Faith Knows He Hears You :: Psalm 27:1, 11a, 12 (7a, 8b, 9a)

By

All through the season of Easter, we have been meditating on God’s Word from our introits ... so today, we take up our verses from Psalm 27. You should remember that introit literally means entrance. Paired with the Psalms, an introit is an entrance hymn. We have entered the Divine Service thanking the Lord and singing his praise that he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it in the one true faith. 

Because these are hymns, it is quite fitting to sing ... not just speak ... these verses. They’re incredible expressions of faith. Through these words, God opens our eyes to the joy of new birth. He enables us to recognize our Risen Shepherd coming to us, calling us, leading us back to the green pasture where we feast beside still water. Here, he teaches us to rejoice, and sing, and pray. He gives us confidence ... that is, faith in the promises of God ... not because of the things we are doing ... but because of what he has done and is doing.

Today is Exaudi Sunday … the final Sunday of Easter … the forty third day of Easter. Exaudi is a Latin word that means “Hear me.” Hear, O YHWH, my voice [when] I cry out. ... Your face, YHWH, I will seek. ... Don’t hide your face from me (vv. 7a, 8b, 9a).

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is our cry in faith. 

We often wonder about these things ... whether he will hear us and shine his face upon us. We wonder because we don’t see Jesus standing in front of us. Jesus has ascended to the right hand of God. We recognized this great event here on Thursday. We’ve been left waiting between the Ascension and Pentecost, waiting between Pentecost and the Second Coming. Waiting ... wondering ... does he hear me? Will he shine his face upon me again?

Though we often plead for him to hear and to shine forth, you have no reason to doubt it. As David says so confidently.

IN THE STRONGHOLD OF LIFE ... THE FAITH OF OUR RISEN AND ASCENDED LORD ... WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR OR DREAD

I.

In Psalm 27, David expresses strength ... the faith ... that we share with him. He knows that The Lord is my light and my salvation. ... He knows the Lord is the stronghold of my life. The questions ... Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I dread? ... these are not questions of doubt (v 1). These are rhetorical statements we should confidently ask ourselves. God hears the prayer of the Redeemed. You are the Redeemed. To use Peter’s words from his first epistle: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with a glorious and inexpressible joy, the salvation of your souls (1 Pt 1:8-9). That’s faith. 

When David wrote Psalm 27, he had plenty of reason to fear ... to be afraid ... to dread ... to worry about his friends and our future. But he didn’t. He rested in faith. 

He may very well have been thinking about how Saul pursued him for years, seeking to take vengeance for his wounded pride that David replaced him as King of Israel. Or perhaps David was thinking of his impatient son Absalom, who also despised his father so much that he too sought to oust his father through murder. David faced countless other battles with those who opposed him. But he had the one thing we all need ... The faith of God in Christ. God was with him. So he cried out all the more, Hear, O YHWH, my voice [when] I cry out. Your face, YHWH, I will seek.

II.

Having the faith of God in Christ changes everything about our lives. It changes the way we deal with our brothers and sisters. It prompts us to forgive and be forgiven ... like Joseph did with his brothers who had plotted to murder him. It shields us from doubt ... including the doubt that God will hear your prayer. It leads us back to his Word. Faith seizes and apprehends all of the promises of God in the Word. 

Please now turn to page 325 of your [Lutheran Service Book] and join me in confessing this truth from the Lord’s Prayer ... 

What is the conclusion of the prayer? ... What does this mean? 

Don’t make the mistake of thinking God hears you just because. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your faith is something special about you. As Paul tells us in Ephesians, It is by grace you are saved THROUGH faith, and this is not your own, so that no one can boast (Eph 2:8-9a). We do not create this faith or enhance it. The evangelist to the Hebrews says, Jesus is the author and perfecter of faith (Hb 12:2). Jesus opens our eyes in faith, which comes from above ... from God Himself. We who sit in darkness have seen a great light (Is 9:2). ... He is our stronghold.

III.

The first thing you must know about the stronghold of faith is that it was formed through the Gospel and the Sacraments. These work together. Jesus gave us Baptism and the Supper because he knew he would return to the Father, and we wouldn’t otherwise see him. So he promised to send us the Spirit of Truth to bear witness this way. God strengthens our faith through his Word and Sacraments.

Our Old Testament reading from Ezekiel reinforces this Word of truth. Thus says the Lord ... It is not because of you that I am doing this, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name ... the one you profaned among the nations. ... I will consecrate my great name ... which you have profaned. ... I will take you from the nations, and I will gather you from all the lands. ... I will sprinkle clean water on you. ... I will give you a new heart. ... And I will set my Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and justice you will keep and do (Eze 36:22-27).

And so he has ... in your baptism ... the baptism that now saves you (1 Pt 3:21) ... the baptism that gives you faith ... the faith that apprehends the Word and Sacraments of our Lord, who bought you with a price (1 Cor 6:20), literally his blood that is still given to you for the forgiveness of your sins. In baptism, God united you in the death and resurrection of Jesus ... which we now proclaim. Through the Supper, he unites you first with himself and then with each other as you proclaim his death and resurrection. Jesus now lives in you and you in him, setting you free to be the people of God ... forgiving and being forgiven. He makes you strong. You get to walk in his ways, and follow his commands, doing them not because you earn something, but because God is with you. He shows you the light that the work of God is this: That you have faith in him whom He sent (Jn 6:39) to live and die and rise. This is the stronghold of faith. 

Faith always ... always ... apprehends this truth ... takes hold of this truth ... treasures this truth that he delivers to you the forgiveness of sins in ways we will not otherwise comprehend, most notably that Jesus ... for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame. He gave up his body and his blood for you, which he shares with you and each other for the communion of saints ... for the forgiveness of your sins ... for life everlasting. This is the Gospel we proclaim every time we come to the Divine Service. Have confidence in this word of God ... which shines the light amid doubt and despair and disunity. It illuminates the stronghold of life ... faith in our Lord Jesus, who does not disappoint.

IV.

Now we can learn the way to eternal life passes not through our work but Christ’s. Saint Peter provides us with a wonderfully fitting conclusion that we can therefore apply to our lives in the light of faith of our risen and ascended Lord. 

Therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies … in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (1 Pt 4:7-11).

Popular posts from this blog

The Good Shepherd Comes to Rescue and Restore - Ezekiel 34:11-16

By
  For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I myself will search diligently for my sheep and I will seek them. As a shepherd seeks out to care for His flock in the day he is among His scattered sheep, so I will seek out to care for my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on the day of cloud and thick darkness. 500 years ago today, Martin Luther answered the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Emperor who questioned his teachings. If he were to recant and take it all back, the Diet of Worms would barely be a blip in history. If he did not recant, he would be putting his own life in absolute, mortal danger. Being held captive by the clear Word of God as found in Holy Scripture, Luther stood up before the authorities of the church and the of world and gave his famous “Here I Stand” confession. He rested his case on Jesus as his only Shepherd - not the leaders of the Church or the Government. He relied solely on the Good Shepherd who promised neve...
Read more

The Mind of Christ :: Philippians 2:5-11

By
The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, took the branches of palms and went out to meet him and began crying out: Hosanna! Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel (Jn 12:12-13). No story has ever had a bigger buildup to a greater letdown than this one. The Jews were all of the same mind: They had been looking forward to this day for more than a millennia. And here he came! Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee (Mi 5:2)! The prophet like Moses (Dt 18:15)! The son of David (2 Sm 7:12)! Our Messiah (Is 61:1) ... Here he came, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec 9:9), fulfilling the scriptures. Zechariah, Micah, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, Samuel, the Psalms. This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps 118:24). ... These things are written so that you will believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God and that by believing you will have life in his name (Jn 20:31...
Read more

Faithful Stewardship of God's Gifts :: Luke 16:1-13

By
How much do you owe? What is your total debt? Or as you just sang, What is the world to me? If you’re an average guy or gal, it’s probably staggering. The national debt this week was $30.6 trillion and rising ... in other words, $92,002 per citizen or $243,797 per taxpayer. Our households aren’t much better. We have $23.5 trillion in personal debt ... or $70K per citizen ... and only $8,500 in family savings. We are terrible stewards. Can we ever repay that? Of course, that’s all a pittance in comparison with what we owe the Lord. We can’t even begin to count the debt we have with him. We can’t begin to give an account for all the ways we’ve squandered his gifts. Even if we could enumerate our debt to him, we’d quickly recognize that all we have is his and become ashamed. Our Lord is the one who gives us food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods ... and all that we have. We owe him everything. How can we ever repay him?  Fortunately for us, on account o...
Read more