Hymn of Repentance
Download MP3Hey everybody. Hey. Hey. Just in case I was alone here. Okay.
Collin Hansen:See, on the podcast, I was really It was gonna sound like everyone was at a Super Bowl party and I got up here and just did this for Corey to record. And so just so the people who are at Super Bowl parties can know that you all were faithful to be here. Hey, everybody. Hey. Okay.
Collin Hansen:See, that sounds like there are a lot more people here than there are. So, we're gonna I have to find a middle road. It'll be fine. If you can open up your bibles to Psalm 130. We're gonna be in Psalm 130 tonight.
Collin Hansen:As Joel said, next week we're gonna begin, our study of the life of David. We just wrapped up the study in James. And so tonight we're just going to have a little meditation, a pause here in Psalm 130. And we're going to think about what's coming ahead, starting next week with Lent. As you're making your way there to Psalm 130, let me just give a little bit of a description of what's going on here.
Collin Hansen:Starting in Psalm 120 and carrying on to to 134, these are called Psalms of Ascent. They they were psalms, songs that were sung as the Jews were making their way to Jerusalem. And they would go to Jerusalem 3 times a year for these required pilgrimage festivals. And at these festivals, there is Passover, there was the Feast of Weeks, and then the Feast of Booths. And they would make their way 3 times a year from the different places that they lived in Israel.
Collin Hansen:They would make their way to Jerusalem to worship, to remember, and to, to visit as well, to have this fellowship of the people of God. And so, they would sing these songs of ascent because they were making their way up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was about 2,500 feet above sea level. And so, they would make their way up, regardless of where you kind of lived, as you made your way to Jerusalem, you were going up to Jerusalem. And so, as they made their way up, as they journeyed and they ascended to Jerusalem, they would sing these songs.
Collin Hansen:And as you'll notice, even as as we have the, the English rendering here from the Hebrew, a lot of words are repeated over and over again. There's a rhythm to it. You can you can really pick it up in this very short song. So short that, a parent could be singing it as they're making their journey to Jerusalem, and a child would pick it up, almost like a Christmas song. You know how there there are like 15 Christmas carols and and every kid just they they latch on to them in one season.
Collin Hansen:June, my daughter, she's 2 years old. She she's done that with Away in a Manger. She still wants it every night to be sung. And, Jess sang it to her 1 one night, and June actually was singing along. And, June got the words wrong, like a little kid would.
Collin Hansen:And we found out it's because dad doesn't know the words. And and so Jess and I have been singing different versions of Away in a Manger. June has learned mine, and it's wrong. But but these these children, as they made their way, they they would have picked up on the the rhythm followed. And so I I hope that it can be that for us tonight.
Collin Hansen:So let's turn our attention. Imagining that we are walking these steps, imagining that we are walking with the great congregation, the people of God, and hearing these words sung, different ages, different genders, singing these same words together. A song they they know well. Out of the depths, I cry to you, oh Lord. Oh Lord, hear my voice.
Collin Hansen:Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my please 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.
Collin Hansen:My soul waits for the lord. More than watchmen for the mourning, more than watchmen for the morning. Oh, 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.
Collin Hansen:Let's pray. Oh, God. I I pray that you would bless the very reading of your word, that by your spirit, you would begin to transform us, renew our minds, renew our spirits. Lord, give us the, the courage, to think deeply about your word, to think honestly about ourselves. And Lord, that you would draw us closer to you and that you would conform us into the image of our savior.
Collin Hansen:And it's in his name that we pray these things. Amen. So it's a it's a song of repentance As they're making their way, as they're making their way to Jerusalem, and as they near that specific fixed place where the people of God would congregate to worship him, they're singing these words of repentance. They're singing these words that, Martin Luther called this, a Pauline Psalm. It's a Psalm that Paul would write.
Collin Hansen:It just it just puts this, perfect grasp of the gospel right here in the Psalm of the Ascent. And it begins with very desperate words. It begins at a very dark place. Out of the depths, I cry to you, oh lord. Now when you see the lord in in all caps, that's that's the personal name of god, that's Yahweh that's that's being rendered there, lord.
Collin Hansen:So so every time, your your translation might do this, all caps, that's that's Yahweh. And so it begins, I cry out of the depths to Yahweh. Very personal, very direct. And so, we get an understanding straight out of the gate that the context of this person, it it this is a context of confession. It's very personal.
Collin Hansen:It's very desperate. I cry out to Yahweh. This isn't just a general, I'm kinda sorry. This isn't I've I've made some mistakes since the last time I've made my way up to Jerusalem. This is very direct and very personal, out of the depths.
Collin Hansen:And this this language of out of the depths is is used in other Psalms. Psalm 6 and Psalm 69 also uses it. Different than those contexts of 6 and 69 that where it's illness, this this idea that illness or something's kinda crushing or weighing in out of the depths. I'm being overcome by something. Illness in 1, persecution in another.
Collin Hansen:This one's different. The Psalmist is being overcome, being weighed down, and crying out from the depths of his own sin. It's his sinfulness. It's it's his rebellion against God. It's his distrust of God.
Collin Hansen:He's calling out from that dark and low place. Out of the depths I cry to you, Yahweh. And so from the very beginning, we get this sense that he has he has a very direct awareness of both God, Yahweh, and his sin. He's he's aware of both. And that's gonna be a relationship that's gonna be important as we make our way through the rest of this Psalm.
Collin Hansen:He is aware of God and he's aware of his sin. Out of the depths I cry to you. And so he begins this Psalm of repentance. And for repentance to happen, we first have to have an awareness of God. We first have to to be aware, to be acknowledging the person of God that that we would be mindful of him.
Collin Hansen:See, if we're not mindful of him, then then there's not a chance that we're going to be mindful of our own sin. We might be aware of how we've hurt people. We might be aware of how we've disappointed people or we might be aware of the the bad consequences that we're living out. But seeing something as sin, particular as sin, that that only happens if there is that awareness of God. And if there is that awareness of God, and we we see ourselves in the light of his holiness, then and only then do we see sin.
Collin Hansen:It's a revelation. It's a it's actually a gift of God. It's a it's a sign that he loves you when you see your sin. And so, so actually something that I want us I want us to do tonight is to cast repentance and cast the seeing of our own sinfulness in a completely different light than maybe you're used to and I'm used to. That that perhaps repentance should be more closely tied, not with despair, but with joy.
Collin Hansen:Out of the depths, the depths of seeing one's own sinfulness and realizing that there's no way out on our own. There's no way out. And so he says, out of the depths I cry to you. And then he pleads. He pleads for mercy because he's far more sinful than he ever believed.
Collin Hansen:And he cries out to the one whom he has sinned against. Look at verse 3. If you, oh, Lord, should mark iniquities, oh Lord, who could stand? He states very boldly here that this scenario is is for all of us. It's not This isn't unique to this one guy.
Collin Hansen:He's not just a really terrible Jew that writes Psalms. Now this is everybody. This is everyone that's making their way up to Jerusalem and and everyone that God has purposed this Psalm 4 tonight. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? No one.
Collin Hansen:You see, if God was just up there and he was marking like in in a big ledger, he was just taking notes of sin and just write writing them out, which might be a vision of God that you have in your mind or or had it at some point growing up. That God is just writing down. He he's kinda he's scanning, sees sin, writes it down. Not looking good for you this year. This is we're kinda talking about Santa Claus at this point.
Collin Hansen:But, but we have this idea that if, if, if you were to do that, if you were just marking down sins, then the people of God would be nobody. If you're looking to redeem a people and the means by which you would redeem those people is by by collecting those who are sinless, then God you you would not have people. There would be no people of God. And so the the psalmist just calls out and says, if if that's how this is all gonna be played out, if if this is by and good works, if that's how we we are becoming the the redeemed people of God, then no one's going to stand. Look at verse 4.
Collin Hansen:There's there's another place that has a a verse 4 that has a, it says but right after it. And so as we're as we're reading this, hold hold in mind from Ephesians 2 verse 4, but God. And, and look here at verse 4 of Psalm 130, but with you, Yahweh, there is forgiveness that you may be feared. So think of this as as they're making their way up, making their way up to to Jerusalem. It's either the the feast of the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Booths.
Collin Hansen:Now, Passover, that's when they would remember that God was the one that got them out of Egypt. He rescued them from Egypt and and ransomed them. And then with the second festival, it's the the Feast of Weeks, which celebrates the giving of the law. The Mosaic Law at Sinai. So the giving of the law.
Collin Hansen:They celebrate that. Then the Feast of Booths, that's when they remember the the, when Israel was in the desert and they lived in tents. It's sometimes even referred to as the festival of tents because they would they would build little tents when they would go to Jerusalem and they would they would build these little makeshift tents and they would celebrate inside of them and remember when they were nomads in the desert. Now, one thing with all 3 of these festivals, in the first one, when they reached the water, they were running out of Egypt and there were persecutors close behind them and they got to water, they said, Oh great. Now we're going to die.
Collin Hansen:They didn't trust that God was going to carry them through. They thought, it's over.' And then, with the Festival of Weeks, the giving of the law, when Moses is up there meeting with God the people are melting the gold that they got in Egypt. They're melting it. Their treasures, this costly sacrifice, they're melting it all together into a calf to worship. Again, distrusting that God was going to be there and pull through and take care of them.
Collin Hansen:And then in the third one, when when they were presented With each one of these festivals, they they are acknowledging the faithfulness of God and the faithlessness of Israel. They know very well the problem at hand. That they don't trust in God. That they don't trust the hand of Yahweh. And so they remember and they sing together in verse 4.
Collin Hansen:Is that God would be feared. Now, that doesn't mean, that he that we would be scared of him. Because really, forgiveness is actually that that works opposite. Like, if you if you want someone to be scared of you then don't forgive them. Hold it against them.
Collin Hansen:Be angry at them. Hold a grudge. Say, at some point, some unfortunate thing might happen. We don't know when. We don't know how.
Collin Hansen:But you might want to be ready. Now the holding a grudge, now that that's a way to to have people be scared. And this forgiveness, this forgiveness that God issues to his people as he ransomed them to himself, that is to where he would be feared because think of this. Think of the authority that has to be at play for sin to be forgiven. The kind of power and authority for the one who forgives sin.
Collin Hansen:Now, the the Jewish people, they they got that concept Because in Mark 2, when when these men, they carry their friend to Jesus because he he needs to be healed, he has a physical ailment. And, Jesus says to him, Your sins are forgiven. That's when all the leaders take a step back and they say, This guy's dangerous. He's very dangerous. He he is saying that he can forgive sin.
Collin Hansen:And there's only one person who can who can do that, and that's God. And that's right. That's true that Jesus is dangerous because he has that authority because he's God. It's a tremendous authority and he is to be feared. And I want to I want to pause and kind of make sure we're breaking the 4th wall and ask you a question here.
Collin Hansen:That kind of forgiveness, do you have that? And then that kind of fear, do you have that? Because they go together. They go together. Those things are related.
Collin Hansen:The gift of that forgiveness leads to that gift of fear. And that holy fear that that is not, it's not reserved, but it's reverent. It's taking these things seriously when it comes to worshiping God in all aspects of our life. Do you have that forgiveness, and do you have that fear? That good kind of fear, that joyful fear of God.
Collin Hansen:So why why is there this forgiveness? How do we get to this point? Look look at verse 5. I wait for the lord. My soul waits.
Collin Hansen:And in his word, I hope my soul waits for the lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. Waiting for what? Is he waiting for forgiveness? Because earlier in verse 4, he he said pretty clearly in in a present tense, there is forgiveness, not not later. And here here they are centuries before the the crucifixion of Jesus.
Collin Hansen:And he's saying there is now forgiveness. Because they were looking towards, they were waiting and looking towards a hope. A hope that the Messiah would come. That a way that they have known from the very beginning that that God would would circumcise their hearts, that He would transform their hearts, that He would create in them a new heart, that He would write His law on their hearts. They've known from the beginning that transformation needed to happen inside.
Collin Hansen:And so they're waiting. They have that forgiveness, but they are looking forward to what what is to come, this advent of the Christ child. They're looking ahead and they hope in his word. And then this really interesting phrase here in verse 6, more than watchmen for the morning. Now, watchmen, that that that word there in Hebrew in verse 6 and then in verse 3 where it says, marking that you should mark iniquities.
Collin Hansen:It's actually the same word. And it's used kind of interestingly. If you if you think about as everyone's making their way up and they're singing these words and they hear the connection. Now it's not a direct one to 1, but they want to call into mind this similarity. Now, if God was a watchman, and He was looking, scanning, a guard, a night guard.
Collin Hansen:If He was guarding, and He was watching, if he was looking for sin, he would certainly find it in everyone. And, if a watchman was waiting for morning, the sun would come up like clockwork. I mean, it happens. The sun comes up every day. It comes up and there is certainty.
Collin Hansen:Like any watchman has looked for the sun to come up watching for morning, it happens week in, week out. It just it there's certainty. And we, the people of God, join with the voice of the psalmist where he says, I hope in the word of God. I hope in the Lord with certainty. Just like I'm certain he would find sin, and just like I'm certain that the watchmen would see the sun come up every morning with that certainty, with that assurance, I hope in the word of God.
Collin Hansen:I'm looking for him. I'm waiting for him with certainty. And then it moves in verse 7 there, To the congregation. Oh, Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord, there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption.
Collin Hansen:And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. There again, it reminds me of Ephesians, Paul's letter to the Ephesians, where he says that the Lord is wealthy. He is rich in mercy. He has plentiful redemption. He has full redemption.
Collin Hansen:He has he has a wealth of redemption to pour out on his people. That where sin increased, grace increased all the more. This is the certainty. And as he turns to the congregation, they sing this together. It goes from this is this is my personal song, this is my personal hymn of repentance, but then it's also it's our song.
Collin Hansen:This is the song that we sing together. And this is the certainty that we have. There is forgiveness with him. And we can move from that confession, we can move into that hope and we can move into that assurance and certainty. And I and I pray that that will be our our vision as next week, next Wednesday begins the season of Lent.
Collin Hansen:Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. And Lent is the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Taking out, not counting Sundays, but it's the 40 days there. And it, and it's a season that's marked with repentance, season marked with fasting. And much like this psalm, it begins, it can begin in a dark place.
Collin Hansen:It can begin with difficult thoughts, difficult revelation, seeing our sin. But as the as the people moved from the valleys to the top of the mountain in Jerusalem. And as the psalmist moved from the depths, crying out in his sinfulness, to this place of certainty. I I pray that we too would walk this journey of Lent. A couple of years ago, about two and a half years ago, Jess and I went to London.
Collin Hansen:And, we went to London. We ran all over the city. Sometimes literally, but mostly just we made our way all over the city. And we we went, to Baker Street. And so does this address ring a bell for anyone?
Collin Hansen:221 B Baker Street. Any anybody? Can you shout it out? Or okay. So now we know where all the nerds are sitting.
Collin Hansen:But that's where that's more over there. So that's where Sherlock Holmes, that's where his apartment is, was, is. We'll say is because that's there's a sign there and you can actually go in. They've decorated it just like the the stories and all that. And, and you walk up these steps and they sell pipes and hats that are ridiculous and cloaks.
Collin Hansen:If you have any interest in Sherlock Holmes, you can go there and you can you can spend pounds and pounds and pounds on, kitschy Holmes stuff. But, one one thing that that, it reminded me of. There's in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, there's this account where Watson is talking to Holmes about, see so I'm a nerd. Okay. So I'm referencing how I know this.
Collin Hansen:So, where Watson and Holmes are talking back and forth about this process of how Holmes thinks, I just want to read this brief little part to you. This is Watson. When I hear you give your reasons, mister Watson remarked, the thing always appears to me so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself. Though at each successive instance of your reasoning, I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours.
Collin Hansen:Quite so, Holmes answered, lighting a cigarette and throwing himself down in the armchair. You see, but you don't observe. You see, but you don't observe. The distinction is clear. For example, how frequently have you seen the steps which lead from the hall to this room?
Collin Hansen:Frequently. How often? Well, some 100 of times. How many are there? How many?
Collin Hansen:I don't know. Quite so. You've not observed, yet you have seen. And that is my point. And I know that there are 17 steps because I have both seen and observed.
Collin Hansen:Now we we've many of you, in this in this church family, we we've walked the steps of Lent and Easter before. We've walked it together a couple of times now. Or maybe this is your first time. You're you're you're studying about the season of Lent And, we've got an add, a Lenten devotional that we're going to be reading together as a church. And we're going to have those available next Sunday.
Collin Hansen:And maybe you have seen this before, but have you observed it? Have you observed Lent? Have you, have you taken in the season that reminds us of what God has done? That there is forgiveness with him and that it's offered to us in Christ? Have you observed that or have you just seen it?
Collin Hansen:See this year, I don't want us to be satisfied with just seeing it. I want us to observe it. I want us to drink deep the riches of God in his word, in fellowship and worship together. That means that we do the hard work of joyful repentance. That we would be aware.
Collin Hansen:We would, and and I understand that there are definitely limits to this simile with with Sherlock Holmes because it's not just this, I mean, he's like the scientific method guy. And so that that's not all I'm talking about. It's not just this intellectual pursuit, but with our hearts, with our souls, with our minds. When we observe this season, to walk through this story together. Just like the people of God were walking to Jerusalem as we walk, as we walk together to Golgotha, as we ascend the hill on which our savior died.
Collin Hansen:See, there is forgiveness with Him. And that brings about a holy fear. And I pray that we, we would take the time, that we would pay the attention, that we would observe. Because it's it's through this season. It's through what what happened on the cross and in the resurrection as we then make our way that Sunday morning to the empty tomb.
Collin Hansen:As we walk there together, that we would drink deep the truth that it's that chastisement. It's that it's that fury of God's wrath that has brought us peace. And I pray that this season for, for each of us, that that this would be a season where we would not merely see, but that in our hearts, in our minds, in our souls, we would truly observe. Let's pray together. God help us by your spirit to join with the psalmist.
Collin Hansen:That we would also hope in the Lord. That we would know your steadfast love. That we would share with those around us in your plentiful redemption. And Lord, that we would have confidence that we would have, assurance. Just like we know that there is certainty that you will find fault and sin in our hearts.
Collin Hansen:And just like we have certainty that the sun will come up tomorrow, we we have this certainty that you will come for us. God, I pray that you would help us to reflect, that you would help us to be honest with who we are, that that you would bring, an honesty about who you are through your word and your spirit. Or that we would know what it means to joyfully repent. That we would turn from our sinfulness, that we would trust you, that we would joyfully follow you in obedience. Lord, that we would repent and believe the gospel.
Collin Hansen:Christ's word, the beginning of Mark, as he begins his ministry. That that those proclaimed words of Jesus, that that would be true of us this Lenten season. Lord, help us not just to look at things to fast from only, but lord, that we would have much more of a of a critical mind to the sin that we would leave behind. Not just some thing for a season. That we wouldn't just give up some thing for a season, but that we would give up sin and trust in Jesus.
Collin Hansen:So, lord, help us to walk together this Lenten season. Help us to walk repenting. Help us to walk believing. Help us to walk and wait for Christ and his kingdom to come in full. Help us to walk truly observing with our hearts and our souls.
Collin Hansen:Observing that your great love took on flesh, ascended to Calvary and on him was placed the chastisement that has brought us peace. Help us to see it. Give us the courage to see it. Help us not to look away. Help us to see you, to know you, to obey you, and to love you.
Collin Hansen:We thank you for Jesus and the plentiful redemption that he has purchased for us. We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.
