June 4, 2023 - Psalms 130-134

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared” (130:1-4). In his sermon from Jeremiah 6, this morning, Daniel informed us that, indeed, God does mark the iniquities of those who reject his laws. The people of Jerusalem had, for a long time, refused to repent and the time had come, how do we put it, “to pay the piper.” The Babylonians came and destroyed and pillaged and took the people into exile. But for those who will turn from sin to the Lord, with him is forgiveness! Always! Always! Our God receives sinful men who turn to him!

Sinners Jesus will receive:

Sound this word of grace to all

Who the heav’nly pathway leave,

All who linger, all who fall.

Sing it o’er

and o’er again:

Christ receiveth sinful men.

Make the message clear and plain:

Christ receiveth sinful men. -- Erdmann Neumeister (1718)