Our scripture reading for today's sermon comes from Psalm 107. If you're using the black Bibles that are provided for you, that's on page 599, I believe. And I invite you to stand for the reading of God's Word. We'll read through the whole psalm. It's long, but it's not the longest psalm, so there is that. Psalm 107. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man. For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons. For they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor. They fell down with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man. For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts into the bars of iron. Some were fools through their sinful ways and because of their iniquities suffered affliction. They loathed any kind of food and they drew near to the gates of death and they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction. Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man. And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and to tell of His deeds in songs of joy. Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters. They saw the deeds of the Lord, His wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven. They went down to the depths. Their courage melted away in their evil plight. They reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man. Let them extol him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders. He turns rivers into a desert. springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste because of the evil of its inhabitants. He turns desert into pools of water. a parched land into springs of water, and there he lets the hungry dwell and they establish a city to live in. They sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By his blessing, they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil and sorrow, he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes. But he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks. The upright see it and are glad. And all wickedness shuts its mouth. Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things. Let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord. The grass withers, the flowers fade, and yet the word of the Lord remains forever. You may be seated. How many of you have heard of negativity bias or the negative bias? Anyone? Pretend you're not Presbyterian, raise your hands. Thank you. So some of you have heard of this, some of you have not. It's the idea that we kind of give more attention to negative information than we do to positive information. So it's like, it explains why if you go in for your annual review and they tell you five things that they're pleased with, but they tell you one thing that you could improve or that you really haven't been measuring up, you go home and that one thing is the thing that you like. like you focus on. Has this ever happened to anyone? It's why it doesn't actually work, that whole little compliment sandwich they tell you, you know, oh, say a nice thing, say a mean thing, say a nice thing. It never works because of negativity bias, because we are, we are just, we're prone to focus on the negative. You know, there's some try to explain this through evolution. because if you're gonna focus on five good places to eat or one bad place where you will be eaten by a dinosaur, it's smarter for you to be focused on avoiding the place where you could be eaten rather than the five good places that you might find a healthy morsel. I don't know if I can go with that as exactly the reason. You know, sometimes in our memories, in your memories, you sometimes focus on the negative. Is it hard to like remember the good things because of something bad that happened along with it? Or sometimes even like when groups get together to make decisions, even in leading groups, like sometimes we make decisions based more on avoiding a negative outcome. We're more worried about the negative that could happen rather than the positive that also could happen. And so we make very, what others might call very conservative choices or decisions because we have to avoid, we're more worried about avoiding the loss than achieving the gain. There's strategies that are offered and how to deal with that, how to mitigate against this negativity, bias in your own heart. One is certainly be aware of it. So it's the G.I. Joe, knowing is half the battle. So as long as you are aware of your negativity, then that will help you combat it. You can ask my wife if that works. Her husband is very aware of his negativity, and he does not seem to do much battle with it, ever. We hide behind things like, oh, I'm pessimist, oh, I'm a realist, oh, I'm just skeptical, I'm just more aware. Well, no, you're just a party pooper. You know, shifting your attention, being intentional about thinking about the positive things. I think, is it Monty Python, always look on the bright side of life? It is Monty Python, isn't it? I don't know if I'm allowed to know who Monty Python is from the pulpit, so never mind. Don't look it up. I mean, all these things are interesting, isn't it, that we're unwilling to acknowledge that Scripture really explains well the negativity bias, that it's, I mean, we're just prone. As the songwriter put it, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. We're prone to see the negative. Part of that, we have to admit, is because we live in a broken world. It's not that we necessarily are overly focused on the brokenness of things. It's that things are overly broken and it's hard to not see them. And so, but even Scripture talks to us more than just the, oh, you should just be grateful. Scripture speaks to us about this, about how, like, it's easy for me, you know, you look at Lamentations, an entire book of the negative. And right in the middle of it, the writer says, listen, I'm constantly bombarded with the bitterness and the gall. These things come to mind unbidden. And then what does he say? He says, but this I call to mind so that I can have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. Even the writer of Lamentations recognizes there is a negativity bias in me and I have to fight it every day. There are things that bombard me in the world from my heart and I have to constantly remind myself the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Whatever else the world is telling me about the steadfast love of the Lord, it is lying. Because God's love for me never ceases. That steadfast love, and it's in this psalm, isn't it? That steadfast love. We don't use the word steadfast enough for this to be as meaningful to us, do we? Because this is from, and this is where all the, you know, too much scholarlyness for anyone's good. This is that Hebrew chesed. It's that covenantal, faithful love. It's... we really could just call it the faithful love of the Lord because, again, because we just don't talk about being steadfast very much, do we? But we get faithful. It's that one children's Bible that Sally Lloyd-Jones wrote. It's that never-ending, always... I didn't write it down, I should have, because it's a great way to understand it. It's that never-ending, promise-keeping, always and forever love of God that He has for His children. And this psalm, if you're a highlighting kind of person, you'll notice that the steadfast love of the Lord is throughout this psalm. It's driving this psalm. In fact, it's in the last verse. And the last verse kind of tells us, hey, you're going to have to go back and reread this psalm because in the last verse, the writer tells us why he wrote the psalm. This is a wisdom psalm. The wise will read this song and take it to heart. The wise, whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord. The whole psalm is sort of a, Redemption Review, and I know if you're looking at your bulletin, then maybe you think, oh, he misspelled review. Well, I didn't, Ray did. No, I'm just kidding, it's not misspelled. I'm sorry, just seeing if she's listening. No, do you remember, you know those like musical numbers, like the reviews that were popular? Well, you wouldn't know them, but they were popular in like the 40s. So Bob, you might remember them. They, but they were like these, they weren't a musical with like necessarily its own plot line, but they were like musicals of like lots of sketches and songs that carried a particular theme. And they were usually satirical and humorous. They were always uplifting. Now, this psalm is, at least, it's the last of those. It is uplifting. It's not satirical or humorous, but it is uplifting as you read this psalm as sort of a review of the redemption that God has worked for his people. Listen to all the saving language that's throughout this psalm. Redeemed. Gathered. Delivered, five times delivered. Led, satisfied, filled, brought out, burst bonds, shattered doors, cut iron bars, healed, brought into a haven. This psalm is a celebration of the vast variety of ways that God redeems his people, that God saves his people, and the situations from which he saves them. You've got the introduction in verses one to three. And then there's these four sections. Well, some of them did this. Well, some were like this, some were like this, some were like this. In verses 4 to 9, we see some wandered in desert wastes and found no way to a city to dwell in. They had no direction, they had no food, they had no water, they had no dwelling. And then verse six. Then they cried, then they cried to the Lord in their trouble. And he delivered them from their distress. And that refrain is repeated word for word in verse 13 and 19 and 28. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. It will be important to remember that as we go through these, because it's interesting that in these four descriptions of troubling times, two of them are very open about this came on because of their sin. The trouble they find themselves in is trouble of their own making. But two of them, the psalmist doesn't mention that. Here they are in a desert, they are wandering, they have no place to dwell, they are hungry, they are thirsty, but there's no mention of their sin in this scenario. And in the last, the sailors, and yes, if you're at Hope of Christ a lot and we sing Oh Give Thanks and we're closing with that and you've wondered why do we sing that one song about drunken sailors? It's because it's from this psalm, it's literally A song we will sing at the end of the sermon that rehearses this psalm. And so the drunken sailors are in the Bible. The writer of the song didn't like add that to be clever. But both the first and the last scenarios don't really mention sin as the reason of the plight. But the two in the middle do, and we'll get to that. But here, the psalmist, he says, they cried out in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. And in this one particularly, each one then it kind of ties into what their trouble was and how he delivered them. Here we're told in verse 7, he led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. There's a specific response to their specific need. They were wandering, they didn't have a place to dwell in, he led them to a city to dwell in. And then verse 8. the wise response, let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men. And this also is repeated in all four of these scenarios. In verse 8, verse 15, verse 21, verse 31. This is more than just a psalm recounting the history of God's people. It is that. But it's more than that because the response is, so let them give thanks to the Lord. So it's a call to, do you find yourself here? Cry to the Lord, He will deliver you, then give thanks to the Lord. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his faithful love, for his wondrous works to the children of men. Because he satisfies the longing soul, the hungry soul he fills with good things. It's not hard, is it, to read this first section and realize the fulfillment that Christ is to this trouble. It says they were in the desert and did not have did not know the way. And Christ comes and says, I am the way. They were hungry and thirsty, and Christ says, I am the bread of life. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. They had no city to dwell in. And Christ says, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And I will come and take you so that where I am, you will be with me. Then the second, moving on from the desert. That's fine if you just happen to find yourself in a desert, but what if What if the darkness you find yourself in is really your own making? Some sat in darkness in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and irons, for they rebelled against the words of God and spurned his counsel. And so he bowed their hearts. They fell with no one to help. Have you been there? You might be there today. The trouble that you find yourself in is because you have ignored God's Word, you have spurned His counsel. And it's one thing when you find yourself lost in the desert and unsure and hungry and thirsty and faint. I mean, what should you do in that situation? Of course, you should cry out to the Lord when you're lost and it's a desert and it's no fault of your own other than you're in a desert. I mean, you got there somehow. But anyway, we won't go into that. But you cry out to the Lord, of course. Who else would you cry to? But what do you do when the trouble seems to be hard circumstances because you yourself have walked away from God? Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death. He burst their bonds apart. Again, a specific response to a specific need. Even knowing it was because they walked away from God. You know, you see it in the prodigal son, don't you, in that parable when it says, when at last he came to his senses, I will go to my father's house and beg him to just hire me. They cried to the Lord in their distress and he delivered them. The father runs and clothes his son. Matthew 11, Jesus says, Come to me, you who labor, who are heavy laden. It is almost specifically this this problem, isn't it? They were weighed down by their sin. They were in slave labor to their sin. He says, Come to me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me." In Galatians, you are not slaves anymore, but you are sons and daughters. And if sons, then heirs through God. Romans 8, you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the spirit of adoption of sons. He says, let them give thanks to the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of men because He shatters the doors of bronze and He cuts in two the bars of iron. We who are enslaved to our sin cry out to the Lord and are delivered. And again, some in verses 17 to 22, some were fools in their sinful ways because of their iniquities, they suffered affliction. Again, the trouble that is brought on by your own foolishness. Have you ever found that true? That like you look back and you're like, what is going so, why is this going so wrong? And you realize, oh, because I have been a fool. Like I have made bad choice after bad choice. Foolish in scripture isn't merely just like, An ignoramus who doesn't quite, you know, know his numbers and letters yet fool in scripture is one who despises God. The fool says in his heart, the psalmist says elsewhere that there is no God. In our folly, we we live, even if we won't say the words out loud, we don't we live as though we wish there were no God. We live our lives as though I am God. I am the Lord. I am the master. Have you ever been so stubborn in your way that even when you knew you were wrong, you couldn't turn around? You couldn't retreat? My pastor in Raleigh was also my best friend and mentor. And as a result of that, there were times that we did not get along. I don't know if most guys have best friends like that. I don't know if girls have best friends like that. We did, we may or may not have gotten into a fist fight or two. This isn't a bragging thing. This is just, this is what male friendship is like. Sometimes you have to punch each other. But there were enough times that Like he would take me along on long road trips just to mentor me, apprentice me, show me some of the things that he was doing, and there were times that those fights would occur on those trips. And I can't tell you, and this is like, it's upsetting to admit this, I can't tell you how many times I would be sitting in the car next to him and there would be 45 minutes of silence where in my head I kept trying to say the words, I'm sorry. Like, I could not get the words to come out of my mouth. I'm sorry. That was wrong. I was wrong. Like, have you ever found yourself in that stubborn situation where you're like, I know I was wrong, but I'm tired of being the one who knows I was wrong. Like, when is, like the other person was wrong too, but there's just that stubbornness in us. We just, we know we need forgiveness, but we just don't want to ask for it. And yet here it is, verse 19, same exact refrain. Then they cried out, and he delivered. He sent his word, the very word they've been ignoring, he sent his word and healed them. Aren't there places in scripture that you're so glad that you're not God? Like he sent his word, and if that was you and me, it'd be like, and so he sent his word and said, I told you so. But no, he sent his word and healed them. And he delivered them from their destruction, the destruction they deserved. And here and in these last two examples, there's a change. It's not just a rehearsing of what God has done, but a call, a response. How do you respond to this? Well, you give thanks. Let them offer sacrifices, verse 22 of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy. You know, we're approaching the advent season, so some of you are gonna watch Elf too many times. But you know, that scene where he goes bursting into the boardroom, and he says, oh, I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it! And hits him, like not being able to contain himself because of the love he feels for, what's her head? This, the psalmist is saying, let them tell of his deeds in songs of joy. Do songs of joy erupt from you because of the steadfast love of God? Are you that convinced that God loves you that much that it just, it results in joy bursting forth in song? He delivered them from destruction. He sent out his word and healed them. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. He delivered them from destruction, but God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. In the last section, the longest section, Someone down to the sea and ships. Just going about their business. When the storms come. Perhaps a situation not brought on by sin. But brought on by storms. Circumstances, the toilsome brokenness of a world and hard providences. Says they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works. It's the same thing that in the four refrains, it's a positive. They see his wondrous works, but here it's something more negative. They went out onto the sea and saw God's wondrous works. that the same wind that can blow and calm a sea is the wind that can blow and stir up a hurricane. At His command, He raised the stormy wind, and their courage melted away. They reeled and staggered like drunken men. They were at their wits' end. What do you do? Where do you turn when it feels like all of this has come about? And God could have stopped it. What do you do when? The very storm that you're in that you recognize. God's hand of Providence in it. In the God who has stirred up this hurricane. Could have been the God who blew a fairer wind for you. What do you do? In verse 28, then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still. The waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad that the waters were quiet, and He brought them into the desired haven. Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews says that we have fled for refuge to God, to this one. And in him we have a strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope that is set before us. We have this as a sure and steady anchor of the soul. And it's interesting, like, I don't know if you ever thought about the irony of this, but some of you are, Marines and Navy and shippy kind of people. Normally anchors go down. They go down into the solid firmament under the sea. Have you ever considered that our sure and steady anchor goes up? You are anchored to Christ, no matter what storm is going on here, you have a sure and steady anchor in Christ. Revelation 4 tells us that before the throne there was a sea of glass and it looked like crystal. It is God who turns rivers to desert and turns, this is in the, sort of the summary section here in verse 33, he can turn rivers to desert, he can turn springs of water to thirsty ground, even a fruitful land into a salty marsh. These things that we so often put all our hope in, even while we're ignoring God, He can turn all of those against us, but that is the same God who can take a desert and turn it into pools of water and parched land into springs of water. When you are brought low through oppression or evil or sorrow, God is able to raise the needy out of affliction. Whether it's oppression of others, or the evil of my own heart, or just the sorrow of the brokenness of this world, God is able to deliver us out of our affliction. No wonder he would end this psalm. Whoever is wise, let him consider these things. Consider the steadfast love of the Lord. I saved that response of verse 32. You know, when God delivers, the psalmist says, so let them extol Him in the congregation of His people and praise Him in the assembly of the elders. The offering of thanksgiving is a great gift to the people of God. And it wasn't given to us by Abraham Lincoln. It was given to us by God himself. When we recall the steadfast love of the Lord, and I know this is so not Presbyterian, but we're gonna have a roving microphone. for you to extol the blessings of the Lord. And I love how each refrain, by the way, it says, Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man. I like that it is both appropriate for you to thank the Lord for the amazing salvation. If you have salvation stories from the year that you would like to extol the goodness of God for His steadfast love to you, that's a great thing and I want you to do that. If you are simply amazed at His wondrous works, Just His kindness, the good things. You know, a sold or purchased house, a new job, your pet turtle. There are so many things. There are many wondrous works in God's creation and in your life that are worthy of giving thanks to Him for. And so, we're gonna do that before I close in prayer. And don't make it awkward, like in a silent way. Like make it awkward in a, oh, I wanna pray. No, I'm more thankful to God. No, I'm more thankful to God. And Bob's gonna come around and...