Good evening. If you would turn
with me to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. This psalm I think
is a psalm that has always spoken to the hearts
of the Lord's people in a peculiar way. As we come to it tonight,
I don't feel equipped to preach from this psalm, and I'm not. I just pray that the Lord will
be gracious to us and he'll bless for his name's sake. This psalm
is a psalm that's so full and so rich with the grace of God. It overflows with the forgiveness
of God, his mercy, and his redemption. It's a psalm of great hope for
every troubled sinner. We can only approach this psalm as poor and trembling souls upon
holy ground. Fearful as we preach that we
don't tread upon the purity of his grace because that's all
we find in this psalm. If there ever was grace, it's
found here. In this psalm, we have a man
who utters cries of repentance and supplication to God. There's
cries of tearful sorrow. Cries that rise up out of the
depths. But he utters, too, cries of
anticipation, cries of hope. Cries of hope in the mercy of
the Lord and in his abundant redemption. And these are cries,
too, of tearful joy. So let's read this psalm. It's
just eight verses. But how full, how full these
verses are. Out of the depths I have cried
to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you,
Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But
there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. I wait
for the Lord. My soul waits, and in his word
do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more
than those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than those
who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for
with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. He begins, out of the depths
have I cried to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. He cries. This is David. He cries, and
he cries out of the depths. And my desire, my hope for everyone
here tonight that you too, if you haven't, that you too will
come to a place where you'll cry out of the depths, that you too would know something
of the depths of your sin and your misery apart from the only
savior, and that you too would cry out to him. You know, you
remember that parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. In it, we know that the Lord
speaks of two men. He speaks of this Pharisee and
the tax collector. And the Pharisee was a moral
man, an upright man, a man who tithed, a church-going man. But the Lord himself said, he
spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they
were righteous. And he says something peculiar
about that Pharisee in the parable, that when he prayed, he prayed
with who? With himself. His prayers never
ascended to God. The ears of the Lord were not
open to his prayers. The Lord wasn't attentive. But
how different that tax collector. How different that tax collector.
The tax collector at the end of that parable, we read, the
tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his
eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful
to me the sinner. And this is what Jesus said.
This man, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other. Now, this parable doesn't tell
us anything about how God justifies. I don't know if you've thought
about that. It doesn't tell us how God justifies the sinner,
but it does tell us That the one who is brought to this place,
who sees his need, his utter hopelessness and cries out to
God, he's the one that's heard. He's the one that's heard and he's helped and he's justified. The only thing that matters.
The Lord teaches us that everyone who believes and is justified
is one who at some point, in some way, cries out to the Lord,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And we cry out to him every day,
don't we? We surely do if we know him.
But there are times, too, when the believer through the sinful
and sorrowful circumstances of his own life, may find himself
in depths like these, overwhelming his soul. And the Lord may use
the providential circumstances, as he did with Jonah, to bring
one of his children into the depths, into this place. that
he may, but at times he may use nothing at all. Nothing at all
except the powerful working of his word upon the heart through
the Holy Spirit. That's all he needs. That's all
he needs to do. Just a movement of the Holy Spirit
in the soul is enough to prostrate a man and bring him into these
depths that David is writing of. Turn over to Jonah, and let's
just consider Jonah for a moment. I just want to look at two passages
other than this psalm tonight here. It's in Jonah, and then
we'll look at another psalm. So we'll see Jonah. He's brought
into the depths. How was he brought there, and
what was his response? And then we'll look at a psalm,
which again is a psalm of David, but it's It's the psalm of Christ,
his words. And he too was brought into the
depths. So that's all we'll do tonight. And I trust that the
Lord would add his blessing. So here in Jonah, and as you're
finding that, let's just remind ourselves of the events that
will lead up to what we read in chapter two. But Jonah, as
you know, was called by God to go to Nineveh. To preach. And
what did Jonah do? He fled from the presence of
the Lord. Now that's gonna work, isn't
it? To flee from the presence of the omnipresent God. But this
is the stupid things we do when we're in sin, isn't it? And here's
Jonah, he flees from the presence of the Lord and he goes into
this ship And what does the Lord do? The Lord, yeah, Jonah, he's
proceeding, he's following what he wants and what he desires,
and he gets into this ship. And what does the Lord do? He
sends a mighty wind. And they're brought into great
straits on this ship until it comes to a point where it seems
all is lost, and Jonah convinces them that he's the cause, and
convinces them to cast him into the sea. There's Jonah again,
following what he thinks is best. But what had God done? He'd prepared
a fish. That's what it says, that God
had prepared a fish to swallow Jonah. And he'd prepared that
fish, and what did that fish do? It took him down to the depths. And that's where we pick up in
chapter two. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord,
his God, from the fish's belly. And he said, I cried out to the
Lord because of my affliction, and he answered me. Out of the
belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice, for you cast
me into the deep. Notice who cast him in. God cast him into the deep. He
brought him to this place in his good purposes. For you cast
me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded
me. All your billows and your waves
passed over me. Then I said, I've been cast out
of your sight. Yet, I will look again towards
your holy temple. Why? Because that's where salvation
is found, isn't it? Toward his holy temple. The waters surrounded me, even
to my soul. The deep closed over me. Weeds
were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of
the mountains. The earth with its bars closed
behind me forever. Yet you have brought me up, up
my life from the pit. Oh Lord, my God. Can you, we
can't imagine, we can't picture. Think of it, think of Jonah in
the belly of this great fish. What fish it was, we don't know. It was a great fish and it swallowed
Jonah and it took him down as Jonah describes in such powerful
language. Down into the deeps, the very
moorings of the mountains of this earth. And the waters covered
him. Where was Jonah? He was in the
grave for all intents and purposes, wasn't he? He was in the grave
in the belly of Sheol. And he cries out. And God hears. He cries out to God and God hears. And he says, yet you have brought
up my life from the pit, oh Lord, my God. When my soul fainted
within me, how could it not? When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord. And my prayer went up to you,
into your holy temple. The Lord hears. The Lord, see
here, is attentive to the prayers of his people. We'll turn back
there to Psalm, Psalm 130. There has never been a man, never
been a man who has cried to the Lord from the depths and the
Lord hasn't answered. Never, not once. Think of that. Not once in the thousands of
years of the history of this world has a man cried to the
Lord out of the depths that the Lord hasn't heard, that the Lord
hasn't answered. At any time, in any place. Isn't that an encouragement? the wonder of God's grace. His ears are attentive to the
prayer of the one who cries out of the depths. God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. You know, as a missionary, I
am often asked, how is it that you became a missionary? How is it that you were called
into the into the ministry, and I've only ever answered that
in general terms. But tonight I'd like to say a
little bit more. I trust it'll be an encouragement. It'll be a help to maybe one
of you or maybe more. But it was this passage, this
song, 130, that the Lord used in my heart, in my soul. And
it was when I was in my third year of university in California
doing my BSWE degree. And from outward appearance,
I was living the dream, as they say. My aunt, my mother's sister,
this was a wealthy private school, and she was paying the bills
and I was going to school and doing a lot of fun things like
skiing on the weekends in the Sierras and working on getting
my scuba diving certificate and learning to skydive and partying
and all the things that, you know, that the world loves and
are enjoyable things, nothing in and of themselves that is
wrong. And yet somehow in all of that
I forgot my first love. You know, the Apostle John writes
in his first epistle, he says, do not love the world or the
things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life is not of the Father, but is of the world. You know,
but there are times in the Lord's providence that he allows us
to go our own way. Isn't that true? He allows us
to go our own way. He allows us to do what we want
to do. You don't want to be there. You
don't want to be there. He does it, but he brings good
out of evil. He always does for his people.
He does it to teach you more of yourself, to teach me more
of myself, and to teach us more of himself. He does it to teach
us that we are but a worm. A worm. To teach us the precious
truth that's found in Isaiah 41, where the Lord says, fear
not, you worm Jacob. Hear that? Fear not, you worm
Jacob, you men of Israel. I will help you, says the Lord
and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. The Lord brought me down into
the depths. You know, no one else was aware
of this at that time. Nothing seemed to have changed
in my life, but the Spirit began to work in me and he brought
me He used this passage, he brought me down into the depths, and
he caused me to cry out. You know, I can't put it in a
better way than scripture itself does. He tore me. The Lord tore me,
but what does he say that he may heal? He struck me, but for what reason? That he might bind me up. And he gave me a greater sight
of Christ and his grace, a sight of the greatness of his forgiveness,
which is mine in him, which will never let me go, never let you
go. Before I started college, my
father had given me a paperback book printed of a portion of
the works of John Owen on this psalm. For years, I carried it
around with me, never once opening it. I'd never read a single page. For three years or four, I'd
carried it back and forth, going and coming to college, and there
it was. Why? Because the Lord had purposed
that at this point in time, he would use that to speak to me.
And in a sense, I could say that that exposition of God's word
here in Psalm 130 was the whale that God sent to swallow me up,
to take me down into the depths, And in God's time, to spit me up onto dry land. Having learned all, well not
all, maybe all, but something of what God purposed to teach
me. And from that time, that time I'd never had a thought
of going into the ministry. Never had a thought of becoming
a missionary. But from that time, I began to think, perhaps the
Lord would give me that great privilege to serve him, to preach
the gospel of the glorious grace of his son. When the Lord does a work in
the heart, it's powerful, it's spiritual, and it's hard to describe,
isn't it? You all know this. It's something
that's secret between God and you alone. And this is why these
Psalms are so important. There's many reasons, but this
is one of the reasons these Psalms are so important, because they
give us a glimpse into the secret working of God, the Holy Spirit
in the hearts of his people. Isn't that true? Jonah said,
I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and he answered
me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. The psalmist here, David, cries
out of the depths. Have I cried to you, O Lord?
Hear my voice. The Lord heard the voice of Jonah.
The Lord heard the voice of David crying out of the depths, and
the Lord hears. the voice of everyone who cries
out to him in supplication. Why? Why does David cry out to
the Lord? Because God has brought him to
this place. God has brought him to this place
so he would know his sin, know his iniquities, know his need
of a savior again. and cry out, cry out. The same was with Jonah, wasn't
it? Who brought him there? He says himself, for you, for
you cast me into the deep, yet will I look again to your holy
temple. Look there in verse three of
Psalm 130. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who
could stand? This man, cries out of the depths. Out of the depths, what depths
is he speaking of? Figuratively, Jonah cried out
of the depths of the sea, but he too cried out of these same
depths, the depths of iniquity. How few, how few ever come to
know the depths of iniquities, of their iniquities. The depths
of destruction, depths of death, where they are in a spiritual
grave. And as it were, the bars have closed over them. Think of this. Depths of sickness,
man knows. Isn't that true? Depths of pain. Depths of sorrow. And they are,
they are depths, if you've ever Then there you know it. There
are depths. Depths of fear. Depths of poverty. These men know. But they don't
know the depths of their iniquities. We read in Romans 3, after a
devastating list of the all-encompassing total sinfulness of man, we read
that there is no fear of God before their eyes. No fear. How has David come to know that
he's in these depths? How has he come to this place
where he cries out to the Lord? He's thought of the Lord. Isn't
that why? He's thought of the Lord. He's
thought of his holiness and his purity. And he's thought of the
righteousness, this burning righteousness of the almighty God. And he's
thought of his justice. And he's thought of his iniquities.
And he says, oh Lord, if you should mark iniquities, oh Lord,
who could stand? You know, it's one of the great
paradoxes of the gospel that it's only the justified man,
the man who's been declared righteous by God, who is the man who sees
that he's a sinner. Have you thought about that?
I've said it before. You know, all men, so to speak,
will acknowledge, yes, I do sin, but they don't see their sin,
do they? The only one who sees his sin is the man justified
by God, declared righteous by God. You know, David soared on wings
as eagles, didn't he? So far above us in faith and
attainments as Jonathan was speaking to us this morning. Isn't that
true? You know, we, we long to a man
after God's own heart. But think, when you read these
Psalms, think of the cries and brokenness in this Psalm and
throughout the Psalms for his sin. We hear his cries and supplications. We read of broken bones, of waters
coming over his head, wounds, diseases, wrath, sorrows of hell
because of his sin. the burden and the trouble of
his sin, the distresses, the darkness and the despair, the
depths, the depths. Turn over now to Psalm 69, if
you would. Psalm 69. And let me give you another paradox,
an even greater paradox. It's only the man who knew no
sin who can truly know the depths of sin. It's only the sinless
man, the perfect man, the man who is righteous and holy in
his being who can fully know the depths of sin. He was made
to be sin for us who knew no sin. And in this Psalm, this
Psalm 69, again, David cries out in the midst of great suffering. And yet we know that this is
suffering. The suffering of David was barely
a drop in the flood of waters that it prefigured of the suffering
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that these words uttered
by David are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the cries of the Lord
Jesus in the midst of unimaginable suffering. Knowing the wrath
of God. Knowing the wrath of God. Knowing
the curse of sin. Knowing the curse of the law
because he experienced it to the uttermost. As he bore our sins in his own
body upon the tree. He cries out here, look in verse
one. He cries out, save me, oh God,
for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire
where there is no standing. I have come into deep waters
where the floods overflow me. The depths, the depths, the horror
of sin. He sinks into the deep mire of
the sins of his people. There's nothing under him. It's
bottomless. He's come into deep waters and
he cries out from the depths. Verse three, I am weary with
my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail
while I wait for my God. Those who hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of my head. They are mighty who would
destroy me. because being my enemies wrongfully,
though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it. Oh God,
you know my foolishness and my sins are not hidden from you. The smallness of our humanity
is incapable of fully understanding the enormous significance of
passages like these. Who is it who cries out? Who
cries out, save me, O God? It's the Son of God, the everlasting,
dwelling in unapproachable light, a consuming fire, enshrouded
in the brightness of His glory, holy, infinite in His being,
the Almighty made flesh and dwelling among us, the joy of heaven come
down to suffer the sorrows of hell, to restore all that we
could never pay. Think of that. To restore all that we could
never pay. He cries out, look down, skip
down to verse 13. But as for me, my prayer is to
you, O Lord, in the acceptable time. O God, in the multitude
of your mercy, hear me in the truth of your salvation. Deliver
me out of the mire, and let me not sink. Let me be delivered
from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the
flood water overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up. Let
not the pit shut its mouth on me. Hear me, O Lord, for your
loving kindness is good. Turn to me according to the multitude
of your tender mercies." Was he heard? We know he was. In Hebrews chapter 5, we read
a remarkable statement concerning Christ, concerning the Lord. We read there, in the days of
his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him
from death and was heard because of his godly fear. Oh, he was
heard. Here he is in this psalm crying
out. with vehement cries and tears
to him who was able to save him. And he was heard because of his
godly fear. Though he was a son, yet he learned
obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been
perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who
obey him. He was heard. He was heard because
of his godly fear. He was heard because he fulfilled
all righteousness for every soul given to him by the Father in
that eternal covenant of redemption. He was heard because he finished
the transgression, made an end of sins, made reconciliation
for iniquity, and brought in an everlasting righteousness.
He accomplished eternal Salvation. Now think. We cry out because he cried out. That's the only reason. We cry
out in God's appointed time because the author of our salvation cried
out and fulfilled everything that we could never fulfill.
We're heard because he was heard. And we fear because he feared
and no other reason. Look down there in verse 32 of
this Psalm, and then we'll go back to Psalm 130. In verse 32,
speaking of all that he's accomplished, of his salvation, it says, the
humble shall see this and be glad. And you who seek God, do
you seek God? You who seek God, your hearts
shall live, for the Lord hears the poor. Aren't you glad? I know I am. We'll turn back
to Psalm 130 and we'll just finish up there. Psalm 130, we left off there,
oh Lord, If you should mark iniquities, who could stand? But there is
forgiveness with you that you may be feared. What a wonder
of God's grace, isn't that? Full, free, everlasting forgiveness. Sins remembered no more, forever. The depths of God's grace are
far deeper than the depths of our sin. There is forgiveness with you. Now I want to say, forgiveness
is not a right. You know, you hear much in the
contemporary church today or secular church that's turning
things upside down. Forgiveness is not a right. Forgiveness can only come through
reconciliation. And reconciliation can only come
through the price of redemption. Isn't that what the word of God
tells us? There in Ephesians chapter one, in him we have redemption
through his blood. The forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace. You know, today, forgiveness
has become a right. It's demanded. Forgiveness is
not a right. Forgiveness is of grace. In 1 John chapter 4, we read,
and this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved
us. and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. As
we know, as the Lord himself tells us, herein is love. Do you want to know the pinnacle,
the very pinnacle, the Everest of the height of God's love? It's found in this, isn't it?
We know that. We never, never, cease to rejoice
in these words, do we? That he sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Herein is love. This son sent
to be the bloody sacrifice, to appease the holy justice of God,
to cover the sin. And what does the word say? Without
the shedding of blood, there is No remission of sins. Without the shedding of blood,
there can be no reconciliation. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no forgiveness. But with the shedding of blood,
with the propitiatory sacrifice, the sacrifice of God's own dear
son, the sin is covered. It's taken out of his sight,
never to be remembered anymore. And there is reconciliation.
And the result of that reconciliation is the forgiveness of sins. Verse four, but there is forgiveness
with you that you may be feared. Every believer knows something
of the depths of their own sin. Isn't that true? You know, I
know that I, I can't even begin to know the true depths of my
sin. But we do know something of the
depths of our own sin. We know something of the righteousness
of God, of the righteousness of Christ, which has been imputed
to us. We know something of what I just
read, of the epitome of the love of God, the fullness of God's
love in Jesus Christ, And we know something of forgiveness
of sins, don't we? And we fear him. We fear him. Not in a servile fear, but in
a fear of love, a fear of reverence. We fear him knowing that we have
forgiveness through his blood alone. Knowing that he's done
everything for us. Everything that we could never
do, he's done, and we fear him. And what do we read there? Continuing
on there in verse five, we read, I wait for the Lord, my soul
waits, and in his word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more
than those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than those
who watch for the morning. The heart of every believer has
its desire set upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Who do we wait
for? For whom do we wait to hear our
cry when we're brought into these places, brought into these depths? Who do we wait for? For whom
do we wait for help? For whom do we wait to give us
life? For whom do we wait for to forgive
us our sins? We wait for the Lord, don't we?
Who else would we wait for? As Jonathan again reminded us
this morning of that poor woman whose daughter was in such great
straits. She was brought into the depths,
wasn't she? And she cried out, what did she
do? She cried out to the Lord for help, Lord, Hell, hell always
hear that crying. But she had to wait, didn't she?
She had to wait. Did she give up? No, where, where
will she go? He alone is the one, he alone
is our help and our salvation. How do we wait? How does the
soul wait for the Lord? Let me go through these things
quickly and we'll close up. We wait for the Lord with all
of our heart and all of our soul. When he works, doesn't, don't
we? We wait for him. Out of the depths, the soul waits. And the soul waits in faith. The soul waits in hope. You know,
we're all learning. We're all learning about that,
aren't we? Yes, the Lord has granted us
faith. What a blessing. We wait, believing the truth
of his word. Do you see that? I wait for the
Lord, my soul waits, and in his word do I hope. We wait, believing
the truth of his word. Yes, that what he's promised
he's able also to perform. Why do we wait? Why do we wait?
Well, let me just give you just a few things you can add on and
add on and add on. We wait for the Lord because
he loves us. That's enough, isn't it? We wait
for the Lord because He alone is our help and our salvation.
We wait for the Lord because for us, he works all things together
for good. We wait for the Lord because
we trust him. We believe him. We believe his
word. We're like Paul. You know, he
says, for I know whom I have believed. and am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day." What has Paul committed to the Lord? What have you committed
to the Lord if you know him? You've committed your salvation,
haven't you? You trust him for that. You've
committed your life to him to justify you and sanctify you
and present you faultless before the throne of glory with exceeding
grace. That's why you've committed to
the Lord, isn't it? I know whom I have believed.
You know, and Job, what does he say? I don't care what happens. I don't care what happens. Though
he slay me, yet will I trust in him. That's a wonderful faith,
isn't it? That's a wonderful hope. In his
word do I hope. And the great desire of every
believer is to see Christ, to have him appear in our hearts
and in our thoughts and in our lives, speaking to us from his
word, speaking to us when we pray, Isn't that wonderful when
we pray to the Lord and he speaks to us. He brings his word to
our minds. Isn't that true? He appears to us. His words speak
to our souls. Words of grace, words of mercy,
words of loving kindness. Words of salvation, words of
forgiveness. How could Paul not say that I
might know him, that I might know him? Hope in the Lord. Well, how does he finish? Hope
in the Lord. Why do we hope? Oh Israel, hope
in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him
is abundant redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. Amen.