Hope In The Lord (Psalm 130)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:06.040 This is the word of the Lord, a song of a sense. Out 2 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:09.470 of the depths. I have cried to you, oh Lord, Lord, 3 00:00:09.589 --> 00:00:14.949 hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. 4 00:00:15.789 --> 00:00:18.949 If you, Lord, should Mark Iniquity. So, Lord, who 5 00:00:19.030 --> 00:00:23.579 could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. 6 00:00:24.620 --> 00:00:28.339 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word 7 00:00:28.460 --> 00:00:33.259 do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch 8 00:00:33.460 --> 00:00:38.130 for the morning. Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. 9 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:43.649 Oh Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy 10 00:00:44.409 --> 00:00:51.039 and with him is abundant redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his 11 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:55.880 iniquities. Thus far, this reading of God's holy word, the grass withers 12 00:00:55.960 --> 00:01:00.359 in the flower fades, but the word of our Lord endears forever. Please 13 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:12.150 be seated. Well the the Westminster larger catechism, which is one of the 14 00:01:12.269 --> 00:01:15.510 two catechisms of our church. You know we have two. We have the 15 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:19.219 confession of faith and then we have the shorter catechism, we have the larger 16 00:01:19.340 --> 00:01:26.260 catechism. No one really pays attention to the larger catechism anymore. Most people 17 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:30.780 don't pay attention into the shorter just totally random anecdote, I suppose. When 18 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:36.769 I was in seminary I had a professor by the name of Derek Thomason of 19 00:01:36.769 --> 00:01:40.170 yell, may have heard of him, and to grant to pass one of 20 00:01:40.209 --> 00:01:45.489 his classes. We all had to memorize the shorter catechism verbatim, without air, 21 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:52.599 which was pretty hard and and some of the students complain. Not Me 22 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:57.200 because I was afraid of looking stupid, but some of the students complained and 23 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:01.109 it came to Dr Thomas's attention that there was complaining about having to memorize the 24 00:02:01.150 --> 00:02:07.550 gatechism and he mentioned this before class with this wonderful Welsh accent of his, 25 00:02:07.710 --> 00:02:12.270 and he said that it had become to his attention that some of us did 26 00:02:12.349 --> 00:02:15.460 not want to memorize it are we thought it was too hard to memorize it 27 00:02:15.659 --> 00:02:20.939 verbatim and without air. And he pointed out that when the Westminster divines met 28 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:24.500 at Westminster Assembly, at most of the Minster Ablet Abbey for the assembly, 29 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:32.969 that that they wrote to catechisms. One the larger was for adults and people 30 00:02:34.050 --> 00:02:37.569 of sound mind, he pointed out, of the other he said it was 31 00:02:37.650 --> 00:02:42.370 pointed out that that the larger catechism might be too difficult for people. So 32 00:02:42.530 --> 00:02:46.280 he said that what they decided was that they we needed to have a shorter 33 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:52.680 catechism, a little when it would be easy for children, embeciles and those 34 00:02:52.759 --> 00:02:57.120 of Lesser Intelligence. And so he said to us, he said. So 35 00:02:57.319 --> 00:03:01.909 I ask you, brothers, which are you? Imbeciles? Children, are 36 00:03:01.990 --> 00:03:06.949 those of Lesser Intelligence and, of course, the all the complaining stop. 37 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:10.870 But Ah, a shame can do that to you, I suppose. But 38 00:03:10.949 --> 00:03:15.740 I wanted to quote from the larger catechism this evening. The larger catechism says 39 00:03:15.819 --> 00:03:21.419 this about the Lord's supper, which were coming to celebrate this evening. The 40 00:03:21.620 --> 00:03:25.379 Lord's supper is a sacrament of the New Testament, wherein, by giving and 41 00:03:25.539 --> 00:03:30.689 receiving bread and wine, according to the appointment of Jesus Christ, his death 42 00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:37.250 is showed forth and they that worthily communicate feed upon his body and blood to 43 00:03:37.330 --> 00:03:43.159 their spiritual nourishment and growth and grace, have their union and communion with him 44 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:49.240 confirmed, testify and renew their thankfulness and engagement to God and their mutual love 45 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:54.439 and fellowship with each other as members of the same mystical body. Now that 46 00:03:54.710 --> 00:03:59.469 is a mouthful to say and it's more than an earful to hear, I 47 00:03:59.629 --> 00:04:03.389 think. But what the catechism has to say about the Lord's supper is important. 48 00:04:04.229 --> 00:04:11.780 It's important not because knowing it or accepting what the catechism teaches makes us 49 00:04:11.780 --> 00:04:15.939 special in any way, but because the catechism teaches us what it is that 50 00:04:15.100 --> 00:04:20.139 we're doing when we come to the Lord's Table Week by week, when we 51 00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:26.490 come to the sacrament of communion, we do very truly and very wondrously, 52 00:04:26.649 --> 00:04:31.769 though mysteriously, we really do commune with God and a special and a powerful 53 00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:36.290 way, and as we do that, I think that it's important for us 54 00:04:36.370 --> 00:04:41.160 from time to time to consider different aspects of what it is that we do 55 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:46.240 when we commune with the Lord through the sacraments. And so what I wanted 56 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:49.199 us to do this evening is just have something of a meditation in this hundred 57 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:55.750 and Thirty Psalm. I'd like us to see how this prayer of the Psalmist 58 00:04:56.509 --> 00:05:04.189 can help inform our approach to the table. I often ask myself how may 59 00:05:04.230 --> 00:05:11.860 I best approach the Lord's Table, and I've found that meditating on this psalm 60 00:05:12.019 --> 00:05:15.459 has been of some great benefit to me, and so I hope that this 61 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:21.009 meditation on it will be a benefit to you as well. So this psalm 62 00:05:21.329 --> 00:05:25.970 is what's called a song of a sense, it's the very first part of 63 00:05:26.050 --> 00:05:30.370 the first verse. There and the songs of ascent, our Psalms one hundred 64 00:05:30.370 --> 00:05:33.569 and twenty through one hundred and thirty four, and what these were designed for 65 00:05:33.850 --> 00:05:40.639 was that the people of Israel would sing these songs in their order every years 66 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:44.720 they went up from wherever it was that they lived to Jerusalem for the feasts 67 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:48.279 and most especially they would sing these psalms of assent as they went up for 68 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:54.230 the pass over each year, which the Passover was the Old Testament sacrament, 69 00:05:54.269 --> 00:06:00.069 that's the version of our New Testament sacrament of communion. From all over the 70 00:06:00.189 --> 00:06:05.060 Kingdom and ultimately from all over the world, God's people sang these songs that 71 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:10.100 they went up to from their homes to the temple to meet with the Lord 72 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:14.660 so that they could celebrate there what he had done for them and delivering them 73 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:20.170 and blessing them. And so there's sort of a parallel, because if you 74 00:06:20.329 --> 00:06:27.050 sang these psalms on your way to celebrate the Passover, then by Extension Psalms 75 00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:29.810 one hundred and twenty through one hundred and thirty four. Have something to tell 76 00:06:29.850 --> 00:06:33.560 us as we come to the Lord's table. Now, David, I assume 77 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:36.680 it's David. We don't really know, but it's a good assumption that David 78 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:43.480 begins this psalm with a cry of desperation. In the first verse he says, 79 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:46.000 out of the depths I have cried to you. Oh Lord, Lord, 80 00:06:46.389 --> 00:06:51.550 hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my 81 00:06:51.709 --> 00:06:59.470 supplications. Now he begins the Psalm with a very vivid image, and the 82 00:06:59.550 --> 00:07:01.779 image there, out of the depths, I have cried to you, is 83 00:07:01.939 --> 00:07:06.300 it's an image from the sea and the way that David puts it, there 84 00:07:06.540 --> 00:07:11.500 two word pictures come to mind for me that are similar but a little different. 85 00:07:12.379 --> 00:07:15.500 In the first thought that comes to mind for me is the image of 86 00:07:15.540 --> 00:07:19.410 a man who's been cast overboard or whose ships sunk and he's drowning at sea, 87 00:07:20.370 --> 00:07:25.649 and you can imagine in the waves passing over him he comes up for 88 00:07:25.850 --> 00:07:30.199 air, gasping, only to be submerged again and he's growing weaker and weaker 89 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:35.480 as he's fighting against the tide, the waves trying to stay afloat and all 90 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:42.560 the while desperately trying to get the attention of someone on the shore who might 91 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:47.550 be able to help him. Now the PSALMISTS indicates that his prayers have been 92 00:07:47.670 --> 00:07:53.709 like that to God. If this is the image that David's going for here, 93 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:58.149 then he's telling us that his life, likes ours so very often, 94 00:07:58.310 --> 00:08:03.540 feels seems out of control. Things are out of control, things are too 95 00:08:03.699 --> 00:08:09.139 much for him. The cares of this world are swamping him and he doesn't 96 00:08:09.139 --> 00:08:16.970 see any way to find help. His only records is to cry out to 97 00:08:16.050 --> 00:08:24.610 the Lord from for deliverance from his struggles. The other sort of similar image 98 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:28.279 that comes to mind for me is that of a castaway. In this way 99 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:31.759 that I picture it you, I don't picture the fellow swimming, but just 100 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:39.399 out there in the sea, bobbing on the life raft or something. Now, 101 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:43.029 this is the image that he's going for, then David is telling us 102 00:08:43.149 --> 00:08:48.590 that, like the castaway, he feels far from home, far from the 103 00:08:48.669 --> 00:08:52.110 safety of shore, far from where he wants to be. Out there alone 104 00:08:52.149 --> 00:08:58.740 in the sea, he's without any comfort, he's without any joy. His 105 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:05.539 life is not what he wants it to be and so he cries out to 106 00:09:05.659 --> 00:09:09.769 the Lord to be rescued, to be saved from his wandering, to be 107 00:09:09.850 --> 00:09:16.250 brought home to safety. But I want you to notice that he doesn't just 108 00:09:16.769 --> 00:09:22.850 speak to God here. He says he cries out to the Lord. His 109 00:09:24.129 --> 00:09:28.919 prayer isn't just idle Chit Chat. This isn't the sort of prayer that we 110 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:33.399 so often have when we're doing it perfunctorially, we're doing it out of obedience 111 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:37.990 or because it's good for us. This isn't the sort of conversation you would 112 00:09:37.990 --> 00:09:41.710 have with someone over coffee or chatting with a stranger. Next you want a 113 00:09:41.789 --> 00:09:50.470 plane. His prayer is of life and death importance to him. This is 114 00:09:50.750 --> 00:09:56.139 serious to the PSALMIST, and for him to cry out to the Lord like 115 00:09:56.379 --> 00:10:01.299 this requires, I think, two things. First, it requires him to 116 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:07.690 see that his dilemma really is serious. Either it's of the life threatening or 117 00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:13.210 terrifying variety, like it would be if you were drowning, or his life 118 00:10:13.289 --> 00:10:18.169 is just way out of kilter. His life is not what he wants, 119 00:10:18.210 --> 00:10:24.639 it's not what he hopes it would be and he sees no way to fix 120 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:30.320 it. He's stuff uck. So it requires that he see that his dilemma 121 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:35.000 is serious and it requires him, moreover, to be convinced that the one 122 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:41.789 to whom he cries out can and will deliver him. I mean, think 123 00:10:41.830 --> 00:10:45.470 about it. If you were a drowning man at sea and you knew that 124 00:10:45.590 --> 00:10:48.710 there was a boat next door, but it was crude by by an entire 125 00:10:48.870 --> 00:10:54.259 crew of blind, deaf mutes, all of your screaming and all of your 126 00:10:54.379 --> 00:10:58.580 crying and all of your waving wouldn't do anything for you. They could not 127 00:10:58.860 --> 00:11:01.100 see you, they could not hear you, they could not help you. 128 00:11:03.690 --> 00:11:11.009 David, however, cries out to God, who hears us, who sees 129 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:18.159 us, who cares about us and who both can and will deliver us. 130 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:28.159 So how does David Know for sure that God hears, sees and cares? 131 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:35.509 Well, he tells us in the next two verses. Now we know that 132 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:39.789 God will always hear us and deliver us and act with compassion toward us. 133 00:11:41.149 --> 00:11:46.509 And you know that he will because we have a restored relationship with him. 134 00:11:46.830 --> 00:11:52.620 This morning I quoted the shorter catechism, vert question nineteen, and it says 135 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:58.460 that all mankind, by their fall lost communion with God, are under his 136 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:01.690 wrath and curse and so made liable to all miseries in this life, death 137 00:12:01.769 --> 00:12:09.289 itself and the pains of hell forever. But in the face of that awful 138 00:12:09.370 --> 00:12:15.409 judgment that we bring upon ourselves, versus three and four give us good news. 139 00:12:15.529 --> 00:12:20.240 He says, if you, Lord, Should Mark Iniquities, oh Lord, 140 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:24.240 who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may 141 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:31.789 be feared. He says that the Lord doesn't Mark Our iniquities. You know, 142 00:12:33.830 --> 00:12:39.909 I think both in my personal experience of my existential crisis, crises, 143 00:12:39.509 --> 00:12:45.539 crises sees, there been a lot of them, as well as observing other 144 00:12:45.700 --> 00:12:52.259 people I've I've noted that what often undermines our faith, what makes our prayers 145 00:12:52.460 --> 00:12:56.460 weak and makes us insecure in our relationship with the Lord, is this feeling 146 00:12:56.580 --> 00:13:03.610 that there is something standing between us and God. We get this idea that 147 00:13:03.730 --> 00:13:09.370 he somehow has this list of sins and transgressions, this list of reasons to 148 00:13:09.529 --> 00:13:16.080 punish US or not to love us or to hold us off. But the 149 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:22.360 good news here is that all of those things are gone. They're all gone. 150 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:28.830 All of our sins have been nailed to the Cross with Christ and we 151 00:13:28.149 --> 00:13:35.750 bear them, know, more like Christian in pilgrim's progress. We were weighed 152 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:39.750 down by this load of guilt and Sin. But David reminds us that the 153 00:13:39.909 --> 00:13:45.940 Lord doesn't mark, that is, he doesn't keep a record of our sins. 154 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:52.500 We think about that. You and I, unless you're a sociopath, 155 00:13:54.139 --> 00:13:58.490 you worry about this from time to time. I know you do. But 156 00:13:58.649 --> 00:14:03.610 the reality is that, though you have a laundry list of your failures and 157 00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:07.490 all the reasons that God shouldn't love you, the Lord, God omnipotent, 158 00:14:07.690 --> 00:14:13.559 has no such list. So, if I may put this rather bluntly, 159 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:22.240 who are you to come down on you when the lord has vindicated you? 160 00:14:24.350 --> 00:14:30.429 You should repent of yourself loathing now. Just go home and feel bad about 161 00:14:30.429 --> 00:14:33.590 that, but no longer see. What he's telling us is that, since 162 00:14:33.629 --> 00:14:39.220 we're no longer weighed down by our guilt or our shame or our burdens, 163 00:14:39.419 --> 00:14:46.340 now we can stand tall with confidence before our father, knowing that there is 164 00:14:46.659 --> 00:14:52.730 nothing that he has against us. And if you look at the fourth verse, 165 00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:58.850 He says that he forgives us. What he's getting at is that the 166 00:14:58.970 --> 00:15:05.889 Lord restores us to himself as if nothing had ever happened. I know that 167 00:15:07.049 --> 00:15:09.919 you come across people in your life, who will tell you that they forgive 168 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:18.840 you, but they still remember you, know they do. You do this 169 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:26.149 to other people. I forgive him, but I'll never forget that. People 170 00:15:26.309 --> 00:15:33.149 see us in light of our past. But by contrast, the Lord truly 171 00:15:33.789 --> 00:15:41.059 forgives Jesus. Took every reason for separation, he took all of our past 172 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:46.220 sins and our failures and he took the punishment for them in his body on 173 00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:52.570 Calvary's cross. And having done that, he has now clothed us with his 174 00:15:52.730 --> 00:15:58.570 very righteousness. He has as just as Joseph's father did, as it were. 175 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:03.169 He's clothed us in his cloak of many colors and he presents us to 176 00:16:03.289 --> 00:16:11.519 his father as his friends. And the father sees us in Christ just as 177 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:21.909 he sees the son himself, spotless, holy, blameless and wonderful. This 178 00:16:21.950 --> 00:16:30.190 is how the Lord Sees You, and David tells us that the Lord does 179 00:16:30.350 --> 00:16:37.580 this. He says that you may be feared. Now what this means is 180 00:16:37.899 --> 00:16:41.860 that God's restoring us to himself allows us to fear him, as we ought 181 00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:47.809 to do. But always remember that that that word, fear can just as 182 00:16:47.889 --> 00:16:53.330 well be translated as reverence. Or all this fear isn't a terrified fear. 183 00:16:53.769 --> 00:17:00.009 This isn't the fear of an angry person or a cold person. This is 184 00:17:00.169 --> 00:17:07.720 the sort of fear that a meek, loving child might have for his very 185 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:12.160 strong and holy yet very loving father. Now, the child of such a 186 00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:17.910 parent wouldn't want to go against his father's will. He wouldn't want to hurt 187 00:17:17.950 --> 00:17:22.990 or or anger his father by sinning against him. That child knows that it 188 00:17:22.150 --> 00:17:30.059 is better, it's infinitely more happy and safe and good to be held in 189 00:17:30.259 --> 00:17:34.099 his father's loving arms then it would, ever, be to damage that relationship 190 00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:41.980 or to run away like prodigal from his father's care. Even so, when 191 00:17:41.140 --> 00:17:47.529 God has so lovingly and sacrificially restored us to a right relationship with himself, 192 00:17:47.609 --> 00:17:52.930 a godly fear is that which reminds ourselves why would I want to slap him 193 00:17:52.930 --> 00:18:00.759 against the face and run away from him? A godly fear reminds us that 194 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:07.440 it's far better to live by his rules in his house and enjoy his love 195 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:15.990 and care forever. All right, so far the PSALMIST has told us how 196 00:18:17.349 --> 00:18:22.230 he cries out to God, and he's told us why he cries out to 197 00:18:22.390 --> 00:18:25.990 God. And now, in the next two verses we see the follows up 198 00:18:26.109 --> 00:18:32.299 on this cry and he shows us his own heart as he prays. He 199 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:37.339 says this. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits. And in 200 00:18:37.460 --> 00:18:41.809 his word, do I hope? My soul waits for the Lord more than 201 00:18:41.849 --> 00:18:48.690 those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than those who watch for 202 00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:55.130 the morning. Now again David gives us some really vivid word pictures here. 203 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:00.079 First he says that he waits for the Lord more than those who watch for 204 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:04.359 the morning. And as I thought about this, it occurs to me that 205 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:10.029 there are a couple of ways that someone might wait for the morning to come. 206 00:19:11.509 --> 00:19:15.990 You might wait patiently through the night for the morning to come because you 207 00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:21.950 know that the morning comes every day, unless you live in Alaska, this 208 00:19:22.069 --> 00:19:25.339 time year, I suppose, but that's we don't. We live in Arizona. 209 00:19:25.859 --> 00:19:30.140 So you wait patiently because you have a trust. You have a confidence 210 00:19:32.180 --> 00:19:36.819 that allows you to wait patiently. You know it's going to come, it's 211 00:19:36.859 --> 00:19:42.450 just a matter of time. By contrast, we might wait through the night 212 00:19:42.490 --> 00:19:49.490 anxiously and impatiently. Now, we might wait with an anxious impatience for the 213 00:19:49.609 --> 00:19:55.000 morning to come because we're so eager for it to come. Maybe the night 214 00:19:55.160 --> 00:20:00.839 has been cold and long, or you're grieving some sadness or something, and 215 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:07.910 so you wait for the dawn with an eager expectation. Now, one of 216 00:20:07.950 --> 00:20:11.549 the reasons I like this psalm is it always takes me back to when I 217 00:20:11.589 --> 00:20:15.589 was seventeen. I had an experience. When I was seventeen, I was 218 00:20:15.710 --> 00:20:21.460 in the boy scouts and I experienced both of these sorts of waiting at the 219 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:26.380 same time. Now we've had our summer camp up in Pastin, up on 220 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:30.380 the Moggian rim. I imagine most of us have been there, and there 221 00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:36.529 was this one orienteering award called the Eagle Eye, and the thing about the 222 00:20:36.609 --> 00:20:40.130 eagle eye was they wouldn't let you go until it was like your last or 223 00:20:40.250 --> 00:20:45.130 next to last summer because of the liability issues. And to earn this award 224 00:20:45.210 --> 00:20:49.519 you had to go out into the woods alone right before sundown and you weren't 225 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:53.400 supposed to come back to sun up. And what you would do is you'd 226 00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:00.319 take a handful of supplies, a compass and some very vague directions, like, 227 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:04.710 at the starting point, take a bearing of thirty five degrees and go 228 00:21:04.869 --> 00:21:10.349 a hundred yards. At that point you'll see a ponderosa pine with a face 229 00:21:10.549 --> 00:21:17.630 on it, like in ourly face Moo. Go about twenty six degrees and 230 00:21:18.029 --> 00:21:21.460 for ten yards and then you'll find this. And once you get to this 231 00:21:21.700 --> 00:21:26.420 bare left, and it was like random, just sort of vague direction, 232 00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:29.859 you're on the woods all by yourself. It's night and the point of the 233 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:33.609 whole exercise was you were supposed to go out there and find a small box 234 00:21:33.970 --> 00:21:38.170 that was hidden in the woods and you had to return to camp by six 235 00:21:38.210 --> 00:21:41.250 o'clock in the morning and then you would get this award. It was sort 236 00:21:41.289 --> 00:21:45.529 of a you know, like let me show everybody how cool I am, 237 00:21:45.690 --> 00:21:48.119 that I can do this, and they only sent you out when there was 238 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:52.880 a weather report calling for clear skies, and so there were. But I 239 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:57.559 had only been out for maybe an hour, maybe two at the most, 240 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:04.869 when the skies started to grow dark and those big, you know boiling thunderclouds 241 00:22:04.950 --> 00:22:08.509 that come up over the mountains in the summer started piling up on the on 242 00:22:08.630 --> 00:22:15.069 the mogian mountain or Mogian rim, and it's raging thunderstorm. Started, just 243 00:22:15.349 --> 00:22:18.980 raging thunderstorm. But I was almost to the box. I thought, Oh, 244 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:22.700 I can make it to the box. I have a flashlight, but 245 00:22:22.819 --> 00:22:26.539 what I didn't know is that one of the boys in my troop the batteries 246 00:22:26.619 --> 00:22:30.009 in his light were going bad, so he just snagged mine and left me 247 00:22:30.210 --> 00:22:33.410 with like ninety percent dead batteries. So I was like all right, I 248 00:22:33.450 --> 00:22:37.250 can do this. I switched my flashlight on, I got going a little 249 00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:42.369 ways and and just it died on me. So I decided to pitch a 250 00:22:42.369 --> 00:22:45.079 lean to because I knew how to do that, and I was just going 251 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:48.319 to hunker down to the storm passed and Sun came up, I'd find the 252 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:53.839 box and I'd run back to camp. But the weather just kept getting worse 253 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:59.710 and worse and worse and worse, and so I decided I have no choice 254 00:22:59.750 --> 00:23:03.309 but to go back. So I was walking back in the you know, 255 00:23:03.430 --> 00:23:07.269 the depths of night, in a raging thunderstorm, with no flashlight, and 256 00:23:08.470 --> 00:23:12.660 you won't be surprised to know that I stumbled and fell and rolled all the 257 00:23:12.700 --> 00:23:18.740 way down as steep muddy ravine and sprained my ankle. As my legs swelled 258 00:23:18.779 --> 00:23:21.380 up, I realized that I was just going to have to stay there. 259 00:23:22.019 --> 00:23:26.529 So I had about eight nine hours till the sun came up. And I 260 00:23:26.690 --> 00:23:33.809 just sat there shivering in a wet sleeping bag with a swollen ankle, knowing 261 00:23:33.890 --> 00:23:40.170 I had failed. But you see, that night is I waited for the 262 00:23:40.289 --> 00:23:42.960 sun or to come up, and is that storm just poured and poured him 263 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:51.400 poured. I was able to wait patiently and with confidence because I knew that 264 00:23:51.559 --> 00:24:00.670 the dawn always comes after the night. But because I was so miserable and 265 00:24:00.990 --> 00:24:07.630 cold and Wet, I waited for the morning with an eager expectation that makes 266 00:24:07.670 --> 00:24:11.539 a five yearold at Christmas look like nothing. I was so eager for it 267 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:18.259 to come. And here in our Psalm, David waits in both of these 268 00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:23.690 ways too. In verse four, he says that he waits for the Lord. 269 00:24:23.809 --> 00:24:30.250 I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, he says. But 270 00:24:30.369 --> 00:24:33.130 See, his waiting year isn't like well, I'll play with my phone. 271 00:24:33.930 --> 00:24:38.680 It's not that kind of waiting. It's not that kind of waiting that we 272 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:41.720 have. Are those sorts of prayers we offer when you know it's just sort 273 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:48.559 of like playing Frisbee with one person you know, or I've heard someone describe 274 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.559 it as your prayers float up to the ceiling and fall back down like no 275 00:24:52.680 --> 00:24:56.549 one's listening, but you know you're supposed to pray. It's not like that. 276 00:24:56.750 --> 00:25:00.670 He's not going through the motions. David tells us that he waits patiently 277 00:25:00.910 --> 00:25:07.940 and confidently because, as he says, in his word, do I hope, 278 00:25:08.299 --> 00:25:12.539 in God's Word, David had seen that our God is a promise keeping 279 00:25:12.660 --> 00:25:18.299 God. He is the God who has restored us to a relationship with himself 280 00:25:18.859 --> 00:25:23.250 and who promises to always give us what we need and what is good for 281 00:25:23.369 --> 00:25:29.809 us at every single moment. It's right there. And then, in verse 282 00:25:29.890 --> 00:25:36.599 six, he tells us my soul waits for the Lord. In other words, 283 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:42.799 David waits with his deepest, innermost part of himself. He's waiting expectantly, 284 00:25:44.920 --> 00:25:49.509 like a child waiting for presents on his birthday. He's waiting eagerly because 285 00:25:49.549 --> 00:25:56.829 he knows the answer to his cries are coming, because he knows who his 286 00:25:56.390 --> 00:26:04.339 God is. But notice that the psalmist doesn't tell us what he waits for 287 00:26:04.539 --> 00:26:12.259 exactly. He just tells us he waits for the Lord. He isn't looking 288 00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:18.730 for relief from distress necessarily, and we know that his eager waiting isn't to 289 00:26:18.849 --> 00:26:23.289 be forgiven. He's already got that. Instead, he tells us that, 290 00:26:23.529 --> 00:26:30.569 because he is forgiven, he waits for the Lord's comfort and he waits for 291 00:26:30.609 --> 00:26:34.039 the Lord's presence. He waits for the Lord to comfort him and bring him 292 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:42.519 relief, either through fixing his problems or through giving him a sense of joy 293 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:48.349 in the journey to go through it with peace. Because, you know, 294 00:26:48.509 --> 00:26:55.029 sometimes you don't need a solution to your problem. Sometimes you just need God's 295 00:26:55.069 --> 00:27:00.700 grace to bear it with joy and patience. But either way we see that 296 00:27:00.819 --> 00:27:07.180 the Lord always blesses us when we cry out to him, as David does 297 00:27:07.259 --> 00:27:15.730 here now. Having told us about how he cries out to God and why 298 00:27:15.410 --> 00:27:21.609 he cries out to God and how he waits upon the Lord, David now 299 00:27:21.809 --> 00:27:25.849 turns to us in the last two verses and he tells us that, in 300 00:27:25.970 --> 00:27:30.359 whatever place we may find ourselves, whether we are drowning in the cares of 301 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:36.119 life or just cast away from joy and peace that we long for, he 302 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:40.559 turns to us and he urges us to hope in the Lord. He says, 303 00:27:40.599 --> 00:27:44.710 Oh assrail, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is 304 00:27:44.869 --> 00:27:51.190 mercy and with him is abundant redemption, and he shall redeem as reel from 305 00:27:51.190 --> 00:27:59.980 all his iniquities. I think it's kind of remarkable from our perspective today to 306 00:28:00.140 --> 00:28:04.539 find David telling us to hope in the Lord. You know, when in 307 00:28:04.619 --> 00:28:08.339 David's Day, when the Psalm was written, he only had a few books 308 00:28:08.380 --> 00:28:14.289 of the Bible that we have today. He had the five books of Moses, 309 00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:18.490 a few psalms, maybe the book of job maybe a couple low others, 310 00:28:18.809 --> 00:28:26.569 maybe not. And yet look at the confidence, hope and joy that 311 00:28:26.730 --> 00:28:33.079 he had in our God. Compared to him then, now today, in 312 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:37.759 the shadow of the Cross and with the fullness of the revelation of scripture, 313 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:45.630 we have every reason to be even more hopeful than David. In the first 314 00:28:45.750 --> 00:28:49.309 part of verse seven he says with the Lord there is mercy. When we 315 00:28:49.430 --> 00:28:56.180 talked about this this morning, mercy is loving kindness. It's his giving us 316 00:28:56.299 --> 00:29:03.500 what we do not deserve and not giving us what we do deserve. It's 317 00:29:03.619 --> 00:29:08.299 his taking away the punishment for our sins and giving us the Covenant and the 318 00:29:08.420 --> 00:29:15.730 promises of his never failing love. His mercy is giving us what we don't 319 00:29:15.849 --> 00:29:21.769 deserve. And in the second part of verse seven he says with him there 320 00:29:21.930 --> 00:29:27.359 is abundant redemption. Now, our redemption is just a ransom. A ransonens 321 00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:33.240 is something that substituted for something else, usually a price paid to rescue a 322 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:41.990 hostage, right, or something like that. Well, our redemption is Jesus 323 00:29:41.150 --> 00:29:47.910 is, having taken from us every bit of our guilt and shame and in 324 00:29:48.069 --> 00:29:53.940 giveing us his very own standing with his father. And he concludes in Verse 325 00:29:55.059 --> 00:30:02.380 Eight by saying this, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. 326 00:30:03.900 --> 00:30:12.329 Now, just if I can clarify something, you are Israel. The baptized 327 00:30:12.410 --> 00:30:17.970 Christian who is trusting in Christ, is a member of the household of Israel 328 00:30:18.049 --> 00:30:23.079 and an air of all the promises of the Lord. And so, whatever 329 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:30.160 it is that's weighing you down this evening, whatever is burdening you as you 330 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:38.950 approach the Lord's table, you have this firm, objective, rock solid promise. 331 00:30:41.910 --> 00:30:52.380 Jesus has redeemed you, Jesus is redeeming you, and Jesus will redeem 332 00:30:52.420 --> 00:31:00.259 you from all of your brokenness, from all of your spiritual impoverishment, from 333 00:31:00.299 --> 00:31:04.930 all of your sufferings. And as we come to the Lord's table this evening, 334 00:31:04.970 --> 00:31:10.930 we see that we have every reason to hope in the Lord. He 335 00:31:11.089 --> 00:31:18.960 says with him is abundant redemption. Jesus says that this read is his body, 336 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:23.799 which was given for us. Jesus is our ransom, he is our 337 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:30.359 redemption. In his body and by his stripes, he paid the penalty for 338 00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:37.710 all of our sins so that we bear them no more. And he says, 339 00:31:37.789 --> 00:31:41.509 with the Lord, there is mercy. Jesus said that this Cup is 340 00:31:41.589 --> 00:31:47.779 the new covenant in his blood, because he shed his blood for us, 341 00:31:48.859 --> 00:31:53.059 because he has washed US wider than snow in his blood and because he has 342 00:31:53.220 --> 00:32:00.299 covered us in his blood. We stand before our father in heaven as though 343 00:32:00.579 --> 00:32:06.970 nothing had ever come between us, because there is no more wall of separation. 344 00:32:08.170 --> 00:32:16.400 This sacrament testifies to us why we can cry out to God, this 345 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:22.640 sacrament testifies to us why we can be confident before the Lord, and this 346 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:28.240 sacrament testifies to us why we can wait upon the Lord, our God, 347 00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:37.269 with all hope. And for my part, I think that that is good 348 00:32:37.349 --> 00:32:45.779 news. Amen, let's pray.