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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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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, 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. 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. 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. 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, 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. 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. 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. 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.