This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Psalms” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 10, 1988.

I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined to me and heard my cry. 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. And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord. How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which Thou hast done, that Thy thoughts and Thy thoughts towards us. There is none to compare with Thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count. Sacrifice and meal offering thou hast not desired. My ears thou hast opened. Burnt offerings and sin offering thou hast not required.

Then I said, behold, I come. In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Thy law is within my heart. I proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation. Behold, I will not restrain my lips. O Lord, thou knowest, for I have not hidden thy righteousness within my heart. I have spoken of thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Thou, O Lord, wilt not withhold thy compassion from me. By loving kindness and by truth will continually preserve.

For evils beyond number has surrounded me. Mine 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. 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! Let all who seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee. Let those who love Thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. Since I am afflicted and needy, let the Lord be mindful of me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Do not delay. Oh, my God. Our father, you have given us this day for our refreshment.

Surely the Lord’s Day is a reminder to us of that day on which Christ rose from the dead and was then exalted and glorified. We rejoice, Lord, in his exaltation and in what we perceive for ourselves because of it. In this regard, then, Lord, may this day be a delight to us. May we in it anticipate the coming of our Savior as well as reflect upon his glorious resurrection. We ask that the word may be an encouragement to all of your people, that by that word this day may become an increasing delight, and also we might be reminded of the things that are spoken of in it. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

We have come to the last Psalm for this series on the Psalms. We have come to Psalm 40. We have been looking for some time now at familiar Psalms and Psalms that are familiar to us out of what has been called the first book of the Psalms. The first book of the Psalms running from Psalm 1 through Psalm 41. These Psalms are uniformly identified by tradition and by superscription as Psalms of David. And of these 41 Psalms, we have thus far looked at Psalms 1, 2, 8, 16, 19, 22, 23, 24, 27, 29, 32, 37, and now Psalm 40. We should have a good feel for the Psalms, having reviewed this number of Psalms in the first book of the Psalms.

Psalm 40 itself is marked by a number of distinctive features. Some of them are obvious to us if we take note of marginal notes, if we take note of things that should in fact be obvious to us when we look at other portions of the scriptures in light of this psalm. For instance, verses 13 through 17, these verses appear not only here at the conclusion of Psalm 40, but if you were to compare them with Psalm 70, you would find that they are almost word for word comprised that song that song made up of what you find here at the latter part of Psalm 40. So it seems that these verses are capable of standing in their own right and some have made them to do so, suggesting that Psalm 40 is actually a composite song, a drawing together of songs, other songs, a number of songs, and then pieced together by the psalmist to be inserted in the Psalter at this point. probably familiar to you, even more familiar than the latter verses of the song are verses six through eight, and these are rightfully familiar to us.

If we know something of the letter to the Hebrews, for instance, we realize that these verses are quoted there in the tenth chapter of Hebrews, verses five through seven. These verses appear and are used by the writer to the Hebrews in order to describe the distinction between the old and the new covenant, and also the glories of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, the sufficiency of that sacrifice, and of course, its value to the Church of Christ.

These verses are not only of value to us, then, as they relate to that New Testament theme of the progression from the old covenant to the new, Christ’s sufficient sacrifice, but if you note, if you have a New American standard version, if you note the marginal scripture passages attached to verse six, there is a whole complex of Old Testament passages that are of importance in relationship to what you find here, for it seems that this passage, together with a number of others in the Old Testament, speak almost in a depreciating way of the sacrificial system.

Now, a great deal has been made of that. A great deal has been made of that, especially by liberal scholars who like to drive a wedge between the testimony of the prophets were interested in the moral development of the of the children of Israel and the priestly tradition were more concerned with sacrifice and with the law and the biblical order of the people of God. But at any rate, you have that sentiment expressed here in verses six through eight, which is reflected upon in a number of Old Testament passages, passages which, at least on the surface, seem to depreciate the sacrificial system as a whole. Notice what it says. Sacrifice and meal offering now has not desire. That sounds like a very absolute statement. and you may have your own questions as to how that fits in with what we’ve read in other places in the Old Testament.

Now there are other factors or features of this psalm that are not as obvious to us. We’ve dealt so far with those that are the more familiar, the more obvious, but there are certain features that aren’t as obvious. For instance, If you note verse five, there have been those in looking at verse five and the sentiment that is expressed in the latter part of it. If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count.

That is, reckoning up God’s wonders, reckoning up his thoughts towards us. There have been those who have suggested that this verse actually provides the background for John’s statement in his gospel. An interesting statement that he makes at the conclusion of his gospel. Maybe it struck you when you’ve read it. You have the enigmatic 21st chapter of John, which is set there, something like an appendix to the gospel. But you come to the end of John’s gospel and you read these words. This is the disciple who bears witness of these things, referring to John, and wrote these things. And we know that his witness is true.

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself get the scope of it. The world itself would not contain the books which were written. And some have suggested that the fifth verse of Psalm 40 is actually informing John as he writes at that point, the reckoning of the wonders so magnificent is Christ, so glorious is Christ, that if we were to count up all of the wonders associated with him, why, how in the world could you count them? Or, if you were to try to write them down, how would it be possible to collect them all in books? Well, the suggestion is also made then that what is being referred to here by John is not simply the fact that there were many wonderful things done by Jesus, but that Jesus himself is wonderful, and that in reckoning of how wonderful he is, how could you ever contain that in the books that were written?

Another passage that is important with regard to the New Testament is the eighth verse. We’ve already spoken of it somewhat in other connections, but It reads this way, I delight to do thy will, O my God, by laws within my heart. And some have suggested that in John chapter four, where you have the experience of Jesus with the Samaritan woman and later after the woman has departed and the disciples return and they’ve been sent away into town to get some food for Jesus and for themselves. They’ve come back now and they find Jesus standing there and Jesus says in verse 34, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his will.

And then you know that in other passages in John’s gospel, a great deal is made out of the fact that Jesus is doing the father’s will. He’s not acting on his own initiative. He’s not an original thinker, as it were. He is one commission from the Father, and he comes and does precisely what the Father has instructed him to do, and he speaks precisely what the Father instructs him to speak.

Some have suggested that the thought that occurs to us here out of Psalm 40, verse 8, is what undergirds those statements in the Gospel of John, specifically concerning Christ’s doing the will of the Father. Okay, well, those are some of the features of Psalm 40 and some of the things that we will be looking at in time. What we want to look at tonight and what we want to speak about basically is the overall structure of this psalm, the overall structure of Psalm 40. Now, if we take stock of it, reminds us of another song we study that song being some twenty seven we spend some time on the twenty seven song you recall what we said about the twenty seven song was that it’s what we could call an inverted song or a backwards song and upside down song. constructed in a way in which other psalms are not, an exception to the general rule.

By this, we meant that the usual overall development of the psalm is reversed. Typically, a psalm moves from complaint or from prayer, from a cry for help, to praise of God and to glory. That’s the typical movement of a psalm, from complaint, from prayer to God, from cry for help, to praise or to glory. The praise heard in the latter lines of a psalm ordinarily brings resolution. Appropriately to the cry to the prayer to the complaint that has been uttered earlier in the some classic example of this. We pointed it out before to you is what we find in some twenty two, and I think that that some is well known to you. At least it’s opening line is well known to you. It starts out. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?

And then there follows this description of woe, and it continues for twenty-one verses. But then, after that twenty-first verse, there erupts in this psalm a magnificent hymn of praise, a magnificent hymn of praise, with which then the psalm closes, verses twenty-two through thirty-one.

Here, then, is the usual order of the psalm. They progress then from that cry for help to the resolution in praise, in glory before God. But we’ve noted, as we move from Psalm 22 to Psalm 27, that the order is reversed in that 27th Psalm. Not the cry of help first, rather the hymn of praise, verses one through six. And then there comes that prayer for help, that cry unto God, verses seven through twelve. Psalm forty is ordered along the same line. First there is the hymn of praise, verses one through ten. and then the cry for help versus eleven through seventeen.

These songs are inverted songs, backwards songs, upside down songs. Now, we have commented upon the significance of this ordering before. We commented, commented on it in light of the power of that twenty-seventh psalm, which was made evident to us as we went through it. That twenty-seventh psalm, in our study of it, revealed this.

The habit has been to focus upon the confession of the Lord. as light and salvation and as the strength of one’s life. Note the opening of that song, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life, whom shall I dread? Now, the habit has been in approaching this psalm to focus upon the confession, an act of confessing the Lord as light and as salvation and as the strength of our lives.

You see, what we have been taught is that the act of confession is a valiant, heroic act in the midst of the darkness in view at the opening of the psalm, in the midst of the assault that is in view upon the life of the saints. Let me repeat that for you. We have been taught ordinarily We have been taught ordinarily that it is the act of confession which is in view here, and that that act of confession is a valiant and heroic act in the midst of the darkness in view, in the midst of the assault upon the life of the righteous. Therefore, the psalmist at the opening of Psalm 27 is making a confession, the Lord is my light and my salvation. this being a valiant heroic act despite the darkness, despite the assault that is being made upon him. Our tendency has been to believe that God is mediated unto the psalmist, or unto us, unto the righteous person, in a sort of gutsy, if not spiritual, macho act.

Well, as much as God delights in our steadfastness, in our resilience, in our spiritual tenacity, actually a more profound level to this psalm is found in the astounding affirmation that the darkness is endured not by Rambo-like heroics in which we hold out for God, but in the confidence that the God we expect to come to our aid has already arrived.

He is already there in the darkness. He is already there in the midst of the assault, and he has become our light in that circumstance, and he has become our defense. That is the power of it. It’s not just the fact that you become heroic in your faith. you stand your ground. The confession here in view is of something even greater. It is reflective of a confidence that in the midst of the darkness that is overtaking you, in the midst of the assault that has come upon you, God himself is present as your light and as your defense. He has come already. he has come. Here is the power of the opening of this psalm.

The psalmist is living confidently in the already, underline already, the already presence of God. While he awaits the fulfillment of the not yet of God’s full disclosure. Now you’ve heard about the already and the not yet, and that is what is operative in this psalm, you see. The psalmist lives confidently in the already of the presence of God within, as he awaits the fulfillment of the not yet of God’s full disclosure.

Now, so much is this the case that we can say that the already, which the psalmist is enjoying, in which he is taking comfort, the already precedes the not-yet. The already precedes the not-yet. That is why, when we go on into the description of the extremity of the experience of the not yet in Psalm 27 in verses 7 through 12, we do so undergirded by the blessed assurances proclaimed to us in verses 1 through 6. Praise, glory undergird patience. The already of God’s presence undergirds the not yet of his full disclosure to us.

I have become extremely distressed by the theological treatment of the already not yet dynamic of Scripture. by too many theologians, these two aspects of our spiritual devotion are placed on an equal footing, as if they were balancing principles for our proper understanding of biblical piety. But this action of placing these two dynamic poles on an equal footing exposes a continued failure by our theologians, for they are tragically and unfortunately, the apostles of what you might call balance. They are the advocates of what you might well call the theology of the other hand. Well, on the one hand, we have this while on the other hand, we have this. Now, as admirable as it is for us to have balance in our theological positions, when it comes to the already and the not yet of our Christian experience, of our spiritual lives, that balance becomes lethal, it becomes deadly.

You see, what Psalm 27 and Psalm 40 are teaching us is not the equality of the already with the not yet, but the primacy of the already over the not yet. And that for good reason, for it will be that which distinguishes biblical faith from every other kind of faith, and makes biblical faith distinct upon the face of the earth. Now, why do I insist upon this? Why is it so important for me to insist upon the primacy of the already over the not yet?

Because, you see, the primacy of the already makes plain the primacy of grace. It isn’t then the pharmacists. It isn’t David’s power. that perseveres in the dark. It isn’t the heroics of his faith that is commendable. Rather, it is God himself who is present in his circumstance to enlighten him and to save him, and that by grace. God comes not in response to the heroics of faith, but he comes as a gracious act. to those who are in fact undeserving.

Now, how well this is brought out for you in Psalm 40, and possibly better than it is in Psalm 27. It is brought out for you beautifully in the transitional verse that we find between the two sections of the psalm. The first section runs from verse one through verse ten, but then you have the transitional verse, verse eleven, and that sets the tone for the rest of the song. That eleventh verse is all important. Thou, O Lord, wilt not withhold thy compassion from me. Thy loving kindness and thy truth will continually preserve me.

We’ve gone into the not yet yet section of the song in which the extremity of the Somers condition is calculated against the background that yet to be is that fulfillment of God’s climactic purposes for him yet. At the outset of the description of that extremity, you have this eleventh verse, which speaks about the immediacy of God’s compassion is loving kindness and his truth, which are present reality, the following in the experiment.

A testimony to the presence of God himself in that experiment. You see, then. the force and the power of it. This verse then provides the foundation for what then follows. It is that what follows is well grounded upon the testimony of what appears there.

We do not enter into the latter part of this psalm apart from the awareness of those things of which the psalmist speaks in that eleventh verse. The psalmist will reflect upon, he will reflect upon and agonize over his present distress, the not yet of his life, with the strength supplied him in the tender mercies, loving kindness, and truth that continually preserve him, the already of his life.

And that is how, in fact, he will endure. Is not this now made much more clear to us in the gospel? The already of the presence of God mediated unto us in our Savior Jesus Christ. He, present with us, even in the midst of the extremity of our experiences. He being present with us, bringing with him the tender mercies of the Lord, His compassion and His truth. That being our solace.

Isn’t this what we have confessed when we acknowledge the Holy Spirit and His Word? For we are told that the Holy Spirit is given to us as a down payment on our inheritance, the Holy Spirit, the presence of God, we do not face our circumstances as if we are abandoned to our own strength, as if by heroic acts we might endure, we face our present circumstances in the grace of God, in the grace of God, and with the power of his presence, and it is only in that way we are enabled to endure. And in those circumstances and along those lines we evidence true faith if we grasp hold of this basic biblical principle. takes precedence over the night yet. There is a primacy to it, just as there is a primacy to grace.

Let’s pray. Father, awaken us through the Psalms and through your word, to the reality of your presence, that we might understand that by grace you have come to us, and that on the basis of your promise that you will be present with us, we know that you are. Therefore, Lord, in the midst of the extremity of our circumstances, may we not despair, but rather may we offer our prayers, may we even cry out for help, may we even utter our complaint against the background of that grace supplied, that grace already communicated, that grace which testifies to your continued presence with us. Surely we are not left to ourselves to endure by our own might as if by heroic acts we might persevere. Instead, our God is with us. We thank you for this, Lord. We ask, however, that we might live more fully in the reality of this truth. for Jesus’ sake, Amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.