Sermon from 3/21/2020: Psalm 130 "I Wait for the Lord..."
Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD! Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.” Psalm 25:6-8, 11, 16-18
1 John 1
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Q.
What is your only comfort in life and death?
A.
That I am not my own,
but belong with body and soul,
both in life and in death,
to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins
with his precious blood,
and has set me free
from all the power of the devil.
He also preserves me in such a way
that without the will of my heavenly Father
not a hair can fall from my head;
indeed, all things must work together
for my salvation.
Therefore, by his Holy Spirit
he also assures me
of eternal life
and makes me heartily willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
Q. What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
A. Three things: first, how great my sin and misery are; second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.3
As Paul prayed Lord,
7 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. In Jesus’ name Amen.
Psalm 130 NIV
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
6 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
The Psalmist today takes us through all our trails and points us to a certain hope.
We are all in deep and great misery, even if we don’t know it. A judgment is ahead, a reckoning of God most Holy to us sinners.
Today, many know there is some misery as we, the world face this coronavirus, whether that is fear of catching it, frustration at society for shutting down, or losing our marbles in isolation. We can cry out to God when we know His grace is ahead. If only the lost could see how we cry out to God today.
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
Acknowledging Gods grace we ask, who could stand? We get caught between fear and hope, almost like positive and negative space in art. The old man, sinful, who couldn’t stand is cut off. Our longing to live without God dies, and the new man, born again, remains. The new man can only know himself or herself in Jesus. In Jesus there is Hope for us today. We know the world will pass away. It is ok that the world ends, because Our Jesus is at work, Sovereign, and has supplied hope through the worst we can face.
But in you Jesus, there is forgiveness. And the result of the forgiveness is so that we can serve. 1 John 3even teaches us that we can know ourselves as children of God by what we do, by how we serve each other with the love of Jesus. Paul encourages us that if we really do have God for us, nothing can stand against us. Romans 8:31.
This reverence, is a fear of God. It is what the midwives did, who didn’t kill the babies in Egypt. God alone is to be feared. He alone can forgive. This reverence is what the world needs to see. It is joy filled, even if crippling. This reverence and fear is the old man letting God, and the Redeemed child standing up saying God how can I serve you my King. I want the world you love to know your love.
5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
6 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
This child made whole doesn’t go off pretending to be God. This child waits for God. We can wait for God because the hope is certain that He is coming again. In Him alone do we have hope. The Psalmist takes us from describing fear and hopelessness to how do we live in hope today.
Luther says “the old man must fear, despair, and perish; the new man must hope, be raised up, and stand.” The old man is carved out of us, leaving the new Man, which is God’s work in us. Hope and fear are at work in us as God redeems us. We are broken vessels that God as a potter is making for His glory.
Luther. “I wait for the Lord; that is, in this crying and cross-bearing I did not retreat or despair; nor did I trust in my own merit. I trusted in God’s grace alone, which I desire, and wait for God to help me when it pleases Him.”
My soul is now a waiting thing. When He comes again, we will run forever. This side of death, we can only wait. The essence of life is that we would wait for God, that we would find ourselves in Him. This should give us pause as we wait now with the coronavirus. May that pause lead us to wait for Jesus. But for Jesus’ bride this coming is sure. It is a hope filled waiting.
Even if God were to be slow in bringing the next day, we would be waiting for it. What else can we do? There is no other hope, and we are certain of the day coming again. Once we start trusting God, don’t stop, take the blessings day by day. As the watchmen waits for the morning. This line has gotten me through despair in not knowing God’s plan for me. I don’t need His plan. I know it is happening. I love the poetic nuance that it is repeated. That repeat is expensive to hand write over and over, but it is worth it. I think these lines are also tied to the days of Genesis 1.
7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
Israel, the one who wrestles with God, put your hope in the Lord. When our waiting is so stagnant that it is a wrestling, still hope in the Lord. Only in Him is there unfailing love. Don’t seek it from me. The old man in me is broken, and not full of redemption. But God, He is whole, loving, and full of redemption for Israel, the one left waiting and wrestling with Him.
1 John again helps us in 3:20. If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
Thank the Lord that He is greater than my heart as I weakly wait. May our waiting soon be at an end for the coronavirus, but more when our Jesus returns. For today as we wait let’s let the world hear the good news it so desperately needs. He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.