Okay, now this evening we're
going to take a look at one of my favorite psalms. I know there's
150 of them. I often say this is my favorite
psalm, but I've kind of come to the conclusion whatever psalm
I'm studying and preaching from at the time, that's my favorite
psalm. And I trust it is with you as
well. Psalm 130. Psalm 130. Out of the depths,
out of the depths, the depths of sin, the depths of guilt,
The depths of depravity have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Where else can we go? Where else
can we go but unto the Lord? It is wise to seek mercy where
mercy is found. There's grace for the guilty.
There's mercy for the miserable. There is redemption for ruined
sinners only in the Lord. When I read that, O Lord, I'm
thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where mercy is found.
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. It's a cry
of help. It's a cry of help, like blind
Bartimaeus. Lord, have mercy on me. What's
your problem? I'm blind. What do you need?
I need to see. I need to see. I cried unto thee,
O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Hear my
cry. Because he is a living God, he
can hear. Because he is our God that is
long-suffering, who delights to show mercy, he will hear the
cry of his people. He said, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, that ought to
encourage us to call upon the Lord, to come to the Lord, to
cry unto the Lord. Lord, hear my voice. You know,
the Lord knows the thoughts and the intents of the heart. When
I pray publicly, I don't pray out loud. I mean, excuse me,
when I pray privately, I don't pray out loud. It's just communion
in my heart. It's communion in my heart unto
the Lord. And He knows our heart. He knows our voice. He knows
our words. He knows our thoughts. If thou,
Lord, If you would mark my sin, if you would count my sin, my
iniquity, my transgression, and my sin, I can't stand. I can't stand before the Holy
God in my sin. I cannot stand there without
my Mediator. We must have a Mediator. That
Mediator we know is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that Mediator. We must have an advocate to stand
before the Lord. That advocate, again, is the
Lord Jesus Christ. We must have one who intercedes
for us. And we know the one who intercedes
for us is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. But apart
from Him, can we stand before God's holy throne of justice
without a mediator, without a surety, without a Savior, without a sacrifice? No way! He will say to those
who stand in and of themselves like that, Pharisee condemned. And rightly so. Rightly so. Now, I'm entitling the message,
The Experience of Grace or The Experience of Salvation. Or we could entitle it many different
things. We could say with the Lord there
is forgiveness. And that's, boy, just think about
that, with the Lord. With the Lord. The Lord Jesus
Christ. There is forgiveness. He came
to save sinners, didn't he? But if we entitle the message
the experience of salvation, and we know that a mere religious
experience of feelings or a religious excitement is not is not salvation. You can have religious feelings
and you can have religious experience, but that's not salvation. Having
a religious feeling or religious experience, that's not salvation.
Salvation doesn't look back here. Salvation looks to the Lord right
now. But a religious experience is not salvation. But let me
say this, salvation by the grace of God is certainly something
that believers do experience in their heart, life, and soul. God who has begun a good work
in you, he will finish it. He will finish that work. You
see, salvation by the grace of God in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's an invasion. of heart, soul, spirit, mind,
and the will, and understanding, and the affections that's all
involved in what we call the heart of man. By God the Holy
Spirit revealing the blessedness of Christ in our heart. Christ in you is a hope of glory. So salvation is an invasion of
God. It's the enthroning of the Lord
Jesus Christ in our heart. as the Lord, as our righteousness,
as all of our salvation. This psalm, Psalm 130, begins
with the cry of the heart of a believer and ends with complete
confidence and assurance of all sin forgiven. Verse 7 and 8,
let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord, oh with the
Lord, for there is mercy. With the Lord, He is plenteous. He's plenteous in mercy. He's
plenteous in redemption. He shall redeem, and He has. He's redeemed all of His people
from their sin. How far has the Lord put our
sin away? You remember Psalm 103, as far
as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgression
from us. At one time, our sins separated
us from God, right? Now, because of the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, our sin has been separated from us.
Listen to what he says here. Let me read it to you. Don't
turn, let me just read it to you. Psalm 103. The Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. He will not
always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever. He hath
not dealt with us, After our sin, he dealt with our substitute,
didn't he? Nor rewarded us according to
our iniquity. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him, as
far as the east is from the west. So far hath he removed our transgression
from us. The east from the west. That's
infinite. He said, their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. No more. Now, verse one and two
again. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Hear my
cry. Let thy ears be attentive. to the cry of my heart, my request,
my supplication. Here we see the conviction of
sin and the cry of a heart unto the Lord for mercy. We'll never cry unto the Lord
for forgiveness, for mercy, until we're convicted of our sin. And
here we see the pattern of grace. The Lord makes us to know that
we are guilty, vile, depraved sinners, in His sight, and we
call that Holy Spirit conviction. We'll never know how sinful we
are unless God the Holy Spirit comes and convicts us and shows
us what we are in His sight. Remember our Lord said in John
16, when God the Holy Spirit is come, He'll convict the world
of sin, righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, what I am,
of righteousness, what I need, and of judgment, what I deserve. What I deserve. The Lord Jesus
Christ took our judgment, didn't he? Then the cry of mercy. The cry of mercy. The cry of
mercy. Lord, hear my voice. The cry
of mercy. We'll never cry for mercy until
we know that we are in need of mercy. You'll never cry for mercy until
you know by God showing us our need of mercy, that is God not
giving us what we do deserve. Grace is God giving us, God giving
us what we do not deserve, but mercy is God not giving us what
we do deserve. I don't deserve anything but
his judgment. The wages of sin is death. We'll
never cry for pardon from sin until we know that we're guilty
before the Lord that we have sinned against God. Have you
sinned against God? Absolutely. Have you broken the
law of God? Absolutely. Everyone never kept
one commandment one time. Guilty. Guilty. That's what the
law of God says. Let every mouth be stopped and
all the world become guilty, guilty, guilty before God. David, when he got caught up
in his guilt and his sin, he said this, have mercy upon me,
oh God, according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude
of thy tender mercy, blot out my transgression. What had David
done? David, the king of Israel, man
after God's own heart, he killed one of his best friends to cover
up his sin, his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy love and kindness, according to the
multitude of thy tender mercy. Blot out my transgression. Wash
me throughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin, for I
acknowledge my transgression, and my sins ever before me."
Thank God it's not before the Lord. He said, their sin and
their iniquity will I remember no more. God does bring us to
see the depths of our sin, but he does not leave us in the depths
of despair because he causes us to cry for mercy and we do
come to the Lord. I've often used that phrase,
mercy beggar. That's what we are. We're mercy
beggars. We're beggars. We beg the Lord for mercy. He
said, come boldly unto the throne of grace that you may obtain
mercy. If he says come, we've got to come as mercy beggars.
Like the publican we read a moment ago in Luke 18. Lord, be merciful
to me, the sinner. Seven words. Seven words. I had
a dear friend call me one time. He said, I've been a believer
a long time. He said, I just don't know how
to pray anymore. How should I pray? I said, let
me give you seven words. Make this the cry of your heart.
Constantly the cry of your heart. Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. That's a good cry. The Lord will
hear that cry. The Lord will hear that cry when
the Lord is pleased to convict us of our sin, to show us what
we are in his sight, He will hear our cry. I've never read
in the Word of the Lord, not one time, that the Lord Jesus
Christ ever turned away a mercy beggar. Everyone who came to
Him seeking mercy, seeking help, seeking grace, seeking salvation, He healed them. He blessed them. He saved them by His grace. We don't come demanding mercy.
We come begging for mercy. You remember the leopard came
down from the mountain, and he met the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he fell down at his feet and worshiped him, and he said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. If you will, you can make
me clean. Now, what's the Lord gonna do?
This man's full of leprosy. He said, I will be thou clean.
I will be thou clean. That was a cry of mercy that
was heard and the Lord healed him. That ought to encourage
every one of us to cry out for mercy in our time of need. And that, what is our time of
need? It's all the time. I'm a needy creature. I need
thee every hour. I need thee every way. Now look
at verse three. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark my sin. O Lord, I can't stand. Who shall stand? The ungodly
shall not stand in his sight. Who shall stand before the Lord? If the Lord counts all of our
sin and puts all of our sin on us rather than our substitute,
can we stand before the Lord? justified in our filthiness,
in our sinful depravity? Absolutely not. The confession
of a repentant heart is taking God's side against myself. Guilty. Guilty before God. Upon my merit, upon my works,
Oh, who can't stand? Remember Psalm 24? Who shall
ascend to the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy
presence? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who has never lifted up the soul to vanity. Oh, that
just shut the door on me. I can't enter in the merit of
myself, my works, my doing. But upon the merit of another,
Psalm 24 goes on to say, that we shall ascend in the Lord Jesus
Christ because He's the Lord of hosts. That can be said of
Him. He'd never lifted up His soul
to vanity. He had never sworn deceitfully.
And we stand in Him. We stand in Him. But if the Lord
would just hold us accountable for all our sin and mark them
and count them, Aren't you glad salvation by
the grace of God? Justified freely by His grace?
The redemption is in the Lord Jesus Christ? How miserable it
must be to go around in the filthiness and the guilt of your sin and
trying to establish a righteousness by your own doing. That's misery. And there's so many people in
religious circles doing the very same thing. I cut my teeth. As a young boy, I cut my teeth
on works religion. That's what I was taught. That's
all I heard. That's all I knew until one day
God sent me a gospel preacher to tell me the truth. Now, here's
our confession of faith, verse 4. If thy Lord shouldest mark
my sin, O Lord, I can't stand. I can stand in Christ. I'm justified
in Christ. But, verse four, I love that
word, B-U-T, but God, but God, but there is forgiveness with
the Lord. There's no forgiveness under
the law. Cursed is everyone who continues not in all things which
are written in the book of the law to do them. By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified. But with thee, with
the Lord, there is, Forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be
worshipped. Forgiveness with thee. Remember
John said, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from
all our sin. There is forgiveness with the
Lord. With the Lord Jesus Christ. You
remember we studied Psalm 32. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. That's a blessed man. And then
when we read Ephesians chapter 2, when it talks about everything
we are by nature, children of wrath even as others, and then
it says, But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love
wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, He quickened
us together with Christ by grace. By grace are you saved. There is forgiveness with thee.
Hold your place there and turn over. You might want to mark
this in your book. Turn to Psalm 86. There is forgiveness with thee.
Look at verse 5. Psalm 86 verse 5. For thou, Lord,
art good. Boy, there's none good but God. Thou art good and ready to forgive. and plenteous in mercy unto all
them that call upon thee. You see that? Psalm 86 verse
5. Boy, mark that and read it again
and again. He's ready. He's good and ready
to forgive. He's good and ready to forgive. And he's plenteous in mercy.
Call upon the Lord. Call upon Him. That'll encourage
us, won't it? The forgiveness of sin, of our
sin, is based upon the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians
chapter 1 says, we're accepted in the Beloved. Remember? Ephesians
1 says, we're accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption. We have redemption from our sin. We have the forgiveness of sin
according to the riches of His grace. Without Christ crucified,
we have no forgiveness of sin. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness of sin. Is there? without the shedding
of His blood? You see, when we talk about love
and forgiveness, we have to talk about the atonement. Atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us, and He sent His Son to be the sacrifice
for our sin. The fruit of forgiveness is gratitude,
but there is forgiveness with thee. Look at verse four, that
thou mayest be feared. Thou mayest be worshipped. The
fruit of forgiveness is gratitude. Gratitude. Fear and reverence
and worship and gratitude for pardon produces far more reverence
than all the dread inspired by fear of punishment or promise
of reward. Gratitude. Gratitude. Reverence
to the Lord. Holy and reverent is His name.
He sent redemption unto His people. Holy and reverent is His name. Look at verse 5 and 6. Our Lord said, to whom much is
forgiven, the same loveth much. Remember? Those who have been
forgiven much, they love much. Look at verse 5 and 6. I wait
for the Lord. Boy, he's worth waiting on, isn't
he? Sometimes we get ready for service, come over here Sunday
morning, and I go out in the garage, open up the door, get
in the truck, fire the old truck up, and then I wait. What are
you waiting on? Waiting on Mama. She's worth
waiting for, isn't she? I wouldn't pull out of the garage
without Mama. Oh, she's worth waiting for, right? How about
waiting on the Lord? Isn't He worth waiting for? I
wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait. His blessings
are worth waiting for. I wait for the Lord. My soul
doth wait. Wait upon the Lord. Do you remember
Psalm 27? Wait upon the Lord. And again I say, wait upon the
Lord. Now, waiting upon the Lord. And in His Word do I hope. Two things there, His Word and
hope. We have hope because of His Word,
the Word of God. And when we talk about the Word
of God, you can't separate the written Word from the living
Word. The living Word is the Lord Jesus Christ. The written
Word, inspired and given of God, tells us all about the incarnate
Word, the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. I wait
for the Lord, my soul doth wait. In His Word, I do hope. And then
he emphasizes here, my soul waited for the Lord more than they that
watch for the morning. I mean, watching for the morning
is a good thing. Waiting for the sun to come up,
it's a good thing to watch for the morning, wait for the Lord.
But it's better more than they that watch for the morning."
I say more than they that watch for the morning. Looking for
the coming of the Lord. Waiting for the Lord. And while
we wait, we hope. Here's the believer's firm resolve
to wait and hope. Wait upon the Lord. In His Word,
I do hope. He's given us an everlasting
consolation and a good hope through the Lord Jesus Christ. We wait
with assurance of hope based upon the promise of God found
in His Word. Every promise of God. You remember
Joshua when he died? And Solomon when he prayed the
dedication of the temple? All that God had promised. And
He promised a whole lot. Not one word had failed. It's
impossible for God to lie. His Word is truth. All that He
speaks is infallibly true. All Holy Scripture is eternally
true. Truth never changes. Truth never
evolves. Never changes. Truth is always
the same. God never changes. His Word,
He said, I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, His Word does
not change. What He said thousands of years
ago, that was true then, still true now. His Word is worth repeating. His Word is a truth worth repeating. In His Word, I do hope. I do hope in His Word. I was
looking through, don't turn, let me just read this to you.
Psalm 119, if you want to look at it sometime, with the exception
of two or three verses, Psalm 119 has 176 verses, but with the exception
of one or two verses, every verse has to do with the word of the
Lord. And here's what I want to read
to you. Psalm 119, verse 103, 104, 105. How sweet are thy words unto
my taste? Yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate
every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path." His word, sweet, sweet to my taste. Sweet is his word. Everything
he said is true. The Lord said he will have mercy
on whom he will have mercy. You reckon He will? Yes, He will. The Lord said that the Lord Jesus
Christ died for the ungodly. When we were yet without strength,
He died for the ungodly. His Word is true. The Lord said
that the Lord Jesus Christ justifies sinners by His grace. The Lord
said that He came to save sinners. Is His Word true? He said, I
don't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Saving
faith takes God at His Word. Remember Peter and the apostles
were out fishing one time. They had fished all night and
had caught nothing. And they had come to the shore
and cleaned their nets and the Lord Jesus showed up and Peter
said, the Lord said, what have you caught? They said nothing.
These guys were professional fishermen. And the Lord said,
well just get back in the boat. Paddle out there a little way
and cast your net on the right side." And Peter said, Lord,
we toiled all night and we caught nothing. And then he said, nevertheless
at thy word, I'll do what you say. Well, you know the rest
of the story. They caught a great, great amount
of fish. Saving faith takes God at his
word. takes God and His Word. We receive
the Word of God, not as it is the Word of men, but as it is
in truth, the very Word spoken of God. Therefore, we have hope
in His Word. The Word is a sure foundation
of faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the what? The Word. The Word of the Lord.
The Word of the Lord. Now look at verse 7 and 8. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
Now, is there any hope of salvation and forgiveness apart from the
Lord? No. Let Israel, that's His chosen
people. That's the people that He has
loved with an everlasting love. That's His elect, His covenant
children. Let them hope in the Lord. For
with the Lord there is mercy. The Lord's mercies are new every
morning. Remember Lamentations chapter 3? His mercies are new
every morning. Great is our faithfulness. Let
Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy. And with Him is plenteous, plenteous
redemption. He obtained for us, not with
the blood of bulls and goats, but He obtained for us with His
own blood, He obtained for us what? Eternal redemption. Eternal redemption with His own
blood. It's a particular redemption.
Let Israel hope in the Lord. He doesn't say, let every man
everywhere. Let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there
is plentiful redemption. That's an effectual redemption.
That's a particular redemption. That's an atonement that the
Lord made with His blood, obtaining for us eternal redemption. And
He shall. I like this. And He shall. With
the Lord there is mercy. With the Lord there is forgiveness.
Verse 4. With the Lord there is forgiveness.
With the Lord there is mercy. Verse 7. With the Lord He is
plenteous in redeeming us. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
We're not redeemed with corruptible things, silver and gold, vain
conversation, by the tradition of religious works, but with
the precious blood of Christ. Verse 8, and he shall, he shall
redeem, he shall redeem Israel from most of his sin. Now, aren't you glad it doesn't
say that? I'm going to take care of the big ones. You're responsible
for the rest of them. Oh no. There's no such thing
as little sin. Because all of our sin is against
God. That makes it big. But he shall
redeem Israel, deliver Israel from all his iniquity. All my transgression, all my
sin, all my iniquity, God. God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. No more. No more. He shall redeem His people with
His blood from all our sin. Not one sheep for whom the Lord
Jesus Christ died can perish. If He put away all their sin,
all the sin of God's people, His sheep, His elect, His jewels,
His bride, His children, is He going to lose any of those? No. Why? He bought them with His
own blood. He redeemed them. He washed them.
He justified them forever. Really forever.