Don't Trust Your Repentance MORE than His Forgiveness
Psalm 130 is a cry for forgiveness with one word missing: "Repentance."
Many times we are overwhelmed by the idea that we may not be truly forgiven because we weren't sincere enough or didn't cry enough, or didn't express our sorrow enough. It's a trap. It's a trap because to believe your forgiveness is based on your performance in sorrow is to make God's grace dependent on your emotional toil!
The Psalmist states flatly...
Psalm 130:3–4 (ESV) If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
Notice, the forgiveness of God in this verse precedes the fear of God in the worshipper. We come to fear God because we come to know our sin but also realize the depth of his forgiveness was always greater than we ever first realized.
The problem with many Church goers is NOT that they have a cheap view of grace, but rather a cheap view of the law. We measure ourselves by our own standards of what is right and wrong. And think of it, depending on your upbringing and socio-economic background, you are either liberal or conservative in your view of sin.
The liberal says destroying the Earth is sin.
The conservative says all sexual immorality is a sin.
They are both right, but they often consider the other mistaken.
The law is even more stringent than either of them!
So then true Christian maturity is not the feeling that you're doing better than you used to be doing, that you've climbed the sanctification ladder on your own merit and effort, or that you're holier now than when you first believed!
No, true Christian maturity is to arrive at an ever clearer picture of the saving grace of God affected in you through Christ Jesus WHEN you believed. You were forgiven for sins you didn't even know you committed. WITH HIM there is forgiveness, therefore He is feared!
Later he says:
Psalm 130:7–8 (ESV) O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Where are we to hope? In the Lord! In His love! In His redemption. There's not a single call to trust our own activity. Yes we confess as best as we know how. But ultimately, our confession is a thankful one because His grace is always greater than even the awareness of our sin.
That's worth singing about.
Many times we are overwhelmed by the idea that we may not be truly forgiven because we weren't sincere enough or didn't cry enough, or didn't express our sorrow enough. It's a trap. It's a trap because to believe your forgiveness is based on your performance in sorrow is to make God's grace dependent on your emotional toil!
The Psalmist states flatly...
Psalm 130:3–4 (ESV) If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
Notice, the forgiveness of God in this verse precedes the fear of God in the worshipper. We come to fear God because we come to know our sin but also realize the depth of his forgiveness was always greater than we ever first realized.
The problem with many Church goers is NOT that they have a cheap view of grace, but rather a cheap view of the law. We measure ourselves by our own standards of what is right and wrong. And think of it, depending on your upbringing and socio-economic background, you are either liberal or conservative in your view of sin.
The liberal says destroying the Earth is sin.
The conservative says all sexual immorality is a sin.
They are both right, but they often consider the other mistaken.
The law is even more stringent than either of them!
So then true Christian maturity is not the feeling that you're doing better than you used to be doing, that you've climbed the sanctification ladder on your own merit and effort, or that you're holier now than when you first believed!
No, true Christian maturity is to arrive at an ever clearer picture of the saving grace of God affected in you through Christ Jesus WHEN you believed. You were forgiven for sins you didn't even know you committed. WITH HIM there is forgiveness, therefore He is feared!
Later he says:
Psalm 130:7–8 (ESV) O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Where are we to hope? In the Lord! In His love! In His redemption. There's not a single call to trust our own activity. Yes we confess as best as we know how. But ultimately, our confession is a thankful one because His grace is always greater than even the awareness of our sin.
That's worth singing about.
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