Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. As we, the redeemed people of God, gaze on his character and work, our hearts will be drawn to thankfulness. He is just, right, good, and powerful. He uses his power and sovereignty to work for our good and for his glory.
When we find ourselves prone to a complaining spirit, we must run to our Savior's feet to remember and reflect on who he is and what he's done. Let's listen to this message from Psalm 107 titled, Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So. When the children of Israel returned from their captivity, they rebuilt the city of Jerusalem.
And as they were doing this, Ezra returned. He was a prophet and a scribe, and he knew the scripture. Nehemiah records for us that he read the scripture to the people to teach them all that the Lord had said. They gathered together and they stood.
I would ask you to stand. It is a privilege to turn to the word of God preserved to us through the centuries. This is a miracle. The reading today is from Psalm 107, verses 33 to 43. He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground and a fruitful land into a salty waste because of the evil of its inhabitants. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there he lets the hungry dwell and they establish a city to live in.
They sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By his blessing, they multiply greatly and he does not let their livestock diminish. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil and sorrow, he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes. But he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks.
The upright see it and are glad and all wickedness shuts its mouth. Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things. Let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
Please join with me in prayer. Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, we give you great praise and honor for all that you have done to us. It is an awakening and understanding as you guide us. But we know that your steadfast love has endured from before time that you know those who would be called to be your sons and daughters. We thank you for the steadfast love that you have proven to this world time and time again showed its high point.
But the great gift of your son, Jesus Christ, for you love the world so much that you gave him to us to be the propitiation for the sins of this world, for our and our own personal sins. We thank you that he was faithful, that he was steadfast in his love for you and for us. We thank you now, Lord, that you have given us this day that we can gather together as your people to listen to the word that you have given to us. We thank you for the gift that you have given to us in our pastor. We ask that you'll be with him as he opens your word, brings the message to us today, cause our hearts and minds to be still, to be focused upon the word that you have for us today, that we might take it in and use it to change our lives to be one that is more conformed to that of your son. In whose name we pray. Amen. Thank you, Bob.
I endured a brief nanosecond of panic. You have your copy, the scriptures open to the one hundred and seventh song we began last week looking at the first part of this song. And let me begin this morning once again, looking at the first three verses.
It is the Thanksgiving season, so this is wholly appropriate all the time. Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Say it with me, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. I'm going to say, let the redeemed of the Lord say so, and you can say praise be to God.
Are you ready? And say it like you mean it. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Praise be to God. Thank you. That's encouraging.
Whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from lands from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. This is a call to give thanks. This is a review. Let's begin with a review, a very quick review of last week. Three reasons to give thanks. Number one, he is good.
And put a period right there, okay? He is good. Listen, there is never a time where God is not good. His goodness is not tied to the comfort and pleasure of your circumstance.
God is good. And his steadfast love endures. His love is forever. He doesn't quit loving. There's nothing you can do to make God love you more.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you less. And he redeems and restores. These three reasons are why we are called to give thanks. He redeems from trouble. Trouble comes from two sources mainly, our human limits and our human sin. And then in verses 4 through 32, he lists four general examples in history of how God has redeemed his people. And in this context, in the context of the Old Testament, he's speaking specifically of the people of Israel. But we can learn from it because we learn about God and what he is like. Because God is like what he has done. That's why the psalmist writes these things. And so he continues, after he's given four examples in history, let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love for his wondrous works to the children of men. Because they got into trouble and then they cried out to God. And then he rescued them and redeemed them. And then they thanked him and that had implications on their life.
And they reflected on who God is because he is a loving redeeming God. Now where we're going to begin today in verse 33, the psalmist paints for us a very clear portrait of who God is and why he is worthy of our praise. All of his acts, after he recounts the acts of history four times, all of his acts are for our good and for his glory.
Everything God does is for our good and for his glory. So to begin with, three things about God. Number one, his sovereign discipline.
His sovereign discipline. In verse 33 and 34, he turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste because of the evil of its inhabitants. Now if you just simply take that verse and you rip it out of the context of all of scripture and you don't know the grace, the steadfast love and the mercy of God, you would say, well he's just a vindictive God.
And that's what a lot of people think about him. Christian, do you think about God as a vindictive God? May God rescue you from that because you don't know God in the way that he's revealed himself. This is discipline, is what he's talking about here. What do I mean by his sovereign discipline? Sovereign simply means this, that God is absolutely free.
You and I can't say that. God is absolutely free. In other words, there is nothing that limits him outside of himself.
Nothing at all. And so we would see then sometimes when we get in trouble, it's because of our human sin. Or sometimes it's just because of our human limits. But oftentimes in this case, he says because of the evil of its inhabitants, the people of Israel were scattered, the northern tribes of Israel, they were scattered never to return. The people of Judah were sent in at exile and then 70 years brought back into the land, as Bob referred to before reading the scriptures this morning.
But here's what happens. And Israel paints a clear picture for us, but so clear of humanity throughout history, and the same can be true of us, is that under the blessing of God, under the grace and the blessing of God, we can flourish. And that is where humanity flourishes, under the blessing and the grace of God. But then as we flourish, watch this, we have a tendency to do what?
To forget. We forget where that blessing and that mercy comes from. And that's what he's talking about here in these verses. He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, and fruitful land into a salty waste.
Why does it say that? Because as his people would flourish under his blessing and mercy and grace, then they would forget. And they thought, this is all our doing, and we're a special people, and we deserve all this blessing and grace. And they would forget God.
And they would start pursuing other objects of trust, security, and satisfaction. And God would remind them, he would send prophets, no, it is God you need to trust. And they would often kill the prophets, they would shun them. Now here's what happens, and we see it happen over and over and over, through the cycle of history. And particularly in the history of Israel. But we can't look at them and say, you bad people, because we're just like them.
And here's what happens. They insist, God invites them to remember him, to worship him, to trust him, to find their satisfaction in him, and their security in him. And they keep pushing back and pushing back and pushing, no, no, but we will worship these gods that we create, that we can see and manipulate.
Here's how it goes throughout human history. If you insist on false worship and trust, God will stand back and second the motion. 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.
