Let us turn to God's Word in
the psalm that we were reading, Psalm 40, and drawing your attention
for a while this evening to the fifth verse, Psalm 40, verse
5. Many, O Lord, my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to us wound. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. Here then we see
how God's works are all rooted in his thoughts. He says, I'll
swear, doesn't he, my counsel shall stand and I will do all
my pleasure. My counsel will stand says God,
and I will do. And so thinking for a while of
God's thoughts and his works, the wonder of the thoughts and
the works of the God that we've come together to worship and
to address our prayers and our supplications to. And God's thoughts
we see quite clearly are those that center very much in his
children. He has thoughts, towards and
gracious thoughts. At the end David says, but I
am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh but on me. What a blessing
to know that God thinks upon us. And so we see a number of
things with regards to the thoughts of our gods. They're certainly
very personal. Thy thoughts, it says, are thoughts that are to us wards. They're to David, but they're
to all his people, and they cannot be reckoned up in order. They're
a multitude. He thinks of his people. He thinks
of every detail of their lives. There is nothing that comes into
our path, but God thinks upon us. He never permits that we
should be tempted above, that we're able. He always makes for
us that way of escape that we might be able to bear it. The Lord thinketh upon me, then,
says David here at the end of the psalm. and how He has thought
upon His people before time, before ever they had any being.
We're told, aren't we, in Romans 8, for whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. He has foreknowned them,
because His knowledge of them stretches back to before creation. He set His love upon them in
eternity. They are personal thoughts. but
more than that God's thoughts are so preeminent He tells us
there in Isaiah 55 my thoughts are not your thoughts neither
are your ways my ways for as the
heaven is higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts how remarkable when
we think of the thoughts of God and the mind of God and how he
thinks towards his people how he concerns himself with regards
even to minute things in their lives and as God's thoughts are
so preeminent so we see that they are very purposeful he says
I know the thoughts that I think towards you thoughts of peace
and not of evil to give you an expected end find those words
there in Jeremiah 29 and of course it's a very chapter that speaks
in terms of what God is doing with the children of Israel at
the time of the Babylonian captivity. He's going to remove that remnant
into exile, they're going to spend 70 years languishing there
in Babylon, far from Jerusalem. Jerusalem lying in ruins and
the temple raised to the ground and yet Even in the bitterness
of all that terrible judgment that came upon them because of
their sins, God had thoughts of peace towards his people.
He would preserve them. They are purposeful thoughts
that God has. And what a contrast when we think
of the thoughts of men. The Lord knoweth the thoughts
of man that they are vain, we read in another psalm. Or the
vanity of the minds of men. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and every imagination of the thought
of his heart was only evil continually. We read those words just in the
sixth chapter of the book of Genesis long after the creation
just a few thousand years after God had created the world that
he pronounced to be very good. But then the consequence of man's
disobedience the sin of our first parents, and how evil begins
to abound throughout the earth. Every imagination of the thoughts
of the hearts of men, it says, was evil continually. Many devices in a man's heart,
says the wise man. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord, that shall stand. God's counsel stands, his purpose.
his thoughts of peace towards his blessed people. God's thoughts, they're personal,
they're so preeminent, so different to the thoughts of men. God has
a gracious end in view in all his thoughts and then also we
see here that they're so plentiful and they're so manifold. Many,
O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
thy thoughts which are to us what they cannot be reckoned
up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. God thinks upon
us in every situation of life. Our life's minutest circumstance
is subject to His eye, whatever befalls us. God thinks of us
in that situation and makes every provision for us, what is over
us. Here then we see something of
the wondrous thoughts that God has towards his people. But I want us to turn more especially
to his works that are spoken of here at the beginning of the
verse. The guy now swear in Isaiah,
he says, I will work and who shall let it? None can prevent
God. He does according to his will
among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand. And say to him, what doest thou? But as we think of the works
of God, I want to mention just two things concerning these works.
First of all, that remarkable work of redemption in the Lord
Jesus Christ. God's works, of course, are very
many. He's the Creator God. He's the God of providence. But
we sang, didn't we, in our opening hymn, that lovely hymn of William
Gadsby, in His highest work, redemption, see His glory in
a blaze. Oh, what a remarkable work is
that. That's a wonderful work of God.
And of course when we consider the psalm and the context of
what David is saying here in verse 5, look at the verses that
follow. This psalm is clearly a messianic psalm. What we have
at verse 6 following, sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire
mine ears as thou opened burnt offering and sin offering as
thou not required Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of
the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Now, these words are taken up
in the New Testament, Hebrews 10, and there at verse 5 following. And they're applied directly
to the Lord Jesus Christ. On the authority then of the
Word of God itself, on the authority of the New Testament Scriptures,
we can say with certainty that this is a messianic psalm. It speaks then of the Lord Jesus
Christ, God's manifest in the flesh, that real man, that blessed
man, the man that's spoken of here in the verse previous to
our text. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn
aside to lies. Isn't this the Lord Jesus Christ?
Isn't this the same man that we read of previously there at
Psalm 24? Verse 3, the question, Who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord? or you shall stand in his holy
place, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not
lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Oh, that's
the man. That is the man Christ Jesus.
This is the man that's being spoken of here. And are we not
reminded in the Psalm of the righteousness of that life that
the Lord lived upon the earth? He says, In the 8th verse, I
delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my
heart. He was made of a woman, he was
made under the law, and he came to fulfill all that law. He came to obey every commandment
of the law. My meat is to do the will of
Him who has sent me and to finish His work. The Father had given
Him a work to do and He was one of submission to all that Lord
of God to magnify it, to honor it in all its precepts, holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than
the heavens. That was the man Christ Jesus. Do we not read of His righteousness? I have preached righteousness,
He says, in the great congregation. Though I have not restrained
my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest I have not hid Thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness
and Thy salvation. Oh, what a ministry this man
exercised! He not only lived a righteous
life but the content of his ministry, the word that he proclaimed to
the people his teachings. Here we see one then who in the
course of his life throughout his ministry only pleased his
father, only spoke the words of God. Now he was holy then
in life and in lip. This is the one that's spoken
of, it's the Lord Jesus. But in particular, as I said
at the beginning, it's that greatest of all the works that he did,
the work of redemption. He's obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. And isn't there some reference
to the cross in the language that we have? Verse 12, innumerable
evils have compassed me about. He says, my iniquities have taken
hold upon me. so that I am not able to look
up, thou more than the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart
faileth me." Innumerable evils compassed him. And that was very
much the case when he came to the crucifixion. How he was surrounded
by the wicked, and how that's spoken of so evidently in another
Messianic Psalm, Psalm 22. Look at the language there at
verse 12. Many balls have compassed me,
strong balls of bastion have beset me. Rounds they gait upon
me with their mouths as a ravening and roaring lion. Verse 16. Dogs of compassment, the assembly
of the wicked, of enclosement, they pierce my hands and my feet. The Psalms speak of the Lord
Jesus Christ and speak of Him in all His sufferings. But how
remarkable really are these words in verse 12. The word applies directly to
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and what He must have felt in
that holy humanity when He was made the great sin atoning sacrifice. Mine iniquities, he says. Mine
iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look
up. Thou more than the hairs of mine
head, therefore my heart faileth me. All the sin of his people
was reckoned to his accounts. That's the great transaction
in the Gospel, isn't it? He has taken upon him all the
sins of his people. Their sins have become his sins,
as it were. and the exchange He has given
them all His righteousness. We read of God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemning
sin in the flesh. He has made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. All the wondrous works of God,
many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast
done." That great work then, that great sin-atoning sacrifice
that the Lord Jesus Christ has made, how He has finished the
transgression, how He has made an end of sin, how He has brought
in everlasting righteousness, how He is that One who has sealed
the vision and the prophecy, is a fulfillment of all that
we have here in the Old Testament. All that is spoken of in the
Messianic Psalms, all that is foreshadowed in the types and
figures of the Levitical laws, all has its blessed accomplishment
in his great redeeming work. It's the greatest of all the
works of God. But also, here surely, We're
to see something of another work, how this work that Christ accomplished
becomes a blessed reality in the lives of his people. The
work of regeneration. The work of regeneration that
comes into the soul of the sinner. The awakening of the soul. Isn't
that also a mighty work of God's? Many. Many works, not just the work
of redemption. There are other works. There's
that great work then when salvation is brought home by the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. And remember, when Paul speaks
of what it means to come to saving faith, he relates it to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus. Christ doesn't just die for sinners. He is risen again for the sinner's
justification. Paul speaks, doesn't he, of the
exceeding greatness of his power to us who do believe. According to the working of his
mighty power, the same fashion as that mighty power that was
there when he raised Christ again from the dead and set him at
his own right hand. the work of the Spirit in this
day of grace. Grace is a great work of God.
And it's the Spirit who does that work. And what does it entail?
Well, two points I would mention here. It's the Spirit who comes
to work conviction in the heart of the sinner. When He has come,
Christ says, He will reprove the world. of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and
He sees me no more. Of judgment, because the Prince
of this world is judged. Satan is judged. Satan is a defeated foe. Now the Lord will come and by
His Spirit He will reprove of sin. because they believe not
on me but a cursed unbelief. That root of every sin, the sin
which does so easily beset us, the spirit convinces us of our
unbelief. It's a great work, isn't it?
We are told that sin itself is very much of the creature. But
where does the sense of sin come from? That can only come from
God himself. It's an important distinction
to recognize that sin is indeed of the creature, but that realization,
that sense of our sinnership, it's there in the hymn, isn't
it? To understand these things are right, this grand distinction
must be known. There were no sinners in God's
sight, there are but few so in their own. So such as these,
Our Lord was sent for only sinners who repent, those who are awakened,
those who are quickened by the Spirit of God to feel their sinnership. That's a sacred sinner. A sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
Remarkable words those that we have in hymn 89, but well worth
pondering. that the sinner can be sacred.
This is the wonder of grace, isn't it? A sinner is sacred.
A sinner is justified. That's the wonder of the grace
of God. A sinner is reckoned righteous in the very courts
of heaven. In himself he's a sinner, but
in Christ he's righteous. This is the wonder of the grace
of God. And David, surely David here
in the psalm, it's the psalm of David, David is a man who
has been brought to that. He feels something of what his
sin is. Innumerable evils encompass me
about, he says. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, and so forth. The words in the first place
are David's words. Ultimately, we know they speak
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but how this man felt he was encompassed. But isn't that the case when
the soul is alive to the things of God? Job cries out concerning
God's dealings. His troops come together and
raise up their way against me and then camp round about my
tabernacle. He feels he's surrounded by sin. It's not all about him,
it's him. This is the experience. It takes
hold of the sinner. My iniquities have taken hold
of me. He's been seized by sin and he
cannot deliver himself. But there is a deliverer. As
I'm forced to speak of that deliverer in Philippians chapter 3, I am
apprehended, he says. of Christ Jesus. That's salvation. The Lord takes hold of the sinner,
convinces him of his sin, but you see, God's thoughts are thoughts
of peace and not of evil, to give that man an expected end,
to bring that man to the blessings of salvation. I am not able to
look up, David says here in verse 12. How he's bowed down, he feels
the burden of his sin. It's encompassing him, it's seizing
hold of him, and he's bowed down, it's a great burden, like the
publican that the Lord speaks of in the Gospel. There in Luke
18, the publican standing afar off could not lift up his eyes
to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful
to me, a sinner. He couldn't lift his head, he's
bowed down, he's burdened, he has a sense of his utter unworthiness. Or the sinner, you see, when
the Lord begins to deal with him, when that awakening comes
into the soul, he's overwhelmed. Again, look at the language that
we have there in verse 12. At the end, David says, My heart
faileth me. The margin says the Hebrew literally
means forsaketh. My heart forsaketh me. Oh, David feels these things
and he feels them in his heart. Psalm 38 and verse 10, My heart
panteth, my strength palest. This man is brought to that,
he's at the end of himself. He's utterly overwhelmed. He's a sinner. And as I said, sin might be of
the creature, but this sense of sin can only come by the gracious
work of the Spirit of God in the soul of the sinner. And the overwhelmed man, what
does he do? He cries out to God. He cries out to God. This is
the language, isn't it, that we have at the beginning. 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."
Well, he needs that the Lord should deliver him out of that
dreadful place, the horrible pit, the pit that he feels to
the end because of his sinnership. And we have it also in Psalm
69, Psalm 69 of course another Messianic Psalm and yet it's
rooted in the experiences of this man David. Look at the language
that we have there. Verse 14, Deliver me out of the
mire, let me not sink. Let me be delivered from them
that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the water
flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, let not
the pit shut her mouth upon me the opening word save me O God
for the waters are coming unto my soul I sink in deep mire where
there is no standing I am coming to deep waters where the floods
overflow me all where there is in that real sense of sin that
conviction that conviction that sacred sinner and the Lord says
he's come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance but
then we can't leave it there the Spirit's work is not only
to reprove of sin but also of righteousness says the Lord because
I go to the Father and you see me no more or when the Spirit
convinces of Christ as that righteous one who has accomplished all
the good will and pleasure of the Father, and has come to be
the Saviour of sinners. It's the Spirit who works that
saving faith also in the soul of that sinner. And we have the
blessed man in verse 4. Who is the blessed man? That
maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor
such as turn aside to lies. No self-righteousness here with
this man, this blessed man. No creature's strength with this
man. That's a lie, you see, to think
that a man can do anything for himself, to help himself, to
save himself. This man feels the helplessness
of his creatureliness, but not only that, he feels the complete
impotency of his sin. He respected not the proud, nor
such as turn aside to lies. He shut up, he shut up to what
he is. The language of Haman there in
Psalm 88, I am shut up, I cannot come forth. All before faith
came, Paul says, we were kept under the law, shut up to the
faith that should afterward be revealed. God shuts us up. Isn't
that the ministry of the Lord of Gods? That every mouth may
be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. Here is a man then who has been
brought shut up really to one way of salvation. And that is
by trusting in the Lord. Trusting in the Lord with all
his heart, with all his soul. What can this man do? He waits
upon the Lord. The opening word of the Psalm,
I waited patiently for the Lord. And again, the Hebrew in the
margin, literally, in waiting, I waited. In waiting I waited
for the Lord." Now, this isn't passing, waiting. This isn't
waiting in on belief. This isn't waiting on the Lord in any sense that would suggest
to us that the man is doing nothing at all. No, this is waiting in
faith, waiting in hope. That's how he's waiting. What
does David go on to say? Verse 13, Be pleased, O Lord,
to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. He wants God to come with some
urgency. And right at the end of the psalm, Make no tarrying,
O my God. Oh, he's hungry and thirsty.
He wants to know the deliverance of the Lord. This is the faith
that the Spirit works in the heart of the sinner. He will
not be denied. He is indeed an Israelite. He's one of those, you see, who's
the true spiritual seed of Jacob who became Israel and said to
the angel, I will not let thee go. I am blessed thou, bless
me. In another psalm, David says,
let thy work appear unto thy servants. How we need the Lord
then to appear for us, to work, to work in our own hearts, and
we are to plead that God will yet work in the hearts of many
others. That that great work of redemption that was accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ will fulfill that eternal purpose
of God there's a people to be saved and that people whom Christ
has shed his precious blood for they must in the appointed time
come to saving faith or we're to plead over these things why
has God given us this word in order that we might learn all
these things written for our instruction aren't they that
we through patience or endurance and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope so we come together tonight to wait and to wait upon
the lord and to address to him our prayers oh god grant then
that we might be enabled to plead these remarkable words in the
text there's so much in this text many oh lord my god are
thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to us what they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.
If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can
be numbered. Can we not remind God of what
He has revealed to us here in Holy Scripture, and plead with
Him concerning His mighty works, His wonderful works, and His
gracious thoughts towards His people. May the Lord be pleased
to bless His word. Now let us sing our second praise. We sing the hymn number six.
The tune is Holly 348. God's ways are just. His counsels
wise. No darkness can Prevent his eyes,
no thought can fly, nor thing can move, unknown to him that
sits above. Wait then, my soul. Submissive
wait prostrates before his awful seat amidst the terrors of his
rod. Trust in a wise and gracious
God. Number 6, Tune 348.