Latest / Reformed Thinking / From the Pit to Praise: Waiting for the Lord Who Saves (Psalm 40) | Charles Spurgeon

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From the Pit to Praise: Waiting for the Lord Who Saves (Psalm 40) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed Thinking, where we take your chosen
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  material and dive into the inside it holds.
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  Today we are taking a deep dive into an exposition of Psalm 40,
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  viewing it primarily through a messianic lens, as articulated
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  by Charles Spurgeon in The Treasury of David.
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  Our mission is to understand how David, through the Holy Spirit,
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  spoke of Christ, focusing on his patient obedience, the setting
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  aside of the ceremonial law, and the glorious results for
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  believers. This Psalm moves from a personal
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  account of deliverance to a declaration of substitutionary
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  obedience, concluding with a prayer for help amid suffering.
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  It provides a crystal clear picture of Christ's work.
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  Let's unpack the opening image. I waited patiently for the Lord,
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  and He inclined unto me and heard my cry.
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  Spurgeon notes that patient waiting was a special
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  characteristic of Christ. He was patient to perfection
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  through his agony and passion. This stands as the imperial
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  crown among the patient. And that use of inclined, it
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  suggests a sort of condescending love, doesn't it?
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  As if the suppliant Christ is crying out from the absolute
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  lowest depression, really showing his human experience of
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  prayer. It does.
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  The language then shifts to absolute misery and then, of
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  course, to the subsequent victory, which Spurgeon connects
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  directly to Christ's substitutionary suffering.
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  Right, the horrible pit and the miry clay in verse 2.
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  Yes, the Pit is described as this deep, dark, fearful
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  dungeon, a place of horror and desolation, almost like a
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  captive in one of those old ubliettes.
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  So the horrible pit is literally a pit of noise in the Hebrew.
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  What does that imply? Maybe the sound of roaring water
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  or just the desperate cries of people trapped down there.
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  It could be either, and both paint a terrifying picture.
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  Then you have the miry clay, which signifies a complete lack
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  of solid comfort. You're slipping and sinking
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  while already being birded. It's a double trial.
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  But then comes the deliverance. Then comes the deliverance.
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  Jehovah made him ascend from this abasement.
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  Set my feet upon a rock that signifies the completion of his
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  work. He's now reposing on the firm
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  ground of his accomplished engagements, and he reigns in
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  glory, eternally able to save. So after this resurrection and
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  assurance, what's the result? A new song is put in his mouth.
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  Praise unto our God. Verse Recess.
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  And this is contrasted with the old Passover song.
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  This new music celebrates justice being magnified, grace
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  being victorious, death being destroyed, and Christ is the one
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  leading this chorus of the elect.
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  And this triumph is seen by many who then fear and shall trust in
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  the Lord. It's interesting to order there.
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  The order is key. First a sight of Christ's work,
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  then a resulting fear, a kind of trembling when you realize your
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  sin rejected him, and then finally receiving faith,
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  trusting in Jehovah. That trust is really the
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  evidence and the essence of salvation.
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  OK, that brings us to the next section, which talks about the
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  incalculable goodness of Jehovah, verses 4:00 and 5:00.
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  That's right, the Psalm moves from Christ's specific
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  deliverance to a more general declaration of happiness or
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  blessedness for God's people. And how is that blessedness
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  defined in verse 4? It belongs to the man who makes
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  the Lord his trust. Faith is the secure mark of
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  blessedness, and it's completely irrespective of your outward
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  circumstances. You could be poor like Lazarus,
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  sick like Hezekiah, but if you have faith, you are blessed.
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  There's also a warning against pride here.
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  The blessed man respecteth not the proud.
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  Right. Those are the people who expect
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  reverence just for their wealths or their bombastic dignity.
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  And he also doesn't respect such as turn aside to lies, which
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  mean heresies, idolatries, greed, worldliness, all sorts of
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  things. And Christ was the bright
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  example of this, Wasn't He giving no honor to dishonorable
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  men? Precisely.
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  Now we get to verse 5, which focuses on the sheer magnitude
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  of God's activity and planning. Many, O Lord, my God, are thy
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  wonderful works which thou hast done.
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  Spurgeon says these works really cluster around the cross wonders
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  of grace, like adoption, pardon, justification, things that are
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  just beyond our ability to reckon.
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  And these divine actions, they proceed from divine counsel God
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  sought the elect are described as good and gracious, very many
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  wonderful and practical. The overwhelming quantity of
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  these thoughts seems to be the main point.
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  They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.
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  They are more than can be numbered.
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  Exactly. Our human minds just failed to
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  measure or arrange God's ways and thoughts.
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  It's like Isaiah says, as the heavens are higher than the
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  earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.
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  And these thoughts, they span from all eternity, don't they?
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  Thoughts of the fall, restoration, redemption,
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  conversion, and even our eternal reward.
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  That's right. And it's Christ speaking here,
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  calling the the human family the elect his fellows saying toward
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  us his identity as man ties him so intimately to the children of
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  men. OK, this brings us to what's
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  really the core of the Psalm, verses 6 through 8.
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  This is one of the most wonderful passages in the Old
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  Testament where you see the Son of God face to face addressing
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  the insufficiency of the Mosaic Law.
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  It is. He starts by setting aside the
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  symbols in verse 6, Sacrifice an offering thou didst not desire,
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  and he specifically refers to four kinds of Levitical
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  offerings. You've got the Zebhuk, which is
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  the sacrifice, Minshe the offering, Ola the burnt offering
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  and Shatah the sin offering. He names all four to show that
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  the entire system was unsatisfactory on its own.
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  They were just shadows that cease to be valuable when
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  Christ, the Anti Type finally came.
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  Jehovah values the obedience of the heart more than just
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  ritualistic worship. And this leads to that powerful
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  bit of bodily imagery. Mine ears hast thou opened?
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  The literal Hebrew is ears. Hast thou dug or pierced
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  through? Which is often interpreted as
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  referring to that custom in Exodus 21 right about boring a
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  slave's ear who chose to serve his master for life out of love.
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  Exactly. It signifies Christ's prompt
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  obedience and His fidelity to his Father's business.
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  But then you have the Septuagint and the Book of Hebrews.
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  Right, and Hebrews 10. Paul, quoting the Septuagint,
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  renders this as a body. Has thou prepared me?
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  And that variation, which is sanctioned by apostolical
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  authority, confirms that Christ came into the world equipped for
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  service in a real body, putting aside all those ceremonial
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  shadows. Then said I lo, I come.
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  That's in verse 7. It's such a powerful
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  declaration, signaling the Sun intervening in his own person
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  when the symbols proved to be futile.
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  The voluntariness and the alacrity there are just, they're
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  palpable. The words emphasize this
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  immediate, willing action. It's like he's saying, Behold, O
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  heavens, and thou earth and ye places under the earth, here is
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  something worthy of your most intense gaze.
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  He came promptly and with a sacred alacrity, freely offering
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  himself. And this was all according to a
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  written plan in the volume of the book it is written of me.
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  Which refers to the Eternal decree and the covenant that was
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  recorded in the Mystic role of predestination, which Providence
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  unfolds. It might also specifically
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  reference the Pentateuch, the book of the Law, which pointed
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  toward the Messiah. But Christ's motive is the key
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  to the validity of his sacrifice, isn't it?
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  That's verse 8. It is I delight to do thy will,
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  Oh my God, Christ found delight in the work set before Him.
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  This cheerful devotion is the very essence of true obedience,
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  and His obedience is our righteousness.
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  Yeah, Thy law is within my heart.
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  His devotion wasn't just formal or external.
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  Holiness was his element. Even in Gethsemane he chose the
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  Father. Others will which?
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  Is just staggering to think about.
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  OK, so from there the discussion shifts to Christ's public
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  declaration of truth, which he then uses as a plea for divine
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  aid later in the song. That's right, in verse 9 he says
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  I have preached in the great congregation.
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  Christ preached the purest morality and the highest
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  holiness. His whole life was an eloquent
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  sermon. He was the great evangelist, the
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  master of open air missionaries. And there was no refraining of
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  lips. He never closed his mouth from
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  ease or from fear. Never.
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  He was instant in season and out of season, proclaiming the truth
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  to both the poor and the raging Pharisees.
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  And what was the substance of this public message?
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  Verse 10 lays it out. It was righteousness.
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  He did not hide God's righteousness, but poured forth
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  this holy eloquence, including the doctrine of righteousness by
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  faith. He also declared Jehovah's
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  faithfulness and his salvation. Right.
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  He declared God's fidelity to his promises and His grace in
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  saving believers. The gospel reveals a God who is
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  faithful to his own character, His law and His threatenings,
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  and yet saves sinners. And he unveiled both loving
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  kindness and truth. Fully unveil them both the
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  tender and the stern attributes of God.
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  Coward has never weakened his language.
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  He was always ready to proclaim the name of the Lord.
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  And this faithfulness then becomes a plea.
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  He's essentially saying, I have been faithful to my God, and now
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  I'm begging the Lord to be faithful to me.
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  It shows how truly He was made like unto his brethren in his
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  reliance on God's character during trial.
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  It does, and that brings us to the second major section, which
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  is a prayer for deliverance, revealing Christ's suffering as
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  our substitute. This is verses 11 through 15.
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  The cries for deliverance amidst calamity.
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  He starts with a prayer for tender mercies.
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  In verse 11. He asks his Father not to
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  withhold thou thy tender mercies or loving kindness, and Thy
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  truth. This was answered in a way by
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  the Angel who strengthened him in Gethsemane.
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  He asks that these attributes continually preserve me.
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  And the intensity of the affliction is just laid bare in
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  verse 12. It is innumerable evils,
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  countless woes surrounded the great substitute for our sins.
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  Our sins were innumerable, and so his griefs had to be as well.
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  And then comes that crushing line.
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  My iniquities have taken hold upon me.
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  This is the substitutionary guilt.
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  Though he was sinless, our sins were laid upon him, and this
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  transfer was real. It produced a horror that
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  forbade him to look up, bowing him down with a crushing
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  anguish. So he's completely overwhelmed.
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  The pains were beyond compute. More than the hairs of Minehead.
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  Yes, his soul sank. He was sore, amazed, and very
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  heavy, even into a sweat of blood.
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  And the resulting petition is so plaintive and urgent.
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  Verse 13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me.
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  O Lord, make haste to help me. He's seeking sustenance while
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  he's drinking the cup and swift release at the first fitting
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  moment. Then the Psalm shifts from
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  prayer to this declaration or prophecy of the overthrow of his
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  enemies. Right in verses 1415, the powers
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  of sin, death and hell will be ashamed and confounded as their
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  malice has turned against themselves.
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  And the shame is for those who insult him saying.
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  The very Jewish rules who did this at the cross saw their own
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  desolation when Jerusalem was consumed.
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  It's a prophecy of their just end.
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  OK, so after that, that valley of despair, we turn to what
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  Spurgeon calls Jerusalem, the Mound of Blessing after the
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  Mount of cursing evil. Yes, Christ pronounces
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  benedictions on his people. The joy for the Seekers in verse
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  16. The petition is for all those
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  that seek thee, the lambs of the flock.
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  Jesus desires that they be doubly glad, intensely happy,
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  which you see in the repetition of the terms.
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  He groaned so that we might sing.
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  And the result of that joy is praise for the redeemed.
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  Let such as love thy salvation, say continually the Lord be
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  magnified. This is the promotion of God's
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  glory, the joy that was set before Christ in his travail.
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  We should continually proclaim God's glory as the chief end of
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  every breath and every pulse. Then the final closing appeal,
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  verse 17, shows Christ relying solely on Jehovah in his
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  affliction. He acknowledges his lowliness,
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  but I am poor and needy. The great sufferer appeals based
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  on his affliction and his poverty.
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  And what's the comforting thought that sustains him?
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  Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. This was his sweet solace when
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  his disciples forsook him. God's thoughts are kind, they're
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  incessant, and they're wise. He knows our situation and He
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  can afford seasonable succour. The final plea then is Thou art
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  my help and my deliverer make no tarrying.
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  Oh my God. His firm reliance state itself
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  on God alone, and his plea for haste was answered by the
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  strengthening Angel. It all comes full circle.
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  OK, So what does this all mean for us?
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  This deep dive shows Psalm 40 is not an account of one victory,
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  but the very architectural plan of salvation, Christ's perfect
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  substitution. And the most startling nugget
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  here is the clarity of that substitutionary work in verse
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  12, that our sins were laid upon him, bound him down, and
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  forbidding him to look up. He had no sin, but He has made
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  sin for us, carrying the horror that we deserved.
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  This whole Psalm, when you view it through the lens of Reformed
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  theology, it just demonstrates God's absolute sovereignty in
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  planning redemption. You see it in Thy thoughts,
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  which are toward us in verse 5, and Christ's act of obedience in
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  verse 8, as the only satisfying answer to the requirements of
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  the law. Which were laid out in verse 6.
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  Exactly. Here's a final provocative
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  thought for you to consider. If God's thoughts toward His
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  elect are more than can be numbered, and Christ's perfect
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  obedience was the means by which those thoughts are accomplished,
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  what does that say about the security and the scope of your
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  own salvation? Thank you for joining us for
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  this deep dive into Psalm 40. We look forward to our next
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  exploration.