Hoping in God Songs of Ascent: Practices of the Lifelong Journey Series [11] Psalm 130

Dear Diary by Pink Dear, Dear Diary I want to tell my secrets ‘Cause you’re the only one That I know will keep them Dear, Dear Diary I want to tell my secrets I know you’ll keep them This is what I’ve done I’ve been a bad, bad girl For so long I don’t know how to change, What went wrong...

GUILT: THE HEAVIEST BURDEN TO BEAR FOR A HUMAN HEART The Effects of Guilt:  Guilt is universal—all are guilty before God (Romans 3:23).  Our guilt separates us from God.  Guilt is the heaviest burden that our hearts can bear.

4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. 5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. Psalm 38:4-5 3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Psalm 32:3-4

GUILT: THE HEAVIEST BURDEN TO BEAR FOR A HUMAN HEART The Effects of Guilt:  Guilt is universal—all are guilty before God (Romans 3:23).  Our guilt separates us from God.  Guilt is the heaviest burden that our hearts can bear. The Faulty Remedies for Guilt:  Remedy #1: “Your guilt is not real, so ignore it.”  Remedy #2: “It’s somebody else’s fault—the guilt is not yours.”  Remedy #3: “Forgive yourself. Acknowledge it and move on.”

GUILT: THE HEAVIEST BURDEN TO BEAR FOR A HUMAN HEART The Effects of Guilt:  Guilt is universal—all are guilty before God (Romans 3:23).  Our guilt separates us from God.  Guilt is the heaviest burden that our hearts can bear. The Faulty Remedies for Guilt:  Remedy #1: “Your guilt is not real, so ignore it.”  Remedy #2: “It’s somebody else’s fault—the guilt is not yours.”  Remedy #3: “Forgive yourself. You’re a human after all.” Psalm 130 contains the sound remedy for our guilt.  It is known as a “Pauline psalm” [Martin Luther] because of its emphasis on God’s grace and mercy for all guilty people.

Psalm 130 [ESV] A Song of Ascents. 1Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! 2O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 3If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

Psalm 130 [ESV] A Song of Ascents. 5I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. 7O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

THREE THINGS TO DO AS THE SOUND REMEDY FOR GUILT 1)CRYING TO GOD: for mercy & HIS forgiveness. 1Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! 2O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 3If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (vs.1-4)

THREE THINGS TO DO AS THE SOUND REMEDY FOR GUILT 1)CRYING TO GOD: for mercy & HIS forgiveness.  The first thing to do with our guilt is to take it to GOD.  Why? We are powerless with our guilt—we need to CRY for God’s mercy.  Because of God’s mercy, our forgiven sins have no record (cf. Isa. 43:25)  God only can forgive our sins and wipe our guilt. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

I lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God; He bears them all, and frees us from the accursed load; I bring my guilt to Jesus, to wash my crimson stains White in His blood most precious, till not a stain remains. Horatius Bonar (1843)

THREE THINGS TO DO AS THE SOUND REMEDY FOR GUILT 2)Waiting & Watching for God: by trusting in HIS sovereign grace. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. (vs.5-6)

THREE THINGS TO DO AS THE SOUND REMEDY FOR GUILT 2)Waiting & Watching for God: by trusting in HIS sovereign grace.  Waiting & watching…. Why? It requires putting our trust in God’s sovereign grace to free us from our heavy burden of guilt.  Waiting & watching…For what? For God’s word of forgiveness and redemption from sin.  Waiting & watching… How? With earnest and confident hope in God—wholeheartedly [single-mindedly]. 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. Lamentations 3:25-26

THREE THINGS TO DO AS THE SOUND REMEDY FOR GUILT 3)Hoping in God: because of HIS steadfast love. 7O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (vs.7-8)

THREE THINGS TO DO AS THE SOUND REMEDY FOR GUILT 3)Hoping in God: because of HIS steadfast love.  Our certainty of hope is in God’s steadfast love [“hesed”]!  This is the essence of the gospel of grace: The bad news is far worse than what we’d fear but the good news is far better than we’d ever imagine [Sinclair Ferguson].  God’s hesed is for ALL who seek God’s mercy—our hope in God will never be disappointed.

Hoping: Imagination Put in the Harness of Faith Hoping does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions. It is not compelled to work away at keeping up appearances with a bogus spirituality. It is the opposite of desperate and panicky manipulations, of scurrying and worrying. And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what he said he will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is a willingness to let God do it in his way and in his time. It is the opposite of making plans that we demand that God put into effect, telling him both how and when to do it. - Eugene Peterson

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE 1.Stop using ALL FAULTY REMEDIES for your guilt.  Surrender all of your attempts to cope with your guilt on your own.  Turn from the lies.  Turn to Scripture as the sound remedy. 2.Experience GOD’S FORGIVENESS AND LOVE by confessing your sins to God with faith.  Cry to God for mercy.  Wait and watch for God’s deliverance.  Hope in God—hanging onto God’s hesed!

Praying the Songs of Ascent #11 — Psalm 130 [MSG] A Pilgrim Song 1-2 Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy. 3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that's why you're worshiped.

Praying the Songs of Ascent #11 — Psalm 130 [MSG] A Pilgrim Song 5-6 I pray to God—my life a prayer— and wait for what he'll say and do. My life's on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning. 7-8 O Israel, wait and watch for God— with God's arrival comes love, with God's arrival comes generous redemption. No doubt about it—he'll redeem Israel, buy back Israel from captivity to sin.

Praying the Songs of Ascent #10 — Psalm 129 [MSG] A Pilgrim Song 5-8 Oh, let all those who hate Zion grovel in humiliation; Let them be like grass in shallow ground that withers before the harvest, Before the farmhands can gather it in, the harvesters get in the crop, Before the neighbors have a chance to call out, "Congratulations on your wonderful crop! We bless you in God's name!"