Well, this Thursday being Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to preach to you a message on Thanksgiving. And so if you'll turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. And we'll be looking at this section of verses 23 to 32. And let's bow together for prayer. We thank you, our Father, that When we come here to be fed spiritually, that You nourish us with Your Word. We thank You that You give us sound doctrine and good teaching in Your Word and You tell us to abide in it. You tell us to take it in and digest the truth and then go away from here being those who are willing to engage our heart to do it. And so we ask, dear Father, that you would work your precious grace into our hearts this day so that we would be thankful, that we would be able to give thanks in all things through Jesus Christ our Lord. May this passage of Scripture come with power to the hearts of many who may need it here this morning. For we pray and ask it in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Psalm 107, verse 23. Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord. and his wonders in the deep. For he commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens. They go down again to the depths. Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble. and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad, because they are quiet. So He guides them to their desired haven. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people and praise Him in the company of the elders. It's verse 31 that I want to focus our attention on here this morning. The words of this verse are repeated four times in this psalm, verse 8. Verse 15 and verse 21, all with the same wording. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. I conclude that if it is given to us that many times in this one psalm, that it must be extremely important that we observe it to do it, that you and I would give thanks to God, because the psalmist was certainly guided in his choice of words by the Holy Spirit. And so let me ask you here this morning whether you praise the Lord for His goodness to you, because that's what we're exhorted to do here. You say to me, well, if you knew what I was going through and the experience of my heart, all the ups and downs, all the highs and lows, you'd realize that it's very hard for me to thank the Lord for His goodness when I'm feeling so very low. It's like there's a storm in my soul. And I would answer you that it's true that your experience may not presently be leading you to thank the Lord for His goodness, but after hearing me preach this morning this sermon to you, I trust that it will. These verses are about mariners, seafaring men. And I'm going to compare their experience with your experience for a few minutes here this morning. And I think that you'll be able to be a more thankful person if you'll consider three things with me from these verses. First of all, you should consider that God is sovereign. That means He completely and totally rules over all the storms of your life, and for this you should give Him thanks. Verses 23 to 26a. And secondly, you should consider that God can calm the storm and give you quiet, and for this you should give Him thanks. Verses 26b to 29. And then third, you should consider that God is the one who guides you to your desired haven. And for this, you should give him thanks as well. Verses 30 to 32. Now, first of all, God is sovereign over all the storms of your life. And for this, you should give him thanks. Verse 23 says, those who go down to the sea in ships, who see the works of the Lord and his wonders, in the deep. For thousands of years in human history of the world, there have been men who did business on the sea. That is, they transported the goods or the people from one destination to another. And they're men, more than others, it says here in these verses, who see the works of the Lord. They know that the seas are bridges to the continents of land, that they can go there taking precious cargo so that it can be bought or sold. And some men have been brave enough or foolhardy enough to do business, it says here, upon these waters." In other words, this is how they think. They take their chances and they hope that they will be safe. That's how many people think. They think of the safety of their journeys as matters of chance. Some men make it all the way through their journey to their desired destination, and others are shipwrecked or lost at sea in a storm. Some men are kept safe and brought back to land, and so we must ask, but who is the one and the only one who brings the mariner safely through the storm to the land. Our text says that it's God. And for this, the mariner should pray. And for this he should give thanks when he's brought safely through. But not only the mariner, but you, dear one who listens to me this morning, for you are a mariner on the sea of life. And your precious soul is the passenger in the ship of your body, traveling through and upon the seas of life, and your desired destination is heaven. Not all people make it there, for all people don't know how to navigate the seas, the stormy waters, or what to do when the waves are lifted up. But we all do our business, I'm saying, on these waters of life. I'm here this morning to tell you that the stormy waters are only navigated by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We all fear storms. We all fear shipwreck. or we should fear it. All unbelievers should fear the punishment of hell or the everlasting torments that are reserved and await those who forget God or who neglect Him or who despise Him and their own eternal soul. All professed Christians fear, or they should fear, the shipwreck of their faith. But how many of us understand that God is the one who sovereignly brings the storms that we pass through in this life. He brings them to accomplish His good purposes. in justice, in grace, and in guiding and directing our lives in the course of nations as well. And for this, I'm saying we should give Him thanks. Storms are not brought by Mother Nature. They do not happen because El Nino happens to be off the coast of South America. They happen at the command of Almighty God. And notice the language that's used here in verse 25. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens. They go down again to the depths. Their soul melts. because of trouble. You see, God is sovereign in giving such men good sailing and fair weather. And God is sovereign also in bringing the storm. He commands the kind of weather that the sailing men will have. I want us to look at what God can and does do in bringing a storm, and I want you to turn with me over to Jonah, the book of Jonah in the Old Testament. You remember it's the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. That's how it runs in the Old Testament books. So turn with me over to Jonah chapter 1. Jonah chapter 1. It says there that the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. And so he paid the fare, and he went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Watch this, but the Lord sent out a great wind. on the sea. And there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried out to his God and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship and had laid down and was fast asleep. So the captains came to him and said to him, What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will consider us. so that we may not perish." Now notice here that this is almost an exact scenario of what I just read to you in Psalm 107 when it says, "'For He commands and raises the stormy wind which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like drunken man. They are at their wits' end and then they cry out to the Lord. in their trouble. Here in Jonah it says that the Lord sent out a great wind onto the sea. In the NAS it says the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea. You see how sovereign God is over the weather. You see how He can, at any time that He pleases, He can bring a great storm to accomplish his purpose. What was this great storm for? It was for one disobedient prophet. And God was gonna hurl this storm on the sea, and he was gonna frighten everyone on this ship in order he could get their attention to find out what the reason was that he was doing this. That's what he's doing. What was his purpose in this? Well, I think his purpose was behind the disobedient prophet, which was his immediate purpose, was the salvation of men. It's an amazing thing that a storm can be bound up in the salvation of men. His greatest purpose here was to save Nineveh, that great city in which there were more than 120,000 people, it tells us in the last verses, who didn't know the difference between their right hand and their left, morally speaking. And Jonah was sent to them, but he wasn't going to go. And it was His express purpose to go the opposite direction from the way that God wanted Him to go. And you and I need to see something here this morning. That God can save cities of men just as He can individuals. Do you believe that? Because His purpose here and what He's going to get He's going to get the repentance of all the people of the city of Nineveh. It's going to be the greatest revival that the world has yet seen. And Jonah, the disobedient prophet, is going to be the means that God uses to accomplish His end. You see, God does get what He wants. even from disobedient prophets and people. And He can save whole cities of people by throwing a storm on a sea if He wants to. And we should give thanks, I'm saying this morning, that God's express purpose is to most definitely save some men. You need to understand that. It is not God's express purpose to save all men. His express purpose is to save His elect. His express purpose is to save those whom He sets His love upon and chooses not for anything in them. not for anything good in them, to save them from their sins and give them the gift of eternal life. Out of all these wicked cities, out of all these great cities, He chose this wicked city Nineveh, a city that didn't even know the difference between good and bad. They didn't even know the difference between their right hand and their left. And yet God is going to have mercy upon them. They can't save themselves. They can't change their own heart. And many, if not most, are ignorant of the gospel unless someone brings it to them. The storms of life, I'm saying, are the trials that we go through. And we will either build upon the words of Jesus, and we will be wise, or we will suffer the shipwreck of our soul. And God's purposes are to save some men through the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel. Isn't that amazing? Through the foolishness of what I'm doing with you here right now this morning, God saves people through His blessed Word. There's nothing in me The man is everything in God and His purpose. In relation to our day, we need to see this. The gospel is being freely offered and preached to all men. And the Lord Jesus says, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He's saying here, He doesn't come to call people who already think that they are righteous in themselves. He comes to call people who are sinners, wicked sinners, to salvation. And just before that statement that I just quoted to you from Luke 5, 32, Jesus was asked by the scribes and Pharisees, why do you eat and drink with tax gatherers and sinners? And Jesus answered, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. So we see from this that there is a general love of God that is His goodwill in the gospel which is extended to all men everywhere. All men everywhere are perishing and all men everywhere must repent if they are to find God and to know God. They need to know this general love. Since Jesus Christ our Lord has come and since He's raised from the dead, God has this general love for all mankind. Before that, it says in Acts 17, He let all the nations go their ways. And He set His love only on the Jewish nation and those who would attach themselves to. the Jewish nation. But when Jesus Christ came, he broke down the barrier between Jew and Gentile, made us one new man in Christ, so that anyone can come and believe on Jesus Christ based upon the truth of the gospel that you believe that you're a sinner. that you need salvation, and that Jesus Christ has so lived the perfect life of obedience to the Father, and so sacrificed Himself on the cross for your sins, that if you believe in Him, you will never perish, but have the gift of eternal life. And then there's God's providence, which so orders the storms in your life, that you have the opportunity to see Him by faith, And then that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came into this world as the Great Physician. He came to associate with sinners, and yet He knew all the sinners would not be saved, but only those who are effectually called by God the Father. That's all the ones that are going to be saved. He says, many are called, but few are chosen. Many hear the gospel, but not all of them are saved. And he would cause a storm in the thinking of many, possibly here even this morning. so that they might be saved. God is entirely sovereign in whom He chooses to bring to salvation, and yet He invites all those who are weary of their sin to come to His Son. Listen to Matthew 11, 25. It says, At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things, from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. He's talking about the things necessary for people to repent. and to be saved. Even so, Father, for it seemed good in your sight. All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." It's not your will, it's the Son's will. It's not your working, it's the Father's working to draw you to the Son that brings about your salvation. And then He gives this wonderful invitation where He says, Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You see, that's what God intends for your soul through the Gospels for you to find rest for your soul. Rest from what? Rest from your being weary of trying to fight against your sin but not being able to overcome it. Being weary and tired because you see what a great sinner you really are. You need to turn and look at Jesus. Jesus was no sinner like you and I are. Jesus was perfect, pure, and holy, and because He was so, then He can invite you and say, come unto Me. all you who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He has no sin. He is full of grace and truth. He can give this to you, and He will do so freely here this morning for all who believe. I'm saying to you that God in His sovereignty brings a storm into our life of difficulties where we then see our our own sinfulness, our own inability to do what God commands us to do, and that shows us then our need to believe in Jesus Christ. That's what God does with His storms. God providentially orders all things in accordance with the counsel of His will, that you who believe in Jesus would be most definitely and completely saved from your sins, and that you would fall under no condemnation in the day of judgment. You see, with men there are many maybes and many perhapses. But not so with God. With God, everything is sure and certain that He does. God doesn't deal with possibilities. God deals in the tangible and what He will most definitely and certainly do. And that leads me to my second point concerning Psalm 107. And also, back in the book of Jonah, you should consider that God can calm the storm and give you quiet, and for this you should give Him thanks. God can calm the storm. God can give you quiet. And for this, you should give Him thanks. Verse 26 says, they mount up to the heavens. They go down again to the depths. Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits' end. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble and He brings them out of their distresses. You see, some storms are worse than others. Some storms are of greater strength and duration than others, like that Hurricane Sandy here the other day, which some called like the perfect storm. Some storms are like that. But I'm saying to you here this morning that no storm lasts a moment longer than it takes for God's purpose to be fulfilled. And for this, you should give God thanks. In other words, if the Lord commands and He raises up these stormy waves, He doesn't let them continue a moment longer than He decides is good for fulfilling His purpose as God in relation to nations and in relation to individual men. The question that you and I need to ask is this, what will it take for God's purpose to be fulfilled in my life? What kind of a storm will the Lord have to bring in my life for God's good purposes to be fulfilled? Will it take me coming to my wit's end? Because that's how these mariners are described. And that's how people are in the midst of a storm at sea. You know, they're like a drunken man reeling around trying to find their way across the boat. trying to find the place of safety or tie themselves down somewhere so they won't get thrown overboard. Verse 6 of Jonah 1 says, so the captain came to him, to Jonah. Jonah's down in the hold of the ship, he's sleeping. This is just so amazing, the way that the Lord ordered these things. Jonah's a very strong man spiritually. If he can just simply think that he can ignore God and the storm and go right down into the hold of the ship and sleep, but that's what he's doing. That's what he's doing. So in verse 6 it says, So the captain came to him and said to him, What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish. This is a heathen man. One who has his gods, but he doesn't know the true and the living God. And he wants Jonah to get up and pray. And we need to see something from this. Often, a heathen person, that is someone in a foreign culture with foreign gods, is concerned about his own life and the life of others around him. That's what this heathen man was. He was concerned about the life of everybody on that ship. He was concerned about Jonah. That's why he went down there. He said, why are you sleeping? Get up and pray, Jonah. In this case, a heathen man, heathen men, were more zealous for prayer than the man who did know God. The man who was supposed to be praying more than they all. The one who should have been on his way to Nineveh to preach repentance, and instead, He is sleeping because he had a sinful problem that God was going to deal with. You see, Jonah was not only at his wit's end, but he was trying to ignore the fact that he had a problem at all. Did you know, dear Christian, that sometimes that's what you and I do as well? Sometimes you and I have a sinful problem with God and we don't even know it. Or if we do know it, we don't want to know it. And so what do we do? We ignore the circumstances around us, thinking, well, this is just happen chance that this storm happens to come up. I'm just going to go and sleep on this one because obviously God judges wicked men. He doesn't judge the righteous. So he certainly wouldn't have this storm come up for my sake, would he? That must have been something like what was going through Jonah's mind to begin with. How could he sleep otherwise? He would have been concerned for his soul. His problem was he wasn't at his wit's end. Jonah was really quite calm about this. Jonah was really quite deliberate about this. Jonah didn't want God to show mercy to the Ninevites. That was his problem. Jonah was very prejudiced against the Ninevites because the Ninevites had treated the people of Israel very badly a few years before. He wanted judgment upon the Ninevites. He didn't want them to be shown mercy by God. He didn't want them to even be given the means of grace. That is the preaching of God's words so that they might be saved. So he's going to run away to Tarshish. But God's not going to let him. And you and I need to understand that God won't let us run away as believers as well. And he has purposes in relation to unbelievers around us, these heathen people who worship other gods that he wants fulfilled through us, and we need to be about our Father's business, and sometimes we're not. You know, it's an awful thing when those who are Christians are more for seeing judgment come upon a city or a society than for God showing them mercy. That's not a good sign in any Christian. Ask yourself this morning if you are praying for sinful people who do not know God. Do you pray for sinful Muslim nations to come and receive the doctrines of the Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you pray for the most wicked people around you that somehow you might be a means of opening their eyes to the truth of the Word of God and the gospel? You see, that's what God would have you and I to do as believers. Jonah was falling down in his responsibilities, and in this regard, it was displeasing to God. But it was not beyond God to find a solution to his sinful problem. And let me say, it's not beyond God to find a solution to your sinful problem, whatever it is. Verse 7, They said to one another, Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us. Maybe it was a practice of theirs that they did this. Maybe they didn't understand the verse in Proverbs that says when the lot is cast, it's every roll or every draw of the straw or whatever means they were using is of the Lord. Well, maybe they didn't know that verse at all, but they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. And they said to him, please tell us for whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your country? And of what people are you? So he said to them, I'm a Hebrew and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. And then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. And then they said to him, what shall we do? Watch this, this is really good. What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? For the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, pick me up. and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me." Do you see that? Jonah finally saw it. Do you see, dear people, that the Lord can hear the prayers even of unbelievers? If they earnestly seek him and ask him for wisdom and grace, God answered through the drawing of the lot. God showed them that Jonah was indeed the greatest reason for the storm, but God also showed them something of their need to know him according to truth. For verse 13 says, nevertheless, the men rode hard to return to land, but they could not. For the sea continued to grow more tempestuous. And he said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea and the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me. You see these mariners, they really had a love, a human love for each other. They really had a care and a concern to get Jonah to land with them. They rode hard. against these winds and these waves, trying to get to land, and to bring Jonah with them. But they didn't know the ways of God, so what did they do? They prayed again, and this time, not to their own gods, but they prayed to the one and only true and living God, that is, Jonah's God. the God who made the sea and the dry land. And verse 14 says, Therefore they cried out to the Lord, and they said, We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood. For you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you. You see, they believe in the sovereignty of God. They've come to believe in the sovereignty of God in this thing. So they pick up Jonah, and they throw him into the sea, and the sea ceases from its raging. It says, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. I think that is marvelous. The men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. You see, God convinced them that He was indeed the God above all gods. And so they revered Him and they offered sacrifice to Him. And it says they even took vows to Him, perhaps in relation to their having regard for Him alone, perhaps that He would become their God. They were apparently saved by the Lord. The Lord had mercy on them, as far as we can tell, even though their knowledge was so primitive. and defective, and you and I should understand from this that God is able to calm the storm of your life. God is able to calm each and every storm that arises and comes up in your life. And He does so when you acknowledge Him and pray earnestly and fervently to Him and take vows to have Him to be your God. He's able to calm the storm and He's even able to make it quiet. Wow, what a great God. But notice what the basis was that all this happened. It was when they threw Jonah into the sea. I wonder if you have noticed that all during this time, when the mariners were trying to find out whose fault it was that this storm had come upon them, that Jonah was really quite calm. He was really, in fact, quite deliberate himself. And in this regard, Jonah is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, except for the fact that Jonah was running away from the Lord and from his responsibility to preach to the sinful Ninevites, and Jesus was running to the cross, and Jesus always ran towards doing the will of his Father and did the will of his Father. These two men are very much alike. both very calm and very deliberate in their understanding that they would have to suffer so that others might find peace and calm in regard to the storm that was upon them. It was when Jonah told them to throw him overboard that the sea then became quiet. And even though the mariners resisted throwing Jonah overboard, they eventually did it. Because the storm was so very great, they had really no choice. God was so powerful, He overcame them. And they threw Jonah overboard. They didn't want to do it, but they threw him overboard. I'm saying to you this morning that even so it was because Jesus deliberately went to the cross and suffered there on behalf of sinners that you now by faith in him can find that your storm of the wrath of God coming against you will cease. Do you see it? Because that's what this is all a picture of according to the Scriptures. You come to believe that Jesus most definitely did need to suffer for you, the sinner. It wasn't just that you're a pretty good person and you'll come to church and you'll add your works to what God does and then maybe you'll be saved. No, it's that you are such a wretched sinner that God knew that it would take the death of His only begotten Son willingly to go to the cross and suffer and bleed and die there for your sake so that you could find peace with him. And so that you could find a calm in the midst of all the storms that you as a believer will pass through. And there will be storms in your life as a believer. You see, you had to cease from your own works to be saved. You couldn't have your oar in there with God's, you know, in order to be saved. These men were rowing hard, you know, they were trying hard by their works to bring him to land. They couldn't do it. And neither can you, by your own works and efforts, save yourself. Instead of, in your mind, you think, I can spare the Lord Jesus having to die for me. But eventually God, if you were to be saved, will bring you to the point where you see that there is absolutely no way that you can save yourself from your sins or from the wrath of God coming against you, the storm of God's wrath. But now that you know Christ, if you're a true believer, you continue to cling to Christ. Listen to me now. And you find further that He, by His powerful grace, can cleanse your conscience. And He can give you peace and quietness of heart in relation to all of your troubles, sinful or otherwise. Do you believe this? Dear believer, you need to believe this with all your heart. God did not simply save you to bring you out from under His wrath, but He saved you in order to bring you through Jesus Christ our Lord, the kind of peace and quiet of heart that will stay you on your God in the worst and in the midst of your greatest troubles, trials, and difficulties that you face day by day. That's what this passage is all about. Turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full on His wonderful face. And the things of earth become strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. He calms the storm so that its waves are still, it says in our psalm. Then they are quiet. Let me ask you this morning if you have a quiet heart. Are you glad because you are quiet? Are you glad to have quietness in your heart, or do you always have to have something going on in the background? Some media running. The television's always got to be going, or the radio's got to be blaring, or something has to be of this world has to be occupying your mind. I'm asking you this morning if you're comfortable with God. If you're comfortable with Jesus Christ your Lord working his precious grace in your heart so that you can know and experience the power of the risen Christ even as Jonah did. There's a great disagreement among commentators sometimes as to whether Jonah actually died in the belly of the great fish. I don't believe that he did, but I think that he probably felt like he could easily. And he cried out from the fish's belly. And it says he was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. And even so, Jesus says, I will be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. You see, Jonah is a type of Christ in his deliberateness of going and doing what he wanted to do. And Jesus wanted to go to the cross, but Jonah wanted to run away. Even Jonah needed the grace of Christ to fulfill his mission to go to Nineveh and be the greatest preacher of his day so that those people could be saved. I find that absolutely astonishing that God would use a rebellious prophet to accomplish the greatest revival that the world has yet seen. 120,000 people repent along with the animals. They all put sackcloth on and they cried out to God that God would have mercy upon them. And I'm saying for this we ought to give God thanks that God does these wonders. We ought to praise him for his goodness and his wonders to us. Listen to Psalm 34, verse four, I sought the Lord and he answered me and he delivered me from all my fears. They looked to him. and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." I'm saying, will you not entrust your soul, your eternal soul, and the greatest cares of your heart, to the Lord Jesus Christ, your fears, all your anxiety, all of the things that weigh heavy on your conscience, all of the things that cause you to think that you're falling so short of the glory of God and that you're not living up to the grace that He's given to you. I'm saying to you here this morning, that's why Jesus died, is for those things. Cast all your cares upon Him. for he cares for you. And then thirdly, you should consider that God is the one and the only one, and I'll be very brief here, who guides you to your desired haven. And for this, you ought to give him thanks. It says in verse 30, then they were glad because they were quiet and he guides them to their desired haven. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them exalt him. also in the assembly of the people, and let them praise him in the company of the elders." Here's another indication that he's not just talking about mariners. I suppose these mariners could have come back to the city that they were from, and they could have gathered some of the townsfolk together and the elders of the city, and they could have related how God brought them through that storm. And that's what these verses could alone be referring to, but I don't think so by the way it's worded here. It reminds me very much of a person who has come to know the Lord by a great storm coming into their life, or a person who does know the Lord and a great storm has come into their life. And the Lord has given them quiet and peace of heart, and they've been guided to their desired haven. And so they come before the whole church, and they say, this is what the Lord has done for me. The Lord has given me peace of mind and quietness and calmness of heart. He's given me rest from my soul. He's taken away all my sins. He's delivered me from all my fears. God does these great things for me, hear me, and praise the Lord with me. See, that's what these verses are all about. And I'm saying at this Thanksgiving time this Thursday, when you gather together with your relatives, and you give thanks to God for all the things that the Lord has done for you, will you not remember what I've preached to you here this morning? To give thanks to the Lord. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord. for His goodness to them and His wonderful works to the children of men. You see, you should praise Him before other people. You should give thanks to Him. for what He has done in the presence of the elders of the church, in the presence of God's people. You see, He is your hope and stay. He is your refuge and your strong tower and your deliverer. Remember the words of that famous hymn on Christ, The Solid Rock I Stand, and I'll close with this. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, that is the sweetest frame of my heart, When things look the best for me, when I have my greatest assurance, I don't trust in that for my salvation. But I wholly lean on Jesus' name. When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil. His oath, His covenant, His blood. support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Let's pray together. We thank you, our Father, for this portion of Scripture that gives us hope and shows us where our true hope lies. It is with you, Lord Jesus, and with you, God, our Father, and with you, the Holy Spirit, that you bring the storms in our life, you bring the physical storms, and you bring the spiritual storms. And we are not a moment under them longer than your purpose will determine that it should be so. And how we thank you for that. But we do praise you that you do far more than that, but you purpose to save men, save many men, a number which no man can count, and bring them to yourself, not only the storm, but showing them mercy, and not only mercy, but showing them grace, so that they can have a calm and a quiet heart. May it be so with each one of us here today. May we give you thanks. Oh, that we may give thanks to you for your goodness. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let's close our time together in worship this morning by standing and we'll sing together hymn number 615. Hymn number 615. Come ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home. 615. Oh. Come, ye thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest home. All is safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin. God our Maker doth provide, For our wants to be supplied. Come to God's own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home. All the world is God's own field. Fruit unto his praise to yield, Wheat and tares together sown, Unto joy or sorrow grown. First the blade and then the ear, Then the fall corn shall appear, Lord of harvest, grant that we Wholesome, grain, and pure may be For the Lord our God shall come And shall take his harvest home From his field in that day All offences purge away, Give His angels charge at last, In the fire the tares to cast, But the fruitful is to store In His corner evermore. Even so, Lord, quickly come to earth. Lather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin. They're forever purified in the presence Come with all thine angels crowned, raise the glorious Tarver's home. Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace. May the Lord be gracious to you and the Lord bless you. In Jesus name we ask it upon you. Amen. You are dismissed.