So it's Psalm 40 verses 1 through 3, and from these three verses I want to preach on a very simple subject, from sinking to singing by grace. You've got to put up with this voice I'm struggling with at the minute. I hope to be able to get it through. If I can't get the message finished, I'm going to ask Johnny or Stephen or James or Albert. to come and finish it for me. So better be prepared, brother, just in case it doesn't work out here for me. So I've given you the title, you know where I'm going to, so keep that in mind. So Psalm 40 verses 1 to 3, from sinking to singing by grace. Now, there's no doubt who wrote this particular psalm. You can see it if you have a good Bible there. You will see that it is a psalm of David, so that's not really a problem. We know who wrote this particular psalm. But when he wrote that psalm as another matter, And some commentators believe that this composition took place during David's outlaw years when he was running and hiding from King Saul. And I'm sure you're all familiar with that story. Others think it was that originated during the rebellion of his son Absalom. That was a very trying and difficult time for David when his own son rebelled against him. Now either way, David is speaking about a time in his life when he felt trapped, helpless, and hopeless in that kind of a situation that no one ever wants to be in. But even in that terrible time of darkness and fear, God heard his cry, reached down into the pit where he was, and rescued him. And he tells us how the Lord lifted him out of the mire, placed his feet on a rock, and put a song into his heart. So in this psalm we find David recalling a time in his life when he needed to be rescued. The pit he found himself in was so high that he could not reach to get out of it. couldn't reach the top of it and he had not the ability to rescue himself. That's the situation we find David in here. But the psalm is written in hindsight David had cried out to God, and God had saved him. And the psalm describes David's response to this incredible deliverance. So here we see, or we get a glimpse into the heart of David himself. It's always good to look into the heart. And here we can see something of the great heart of David. He wasn't a perfect man. Far from it. But we get an insight into his line of thinking, his thoughts at this particular time, especially after having come through that terrible experience. Now he is delivered by God's matchless grace. And from these opening three verses, there are three simple things I want you to notice here. First of all, the Lord heard David. Notice what it says there in verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry." So it was a time of waiting for David, a time of waiting on the Lord for the Lord to come to deliver him from some terrible circumstances. So David was forced to wait on the Lord. Now the expression, I wait it patiently, suggests I wait it, and I wait it, and I wait it. Originally, or in the original, it is waiting, I wait it. That's the literal rendering of what we find here in this psalm. So it looked as though David was never going to get an answer to his prayer. That's the way it's seen for him at this particular time. He waited, and he waited, and he waited again. Do you see that? Sometimes it's hard to wait for the Lord to come to answer that prayer. So David prayed there in verse 17, make no tarrying, oh my God. In other words, he was saying, hurry up and send the answer. But God is never in a hurry. Then in verse 13, he says again, make haste to help me. But God takes his time. He's never in a hurry. He takes his time. He works to that infallible schedule. We panic, don't we? We panic. But David waited, expecting God to respond to his cry. So he is waiting, and as he waits, he is praying. And the implication in this is that God is also waiting. So if David is waiting, he's waiting on the Lord. And the Lord is actually waiting to do something for David. He's waiting to bestow a blessing. He's waiting to be gracious to David. And so sometimes that may be the case when we're waiting on the Lord and we're praying. The Lord is waiting also. He's waiting just to see how long, how serious we are and how determined we are. And so after the time of gospel mission, the seed has been sown. Let's not grow weary in well-doing, let's keep on praying, watering the seed, waiting for God to come and bless the sowing of the seed during these past two weeks. And the Bible does say, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. So there's the promise of God, if we wait, God's gonna do something for us. Do you see that now? It's important that we grasp this. If we're waiting on God, we're waiting for God to do something for us. But he describes himself as being in a horrible pit. Now he was speaking figuratively of course at this time. He was not in an actual pit or hole in the ground as was Joseph. Joseph was put into a pit. Jeremiah was also into a pit and he was up to his armpits in the mire. Now that wasn't a very nice place to be in, the filth and the stench. I'm sure the vermin were there as well. But you can imagine the position that he found himself in. Now it literally is a sounding pit. Now what's the significance of that? A sounding pit and it's described here as a horrible pit. And that word horrible means den. It means a roar, a crash, an uproar, a tumult. And the word pit refers to a cistern. or a dungeon, a place where nothing was heard except the howling of wild beasts and the hollow sound of the wind, frightening, intimidating, water flowing into it like a torrent. The idea as of being trapped in a place of torment while his enemies without or around him cried out against him. And when he cried, David said, God inclined unto him. What does that mean? It's a very interesting word. Keep this in mind. Underline it in verse one. Our part is praying and waiting. His part is hearing and replying. There's only so much that we can do. We can do our part and we trust we'll do it well. And then it's up to God to do his part. Sometimes we've got to wait. Now that word inclined means to stretch out or to bend or to turn aside or away. And the picture is, he inclined his ear as if to catch the faintest sigh just the way a mother listens for a child. I'm listening. Oh, the baby's in bed. Is the baby okay? I'm just listening to hear. That's the picture we have here before us in the Word of God. He inclined his ear to catch the faintest sigh just the way a mother listens for the child. Now David could not get himself out of that horrible pit. I think about Matthew 14 and Peter's out in the Sea of Galilee and he begins to think, what does Jesus do? He stretches forth his hand. Now you have a dog out there and it hears something. What happens? The ears are cocked to hear and that's the figure we have here of God bending over listening for the faintest cry of one of the saints. That's the wonderful picture. of the grace and mercy of God. So he could not reach up to God in his hour of need. So God reached down to him, to this lonely, this lowly, this broken man. And he was a lowly, broken man at this particular point of time. And God inclined his ear, God bent his ear to hear his cry. He was in a horrible pit, you see, and he couldn't get out of it. But the gracious ear of God was still within reach. That's the beauty of it all. Many years ago, we went on a cruise. Part of it was going across the North Sea. First part was great. The sea was so calm. I thought that was great. The food was great. Eighteen, six times a day. It was unbelievable. We left Russia and it was okay. We got into the North Sea. Oh, dear. It was a nightmare. And as I lay down there sick, I prayed. Would you not have prayed too? I'm sure you would have prayed along with me, praying for God to come. I'm in a mess here. Come and rescue me. And then somebody fell overboard and we had to help somebody overboard. That made things a lot worse. I came down for the breakfast next morning and all the furniture from the restaurant was floating about in the pool. And that made it even worse. Had to go back and lie down again. But Ann, she was brave, she just went up for the midnight feasts and all these barbecues and everything else at night time, 12 o'clock at night. And I was lying there praying, Lord help me, deliver me. I'm in a hole, I'm in a pit here, you know. I need help from God. And that's the way God knows because the Bible says, he heard my cry. And that word cry indicates a loud, insistent cry. Help based on fear and desperate need. That was how he felt at this time. And we all have been there at different times. Situations we find ourselves in. And God's people shall never wait, and God upon God in vain. Remember when he bent down and he looked at us. out of the pit of sin by grace and he lifted us up and he saved our souls and he delivered us. Doesn't matter how strong the grip the devil has upon us, there's power in the blood and there's grace to overcome and to know victory in the Christian life. Doesn't matter how strong the temptation is, God is able to help us. His ear is bent towards us and when we cry to him in desperation, he will come. He's proved himself in the past. He will come again to help us. The personal pronoun I is used only once in verse 1. You can see that. And then the Lord did everything else in response to that cry in verse 2. So David says, I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, and so on. David played a very small part, he prayed. And I suppose that's a big thing too, big part, but he prayed. And then the Lord did the rest. And that's all that we can do, pray. That's why we're here tonight to pray. And we're praying to a great, big, wonderful God who has power to answer prayer more exceedingly than the things we even ask for. And so we have this wonderful thought here about David praying and God answering his prayer and doing something for him. So the Lord helped, the Lord heard David. The second thing is the Lord helped David. Verses two and three, he brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay. Now the phrase brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay indicates that God just did not see what David was going through. He saw that okay, and he did not just listen as David cried, and he did listen as David cried, but he did more than that. He did something about it. That's the beauty of the whole thing. So he saw everything, and he looked on, and he knew everything, and he just didn't stand by idly. He did something about it. He lifted David out of the pit, out of the terrible dungeon, out of the miry clay. And that word miry clay refers to the sludge that collects at the bottom of a deep well. It's that slimy, clingy mud that tries to draw us deeper into its grasp. It's that slimy, boggy place that gets us way underfoot. You've been there maybe at some time or some stage, literally. And it has the idea of instability, of the feet slipping and in danger of falling. you've maybe been out climbing or doing something of that nature and you lose that ground underneath you, you lose that stability, something you're standing on that becomes dangerous and the feet are found to be slipping, it's dangerous. So here we have the picture that I set before us and there's a certain spider which forms a pit in the sand and lies concealed at the bottom of that particular pit in order to draw other insects into it, or when insects come into it, they're there to pounce and to claim that for their food. He delivers from the Myrae Cleathon belief in our troubles and trials. Not only does he talk about pulling David out of the mowery clay, he also tells us that he set him up upon a rock. And that word rock that is used there refers to a high cliff. When you think of a high cliff, you think there of a place of safety. Out there at the Giant's Causeway, you look up there and you can see the high cliff. It's a place of safety. There's plenty of strength and stability beneath it when you're up there looking down. That's the picture we have here, a place of safety which is above the slimy pit of our troubles. And we're down here in the valley, down in a place of trouble. We're in the place of danger, and yet there's a place up there. It's a place of safety, a secure place. Lord, plant my feet in higher ground. And so we have David, he has this experience of being lifted out from that sinking sand, that miry clay. It's not a nice place to be in. It's a smelly place. It's not easy to survive there. We have all kinds of fears and trials there, but the Lord comes and lifts them up then, and he puts his feet upon a solid rock. And so there is the thought of stability now. God has worked, God has intervened, God has brought the psalmist out. We've all been in the pit, but now by grace we've been lifted, and our feet is on Christ. The solid rock, on Christ the solid rock we all stand. There's a rock that is higher than I, higher than us all. It's a place of refuge, rock of ages cleft for me. And I think it was the person who wrote that, I think now if I'm right, it was after a time when I think it was a bird or a sparrow flew into his waistcoat. I think that's the same story, into a place of refuge. And so we have a wonderful refuge, a rock that is higher than I, stronger than us, a place to run to in times of need, where I can stand without fear of falling. And the phrase established might go into the idea of fixing one's steps. It's the same idea, stability. And it means that God has a plan for David's life. You're not going to waste down there. You're not going to stay down there. I have a plan for you. I have a plan to deliver you, and when I deliver you, I'm going to make you walk on my path. You're going to glorify me. You've got to come out of this. You're not there forever. We all get into these pits along the pathway of life. But it doesn't mean we're going to stay there all the time. God wants to be gracious to us, and he had a purpose in David's life for him at this time. The Lord just doesn't save us. He delivers us completely. He's a plan for us. and plan to use us. Oh, we look back on our past and we have dishonored the Lord, we have failed the Lord many times. But that's not the way he wants us to live. He doesn't want us to live in failure. He wants us to live as God's people with a purpose in mind. He wants us to rectify the things that we have put wrong in our lives. He wants us to cherish living for him. And there's grace given to all those who need His help and strength to live that victorious, overcoming life. Not only is the Lord promised to direct our paths and lead us each step of the way, He's promised to bless us beyond our wildest dreams. And so the Lord heard David when he cried, the Lord helped David when he cried, and the Lord honored David when he cried. Look at three, verses three through five. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Now David's testimony was such that many believed, many believed on the Lord, many became believers. because of his experience. The testimony of a sound, happy, consistent life will be fruitful. Now David has been brought out of that pit, people can see what he's been through, they know something about the grace of God and his deliverance, and they believe in God's power to change them. So they can see that in David's life. There's a testimony now for the glory of God. So David's life was a saved life. It was a secure life and it became a satisfied life. Now he's standing and he's singing. He's out of the pit and he's standing on the rock and he's singing a new song. David refers to my cry, I'm sinking in the mire. He refers to my feet, I'm standing on the rock. And then he refers to my mouth, I'm singing in my heart. Now, singing is mentioned in verse 68 in the Psalms. That's what the Psalms are all about. It's all about singing praise to God. You read it time and time again. I found great comfort in these times in the book of Psalms. It makes you want to sing to join in to praise God, from whom all blessings flow. So we can see, first of all, he's singing, and then he's standing, and then he's singing. There's progress here through grace, by grace. Everything's changed. In verse one, he's speaking. He's talking to God. He's speaking. It's good to speak to God, you know. We need to speak to other people, of course, in our daily witness, but it's always good to speak to God. Speak to him first time in the morning time and then speak to him last thing at night. Good way to begin and end the day. He's speaking and then he's thinking. in verse 2, and then he's singing in verse 3, and then we can see also in the same verse, he's soul winning. He heard me, he helped me, and he's honoring me. He that winneth souls is wise. People can see the difference in his life now. Transformed life. And what they see they like, and what they see deeply impressed them up from the miry clay. Safe on the rock, a man called A.P. Gibbs put it this way, out of the mire into the choir. That's a good title for a message. Out of the mire, into the choir. So when the Lord delivered David, he did not merely change his surroundings and circumstances. He also worked on David to effect a certain change. And the Bible says, that's the way David puts it, the Lord put a new song in my mouth. And the word for new there is interesting, it means fresh. The Lord put a fresh soul in my mouth. Now David had always a reason to praise God, but now he had a fresh soul. He had a new song to sing. A new song to sing. The freshness, there's a freshness and there's a newness about his song. It's as though he was seeing God for the first time. And that's what it is to be restored to the joy of the Lord. You're seeing God for the first time. Seeing my great Redeemer for the first time. It brings back that first love. The church at Ephesus had lost their first love. And this is what it's all about. He's in the pit now. He's sinking there. He's in the mire. He's going down. And then God intervenes and puts him up on the rock. He's on solid ground again. And then he begins to sing and people see it and they're influenced by his life. They see the change. And here's David, there's a new song, there's a fresh song in his soul. That's what happens when revival comes. That's what happens when God moves upon his people. He gives us a new song, a new appreciation of who he is and what he's done for us. And I think that's maybe what we all need. I think that's the way the book of Revelation begins. John begins his book by inspiration and then those verses from 9 through whatever to near the end of the chapter you get this wonderful vision of the glorified Christ right at the very beginning of the book and John was really saying what we need to begin with because there's certain things in the book of Revelation hard to fathom and understand But you have different revelations, different periods, different visions, all relating to the same periods of time, beginning with the coming of Christ and ending with the second coming of Christ. You have these things repeated over and over throughout the book of Revelations, things hard to understand. But at the very beginning, he wants to set before the people that he's writing to the church as Christ. He's giving them a view of Christ, a fresh vision of the Lord, and that would help you and me greatly tonight. A fresh vision of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Longfellow called the human voice the organ of the soul. So it's just as if he was seeing God for the first time. He's got this freshness about him, this new song of praise to God. The Lord has done great things for me. The Lord has lifted me out of the miry clay. He's put my feet on the solid rock. I want to praise him today for what he's done for me. It's a fresh song. The mouth can sing because the heart has been helped. When the psalm began David was not talking about singing but he was talking about crying and he's crying out unto the Lord now in distress. Now he has been delivered and the song of joy has been replaced. The song of joy has replaced the song of fear. Where there was darkness and bitterness and hopelessness before there's joy and there's light and there's praise. The change in the heart produces the change in the attitude. That's it. It's getting the heart right, you see. And if the heart is right, then the attitudes will be right. And even the speech will be right. Everything else will be right if the heart's right. What's in the heart will always work its way out in the mouth. Matthew 15 makes that abundantly clear. Verses 18 and 19. He cannot help but lift up his voice in praise to God. because God has graciously dealt with him. And David tells us that he's going to behave in such a manner that all those around him are going to know what God has done for him. Many shall see it, he says, in fear. So I'm emphasizing this. He's sinking. His sinking has now turned to standing. His fear has now turned to security. Many shall see it. It's evident for all to see. Not only did they hear him praising the Lord, but they saw him praising God. He had praise on his lips and joy in his heart and his life. You see, that's the thing. So it's not just empty praise from his lips. It's not just lip service. Oh, that's important. He's praising God with his lips. There's the sound. People can hear him praising God. But then they can see him praising God and a joyful life, a life that's lived for the glory of God. So there's a great outworking here of God. And many shall see it in fear and shall trust in the Lord. That's the point. As a result of the changed life, he's going to become a soul winner. People can see the difference in him. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, used to say, if a church was on fire for God, people for miles would come to watch it burn. Now, to paraphrase Booth, if believers experienced the fire of God's worship, then lost people would be drawn to God like a moth to the flames. I don't think that's going to be really happening so much these days. I think that they were too taken up with this thing and something else. And maybe we need to get back to the first love, to have that first experience of God again, that first love, seeing Him, of knowing Him, of knowing His mercy and His grace. So I'll come to a close. In verse 1, David is sinking. In verse 1, David is singing. There's only one verse between the two, let me say. You see that now? There's only one verse between David sinking in verse 1 and singing in verse 2. It's verse 2. The secret is he waited and he prayed, and God intervened. So he's waiting, he's thinking in verse one, he's thinking in verse three, and there in verse two, he brought me up also out of a horrible pit. It's all about Him, you see. It's all about Jesus. It's all about the Lord. Do you see that? There's only a verse between thinking and singing. And thank God, it is because He brought me up. It's all about the Lord. He made the difference. Psalm 30, verse five says, we may endure for a night, listen to it, but joy comes in the morning, just a few hours apart. Sometimes that's the way it is. Weeping in the nighttime, joy comes in the morning. And so the focus changes from the creature to the creator. God stepped in. He brought me up. He brought me out. He set my feet upon a rock. He established my ways. It's all there. So, David's in distress. He calls upon God. The Lord hears him. In response to his cry, the Lord helps him. And when the Lord helped him and intervened in grace, then the Lord honored him. He used his testimony restoring grace and thank God many saw the change in David and believed. And a radical change life can make the world a difference. Just like the flame that draws the moth to it. May God give us grace. to be like David, getting out of the pit, being helped of God, and being honored by God in these dark times. May God bless His Word to our hearts tonight, for Jesus' sake.