Provision of Forgiveness for Sinners

Driving home: But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

Martin quotes John Owen's extensive commentary on Psalm 130:4 (over 200 pages) to emphasize the profound depth and richness of the theme of forgiveness, suggesting its inexhaustibility.

And there is but one cure for this two-fold thrust of the enemy as we were reminded several weeks ago the people of God need continually to visit two mountains Mount Sinai where our sins are uncovered and Mount Calvary where we see the basis of just forgiveness. And so not unconscious of the ways of the enemy and of our present life as a congregation I want to direct your attention tonight to verses 3 and 5 and 4 of Psalm 130 a text in which we have one of the most clear and wonderful statements

7:07 - 7:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine whether the question 'If God should mark iniquities, who could stand?' has ever burned in your conscience, as its absence indicates a lack of true conversion.

The example of Job, a blameless man, abhorring himself and repenting in sackcloth and ashes after seeing God, illustrates that even the most righteous cannot stand before God's burning holiness if He marks iniquities.

For there is not a just man upon the face of the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. And when we turn to Scripture, we come to a shocking discovery that the men and women most accounted rightly, much as by their own peers, were the ones most ready to confess the magnitude of their guilt and their sin. Job is described as a just and righteous man above all others on the face of the earth. And yet he cries out, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes see of thee and I abhor myself and I repent in sackcloth and ashes.

19:58 - 20:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine whether the question 'If God should mark iniquities, who could stand?' has ever burned in your conscience, as its absence indicates a lack of true conversion.

Isaiah's cry 'Woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips' upon seeing God's glory illustrates the inner terror that comes when a sinner is exposed before a holy God.

That is, by inward spiritual perception, I've come to grips with something that I've never seen before. It's something of your own burning holiness. And by comparison, I abhor myself and I repent in sackcloth and ashes. Likewise with Isaiah the prophet.

21:10 - 21:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin dissects the question in Psalm 130:3, explaining that it is addressed to 'Yah,' the majestic, self-existent God. He defines 'mark iniquities' as diligently observing and…

The Apostle Paul's cry 'O wretched man that I am!' is used to show that even a great apostle felt the reality of indwelling sin, bringing him into the 'depths'.

Woe is me! He felt something of that inner terror that comes when a sinner is exposed before a holy God. And even the great apostle Paul cried out, O wretched man, the good that I would, I do not, and the evil that I would not, that I do, who shall deliver me? In my flesh dwells no good thing.

21:38 - 22:05 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And that word, forgiveness, means remission. No longer charging men with their guilt and liability on account of their sin.

Examples from the Old Covenant (Adam and Eve, sacrificial system, Day of Atonement, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses) are used to demonstrate how the psalmist could have certainty of God's disposition to forgive, even before Christ.

did he come to that confidence? How did the Psalmist come to the confidence that there is forgiveness with God? Well, writing out of the context of the Old Covenant, a person could come to that certainty by reviewing God's dealings with our first parents. When Adam and Eve sinned and ran from God, it was God who came seeking them. It is God

25:31 - 26:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This is not the fear of dread which results in an aversion to God which is always the case when sin is known and its guilt felt but it is not forgiven.

Examples of God's judgment (Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Nadab and Abihu, Achan) are used to illustrate how easily one could understand 'judgment with thee that thou mayest be feared,' contrasting it with forgiveness leading to fear.

If you Lord mark iniquity as you marked it in the days of Noah when a whole generation except eight souls were inundated in the flood. If the text said if you Lord should mark iniquities who could stand? There is judgment with you that you may be feared. The meaning of the text would be plain.

31:30 - 31:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This is not the fear of dread which results in an aversion to God which is always the case when sin is known and its guilt felt but it is not forgiven.

Adam's response of fear and hiding after sinning is used to illustrate the 'fear of dread' that results from unforgiven sin and creates an aversion to God.

Adam had in the garden. God came to him and said Adam where are you? And what was Adam's response? I heard your voice and I was what? Afraid.

33:07 - 33:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Take seriously that God marks your sin, and that human efforts to forget or ignore it do not erase it from God's book of judgment.

The analogy of God keeping records in a 'book' (Revelation 20) is used to emphasize that human attempts to forget or ignore sin do not erase God's knowledge of it, and judgment will be based on His perfect record.

yes but God doesn't forget keep the records he does you can shut it out of your mind when you sneak off for your immoral relationship with that man or woman when you sneak off to blow your mind on drugs and booze you can crowd out of your head the fact that God is marking your iniquity but that doesn't change the fact that he's marking your iniquity that's why revelation 20 says in the final day the books will be opened and the dead will be judged out of the books

45:58 - 46:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not despise God's forgiveness; leave the things that will damn you and take the gift of His salvation in Christ, which removes guilt and grants sonship.

The metaphor of 'jungle music' or 'hell music' is used to describe worldly distractions that people use to drown out the conviction of sin, but which do not affect God's record or impending judgment.

judge when he sends you into hell laden with your sin you better take that seriously oh yes you can go out of this meeting and you can turn on your radio and you can fill your ears with jungle music hell music it's a preview of the cacophony of the damned in the pit oh yes you can do it but my friend it doesn't affect God's book he's marked your iniquities he's marked your iniquities and you're going to meet them and you won't stand for the great day of his wrath is coming and who shall be able to stand oh thank God for the next

47:26 - 48:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Wait upon the Lord to seal His forgiveness to your heart experimentally, drinking in the wonder and freshness of His mercy, to be more firmly bound to Him in holy fear.

Martin shares his personal practice of opening his Bible to Psalm 130:4 and pointing to it as God's promise of forgiveness, illustrating how he finds relief for his conscience.

oh God it's my sin but I have not exhausted the virtue of the blood of your son how many times have I come before God with this very passage and open my bible and put my finger upon the verse and found that the only way I could get relief to my conscience God didn't need to have me point to his word but I don't think he's upset when I do it and I actually say Lord this is your word of promise there is forgiveness with you seal that forgiveness to my heart that's the latter part of the psalm I wait for the Lord you see he didn't go in rush into the presence of God say a few words of penitence a...

50:21 - 51:04 Read in full sermon