Do you remember that commercial for Scrubbing Bubbles? I used to want to get some so that my Mom and I could watch those guys running around the tub and doing all of the cleaning all by itself. If only magic Scrubbing Bubbles could be applied life. This is a message that was delivered in September of 2010 at the Hartville Church of the Brethren in Hartville, Ohio.

1. Psalms 130

2. Psalms 130
A song of ascents.
1
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
2
O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
3
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.
5
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
6
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7
O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8
He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

3. Scrubbing Bubbles?

4. Is cleaning your life any
different?
How do we become clean? How do we
get the stains out of our lives…
 Some people..

 Work and work to do so much good that God
won’t even notice their sin.
 Pray and ask God to forgive them, but don’t
forgive themselves; they always feel that
stain hidden behind the new shower curtain.
 Some feel if you beat yourself daily, the dirt
will be ignored because you are being so
earnest..

5. A song of Ascents
1





Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
A Psalm about how David felt getting his
life together and being cleansed
Ascents - Going up – Approaching God
The writer is in despair, something is wrong
He realizes he is a sinner
He feels alienated from God
 Have you felt this way? “Real Life” situations
 “If you feel you are far away from God,
Guess who moved…”

6. O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

Prays for two things
 Hear my voice
 Be merciful

This Psalm is about being separated from
God
 Spiritually – David’s Sin
 Emotionally – When the Jews were captive in
Babylon with nothing left but God

When do you call out to God?
 James 4:8 “Come near to God and he will come
near to you.”

7. When to cry out to God… NOW

Some of the best people of the Bible, in bad situations…
 Jeremiah
 Daniel
 Jonah

They cried out to God when they were in trouble
Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

8. If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could
stand?
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
O Lord – Yahweh
 Psalms 103:8 –

 YAHWEH is merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, and plenteous in mercy.

When a child is in an accident… what is
important?
 “I’m sorry! So sorry! I […]”
 “Are you OK?”

9. I wait for the LORD,
my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
When we pray, we wait upon the Lord
 We must pray knowing God hears
 1 John 5:14

This is the confidence we have in approaching
God: that if we ask anything according to his will,
he hears us.

Luke 11:13
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will
your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask him!

10. My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the
morning,
more than watchmen wait for the
morning.
 We don’t just hope that God hears us.
God Hears us and we wait upon his
answer
 Actively waiting – Looking, straining,
yearning, expecting the Lord.
 Thank God in advance & praise him for
the answer he gives, even as we wait.
 Plan upon our prayer being answered
 Worship him for answering our prayers

11. Why worship?

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness.
God’s simple 1 Step Program
 We confess our sins

-
HE is faithful
HE is just
HE forgives
HE purifies

12. Scrubbing Bubbles Again

It teaches the wrong lesson
 We have to do it all; we’re doing the cleaning
 If we just do enough, good works…
 We’re only done when we’ve done enough
penance on our knees

The Psalms 130 lesson
 God DOES do all the work
 All we need do is cry out to the Lord, admit we
are sinners and ask Him to cleanse us.
 Help is on the way. Put your hope in his word.

13. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the
LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
KJV - plenteous redemption
 NKJV - abundant redemption
 NLT - an overflowing supply of
 The Message – Generous redemption
 ESV – Plentiful redemption

Unfailing Love

14. He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
Romans 11 - The deliverer will come
from Zion; he will turn godlessness
 Mathew 1:21 – He will save his people
from their sins.
 Titus 2 – [He] gave himself for us to
redeem us from all wickedness and to
purify for himself a people that are his
very own
 God does have a plenteous, abundant,
overflowing generous supply
