I usually forget that everywhere
I go. They have me to do that. And
I usually don't do it. I have my mind on one thing. And if you tell me to do something
else, you just mess me up. I just always do it. Psalm 130. This psalm reaches
out to every sinner who needs forgiveness. Have you ever just
needed to be forgiven? Just forgiven. Forgiven. Have you ever offended somebody
and you just ask them to say, forgive me? I didn't mean, you
know, of course, we probably didn't mean it, but you just
need forgiven. Just forgive me. Forgive me. That's what this is about. Lord, forgive me. If we could just truly ask in
that manner, there is forgiveness with the Lord. That's the good
news. There is forgiveness. God can
forgive the most wretched person that's ever walked on this earth.
God can forgive. But not only can he forgive,
he can forget. Something you and I are not able
to do unless we lose our minds. But he can absolutely forget
the offense. It never happened. What are you
talking about? And all my offenses, I might
offend you, but you know all my offenses are against God.
David said in Psalm 51, after committing adultery, after having
Uriah, her husband, put to death, don't you know he offended that
family? You know he had brothers and sisters, you know, he had
a family. He had mom and dad, he had a
family. But David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned
and done this evil in thy sight. This sin, oh God, is against
you. And I did it, he said, in thy
sight with you looking on. With you watching. Does he not
see us all the time? Does God not see us all the time?
With you watching, I did it right in your face, knowing it was
wrong. Knowing it. And listen to this. You know something's going on
here. There's an intense desire being expressed here. Out of
the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. Out of the depths,
you know something's going on. This is the reason why I like
to read the Psalms so much, because the one who wrote the Psalms,
I can identify with. I can read Psalm 51, and that's
called a Psalm of repentance, and I can identify with David
there. I can identify with him. And here I can identify with
him. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Have you ever
known the pain of sin in the soul? Have you ever really known
the pain of sin? Someone said conviction of sin
is deep work in the soul. You know what it takes to get
a man or a woman to say, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I did it. No excuses. Well, the devil made me do it.
Or this one or that one. If it hadn't been for this, I
wouldn't have done it. When we really cry out of the
depths of conviction, we make no excuses. I did it. And I knew better. The law of
God is written on the heart. We know better. We know better. The psalmist is crying unto God
out of a deep conviction of sin. Real conviction of sin is brought
on by the Holy Spirit. This is not a worldly sorrow,
this is godly sorrow. This is godly sorrow. And it's
painful. Painful. A real conviction of
sin is painful. I have watched in the past some
of those Billy Graham crusades, they call them. And people coming
down out of the aisles here and talking and laughing just as
they walk. There's nothing to laugh about
in sin. You look at Calvary and tell
me, is there anything to laugh about? That's what ought to happen to
me. That's exactly what God ought to do to me. But what he did, he marked my
sin. And I'll get to this in a minute.
He marked my sin. He said, Lord, if you should
mark iniquity, who will stand? He did mark it on his son. But David is crying out here
from a real conviction of sin. Something's going on here with
David. There's a deep work of conviction
going on in his heart. And he says here, and this is
not the first time he's done it, he said, Have I cried? Out
of the depths have I cried. He's done this before. I tell
you, we cry for mercy, we cry for forgiveness out of the depths
of conviction, and we'll do it again and again. And now, it
varies in degrees. Once it starts, it never stops.
It varies in degrees, but once it starts, a real conviction
of sin never stops. Why did I do that? Lord, do you
not ask every day, Lord, forgive me? Forgive us our sins. Forgive us our debts as we forgive
others. Every day. Pray it every day.
Lord, forgive me. Have mercy on me. You're determined not to do it
again, and you do it again. And you ask for forgiveness again.
And you know what? He's faithful to forgive again.
Go over and read Psalm 107. Every time he took them down,
they cried for mercy, and what'd he do? He lifted them out, every
time. Now you and I, you know, you
and I would say, you know what, I've had enough. You know, enough's
enough, you're wearing me out. The disciples said, Lord, how
often should we forgive our brothers? Tell me where the limit is. Tell
me where the cutoff is. And the Lord said 70 times 7,
a definite number for an indefinite number. But I can tell you this,
how often should I forgive my brother? As often as you want
God to forgive you. That's the measure. That's the
measure. As often as you desire God to
forgive you. Now when you quit desiring God
to forgive you, then you can act like that. You can act like
that. The sinner is made to cry out
of the depths. He said, out of the depths. He's
down, isn't he? He's down. He's down in the depths.
Have you ever been there? Have you ever found yourself
at your wit's end? It is painful. It is a painful
work to be brought to faith and repentance in Christ. It's a
painful experience. In the soul. In the soul. God
laying bare the soul. God... I would not want to be stripped naked in
front of a crowd. That would be so humiliating.
It would be just so humiliating, so embarrassing. And yet when
God saves a sinner, He has to strip that sinner bare. He has
to strip me bare. and make me see this is me. This
is me. It's not the way I thought of
myself before. No one thinks more highly of me than me. Until
God lays us bare. Until He allows us to see this
is who you are. If a man finds out what sin is,
He will find out what he is. If you find out what sin is,
you'll find out what you are. And you'll find out that you
are in a very deep pit of corruption. I'm not just in a pit with a
bunch of corrupt people, I am it. I'm the pit. I'm the pit. And no one, no one
can reach into that pit of sin and iniquity and bring me out
of it except God. He's the only one who can do
it. He's the only one. Psalm 42, Psalm 40 verse 2. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit. out of the miry clay, he brought
me out of a horrible pit of sin, out of the miry clay, the grave,
and set my feet upon the rock, upon a rock, the rock cried Jesus,
and established my goings. I know where I'm going. I know
where I'm going. I know where I'm headed. It's not the nursing home. It's
my home in heaven with Christ. That's where I'm headed. And
I may have to stop at the nursing home on the way. I may have to
stop. That may be part of the journey
home. Everything I experience will be part of the journey home.
But I know I'm going home. Only Jesus Christ can bring a
man up from such a horrible pit. You know how he did it? By going
into the pit himself. Would you save a sewer rat? Would
you go into a sewer? Go down into the sewer and save
a sewer rat? I'd shoot a sewer rat. That's
what I'd do to it. But the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this cesspool of sin and lifted us out. When we sing this
song, He lifted us out of the deep miry clay. And when a sinner cries out of
this pit, God always, always hears him. Always. Psalm 22, 24. For he hath not
despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath
he laid, neither hath he hid his face from him. But when he
cried unto him, he heard. He heard. Oh, out of the depths
have I cried unto thee. And notice what he cries. Oh
Lord, oh Lord, if we cry unto him, who alone can forgive sin?
Who alone can lift us out? If we cry to him, we don't need
to cry to anybody else, do we? I don't need to cry to the pastor.
He can't do anything for me. Catholics all go to the priest
and the Pope. They can't do nothing, they just
add to it. They add to your misery. But
God, the Lord, can bring me out. It says in 1 Peter 5, 7, Casting
all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. You reckon we'd check that out?
You reckon we ought to check that out? I do. Cast all your
cares. You say, well, this is a little
thing. There is nothing in this life
that's little. Nothing in this life that's little. And you and
I are not even capable of taking care of the little things. If
we could see behind the scenes, well, I think we would see he's
carrying us all the way. All the way. Be careful, it says in Philippians
4, 6, be careful for nothing. But in everything, by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto God. Be careful for nothing. Be anxious
over absolutely nothing. Nothing. He said, bring them
all to me. Lay them down at my feet. Lay
them down at the throne of grace. Everything. Got a headache? Lay it at the throne of grace. Got a heartache? Lay it at the
throne of grace. Lord, hear my voice. What's that worth? What's that worth if you had
the king's attention? Let thine ears be attentive.
Attention like you listen to your child speak and you're listening.
Giving attention. to the voice of my supplication.
If the Lord would but hear my voice, I'm sure all will be well. If I can but have His attention,
Lord, hear my voice, hear the groan of it, hear the urgency
of it, the need of it, hear my voice. Does not the Holy Spirit
pray for us with groanings which cannot be uttered? That's what
I think he's saying. Listen to the groaning of my
voice. Listen to that which I can't even utter. Listen to it. Hear
me. Lord, hear me. Hear me, he says
in another place. Hear me when I cry. Is this not what we want? I prayed this morning, Lionel.
Lord, hear what we prayed. Hear what we prayed. Here's what we want, for God
to hear our prayer, our voice, our groaning. The answer is up
to Him. I'm not telling God how to answer.
I'm just telling Him to hear. Listen, give me your attention.
Give me your attention. You know what He's doing? He's
recognizing His need of God. Is that not what prayer is? Prayer
is two things. One, it's praising God, recognizing
who He is. And then it's recognizing my
dependence on Him. Give us, Lord, our daily bread. Give us our daily bread. My daily
needs, what are they? That's what it is. He's talking
about giving my daily bread. It's my daily needs. Take care of
me. For God to hear our voice. It's
always good to recognize His Lordship also when you pray.
Lord! Listen, if He's not Lord, why
are you calling on Him? You can't do Him more than I
can do if He's not Lord. It's always good to recognize
His Lordship. Knowing that He's Lord, we come
before Him as beggars. Beggars. Not demand, I demand
you give me this. No. Lord, I beg you for forgiveness. I beg you to hear me. Hear my
voice. Asking for him to give great
attention to the voice of my supplications. Plural. Supplications. It's not the first
time. Won't be the last time either. If thou, Lord, Yah, that's what
that is. Terrible, the terrible majesty
of God. We're calling upon the terrible
majesty of God. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? So I know this, I know he's crying
out of the depths and I know it has to do with his sin. Troubled. is iniquities. Lord, if you should mark what
I do, what I think, what I've said, I ain't gonna make it. I ain't gonna make it. This verse tells us what's troubling
the psalmist, it's his sins. And he knows that God is just
God. He knows that God can deal with him in a terrible way, but
he also knows, and you just have to love the way he puts it here
in the next verse, that God is a merciful God. He's merciful. If the Lord should mark every
sin, and I'm talking about the ones
we don't even know about, Make note of every thought. We are
told to bring every thought to subjection to Christ. If He's
to mark every thought, and He does, every deed, the ones I ought to be doing,
not just the ones I think are bad, but the ones I should do
and don't. If God, He said, Lord, if you
mark those, who shall stand? The angels. When they sinned,
they fell, one-third of the heavenly host. They didn't stand. When
Adam rebelled, one sin by one act of disobedience. He didn't
sin many times. He did one time. The whole human race came under
condemnation. Lord, if you should do that. He says in Psalm 1 verse
5, Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor
sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Now listen, God does mark sin.
God does mark sin. Sins, you know, another scripture
says that God requires the past. He does mark it. Here's the good
news. The believer's sins were marked
on Christ. He chastens me for my conduct. He chastens me for my conduct.
He does not punish me for them. He punished Christ. He marked
every thought I have had or ever will have. He marked every disobedient
act I have done or ever will do. He marked it on Jesus Christ
and punished him in my stead. Now if God has not done that
for a man, his sins will be marked on him
and he will not stand. Jesus Christ is the refuge. He's
the city of refuge. He's the only hope we have. He's
the only one. Things that people have forgotten. Do you remember what thought
you had 20 years ago? God does. God does. Every one of them. Now in Christ,
they're gone. My thoughts, all those are gone.
Outside of Christ. Now here's what I'm saying. Outside
of Christ, that stupid thought I had when I was 25 years old,
he still remembers. Just like it happened. I don't
remember those things. But God does. God does. He marks them. Marks them. And every one of them will be
brought into judgment. How important is it to know Christ? How important? This is divine knowledge, what
he's saying here. This is divine knowledge. This
is a person taught of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Do you fear God? Do you have a real genuine fear
of God? God's given you wisdom. You're
among the wisest people that's ever walked on this earth. God's
given you wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. It's understanding. And if it were not for the truth
found in the next verse, we wouldn't need to pray anymore. Because
we'd be in trouble. But listen, here's the next verse,
verse 4. But there is forgiveness. That word also means propitiation. Propitiation. There is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared, that you may be worshipped,
but that you also, listen, may be feared. Don't take forgiveness
for granted. Don't presume upon the mercy
of God. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy and whom I will, I will harden. He's sovereign. He's sovereign in the dispensing
of His forgiveness. And He's saying here, I don't
take, there's forgiveness with you. I know you can't forgive
me. But I know you can also leave
me alone. I know that. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation
for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of
the whole world. There is forgiveness with God.
There is a way that God can forgive me and still be God through Jesus
Christ, His blood and righteousness. Acts 5.31, Him hath God exalted
with His right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. In whom we have redemption,
Ephesians 1, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of His grace. Colossians 1, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. There's forgiveness with God.
Does anybody here need forgiven? There is forgiveness with God,
that he may be feared, that he may be worshipped. I wait for
the Lord, he says. Now he says here, he has given
his petition, he's prayed. Now he says, I'm going to wait.
And that word means expect. I wait with expectation for the
Lord. My soul doth wait. In His word
do I hope. Why do I think God will forgive
me? I have His word on it. Well, I feel like it. I feel
like a lot of things for this day is over with. I have His word on it. He that
cometh to me, I will know why is cast out. I have His Word on it. I hope
in His Word. His Word is what keeps me coming. His Word is
what keeps me praying. I have His Word on it. I have
God's Word on it. It's not the Word of men. This
is God's Word. This is not a commentary. This
is God's Word. It's God's Word. Psalm 27, Wait on the Lord, be
of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait,
I say, on the Lord. and wait. Pray and wait. When we remember who it is we're
waiting on, it's not too hard to wait, is it? If you know who
you're waiting on. We wait on Him who's never late,
who never fails, therefore we wait. And now Lord, He says in
Psalm 39, And now Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee.
I waited patiently for the Lord, He inclined unto me, and He heard
my cry. And in His Word do I hope. I
cannot always see the hand of God in Providence, but I can
read about it. I can always pick up His Word
and read about it. I may not be able to detect Him, but I
can read about Him. Every promise, every hope, every
comfort we have is found in God's Word. The Word of God is the
foundation of it. And my soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. You ever pray like that? You
ever pray and then just watch and wait for it to happen? Sometimes you wait for years. It doesn't mean He's going to
do it next week or He'll do it when it's time to do it. He answers our prayers in His
time, when it's time, when it's best for His glory and our good.
That's when God will answer the prayer. There'll be prayers that
I've probably forgotten about. There'll be prayers I know I've
forgotten about, I prayed years ago, that He'll fulfill ten years
down the road. God says, why? He never forgets.
He doesn't forget the supplication of his children. You ever have
kids ask you something and I say, I forgot that. I've done that
too many times, but I forgot it. He never, never. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning, more than the night
watchman waiting for the rising of the sun. He said, I'm waiting
for Him. I've called on Him. I've prayed.
I've laid it before Him. Now I'm going to wait on Him.
I'll wait on Him. He waits for the Lord. He desires
His Lord's presence more than those who watch Him for the morning.
Oh, to have that kind of desire. To have that kind of relationship
with God. And now he encourages, and I'm going to close, he encourages
his brethren to hope in the Lord. See, he's called on the Lord,
he hopes in the Lord, and now he's going to turn to his brethren
and encourage them to hope. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him plenteous redemption.
Plenteous redemption. If it could be wore out, we'd
have done it. We'd have done it. If we find the Lord to be gracious,
then let us tell others about it. Did he answer your prayer?
Tell your brothers and sisters about it. Let them rejoice with you. Let the Israel of God hope in
the God of Israel. That's what he's saying. Our
confidence is not in the arm of the flesh, but the God of
Israel. God of Israel. Our hope is in
Jesus Christ. As it's written in Timothy, Christ
our hope. He's our hope. He's the Son of
God, the Son of Man, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
the everlasting God, our advocate, our high priest, our everything.
Our hope is in Him. And He shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. Oh, He says, Out of the depths
have I cried, unto thee, O Lord. Lord, if you should mark iniquities,
who shall stand? And then he gets this ray of
hope. He remembers God's Word and he
knows there's forgiveness with him. And then it's like he turns
to his brethren and he says, you hope in him too. Let Israel
hope in him too. He shall redeem Israel from all.
I like that word all. That means all. That means all
of them. I got a lot of them. I'm nothing but iniquity. So
that means all of them are gone. Since He redeemed me from all
of them, they're all gone. You know the worst enemy I have
is my iniquities? It's not Satan. It's me. It's
me. I am my worst enemies. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. There
is forgiveness. Anybody need it? Anybody really,
really, really need it? Forgiveness of sins. There is. Alright, Lionel.