[0:00] Good morning. If y'all will, go ahead and turn with me to Psalm 130.! We've particularly been trying to hide this information, but we haven't been like a complete open book either.
[0:38] So before you freak out, yes is the answer to that, that we probably are moving, but you've likely got us for another year. So I'm from Paulding County. All my family lives there. There's like a water's hole section of land.
[0:55] And many of y'all know my sister Chelsea, my brother-in-law Sam, who were CFC people a few years back. They just built a house down there. Of course, y'all know the Stricklands, and they're moving to Paulding as well.
[1:11] And most of Margaret's family is also down there. They all live in Cobb County, which is neighboring to Paulding. And I say all that to say, ever since Everett was born, I've realized how much I valued time with my grandparents.
[1:26] I was always a 75-yard walk up a hill to them, and my grandparents are currently still living and want to give us some land if we would want it that we could build on.
[1:38] And with a lot of our family being really like-minded with us and all of the practical helps that being so close to family would bring. And honestly, Margaret and I just really wanting Everett to grow up around cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents and even great-grandparents right now.
[1:59] We'd toy around with the idea of moving for a really, really long time, but it seems like we are heading that way. So I know a lot of you guys knew that, but I wanted to clue y'all into that.
[2:12] Y'all, I don't know, I think I've processed a lot of the emotions behind it because we've been thinking about it for so long. But we go like one direction to the other of being super happy and excited to really sad, to really happy back to really sad.
[2:29] So I wanted to let everyone know about that. And I promise for right now not to try to recruit all of the other CFC people with Paulding County roots.
[2:43] But for right now. Anyway, I say all that to say, yeah, we'll be missing a few Sundays coming up to check out some churches down there.
[2:55] And we're okay, but we likely are heading that direction. So, okay, I'm going to try to not get all emotional. So let's get into Psalm 130. I'm sure y'all will hear lots more about the potential of us moving and coming up.
[3:09] But Psalm 130. Some of y'all may remember a while back, I think it was just over a month ago, I did the little homily right before the Lord's Supper on this psalm. And I really enjoyed doing the little bit of studying for that that I did then.
[3:23] And I think this is a psalm that we could really think through well as a church. And so let's get into it. So I'll read it, and then we'll get into just a little bit of background on it, and then we'll get into the main part of our study.
[3:36] So Psalm 130. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy.
[3:48] If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in his word I hope.
[4:00] My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. More than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
[4:13] And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. So this is our psalm this morning. Psalms are often broken down into different categories just based on their themes or based on the context.
[4:27] This one's often called a penitential psalm. And that group of psalms focuses a lot on sorrow over sin, seeing a need for the Lord's forgiveness, a desire to turn away from sin, and to look to the Lord for help.
[4:42] You could call them psalms of repentance, as we would likely say more often. Probably the most well-known psalm of this type is Psalm 51. And we know that David there was repenting of his sin with Bathsheba.
[4:55] And some of that familiar wording from that psalm is probably coming to our minds already. Think about verses 1 through 4 of that psalm where it says, Have mercy on me, O God. According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.
[5:11] Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
[5:26] You might think of verses 10 through 13 of that psalm. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
[5:38] Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Another common one is Psalm 32, where David says, I acknowledge my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity.
[5:55] I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Those two are probably the most common psalms when we think of psalms that are showing repentance.
[6:06] But then we get to this one, probably the most common, and the next most common. And with it, I want to structure it in a couple of ways.
[6:17] But there's that phrase that's so striking at the beginning, the out of the depths. And that's kind of how this whole psalm flows from that.
[6:29] Spurgeon once summarized this psalm by saying, Out of the depths we cry, wait, watch, and hope. And I'd like to borrow a bit of that, and use that for part of our structure this morning.
[6:42] So we're going to look at three different parts of it. Firstly, out of the depths we cry. Secondly, out of the depths we watch and wait. And then thirdly, out of the depths we hope.
[6:57] So that's how we're going to structure it this morning. And be aware that point number one will be the longest. So when I've gone 20 minutes on that one, don't be too worried. So let's start with, Out of the depths we cry.
[7:09] We're going to look at the first four verses with this one. So our psalm begins with, Out of the depths we cry. When we hear that word depths, we might be thinking of at least a couple of different things.
[7:23] We might think of just being in a really hard situation, a circumstance that's really pressing on us. Or we might think instead of really battling sin struggles in ourself.
[7:34] In this psalm, though, I think the phrase is made pretty clear, even with just looking at our English translation, of what type of depths are being talked about here. Why I say that is look in verse three.
[7:47] We begin seeing talks of iniquities and forgiveness. As we see our psalmist begin to state that if the Lord truly marked all our iniquities and counted those against us, that no one could stand.
[7:58] Given that context, I think that's a pretty clear indicator that in verse one, the psalmist is not just talking about a hard, non-moral situation, but instead the psalmist is talking about really struggling against sin, battling against sin.
[8:15] And in this battle of sin, I want us to notice something about the urgency of how the psalmist is speaking. We have the wording, out of the depths, but getting a little bit past that, you might see something even more intense, maybe.
[8:32] So we have the depths, the deep pit of sorrow, shame, guilt, maybe even a little bit of just self-hatred. But then notice, out of the depths we cry. Not an out of the depths I come to you, or out of the depths I reach out to you, Lord, or out of the depths I call to you.
[8:53] Now, while the psalmist is currently certainly doing those things, coming to the Lord, reaching out to the Lord, calling on his name, those are not the word that he chose to use to describe what he's doing.
[9:06] Instead, he uses the word cry. He's not in an emotional state where he's thinking, Oh, Lord, I'm just struggling with sin again. He's instead really hit with the weight of his sin, and therefore he cries out to the Lord.
[9:24] And look at verse 2, where it says, Oh, Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy. We see the psalmist calling the name of the Lord again.
[9:38] And note what he says. He doesn't say, Lord, answer my prayer, or give me what I want. Give me exactly what I ask. But instead, he asks the Lord to hear him.
[9:52] Ask the Lord to hear his voice, to be attentive to his pleas for mercy. Let's make me think a little bit about kids and how kids can often struggle with thinking that they know better than their parents what would be best for them.
[10:09] We even already see this with Everett when he's just about to turn one. He always wants to eat bread, and that's not a good situation. We might think of a kid that is wanting to hold something or touch something that their parent knows is dangerous, or a kid wanting to stay up past their bedtime when their parent knows that that would totally wreck them for the next day.
[10:35] And I bring that up to say the psalmist is not like this at all. Well, he's recognizing that our Lord knows what he needs much more than he himself.
[10:48] When we're seeing him not asking the Lord to answer his prayer, but just to hear him, that yes, he will argue his case before the Lord, pour out his heart before the Lord, but ultimately what he's asking here is he wants the Lord to hear him.
[11:04] And then he will entrust his soul to the Lord, our faithful creator, for what the Lord decides to do in the situation. When we're in repentance, do we have that same level of humility?
[11:21] Do we have that same level of just pouring out our hearts to God, trusting him to do what would be best for us? Or, I think something I can often struggle with, when we're coming in repentance, do we already seem to know all of the answers?
[11:38] Do we put ourselves in the place of God and know, this is exactly what I should do to fix this? Do we seem to have the solutions to all our problems, all worked out with our solution, right?
[11:50] Do we even ask the Lord at times to give us exactly what we want in prayer, which turns our prayers into, let our will be done, not yours, Lord. Spurgeon once made the following statement when reflecting about this verse.
[12:05] If the Lord will hear us, we will leave it to his superior wisdom to decide whether he will answer us or not. It is better for our prayer to be heard than answered.
[12:18] If the Lord were to make an absolute promise to answer all our requests, it might be rather a curse than a blessing, for it would be casting the responsibility upon ourselves, and we should be placed in a very anxious position.
[12:30] But now the Lord hears our desires, and that is enough. We only wish him to grant them in his infinite wisdom. He sees that it would be good for our good and for his glory.
[12:43] So we call to the Lord, and let's really be thankful that he doesn't grant everything that we ask, because his wisdom is so much higher than ours.
[12:54] Our growth, our salvation, our sanctification, even whether our prayers are answered, are ultimately orchestrated by the Lord, who in his infinite wisdom always has his glory and our good in mind.
[13:10] So the psalmist is called to the Lord, pleading that the Lord would hear his cry, would be attentive to his pleas for mercy. Now let's get down into verse 3, and I think verse 3 is the verse that brings so many people to the psalm.
[13:24] And I think many of us really like to use it to talk about the heart of the gospel. And so let's reread it again now. Verse 3, If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
[13:37] I think this verse is so framing in the way we should think through this whole psalm. The psalmist initially is in such deep sorrow over sin.
[13:47] He's seeing the depths of himself. He sees his sin very clearly, and he sees a holy God, and he realizes the depth of his need. And notice also how often he's addressing the Lord.
[14:00] You might just look through the psalm and so quickly see how often he's just calling the Lord, the reverence that he's showing in his position compared to that of the Lord.
[14:11] And then in verse 3, I think it drives that idea home that if the Lord should mark iniquities, who could stand? In other words, if our sin was truly counted against us, would there be anyone left?
[14:24] Would anyone pass the test? He's not only feeling the need to cry out in brokenness, but in this verse, he's truly confessing that he could not stand before God.
[14:37] In fact, that no one could. I think we would all give the obvious answer to this rhetorical question. No one, no one could stand before the Lord. Other scripture that's probably already popping into your mind makes this so clear.
[14:51] Think about Romans 3 that's actually quoting a couple different psalms. None is righteous, no, not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless.
[15:01] No one does good, not even one. None of us could stand if our sin were truly counted against us. I would wager to say that none of us could stand if we just looked at our lives over this past morning.
[15:17] From the people that get up crazy early around 4 to the people that are rolling out of bed around 9.45. I bet all of us, no matter if we've had just a couple hours of being awake or if we've had six hours of being awake, I would wager to say that all of us could pinpoint some sort of sin that we've struggled with today.
[15:40] Whether it be an action or whether it just be something in our minds, something in our hearts, none of us could stand. But then we see verse 4.
[15:50] And I think the sweetness of verse 4 really drives the rest of the psalm. Let's read 3 and 4 again together so we can remember that flow. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
[16:05] But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. A while back when I did this psalm at the beginning of the Lord's Supper, I compared this to the other but-gods in Scripture of us maybe even thinking Ephesians 2, right, of but God being rich in mercy because of the great love of which he loved us, right?
[16:22] That kind of thing of Paul explaining the gospel after explaining our sin. And the psalmist is doing a very, very similar thing. He's cried out to the Lord with a deep pit of sorrow over sin.
[16:37] He's pleading his cry for mercy. He has acknowledged that no one can stand in light of a holy God based on our sin. But then he makes this such wonderful, freeing statement about the character of our Lord.
[16:51] But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. Elsewhere in another psalm, Psalm 86, verse 5, we read, For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
[17:07] We know the psalmist had a really clear picture that the Lord was a very forgiving God to a very undeserving people. This might make us think back to Old Testament text where the Lord proclaims his character.
[17:22] Think about after Moses had broken the tablets and the Lord was asking him to make new ones. Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7 say, The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.
[17:52] And I bring all that up to say that there was some strong knowledge and awareness, even at this time, of the great mercy of our God. While the how, the why of Christ was not yet fully understood, fully realized to these people in this day, there was some good understanding that the Lord was a very forgiving God, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, but also a God who will by no means clear the guilty.
[18:23] And so with that reality, the psalmist is pleading, knowing that with the Lord, he has been given such mercy and how thankful he is, how humble he is as acknowledging that he's not deserving of this mercy at all, that truly no one deserves it, but we in the psalmist here has been graciously given it by the Lord.
[18:45] Spurgeon, again, I'm going to quote Spurgeon a lot, once said of this verse, free, full, sovereign pardon is in the hand of the great king. It is his prerogative to forgive and he delights to exercise it.
[18:57] Because his nature is mercy and because he has provided a sacrifice for sin, therefore forgiveness is with him and for all that come to him confessing their sins. All those who come to the Lord in faith may have this forgiveness.
[19:12] We as modern day Christians may have an even greater understanding that while we can look back to the person and work of Christ, the psalmist in this day looked forward and trusted in the forgiving character of the Lord.
[19:26] Now let's consider that blessing of that clarity of that hope we have. That not based on any goodness of ourselves, we have been given such grace from the Lord.
[19:38] The clarity of it, think of what we have in the New Testament explaining it now. Think of Romans 5, verses 6 through 11. Y'all turn with me there. Romans 5. Romans 5, verses 6 through 11, I think makes this so clear and so precious to us.
[20:01] Picking up in verse 6, it says, For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die.
[20:13] But God chose his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
[20:24] For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
[20:39] And our hope is not just there. Think of Galatians 2.20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live, I live in the flesh, or excuse me, the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
[20:57] Or think about probably the most well-known verse. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Let's always remember that hope that we have through the forgiveness we have in the Lord.
[21:15] Okay. Y'all might have noticed we've been talking about verse 4 for a while, but we haven't talked about the back end of it. Reading verse 4 one more time. But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.
[21:28] It might seem interesting to us the phrasing of it. To our mind, we might think it would be more likely to say something different. Like, with you there is forgiveness that you might be loved.
[21:40] Or with you there is forgiveness that your grace might be shown. Or maybe even, with you there is forgiveness that you may be glorified. Or, even someone treating salvation flippantly.
[21:50] With you there is forgiveness so there is no longer a need to put away sin. We know Paul shot that down in Romans. But, instead, we have something different. We have, with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.
[22:03] This fear, of course, does denote a reverence and awe, a why me kind of idea that we should be amazed that the Lord has shown us such great mercy when he couldn't have just totally wiped us out.
[22:17] Right? That would be the just thing to do. And that way we fear him. I think of a hymn that, maybe we should start back doing some more here that is, How Sweet and Awful.
[22:30] How sweet and awful is the place with Christ within the doors while everlasting love displays the choicest of our stores. While all our hearts and all our songs join to admire the feast, each of us cry with thankful tongues, Lord, why was I a guest?
[22:47] Why was I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room while thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come? It was the same love that spread the feast that sweetly drew us in, else we had still refused to taste and perished in our sin.
[23:04] Pity the nations, O our God, constrain the earth to come, send thy victorious word abroad, and bring the strangers home. We long to see thy churches full, that all the chosen race may with one voice and heart and soul sing thy redeeming grace.
[23:18] So we've been giving such great forgiveness in Christ while we did not deserve it one bit. Such undeserved forgiveness.
[23:31] Why were we chosen? While others choose to reject that same invitation. While we are just as undeserving as they. And so the psalmist very much understands that reality.
[23:45] out of the depths crying out, acknowledging his sin, and that he's so undeserving of forgiveness. Okay.
[23:55] So I've probably been about 20 minutes on that point. But I promise the others will be much, much shorter. So let's get down past verse 4 into second point. Out of the depths we watch and wait.
[24:09] Out of the depths we watch and wait. Let's read verses 5 and 6 again. And you'll see the waiting, watching, and hoping all of those words all throughout here. I wait for the Lord.
[24:20] My soul waits. And in his word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. More than watchmen for the morning. So this waiting we might ask what is this waiting really for?
[24:36] This waiting here seems to be twofold. And I think you all will see why I believe that. Firstly at the beginning of the psalm we noted just the state of being down in the depths.
[24:48] My family growing up often said I'm just feeling down in the dump. You could use that similar phrasing. Having a really, really strong sorrow over sin.
[25:01] This waiting on the Lord seems to be tied to redemption both now and full and final redemption in the future. And the reason I'm saying this is verses 7 and 8.
[25:13] So let's get into those a little bit because I think they help us understand verses 5 and 6. So let's read those. Oh Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is steadfast love and with him is plentiful redemption and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
[25:30] So in verse 7 we see a call to Israel, a call to the people of God to hope in the Lord. Why hope in the Lord? Because with him there is steadfast love. We can have confidence that his love is constantly on us and plentiful redemption.
[25:48] And then in verse 8 he will not he may but he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Now I'm bringing up these verses because I think they show exactly what the psalmist is waiting on.
[26:01] Both a mindset of having hope in the Lord. He wants his heart to catch up with the reality of what his mind understands of there's plentiful redemption in the Lord.
[26:13] He wants to feel that but also notice that more full and final redemption at the end. He will redeem Israel.
[26:26] Many of you guys I know have picked up one of those many copies of Gentle! and Lowly that are in the hallway. And in that book he makes some really wonderful observations about the love that the Lord has for us.
[26:42] And in talking about what our response should be when we're struggling with sin whether that's a like battling our sin in a worldly way of just getting so down and just fighting ourselves or running to the Lord with godly grief over our sin instead of that wallowing in it.
[27:03] Dane Ortlund says, speaking of our Lord, he does not get flustered and frustrated when we come to him for fresh forgiveness, for renewed pardon with distress and need and emptiness.
[27:16] That's the whole point. It's what he came to heal. He went down into the horror of death and plunged out through the other side in order to provide a limitless supply of mercy and grace to his people.
[27:31] This seems to be so similar to what the psalmist is exhorting here. Go to the Lord, right? Know your redemption. Know the steadfast love that the Lord has for you.
[27:43] Go to the Lord to know your forgiveness when struggling with sin. I think that's part of what is being weighted on in verse five. That sense of redemption, that sense of steadfast love.
[27:55] But that twofold part again, that and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities, that sure complete and final sound of that verse, redeeming Israel, redeeming God's people from all their iniquities, that's a different kind of longing for the day when we will be fully set free from sin and fully sanctified.
[28:16] That's a hope for eternity. I believe so many of us can get frustrated with ourselves about our sin, feeling like we keep doing the same thing over and over again and long for eternity.
[28:27] We long for that day when we'll be finally and fully freed from sin when all things will be made new. And that longing for eternity I think is exactly what verse 8 is talking about. So we'll get into verse 7 and 8 a bit more in a sec, but think about these waiting and watching words.
[28:45] It's not a sit around and do nothing kind of waiting. It's not a standing in line at Walmart getting bored kind of waiting. It's a much more intense kind of waiting.
[28:56] Notice the wording. I wait for the Lord and even more emphasis my soul waits. In fact my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning more than watchmen for the morning.
[29:07] We get the picture of guards around the city watching for attackers and wearying themselves by staying up waiting for the morning. Or you might think of Matthew Carnegie guarding his campers from a bear.
[29:23] Mostly kidding. But you might think of something so much more serious as well. Of someone staying awake through the night caring for a sick loved one. Making sure they are okay or even waiting at a time when you believe someone will pass.
[29:40] Thinking about just being outside overnight and maybe you're hunting but whatever it is you get that glimpse of sun in the morning.
[29:52] You know that you've got to just make it through a little bit more cold and there will be these rays hitting you and it's wonderful. Do we wait? Do we watch in this way?
[30:03] Do we long to know the assurance of our salvation or long for eternity, long for the day of our Lord in this way? Do we want to know full freedom from sin this much?
[30:18] Do we want to meet the one who saved us and who kept us by his grace this much? What do we long for? Where are our minds at when we daydream? Do we long to be free from sin?
[30:29] Do we long for eternity? Do we wait for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning? Okay, let's get to our last point. Number three, out of the depths we hope.
[30:42] Out of the depths we hope. We've spoken about our hope all throughout the sermon because I believe it was necessary to do so in order to properly understand some of the other verses. In fact, all of our crying, waiting, watching, and hoping are all tied so closely together.
[31:00] Isaac Ambrose once said this on your bulletin, that hope is a faculty of the soul that looks out for mercy and waits for the same. Let's notice a couple things about that hope.
[31:10] Firstly, in the middle of our waiting and watching verses, we see our hope in the waiting and watching stages. It's the Lord's word. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.
[31:24] Think about the hope that the psalmist had that we see in 7 and 8 that is coming from the Lord's word, not fully knowing the redemption of the Lord, but knowing the Lord had a plan for his people to show them such great mercy, that they would be his people and he would be their God.
[31:43] And now we having a full revelation have so much reason to hope. even more understanding that they had. That while we see the great weight of our sin, when we're in the depths, calling to the Lord, we can be confident, think about Philippians 1 verse 6, that I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
[32:06] We can be so confident that the Lord who began the work in us will finish the work in us. And then think about, this will be another place for y'all to turn.
[32:16] Y'all go ahead and turn with me to John 6. John 6. This is another passage that is talked about really well in Gentle and Lowly.
[32:33] Let's look at a few verses here, verse 35 through 40. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
[32:45] But I said to you, excuse me, but I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
[32:56] For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. All this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
[33:08] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Sometimes passages like this seem too good to be true.
[33:20] I think we as believers often slip into a workspace mindset again, that we treat our salvation as coming from grace, but we treat our sanctification as if it's all a work of us.
[33:31] Maybe we believe that the Lord has forgiven all of our past sins before we became a believer, but we struggle to believe that the Lord is also forgiving our current sin struggles. We believe that he must get so frustrated with us when we still sin after that.
[33:47] Now, while we should endeavor to always live lives worthy of the calling to which we've been called, we must constantly remember that the whole point of the gospel is that we are not worthy that the Lord shows his great love for us and that while we were yet sinners he died for us.
[34:10] And according to this passage we just read, our Lord will not cast out any that the Father gives him and all that the Father gives him will come to him.
[34:21] What great assurance we can have that the Lord will continue the work that he started in us. He will bring it to completion at his day. But in verse 8 we also have that and back in Psalm 130 verse 8 we also have that such great hope for eternity that one great day in the future all suffering is gone all sin is gone and we will live with Christ forever.
[34:50] Think about the first few verses of Revelation 21 then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more and I saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away and we could keep going but for now I'll stop there and just think about the great hope we have the dwelling place of our God is with!
[35:38] He will!!! We will be his people and we'll be together no more suffering no more sin he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities and so out of the depths we hope when we're stuck in the sorrow of our sin the depths of our sin we should know that we don't have to stay there Augustine once said about verse one but when he crieth from the deep he riseth from the deep and his very cry suffereth him not to be long at the bottom even in the depths of our sorrow over our sin we should have such great hope knowing that we are fully accepted in Christ knowing that the Lord will one day fully sanctify us make us fully free from sin we can say with Paul wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord and one day we will live together forever with him so when we're in the depths when we feel the weight of our sin let's cry to the
[36:45] Lord let's watch and wait for him and let's take great hope knowing that on our own if our sin was counted against us none of us could stand but with the Lord there is such great forgiveness quoting Dane Ortlund again look to Christ he deals gently with you it's the only way he knows how to be he is the high priest to end all high priests as long as you fix your attention on your sin you will fail to see how you can be safe but as long as you look to this high priest you will fail to see how you can be in danger looking inside ourselves we can anticipate only harshness from heaven looking out to Christ we can anticipate only gentleness with our Lord there is steadfast love and plentiful redemption for all who trust in him let's read our psalm one more time in closing and then we'll pray out of the depths I cry to you oh Lord oh Lord hear my voice let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy if you oh
[37:52] Lord should mark iniquities oh Lord who could stand but with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared I wait for the Lord my soul waits and in his word I hope my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning more than watchmen for the morning oh Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is steadfast love and with him is plentiful redemption and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities let's pray