We're looking at Psalm 40 this
evening. We've looked at this psalm several times in the last
30-some years, but it never wears out. It's always new. It's always
new. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is said in verse 17, and every believer
can identify with this. We are poor. We are poor. Poor in spirit. The Lord said,
blessed is that man that's poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom
of God. I am poor and I am needy, yet,
yet, the Lord still thinks upon us. He's had his heart and his
mind set on us from all eternity. The Lord thinks upon me and thou
art my help. Thou art my refuge. Thou art
my hope. Thou art my light and my salvation. Thou art mine. Thou art my deliverer. Now don't tarry. I need help
right now. I'm so poor. I'm so needy. I'm so desperate. I need help
right now. You don't save me, Lord. I perish. I perish in my sin. So I'm taking
the title. with a message from that verse,
verse 17. Now, look this up. Many times
in the book of Psalms, we read this statement, I'm poor and
needy. Last week, we looked at Psalm
70, verse five, where it says, I am poor and needy. Make haste
unto me, O God. Thou art my help, my deliverer,
O Lord. Make no delay. And then another
one in Psalm 72 verse 13, He shall spare the poor and needy.
He shall spare the poor and needy. He shall save the souls of the
needy. You in need? I'm in need. The Lord is able to meet all
our need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that describes every believer's
Case, we are spiritually bankrupt. Poor, poor, poor. But our Lord
said, blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. If you know that you're spiritually
bankrupt, you have nothing, know nothing, and are nothing, totally
sinful, without God and without hope and without Christ, if you
know that, you're blessed. Because God's gonna save. sinners. We sure are in need of mercy,
aren't we? It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed, and the Lord Jesus Christ is able to meet
all our need because he delights to show mercy to such as we are. He delights to show mercy. Now
notice, if you will, Psalm 40 at the top of the page there
says it's the Psalm of David. David didn't write all the Psalms. But all the psalms are given
to God. All the psalms are inspired and
given to God. David wrote under inspiration
of scripture. So in the psalms we find, and
some of the old writers say that this was a messianic psalm or
that was a messianic psalm or this one was or that one was.
I think all 150 of them are because it's a book about Christ. In
this psalm, we can hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking
to us as our sacrifice for sin, where he says in verse 12, where
innumerable evils have come as me about. And then again, down
in verse seven, he said, I delight to do thy will. In verse eight,
he said, lo, I come, and the volume of the book is written
of me. It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. So we can see that
David is speaking about himself, but he's also speaking about
the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. But also, every believer
can identify with David in this psalm. David was a great, rich
king, and yet when he described himself, poor and needy. poor
and needy, yet the Lord is able to meet all our need, and actually,
he takes the poor bankrupt sinner and makes him spiritually rich
through Christ and him crucified. Now, look at verse one, I waited,
or in waiting, I waited, as the marginal reference says, I waited
patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and he heard
my cry." Now what a blessing to be able to wait upon the Lord. Wait upon the Lord. Turn over
here to Psalm 27. We may look at Psalm 27 next
week. But look at verse 13 of Psalm
27. I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait
on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart.
Wait, I say, upon the Lord. Aren't His blessings worth waiting
for? Isn't it a blessing to wait upon
the Lord and just to see what the will of the Lord is going
to be? Waiting to see what the Lord's going to do? This is an
interesting scripture. When the Apostle Paul was in
a Roman prison, ready to be executed, he said, I've learned in whatsoever
state I am to be content, to be content. He said, I learned
this. And we learned this by patients come by trials. They come by trial. Patients
come by trials. to be content waiting upon the
Lord. That's a blessing, not to be
anxious, not to be anxious and fretful. Remember over here in
Psalm 37, look at verse one, Psalm 37, fret not thyself because
of evildoers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity,
Psalm 37 verse two, for they shall soon be cut down like the
grass and wither as the green herb Trust in the Lord and do
good. Shalt thou dwell in the land,
barely thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself in the Lord.
So don't fret. Wait upon the Lord. Trust him. Now that's easy to say. It's
a whole other story to do. But that's as we grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, We learn that lesson
to wait upon the Lord and be content waiting upon the Lord. And we know his blessings are
worth waiting for, aren't they? Our God in his faithfulness said
he'll never leave us. He said, I'm with you always.
He said he'd never forsake us. No, not never. And then he said
this, he said, I'll never fail you. He'll never fail you. Great
is his faithfulness. Now, I got this off an old preacher
years and years ago, and I've got it pasted to my computer
screen in here in my office. But I look at this almost every
day because it's such an encouraging statement. God has all power
to defend you. He does. He has all power to
defend you. Our God in the heavens, he's
done whatsoever he is pleased. Our God has all wisdom to direct
you. He is the wise, holy God, shall
not the judge of all the earth do right. He has all mercy to
pardon you. It is of the Lord's mercy that
we're not consumed. He has all grace to enrich us. But God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us. He has all righteousness
to clothe us. He clothed us with the garments
of salvation, with the robe of righteousness, and He has all
goodness. The Lord is good. The Lord is
good. He has all goodness to supply
our every need. Everything I need to stand before
God is fully met in Christ and Him crucified. Everything. And
He freely gives that to us. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? We have all things in Christ.
Matter of fact, the scriptures describe us as being complete. In him goes all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and we stand complete in Christ. Nothing lacking, nothing lacking. The Lord will hear our cry. where
it says the second part of that verse, he will, he inclined unto
me and he heard, he heard my cry. May God help us to patiently
wait upon the will of the Lord to be done. We don't know what
the will of the Lord is for us, next day, the next day, the next
day, but I tell you we can say this, We can look in the past
and we can look over our past and we can say, that was the
will of the Lord for us. We don't know what the future
holds as far as the providence will fall out, but we can look
back and say, that was the will of the Lord for us. Our Lord
taught us to pray that way, didn't he? Thy kingdom come, thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. Someone said years ago, prayer
has something to do with finding out what the will of God is and
then submitting unto it. I believe that's a good statement.
And the Lord will hear our cry, our cry for grace, our cry for
mercy in our time of need. He said, come unto me, all you
that labor heavy laden, I'll give you rest. The publican cried,
didn't he? God be merciful to me, the sinner.
The Lord said he was justified. The leper cried, didn't he? You
remember our study in Matthew chapter 8? The leper said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. And the Lord said, I will,
be thou clean. The publican cried and was justified.
The leper cried and was cleansed. Blind Bartimaeus said, son of
thou, son of David, Lord, have mercy on me. And the Lord stood
still. A cry of mercy stopped the Lord
in his tracks. And the Lord healed blind Bartimaeus. Now look at verse two. And I
love verse two and three. He, that is the Lord, he brought
me up. He brought me up. He not only
heard my cry, but he brought me up. He brought me up also
out of the horrible, horrible pit. It's a pit that's full of
miry clay. And he set my feet upon a rock,
established my goings. He put a new song in my mouth,
even praising to our God. Many shall see, see him and fear
and shall trust him, trust the Lord. Now, who brought us up? who delivered us from the pit
there. It's a horrible pit. What is
this horrible pit? Well, it's a pit of sin, isn't
it? It's a pit of corruption, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ
came where we were, God incarnate, and lifted us from the dunghill
and the cesspool of sin and made us kings and priests unto our
God. He heard our cry. and he brought
us up out of a horrible, horrible pit. You remember Job. We read in the book of Job where
God said, deliver him from going down to the pit. I found a ransom. I found a ransom. I draw this
scripture down over in Isaiah 38. Hezekiah prayed Behold, for
peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast, in love to my
soul, delivered up from the pit of corruption, thou hast cast
all my sin behind thy back. He lifted us out of the pit,
out of the pit of sin, out of the dunghill of sin. He paid
our sin debt and set us free. Who else was able? but the Lord
Jesus Christ, able to save us and lift us from the pit, this
horrible pit of sin, depravity, corruption, out of this miry,
miry clay. And then he not only lifted us
out, but he set us down. He set us down. He set our feet
upon the rock, the rock, not on sinking sand, not on the sand,
but on the rock. We know the Lord Jesus Christ
is that foundation. He's that foundation upon which
we rest. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid Christ the Lord. He establishes us in
the way of grace and our standing in him is certainly sure because
we're Passing to the rock the rock remember psalm 62 talks
about that rock Turn over there to psalm 62 Look at verse 5 psalm 62 verse 5 My
soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock I Remember
our Lord said, upon this rock I'll build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail. He only is my rock, my defense,
my salvation. I shall not be moved, and God
is my salvation, my glory, the rock of my strength, and my refuge
is in God. Trust in Him at all times, ye
people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. He's our rock. Now what a contrast
between the miry clay and the rock. Christ is that foundation. You remember Isaiah 28, God said,
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone. He that believeth on him shall
not be forced to flee, will never be confounded, will never be
ashamed. So then look at verse 3. Well, the last part of verse
2, He not only He brought me up, set me up, and then He established
our goings. We're established in Christ Jesus.
We're established in Him. And then verse 3, and then He
tuned me up. He tuned me up. He put a new
song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see
and fear. and shall trust Him." What is
this new song? Well, we know it's a song of
redemption. Remember Psalm 98? Turn over there. Psalm 98. That song that we studied about
in the Revelation, they sung a new song. Psalm 98, look at verse 1. Oh,
sing unto the Lord a new song. For he had done a marvelous thing,
his right hand and his holy arm had gotten him to victory. What
is this new song? What's the song of redeem? Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive all honor,
glory, blessing, and power both now and forever. Here's that
scripture, Revelation 5, let me just read it to you. And they
sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
to open the seals thereof. For thou was slain, and has redeemed
us unto God, redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred,
tongue, people, and nation, and made us kings and priests, and
to our God, and we shall reign with him. He's worthy as a lamb
that was slain. Now, look at verse 4, back in
our text. Many, many shall see him, the
many that are redeemed with his blood, and they shall fear, they
shall worship, and they shall trust the Lord. Now look at verse
4, that's a blessed man. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust, Respect is not to proud, for such is turned
aside to lies. What is it that sets us free? Our Lord said you should know
the truth, and the truth will set you free. No lie is truth. The truth sets us free. By nature
we have a refuge of lies, but in Christ we have the refuge
that he's established for us. Blessed is that man that believe
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a blessed man.
Let's see if we can find a scripture on that. Turn over here to Psalm
32, verse one. Blessed is that man. Blessed
is that man. Psalm 32, look at verse one.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Now that's a blessed man. That's
a blessed man. My sin is forgiven. My transgression
is forgiven. My sin is covered. Look at verse
2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
in whose spirit there is no God. Blessed is that man that trusteth
the Lord. That trusteth the Lord and trusts
Him for all of our salvation. Not some of it. Not some of it.
All of it. Trust in the Lord with all thy
heart. Lean not to thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct thy path. That's a blessed man who's been
turned to the truth and turned away from lies, the lies of men. Now look at verse five. Happy is that man. Happy is that
man that can say with Job, though he slay me, yet I'll trust him.
I know my Redeemer liveth. Happy is that man who can say
with Peter, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed
is that man who can say with Paul, I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded he is able. That's a blessed man. Now look
at verse five. Many, many, O Lord my God, are
thy wonderful works. The wonderful works which thou
hast done. Salvation is a work of God. Salvation's of the Lord. And
it's a wonderful thing. His name is called, remember
Isaiah 9 verse 6? His name is called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. I try to
restrict myself not to use that word wonderful, except in reference
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I wouldn't say, well this, I
try not to use that word except in describing the Lord Jesus
Christ. I would say this is a nice day,
a good day, this is a day the Lord had made, but I wouldn't
say it's a wonderful day because this word describes him. It is
a day that he has made, but he is wonderful. He is a mighty
counselor. Wonderful works which he has
done. Salvation, as we know it, as it's revealed in this book,
salvation is done by his doing and dying, not ours. It's his
wonderful work. And salvation is a wonderful
work, isn't it? I like this scripture over here.
You remember? You can turn with me if you want to. Psalm 57,
Psalm 57. Verse 2, I cry unto God most
high, unto God that performeth all things for me, his wonderful
work of creation, his wonderful work of providence, and certainly
his wonderful work of salvation which thou hast done. And his
thoughts which are to usward, how long has the Lord thought
upon us? from all eternity, as a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. The Lord is long-suffering. Remember that scripture over
in 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is long-suffering to
usward, not willing that any should perish, but all should
come to repentance. His thoughts are to usward, His
elect, His chosen, His church. He loved the church and gave
Himself for it. These wonderful works cannot be reckoned up in
order unto Thee. Can you count them? His mercies
to us are everlasting mercies. His blessings to us are innumerable
blessings. So many blessings that we can't
count them. We cannot reckon up an order.
If I would declare and speak of them, well, there are more
than can be numbered. How do you describe the infinite
grace, love, and mercy of God toward His people? And then verse
6, 7, 8. These are quoted in Hebrews chapter
10, as you see the marginal reference. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
bring the typical animal sacrifice, did he? He brought his own blood. What if the God-man mediator
would have brought the typical animal sacrifice? Would it have
been sufficient to put away our sin? No, it took his own blood. God purchased His church with
His own blood. God had never had the blood of
bulls and goats, as we read in Hebrews 10, cannot put away sin.
He did, with His own blood, obtain eternal redemption for us. Sacrificing
offerings, God wouldn't desire that. No need for the Lord Jesus
Christ to come if all those animal sacrifices were sufficient. He
said, mine ear hath down opened. Now that goes back to that bondservant
under the law. When he served his term and had
opportunity to go out, if he decided that he loved his master
and didn't want to leave, they'd mark his ear or bore his ear
and put a mark in his ear that he belonged to the master. And
he's serving because he loves his master, a willing, loving
bondservant. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, no man takes my life from me. I have power to lay
it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received in my father. Burnt offering
for sin hast thou not required. God doesn't require us to bring
a burnt offering for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
offering for sin. Then I said, I come, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written, it's written all about the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't
it? It's all about Him, all about Christ. To Him give all the prophets
witness. The book of God, Old Testament
and New, is all about the Lord Jesus Christ, His person, who
He is, and His work, what He's done for us. The volume of the
book is written of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for our sins
according to the Scripture. He was buried and raised again
according to the Word of God. Now look at verse 8. He delights
to do the will of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ did the
will of the Lord perfectly. I delight to do thy will, O my
God, yea, thy law is within my heart. Aren't you glad you have
a Savior, a surety, who willingly, no man, he said, takes my life,
I lay it down to myself. I delight to do thy will. Yea, thy law is within my heart.
He honored the law of God perfectly for us. His obedience under the law is
our righteousness. And then, look at verse 9. We've read several times in our
study in the book of Matthew, where the Lord Jesus Christ went
out publicly preaching. And He was a preacher of the
gospel. He went and preached the gospel of the kingdom. But
our Lord says here, and this is said of David, but it's also
said of the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. What did he
preach? He preached righteousness. He
preached righteousness, not only the essential holy character
of God, but the righteousness of God that's revealed in the
gospel. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lord,
I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. He told
us all the will of God and all the word of God. Look at verse
10. I have not hid thy righteousness.
The Lord openly declared that he is the Lord, our righteousness. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I've declared it. What did he
declare? He declared his faithfulness.
Our salvation is based upon his faithfulness, not ours. Not ours. I've declared thy faithfulness.
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow
nor turning in thee. I have not hid thy faithfulness,
I declared it. And then he says, I declared
thy salvation. I declared thy salvation, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is our Savior. He saved us from all our sin. And He's been our Savior from
everlasting. I have not concealed thy love
and kindness. That's His mercy, His love and
kindness. He's not concealed it, He declared
it. And thy truth, He's not concealed the truth, He declared the truth.
He said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, No man
come to the Father but by me." So the Lord was a preacher of
righteousness. He declared the faithfulness
of God. He declared the salvation of the Lord. He declared that
eternal love of God that's in Christ. Nothing can separate
us from the love of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then He
declared unto us the truth. Now look at verse 11. Verse 11. What does David and every sinner
need before God? Look at verse 11. Now withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me. What do we need? Mercy. Mercy. What is mercy? God not giving us what we do
deserve. Mercies. Jeremiah writes It is
of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. They're new every
morning. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me. Didn't David pray that in Psalm
51? Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blot out my sin. Blot out my sin. So we need tender
mercies. We need his lovingkindness, don't
we? Lovingkindness. And we need his truth, the truth
of how God saves sinners in Christ. And that truth, what does it
do? It preserves us. It preserves us. You remember
Peter writes, he said, we're kept by the power of God through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are preserved. We're well
preserved. He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before the presence of God's glory with
exceeding joy. Preserve me He saved us and he
preserves us now We've seen Christ as the great preacher now look
at verse 12 Here we see the Lord Jesus Christ as our great sacrifice
David writing here David had innumerable evils have compassed
me about, my iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I'm
not able to look up. They're more than the hairs of
my head. David's confessing here as a sinner. But when you apply
this to the Lord Jesus Christ, it takes on a whole nother meaning.
Our Lord here is our substitute, as our surety, as our savior. He says innumerable evils have
compassed me about. And then he said, my iniquities
have taken hold upon me. Now, wait a minute, preacher.
The scripture said that Christ had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin. How is it that he has, how is
it that he says these innumerable evils He calls them my iniquities. I've taken hold upon me that
I cannot look up. Our Lord said, they're more than
the hairs on my head. My heart fails me. You know what
I see there? Substitution. The Lord Jesus
Christ was made sin for us, so much so, so much so in reality,
that He calls our sin His. He took upon Himself our flesh,
God incarnate, but He took upon Himself our sin. He took upon
Him our nature, apart from sin, but here as the sinner's substitute,
as God's sacrifice for our sin, the Lord laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. You remember Isaiah 53? My iniquities
have taken hold upon me, so I'm not able to look up. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Thou art holy. There are
more than the hairs of my head, my heart fails. Our sin and God's
wrath brought judgment on the Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute. He was wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity. Now look at verse 13. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me. And he did. He poured out his life's blood
unto death, and that was pleasing to the Lord. You remember Isaiah
53, 10 where it said it pleased the Lord to bruise him? Be pleased,
O Lord, to deliver me. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification, and God did deliver him, and
that He raised him from the dead, didn't He? And He ascended to
glory, and He's seated in the heavenlies. Be pleased, O Lord,
to help me. God was pleased to bruise him,
to make him a satisfying sacrifice for our sin, And with that sacrifice
for our sin, God is pleased to deliver us. Remember Romans 4.25, He was
delivered for our iniquities and He raised us up
from the dead. He delivered for our sin and
raised again. Delivered for our sin and raised
again because He justified us. That's what I was trying to get.
Romans 4, 25. Delivered for our offenses and
raised again because He justified us. The only way we have deliverance
is through what He did for us. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. Galatians chapter 1 says, Who
gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this
present evil world according to the will of God, to whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen. Be pleased, O Lord, to
deliver me. Deliver me upon the basis of
His sacrifice. Upon the basis of His sacrifice. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. Make haste to help me. Now, verse 14, 15, 16, we looked
at that last week. The enemies of the gospel will
be ashamed, confounded. They seek to destroy my soul.
Let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
Let them be desolate for reward of their shame that say, aha.
You remember how they mocked the Lord Jesus Christ when he
was dying? If you be the son of God, come
on down, we'll believe you. They wouldn't have believed him.
Let all those, verse 16, many will be ashamed in that day and
confounded and driven backward, and they'll be desolate for a
reward of their shame. that mock the Lord Jesus Christ. But let all those that seek Thee,
verse 16, let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad,
and let such as love Thy salvation say continually, what do we say? To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. We love Thy salvation in its
planning, In its purpose, in its purchase, we love God's salvation
because we love Him. And we say continually, continually,
let the Lord be magnified. In closing, verse 17, I'm poor
and needy. I'm poor and I'm needy, yet the
Lord thinks upon me. That's an amazing statement,
isn't it? Thou art my help. Thou art my
deliverer. Make no charring, O my God. What a blessing to know our need
of salvation, to know our spiritual poverty, but what a great blessing
to know all our need is met in Christ. And He thinks upon us,
He came to save us, and to make us know that the Good Shepherd
came to seek and to save His sheep. Of all those given to
the Lord Jesus Christ, and all those for whom He died, how many
of those sheep will be eternally lost? None! All that the Father giveth to
me, they'll come to me. And those that come to me, I
will never cast out. I am poor and I am needy. Yet,
the Lord, He's my helper. He's my deliverer. Make no tearing. I need help right now. Always.