, and clear when you judge." That's
self, that's self-judgment. No person, I know this, I know
this, no person will come to the throne of grace till he lies
broken at the throne of judgment. He's got to be lost to be found.
Nobody's going to come to the throne of grace until he lies
broken at the throne of judgment, and no man will flee to the cross
of redemption until he dies before the law of God. When the law came, Paul said,
I died. When the law came in its true
nature and commandment, Sin revived and I died. And the commandment
which I thought was ordained to life by my works, I found
to be my death sentence. Self-judgment. And no person
will seek the mercy of God until his mouth stops, until he becomes guilty before
God. I was holding a meeting years
and years ago in Rush, Kentucky, a little town outside of Ashland. I'm talking about way back then. And this was when the Cincinnati
Reds were the famous team in baseball. What is it, 60s or
70s, somewhere down there. And some of my friends and I
were standing outside the church talking about the Cincinnati
Reds. We ought not have been there,
I know, but we should have been talking about the gospel. We
were talking about the Red Legs. And there was a fellow standing
there with a plug of brown mule in his jaw, and he's spitting
about every other breath, listening to us. And we talked about the
Cincinnati Reds. And somebody paused. for breath,
and he had a chance to speak. He said, brethren, love not the world, and neither
the things of the world. If any man love the world, the
love of God is not in him. And if that don't mean baseball,
what do it mean? I said, well, it means a whole
lot more than baseball. That's what we're talking about.
No man is going to come to the throne of grace until he's broken
by the law of self-judgment, until he dies before the law
of self-judgment, until his mouth is stopped and he's guilty before
God. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11. Listen
to this. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Chapter 11, 2 Corinthians, verse
31. Listen. 2 Corinthians 11, if we would judge
ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we're judged of ourselves,
self-judgment, we're chastened to the Lord. He'll deal with
us. that we should not be condemned with the world. I'd rather God
deal with me than the world, hadn't he? Facing with the world. That's it. If we would judge
ourselves, we'd not be judged. David, Paul said that in that
verse there, I acknowledge my transgression. That's self-judgment.
I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is ever before me. Justify God in his condemnation. Justify God. Let me show you
a scripture. Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter
7, verse 29. Self-judgment. That's what we're
talking about here. Luke 7, verse 29. Luke 7, 29. Listen to this. And all the people that heard him, that is, John
the Baptist, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized
with the baptism of John. Why did they come to the baptism? Because they were sinners. They
were confessing their sins before God and following baptism. That's the reason. They justified
God. Now, what's this next verse? But the Pharisees and the lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized
with him. That's what these people were
saying when they came to the baptism of John. We're sinners.
We're unclean. We're dirty. We need the washing
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees
would not follow the Lord in baptism. justifying themselves. Self-judgment. Look at my fourth verse here.
Psalm 130. We have a confession of sin,
we have a need, we have self-judgment. Look at verse 4. But, thank God,
but there is forgiveness with Verse 3, look at verse 3. If
thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be free. Write that in
letters of gold across the sky. There is forgiveness with God. There is forgiveness. There is
forgiveness. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of our sins. Where is it? It's with thee. It's with God. Only God can forgive sin. There
is forgiveness, but it's with God. Who is God? El Shaddai, God Almighty. El Elohim, God mightier than
all. El Bethel, the house of the mighty
God, and Jehovah. Jehovah, His name in relation
to His covenant. Let me show you that in Hebrews
10. There is forgiveness. Where? With Him. There is forgiveness
with Him, with Jehovah, our God. Hebrews 10, verse 16. Hebrews
10, verse 16. This is a covenant that I'll
make with them. After those days, saith the Lord
Jehovah, I will put my law into their hearts, and in their minds
will I write them, and their sins and their iniquities I will
remember no more." Lord, there's forgiveness to
thee. What is it? Forgiveness. With
whom? With thee. Why? I'll tell you why. Because
our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins and our iniquities
and put them away with the sacrifice of himself. I heard a preacher
recently who said, why did Christ die for us? Well, the answer
to that begins, it's in three verses, all of them beginning
with the word that. Turn to Romans 3. Let's find
these three verses. Romans 3, verses 25 and 26. Why did Christ die for us? In order of that. Watch this
now. In Romans 3, verse 25. Whom God
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that have
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at
this time his righteousness, that God might be just and justifier
of him that believeth." That's why he died, that God may be
just and the justifier of he that believeth. Second verse. Look at 2 Corinthians 5. You
know this one, all of these verses. by memory, but II Corinthians
5, let's look at it. II Corinthians 5, verse 21. All right. For he hath made him
to be sin for us who do no sin, that God may be just and justify,
and that we might be made the righteousness of God, the holiness
of God in him, that. In Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2,
why did God give His Son? Why did the Lord Jesus come into
the world? Why did He suffer and die? That
God may be just and justify. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And thirdly, Ephesians 2, 4. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, when we were dead
in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you
saved, and he hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ, that in the ages to come
he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he came. That's
why he died. That's why God Almighty forgives
sins in order that He might be just and justified, in order
that we might be made holy without blame before Him, and in order
that one of these days He's going to have a people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, tongue under heaven to sing the praises
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Back to my text. Out of the depths
have I cried. Lord, hear my prayer. Hear my
voice. I'm a sinner. I can't stand. Nobody can. But there's forgiveness
for thee. What you going to do? Verse 5, I wait for the Lord. That's why. That's what I'm going
to do. I'm going to wait for the Lord.
My soul, I'm going to wait for the Lord. I'm going to wait for
the Lord at the where Mary waited at his feet. Martha came running
in and said, Lord, don't you care if my sister doesn't help
me with all these things I've got to do? And the Lord said,
Martha, Martha, you're just comfort about, comfort about with so
much care. Mary hath chosen the good thing, it'll never be taken
from her, to sit at my feet and hear my word. I'm going to wait before him. Secondly, I'm going
to wait boldly. Now, he said, I don't come running
backwards. I come boldly. Come boldly before
the throne of grace that we may find grace and mercy to help
in time of need. Come boldly before Him. Boldly. My soul, watch this,
verse 5. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait. This has nothing to do with my
body. You know, they make a lot of these things about the wailing
wall and they bow so many times and all this. This thing has
nothing to do with my body. It has to do with my soul, my mind,
my heart. I wait for the Lord, my soul
waits for Thee. Flesh and blood is destined for
the grave. My soul, my heart, my mind is
in His care, in His keeping. What's this now? I wait for the
Lord. My soul does wait. What's this?
Oh, listen. And in His Word do I hope. We, through the Spirit of God,
for the hope of righteousness through His Word. Galatians 5,
5, not a better scripture than that. We, through the Spirit
of God, wait for the hope of righteousness through the Word.
Have firm foundations, you saints of the Lord, laid for your faith
in His excellent Word. What more can He say? And to
you He has said, to you who unto Jesus for refuge have fled. Fear not. I'm with thee. Be not dismayed. I'm your God. I'll give you aid. I'll strengthen
you, help you, cause you to stand upheld by my gracious, omnipotent
hand." I wait for the Lord. I wait. So many folks trying to convince
people that they can save them, you know, just say these words,
do these things. Why don't you just be still and
know that I'm God and wait on Him? He's the one that has to
speak peace to the soul. He's the only one that will give
a broken heart. He's the only one that can give
you assurance and confidence and hope. But you wait in His
Word, in His Word, in His Word do I hope, in His Word. God has
said, so that we may boldly say, I'm your helper. God has said,
He said this. I'm resting, trusting, completely
dependent on His Word, His Word, His Word, because God said it. Look at this next verse six.
My soul waited for the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning. You know, I've preached from this so many times, but
I don't know whether I've ever really gotten hold of it or not. Talked one time about a weary
soldier during the war, standing watch, fearful of the night and
the things that might occur during the night, looking for the morning
light. My soul waited more than they
watched for the morning. Watched for, oh, it'll soon be
daylight. And then I've talked about picture
a weary mother. I've known a lot of mothers sit
by the bedside of a sick baby. It just seems like nighttime
they get sicker. And when day comes, they seem
to kind of get well or get better. And the mother sits there and
somebody says, you've got to go to bed. No, I'm going to sit
right here until my baby gets well, waiting for the morning. He says here that next line,
my soul, my heart, my mind, not my body, my soul waited for the
Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
a weary soul, more than a tired mother, more than they that watch
for the morning. I'm looking for somebody else.
This is not a sad watch. This is not a crying watch. I'm
not crying. I'm rejoicing. I wait for the
Lord. It's not an unhappy event. It's
not a sad event. It's not a weeping time. It's
a time of rejoicing. I wait for the bridegroom who's
coming. That's who we wait for. I'm not
waiting on death. It's coming very soon, but I'm
not going to sit around moaning about death. I'm going to wait
for the bridegroom to come take me home. That's what that's talking
about. I say, I wait for the Lord. My
soul is waiting. I wait more than David was for
the morning. I'm waiting for the bridegroom.
Look at Isaiah 61, just a minute. Isaiah 61, the marriage supper
of the Lamb. Isaiah chapter 61. Listen to
this. Isaiah 61, verse 10 to 11. You know, the Scripture said
weeping endures for the night, but joy is coming in the morning. Look at Isaiah 61, verse 10 to
11. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. And as the
bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, as the bride adorneth
herself with jewels, for as the earth bringeth forth her her
bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it
to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all nations." That's what I'm
waiting on. That's it. I'm so waiting on the Lord. If I'm waiting for salvation,
or if I'm waiting for assurance, or I'm waiting for confirmation,
or if I'm waiting for a rejoicing, if I'm waiting for somebody else
to be saved, I'm still waiting on Him. Still in His hands. Salvations of the Lord. I'm happy
with that, aren't you? Salvations of the Lord. Here's
verse 7 and 8. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there's plenteous mercy. Did you notice something
he did not say here? He did not say, let Israel hope
for mercy. That's not what he said. Many
people have a hope for a lot of things that die in poverty.
Many people have a hope, yes, for mercy as a convicted felon. But he said, let Israel hope
in the Lord, for with Him is the mercy. We're not hoping for
mercy. We're hoping in Christ who has
mercy. That's where the mercy is in
Him. Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is mercy. Listen
to this. And with Him is plenteous redemption. Didn't say let Israel hope for
redemption. He said let Israel hope in the
Lord. With Him you'll find redemption.
That's where it is. In Him. And He shall redeem Israel
from all his iniquities. Look unto me, and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, I
am God, and there is none else. Let Israel hope in the Lord. Let's sing that hymn, Dr. Paul, about the resting on Christ. Our firm foundation, that was.
How firm a foundation you say to the Lord is laid for your
faith. It is an excellent word. Let's
sing that song in closing.