Turn with me, if you would, to Psalms chapter 40. Psalms chapter 40. This is an extension of an article that I read recently. by a man named James Smith, who actually pastored the new Park Street before Spurgeon got there. So, just a little history there. He died in 1849. Anyway, we're gonna look at this psalm, part of the psalm, the first five verses. Let's read that.

I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. That sounds like salvation. He did it all. all to him we owe. Verse three, and he again, the Lord, hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God, many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that makes the Lord his trust and respects not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord, my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward. They cannot be reckoned in order unto thee. And if I would declare and speak of them, thy wonderful works, they are more than can be numbered."

Well, just coming off a favorite holiday, a favorite of mine, got me to thinking and musing and reflecting upon God's super abounding grace to sinners like ourselves. I've said it before and we've said it so many times Thanksgiving is one day of the year but to the believer it should never be one day of the year. It should never be one day of the year. We have so much to be thankful for and I think this is kind of what he's getting at In verse, look at verse two. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock. We know that that rock is Christ. He put us upon the rock, the unmovable, unchangeable rock. And also look at verse five. Many, many are thy wonderful works, which you have done. and the thoughts which you have towards us were, if I were to reckon them, I couldn't even, they couldn't be numbered. That's thankfulness, that's gratefulness. And that's what I would like to look at us, for us to look at this morning briefly.

And our own lives, whether you're lost or saved, whether you understand the gospel or not, God has, I don't say taken care of, but he has. Because he says he sends the rain on the just and the unjust. And so whatever mercy or whatever grace or whatever blessings, physical or non-physical, you have is directly from the hand of God. Therefore, the subject and the theme of this morning's message, he put a new song in my mouth. He put a new song in my mouth and the believer whether we can sing or not, sings, makes spiritual melodies and hymns and songs in our heart. Believers, whatever the trial or difficulty, whatever the good report or bad report, doctors, lawyers, financial times, whatever the report is, the believer knows who's over in control of all things in this world, That's what we say, sovereign. That's who he is. He rules and reigns in righteousness. That's an abbreviation, reigns. He's sovereign. He sovereigns. That's an abbreviation for that word. That means he does what he does in the armies of heaven and nobody can say, what are you doing? Not in the Old Testament.

So that's what I want us to look at. I want us to look at this together. And I pray we may all sing this new song, this song of praise and gratitude to him who has done everything necessary to save our souls. And may we sing together in unison as we worship the sovereign Lord. That's why we're here. We're not here to discuss politics. We're not here to discuss issues. We're here to set a time aside at least once a week To leave the issues outside and to the most important thing, the one thing needful. Remember Mary and Martha? The one thing needful. That's what we have.

That's one reason why everybody is so scrambled. They listen to everybody and everything and then it just gets us off kilter. We get our eyes off of Christ and they get our eyes on the problem. That's why we gather together. And I've said it many, many times. We should be looking at the scriptures daily, not just on Sundays and Wednesdays. We ought to be doing this because these, the scripture, Christ says, these are they which testify of me. And we have need to see what the testimony is.

And David, a man after God's own heart to the chief musician, a Psalm of David. He's remembering the pit that he's been taken from, and he has a new song. How great has been the mercy of God towards us, poor, worthless, ill-deserving worms of the clay. Think about these things in your own life. Up to this point, up to the last day of November, 2025, up to this point, We were born in a land, this land, these United States, of gospel light. There's so many churches, now I'm not saying, matter of fact, most of the churches don't know the truth and they're not preaching the truth, but they have a Bible. We have been born in a land of gospel light where we might have been conceived in heathen darkness.

I talked to Lance Heller the other day, and he's trying to get back to Papua New Guinea. That's where he's a missionary. Where he goes, they don't even have running water when they go out there. So that Lord, we could have been born there, but we've been born in a nation that has the scriptures, that has the scriptures. born in a land of gospel light, when we might've been conceived in the heat and darkness, we've been supplied with every temporal mercy and gospel privilege. The written word, we have people who understand the word and preach the word and speak the word. We can open the Bible and I'll tell you that there's probably a Bible in every household, if not more than one.

Now, whether it's opened, Is it just open on Sunday? Is it just open on Thanksgiving? Is it just open on Christmas? No, the believer, I waited patiently for the Lord. That's diligent. That's diligent. That's like that woman in the New Testament. She kept on bothering that judge. Just kept on knocking at the door, knocking at the door, knocking at the door. That's what the believer does. Because we know our need. We know our sinfulness.

There's probably a Bible in every household, sometimes more than one, when we could have been in other places left to natural ignorance, natural ignorance. Think back to our years of unregeneracy before the Lord saved us. If that's the case here this morning, he preserved us. He was in his own time and in own season, he was going to be gracious to us while others we've known, I've known some folks, I'm 66, I've known folks that have, they've already died. They're already in the grave. They're already six feet under, swallowed up by the grave, but we're still alive.

Even now, when we consider our coldness, our carelessness, and our ingratitude, we cannot but wonder that the Lord has not long ago disowned us. Don't you feel like that sometimes? It's like, why me? You know, John Seymour used to say that all the time. Why me, Lord? Why me? May we bless him and his free and sovereign grace, once loved of our Lord, always loved, once received, never left to ourselves. In Malachi chapter three, verse six, he changes not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Do we think about that? We wake up in the morning and thank the Lord for another day of grace. We sing, in our hymn book, we sing, years I spent in vanity and pride. And that's true. Caring not, my Lord was crucified. Knowing not, it was for me he died. And we know he died for his people. But we didn't care. Years we spent in vanity and pride, that's what it was.

But may we sing this new song of effectual calling and fetching grace just as, and I suppose, that prodigal son sang in Luke chapter 15. You remember the story of the prodigal son? He said, give me what's mine. And he went and his father gave him his inheritance and he went and it says he spent it on riotous living. That's what we need to think back and give thanks. That's what we did. That's what we were. And then when the Lord pricked his heart, he said, you know what? I'm here hungry. And it says the people of that country, which is the people in this world, they didn't care about him. Matter of fact, he lost everything he had. He spent everything he had, and he's feeding pigs. And he's like, boy, this corn looks awful good. I'm giving it to the pigs. And then he remembered, by sovereign mercy and grace, the Lord made him willing in the day of God's power. He said, I could go back home and just be a servant in my father's house, and he's going to take care of me. So he did, and he went. It's a picture of salvation. He went to his father's, back to his father's house.

And when he was yet afar off, his father saw him. and with everlasting love, robed him with his best robe. That's covering, what's our covering, what we must have, the righteousness of Christ. We have no righteousness. As we said this morning in Bible class, our best righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The best that we can do, God will not accept. So we need a covering. Like Adam and Eve, they sinned. They had, it was perfections there. There was nothing They sinned, they fell in the garden, plummeted the whole human race in sin and God had to make coats of skin. They covered themselves with fig leaves. That's what religion does today. Make a decision for Jesus, do something good for Jesus. They don't know that we don't have the ability to do that. So we put our little fig leaves on and God has to take them off and cover us with the Lamb of God he has to cover us with the righteousness of Christ so that's what he does and then the father puts his ring on him and kisses him this is and he hath put a new song in my mouth every believer experiences this even praise unto our God Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord.

How does, you know, Tim James used to say, sheep begat sheep. How are you, you know, people in this community, how are they gonna hear? We're gonna tell them, isn't it? They don't, they're not hearing it. They're not hearing the truth. And by the truth, they shall be set free. And then we were really running with all speed and diligence to eternal destruction. That's what we were doing until the Lord arrested us by his grace. And that's what we're looking for. That's what I'm looking at this morning. He brought me up out of the horrible pit, the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock, which is the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, there is salvation in no other, and established my goings. And then he puts a new song. And then others show him, well, what is your God more than our God? Well, you say your God needs you and this and that, and he doesn't have any hands without my hands. No, our God rules and reigns in righteousness. Our God created the world by one word. He spoke and it was.

And then he says in verse four, blessed that man that makes the Lord his trust. And then he gets personal. Many are your wonderful works. And if I should try to recount them, there are more than could be numbered.

So we are taught by the Holy Spirit about our sinful state and the way of escape through his blood and righteousness. And you could look, see this in Zechariah chapter 12, the last part, and in Zechariah 13, verse one. Every family apart, it's personal. Salvation is personal. Every family apart gets convicted of what they are and what they've done and our sin. And then when that's done, then that Zechariah 13-1, then the fountains open for sin and uncleanness.

We were spared notwithstanding the inclinations of our flesh and frequent rebellions. We were brought to the glorious Redeemer while viewing the nail prints and crown of thorns all brought upon him because of our sins. Who crucified Christ? Sinners crucified Christ. And if we were there, we would have been yelling, crucify him with them. And now, We are preserved and kept by the master's omnipotent mercy and honorable grace. We sing that song, amazing grace through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. And grace shall lead me home. Yes, grace, God's full and free, sovereign grace, all worked out by his darling son. We had nothing to do with our salvation. We had everything to do with our own sin. His grace, says the song, will lead me home.

And then he's reflecting, verse five. Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us word. God, who is more pure than the behold evil, and cannot look at behold evil, looks at us. How is that possible? Well, when he looks at us, he sees Christ. That's our only hope. That's our only hope. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. Where do you begin? Where do you begin? When you pray, where do you begin? Thank you, Father, for your free saving grace. Thank you, Father, for the blessings that I receive. Thank you, Father, for the keeping grace. If you save this, you will keep your work. Thank you, Father, for all these temporal blessings that we receive. But spiritual blessings, that's what we need. That's what we need.

If I were to wreck them up in order, I would not, I don't If I would declare and speak of them, they are more. That's we get overwhelmed because there's not a step that we take that has not been, is not grace prepared. And if it is ill prepared, or as we say, good and bad happens, we know who who's, who's over that. We know he's protecting us. And if he's not protecting us, he's going to take his home. We know all things are of God. and all things are for his people.

So when we reflect upon what we once were, and when we view plainly the Christ bleeding and dying for us, what he has done for us, often in spite of ourselves, I pray that we would be humbled, we would be astonished, we would be devoted to him, body, soul, and spirit. David, write hymns. Write them down. Just a little book. You know, they call it a diary. Do whatever you... This is my thoughts about God's grace. Or, on the margin of your Bible, when He gives you a promise, I've often said, write it down, write it, date it down. And then when you're looking at it, and you get kind of bummed out, and you're like, oh, the Lord gave me a promise back in 1998. And then your thoughts are off yourself, and back onto Him.

remember, reflect, and be indebted, beholden, and obedient unto him. May we always be thankful to grace, past, present, and that which is surely to come. Future blessings. Future blessings.

Oh my soul, says Mr. Smith, Lay low before the Lord under a sense of our manifold infirmities and follies, and seek grace from Jesus to live wholly, righteously, and usefully in this present evil world. Gracious Savior, grant unto us more light to see your will, more strength to do your pleasure, and more grace to follow you wherever you go. Oh, give us an increasing love and devotion to you. Oh, make us like you in spirit, temper and conduct. I'd say that's a gracious, a thankful spirit, a thankful heart that knows what God has done.

Closing. Turn to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. And then I'm going to have you go over to Psalm 78. Colossians chapter one and starting in verse 11 or 12, 13 and 14. This is what Paul encouraged the Colossians to do, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins. Can we not remember that? Can we not look back to that? Can we not be thankful every day for this?

Well, what do we do? Psalm 78, Psalm 78, verses four through seven. Tell your children, your nephews, your nieces, your grandchildren, your neighbors, verse chapter 78 Psalms verse 4, we will not hide them that is these words of truth from their children showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done for he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers and they should make them known to their children that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God, not in economy, not in political, no, set our hope in God, and not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments. Be thankful. Be grateful of everything we have. And if He doesn't give you certain things, be thankful of that, too. He knows what's best for us. We know what's best for our children, we say, or for our grandchildren. We do certain things, and then don't do other things, because we think it's better to not do that. Our Heavenly Father knows more so.

So I say, if you do not understand what I'm saying this morning, these thoughts of being thankful and grateful for God's grace in his son to unworthy folks such as ourselves, if you don't understand these thoughts, may God reveal these to you to the saving of your soul so that we all may bless him and thank him and glorify him as he deserves to be honored and glorified.

Bruce, would you close us, please?