A Confident Hope in God
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Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
A Song of Ascents.
1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
8 And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
Introduction
Introduction
We have gathered together at a time of mourning. We are confronted with the stark reality of the brevity of life. Inasmuch as we know that death is a certainty, it always impacts us, and brings a measure of inward pain. It is right and fitting that we feel sadness at a time such as this.
As much as we all know that death is a part of life in the sin-cursed world that we live in, that knowledge (certainly that knowledge alone) doesn’t ease the pain that we feel when we lose a loved one.
However, as Christians, there is something that does ease our pain, and that is the wonderful hope of restoration and redemption that God has brought about through Christ.
We have a confident hope in God, even in the midst of the most painful experience that this life can bring us.
It is as we look to the Word of God, even in times of bereavement, that we as believers may be encouraged and renewed in our strength as we consider the certain hope that is available to all who are in Christ.
And so even this morning, as we look to the word of God, let me say to all here, particularly the very close family, that we grieve with you, and we as family in Christ will come alongside you, and feel the hurt that you feel, and weep with you as you weep.
But I also want to point our eyes towards that hope that belonged to Mike, and the hope that is ours in Christ. It is a confident hope in the God that saves and redeems. We see this in Psalm 130.
As we look at this Psalm, particularly in light of remembering the life of Mike, who has now gone to be with Christ, I would like to draw your attention to the progression in the thoughts of the words of the Psalmist. As he pens this Psalm, he conveys in a beautiful manner just something of the redemptive working of God in His people.
He begins with crying out from the depths, and ends with an expression of confident hope in the God that saves. And that progression speaks beautifully to the life of a Christian in their walk with God. And it provides us with a joyful encouragement even as we think about the life of Mike and his love for Christ, and how that progression in His own walk with Christ, has come to a place of a longing fulfilled.
1. Crying Out of the Depths (vv.1-2)
1. Crying Out of the Depths (vv.1-2)
The Psalmist begins this Psalm by crying out to God. Verse 1 says...
1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord.
The Psalmist begins here in the trenches. He begins at a low point, a point of crying out to God. It’s a place of darkness and sorrow and trouble.
Notice the extent of the weariness of the psalmist here. It is not merely that he cries out to the Lord. He says that he cries out, "out of the depths."
The psalmist finds himself in a place of darkness and trouble. He finds himself in a place of weariness. It's out of this place of weariness and darkness and trouble that the psalmist calls out to God.
The cry continues in verse 2....
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
The Psalmist cries out, beseeching the Lord to hear him and to listen to his voice.
We must realise as we consider this cry of the Psalmist that the despair and the trouble that the Psalmist finds himself in is not one so much of afflications and struggles in this world, as it is a wrestling with his understanding of sin. As he sees his his own sin, the sin of Israel, as he sees the separation that this brings from God, it causes him to cry out to God.
With this in mind, we must recognise that the Psalmist does not come here to God on the basis of his own personal good, but rather, he cries out to God on the basis of God’s mercy.
He approached God on the basis of the character and the nature of the God that he was crying out to.
149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness;
Revive me, O Lord, according to Your ordinances.
The Psalmist cried out to God and based that plea for God to hear him on the steadfast love of God.
So, too, in this Psalm 130, the Psalmist knows that there is no personal basis upon which to cry out to God, but rather it is on the basis of God’s eternal love and mercy.
And so He calls out, Lord, please, hear my voice, and let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
As we consider the life of Mike, the life of every Christian, we realise that this is the starting place of the walk of every Christian. It is a place of recognising that sin has caused a separation between man and God. It is a recognition that apart from God, there is no hope, and thus it is necessary to cry out to Him.
The Psalmist here, seeing his own condition and his own state before God, cries out to God. But we must go on to see in the Psalm that the Psalmist goes on to fix his eyes on the mercies of God.
He speaks about…
2. Forgiveness with God
2. Forgiveness with God
In verse 3 we read...
3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
Out of the depths of the darkness of his present situation, the Psalmist acknowledges this simple and yet profound truth.
He acknowledges that neither he, nor anyone else in the world, would be able to stand before God in the event that God would mark iniquities.
The prophet Malachi spoke of this…
2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
That is the reality of man in his sinful condition before a holy God. And the Psalmist expresses it well here.
But we must see that the Psalmist did not remain wallowing in misery. He was simply confessing, based on his own recognition from his place in the depths, that he did not deserve to stand before God on his own merit. He saw his unworthiness. If God were to hold a man’s sins against him, there would be no hope.
Again, this is a place where Christians begin their walk, and a truth that Christians are regularly reminded of. If God were to mark our iniquities, who could stand.
With that said, notice the wonderful expression of hope. There is a confident hope with God.
As the Psalmist continues here, notice where he turns his attention, even as he continues to cry out to God.
4 But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
Here are some sweet words spoken by the Psalmist. While he readily acknowledges that if God were to mark iniquities, man would not be able to stand, he goes on to declare that God is a forgiving God. God is a gracious and merciful God.
This truth forms part of the very character of God. He is merciful and forgiving.
As we look at life and interact with people, so often we find that they do not forgive. People in this world will continue to hold grudges, and refuse to forgive.
But not God! He is a forgiving God. He is a merciful God.
Exodus 34:6–7 (NASB95)
6 ... “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin...”
This is the mercy and grace that God shows to every person that cries out to Him as the Psalmist did.
For those who would turn their eyes to the Lord, and cry out to him, there is forgiveness. There comes a freedom from God knowing that He will grant forgiveness.
Think of the joy of this Psalmist as he ponders this. He is crying out from the depths, and yet declares, that with God there is forgiveness. This is a truth that is cherished in the heart of the Christian, because He knows the joy of God’s forgiveness.
While life for the Christian may begin by crying out from the low point in life, it never stays there!! It goes on to declare that our God forgives!
As we consider the life of Mike this morning, this would have been a truth that he knew well and delighted in. He knew what it was to have the forgiveness and mercy of God.
Notice what this forgiveness by God results in. The Psalmist says, there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared.
This fear that is spoken of here does not mean that the person is quivering in fear, trying to hide from God. Rather, it expresses a holy reverence and awe that leads to the worship and praise of God.
As a Christian, coming out of the depths of despair, receives the mercy and forgiveness of God, all the while seeing that they do not deserve it, they are driven to the worship of God. Their life will be marked by a living for the praise of God, and declaring that praise!
Was this not true of our Brother Mike. He knew this, and thus delighted in praising God. One of the glorious hymns that he loved was...
“To God be the glory, great things He has done!
so love he the world that he gave us his son
Who yielded his life an atonement for sin
and opened the lifegate that all may go in”
That is a song of praise because of the redemption that God gives. God forgives that he may be feared. He forgives that he may be praised and glorified.
3. Waiting for God
3. Waiting for God
As we continue to look at this Psalm, we see that the Psalmist speaks about His waiting for, and hoping in the Lord. The knowledge that God forgives leads the Psalmist to this expression of dependence upon Him...
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
As we consider these words of the Psalmist, keep in mind his starting point, and where he went to. He began in the depths. He was filled with sorrow, a burden if you like. And the reason for that was a recognition of sin.
But he didn’t say there, he acknowledged and declared that with God there is forgiveness. By the time he writes these words, he has already known of the forgiveness of God.
Thus, as he pens these words about waiting for the Lord, he is not speaking about waiting for God to forgive him, but rather he is speaking about longing for God himself.
He is longing for the experience of intimacy with God. He knows that God forgives sin, and he now expectantly waits for that joy of experiencing that fellowship that comes from the forgiveness received and the relationship restored.
For the Christian, their longing is not merely for escape from punishment. The Christian longs for the Lord himself. The wonderful hope of the Christian is not only forgiveness in this life, but also a certain confidence that they will be united with God in glory. That is what they look forward to.
As we look back to the Psalm, we find that the Psalmist expresses a strong confidence that he has for this closeness to God to be brought about. He says, “in his word do I hope...”
He knows with confidence that the Word of God will not fail, and it is trustworthy. That which God has promised, he will bring to pass. And so he waits patiently.
Notice the extent of his eager anticipation expressed in verse 6…
6 My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
He brings in the picture of a watchman, a guard, being placed on the wall of a city. As the guard worked through the night, he would long for and look forward to the rays of the morning sun coming up to light the earth. There was a longing for the long night to be over.
Such is the expression of the Psalmist here. He longed for the Lord in the same manner - indeed, even more so.
From the depths of despair, to the wonderful acknowledgement of forgiveness, to the expectant longing for God. Here is the course of the life of the Christian.
And this is why this Psalm is so applicable to reflect on this morning. The Psalm well reflects the course of the life of the beiever. As we remember the life of a dear Brother in the faith, this Psalm reminds us of his own longing for Christ, a longing that was greater than a watchman longing for the morning.
In speaking about our salvation, Paul said to the Ephesian believers…
Ephesians 1:7–8 (NASB95)
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He lavished on us.
Further on in that same passage, Paul went on to say...
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
The Christian, even in this life, longs for that union with God. The Christian looks forward to the time where he will be united with God through Christ.
Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, that Christians are awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 1:7)
There is an eager waiting for God.
But there is one further thing that we see from the Psalmist, and that is his call to others to put their hope in God.
4. A Call to Hope
4. A Call to Hope
In verse 7-8, the Psalmist says...
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
8 And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
As the Psalmist reflects on his own experience of the forgiveness and mercy of God, as he reflects on his own longing to know the presence of God, he calls all Israel to put their hope in the Lord.
The one who has come to know God and his forgiveness, and the great blessing that comes from knowing that forgiveness, longs that others would also know that blessing.
And his reason is that with the Lord is lovingkindness, and there is abundant redemption. Or, there is “full redemption.”
God is able to save. God is the one who saves. And when we know something of that salvation, there is great joy in believing. And part of that joy is knowing that there is a final redemption, when God will bring us into his presence.
25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
But we do know that this redemption doesn’t reach a finality while we live in this world. While we live in this world, there is still the struggle that is faced with sin.
But there comes a time where Christ leads His chosen people, those who know his forgiveness across from this life into the next, and at that point, that the Christian finally enters into the Father’s rest. They come to know the final reality of their redemption as they are united with God through Christ.
The words of that wonderful hymn, “Guide me oh thou great Jehovah” are applicable here.
When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside.
Death of death, and hell's Destruction,
land me safe on Canaan's side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises
I will ever sing to you,
I will ever sing to you.
Dear friends, here is the climactic point of the life of the Christian. This is the hope that Mike lived with - a looking forward to the glorious union with Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we consider these things this morning, consider with me that journey of the Christian life. Beginning in the mire, the dirt, that point of lowliness.
Coming to understand something of the forgiveness of God, and the mercy of God.
Once that mercy of God has been experienced, it ignites within the Christian a longing for God, a longing to be no longer separted from God, but fully united with Him.
While the Christian in this world knows something of the presence of God by His Spirit, through his means of grace, every believer longs for that final union with Jesus Christ.
Today, inasmuch as we grieve over the loss of someone dearly loved, we also are able to rejoice that Mike has reached the goal. He has arrived at the place that he longed to be in. And so for his sake, we are glad.
As we consider these things, let me encourage those here today.... those listening online that were not able to be here. There is no higher purpose for living. There is not greater purpose in this world. If we live as this Psalmist did, looking to the great redeemer, we may have a confident hope.
I don’t doubt that Mike would long for others to experience the forgiveness of God, and to know the mercies of God, and to long to be with God as he did through his life, as the Psalmist says.
In the same way that the Psalmist called upon Israel to put their hope in God… let us put in our hope in God. Let us keep looking forward.
Because Mike knew and loved Jesus Christ, all his longings are fulfiled in the presence of Christ. What a joy to know!
All praise to the God who redeems, the God who saves.