My text this morning will be
taken from the book of Psalms, Psalm 130, verse 1 through 4. I'm speaking on the subject,
the forgiveness of sin. Now, as I said last Sunday morning,
this particular cassette tape has two sermons that I'd like
for you to have and to share with others. The one I preached
last Sunday morning on living by faith, and the one that I'll
be preaching today on the forgiveness of sins from Psalm 130. The Old Testament is beautiful
in gospel truth. A man who cannot preach the gospel
from the Old Testament does not understand the gospel because
Paul said that our Lord died for our sins according to the
scriptures. Now, what scriptures was he talking
about? He was talking about the Old
Testament. because when he was preaching in the early days of
his ministry, the New Testament had not been written. And so
he said when Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
he's talking about according to the Old Testament promises
and prophecies and types and pictures and symbols. The Old
Testament is Christ in picture. The New Testament is Christ in
person. And the Apostle Paul said he was buried and rose again
according to the Scriptures. And our Lord, when he was preaching
during his earthly ministry, referred frequently to the Old
Testament scriptures. Moses, he said, wrote of me.
Abraham saw my day and was glad. So don't be misled into making
statements like the Old Bible and the New Bible. We have only
one Bible made up of Old Testament or Old Covenant and New Covenant.
But it's one Bible, one message, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. one mediator between God, the
one God, and men. And I'm turning to Psalm 130,
and I'm going to read for you verse 1 through 4. Would you
like to follow in your Bible while I read? 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 supplications. If thou, O Lord, shouldest mark,
or keep account, or charge us, is what he's saying, with our
sins, if thou, O Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
would stand? Who could stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared, worshipped,
adored, and believed. There's one thing, my friend,
that we all have in common. You and me and every son of Adam. There's one thing that we have
in common. Out there listening to me this morning, there are
men and women, boys and girls. There are black people and white
people. There are educated people and folks that don't have as
much education. There are old folks and there
are young folks. And there are religious people
and there are agnostics and atheists and unbelievers. But there's
one thing. every one of us have in common.
You know what that is? There's one statement that can
be made which is true of every person listening to my voice.
I have a message this morning that will meet every man's need,
that will apply to every person listening to me, every human
being. That is, we're sinners. The Bible
says all have sinned, all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God. The scripture has concluded all. There isn't a person listening
to me who has no sin. The Bible says in 1 John 1, 8,
if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. The truth's
not in us. If we say we've not sinned, we
make even God, we make God a liar. And His Word's not in us. All
we like sheep, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned
everyone to his own way. The Lord God, He said, look down
from heaven. to see if there was any that
did do good. And he found they all together
become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. There's none righteous. No, not
one. God said every imagination of
man's heart is evil continually. So, my friends, that's one thing.
And I don't care who you are. You may resent this and you may
get upset by it. But every preacher, deacon, Sunday
school teacher, religious person, male, female, every person listening
to my voice, I didn't say you used to be a sinner. I said you
are a sinner. You are a sinner. We are sinners. That's one thing we have in common.
And the old writers used to talk about awakened sinners, and aroused
sinners, and conscious sinners, and unconscious sinners, and
great sinners, and guilty sinners. But there's just one kind of
sinner, and that's a guilty sinner. We're all guilty. What the law
saith, it saith to everyone that's under the law, and that's every
person. that all the world might be guilty, that every mouth might
be stopped. Guilty before God. We're sinners,
all right. We're sinners by nature. Did
you know that sin is not just an act, it's an attitude? Sin
is not just a performance of the flesh, it's a principle in
the heart. Sin is not just an action. Sin is a nature. It's in us. It's born in us.
Listen to what David said. He said, I was conceived in sin. I was shaped in an iniquity.
I was brought forth speaking lies. The wicked are estranged
from the womb. They go astray as soon as they're
born, speaking lies. And this is what many people
do not understand about sin. They confine sin to an action.
or to a deed, or to something that is done outwardly that's
seen or heard. But seeing is a state, it's a
nature, it's a root within us. That's what John the Baptist
talked about when he talked about laying the ax to the root of
the tree. That's where our problem is.
It goes back to our nature. And I've said so many times,
and I'll say it again to you, a man does not become a liar
because he lies. He lies because he's already
a liar. He steals because he's already
a thief. The deed was planned in his heart
before it was ever carried out by his hands or by some outward
faculty of his body, some action that's seen. So we're sinners
by nature. And not only that, but we're sinners in mind and
thought. God said, your thoughts are not
my thoughts. The natural mind is enmity against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. We don't think on the things
we ought to think on. Man thinks, but he doesn't think
on God. Man loves, but he doesn't love God. Man has affection,
but it's not affection for holiness and righteousness. It's greed
and covetousness and envy and jealousy. Those are our thoughts.
Lust and pride. Oh, the thought of pride, the
thought of foolishness is seen. So we're not only sinners by
nature, but we're sinners by thought, and we're sinners in
heart. Our Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees, out of the heart
proceeds the things that defile a man. It's not what a man puts
in his mouth that defiles him, that which goes into the mouth,
goes into the belly, and is digested and cast out into the draft.
It's that which comes out of his heart. That's our problem. It's sin in the heart. It's evil
in the heart. And everything that we do outwardly
is already purposed and planned inwardly. As a man thinketh in
his heart, so is he. Our Lord was interpreting sin
for the religious people of His day. And He said, now you've
heard it said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill. But
I say unto you, to hate is to be guilty already of murder.
Already. And you've heard it said by them
of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, I'm saying to
you, to lust in your heart is to be guilty already of adultery.
Now, I know that the President of the United States gave an
interview one time when he was running for office, and a lot
of people misunderstood that interview, in which he stated
the very thing I'm saying this morning. I don't know how much
he knows about it, but I know at that time he was telling the
truth, that sin comes from the heart. And before God, now get
this, the consequences are not the same openly and actively,
but my friend, the guilt is the same. If the thought is there,
and the intent is there, and the motive is there, and the
attitude is there, and the principle of envy, and jealousy, and hatred,
and covetousness, and pride. Those things, we may have the
happiest smile on our face, and we may deceive everybody about
us, and they may think we're the finest folks on earth, but
what's going on in our hearts? That's what God sees. God does
not look on the outward countenance. He looks on the heart. And those
things which are highly esteemed among men are an abomination
to God. We're sinners. Let's face it. Let's admit it. Let's see if
we can't deal with it. Let's see if we can find some
hope for sinners. We're sinners by nature, born
that way. You don't have to teach a child
to lie. Why not? He's born knowing how. You don't
have to teach him to be envious and greedy and selfish and to
hate, because he's born with a seed of those things in his
heart. We have to do everything in our power to bring our children
up in some kind of passion of honesty and love and forgiveness
and these things, and you keep pounding these things into them.
Why don't you have to teach? Now, son, here's the way to lie. He knows how to do that. Nobody
has to teach him. You don't have to sit down and
say, now, son, this is the way you hate. Now, you hate this way. No, you have to say, son, don't
hate love. He hates by nature. It's a nature. You see what I'm saying? And
then it's seeing as a thought, and seeing as in the heart, and
seeing also in the deeds. You know, Paul said, that which
I would do, I do not, and that which I would not do, that's
what I do. And Paul here was not an unsaved man. He knew the
Lord. He talked about with the inward
man, I love the law of God. But I find within me a law warring
against the law of my mind, bringing me in captivity to sin. And you
know, these old timers, these writers of Scripture, they didn't
talk about sin in the past tense like so many religious people
do today. You ever hear these testimony meetings? I used to
do this and used to do that and used to do the other. Oh, what
a great sinner I was. Or if you all could just know
me back in days of sin, what a great sinner I was. Let me
tell you something, friend. It's not what a great sinner
you were. It's what a great sinner you are. And the writers of Scripture
didn't talk about their sins in the past tense. Listen to
them now. Listen to the Bible. David said, my sin is ever before
me. He's 60 years old when he wrote
that. My sin is ever before me. Listen to listen to Isaiah. Here's a man who is he was looking
upon the Lord Here's a man who knows God to whom God has given
a special revelation of his glory of his holiness Listen to him
Woe is me. I am Undone I am a man of unclean
lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips That
tear up a testimony meeting wouldn't it? It wouldn't be much following
that would if one of the most Godly people in the congregation,
one of the most dependable, consecrated, devoted men like Isaiah stood
up and said, woe is me, I'm undone, I am a man of unclean lips, I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. No, we've got
to brag on one another and brag on ourselves and justify ourselves. Listen to Paul, Romans chapter
7, O wretched man that I am, that I am, Job, God Himself said
Job was an upright man. Compared with other men, he was
the most upright man. But listen to Job. When he had
seen the Lord, he said, Lord, I have heard of You by the hearing
of the ear. Now mine eyes see of Thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself. I hate myself. Once have I spoken,
yea, twice. I have uttered things that are
too wonderful for me. I won't speak any more. I'll
put my hand on my mouth. I repent in sackcloth and ashes."
This is a godly man. But he knows that sin is not
just an external act, it's an internal attitude. Attitude toward
God, an attitude toward myself, an attitude toward others, an
attitude toward providence, an attitude toward God's purpose,
an attitude toward second causes, attitude. He knows that sin is
a thought, it's a condition of the heart, it's a state of birth
and being. and also deeds. But these deeds,
I tell you, are the products of sin. They're the fruit of
sin. It's the sin that produces the
deed. We look at the deed. We say,
that fellow got drunk. He ought not get drunk. Well,
that's not the issue between him and God, the fact that he
got drunk. The issue between him and God
is why he did it. He hates God. He loves himself. The issue between you and God
is not you stole a watermelon, it's why you stole it. What caused
you to do it? The issue between you and God
is not the fact that you went to the picture show on Sunday
afternoon or the ball game on Sunday afternoon. It's the fact
that you'd rather do that than worship Him. And that's in here. You see what I'm saying? I hope
you see what I'm saying because you don't understand sin. Unless
you see that Satan, Lucifer, sinned before any of these things
that we call sin even existed. When Lucifer fell and sinned
against God, sin in heaven, there weren't any picture shows or
dances or whiskey or any of these things, card tables or dice games,
they didn't exist. But what was his sin? Our will.
I will be like God. What about Adam's sin? What did
Adam do? People have tried for generations
to find out what that was. I'll tell you what it was. It
was an attitude. It was an attitude. It was a spirit in his heart
that rebelled against God. And he said, I'll be like God.
Throw off the sovereignty of God. Throw off the will of God.
Throw off the purpose of God. I'll be my own God. I'll be my
own boss. Brother, we sinners, we got problems. Therefore, knowing the reality
of sin, and we feel it in us, we feel that anger and resentment
and that envy and that covetousness and, oh, pride. That's the granddaddy
of all sin. Our Lord, in Proverbs chapter
6, He said, There's six things I hate, yea, seven are an abomination
to me. And the first one He names is
a proud look, pride. We resent authority. We're proud. We're arrogant. Pride goeth before
destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. God resisteth
the proud. He gives grace to the humble.
Therefore, knowing the reality of sin and knowing the holiness
of God. And these are two things that
are so far apart. How holy is God? How unholy is
man? How righteous is God? How unrighteous
is the flesh? In the flesh, no man can please
God. In the flesh, well, it's no good
thing. Isaiah said, in the sole of your
feet to the top of your heads, there's no soundness in you.
Your whole head is sick, your whole heart, your affections
are faint. That's what made Job exclaim, well, how can he be
clean that's born of a woman? How can man be just with God?
Behold the moon, it shineth not, the stars are not pure in God's
sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man who drinks iniquity like he drinks water? How can
he be clean with God? Boy, I tell you, that's enough
to send you into utter despair. And I'll tell you this, if you
sit down sometime, if you get off this religious merry-go-round,
if you quit listening to these fellows that are saying their
praises and your praises and start listening to somebody telling
you who God is, and what you are. Brother, you'll get down
to weeping like the publican in the temple crying, oh God,
can you be reconciled to me? And can it be, Charles Wesley
wrote, and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's
blood? Died he for me who him to death
pursued? Depths of mercy, can there be
mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear
and me, the chief of sinners, spare? Is there any hope? That's
what makes verses like my text. Subjects for rejoicing. There
is forgiveness with thee. Did you read that a while ago?
Psalm 130 verse 4. The psalmist said, O Lord, if
you should mark iniquity, if you should mark or write an account, and charge us with every one
of our sins, every thought, every imagination, every dream, every
act. If you should charge it, who's
going to stand? Who's going to stand? Not me
and not you. And if a man sinned against a
man, the judge shall come between them. But if a man sinned against
God, who's going to stand for him? That's what the prophet
asked. Well, thank God there's forgiveness with thee. And we
can sing with the hymn writer, my sins, oh, the bliss of that
glorious thought. My sins, not in part, but the
whole, the whole mess of sin is nailed to the cross and I
bear it no more. It is well, praise the Lord,
with my soul. The forgiveness of sin. Preacher,
how can you be sure that God will forgive sin? How do you
know? You come preaching this gospel
of forgiveness, this gospel of mercy, you say full justification,
free pardon, pure righteousness, holiness. How do you know that?
Could I give you seven reasons? I've got about eight minutes,
and I'm going to give you seven reasons why I believe God will
forgive sin. Now, the first one is this, because
that's His name. That's his name. Moses said there
in Exodus 33, God, Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord said
in Exodus 33, I'll show you my glory. I'll cause my goodness
to pass before you. I will be merciful. And then
in Exodus 34, 5 through 7, you ought to mark this, write it
down, read it later. Exodus 34, 5 through 7, listen. And the Lord descended in a cloud. This is to Moses. and stood with
Moses there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord
passed by before him and proclaimed the name of the Lord, the Lord
God, His name. Now here it is, merciful, gracious,
long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. That's
His name. That's His name. And when I proclaim
the name of the Lord, I proclaim the name of Him who is merciful,
who is gracious, and who forgives sin. When you believe on the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're believing on Him whose
name is mercy. Sure, our God is righteous, but
He's also mercy. God is truth, but God is love. God Almighty is holiness, but
God is grace. That's His name. And when you
call on the name of the Lord, you're calling on Him who is
rich in mercy to all who call on Him. Rich in mercy. God delights to show mercy. He's
plenteous in mercy. That's what Scripture says. That's
His name. A man who preaches a harsh, unforgiving, unrelenting
God, he's not preaching the God of the fountains. Our God's name
is mercy. You missed it, friend. You missed
it. And then secondly, this is the
message of the Old Testament prophets. There's forgiveness
with God. You know, when we see, when the
movies or television pictures a prophet of old, how they picture
him? They got some old ragged head, shaggy-headed, long beard,
A guy with piercing eyes and heavy eyebrows who's crying damnation
and condemnation on every living creature. That's not the prophets
of old. Sure, they told the truth about
man's sin and the truth about God's judgment, but they preached
the mercy of God. Isaiah said he was wounded for
our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity.
David said there's forgiveness with thee. And over here in Acts
10, 43, it says, to him give all the prophets witness that
through his name, whosoever believeth on him should receive forgiveness
of sins. Whosoever believeth on him shall
be forgiven. That's what the prophets said.
They preached a Redeemer. They weren't prophets of doom
and prophets of no hope. They were prophets of hope. Look
unto me, Isaiah said, look unto me, and be ye saved, all the
ends of the earth, for I am God. That's my name. And then thirdly,
every Old Testament sacrifice preaches forgiveness. Every Old
Testament picture and prophecy and promise pictures forgiveness. Look at Moses lifting up that
serpent in the wilderness. God's saying there's forgiveness.
Look at Moses and the people of Israel putting the blood on
the door. God's saying there's forgiveness. Look at Abel bringing
the blood and putting the blood of the Lamb on the altar. God's
saying there's forgiveness. God's saying there's forgiveness.
You see that? Look at the Old Testament priest going under
the veil into the awesome Holy of Holies with the blood sacrifice.
God's saying there's forgiveness. There's forgiveness for all who
want it. All of those sacrifices, Tell
us there's forgiveness. And then fourthly, our Lord demonstrated
His purpose to save during His ministry. Now you watch His whole
ministry. When He went down into Jericho,
He forgave, He saved a man. Who was it? One of the worst
men there, Zacchaeus. When our Lord went into the home
of the Pharisee for that big religious dinner, He came out
of there with one trophy of His grace. It was a harlot. When
our Lord went into the land of the Gadarenes, He came back with
one trophy of grace. Who was it? The man who was in
the tombs that they had chained and had lost his mind. Our Lord
went to Calvary's cross and died while thousands looked on. He
came away from that cross with one trophy of grace. Who was
it? A thief. And you can go all the way through
the Word of God and you'll find His whole ministry was to sinners. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save the lost. That's what the Bible says. That's
his, I know he'll forgive sinners, he did, he's the friend of sinners.
All right, fourthly, fifthly, the Lord's death on Calvary preaches
loud and clear that God will forgive sin. The angel said,
Mary's going to have a son, a fulfillment of scripture. Isaiah 7.14 said,
a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, thou shalt call
his name Jesus. or Emmanuel, God with us. The
angel said, you'll call his name Jesus. He shall save his people
from their sins. What meaneth this suffering of
the Son of God? Why these wounds in thy hands
and thy feet? Why this blood streaming down
from thy back and side? It's to redeem sinners from their
sin. It's saying, God is merciful.
If God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? And then,
my friend, when the Lord sent his disciples out to preach the
gospel, what did he tell them to preach? He said, Thus it is
written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead, the third day, that repentance and forgiveness
of sin should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. There is forgiveness with him.
Lord, if you should charge sin, I can't stand it. Nobody else
who can stand but there's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be
the lead Worship and fear