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Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So!
A Sermon on Psalm 107Preached November 18, 2009 at a Mission in Downtown Birmingham, AL by Jake Hanson
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Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His loyal love is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy And gathered from the earth, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the sea.
Most of us have Psalms which are important for us, not because they are necessarily meaningful to us, but because they remind us of someone we care about.
Psalm 107 reminds me of my grandpa. None of you has met my grandpa. But if you had, you would have liked him—I promise. If you had met him, in just ten minutes, he would have told you in his simple, broken English and German accent, about how as a young immigrant to the United States in the 1920s, he indulged in the excesses of the Roaring Twenties. He was a heavy drinker and smoker and only God knows what else. One day, he attended a small church service, and he called upon the name of Jesus for salvation, and he was saved, and he was also completely delivered from alcohol and cigarettes. The Lord had done a miracle. He ran out of the church and began to proclaim on street corners what the Lord had done, and he would tell for 75 years about how everything was different—even the sky and the trees looked new.
This is what we see happening in Psalm 107. If you would look with me at the chart I have handed out, on the left side of the chart, you will find what is the very heart-beat of the worshipper, and the pulse of the one who gives thanks to the Lord. This Psalm teaches us how to give thanks. It begins with a description of the situation of danger and difficulty which the people were in. Then the people cry out to the Lord for deliverance, and the Lord delivers them. You will notice that the work of the Lord is stated twice, and is the central focus which we must be drawn to. It is the Lord who has done this, and not us.
Now, as a result, the people, instead of crying out, are giving thanks for what the Lord has done, and then finally, the Psalmist describes the new situation which the people find themselves in and this is the reason for praise. This, my brothers, is a model for how we are to give thanks to the Lord.
This Psalm is a thanksgiving for the work the Lord has done, especially in regard to delivering the chosen people from their exile in Babylon. The Israelites were sent to a faraway country because of their disobedience, and subject to much difficulty, but the Lord delivered them in fulfillment of the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah which are quoted and referred to in this Psalm. So this Psalm is also a reflection on the biblical books of Job, and the fulfillment of the prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah. It demonstrates that God’s Word is faithful and true.
But you will notice something strange in verse three. You find that the people are gathered from the east and from the west, From the north and from the sea. You would expect “south” instead of “sea,” and in fact most of your English translations have changed it to south since there is only a two letter difference in Hebrew between South and Sea. But there is no evidence for such a reading in the original language, and as you can see from this chart, “sea” fits perfectly here. I want to suggest to you that the Psalmist is teaching us that the people of God are being delivered not just from every where in the world—from America, from Asia, from Africa, from Europe, from the Middle East—but the people of God are also being delivered from every thing—from every type of situation of difficulty and from different areas of sin. The directions represent, not only locations on a map, but conditions and situations from which we need deliverance.
Look with me at the first Stanza, the first column on the left—the East. If we were in Israel today, and we looked to the East, we would see wilderness and desert for hundreds of miles. And this is what the Israelites had in mind when they considered the East. The desert is that place where there is no food or water. It is the place where no person can live and thrive. Jeremiah tells us that those who fail to put their trust in the Lord will be cast into the wilderness. This was Babylon for Judah, and this was not a very habitable city for them. So, in verse 6, they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of the distresses.” You may remember that the Lord used the Persian ruler Cyrus to overtake Babylon and send the Israelites back on a level road to their home. And now, the people in the refrain, “give thanks to the Lord for His loyal love, And for His wonders to [or before] the sons of men [or the nations].” And then we are told that “He has satisfied the thirsty soul, and the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.” The Lord brings His people from desert into nourishment.
Now let’s look at the second stanza—the West. In the Hebrew mind, the West was the place where the sun set, and so represented darkness—that place where God no longer speaks to enlighten His people as He once had through His prophets. So, we find the people of God in the darkness of bondage of Babylon because they had rebelled and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
Again, they cried out to the Lord, the Lord saved them, and freed them from their chains, and just as promised in Isaiah 45, the Lord used the Assyrian leader Cyrus to “shatter gates of bronze and cut bars of iron asunder.” The Lord’s loyal love is everlasting!
And Stanza 3—from the North. There are several aspects of the North which are important to the Hebrews. It is the direction from which all conquests would come—even by Egypt, Jeremiah tells us! But the North is also the symbol of idolatry, as the mountain of the North (Zaphon) was the dwelling place of the false god Baal. And idolatry—the worship of other gods—was the primary reason for why the Lord sent Judah into exile and why the Lord destroyed the Northern Kingdom.
You will see that in verse 17, the people humbled themselves by fasting, just as the same phrase is used in Ezra 8:21 when the people of God are preparing themselves to return from exile in Babylon.
What we see here is a people riddled with guilt for the sins which they have committed, and they find food morally detestable. They cried out to the Lord, He delivered them by sending His healing word, and they were able to, in verse 22, offer “sacrifices of thanksgiving.” This sacrifice of thanksgiving was a community meal sacrifice that was given in response to the forgiveness of sins. It was a response of thanksgiving for what the Lord has done, and it is the meal sacrifice that we celebrate when we participate in the Lord’s Supper. It is a reminder of our atoning sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
And now look at the Sea. The Sea is the place for the Hebrew where danger lurks, and uncertainty reigns. And it is the place where storms swallow sailors whole. But note this: it is the Lord who causes storms to come up, and He who causes the storms to cease. In Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Sea represents the kingdoms of the world. The Lord raised up and brought down the great empires of the world—of Egypt, Assyria and Persia while the people of God could only ride the great storm of the nations at war. They were tossed up and down and back and forth and they cried out. And the Lord delivered them. The Lord brought temporary stability to the region so that His people could return to their land. The Psalm says that the waves were hushed —it reminds a Christian of Mark 4 when Jesus who on that stormy sea, told the wind and sea to “Hush!” in order to protect His people. It is He who has authority over nature as well as over the nations. And it is He who brings the Israelites back to their land and to their places of worship. Just as the Lord has raised up the sea and the nations, now the gathered people, returned from their trial, could “raise up,” or “extol” the Lord before the nations!
In the concluding call to praise in verse 43, the Psalmist writes, “Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, And consider the very loyal love of the LORD.” So how can we be wise with Psalm 107? How does Psalm 107 become for me more than just “my grandpa’s Psalm”? And how does it become for all of us more than a Psalm on the redemption of Israel from Babylon? Let’s take a look as we see Babylon as a metaphor of the oppression of this sinful world in which we find ourselves.
Look again at Stanza 1. Who of you, that are prone to wander, have ever been wandering in the dry spiritual desert away from the fold of God? Isaiah tells us that “All of us like sheep have Wandered and turned to our own wicked ways.” Romans tells us that “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” But who here can say that in that wandering, you have called out to the Lord, and He has redeemed you. Who here can say, “the LORD has caused my iniquity To fall on Him”? And who here can say, “I am being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”? And who can sing with the Hymn-writer, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found!” and now you can drink of that water of life, and eat of the bread of life freely!
LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO!
And what about from the West? Who here can say that they have at some point rejected the counsel of the All Mighty, and as a result have been in darkness and in the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will? You were “fast bound in sin and nature’s night.” But who here can also say that the Lord brought you to your senses and delivered you from that misery, for “the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil!” Jesus Christ has been appointed to be “a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.” We look forward to the day when Satan, the “Prince of Darkness” will be cast into the pathless waste forever, but still, Who can say even now, my dungeon flamed with light, and “My chains fell off, my heart was free!” Who can say, “I once was blind, but now I see!”
LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO WHOM HE HAS REDEEMED FROM THE HAND OF THE ENEMY!
And from the North? Who here has been so encumbered with guilt from sin which has held you captive? You thought you were irredeemable—worthless for God. Your sins were as scarlet and glowed like beat red. But by a miracle, you truly believed that “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive you your sins, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.” You heard those precious words of healing deep inside your heart: “I have made you white as snow in the blood of the lamb.” And “He was pierced through for our transgressions [our sins], He was crushed for our iniquities; The discipline that brought us peace wasupon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.” Who here has then been able to approach that table of grace at the Lord’s Supper, the true sacrifice of thanksgiving, being at peace with God and with people? Who here can sing, “T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear, And Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear the hour I first believed.”
LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO WHOM HE HAS REDEEMED FROM THE HAND OF THE ENEMY!
And finally from the Sea. “In this world, you will have trouble,” Jesus tells us—and don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise! Some of these troubles do not go away in this lifetime. We have thorns in our flesh which teach us to rely on the grace of God. The waves of the troubles of the world will come over us, and for many of us they have engulfed us, making us lose our wits. But for how many of you has this promise of difficulty also come with the other promise that “He has overcome the world” and in Him we have perfect peace? We do not live in a world which is easy, but we get glimpses of the perfect world to come as believers will be gathered to Him. Who among you can sing:
“Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far,
and Grace will lead us home.”
And when the Lord finally gathers those of us who have called on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation together in the New Jerusalem, there will no longer be “the voice of weeping and the sound of crying out,” for there will be no more need to cry out to the Lord, for we will have been delivered.
We will gather around that throne—people from every tongue and tribe and nation, delivered from all our lives of sin and oppression—we will be gathered in that only truly habitable city, freed from the oppression of Satan, freed from the power and guilt of sin, and able to indulge in the great marriage supper of the lamb. And we will be in perfect unity with one another and unhindered fellowship with God Almighty. We will sing of the everlasting loyal love of the Lord and our praise will ring out forever. “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun. We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we’ve first begun.”
LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO WHOM HE HAS REDEEMED FROM THE HAND OF THE ENEMY! AMEN!