Often we read in the book of
God about God gathering his elect from the four corners of the
earth, from the north and the south, from the east and from
the west, gathering them to himself, gathering them to Christ Jesus
the Lord. He says, I will gather them from
thence and bring them into the place that I have chosen to set
my name. He said, I will gather them as
sheaves into the floor. I will gather you from the nations
and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the
Lord. In Zechariah 10, I particularly
like the way he speaks of gathering them. He said, I will hiss for
them. I will whistle for them and gather
them For I have redeemed them, and they shall increase." God
Almighty will gather His elect out of every corner and nook
and cranny of this world. At the appointed time of mercy,
He will gather each one to Christ Jesus the Lord, giving them life
and faith and eternal salvation in the Redeemer. Tonight, I want
to show you the way he does it, the way he gathers them. Turn to Psalm 107, and just hold
your Bibles open here at this 107th Psalm. In this 107th Psalm, God the
Holy Spirit shows us how God uses his providence as the handmaiden
of mercy to gather his elect to Christ. the way he graciously
brings sinners chosen and redeemed to the Savior who chose them
and redeemed them. This psalm is a beautiful display
of God's adoring providence. It is a declaration of God the
Holy Spirit that gives us an exposition of that sweet verse
of scripture we find in Romans 8 28. We know that all things
work together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the according to his purpose. How is it that all things
work together for the good of God's elect? Do they really? If so, how is it that they do? This psalm is an allegory, an
allegory picturing God's saving work behind the scenes. You know
what an allegory is. It's a story, an earthly story. It may or may not be a true story,
but it is a story intended to picture a spiritual truth. It's
a parable, an earthly story about heavenly things. And in this
psalm, we have one of those parables that's given in scripture, an
allegory. For example, in Galatians chapter 4, the Spirit of God
uses the real life characters of Sarah and Hagar. and of their
sons Ishmael and Isaac as an allegory. He says these are an
allegory of the covenant of grace and the covenant of works. They're
an allegory of salvation by God's grace and salvation as men suppose
it to be by the works of the flesh. In Luke chapter 16, our
Lord gives us a story. It was a fictitious story, I
think. A story about a rich man and Lazarus who laid at his gates.
And he gives us a story to show us the distinct character of
God's elect in this world and in the world to come from those
who are under the wrath and judgment of God in this world and in the
world to come. In Psalm 105, David used the
story of Israel's history. from the time of Abraham to the
time that they were settled in Canaan as an allegory of God's
wondrous work of grace in this world, settling his church, settling
his people in the place of his mercy and his grace. In Psalm
106, the psalmist shows us how the Lord saves his people for
his namesake. And here we have an allegorical
picture of the way God saves his people, gathering them to
himself. The providence of God is simply
God's government of the universe. Providence. We, our founding
fathers often spoke of the providence as if providence were a God.
We don't worship God's providence. We worship the God of providence. There's a vast difference. Most
of our founding fathers were deists. They didn't worship God.
They worshiped God in things, as they said. We don't worship
providence. We worship God who rules providence. Providence is God's disposition,
his government of the universe for the saving of his elect and
the glory of his name. Oh, God, teach me that and teach
you that and we will have learned enough to do us through our journey
in this world. God Almighty did not create this
world and walk away from it and leave it to itself. The Lord
God Almighty rules the universe absolutely, all the time, everywhere. He always does exactly what He
will, as He will, when He will, and He does it with everybody.
Everybody in heaven, everybody in the earth, and everybody in
hell. God has His way everywhere. Providence is but the accomplishment
of God's eternal purpose in divine predestination. It is God doing
in time what he purposed to do in eternity. There is both the
general providence and the special providence. In general providence,
we see God simply ruling the world. But special providence
is god's rule of the world specifically for the good of his people The
lord god declares in isaiah 43 I am the lord thy god the holy
one of israel thy savior I gave egypt for thy ransom Ethiopia
and seba for thee Since thou was precious in my sight thou
has been honorable and I have loved thee Therefore will I give
men for thee and people for thy life. Imagine that. Imagine that. God says, I sacrificed
the nation of Ethiopia for you. I sacrificed Seba for you. I gave kings for you and nations
for your life because I loved you. God Almighty has raised
up empires and torn down empires. He's raised up kings and He's
brought down kings. He's raised up nations and He's
brought down nations. He has done it and He is doing
it and He shall do it for the salvation of His people. The
Lord, the psalmist said, performeth all things for me. The Lord performeth all things
for me. This 107th Psalm magnifies the
triune Jehovah for his spiritual blessings of grace of which these
temporal blessings here spoken of are but pictures. This Psalm
is like Interpreter's House in Pilgrim's Progress. There a pilgrim
was told that he would see excellent and profitable things. And if
the Lord who inspired these words and caused David to write them
will open them to our hearts, we will see and hear excellent
things tonight. Let me show you four things.
Number one, the psalmist calls upon us to
extol and give thanks to God for his goodness. Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord for he is good, and his mercy endureth forever. David, of course, is speaking
to God's people, those whom the Lord has saved by his grace,
those who are redeemed out of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue by the blood of Christ and delivered by his grace from
the bondage of sin and death and hell. Those whom the Lord
has saved ought to give thanks to him. We should give thanks
to the Lord for his goodness. The word good is really just
another word for God. The word God is but an abbreviation
of the word good. Our God is good. Everything about Him is good. Everything He does is good. And God's goodness is over all
His people. We give thanks to God because
His mercy endures forever. His eternal mercies, His providential
daily mercies, His saving redeeming mercies, His mercy endures forever. But who is it that's called upon
here to give thanks? Look at verse 2. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. God's good. His mercy endures
forever. Let every redeemed sinner declare
this. 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 from the north, and from the south. Certainly all men
ought to extol God. All men ought to give thanks
to God. Every creature this side of hell is walking in God's mercy. For anything this side of hell
is mercy. I hear people say things, I hear
you say things I know or at least I hope you don't really mean.
You'll have someone very dear to you, someone that you know
laying up here in the hospital and had been suffering for a
long time and you'll say foolish things, foolish things, foolish
things. Some of you said to me when my
dad was dying, same thing when my mother was dying, well, they're
better off now. Oh, no. No, anything out of hell is mercy. And we ought to give thanks if
you breathe God's air. You ought to give thanks if you
wear clothes God put on your back. You ought to give thanks
to Him. But those who are the redeemed
of the Lord, oh now, we have indeed reason to give thanks,
for He has redeemed us. redeemed us with his blood, redeemed
us by the power of his grace, delivering us from the hand of
the enemy, delivering us from the curse of the law, delivering
us from the bondage of sin and death, delivering us from Satan
and from hell. Another example of God's goodness
and mercy is that he has gathered us to Christ by his effectual
power. We had all gone astray. We turned
everyone to his own way and the Lord God delivered us. Those who are redeemed, the Lord
will, he most surely does gather them to himself. He said, I will
hiss for them. I will call, I will whistle for
them and gather them for I have redeemed them. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. God is good. His mercy endures
forever. Is God good when he takes away
as well as when he gives? Yes, he is. The redeemed of the
Lord say so. Job said, the Lord giveth and
the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Is God merciful when he frowns as well as when he smiles? The
redeemed of the Lord say so. The Lord's mercy endures forever. Does God work all things together
for good to them that love the Lord? The redeemed of the Lord
say so. All right, now here's the second
thing. In verses 4 through 32, The psalmist gives us four illustrations,
four pictures of God's goodness, four illustrations of God's providence,
four pictures of how the Lord uses things for the benefit,
the saving benefit of his people. Now, please hear what I say.
Providence alone saves no one. But God uses providence in conjunction
with his word and the power of his spirit to give life and faith
to chosen centers redeemed by the blood of his son. Mark it
down. The mercy of God toward you didn't
begin when you first believed on Christ. The mercy of God began
for you, children of God, before the world was. And the Lord God
ruled everything in your past existence exactly according to
his purpose of grace to you to bring you to life and faith in
Christ. More than that, he ruled, arranged
and disposed of everything in history. Everything in history. I mean,
everything. just for you, just for you, to
bring you to himself. Several years ago, I've told
you a story, Shelby, and I went out to folks in prison. Our first
visit in California, this was 1991 or so, and went to visit a man
who was in prison, probably spent the rest of his life in prison.
Got arrested first time when he was about 15, 16 years old.
Arrested numerous times for bank robbery. Last time, somebody
was killed in the process of the robbery. His wife met him
while he was in prison. She was smuggling drugs into
the prison. And God caused them to hear the gospel sitting together
on visitation day in Folsom Prison. She said to me, thank God for
Folsom Prison. Thank God for Folsom Prison. How can you say that? God either
uses everything or he doesn't. He's either in control of everything
or he's in control of nothing. You can't control anything unless
you control everything. God controls everything for the
saving of his people. He has, from the beginning of
time, yea, before time began, worked everything in human history
together for your salvation, my brother, my sister, exactly
according to his purpose from eternity. Let me show you these
four pictures in verse four. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in.
We were lost, weary travelers like the children of Israel wandering
in the wilderness. We needed a guide to bring us
home to God. We were lost in this wilderness
by reason of sin, by reason of our own unbelief, our own rebellion,
and our own ignorance. like silly, ignorant sheep straying
from God. Look at verse five. God and his
providence then made us hungry. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. I remember wondering about in
lost darkness and blindness with no hunger and no thirst, don't
you? And I remember God making my
soul to faint within me, creating a thirst in my soul. A dissatisfaction
with everything around me today. Satisfied with things as they
are. Satisfied in death. Satisfied
with unrighteousness. Satisfied with rebellion. Satisfied
with ungodliness. Satisfied without God. Without
Christ and without hope. And then suddenly made to know
that I must have Christ or I'm sure to die. made to hunger and
thirst for him and his righteousness. God knows how to do that. He
knows how to make the proud, haughty prodigal hungry. Not just hungry, but hungry for
his father's house and the food of his father's table. Verse
6. Then, And then, when you're hungry
and thirsty and your soul faints within you, you're in trouble. Oh, I love to see God get folks
in trouble. I love it when God gets you in
trouble. I love to get a phone call in the middle of the night
from somebody who's in trouble. I love it when somebody stops by the
office who's in trouble. And I tell you what I'll do, I'll
leave you there. It's a good place for you to be. You need
to be in trouble. But when man's brought to trouble
in his soul, then, and not until then, he'll call on the Lord. I'll tell you when you're going
to come to Christ. I know exactly when you're going to come. If
you come, I know exactly when you're going to come. You're
going to come when you've got to have it. Not until then. When you've got to have grace,
you'll seek grace. When you've got to have mercy,
you'll seek mercy. Not till then. Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of
their distresses. Look at verse seven. The Lord
God led us to Christ, the way to our city of habitation, to
the refuge for our souls. And he, in response to their
cry, led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city
of habitation. All of this we owe to God's providence. Therefore,
we will praise him. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness. and for his wonderful works to
the children of men." Four times. Four times. Here in verse 8,
verse 15, verse 21, verse 31, David is inspired of God to write
this chorus. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. What's he talking about? was
grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. For he satisfieth the longing
soul, and filleth the hungry soul with his goodness. Here's a second picture. God's people are described as
prisoners. God's elect are described as
prisoners. And all men are prisoners under the sentence of the law,
under the sentence of death. All men are prisoners shut up
into condemnation. But God's people are described
as Christ prisoners. Thy prisoners, he said, shall
go forth. They're special prisoners. Prisoners
brought into the experience of their prison. Prisoners who are
brought into darkness, who have been cast into the deep pit,
where there's no water and no food, no strength and no hope.
And those prisoners, he sets free. Look at 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 or despised the counsel of the Most High.
Therefore, he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down
and there was none to help. With one afflictive providence
after another, the haughtiness of man God lays low. And when a man or a woman is
humbled, broken, brought down with a sense of sin and guilt
by the hand of God, he's made to know that he can't help himself. And nobody else can help him
except the God of all grace. And when he's made to know he's
utterly without help, Then he calls on the Lord for mercy.
Look at verse 13. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and break
their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness. What? Goodness in bringing you
down? Goodness in putting you in trouble?
Goodness in shutting you up in prison? Goodness in making you
to be bound about with shackles and bondage in terror and in
distress? Oh yes. All 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. Look at verse 17. We were sin
sick souls in need of that healing physician who came to the man
at the Pool of Bethesda as we saw this morning. Fools. Fools. Yeah, that's us. Fools. Fools run to their own destruction.
Fools pretend that is good, which they know is evil. Fools pretend
they're healthy when they know they're dying. Fools, because
of their transgression, because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner
of meat. They draw near to the gates of
death. Sin has fooled us. causes us to despise God's Word
and God's Son, God's grace and God's mercy. And because we would
not have the bread of life, we famish in our souls and are at
the point of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble. And he saveth them out of all
their distresses. Now watch this. He sent his word
and healed them. and delivered them from their
destruction. God sends his word to the fool
who brings himself to the shadow of death, to the fool who is
a transgressor and brings himself down because of his folly. God
sends his word, the word of his gospel, the word of his grace,
and heals them. Verse 21. Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to
the children of men. I often, most commonly when I
use the word providence, refer to it as God's good providence. I refer to it as God's adorable
providence. You see, what God does is good. no matter how it feels, no matter
how painful, no matter how long the darkness is, if God sends
it, I need it. His providence is good. It is
what the old writers used to call that which God does in prevenient
grace. It's that by which he prepares
the way for his saving grace. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. Not to all men, no. Not to all
the race of men, no. No. His works are wonderful works
of goodness to chosen men and women. Men and women. Fixed in his heart
from eternity. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices
of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. This may
be what Paul refers to in Hebrews 13 when he says by Christ, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That
is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Now look
at verse 23. Here's the fourth illustration
of God's providence. They that go down to the sea
in ships, that do business in great waters. Brother David was a diver in
the Navy. Josh is a diver now. Submarine
work. do business in great waters. About the deepest I've ever been,
25, 30 feet, just maximum, maximum. And it's wondrous there. I wonder
what it's like where you've been. In the deep, in the deep, God's
people are folks that God sends into the deep abyss of darkness
and judgment and guilt and condemnation. And they do business in great
waters. They're not the kind of folks
that you see at the end of a citywide crusade, walking to the front
of a Coliseum, smacking gum and laughing and carrying on and
talking about believing in Jesus and getting saved. No, God's
people do business in great waters, in the deep. These see the works
of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. Don't you love to look back yesterday
or the decade before and now be able to realize what God was
doing in the deep sea when we were cast into such great trouble
and rejoice at his wonders. He commandeth, now watch this,
he commandeth and raises up the stormy wind. You mean God's the
one who sent the storm? He didn't just send it, he commanded
it. He commands and raises up the
stormy wind. The 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. Oh, God bring you there. God
bring you there. When you're at your wits end,
you'll seek his mercy. As long as you've got one more
shift in you, you'll make it. As long as, as long as you got
one more effort in you, you'll try it. But when you're brought
to your wits end, you reel to and fro like a drunken man, you
stagger. God, I'm going without you. Then they
cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their
distresses. Now watch this. He maketh the storm a calm, that the waves thereof are still. The law cries, kill him! Kill him! To hell! Don Fortner
must go! And the very law that condemns
and calls such a storm, that law hasn't changed. But it's
a great call. And that which used to disturb
me, that terrified my soul and kept me up at night, is now peaceful
for all is well. Christ has satisfied every demand. Then are they glad. Oh, how glad I am. Oh, how glad
is my soul in the depth of my being because I'm quiet. Peace in here. Peace that passes
understanding. So, that is in this way, He bringeth
them to their desired haven. This is God's goodness and His
wonderful work. 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. All right, here's the third thing. Beginning of verse 33, the spirit
of God explains to us the mystery of providence. God arranges the affairs of princes
and nobles and nations for the salvation of his elect. How often
do you experience something in your family, in your life that's
just confusing? Or you experience something as
a people in this nation, a people in this world, and you think,
God, why did you do this? I have to acknowledge sometimes
I ask the question in rebellion, God forgive me. More often, though,
as I hope I'm growing in the grace and knowledge of my Redeemer,
I ask the question with submissive faith to God my Savior. Lord, what's your purpose in
this? What's your purpose? And I keep
coming back to the book. Verse 33. God causes fruitful
places to be barren. And he makes barren places fruitful. Exactly according to his designs
of grace for his people. He turneth rivers into a wilderness. and the water springs into dry
ground, a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness
of them that dwell therein. He turneth the wilderness into
a standing water and the dry ground into water springs. God
takes the gospel from one place and one nation and one people
and gives it to another. And he leaves that land where
the gospel was barren. And he doesn't just do this arbitrarily.
He takes the gospel from those who despise it. He takes the
light from those who will not walk in it. He takes his word
from those who will not heed it. And he leaves them in barrenness. And the fools never know it.
They don't even know they've been left. When the land of darkness
and ignorance is given light, then it's because God has a people
in that land whom he's determined to save. So, Brother Don, can
you demonstrate that? All you've got to do is read
history books to demonstrate it. You don't even have to read
the Bible. Just read your history books.
Ephraim, God said, is joined to his idols. Let him have them. Leave him alone. Israel, once
was the most, not just the most, it was the only enlightened nation
on the earth. The only enlightened nation.
They alone had the oracles of God. And because they turned
the oracles of God into religious idolatry and superstition and
would not hear God's word, he left them blind and empty and
desolate. And you know what they do? They
hold on to their traditions. They hold on to the holy days.
They don't even have a clue when they took place, but they hold
on to them, superstitiously clinging to them in utter darkness and
imagine that we're the ones who don't have light. When God sends
darkness, he sends darkness. Rome once flourished with the
gospel. Now it's just idolatry and superstition. Ethiopia was once the place from
which the gospel was sent into all the world. Now it's just
heathenism. But God's not without his witness.
He shuts the door here and opens it there. He turns the lights
off here and raises the sun over here. He shuts out this people
and opens the way for another. Why do you think this country
was discovered? It wasn't just so that England could have more
colonies. God was preparing for you to hear the gospel of his
grace and arranging all the circumstances necessary for you to believe
on his son. Several years ago, I was down
in Chiapas, Mexico, preaching with Brother Henry Mahan, Milton
Howard, and I, and Henry went out to the coffee plantation,
out to the ranch. Well, a fellow by the name of
Roberto built a little chapel. Oh, about, you could say probably,
I'd say at least six of them in this auditorium, a little
chapel. Folks walked half a day. Some
rode horseback for hours to get there, to hear the gospel whenever
we'd come. Roberto, sitting there listening,
and he looked at Brother Milton and said something to him. I
could tell he was very serious. I asked Milton what he said.
He said, he just asked me, he said, do you reckon the Lord
sent these men down here so I could hear this word? Do you reckon God did all this just
for me? Do you reckon God did all this
just for me? The Lord performeth all things
just for me. Just for me. God makes the hungry
and the thirsty to dwell in the land where the gospels preached.
Verse 36. There he maketh the hungry to
dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation. And so
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 are menaced
and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He poureth
contempt upon princes and causeth them to wander in the wilderness
where there is no way. Of these things you can be sure. God will save his own. The righteous will see God's
salvation, his wonderful works, and rejoice in it. And the wicked,
he will leave without excuse. Verse 41, yet setteth he the
poor on high from affliction. He makes them families like a
flock. The righteous shall see it and rejoice. And all the wicked, all iniquity
shall stop her mouth. Men everywhere blaspheme and
poke fun and ridicule you and me. They poke fun and blaspheme
and ridicule the gospel of God's grace and they laugh and deride
and balk and we get a little disgusted. There's a day coming when all
iniquity will stand aghast. And for all eternity in hell,
shut her mouth. This is God's doing. This is
what God has done by which he makes a difference between Israel
and Egypt. Now, look at verse 43. Who so is wise will observe these
things. Even they, they to whom God gives
wisdom, they who observe these things, they shall understand
all these things are brought to pass by the hand of God according
to the loving kindness of the Lord. God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm deep in unfathomable minds of
never failing skill. He treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. So judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind the frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and
soon, very, very soon. He will make it plain. Amen.