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 supplication. If thou,
Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, 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. More I say 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 out of the depths." David doesn't say here
what his depths are. He doesn't comment on that. Sometimes
depths in the scriptures are like being in deep waters, underneath
the waters in the ocean. I am coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. Sometimes depths in the scriptures
are like coming to a pit, a deep pit. David said, I waited patiently
from the Lord, and he brought me up out of the pit, the mare
clay. Sometimes in the scriptures,
depths are valleys. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death." That's a dark valley. That's
a deep valley. The depths. Sometimes we sink. The Lord's
people sink into the depths of affliction. Sorrow of heart over
a loss. Loss will bring us into depths.
The loss of a friend. The loss of our health, the loss
of comfort, the loss of property, out of the depths of affliction. Mental trouble. How many have
been in the mental trouble? Low in spirit. Darkness of mind. Confusion of thought. Discouragement. Temptation. Anguish. What a depth. What a depth. Sadness of mind. Grief of mind. Grief of mind
because I have failed. Grief of mind because I have
fallen. Grief because a dear friend has
failed and a friend has fallen. Grief over the conditions of
those around us and things around us. See in the times in which
we live. See in our friends' indifference. See in their dry eyes. See in
their lack of any need or desire for the things of the Lord. Rivers
of water run down my eyes, the prophet said, because they keep
not thy law. They hear not your gospel. They
don't believe it. And my soul weeps in secret places. It puts me into these depths. We grieve over lost loved ones. Set a mark upon those who sigh
and cry for all the abominations that's done in the midst thereof.
Heaviness of heart for a friend who has perished. I weep, the
prophet said, waters run down my eyes for the destruction of
the daughter of my people. We can't help those who perish. We don't even pray for those
who perish. But our hearts grieve. Our hearts
are sad and heavy for the loss of a loved one who died lost.
Sorrow of heart for the loss of someone who should love us
but don't. The loss of love. Somebody should
love me, but they don't. Oh, what a depth this can bring
us into. A wife who ceases to love her
husband. A mother who ceases to love her
children. A husband who ceases to love
his wife and family. Can this happen? Oh, yes, this
happens. And what a depth it can bring
us into. Out of the depths, out of the
depths, I cried. out of the depths. Conflict within
brings us into the depths. Conflict without brings us into
these depths. And David said, It makes me cry. I don't know how we could be
a Christian without experiencing something of these depths. John
Warburton said, How can I have confidence in those who are always
full of joy and never any sorrow? Those who are always walking
in the light, but never in darkness. They are always full of faith,
and never any doubt. Always full of peace, but never
groaning under a sense of their sin. Always strong, but never
fainting. The Lord's people are sometimes
in the depths, and I don't know if there is any exception to
that rule. As you begin to grow in grace
and knowledge, you go down, you go down unto these depths. Is
this not why we turn to the book of Psalms in almost any Christian's
Bible, and it's marked? Why is that? Because David was
in the depths. He experienced something of the
depths. And when we go here, we say within ourselves, that's
where I'm at. I've experienced that. I'm experiencing
it now. Out of the depths have I cried
unto the Lord. Prayer is never made any more
real. And prayer is never made any
more acceptable than when it arises out of the worst places. Out of the depths. There's when
prayer becomes earnest. There is when prayer becomes
honest. There is when the need is really
felt in the soul. Listen to Jonah. Thou hast cast
me into the deep, in the midst of the seas and the floods. The
floods can pass me about. All thy billows and thy waves
have gone over me. And then I said, I am cast out
of thy sight. Yet will I look again towards
thy holy temple. The waters confessed me about,
even to my soul. The depths closed me around about,
the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms
of the mountain. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. My soul fainted within me, and
I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came unto thee,
unto thy holy temple. Thou hast brought up my soul
from destruction." I tell you, the best time to pray is in these
depths. When a heart is broken up with
a bitter, woeful cut, Then is the time to go to Christ all
alone, in His blessed arms, in His heart, love divine. Therefore you will find that
peace, that sublime, when we take our sorrows and our struggles
all to Him alone. Out of the depths, out of the
depths have I cried. Do thy friends despise and forsake
thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer. Casting all your care upon Him,
for He cares for you. Out of the depths have I cried. Do you feel like you're in the
depths this morning? You're not there alone. There's
been men and women and young people there long, long before
we got there. And sometimes it's a good place
to be. And he says here in verse 2,
and notice this, for here David seems to tell us what he's crying
about. What is his request? The best
I can make of what his request is, is found here in this first
portion of verse 2. Out of the depths have I cried
unto the Lord, Lord, hear my voice." That seems really to
be his request. We're not told that he asked
for deliverance from the depths, but his petition is, Lord, hear
my voice. There seems to be something more
afflicting to the soul than the depths. What would that be? That's the silence of the Lord. I tell you, a soul can burn up
in the depths if the Lord will hear his voice from those depths. The Apostle Paul had this thorn
in the flesh, and for three times, three times, he went to the Lord
and said, Lord, remove this thorn. No answer. And he went back again,
Lord, remove this thorn. No answer. And he went back the
third time, Lord, remove this thorn. And finally, the third
time, Paul says it like this, he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in
your weakness." I wonder which one was more comforting to the
Apostle Paul. I wonder which one did him more
good and strengthened his soul more than anything. Was it the
instructions that the Lord gave him? My grace is sufficient? Or was it just the fact that
he said unto me? The Lord never removed the thorn. He left it in Paul's flesh. But
can you imagine the comfort in Paul knowing that the Lord knew
all about it? That the Lord was there. The
Lord was aware of what he was suffering. A mother has a little child.
And the little infant lays by his mother on a dark, stormy
night, and the child calls out his mother's name, Mom, Mommy. What does the child want? What petition is the child seeking? Does the child have a need? Yes. And this is what the need of
that child is. just to hear the voice of the
mother. That's the comfort we often seek,
isn't it? In the depths, just knowing that
he hears us, just knowing that he's there with us in the depths. That's comfort enough. I can
bear up in the depths. If I know that he hears my voice,
Lord, hear my prayer. The children of Israel had a
habit of saying, my way is hid from the Lord. That's a scary thought, isn't
it? If you're in the depths, that's a scary thought. My way
is hid from the Lord. I don't know where to take the
next step. Will the next step take me over
the edge, into the abyss? I can't see how to take the next
step, and my way is hid from the Lord." And the Lord answered the children
of Israel, and He said, Thus saith the Lord. Oh, that's comforting. Thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob. And He that farmed thee, O Israel,
I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. And when you pass through the
waters, I will be with thee." That's what the Lord said. I'm
not going to deliver you from the deep waters. I'm not going
to deliver you from the fire. But I want you to know this,
I'll be with you. And what does his answer to our
prayer tell us? That he knows. That he's there. That he's aware. Lord, I'm in
the depths. Hear my prayer. I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death. I fear no evil. Why? Because
he's with me. He's with me. He hears my prayer. The overwhelming majority of
the time, I find my prayer is answered and I find the answer
to that prayer in the Word of God. How often have we prayed
and we go to the Word and we find our answer in that Word. Do you long for Him to speak
to you this morning just to let you know that He is with you?
Do you long to hear His voice? speaking to you and just letting
you know, I'm here, I'm with you. Then here's what he says
from his own mouth. The Lord hath said, I will never
leave you, and I'll never forsake you. There's his voice. Go read
it from his own mouth. I will never leave you. That's
him speaking. And brothers and sisters, God
has never spoken any clearer and will never speak any clearer
than what you read here in this book. This is Him speaking. And He often speaks it in answer
to our prayer. Why does these depths come? Why
the depths? We all get in them. All children
of God get in them. David was in them. Jeremiah was
in them. Isaiah was in them. All the children of God experience
these depths. Let me give you three quick reasons
why these depths are good. First of all, because they prove
our faith. They prove our faith. Gold is the best gold that has
been purified by the fire. Think it not strange concerning
the fiery trials. The fiery trials. which is to
try you, being put through the fire. Why is that? For the trying
of your faith. The trial of that faith is precious,
and it will prove to be honorable and glorious when the Lord comes
again. Faith, if it's not proven. What's it worth? The Lord gives
it, the Holy Spirit maintains it in the heart, and He tries
it. He tries it. Faith looks up out of the depths
and faith says, I know my Redeemer liveth. That's a tried faith. Looks up out of the depths and
says, I believe that you're the Christ, the Son of the living
God. That's real faith. Secondly, these depths prove
the Lord himself. They prove the Lord. It's wonderful
when the Lord allows us to prove it. And he'll have you to prove
it. My neighbor called me the other day, a young couple that
lives next to Joe and I, and he wanted to know if I would
go the next day and pick up his little daughter at school. She's
in kindergarten, preschool. And she caught the bus, her and
her sister that morning up at my house, and she said, she said,
you're going to pick me up this morning from school. And I said,
I'll be there. I'll be there. Little Chloe.
And I walked in the door and she was hid behind the door there
in the teacher's lounge. And she looked up with me, at
me with tears running down her eyes. And she said, I didn't
think you would come. I didn't think you would come. So, I walked her back outside
and I fastened her in her little seat in my van, and I said, Chloe,
look at me. You look here at me. Her little
tear-stained eyes looked up at me. And I said, when I tell you
I'll do something, I'll do it. When I tell you I'll do something,
I'll do it. About a week later, I picked
her up again. And this time she was very happy.
waiting for me, wasn't fearful, wasn't concerned that I'd lie
to her or be unfaithful to her. She proved me. Have we not proved
Jesus Christ? Has He ever proved Himself untrue
or unfaithful? When He says, I'll never leave
you or forsake you, has He ever done it? Has He ever left you? No, He hasn't. And we've proved
Him. Some of us have proved Him for
years and years and years. He's faithful. That's His name,
faithful and true. And sometimes in these depths,
He proves Himself to us that He's there with us. And thirdly, these deaths prove
the sufferings of Christ that are in us. The sufferings of
Christ abound in us, the scriptures say. He suffered. He suffered
for our sins. Our sins were punished in him.
That aspect of his suffering is completed. But there is a
sense in which Christ's sufferings are still going on within the
believer. The sufferings of Christ abound
in us. What are those? He suffered being
tempted. Are you tempted? That's the sufferings
of Christ in you. But oh, he suffered something
that these depths do, didn't he? Remember that evening that
he was betrayed, that whole evening when he sat down to eat the last
meal with his apostles? He had this heaviness about him.
His spirit was heavy. One of you shall betray me this
day, he said. He thought about that. He was
thinking about that betrayal. What you do, do quickly, he told
Jesus. Betrayest thou the Son of Man
with a kiss?" And his soul became exceeding sorrowful. He entered
these depths that David was talking about. I'm exceeding sorrowful
even unto death. He was so heavy that his sweat
became, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the
ground. He went into these depths. And when the children of God
get into these depths, in some small degree, that's the sufferings
of Christ within them. And it's proven. If we suffer
with Him, isn't that a blessing? If we suffer with Him, we shall
also reign with Him. If we suffer with Him, we'll
also be glorified together with Him. Oh, these depths, brothers
and sisters, these depths. I don't pray for them. I never
have and I never shall. But sometimes they prove so many
things to our soul. There's something else here in
verse 3. And this seems to always come
into play in these depths. It always seems to turn to this. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark
iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand?" You and I should often contemplate
the justice of God, the holiness of God, and our sins in the light
of it. Sometimes we go on and we sin
and we forget our sins so quickly, even before and without confessing
it. We have this awful thought. And
we let it go and think so lightly of it until the depths come. Then in
the depths, then in the depths, the sin comes to mind. And then,
Lord, if you mark my sin, my sin, a saint sinning? We've all sinned. A man that
says he hasn't no sin is a liar and the truth's not in him. If
we say we have not sinned, we're just deceiving ourselves. And I'll tell you something else
about this. God is holy. God is just. And think about
our sins in the light of God's justice. That's a solemn thought, ain't
it? And nothing likes the depths to bring us to this solemn thought. Oh, I've sinned. If God marks
my iniquities against me, I cannot stand. And if He marks them against
me, He's right. He's just. We used to go up to
jail there in Muncie and preach to those offenders there in jail.
I don't know how many of them has told me. I don't deserve
to be in here. Somebody lied on me. They framed
me. I'm not guilty. And I don't know
how many mouths have been stopped when I said this to them. That
may be so. That's happened to other people
and it may happen to you. You may not be guilty. Somebody
may have lied on you. Somebody may have falsely accused
you. But you can have this assurance. that God will deal rightly with
you when you stand before Him. He'll deal with you in the way
of justice. He'll do right with you. And
usually that stops their complaining. The justice of God in the light
of our sins. And boy, we're brought to this
conclusion. We're brought to this conclusion.
If God marks iniquity, No man will be saved. No man will stand
before him and be justified in his side if he marks iniquity. You can't. You cannot. How can
we? The judge of all the earth must
do right. If he marks it against us, we
die. We die. See, we can say that
now. I can tell you that. And you
can know this and just pass it on and not think very much of
it until the death's come. And then we're made to think
about this. We can't escape it. We can't
brush it off. We can't sweep it under the rug.
We can't count it a trifling thing. No, our sin is before
our eyes. And the justice of God upon His
throne. The judge of all the earth. And
then we're made to confront this awesome truth. What are you going
to do with my sin? What are you going to do with my sin?
Are you going to mark it against me? Are you going to count it to
my charge? If you do, if you do, it's going to crush me. It's going to destroy me. Ain't
that a solemn thing to face? That's one of the reasons these
depths are good. God have mercy on a person that
goes happily through this life and never gets into the depths
to think about such an awesome thing. I told you a story a while
back about a young man who was climbing the Alps. And in the
spring, they found his frozen body with a little note back.
It said, My greatest fear. My greatest fear. Will God forgive
my sins? Will God forgive my sins? Look
in verse 4. There is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. There is forgiveness with thee. The one I've sinned against,
the one I've offended, the one who knows the sin, the one who
knows the evil of it, the aggravation of it, the motive behind it,
He knows all about my sin, and he forgives it. Boy, this is a strange thing,
because this is not natural. It's not natural for the judge
to forgive your sin. If you kill some member of someone's
family, and the judge has all the evidence, he knows that you're
guilty. And yet he stands there. You
stand before him. And the judge down here in Newcastle
looks at you and says, Clarence Poole, you killed a member of
this people's family. I forgive you. What would they do with such
a judge? Our sin is not against that judge. He has no right. He has no authority to forgive
sin. But God is not like the judges
of this world. Our sin is against Him, and He
can justly and He can freely forgive that sin. And sometimes, boy, out of the
depths, where some dear saint finds the greatest reality of
sin forgiven. Dear Jim Wilson, Barb's late
husband, one of the best friends probably I ever had in this world, He was in false religion for
a while, and while he was in his false religion, he got his
brother on a false profession. Remember that, Barb? That haunted
Jim all his life. All his Christian life. When
the Lord saved him, he went back and told his brother. He said,
I was lost. I've got you on a false profession.
But he never could talk his brother out of it. Jim found out he had cancer.
Not too long before he died, I was talking with him, and he
said, I found a precious scripture. I found a precious scripture.
I said, what is it, Jim? All manner of sin and blasphemy
will be forgiven the sons of men. Jim counted what he had
done a great blasphemy, a great sin. But he found this in his depths,
when he is facing the valley of the shadow of death, going
through it, all manner of sin. I was talking to Todd Marks Pastor. He was telling me about when
he almost died a few years ago. Some of you remember that. Todd
said they left him in this little room, and the doctor didn't see
any way that he was going to make it. He looked bad. Todd said, I knew I was dying.
And he said, I was laying there and it was so quiet in that room,
but all you could hear was the sounds of all these machines
that I was hooked up to. And he said, as I laid there
and my lie came back to me, going over it, and he said, some guilt,
the guilt, the guilt. But he said, this verse of Scripture
came to me. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered. And he said, I laid there with
tremendous peace gone over my soul. Out of these depths is
often the place where we face the grim reality, if God marks
my iniquities, I'll fall. He'll crush me. But, but, There
is forgiveness with thee. Thou mayest be feared. Right quickly, and this won't
take me but just a minute, I want to finish the rest of this chapter
out, and I just want to see six things that David says here about
a good hope. Six things he says here about
a good hope. And that's what he's talking
about in verse 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord. Look here at these six things
that indicates to us and proves to us that we have a good hope.
First of all, look here in verse 5. Verse 5, I wait for the Lord,
my soul doeth wait, and in his word do I hope. What is the basis of a good hope?
It's based upon the Word of God. Not upon feelings, not upon opinions,
not upon experiences, but upon God's Word, the truth of it.
The Lord hath said. That's the foundation of our
hope. What more can he say than to you he hath said? And what
he is saying is the basis, is the foundation of a good hope. There is forgiveness within you. There's our hope. That's our
hope. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. That's our hope. I go to prepare
a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you,
I'll come again and receive you to myself. That's our hope. These
things that were written aforetime were written for our learning
that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might
have hope. The older you get in the Lord,
the more you grow in grace and knowledge, the more you're not
so concerned about your feelings anymore. Haven't you experienced
that? You see young believers and they're just so emotional. But you're not that way. You're
not that way. Why is that? Well, you just don't
put too much stock in your feelings anymore. You found something
better. Something more stable. Something
you can plant your foot on. And what is it? The Word of the
Lord. That's the basis for our hope.
And secondly, as it is in verse 7, let Israel, let the Israel
of God, the church, every believer, Let Israel hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The person of Christ, if He's
your hope, then that's a good hope. If it's in Him only, that's
your hope. Brother Donnie Bell was in a
mental institution. He said he thought he'd never
get out of that mental institution. Came back from the Vietnam War,
half crazy. And he said a nurse spoke to
him one day and said, Donnie Bell, there's hope in Christ. There's hope in Christ. That's
a good hope, isn't it? That's a good hope if it's in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is Jesus Christ? He's in
heaven. If your hope's in Him, I'd say
it's anchored pretty good. It's not in yourself. It's not
in things going on around you. It's in Him who has gone beyond
the veil and is seated there in heaven on the right hand of
God in our place, in our stead, as our forerunner. He's there
in heaven. If your anchor is Him, nothing
can tear you loose from Him. No storm of this life can do
it. Let Israel hope in the Lord. And I tell you where else the
Lord Jesus Christ is. He's in you. He's in you. Christ in you. The hope of glory. Union with Christ. You are dead
and your life is hid with Christ in God. And He's in us. That's hope. That's a good hope. A good hope rests entirely on
Jesus Christ living for me and living in me. In the last portion
of verse 7, look at this. Here is a foundation of a good
hope. This is a good hope. With the Lord, for with the Lord
there is mercy. Let Israel hope in the Lord for
this reason. For with the Lord there is free,
unearned, unmerited, sovereign, covenant mercies. Joe's grandmother used to say,
if we'll be good enough, God will be merciful. Brother Mayhem,
he permits me to write to him and he answers my letter. I count
that one of the greatest blessings in the world. And a while back
he sent me some letters Brother Scott Richardson had wrote to
him, just a few years before he died. Scott got weak and wrote
him these little short letters, just about a half a page. But
boy, I tell you what, oh my, they were so rich. And one little
letter he wrote said, I went to court with a friend today. And he said, I had an opportunity
to speak to the judge there in the courtroom. And I said, Judge,
do you think there's any mercy for this man? I can almost hear
Scott saying it. And he said, the judge said,
he's not deserving of mercy. And I said, Your Honor, if it was deserved, it wouldn't
be mercy. What is mercy? Getting something
you don't deserve. Not getting something you do
deserve. Hope and mercy. Jews said, looking for the mercy.
Looking for it. Looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ. We're looking for something.
We're waiting for something. We're hoping for something that
we cannot earn. We do not deserve. Hoping for
heaven. Hoping to be with Him. Hoping
to be like Him. Hoping to see a smiling face. That's what we're hoping for.
And we don't deserve that. Then why do we hope for it? Because
there's mercy. And I tell you what, dear child
of God, you'll receive just what you're hoping for if you're hoping
in mercy. I tell you, this way begins with
faith in the mercy of God in Christ. God be merciful to me,
a sinner. And all your life long, you'll
just be hoping in mercy. That's why it's so important
that this way begin right. This is the gate, you see. Straight
is the gate. Shutting us up to mercy? What
is it that's going to save a man? Mercy. What is it you're going to spend your
lifetime waiting and looking and hoping for? Mercy. Mercy. One man said something to the
effect, and I thought, boy, that's me. That's me. I should have
said that. He said, I have come to this point in my life where
I am determined and I have this desire to spend the rest of my
miserable existence upon this earth, searching for the depths
of mercy that's in the heart of the Son of God. That'll keep
you busy, won't it? That'll keep you busy digging
and keep you happily finding. Because his heart is full of
mercy. Notice something else, verse
4. Here's a good hope. Here's a
good hope. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy. And look at this, with Him is
plenteous redemption. Plenteous redemption. Now, this
completely clears up verse 4, doesn't it? We send them in to go, how in
the world can a judge legally and justly say, you're forgiven? You're forgiven. How can God
forgive us our sin? Right here answers that question,
doesn't it? Redemption. In Christ we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sin. That's where it's at. God can justly and freely and
lovingly and truly forgive our sins, because the fine, you see,
has been paid. The punishment for the crime
has been borne. Sin has been punished in the
body, in the soul of the Son of God. God saw the travail of
His soul. God saw His Son hanging on a
cross outside the city of Jerusalem. And God said, I'm satisfied with
that. Every sin is paid for. Every sin is punished. With Him
is redemption. Redemption. Redemption from sin's
guilt. Redemption from sin's penalty. redemption from sin's power,
even redemption from sin's pleasure. Christ gave Himself for us in
order to redeem us from all iniquity. And I tell you, brothers and
sisters, what Jesus Christ has purchased, He'll have. He'll
have. What He's redeemed is His. I
could have read this verse with a pair of rubber lips, couldn't
I? And twisted it where it meant nothing? Jesus Christ is plenteous
in redemption, perhaps, if you'll let Him. He purchased us and
maybe we'll have to wait and see. He did this to give everybody a
chance. No such thing as No, no, Jesus
Christ obtained eternal redemption. And, oh, I love how the psalmist
says this, and he reveled in this. That's why he added this
word, plenteous. He is plenteous, plenteous. Oh, he looked at his sin, and
he looked at the judgment of God, and he said, yes, it's awful
to contemplate. But he looked at this plenteous
redemption. And oh, he says here, I find
something in the blood of Christ. I find something in the death
of Christ that exceeds me more worth than the demerit of my
sins. Not just redemption, but plenteous. Do you see that in Jesus Christ,
dear soul? Do you see that in Him? I hope
you see something of what's in your sin. How black and how awful,
how full of demarried it is. I hope you see that. But if you
see that, you must see this, that there's more merit in the
Son of God to save you than there is sin in you to damn you. You
must believe that. If you don't, your sin will damn
you. There's redemption from sin. I tell you what, it's almost
like David said, look, my sin, I've hauled them up here, and
they're like a mountain, and I've put them over here in this
left hand of this scale. And oh my, the scales have went
to the bottom. They were so heavy. But I've
taken the marriage of the Son of God. I've taken the blood
of Jesus, the sufferings of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and I've
put them here in the right hand scale. And what happened? Plenteous redemption. Where sin
abounded, grace did exceed and abundantly abound it. Fifthly, a good hope is one that
rests in faith and confidence. Regardless of the circumstances.
Out of the depths, I cried. And yet in these depths, my soul
waits. True faith, brothers and sisters,
doesn't look around. True hope doesn't look around.
And despaired because of the circumstances. True hope looks
up and out and says, I hope, I hope, I'll wait, I'll wait. But look how bad it is so. Yes,
it's bad. I'm in the depths. Unless you
don't think depths can be bad. But I hope, I'll wait. You've got a fair, fair, John
Bunny used to call it, fair weather religion. He said he wasn't of those that
wore slippers on a sunny day. He didn't have any slippers for
a sunny day, old Bunyan said. He's always walking in the rain,
walking in the mud. That's a Christian's life. Where's your hope when everything
seems to be against you and contrary to you? Not in your circumstances,
in spite of. And lastly is this one. A good
hope is one that continues and perseveres until the end. I'm in the depths, David said.
What are you going to do, David? What are you going to do? I'm
going to keep on hoping. I'm going to keep on hoping.
My heart is sorely tried. What are you going to do? I'm
going to keep on hoping. My body is weak through sickness. What
are you going to do? Are you going to quit? No, I'm
going to keep on hoping. How long are you going to hope?
Hope to the end. I'm going to hope to the end.
He says here in verse 8, 8, till God redeems Israel from all its
iniquities, the very presence of it, redeems the body, I'm
going to keep hoping. There's hope, brothers and sisters.
You may find a dear child of God parked along the way, along
the side of the road. And they may think within their
own soul, I don't know if I'll ever get tucked off again. But
they will. You see them a day or two later,
you see them a week later, they're right back on it again. Why? They've got a good hope. A good
hope. If we hope for that we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it. We wait. God bless His
Word. Let's pray.