Let's begin our service opening
our Bibles to 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles chapter 16. We'll just read part of this
Psalm of David's thanksgiving when they brought the ark back
to Jerusalem. 1 Chronicles chapter 16. We'll
begin our reading in verse 23. Sing unto the Lord all the earth.
Show forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory
among the heathen, his marvelous works among all nations. For
great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He also is to
be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people
are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Glory and honor
are in his presence. Strength and gladness are in
his place. Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, Give
unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto his name. Bring an offering and come before
him. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Fear before him all the earth.
The world also should be stable that it be not moved. Let the
heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. And let men say among
the nations, the Lord reigneth. Let the sea roar in the fullness
thereof. Let the fields rejoice in all that is therein. The inch
of the trees of the woods sing out at the presence of the Lord,
because he cometh to judge the earth. O give thanks unto the
Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. And say
ye, save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver
us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name,
and glory in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
forever and ever. And all the people said, Amen. And praise the Lord. We'll end
our reading there. Let's turn in our hymnal to Paige. 11. H11. When all thy mercies, O my God,
my rising soul surveys, transported with the view I'm lost, in wonder,
love, and praise, Unnumbered comforts to my soul, Thy tender
care bestow, Before my infant heart conceive, From whom those
comforts flow. When worn with sickness, dolt
hast thou, With health renewed my faith, And when in sins and
sorrows bowed, Revived my soul with grace. Through every period of my life,
Thy goodness I'll pursue. And after death in distant worlds,
The glorious theme renew. Now let's just turn back one
page. One page tonight, we'll sing
this to the tune of Faith of Our Fathers. It's 183 for you. Awake, my soul, to joyful days,
And sing thy great Redeemer's praise. He justly claims a song
from me, His lovingkindness all while free. Loving kindness,
loving kindness, His loving kindness, O how free! He saw me ruined by the poor,
Yet loved me not, withstanding all. He saved me from my lost
estate His lovingkindness, oh, how great! Lovingkindness, lovingkindness
His lovingkindness, oh, how great! Though numerous host of mighty
foes, Though earth and hell my way oppose, He safely leads my
soul along. His lovingkindness, oh, how strong! Lovingkindness, lovingkindness
His lovingkindness, oh, how strong! When trouble, like a gloomy cloud,
Has gathered thick and thundered loud, He near my soul has always
stood, His loving kindness, oh, how good! Loving kindness, loving
kindness, is loving kindness all our good. Reminds me, this is National
Kindness Day today. I heard that on TV, but I didn't
know that when I was picking out that song. But it's good. Alright, let's open our Bibles
out of Psalm 107. I don't know if you would say this is one
of my favorite psalms, but it's one I read frequently. When I see something repeated
again and again in Scripture, it always gets my attention.
I think that could be written for me, because that's the way
I learn when something is repeated. And you'll notice the things
as we read through here, we're going to read the first 32 verses
that are repeated in this psalm. Psalmist begins, O give thanks
unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy forever. Let the
redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy and gathered them out of the lands from the
east and from the west and the north and from the south. They
wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no
city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted at them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a
city of habitation. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. For he satisfied the longing soul and filleth the
hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness in the
shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron because
they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel
of the Most High. Therefore, he brought down their
heart with labor. They fell down and there was
none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out
of darkness and the shadow of death and break their bands and
sunder. Oh, that man 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 and sundered. Fools, because of their transgression
and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhors
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. that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to
the children of men. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices
of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. They that
go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters,
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 and
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 storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet. So he bringeth them
unto their desired haven. O that men but praise the Lord
for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people
and praise him in the assembly of the elders." We'll end our
reading there. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we're so thankful
that you've given us yet one more opportunity to meet together
and to open your words. to have your word, the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ preached to us. To have this opportunity
to meet together with our brothers and sisters and to worship you. Father, I pray that you'd make
this hour an hour of true worship. You've gathered your people together
here tonight. Each one, you've gathered them
here together on purpose. And Father, I pray it be a purpose
of mercy and grace. I pray this be an hour where
you would reveal to the hearts of your people your glory, your
mercy, your grace, your love for your people. Cause us to
run to thee, bow to thee. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Let us say how in rejoicing,
how you've saved your people by your mercy and by your grace.
You've redeemed us from all of our sin through the sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, let us say so. Let us
lift up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and praise and magnify
your matchless name. Father, I thank you for this
place that you've raised up and this family of believers that
you've called together. Father, I pray you'd bless, that
you'd not just provide for all of our needs, we do pray that,
how desperately we need you. But Father, that you would knit
our hearts together in love common goal, this ministry, the preaching
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation of his people, the
help and comfort and edification of his people. Let us be about
this business of glorifying our Savior, preaching his matchless
name to our generation. Let us be faithful to our generation
to preach the glorious good news of the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Blessed is his preach, Father,
we pray. Father, for those who are sick and afflicted, those
we know of and those that we do not, those suffering silently,
Father, You know. You know the hearts of Your people.
You know where all Your sheep are at, what we need. And Father,
I pray that You'd meet each need richly according to Your wisdom,
the riches of Your mercy and Your grace. Speak peace to the
heart of Your people. Those that we just read about,
that when we reach our wits end, crying to the Lord, You said,
Father, You'd deliver. You saved those that cry. Father,
we're crying. Would You be merciful? Would
You be gracious? Would You be pleased to deliver
Your people, we pray. All these things we ask and we
give thanks in that name which is above every name, the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We'll turn to 157, and we'll learn a new song tonight.
Help me on the chorus. We'll sing verses 1, 2, and 4. On that bright and golden morning
when the Son of Man shall come, and the radiance of His glory
we shall see, when from every climate nation He shall call
His people home. What a gathering of the ransom
that will be! What a gathering! What a gathering! What a gathering of the ransom
in the summer land of love! What a gathering! What a gathering! Of the ransomed in that happy
home above. When the blessed to sleep in
Jesus' hands His bidding shall arise From the silence of the
grave and from the sea. And with God is all celestial,
they shall meet Him in the skies. What a gathering and rejoicing
there will be! Sing it with me. What a gathering! What a gathering! What a gathering of the ransomed
in the summer land of love. What a gathering, what a gathering
of the ransomed in that happy home above. Oh, the King is surely coming,
and the time is drawing nigh, When the blessed day of promise
we shall see. In the changing in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, and forever in his presence we shall
be one again. What a gathering of the ransomed
In the summer land of love What a gathering What a gathering
Of the ransomed In that happy home above All right, now turn again in
your Bibles to Psalm 107. The title of the message this
evening, God gathers his people. God gathers his people. I want
to begin with an undisputable fact that basically is the Cliff
Notes version of the first 32 verses of this psalm. Almighty
God has an elect people that he chose to save before time
began. God the Son in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ came
incarnate and he died for those people to put their sin away.
And he got the job done. Everyone for whom he died is
justified from all of their sin. And absolutely nothing will stop
God the Holy Spirit from giving those people life and faith in
Christ. And he will undeniably bring
them all the way to glory. They will be in many different
circumstances, different places, different lands, but God will
gather his people and he will bring every last one of them
all the way to glory. Nothing in heaven, earth or hell
can cause anyone that God chose to save to perish in hell. Verse
one of our text tells us that the salvation of God's people
is that sure and that certain because God's mercy is eternal. He says, oh, give thanks unto
the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy forever. Now the psalmist
actually wrote the words, God's mercy forever. You'll notice
the word endureth there is in italics. It's been added by the
translators, and I suppose that's fine. But I think sometimes when
we see that word endureth, we think of from right now all the
way through eternity. That's not what that's saying.
God's mercy does endure forever. because God's mercy forever. See, it's not just God's mercy
has no end. God's mercy has no beginning
either. God's mercy is eternal both ways. So there's never been
a time that God has not seen his people in mercy because God's
mercy forever. The salvation of a sinner can
be sure if God's mercy God's mercy has no beginning or no
ending. The salvation of a sinner like
me can be sure. You see, God had to purpose mercy
for his people from eternity before anything was ever created.
Because those people, God chose to save, they could never do
anything to deserve salvation. They could never do anything
to earn mercy because they don't have any goodness about themselves
at all. Oh, but God is good. The psalmist
said, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. Oh, God is good. And the chief display of God's
goodness is his sovereign mercy to sinners. And that's why we're
thankful. That's why we praise his name,
God's mercy forever. And he says, verse two, let the
redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy. God saved us by his mercy. God has redeemed us from the
hand of the enemy, not by our power, but by His mercy, by His
power. That's the way sinners say it.
Then let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let us say so. Let
us say, this is our confession, that the Lord saved us in spite
of who we are and in spite of anything that we've done. The
Lord saved us in pure mercy, undeserved, unsought, unthought
of mercy. And the height and the depth
and the length and the breadth of God's mercy cannot be told
with human tongue. It can't. In order to have mercy
on his people, and mercy is not giving someone what they do deserve,
in order for God not to give his people what they deserve,
God had to give everything his people deserve to his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute. In order for God to have mercy
on you, God had to give His Son the wrath that your sin deserves. You let that sink in for a minute.
In order for God to have mercy on you, God had to give His Son
everything your sin deserves. We don't have language to describe
the glory of that, do we? Oh, what mercy that is. But,
the psalmist says, let's say so. Even though we don't have
words adequate, let's say so. Let's be sure to say, God saves
his people by mercy. His mercy, not their merit. And
God's going to have all of those people. Not one of them can be
lost. Not one of them can perish. Not
one drop of God's mercy is wasted. Verse 3, And gathered them out
of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north
and from the south, God gathers his people from all over the
world. It doesn't matter how far our
sin has separated us from our God. God will gather himself
to his people. It doesn't matter how far we've
wandered. God's hand's not shortened, it cannot save. We can't outrun
God. It doesn't matter how far the
lost sheep have wandered out in the wilderness, and they've
wandered scattered in every direction, all four points of the compass.
Nevertheless, Christ, the good shepherd, will seek and will
find all of his sheep, and he'll bring them all safely to his
sheepfold. And next, the psalmist gives us four examples of the
Lord gathering his people. Number one is this, God gathers
his people from the wilderness of this world, from the wilderness
of this world's religion. Verse four, they wandered in
the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell
in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Now this is the result of Adam's
sin. Adam's sin has thrust us out of God's presence, hasn't
it? Made us wander around in this world, this wilderness of
this world. And Adam's sin has made us all
dead in sin. And his sin, Adam's transgression,
also did the same thing to all of God's creation. It made it
all dead and barren. So no matter where you might
go, Seeking for some spiritual refuge, some spiritual dwelling
place. You're not going to find one
in this world. No matter how far you go through this world,
through all the religions of this world, you're seeking spiritual
food. I mean, that's what people are
doing when they go to all these religions. They're seeking something
spiritual, something that will satisfy their soul and give them
life. And I don't care how far you look. You're not going to
find any of it, nothing to satisfy your soul. in the religion of
this world. Because this world has no spiritual
home to offer. It has no spiritual food to offer.
Everything in it is dead because of Adam's sin. I don't care which
of man's religions you try. There's no life there. Every
religion man has made up will leave you with nothing better
than a house built on sand. Every religion man has devised
will leave your souls starving. Like these we read about here,
hungry and thirsty, so that their soul faints in them. And the
reason there's no life, the reason there's nothing there, is very
simple. They don't know Christ. And since
they don't know Christ, they can't preach Him. You can't tell
about somebody you don't know. The salvation that they offer
is not based upon Christ alone. And here's a real good clue to
tell you something about false religion. Any gospel that's preached
is another gospel. If it's an offer, if it's an
offer to you, it's another gospel. It'll never satisfy. It'll never
satisfy your God. No. So all those who are in this,
all those who are seeking some sort of refuge from God's wrath,
seeking some sort of spiritual food for their soul, They're
left with no shelter from God's wrath, and they're left to eat
nothing but the husks of their own works. And a husk, I mean,
I've never even wanted to eat one, but from the look of them,
I don't think there's any nutritious there. But that's all they've
got. There's no life there. Isn't
that a misery? I mean, what a misery. But that's
the misery everybody who is in false religion is in, whether
they know it or not. Oh, what misery. And that's where
God's people are by nature. But thank God, He's going to
gather His people out of that. He's not going to leave His people
in that awful condition. God is going to lead them out
of it. And many of you have experienced how God leads His people out
of that false religion. For some unknown reason, unknown
to you, you mysteriously find yourself miserable. You mysteriously
find yourself seeking for something. You don't know what you're seeking.
You're just seeking for something. You don't know what the truth
is, but you've gotten pretty sure what you're hearing is not
it. And you're seeking it. Oh, you don't know. You know
what that is? That's God, the Holy Spirit,
quietly but powerfully gathering his people out of the wilderness
of this world's religion. And first, first, He makes them
so miserable that they cry to God for mercy. Verse 6. When
they're hungry and thirsty, their soul faints in them. Then, and
only then, they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He
delivered them out of their distresses. He led them forth by the right
way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Now this is what
you'll see repeated throughout this psalm, and actually you
see it repeated throughout all of scripture. Every time Every
time a sinner, a needy sinner, cries to God for mercy, God gives
them mercy. And it's not because they made
the right decision and called on God. That's not why He had
mercy on them. He saved them by His mercy. It's
by His mercy. Now, yes, they're miserable.
Yes, they called to God. Yes, they begged God for mercy.
But you know what? It was God's mercy that made
them miserable, wasn't it? It was God's mercy that made them
call for mercy. And then God saved them in his
mercy. They'd been wandering around
lost. They didn't know where to go. They're just wandered
around aimlessly. And they never would have found
the way they never would have found Christ the way. But God
had mercy on they cried to God for mercy. He had mercy on them.
So you know what he did? He put them in the right way.
He put them in Christ. He put them in the way of salvation.
He put them in the way of life, the way of righteousness, the
way of peace. He put them in Christ. They've
been wandering around looking for a home, looking for a shelter.
And when God had mercy on them, he gave them a shelter. He put
him in Christ. He put him in his kingdom. He
delivered them from the power of darkness. He gathered them
out of that and he translated them into the kingdom of his
dear son. God's going to gather his people
out of that mess. Aren't you glad? You just think
where we'd be if it weren't for God's gathering mercy. Oh, my.
We'd be wandering around in the worst of religion. And the only
reason that we're not in that misery right this very second
is God's mercy. Let the redeemed say so. Look
at verse eight. Oh, that man would praise the
Lord for his goodness. and for his wonderful works to
the children of men. Now I do wish that all men would
learn to praise the Lord for his goodness. But I especially
wish that the Lord would teach me and you to praise the Lord
for his goodness. God is good. Everything God does
is good. Everything. Everything he does.
is good. God's always good to his people.
Our father, we talked about our father correcting his children
Sunday. He never does so unwisely. He never does so to harm his
people. Always for good. If it's painful to us, God's
good. All right? And if it comforts
our heart, God's good. He's always good to his people. Here's God's goodness. It's His
mercy. Here's the reason we praise the
Lord for His goodness. Verse 9. For He satisfies the
longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Now
we had been hungry and thirsty, our souls fainting in us, wandering
around, not knowing where we're going. But God in His mercy filled
us. Not with husks, not just something
with no nutrition just fill your belly but won't give you any
life. No, he filled us with what? His goodness. His goodness. He filled us with his mercy.
He filled us with Christ. Oh, that man would praise the
Lord for his goodness. If he's filled you with it, you
will. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. All right, here's
the second example. God gathers his people from the
bondage of sin. Verse 10. Such as sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,
because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned
the counsel of the Most High." Now, this describes the bondage
to sin. This is the bondage we're all
in. By nature, all of us are miserable inmates in the prison
house of sin. And there we sit in the darkness
of our ignorance, the darkness of our unbelief, the darkness
of our sin. We're shackled there by sin,
so we cannot move. We're shackled to sin. If you
don't believe you're shackled to sin, just try to quit. Can't
do it. Can't do it. We're shackled to
it. We sit in the shadow of death. Dead and dying. Just like our
father Adam. The day you eat thereof, dying
thou shalt die. That's the way we're living in
this world. Without Christ. Dying thou shalt die. We're in
the shadow of death. Spiritually dead is waiting to
die physically. And brother, it's our own fault.
That's not Adam's fault. No, it's my fault. It says here,
"...because they rebelled against the words of God, and they condemned
the counsel of the Most High." We've rebelled against the Word
of God. We've heard it and refused to
believe it. Modern day popular thing is just to say, that don't
mean what that means. That don't mean what that means.
We're just going to throw this book out. We're going to rewrite
one of our own. That's rebelling against the Word of God. Condemning
the counsel of the Most High. God's counsel, His counsels of
old that declared salvation for His people. We've condemned it.
We've condemned God's counsel. And justly we're living under
God's judgment against our sin. Verse 12. Therefore, because
we rebelled against the words of God and condemned His counsel,
therefore He brought down their heart with labor. They fell down
and there was none to help. I would imagine being in prison,
being down, falling down, you're locked away, can't see the light
of day, and there's none to help. None to help. That's us by nature. That's what we deserve. I want
you to look what happens when the Lord is the one to bring
our hearts low. Now sometimes our hearts are
brought low Because we have trouble in this life. We lose our job.
We've got a sick spouse. We've got a loved one that dies.
You know, our hearts are brought low. And that's just from circumstance. We're just sad about the circumstance.
I want you to look what happens when the Lord brings our heart
low. Verse 13. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distress. See,
here it is again. The reason we cry for God's mercy
is God made us to cry for mercy. He brought us so low, there was
no hope. There's no one to help except
Him. So we cried to Him for mercy. That's what the old timers call
pervenient grace. Grace before grace. Grace before
saving grace. God's grace that brought us to
the point He would reveal Himself to us in mercy and grace. It's
grace. It's God's grace that brings
us so low. It's God's grace that makes us to cry out for mercy.
And every time a poor prisoner cries out for mercy, God saves
them out of their distresses. Verse 14. He brought them out
of darkness and the shadow of death and break their bands and
sunders. Here's how God delivers his people
from the prison house of sin. He does it in justice. Injustice. This isn't a prison break. God's
people are not going to live the rest of their lives running
in fear from the law. Afraid that the law is going
to catch up to them. Every time I see on TV somebody's
broken out of prison and they've escaped and they've got a big
manhunt going on. And I just wonder, where do these people
think they're going? Where do you think they're going?
I mean, what if you do get away through the woods or whatever?
The rest of your life, At every bump, at every knock on the door,
at every sound outside, you're so afraid the law is going to
catch up to you. God's people don't go from the
prison house that way. They walk out the front door
with justice saying, get out of here. Justice has been satisfied. God delivers his people and he
sets them free by the Lord Jesus Christ taking our place. under
God's wrath and by Christ fulfilling the sentence of death. So we
go free in justice. Look over at Isaiah chapter 61.
This is the passage of scripture. Savior used his very first public
message and he used it in his first public message. This is
the start of his public ministry. He's telling us why is it he
came to this earth? Isaiah 61 verse one. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.
He sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, the year of Jubilee and the day of vengeance
of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that
mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planning
of the Lord, that He might be glorified." That's why Christ
came. He came that He might be glorified
in proclaiming liberty to the captives and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound. Our Lord read that scripture
that day. And that day they stood up to read and they sat down
to teach. He read that scripture and He sat down. And he said,
this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears. The deliverer has
come. The deliverer from sin has come.
He can deliver his people by taking their place. He came to
keep the law for his people. For their mourning, he came to
give them beauty. The beauty of his righteousness.
The beauty of his obedience to the law. To make his people righteous
in his obedience. He came to take the sin of his
people away from them. take it into His own body upon
the tree, and to suffer and die, to shed His blood, to put the
sin of His people away forever, so that they are set free in
justice. Now that is how sinners are saved.
That's the only way a guilty sinner can be saved, is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Is that right? Then let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. By God's grace, let this be our
message. This is how God saves sinners.
Let's preach it, let's live it in thanksgiving, and let's confess
it publicly. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. This is the way God saves sinners. Verse 15. 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 sundry. Christ is the one who came to
set me free by taking my place. He took my place and He broke
those gates of brass. Prison house gates are open.
They're wide open. He cut the bars of iron and sundered. I
walk out free. Free. Now how can I not thank
Him? How can I not praise Him? How
can I not confess Him? He's delivered me from the bondage
of sin. I'm not afraid it's going to
catch back up to me ever again. Right, here's the third example.
God gathers his people from the affliction and the torment of
sin. Verse 17. Fools, because of their
transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul abhors all manner of me. They draw near unto the
gates of death. Now the sickness here is described
as a picture of the way sin afflicts our souls. You know, diseases
afflict our bodies. Different diseases, they wrack
our bodies with pain and with suffering. Sin does the exact
same thing to our souls. It just afflicts our souls. And
again, this is not Adam's fault. This is my fault. My fault. You're suffering. You're afflicted.
That's your fault. It's not Adam's fault. It's my fault. We're fools
because of our transgressions. We suffer this affliction because
of our iniquities. And we go to religion to try
to make it go away, try to make ourselves feel better, to try
to end this suffering, this affliction. We try to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. And that may be what the world
calls open sin, but mostly that's not what it is. The pleasures
of sin for a season is in man's religion. It's seeking the pleasure
that comes from our own work. Seeking to soothe our guilty
consciences by our own works. And that's the worst kind of
sin. I warn you, that's the worst kind of sin. And we may seek
pleasure in it for a while. For a time, we may even have
pleasure in it. I'd say Saul of Tarsus would
tell you he had pleasure in that for a season. When he excelled
above all those his own age, you know. I'd say he would tell
you he had pleasure in that for a time, didn't he? For a time.
Didn't last forever, did it? Because the Lord's not going
to leave His people in that foolishness. He's going to make our souls
to hate our sin and to hate our false religion. He's going to
make it taste bad to us so we don't have an appetite for it
anymore. Just like a person on their deathbed.
I hear someone's been very ill and they're down on what we think
may be on their deathbed and I hear they won't eat. I think
it's probably me. The human body just has no appetite
for food when the end is near. That's what happens to God's
people. You can't explain it, but you find yourself hating
what you once had so much pleasure in. God's going to make us see
there's no pleasure in that. He's going to make us see we're
on the very brink of hell. And that afflicts us, all the
affliction of it. And what makes the affliction
of it worse is we say, I'm getting what I deserve. And then in our
misery, we cry unto the Lord, verse 19. Then and only then
they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he saveth them out
of their distresses. The Lord brings them to the place
where they say, Lord, help me. Lord, save me. The heart is saying,
Lord, I'll do my part and you do your part. Lord, I'll do what
I can do and you do the rest. They're saying, Lord, save me.
Lord, help me. At that time, Peter was out there
walking on the water. I've read this article. This
is not original to me. I'm not this smart from Chris
Cunningham. Peter was walking on the water and Peter started
sinking. Chris said, Peter didn't say nothing. He said, Lord, it's
not going on today. You and me can't handle it together. He said,
Lord, save me. Help me. Oh, the Lord brings
him. Lord, give me some comfort. Give
me some hope for my soul. Look how the Lord responds to
that miserable sinner crying for mercy. Verse 20. He sent
his word and he healed them and delivered them from their destructions. The Lord sends his word to that
miserable sinner crying for mercy. He sends them a man who's preaching
the word of God. He's preaching the gospel of
Christ. He sends His Word and heals them. He heals their affliction. See, sin is a disease that must
be healed. Must be healed. Sin must be forgiven,
but it must be more than forgiven. It must be healed. It must be
cleansed. And the only healing for sin
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. In His blood, the sweet balm
of Gilead. And it's the Word of God. Look
at 2 Timothy chapter 4. Since God sends His Word to heal,
the Word of God must be all we need to preach. If God sends
His Word to heal, the Word of God is all we need to preach
to every sinner in every situation. 2 Timothy 4 verse 2. Timothy preached the Word. Be
instant. In season and out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Preach the word. It'll meet the
need of every one of God's sheep. It's the word that reproves.
It's the word that corrects the hearts of God's people. It's
not our sternness, is it? It's not our beating somebody
up with the law that reproves and corrects somebody, is it? It's the word of God. That's
all the sheep needs, the word of God. It's the word that exhorts. It's the word that comforts and
encourages the hearts of God's people. Then just preach the
word, the unvarnished word of God. How thankful are we for God's
word? God has healed our sin sick souls
with his word. Verse 21, back in our text, Psalm
107. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness. and for his wonderful works to
the children of men. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices
of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. Now, do
you want to praise the Lord for his goodness, for his mercy to
you? I'll tell you how to do it. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Let them say how God saved me
by his mercy. Don't try to offer any more sacrifices
for sin. Don't try to do anything to contribute
to your salvation. Because now you know, once God
sent His Word and healed you, now you know Christ's sacrifice
is all it takes to save you. Offer to God the sacrifice of
your lips. Well, what's the sacrifice of
our lips? We don't offer animal sacrifice. We don't have to offer
blood sacrifice. There's no need for that. But
what's the sacrifice of our lips? It's letting the redeemed say
so. It's using our lips and thanking God, praising Him for His mercy
and for His grace. God delivers His people from
the affliction of sin by being afflicted for them. In all their
affliction, the prophet said, He was afflicted. He took all
of their affliction so that there's nothing left but mercy for them.
Now let the redeemed of the Lord say so. All right, here's the
fourth thing. God gathers his people and he
draws them to him through the trials that he sends them. Verse
23, they that go down to the sea and ships that do business
in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders
in the deep where 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. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Now God has
saved His people from their sin, and He has gathered them to Christ. He's called them to Christ, and
when He calls, they come to Christ. They come willingly, they come
lovingly, and they submit themselves. They come and bow down, and they
submit. They submit to Him. They submit to His righteousness.
They're called sheep. Here's the thing about sheep.
Sheep tend to wander. They need to be watched over
constantly and they wander. They need to be gathered back
to the Savior. God's children are much like
our children. We need to be taught. We need
to be constantly gathered back to Christ because we wander off. That's just the nature of sheep.
That's why Peter said to whom coming. Peter didn't say to whom
he came. No, he said to whom coming. See,
we're constantly coming to Christ, aren't we? The believer does.
We're constantly looking to Christ. We're constantly being gathered
back to the Savior. And the way the Lord teaches
His children, the way that He keeps them coming to Him and
gathers them to make them come running to Him, is by teaching
them how dependent they are upon Christ. And that teaching is
done through trials, through hard, difficult trials. That's
what these deep, stormy waters are describing here. I've just been out on the sea. Out so far I couldn't see land
three times. And all three times I thought, Do I remember which way the land
is? I mean, do you reckon you can get back to the land from
here? I don't know. What happens if... I hear about
these... I heard Brother Henry talk about it and sailors. You
hear him talk about... Henry talked about World War II. He'd
be out there in the ocean. He was in the Navy. He said,
those storms would come up. He said, it looks like those
waves are like mountains. And then you think they're going
to throw off this boat. They're going to crash on this
boat and sink us. And then the big swell down looks like a valley
down there and that boat's just... I think... How do you survive
that? I don't know. Somebody builds
a ship that knows, I reckon. I don't know. But brother, I'm
not no ship builder. Here we are. Out here on the
sea of life. Sailing towards home. And big,
huge storms come up. And they batter us. And they
beat us. Now take some comfort in this
storm. Notice who sent the storm. God commanded the storm. He commanded
the wind. God commanded the seas to rise
up in those big waves. God sent the storm. God sent
the trial for our good and for our learning. I'm glad I'm not
the one that built the ship. God built the ship. He is the
ship. Christ is the ship. And He sent
the storm. And it's out there in the storm
where those waves are so high and the valleys are so low. It's
out there. There we see God's works. There we see His power and His
wonders. Now these storms are powerful
and they're frightening. I'm not, just because God sent
them, I'm not diminishing how scary, how frightening they are. Powerful. Oh, they're powerful.
They're frightening. They would sink us to the bottom
of the ocean like a rock if we had to depend on our boat building
ability in our sailing ability, wouldn't we? We'd sink to the
bottom in a minute. Oh, we try to keep everything
afloat. Don't we run around trying to
keep everything afloat? Let's raise the mast. Let's lower the, you
know, I don't know what I'm doing, but let's do something. And we
stagger around like drunken men. Jan and I, we've been on one
cruise in our life, on this cruise. And there were waves. You know,
you could see the waves. I didn't dare go on deck. I saw
them from a window. And I don't know. six, seven
feet high, maybe, I mean, you know, but buddy, they rock that
boat. I'm in a big ship and they rocked
that boat. We're trying to walk, go. So
what we're trying to do, but maybe we're staggering around.
Everybody was staggering around on these hallways. That's us. We're staggering around like
drunken men, not having any idea what to do because everything's
out of our control. And buddy, that's where God's
got to bring us to where everything is out of our control. We're
at our wit's end. We've come to the end of our
wisdom. Then, then, we see God. We see His power. We don't know
why the storm's come. We have no idea how to get out
of it. But we know who sinned it. We know who we should cry
to. That's how the disciples felt.
Remember they're out there in the sea in the middle of the
storm? I mean, these are experienced sailors. And they thought, We're
going down. And the Lord lay sleeping in
the bottom of the ship. And they go to him. And they woke him up. And they
said, Master, don't you care? Oh, the Lord's patience with
his people. Lord, don't you care? We perish. Verse 28. Then they cry unto
the Lord in their trouble. Like the disciples, I bet you
they don't cry just right. But they cry. And he bringeth
them out of their distresses. And he maketh the storm a calm,
so that the waves thereof are still. He maketh the storm a
calm. Verse 30. Then are they glad,
because they be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. The Lord maketh the storm a calm. It's his storm. He can still
look out over the waves and say, peace, be still. And they'll
be still. It's his storm. He raised it and he can calm
it. But notice here why the people are glad. They're glad because
they be quiet. I know they're thankful that
the waves have died down, but they're glad because they be
quiet. Their heart is quiet. God's people
can be quiet when their faith is strengthened. We can be quiet
when we see Christ. The storm may still be raging,
but our heart's quiet if we see the Master. Oh, they're glad
because they are quiet. And that's what God does for
His people again and again and again. Verse 31, Oh, that men
would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works to the children of men. How do we do that? How do we
praise the Lord for His goodness and praise Him for His wonderful
works to the children of men? by letting the redeemed of the
Lord say so. Verse 32, let them exalt him also in the congregation
of the people and praise him in this assembly of the elders. Let's exalt him in the congregation
of the people. Let's exalt him by preaching
Christ. Let's exalt him by believing
Christ, trusting him. That's praising him for his goodness
to the children of men. I hope God will bless that to
your hearts. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for this, Your Word. How we thank You for this portion
of Your Word that we looked at this evening. Despite all of
the weakness and wandering, sin, affliction of Your people, You
will gather that when we cry unto you in our affliction, in
our weakness, our broken heart, our helplessness, you hear and
answer and save and are merciful to your people. Father, how we
thank you. How we thank you for your goodness,
your wonderful works to the children of men. Oh, how we thank you.
Praise your matchless name. Father, cause us to praise your
name by believing you, not by acting a fool as the world calls
a praise and worship service, but cause us to praise your matchless
name by believing you, by letting the redeemed of the Lord say
so. This is how God saved me, by his mercy, by his grace. And
by his keeping mercy, his gathering grace, I'm going to keep looking
to him. I'm going to keep depending upon
him to bring me all the way to glory. Father, how we thank you. Bless your word to the hearts
of your people, we pray. For it's in Christ's matchless
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's stand and turn to 298. We'll do the chorus after the
even verses, 2 and 4. In shady green pastures so rich
and so sweet, God leads His dear children along. Where the water's cool flow bathes
the weary one's feet, God leads His dear children along. Sometimes on the mount where
the sun shines so bright, God leaves his dear children alone. Sometimes in the valley in darkest
of night, God leaves his dear children alone. Some through
the waters, some through the flood. Some through the fire,
but all through His blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us song. In the night season and all the
day long. Though sorrows may fall us and
Satan oppose, God leads his dear children along. Through His grace we can conquer,
defeat all our foes, God leads His dear children along. Away from the mire and away from
the clay, God leads His dear children along. Away, up in glory, eternity's
day, God leads His dear children along. Some through the water, some
through the flood. Some through the fire, but all
through His blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us home In the night season and all the day long.