We welcome you to Stone's Hill today!

A typical Stone's Hill service has:

* music (so feel free to sing out);

* some announcements (things that are upcoming that you can be a part of);

* a message out of the Bible (God speaks to us through his Word);

* and an opportunity for you to respond to the message (either immediately in the case of a decision that needs to be made OR in the future as you live out the message in your daily life.)

So relax and enjoy your morning! We're so glad you are here!

MESSAGE TEXT
Psalm 130:1-8
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INTRODUCTION
In Psalm 120, our thru-hiker, stung by life betrayal, decides to go back home. In Psalm 121, he wrote about God’s providential care over his journey home. In my imagination, the psalmist finally makes it to Jerusalem and is immersed in the multi-sensory environment of Temple worship – music and teaching, sacrifices and altars, priests and Levites, incense and aromas. Of course, these were all stand-ins until the final solution of Christ would come some 1000 years later. But when he finally made it home to Jerusalem and that temple, it hits him – a Billy Graham “Just As I Am” moment in Psalm 130.
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PROPOSITION
Psalm 130 is a Song of Ascents, for it climbs from the abyss of depression to the high ground of steadfast hope. We see this progression mirrored in each of the psalm’s four stanzas. Psalm 130 can be divided into FOUR STROPHES, each comprised of two poetic lines. FOUR SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS come out of these four stanzas.
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The first stanza focuses on the cry for help (130:1–2). Humans are fearfully and wonderfully made, but we are sinners. The only basis of plea, in the matter of sin and forgiveness, is the divine character of God; no excuses are appropriate.
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The second stanza focuses on the acknowledgment of forgiveness (130:3–4). God is all-knowing and holy, but He is a forgiver. Divine forgiveness evokes reverence, fear, and awe, whereas judgment instills only dread.
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The third stanza focuses on the hope for divine intervention (130:5–6). Personal salvation, which occurs in a moment, does not always instantaneously take care of all our problems. Cheat our sins from their consequences. The repentant must often wait for God to work, holding on to the promise that God can resolve problems in the life of the obedient. Life-change is more about direction than speed.
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The fourth stanza focuses on the encouragement of others (130:7–8). The final two verses contain a priest’s reply, pronouncing a kind of corporate absolution, when the personal prayer of verses 1-6 became a congregational confession.
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Crying: hear me (1-2)
Thinking : forgive me (3-4)
Waiting : answer me (5-6)
Arriving : save me (7-8)
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SUMMATION
Three points of application…

1 the reality is you will experience the depths of something devastating. What is your testimony going to be? I brought it all to God and found grace OR I drowned in my mess and never got over it. If you are in the pit, you need to know that sin is real. We can’t break the rules and get away with it forever. But whenever we are ready to come clean, the Lord is right there waiting for us. It’s never easy to confess our sins, but listen to the invitation God makes in Isaiah 55:7“Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” The cross displays how God punished sin and how he forgives sinners at the same time, through the wrath-absorbing, sin-covering death of his Son (Rom 3:25–26; 1 John 2:1–2).
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2 the movement of the psalm is from depression and anxiety to delight and joy. It’s an ascent psalm – meaning it represents an upward climb toward a greater peace and maturity in God. This single psalm embodies the movement of all 15 ascent Psalms. We bring our feelings and emotions to God rather than allow our feelings to set an entire life orientation. How the world deals with guilt and conflicted feelings – is a tendency to enshrine those feelings.
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3 redemption, not guilt, is the theme of our song. It’s what we sing about and live for. Jesus, who offered himself in our place, gives us certain hope that God has forgiven us. As Paul reminds us, God ‘has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins’ (Col. 1:13–14). I believe in full forgiveness for all sin. You cannot outrun God’s grace.
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INVITATION
The old invitation hymn, “Softly and Tenderly.” One of the verses goes like this: O for the wonderful love He has promised, Promised for you and for me! Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon, Pardon for you and for me. Then the chorus makes the appeal: Come home, come home, You who are weary, come home; Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, Calling, O sinner, come home. God has done everything necessary for you to be forgiven. All you have to do is come and accept your acceptance by grace. And should you delay, someday, when you’re in over your head and you don’t know what to do with all those conflicted feelings, Jesus will be waiting for you in Psalm 130.