Psalm 130:3-4 - December 8, 2009

Ps 130:3-4 "If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared." NIV

Here is some good news: You don’t have to be perfect, just forgiven! Psalm 130:3-4 is a celebration of God’s merciful kindness! The Word of God clearly states that there is no one who is righteous in their own strength. Rom 3:10 declares our need before God: “As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one.” Isaiah takes this thought into even more graphic terms as he speaks of man’s desperate condition and says in Isa 64:6 “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” NIV.

In His great mercy God has provided us the gift of righteousness that we could never earn in our own effort. It was prophesied from ages past when in Jer 51:10 Jeremiah declared “The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.”KJV God has done it! God has given us the gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ! As the Psalmist declares by implication: God keeps no record of sin for the repentant heart! With God there is great forgiveness because He has done the work of providing for us redemption through the substitutionary death of His Son Jesus Christ.

Paul describes this precious gift in Rom 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:” KJV The righteousness that God has provided for His people has been revealed through the work of His Son on the cross. By this great act forgiveness has been provided. Through this great act our hearts can find peace with God. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 130:4; “if God kept a record of sin “who could stand?” We could never present ourselves before God as holy vessels by the power of our own good works. No one could stand in His presence. But because of the forgiveness provided for us in Christ we are exhorted in He. 4:16 to “come boldly before the throne of grace.” The Psalmist saw by the Spirit the great measure of the forgiveness of God and declares it to us as “good news” from heaven.