Psalm 131 is a personal testimony, as I said earlier, and one part of it is its acknowledgement of what David was or was inclined to be before God changed him and he learned to be satisfied with God alone. He speaks of these things negatively, saying what he is not like now because of God's grace. But he must have been inclined to these things once, which is why he is rejecting them. They are pride, arrogance and ambition, all in verse 1. 

The last stanza of this remarkable psalm is extraordinary. Up to this point all the psalmist's sorrow for sin, repentance, prayer, faith, and hope in God were centered about himself. But in this last stanza, having found forgiveness, he turns to those about him, to Israel, and encourages them to put their "hope in God” too. Why? It is because of God's nature, because with the Lord is unfailing love and full redemption. 

Sin is the problem, then. And what the psalmist seeks is forgiveness, which God gives freely. How terrible it would be if all we could expect of God is one who keeps a record of our sins. Suppose that is all God did, keep a record of our sins? Who could stand if he did that? The answer obviously is no one. No one can hope to stand before God on the basis of his works.

Psalm 130 is a profound psalm, and because it is a profound psalm, it has been profoundly treated...There is a reason for these extensive treatments, of course, and it is, quite simply, that this psalm has been blessed to many of God's people down through history and has been greatly loved by them as a result. It has been blessed because it contains a penetrating statement of the gospel. 

The victory we are speaking of here will never go to Satan. It goes to Jesus. In fact, it is his already. For he has triumphed, and we now shout, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).