Sermon Bible Commentary
Psalms 130:7
I. The first thing that occurs to us in glancing over the Psalms is the great variety of circumstances under which they seem to have been composed. These circumstances embrace the whole range of human life, its joys and its sorrows, its successes and its reverses; while the emotions which they express include all the corresponding feelings of the human heart.
II. Another striking feature is their unity, their agreement or oneness. (1) Manifold as they are, they all speak to one Person: God. All meet in Him as the one centre towards which they are directed. (2) In their various utterances to God there is the same spirit; the same principle seems to dictate each. They all speak the language of faith in God.
III. If you search through the Psalms, you will find this faith in God unfolding itself into: (1) faith in God as the Creator and Preserver of the world; (2) faith in God as the living King and Ruler of men; (3) faith in God as the righteous Judge; (4) faith in God as having compassion upon all who suffer; (5) faith in God as One who will not reject the penitent.
G. Formes, The Voice of God in the Psalms,p. 80.
References: Psalms 130:1. M. R.Vincent, Old Testament Outlines,p. 149. Psalms 130:2. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xii., p. 84.
I. This redemption cancels all sin. God brings a plenteous redemption from the sin of the past and from the sin which, through the infirmity of our flesh, will surely come; from the sin we can remember and from that which we sinned but never knew; from bold transgressions and from those which struggled timorously, yet persistently, through the light of conscience, into birth; from the first sin which struck with strange pain our childish heart and from the last which will shadow our dying bed and then sink into oblivion, "whilst that we withal escape."
II. This redemption satisfies all law. The universe is full of law; it has never been invaded by chaos; it has never been ruled by chance. We are born into a world which is "established that it cannot be moved." There is a moral fixedness corresponding with, although transcending, all the regularities of nature. Our God is "not the Author of confusion, but of order;" in the plenteous redemption He brings to us, He makes void no law. His "grace reigns, but through righteousness." And no redemption can be called plenteous that does not satisfy law, because law is truth; moral law is the highest kind of truth: it is the transcript and expression of the Divine nature, and unless that nature can change, the law cannot change.
III. This redemption is deliverance for the whole man. As the whole human being sinks and withers under sin, so the whole rises and flourishes again in Christ.
IV. This redemption lasts through all time. "For ever" is the last and highest inscription written on it, and it sheds down a wondrous light on all its other qualities.
A. Raleigh, Sermon,preached April 11th, 1860.
I. The soul has been led upward by degrees, till it now seems almost lost in the idea of the "plenteous redemption." One figure alone stands out distinct and clear; namely, the figure of the great Redeemer. All else is merged in the idea of the redemption.
II. The dangers of this state are: (1) lukewarmness; (2) unconscious hypocrisy, or self-deceit; (3) familiarity with tilings spiritual rather than deep love for Jesus Christ.
III. What are the safeguards? Let the text answer. Like some golden thread woven in throughout the full length of a cloth, mercy and hope have gone hand in hand as yet; now the Holy Ghost speaks further of a "plenteous redemption." These three will fortify the soul that possesses them against attacks from without or betrayal from within.
IV. One of the outward marks which will help us to decide if we are accepted with God is our attitude to others. If we arc constantly judging others, we have not got into that precious redemption ourselves yet. If our souls are "to the Lord," we shall strengthen others, we shall bring others to Christ. (1) Our reality in prayer will bring many to Christ. (2) We preach Christ by our behaviour. (3) We may bring others to Christ by our silence, by that government of the tongue which issues in a silence that is as "a loud cry in the ear of God." At this stage we must watch the tongue. Men on Alpine heights must often speak in whispers, lest they bring down the avalanche.
Bishop E. R. Wilberforce, The Awaking Soul,p. 67.
We may conclude from these words:
I. That the redemption purchased by the Saviour's death is ample and unlimited. It is the plain sense of Holy Scripture that Jesus shed His blood for Jew and Gentile, for bond and free; that by His death He put all into such a state that they may,if they will,come unto Him and be saved.
II. The redemption cannot be exhausted; provision has been made for each one of us. "Plenteous redemption" has been provided for each one of us; but the question for us to ask ourselves is this: Have we taken the needful steps for securing it?
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths,p. 278.
References: Psalms 130:7. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. vii., No. 351; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons,p. 367; W. Baird, The Hallowing of our Common Life,p. 47. Psalms 130:7; Psalms 130:8. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xii., p. 84.