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August 10/11, 2013
Chris Robbins (South Campus) | Psalms 130:1-8
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O 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 watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen 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.—Psalm 130
Introduction
For the past two weeks, we’ve been examining different “dimensions” of our life together as a church: Who are we? What is our DNA here at Bethlehem? What makes us us?
I’m thrilled that we are doing this series here at the South Campus. And I hope that you don’t feel like this is just a “filler” series, something to hold us over until Pastor Jason returns to the pulpit next Sunday. I’m convinced that this series is fundamental to our mission here in Lakeville and across the south suburbs.
How is this series “fundamental” to our mission? It’s fundamental because knowing who we are (our identity) is essential for doing what God has called us to do (our mission). For who we are gives rise to what we do—not the other way around! Identity is the soil from which mission grows. The only way we as a South Campus body will keep “spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ” is if we, and each coming generation, have a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. One of the reasons the book of Judges is in our Bibles is to warn us of how quickly “spiritual Alzheimer’s” can set in and take root among God’s people (Judges 2:6–10). We must keep embracing afresh the old truths that we love so much.
If you want a text that could go underneath this entire series, consider 2 Peter 1:12:
Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.—2 Peter 1:12–15
In the Christian life, it is a good thing to be reminded of things we already know. It is God’s grace to you every time someone reminds you of truth that you already know. Far from being a “filler” series, I consider these few weeks one such effort to stir us up by remembering who God has made us in Christ.
So, two Sundays ago, Pastor David preached from Isaiah 40 on the dimension of “up-reach”—going vertical with God. Part of what makes us us is beholding our God:
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth"(Isaiah 40:28).
Then last Sunday, Jesse Albrecht preached from Acts 17 on the dimension of “out-reach”—going outward toward the lost among our neighbors and the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ through evangelism. As satisfying as beholding our great God is, there’s something deficient in our beholding if it doesn’t carry with it that expanding desire that others would join in the chorus of praise!
This morning, I’ve been charged with helping us consider one final dimension of our identity—“in-reach.” Part of what makes us us is directing our gaze, our focus, and our energy “inward” toward one another in love.
What do we mean by “in-reach”? One verse that summarizes this dimension is the end of Paul’s opening prayer in Philippians. Paul writes this:
"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more" (Philippians 1:9).
When God saves us by putting us in Christ, by faith, he gives us new desires ... not only for beholding him, and not only for seeking out the lost, but also for pursuing the kind of love in one another that is “abounding” (or growing) and one that is doing so “more and more”—like an exponential curve.
Is pursuing one another’s “progress and joy in the faith” (Philippians 1:25) one of the identity markers in our life together? And how can we “stoke this flame” as we head into another season of discipleship opportunities next month?
Psalm 130 may seem like an odd text to pick to stir us up to love, but one of the reasons I picked it is because this psalm preaches directly against the greatest enemy of love. What do you think is the greatest obstacle to loving those in your small group?
Sinclair Ferguson, in his book The Christian Life, writes this (p. 159): “Undoubtedly one of the reasons some younger Christians make shipwreck of their faith is because they have never learned how to deal with indwelling sin.”
I’m convinced that this danger is not just there in our personal lives, but also in our corporate life. The greatest obstacle to overcome in our relationships is not social awkwardness, personality clashes, or generational age differences, but rather our own personal sin. Personal sin is the greatest enemy to love.
Consider two examples:
And this is exactly where Psalm 130 takes us. So I want to briefly walk through the text. As we go, I will make specific application aimed at helping us “reach in” to one another in love that I pray will mark our inward life together at the South Campus—both now and in 100 years.
I’ve broken the psalm into two primary parts:
1. The Psalmist’s Situation: Despairing in the Darkness of Sin
2. The Psalmist’s Response: Hoping in the God Who Forgives
Notice how the Psalmist begins—or rather, where the Psalmist begins:
"Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice!" (Psalm 130:1).
Where is he? These first four words set the context for what follows. We are introduced to this psalm by being introduced to a voice, one that is coming of “out of the depths.” Which means that the psalmist, the source of the voice, is in the depths.
What sort of place is this? Where are “the depths”?
We can probably already sense that this is not a pleasant place to be—just think about the kinds of situations in your own life have prompted you to “cry out” for help. These are situations of distress, of one sort or another.
Admittedly, “the depths” isn’t a lot to go on as far as determining where he is precisely. But as is so often the case in the Psalter, the psalmist is being figurative and intentionally generic here so that we, the readers, can easily locate ourselves there in the pit with him.
Have you ever been in distress? Have you ever been in a situation of utter helplessness? Do you remember what it felt like?
One of the activities I enjoy most in life is running long-distance races. Often, the course for this kind of event ends up being on isolated trails that meander through the mountains. And sometimes, because of the length, they can run into the night. Usually you are not familiar with the course, but they mark the trail with markers so you know, roughly, where to go.
One of my biggest fears is “getting lost,” going left when I should have gone right. It’s happened a few times, and the moment I start to realize that it’s been a while since I’ve seen a marker is scary. Even more so if you’re alone. And even more so still, at night.
Immediately the adrenaline starts pumping. I look back up the trail for a marker I may have missed. I call out for help, hoping someone can tell me where to go. Rationally, I know that I cannot be too far away from help, but still the fears come: What if I’m lost forever? What if I find a bear? What if I run out of food? Anxiety, worry, fear, and a sense of helplessness set in. I feel disoriented (where am I?), confused (which way should I go?), hopelessly alone (is anyone else out here?), and permanently lost (if no one answers, this may be the end!).
While different contexts, I imagine these kinds of emotions are very similar to the psalmist’s experience “in the depths.”
But the more important question is: Why? Why is he in this dark place? Verses 2–3 give us the answer:
"O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?"
What does the Psalmist want the ears of the Lord to be “attentive” to? Verse 2 says, “my pleas for mercy.” Why does he need “mercy”? Verse 3 says it is because of his “iniquities.” The psalmist finds himself in the deep darkness because he is a sinner.
His own personal sin (of which we do not know the specifics, which means this applies us all) has put him into this state of confusion, despair, and even depression. Unholy sinners cannot have intimate fellowship with a holy God. And to feel apart from God is depression of the deepest kind for the believer.
This is similar to Psalm 40, where David writes:
"He [the Lord] drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure" (Psalm 40:2).
And again later in verse 12, he tell us why he was there:
"For evils have encompassed me beyond number, my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me."
And have we not all been there? Maybe you are right there with him this morning, feeling like you are drowning in the deep waters of your own sin.
But the question is this: What do we do about it? Is there hope in our darkness?
The psalmist intends to be imitated here. This text is not a nice suggestion to be considered among other nice suggestions; it is God’s authoritative voice to us. May he give us ears to hear!
What should we do in the darkness? The psalmist models 4 responses for us.
First, notice that the Psalmist goes to God and not away from him:
"Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!" (Psalm 130:1–2).
This is surprising. My heart’s inclination in the darkness is to run and hide from God, not to expose myself to him and call on him for help. But yet, here we must let the Psalmist’s words be our own: “Have mercy on me, O God!” Our first move in the darkness of sin ought to be toward God. Moving into the light begins by going to the Light in repentance!
What is your current strategy to get your soul back into the sunlight when darkness surrounds you? Or, as we think about “in-reach,” what is your strategy for helping your brothers and sisters get their souls back into the sun?
So often are our initial impulses are all away from God. Sometimes we just ignore our sin, pretending the darkness is light (“There’s not really a difference anyways.”). Sometimes we just blame other for the darkness (“If she wouldn’t have said that, then I wouldn’t have done this.”). Sometimes we try to “clean ourselves up,” only drawing near to God when haven’t sinned that much recently (whatever artificial standard “that much” is). Or sometimes we just decide to go deeper into the darkness because it’s all hopeless anyway. But just notice that these are all movements away from God, not toward him like the psalmist.
No: Go to God! Preach to your soul! Preach to your neighbors’ souls! Seek the Lord’s face! Draw near to him and he will draw near to you! The Lord is a “deliverer,” which at the very least means snatching sinners out of their self-created caves of despair!
Have you ever wondered why we don’t go to God when we sin?
Every time I read this text I am amazed at the “literary quickness” with which the Psalmist moves toward his Lord. He says just enough to set the context (“out of the depths”) and then he is “crying out.” Why aren’t we more like the psalmist?
Perhaps the reason that we don’t run to God in the muck and mire of our sin is because we have lost our vision of God! The darkness makes it hard to see him.
Things we fail to see about God in the darkness:
1) God’s holiness (v. 3)
One of the things that repentance flows from is a glimpse of God’s holiness. Look at verse 3: “If you, O Lord should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3).
In the darkness, it can be easy to begin feeling comfortable in our sin. We say, “It’s not really that big of a deal anyway.” But, if God is holy, it is a big deal. He cannot dwell with sinners and will bring judgment on our sins. May we not confuse the patience of God for apathy and lack of concern.
Consider the psalmist’s question here: If the Lord were to mark iniquities, if he were to keep a record of our entire lives, who would escape his judgment and wrath? The implied answer is no one! None of us can stand before the Holy One of Israel, who is high and lifted up.
It is a helpful to exercise for our souls, at times, to imagine life apart from God’s mercy. This is what the psalmist does here in verse 4, in the midst of darkness. Paul does this as well:
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.—Ephesians 2:11–12
As counter-intuitive as it feels, one of the things that we ought to recall when the darkness of sin surrounds us, is that God is holy and could rightfully crush us in our rebellion. Looking to God’s holiness in the midst of the darkness is like getting a cold shower when you need to wake up. Sin has a way of distorting reality; God’s holiness has a way of bringing us back to it.
2) God’s forgiveness (v. 4)
Repentance also flows from a glimpse of God’s forgiveness. Look at verse 4: “But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”
Sometimes in the darkness, we can feel “beyond forgiveness.” We wonder: Can I even be forgiven? Could a Christian really say what I’m saying, feel what I’m feeling, do what I’m doing? And what we desperately need in those moments is to get our eyes off of ourselves and look upward to God who promises to forgive any and all sinners who will come to him and believe in his Son, Jesus.
The clearest display of God’s forgiveness is in the face of Jesus. Jesus came and lived a perfect life for us, died the death that we deserve, and has been vindicated and raised from the dead so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life! For those who trust in Christ, their sin and the consequences of their sin—the wrath they deserve—has been dealt with! He endured the darkest night so that we could live and see the morning dawn.
Let the promise of Psalm 130:4, “but with you there is forgiveness,” remind you of Ephesians 2:4:
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great loved with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved!"
May we never tire of hearing the gospel, the same news of God’s forgiveness in Christ—over and over again!
For the past two weeks, as my wife Ashley and I have been driving around visiting family in Georgia and Alabama, this is the message that my 5-month-old son Sam has been preaching to me. He cannot speak yet, but he preaches nonetheless.
Often he would get fussy on these long road trips, moaning and groaning from the backseat. And every time, without fail, we knew what to do. We would turn on the radio, put in one particular CD, and skip to track 6. The response was always immediate. Sam would start to smile, kick his hands and legs in joy, and even laugh.
And it wouldn’t work just one time. We left the track on repeat for him. He never got tired of hearing this one particular song. It was his lifeline to joy! May the gospel be like that for us. May we keep the gospel track on repeat and never tire of hearing it. It is our lifeline!
3) God’s steadfast love (v. 7)
Repentance also flows from looking at God’s steadfast love. Verse 7: “O Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is steadfast love.”
In the darkness, instead of remembering God’s pledged faithfulness to his people, we think that we will be lost forever. We feel that we are alone, and we will be alone forever. But believer, he is with us always—even to the end of the age! Even in darkness, he will not forsake his children. He’s not that kind of Father.
One of the scariest parts of life for Sam in my son’s first few months was getting the hiccups. They terrified him. Just imagine if you’d never had the hiccups before—your body starts shaking, and you don’t know why, and you can’t make it stop. He would immediately start crying and looking around for help.
So I would give him my pinkie finger and let him grab onto it, and we’d just ride out the hiccups together—for as long as it took! What kind of father would I be if I left him alone in his moment of need? What kind of father would I be if I left him to face the hiccups alone?
And I am by no means a perfect father. How much more our Father in heaven who is perfect? He will not leave us in the darkness, in our moments of need! Even in darkness, when we have forsaken him, he will not forsake us.
Application
Is the character of God central in our encouragement of one another? Do we frequently and intentionally and thoughtfully find ways to remind one another of who God is?
C.S. Lewis is so helpful in explaining why it is necessary to look to God, the object of our hope, in order to stir our hope (Surprised by Joy, Chapter 14):
It seemed to me self-evident that one essential property of love, hate, fear, hope, or desire was attention to their object. To cease thinking about or attending to the woman is, so far, to cease loving; to cease thinking about or attending to the dreaded thing is, so far, to cease being afraid. But to attend to your own love or fear is to cease attending to the loved or dreaded object. In other words the enjoyment and the contemplation of our inner activities are incompatible. You cannot hope and also think about hoping at the same moment; for in hope we look to hope's object and we interrupt this by (so to speak) turning round to look at the hope itself. Of course the two activities can and do alternate with great rapidity; but they are distinct and incompatible.
The key sentence: “You cannot hope and also think about hoping at the same moment; for in hope we look to hope’s object.” This is exactly what we see the psalmist doing. His cries are rising to the Lord! His soul is waiting on the Lord (v. 5)! He is calling Israel to hope in the Lord (v. 7)! God is made reference to 8 times in 8 verses—more if pronouns are included. Even the ground the psalmist gives to Israel for hoping in verse 7 (notice the “for”) is God’s steadfast and the plentiful redemption that is “with him.”
Therefore, we cannot encourage one another simply by saying “hope” or “repent” alone. We must also put the object of hope in front of one another!
Verse 5: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.”
Everything that I just pointed out about the character of God we only know because God has revealed it to us in his word. We only know he forgives sin because he told us so. We have a record of him accomplishing forgiveness in the Gospels. We only know that he will be with us to the end of the age because he told us so. There is a record of God’s faithfulness to bring sinners out of pits of darkness in the Bible.
The word of God is the only light that can dispel the darkness. It is the word of God, and God speaking through his word, that is the hinge for us in moving from despairing to hoping in the darkness.
Application
One of the things that I love here at Bethlehem is how strongly the Bible’s authority is embraced. We love and cherish the reality that God wrote a book. But do we have equal affection for the sufficiency of God’s word?
Sometimes I find in my own life that I am much quicker to defend the inerrancy of Scripture than I am to rely on it everyday for life and godliness—for getting me out of the depths again. A helpful diagnostic question: How long does it take us to open up our Bibles when we have fallen again?
May we learn from the psalmist here and run to the Scriptures—not only because God wrote it, but because it gives us a light for our path in dark places. The Bible is our lifeline. When we feel like we want the word the least is when we need it the most!
Psalm 40 is on the other side of the waiting. We saw there that the Lord brought David up out of the miry bog and set his feet upon a rock. He goes on: “[The Lord] put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God” (Psalm 40:3).
And if Psalm 40 were the only type of lament psalms in our Bible, we may be tempted to think that repentance, forgiveness, and restoration was a 5-minute process—like getting an oil change (just pop-in and pop-out). But Psalm 130 guards us against that type of thinking. It guards us against “rushing through” repentance.
Notice again where the psalmist is in verse 6: "My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning."
Daybreak has not reached him yet. He’s still waiting for the morning to dawn. The darkness is still there. But the question is this: Will we wait?
Waiting is the response of faith in the darkness to a God who promises to forgive all our iniquities. This is point of the psalmist’s repetition in verse 6. He’s modeling “waiting” for us. What does it look like to wait with words? Repetition! This is why he says it twice.
For as long as it seems good to the Lord to delay the restoration of joy and felt fellowship in his presence, the faithful soul will wait. And where else would we go, Bethlehem? He has the words of eternal life!
Application
This truth has implications for helping us help one another move through the deep waters of sin and despair. May we not, in our joy and hope in the Gospel, seek to mute the real consequences, sorrows, and affects of sin in the lives of one another. The darkness is real and can linger for a season, perhaps even until the return of Christ. While sorrow is not the dominant note for the Christian, it is a real one that should be acknowledged and expressed by God’s people. This is why we have psalms like this in the Bible. It is not sinful for the people of God to be in a posture of waiting in darkness for a season—as long as they are looking to the dawn. Rather than mildly rebuking one another for lack of joy during these seasons, may we help shepherd them through the darkness by being a faithful pointer to the light. May we stick with them for as long as it takes—until the morning dawns! “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17).
“O Israel, hope in the Lord!” (Psalm 130:7).
The psalmist, even while he is waiting “more than watchmen for the morning,” calls the entire nation—all of the people of God—to wait with him! This is amazing, and I hope this verse fills your heart with joy.
Repenting of sin does not disqualify you from being an evangelist or an exhorter or an encourager! Here is where we see the guilt of sin (that so often makes us feel unqualified from encouraging others) defeated by the gospel. Waiting in the darkness does not mean that you cannot call people to hope in God. This is exactly what the psalmist is doing here in verses 7–8.
We can do this not because our hope rests in ourselves, but because of what God speaks about himself in his word. It is mainly on that basis, not the basis of our own personal experience that we are ultimately calling people to hope in the Lord. (Though we can and should call people to hope in the Lord based on personal experience as well: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” [Psalm 34:8].)
Application
Verse 7 gives us a high vision for where to aim in our “in-reach”: Hoping in the Lord! At the most basic level, “in-reach” is verse 7—calling one another to “hope in the Lord!”
Stirring one another up to hope in the Lord should be the highest aim in our time together. In our many opportunities for one-another ministry (small groups, Sunday School classes, or simply conversations before and after corporate worship this morning or over lunch), have your spiritual radar up! Does it sound like this person is hoping in the Lord? How can I stir them up? Be a faithful pointer to those the Lord brings into your life.
Application
Another important takeaway from verses 7–8 is that “hoping in the Lord” is a community project!
There are significant individual elements in the process, but there are corporate dimensions as well. Notice that while it feels like we are listening to a direct conversation between the psalmist and the Lord in verses 1–4 (first person is used), the conversation begins to turn outward in verse 5 by speaking of himself and the Lord in third person. This then climaxes in verse 7 by directly speaking to the whole congregation, “O, Israel.”
Seeing texts like this in the Bible that model “speaking the truth to one another in love” and this corporate dimension of “hoping in God” makes me even more excited for the adult Sunday School class changes that will begin launching in September. It’s been a joy to watch Aaron Davitch and the South Campus elders think hard about how to nurture the relationships that already exist in each class while at the same time dreaming “long-term” of how to move each class through a sequence of curriculum that will do well to build us up in the faith and stir us up towards a love for one another that “abounds more and more.”
Conclusion
So, Bethlehem, Hope in the Lord!
The goal of this psalm is hope! Through the gospel, through the cross of Jesus Christ, God has decisively removed every obstacle to hoping that exists. The greatest enemy of love has been defeated by love. No darkness can finally endure because the light has dawned in the face of Jesus Christ! Take heart—God’s plans for our lives are not short-circuited by our sin. May we take our sin to the cross and glory in the gospel of Jesus Christ and hope in the Lord who forgives! As we have been greatly loved, may God cause our love for one another to abound in the months and years ahead.