Take your Bibles again and turn
with me to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. I've entitled this message, The Reconciliation
of the Rebel. The Reconciliation of the Rebel. Begin our reading in verse 10.
Scripture says, such as sit in darkness in the shadow of death,
being bound in affliction and iron. Now why are they in this
condition? 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. Oh, 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. As we have discussed this psalm
now a couple of times together, we know that this psalm is written
to the redeemed for the purpose of giving thanks. Oh, 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 his enemy. You that have been redeemed,
this is the word of God to you. Give thanks. Give thanks. This morning I woke up with a
bunch of murmurs. I had a lot to complain about
and I couldn't wait to get started. What to God I had a thankful
heart. I would not have room to complain. Oh give thanks because
he is good. What's the proof of his goodness?
He hath redeemed us from the hand of our enemy. What's the
proof of his redemption? Verse 2, and gathered them. This is the proof of our redemption,
is that we were lost and He gathered us. He found us. He saved us. Therefore, isn't it just reasonable
to give thanks? Like I said, often times I'm
not reasonable. I'm very unreasonable. May God
give us hearts. This is why it's written. He
says, oh give thanks because what? We're not prone to it.
If we were prone to it, why would he say it? Why would he remind
us to give thanks? Because we're prone to murmur
and not give thanks. What are we to give thanks for?
He has redeemed us. There's the sole reason, if you
don't have any other reason to give thanks, This is the most
valuable thing you possess. He hath redeemed us and gathered
us. Behold the goodness of God. Behold
the goodness of God that He purposed to do this. You weren't redeemed
on accident. You were redeemed on purpose.
His purpose. He purposed to do this. In goodness
and love, the Son of God purposed to be our surety. The goodness
of Christ is revealed in His offering for sin that He suffered
the just for the unjust to bring us to God. Consider then the
cost of this redemption. If we're to give thanks, we have
to know how valuable this redemption is. There's a hymn that I love to
hear sang. I guess I don't sing it, but
we don't sing it here. I don't think we have the music,
but it says, Behold the man upon the cross, my sins upon his shoulders. Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
call out among the scoffers. His dying breath have brought
me life. Don't you have reason to give
thanks? If my salvation's finished, I have reason to give thanks.
It's finished. Our redemption of our souls has
been accomplished. God has, by Christ, has exacted
full redemption payment for our sins. And God, willing to testify
of his perfection, raised him from the dead, where he is now
ascended to the right hand of God, having all power given to
him for this express purpose, to give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. Therefore, this is why he has gathered us.
And know this, be thankful concerning this, that all he has redeemed
he will gather. All Christ redeemed he will gather.
There is not one that shall not be gathered to him. He told us that of all that the
Father hath given me I should lose nothing. This is our Savior. Behold the great things that
He has done. We could never have redeemed
ourselves. We could have never gathered
ourselves to God. We would have never loved Him
had He not loved us. And we could never endure to
the end in faith unless He keeps us. Peter said this, Who are kept? Isn't that a beautiful word?
I like that. Kept. What keeps you? Why do you keep
coming to Christ? Why do you keep believing on
Christ? Simply this, you are kept. Not by your power. Isn't that good? Often when I think about my power,
I fear, because I don't have power to keep myself. We are kept by the power of God
under salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. Now,
as I've told you then in verses 4 down through verse 31, we now
begin to see these pictures and types of those who have been
redeemed, those who have been gathered And the first one we
went over is the wanderer, verses 3 through 9. They wandered about
in a solitary way, a desolate way. Hungry and thirsty, they
fainted within themselves. That's exactly our experience.
We wandered about, we had lost the way. We could not find a
way. We wandered. Until when? Until we ran out of food. Until
we ran out of hope. God brought us to the end of
ourselves and then what? They cried unto Him. They cried unto the Lord and
He delivered them. He gave us food to eat. What
is our food? Our necessary food. What is your
necessary food? Is it not the bread of life?
It is Jesus Christ. That is my necessary food. And the second one we are going
to look at tonight, verses 10 through verse 16, this analogy
of the rebel. Look at that again in verse 10.
He says, And such as sit in darkness in the shadow of death, being
found in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against
the Lord. They rebelled. So tonight, I want us to see
we who have been gathered. You have been gathered. When
I talk about the rebel, you know this, that I'm talking about
us. I know all men are rebels, but
the important thing is for the redeemed of the Lord to remember
who we are. We, by nature, were rebels. And
I want us to see four points concerning the rebel. First of
all, the character of the rebel. Secondly, the position of the
rebel. Where is he? Where is this rebel
who rebelled against God? And then thirdly, I want us to
see the reconciliation of this rebel. How he's reconciled to
God. And thirdly, the deliverance
of it. Deliverance of this rebel. Now, who is the rebel? They rebelled
against the Word of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High. The next character that the Lord
deals with is the fool. The fool. The fool and the rebel
have many things in common. They both contend the Word of
God. They both despise the Word of God. But the difference between
the fool and the rebel is that the fool does it unknowingly. The fool is one who is deceived. But the rebel is one who does
it knowing full well he does it. You can see this in Adam and
Eve. These two. Remember, our mother was deceived. And we look at her conversation
with the enemy and we say what? She was foolish. She was foolish
to talk to him. She was foolish and she was foolish,
so foolish she was deceived as to sin. That's what 1 Timothy
2.14 says that Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived
was in the transgression. But now Adam, he's a different
character, he's not a fool, he's a rebel. He did it with his eyes
wide open. He willingly, knowingly rebelled
against God. And because of his rebellion,
every one of us are born with this same heart. A heart of rebellion. A heart of rebellion. Consider
what Romans 8 verse 7 says, For the carnal mind is enmity against
God. What is that but rebellion? Hatred? We are born into this world,
we are born haters of God. How do you know? For it is not
subject, in rebellion it is not subject
to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. You see,
all of us are born with some understanding of God and His
law. This is plainly covered in Romans chapter 1 and chapter
2. The Apostle Paul tells us, that which is known of God is
manifest to us. It showed unto us the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world being clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even the eternal
power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because when
they knew God, they rebelled. What men know about God, naturally,
they rebel against it. They glorify Him not as God,
neither are thankful. And because of this rebellion,
what? They became fools. You see? Because of what they
knew they rebelled against, then they became fools because of
it. Why? Because the law of God is written
in our hearts. It's written in your hearts.
So then no one is without excuse. So then we knowing the law of
God, we knowing the power of God, the deity of God, by the
things that are created, what does men do with it? What do
they do with this knowledge? They rebel. What do they say? There's no creator! You realize how moronic that
is, right? You realize how utterly foolish
that is? They know it in their hearts,
yet they rebel against it. But remember, our text is speaking
to us. Because what they do, we did. What they do, we did, and it
was worse. Worse. In fact, it is this rebellious
nature that God finds every one of his elect people. Is it not
true when we were gathered that God found us as rebels? And this is what makes a rebel.
Look what the Word of God says makes a rebel. They rebelled against the words
of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High. What does a rebel do is he takes
what's known of God and throws it behind his back, knowingly,
willingly. But more than anything else,
this is speaking of the gospel of Christ. What is the counsel
of God to sinners? Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And what do men
do with this knowledge? They contemn the counsel of the
most high. They will not come to Christ. They will not come
to Christ. We know this, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous,
no, not one. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. But I tell you
of a perfect righteousness. I tell you of a perfect redemption. I tell you of a perfect salvation. Something that God has already
accomplished. that Jesus Christ is the only
hope for the sinner. Isaiah 55, Seek the Lord while
he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. What is the way of the wicked?
It's rebellion. Forsake your rebellious way. Let the unrighteous man his thoughts
and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy. You know what men despise? They
despise mercy. What men by nature want is merit. So then all who refuse to come
to Christ are nothing but rebels. Rebels. The gospel says lay down
your arms. Lay down your arms, come to Christ,
but to refuse is nothing but treason. Somebody asked me recently, you
mean to tell me if this person that I know who is a good person,
they do all of these good things. They're really kind and gentle,
and they don't hurt anybody, and they really try to take care
of everybody. You mean to tell me if they don't
believe on Jesus Christ, they'll die and go to hell? Yes! You know why? They contemn the
counsel of the Most High. They rebel against the counsel
of God. It's not a small thing, friends. So this is the rebel. This is
the heart of the rebel. To contemn the counsel of the
devil. To defy God. To not believe on
Christ is to defy God. It is to be in rebellion. Secondly,
the position of the rebel. Look at verse 10. Such as sit
in darkness in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction
and iron. When man is living in rebellion,
he believes himself to be wise and free. He takes the word of God and
the counsel of God and sets his own counsel above God's. God
says, believe my son. And a man says, well, I don't
like that. I think, you know, maybe believing
your son is part of it, but I need to do something else. So he sets his own counsel above
God's. He takes the word of God in his
own rebellion casts it behind his back. What are men supposed to accomplish
by this? I know they don't think this
through. What do you suppose they accomplish? Take this word
and they throw it behind their back and they just, what are
they supposed to accomplish by that? Do they think that by putting
this, I remember watching this show and this guy had a girlfriend
and then he was kissing his girlfriend and he had a picture of Jesus
and he turned the picture down. That's what they think of him. What do they suppose by doing
this rebellion? I remember what Jesus said to Saul. He said,
why do you kick against a prick? Yet men do in rebellion. Is this not how men talk in rebellion? I'll have my own way. I'll have
my own way. What was that song by Frank Sinatra?
I did it my way. Uh-huh. Oh, yes, you did. And today he's in hell, okay?
He did it his way. Why, it's rebellion. That's the
heart of man, to do it their own way. The rebel is one, listen, he
is not free as he's supposed but rather is enslaved. He is
enslaved and he is bound, listen, sitting in darkness and the shadow
of death being bound in affliction. All men who are in rebellion
against God are as one that is in a dungeon under the sentence
of death and yet they are blind to see their chains. They cannot
see They feel as though sin is something that frees them, when
it's actually something that binds them. Chains them to the justice of
God. And so then men, by nature being
rebels, could never free themselves from the guilt of sin. They cannot
free themselves from the power of sin. And they cannot free
themselves from the presence of sin. Every one of you who have been
redeemed, have you not tried to free yourself? Can you escape your sin? Can you unchain yourself? No. Therefore, because a sentence
against an evil work is not executed speedily, the heart of the sons
of men are fully set in them to do evil. Rebel. The only hope then for the sinner
in such a position is that the glory of God should shine out
of the darkness. That God should shine the light
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in their hearts. Because this is the condition
and position of every rebel that Jesus saved. Every one of you
that's saved, you understand what it is to be a rebel and
you understand what it is to sit in darkness. You know what
it is to be chained to religion, don't you? Trying to always save
yourself and never find peace, never find contentment, always. The only hope is that Jesus Christ
come and give you light. And then this is the third thing,
the conversion or the reconciliation of the rebel. This is true of all men. We are all rebels and we are
all sitting in darkness. But what makes the difference
between those of us who have been redeemed, those of us who
have been saved, is simply this. God made choice. among us. The only reason we
are sitting here redeemed, the only reason we rebels were converted,
we rebels are now made servants of God, is because God made choice,
because God from the beginning has chosen us in Christ. purpose that we should be holy
and because of that Christ came and redeemed us by the blood
of his cross. Therefore it is of necessity
that the Spirit of God gathered us. It was of necessity Though we
were in rebellion, though we were under the bondage of sin,
yet it was the purpose and will of God to save rebels. Rebels. We like that scripture in Psalm
110, He hath made us willing in the
day of His power. We were rebels. We were unwilling. We contemned the counsel of the
Most High. We shook our fist in the face
of God. And yet, because of His eternal
grace and mercy toward us, He made this rebel willing. A willing subject. How do you do that? Look at verse 12. Therefore,
he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there
was none to help. If God is ever going to make
a rebel willing, He must bring him down. This is always the way. There
is no other way. In order for a rebel to be made
subject, the rebel which is by nature proud must be abased. He must be abased. I was witnessing to a woman this
last week and she was really upset at me because I kept putting
myself down. He said, why do you keep putting
yourself down? I don't understand. He said,
I don't like that when you put yourself down. I said, you know
what? I can't exalt God if I'm exalting myself. One of us has
to be abased and the other has to be exalted. And so what does
God do? In order to exalt His Son, He
abases the sinner. He brings him down with labor. Isn't this how He brought us
down? We saw our need, but yet we could not stop rebelling. We could not cease from sinning. We could not free ourselves. The bars of iron were too thick,
the chains were too heavy, we could not free ourselves. And
then we came to this point, there's no hope for me. I know God is good to Israel,
but as for me, I have no hope. Have you ever been there? That's
where God brings sinners, rebels. He brings them to the end of
themselves. that there is nothing we can
do to satisfy God. When God brings a rebel low,
this is always the result. Look at what they do. Verse 13,
ìThen they cried unto the Lord in their trouble.î I cried unto the Lord in my sin. I couldn't get out of it. There was nothing I could offer
God. There was nothing I could give. He had every right to condemn
me as a rebel. There was no hope for me. What do they do? They cry unto
Him. They cry unto the Lord. And what
does He do? Well, I'll tell you what, you
shouldn't have rebelled. You know, you sorry no good. Is that what He does? When a
sinner comes with nothing, what does God do? Does He condemn
him? Christ said, I came not to condemn the world. Why? It was already condemned. I don't
need to condemn it twice. But to save. Isn't this the most gracious
thing you ever heard? They cried. Who? Rebels. Haters of God. Brought to nothing. And they come with nothing. And what does He do to them?
And he saved them out of their distresses. He saved them. God works submission in the soul. The rebel is brought down to
nothing and God comes in mercy and preaches the gospel of his
son. And this is the deliverance of
the rebel, the fourth thing. When the rebel is made to see
the vanity of his works, he comes, he cries unto God. And what is
the answer of God? Is it not Christ? Isn't this
always the answer for the rebel? Any rebels? Is there anyone in
need? Any treasonous sinner that needs
help, hope, salvation? What is God's answer to those
that cry unto Him? It is Christ. It is always Christ. It is His Son. Jesus is the light that gives
life. Look what He does for them. He
brought them out of darkness. You know, when God saved me,
I saw no light of how I could be saved. I saw no hope of how
I could be saved. Until what? Until I saw Christ.
He's the light. He's the light in the darkness.
I saw then how that God might be just and justify me. It's
by Jesus Christ. He brought light into the darkness. He brought us out of the darkness
and the shadow of death. And what did He do? He break
our bands asunder. Verse 16, He hath broken the
gates of brass and cut the bars of iron. How did he do this? By burying
my sin in his own body on the tree, he completely extinguished
the justice of God that was against me. Imagine a prisoner in jail. How then can he justly be set
free unless the crime is paid for? The only way God can cut the
bar, and notice He just didn't open the bars of iron. He cut
them up. Isn't that wonderful? You can't
be brought back into jail. You can't be put back in this
dungeon. Why? They've been cut up. He cut the bars of iron. Why?
Because He hath removed our sins from us. So that the law of God,
the justice of God can never come back on me. Therefore, if the sun shall set
you free, you shall be free slightly." Oh, you shall be free indeed.
I love that illustration of the year of Jubilee. Remember every
49th year on the great day of atonement. They said in that
year, those that sold themselves, what a picture that is. We who
are like the prodigal son, we said give me what's coming to
me. And we took it and we spent it
all But you remember what happened
to him when he came to the end of himself. There he is in the
hog pen eating. The hogs are eating better than
he is. And he says, you know what? I'm going to go back to
my father's house and be a slave. What happened to that rebellious
spirit? That spirit that took him out to the hog pen, it's
gone, isn't it? And what does he want? Just make
me a slave. Just please, just let me sleep
outside with the servants. I'm not worthy to sleep in the
house anymore. When he came back, how did the
father welcome him? How did the father receive him?
He said, Father, I have sinned against thee and against heaven.
And the father, shut up. He said, get the best robe and
put it on. Put a ring on his finger. My son who was dead is
now alive. We who are rebels brought to
the end of ourselves when Christ delivers us. He delivers us fully
and completely from our sins. We are received in the presence of God even as Jesus is received. I don't know about you, but that
is an amazing thought, that when I go to God, I am just as well
received as His Son. Why? Because He brought this
rebel, And He saved me out of all my
distresses. I don't know about you, but I feel
distressed a lot. But truly, what do I have to
be distressed about? Is there anything, really, that
should distress me so much? Seeing that I am free. from all the guilt of my sin. I am free from the power of my
sin. You know, my sin once enslaved
me so that I could not believe on Christ and I could not love.
But now it can't stop me. One day I'll be free from the
presence of it. Not yet. We still abide. That rebellious
nature still sticks his head up, doesn't it? How often and
daily does that rebellious nature defy and contemn the Word of
God? Jonah did that, didn't he? Go
to Nineveh. Nope. I'm going to go to Tarsus. But isn't this our constant experience
in life? him constantly putting down this
rebellious old man. But look how sweetly he did it
for Jonah. How often he did it for Israel. How often does he do it for us? I was a wandering sheep. I did
not love the fold. I did not love my shepherd's
voice. I loved afar to Rome. I was a
rebel. The father sought his sheep, found me nigh to death, famished,
faint and lone. He bound this wandering sheep, and brought me safely to the
fold. Is this not reason to give thanks? What an amazing Savior! What an awesome work of God's
grace to take a rebel and make Him
a son. I pray that God be blessing this
to your heart as He does mine. I pray God give us thankful hearts
for what great things He's done for us. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and mercy. Pour out your Spirit upon us.
Exalt Christ in our minds and hearts for his wonderful work
of redemption. Thank you for the work of thy
Spirit upon our hearts to bring down the rebel, and in grace cause us to cry
to Christ and find all we need, that he has delivered us He has
removed us from darkness and the bondage, saved us from the wrath of Thy
hand. Help us to ever give praise and
thanksgiving for His work and person. In His name I ask, amen.