I want you to turn this morning
to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. I've called this message
this morning, The Mariner's Voyage. I'm very hesitant to speak out
of my own experience, but the Scripture says something about
believers sharing the comfort wherewith they are comforted. And I would only speak out of
that experience as it simply bears another witness to the
truth of the Word of God. As most of you know, Betty and
I left last Thursday for Michigan in order for me to preach in
a Bible conference there. And so I preached on Friday night
and on Saturday night, and after the Saturday night service, immediately
after the service, Betty got very sick. And so instead of
going over to the pastor's house for a time of more fellowship,
I hurried her back to the motel. And after we got back to the
motel, she got even sicker. And for a while, I was really
beginning to think I was going to have to take her somewhere
where she could get more help than I could give. And so when
she finally settled down just a little bit, and I began to
lay down and try to keep one eye open for her. I'm a poor
nurse, I was just trying to watch over her and do what I could
and at the same time ask the Lord to help us. And I began
that moment to think about how often I'm brought to call out
upon the Lord in times when I'm made to fully understand just
how weak we are. And through most of that night,
I not only struggled with concern over her condition and not only
tried to pray and ask the Lord to help her and to raise her
up to strength, but I also engaged in what we often do in those
times. And so I'm asking the Lord those
questions that we ask. Why? And not simply that, but
I suppose to magnify the circumstances, I'm saying to myself, Lord, why
at this particular time, why when I come off here a thousand
miles away from home to try to preach your gospel, and here
I am already in such a tither about what to preach and what
to deal with, and in all the circumstances it seems like everything
is just really wrong. And then it occurred to me that
so often In such circumstances, we're
made to call upon the Lord in sincerity." And so, the Lord
blessed her, and she finally got some better and was able
to fall asleep, and I did too after a while. But I woke up
the next morning, and my thoughts were even more stirred up because
I had not had the time or the frame of mind to even think about
the message that I had planned to preach. And so I sat down
and I began to read out of Mr. Spurgeon's devotional that's
entitled, Morning and Evening. And I look back and on that 28th
day of July in the evening, He gave a few comments and words
from Hosea chapter 5. And in that 15th verse, he took
his comments out of the thought that God gives us in that passage
where he says of his people, in their affliction, they will
seek me early. in their affliction they will
seek me early." And I came to a statement that he made in that
devotion that just really got hold of my soul. He said, blessed
are the waves that wash the mariner upon the rock of salvation. Blessed are those waves that
wash the mariner upon the rock of salvation. And I thought it
came to my mind immediately some verses from this 107th Psalm
that seemed to have the same kind of meaning and bear witness
to what was being said by this man. If you look down in verse
23, describing his own people, the Lord gives these words to
the psalmist. He says, "...they that go down
to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these
see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep." And
I thought about it, it came to my mind that that's what we are
as the Lord's people. He even describes us as such. Mariners, sailors, if you will,
seamen, if you will, that are sailing on this great sea of
time and life that are on a voyage in this world being described
themselves elsewhere as sojourners, pilgrims. I looked a little bit
later at how that word mariner was defined, and it's defined
as a person who navigates or assists in navigating a ship. And this was the picture that
I had in my mind mentally. Here I am in this very little
ship in this great big sea that is so often confronted with every
kind of storm and harm and danger. There are always waves. And I kind of thought, you know,
maybe I'm pretty much used to the waves at home, so maybe I
can escape a thousand miles and be away from that sea where there
is just constant waves, only to find that maybe there are
even greater waves. These waves being waves of trial
and deflection and problems and persecutions and tribulations. And as His people, we even know,
at least in our heads, that they are all God-sent. We know that. We are quick sometimes
to quote a verse like Romans 8.28. We know. that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them that are
the called according to His purpose. We know that. But when the waves
come, when this is made a reality in our experience, when God sends
that storm, knowing that He is the One who works all things
after the counsel of His will, if it is just simply a matter
of something we know in our head and do not believe in our heart,
we have a problem. I've often described the believer's
life like this. Now, I know in some measures
this is the life of all people. But what God does in sending
these things to His people produces a different end and goal than
what is produced in the lives of unbelievers. But living like
we do so close to the ocean, I've often likened the believer's
life just like this. It's like we're standing down
there in the edge of that surf, and the question is not whether
or not another wave will come. That's not the question. The
question is when will it come. And maybe even more so, the question
is, how strong will it be? How powerful will it be? How
hard will it be against us? That's the way we are. And it
doesn't change the fact, the gospel fact and truth that we're
safe in Christ. We're safe in Him. We're made
the righteousness of God in Him. And we're even described as being
complete in Him and secure in Him as Hebrew 6 describes Him
as our forerunner. It says, "...our forerunner has
made himself the anchor of our soul, and he has entered in within
the veil." One time I looked to find out what that word forerunner
meant. And that word forerunner was
a word and a name used of a little ship that at low tide would go
out of the harbor and take the anchor of a bigger ship that
could not yet go in because of the low tide, and that little
ship would come out, take hold of that anchor, go back into
that harbor, and drop that anchor so that whether or not there
was wind or storm, that bigger ship would be safe. That's what
the Apostle describes the work of Christ on our behalf. He's
our forerunner. He's already in His own person
as our head and representative. He's already entered into the
presence of God and secured us through His work of righteousness
and made us safe. We're safe. But isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing that though
God has saved us, When we read that word salvation in Scripture,
we find it in every tense, past, present, and future. He's always
having to save us. He's always having to rescue
us. He's always having to deliver
us, not just from our sins, but also from our sinfulness. and from our weakness, and from
our waywardness. Do you know anything about the
meaning that the hymn writer had when he penned down those
words and he said, prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave
the God I love. Isn't that amazing? And yet it's
an apt description of all the Lord's people, they that believe,
because they are still plagued with unbelief. I'm found crying
like that man did in the New Testament. He said, Lord, I believe,
but help thou my unbelief. You know anything about that?
As a matter of fact, it ought not to surprise us because not
only those Old Testament saints that we read about in the Old
Testament and the New Testament saints that we read about in
the New Testament, their experience was obviously the same. You won't find any super-Christians
here. You won't find any without weakness. or any without failure, or any
without unbelief. You find fault and flaw and all
these things, and it all takes place in this context of this
world, of this great sea wherein we're called upon to do business
that is always changing. Look down at verse 33. He turns
rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground. Here everything is nice one day,
and all of a sudden it's dry and barren and hard. A fruitful land into barrenness. for the wickedness of them that
dwell therein." You say, well, we don't have any wickedness.
I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon. But look at
the opposite of that. He says he turns the wilderness
into standing water and a dry ground into water springs. In other words, sometimes it
is like this, one way, this wet and well-watered place and world
becomes a dry, barren desert, and then, on the other hand,
later, He takes what is a dry, barren desert and He has standing
water like a flood. And you know what I noticed? Whichever way it is, we're never
really contented, are we? That's right. We demonstrate
this just in the weather. It's hot. It's sweltering. It's humid. And all we do is
complain. Me, number one, maybe. But next
winter, if it gets below freezing, and we have a couple of weeks
where the thermostat is very low, we'll murmur and complain
about that too. It's like being on these waves,
up and down. Here we are in all the midst
of this, all these problems that keep popping up, things that
rise up. We have to deal with them. But
look at verse 24. He said, these see the works of the Lord
and His wonders in the deep." We're sailing in some deep water. Now, if you're in the edge of
the water and in your boat and you know that you can jump out
of that boat and put your foot on a solid bottom and get yourself
back to safety, that's not so bad. That's not the way it is
in this world. We're on a voyage in some deep
water. The enemies of God all around
us, the oppositions and distractions of the flesh within us, everything
going on wave after wave. But I noticed a pattern in this
psalm. I've seen it before, but it seemed like the Lord just
really brought it home to my heart. Look with me. He begins, "...O give thanks
unto the Lord, for He is good." For His mercy endureth forever,
let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed
from the hand of the enemy." Now, what he's saying here is
our first experience of His grace and power when He brings us out
of darkness into His marvelous life, when He saves us and delivers
us, and we experience His grace. But it doesn't stop with one
time, does it? Now, listen. "...and gathered them out of
the lands from the east and from the west and from the north and
from the south. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them." Now, what's that next word? "...then." When
did they call upon Him? Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the
right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works, to the children
of men." That's what he says at each section of this psalm. Oh, that men would praise this
saving, delivering, keeping, helping God. He goes on. 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 ire." How often we feel that. Except we just say something
like, I'm just trapped in this situation. I'm just trapped in
it. I can't go here, I can't go there,
I can't do this, I can't do that, don't have to do this, to do
with this, and I'm just... Who brought you there? "...because
they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel
of the Most High. Therefore He brought down their
heart with labor, they fell down, and there was none to help."
Next word. Then, you see that? When there was nobody else to
help, when they were without strength, then they cried unto
the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. Then, and I'm laying there and
sitting there during the course of all this and thinking, Lord,
why? Am I such that it always has
to be this way? You see, I hate to admit that
it's this way. God says it's this way, and I
know it's this way. Then, where am I when everything's
like a calm on this sea? floating along with my mind on
about everything else but God. He brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death and break their bands in sunder. Oh, that
men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works to the children of men. Where is our praise for Him?
For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of
iron in sunder. Fools, because of their transgression,
and because of their iniquities, are afflicted." Who's a fool? That'd be me. That'd be me. You know, in another psalm he
says, "...the fool hath said in his heart, No, God, How many
times have I said that? If not with words, surely in
deeds. Their soul abhorreth all manner
of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death. Isn't it
amazing how pitiful we can be in those times? I'm glad you
didn't see me Saturday night. Just a pitiful, helpless, sad,
individual, thousand miles from home. trying to deal with a sick
wife, facing having to preach the next morning. Verse 19, "...then
they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saveth them out of their
distresses." He sent His Word and healed them and delivered
them from their destructions. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. It's like old news again and
again. and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare His works with rejoicing. They that go down to the sea
in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works
of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth and
raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof."
Do you see that? Well, I'm on a streak of bad
luck. Now, if you're the Lord's child, for sure. Things aren't
going so well. The devil's really, the devil's
really putting the heat on me. Maybe it ain't the devil. Maybe
it's our God. He sends the storm. He raises
up the waves. He sent that worm that ate the
shade tree that shaded Jonah of old. He sent that thorn in
the flesh to the Apostle Paul. He does all these things, and
he doesn't mind saying, it is I. They mount up to the heaven. They go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man and are at their wits end. I may be talking
to people who don't know anything about this, but I'm telling you,
this is the mariner's voyage. Ah, we've got this trial going
on. It's in the family. It's in the
circle of friends. It's in the workplace. It's this
or that or the other. We've got this affliction in
our body that we can't seem to be rid of, or someone we love
has got this affliction, or this problem, or this trial in their
life, and it bears so heavy on our hearts, and especially our
own sinfulness and coldness toward God. They reel to and fro. You ever tried to stand on a
the deck of a boat when a storm was going on or it was real wavy
and all, and you're just trying to find your sea legs and trying
to steady yourself. He said, they reel to and fro
and stagger like a drunken man, and they're at their wits end. We don't get serious about this
business of seeking the Lord and asking His help and looking
to His Word and wisdom until we're brought to our wits end. Oh, we can figure it out. We
can get by this. We can do this until He brings
us to our wits end. Then, then they cry unto the
Lord in their trouble and He bringeth them out of their distresses. He makes the storm a calm, so
that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they
be quiet. So He bringeth them unto their
desired heaven." Up, down, down, down, then. That's us. And as I read this psalm and
thought about these things that morning, it became obvious to
me that two things are clear. Two things are clear. I'm not
talking about lost people. I'm talking about believers.
Two things are clear. Number one, what wretched, weak,
wandering sinners we are. in this flesh what weak, failing,
needy preachers we are. The Lord left us to ourselves
and our salvation for one second. Paul describes it in Romans 7,
and many have tried to say that was before he was saved, but
this is a man who by the Spirit of God is writing this epistle
to the Roman church, God knowing that this would be the testimony
of all his people. And he says something basically
like this, he said, that which I would do, I don't do. And that which I wouldn't do,
I do. You know, he's saying, I'm not
making any progress. Why is that? Because that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. And then he sums it up like this,
O wretched man that I am. I'm this man in Adam, But I'm
not in Adam anymore. That old man, he says in chapter
6, was crucified with Christ. And then he speaks also of the
man that he is in Christ, a man in Christ Jesus, who before God
is perfectly holy. In Christ is made the righteousness
of God, has a perfect standing in God's sight without sin. But in myself, I'm a wretched
man. I'm a wretched man. You remember
old John Newton's hymn, don't you? Amazing Grace. He says, Amazing Grace, how sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me. Now you know John Newton
was an old sea captain. He was a captain of a slave trading
ship when the Lord had mercy on him. So he had familiarity
with terms that maybe the ordinary person wouldn't, one of which
was that word, wretch. You know what a wretch was? A
wretch was a ship that set sail but ran aground. And the tide
and the wind and the storms and the elements have stripped it
down now and rotted it to all you see standing up out of the
water like a bunch of ribs. It's the ribs of that ship. He
said, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch
like me. That saves a wretch like me again
and again and again. awful creatures, not improving,
not getting better, not progressing, often running aground in the
same waters that we found treacherous before, always trying to take
the helm of this ship ourselves, and God having to send trial
and affliction and trouble in order to drive us to Himself,
like a little scared chicken. We're a bull walking around until
we get scared. We have to run back to the end. You know, He describes us in
this way. I believe it's in Isaiah. He
says, "...as an eagle stirreth up her nest." That's how the
Lord deals with us. That little baby eagle lays there
in that nest so content to be fed by his mother, but there
comes a time when he's supposed to fly. But he's so lazy, he
won't do it. So the eagle mother goes and
she stirs up that nest, because under that little top layer of
feathers and such as that, that have kept them in their youth,
she now rakes it off to bring up all those sticks and stubbles
that it's basically made of, so that they have to get on her
wing to fly. We can't make it without Him.
Not on our best day, and certainly not on our worst day. And we
have to be dealt with in this manner. He has to do it, send
these waves in order to drive us from our self-righteousness. We get to cruising along in our
little boat and we get to feeling real good about ourselves. We
get to feeling real good about how we've grown and how we're
glad we're not like so-and-so or this. And we get to looking
around us. We get to finding fault with a lot of folks. And
we take our eyes off of Christ until He shows us in these things
just what we are and makes us to flee from self-righteousness
to trust Christ afresh and anew. He sends them to drive us from
pride and self-sufficiency. We get the feeling we don't really
need anybody. Even the Lord. He does it to
make us know the faith that we really have. He calls it the
trial of faith. You see, the trial, the faith
that you and I have, really have. We have any, it's God-given,
you know that. But the faith that we really
have is only that faith that stands under trial and affliction
and fibrillation. That's the only true faith we
have. And He does it so that it will be made known. And I
feel like not just to us, but to those around us, that it will
be made known to us and to them His power and His strength and
give Him glory. He said, don't think it strange
concerning the fiery tribals, fibrillations. They're God sent. And they're sent to drive us
to Him and to give Him glory. What weak creatures we must be.
But then I thought there's a second thing too. And that second thing
is what a great, merciful, gracious God and Savior we have. We never take Him by surprise.
We never disappoint Him. He knows what we are. He's always
known not only who we are, but what we are. And that's why He
calls Himself our Savior. Look back at that first verse. "'Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for He is good.'" You mean He's good in all these things? He's
perfectly good. for his mercy endureth forever."
I don't know exactly how many times that statement is made
in this book, but it's made a lot. His mercy endures forever. Mercy is for the miserable. Mercy is for those who even as
his children act as enemies toward him. He never changes, and He
has always rest the whole of our salvation in His Son and
all His keeping and preserving of us in His power. Do you believe that the Lord's
people will all persevere until the end? Absolutely. But do you
know why? Because He'll preserve them.
They'll persevere in grace because they are preserved by grace. His love, His everlasting covenant
of grace is all in Christ. And because of what Christ has
already done, He'll keep His people. He'll preserve them.
He'll help them. He never reaches a point. I'm
not talking about false professors here. I'm talking about the Lord's
people. His elect. He never reaches a
point with them like we reach in dealing with even people we
love. When we say, that's it. I've put up with them all. I'm
going to put up with them. I've helped them all. I help
them and I help them and they just are so ungrateful and they
do the same thing over and over again. I'm through with them.
Thank God He doesn't ever do that to His people. He loved
them with an everlasting love. And He loved them with a love
that is not because of who they are or what they do. He loves
them, and Paul says that love is the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus, so that nothing shall separate them from the
love of God. He delivers them. He saves them. He brings them out of their distresses. Whatever it takes. Look back
over at Psalm 103. Look down at that 13th verse.
This is a Psalm of David. Poor, weak, failing David. Adulterer. Murderer. Failed king. Failed father. He says, by the Spirit of God,
like as a father pitieth his children, So the Lord pitieth
them that fear Him, for He knoweth our frame, and He remembers that
we're dust." We don't always remember it, but He does. Look back in Psalm 89. Psalm
89 and verse 27. Speaking of Christ, he says,
"...also I will make him my firstborn higher than the kings of the
earth. My mercy will I keep for him
forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed..." Who's that? That's the people of God. He's
described by Isaiah as the everlasting Father. "...his seed also will
I make to endure forever." and is thrown as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law
and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and
keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression
with the rod." He said, I'll chasten them and their iniquity
with stripes. The Apostle says, if we be without
the Lord's chastisement, then we're spiritual illegitimates
and not sons. For everyone he loves, he chastens. But look at that 33rd verse.
Nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from
him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not
break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once
have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever,
and his throne as the sun before me." He'll do whatever He has
to do to save us, to keep saving us, not only from our sins, but
from ourselves and from this world. Let the redeemed of the
Lord say so. Let these mariners, you know,
seafaring men, sailors, they have a reputation for telling
tall tales, don't they, about their exploits in the sea, how
big that wave was, how bad that storm was. But the Lord's mariners
can speak of all the trials and afflictions and storms and problems
that arise in this life and give glory to His name. that He has
not only saved us, but He saved us again and again and again. He's rescued us, and how we ought
to thank Him and praise Him. Verse 39 says, "...again they
are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction,
and sorrow, He poureth contempt upon princes and causes them
to wander in the wilderness where there is no way. Yet setteth
he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like
a rock. The righteous shall see it and
rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Whoso is wise
and will observe these things, even they shall understand."
the lovingkindness of the Lord. Whatever He does for His people,
whatever affliction or trial, whatever problem comes to pass
in our lives, whatever it brings us to, by faith we understand
it is the lovingkindness of the Lord, that all these things work
together for good. Because He works them together
for good. And we know we're little ships
in this big sea. And we're doing business, as
the psalmist said, in waters that are great. But we'll see
the wonders of the Lord. We'll see His saving, keeping,
rescuing, delivering hand. And when we're taking the helm,
and I can always tell you this, when we take the helm, We always
guide away from Him by our decisions, by our actions, by every... We
always, even in doing what we think is right, doing what we
want to do, really, but He sends the big wave and He blesses those
waves to wash us upon the rock of salvation, always washing
us Wind always blowing us spiritually back to Christ. That's our voyage. Father, this
day we give you thanks and praise for your goodness to us in the
Lord Jesus Christ. For your saving, keeping, helping,
delivering grace. For every wave that you send,
every storm, that washes us back to trust only You, to seek refuge
only in Christ, to depend only upon Thy wisdom and Thy will,
and to give You praise and glory in all things. We thank You and
we praise You for Your wonderful works in the name of Christ. Amen.