Second Truth: Brought Out of the Pit - Psalm 40:2-4

Scripture reading will be from Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 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. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it.

And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 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. 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.

And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 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.

And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels numbering myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth, wisdom, might, and honor, and glory, and blessing. 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.

And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and they worshiped. You may be seated. Well, last night we were challenged from the Word of God, and I really appreciated Glenn's ministry of the Word last night, and I'm looking forward to it this morning. So, Glenn, I'm going to introduce you as my friend again. We'll think of something else later.

That's pretty good. Well, good morning. Thank you for being here today. And we want to continue in Psalm 40. So if you take your Bibles and turn again to that Psalm, Psalm 40. As you are turning there, perhaps you will remember that on the morning of August the 5th in 2010, 2,500 feet below the surface of the earth, 33 Chilean miners were suddenly trapped in a mining accident.

Do you remember that story? these men were unexpectedly cast into a pit of absolute darkness which after many days became a complete pit of despair after the collapse they found safety in a room that was built for such occurrences and the room was called the refuge and it's there that they were able to gather together As time progresses, the room fills with the smell of their own sweating bodies. They have no idea how long they'll be down there, so they have to conserve food and water. The refuge did hold some small rations of canned food and condensed milk.

To keep from hopelessness, they try to tell stories and jokes to one another. Yet one man wrote in his diary, there is this great sense of powerlessness. We don't know if they're trying to rescue us or not. After many hours, another miner, a devout evangelical Christian, stands and asks to leave the men in prayer. They agree, and they all kneel, praying for God to guide the rescuers to the small room in which they had been huddled together.

The Christian man prayed, we aren't the best men, Lord, have pity on us. And yet, still no sound of any rescuers. 78 hours after being trapped, on August the 8th, the men hear the sound of a drill. But the rescuers don't know that they're alive. And the men have no way to let the rescuers know. on August the 16th their 12th day underground the men are losing hope and running out of food on the 16th day they share together their last peach they begin to write farewell letters in the hopes that someday their bodies and these letters might be found on August the 22nd a drill finally breaks through to them, and they are able to signal that they are indeed there and they are alive.

After 17 days underground, the rescuers are able to drill a hole capable of getting food water and needed medicines to the trapped miners At this point the Christian who days ago led them in prayer said to the men, after being provided with these necessities, Dios existe, God exists. By this time, all of Chile and the rest of the world were watching and waiting to hear the plight of these 33 men. 69 days after the miners were trapped in this pit, on October the 12th, they were rescued.

Now I ask you, can you imagine the plight of these men? Can you imagine being trapped like that in a pit with no idea that anyone could get to you or rescue you? Can you imagine such a plight? I think if we challenged ourselves for long enough, we could imagine such a plight. And I'll tell you how. In Psalm 40, we continue with the psalm.

Notice what David begins to write. Verse 1, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me. He heard my cry. He also brought me out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my steps. Again, just as we come back into the psalm, if we were to categorize the psalm, as we said last night in theological terms, portions of it is what we would call a typical messianic psalm.

This psalm sees David as the primary speaker, again, as a type of Christ. And in this capacity, under the spirit of God's inspiration, David says things that could only really be rightly attributed to Christ. As Scott states in this psalm, David seems to have intended to speak of his own case, but the Holy Spirit led him to use language which in its full meaning can really only be applied to none but the Lord Jesus himself. yet they're not there's not enough evidence to say that this psalm like let's say psalm 22 is a prophecy that applies directly and only to christ so we'll see this clearly i think where we will come later to verse 6 but certainly portions of this psalm are messianic and deal solely with christ and again we know this because psalm 40 is directly quoted in hebrews as we said last night, Hebrews chapter 10, verses 5 through 7, which speaks both of the incarnation of Christ and Christ's earthly ministry.

So this is a psalm in which we can see both David and the Lord as subjects. I just want to remind you of this, but David is seen as the lesser light, and of course the Lord is seen as the greater light. So recall then, just as we get back into it, what we said from verse 1 that David waited patiently and God answered him. And so again, just remember, David begins by speaking of his prayers to God.

David trusted and waited upon the Lord and the Lord answered him. It's my prayer that God would comfort us as his people and particularly if you find yourself in a trial, in a heartache. But God would be kind to draw near in such a way that we're refreshed and encouraged, even in the midst of the trial. God hears you. God hears your cries. God knows your pain.

In fact, your tears are so precious to him that the psalmist says he saves them in a bottle. He's not wasting your trial. and he will answer. He will answer. David gives us evidence of this and David shows us that no matter what was going on in his life, remember this, David was a man of prayer. He was not ashamed to humble himself and to take his many distresses to the Lord.

Sometimes it takes humility to pray, doesn't it? It takes humility. You have to be honest. You know, confession is, when we confess something to the Lord, God never slaps his hand over his mouth. What? You did that?

Anybody know that? Who knew that? God's not like that. When God came in the garden and he calls for Adam, is it because God didn't know where Adam was? Adam, where are you? It's not because God didn't know where Adam was.

God's giving Adam an opportunity to do something. what? To be honest, to be humble, to confess. And it's the same thing when we come to God in prayer. We need humility and we need to pray about that. Lord, make me humble. Make me humble enough to pour myself out before you.

I'm at the end of myself. I'm at my wit's end. This is David. and David always takes his distress to the Lord. The greatest biblical characters, remember, culminating with Jesus himself, shows us that they were willing to wait upon God in prayer, to take their distress to God and to wait upon him in prayer. We too should be a people of prayer. For as we saw last night, we concluded, he heard my cry, says David.

David's patient waiting is rewarded. So how comforting for us to know that even when our God in heaven doesn't answer in the time that we would like, or maybe even in the way that we would like, he always answers, he always hears us. David teaches us of the importance of prayer and humility. I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and he heard my cry.

Well, how does that happen? Let's reflect then on the following points this morning together. As we come into verse 2. our first point is being rescued from the pit our second trust and praise God for His mercies And our third happy is the man who trusts in God So let's see our first point, being rescued from the pit. Again, verse 2, 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.

What's the evidence that the Lord heard David's cry? Well, the Lord rescued him out of the pit. What's the greatest way that our God hears all of our cries? As Christians, what is the greatest way that God has heard all of our cries? Well, I'm going to suggest to you that it would be in rescuing us from the greatest pit of which we were all in. there are certainly pitfalls in low places as we said last night in every person's life and every christian's life but these are not what is ultimately being referenced here by david the pit that which david refers to is the pit that every christian has been brought out of and that is the stinking foul pit of sin and the coming damnation of god's righteous judgment those of us who are in Christ now, we're all at one time in this pit of destruction.

Those of us who are in Christ right now, we're all at one time deserving of an eternity in hell. It's interesting that the Hebrew translation of the word pit here carries with it the additional renderings of being brought out of the pit of noise, the pit of misery, the roaring pit, and the pit of sounding calamity. What these translations all teach us is that David was describing the resounding spiritual roar of chaos and despair in a life lived spent on one's own pleasures, spent on one's own pursuits.

You see, brethren, just remember what you were before you became a Christian. You were in that pit, and so was I. And in such a pit is the deafening spiritual noise of the shouts of the world telling us what should make us happy. their happiness most often includes breaking the commands of God by the way makes you happy do whatever you want to do these are the shouts that we hear you deserve to be happy what God what does God have to do with it nothing and since we're all born as natural lawbreakers continuing to break God's commands comes very easily to us we don't often need a lot of encouragement when we stood apart from Christ.

We didn't need a lot of encouragement. I often say, I have an older brother. He's eight years older than me. And I often say, no one needed to teach me how to sin, but I had an older brother who taught me how to sin better. I could look around at him and say, oh no, he got caught doing that. I don't think, I think I could play that differently sin comes naturally to us because we're all in this pit the noise of the world is then compounded by the shouts of our own guilty consciences you know that depression is at a huge level today I mean I listen to Pandora when I'm studying and everybody wants me to listen to Spotify But I don't have the time to go through Spotify and make my own playlists and do all that.

I don't care about all that. He said, we have to listen to commercials. I said, it's okay. I can handle 15 seconds or whatever it is of a commercial for free. But they have these commercials on all the time now for therapy. I don't know if you've heard these commercials.

Hey, it's normal. You need therapy. You need therapy. And talk about the level of depression. You know why the level of depression is such? You know, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4?

What's God's will for us? It is God's will that you are sexually pure. All these kids run around and say, I wish I know the will of the Lord. I wish I know God's will. Well, 1 Thessalonians 4 is pretty clear. It's God's will that you be sexually pure.

Do we live in a sexually pure culture? No. We don't. And I would suggest to you that part of the reason why there's so much depression in the culture in which we live is because we're continually breaking the laws of God. And we feel the consequence of it. We know, culturally speaking, we know the consequence of it.

But the world tells us, keep going. That's a pit. And it's a pit filled with noise. And we see the results in the world around us, the noise of the world. And then it compounds with our guilty consciences. And by the way, when does your conscience seem most troubled?

Isn't it at night? Don't things seem worse at night? our consciences scream at us as to the foolishness of our continually believing the world, then finding ourselves doing what the world says, and we do it all over again, and then feeling more and more guilty. That's a pit. And it's a pit that we continue to dig ourselves into. We feel like everything is so loud and the chaos so strong that we just need a break.

You probably hear this, those of you that would counsel, The one word that keeps coming back and back and back and back again in the counseling offices of this world is the word overwhelmed. I'm just overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed. Those who stand apart from Christ are overwhelmed. They're in a pit.

And you remember what that pit was like. No break. The shouting and the screams of chaos and our guilt just continue. and that will go on and would go on until we would rightfully enter eternity the ultimate pit of hell where for eternity guilt and shame will go unassuaged You know, the Puritans, to me at least, are so helpful in this issue because the Puritans say, this world as we presently know it is, listen to this because I think this will help you, this world as we presently know it is as much of hell as the Christian will ever have to endure and as much of heaven as the unbeliever will ever know.

I mean, we're talking about things of eternity. And we're talking about the reality of a God who will make all things right. And we're talking about being trapped, as David says here, in this pit. Our great lonely solitude in ultimately coming, if we stand apart from Christ. the great lonely solitude of eternity. Can you imagine that kind of damnation?

And that damnation will be only pierced by our own doleful cries and laments forever facing in eternity without Christ, without the hope of forgiveness, without the hope of good news, knowing the presence of God only in His judgment and His wrath, never having the hope of the presence of God in terms of His mercy and grace. That's hell. Jonathan Edwards soberly describes this pit of hell when he says, After you shall have worn out the age of the sun, the moon, and the stars in your delirious groans and lamentations without rest day and night or one minute of ease, yet you shall have no hope of ever being delivered.

After you shall have worn a thousand more such ages, you shall have no hope, but shall know that you are not one whit near the end of your torments, but still are the same groans, still the same shrieks, the same doleful cries, incessantly to be made by you, and that the smoke of your torment shall still ascend up to heaven forever and ever. Your souls which shall have been agitated with the wrath of God all this while, will still exist to bear more wrath. Your bodies which shall have been burning all this while in these glowing flames shall not have been consumed, but will remain to roast through eternity, which will not have been at all shortened by what has already been passed.

I don't know anyone better than Edwards to describe the horrors of hell other than the scripture. little wonder hell is called the ultimate pit and it is that pit whose outer rims we only begin to travel on here which will become the full pit of hell at the death of all who die apart from saving faith in Christ Jesus hell is the place of eternal wrath and the eternal wrath of God upon all those who die apart from Christ listen if you're here today and you stand apart from Christ I know that the talk of hell is not easy to hear. It's an amazing thing in our culture. You can drive your car throughout the week and people can tell you to go to hell all week long when you're driving.

I don't know how it is here in Lauru or Leiru. But in the city, yeah. You get the Hawaiian greeting and all that kind of stuff all the time. Okay? But it's the strangest phenomenon. phenomenon, if you come to church and a pastor warns you about the eternality of hell, and the pastor warns you that that's where you're going to go if you stand apart from Christ, everybody's offended.

Well, let's run the risk of offending. If one person is here today who stands apart from Christ, you're headed to an eternity in hell. Would that God would save you. Would that God would bring you to the place of seeing the reality of your situation, the pit whose rims you're traveling only now that is coming for you. Not easy words to hear, but they're the most important words you can hear.

For the truth is that you only think that you've had trouble and heartache in this world. But be warned, the measure of your sorrow that you taste here is nothing to that which is coming to you if you continue on your way without Christ. the final way of all sinful men is the pit of eternal destruction but the good news the good news is that here and now you can still hear that there is good news the good news of the gospel and like David you too can be lifted out of this horrible pit of destruction and despair how so? simply by being born again you can pray and ask that God would forgive you of all your sins, asking to be washed in the blood of Christ. The Bible says, I love this verse in 1 John 1, 7, claim it so often, the blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from the majority of our sins.

Isn't that a comfort? No, it wouldn't be, would it? The blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all of our sins. What a Savior we have. the blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all of our sin listen don't think that there's a sin too big for God to be able to forgive you of he promises to forgive all sin if you but ask him it is in this way that Jesus Christ himself lifts you out of the pit of sorrow, the pit of destruction just as he has lifted plenty of other sheep out of that pit and carried them to himself.

And that's what Christ has done for David. And that's what Christ has done for every one of us who are Christians. We all know about that pit. We all know what that pit was like to live in and the ultimate pit to where we were heading. And David says here, he brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and he set my feet upon a rock. If you're a Christian, you know that this pit was once our end.

But again, David says he heard my cry. Thank God. God, in his great mercy, rescued us from the pit. He lifted us and he put our feet upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ. What praise and worship we owe to our triune God. And so clearly, like David, this too was our greatest prayer.

To be lifted out of this pit. And the prayer was answered how? In Christ Jesus. So here then is this reality. As we think of trusted truths and trials, if God never answered another one of our prayers in this world, that won't happen. But just consider for a moment, If God never answered another one of our prayers in the way that we wanted him to, listen to me, saints.

He has still answered our greatest and our most needful prayer. How? Because he saved us from this pit. He saved us from the pit of our sin. He saved us from this pit of eternal punishment. If God never answered another prayer, he's answered the greatest prayer for us.

Saving us out of this pit. maybe it's because I'm Irish I don't know think about these things the Irish are known for being a little bit morbid I just can't imagine what it would be like to close your eyes here in this world with power with wealth with fame and adulation thinking you're all that you close your eyes in this world and you open your eyes in eternity only to know forever the damnation of God. What would it be like? I have a cousin, 67 years old, who wanted nothing to do with Christ at all.

Very wealthy. This is in Ireland, living in Ireland. Very wealthy. Computer programmer, sold all kinds of programs to different companies, this, that, big house, all the trappings of big wealth beautiful children grandchildren you interested in Christ? nope in fact my other cousin said to him you know is this Christianity thing is it a bother to you? he says oh I'm surrounded by it everywhere I turn well that guy two weeks ago entered glory like that entered not glory, heaven like that sitting with his wife at breakfast had a massive heart attack.

He was a mountain biker, jogger, clearly takes after me. Didn't know when he got up that morning that he was going to be in eternity. And I said to my cousin, he said, yeah, I'm surrounded by it. I'm surrounded by Christianity, fed up with it I said to my cousin well he's not surrounded by it now the eternality of hell this is the greatest pit that we've been saved from and of course God will answer other prayers I know if you're in trial you think this thing is so big it's not nearly as big as an eternity in hell is it that Christ has redeemed us from and in his kindness and grace he promises to continue to answer our prayers and he will in the best way that he sees fit it's tough now but he knows and he'll answer those prayers and he'll do it for our best good and he'll do it for his glory we know that God constantly gives us better than we deserve and as he has delivered us from this pit that's the greatest gift that he could give to us and he's promised us an eternal home in heaven with him.

No wonder we sing what a wonderful Savior. It takes us to our second point. We trust and praise God then for his mercies. You see in this verse, verse 2, David speaks of being brought back from the brink of death now to life. He brought me up out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay. And what did he do?

He set my feet upon a rock and he established my steps. The counterpart of this image is seen when he says that his feet are now placed upon the rock, which of course would make his steps secure. The firmness of the rock paints a clear picture of security, of deliverance, of safety. Many times does David speak of the fact that God is his rock and refuge.

In Psalm 18 and verse 2, David writes, The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold. Here we see that by God's good electing grace and saving him, the path was established for him. He had a sure foundation upon which to place his faith. Now a firm path to follow as he walked upon the way of God.

You see, for those of us on this side of Christ's first coming, we know that this is the perfect metaphor for Jesus Christ. For Christ is our rock. Remember we said last night, Christ is our peace? Christ is our rock. 1 Peter 2.4, Peter writes that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. He says, as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious.

I had the privilege of preaching in Malaysia in September and I was preaching in a church of people who had been persecuted for their faith in Christ. I felt complete I feel unworthy to preach all the time but really out of my depth standing in front of 300 people who know what it is to be persecuted people and their families being persecuted and so forth But I asked this question, I said, I make this statement all the time at home. It's a wonder to me that the deity whose name is used as a swear word, whose name is used in vain in any culture, is always the name of Jesus or God.

Have you ever thought about that? So I ask these people, is that true in this culture? Primarily Buddhist and Muslim, Malaysia. Is that true in this culture? In other words, you don't hear it when somebody hits their thumb with a hammer. You don't say, oh, Buddha.

You haven't ever heard that. oh Confucius I left the you don't hear that oh Mohammed what am I going to do you don't hear that I said is it true is it true is it true that it's God's name that's used is it true that it's Jesus name that's dragged through the mud like that in this culture and you know they all overwhelmingly they all said that's true you want an evidence that the word of God the law of God is written on our hearts, there it is. To break the third commandment. Jesus isn't even your professed God.

Why don't you leave him alone? Why don't you use your God's name to defame whatever it is that you're talking about? No, no. They choose the one true God's name. That's why being together in the church, you know, the fellowship here is so sweet. Isn't it?

It's so good. The fellowship here is so sweet as we link arms together. What a blessing we have and how deserving is of our Savior that we come together and we worship him in song. We lift his name up. We exalt him. We praise him because through the week his name is muddied all over the place, but here it's lifted high.

That's why we gather together in church. That's why we gather together to worship because Christ is our living stone. Christ has saved us from the pit. and we're only spiritually safe when our feet have been placed upon this firm foundation of Jesus Christ. He's our rock. He's our peace. Little wonder we sing, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is what?

Sinking sand. And we see then in verse 3, he put a new song of praise in my mouth. He put a new song of praise in my mouth. I love it. mindful of the pit that he was saved from. David says that there's really only one theme for him to sing about now, and that is his God and his great love and mercy. Even though we may be going through a trial, the Christian can still sing the songs of redemption.

The Christian can still sing the songs of lament. The Christian can still sing the songs of thanksgiving. Even in trial, the Christian can still sing songs in the night as we read in Job 35.10. Even while in prison, the Bible tells us that Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the other prisoners were listening to them. What a testimony.

Christians who know that they have been redeemed from this pit, even though going through trial now serve as a mighty testimony when they can sing of their praise to God for the new song that he has put into their mouths. I appreciated what your pastor said last night about your sister who has entered eternity dying a difficult death. And I appreciated the words that he said.

She died well. And that's quite a testimony. isn't it? She died well. She died giving thanks to God, giving praise to God. She still had a song because she was saved from the pit. Christians, he has put a new song of praise in us, and even though we're in trial, we can still sing.

Considering this, did you know that the Psalms then could hold another title. Plumer says in his commentary, the term Psalms in the Hebrew can literally be translated praises. So it rightfully could be called the book of praises. And why not? When we are reminded so vividly of what we've been saved from and the love and the mercy of God to save the likes of us.

Praise is the only appropriate response for the people of God whose hearts have been made new by his saving grace. It's a trial. You're in a trial. But it's nothing compared to the pit that we've been saved from. And we can still give God praise. Praise is the only appropriate response for the people of God whose hearts have been made new by His grace.

May God help us to be able to sing praise to Him, even in the times of trial. And listen, there may be great singers in the world, great musicians in the world, and there certainly are, write a catchy tune, yes, but their songs are ultimately empty and devoid of any redemptive praise that can glorify God. But the song of the stammering Christian who maybe doesn't have a good voice, that's the song that brings God such praise because they have the true song to sing.

Listen Christian, no matter how good someone's voice may sound, the reality is that God takes no delight in a beautiful singing voice attached to a heart that's not been justified by grace. The unsaved can sing from their heart to the praise of the Triune God The Psalms as well as Paul writings in Ephesians and Colossians all show us that music that pleases God has nothing to do with style first and foremost, but it does have everything to do with the heart of the one singing. That's why David says here, He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

We need new hearts in order to be able to sing a new song of praise to God. such a heart is the promise of the new covenant which is found in Ezekiel 36 26 where God says I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you it's only from such a forgiven heart that a new song can come so if one is unconverted he has no ability to sing praises to God further if one is unconverted he has little interest in singing praise to God the truth is that God has no interest in his feeble man-centered attempts no matter how beautiful the voice may sound. You know what I think? I think this means that we as Christians should take little interest in what they may be singing about.

Shall I just leave it at that? I don't think we should be as enamored with the songs of the world as oftentimes Christians seem to be. Their songs are empty. We've got a new song to sing. In this verse, David says that it's so different for the one who's been born again. he now is the God-given ability and the desire to praise and glorify God from the heart.

I wonder, have you ever just when you're by yourself, sung in praise to God? Ever do that? Have you ever just worshipped him in a singular song? By yourself? Even if you can't sing? It's something that God wants from us.

The Bible says that God is pleased with that kind of worship. we see that throughout the scriptures that God desires us to sing to him both in our public and private worship it brings him delight singing, if you just think about it, singing is kind of a funny thing, isn't it? I pretend to sing it's kind of a funny thing what is that? it's a unique thing you know what its uniqueness is? I'm convinced just thinking a little bit about this, you know what its uniqueness is?

I think it's a unique way in which we get to praise God. It's unique. And we get to use this way in the issue of worship. We see throughout the scriptures that God desires us to sing. He desires us to sing in private. He desires us to sing in public.

The Bible says it brings Him delight. MacArthur says, we see that such music pleases God. in the account we're given of the temple dedication when the singing so honored the Lord that his glory came down. Oh, that God would be so pleased with our hearts and our offerings of music to him that we too would have a sense of his coming amongst us with the visitation of his own glory as we sing praise to him.

Is it not wonderful to know that as Christians we have a new song to sing? What are we singing the world songs for? We've got a new song to sing. We're to come into his presence and sing them with joy. myself personally I think that a church's singing is a barometer of the church's spiritual health I think you've come into a church you'll tell a lot about a church by the way the church sings together praise God from whom all who in the Son and Holy Ghost Amen beautiful all.

What a lifting up of praise and adoration of God. The church that I grew up in, we used to, every time we had the Lord's table, we would sing, blessed be the tie that binds at the end. And we would all gather around the perimeter of the sanctuary and we would hold hands. And we'd sing, blessed be the tie that binds Our hearts and Christian love, right?

And I always worked it so I could stand next to one of the deacons whose name was Mike Moskowitz, since gone to glory. Mike Moskowitz had the worst voice known to man. And he knew it. It was bad. But I loved standing next to him, and I sought him out. I would switch places with people as we were getting lined up to stand, just so I could stand next to Mike.

You know why? Because he sang like he was Pavarotti. And we would hold hands and I'd stand right there and say, Blessed be the tithe abides. It was so bad. But it was so beautiful. You know why?

Because it came from his heart. And I think to God, his voice sounded better than Pavarotti's. because he sang. He sang as one who'd been given a new heart. Listen, Christian, sing. Only we have the song to sing. We have this new song.

And I love the singing here. To me, just a barometer, we alone have this new song to sing. So, Christian Saint, I would urge you to consider the importance of your personal playlist. us. Why so? Because of the simple truth that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. I think that has to have dealings with us in this regard that as a man sings in his heart, so is he.

What songs do you sing when you're in trial? What songs can you sing when you're in heartache? Think about the amount of time this past week you spent listening to music that did not contain the praise of God and the exaltation of Christ? Did you listen more to music whose theme is that of the world would sing of or that of which would praise your Savior and Lord for his great gift of rescuing you from the pit of destruction I would encourage you not to waste significant time note the word on the music of the world Why?

Listen and sing those songs when you have... Why do that? Listen to the songs of the world when we can now praise God. Why listen and sing those songs when the God of heaven himself has put a new song in your mouth? So Christian, you've been given a new song to sing. you can sing what the world could never sing about be mindful that what you listen to reverberates in the quarters of your mind for a long time I'm musical and people always will mock me for that you say a phrase to me and I'll remember a song with the phrase and I don't even know my wife said I didn't listen to all this stuff in the world because I was a Christian when I was growing up my wife says you know about a phrase about all these songs just to show that you actually grew up here in this country right so made me a phrase i generally can come up with a song i know for me what i listen to is going to stick with me for a long time what do they call it your worm worm some kind of worm in your ear right that's what music does it reverberates in the quarters of your mind so my question why not make it music that will continue to draw you to praise god and more fully worship him but even more why not why not make it music that when you're being troubled in the middle of the night that a song will come to you that can restore your soul taylor swift songs won't do that in the time of testing and trial the songs of redemption will be much more comforting and beneficial to your soul that's why paul says in ephesians 5 19 speaking to one another in psalms hymns and spiritual songs singing make melody in your heart to the lord so we see that the songs of faith have actually the potential to strengthen and edify our souls to get us ready for trial if we understand the distinction that Paul makes regarding the very musical choices we can see the benefit for the hurting soul speaking the Psalms is simply either singing the Psalms as in the Psalter or songs centered on the Psalms hymns often have as their theme the character of God or reflect upon some significant theological theme or truth spiritual songs, maybe songs about the Christian life or about some aspect of faith Each of these can be such a help to the soul in trial.

That's why Luther said, next to the word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he should proclaim the word of God through music. Music is huge. And I would add that Christians should be comforted spiritually by beneficial music. for example think how the troubled and wearied soul can be sustained and even cheered by this truth and I didn't know we were going to sing this this morning but it's one of my favorites when I fear my faith will fail Christ will hold me fast when the tempter would prevail he will hold me fast I could never keep my hold Christ will hold me fast in the middle of the night when the trial seems so large, just remember you've been saved out of the greatest pit and Christ will hold you fast.

Or, great is thy faithfulness. O God, my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. What? As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be. these are the kinds of songs that Christians can live on on the mountaintops and in the valleys what's the result of that? well part of the result, David says many shall see and fear and trust in the Lord so here's this further dynamic to considering the songs of our hearts we should be living in such a way that no one would be surprised to hear the praises of God come pouring from our mouths in song whether at home or in church whether in trial or in joy.

Words that I'm singing about God and about the Christian life ought to match the way that I'm living throughout the course of the week. I'm sure you've thought that the music you listen to in your car with others or in your home with others can and should be an effective means of witness. The songs of the Christian are different because they center on praising Christ.

Therefore, they can be used to point others to Christ. Your music can be a testimony to others. It's what David tells us. Surprisingly, Davis says that the very songs of the Christian, both vocal and instrumental, because of their theme, may be made to bring fear and trust in the Lord. I wonder, can you say that the songs you listen to now would do that?

As another translation states, And he put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God, many will see and fear and trust in Yahweh. How? Because of the song that's been put in our heart. as the class walford states in the hebrew context they will see fear and put their trust in the lord the statement of confidence is a reminder that the purpose of thanksgiving and praise here is testimony and song praise and thanks are not primarily for god but for the neighbor in this context wow in the context of witnessing that song is important christian that means especially in times of heartache, the songs you choose to sing can and should be a witness.

We've been lifted from the pit. We've been given the hope of heaven through Christ. What song could the world sing that would match the song of the saint? That takes us to our last point then. Verse 4, blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust and does not respect the proud nor such as turn aside to lies. happy is the man who trusts in God in the Hebrew the term for blessed means supremely or spiritually happy happy in Hebrew we see that the word for blessed can rightly be translated as happy this Hebrew words of expressive one because it's in the plural so it literally would be all the happinesses of the man it's bad english but it's good hebrew all the happinesses of the man so another way to say that in many varied ways is this man happy so many ways this man is happy the biblical definition for being blessed or happy conveys the meaning of enjoying god's special favor and grace with this definition we see that for the child of god true happiness and blessing begin at one single pivotal event what is it when did your true happiness begin when did your true joy begin one single pivotal event for all of us that's the point when we were literally pulled out of the pit at that point our sins were forgiven through the work of jesus christ we were born again happiness begins at that point because our relationship with god is restored and our life is righted and given true purpose and true meaning you see it is through the person of jesus christ from whom real happiness comes so true christians now derive all their multiplied happiness as their supreme happiness from their saving relationship with jesus christ the christian comes to christ repenting of those ways in which he used to seek happiness and finding now our true source of happiness in relationship with God through Christ.

You remember what your life was like before you were a Christian? You were looking, as the song says, looking for love where? In all the wrong places. That's your life before, see? That's your life before Christ. Looking for happiness, looking for love, and you're doing it in all the wrong places.

And then, you didn't find Jesus, Jesus found you. and you're brought to true faith in Christ, then it's true happiness. That when true happiness begins God alone is the source of true happiness and only a saving relationship with him brings such happiness That fact never changes That fact runs through all times and seasons, even when we're enduring a trial. Why?

Plumer is helpful when he says, the blessings coming on him who trusts in the Lord are multi-form, countless, endless, and immeasurable. Generally, I know what I'm like in trial. generally our focus is just on the trial right? we become myopic we can only see the problem and being reminded that we've been saved out of the pit helps us to pull back from just the trial and see things maybe in a little bit of a bigger picture David expresses the joy that is given to those who have been rescued from the pit and placed upon the firm foundation of Christ He bears witness that to place one's trust in God is to see that only Jesus Christ is worthy of our trust. He's the rock.

He warns us that there's really only one truth, and it's Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah. That's why Jesus says in John 14 and 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. David, in essence, here speaks of the false gods of this world. And the reason that they're false is that they're liars. and we live in a world that does its best to get us to believe that God's word and therefore God himself is not completely to be trusted.

Yet currently we see this deception, false flattery, fraud and even perverse propaganda from the world abound. The lies of the world are seen on all levels but I believe it becomes the worst when the lies are about God and his word. If the words of men have all become lies, God's word still remains pure. God's word will always be true in a world where it's different it's difficult to believe that what anyone says be they friends or enemies it's a great comfort for us to know that our God and his word is completely trustworthy so blessed is the man who does not turn aside to the lies of the world but he daily makes the Lord his trust When we undergo trials aren we tempted to doubt God Aren we tempted to doubt his word?

But as Christians, what do we do at such times? We have to remind ourselves that there is only one truth, and it's found in God, and it's found in his word. no matter how deep the sorrow or trial of the believer. Your trial could never be deeper than the pit that you've been rescued from. When God rescues us from the pit, he gives us faith to believe him, and such men are the happiest men, even when they're bowed down in sorrow, because they know that they have been truly saved from the greatest of all sorrows, the eternal sorrow of the pit.

So as we think about application to these truths, the story is told of two men who once fell into a deep pit. One said to the other, Would you please save me from this place? Please get me out of the dirt and the mud. And the other replied, You fool. How can I do that? I'm in the same pit and I'm just as helpless as you are.

Since they were both in the pit, neither one could help the other. Then they heard a voice from above calling to them to grasp the rope. that one not being in the pit was able to help them from above you get the point all men are in the same pit of despair and destruction all have landed in the same pit that we were in every other man is a sinner just as we are no other man can help you except one whose name is Jesus Christ he who came as God in the flesh the perfect man and thus there was no sin in him he came from above to save us from the horrible pit of destruction. Like these two men, like the Chilean miners, we cannot save ourselves.

And no other man could save us We need to look above And only one stands above this pit of sin and destruction and his name is Christ Only he can rescue us Jesus said that he came to seek and to save that which was lost. Paul writes to Timothy, here's the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Have you been brought to see that you're in a pit of despair and unbelief today?

Do you recognize that this pit is one day will only lead you to the eternal pit of torment and destruction? If so, listen to the admonition of Lamentations 3 and 55. I called on your name, O Lord, out of the lowest pit. No matter how deep you are in your pit, you can still call out to the God of heaven and be saved. Just like David, who after being saved said that God redeemed his life from where?

The pit. What God did for David, he's done for every one of us who have been saved from the pit of destruction. and this he can do for you. He's not only a Savior who delivers from the pit of hell, he delivers us from the power of sin in our lives. He will rescue you, even from your temporary trial, because he's rescued you from the greatest pit. Call upon him to do so.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time in your word, for your mercies to us through Christ. thank you that we have a savior who has rescued us from the pit of destruction the eternal pit of the coming hell lord i pray that you by your spirit would use your word in each one of our hearts today for those that stand apart from christ would you save them for those who are enduring trial would you encourage them the pit that they find themselves in now is nothing compared to the pit that we all once were in. Do your work amongst us, we pray, for the glory of Christ.

And we'll give you the thanks as we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.