PSALM 40:1-8

These verses refer throughout to our Lord Jesus the Messiah, they bring before us, His sufferings and resurrection, and they especially also point to His voluntary coming into the world to become a sin-offering sacrifice to deliver us from our bondage to sin.

In verse 1, we read, “I waited patiently for Yehovah.” As in every case our Lord Jesus the Messiah is an example to the called-out Assembly regarding his patience also, and here we see the result of waiting patiently. “He - Yehovah inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” So the children of God will find it always. If we patiently wait for Yehovah the result will be that the answer will come according to our desire if it is according to His will. We should particularly keep this in mind in order that we may receive the blessing for which we have asked Yehovah. Nothing is obtained by impatience, we only dishonor Yehovah by it, and we never in the least degree obtain the answer by impatience.

Verse 2, This refers to the great and awful sufferings of our Lord Jesus the Messiah as our sin-offering sacrifice. When He passed through the hour of darkness this was fulfilled. “A horrible pit,” the very figure brings before us the awfulness of the hour through which our Lord had to pass. But this did not continue. He was brought out of it. And though we have not suffered in the way he has done for others, yet we in the providence of Yehovah, because He sees it to be good for us, may also in our little degree be found in a horrible pit and in the miry clay. But it will not last forever; we too shall have our feet set upon a rock. Oh, how precious, how bright the prospect which will have its fulfillment in the appearing of our Lord Jesus the Messiah! Now the Lord Jesus once for all passed through suffering, and once for all had his feet set on a rock, and His goings established, but ever since his resurrection this work has been further and further developed, and will be developed further and further up to the time of his return, and then the rewards will go on throughout eternity, so far as himself is concerned, and so far as the called-out Assembly is concerned, and there will be nothing, nothing but partaking of the rivers of pleasure at the right hand of Yehovah (Psalm 36:8).

Verse 3, “Many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in Yehovah.” This second part of the verse we see continually fulfilled, many have been brought to believe in the Lord Jesus the Messiah and many will yet further be brought to the knowledge of him, an innumerable multitude. On, how bright the prospect with regard to the end! Comparatively now as to outward appearance, the number is small; it will be seen how innumerable it is at last!

Verse 4, “Blessed is that man that makes Yehovah his trust.” This is the real blessing, and this only is a real blessing, to make Yehovah our trust for the salvation of our souls, for the obtaining of all that which we really need while passing through this vale of tears in the midst of trial and difficulty, and for our spiritual work and labor. To do all this the only remedy is to trust in Yehovah and then and only then, are we really blessed and can be really happy. This word “blessed” is the same in the original as “happy”, so we may read it with regard to its application in both respects: “Happy, really happy is that man who makes Yehovah his trust”.

Verse 5, This, we should remember for our comfort when we are in trial, in difficulty, in affliction, whatever the outward appearance is “This will never come to an end, I shall never be happy anymore” we should remember this word. “Many, O Yehovah my God, are your wonderful works which you have done.” You can increase their number by helping me also out of the trial, out of the difficulty in which I find myself.

Then comes a remarkable sentence: “And your thoughts which are to toward us”. Here Yehovah is brought before us in union with the called-out Assembly. Not “to me”, or simply toward the called-out Assembly, but to “toward us”, in intimate union with the called-out Assembly, for we are members of that body, of which the Lord Jesus is Head. And this truth we should continually seek to dwell on, and never lose sight of. Oh, how great the joy in Yehovah when we are able to enter into this He has given to us poor, wicked, guilty, sinners that we are naturally, the thoughts of Yehovah are “toward us”. His heart is toward us, His mind is toward us, He is thinking about us all the time! Oh, how precious is this, He never loses sight of us, never forgets us. Oh, how precious is this! And how many they are we read in what follows: “Nothing can be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”

Just think of this! So often does Yehovah think of us that the thoughts which He has toward us, regarding us, these thoughts are so many they cannot be reckoned up in order. Not a thousand merely, not ten thousand merely in them, far, far more, they cannot be numbered. How about whom He is thinking thus? About poor sinners who deserve nothing but destruction? We should say to ourselves individually, “He is thinking about me, a wicked, guilty sinner, deserving nothing but death, yet so dear am I to the heart of Yehovah, so precious in His sight, so entirely He is looking on me as He looks on His only begotten Son, because I am one with him, I am a member of that body of believers of which the Lord Jesus is the Head, I am altogether united to him, and therefore for his sake Yehovah is continually occupied in mind about me, and thinking how He may invariably make me happy, how He invariably may make manifest His care over me, so dear am I to His heart, so precious in His sight.

Verse 6, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire.” Originally this was the law of things
according to the mind of God, but it was instituted because of man’s weakness, otherwise, it would not have been. “My ears have you opened.” Most, if not all, present know what is meant by this. When a slave was set at liberty and chose to remain a slave (Exodus 21:5) “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I would rather remain a slave forever” then he was to be brought to the doorpost, and his ear bored through, and he was to remain the bond-servant of his master forever.

Now the Lord Jesus the Messiah makes himself the bond-servant of Yehovah, that is, he would perfectly obey his God at all times and under all circumstances, never, never doing anything contrary to the mind of Yehovah. To this it has reference. By thus yielding in perfect obedience to Yehovah at all times and under all circumstances, the Lord Jesus Christ wrought out righteousness through which, by faith in his name, we stand as justified ones before God. So He not merely fulfilled the law in place but bore the penalty of the law, which we deserved on account of our numberless transgressions.

Now let us, beloved in the Messiah, while again we surround the Lord's table, seek more than ever to enter into this thought. Though we individually have broken the law of Yehovah and that times without number, in our place the Lord Jesus the Messiah fulfilled it, and this is put to our account, and thus we who trust in Jesus stand as justified ones before Yehovah. Then the Lord Jesus the Messiah bore the punishment in our place, and therefore, though we deserve nothing but punishment on account of our numberless transgressions, we shall not for one single sin be punished. And this should always be particularly before us when we meet for the breaking of bread, though at other times it should be continually in our minds, day by day and hour by hour we should seek to remember what the Lord Jesus did, and suffered in our room in order that peace and joy in the Holy Spirit may increase and abound more and more.

Sermon by George Muller and edited by Bruce Lyon