From Despair to Deliverance | Part 2
In this second episode on Psalm 107, we explore how God meets His people in their deepest need with mercy, healing, and deliverance. As the psalm unfolds, we discover a powerful call to respond with wholehearted gratitude for the God who hears, rescues, and restores. This episode invites you to reflect on the goodness of the Lord, remember His faithfulness in your own story, and join the redeemed in giving thanks.
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Transcript
Welcome to the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:It can be daunting to navigate through an anti marriage and family culture.
Speaker A:Our teacher will expound biblical principles to help fortify our families and keep these sacred institutions strong.
Speaker A:And now, here's this week's teaching from Sam Wood.
Speaker B:The first two illustrations the psalmist gives us are wanderers without a way.
Speaker B:He shows us prisoners without a pardon who've been redeemed.
Speaker B:I love the illustrations he gives us here.
Speaker B:And the next illustration is those who are hurting without a healer.
Speaker B:Hurting without a healer.
Speaker B:Look at their condition in verse 17 and 18.
Speaker B:Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted.
Speaker B:Their soul abhorred all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Speaker B:This describes a people who are very, very, very ill. People who are very, very sick.
Speaker B:So sick that they do not even want to eat food.
Speaker B:Maybe you're here today and you can relate to that.
Speaker B:You say, preacher, I've been sick to the point.
Speaker B:So sick to the point I could not even eat anything.
Speaker B:These are desperate people.
Speaker B:These are hurting people that it's illustrating here.
Speaker B:And they're wasting away physically.
Speaker B:And there, it says there in the psalm, their condition is there on the gates of death.
Speaker B:They're right about to die.
Speaker B:But why are they so afflicted?
Speaker B:Why are they about to die?
Speaker B:In verse 17 it says they're sick and afflicted as a result of their own transgressions and their own iniquities.
Speaker B:They're in this condition because of their own sinful transgressions.
Speaker B:They, their own sinful iniquities is because of their sin that they're physically, emotionally and even spiritually on the brink of death.
Speaker B:The condition of Israel is like this sick person who has a fatal disease.
Speaker B:They've lost all hope and they're on the brink of death.
Speaker B:And friends, this morning, let me just say all sinners are sick with something called sin.
Speaker B:And we have no hope for a cure for sin.
Speaker B:Oh, you can go to the doctor, you can take medications, you can do whatever you may want to do to try to deliver yourself from sin.
Speaker B:But sin is something we can never deliver ourselves from.
Speaker B:They're hopeless sinners on the brink of death.
Speaker B:They're depressed.
Speaker B:Many even in this condition today commit suicide.
Speaker B:They're hurting so bad.
Speaker B:They've tried psychiatrists, they've tried psychologists, they've tried, they've tried medications.
Speaker B:And they find themselves hopelessly hurting and they turn away from the only medicine.
Speaker B:The only thing that could truly heal them.
Speaker B:If these sinners stay in that condition, not only is physical death inevitable, but also eternal death.
Speaker B:But these hurting, sickly sinners come to an end of themselves and they cry out desperation, oh, sinner, here this morning, you may be sitting in this building this morning and you say, I know I'm a sinner.
Speaker B:You're describing me in these illustrations.
Speaker B:And I'm in this deep pit of sin in my life.
Speaker B:I'm hurting, I'm depressed.
Speaker B:I feel there's no hope.
Speaker B:You need to do what this psalmist says here, that these people did in this illustration to cry out to God.
Speaker B:Look at verse 19.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, folks, again, this is nothing but the mercy of God.
Speaker B:This is nothing but the goodness of God.
Speaker B:This is nothing but the grace of God.
Speaker B:As we go to a time of thanksgiving this week, may we thank God for his grace, his mercy and his goodness to us.
Speaker B:He has redeemed us from our sins.
Speaker B:Sinner doesn't deserve it.
Speaker B:The hurting doesn't deserve it.
Speaker B:The wanderer doesn't deserve it.
Speaker B:But because of grace, because of God's loving kindness by faith, they cry out to God, and God answers in compassion.
Speaker B:Look at verse 19 and 20.
Speaker B:Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Speaker B:He sent his word and healed them, delivered them from their destructions.
Speaker B:And again I ask you to take note in every illustration the psalmist gives us here in this psalm, he says he saves them out of their distresses.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:Because in humility, in desperation, because of their sin, they cry out to God.
Speaker B:Listen.
Speaker B:When a sinner realizes he's lost, that he has this fatal disease called sin, he needs to call on the great physician, the great healer, the one who can save him.
Speaker B:And maybe you've done that here this morning you say, God, I thank you that in my sin, in my desperation, I can remember when I cried out to you for salvation.
Speaker B:And you answered my cry.
Speaker B:You saved my soul.
Speaker B:I sat in a church here this morning.
Speaker B:I sat with brothers and sisters in the family of God this morning.
Speaker B:My husband is saved, my wife is saved.
Speaker B:I know my kids are saved.
Speaker B:You say, God, I've got so much to be thankful for.
Speaker B:And God is saying, then celebrate.
Speaker B:Celebrate the goodness of God.
Speaker B:Look at verse 21.
Speaker B:Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men, and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing.
Speaker B:Praise the Lord.
Speaker B:The redeemed of the Lord are no longer hurting, like in this illustration, without a healer.
Speaker B:But we now have a great physician, a healer who has saved us.
Speaker B:Let the redeemed, the Bible says of the Lord, say so.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker B:The psalmist gives us an illustration of a wanderer without a way, the illustration of, of a prisoner without a pardon, of the hurting without a healer.
Speaker B:But he brings us to this last illustration of those who are sufferers without a Savior.
Speaker B:And we see their condition in verse 23 through verse 27.
Speaker B:Look at it with me.
Speaker B:They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep.
Speaker B:For he commandeth and raises a stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Speaker B:They mount up to the heaven that they go down again to the depths.
Speaker B:Their soul is melted because of trouble.
Speaker B:They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunk man and are at their wits end.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:I can remember years ago when we were taking a vacation and we went down to go deep sea fishing and we went out for about, I don't know, an hour out in the ocean and all of a sudden the sky got black and the wind began to blow and it started to rain and the waves got higher and higher and the boat was going up like this and down like this and up like this and down like this.
Speaker B:Any of y' all ever been there before?
Speaker B:And I was thinking to myself, oh, if I could just get back where to the shore.
Speaker B:I just want to kiss the ground again.
Speaker B:I want to get off of this boat as quick as I possibly can.
Speaker B:I mean, I was scared to death.
Speaker B:Some of.
Speaker B:You know, if you've been in a boat, I don't think it can be hardly anything much scarier than to be on a boat out in the ocean in a storm.
Speaker B:And you're in the waves and you're in a small boat and you feel like at any moment it could tip over and you would fall in the water and drown.
Speaker B:It's a hopeless feeling.
Speaker B:That's the feeling that's pictured here in this illustration of these sailors in a ship.
Speaker B:At one minute they're up on top of the wave, another minute they're 100 foot down in the valley of the wave.
Speaker B:They don't know which way is up and which way is down.
Speaker B:All they know is they're just about at the point of falling overboard, at the point of drowning.
Speaker B:Within the sea.
Speaker B:They desperately need a savior.
Speaker B:They're suffering.
Speaker B:They're suffering and desperately need, need A Savior.
Speaker B:What do they need?
Speaker B:They need the Lord of the sea.
Speaker B:They need the omnipotent, sovereign Creator to come and steal the waters around them.
Speaker B:And we see in verse 27, when they come to their wit's end and they see they can't save themselves.
Speaker B:You know, there's so many people out here that are looking for some way to save themselves.
Speaker B:But it's only when you come to your wit's end and you say, God, I know there's nothing I can do.
Speaker B:God, I know there's no good works I can do.
Speaker B:God, I know just because I may look a little bit better than another person over here, you don't grade on a bell curve.
Speaker B:God.
Speaker B:God, I know the only thing I can do is cry out to you for help.
Speaker B:I have no hope without you.
Speaker B:And in verse 28, that's exactly what they do.
Speaker B:Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble.
Speaker B:And again, how does God respond?
Speaker B:Oh saint of God, oh brother and sister, this morning he has seen our condition.
Speaker B:He has heard our cry of desperation.
Speaker B:And he responds, praise God with great compassion.
Speaker B:Look at verse 29.
Speaker B:He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still.
Speaker B:Then are they glad because they be quiet.
Speaker B:So he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Speaker B:God, who is the great omnipotent creator, who is the Lord of the sea.
Speaker B:The Lord of the storm brings a great calm.
Speaker B:He brings a great peace to the terrified sinner through his abundant grace, through his abundant mercy.
Speaker B:And praise God he does.
Speaker B:And folks, let me just say also here this morning I praise God that as a saint of God, when I'm in a storm.
Speaker B:When I feel like in this life, even as a child of God, when I'm riding the highways, when I go down the depths of the sea, when I can't see which way to go, when I feel like I'm in a dark tunnel and I feel like there's never going to be light at the other end of that tunnel, that I have a sovereign God who will be in the midst of that storm right there with me.
Speaker B:And he is the Lord of that storm.
Speaker B:I think of a dear pastor friend.
Speaker B:I talked to him Friday.
Speaker B:And folks, in the last four years he's had a daughter who almost died of leukemia, a really, really trying time in his life.
Speaker B:Last year he had a two year old son that was accidentally killed.
Speaker B:In four years he's had a daughter who almost died of leukemia and lost a son.
Speaker B:I talked to him on the phone Friday and he was rejoicing.
Speaker B:God had given them a brand new little baby boy.
Speaker B:And he showed me a picture of it.
Speaker B:He sent me a picture, he texted me a picture of that little baby boy.
Speaker B:And I thought, what a wonderful Savior that we can go through so much suffering.
Speaker B:We can go through so much hurt and so much pain.
Speaker B:But God through all of this, with him and his wife, it was something to behold as they trusted in God through all of this and kept trusting and kept trusting and kept trusting when they couldn't see any light.
Speaker B:You know, Thanksgivings, I said it in Sunday school, Thanksgiving, Christmas, these times, these holidays can be times of darkness for some people when they think of a relative is no longer there, some family member who's not there.
Speaker B:But praise God.
Speaker B:He is the Lord of the storm and he is the God of peace.
Speaker B:He is the one who will come beside us and encourage us and help us as a sovereign savior.
Speaker B:Well, folks, as we look at these four illustrations, it calls for us to celebrate.
Speaker B:This week is a time of celebration.
Speaker B:This week is a time of thanksgiving.
Speaker B:And God says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
Speaker B:But I love what it says in verse 31.
Speaker B:Look at it.
Speaker B:Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
Speaker B:And again you see this repeated over and over and over and over in this psalm.
Speaker B:He said, oh, that men would praise or thank the Lord for His goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
Speaker B:Those who were wanderers without a way, who have found their way to a city whose builder and maker is God.
Speaker B:Those who were prisoners without a pardon, who have been released from the prison of darkness into the light of Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:Those who are hurting without a healer, who have found healing from their iniquities and their addictions through the great physician.
Speaker B:Those who are sufferers without a Savior, who have found peace from the terrifying storms of this life by omnipotent creator who is a master of every storm and the Prince of peace.
Speaker B:All the redeemed of the Lord are called to give thanks and praise to him, to say so because of God's great grace, God's loving kindness, his mercy.
Speaker B:But in verse 32, God specifically says, we're to do it as a body, we're to do it as a church.
Speaker B:Let them exalt him also.
Speaker B:Where?
Speaker B:In the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
Speaker B:How do we respond to the news of the great sporting triumph?
Speaker B:Some of you have college football teams and pro football teams or whatever, and they win a Victory.
Speaker B:They win a football game.
Speaker B:How do you respond?
Speaker B:You celebrate.
Speaker B:You get excited, you get happy about it.
Speaker B:It's hard to keep the news to yourself.
Speaker B:You want to tell other people that your team just won.
Speaker B:How much more should we respond?
Speaker B:With a heart overflowing with thanksgiving and praise to the one who has redeemed our soul.
Speaker B:So would all in the assembly this morning.
Speaker B:Would all of you who have been redeemed by the Lamb, precious blood of the Lamb, celebrate with me this morning by saying with me these words in verse one.
Speaker B:Would you say them with me this morning?
Speaker B:O, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is what good his mercy endureth forever.
Speaker B:We've looked at the call to be thankful, the cause of being thankful.
Speaker B:Let me just close briefly with the consequence of being thankful.
Speaker B:Look at verse 43, the very last verse in the psalm.
Speaker B:Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand.
Speaker B:Here it is again.
Speaker B:That word in Hebrew has said the loving kindness of the Lord.
Speaker B:Notice it's addressing whosoever is wise.
Speaker B:The Hebrew understanding of the word wise is to have transformed character.
Speaker B:Listen to me through an encounter with the living God, someone who is wise is someone who has transformed character through a living encounter with God.
Speaker B:Therefore, the psalmist is promising something here.
Speaker B:This is a wonderful promise he's saying.
Speaker B:If you observe these things he's just mentioned, if you'll ponder these illustrations in your mind, if you'll ponder them in your heart, if you'll meditate upon them and deeply consider the goodness of God and His wonderful to men, it will change your life.
Speaker B:Your heart will be transformed by it.
Speaker B:Oh, we all need to ponder in our heart the reason that God can give us a home in heaven is because Jesus said, foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man doesn't have a place to lay his head.
Speaker B:We need to ponder in our heart that the reason that God can deliver us out of the deep darkness and the chains of our sin that enslave us is that on the cross darkness and deep gloom came down on the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, so that we could be set free.
Speaker B:We need to ponder in our heart the reason that we can be healed of our transgressions and our afflictions is because he is born of our infirmities.
Speaker B:We need to ponder in our heart that the reason we can have calm in the storms of life is because Jesus was the great Jonah who was thrown into the belly of wrath, the belly of the justice of God on your behalf and on my behalf.
Speaker B:If we ponder these things.
Speaker B:If we meditate upon these things, if we consider these things, we'll have, the psalmist says, a real understanding of the loving kindness of the Lord that will transform our heart and compel us to exclaim, as the psalmist exclaims, oh, that men would thank the Lord for His goodness and for his wonderful works.
Speaker B:To the children of men.
Speaker B:It will cause us to say, o give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.
Speaker B:It may cause us to sing the Doxology today as we do many times.
Speaker B:Praise God, from whom all blessings flow Praise him, all creatures here below Praise him above, ye heavenly host Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Speaker A:Thank you for joining the Fortifying youg Family podcast, and if you feel encouraged by today's teaching, give us a follow so we can invite you back and share us on your socials so more marriages and families can be strengthened and fortified through the truths of God's Word.
Speaker A:Remember, fortifying your family starts with a strong belief in God's Word.
