Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In we have really a Penitential Pilgrim Song.

Penitential Psalms are

6, 32, 38,51, 102,130,143

These are Psalms of confession or of repentance

It is also a Pilgrim song, it is one of the 15 songs of Ascents

120-134

This songs would be recited as pilgrims would make the pilgrimage up to Jerusalem for the feasts

And in many ways this is doubly a song of ascent as the psalmist begins in the depths and ends in the heigths

This song has also been a favorite song of many

Early church father Augustine

Reformer John Calvin

Also the Reformer Martin Luther

Luther stated that he loved psalms that declared God’s forgiveness to sinners and that once while reading he saw the gate of heaven opening wide to him.

Another interesting thing about this Psalm is that this Psalm was used in the conversion of John Wesley.

Wesley was a minster but he was unconverted and one of the things that the Lord used in bringing conviction upon Wesley was an evening service at St. Paul’s Cathedral where Wesley heard the choir singing this Psalm and especially, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord who could stand?”

Wesley said at that moment it hit him that he knew that he could not stand before the Lord.

So this has been a favorite Psalm of many,

Luther even wrote a hymn using and we will actually visit an updated version of that hymn at the end of the sermon and we will sing it as our closing song.

But as I have already mentioned, we see the Psalmist beginning in the depths and going to the heights and we will notice that the only things that gets him from the depths to the heights is the good news of divine forgiveness.

Out of the Depths

Out of the Depths

This psalm begins with this phrase right of the gate.

The depths, these are the deep places the dark places, the hard places.

Have you ever been in the depths?

Sure you have, we all have

What do the depths look like?

depression

despair

struggles (financial, physical, emotional)

sickness, pain

death of a loved one

maybe sometimes you just look at the world around us and all of the craziness, all of the chaos and you just feel overwhelmed

When we are in the depths we feel overwhelmed, we can feel helpless

If we continue to read here we see why the psalmist was in the depths, because of his sin against God

How about you have you ever felt in the depths because of your sin? Feel overwhelmed, feel like you are undone before a holy God.

This is one of the things that happens when the Lord is at work bringing someone to Christ, He cast them into the depths if you will, He opens their eyes to see their sin and to see the wrath of God that is against them because of their sin, He opens their eyes to their hopelessness and their helplessness

If we continue to read here we see why the psalmist was in the depths, because of his sin against God

How about you have you ever felt like you were in the depths because of your sin?

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your sin against a Holy God and the wrath of God that was against you because of your sin?

This is one of the things that God will do when He is bringing someone to Christ, He will open their eyes to their hopelessness and their helplessness before a holy God.

My testimony of how I felt if the whole world had been snatched out from under before and I felt bare and exposed before a holy God.

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear (that is amazing grace that casts us into the depths)

Have you ever felt that?

every child of God has

But not only that there are even times in the Christian life when we feel that again, maybe it is that besetting sin that continues to plague you

maybe it is the deceitfulness of sin, some sin that promised you so much and you believed the lie and now you have been left standing there holding empty promises again after that sin drug you into the depths

There are times in our lives as Christians when the Lord pulls back more of our heart and exposes again the sinfulness within and we are reminded of how sinful we really are and we feel that we are in the depths again

Brother, sister in Christ remember that being in the depths is not a bad thing if it causes us to look to the Lord

We will notice three things about the psalmist in the depths

Notice who he cried out to

To you

Notice the psalmist does not look within for strength, he does not look around for strength, instead he looks up he looks to God

To whom do you cry when you are in the depths?

Do you cry out to God?

What are we prone to do?

When in the depths people will try to go to others, prone to look within, drugs, television, or some sin to self medicate?

Some people wallow in self pity or blame others

But what are we to do?

We are to cry out to God

2. Who is this God to whom he cries, who is the one to whom he looks for encouragement?

LORD, Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, the covenant keeping God, the God who is faithful to all of His promises

Yahweh is El Shaddai according to , He is God Almighty the God who is able, the God who is strong to deliver His people and to provide for His people

Lord, Adonai, that is Lord, Master, the Sovereign One, the Ruler of the universe.

In the depths the psalmist does not look to a god who may can help, I hope he can help

No he cries out to the Lord God, to the Sovereign ruler of the universe.

What a comfort brothers and sisters to know that when we are in the depths we can cry out to the Lord God, to our Covenant God who is the ruler over all creation

And to know that if we are in Christ then this God hears our cries and that He is working all things together for our good.

Notice the longing of the psalmist for God to hear (v.2)

Have you ever felt that way as your cried out to God?

Maybe you have felt that God did not hear your cries to Him.

Brother and sister in Christ, we can know that in Christ, when we cry out to the Father He hears us

But in v.3 you see the tension that the psalmist feels?

Oh LORD if you should mark iniquities, that is if you keep track of my sin, if you are keeping a record of my sin then i can not cry out to you and expect deliverance, instead i should expect to be destroyed in the depths.

The Good News of Divine Forgiveness

We see this in v.4

Notice the word but, this is one of the greatest words in all of scripture

Ephesians 2.1-

What is the psalmist saying here?

If You were not a redeeming and restoring God, if You were not a forgiving God then I could not stand before You, and I would be overwhelmed and destroyed in the depths,

But with you there is pardon/forgiveness

Interesting thing here, the LXX uses the word ilasmos which is the word that is translated propitiation

This word is used 4 times in the NT

Discuss the meaning of this word, this is a word that speaks of substitution, that Christ died in our place, that He bore the wrath that we deserved

This is a bloody word

But there is only forgiveness because of the bloody work of our Lord Jesus Christ

What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus

This is the gospel brothers and sisters, we were in the depths because of our sin and we cried out to God.

In God’s grace and mercy, instead of laying our sins upon us to destroy us in the depths the good news of the bible is that the Lord laid our iniquities upon Christ, that He became sin for us and that the wrath of God was poured out upon Him

So that we might be forgiven and that God may rescue us from the depths.

That we may be rescued, that we may be washed, that we may be made whole

This is one of the clearest places in the OT that teaches us of the redeeming grace of God.

Are you burdened by your sin? Are you weighted down by your sin?

Our God has provided atonement

O believer are you burdened by our besetting sin?

Have you been reminded of your sinfulness and does Satan whisper in your ear reminding you of your sin telling you of the death that you deserve?

Look to Christ and remember that there is forgiveness with God in Christ!

The only reason

Into the Heights