Good morning. Today's reading is from Psalm 130. This is an adjustment from what's listed in the bulletin. Psalm 130. A song of ascents. 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 watchman for the morning, more than watchman 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. Good morning, church. This is an adjustment from the bulletin, as Phil stated. Thanks for reading that, Phil. So, I'm sure we can all understand there's some allergies and congestion going around. Our brother Curtis has done a great job preparing Psalm 5. I'm really hopeful that that will get to be presented at some point, just not this morning, as his voice is not holding up to do that. So, we will be looking at Psalm 130. And our primary theme will be what the title indicates there in the scripture above, Psalm 130, my soul waits for the Lord. Wait for the Lord. And we're all very familiar with waiting, aren't we? Some of us struggle with waiting more than others do. A small child especially struggles with waiting. So I've seen with my little ones, and I teach them, put your hand on my side and on my waist, and just put your hand there while grownups are talking, and I'll get to you. You need to wait. Right? And this is good. It's good to train them up this way. It's healthy to make our little ones wait, to even take some time, just, hey, I know you're playing with your toys, but put those down, sit there, hands in your lap, and wait. It's great. And just see how long they can go and try and stretch them, get them to go 10 minutes, 15 minutes. It's a great training tool to teach the little ones how to wait. But certainly, if our little children need to learn to wait, then our Heavenly Father knows we need to learn to wait. We need to learn how to wait well. But we don't. Appointments, like car repairs and doctor's offices, often find us fidgeting with our phone, thumbing through Fox News or Facebook. Just one more time, just to see if we can pass the time. Waiting rooms don't have enough good magazines, do they? We find with transportation and our products that there's delays all the time. I can tell you that firsthand, whether that's because of a crowd strike failure and planes are delayed and you can't get your connecting flight into Dallas, or whether it's because there's a delay shipping your Amazon product. Who knows where it's at now? The fact is, we have to learn to wait. Even food and eating out, waiting at your favorite restaurant. I promise you, it doesn't matter what time you go to Whataburger, it still takes 15 minutes. Am I right? culture is contrary to waiting. Doesn't want to wait. Our culture is about, hey, let's do this now. Let's do this quickly. Let's go. Everything's convenient. Everything's instant, right? I mean, the popcorn, slap it in the microwave, done. Every sign Every sign says, skip the wait. All right, that's marketing. Oh, I'm gonna go with that. Skip the wait, I'm in. You don't have to wait. You don't have to wait for someone to repair the hail damage on your car or fix your roof. You don't have to wait. Nothing to wait for because we're gonna get you taken care of right now, instant. But the Christian, we must learn to wait on the Lord. And there is hope found in this waiting. waiting for the Lord. Let's dig into Psalm 130, and I'll start with prayer. Heavenly Father, you know how we struggle with waiting, and you know how we have such difficulty being patient. And Lord, even if we learn to wait well, with some activity in this world, You know that we do not wait on you as you have called us to. But oh, how good it is to wait on you. And so, Lord, I just pray that you would encourage us here this morning by your word to wait upon you, to look to you, to hope in you, Lord. Would you give us grace? We pray in Christ's name. Amen. So this song is a song of assents. That's how it starts, a song of assents. And there's 15 songs of assent here. This is only one of them. And these songs of assent would be used by the Jews as they would travel up to Jerusalem for the feasts. They were called pilgrim feasts. There are three pilgrim feasts, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Booths, and the most notable of those feasts, the Feast of Passover. And so you can imagine in your mind's eye a crowd of pilgrims making their way up. Can you see it historically? Making their way up to Jerusalem for one of these three pilgrimages. And they are singing these songs. I always imagine them in kind of a minory sound. Somber, looking forward to the worship of the temple. This is all they knew at the time. But as they're singing these songs and they're moving up on their way to Jerusalem, I can hear it now. A small Jewish girl asking from the back of her donkey, are we there yet? Yeah, you see, we must wait. As the Jews were eagerly waiting, looking forward to worship in Jerusalem, we too, brothers and sisters, are eagerly looking to Zion. We're looking to that heavenly Jerusalem, eager to celebrate Christ, our Passover lamb. And as children of God, we must wait on the Lord. In this psalm, I wanna break it down into four parts this morning. Four parts, two verses for each part. I'm very pleased with the symmetry today. We're going to look at the depths from which the psalmist cries in the first two verses. Then we're going to look at the dire circumstances that the psalmist was in in the next two verses. Then we will look at how the psalmist depends upon God. And then lastly, we will look at the deliverance that is declared in the last two verses. So verses one and two, from the depths we cry, Abba, Father. What great imagery, from the depths, out of the depths of our sin and our shame, our selfishness and stench. Out of these depths, we cry. Out of the depths of a depravity, the depths of which know no end. And we know this personally, if our eyes have been opened to just how wicked we are. You know it in your thoughts, I know it in mine. We are calling out of depths. We are calling out of the depths of even our religious works. The depths of our own merit, in which we're simply digging ourselves deeper into the hole. We're calling out the depths of our religious activity. And like quicksand, the more we squirm in our religious external efforts, the deeper we sink and the faster we do. But also out of the depths of pain, misery, trial, anguish, and difficulty. Out of the depths of affliction, out of the very valley of death. Out of those depths, we cry this morning. Out of depths of struggle and pain that we may not have shared with others around us. Tall waves that make us sink low in despair in the silence of our night, where we toss back and forth and cannot sleep. Out of these depths, we cry to the Lord. Depths like Joseph, who went from the pit his brothers put him in to the prison that he unjustly was placed in. Depths like Daniel, who went from the deception of wicked men to the den of lions. Depths like David himself, who went into the depths of caves to flee those who were pursuing his life. Out of depths like Jonah, in the belly of the whale, in the depths of the sea. From these depths, friends, we are calling. Just as Martin Luther called, out of the depths I cry to you, he says. Lord, hear my voice of pleading. Bend down your gracious ear. I pray your humble servant heeding. Well, Martin Luther desired to serve the Lord, but it was out of depths of his own sin and despair that he called out to Christ. And so we too, saints, call out from the depths here this morning, the depths of our sin, the depths of our religious works, the depths of our pain, depths that Christians before us have all known and depths we know all too well. And if these depths weren't enough, these dire circumstances are outlined In verse three and four, we're already pleading for mercy. And then we realize, if you should mark iniquities, O Lord, how could we stand? If God kept a record of wrongs, how could we justify ourselves? And this if is not a what if, it's a definite if. He does keep record. of our wrongs. For all humanity, we will stand before God on that day of judgment. And we've been faithful here to warn every soul of that reality. There is a day of judgment coming where no one will say, not guilty. No one will be able to say that to the perfect law of God. Revelation 617 says, the great day of wrath has come. Who shall stand? Sounds familiar. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? When we call out to God, we put away all our excuses. All of them, every excuse, every justification, every reasoning. No more. When we call out to God from the depths, we don't pretend that we have it all together. And we don't act like we have walked in a blameless way. We don't point our finger and blame shift at the other person. And we do not say, well, that's just how I am. None of us do that. If we're truly calling out to the Lord, we throw all those excuses to the wayside and we say, Lord, before you, if you should mark iniquities, how could I stand? This rhetorical question here cuts to the core of our situation. We're sinners. And this is the deepest of the depths that will ultimately put all those who are outside of Christ in the depths of hell. That's just a reality. But, but with God, there is forgiveness. And this is the beautiful part. With God, there's forgiveness. What rich words. And oh, how our souls needed them at this very moment. In verse four, with you, oh God, there is forgiveness. Oh, how sweet, how warm are these words here. Forgiveness found in Christ. With God, there is forgiveness. With God, there is salvation. So that you may be feared. See, those who are in this mindset of seeking forgiveness, those of us who desire forgiveness, we fear the Lord. I do not mean we're afraid of him, but we're in awe of him. Can you believe this? Our right and just God has provided forgiveness for all those who put faith in him. See his majesty, see his justice. And there's a correlation here. Do you see it? In verse four, with you there's forgiveness so that you may be feared. This forgiveness actually causes us to fear the Lord, and the fear of the Lord leads us away from sin, keeps us from sin. John Newton wrote it this way, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." So those are the dire circumstances. Deep is the sorrow and dread of these circumstances. And so with the psalmist, we call out, Now I'll stop here and say, if you've not feared the Lord in this way, if you do not know his forgiveness, then I want to say this, do not wait. See, the psalmist is about to say, I wait for the Lord, but the psalmist is trusting in the Lord. The psalmist fears the Lord. The psalmist loves the Lord. If that is not you, you do not know his forgiveness, you do not know his love, then do not wait. Do not wait around saying, I'm waiting for the Lord to do something to me. I've heard people talk like that. I'm waiting for the right time. I'm waiting for the right moment. Do not wait around till you're good enough, till you prayed enough, till you learn enough facts about religion. Let not conscience make you linger, it says, nor a fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is to feel your need of him. That's it. Feel your need of Jesus Christ and flee to him. Do not wait. It is urgent. But for believers, God heard our cry. And we called out what grace that even caused us to cry, giving us new life that would call out to him. Lord, you heard our cry and we wait upon the Lord. The psalmist says he waits for the Lord. Do you see this dependency? What does this dependency look like? Well, it looks like expectation. There's an anticipation and dependency. He's waiting on the Lord because he knows the Lord will not let him down. He knows that the Lord will be faithful. He knows that the Lord will be true, that the Lord will be good, that the Lord is powerful to work. He knows it. He has expectation. He has earnest. when he waits. He is earnest with conviction and dedication. He is certain of it. He is confident, not in himself, in the Lord. He waits with expectation, with earnest, and with an eagerness, he desires the Lord to draw near to him. Do you want the Lord? You need the Lord. Do you long for him? Oh, that our hearts would hunger and thirst for righteousness, for more of Christ. And in this waiting, he has an excitement. He delights in the Lord more than anything this world has to offer. You, Lord, alone do I desire, as the deer pants for the water. So my soul longs after you. My soul waits for the Lord, he says. My soul waits for the Lord. A sincere, heartfelt, all-encompassing longing for the Lord. Oh, this waiting is beautiful. It's beautiful. It's a trust in the providence of God. Lord, I trust, no matter the situation, your hand is working. Oh, I don't always like it. But I trust in that frowning providence. There's a smiling face of grace behind it. I depend upon your provision, Lord. My soul waits. He gives daily bread. Our Heavenly Father, He knows and He cares. He provides. Oh, we're working hard to provide. We may get concerned that needs aren't going to be met, but you must wait on the Lord while you do this. Trust that He will provide. Oh, here is found peace. Here is found comfort. Depend upon Him and His provision. Rest in His goodwill for what you need. Don't the sparrows eat? And the psalmist said, in his word, I hope. In his word, I hope. So trust in his providence, depend on his provision, and believe in his promises. Believe in his promises here this morning, saints. Now I don't know about the political promises I'm hearing this time of year. But I know that the promises found in this word, you can trust. You can count on. And we have clear promises of forgiveness. We have clear promises of grace. We have clear promises of the shed blood of Christ. We have that. There's a special attention about this waiting. It's not a lazy, type of waiting that isn't looking to things. It's a careful attentiveness to God and his word. Does that describe your waiting, pilgrim? Carefully attentive, hanging on every word of God's truth, expectant, earnest, eager, excited about his word? We love his word and we long to obey every command and submit to every truth found in it. We hope. We hope in his word, a confident certainty of God fulfilling his promises. He is a promise keeper. He cannot break them. My soul waits for the Lord, the psalmist says. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchman for the morning. You see, my soul waiting for the Lord means that I no longer need to be frantic, flailing about, trying to figure out, what am I going to do about this? How am I going to handle that? What about that? Ooh, do you know? Ooh, that could be bad. No longer do we need this fight or flight type of response to our life situations because we're waiting on the Lord. We get into a situation where we're struggling. We get into a spot where we're about to sin. We get into a place where we think we're right in our own eyes. Wait on the Lord. Be silent, be still. Wait on the Lord. Wait upon Him. You know, I find it very interesting that when Christ spoke to the sea and said, be silent, be still, it obeyed. Yet we would rebel. We would go against this command from the Lord. Saints, how foolish, because we do ourselves harm when we do that. We get all worked up inside, stirred up, our eyes off the person of Jesus Christ. Wait for the Lord. Be still, be silent before him. More than the watchman for the morning. Look at this vivid example of waiting. There's a certain hope in this example. It's the watchman waiting for the morning. And let me ask you something. Have you ever seen the morning be late? No, of course not. You see, the morning is certain. There's a hope. No matter how dark the night may be, there's hope that the sun will rise. Like watchmen, we wait on the Lord, and there's confidence. He will rise with healing in his wings. Ready to serve, ready to bring him honor, ready to do whatever it is he commands, we're waiting on the Lord. Looking to his word, believing his promises, depending on his provision, trusting his providence, we're waiting on the Lord. Like watchmen, Like those in Luke 12, we see the words of Christ describing the servants. The servants of Christ are dressed for action, lamps burning like men who are waiting for their master to come. We're waiting on the Lord. We're waiting like a soldier ready to receive the orders from the captain. Tell me where to go. He says, jump. We say, how high? We're waiting with childlike faith, like the baby crying out, waiting for care. We're waiting like an eager disciple, a student of the word, eagerly waiting for the great rabbi and teacher to instruct us and train us and educate us, give us knowledge of you, oh Lord. Friends, we're waiting Like a beggar, waiting to receive help. Where else does our help come from? But from the Lord, waiting to receive help, blind, calling out, have mercy, O son of David. Like a spouse, gladly waiting for her husband's return from some business trip where he got delayed. waiting with expectation. And the psalmist says, more than these, more than watchmen for the morning, more than all these examples do we wait. Oh, and what we're waiting for is worth the wait. We see here a statement, a declaration of deliverance. We eagerly wait for the return of Christ. That's the one who fits this description. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for the Lord there is steadfast love. With him is plentiful redemption, and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. There's only one who does that. There's only one. It's Jesus Christ. Only one. And we are eagerly waiting for the return of our Savior. Our Savior who's full of steadfast love. Our Savior who has plentiful redemption. our Savior, who has redeemed us from all our iniquities, we hope in Christ. Here's deliverance from the depths that we cry out of, the depths of our sin, the depths of our struggles. Here's deliverance from the dire circumstances of our judicial placement before God. The fact that we are guilty before God, here is deliverance. Here's atonement. Wait for the Lord. Depend on Christ. Depend on Jesus alone. Just as the early church did, let me demonstrate it for you. 1 Thessalonians 1, 9-10. It says of them, you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from wrath to come. Do you see it? They wait on the Lord. Not just the Thessalonians, the Romans too. We ourselves, it says in Romans 8, 23, grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Do you see it? They're waiting, we're waiting. For though the Spirit by faith, we ourselves, for through the Spirit, excuse me, for through the Spirit by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. Those are the Galatians verses four and five of chapter five. You see it? The waiting, they were waiting, we are waiting on the Lord, depending on Christ. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 4, I give thanks to my God because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of Christ. Do you see it? Wait on the Lord. Did I miss any books? How about Philippians? But our citizenship is in heaven. And from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. People of God, all those who are waiting on the Lord, may we continue to wait on our God who's abundant in mercy. May this psalm remind us that there is forgiveness with the Lord. that there is steadfast love with the Lord, that there's plentiful redemption with the Lord. May we continue to trust in God, who's faithful to forgive us of all our sins because of the blood of Christ. Because of his mercy, let us draw near here this morning, waiting confidently in the hope of Christ. And in the book of Jude, verses 20 and 21, I'll close with this. It says, but you, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, would you give us grace to wait on you more in the busyness of life, in the rush? Lord, would you help us to depend on you to lean on you, to look to you, to love you, Lord. Would you help us to seek after you? Lord, would you help us to be still and to be silent before you? God, give us grace. Oh, how we would do better with patience, how we would do better with our anger that rises up, how we would do better with our attitudes and our complaining and grumbling. Oh Lord, how we would do better and how that would glorify you. Lord, would you help us to be a people who wait on you? Would you give us grace to depend on you? Lord, would you help us? We plead for mercy in Christ's name, amen.