PSALM 130 – Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. 7 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.”
THEME OF THE DAY: NO ONE, NOT ONE. DON’T FORGET IT. Today’s scripture is the one hundred thirtieth in its entirety. Within its eight verses, there is one question. Do we see it? Let’s answer it. I already provided the answer in the theme of today’s nugget. I also added something else and that is the main point today.
When it comes to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and its power to forgive sinners, we need to often remind ourselves that forgiveness is not deserved, cannot be earned, and is completely, freely given by God’s own sovereign choice. We only receive it. These truths are captured well by the Apostle Paul in numerous portions of his epistles with this one in his letter to the Ephesians standing in front of the line – And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:1-10).
What is important in the Christian life is not to forget what God has done for us in Christ by forgiving us. It is so easy, and more so, as we get older in the Christian life. The danger of losing the awe factor over the Gospel is a real temptation. The familiar becomes too familiar. As we looked at the only question in today’s scripture, go back and look what follows; forgiveness and the reason behind God granting it to us – that He may be feared. This obviously isn’t the fear of being afraid but of respect, love, even amazement. It should be our prayer that the Lord would keep our first love for Him fervent, fearfully fervent, by never losing the awe factor that God would give us His gospel to change us from hell-deserving sinners to forever adopted children. Do so by remembering “no one, not one, don’t forget it.”
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for the forgiveness I have in Your Son allowing me to stand before You righteous.”
QUOTE: “Experiencing the forgiveness of the Lord deepens our fear of the Lord; a fear of respect for such grace.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim