August 5, 2005
“O LORD, WHO CAN STAND?”
Psalm 130
During these summer weeks, we are Sipping from the Psalms. Each week we are taking a different psalm and meditating on it for spiritual refreshment. This morning we are looking at Psalm 130. Let’s read it together. (Read)
Psalm 130 is one of a collection of psalms labeled in the inscriptions as “Songs of Ascent” or in the King James Version, “Songs of Degrees.” A literal translation of the phrase is “A Song for Going Up.” There are 15 psalms in this collection, beginning in Psalm 120 and continuing to Psalm 134. Most scholars agree that these psalms were selected and used for singing and worship by Jewish pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for one of the annual religious feasts of Israel. Jerusalem and the temple were located on a high hill. No matter which direction you approached it from, you had to “go up” to Jerusalem. These psalms were collected and used to prepare the worshippers for the journey, encourage them through the difficulties they might face on the way, as well as whet their appetites and prepare them for entering the very presence of God in worship.
Last week I mentioned another category of psalms identified by the early church as “penitential psalms”. These psalms expressed sorrow and repentance for sin. It is interesting to note that while Psalm 130 is included in the collection as a “psalm of ascent”, it was also included by the early church in their list of seven penitential psalms.
If we think about it, I think we can see why it is appropriate for such a psalm to be included in both collections or categories. As the pilgrims journeyed toward Jerusalem and the temple, their hearts were tuned toward their destination. Where were they going? To the temple, the dwelling place of God. And what did they know about their God? Of all the attributes of God, the one that stood out in the temple was God’s holiness. Over and over again God proclaimed to his people that he was a holy God! Jerusalem was holy. The hill on which Jerusalem stood was a holy hill. Think about the different rooms in the temple itself. There were the various courtyards, but as the priest approached God on behalf of the people, he came first to the Holy Place, and then to a mysterious room known as the Holy of Holies. Now, as the pilgrims approached Jerusalem, as they climbed the holy mountain toward the holy city, preparing to come into the holy temple where God himself dwelt, they faced a dilemma.
This brings us to the first point in the sermon this morning, I. The Sinner’s Dilemma. The psalm opens with a cry of desperation in verse 1-2: Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD: O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. We know nothing of the circumstances under which this psalm was written. We do not even know who wrote it. It is one of the anonymous psalms. What is it that causes him to cry out in such desperation? What are the depths in which he finds himself, that lead him to such a cry for help and mercy? The answer is given in the next verse: If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
Put this in the context of the pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. They are going up to worship God. What kind of God is he? He is a holy God. His temple is a holy temple. And who is qualified to stand before such a holy God? Turn with me to Psalm 15: (Read)
Only holy people are qualified to stand before such a holy God. Now the pilgrim casts his mind back over the past year, and all that has transpired since he last went up to the temple to worship. He is overwhelmed with the awareness of his own unworthiness. He finds himself where Isaiah did in Isaiah 6. Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord, seated on a throne, high and exalted and the train of his robe filled the temple. There were angels around him, crying out “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” What was Isaiah’s response to this incredible vision? He cried out: “Woe is me. I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” I believe this is what the psalmist is expressing in the opening verses of this psalm. “Only holy people are entitled to stand in the presence of a holy God. And I am not holy. I am not righteous. And what’s more, none of the people around me are either.” O Lord, if you kept a record of sins, who could stand? The answer is, “No one!” This is the Sinner’s Dilemma.
So why go up to the temple in Jerusalem at all? What is the point? If we are not qualified to stand in his presence, why go to worship at all? This is where the psalmist turns now. I can imagine the pilgrims taking great comfort as they prayed and sang and considered together II. The Sinner’s Hope. This sense of hope is expressed in verse 5: I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. These two words, “wait” and “hope” are really synonyms. Together they express an attitude of waiting, but waiting with confidence and full assurance of a positive outcome. They are closely allied with the Biblical concept of faith, which is defined in Hebrews: 11:1: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
But how does this work? How can sinners who have no right to stand in the presence of a holy, righteous God have such confidence and hope in him? It is because they have come to know and understand the very nature and character of God. This psalm expounds on three truths about God. Each one is introduced in a similar fashion. In verse 4, it is “with you”, in verse 7, it is “with the Lord” and “with him.”
Look at verse 4: With you there is (a.) forgiveness. This is crucial, because this is the opposite of “keeping a record of sins.” If you trace the concept of forgiveness in the Old Testament, you will find that when God remembers sins and keeps a record of sins, he does so to punish them. He remembers our sins against us. But when he forgives sins, he cancels the debt and purges the record. He no longer remembers our sins against us! This was the hope and confidence that the pilgrims needed as they climbed up toward the holy temple. Not that they were righteous, but that “with you, O Lord, there is forgiveness.”
The next attribute or character of God is mentioned in verse 7: For with the LORD is (b.) unfailing love. The phrase “unfailing love” is used to translate a single Hebrew word. It is a word that is difficult to translate precisely into English. KJV translates it “mercy”. The New American Standard Version translates it “lovingkindness.” My Hebrew professor in seminary used to translate it with the phrase “loyal love.” It combines God’s commitment to his covenant people, with the mercy and compassion of a Father’s love. It is an attribute cited almost constantly in the Old Testament. The word is used 127 times in the book of Psalms. Look at Psalm 25:6-7. (Read) This aspect of God’s character was one that allowed sinners to dare to approach God, in spite of their failures.
The third source of the Sinner’s Hope is found not so much in a character or attribute of God, but in an activity of God. It is found in the second half of verse 7: With him is (c.) full redemption, and then in verse 8: He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. This concept of redemption is worth some further attention in its Old Testament context. The root idea of the word expresses the idea of setting someone free from bondage or obligation, usually through paying some kind of price or ransom.
In the Old Testament, there were two especially common usages. First was the act of redeeming a first born son, or a slave or a piece of land. The price was paid to free the son, or the slave or the plot of land from penalty or obligation or debt. The focus of this particular usage of the word was on the price that was paid to cancel the debt or obligation. The second, very common usage in the Old Testament was to refer to God as “redeeming Israel out of Egypt.” God’s act of delivering the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt was repeatedly referred to as an act of redemption. In this usage, the focus was not so much on the payment of a price, but more on the outcome of deliverance and release from bondage.
In New Testament usage, the two emphases of the word are blended together in a metaphor to describe our deliverance from the bondage and debt of sin through the payment of a ransom price. I think it is significant that in this psalm in front of us, the psalmist foreshadows the New Testament emphasis. With him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. The faithful, believing pilgrims ascended toward God’s holy hill, toward the very presence of God himself. They did so, aware of their own sinfulness, aware that, on their own merit, they had no right to appear before God. Yet they went in confidence, putting their hope and confidence in the character of God – that with God there was forgiveness, that with God there was loyal love, that God himself would redeem them from all their sins, and pay the ransom price that would free them from the penalty and bondage of their sins.
Of course, from the New Testament perspective, we know what God did in history to accomplish that act of redemption. Look at how Peter describes it in I Peter 1:18: For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
This is also what Paul had in mind when he spoke to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 and urged them to be shepherds to the flock, the church of God, which was so valuable because it was purchased with the blood of God’s own Son. This was a truth that the Old Testament pilgrims understood only in shadow and prophecy. But they put their hope in their redeemer God. They waited in confidence for him to act and make his promises a reality. “God is our redeemer. He will redeem us, not just from Egypt, but from all our sins.” And it was with this confidence and hope that they went up to Jerusalem to worship.
Well, we have considered the Sinner’s Dilemma and the Sinner’s Hope. Before we leave the psalm, however, I want us to look at the Sinner’s Testimony. We see this aspect of the psalm by closely watching the psalmist’s language and person of address. If you look carefully, you will see that the first 4 verses are written as a prayer, addressing God himself. I cry to you, O Lord…Let your ear be attentive…if you, O Lord, kept a record of sins…with you there is forgiveness.
In the second half of the psalm, however, that changes. Now, having addressed God in prayer, he turns to address his fellow worshippers, his fellow travelers on the road up to Jerusalem. In verses 5-6, he gives his testimony. He states the source of his own confidence and hope. (Read verses 5-6). “That’s what I’m doing,” he states. “I am waiting for the Lord with confidence. I have put my hope in God and in his word. I am waiting with eager expectation for the fulfillment of his promise.”
In verse 7-8, he turns from personal testimony to exhortation. “I have put my confidence and trust in God. Now, O Israel, join me in that same hope and confidence. (Read verse 7-8).
Now, we might be inclined to wonder, how many Israelites actually had that kind of insight, that much understanding and faith in the plan of God. I find it intriguing to turn to the New Testament and the account of the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth, we meet two devout Jews in the temple in Jerusalem. The first was a man by the name of Simeon. Turn with me to Luke 2:25-32. (Read). The second was a widow and a prophetess by the name of Anna. (Read Luke 2:36-38) Isn’t that incredible? These two Old Covenant saints, waiting for God to fulfill his promises and redeem Jerusalem. How many times was that faith nourished and kept alive by praying and singing this very psalm: O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
So, what about you? First of all, are you aware of the Sinner’s Dilemma? Are you aware that God demands holiness to stand in his presence and that you are not holy? The Bible tells us clearly that “all have sinned and fall short of the righteous standards of God,” and the penalty or “wages of sin is death” (eternal separation from God)? That is our dilemma, the dilemma of the entire human race. In awareness of that dilemma, have you put your faith and confidence in the Sinner’s Hope? That hope is not to be found in your own merit or your own righteousness, but in the forgiveness and mercy and redemption that God himself offers for those who will put their hope in him. It is in the redemption that we now know, from our New Testament perspective, was paid by the blood of Jesus, the Messiah, on the cross. With him there is forgiveness and full redemption from our sins.
Finally, are you faithful in delivering the Sinner’s Testimony? Not only expressing your own confidence and hope in God, but also calling others to join you in putting their hope in our Redeemer God. Let’s follow the example of Anna in the temple. When she saw the child and recognized him as the Messiah, she did two things. She “gave thanks to God,” and she “spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” I believe there are people around us who are seeking a solution to the Sinner’s Dilemma. We need to speak to them about Messiah who has come and given his life as the ransom to redeem Israel from her sins, and not only Israel, but all who will put their faith in him.