Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. There are two portions, but they
are on your sheets. The first is Psalm 107, and we'll
read the first 16 verses. Psalm 107. 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, and gathered them out of the lands, from the east and
from the west, 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. 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. O that men would praise the Lord
for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. 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
contemned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore he brought
down their heart with labor, they fell down and there was
none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death, and break their bands in sunder. O that men would praise the Lord
for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children
of men! For He hath broken the gates
of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. 2 John 10 1 Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door
into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is
a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. and he calleth his own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto
them, but they understood not what things they were which he
spake unto them. Now the portion that I wish to
bring before you is in Psalm 107 and verse 7. It is on the
front page of your sheets but highlighted on the reading. And
he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city
of habitation. Throughout this psalm we have
a picture of the Lord's people in varying situations, in providence,
in their lives, and it answers in a spiritual way too, and the
low state they got into, where none could help. And then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He saved them. It's
a beautiful psalm, and no doubt many of you have been blessed
through many verses in this psalm. This one, verse 7, a particularly
precious verse. Well, Jacob throughout his life
as no doubt through yours and mine have many times that we
cannot see what the Lord is doing we cannot see that we are being
led in a right way and sometimes it seems like Jacob said on one
occasion all these things are against me But when Jacob came
to the end of his life and he was blessing his son Joseph and
his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh, then he was able to say in Genesis
48 verse 15 and 16, the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk 3 The God which fed me all my life long, and to this
day the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lands,
and let my name be named on them in the name of my father Abraham
and Isaac. and he was able to look back
and to see more clearly and I hope you dear friends at this time
that you also are able to look back. Gone are those days when
you seek to be led as to what course to take at school, what
job to take, which house to move to, what place to move to, what
place of worship to attend perhaps, though that may still be an exercise
in some ways, but many things, many leadings and directions
in life you have been through. And now you're at the home, as
it were, waiting for the Lord's command to bring you to that
eternal home. I always remember coming and
seeing Mr. Ron Bishop from Crobra, and he
only was in the home a little while, but I remember standing
at the desk there, and he was just in front of me in a And
I asked him, are you in permanently or just for respite care? He said, well, no, permanently.
And then his face changed and his face lit up. He said, yes,
but he said, I have a heavenly home to go to. and you know it
was only three months or so and the Lord took him to that heavenly
home so to him it was permanent but not permanent he was yet
a pilgrim yet a traveler and those are things you remember
and I hope you dear friends you can look back at this time and
perhaps things that years ago were such a puzzle to you that
now you can see in a bit better light and may just the thought
be to give you some meditation today. to go back over things
and no doubt there'll be things that pain you to think about
but you know wherever the Lord has shown his mercy and goodness
there'll be that which does humble us for our sin and we've made
mistakes and foolish things but the Lord's been good to us in
spite of all of those things and so may we come, may you come
at this time in your lives to look back how you've been led
in providence and in grace in a way that you can see clearly
and give glory and give thanks to the Lord but that is not all
of course you're not yet to that city of habitation you're not
yet at that desired haven so you still need a leader we still
need the Lord to lead us forth by the right way and to bring
us safely to that desired haven. So I want to look then this morning
just at three points with the Lord's help. Firstly, the leader,
because our text says, He led them forth by the right way.
So just some thoughts on the leader. And then secondly, the
end in view, that they might go to a city of habitation where
we must not let sight or let go of the sight of the end in
view. And then lastly, the right way,
those ways that we still need, you still need to be led in at
this time. So firstly, the leader. May we never lose sight of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And it is by following we have
in the text. He led them forth by the right
way. It is following The Lord Jesus
Christ. If you and I want to know the
right way, then it is following Him. Take my yoke, He says, upon
you. Learn of Me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. When Paul speaks of running the
race, it is running the race set before us, looking unto Jesus,
and we are not to lose sight of Him. not to lose sight of
Him in the Word, in our devotions, in our prayers, in all that we
do, in all of our lives, that He be our leader, our pattern,
and He be our shepherd. And that's why we read, of course,
the portion in John 10, where we have the Lord speaking of
the parable of himself being not only the shepherd but the
good shepherd that cares for his sheep and David in Psalm
23 how he speaks of his shepherd leading them beside the still
waters and leading him into green pastures and may we then this
morning be renewed again as disciples. A disciple is a follower, a true
disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, a follower of the Lord. The Lord
said to those that believed on Him, If ye continue in my word,
then shall ye be my disciples indeed, following the Lord in
the word. So that is our first thought,
our leader, your leader. May we yet be able to say, My
Leader, My God, My Shepherd. The second is the end in view. This is very evident in all of
Paul's letters to the churches, that they were to wait for his
Son from heaven. And may we never lose sight of
that. This is not our rest, it is polluted. Surely There is an end, and thine
expectation shall not be cut off. You and I shall soon have
nothing more to do with this time-state, our mortal bodies
to be laid in the grave, and our spirit to return to God that
gave it. I sometimes really feel for you
dear friends in their homes, because in a way you have much
more of losses and bereavements than other people have. When we're living in our own
home, and like you have done in years gone by, you might hear
of one and another passing away, and in some ways they are detached
from you, they're not your own family. But when you come into
the home and you've got 30 residents there, and you get them slowly
passing away. Those that have been near and
dear to you, you've had fellowship with, you've got to know them,
you've got to love them in the Lord, and then there's the parting. again and again and for a family
looking upon the home there and similar homes as a home you're
losing family members much more regularly than in any other situation
and it must be hard but may it be that it is sanctified to remind
you constantly that this is not your eternal home, like Ron Bishop
said, there is that home that he was longing to attain to. And so the thought here, that
they might go to a city of habitation, never lose sight of heaven, never
lose sight of the end in view, never get so bogged down with
the things of this life, so consumed that we forget the Lord has prepared
us an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and reserved in heaven
for us. You that may be troubled and
burdened and cast down today may be able to look up and sweetly
anticipate that haven that the Lord has prepared for you. well
thirdly there is the right way implies doesn't it that there
is a wrong way there's a right way and there's a wrong way and
you might look at the verse here and you say well here I am in
the home I can't go out, I haven't got a car, I haven't got these
changes in my life now that I used to have. Does this still apply
to me? Am I still being led? Will I
still be led? Yes. And I want to bring before
you seven things and especially that apply to you. We mentioned of the leader. The
Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the way. When He says He led
them forth by the right way, that will be the way of the Lord
Jesus Christ, not any other God, any other way, but the way of
Jesus Christ. Jesus is that humble way. Jesus is the right way. Remember that is the first right
way to be led in. The more we are led, led in Christ's
way, that is the right way. The second thing is to be led
in the truth. We mentioned the Lord saying
that you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free. is to be led into the truth. Paul, when he writes to the Ephesians,
he says, the truth is in Jesus. And there are many errors. Whenever
Satan attacks the Church of God, he'll come with things that are
part truth, and you try and distort the truth. That's what he did
in the garden. You think how close he came,
and yet managed to deceive our first parents. So if we're led
in the right way, may we not be like Pilate who has to say,
what is truth? That we know the truth and be
led into the truth. Then we have thirdly, the way
of faith. That will remain right until
we breathe our last, and faith is changed to sight. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. You and I,
right to the end, will need to walk by faith, not by sight. That is the right way, to walk
by faith. Then we have, in the fourth place,
prayer. Especially this psalm, it was
the turning point in every trial, in every trouble, in every low
place. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. They didn't wait until they got
out of it. They prayed in their trouble, and the Lord delivered
them and saved them out of their distresses. So may we continue
to be led forth in a way of prayer. That is the right way. Make it
a matter of prayer. Maybe there's something before
you today. Maybe there's a difficulty. Maybe
even you've got a child or a grandchild saying to you, what shall I do? Give me some advice. You say
to them, pray over it. Lay it before the Lord. Ask the
Lord. Now there's a story years ago
of John Warburton Senior, John Warburton Junior, both were pastors. And the Junior, his son, got
into trouble, difficulties in his church. He wrote to his father,
what should I do? He wrote back and he said, my
son, he says, where you are there at Trowbridge, he said, you have
a Bible. I have a Bible here. You have
the throne of grace there, I have the throne of grace here, and
he pointed them to the same source of help and guidance as what
he would have. That's not to say that he's right
at times to ask for guidance, especially from our elders or
parents, but may we remember that we also have the throne
of grace, we can go directly and ask the Lord and lay these
things before the Lord. The fifth way is a way of holiness. This world is an ungodly and
unholy world. May we always strive and desire
that we be holy in our thoughts, our affections, our words, and
our actions before men. Holiness, says the hymn writer,
without a stain they are thirsting to obtain. The sixth way is a
path of love. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
way of love, having loved them, ye loved them unto the end. By this, he says, shall all men
know that ye are my disciples indeed, in that ye love one another. May you be led in that way in
the home. And we think of the opposite
to these things. You think of how there can be
the error instead of truth, instead of prayer, Handling things and
dealing things ourselves, instead of faith, just going by sight,
instead of love, bitterness and hatred. And what is the last? In the way of peace. There's
no peace for the wicked, but there is for the people of God.
My peace I give unto you, not as the world give I unto you.
In the world ye shall have tribulation, in me ye shall have peace. And so may we know something
of these ways, and more as well, of the Lord that still in the
home there where you are, that you be led in those ways by the
Lord, and not in those contrary ways. May you still look to be
led, directed, guided, into these things, into the peace of God. Well may the Lord bless this
word, make it to be a help to you and to me as well.