Taking a look this evening at
Psalm 40. I'm taking the title from the
words that are found in verse 17. Poor and needy. I am poor and needy. I love this word, yet the Lord
thinks upon me. The Lord said he'll never leave
us. He'll never forsake us. We're
always, he's always with us. He's always with us. And he always
thinks upon us from all eternity. He's had his heart, his mind,
his soul on his elect, those covenant children. Thou art my
help. Thou art my deliver. Make no tearing. Oh my God. I like what Thomas said. You're
my Lord and you're my God. He's my God. He's my Lord. I am poor and needy. I looked
that up in the psalm. We read that oftentimes in the
psalms. I found 10 times, 10 times David
repeats those two words that describes what we are poor, needy. Let me give two of them to you.
Psalm 70 says this, but I am poor and needy. Make haste unto
me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer.
O Lord, make no tearing. And then Psalm 72 says this,
he shall spare the poor and needy and shall save the souls of the
needy. That is a sure description, and
that surely describes our case before God. Bankrupt sinners,
blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
God. We sure are poor sinners, aren't we? Guilty, vile sinners. And it says we sure are in need
of mercy, aren't we? We need thy mercy every day.
The Lord Jesus Christ meets both those needs. I'm poor, yet in
Christ, we are rich. He's made us that way. You know,
the grace of our Lord Jesus, that though he was poor, yet
for your, though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became
poor that you through his poverty might be made rich. Lord Jesus
Christ meets our every need according to his riches in glory through
the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'm poor, I'm needy, yet the
Lord is our helper. He is our deliverer. Now it says there, Psalm 40 is
the psalm of David. And David wrote, was blessed
to write many of the psalms. Of course we know being inspired
of God. And in them we find Christ speaking
through David. And in this psalm we can hear
the voice of Christ speaking as well as the voice of David. And also every believer can identify
with David the man after God's own heart. So as we look at this
psalm, we'll look at all three of those consider in the light
of David the light of believers and then the greater David our
Lord Jesus Christ now look at verse 1 I waited I waited Or
in waiting I waited notice the marginal reference In waiting
I waited I waited patiently for the Lord and And he inclined
unto me, and he heard, he heard my cry." What a blessing to be
able to wait upon the Lord. His blessings are worth waiting
upon. Turn back over here to Psalm
27. We quote this quite often. Psalm 27, look at verse 13 and
14. I fainted, I had fainted lest I had believed to see the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord,
be of good courage. He shall strengthen thy heart.
Wait, wait, I say. Wait upon the Lord. Wait upon
the Lord. His blessings, I know this, are
worth waiting upon. His mercies to us and His blessings
are worth waiting upon. Our God, in His faithfulness,
will never leave us, will never forsake us. He will never fail
us. Remember Isaiah 42, where it
says, I am the Lord, I fail not. God has all power to defend you,
all wisdom to direct you, all mercy to pardon you, all grace
to enrich you, all righteousness to close you, all goodness to
supply you. It's a blessing to wait upon
the Lord, is it not? Well, may God help us to patiently
wait upon the Lord, upon the will of the Lord to be done.
And God help us to pray, Lord, thy will be done. Not my will,
thy will be done. The second part of that is, verse
one, he inclined unto me and he heard my cry. He heard my cry. Now this is
the cry of a heart. It's our prayer of a heart. who is broken in a heart that
is in need, the Lord will hear our cry for grace to help in
our time of need." He said, come to me, come to me. You're laboring
heavy laden, come to me. Come to the throne of grace that
you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of
need. None wait upon the Lord in vain. None call upon the Lord in vain. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord Shall be saved. He does hear our prayer because
he is a living God and he does answer all of our prayers according
to his will That's right That's why we are to pray Lord. Not
my will Thy will thy will be done. That's the way our Lord
prayed and that's the way he taught his disciples to pray
Now look at verse 2 I waited, and he inclined, and he heard
my cry. And then the Lord, he brought
me up. He brought me up out of a horrible
pit, out of a horrible place, a horrible pit, out of the miry
clay. And he set my feet upon a rock,
and he established my going. The Lord had delivered us from
the pit of sin. You remember in the book of Job
it said, deliver them from going down to the pit. I found the
ransom. We're only delivered from that
pit of sin by the ransom the Lord Jesus Christ paid for us.
You see, he came where we were and lifted us from the dunghill
and made us kings and priests unto our God. I was thinking
of this scripture just a moment ago. Don't turn, let me just
read it to you. You remember Hannah's prayer? The Lord kill
us and make us alive. Samuel 2, he bringeth down to
the grave and he bringeth up the Lord maketh poor and the
Lord maketh rich. He bringeth low and he lifteth
up. He raises the poor out of the
dust and lifts the beggar from the dunghill that he may set
him among princes and and to make them inherit the
throne of glory for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and
he set the world upon them." What a blessing we have. He brought
me up also out of a horrible pit. No one else could. No one
else had the ability. You see, he came where we were
and became what we are, sin, that he might lift us from the
pit of sin. He paid our sin debt. And then
it says there, he not only lifted me out of the pit, out of the
miry clay of sin and depravity, and he set my feet upon a rock. Now, we know that foundation,
that rock is what? The Lord Jesus Christ. And then
he establishes us. He establishes us upon that rock. He paid our great sin debt. With his precious blood, he redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. And
then he brings us up and then he sets us up. He sets us upon
not sinking sand. but upon the rock of ages. You
remember Isaiah 28? God said, behold, I lay in Zion
for foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone.
He establishes us in the way of grace. Our state and standing
in him is certain and sure, and he keeps us by his power. He
keeps us from falling. So he heard my cry. I waited,
and he heard my cry. He brought me up. He set me up
upon the rock in Christ, the Rock of Ages, and then He established. He establishes us in the way
of grace. Look at verse 3. And then you
know what else He does? He puts a new song. He puts a
new song in our mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see
it. Hear that new song and fear or
worship and trust the Lord Now you remember that song turn over
here to Psalm 98 He put a new song it's not an
old song it's ever new I It's a new covenant in His blood. Psalm 98 verse 1, O singer to
the Lord, a new song, for He had done marvelous things. His
right hand in His holy arm has gotten Him to victory. It's a
song of everything that He's done for us. I'm going to read
this to you. You don't need to turn. You're familiar with this. But
in Revelation 5, we sing, We sing this song, Revelation 5
verse 9, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy
to take the book, to open the seals thereof, for thou wast
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred, tongue, people, and nation, and hast made us under
our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about
the throne, and the beast, and the elders, and the number of
them was 10,000 times 10,000, 10,000, saying or singing with
a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power,
power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. It's
the song of redemption. It's a song of all that he has
done for us, not what we do for him. It's a song of what he has
done for us. We are blessed to sing praises
to his name. And notice it says there are
many, many, how many? 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
and thousands. Many shall see it. The words
of this new song, worthy is the Lamb, and they shall worship
the Lamb and shall trust in the Lord." Well, that's a good thing
to do, is it not? To trust in the Lord. I always
think of that one scripture over in Proverbs. Let me just read
it to you. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. Proverbs 3, verse 5. Lean not
unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy path. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Don't lean to your own understanding.
In all your ways Acknowledge him he'll direct your path. He'll
show you the way So he put a new song in my mouth even praise
unto our God many shall see it and fear That means to worship
the Lord And they'll believe him Those
who believe him trust him trust him now look at verse 4 That's the blessed man. Blessed
is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, that respecteth not
the proud, for such is turned aside to lies. Who is that blessed
man? Blessed is that man who believes
the gospel. Turn back to Psalm 32. Blessed
is that man who believes the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 32, look at verse 1. Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no guile. That's the blessed man. Blessed
is that man who has heard the gospel and believes the gospel
and trusts the Lord. We trust the Lord to redeem us,
don't we? What do we trust him for? For
all salvation. We trust the Lord to redeem us.
What? With his own blood. With his
precious blood. We trust the Lord to forgive
all of our sin. He said their sin and their iniquity
will I remember no more. We trust the Lord to pardon us.
He abundantly pardons his people. We trust the Lord to justify
us by his grace. Is there any part of salvation
that we trust ourselves for? Oh no. We trust the Lord for
everything. We trust Him to take care of
us. We trust Him to raise us up from the dead and bring us
to glory. We trust Him for everything.
Salvation is of the Lord. And we're to trust Him at all
times. Happy is that man who can say with Job, though he slay
me, yet I'll trust him. Happy is that man who can say
with Peter, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. To
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Or to say with Paul, I know whom I have believed. He says
this when he's in a prison cell in Rome, getting ready to be
executed for the gospel. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that He is able. We trust Him at all times. Look
at verse 5 back in our text. Many, many, O Lord my God, are
thy wonderful works. For everything He does is wonderful. His works are wonderful. His
works are wonderful because His name What's his name? Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father. I'm very careful how I use that
word wonderful. I don't usually say to my wife,
boy, you fixed a wonderful meal. I will say you fixed a delicious
meal, but I use this word wonderful, try to, in reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ. But his wonderful works, which
he had done, wonderful redemption, Wonderful salvation. The works
of creation are wonderful. The works of providence are wonderful.
But the work of salvation, oh, it's wonderful, isn't it? Which
thou hath done. It's not what we do for him.
The wonderful works, the work of salvation is his work. You
remember he said upon Calvary 3, the work is finished. The
work you gave me to do, boy, I finished it. Does that mean
we need to add some of our work? Oh, no. Many, O Lord my God,
are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and your thoughts,
the thoughts of God toward us. How long has the Lord thought
upon his people? From all eternity, the Lord chose
a people and gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ. His thoughts
have always been on us. He's loved us with an everlasting
love. Thy thoughts which are to usward. He's long-suffering,
that word, usward. Does that remind you of another
scripture? 2 Peter 3, 9. He's long-suffering to usward,
not willing that any perish, but all come to repentance. They
cannot be reckoned up in order. How can you calculate the wonderful
works of our God from all eternity, from eternity past to eternity
future? I cannot reckon up in order.
I cannot count them. They're innumerable. If I would
declare and speak of them, well, they're just more than can be
numbered. How many times has the Lord forgiven or how many
sins have we committed against the Lord And He's forgiven all
our sins. If I were to declare and speak
of them, well, there are more that can be numbered. My sin,
more that can be numbered, but He's put every one of them away
by the sacrifice of Himself. When He purged our sin, He sat
down because the wonderful works that He purposed to do from all
eternity, He's the Lamb slain, He said, it's finished. It's
finished! Now trust him, because he has
such a wonderful work, a wonderful sacrifice. Those
sacrifices, verse 6, 7, and 8, these verses are applied to the
Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews 10. The sacrifices under the
law, you remember we read in Hebrews 10, the blood of bulls
and goats, cannot take away sin. The sacrifice and offerings never
satisfied the eternal justice of God. But our Lord here speaks
as the bond servant. Mine ear has found open. He said
he was a willing substitute. No one takes my life. I lay it
down. That is a reference to that bond
slave under the law who serves his master willingly. burnt offerings
and sin offerings hast thou not required? Then said I, Lo, I come. The volume of the book is written
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All scripture to him give all
the prophets witness. Lo, I come and the volume of
the book, the whole volume of the book, Old Testament news,
all about the redemption story, Worthy is the lamb that was slain
John said behold the Lamb of God I Love this statement here. I delight to do thy will He did
the will of God perfectly the will of redemption the will of
salvation You remember he said in John chapter 6. Let me read
it to you. I Know you're familiar with it.
You don't need to turn and read it. Let me Read it as a reference,
John chapter 6, talking about, I delight to do thy will, O my
God, yea, thy law is within my heart. He's magnified the law
of God for us. He is honored the law of God
for us. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. And John 6, 37, all that
the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. Well, I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the father's will, which has sent me that of all, which
he had given me, I lose nothing. but raise it up again at the
last day. And this is the will of him that sent me that everyone
would see it the sun and believe it on him may have everlasting
life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. He came to do the will of God,
fulfilling all covenant obligations as a surety of that eternal covenant. I delight to do thy will. Oh,
my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. Now, verse 9 and verse
10, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, not only as a willing servant
of the Lord, coming to honor the law of God, satisfy His justice,
honor His law, but He's the preacher too. The Lord Jesus Christ came preaching
the gospel. Look at verse 9. I preach righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lip,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared it. I have declared
your righteousness. I have declared your faithfulness.
I have declared thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. The Lord Jesus
Christ came Declaring the will of God. He perfectly accomplished all
things for us. In coming for us, living for
us, dying for us, being resurrected for us. Now these five things
that are mentioned here in verse 10. Righteousness, faithfulness,
salvation, loving kindness, and truth. Those are the gospel bedrock
doctrinal truths. We preach the righteousness of
God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord, our righteousness. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord imputes righteousness without works. So we preach the righteousness
of God that's revealed in the gospel. And then we talk about
faithfulness. We talk about thy faithfulness,
God's faithfulness. In Psalm 89, Let me read it to
you. Psalm 89, 33. Psalm 89, 33 says
this. Nevertheless, my loving kindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail. My covenant will I not break
nor alter the things that's gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn
by my holiness, I will not lie unto David. And speaking of the
greater David, his seed shall endure forever. His throne as
a son before me, it shall be established forever as the moon
and as a faithful witness in heaven. We trust his faithfulness. His faithfulness. Great is thy
faithfulness. We sang a moment ago. Oh God,
my father. There is no shadow or turning
in him. Righteousness, faithfulness,
salvation. We don't hide his righteousness. We declare his righteousness. We declare his faithfulness and
we declare his salvation. We declare His salvation. As
Jonas said, salvation is of the Lord. And then fourthly, he says
there, His loving kindness. His loving kindness. Remember
Psalm 51, that word loving kindness. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to your loving kindness. according to the multitude of
thy tender mercies blot out my transgression, wash me throughly
from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, or acknowledge my
transgression and my sin is ever before me. So have mercy upon
me, O God, according to your loving kindness. Righteousness, we declare it.
Righteousness of God revealed and provided in the gospel. We
declare his faithfulness unto God. We declare his salvation,
salvation to the Lord. We declare his loving kindness.
And we declare thy truth. Remember our Lord said to his
disciples, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. What sets the sinner free? Truth. Truth. The Lord Jesus Christ,
He is our true God that sets us free. Read on, look at verse 11. Withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me. Tender mercies, O Lord. Let thy love and kindness and
thy truth continually preserve me. Here's what every sinner
needs. Tender mercies. Tender mercies. Loving kindness. He loved us
with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness he draws
us to himself. Jeremiah 31. And let thy truth preserve me. Lies, a refuge of lies will never
preserve us, will it? What will? The truth. Our Lord
said you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. Now, verse 12 is quite an amazing
verse. Verse 9 and 10 declare unto us
the Lord Jesus Christ the preacher. Here we see the Lord Jesus Christ
as our sacrifice. being made sin for us. Now, David could speak this. David, the king of Israel, innumerable
evils compass me about, mine iniquities take hold upon me,
so that I'm not able to look up there more than the hairs
of my head, therefore my hearts faileth. David, the king of Israel
could say that. Every believer as well could
say that. Innumerable evils compass me
about. Mine iniquities take hold upon
me. But what is amazing about this
is the Lord Jesus Christ was so identified with our humanity
apart from sin. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin. But yet as our substitute, he
speaks this, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me. Now,
how can that be? How can the Lord Jesus Christ
speak that way and call our sin, laid upon Him, His own? God laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. He bare our sin and His own body
on the tree, identified with our humanity, bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh, and identified with our sin as our sin was reckoned
unto Him. Wounded for our transgression
bruised for our iniquity the chastisement of our pieces upon
him and with his stripes we are healed It's not an amazing verse
Numerable evils He was surrounded with our sin. I think about those
three hours of darkness Upon the cross all the sin of God's
elect and laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It just blotted
out the sun, the darkness and blackness of our sin. Look at
verse 13. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. We only are delivered from our
sin because of the payment for our sin. Be pleased, O Lord,
to deliver me. No one else can. Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that's what he did. And heaven and earth sees
it, all deep places. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. God was pleased to bruise him,
and because of that satisfying sacrifice, God is pleased to
deliver us through that sacrifice. He shall deliver all Israel from
their sin. Let me read this to you. Galatians
chapter one, grace be to you and peace from God the father
and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us. He gave himself for our sin that
he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our father to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. We are delivered and the
Lord is pleased to deliver us because he delivered him up for
our sin, our iniquity. And that's the only way we can
pray. Oh Lord, make haste to help me. Verse 14 and 15. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for reward of their shame that say unto me, ah, aha, aha. Let all those that seek thee
Rejoice in the Lord. Let all those that seek mercy
where mercy is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let them rejoice
in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice and
let them be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation. Say continually. Those who love
thy salvation, what do they What do they seek? What do they desire?
The Lord be magnified. The Lord be glorified. As Paul
said, God forbid, I say, glory saved in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Let such as love thy salvation. Let such as love those who love
the Savior say continually, to God be the glory, great things
he had done. But I am poor and needy. Right
back to where we started. I am poor and needy. Deny them
of a broken heart. Though the Lord be high, yet
he hath respect unto the lowly. I am poor and I'm needy. A bankrupt
beggar in need of mercy. And yet the Lord thinketh upon
me. Thou art my help. Thou art my
deliverer. No other can help. No other can
deliver. Make no tearing. Oh my God. What a great blessing to know
our need of salvation. That's a great blessing to know
your need of salvation. What a great blessing to know
of our spiritual guilt and poverty before God. But what a greater
blessing to know all our need is met in Christ. What we were
saying a moment ago, all I have needed thy hand hath provided,
great is thy faithfulness. Our God, David, said, our God
is in the heavens. He's done whatsoever he is pleased. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord thinks upon his people. He is concerned for us and about
us. You know, He came to save. Whom
did He come to save? He came to save sinners. The
Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. He came to save us and
to make us to know that Christ is our Good Shepherd who came
to save His lost sheep. He came to seek and save the
lost. Our Lord said, they that behold
need not a physician, but they who are sick, Go and learn what
that means. I will have mercy, not sacrifice.
For I came not to call the righteous sinners to repentance. I am poor and I'm needy. Yet the Lord thinks upon us. He's my help. He's my God. He's my Savior. He's my righteousness. He's my deliverer. He's everything. Christ is all and in all. In
Him dwells all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and we stand
complete, complete, nothing lacking in Him.