Lent 5 Judica 2024

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

Lent 5 Judica
March 26, 2024
John 8:(42-45) 46-59

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Judica 2024
March 17, 2024 A+D
Psalm 143

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Psalm 143 provides the Introit for today. It is built like two sets of stairs. The first goes down into a basement and the second comes back up again. We walk down five steps in confession and prayer. Then we find something that lets us walk up the other side. No surprise here. That something is the grace of God in the Messiah delivered throughout Israel’s history. Then, by that grace, we come up one step for every step we that we walked down.

Listen carefully.

Psalm 143 A Psalm of David.
1Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications: In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
2And enter not into judgment with thy servant: For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
3For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; He hath smitten my life down to the ground; He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
4Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; My heart within me is desolate.
5I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.
6I stretch forth my hands unto thee: My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
7Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: Hide not thy face from me, Lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
8Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; For in thee do I trust: Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; For I lift up my soul unto thee.
9Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.
10Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
11Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: For thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
12And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, And destroy all them that afflict my soul: For I am thy servant.

The 5 steps down lay the problems or descriptions of our sorrows and our guilt. On the first step we cry out that God would hear our prayer and that He would answer us not because we are righteous or faithful but because He is. “Answer me,” we say, “in Thy faithfulness and Thy righteousness.” The next step is the confession that “the enemy has persecuted our souls.” Then we confess our fear. We say: “The enemy has smitten my life down to the ground.” The fourth step is even worse. We say: “The enemy hath made me to dwell in darkness as those long dead,” that is, he has put me into Hell. Finally, we say simply: “My spirit is overwhelmed and my heart is desolate.”

The center, the key thing of the Psalm, that upon which everything else depends,, that which will allow us to begin the ascent is in verses 5 and 6.

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.
I stretch forth my hands unto thee: My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.

This seems out of order. It seems as though we should first say “I stretch out my hands, my soul thirsteth.” That would be the last step, the last description of our actions and needs, a last confession. Then we would say “I remember the days of old, the work of Thy hands.” That way the last step would be stretching forth our hands in prayer and the beginning of the ascent would be the remembrance of God’s mercy and all the good things He has done. But that is not how it goes. Something else going on here.

But before we get there, we should note that there are more problems with our staircase. The ascending correspondence to the descent of repentance isn’t what we expect. It seems as though it should be praise or exclamations of joy. We would expect the corresponding ascending step to “My spirit is overwhelmed and my heart is desolate,” to be something like “My spirit rejoices and my heart is gladdened.” Instead we get “Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit faileth.” To the complaint that the enemy has caused me to dwell in darkness we get “Hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like them that go down into the pit,” that is, like them that go to Hell.

These are steps up, but make no mistake: they are hard steps. You’ve got to dig deep. Your thighs will burn. The work of repentance is not done just because we are going up. We belong to Christ. Our sins are forgiven. But this is a slow ascent. To “The enemy has smitten my life down to the ground” we get “Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in Thee do I trust: Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; For I lift up my soul unto Thee.” It is getting a bit easier. We can see the rising sun coming over the horizon: it is Jesus out of the grave. We come up out of the pit, climbing toward Easter.
And then to “the enemy hath persecuted my soul” we get “Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto Thee to hide me.” We are almost out, and not just out but almost to the other side. We are passing through Hell on our way to heaven.

Finally we get the correspondence to the initial plea that God hear our prayers. We now pray:

“Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: For thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, And destroy all them that afflict my soul: For I am thy servant.” (Psalm 143:10–12, KJV 1900)

That is great. But remember that this whole thing hinges on those center verses. The question is: “Will God let the devil have me? Will He abandon me to Hell? Will I be stuck down here in despair?” The answer to that question is found at the bottom. We’ve finally leveled out and on our way back up when we say: “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.” In that moment we have shifted away from our enemy the devil and toward the gracious history of Our Lord. There we see that we are not alone, that we were never alone, that Jesus, Himself, is with us. He built the steps and descended them with us. It is He who has been cast to the ground and left in the pit by the devil for us so that we would be spared. He stretched forth His hands to be nailed into the posture of prayer that He might bring our prayers to His Father.

Thus has God joined Himself to us, to our cause. He stands in the depths of Hell and says: “I stretch forth my hands unto thee: My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.” Since He said it, we can say it too. We can join ourselves to Him, join ourselves to His cross, add our petitions to His prayer. Thus we begin the journey up the staircase to the rising sun of His mercy, not alone, but with Him. He bears the weight. His thighs do the real work. We also find on every step the Father waiting with open arms. He quickens us, that is enlivens and raises us, for His Name’s sake. He brings us out of trouble. His good Spirit has been leading us all along, on the descent as well as the ascent.

The Psalm is short. Lent is almost over for the year. Listen to the Psalm one more time and picture Jesus in the treasury being attacked and slandered by the Jews. That is the descent. Walk down with Him. Do not shrink from His grief or cross. Then see Him graciously guiding Israel through history and you through your life. You’re on your way back up, with Jesus, and soon you will go all the way home.

Psalm 143 A Psalm of David.
1Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications: In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
2And enter not into judgment with thy servant: For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
3For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; He hath smitten my life down to the ground; He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
4Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; My heart within me is desolate.
5I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.
6I stretch forth my hands unto thee: My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
7Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: Hide not thy face from me, Lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
8Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; For in thee do I trust: Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; For I lift up my soul unto thee.
9Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.
10Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
11Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: For thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
12And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, And destroy all them that afflict my soul: For I am thy servant.

In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.