Let The Redeemed of the Lord Say So, Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from trouble. That's Psalm 107, verses one through two, and the starting point for today's message. As we look at who God is and what He has done, we may find ourselves completely gripped by the beauty and the goodness of our great God, the same way the psalmist was. May God give us eyes to see His great might that works on our behalf, so that our hearts can be filled to the brim with gratefulness. Let's listen to this message titled, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. This is part two of a message that was first preached on November 17, 2024, at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.

We sang about it this morning. God is for me. It doesn't mean I'm the greatest and most important reality.

He is. And that makes it mean even more that the one who is the greatest and most important reality is for me. He desires my good, my well-being, my joy, my peace, all of this. He is the one who reclaims.

He will reclaim His own. The God of restoration, and restoration as it is presented in the Old Testament, is always tied to our reconciliation to God and our relationship with Him. He is the God of restoration. Now because it says this, and it says, And gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, it is believed by many scholars that this psalm is a post-exilic psalm.

Which, what does that mean? After the exile. For those of you who were here through Old Testament live, remember Judah, exile, Judah, return. That comes at the end of the Old Testament.

And it's believed that this psalm was written after that. Because God has redeemed His people yet again, out of His steadfast love. And you think about it, all the rebellion, all the self-centeredness of the people, and yet God in His steadfast love rescues and restores. That is the God we worship and serve. That is the God to whom we give thanks.

Because every one of us finds ourselves being described in that way. That we have at some point, and in some fashion, to some degree rebelled against God. And found ourselves in trouble. And so we come to the next section then, as he's going to recount history. And he gives four examples through history of how God has rescued, redeemed, and restored His people. God is like what God has done. That's why He deserves our thanks, our gratitude.

Regardless of what I'm going through now, there's never a time that I ought not to be thankful to God. Because He is so worthy and He has done so much. He has, what has He done? He has redeemed us from trouble. He's redeemed us from troubles.

It says back in verse 2. And that word trouble can be translated redeemed us from the foe. Now there's two things, two things that get people in trouble. You say, man I've been waiting to hear this.

Nothing new. Two things that get people in trouble. One is human limitation. Human limitation. We are limited people.

Now some of you hate to admit that. But you are. We are.

We all are. And oftentimes this comes through even just a natural disaster. Whether it be a tsunami, a hurricane. Or not being able to overcome a military coup in a foreign land. And you're stuck there. Limits. And so we can get in trouble because we are a limited people. Because we are limited, we are also a contingent people. That's not the second reason. I'm just, this is added commentary here. We're a limit, we're a contingent people and as I depend on someone outside of myself for my sustenance. There's a second reason why we get in trouble and that is human sin.

Rich I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up. Sorry. It's true. Human sin. And sin will get you into trouble. Sin is countering, going against God's character and purpose. And when you cross over God's loving boundaries, mark my word, it will get you into trouble. And that reminds us, that helps us remember that your trouble is not someone else's fault.

When this is the cause of it. So he's redeemed his people from trouble. So that being the case, the psalmist now is going to take us through four historic examples of God redeeming his people from trouble. And there's a particular structure to these next four stanzas in verses 4 to 32.

Four examples, each one of them a separate stanza. And so it's a time of reflection here. What he's doing is he's reflecting on what God has done. So the first thing he does, and let's just look at him real quickly.

Let's scan over it with me, all right? The first one begins at verse 4, okay? And then the second one begins at verse 10. The third one begins at verse 17, some were fools through their sinful ways. And then the last one begins at verse 23, some went down to the sea in ships doing business on the great waters. Four examples that the psalmist is going to give of God rescuing his people from trouble. Each one of these stanzas carries a similar structure. What it does, first of all, number one, it describes the trouble. What was the trouble that people were in?

And in a couple of cases it tells you why they were in that trouble. And then because they were in that trouble, what it says is they cried out to the Lord. And every one of the stanzas has this verse repeated. The first one, for example, is verse 6. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. It's so easy, listen, it's so easy for you and me to jump over to the second part of that verse. God, deliver me, and he delivers you. But let's not forget the fact that they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. What does that mean?

What does it look like? And then the third part, so the first part is the trouble. The second one is the cry, they cried out to the Lord. And then, number three, the Lord rescues. The Lord rescues them.

Number seven, for example, he led them by the straight way till they reached the city to dwell in. And so the psalmist describes, thirdly, describes the way that God rescued them. And then fourthly is the response. And the response, and this again is a refrain that is repeated in all four of these stanzas. The cry out to the Lord is repeated, identically. And then the refrain, let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love for his wondrous works to the children of men.

All four times it says exactly the same thing. And then, after that refrain of giving thanks to the Lord, then there's a period of, a component of reflection. Reflection on who God is or the change that comes into the person's life. What this does is this helps us go back and understand that, yes, there is trouble in life. Stay with me here for just a second. You with me?

Let me have your attention. Just because there's trouble, it doesn't mean it's all bad. It's connected to the goodness of God. It's connected to the goodness of God. Give thanks to the Lord. Why?

Because he is good. His steadfast love endures forever. So, the first one, the first act of redemption.

We've talked about it here already a little bit, verses four to nine. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to city or to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their souls fainting within them. They were aimless.

God can rescue the aimless person. Wandering in a desert with no resource. This could be a reference to Israel's history wandering in the Sinai desert and wilderness. Or it could be speaking of those specifically that went into exile or both.

We don't know. But metaphorically speaking, something becomes very clear here. Is that the aimless life wandering in the desert is a self-defined life, a self-defined life. There is no established destination. How many people have you heard say today, you know, it's not so much about the destination, it's more about the journey. Good luck with that. I don't mean that cynically. You can't live that way. Ultimately, there has to be a destination. But the self-defined life has no established destination. You're just going in circles.

And you find yourself repeating some of the same struggles all over again. And studies have been done over and over and over again that have really masterfully demonstrated this. It all started about a century ago where they did studies on this. You know, if you put someone on a very foggy day, you put them in an open field. And you set them out walking.

They can walk and they can be sure that they are walking in a straight line. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on Weekdays at 10 a.m.