Thank you for that hymn, that
psalm. Go back to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. Read verses 23 and
24 with me again. They that go down to the sea
and ships They that do business in great
waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the
deep. Great waters, deep waters. These
are verses we've looked at many times together. But I believe it is especially
applicable and needful at this time, a time when some in here,
many everywhere, many of the brethren are going through these
great waters, great waters. Once again, before I begin, I
want to get to the end, just in case I run out of time. I want to declare the end from
the beginning. Now in verse 28, it says of these
who go through great waters, they cry unto the Lord and he
bringeth them out. of their distresses. All of them. Every one of them. Whoever they
are, we're going to see who they are, they all go through these
great waters and they're all brought out. Every last one of
them. He makes the storm a calm, no
matter how treacherous storm makes it calm. All of them, but the waves are
still. They don't go over their heads
like they seem to. Verse 30, and then they're glad.
Oh, they're so glad because of the quiet. and joy, quietness,
gladness. I was put gladness in my heart,
David said, the man who went through these waters. And so
he brings them unto their desired haven. Every last one of them
are brought to dry land. Haven, which is a place of safety
and peace and rest. Every single one of them that
goes through these great waters, all safe, and glad and says,
oh, that they would praise Him. Let them exalt Him in the congregation. All of them will be singing and
shouting, praising the Lord who brought them through these great
waters. They'll even praise Him for those
waters. Praise Him for bringing them
all safe to shore. That's the end. I've declared
it from the beginning. That's the subject of our text. So great a salvation to those
who do business in deep water. Now, who are these people? It
says they. Verse 23. They. These. Verse
24. These. Verse 26. They. Them. They. These. Them. They who go down.
Those who See the wonders. Those who mount
up. Those who are cast down. Those
whose souls melt. They. Them. These. They cry. The Lord brings them out. All of them. Who are these? Who are they? You recall hearing
this in the end? That's what Gabe Bridgestone
wrote in Revelation 7. Who are these people and where
did they come from? Who are they? How did they get
here? Where did they come from? These
that he's talking about are the elect of God. Chosen by God. All of his people chosen by God.
Loved by God, predestined by God, foreknown, predestined,
called by God, called by His gospel, justified by God, by
Christ's blood, by faith. Redeemed, glorified, those who
are taught by the Father, those who are bought by God the Son,
those who are brought by the Holy Spirit, those who are robed
in righteousness, those who are washed in the blood of Christ,
those who are called, chosen, and faithful, those who are with
the Lamb. Who are these? They are the redeemed
of the Lord. The people of God. The sons of
God. These are they. And all of them, they, it says,
go down to the sea in ships. ships. I thought of these verses
that came to my mind, as I said, while we were in that little
boat. And it wasn't a few minutes later until Cody looked at me,
and we were in some rough seas, some six foot sea, meaning the
waves six foot high. They went over our head. And
the rough, weren't They were staggering around that boat.
But Cody looked at me and he said one word, a big smile on
his face, fellowship. I knew what he was talking about.
Fellows in the same ship. This passage is literally speaking
about fishermen, sailors. all of whom know something about
the sea, the greatness of sea. I'm not talking about freshwater,
crappie fishermen, deep sea fishermen, fishermen who are found in ships,
fellows in the same ship. And he says, this is for those
who go down to the sea in ships. Those who are found in Christ. Those who are in Christ's ark. Those are, Paul said, found in
Him. Those who have this fellowship
in Christ. Fellowship of the gospel. Fellowship
of His sufferings. Fellow believers in Christ's
ark. It says they go down to the sea. See that? Every word is significant.
Are you with me? I learned something here. They
that go down to the sea. You know that all the earth is
measured by the sea. sea level. Sea level. If you go to the sea, wherever
you are, you will have to go down to get there. Come down
to the sea. The Rocky Mountain is 900 and
some feet above sea level. Everything is measured by that.
Everything, that's the plumb line, the plumb line, the level. level, sea level, everything
is measured by that. You always come down and you
go to the sea. That's steady, isn't it? Everyone who comes
to God, everyone who comes to Christ, everyone whom God Almighty
brings to himself, he will bring them down, bring them down. The way up is down. Proud will
be brought low. Everyone will be brought low. Proud he will abase. But salvation
is for God to do that now in this life. Everyone is born proud,
haughty. high-minded, heady, boasters,
which the Scripture speaks of. And that's especially prevalent
in these last days. He said that will be the sign,
the clear sign of the last time, along with many other things.
But that describes modern man, doesn't it? Proud, boasters,
lofty. God said, we'll bring them all
down. They're coming down. Count on it. But God in mercy
and grace, when He He's going to save one of his own. All of
his elect, this is the first thing he does to them. He brings
them down. Level. All of them are level. On the
same level with one another, far below their God. Low. He brings them all low. They all are going to know something
of their lowliness, aren't they? Their nothingness. Nothing. Scripture said, our Lord said,
I am a worm and no man. The sons of Jacob were all brought
very low at first. But then He says to those brought
low, fear not, thou worm Jacob. Those who are brought low, He
will bring them high. Those that go down to the sea
in ships, all equal, all saved by a high hand. All that are
low, He brings high. All that are low, He shows great
mercy to and great love and great grace. The salvation of God.
So great a salvation is for those who are very low. Very low. That do business in great waters. Business. We're not talking about
recreational fishermen. That's what we did. We went out
for a little fun. A little recreation. This is
not talking about those who are in this for recreational purposes. It's a sideline. This is their
business. This is their life. Their lives
depend upon it. Their life is in the hands of
that sea and their life depends upon it. Their livelihood, the
food they eat, the welfare of their families, the sustenance
of them is dependent upon that sea and that ship. This is their
life. And these words that we're reading
are not for part-time Christians, not for those who are merely
recreational, those who come out of duty or habit, because
what would people think if we didn't, or those who come for
the fun. This is for those who must have eternal life, who realize
that In Him we live and move and have our being. In God Almighty
who feeds us and clothes us. Those who by the grace of God
have been made to realize that it is He that clothes us and
feeds us and we're in His hands to do with as He pleases. Now
God, they fear like those men fear that ocean. These men that
know something about that ocean, it's a fearful and a dreadful
thing. It's a dangerous thing. Not to be trifled with. Not to
be something to be treated lightly. Your life is either in danger
or will be sustained by it. That's a good picture, isn't
it? Of our God that men treat so carelessly. That is mere recreational
religion. But not God's people. All of
God's people. All of God's people realize something,
understand something of the greatness of these waters. They do business.
It is their life. Christ becomes their life. God. And whose hands their breath
is in all their way. They must know this God. And
they do. They know something. They all
do business. They all come to understand something
of the greatness of these waters. Like I said, I've learned something,
and we ought to every time we look at the Scriptures. There
are many things we can see in the greatness of these waters.
Great water. The first thing that these waters
represent is the Word of God. Oh, the depth. of the riches, both of the wisdom
and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable, unfathomable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out. You can dive
into these waters. You can try to fathom these waters.
You can try to plumb the depths and you won't come close. Oh,
the height and the depth and the length and the breadth of
the love of God and the mercy of God, the grace of God, the
wisdom of God, the power of God, the will of God, the covenant
of God, the Word of God. It's all right here. You'll not
find out anything about God except in these waters. All of God's people, all of them,
they'll all be taught of God. They won't trifle with this book,
but God will immerse them in it. God will put them in it and
put it in them. And they'll realize something,
not too much, more than most, but something of the wonders
of the Lord, the greatness of His Word. And it will overwhelm
them like waters. The voice of the Lord, Psalm
29 says, is upon the waters. The God of glory thundereth. You know what he says, don't
you? Some of you do. The Lord is upon many waters. The Word. Christ literally spent
His time upon those waters, didn't He? either walking on them or
riding in a ship with His men. These waters are the Word of
God. The Word of God. Those who by
the grace of God do business in these waters, it says in verse
24, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. When God Almighty opens your
eyes to see When he uses the word, David
said, the entrance of thy word giveth light. It opens your eyes. Light is the word. When God Almighty
gives you eyes to see through this word, through the reading
and preaching of it, you know what you'll see? His works. From
start to finish, won't you? In the beginning, God and in
every word from there on out is of His works and His wonders. The works of God. Psalm 19 speaks
of two books, doesn't it? My favorite psalm. Right now
it's my favorite psalm. Psalm 19. Along with this one. It says there are two books. Heavens declare His glory. The
firmament showeth His handiwork, which we'll get to that soon,
I hope. But that's the book of creation.
Things of God, His eternal power and Godhood are clearly seen
by the things that are made. All right? And all flesh beholds
that, and men are willingly ignorant of that. But also, there's another
book, a book of salvation. Oh, you know, salvation is the
work of God, the works of the triune God. As we said, God thought
it, Christ bought it, and the Holy Spirit brought it and taught
it. It's the work of God, the works of God, the wonder and
wonder of wonders that all of God's people will see revealed
through these waters. The wonder of wonders is this. He chose me. and put me in this
little boat to find that out. That's what old Simon did. And
you may remember, we looked at this together, that same message
Simon was issuing, and Andrew and James and John, you know,
and the Lord came and chose them out of all those ships and he
got in their little ship and gave the command to cast out
and cast out and he revealed himself to them and Peter wasn't
the first thing he did. Hit his knees. I'm a sinful man. You know every fish in this ocean,
you ever thought in my heart and mind, and I'm a sinful man. Depart from me." What did the
Lord do? Oh no, He's not going to depart. That's why He came.
To show you your sin and to show you Himself. That He came to
put away your sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And you know, in
the end, the Lord revealed Himself in the same way. The same way. After three and a half years,
the Lord came. These men were washing their
nets. He said, cast your net on the right side. So they foiled
all night and caught nothing. Cast your net on the right side.
And they did. And they began to catch all those
fish. And John said to Simon, it's
the Lord. It's the Lord. And Peter couldn't get out of
that boat fast enough. So the Lord continues to reveal
Himself to His people more and more. The wonders of His creation. The wonders of His salvation. Oh, you behold the works of the
Lord in these waters, the wonders in the deep. Wonders in the deep. The Word of God. Most people
have a very shallow knowledge of the Scripture. You know that?
Most preachers are very shallow. We heard one yesterday, didn't
we, Mack? They don't know this Word. It's
just something to recite, along with prayers that are written
out. But who makes us the different, huh? Blessing and blood didn't reveal
it to us, but the Father which is in heaven. How blessed we
are. Blessed art thou, Mark, Bar, Torrance. The Lord revealed
this to you. Your heavenly Father revealed
this to you. And we don't have a mere shallow... You know, people in religion
today have such a shallow, about all they can quote is John 3.16
and take it out of context. They don't have a clue what the
rest of the chapter is, who was speaking, what he was speaking
about and to whom he was speaking. Shallow. The messages they hear
are very shallow, aren't they? I've been listening, Brother
Bruce Crabtree, listening to messages, one going and one coming. And the depth, the depth, more
truth, more to chew on in one message than you'll hear in a
lifetime by these other fellows. The depth, the depth. But religion
is kind of like that fellow who never seen the ocean before and
he came up to the the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. You know,
he came up to that and he said, hmm, not as big as I thought
it'd be. I'll try that again later. All
he could see, you know, was what he could see. The earth is covered
from one end to the next. Vastness. Oh, the vastness of
the ocean. Like a fellow puts his foot in
the water. It's not as deep as I thought it was. Oh, the depth. You know, there's
places in the ocean that are deeper than the highest mountain
peak on the earth. And there are depths here that
we'll never understand. Never. Any man thinks he does. He knows nothing yet as he ought
to know nothing. Oh, the depth of God's Word. How to wonder of it. To marvel
of it. And the waters of sin. That's what this represents. David said, well, turn there,
Psalm 38. Many of you know it. If you don't,
it will be a favorite after you read this. All of God's people
know something. All that have been brought down,
all of God's people know something of the greatness of their sin
and the depth of their depravity. And this is what you'll hear
preachers preaching. God sent preachers, Brother Mack,
where you'll hear about sin and the remedy. Christ crucified. Why did Christ come? Not to just
feel our pain, but to take away our sins. To be made sin for us who knew
no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Good people don't go to heaven.
Sinners do. Christ said, I didn't come to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentant. Don't tell me what
a good man I am. Brother Scott used to say, your
only claim to heaven is your sin. So the more a man can convince
you of your sin, the more right and title you've got to heaven.
This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. Christ came
to save sinners. Don't tell me I'm a sinner preacher.
You better hear it. You better believe it. And God
better show you the depth of your depravity and the depth
of your sin. Because this gospel won't mean
a thing to you. It won't mean a thing. And you
won't mean anything to God either. Oh, but those that are blessed.
And one of the old preachers used to say, a sinner is a sacred
thing. The Holy Spirit has made Himself. How many people understand what
that saying stands? How many people? You said that.
Sinner is a sacred thing. What are you talking about? It's
a strange language. Every one of God's people know
what that means. That God Almighty sets apart His people, and this
is the first way He sets them apart. He shows them their centers.
Undone. Oh, as Isaiah said, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips. And God is holy and there's no
way I can get to Him unless He takes me there. Unless He has
mercy upon me. Grace upon me. Somehow, some
way does something with this hand that's in me. I'm a leper. I'm dead and I'm dying unless
God Almighty cures me of it. I'll not be clean. How can He
be clean that's born of a woman? This is the age-old message,
isn't it? How can man be just with God? All of God's people, they understand
something of this. Thank God He doesn't cause us
to plumb the depths of our hearts. Thank God He doesn't show us
the total the depth of our heart. You know, what we do see is enough
to almost drive us to despair. This is what David said in Psalm
38, O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy wrath, neither chasten me
in Thy hot displeasure. Your arrows, that's His word,
stick fast in me. Your hand presses me sore. There's
no soundness in my flesh. That's what Paul said, didn't
he? In my flesh dwelleth no good thing, because of thine anger
neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin. Mine iniquities are gone over
my head. I'm going to drown if you don't
pull me out. Every one of God's people go
down into The depths of this, they do. And bless God, everyone
who knows something of the depth of their depravity, who feel
like their sins are going to drown them, they dance around. Everyone. The chief of sinners. The worst. And the Lord saved
that great example of that thief, didn't He? For last. To show
us. The depth to which a man can go, and the height to which
the Lord will bring him. His very last example, while
on this earth. My, my. The worst achieved. My, my. Depth of depravity and
the last thing. Not the last, but the last one
I'm going to deal with. The greatness of these waters
are the waters of These great waters are the waters of trouble,
trials, and tribulation, which all of God's people have,
do, and shall go through. All of them. Nobody is exempt
from this. This is the trial of your faith. This tests the ship. to see who you're in. Waters are who your faith is
in. The Lord in the beginning said
this. He said you must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom
of heaven. Every one of them. You must.
It's a necessity. He ordains them. He sends every
one of them. The Lord orders these winds and
these waves. The Lord said that in the beginning to his disciples.
You must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of heaven.
And they did, all of them. And in the end, Revelation 7
says, these are they which came out. They went through it, but
they all come out. How? Look at this. Verse 28. Oh, I'm in the wrong song. Verse
28, yes. It says, They cried to the Lord
in the midst of their trouble with His deep water, and He bringeth
them out. He bringeth them out. They all
go through these deep waters, troubles, sorrows, fears. They all go through
it, but they all come out on dry land. There's no coincidence that people
in the beginning, the Israelites, the Lord parted that Red Sea
and they all walked through on dry land. Dry land. No mud on their feet when they
got on the other side. Not one drop of water touched
them on the other side. No water on them. Our Lord said,
every tear will be wiped away. No tears. No tears. dry feet. They all, later on,
when they were entering into the Promised Land, actually,
they went through the Jordan, didn't they? The Lord parted
that again from dry land. They all made it to the other
side. But they go through deep water. Go through deep, deep
water. But they'll end up with nothing
Nothing on their mind, nothing in their heart. The former things
will not be remembered and will come to mind. No tears. Sometimes it's hard to understand
because I cry when I laugh. Don't you? No tears. No tears. It says they go through
these deep waters and it's like Look at verse 26 and verse 25. The Lord is the one that commands
these trials. He raises the stormy wind. We
just sang about it then. He's the one that did it. He's
the one that does it. The Lord does this and He sends
these stormy winds and He sends these waves, but He says to the
waves at some point, like He does the ocean, hear the two
shalt thou come. About the time the disciples
thought they were going to perish because of the storm they were
in. Remember? And they went to him and said, Lord, don't you
care? It sounded like Martha to them. Don't you care? Do something. He said this for their sake.
But they came, Lord, don't you care? Do something. Don't you
care that we perish? About the time they thought they
were goners. That they were going to drown,
all of them, to a man. The Lord got up and spilled the water. At their point of despair,
at the depth of their despair and worry and fears, the height
of their fear and the depth of their despair, the Lord said,
that's it. They're going to come. How? Just worry. Fear not. Fear not. The Lord, just in the
nick of time, doesn't it, sends a word from Him to relieve you
from your distresses and your despair. But we go up and we
go down. Verse 26, a man up to heaven.
Thank God. Thank God for the high times,
huh? Thank God. You know, God puts one over against
the other. Good times, what we call bad times, evil times. I
the Lord create good, I make peace, I create evil. Job said
to his wife, who wasn't a believer, he said, shall we receive good
at the hands of the Lord and shall we not receive evil also?
God is responsible. By that, it's not meant evil
of sin, moral evil, but those things which we think are evil,
nothing is evil for God's people. It's all for good. But at the
time, it's a terrible, horrible trial, traumatic trial that you
think is going to kill you. But we mount up to heaven, and
thank God for those times God gives us just enough highs to
keep us from quitting, and just enough lows to keep us from vanity. I'm talking about preaching,
Gabe, teaching your teachers. You have just enough liberty
and enjoyment of preaching and teaching so you won't quit. I
can't tell you how many times I've had my resignation in my
pocket. I ain't going to do this anymore. Dad, you can say what?
I quit. Nobody's heard a thing I said
besides I wouldn't either. You're no good. And maybe the
next time I feel worse than I ever felt before, and the Lord blesses
it. Just enough highs to keep you from quitting. But enough
lows to keep you humble. Keep you dependent on the Lord.
Keep you crying out. Because without Him, we can do
nothing. Especially this. Especially this. My, my. and mount up to heaven. Bless God for that. And then
they plunge down into the depths. Oh, my! Sin of despair, of sorrow,
of grief, of fear, of worry. It says you reel to and fro. You think I'm going to faint,
don't you? I'm going to pass out. I can't
get through this. At their wits end. I love this.
At their wits end. Don't know where to turn. They've
done all they can do. It says their wisdom has
run out. Thought they knew something,
but going through something they've never been through before. Deeper,
even deeper water. Oh my, I don't know what to do. And all they can do, in verse
28, is cry. You get real low, only one place
to look at it. Up. I will lift up my life unto
the hills. Who will? Low. Someone brought
low. Only those brought low. Lift up, Scripture says, lift
up your head. Lift up your head on high. Behold,
thy redemption draws nigh in every case, through every trial,
through every trouble, and ultimately, in the end, it's almost over. Lift up your eyes. Look. See
those clouds? Dust at his feet. Hear the trees? He's standing up. Hear the birds? They're announcing
His coming. He's at the door. He's at the
door. But they're deep waters, aren't
they? Our Lord says, the Lord came walking on the water, not
just to show that He can walk on water, but to show those who
go through these deep waters. Fear not. I am in control of
these waters. I made these waters. These waters
are mine. I sent these waters. I've overcome
the world. Look to me. Trust me. Peter,
man can't walk on water. It is not humanly possible. With
man it's impossible to walk on water. Huh? Peter did. How? Something weak and drowned
in three feet of water. Most desks in the home are in
the bathroom. People drown. Peter walked on water's way over
his head, Brother Kelly. How? Looking unto the Lord Jesus. He bid him come. Gave him the
power only by looking to him. Let me get through this water.
Look into Him who sent these waters. Look into Him whose waters
are these, who is over and above these waters, who ordained these
waters. Look into Him only. You look
elsewhere and you despair. You write your wits in. He is
our wit and our wisdom. Look to Him. Look to Him. Well, He says, they cry and it
says in the end here, oh my! The storm of calm. Verse 29. He maketh the storm of calm. The Lord brings them out of their
distresses. Every single one of them. Those who know something
of the depths of sin, know something of the depths of God's Word,
know sin by that Word, and know something of God's love and mercy
and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are in Christ. Those are
found in Him. Those that come to Christ for
that salvation see their need in Him as their all in all. Those who go through great trials,
and every one of them will, every one of them will. Peter said,
if the trial of your faith See, faith is not in yourself.
Faith is not in the church. Faith is not in your profession.
Faith is not in your baptism. Faith is not in your work. It's
in the ship. If you've got a good ship, you're
going to make it. Who's our ship? Who's our captain? Christ is. So that now the trial
of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes
as though it's tried with fire, or in this case, deep waters,
it's going to be found under praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whose honor? Whose praise? Whose
glory? Jesus Christ, the Savior, the
One that brought us all safe to land. He's the One. We're
there. We're going to be there because
of Him and only Him. Oh, he says that men would praise
the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the
children of men. Look at verse 32. Let them exalt
Him also in the congregation of the people, and praise Him
in the assembly of the elders. All who go through this water.
You know why they come to the tabernacle, to the
place? To praise Him. This is not recreation. This
is to the praise of the glory of His grace who loved us, who
washed us from our sins in His own blood, who brought us through
deep waters. And who we look to to bring us
still. Because we're not there yet.
We've got more waters to go through. Abraham went through the Deepest
waters that is overrated. There's only one who can bring
us through who will. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, I hope the Lord will get glory out of that and someone
will get comfort and look to Christ. All right, we're going
to sing 268. A hymn we sing quite often, and
hopefully it will mean more to you today than ever. And through the deep waters I
cause thee to go. I'll never, they will never overflow,
never destroy. 268. How firm a foundation. We're standing together.