Psalm 107, as I said, the psalmist that wrote Psalm 107 is the one who's issuing a call. And as he issues that call to give thanks, what he does, he turns around and he does that. This is happening around the time after the Babylonian captivity. And we see what he's saying. He's exhorting us to do. He's doing. And He's saying, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. The redeemed are the ones who have been in bondage, captivity, and it's God that has delivered them. Therefore, we are to say so. That's true in every generation. If you think about it, what he says in verse three, he's gathered them out of the lands from the east. If you think, if you put New Life Baptist Church in there, what you've got is those from the lands of the east. We got on the next to the back row, three Filipinos. That comes from the far east. God's called them right here in Lexington, Kentucky. Isn't that something? It tells us that he's gathered them out from the west. Now, I don't know many people further out west. I think Brother Wayne was in Louisville. That was west. You think of what it says here, from the north. Uh-oh. Sister Kay, you were in western Kentucky. That counts too, don't it? Yeah. From the north. And then from the south. Hmm. Yeah, Ashley and Madeline's from Ohio. From the South, Sharon was in Florida. Thank the Lord you're not there right now. Do pray for those going through that storm and pray that it doesn't pick up too heavy and cause much damage. My dad's from South Carolina, North Carolina, so Lord's called people from a lot of different places. And even so, His own people, as we're looking in the context of this scripture, He's talking about Israel. God's chosen people in the Old Testament and God's called them. And He's called them to give praise. And notice what the Word of God goes on to say. What he does in verses four through 32, he gives word pictures, and there's four basic word pictures he gives in verses four through 32. What he says in verse four and five, he says, they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. You remember in the Old Testament when God called the children of Israel out of Egypt He led them in the wilderness. And what they did, they kind of went down that peninsula and around and around. And all they could have done was gone straight over. But the Lord knew they would get scared, turn back. So He led them around in the wilderness. And they went around that wilderness for 40 years. Can you imagine going 40 years in a circle in your life? Going in circles for 40 years in your life, that would be kind of rough, wouldn't it? Here is God's goodness. What we see in verses four through nine, we see the weary traveler needs a guide. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. They were hungry, they were thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. As they were in the wilderness, you think about that, approximately probably two million, three million people. There was no city, there was no place, there was no grocery store. They got hungry. There was no steady supply of food or water. They got thirsty. They griped, they groaned, they complained. They were tested. God was testing them during that time, and as He tried them in testing them, they sinned against God. They had failed. And what we see here is because they failed, they're in a miserable state. And so what they did, they cried in verse six. They cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And he delivered them out of their distresses. Because of their sinfulness, it led them into a place where they were full of distresses. And therefore they cried. And what God does, he delivered them. They cried, he delivers. And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation. God guided them. They cried, he clears the way. He makes the way straight. And the word of God says, oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. and for His wonderful works to the children of men." Here's a scenario the psalmist is thinking back upon. Why should we give thanks for His goodness and for His wonderful works? Because of the wonderful things He does for us and toward us. For. Because. He satisfies the longing soul He fills the hungry soul with goodness. God fills you with His goodness. You think about that. We think of the goodness of God, and we ought to give thanks for God's goodness, but God fills us with His goodness. Like my dad said, even with material things, God has blessed us with all that we have. With spiritual things, that cannot be numbered. He's blessed us in heavenly places, is what the Word of God tells us. So God is continually providing for us as He guides us, as He guided the children of Israel. He guided them through life and through the wilderness, and even so He's guiding you and I as we travel through this world. Notice in verses 10 through 16. Here we have a scenario where they are captive. They are prisoners in Babylon. such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and in iron." What that is simply saying, they're hopeless. They're in shackles. They're in chains. They're suffering affliction. In other words, they're getting beaten, punished. They're sitting in a dark place, in the shadow of death. They're right at the point of dying. There is no hope, it seems like. as they're in this particular area in life. And the reason is, it says, because they rebelled against the words of God. They were rebels. They did not want to hear God's Word. They wanted to do their own way. They wanted their own will done, so they rebelled against the Word of God, and then the Word of God says, and contemned the counsel of the Most High. That means they despised the counsel of God. As God was directing them and God was leading them, they despised His ways. They despised His counsel. I remember a song from way back when. That's the sound of the men working on the chain gang. Y'all remember that old song? Here, they were in chains, and they were in slavery. They were being cruelly treated, but it's all because they rebelled against God, and they despised the counsel of God. So what happens? I want you to notice they repeat verse 6. Look back at verse 6. Notice what the Word of God says. right after verse 12. Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down and there was none to help. They were in a helpless, hopeless situation. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses. Wow, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? In verse 14 we see how God delivered them. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and break their bands in sunder. He broke those iron chains from off of them to where they were no longer in bondage. And so here's another repetition. Notice back in verse eight. In verse eight, oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Notice in verse 15, "...all that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men." Why is that? "...for because He hath broken the gates of the brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder." God delivered again. Notice next here, in this next passage of Scripture, in verses 17 through 22, what we have is the afflicted. Those that are under affliction, they need a physician. And so what we see in verse 17, it talks about fools. Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. If you see a foolish person, let me tell you something, a foolish person is going to suffer because they do foolish things. Foolishness brings affliction. Sin is insanity. Think about it. If you sin and you know there's consequences to sin, isn't it foolish to do that? If you know you're going to get hurt because you're doing something God said don't do, isn't that kind of crazy? We mentioned a man who was caught in an affair or a wrong relationship with another woman this past Sunday, a renowned speaker in the podiums around different conferences. He's a sound expositor of the Word of God, knows the Word of God. He's 73 years old. Did you get that? I had to look up his age. I thought, wow, 73 years old, he knows better. And now all of a sudden the weight of the world's coming down on him. I don't know if he's repented. I don't know the fellow personally. But I want you to know, be sure your sins will find you out. And when they do, you're gonna suffer because of your sinfulness. Here, fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. This man spent 40 years pastoring. There's nobody beyond sin. There's nobody that's perfect, and there's nobody that cannot be tempted in this world. Be careful as you go through this world. Walk close to the Lord. Don't just know His Word, but put His Word into practice into your life. Their soul abhors all manner of meat. They draw near unto the gates of death. In other words, they hated the taste of food. They're so afflicted, they lost their appetite. They lost their appetite and they're at the point of death. And then notice what happens here. There's a repeat of verse six. And we're going to go back to verse 6 and notice what it says. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. Oh my, look at verse 13. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. So in verse 19, they're in a bad situation again. Then they cry unto the Lord. in their trouble and He saves them out of their distresses. And what does God do? He sends His Word and heals them and delivers them from their destructions. The word destructions can also mean grave. God sent His Word and healed them when they were afflicted. They needed a physician. You know what? God healed them. And all of a sudden, here's another repeat. Now, you know what? Repetition is there for a purpose. So go back to verse 8. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. In verse 15, he's repeating, Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. In verse 21, Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men." You see what the psalmist is driving home? God is good! And even though we say God is good, and all that we ought to praise Him for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men, this issues forth in praise. Notice what it says in verse 22, "...let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing." This is praising God, giving thanks unto God, singing praise unto God. That's what we ought to do. Now these scenarios is talking about people on land. And it's talking about people getting in situations because of their sin. And then God delivers them when they cry out to Him. But the scenario changes when we come to verse 23. In verse 23 down to verse 32, what we have is here's a sailor and he's in need of a captain. He's out on the ocean. And notice what the Word of God says, they that go down to the sea in ships, they do business in great waters. In other words, they're trading and they're going from one place to another in boats, in ships, big ships. For that day and time, there were big ships. And you know what, they sea out in the ocean. I don't know how many of y'all ever been out in the sea. I'm talking about on a boat trip way out in the sea. You know what, you can see some wonderful things sometimes. I've seen flying fish hovering above the water. That's pretty cool. I saw some dolphins jumping the other day or the other week. You know what? There are some amazing things. So here they see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. It is amazing. They're a fish. They're finding that they've never seen before. Saw a picture of one the other day. I thought, that's pretty fascinating. Here, the first part of this Psalm is talking about their sin. In these verses, it's talking about being caught in certain situations. Not because of their sin, but because of the situations. Here, they're out in the ocean. seeing the wonders of God. And notice it says in verse 25, for he commands and raises a stormy wind which lifts up the waves thereof. Can you imagine what's going on in the Gulf right off of Florida right now? I'm talking about out in the water. How would you like to be a ship out in that area? I saw a picture of someone lives down in Florida and they had sent pictures of the massive dark clouds that are coming in over Florida. You know what happens? The stormy wind lifts the waves up. They mount up to the heaven, it says, and they go down again to the depths. Now imagine this. Imagine being on a ship in the middle of a storm. Do you know what a swell is? A swell is when these winds catch up these waves, which the Lord's doing that, it says right here, and then waves can lift up. I looked and saw, what's the highest these swells can get? They can lift a ship up 100 feet. Can you imagine that? This is like, this is crazier than a rollercoaster ride, because it's off the tracks. And imagine being lifted up and all of a sudden that swell comes down and you're dropping another 100 feet, but you're already up 100 feet and you're going down 200 feet. Man, that's a crazy ride. What would you be like on a ship if you're in the middle of a storm in swells that, you couldn't even get seasick, you'd be too scared. Think about it. And then notice what the Word of God is talking about here. It says in the latter part of verse 26, their soul is melted because of trouble. In other words, they're like this. They ain't got nothing left in them. You'd be scared to death. I'd be scared to death because of that trouble. They melted Let me give you a scenario. Look over in the book of Acts. Over in Acts chapter 27, you remember the apostle Paul as he was being taken to Rome. And down in verse 14, everything's calm so they leave port. But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind called Eurycleidon. And when the ship was caught, it could not bear up into the wind, we just let it drive. And running under a certain island, which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat, which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship. And fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, they straight sailed, and so were driven along. and we being exceedingly tossed with tempest. Here goes catching up on those waves and bottoming out on those waves. Up and down, up and down. The wind's blowing. The next day, they lightened the ship. They had to throw stuff off. Third day, we cast out our own hands the tackling of the ship. They're making the ship lighter. They're throwing stuff off. They're throwing stuff off. When neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, no small tempest laid on us. This storm is going on So far, three days. Can you imagine that? No lights. Up, down, being blown around, wet. In many days, there didn't appear any sun or stars. No small tempest lay on us. All hope that we should be saved was taken away from us. We had no hope. But after a long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said, sirs, you should have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from Crete, and have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, fear not Paul, You must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given you all them that sail with you. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me, howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island. But when the 14th night, we're talking about two weeks of storm, can you imagine being caught up in a storm for two weeks? You'd be waterlogged. It says, we were driven up and down in Adria and about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country. This is hard to fathom. Even tough, rough seamen were scared to death because you have absolutely no control. Paul stands in the midst of them. I don't know how he stood in the midst of them with the waves crashing and everything else. But you know what, he had a peace because God had given him a message that all would be saved. What an amazing story that is as we look at this ship going up and down. In verse 27 in Psalm 107 it says, they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at wit's end. If you've ever been on a ship in the middle of a storm, you know what, you cannot stand up straight. You're walking whichever way you can. You're wiggling around. And what happened? Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses. He makes the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still. Here's the sailors. They need a captain. But you know what? They need more than a captain. They need someone that can calm the storm. God can do that. And that's what he does. He calms the storm. Then are they glad, because they be quiet. So he brings them unto their desired haven. And here it goes again. The repetition from verse 6, verse 8, verse 15, verse 19. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men. all that men might praise Him. Here's God's goodness in the middle of the providence of things going on in the world. The first part talked about the soul. This one here is talking about your soul. Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the assembly of the elders. Oh, how we ought to praise God for His goodness. He turns rivers into wilderness, water springs into dry ground. Notice here what He's talking about now. He's talking about the soil. He turns rivers into wilderness, water springs dried up, a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. but he does the opposite also. He turns the wilderness into standing water and dry ground into water springs. And there he makes the hungry to dwell that they may prepare a city for habitation and sow fields and plant vineyards which may yield fruits of increase. He blesses them also so that they are multiplied greatly and suffers not their cattle to decrease. God turns fruitfulness and barrenness. And he can do it either way. So in verse 39, he talks about the soul through verse 42. And here he talks about, notice what he says, the low and the poor. It says in verse 39, again they are menaced and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He pours contempt upon princes. Those who are in high places, he causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way. Yet sets he up the poor on high from affliction and makes him families like a flock. And the righteous shall see it and rejoice and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Now this psalm ends on psalm 107 in verse 43. And it's basically asking a question. Who is wise? Who is wise among you? He says, observe these things. If you observe these things of how God is working, this is wisdom. Even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. You want to know God's love and understand God's love? You need to observe these things as the psalmist did. Look at how he is at work, not only in history, but in our present situation. Think of our present situation. You know what? As our church has gone through the years, there's been times it's gone up and times it's gone down. Times have gone up, times have gone down. You know what? God stays the same. He's faithful. He's always there. He knows what He's doing. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. God has done wondrous things. May we never cease to praise Him for His goodness and His wonderful works to usward in Christ Jesus. Then, as you observe this, you'll understand His loving kindness. Oh, that we might learn to love and understand the love of God even better. As Paul prayed over there in Ephesians chapter 3 that we might know the height, the depth, the width, the length of the love of God. We only know it just a little bit. Oh, that we might know it more. And then we'll praise him for his goodness and for his wondrous works toward men. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Your word gives us direction and hope and points us to wisdom and shows us how to have understanding concerning your loving kindness. So we pray that you help each and everyone here to grow in your grace and knowledge and in your love that's always abounding toward us as people. We praise you for your goodness. and your wonderful work you've done toward us. Amen.