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Amen. Well we're going to read Psalm
130. Psalm 130. Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice, let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But
there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. I
wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy,
and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. As we come to Psalm 130 this
evening, we have a psalm which is a favourite of the people
of God. Martin Luther considered it one
of his favourites, and Psalm 130 was also very influential
in the conversion of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. And
it isn't hard for us to see why this psalm may be special, why
this psalm may be of great encouragement for the people of God. It is
because of that ground and that assurance that we have of our
salvation. As we have gone through these
psalms we have encountered the theme of afflictions that the
pilgrim faces. and we may view many of these
afflictions as being something which is external to us. Cast
your mind back to Psalm 120, the first of these songs of degrees,
and there the psalmist is lamenting the trouble that he is in, and
in particular the lies and the falsehood of the world, the false
accusation and the slandering that comes to the people of God.
So there are many afflictions that come to God's people. Very
many of them are from without. Last week we were looking at
Psalm 129 and there the psalmist is looking back over his life
and he could confirm and say how many a time have they, something
external, afflicted me from my youth. Many a time have they
afflicted me from my youth. As we look at those things that
come from without, there is a battle in which the people of God are
firmly in. There is harassment, there is
persecutions, there is trouble, there is opposition, and this
is the pilgrim's journey. However, Psalm 130 is still talking
about some of the difficulties that we have in life, but it's
now much more from an internal perspective. The troubles aren't
from the outside, but they are from within. And in particular,
the way in which we consider and view our own salvation before
the Lord. So we're not thinking about the
world, we're not thinking about the devil coming, although there
may well be elements of that that are included, but in particular
our own personal walk with the Lord and our own personal assurance
of salvation. Verses one and two begin like
a lot of the Psalms begin, with a directive to pray to God. We have here this cry of anguish. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. The psalmist
begins here at rock bottom, so to speak, and he is calling to
God, he is crying to God that the Lord would hear him and be
attentive to the supplications that he has. He wants the plight
that he is in to be heard of God. And as you progress through
this psalm, you see where the psalmist is. And as he meditates
and considers God, he is lifted up to behold the wonder of salvation. But it is interesting that we
have here in Psalm 130, the way in which prayer is expressed
in that term cry. When we think about the word
cry or the emotional response that we would attach to that
word, ideas are formed in our minds. This psalmist here isn't
happy, he isn't knowing great enjoyment of life. If he is crying,
and he is crying to the Lord, then there is something which
is weighing very heavy upon his heart, and he is at an end of
himself. He cannot remedy these situations
himself, and so the only option for him is to cry to the Lord. When we encounter people who
are distressed, people who are crying, it is quite a difficult
thing to witness. Because as you ask the person
what is the matter, they will find articulating what the problem
is to be extremely difficult. They may not be able to use coherent
words. They won't be able necessarily
to accurately describe what is happening. They just have this
anguish which is bubbling up in this cry. And so a cry indicates
that the person is deeply affected by the thing that is troubling
them. We don't cry unless we're troubled. A cry would suggest
that the psalmist here sees no hope within and sees no remedy
that he can muster himself. There is an exhaustion of the
resource to cope. When we think about why we might
cry, we may cry because of bereavement. There is nothing that can be
done to bring back that loved one. All hope of recovery is
gone, and now there is that ache of separation. We may cry because
of life's circumstances weighing us down. We don't know which
way to turn, we don't know which way to go. We don't see a way
forward and we don't see a way out. we may cry because we have
been hurt. And those wounds, perhaps from
people that we love, have been very severe and very penetrating
into our being. Another thing that crying shows
is a tender spirit. The psalmist here, he's not a
proud man at this point. He's not puffed up with how good
he is and what he has accomplished and what he has achieved. He's
not like the publican that we read about in Luke chapter 16,
where he goes down to the temple to pray and he is puffed up in
himself, looking at everybody else and seeing what a good chap
he is. He's not proud. He's been brought
low. and he cannot remedy his situation. Well, as we will find out later,
it's not about external things that are troubling him, it is
about his own sinfulness. He's weighed down by the law
of God and that broken law of God, and he is weighed down by
the condemnation that he is under. But this cry of the psalmist
isn't an empty cry. It is a cry of faith. Though
he is weighed down by his wretched condition, it is not a resigned
or despairing cry whereby all hope is gone. If that were the
case, then he wouldn't be praying to God or crying to God. His cry is directed to the Lord. It isn't a cry against God, it
is a cry to God, and it's important that we notice that distinction. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Well, the psalmist here is crying
to God. And when we think about the one
that he is coming to, it is such a perfect solution to his situation. It is the best option that he
could have. There's no benefit in turning
to fellow man because even with the best intentions and even
with the best will, they will not be able to do what is needed
for him. He doesn't need a sympathiser
that will come and put an arm around him, because although
that may be comforting, that won't change his situation. What
he needs is to come to God who is able to remedy his problem. And the God that he comes before
is not only all-wise, nor is he just all-powerful, he is patient. He is all of these things together. And so the psalmist is knowing
that his God is the right one to come before, because not only
does God know the way to take, Not only does God have the power
to do what he wishes and determines, he's also patient and kind and
long-suffering toward us. And whatever the situation we
are thinking about, God knows the solution. He has the remedy. He knows the way forward and
he knows the end from the beginning. So if it's some external problem,
he knows how that situation is going to come to resolution. And likewise, for this situation
that the psalmist is in, whereby he is weighed down by his sin,
God has provided the rescue, the remedy, and the salvation. And the Lord is patient with
us, that though we are so neglectful to understand, though we are
so easily moved off track, he is patient with us. So looking
in more detail at what it is that is weighing the psalmist
down, we turn to verse three. And here we have the realization
of sin. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? We have a similar sentiment of
the pilgrim that we found in Psalm 124. There the psalmist
looked at the possibility of what would have happened if God
had not intervened for them, if God had not helped them, if
God had not been on their side. Psalm 124, if it had not been
the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say, if it had
not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against
us, then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was
kindled against us. Then the waters had overwhelmed
us, the stream had gone over our soul, then the proud waters
had gone over our soul. There the psalmist is taken up
with how he's been delivered from the troubles that are outside.
And here we have a similar kind of question being asked. What would happen if the Lord
marked iniquity? Well, as we think about that,
there is on one hand the truth and the reality that God does
mark iniquities. We read in the scriptures of
God keeping records, not because he has the ability to forget,
but to show us what happens in life is never ignored or missed,
but is recorded and marked. and on that day of judgment all
the books will be opened, will be brought before the judgment
seat of Christ, and we will be judged for the things that we
have done in this life. Well, God marks. In life, we are glad that not
everything that we say or do or even think is recorded. Now, whilst we may feel like
at times we're living in a big brother state and we are being
watched, our moves, our activities are being monitored, we do know
those secret times and those private times when nobody else
is there, nobody else is seen. And we are pleased that nobody
else is there and nobody else has seen. But God has, and God
has recorded. But the sense in which the psalmist
is asking this question is on the basis of what's going to
come later on in the psalm. It is with the reality and the
backdrop of the grace and forgiveness of God. Because if the Lord did
mark our iniquities, then there would be nobody that would be
able to stand at that day of reckoning. And as we ponder our
sin, our sin is not some kind of little misdemeanor, it is
not small or insignificant, it is not merely a tiny dereliction
of duty, it is ultimately an offence against God. Even the
dictionary would define iniquity as being this, the immoral conduct
or practices harmful or offensive to society. And if we translate
that toward God, how big and how enormous that weight of sin
is. And so if our sins and our iniquities
have been recorded, then there can be no escape on that condemnation
that we deserve. We stand condemned. If the Lord recorded, there is
no way out for us. If the Lord recorded all of these
things, we would have no excuse and would be able to plead no
kind of mitigation. We would stand condemned in his
presence. And as we think about ourselves,
it is right that as believers we do have a real sense of our
sin, that we have a real understanding in our hearts as to what we were
like, what we have done. Now for some Christians that
is more difficult. that is more tricky for them. For some believers, on the other
hand, they don't need to be reminded of how bad they are, because
they continually feel the smarts of the broken law very acutely. They are very acquainted with
their guilt and their grief of sin, but others, not so much. And their idea of sin is perhaps
more minimal. It's not as what it should be.
They don't see the danger of sin, but they have absolute assurance
of salvation. The Psalmist though, he is very
conscious of his position if it had not been for the Lord.
He is very aware that if he stood at the courts of God's justice,
he would be thrust out into outer darkness. If we are struggling
to be sensitive towards sin, a good place to start is to pray
that the Lord would show us ourselves and to show us what we are like
as God sees us. Because as we begin to do that,
then we will begin to see even more so how amazing the grace
of God and the wonder of Christ and of his salvation truly is. One of the experiences of pilgrims
in this world heading to Zion is that the closer we get to
Zion, the more astounding grace should be. The closer we get
to the light of Christ, The more we will see of our own inadequacies
and the more we will view the wonder and the perfection of
Christ and what he has done for us. The psalmist in Psalm 139
said this, and know my heart, try me, and
know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting." Notice the two parts of those
verses. There is that consciousness and
that recognition of our sin, of our failure before God, but
then the prayer and the hope and the confidence of being led
in the way everlasting. The third thing to note is the
amazing grace of God. Now having said that some believers
fail to see enough of their own unworthiness, there are others
who will habitually fail to progress beyond verse three. They are
entirely stuck at the end of verse three. They cannot, they
will not move on to verse number four and see all the blessings
that we have in God. The psalm continues on a great
and a glorious theme of hope and of wonderful prospects for
the people of God. Now when we talk about hope,
we perhaps have more of the idea of wishful thinking. We hope
that there will be peace in the Middle East. We don't have anything
necessarily concrete to rely upon, but we hope that the warring
parties will come around the negotiating table and peace will
be brokered. When children are waiting for
their birthday, they have hopes as to what presents they might
receive. They don't know, but they hope
for the things that they have dropped large hints over. Well, that is perhaps what the
world would view hope to be. But when the Bible speaks about
hope, it is talking about something which is certain and something
which is concrete. something which isn't vague,
something which isn't unattainable, but something which is strong
and certain. For example, we have the hope
of eternal life, or we have the hope of the resurrection. Those
things aren't fanciful, wishful thinking, hopefully they'll come
to pass in the future, they are going to happen. There is the
prospect of eternal life for the people of God. There is the
reality of the resurrection. Now the reason why it may be
called hope is that it hasn't yet happened, but the fact that
it hasn't yet happened doesn't diminish the reality of it eventually
being fulfilled. Now, when we think about some
of our brothers and sisters in Christ, who perhaps have a little
bit of a skewed idea as to what hope is all about, they may speak
of hope being more of a wish. I hope I will get to heaven. I hope I am saved. There's nothing firm, there's
nothing certain in that situation. And so the psalm is showing us
why, as believers, we should have certainty about our salvation,
why we should have confidence in our walk with the Lord. It
is because of Christ, and it is because of what God has done
and what God has provided for his people. Let me read the last
few verses of this psalm. So the backdrop of the enormity
of sin, the reality of sin, and the terribleness of sin, we read
this, but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be
feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in his word do I hope. You have that word hope
again. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption,
and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. In those
four or five verses, you have some staggering statements of
truth. You have some wonderful promises
that are contained here. And the first is this, that there
is forgiveness with God. If the Lord marked iniquity,
who could stand? The answer is no one. However,
there is forgiveness with God. Now, what do we mean by the word
forgiveness? Well, one author puts it this
way. When God forgives us, he no longer holds our sins against
us. He no longer condemns us, but
our fellowship with him is no longer disrupted. And this is
because Jesus Christ has suffered sin's full penalty for all those
who trust in him. The idea there is of God not
holding that sin against us, treating us as if there had never
been that sin. Now, it's hard for us to understand
this. We find it very difficult, naturally
speaking, to forgive and then to forget. But we read here how
God forgives. With the Lord there is forgiveness. In other places, for example
in Isaiah, we read about how God blots out our transgression,
literally removes it, If you think back to school perhaps,
you used an ink and dipped it in your blotting paper and you
sucked up all the excess ink. Well, that's what God does with
our sin. You spill something in the kitchen,
you're going to get the tea towel or you're going to get the kitchen
roll and it sucks up the liquid that has been spilled. When it
comes to our transgressions, God in mercy, if we've turned
to him, he removes it, he sucks it up, it is gone. Another place
God refers to our sin being cast, behind his back. He's thrown
it behind his back, it can't be found, it's not there. Another
place we read about him remembering our sin no more. Now, that is
different to forgetting. We don't need any excuse. We don't need any prompts or
any thought to forget. That is a passive action. But we find here that God is
determining to remember no more. Another place we read about him
burying our sins or our iniquities in the depths of the sea. Back last year, you may remember
the search mission for the missing submarine that was looking for
the wreckage of the Titanic. And with all of the technology,
along with all the data that they had regarding currents and
the details of that particular submarine's movements, it took
them a long time to find that wreckage. Why was that? Because it was in the depth of
the sea. we find how our sins are described
as being cast into the depths. And the idea there is that they'll
never be found. In Daniel 9, verse 9, we are
shown that God is a God of forgivenesses. There is that overflowing forgiveness. There isn't a limit, as it were,
to his forgiveness. It is ongoing and continual. That's our God. No, if the Lord
should mark iniquity, who could stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. The second amazing statement
is about waiting on the Lord. there is that sense of waiting,
knowing that the Lord will be disposed in favour to the pilgrim. They are anticipating the blessing
to come, they are waiting confidently because of the sure words of
the Lord. When God spoke, it happened,
and the words that God has issued will never be empty. And so the
psalmist here knows full well that God is the God of forgiveness,
and he is depending upon that word. When we think about some
of the difficulties that we have in life, some of the temptations
that come our way, some of those times when we're filled with
unbelief, what are we to do? We're to rest upon and trust
the promises of God. Why? Because they are yea and
amen in Christ. So the psalmist knows full well
that God forgives and he is depending upon that word. The third amazing
statement is to do with his mercy. So the pilgrim is to wait on
the Lord, to hope in the Lord. Why? Because he knows his God
is merciful. He's a God that is full of loving-kindness. He is a God who doesn't give
us what we deserve. If we think about our lives,
if God were to administer his goodness toward us in terms of
what we deserve, we wouldn't have anything. We wouldn't deserve
a single thing. We wouldn't deserve the least
of his blessings. And yet God is merciful. God is full of loving kindness. There is mercy with him. That mercy is enormous, it extends
to the heavens and it reaches down into the depths. The psalmist can't get any lower
than where he began. He says, out of the depths. Have
I cried unto thee, O Lord? Was he outside of the reach of
that mercy? No, not at all. The mercy reaches
down to him where he is. Think about Jonah. He'd gone
away. He'd sinned spectacularly. He's
there in the depths of the ocean, quite literally, and mercy met
him there. The fourth amazing statement
is this, there is plenteous redemption. Let my soul waits for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. Sometimes we will hear of special
offers. If you are one of the first 500 customers to go through
a new store that has opened up, then you may be given a discount
voucher. And you have the idea that the
offer is limited, it is restricted. But the language of Psalm 130,
when thinking about the redemption of God, the salvation that comes
to us, that purchasing of us by the blood of Christ, it is
viewed in terms of being plenteous. Plenteous. There is ample. There is enough. And that brings
us to consider ourselves. We look at our sin. and we see
what we have done, what we said, what we thought, what we failed
to do that we should have done, and we see the mountain of that
sin rising up before us, and well, the Lord marks iniquities
who can stand, but there is plenteous redemption. We don't come to Christ and he
gives us a set quota. There you are, there's a portion
to your debt, and now it's up to you to go and sort out the
rest, do your good works, deal with the rest of your sin yourself.
No, we come to him and he gives us plenteous redemption. The apostle Paul spoke, where
sin abounds, grace did much more abound. It's enough to save. Now, there can be times when
we're tempted to feel, and I use that word deliberately, that
we are too sinful for salvation. Now, our feelings can be very
easily manipulated, and they can very easily fluctuate. They can change very quickly.
It doesn't take much for us to be up here and then suddenly
to be down in the depths. Now if we are resting upon our
feelings, how we feel on any given day, if we are trusting
in whether we feel our salvation is near to us or not, whether
we are forgiven or not, then we can be easily knocked off
course and sink into despair. However, this is where we must
rest and trust and wait on the Lord and rely upon him, because
he is the one that is our sure and certain redemption. He is
the one that is plenteous. Our confidence is not in our
feelings, but it is in Christ and what he has done. and we
must continually keep looking away from self, stop looking
within, and start looking to Christ. What will you find if
you look within? I'll tell you what you'll find. You'll see all of your failures.
You'll see all of your mistakes. You'll see all of your sin. You'll
see everything that you have done. But when you look to Christ,
what do you see? Oh, I see my Saviour, who gives
me plenteous redemption. And that brings us on to our
fifth and final statement of amazement. It's found in verse
eight. And he, I was talking about God,
he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. So often the
Lord came to his people and said, if you turn to me, if you repent,
if you come away from what you're doing and come and serve me with
all of your heart, then I will turn to you. In Isaiah chapter
one, though your sins are a scarlet, though your sins be like crimson,
they shall be as white as snow, they shall be like the wool.
If they turn, they will be redeemed. Well, for the child of God, looking
at the amazing promise, he will redeem you from all your iniquities. As you face eternity, as you
draw near to Zion, the child of God doesn't need to fear that
some of their iniquities are still lingering, still unatoned
for. The Lord has dealt with them.
He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. The Lord provides
the remedy, not just for every sin, but for every class of sinner. And the Lord Jesus Christ, with
his own precious blood, provides that redemption. He redeems us
from all our iniquities. In this psalm, we have both the
true realization of our sin and the amazing grace of our God. And we need both aspects of that
as we pilgrimage in this world. We need to have a proper understanding
of where we've come from, of what we've done, what we are
like by nature. But it doesn't stop there, because
if we're trusting in Christ, then we can delight in his mercy,
we can rejoice in his redemption, and we can trust him for all
that is to come, knowing that we are safe and secure in his
hands. Amen. May God bless these words
to
Amazing Grace
| Sermon ID | 124241045283016 |
| Duration | 37:35 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Psalm 130 |
| Language | English |
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