Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
4 Blessed is the man who makes
the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.
6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.[a]
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
8 I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
9 I have told the glad news of deliverance[b]
in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O Lord.
10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.
11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me!
12 For evils have encompassed me
beyond number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
and I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head;
my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
15 Let those be appalled because of their shame
who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
17 As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God!
Good morning. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Today, we rejoice that Jesus has come and accomplished salvation for those who believe. We have walked through the many songs of people who have been impacted by God through Jesus Christ. When we speak of songs, friends, let me remind you that these were probably not sung, but were spoken as poet expressions of joy and worship – therefore, we call them songs.
Songs of the Past Make Way For a Future Song
For Elizabeth – God did the impossible in her life, gift of a child, who would prepare the way for the Lord. She rejoiced that Jesus would come near – her own child leaping in her womb. Elizabeth had joy – not only in her pregnancy, but that God would be coming, the Messiah, and from that work of God, Elizabeth worshipped.
For Mary – she responded as a servant of God, trusting in His plan. Mary saw God’s grace in her life to be used by God to bring about His plans – though her life would be different than her plan – God’s plan would bring about redemption and His righteous arm would save. We see from her song a God that is faithful, that the Holy Spirit is at work, and that this season is an invitation to worship and anticipation of His second coming.
For Zechariah – we were reminded that in silence, God still works. He was preparing for the coming of His Son during the 400 years between Malachi and Matthew. God broke His silence to bring silence to Zechariah, and in that silence, God was preparing for the reality of Christmas – God with us. In the same way, when we feel like God is silent, He is preparing us for the reality of this season – He is with us, He is speaking through His word by His Spirit and for His glory. Worship Him with your words as Zechariah did with his first words after 9 months of silence.
Though we didn’t cover this text, there was a song for the Shepherds (Luke 2:8-19) – we are reminded that Jesus came to bring peace – between God and man and through all mankind to those who trust in God. He came to announce this great news of joy for all people to the lowliest of all people – shepherds. It reminds us that God’s grace reaches to all those who are humble to receive Christ, where God’s favor rests.
For Simeon – he was given a promise that he would see the Messiah. He faithfully served God through his whole life because he believed in the promises of God. While he waited, he served and worshipped God. In this, Simeon was able to say he could go in peace in seeing the promise fulfilled. May we wait like Simeon, serve like Simeon, and worship like Simeon, for we have peace in our souls that God’s promises are yes and amen in Jesus.
All of these songs were shadows of a greater song, an incomplete understanding of the work of God, yet faithful expressions of things revealed, even while the secret things belong to God. The mystery was about to be revealed to the nations. This morning we look back, before Jesus and then will look into the future when all of God’s people are together with Jesus.
Psalm 40 – David Recalling Salvation
In Psalm 40 we find David recalling a time in his life when he needed to be rescued. He describes being stuck in a muddy pit. The pit is so high that he can’t reach the top and on his own he will never escape. But the Psalm is written in hindsight. David has cried out to God and God had saved Him and Psalm 40 describes David’s response to this incredible deliverance. Spiritually we should be able to identify with David’s situation. The Scriptures teach that we are all born in a hopeless situation, cursed by sin. But, for those who trust in God through Christ salvation is available. As we go to Psalm 40, we see how David responds to his deliverance and in many ways, it should inform the way we respond to our own salvation.
This is the heart of Christmas – not a baby born in a manger, but God’s only Son, the King of kings born to bring redemption, adoption, and joy-filled eternal security to fallen mankind. This gift of Jesus is offered throughout the year, as we marvel at God’s work in Christmas.
The Main Point is that God’s salvation rescues helpless sinners and produces a transformed life marked by praise, obedience, proclamation, and continued dependence on Him. The main takeaway, therefore, is that since God has lifted us out of the deepest pit through Christ, we should respond with joyful worship, wholehearted obedience, bold witness, and confident trust in Him as our ongoing Deliverer.
Let’ walk through David’s Psalm and I pray that it impacts our own response to salvation – whether you have it already and need to rejoice in your salvation through Christ or you receive it today for the first time and your hearts worships Christ purely today.
Praise: David Responds to God’s Deliverance with Praise (vs. 1-5)
Psalm 40:1-5 “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. 4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! 5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.”
David’s Prayer and Deliverance (vv. 1–2)
David opens this psalm with a vivid picture of desperation: “a pit of destruction… the miry bog.” It is a place too deep for him to climb out of, and the more he struggles, the deeper he sinks. This is the language of helplessness—the place where our own strength and cleverness are exhausted. But notice David’s posture: he does not curse God, he does not grow cynical, he does not resign himself to despair. Instead, David waits patiently—not with passive resignation, but with active hope. He cries out to the Lord, and in God’s perfect timing, the Lord bends down, hears him, and acts. God draws him up from the pit and places his feet on solid ground. The God who saves does not merely remove us from danger—He gives stability, direction, and renewed strength.
David’s Response of Praise (vv. 3–5)
God’s rescue does not lead David to silence; it leads him to worship. As he reflects on God’s salvation, his heart fills to overflowing. God puts a new song in his mouth (v. 3a)—a fresh expression of praise that rises out of lived experience with the living God. And David knows that his testimony will shape others: many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord (v. 3b). Praise becomes evangelism. As we speak about the God who saves, redeems, strengthens, we supernaturally want to tell others when we know that they are in that same pit we were in. David then widens the lens and considers not just this one act of deliverance, but the countless ways God has shown Himself faithful. The works and thoughts of God toward His people are so abundant, so layered with mercy and wisdom, that David says they cannot be numbered (v. 5). Words fail before the sheer magnitude of God’s saving grace. David’s praise is not a momentary emotional response—it is the only fitting reply to the God who repeatedly rescues, remembers, and redeems.
Posture: David Responds to God’s Deliverance with a Posture of Obedience (vs. 6-8)
Psalm 40:6-8 “In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
Praise with our lips is the right and necessary first response to God’s salvation—but it is not the only response. In these verses David shows that true gratitude naturally flows into obedience. He understands that God is not after momentary enthusiasm; He is after a transformed life. So David commits himself not only to sing about God’s goodness but to live in a way that reflects it. His praise moves from his lips into his actions. This inspires James – be hearers and doers of the word!
More Than Religious Conformity – David writes as a man who is living under the Law and the sacrificial system. There were sacrifices to offer, rituals to keep, feasts to observe—a whole structure of outward religious practices. And while these were ordained by God, they were never meant to replace the heart. David acknowledges how easy it is to fall into a pattern of simply checking the religious boxes, doing the right things in the right order while drifting far from God internally. But the Lord desires more than compliance; He wants devotion. “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire…” means God does not delight in empty religious performance. He desires a life fully yielded to Him—obedience rooted in love, reverence, and trust. Obedience is light as we understand that it comes because God has loved us first, redeemed us so that we would be obedient out of joyful duty and not stoic religiosity.
“Written in the Scroll” – In verse 7 David speaks of what is “written in the scroll,” a reference to the covenantal responsibilities laid upon the king – Deut. 17:18-20 “18And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”
Every king of Israel was to copy the Law by hand and rule in faithful submission to it. David acknowledges that calling—but he goes beyond duty into delight. He does not obey begrudgingly. He says, “I delight to do Your will.” The Law of God is not a burden but a joy because it expresses the heart of the God who saved him. David’s obedience is not mechanical, not merely positional—it’s relational. This is one of the reasons David was a man after God’s own heart. David’s life springs from a heart captured by grace and eager to please the One who rescued him from the pit. Are you?
Proclamation: David Responds to God’s Deliverance by Proclaiming the Salvation and Character of God to Others (vs. 9-11)
Psalm 40:9-11 “I have told the glad news of deliverancein the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. 10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. 11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!”
As David reflects on God’s rescue, silence is not an option. The experience of being lifted from the pit compels him to open his mouth. In these verses David becomes almost urgent, insistent—his language is intentionally repetitive. Over and over he says, “I have proclaimed… I have not restrained my lips… I have not hidden… I have spoken… I have not concealed.” The point is clear: those who have been delivered cannot keep quiet about the Deliverer.
David’s rescue becomes a testimony, and his testimony becomes ministry. He tells of God’s righteousness—how God does what is right and just; of God’s faithfulness—how God keeps His promises; of God’s salvation—how God moves toward the helpless with power and mercy; and of God’s steadfast love and truth—how God’s character is enough to sustain His people in every circumstance. David is not promoting himself; he is pointing to the God who saves.
And David’s proclamation is not simply for his own benefit. The deliverance he experienced is not unique to him; it is available to all who see their need and cry out to the Lord. God’s rescue is not limited, and His mercy is not scarce. If God has lifted you out of your own pit—whether of sin, despair, fear, or rebellion—who in your life needs to hear that the same salvation is offered to them? Who around you needs to be told that they need a Savior, and that this Savior stands with open arms, ready to receive all who come to Him?
David models a heart that has been rescued and therefore cannot remain quiet. Praise becomes posture, and posture becomes proclamation. The God who saves deserves to be known, and those who have been delivered become His messengers.
Prayer: David Responds to God’s Deliverance with Prayer for Further Deliverance (vs. 12-17)
Psalm 40:12-17 “For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me. 13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! 14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt! 15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!” 16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” 17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!”
In verse 12 the tone of the psalm shifts noticeably. The confident praise of the first half gives way to the honest cries of a man who is again in distress. Some scholars have suggested that Psalm 40 was originally two separate psalms stitched together. But the flow of David’s experience actually argues the opposite. Life with God is rarely neat and linear; it is a cycle of rescue, praise, obedience, proclamation—and then, inevitably, new challenges that drive us back to God again. Psalm 40 reads like real life. It is the rhythm of a believer who knows what it means to be delivered and who also knows what it means to be desperate.
This final section is a prayer for fresh deliverance. David acknowledges his trouble with striking honesty—his sins are many, his enemies are real, and his heart fails within him (v. 12). Yet he does not spiral into despair. Why? Because he remembers. David calls to mind the God who has already drawn him up out of the pit. The God who set his feet on solid ground once is the God who can do it again. Past grace fuels present faith. David prays with confidence precisely because he has tasted the faithfulness of God in the past. “Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me” (v. 13). This is not wishful thinking—it is trust rooted in experience. David ends the Psalm where every believer must end: not with self-reliance, but with God-dependence. “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me” (v. 17). The God who rescued him before is the God who sees him now.
And for us, the confidence is even greater. We have been rescued from the deepest and darkest pit imaginable—the pit of sin, death, and the righteous judgment of God. Through Christ, God has lifted us out of a destruction we could never escape on our own. If God has delivered us from that pit, from eternal separation and condemnation, then what could possibly defeat us now? What threat in your present life is stronger than the salvation accomplished at the cross? What fear can overpower the grace that has already secured your eternity? Nothing. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore we trust Him. We keep crying out to Him. And we encourage others to run to Him as well. The God who rescued David is the God who rescues us—and the God who will continue to rescue all who call on His name.
God’s Deliverance Puts a New Song in our Mouth
Just as David says that a new song was put into his mouth by God – so this is true of us. As we are saved, we rejoice and shout praise to God. This worship turns into action as we long for others to sing this song with us – the song of redemption!
Someday, a new song will be sung in the presence of Jesus Himself. In Revelation 5, we get a glimpse into eternity.
“5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.”
Here, we get the picture of our future. When all of God’s people are together, rejoicing in the reality that Jesus is our salvation and He is worthy. Through all the trials, joys, mystery, tears, laughter, and preserving – the LORD God Himself will bring His people around the throne of the Lamb in worship. This eternal, new song of rejoicing and worship that brings God the highest glory.
I can’t help but think of a quote from Richard Baxter in his book “A Saint’s Everlasting Rest” as he discusses the saint’s journey through this life – the wilderness – into the Promised Land – eternal glory. He writes:
“From heaven’s height the soul surveys the Promised Land. Looking back on earth, the soul views the dreary wilderness through which it passed. To stand on Mount Memory, comparing heaven with earth, fills the soul with unimaginable gratitude, and makes it exclaim: “Is this the inheritance that cost so much as the blood of Christ? No wonder! O blessed price! Is this the result of believing? Have the gales of grace blown me into such a harbor? Is this where Christ was so eager to bring me? O praise the Lord! Is this the glory of which the Scriptures spoke, and of which ministers preached so much? I see the Gospel is indeed good news! “Are all my troubles, Satan’s temptations, the world’s scorns and jeers, come to this? O vile nature, that resisted so much, and so long, such a blessing! Unworthy soul, is this the place you came to so unwillingly? Was duty tiresome? Was the world too good to lose? Could you not leave all, deny all, and suffer anything for this? Were you loathe to die to come to this? O false heart, you had almost betrayed me to eternal flames and lost me this glory! Are you not ashamed now, my soul, that you ever questioned that Love which brought you here? Are you not sorry that you ever quenched His Spirit’s prompting or misinterpreted His providence, or complained about the narrow road that brought you to such a destination? “Now you are sufficiently convinced that your blessed Redeemer was saving you, as well when he crossed your desires, as when he granted them; when he broke your heart, as when he bound it up. No thanks to you, unworthy self, for this crown; but to God be the glory forever!” To which we say, Amen.
Let me close with my usual question: “So What?”
William Booth’s Vision of the Lost:
William Booth once described a powerful vision in which he saw a vast, storm-tossed sea filled with people drowning—crying out, struggling, and slipping beneath the waves. In the midst of the chaos stood a great rock with a platform on it where many rescued people had gathered. Some were passionately reaching back into the water to pull others to safety, while others, though saved themselves, had grown distracted with comfort, work, or religion, forgetting the desperate cries coming from the deep. Booth’s vision confronts us with the sobering reality of a world perishing without Christ and calls us, who stand on the solid rock of salvation, to urgently and compassionately extend our hands to those still in the waters of sin and hopelessness.
If we truly understand what our situation was and the length that God went to in order to save us, we shouldn’t be able to keep it to ourselves. If we are content to be silent it may be that we haven’t truly understood or experienced the salvation of God. If we believe that He can rescue, why would we want to keep that from those in need of rescue?
As people who have been delivered, we should have confidence in God’s ability to save. As we face new trials in life we should confidently cry out, knowing He can save. This should impact our life in the sharing of this good news of great joy that is for all people. This is what Christmas was and is about and though Christmas is over, we await the Greater Christmas when we sing praises to the Lamb, the King of kings, our Friend and Savior Jesus Christ. Soon and very soon.