In Christ there is forgiveness

[0:00] This is the reading for this morning. It's a comforting reading, and it's a reading of testimony to the Lord. It's taken from 1 John 1, verses 1 to 4. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, the life that was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life.

[0:30] Which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us.

[0:44] And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things to you, so that our joy may be complete.

[0:55] Well, just in the same way we read in John 17, here in 1 John, we see that eternal life is relationship with God the Father and the Son.

[1:09] And that's what we pray for, for everyone in this church. Well, I'm going to pray for the children, and then you can make your way out to Sunday school. Father God, that the Lord will open our heart, and that the Lord would restore his church.

[1:24] We recognize that throughout history, the church has ebbed and flowed. But one of the things that it continues to do is remain.

[1:37] The sad thing is, it doesn't always remain in the same location. You see the seven churches in Revelation, but they're not there today. So this is, you know, imagine if every church that was planted had generational faithfulness.

[1:57] Can you imagine what the world would look like? I think it was either the evangelism explosion or something like that years ago, and they came up with this statistic that if just one person shared the gospel with one person who came to faith in one year, and everyone did that, the tremendous, of course, that sounds tremendous because we can do the math and work it out.

[2:22] But that doesn't tell you whether or not the person that you share the gospel with actually comes to faith, and that's where the struggle is. Because, you know, I've probably told countless of men and women, boys and girls, the gospel, but not many out of that huge number or large number have come to faith.

[2:42] And that is always—but then Jesus gave us that parable, didn't he, of the soil and the seed. You've got four times—so you've got, according to that parable, statistically, one in four come to faith and actually go on.

[2:57] If you were to take it, if you were to read it that way, Jesus told us a parable which you could almost say gives us a level of expectation. That's disappointing.

[3:08] But then we read Revelation, don't we, that if you were to sit down and count how many believers are in heaven in the final count, you couldn't do it.

[3:19] That there's just too many. And this is because the church exists and continues to exist throughout the ages. So let us pray that the Lord would restore again to his people his promises, most importantly, that we would live in light of who God is, as we read this morning, live in light of his character and his nature, and then come before him and pray for others in that light.

[3:45] So let us pray, and then we'll read. Father God, we ask that we would know the abundance of your steadfast love this morning. That we would know it in our lives personally.

[3:59] That we would really know it. That we would really, really know that you love us. You'll never stop loving us. You have secured us to yourself in Christ Jesus, and we will never be unsecure.

[4:14] And that, Father God, that the future is better than the present. But in the present, Father God, we long to continue to know you in ever deeper ways. But at the same time, Father God, we want the world to know you.

[4:26] And so we pray for those whom we have shared the gospel with, and we pray for those who have not perhaps heard the gospel. And we ask, Father God, that you would make it possible that we would be good sowers of the seed, and that we would leave the growth to you.

[4:42] But encourage us, Father God, to be those type of people who know how important it is to speak the gospel. But also, Father God, to know how important it is to leave everything in your hands and recognize that it doesn't depend on us.

[4:58] We have our part, and we thank you, Father God, that you give us strength to fulfill that. But what we do ask, Father God, is to see your church as it ought to be in the world, as it is revealed in your word.

[5:13] A people who are devoted to you, who love you, who follow you, and who serve you. So, Father God, revive your church, we pray in Jesus' name.

[5:25] Amen. Amen. Well, last week, we addressed Psalm 128 and then 129, and we looked at it under the very clear principle that God does not over-promise and under-deliver.

[5:45] God does not over-promise and under-deliver. This is almost a key conviction that you ought to have once you have read through the Bible.

[5:57] Even a small part of the Bible should leave you with a conviction that God does not over-promise and under-deliver. But then I did say that sometimes it can feel like he does, and we looked at the reasons why that is the case.

[6:13] That God has called us to live a very specific life, a very defined life. And, of course, all those blessings are within those definitions, are within those, in that way that the Lord has called us to walk.

[6:26] And, of course, in the same way, if you go outside on a rainy day, you get wet. In the same way, if you step outside of God's defined way, you step outside of the place where the Lord works and blesses and strengthens his people.

[6:42] So the principles are very simple to understand, but they're not always followed. And what we're going to look at today in Psalm 130 was I sowed the seed on Wednesday evening in the Bible study.

[6:57] And we're going to pick back up on that so that we would understand how it is that God's word speaks to his people. Most importantly, how it is that God's word in the Psalms speaks to his people because they are unique in a different way.

[7:12] So let's read first. Psalm 130. It's not very long. So let's read it together. Father God, now hear God's word. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

[7:24] O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive. To the voice of my pleas for mercy. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities.

[7:36] 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 my soul waits for the Lord.

[7:50] More than the watchman for the morning. More than the watchman for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is steadfast love.

[8:01] And with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Well, one of the reasons why the Psalms are unique is because of what we need to consider when we read them.

[8:21] Now, this will be abundantly clear to you, but it may not be on your mind when you're reading the Psalms. Now, we all know that the Psalms are God's words to us. But at the same time, we know that the Psalms are our words to God.

[8:35] I mean, the Psalmists write words to God. These are men's words to God. And so we have a very unique situation when we read the Psalms because we recognize in one sense it is God's words to us.

[8:49] But then in another sense, it is men's words to God. Now, we don't have that when we have Genesis chapter 1. We don't have that with many other books of the Bible. If you start reading, it is very clear that these are God's words to God's people.

[9:03] But the Psalms don't fit into that kind of category. The category that they fit into is that they are God's words to us while at the same time being men's words to God.

[9:14] And it's for that reason that the Psalms cover every human emotion. They cover every human fear. They cover every human worry.

[9:25] They cover every human troubled soul that you could possibly go through. And so they have a way of speaking to us that perhaps that is slightly more personal than corporate.

[9:39] So when you read the New Testament and the main focus is on what we are to be as a church, the focus is on being the people of God. Now, when we read the Psalms, we understand that it's much more personal than that.

[9:53] It is about being the people of God. But the Psalms have a particular way of getting personal because they are written often from a personal point to God directly.

[10:07] So you have the Psalms of David or you have the Psalms where the nation of Israel is brought in. Oh, Israel, as we have here, listen, hope in the Lord or whatever it may be.

[10:20] Israel, do this, do that. And so the nation is called to. So in this unique situation, we are encouraged by what we read. But at the same time, when we read these Psalms, we can be challenged deeply because of how they work.

[10:39] In this Psalm, the Psalmist feels overwhelmed by the trouble that he is in in one sense. But then in another sense, he recognizes that with God, there is forgiveness.

[10:50] There is a way of escape whenever I am in in the depths of sin. In other words, that with God, nothing is impossible. With me, this looks like an impossible situation.

[11:02] But with God, nothing is impossible. So the Psalmist here in Psalm 130 is in a place where he feels overwhelmed by sin. But then he does not become overwhelmed in his sin because with God, there is forgiveness.

[11:18] With God, there is this steadfast love, this plentiful redemption, as we read in verse 7. Now, in order for these Psalms to speak to us, as I said on Wednesday night, two things have to be true.

[11:34] First is this, that your situation like the Psalmist needs to be similar. In other words, when the Psalms speak to us, they often speak to us because we're going through the same kind of situation that they're going through.

[11:45] Sin is a common one. So there's not a single sin in the Bible that we haven't committed somewhere along the line. And all sin separates us from God.

[11:57] And the Psalmist here is telling us, well, look at what God does to reconcile. Look at what God does to deal with that separation. Now, that is crucial that you understand that when you're reading these Psalms in particular, that God is trying to deal with a separation that sin causes between him and his people.

[12:16] That when people sin, they cannot help but be drawn further away from God. And it is God's character that brings them back into fellowship because they recognize they can come to God and get themselves sorted out.

[12:30] So two things you have to understand. Number one, in order for the Psalm to speak to you, the situation normally has to be similar. Secondly, and most importantly, you must not only share in the same situation, you must have a shared desire.

[12:47] Because without that, you don't read the Psalms. Without that, you don't actually share in the Psalm in the same way.

[12:58] So imagine it like this. Imagine a person who is in the depths of sin, and so his situation is exactly the same as the one in the Psalmist here. The situation is the same.

[13:09] He has, he's in the depths of sin. He's living within the consequences of his own actions. And he recognizes that it is the consequences of his own actions.

[13:20] The situation that he is in, he is brought upon himself, but he doesn't cry out to God. In other words, the situation is the same, but the desire to cry out to God is not the same.

[13:33] And so the Psalm is not applicable for him. It's not relevant for him. Why? Because he doesn't share the same kind of desire as the Psalmist. He's in the same situation, but what's missing is the desire to cry out to the Lord in that situation.

[13:49] And there's plenty of people who are quite happy living in sin. In other words, the situation is the same, but the desire is not. And that is crucial that you understand that because either the word of God will speak to you or you will find it irrelevant to your situation because your desire is not the same as that of his desires or Scripture's desires.

[14:11] And so we mute the word of God by the fact that we don't want to restore what is broken like this man wants to restore what is broken. Now imagine it another way.

[14:23] Imagine a man who has no interest in making his relationship with his wife right. They've had an argument. And let's say the argument is turned into multiple arguments and no one can remember within the relationship how it began.

[14:39] Things get complicated quickly. You are God's people are the type of people who think they can handle things right up to the point until they can't handle them. Everything's controllable until the point it is no longer controllable.

[14:52] But most Christians cannot tell when that controlled and non-controllable actually happens. So imagine that this man is not getting his prayers answered by God, as Peter says.

[15:06] A man who does not treat his wife correctly does not. The Lord will not answer his prayers. And so he recognizes the situation he's in. He recognizes in the word of God that, yeah, the reason God is not answering my prayers is because I'm not treating my wife correctly.

[15:19] The reason these things are present within my relationship now is because I'm not treating my wife correctly. And so the word of God then tells him what he needs to do, confess his sin, right?

[15:31] But he has no desire to. And so now we begin to recognize again that the situation can be the same, but the outcome can be entirely different, all dependent on whether or not you share the psalmist's desire to restore.

[15:48] Whether or not you are actually deciding to cry out to the Lord because you're recognizing the situation and you want it resolved. And the issue is that sometimes it's not always the case that people want things resolved.

[16:02] So here's the summary, and we're going to go through this carefully, but we're going to go through this in a way where we're going to pick up on each point so that we can understand how relevant it is, even to people who don't find it relevant.

[16:16] And that's what I'm trying to get at this morning. So Psalm 130 is a better man who out of the depths cries to the Lord. In other words, he's very conscious of the condition that he is in.

[16:28] He's very conscious that he has become overwhelmed by sin because he's down in the depths. Now, whether this is a spiritual depression, a low, or whether this is a circumstantial low.

[16:40] In other words, could this be describing a man where everything else in his life seems to be okay? He has a good house. He has a good job. He has a number of things that are going well for him.

[16:51] But spiritually, he cannot possibly get any lower. He's down in the depths. Or is it the case that this man is spiritually low, but there's a lot of other things that everything's gone wrong?

[17:04] His sin has had practical implications where, you know, he has lost his job because of his sin, or his marriage has broken down because of his sin. What are the depths?

[17:14] And so the situation can resonate with a whole different group of people without even explaining what the depths are. Because what is deep for me and distant from God could be explained in one way.

[17:28] And what is deep and distant for you can be a totally different situation. But you understand that the depth is that which has distanced you from God. It's something that you yourself cannot get out of.

[17:40] So the psalmist is very clever by using words like depths rather than being specific, because depths could mean anything to any person that separates them and distances them from God.

[17:52] And this is how the psalmist is drawing us in so that we would understand. The first couple of verses speak to the desperate situation, where he recognizes he is overwhelmed in one sense, but he alone is responsible for his sin.

[18:08] Hence why he is coming before the Lord and recognizing that the Lord is the one who forgives. Then in verse 3, he recognizes that the situation is a grave one before the Lord, because if the Lord were to mark down his iniquities, he has no way of being able to present himself before the Lord.

[18:28] He has no way of being able to stand before the Lord. He knows that everyone will one day be before the Lord, but you can be before the Lord in two entirely different ways.

[18:39] You can either come before the Lord able to stand, or you can come before the Lord unable to stand. And if the Lord were to mark your iniquities, you are going to be unable to stand before you're not going to be presentable to him or presented to him in a fashion where you have his favor.

[18:58] It's rather a case of facing his wrath. But then he says, but, verse 4, there is forgiveness with the Lord that he may be feared.

[19:11] And this is an unusual verse, but the verse is, what it's saying is that when you understand that the Lord is the one who actually controls the outcome of your life, that the Lord is the one who can make all the difference, then coming before the Lord as a sinful person is something to be feared.

[19:30] But there is forgiveness with him that you would understand the fear, but so that you're still able to come before him. None of us can meet God without Jesus.

[19:42] That's impossible. And none of us can be in a relationship with God without forgiveness. That's also impossible. We are forgiven in Christ Jesus. And so a close and clean relationship with God is one where we have to be forgiven in Christ Jesus in order to be able to stand before him.

[20:04] So which situation is greater? The depths or the distance? The depths or not being able to stand? And this is where it gets personal.

[20:15] Some people, when they are in the depths, concentrate on the depths. But you'll notice that this psalmist doesn't. He says, out of the depths I cry to the Lord. The focus of this psalm is not on the sin, but on the Lord who can get him out of the sin.

[20:30] Out of the depths I cry to the Lord. I know the situation I've got myself into. I know the depths that I have sunk to. But if I concentrate on that, rather than concentrate on the Lord's character, the one who can redeem, the one who can forgive, I'm going to stay where I am.

[20:48] And so out of the depths I cry. Out of the lowest of the lows, I cry to the Lord because he is the only one who can get me out of the overwhelming situation that I am in.

[20:59] It's the only one who can do it. Why? Because it's impossible for me to do it myself. I am down in the depths. And so which situation is greater?

[21:10] Some people sin, sorry, some people do not sin because they do not want to get caught. Some people do not sin because it offends the Lord. The motivation is entirely different, though the action looks entirely the same.

[21:27] You have two people who are not sinning, and it looks the same on the surface. But what motivates them not to sin is entirely different. If a person can think they can get away with it, they'll be very tempted to sin.

[21:39] But if a person is motivated by fear of the Lord and love for him, then they're not going to have that same kind of motivation to sin. And so now we begin to realize that my relationship to sin is contingent on my relationship with God.

[21:56] Do I love and fear him? Or is my relationship with God where he's there when I need him for help? But in all other situations, I'm going to play fast and loose, whatever it means, whatever the case may be.

[22:11] And some people can be more upset with the consequences of their sin than they are with the fact that it has distanced them from God. Do you understand that?

[22:23] And this is what this psalm is saying, that the thing that he is truly upset with is yes, he knows that he sinned, that's terrible before God. But the thing that really bothers him is how this sin has separated and distanced him from his Lord.

[22:42] So which situation is greater, the depths of sin or the distance from the Lord? And what I want us to understand that if we truly appreciate the Lord's character, if we truly appreciate who we are to the Lord, then the thing that should bother us and upset us the most is any point in which we are distanced from him because of our sin, not because of the sin.

[23:02] It's out of the depths we cry to the Lord. We're going to sin because we're sinful people. And the thing that should upset us about that sin is, oh no, I've done it again.

[23:13] But rather, look, this is separating me from my God in terms of closeness, in terms of relationship, in terms of devotion, in terms of a number of different things.

[23:25] But I understand completely that if you don't have that kind of relationship with the Lord, then you can share in the same kind of situation as the depths, but have no motivation to get back to a close and clean walk with the Lord.

[23:40] So now we begin to see how this psalm may or may not be applicable. It is applicable to everyone who wants and desires a close and clean relationship with the Lord, but it's not applicable for those who don't, even though the situation of debts is entirely the same.

[23:59] So he wants the Lord. He rather, verse 5, waits on the Lord. He wants the Lord, of course, in desire, but verse 5, he waits for the Lord to be merciful, to forgive.

[24:11] And he waits on the Lord, verse 6, more than the watchman for the morning, more than the watchman for the morning, emphasizing the wait.

[24:22] I think it's said twice to emphasize the wait. Why does this matter? Have you ever noticed that when you read Genesis and it describes a day, it begins with evening and then it goes to morning.

[24:34] This is partly because the first people to read Genesis were the Israelites that were brought out of Egypt under slavery. Moses wrote Genesis. The first people to read it, even though it speaks about a time before them, would have been those people.

[24:51] And of course, you know, days are set up from 6 in the evening through to 6 in the evening the following day and that's one day. We understand that. So when you read Genesis chapter 1, then there was evening and then there was morning the next day or the following day, the third day, the fourth day, whatever it may be.

[25:09] There's a beauty there in creation that we all understand that creation begins dark and becomes light. It is formed and then it is filled.

[25:21] And it seems to me that what the psalmist is doing here purposely by focusing in on the watchman is what is the watchman waiting for the most? He's waiting for daylight.

[25:36] No one likes the dark. Enemies can creep up on you in the dark. It's dangers hidden in the dark. And this psalmist is saying that I am waiting for the Lord like a watchman wakes through the night for the morning.

[25:54] I'm waiting to come into that light. I'm waiting to be set free from the darkness that I am in into the light that I know that I can have in God. So I'm waiting more than the watchman for the morning.

[26:07] The watchman waits for the morning because like all watchmen they understand that the dangers are in the night. The dangers are in the dark. And so it's very pictorial language.

[26:18] It's an image of from darkness to light. And that darkness to light of the day is reflected in his personal darkness of being down in the depths to walking close and clean with the Lord in the light which we read in 1 John.

[26:33] Remember how a relationship in 1 John is described as walking in the light because he is light? And so we have this relationship here between the evening and the morning that the night and the day the depths and the heights and the difference between the dark and the light.

[26:54] I don't know if you've ever been down in a pit. I have. And I've noticed that the deeper you go the darker it gets. And one of the reasons or one of the best ways that depression is explained in the Psalms because people do get depressed but depression has explainable reasons.

[27:17] In fact many of the Psalms explain that those who are depressed will actually enjoy it. A very strange thought isn't it that people can enjoy their own depression but it's true.

[27:30] And one of the things that the Psalmist points out if you were to read the Psalms and concentrate on this idea of death is that one of the things that happen with depressed people who are down is that they lose their horizon.

[27:43] They cannot see forward. There is no forward for them. It's not until they are lifted back up and have a sense of what is ahead of them that they begin then to be revived.

[27:55] They begin then to have a new lease of life. They begin then to be more motivated to then take the next step and continue and to walk forward. But a person who's down in the depth has nothing to look at other than dark and you know that when you're out in the dark and it really is dark you cannot see that far ahead if at all.

[28:17] Sometimes it can be so dark you cannot see your own hand in front of your face. This is the depths. The deeper you go the darker it gets the more you lose your horizon.

[28:30] In other words the more you lose your sense of what is ahead of you. And this is why depressed people people who are down in the depths never really are always depressed about the future because they cannot see it.

[28:46] Cannot see that far ahead. And then verse 7 hope in the Lord Israel. In other words at the end of the day it's going to come down to a very simple principle.

[28:59] The reason for all change in my life and in your life because the psalmist goes from himself to all Israel and the same way I can go from myself to the whole church is very simple.

[29:11] Hope in the Lord. Why? Because he is the only one who can get us out of the situation we're in. Verse 7 Hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is steadfast love.

[29:21] This is the reason to hope in him. With the Lord there is plentiful redemption. The Lord will forgive you of your depths. He will bring you out of your depths.

[29:32] We'll have a couple of points that are really short because we've spent time going through this verse by verse but here's the first one and the only one but it's something to remember that we must be conscious in confession.

[29:47] Now in the book of Acts we see how important our unconscious witness is to others. We know what a conscious witness of Christ is to others because we speak we're conscious of it.

[30:00] In the book of Acts we also learn how important our unconscious witness is. There's a couple of examples especially in the prison scenes where they're singing in prison and it doesn't make any sense.

[30:12] People are conscious of what they're singing but they are unconscious of their witness to the others. Some Christians can be quite comfortable living within their sin.

[30:26] They can be quite comfortable staying where they are and the question is why. And it is because they do not necessarily want a close and clean relationship with the Lord.

[30:40] In other words they're saved but they're quite comfortable staying where they are. In other words their relationship with the Lord hasn't changed for the 40 years they've been a Christian or the 20 years they've been a Christian or whatever it may be.

[30:54] it's just the same as it's ever been. There's been no improvement in their prayer life. There's been no improvement in wanting to spend time with the Lord. There's been no improvement.

[31:05] So never believe that all Christians feel the same way about reading the word of God and living in the light. They don't. Some Christians are entirely comfortable living within their sin especially in the knowledge that God is forgiving.

[31:22] And so they're quite happy to enjoy the sin but they're quite happy to enjoy the sin because they must also be happy with the distance in their relationship with God.

[31:35] Or if they're not happy with it they don't give it any thought because one goes with the other right? Sin separates us and so if you're happy to continue in sin then by implication you're happy to stay distant from the Lord.

[31:50] One follows on from the other. And so we must never convince ourselves that the issue here is that everyone wants to get back to a close and clean relationship with God. I don't think they do.

[32:02] And I think the reason they don't is because of this one simple reason that I explained on Wednesday night. Application within scripture is not a big thing of mine for a very simple reason that the Bible speaks much more about imitation and implications than it does about applications.

[32:20] Here's why. If I were to go out and buy a book I'm not going to buy a book on how to mend a car because I have no interest on how to mend a car. I have no skill level on how to mend a car.

[32:31] If I was in a country where there were no mechanics then at that point I would be motivated to do so because I'm going to have to do it. But because I live in a country where there are mechanics it's far easier to take it to someone who knows.

[32:45] And so my application in that sense is to hand it off elsewhere. In other words application tends to pertain tends to fit with whatever interests you.

[32:59] So you do what interests you. That's your application. When you apply your money you apply it on things that need to be spent and then you apply it on things that you would like to have.

[33:10] That's the application of money. And so we go through the whole of life applying things in different ways whatever relates to our interests. So if this interests me I do it. If it doesn't interest me I don't do it.

[33:22] The trouble is is that when we come to the Bible and we start applying the word in the same way what are we doing? Well we're applying the bits that we like and we're not applying the bits that we don't like.

[33:34] We're applying the bits that interest us and we're not applying the bits that should interest us. And so instead of reading the implications that our sin can actually separate us from God and it cannot be put right unless we confess our sin and we ought to have a close and clean relationship with God because it will keep us in the depths if we don't.

[33:53] We're quite happy to live with all of that because we enjoy because what really interests us is not the close and clean relationship with God but the other things and that affects our relationship with God.

[34:05] So it's far better to read the implications and this is why it says here in verse 4 but with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.

[34:18] Understand how serious that is. There is forgiveness with the Lord that he may be feared. In other words it's not there is forgiveness with the Lord so you can do as you please. There is forgiveness with the Lord so that he may be feared.

[34:30] In other words now your motivation to live for him is based on the healthy fear of loving him rather than thinking of what you can get away with. And that shapes life entirely differently than applying the parts of the Bible that interest you or pertain to your image.

[34:49] And we've all seen you know we've all seen the situation where a person could be one way in church and another way in the home. You know you can have a man who holds his hand a man who holds his wife hand in public so as to give an image about their marriage but at home lives quite separate lives.

[35:09] So these image portrayals are what you would call applied images. In other words because I want something to be a certain way and look a certain way I know that I need to do these things.

[35:24] And so what we have here in the psalmist is that now he doesn't want any of that. Out of the depths he cries there is forgiveness with the Lord that he may be feared. What he wants is what is real because he understands.

[35:36] So here's the exhortation as we close. What the psalm shows us is that sin takes us down and God brings us up. Sin always takes us down and God always brings us up.

[35:49] It also shows us that every person is able to come before the Lord but not every person is able to stand. The person who can stand is the person who is forgiven. And most importantly we ought to notice is this that if the Lord marks iniquities no one can stand but he doesn't.

[36:08] If he did you couldn't stand but he doesn't so that you can stand. If he were to mark your iniquities you couldn't stand but he doesn't.

[36:20] With him is redemption with him is mercy with him there is forgiveness. And this is what you're trying this is what the psalm is trying to get you to understand. If he did it would be impossible game over life over but he doesn't.

[36:38] Rather he brings you into his present. God forgives and we are forgiven. With God there is plentiful redemption. With us we receive the plentiful mercy.

[36:51] If God was to mark our iniquities we couldn't stand but God doesn't mark our iniquities so that we can stand. There is forgiveness for the Lord because we need it. There is mercy from the Lord because we need it.

[37:03] forgiveness and it is because of our nature that we need forgiveness and it is because of his nature that he gives forgiveness. This is what this psalm is showing us. It is because of our nature that we need to be forgiven and it is because of his nature that he forgives.

[37:21] And this is what the psalmist is trying to get you to understand. This is why the Lord ought to be feared because he is the one who determines the outcome of your life. so come before him honestly and cry out to him and ask the Lord to bless you and to keep you.

[37:40] Amen. Well, before we come back for the final blessing, we'll come to our final hymn. Thank you, Phil. Thank you, Phil. Thank you, Phil.

[37:51] Thank you, when I survey the wondrous cross cross on which the prince of glory died.

[38:32] My riches gained I count but lost and poor content on all my pride Forbidden blood that I should go Saved save in the death of Christ my God All the vain things that show me most

[39:34] I sacrifice them so his blood Seek from his hand His hands his feet Sorrow and love Procure and love Procure and love Procure and promingled down Did such love and sorrow meet all thorns come close and all thorns come close so rich

[40:36] I found were the home round only only to mine that were and more with hearts too small love so amazing love so amazing so divine love so divine love so amazing so divine love so amazing so divine didn't minds my soul my soul my my my love love so amazing my love so amazing my love my soul my soul my soul my soul my soul we know that forgiveness is costly and so we should be convinced about how about how much God loves us.

[42:20] Forgiveness is costly, and so we should be convinced about how much God loves us. And so may the Lord bless you and keep you in the assurance of your forgiveness.

[42:32] Amen. Amen. Amen.