May it please almighty God to
bless us this morning as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn
to the book of Psalms, Psalm 107, and we'll read verse seven.
Psalm 107, and reading verse seven. And he led them forth
by the right way, that they might go to a city
of habitation. The Word of God is always truthful. The Word of God always tells
us that which we should expect and that which will come to pass. And we have here a very clear
statement in this verse. And it's, of course, referring
to the Church of God, referring to the people of God. And we're
told that we're led forth by the right way that we might go
to a city of habitation. And that really means that God
will lead and direct us through our life and bring us safe home
to glory at last. But as you read down this chapter,
which of course we've done this morning, we should notice that
the path which is itemised in these verses is perhaps very
different to that which we thought or expected the Christian life
to be. And yet as the psalmist starts
this At Psalm he says, And it's good for us to be reminded of
that, to realise that we should desire continually to give thanks
unto the Lord, because He is good, He's good in so many, many ways. I'm sure I've told you many times,
and I'm sure you remember when we had Philip Mercer, who of
course was pastor at Station Road Chapel for a good few years
and was there for a long time. And he never had an easy life. He had many difficulties in his
life, but whenever you met him, without fail, he would say, the
Lord is good. And that's really a testimony
for us to remember, that whatever our condition, whatever our situation,
whatever our experience, to still realise that the Lord is good. And the Lord is good to his people,
and his people are led, and here we're told this, he led them
forth by the right way. never makes a mistake. You and I may perhaps sometimes
think, well, this can't be the right way. I must be walking
in the wrong way. Well, God leads us in the right
way with this grand and glorious objective to make us more conformable
unto his image. and my friends that takes a lot
of teaching and a lot of instruction and a lot of direction because
by nature we're not like that and that's why we should be thankful
that God has given to us an account like we have here in this 107th
Psalm which directs us very clearly as to the typical life of a believer
because having spoken in these first two verses to give thanks
to the Lord and he tells us that they're redeemed out of the hand
of the enemy and gathered out of the lands of the East, West
and from the North and South God's people are found everywhere
and they're brought from everywhere and then he explains a little
of the life that God's people walk, and the life that they
should anticipate. You see, we often think, don't
we, foolishly, that, well, it's very difficult today, but tomorrow's
going to be much easier. Well, the Scripture never encourages
us, really, with that thought, because we know we're travelling
through a barren land, travelling through a wilderness. And so
we have these statements in the following verses where the psalmist
says, They wandered in the wilderness. In a solitary way they found
no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. That's the life of the child
of God who's led into these paths. Remember, and he led them forth
by the right way. And this is the right way. And
you may not like to appreciate it is the right way. But the
reason it is because it makes us pray to God. It makes us dependent
upon him to deliver us. It brings us away from the vanities
and the things of this world and it directs us more and more
to the Saviour. And we have a wonderful statement
about the Church of God. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses. We do have a God and we should
be thankful for it. A God who hears and answers prayer. So as we perhaps feel sometimes
like this. We're in the wilderness. We're
by ourselves. It seems that no one else understands
the path that we're walking. Well, never forget, of course,
that God leads you in that path and God knows exactly the reason
why you and I are led in a particular path. The Lord has an ordained
path for everyone. of his children without any exception. And that should be a help, and
that should be a consolation, and that should be an encouragement
to us when things appear to be going wrong, don't appear to
be working out as we expected, and we have to cry out and perhaps
and say, can ever God dwell here? Well, we have a God, you see,
who leads us. He leads us in this way to direct
us to Himself. The whole purpose of our life
on this earth is to prepare us for our eternal home. That's why this verse tells us,
And He led them forth by the right way that they might go
to a city of habitation. So when you and I come to the
end of our life, by the grace of God we are prepared to go
and to meet our maker and to enter in to the glory of heaven. Now you and I, left to ourselves,
would not prepare ourselves in the right way. You may say, well
just explain that. Well I will. You and I would
make our life very easy and we would concentrate on the poor
old things of time rather than the things of God. But the Lord
in his love and mercy takes hold of us and leads us and doesn't
leave us to just wander on aimlessly in this poor sinful world. But he leads us in that right
way and the right way is itemised really in the verses in this
chapter. We won't go through the whole
chapter although it's really good to go through and you might
go through it verse by verse when you get home just to consider
it, the reality of it. But we are told that the living
Church of God are hungry and thirsty. and their soul faith
in them that's not naturally hungry and thirsty they're hungry
and thirsty for the truth of God they're hungry and thirsty
for the blessing of God they want the evidence that their
souls are right with God and therefore they are hungry for
that knowledge that spiritual knowledge they want to know in
a personal way the glorious Saviour died upon the cross at Calvary
to deliver them from the curse, deliver them from all their sins,
free them from that position. They want to have the assurance
that their souls are right with God. That's the work of the Holy
Spirit. to bring us there. And that's
why we have this great statement, and he led them forth by the
right way. You see, if you and I had to
choose our way, you know, we wouldn't choose the way that
God would lead us. No, we wouldn't. We'd choose
an easy way. We'd choose a way wherein we
didn't have to pray. We'd choose a way where that
Lord Jesus Christ wasn't really necessary in our life, we'd just
carry on because we were satisfied with what we were doing. But
our lives, remember, are not for our glory, they're for the
honour and glory of God. And that's why we should be very
thankful that we have such an account like we do today. And having made that grand statement,
about being led forth in the right way, he comes and tells
us, That's a problem we're backward in doing. We shouldn't be, should
we? It's a wonderful statement, no
doubt. Not surprising, is it, that this
verse starts with, Oh, that men would Praise the Lord for His goodness. Is that a real desire in our
heart? That we might truly praise the
Lord for His goodness? So often you see we come to God
with a wantonness, don't we? Of what we want God to do. This,
that and the other. It's a good thing if we come
with praise in our heart for His goodness. For His goodness
and mercy which has given us a desire to praise, to pray to
Him and the desire to praise Him. Because the Word tells us,
for He satisfies the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul
with goodness. So that is stated as a fact. He led them forth by the right
way. And this is the right way. to
be satisfied. He satisfies a longing soul. Well, first of all, of course,
we have to ask ourselves whether we do have a longing soul after
the things of God. We no doubt have a longing soul
after many other things, but what a blessing if we have a
longing soul after the things of God. And here is the answer,
the Lord satisfies the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul
with goodness. So these are very blessed words
and very positive words and yet you know we live in a sad day
when this is often far from the Church of God and people aren't
in this position they're not satisfied they're complaining
all the time and they're not really hungry and therefore their
souls are not really blessed no, they perhaps just give a
verbal statement they're hungry but do the words come from the
heart? Or do they just come from the
head? It's very easy just to say words,
isn't it? It's very easy to try and impress people. But you know,
we don't have to impress people. We have to come before God. And
we have to be honest before God. And to really desire that if
we are being led forth by the right way, if God's leading us,
then the blessed result is that he satisfies our longing soul. So what an important consideration
it is to be blessed with a longing soul after the blessing of God. You know it's good sometimes
to just try and sit and analyse our prayers as to what they really
are. And if we do do that, you'll
find there's a want list and that's what we tend to come with
rather than come with praise and thanksgiving to our God. Because we have much cause and
much reason. It's a wonderful favour that
you and I have the Bible to read, the Bible to study, the Bible
to meditate upon it shouldn't just be a book that we pick up
and read a bit here and there just to satisfy our conscience
it should be a book that we want to read because we have a longing
soul to receive spiritual food we're hungry for the things of
God we're hungry for the knowledge of God we're hungry that our
souls may be eternally blessed well we're told the Lord does
satisfy such and then he goes on and he tells us such as sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction
and iron you know sometimes it would seem people are quite proud
to be in darkness quite proud really, to be far off from God. Well, we should never be proud,
we should never be satisfied. We should be concerned to walk
in the light of his countenance. We should desire to walk in the
light as he is in the light. And to view the glorious subject
of the Redeemer that He came into this world to deliver us
from the curse. He died upon the cross at Calvary
to deliver us from it. The great payment was made. Well, what a mercy then, if God
comes to us in that situation. And as we may be sitting in darkness,
we're not happy to remain there we don't want to boast that we're
in darkness you know some people seem satisfied with being in
darkness you and I should never be satisfied with that we should
be crying out to God for deliverance he satisfieth the longing soul
such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound
in affliction and iron. The devil wants you and me to
be bound up so that we can't walk, so we can't run. And yet the Word of God speaks about
walking and speaks about running. I will run in the way of thy
commands. What a good thing it is when
you and I are made willing by the power of God to run. Run after Him. What a mercy that is. Do we desire
it? Are we hungry for it? Are we
satisfied to just be found standing still? No real spiritual movement. Just in a sad condition, bound
in affliction and iron. In a spiritual affliction, we're
bound up. We can't free ourselves. You
can't free yourself. But my friends, the Lord can
free us. He can bring us into glorious gospel liberty. And gospel liberty is rejoicing
in what Christ has done. It's rejoicing in his finished
work. It's coming to Calvary to view
what Christ has done. By faith to view him as our great
and glorious advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. To know that we have the great
privilege of access unto our Father through the Saviour. What
a blessing And what a mercy it is if God comes in and blesses
us. Well, we shouldn't therefore
be satisfied with being found in darkness. You know, sometimes
we come into a dark scene, a dark scene. Do you know why? We bring ourselves there. Why? Because we turned our back
upon God. Yes, we followed the advice of
Satan. We listened to his cunning voice. The devil is very cunning. The devil said, well, you can
get involved in that, you can do that, that won't harm you.
Well, of course it will. Never listen to the devil. And so, just reading on, he says,
he says, because because the reason we find ourselves in this
darkness and the shadow of death bound in affliction because we
rebelled against the words of God and contemned, we disagreed
with the counsel of the Most High now each one of us has to
stand before God God may have spoken to us. He may have directed
us. And we've rebelled against those
words, against the direction, against the leading of our great
and glorious God. We've rebelled against the words
of God. it's a very solemn thing you
know to rebel against the words of God the devil wants you to
rebel all the time he doesn't want you to do God's will he
wants you to go against it and how often the devil is successful
how often he makes us rebel against the words of God I don't know
what condition you're in but has God perhaps spoken words,
a word, a sentence to you, and you rebelled. You said, I'm not
going to do that. You know, sometimes we think
we've got a good timetable. We think that if this and that
happens, this will bring honor and glory to God. My friends,
that's a wrong attitude. we should follow the way of God
we should follow the word of God we don't want to rebel against
the words of God and it's very easy to rebel against the words
of God especially if we don't go along with just our little
plan we may have a little plan in our heart God may not have
any way of working out that plan And so here we're told we find
ourselves in darkness. We found ourselves bound in affliction
because we rebelled against the words of God and because we disagreed
with God's counsel. We disagreed with God's words
toward us. It's a very sad and desperate
situation. But we should be very thankful
that God, in fact, has given us His Word. He's given us this Word that
should encourage us and strengthen us and help us. So just remember
then, here we have this statement. For He satisfieth the longing
soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness, such as sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction
and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God and
contend the counsel of the Most High. And then he goes on to
speak to us and he says this, therefore, because of that, because
of our attitude to God, you see, God is not to be trifled with. you and I can easily trifle with
God. And we're not to trifle with
God. Therefore he brought down their
heart with labor. They fell down and there was
none to help. You may say, well, I don't understand
the relevance of such statements. would have gone to the seventh
verse. And he led them forth by the right way that they might
go to a city of habitation. My friends, it is the right way. God teaches us. God's very patient
with us. God's very gracious. And although
we rebel, and although we walk contrary to God, he's very gracious
and very merciful. So when we find ourselves in
this position, what do we hear? The Lord tells us, then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out
of their distresses and he brought them out of darkness and the
shadow of death and break their bands in sunder. Now remember,
therefore he led them forth by the right way. What does it show
us? It shows us how good and kind
and merciful and gracious our God is. To realize that he doesn't
deal with us as our sins deserve, it'll make us very, very thankful
to realize, yes, my God is leading me. How kind, how merciful. His loving kindness, oh, how
free. What a mercy to have a God who
deals with me in this way. I'm a rebellious child. I'm walking
contrary to God. I plan my own little life and
I want God to work to my plan rather than me walking in accordance
with God's plan. Well, the Lord has a right way. He led them forth by the right
way. And you know, it's a great mercy
when you and I submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God
when we have to give up our plans our ideas to realize that perhaps
they weren't quite as good they weren't quite as pure as they
were and as we examine them under God's all-seeing eye we realize
that you know there was pride in it We wanted to be in a position
to take some of the glory. My friends, God is a jealous
God. God will have the honour and
the glory. So what a blessing it is then,
as we think of these words and realise how applicable they are. He, nonetheless, He led them
forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation. And if the Lord is leading us
in the right way, what does that mean? That means he's going before
us. He's showing us the right way. Are we following that path? Are we following his way? He led them forth by the right
way. God has a right way. We have wrong ways. And often
we bring ourselves into these wrong ways. And yet you see the
Lord knows exactly where we are. And he knows what he's doing
with us. That's very humbling, isn't it? To think that he's
leading us. And we are to follow Him. You remember, I'm sure, that
in the history of Israel, what did they have? You know, the
pathway of the Israelites, it's wonderful to ponder and to think
that it's typical of the true Church of God. And they were
in the wilderness for 40 years. They brought themselves there
because they disobeyed God. And therefore they had to walk
in that wilderness for 40 years. But God was with them in the
wilderness. And he led them. He led them. And they had to follow that leading. And the leading was clear. It was a pillar of cloud by day. It was a pillar of fire by night. They didn't have to think, well,
I don't think that's moving. They knew when it moved. and
they followed and it's good for us today my friends if God as
it were has a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire in our spiritual
lives and leads us leads us so that we recognize yes that God
is leading me forth leading me forth and it's the right way
And we are to follow the Lord. We are to follow the Lord. Yes. We are not to ignore it. We are
to recognize how gracious God is. And of course, there is a
wonderful objective. There's a wonderful objective.
We mustn't forget that. Led and forth by the right way
for this purpose that they might go to a city of habitation. The church of God are being prepared
for their eternal home. Yes, we're being prepared for
our eternal home. And sometimes, perhaps when we're
younger, we don't fancy that. I remember when I was young,
I've told you this before, but I'll just tell you again. When
I was young, I knew about heaven. I knew about hell. I didn't want
to go to hell. I didn't want to go to heaven
either. Neither were attractive. Hell
was obviously a terrible place. I didn't really want to go to
heaven to be found worshipping God. So you may say, well, that
was a difficult situation. Well, it was a difficult situation.
but what I was able to pray was this that God would give me a
desire after spiritual blessings simple prayer wasn't it but the
Lord was gracious and he did give me a desire after spiritual
blessings. So you see, it leads us by the
right way. We might go to a city of habitation. It's a journey. It's not an easy
journey. We're told, the Lord tells us,
it is through much tribulation that we should inherit the kingdom
to this habitation. The journey's not easy. And yet,
you see, there is the promise of eternal glory. Don't forget
that it's not just for a little time, it's eternal. A place where there is no sorrow,
no sadness, no pain, nothing to upset us, but all peace and
glory. It's a wonderful, prospect for
the church of God. And so, remember, he's leading
us forth by the right way that we might go to this city of habitation. What a blessing to believe that
through the grace of God, through his amazing love toward us, he's
leading us, he's taking us as a rebellious child He's not throwing
us on the rubbish heap. He's patient with us and He's
instructing us, perhaps in this way, here a little and there
a little, line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept,
precept upon precept. What a blessing to know that
God's hand is upon us for good. And that hand is there to show
us that he's there leading us. He led them forth by the right
way that they might go to a city of habitation. And as we've just
gone through just a few of those points about the church of God
and we're told he brought them out of darkness and the shadow
of death and breaking their bands in sunder. And then he says,
oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. and for his wonderful works to
the children of men and he just elucidates that a little by saying
this for he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bands of
iron in sunder what does that mean? he means he's freed us
we read in the Gospel of John If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. Yes, it's a wonderful
liberty that God brings to us. For if broken the gates of brass
and cut the bars of iron and thunder, fools, because of their
transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. And do we not have to say, Ophir,
we've been foolish, we've been fools. We turn our back upon
God. We wanted this to happen and
that to happen and this program to be worked to. Their soul abhorreth
all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth
them out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them. Well, that's a blessing, isn't
it? If God's word has come to us, You know whether that's so in
your life and in my life, whether God's Word has come to us, where
we are. And God knows exactly what Word
you and I need. And to bless God for it, he sent
his Word and healed them. Yes, it heals our wounds. The
wounds which sin have brought, sometimes they're deep wounds. He sent his word and healed them
and delivered them from their destructions. And then again
he says, oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and
for his wonderful works to the children of men. Well I hope
that we may have cause truly to praise God for his goodness. and for his wonderful work toward
us as individuals. God has an individual work for
all his people. Yes, they have a common denominator,
that they're a perishing sinner and they need a precious Christ.
But there are so many different ways the Lord instructs us and
teaches us and blesses us. And so to be able to come this
morning and rejoice in the evidence of the truth of this seventh
verse. And He, Almighty God, led them
forth. How humbling to think that God
takes us by our hand and leads us forth. by the right way that
we might go to a city of habitation.