Waiting on the Lord - Psalm 130

For the first six weeks in January, I’ve been preaching through the Psalms of Ascent at the Sunday evening worship services at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Roanoke.

This sermon is the fourth from the series. You can listen to previous sermons here.

A number of years ago, I was speaking with a friend of mine that’s a little older than me about social media. He told me that he didn’t have social media. I’m always interested in people that remain off of social media, because I’m normally impressed by their ability to resist the pressure. And usually they have really interesting reasons for why they do what they do.

Typically, I assume that someone stays off of social media because it’s harmful, useless, or it’s pushing a particular agenda. That’s what I expect people to tell me. But this guy was different.

He told me that he didn’t want to be on social media because he wanted to hide from people that he had wronged. He felt guilt and shame over things he had done in the past and wanted to avoid it. And so, by staying off of social media he believed he could avoid the skeletons in his closet.

That’s not something you hear everyday. That response really surprised me.

But really, what he was trying to do is entirely normal. Consider the scope of Scripture: David hid his sin. Joseph’s brothers hid their sin. Adam and Eve tried to hide their sin.

Our knee jerk reaction is to cover it up. Hide it. And then we carry it.

We all carry guilt and shame over things we’ve done to some extent. We all have regrets and skeletons in the closet. How do you handle guilt and shame? Do we just take those things to the grave with us?

This Psalm teaches us what to do when our consciences are assaulted with our sin. Psalm 130 is a sort of step-by-step guide.

First, you cry out for mercy which we see in verses 1 and 2, second, you confess your sin in verses 3 and 4, third, wait patiently upon the Lord in verses 5 and 6, and lastly, embrace God’s promised redemption in verses 7 and 8.

Again, we’re looking at a Psalm of Ascent that the people of Israel would sing as they made their way up to Jerusalem to make their sacrifices. They’re singing about sin and forgiveness as the head to worship God.

Cry out for Mercy (vv. 1-2):

Maybe you already picked up on this, but this Psalm is a prayer. Notice how the Psalmist jumps right into it.

It’s very intense, isn’t it? “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!”

He’s crying out from the depths of his heart! It’s not a very polished prayer. You don’t really get the sense, he’s striking the posture of prayer, bending his knees, folding his hands, bowing his head and closing his eyes. The force of the first two verses give you the sense that he’s raising his voice, crying out, because it’s so raw and emotional. It’s not a neat and orderly little prayer.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that! There are tons of great ways to organize your prayers. Matthew Henry has a great little treatise called A Method For Prayer. The acronym A.C.T.S. is another great formula for structuring your prayers. A.C.T.S. stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. There are a lot of great resources out there for prayer. But clearly, the Psalmist is not following a rigid structure! His prayer is anything but neat and tidy.

I’m all for using guides for prayer, but sometimes, just sometimes they need to be smashed. We need to scrap our standard phrases. We need to ditch our Christianese, and we need to lay ourselves bare before the Lord and just cry out to God.

I was shocked not that long ago when a college student told me that in some Christian circles, it’s popular to use curse words and vulgar language in prayer.

We are speaking directly to the God of the universe. The Lord who rules and sustains everything. It’s always important to maintain a level of reverence, but we certainly can tell him exactly what’s on our minds.

Are you going to say anything that’s going to surprise the living God? The Psalmist has a deep sense of his sin and goes to the Lord begging Him for mercy.

Confess your Sins (vv. 3-4)

Verses 3 and 4 are a confession of sin. He acknowledges his sin before the Lord, when he says that if God kept a record or inequities, who could stand?

He understands that God must forgive his sins in order to stand in his presence. And he’s broken over his sin and knows that God hates it. The Psalmist is desperate for the Lord’s forgiveness.

It raises an interesting point. There’s a big difference between confessing your sin and being authentic and transparent about your sin. One is a step toward experiencing the grace of God, while the other is simply therapeutic. It feels good to get things off of your chest, but that won’t make you righteous in God’s eyes.

Authenticity, sincerity, and honesty are all admirable qualities, but they don’t earn you any favor before the living God. Repenting, turning from your sin and trusting again, again, and again in the finished work of Christ is what removes the stain of sin. The blood of Christ is what washes you white as snow.

But folks that think there’s some sort of inherent spirituality in authenticity, sincerity, and honesty which demonstrates a huge gap in their theology. They clearly don’t understand the gospel. They clearly don’t understand the character of God.

It’s interesting because the Psalmist states two facts about God’s nature in verses 3 and 4. In verse 3 the Psalmist states that if God kept a record of sins, no one could go before him. Then in verse 4 he states that the Lord is the only source of forgiveness.

The removal of your sin doesn’t come from being honest about it. It comes from the living God.

The Psalmist is reminding himself of God’s character. He reminds himself of God’s holiness. That no one can stand in his presence on his own merit. And yet, at the same time, the Lord is the ultimate source of forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

It’s clearly implied that the Psalmist is struggling with some sort of sin. We clearly don’t have all the details surrounding this particular Psalm, but we don’t need them.

He cries out for mercy, he acknowledges the grievousness of his sin, and that only mercy and forgiveness are found in the Lord.

He wants to experience the Lord’s forgiveness so, “that you [the Lord] may be feared.”

“Feared” is a term for reverence and awe, but it has a worship connotation to it. Because forgiveness of sins, which is found through repentance and faith in Christ for your salvation, should lead you into worship.

For many of us, that probably isn’t very profound. It’s a simple idea to say that forgiveness of sins in Christ should drive you to worship. In fact, it’s pretty basic.

But isn’t it true that often we know theological truths, but for whatever reason they fail to take root in our hearts.

What seems to be going on, is that the Psalmist has sinned, cried out to the Lord for forgiveness, and then starts to remind himself of God’s character.

It’s not a bad idea. But facts about God rarely break down the door to our hearts. “God is sovereign.” That’s a fact about God. But did it stir up your affections for the Lord? I’m joking, but you get the point.

We experience this all the time. You can read Christian literature, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll increase your love for Christ. Do you know what I mean?

It’s even true in some of our churches. We can sit through an entire service where theologically true statements are made, and yet, we never sense the presence of God or power of the Holy Spirit.

Wait Patiently Upon the Lord (vv. 5-6):

Do you expect to hear something from God? Do you anticipate the Holy Spirit to do a great work in your life, or are you just here because you feel obligated to do it?

Too many people and churches don’t expect anything from God. They’ve given up on the Lord. We don’t believe that God is at work here anymore. We assume because we’re set in our ways that God is too. We assume that because we haven’t seen any spiritual fruit in the past that we won’t see any spiritual fruit in the future.

But we don’t know what God is up to. Only God has the ability to change our situations and circumstances. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Why can’t God work in and through Providence Presbyterian Church? Why can’t God work in and through Westminster Presbyterian Church?

Why can’t God use you? Why can’t God use me? There’s hope as long as there is breath in our lungs.

Notice what the Psalmist does. He cries out to God, he confesses his inadequacy and sin, and then what does he do? He waits on the Lord. This is an emphatic point in this Psalm. The waiting.

He says that his soul waits on the Lord in both verses 5 and 6. But it’s not an indifferent, thumb twiddling waiting. It’s an anticipating sort of waiting. A hopeful waiting. An expectant waiting. That’s why he compares the waiting to a watchman twice. He repeats it. What does a night watchman anticipate? The morning. He’s confident that the morning will come. He hopes, anticipates, expects the sun to rise.

The Psalmist expects the comfort of knowing his sin has been cast as far as the east is from the west. He expects to see that sunlight peak over the horizon.

In other words, the Psalmist is saying, God I’m not moving till you do something! Rend the heavens and come down! He’s fully expecting the Lord to do something!

But did you catch the Psalmist’s source of hopeful expectation? His word. The Psalmist isn’t referring to his own words, rather, he is referring to God’s word. His word. The word of the Lord. The Scriptures.

Several months ago, I was talking to one of my cousins and he said something pretty interesting to me. He said that he had never felt like his sins were forgiven until he went to a PCA church. I was pretty surprised by that statement. And so I asked him what he meant by that.

He went on to tell me that in the elements of worship of confessing your sins and the assurance of God’s pardoning grace was where he really sensed that his sins were forgiven.

Before I could take any real credit on behalf of the Presbyterian Church in America, I realized what he was talking about.

Often, the confession of sin and assurance of God’s pardoning grace are taken directly from Scripture.

And I think that’s what makes those elements of worship particularly powerful. It’s Scripture. God’s Word tells us that there is mercy and forgiveness at the foot of the cross.

It really does carry more weight when you quote Scripture, God’s very word reminding us of the grace and mercy found in and through the person of Jesus Christ. I can say it all day long, but hearing directly from Scripture is just more powerful.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Those words have power because they’re God’s words, not mine.

I’m supposed to remind you that there is forgiveness in Christ. That’s a major component of preaching. That’s my job. But I have no authority to forgive your sins. I can remind you that there is forgiveness in Christ, but I can’t forgive your sins. Only God can remove the stain of sin.

When I was in undergrad, I had a good friend who was catholic and one day we struck up a conversation about God’s Word. And he said, “I'm catholic, I don’t have to read the Bible.” He said it half jokingly and half serious. After all, why does he need the Bible? Priests have the authority to forgive sins.

But would you have any real confidence that your sins are forgiven?

Embrace God’s Promise of Redemption (vv. 7-8):

We can have confidence that our sins are forgiven because God’s word tells us. His Word is the source of our confidence. He tells us about himself. He reveals his merciful nature to us through his Word.

Look at verses 7 and 8 with me. “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.”

The Psalmist who, in verses 1 and 2 seemed unsure of his own salvation, suddenly has evangelistic zeal!

The Psalmist explodes in praise in verses 7 and 8. He points Israel to hope in the Lord, and reminds them of the redemption and steadfast love found in the Lord. And how the Lord will redeem them from their sin.

The truth of God’s Word propelled him to action. The Psalmist’s confidence comes from God’s Word.

Truth should drive emotion. Our emotions should not dictate what we believe. An emotional experience is just that - an emotional experience. Our beliefs should direct our emotions.

Emotion is often confused for truth. A quick and easy way to test a church’s values is by how much (or how little) Scripture is referenced. Red flags should be raised if a church rarely quotes Scripture. Because it’s very possible to have an emotional experience that is devoid of any Biblical truth.

The movement of this Psalm is remarkable. The Psalmist goes from agony over his sin to bold confidence in the span of 8 verses. How does the Psalmist go from doubting his salvation to evangelistic zeal?

The Psalm is internally focused until the last two verses. He goes from navel gazing to proclaiming truth to those around him. The Psalm moves from the internal to the external. How? What happened? The Psalmist recovered his assurance of salvation by resting in God’s word which led to his guilt over sin being crushed by the immeasurable grace of God.

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night burdened over some sin you committed years ago? Have you ever had the enemy assault your conscience to the point that you experience guilt and shame all over again? We’ve all been there. What do you do?

You cling to God’s Word. “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us…”

You can say with confidence, by the grace of God, that’s not who I am anymore! I am washed in the blood of the Lamb!

When you're in Christ, your sin no longer defines you! Christ does! And God’s holy and inerrant Scripture reminds us of this truth. His words will assure you of your salvation. His words will breathe life into your soul when you're broken, battered, and bruised.

My anti-social-media friend became a Christian. He never revealed to me exactly what he had done, but he told me that he called his old friends and asked them for forgiveness because by the grace of God he wasn’t that person anymore. He was able to bring his sin into the light after confessing it before the Lord and experiencing the forgiveness of Christ.

Confessing your sin before the Lord is where you experience grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

It’s the Father running to embrace his prodigal son.

“For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.”

What glorious words of comfort! These are the words we need to hear on our deathbed. Truths that matter.