An Important Step in Handling Habits - Psalm 40:1-

- we've been studying favorite Bible passages

- let's take a few moments to review

- we'll switch it up where sometimes I'll give the reference

and you quote the verse, sometimes I'll quote the verse and

you give the reference

- Zech. 4:6-Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,

saith the Lord

- Phil. 1:21 - For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain

- Isa. 40:31 - They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their

strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they

shall run and not be weary. they shall walk and not faint

- Rom 8:28-29a - And we know that all things work together

for good to them who love God, to them who are the called

according to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow, them

he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of

His Son

- Prov. 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and

lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways

acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths

- Phil. 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say

rejoice

- Gal. 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ and I no longer

live, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now

life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who

loved me and gave himself for me

- Eph. 4:22-24 - That ye put off concerning the former manner

of life the old man which is corrupt according to the

deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your

mind, and that ye put on the new man which after God is

created in righteousness and true holiness

- John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his

only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should

not perish, but have everlasting life

- Matthew 28:19-20 - Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to observe all

things, whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am

with you always, even unto the end of the age

- Isa. 26:3 - Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind

is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee

- Phil. 2:5 - Let this mind be in you which was also in

Christ Jesus

- Phil. 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing, but i everything by

prayer and supplication with thaanksgiving, let your

requests be made known unto God

- I'd like to introduce tonight's verse by having us think

about a couple of questions

- we've been studying habits and how to handle habits God's

way in Sunday school

- I realize that some of you teach SS during that time so you

haven't been part of those studies, but we talk a lot about

this subject because its such an important part of growing

- I think our passage tonight is an important step in

handling our habits God's way

INPUT - what are some things that hinder us from growing,

handling sinful habits at the rate that God desires?

- not reading the Word from the perspective of how I

need to change

- not listening to the confrontation of others

- looking at the speck in someone else's eye instead

of the beam in my own

(many other possible answers)

- let me suggest one that may not be the first one we'd think

of - but one that is important

- being proud over past successes

- let me give you an idea of what I mean

- let's say that Fred trusted the Lord as savior three

years ago

- let's say he had done a terrible job of handling

his finances as an unbeliever, but now he's

taken some biblical principles and God has

helped him make some changes in his own spending

habits and helped him to lead his family in that

area as well

- but, he responded to those changes by getting proud

over the change he'd made

INPUT - What are some possible evidences of pride in a

person's life like Fred?

- impatient with others (why don't they handle their

money like I do?)

- speak in a condescending way to others

- critical of others behind their backs

- harsh with children who foolishly spend

INPUT - what will happen in Fred's life if this pride isn't

dealt with? (he won't grow - at least not at the

rate God would want)

- the question I'd like us to think about tonight is - what's

missing in Fred's life that could have prevented that

pride from creeping in?

- what I'd like all of us to do is think about some of the

habits we've been able to overcome in the past (we all have

them)

- Then I'd like us to ask - is it possible that we have

missed this same component that Fred did

- that component is found in Psalm 40:1-3, and I'd like us to

see three truths that I must recognize if I'm going to

handle habits God's way

- read Psalm 40:1-3

- I probably need to mention tonight that some folks would

consider this a messianic Psalm

- There are some Psalms that clearly refer to Christ and his

life and ministry here on earth

- Psalm 22 is a good example of this

- If you have a Scofield Bible or some other study Bible, it

may say that Psalm 40 is a Messianic Psalm

- let me just say a couple of things about that

- first, in that line that divides the Bible from the notes,

what's above the line is inspired, what's below it isn't

- those study notes are often very helpful, but we can't put

them on the same level of Scripture - they are just man's

opinions

- personally, I'm not convinced that this is that kind of a

Psalm

- but, the second point is - even if it was, we would still

want to talk first about the original context and what

these words meant to David before we talked about any

prophetic implications

- so, that’s how we'll be looking at this tonight - from the

perspective of what these words meant to David and his

listeners

- David said - I waited patiently unto the Lord, and He

inclined unto me, and he heard my cry

- the first point I'd like to make is that David:

I. Recognized That God Acted

A. the setting - "I waited patiently..."

- one of the questions we would have to ask of this

passage is - well, what event is David talking

about? When was he waiting on the Lord?

- the answer we would have to give is - we don't

really know for sure

- that’s one of the beauties of Scripture is that a

passage like this could apply to a variety of

situations

- I'd prefer not to talk in any depth about waiting

because we dealt with that when we talked about

Isa. 40:31

- the word wait here is the exact same word

- you might remember that we said in that study that

not all waiting is biblical waiting

- biblical waiting isn't passive

- its not sitting on the porch, waiting for the

concrete truck to come (if you remember that

illus.)

- now let's move on - David says - the Lord did two things

for me in verse one - INPUT?

B. What God did for me

1. "inclined" unto me

- now we need to talk about that one

- David is saying - I was waiting - I had asked

the Lord for something, I had made a request

- then he inclined to me

- that word literally means - "to bend down"

- "I made a request to God, and he bent down to

me to meet it"

- in fact, you may want to jot down. Judges 16:30 – that’s

the passage at the end of Samson's life where the

Philistines had brought Samson into their banquet to

make fun of him

- the Bible says - he took hold of the two middle pillars

and he said - "Let me die with the Philistines -and he

bowed himself with all his might"

- David also said -

2. He heard me

- now you might say - well, doesn't God always hear

us

- answer to that is - hearing in the Bible is

different than what we think of as hearing

- hearing in the Bible means listening and then

responding

- for you wives who are here - we're talking about

God doing what you wish your husband did a better

job of

- in fact, I did with Kris what we encouraged

everyone in this habits study to do - I asked her

what sinful habit she'd like to see me work on

- it would be nice if you were a better listener

- I think a lot of wives would say that about their

husbands

- now they're not saying - you don't audibly hear my

words - They are saying - you don't respond to what

I've asked

- I asked to do a certain thing, or to not do a

certain thing - but you didn't hear me in the sense

of changing

- Now I do need to say that part of that is the

wife's fault - because wives don't always come out

and state their requests clearly

- driving down the road - wife says - there's a

dairy queen

- husband - yep - it sure is!

- now you might say - PV, I thought we were going to

talk about habits - I don't see what all this has to

do with habits

- here's the point - one of the things that kept David

from pride was that he recognized how gracious God had

been in bending down to him, in responding to his

prayer - in being willing to help him in his time of

need

- I would present to you tonight that that very step is

sometimes missed by those who are trying to change sinful

habits

- they had victory over some habit - but there was no

recognition that God had acted

- Oh, maybe they prayed about it as they started working on

it

- I surely hope you're not trying to grow without doing that

- but then, after God helped them to handle it - they were

too busy patting themselves on the back to recognize that

God had acted

- In fact - let me just ask you tonight - When's the last

time you can remember handling a situation or a habit

successfully, where God had given you a measure of victory,

and you thought to yourself, or you said to someone else -

God has surely been good in helping through this

- God has bent down and helped me

- God has heard my cry

- I'm sure we have some folks here who would say, PV, that’s a

pretty regular part of my routine

- I hope that’s true

- I hope its normal for you to be asking for God's help

when you start to handle a habit, and its normal to

recognize God's help when you have victory in a habit

- but I realize you may be here tonight and would say - PV,

that’s not a regular part of my life at all

- listen, that may be one of the missing links that you need

to insert in the growth process

- failing to do that may have hindered you from growing in

other areas

- now, I think we need to say one more thing about verse one

and that’s this

- folks in the self-love, self-esteem movement could

really go to seed on this verse

- it would go something like this - "you were so

wonderful, so important, that God bent down to answer

your prayer" - He inclined unto you

- you ought to feel good about yourself because God bent

down to you

- I think we need to say this about that - the purpose of

verse 1 is to draw attention to the character of the one

who did the bending

- it would be like this - let's say that tonight - there was

a piece of trash on the parking lot

- you looked at it - kept right on walking

- that says something about you

- on the other hand - if you bent down and picked it up -

that wouldn't say anything about the quality of the trash

- it would say something about the quality of your

character

- now please don't push that too far - the point isn't -

we're a bunch of trash

- the point is - verse one was written to magnify the

quality of God's character, who is regularly ready to

bend down for us - answer our prayers for help, in

handling sinful habits and many other things

- and some of us don't always do a very good of

recognizing that when it happens

- now you might ask - well, why is that? Why wouldn't I be

more apt to think words like verse 1, or say them to others

- I think verse two helps answer that (read)

- the point is, not only did David recognize that God had

acted, but he:

II. Recognized how marvelously God had acted

- here's what I'm trying to get at - David knew that when

God bent down to help him, it was more than just a

slight bend

- it was a full blown stoop - because of the mess David

had often gotten himself in

- he communicates that from two perspectives

A. From the perspective of where I came

- Here's what David is doing in these verses

- He's giving us a marvelous pictute of what sin is

like, and what trouble can be like, and what life

apart from God ca be like

1. from the horrible pit

- the word he uses is the word for cistern

- you know that in that part of the word, they would

have to dig deep pits to collect water in the

rainy season for the dry season

- they would plaster up the sides to hold the water

better and you didn't want to get thrown in the

pit

- thats what happened to Joseph - Gen. 37:20-27

- Isaiah tells us they used to do that with

prisoners - Isa. 24:22

- they threw Jeremiah in a pit - Jer. 38:6-13

- they even used pits as a convenient way of

storing dead bodies - Jer. 41:7,9

- you can imagine what that must have been like when

that deep hole had contained water, now you're

down there

- its still kind of mucky

- maybe there's even some water still standing down

there

- thats how the second metaphor fits in

2. from the miry clay

- see, he's describing what its like to be in sin,

or to be in trouble, or to be without God

- like being in a horrible pit, the miry clay

INPUT - what is David trying to communicate to us about those

kinds of situations?

- When I'm caught up in a sinful habit...

- When I'm in trouble...

- When I'm without God... (why does he liken it to

being in a pit)

- I'm not getting anywhere

- its rotten - it stinks

- if you don't do right, you just sink deeper and

deeper

- point is this - why was David able to get so excited and

enthusiastic about the help God had given?

- because he realized how low he was before the help

came

- now you might say - well, what does that have to do about

habits and getting proud after we handled one?

- its this - some of us have forgotten how low we were before

God helped us handle that thing

- some of us have forgotten some of the pits God had to pull

us out of

- its pretty hard to get proud about handling a habit when I

recognize not just that God worked, but how marvelous he

worked

- for some - it was the theological pit

- do you remember some of the crazy things you used to

believe? some of the crazy things you used to say

about God?

- for other - the pit of sin - you remember some of things

you used to do? - some of the things you used to think

- maybe for others, the pit of despair - where you were so

hopeless, so depressed

- some of us perhaps have forgotten what it was like to be up

to our chins in muck

- see, its pretty easy to get proud of the growth we've made,

or the habits we've whipped if we forget that

- it’s pretty easy to be impatient with someone else if we've

forgotten the truth of verses 1 and 2

- maybe you're working with somebody in your SS class -

they're not attending as regularly as they should

- do you find yourself getting impatient with them?

"how in the world could they be so backslidden and

immature. If they're not going to do any better

than that, I'm not going to waste my time!

- or, I told that lousy kid to pick up his toys -

he's 18 months, he ought to have learned obedience

perfectly by now

- do you see what's missing there?

- a recognition of how deep a pit you were in

- David recognized that God had acted, and he recognized how

marvelously God had acted on his behalf

- David recognized how marvelously God had acted, from the

perspective of where he'd come...

- but also:

B. From the perspective of where I'm going

- David says this - he set my feet upon a rock, and

he established my goings

- we would say it this way today - God has given me

stability, and direction

- Isn't that one of the great things about being a

Christian? (not that we have it perfectly, but

when you compare it to where we were before being

saved-man, what a difference)

- point is - David recognized how marvelously God had acted

- you can see how that would result in a much closer

relationship with the Lord

- because as you and I are trying to handle habits God's way,

we're regularly saying things like:

- Lord, I'm going to work as hard as I can on this habit

- but I also recognize how much I need your help

- how bad this thing really is in your eyes

- when I start to change, I'm not going to pat myself on the

back

- I'm going to be quick to thank you and praise you for what

you've done

- That’s exactly what David does in verse 3 (read)

III. Recognized how he should respond

A. with a new song in his mouth

B. with praise unto God

C. so that others would be saved as well

- see, what is often the missing link in handling habits

God's way - is to be very quick to thank and praise God

when He's helped us to grow

- now you might say - PV, don't you think it would be just

normal for every believer to do what you're talking about?

- My answer would be "no", and let me tell you why I say that

- we don't always do a great job of thanking and praising

people right around us for what they've done

- if I asked your spouse - when's the last time your spouse

thanked and praised you for something?

- there are some folks who would have trouble coming up

with one this year

- or if I asked your child - when's the last time daddy

or mom thanked you for some of the things you had done

right?

- see, we don't always do a good job at thanking people

right around us who have helped

- when's the last time you thanked your SS teacher for

his/her work?

- when's the last time you thanked the folks in the

nursery?

- the clubs workers?

- the workers in Afterglow

- if we don't always do a good job of thanking and praising

those right around us who have helped us - that is - people

who have skin on, who we see, and have clear evidence of

their help

- if we don't do a good job in that area, I think its

reasonable to assume that we may not be doing a good

job of thanking and praising God for his help

- someone that we can't see - and someone's help, the

evidence of which we can't visually see