Let us turn again to Psalm 130. Psalm 130 and read verses 3 and 4. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Some of the children here may remember not so long ago in their schools what was called at the time the Clean Slate Campaign. This was a campaign or a project which was publicised throughout the nation. and it was supported by many influential people, politicians and pop stars and footballers and all sorts of important people. And they launched it at the time when there was the new millennium and they've tried to keep it running ever since. And the sum and substance of it is that we should all try and wipe the slate clean. Especially at the turn of the year, when a new year is coming, they say, it's a time for going through our lives and getting rid of, say, a grudge you hold against somebody, going to ask somebody's forgiveness for something you've done to them, or trying to forgive somebody for something they've done against you. And the idea is of sins written on a slate, a piece of blackboard or something like that, and that you can go and wipe this clean and get rid of these awful things out of your life. And this is supposed to transform people, schools, communities and our land. and it's had very limited success. But you know, boys and girls, the Bible has its own clean slate campaign. The Bible is a clean slate campaign. As the famous minister Archibald Simpson said, these two verses here sum up the whole of the Scriptures of God. Here is God's solution to all the sins that are written, all the grudges we hold, all the grudges people hold against us, all the people we've offended, and above all, the many offences we have sinned against God. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. This is a cleaning. This is a wiping away. This is a forgiveness that changes lives. I would like to look at this this evening under two headings. First of all, God marks sin. Notice in verse 3 it says, If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Now, you may think when you read that, that there is a doubt. There is a doubt placed here over the fact that God marks sin. The psalmist says, if. Is the psalmist saying here that there is a doubt? Is the psalmist here saying there is a possibility that God doesn't mark sin? Is it an if of doubt? Not at all. It's an if of what's called hypothesis. It's an if-inviting consideration. In a sense, there are no ifs about it. The rest of the Scripture makes clear God does mark sin. And the if is placed here to say, well, if He does, and He does, then what happens next? If thou, Lord, who mark iniquities, Oh Lord, who shall stand? So let us take up this invitation to think, to contemplate this fact and the consequences flowing from it. God marks sin. Now the word here used for iniquity is a word which means something not equal. Something that doesn't fit. something that doesn't match up. You remember as little children perhaps you would have maybe a plastic board with squares, triangles, circles and you had to fit in each of the right objects into the right holes. You had to match it up, you had to find what was equal and in a sense God has has given to mankind ten wholes, different commandments, different shapes. And he said, fit in there. Equal these wholes, equal these demands, these standards. This is what you have to align yourself with. But of course, we have all sinned. In other words, we have disobeyed these commandments. We are warped. We are misshapen and we can no longer fit in no matter how hard we try. We are not equal to the demands. We can't match the standards. Another meaning of this word is something that doesn't fit. And you know that's what sin is. It doesn't fit what man was made to be. And it doesn't fit what God is. that we should come before Him as sinners. God marks sin. Another meaning of this word is something not fair. And you know, that is in a sense, it sums up sin so well, doesn't it? It's something that's not fair. What do we mean by that? It's not fair to your fellow men and women. It's not fair to God. It's not just. It's not a proper return to Him. And it's not fair on yourself. It's self-destructive. It's like attacking yourself to wound and hurt and ultimately kill yourself. Another meaning of this word is something that's out of all proportion. And again, that's what sin is. It's something that's out of all proportion to what God has done. When we consider what God has done, what God has given, what God has said, what kind of return is given to Him, sin, it's so unfitting. It's so disproportionate. All that He gives and all we seek to give back, nothing. Indeed, worse than nothing. It's a negative. God marks sin. God, in other words, takes a note of it. He's not blind. He doesn't turn a blind eye. He doesn't choose to ignore what's going on. He cannot. The word here for marking is the word that we use ourselves for taking notes of. In other words, God takes notes. He writes down. He stores in His memory bank sin, every sin. Public sin and private sin. Sins we do in the light and sins we do in the night. New sins, old sins. One-off sins, repeated sins. Sins we know about. Sins we're not aware of at all. Sins we remember and sins we've forgotten. Sins we've tried to make up for and sins that we haven't tried to make up for and cannot try to make up for. Are there any sins that God doesn't mark? Has there ever been any sin that has slipped His gaze? Or that He has omitted to write down? Or that He's forgotten? No. God marks sin. It's the picture here of a witness. For a witness to be reliable, there must be three things. There must be good sight. You often notice in court, perhaps, that the witness of somebody that's got poor sight is dismissed. Secondly, a witness must have good understanding. As you all know, it's so easy to see something and see it clearly and yet misinterpret it or misunderstand it, not fully see what's happening. What you see from your angle may be totally different to what somebody sees from another angle. There must be good sight, there must be good understanding, and there must be good expression, good articulation of what has been seen. Fair and full and accurate reporting. And the witness that's got all three of these qualities is a witness that has veracity, and reliability and competence. Does God have these three qualities? Has He got good sight? He sees everything. Does God have good understanding? He understands everything. Can He articulate and express and write down accurately what He sees and understands perfectly? God is the most competent, reliable, accurate witness that the world has ever seen. And it's this God that marks your sin. He never is deceived. He never misunderstands. He never misinterprets. He never misreports. God marks sin. Friends, if you and I could truly understand what that means, if we could see God's record for ourselves, if we could see the pages, if we could see every sin detailed, reported on accurately, how many books it would fill, how many volumes it would fill, how many libraries it would fill, and what an impact it would have upon us. Well, we will see it one day, and we will believe that there is such a book one day, but you know, friends, if you could believe it now, It would be blessed to you, I am sure, if you could truly see it as it is, believe it as it is. Could you help yourself from crying out to the Lord for a pardon? Could you help yourself from falling at His feet and crying out, forgive me? Could you stop yourself from saying, Wash me, and I shall be whiter than the snow. As the psalmist here says, If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? And it's the picture of somebody entering a courtroom. Somebody entering a courtroom fully intending to take the stand and to defend himself. But while he's waiting there, he sees the charges laid against him, one after the other, page after page, heaped up on the benches, book after book after book. And he looks at these books and he says, well, I wonder what these are all about. I wonder if these are law books, if these are guidance books for the court. And he goes up to them and he looks at them, and he sees his name on them. And he opens the book and he sees day one, day two, day three, day four, all the way through his life. And he thinks, well, there's an awful lot in that book. And he closes it and looks at the one underneath and it's another volume. It's private sins. And he puts that aside and looks underneath and And he sees another book, and it's a huge book. It's the sins of ignorance. The sins he never realised were sins at all. Book after book. And when he sees this, he says, who shall stand? Who can take the stand? Who can look God in the face and defend himself in the face of this evidence? in the face of these charges? Who has a hope? And what's pictured here is one sinner after another coming into this court and being flattened, as it were, unable to stand by the weight and the seriousness of the evidence gathered against them. And as we look towards Judgment Day, we see there thousands of sinners flattened prostrate, unable to stand up in the face of these solemn, serious and heavy charges upon them. Hundreds of thousands, millions of them. Is there anyone able to stand? Is there anyone on that day going to say, I will defend myself. I've got something to say. I've got a hope of refuting the evidence, of casting doubt on the evidence, of overcoming the evidence. Is there anyone here got a hope of that? If God marks in, who can stand? No old person, no young person. No male, no female. No black, no white, no good person, no bad person, no religious person, no irreligious person, no learned person, no ignorant person, no person with the gift of the gab, no person who's got all the answers in this world. Nobody, nobody will be able to stand Do you believe that? God is marking, has marked, is marking and will mark your sin as if you were the only person in the whole world that he's taking notes on. No secrets, no dark corners, no no-go areas. God marks sin. And if that was the only message of the Bible, there wouldn't be a person sitting here tonight. And there wouldn't be a person in any church tonight. There would be nobody reading this Bible. Because there's no hope, if that's all there is. It would be right to eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. But praise God, there is a but. Verse 4, but, but, but. There is forgiveness with thee. Is there a better but in all the world? Here we stand, and just as cries out, condemn him, hell cries out, and send him to the fire. Conscience cries out, punish him forever. But God cries out, but, stop, halt, there is forgiveness. There is another half, a better half to this message. Oh yes, God marks sin, but also note this, secondly, God forgives sin. And friends, this is what fills this church tonight. That there is a God that forgives. And this is what fills the churches of our world. That God forgives sin. And if only we could communicate that message further and further afield, surely far more would want to know about it. That there is a God in heaven that pardons sin by His grace. What kind of forgiveness is this? Well, first of all, it's a surprising forgiveness. It's what you least expect pardon. When you least expect it, under conviction of sin, from the person you least expect it, God Himself, the One who marks sin, the One who announces His condemnations against sin, is the very same One that pardons it. Surely this is the most surprising fact in all the world, that the one living and true God is a sin-hardening God. If you've come to be condemned by verse 3, there's nothing more surprising to you than verse 4. But there is forgiveness and it's with thee, O Lord. It's also, though, ultimate forgiveness. There are many kinds of forgiveness in the world. That Clean Slate campaign was concerned with human forgiveness, to get the pardon of our family or of our friends or whatever. And that's important, but there's a far higher forgiveness than that. And some people think, well, if they could get the church's forgiveness, And so they go to priests and things like that. But there's a far higher forgiveness than that. Gods. There's none higher. There's none better. It is the ultimate forgiveness. You can go round the whole world and get forgiveness from all the people you've offended. But what will it profit you when you walk into the court of God and the books still stand heaped, one upon top of another? And you know friends, you can get God's forgiveness and in a sense it matters nothing whoever else forgives you or not. If only you could get this. You have everything you need for life and certainly for eternity. This is also vital forgiveness. It's not optional. It's not something you can do without. It's not an extra which might give a little benefit to you. It's something you must get. It's something you must make your number one priority. There was a bishop who wrote a book in South Africa after apartheid was put aside We wouldn't agree with that bishop on many things, but he wrote a book called No Future Without Forgiveness. No Future Without Forgiveness. Now, he was speaking on a political level and a social level. But friends, it's true on a spiritual level and on a personal level. It's true of you. You have no future without forgiveness. No blessed future. No heavenly future. No comfortable future. No future worth speaking of. No future that you would regard as anything you'd want to desire. No future without forgiveness. It's vital. But it's also just. Again, there are different kinds of forgiveness in the world. There's people might forgive by turning a blind eye. People might forgive through the passage of time. We forget. The things that really annoyed us and offended us, we kind of forget and it fades and we might call that a kind of forgiveness. That's a forgiveness that's based on the diminishing of sin, the minimizing of sin. People saying, well, it's not that serious, it's not that important, don't get yourself too worked up about it. But none of these kinds of forgiveness are based on justice. God's forgiveness is just. It has a basis. a reliable foundation. Remember John's words in 1 John, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And what is the only just method of forgiveness? What's the only just way of dealing with crimes? punishment, retributive punishment. That's the only way. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life. That's God's justice. Retribution, not first and foremost, rehabilitation. There can be no rehabilitation without retribution. There can be no forgiveness without justice. There can be no pardon without punishment. And this is where the Lord Jesus Christ comes into the picture and comes and says, I take the punishment. I take the justice. I take the retribution and give the rehabilitation to them. I take the punishment, give them the pardon. I take their black record, give them my white record. I take their unrighteousness, I give them my righteousness. Is justice based on substitution? One standing in the place of not just one other, but many others. And what we see there on the cross is God's reliable foundation for a just pardon. He can say in one breath, the same breath, punishment and pardon. Punishment for Christ, pardon for the sinner that lays his sins on Christ. And in a sense what Christ did was He took up all these books and all these volumes and all these libraries and He carried them to the cross of Calvary with the names of all His people. And they were burned up with Him in the fiery wrath of God. But He walked out the furnace again three days later without that burden. without these books, all these sins gone, so God can bestow pardon justly. Only that can give peace to a sinner's conscience. John Bunyan, when he was under conviction of sin, was offered many remedies by different people, even different religious people, as to how to get rid of his burden, how to stop these worries. And eventually found and said, only the blood of Christ can give lasting peace to a sinner's conscience. Because the sinner looks to that sacrifice and sees justice satisfied. Communicating peace to his conscience. But also notice this forgiveness is expensive. It cost God everything because it cost Him His Son. It is free and expensive. It is expensive to God. It is free to you. It was difficult for Him to give. It's easy for you to receive. Expensive because He paid the price. Free to you because the price has been paid. The writing out of the pardon, the method of God's salvation involved enormous difficulty, many pains, many agonies for the Son of God. But for Him to write your name at the bottom of it, it's dead easy. It's free. And this pardon cannot be bought. It can only be given away. God couldn't purchase the pardon for less than the cost of His Son. And you can't buy it for more than nothing. This is a full pardon. All and every sin you want pardoned for can be pardoned. Every one of them. All the sins that God has marked down, the public and the private, the ones in the dark, the ones in the light, the ones you know about, the ones you don't, the ones you've remembered, the ones you've forgotten, The big ones, the small ones, the sins against God only, the sins against God and many others. Every single sin you want a pardon for, you can get it. It's full. Notice what it says further on in this chapter, verse 7. With Him is plenteous redemption. And that word means multiple pardons. Multiple pardons. Multiply your sins no matter how many times. Magnify them no matter how many times. And there is a bigger pardon available. With Him is multiple pardons. Innumerable pardons. You think you have sinned an infinite amount of times? There is an infinite pardon for you. Has anyone sinned more sins than can be forgiven? if they want forgiven for them. People say, well, what about the unpardonable sin? Nobody wants pardon for the unpardonable sin. The unpardonable sin is that you don't want pardon, that you've hardened yourself so hard you've no interest in these things anymore. No one who desires pardon or is interested in pardon has sinned the unpardonable sin. Therefore, we can say it's a fool pardon for anyone who wants it. It's a multiple pardon for multiple sins. It's a unique pardon. You'll get it nowhere else. There's only one distributor. One exclusive source. It's not in the church. It's not in priests. It's not in ministers. Where is it? With Thee. There is forgiveness with God. It's God you sinned against. It's God you have to deal with. and God alone who can pardon you. And this pardon's been publicised. This isn't something God has done and hidden a corner. He has made it known throughout all the earth. He's broadcast this in many languages, many tongues, many different chapters, many different illustrations. Could He make it more public? Could He make it more clear that it's for everyone who wants it? He couldn't. No company, no organization in the world has succeeded in getting their message around the world like God has. This is an indiscriminate pardon in the sense that it's for all kinds of sinners. Even the very worst. Even the Manassehs. Even the prodigal sons. Even Saul of Tarsus. And how many more you want to pick out, go throughout all history, you'll find so many different kinds and every different kind of sinner who's had pardon. You're sitting there tonight and you're saying, well, I'm unique. No, you're not. You're not. There's a pardon for you too, if you want it. This is a present pardon. Notice it's in the present tense. There is presently forgiveness with thee. There's no promise that there's pardon tomorrow. No promise that there's pardon when you're a little bit older. The only promise is that there's pardon now, immediately, here and now, if you want it. There is forgiveness. with God, and it's near you. This isn't something you have to go far away for. It's something that involves huge difficulties and many obstacles. In Romans chapter 10, we read in verse 6, who shall ascend? Don't say in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven? Or who shall ascend to the deep? But what does the Word say? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth. And in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. How far away is pardon? As far away as there. Is that far away from you? Your own mouth? The word is nigh thee. You don't need to go to heaven. You don't need to go down deep. It's there. Ask. Articulate the words. Believe in thine heart in the Lord Jesus. Repent from the heart and articulate it with your mouth. Call upon the name of the Lord and you'll be saved. You don't need to crawl along the floors till your knees are bleeding. You don't need to go and do work after work after work. You just need to ask. Any excuses? Anyone find that too difficult? Could God have made it any easier? This is a guaranteed pardon. No one has ever asked for it, has failed to get it. This is a permanent pardon. You know what it's like sometimes if you've hurt somebody and you ask their forgiveness and they say okay. And then maybe years later, in a moment of crisis, out comes the old sin. It's as it were being kept up the sleeve for a convenient moment. That's our kind of pardon. We say yes, I forgive, but we don't forget. And we keep these things stored to use against people. but not God. It's a washing that makes whiter than snow. It's a fire that burns up every book, even the very ashes. It's a pardon that says not only, you're forgiven, but I've forgotten. Your sins and your iniquities I will remember no more. This is a loving pardon You can trace it all back to the love of God that makes it available. It's not as if there's some kind of distant, detached, cold, administrative figure distributing these pardons to people he knows nothing about. These pardons are distributed in love, in compassion, with deep feeling and deep concern and affection for those whom he seeks to pardon. It's not at all with reluctance. It's not with any holding back. It's with love and full enthusiasm to pardon lost sinners like you and I. But friends, it's an expiring pardon. The days of its availability are running out. You know not when the expiry date on the offer for you is coming up. There's a sell-by date, there's an expiry date, and it's getting closer. You miss the opportunity tonight, you may not have another, and you certainly get one less. Is it worth the risk of the pardon offer expiring? Take it now, take it immediately. This is a pardon that changes lives. Notice what it says, that thou mayest be feared. That word means that awe might be created. It's a picture of a criminal being pardoned and he's utterly astonished. He's knocked out and he's knocked over with the enormity and the hugeness and the wonderfulness of this pardon. This isn't somebody who says, well, this is so easy, I'm going to go out and keep sinning. This is a pardon that changes lives. It makes a change towards God, repentance. And it makes a change towards man, restitution. This isn't a cheap pardon and it doesn't produce cheap results. It's an expensive pardon and it produces great results. It awes the pardoned. It makes them astonished. It makes them live the rest of their life in the fear of God, with reverence for Him, and astonishment when they consider that they should have been pardoned, that they should have been forgiven. Gratitude for pardon. produces far more reverence than the fear of punishment. Many is a criminal who has been in death row, hard, unyielding, dry-eyed, going to his death. Then pardon comes and the criminal dissolves and tears pour and the heart breaks, and the man is transformed. And this is what we have a picture of here with the Christian gospel. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. A forgiveness that produces transformation in the life, that dissolves, that breaks, that softens, that revolutionizes. You get real pardon, you'll get real change. If God forgives sins, who can stand? If God pardons sin, who cannot but fear Him? There is plenteous redemption with Him. Enough for all of us and much to spare. Will you take it? May God bless His Word to us. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, we confess that these things seem at times too good to be true, but they are true because thou art good. Oh, we pray that we would plunge into the fountain open for sin and for uncleanness, and that we would be cleansed and washed whiter than snow. Burn up thy notebooks. Oh, that thou would annihilate them through the death of Christ and the pardon he produces. Oh, that we would know the joy of having that forgiveness Harden all our sins, we pray, for Jesus' sake, amen.