Forgiveness Fueled Hope

Are you seated?

My pleasure this morning to welcome to our pulpit at Cheyenne Mountain this morning, the

Reverend Brian Counts.

Brian's been a friend of Cheyenne Mountain Church for many, many years, and we're looking

forward to what God's going to say through him to us this morning.

So, Brian, welcome.

Good morning.

It is good to be back with you to see some faces.

Of course, we're all masked, so it's kind of hard.

I'm here often enough where I just about get some names and faces, and then you go and

mess with me this time, cover up your faces, and make it really, really tough.

So this morning, please turn with me to Psalm 130.

Psalm 130.

And as you're turning there, speaking of masks and things like that, when Matthew asked me

to come and be with y'all this morning, a week or two ago, I started to think, what am I going

to preach on?

And then I thought, well, what did I preach on last time I was there?

It was probably about two years ago that I was with you, and I looked, and I couldn't

find anything from two years ago that I had preached here.

And so I kept looking forward, and then I realized, oh, it was only in January of 2020.

It just has felt to me like two years because of everything that's happened since I was here

last towards the end of January.

Just 10 months, but all of us feel like we've lived several years between then and now.

We're tired of being reminded how much things have changed.

We're tired of living this new life.

We're tired of not being able to make plans.

I saw recently someone had a wall calendar up just a month at a time, just a big month-long

calendar.

And instead of all of the dates and appointments and meetings, it just said, does it really

even matter?

Why do we even have this calendar?

There's so much even that we've all lost, right?

Just in the last several months since March.

Small things.

I was at Costco just a couple nights ago with my wife, and I miss the samples.

I miss going to Costco and having the samples.

That's just a small thing.

We've all lost, of course, even greater things than that.

We've lost the chance to participate in school milestones like graduations and proms.

We've lost the chance to see family.

Some of us perhaps have lost income or jobs.

Some of you might have known someone whose life has been lost to the virus or other illness.

There's just a lot that we have packed in since March, and there's a lot more that we

don't know still what is to come.

And while everything seems so different than it does just a few months back, people remain

the same, don't they?

Don't we?

While everything is different, people, we watch them, we look at them.

Are you like me?

You like to watch people, probably.

You like to think about why do they do what they do?

Why are they the way that they are?

What are they doing?

And it's also interesting, of course, to watch ourselves.

And though this is new for all of us, we're all responding according to the same old people

things, people ways that we've always been about and always seen.

For instance, just like in other trials and things that have come our way before this pandemic,

humankind is able to endure so much.

And we see that still today, don't we?

It is remarkable, Christian or not, sometimes just how much people can endure and put up

with and go through.

And yet at the same time, while we're able to endure so much and accomplish sometimes so

much, we are also incredibly fragile at the same time.

And what I mean is, you and I can be taken out by one little word from one person.

If the right person says the right word to us, it undoes us.

Just one word.

Or we can be taken out, of course, by a submicroscopic virus also.

So we can endure so much, but yet we're also so fragile.

And I hope if you and I have seen anything these last few months is that in many cases,

most ways, you and I are helpless.

And that's a strong word, but I choose it on purpose because it's true.

You and I have been surrounded by a sense of helplessness these last few months.

And what do we do when we come into contact with that reality that we're helpless?

So often we just want to shut it down.

Don't think about it.

Don't admit it.

Turn around, find something to do, find something to be in charge of, find something to control.

Because I don't like to feel that I'm out of control.

I don't like to feel that I'm helpless.

And I think of Psalm 130 during times like this because it shows us the kinds of things

we can do, that we can turn to, that we can say and meditate on when we are helpless.

And I think it helps us stay in contact with that reality of helpless when we know what to

do with it, when we know where to go with it.

Not that we can turn it off and become suddenly not helpless, but we can lean into it and realize

the reality of it and even see what God is doing in our lives through it.

So what I want to do this morning is read Psalm 130.

And we're going to look at three main points this morning.

I want you to listen for them as I read it.

The first is that when we are helpless, we should cry out.

The second is that when we are helpless, we should remember.

And the third is that when we are helpless, we should wait with hope.

So cry out, remember, and wait with hope.

Listen for these things as I read God's word for us this morning.

This is Psalm 130.

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 mark 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 steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.

And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Let's pray.

Father, these words were written thousands of years ago.

And yet somehow in your wisdom, you were thinking of us this morning, even as they were written down all those years ago.

By your spirit then and by your spirit now, we pray that you would reveal your heart to us.

We pray that you would reveal your truth to us, that it would comfort us, that it would help us, and that it would change us.

Through Jesus we pray.

Amen.

So first, when you and I are helpless, we can cry out.

And I want to point you to what he says there in verse 1.

Out of the depths I cry to you.

What are the depths?

Well, often in the Psalms, the depths refers to deep water.

The depths are the depths of deep water.

And when he says, I'm in the depths, it's that sense.

I hope you've never had this sense in real life, but you can imagine it if you haven't.

It's that sense of treading water.

Your feet can't touch the bottom.

And you're giving up.

And the water begins to close up over your face.

That's the metaphor the psalmist is using to describe his emotional state, to describe the reality that he sees around him.

He's crying out of the depths.

When you and I are in the depths, it's a place in life where we feel that we have no more control.

Where we feel that we're out of resources.

Where we feel overwhelmed and we're beginning to sink down.

It's the place where we can finally admit sometimes that we're beaten and defeated and helpless.

And I think, like I've said, for many of us, perhaps you've come face to face with that over the last few months.

Maybe it's been through some other circumstance in your life before the last seven or eight months.

But has there been a time where you have felt like you're in the depths and that water is about to close up over your face?

Where you're giving up.

Where you're out of control.

We've been presented with that over and over again.

Because no matter what you think about the danger of the virus.

And I can imagine there's multiple opinions in the room about how dangerous it is.

Regardless of that, haven't we all been confronted over and over again with a sense of our own mortality over the last few months?

Haven't we all been confronted with the fragility of our wealth and our income?

Haven't we all been reminded that we are not in control?

Sometimes we think we lost control back in March.

Folks, we were never in control.

We only have lost the illusion of being in control.

We never actually were.

And however this whole pandemic started or however it's been managed, it has changed our lives and we can't opt out.

We have to admit that in many ways, whether it's this or some other thing in your life, there's a sense of helplessness.

And when you and I are helpless, it can take us to different places.

Where it should take us is to cry out to God like the psalmist does.

But instead, it takes us to sometimes places of anger.

When you come into touch with your helplessness, we get mad.

And we get mad at all kinds of things.

We get mad at other people.

We get mad at government officials.

We get mad at family members.

We get mad at bosses.

We get mad at school administrators, whoever it might be.

But so often, we're not really mad at the people our anger is directed first towards.

We're angry at the fact that we're not in control.

We're angry at the fact that this has been revealed to us and it's very, very uncomfortable.

Sometimes it takes us to anger and sometimes it takes us to fear.

Because suddenly, there's all these things that I really want to be in charge of and I want to be able to control my health or my schedule or my plans.

But I can't.

And I've been talking with folks.

I've been watching myself.

And I've sensed in myself and others I've talked to more fear than any other time in my life.

More sleeplessness, more anxiety, more dread.

Sometimes it takes us to a place where we try to ignore it.

Or sometimes it takes us to a place where we try to self-medicate, either through streaming TV or more food or more alcohol or whatever it might be.

Sometimes it just takes us to that sense of, I'm going to buckle down and work harder to gain control back of my life.

And why do we go to these places like anger and fear and just the sense to numb it all?

Why do we go to that?

I think it's because you and I desperately want to be the heroes of our own story.

And when we're helpless, that goal is not in reach.

Heroes of stories typically aren't helpless before the enemy.

But they're in control.

And you and I want to be that hero of our story.

We want to be the ones who throw ourselves a life preserver.

But can a drowning man throw himself a life preserver?

Of course not.

The psalmist is saying, I'm in the depths.

I cannot throw myself a life preserver.

I need something outside of myself to come and pull me out of this deep water.

And that's why he cries out.

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.

Do you hear the desperation in his voice when he says, let your ears hear my voice, my pleas for mercy?

I'm begging you, God, don't let me go down.

Don't let me be defeated by this helpless situation that I find myself in.

Note what he's not saying.

He's not bargaining with God.

All right, God, I'm in a fix this time.

And if you get me out, I'm going to return the favor by behaving myself, by doing X, Y, or Z.

He's not in a position to bargain.

Drowning men don't say, hey, throw me a life preserver and I'll make a deal with you.

They're just begging for a life preserver.

He's not saying, God, I've got 90% of this covered.

There's just this one little slice that I need your help with.

No, he is fully and completely defeated.

And that is exactly where you and I need to be.

And that's why times like these last several months can actually be good for us.

Because we live typically in a place and lives full of resources and apparent control over things.

And it can be very spiritually and emotionally actually healthy for us to get into touch and come into reality with our sense of helplessness.

As long as we don't go to anger, fear, self-medication, but we go to crying out to God.

So I don't know if there's a particular thing in your life that's coming to mind as I talk about these things.

Whether it's the pandemic or whether it's some other situation in your family or your work or something where you have had that sense of being in the depths.

But whatever it is, I encourage you to cry out.

That's a hard place to be.

It's a scary place to be.

We don't like to admit it, but all of us in this room have a partnership in that.

We've all been there.

We all will be there again.

And there's something we can do.

We can cry out.

We don't have to go to anger and fear and numbing and distraction.

Maybe you've done that before and you've forgotten to do it now.

Maybe you've never done it and it feels hard to be able to cry out like that.

But what better thing could there be for the helpless person who's going down than to cry out?

So first, when we're helpless, do what this psalmist does and cry out.

Second, when helpless, remember.

Remember.

And that's all over this psalm.

We first need to remember that God cares.

And if you take this psalm and place it in the context of the Old Testament,

you'll see that there's actually many themes from this psalm that show up in other places in the Old Testament.

If you'll keep your finger there at Psalm 130 and flip over to Exodus chapter 2 or go there on your screen,

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

whichever way you're looking at the scripture this morning.

Go back to Exodus chapter 2 and look with me at verse 23.

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

In Exodus 2, the descendants of Abraham, the children of Israel, are in slavery in Egypt.

And they have been 400 years.

I'm sure that by this point, their collective memory can barely even understand a time

when they were not enslaved in a very difficult kind, an awful kind of slavery to Pharaoh.

In verse 23, we read that during those many days, the king of Egypt died.

And the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.

Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

And God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

God saw the people of Israel and God knew.

Did you hear some of the same themes in Exodus 2 as Psalm 130?

First of all, they're in the depths.

That word isn't used, but they're in slavery.

They're not in control.

As slaves, they're helpless.

You did hear probably cry out.

Out of the depths, I cry to you, Psalm 130 says.

Exodus 2 says they cried out for help.

Not only did they groan, but they cried out for help.

And then just as Psalm 130 says we cry out, here in Exodus 2, we see that when we do, God does something.

God remembers.

He remembers his promises when he hears us cry out.

He remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is just as meaningful for believers today as it was for the children of Israel back then.

It says that God not only remembered, but he heard their groaning.

God hears us.

God sees us.

God knows.

And God knows.

And not just knows like he sees.

We learn in the book of Hebrews that he knows because in his son Jesus, he has experienced suffering.

He has experienced helplessness.

Jesus has cried out.

He knows.

He's sympathetic.

We have a high priest that understands us and can sympathize with us.

So we remember when we cry out that God cares.

That it's not just us on our own to go figure this out.

But we have a God who is moved in his spirit.

Who sees us and hears us and remembers us.

So when we're helpless, we need to remember that God cares.

We also need to remember what God has done.

And here I want us to go back to Psalm 130 and take a look at verses 3 and 4.

Because here the psalmist is in the depths.

It's a helpless situation.

And what he does in verses 3 and 4 is he remembers another time he was in a helpless situation.

And he doesn't just remember any old regular helpless situation.

He remembers a time when he was in the most helpless situation that there could be.

And he remembers the time when he tried to stand before God on his own record, his own merit, his own righteousness on the basis of what he had done.

And tried to stand.

And he couldn't do it.

He says in verse 3,

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

If God was to mark our sins, there's no way we could stand before him.

What does that word stand refer to?

It's that sense that you can be in someone's presence, lift your head up, look them in the face, and not be ashamed.

Instead of standing, he's saying if God was to mark his sin, he would have to cower.

He would have to huddle, look down, hunch his shoulders.

He couldn't stand before God with his shoulders back and face to face with the Lord.

It's an entirely helpless situation.

He's saying that there is a perfect and holy and righteous God to whom you and I are accountable.

And on our own, we cannot stand.

It's a helpless situation.

There could be no more helpless situation.

But think about Romans 5.2.

And while we're turning around, just again, keep your finger there at Psalm 130 and turn over with me to Romans 5.

Take a look at verse 2 because, interestingly, the word stand shows up again.

And I'm going to start in verse 1.

You see, if God was to mark our iniquities, we couldn't stand.

But through Jesus, the first two words of Romans 5.2 says,

you and I can stand because he paid the price for our iniquities so that God would no longer mark them,

so that he would no longer remember them.

Think of it this way.

There was a time when Jesus hung on the cross and cried out of the depths for help,

and God did not answer.

And because God did not answer Jesus, you and I will always be answered.

Because in that moment, Jesus paid the price.

He paid the price for our iniquities so that God will always hear our cry for help.

It's amazing news.

Now we can stand.

Even though on our own, we are sinful, unclean, in Jesus, through his forgiveness,

you don't just come into God's presence and have to stand in the back and hunch down.

You come shoulders back, face up, and you see your father smile, Numbers 6 says.

At you, because of you, sins gone and cleansed.

Stand before God.

We need to remember what God has done.

When you and I are helpless, whatever that situation is in your mind,

we need to bring to bear the truth that God has helped us in the most helpless situation possible.

And if he's done that, then he will help us again in this.

Maybe not on our timetable.

Maybe not in our way.

But if he has taken care of marking our iniquities and no longer does that,

he will not abandon us.

That's why Psalm 130 verse 4 says that,

Psalms 130:4

With God there is forgiveness.

Whatever that thing is that you're guilty of,

in Jesus, through him, through faith in his perfect life, death and resurrection,

with God there is forgiveness.

I want to point out something else that we can remember that God has done,

and it comes from verse 7.

It says that,

With God there is plentiful redemption.

Plentiful redemption.

We've already said that in God there is forgiveness for our sins.

But folks, salvation and what God is doing in grace is even better than that.

Because plentiful redemption refers to the fact that one day all the effects of the fall will be gone.

Not just your sin and not just the problem of the disruption of your fellowship with God,

but one day all of the other things we suffer with in this life that are ultimately because of sin

will be healed and restored also.

There will be no more sickness,

no more pandemics,

no more viruses,

no more social distancing,

no more masks.

There will be no more death or crying or pain anymore,

for the former things will have passed away.

There will be plentiful redemption.

We're not going to run out of God's redemption when it comes to some effect of the fall.

It's not like his redemption will only go so far,

but just like the old hymn that we sing at Christmas,

Joy to the World says,

He comes to make his blessings known as far as the curse is found.

Plentiful redemption.

And that was done at the cross.

We're waiting for it in real time and space,

but it's going to be done.

And we have to remember that when we're helpless,

that God's not going to leave us there forever.

One day, everything will be fixed.

God forgives our sins,

and he brings plentiful redemption.

So we can remember that God cares.

We can remember what he's done.

We can also remember what God is like.

When we are helpless.

Look with me again at verse 7,

in just the first part of it.

That with the Lord,

there is steadfast love.

Steadfast love.

That is what God is like.

He is a God of steadfast love.

Now, if you've read your Bible very often,

especially the Old Testament,

and depending on the translation,

you've come across these two words.

Steadfast love.

They show up over and over,

especially in the Psalms.

Other translations talk about God's loving kindness.

And it's a way in English

to try to render a Hebrew word

that we don't have something in English

that exactly suits it.

Because yes, it means love,

like our word love.

But this original Hebrew word

also means not just love,

but loyalty and mercy and kindness.

So take the four English words,

love and loyalty and mercy and kindness,

throw them in a pot,

stir them together,

and out comes what we translate here

as steadfast love.

We remember that God is a God

of steadfast love.

Instead of trying to explain it,

let me actually tell you a story

from 2 Samuel chapter 9

2 Samuel 9 · chapter mention

that tells us in action

what steadfast love looks like.

In 2 Samuel chapter 9,

2 Samuel 9 · chapter mention

King David is on the throne.

He's not been on the throne very long.

The civil war between him

and the previous king, King Saul,

is over.

And David is the king of all 12 tribes.

And there is a man in that chapter

named Mephibosheth,

which is a tough name to say.

I had to practice it a few times

before I came here this morning.

And in 2 Samuel 9,

his life, Mephibosheth's life,

was not good,

to say the least,

even though he had been

the grandson of a king.

And I say had been

because his grandfather was King Saul,

the king that came before

the current king, King David.

And as you can imagine,

if you're the grandson

of a former king,

and the king who has replaced him

is on the throne,

you do not expect to be

the most popular man

in the country.

If anything, you go and hide

because you're afraid.

Kings want to wipe out

all of the descendants

of the previous king.

So not only is he living

in hiding though,

but he had lost his family lands,

which means he has no income,

which means he is poor.

So he's living in hiding.

He's an enemy of the state.

He's poor.

He has nothing.

And on top of that,

because of an injury

when he was little,

he's actually unable to walk.

He's lame.

His life is not good.

He's living in a place

that literally is translated

no pasture,

or what we might say

is nowheresville.

He's hiding out far, far away.

No money.

He's unable to walk.

No income.

Living in a place

called nowheresville.

But David wants to keep a promise,

the king.

David wants to keep a promise

that he had made

to his best friend Jonathan.

Jonathan was the son

of the former king Saul

and the father of Mephibosheth.

And David says,

I want to keep a promise

I had made to my friend Jonathan

to be kind

to the descendants

of Jonathan and Saul.

As a matter of fact,

David says in 2 Samuel 9,

is there anyone left

of Saul's family

to whom I can show

the kindness of God?

And in 2 Samuel 9,

when it says kindness of God,

in the original Hebrew,

it's the same word

as Psalm 130, verse 7,

Psalms 130:7

steadfast love.

David says,

is there anyone left

of Saul's family

to whom I can show

the steadfast love of God?

Which is a simple question,

but it should be mind-blowing.

Saul's family was his enemy.

Saul had tried

to kill David for years.

He had sent David out

into the wilderness

and hiding.

And now that he's on the throne,

instead of saying,

that's it for Saul's family,

he says,

is there anyone left

of that crazy crew

that I can show

the steadfast love of God to?

What?

But he's keeping a promise.

He's being loyal

to his friend Jonathan.

And so David finds out

about Mephibosheth.

He sends servants

to get him.

And imagine being

in Mephibosheth's shoes.

That's even harder to say,

shoes after Mephibosheth.

And you get a knock

on the door

and you say,

who is it?

And they say,

we're the servants of David.

What do you think?

It's over.

They found me.

I'm a dead man.

You open the door

and they say,

you're coming to Jerusalem.

You think, okay,

he wants to kill me in person.

So they go to Jerusalem

and David says to him,

Mephibosheth,

I'm going to give you back

your family lands,

which were extensive.

Well,

a lot of good that does him.

He can't work it.

He can't walk.

He says,

I'm going to give you servants

to work the land,

which means you just get

a steady income.

And Mephibosheth,

I want you to stay here

in Jerusalem

and not just be in my city

and not just be my neighbor.

Listen to this.

I want you to come

and eat at my table

every day.

That is steadfast love

in action

in a horizontal way

between David

and Mephibosheth.

That is David showing love

to his friend Jonathan

and therefore his son Mephibosheth.

Mephibosheth could represent

a threat to his throne,

but he says,

I love him.

And so I'm going to give him back

family lands.

I'm going to give him an income

and make him rich.

I'm going to let him eat

at the king's table

because I'm loyal

to my promise.

So I'm going to show mercy

and I'm going to show kindness.

So with the Lord,

Psalm 130 verse 7

Psalms 130:7

is steadfast love.

And let me ask you,

if David shows steadfast love

like that,

how good do you think

God's steadfast love

is going to be?

Do you think it's going to be

less extravagant than David's?

Do you think it's going to be

less amazing than David's?

Absolutely not.

God is going to take

David's steadfast love

and blow it out of the water

in the way he treats us

by showing us love

and loyalty

and mercy

and kindness.

And when you and I

are helpless,

we need to remember that.

We need to remember

that God is a God

of steadfast love

and will not leave us

on our own.

We need to remember

all that God

has done.

We need to remember

that he cares.

We need to remember

what God

is like.

And you and I have to make

a conscious choice

when we're helpless

to remember those things.

Because if you're like me,

when you're helpless,

all you can see

is your problems.

All you can see

is your lack of control.

All you can feel

is that sense of,

oh no,

my life's out of control.

We have to make

a conscious choice

to remember these things.

So when we're helpless,

the first point was cry out.

The second was remember.

And now third and last,

we need to wait with hope.

And here I want us

to look at verses 5 and 6

of Psalm 130

where the psalmist says,

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

and more than watchmen

for the morning.

Now you and I can read

those two verses of poetry

in less than 10 seconds.

But it's going to take us

a lifetime to get it.

It's going to take us

a lifetime to learn

how to live out

what we just read,

to wait on God.

And there's lots of good ways

to talk about

what does it mean

to wait on God.

One, I think,

is just trusting him over time.

To wait on God

is to trust him over time.

And I don't mean here

from Psalm 135 and 6

that when we wait on God,

we just sit on our hands

and do nothing

if there's something

for us to do.

If there's something

you can do

for the sake

of your circumstances,

then by all means,

go and do it.

The scripture is clear

about that.

But there's sometimes,

yes,

where there is nothing

we can do.

And what do we do then?

Whether our circumstances

get better or not,

we wait on the Lord.

And there's no indication

that by the time

we get to the end

of this Psalm

in verse 8

that the psalmist's

circumstances have changed.

There is every indication

that his perspective has

in the way he goes

through those

unchanging,

difficult,

depth-like circumstances.

So when your circumstances

don't change,

how do you wait with hope?

And the answer is

you have to take

God's forgiveness seriously.

In other words,

to understand

how to wait with hope

when you're helpless,

this third point,

you've got to get

the second point,

that God's forgiveness

is real,

that with the Lord

there is forgiveness.

And that's why

verse 4 ends

in a way that sounds

strange to our ears.

But with you

there is forgiveness

that you may be feared.

When you read that,

don't you expect it

to say,

with you there is forgiveness,

therefore I don't fear you.

Therefore I'm not

afraid of you.

But he says,

with you is forgiveness,

therefore I fear you.

And there's lots

of different kinds

of fear of God

in the Bible

you might know.

Some of it is,

I tremble

and I'm scared of him

because I know

I'm a sinner

and he's a perfect

and holy God.

Other times it means

respect.

I think the best way

to sum up all the fear

of God in the Bible

is to take God

seriously.

When you take him

seriously,

you fear him.

And for the sinner

before God's judgment,

that might be fear.

But for the Christian,

you and I,

who are no longer

afraid of God's judgment

because it's all

been poured out

on Jesus,

what does fearing God

look like?

It still means

taking him seriously.

And that can mean

taking his forgiveness

seriously.

Too often I think

you and I picture

the Christian

who is fearing God

as one who has

a healthy dose

of guilt and shame

that they live

with constantly.

But that's not

the gospel.

I think you can

actually not fear

God,

listen to this closely,

by not taking

his grace

and forgiveness

and acceptance

of you seriously.

When Jesus

has done everything

to bring you

into the presence

of the Father

so that you stand

and see his smile

and you don't

take that seriously

but you hang back

and you say,

yeah, but if you

knew God

how bad I was,

you wouldn't

smile at me.

Are you taking

God's grace

seriously?

Are you taking

Jesus' work

at the cross

seriously?

No, with God

there is forgiveness

that he may be feared.

We stand in his presence

taking his grace

seriously

and when we do that

we can wait

with hope

when our circumstances

don't change.

It's the logic

of Romans 8

Romans 8:32

verse 32.

He who did not

spare his own son

but gave him up

for us all,

how will he not

also with him

graciously give us

all things?

Hear the logic?

If God gave us

his son

quit worrying

about it.

If he gave you

his son

do you think

he's going to

hold something back?

Not at all.

And the psalmist

in Psalm 130

is saying

with God

there is forgiveness

therefore wait

because if with him

is forgiveness

then he's going

to give you

all things.

you can wait

with hope.

And when we do

we'll do

two things

which sound different

but really

aren't that different.

We'll watch

and we'll sleep.

And this psalm

talks about that.

It says that

we wait for God

more than watchman

waits for the morning.

Imagine sitting

on a city wall

thousands of years ago

you've got the night watch

you're struggling

to stay awake

you're struggling

to let your eyes

pierce the darkness

and more than anything

you want that sun

to come up.

You don't want

to be the one

who has to raise

the cry of a surprise

attack.

And so

more than a watchman

waits for the morning

we watch for God.

And I want to tell you

something so beautiful

about this psalm.

The word mark

in verse 3

that if he should

mark iniquities

and the word watch

in watchman

is actually

the same root word

in Hebrew.

The psalmist

is making a play

on words.

He's saying

if you oh Lord

should mark iniquities

and he doesn't

because there's forgiveness

God doesn't mark

or watch

our iniquities

anymore.

There's forgiveness.

So if God

doesn't watch

for my sin

I'm going to watch

for him

when my circumstances

don't change.

This is cool

play on words

there in the Hebrew.

God no longer

watches for our sins

so we're going

to watch for him.

And to watch

for him

when your circumstances

don't change

means you watch

for him

to maybe bring

deliverance.

Maybe bring a change

to your circumstances.

Sometimes he does that.

It means you watch

for what he's doing

in your own life

as you wait

when circumstances

don't.

And you also watch

for Jesus

to come back

because that's

going to fix it all.

That's the plentiful

redemption.

All the effects

of the fall

gone.

So when we wait

with hope

because we take

God's forgiveness

seriously

we'll watch.

And then I said

we'll also sleep.

And what I mean is

this story

from Acts chapter 12

Acts 12 · chapter mention

and you don't have

to turn over there

but I think

Peter

who's in Acts chapter 12

Acts 12 · chapter mention

got this psalm.

And I think

he got it

because he falls asleep

in a place

where you would

never imagine

someone could fall asleep.

And what I mean is

in Acts chapter 12

Acts 12 · chapter mention

the persecution

against the new church

was increasing.

And King Herod

not the King Herod

from Jesus

but a different King Herod

decides to arrest

James and Peter.

Actually first

just James.

He arrests James.

James is

one of the inner three

of the twelve

along with

Peter and John.

He puts him in prison

and then he executes him.

And it's the first one

of the twelve apostles

to be executed.

And when he does that

he realizes

he gets a boost

in his approval ratings.

And like a good politician

he says

huh

if this makes

my approval ratings

go up

I'm going to do it again.

And so

now that James is dead

he goes and arrests Peter

and puts him in prison

and gives him

I can't remember

how many guards

but

more than one

I think it's at least four.

There's no way

Peter's getting out of jail.

He's going to be executed

in the morning.

It's near to the

anniversary of Jesus' death

just a few years before.

That has to be on his mind.

It's very close

to the death

of his friend

of the last many years

James.

That has to be very much

on his mind.

But

God in his wisdom

sends an angel

to rescue Peter

but he never rescued James.

Isn't that interesting?

Those two stories

in Acts 12

are back to back.

James is in prison

but not delivered.

Peter goes to prison

and an angel

gets him out.

Why are those two things

back to back?

And what did I say

about Peter sleeping?

Well when the angel

comes to get him

he's asleep.

Chained to multiple guards.

He's on death row.

His execution's

in the morning.

And he's helpless.

He's in the depths.

And I don't know about you

but when I'm in the depths

or even nowhere close to him

but just have a small problem

what's the first thing to go?

Sleep.

Peter is in the depths

and snoozing.

Thinking

it's going to be

just like James

just a few days

or weeks before that.

But he's asleep.

And I think

that's one result

of when we get this psalm

deep in our bones

is that when we face

the depths

we'll still be able

to sleep.

There's many other psalms

like that.

About how the psalmist

lay down and slept.

I woke again

Psalm 3 says

for the Lord

sustained me.

When we wait with hope

we can watch

and we can sleep.

So I don't know

what the depths are for you

from your past

from your present

or maybe something

for the future.

But my hope is

that when you hit

those really difficult times

you'll remember

what this psalmist does

and you'll cry out

and you'll remember

and you'll wait

with hope.

Let's pray.

Father we thank you

that Jesus was the one

who for our sake

and for our deliverance

cried out to you

and was not answered.

That you turned your back

on him

so that he might

pay the price

that we all deserve.

So that we could be

the ones

who know

that when we cry out

that you will always

hear us.

That you will never

leave us.

Even when you leave us

waiting on you

and our circumstances

not changing.

We know that you

have us in mind.

We know that you

have a plan.

And we know

that you're at work.

I pray Father

that you would

increase our faith

because of the cross

even when things

seem bleak

and helpless.

And I pray that we

would be able

to be those

who can watch

for what you're doing

and can sleep as well.

And we pray

all these things

in Jesus name.

Amen.