If you would, turn back with
me to Psalm 107. This is a psalm of thanksgiving. All that the Lord hath redeemed,
all those he saved, all those he's shown their sinfulness and
their need of him, they thank him. In verse 2 it says, let
the redeemed of the Lord say so. And that's what they do.
They praise the Lord. They tell of His goodness. They
tell of His kindness. Of His mercy. That He's a just
God. And they were undeserving. Undeserving. The first verse says, O give
thanks unto the Lord. That's what we should do. Always
give thanks unto the Lord. We have nothing but what we received.
For he is good. Everything our God does is good. He's good. He's just. He's holy. He's right in everything
he does. The soul that goes to hell, he's
right in punishing that soul. The soul he has mercy on, He's
right and good in that, that he chose to have mercy on them
because they deserve to go to hell too. We all deserve hell,
but he chose a few. Chose a few out of this world. He told the rich young ruler,
in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it's all recorded, he told that rich
young ruler, he said, there's none good but one. And that's
God. None good but one. We're told
in Psalm 14.3 there's none good as far as man. There's none good.
There's none righteous. No, not one. Not one of us deserves
anything but condemnation that God should give us. It's by his
mercy that he keeps us this side of hell. And men today are out here blaspheme in the name of the
God, using his name in vain when they should be praising his name
for the life and the soul they have. He's a just God. He will not
let sin go unpunished. His mercy endureth forever. Why he would have mercy on some,
I can't explain. The fact that he had it on one
would have been more than enough. But this world is still going
because he still has people to have mercy on. They're still
the redeemed that have not been saved or shown. They've been
saved. They haven't been shown that
they've been saved, haven't been revealed to. It says in verse two, it says,
let the redeemed of the Lord say so. That's what we'll do.
That's what the redeemed of the Lord will proclaim once the Lord
saves them, reveals himself to them. They'll say, thanks unto
the Lord for he is good. They'll see all this that's in
this text of where they came from and where they're going,
where the Lord has taken them. Or everything the Lord has done
for him, guided him to the points to where he revealed himself
to him, called him, everything is at the hands of the Lord.
In that same verse it says, whom he hath redeemed from the hand
of the enemy. We're all under sin. Sin was the enemy. And we're
all under it. And he chose. people before the
foundation of the world. He chose us. He called us. He led us in everything that
we've done. And he redeemed us. The Lord
Jesus Christ came down and shed his blood for his people. I looked up the word redeemed.
It means delivered from bondage, distress, penalty, liability,
or from the possession of another by paying an equivalent. The
Lord Jesus Christ did what we couldn't do in a life of eternity. Those people, the people that
end up that the Lord did not call, they will pay for their
sins for an eternity and they still will not be paid. They
will never be paid. The Lord Jesus Christ did in
a few hours what we could not do. He paid a sin debt with his
blood and his life that we could not pay. He redeemed us. He purchased us. I heard an illustration. I don't
know that I can tell it right, but it's the same as going to
the grocery store. You get a basket full of groceries.
Now, you got one of two choices. You can walk up to the cash register,
ring it up, pay for it all, and walk out, they're redeemed, they're
yours, you do what you want with. You can walk out that door and
steal them, and they're still not yours. They still belong
to the store. You're just a thief and you took
them. And that's what we've done is stolen from our God. We've
stolen from our God. We've tried to steal his righteousness,
steal his holiness, but he still chose. to redeem
a few. He redeemed us. He purchased
us. In verse 3, he says, and he gathered them
out of the lands from the east, from the west, from the north,
and from the south. He gathered the redeemed, all
that he had chosen. He knew exactly where he put
them. He knew exactly where he was going to send them. And he
knew exactly when he was going to reveal himself to them. He
knew it all. The Lord does everything on purpose. Everything. He told us in Psalm 106 verse
47 that our pastor just preached from. He said, save us, O Lord,
and gather us from among the heathen. That's where we were
at. We were among the heathen. And we're saved and gathered.
to give thanks for his holy name. That's what the redeemed will
say. The redeemed say so because of what the Lord has done for
us. Jeremiah 23, turn there with
me if you would. In verse 1 through 4, He tells us,
he says, Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the
sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Thus, therefore, thus saith
the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people.
Ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not
visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you
the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. He said here that these
false preachers scattered his flock. But then he says in verse
3, he says, I will gather the remnant of my flock. He knows
exactly where his flock is at. He says, I will gather the remnant
of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and
will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful
and increase. The Lord did all that. He scattered
his people. Israel, the nation of Israel
in the Old Testament was scattered. They were scattered among the
nations. He knew where his sheep were at. He brought his people
back to his land. He scattered them. He knew where
they were at. He drove them there. He guided
us every way through our life. I look back on my own life before
the Lord revealed himself to me, and I see his hand in everything. I didn't see it at the time,
but I see it in everything leading me back, leading me to the gospel,
leading me. It was all His hand. He did it
all. He gathered us from the east
and the west, from the north and the south. He scattered His
people. He has a people out of every
nation, tribe, and tongue. That's what He tells us. And He knows where we're at. John 10, 27 says, My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them. He speaks, and his sheep know
him. He knows them, and they follow
me. Everyone that the Lord calls
will follow him. Our trust should always be in
the Lord. We need to call upon the Lord,
but everything He knows where we're at when
He calls, we will hear. He will make us willing in the
day of His salvation. The salvation is of the Lord,
nothing in man. Now, the next few verses here,
verses four, I guess my understanding, I'm not a musician, so I understand
this is actually songs. So there's a chorus here, and
four times, He tells us the same thing in two different verses
about crying unto the Lord in their trouble, and men should
praise the Lord for his goodness. But before that, in each one,
before each course, I guess it would be the verses, he tells
us what we are. Verses 3, basically 4 through
18, he tells us where we were at, what we were, and where he
found us. Verse 4, he says, they wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell
in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Is that not the way we are? We still can be at times, even
though the Lord has saved us. We're just wandering. This world
is not ours. The Lord has shown us that. The
Egyptians, they were content and happy for close to 400 years. Then the Lord sent a Pharaoh
that said, didn't know Joseph. He decided that the Hebrew people
were a threat. He started making their life
miserable. He made their life miserable. God sent him. God
did it. He made them miserable, and they
wanted out. And then the Lord heard their
cry. The Lord heard their cry, and he sent them a Savior in
Moses to deliver them. The Lord Jesus Christ. Moses
represented the law. The Lord Jesus Christ represented
salvation and works. He satisfied that law. And then On down in verse 10, he told
us, he said, we sit in darkness in the shadow of death being
bound in affliction and iron. Once the Lord shows us our need
or our sin, that's exactly what we see is ourselves sitting in
darkness. We're sitting in darkness. We're
in the shadow of death. were bound and afflicted because
they rebelled against the words of God. That's the reason we're
there. They despised the counsel of
the Most High. That's what the word contempt
means. I had to look it up, sorry. They contemned the counsel of
God. They despised the counsel of the Most High. As sinners did we not before,
in darkness did we not despise the counsel of the Most High.
I've heard men say they would not have a God, sovereign God,
rule over them. They have one, they're just in
darkness and they despise it. And he brought down their heart
with labor and they fell down and there was none to help. That's
where the Lord needs to put us, show us There's nowhere to turn
but the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. We
have to be brought low. We have to be brought down. We
have to see there's no help besides the Lord. None whatsoever. And then in verse 17 he says,
fools, because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities,
are afflicted. We're afflicted because of our
sins. The Lord shows us, reveals himself to us. We see our sin
is ever before us. He doesn't say it. He does not
say our sins. He's forgiven our sins. He's
put them as far away from the east as to the west. But we still
see them while we're here, and we have no continuing city in
this world, none. Their soul of whoreth all manner
of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death." That's where
we were at. The redeemed of the Lord were
near the gates of death. That's what we see. And then
he tells us in verses 6, 13, and 19, then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. The Lord brought us low. showed
us our sins, showed us our need of something that we didn't have,
which was the Lord Jesus Christ. We cried. We cried to the Lord. And he brought us out of our
distresses. That's what the Lord did for us. He brought us out
of our distresses. And after each one of those verses
that he tells, he tells a different way. that he performed this for
us. And this is all of the Lord.
Verses 7, he said, and he led them forth by the right way that
they might go into a city of habitation. The city of habitation, the Lord
has created a place for us. He's created a city, and it's
not in this world. He's led us forth by the right
way. He shows us the right way. He
shows us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the right way, the
only way to a saving Lord. When we cry out in trouble, we
need to be like Peter. Peter cried, Lord, save me or
I perish. The leper cried, Lord, if you
will, you can make me whole. The thief on the cross, he acknowledged
his sin, he acknowledged his judgment, and he cried to the
Lord for mercy. The Lord saved him. We're told,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Whosoever. A man will not cry unless he's
in this despair that this text describes. He'll see no need
of crying unless the Lord has brought him love. and shown him,
and our Lord's arm is not short. He reaches down into the deep
to get us. In verse 20, he said, he sent
his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. He sent his word, the Lord Jesus
Christ, He healed his people from their sin. Men have illnesses, diseases,
and they're always talking about being healed from those. The
disease that we need to be healed from is sin. Sin is the only
disease we need to be healed from. If he heals us from our
sin, it doesn't matter whether we walk as a cripple. It doesn't
matter whether our hair has fallen out. It doesn't matter whether
we have a cancer. Sin is the cancer that only the
Lord can heal. And he done it by his blood and
his sacrifice. He paid the sin debt for his
people. And then the next verse is after that.
verses 8, 15, and 21. Oh, that men would praise
the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children
of men. Our Lord is gracious. Our Lord
is merciful. Our Lord is good. Even the children of men, everyone,
in this world should praise the Lord for his goodness. The redeemed
of the Lord will because the Lord has shown them his goodness. The Lord, they will praise the Lord for
his goodness. But men should. We went through a dry spell here
for about a month. And in the last two or three
days, the Lord has sent substantial rain to us. But it rained on
the unjust as well as the just. And men still complain. They
complain because it ruined their day. They couldn't get outside
and do what they wanted to do because it was raining and storming. I was praising the Lord. My yard, I've been there nine
years and I haven't seen it this brown. I was praising the Lord
for the rain. I was happy to go out and stand
in it for a while. Love the water of life. That's
Christ. Christ is our water of life.
That's what we need. We need to praise the Lord for
His goodness and His wonderful works. The fact that He would
save a single soul, the fact that He would save a single soul
is just beyond me. The fact that he would save as
many as he has in this congregation, that's another thing. Well, we
have congregations all over this country, even the world. Mexico,
Mexico has quite a few from my understanding. The Lord has his
people everywhere. They're not large in number,
in their locations, but the Lord has his sheep and he adds to
them daily as needed, as he has determined. And then after these verses,
in verse 22, he's told us this little group right here,
he says, and let them sacrifice the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and declare his works with rejoicing. We have to come before our God,
a holy God, with a sacrifice. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to praise him. We need to thank him every day
of our life. Thank him for everything. No
matter how small you think it is, thank him for it. Thank him for that breath that
he gave us this morning to get up. To draw us and bring us right
here to sit and hear the sound of the gospel. Hear these wonderful
the piano being played, hear the songs being sung that praise
Him, the Gospel and His Scripture that tell of His work and everything
He's done for His people. Thank Him for everything. And then it says, and they go
down, in verse 23, they that go down to the sea and ships
that do business in the great waters, These see the works of
the Lord and his wonders in the deep. We go out into this world. We see the horrors of this world,
the sin of this world. And it makes us long for our
Lord. It brings us back. He doesn't leave us there. Just
like Jonah, he prepared a storm for Jonah. He prepared a fish
to swallow him up. Jonah was one of his, but was
trying to run from the Lord. And the Lord was going to show
him his greatness, his wonders. And Jonah saw how wonderful the
Lord was. And he prayed, and the Lord delivered
him. He called, he cried in his distress
and his trouble. The Lord delivered him from his
distresses. And he will do that for everyone
of his own. Again, he said, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord. If you're in trouble, call upon
the name of the Lord. We need to seek him while he
may be found. He's near. We need to seek him. It says, the Lord, he commandeth,
in verse 25, he commandeth and raises the stormy wind which
lifted up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven,
they go down again to the depths, and their soul is melted because
of trouble. The Lord commanded the stormy
wind. The Lord lifted up the waves. I thought, too, Isn't that like
our sinful nature now that even though the Lord has revealed
himself to us, we have two men worn in us. Paul said in Romans
7, he said, that that I would do, I don't do. And that that
I would not do is what I do. We have two men worn in us, but
when we look to God, when we trust in the Lord, we're lifted
up. We're on that wave. lifted up,
like it said here. But whenever we look to ourselves
for a second, we're brought down. We're brought low. We're brought
back down into that depth. And our soul is melted because
of trouble. We need to always look to the
Lord. Don't even look to ourselves for anything. There's no righteousness
in us. There's nothing good in ourselves. Only God is good. only god only
one verse 28 then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble
and he bringeth them out of their distress again he brought us
out of our trouble and he maketh a storm a calm
so that the waves thereof are still I was listening to a man preaching
from this and I loved this part of it He maketh the storm a calm. Our Lord, He created the storm,
but He also made it a calm. Our sins are a torment and a
storm, but in Christ we have rest. Christ is at rest. Matthew 8, 26. The Lord on the ship and the disciples
fearing when the storm blew up, the Lord was sleeping, And he said unto them, why are
ye fearful? O ye of little faith. Then he
arose, rebuked the winds, and there was a great calm. God, manifest in the flesh, was
on this ship. He had caused this storm to show his disciples that they
didn't have any faith without him. And he rebuked the winds,
and there was great calm. He caused the storm to arise.
He calmed the winds from it. Just like with our sin, as I
said, our sin is a storm. Looking to Christ is a rest.
That's our calm. That's our calm. What we need
to look to is the Lord Jesus Christ. and his salvation, his
righteousness, because the Lord is our righteousness. And then verse 30 says, and then
they were glad because they be quiet. So he bringeth them under
their desired haven. The Lord calms the soul. Our God manifest in the flesh, paid our
sin debt. He is our rest. He is our calm. He makes us quiet. Jude, verse 24, you don't have
to turn there, says, now unto him that is able to keep you
from falling and to present you faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy. That's what our Lord Jesus Christ
did. He died on the cross. He paid. He laid down his life,
shed his blood, and he's able to keep us from
falling. And he's able to present us faultless before God, before
a holy God. In him, if we stand in Christ,
we will be presented faultless, without sin, And it will be nothing
to do with anything we did. It will be His righteousness
and His righteousness alone. He chose us before the foundation
of the world. He knew exactly when we would
be born and when He would bear us again, reveal Himself to us. He told Nicodemus that we must
be born again. We must be born of spirit and
water. Not a thing we can do with that. No man in here, woman,
child, decided who their parents were going to be or when they
were going to be born. The Lord Jesus Christ chose to
have mercy on some, compassion on some. It's all his mercy and
his honor. And it says again in verse 31,
oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for
his wonderful works to the children of men. We should always, as I said before,
we should always praise the Lord and the redeemed of the Lord
will. Verse 32, let them exalt him also in the congregation
of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders. the redeemed of the Lord. We'll
be here. We'll be wherever there's a gospel
preaching when they can, when the Lord brings them. In his
providence, the Lord puts us in those places. We have a local
assembly. We will be there. And we will
be praising the Lord. We will be exalting him in the
congregation of the people. And we'll praise him in the assembly
of the elders. We're going to be exalting Him
and praising Him and hopefully, that's what we're doing this
morning, is exalting Him and praising Him. He gets all the
honor and all the glory. It's His holiness. He saved His people to praise
Him. Saved us and gathered us to praise
Him. That's what the redeemed of the
Lord say so. And then the verses, 33 and on, he says, and turneth
rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground,
a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that
dwell therein. I heard a man say that this was,
and I kind of tend to believe it, it's where the gospel was. It's dried up. He's taken it
away from that But he's giving it to another. Because he turned the rivers
into a wilderness. Don't we feel like we have an
oasis right here? If the Lord takes that away, it will be dried
up and barren. And I pray that the Lord will
not take it away from us. Pray that he will not. And you look through the scriptures
at the churches that were in the New Testament, the epistles
that were written, they're no longer there. The Lord can take
away his groups. He will not cast away his sheep
though. A fruitful land and a barrenness
for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. He turneth the
wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water springs.
There he brings the gospel to them. He just took the wilderness and
made it stand in water and dry ground into water springs. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the water of life. And there he maketh the hungry
to dwell. Are we hungry? Do we need this gospel? He makes us to dwell there, that
they may prepare a city for habitation. The Lord has created a city of
habitation for us. It's not of this world. And so
the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase,
he blesses them also so that they are multiplied greatly and
suffer not their cattle to decrease. Again they are minished and brought
low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He poureth contempt
upon princes, causes them to wander in the wilderness where
there is no way. Yet setteth he the poor on the
high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock." I had wrote down something there. Sermon on the Mount, the Lord
said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God, or kingdom of
heaven. He setteth the poor on high. Those that are humble, he raises
up. Those that are filled with pride,
he brings down. He brings them down. The righteous shall see it and
rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. The redeemed of the Lord will
see all of this, and iniquity stops her mouth. We praise the Lord. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. Turn with me to Jeremiah 31.
I'll read this in closing. First three verses. At the same time, saith the Lord,
will I be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall
be my people. We're all. Everyone that the
Lord saves is a Jew. We're one inwardly, not one outwardly. And thus saith the Lord, the
people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness,
even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. There again the
Lord tells us he causes the rest. The rest is in Christ. The Lord
hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. Our Lord chose his people and
loved us with an everlasting love that will never fail. His purpose will always be done. He said, That I have purpose,
that I do. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. The Lord, we see the loving kindness
of the Lord in the fact that he would save a sinner like me. Thank y'all. And Lord have mercy
on them.