Sermon #1494 Miscellaneous Sermons
Title: “There is
forgiveness with Thee!”
Text: Psalm 130:1-8
Subject: Forgiveness, Blessed Forgiveness!
Date: Tuesday
Evening —
Tape # W-91a
Introduction:
Sometimes, in preparing a
message, things flow so freely that I can hardly put my thoughts on paper fast
enough—not often, but occasionally. Sometimes, no matter how good the subject,
no matter how rich the text, the work of seeking and preparing a message from
God is like trying to swim with cement shoes—no matter how you try, you just
can’t rise to the surface. It’s like trying to run through deep mud. — No
matter how much effort you put forth, you can hardly move.
That is how it was for me
all morning. I went to bed with Hebrews 11:33-34 on my mind; but my heart
wasn’t in it. I started studying this morning, trying to find the Lord’s
message in the text for you tonight; but my heart wasn’t in it. It is a blessed
text, full of instruction for our souls. I am sure I will come back to it
again; but I knew, as I plodded along in my labor, that my message for tonight
simply was not in that text. Yet, I plodded along, reading, studying, comparing
Scripture with Scripture, and praying. I still came up dry.
Finally, early this
afternoon, I decided to lay everything down for a few minutes and hoping I
could come back to the text with some freshness. So I checked my mail.
The
very first letter I opened was a letter I had hoped to receive for years, but
had almost given up on ever receiving. It was a letter from a dear friend, a
man I haven’t seen or heard from in years, a man whom I feared was gone. He was
caught in the snared of Satan and sinned horribly against our God. I had to
reprove him sharply. The last word I received from him, until today, was a
letter requesting that I never contact him again, asking me to just leave him
alone. So I haven’t contacted him. I have left him alone. But I haven’t ceased
to pray for him. I never ceased to love him. Today, my heart broke with joy and
gratitude as I read his letter.
Immediately, I had my
message for tonight. I turned to Psalm 130, read it, read it again, read it
again, and lifted my heart in praise to our God for
this fact, rejoicing to echo to his praise the words of David—“There is forgiveness with Thee!”
Let’s read the Psalm together. I have a message from God for you, a message you
need, and a message I need. Here it is…
Proposition: There is forgiveness with
our God! — “If thou, O Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared! ”
This is one of David’s
psalms called “A Psalm of Degrees.” Theses are psalms that begin
in humiliation and end in exaltation. They begin in a deep, deep valley and end
on the mountain top. They begin with mourning and end in praise and exultation.
Let’s begin where David began. I hope we can end where he ended.
I. Here is a sinner in the depths of desperate
need (vv. 1-2).
(Psalms
130:1-2) "A Song
of degrees. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. 2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be
attentive to the voice of my supplications."
In all probability, this
psalm was written as a penitential psalm, arising from David’s broken heart,
after his great sin with Bathsheba, after his horrid evil against his faithful
friend Uriah. If that is the case, this psalm is the response of David’s heart
to the message of God delivered by the prophet Nathan.
(2
Samuel 12:13) "And David said unto
Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD
also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die."
(2
Samuel 12:24-25) "And David
comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD
loved him. 25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he
called his name Jedidiah (Beloved of the Lord), because of the LORD."
Conviction
David had been in the depths of sin. Now he is in the depths of
humiliation, brought low before God by reason of his iniquities. He was, as it
were, in prison, shut up under the law, under the conscious sentence of death
and condemnation.
Conviction is a horrible, deep pit, wherein is no water, a pit out
of which no man can extricate himself. It is a pit of corruption, dung pit,
where we are made to know the bitterness of our sin and the foulness of our
transgressions.
Conviction brings sinners into an awareness of their deep poverty
of soul in a beggarly dungeon, a state of utter helplessness and bitter
bondage.
The depths David was in were a deep sense of sin that brought him
low, being sensible of his sin. Before Nathan came to him, he was haughty,
self-righteous, and self-sufficient. Now he is broken, heavy hearted, and
bitter because of his sin. Now he sees himself in his contemptible state, as
one utterly unworthy of any favor from God, deserving of his wrath and
displeasure; as a polluted guilty creature, loathsome and abominable, wretched
and undone, the very chief of sinners, more brutish than any man, and as a
beast before the Lord. – Have you been there? Are you now in such depths?
Hope
Holy Spirit conviction brings us into such depths, lays us low as prisoners under arrest in the dungeon of darkness. But God’s prisoners are prisoners of hope! David was in distress, but not in despair.
(Zechariah
9:9-12) "Rejoice greatly, O
daughter of
(Zechariah
9:16-17) "And the LORD their God
shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as
the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. 17 For how
great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the
maids."
Holy Spirit conviction causes sinners to look up, out of their
pit, unto God in Christ upon the throne of grace and cry out like Jonah, “Salvation
is of the Lord!” It is
conviction arising not from law and wrath, but from the gospel and grace!
David was intense, earnest, and fervent, because he was in desperate need. He says, “Lord, hear my voice let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!” He comes to God as a suppliant, a beggar, for mercy and grace. He pleads not his merit and righteousness, but his need!
II. Here is the revelation of God’s glory (vv.
3-4).
David had seen the
revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and this is it…
(Psalms
130:3-4) "If
thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? 4 But
there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared."
A. Here is a fact we
must face, acknowledge and confess. — We are all sinners in need
of forgiveness!
No one will ever know the
forgiveness of sin until he is made to know his own sin. You will never seek
mercy until you need mercy.
1. We are all sinners
by imputation (Rom
(Romans
5:12) "Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned:"
(Romans
5:18-19) "Therefore as by the
offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by
the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
2. We are all sinners by birth and nature (Ps. 51:5; 58:3).
(Psalms
51:5) "Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."
(Psalms
58:3) "The wicked are estranged
from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born,
speaking lies."
3. We are all sinners
by choice and practice (
“How abominable and
filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water!” (Job
(Romans
3:9-18) "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have
before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10 As
it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none
that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are
all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none
that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open
sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under
their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and
misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not
known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes."
4. We are sinners at
heart, at the very core of our beings (Matt.
(Jeremiah
17:9) "The heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
(Matthew
15:19-20) "For out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the
things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a
man."
Martin Luther once said, “I am more afraid
of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals.”
In its essence, sin is a
heart matter. We must see sin in its true character (Luke
(Luke
16:15) "And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth
your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the
sight of God."
Sin is not just an offensive
deed that needs forgiving. It is a pollution of heart that needs cleansing. Sin
is man’s inward, defiant, heart declaration of independence from God. Sin is
God’s would-be murderer! Sin is man’s heart enmity against (hatred of) the holy
Lord God!
John Bunyan once described sin in these
words. — “Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of
his patience, the slight of his power, and the contempt of his love.”
You and I are a constant
mass of sin! We have sinned. We do sin. We are sinning. And we will yet sin. I
wish that were not so, but it is. This is a fact we must face, acknowledge and
confess before God. Blessed is the man who, in his heart, is made to
acknowledge his sin! There is no mercy for those who are righteous in their own
eyes; but there is nothing but mercy, abundant, saving, everlasting mercy for
every sinner who acknowledges and confesses his sin (Ps. 32:3-5; 1 John 1:9).
(Psalms
32:1-5) “Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the
man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no
guile. 3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all
the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my
moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged
my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my
transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.
Selah.”
(1
John 1:9) "If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness."
5. Look at verse 3 again. That
man who knows and confesses his sin will always justify God.
Here David declares that God’s wrath against sin and the punishment of it is righteous and just. We say with David, God is right when he speaks and just when he judges. If the holy Lord God should mark iniquity against us, not one of us can stand before him.
(Psalms
130:3) "If thou,
LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"
B. Now, look at verse
four and rejoice!
(Psalms
130:4) "But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared."
What a blessed word of
grace! “There is forgiveness with thee!” Jehovah, the great, almighty,
holy Lord God against whom we have sinned is the great Forgiver! “He
delighteth in mercy!”
(Isaiah
43:25) "I, even I, am he
that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins."
(Isaiah
44:22) "I have blotted out, as a
thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for
I have redeemed thee."
(Isaiah
55:7) "Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD,
and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon."
(Jeremiah
31:34) "And they shall teach no
more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD:
for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,
saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their
sin no more."
(Hebrews
8:12) "For I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no
more."
(Hebrews
10:17) "And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more."
I have read these passages to you, laying great stress upon the fact of God’s forgiveness, because there is nothing in the world more difficult for an awakened sinner to believe than the fact that God can and will forgive his sin.
“No revealed truth is more
generally doubted and disbelieved than this, the plainest of all revelations, that the Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
and ready to pass by the iniquities of his people.” (C. H. Spurgeon)
When your sin is set before you in the light
of God’s holiness your first instinct is to fear that it cannot be forgiven.
·
The law says, “There is no forgiveness!”
·
Your conscience says, “Your sins can never be forgiven!”
·
Satan says, “You cannot be forgiven!”
Bunyan describes Satan, as he was attacking the
city of Mansoul, sending Captain Past Hope and Mr. Despair with hurling
accusations, with the roar of the tyrant’s drum beating loudly, especially in
the dark hours of night, so that the men of Mansoul could hear nothing but
“Hell-fire!” Thus Diabolos held them in bondage and fear.
No prison ever held a man so strongly, no whip ever tortured a man so cruelly as the
guilty fears of a conscience under the conviction of sin. I want especially to
address you who are so aware of your guilt and sin that you think, “I have no
hope. I am lost, undone, and must be forever damned. I cannot be forgiven!”
God’s forgiveness of sin is a fact so plainly,
repeatedly, and fully revealed in Holy Scripture that it simply cannot be
denied, even by you whose sins seem to rise like a mountainous boil of
corruption reaching to the very heavens. O blessed Spirit of God, sound these
words of yours in the hearts of every sinner here – “There is forgiveness with thee!”
I know that there is
forgiveness with our God. Let me tell you how I know that God almighty forgives
sin, forgives the very chief of sinners. I know that there is forgiveness
with God because…
1. His dealings with
the first sinners in the world gave them hope of forgiveness (Gen. 3:9,
15, 21).
·
He sought them out.
·
He preached the gospel to them
·
He made a sacrifice for them.
·
He clothed them with the skins of the sacrifice.
·
“I’ve gotten a man from the Lord!”
2. God’s very name is
Forgiveness (Ex. 34:5).
(Exodus
34:5-9) "And the LORD descended in
the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And
the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful
and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that
will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the
fourth generation. 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the
earth, and worshipped. 9 And he said, If now I
have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us;
for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and
take us for thine inheritance."
3. The whole purpose
of the ceremonial law given to
·
The first ten chapters of Leviticus deal with atonement.
·
Leviticus 16 – The Day of Atonement
4. This was the
message of all the Old Testament prophets (Acts
(Acts
5. This is why Christ
came into the world (Matt.
(Matthew
1:21) "And she shall bring forth a
son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from
their sins."
There
was and is no other way whereby God could forgive sin.
(Galatians
2:21) "I do not frustrate the grace
of God: for if righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain."
(Isaiah
45:20-22) "Assemble yourselves and
come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have
no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that
cannot save. 21 Tell ye, and bring them near;
yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and
there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none
beside me. 22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
for I am God, and there is none else."
6. The Holy Spirit was
given specifically to convince chosen sinners of forgiveness and to communicate
to guilty sinners the forgiveness of all their sins (Zech.
(Zechariah
12:10) "And I will pour upon the
house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and
of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they
shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall
be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."
(Zechariah
13:1) "In that day there shall be a
fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of
(John
16:7-11) "Nevertheless I tell you
the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for
if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will
send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of
sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of
sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince
of this world is judged."
7. The Son of God taught us to pray for forgiveness
(Matt.
8. Every ordinance of divine worship proclaims the forgiveness of sin.
· Prayer
· Praise
· Baptism
· The Lord’s Supper
9. The Lord Jesus Christ sent his apostles to tell the whole world that God forgives sin (Luke 24:44).
(Luke
24:44-47) "And he said unto them,
These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in
the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45 Then
opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46
And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to
suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem."
He sent me to preach forgiveness to you. The preaching of
the cross is the proclamation of forgiveness (Acts
(Acts
13:38-39) "Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39 And by him all that
believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by
the law of Moses."
10. There is a great
multitude of sinners who have been forgiven of all sin by the grace of God
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 5:9-10), and I’m
one of them!
(Revelation
5:9-10) "And they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for
thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God
kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
I cannot finish the Psalm. Let me just point out two more things in it, as I wrap up my message. Look at verses 5-6.
III. Here we see a sinner waiting in hope.
(Psalms
130:5-6) "I wait for the LORD, my
soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. 6 My soul waiteth for
the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they
that watch for the morning."
Oh, may God give each of us
grace to do what David here describes himself doing.
·
Wait for the Lord.
·
Hope in his word. – This is the basis of faith.
·
Wait in anxious anticipation, watching for the Sonrise!
IV. Here is a delightful declaration of sure mecy
and grace (vv. 7-8).
(Psalms
130:7-8) "Let
“Let
·
“With the Lord there is mercy!”
·
“With him is plenteous redemption!”
·
“He shall redeem
Application:
(Proverbs
28:13) "He that covereth his sins
shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have
mercy."
(1
John 1:9) "If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness."
Illustration: The Wordless Book