The sermon, centered on Psalm 130, explores themes of sin, despair, and redemption, illustrated through the life of Martin Luther. It begins by reflecting on Luther's terror during his first mass, emphasizing the overwhelming presence of God and Luther's awareness of his own sinfulness. The sermon compares this to the psalmist's cry from the depths, expressing the hopelessness of sin and the necessity of divine forgiveness. The preacher highlights the transformative power of crying out to God, who offers forgiveness and redemption. It stresses the importance of fearing God and living in obedience as evidence of true salvation. The sermon encourages believers to trust in God's promises, using the imagery of a watchman waiting for the morning as a metaphor for hope and assurance in Christ. It closes by urging the congregation to share the message of abundant redemption in Jesus with the world, reinforcing that God is a mighty fortress and His kingdom is eternal.

Psalm 130, if you would please stand with me. Thus saith the Lord. Psalm 130, a song of ascents. Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand but there is forgiveness with you you may be feared I wait for the Lord my soul does wait and in his word do I hope my soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning indeed more than the watchman for the morning oh Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is loving kindness and with him is abundant redemption and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities may God bless the reading of his word amen let's pray together father help us now in this time to rightly understand this your word, to rightly understand it and then to rightly apply it. To be a people, Lord, that for every one look at themselves, they take a hundred looks to Christ, to be a people who trust in your very precious and great promises, all of which are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. If we didn't have Him, we'd have nothing.

Nothing but condemnation. And so Lord we thank you this morning. And we with excitement, we are eager to open and unpack Psalm 130 for your glory and our joy. We pray these sayings in the name of our King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. Amen.

You may be seated. In May 1507, Martin Luther, having been newly ordained to the priesthood, he performed his first mass. His father and a group of companions sat in the pews and Luther in his first mass was terrified. And he wasn't terrified because his father was present. He wasn't terrified because those that he knew were present.

No, Luther was terrified because he knew that God was present. And so as Luther began to lead the congregation in the mass, saying the well rehearsed line, we offer unto thee the living, the true, the eternal God. As he said those words, The reality that he was in the presence of the thrice holy God hit him like a brick wall. He could not go on. Terror seized him.

According to some accounts, he even tried to run away. He did not want to go on. Indeed, he couldn't go on. And here's what Luther said about that moment when he could not finish his first mass. Here are the words of Luther.

At these words concerning the Holy One, I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself, with what tongue shall I address such majesty? Seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince, Who am I then that I should lift up mine eyes or raise my hands to the divine majesty? For I am dust and ashes and full of sin, and I am speaking to the living, eternal, and true God." In that moment of the mass, Luther had despaired in his own sin. And he would continue to despair for many days after.

He would daily, sometimes for six hours in a day, he would spend time confessing his sin, evil thoughts, evil deeds, evil words that would come out of his mouth. And he historically was said to wear his confessor out. He would go to confession and hour after hour after hour confess sin to such a degree that His superiors in the monastery would become frustrated with him. You are confessing your sins so much that the floor is going unsweeped. You're neglecting all of these other duties that you have to do.

He fasted. He prayed. He confessed. He stayed up late arguing with the devil. At night, he would even refuse to wear a blanket as a form of penance.

Luther was in torment. And Luther writes, I was myself more than once driven to the very abyss of despair, so that I wished I had never been created. That's the despair that Martin Luther knew. A despair that came about as a result of his sin and His unholiness in light of the thrice holy God. How could He stand?

How could He have any hope in the midst of His sin? When God was the Judge. How can you stand? How can you have any hope in the midst of your sin when the thrice holy God is your judge? How can you stand, friend?

How can you stand before the thrice holy God? What possible hope do you have in the midst of all of your lusts, all of your lies, all of your pride? Psalm 130. Psalm 130. You have Psalm 130.

That in the midst of your despair, God would redeem you. That God would hear you cry out to him and he would come and he would forgive you and redeem you from all of your iniquity. That's the hope you have. And that's what God did for Luther. Luther would go on years later and he would start the Protestant Reformation.

He would nail the 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. And I hope you come tonight as we celebrate God's grace to us in that moment and all the moments that followed. But not long after he began with that spark, this fire called the Protestant Reformation, not long after that, in the midst of his continued despair, God would show Luther through this, His Word, through His reading of Romans chapter 1, and His study of the Psalms, particularly Psalm 130, God would show Luther that though indeed Luther's sin was very great and very serious. That the Lord God Almighty had provided an even greater Savior Himself, Jesus Christ. It was Psalm 130, the study of Romans that brought Luther to the cross.

It was at the cross that Luther was born again. There in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God redeemed Luther's life from the pit. And that is what God has done, not just in Luther, but in every single saint in this church, every single one of you in this room, if you name the name of Christ, God has done the miracle of Psalm 130. I think you should want to hear about the miracle of Psalm 130. The miracle of Psalm 130 saved a despairing Luther.

And it can save a despairing you. It saved a despairing Pastor Grant. So it can save a despairing anybody. You can save anybody. God, the author of Psalm 130, can save anybody.

Psalm 130 is broken into three sections. You can easily identify the three sections by looking at the pronouns. Verses one through four are the psalmist talking to God. Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. There is forgiveness with you.

The psalmist begins by talking to God and then in verses 5 and 6 the psalmist moves to talking to himself the psalmist waits on the Lord he reminds himself of the promises of God you'll notice the pronoun change I wait for the Lord my soul does wait in his word. Do I hope? He's reminding himself of the truth Verses 5 & 6 the psalmist is talking to himself And then lastly in verses 7 and 8 the psalmist cries out to others. He cries out to Israel his brothers and sisters he calls out to you this morning church you person in the pew for whom Christ has died There is more redeeming power in God, in Christ, than there is sin in you. That's what he cries out this morning.

How does he know? Because he saved me, the psalmist says. The psalmist is urging his listeners, he's urging you church, when you despair in your sin, cry out to the Lord and He will redeem you Israel. He will redeem you Christian through faith in His Son. Why?

Because He did it for me. That's the whole thrust of this psalm. Cry out to God. He will redeem you. How do I know?

Because He did it for me. That's Psalm 130. He cries out to God. He reminds Himself of the truth. And then the psalmist talks to you.

To all those who are in the vine, Jesus Christ made a part of Israel, This psalmist says to you, God rescued me, so He will surely rescue you if you but cry out to Him in faith. I love Psalm 130. You should too. Luther loved it so much, he wrote songs about it. I'm going to quote him, I hope, in this sermon.

And you can find one of those songs, if you go to hymn 83. Hymn 83, we won't go there now. Hymn 83, when you have a moment, take out your hymns of grace. He loves Psalm 130 because Psalm 130 is for you. Psalm 130 is for you.

And that's where we're going to start. For you who find yourself despairing in your sin. If you identify with Luther, and you should, Psalm 130 is for you. And verses 1 through 4 is where we start. When you find yourself despairing in your sin, cry out to the Lord.

You'll notice first that before verse 1 we have a superscript, a superscription and it and it reads a song of ascents, a song of ascents And scholars, best that they can tell, that phrase, a song of a sense, means that this psalm was to be sung by the pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. Sorry, I shouldn't say pilgrims so close to Thanksgiving. By Jewish Israelite pilgrims on their way. Sorry, I just thought of that. That's going to be confusing.

As Jews were coming to worship Yahweh, as they're going up to Jerusalem, Jerusalem was at a high elevation, As they were going up to Jerusalem, they would in remembrance of God redeeming them from Egypt and now giving them Jerusalem and rescuing them from their bondage in Egypt and setting them free on their way up to worship, they would sing this Psalm. Coming from down here to up there, they would sing this Psalm of Ascent. There are many Psalms of Ascent. And that's significant, them beginning down here and as they go up to Jerusalem, they sing this psalm. That's significant because where does this psalm, where does this psalm begin?

It begins at the bottom. Verse 1, out of the depths I have cried to you. My sin has me in the pit of despair. My sin has dragged me down. I am in a low place.

I have been brought low because I have sinned. And I sin because I am a sinner. And I find myself in the depths of Egypt within my soul. I am just caught up in my sin and I cannot get out. It's the same thing said in Lamentations 3.55.

I called on your name, O Lord, Out of the lowest pit I called you, in Psalm 129, the Psalm right before this, the problem for Israel in Psalm 129 is persecution and pain from those outside Israel. The problem is in Psalm 129 is the enemies of Israel outside of them. But now the problem in Psalm 130 is not from without but from within. Not the enemy out there, but in here. The problem for this psalmist, the problem for you, is that you are a sinner.

And like Luther, if you actually see the truth about your sin, you know that you are in a deep quagmire. You are like Pilgrim in the Pilgrim's Progress. You are in a slough of despond. You have sunken in your sin and you just cannot get out. You know the truth that you've disobeyed God and that you cannot rid yourself of all of your misdeeds.

Even your best deeds come up filthy. You've tried. You keep sliding back in. You just need help. One of my daughters, just days ago, had chocolate all over her hands and mouth.

And she realized that she had chocolate on her mouth. She was kind of terrified at the prospect. My girls do not like things on there. They're girls. It's a good thing.

And so she goes to clean off her mouth, and not realizing that her hands are filthy, it makes a worse mess. She went to clean off her mouth. Chocolate got everywhere as a result. Friends, that is your problem. You sin because you're a sinner.

And a sinner trying to help himself, a sinner trying to clean herself up is like my daughter trying to get rid of the chocolate off her mouth with even more chocolate on her hands. It makes it worse. You cannot rid yourself of your sin. Now this psalm says you are in a pit with Luther, and you're guilty, and you're utterly helpless. You are in way over your head when it comes to your sin.

And so what's the only thing that you can do? Well, there's only one thing that my children do when they're helpless, when they have frustrated every other option, when they are helpless. You know what they do? You know what you should do? They cry out.

What is left to you, helpless one? You may cry out to God. You may cry out and say, God, save me. The problem isn't out there. It's in here.

That was Psalm 129, the problem was out there. But now the problem is in here. It's like a big contrast. The problem is in here. But out there is the solution.

The solution's not in here. I need an external power. I need someone outside of me to pull me up from the pit. The only solution, the only hope for your problem lies outside of you in God, in Yahweh, in the Redeemer, the one who specializes in rescuing sinners from the pit. That's your only hope.

And the question is, does He hear? Does He hear these cries that I might give? That I might utter to save me? Does He hear my cries? And the answer is yes.

Yes, He does. His ears are attentive to the voice of desperate sinners beating their breasts and crying out for mercy. His ears are attentive to their cry when they say, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you the truth, those kind of men, Those women in the pit, they go home justified. And because that promise is true, you must cry out.

You know, it's only a madman. It is only those who are already dead, or just lunatics, that don't cry out when they're drowning. You got a picture of that? You're in a pool, you're in a body of water, and you start going under. As you go on, you just smile as you perish.

That's stupid. If you have any sense at all, if you have any life in you at all, If the Spirit has quickened you at all as you begin to drown, what do you do? You cry out, help. Help. Help.

And you know the cry for help doesn't save anybody. The lifeguard saves people. The cry for help won't save you unless the lifeguard gives heed to your cries and comes. So again the question is, does God come? Does God come for sinners?

Well, if God was fair, He wouldn't come. If you got what you deserved, God wouldn't come to rescue you. No, God would come to damn you. You would die in the pit of your sin and in the pit of hell. That's what should happen if God was fair.

That's what the psalmist says. God, I'm crying out to you. Please hear me. But if you were fair, if you were to put up a tally sheet and make a tally for every single time I've disobeyed you, for every single time I've lied, for every single time I've lusted and stolen, for every single time I've thought more highly of myself than I ought to, for every single moment in sin that I've wasted, for every single desire that I've had for something that you've called evil. If you put up a tally sheet, I'd be a goner.

There's no way that I could stand. It would be merciful to just put me in hell immediately. It would be merciful to kill me now in the pit, then to allow me to keep going on in my sin and storing up greater wrath for myself on the day of judgment. If you, God, should mark iniquities, who could stand? And what's the answer to the psalmist's question?

It's obvious. If God should mark iniquities, who could stand? Answer, nobody. Nobody could stand. You can't stand.

Instead, you should die. You should go and stay forever in the pits of fire and darkness reserved for lawbreakers, reserved for blasphemers, reserved for the guilty. As John Calvin, another reformer, said, all the children of Adam, from the first to the last, are lost and condemned. Should God require them to render up an account of their life? Nobody can stand if God judges them as they deserve.

If God remembers your sin, you will not stand. And if you're to be a Christian, You have to agree with verse 3. If God were to judge you according to your sin, eternal death, eternal condemnation, in the pit of hell is your just deserts because God is holy and you are sinful. And if you are a Christian this morning, that's why verse 4 is so precious to you. Because verse 3 is true, which makes verse 4 precious.

That's why that word, but, in verse 4 is so wonderful to Christians in this room. If you were to keep a tally, God of my sin, I would stand condemned forever, but you've placed that tally sheet on the Savior Jesus Christ who shed His blood so that each one of my sins, each one of those sins, each and every one of those tally marks have been paid for in full. And not a drop of that blood that Christ shed was shed in vain. My pardon is sealed through the finished work of Jesus Christ. Verse four is true in Jesus Christ.

But there is forgiveness with you. There is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. Just think about it, In exchange for your sin, God made you forgiven. And he redeemed your life from the pit through the work of his son Jesus Christian. Jesus Christ crucified for you, risen and now reigning, your life was redeemed from the pit.

And that's really a quote from Psalm 103. If you wanted a good Psalm to read alongside Psalm 130, go to Psalm 103. Just flip the last two numbers around. Psalm 130, Psalm 103. Let me read that portion of Psalm 103.

Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Beloved, if you get verse 4 of Psalm 130, this is you, this is what's going on in your heart. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that's within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget none of His benefits, who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit." And He doesn't just stop there. He buys you back from the pit.

And then Psalm 103 says, and He crowns you with loving kindness and compassion. You were just in the pit. And look at what He gave you! Loving, kindness, and compassion. That's quite an exchange.

By grace, through faith in Jesus, Your sin is expiated, expiated, taken from you, and given to Christ. And His righteousness, by grace, through faith, is then imputed to your account spiritually. So that in the Father's eyes, He looks at you and He sees His Son's righteousness. And He says to you, Christian, I am well pleased. I am well pleased.

You are blameless. I receive you with great joy. He takes you out of the pit. He raises you up to newness of life. All by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

For what reason that you might live for His glory alone? And that's the end of verse 4. There is forgiveness with God to what end? For what reason? Why is there forgiveness with God?

Look in verse 4. But there is forgiveness with you for what reason? That you may be feared. That God would be feared in your life. True salvation, true redemption results in the fear of God.

If you are saved, you fear God. You obey Him. You bow the knee to Him. He is Lord. The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 6, he had to deal with some people who said that they had experienced the grace of God in Him forgiving them.

And they were so excited now as forgiven people to go out and sin some more. He had to deal with that. They loved the pit. They were saying to Paul, if God is gracious and forgiving, shall we not continue in sin so that God can even be more gracious? And what did Paul say to them?

You talk like that, you'll go to hell. May it never be, he says. May it never be. How can we who died to sin still live in it? How can we who have cried out from the pit of despair and God has come and rescued us, and He's taken us out and crowned us with loving kindness and compassion, and done a new work in us, how can we then look at God and say, I love my pit!

I love it! Can't say that. You haven't been crowned. You haven't been taken out of the pit, if that's you. No, instead, the one who believes on Jesus Christ, the one who has been forgiven, fears the Lord.

There is forgiveness with God that he may be feared. Here's how one brother puts it. One theologian puts it this way. The result of true forgiveness is Never a lackadaisical attitude towards sin, but always a holy fear toward God. Divine pardon, rightly understood, and humbly received will always lead to deep reverence for God.

Now that doesn't mean, don't want you to be confused here, that doesn't mean that the Christian doesn't still sin. Of course the Christian still sins. You haven't made it to glory yet. And he who says he has no sin is a liar and the truth is not in him. But the Christian does have a completely new relationship to his sin when verses 4 through 8 happen in Psalm 130.

Completely new relationship to his sin when God forgives and redeems a sinner. The Christian, he hates his sin now. That's why he was crying out to Jesus from the pit, I am a wretch and I hate my wretched sin. Beloved, sometimes we get things out of order. Sometimes we think that when I cry out to God, then He'll make me born again and I'll believe.

Beloved, if you are crying out to God, if you are crying out to Jesus to save you, you are already regenerated. Dead people don't cry out to Jesus for help. And so the Christian being regenerated cries out from his pit, I am a wretch, I hate my wretched sin. And the Christian, when he sins, when he finds himself in the insanity of crawling back to the pit that God had already rescued him from, that's the insanity of sin, isn't it? That you would want to go back to that pit?

I hate that. The Christian, when he finds himself crawling back to the pit, his heart explodes in godly sorrow and renewed repentance. And the Christian finds himself turning again and again and again to Christ. Beloved, don't you think that just because you have sin in your life, that means you're not a Christian. What happens in your new heart when you do sin?

Do you just keep looking at yourself? Or do you take a hundred looks at Christ? That's the Christian. He looks to Jesus and repents again and again and again. And here's really the point for you.

This was the point for the psalmist. The psalmist cries out to the Lord in verses 1-4. And here's the bottom line where the rubber meets the road for you in this first point. When you sin, let your despair turn your heart and soul to Christ. Turn your heart and soul to Christ.

I want you to see this very plainly. The psalmist cries out to the Lord in despair of his sin, and the invitation is for you to do the same. Cry out to God. Fear God. Demonstrate that you are truly forgiven by the way that you fear God.

When you sin and you experience conviction, consider what happened in your salvation. Listen to me. Hear me right now. Consider how you were without hope and you were without God in the world, consider how you were lost in darkness and that you loved the darkness and you belonged to the evil one. Consider that.

And then consider that Jesus at the cost of His blood, died for you. And He didn't just take you out of the pit and leave you there all dirty and disheveled and orphaned. No! He cleaned you up. He cleansed you with His blood.

And then He took the robes that you had on, full of filth. He took them off. He took the robes off of His own back, His robes of righteousness, and covered you in them. And then He said, and now welcome to my family. And then He says, take part in a meal.

That's what He did. Far from being orphan. Far from being at the side of the pit. Taking out, no, no. He has cleaned you up.

He's taken your sin. He's given you His own righteousness, and He welcomes you into His family and says, eat with me. He made you a part of the family of God. If you get that, if you're a Christian, and you get that, what I just said, you will never be able to look at your sin the same way again. Because you see the cost.

You see what it took to purchase you out of the pit and transfer you to the Kingdom of God. You see what it cost. And so you fear God. That was the cost. God Himself came and gave His life for me.

For me! And you hit the floor in gratitude, in gladness, and fear. A right and God-honoring fear. And you obey Him. You obey Him.

Some of you today perhaps are wondering, am I a Christian? You're dealing, you're wrestling with assurance of salvation. You find yourself in sin, you find yourself deep in the mire, and you say, well, how could I really sin like this if I belong to Christ? Am I really saved? And so I again just want to ask the question, what happens in that moment when you despair?

Who do you run to? Do you run to Jesus? Do you cry out to God Almighty that He would be merciful to you for the sake of His Son? Is that what you do? If so, spiritually dead people don't do that.

Spiritually dead people are either okay with going under when they're drowning, they're okay with life in the pit, or they're okay with their sin, or they cry out to anyone else but Jesus to help them. So who are you crying out to this morning? I want to urge you, The invitation stands wide open. Jesus says to you, cry out to me and come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, who find themselves in the pit, and I will give you rest. I will take your burden.

I will rescue your life from the pit." Who do you run to, Christian? Do you run to Jesus? Is that who you call out to? Do you say, I need the Redeemer? I need Him?

If that's true, then keep running. Keep crying out. Cling to His promises. And you need not wonder if you are His. Hear this.

Let your doubts make you fly to the one who has no doubt about what He accomplished on His cross. I want to say that again. Let your doubts about your salvation this morning Make you fly and cry out to the one who has no doubt about what he accomplished and secured for you Christian on his cross and in his resurrection This psalmist cried out to the Lord. This psalmist in the depths of his sin, in his despair, he cried out to God and what happened? God forgave him.

Christian again, let your despair this morning drive you to the foot of the cross that you might say with the psalmist, give heed to my prayer, hear my supplication, forgive me. And then hear 2 Corinthians 1.20, that in Christ Jesus, He has heard and He has forgiven. For all the promises of God are yes and amen in your Savior Jesus Christ. He promises that He will forgive. And that is what the psalm considers next.

The psalmist in verses 5 and 6 considers the promises of God. The psalmist waits on the Lord and hopes in the Word of God. The psalmist knows the promises of God, and so he trusts them. He sets his feet on the rock called promise, and he will not be moved. He knows that God has never broken a promise for millennia after millennia after millennia and God is not about to break a promise now with that kind of track record.

That's wonderful. And so he writes in verse 5, I wait for the Lord. My soul does wait. And in his word do I hope, my soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning. Indeed, more than the watchman for the morning.

Christian, this is what God calls you to do. You are to remind yourself of God's promises and trust Him. Remind yourself of God's promises and trust Him. It's the instruction for you in verses 5 and 6. Are you wrestling with assurance?

Do you find yourself in the pit? Where must you go? What must you do? You must fly to the promises of God. I want you to think on this illustration.

It's one of my most favorite illustrations because it comes from one of my most favorite books. I want you to think of Christian Pilgrim in the Pilgrim's Progress. He's wrestling with the devil. And the devil has him down. The evil one, Apollyon, has him down.

And he is reminding him of failure after failure after failure that Christian Pilgrim is indeed guilty of You stand condemned Pilgrim you stand condemned have you not you not remember this and this and this? He has him down in the pit. Pilgrim on his back, very much in the pit of despair, Christian Pilgrim cries out to this Apollyon, leering over him, wounding him with wound after wound, condemning, condemnation, Christian pilgrim on his back cries out, yes, you are right, Apollyon. You are right, I have failed. I have sinned and I have failed, but I belong to the one who has not failed." And he quotes from Micah 7, rejoice not over me, O my enemy, For though I have fallen, I will rise.

He will lift me up. God will lift me up. He will bring me into the light. That's a promise for those for whom the King Jesus has died for. And as he says this, as he quotes from Micah 7, I belong to the one who hasn't failed.

Rejoice not over me, O my enemies, for when I fall, God will raise me up. As he quotes this, he thrusts up his sword into the belly of Apollyon, and Apollyon, wounded, Satan wounded, flees. One little word shall fell him. I think the imagery in that illustration is wonderful. There is Christian on his back in the pit of despair, and he pulls out his sword, and He fights the evil one with it.

And he prevails because the promises of God, yes and amen in Christ Jesus, are more mighty than he. Take up the sword, Christian, and wield it. There are promises here. Hope in them. Cling to them.

Trust them. Read them to your families at night. Read them before you go to bed. Wake up with them. Cling to the promises.

Wait for the Lord to do as He has said He would do. This psalmist is reminding himself of the truth. He's reminding himself of what God has said that he would do. And beloved, this is the authority, is it not? Sola Scriptura, all matters of faith, all things true and false are decided by this authority, the authority of God in His word, including whether you stand condemned or redeemed.

Hope in this word, rest in his promises. And by the way, all of which in each of these books, all 66 books, rest in each of those promises, all of which are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in his word do I hope. What word? What word there in verse five?

And in his word do I hope? What word must you hope in? Okay, just so you're not confused. This word. These promises.

These words from God. And Let me just give you some examples from this psalm of what you're hoping. Look at this psalm. Have you noticed anything about repeated words or phrases in this psalm? Well, I see something really, really, really easy to see.

I noticed the word Lord eight times. How many verses do you have in this song? Eight. Eight lords for eight verses. That's an emphasis.

That word Lord eight times, five times it's used for the name Yahweh. When you see it in all caps, that's Yahweh, the one true living God. And then three other times, it's lower case Lord, which is the plural of the word Adonai, the master, the king, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, eight times and eight verses woven throughout this psalm. Why is that? Because this work beginning to end is accomplished by who?

God. Because this work being saved from the pit in verses 1 through 4, this work of waiting on the Lord in verses 5 and 6, And this work of being redeemed in verses seven and eight, it's all from the Lord. It's all a work of God in His sovereignty according to His grace and mercy. And beloved, You need to know that this is incredibly good news that all of salvation would be a work of the Lord. Throughout this entire Psalm, in the midst of despair, This psalmist makes it really plain.

God is in it all. God will see you through. From the start of this psalm to the end, God began it. God will finish it. From the moment you cry out to help, He's already been working in you.

He's regenerated you before that. And the moment you get to glory, book ended, you have the hands of God. God will hold you fast. God will see you through. Who are you waiting on?

Well, verse 5, I wait for the Lord. But it's in all caps. I wait for Yahweh. That's significant. I wait on the covenant keeping God.

You're not waiting in vain. You're not sitting around. I hope. I hope. That's not that kind of hope.

I hope it's true. This is the covenant-keeping God. Unless you be confused, start in Genesis chapter one and work your way all the way to Psalm 130, He's never broken a promise. This isn't vain hope. This is super confident hope.

Because the Lord, God Almighty, it's impossible for Him to lie. My weight for the Lord. My soul does wait. This is Yahweh we're talking about. He's never broken a covenant.

Christian, He will not start breaking covenants with you. You're waiting. You're hoping. It is not based on something flimsy. Saturated in this song is Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh five times throughout this song.

So you know your hope is built on a rock called Jesus Christ and His covenant. Nobody's moving that rock. Nobody. Yahweh is His name. And His promises are unbreakable.

And lest you think that your sin is too great, or the accusations of the evil one are simply too true, and damning, that you just think, You know what? The accusations are true. I deserve to be damned. I stand in despair. This psalmist reminds you, not only is the Lord Yahweh, He's also Adonai.

Jesus is King and Lord over everyone and everything to such a degree that that includes Satan. He has taken that dragon accuser. He has bound him. He has crushed that accuser's head. And if you belong to Adonai, the great king of kings and lord of lords, he has the final word.

This isn't even a New Testament reality. Just go to Zechariah chapter 3. He has rebuked Satan at his cross. He has snatched you like a brand from the fire. And he has made you new.

Satan doesn't get to have the last word. Jesus at the cross has shut his mouth. So as you think of despairing, consider the truth that no power of hell and no scheme of man can ever pluck you from this hand. From Adonai's hand. There are none stronger, none mightier than Adonai.

Jesus Christ, His grip is firm. It's He who has pulled you out of the pit. And beloved, He's not into hiccuping. He will not hiccup and let you go. Eight times He is Lord.

He is Lord. And He will do what He said He will do. Trust Him. In His Word, you hope with the psalmist. Notice here, the illustration of a watchman is used.

Like a watchman, I wait. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning. Indeed, more than the watchman for the morning. Twice there it's used. This is an important illustration.

What's going on with the watchman? Well, what are watchmen doing? They're looking out for enemies. They are guarding the walls. And what is their greatest delight?

Their greatest delight for a watchman around a fortress is When the sun comes up, when morning breaks in, no more wondering if the enemy is outside about to attack. They are anticipating the coming of the sun. They are anticipating the sun rising in the morning. Despairing sinner, beloved church, you need to hear this, the Son of righteousness has come. And with morning, with every morning on resurrection day, with the morning on resurrection day, He brought joy.

Joy comes in the morning and every Lord's Day we celebrate that resurrection. Joy has come in the morning. It is true what God has done in Christ. New mercies come in the morning from the covenant-keeping, promise-keeping, pit-rescuing Savior. Do you remember what Jesus cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion?

He cried out, Oh Lord, hear my voice. He was a similar kind of phraseology to Psalm 130. Lord, if this cup can pass for me, if there's any other way, but Your will be done. And then on the cross, my God, my God, why have You forsaken me? There's a lot of similar language.

And then he went into the ground. He went into the ground, and then three days later, in the morning, he arose, triumphant, over the grave. And every single day that you wake up and you see the sun come up you should be thinking the same thing. I know that my Redeemer lives. Glory hallelujah.

Oh what comfort this assurance gives. Glory hallelujah. As sure as the sun comes up, is as sure as his promises to you, Christian. Jesus is risen, he is risen indeed. And Psalm 130 is true.

He redeems lives from the pit. Just as the watchman knew that the morning would surely come, so too, Christian, you must hope, and your hope is not in vain. For with the Lord, it says at the end here, with the Lord there is loving kindness. That's the Hebrew word hesed. And with him is abundant redemption.

And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. And that's how the Psalm ends, with the psalmist crying out to others. God will do what he has promised to do God will not stop his has said He is a covenant keeping God and so after talking to God and talking to Himself, He now declares to you, church, God will redeem Israel. He will do what He says He will do for all who call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the end of this Psalm.

This blessed assurance. The redemption that Jesus has won in His cross and resurrection. Look at the end of verse 7. With Him is what word? Say it out loud.

Abundant redemption. Now it could have just said redemption and I would be really happy with that. But there's a modifier. Abundant. I love that.

As Luther puts it, although our sin is great, His redemption, God's redemption, is greater still. That word redeem means to be bought back. The price of our redemption was the body and blood of Christ. And again, not a drop of that blood, not a second of that torment that Jesus endured when he was baptized under the wrath of God at the cross. Not a moment of that will be rendered mute or ineffective.

No, no. Christ gave his life as a ransom for many, not to make salvation just a possibility. No, he went to secure salvation for all the elect of Israel, for all who place their faith in Jesus Christ, the vine, and In Him, the vine, you as a branch have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of your trespasses according to the riches of His grace, as sure as the sun comes up this morning and tomorrow. This is the surety of your redemption.

So as we end here, I need you to think about this. Christian, all, all of your sin, He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities, all of your sin, all of your iniquity, verse 8 tells you, has been forgiven. God declares it so. And if God is the one who justifies, if this almighty God is the one who rescues sinners out of pits of despair and buys them back and makes them a part of His kingdom forever. If God does that, who gets to argue with Him?

Nobody. If God is the one who justifies, who dares condemn? Nobody. Same answer as it was at the beginning of this song. You remember that answer?

If you were to mark iniquities, who could stand? Nobody. But if you forgive, who gets to argue with you? Nobody. Luther put it this way.

Though great are sins and sore are woes, His grace much more aboundeth. His helping love no limit knows. Our utmost need it soundeth. Our shepherd good and true is he who will at last his Israel free from all their sin and sorrow. God has said it plain.

He will do this, Church. He will. When I taught middle school and high school years ago, I had a student come up to me greatly vexed, greatly grieved in his spirit. He was a Christian. He had given himself over to sexual sin.

He was very much like this psalmist in the pit of despair. He came to me with tears in his eyes, and he looked at me. This is absolutely true. He said, Mr. Brown, I am outside the bounds of God's forgiveness.

I have fallen too far for God to forgive me. There is no hope for me, Mr. Brown." And I knew this student really well. I had actually discipled him. He was so tender in that moment.

So, you know, a conviction, a great conviction of sin. He says, I have fallen too far for God to forgive me. And you know what I quoted him? I quoted to him that great theologian, Marilla Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables. I quoted Marilla Cuthbert because she was right.

I said, young man, to despair is to turn your back on God. To despair is to turn your back on God. And that is very foolish when God has not turned His back on you. Your despair does not get to be bigger than the victory that Jesus won for you, young man, when he died and was raised. Your despair doesn't get to be bigger than his victory.

And he protested. Tears streaming down his face, he said, but Mr. Pratt, you don't know how greatly I have sinned. You don't know how big a deal. I mean, I've really sinned.

You don't know how bad it is. And I said to him, oh, I think I have an idea. But I have an even better idea of how vast and abundant and great The redemption of Jesus Christ was the moment He died on the cross and won the whole world to Himself. And in a way, I told him what the author of Psalm 130 had told me. I know you're despairing, young man.

I have despaired too. But cry out to the Lord Jesus and He will redeem you. He will pardon your iniquities. And do you know how I know, young man, that it's true? Because He did it for me.

And that young man right there repented in my little classroom, And he went away happy, hoping in the Lord Jesus, walking in the fear of the Lord in obedience. And he's doing that by God's grace to this day. Just was married not long ago, fearing God, confident in Christ. Church, in Christ Jesus the divine, you are a partaker of this promise in Psalm 130. As a covenant member of Israel, you need to hope in the Lord.

You need to leave these doors out here, excited to come back at six o'clock to get 95 rises at the door, and to think about this God and sing about Him. We're going to sing A Mighty Fortress is our God tonight. A bulwark never failing because Psalm 130 is true. Your redemption in Jesus is sure. And that same redemption has won, it's winning still, and will win the day all around the world as the nations stream to Jesus.

So here's what you need to do in light of Psalm 130. You need to go tell the world. Tell yourself and tell the world that Jesus lives and that Jesus is coming again. Tell your neighbors. Tell the nations that in Jesus Christ there's abundant redemption.

Not just a little, abundant. That they may fear God. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo you, you need not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through you. He is a mighty fortress, a bulwark never failing. And His kingdom is forever.

Praise God that you belong to that kingdom. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this your word causes to rejoice and be glad this day and such great and precious promises all true in Christ Oh Lord indeed as I prayed at the beginning I pray now and every soul in this room we be looking under Jesus this morning trusting Him, clinging to Him. Oh Lord, thank you that you answer this prayer. And when we cry out to you from the pit, you redeem the vilest offender who truly believes.

Grant true belief and true repentance this day in each of our hearts. For Jesus's sake we pray, amen.