The Christian Song – Part 3
Psalms 40 (11-17)
June 16, 2019
Here over the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the 40th Psalm.
I call it “The Christian Song”
Because it is a song that every believer can identify with.
Let me recap them quickly tonight.
#1 DAVID’S DELIVERANCE
Psalms 40:1-3
We recounted how before this Psalm began
• David had come to his senses (pure grace) and realized that he was in “the pit of destruction” and in “the miry clay”
• This realization led David to cry out to the Lord for deliverance.
• By the time the song begins David is recounting how the Lord answered that request.
• David asked and “patiently waited” indicating true faith and the Lord responded to that faith with deliverance.
“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.”
This is a universal testimony of Christian salvation.
Every person, by reason of their sin, is in the pit.
Every person, by reason of their sin, is in the miry clay.
It may be the miry clay of gross immorality,
Or it may be the miry clay of religious self-righteousness,
But it is clay none the less.
It is sinfulness that has rightly earned the wrath of God.
And every person needs salvation from it.
AND GOD (as He has done for all believers) SAVED DAVID FROM IT
The result is not a life left in sin, but a life pulled out of sin.
The result is a life no longer in the clay, but now on the rock.
Every Christian has this testimony of a changed life.
And it is so obvious that your acquaintances can recognize the change.
“Many will see and fear and will trust in the LORD”
There is no such thing as a Christian with an unchanged life.
There is no such thing as a Christian with no light to shine.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
God so changes the internal disposition and desires of the heart
That a genuine believers salvation out of sin is obvious.
That is what David first sings of.
His Deliverance
#2 DAVID’S DOXOLOGY
Psalms 40:4-5
As we noted, throughout Scripture we see that
After a moment of great deliverance or great revelation,
The writers of Scripture would break into a great statement of praise.
It is called a doxology.
That is what David does here.
• He said in verse 3 that God “put a new song in my mouth”, verses 4 and 5 reveal that song.
And it is a song of praise all about how great God is,
And how blessed we are for having been saved by Him.
And this is also a universal Christian reality.
A non-singing Christian is a contradiction in terms.
A non-praising Christian is a phony and a fraud.
• Anyone who has truly seen their sinfulness and felt the grief of the displeasure and judgment…
• Anyone who has then seen the atonement of Christ and then begged God for that justification…
• Anyone who has felt the relief of God’s forgiveness for that sin…
• Anyone who has then been filled with God’s Spirit and given new life…
Will automatically break forth in praise.
It is impossible not to.
God is too good!
Christ is too worthy!
Salvation is too wonderful!
Christians break out in praise to God.
That is how this song begins.
David’s Deliverance David’s Doxology
#3 DAVID’S DELIGHT
Psalms 40:6-8
And this is really the heartbeat of the Psalm.
This is probably the most telling difference in David’s life
Now that he has been saved.
He finally gets it.
• God isn’t interested in empty traditional ritual.
• God wants to be loved.
• And God desires for that love to be shown through obedience.
• God wants a righteous life.
And David says, “my ears You have opened” – I GET IT!
“Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired”
But as we said, David also spoke prophetically here.
• David knew that God demanded a righteous life,
• But David also knew it was beyond him to give it.
So David looked ahead to the One
Who would satisfy God’s righteous desire.
We saw how the writer of Hebrews took Psalms 40:6-8 and applied it to Christ.
• It was Christ who took on human form…
• It was Christ who obtained a righteous life…
• It was Christ who presented that righteous life to God…
And in Him, David is now also pleasing to the Father.
David’s delight then is both in righteousness
And in the One who provides it.
Isn’t that also the mentality of a Christian?
We are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
We are those who agree with Paul who spoke of the righteousness God desires and then said:
Philippians 3:13-14 “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
• We desire holiness.
• We want to be righteous.
• We hate sin.
• It grieves us.
And yet, we still understand that in our flesh righteousness eludes us.
So we also delight in Christ, who is our righteousness.
We delight in the One who fully satisfied God’s holy commands.
We strive for perfection, and we love the Christ who provides it.
That is a Christian’s delight.
• Those who don’t desire righteousness…
• Those who have no affection for Christ…
• Those who are bound up in religious ceremony and not love for God…
Those are not genuine believers, and they would never sing this song.
But we sing it because we are grateful for what Christ provides.
David’s Deliverance David’s Doxology David’s Delight
#4 DAVID’S DECLARATION
Psalms 40:9-10
This is another universal truth regarding genuine believers:
THEY ARE MISSIONARIES.
• They do not hide their light under a bushel…
• They do not keep their salt away from a tasteless world…
• They don’t maintain that their faith is a private matter…
No, they broadcast Christ from the mountaintops.
They profess Him publicly.
That is what David did.
“I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;”
“I will not restrain my lips”
“I have not hidden Your righteousness”
“I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation”
“I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth”
That’s a far cry from those today who want their faith to be a private thing.
It is not. And it never was never intended to be.
Those who have been genuinely delivered by God’s grace
Not only sing God’s praises,
But share God’s gospel with the world.
It is not only a simple mandate,
But it is also a desire of the Christian heart.
We long to see the glories of Christ proclaimed to the world.
Well, that is what we’ve seen so far as we’ve studied this 40th Psalm.
You can see why we call it “The Christian Song”
It is descriptive of the Christian life.
Well there is one more point in this song
And it is one that I think is so important,
And a song that we continually sing.
Let me just give it to you and then we’ll talk more about it:
#5 DAVID’S DEPENDENCE
Psalms 40:11-17
• As much as we love the remembrance of our deliverance and salvation from God.
• As much as we focus on the day our lives were changed.
This may actually be the part of the song that is still the sweetest.
BECAUSE WE KNOW LIFE
• Salvation is certainly great and glorious
• Forgiveness is a wonderful thing.
• We sing, we share, we submit to God’s commands
But inevitably we also stumble
I’m mindful of those churches in the book of the Revelation
Because we so easily see ourselves in their failures.
To Ephesus Jesus said:
Revelation 2:4 “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
• Despite their salvation, and their love of sound doctrine, they had allowed their Christianity to run cold and had neglected their first love.
• They got snared in the routine of religion and forgot that loving Jesus was the most important thing.
I do that too.
It’s a grievous sin and one that is unacceptable to Christ, but I have done it.
To Pergamum Jesus said:
Revelation 2:14 “But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.”
• They were a church that loved Christ and wouldn’t forsake Him no matter the pressure, but they also were prone to get too comfortable with the world.
• They struggled with their convictions against sin and let people dwell in their church that loved the world.
I’ve done that.
Confronting people for loving the world is a hard job.
It’s far easier just to turn a blind eye to the sin of others.
It’s easier just to laugh with them and be friends.
To Thyatira He said:
Revelation 2:20 “But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”
• That church began to tolerate idolatry and the woman who led the people there.
• No doubt they knew it was wrong, no doubt there were some who wanted it changed,
• But speaking up proved to intimidating so they just left it alone.
I do that.
There are times when sin must be confronted
But for the sake of my own personal comforts, I just ignore it.
To Sardis He said:
Revelation 3:2 “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.”
• That was the lazy church who felt like they had done enough.
• They quit pushing, quit serving, quit going, and just tried to retire.
I’ve done that.
You just get tired and so you try to coast.
My guess is that you can identify with some of those too.
And that’s just a few of the sins
That even believers fall into from time to time.
If we wanted to get really extreme all we have to do is take a jet tour through 1 Corinthians where we find believers stumbling in all sorts of areas.
• They are divided over who is the greatest
• They are comfortable in the world
• They refused to mourn or deal with a sexually immoral brother
• They were dragging each other into court and suing one another
• They were visiting prostitutes
• They were depriving one another
• They were eating in idols temples to the detriment of their brothers
• They were failing to compensate their ministers
• They had confusion regarding gender roles
• They were getting drunk during the Lord’s Supper
• They were seeking the showing sign gifts in the public worship service
• And they denied the resurrection
My point?
BELIEVERS CAN STUMBLE INTO SIN.
And so as glorious as it is to sing about salvation,
The reality is that the Christian song would not be complete
If there was not a verse that dealt with security.
And that is where David concludes this song.
Well, let me just go ahead and make sure you see here that
DAVID HAS MESSED UP.
(12) “For evils beyond number have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, And my heart has failed me.”
While it is not pleasant, it is accurate.
• While every believer has a testimony of deliverance and salvation,
• It is true that every believer also has a testimony of a backsliding and failure.
We can all sing the song about the day we shot out of the gate
Running at full speed singing the praises of Jesus
And telling the world about what a wonderful Savior He is.
But the reality is also true that at some point along the race
We are prone to trip, fall, roll, and mess the race all up.
That is where David is.
HE HAS BLOWN IT.
BUT THAT IS ALSO WHAT MAKES THIS PSALM SO WONDERFUL.
Because despite David’s failures,
He is still able to sing a song about a redeeming God
Who carries us in spite of our failures
And who delivers us in spite of our stumbling.
In fact, David is here counting on it.
In these final 7 verses you have David depending on God.
• It is what we do every day.
• It is the lifestyle of the Christian.
And let me show you what David is depending on God for.
1) HE IS DEPENDING ON GOD TO PRESERVE HIM (11)
“You, O LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.”
In my mind it is one of the most mind-boggling
And yet remarkable things that God does for His children.
It is called SECURITY.
It is the reality of ASSURANCE.
If I were God (and you can be very thankful that I am not)
And I was concerned about holiness and obedience
And being glorified by my children
I WOULD BE TEMPTED TO HOLD THEM UNDER A MASSIVE ULTIMATUM.
My ace in the hole would be the continuous threat of judgment.
• You better put down that sin, or I’ll call the whole thing off and send you to hell.
• You better start singing praises, or I’ll change my mind and cast you into hell.
• You better start witnessing, or I’ll grab you by the neck and fling you into hell.
It seems that the ULTIMATE MOTIVATIONAL TOOL for obedience
Would be fear of ETERNAL TORMENT.
Indeed, many who have their theology all messed up
Still use this tactic today.
They threaten people with losing their salvation if all the legalistic requirements are not ritually kept.
• You better be in church…
• You better take the Lord’s Supper…
• You better give…
• You better sing or witness or teach or whatever…
And if you don’t, you might just lose your salvation.
BUT THANK GOD, THAT IS NOT WHAT GOD DOES
IN FACT GOD DOES JUST THE OPPOSITE.
He gives assurance to His children,
That despite their failures and shortcomings
Nothing will ever separate them from His love.
And that is what David is trading on here.
Indeed that is what we trade on.
As David lives his life in a desire to dwell in glory for all eternity,
He is dependent; not upon his own ability to earn it,
But on God’s willingness to be compassionate.
“You, O LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me;”
Wow, what a statement!
It was also David who said:
Psalms 103:8-11 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.”
David knew that despite the wickedness of man,
God never failed to be compassionate.
It was the attribute Jeremiah banked on in the book of Lamentations as he looked upon the aftermath of God’s judgment on Jerusalem.
Lamentations 3:22-23 “The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”
David knew that nothing could keep God from being compassionate.
And because of this he said:
“Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.”
We are talking here about PRESERVATION.
We are talking here about SECURITY.
And David was keenly aware that
The power of preservation was not in the strength of his arm,
But in the depth of God’s compassion and loyalty.
How many times do we rejoice in this!
We read:
John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Security does not depend on the steadfastness of the sheep.
Security depends upon the strength of the shepherd.
Sheep stray…
Sheep rebel…
Sheep follow their own stupid impulses and get themselves in danger…
It is the shepherd who protects and preserves them
In spite of their foolish inclinations.
We depend on that!
Not that we are so good at enduring,
But that Christ is so good at preserving.
How else can we say it?
• If the prolonging of my salvation was up to me for even 1 second, my salvation would be eternally lost.
Or how we rejoice in the realities of Romans 8 where Paul reminds us that God’s plan begins with foreknowledge and ends with glory…every time.
Romans 8:29-30 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
Christ doesn’t lose any.
And to that Paul says:
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
• It doesn’t matter if Satan accuses us…
• It doesn’t matter if our own heart condemns us…
• It doesn’t matter if the enemy attacks us…
• Nothing can separate us.
• Not because we are strong, but because He is.
That is what David is singing about.
He walks through this world depending on the fact that
God will not let him fall, but will certainly preserve him.
Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
John 6:39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”
DAVID IS DEPENDING ON IT.
WHY?
Because David knows how sinful he is, which is what he reveals in vs. 12.
But that also reveals to us another thing that David is depending on.
2) HE IS DEPENDING ON GOD TO FORGIVE HIM (12)
“For evils beyond number have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, And my heart has failed me.”
David was UNDER NO DELUSION
That he either deserved salvation or that he deserved to keep it.
He knew what he was, and that he continually failed.
In this instance he had been surrounded by “evils” or we might consider them to be temptations and David had fallen.
The result was that “My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head”
David was aware of great transgression on his part.
I like that he says, “my heart has failed me.”
• As Christ mentioned last Sunday night, so much for “follow your heart”
• When David followed his heart all it managed to do was lead him into great sin.
Now, we don’t know which sin or sins David is referring to here,
But the point is not about which sin.
The point is about that in spite of his sin
David is still banking on God’s forgiveness.
What a blessing to have that reality in our lives.
I lean on many of the promises of God, but I can’t say that there are any that I lean on more than 1 John 1:9
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
What a great promise that is!
That God has already promised in His word
That if I will confess my sin to Him, then He will forgive me.
That is remarkable!
Jesus even incorporated that into the model prayer.
Matthew 6:12 “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
It is a bedrock on which the Christian depends.
And that makes this also a staple of the Christian life.
It is important that you understand,
But repentance is not a one-time trick for a Christian.
We don’t just use it at salvation and then never revisit it.
Repentance is the daily language of a Christian.
• We continually repent
• We continually confess
• We continually humble ourselves before God
Repentance is the mark of humility that is a necessary attribute
For anyone who claims to have been redeemed.
One who denies their sin or who harbors their sin,
Has no fellowship with God.
Consider what the apostle John said in the rest of that 1st chapter of his letter.
1 John 1:5-10 “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
• We don’t claim perfection…
• We certainly don’t deny our failures…
• We own up to our sin…
• We confess our sin…
• We ask God to cleanse us of our sin…
And then we depend upon the fact that God will forgive us our sins.
David certainly did.
That is a Christian mindset.
He depended on God to preserve him He depended on God to forgive him
3) HE IS DEPENDING ON GOD TO DELIVER HIM (13-15)
“Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; Make haste, O LORD, to help me. Let those be ashamed and humiliated together Who seek my life to destroy it; Let those be turned back and dishonored Who delight in my hurt. Let those be appalled because of their shame Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
David lived this life under the same struggles that we do.
Just as we have a devil who prowls around like a roaring lion,
Seeking whom he may devour; so did David.
• He knew there were those “who seek my life to destroy it”
• He knew there were those “who delight in my hurt”
• He knew there were those “who say to me, ‘Aha, aha!’”
That can certainly speak of PERSECUTORS, but it can also speak of TEMPTERS.
• Those who seek to lead you into sin.
• Those who seek to corrupt you.
• Those who seek to sit back and point the finger after you’ve run into their sins.
David knew they were there,
And he knew on his own he was no match for them.
Paul told us:
1 Corinthians 10:12 “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”
Well David was taking heed.
In fact, he was depending on God to deliver him from their temptations.
“Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; Make haste, O LORD, to help me.”
It was Jesus who taught us to pray:
Matthew 6:13 “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]”
And that is what David is doing here.
He is depending on God’s deliverance
So that he does not fall into sin.
That is part of the Christian song.
• We live this life daily with defiling influences and a destructive Satan,
• And all the while we depend upon God to deliver us from his attacks.
That is the Christian life.
And one final thing David depended on God for:
4) HE IS DEPENDING ON GOD TO FINALLY SAVE HIM (16-17)
“Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified!” Since I am afflicted and needy, Let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.”
Here David recounts that he is not the only one
Who is counting on God for salvation.
He is not the only one who is counting on God
To preserve him and forgive him and deliver him.
Indeed every believer is depending on God for those things.
Every believer is depending on God to finalize his salvation.
And David here recounts that to God.
“Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified!”
• If there are ever to be saints in heaven…
• If there are ever to be a multitude around the throne…
• If there is ever to be a heavenly chorus…
It will only be because God causes it to happen.
And those who are there will forever give
Glory and praise and honor to the One who secured it.
Revelation 5:11-14 “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.”
That is what David is depending on.
And then David closes with a reminder that on his own he is nothing.
• If God doesn’t come through, all will be for naught.
• He is totally, 100%, dependent on God for all things.
(17) “Since I am afflicted and needy, Let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.”
And there you have the Christian Song.
• It is a Song of Deliverance from sin and destruction
• It is a Song of Doxology or Praise
• It is a Song of Delight in righteousness and the One who provides it
• It is a Song of Declaration of God’s glorious gospel
• It is a Song of Dependence as we know we’ll never make it apart from Him.
This is the song of the Christian life,
And it is the song that all true believers sing.
• If you don’t have a song of deliverance…
• If you don’t have a doxology of praise…
• If you don’t have delight in righteousness or in Christ…
• If you don’t declare His glorious gospel to the world…
• If you are not dependent daily for forgiveness and preservation…
It’s time to examine your relationship with Christ.
This is the song of the true believer.
This is the Christian Song.
Go and sing it well!
