Advent Series
Awaiting a Savior (Psalm 40)
Entering Advent
We come to a time of year in which we look forward to good things. We look forward to Christmas – gifts around the tree and gatherings around the table or the television for a football game. We look forward to the end of school (at least for a while). We also look forward to a new year – a chance to write on a fresh page as we turn to the future. Many Christians call this season Advent. The word means anticipation. We anticipate the birth of Jesus Christ. Advent calendars mark the days until that spectacular event. We remember long centuries during which faithful worshippers waited for God’s promised Messiah. I just returned from two days at Bethlehem Revisited. Joe and I led several groups listening to Moses, David, Isaiah, and Micah as they groaned for God to keep his promises and send a Savior. When Jesus was born, the angels and the anticipators broke out in song. But Advent is also a time to revive our hope in the promise that Jesus will return. Paul wrote to Christians 2000 years ago,
2 Thessalonians 1:6–10 … God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted … when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction… 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed….
It is easy to forget that this history-ending event could happen at any time. Our eternal perspective grows dull. Time weakens our anticipation. It is good to take time and renew our calling to watch, and wait, and, if necessary, to suffer until Jesus comes back, no matter how long it takes. I is good to imitate the example of our Old Testament fathers and mothers so that we can more patiently and joyfully anticipate the second coming of Christ. Which is a main reason why I choose to preach from the Old Testament during Advent. Last year, we shared several messages from Micah 5:2-5. The three years before we covered Genesis to 2 Chronicles showing how each book points to Jesus as the Promised Messiah. This year, I turn to the book of Psalms. I hope to take three psalms out of the 150 in the Bible, and show how they like so many others point forward to Jesus Christ. My goal is to demonstrate the truth of Jesus’ words in Luke 24:44.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
Today, I ask you to consider Psalm 40. Please turn there now. It begins on p. 468 of the church Bible. This psalm emphasizes an Advent theme: Longing for God’s Deliverance. Listen for it as I read the psalm out loud.
Psalm 40:title–17 (ESV) To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. 4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! 5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. 6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” 9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. 10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. 11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! 12 For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me. 13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! 14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt! 15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!” 16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” 17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!
The poet of this psalm is King David. He writes very personally. Notice all the “I” “me” and “my” references. But this is not a private psalm. He writes as the leader of the nation. He offers his poem to the choirmaster to incorporate it into public worship. David’s experience affects everyone under his rule. That’s why he refers to “us” in v. 5, meaning all his kingdom. Yet he also writes as the representative of all faithful worshipers. All who trust in the Lord can identify in some way with David’s experience. In this sense it is a psalm for every Christian here. Not only this, David writes as the forerunner of the Messiah. We will see how the NT identifies this psalm as a Christmas prophecy.
The Life of the King
Look first at the poem from David’s individual perspective. He relates his experience in three phases. In vv. 1-5 he remembers God’s deliverance in the past. Because of this deliverance, he has a story to tell. He cried to God. He patiently waited for God to respond (v. 1). The Lord worked salvation. He rescued David from a horrific situation which he describes poetically as a pit of destruction or miry bog (v. 2). He may be referring to a military crisis in which God gave him victory. God not only rescued David but he made him secure on a rock. Out of the story of God’s deliverance David has a song to sing (v. 3). He expects this praise song to be sung in public worship so that many will hear it and put their trust in the Lord (v. 3). Because of this past deliverance he has sound wisdom to give (v. 4). Trust in God, don’t look for help from proud people who are living a lie. Also, because of this deliverance, David has service to offer (v. 5). God has multiplied wondrous deeds and plans toward his people. So, David will serve God by telling others. This is the theme of the next phase.
In vv. 6-10 he describes in detail how he responds to God’s deliverance. He expresses this response in two ways. The first is in vv. 6-8. He responds not with religious ritual but with heart obedience. Review those verses again.
Psalm 40:6–8 6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
David recognizes that God is not interested in empty sacrifices. The Old Testament does command sacrifices. But they were not intended to be an end in themselves. When they become simply outward exercises, God takes no delight in them. He does not require hypocrisy. David realizes that, rather than offering something to God, God has given something to David. He has given him open ears. This means that God caused David to understand his word so that, end of v. 8, God’s law is within David’s heart. David not only knows God’s word, but he delights to obey. The law is not a burden but a blessing. It guides David to please the Lord. David lives a life that backs up what he says about God. That’s the second way the king responds to God’s past deliverance. He offers faithful testimony about the Lord. We hear that testimony in vv. 9-10. Look at the phrases. “I have told” “I have not restrained my lips” I have not hidden” “I have spoken” and “I have not concealed.” David takes every opportunity to speak about what God has done. This is the pattern of his life since God brought about this great deliverance.
In the third phase of David’s experience, vv. 11-17, he turns to the future. He recognizes that he will need God’s deliverance again. God will have to act with the same mercy, love, and faithfulness as he has in the past. These graces must “ever preserve me” according to v. 11. David needs God’s future deliverance because he continues to sin (vv. 11-13). His sin surrounds him and overwhelms him according to v. 12. So, he longs for God’s deliverance in v. 13 just as he did in the past (v. 1). He needs future deliverance because he faces constant opposition (vv. 14-15). Even after a great victory there are those who desire to snatch away his life (v. 14). They are ready to take advantage of a moment of weakness (v. 15). David needs God’s future deliverance because he admits his weakness (vv. 16-17). He seeks and loves God’s salvation (v. 16) along with all who praise God. He recognizes that he is poor and needy (v. 17). He cries “Do not delay, O my God!” He ends where he began, waiting patiently and crying out to God, longing for God’s deliverance.
Psalm 40 for Every Believer
Every believer in Jesus Christ can relate to these three phases as a picture of his or her life. In the past, when we cried out to God for salvation he heard us. He rescued us from the pit of hell into which we were sinking because of sin. He set us upon the Rock, Jesus Christ. For some believers, that happened in an obvious moment of conversion. In the case of others, the moment is not identifiable. But God’s deliverance is as dramatic for all believers. Every believer has a story to tell. We ask those who desire to join our church to tell their story. We want to hear that the gospel of Jesus Christ has become a personal reality to each one. Three people have done that recently and next week the members of the church will consider receiving them as brothers and sisters. Do you have a story about how the Lord saved you? Do you tell that story? Can you tell how God has brought you from darkness to light, from the kingdom of Satan into his own glorious kingdom? Everyone who has Jesus as Savior has a story. If you are not a Christian, ask a Christian friend to tell you his or her story. If you want to know more about what it would mean for you to enter the story of salvation, pick up a copy of the booklet “Two Ways to Live” as you go out today. Look it over carefully. Talk to one of us to ask questions. We want the gospel story to become your story.
Like David, every believer also has a song. One of the most evident marks of the true believer in Jesus is that he or she loves to sing. Christian worship at its best has always included public, congregation singing where, as v. 3 says, “many” people trust God through the singing of his people. There is beauty and power in music that make it a fitting way to worship the God who saves. If a person professes to have been rescued and established in Christ yet refuses to sing about that, alarm bells should go off. Such a profession may not be a reality. It’s true that you can outwardly sing and still not know Christ. But those who do know him will sing about him. Someone will object, “I can’t sing. My singing would not cause anyone to trust in God. It might cause them to wonder if there is a God.” The issue is not the quality of the voice but the glory of the God being praised. Notice that v. 3 claims that many will “see” us singing and put their trust in the Lord. They will see people, having been saved by Christ, gathering to praise him in united song. They will realize that only God could bring such a group together. And they will trust him. God does not guarantee that this will happen, only that this will happen. You might be thinking right now, “I don’t know of anyone who has trusted God because of my singing.” That’s the point. We don’t know what God is doing when we sing. It may be that in heaven we learn that our singing humbled a sinner who believed or encouraged a believer to keep pressing on through difficulty. We know that God puts a song in the mouth of his children. And he delights to hear them sing. I thank him for the earnest singing I hear from this congregation each Lord’s day.
Every believer in Jesus Christ also identifies with David’s response (which we saw in vv. 6-10). Those who know Christ show it through heart obedience. This is one of the blessings that that Jesus brings in the new covenant which he sealed with his blood.
Jeremiah 32:39–40 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.
Obedience for the Christian flows from gratitude and devotion in response to what God has done. Believers also respond by giving faithful testimony to what the Lord has done for them. I heard of a man this week who claimed that he believed in Jesus Christ he just didn’t like to talk about it. But Jesus told his disciples that “you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). At his trial, when the high priest asked Jesus about his teaching, he replied, “Ask those who heard me” (John 18:21). Believers will talk about Jesus.