Our text tonight is found in
Psalm 130, the whole psalm. I'll read the psalm through,
Psalm 130. It was last Lord's Day morning
we were considering the following 131st psalm. and the weaned child on that
occasion. But turning now to the whole of Psalm 130. Again
we read a song of degrees. Out of the depths have I cried
unto Thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let Thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If Thou,
Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, You shall stand. But
there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. I
wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waited for the Lord more
than they that watch for the morning. I say more than they
that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. one of the songs of degrees in
and that title of course is found from Psalm 120 through to 134
the word degrees or we might render it a song of steps or
a song of ascents and it is said that these Psalms would be sung
by the priest in the worship of God as they were ascending
the steps as they undertook their charge there in the temple of
the Lord but also these particular Psalms would have been sung by
those Israelites remember how three times a year the men folk
were to make that long journey to where the Lord had established
his presence initially the tabernacle in Shiloh, but then removed to
Jerusalem, then the building of the Temple of the Lord in
the days of Solomon, but as they ascended up to Jerusalem for
those feasts of Passover and weeks and tabernacles, so they
would sing these songs of degrees or songs of ascents. And as we look at the content
of this particular psalm tonight, I want to take up the theme of
the ascending of prayers, the ascending of prayers, a song
of degrees, a song of ascents, out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. How the psalmist is ascending
then, out of all those terrible depths that he found himself
in. And so just dealing with two
basic points to say something about the mounting up of the
soul when we come to pray and then to see what it is in the
psalm that is such a motivation. We look to ourselves so often
and we say we see so much that would cause us to be downcast
and burdened and troubled. Our motivation surely is that
we are those who would look to the Lord and remember who it
is that we can address as we come before him. But first of
all to say something of the mounting up. We see the psalmist here
in his soul mounting up in his ardent desires, his holy longings,
And it reminds us in some respects of the experience of Jacob there
at Bethel. Surely then Jacob was in a deep depression we might say.
He was fleeing from his brother Esau. He was fearful for his
life. He'd stolen the birthright. His
mother had directed him that he should go to her brother Laban
and so it is that Jacob departs from the comfort of his own home
and there in Genesis 28 we find him in the journey at Bethel
and as he sleeps with the with the pillar as his pillow so he
dreams he sees a remarkable vision he sees a ladder set upon the
earth and the top of it reaches to heaven, and he sees the angels
of God ascending and descending upon that ladder. How low the
ladder was set, it was set up, it says, on the earth, in the
sense it was just a little higher than hell itself, when we think
of what the world is since the fall of our first parents. The
whole world lieth in wickedness, says the apostle John, Here we're
aware, I trust, of the activity of him who is the prince of the
power of the air, that spirit that works in all the children
of disobedience. What a wicked world. Is this
that we're living our lives in? The Psalmist says elsewhere,
Psalm 71, concerning God, that He will bring me up again from
the depths of the earth. Now at times we seem to be there
in the very depths of the earth, surrounded by the ungodly, fighting without at times, and
so many fears within. Oh, what strange experiences
are those that the people of God have to pass through. And
you remember the 107th psalm, that psalm that speaks so clearly
of God's providences, and yet we know it's also to be understood
in a spiritual sense, and amongst the various situations that men
come in in the course of this world, sometimes they find themselves
at sea and they're doing business in great waters. But out of that
passage there in the psalm, in Psalm 107, verse 23, and the
following verses. They that go down to the sea
in ships that do business in great waters, there see the works
of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth and
raiseth His stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depth,
Their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and
fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wit's end.
Can we not understand that in a spiritual sense? The psalm is a spiritual psalm
of course. It's not just speaking of God's providences in our temporal
lives, but it's speaking of those experiences. Sometimes God's
people do do business in great waters. They do reel to and fro,
and they stagger. Their faith seems to give way
at times. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and
He bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm
a calm, so that the ways thereof are still. Then are they glad,
because they be quiet, and He bringeth them unto their desired
haven. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. We read that other prayer. Of course, the book of Psalms
in many ways is a book of prayers, but we have other prayers recorded
like that that we read in the second chapter of the book of
Jonah, Jonah's prayer. And where was Jonah? He was in
the fish, and He was there in the very depths of the seas.
And yet, there He cries unto the Lord. Oh, what a dark, dismal
place that poor man was in, because of his sin, because of his disobedience. But God gives the promise, Psalm
68 and verse 22, I will bring My people again from the depths
of the sea. All there is, the mounting up
out of the depths, the ascendings of prayers. There are supplications
entering into the ears of the Lord God of Surveils, the Lord
of Hosts, the Great God, the Mighty God. That's where we have to look,
that's where we must encourage ourselves in all that the Lord
God Himself is. Again, the words that we find
in Psalm 61, Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. From the
end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And so, with the mounting
up of the Saul, how is it that we can be raised out of those low places,
those dark places, those dismal places. There is that in the
psalm that should surely move us and encourage us. Look at what the psalmist says
in verse 5, I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait and in his
words do I hope. It's turning our eyes away from
ourselves and our circumstances. It's looking to God, and looking
to the Word of God. I wait for the Lord, He says,
in His Word, in His Word. God has given us His Word, and
His Word which is full of so much good instruction. and so many exceeding great and
precious promises, and a multitude of fear nots. Here is something
objective we have to turn from ourselves, and we should consider
the character of God. And our God has revealed himself
here in his word, and there are three things, three things that
we see in this psalm concerning the character of God. And these
are basic things, I'm sure we're all well aware and familiar with
these truths. Who is this God that the psalmist
is crying to out of the depths? Well, He's a forgiving God. He's
a forgiving God. Verse 3, If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness
with them. that thou mayest be feared." Or the Bible tells us time and
again of a God who is ever ready to forgive. A God who delights
in the pardon of sins. Those lovely words that we find
at the end of Micah's prophecy. There, in chapter 7, you remember,
you're familiar, I'm sure, with those closing words of the Prophet,
"...who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy." He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities,
and they will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. They will perform the truth to
Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which they have sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old." This is the God that we're so
privileged to have dealings with. And again, that great statement,
that lovely verse that we find in Jeremiah, in chapter 50 and
verse 20, and he's speaking of the Day of Grace. In those days,
and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for, and there shall be none. And the sins of Jacob,
and they shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I
reserve. Oh, the Lord will pardon His
people. He has set His sovereign love upon them. he has reserved
them to himself, they are the election of grace and what will
he do as far as the east is from the west so far will he remove
their iniquities from them and all that he is, is God he is a faithful and just God
who forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all our iniquities
not just a merciful and a gracious God, faithful, just, all His
attributes, all His holy attributes, His righteousness, His justice,
it's on the side of the sinner. Why? Because of Christ, and what
Christ has done in paying that great ransom price. God is a
forgiving God. That's what the Psalmist tells
us, and God is also a merciful God. Verse 7, Let Israel hope in the
Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy. He is a merciful God. And the Lord reminds us of that
blessed truth in the Gospel, when He tells us of that publican,
so despised, going to the temple at the hour of prayer together
with the self-righteous Pharisee, And what was the Pharisees' religion?
It was all self. He was a self-righteous man.
That was the religion of the Pharisees. They congratulated
themselves. They didn't need God, really.
But this poor publican, standing afar off, Christ says, he couldn't
lift up so much as his eyes to heaven. And he smote upon his
breast and he said, God, be merciful. to me a sinner." Oh, he pleads
for mercy. God's been merciful to me, a
sinner. And the word that we have there,
merciful, literally, be propitious. To me, a sinner. And it reminds
us of the Lord Jesus and His great work. How that He is born
in His own person, that wrath of God. God is merciful in Christ. Christ is the propitiation for
our sins. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation,
to bear the punishment that was our just desert. And so God can be merciful. He
is just, and yet He's the justifier of all them that believe in Jesus.
Well, God is a merciful God as well as a forgiving God. And
then the other truth, of course, that we see here concerning the
character of God is the fact that He is a redeeming God. Verse 7. With the Lord there is mercy.
With Him is plenteous redemption, it says. He shall redeem Israel
from all his iniquity. As we've already intimated, it's
the Lord Jesus who has paid that price of redemption. That awful
debt that the sinner owes to the Holy Lord of God. And Christ
has paid it. He came to stand in that low
place of all His people. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son, we are told, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,
that they might receive the adoption of sons. For Christ has paid
the price. Deliver him from going down to
the pit. I have found a ransom price. that lovely text in Job 33-24
deliver him from going down to the pit God has found a ransom
price His holy law is satisfied Christ has honoured and magnified
it both in terms of its penalties but also its precepts He's not
only died as a substitute in the sinner's place, He's lived.
And He's lived a righteous life. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. There is our justification, the
Lord our righteousness. Oh, what a work is this, what
a God is this. We're justified freely by His
grace through the redemption. which is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be the propitiation for our sins, the mercy seat. All we are to look to this God
then, we have every encouragement when we read the Psalms and meditate
upon the content of these verses, the character of God, He forgives,
He is merciful, the ransom price has been paid, In Christ the
sinner is reconciled unto God. And what are we to do? Well,
what does he say here at verse 5? I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in his word do I hope. And that's what we come
together for tonight, of course, to wait, to wait on the Lord.
And to wait on the Lord is not slothfulness, Waiting on the
Lord is not inactivity, it's not doing nothing, sitting still,
it's not being fatalistic. Woe to them that are at ease
in Zion, for sloth is an awful sin. The Hymn writer says sloth
is a dangerous state, and he that flees and he that sleeps
cannot be said to wait. What is it to wait? Well, we're
to be those who would wait in hope. We read here of waiting in hope. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
it says here at the beginning of verse 7. And remember, Paul
says in Romans 8, doesn't he, that we're saved by hope. Romans 8.24 But we are saved
by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth,
why doth he yet wait for it? But if we hope for that that
we see not, then will we with patience, with endurance, wait
for it? Or are we to be waiting upon
the Lord? If we are those who have the
faith of Abraham, Abraham we are told, aren't we? against
hope, Abraham believed in hope. He said goodnight to the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he
was able to perform. So he waits upon God. We are
to wait on the Lord and we are to wait in hope. In His words
do I hope. Oh, when we read His Word, does
the Word of God bring that encouragement to us? We learn something of
His character, His attributes. And we see that this God is that
God that we must wait on, waiting in hope. But also, of course,
waiting in prayer. And that's what we have here.
Lord, He says in verse 2, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications. Oh, we want God to hear us. And
we'll wait on Him. Verse 6, My soul waiteth for
the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say
more than they that watch for the morning. Oh, we're waiting
in expectation, looking. looking out, expecting the answer
to our prayers. The idea surely here in verse
6 is that of the mariner, we read of the mariner there in
Psalm 107, in the midst of the storm, waiting for the storm
to blow through, and there to be a lovely calm, or like that
sixth person on his bed, tossing and turning in the midst of the
night, sleep taken from him, saying for the morning the dawning
of the new day my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that
watch for the morning and he repeats it I say more than they
that watch for the morning oh is this how we wait upon the
Lord our God we think of the words of the Lord Jesus to his
disciples there in the garden when he desired that they watch
with him and how they slept what could Ye not watch one hour,
he says, or let us be those then who would desire only to wait
upon God, that our prayers might ascend into heaven, and that
we might know that they'll enter the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth,
out of the depths. Have I cried unto the Old Lord?
Oh, it's a song It's a song of ascents, it's the ascending of
prayers. Oh God grant that tonight then
we might know what it is for our prayers to ascend into heaven
as we come before God and plead again our Lord Jesus Christ,
that one who is in heaven, whoever lives to intercede for all that
come unto God by him. May the Lord help us thus to
come before we turn to the Lord in prayer We'll sing part of
another psalm. The opening part of the 40th
psalm we're going to sing, the Metrical Version Psalm 40. From
verse 1, I waited for the Lord my God, and patiently did bear
at length to me, He did incline my voice and cry to hear. To
verse 5. O LORD my God, for many are the
wonders Thou hast done. Thy gracious thoughts to us would
far above all thoughts are gone. None can them reckon unto Thee,
if I would them declare. If I would speak of them, they
more than can be numbered are. We sing Psalm 40 then from verse
1 through 5. The tune is Kilmarnock 856. I waited for the Lord my God,
and patiently did bear Him. At length to me He did incline,
my voice and pride to Him. He took me from a fearful pit
and from a miry glade, and on a rock he set my feet, establishing
my way. You, strong in thy mouth, have
God to magnify. Many shall see you, and shall
fear, and on the Lord pray lie. respect. None can then reckon unto Thee
If I would let Thee dwell If I would speak of Him, they
more than can be numbered are. Well, the Lord help us now as
we come to prayer and ministry on the Lord's Day. You're at
Wibblesfield, I think, aren't you Cliff? Cliff's at Wibblesfield,
morning and evening. Let's remember Cliff and Ruth
as they journeyed there, Cliff's preaching there. And Jim Northstreet
will preach at Hedge End, Lord's Day morning. I'll be there in
the afternoon. I'll be here, God willing. the morning and
the evening, those are the arrangements then. We continue to pray, we pray
for the awful state of the situation in the land, or that the Lord
would have mercy upon us yet. And we think of others, others
who are known to us, those who are suffering. I'm not sure,
are there any particular needs that we should be aware of that
probably we were not aware of before. It was good last Friday
at Pimlico that Keith Burden was present. I didn't expect
to see him there having had the news earlier in the week that
he'd not been able to have his operation on his hernia because
of the state of his heart. Apparently they were able to
put him on some medication for that and he's now hoping to have
a new appointment for the hernia op. And then of course last Saturday
was the wedding of of Laura, Laura Ball, married John, I don't
know what his surname was, but that was a happy occasion for
the Ball family, I'm sure, last Saturday, the wedding up in Newcastle,
we thank God for that, and pray for the young couple. Well, the
Lord help us in our prayers, would you lead us please Cliff?