Out of the Depths

As we prepare to hear God's word this morning, I want to share with you that I love fishing. Who enjoyed fishing. Now, that's not always been the case, but about a decade ago, I decided I'd pick up fishing again, that I try it. Only, I knew that I didn't want to Simply fish. I wanted to also catch.

So I did what so many people do I began to go online, I watched as many videos as I could as much instruction as I could and and truly they were all speaking English.

But I didn't know if I understood hardly any of it.

Baitcasters, crankbaits, spoons. All these different terms fluorocarbon. Some of you like to fish, maybe just sitting with excitement right now. Others are sitting starting to glaze over. What does it all mean? I had to take what I knew. Hook Line, maybe a sinker. And maybe maybe you catch a fish. I had to take what I knew in and listen and slowly decipher all this strange language, I had to let it build up over time so that I came to understand and and became more Adept. And now I can not only fish, I can catch fish

You know in the church it can be kind of the same thing. We are here every Sunday we gather together and other occasions and we throw around a lot of Christian word and we we swim in those Waters. But there's times where, if we were pressed, if we were asked to take a quiz, if we were to answer for our neighbor, we might look over our shoulder hoping for help from another friend. Kind of that, you know, can I call a friend to get some help? So this morning, when we read the passage, we're going to read in. This is not a story. It's actually from one of the Psalms, Psalm 130. When we read this, I want you to pay attention to for words or concepts The first is Iniquity.

The second is forgiveness. The third is Hope. And the fourth is steadfast love. Iniquity. Forgiveness, hope steadfast love or if you're listening, I - Iniquity, F - Forgiveness, H - Hope, S - steadfast love. And if you're really listening and you turn those letters around, F-I-S-H; Fish.

Fish. Forgiveness iniquity. Steadfast Love & Hope. All right. Let's pray that God would open his word to us. Oh Lord, may you guide us through your spirit?

May we be able to hear this morning? What you have to share with us? That we might leave here different. That we might leave here change. That we might leave here inspired to live for you out of an incredible gratitude for what you've done for us.

So Lord, please through your spirit, open your word to us. That we may truly hear and understand. In Jesus name. Amen. Okay, Psalm 130, 8 verses. 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 the Watchman for the morning more than the Watchman for the morning. Oh 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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. So we have a Psalm. I said we didn't have a story this morning which sometimes makes it easier for us to follow. But in truth we do have a story. If we're listening closely we have a story and it is our story. Our story, The psalmist. Lifts up his need his iniquity. He lifts up the desire for forgiveness and and the hope and the steadfast love. Our story where we really are. If we were to be honest about who we are, if we were to really lay it all out there, if we were to remove the facades that we work. So diligently to keep up and keep going, and maintain among everyone, if we were to wash all that away. In other words, if we were totally exposed Before everyone.

if our whole life story, played out on a screen for everybody to watch, We would be the one person not showing up to the show.

Because we're in iniquity. that I that iniquity that that sense of shame that sense of we've run away from God that sense of we run after our self and what we want most

If we listen to the psalmist, the psalmist , understands the difficulty. He understands that.

He's in a position already of being judged. He's already guilty. Already knows all the punishment that is due. He's not complaining that that he's not due the punishment that he's about to receive rather. He turns to a different thing. He turns to the first of two occurrences of Mercy. He pleads for Mercy, this form of Mercy is a is his crying out to the one who's to judge. Crying out. From a position of our strong point. Hey, I don't need to be judged. I'm fairly decent. I may have done somethings wrong, not calling out from that all calling out from a complete case of iniquity. And calling out for Mercy from someone else. This form of Mercy is just Desiring to be relieved out of the goodness of the other. Not out of the goodness of self. You know, when the prophet Isaiah wrote of his vision that he had, he had a vision in which you found sudden leaks in the throne room of God and he saw all the holy Splendor of God's, throne room, and God himself. And instead of being filled with delight, he was filled in absolute fear and Terror. Because he knew that he was completely opposite. The Holiness of all that he saw he was suddenly deeply aware of his own iniquity.

Which is what the psalmist understands and cries out for mercy. And then moves to a place of depending, on God's forgiveness. That that Mercy would come through that he and we would be forgiven It's that F in fish, if you want forgiveness. And it's interesting that that word forgiveness, we throw it around the church so much, and we would say to one another. We say, well you should forgive that person. And I usually our first response, when someone tells us, we need to forgive someone else. We feel like they haven't really heard us. We say, yeah, but you don't understand. They did this to me. We doubled back and we we go further on and we say, look, it's really this bad, you don't seem to get how bad it is.

So we throw the word forgiveness around the church but we struggle to participate in that word. For that forgiveness. Ultimately means pardon. To pardon. When someone is pardoned, that doesn't mean they never did something wrong. That means they did do something wrong, but they're being let off. They're being released from what they did wrong. You see with the iniquity with sin with that whole sense of missing, the mark of what God wants for our life, which is what sin is, which is what iniquity is, missing what God wanted for us. When when we do that, there still is a cost. Someone still has to pay the price.

And in this case, God is saying I'll pay the price. I'll pay the price with my son, Jesus Christ. Forgiveness, I give to you the pardon I give to you is by allowing my son to take your place. Forgiveness. Following iniquity. Which brings us to an interesting thing in the Psalm, you get the sense that that the, the psalmist is waiting for the Lord, my soul Waits, and in his word, I hope there's this, hope for the Forgiveness that will come. The psalmist is starting out from crying out from the depths from the very pit crying out for help that help hasn't yet arrived but trusting in it living in a hope. Hope is a certainty of what will come.

It's a real certainty.

And the psalmist is living in a hope. For that forgiveness, that will come. And he describes it in a fascinating way describes it like that the old Watchmen, you know that back in the day that was the city's head walls and they were Watchmen assigned to the night. They were on night Duty and they sat up on the wall and they watched out over the horizon into the darkness. To make sure that the city had early warning, if it would be under attack or under siege,

sounds like a fun job, doesn't it up all night? Looking out into the darkness, which is already scary, and your job is to look for the bad. Sign me up.

You can imagine the relief that the Watchman had every morning as the Dawn star to come up. Not only was their job done for the night. But also the relief that I live through another day. It's because the Watchman was a tip of the spear. The Watchman was the first one to lose their life. If something bad were to happen when that John came up, it was a signal that I made it through another day.

The hope we have is that sense that will make it through another day that we're hoping in God who yet will come. But how is it that? The psalmist can be so certain and so full of Hope what is it? If the psalmist is so full of iniquity that deserves death in every way. If the psalmist is hoping in that forgiveness? What makes him or her. So certain, that that hope will come.

Its that S in fish. We've had our iniquity our I. We've had our forgiveness, F. We've had our H-hope.

The last part is that S. The steadfast love of the Lord.

You see what's being said here in the psalmist and what is throughout the Old Testament and even into the New Testament, is this phrase of the steadfast love of the Lord. If there was a banner to be made and you would put words on it that were to summarize who you are. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

The Israelites were firm on one thing. A characteristic that was strong and certain in God was his steadfast love. That God never stop loving. That God's very nature was to love but more than that this steadfast love is our second encounter of that word mercy. Where the first word was to plead for Mercy. The second one is the steadfast love of God, that God is merciful.

Those of you who like the prophet Micah, what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God, that word mercy is the same word steadfast love. It's our same concept for the grace of God. You see the one who's full of iniquity has nothing to give? There's no way we can get God to Pardon us. If we knew the way boy, we would be on that formula. Wouldn't we, when we can't do that, only God can determine to pardon to forgive us, and he does. So out of his steadfast love, and he loves us so deeply, despite Who We Are. That he comes to us in Mercy. And that great Mercy is demonstrated when he gave over his son in our place. When he gave up his son to die on the cross for us, his blood for ours.

That is God's steadfast love. And that is our hope. you know, Jesus, when he was at the table with his disciples, He took a meal that they had been celebrating for Generations. A meal that came out of the Passover that coming out of Egypt. In which the last plague was that the all first-born males were killed unless you took the blood of a lamb and marked it over your door post. And in that way, the angel death would pass over. Your home. And so it was the blood of that lamb that allowed you to be passed over. And so Jesus took this meal, this Passover meal and he redefined and explained himself that the bread. And the wine. We're representative of him. And that through him God's judgment. What we deserve for our iniquity, we would be passed over.

You know, those early followers of Jesus Christ. Didn't have it easy. Many people pursued them, many people condemn them. Sometimes they had to signal to one another. That they were Christians, are you? Christian? And how would you do that? What signal would you have a secret handshake? They would write on a wall, a symbol. Of a fish. That's why you see those bumper stickers with a simple fish. It was a clue to say to one another that they are followers of Jesus Christ. You might say, why a fish because in the Greek, the word for fish was ichthus. And the acronym worked out perfectly for this. Ichthus iac's, Yeezus Christophe Jesus Christ. Theos - God Wheels son. Jesus Christ, God Son and the last letter

stood for savior. Jesus Christ. God Son savior. May we all learn how to fish. Let us pray.