Song of the Redeemed

Bibles and turn to Psalm 107. We’re extending our break away
from our study in First Corinthians. And I know that you’re praying
for me. I have the next occasion and
have the next five weeks off for study and also to host Paul
Fine. John Magnuson is in the pulpit
next week. I’m sure he would appreciate
your prayer ahead of that. And thank you that so many of
you have even asked, asked if Paul has picked some passages.
He picked some doozies. I mean, really great passages
of scripture. And he’s doing this to really
test and see whether he is indeed called to preach on a regular
basis. And so be praying for Paul, pray
for John, and we pray that the month of July would just be used
to God’s glory. So last Sunday we considered
a Psalm that took the form of an invitation. It was an invitation
extended to those who perhaps didn’t even know God. It was
gracious, it was hopeful, this gesture of invitation. It was an invitation to worship,
an invitation to reverence, and ultimately an invitation to salvation. We were cordially invited, as
you might recall. The Psalm before us today takes
a bit different approach. It’s a much more direct approach.
Seemingly, the person or persons invited may have forgotten the
great motives to worship. What is the right and proper
response for all that God has done? In Psalm 107, the psalmist
sets before us responses to the Lord’s abundant mercies. And
he pens for us what I would title the song of the redeemed. We tend to think of the Psalms
as one book of the Bible. And in a sense, that’s true.
But as God’s people might recall, there are actually five books
of the Psalms. Book one includes Psalm 1 through
41. 42 through 72 is Book 2. 73 through
89, which first Psalm we read today, is part of Book 3. Book four is 90 through 106,
and book five, the final book, begins at Psalm 107 through Psalm
50. Now that breakup into the five
books of the Psalms is exactly how we break up our psalm readings
in our call to worship, alternating between a different book each
week. Scholars have suggested that
the five books of the Psalms align with the five books of
the law. And sometimes you see some overlap
there. But the point is that each book
of the Psalms has unique, even if subtle, characteristics. For instance, in book one, the
word for God, Jehovah, is used 272 times. Whereas another word for God,
Elohim, is only used 15 times. And yet in Book 2, Jehovah is
only used 30 times to Elohim 164 times. Those are the subtle
differences that you see in the Book of the Psalms. There are
other ways of distinguishing the various books though. Book one is almost exclusively
a collection of Davidic Psalms, songs written by David himself. Book two is a blend of Davidic
and Psalms that were written by the sons of Korah. The third book is composed largely
of Psalms written by Asaph. The fourth book, other than that
it is exclusive in its use of Jehovah, it doesn’t use any other
word for God, it’s not otherwise distinct. And the fifth and final
book is made up mostly of halal or praise psalms and pilgrim
psalms. I mentioned this last week, psalms
of ascent, songs that believers would sing as they were heading
to worship. Well, each of the five books
of Psalms closes with a doxology. Psalm 50 serves in that capacity,
not only for the fifth book, but for the entirety of the Psalms. For us this morning, it’s important
to observe that Psalm 107 opens the fifth book of the Psalms. And as such, it is a halal or
praise Psalm. That word, Hallel, is taken from
the Hebrew word, Hallu, which means to praise, literally, the
praise of Jehovah. And it is the source of the Greek
term, hallelujah, and the word from which our Englishized word
is taken, hallelujah. So this Psalm, Psalm 107, is
indeed a praise to God. The theme, The theme of this
psalm and even the context could be stretched to orient from the
redemption of God’s people from captivity. That’s possible. There
is indeed a tone of consolation in this psalm. But realistically,
this psalm addresses the common difficulties of fallen humanity
and the goodness of God in his providence in rescuing them. What is most common of all difficulty
is that of spiritual distress, right? And we have that in this
Psalm as well. Typically, all people are brought
to repentance through some life crisis. That’s essentially the
message of this Psalm. But even after such a conversion,
how quick we are to forget. How quick we are to forget God’s
saving mercy. God’s people often require a
summons to praise, a pointed reminder to thank God for all
His kindnesses. And so this psalm is an exhortation
to thankfulness together with the motivating causes beneath
it. Psalm 107, we’ll take it in its entirety this morning.
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. They wandered in the wilderness,
in the desert region. They did not find a way to an
inhabited city. They were hungry and thirsty.
Their soul fainted within them. Then they cried out to the Lord
in their trouble. He delivered them out of their
distresses. He led them 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 good. There were those who dwelt in
darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and
chains, because they had rebelled against the words of God and
spurned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore, he humbled their
heart with labor. They stumbled and there was none
to help. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.
He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death. He 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 the gates of bronze and cut the bars of
iron asunder. Fools, because of their rebellious
way and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred
all kinds of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then
they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. He saved them
out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them
and delivered them from their destructions. Let them give thanks
to the Lord for his loving kindnesses and for his wonders to the sons
of men. Let them also offer sacrifices
of thanksgiving and tell of his works with joyful singing. Those
who go down into the ships, into the sea and ships, who do business
on great waters, they have seen the works of the Lord and His
wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a
stormy wind which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up
to the heavens, they went down into the depths. Their soul melted
away in their misery, They reeled and staggered like a drunken
man and were at their wits end. Then they cried to the Lord in
their trouble, and He brought them out of their distresses.
He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea
were hushed. Then they were glad because they
were quiet, so He guided them to their desired haven. Let them
give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindnesses and for His
wonders to the sons of men. Let them extol Him also in the
congregation of the people and praise Him at the seat of the
elders. He changes the rivers into 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. He changes a wilderness into
a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water. And there
he makes the hungry to dwell so that they may establish an
inhabited city and sow fields and plant vineyards and gather
a fruitful harvest. Also, He blesses them, and they
multiply greatly, and He does not let their cattle decrease. When they are diminished and
bowed down through oppression and misery and sorrow, He pours
contempt on their princes and makes them wander in a pathless
waste. But He sets the needy securely
on high, away from affliction, and He makes His families like
a flock. The upright see it and are glad, but all unrighteousness
shuts its mouth. Who is wise? Let him give heed
to these things and consider the loving kindness of the Lord. Allow me just briefly to give
you some view of the structure, the outline of this beautiful
psalm I’ve entitled it, as I said, The Song of the Redeemed, and
what you have here are responses to the Lord’s abundant mercies. And there are four sections here.
The first, in verses one through three, we see the worthy return
of our Lord’s kindness. The worthy return for our Lord’s
kindness, I should say. The second section, the most
lengthy of all, verses four through 32, is the prudent response to
the Lord’s salvation. This is the right thing to do
in view of all that God does. And he gives us four examples
of such crisis. The third section, verses 33
through 42, is the inevitable reaction to the Lord’s judgment.
All are judged. All face consequences. And there
is an inevitable reaction to that. And then the fourth and
final, a single verse, the sensible reply for the Lord’s mercies. Let’s look at the first, could
we? Verses one through three, the worthy return for our Lord’s
kindness. So give thanks to the Lord for
he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. Psalms 105, 106,
and 107 all begin with this admonition to render thanks, gratitude to
the Lord. Oh, give thanks to the Lord. We might call this the trilogy
of the refuge of gratitude. The opening of Psalm 105, 106
rather, includes the same exact pair of sentences as the psalm
before us. Psalm 106 says, Praise the Lord,
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His loving kindness
is everlasting. So the psalmist begins his powerful
summons here once again to bring the Lord His due, the wholehearted
praise of His people. And although this opening line,
the chorus, is not repeated verbatim in this psalm, we could almost
call it the chorus or the refrain of this psalm, because we have
an echo of verse one in verse eight, verse 15, verse 21, verse
31, and then the last verse of this psalm, verse 43, is this
refrain about the Lord’s loving kindness, His mercy toward us. The first thing our psalmist
does is issue a call of gratitude for the Lord’s mercies. Give
thanks to the Lord. What more can we give Him? What
more does He desire than the heartfelt praise of His people? To accomplish this, we must not
only pray in earnest, but we must watch with the same degree
of earnestness. how empty it must be for God
to hear our prayer, to respond to our pleas, only to have our
lips fall silent in a failure to acknowledge the kindnesses
that he provided. The Jewish nation was no less
forgetful than us, and so the psalmist issues this call to
remembrance and praise, and the reason that he lays before the
people is so simple. He’s good. He is good. And we need that reminder too,
don’t we? God is good. We can almost concoct a zany
idea sometimes that God is against us, or that God is not fair. Or that
God is not caring enough of me and my circumstances. Or that
God is indifferent to me. None of that is true. God is
inherently good. God not only possesses the attribute
of goodness, He is, in essence, goodness. He is the standard
of what good is. Everything about God, everything
that comes from Him is good. Now ladies, you know that we
men have pulled aside for this special study this summer, and
one of the things we’ve been considering is God’s attributes.
And one of the books we’ve considered is A.W. Pink’s Attributes of
God. And if you can get this book
out of your husband’s hands, you should take a peek at it.
And in that book, a Puritan named Thomas Manton said this about
the goodness of God. He is originally good, good of
himself, which nothing else is. He is essentially good, not only
good, but goodness itself. He is infinitely good. In God,
there is an infinite ocean or gathering together of good. He
is eternally and immutably good, for he cannot be less good than
he is, and there can be no addition made to him, no subtraction from
him. God is good. Ladies, did you
get all that? Borrow the book. God’s goodness
is manifest to and enjoyed by all of creation. We enjoy the
pleasures and the bounties of life, Psalm 145, 9. Ultimately, His goodness to some
is His gift of salvation. Spurgeon said it much more simply. He is good perpetually, superlatively,
and infinitely. He is good in His character.
He is good always. He is good to the extreme, and
He is good forever. Because of that, we always and
only experience God’s goodness. Everything God does, everything
God thinks and does and says is good, because He is good.
And that alone urges our worship of Him. And in echo of that same statement,
this attribute of God’s goodness, the psalmist adds his loving
kindness is everlasting. This word for loving kindness
could easily be translated his mercies. He doesn’t owe us any
of these kindnesses, which he will, the psalmist will lay out
four distinct examples. He doesn’t owe us these kindnesses
at all, these mercies. But when we call, when we cry,
when we humble ourselves, when we go before Him and appeal to
Him, and He responds, it is out of His abundant mercy, His loving
kindness. Look, if you would, at verse
two, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. His address is specified here
in verse two. It’s to the redeemed of the Lord.
Those whom a special favor or kindness of the Lord has been
shown. Effectively purchasing them out
of captivity. That’s what redemption points
to. Where God paying their ransom
liberates them by this payment. This idea of redemption is an
idea that was intimately associated with Isaiah’s prophecy. Listen
to this. Isaiah 35, no lion will be there,
nor will any vicious beast go up to it. These will not be found
there. But the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed
of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion. With everlasting joy upon their
heads, they will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing
will flee away. To these redeemed, ransomed,
as the psalmist calls, they declared their praise because they have
been redeemed, because they have been purchased. The psalmist
for us. In a very real way, the Jews
were looking forward to the Messiah who would redeem them in a manner
they could not even conceive. For us, we know for a fact that
Christ has come. Christ has paid our penalty.
Christ has redeemed us. He has bought us out of the slavery
to sin, and he has liberated us to eternal glory. This is
the response of the redeemed who know that God alone has saved
them. And the psalmist says, let the
redeemed of the Lord say so. Proclaim it from the housetop.
God is good. His long suffering is everlasting. Well, the song of the redeemed
has a second section to it. It’s the most lengthy of the
psalm, and yet it’s the one that I’m gonna have to just treat
topically as we go through it. In addition to the worthy return,
of our Lord’s kindnesses, this praise that we render for our
redemption, the second section is a prudent response to the
Lord’s salvation. And in this second great section
of the psalm, the most lengthy, the psalmist provides the general
reminders of God’s loving kindness. by these specific examples, four
specific examples of just four of the many ways that God shows
mercy. He gives us wilderness wanderers,
humbled prisoners, repentant fools, and then finally imperiled
sailors. And in each of these four examples,
they all have the same elements. They all will present a particular
difficulty, each one unique. Each illustration opens with
a particular example of difficulty experienced by people, some people. And then each of these examples
will give the effects of this particular plight. The psalmist
provides the effects of these difficulties. And then it will
give their reaction to this trouble. And the reaction is the same
in all four examples. Then they cried out to the Lord
in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. The answer to their cries comes
from God. That’s the fourth feature of
these. God responds to their cries specifically. Not just
generally, as we just read, he delivered them out of all their
distresses, but God responds to their cries specifically. Look at verse 7. To the wilderness
wanderers, it says that he led them also by a straight way to
an inhabited city. Jump down to verse 14. To the
humbled prisoners, God’s response was generally the same. He delivered
them out of all their distresses. But in verse 14, it says He brought
them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their
bands apart. Jump down to verse 20, if you
would. For the repentant fools He delivered them out of all
their distresses, generally speaking, but it says in verse 20, He sent
word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. We’ll talk more about that in
a moment. And then if you would jump down to verse 29, to the
imperiled sailors. He caused the storm to be still,
in verse 29, so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then
they were glad because they were quiet, so he guided them to their
desired haven. The same general promise to each
of these distressed people, but in their specifics, a very practical
salvation delivered by God himself. Let’s look at the first, and
again briefly. The particular difficulty in
the first is that they were wilderness wanderers. They wandered in the
wilderness. Verse four says, in a desert
region, they did not find a way to an inhabited city. Now, no
doubt Israel wandered in the wilderness, but this cannot be
held to refer to their wilderness wanderings exclusively. The Jews would naturally think
of this. But the idea communicated is
not so much the 40-year desert wandering, but lostness in general. We can get lost in the desert.
We can get lost in the city. We can get lost in the woods. That’s the concern. That’s the
general distress that’s communicated here, lostness. And besides,
Israel never was looking for an inhabited city, which is mentioned
here. They were looking for a wide
open fertile land called Canaan. The reference to the common plight
of being lost is what’s in view here. Otherwise, the other three
examples provided here have no context in this psalm. Perhaps you’ve been lost. About seven years ago, it happened
to me. I decided to take a getaway,
a couple of days that went down to, it was gonna go down to Crested
Butte. Some of you have heard this story. And I got to Buena
Vista and the GPS suggested a little shortcut, which I was only too
happy to take. It was a dirt road that went
over the top. I saw it on the map, Tin Cup Pass. And I started
out about six or seven at night. Some of you have been there.
The dirt road soon turned into a boulder field and that as the
sun began to set. And it was pitch black by the
time I finally bumped and scraped my way to the top of Tin Cup
Pass, 12,182 feet. And it had just rained. And so after a few moments of
trying to find the trail that led to the other side of Tin
Cup Pass, I finally and wisely had to park my truck for the
night. Because at one point I thought
that I was literally driving in a riverbed. The water was
deep, the road was bumpy. And so I camped there at 12,182
feet, if you can call curling up in the front seat
of your truck with a sleeping bag, camping. We all get lost. We get lost in a myriad of different
ways. And generally speaking, the psalmist
says here that God is the refuge. God is the one that rescues those
from an impromptu camping trip. Look at verse five. They were
hungry and thirsty. See, when you’re lost, you’re
overmatched by the circumstances already. You’re unprepared for
what lies in front of you. No food, no water. Hunger and
thirst soon sets in. For me, I was out of water. I
had very little in the way of snacks. But worst of all, I knew
that the next morning I would have no coffee. The reaction to the trouble,
it’s the same for each one of these four examples. Look at
verse six. Then they cried out to the Lord
in their trouble, and I did pray. What else can the child of God
do in such circumstances but pray? I was supposed to return
a call. I was supposed to call home and
let everyone know that I was okay. There would be no call. not from 12,182 feet. And so I prayed. In the distress that each of
these examples present, that’s exactly what the child of God
does in the midst of a crisis. What else can they do but pray? And God answers their cries. Look at the end of verse six.
He delivered them out of all their distresses. That is the
same promise given to each of these troubled travelers. He led them out by a straight
way, verse seven, to an inhabited city. This is what God does. This is the psalmist’s whole
point. God rescues and delivers his children from manifold troubles. For me, I made it through the
night, shivering, eager to see the dawn the next morning. I
boiled water and had coffee and I got rolling and I rolled boulders
out of the way and I found my way out of this valley and out
of the riverbed that I had been driving on. And the humble response to God’s
mercy For me, I was singing praises all the way down the mountain
that morning, eager to get to a cell signal. Look at verse
eight, 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 is filled with what
is good. This is an appeal to the child
of God. who have had such a deliverance,
any such deliverance, and what greater deliverance have we all
experienced than the deliverance from sin by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Every Lord’s Day that we walk
in here, we should look up at the cross and be reminded that
Jesus Christ paid a mighty penalty for our sin. And by that, by
faith in Christ’s sacrifice, we are liberated, freed, Well, that’s what a child of
God does. Once they’ve been liberated,
once they’ve been freed, once God has moved in their life,
look at the second example. Verse 10. This particular example
is about humbled prisoners. Their particular difficulty,
verse 10, they were those who dwelt in darkness, in the shadow
of death, not by choice. They were thrown down into a
hole. They were thrown down into a dungeon. Prisoners in misery and chains. John Bunyan knew this. Paul the
Apostle knew this. Peter knew this. They had rebelled
against the words of God, spurned the counsel of the Most High,
and God delivered some of these into prison. The darkness here
is a prison or a vault of some sort. Look at the effects of
their plight. Once they found themselves in
this hole, verse 12, therefore he humbled their heart with labor. They stumbled and there was none
to help. When you’re sent to prison, typically it’s not what
you would call a retreat. There are no fun activities.
You’re sent into forced labor. Because of their work, look at
what the effect it has on them. They stumbled in their fatigue,
in their being overworked and underfed. They’re just stumbling
about as a shadow of themselves, what they once were. What can
they do? What can any child of God do
in the midst of trouble? Look at verse 13. They cried
out to the Lord in their trouble, even from the dark hole of a
prison cell. God answered their cry. Look
at the end of verse 13. He saved them out of all their
distresses. The same promise kept to each
of these four. He brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death and broke their bands apart, liberated
them. This was the only way. In Peter’s
case, Peter was liberated by an angel. Not so with John Bunyan. Both Peter and Paul knew imprisonment
and divine liberation from prison. But not all experienced that.
Look at the humble response to God’s mercy for someone who’s
been liberated like this. Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His loving kindness and for His wonders to the sons of men.
For He has shattered the gates of bronze and cut bars of iron
asunder. The prison cell is nothing for
the Lord. as we saw in Peter’s case. And
what more reasonable thing to do but erupt into praise and
worship? Well, there’s a third example
provided. We begin to see it now, but this,
and I’ve always, I should have said earlier, every one of us
fits into one of these categories. And if you’re not somebody who
jumps in a four by four and heads into the mountains in the dark,
or you’ve never spent time in prison. This third one captures
all of us. Repentant fools. Look at verse
17. Fools because of their rebellious
way. That’s what a fool is. Fools
because of their rebellious way and because of their iniquities
were afflicted. This is how God brings us to
repentance. Perhaps this is even a mortal
sickness. We’re brought right to the edge
of the grave in our sickness, in our distress. This refers
to somebody who lives like they are insane. Doesn’t that describe our life
before Christ? Luke paints a picture of a rich
man, doesn’t he? You know this. He told a parable
saying the land of a rich man was very productive and he began
reasoning to himself. Always a foolish thing to do.
What shall I do since I have no place to store my crops? Then
he said, this is what I will do. I will tear down my barns
and build larger ones. There I will store all my grain
and all my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul,
you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your
ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, you fool,
this very night your soul is required of you. And now who
will own what you have prepared? To live without God, to live
as if God doesn’t exist, to live in rebellion, to live in the
midst of our sin and iniquity is foolishness. And yet that’s
the camp from which most of us were drawn. What was the effect? Look at verse 18. Their soul
abhorred all kinds of food. They were sick to death. Like
Job. He hated bread. He didn’t want
anything. He drew near to the gates of
death. The loss of appetite is a very
common experience for those in severe sickness. What was the
reaction to their trouble? What else could they do? They
cried out to the Lord. Verse 19. What else would the Lord
do? He saved them out of their distresses.
But how? Look at the answer to their cries
from God in verse 20. He sent his word and he healed
them. One of the delightful things about keeping our running prayer
list is just watching how many prayer requests God has answered
for this body to come before him and plead on behalf of people
sometimes whose names we don’t even know. whose circumstances
we don’t know. We don’t even know them personally,
and yet we lift them up, we watch God move. Look at what He did
in verse 20. He sent His Word, He healed them,
He delivered them from their destructions. This is what God
does. What’s the response? The humbled
response to God’s mercy. Verse 21, Let them give thanks
to the Lord for His lovingkindness, for His wonders to the sons of
men, Let them bring thank offerings, a public show of appreciation. Well, if you don’t fit in any
of the first camps, you might want to go buy a dinghy and cross
your fingers that you didn’t fit into this camp. Because the
last one is the Lord’s salvation of imperiled sailors. the particular
difficulty. Verse 23, Those who go down in
ships, who do business on great waters, they’ve seen the works
of the Lord, His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised
up a stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. And
if you’ve been on the ocean, you know this is not a good thing,
because whatever goes up must come down. And it usually is
a very uncomfortable ride. I had the privilege. I really
counted as a privilege. I had the privilege to do this
in March when we were back in California, or May. In this case, God sent a storm
and it’s a doozy. Look at verse 26, the effects
of their plight. They rose up to the heavens,
they went down to the depths. This is exactly, it’s a boat
ride. Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled
and staggered like a drunken man and were at their wits end. This is a particularly nasty
storm pitching and rolling, and they are very uncomfortable. The reaction to their trouble,
what else can a child of God do? Then they cried to the Lord
in their trouble. They went before the Lord and
pleaded for His help. And look at the answer to their
cries from God. Verse 28, at the end, He brought
them out of their distresses. How? He caused the storm to be
still so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were
glad because they were quiet. And so He guided them to their
desired haven. What a beautiful picture of a
boat, storm-tossed, finally rolling into a little cove. How could the child of God respond
to this like all the rest? Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His loving kindness and for the wonders of the sons of men.
Let them extol Him in the congregation of the people, corporate worship,
and praise Him at the seat of the elders. And you have been marvelously
rescued. What else can you do? What else
should you do but sing God’s praises? Now, these are just
four examples of an infinite number of examples of salvation
by the Lord’s hands. Because you know, the truth is
the Lord can save from poverty. The Lord can save from divorce. The Lord can save from drunkenness. The Lord can save from drug use. The Lord can save from any myriad
of distresses. Think of it. Every single one
of us fits into one of these categories. Wanderers, prisoners,
fools, or sailors. There’s a third prompter to praise
and worship. Not only the worthy return of
our Lord’s kindness in verse 1 through 3, the prudent response
to the Lord’s salvation in 4 through 32, the inevitable reaction to
the Lord’s judgment. And we see it in 33 through 42. Suddenly, in this third major
section, things change. The style changes. The character
of the passage changes. And in verse 33, it has led some
to suggest that a different writer picks up here and finishes the
psalm. Enough of your examples. That kind of assumption is totally
unnecessary. The psalmist, he just strikes
a different chord here because his purpose is different. Not
all are saved. Not all are saved. And we perhaps
begin to assume that all would be saved because He gave us all
these examples. Certainly God is going to save
everybody. No, He’s not. And as we collect ourselves and think
more realistically, we have to acknowledge that given the sinful
hearts of mankind, of course not all repent. Of course, not
all cry out. Of course, not all look to God.
Of course, not all are saved. Having laid out those four great
examples of how God saves people, the psalmist changes course here.
And we soon recognize here that the psalmist presents the terrible
principle of the Lord’s judgment. And he presents both extremes.
The Lord’s treatment of the sinful at one end of the spectrum and
the Lord’s treatment of the righteous on the other end of that spectrum.
The psalmist provides both extremes. And this section also has a repeated
structure. For each of the examples, the
psalmist lays before us the Lord’s response to the nations. The Lord’s recompense of individuals
and the response. The first example here is the
psalmist provides it. It’s the negative one. It’s God’s
response to a sinful nation. And we better sit up and take
heed as a country. Look at verse 33. He changes
rivers into a wilderness. He changes springs of water into
a thirsty ground. He changes a fruitful land into
a salt waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. This
is God’s response to a sinful nation. He changes. It’s a habitual action. God will
not be dissuaded. God will not grade a nation on
a curve. These are the three descriptions
provided, all nestled beneath that one verb. He changes. He changes rivers. He changes
springs of water. He changes a fruitful land. And
he could just as easy do it to America as he did anywhere else.
God is the God of change. The same God who created everything
in heaven and earth still sovereignly rules over everything. But I
want you to consider the details here. First of all, he changes
rivers into a wilderness. Now, as dramatic as this sounds,
I’ve seen this transpire in my lifetime in other parts of our
country. You take central California, like a straw, they have sucked
it dry. And it has changed the topography. It’s changed the whole climate
of that region. And we’re watching it presently
here in Colorado. I remember as a kid, lush green
forests. If you’ve been to the mountains
lately, our trees are dying. And this is by God’s hands. God
steers El Nino. God steers the jet stream. God controls the weather. God
sends or does not send the rain. And God causes the drought and
the famine. A nation has embraced wickedness.
God responds by sending extreme drought, simply withholding the
life-giving rain. It’s as easy as that for God.
And the eventual result is, as the writer describes, no more
than wilderness, thirsty ground, a salt waste, a marsh that can’t
grow anything. No crops grow, no cattle can
be raised. Such land is completely worthless.
Famine and disease are sure to follow, but the devastation is
not complete. That’s how the Lord treats sinful
nations. What about individuals? Well,
for that, look down at verse 39. Here’s how God treats individuals
who have embraced sin. Verse 39, when they are diminished
and bowed down through oppression, misery, sorrow, He pours contempt
upon princes and makes them wander in a pathless waste. like you
to notice first the context of God’s recompense of these individuals
for their wickedness. The writer presents it to us
plainly there in verse 39, when they are diminished and bowed
down through oppression, misery and sorrow. A nation has been
judged and the effects are acutely felt in the individuals. Likely, this oppression comes
from a foreign army. The misery is brought about by
sickness, famine, poverty. Sorrow is the result, the woeful
result of oppression and misery. But God is not yet finished with
the individual. Note the simple sentence of this
verse is found in verse 40. He pours contempt on princes. He judges rulers and makes them
wander in a pathless waste. The psalmist here isn’t saying
that God only rebukes princes. Any person who embraces wickedness,
identified in verse 34, is subject to judgment. What the psalmist
is saying is that even powerful rulers, such as princes, they’re
not beyond the reach of God’s chastisement. God is able to
bring even a rich and powerful ruler to his knees. Look at the
first sentence of verse 40. He pours out contempt. This speaks
of God’s cup of wrath. God is able to strip someone
of wealth, influence, power, opportunity, health, family,
friends, all of it. Think of Nebuchadnezzar, who
crawled around on his hands and knees eating grass like a cow. Or Herod, who was suddenly struck
dead for his arrogance. How did the unrighteous respond
to such chastisement? Jump down, if you would, to verse
42. All unrighteousness shuts its
mouth. There is no repentance. There
is no remorse. There is no cry to God. The response
of the wicked is set off in relief by the response of the righteous.
Look at it, if you would. The upright see it and are glad. They’re thankful for what the
Lord does. Unrighteousness just grits its
teeth and shuts its mouth. They’re basically rendered speechless.
They have nothing to say. They brought the Lord’s judgment
on themselves and they will not repent. What about the righteous? The righteous nation? The righteous
individual? Well, the psalmist speaks to
that as well. Would you go back to verse 35? The remarkable thing
about this is that it appears to be the very same land. Once
lush and flourishing, which God had judged and turned into a
wilderness, thirsty ground, a salt waste. Now God simply turns the
tap back on, sends the rain. Look at verse 35, God is able
to turn the land once again into something beautiful and beneficial
and productive. He changes a wilderness into
a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water. But this land is not just a beauty
to behold, it becomes a fruitful place of habitation. a place
for a people, a place for a nation. Look at verse 36. There he makes
the hungry to dwell, so that they may establish an inhabited
city. These are not nomads finding
a small oasis from here and there. This is now a luxurious, thriving
land capable of supporting a great many people. And look at what
God has done with the ground itself. He’s restored it to the
capability of producing food. This is no salt waste. No longer
is it worthless and unproductive. Look at verse 37. The settlers
are able to sow fields and plant vineyards and gather a fruitful
harvest. It can truly be said that the
Lord has blessed this land. So what about the individuals?
Look at verse 41. He sets the needy securely on
high, away from affliction and makes his families like a flock.
This is just speaking of the blessing of the Lord. He gives
them protection from their enemies, their oppressors. God is for
them. Who can be against them? And
he blesses them. He pours out his rich blessing
upon them. And what is their response? What
else could it be? Look at verse 42 once again.
The upright, the righteous see it and are glad. They acknowledge
God’s rich blessings. They acknowledge what God has
done for them. Well, I said there were four
sections to this psalm. That was the third. Not only
Do we respond to the Lord in His abundant mercies, in a worthy
return for His kindness? Verses one through three, prudent
response of the Lord’s, for the Lord’s salvation. And four through
32, the inevitable reaction to the Lord’s judgment. 33 to 42. And finally, the sensible reply
to the Lord’s mercies. Look at verse 43. Who is wise?
It’s such a simple question. Who is living prudently? Let him give heed to these things
and consider the loving kindness of the Lord. Who is wise? Who can remember? Who’s willing to remember and
think back on all the blessings that God has poured out upon
them? We need to do more of that. We need to watch for God’s goodness
and acknowledge it when we see it. When you look back on the
backdrop of this psalm, the rich history of God’s many and varied
acts of salvation, and the great principle of chastening and blessing,
what is the wise and reasonable response? But to give heed. That’s what he says here. Give
heed, listen and learn. Observe and respond accordingly
to do just as the psalmist exhorted at the opening verse, as he did throughout this psalm.
Verse one, oh, give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His
loving kindness is everlasting. Verse eight, let those whom the
Lord delivered out of their distresses give thanks to the Lord for His
loving kindness. Verse 15, those whom the Lord
brought out of darkness in the shadow of death, give thanks
to the Lord for His lovingkindness. Let those whom the Lord healed
and delivered from destruction give thanks to the Lord for His
lovingkindness. Verse 31, let those whom the
Lord saved upon the sea give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness. The Lord has been so good to
us. Beyond just wandering through
a desert. Beyond just being thrown even into the darkest, most evil
prison. Beyond just our wretched foolishness. Beyond being tossed about on
a lake or a sea. God has rescued us from the greatest
enemy of all, our own sinful heart. How greatly should we
praise him? Would you humble yourself before
him?