Psalm 130
Notes
Transcript
Every Christian that is honest will have to admit that they understand the emotions in this psalm.
This is a continuation of the psalms of degrees, or psalms of ascent…psalms that were sung by pilgrims as they journeyed up to the temple for the feasts.
As we read the verses of this psalm it is very identifiable.
We strive to be yielded to the Holy Spirit in our minds, our hearts, our emotions and our reactions…but the flesh is strong in pulling us to sin and weak an]t defending against temptation.
Jesus said:
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The disciples had repeatedly failed at staying awake and praying with Jesus.
anyone who has strived to increase their walk with God has struggled to stay awake, or at least their mind focused while praying.
anyone who has walked with the Lord for any amount of time knows what it is to fail, and to sin once again.p[
this psalm begins with a petition, a beseaching the Lord to hear his prayer.
we see the:
I. Request to Hear
I. Request to Hear
1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice: Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
It seems that the psalmist had spent some time swimming in a sea of guilt.
So he cries out to the Lord for help.
Which, by the way is the right place to run!
God answers his cry by giving him an understanding of his grace and forgiveness.
The devil likes to send us in a spiral of guilt.
Conviction and guilt are two different things.
Conviction leads to repentance…always
Guilt leads to despair and hopelessness.
The devil leads us to guilt, the Holy Spirit leads us to conviction.
Which ever one the Psalmist was experiencing, he went to the right place, and so should we!
The depths that He cried from talks about the deep waters of the sea.
It is also a picture of being far away from God.
He was feeling alienated from God because of sin, it would seem.
He begged God to hear his voice.
The Psalmist no doubt knew the truth of Psalm 66.18
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear me:
As the Psalmist turned back to God, and begged God to hear him, the Lord…as we will see…did hear him.
But the Psalmist asks to be heard, that God’s ears would be attentive…a Hebrew word involving responding to what you hear, not just come into the ear hole.
He wanted God to respond to the voice of his supplications…a word meaning to ask a favor, a prayer of petition…asking for something to be done.
This is where we need to be also!
When guilt, or conviction for that matter, overwhelms us, turn to God and beg for him to hear you as you repent and seek his forgiveness.
And praise the Lord He does hear when we come to Him!
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
The Psalmist made his request for God to hear him, then he had a...
II. Realization of Hopelessness
II. Realization of Hopelessness
3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with thee, That thou mayest be feared.
The Psalmist realized that he had no hope without God!
If God kept a record of our iniquites…who could possibly stand a chance?
The record of our lives prove that we are sinners!
WE are all guilty
WE all fall short of the glory of God!
Our only hope is forgiveness and mercy!
By the way, God does keep a record of sins.
The unsaved will be judged out of the books in which God has bee keeping record.
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
But praise the Lord when a person is saved, all of our sins are placed on Jesus’ account.
And the righteousness of Jesus is placed on our account.
The blood of Jesus covers all of those sins!
He removes those sins from us as far as the east is from the west!
12 As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
God will remember them no more
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
This doesn’t say that He doesn’t remember them, as if He forgot them but He says I will remember them no more.
In other words He will not recall them, He will not bring them up from his memory.
He will not use them against us.
He knows all things…He cannot forget anything, but He promises…and our God never lies, and cannot lie…He promises not to remember them…not to use them against us!
Verse 4 shows that the Psalmist began to receive a response from God.
There is forgiveness with thee, that thous mayest be feared.
The word feared means to respect to reverence to be in awe.
When confronted with the holiness of God, even through His forgiveness the psalmist sees the need to fear God.
God confirms with the Psalmist through His Holy Spirit that he is indeed forgiven…and so are you if you have repented and accepted Christ as your Savior!
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
When Satan comes to tempt me
and tries to make me doubt,
I say, ‘My sins are gone
You got me into trouble
but Jesus got me out,
I'm glad my sins are gone."
They’re underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary,
As far removed as darkness is from dawn;
In the sea of God’s forgetfulness,
that’s good enough for me,
Praise God, my sins are gone.
17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
The Psalmist made the request for God to Hear Him,
He had a realization of his own hopelessness,
but he didn’t stay in that despair he began....
III. Relying on Him
III. Relying on Him
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait,
And in his word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord
More than they that watch for the morning:
I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
To wait on the Lord means to look for to hope for, the root of the word comes from the twisting or winding of a strand of cord or rope.
Perhaps the idea is that you are putting all your trust and hope on that cord.
Either way He waited…he hoped in the Lord.
Interesting enough the word for “hope” is a different word than the word for “wait”.
The Word wait is also translated hope in some places, and the word hope is also translated wait or to tarry.
Sop they are synonyms.
When we wait on the Lord, we are putting our hope in His power, his knowledge, His presence, His ability to take care of the situation.
We wait on the Lord and Hope in His Word because he is worthy of that Trust!
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning,
have you ever had a nightmare, or perhaps you found yourself in a dangerous situation, and you just think, “If I can just make it til daylight everything will be OK.”
The intense waiting of the soul for those first beams of light to come over the horizon is a strong and powerful emotional time.
The Psalmist says His waiting is more than those that watch for the morning.
Dr. W.A. Criswell found himself on a flight on one occasion seated beside a well known theologian. The man began to tell the pastor how recently he had lost his little boy. He had come home from school one day with a fever, and the parents thought it was one of those childhood things, but it was a virulent form of meningitis. The Doctor said, “we can’t save your little boy. He will die.” So this seminary professor loving his son as he did sat by the bedside to watch the death vigil. It was the middle of the day, and the little boy whose strength was draining from him, whose vision and brain was getting clouded said, “Daddy its getting dark, isn’t it?” The professor said to his son, “Yes, son its getting dark very dark.” He said, “Daddy I guess its time for me to go to sleep isn’t it?” He said, “Yes son, its time for you to go to sleep.” The little boy fixed his pillow and said, “Good night Daddy, I will see you in the morning.” He then closed his eyes in death and stepped over into heaven.
Dr. Criswell, said the professor didn’t say anymore after that. He just looked out of the window of the plane for a long time. Then he turned back and he looked at Criswell with the scalding tears coming down his cheeks, and he said, “Dr. Criswell, “I can hardly wait until the morning.”
But the reminder that the Lord is there, His Word is True, and He will come through!
Just Rely on Him!
In the last two verses, he speaks of his...
IV. Redemption & Hope
IV. Redemption & Hope
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: For with the Lord there is mercy, And with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel From all his iniquities.
The Psalmist concludes his song with a declaration for all Israel to hear...
Let Israel hope in the Lord.(Yahweh)
He wanted his countrymen to continue to trust in Yaweh.
I heard someone say this this week...
“There was a moment when Moses had the nerve to ask God what his name is. God was gracious enough to answer, and the name he gave is recorded in the original Hebrew as YHWH.
Over time men have added an “a” and an “e” in there to get YaHWeH, trying there best to keep pronunciation as the vowels were not written in until much later. But scholars and rabbis have noted that the letters YHWH represent breathing sounds, or aspirated consonants. When pronounced without intervening vowels, it actually sounds like breathing. YH (inhale): WH (exhale).
[This is not a doctrine to preach, or some new truth that needs to be held too deeply, but breathe is very important throughout the Bible] Whether it is let everything that hath breath praise the Lord, or God breathing life into Man, or Jesus giving the Holy Spirit to the disciples by breathing on them. Breath is important.]
So a baby’s first cry, his first breath, can remind us of the name of God. A deep sigh can remind us of a call of His name—or a groan or gasp that is too heavy for mere words. Even an atheist’s words can remind us of God’s name, unaware that their very breath is giving constant acknowledgment to God. Likewise, a person leaves this earth with their last breath, when God’s name is no longer filing their lungs.
So when I can’t utter anything else, is my cry a constant reminder to call out His name? So, is His name heard the loudest when I’m the quietest? In sadness, we breathe heavy sighs. In joy, our lungs feel almost like they will burst. In fear we hold our breath and have to be told to breathe slowly to help us calm down. When we’re about to do something hard, we take a deep breath to find our courage. When I think about it, breathing can be a constant reflection of the very name of God. Even in the hardest moments!
Again, not a hill we should die upon, but rather something that perhaps can point to our God. Yahweh…Jehovah…Our Lord.
Israel....and his church…needs to hope in the Lord.
why?
Because with the Lord there is mercy!
And with Him is plenteous redemption.
Plenty - there is more than enough!
And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Our Redemption and Hope is in Jesus!
When we fail Him, if we will just confess, He is faithful and just to forgive us and clean us of all unrighteousness.
When we fail - Go to God - Request for Him to Hear you!
Realize your own hopelessness
Rely fully on Him!
and realize your redemption and your hope is in Him!
Conclusion
My Hope is in the Lord
Who gave Himself for me.
And paid the price
of all my sins at Calvary
What a great hymn - Written by a dairy farmer…by the way!
But he had quite a varied career as he was at other times a construction worker, and office worker in New York City and a baker until finally a full-time hymn writer.
Very little is known about the history of this song, but the song is filled with biblical truth.
The Writer also wrote
My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
It is obvious that the author of that hymn trusted in the Lord, and wanted to give us songs to remind us to do the same.
Psalm 130 was that song for the Israelites.
Let’s remember these songs as we go through this life, and trust in Him!