Hope in the Lord's Plentiful Redemption

If you would open your Bible to Psalm 130, that's where we will spend our time
this morning.
There's a lot of brokenness in our world, isn't there? Just what we prayed about.
Cancer, death, persecution. You watch the news and we see political instability in
the world around us and even in our own country.
We see violence in our streets and across the world. We see multiple wars going on.
There's not a lot of reason to hope in what we see in the world. And that's where
this Psalm, Psalm 130, I think helps us. This Psalm has been of great counsel to
my own soul in seasons of trial, and I hope as we study it today, as we
understand its meaning and for the people, the original hears the people of Israel
and understand how it applies today that it will be of great help and encouragement
to you. I hope that what we will see is that ultimately the people of Israel what
sustained them was their hope in the Lord's plentiful redemption. And I hope that
you will see that that is our hope as well today. Before we study, I wanna set up
some context on Psalm 130. Psalm 130 is one of 15 songs of a sense.
You'll see that in the superscript under the heading on Psalm 130 in your Bible. If
you flip back to Psalm 120, that's where you see the collection begins. This
collection of 15 Psalms from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134 were collected for the Jewish
people to sing as they made their way to Jerusalem for their appointed pilgrim
feast. There were three pilgrim feasts that they were to attend and come back to
Jerusalem. The first one was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, also associated with
Passover, which occurred in early spring. The second was the Feast of Weeks or
Pentecost, which took place in late spring or early summer. And then the last was
Booths or Tabernacles, which took place in the fall. You'll notice that the ascent
is plural. So the pattern is in the Song of Ascent. It's multiple trips. The
pattern was for the Jewish people to regularly go to Jerusalem and they would sing
these songs on their way And they were to go to Jerusalem because this was the
specified place where the Lord said he would be worshipped If you'll flip back in
your Bible to Deuteronomy 12 as The nation of Israel was preparing to go into the
land that the Lord would give them the Lord And the promised land and they would
conquer the land the Lord gave them this command in Deuteronomy 12 starting in verse
1. These are the statutes and the rules that you shall be careful to do in the
land that the Lord the God of your fathers has given you to possess all the days
that you live on the earth. You shall destroy all the places where the nations whom
you shall dispossess served their gods on the high mountains and on the hills and
under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their
pillars and burn their ashram with fire. You shall chop down their carved images of
their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not worship the Lord
your God in that way, but you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will
choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There
you shall go and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices,
your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your free will
offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. And there you shall
eat before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice you and your households and all
that you undertake in which the Lord your God has to you. So we see from this
passage this was the command to go to the place that the Lord chose. This was in
contrast as we saw it to the many varied places that the people who were in the
land previously worshiped all of their gods. So before the temple was built the
place that the Lord chose would have been where the tabernacle was as they moved
around as a traveling people, which for much of the time was in Shiloh, but
eventually the place that the Lord would choose would be where the temple was built
in Jerusalem. And the term of a sense as we see plays off of the command to go
up to ascend. Even the songs of a sense testify to this. In Psalm 122 it says,
Jerusalem built as a city that is bound firmly together to which the tribes go up.
The tribes of the Lord as was decreed for Israel to give thanks to the name of
the Lord. So we see from these two passages, the Lord prescribed specific ways in
which he was to be worshiped. And these songs, these 15 songs of a sense, were
part of the way that the people of Israel used to join together with each other to
sing as they came to worship him. All right, so if you'll turn back to Psalm 130,
let me pray before we enter into our study of God's word.
Heavenly Father, we ask for the opening of our eyes and our hearts by the power of
your spirit as we search the depths of your marvelous word. Give me clarity as I
speak and help me to rest, not in my efforts, but in the power of your revealed
word. Give us hope as we look to Christ. In Jesus' name we
All right, Psalm 130, a song of a sense. Out of the depths I cry to you,
oh Lord, oh Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my
pleas for mercy.
If you, oh Lord, should mark iniquities, oh Lord, who could stand? But with you
there is forgiveness that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in His word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchman for the
morning, more than watchman for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption, and
He will redeem Israel from all His iniquities. May to add his blessing to this
reading of his word. As we work our way through the text, you'll note how often
Lord shows up. Now we see two different versions of Lord. We see Lord with all
caps and then Lord with the lower caps. And when Lord is spelled with all caps
that refers to Yahweh, the covenant name of God, which comes from God,
Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush where the Lord said his name to be I
am who I am. But when we see it with the lower case letters, it refers to the
word Adonai, which means ruler or someone with power and authority. Whereas this
brings to mind Psalm 81, oh Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the
earth. What it's saying is that Yahweh, our God, our covenant, God is our Adonai,
he is our ruler. And so I think the repeated use and calling back to the Lord
helps the psalmist remember who is ultimately responsible for hearing our pleas,
redeeming us, and offering us hope. It's like continuing as you talk to the king to
say yes, your highness, of course your highness, yes, your highness, he's reminding
himself who he is speaking to. The author is acutely aware of who he's crying out
to. And if we remember where this fits into the songs of a sense. This is for the
people as they are approaching God's temple. So they are remembering who it is
ultimately that they are bringing their sacrifices to. Ultimately, it is the Lord, it
is Yahweh who is the one that offers us forgiveness.
If we look at the whole Psalm, you'll see it broken into four different groupings
of two verses of Pete's, and that's how we'll study it today. The first half of
the Psalm verses one to four or a private address from the Psalmist to the Lord
directly. You see, he calls out as to you and when he refers to the Lord. And
then the second half of the verse, it turns to a public address when you're first
to him just as the Lord and he starts to implore Israel directly. I think the link
that we see between both of these two halves is that the Lord does not mark our
iniquities, but he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. He will redeem us
from all our iniquities." So I see each of these four groupings describing a heart
posture that is true of all of those who put their hope in the Lord's forgiveness.
These postures would have been true for the people in Israel, the first people to
sing this psalm, and they're true of us today. And those heart postures are one,
crying desperately, two, standing spotlessly, three,
waiting expectantly, and four, encouraging communally. All right,
the first posture we see in verse one and two, and let's turn there, is crying
desperately.
Out of the depths, I cry to you, oh Lord, what a way to start.
Do you talk like that at home? I don't typically unless it's maybe because my
Amazon package got delayed or I've stubbed my toe or the laundry pile on the couch
keeps growing and growing and growing. We're just surrounded by the depths of laundry
in our house. But think about it, when was the last time that you cried out to
the Lord because of the distress that you were facing? It seems that because for
most of our lifetimes, we and really had to face sufferings, we have two responses
to the difficulties that we face in our life. On the one hand, we can elevate
annoyances to the place of suffering, or two, when we actually face suffering,
because we haven't faced suffering, we don't know how to deal with it. Because of
the many technological and societal advances that we benefit from today, and don't
get me wrong, they are a benefit. But we just haven't had to face the sufferings
that previous generations face. We have vaccines that prevent diseases that would have
killed people in our families three or four generations ago. We have ready access to
food and water. We're not worried, at least in America, about wars and air raids
going on in our hometowns. And so because we haven't suffered, we don't know how to
handle suffering when it comes our way, and it will come our way. Whether it's
economic pressure, disease, or even suffering for the gospel, we will all have to
deal with suffering in some way. And that's where the Psalms come in. Andrew Wilson,
who's a British pastor and author in describing our inability to process suffering
points us back to the Psalms. He says, "It's like the less we have suffered, the
less equipped we are to deal with it. That's why the Psalms are so powerful. They
don't avoid the problem of pain, and they don't explain it away. They tackle it
head -on, and in doing so, they help us process our distress in ways that actually
fit with the realities we're experiencing. They give us words and emotion of seasoned
sufferers, and they train us how to respond honestly, wisely, and well.
Look at these examples of language of lament that's found in the Psalms. Psalm 13,
how long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face
from me? Or Psalm 69, I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold.
I have come into deep waters "and the flood sweeps over me." Or Psalm six, "Be
gracious to me, O Lord, "for I am languishing. "Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are
troubled." The Psalmists here in each of these Psalms are lamenting the situation
they are in, whether it was physical distress, oppression, or even the seeming
absence of the Lord in their trials. The Psalm writers don't hide their emotion, but
they call out clearly to the Lord. And Psalm 130 is another example of a Psalm of
lament. So look back in verse one of Psalm 130. 130, out of the depths,
I cry to you, oh Lord, oh Lord, hear my voice, let your ears be attentive to the
voice of my pleas for mercy. See how those words move from the general to the
specific. Cry, hear my voice, hear the voice of my pleas for mercy.
These are the words of someone in a desperate situation. He needs help and
ultimately he wants the Lord to be attentive to him. So why would he want the Lord
to be attentive to him? I see a couple of reasons. One, he realizes the desperate
situation that he's in and he needs help and he can do nothing about it. And two,
he knows that the Lord and do something about it.
So why does he want the Lord to do something about it? Why is he calling out? Why
does he need help? Is it his circumstances? Is it worldly foes? Is he coming in
the same posture as the Psalmist from Psalm 120? Look at Psalm 120, remember, the
first song of ascent. In my distress, I called to the Lord and he answered me,
"Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips and a the deceitful tongue. Let's compare the
language of Psalm 120 and 130. Psalm 120, in my distress I called to the Lord.
130, out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Back in 120, and he answered me.
130, O Lord, hear my voice. 120, deliver me, O Lord,
from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. O Lord, from lying from a deceitful
tongue, in 130, "Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas "for mercy."
So remember again, Psalm 120 was the first of the songs of the saints. This was
the song that the people would sing as they started their journey from being
dispersed in the land as they made their way to Jerusalem. They are leaving behind
a hostile world and crying out to the Lord to help them as they return to God's
people.
But if we go back to Psalm 130, so we follow to the end of verse two, we see
that the depths that this Psalmist is crying out from is not circumstances, but
ultimately it's a plea for mercy over the Psalmist's sin. The greatest depth that we
have to come out of is not financial, medical, or even persecution,
but it is separation from a holy God because of our sin. This should cause us to
cry desperately.
Our response to our own sin should be like this psalmist. He is crying out that
God would hear him, pleading that God would grant him mercy for the, and because he
knows the depth of his sin and where he stands in his sin away from God.
When you are confronted with the reality of your sin. Where do you turn? Do you
turn to pep talks and encouragement? It's all right, buddy. You'll get it next time.
You'll figure it out. Do you turn to comparisons? Well,
at least I'm not sending in those big ways that she's sending in. Or do you turn
to religious discipline? Sorry, Lord, from now on, I'm gonna read my Bible. Every
day, I'm gonna pray three times a day and I'm never missing church.
I'll ask the question again. When was the last time that you cried out to the
Lord? When was the last time that you pled for mercy because of your sin? Are you
grieved by your sin in the way that this psalmist is?
See, the Psalms give us words to not only express our emotions about our
circumstances, but also to help us view our sin in the way that the Lord sees our
sin. Look at these examples of confession from the Psalms. Psalm 51,
for I know my transgression and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only
have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Or from Psalm 25, for your
namesake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. Psalm 143,
"Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before
you." So what do we do with this? Do we turn to those examples of pep talks or
comparison, religious discipline? No, we do what the psalmist did.
We cry out to God, and the good news is that we have a God who listens and who
does something about it. The verse that Rick mentioned earlier, look at 1 John 1 9,
if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Crying out to the Lord should not be weird or foreign
to us because the Lord is gracious and attentive to our needs. The psalmist cried
out to the Lord because he knew the Lord was able to provide mercy and in the
cross of Jesus we see that he was willing to provide mercy. If you don't know how
to do that, if you don't know how to cry out to the Lord, or you don't know how
to find the right words to say, pray that the Holy Spirit would give you the words
to cry out to the Lord and turn to the Psalms. Use the language of the Psalms
that we just read, pray those words as you confess your sins to the Lord. So don't
be weirded out about crying out to the Lord. We cry out to the Lord because we
can do nothing to satisfy a holy God for the wrath our sins deserve, but he can
and he did. That takes us to our second posture, verses three to four, standing
spotlessly. If you, oh Lord, should mark iniquities, Oh Lord,
who could stand? We're continuing in the psalmist's private address to God.
The psalmist asks a rhetorical question. If you, oh Lord, should mark iniquities,
that is, if you, oh Lord, should keep a tally of our iniquities, who could stand?
You can further confirmation that the depths that he is crying out from is his sin.
What a gut -wrenching question.
Consider this again in the context of the songs of a sense as we saw the people
could only offer sacrifices in the place that the Lord chose. And so when they had
dispersed amongst the Promised Land after they had conquered it, they were no longer
centrally located around the Tabernacle as they had been when they were traveling
around in the wilderness. So where they previously had been able to offer sacrifices
at the Tabernacle daily, once they were dispersed, they could no longer do that. So
they had these pilgrim festivals where they could come as we saw earlier and come
and make sacrifices to the Lord and offer the sin offering and the burnt offerings.
And so as the people made their way to Jerusalem on these journeys as they sang
these songs these would have been a joyous time as they were reunited with God's
people joined together in the Lord's presence for worship. But the reality of their
sin came in to you as they were bringing their animals for sacrifices. They
approached the temple and understood the reality of something being offered in their
place for their sin. So where does the psalmist turn? Look at verse four.
But what a great conjunction defined in scripture. But with you, but with you there
is forgiveness. But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. "The
psalmist turns to the Lord, "but with you there is forgiveness. "Forgiveness is not
provided "because we have offered something to the Lord "to appease him. "It comes
from him. "He did not leave us on our own, "but specified and provided ways "for
us to be made right with him. "For the original hearers, "this would have been
through the blood of bulls and goats. "The Lord specified a sacrificial system
whereby his people could be made clean, and they could enter interrelationship with
him over and over again. He did not leave his people to his own devices to figure
out some magic pill or a silver bullet. He specified the way in which his people
could be forgiven. But the reality is the blood of bulls and goats couldn't actually
take away sin. These had to be offered continually. That's why the people had to
come back to Jerusalem for these pilgrim festivals year after year. That's why we
have this collection of songs of the sins for them to sing on the journey as they
made their way back to Jerusalem. Look at Hebrews 10, "And every priest stands daily
at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away
sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies
should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he has perfected
for all time those who are being sanctified. For us on this sacrifice of the cross,
we know now that it is finished. The work is done. God offered forgiveness in
himself through his son Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5, for our sake he made him to be sin
who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
By whose merit will you stand before the Lord?
If you're trying to stand on your good works or your parents' faith or on anyone
or anything other than Jesus, you will not stand.
So turn to him today, repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and join with a
hymn writer in saying, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and
righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on Jesus' name,
when he shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found, dressed in
his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne, on Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand."
So what's the ultimate goal of our forgiveness? as we see in verse four, that we
will fear the Lord. Remember, O Lord our Lord, Yahweh is our Adonai.
The Lord God, the One with all power is the One who forgives us. Now,
fearing the Lord doesn't mean that we're afraid of Him. It implies a proper
reverence and humble obedience. Again, O Lord our Lord. Knowing and embracing our
forgiveness drives us to want to serve and obey the one who has shown us
forgiveness.
What does it look like to fear the Lord? Well, it looks like saying no to the
sinful things we used to turn to, to provide pleasure or comfort in times of
distress.
It means living according to the standards that he has set for us in scripture.
Look at these examples of what humble obedience look like. In Mark 12,
when Jesus responded to the question about what was the most important commandment of
all, he said this, which Rick also mentioned earlier. Jesus said, "The most important
is here, oh Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and
with all your strength. And the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as
yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And we see in the
epistles, the epistle writers expounding on these, a couple other examples from
Ephesians, let no uncorrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as good
for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.
We're from First Thessalonians. We urge you brothers, admonish the idol, encourage
them, faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. Or first Peter,
abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. I think
before salvation, I don't think any of these would have been characteristics that
would have defined any of us. But the gospel changes everything. Living this way in
obedience to what God has called us to does not earn us salvation. These again are
responses to salvation. We fear the Lord, we serve and obey him because with him is
forgiveness.
The last observation to make from this section is back to the question that was
asked in verse three. If you should mark iniquities. I think the implication in the
question is that God does not mark our iniquities for those who are in Christ.
Colossians 2 tells us, "And you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision
of your flesh. God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our
trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal
demands. He He set aside, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Record of iniquities canceled because it was nailed to the cross.
Now there are two sinful ways that we could be tempted to respond to this. On the
one side we have legalism, which just says that we are saved, we are merited
salvation because of the good works that we do. Now This is false teaching because
it denies that we are saved by grace alone. And on the other end of the spectrum,
the other way we can be tempted is something called antinomianism, anti -meaning,
against and no -most meaning law, so against the law. So what this is saying is
that because we believe in grace, we don't have to follow the law anymore. Now this
is false teaching because it denies that those who have put their faith in Jesus,
have died to sin.
So trusting in our works alone is false, and believing in grace, but not letting
that change and transform our life into a life of obedience to Christ is also
false. Now I think we all have a bent towards one side or the other. Now mind,
and I would guess is probably true of most of us, is towards legalism. We wanna
keep the rules, we wanna do the right thing, toe the line, be a good kid, and
we'll be accepted by God. We can feel like when we're doing good things that we
are a good person. But along with trusting in our own works, comes with the
constant reminder that we don't actually measure up. We end up keeping in our hearts
our own mark, our own tallies of our iniquities, and it's exhausting.
Restless nights remembering how many times you've messed up and sinned. Remembering
how you don't measure up. Grace just seems too easy for us to comprehend.
We want to do something to add to what the Lord has done for us. Now here's the
thing, you don't measure
that we don't measure up. But what this Psalm tells us, what the Gospel tells us,
what the finished work of Christ on the cross tells us is that God does not keep
that record against us, that we can stand spotlessly, that our sins have been
forgiven and that the Lord is to be feared.
All right, so let's move to the second half of the Psalm. We'll to the third part
posture, waiting expectantly. I wait for the Lord,
my soul waits, and in His word, I hope. And we notice,
as we mentioned earlier, how the subject of the address has turned into a public
address now, where we were previously addressing the Lord privately, and now we're
addressing Him amongst the nation of Israel. So what does it mean to wait for the
Lord? Or Mark Rogrop, who's an author and he's the president of the Gospel
Coalition, offers a helpful definition of waiting in the Bible. He says,
"In the Old Testament, several Hebrew words are used, but the common thread between
them is looking for something or someone with eager expectation." In other words,
waiting is a space to be filled. A gap emerges and we look or hope for something
to fill it. From a spiritual standpoint, God fills that gap with himself,
his plans or his promises. To wait is to look with hope. Biblical waiting looks to
the Lord. Look back at verse five. I wait for the Lord in his word,
I hope.
Why his word? I think my default and probably y 'all's default is anytime we see
his word in scripture we just assume the Bible. And there are a lot of things to
hope for in the Bible. Here's just a couple things. Though our outer self is
wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Humble yourself therefore
under the mighty hand of God so at the proper time he may exalt you. And from a
revelation, and behold I am coming soon. These are hopeful things, but I think as
we understand the arrangement of the Psalter and where this song fits into the songs
of a sense, the word here is likely referring to the word of forgiveness that would
have been offered following the sacrifices for the sin offering and the burnt
offering at the temple. In Leviticus 4, concerning the laws for the sin offering,
we see four times the phrase, and the priest shall "atoned it for them, and they
shall be forgiven." So as we followed along with the psalmist, we've seen that he's
cried out for mercy over his sins. He's remembered the forgiveness found in the
Lord, and he is waiting with hope, with full assurance for the word of forgiveness
to be pronounced as he approaches the temple for the offerings. For us on this side
of the cross, our hope is in the forgiveness that was achieved by Jesus on the
cross. It is a sure thing. It is finished. There is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. So, does that mean that there was a different
mode of salvation in the Old Testament pre Christ than there is for those of us
now who put their faith in Christ's finished work? Was salvation through obedience in
the Old Testament and then through faith in the New Testament? Resoundingly,
no, we are all saved through faith in Jesus. The reality is the Old Testament
sacrifices were all pointing to Jesus. Let's look back again at Heber's 10.
But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is
impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. These animal
sacrifices were ultimately pointing to Jesus. Jesus, once for all, sacrifice on the
cross was to save all who would put their faith in him, looking forward to those
of us now who put their faith in Jesus and looking backward in time to the Old
Testament saints who waited for his eventual and sure coming. Charles Spurgeon said,
"Before the Lord Jesus Christ came, all the spiritual people among the 12 tribes
were waiting for his appearing. They firmly believed that he would come, yet they
died without the sight for which they were looking. Over the door of the great
mausoleum of the Old Testament saints is inscribed this epitaph. These all died in
faith, not having received the promises but having seen them afar off." And he's
quoting Hebrews 11 -13. "They were waiters, waiting until the rod "should come forth
out of the stem of Jesse, "and the branch should grow out of his roots. "The
psalmist is ultimately waiting "for the future salvation to be brought by the Lord.
"I wait for the Lord." Waiting on the Lord is a hopeful activity because of the
surety of the one in whom we place our hope. And this hope is not a flippant
hope, it is a sure hope. Just like the morning was for the watchman. Our hope is
not measured by the strength of our longings, but by the surety of the object in
which we place our hope. I'll say that again. Our hope is not measured by the
strength of our longings, but by the surety of the object in which we place our
hope. The watchman knew every night no matter how dark it got the morning would
still come That's why I think it said twice. They waited more than watchmen for the
morning more than watchmen for the morning So again, we wait with certainty Because
because we know an end is coming an end to our suffering an end to our sin We
wait with hope "because of the forgiveness that God has given us in Christ. "My
soul waits for the Lord more than Watchman "for the morning." The Watchman's job was
to stand alert all night. They couldn't rest, they couldn't fall asleep.
The security of the city rested on their shoulders. So their waiting for the morning
wasn't a static or stationary thing. There was work to be done. And there is work
to be done in our waiting as well. But the primary work of our waiting is
increasing our trust and dependence on the Lord. Look at these examples of waiting
and encouragement from scripture. Isaiah 40, 31, but they who wait for the Lord
shall renew their strength. In Psalm 33, 20, our soul waits for the Lord,
He is our help and our shield. While we wait, God shows us how to rely on Him.
He may be showing us our weaknesses, but His power is made perfect in weakness.
God is doing something in us in the midst of our trials. And because He is
faithful to respond to our pleas for mercy regarding our sin, We know that he is
faithful to respond to our pleas for mercy regarding our trials Jesus death on the
cross is the hinge on which all of our hope turns not only for forgiveness from
sins But also to face the trials and uncertainties of this life
Life in this world is hard. Isn't it? plane crashes infertility,
disease, disability, prodigal children, cancer,
and death.
These are all because our world is broken and tainted by sin. There is nothing in
the world that isn't tainted by sin. But the good news of the gospel brings all of
our suffering into perspective. When we are doubled over in tears for the brokenness
around us, it's helpful to remind ourselves what's true of us in Christ. We remind
ourselves that He has not marked our iniquities.
When we're overwhelmed by the sufferings that we face in this world, it can be
helpful to go off and do a quiet place and remind ourselves of what's true in
Christ. For me, that's our closet. We have four kids, so It's kind of the farthest
room in the house, away from all the noise. I go to our closet, I shut the door,
I turn off the lights, I lay on the floor, I cover my ears to tune out all the
noise, and I remind myself that God is in control. This may be by through reciting
scripture, or singing a hymn, or just remembering the Lord's sovereign purposes and
protection in and through The storms Bob
so often reminds us that the gospel isn't a one -time thing From when we were saved
and that we move on to greater and bigger things the gossip We need to re -repent
and re -believe the gospel each and every day and doing that helps us remember
What's true of us in Christ and puts our suffering in perspective We know that we
did not deserve salvation, but God has freely offered to us that to us in Christ.
And so, after those few moments in my closet, my heart settles down and I'm renewed
to face whatever lies before me, to tune out all the other noise, knowing what is
ultimately true of me in Christ. Now, I have to do that all the time.
It's not a one -time fixed. We have to be reminded of that all the time because we
face suffering in various forms all the time. But we know one day all things will
be made new and we will rest from our labors. The watchman waited for the morning
because they knew it would come. Each day the sun rose and with the dawn brought
rest from their labors. That's what we're waiting for. That's what Kelly Rackley was
waiting for, and that's what she knows now more than she did before Wednesday.
Last week Bob pointed us ahead to where we'll be in a couple weeks in Revelation
21 and 22. It says, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying,
nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. Night will be no more.
Wait expectantly for the morning. It's coming.
Let's move to our last posture. Encouraging communally.
O Israel, "Hope in the Lord." We see here as we move to the last section,
the psalmist implore God's people directly, "Hope in the Lord." Why?
Why do they hope in the Lord? Because with him is steadfast love and plentiful
redemption. Look at Lamentations 3, "But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope." The steadfast love "of the Lord never ceases.
"His mercies never come to an end. "They are new every morning.
"Great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion says my soul. "Therefore I will
hope in Him." God's love for his people never stops. His mercies never end.
The Lord Himself is our portion. Therefore we have hope. Oh Israel,
oh Redeemer, hope in the Lord.
With him is plentiful redemption.
I looked up the definition of plentiful this week, 'cause it's one of those words
that you use and out of context and you kind of just assume you know what it
means, but it's helpful to know the definition. So here's what it said. Plentiful,
Existing in or yielding great quantities, abundant.
With the Lord are great quantities of redemption. With Him is abundant redemption.
Our sins are not marked, but He has shown us abundant. More than enough,
great quantities of redemption through Christ. Again, the greatest depth that we have
to climb out of is our own sin. God has redeemed us through Christ's blood.
We should be so excited about this that we should want to tell each other about
this and encourage each other in this. The reality of our redemption should embolden
us to encourage fellow believers to hope in the Lord.
As the Jewish people sang this song as they made their way to the temple, They
were remembering the forgiveness in God and they were imploring each other to hope
in Him. They're rejoicing with one another as they came together for a time away
from God's people and are excited to be together with God's people. And does that
sound familiar? That's what we do each Sunday when we gather together with God's
people. We come together worn down and tired. We sing and two,
when another, we confess, and to remind us of the Lord's faithfulness, we confess
our sins and are reminded of the forgiveness that we have in the Lord. The
assurance of pardon that we heard earlier today after our confession is not the
moment that our sins were forgiven. Sorry, but Rick Tartar is not our mediator.
We have one mediator who offered himself on the cross for us, Jesus Christ our
Lord. So that time in the service, our time of confession allows us to cry out for
mercy, to understand the gravity of our own sin and to remember that with the Lord
there is forgiveness. We then spend time studying God's word each week just like
we're doing right now to understand how he has been at work in times past among
his people, what he reveals about himself, and then what that means for us as we
live out our life in Christ's forgiveness. And then we end each service by
celebrating the Lord's Supper together so that we can remember the hope that we have
through Christ's death and resurrection.
So the whole Sunday gathering is pointing us to the redeeming work of Christ for
us. These elements of our Sunday service help us to communally encourage one another
to hope in the Lord because they all point us back to Christ's work for us. What
a sure hope we have.
So to wrap it up, as we've walked along with the psalmist, as we've ascended with
him through the psalm, we've seen the four heart postures that were true of all who
hope in the Lord for the people in Israel and then for us today. The first was
crying desperately. Remember, crying out to the Lord should not be weird or foreign
to us because the Lord is gracious and attentive to our needs. The second that we
saw was standing spotlessly. Remember, knowing and embracing our forgiveness,
forgiveness drives us to want to serve and obey the one who has shown forgiveness.
The third posture was a posture of waiting expectantly. Remember, waiting on the Lord
is a hopeful activity because of the surety of the one in whom we place our hope.
And the last was encouraging communally. Remember, the reality of our redemption
should embolden us to encourage fellow believers to hope in the Lord.
In closing look at verse eight of Psalm 130. and he will redeem Israel from all
his iniquities. All, every single one.
When the word redeem is used in scripture in context for Israel, it typically
signifies rescue and protection. The psalmist knew this to be true and he hoped on
it and waited for it. We know it to be true in Christ, don't we? He has rescued
us from the wrath of God and will protect us until we are safely home.
All iniquities forgiven. Whatever trial you are facing, remember the gospel.
Remember who you are in Christ. Hope in the Lord's plentiful redemption.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the plentiful, abundant redemption we have in
Christ our Lord. Help us to see our sin for what it truly is and offense against
a holy God. Help us rest in Christ's righteousness as we wait for the day when all
things will be made new. Father, I thank You for this fellowship of believers who
love You and love each other and faithfully point each other back to the cross.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.