Getting Out of the Pit
Psalms 40:1-10
October 6, 2004 PM
Icebreaker:
If you were sinking in quick sand, would you:
(a) Pray for help? (b) Yell at God? (c) Figure out an escape? (d) Give up? (e) Look for help?
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. 4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. 5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. 6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. 7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come-- it is written about me in the scroll. 8 I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart." 9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD. 10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly. (NIV)
Psalms 40:1-40:10 From the Pits to Praise
I. The Lord’s Response
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
Illustration:
When asked what running track taught him about patience, pastor Wayne Cordeiro of New Hope Christian Fellowship O’ahu answered:
Impetuous young athletes try to go faster than their ability allows. Unless a coach challenges this tendency, they’ll lack the strength needed to make it to the finish. During my junior and senior years at a small country high school, I ran track, practicing on a cinder track. Our coach used a sprinter’s harness——a vest attached to a telephone pole by ropes and pulleys——to assist in our training. With this antiquated contraption he could regulate the speed of a sprinter. I remember strapping on the vest, and Coach reeling me into the blocks. At the firing of a starting pistol, I pushed out of my starting position, cinders spraying like shrapnel from my track cleats. Coach slowly let out more rope, prolonging my tug-of-war with the pole.
In this slow-motion pose, the coach could adjust my form and correct my running posture. Best of all, the device built the "quick twitch muscles" required for sprinters. After 30 seconds or so, the coach would blow his whistle to end the ordeal. He’d reel me in, and we’d start the whole chase over again.
Coach would continually remind me, "This exercise will build the muscles and tensile strength you’ll need for endurance. You’ll have the stamina and power to take you to the finish line without your speed decreasing in the last few yards."
I always looked forward to the final sprint of the day——the one without the vest. When Coach fired the starter’s pistol, I blasted out of the blocks like a rocket!
Ps 37:7
7Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. (NIV)
Rom 8:23-27
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (NIV)
Rev 3:10
10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. (NIV)
II. The Lord’s Works
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. 4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.
Eph 2:10
10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.(NIV)
A. He lifts
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
Over in Israel, they have potters that mold and make pottery. When the potter gets ready to make a new piece of pottery, he will go out behind his house to a little shack where it stinks, is slimy and gooey. He will stick his hand through the door and feel around till he finds the right piece of clay.
He’ll sit down next to a wheel and push down on a pedal to control the speed of the wheel the clay is on. Then with water on his hands he will mold the clay in the shape he desires. It can be frustrating, but the good thing is that as long as it hasn’t been in the kiln, then it can still be molded and changed. God is showing Jeremiah how Judah is like a piece of clay in His hands.
(Read Scripture)Jer 18:1-6
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message." 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. (NIV)
The first thing I want you to notice is this: God doesn’t give up on marred clay. Jeremiah is living during a time when idolatry is running wild in Judah. There is a lot of immorality and evil taking place in God’s house and with God’s people. God describes them as marred- which means blemished or disfigured. Some of you may feel like that. The good news is that the church is a place where God takes what is marred and makes something useful out of it.
Remember it was Jesus who the Pharisees asked about when they said, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners.” Matthew 9:11 Jesus reply to them was that “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Jesus was there to heal and forgive and to make something new out of the marred clay in Judah.
One thing about molding with clay, there comes a point when the pottery is fired. Then, it becomes hard and isn’t moldable anymore. Some people are like that because of sin and for other reasons. I think the Pharisees were like that. When it’s glazed like that it would have to be broken before it could become moldable again. Sometimes God also has to break us, bring us to the end of ourselves in order for us to be willing to acknowledge that God is right and we are wrong. If you know someone today that is like that glazed piece of pottery, you need to pray that God would break them, so they will be moldable and useful for Him one day.
B. He sets
he set my feet on a rock
C. He gives
and gave me a firm place to stand.
D. He puts
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God
Ps 96:1-2
1 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day. 13 they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth. (NIV)
E. He blesses
4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
Illustration:
The 2000 movie, The Patriot starred Mel Gibson as Benjamin Martin, a reluctant Revolutionary War hero. Martin has an 18-year-old son named Gabriel who is eager to join the conflict. Gabriel’s sentiments for his country are revealed by one pastime: throughout the first half of the movie, Gabriel diligently repairs an American flag he found in the dirt.
Tragically, Gabriel becomes a casualty of the war, and, suffering deep loss, his father Benjamin Martin appears ready to quit the cause. While Martin is grieving at the side of his dead son, Colonel Harry Burwell, a Continental officer, attempts to persuade Martin not to quit. He recognizes Martin has great influence with the soldiers and his departure would demoralize the troops.
As the scene opens, the colonel says, "Stay the course, Martin. Stay the course."
Grief-stricken, Martin responds, "I’ve run the course." Resigned to the outcome, the colonel informs the troops and they ride on, leaving Martin behind.
As Martin loads his son’s personal effects on his horse, though, he finds the American flag Gabriel had successfully restored.
As the dejected soldiers ride away, certain they have seen the last of Benjamin Martin, Martin appears in the distance, carrying the flag. With determination in his posture, he rides upright in his saddle, face like flint, the Stars and Stripes whipping in the wind. Martin has been a symbol of perseverance for the men, and there is a triumphant shout of both relief and excitement from the once-weary troops as they see the patriot crest the hill.
Whether leaders at home, school, work or church, we must never underestimate the power of our influence to demoralize or to rally others. People are watching. Soldiers look to officers. Children look to parents. We must stay the course.
III. The Lord’s Wonders
5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.
A. Many wonders
5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done.
B. Many things planed
The things you planned for us no one can recount to you;
C. Many things to declare
were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.
Wonder, Apollo 17: In Bill Moyers’ book "A World of Ideas II," Jacob Needleman remembers, "I was an observer at the launch of Apollo 17 in 1975. It was a night launch, and there were hundreds of cynical reporters all over the lawn, drinking beer, wisecracking, and waiting for this 35-story-high rocket. "The countdown came, and then the launch. The first thing you see is this extraordinary orange light, which is just at the limit of what you can bear to look at. Everything is illuminated with this light. Then comes this thing slowly rising up in total silence, because it takes a few seconds for the sound to come across. You hear a ’WHOOOOOSH! HHHHMMMM!’ It enters right into you. "You can practically hear jaws dropping. The sense of wonder fills everyone in the whole place, as this thing goes up and up. The first stage ignites this beautiful blue flame. It becomes like a star, but you realize there are humans on it. And then there’s total silence. "People just get up quietly, helping each other up. They’re kind. They open doors. They look at one another, speaking quietly and interestedly. These were suddenly moral people because the sense of wonder, the experience of wonder, had made them moral." When we have a sense of wonder toward God, we too have our lives changed for the better. -- ALAN W. Steier; Linton, North Dakota
IV. The Lord’s Desires
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. 7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come--it is written about me in the scroll.8 I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
A. What the Lord does not want
1. Sacrifices and offerings.
B. What the Lord wants
1. Our life
“but my ears you have pierced;”
2. Our time
“7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come--it is written about me in the scroll.”
3. Our heart
“8 I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart”
Rom 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)
V. The Lord’s Attributes
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD. 10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.
A. The Lord’s righteousness
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD. 10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
B. The Lord’s faithfulness
I speak of your faithfulness
C. The Lord’s salvation
I speak of your salvation
D. The Lord’s Love
I do not conceal your love
E. The Lord’s Truth
and your truth from the great assembly.
Conclusion:
I. The Lord’s Response
II. The Lord’s Works
III. The Lord’s Wonders
IV. The Lord’s Desires
V. The Lord’s Attributes
