Excuse me. Well, if I could just begin with a story which I trust will capture your attention and ultimately will be dealt with as we read God's word in just a few moments. It's a story. It's very short.
It's a paragraph long, so don't worry. It's not going to be a long story. But the key to the story is moving the comma, how much a comma can make a difference. Alexander III, he was the second last czar of Russia. and he lived in the late 1800s.
His rule was often marked by repression and cruelty, and particularly persecution of the Jews. And his wife Maria, she was quite the opposite. She provided a stark contrast to Alexander III. She was best known for her generosity, ultimately to those in need.
And on one occasion, her husband had signed an order consigning a prisoner to life in exile. And this is what he signed, this is what it said. It read, pardon impossible, comma, to be sent to Siberia. Well, Maria changed that prisoner's life by moving the comma in her husband's order.
She altered it to pardon. comma, impossible to be sent to Siberia. There's a big difference in there in the comma, just read that again. So he had written, pardon impossible, comma, to be sent to Siberia. She changed it to, pardon, comma, impossible to be sent to Siberia.
So herein is the good news. God has changed the comma that stood against us and in Christ there is forgiveness and thus great hope for life, for the life of the righteous. This is what the Psalm that we're going to open up today with. We're going to read Psalm 130, and I trust that you can open your Bibles to Psalm 130.
I trust that as we read Psalm 130, as we open up the Word of God this day, that truly we would all rejoice in the fact that in Christ there is great forgiveness. In Christ we have great hope. There is great hope for the righteous. And I trust that you will leave here this day encouraged, challenged, but in terms of what to do, but encouraged by what has been done for us.
I'll read Psalm 130, and I will pray, and then we'll begin. Psalm 130, it's a song of ascents. Out of the depths, I have cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand that there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared? I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Well, let's pray.
Opening Prayer
Our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father, truly we are grateful, Father, for the redemption that is ours in Christ Jesus. And so, Lord, as we work through this chapter today, how we pray, Lord, that you would be pleased to bless us with the Holy Spirit. Bless me as the speaker. I pray that I would not be confusing or speak in error this day.
We pray that you would hedge me in. and cause your spirit father to take this word truly a word that that speaks of the great forgiving god that you are the great the gracious god that you are we pray that as we shine a light upon your graciousness upon your mercy upon your uh bended ear towards your people that father truly we would leave this place encouraged By the by the great God that you are and that we would go away from here Rejoicing in the things that we have in Christ Jesus so Lord bless us now We do pray that your spirit would attend the Word of God and it's in Jesus precious name. We pray amen
Introduction
Well, certainly our salvation is referred to in the New Testament often as the pearl of great price. That is from the New Testament. It's a reference to that salvation that is ours. And pearls of great value often are found at great depths in the ocean.
And the pearl of great price would never have been heard of if this psalmist had not been cast into the depths. And that's how this chapter opens up. The first two verses, I trust that you have an outline that will help you to perhaps stay kind of focused in terms of where I'm going with this chapter, just four points. And they divide out quite nicely into just two verses for each point.
And so my first point would be that
Intense Desire Toward God
the psalmist here has an intense desire towards God in the first two verses. He's crying out to God, and it's a figurative expression, certainly, of severe distress. This cry to God carries an implicit statement. of confidence and faith in God. The psalmist believes that God is present in the depths.
God is not absent from the depths, but rather God is very present there in the depths where this psalmist begins in the first two verses. We may be in the deepest depths ourselves. We may be in great despair. We may be in great distress.
We may be low. Dark in in low and darker our spirit may be sinking this morning Perhaps you come here this day with a drooping heart with it with a sinking heart with a cast down disquieted I don't know all of our circumstances, but you know your own heart You know your own mind, and you know what you come with today, so I trust that you will find Encouragement because you can identify with the psalmist here in the first two verses there's a However, in these depths, I would say that it's also our privilege, the psalmist says here, to call upon God and know that we're going to be heard. Certainly, that's the evidence of the first two verses. It's not a question, God, will you hear me?
But rather, it's a real confidence that God will hear when we're in those depths.
Biblical Examples of Crying to God
I thought of some Old Testament passages where we can identify with. We have Jeremiah in the dungeon in Jerusalem. He was thrown in there by his own king and what did he pray in Lamentations 3.55? I called on thee from the depths of the pit.
Jonah is another example of someone who was cast down into the belly of the fish in Jonah 2.2. What does Jonah do? But he does what the psalmist says here. In my distress, I called to the Lord, and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead, I called for help, and you listened to my cry. We have another example of Daniel in the lion's den. He was cast in there because the king was angry or he had gone against an edict. of the king, and so he was put into the lion's den. And what did Daniel say in Daniel 6.22?
He says, my God sent his angels and shut the lion's mouth. And obviously that was evidence of the fact that Daniel had prayed to the Lord his God. We think of the Apostle Paul who was unjustly left in prison by Felix. for two years simply because Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews in Acts 24. We think of the person of Joseph.
Joseph was left in prison for two years. Why? Because Pharaoh's cupbearer, quote-unquote, forgot him. in Genesis chapter 40. So these men were certainly left to languish.
God did not immediately rescue them out of the pit, out of the depths that they were in, but they were left to languish. But clearly, their predicaments were under the sovereign control of an infinite wise and loving God. I think we can be certainly confident of that, that they were under that control of an infinitely wise and a very loving God.
Prayer as Duty and Peace
Our calling upon God in the first two verses, it's our duty. It's not an option. It's our duty as believers to call. And it's because it's the likeliest way to prevent our sinking lower and ultimately to help us to recover out of that depth by calling upon the Lord.
That's what the psalmist is saying. So no matter the place, no matter the occasion, no matter the circumstances, we can pray to God. And the psalmist is very confident of that. Ultimately, the deeper the place that we perhaps are called to go through, maybe it's the deeper devotion comes out of it.
Because if we only experience a small amount of difficulty, well, our devotion would perhaps be small. A great amount of devotion may well beget deeper devotion. The deeper our trial, it may just follow. The deeper our earnestness, And might that sometimes be the purpose that God would have in casting us low and taking us through deep or heavy waters?
It might well be. He may permit those trials so that we will have a deep earnestness for the things of God and seeking after God Himself. And there's peace for the believer. Just to note, the Lord hears us when we pray.
I see that in the first two verses. There's not an anxiety in the psalmist's heart and mind. There's a peace that comes when we pray. In a sense, he's leaving it to the superior wisdom of God to decide whether he will answer or not.
It's better for our prayers to be heard than to be answered, I believe. If the Lord were to make an absolute promise to answer all of our requests, it might be more of a cursing than a blessing, because it would be casting the responsibility of our lives upon ourselves rather than upon God. That would certainly be a most anxious predicament to be in, is that it would be dependent upon ourselves. Just the fact, brethren, this morning, that the Lord hears our desires, that should be enough to bring comfort and encouragement to our heart, to your heart, if you are despondent, if you are weary, if you are low this day.
We can only wish Him to grant our petitions if, in His infinite wisdom, He sees that it would be for our good and ultimately for His glory. So when we've prayed over our troubles, the psalmist encourages us here in these opening verses, encouraged us. to pray over them again, and that's what he says. I cry to you, O Lord, hear my voice, let your ears be attentive. If I could just flip to, you don't need to turn to it, I'll read it.
Luke chapter 11, I think, says something about the coming to the Lord more than once, because certainly that's what the psalmist does here in the first two verses. Luke 11, five to 10 reads, And he said to them, this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking, which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to a friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer him from within and say, do not trouble me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed.
I cannot rise and give to you. I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs." So there's that sense of the importunate prayer, that's what that is called, the importunate prayer from from Luke chapter 11. And back here in Psalm 130, the psalmist faith assures him that God does hear his voice. And that's why it's repeated three times in the first two verses.
God does hear the voice of those who cry for help. And so we need to stop and ask ourselves, Does our faith assure us of the same thing? When we seek God, when we pour out our heart to God, do we pour it out with that sense that God does hear us and God assures us that He hears us? There is a sense of confidence in our calling upon God.
It's not, we don't call into thin air, we don't call with a hope that maybe God will hear us. No, the psalmist here in the first two verses is absolutely certain that God does hear his voice, and that is tremendous encouragement.
Humble Confession and Forgiveness
Moving on to the second point, or the second two verses, or verses 3 and 4, the next section, we see a humble confession of repentance and faith in verses 3 and 4. Ultimately, it's a focus on God's character when we approach the throne. That's what our focus should be, is upon the character of God as we approach that throne of God. Because we're guilty.
Certainly the verses 3 and 4 would appear to be very, in a sense, discouraging perhaps, but no, I think there's much to be encouraged about in verses 3 and 4. We're guilty before God. We're unable to answer Him for one of a thousand of offenses. Therefore, verse 3, it ultimately does humble us before a just and a thrice holy God when we come to Him.
If we're seeking things from Him, we need to see our own position before Him. If the all-seeing eye of God should in strict justice call every man to account for every want of conformity to his righteousness, would any of us stand? Could any of us seek God like He does in the first two verses? Could any of us cry out to God? like the psalmist does in verses 1 and 2.
I would say not. But God sees our transgressions. He sees them daily. He sees them hourly.
He sees them minutely, if there's such a word. And so the psalmist is under no illusions. He sees his own sin and the psalmist is not asking as a supplicant. Here, a supplicant is a person who requests.
But rather, he's a confessing sinner. He's confessing his sin to God. It's more of a lament. It's a passionate expression of grief and sorrow before a holy God.
And certainly he owns that he can't stand before that great king in his own righteousness, but rather he's struck with a sense of the holiness of God. And well does the psalmist cry out, Oh Lord, who can stand but, there's a verse four, thank goodness, it even begins with the word but. Isn't it a great mercy that we don't meet God as a merciless judge? When we are despondent, when we are in deep troubles, when we are in difficulty, we don't meet with a merciless God.
We meet with a merciful God. Verse four, but sets forth another way of acceptance to which we flee. It begins with a blessed, but, but with you, there is forgiveness. So we may feel wretched, we may feel our own sin, but with God, there is forgiveness.
It's full forgiveness, it's free forgiveness, and it's a pardon, and it's in the hand of our great King. It is His prerogative to forgive. And the fact of the matter, He delights to exercise that prerogative. He delights to forgive us of our sins.
And so therefore, have that in our minds as we beseech God, as we come to God with those petitions, with those deep, deep-felt needs. That God's nature is mercy. He has provided the sacrifice for sin. and the power of the pardon is permanently resident with God. He has forgiveness ready at hand, and gratitude for pardon produces far more fear and reverence for God than the dread of punishment.
That's what the Psalmist is reminding himself of here, that it's a gratitude to God for the fact that God has forgiven his sin, and it's out of that gratitude to God that he comes with these petitions.
Grace Produces Fear of God
C.H. Spurgeon says a short quote here, but I'll read it twice. Sometimes it's always hard to catch it the first time, so I'll read it twice. If the Lord were to execute justice upon all, there would be none left to fear Him.
If all were under apprehension of His deserved wrath, despair would harden them against fearing Him. It is grace which leads the way to a holy regard of God and a fear of grieving Him. Let me read that again. If the Lord were to execute justice upon all, there would be none left to fear Him.
If all were under apprehension of His deserved wrath, despair would harden them against fearing Him. It is grace which leads the way to a holy regard of God and a fear of grieving Him. So here, our approach to God is clearly laid out. We come to a most gracious God, a God who is forgiving, a God who is merciful to his people.
And so therefore, when we come in the first two verses to God with our with our pleas, with our difficulty, with our circumstances, know that you come to a gracious God. Know that you come to a forgiving God. Know we come to a God who doesn't hold us in account, but rather we're completely forgiven, because God is in the business of forgiving, and I trust with that there is much encouragement.
Trusting Watchfulness in the Word
The third point, verses five to six, as we move through this chapter, we see here a trusting and watchfulness is declared and resolved upon God. Verses five and six, we're to wait. Verse five and six, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word, I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. It's God that we wait, and to Him alone we come in love. It's not to anyone else we wait. It's the Lord that we come to wait for.
I quietly wait for His appearing. Mark the repetition in those verses as well. I wait. My soul waits.
He repeats it twice. So there is a sense of waiting. It's not immediate until he appears for my help the psalmist tells me that I must wait even perhaps in the depths of my despair He doesn't get us out of the depths and then we wait somehow over here. We're in the depths of our despair That's where we wait upon the Lord because if the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let's do it with willing hearts He seems to be saying here the psalmist the psalmist does the psalmist is waiting with a willing heart.
He's not apprehensive He's not angry against God but rather he's a willing waiter. He has a willing heart to wait upon a willing Jehovah. Doubting God more often than not was the sin of the Old Testament people. What did they often do?
They doubted God. They doubted God. They were often punished for it. So let's not be a people who doubts God.
If we seek God and He makes us wait in our difficulty, in the depths of our circumstances, well, let's not doubt Him, but rather continue to beseech Him and continue to have our mind and focus and eye upon Him, as the verse we'll later talk about, verse 5b. So
The Benefits of Waiting on God
what are the biblical benefits of waiting? Well, it certainly tries our faith, because we all like immediate answers. Children who come to their parents want an immediate answer. They don't like to be told to wait.
They want something immediate. It certainly exercises our patience, I think, if we recognize or if we If we're honest, when we ask God for something, we usually want it sooner than later. So there's a sense of exercising patience. It trains our submission.
We are submissive to God when He doesn't immediately respond with an answer that we find satisfactory. And ultimately, it endears the blessing all the more when it does come. When we have prayed for something, when we've sought God and the answer does come, well then it just simply has endeared the blessing of God in our lives. Now the Lord's people have always been a people who have had to wait.
When we consider a few circumstances in the Old and New Testament, the first advent from Genesis 3.15 to when Christ was born wasn't just a few years, it was thousands of years. So there is a sense of waiting for the coming of Christ. What about the second advent? Christ died 2,000 years ago.
He said he will come again. That's a lot of waiting. 2,000 years. It may be another 1,000. It may be another 2,000.
It may be 5,000 years away. We don't know. But again, the Christian is called to wait. Wait for the Lord.
How about Abraham's child of promise, Isaac? We've been citing that on Wednesday night. Abraham was in his 90s waiting for that child of promise, for Isaac to come along. And so again, that's an evidence of a man of God waiting.
The children of Israel, they were in Egypt waiting for an exodus from Egypt. for 400 years. What a long time. I'm sure they were wishing for that answer to come from God. So they were waiting upon the Lord.
And the entry into the Promised Land, when they eventually did get out, they still had to wait a whole generation. Ultimately due to sin, but nevertheless, there was a sense of waiting. They had to wait even to get into the Promised Land. The establishment of the church was a waiting period as well.
It didn't just happen when Christ died. The church was born and created out of nothing. It took time, it took training, it took installing elders, it took just moving throughout all of Asia to see the church established. And what about our own sanctification?
Isn't that a sense of waiting as well? We wish we were more sanctified than we are. I trust that we are being sanctified, those who are believers, but we still haven't arrived where we'd like to be one day. So there is still a sense of waiting for the Christians.
The Christians are often marked by waiting upon God, and that's verse 5. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits.
Hope Grounded in God's Word
What are the grounds of our dependence? Well, it's found in verse 5b. It's in his word, and in his word I do hope. We must hope not only for that which he has promised in his word, that's what we must wait for, is the things he has promised in his word.
Not creaturely comforts, not the things that we would like to receive that would make us more comfortable, that would make us perhaps an answer to prayer. He's a covenant-keeping God, and we need to always keep that in mind. that God is faithful to His covenants, not to our creaturely comforts. We must hope for that which He has promised in His Word and not in my own merit. I don't merit anything with God.
God will not give me because of somehow I've merited it, but rather God will give because we are in covenant with Him. He is a covenant-keeping God. We wait for what we cannot see, thus the importance of waiting in God's Word, because it's the source. According to verse 5b, in His Word I do hope, it's the source, it's the strength of our waiting.
It will be the true Word of God. Psalm 119 verse 105, a very familiar verse, says, Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a guide to my path. So Jehovah's Word ultimately is a firm ground for our waiting to be resting upon. So don't rest in our own mind, our own consciousness, or just in nothingness, but when we're waiting for the Lord to answer our prayer, rest in His Word.
Read His Word, be people of the Word. In that, there is great comfort, there's ultimately great hope as well, but especially the comfort. What's the degree of our dependence? Well, verse 6b, it says, more than those who watch for the morning.
Well, we know the morning, just, you know, nature assures us that morning is going to come tomorrow. But why? Because of God's grace, right? We go to bed tonight, we just, we can assume that God will rise the sun or raise the sun in the morning and we'll start a new day.
And so certainly God's covenants are even more firm than the ordinances of day and night. As natural as those things are, as natural as we will get a new morning tomorrow, Lord willing, and we'll get a new day tomorrow, and night will come after that. Those things are very natural. Why?
Because of God's grace. Well, I would say that likewise, we can be assured that God will look down upon His children and mercy according to His promises. That's why we hope in the Word of God, because He is faithful, ultimately more faithful to His covenant even than perhaps we could say He is to the general grace of morning and evening. Sentinels, what's he referring to in verse 6b?
More than those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. Perhaps he's referring to sentinels who would have kept watch on the walls of Jerusalem all night long, doing their duty. And they would have longed for the morning.
They would have longed for the daylight from their tedious work of walking and looking for the enemy over the walls of Jerusalem. The person, the psalmist here, is yearning and waiting for God even more than that. Or perhaps it could have been shepherds in the field. You can imagine if you were a shepherd in the field, you're cold, you're wet, what would you be looking for?
You'd be looking for the morning. You'd be looking for your shift to be over and for you to be able to end that final shift. That's our dependence. Our dependence ought to be in the Word of God and in the surety of God's Word.
More earnestly than these two things, the psalmist longs for tokens of God's favor and answers to his prayers, and that longing, that waiting, ultimately needs to be rooted in the Word of God. Because it's in God's Word where we're going to read of his character, of his promises, of his comforting Holy Spirit. These are the things that are going to bring us most hope and comfort in the times of need. So I trust that that's what you do.
I trust that's what I will do when faced with the depths of despair, with despondency, with something you're praying about, something you're earnest about. I trust that it's to God's Word we will go and find our hope in there. Because it's in the Word of God we will find out about the character of God, the promises of God, the comfort of God, the Holy Spirit, the workings of God in the past. And we can assume if you worked like that in the past, you'll work like that today and in the future.
Joyful Expectation and Abundant Redemption
The fourth section is verses 7 to 8. Our joyful expectation from God, and that's ultimately our hope. Our hope is found in verses 7 and 8. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord There is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Note, there's no evident conclusion to the psalmist waiting here. We see him waiting, and then he ends the verse 7 and 8, and there's just no real evident conclusion. to what he has waited for. It doesn't appear like the Lord has necessarily answered him because he does not speak about it.
He seems to just leave off with waiting upon God and moves on to the conclusion of the psalm. And perhaps verse 7 is telling Israel, telling the church, and telling us personally to look out of self into Jehovah for his riches, for his mercy upon our lives. And ultimately, maybe that's what he's doing here. He's arguing from the greater to the lesser.
He redeemed us from our sins, clearly in verses 3 and 4. And therefore, can he not redeem us from our great and many troubles? If he can redeem us from our sin, what are troubles to the Lord? He can redeem us from those troubles.
He can get us out of those troubles as well. God's attribute of mercy and the fact of redemption, here in these last two verses, are the two most sufficient reasons for hoping in Jehovah. And I trust that's what you will find to bring you hope and encouragement. These should be the only things that bring us comfort in trial, is the attribute of God's great mercy and the fact of God's redemption.
Is it not better for us to be in the depths with the psalmist, hoping in God's mercy, than up on the mountaintops and boasting in our own fancied solutions and our own self-righteousness? I think I'd rather be with the psalmist and hoping in God's great mercy. Despondency in the Christian, I don't think, is certainly not becoming of a Christian. To be downcast, to be sad in the face, it's certainly not becoming of a Christian.
It's nowhere to be found here in this psalm. Obviously he is in the depths, he's in a great discouraging place, yet you don't see despondency, you don't sense despondency in the voice of the psalmist here. Because our God is a God of hope, and we should be hopeful in Him. And that seems to be where the psalmist's point is to hope in Him.
To hope in that sense mentioned here is to live expectantly with an awareness of how God has acted in the past, with a keen anticipation of what God and how God will do in the future. Our hope should be in the Lord, certainly not in ourselves. And that's the opposite of despair, the opposite of hopelessness. In Israel's history, they had a lot to, they had to hope in His mercy many times, His patience, His provision, as they certainly went throughout the Old Testament, as they moved for those 40 years, He had to provide, God provided for them.
Ultimately, in Israel's history, they also hoped in His redemption. And God came through every single time. So we find great encouragement. There's a sense of, again, come back to the Word of God.
It's the Word of God that's going to buoy us up in adversity. It's the Word of God that's going to put a smile on our face and put a spring in our step. Because of what God has done in the past, He will do in the future. In our experience, we ought to have hope in His light in dark times, His strength in our weaknesses, His direction when we're perplexed, that He would give us direction, His deliverance in danger.
We ought to have our hope in victory in conflict and triumph in death. The fact is that we look forward to these things. These are all things that God has benefited us in the past. throughout all scripture, we can attest to many of these things as well, and certainly we ought to have hope in these things.
From Personal to Corporate Hope
All the preceding verses of this chapter were all personal. I don't know if you noticed that. They were all I, I, I, until we get up to verse 7, 7 and 8. There, the psalmist seems to take a change.
It's no longer I, but Israel. Verse 7 and 8 turn from a personal confession to a public charge. He says, O Israel, hope in the Lord. In verse 7a.
So what he learned in his personal life, he is seeking to apply to the whole nation of Israel. That's what we seem to see in verses 7 and 8. When God's people humbly look to Him, there is a mercy, there's an abundant redemption for both the individual and the community. I think that's what the psalmist is saying.
Not just something that we can experience personally, but we as a church can experience when we're praying through things, when we're seeking God, when we're waiting upon God. There is encouragement here for us. And this is the confident conclusion of the psalm, trusting that God will indeed bring the redemption, which he speaks of there in verse 7b, the redemption and rescue to either the individual or, at the time of the psalmist, the nation, which perhaps was overwhelmed in the depths of their need. What God has demonstrated to the individual, he will perform for the community that cries out to him.
And certainly this brings great hope to the individual Christian, the corporate body, the church, as we gather together for prayer. We have church prayer meeting upstairs in the first hour and on Wednesday nights as well. What an encouragement to the church here we see in these last verses that it's not just for the private individual, but it's for the nation Israel. And of course, the church is the replacement of that nation Israel.
And there's great hope when we gather in prayer that we come to this God who is a God of great mercy, a God who does desire to bestow His mercy upon us as His people. You're going to read just a quote from an Old Testament theologian, Jerome Creech, I believe is the way he pronounced his last name. He's speaking of the last two verses, specifically a couple of words in those verses. He says, the word iniquities, and you see that in the last verse there, in the last couple of verses, the word iniquities appear here again, like in verse 3a, verse 3a, you see at the end of verse 3, iniquities, thus linking the psalmist's recognition of sinfulness with Israel's failure as God's people.
But in the call for Israel to hope in God, Two new words appear. The first is steadfast love, translated here as mercy. We see that word mercy in the second line of verse 7. The word for this in Hebrew is one of the most important theological words in the Psalms.
It signifies God's faithfulness to God's promises. The NIV translates it to unfailing love. So isn't that a wonderful thing that we consider that the word of God is committed to God's faithfulness to his promises. So when we are in despair, when we are in deep, deep waters, when we are in difficulties, the fact that we have God's faithfulness, he will be faithful to his promises.
And it's interpreted here as the word mercy, or translated as mercy. And just finishing his quote, the second word is redeem, which is in verse 8. Redeem. This word speaks of God as a kinsman who buys a relative out of debt, slavery, or some other such desperate circumstance.
In this case, the promise is that God will purchase Israel out of the self-inflicted wounds of its own iniquity. So I trust that when we're in difficulty, when we're in circumstances that we feel that are beyond ourselves and we're seeking God, we come to this chapter that find great hope in the fact that we have been redeemed. We do have a God who is great in mercy and He will answer our prayers, not necessarily according to how we perhaps may perceive them to be answered, but according to His mercy, according to His faithfulness, according to His covenant, according to ultimately what will bring Him most glory. And in that, I trust that you will leave here today desirous to bring your prayers, desirous to bring your petitions before the Lord who does hear.
And
Application
just a couple of applications to conclude, and then we'll sing a hymn. The Father's love for us cannot fail any more than His love for Christ can fail. And I think we need to be assured of that. His love for us cannot fail any more than His love for Christ.
And we know God the Father had great love for His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we must learn to see our adversities in relation to our union with Christ. And if we see our adversities in relation to our union with Christ and knowing that God has much love for Christ and had much love for Christ, then that ought to put a smile on our face. That ought to bring encouragement to us, irregardless of what circumstance you might be going through.
God does not deal with us as, so to speak, freestanding agents, unattached to Him. Rather, He deals with us as individuals united in Christ. And we can no more drain the love of God, then we can drain the Pacific Ocean one teaspoonful at a time. So when we consider this God with whom we come to, with our petition, with our requests, with our deep-seated anguish, with our, you know, in the depths of despair, remember that God is for you.
God is for me. Be encouraged in whatever depth you may be going through. because God is in covenant with us. And I think that one of the things that I've appreciated most since coming to an understanding of the Reformed doctrine is that sense of covenant, that we are in covenant with God. It's not just a relationship.
A relationship is different than a covenant. A covenant is a transaction that has been signed and sealed, ultimately, by the blood of Christ. And that ought to bring great encouragement to us. If I could just read Luke chapter 10, verse 17 to 20, and then I'll make a comment on it.
You don't need to turn. You can just listen. Luke chapter 10, verse 17 to 20. Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless," here's the important part, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. So, ultimately, the question to ask ourselves is, is my joy in God based on my covenant relation to God or upon my performance.
It seems to be the disciples, it was slightly based upon sometimes their performance. They were able to do great things and Christ just kind of cuts them down. That obviously would not be Christ. He redirects their thinking, I guess is a more politically correct way of saying it.
And that is that they're in covenant relationship to God and therefore that's what the joy needs to be based upon. So, otherwise, if it was based upon performance, it doesn't endure the valleys. If God is going to bless me because I've been good, because I've done this, because I've done that, well, that's not going to endure any valleys. And valleys are a part of living in this lower world.
It's so easy for us to rejoice in our successes when things appear to be working out for us, but what about when things don't appear to be working out for us? Romans 8.28 says, and we know that all things work together, all being sometimes the good, sometimes the not so good. All things work together for good to those who love God, for those who are called according to His purposes in Christ Jesus. So ultimately, is my joy based upon my covenant relation to God or upon my performance?
I trust that our joy in the Lord and our assurance of God hearing us is based upon we're in covenant relationship with God. Third point would be to be people of the Word of God, because that's what the psalmist says here, that we would be a people of the Word. Wait for God to answer our prayer by being in the Word. Sometimes, perhaps, when we're in despondency, when we're in despair, when we are low, when we're crying out to the Lord, sometimes, perhaps, that might be the last thing that we feel like doing, is going to the Word of God.
But it's to the Word of God we must go, because that's our rock, that's our anchor, the Word of God for the Christian. That's what's gonna steady the soul in a distress, in a difficulty, is by going over the character of God, being immersed in psalms like Psalm 130, and thus being assured that God may not answer us immediately, God may not answer us according to our desires, but God hears, and in that, the psalmist rests. Just the fact that God hears me, that was enough for him to kind of rest his soul in peace. Be people of prayer would be a fourth application from this chapter, Psalm 130.
Be people of prayer. Let's wait upon God as individuals, as a corporate body. Let's wait upon God. Wait for God to answer our prayers.
We have warrant here in this chapter for God's great mercy to us as individuals, to us as a local church, as a corporate body. So let's use the privilege and commune with God often. Commune with God expectantly. because that's, again, what the psalmist is saying. Fifthly, the psalm begins with an earnest cry from the depths, and it closes with a triumphant hope of complete and eternal deliverance.
And there's a world where there is no occasion to cry from the depths of sorrow and sin, and that's heaven, that awaits us. Paul tells us to long for it, look forward to it, be sanctified by our thoughts of heaven, when we will no longer have to crawl upon God, cry out to God from the depths, because there will be no depths in heaven. So ultimately this psalm will be for naught, I suppose, when we enter into Emmanuel's land, because we will have no depths, we will have no difficulties. So long for that, look forward to that, have that as our eternal perspective.
One eye upon earth, but one eye upon heaven as well. where all will be well, where there will be no more crying, sorrow, death, sin to deal with. And that ought to bring encouragement to us as Christians. So if you're in the depths today, take courage. Take courage from this psalm.
Take courage from what we read here in this chapter, and I trust that you will find opportunity to apply it in the days ahead. And finally, ultimately, if we're not in union with Christ, then that's where we must begin. We must be completely and forever delivered by the power and the dominion of sin, because if we have not come to a knowledge of Christ, if we have no knowledge of the Savior as a personal Lord and Savior, then this psalm is not for you. And I would, as Pastor Butler always does, implore you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's as simple as that. When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then this chapter does have relevance. Then this chapter does become yours. And I trust that if you are not a believer, that you would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would cast your burden the burden of sin ultimately upon the Lord Jesus Christ and ask him to forgive you and And heal you so that you might enter in to the wonders and the wonderful promises and the covenant promises Promises of this of this chapter Psalm 130 Let's close in a word of prayer and then as I say we will we will sing a last hymn.
Let's pray
Closing Prayer
Our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father, we truly come before you this morning through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, how grateful we are that no matter what our circumstances, that you are a God who does hear, whether we call from the depths of the earth or whether we call from a disquietedness within our own hearts, unhappiness, something that's heavy upon our hearts, Father, you hear us. And for that we truly are grateful. Thank you that you are a covenant-hearing God, that we have entered into a covenant relationship with you through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's through that covenant that we come before you this morning, Father. How we praise you that you've taken our sins, you remove them from us, You've cast them into the deepest part of the ocean. You have removed them from us as far as the east is from the west. And for that, we truly give you our grateful thanks and praise, Father.
How we pray that you would be pleased to cause us to be a people of the Word of God. Cause us, Lord, to be people of the Word, that we would not hope in ourselves, hope and trust in our own abilities or lack thereof, but rather we pray, Father, that each one of us this day might be people who would give our distresses, give our concerns, give our distress to You, Father, and trust that You hear us. And how we pray that we would have that peace that comes from knowing these things, that we would have that quiet spirit that the psalmist clearly does have here in this chapter, knowing that you hear him and that you will answer according to your good and perfect will. So Lord, how we pray that you would be pleased to cause these things to bring much hope, much encouragement in the days and weeks ahead.
Father, we do not know our circumstances ahead a minute, much less a day or a week. Yet, Father, we know your promise is to be true. So when we do go through difficulties, when we do go through circumstances, Father, we do have these scriptures to call upon, to read through and to mull over and ask that your Holy Spirit would be pleased to bless them to our heart's use and to our mind. We do pray, Lord, that you would be pleased to bless us as a congregation as well, help us to make use of that corporate prayer time as well, knowing, Lord, that you hear us and that you have redeemed a people for yourself, a people to bring prayers and petitions and requests before you as the Church of God.
And so, Lord, how we praise you that you have that you have ordained these things and we just praise you and bless you that you will work out all things according to your purposes in Christ Jesus. So Lord, thank you and we pray your blessing as we go to our homes this afternoon, bless us as we come back this afternoon as well. We pray that you would bless Pastor Butler, give him safety and travel as well as the Surrey Church folk as they travel many kilometers to be here this evening as well. We pray Lord that you would grant safety along the roads and we pray that as we meet back together that you would be pleased to give us your spirit and We pray that we would rejoice in the things that we hold in common in Christ Jesus.
And Lord, we just pray your blessing now upon all these things, for it's in Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. Well, please turn with me in your hymn books.