Sermons

Expository Sermon on Psalm 40
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 5/24/2025
©2025 by Maylan Schurch

(To watch this entire worship service, click the link just below:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ndFAz7NcF8&t=5638s

Please open your Bibles to Psalm 40.

As most of you know, this year I’m suggesting that we read through the Bible from one into another. However, we are using what is called a “chronological plan,” where the Bible books are basically in the same order, but are occasionally adjusted slightly according to what Bible scholars think is the correct chronological flow. Occasionally, Psalms are inserted at points in the story were they seem to fit. And that’s what happened in this past week’s readings.

Very early this week, I read through all of the passages listed in last week’s bulletin, and I decided to go with Psalm 40. And as I read through Psalm 40, I noticed that part of it contains a verse or two which the New Testament latches onto as a prediction of the Messiah.

And this has always sort of puzzled me, especially when I was younger. I mean, you’re reading along in what you think is an ordinary Psalm, or an ordinary part of Isaiah, and you suddenly realize that the New Testament points to that passage as a prophecy of the Messiah.

And at that point – at least this is what I’ve done, I don’t know about you – I’ll go back and read the verses leading up to that, and the verses after it. And I try to figure out exactly where the Messiah references start, and where they end.

I got to thinking about this once I chosen Psalm 40 to use for this Sabbath. I realize that in some cases I probably need to rethink my approach to this. I believe that Psalm 40, for example, doesn’t need to be as sliced-in-diced into Messiah an non-Messiah parts as I’d thought before.

In other words, since all Scripture is profitable for us, I think that one approach is to look at the whole Psalm as a mentoring experience from the Messiah Himself.

One reason is that in 1 Peter 1:11, Peter mentions that it was literally the Spirit of Christ who was working with the Old Testament prophets and other writers which predicted Jesus’ life and ministry.
So that means that Psalm 40, a Psalm written by David, was inspired by Jesus’ own Spirit. Therefore, as we go through this Psalm, it’s like we are being taught by Christ, mentored by Him.

Probably everybody in this room has had some kind of mentor, either when you were younger, or maybe more recently. The mentor could be a teacher, fellow worker, even someone in this congregation. I could name you people here who’ve mentored me (probably without realizing it) teaching me better ways of dealing with people, and giving me better views of God Himself.

Jesus Himself was a teacher, of course. He suggested to His disciples that if they want to know what God is like, they should look at Him, Jesus. “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” He said in John 14:9.

So this morning, I would like us to go through Psalm 40 and look at what I think are mentoring truths that Jesus wants us to know. And each of these truths is something Jesus Himself made a habit. The best mentors are ones who follow their own advice, and live by it. And that’s exactly what Jesus has done.

So let’s find out what Jesus wants to teach us in this Psalm.

Psalm 40:1 – 2 [NKJV]: I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.

What is Jesus’ first mentoring lesson? Here’s what I think it is. This is Sermon Point One if you’re taking notes:

Wait patiently for the Lord.

Shelley and I are having to practice quite a bit of patience on our morning-after-breakfast walks. Several of our neighbors have planted flowers at the front of their property. One family has even devoted their entire front lawn, on both sides of the driveway, to different kinds of flowers.

As we walk along, and see those flowers developing and growing, we can’t wait to see the fat bumblebees burrowing inside those flowers. A week ago, if I’m remembering correctly, I saw barely any bees at all, and the ones I saw were small and brown and nervous, not the yellow-and black ones which are so fun to watch.

But just in the last couple of days, we started to see yellow-and-black bees. They are not as large as they probably will be later in the summer, but there they are.

I don’t know whether bees get impatient. I don’t know whether it’s hard for them to wait patiently for the Lord. But I was noticing yesterday that, once they find the flowers, they spend only one or two seconds within each flower, gathering pollen. Then they’re onto the next flower, and the next one. For this reason, bees are hard to take photographs of. You get your smart phone zoomed in, and they have vanished!
Wait patiently for the Lord. Jesus did this. When the subject came up, such as it did in John 2:4 when His mother was asking for His help at a wedding reception, He insisted “My time has not yet come.”

Jesus was good at waiting – waiting for the right opportunity to talk to this person or that person about their deepest needs. And finally, in Revelation 3:20, Jesus stands outside the door of your life, and my life, and politely knocks, and just stands there and waits for us to open the door.

So if you are waiting on the Lord right now, just be patient. Share your feelings with Him, telling him how difficult it is to wait, but don’t rush ahead of His wisdom and timing.

What’s something else that Jesus would like to mentor us in? Look at verse three.

Verse 3: He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.

What is Jesus’ second mentoring lesson? Here’s Sermon Point Two:

Jesus first tells us to wait patiently for the Lord, and then He tells us to practice praising God.

What do I mean by “Practice praising God”?

Notice a couple of things. First of all, it’s so good that God will be the one to put the song in your mouth. Secondly, it will be a new song. What this probably means is that it will be your own personal unique way of expressing your gratitude to Him.

I’ve been performing music, and singing songs, since I was about 15 years old. And I have opinions about songs, and about the way they are sung. And because my brother and sisters and I were in a gospel singing group for about six years, I know how deeply songs can affect people. I know how songs that our family knew well, and performed many times, still brought brand-new tears of happiness and other emotions to the eyes of those who heard us sing them.

One song we sang back then was really appreciated by the people we sang for. We’d heard it sung by an evangelistic team from another denomination, and it was called “It’s Me Again, Lord.” It goes like this:

“Troubles come, and I can’t find an answer; lonely nights I’ve spent in agony. I have no other one that I can turn to, so here I am Lord, asking on my knees. It’s me again Lord, I’ve got a prayer that needs an answer. It’s me again, Lord, I’ve got a problem that I can’t solve. I don’t mean to worry You, but here I am, facing something knew. I need help that only comes from You. It’s me again, Lord.”

And I think when it says that God will put a new song within us, I don’t think it always has to be music. Maybe it’s a feeling of joy which, if you happen to think of the song that goes along with that joy, you will start singing or humming that.

Practice praising God. Practice talking to God. Jesus did. He’s not teaching us anything that He himself hasn’t tried first. Several times in the Gospels, we see Jesus suddenly breaking into a praising prayer. In Matthew 11:25 – 26 it says: “At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.”

Practice praising God. When you have a narrow escape from a traffic accident on the road, murmur “Thank you, Lord.” When you get into a fender bender but your car isn’t badly hurt, thank the Lord for that. When overwhelming love for your partner or your children or the beauties in nature overwhelms you, tell the Lord thank-you. Practice praising God.

But Jesus’ mentoring isn’t done yet. Look at verse four.

Verse 4: Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

What is Jesus’ next mentoring step?

Jesus first tells us to wait patiently for the Lord, and to practice praising God. And then He tells us to sidestep the liars and the proud.

It’s pretty hard these days to find human beings to look up to. It seems as though lying doesn’t arouse the same kind of distaste that it used to. And pride is what really makes God grind His teeth.

In Matthew 23:12, Jesus growled, “He who exalts himself will be humbled.” And in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter 22, verse 15, He insists that among those who will finally be left outside the gates of the Holy City will be ones who “love and practice” lying. They’re left outside the city gates, along with Satan the father of lies.

This week as I was looking at that verse, it hit me with a special chill. Here are people who not only practice lying, do lying, but they love lies. They have cheerfully given themselves over to living lying lives.
So what do I do, now that I know this? Well, I’m sure we’ve all pretty much reached the point where we know how to avoid the internet conspiracy-theory rabbit holes that used to be so fun to poke around in. But those are places where the liars and the proud often hang out. And our Mentor Jesus insists that we need to sidestep them.

And as we saw a moment ago, one way to sidestep these liars is to practice praising God. Verse 5 gives us some more reminders about this:

Verse 5: Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.

That’s some more motivation to practice praising God. Sometime, if you have a spare moment, contemplate your fingernails. They grow naturally and painlessly from each of your fingers, plus your thumbs. They’re designed so that if you clip them, they don’t hurt. If you clip the skin beside them, that hurts. But fingernails are pain free. Hair is also pain-free when it’s cut. God has given us millions of little miracles like that to think about.

What’s the next thing our Mentor Jesus teaches us? Let’s start with verse six.

Verses 6 – 8: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”

And right there is the “Messiah” part, which Hebrews chapter 10 quotes very completely. But again, the fact that the New Testament quotes this is speaking of Jesus doesn’t mean we should settle back and let that belong only to the Savior.

Because Jesus mentored His listeners in this truth as well.

Jesus tells us to wait patiently for the Lord. He tells us to practice praising God. He tells us to sidestep the liars and the proud. And here He tells us to allow God’s law into our hearts and lives.

And this isn’t boring, dreary old legalism. Verse 8 says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God. And Your law is within my heart.”

Every once in a while Shelley or I will turn on the radio on Sunday, and one thing I discovered that Sunday is when you pick up a lot of infomercials, those long interview programs where an expert who is selling a number of products gets interviewed by a paid staffer so that the interviewee can express his or her delight about the products, and try to sell them to the listeners.

The Bible has infomercials too. And one of them is in the Psalms. It is Psalm 119, it is 176 verses long. This is the Psalm with all those little Hebrew letters sprinkled throughout. And almost every single one of those 176 verses speaks highly of God’s law. If you read through it at some point, you will hear the law being described this way:

“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word.” (v. 9) “Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (v. 11) “Your testimonies are also my delight and my counselors” (v. 24) “Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.” (v. 35) “I will walk at liberty, for I seek your precepts.” (v. 45)

There are many more little commercials about God’s law in that psalm, but I’ll stop with two back-to-back verses, verses 47 and 48: “And I will delight myself in Your commandments, Which I love. My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, Which I love . . .”

How can we fall in love with God’s law? Mainly, I think, by recognizing that the law of God shows us the grace of God. Hebrews 8:10 makes this clear:  “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

That’s one of the Bible’s most precious promises. God’s law is important – and God promises to program His law, download His law, into our hearts. And basically, as Jesus said, all those laws are summarized in just two commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37 – 40)

Let’s look at just one more practice Jesus mentors us in. And again, this is something He acted out in His own life. Let’s start with verse 11.

Verses 11 – 17: Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me! Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion Who seek to destroy my life; Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor Who wish me evil. Let them be confounded because of their shame, Who say to me, “Aha, aha!” Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified!” But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

What is one more truth our Mentor Jesus Christ wants to teach us?

Jesus tells us to wait patiently for the Lord. He tells us to practice praising God. He tells us to sidestep the liars and the proud. He tells us to allow God’s law into our hearts and lives. And finally He tells us, “Don’t pray shyly.”

And again, Jesus Himself did not pray shyly. He told Peter, just after predicting Peter’s denial, “I have prayed for you, so your faith won’t fail.” Jesus prayed a long prayer in the presence of His disciples, in John 17. And of course in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed humanity’s most agonizing prayer.

And notice how David mentions his own shortcomings to the Lord. But David knew how to ask for forgiveness, and still trust that God was listening and working. So David had the confidence to pray not shyly but boldly.

What do you need to pray boldly about? Don’t be timid. Take a deep breath and keep praying!