By now, I presume you can all
quote from memory my text for this morning, Romans chapter
8 and verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. I've been trying to preach from
that text for the last several weeks, and I still plan to do
so for a couple more weeks. But today I want us to look at
the sermon God the Holy Spirit gives us on that text of scripture
in Psalm 107. Psalm 107, just hold your Bibles
open on your laps. Psalm 107 is a psalm about God's
grace in providence. It is a psalm that uses allegories,
numerous allegories, that is, earthly pictures to describe
heavenly things, carnal things to describe spiritual things.
This 107th psalm reveals to us the mystery of providence. This psalm tells us what God's
doing in his providence. In Psalm 105, David used the
story of Israel's history. From the beginning of the nation
with the calling of Abraham, throughout the days, they wandered
in the wilderness until finally they inherited the land of Canaan.
And he uses the whole picture as an allegory, a picture of
God's great salvation by Jesus Christ. God's salvation of our
souls by his mighty grace. In Psalm 106, he shows us why
God saves sinners. He did it, he tells us specifically
in verse eight, for his namesake. Psalm 105 tells us how God saves
and all the things that are involved in God's, well, not all of them.
A lot of the things that are involved in God's salvation. Psalm 106 tells us why He saves
us for His namesake. Psalm 107 tells us about God's
providence, the mystery of providence by which we are saved. The providence
of God simply put, is God's universal government of all things. In
providence, God brings to pass what he purposed in eternity.
Providence is the accomplishment of predestination. There is a
general providence over all the world and a special providence
toward God's elect. God's general providence is his
superintendence and government of the world. Men talk about
laws of nature, I do, you do, but we talk foolishly when we
do. I don't believe in the laws of nature, I believe God. God
controls all things. God didn't set the world in motion
and then just sit back and watch and see how things would develop.
Our God actively presides over all the affairs of the universe
all the time. He never is weary. He is never
off the job. He actively presides over all
the affairs of the universe all the time. Men spend their lifetimes
studying the heavens. and studying all the various
things in our galaxy and in other galaxies. And studying the planets
and the sun and the moon and the stars. And they have all
kinds of theories about them. All kinds of theories. What is
it exactly? What is it exactly? Son, if you
will, make that the last trip out. Last trip out, okay? Sit down. What is it exactly? that holds
things together. How is it that this Earth, tilted
on its axis, is turning all the time? How is it that all things
revolve around the Sun? How is that? And the Sun is not
too close to any and not too far away from any. How is that? By the decree of God, and by
the order of God, and by the hand of God, it is he who spins
the earth on its axis. It is he who encircles the sun
with his planets. God does it, and God feeds the
sparrow. I look out and see the birds. We have sparrows out here, little
wrens. If I'm skippin' sand here, bird
watchers, they can tell you all of them. I just look at them.
Sometimes, I know what a sparrow is and robbin', that's about
it. But I love to watch them when they start to feed. You're
sittin' on the rail of the porch on the telephone line, just dive
to the ground, they got what they wanted. And it's not much.
Just a little insect or seed, not much, not much. How is it
they do that? God feeds them. God feeds them. My wife has been busy all spring.
And she's busy like this every spring. We got portholes and
floodlights and lights above the porch and lights on both
sides of the doors outside. And those wonderful creatures
of God come in there with mud and straw and stuff we won't
talk about, and make nests. And they're hard to get down.
And she spends all spring shoving those things down before they
lay eggs in them. Go build it somewhere else. She
said to them, they said, those birds are so persistent. I said,
not quite as persistent as you. How do they learn to do that?
How do they learn to do that? Well, they just do it by instinct. Who gives them the instinct?
They're taught of God. They're taught of God. You understand
it? That's God's general providence. He governs all the affairs of
the universe. But God's special providence
is something else. God is working all things together
for the good. Not necessarily the temporal
good. Not usually the physical good. not commonly the material good,
but for the eternal good, the eternal good, the eternal good,
the everlasting salvation of all his elect. Get this if you
can. I've stated it numerous times,
numerous ways. Get it if you can. God helped
you to get it. everything that has ever taken
place in the history of the universe since the beginning of time,
whether good or evil, has been ordered and ruled by the providence
of God for your salvation, my brother. For my salvation, for your salvation,
my sister. That's the stupendous thing declared
here in Psalm 107. Empires have been raised up and
empires have fallen by the hand of God. All for one reason, for
God to save you by his grace. Oh, if we had believed that,
you couldn't hardly sit still. God has raised up nations and
torn them down for just one reason, to save you by his marvelous
grace. This is what God says about it.
I am the Lord, thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Ethiopia and Seba for thee. You mean God would sacrifice
a nation for me? God would sacrifice another nation
for me? God would sacrifice a third nation
just for me? How can that be? Since thou was
precious in my sight, and I have loved thee, therefore will I
give men for thee and people for thy life. Now just exactly what was it
you were telling me I should be afraid of? What was it you
told me I should be fearful of? God says, since I have loved
you, I will give men for you and people for your life. And
that's true with regard to all the host of God's elect. To every one of you, my brothers
and sisters particularly. Now let's look at this 107th
psalm and see how it's done. Four times in this psalm, the
psalmist cries, oh, that men would praise the Lord for his
goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
This psalm is like Interpreter's House in Pilgrim's Progress.
And Pilgrim was told to go to Interpreter's House and told
that there he would see excellent things and profitable. Truly,
if God will let us go into this interpreter's house, we will
see excellent things and profitable today. Let's just read the psalm
together, and I'll call your attention to three or four things
as we go along. First, in verses one, two, and three, we are called
upon to extol and give thanks to God for his goodness. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever. Let us begin every day. Oh, God, give me grace to begin
every day with lifting my heart in thanks to God. He's good. Whatever it is, my God, that
you have purposed for this day, whatever you bring to pass this
day, before it comes to pass, I pause now to give you thanks,
for I know that you're good. I pause now to give you thanks,
to begin the day with thanksgiving, because your mercy, my God, I
have found by experience, endures forever. Your mercies, your tender
mercies are new every morning. We should give thanks unto the
Lord because His mercy, His eternal purposed mercy, His electing
mercy, His redeeming mercy, His preserving mercy, His saving
mercy, His providential mercy endures forever. Well, who should
give thanks to God in such a matter? Let's do so in the beginning
of every day. And at the end of the day, as
we look back upon the end of the things accomplished in that
day, whatever they were, whatever they were, God helped me tonight
when the day's finished. Before I close my eyes, when
I've kissed my wife goodnight, let me finish the day like this,
giving thanks unto the Lord, for you've been good, and your
mercies have been seen again today. Who should do so? Look at verse two. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. This word redeemed. We think of it commonly as referring
to a redemption by blood, and it certainly refers to that,
but it means more than that. It's the complete deliverance
of our souls by the power, grace, and mercy of God through the
blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We have been redeemed by the
price of Christ's precious blood. We have been redeemed by the
power, the omnipotent power of his sovereign grace in the new
birth. And we shall be redeemed by his
resurrection glory when he comes again. Redeemed, that the redeemed
of the Lord say so. Whom he hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy. He delivered us from the hand
of Satan, delivered us from the curse of the law, and gathered
them out of the lands from the east and from the west and from
the north and from the south. God says, I'll say to the north,
give up. and to the South keep not back.
I will gather my seed from the North and the South and the East
and the West. I have redeemed them and I will
gather them. So we preach the gospel with
confidence, knowing that God in his grace will gather together
all his chosen. He gathers them in his great
goodness. The men and women of this world
will not confess it. but the redeemed of the Lord
say so." God is good. His mercies endure forever. He
says, with regard to those who haven't yet been called, I will
hiss for them and gather them for I have redeemed them. I will
hiss for them and gather them. For this reason, I have redeemed
them. You talk about a clear declaration
of particular effectual redemption. The Lord God said by his prophet
Zechariah, because I have redeemed them, you can be dead sure I
will hiss for them. That is, I will call them by
omnipotent, irresistible mercy and grace, and I will gather
them. I redeemed them. I redeemed them. We call upon men and women all
the time to do what they have no ability at all to do. Because
God calls upon men and women and commands you to do what you
have no ability to do. And if God commands you to do
it, you are responsible to do it. And your lack of ability
is your own fault. But you have no ability to obey
His command. Brother Frank Hall sent me a text late last night.
He's obviously working on today's message. He said, is there a
difference between preaching repentance and calling men to
repent? And I said, obviously there is.
To preach repentance is to declare that God has turned a people
to himself by Christ Jesus. To call on men to repent is to
call for men to turn to God. There's a huge difference. There's
a huge difference. One speaks of God's work, another speaks
what you must do. But you can't do it. You can't do it. To preach
repentance is to proclaim that the work has been done and to
proclaim that God will turn His own. And all the redeemed of
the Lord understand that the turning is God's. Turn me, and
I shall be turned. After that I was turned, then
I repented, the prophet said. We turn to God because God turns
us to Him. Let me give you some examples.
God calls for sinners to believe, doesn't He? In our Savior's seed,
no man can believe. Our Savior says, come unto me.
And then he says, no man can come to me, except my Father
send his Spirit and draw him. Is that what it says? The Lord
God says by his apostle, awake, arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light. Well, you can't awake from the
dead. You can't arise from the dead. And if you're getting light,
depends on you doing it, you'll never have any light. The Lord
God calls the sinners to turn to him. Turn ye, turn ye at my
reproof. But you can't turn. You can't
turn. You're dead in trespasses and sins. God commands you to
be holy. You can't be holy. God commands
you to do righteousness. You can't do righteousness. The
preacher, that's just not right. Take it up with God. That's the
way it is. This is what the gospel declares.
God comes and turns. And when God turns you, you come
running. God graciously, mercifully, wondrously forces you to come
to Him. And when He forces you to come,
you come because He brought you. Understand that? God raises men
from the dead. And when He raises men from the
dead, they arise like Lazarus and come forth from the tomb.
And they see light that God alone can give. Now, the apostle tells,
or the prophet here tells us in the Psalm how God does this
turning. Look at verses four through 32.
We're first called to give thanks to God, honoring him for his
goodness and mercy. Then we're given four great displays
of God's goodness. Four marvelous illustrations
of divine providence working the salvation of his elect. The
redeemed of the Lord say that God is good, that his mercy endures
forever. And here one of God's redeemed
ones displays God's mercy in providence. God's mercy that endures forever
did not begin with you when you first recognized it. God's mercy
endureth forever. It has no beginning and has no
end. It was mercy from everlasting. Mercy through time and mercy
that shall carry us into everlasting glory. God's mercy endures forever. God's mercy comes by way of prevenient
grace in providence. By all the works of providence,
God arranges things and does things. to prepare every chosen
sinner through all life's experiences, to prepare them for that day
called the time of love when Christ comes and spreads his
skirt over you and says to you, live. Oh, the wonder of God's providence. Sometimes, often, God's providence
appears hard and rough. My dear brother Harry Graham,
who's now with the Lord, told me when I was a 19-year-old boy,
sitting on his hearth one night, he said, Dodd, when you see what God does to
a man, he's about to save. You see what God does to a woman,
he's about to save. You'd think to yourself, I wouldn't
treat a mad dog that way. God's providence is often in
appearance frowning providence, but his purpose is good. In providence,
he brings Gomer down to the lowest pit of degradation. But he does so that he may exalt
her in due time. He may use Satan to bring her
down, but bring her down he will. Before God ever exalts a sinner
to his place among the sons of God, he brings the sinner down
in the dust of humiliation. That prodigal son. Can't you see that fellow marching
off from his daddy's house? He got pockets full of gold.
He got a bank account he thinks he can never, never empty. He
got everything his soul could desire. He's on his way to make
his way in the world, and he's got the world by the tail on
a downhill pull. Nothing could go wrong. And he
would never have returned home had God not emptied his pockets,
emptied his bank account. emptied his cabinets, emptied
his stomach, tore away his clothes, and put him in a hog pen feeding
on swine's husk. Oh, his mercy is good. His mercy
endures forever. Look at these pictures we have.
First in verses four through nine, the psalmist tells us that
we were all lost weary wanderers, wandering through this dark,
dark wilderness of rebellion and sin and unbelief through
this world in need of a guide, in need of someone to bring us
home to God. Look at verse four. They wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way. That is, they wandered each
one in his own way. Not one of them just exactly
alike and yet all of them the same. They found no place to
satisfy them, no city to dwell in. The Lord said, I will bring
you into the wilderness, and there will I plead with you face
to face. I will allure her and bring her
into the wilderness, and then I'll speak comfortably to her. Like silly, ignorant sheep, we
went astray. We went our own way. according
to the bids of our own will. We wandered in darkness because
we love darkness. And we were ignorant, so ignorant
that we didn't even know our condition. But God and his providence
made us hungry and thirsty. First five, hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted in them. I like what John Gill said concerning
this fifth verse. He said, in such a condition,
our souls, when like the particle, they come to themselves. They're
thoroughly convinced of their state and condition by nature.
They find themselves starving and famishing and no provision
to be had from themselves or from any creature. They hunger
for Christ, the bread of life and thirst for his grace, the
water of life and the blessings of it. They hunger and thirst
for his righteousness, for justification, for the pardon of sin through
his blood, for salvation by his grace. This God makes them to
hunger for and thirst for. God knows how to create dissatisfaction
in a man's heart. God knows how to make prodigals
hungry. God knows how to strip those
who are well clothed in their own righteousness. We found ourselves
by the hand of God's providence in desperate need with no means
of provision. Then in verse six, In the time
of our soul's trouble, then we called upon the Lord. Then, then. When God made you hungry and
thirsty, then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And
he delivered them out of their distresses. Now I recognize that
providence and judgments of God in providence alone. Never bring
anyone to repentance. We read in Revelation of men
and women cast into hell who yet repented not. Judgment doesn't
bring repentance. But providence and grace working
by providence accomplishes the end of providence. And he causes
chosen sinners to cry to God in their trouble. I've often had folks say to me,
and I have often thought to myself, I didn't believe for the right
reasons. I didn't come to Christ for the
right reasons. I didn't call on God for the right reasons.
I called on God out of desperation. I wish, Lindsay, when I call
on God now, I can do it for the right reason, just for his glory. Don't you? But I'll tell you what, you never
call on God except out of desperation. Never. Never. Just doesn't happen. Just doesn't happen. I called
on God to show me mercy. Because I desperately needed
mercy. I call on God now to show me
mercy, because I desperately need mercy. Because I recognize
that the things I need, the things my soul desires, only God can
perform. Only God can. I said to Lindsay,
right before I got to preach, just between services, before
he gets done dealing with Moses leaving Egypt, he or I, one,
need to deal with two things. In Exodus chapter two, we read
plainly that Moses saw that the thing that he had done was known
and Pharaoh sought his life and Moses was afraid and fled from
Egypt. And in Hebrews chapter 11, God,
by His Spirit, tells us that Moses, when he fled from Egypt,
is held before us as a great example of faith. Now you explain
how those two things could fit. He left in faith. He left in
fear. I've been living like that for
49 years now. Fear and faith are always found
together in the same heart, as long as we live in this world.
God's people never, never, never are so lifted up with pride as
to deny the evil that's in them. We call on God out of desperation
and plead with importunity. That's the reason the Savior
said, knock, and the door will be open. That's not what he said.
I wish you could read it in the original language. This is what
he said. He said, knock. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock,
knock, knock, knock. When you're so desperate, you
got nowhere else to go. Keep knocking at mercy's door,
and it will open to you who desperately need his mercy. Or you can say,
I need mercy. Well, the Lord's not home. I'll
go my way. You don't need any. You got plenty of bread. You're
not hungry yet. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
Look at verse seven. Then the Lord God led us to the
Lord Jesus, our city of habitation. Led us by Christ, the Lord Jesus
himself, who is the right way. And he led them forth by the
right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Verse
eight. All this we owe to God, His grace,
and His adorable providence. Oh, in the light of this, in
the light of this, oh, that men would praise the Lord for His
goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men,
for He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry
soul with goodness. Then we look at another illustration,
verses 10 through 16. The psalmist tells us we were
all prisoners. Prisoners in bondage to sin,
Satan, and the law, but Christ set us free. Prisoners under
the sentence of death, such as sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death, being bound in affliction and iron. That's where I was
when God called me by his grace. sitting in darkness, the terrors
of death crushing my heart with fear, bailed in affliction and
iron I couldn't break. Because, because, because, because,
you who now experience the curse of God in your soul, the terror
of God in your hearts. It's your fault. It's your fault. You're justly condemned and you
will either acknowledge it or you'll go to hell because they
rebelled against the words of God and contemned, despised the
counsel of the Most High. I've been preaching to some of
you all your lives and you hear God's word and you say, Now, I'm not gonna listen to
that. I'm not. You despise the word preached. That is, you count
it a meaningless, insignificant thing you really have no need
of. Look at verse 12. Look, God graciously humbled
our proud hearts. Therefore, therefore, because
we wouldn't be humbled, because we wouldn't bow, because we despised
his word, because we rebelled, what a reason God gives for mercy.
Therefore, He brought down their heart with labor. They fell down
and there was none to help. We talk about irresistible grace,
an irresistible call. I stand before you as a man. who cannot sufficiently, adequately
give thanks to God or praise Him or extol Him before you in
the light of this fact. When God comes calling, He won't
take no for an answer. I heard Him. Come to me. I don't
want to come. Bow. I will not bow. Surrender. I won't surrender. I don't need
God. Therefore, he brought down my
heart with labor, and I fell flat on my face, and there was
none to help." When a man or woman is humbled under a sense
of sin, then he's willing to submit to Christ. He's willing
to trust the righteousness and merit of another. Then the guilty
sinner falls down and pleads for mercy, but only when there's
no other help. And when the sinner pleads for
mercy, the Lord sets him free. Look
at verse 13. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he saved them out of all their distresses. Look, I looked and all of a sudden
I lived. Well, I was living before I looked,
but I didn't know it. But I found out about it. I called, and he
answered me. He answered me. He brought them
out of darkness and the shadow of death and break their bands
in sunder. One of the hymn writers put it
this way. Long by imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin
and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening
ray. I awoke, the dungeon flamed with
light. My chains fell off, my heart
was free. I rose, went forth, and followed
thee. Now look at verse 15. All of
this we owe to God's providence. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness. and for his wonderful works to
the children of men. For he hath broken the gates
of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder." The angel came
and woke up Peter and took him out of the prison. As they approached
the door, the door just swung open. That's a pretty good picture
what I'm talking about. God comes and awakens the dead
and takes us out of the prison house. And as we go forth, the
door just swings open. All God's bounteous providence
is but the work of his grace for his own. Look at verses 17
through 22. We were all sin sick souls in
need of the healing physician. You see, sin has made fools of
all men, fools, fools, fools, because of their transgression
and because of their iniquities are afflicted. Judgment comes because of folly. I know that's hard for proud
men to bear, and folks refuse to acknowledge it, but acknowledge
it we must. Fools, because of their transgression,
because of their iniquities, are afflicted. In our folly,
we despise the good word of God. We despise Christ, the bread
of life. We would not have it. Our sin-sick
souls then were finishing and ready to die by reason of this
folly. Verse 18, their soul abhorreth
all manner of meat. And they draw near unto the gates
of death. All those things that we used
to think we could feed our souls on. Those things that used to
satisfy. Those things that used to gratify
us. I don't think Betty will mind
me telling you this again. I told you before, when God saved
her, she came down here after her first husband died, started
coming to church, and she was just as nice to me. She really
was. She was just as nice to me and
worked. She didn't do anything. She didn't do anything. And then
she came to me one day and said she wanted to confess Christ
in baptism. Before she got home, she was in tears, and she called
me back. She said, Brother Don, I've been lying to you. See,
I came to church because Bobby wanted me to come, and I didn't
want to get Bobby upset. And I came all those years and listened
to you, and I left there so mad at you I could bite nails. I
hated you. I hated you. Why? Because she could find refuge
in her own goodness. Because she had some fig leaves
of her own making, and that was good enough until God stripped
the fig leaves and made her hungry. and then their soul of horrors,
all that other stuff, all that pack of religious nonsense, all
my self-righteous folly, and they draw near to the gates of
death. Well, what do you do when you When you've got nothing to
eat, nothing to wear, no one to give you anything, and you're
approaching death, you know you're about to go to hell. Then they
cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their
distresses. Oh, I pray God'll get you in
trouble. Oh, I pray God'll shut you up. I pray God'll strip you
and hunger you, make your soul famish in you. Then you'll cry
to him. In verse 20, how does he do this? He sent His Word and healed them. He sends the Gospel. He causes
you to now hear the Word. You've been hearing it all your
life. Been hearing it for years. Been listening and wouldn't hear.
Been hearing it, couldn't hear. And then one day you're sitting
here and God sends His Word to you. God sends His Word and you see
the Savior crucified. And when He does, He delivers
you, saves you out of your distresses, delivers them from destruction.
All this we owe to God's good providence. I've told you just recently I
started attending church when I was 16 years old because there's
a girl there I wanted to date. And I honestly don't remember
her name, barely remember what she looked like. But I wanted
to date her. Her daddy wouldn't let me date
her unless I went to church, so I went to church. And as far as I know,
God never spoke to her. I took my friend Tommy Bailiff
with me. We went to church every Sunday morning, most evenings
too. Went to church, went to church. And they heard the same
thing I heard and refused to hear it, like I refused to hear
it. I had heard the gospel taught
plainly and clearly and distinctly as I teach it and preach it to
you. I wouldn't hear it. I wouldn't hear it. I wouldn't
hear it. Until one day, sitting back there
by where Jerry's sitting now, holding hands with that pretty
little girl, I let go of her hand and I started to listen
because God sent his word. And for the first time in my
life, I heard God speak. And God delivered me from my
distresses and my destruction. All because of his great good
providence. And cause in my eyes to see that
pretty girl that I've forgotten all about. And that was just
a little bit of the providence. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. Let them sacrifice the sacrifice of thanksgiving and
declare his works with rejoicing. That's about all we do, isn't
it? Offer the sacrifice of our lives, I'll take the cup of salvation,
and I'll pay what I owe, praise God. That's it, that's it. Then, look at verses 23 through
32. We were all like seamen on the
raging sea, ready to perish until the Lord God intervened and gave
us peace. When the Lord brings us into
the deep and causes us to do business
in great waters, then we see his wonders. They that go down
to the sea in ships do business in great waters. These see the
works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. They're tossed about. In the stormy providence, until
God makes our souls to melt within us, it brings us to our wits
end. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount
up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths. Their soul
is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man and are at their wits end. Some years ago, Brother Ralph
Barnard was preaching down in Houston, Texas, Brother Jack
Shakes, and he got a call. Ralph had already gone to bed,
it was about 9 o'clock, he went dead early, maybe 9.30, and he got
a call. And Jack went to get him and
said, Brother Barnard, somebody wants to speak to you. A gal said to me, I got
on the phone, he said, this is Rob Barnard. She said, Brother
Barnard, I want you to pray for my son. He's in hell. Would you
come visit him? He said, no, leave him there.
That's where he needs to be. Just leave him there. That's
where he needs to be. That's exactly right. You need to be
brought to your wits end. And the last thing you need when
you're at your wits end is some huckster soul winner to tell
you how to get your way out. Wait and God will speak. Wait
and God will speak. Then, not till then, we call
on him and he gives us peace. Verse 28. 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. all the raging sea of God's omitting
wrath. He bringeth them to their desired
haven. Alexander Carson said, it is
God who raises the storm and it's God who steals it. Nobody
else can. Nobody else can. All of this,
again, we owe to God's providence. Verse 31, oh, that men would
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 saints. Now, in verses 33 through 42,
David explains the mystery. Let me just read it to you. I
can't do more than that. The whole thing is an allegorical
picture. The Lord God causes fruitful
places to be barren, and barren places He makes fruitful according
to His wise designs of grace for His elect. He turneth the
rivers into a wilderness and water springs into dry ground.
A fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that
dwell therein. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water,
and dry ground into water springs. And there he maketh the hungry
soul to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation.
And so the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.
He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly,
and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Again they're diminished
and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He poureth
contempt upon the princes and causeth them to wander in the
wilderness where there is no way. Yet he senteth the poor
on high from the affliction and maketh him families like a flock. The righteous see it and rejoice. and all iniquity just shuts her
mouth. God takes the place that was
fruitful and plenteous, a rich, luscious land, full of corn and
beans and wine and figs, and he sends drought after drought
after drought, withholds the rain, and everything gone. And over here where there was
a desert, he sends rain. It makes the desert a fruitful
field. It makes that place to be full
of corn and beans and wine and figs and luscious springs everywhere
and causes folks to dwell there for whom he's determined to be
gracious. What's he talking about? God
takes the gospel from those folks who wouldn't have it. Where's
that church in Ephesus now? Where's that church at Antioch
now? Where's that great church at Jerusalem now? Where are they? Where are those great places
in the past we hear about? Because they despise God's goodness,
God takes the light from them and plants it over here. Why
do you suppose that North America was discovered?
Why do you suppose? Do you reckon it was just so
that England could advance her empire? Do you reckon it was
just so that John D. Rockefeller could make a fortune?
Do you reckon that's why folks found this country? Well, it
kind of looks that way, prosperous, greatly blessed. No, no, this
country was discovered because God in his providence were making a way hundreds of
years before you ever drew your breath for you to hear his word,
see his son, and believe his gospel. That's the mystery of providence. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. Be wise and watch and observe
how that God worketh all things together for good to them that
love the Lord, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Go home, my brother. Go home,
my sister, rejoicing in God's providence. Go home, sinner,
believing on the Son of God. by whom you have been compelled
to hear the word through his rich providence, and now by his
grace compelled to hear the word and believe. Go home rejoicing
in the wondrous loving kindness of God in providence. Amen. As we sing, Elizabeth, you come
with me, baptize you.