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[0:00] Well, this morning, of course, is the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day.

[0:18] ! That is Thanksgiving Day in the official sense.! And Dan, I appreciate you mentioning.! We all ought to remember that thankfulness and gratitude and praise to the Lord! is something that we all ought to remember.

[0:29] That we should be involved in every day. We always, always should be thanking Him. It's a spiritual discipline, as a matter of fact, for a believer to be thankful and to praise the Lord.

[0:46] But we do have an official holiday for that, and I'm glad for that as well. And not just for the turkey and pumpkin pie and all those things. And we do love those things, and God has given us all things to enjoy.

[0:58] So I include those things with that, you know. But it is a day especially set aside for us to, in a very specific and particular, deliberate way, to give thanks to the Lord.

[1:14] And with that in mind, I want to read to you something. Before we get to the scripture text, read something that was actually compiled.

[1:25] It's a history of Thanksgiving Day that has been compiled and composed by David Barton. Some of you know about David Barton and his ministry, Wall Builders.

[1:37] And though you can go to the Internet and go to other places and find kind of a compilation of the histories of Thanksgiving Day.

[1:47] But I think his is one of the best. And though I'm not going to read all of what he wrote. We don't have time for that this morning. I do want to read at least a part of it. Kind of get you, maybe remind you, hopefully.

[2:01] Although for some of this, maybe we don't know exactly the origin of this day that we'll be celebrating on Thursday. But here is what David Barton wrote.

[2:14] The Pilgrims set sail for America on September 6, 1620. And for two months braved the harsh elements of a storm-tossed sea.

[2:27] Upon disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they held a prayer service and then hastily began building shelters.

[2:38] However, unprepared for such a harsh New England winter, nearly half of them died before spring. Emerging from the grueling winter, the pilgrims were surprised when an Indian named Samoset approached them and greeted them in their own language.

[2:56] Explaining to them that he had learned English from fishermen and fur traders. A week later, Samoset returned with a friend named Squanto, who lived with the pilgrims and accepted their Christian faith.

[3:09] Squanto taught the pilgrims much about how to live in the New World, and he and Samoset helped forge a long-lasting peace treaty between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians.

[3:24] Pilgrim Governor William Bradford described Squanto as a special instrument sent of God for our good and never left us until he died. That summer, the pilgrims, still persevering in prayer and assisted by hopeful Indians, reaped a bountiful harvest.

[3:43] As Pilgrim Edward Winslow, later to become the governor, affirmed, God be praised. We had a good increase of Indian corn. By the goodness of God, we are far from want.

[3:56] The grateful pilgrims, therefore, declared a three-day feast in December 1621 to thank God and to celebrate with their Indian friends America's first Thanksgiving festival.

[4:11] Ninety Wampanoag Indians joined the 50 pilgrims for three days of feasting, which included shellfish, lobsters. I'm sure that's going to be on your menu this Thanksgiving Day, right?

[4:25] Turkey, cornbread, berries, deer, and other foods. But not only of feasting, but of play. The young pilgrims and Wampanoag men engaged in races, wrestling matches, and athletic events.

[4:46] Now, maybe that'll be a part of your Thanksgiving holiday. Athletic events. I don't know about the wrestling. Though I do remember when our boys were a lot younger, we did a lot of wrestling on the floor.

[4:58] I don't think I'm going to be doing that this time. All right, so they shared in feasting and playing and also of prayer. This celebration and its accompanying activities were the origin of the holiday that Americans now celebrate each November.

[5:16] The pilgrim practice of designating an official time of Thanksgiving spread into the neighboring colonies and became an annual tradition. New England colonies, therefore, developed a practice of calling for a day of prayer and fasting in the spring and a day of prayer and Thanksgiving in the fall.

[5:37] The Thanksgiving celebrations so common throughout New England did not begin to spread southward until the American Revolution. America's first national Thanksgiving occurred in 1789 with the commencement of the federal government.

[5:54] According to the congressional record for September 25th of that year, the first act after the framers completed the framing of the Bill of Rights was that Elias Boudinnet, a delegate to the Continental Congress, said he would not think of letting the session pass without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining with one voice in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings he had poured down upon them.

[6:24] With this view, therefore, he would move the following resolution. Resolved that a joint committee of both houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.

[6:43] That congressional resolution was delivered to President George Washington, who heartily concurred with the request and issued the first federal thanksgiving proclamation, declaring, in part, whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November 1789, that we may all unite to render under him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind care and protection.

[7:29] Following President Washington's initial proclamation, national thanksgiving proclamations occurred only sporadically. Most official thanksgiving observations, observances occurred at the state level.

[7:45] Much of the credit for the adoption of thanksgiving as an annual national holiday may be attributed to Sarah Josepha Hale, an American writer and influential editor.

[7:57] She was the author, by the way, of the nursery rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lamb. But for two decades, she promoted the idea of a national thanksgiving day, contacting president after president, until Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863, by setting aside the last Thursday of that November.

[8:19] The thanksgiving proclamation issued by Lincoln was remarkable, not only for its strong religious content, but also for its timing, for it was delivered in the midst of the darkest days of the Civil War, with the Union having lost battle after battle throughout the first three years of that conflict.

[8:40] Yet despite those dark circumstances, Lincoln nevertheless called Americans to pray with an air of positive optimism and genuine thankfulness.

[8:51] His remarkable thanksgiving proclamation came at a pivotal point in Lincoln's spiritual life. Three months earlier, the Battle of Gettysburg had occurred, resulting in the loss of some 60,000 American lives.

[9:07] It had been while Lincoln was walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he first committed his life to Christ. As he later explained to a clergyman, when I left Springfield, Illinois, to assume the presidency, I asked the people to pray for me.

[9:25] I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.

[9:43] Now, I went ahead and included the last part of that because I want us to, this morning, want us to see the connection, a very, very inseparable connection between our thankfulness and our salvation.

[10:02] Our salvation. Our thankfulness to God and our redemption in Jesus Christ. And so, in just a few days, America will celebrate, if I have the math right, I meant to go back and check it again, but I think it's the 153rd Thanksgiving Day since it became a national holiday.

[10:24] So I've given you some of the dates, you can do the math and correct me after the service this morning if I've made a mistake. That's a lot of Thanksgiving days. That is, since its official declaration, it becoming an official holiday.

[10:40] All right, so because of that, I want to deviate from my normal preaching schedule and I want to speak to you on the subject of Thanksgiving. And the subject of thankfulness is, of course, I think you know, is something that is taught throughout the Scripture.

[10:56] I mean, you'll find a passage of the Scripture all over the Bible, both Old and New Testament. And so there is no shortage of possible verses that we could turn to to deal with this very important subject for the believer.

[11:11] That is the subject of gratitude, of praise, of thankfulness. In fact, when you do a kind of a word count throughout the Old and New Testament and try to bring into play all of those words that for us in our English would normally be translated thanks or thankfulness, though sometimes the English text translates it into words like praise.

[11:36] If you count them all together, there are well over 150 examples throughout Scripture, both the Old and the New Testament. Examples or uses of this word thankfulness or the giving of thanks.

[11:51] Sometimes it is just simply something mentioned in the text. Sometimes it's attached to someone giving of thanks in the Bible. Oftentimes it is, of course, connected to commands to God's people to lift up their thanks.

[12:07] In fact, as I've already said, thankfulness is a spiritual discipline of the faith. Just as much as Bible reading and prayer and some of the other disciplines that you can think of.

[12:19] Our gratitude, lifting up our gratitude and having a heart of gratitude for the Lord is a Christian discipline. It's something that we ought to practice. It's something that we ought to develop in our lives.

[12:31] It's something that we should be constantly involved in in our relationship, in our communion with the Lord. All right. But now this morning, I want us to focus on a certain specific blessing for which we are all eternally grateful.

[12:53] I don't mean just grateful now, but eternally grateful. Now, every single one of us are grateful to God for a lot of things. And if we had the time and took the time and maybe it would be a good exercise for us, especially this time of the year, to maybe list those things.

[13:10] And we're thankful for a lot of things. And if you were to make a list of those things that you're thankful for and that you would normally lift up your thankfulness this holiday for, then you're going to find, I think, that nearly all of those, if not all of those, blessings that you're thankful for are temporal.

[13:32] They're temporary. They are those things that belong to this life. Now, that doesn't mean that they somehow are not important and that our thankfulness shouldn't be constant and we shouldn't be engaged in thankfulness for these things.

[13:48] Yes, absolutely, for family, for life, for jobs, for provision. I mean, we could go on and on with the list. And we ought to be thankful for those things. But those things, those blessings, are temporal.

[14:03] They belong to this life. But there is one blessing of God for which our gratitude will never end. It will never end.

[14:16] And that is for our redemption in Christ. Our salvation in Jesus Christ. And I suppose when we get to heaven after maybe the first trillion years, our thankfulness for His salvation will not only continue to be true, but it will not be diminished in any way.

[14:37] And for another quadzillion years, if you can measure eternity in terms of years or time, which you really can't, but on and on without cease, our thankfulness for our redemption in Christ Jesus will be a constant.

[14:58] It will be eternal. eternal. And so with this subject in mind, I want you to turn to a particular passage of Scripture. It is one of the Psalms. Psalm 107.

[15:10] So if you have your Bibles there, I would love for you to turn to Psalm 107. And it is a rather lengthy Psalm, as many of the Psalms are. And I'm not going to read the entire thing, at least not right now.

[15:23] But I want to just simply read the first three verses just to get us started. And really it is within the first three verses that the subject of the entire Psalm is identified for us.

[15:37] And all of the basic elements of our thankfulness are given to us, revealed to us in these first three verses. So listen as I read verses 1 through 3 of Psalm 107.

[15:50] Oh, give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.

[16:02] Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south.

[16:18] All right, so with those three verses in mind and understanding that our subject is thanksgiving or thankfulness, I want you to notice first of all the way of it.

[16:30] The way of our thanksgiving. And there's something that is said about that here even though it's very difficult for us to identify it here in our English text. You'd almost have to be an Israelite, a Hebrew speaker, and of that culture and to understand the full meaning here and the strength, the power of what is said in the very first three words of the text.

[16:58] Oh, give thanks. Now that tells us about the way of it, the way of our thanksgiving, the manner of our thanksgiving.

[17:09] Give thanks. Now in our English text, there's nothing about those words that just really kind of cause us to be emotional. These words don't necessarily in and of themselves suggest any emotion.

[17:24] Give thanks. All right, there's a lot of people doing that kind of stuff. Yeah, thanks God or thanks or thankful, I'm thankful. I mean, the words don't in and of themselves suggest anything other than just simply the words or the speaking, the verbalizing verbalizing of our thankfulness.

[17:44] But in the Hebrew, which is the case with many Hebrew words and even in the Greek as well, Greek words and Hebrew words are filled with emotion.

[17:58] And this word in the Hebrew text is pronounced yada, yada. And this word suggests something much more than just simply a verbal expression, just the speaking of words.

[18:15] The Hebrew word yada conveys the idea of emotion at the very least, but more than that. In fact, the word suggests and the word suggests is because of the culture and the way in which this verb would be expressed among the Hebrew people, it suggests the raising of your hands.

[18:41] In fact, to raise them out with palms pointed upward, not palms open to receive something, but palms that are opened upward to the Lord to give Him something.

[18:53] That actually thanksgiving is an offering that we're to give to the Lord. It's a gift to Him, an expression of thanks and gratitude and really that's why the word praise is used quite often with many of the Bible translators who are taking the Hebrew into the English.

[19:14] Quite often it will be translated praise. In fact, I believe, as I remember in my study time, that some of the versions, some other versions of this text use the word praise.

[19:26] Oh, praise the Lord. And so, this is the picture, the word picture, the lifting of the hands with palms open and eyes upward. And it also, of course, involves speaking.

[19:41] Okay? Oh, give thanks is not just simply a physical use of the body, it employs that. But also with the voice.

[19:53] And it's shouting. In fact, obviously, this is a psalm and so, this is something that would actually be sung. Okay? They would sing their thanksgiving and it would be very emotional.

[20:07] Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Do you see the way of it? Now, I'm not saying that every time that, you know, this Thursday when you're celebrating Thanksgiving that you ought to get around the table and everybody lift their hands.

[20:22] I mean, you can do that. I'm not saying that this is a command toward a certain type of physical posture. Though it would be good.

[20:34] Very good. Now, some of us were uncomfortable with that. You know, we don't really like to raise our hands. You know, we're not as emotional as maybe other people.

[20:48] That's, you know, we Baptists, this Yadah just doesn't really fit with the way we do things normally, you know. But it should. And so we ought to, at least in our hearts, have this type of emotion where we are not just thinking of, you know, saying something to the Lord, but actually giving Him, offering Him.

[21:10] It's a sacrifice with palms open and lifting up our thanks and giving them to the Lord. That's the way of it.

[21:21] But I want you to notice, second, the who of it. the who of it. That is, to whom should our thanksgiving be directed?

[21:34] And what does the psalmist say? Oh, give thanks, what? To the Lord. To the Lord. And you're probably thinking, well, yeah, who else?

[21:47] You know, what's so profound about that? Well, have you ever noticed that most people who say they're thankful, or they'll use the word thankful, or I'm thankful for this, or I have thanksgiving in my heart, or whatever.

[22:00] Most people who utter the word thankful, they rarely identify the one to whom they are expressing their thanks. You ever notice that? And especially those who are kind of in the public eye.

[22:14] And I mean, like on TV. You know, especially this time of the year, you know, whether it's a celebrity of some kind, or an athlete, you know, watching some football game, or some football commentator, or maybe it's a politician, or someone, you know, who's a commentator on one of the news channels or something.

[22:36] This time of the year, they'll kind of give it a token kind of mention about Thanksgiving and how we all ought to be thankful, and we're thankful, I'm thankful for family, I'm thankful for the children, and for life, and I'm thankful for my job, and thankful for my country, and freedoms, and we can go on the list, and you'll watch TV, especially this time of the year, and you'll see and hear people, personalities on TV, talk about being thankful.

[23:06] We ought to be thankful, and yet they never direct their thanks toward any particular person. Have you ever noticed this? Or think about this?

[23:17] In fact, quite often they'll do the same thing with the word prayer. I heard someone just the other day, I was watching the news, and some guy who was reporting the news, and about some tragic death, and he said, we just want the family to know that our prayers are with them.

[23:32] Prayers to who? That's the question. You can't just have this kind of oblique little thanksgiving, and yet that's really the way it is. I mean, it begs the question, thankful to whom?

[23:46] To some angel? Or some spirit being? Or thankful to the man upstairs? You know, just kind of give a little token nod to this God, this creator, whatever he is.

[24:04] Thankful to some ancestor? I'm thankful to my ancestors, you know, who provided this opportunity for me to prosper, and some people, that's the direction of their thankfulness.

[24:16] You know, some dead relative, blessing them still from the grave, and there are people who actually believe that kind of thing. I mean, to whom? Thankful to whom?

[24:28] Or if not a who, how about a what? Thankful to what? Well, I'm thankful to my lucky stars. Really? What star is that?

[24:41] Or I'm thankful to blind chance. Or whatever. Do you understand the point I'm making? In fact, I think the psalmist senses this same type of frustration because four times in the psalm, and I'll mention them a little bit later, four times in the psalm he repeats these words verbatim, oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness.

[25:08] And that's the way we ought to feel. Oh, all that men would give thanks, all that women would give thanks, all that people would give thanks to the Lord, to the Lord for his goodness.

[25:19] Let's be specific. The who of it, and not just simply offer up some kind of, oblique thanks, or speak some thankfulness without attaching it to the one to whom we are to be thankful, to the one from whom we have received all blessings.

[25:43] Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord. It's interesting thinking about this word yadah in the Hebrew and all of its meaning, rich with meaning and emotion.

[25:55] First time the Hebrew word, this word is used, is found in Genesis chapter 29 and verse 35. You don't need to turn to it, but I'm going to remind you of the story that's given to us there.

[26:08] And the word yadah first appears there in the Hebrew Bible. And it is used, spoken by a young lady by the name of Leah.

[26:21] Leah, one of two wives of Jacob. You remember the story, Rachel and Leah. And the Bible says in that chapter that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.

[26:36] You remember, you're kind of recalling the story? Love Rachel more than Leah. Now remember, it's going to be out of Jacob that the twelve tribes of Israel will eventually come.

[26:51] And so, but he didn't love Leah. Well, the Lord had mercy on Leah, remember, in the story. And so, he opened her womb, opened her womb to have children, but at the same time made Rachel barren.

[27:11] Remember the story? Now, Leah then had children, and it was the birth of her fourth son, that she said, now I will praise the Lord.

[27:31] Yodoth. That's our word here in Psalm 107. Now I will praise the Lord. With her first son, and the Bible says, therefore she called his name Judah, Judah, and it would be out of the tribe of Judah that David would one day come, and from the lineage of David would come our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[28:01] I say that the Bible is connecting for us here with this expression, very emotional expression, Yodah. thanks, connecting it with our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[28:20] So we offer up our thanks to the Lord. So remember that this Thanksgiving, whether it's around the table with all the food laid out there and you're having a family prayer, or if you do some kind of thing, neat thing about naming what you're thankful for and so forth, make sure that you attach your thankfulness, direct your thankfulness to a specific person, the one and only person from whom all of our blessings flow and that is our Lord.

[28:53] Give Him the thanks. So the way of it, the who of it, and then third, the why of it.

[29:08] The why of it is pretty simple, isn't it? For He is good. For His mercy endures forever.

[29:22] That's the why of our thanksgiving and really it's just simply the introduction in a general sense of the why of our thankfulness and the psalm is going to get very specific about a certain blessing that we should be eternally thankful for.

[29:41] But we give thanks to the Lord because He is good. I mean good is what God is. Good for us is sometimes what we do and in comparison with God we're not good at all.

[29:55] But with God it's not just simply something God does, it's something God is. good. God is good. That is in His nature, in His character, He is good.

[30:08] Jesus said there's only one who's good and that's God. God is good and we know that He's good, don't we? And we have proof of it. We don't have to look far.

[30:20] In fact, we would be hard pressed to name all of the evidences in our lives that God is good, the goodness of God.

[30:31] But perhaps more significant to us is the second thing that is said here and more significant to the subject, overall subject here and that is His mercy.

[30:44] His mercy, now that's the word that is used in the New King James Version, I think also the King James and it's a particular Hebrew word that's difficult to translate into English, very significant word, very key word actually.

[30:59] In terms of redemptive history. Some versions translate it, for example, the New American Standard translates it loving kindness. That's pretty good rendering.

[31:13] Loving kindness endures, God's loving kindness endures forever. The ESV, if some of you have that, it translates it steadfast love. Steadfast love.

[31:23] So all those things kind of wrapped up together. There's mercy and grace and loving kindness and steadfast love and all those come together. In fact, it really is the melding together of these two very significant acts of God toward us, mercy and grace.

[31:40] But it's even more than that. It is the Hebrew word chesed. Chesed. And it speaks of grace, saving grace, but it's covenant grace.

[31:53] grace. It is God's special grace extended to His covenant people, His chosen people.

[32:06] Now, in the immediate sense, of course, here in the Old Testament and connected to this psalm, it is His people Israel, His chosen people, His covenant people.

[32:17] But through Jesus, that's us. that's us. I love Micah chapter 7 verses 19 and 20.

[32:30] He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. And then the prophet turns and speaks directly to God.

[32:43] You, he says, will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob to Israel and steadfast love.

[33:00] There's our word, chesed. Steadfast love to Abraham. Out of Abraham, all the people of faith will come.

[33:12] That includes us. Steadfast love to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old. God is good.

[33:26] And his covenant love for his chosen people endures forever and ever and ever. And if you're in Christ, that's you.

[33:38] That's for you. That's the why of it. And then finally, this morning, the what. We get to the substance of our thankfulness. And I've kind of mentioned it a number of times.

[33:54] But the what of it, the what of it, and this is where really the psalm gets interesting, very interesting. I mean, it's pretty interesting so far. But in verse 2, look at it again.

[34:05] Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Now, of course, this psalm was initially written to the Hebrew people to Israel.

[34:19] It was a song sung by them. In fact, this, in the historical context, thinking of it in terms of the historical context, this psalm was a psalm of thanksgiving that was sung, actually sung, by the Israelites.

[34:33] One of many in the collection of psalms. Thankful songs, songs of thankfulness and praise, praising God for redeeming his people from their enemies, delivering them.

[34:47] rescuing them, restoring them. He delivered them from the hands of their enemy over and over. You know the history of the Old Testament that's given to us.

[34:58] Rescuing them from bondage and captivity. He redeemed them, redeemed them, really from near extinction as a people, as a nation.

[35:13] And so in the historical context, this psalm is written by an Israelite, this psalm not written by David, some other psalmist, written by an Israelite for Israelites, for the Jews, to sing.

[35:28] I wish we had the tune and we could sing it. Maybe Dan, we could commission Dan to come up with a tune for Psalm 107. That'd be a little difficult, wouldn't it? So they actually sang it.

[35:40] So historically, it's connected to God's people Israel. But for us today, this psalm perfectly mirrors our redemption, our salvation.

[36:00] In fact, if you look at verse 3, he gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south. And God did that for Israel throughout their history.

[36:11] He redeemed them from Egypt. That would be the south. He redeemed them from Syria and Assyria. That would be the north. He redeemed them from the Philistines.

[36:21] That would be the west. He redeemed them from the Babylonians. Finally, the last captivity from the Babylonians. That would be to the east. So historically, he's talking about actually delivering his chosen people, his covenant people, being captivity, from bondage and restoring them as a nation.

[36:42] And he did that over and over again. But the same covenant keeping God has redeemed and is still redeeming today lost sinners from the east, the west, the north, and the south, from every tribe, every nation, every tongue, every people.

[37:07] From the four corners of this world, he is redeeming a people for himself. Aren't you glad that he redeemed you from your corner of the world?

[37:18] Amen. Praises Naaman. If you are, then we are to join with Israel in singing this psalm. Again, we need the tune, don't we?

[37:30] But symbolically, to sing our praises, to offer our praises, to obey actually, what is the command here? Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

[37:43] His mercy endures forever. Mercy toward his chosen people endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. For he has redeemed them from their enemies, from the east, the west, the north, the south, redeeming people for himself.

[38:03] And so we have much to be thankful for, don't we? We really do. And God is the source of everything, everything in our lives. James 1, 17, I quoted it earlier on, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights, the father who dwells in everlasting light.

[38:30] It comes down from him with whom is no variableness. God never changes. You don't have to wonder, well, what kind of mood is God in today?

[38:42] He no variableness and there's neither no shadow of turning. He never turns his back on us. So everything comes from him. So we have much to be thankful for, but God's redeeming mercy and grace salvation purchased by Christ for us and given to us by grace.

[39:09] God's redeeming mercy and grace should always top the list of our thanksgiving. And finally then to help us with that, the psalmist gives us four pictures of lostness.

[39:27] It's really quite amazing when you read this psalm. Even though historically speaking he's speaking of Israel and these kinds of conditions that he's going to describe with these word pictures or these kind of metaphors, they described Israel and God rescued them out of these places of captivity and lostness.

[39:50] But they cross over to describe for us today what really is the true condition of lostness. And so they're vivid pictures and he gives us four of them.

[40:03] And then with each picture and there's kind of a pattern that develops and you'll notice this real quickly. With each picture God reveals to us how we can be redeemed from those places of lostness.

[40:20] And so here's the first picture I want you to notice it's in verse 4 and we could say it this way describe it this way he redeems those who are lost in the desert. That is being lost in the desert is a picture of lostness of being unsaved being without Christ without hope in this world and in eternity.

[40:40] Look at verse 4 they wandered literally the word means they staggered they were staggering on their feet wandered staggered in the wilderness in a desolate way it's a description of a desert place desolate place they found no city to dwell in hungry verse 5 and thirsty their soul fainted in them can you picture being lost in a desert now none of us have ever been lost in a desert you may have been lost sometime but never in a desert I'm only lost because I won't stop and ask directions you know that's the way it is with us guys but be lost in a desert I mean it's portrayed you've seen it portrayed in movies and you can just see this person staggering barely able to walk thirsty hungry no place of shelter from the sun no place of refuge and every direction that he looks is nothing but sand all the way to the horizon all the way around no hope no place to go aimless doomed doomed ultimately to death that's a picture of lostness that's not necessarily the picture that many lost people today in fact most people today actually see themselves in so really it takes the grace of God to open a person's eyes spiritual eyes to see that they are actually lost in the desert the desert place that's such a picture but after the picture comes a prayer verse 6 then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble see the picture is a picture of a huge problem spiritual problem of lostness lost in a desert and the right response is to do what to cry out unto the

[42:46] Lord in their trouble that's what you did I hope that's what I did and reading on God was gracious merciful and he extended then his provision his provision of salvation verse 6 and he delivered them out of their distresses and he led them forth by the right way the straight way which by the way is the way of grace and not of works the straight way that they might go to a city for a dwelling place spiritually speaking that's heaven isn't it remember what Hebrews 11 10 says about God's people that we are actually looking for a city we're longing for a city looking above for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God so God extends his provision of salvation and he begins with this dire problem lost in the desert and then there's the cry the crying out to God the prayer the petition to God and he answers according to his grace and his mercy and he provides salvation and then what comes next praise thanksgiving verse 8 oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men for he satisfies the longing soul that's the answer to those who are lost in the desert can't be satisfied with anything nothing satisfies in this world he is the one who satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness see praise him thank him he redeems us from being lost in the desert the second picture he redeems those locked in the dungeon another picture of lostness locked in the dungeon verse 10 those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death bound chained bound chained in affliction and iron because they rebelled against the words of

[45:17] God and despised the counsel of the most high therefore he brought down their heart with labor they fell down and there was none to help the picture of being locked in a dungeon in a prison what a vivid picture of lostness a criminal broken God's laws and therefore condemned and rightfully so condemned bounded hands and feet in chains and locked in a dark dungeon what a picture of hopelessness and lostness and worse than that really execution is imminent not just simply locked away and forgotten in a dungeon but at any moment the executioner is going to come that's what it means by the very shadow of death the shadow of death death is looming over the lost one but of course this dungeon it's a dungeon of our own making right we have rebelled against God rebelled against his word his law disobeyed him what a terrible condition to be in what a problem and what a picture of that problem locked in a dungeon but then comes the prayer you see the pattern it's consistent with each of the pictures first the problem then the prayer verse 13 then they cried out to the

[47:00] Lord in their trouble the prayer of confession is the prayer of repentance crying out to the Lord and God is faithful and he's just just like his word says just to forgive and so we have the provision of God salvation verse 13 and he saved them out of their distresses he brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death that is the sentence of death and broke their chains in pieces what a beautiful picture and then comes the praise the thankfulness verse 15 oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men for he has broken the gates of bronze that's the gates of the prison cut the bars of iron in two causes me to remember

[48:01] Charles Wesley's hymn oh for a thousand tongues to sing wonderful hymn oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise the glories of my God and king the triumphs of his grace he breaks the power of cancelled sin he sets the prisoner free remember that hymn he redeems those lost in the desert he redeems those locked in the dungeon the third picture he redeems those lying on the death bed that's the picture that comes next in verse 17 it's a picture of lostness fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities were afflicted and is sick sick and on their death bed their soul abhorred all manner of food have you ever been in the hospital room with someone on the death bed no hope at least from man's perspective one of the first things that goes is their appetite they don't feel like eating anymore they're just barely existing and as the picture is revealed here in the psalm and they draw near drew near to the gates of death that's the picture of the person lying on the death bed death is coming at any moment and again I would remind you with each of these pictures of lostness those caught in these horrible conditions are responsible they're responsible because of their sin their sin because of their transgression that's what he says in verse 17 and we too were lost because of our sin we were terminally ill

[49:54] I mean it's it's a perfect picture perfect metaphor for lostness terminally ill on the death bed drawing near to the very gates of death death and hell itself what a problem but then comes the prayer here it is again verse 19 then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble that's the right response the only one pray cry out to the Lord it's a cry of confession cry of repentance it's turning to him for our salvation and God is faithful here it is again verse 19 the provision of salvation deliverance and he saved them out of their distresses he sent his word that would be the gospel and healed them and delivered them from their destruction have you ever thought about the histories of the Old

[51:04] Testament how Israel just going in and out of favor with God I mean they're serving him and they sin rebel and God sends them into bondage and they cry out and God delivers them because he's a covenant keeping God have you ever considered that that is a picture those various pictures we have in the Old Testament really pictures of lostness and for the lost person to cry unto the Lord and God is faithful and just to forgive them of their sins and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness what a picture then comes the prayer then comes the provision and then after that the praise again verse 21 oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving remember it's palms open open toward heaven and it's the giving not desiring to get but to give thankfulness to the Lord the sacrifice of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing and then one more picture of lostness he redeems those laboring in the depths the depths of the sea is the picture verse 23 those who go down to the sea in ships who do business on great waters they see the works of the

[52:37] Lord and his wonders in the deep for he commands and raises the stormy wind which lifts up the waves of the sea they mount up to the heavens they go down again to the depths their soul melts because of trouble this laboring in the depths of the sea they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at wit's end no hope what a picture of lostness what a picture it kind of reminds me of the story of Jonah remember while Jonah is still on the ship he's running from God God sends a great storm and these seasoned sailors mariners are fighting and toiling to keep the boat afloat and they're they're working working hard to save themselves and of course it's a picture of work salvation it'll never save you they're throwing out the the the weight the things they don't need to lighten the ship you know you can't be saved by just turning over a new leaf and disciplining in your life and just throwing overboard sin itself you've got to trust the

[54:03] Savior and Jonah is the picture of the Savior here of course and the only way that these sailors would be free if they tossed Jonah overboard see that's a picture of salvation and so lostness is like laboring in the depths and just like in Jonah these sailors finally prayed didn't they and that's what we need to do verse 28 then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble there it is again and God is faithful right again his provision verse 28 then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble and he brings them out of their distresses he calms the storm so that its waves are still then they are glad because they are quiet so he guides them to their desired haven and for us that's heaven isn't it and then what our praise verse 31 oh that men would give thanks to the

[55:08] Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people and praise him in the company of the elders let the redeemed of the Lord say so thank you Lord for my salvation now it really does and I think very appropriate to conclude by asking a very personal question I know we're here in a group you say how can you be personal here in a group well I can be I can ask each and every one of you this personal question as you evaluate your life spiritually are you lost in the desert are you locked in the dungeon are you lying on the death bed are you laboring in the depths the depths of the sea and according to God's word what should you do cry out to him and he's faithful he's faithful cry out to him and he's faithful to deliver you

[56:39] Isaiah 55 7 says let the wicked forsake his way or her way and the unrighteous his thoughts let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon forgive him is Thank you.