Title: God's Deliverance
Bible Book: Psalms 40 : 1-17
Author: Franklin L. Kirksey
Subject: Deliverance, God's; Mercy, God's
Objective:
Introduction
Each time we experience God’s deliverance we stand in amazement and wonder. God’s deliverance is abundant! We need God’s deliverance in many ways at various times. God’s deliverance is available! He will deliver you in some things and He will deliver you from other things, but ultimately, the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will experience God’s deliverance from sin, self, Satan, suffering, and sorrow. What a day that will be!
Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe shares the following insight by way of introduction, “Hebrews 10:5-9 quotes [Psalm] 40:6-8 and applies the passage to Christ, which makes this a Messianic psalm. Some see the birth of Christ in verse 7, His sinless life in verse 8, and His sacrificial death in verse 6. However, it was first of all a psalm about David and his needs and how the Lord met them, but the historical setting is obscure. David may have written it during his difficult exile years or perhaps during the early years of his reign.”[1]
Our text encourages us to seek God’s deliverance.
I. Let me encourage you to review the proofs of God’s deliverance. (Psalm 40:1-5)
There is a two-fold emphasis of the first five verses of our passage; first, we will focus on deliverance from God and secondly, we will focus on confidence in God.
A. Let’s focus on deliverance from God. (Psalm 40:1-3)
In the book of Acts (1:3) we read about “many infallible proofs” or evidence of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We see David’s practice of recounting God’s deliverance in 1 Samuel 17:31-37, where we read, “Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul; and he sent for him. Then David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.’ But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.’ Moreover David said, ‘The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the Lord be with you!’”
In Psalm 40 we find more proofs of God’s deliverance or the evidence of God’s deliverance recounted by David. Note David recounts what the Lord did for him. We read in Psalm 40:1-3, “I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, / And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, / Out of the miry clay, / And set my feet upon a rock, / And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God.” David also writes in Psalm 37:7a, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.”
Dr. M. D. [Moses Drury] Hoge (1818-1899) pastor, editor, and chaplain of the Confederacy, writes, “Some may remember the feeling of disappointment with which in their youth they read the last line of Longfellow’s ‘Psalm of Life.’ ‘Learn to labour and to—wait.’ Any one could understand the difficulty of labour, but how easy if one had only to wait! But experience has taught us a great lesson that all labour is light as compared with labour, the stress, the suspense and weariness of waiting. The word ‘patiently’ is not in the Hebrew but it is implied. Such waiting is full of heroic elements—fortitude, resignation, faith, expectation, perseverance.”[2] Dr. H. P. [Henry Parry] Liddon (1829-1890) states, “The greatest heroes among men are they who ‘wait patiently’.”[3] On the phrase “I waited patiently”, Dr. John Henry Jowett (1864-1923) comments, “His being was collected and all fixed in intense expectancy on God.”[4]
Recently, I read, “A quaint country preacher used [Psalm 40] verse 2-3 for a sermon text, and his "points" were: God brought him up, God stood him up, and God tuned him up!”[5]
We see the effect of God’s deliverance. David writes, “Many will see it and fear, / And will trust in the Lord” (Psalm 40:3b). Through the years I have read many accounts of how pastors and missionaries have faced a great challenge to their ministry, an impossible situation. Then, after God’s deliverance comes, people come to faith in Jesus Christ in great numbers.
For example, Dr. Billy Graham shares the following, “The Reverend John G. Paton [1824-1907], pioneer missionary in the New Hebrides Islands, told a thrilling story involving the protective care of angels. Hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning the Patons out and killing them. John Paton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see that, unaccountably, the attackers had left. They thanked God for delivering them.
A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Jesus Christ, and Mr. Paton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, ‘Who were all those men you had with you there?’ The missionary answered, ‘There were no men there; just my wife and I.’ The chief argued that they had seen many men standing guard - hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Mr. Paton realize that God had sent His angels to protect them. The chief agreed that there was no other explanation. Could it be that God had sent a legion of angels to protect His servants, whose lives were being endangered?”[6]
The effect of God’s deliverance can produce similar results in the lives of laymen too. Mark Kelly shares how a “Government worker’s faith touches 8 villages with gospel”. Kelly tells about a rural development agent from Benin, West Africa, named Kouton Pierre. Kouton came to know the Lord Jesus Christ after a decade of faithful witness on the part of his brothers. This was remarkable due in part to the fact his mother led an African fetish cult. After surviving a three week battle with pneumonia, Kouton became convinced his brothers were right. When he gave his life to Jesus, he started reading the Bible he received earlier from his brother. He also began attending a Baptist church and rapidly grew as a Christian.
Only six months after his conversion, Kouton received a transfer from his government supervisors to Tchetti. Here he worked among the Ife, a people group who knew almost nothing about Jesus. As Kouton traveled sharing more effective agricultural techniques, he also shared his newfound faith in Jesus Christ.
Mark Kelly reveals, “One day a rainstorm delayed his return home. When he arrived, he found a large crowd surrounding his house. He noticed several fetish leaders talking excitedly with the people. ‘My house had been struck by lightning, and people had called the fetisher for the lightning god,’ Kouton recalled. ‘He told me the lightning god had struck my house and I needed to make a sacrifice to him.’ His refusal to offer the sacrifice frightened and angered the crowd. ‘They told me, 'You'll die if you don't make this sacrifice.’ I said, 'Fine. I'm a Christian. If I die, I'll go to heaven.’ ‘Everyone thought I would die,’ he said. ‘When I didn't, they believed God was strong because he protected me from the lightning god. People invited us into their homes and asked us to tell them about Jesus because they had heard what happened at my house.’ Visitors from outlying villages also saw what happened that day and invited Kouton to come tell them about this Jesus.”
In one village 11 people came to faith in Jesus Christ, while in another 20 people became Christians. In yet another village 7 people believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Kouton received invitations from at least 8 villages to tell them what the Lord Jesus did for him.[7]
B. Let’s focus on confidence in God. (Psalm 40:4-5)
First, we see the beatitude about confidence in God. David writes, “Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, / And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies” (Psalm 40:4). After reading this verse, we remember beatitudes of Psalm 1. Here, the psalmist writes, “Blessed is the man / Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, / Nor stands in the path of sinners, / Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; / But his delight is in the law of the Lord, / And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree / Planted by the rivers of water, / That brings forth its fruit in its season, / Whose leaf also shall not wither; / And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, / But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, / Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, / But the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Psalm 1:1-6).
We read in Jeremiah 17:5-10, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man / And makes flesh his strength, / Whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, / And shall not see when good comes, / But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, / In a salt land which is not inhabited. ‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, / And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, / Which spreads out its roots by the river, / And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, / And will not be anxious in the year of drought, / Nor will cease from yielding fruit. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, / I test the mind, / Even to give every man according to his ways, / According to the fruit of his doings.”
Second, we see the benefits of confidence in God. David confesses, “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works / Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us / Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, / They are more than can be numbered” (Psalm 40:5).
David recalls God’s intervening works in his behalf. These are miracles of God’s love and grace. Reading about God’s innumerable thoughts, reminds us of Jeremiah 29:11, where we read, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Let me encourage you to review the proofs of God’s deliverance.
II. Let me encourage you to remove the prohibitive of God’s deliverance. (Psalm 40:6-10)
The will of God is the central issue of this psalm. In this portion, David addresses the will of God as it relates to our worship and our words. We read in Psalm 40:6-10, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. 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, / And Your law is within my heart.’ I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness / In the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, / O Lord, You Yourself know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth / From the great assembly.”
This “man after [God’s] own heart” (Acts 13: 22), here stresses the importance of the condition of the heart as reflected in our worship and in our words. David prays in Psalm 51:16-17, “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, / A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.”
We read in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, “So Samuel said: ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, / As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, / And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, / And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, / He also has rejected you from being king.’” We read in Isaiah 1:11-13a, “‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ Says the Lord. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams / And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, / Or of lambs or goats. ‘When you come to appear before Me, / Who has required this from your hand, / To trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices.’” We read in Micah 6:6-8, “With what shall I come before the Lord, / And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, / With calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, / Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, / The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you / But to do justly, / To love mercy, / And to walk humbly with your God?”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) called the human voice "the organ of the soul!"[8] In Psalm 40:6-10 we see the relationship between the heart and the mouth. Jesus explains, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).
David says seven things about the Lord, note the word “Your”. David is consumed with God’s will, God’s law, God’s righteousness, God’s faithfulness, God’s salvation, God’s lovingkindness, and God’s truth. In many ways David is like his greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who prayed, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42b). Remember, Jesus Christ is the One who is greater than Solomon and He was born into the house and lineage of David.
“On “Duty a delight”, Dr. A. T. [Arthur Tappan] Pierson (1837-1911) explains, “In other words God’s pleasure is his pleasure.” Later he continues, “There must be a full surrender to God. No man delights to do God’s will whose whole will is not given up to God.”[9]
Let me encourage you to remove the prohibitive of God’s deliverance.
III. Let me encourage you to request the provision of God’s deliverance. (Psalm 40:11-17)
David asks the Lord for deliverance. We read in Psalm 40:11-17, “Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me! Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion / Who seek to destroy my life; Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor / Who wish me evil. Let them be confounded because of their shame, / Who say to me, ‘Aha, aha!’ Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, / ‘The Lord be magnified!’ But I am poor and needy; Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.”
Rev. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), the famous Puritan commentator of the 17th century, explains, “The best saints see themselves undone, unless continually preserved by the grace of God. But see the frightful view the psalmist had of sin. This made the discovery of a Redeemer so welcome. In all his reflections upon each step of his life, he discovered something amiss. The sight and sense of our sins in their own colours, must distract us, if we have not at the same time some sight of a Saviour. If Christ has triumphed over our spiritual enemies, then we, through him, shall be more than conquerors. This may encourage all that seek God and love his salvation, to rejoice in him, and to praise him. No griefs nor poverty can render those miserable who fear the Lord. Their God, and all that he has or does, is the ground of their joy. The prayer of faith can unlock his fulness, which is adapted to all their wants. The promises are sure, the moment of fulfilment hastens forward. He who once came in great humility, shall come again in glorious majesty.”[10]
Renowned Bible commentators, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown explain, “thinketh upon” [Psalm 40:17] can be translated, “or provides for me.”[11]
Let me encourage you to request the provision of God’s deliverance.
Conclusion
Let me encourage you to review the proofs of God’s deliverance.
Let me encourage you to remove the prohibitive of God’s deliverance.
Let me encourage you to request the provision of God’s deliverance.
Dr. Haddon W. Robinson shares, “A Chinese scholar who converted to Christ told this parable: “A man fell into a dark, dirty pit, and he tried to climb out but he couldn’t. Confucius came along. He saw the man in the pit and said, ‘Poor fellow. If he had listened to me, he never would have fallen in.’ And he left. Buddha came along and saw the man in the pit and said, ‘Poor fellow. If he can climb up here, I’ll help him.’ And he too left. Then Christ came and said, ‘Poor fellow!’ And He jumped into the pit and helped him out.”[12]
May you experience God’s deliverance.
[1]Warren W. Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary (BE Series) - Old Testament -– Wisdom and Poetry, (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2004), p. 171, © 2007 WORDsearch Corp.
[2]The Biblical Illustrator, ed. Joseph S. Exell (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, n. d. [originally published New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1887]), p. 306
[3]The Biblical Illustrator, ed. Joseph S. Exell (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, n. d. [originally published New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1887]), p. 307
[4]The Biblical Illustrator, ed. Joseph S. Exell (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, n. d. [originally published New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1887]), p. 308
[5]Warren W. Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary (BE Series) - Old Testament -– Wisdom and Poetry, (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2004), p. 171, © 2007 WORDsearch Corp.
[6]Billy Graham, Angels: God’s Secret Agents (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), pp. 7-8
[7]Mark Kelly, “Government worker’s faith touches 8 villages with gospel” TCHETTI, Benin (BP), April 21, 1998, Available from: http://www.baptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=2192 Accessed: 04/21/12
[8]Available from: http://quotationsbook.com/quote/40910/ Accessed: 03/22/12
[9]The Biblical Illustrator, ed. Joseph S. Exell (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, n. d. [originally published New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1887]), p. 318
[10]Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Concise] (1710) WORDsearch Corp.
[11]Rev. Robert Jamieson, D.D.., Rev. A.R. Fausset, A.M, & Rev. David Brown, D.D., Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary: Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Edinburgh: Collins & Company, 1871), Database © 2005 WORDsearch Corp.
[12]Haddon W. Robinson, “The Rescue”, Our Daily Bread, (Grand Rapids, MI: Radio Bible Class, RBC Ministries, May 19, 1999), Available from: http://odb.org/1999/05/19/the-rescue/ Accessed: 03/22/12
By Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort 30775 Jay Drive Spanish Fort, Alabama 36527
Author of Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice Available on Amazon.com and WORDsearchbible.com
http://www.wordsearchbible.com/products/Sound_Biblical_Preaching_1476.html
e-mail: [email protected] / (251) 626-6210 © April 22, 2012 All Rights Reserved
