Psalm 40

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Psalm 40
• Sermon
• Pastoral Prayer

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Sermon Title: Present, Past, and Future Help from the Lord

Scripture: Psalm 40

I. A Present Help from the Lord — Psalm 40:1–3

A. The intensity of waiting on the Lord (Psalm 40:1)

1. The Hebrew repeats the word "waited" to emphasize prolonged, patient waiting
2. William Gurnall: the hypocrite grows weary when God delays; true faith sharpens in prayer and falls harder on the door of grace
3. The theme of waiting runs throughout the Psalter — the inspired prayer book — echoing the persistent widow who never stops crying out

B. God stoops down to hear (Psalm 40:1)

1. The doctrine of condescension: God, enthroned on high, bends his ear to finite, crying children

C. From the miry bog to a rock — an image of death to life (Psalm 40:2)

1. A corresponding literal situation: Jeremiah thrown into a pit and rescued (Jeremiah 38)

D. A new song of praise with a widespread effect (Psalm 40:3)

1. Many see David's salvation, fear the Lord, and put their trust in him
2. Messianic dimension: Christ is literally raised from death to life; through him multitudes across the nations fear and trust God
3. Paul cites Psalm 18:49 in Romans 15:9 — the risen Messiah as the great worship leader who leads Jews and Gentiles in praise, singing a new song before the Father

II. A Past Help — Reflection on God's Deliverance — Psalm 40:4–10

A. God desires obedience over sacrifice (Psalm 40:6)

1. Contrast with Saul in 1 Samuel 15: Saul spared livestock to sacrifice, but Samuel declares "to obey is better than sacrifice"
2. David is anointed king as one after God's own heart precisely because he has God's law written on his heart
3. True religion is not rote ceremony but loving engagement of mind, heart, and soul toward God — praying as a helpless child to a Father

B. The Messianic fulfillment of Psalm 40:6–8 in Hebrews 10:5–10

1. The writer of Hebrews places these words on Christ's lips as he enters the world: "a body you have prepared for me… I have come to do your will"
2. Christ abolishes the first covenant's sacrificial system by fulfilling it — his body offered once for all accomplishes full redemption
3. Application: as Christ is the living sacrifice with God's law on his heart, believers are called to be living sacrifices — bodies and souls offered to God, even unto martyrdom if called

III. A Future Help — Crying Out in Present Distress — Psalm 40:11–17

A. Bold confidence grounded in God's character, not circumstances (Psalm 40:11)

1. David makes a confident declaration of God's steadfast love and faithfulness while still in great distress
2. The inability to see God's gracious countenance is caused by sin covering him (Psalm 40:12)
3. Hope rests not in felt providences but in God's proven character in redemptive history — as Calvin noted, Christ intercedes behind the dark clouds even when we cannot see him
4. In seasons of spiritual darkness, backsliding, or hard providences, confidence is anchored to who God has declared and proven himself to be

B. The wicked mock David in his distress (Psalm 40:13–15)

1. "Aha, aha" — the wicked seize on the righteous person's failures to deny God's faithfulness
2. God does not delight in seeing his children mocked, even while disciplining them for sin
3. Parallel: Babylon was God's instrument of judgment on Israel, yet God himself judged Babylon for mistreating his people
4. The voice of mocking men in our despondency is never the voice of God

C. Liberation through longing for God's glory (Psalm 40:16–17)

1. "The Lord be magnified" takes precedence over personal petition — concern for God's glory overcomes self-concern
2. Derek Kidner: "to pray for God's glory is a liberation" — the way of victory, and as John 12:27–28 shows, the way of Christ himself
3. Christ in Gethsemane-like anguish says "Father, glorify your name" — the bloody cross becomes the glorious scene
4. The Hebrew word for iniquity (aven) carries the sense of being curved in on oneself — and the psalm's liberation is precisely the movement away from self toward the glory of God
5. The Spirit intercedes for us when we cannot pray — Romans 8 — God takes thought for us, not merely of us (Psalm 40:17)
6. To grow in this liberating prayer: study God's attributes, sink mind and soul into the things of God, and contemplate his glory until self-forgetfulness and peace follow