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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. 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 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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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 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 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.