Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Lenten Vespers #5. March 13, 2002

Psalm 40:6-8

“Sacrifices and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

An F-14 fighter jet tried to land on an aircraft carrier the other day. That’s not an easy thing. They say the air craft carrier—some where near 3 and ½ city blocks long—looks about the size of a piece of typing paper as the jet comes screaming toward it. You get one chance to land. This metal hook is supposed to snag this metal cable. If the cable snaps—any one in the way can be literally cut into two pieces! The other day something went horrible wrong. The plane crashed. The pilots ejected and were rescued! You see—everyone knows this landing business is incredibly difficult—incredibly dangerous. So before any plane tries to land—they send this search and rescue helicopter out. They send out the helicopter—that hovers about 6 blocks away—just watching—just waiting—in case anything goes wrong. When a plane crashes—the pilots eject. They get pitched clear of their plane. Their parachute pops open—just moments before they hit the water—so there’s hardly any time to slow them down! As soon as the salt water hits their life jackets they inflate. And by then—bang the helicopter is above them. A very brave—a very brave diver jumps from the helicopter into the icy water—puts the harness around the pilot and they wench him out of the water and into the helicopter. They save him as past as they possible can! That’s pretty neat—but it doesn’t begin to compare—it doesn’t begin to compare to what Jesus of Nazareth—the Son of Man and at the same time the Son of God—did to rescue you and me from eternal death.

Jesus Has A Savior Heart

1. Jesus is the Old Testament

2. Jesus is the New Testament

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on tonight is Psalm #40—a Psalm a song of praise breathed by the Holy Spirit and written down by King David. David begins this Psalm with a song of thanksgiving that the LORD—the Great I AM has rescued him—spared his life—saved him. “I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God…” Psalm 40:1-3 Little people sing. Little people of God sing on Christmas Eve. They sing songs like Away In A Manger. Some little people sing sharp—some sing flat—some have their favorite note for the whole song. They don’t worry about pitch. They sing out. They sing because Jesus’ love just overflows in their heart! If you have ever been in a car accident—where there are squealing tires and metal smashing and glass from windshields broken into a thousand little diamonds and gas spills and horns stick and blare and air bags pop and you realize you and all the people you love are ok—you feel like singing! If you have been by the doctor and he says sit down and closes the door and he says there’s no easy way to tell you this—so I’m just going to tell you. And he tells you he thinks you have some horrible disease and only a few months to live. And then—come to find out—you aren’t sick after all. You feel like singing! If you have ever gotten one of those phone calls in the dead of night—and the shaky voice on the other end asks about somebody that just died—and it’s a horrible shock. And then—come to find out—they got the name wrong—and the person you love isn’t dead after all—you know how that feels? You feel like singing! Like singing in the shower real loud and real happy and maybe even dancing a little. You know how that feels? You get that feeling when you realize Jesus’ forgiving love washes away all your sins. It makes you feel like singing.

David is talking about our eternal rescue from sin when he writes “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire…burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.” Wait a minute. That doesn’t sound right. If you have ever read anything in the Old Testament—you read about sacrifices—blood sacrifices—sin offerings and guilt offerings—fellowship offerings—whole burnt offerings. God’s people were supposed to bring offerings. They brought grain offerings—the best wheat and the finest flour—olive oil—pure and sweet. They brought wine and poured it out. They brought turtledoves—they brought perfect little lambs and sheep and goats and bulls—quarters and sides of beef—the steaks and the prime rib and the beef roasts. They threw this prime beef on the altar and burned it up. The smoke—thick dark smoke went heavenward. Every morning—every evening—all through the day God’s people brought sacrifices. But the sacrifices were not an end unto themselves. Our Heavenly Father was not hungry up in heaven—waiting like a family around the dinner table for people to send up some more barbecued ribs! The Old Testament sacrifices were to teach God’s people—the way a tutor—a mentor teaches and encourages and instructs a little person. The Old Testament system of ceremonial law was to teach God’s people you are not like everybody else. You can’t eat just anything. You can’t touch just anything. You can’t just do anything. You are my people—God’s people. You are different. You have the Scriptures—the very Word of God in written form—God’s Word—God’s truth. You have the promise of the Savior—the ultimate Lamb of God who would be pierced for our transgressions—crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that would buy us peace would be upon him. By his wounds we will be healed!

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced… One of the wonderful aspects of studying to be a pastor is—you don’t have to study foreign languages—you get to study foreign languages. It isn’t easy. I had a tutor to help me—because languages don’t come easily for everybody. But when you study Hebrew you can study God’s Word for yourself. And here it’s pretty interesting. My ears you have pierced. The Hebrew word here is cara. Some very wise theologians think this refers to Exodus chapter 21. There the LORD said—“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for 6 years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything…but if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.” Exodus 21:2-5 Who was a servant like Jesus? Jesus who washed his disciples’ feet. What more lowly job is there—than to get down on your hands and knees with a towel wrapped around your waist. And with tender care to wash the dust, dirt, grit and sweat from the feet—from between the toes of a dozen men. Who would do that? Only someone with a humble—tender servant heart. Jesus didn’t come to be served—but to serve and to give up his life as a ransom to rescue not just a few. But to pay for the sins of the whole world.

Some theologians think My ears you have pierced—the Hebrew word cara means to dig out. You have dug out my ears. What does that mean? My friend Dr. Brug—in The People’s Bible Commentary on the Psalms says this is probably the even better understanding. It was your Heavenly Father who made your ears—those funny things on the side of your head. He dug them out—formed them—shaped them as if out of modeling clay. Then he dug them out again—he opened your ears to hear—to really listen—to believe the Gospel! Many people use Q-tips—those little cotton swabs to clean their ears. Did you ever read the box—read the fine print—the directions on the side of a box of Q-tips? It says—grasp the little cotton swab firmly between your fingers. Very gently clean—wipe—swab the outside of your ear. Do not stick this swab inside your ear! And I’m willing to bet—that’s the one place people stick Q-tips—inside their ear! And you know what? That’s dangerous. Do you know how far you can poke inside your ear before you bump into that little stirrup and anvil thing? Do you just push it in there until it hurts—then back up a little bit? What if you are sticking a Q-tip in your ear and somebody bumps into you or bumps your arm and it goes all the way in? Then what? I’m careful. It will never happen to me! That’s just the kind of heart and attitude that God’s Word fixes and changes. The heart that says I can do what I want. I will do what I please and nobody is going to tell me I can’t. That’s the rebellious sinful heart of driveway gravel that Jesus came to heal!

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” Jesus is the fulfillment of all that the LORD had promised in the Old Testament. Jesus is God’s Word made flesh—made real and powerful to save us. We read about Jesus’ Savior heart tonight. When Pontius Pilate said to the crowd which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ—they all called out—give us Barabbas. The murderer was set free and Jesus was condemned. This is called appropriation. That means we stand in awe at Jesus’ powerful determined love. Jesus did not resist. He did not complain. He did not protest his innocence. With powerful determined love he endured the pain and abuse and disrespect that were heaped upon him. Jesus was not—absolutely was NOT a pitiful and helpless victim. Jesus was always and entirely in control. No one would take away the life of the Good Shepherd. He alone had authority to lay it down. He alone had authority to take it up again after the Sabbath, at dawn, on the first day of the week…

We read together tonight—that they took Jesus to a rocky hillside—shaped like a skull to crucify him. Jesus was nailed to that gruesome tree to set us free even from the fear of death. I heard the other day that the Chinese word for four—like 1,2,3,4 and the Chinese word for death sound very similar. They say that very many Chinese people are very superstitious. That they worry about death so much—that on the fourth of every month—people are so worried—so anxious about death—seven % more Chinese die on the fourth of every month—than any other day. How sad! How painfully sad to be so afraid of death! Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews is in fact the King of Heaven and Earth. He alone has power and authority even over eternal death. Jesus died so that we don’t need to be—we don’t need to be afraid—not even of death. Jesus will make us stronger and stronger against that fear!

“I desire to do your will, O my God, your law is within my heart.” Remember that National Geographic photograph of that 16-year-old Afghanistan girl with the piercing—haunting green eyes? 17 years later they found her. The same photographer who first took her picture searched and searched and searched and they found her. Her name they learned is Sharbat Gula. She’s 29 or 30 years old. She doesn’t know her birth date. She has not lived a happy life—they say. She lost her parents to the war with the Russians. She lost a child. She has lived in poverty. Sharbat Gula got permission from her husband to lift her veil to have her face photographed. They are sure she is the same woman—the FBI did sophisticated tests to match the irises of her eyes and her facial features. It’s really her. Jesus knew where she was—all along. They say they aren’t sure what’s in her eyes today. Is she scared—is she fierce, is she bewildered, is she confused, is she confident about her beauty? Jesus made her beautiful on the inside—washing away all her sins—just like he washed away yours and mine. Does she know that? I wonder. Do you know that whatever you have been—whatever you have done Jesus knows. Jesus understands. And Jesus has forgiven you. Jesus has a Savior heart. That’s what he is. That’s what he does. Amen!

To God alone all glory!