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Take your Bible. We want to continue
our study through the great divine perfect hymnal that God gave
to his covenant people. And that is the book of Tehillim,
Psalms, the praises of God to the Jewish people. Of course,
not only to the Jewish people, to all nations, and we benefit
as well. Tonight, we come to Psalm 107,
and I want us to think deeply on the loving kindness of God,
the loving kindness of God. I want to begin by reading the
opening three verses. Follow with me as I read Psalm
107, beginning in verse one. Oh, give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. Let
the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from
the hand of the adversary and gathered from the lands, from
the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. And then if you would, let your
eyes skip down to the very end, verse 43. Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things
and consider the loving kindnesses of the Lord. Father, now we come
to the reading and preaching of the Word really to prepare
us for the prayer meeting. We pray, O Lord, that you would
speak to all of our hearts through the living and enduring Word
of God, for this is the very Word that we are preaching. We
pray that as newborn babies that we would long for the pure milk
of the word so that by it we may grow in respect to salvation,
because we have tasted the kindness of the Lord. We pray that you'd
be glorified in this time of study. In Jesus' name, amen. Our God is a delivering and a
rescuing God. Our God delivers and He rescues.
In fact, that's what He does best. He is a perfect God who
rescues those in great need. And there's no way to miss that
theme when we come to Psalm 107 tonight, that our God delivers
people from trouble. He rescues His people from danger. Look with me just at a couple
of verses by way of sampling this. Verse 6, they cried out
to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of
their distresses. Verse 14, he brought them out
of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their bands apart. Verse 16, he has shattered gates
of bronze and cut bars of iron asunder. Verse 19, then they
cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out
of their distresses. Verse 20, he sent his word and
healed them, and God delivered them from their destructions. Same thing in verse 29. He caused
the storm to be still so that the waves of the sea were hushed.
They were glad because they were quiet, so he guided them to their
desired haven. Our God delivers. Our God rescues. And all that we're going to look
at tonight is bound to these couple of verses, like verse
20, which reminds us that we ought to, pardon me, verse 21,
that we ought to give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness. At the end of verse 22, we should
tell of his works with joyful singing. Even in verse 32, we
should extol God in the congregation. Do you need to remember that
tonight, our God? is a God who rescues. Our God
is a God who delivers. Maybe you need to hear that tonight.
Maybe you go through difficulty and trial and afflictions in
your life. This is a psalm, verse two, for
the redeemed. It is a psalm, according to verse
14, for those who were wandering, but God brought them out of the
darkness and out of the shadow of death, and God delivered them
by his mercy. It's for those who offer sacrifices
of thanks to God. Maybe that's a good question
for all of us by way of beginning. Are you here tonight as one who
has been redeemed and one who has been rescued? One who has
been forgiven of all of your sin? One that hell will never
ever be a destiny that you will know because your Savior has
taken it for you in your place? Have you been set free from the
bondage of sin? Are you a recipient of covenant
love? Maybe you can take the words
of Charles Wesley and personalize them. Long my imprisoned spirit
lay. Fast bound in sin and nature's
night, thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flamed
with light. My chains fell off. My heart
was free. I rose, went forth and followed
thee. Amazing love, how can it be? that thou, my God, shouldst die
for me. All of those introductory statements
really are sort of hovering around the theme of our psalm tonight
in Psalm 107. Our God delivers and our God
rescues because he is a God of great covenant love. Great covenant
love. Although did you notice If you
look in your Bible at Psalm 107, if you look just above that,
in your Bible, you probably have something that says book five
or something like that, book five. So the book of Psalms was
divided into five sections, five divisions. We might call them
five units within the book of Psalter. I believe that these
five units correspond with the five books of the Torah. In your
outline, you see a little bit of detail there. I don't want
to get lost in all this detail, but book one, Psalms 1 to 41,
corresponds with the wisdom of the beginnings in Genesis. Book
two, Psalms 42 to 72, corresponds to Exodus, the redemption of
God, the bondage of his people, the afflictions of God's people. Book three, Psalms 73 to 89,
corresponds to the book of Leviticus, which highlights worship, the
temple of God, the tabernacle of God, the presence of God. Book four in the Psalms, Psalms
90 to 106, corresponds with the book of Numbers, not only the
wanderings of God's people, but the kingship of God over everything
in life. But I mention all of that because
now we come to book five. We come to Book 5, which I think
corresponds to the Book of Deuteronomy, which is reflecting, it is on
the Messiah, it is on the Passover, it is on salvation, and we are
about to see more than 40 Psalms that are going to teach us to
reflect on the great praises of God, the Messiah of God, the
Passover of God, the worship of God. And it begins with this
great theme. The covenant love of God delivers
helpless people. The covenant love of God delivers
helpless people. Now, because we're technical
already, bear with me for one more moment. Verse 1 and 43 bookend
the whole psalm with the key word lovingkindness. Everything
is sandwiched in the middle between verse 1 and 43 on the loving
kindness of God. When we read about the love of
God, we need to remember that this psalm reminds us of the
loyal, the covenant-keeping love of our God. God's love is an initiating love. You didn't love God first. 1
John 4 says, he loved us first. We learn in the Bible of the
love of God that it is a very undeserved love. Ezekiel chapter
16 highlights that perhaps more than any other chapter. It is
an undeserved love. We don't deserve the love. We
were enemies. We were ungodly. We were helpless. We were sinners, Romans 5 says,
but God, loved us. It is an unconditional love.
The love of God for you is so great right now that it will
never be increased in eternity. He loves you to the max right
now. It is also a very faithful love. The love of God is a faithful
love. He will never turn his back on
you. He will never turn his back on his covenant ones. The covenant love of God is also
an immeasurable love. The height, the depth, the breadth,
the length of the love of God, Ephesians 3 says. The love of
God is beyond knowledge, Paul says. It cannot be measured. It is a protecting love. Will
anything separate you from the love of God? Nothing. Nothing in all creation, Romans
8 says. It is an eternal love. It is
an unbreakable love. Hosea 14 talks about the great,
secure love that God has for his people, and all of this love
comes to a glorious climax in the person of Christ, the crosswork
of Christ, the security of Christ, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we think of the love of
God biblically, Think of it as three strands that are woven
together. When you think of the covenant
love of God, number one, it means strength. Number two, it means
steadfastness. And number three, it is tender
mercy. It is a strong, steadfast, tender
mercy. It is the warmth of fellowship
with God and the security of God's faithfulness married together. This love of God is absolutely
breathtaking. Now, with that, let your eye
look at the last verse of our psalm again. Who is wise? Who is wise, let him give heed
to these things and let him consider the, don't miss the plural, the
loving-kindnesses of the Lord. God wants you tonight to think
deeply on the loving-kindnesses of God. He wants you to be overwhelmed
by his loving-kindnesses of God. Or maybe we could take the holiness
and marry it. we ought to think about the holy
love of God. There's something set apart about
this love. There's something unique about
this love. There's something so unrivaled
about this love. Think deeply about this love. Our psalm tonight, you see in
the box there in your outline, is gonna call you and me to call
upon your God in troubles. Now, in your outline, you see
this. The psalm, Psalm 107, is a wonderful psalm, full of hope.
It's actually very difficult to outline, and it's pretty technical,
because the psalm gives all of these different vignettes, different
situations, different scenarios, and it shows how God is faithful
to deliver his people in their troubles in different scenarios
of life. Like he gives rest to the wanderers. He gives freedom to the prisoners.
He gives healing to the sick. He gives peace to the restless. And he gives crops to the farmers. What I wanna do this evening
is walk through this psalm in a really brief kind of a survey
fashion. But I wanna continually ask this
question. Do we take the time to thank
God for His love? Do we take the time to thank
Him for His love? He's rescued me. He's rescued
you. He's delivered me. He's delivered
you. He is a God who hears us when
we are afflicted. We cry out to God. He hears. He answers. But do we take the
time to thank God? for his love. We want to think
deeply on the loving kindness of God tonight, which, by the
way, that will prepare us for our opening time of prayer to
thank God for his love in a few minutes. So in your outline,
let's walk through verses one through nine together. God gives
rest to the wanderers. Could you imagine this scenario
in life, almost this vignette that the author brings out? Imagine
somebody who's homeless, somebody who's wandering, wandering in
a desert region. That's what verse four talks
about. Verse four, they wandered in the wilderness in a desert
region. They didn't find a way to an inhabited city. They were
hungry and thirsty. Their soul fainted within them,
but they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And he delivered
them out of their distresses. He led them also by a straight
way to go to an inhabited city. Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men,
for he has satisfied the thirsty soul and the hungry soul he has
filled with what is good. Wanderers, anybody relate to
that? Maybe metaphorically, spiritually
in your life ever feel like a wanderer? You relate to this? I was wandering. These people
were hungry. They were thirsty. They were
faint. And yet they cried out to God in verse six and he heard
them and he answered them and he delivered them. Of course,
I think maybe the specific application is the Jewish people in the 40
year wilderness wandering. The book of Deuteronomy highlights
this, how those in that wilderness generation called out to God
and God continued to hear, God continued to answer, God continued
to provide, God continued to rescue. Why? Because of his covenant
love. Because of his covenant love. So how do we respond? Verse 8,
let them give thanks to the Lord. for his loving kindness and for
his wonders to the sons of men. Maybe you could read these opening
nine verses and say, yeah, that was me. I was hungry and I was
thirsty and I was wandering. And at some point in my life,
when God opened my eyes, I cried out and God heard me and he delivered
me. Have you taken the time to thank
God for his love? Not only does he, number one,
give rest to the wanderers, but in your outline, number two,
he gives freedom to the prisoners. This is in verses 10 to 16. Again,
the author's just giving different vignettes, different situations
of trial and difficulty and trouble. Verse 10, there were those who
dwelt in the darkness, in the shadow of death, prisoners in
misery and chains. They rebelled against the words
of God. They spurned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore,
He humbled their heart with labor. They stumbled and there was none
to help. But then they cried out to 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 broke their bands apart.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for
his wonders to the sons of men, for he has shattered gates of
bronze. I find it pretty, pretty neat
that in Isaiah chapter 61, Jesus, as the servant of the Lord, said
that God had delivered him as the servant to proclaim liberty
to the captives and freedom to the prisoners. That was me. And that's you. Verse 10 tells us in our psalm
about those who dwell in darkness, the shadow of death. They are
prisoners in miserable chains. They were those who rebelled
and spurned God. So God humbled them. But in their trouble, they cry
out to God and he delivers. I don't know about you, but I,
I can't speak of one who's literally been in bonds and chains. I've not been behind prison bars,
and God has delivered me. But every true Christian, though,
can speak of being delivered from the prison house of sin.
And the only way that a sinner can be unchained from our misery. The only way that we can be unchained
from our imprisonment is to cry out to Jesus, to cry out to him
by faith. He is the only one who has the
power to release you from the bondage of sin. It's like that
great verse. I love this in Revelation chapter
1 verse 5. To him who loves us and releases
us, he frees us from our sins by his blood. That's what Jesus
did. He released me from my sins all
by his blood. This is the great power of our
God that he gives freedom to the prisoner through the Messiah
Jesus. But have we taken the time to
thank him for his love? Have we made the time to thank
our Savior, the suffering servant, that he has liberated me from
my sin, that he has brought freedom to the prisoners? another vignette here in the
psalm, third in your outline. God gives healing to the sick.
He gives healing to the sick. Now, interestingly, in these
verses, there are those who may live in folly, rebellion, sin,
iniquity, and they almost die, like at the gates of death, but
they call out to God and he delivers. Look at the language, verse 17.
Fools, because of their rebellious way and because of their iniquities,
they were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all kinds
of food. They drew near to the gates of
death, like they're at the very doorstep of death. Verse 19,
but they cry out to the Lord in their trouble and he saves
them out of their distresses. He sent his word and he healed
them. and delivered them from their
destructions." Maybe someone in this room could
say, I was at the doorstep of death, and God had mercy on my
life. I could have died, perhaps I
should have died, but God saved me. He delivered me. I can't
help but remember the man Hezekiah in Isaiah chapter 38, wonderful
king of Judah, the nation of Judah. He became mortally ill
in Isaiah 38 one. In fact, it was the illness with
which he was going to die, but Hezekiah prayed to God. And then
the text says, God heard, he saw his tears, and then God mercifully
added 15 years to his life. or the ten lepers. Remember the
ten lepers in Luke 17? These, these, kind of like the
walking dead. Such a, such a foul disease it
was. And, and they come to Jesus,
and they're crying out, and they say, Jesus, have mercy on us. And Jesus replies, and he says,
go. And as they went, they were cleansed. But only one of them turned back
and came to Jesus, glorifying God, worshiping God, and thanking
Him. It reminds me of the power of
our Savior in Mark chapter 1. Immediately, they came out of
the synagogue and they came into the house of Simon. And Simon's
mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever, and immediately
they spoke to Jesus about her. And he came to her and raised
her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her. And then
they began bringing to Jesus all who were ill and those who
were demon-possessed. And the whole city had gathered
at the door, and he healed many who were ill with various diseases."
What a Savior. Maybe that's happened to you. Have we taken time to thank God
for His love, His deliverance, the fact that God hears our cries,
He hears our prayers, He delivers us out of our illnesses and our
afflictions to thank Him for His love? That's what the next
verse says in verse 21. Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his loving kindness and for the wonders to the sons of men. And here is a fourth vignette.
Look in your outline number four. God gives peace to the restless. Now this is quite amazing. I've
never been a sailor or a seaman. But I could only imagine how
terrifying and frightful that could be when things go wrong.
Verse 23 is the vignette about a sailor at sea in the troubles
of a storm. Look at verse 23. But verse 28, but then they cried
out to the Lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their
distresses. He caused the storm to be still
that the waves of the sea were hushed and they were glad because
they were quiet and he guided them to their desired haven. You know, the vignette here,
the situation here is, is a sailor. a seaman whose work is in the
deep. He works on the ship and he sees
all of the power of God. He sees what God does, but then
the storm raises up and he's fearful at his wit's end, reeling,
staggering. gonna die. Acts 27, the shipwreck
of Paul and all those who were on board with him, they all thought
they were gonna die. What do you do but you cry out
to God and he hears and he delivers. That reminds me of Jesus in Luke
chapter 8. You probably know exactly where
I'm going here. Luke chapter 8, when Jesus is with the disciples,
they're in a boat, and he falls asleep while they are sailing
along, and a fierce gale of wind ascended on the lake, and these
professional fishermen, these professional fishermen came to
Jesus and woke him up, and they said, Master, Master, we are
perishing, and he got up and he rebuked the wind and the surging
waves, and they stopped. and it became calm. You cry out
to Jesus, and he hears, and he delivers. Maybe that has happened
to you and me. Maybe not at sea, but maybe we
were reeling and staggering at our wits' end in another situation
of life. And you call out to God, and
he answers. But have you taken the time to
consider the loving kindnesses of the Lord. The psalm ends with the final,
the fifth vignette. It's the God who gives crops
to the farmer. He brings produce. He can cause there to be lack
and he can bring productivity. We see the power of God here.
Verse 33, God changes rivers into a wilderness and springs
of water into a thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salt waste
because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it, like Sodom
and Gomorrah. God can do that. But then, verse
36, but there he makes the hungry to dwell, that they may establish
an inhabited city, and sow fields and plant vineyards, and they
gather a fruitful harvest. That's what God does. God is
able to give crops. He is able to give a fruitful
harvest. He is able to provide for all of our needs. This is
who our God is. This is the power of our Almighty
God. His power is not limited. He's provided for me and He's
provided for you. But have we taken the time to
thank Him for his love. It's an amazing psalm. The way
the psalm ends in verse 43, if I could just highlight it quickly
again, who is wise, almost turning this psalm into a wisdom psalm.
Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things
and, see that word consider? It's a word in the Hebrew that
means to mull it over in your mind constantly. Constantly mull
over in your mind the loving kindnesses of the God, of God. Any situation of life, any scenario
of life, any circumstance of life, any difficulty that you're
in or you've been in or you will be in, call out to God and he
will hear. And he will answer and he will
deliver. And the repeated chorus is that
command, let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindnesses. Your outline, I give a couple
of takeaway points just by way of conclusion. Number one, suffering
is real. I have a lot in my notes, but
I'll leave it at that. We all know that suffering is
real. Let me pause on this. Number two, more on this on Sunday. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is powerful. Did you notice
the repeated refrain in our psalm? Then they called out to the Lord
and he heard and answered them. We are in suffering, we are in
afflictions, all the different situations of life. We cry out
to God in faith because we know that our God is a God of covenant-keeping
love. And it's like what God said to
Solomon, I have heard your prayer. It's like James 5.13. Is anyone
among you suffering? Let them pray. And then the twin to that, not
only should we pray, because it's powerful, but third, Christ
will hear. Like the hungry and the thirsty,
Christ hears and answers them. Like those in prison, Christ
will release them from the bondage of sin. He gives freedom and
he sets people free. Like those who are in the storms
and drowning and they need his rescue, Jesus hears and he calms
the storm. Our Savior hears the cries of
his people. then we ponder the covenant love
of God. So, hear it again. Have we taken
the time to thank God for his love? Whoever is wise, let him,
let him, let him give heed to and consider these things. The
covenant love of God. I want to end with this story.
I just, I think it is such a great, great account of a fitting summary.
Alexander Duff. Alexander Duff was a pastor and
a missionary sent out from the Scottish Presbyterian church
in the mid 1800s. He was going to go to India. He was going to start a Bible
college there. So he left Scotland, sent out from the Presbyterian
church, and he was going to go to India to start a Bible college. And while they were traveling,
the ship that he was on with a number of hundreds of passengers,
it ran aground while attempting to navigate the Cape of Good
Hope right around the South Africa bend there. And the pounding
surf destroyed the entire ship. Everything was lost. All of the
books that Alexander Duff had for this library in India were
all gone. Amazingly, all of the passengers and the sailors made
it safely to shore. Nothing remained of all the cargo,
of all the suitcases, of all the clothes. But one day, there
was a sailor walking along the shore looking for food. And he
saw along the shore, two small little books. And the sailor
went over to the two books and he opened them up and on the
inside cover was written a book belonging to Alexander Duff. One book was his Bible and the
other book was his Psalter. The sailor took both of the books
in his hand and he walked them over to Alexander Duff. Alexander
Duff, of course, full of joy and gladness that his two books
had been found. He took his Bible, he gathered
the people, and he turned to Psalm 107. And he turned to Psalm
107 and he read the entire psalm, but especially commenting on
that last verse, whoever is wise, let him give heed to these things
and consider the loving kindnesses of our God. How good God is. To Alexander Duff and all the
passengers, yeah, but also to you and me. Let us be wise and
consider the loving kindness of the Lord. Amen? Father, thank
you for your word. What a profound and a needed
and a timely word from the Psalter for us tonight, that we would
mull over this glorious doctrine of the loving-kindnesses of the
Lord, that in any and every situation of our lives, O God, that we
would consider deeply, that we would think regularly on the
loving-kindnesses of you, our great God. We thank you for this
time of study.
Think Deeply on the Lovingkindnesses of God!
Series Psalms
Teaching on Psalm 107
| Sermon ID | 52925125283125 |
| Duration | 35:47 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Psalm 107 |
| Language | English |
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