say this is a song of David or
written by the Apostle Paul or Peter or whomever, we mean by
that that though this person wrote it, God inspired it. The Scripture says that the prophecy
did not come in old time by the will of man, but holy men of
God, such as David, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And
these are the writings of David, but God inspired him to write
it. He felt these things, he experienced
these things, he lived these things. This is David writing
out of his own heart, but it's God, the Holy Spirit of God moving
him. to write. And then the second
thing about this psalm is it's what we call a Messianic psalm.
It's a psalm about Christ. It's not only David speaking,
it's the Lord Jesus speaking. And we know that this particular
psalm is a Messianic psalm without doubt, because when Paul wrote
over in the book of Hebrews about the incarnation of Christ This
is what he quoted. Psalm 40, verse 7. Then said I, lo, I come. Verse 6. See, sacrifice and offering
never pleased God. These Old Testament ceremonies
and sacrifices. But Christ said, mine ears hast
thou digged. I'm a bondservant. I'm your servant. burnt offerings and offerings
for sin thou hast not required never satisfied the law or the
justice or the character of God then said I, lo I come in the
volume of the whole book the written word and the mysteries
purpose of God it's written of me I come to do thy will O God
thy law is within my heart I'm the one that's preached righteousness thy salvation, thy faithfulness,
thy loving-kindness, and thy truth. God spake to our fathers
with the prophets as in these last days spoken by the Son.
So this is David's psalm. And this is the psalm of Christ,
our Lord. This is a Messianic psalm. This
is a prophecy and a promise of His coming. But this is my psalm. This is my song, this is your
song. If it belongs to David, it belongs to me. If it belongs
to Christ, it belongs to me, because I'm in Him. I'm in, you're
in Christ, this is my song. So let's look at it. He says
in verse 1, I waited patiently for the Lord. I waited patiently
for the Lord. And you know, when I looked at
that, I thought, well, why shouldn't I wait? patiently
on the Lord. As one man said, waited, waiting,
I waited. Waiting, I waited. Why shouldn't
I? And I thought of reasons why I should wait on the Lord. First
of all, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. Let Him do what
He will. He's the one who designs and decrees and does whatever's
done. So why shouldn't I wait on Him?
It's His purpose for which we wait. It's His will. Not my will, it's His will. And
secondly, why shouldn't I wait upon the Lord? Everything He
does is wise. Just about all I do is foolish.
But everything He does is wise. He never makes a mistake. Everything
He does is for my good. Why shouldn't I wait? Why do
I want my will now, when my will is not good? His will is perfect, wise, for
my good and His glory. Better to wait on the Lord, isn't
it? And then thirdly, I thought of this. Why shouldn't I wait
on Him? He doesn't owe me anything. Isn't that true? Whatever He sends my way is mercy
and grace and kindness. It's not merited, it's not deserved,
it's not earned. Whatever good I enjoy is because
of His grace through Christ, not because I deserve anything.
That's right. And then I thought of this. If I don't wait on Him, for whom
do I wait? That's what Peter said when our
Lord said, will you go away? He said, to whom? Tell me to whom I should go,
where I should go. Thou hast the words of life, so I wait on you. That's the
reason. So, I waited on the Lord. And listen, he inclined unto
me and he heard my cry. It didn't say when. David said
he leaned over, he bent over and heard my cry. When? God always
answers his children. But he decides the time. God
always acts on our behalf. Always, but in His own time,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. When the fullness of
time was come, God sent His Son. We want everything now, because
we live in a fast generation, fast pace, fast lane we call
it. But the Lord is in no hurry.
He will reveal His will and work in His own time. And I'll tell
you when that will be. I came up with this that I believe.
Bless me. The Lord will hear. He inclined
His ear and heard me. He'll hear when the trial has
accomplished that for which it has been set. That's when He'll
hear. When patience has its perfect
work. and the trial, whatever it may
be, or the experience has accomplished, that for which it's sent, he'll
hear. Secondly, he'll hear when you
and I are sufficiently shut up, and this is true in every relationship
we have with our Father, when we're sufficiently shut up to
his will and his grace. And that's not easy. Sometimes
it takes longer than other times to shut us up to His will. So we can really say, not just
in words, not my will, Thy will be done. When we can mean it,
that's when we'll know His will. And thirdly, when He can get
all the glory. Gideon was faced with an awesome
task of defeating a a great army, I mean a host far
outnumbered anything he had. But the Lord kept whittling down
his forces, whittling them down, whittling them down. Finally
he didn't have 300 men. He said, Lord, I know this is what he
thought, when are you going to stop subtracting from my strength
and my power and my forces? The Lord's answer was this, when
I can get all the glory, when I can get all the glory, that's
when we'll go to battle. See, if you win with what you
have now, you're going to say, I did a great job. But when I
bring you to the place where I get all the glory, I'll hear
it. And then I thought about this, when the Lord will hear
and reveal the purpose and will is when his purpose for everybody
else involved is accomplished. So often when we go through different
experiences or trials or living our daily lives and so forth,
we talk about God's will for me and what God wants for me. But where I'm concerned, there
are a lot of other people concerned. And the will of God waits to be revealed when everybody
who's involved has been taught or helped or blessed of what
God wills for them is accomplished. Do you understand what I'm saying?
In other words, what happens to a father or a mother or a
pastor, or a leader, or whomever. It's God dealing with that individual,
that's true. But God dealing with his wife,
or his children, or his grandchildren, or his friends, or his relatives,
or his loved ones, they're all touched with these things. And when God accomplishes the
purpose for all involved, then He'll incline His ear and He'll
hear. Where do you get the will to wait? I waited patiently. There's a key word, patiently. Understanding these things. And
He inclined to me and heard my cry. Where do you get this? I
think there are two things. The will to wait depends on two
things. Number one, it depends on an
understanding of who He is. and a clear understanding of
who we are. Who he is and who we are. And that's when that will to
wait becomes strong. How long will a beggar who has
nothing, no food, no clothing, no shelter, how long will he
wait at the door of a person who has the only food supply
in the country? How long will he wait? That's
right, until he's heard. So I waited on the Lord. Then
he says in verse 2 and 3, and he brought me up. He brought
me up out of a horrible pit, mirey clay. He set my feet on
a rock, established my goings, and put a new song in my mouth,
even praise unto our God. And many shall see it and fear
it, and shall trust in the Lord. He's already blessed me. innumerable
mercies. David's talking about, I'm waiting
on the Lord. He inclined and heard me. But
he's heard me so many times. He brought me up out of a horrible
pit. Those old pits, I've read about
them a little bit. Those old dungeons in which they
cast prisoners. They didn't have modern jails
like we had. When a man committed a crime,
or they felt like he did, They wanted to punish him for some
reason. They did some of God's prophets
this way. They'd dig a hole in the ground, a deep, big hole
in the ground, and just lower him down into that hole, a pit,
20 or 30 feet deep, and just leave him there. The only openings
up here, there's no way out, slick walls, and in that pit,
corruption. Just a pit with mud, miry clay,
corruption. And that's where He found us,
and He delivered us out of that pit, the pit of sin, under the
curse of the law, death, spiritual death. He brought me out of that
horrible pit of sin, the pit of false religion. I was an idol
worshiper. False God, the pit of self-righteousness,
even worse than my sins, was my self-righteousness. He came
to me where I was. He became what I was. He took
my plagues. He paid my debt. He became sin
for me who knew no sin that I might be brought up out of that horrible
pit. He's already blessed me. Not only that, but He set my
feet on a rock. All the time that prisoner was down in that
horrible pit, no way out, no help unless somebody came and
with compassion lifted him. All the time he couldn't stand.
That mud got worse. When it rained, it got deep.
All other things combined, the corruption. He found no place
for his feet. He could never stand or be settled
or be sure. slid around and fell in that
mud. But He brought me out, and He established me and settled
me and made me to stand on the rock, Christ Jesus. That's where
I'm standing. And the wind may blow, and it
will. And the rain may fall, and it
will. And the floods may rise, and
they will. And my knees will shake, and
they will. And my arms grow weak and my
mind not always clear, but my feet are established on the rock.
I shall not be moved. I was reading a paper yesterday,
a Lexington paper, and a preacher was preaching on the subject.
Don't just do something, stand there. I thought, now I've heard
that, don't just stand there, do something. You've heard it,
don't just stand there, do something. He was preaching on, and I love
this. Don't do something, stand there. Every time I do something, I
slide. Stand on the rock. Stand on Christ. Don't just do
something, stand there. He brought me out of that horrible
pit and set my feet on the rock, Christ Jesus. I shall not be
moved and listened. And He put a song, a new song,
in my mouth. Out of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. He put that
song in my heart and therefore that song is in my mouth. And
it's a new song. The song of the new covenant.
The song of the new and living way into the holiest of all. The song of a new heaven and
a new earth. The song of a new creature. The
song of a new way through the veil. The song they sing in heaven
unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. And they sang a new song, it
says, unto Him who loved us. that washed us from our sins
in His own precious blood." And this is a song. And he put, listen, verse 3,
he put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God. Listen to
me. This is a song. And a song has
words. This is not idle chatter. This
is not an unknown tongue. This is not empty shouting. This is not strange behavior. This is a psalm. A psalm has
words. A psalm is a psalm. That's what
we're reading here. A psalm. And this is the new
psalm. It's words of praise to our God. And many shall see it and hear
it. And they too shall fear, and
shall trust in the Lord." God uses that song of His people,
that praise from the heart and lips of His people, to call His
other people. My sheep hear my voice, they
hear that new song. Not idle chatter, not just religious
rhetoric, but a song. And always remember, a song has
words, and those words are praise to our God. Look at verse 4,
so blessed, blessed is that man, blessed is that man who maketh
the Lord his trust. Oh, how, the word blessed is
highly favored, twice happy, spiritually blessed. Blessed
is that man and that woman. who can trust. With Job, though
he slayed me, I'll trust him. With the Apostle Paul, let the
ship sink. That's what those sailors were
saying, this thing's going down. Paul said, let her go down. I
believe God. I believe God. It shall be exactly
as He said. Sink or swim, I go to Him. Happy is that man, twice blessed
is that man who maketh the Lord his trust. And we may be as poor
as Lazarus. And we may be as afflicted as
Job. We may be as lonely as Elijah. I'm the only one left, he said.
We may be as helpless as Jonah. Can't see a ray of light. We
may be as hated and persecuted as Paul. But if God be with us,
Who can be a justice? That old wicked king said to
the three Hebrew children, fall down and worship me. Worship
my gods with me. I'll cast you into the fire furnace. And where is the God? Where is
your God that can deliver you out of the fire furnace? And
they said, Our God can deliver us. Our God can deliver us. He's able. He has the power. Nothing too hard for God. But
if He doesn't deliver us, He's still God. That's trust now. That's trust. That's all right. He said, I'll
put you in a fiery furnace. That's all right too. Where's
your God that can deliver you? Well, our God can. He can, if
He will. That's what the leper said when
the Lord came down from the mountain and he fell at his feet and worshipped
Him. He said, if you will, you can make me whole. And if you
do, you're God, and if you don't, you're God. That's what they
said. He's still God. So happy is that man who can
trust. Trust Him. And what's this? I saw this, I've seen this before,
but, and that man who trusts the Lord, who believes His Word,
who believes His Gospel, who really believes His Gospel, Christ
is Lord, Christ is the only Savior, Christ elected a people, died
for those people, redeemed them, confident, sure, resting in His
tender mercies, innumerable grace and mercy. Two things. He respected not the proud, nor
those that turn aside to lies. He respected not the proud, nor
those that turn aside to lies. There are two groups of people
here. He trusts the Lord. He believes
God's Word. He does not bow to, cringe before,
or cater to the proud. That's the world. The world with
all of its so-called wisdom, which is foolishness, with all
of its influence and power, like Pilate said to the Lord,
don't you know, don't you realize I have the power to crucify you
or let you go? I have the power. But this man
who trusts the Lord, he doesn't bow to, he doesn't cringe before,
he doesn't cater to these who say, we have the power. We have the so-called wisdom
and the wealth and the power and everything is at our disposal. And secondly, he doesn't cringe
before or cater to those that turn aside the lies. That's the
religious crowd. They turn aside to false worship,
false gospel, another God, another spirit, another gospel. He doesn't bow to either one.
And Paul deals with that, if you turn for a moment over in
1 Corinthians. See if this is not true. In 1
Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 22, He talks about two groups of
people, the Jews and the Gentiles, the religious and the world. He says in verse 22, the Jews
seek after a sign. That's the religious people,
seek a sign. The Gentiles, the Greeks, seek after wisdom, the
world. But we preach Christ. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
unto the Greeks foolishness, but to them that are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power and the wisdom of
God. So this man who trusts in the
Lord, he doesn't cater to or cringe before or try to impress
or be impressed by the world, let the world go its way. Nor
does he turn to those who have turned away from God to lies,
religious false refuges, refuge of lies, Isaiah calls it, falsehood. He doesn't cater to that. He
trusts the Lord. And then he says in verse 5,
Many, O Lord, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done. Usually
when we think of the works of God, we think of the works of
creation, don't we? And that's right, the works of
the universe, the government of God, the kingdom of God, the
providence of God, the fullness of God, the variety of His creation,
perfect order of all things, when many, O Lord, of thy wonderful
works which thou hast done." But, you know, I believe George
Rogers has the best outline on this verse that I've found. And
this is the way he handles it. He said, these works of God,
number one, they're his works, and they're the works of redemption. They are the works of redemption. Lo, I come in the volume of the
book that is written of me to do thy will, thy works, O God. Our Lord said, I finished the
work you gave me to do. It's an eternal work. The creation
of this world, the first creation, it will fade away. Heaven and
earth shall pass away. But these works, the kingdom
of God, righteousness, redemption, sanctification, salvation. Christ did that. His wonderful works will live
forever. How wonderful, O Lord, are the
works which Thou, only Thou, hast done, which You Yourself
have done, which You did without the aid of anyone else. from Alpha to Omega. They're
your works. And listen, they're your wonderful
works. Isaiah 9, verse 6 says, His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. They're wonderful works. They're
wonderful in their power, wonderful in their fullness, wonderful
in their unchangeable glory. Wonderful works, the wonderful
works of God, redemption. He lifted me out of the horrible
pit, I'll never go back. He established me on the rock
Christ, I'll never be moved. He put a song in my mouth and
I'll never stop singing. And Rogers pointed this out,
in thy thoughts, how wonderful are thy works, O Lord, which
thou hast done in thy thoughts. All of this wonderful redemption
was born in the mind of God, in the heart of God, His thoughts. He thought of us and on us in
Christ before the world began. Before He made the stars and
the moon and the sun and the universe and the earth and the
trees and these things in creation, He thought on us. Way back on it. Our thoughts to usward. Turn to 2 Peter just a moment.
I've got a letter, Ron, you may remember just this week or last
week from a person wanting to know about this verse of Scripture.
Verse 9 of 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3, verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness but as longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish but that all should
come to repentance. He said, is that everybody? He
ought no better than that. That usward, the answer is in
verse 8. Beloved, beloved, God's church, His people, His
elect, beloved. This whole epistle is written
to the beloved. Beloved, don't be ignorant of
this very thing that one day is with the Lord. That's a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. What's time to God? The Lord's not slack concerning
His promise. What is His promise? The promises
of God are in Christ Jesus. Not yea and nay, but yea and
yea, amen. He's not slack regarding His
promises. Time doesn't have any bearing on God's promise. It
was made before time. As some men count slackness,
but He's long-suffering to us, were it to us who believe. And
that's what David's saying over here, and there's so many of
your wonderful works which you've done. And your thoughts, eternal
thoughts, everlasting thoughts, redeeming thoughts, to us with. To us with. And they cannot be
put in order. Now listen, they cannot be reckoned
up in order, they can't be compared or numbered None can with thee
compare. Well, if I would declare and speak
of your innumerable mercies, there more than can be numbered.
Who can put a value upon such treasure? Oh, the Apostle said,
the unsearchable riches of Christ. Unspeakable, unsearchable riches
of Christ. And verse 6 tells us where they
don't come from, these mercies and blessings and wonderful redemptive
works, not through sacrifice and offering which thou didst
not desire. That's not where they come from,
or burnt offerings and sin offerings which thou hast not required.
The Old Testament laws and ceremonies and sacrifices spoke of His wonderful
works, but they didn't do them. prophesied His wonderful works,
but didn't accomplish them. Pictured His wonderful works,
but didn't supply them. Here's the one who did. Then
said I, the Lord Jesus Christ, Lo, I come. That's the best news
we ever heard. The Old Testament says someone's
coming. He says, I come. In the volume
of the book, it's written of me. I delight. He not only does God's will,
He delights to do God's will. That's where we have a problem. Even when we're submissive to
God's will, it's not always with delight, is it? Huh? Well, I
delight to do Thy will. I delight, He said. Submissive
in heart, mind, and always. Thy law is within my heart. I
preach righteousness. Let's look at this. I preach
righteousness. I've jotted down a testimony
of an old preacher. He said, I've tried to understand
Paul's letter to the Romans, and nothing stood in my way but
one expression, the righteousness of God. I took that to mean the
righteousness whereby God is righteous. to mean the righteous
way He'll deal with sinners in punishing them for their sins.
And night and day I pondered that phrase, the righteousness
of God. And it filled me with fear, the
righteousness of God, until I laid hold by God's grace of the truth
that the righteousness of God is the righteousness of Christ
through His obedience. by God's grace has accomplished
and given to us. And now I no longer fear or hate
the righteousness of God, but the righteousness of God has
become to me inexpressibly sweet because it's my righteousness
in Him." So he said, I preach righteousness, and listen, I
preach thy righteousness, verse 10. Our righteousness, our faithfulness. God's people will be faithful,
but our faithfulness is based on His faithfulness. And His salvation, His lovingkindness,
and His truth. What is truth? I know you remember what Pilate
said When our Lord was before me, He said, what is truth? What
is truth? Every man uses that word, the
truth. But I'll tell you, Christ said, I'm the truth. I'm the
truth. Truth has to do with God. To
know God in Christ, that's truth. If I know Him, the things I do
not know mean nothing. If I know Him, on that foundation
will all things someday be revealed to me. Christ is the truth. He's the
truth about God. He's the truth about the universe.
He's the truth about life. He's the truth about all things.
I find in Christ the truth. He's the wisdom of God. He's
the truth. I'm the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life. I've got to quit. Verse 11, "...withhold
not thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness
and thy truth continually preserve me." Now, one thing I want to
bring out. We talk about His innumerable
mercies. David talks about here something
else. Our innumerable sins. Innumerable evils. Just as God's
love and God's mercy is innumerable to His people, Our sins and our
guilt is innumerable. We can't number His mercies,
nor can we number our sins. How many faults are revealed
in one thought? How many faults are revealed
in one word, in one look? James said to offend in one point
of the law is to be guilty of the whole law ten times. My evils and my iniquities are
innumerable. They've taken hold upon me. I'm
not able to look up. They're more than the hairs of
my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord,
to deliver me. Make haste to help me. And verse
17 sums it up. I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord
thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer.
Make no tarrying, O my God. What a mercy! What innumerable
mercies we have in our Redeemer. I hope that's a blessing to you.