Zoom
Sunday School Classes – 28 July 2024 at 09:00 AM EST
Meeting ID: 848-9423-0612
Pass Code: 669872
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84894230612?pwd=Zk1ESitzbGZwTlJyV21UZXY5aTVPZz09
God Redeems Us
(Expectant Watchfulness)
Psalm 130
Devotional Reading: Matthew 25:1-13
Background Scripture: Psalm 130
(Rev Ralph Johnson Teaching)
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Daily Bible Readings |
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MONDAY: Await the Dawning Day – 2
Peter 3:16-21 |
AIM FOR
CHANGE:
EXPRESS assurance in God’s redemptive power.
REFLECT on God’s forgiveness of our shortcomings.
APPLY the teachings of Psalm 130.
KEEP IN MIND:
"O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD
there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem." (Psalm 130:7, NRSV).
BACKGROUND:
The sixth of the seven Penitential
Psalms, Psalm 130 emphasizes what God does for helpless people who cry out to Him
for mercy. Perhaps the Jewish pilgrims
used this psalm to confess their sins and seek God's forgiveness and blessing
as they made their way to the sanctuary. No matter what our need, when we call upon the
Lord in faith, He hears us and makes the changes needed in our lives.
The psalm falls into four sections
of two verses each. The first two verses
record the psalmist’s cry to Yahweh out of trouble. The next two verses express the confidence
that there is forgiveness for sins from the Lord, suggesting that the dilemma
might have been due to sin. The third
section tell of the psalmist eagerly waiting for Yahweh’s word, probably
telling him he is forgiven, and all is well.
The final two verses are a call for the nation to hope in Yahweh because
some day He will redeem Israel from all her sins. It appears that the immediate cycle of sin,
dilemma, prayer, forgiveness and deliverance, is taken by the psalmist as a precursor
of the final deliverance and forgiveness.
LESSON COMMENTARY:
From Death to Life
(Psalm 138:1-2)
1Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
2Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears
be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
This picture is that of a person
drowning and unable to stand on the bottom or swim to safety. The
tense of the verb “cry” indicates that the writer had been crying in the past
and continued to cry out as he wrote the psalm, because without God's merciful
intervention, he would die. But he
remembered the prayer of Solomon when the king dedicated the temple, and he
knew that God's eyes were upon him and His ears open to his cries (2 Chron.
6:40; Ps. 34:15; 1 Peter 3:12). Five
times he addressed Jehovah, the God of the covenant (LORD) and three times
Adonai, the Master (Lord). We can cry
out to God from the depths of disappointment and defeat and from the depths of
fear and perplexity. Like a heavy
weight, sin drags its victims to the depths, but God made us for the heights
(Isa. 40:31; Col. 3:1).
From Guilt to
Forgiveness (Psalm 138:3-4)
3If you, O LORD,
should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
4But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.
The psalmist moved from the sea to
the courtroom, but there the sinner could not stand because of guilt. The only way we can get rid of the sin record
is to come to God for His gracious forgiveness, and this forgiveness is made
possible because of the work of Christ on the cross (32:1-2; Rom. 4:1-8). The word translated "mark" means “to
observe and keep a record,” and God is able to do that (90:8; 139:23-24; Jer.
2:22; 16:17; Ezek. 11:5; Hos. 7:2). Sinners
cannot stand before the holy Judge and argue their own case. But God is
ready to forgive (86:5; Neh. 9:17), and faith in the Savior brings forgiveness
to the soul. God casts our sins behind
His back and blots them out of His book (Isa. 38:17; 43:25; 44:22). He carries them away as far as the east is
from the west (103:11- 12), casts them into the sea (Mic. 7:19), and holds them
against us no more (Jer. 31:34; Heb.10:17).
Forgiveness is not a blessing to
be taken lightly, for it cost God His Son; therefore, we ought to love and fear
God (76:7). If you take seriously the
guilt of sin, you will take seriously the grace of forgiveness. Salvation is a serious and costly transaction.
From Darkness to
Light (Psalm 130:5-6)
5I wait for the LORD,
my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6my soul waits for the Lord more
than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the
morning.
From the courtroom we move to the
city walls where the watchmen are alert as they peer through the darkness to
detect the approach of any danger. Nothing
they do can make the sun come up any sooner, but when the day dawns, the guards
rejoice that the city has been safe another night. When the Lord forgives sinners, it is for them
the dawning of a new day as they move out of darkness into God's marvelous
light (1 Peter 2:9; Luke 1:76-79). The
forgiven sinner is content to wait on the Lord for whatever He has planned for
that day. This is not the waiting of hopeless
resignation but of hopeful anticipation, for each new day brings new blessings
from His hand (119:74, 81, 82; Lam. 3:22-26). If you find yourself forgiven but still in the
darkness, wait on the Lord and trust His Word, but do not try to manufacture
your own light (Isa. 50:10-11).
From to Bondage to
Freedom (Psalm 130:7-8)
7O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is
steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
8It is he who will redeem Israel from
all its iniquities.
Our final visit
is to the slave market and the theme is redemption, which means “setting
someone free by paying a price." Israel
knew a great deal about God's redemption, for at the Exodus, God's power had
set them free from Egyptian tyranny (Ex. 12-15). They had no hope and could not free
themselves, but the Lord did it for them. He gave His people abundant redemption"
that included freedom from slavery, victory over their enemies, and a Promised
Land for their home. The slave has no
hope, but the child in the family looks forward to receiving an inheritance. All who trust Jesus Christ are children in
God's family and not slaves, and their future is secure (Gal. 3:26-4:7). The psalmist saw a future redemption for the
people of Israel, as did Paul (Rom. 11) and the prophets (Isa. 11, 60, 65-66;
Zech. 12:10-14:21). Christian believers look
forward to the coming of Christ and the redemption He will bring (Rom. 8:18-30).
- Are modern
Christians too flippant about their sin? Where is the balance between
being too morbid versus too cavalier?
- Does God’s
forgiveness lead you to fear Him? Is this concept strange to you? How are
forgiveness and fear related?
- Why does God
not immediately answer the prayers of those who want to know Him more
intimately? Why must we wait on Him?
- In sharing the
gospel, are we too quick to tell people about God’s love and offer of
forgiveness before they feel the weight of their sin? Should they first
feel convicted of their sin?
NEXT WEEK’S LESSON: 4 August
2024
Hope
In Christian Fellowship
(The
Word of God)
1 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5
Devotional Reading: Psalm 121
Background Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5
(Rev Ralph Johnson Teaching)
SOURCES:
Achtemeier,
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Row, 1985.
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O Carm. The Jerome Biblical Commentary.
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1961.
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American Commentary Volume 13, Psalms 73 - 150: An Exegetical
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James Orr, M.A., D.D., International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Electronic Edition, Parsons Technology, Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa 1998.
Keck Leander E., The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary, Volume
III: Introduction to Hebrew Poetry, Job, Psalms, Introduction to Wisdom
Literature, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, New York: Abingdon
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Morris, William, ed., Dictionary
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Spence-Jones, H. D. M.
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Edition STEP Files, QuickVerse, a division of Findex.com, Inc., Omaha,
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Publishers, 2015
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