Well, we are turning to Psalm 130 this evening. It is good to see you in the house of God. Those that are joining in by way of webcast, we welcome you as well in the Savior's name. We're all a wee bit scared even to cough in case we think we're going to plague someone. So if you feel like coughing, cough. I don't want you to be sitting with a red face, and you feel that you need to reach about nine o'clock, and then you can cough whenever you want. So if you need to cough, cough, and the Lord will keep us well and safe in these days. We know that we are living in strange days and circumstances. But we know this, that the Lord knows all that is happening, and He is in control, and we're very thankful for that. And we're in His hands, and no safer place can we be. Thank you for the invitation. Good to be back in the home congregation tonight. As I said, we're in Psalm 130. We'll read the psalm that we have just sung together. The psalm is said, "'Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait. And in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Amen. And God will bless ever the public reading of His precious Word. Let's unite briefly in a word of prayer together, please. Our loving Father, We bow ourselves again at Thy footstool of mercy, ever thanking Thee for the welcome we receive there. We rejoice, O God, in our Redeemer and Savior, the only mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. We thank Thee for His work on our behalf, His past work, His work of salvation, redemption, the purging of our sins, the making of atonement on our behalf. And we thank Thee for His ongoing work for us. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. We thank Thee that our Redeemer continues to pray for us in the glory. And we praise Thee, dear Father, that we are upon His heart and we are upon His lips even tonight. We pray that Thou wilt grant, dear Father, the infilling of Thy Spirit. Lord, for preacher and hearer, we're here. that here be found, whether in this building or out in the community, across the world, wherever those who have logged on tonight. We pray that a sense of Thy presence will be known, that instruction might be given, hearts thrilled, and Lord, even those unconverted, brought to know Christ as Savior and as Lord. And so answer prayer. Be with us in these moments around Thy Word. And grant, dear God, a deep sense of Thy presence, the infilling of Thy Spirit. For we offer prayer in and through the Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen and amen. Yang Tu, Nun, Yangra, Kamat, Nanga, Parbat, Ka-ma-ku, Kan-ching-junga. Don't worry, I'm not speaking in tongues. These are names that you probably have never heard of at all in your life. And certainly my pronunciation of them hasn't made you any the wiser in what I am talking about. But if I was to tell you that they were all mountain peaks on the Himalayan mountain range, Well, then things become just that little bit clearer. You see, the reason why these names of these mountain peaks are so unfamiliar to us is because Everest The highest peak of the Himalayan mountain range is the name of the peak that we all remember to the detriment of all of the others. When we come to these songs of degrees, those 15 songs that the Jewish pilgrims most likely sang on their ascent up to the city of Jerusalem as they came to celebrate those three great annual feasts, those psalms are to be viewed as a complete collection They are, as it were, a mountain range full of various peaks. And yet there are Psalms within that collection. though all inspired by the Holy Spirit, that rise in our estimation just that little bit higher than some of the others. I'm thinking about Psalm 121, the great Pilgrim Psalm, the Traveler Psalm, the Covenanters before they ever separated from a time of gathering together, maybe even within a home, Psalm 121 was always read. how the Lord would preserve our going out and our coming in. We think of Psalm 124, another great psalm, a psalm well known and familiar to us in the Free Presbyterian Church. Think of the great revival psalm of Psalm 126, the turning again of our captivity. These are peaks, as it were, within this mountain range of the song of degrees or the songs of ascent. However, in my estimation, Psalm 130 is the everest of them all. And I say this for this particular reason. It is this song of degrees that speaks about the great matter of redemption. Redemption. Redemption is the climax. It is the apex. It is the pinnacle of God's work in this world. Whatever work you care to think of with regard to God, whether it be creation, the work of preservation, the work of God's providence, it is the work of redemption that outshines and outstrips every other work of God. the great work of redemption. The Protestant reformer Martin Luther listed this psalm, Psalm 130, as one of the four of his favorite psalms. And I can understand why Luther loved this psalm, because we enter the psalm trembling. Our sin is ever before us as we enter the psalm, but by the time we exit the psalm, by the time we exit this sacred ode and song, we go on our way rejoicing, because redemption has been applied. Forgiveness has been experienced. Our sins have been put away, and we stand in a justified state before Almighty God. In only eight verses, It lifts the soul out of the very depths of hopeless despair that is found in because of its sin, and it sets that soul high upon the mountaintop of joy and gratitude for salvation. And it is this particular psalm, the psalm of redemption, that we want to consider this evening. There are a number of matters that I want to draw your attention to as we look at this 130th Psalm. In the first instance, the psalmist within the psalm, he speaks of a rut that confined him. A rut that confined him. I want you to notice again the opening two verses of the psalm. Out of the depths Have I cried unto thee, O Lord? Lord, hear my voice, let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. Here the psalmist is found in the depths. He's cast down, cast down into some confining rut that he seems incapable of escaping. He's right down there. It's as if he can't sink any lower. He's found in a position of being rock bottom in his own personal experience. Child of God, I remind you that God in his providence sometimes brings us down into the depths. Many and varied are the depths that we will have to descend into during our pilgrim journey towards heaven and towards home. I think of the depths of sorrow. Many times we have to go into that depth. What about the depth of despair? The depth of loneliness? The depth of disappointment? The depth of worry? The depth of affliction? The depths of stress? The depth of depression? The depth of bewilderment? The depth of poverty? The depth of temptation? The depths of abandonment? The depths of sickness? These are, to name but a few. Sometimes we're found in the depths, just like the psalmist. This is what I like about the psalmist. He's very real and honest about his own personal experience. Whoever the penman is, we're unsure. But he doesn't gloss over. He doesn't put on, as it were, a brave face as to where he was, presently speaking. Rather, he's frank. He's honest with the readership. He speaks about him being in the depths. I don't know where you are tonight, but you're maybe in the depths. You're maybe just where this psalmist was when he penned this particular psalm. There's maybe someone here tonight, someone listening in, and you're in the depths of despair. All around you looks bleak. All around you looks hopeless. Fear is at its height, and surely it is in these days. And it seems to be that you're in the depths of despair. There might be another and you're in the depths of sickness. Maybe it's even a sickness that not even your family or your pastor, your minister even knows about yet. Maybe you're in the depths of confusion, not knowing what road to turn, what direction to take, what pathway to go. For you tonight, the valley may be very deep. The day may be very dark. The future unknown. You're in the depths. There are a number of things that I want you to remember whilst you're in the depths. I want you to remember, child of God, firstly, that it's not the depths of hell you're in. Isn't that a wonderful thought? That you're not in the depths of hell. Oh yes, you're in the depths of life's circumstances, we understand that. But life's journey will soon be over, soon be finished. We'll soon, as it were, enter into the last mile of life's journey. And thank God for the child of God, the trajectory is ever upwards. We're going heavenward. We're ascending just like this song of degrees. There is an ascent to the child of God's life. You're not in the depths of hell tonight. Something else, thank God you're not in the depths of condemnation tonight. Because if you're a Christian, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Thank God you're not in the depths of outer darkness tonight. The outer darkness of hell. These are things that you can rejoice in even whenever you're in the depths of life's circumstances. Octavius Winslow, he said, sink as the gracious soul may it ever finds the rock of ages beneath, upon which faith firmly and securely stands. There's a rock beneath you, child of God. Ah, you may be sinking, you may be in the depths, but thank God your feet's on the solid rock. Thank God your feet are on the rock of ages. And none of his children will sink into, as it were, the furthest depths, the depths of hell itself. So remember a child of God. The depths may be deep, but thank God you're not in the depths of hell. Secondly, remember you're not the first, and you're certainly not going to be the last saint of God that finds themselves in the depths. Oftentimes whenever we find ourselves in such a position, we think that we're the only one that's ever been there. But that's not so. Elijah and Jonah found themselves in the depths of despair. Such was the depths that they sang to that each man asked God to take away their lives. Mary and Martha, they find themselves in the depths of sorrow and the death of their brother Lazarus. Cleopas and his friend on the Emmaus Road find themselves in the depths of unbelief as they forsook the disciples and made their way home on the death of Jesus Christ. Your sinking into the depths is nothing unique, child of God. This is the way of the Christian. We must not expect we'll always be on the mountaintop, but rather there's times that we find ourselves in the depths, into the deep places, into the dark places of the world, into the valley. We'll have to descend at some occasion. Many of the choices, saints of God, at some time in their lives have found themselves in the depths. And so, deem not your case to be the only one. And do not be surprised as though some strange thing has happened you whenever you find yourself in the depths. And the third thing to remember, remember that God hasn't cast you off though you're in the depths. Just because you're in the depths does not mean that God has forsaken you. He cannot forsake any of his children. He has bound himself by an oath to the very truth that he'll never forsake his children. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. And so if you find yourself in the depths, not tonight, sometime in the future, remember God has not cast off his child. The psalmist was convinced of this. He was convinced here that God was still his God despite him being in the depths. How do I know that? Because he took himself to God in prayer. That's what he did. Though in the depths, God's servant still believed in the power of prayer. He believes in the power of prayer, but child of God, he believes something more than that. He not only believes in the power of prayer, he believes in the God who answers prayer. And that's why he, from the depths, he cries out to his God. "'Lord, hear my voice,' he said. "'Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.'" Is this not the reason why God at times sometimes brings us into the depths to stimulate prayer? Was this man a prayerless man prior? Had his prayer life dried up? Was it the case that this individual, through life's circumstances, had become prosperous in life and really had forsaken the place of prayer, forsaken communion with God, fellowship with his Maker? Was this the reason why God brought him into the depths? We're unsure as to the circumstances. We do not know what the background is to the writing of this psalm, but I know this. that this man from the depths cry to God. And brethren and sisters, anything that stimulates and anything that increases prayer within our lives must, must be looked upon as a blessing from heaven. A blessing from heaven. John Trump He said, as spices smell best when beaten, and as frankincense is most odoriferous when cast into the fire, so do men pray most and best out of the depths of trouble. Have you not experienced that? You were in the depths, some trouble rolled in, and really you're only but playing a prayer. And then you started to pray. Prayer became real, earnestness was the companion of your petitions as you sought God in prayer. Oh, the psalmist, he's found on perilous ground. No doubt about that. He's in the depths. He's found on perilous ground. And yet, thank God, he's still found on praying ground. Still on praying ground. And so he takes his case off to God in prayer. He speaks about a rut that confined him. Secondly, the psalmist here refers to a record that condemned him. A record that condemned him. Note verse number three. The psalmist said, "'If thy Lord should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?' Each and every one born of Adam's sinful race has a sin record. A sin record when it comes to our standing before God. Personal iniquities cling to us all. They blot our records. They bring us under the condemnation of God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Sin is universal. It is that plague, that disease that has affected everyone born of Adam. Personal iniquities, many to our account. For a preacher to get a sinner to admit that they have such a record is very difficult in these days. You speak to someone, try to convince them that they are a sinner, and what do they do? They start to proclaim their own goodness. They speak about the morality, their church attendance. They speak about the respect for the gospel. They think about and refer to their kindness to others, their compliance to the law of the land. This is evidence of their own goodness. They try to, as it were, clear their own record. And yet our text reminds us that it matters not how we view ourselves, but it's really how God views me that matters. It is Jehovah who marks our iniquities. If thy Lord, the word is Jehovah. This is the great I am. This is the omnipresent, omniscient one. This is the one who knows our down-sitting and our uprising. This is the one who knows our thoughts afar off. This is the one who is fully acquainted with how we have lived in the last 24 hours. He sees us. He knows us. And the record against us is great. Maybe you're not a Christian, either here or listening in. I trust that you do not hold to the false and to the fatal and the fanciful notion that God does not mark or God does not record or notice your iniquities. Every part of your life whether private or public, are under the closest scrutiny of an omnipresent and an omniscient God. Sinner, you need to remember, and let me say every child of God needs to remember as well, that God is everywhere. and that God sees and hears everything. He is in all places, at all times, and nothing can be kept from His all-observing and His all-comprehending mind. You may hide your iniquities from your mother. You may be able to pull the wool over the eyes of your father. You may be able to conceal your sins from your marriage partner. You may be able to live a respectable life in front of your pastor or minister, but God knows all things. He knows what you view on the internet. He knows all about what you have been doing in secret. He knows about your drinking. He knows about your smoking. He knows about your stealing. He knows about your gambling. He knows about your immoral living. He knows about your benefit cheating. He knows all about your tax avoidance. He even knows what color of diesel is in your car tonight. He knows everything. The record stands against us. Job 34 verse 21, saying, speaks to us about God and what he can see. God's eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. Proverbs 15 verse 3, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. And lest you think Foolishly, that the darkness of night has covered your crimes and screened your sins from God. The Holy Spirit reminds us in Psalm 139 that the night and the darkness are as like day to God. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike unto thee. There is a record, a record that condemns us all. a record of my sins, my crimes, my offenses, my transgressions, mine iniquities, my rebellions against God that I have committed against my Maker. I tell you, it is an outrageous, it is an outstanding sin record that inhibits any man, any woman, to stand before holy God. Holy God. And so the rhetorical question is asked at the end of the verse number three, "'If thy Lord should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?' It is rhetorical because the psalmist is well aware that none would be able to stand. No sinner can stand in the judgment Aware that the sinner, without being savingly united to Jesus Christ, the sinner without the righteousness of Christ imputed to the sinner, could never stand or appear before God. There's a record that condemns us. How terrible, how tragic, how traumatic. It would be then if this psalm ended at the end of verse 3. What hope would there be for any of us? He's in the depths. He can't get out of the depths. He cries to God. There's no, as it were, indication to the end of verse 3 that those cries are heard. He's pleading that they would be heard, and then he speaks of this sin record, and as he multiplies and as he remembers in his mind his many sins, the sins of infancy, the sins of youth, the sins of adulthood, he remembers them all, and he comes to this conclusion. No one can stand before God. But, verse 4, but, he brings us to consider a final point, and that is a redemption that cheered him. A redemption that cheered him. This is one of the Bible's great buts. But there is forgiveness with thee. that thou mayest be feared." C. H. Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher, he made this comment about verse 4, "'Blessed but full, free, sovereign pardon is in the hand of the great King. It is his prerogative to forgive, and he delights to exercise it.'" The inspired penman, he then goes on within the chapter to speak about Plenteous redemption, not just redemption. Oh, this is plenteous redemption that is to be found in the Lord. Verse 7 he speaks of that, and then in verse 8 he speaks about God's ability to redeem Israel, national Israel, spiritual Israel. to redeem them from all of His iniquities. How is that done? How is the forgiveness of sins procured? How is the forgiveness of sins experienced? How is the cleansing away, the redeeming away of our iniquities? How is that accomplished? It is done by the work of redemption. I tell you, there's no place for dispensational thinking here. No, the redemption known in the Old Testament, the salvation, the deliverance known by those in the Old Testament is the exact same redemption as experienced by those within the New Testament. There is the offer of forgiveness. There is the offer of the cleansing, the forgiving, the redeeming of all iniquities. How is it done? By the redemption work and the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. there is forgiveness with thee." It is that redemption in Jesus Christ, of which forgiveness of sins is an integral part of, that cheers the heart of this man, and it ought to cheer your heart. Whether you be sinner or saint here tonight, it ought to cheer your heart to think that there is forgiveness for my sins. For my sins. My sins against God. that there's forgiveness for me, the likes of me, I who have sinned so many times against my God and my Maker, I who have rejected light, I who have disdained the gospel and the gospel preacher so many years of my life, that there's forgiveness for me, that I can be reconciled to God, that I can be in a right stand before God. Oh, what a wonder! What a mystery! Oh, what greatness there is to be found in the heart of God, that God would provide a remedy. God would provide a forgiveness for me. You know the law of God tonight would say to you, there's no forgiveness for you. I and something else, your conscience would say that your sins could never be forgiven. And something more than that, Satan would even taunt and say, you could never be forgiven. But this is what God says to you tonight, there is forgiveness with me. Forgiveness with me. Yes, even for you. With all your shameful past, with all your wicked deeds, there is forgiveness with you. In the redemptive purposes of God, forgiveness of sins is provided." Let me say a number of things about that forgiveness. It is a complete forgiveness. Unlike our fellow human beings, God does not partially forgive the sinner. No, no, a half-forgiveness is no forgiveness at all. Rather, the forgiveness that God grants to the sinner is so complete that every past, present, and future sin is fully absolved by Him. Fully absolved. How can I be sure of that? The Bible tells me. Jeremiah 31 verse 34, For I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin. No more. Hebrews 10, 17, And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Isaiah 43, verse 25, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. All sin, cancelled, forgiven, paid for in the full, by the blood of Jesus Christ. The South African preacher Andrew Murray said, the love of God is so great and the atonement in the blood of Jesus so complete and powerful that God always forgives completely. Let me ask you tonight, here, elsewhere, do you seek a full absolution for your sins? Do you long to have the sin question settled once and for all? Has every attempt made by you to gain forgiveness of sins, have they failed utterly? Then come to the great forgiver of sins. Who can forgive sins but God only? Come to Him. confess your sin, repent of your sin, whatever that sin would be, child of God, backslider, sinner, whatever that sin would be, and as you confess that sin, then let him declare to you tonight, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee. All of them, all forgiven. For you who have rested your soul upon Christ and on his finished work, rejoice then, Christian, that you have been forgiven completely. Rejoice that the sin record is clear. Rejoice that you stand justified in God's sight. Henry Law remarked, when God forgives, he forgives like God, fully. without measure, without restraining boundary. God ordains forgiveness absolute, unbounded, unrestricted, unlimited, unfenced by boundaries, unconfined by barriers. Praise God! Sins completely forgiven. God's forgiveness is not only a complete forgiveness. Secondly, it is a free forgiveness. The forgiveness God offers in the gospel is not granted because of some payment made by the sinner or the attainment to some level of righteousness by the sinner. No, no, no. This forgiveness is a free forgiveness. Christ has paid the sin debt to the full, and because of that, God then freely forgives the sinner. Romans 3 verse 24 tells us, being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Child of God, are you not glad that you have been forgiven freely? This was the truth that brought light into Europe five hundred years ago at the time of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther He took this great truth of free forgiveness to shake the whole church of Rome through his preaching and his writing. The scales fell off, men's eyes and the chains of their soul were loosed. What did he preach? What did he write about? He preached and he wrote about the free forgiveness that is found in faith in Jesus Christ. J.C. Ryle wrote, it is not education or endowments or liturgies or learning that will keep a church alive. He said, let free forgiveness through Christ be faithfully proclaimed in her pulpits, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Free forgiveness. Come. Come. Without money. and without price, a free forgiveness. Thirdly, it is a present forgiveness. Did you notice the tense that the Holy Spirit uses here in verse 4? But there is forgiveness with thee. Not that there has been, and now it has been somehow removed. Not that you've been forgiven one day, and then the record is filled up again. so that you need to seek forgiveness for those sins again, confessed? No. Not that there may be forgiveness for sins if certain conditions are met or a time of prohibition is fulfilled? After a year you may be forgiven? No, it says there is presently. Tonight there is forgiveness for my sins. You know, the gospel always puts the blessing of forgiveness in the present tense. Did you ever notice it? Thy sins are forgiven thee, thy faith hath made thee whole, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. This is my present experience. I'm forgiven. You're forgiven. The forgiveness of our sins should lead to two things happening in our lives. Firstly, there should be then a renewed fear of God. Look at verse 4 again. Focus your attention on the latter part, part B of the verse. But there is forgiveness with thee that, this is the reason, that thou mayest be feared. You know that there are three kinds of fear. I don't need to tell you that. There's anxious fear. Plenty of that going about today. There's slavish fear. And then there's reverential fear. God, by forgiving the sinner, brings that person to reverence Him. They're humbled by it. Almost seven billion people populate planet Earth tonight. Out of those multitudes, a very small percentage know the experience of the forgiveness of sins. That should humble you tonight. If the Spirit of God has enlightened your understanding, if your heart has been regenerated by the Spirit of God, If you've exercised faith and repentance toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and you've come to embrace him in the gospel, I tell you that should cause you to kneel before God in the dust, in reverential fear, to think that I have been forgiven, that I have experienced his mercy. It should cause us to worship him, it should cause us to serve him." You see, redemption from sins results in reverence for God. The redemption or the forgiveness of sins should motivate all that we do for God. Brother, sister, why should you serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear? because your minister expects it of you? No, the reason why you should serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear is because God has forgiven you. Why should you be a tither by conviction? Because God has forgiven you. Why should you keep the commandments, all of them? Because God has forgiven you. Why should you witness to your family and friends who are unsaved? Because God has forgiven you. Why should you live a holy life? Because God has forgiven you. Why should you be saved, sinner, tonight? Why should you return to your God, backslider, tonight? Why should you love God and serve him unceasingly, believer, from this night onwards? Well, the answer for all three classes of people is simply this, because there is forgiveness with God. That's the motivation. I have been forgiven. Secondly, in light of God's forgiveness, there should be a renewed anticipation for God. Mark the words of verse 5 and 6, I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch for the morning. Now the question that needs asked and then answering is, what is he waiting for? What is the psalmist waiting with anticipation for? It seems to be that these verses don't really marry with the theme that we're thinking of with regard to redemption. But could I suggest to you that they fit in perfectly well? Because what the psalmist was waiting for was for the full and final redemption. full and final redemption promise for the child of God. Romans chapter 8 verse 23 speaks of that redemption, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. Yes, we have been redeemed from the curse and from the power and from the guilt and from the condemnation of sin, but we are yet to be redeemed from the very presence of sin. The redemption of the soul has taken place. Thank God for that. No doubt about it. I am redeemed, oh praise the Lord, redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Yes, the redemption of the soul. But in God's redemption, there is the redemption of the body. There is a redemption that is still, as it were, to take place, and it's going to take place on the day of redemption. Ephesians 4 verse 30. It is the coming again of Jesus Christ. Dr. Gills spoke of the redemption of the body in these following terms. It will be a redemption of them from the weakness, corruption, and mortality of the body. from their present state of absence and pilgrimage, from the body of sin and death, from all sorrows and afflictions, both inward and outward, from the reproaches and persecutions of men, from a tempting devil, an unbelieving heart, from all doubts and fears, and from death and the grave. This is the full encompass of the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. I don't only think that it is the redemption of my soul, the forgiveness of my sins, but thank God there's coming a day when this body, thank God, will be redeemed, delivered, emancipated. from this world, from its sin, from our trials, from our troubles, from the devil, from our afflictions, from our own mortality, from our earthly pilgrimage. Thank God there's coming redemption day, full redemption, complete redemption. This is what the psalmist is looking for. My soul has been redeemed. But I wait for the day that my body shall enjoy the benefits of redemption, when this mortal body shall take on immortality." Death will be swallowed up in victory, the sting removed from the very grave, and this robe of flesh shall drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize and shout while passing through the air, farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer, and I'll stand redeemed before the throne. I trust, child of God, that you're like this psalmist here in Psalm 130, that you're waiting and watching for the morning to break, the eternal morning. And I pray that you're conducting Life's affairs in light of the soon return of Jesus Christ, when all who are united to Christ will come into the experience of full redemption. Brethren and sisters, the signs of the time are pointing to the soon return of Jesus Christ. Take up Matthew 24. Read it. It's like yesterday's newspaper. What did Jesus Christ say? He said, when you see these things come to pass, look up. Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. A future redemption. And that redemption will come by a Redeemer. The King is coming. The King is coming again. I'm sure as these weary pilgrims journeyed from all arts and parts of Israel, making their way to the national capital, Jerusalem, to the place where the temple stood, the outer court, the inner court, the holy place, the holy of holies, as they considered their ascent up to Jerusalem. I believe their thoughts turned to the place of sacrifice and bloodshedding. They thought the altar, the altar is there, the place of bloodshedding. In shadow and type The great work of redemption would have been then foremost in their minds as they rounded the last corner and saw the great bastion of Jerusalem standing, blazing in whiteness in the Middle Eastern sky. They probably saw the smoke ascend from that very altar, and they thought about redemption. They thought about a lamb slain. And with the thought of redemption, it spurred them up the last hill as they came to worship Jehovah. Brethren and sisters, every time you come into this house, look back to Calvary. Look back to the place of sacrifice. Remember the Lamb. And whatever hill you're climbing, and it may feel rough, and it may feel very steep, let redemption, Calvary, the forgiveness of sins, spur you on. Enlighten the Lord. Keep the cross before you, remembering that redemption and forgiveness was procured at tremendous cost. Thank God there is forgiveness with God. There is a plenteous redemption. May you come to experience it, and if you have, May the thought of Calvary, and may the consideration of all that Jesus Christ has done for you, ignite a fresh flame of love within that soul of yours. For Christ's sake. Amen. May the Lord bless His word to our hearts. Our brother, Reverend McKee, is going to come. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's seek the Lord. Thank you for your attention. as you seek the Lord. And then we'll hand over to our brother, Mr. McKee. Father in heaven, we leave ourselves before Thee. We thank Thee for Thy Word. What a Psalm! What great themes there are, reminding us of our sin, our record, and yet we thank Thee that there is a Redeemer, there is redemption, there is forgiveness for sins. Oh, may many in these days come to experience what the psalmist wrote about here, and may us as thy people May we serve Thee as we remember what Christ has done for us. Answer prayer and bless Thy servant as he comes now to speak to us. We pray this in our Savior's blessed name. Amen.