Out of the Depths: The Pit, the Rescue, the Return

Intro

If you have your Bibles, let's go ahead and turn those to Psalm 40.

Today we are continuing our series called Out of the Depths. In this series we are looking at select Psalms that take us into the depths of life —

the hard places, the dark seasons, the moments where faith feels thin and God feels distant.

And we are finding that the Psalms don't flinch.

They go there with us. And in the Psalms we learn something important.

We learn that we can be honest with God about what we are going through while we are going through it.

Last week we were in Psalm 130.

And if you weren't here, here's what you missed —

the psalm opens from the bottom.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

It wasn’t from a good season. Not from a mountaintop.

But from the pit… the depths.

From the place of a guilty man who knows that if God kept a record of sins, nobody would be standing.

And what he found there was hesed. The steadfast love of God. The Covenantal Love of God.

Love that is deeper than his guilt. Wider than his failure. A love that forgives completely and holds on permanently…

All because of Christ.

Maybe you left last week feeling that.

Maybe something shifted for you. Maybe you walked out of here with a little more air in your lungs than you walked in with.

But then Monday came.

And some of you are back in the depths this morning.

Not because your faith isn't real. Not because the rescue didn't take.

But because that's what life is.

The depths are not a detour from the Christian life. They are the terrain of it.

And because of Jesus, we not only have an example of how to live through the depths — we have the ability to endure them, to cry out from them, and to proclaim the goodness of God in the middle of them. Because he went into the depths himself. And he came out.

Psalm 40 is what that looks like.

This morning we are going to see three things in this psalm.

We are going to see that the pit is real — and that Christ is the rescue.

We are going to see that Christ is the source of that rescue — that he came and did what none of us could ever do for ourselves.

And we are going to see that when the depths return — and they will return — Christ has already walked through them before you, and because he did, you can walk through them too. You are not abandoned.

So if you have your Bibles opened and are taking notes, this will be the first point for us this morning,

Point I: The Pit Is Real and So Is the Rescue (vv.1-5)

Psalm 40 is one of what are called the Psalms of David.

It carries a superscription — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Which means like Psalm 130, this was not a private journal entry.

This was written to be sung. To be used in the gathered worship of God's people.

And like Psalm 130, it is a psalm with a lot of historical weight.

John Gill — one of our great Baptist forebears, a man who shaped the theology of English Particular Baptists for generations — read this psalm and said every image in it points to Christ.

The pit. The rock. The new song.

All of it.

He couldn't get through a single verse without seeing Jesus.

This is exactly how we should read the Psalms.

Calvin read it as a psalm about the shape of the whole Christian life — that rescue and renewed suffering are not opposites. As we will see, they belong together.

And what makes Psalm 40 unique among the psalms we are going to study in this series is this —

The New Testament quotes it directly. And places it in the very mouth of Jesus.

Hebrews 10 tells us that when the Son of God entered the world, he opened his mouth and said the words of this psalm.

Which means before we even get to the application of Psalm 40 — before we talk about what this psalm means for your life — we need to understand that this psalm was always about Christ first.

And Christ is our example and our help when we are in the pit. When we are in the depths of life.

But we'll get there.

Let’s begin in verse 1,

Psalm 40:1 “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.”

Psalm 40:2 “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”

Psalm 40:3 “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.”

What we are seeing here is a man in the pit … and a God who reached down and pulled him out.

The Hebrew word used here for the pit is bor. It means a cistern, a well, or a grave. A place of confinement with no exit you could reach on your own. No ladder out. No handholds.

The full Hebrew phrase used here is bor sha'on — a pit of destruction, or a roaring pit. The word sha'on means tumult, chaos, roaring. So the image is not just confinement. It's confinement while the world around you roars.

The Greek translation of the Old Testament — the Septuagint — renders this as a lake of misery.

And the psalm doesn't narrow this image down to one specific kind of suffering. The pit is broad on purpose.

Whether the pit for you was a sickness that kept getting worse, or grief from losing someone you loved. Maybe the pit was financial hardship — the bills mounting up, logging into your bank account and seeing what wasn't there. Maybe it was a broken relationship, or persecution, or a season where everything that could go wrong did.

Maybe the pit for you is depression or anxiety. According to the CDC, 1 in 5 adults in the United States has been diagnosed with depression. 1 in 5 has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. That means in a room this size, we are not talking about somebody else's problem.

All of us have been in the pit. All of us have loved ones who are there right now.

And when you are in it, it feels exactly like the Hebrew says — stuck, with no way out, and the world roaring around you.

And what we learn from this psalm is that there is a posture for the pit.

First — you acknowledge where you are. You don't pretend. You don't put on the mask. You say — I am in the pit.

Then — you cry out. Just like we saw in Psalm 130 — out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. You open your mouth and you call on God from exactly where you are.

And then — you wait. Not passive, hopeless waiting. Active, faith-filled waiting. Waiting that knows the one who can deliver you from the pit is able — and will.

And just like verse 2 says, God rescues.

Now I want to be careful here. I am not standing up here promising you that if you wait on God long enough your sickness will heal, your marriage will be restored, or your bank account will fill back up. The Bible doesn't promise that. And I would be lying to you if I told you it did.

What I can promise you is this — God hears every cry from the pit. He sees everyone in the miry bog. And the ultimate rescue he has secured for everyone who is in Christ is not deliverance from a hard season. It is deliverance from death itself.

The pit could not hold Christ. And because it could not hold him, it does not get the final word over you either.

And I'm not the first one to read it that way.

John Gill — one of the great Baptist theologians of the 18th century, a man who shaped Reformed Baptist theology for generations — read verse 2 and said this psalm is about Christ first.

And I want you to stay with me here. Because this is the most important thing I'm going to say in this point.

When the Son of God took on flesh — when he left the glory of heaven and entered into our world — he did not hover above the human condition at a safe distance.

He did not show up and observe our suffering from the outside.

He went down. All the way down.

He was born into poverty. He was misunderstood by his family. He was betrayed by one of his closest friends. He was abandoned by the rest. He was falsely accused. He was beaten. He was mocked.

And the writer of Hebrews tells us that he was acquainted with grief.

That in the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears.

In the garden of Gethsemane he told his disciples — my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

That is not a man who is untouched by anguish.

That is a man who knows what it is to feel the weight of the world pressing down on him.

Who knows what it is to feel alone in the darkness.

Who knows what it is to cry out and feel like the silence is the only answer.

If your pit is depression — he knows that pit. If your pit is anxiety that won't let you sleep at night — he knows that pit too.

He went all the way down.

Into every pit.

So that no one who calls on him would ever cry out from a place he has never been. He knows your suffering well.

And on the cross — bearing the full weight of the sins of his people — he was forsaken by his Father.

The one who had known nothing but the eternal love of the Father from before the foundation of the world cried out — My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And then he was laid in the grave. In the bor. The cistern with no way out.

But on the third day — God reached down.

He drew him up. Out of the pit. Out of the grave.

And set his feet on solid ground.

The resurrection is the rescue of verse 2.

And every rescue you have ever experienced — every time God pulled you out of something you couldn't get out of on your own — is a small echo of that one.

And I want to be clear —

I am not saying your pit doesn't matter. Your sickness matters. Your grief matters. Your broken marriage matters. Your depression matters.

God does not look at your suffering and call it small.

But what I am saying is this —

Christ went further down than any of us will ever go.

He bore what none of us could bear.

The full weight of God's wrath for sin.

Forsakenness that we will never experience because he experienced it for us.

He went to the bottom so that no matter how deep your pit is — he is already there.

He is not watching from a distance. He is with you in it.

And I won't stand here and promise you that God will pull you out of your particular pit in this life.

I can't promise your sickness heals or your prodigal comes home or the financial pressure lifts.

The Bible doesn't promise that and I won't either.

But here is what I can promise you — because the Bible does promise this.

He hears you. He sees you.

And the God who drew Christ up out of the grave is able to reach into whatever pit you are in.

He has done it before. He will do it again.

And the final rescue — the one that is guaranteed for everyone who is in Christ — is not deliverance from a hard season.

It is deliverance from death itself.

So whatever pit you are in this morning — and I know some of you are in one — I need you to hear this.

You are not in a place Christ has never been.

He has been in a darker pit than yours. A deeper one. He went there on purpose. He went there for you.

And God drew him up.

Which means the pit — your pit — does not get the final word.

And when you know that — when that truth settles into you — it changes everything. Even in the pit.

Because you are not in the pit alone. You have a God who loved you so much that he entered the pit with you. Who went to the bottom so you would never have to go there without him.

And that is exactly where the psalm goes next.

Verse 4,

Psalm 40:4 “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!”

Psalm 40:5 “You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.”

The wondrous deeds of God are more than can be told. More than can be numbered. More than any one testimony can contain.

But here is the question underneath that doxology.

What is the greatest of those wondrous deeds? What is the deed that makes all the other rescues possible?

The answer is Christ. Not just Christ as an example. Not just Christ as a teacher. But Christ who came down. Who entered the deepest pit that anyone has ever endured. Who went all the way to the bottom so that the rescue of verse 2 would be possible for anyone who calls on him.

That is the wondrous deed above all wondrous deeds.

And this will be the second point in your notes,

Point II: The Ultimate Pit is Sin (vv. 6-10)

The gospel answers our greatest need.

And our greatest need was not just rescue from a hard season. Our greatest need was someone who could do what none of us could do. Someone who could go into the deepest pit of all — and come out the other side.

Our deepest need has been answered in Christ.

Verses 6 through 8 are all about why Christ came. Because God saw his people in a pit — the pit of their sin — in desperate need of rescue.

Why Christ Came

Verse 6,

Psalm 40:6 “In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.”

Hebrews tells us that the blood of bulls and goats could never fully satisfy the demands of the law. Even when God gave his people the sacrificial system, they still had to perform those rituals every single year. Year after year after year. Because it could not fully and finally pay for their sins.

The sacrificial system was never the destination. It was always pointing somewhere else. It was always pointing to someone else.

And Hebrews 10 quotes this very psalm — Psalm 40 — and does something remarkable with it. It places these words in the mouth of Jesus at the moment of the incarnation.

When the Son of God entered the world he said —

Verse 7,

Psalm 40:7 “Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:”

He didn't stumble into this. He wasn't surprised by it. It was written of him — and he came anyway. Deliberately. Willingly. Because he knew what the scroll said and he came to fulfill it.

Verse 8,

Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.””

He didn't come reluctantly. He didn't come under compulsion.

He came because he wanted to. Willingly.

Because his heart was perfectly aligned with the Father's will.

Because where the sacrificial system could only cover sin temporarily — Christ came to deal with it permanently.

That is why he came.

He came to pull us out of the pit of our sin. The pit we could never climb out of on our own. The pit that leads to death and separation from God forever.

He came because God loves you and was unwilling to leave you there.

What Christ Did After

And after he finished his work on the cross — after he cried out it is finished — after the Father raised him from the grave —

He proclaimed it.

Verse 9,

Psalm 40:9 “I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.”

Psalm 40:10 “I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.”

The gospel of Christ is meant to be shared.

Why?

Because there are people all around us who are in the pit of their sin and they are in desperate need of rescue.

You and I have experienced that rescue. We have been pulled out of the pit by the grace of God through the radical obedience of Christ. And now we are commissioned to tell the whole world this good news.

And the good news is simple.

You can be saved too.

Now I know that many of you are in real pits this morning. We talked about them earlier. The pit of depression. The pit of anxiety. The pit of grief. The pit of a broken relationship or a mounting stack of bills that you don't know how to pay.

Those pits are real. And God cares about every single one of them.

But hear me on this.

If you are still in the pit of sin — if you have never trusted Christ — you will never experience real healing. Real rescue. Because the deepest pit is not depression. The deepest pit is not financial hardship. The deepest pit is sin and separation from God. And everything else — every other pit — is felt more deeply and endured more desperately when you are in that one.

Christ came for that pit first.

If you are here this morning and you have never trusted him — hear me now.

The gospel is freely offered. God is not asking you to clean yourself up first. He is not asking you to get your life together before you come to him. He is asking you to repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ — that he is the Son of God, that he died for your sins, and that God raised him from the dead.

That is it. That is the gospel.

And if you do that this morning — the God who drew Christ up out of the grave will draw you up too.

And when you repent of your sins and place your faith in Christ, you will experience so much joy that you will not be able to help but proclaim the wondrous deeds of God.

Just like we saw in verse 3 and verse 5.

He put a new song in my mouth. And the wondrous deeds of God are more than can be told.

But here's the truth about those who are in Christ.

Yes, the gospel really does change everything.

But until Christ returns — we will still experience the brokenness of this world.

The depths are not a detour from the Christian life. They are the terrain of it.

And that is exactly where this psalm takes us next.

This will be the third point in your notes —

Point III: Back in the Depths, Not Abandoned (vv. 11-17)

Verse 11,

Psalm 40:11 “As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!”

After being rescued by Christ, we will never forget the mercy and the love and the faithfulness that he has shown us. These are the things that sustain us all throughout our life.

Verse 12 there is a shift in the Psalm that we cannot miss. Even while we belong to Christ, we still experience hardship and suffering… the depths.

Verse 12,

Psalm 40:12 “For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.”

My heart fails me.

That is not a man having a bad day. That is a man at the end of himself. Surrounded by trouble. Overwhelmed by his own sin. Unable to see a way forward.

And this man belongs to God.

Being in Christ does not mean that bad things will not happen to you. It does not mean that you will not find yourself back in the depths — in desperate need again.

The depths are the terrain of the Christian life. Not a detour. Not evidence that your faith isn't real. Not proof that the rescue didn't take.

This is just what life is. Even for those who belong to Christ.

And I need to say this clearly — there are preachers and ministries out there teaching a false gospel. That if you just have enough faith you will be happy, healthy, and rich. That suffering is a sign of weak faith.

That is unbiblical. And it is a lie that leaves people devastated when the depths come.

Think about Christ himself.

The Son of God — in the garden of Gethsemane — said my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Think about the suffering he endured on his way to the cross. The betrayal. The abandonment. The beatings. The nails.

If the Son of God walked through that — you should expect no better.

But here is what that also means.

He knows exactly what you are going through. He is not a distant God watching from a safe distance. He has been in the depths. He has been at the end of himself. And he is with you in yours.

But just like we talked about last week when we looked at the Psalmist in the depths, we can cry right from there.

Verse 13,

Psalm 40:13 “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!”

Psalm 40:14 “Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!”

Psalm 40:15 “Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!””

When you are in the depths.

When anxiety and depression is so bad that you cannot get out of bed. When your son or your daughter has walked away from Christ and won't speak to you. When you don't know how you are going to pay the rent. When you are in danger of losing a job that you need.

Notice what the psalmist does. He doesn't analyze the situation. He doesn't try to fix it himself. He doesn't pretend he's okay.

He just cries out.

Be pleased O LORD to deliver me. Make haste to help me.

That's the whole prayer. And it's enough.

You can cry out from exactly where you are. And the Bible promises that God hears.

You can cry out from exactly where you are. And the Bible promises that God hears.

Now let me be clear about something.

The Bible does not promise that God will get you out of whatever you are going through.

But it does promise that he will get you through it.

There is a difference. And that difference is everything.

Verse 16,

Psalm 40:16 “But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!””

Psalm 40:17 “As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!”

I want you to notice how this psalm ends.

It doesn't end with the pit lifting. It doesn't end with deliverance. It doesn't end with everything working out.

It ends with a man who is still poor and needy — and who knows that God takes thought for him anyway.

That is the Christian life.

Not — I have arrived. Not — the depths are behind me.

But — I am still in need.

And God sees me.

God takes thought for me.

And that is enough to keep crying out.

Seek the Lord wherever you find yourself this morning.

In the pit or out of it. In the depths or on the rock.

Seek him.

Are you poor and needy this morning?

So was the psalmist. And God took thought for him.

He will take thought for you too.

He loves you. He is with you. And he is able and willing to go through whatever depths you are facing — with you.

[Slow]

Great is the LORD.

Let’s stand and pray about it.

Response

I know many of you are in the pit this morning. And every pit looks different.

But I want you to leave this place knowing one thing —

God sees you where you are.

In a moment we are going to respond to what we have heard from God's Word. I and a couple of our elders will be standing up here at the front. If you need prayer — if you are in the depths and you need someone to stand with you — we would love to pray with you.

Or if you would like to just come up here, kneel and pray, that is okay too.

But if you are here this morning and you are outside of Christ — if you are in the pit and you have never trusted him — I want you to know that there is no lasting rescue until you come to Christ.

He loves you so much that he did not stay at a safe distance. He came down. He went into the pit. He paid for your sins with his own life.

And he is offering that rescue to you this morning.