Well, you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. I'll read the Psalm and pray, and then this will be the focus of our meditation before we participate in the Lord's Supper. So Psalm 130, beginning in verse one, 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?
But 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.
Patient and Earnest Waiting (vv. 5–6)
My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. Oh, 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. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you that the Spirit who gave it to us guides and leads us now into an understanding of it. And God, as we consider this, cause us to reflect upon your great mercy and your grace, cause us to stand in awe at the fact that you have forgiven us of our sin. And as we eat the bread later and as we drink this cup, as we proclaim the Lord's death till he comes, may these things not be just an empty ritual, but may they constantly put before us the doing and the dying and the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Forgive us now for all of our sin and unrighteousness, and again guide us by your Holy Spirit, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
When we look at this particular Psalm, you'll notice verse one in the Hebrew text is a song of ascents. And so is that Psalm that I read at the outset of worship. Psalm 129 is also a song of ascents. In fact, from Psalm 120 all the way to Psalm 134, they all bear that inscription.
They are songs of ascent. And essentially what that meant was that the pilgrims going to worship on the Sabbath day, as they traverse the way to Mount Zion, they would sing these particular Psalms. They would rehearse the glory of God and His works toward His people through the Psalms of David. And if we look back to Psalm 129, you'll notice that it's the external threat upon the Israelites that is the subject matter in Psalm 129.
Notice, many a time they have afflicted me from my youth. Let Israel now say, many a time they have afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me. So he's concentrating on that external threat that the enemies of God present to the children of God. Well, as we move to Psalm 130, we see that he's dealing with the internal threat.
He's dealing with a problem bigger than external enemies. He's dealing with the problem of sin. Now, it's not ascribed to David, but the Psalms as a whole are called David by the author in the book of Hebrews. So unless there is an identifying mark to indicate otherwise, we assume that David did in fact write this particular Psalm.
And it's an experience in his own heart and in his own life. He obviously had sin as an unconverted man, but he obviously had sin as a converted man. And I think that's the emphasis here in Psalm 130. He's musing on the fact, he's reflecting on the fact that he is not perfect before God.
And as a believer, that does cause some degree of concern. That causes the distress that we find specifically in verse one. Now, in terms of this particular Psalm, Martin Luther loved it. He called it one of the Pauline Psalms.
I like that sort of categorization, a Pauline Psalm. This author says the others are Psalms 32, 51, and 143, and he called it this, and he understood it this way, because of its offer of forgiveness by grace apart from human works. So as the author bemoans and laments and cries out in his distress, he doesn't look for self-atonement, he doesn't simply say, well, I'm going to try harder to balance out the scales. Rather, he casts himself upon the mercy and the grace of God Most High.
The Psalmist's Cry of Distress
So I want to look first at the psalmist's invocation of God. That means his calling upon God in verses 1 and 2. Secondly, the psalmist's recognition of the nature of God in verses 3 and 4. And then finally, the psalmist's exhortation to the people of God in verses 5 to 8.
He uses himself as an example, and then he gives a specific exhortation to all of Israel.
Depths of Distress (vv. 1–2)
But look with me at verses 1 and 2. We see first this cry of distress. Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. Now, this is not an uncommon thing in the experience of man.
We face affliction. We face hardship. This world is a veil of tears. It's a sin-cursed world.
It's a present evil age, and certainly there is no shortage of affliction. Psalm 129. They're afflicted by external enemies. They're afflicted by Philistines.
They're afflicted by Canaanites. They're afflicted by the godless and the enemies of our Most High God. Well, here specifically, as we try and identify the nature of his distress, I would suggest that his distress here is not physical. It's not temporal, though David had his temporal and his physical challenges.
Note, for instance, his battle ultimately with Saul. Saul wanted to hunt him down and kill him. That could not have been a happy time in the life of David. But as well, it wasn't just Saul within the kingdom, it was the Philistines outside the kingdom that presented a great challenge to King David.
But I don't think that's what he is crying out for with reference to this particular psalm. The depths from which he cries out to God are spiritual in nature. And we know that from the rest of the psalm. The marking of iniquities and subsequent judgment, verse 3.
The reality of forgiveness by God's pardon and grace, verse 4. the confidence in God's word to afford hope for remission in verse 5, and the exhortation to Israel that God redeems from all iniquity in verses 6 to 8. So it's not a physical affliction that evokes this from the psalmist. It is rather his sin. It is his condition.
It is his spiritual state before a thrice holy God. And in terms of that sinful state, there's not one particular event we can pinpoint. Now we all know David's benchmark sin was adultery and murder in that section in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. A section that we might want to have sort of torn out of the Bible.
I don't know if you're like me, but you get to 2 Samuel 11 and You start talking to your Bible, you start saying, come on, David, please don't do this. This is not going to end well. Go out to battle, as is the custom of kings. Don't go up on your roof.
Don't look at that woman. Certainly don't go into that woman and then don't kill her husband to try to cover up the fact that she's pregnant. This is an unsavory truth in God's word. Well, in Psalm 51, it's a Psalm of repentance.
And the particular indication of the sin is his sin with Bathsheba. That's not here. So what particular sin is in view in Psalm 130? We don't know.
But I think the idea is, is that remaining corruption in the lives of God's people get to certain points where they cry out. where they are in the depths of distress, where they do lament the fact that they're not what they ought to be. They're not what they're gonna be. By God's grace, they're not what they once were. But nevertheless, they come up short.
They hear Paul in Philippians 1, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. And then they realize, my conduct isn't worthy of the gospel. They read Exodus chapter 20 or Deuteronomy 5, and they see all the prohibitions, and they see all the sort of positive implications, and they realize, you know what, I'm not really doing that. So it's not one particular sin that is in the heart of David in Psalm 130, where he's crying out to God from the depths of distress.
It's sin in general. It's his remaining corruption. It's the fact that he is not what he ought to be. And instead of being content in that state, and instead of accepting that state, he cries out to God from that state.
As well, in terms of the nature of his distress, he's not an unconverted man here. He's a converted man. He is a believer. In fact, turn back to Psalm 32.
We know that David was justified by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We know that not only based on his words here in Psalm 32, verses 1 and 2, but Paul's use of Psalm 32 in Romans 4. Paul the Apostle, in declaring the truth of justification by faith alone, says, this isn't new. Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him as righteousness.
Abraham and David are his test cases for the doctrine of justification by faith alone. So notice in Psalm 32 at verse 1, a Psalm of David, a contemplation. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
David was justified freely by God's grace. So the depths that we find him in are not the depths in a sort of pre-converted state. He's not just coming to the conviction of sin. Now, if you're not a believer and that is your case, the God of grace in verse 4 that was that to David is the God of grace now to any and all who come to him in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
So while David specifically is a believer struggling with remaining corruption, the grace that is available in our God, the abundant redemption that is referred to in verses 7 and 8, is available to any needy sinner who, by God's grace, looks to Jesus Christ in faith. So it is the depths of sin, it is the distress of the spiritual that causes David to cry out. But then notice, verse 1, out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord, and then the specific petition is in verse 2. Lord, hear my voice, let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
His cry of distress led him, or rather the depths of distress in terms of sin, led him to cry out to God. See, I think that we sometimes subscribe to the devil's logic. We get his newsletter, comes into our email box or on our phones via text. And he says things like, man, you've made a mess of your life.
You're really not living the way you ought. So you probably shouldn't go through the hypocrisy of reading your Bible. You shouldn't go through the hypocrisy of prayer. You shouldn't attend the Lord's Supper.
I mean, come on. You don't deserve that. Well, the devil's right. We don't deserve that.
We celebrate sovereign grace. But we need to remember that the depths of sin, when we're there, the only remedy whatsoever is the grace of God. And that's what David celebrates here. He's in distress, he's in the depths, but he's not despairing to the point where he is no longer functioning as the man of God he ought to be.
See, in the Christian life, remaining corruption's a reality. To try and hide from it, or evade it, or say, oh, it's just not the case, is simply to deny scripture. Romans 7, 14 to 25. Galatians 5, verse 17.
There's no perfection on this side of heaven. But when we identify that, we need to deal with it like big boys and big girls. We confess our sin, we forsake our sin, and we reach, or we receive the mercy of God Almighty. So again, he is in the depths, he cries to God, Lord, hear my voice, let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
There is an expression of faith in the very appeal itself. In fact, John Gill makes that point. Though the psalmist was in the depths of distress for sin, yet not in the depths of despair. He cried to God, he hoped in him and believed there was pardon with him.
See, that's the mark of a believer. And again, unbeliever, call upon the Lord God. Call upon this one who is filled with pardoning grace and mercy. So David is in this condition.
And I think that this causes us, or it should make us reflect on the fact that there is remaining corruption. What are we going to do when we face it? Well, I'm not going to go to church. I'm going to stay home and stew.
No, that's not the best way. You're listening to the devil. I'm not going to pray because it's hypocritical. I'm not going to read my Bible.
Every time that you suspend the use of one of God's means, you're listening to the devil. Out of the depths, David cries. David doesn't, in the depths, say, well, you know, I don't want to try to claw my way out of here because I'm not fully not hypocritical. No, when you're in the depths of despair, to whom else shall you go?
It's the John 6, 68 thing. When Jesus says, do you also want to depart? Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
In other words, there's no other hope. There's no other place. There's no other solution. We must go to you.
And so he exercises his faith in the Son of God, and that's manifested in his prayer. It is manifested in the earnestness of it. But there again, brethren, your prayer is not to be measured in terms of its earnestness. Well, my prayer only seems about 48% earnest.
So, therefore, I'm not going to pray. I love the hymn by Edward Mote. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame.
Praise God that we aren't called to trust sweet frames. Because there's times in the Christian life, there aren't those sweet frames. Maybe again, I'm projecting that you're like, well, I only ever have sweet frames. Good.
You should write books on how to always have sweet frames so wretches like me can learn and grow and understand and enjoy. You see, brethren, we need to use the means that God has given, and that's what David displays. In the depths of distress because of his sin, because of the evil that remains in his heart, he has no other recourse than to go to God. That's the emphasis that the psalmist brings to us.
Recognition of Divine Justice and Grace
Now that brings us then, secondly, to consider his recognition of the nature of God. So he's considering his sin, he's vexed over his sin, he's in the depths of distress over that sin, and now he's pondering God. And he ponders two perfections of God, the justice of God and the grace of God. Notice, specifically in verse 3, he says, "'If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?' Now, this marking of iniquities, this means basically God observing, God keeping note, God keeping an account, God writing it down in his book.
Well, God does know all things. Nothing escapes him, right? The eyes of the Lord, according to Solomon in Proverbs 15.3, are in every place. They behold the good and the evil.
He's not making a theological observation on divine omniscience. He is making, or he's recognizing, rather, something concerning the strict justice of God. He is a sinful man. He cannot approach God via the covenant of works.
If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, that means take note of them, put them in your book, record them against me or against anybody, he says, oh Lord, no man, no one can stand. You see a similar usage in Job 10.14, if I sin, then you mark me and will not acquit me of my iniquity. John Owen says, That's what he means. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord who could stand?
The logic is impeccable, right? You all follow the logic. If God should mark each and every one of our sins, and again, divine omniscience, He knows our sins, but He's talking here in a legal context. If He marks them with reference to punishing them, oh Lord, who could stand?
There is none righteous. No, not one. There's none who seeks after God. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Romans 3.18. The whole scripture is filled and replete with that theme. Why? Because in Adam all die.
And as a result, the covenant of works is not a covenant of life for the ungodly. David's problem is not resolved by more obedience. David's problem isn't fixed by reformation. David's problem isn't put back together again by his own resolve to go and try harder.
No, he is not perfect in terms of exact, entire, perpetual obedience to God's holy law. And he knows it. Listen to David Dixon. He says, if the Lord should deal with supplicants in the way of strict justice, according to the tenor of the law or covenant of works, no man could escape condemnation and the curse.
You see what he's saying? As he contemplates his sin problem, he then goes to God, the God he invokes, for relief. And as he considers God, he first ponders his justice. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
This is the condemnation of all men because of their sinfulness. Turn to 143 too, similar emphasis there. Psalm 143, specifically at verse two. Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no one living is righteous.
See, what David is doing is what Paul does in Romans chapter three. He highlights the fact that we are not capable, because of our death in Adam, our covenantal status in him, by virtue of the transgressions that actually do proceed from that original sin that is ours, we are not able to ascend into the presence of God in our own strength. He says, if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? The answer is obvious.
No one can. There is none righteous. No, not one. The impossibility of acceptance by God on the day of judgment is taught here, specifically in verse 30, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Forgiveness of God (v. 4)
Thankfully, David doesn't stop at the strict justice of God. The God who is just is also the God who is merciful. Not two gods, but a God who has a multitude of perfections. God is spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.
In his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. God is his attributes. All that is in God is God. So he is justice.
He is grace. He is mercy. He is a glorious being worthy to be praised and worshiped. And David goes on now to highlight that forgiveness.
So verse three, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? It's basically loading himself up with the bad news. I'm a sinner, I'm in the depths of distress because of that sin. I'm gonna call upon you, God.
I'm gonna pray and invoke that your ears be attentive to the voice of my cry. And while I'm doing this, I'm just going to consider the reality that you, as a just God, owe me nothing except punishment. You owe me nothing except judgment. You owe me nothing except hellfire.
You owe me nothing except condemnation. Because if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? David's not suggesting that he alone could, in fact, stand. No, he knows that all men everywhere are under that curse of the law.
And so then he moves to this celebration of the forgiveness of God. Isn't this glorious? Verse 4 is one of those, you know, but God verses in our Bibles. The but God verse in chapter 2 of Ephesians in verse 4.
Here's what you were, verses 1 to 3. But God, who is rich in mercy. who abounds in grace and in love. That God is your God. So he says, but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.
The forgiveness that he knew experientially in his own life. See, after the prophet Nathan comes to rebuke him for his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, David confesses. And it's not some elaborate long prayer. It's quite simple.
He says, I have sinned against the Lord. Some people say, well, it should have been more elaborate than that. He should have agonized. He should have beat himself with a whip.
He should have put ashes all over, you know, in his soup that day. He should have really lamented. He should have really felt bad. I have sinned against the Lord.
Do you know what he says there? He says, I'm not blaming Bathsheba. I'm not blaming, you know, the fact that she was on the roof. I'm not blaming, you know, all these other sorts of things out there.
I've got a high-tension job. I'm under a lot of stress. I'm under a lot of pressure. This is just sort of natural and inevitable.
And look at those kings, all these kings around them. They have their harems. They have all this. He doesn't do that.
When he's confronted by the prophet, all he can say is, I have sinned against the Lord. That's the best confession you can ever make. God seemed to appreciate it because the prophet pronounces in the name of God that God covered his sin. So he knew that forgiveness experientially.
We see it in Psalm 32, blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. Blessed is the man who receives forgiveness for his sin. So now he's calling upon God for that grace and mercy because he needs experiential forgiveness for whatever the sins are that he's confessing here to God. There is forgiveness with you.
I trust in that. I bank my soul on that. I will indeed live based on that reality. And for David, he had a lot of data to encourage him in this type of thinking.
I'm sorry, Exodus 34, six and seven. Remember in chapter 33 of Exodus, Moses says to God, show me your glory. And so what does God say? God says, go get in the cleft of the rocks, and I'll let my hind parts pass by you.
In other words, you can't see the glory of God. You can't witness, according to your ability, the divine majesty. Those men of Beth Shemesh opened up the Ark of the Covenant and they died. So when it comes to God, he sets him in the cleft of the rock and then he passes by him.
And what does Moses see but the attributes or perfections of God? It says, and the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God. Now remember, this is Old Testament. I think there's some weird people out there that think the Old Testament is only full of death and mayhem and judgment and blood and guts and all that sort of thing.
No, this is an Old Testament text. In the book of Exodus, which we call Torah or law, the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation. So David had that in his Bible, but David had it also in his pen, because he wrote Psalm 103. Remember, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. So then David rehearses the benefits of God, the ones that he ought to bless God for. And specifically in 103.8, he says, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He is resting on that reality and that perfection of God, wherein there is grace and mercy to forgive sinners.
Remember Jonah? Jonah was the only successful preacher that I know of that whined. Jonah went out, preached to Nineveh, and they actually repented. They actually listened to the prophet, and it wasn't lasting, and it wasn't, you know, we try to put it into the ordo salutis.
Whatever happened under the preaching of Jonah, there was a change in Nineveh. And what does Jonah do? He goes and he sits under that gourd, and he whines, he mopes, he grumbles, he's upset, he's not happy about this. I knew that you were gracious.
I knew that you were gonna forgive these Ninevites. He's got a nationalistic spirit. He's got a nationalistic pride. He wants to see the Ninevites get their comeuppance.
He doesn't want God's grace in their lives. Jonah 4, the Lord God, Most High, says to him, or this is what Jonah says, Jonah's upset. And what does God say? You care about this gourd.
And it wasn't altogether altruistic. It provided a bit of relief from the hot summer sun. But he says, you've been concerned about this gourd. And what does God say?
Should I not pity Nineveh, where there's 120,000 people that don't know their left from their right? Probably a reference to children. So if there's that many children, there's a whole lot of people that are Ninevites. What does God say?
Should I not pity? If you've never reconciled or reckoned with that reality, our God is not a miser. He's not Ebenezer Scrooge. He's not just doling out little tiny tidbits of grace and mercy.
He's abundant in mercy. He's abundant in redemption. He's abundant in the forgiveness of sins. Why?
Because we have an abundance of sins to be forgiven. And this is what God says. As well, Micah 7, the prophet says, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy.
So you see, for David, like Paul, they celebrated the grace of God to meet the needs of man who are done in by sin. Whether unconverted, come to the Savior and be saved. Whether converted, you're having struggles, you're having hardships, you're lamenting and bemoaning the fact that you've got this remaining corruption. Seek Christ for relief.
He is your advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. So when we look at verses three and four, it's obvious we're dealing with justice and grace. We need to understand that the glory of the Christian gospel is that the justice of God is maintained. See, the gospel doesn't just mitigate the justice.
It doesn't just come along and say, okay, no justice at all. The glory of the gospel is that justice was served. It was served upon the surety. It was served upon the Lord of glory.
It was served upon Him in our stead. In fact, this is Paul's point in Romans 3, and you can turn there. just to show you that grace does not cancel out justice. At the cross, we get both grace and justice.
Justice Upheld at the Cross
So Romans 3 and 4, essentially what Paul is doing here, after having started in chapter 1 at verse 18, to declare that all men everywhere are under sin. That's his point. He starts off with the bad news. He starts off with the grim reality that Gentile and Jew alike are liable to the wrath and fury and curse of God most high.
He does that from 118 to chapter three, verse 20. And then he's gonna start to talk about what's called justification by faith alone. The reality that we don't have works to try to earn our way into heaven. We don't have works to sort of counterbalance our bad things.
We only have the Lord Jesus Christ and his words. and all those who by faith come to him will receive his benefit. So Paul wants to present that truth of justification by faith alone. He's going to deal with it specifically in chapter 4 and what it looks like, again, in terms of Abraham and in terms of David. What it looks like in terms of us who by grace believe.
But before he gets to the man-word benefit with reference to justification by faith alone, he first deals with God. He first wants us to understand that the gospel doesn't compromise God's righteousness. It does not sacrifice justice. It rather upholds it.
That's the glory and beauty of the Christian message. So look with me at Romans 3.21. So he's already summarized. He said what he said. 1.18 to 3.20.
The 320 is the sort of crowning statement involved. He says, Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That is a crushing statement. If you think you're going to earn your way into heaven, Paul tells you there is no way.
You are absolutely positively wrong if you think you can fix yourself, or you can clean up your act, or you can add a few good things to your bad resume and sort of sort things out with God. No. For by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in a sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now notice, but now, he says.
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. In other words, it was an Old Testament concept. Abraham and David, he's going to point to in Romans 4. He says, through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.
For there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now notice verse 25, whom God set forth as a propitiation. Propitiation assumes or presupposes wrath.
God is wrathful toward sinners. And this idea of propitiation simply means that Jesus comes, stands in our place, and doesn't just send the wrath of God away, but rather Jesus takes it in himself. Remember, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus on the cross bears the wrath of God that was due for us as a result of our sin.
And then notice the specific God word reference. So verse 25, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness. When you look at the cross, think love. When you look at the cross, think grace.
When you look at the cross, think mercy. But when you look at the cross, think righteousness. The Lord God Most High punished His Son in our humanity on the cross. It was a satisfaction.
In fact, atonement, we use that word often. Older authors use the language of satisfaction. He satisfied divine justice by his work on the cross. Because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.
That doesn't mean he didn't pay attention to them. It simply means that he was looking to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the cross work of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then note in verse 26, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, and here it is, justice is maintained, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And then notice in 4, 5, but to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
And then in chapters 4 and 5, he goes on to explain how it is that Jesus could die for us in terms of maintaining God's justice, satisfying that justice on the cross.
Propitiation and Pardoning Grace
So back to Psalm 130. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Strict justice. But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.
Pardoning grace. But that pardoning grace isn't just an obliteration of the strict justice. In the gospel, our Lord upholds every demand in terms of strict justice. He paid our debt on the cross.
He was our substitute. He was our curse bearer. That's the glory of the cross. When people try to make it just about an example, oh, what an example of love for humankind.
It is that. But we preach Christ and Him crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block, and to the Greeks, foolishness. But to us, we're being saved.
Christ is both the wisdom and the power of God. He satisfied divine justice in His own sufferings. He propitiated the wrath of God that was due for us by taking it in Himself. So when we go back to Psalm 130, the psalmist knows all about justification by faith and the blessed, blessed effect upon the needy sinner.
But notice again in verse 4, there is forgiveness with you, and then the result or purpose, that you may be feared. Sort of a justification, sanctification thing. Notice, it's not fear God and then he'll forgive you. And I should just explain, fear of God here, oftentimes in the Old Testament, simply means being rightly related to God.
It means to be a believer. It means to be rightly connected to God by faith in Jesus. The fear of God is a good thing. It's not the slavish fear where we're running and hiding from Him, but it's the sort of fear, filial fear, where we run to Him.
And that's precisely what David is saying. There is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. What is characteristic of man? Again, Romans 3.18, there is no fear of God before their eyes.
The result of God's grace, the result of pardoning mercy, the result of the forgiveness of sins is our response to God in the proper way. It's not fear Him and then He'll forgive you, obey Him and then He'll forgive you. No, He forgives you and shows you grace and shows you mercy, and then the resulting sort of response is that you'll fear Him, and obey Him. Same sort of thing as we saw in John 14, 15.
If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Well, why did they love Him? Because they had believed on Him. And love is the chief fruit of faith.
And then they are supposed to obey Him. It's not obey me, and then love me, and then you'll be saved. No, you're saved. Now in that salvation, love Him and obey Him.
Same thing here. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. And again, I know people outside the church, people outside of Christianity. What kind of a life is the fear of God?
It's the best kind of life. It's the glorious kind of life. Again, it's not a running and a hiding underneath the piano, but it's understanding who God is. It's understanding Him as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
It is to show Him the respect that is due for Him. as the creator, as the governor, as the redeemer of his elect. He demands and deserves our respect and our fear. We call it reverence. Churches should be marked by reverence.
Individual Christian lives ought to be marked by reverence, not this kind of weird solemnity where you got to eat lemons and look miserable all the time, but some sort of a reverence toward our God. You see this in Jeremiah 32, for instance. Jeremiah 32, promise of the new covenant. God says in verse 40, I will make an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from doing them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me.
So when Newton writes in his famous hymn, Amazing Grace, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear," he's simply imitating the prophet Jeremiah. He's simply reflecting on what David has said in Psalm 130, verse four. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. The relation here of justification to sanctification.
The relation here to God's grace received by us, to us then living in light of that grace. Again, we're going to fall, we're going to stumble, we're going to be back to verse 1, but what do we do? We cry out to God, out of the depths, and we seek His mercy and His grace.
The Psalmist's Exhortation to Israel
And then finally, and quickly, notice his exhortation to the people of God. His example is in verses 5 to 6. He's patient. He's on God's time frame, not the other way around.
He's not saying, okay, you better perform. No, faith is expectant, but it's not presumptuous. He's confident in the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness of God. He's not presumptuous, he's not arrogant, he's not sort of that way.
So verse 5, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I do hope. Isn't that interesting? He ties his hope to the word of the living and true God. And I would take this word in two ways.
I would take it first, the written word that he already possessed. The written word that he was in the process of writing himself. David wrote much of the Psalter. David wrote and celebrated the glory of Christ.
That's the second taking of the Word. I will wait for the Word in your Word, I do hope. The incarnate Word, the One who will come from the Father to save His people from their sins. The Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.
See, the Old Testament saints had a messianic expectation. They were looking forward. They were looking to Jesus. They were justified freely by God's grace through faith in Jesus.
It wasn't some nebulous sort of a concept. They knew from the promises, from the word of God, through the types. When Abraham takes Isaac up to Mount Moriah, that preached Jesus to several generations of Israelite believers. And so David has this patience.
He has this confidence. But then notice this earnestness in verse six. If anybody's ever worked a graveyard shift, you can get verse six. You really understand it.
My soul waits for the Lord. He's now describing how earnest he is in his waiting. He's patient, he's confident, he's also earnest. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. Could be the security in the city, could be the temple security, but it's somebody who's up at night. If you've ever worked graveyard, you know that at two or three o'clock in the morning, your body knows it should be asleep. It just knows that.
There's a circadian rhythm thing. There's the way God made everything. And so when you're at 0400 and you've got a couple more hours till the light comes on or the sun comes out and you get off your shift, there's an eagerness and an earnestness. You're ready to go home and you're ready to climb into bed because you've been up all night.
This is what he's saying. I have patience in my Lord. I have a confidence in my Lord's word. But I also have an earnestness about me.
I'm like those watchmen who can't wait for the morning to come. What does that indicate? It indicates that he doesn't make peace with his own sin. This happens sometimes.
This happens with believers. They make peace with their ass, just remaining corruption. Nobody's perfect. We all got our challenges.
We all got our issues. I'm not as bad as some, probably a little worse than others, but you know, on the continuum, I think I'm okay. Don't make peace with sin, brethren. Let Psalm 130 verse 1 be your guide.
Out of the depths I've cried to thee. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. Don't be at peace with sin.
David wasn't. He was earnest, like the watchman, waiting for the morning. He wanted forgiveness. He wanted resolution.
He wanted this right relationship with God. When there is sin undealt with, what is there? There's a breach. I think this is 1 John 1, 9.
If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Yeah, general interpretation, sinners should come to Jesus for forgiveness. But specifically in the context, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us. That doesn't mean our sins aren't dealt with by Christ in justification.
It rather means the maintenance of our fellowship and our communion and our relationship with God, at times when we're not dealing with our sins properly, is going to be hindered. David didn't want that. David, with the earnestness of a watchman, wanted the sun to rise, and he wanted the smile of God back on his face.
Hope in God's Abundant Redemption (vv. 7–8)
And then in that light, he exhorts Israel. Verse seven, O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy. He's able to say that because he's tried and proven as God. He knows that mercy exists.
He found it when he went into Bathsheba and killed Uriah. He found it when he celebrates the glory of God in Psalm 32. He finds it here in verses three and four. So he's able, as a redeemed sinner, to tell other sinners to go to the Lord.
He is preaching Christ to Israel. O Israel, hope in the Lord. Why? For with the Lord there is mercy.
Why should I hope in him? Because there's mercy. Notice, and with him is abundant redemption. You've got abundant sins.
Good news for you. There's abundant redemption to be had in God. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Our blessed God, our glorious Lord has dealt with us according to grace and mercy, never sacrificing his justice.
The son of his love assumed our humanity and lived for us and died for us and rose again for us to satisfy divine justice and to make the way so that God's grace could be profusely poured out upon us so that we would know abundant redemption and that we would know redemption from all of our iniquities. Well, hopefully this has been somewhat encouraging. I think that the Psalms of David are most helpful for any soul that is in distress, any soul that is downcast. There's a Psalm in the 150 somewhere that is going to speak to you.
It's going to encourage you. And the Spirit of God in the history of the church has used the Psalter in an immeasurable way to build up the saints of Jesus Christ. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this wonderful psalm. We thank you for David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, teaching us truth, teaching us truth about strict justice, teaching us truth about the upholding of that justice in the gospel of our Lord, and the fact that you do save, that you are merciful and gracious, and that there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. We thank you for that.
We pray again that many would come to a saving knowledge of our Lord, that they would see that there is abundant redemption to be had in the God of heaven and earth. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.