Brother Jim spoke in his prayer about the
riches of Christ, and I believe that's what we'll call this psalm
tonight, this Bible study, the riches of Christ. And it says at the beginning
of the psalm that this is to the chief musician a psalm of
David. Now, I don't know exactly how
to put this, but this is a psalm of David, though the Spirit of
God inspired these words. And the Spirit of God led David
to write these words, because it says in this book that all
Scripture is God-bred. It's given by inspiration of
God. And when Paul writes to Timothy, he is writing to young
Timothy, but he's writing to all ministers and all believers.
The Spirit of God is using Paul's words to Timothy to edify the
church and all believers. So this is a psalm of David,
but it's for all the people of God. And David wrote these words
because he felt them. He lived them because he experienced
them. This is David's psalm, truly
his psalm. And then, secondly, this is a
Messianic psalm. Most of you know what I'm talking
about, so I won't explain it again, except to say that these
are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'll show you that
in a little while, how that Paul in Hebrews 10 quoted this psalm
and directly applied it to our Redeemer. So this is one of those
great messianic psalms, and everything written in here refers to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it is His expression and
His words. It is an experience which He
lived. David lived it, but not quite like the Master But it
is the words of the Savior. And then thirdly, this psalm
is my psalm and yours. If it belongs to Christ, it belongs
to me. If it belongs to Him by God's
grace, it belongs to me because we're one. And I want us to read
this psalm and just try to stay as closely as we can to each
word without venturing too far from what's written in each verse. Now, David begins in this way. He begins with a word that's
so difficult for me and I suppose for you, I waited. I waited. I read about a young
preacher who asked his teacher to teach him this psalm for him. And the teacher said to him,
take the first two words and learn those and then we'll go
on with the rest. I waited. I waited. It's difficult for us, isn't
it, to wait on the Lord. We know beyond a shadow of a
doubt that he worketh all things together for his glory and for
our good. I know that, you know that. And
I know that he is the Lord. And he makes no mistakes. Someone
said he's too wise to do anything foolish and too good to do anything
wrong. Everything that he does is altered
and purposed by him for his glory and our eternal good. But it's
so difficult for us to wait on a revelation of that will and
that purpose. But David says, he adds another
word, he said, I waited patiently." We'll wait, but not always patiently. And someone said that actually
what he's saying here is, waiting, I waited. Waiting, I waited patiently. He fully expected Almighty God
to reveal his purpose and his will, so he waited patiently. Over here in Psalm 27, he expresses
it more fully. He said in verse 13 of Psalm
27, I would have fainted, I would have given up, I would have quit,
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living. I mean now. I know we're going
to see his goodness and his grace and his purpose and his will
in eternity. But David expected to see it
in the land of the living. I would have fainted unless I
had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. So wait on the Lord. And while you're waiting, wait
patiently and be of good courage. And he'll strengthen your heart.
He'll give you the grace and the strength and the comfort
that we need. Wait, I say, on Him. All right, then he says in the
next line of Psalm 40, verse 1, and he inclined unto me. You
know, what he's saying here, he bent over. And he heard my cry. He inclined
unto me and heard my cry. He bent over. Heard my cry. In
due time, He will. Sometimes it seems like the heavens
are bright, that God is far away, and He is not hearing us. But
He will. He bent over, and He heard my
cry, and He will, and He'll undertake. I know it's a marvel that God
should hear us at all, but He will. He's promised to. He will hear us. Why should we
ever grow impatient? We don't deserve to be heard,
do we? And we confess that, that I waited, and I waited patiently
for the Lord. All right, verse 2. I want to
read these two verses together here, verse 2 and 3, because
I believe they go together, and David sets forth three powerful
statements. He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the miry clay." What's he talking about
here? Well, David is referring to those old dungeons where they
put prisoners. They didn't have fancy jails
like we do. They would dig a deep pit, walls
straight up, and dig it deep into the ground, a hole in the
ground, all the way down deep. And they'd put the prisoner down
there and that hole would be full of mud and corruption and
filth and only the opening at the top. Absolutely no way out. Absolutely no way out. And that's where he said he found
me. He found me in the pit. He said, remember the pit from
which you were digged. He found me in a horrible pit. a pit of sin, a pit of self,
a pit of darkness, a pit of death, and He brought me out. He did.
Actually, what He did, He came down and took my place and put
me out. He lifted me out of the miry
clay, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of
shame into glory. He brought me up. And look at
the second thing. And he set my feet on a rock,
and established my goings." That word, going, is steps. He set
my feet on a rock. Now, you know who that is. That's
Christ Jesus, our rock. Christ is that rock. I like that
verse over in, I believe it's Corinthians, that rock is Christ. That rock is Christ. And I shall
not be moved. And over in Isaiah, let me turn
and read it to you just briefly, talking about the Lord Jesus
in Isaiah 28. He says, Behold, I lay in Zion
a foundation, a rock, a stone, a tried stone. He's been tried,
and He did not fail. He's a precious stone. He's a
sure foundation, and He that believeth not make haste, you'll
not slide. Now my knees may shake, and they
do, and my arms may tremble, and my mind grow weary and confused
and depressed and dejected and cast down, but my feet will never
move. Never move. They're on that rock.
They're on Christ Jesus. And he has established, he said,
he set my feet on a rock and established my steps. Established
them. Ordered my steps. And then the
third thing, now look at this. And he's put a new song in my
mouth. A new song in my mouth. Now let
me tell you something. And this song is praise unto
God. Not to myself. Not praise of
men. It's praise unto God. It's a
new song. Now, this is not religious chatter. This is not emotional noise. This is not empty shouting. Well,
hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. No, I'm sorry. This is not acting
out of character. This is a The gospel song, it
has words. A song has words. Jim prayed
a moment ago, God would bless us as we sang these songs with
good words. And he, you dug me out of a horrible
pit, and he set my feet on Christ the Rock, established my steps,
and put a song in my mouth with words. Intelligible words. words people can understand.
It's a new song about a new covenant in Christ. It's a new song about
a new and living way that He's opened within the veil. It's
a new song about a new heart and a new nature and a new creature.
It's a new song about a new heaven and a new earth and a new body. He said, many are going to hear
it. Not everybody. I wish everybody that I preached
to heard me. I wish everybody that I read
the scripture to through these years and preached the gospel
really heard me. But they don't. They hear the words, but they
don't hear that song. They hear the notes, but they
don't hear the message. How do you know, preacher? Because
it doesn't have any effect on them. It doesn't change them. It doesn't renew them. It doesn't
make them a new creature. It doesn't take ten years to
make a man a new creature. It takes the power of God and
the Word of God. And many are going to hear it
and see it. They're going to see it. Not just hear it, they're
going to see it. I see. I see this message. I don't just hear it. I don't
just hear sovereignty and election and predestination. I hear His
voice. I hear it. They're going to hear
it, and they're going to fear it. Fear God. Worship God. Be brought down before God in
all, and they're going to trust Him. Many will. Not everybody, but
many will. They're going to hear my song. And they're going to see it.
You see that? See it. He that seeth the sun and believeth
on him hath life. I see. And I tell you, when you
see Him, everything else loses its importance. It's like seeing
the sun and all these other reflected lights just fade away. And the
moon's still up there, but you don't see it. The stars are still
there right where they were. But the sunshine, I see Him.
And that's when he comes here with verse 4 and says, well,
blessed is the man. Blessed is that man and that
woman. Blessed is that man and that
woman who maketh the Lord his trust, his refuge, his trust,
his hope, his salvation, his foundation, his confidence, his
life, his love, is all and in all. Christ is my Lord. Christ is my Lord. He may be
poor as Lazarus, but He's blessed. He may be as pained and troubled
as Job, but He knows His Redeemer. He may be as lonely as Elijah,
and cry, Lord, just take my life. He may be as bowed down as Jeremiah,
oh, that my head were rivers of tears, He may be as persecuted
as Paul, but I tell you, if the Lord is his trust, he's blessed. No matter where you find him
and what conditions he's in at that particular time, blessed
is the man who maketh the Lord his trust. I tell you about that
man, he respected not the proud. What does that mean? He doesn't
bow or cringe or cater to anybody. Doesn't matter if they're wealthy,
influential, popular, whatever they are. There's no compromise
with Him. The Lord's His trust. You're
paying attention to the things of this world. The Apostle Paul
said, I know no man after the flesh. I knew Christ one time
after the flesh, but no more. He's not in the flesh now down
here. No man. No compromise. And listen to
Him. And he says, and such as turn
aside the lies, what kind of lies? Religious lies. He does
not respect the proud. He doesn't bow or cringe or cater
to any man. He does not influence by those
who preach false gospel. He doesn't compromise with them,
those that bow before false gods and pray realism and easy-believe-ism
and false religions and deny the gospel of God's grace, he
got no time for it. Got no time for it, because the
Lord is his trust. Why should I fear what men can
do? And then he says in verse 5,
Many, O Lord, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
thy thoughts which are to us Oh, they cannot be reckoned up
in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, there more than can be known. This old flesh, every
time you talk about God's wonderful works and God's thoughts toward
this and God's blessing, this old flesh of ours always goes
to the material, always goes to the physical, always goes
to the natural. But I'll tell you, These wonderful
works and thoughts of God toward us are spiritual. He's blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings. George Rogers
has an outline on this. Five points, I'll give them to
you. He said these wonderful works,
the wonderful works of God, are his works of redemption in Christ.
The works of which our Lord spake when He said, I finished the
work you gave me to do. I finished it. It's finished!
His wonderful works for us. And He said, secondly, His thoughts
mean that He planned these works long ago. He purposed these works
before the foundation of the world. Before he ever sent Christ,
we were in his thoughts, and in his purpose, and in his love.
His thoughts were toward us. Before there was a sinner, there
was a Savior. And then he says, these works
are wonderful. Wonderful. You can't apply that
to anything material. There ain't nothing wonderful
here. His name is wonderful. Find something
wonderful, and I'll show you something that's going to wither
and die. That's right. He's wonderful. Wonderful in
His power, and wonderful in His person, and wonderful in His
fullness, and wonderful in His unchangeable glory. Wonderful,
said Manoah. He said, What's your name? He
said, Wonderful. He said, These works and these
thoughts are to usward. Where have you heard that word
before? Usward. It's found over here in 2 Peter,
in a verse of Scripture that everybody tries to use, and they
use it wrongly, and they try to apply it to every son of Adam and the
will of God to save every son of Adam. All right now, he said
in verse 5, Many, O Lord, are Your wonderful works which You
have done, and Your thoughts to us wait. Now look at II Peter
3 verse 8. Beloved, but beloved, that's
who we're talking to, beloved. Are you beloved? Then this is
yours. If you ain't beloved, it's not yours. That's right. Beloved. God's beloved. Be not
ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. And 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. Who are the any? Who are the ones not going to
perish? Us-ward. His words are to us-ward. His
thoughts are to us-ward. Beloved. Us-ward. Oh, my. My, my. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ. That's it, Jim, the riches of
Christ. To us-ward. If I should declare and speak of
them, There more than can be numbered. Now, you say this is
a messianic psalm preacher. That's right. Verse 6 through
8. Listen. Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou digged. You
know what that is. That's that bond slave that had
his ear bored at the door of his master when he could have
gone free and he said, I'm going to be a a willing, loving bond
slave. I don't want, the only freedom
I want is to serve my master, so bore my ear, dig my ear. That's
what he said. The Lord Jesus served the Father's
will in submission, willingly, lovingly, successfully, bore
my ear. Thine ear hast thou digged, opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings
hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book It's written of me, I delight to do thy will,
O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart." Who is that? Turn
to Hebrews 10 a moment and let Paul tell us. In Hebrews chapter
10, we'll just read this and you'll see what a Messianic psalm
is. In Hebrews 10 verse 5, Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure."
What's he saying here? He's saying that all of those
sacrifices from Abel's to the Passover, to the atonement, to
the tabernacle, all the rivers of blood on Jewish altars never
gave God any pleasure or satisfaction for sin death. They were pictures. They didn't purge sin. They pictured
how sin is to be purged in the blood of Christ. Never had any
pleasure. But now listen. Verse 7, Then
said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book, this book and his
book of purpose. It is written of me to do thy
will, O God. above when he said, Sacrifice
and offerings, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not neither hadst pleasure therein which are offered by the Lord.
Then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, the first tabernacle, the first priesthood, the first
Passover, and establisheth the second Christ, by the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin, but this man." Bob, there's those three
words in it. We look, but this man. But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat
down at the right hand of God. I finished the work he gave me. Ah, yes. And then verse 9 of
my text, Psalm 40. Go back over there, verse 9.
This is the Lord Jesus speaking to. He's our prophet, you see. I preach righteousness in the
great congregation. The Lord's righteousness. God's
righteousness in Christ by the faithfulness of Christ. You see,
He's our prophet. God spoke to our fathers by the
prophets as in these last days spoken by His Son. What did Christ
preach? Righteousness. Not ours. His. I have not refrained my
lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid your righteousness
within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness. I tell you, the Scripture says
that He is faithful. He is faithful. God is faithful
to every promise. I have declared your faithfulness.
I have declared your salvation. Salvation of the Lord. I've not
concealed thy lovingkindness." He loved us, we didn't love Him.
You know, somebody said, every time the Bible speaks of God's
wrath, it's against sin. Every time the Bible speaks about
God's wrath, it's always against sin. And every time the Bible
speaks of God's love, it's always in Christ. Check up on that. It's in Christ. Every time it
speaks of his wrath, it's against sin. Every time it speaks of
his love and mercy and grace, in Christ. In Christ. Always in Christ. Never anywhere
else. And your truth, I haven't hid your truth from the great
congregation. Mr. Spurgeon said, I care not
for new ideas. I care not for new thoughts.
I care not for new revelations. I care not for new ways. I have
declared thy word, and I do not desire to go one jot or tittle
beyond that which is written. I am content to live and die
as a mere repeater of what he said." That's good. Every preacher ought to say that.
I'm content to live and die as a mere repeater. That's what
he said. If they speak not according to
the Word, there's no light in them. But I think they don't
want to hear it. But I tell you what our denomination
believes, they don't want to hear it. What does he say? Tell them what he said. He said,
I, thy truth, am not concealed from the congregation. Now, look
at verse 11. Now here is the Lord Jesus crying,
My God, why stop forsaking me? Father, my soul is sorrowful
unto death. If it be thy will, let this cup
pass from me. Don't you listen to this now.
With hold not thy tender mercies from me, O Lord, Let thy lovingkindness
and thy truth continually preserve me. Innumerable evils have compassed
me about." Every sin of every elect believer of every sheep
of every generation met on Christ. That awful, awful time on Calvary's
Hill where our Lord was made sin, innumerable evils have compassed
me about. My iniquities have taken hold
of me. I'm not able to look up. There
are more in the hairs of my head. My heart's failing me." Finally
broke, didn't it? Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Yes. Yes. That's the Master. That's
the Master. You'll consider it carefully.
He was a man with a man's nature. And he bore all of our sins in
his body on that tree. And if God hadn't prepared him
a special body, it would never have lasted. That would never
come out of that garden. A body I prepared me. Who he was. But now this applies
to me and you. Verse 12, innumerable evils have
compassed me about. My iniquities have taken hold
of me. I am not able to look up. There
are more than the hairs of my head. My heart fails me. Be pleased,
O Lord, to deliver me. Make haste to help me. That is
my confession. Is that yours? It may astonish any believer. to take notice, particular notice,
of how many sins he's guilty of in one day. How many faults? One act. How many sins accompany one act? How many faults are revealed
in one thought and word and attitude? James says to offend in one point
of the law is to be guilty of all of them. So every time I
offend in one point of the law, it's tenfold. I've broken every
one of them. One thought, ten times. That's right. Tenfold. A violation of all the law is
a violation of one of them. Pick out any good deed or religious
act that you've done. and examine it closely enough,
and you'll find a swarm of sins in it. A swarm of them. Take the best
prayer you feel like you ever prayed, and it's full of lukewarmness,
unbelief, self-seeking, distractions, irreverence, And His pure eyes, the eyes of
God, detect a whole lot more than
you see. And I see a whole lot more. That's the reason we can say
with David and with our Master, my iniquities have taken hold
of me. I'm not able to look up. But
I tell you good news. His blood cleanseth us from all
sin. In Christ there is no sin. It's
put away. Put away. Now the Master closes. This is the Lord Jesus speaking.
And He says, 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, Aha! Aha! He saved others, himself he cannot
save. If he's the Christ, let him come
down, we'll believe him. Aha! Our Lord says, All those who
have opposed me, who have denied my deity and rejected my work,
who have refused to hear my word, and would not bow, lest them
one day find all their words against me, and all their deeds
against me, and all their thoughts against me prepared to testify
at the judgment against them." Think of it. Think of it. Think of all the things we've
ever said in opposition Not you, but the world, the Christ. And
all of those things coming back at the judgment to testify against
him. Job said, if I justify myself,
my own mouth would condemn me. My own mouth. I tell you, when I read this
word, it's just There's only one way to go, and that's to
Christ. There's only one rock, and that's Christ. There's only
one hope, and that's His blood. There's only one way of salvation,
and that's His death. There's only one way of put away
sin, and that's His blood. Blessed is the man that maketh
the Lord his trust. And I'll tell you good news here,
verse 16. Let those that seek Thee rejoice. He's praying for us here. He
said, I pray not for the world, I pray for those which you have
given me. Read John 17. Let those that seek thee, Lord,
rejoice. Let them be glad in thee. Let
such as love thy salvation, whose salvation he is, say continually,
the Lord be magnified. Isn't that our expression, our
song? The Lord be magnified. Isn't
that our hope? That's my hope. The Lord be magnified. But the
Lord prayed this way, and I do too. I'm poor and needy. Yet
I'll tell you this, the Lord thinketh upon me, and He's my
help, and He's my deliverer, and He'll make no tarrying for
my God. I say what Brother Jim said after
he read that, may the Lord bless. this psalm to our hearts. I tell
you, the more we think about our guilt, the more we need to
look to His grace. And the more we consider our
sins, and we're foolish not to, David said he is wherever before
him, the more we look to our Savior. Don't look in here. Don't ever, don't ever any of
us look in here to find any reason for justification. It's always
to Christ. Look outside ourselves. It's
a work for us. I know it's a work in us, but
it's a work for us. He justifies. He's our hope.