[0:00] Psalm 130, we read at verse 6, My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
[0:14] The context of this verse that I'd like us to think about today is not so much looking for the morning light as such. That's the illustration that is used. And as we'll see, there are plenty of similar type illustrations throughout Scripture, which point us to this understanding of the Lord, and the daylight dawning in the heart, and the new light coming into the soul.
[0:38] But the actual context, as we read previously a few minutes ago, is one of great darkness and sorrow and need for the sinner, for the one who is trusting in the Lord.
[0:51] As David writes here, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
[1:03] Now, a little distinction, as you may or may not pick up here, but where, as you see, the word Lord is in capitals, this is where the original Hebrew word for God is covered over, with the word that translates roughly as Master, or Adonai would be in Hebrew.
[1:22] But the actual divine name is covered over, and this term, Lord with capitals, as it were, covers over that divine name. But what we have in verse 2 is Lord without all being in capitals, in the authorised version, anyway.
[1:37] And a little distinction here is that, whereas the first one is directly addressing God, the Lord, Jehovah, the Father, however we may choose to interpret that, but also in verse 2, that Lord without all being in capitals, almost certainly points to the Messiah.
[1:56] Now, of course, we know the Messiah is also God, but it is to distinguish between the one person of the Godhead, as it were, and the other. That they are both God, but this Lord, hear my voice, this is now addressed to the Master, the Messiah, as it were, we now understand, to Christ.
[2:15] This is a psalm which points us to Christ way before the days of Jesus ever being born on the earth. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord, Father, Jehovah, Lord, Messiah, Christ, hear my voice, let thy ears be attended to the voice of my supplication.
[2:35] If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? And again, the two distinctions in there, in verse 3, both the Father and the Son, we might say, being invoked here.
[2:48] We know that we have no hope if all our iniquities are counted against us. Our need is for forgiveness. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.
[3:01] And I think, well, surely that's a strange reason to say what forgiveness makes us afraid. Surely forgiveness would make us joyful. Oh, forgiveness would make us delighted. It would fill us with joy and happiness.
[3:12] And if there's forgiveness with God, we can be happy about it. Why should that make us fear? Well, because it's not fear in the sense of dread and trembling and, oh, terrifiedness. But rather, it's fear in the sense of awe and wonder.
[3:26] But also, if we know that there is the possibility of forgiveness, then there is the measure of fear because there is hope.
[3:37] And you might think, well, again, you're talking in the middle of the year. No, we're not. Where there is hope, there is inevitably fear or anxiety. And we've talked about this in the past, is that if you, you know, if you've got an exam, for example, and you're going into the hall and you're all nervous and you're all worried and you hope that all the stuff you've swatted up on is stuff that comes up in the exam paper, or you've got, say, an athletics event and you're trained up and you think you're reasonably sort of fit and supple, and ready for it, but you're nervous beforehand, then there is that mixture of anxiety and nerves because you hope you are going to do well, but you fear that it might go badly.
[4:17] But the only reason that you fear is because you also have hope. Now, let's say that you go out into your athletics occasion or you go into your exam and you absolutely bomb.
[4:30] It's a disaster. There are no questions that you've swatted up on. It's a complete, total failure. And your heart is in your boots. And likewise, the athletics event, you get absolutely gubbed.
[4:43] You come in, lash, you totally fail. So you may be miserable, but you're not afraid anymore. There's no more nerves, is there? There's no more anxiety. There's no more sort of knocking knees and trembling and sweating because in order for there to be those things, there has to be the mixture of fear and hope.
[5:03] But because it's totally fear, because it's just as black as night, you're lost, you're finished, there's no hope whatsoever, your heart may be in your boots, but you're not afraid anymore.
[5:14] The worst has happened. So you're not afraid. You're just absolutely feeling awful. If there is going to be fear, then it means that there must also be hope mixed in with it.
[5:26] Otherwise, what are you afraid of? You know, you're afraid things might go wrong. You're afraid things might not go as you hope. You're nervous, you're anxious, you're concerned. But the reason you're anxious, worried, and fearful is because you want things to go right, but you're afraid they might go wrong.
[5:43] And for that fear to be there, there must also be hope. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.
[5:53] because there is hope in God, because there is the possibility of forgiveness through Christ, through what he has done upon the cross.
[6:05] There is that hope being held out to us, so likewise there is and there ought to be fear that we might lose this. There is fear because there is the hope to be grasped, but the fear that it might be lost.
[6:18] There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. And then we have, in verses 5 and 6, I wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
[6:32] My soul waiteth for the Lord. And again, notice the change now. From the capitals to the non-capitals, as it were. In verses 5 to 6, the Father and the Son used interchangeably Jehovah and the Messiah.
[6:47] I wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
[7:00] Now, to take the illustration purpose here now, the imagery here is, for example, either of centrists on the battlements of a city or a fortification.
[7:13] There they are, plodding around the battlements and their night watch and their night duty. And they're not hoping that it's going to end. They don't have watches, of course, in those days.
[7:25] And now it's like, oh, well, there's three more hours to go or half an hour to go. No, they don't have that. So they're watching the sky. They're watching and listening for enemies. Yes, in the dark, because that's when the city or the town is the most, or the camp is the most vulnerable.
[7:38] But there they are. If it's a cold night, I mean, you're getting damp with the dew and they're getting stiff and they're getting uncomfortable. They'd really rather be tucked up in their beds, but there they are, keeping watch.
[7:50] There they are, making sure everybody else is safe. And they're doing their duty. They're doing their strength. But really what they want is for their duty to be fulfilled faithfully, but completed.
[8:02] They are watching for the morning. They are longing for the morning. That's the sense of it here, of a sentinel, of a sentry at his post, longing for the dawn, longing for the morning, when he knows that his duty, his task will have been faithfully fulfilled and completed.
[8:21] And he will know that the day has arrived and his work is complete for that. There's also, it's a possibility, given that it's a song of degrees, that means a psalm that the Israelites would sing as they ascended up to the temple and to worship there.
[8:36] It's maybe also an illustration of the priests who watched in the temple, watching the eastern hills, waiting for the first sign of the dawn, and the time to offer up the morning sacrifice.
[8:49] There is two possibilities, the ways of looking at it there. I wait for the Lord, my soul of weight, and his word do I hope. Now, at this verse 5 here, there's almost the sense, and perhaps some of you in your lives may have been familiar with this, perhaps, and the knowledge that what we see around us and what we experience ourselves may be anything but what we would hope.
[9:14] It may be everything's going wrong. We are not having a good time. We are going through the mill. We're going through difficulties. We're going through problems. Why isn't God helping me in all this?
[9:25] Everything I'm experiencing makes me think God has forsaken me. Everything I'm going through makes me think he's at best standing at a distance, or at worst, as Satan whispers in your ear, perhaps he just isn't there at all.
[9:37] Perhaps you were only fooling yourself all these years. If God really loved you, why isn't he helping you now? Why isn't he getting involved? Why isn't he lifting you out of this particular situation?
[9:48] You're praying to him enough. Why isn't he answering? And all these things will be going through your mind, perhaps, or the difficulties or the struggles you're going through, but over against that experience, which may be negative and difficult, we have the cast-iron word of the Lord.
[10:07] And you've got the word of the Lord on the one side, and you've got what all your experience may be on the other side. You say, well, what do I trust? What do I go on? And we know what the answer to that has to be, but boy, does it take faith.
[10:22] It takes faith to be able to say, look, everything I'm going through and experiencing seems to me that this that I'm reading and believing in isn't true or isn't applying for me just now, but it is the word of God and I believe that he will come good in his word.
[10:39] I believe that he will come through and he will be true to his word. And that, friends, is when faith really has to kick in. Now, I know we talk about having faith and it's right and it's necessary that we should have faith and we do have faith in our Savior Christ, but there are those times in our lives and experience when everything militates against it and all that we have to go on is what we might call raw faith, where you have God's word on the one side saying this and everything else says that and you think, what do I go by?
[11:17] Everything tells me one thing, but God says this, but nothing really says it's actually coming from me just now. It all just seems to be there. Yes, I believe it's true, but what is it happening?
[11:29] What do I do? You have to hold fast to that truth. I wait for the Lord. It isn't happening yet for you. It isn't putting things right in your life yet.
[11:39] It isn't lifting you out of the pit yet, but I wait for the Lord. My soul does wait. Whatever may be happening in your flesh, your body, may be feeling like it's caving in when my soul does wait and in his word, do I hope.
[11:57] Remember the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Now we beheld his glory, glorious as the only begotten the Father, full of grace and truth. We are not, we are not interceded for by a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities as Hebrews tells us.
[12:16] That he was like in all points, tempted as we are. He became flesh like we are. He went through much worse than we go through. His word do I hope.
[12:27] Jesus Christ is the word made flesh. I wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait and in his word do I hope. Now, most of the time, our word, God's word in our life and experience will be walking as it were hand in hand.
[12:46] Most of the time, yes, we'll have our struggles, our difficulties, our daily problems, but we take the Lord with us in it, through it all. Hopefully, we begin, we end again with the Lord and with his word and it is, yes, like the fruit that we eat, it is that which sustains us but there will be times, perhaps in almost everyone's life, certainly in some people's life, certainly I remember times in my own life when everything you are experiencing seems as black as night and yet you've got God's word here on the other hand and says, no, no, God hasn't forgotten you but it feels like God has forgotten you but his word says that he hasn't.
[13:25] God is going to help you but he isn't helping me. Why isn't he helping me now? He will help you. He will come through for you. You've got to trust. How long do we have to trust for? How long do we have to believe? You've got to hold on.
[13:37] You've got to believe. Have I ever lied? Well, why isn't it happening now? I'm never going to go back to my word and the faith has to be placed in what the Lord himself has said.
[13:49] I wait for the Lord my soul of weight and in his word do I hope. Now hope that is seen is not hope Romans tells us. For what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for?
[14:02] We hope in that which the Lord has promised and then we have my soul waiteth for the Lord. More than day that watch for the morning.
[14:14] Notice now it's not in capitals it's the Messiah it's Christ we are waiting for. More than day that watch for the morning. I say more than day that watch for the morning.
[14:25] Now the way in which of course Christ himself is often described as the dawning of the day you know it's many times in scripture in Luke chapter 1 for example where we've got Zacharias when his mouth is opened and he is prophesying and we read that John the Baptist the baby that he holds in his arms will be to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us.
[15:00] The spring of the day the opening the beginning the first the first gleams of the day coming through that's what day spring means the springing up of the day that's not a reference to the baby John the Baptist that's a reference to Christ who would come the day spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace now this is what the day spring from on high will do the dawning of the day will give that to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace now there may be times that isn't it the case if you've been through that that you feel like you're sitting in the shadow of death and there is no light and unless you get that light then you're just going to waste away in that darkness in that difficulty that's sitting in darkness in the shadow of death but then the day spring from on high hath visited us this little gleam of light that begins in the east which revelation for example describes chapter 2 verse 28
[16:21] I will give him the morning star that is the star that is still there when the day begins it were the last one as it were to vanish from the night and this is part of course of Jesus own words when he's addressing the churches in Revelation and he speaks to the church for example in Thyatira and he says you know he that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power over the nations he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my father we're talking about this kind of power and rule and all the things that sinners here and Christians here don't feel like they ever have he says I will give him the morning star in other words himself the day spring from on high Jesus himself says in Revelation 22 at the very end of the Bible he says
[17:24] I Jesus have sent my angel to testify these things in the churches I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star he is the one that heralds the dawning of that new day that will never become that again and if you think about it when he talks about he says I'm the alpha and the omega and the beginning and the end we think of this phrase the root and the offspring of David well really if you stop to think about it those phrases are contradictory or they would seem to be contradictory because if you're the root of David it means like you're his ancestor but if you're the offspring of David then you're his descendant how can you be both at the same time you can only be both at the same time if you have been God from all eternity which Christ is he has been God from all eternity he is the root of David the one from whom David the Lord's anointed springs but he is also according to the law according to God's revealed word he is the offspring of David he is the son of David in the sense of being the Messiah his genealogy his traits in the legal sense all the way down from David to when Christ is born but of course he's not on the flesh of David he's as it were
[18:46] David's spiritual descendant because his flesh is only from Mary not from Joseph or from the descendants and ancestors back to David his flesh is from Mary but his Godhead is from God the Holy Ghost and from the Father I am the root of David and I am the offspring of David the bright and the morning star the beginning and the ending everything you could possibly want and need I Jesus am the supply of it the bright and morning star you only have stars when it is dark when it is night but the morning star is that which lingers until the coming of the day to show and to see look see I was keeping my word look see it was true that which I said the Lord the Lord never denies his own word he is never untrue to himself sometimes you think in terms of things that God cannot do well there is nothing
[19:48] God cannot do but there are some things he cannot do he cannot lie he cannot be untrue to himself he will always bring to pass what he has promised my soul awaiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning once we do have this equivalence or this this illustration of the Lord Jesus Christ being as the day spring as the morning star which he described himself as as well also we have to remember that this this is an illustration here in this in this psalm it is not so watch for the morning that is just like watching for God but my soul will do for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning it is a lot but they are keen watching for the day and for the first gleams of light on the horizon and this they long for they wait for they watch for but we we long for the Lord far more than that you know the night seems to go on and on forever and it can seem like that particularly if you are right down in that dark bit maybe just now or maybe been there in the past and you know what it is like we read in
[21:04] Isaiah 21 verse 11 the burden of Jema he calleth to me out of seer watchman what of the night what of the night the watchman said the morning cometh and also the night if you will inquire inquire ye return come the morning is coming there is no stopping it and also the night now as you mean by that I would suggest to you these two possibilities you cannot stop the morning from coming you cannot stop the day star from arising in our hearts you cannot stop the coming of Christ and the fact that he will be the one who sits on his throne judging everyone of the last we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ but whilst that is the morning for those who trust and believe in him it becomes the night for those who have denied him the morning cometh and also the night the night will follow for those who are out of
[22:06] Christ the fact that it is morning that will be good news for some people it's good news for the for the century who is weary and watching at his post it's good news for the priest who is waiting to offer up the morning sacrifice but it might be bad news for the criminal who is waiting in his cell who knows he's going to be executed at dawn it might be bad news for the deserter who is going to be shot at dawn it might be bad news for somebody to whom something bad is going to happen in that day and there is nothing worse that can happen to us than to find ourselves at the end of our days without Christ that is the worst thing that can ever happen to you friends we must not let that happen we have opportunity watchman wanted the night the night may still be with us the implication of this psalm is that it is still night I wait for the Lord my soul with more than they that watch for the morning if they're watching for the morning it hasn't come yet the day star has not yet arisen the morning star has not yet appeared or at least you can't pick it out amongst all the other stars that are there in the black sky just now it is still night in the sense the
[23:24] Lord has not yet returned watchman what of the night what of the night the watchman said the morning comes the morning cometh and also the night if you will inquire inquire return come ask seek knock inquire return unto the Lord as Hosea says come let us return unto the Lord for he has smitten us and he will heal us he has broken and he will bind us up after two days he will revive us and the third day he will bring us to the light if you will inquire inquire return come come behold what wondrous things the Lord has done come behold the salvation that he freely offers for sinners this is the mourning that he offers as opposed to the eternal night the thing is we are meant to be those who long for the day we are meant to be those who are looking for and longing for that coming of the day in
[24:35] Peter chapter 1 2nd Peter chapter 1 we read verse 19 we have also more sure word of prophecy where unto ye do well that ye take heed unto a light that shineth in a dark day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts whatever may be the case at the end of time that day star arises that new day arises in the hearts and the lives of all who put their trust in Christ you don't have to wait for the last day for your deliverance you don't have to wait for the end of time it's not just pie in the sky when you die this day star can arise in your hearts right now if you receive Christ until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts Peter says and in his first letter he already said in chapter 1 verse 13 wherefore dare not the loins of your mind be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
[25:39] Jesus Christ hope that is seen is not hope Roman says remember but hope to the end keep on trusting keep on hoping you've got the word of God on one side that promises you everything you've got your experience on the other side that says well it isn't happening or it hasn't happened yet but there's that key word yet the fact that it hasn't happened yet does not mean it will not happen how do we know because the Lord himself uses these terms of day and night and what know that day follows night infallibly it will always be the case remember what the Lord said to Noah in chapter 8 you know while the earth endures seek time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease we know the morning will come how do we know because it always does because this is how time has always been it hasn't changed the night may be long and it may be dark and there may be parts of the world like in the north pole or the south pole or whatever where it may seem to be night time for months but the day will come and the light will dawn and however long it may seem to be
[27:10] God never fails to keep his word as God's covenant is more firm than the ordinances of day and night for they shall come to an end but that is everlasting they shall come to an end well will day and night come to end surely God has said that it will carry on forever no it will carry on while the world endures there will come a day when the world doesn't endure anymore back to Revelation we read chapter 21 the city had no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the lamb is the light thereof and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the kings of the earth to bring their glory and honour into it and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there because the
[28:21] Lord dwells in the midst of them that is the light they don't need the sun they don't need the moon anymore because the Lord is there he is their light there won't be any shutting of the gates because there won't be any night there it is the very first thing God does he who was the light of the world is that he shoots light into the darkness it's the very first thing he says it's the very first thing he does on the very first day of creation day one let let there be light and there was light my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they that watch for the morning we long for the morning but that isn't going to make it come any quicker so what are we to do in the meantime well we know that although we watch for it and there's a lovely historical account given about the
[29:27] West Indian slaves in the plantations there at the time when slavery was about to be abolished throughout the empire and apparently in these particular islands in the West Indies they knew that their freedom was going to take effect from the 1st of August 1830 the 1st of August and so the night before the 31st of July it said that most of they just didn't go to bed at all they gathered in their churches and their places of worship and they just waited and worshipped and prayed for the first greens of the dawn and some of their number were sent up into the hilltops and to look to the east to see the first the first strands of light coming over the dark horizon because when the day dawned and it became the new day they knew they would be free they longed for it and they waited and they stayed up all night of course as they say that wouldn't make it come any quicker but it means that they are ready and in anticipation and that's what we are to be ready and in anticipation
[30:42] Romans 13 tells us verse 11 knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep if we did go to bed wake up and they still be dark but it is ready it is time to be ready to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed the night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the arm of light let us walk honestly as in the day whatever may be the sorrow the trouble the suffering the darkness in which you may for all I know be now at this time or you may remember a time of such blackness and darkness and difficulty if it is something you remember then you know that the day did dawn and the Lord did not leave you comfortless and he did not abandon you if you are going through it now then all you may have to go on is raw faith you have the word of
[31:54] God which does not lie the word of a God who cannot lie who cannot be true untrue to himself in this grace which the redeemer has that is enough for each and every soul who would desire it there is enough for each there is enough for all you need not stay in the darkness because the night cometh and also the morning cometh and also the night and that new day will be joy to those who are in Christ who have waited for him who have longed for him it will be misery for those who have put their trust in something else or someone else Jesus himself said to his disciples watch ye therefore for ye know not when the master of the house cometh at even or at midnight or at the cock crowing or in the morning lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping and what
[32:58] I say unto you I say unto all watch and as is so often the case what we read in the New Testament we already have echoed from before in the Old Testament in Psalm 27 for example we read I had fainted unless I had been leave to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord and if you think about what the prophet Isaiah says if you remember it's that in chapter 25 where there's that lovely verse if I can just find it where it says it shall be said in that day this is our God we have waited for him lo this is our
[34:00] God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and his word do I hope my soul waited for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they that watch for the morning because when that day star comes when that bright and morning star comes it will be a day that will never darken for those who in Christ it is a day that will never come to an end because it is no longer the sun and the moon that sustain us with light and our revolutions and spinning around what affects it it is the Lord which is the light of his people there will be no night there because the Lord is the light of that city and so we watch and so we wait and we may be down in a pit of darkness just now and there may be nothing else to hold on to but the faith that we have that
[35:07] God's word will be true and either one of two things will happen either your life may end in that dark state but if it does then you will open your eyes in the brightest glory you have ever beheld if you hold fast to the Lord because sometimes his will we have to acknowledge sometimes his will is not to spring his faithful people out of prison like he did for people sometimes it is that they seal the testimony in their own blood sometimes it is that they remain faithful unto death that they may receive the crown of life I can't honestly say to you yeah you'll be picked up out the pit yeah don't worry because the day will come all I can say to you is without fear of contradiction wait for the Lord and one way or another he will lift your soul out of that dark pit your body and mind may end up in darkness and may end up being committed to this world and being lost in this world for now but your soul will never be thus chained my soul waiteth for the
[36:24] Lord more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they that watch for the morning when that morning comes it will be the sweetest most beautiful morning that your eyes or the eyes of faith or the eyes of your soul will ever have be held believe you me it will be worth all the waiting it will be worth all the sorrow it will be worth all the suffering and Christ himself should know because whatever may be the dark night of your soul his night was darker and whatever may be the depths to which you have been plunged he has gone down deeper he descended into hell and of his people it is said that the Lord their God is their helper and however deep they go underneath are the everlasting arms so I wait for the Lord my soul that wait and yes in his word do
[37:28] I hope my soul wait for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they that watch for the morning I day night once by all apa