Psalm 130
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
Good morning. Good morning. It's so good to see everyone here. Again, I want to thank you, spread my gratitude to the elders for extending this invitation for me to preach. And so if you don't mind go to the Lord, please go to the Lord with me one more time in prayer before we begin. Father, we pray that you would open our eyes, open the eyes of our heart, that we would see wonderful things in Psalm 130. Psalm 130. We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen. Within the past five years, there's a series of commercials on TV that attempts to convey the message of Christianity. It would begin by showing a series of images featuring different groups of people in different circumstances. And their goal is to try to show how these people are misunderstood, marginalized, and ostracized.
And at the end of these images, a short slogan and motto appears. He gets us. He gets us. That is, Jesus gets us. Is that what Christianity is all about? But is that what the gospel or the good news is? If someone were to ask you, what is the gospel? What exactly is the good news? How would you respond? It's an important question.
It's a question that had tremendous significance, not only in this life, but also in the life to come. It's a question of eternal significance. And as we look at Psalm 130, we'll find the answer to that very important question. What is the gospel? Turn with me to Psalm 130. Turn your Bible to Psalm 130. If you use a red pill Bible, either in front of you or under your seat, it's on page 518. Page 518.
And with the book of Psalms, if you just open it in half, you land on Psalms. But if you do that and you land on Ezekiel, then it just means that you have a study Bible. So they had a lot of notes on the bottom. So the pages are a little bit different there. Now when you get to page 518, you're going to see a big, a gigantic number, 130, on the right column. Everyone see that? 130. And next to the number 130, you see one line, all in capital letters, that says a song of ascents.
A song of ascents. That's what we call a superscription, and it comes from the Latin super means abode, and scripts mean written or written. So, when you put those together, superscription means written above. Above what? Well, above Psalm 130, above the psalm. And this superscription tells us that Psalm 130 belongs to a Spotify playlist called the Songs of Ascends, the Songs of Ascends. And there are 15 of those. So, they are like travel psalms.
There are 15 of those that begins in Psalm 130 and concludes at Psalm 134. So, they are kind of like near the end. of the Psalter. Now look at the word ascends with me in that superscription. The Hebrew word translated ascends here is related to the verb to go up. And because Jerusalem is on a hilltop, when you go to Jerusalem, you have to go up. It involves an ascent, multiple ascends in fact, multiple going ups. And these Psalms were sung as people made their way to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate three major festivals. What are they? First of all, they celebrated Passover in the spring. Secondly, they celebrate Pentecost, which is in the early summer. So they just celebrated a few months ago.
And then lastly, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, which is in the fall. So in our calendar, Tabernacles would be in around September. So it's in about two months away. So Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. That's all there is for the superscription. Now let's read the psalm. Psalm 130 on page 518. Follow along with me. A song of ascents. 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 mock 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 love, and with him is plentiful redemption, and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
We'll look at the Psalms in four parts, four parts. First, we look at the need, N-E-E-D, the need in verses 1 to 2 and a little bit of verse 3, the need. And then in verses 3 to 4, we'll look at the news, the news in verses 3 to 4. And then thirdly, we'll look at the now, N-O-W, the now in verses 5 to 6. And lastly, in verses 7 to 8, we'll look at the note, N-O-T-E, the note. So the need in verses 1 to 2, and a little bit of verse 3, the news, verses 3 to 4, the now, verses 5 to 6, and then lastly, the note in verses 7 and 8.
So look first with me at the first point, the need, in verses 1 to 2, and a little bit of verse 3, but let me read again in verses 1 to 2. 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. The psalm opens with a note of hopelessness. And right from the start, we hear a cry. Look at verse 1. Look at the first line of verse 1. Out of the depths I cry.
And it's a cry that wants to be heard. Two times, not once. The psalm begs God. Look at verse 2 with me. hear my voice and then look at what he said at the end let your ears be attentive to the voice of my plea for mercy this is a desperate cry and in fact two times again the word voice appears in verse 2 you see that look at verse 2 hear my voice and then look at the end listen to the voice of my pleas for mercy two times that word appear it is as if the psalmist is trying to make sure that his cry is heard.
It's a desperate cry. It must also be a loud cry. You don't get someone's attention by just speaking softly and quietly. Kelsey always laughed at me when I knock on people's door, like when we go to Brandon's and Cindy's house. They're on sabbatical, so don't go there, okay? But when we go there, I would knock, and this is how I can't knock. And then Kelsey would say, Babe, they can't hear you. And so I would try it again. And then finally she would come and knock.
And that would immediately get the shepherds' attention. So she did a loud knock and that got their attention. Well, the cry that we hear in Psalm 130 is no soft and quiet cry. It's a loud cry. The psalmist wants the Lord to drop everything and pay attention to him. He wants God to pick up the phone and answer him. But what happens? What happens to him? Where is he now? Look at the first four words in verse 1. Look at the first four words. Out of the depths.
Ah, so the depths are the location of his cry. This word refers to the depths of the sea. And in the Old Testament, the sea is a metaphor of danger. And it is a very fitting metaphor because the Israelites are not a sea people. They are a land people. So if there were any ancient version of the Olympics, they would not have participated in any aquatic sports. They would not do that. They would not be swimming or kayaking or do things like that.
They are a land people. They are a land people. So to be in the depths means to be drowned. To be in the depths means to be, It's like you are being buried in a water grave and cemetery. Now, to give us an idea, the average depth of the ocean is about 3,500 meters. But only the Robesons can understand that, being from Canada. So, for the rest of us, it's 12,000 feet, okay, 12,000 feet deep. And imagine how deep that is because the tallest buildings in the world is just 800 meters.
Or for the rest of us, that's 3,000 feet and it's in Dubai. So you would have to stack four of these buildings together to just get to the average depth, not just even the deepest depth. Now imagine sinking that deep. Imagine sinking that deep. Our psalmist is in big trouble. He's in deep trouble. He's drowning, he's sinking, he's going down to the depths. But is he drowning literally? What do you think?
Is he drowning literally? Well, if we just glance really quick at verse 3, we see that the answer is no. The depths of the ocean is in fact a metaphor for another kind of depths, the depths of sin and iniquities. Look at verse 3 with me. If you, O Lord, should mock iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? The same word iniquities also occurs at the end of the psalm. Look down really quick at verse 8. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
So the word basically bookends the whole psalm. And at the very least, it shows us that iniquities is a big concern for the psalmist. It is a big issue in this psalm. But what does that word mean? Well, it is an iniquity is a violation of God's law. It is a violation of his rules. It is a violation of his standard. That's what it means. It is sin. And iniquity is an overwhelming trait of our humanity.
It is in our spiritual makeup. It is in our spiritual DNA and genetics. We all are sinners. We all are people of iniquity. And look at what sin and iniquity do to the psalmist and the rest of us. It submerges us into the depths. It sinks our soul down. It drowns us. Is it how you feel this morning? Maybe the sins that you committed this week, this month, or this year, or maybe the sins that you have committed the past five years, 10 years, 20 years, or over 50 years ago, they are still drowning you, and they are still suffocating you.
And maybe you feel that Sunday mornings are the only time that you can come up. for a little bit of air. Now, if you're not a Christian, you may think, well, I don't feel that way at all. And with all due respect, what you guys call sin doesn't bother me. I don't think it's a big deal. I don't feel drought. I don't feel drought by my sin and iniquities. I don't feel any of that. So how do you explain that, preacher? How do you respond to that? Well, friends, if that is how you feel, the Bible has a precise diagnosis for your condition.
It's like you are dead, spiritually dead. In your transgression and in your iniquity and in your sin, you are spiritually dead. That's why you don't feel anything dead people don't feel. They can't feel because they cannot, because they are dead. So in either case, we all need God's intervention. We need his rescue. We need him to save us from the depths of our sins and iniquities. That is our greatest need.
Will that need be met? Let's find out in verses 3 to 4. That leads us to our second point. The news in verses 3 and 4. Let me read verses 3 to 4. If you, O Lord, should mock iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. So verse 3 poses a question. If you, O Lord, should mock iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? And there is one word that we have to zoom in a little bit, to double-click on it a little bit, to understand what is he asking here.
Look at mock. Not mock Jordan, but the word mock in verse 3. Look, you see, if you, O Lord, should mock iniquities, the word translated mock here conveys the idea of paying careful attention to something. paying careful attention to something so being a grader for a number of years I had to do a lot of markings so I had to pay a very careful attention to the students answers so I can mark so I can see their mistakes and mark it. Other translations tease out this idea more clearly for example the new international version said if you oh lord kept a record of sins Another version says, if you, O Lord, keep track of sins.
You see, that also conveys the idea of paying careful attention to something. So the psalmist is asking us, if God mocks our sin and iniquity, if God pays close attention to that, who would even survive? Who would even stand? Who would even pass? Who could make it? And the obvious answer is none. Zero. No one. No one. Because if God mocks it, we won't make it. If God mocks it, we won't make it.
If God keeps a record of our sin and holds it against us, none of us will survive. No one, not even one. Zero. We wouldn't be standing. We'd be sinking. We'd be drowning. We'd be plunging down into the depths. But the big question I want us to focus on in verses 3 to 4 is this. Does God mark iniquities or does he not? Does God mark iniquities or does he not? And there are two parts to the answer. The first part is in verse 3, and then the second part is in verse 4. Let's look first at the first part in verse 3. Now some of us may look at verse 3 and say, of course not. God doesn't mark iniquities. And you may point out that verse 3 starts with the word if. Everyone see that? It starts with the word if. So, the whole verse is just hypothetical.
Hypothetically, God may mark our sin and iniquities. Hypothetically, God may keep a record of our sins, but it's just hypothetical. So, it can't happen. In other words, God doesn't mark our iniquities. Well, not that quick and easy. Or as Kelsey would tell me, slow down, grasshopper. Or hold your horses. That's what he would tell me. But think about that. Just because something is hypothetical doesn't mean that it cannot happen.
It doesn't mean that it would not happen. It doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. Just because something is hypothetical. And elsewhere in the whole Bible we know for a fact beyond a shadow of a doubt that God does mock iniquities. He does. He doesn't overlook our sin. He doesn't sweep it under the rug. He doesn't overlook it. He will judge and punish our sins. So, okay, does God mock iniquities or not? Yes, he does, 100%.
And we should believe that. We should affirm that. You know, there are a lot of talks these days about how churches should be affirming. And people said, you know, the church should be affirming. And so if you invite someone to Third Avenue, let's say, chances are they're going to ask you, Is your church an affirming church? And by that, they mean, really mean, are your church really affirms what contradicts the Bible? Does your church affirm sinful practices that the Bible condemns?
They try to affirm what the Bible clearly doesn't teach. Well, we shouldn't do that. We shouldn't do that. But we should be an affirming church in the biblical sense of it. We should affirm everything the Bible teaches. We should affirm that all have sinned and fall short from the glory of God. We should affirm that there is no one righteous, no, not one. We should affirm that no one seeks after God. We should affirm that we are all sinners. We should affirm that we are a people of sin and iniquity. And yes, we should definitely affirm that God does mock iniquities and sin.
That's what we should be affirming. We should affirm this very bad news in verse 3. Oh, but don't forget the other news in verse 4. Look at the second part of the answer. Look at verse 4, but with you, I might just get stuck on these three words, but I'll run out of time, so I need to move on. But with you, but with you, there is forgiveness. Did you hear that? But with you, there is what? Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Well, what else does he have with him?
Well, take a quick look at verse 7. Look at the second line. With the Lord, there is steadfast love. Well, what else does he have? Look, keep reading. With him is plentiful redemption. Ah, that's the good news. That's the second part to the answer. So does God mock iniquities? Yes. But that's not all he does. That's not the only thing he does. He's not just mocking. He's also giving forgiveness, steadfast love, plentiful redemption.
He's not just mocking. He's also giving. He is forgiven. He is forgiven. That is the good news. But how, how, how does it work? You may ask, how can God do both mocking and forgiving? How can he do both? It's a paradox. It's a mystery. But that mystery was finally revealed in the first century AD when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took on our sin, died for us, and rose again on the third day. And if we were to sit down and have coffee at synagogues with the prophet Isaiah and tell him all the things that Jesus did.
He would say, yeah, I know. I wrote a book about that. I wrote a book about that. You read that? He said, where? Isaiah chapter 53. Ah, 53. Beginning in verse 4. Let me read it for us. Surely he, talking about Jesus, had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteem him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He would crush for our, here's our key word, same word in Psalm 130, he would crush for our iniquities.
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the, here's that key word again, iniquity of us all. And later on in that chapter, Isaiah repeats that same word for the third time, saying that he, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the suffering servant, will bear our iniquities. So do you know how God can do both mocking and forgiving?
Because he mocks our sins and iniquities on his son, Jesus. That's how it was possible. God doesn't graze by the curve. He graze by the cradle. He graze by the cross. He graze by the tomb. He graze us by the empty tomb. He created us by the life, the death, and the resurrection of his son, Jesus. That is the good news. That is how he could do both mocking and forgiving. Now, if you're not a Christian, do you know what you should do? Do what the psalmist does in verses 1 to 2.
Call out to Jesus. Cry out to him. Confess your sin to him. Plead with Jesus to save you from the death of sins and iniquities. And the good news is, he'll do that. He will do that because the psalmist tells us with him is forgiveness, with him is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. There's no one who calls on the Lord Jesus Christ that will not get an answer. The scripture said everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
That's what the scripture affirms. Oh, I'm reminded of an old song called Love Lifted Me. It said, I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry and from the water lifted me up. Now save am I. So call out to Jesus right now. He will hear your despairing cry and lift you up and save you and forgive you.
But this good news is not just for Christians. it's not just for non-Christians it's also for Christians it also has implications for Christians look at the second half of verse 4 look at the very end of verse 4 with me but with you there is forgiveness and then keep reading that you may be feared hmm if you were to write this verse what would you have put That you may be, fill in the blank, loved, adore, worship, revered, respect.
We would put any kind of word, but fear wouldn't be the top choice, the first choice that comes to our mind. So why fear? Well, what did we just see in verse 3? Judgment, punishment, right? If God judged us because of our sin, we'll be justly condemned. But sin, He decides to forgive us, that should provoke fear in us. You know why? Because it could have gone the other way. Because it could have gone the other way around.
He didn't have to save us. He didn't have to forgive us. He could have dealt with us as our sins deserved. But He didn't. So this should promote a proper fear in us. It is the kind of healthy and godly fear that results in a changed life. You know, there's a kind of Christianity out there that has distorted and corrupted the message of Christianity. It leaves out the last five words in verse 4 that you may be feared. This kind of Christianity leaves out these last five words.
And they say, just go down the aisle, grant God's forgiveness, and do whatever you want with your life. You know, it doesn't matter if you continue a persistent sin, you're forgiven. So how should we think about that? What does Scripture say about that? Well, friends, forgiveness is not a get-out-of-jail-free call. If you say, I'm a Christian but have no evidence of a changed life, then you may be self-deceived. And the Scripture had multiple warnings against self-deception.
Scripture tells us that not all who profess faith actually possess faith. Scripture tells us that not all who claim to be Christian are actually Christians. So take an honest inventory look at your spiritual life. Maybe within the past one year, two years, or five years, is there any evidence of growth? Is there any fruit of the Spirit? Is there any fear of God in your life? Because the reality is you cannot live like the world.
You cannot have no thoughts of God Monday to Saturday and come to church on Sunday to sing Amazing Grace. That would make God vomit. He said, I hate it. He hate people who honor Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. God wants people to fear Him. And a truly forgiven people will live a changed life. They will fear God. So, so far we look at the need in verses 1 to 2, then we look at the news, both good news and bad news in verses 3 to 4, and the bad news is that God marks iniquities.
The good news is that's not all he does, he's also given, he is forgiven. Now let's look at the now, the now, N-O-W, in verses 5 and 6. How would the psalmist respond to this news about God's forgiveness? That leads us to our third point, the noun, in verses 5 to 6. Let me read it for us. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, and in his word I hold. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
So his response is one of confidence. It is one of total trust in what God says. And there are two words that convey and capture his responses to the news in verses 3 to 4. There are two words in these verses that I want to highlight for us. First, look at the word hope. Look at verse 5. In his word I hope. And if you just glance down a little bit, down in verse 7, you'll see that word again. Hope in the Lord. So how would the good news about God's forgiveness affect the psalmist?
In the present? In the now? it gives him hope. It gives him hope. And this is a sure and secure hope because it is built on nothing less than the word of God. Look at verse 5 again. Look at verse 5. In his word, look at the second line. In his word, I hope. In his word, I hope. After all, where do you think he gets the news about God's forgiveness? Back in verses 3 to 4? Not from the Louisville Courier Journal, Not from the New York Times. Certainly not from the Washington Post or social media.
He gets it from the Word of God. The Bible. The B-A-B-L-E. That's the book for me. Right? Now some of you may read it on Kindle. So that would be the K-A-N-D-L-E. Right? That's the e-book for me. Well, brothers and sisters, if you ever have doubt about God's forgiveness, if you ever question whether Christ has really forgiven you, Go to the Bible, go to Scripture, open it up and read it. Read this whole psalm again and again and again and again until it's true.
Warm your heart. You don't get warm by just walking past a fireplace. You've got to linger. You've got to stay close. You've got to stick around. And same with the Word of God. Linger near it. Stay close to it. Trust it. Hope in it. A pastor once shared a story about a man in his church who struggles with assurance of salvation. And the man comes to the pastor and says, you know, I wish I had a definite witness so that I can be certain about my salvation.
And the pastor said, well, what if an angel appears to you and says, your sins are forgiven? Would that be enough? And the man said, yeah, that would be great. That would be more than enough. That would be wonderful. And so the pastor continues and asks, What if on your deathbed, Satan appears to you and said, I was that angel and I appear to deceive you? How would you say, how would you feel? What would you say? And the man was just speechless. Brothers and sisters, God has given us something much more reliable than the appearance of an angel or any mystical visions or even our own feelings.
He has given us His Word, the Bible, and that is a firm foundation to stand on. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith. Where? In His excellent Word, you see? In His excellent Word, what more can be said than to you God has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled. Hope in the world, even if you struggle, just cry out to Him, Lord help my unbelief I believe help my unbelief well this sure and secure hope is further illustrated by the second word so the first word we look at is hope now look at the second word wait wait people who hope wait people who wait have hope so let me ask you this how many times does the word wait occurs in verses five and six how many times count with me look at verse five I wait for the Lord my soul waits
and then look at verse 6 my soul waits for the Lord so three times now even though the word wait doesn't occur through the rest of verse 6 the ideas continue there the idea of waiting certainly continues look at verse 6 with me look at the second and the third line more than watchmen for the morning and then it said more than watchmen for the morning so these phrases are identical Now, let's go back to English class for a moment. When you look at that phrase, more than watchman for the morning, what do you see?
Well, I see a noun. I see a subject, watchman. Well, what else do you see? Well, I see an indirect object for the morning, for the morning. So what is it missing? It's missing a verb, right? It's missing a verb, more than watchman for the morning. So we're missing a verb here. And what is that verb? it's wait the verb is implied there and this is a common technique in hebrew poetry know what gapping so when the context is clear they usually gap like a word so instead of repeating the verb the psalmist just skip it or unmiss it because this is very clear from the context so technically you can read verse 6 the last two lines as more than watchmen wait for the morning more than watchman, wait for the morning. And remember, the whole phrase is repeated twice, more than watchman for the morning, more than watchman for the morning. Why? Why would he repeat that twice?
Well, this is the genius of the poetry, because he's talking about waiting. And so by repeating the thing twice, he's giving you a literary effect of waiting. He's anticipating, it gives you anticipation. You see, he emphasizes the idea of waiting by repeating it twice. Like they say, repetition is the murder of education. In case you didn't get that, repetition is the murder of education. Look at verse 6 again with me. Look quickly at verse 6 with me. What an interesting word picture we have here. Look at verse 6. It mentions the watchmen. The watchmen. Now, who are they are not people who fix your watches they they are a um let's see they are a law enforcement agency they belong to the jpd the jerusalem police department and guess what they do they they are soldiers and guards they work night shift they patrol the city they look out for dangers and what do people who work at night long for the most the sun the dawn the morning that's when
their ships and that's when they can clock out and go home and go to bed and guess what they're not waiting in vain in fact none of us go to bed at night worrying if the sun is going to rise tomorrow it will so they're not waiting and hoping in vain they know for sure God will forgive that he will do what he say and so here we see the psalmist expressing his confidence and his total trust in God's word, in what God says. And by the way, what a change we have seen so far. The psalmist begins with the deaths. Now we're talking about the dawn. It begins with darkness. Now we're talking about light. It begins with hopelessness. Now hope has dawned. So having made a personal commitment to wait and to hope in the Lord and in his word, the psalmist now addresses his own people he leaves them a note probably a sticky note if I have to guess that's our last and
fourth point verses 7 and 8 that lead us to our last point verses 7 and 8 the note the note 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 so what's the note about Well, in the note, he calls on his community, his people of Israel, to hope in the Lord. And there are three key words, three key words that I want us to focus on for the rest of our time together.
Three key words. So if you have a pencil, you can circle it or highlight it. Three key words. The first one is steadfast love. Steadfast love in verse 7. Look at the second line with me. For with the Lord, there is steadfast love. Yes. And this is one of the richest vocabularies in the Old Testament. And in Hebrew, it's chesed, chesed. So it's spelled like C-H-E-S-E-D, C-H-E-S-E-D, chesed. And the first syllable sounds like a hard C-H sound.
So it's like you're trying to clear peanut butter or Nutella from the back of your throat. Chesed, chesed. So now I want us to practice saying it together, okay? So maybe cover your mouth too. When I count to three, we're going to say it loudly and clear. Chessus, okay? So children, here's your chance to make your parents very proud. Ready? One, two, three. There we go. Isn't that wonderful? So I say, wow, that sounds really cool. And my throat hurts a little bit now.
But what does it mean, Zang? What does Chessus mean? Well, glad you asked. Because it is a really rich word. And it can be very hard to find an endless equivalent of it to capture the full meaning of the word. So modern translations give it a lot of renderings. All of them are helpful. For example, we have in the ESV steadfast love. Other translations have unfailing love, loyal love, faithful love, loving kindness. For me, I prefer covenant love, covenant love.
And it all has to do with love. This is the kind of love that the psalmist and his people can count on, especially in terms of dangers and challenging circumstances. So my dad let me watch the movie Jaws when I was in elementary school. And that still had an effect on me to this very day. We were at the hot tub a few weeks ago. I said, there's a shark somewhere down here. But so whenever I'm swimming, sooner or later, I thought, there's a shark behind me.
And that gave me great advantage when I was in the swim team in high school because it got me swimming really fast. But all that to say, I would never, never do cage diving with a great white shark. Never. I mean, no way. But let's say if I ever do, okay, if that ever happens, the person who has cases is the one that I want to operate the cage. he is the one who i want to be in charge he's the one who i want to be in control and operate the cage because if anything go wrong i know he would not let go of me that i can trust him that i can count on him so god's presence here can be trusted and count on why look at the second word so so far we look at the word steadfast love now here's our second word plentiful redemption plentiful redemption. And did you notice that the word redeem, it repeated twice in verses 7 and 8.
Look with me first. With him is plentiful redemption, verse 7. So that's a noun. And then verse 8, he will redeem Israel. So that's a verb. But basically the different forms of the word occur twice. With him is plentiful redemption and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. In the book of Psalms, God is always the subject of to redeem, of that verb, to redeem. And the word redeems means to liberate, to set free from a distressing situation.
So what is the relationship between covenant love or chasis and redemption? What are the relationships between the two worlds? Well, God chasis, God steadfast love, his covenant love, his loyal love moves him to redeem his people. That's the connection. His love moves him to redeem his people. So those he loves, he redeems. Those whom he loves, he sets free. Those whom he loves, he liberates. Those whom he loves, he redeems. So that's why they can count on him and wait on him.
And don't forget, don't forget this. Don't forget the adjective that describes this redemption. Look at verse 7 with me again. The last line. With him is not just redemption, but plentiful redemption. And what is highlighted here is the quantity of redemption. That is, God has many redemptions. In other words, he would never run out of redemptions. His redemption will never be on back order or out of stock. So if you come to him today, he had enough redemption to redeem you.
If you come to him today, he will save you. I love the old King James of John chapter 12 verse 1. Anyone raise on King James? Anyone familiar with the King James Version? You bilingual. Congratulations. But as many, it said the King James, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. As many as received him. So if you come to him today, he will redeem you.
He will save you. And what does this redemption actually accomplish? Look at our third world. So we look at steadfast love. We look at redemption. The last word is, look at the word all. Look at the word all. Look at the last line in verse 8. He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. God's covenant love ensures and guarantees the redemption of all our iniquities. Now note what it doesn't say.
Note what it doesn't say. It doesn't say almost all. It doesn't say about all. It doesn't say approximately all. It doesn't say basically all, essentially all, nearly all, probably all, relatively all, roughly all, virtually all. It's really all. It's all, y'all. It's all. It's all. He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. And isn't that good news? Isn't that the love we can count on? Jesus paid it all. And all to him I own. Sins and iniquity had left a crimson stain.
But I'm so glad. I'm so glad that he washed it white as snow. I'm so glad that he does that. That's the gospel. Church, hear me. The gospel is not just he gets us. That's for way too short. The gospel is that Christ saved us. It's not just he gets us, but that he saved us. That's the gospel in a nutshell. Christ saved us. from all our sins and iniquities. This morning we look at Psalm 130.
We examine it in four parts. The need in verses 1 to 2. The news in verses 3 and 4. The now in verses 5 and 6. And the note in verses 7 and 8. And it is really a psalm about our salvation, our great redemption in Christ. Throughout this psalm we are assured of the redemption Jesus accomplished for us. And we should take comfort in that. We should take comfort in that. But the reality is we sometimes don't. Sometimes we as Christians may struggle with doubt of our assurance whether Christ has forgiven us of all our sins.
For some of us, this kind of doubt may come occasionally. For others of us, it may come more frequently. But here's one thing I suggest that we can do to remind ourselves often about God's total and complete forgiveness. Think of the word hallelujah or the word hallelujah. It means to praise God. And whichever way you spell the word, it's going to have the word all in it. H-A-L-L, hallelujah, or hallelujah, A-L-L, and then hallelujah.
It's going to have the word all in it. So whenever we use this word hallelujah or hallelujah, whether in conversation or in worship, remember, Christ has redeemed us from all our sins and iniquities. And praise the Lord for that. Thank Him for that. In fact, let's do that when we sing our very last song, Live in Hope. I think it's going to have the word hallelujah. And when we sing that, just remember, Christ has forgiven us of all our sins. Let's pray. Oh Lord Jesus, thank you for your redemption.
Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for your steadfast love. Thank you for your covenant love. We pray that those who struggle with doubt about their salvation would be assured from your word that you have saved them from all their sins and iniquity. And we pray for those who do not yet know you. We pray that you will save them, redeem them, and deliver them from their sin. Deliver them from their deaths, the deaths of sin and iniquity. We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.