The sermon 'Abundant Redemption' by Mike Davenport explores Psalm 130, focusing on the human experience of being in the 'depths' or difficult places, both physically and spiritually. It highlights the psalmist's journey through distress, marked by a desperate plea to God, and emphasizes the importance of crying out to God from these depths. The sermon draws parallels with Jonah's story, illustrating how God brings individuals to such places to turn them towards Him. The central theme is divine forgiveness and abundant redemption, which are portrayed as inherent aspects of God's character, offering hope and mercy to sinners. The speaker emphasizes the necessity of waiting on the Lord, binding oneself to Him, and having a determined purpose in faith. The sermon concludes with a call to recognize God's abundant redemption and to fear Him with reverence, encouraging believers to rest fully in Christ and find sufficiency in Him during trials.

The depths We are there today Have been there before Or we will be there in the not too distant future Maybe you can truthfully say that it's not a matter of or That all of those realities past Present and future apply to you right here and right now Well, the book of Psalms is such a comfort to our souls. The Psalms reflect the realities of life in this fallen world, and thus they prove the reality of the inspiration of the Scriptures from the mouth of God, for no one would paint such dark realities and true struggles if they would desire others to pursue that religion." The very fact that Scriptures just reveal the hearts of men and where those men are points to the fact the Scriptures are inspired. Well Psalm 130 is such a psalm. It gives us a peek into the heart of a man who pins these words and yet causes us to hope in God and So we will seek to look at this Psalm under the following five headings this morning. First, a difficult place, a difficult place.

Second, a desperate plea. Third, a divine pardon. Fourth, a determined purpose. And then, fifthly and finally a declared persuasion. So first of all, a difficult place.

Verse 1, out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. Out of the depths I have cried to you. Oh lord Out of the depths I have cried to you. Oh lord The psalmist finds himself in a difficult place have you been there before a difficult place A place the psalmist calls the depths. The depths speak of a place of great distress where the soul feels overwhelmed.

This is not the only place where the writer finds himself in such a place. Throughout the Psalms we find it. Psalm 40 verse 2 says, he also brought me up out of a horrible pit out of the mirey clay Psalm 69 verses 1 & 2 for the waters have come up to my neck I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I have come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. It is in such a place that the psalmist turns to the Lord.

It is such a place that God often brings sinners, both unconverted and converted, in order to have them turn their faces to Him. It was to such a place that Jonah was brought. God had commanded Jonah to do what? To go to Nineveh and preach the judgment that God said was going to be coming on them. But instead we read, But Jonah arose to flee from Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

And then notice he went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Once aboard that sailing vessel, we read this, but Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down and was fast asleep. We then discover later that Jonah is thrown into the sea and swallowed by a great fish. Once in the belly of that fish, where did he find himself?

Listen to the words of his prayer. I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and he answered me, out of the belly of shale I cried and you heard my voice For you cast me into the deep Into the heart of the seas and the flood surrounded me all your billows and your waves passed over me then I said I have been cast out of your sight yet I will look again towards your holy temple the waters surrounded me even to my soul the deep Closed around me weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down To the moorings of the mountains the earth with its bars closed behind me forever Yet you have brought up my life from the pit Oh lord my god And so we see even a man like Jonah called to preach the word found himself in the depths And he says you cast me there you cast me into the deep What Jonah had to be brought to such a place in order for him to lift up his voice in prayer To the Lord He had been running he had been running from God and God brought him into these depths Can't run there Pretty small quarters for trying to run from God But it was out of these depths that Jonah cried to the Lord Well, what are the depths of which the psalmist speaks?

Well the commentary of William Plummer helps us understand this place He says this the depths are clearly those of trouble, distress, and affliction. These are outward and inward. The outward consists of providential arrangements respecting our health, honor, property, family, and the state of the church and of the world around us. The N-word relate to the state of men's hearts arising from a clear apprehension of the existence, guilt, and virulence of sin, of the want of due love to God, of the hiding of divine countenance, of spiritual insensibility, of a want of the tokens of God's love to us, of a keen sense of the ill desert of our own sins, of a discovery of the mischief to ourselves and others of the departure from God of spiritual darkness generally and of strange Disinclination to devotion accompanied by apprehensions of the divine wrath Maybe you find yourself already in the depths, in that difficult place. Will you humble yourself and cry out to the Lord?

The psalmist did not wait until he got into a better place before crying out. You see, our pride would like us to be convinced that we need to get out of the depths before God will hear us. We're like the disciples in the storm. What did they do? They rode all night long.

Where was Jesus? You children remember where Jesus was? Same place Jonah was. He was down in the boat sleeping. He was down in the boat sleeping.

He was right there, not just spiritually, physically. He was right there. What did they do? They rode, rode, rode all night, and they couldn't do anything until they cried out to Jesus. Cry out to the Lord.

Lift up your voice to him, even from that difficult place, out of the depths. I cried to the Lord. Secondly, the psalmist reveals a little more about this crying out to the Lord. We now see secondly a desperate plea, a desperate plea. Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications." Does it matter to you that God hears your voice? Does it matter to you if God hears your voice? It is possible for us to simply pray and then to go about our business as if the mirror facing the reality, praying to God, that is just therapeutic. It gets it off our chest. But not so for the psalmist.

This man in prayer is like Jacob, wrestling with God, not wanting God to go without receiving what he desired. It's the cry of one who feels himself unworthy. You see, there's no argument with God as to why God should hear him. There's no bringing of a list of reasons why God should be attentive to Him. It's just a desperate plea for the mercy of God that God would incline His ear and hear, and not simply just to hear, but to actually be attentive, to be attentive.

Why is it that we will do all else but pray until all of those avenues bring us to an end. So Alton, we go about, we row. Why do we do that? Why must we exhaust all That's at our fingertips before we cry out to the Lord As Christ passed through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem a man named Bartimaeus a blind Beggar heard that Jesus would be passing by not far from where he was begging The blind man began crying out Jesus son of David have mercy on me Those who stood by They began warning him That's the word the gospel writers use. They begin warning him, telling him that he needs to stop all that crying out in that manner.

He cried out all the louder, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. This occurrence is mentioned in three of the four Gospels. Three of the gospel writers talk about this man, one talking about, there was two of them, the others bringing out the fact that his name was Bartimaeus. And all three use these three remarkable words. Jesus stood still.

He stood still. Jesus was focused on a mission to go to Jerusalem and make the once-for-all atoning sacrifice. He had set His face to go to Jerusalem. Yet, When he heard the cry of blind Bartimaeus, he stood still. What could interrupt Almighty God in the middle of His eternal plans?

The desperate plea of a needy sinner. He stood still. Matthew and Henry commenting on this verse here in the Psalms said the following, the only way of relief for a sin entangled soul is by applying to God alone. Many things present themselves as diversions. Many things offer themselves as remedies, but the soul finds that the Lord alone can heal.

And until men are sensible of the guilt of sin and quit all to come at once to God, it is in vain for them to expect any relief. The Holy Ghost gives to such poor souls a fresh sense of their deep necessity to Stir them up in earnest applications by the prayer of faith, by crying to God. It's that spirit within us that causes us to cry out, Abba, Father. Well not only does the psalmist find himself in a difficult place which leads him to a desperate plea he also thirdly acknowledges here in our text a divine pardon a Divine pardon verses 3 and 4 if you Lord should mark iniquities. Oh Lord who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared Here the psalmist refers to marking iniquities that is the taking of a strict account of sins strict account Job declares in Job 10 14 if I sin then you mark me and will not acquit me of my iniquity." Now, the word should here, okay, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, this word should, even together with the word if, does not imply that God does not take account of our sins, okay? It doesn't imply that God's not taking account. He does take account of our sins. Psalm 98, verse 8 says that God sets our iniquities before Him, our secret sins in the light of His countenance. I believe the second part of the verse helps us understand the first part.

I think we should understand this as saying, if God, whose holiness and justice demands a strict account of our sins, if God should stop in his dealings with us upon such accounting what man could stand what man could stand see we are all condemned in Adam. Every one of us, every one of us condemned. Remember what we've been studying in the afternoons on Sundays? Adam was created in an estate of sinlessness and happiness. There were no depths when Adam was created, but sin brought misery, and We have inherited that estate from Adam an estate of sin and misery And it is that sin that brings us into the depths All have sinned and do fall short of the glory of God.

There is none Righteous no not even one But the psalmist holds out a blessed truth introduced by that wonderful word, but, but, but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. God is not only a God of holiness and justice, he is a God of mercy, a God of grace, and a God of forgiveness. This forgiveness is not outside of himself. The psalmist says that this forgiveness is with him. It's not that God is just a God of holiness and justice and well he can reach outside of himself and grab this forgiveness and grant it.

No, There is forgiveness with God, with God. It flows out of who He is just as much as the holiness and justice. There's forgiveness with Him. This reality is what gives the psalmist hope and fuel for his desperate plea as well as for God's deliverance of him from his difficult place. Note from the psalmist response that fear is not due because God is the marker of iniquities.

That's what you would think, right? Oh, God's a marker of iniquities, and therefore I fear. This psalmist knows a fear that is marked, that is born out from the fact that God forgives. You see, that is what should engender a heart of fear within us. If you recall Romans 8, Paul says, you've not received the Spirit again to fear, that slavish fear, because that's the kind of fear that every unbeliever should have.

It should be a fear that God is Mark, he's taking account of all of my sin, and if I don't believe in him, that's where it stops. But we as Christians do not receive the Spirit again to that kind of fear. The kind of fear that is engendered by the work of the Spirit in a saved man is this kind of fear, cause of forgiving God. He's wiped my sins away. How could a just and holy God wipe my sins away?

How could they, as scarlet as they are, be this white? What a God. I fear that God. That's the kind of fear. And I love that God because he's a forgiving God.

Matthew Henry says, Let us acknowledge our sinfulness. We cannot justify ourselves or plead not guilty It is our unspeakable comfort that there is forgiveness with him for that is what we need Jesus Christ is the great ransom. He is ever an advocate for us and through him We hope to obtain forgiveness There is forgiveness with thee not that thou mayst be presumed upon but that thou Mayest be feared The fear of God often is put for the whole worship of God The only motive the only motive and encouragement for sinners is this that there is forgiveness with the Lord How are you responding to God today a God who grants divine pardon Do you fear him? Isaiah 8 13 says the Lord of hosts Him you shall hallow Let him be your fear and let him be your dread." William Plummer also commenting on these verses here says, God's forgiveness is exercised and so wise and excellent away. It is not bestowed upon the faultless and reckless.

The Lord makes men smart. And then in our days that's not brilliance, right? I mean it is in our day what he's saying is he's talking about hurting the smart of the rod the hurt of the rod the Lord makes men smart and Then heals them even as Joseph made his brethren see and confess the evil of their doings before he revealed himself to them. So God grants pardon in such a way that he may be feared, not dreaded as a tyrant, not avoided as cruel, but devoutly reverenced as a pitying father. So in a difficult place that leaves us with nothing but a desperate plea for mercy how comforting to be reminded of divine pardon fourth we see a determined purpose a determined purpose, verses 5 and 6.

I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in His Word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning." Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. We see here in verses 5 and 6 a determined purpose.

The psalmist has openly stated where his heart is. I wait. My soul waits. I do hope my soul waits." The Hebrew word translated wait here in our text is kava, kava. And it is a primitive root word that indicates a binding together by twisting.

A binding together by twisting. We would think wait means to sit on your hands and stare at the clock and look around, stare at the clock. That's the idea we have of waiting. That's not what he's talking about here. A binding together by twisting.

And I believe that Hebrew word gives us a beautiful picture of a man here who is Purposing to bind himself to the Lord I'm in the depths, but I'm binding myself to the Lord." Children, imagine you were down in a deep hole, a deep pit, and there the rescuers came and They came to the edge of the pit and as you looked up you saw their faces. Then they said, just hold tight. And then their faces disappeared. And all of a sudden over the edge a rope started coming down. What would they have you do?

They would like for you to tie it around your waist or under your armpits so they can pull you up and maybe even wrap that rope round and round your arm. You're not going to grab down in that pit, you're not going to grab with three fingers because you're not going to get very far, right? They lower that rope down into the depths, And if you want to be rescued, you entangle yourself with that rope. That's the picture here. Picture also this enormous oak tree.

Children, you can't even get your arms around it. If you had a piece of chalk and you reached out and you marked it here, then you came over here and put your hand and marked it there, you'd have to go around that tree four or five times before you got back to the first mark. So imagine this enormous oak tree, But imagine growing right beside that oak tree is this small little vine, little small vine. You can wrap your finger and thumb around it like that. What is that vine going to do?

Well, if you watch it long enough, over months, several years, you'll see that vine start to try to wind itself, entangle itself around that tree. Why? Because the vine has no strength of its own you pull it away from the tree and it just it's this way in that way Not so with that tree the fiercest of storms and the tree moves like this that vine is just all over the place. But what happens? That vine, as it ties itself, as it binds itself with that tree, that vine is strong.

That vine is strong. And so we see the psalmist here. He has no strength of his own. He's in the depths and he's just like that vine. But from that difficult place, he lifts up a desperate plea, and he does so because he knows that God is merciful and extends pardon.

And it would seem from our text that the psalmist does not sense immediate help and relief. He says, I wait, I hope. I'm still in the depths, but I wait, I hope. It takes time for that vine to cling to that oak and to receive the strength. So it seems that God has not yet answered.

It hasn't been a speedy answer. And so this man waits upon God and he continues to bind himself around his God with every ounce of strength, twisting as it were around and round, leaning upon, resting upon, clinging to the Lord. He waits upon the Lord and hopes in his Word. The answer will come. The answer will come.

It will. It may not be the answer he's looking for, not the one he's longing for, maybe not the one he's praying for, but it will be an answer from the one who says, clean to me. Find rest for your weary soul. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." When we find ourselves in the depths, how hard it is to simply wait and hope, to be still and to simply know and experience that He is God. Our culture teaches us to despise waiting. It's just part of our culture.

We need faster modes of transportation. We need faster modes of communication, faster modes of preparation, everything from meals to entertainment to appointments. We get agitated with waiting in traffic. We get agitated with waiting in line at the shopping center. We get agitated with waiting in the lobby at the doctor's office, waiting for our dinner, waiting for...filled in the blank.

But there's a comparison in this verse. He says, my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. The impatience of nocturnal watchers for the break of day is compared to the impatience felt by those sufferers who long for relief, those sinners who long for forgiveness. When will it come?

Will it ever come? Will it ever come? As I get older, I enjoy, I look more forward to bed than when I was a kid. When I was a kid I dreaded it. As an adult I look more forward to the rest that I'm gonna get but I don't sit there and stare at the clock when's that time gonna come where I can go to bed?

I keep plugging along. But if you ever, my days, my experiences are few, but if you've ever been up at night and you roll over and you feel like it's been 30 minutes, you look at the clock and it's been three, It's like, oh, when will the morning come? You know that. You've experienced that. Well, here's a man who's on duty, as it were.

He's a watcher. He's got nothing to do. It's dark. There weren't even lights like there are in our days. It was dark and he's looking and he's waiting.

When will the morning come? That's the comparison here. Those who can't wait for the relief can't wait for forgiveness and it feels as though it will never come. The prophet Isaiah in chapter 40 of his prophecy declares to Judah, behold your God. Behold your God.

And then after declaring the majesty and the glory and the power of that great God, Isaiah reminds them of what God will do for those who wait on him. He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength and Far from the depths they shall mount up with wings like Eagles They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint Thus does God for one who in the depths cries out to him and waits upon him with a determined purpose.

And now lastly, a declared persuasion, a declared persuasion. Verses 7 and 8, Oh Israel, hope in the Lord, For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities." In these two verses we have a declared persuasion, an exhortation or a desire based on what the psalmist himself knows of his God. He takes His determined purpose to wait on and hope in the Lord and seeks to declare to God's people His persuasion of the goodness and greatness of His God. I'm waiting on the Lord. I'm hoping in the Lord.

My soul waits for the Lord. Oh Israel oh Israel you hoping the Lord If If we have ever known deliverance from those depths, if we are truly persuaded of the divine pardon found in God, and if we are receiving support in waiting for a sense of believed mercy and forgiveness today, then we will desire others to experience it for themselves." John Owen said, a saving participation of grace and forgiveness leaves a deep impression of its fullness and excellency on the soul of a sinner." William Plummer adds, therefore true penitents always commend Christ and His salvation. They wish all to come and partake of these infinite bounties. I can't help but think of those four lepers who were right outside of Jerusalem. They had been cast out, not even part of the people of God, cast out, and God drove out the Syrians such in a way that all their tents were still up, all the bounty that they had gotten from other fights and raids was there in the tent riches gold You name it and food They didn't have food and They were partaking and what did they do?

They began to partake of that bounty and they said, you know what? It's not right Our brothers and sisters are inside those walls. They have no idea that this is here and they wanted them to know So they say we're going in I Love the words here abundant redemption Abundant redemption. That's what I've entitled the sermon today, abundant redemption. The Holy Spirit breathed out those words.

That wasn't some excited psalmist who had just been rescued and he couldn't stop praising God. These are the words of the Spirit that God's laying upon a man who's still in the depths, still crying out to God, and he talks about abundant redemption. The Spirit wants to convey this about the Godhead. God abundantly redeems. My thoughts can't help but run to the picture of the prodigal's father.

You know, that parable is called the prodigal son. It's more about the father. It's even more about the elder brother than it is about the prodigal's son himself. But it's the prodigal's father. That's what's the amazing thing about that.

Think about the mercy and the abundant redemption pictured in that parable in Luke 15. But when this prodigal was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the Father said to His servants, Bring out the best robe and put it on Him, and put a ring on His hand and sandals on His feet, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found and they began to be merry." Well, the words of Mr. William Plummer once again, in all the scriptures, we shall not find a sweeter word than redemption. It is a term employed to express the deliverance of men from the misery of captivity, from the hardships of bondage, and from the guilt and wretchedness of a sinful state. All mere men since the fall of Adam have needed redemption. The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ the ransom paid is not silver or gold or tears or reformations but the blood of the Son of God The greatness of our redemption may be estimated by the glory of its author, the greatness of the price paid, by the number that are redeemed, by the depths of sin and misery from which they are rescued and by the glory that shall follow the completion of the work." Well, that's Psalm Well, that's Psalm 130 by means of applications.

Number one, it's not so much where you are as it is who God is. It's not so much about where you are, it's about who God is. We like to make much about what...where we are, the difficulties of the circumstances, the inconveniences it has caused, how we feel and what we are experiencing, what we miss. And I'm not advocating a stoic, stiff upper lip attitude. The psalmist himself acknowledges his present circumstances.

I'm in the depths. That's where I am. I'm in the depths. But he doesn't stop there. He begins to dwell on the reality of who his Father is.

What will you do when you find yourself in the depths, in that difficult place. Maybe you're there today. Maybe the question should be, what are you doing right now since you find yourself in a difficult place? What will you do having been confronted with this passage today? Secondly, you have a duty to instruct and guide your soul.

You have a duty to instruct and guide your soul. You see, the realities that will lift a soul out of the depths are the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God, and the abundant redemption found in Him. That's what he's been focused on, forgiveness, mercy, and abundant redemption. In Psalm 103, the psalmist is seeking to instruct his soul and to find his way, most likely, out of the depths. And in verse 2 through 4 of Psalm 103, we find all of these elements.

We find forgiveness, mercy, and redemption. Okay, you children, I want you to think about these verses I'm getting ready to read and I want you to Find those three words in these verses Something having to do with forgiveness something having to do with redemption and something having to do with mercy. Okay, you ready? Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies." Did you hear him in there? Forgiveness, a redeeming, it's redemption, and mercies.

You have a duty to instruct and guide your soul. And that's what the psalmist is doing here. He's rehearsing the doctrines of his God, and he sets his hope in Him. Third, blessed is that man, that woman, whose circumstance causes them to rest fully on Christ and to find their sufficiency in Him. Blessed is that man or that woman whose circumstances cause them to rest fully on Christ and who therefore find Christ sufficient.

Do not despise the depths. Don't despise the depths. Do not despise the furnace. It was the furnace that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had to go in. What were they blessed with?

Christ walked with them. He walked with them. Literally, he was in the fire. So don't despise the depths, don't despise the furnace, don't despise your trials. Remember James 1, how James kind of began that chapter, count it all joy.

Don't despise. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Why? Because of what it's producing. It's producing a completeness that's not there without the depths, without the trials.

Fourth, have you ever tasted of this forgiveness, of this mercy, of this abundant redemption? Here the invitation of Christ found in Matthew 11, 28 to 30. Come to me. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. O taste and see that the Lord is good." I want to simply end with a quote from the Puritan George Swinock. It's a quote that I have used a few times before, but I keep coming back to it because of the richness in Christ that it points us to. God is all good things and every good thing. He is self-sufficient, alone sufficient, and all-sufficient.

Nothing is lacking in Him, either for the soul's protection from all evil or for the soul's perfection with all good. If God were your portion, you would find in Him whatever your heart could desire and whatever could lead you to happiness. Are you ambitious? God is a crown of glory. Are you covetous?

God is unsearchable riches. Are you lustful? God is rivers of pleasure and fullness of joy. Are you hungry? God is a feast.

Are you weary? God is rest, a shadow from the heat and a shelter from the storm. Are you weak? God is everlasting strength. Are you in doubt?

God is marvelous in counsel. Are you in darkness? God is the Son of righteousness, an eternal life. Are you sick? He is the God of your health.

Are you sorrowful? He is the God of all comfort. Are you dying? He is the fountain of life. Are you in distress?

His name is a strong tower to which you may run to find safety." He is a universal remedy against all sorts of misery. Whatever your calamity, He can remove it. Whatever your necessity, He can relieve it. He is silver, gold, honor, delight, food, clothing, house, land, peace, wisdom, power, beauty, father, mother, wife, husband, mercy, love, grace, glory, and infinitely more than all these. Infinitely more than all these So is our God and he shall redeem Israel from all His iniquities Praise His holy name.

Let us pray. Father, we thank You for Your goodness. We thank You for Your mercy. Oh, we thank You that there is forgiveness with You. There is mercy with you.

There is abundant redemption found in Jesus Christ. Whatever those depths are, whether it's the depths of sin that has never been dealt with in Christ, whether it's new sin in us as believers, whether it's our circumstances. Oh Lord, we ask for grace to cry out to you, to wait for you, for you are a God who delights to redeem. And we can rest in the fact that you will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Help us, we pray, in Jesus' name.

Amen.