The Road to Redemption
Keith McFarren
March 22, 2026
Romans 8:6-11
    The 130th Psalm is
called a Psalm of Ascent.  It’s one of 15
that are tucked away near the end of the Book of Psalms.  The Psalms of Ascents were considered to be
songs sung by the pilgrims as they traveled to Jerusalem for a time of worship
or for a sacrifice.    
    Since Jerusalem
sat high up on a hill, approaching it from any direction meant that one would
be going up hill.  Thus the name Psalms
of
Ascent because the songs that were being sung by the pilgrims
were being sung as they were traveling uphill toward Jerusalem.  
    But there is also a
theological reference to the Psalms of Ascent as well and that becomes
abundantly clear from the very first line of the Psalm: “From the depths of
despair, O Lord, I call for your help.”
The 130th Psalm begins on a negative note.  
    It is being sung
by people who are troubled to say the least, people who are perhaps at the
lowest points in their life, and as the Psalm continues on one can picture the
pilgrims singing and making their way up the hill toward Jerusalem.  
    But the closer
they get to Jerusalem we see that their cry of despair gradually becomes a cry
of faith and hope.  They sing out that
“…the Lord himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.”  What we’re witnessing here is a song that
begins as a personal call for help gradually becomes a call of hope in the
Lord.
    The Psalmist
addresses the God of forgiveness and promises to wait for God’s redemption, no
matter how long it takes.  Then he turns
to the entire nation of Israel and invites them to wait with him as well…to
wait with hope, for the transforming love of God, the redeeming love of God
that can heal all the brokenness and all the sinfulness of mankind.  
    Out of the
depths…out of the depths of whatever particular hole we find ourselves in, no
matter how far we have fallen there is always hope for us.  No matter how far we have fallen, no matter
how dark our lives have become, there is always the possibility of healing,
there is the possibility of forgiveness, and there is always the possibility
for new life.  That’s the redemption road
we find ourselves on, that is the redemption road we follow as disciples of
Jesus Christ.
    That’s what the
chosen people of God were doing as they marched toward Jerusalem and that’s
what people like you and me were chosen to do and to be.  To be the ones following the road of
redemption.  Not just for ourselves but
as a way of inviting and including the whole world to come along with us, no
matter how hopeless and how dim the possibilities of the world seem to be.
    Do you remember
the prophet Ezekiel?  Ezekiel found
himself standing knee deep in a valley of dry bones and looking around at what
he saw he could not even conjure up an image of hope.  The bones that were piled in front of him for
as far as he could see were meant to represent a picture of the nation of
Israel who found itself in Babylonian captivity…scattered and dead and dried
out.  Bones that were scattered and dried
out because of their spiritual bankruptcy, a bankruptcy that caused them to
lose all hope for the future, all sensitivity toward sin and little by little
they drifted away forgot about God.  
     “Can these bones
live?” was the question he heard from the Spirit of God that brought him there
that day.  As he processed these words,
Ezekiel hopelessly turned and looked at the destruction that had taken place
around him and could only answer in one way,
“Only you know Lord.”  
    He could only
throw the question back to the Spirit.
After seeing nothing but dry bones for as far as he could see, there was
no way in the world that Ezekiel could conjure up enough confidence that he
could say there was even a possibility that the spiritually dry bones could
somehow be resurrected and given new life.
    Is that how you
feel this morning?  Maybe you know
someone who does.  Someone who is
spiritually dry and has hit rock bottom.
Someone who is spiritually bankrupt and run out of hope.
Someone who has given up and is dead to the world around
them.
    Do you remember
when Lazarus died ? (John 11).  They put
him in a tomb and closed the tomb with a huge stone.  After Lazarus had been dead for four days
Jesus showed up and told  them to move
the stone.  
    “Lazarus come
out,” Jesus said.  And with that command
the dead man came out of the tomb still wrapped in his grave clothes, but
Lazarus and was filled with new life.
    Jumping ahead just
a little bit toward Easter, I think we’ve all been around long enough to say
we’ve heard the story of what happened to Jesus.  Jesus was crucified on a Friday and placed in
a tomb and the tomb was closed with a huge stone.  And three days later, on Easter morning the
stone had been moved and we find that Jesus was no longer dead…but alive.
    Take away the
stone.  That’s the common denominator in
all of this isn’t it?  The stone.  Take away the stone and find new life through
God…a life that leads to hope and possibility.
A life that leads to redemption, to transformation and grace and
forgiveness.
    But what exactly
is the stone that we’re talking about?  What is the stone that keeps people from
having hope and from hearing this invitation to a new life? What is standing in the
way of building and strengthening our community of faith, of loving our
neighbor, serving the hurting, the forgotten, the ignored?  What is the stone that need to be removed so
that God can call us to a new life…a new life out of death?
    In our scripture
reading, Paul is drawing a contrast between two kinds of life.  There is the life that is dominated by our
sinful human nature…a life that causes spiritual bankruptcy…a life that causes
spiritual death…a life that focuses on ourselves and our own desires…a life
that goes where it wants to go and do what it wants to do.
    It’s life that is
controlled by passion…a life focused on lust or pride or ambition or
greed.  It’s a life whose main
characteristic is being a self absorbed life that focuses on the things that
those without a relationship with God set their hearts and their sights on.
    The other kind of
life that Paul refers to is the life that is dominated by the Spirit of
God.  A life that is always filled with
the presence of God.  As we breathe
in…our lives are filled with God.  As we
think…our minds are filled with the presence and the thoughts of God.  Those whose lives are dominated by the Spirit
of God have no desires of their own…they are focused only on the desires God
and the needs and well being of others because they are controlled by the
Spirit of God.
    Paul says that we
are that troublesome stone that needs to be removed.  We are the stone that stands in the way of our
own well being.  We are the stone that
stands in the way of our own spiritual freedom.
Jesus calls for us to come out from the tomb of narrow vision.  He calls us out of the tomb of our self-centered
prideful, hateful, arrogant living so that we might step out into the light of
the Spirit that redeems us, the Spirit that unites us, and the Spirit that
builds us up as Christians.
    Step away from the
life that is dominated by the desires and the activities of our sinful human
nature…a life that leads to death…a life that leads to being nothing but a
bunch of spiritually dried up bones like Ezekiel was faced with…a life that has
no future…because it’s a life that leads us further and further away from God.
    Turn yourself
around and live the Spirit controlled life.
The God focused life that is focused on hope and on redemption, the life
that everyday leads us closer to heaven even though we are still here on earth.

   The same spirit that
raised Jesus from the dead lives with those who choose to live the Godly life,
the life focused on faith and hope and forgiveness, the life focused on the
ways of God.  
    We are called to
be the sign that God is at work in the world.
We are called to be the evidence that redemption is possible…to show the
world that as we travel on the road to redemption, the Holy Spirit not only
regenerates, but it also resurrects.    
    That’s the promise
of God.  It’s a promise that is as sure
as Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning.