a song of ascents. 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 I do 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. Amen.
Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we come to you now and we pray for the guidance and the ministry of your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would give us understanding into the psalmist's words. We pray that we would have a fresh appreciation for the cross. We all know ultimately that the psalmist lived, he ministered, he wrote in light of that coming reality.
And how we thank you for the Lord Jesus and how we thank you for the forgiveness of sins that we receive through him. We ask now that you would bless our time together and encourage our hearts and strengthen us with might in the inner man. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
I want to focus this evening specifically on verses three and four under three particular considerations. The first is strict justice. The second is pardoning mercy. And the third is gospel fear.
The psalmist is rehearsing the grace of God, the mercy of God, the kindness of God. We see the specific occasion for his psalm is indicated in verse 1. He says, 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. This wasn't some temporal trial that had him down. This wasn't some physical challenge. This wasn't some external calamity that was affecting this man, but rather it was severe distress in light of his own sin, in light of his own waywardness, in light of the fact that he was not consistently keeping the law of God.
This is the experience of all the people of God to varying degrees. I don't know that all of us would stay up all night necessarily and weep over our sinfulness, but there is that conviction, there is that understanding when God the Spirit begins to work upon the heart. I'm not suggesting that God the Spirit is just beginning to work on this man's heart. I think he's rehearsing He is giving us something of God's redemptive dealings with His people.
But the experience is simply this. When we are brought face to face with a holy God, when we are confronted with His holy law, when we are confronted with His holy standard, the specific result or effect is what is found in verses 1 and 2. Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. When you compare the scripture, you will see that very sort of thing.
When Isaiah is brought into the presence of the throne room of God, he sees the Lord exalted. He sees Him high and lifted up. He sees the train of His robe filling the temple. And he sees the attendant angels crying out, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of His glory. What does the prophet Isaiah then declare? He says, Woe is me, for I am undone. He says, I am a man of unclean lips, and I live amongst a people of unclean lips.
For mine eyes have seen the Lord of hosts. When the prophet Ezekiel is given that view of the glory of God, what do we read concerning him? He fell as a dead man. When John the Apostle sees the glorified Christ according to Revelation, Chapter 1, he tells us that he fell at his feet as a dead man.
You see, when sinners are confronted with the holiness of God, the response is not, hey buddy, or hey friend, or hey pal, but rather, out of the depths I have cried to you, oh Lord. And there is this petition, this supplication, this casting ourselves upon the Lord, Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications." So the occasion of this man's rehearsal of God's redemptive mercy is the remembrance of his own sinfulness, his own waywardness, his own ungodliness. And then that brings us to verses 3 and 4.
Strict Justice
Notice first of all what I call strict justice. He says, "...if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" It's a terrifying statement, isn't it? If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Now, the thought here is simply this, that God doesn't immediately require punishment from every violator of His holy law.
The idea is not that God is unconscious or God doesn't know or God doesn't see the particular sins and the waywardness of these creatures, but the idea seems to be more upon this reality that if you should mark it, if you should execute your vengeance upon it, if you should visit every iniquity and every transgression, he says, oh Lord, who could stand? It is a universal statement, and it highlights this reality, that all men everywhere are sinful. All men everywhere have transgressed the law of God. He says, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
There's not a man, there's not a woman, there's not a boy, and there's not a girl who could stand before God as one who had never committed sin. The Bible is certain, the Bible is clear, the Bible is crystal clear on this reality that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In fact, you can turn to Romans chapter 3 just to explore this reality. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
What we find in Romans 3 is the summation, Paul's capstone in his argument that begins at chapter 1, at verse 18. You see, before the apostle gets to the good news of the gospel, before he gets to justification by faith alone, before he gets to the pardon of sin and the imputation of righteousness, he sets the context, he sets the stage, he highlights the reality that both Jew and Gentile, all men everywhere, under God's curse due to their sin. He begins in Romans 1 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. He then catalogs the sin of the heathen, those who are outside the covenant people, those who are outside those who receive the oracles of God.
And what we find in chapter 1 is a detailed explanation of what our society looks like, what man apart from the gospel looks like. All manner of wickedness, all manner of sin, owing back to that primary emphasis in chapter 1. verse 21, who although they knew God, they did not honor God, nor were they thankful. It's because of their idolatry, it's because of their pre-commitment elsewhere, that all of those vices and iniquities flow. And then in chapter 2, the apostle deals with more of the moral sort of fellow, and he deals with the covenant community of Israel.
He essentially says to them, you're no better. You've received the law, you've received the oracles, you've received the benefit of God, and yet you live in rebellion, and you transgress. You see the Apostle is mounting his particular argument to highlight this reality that we find beginning in verse 9 of chapter 3. He says, what then?
Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
Now, you can't wiggle out of that. You know, some might be tempted to say, there is none righteous except me. You don't know me. No, not one.
Not a one. Nobody here. Nobody out there. Nobody in other churches.
There's nobody on earth. There's no inhabitant in Adam that can say they're without sin. Every man everywhere has this commonality. This is the tie that binds each and every one of us.
We may be different colors. We may be different races. We may live on different continents. We may be different age groups.
We may be different genders. But this one thing we have in common. We are sinners. This is what Paul is bringing to a close.
There is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside.
They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit.
The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
If you have a Bible like mine, you'll notice that the text is italicized. That means that Paul is quoting from the Old Testament. So what's the emphasis here? Both the Old and the New Testament, the common consent and the common testimony is simply this.
Verse 19, now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God, or liable to God's wrath, liable to God's punishment. You see, this is indeed bad news. This is what the psalmist is highlighting in verse 3. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
Notice what Paul then says in Romans 3.20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. You see, that's what Paul is dealing with. He's not talking about, are you an upright, moral individual in your neighborhood?
Would the people who lived alongside of you on Elm Street vote for you as neighbor of the month? They might do that, but what Paul is dealing with is justification in the sight of God Most High. That is what the rub is, that is where the emphasis lies, and this is what he says. By the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
So you see, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, oh Lord, who could stand? Before he gets to that wonderful statement concerning pardoning mercy and gospel fear, he sets it in its proper context. You know, when we come to the table tonight, we're not coming as those who are being rewarded for good behavior. When we come to the table tonight, this is not sort of a hocus-pocus event.
There's no magic in the elements that convey power in our lives. We come to taste and feast upon that one alone who gave his life on our behalf. It is a time to acknowledge the reality like we find there in verse 3 of Psalm 130. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
It doesn't stop there.
Pardoning Mercy
He then goes on to highlight pardoning mercy. He says, but there is forgiveness with thee. Isn't that beautiful? There is forgiveness with thee is what the psalmist goes on to say.
That is the gospel. That is the truth. That is the essence of the message of the Bible. God's plan in Christ to save his people from their sins.
Again, going back to Romans chapter 3. He starts his exposition with the bad news in chapter 1 verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. Similar to what we find there at the beginning of Psalm 130 verse 3, If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
The psalmist goes on and Paul goes on. The psalmist says it this way, But there is forgiveness with thee. Paul goes on in Romans 3.21 to say, But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. And the righteousness of God in this context is what we read about this morning in our study of the confession of justification in chapter 11.
This righteousness that is in view is not necessarily the rightness of God, though that's included. The righteousness of God in 321, just like the righteousness of God in 117, is that righteousness which God demands from His creatures and which God supplies in the Christian gospel. It is that righteousness that avails with Him that is imputed to us and received by faith alone. So Paul says, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.
For there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. This is an amplification of what we find there in Psalm 130, that there is forgiveness with you. How is there forgiveness with you? It is justification freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Specifically, verse 25, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness. because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So you see, the psalmist and Paul are doing the very same thing. First, the bad news. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? and then the good news.
But there is forgiveness with you. And brethren, that concept of forgiveness, that truth and blessing of forgiveness. I know I've said this before. If you've been here when I've said it, I apologize.
But this is one of the chief boons of redemption. The chief privileges. You know, Paul says we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. in Christ. We are justified.
We are, you know, effectually called. We're justified. We're being sanctified. We'll ultimately be glorified.
Well, in there comes this idea of forgiveness. That's what justification is all about. Remember our study this morning. Let's just summarize it in the Shorter Catechism.
What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace. Isn't that beautiful? God gives it.
We don't earn it. We don't deserve it. How could a sinner described in Romans chapter 3 or described in Psalm 130 verse 3 earn salvation? Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein He pardons all our sins.
Isn't that beautiful? He pardons every single one of them. Past, present, future. Now we are not to take that doctrine and abuse it.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be! Those who by God's grace have tasted and seen that He is good, those who understand Golgotha, those who have come to feast upon the Savior by the grace of God through faith in Him, they don't want to go out and sin that grace may abound.
They want to pursue those things which are pleasing in the sight of God. But the reality of it is, is that justification is an act of God's free grace wherein He pardons all our sins. He paid it all. Every single one is dealt with in the blood, in whom we have redemption through his blood.
Not a partial payment, not a 90-10 situation, not a Jesus sets me on the right path trajectory, but he paid it all. Every single sin is answered in this doctrine of justification. because they were imputed to the Son. They were heaped up upon Him, and God punished His Son in the cross. So you see, justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins, and He accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.
We have forgiveness, and we have a righteousness. We have that blessing of being able to lay our heads on our pillows tonight, having been forgiven. It's not the blessing of salvation, one of them. Having your sin dealt with.
You know, guilt's a horrible thing, isn't it? That bad feeling, that severe distress, that which makes one say out, of the debts I have cried to you, O Lord." You know what it's like to carry sin in your bosom? You know what it's like to carry guilt in your life? You know what it's like to be a stranger to that understanding that Jesus paid it all?
You know what it's like to be a stranger from that scanza and that blessed hymn that says, My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Guilt and shame and the nakedness associated with sinfulness is a horrible reality. But there is forgiveness with you, is what the psalmist declares. There is forgiveness with you, is what Peter or Paul preaches in Pisidian Antioch, in the book of Acts, in chapter 13.
Therefore, brethren, let it be known to you that through this man is preached the forgiveness of sin.
The Fullness of Forgiveness
There is full free forgiveness to be found in a full free Savior named Jesus Christ the Lord. When we eat this bread and when we drink this cup, let us realize There is forgiveness with Him. The blessed truth that God Most High, this Holy, this Glorious, this Spotless One, who if He marked iniquities, no man could stand. But there is forgiveness with Him.
There is mercy to be had. There is grace in the Gospel. There is full and free forgiveness. Remember the way the Apostle Paul puts it in 1 Timothy 1, 15.
This is a faithful saying. It is worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world, sinners to save. And then he goes on to say, of whom I am chief. He's already rehearsed in 1 Timothy 1.13 what that looked like in his life.
He was a blasphemer. He was a persecutor. He was an insolent man. He was one who knew what it was to be in the depths of depravity, to be in sin, to be a violator of God's holy law.
And yet he's able to rejoice in the reality that Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners to save. There is forgiveness with you, is what the psalmist says. This is what the saints, glorified in heaven, will be rehearsing as they stand before the Lord God Almighty. Revelation 5.8, Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain. This is Christ. This is His death. This is Calvary.
This is that event, that crucifixion, where Man sinfully say away with him, away with him, crucify him, which works according to the predetermined plan of God. Remember the divine initiative in the crucifixion. Isaiah the prophet says God, Yahweh, was pleased to bruise him. putting him to grief. Peter says that this happened according to the predetermined plan of God in Acts 2.23, who ultimately was behind the crucifixion.
It was the Father of the Son who sent him. to do this task. He says, you have redeemed us, or they say, you have redeemed us. That idea of purchase, that idea of redemption out of the slave market of sin. Certainly the concept of forgiveness is present.
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign. The earth they are celebrating they are rejoicing in they are delighting in this reality But there is forgiveness with you
The Call to the Fountain
If you are here tonight, you have not come to that fountain of forgiveness. May I say it's wonderful May I say there is no one in this room? Who is upright? There was no one in this room who was perfect.
There was no one in this room who was marching to heaven unaided from on high. Every single one in this room who names the name of Christ was dead in trespasses and sins. Every single one. I don't care if you were brought up in a Christian home, and all the externals were in place.
I don't care if you were catechized from your father's knee. Until such time as you were born again, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. You were at enmity with God. You despised Him, and conversely, He despised you.
Or you could have been a real vile sinner, one of those prodigals that takes his share of the father's loot and he goes to a distant country and there he wastes every bit of it. You see, it really doesn't matter. Sin is sin. But those who by the grace of God who have come, who have by His grace believed, who have received Him and rested upon His righteousness, know the blessing. of forgiveness.
There's nothing better. There's nothing more joyful. There's nothing more delightful than having God say, you are forgiven. That makes one happy.
That makes one healthy. It's not early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. It's the forgiveness of sins that promotes that. You see, when you're forgiven, you've got everything.
When God and sinners are reconciled, that is everything. When you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, having been justified by faith, there is nothing better. There is everything to be had in coming to Christ, believing in Him, looking to that gospel, and owning Him as Lord and Savior.
Gospel Fear
So the psalmist rehearses strict justice, pardoning mercy, and then he speaks of gospel fear. Gospel fear. He says, there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. And the fear here is not the run and hide underneath the piano sort of fear.
This isn't the sort of fear that drives the sinner away from God. Remember when Adam and Eve transgressed, they were afraid and they ran away. This fear is that fear which, in God's mercy, affects the soul in such a way so that we run to Him. There is reverence.
There is awe. There is esteem. There is a recognition of who He is and what we are beforehand. And we approach Him in an acceptable manner.
If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you. that you may be feared. You see, God forgives people. God applies gospel benefit.
God takes that redemptive work of the Lord Jesus, and by His Holy Spirit, He applies it to His elect, so that they'll fear Him, so that they'll revere Him, so that they'll worship Him, and so that they'll glorify Him.
Saved to Fear and Serve
You have been saved to worship. You have been saved to serve. You have been saved to eat this bread and drink this cup. You have been saved to go out into this world and to shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation.
You have been saved in order to direct sinners to consider the glory and the majesty of God. You may not be a preacher. You may not stand on the steps downtown and proclaim this gospel. But the idea is simple.
When someone looks at you and they say, wow, God saved you, there must be hope and mercy for me. It's like trophies, right? You ever been to somebody's house and they had trophies? Maybe it's a bowling trophy, or maybe it's a baseball trophy, or it's a football trophy, or here in Canada, it could be a curling trophy.
They got a broom, a figurine with a broom. When you see that trophy, do you glorify the trophy? Do you bow before the trophy? Do you recognize its majesty?
Do you recognize its excellence? No. The trophy reflects something about the one who won it. You say to your pal, you say to your friend, you say to your neighbor, wow, you must be a great curler, you must be fantastic at golf, you must be splendid at baseball, because this trophy standing on your mantle testifies that there is something about you, there's a quality about you that is consonant with this trophy.
That's how God's people are. When people see that wretches like us are actually Christians, when people see that wretches like us are actually saved and heaven-bound, who are they giving glory to? Or they should be giving glory to is God. They ought to say, there is hope, there is mercy, there is grace to be had in that wonderful message concerning Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
There is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. You see, strict justice, pardoning mercy results in gospel fear. That's what the psalmist is rehearsing in Psalm 130.
Hope in the Word
He casts himself upon the living God. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in his word, I do hope.
It is the word of God. It is that revelation of God. It is the speaking God that we worship. Remember that Israel, the old covenant nation, was a people of the word.
They were forbidden of making images. You saw no form on Horeb, but rather you heard the Word. You see, the people of God who have come into contact with the living God, who have received this forgiveness of sins, who hearts are framed to fear the Lord, are a people who hope in His Word. He says, 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. Beautiful statement. I defy anyone who ever says, Oh, that Old Testament is only filled with wrath and with judgment and with God killing people.
When God gives a revelation of His glory to Moses, what does He show him? He shows him His grace. He shows him His compassion. He shows him His long-suffering.
He shows him and underscores this truth, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. The sweet psalmist of Israel here says, In Yahweh, for with Him there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. It's good news for abundant sinners, isn't it?
We need abundant redemption because of our abundant sin. We need abundant grace because of our abundant wickedness. Isn't this what Paul rehearses in 1 Timothy 1? His exceedingly abundant grace.
Essentially, he says, overwhelm my sin. And then he speaks this statement with confidence. A confidence that we see fleshed out in that passage we read. from Revelation chapter 5, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. The Lord God Almighty has purpose to save a great multitude that no man can number.
In the New Covenant, we learn that that body, that group, that people are called the Israel of God. They are made up from every tribe, and every tongue, and every people, and every nation, consistent with the promise to Father Abraham. Look to the north, look to the south, look to the east, look to the west. I am giving you this for your inheritance.
In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Well, lo, in the fullness of the time God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. So you see, the psalmist understands not only experientially for himself, but he understands experientially for the Church that God Most High is going to redeem His people.
Application
Brethren, let us feast tonight in the reality that if God should mark iniquities, none of us could stand. But we have received forgiveness, and may we indeed respond in the fear of the Lord and in service to our great and holy God. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and we thank you for these statements concerning your character, your nature. We thank you for that blessed reality that there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. We know, God, those who have tasted and seen that you are good, those who have received and rested upon Christ will be those who fear the Lord. God, increase that fear.
Increase our reverence. Increase our worship. Increase our delight and desire in you. God help us always to remember that our salvation is because of Jesus.
It's what he's done on our behalf. And our Father, as we eat this bread and as we drink this cup, let us indeed proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And we pray through Christ's name. Amen.