Peter Barnes | Psalm 40
SERMON NOTES: OUT OF THE MIRY CLAY (Psalm 40)
– David has been rescued from the miry clay (40:1-3); praises God (40:4-5); resolves to obey Him (40:6-8), and make Him known (40:9-10), and then calls upon God for deliverance again (40:11-17).
- From deliverance to praise.
– 40:1-3; not literal as in Jer.38:6.
– praise in 40:4-5; obedience in 40:6-8. David learnt what Saul did not – 1 Sam.15:22. And he wishes to tell others – 40:9-10.
– in verses 11-17 there is a prayer for fresh mercy – vv.13-17, which also make up Psalm 70. This time he mentions those who want to kill him (40:13-15) and also his own innumerable sins – 40:12.
- Christ fulfils His Word.
– Tertullian writes of David: ‘He sings to us of Christ’. For the new song in verse 3 see Rev.5:9; 14:2-3.
– verses 6-8 are applied to Christ in the New Testament – Hebrews 10:5-10. Spurgeon calls verses 6-8 in Psalm 40 ‘one of the most wonderful passages in the whole of the Old Testament’.
– verse 8 is only perfectly fulfilled by Christ. David failed – 40:12. Christ fulfilled what was written in the scroll of the book about Him.
- The call to faith.
– 40:16-17. We are poor and needy. God is altogether great but He takes thought for me. He is high and lifted up, but He stoops down to dust.