The Christian Song – Part 2
Psalms 40 (6-10)
June 2, 2019
Last Sunday night we began looking at this 40th Psalm
Which is a special Psalm in my life as it was the first passage
That I discovered after I was saved.
It is a Psalm which gives us a remarkable picture of the Christian life.
The realities expressed here by David are realities that
All Christians have discovered and that all Christian enjoy.
These are universal Christian testimonies and declarations.
We looked at the first 2 last Sunday night.
#1 DAVID’S DELIVERANCE
Psalms 40:1-3
We noted that these 3 verses indicate a testimony by David
Of a time in the past when God delivered him from “the pit of destruction” and “out of the miry clay”
As we noted:
• “pit of destruction” would be the divine penalty of sin (i.e. hell)
• “miry clay” would be the consequences of sinful life on earth
Unbelievers dwell under both.
They are both enemies of God
And suffer the due penalty of their sinful choices.
David had come to realize that this was his predicament.
So at some time before this Psalm was written David cried out to the Lord.
We know he cried out in genuine faith
Because of patiently waited for God and God alone to deliver.
And according to verse 2 God did just that.
“He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.”
It is a testimony of salvation.
• God did for David what David could not do for himself.
• God delivered him from his sin and from the eternal consequences of that sin.
And as we said, THIS IS A UNIVERSAL TESTIMONY FOR ALL BELIEVERS.
• We all were dead in sin
• We all were previously disobedient in heart
• We all were headed for hell
• We all lived in the consequences of our sin
And for all believers, God delivered.
God saved.
He pulled us out of our sin and set our feet in a secure location.
Coupled with that, “He put a new song in [our] mouth, a song of praise to our God;”
• He changed us.
• He changed our heart as indicated by the song
• He changed our life as indicated by our outward testimony
He made us new, He made us different.
He saved us from wrath and He saved us from our sin.
It is the universal Christian testimony.
And we saw it in David.
We also saw the second point last Sunday night
#2 DAVID’S DOXOLOGY
Psalms 40:4-5
David spoke of a “new song” verses 4 & 5 reveal that song.
It is an overflowing song of praise and gratitude from a grateful heart.
• There David recounted the unsearchable blessing of being a child of God.
• There David acknowledged how impossible it is to declare or speak of or count all of God’s blessings.
It is simply a song from a grateful heart with incompetent words.
And this is also a universal Christian reality.
All those who recognized their pitiful sinful condition,
But then received the gracious salvation of God respond in like praise.
How could you not?
We saw several of these same types of doxologies throughout the New Testament.
Well, those were the FIRST TWO STANZAS of this Christian Song.
Tonight we move forward.
#3 DAVID’S DELIGHT
Psalms 40:6-8
As we noted in verse 3 God had worked a change in David’s life.
• It was NOT merely some external commitment to morality.
• God inwardly changed David’s perspective and heart.
It was the type of change that we see typified by
The New Covenant and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, ” I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Ezekiel 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
Certainly we understand that this New Covenant would be ultimately coming through Jesus Christ many years after the life of David.
But if you’ll see it,
• David’s heart had been opened by God to understand the very reality prophesied
• And even to place his trust in the One who would bring that New Covenant to fruition.
I WANT YOU TO NOTICE DAVID’S NEW FOUND PERSPECTIVE.
(6) “Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.”
Now this statement should certainly make sense to you,
But I just want you to know how foreign it was to David’s day.
It seemed that no one seemed to understand this reality in David’s day.
Everything they did was tied to some form or external ritual or sacrifice.
Although God always intended His work to be an internal work,
The people almost exclusively kept it external.
For them it was all about the outward ritual
(seen even into the days of the New Testament).
I want to quickly show you tonight that this was never the case.
God always intended salvation to be a change of the heart,
Not just some religious ritual.
It’s just that the people never seemed to understand that.
Consider first that passage in Deuteronomy that is referred to by Jesus as “The Great and Foremost Commandment”
Deuteronomy 6:4-8 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.” “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.”
To simply illustrate how the Jews missed the point,
• By the time Jesus arrives you have the Pharisees writing this command on paper,
• And then putting it in little pouches and tying those pouches to their foreheads
• And to their left arm (because it was closes to their heart)
They totally missed the point of what God was commanding.
I had a conversation with a couple of my baseball players and coaches the other night at the game in Roosevelt.
One of my assistant coaches said he wanted to get a Bible verse tattooed on his back.
• I asked him what good that was supposed to do if he had no affection for God
in his life?
• I asked him if a Bible verse tattooed on his back was supposed to get him into
heaven?
• I told him God wanted to write His word on his heart, not his back.
At that point one of the players piped up and said, “What if during open heart surgery, the doctor actually tattooed a bible verse on your heart?”
That’s called missing the point.
The Jews routinely did as well.
But they shouldn’t have because it was the clear message
Of nearly every single Old Testament prophet.
Let me show you.
Isaiah 1:11-17 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”
Jeremiah 7:21-23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. “For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’”
Hosea 6:6 “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
Joel 2:12-13 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.”
Amos 5:22-24 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”
Psalms 50:7-15 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”
Do you get the idea?
It has always been about the heart.
When we talk about
The DIFFERENCE BETWEEN true believers and false believers…
When we talk about the tares among the wheat…
It is this piece of information that distinguishes the two.
The false believer (the tare) assumes God is pleased
Because he is involved in all sorts of outward religious activity.
But the true believer has come to understand that
It is about obedience of the heart, not religious activity.
Remember this conversation?
Mark 12:28-34 “One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ “The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE’S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.”
It was all about understanding what God was looking for.
And this is a major lightbulb that comes on for the redeemed.
• They come to a knowledge of their own sinfulness; that is they realize they are in the pit and the mire.
• They cry out to God for deliverance and salvation.
• And their one cry is to now be righteous in the heart, not just in ritual.
And if you will see it, this is DAVID’S NEW DESIRE.
This is DAVID’S DELIGHT.
He no longer wants to merely be religious.
Listen to him:
(6) “Sacrifice and meal offerings You have not desired;”
He gets it doesn’t he?
That’s why he says; “My ears You have opened”
That is to say, “I get it God”
“But offering and sin offering You have not required.”
So many in Israel saw the sin offerings as a form of CHEAP GRACE
That allowed them to live however they wanted
So long as they just kept sacrificing animals.
But David has learned better.
The sin offerings were a tremendous grace of God, but they were not meant to encourage you that sin is ok.
• The goal was still righteousness…
• The goal was still obedience…
David has learned that.
He doesn’t come like so many do today who just want to be able to live their lives however they want let Jesus take care of eternity.
That is a mentality of the lost.
That is a hope of the spiritually dead.
A true believer longs for righteousness.
A true believer longs to be obedient.
A true believer is grateful for atonement,
But grieves that they have needed it.
• They mourn over sin
• They hunger and thirst for righteousness
• They desire to stand before God with a pure heart
That is what David is expressing.
BUT LET ME SHOW YOU WHERE THIS PSALM GETS EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL (and why we call it “The Christian Song”)
David desires righteousness, but through eyes of faith,
David looks to the One who will provide it.
Look at verses 7-8
(7-8) “Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”
• From David’s lips that sounds like a great statement.
• It is full of discernment and submission and commitment.
But what you need to know, is it’s NOT David’s statement.
TURN TO: Hebrews 10:1-10
You are familiar with the opening of this chapter.
It falls very much in line with what we have been talking about tonight.
(1-4) That sacrifices cannot take away sin.
• Killing sheep will not make you righteous.
And then we read:
(5-7)
Now you recognizes that. It’s Psalms 40:6-8.
And it is the declaration of Jesus.
• That God gave Him a body so that He could live a righteous life.
• That God made Him human so that He could satisfy the requirements of the Law.
And He did.
And then we read
(8-10)
That is to say that Jesus Christ
Offered this righteous life to God as an acceptable offering.
Now, when we read Psalms 40 in the light of Hebrews 10
We realize that while David has a tremendous desire to live a righteous life before God.
Ultimately David knows what every believer knows…
That the righteousness he presents before God is an alien righteousness. That is to say, it is not his own.
• It is a righteousness that came from somewhere else.
• It is the very perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
AND THIS IS DAVID’S DELIGHT.
As a man confronted by God
David knows that God desires true righteousness of the heart,
And David here even prophesies where it will come from.
It is a righteousness that will be provided through Christ.
And this is also the delight of every believer.
• We desire righteousness
• how we long to be holy
• We want the man of sin to be done away with
• And at the same time we rejoice in the One whose righteousness justifies me until that day occurs.
David’s delight is not just in righteousness.
David’s delight is also in Jesus.
Are these realities not true of every believer?
• We have a testimony of deliverance…
• We have a doxology of praise…
• We have a desire for righteousness and a delight in Jesus…
That’s universal for all believers.
David’s Deliverance, David’s Doxology, David’s Delight
#4 DAVID’S DECLARATION
Psalms 40:9-10
Now this one may step on a few toes, but perhaps that is necessary.
Look at the next mentality of David.
• This man who had received deliverance…
• This man who recognized righteousness in Christ…
What is he doing?
HE IS TELLING EVERYONE
(9) “I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation.”
He is telling everyone!
In fact:
“Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know.”
• No one can keep me quiet about this.
• I’m telling everyone about this One who made me righteous.
(10) “I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.”
We have learned this principle lately as well:
Luke 11:33 “No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.”
We have said it many times,
But how do you know if someone has the light?
THEY SHINE THE LIGHT.
• They don’t “restrain” the message.
• They don’t hide the truth.
• They don’t conceal God’s mercy from people.
• They broadcast it.
This is such a fundamental reality to true Christianity that Jesus even said:
Matthew 10:32-33 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
If you remember Matthew 10 then you know that it is that chapter
In which Jesus calls the 12, and sends them out.
But He sends them out as “sheep in the midst of wolves”
In fact He tells them it will be dangerous.
But He sends them out with the warning that
Not to allow anything to keep them from confessing Him before men.
Charles Spurgeon said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.”
How can it be that we have all these people in the American church
Who have absolutely no desire or willingness
To proclaim salvation to the rest of the world?
And I’m not just talking about
The dangerous places of the Middle East.
We’ve got people in our own congregation
Who would not share their testimony in a Sunday School class,
Let along proclaim Christ in the streets.
And there is something wrong there.
If you have the Light you shine the Light; it’s that simple.
And that is what you see from David here.
Rest assured God, I’m telling everyone that I can.
But not only that, I want you to see the message David is preaching.
This is also important.
In a day where the preferred message is “God loves you”
Or “Why don’t you come to church?”
I want you to see what David preaches.
1) “I have proclaimed glad tidings of Your righteousness to the great congregation.”
What is David preaching there?
“Your righteousness”
That’s a two-part message.
It is to preach the holy standard of God
And it is to proclaim the One who alone satisfies it.
David went to the world with a primary message about God.
That message was that God was righteous
And that God demanded righteousness.
David preached “You shall be holy as I am holy”
And lest you think that message is too harsh, may I remind you that it is the message of the Holy Spirit.
John 16:8-11 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”
That is what David is doing as well.
“Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart.”
• I didn’t keep quiet about it.
• I didn’t hide my light.
• I declared to the world how righteous You are and how You demand that same righteousness of us.
That is our message.
The world knows that God is love, they have forgotten that God is holy.
But that’s not all that David proclaims.
2) “I have spoken of Your faithfulness”
That is interesting.
What does it mean that God is faithful?
Especially why does a lost world need to know it?
Well, faithful means that God does what He says.
Well God has promised that
For all those who sin and do not repent,
They will be judged in eternal hell.
And the world needs to know that God is faithful.
(Go read Lamentations, it is a testimony to God’s faithfulness of His promises in Deuteronomy 28)
He is faithful to save those who repent,
And He is faithful to judge those who do not.
David proclaimed righteousness as the standard God required.
David proclaimed faithfulness regarding the judgment God will bring.
A third thing David proclaimed
3) “I have spoken of Your …salvation;”
And that is God too.
He saves sinners.
Those who repent and turn from their sin,
And who confess their need for His righteousness…
God saves them.
It is the message of the hope of the gospel.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
Will God judge sinners? Absolutely, He is faithful to His word.
But He is also faithful to save sinners who repent and trust in Him.
David also proclaims:
4) “I have not concealed Your lovingkindness”
That is CHECED – God’s loyal covenantal love.
It is the reality that God keeps His covenant.
God has a loyalty to the elect whom He has chosen
And He will not let them slip away.
He will relentlessly pursue each one until they are all redeemed.
And when we go to sinners
We can remind them of this wonderful fact,
That God is not only willing to save sinners,
But God is eagerly seeking to save sinners.
And God will save all who whom He has chosen and all who call on Him.
And David let all of Israel know that.
David also proclaimed:
5) “I have not concealed…Your truth from the great congregation.”
It is not only God’s reliability and trustworthiness,
BUT IT IS ALSO GOD’S MESSAGE.
David was not ashamed of the gospel.
• He took it to the world.
• He proclaimed it to the world.
• He spoke it in church and He spoke it in the square.
And this is a Christian reality.
We are those who proclaim the gospel of salvation.
• We talk of God’s righteousness…
• We speak of God’s faithfulness to judge…
• We speak of God’s mercy to save…
• We speak of God’s loyalty to pursue sinners…
• We speak of God’s truth in all of this…
We carry that message to men.
So, just following with the flow of the Psalm.
We know a Christian by:
• Their testimony of Deliverance
• Their song and Doxology of praise
• Their Desire for righteousness and their Delight in the One who supplies it.
• Their Declaration of the gospel to the world.
Those are basic Christian realities.
There is one more, and we’ll get to it next time.
