You can turn in your Bible to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. If one was to work their way through the Psalms, if we were to work our way through the book of Psalms, we would notice that there are various types of Psalms. There are Psalms of lamentation.

There are songs of repentance. There are messianic songs. There are songs of wholesome mockery, extolling the God of Israel and mocking the gods of the heathens, the gods of the nations. There are psalms, many psalms of praise and doxology, where the psalmist is not only himself, but also calling upon the congregation to lift praises unto the God of heaven and earth.

And there are psalms of thanksgiving of many flavors where the psalmist will thank and praise the Lord God, remembering his graces and his mercies and his providential kindness. to the people of God. Psalm 107 is one of those songs of Thanksgiving, where the psalmist rehearses the benefits and the graces and the kindnesses and the mercies that the sovereign law that the sovereign God disposes or dispenses graciously upon his people. And what we're going to do with Psalm 107 this morning, verses one to nine, is we're going to consider the psalm through the lens of remembrance, through the lens of remembering God's redemptive dealings with us. We're going to be observing the Lord's Supper this morning.

And one of the aspects of the Lord's Supper is one of remembrance, where we look back upon the fact of a bruised and battered Savior who had his body broken for us, who shed his blood for us, and who, by that saving work, saved us unto such a position under a gracious and a holy God. So let's read Psalm 107. We're going to read verses 1 to 9 and then verse 43. Psalm 107 verses 1 to 9 and then verse 43.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 107

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. 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, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way. They found no city to dwell in.

Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. 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 and fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Whoever is wise will observe these things and they will understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Amen.

Opening Prayer

Well, let's open again with the word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you again that we can be here considering your holy word. Lord God, we just ask that you would help us to be such who often remember the gracious dealings, your gracious dealings with us, your mercies and your kindnesses. And Lord God, we just pray now that you'd help us as we consider this passage, as we consider it through through lenses of remembrance, remembering your dealings with us in a redemptive context.

We ask that we would have hearts that are joyful, hearts that are rejoicing in all of those things concerning salvation and all of those things concerning the riches and the excellencies of Christ Jesus, our Savior. We just ask now, Lord God, that you would be with us, help us to be well edified and well instructed. in your holy word. And we pray these things in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

Introduction

There is a sense here where the author, where the psalmist is calling upon all men to give thanks to God because it is their requirement to do so, whether redeemed or unbeliever, God and the weight of his holiness and the weight of his righteousness and the weight of his holy character, generally speaking, forces or ought to force men everywhere to render thanks, to give thanks unto the Lord for all things. Of course, it is the peculiar enjoyment of the redeemed to have hearts renewed, afresh, to sing the praises and to render thanksgiving to God. But nevertheless, it is the responsibility, it is the demand that all men everywhere are to render, are to give unto the Lord the glory that is due to His name, are to thank Him for all things. The angels do this.

The elect angels do this. According to Job, at creation, all of the sons of God sang and shouted for joy and gave thanks and praised the creator, their creator. And of course, it is the case, though, that in this lower world, those who are who ought to give praise to God are do not render that rightful praise to him. The unbelievers, rather than praising him, either inwardly or outwardly, wave their fist and shake their fist at the God who has given them breath, who has brought them forth into this lower world, who grants them strength, who grants them the ability to think and to process information.

And they do this all the while under the benefits and under the provisions of the God who made them, fashioned them and formed them. And it is an atrocity against the creator, against the sustainer and against the redeemer to not render him praise, to not render him thanks and to not give him rightfully the praise that is due to his name. And Spurgeon said it well regarding the fact that that under God's provision, under the fact of God's creation and under the fact of his general providential blessings, because he does give the reprobate food to eat. He does give the reprobate water to drink.

He does give the unbeliever. The unbeliever has blessings, if we can use that language concerning them. Job declares in his contestations with his friends that the tents of robbers prosper. So God generally is a God of blessing to those who are or rather the unbelievers are the recipients generally of the benefits of God and Spurgeon said it well, though, regarding the fact that even though or even in spite of the fact that God God gives them a breath, that God brings them into this world, that God gives them bodily strength, that God provides them with much.

The atheist, nevertheless, has the freedom, if you will, to exercise or to reaffirm their profession of faithlessness and unbelief. And Spurgeon said regarding Psalm 19, regarding the declaration of the glory of God, he said, in the expanse above us, God flies, as it were, his starry flag to show the king is at home. And he hangs out his coat of arms to show the atheist how much he despises their denunciations of him. He who looks up to the stars, he who looks up to the firmament and then writes himself down an atheist, brands himself at the same time either an idiot or a liar.

And it is this one who does not give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, who does not give thanks in accordance with the mercy of our great God, who is long-suffering towards them. They might be the children of wrath. They might be the vessels of wrath. But nevertheless, they are the beneficiaries of God's kindness because they still draw breath, because they still walk around in this lower world and they still have many things that they ought to give God thanks for.

However, it is the case that only the redeemed are the beneficiaries of God's eternal mercy. Only the redeemed are God's beneficiaries of covenant blessings. And that's what we have in verse two. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

The redeemed of Christ, the redeemed of God are to be a people, first off, who proclaim.

Christians Are a Proclaiming People

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Christians are to be a verbal people. They are to be a people who publicly declare or who in front of men declare the riches and the excellencies of their gracious God. Again, let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say what? That the Lord is good. and that his mercies are everlasting, that his loving kindnesses are forever eternal and do not fade away. And so, first off, again, Christians are to be a people who proclaim. Later on, we're going to be observing the Lord's Supper.

One of the aspects, according to the Apostle Paul, of the Lord's Supper is to proclaim the Lord's death till he comes again. And so we are to be a proclaiming people now in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper by eating the bread, which is still bread and drinking the wine, which is still wine. We are proclaiming the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he broke his blood for us, or that he broke his body for us or that his body was broken for us and that his blood was shed for us vicariously. And so that is a proclamation.

Christians are to be a verbal people. Yes, there is wisdom in silence. Job said again to his friends in his contestations with them, oh, that you would be completely silent and that it would be your wisdom. There can be wisdom and silence on the part of the Christian.

And we ought to think about that many times in our dealings with people, whether believers or unbelievers, sometimes wisdom is found in silence, in shutting our mouths. But insofar as the proclamation of the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ are concerned, Christians are not to be silent here. There is wisdom in cutting the silence and breaking the silence and in speaking glowingly of the riches and the excellencies of our blessed Savior. Christians are to are to be a proclaiming people.

And

Chosen to Proclaim: 1 Peter 2:9

if you will, please turn to first Peter for a moment. First, Peter and Chapter two. As we see, one of the purposes of redemption, one of the purposes of God's amazing and victorious grace in calling a people from a place of darkness to a place of light is for the purpose of proclamation. First Peter, chapter two.

Peter here is drawing a difference between those who were appointed unto disobedience and stumbling and those who were elected and appointed and predestinated unto saving faith, unto Christianity. Verse 9 of 1 Peter 2, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. You see here, one of the purposes, the people of God are by God's wisdom and by his decree and by his work, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. This was the peculiar decree arrangement or order in the Old Covenant.

God had redeemed his people from out of bondage physically in Egypt, and he had brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey, or he was in the process of doing so. And those people were supposed to exemplify, or were supposed to be, they were, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. They often didn't act that way, though. You just have to read your Old Testament to see that truth.

But nevertheless, under the old covenant, they were a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a chosen generation. And they were to testify to, they were to, by their conduct, by their adherence to the law, by their multitudinous washings and ceremonies, were to testify to the ethical holiness and the glory of God and the blessings that he bestows upon a chosen people. Under the New Covenant, according to 1 Peter 2 9, the church, the Israel of God, is to do likewise. However, now having the ethical disposition across the board to do so.

And what I mean is every one of covenant members have had that stone of flesh or story that a heart of stone removed. They have had the heart of flesh put in its place. God has caused his spirit to be in them, and he has caused them to walk in his statues. And so now, because we have been saved, because we have been affectionately called, justified, sanctified, and yea, even glorified, we are to be those people who testify to, who proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

We are to be a proclaiming people.

Christians Are a Recollecting People

We are also to be. Secondly, Christians are to be a recollecting people. We are to be a people who remember you've got you've often heard the term. Maybe you haven't often heard the term, but maybe you've heard it once or twice.

Historical retrospect, historical retrospect, and what that means is looking back upon or surveying history. And as it's biblically concerned, what it what it pertains to or what it refers to is the act of the child of God, the person of God, looking back upon history, redemptive history and seeing God smiling and his frowning providences in working out his redemptive plan. The nation of Israel did this often, and they were commanded to do so.

Historical Retrospect in the Psalms

You can turn to Psalm 106 for a moment as we move our way back to the song that we started this sermon with. But Psalm 106, the song just before that, as we look at the fact that Christians are to be a recollecting or a remembering people. Psalm 106 at verse 8. Nevertheless, he saved them for his namesake, that he might make his mighty power known.

He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up. So he led them through the depths as through the wilderness. He saved them from the land of him who hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their enemies.

There was not one of them left. Then they believed his words. They sang his praise. And if we were to continue throughout the song, we would see that pattern.

The psalmist is looking back upon and surveying covenantal history, and he is calling upon himself and the congregation to render praise for the God of that history, for the God of that redemptive progression. for the God who pulled them from out of Egypt and into the land of promise, for the God who rebuked the Red Sea and dried it up, for the God who enclosed the waters upon their enemies. Historical retrospect, looking back upon God's gracious and kind providential dealings with us. This is also done in the New Testament. In fact, we opened worship this morning with something of historical retrospect.

What does Paul do in that in that Ephesians doxology, but historical retrospect concerning redemption, he looks back, he said, he says, Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And then he follows, if you will, triune, providential and redemptive history with God, the father who predestinates Christ or God, the son who redeems by his precious blood and God, the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies and seals and who is the guarantor of our inheritance. Historical retrospect.

Historical Retrospect in 1 Peter 1

You can also, if you don't mind, turn to first Peter as we see something else of New Covenant historical retrospect. Again, Christians are to be a recollecting people. First Peter, chapter one, beginning at verse three. You'll notice similar language here to the Apostle Paul, first Peter one, verse three.

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled. And that does not fade away. Reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation. ready to be revealed in the last time. And then he goes on at the beginning of verse six to say in this you greatly rejoice.

So the Christian is to look back upon the blessings of the God of our of the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ in redemption and in salvation and in his dealings with us salvificly. And we are then to rejoice and to praise and to sing and to extol the riches and the excellencies of that great triune God. Retrospect or a Christian recollecting also serves as a corrective to sinning. Of course, it is the grace of God and divine activity that is the corrective for sinning.

But nevertheless, for example, in Corinthians, Paul uses historical retrospect in order to correct that Corinthian behavior. Remember, he identifies many sins that are going on within the Corinthian church. And he identifies the former conduct of those who were in the Corinthian church. And he says, in order to issue a corrective against continuing in sin, but you were sanctified, but you were glorified, but you were justified by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God.

So they are to consider how God what God has done in their lives, how God has dealt with them savingly. And they are to they are to turn from wrongful activity unto the right way unto the old paths and they are to sing and to rejoice in the graces of an amazing and a victorious God.

The Redeeming Work of God

Now back to Psalm 107. We're now going to look at verses four to eight and the redeeming work of God, the redeeming work of God. We looked at something of the response of the redeemed that he is to proclaim, that he is to recollect. Now we're going to look at verses four to eight and the work of the redeemer.

Verse four, Psalm 107. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses, and he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. You see, the psalmist rehearses God's deliverance. And yes, there may be, and certainly there is a sense in which this is pertaining somewhat to physical deliverances, because we have in covenantal history those exact things.

The redemption, the pulling of God's people, His covenant people, from out of bondage in Egypt and into their own land. Historically, after that pulling or the saving of a remnant after the Assyrian captivity, after the Babylonian captivity, after the exile, the Jews were able to return to their homeland. Even during the covenantal history in kings and in judges, we have a recapitulation of the transgressions of the nation of Israel, but the blessings of God, transgressions of the nation of Israel, but the blessings and the grace of God being bestowed upon them. We have, again, the psalmist rehearsing God's redemptive dealings.

And I want to look at two things. First,

Redemption Is Universal in Scope

the redeeming work of God is a universal work. Notice verse three that I neglected to read before verse four and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Yes, God physically redeemed his people locally from out of Egypt. and locally from out of Assyria and locally from out of Babylon. However, there is that grand sense, yea, the higher sense in which God has gathered his elect out of the four winds.

He has gathered both Jew and Gentile men and women, boys and girls from every ethnicity and geography from out of the east, from out of the west, from out of the north and from the south. There is a universal work of redemption, and that is that its breadth, its breadth, rather the breadth of God's redeeming work is not hindered by ethnicity. It is not hindered by geography and it is not hindered by demography. North Americans, South Americans, Asians, Europeans, Australians, Africans, Antarcticans, all are not restricted or there are none who are restricted by their respective geographical boundaries.

All are included in God's redemptive dealings, all geographically. All ethnicities are included in God's redemptive dealings. The Jew and the Gentile, the barbarian and the Scythian, the bond and the free. None are excluded because of their particular ethnicity.

They are all included in God's redemptive dealings and demography to the tall and the short, the king or the commoner. The prince or the pauper all are included and can be the beneficiaries or are the beneficiaries of God's redemptive dealings. And of course, that redemptive or universality is qualified, not for every man without exception, but for every man without distinction. It's very important when we when we look at the particularity of God.

Very, very, very often those who oppose our doctrine, of predestination, our doctrine of election, our doctrine of salvation being particular and limited powerfully to an elect few and elect few. That is numerable, multitudinous and fixed, but nevertheless limited. They will say and they will go to places in the scripture, such as the book of Acts, where it says of God that he is not a respecter of persons. Well, see, there you go.

God is not particular. He's not a respecter of persons. His plan is universally for all without exception. And the onus is now upon the recipient of the message to exercise volition, to exercise free will and to merit salvation is the implication.

But when we read that language of God not being a respecter of persons, it's in the context of God's covenantal dealings now, including Gentiles. God is not a respecter of persons and that he is not only for the Jews, but now the gospel has gone out to the Gentiles and the Jew and the Gentile have now been made one new man in Christ Jesus. So biblical universality is a truth, but it is that its breadth is unhindered by geography, ethnicity or demography. And for a biblical text that serves well to to stress this, you can turn to Revelation chapter five.

Revelation, chapter five, it is a wonderful scene of biblical universality. Revelation, chapter five, and we'll begin reading at verse eight. Now, when he had taken the scroll before living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the land, each having a heart, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God.

And we shall reign on the earth. You see that biblical universalism is out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation redeemed by the blood of Christ unto God. And we should see the connectivity there with Psalm 107 and gathered us out of the lands from the east and the west, from the north and from the south. Biblical universalism.

And notice in this text, there is praise There is praise and it has a redemptive focus and it is with remembrance and it's centered on Christ. Very important. We have praise rendered. We have remembrance that historical retrospect have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and nation and people.

And it's centered around Christ, that one who was able to take the scroll, that one who was able, that one who is the lamb of God. the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. So we have the fact that God's redeeming work is a universal work and that every tribe and tongue and people and nation, the elect of the four winds are included perfectly in God's redemptive plan. Secondly, or actually just one one thing on this one thing on this, because we are often charged By the opponents of our biblical and orthodox and precious doctrine of limited atonement, we are charged for being those who limit it in terms of in terms of its completeness or its or its fullness or its adequacy. When when the opponents of that biblical doctrine of limited atonement attack the language limited, they think that by it we mean impartial or rather partial, incomplete and inadequate.

Of course, when we say limited, we mean with the force of God's revelation that it is intent or that there is intent, divine intent, that there is divine will and divine purpose, that there is infallibility or infallibility, impeccability and perfection to the divine design behind atonement. It is confined. It is safely and perfectly confined within the parameters of God's divine plan. It is limited.

But when we when we use the term and so when we use the term limited atonement, what do we mean? But we mean that God perfectly and infallibly saves a fixed and numerable multitude by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And all those whom God has perfectly appointed unto eternal life is saved and is covered by the atoning blood of a perfect sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not fail.

His divine plan is not frustrated. It is perfect in all that it is set out to accomplish. No one can frustrate the sovereign God who is in the heavens doing whatever he pleases. And that limited atonement is universal in the sense that every tribe and tongue and people and nation have elect gathered from out of those four winds from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

Redemption Is a Work of Deliverance

The redeeming work of God, secondly, is a work of deliverance. The redeeming work of God is a work of deliverance. He were gathered out of the lands and notice the continuing language. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way.

They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them when they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And excuse me, then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city for a dwelling place.

The redeeming activity of God is one of deliverance. It's one of liberation. It's one of rescue. It is one of release.

God, according to his mercy, which endures forever, has called us from out of darkness and into his marvelous light. He has translated us from out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the son of his love. It is an act of marvelous deliverance. And it is it's a wholesome thing.

It is a wholesome thing, and we need to remember this to dwell upon our former state or our former dwelling place when we dwelt in darkness, when we dwelt under the power of darkness. We'll get to why, but I think you probably know why. But it's a good thing to look back with historical retrospect upon this place when we did not have a city to dwell in, when we wandered, as it were, a wilderness in a desolate way. when we were not in the right way, but in the wrong way. It is a wholesome exercise, and that historical retrospect was also included before the redemptive looking back upon that the psalmist engaged in in Psalm 106.

In Psalm 106, 6 and 7, we have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders.

They did not remember the multitude of your mercies, but rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. We, brethren, have been those, are those who have sinned with our fathers, who have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. And it is wholesome remembrance to look to look back upon that fact.

Spurgeon put it this way. He said, let us seriously peruse the diary of our memories for there the witnesses of our guilt have faithfully recorded their names. And he set forth that it is a righteous exercise. It is a wretched exercise to in some sort of sick fascination with sin dwell upon all our iniquities dwell upon our wickedness and dwell upon our transgressions.

However it is wholesome to look back upon that state to look back upon those things so that then our gaze can be taken off of the rock. Once we were human, it can be taken off of that pit from which we were digged and it can be cast upon the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It can be cast upon that gracious God of amazing and sovereign grace who has gathered us out of the lands from the east, from the west. from the north and from the south. We are such a people that we look upon the redeeming work of God as a work of deliverance.

And we do so with grace in our hearts and with joy in our hearts. And it is something that the New Testament authors do just in case you're somehow realizing that, no, the Christian has been saved. We no longer need to dwell upon sin. Well, you'd be right in that we don't dwell upon it in an unwholesome way.

We don't dwell upon it in a sick way. We don't grab whips and flagellate ourselves. And we don't we don't do things to somehow to somehow seek penance or to somehow. be carried off into a wrongful or an unwholesome dwelling upon sin. But it is something, again, that is a wholesome exercise.

And just before we move on, Ephesians chapter two, we see Paul setting this forth in that same sort of model, dwelling upon sin as wholesome remembrance, but then quickly casting our gaze to the God of grace and to the Christ in whom we are made alive. Ephesians chapter two. Verse one, and you, he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature children of wrath, just as the others. historical retrospect, looking back upon that place in which we once dwelled, walking in all manner of disobedience and fleshly lust.

But then Paul casts the reader's gaze upon that right and proper place. Verse four, but God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Don't you see that the same that the connectivity here with Psalm 107, we were once dwelling in that desolate wilderness.

We were once hungry and thirsty. We were in the wrong way. But God, who is rich in mercy. Remember, at the beginning of the psalm, we'll give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, for his eternal loving kindness or for his mercy, which endures forever.

And that God who is rich in mercy made us alive in Christ Jesus. by His grace and by His eternal loving kindness. So we are to look upon, we are to dwell upon sin, yes, as wholesome retrospect with the end to cast our gaze upon that God, upon that Christ who has saved us from such a place.

Christ Satisfies the Longing Soul

Verse nine now in Psalm 107, verse nine, for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Those who were formerly hungry and thirsty, those who formerly had their soul fainting within them, God, by his grace and his redemptive healing, satisfies that thirsting soul and satisfies that hungry soul with goodness. And a couple of things here.

The satisfaction that Christ brings in Christ Jesus, there is full and unabridged satisfaction when we read something like this in the Psalms. Yes, we can do this. We can say God nourishes us and that he gives us drink to quench our thirst. And yes, the Lord satisfies us according to his providential kindness and that he gives us food to eat, satisfying our hunger.

God does do this. But there is that higher and that loftier spiritual direction that this directs us onto. And that is the full and unabridged satisfaction that Christ brings by his saving work, by his resurrection and ascension and by his continual intercession for his people. Christ brings full and unabridged satisfaction.

Seek Wholesome Satisfaction

First, we are to seek after wholesome satisfaction. We are to seek after wholesome satisfaction. There are things that we there are things that unbelievers might say satisfy us. And there is there is a wholesome manner in which we are to enjoy those things in which God has those things that God has given to us.

We are to eat meat with thanksgiving. We're not we're not ascetics or we're not some weird Gnostic people who cast off and call evil everything physical and count only good the spiritual things God has given us physical things to enjoy within the safe confines of biblical law and biblical commandment. But we are to seek wholesome satisfaction and that we are to we are to to be seeking after those things that satisfy eternally. We are to be going after those things that fill us, that quench our thirst and that satisfy our hunger to the fullest.

Turn to Isaiah 55 for a moment. Certainly familiar with this passage, but it directs the believer, it directs the believer, and it ought to stir by God's grace the unbeliever unto a proper place where there is true satisfaction. Isaiah 55, beginning at verse one. Oh, everyone who thirsts come to the waters and you who have no money come buy and eat.

Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. It is the pursuit of the ungodly.

It is the pursuit of the unrighteous. It is the pursuit of the unredeemed to go after things which do never satisfy. They might be the pleasures of sin. They might be things that, oh, satisfy under some category of satisfaction, but they are the passing pleasures of sin.

They are they are the things that that moth and worm destroy and eat at. They are the things that you cannot usher in with you into the everlasting state, but rather they are things that you will hug and you will grasp and that you will embrace as you're cast into the lake of fire that burns forever and ever. If those things are your lot, if they are your portion, if they are what you look to for satisfaction. The right direction of satisfaction is Christ's word.

It is not earth word. It is not food word. It is not bottle word. It is not flesh word.

It is not carnally focused. It is Christ's word and Christ alone. Where does true satisfaction come from? That place where we do not need to bring silver, silver and gold in order to buy.

We have not been redeemed by gold and silver, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

We have, by God's redemptive dealings, been brought from that place of desolate wilderness into a land, spiritually speaking and figuratively speaking, that flows with milk and with honey. Jesus Christ, our precious Lord. And secondly,

Satisfaction Wholly Supplied by Christ

this satisfaction This satisfaction is wholly supplied by Jesus Christ. There is no supplementation and there is no syncretism. When we think of being of satisfaction, we think we can think of it in one sense of getting enough getting enough sustenance so that we are no longer empty. And when we seek to satisfy ourselves physically with water and with food, we don't throw back a shot glass of water and we don't eat one kernel of corn because there would need to be supplementation.

There would need to be more that would not satisfy us. Spiritually speaking, we have Christ Jesus. We don't rest upon anything else save for a battered and bleeding and bruised savior who gave himself as that curse bearing, wrath bearing substitute upon Calvary's tree, was placed in a tomb for three days, rose again and ascended to heaven where he now sits to intercede for his people eternally. We rest upon him and him alone and we don't keep upon ourselves anything else.

Turn to Colossians for a moment, the book of Colossians in chapter two. Colossians Chapter 2. Just to see the fulfillment that Christ brings, the completion that Christ brings, the full satisfaction that Christ brings. Colossians 2 at verse 4.

Now this I say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

And notice verse 10. And you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. One thing that Paul does over and again in his epistles is that he uses the language in Christ, in him, in Christ, in Christ, in him you have, in him you have, in him you are. We have everything in Christ Jesus.

We do not seek after anything else. Oh, yes, Christ, but oh, yes, all of these other things and also Christ. No, no, no, no. We have Christ and him alone.

We are in him. We are in Christ Jesus and we are complete in him who is the head of all principality. and power. Our satisfaction is wholly supplied by Christ Jesus.

Christ the Bread of Life: John 6

And just finally, under satisfaction, turn to John six for a moment as we consider the Lord's Supper this morning, which we will do, which we will observe in a few moments time. Psalm 107 carries with it the language of hunger, the language of thirst. John, Jesus in John, chapter six, directs the hearers unto proper satisfaction in the context they had been well fed by the bread that he gave to them. He fed them and they were the recipients of sustenance, physically speaking, by the consumption of bread.

And they wanted more. They wanted to be continually fulfilled, physically speaking. Well, Christ points them to that true and proper satisfaction, that hunger and thirst ultimately is satisfied in him and in him alone. Notice that John chapter six verse thirty five.

And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe all that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. And turn your turn your eyes to verse fifty three for a moment.

Then Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. Now, what Jesus is doing here is he is issuing forth physical realities to demonstrate a higher spiritual reality.

He is not somehow the first defendant for Roman Catholic transubstantiation, saying literally eat my flesh. and literally drink my blood. He is using verse 35 in the background. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst.

Eating the flesh of the Son of God and drinking the blood of the Son of God is believing. Having faith in Christ Jesus, he who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. Christ, as our satisfaction, is our physical food, our physical substance, our physical filling for our emptiness. Christ Jesus, in believing in Him, having been saved by a gracious God, having been redeemed from out of darkness and into His marvelous light, we are such that we get to enjoy the quenching of thirst and that we get to enjoy the fulfilling of our hunger or the satisfaction of our hunger.

For He, God, satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. So as we engage in this ordinance, as we engage in this command of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are considering the fact that we have been, by God's grace, enabled to believe in him, to come to him and not hunger, to believe in him and never thirst, to receive full satisfaction by a full and saving Lord in whom are all spiritual blessings.

Application: The Summons to Wisdom

And brethren, just to close, verse forty three, whoever is wise will observe these things and they will understand the loving kindness of the Lord. The psalmist ends with a statement of fact, but also a summons unto wisdom. This is very often what we see in Holy Scriptures. Whoever is wise will observe these things. statement of fact that the wise are characterized by the fact that they observe these things.

They give thanks to the Lord for he is good. They praise him for that mercy which endures forever. The redeemed of the Lord say so. But it's also a summons unto wisdom.

If you're here and you do not know this Christ, if you're here and you cannot and you do not give thanks to the Lord, that you do not praise him for his mercy, for his loving kindness, you need to seek after wisdom. The psalmist tells the kings and the judges and those in authority in Psalm 2. David, the psalmist, be wise, O kings, be instructed, you judges of the earth. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. There is a summons unto wisdom. If you're sitting here and you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you sit here and you have not bent a knee in saving faith and repentance and belief, if you're here and you do not rest upon him for all things, you are not wise. You are a fool.

You are such, whether you're a professing atheist or not, who is either an idiot or a liar. You need to hear the call, hear the summons unto wisdom. You need to hear the gracious call even of God in Isaiah 55. Ho, come all who thirst.

Come and drink from the waters. Come to a place that is flowing with milk and with honey where you need not bring money, where you need not have silver and gold. Rest upon Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved is the declaration of Holy Scripture.

The Philippian jailer. You need to ask that question. You need to be like that Philippian jailer who was about to impale himself upon his sword. But Paul and Silas said, no, wait, we're all still here.

We haven't departed from you. You need not take your own life in obedience to the Roman Empire. And he says, what must I do to be saved? And they respond, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

Have wisdom, put away folly, put away idiocy, put away the foolishness of men and take upon yourselves the wisdom of God, Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom and the power of God. Let's pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father, we thank you so much for the Holy Scriptures. We thank you so much for what they tell us, for what they reveal, for what they command us to do joyfully. And we pray, Lord God, that you would help us to be those joyful ones who praise you for the grace that you have bestowed upon us. who praise you not for anything done by us, not for anything wrought by us in holiness of heart, but God, for all of those things of amazing and of sovereign grace. We thank you that you have gathered us from out of the East and the West, the North and the South, that you have caused us to walk in the right path, having brought us from that desolate wilderness, having brought us from a place where we were hungry but were never filled, where we were thirsty but were never satisfied.

And we thank you that by the sole activity of your amazing and victorious grace, by Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, you have called us unto a place that is flowing with milk and honey. that is flowing with satisfaction. And we would pray, God, that each and every one of us would rest upon and would take in that full satisfaction, the Lord Jesus Christ, because, Lord God, we are complete in Him. Your people are complete in Christ Jesus. And we pray that You'd go with us now as we consider Your ordinance, the Lord's Supper.

Help us to continue to be those worshipers who worship You in spirit and in truth, who proclaim and who remember and who sing the praises of Your victorious grace. We pray in Christ's precious name, Amen.

Scripture References

• Psalms 2:10; 2:12; 19:1; 106:6-7; 106:8; 107:1-9; 107:43
• Job 12:6; 38:7
• Isaiah 55:1-2
• John 6:35; 6:53
• Acts 10:34; 16:30-31
• Ephesians 1:3; 2:1; 2:4; 2:15
• Colossians 2:4; 2:6; 2:8; 2:9; 2:10
• 1 Peter 1:3; 1:6; 2:9
• Revelation 5:8-9; 13:8