Sermon -- Ash Wednesday (February 26, 2020)

PSALM 130

WITH THE LORD IS

PLENTIFUL REDEMPTION.

In the name + of Jesus.

     A man sits on death row.  The day of his execution has come.  He is moments away from getting the justice he has earned.  Begging and bargaining are useless.  Excuses won't matter; defenses won't be believed.  Whether he acted in the heat of passion or he was cool and calculated is irrelevant.  The evidence against him is undeniable.  They have him dead to rights.  The moment of execution is at hand.  He hears the steps coming to his cell.  The door is opened.  Tears fall.  Hope is gone.  The warden steps into the cell and makes the announcement: “The governor has called.  He has pardoned you of all crimes.  You will not be put to death today.  On the contrary,  you are being released.  You are free to go.”
     Can you imagine the relief?  The sense of amazement?  The joy?  He knew that he deserved his sentence, but he is let go.  The charges are dropped.  Mercy overruled justice.  A man on death row is free.
     Although you and I are not in a literal prison cell, we all ought to make the connection.  The evidence against us is overwhelming and undeniable.  “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3)  Our sins stand against us.  Some are public record; others are well guarded secrets.  Either way, the Lord knows, and we are guilty.  Whether our actions came from the heat of passion or we were cool and calculated is irrelevant.  We were convinced we were doing something to benefit ourselves.  But our sins did not satisfy us; all we did was hurt others.  We slandered, betrayed, cheated, and stole—and our lives were none the better for it.
     This is why the Psalmist teaches us to pray, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!  O Lord, hear my voice!” (Psalm 130:1)  We live in the depths of guilt and shame.  We are destined for the depths of death and hell.  Bargaining with God is useless.  Our excuses are insulting.  There is no way to improve our situation.  Justice demands punishment, and God has us dead to rights.
     While we do well to examine ourselves often, the Lenten season offers a particular time to take a look deep into our hearts, minds, and lives and to recognize the evil that is there.  We mark ourselves on Ash Wednesday with dust.  It is a stark reminder that we are going to die, because that is what sinners have earned.  Dust is not only a sign of mortality, it is also a sign of repentance.  We cannot undo our sins.  All we can do is cry out from the depths: “Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” (Psalm 130:2)
       But hope is not gone.  The Psalmist knows it, and you should too.  “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness...” (Psalm 130:3-4)  Whether you chose to be smudged with ashes or not, you have been marked with sin and death.  We cannot fix our condition or rise up to a better place.  So the Lord comes down to us in our depths.  The Lord became a man to make himself dust with us so that we will not be left to inherit death and hell.  With the Lord is plentiful redemption.
     The Psalmist declares to all who are marked with sin and death: “O Israel, hope in the LORD!  For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.  And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” (Psalm 130:7-8)  The smudge may mark you as dust, but it is also marking you with a cross.  Here is the means by which Jesus delivers you out of sin and death.  With the Lord is plentiful redemption.
     Now, if he acts to redeem you, that means there is a cost.  God does not just dismiss your sins out of thin air.  God is just, and justice has to be done.  Whoever has sinned bears guilt.  Whoever bears guilt is accountable and has earned his punishment.  This is why we cry out from the depths.  But with the Lord is plentiful redemption.  Jesus has come down to the depths to pay the price which is needed to set us free.  Jesus came to the depths for us—not just to our deep, dark places of shame and guilt, but even to the depths of death and hell.
     With the Lord is plentiful redemption.  The Son of God comes to ransom the children of mankind.  The eternal God stands in for all people of all time.  The sinless God bears all of our guilt, and the immortal God submits himself to our death.  Since Jesus bears the guilt of all, all guilt has been punished through him.  God remains just—the guilty one has been slain.  Your sins are not merely dismissed; they have been paid for.  Jesus has given up himself as the price to pay off all of your debt.  The cost of your sin and guilt has been covered.  Everything that death and damnation demand has been satisfied.  Therefore, you are pardoned. 
     “O Israel, hope in the LORD!  For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.” (Psalm 130:7)  It it good, right, and salutary to hope in the Lord.  For we have not stopped being sinners.  We enter another Lenten season to focus on our need for repentance.  None of us has overcome our sins.  All of us are drawn to some temptation or another.  There continue to be people we hurt, even if we did not intend to.  But even in our struggles and battles against sin and temptation, we “hope in the LORD!  For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.” (Psalm 130:7)  
     Our Lord does not grow tired of us despite our weaknesses.  With the Lord there is steadfast love.  Jesus' payment to redeem you does not lose value.  God's love for you remains constant.  For Jesus' redemption was not made just to even the score.  He does not tell you, “Now we are even.  Your slate is clean.  Try not to mess up again.”  If he did, we would fall right back into the depths.  Rather, our Lord exalts us so that we are continually marked as his redeemed.  Far more important than getting ash smudged upon your head is the baptismal waters which washed over your head.  That is where God washed you clean of all sin, raised you up out of the depths, and called you his own dear child.  You are marked with a cross of ashes on Ash Wednesday alone.  But every morning and every evening, you get to mark yourself with the sign of the holy cross and invoke the Triune name to remember that “with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.” (Psalm 130:7)  
     We have entered another Lenten season, a season of repentance.  We come again to confess our sins and renew our fight against temptation.  We come, because with the Lord there is plentiful redemption.  He will never tell you that you have worn out his patience or exhausted his mercy.  The blood of Jesus always cleanses you of all sin.  And therefore, we continue to flee to this altar to receive the body and blood which were given into death to pay for our sins.  We consume the ransom price which has redeemed us.  We take into ourselves the Christ who has conquered death and lives forever.  And since we are now Christ's, so shall we live forever with him.
     The Lord comes down to you in the depths of your sin, and it does not matter how low he has to go.  He delivers you out of your sorrow and shame.  He pays your debt.  He exalts you, even to glory.  O Israel, O people of God, O redeemed of Christ, put your hope in the Lord; for with the Lord is plentiful redemption. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.