“You can find complete forgiveness in God.”
Passage: Psalm 130
Speaker: Tim Sullivan
Bridgewater Tunkhannock’s Podcast
Your Story: Week 5
Well hey good morning and welcome to Bridgewater. If I have not got a chance to meet you yet my name is Tim I'm one of the pastors here and in fact I have the privilege of pastoring our Conklin campus and I recognize many of you probably don't know me or my family so let me introduce you to them here's a picture of them. Chewbacca is not actually part of our family some reason he wanted to get in on the family photo so we let him in but there's my wife and our five kids and we are excited about being here with you today and so if you're new here or maybe this is your second or third time we've been doing a series called Your Story and the campus pastors have been rotating through all the campuses sharing their story and so today I'm here with you and I get to share my story. Well growing up I did not grow up in a Christian home in fact even to this today my today my parents are still not believers yet and so when it came to things about the Bible when it came to things about spirituality and Christianity I was absolutely clueless I knew nothing about about Jesus or any of those things and as a kid I faced a number of challenges like a lot of kids do in fact one of them was when I was nine I found out that my parents were getting divorced and I couldn't really process that as a nine-year-old and I remember being just absolutely furious I was angry with my mom I was angry with with the world I was angry at everybody I didn't really know what to do with all of that and so as I was going through life I actually received a black belt in sarcasm and I left a trail of wounded people wherever I went I'm not even sure how my parents put up with me I have no idea how my teachers put up with me I think most of them despised me I know for sure one of them couldn't wait until I got out of that school and she told me so and so that was the kind of kid that I was in seventh grade a bunch of us all got into skateboarding and that's what we would do we would come home from school we'd grab our skateboards and we would go off and we would go skate and so we'd find different parking lots and we'd wax up the curbs the freshly painted yellow ones were always the best ones and we'd slide or grind across those curbs we'd scrape all the paint right off I'm sure the business owners loved that I'm sure the customers appreciate all those skateboarders going through their parking lot and so as we're doing that realize that not only did they not like that or enjoy that they didn't want us there and in many of them called the police on us and even to this day I'm still not allowed in certain parking lots because of that so bunches seventh graders decided okay we're gonna go and build our own ramps so we got wood and nails and hammers and all supplies and we built our own skateboarding ramps to put those ramps in the streets and we started using those and shortly after we found out that our neighbors didn't appreciate that and they called the police on us and so you're seeing a pattern in my life it was filled with skateboarding it was filled with police I even fought quite a bit started fights ended fights and even as a young middle schooler I messed around with drinking quite a bit and I was making an absolute mess of my life and I remember in seventh grade meeting this kid named Josh Josh had just moved in across the street and Josh was the first person I met who said he was a Christian and his life was actually different and I remember enjoying hanging out with Josh I liked a lot about Josh but I wanted nothing to do with his Jesus Josh began inviting me to church and youth group and fellowship of Christian athletes and I wanted nothing to do with any of that I kind of felt like it was weird like going to church and reading the Bible and whole Jesus stuff I was like you does really really strange and I didn't want anything to do with that so I just kept on doing life the way that I wanted to it life was all about me in fact my goal was to do as little schoolwork as possible and to have as much fun as possible and I continue to do that through seventh grade eighth grade and ninth grade and eventually I found myself getting suspended from school for fighting and I got a lot of trouble and I found myself at rock bottom and I'm imagining that there's probably many of us in this room who have also made a mess of their lives in ninth grade I felt completely hopeless I was angry at the world I was angry with my teachers I felt like life in itself was pointless I didn't believe in God and if there was a God there was no way he could ever forgive someone like me I was overwhelmed with life in fact I hated life this trajectory was gonna lead me addicted to drugs in prison or worse and I know that because I can look back on my life and see where almost all of my friends ended up and that's where they were and there I was in ninth grade at rock bottom so what do you do when you find yourself overwhelmed with life what do you do when you find yourself at rock bottom well that's what we're gonna talk about today so if you have a Bible let's go to Psalm 130 Psalm 130 while you're turning there let me give you a little bit of the background see Psalm 130 is part of a bigger group of Psalms called the Psalms of ascent think road trip Psalms so Israel would travel three times a year to Jerusalem and they would ascend up not necessarily north they would go up the mountain and they would sing these Psalms so if you're going on a long trip you're gonna be traveling in the car for quite a bit you're gonna put together maybe a playlist or back in a day it would have been a CD or cassette tape this is your road trip music right all the songs that you want to listen to and sing to this is their road trip songs or song list and so it served as a is a physical metaphor because they were ascending up Psalms of ascent but it also was a spiritual metaphor it would help reorient themselves to who God is and what God says about them and so this is one of the Psalms that they would sing as they made their way to Jerusalem now although we're heading up the mountaintop that's not where this song begins in fact this song begins at rock bottom take a look at verse one Psalmist writes from the depths of despair oh Lord I call for your help this is a person who has hit rock bottom and he's come face to face with his sin his consequences shame and the guilt and he's saying I am calling out from the depths of despair now before we go any further I want to speak to those to those of you who have sinned in a way that feels unredeemable to those in this room who have a stain on your past and you feel like everybody thinks about that thing when you walk into a room when you look back at the divorce you're still trying to justify it in your mind and as you try to work through that in your own mind you realize you lost the kids in that to the person who got fired from their job for doing something unethical maybe you even spent time in jail for what you did maybe it's the pornography habit your spouse discovered maybe it's the pornography habit your spouse hasn't discovered no matter your past this song is for you you are in the depth of despair right now you're overwhelmed you're a hot mess but there's something you need to know or something you need to be reminded of which is with God there is complete forgiveness there is full pardon and God does not treat you and I the way that our sins deserve now pause button people often do and you can't control that can't control how people are going to interact with you and how they're going to treat you but with God there's full forgiveness and this passage gives us several reasons why that is true and so the psalmist begins writing and talking about how he's calling out from the depths of despair it's really a 911 call he's painting a picture of of this drowning right you overwhelmed with life because it keeps coming at you again and again and again and situation after circumstance is kind of building up you've been there I feel so overwhelmed you feel like you're drowning it's the thing with your spouse that's the thing going on with your kids that's the thing going on with you and your boss or co-worker and then you're overwhelmed with worry and fear and there's that habit that you just can't break through and you just feel like you're barely keeping your head above water that's what this psalmist is talking about and he is saying it's out of the depth of despair you are going from Jericho which is 846 feet below sea level and you're trying to make your way up to the mountaintop 2,500 feet above sea level to Jerusalem now Jerusalem is where they're going up the mountaintop and Jericho is literally the lowest point on earth and the psalmist is saying that's where I'm coming from I am coming from the depths of despair how do we get to mount up how do we go and get to God he's saying God please help me now when you feel like you're drowning you feel like you're overwhelmed with life you better call on someone who can actually help you and it's almost as I'm crying out to God I'm crying out to the creator of the universe because I need help and listen to what he says verse 2 here my cryo Lord pay attention to my prayer if this is your starting point the depths of despair this psalm has good news for you the NIV says it this way let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy that's an incredible word I am crying out from the depths of despair I feel like I'm drowning and I need mercy mercy is not getting what you deserve imagine your you're on your way to a meeting or an appointment and out of all the meetings you've ever had this one you've got to be on time for maybe it's a meeting with your boss or customer or client or there's a crisis and you've got to be there on time and you're running a little late and you begin to put the gas pedal down just a little bit try to make up at least a minute or two and as you're going along you realize you're not making up anytime so you begin to push the gas pedal down even further and eventually you see some lights going off in your rearview mirror officer pulls you over and in that moment what is it that you deserve what I take it okay two honest people I take it right now imagine that the officer actually lets you off with a warning in that moment you've received mercy and it's all miss the saying okay I'm not arguing with you God I'm not making up excuses I'm owning everything that I've done and I am calling out from the depths of despair God please give me mercy I need that so there's mercy for each of us and then he says this in verse 3 Lord if you kept a record of our sins who oh Lord could ever survive see when God forgives he cancels all of our sins and so this young lady who made a decision at one night when she asked Jesus to be the leader of her life and a forgiver of her sins he took all of that and he wiped it out canceled all of the debt and so there's no filing cabinet your sins and all the wrongdoings are not on a thumb drive they're not stashed somewhere on the cloud he looks at you and he doesn't remember them against you completely forgiven full-partened that's the good news and so in fact Psalm 103 verse 12 tells us this he has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west imagine you and I would go on a walk and we begin walking north and eventually we arrive at the North Pole now I know you can't actually walk to the North Pole but imagine you and I we've we've just arrived at the North Pole as soon as we walk past the North Pole what direction are we now headed south right now here's what the Psalmist is saying your sins and my sins are removed as far as the east is from the west you see the North Pole is the northernmost part of the earth and as soon as you pass that you're going south but there's no east pole and there's no west pole east and west will be forever separated if you're going east you will never head west and the Psalmist is saying your sins and my sins they are forever separated from you that's incredible but your sins and my sins are not counted against us there's no record and the one who actually could hold your sins against you and me chooses not to he didn't write it down he chooses not to remember it and instead of keeping a record of all of your sins against you here's what he does to verse four but you offer forgiveness that we might learn to fear you that can feel so cliché right that God forgives you and here's what it what it's saying is the one who has the right to hold your sin against you doesn't he chooses to forgive you and forgiveness brings about fear now when I read that verse I was a little startled by that I didn't know how to take that okay because forgiveness that's the good news but fear I'm gonna fear God that doesn't sound like something that I want to do and so I believe that the fear of the Lord really is a spectrum and there is passages in the Old Testament and the New Testament that describe the fear of the Lord as this terror and you're shaking in your boots you're afraid you're standing before the Holy Almighty God but we also see the fear of the Lord described as standing in awe and reverence right if you've ever been to Niagara Falls or any of the great wonders you stand before Niagara Falls and the only reaction you can have is wow I can't believe this is right here but the fear of the Lord is also this this trust and this devotion and this worship that when you wrap your mind around the forgiveness that you have that and you begin to rest in that forgiveness it leads to not only this awe and reverence but leads to a a devotion a trust and a worship and it's all must of saying you offer forgiveness and that leads me to want to serve you and worship you no matter my past no matter what's happened it's because there is forgiveness no matter your past you can serve God can worship Him you can live your life for Him no matter what's happened in your past God invites you into a relationship with Him now here's the difference between religion and the gospel religion says I messed up my dad is going to kill me but the gospel says I messed up I need to call my dad the God God wants you to enter into his presence no matter what's happened no matter what's gone on in your past even when you feel unredeemable you could enter into his presence and so you can run to Him no matter what because there is complete forgiveness in God in fact that's that's the major chord of this Psalm that if you write anything down write that down there is complete forgiveness in God it's not 50% it's not 80% it's not 90 it's not even 99.999 percent it's complete and I think some of us are holding on to that point zero zero zero one percent going yep but there's that one thing and it's all must says no he offers you grants you declares you completely forgiven the only record that God sees is the perfect record of Jesus and Psalmist says in verse 5 I am counting on the Lord yes I'm counting on him I have put my hope in his word if God can forgive me I can trust him if God can can pull me out of the depths of despair and put me up on a solid ground I can trust him and then it's almost says in verse 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning more than watchmen wait for the morning you see in Israel there are these things called watchtower so if you owned property and you had a vineyard or field or something that you wanted to be preserved or you want a punk kid with their skateboards running through your fields you would put up put up a watchtower and in that watchtower you'd have a family member or you'd hire somebody to kind of sit up in that watchtower and they would stay up all night watching over your field watching over your crops watching over your your flock and they would make sure nothing bad happened and if you've ever stayed up all night maybe for work or you worked an all-nighter or something was going on you probably if you're like me you couldn't wait till morning came so your shift could be over you could finally go to bed and you watch and you wait for that son you are longing for that shift to be over and the psalmist says I wait for the Lord more than a watchman the psalmist is saying I'm counting on God I'm waiting on him I have a confident expectation that God is going to show up I'm trusting him I'm watching for him I'm putting my hope in him in fact this all miss says this in verse 7 oh Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is unfailing love his redemption overflows well amazing verse at God's redemption overflows for all of us now when you read that what if you put your name in that verse what if it said Tim put your hope in the Lord why because he has unfailing love for you why because he has redemption that overflows for you and so when you when you write maybe notes in your in your phone app or your writing on scratch piece of paper you're praying this or you're journaling this what if you actually put your name in that verse then put your hope in the Lord why well with him there's unfailing love and his redemption is just overflowing it's not just full it's overflowing no matter what your past no matter what you've done no matter what's happened there is complete forgiveness and then he says this in verse 8 he himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin out of the depth of despair when you feel unredeemable he says he himself will redeem Israel you can put your name in there too he himself will redeem me he himself will redeem you from what from every kind of sin and I love the progression in this Psalm in verse 1 he begins talking about himself out of the depths of despair I am crying out to you and then at the end of the Psalm he's making it public he's talking to everybody in Israel okay Israel put your hope in the Lord because he can redeem you and so he's making this shift making it very public you ever gone through a situation or an experience and then a couple years later you run into a person and they're going through the same thing that you just went through it's it's really amazing how God will allow us to go through a situation or experience and process all of that and then you meet somebody else and they're going through something similar and I really believe that God wants to redeem your story for his kingdom he allows you and I to go through certain experiences and situations so that you can eventually tell that story give encouragement give hope and use that for his kingdom so here's my question for you who needs to hear your story of redemption who needs to hear from your lips put your hope in God maybe it's somebody in your small group maybe it's a family member maybe it's a neighbor if you're middle school or high school maybe to teacher or coach or classmate but who needs to hear your story of redemption who needs to hear from you say hey put your hope in God see when I was in ninth grade I had found myself at rock bottom I had made it a complete mess of my life I felt I was feeling hopeless and overwhelmed with life life was pointless I hated it and I'd come to a point in my life where I was hanging out with Josh and we were playing basketball one day and I remember after we were done playing basketball we were talking about Jesus and we're talking about the Bible and spiritual things again and all of a sudden everything clicked for me and I realized I had this huge need for Jesus all of a sudden that became crystal clear and so at the end of my ninth grade year I prayed and I asked Jesus to be the leader of my life and the forgive of my sins and he radically transformed my life he put me on a completely different trajectory God showed up in ways I never expected him to and what if you and I begin to share our story of hope with the people that we encounter what if here at Bridgewater it's uncanny you begin to share your story and that begins to spread all throughout the community and people begin to hear about what God has been doing in your life you won't need a new building you'll need three new buildings just imagine what God could do with that if God can use a seventh grader to walk across the street to share the news of Jesus with another seventh grader what could he do in your life so here's your homework that you would go home and you would write out your own personal Psalm based on Psalm 130 in your notes app on your phone or in your journal or scratch piece of paper you would go verse by verse and you would write out your own Psalm and you would just follow this outline start with where you're at maybe you are in the depths of despair and you would begin to describe that to God maybe you're not in the depths of despair things are going well but you would describe this is where I'm at and you would cry out to mercy cry out for mercy cry out to God for the things that you are longing for and you'd begin to reflect on the forgiveness that you've received and you would actually go line by line by line and make it your own and then I'm going to challenge you to go one step further what if you shared it with somebody else this week send them a text or you give them a call or you post it on Facebook but you write out your story you write out your own personal Psalm and then share it with somebody what might God do with that story I'm convinced he wants to use it for his kingdom let me pray with you God it is amazing to watch you week after week change lives it's incredible no matter who we are no matter what's happened in our lives you continue to offer complete forgiveness full pardon and God I know that there's many people in this room who probably struggle with that they probably can't really wrap their mind around what that means but God that's what your word says and so this week as we move forward would you give us the courage to not only write out our story not only write out our personal Psalm but then give us the courage to share that with somebody and would you use those stories to draw people close to yourself that you would save people because we were bold enough to share the gospel it's in Christ's name we pray amen