Let us turn to the psalm that
we read, Psalm 107. And I want from the psalm to
deal with what really is a fourfold text. The words that appear in
verses 8 and 15, 21 and 31. This refrain that we find running
through the psalm in these four verses then verses 8, 15, 21 and 31. Oh that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. A few weeks ago we were looking
at another Psalm, Psalm 136 and of course that Psalm has a refrain
at the end of all the verses that run through Psalm 136 we
read for his mercy endureth forever and when we see these sort of
refrains it reminds us that the book of Psalms of course is a
book of praises the Psalms were so integral a part of the worship
of God be it in the tabernacle and certainly very much so when
he came to the building of the temple in the days of Solomon
and the worship that followed and then also subsequently in
the worship that was practiced in the synagogues of the Jews
and it has come through of course Psalm singing into the Christian
church it's very much a part and parcel really of all of the
true worship of God. What a refrain is this that we
have in this remarkable 107th Psalm. Oh that men would praise
the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the
children of men. And so taking up this theme of
God's goodness and his wonderful works, the goodness of God's
the wonderful works of God. First of all, surely we are to
recognize that God is good. Now the psalm begins, O give
thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endureth
forever. And in fact, if we turn back
to the 105th Psalm, O give thanks unto the Lord,
call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people, sing
unto Him, sing Psalms unto Him, talk ye of all His wondrous works,
glory ye in His holy name, and so on. Psalm 106, so similar
to what we have here in the 107th Psalm, praise ye the Lord, O
give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth
forever and these three Psalms 105, 106 and 107 in many ways
they form a little collection as each and all of them are recognizing
the goodness of God and especially with regards to his works in
the realm of providence now that one who is the creator of all
things is also the one who governs his creatures and as he not in
his faithfulness declared after that awful event of the great
judgment of the universal flood that as long as the earth remaineth
sea time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter
and day and night shall not cease. In spite of all the sinful provocations
of men, there's not going to be, assures us, another universal
flight. That is gone. But there will
come, of course, the end of time, the great confrontation of all
things, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in power and glory. But how here the Psalmist is
celebrating the truth of that God who is a good God. There's that verse that we find
in the 119th Psalm, in verse 68, thou art good and thou doest
good. God is a good God. It's interesting, isn't it, when
we read of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Remember that incident
in Mark chapter 10 where the rich young ruler comes to the
Lord and addresses him so respectfully. He says, good master, good master,
what must I do to inherit eternal life? And the answer that the
Lord gives is so interesting. because Christ answers and says
to that young man why callest thou me good? there is none good
but one that is God and in a sense even at the beginning the Lord
is rebuking that young man because he doesn't really recognize who
it is that he is speaking to he doesn't come to that one who
is himself God the promised Messiah As Peter confessed in Matthew
16, thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Respectful as that young man
was, his approach was very different to that that we read at the end
of that same 10th chapter in Mark, where we have blind Bartimaeus. And there he addresses the same
Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, thou Son of David, have
mercy upon me, he says. He notices recognizes that this
one is truly the son of David, the promised one, the Messiah.
And so the Lord rebukes the young man because he doesn't recognize
the truth of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one. God is good. And the Lord reminds
us here that goodness is the mark of all that God is in his
glorious being. And in Psalm 106, and there at
verse 5, the psalmist says, expressing his desire that I may see the
goods of thy chosen. What an expression is that, the
goods of thy chosen. And it reminds us, you see, that
the doctrines of scripture those truths that God has revealed
to us concerning himself, they are all good truths. All his
doctrine is good doctrine. The doctrine of election is a
good doctrine. That I may see the good of thy
chosen is the prayer of the Psalmist there in that 106th Psalm. And I do like the expression
that we find in Article 17 of the Church of England. It completely
disregards the truth of those Articles, the 39 Articles of
Faith that would be printed in times past at the back of the
prayer books in the Church of England. And it's a statement
of Protestant Reform Doctrine, the 39 Articles. And Article
17 deals with predestination and election. And says this, the godly consideration
of predestination and our election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant
and unspeakable comfort to godly persons. All the Church of England
reformers, they recognized, you see, that election is a good
doctrine. It's a good doctrine. It's full
of sweetness. It ministers comfort to the souls
of those who are the Lord's people. All God's truth is good and that
much despised truth of election is a blessed doctrine to believe. It's a good truth of God. And
what a a declaration it is of the sovereignty of God and the
eternity of God because God's choice is a free and a sovereign
choice it's nothing in the objects of that choice it's all because
of the goodness that is in God himself the children being not
yet born neither having done good or evil that the purpose
of God according to election might stand he says the elder
shall serve the young Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated it's
according to God's election and as it is according to God's choice
so evidently it is an expression of his sovereignty but also of
course there also we're reminded that it is a choice that was
made before ever there was any creation before the foundations
of the worlds according as He has chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world we are told in Ephesians chapter
1 it's sovereign, it's eternal and all that men would praise
the Lord for His goodness or do we rejoice in all that goodness
that God has seen fit to reveal to us here in Holy Scripture
and for His wonderful works to the children of men how He expresses
His goodness in the works of His hands and all ultimately
of course is to redound to the glory of His name for of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever
and ever. That's how the Apostle concludes
that eleventh chapter there in the epistle to the Romans. And
you know chapters 9, 10 and 11 form a unit in which we have
unfolded God's sovereignty in a remarkable degree, those three
chapters. And it ends on that great note.
Of him, through him are all things. All is to the honor and glory
of that God who is such a good God. But then let us turn to
these wonderful works that are being spoken of. Again the opening words in particular
of Psalm 105. O give thanks unto the Lord,
call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. sing
on to him, sing psalms on to him, talk of all his wondrous
works all the wondrous works of God all that he has done all
that he has revealed of himself in the works of his hands and
we think of course in the first place of that great work of creation
how God has made all things and has made all things out of nothing
and he has done it in just six days that's how he was pleased
to work he could have done everything in one moment of time but in
his wisdom he worked day by day over six literal days creating
the heavens and the earth and at the end of that work what
do we read? In Genesis 1.31 God saw everything that he had made
and it was very good. All his work was very good, that
remarkable work. And how he simply created by
his words, by the word of the Lord, with the heavens made,
all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He spoke and it
was done, He commanded and He stood fast. That great work of
God and what does the creation reveal? Why? It reveals something
of Himself, something of His character. Think of the language
of the psalmist again. You remember the opening words
of Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament
showeth His handiwork. Day on today utter a speech the
night on tonight showeth knowledge there is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard their line is gone out through
all the earth and their words to the end of the world in them
hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. Now men are without
any excuse at all the invisible things of him from the creation
of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things
that are made even his eternal power and his Godhead God has
revealed himself in creation it is a wonderful work of God
and of course men in their rebellion and their sin they reject the
work of God they despise the works of God they believe the
lie of the devil and so they deny the blessed truth of a creator
God and they look to the broken theories of men and talk about
evolution and that's a complete and utter nonsense all such is
man's sad state as he has rebelled against God and disobeyed the
commandments of God and is now dead in trespasses and in sins
and yet they're without excuse Now without excuse, God's made
man upright, but they have sought out many inventions, and they
love their own inventions. But we see God's goodness in
the work of creation, and how do we come to embrace it? Why,
through faith. We understand that the worlds
were made, so the things which do appear were not made of things
which are seen. it's a matter of faith but our
faith is in the word of God what God's word declares concerning
creation and men puts their faith in the broken theories of fallen
men or let us be those then who would rest in God's truth, in
God's word God is good, God is good in creation and God having
created all things is the one who governs all things and we
see God's goodness surely in the matter of his providences
and these three Psalms as I said 105, 106, 107 you read through
them they're all really dealing in principle with the same blessed
theme the providences of God and we come to the end of the
107th Psalm and we have that remarkable 43rd verse. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. We are to be observers then of
the providences of God and there is a mystery in God's providences. There is a mystery in Providence.
Of course, he comes out in that remarkable little book by the
Puritan John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence. God moves in a
mysterious way. His wonders to perform, he plants
his footsteps in the seas and rides upon the storm. How difficult
it is at times to trace his hands, his workings, his ways. There
is something quite mysterious in the way in which God is executing
His eternal purpose. And yet we know that all things
are subject to His eye. All our times are in His hand,
all events at His command. And as we read through this psalm,
we not see something of that providence of God in the various
situations of life in the journeys that people make be it by land
or by sea in those things that might befall them in the course
of their lives they might be touched in their own bodies touched
even with sicknesses and yet in all these things God is that
one who is sovereign and if we're wise we'll seek to be observant
and we'll commit these matters to him but when we come to the book
of Psalms we're not simply to think of God's works in the realms
of creation and providence surely primarily we We don't just come
and read God's word in that objective fashion and want to understand
the historical circumstances. That's good, that's necessary
because God always gives his word in very real, concrete situations. But we want to come to God's
word more subjectively and spiritually. And we're reminded of that, aren't
we, by the language of the apostles. when Paul writes there in Romans
15 he says whatever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope God's word is given to his people that they
might come to have hope through patience, through endurance is
really the strength of the word that we have there in Romans
15 Those things written aforetime are for our learning that we
through endurance, we have to endure to find the comforts of
scripture that God gives to his people some hope and again you
think of the language of Paul when he writes in 1 Corinthians
chapter 10 having spoken of God's dealings with Moses and the children
of Israel bringing them through the Red Sea and then he speaks
about how all these things happened unto them for examples and the
margin says they are types all these things all these historic
events they are types and they are written for our admonition
he says upon whom the ends of the world are come Oh, we come
to God's word and we want God's word to help us to understand
something of the Lord's dealings with us in a subjective way,
in a spiritual way, with regards to our own lives. I think I remarked
recently on those words in 1 Corinthians 2.13, the expression comparing
spiritual things with spiritual, and we spoke of spiritual things
with spiritual God's words God's words here in Holy Scripture
with God's ways, God's dealings with us in Providence comparing
God's spiritual words with God's spiritual ways and I said that
the verb that we have there comparing the words in the original is
the word SYNCHRINO and in a sense our English word SYNCHRONISING
comes from that very word if you look at the etymology of
the word where our English word SYNCHRONISE as it's root it's
there in that particular word comparing synchronising spiritual
things with spiritual God's word you see interpreting God's ways
and God's dealings with us. And that's what we have when
we really come to the end of the psalm. Whoso is wise and
will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving
kindness of the Lord. If we're rightly observant, we'll
understand. will understand something then
of the Lord's ways and the Lord's dealings. It's an interesting
word again, this verb to understand, they shall understand. It's a
reflexive verb really. This is a comment of William
Romain, he says concerning this statement, the observer finds
his own interest. as he observes so he comes to understand and
it all reflects back on himself he gains some profit for himself
by observing the ways of God and seeking to interpret God's
ways by going to God's words and so ultimately when we think
of the fourfold text that I announced is wonderful works to the children
of men what are the most wonderful of all the works of God not so
much God's works in creation nor God's works in providence
but surely it is all that God has done in the great work of
redemption and we sang of it didn't we just now in that hymn
88. What we see in the Lord Jesus
Christ, His coming, His birth, His life, His teachings, His
death, His resurrection, His ascension and His session now
at the Father's right hand, that's the most wonderful and glorious
of all the works of God. God's work in grace God's work
in salvation can we not see that even as we look at this particular
psalm and this repeated text that we have here first of all
in verse 8 and it comes after the psalmist has been speaking
really of those who are travelling they are travelling by land look
at the context leading up to what we read in the 8th verse. Verse 7, God gathered them out
of the lands from the East and from the West, from the North
and from the South. God gathers them, 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 and then the first
of the refrains all that men would praise the Lord for his
goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men
God leads his people by the right way it says all they wondered
it was a solitary way they were hungering they were thirsting
their soul was fainting Surely we're not simply to think in
terms of providence here. Can we not also see the spiritual
instruction that is contained in such words? Isn't this what
John Bunyan does in his great work The Pilgrim's Progress?
And he describes the life of the child of God as a journey
from the city of destruction to the celestial city. And what
a way it was that Christian had to travel when you read that
remarkable work of dear John Bunyan. They wandered in the
wilderness in a solitary way. And how true it is so often for
the people of God, it's a solitary way. Their experience is so peculiar
to themselves and they feel that no one can really comprehend
where they are or what they are passing through look at the language
of the 102nd psalm and there at verse 6 I am like a pelican
in the wilderness I am like an owl of the desert I watch and
down as a sparrow alone upon the housetop and again As some
of these truths are brought out aren't they in the hymns that
we might sing in public worship or maybe you do make use of the
hymn book in private devotions and there are those hymns that
are more suitable to private devotion than they are to public
worship. Think of a hymn like the hymn
308, it's a long hymn. you could sing certain parts
of it in public worship but really it's a hymn that we need to read
and to meditate on in two parts 17 verses in the first part and
then another 9 verses in the second part and he's speaking
of the narrow way the narrow way that leads to life straight
is the gate narrow is the way that lead us onto God's Kingdom and it's interesting what we
read here in this in this hymn verse 14 companions if we find
in the narrow way companions if we find alas how soon they're
gone for it is decreed that most must pass the darkest paths alone
or when we're in those dark places it seems that no one else can
understand but the Lord you see this is the wonder of it then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them
out of their distresses or that men would praise the Lord for
his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Now God is that one who is so so true to himself he's a good
God and if he's a good God he can only do that that he's good
to his people. But when we look at the psalm
it's not just God's leadings in journeys by lands but then
also later in the psalm we have that section that speaks of those
that go down to the sea those that do business in great waters
verse 23 verse 24 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 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. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble and He bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the stormy calm so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet. So He bringeth them
unto their desired haven and then the refrain. All that men
would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works to the children of men. It's hard, isn't it, to do business
in great waters. All God's way is in the sea.
His path is in the deep waters. His footsteps are not known.
No footprints anywhere in the seas, of course. It is the mystery
of God's dealings with us at times. We cannot begin to fathom
what God is doing and why God is doing what He is doing when
we're doing business in these deep waters. And what does it
say there at the end of verse 27? They're at their wit's end.
They're at their wit's end. The margin of course gives a second reading as it were an
alternative reading all their wisdom is swallowed up now God
brings us often times to that we are at the end of ourselves
we have no wisdom our wisdom is swallowed up what are we to
do? well if any man lacks wisdom
he is to ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not and it shall be given him that let him ask in faith nothing
wavering we have to ask God for that wisdom. Now where is that
wisdom found? Well the wisdom from above is
first pure we're told and then peaceable, gentle and easy to
be untreated and full of mercy and good fruits and without partiality
and without hypocrisy. That wisdom is Christ. That wisdom
is Christ. It's first pure but it's peaceable.
God's good ways are pure ways. God's good ways are the best
ways. That's what we have to come to.
And remember the end of the verse, who so is wise. All we need to
look to the Lord, that one who has made wisdom to his people,
as well as righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Christ is all. Christ is in all. so we read
of these travelers but we can surely relate it to our lives
as those who we trust are pilgrims and we're walking in that narrow
way and there's a great deal of help surely to be found in
that remarkable work of John Bunyan The Pilgrim's Progress
but then also here he speaks that verse 10 of those who might
be said to be captives they're not free to travel, they're not
free to to journey anywhere it would seem 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 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. And then the refrain, O that
men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful
works to the children of men. or are they, they're in the dark,
they're shut in as it were, they're shut in and we can think of one who was
really shut in in a very real way who's spoken of previously
and we looked at those words recently in Psalm 105 concerning
Joseph as I said these three Psalms
they speak of God's providences and especially his providential
dealings with the children of Israel and then in Psalm 105
verse 15 he sent a man before them even Joseph who was sold
for a servant sold for a slave we were looking weren't we at
how God's words tried him. That was the text we considered
in verse 19 until the time that his word, God's word came, the
word of the Lord tried him. God had given his words through
prophetic dreams. It was before, of course, there
was any scripture really. The history is there in Genesis.
It's before the days of Moses. God gives the law to Moses. but
God did communicate with men even in those days and he had
spoken to Joseph given his words but how that word tried him and
there he was in fetters whose feet they hurt with fetters he
was laid in iron and I remarked looking at that passage what
the margin says his soul came into iron and isn't that what
we have here really at verse 10 following with these, these poor souls you see. They rebelled against God, He
brought down their heart with labour, there was none to help
them. What do they do? They cry unto
the Lord. They cry unto the Lord. He's
the only one who can bring liberty where we feel nothing but the
darkness, maybe deadness in our souls when we feel ourselves
to be so shut up certainly Job knew something of it he says
there in chapter 12 and verse 14 concerning God he shutteth
up a man and there can be no no opening when God is dealing
with us and God shuts us up shuts us up maybe to ourselves and
we cannot come forth And that great statement that the Apostle
makes in Galatians 3.23, before faith came, before faith came
we were kept under the law, shot up to
the faith which would afterward be revealed. Oh the Lord has
to give us that faith, has to reveal that faith to us. to look
to Him, to trust in Him, to cast all our cares upon Him. Whoso
is wise and will observe these things, we are to be observant
of these things, the ways of God. And then we have a fourfold
text, don't we, because it appears also in verse 21. And what do we read previous
to that? where we read really of those
who are brought into sickness. Verse 17, Fools, because of their
transgressions and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
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, and delivered them, from
their destructions and the refrain, O that men would praise the Lord
for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. It's interesting isn't it? It
must be some spiritual experience because what does God's Word
do? He sends His Word to heal them. It's His Word that heals
them. It's His Word that delivers them.
from all that seems to be nothing but destruction to them surely we are to understand this
in a spiritual sense those who feel their sins those who are
sick of sin those who are sick of themselves they that are whole
need not the physician but they that are sick says the Lord Jesus
I came not to call the righteous but sinners sinners unto repentance. Oh, there's so much in the psalm,
isn't there? The wondrous works of God, His
works are wondrous, be it in creation, the wonders of creation,
the foolishness of men who deny the Creator God, the mystery
of His providences, those things that come into our lives and
we can't understand and we can't interpret and we have to look
to God Oh, but the wonders of that God who is the God of grace
and the God of salvation. And that God who has made every
provision for us in that He has ordained prayer, the throne of
grace. And we have that refrain also,
don't we? Time and again, verse 6, Then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them
out of their distresses. again at verse 13 then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble and He saved them out of their
distresses. Verse 19 then they cried unto
the Lord in their trouble and He saved them out of their distresses. Verse 28 then they cried unto
the Lord in their trouble and He bringeth them out of their
distresses. There's praise but there's prayer also and prayers lead to praises that's
the wonder of God isn't it? as we pray we finish up we have
to praise the Lord and we praise him for what? for his loving
kindness or the psalm concludes on that great note the loving
kindness of the Lord what is the loving kindness of the Lord?
Well, this is a word. It's one of the great words,
I would say, of Scripture. Certainly one of the great words
that we have here in the Old Testament. And it's a word that's
so full, so pregnant in meaning. Loving kindness is often rendered,
but it can be rendered in different ways. It also has the idea of
God's steadfast love. His steadfast love. or we might
think of his sure mercies or we might speak of his sovereign
grace it's a word that really speaks of his covenant and his
faithfulness in the covenant it's associated with the covenant
very much so I will make an everlasting covenant with you he says even
the sure mercies of David and think of David as he comes to
his last what does he say concerning this God he hath made with me
an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure this is
all my salvation and all my desire or some of you remember dear
old Sidney Norton and how often he would say you know it's all
in the covenant it's all in the covenant everything that comes
to us It's there in the covenant. And thinking of these three Psalms,
if we go back to Psalm 105, what do we read? Verse 8, He has remembered
His covenant forever. The words which He commanded
to a thousand generations, which covenant He made with Abraham
and His oath unto Isaac, and confirm the same unto Jacob for
a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant ordered ordered in all
things and sure and remember how that great Englishman Oliver
Cromwell as he came to die what did he say to his family, his
children they gathered there at his deathbed I leave you the
covenant to feed on you see or that was his last bequest to
them I leave you the covenant to feed on or else who is wise
and will observe these things even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord the Lord give us wisdom the Lord
give us understanding or the Lord make us to know what his
loving kindness is his great covenant faithfulness those sure
mercies of David Might that be your portion to die? And the
Lord bless his word to us then. Amen.