| Introduction Hope! That's the simple title that I chose for this sermon. Hope! In the midst of a broken world filled with suffering, that's what we need. Hope! That's what we need when we look at our own hearts and see the darkness of sin in it. We often find ourselves with the psalmist in the depths. That happens more often than I'd like to admit. What was his hope in the depths of despair and darkness? God! God was his hope. Whoever this psalmist was, he could very well say with the sons of Kora, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance" (Ps. 42:5). I. What Kind of Psalm Is This? A. This psalm is part of the Great Hallel normally associated with Passover (Psalms 111-136). B. This is psalm is a song of ascents. 1. The psalms of ascents are 15 psalms that were likely sung by pilgrims as they ascended (went up) the hill to Jerusalem during the three pilgrim feasts (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacle). 2. This psalm is also internally an ascent: the psalmist ascends from the depths to proclaiming the mercy of God. C. This psalm is a lament. 1. It is a cry to the Lord. 2. It is the experience of a believer who has been brought low either by his own sin or by sin around him. 3. Psalms like this help us express ourselves in moments where words don't seem to come naturally. "Read the psalms over and over until you have the vocabulary, grammar, and syntax necessary to lay your heart before God in lamentation. If your do this, you will have the resources to cope with your own times of suffering, despair and heartbreak, and to keep worshipping and trusting through even the blackest of days; you will also develop greater understanding of fellow Christians whose agonies of, say, bereavement, depression, or despair, sometimes make it difficult for them to prance around in ecstasy singing 'Jesus wants me for a sunbeam' on a Sunday morning; and you will have more credible things to say to those shattered and broken individuals – be they burned-out bank managers or down-and-out junkies – to whom you may be called to be a witness of God's unconditional mercy and grace to the unloved and the unlovely." Carl Trueman in What Can Miserable Christians Sing? D. This psalm is one of seven penitential psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143). 1. These are confessions of sin. 2. These are corporate cries. E. This psalm is a Pauline psalm according to Luther – emphasis on imputation and unmerited forgiveness. II. The Psalmist's Despair, 1-2. A. The psalmist is in the depths because of an awareness of sin. 1. We know that because of the relief he experiences when he remembers God's forgiveness in vv. 3-4. 2. His awareness is either of sin in general, his own sin, or a particular sin that he has in mind. B. In despair, the psalmist does the only thing he can do: he turns to the only one who can do something about his sin and despair – God! "While teetering on the edge of the abyss, the psalmist has a choice: he can mourn his fretful condition, or he can cry out to the Lord." Ed Welch in Depression: Looking up from the Stubborn Darkness 1. He doesn't just talk with God, he cries out. 2. This reminds me of what Paul says in Rom. 8:26. Rom. 8:26 – Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. "In these verses we are taught, whatever condition we are in, though ever so deplorable, to continue calling upon God…. It is our duty and interest to cry unto God, for that is the likeliest way both to prevent our sinking lower and to recover us out of the horrible pit and miry clay…." Matthew Henry C. If you are looking inwardly into your heart or outwardly to the world for deliverance, you will only sink deeper into the depths of despair. "If men were to be judged upon no system but that of works, who among us could answer for himself at the Lord's bar; and hope to stand clear and accepted?" Charles Spurgeon D. Let me give you an example from the psalms themselves of what it feels to be in the depths. Ps. 69:1-2 – Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. III. The Psalmist's Hope, 3-6. A. The psalmist's hope is God himself. 1. A God who has covenanted with his people to be their God forever and through everything – the use of LORD in v. 1 and throughout. 2. A God who listens to the cry of his people, 2. Ex. 3:7 – And the Lord said: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who arein Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Heb. 4:14-16 – Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all pointstempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 3. A God who is absolutely sovereign – the God who covenants with his people is a sovereign God: Yahweh and Adonai 4. A God who forgives the sins of his people through the blood of Jesus Christ, 3-4. 5. A God who speaks (5b) and who spoke ultimately through Jesus who is the Word of God incarnate. 6. A God who is loving, 7b. a. The word translated mercy is a rich word that can be translated in several different ways, all true at the same time. b. Perhaps the best translation is covenant faithfulness – God's love for us is a reflection of the commitment he has made to us in and by his own name. Heb. 6:13-20a – For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus …. B. The psalmist hopes in and for God because he knows he will find forgiveness in God, 3-4. 1. God won't count his sin against him. a. Whatever issue the psalmist is going through, he knows that they don't come even close to what he really deserves. b. That's true of us as well and that's why no matter how holy/godly we are, we always come before God as beggars who don't deserve the least of his mercies. 2. Most people are willing to admit that everyone is a sinner. a. Some people might even admit that they themselves are sinners. b. But God won't become their hope till they recognize that they are sinners in practice and own up to particular sins. C. The OT saints already knew about unmerited pardon, a point that Paul makes in the NT. Rom. 4:5-8 – But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." D. What exactly is this forgiveness that the psalmist is so excited about? 1. God's declaration that he does not hold anything against us because Jesus took upon himself the guilt of everything we have ever done or will ever do against God. 2. It is the declaration that nothing can separate us from the love that God has for us in Christ Jesus. 3. It is a relationship illustrated by the parable of the Prodigal Son. Lk. 15:17-24 – But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."' 20 And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry. E. The psalmist found hope in his despair when he considered his sin and God's forgiveness. 1. "Turn to God for forgiveness" or "you have great hope because God forgives" is not the advice that we would naturally turn to if a depressed person came to talk with us. 2. And it is not the advice that we naturally receive and rejoice in, if we were depressed. 3. Often, sin is the last word that we want to bring into any conversation around the topic of depression. 4. Yet, it is in sin-talk and forgiveness-talk that the psalmist finds great hope – a hope that provides steps or a stairway for him to get out of the depths he finds himself in. F. Because he knows God as a forgiving God, he is able to wait for him, 5-6. 1. Wait and hope mean the same thing is this context – to wait for is to hope in. "When a man, embracing the word, becomes assured of having his welfare attended to by God, this assurance will be the mother or waiting or patience." John Calvin 2. Notice that this is not an outward only sort of hope, but a soul-deep hope. 3. The psalmist illustrates his hope for the Lord with the watchman who is keeping guard on the wall, 6. a. The watchman during the last watch of the night would fix his eyes on the horizon in great expectation of the rising of the sun. 1) He didn't wonder if the sun was coming up. 2) He knew it was coming and with it, the shadows where the enemies could hide would be dissipated. b. The repetition gives the impression that this wait can be extended and painful, but also that the psalmist is convinced that the sun is coming. c. To bring the words of another psalm into this one, the watchman was excited about the morning because joy comes with the rising of the sun even if after a difficult night of crying because that sun is the Lord Jesus Christ. Mal. 4:2 – But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. IV. The Psalmist's Testimony, 7-8. A. The ascension from the depths is completed when the psalmist declares to others the work that God in Christ has done for them. 1. This psalmist is experiencing here the new song that God placed in his mouth. Ps. 40:1-3 – I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, and heard my cry. 2He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. 3 He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord. 2. He wants others to have the same hope as he does. B. The psalmist's testimony is that God's mercy and forgiveness cannot be exhausted. 1. Because God's redemption is abundant and his love unfailing, the sinner doesn't have to despair. 2. This is the message for the Church of Jesus Christ – O Israel, hope in the Lord. 3. Church, where is your hope right now? 4. God redeems his church from all her iniquities, 8b. V. The Psalmist and You: Four Application Questions A. Do you believe that seeing sin in yourself is a good thing? 1. Here you are, feeling like your self-worth couldn't lower and I ask you to acknowledge that you are sinner who currently has sinful thoughts, words, and deeds in your life. 2. But contrary to popular belief, it is a good thing when we see sin in ourselves for at least two reasons. a. Sin might feel natural, but we were originally created to live without it. 1) True, unadulterated humanity is sinless. 2) We won't experience that on this side of heaven, but as we battle with sin, we get tastes of how we were intended to live. 3) And when we are forgiven by God, like the psalmist, we find joy and hope. b. When we see sin in us, it is evidence that God is close to us. 1) It is the Holy Spirit who reveals sin to us. Jn. 16:8 – And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…. 2) If you see sin your life, have hope because the Holy Spirit is at work in you. 3) Knowledge of sin is a tangible evidence of God's love for you. B. Do you believe that sin is against God? 1. We don't immediately recognize that sin is conscious rebellion against God. 2. Only when the Holy Spirit shines his light on our hearts do we realize that sin is personally against God. 3. When that happens, we have great hope because God is a forgiving God. C. Do you believe that sin is found in motives, thoughts, and deeds? 1. We may be able to go through a day without others actually seeing our sin, but it is there. 2. It is at the level of the human heart that we will find selfishness, pride, a desire to be loved rather than to love, anger and lack of forgiveness, jealousy, complaining, etc. 3. When we are able to see that our sin goes beyond our actions and is rooted in our hearts, then we have hope because God's unfailing love is about changing hearts. D. Can you pinpoint right now a handful of sins that you see in your life? 1. Don't list ways you have not always succeeded in life (I could be a better husband, etc.). 2. List ways you presently sin against God. 3. Start with the more obvious ones and keep going. 4. If you fail on this, this psalm is meaningless to you because you really won't appreciate the forgiveness of God. The psalmist knew that his deepest problem was sin. He also knew that his God, the Triune God of the Scriptures, did not keep a record of wrongs for all those who turned to him. The psalmist anticipates the cross of Christ where God placed the just penalty for the rebellion of his creatures on his Son.
Rom. 5:7-8 – For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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