This morning if you'll turn with me to the book of Psalms, Psalm 107. I'm going to read the first nine verses of Psalm 107. The truth that I want to bring to your attention this morning is concerning the longing that the psalmist had and the longing that God himself has that men would give thanks to him. Let's bow together for prayer. Oh Lord, we do give thanks to you at this hour. We give thanks for all things through our Lord Jesus Christ. And we give thanks that you are our loving, sovereign God. and you order all things according to the counsel of your own will but you also have said in your word that you order them for our good and for your glory and so we come to you at this hour begging of you that we would be the people that are spoken of here in this text that we would be those who would give thanks that we would give thanks always that in everything we would give thanks. We pray that we would not be those who are grumblers or complainers, those who lift up our hands in your name, who seek your face. And we pray that even seeking your face now that you will come and bless us with these truths that I will present to your dear people. For we pray and ask it in your blessed name. Amen. Psalm 107. Verse one, O 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. This morning I want to show you the longing of the psalmist. that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works to the children of men. Indeed, I believe that we can say, without doing any violence to the Lord's divine impassibility, that God himself actually has a great and holy desire that all men would declare his goodness from their own hearts from their own mouths. You should know that there is nothing that God desires that he cannot bring to pass. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. And he would have you to remember that all things are possible to him. He is an unchangeable God in his being. and his eternal purposes. These things are so. And yet God would also have you to remember that all men are fully responsible to do the things that he commands. Yes, even you. Since this is so, God knows that we as men need to be encouraged to be thankful so that many of his richest blessings will come to us. when we are a thankful people. This is why the last verse of this psalm says, whoever is wise will observe these things and they will understand the loving kindness of the Lord. In other words, there are definite reasons why you should give thanks to God. First of all, you should give thanks if you are one of the Lord's redeemed. It says here in verses four to six, so 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. So the psalmist puts it out here as his own longing and his own exhortation that you would give thanks if you are one of is redeemed. And as I have said, He is giving us this exhortation because it's God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Oh, that you would give thanks. It's more like a pleading that you would give thanks because it is spiritually right and good for you to do so. The phrase is actually repeated five times in verse 1, verse 8, verse 15, verse 21, and verse 31. Oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for his wonderful works to the children of men, for his goodness, for his mercy. So the psalmist would have you to be a thankful person, because he knows that God is glorified by your giving him thanks, because your soul will be benefited by it if you will give him thanks. Give thanks to him, it says, for he is good. Now that's how you and I ought to see God, as essentially good. God is very great, but we need to understand that he is also So very good, he is perfect in his goodness, he is perfect in all of his works and all of his ways. He is kind, he is thoughtful because he is wise and he is holy. He thinks upon you because he has made you. He has made you for himself. Psalm 145, verses eight and nine, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. Not only mercy is mentioned here, but tender mercies. Do you believe that the Lord is kind? and tender and gentle with you? Well, he is, and that is a part of his being good to you. If you are one of the redeemed of the Lord, you ought to say so. David did. In Psalm 18, verse 35, he said, You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand has held me up. Your gentleness has made me great. So you see that you too ought to be able to declare this. God's gentleness is one of the ways that he shows his goodness. One of the ways he shows his mercy, that he does through Jesus Christ, your Lord, who is God's right hand man, sitting at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for you, because of his showing you mercy, you are made great. You are made great. in God's sight, thy gentleness has made me great. So you who are redeemed have every reason to say this, that the Lord is merciful in that he has been so very good to you. Now let me ask you very simply if this is something that you confess. Is this something that you pray back to the Lord? Oh Lord, you are so good to me. You are so merciful to me. You are so kind to me. You are so gentle in your dealings with me. So when you remember that God through Christ has redeemed you, that he's brought you back from your slavery to sin, when he's imputed Christ's righteousness to you on the basis of faith, oh, how thankful you ought to be. What is so very precious is that the mercy that God has shown you is described as being from everlasting to everlasting. Psalm 103 verse 17 says, but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children to such as keep his covenant and to those who remember his commandments to do them. How do you keep God's covenant? You keep it by trusting in what Christ has done for you in the new covenant. No person was ever saved by keeping the old covenant. So when it says, those who keep his covenant, it just doesn't simply mean the people in the Old Testament who kept the Old Testament law, covenant, outwardly or even inwardly they were trying to do it with their hearts. No, they were looking forward to the promise of the fulfillment of that old covenant. In Jesus Christ our Lord, who fulfilled all of God's good commandments, fulfilled the law on your behalf, dear Christian. So Christ has fulfilled the old covenant, therefore give thanks that you don't have to be under the law anymore, the condemnation of the law. Or it's strictness in the sense that every particular detail of it must be fulfilled in you. No, it was fulfilled in Jesus. And if it is fulfilled in Jesus, then give thanks and have faith that His righteousness covers you. You see, that's just the very point, isn't it? That His mercy is on those who fear Him. Then those who fear Him must learn to walk in the righteous fear of him all the day long as it says in the scriptures in order to glorify him that is to please him in every way and you will go about to do that by walking with jesus each and every day praying that you will know him better again let me ask you if this is what you do do you pray when you get up in the morning lord Teach me your holy way. Let me know you better today. You see, when you go about to do that, you're making a confession of faith in him, that he's going to teach you to know him better by the power of his resurrection in your life. In Psalm 119, verse 68, it says, Lord, you are good and do good. Teach me your statutes. Now let me ask you, do you pray in that way? Do you pray, O Lord, you are good, and you do good, now teach me your statutes. You see, because it's a part of God's goodness to you that he teaches you. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he teaches sinners in the way. The meek he will guide in justice, the meek he will teach his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. unto such as keep his covenant, there it is again, and his testimonies. Everything that God says about the Lord Jesus Christ is found in his word about how the Lord kept all of God's testimonies. The Lord Jesus kept them all on your behalf. Now you are to keep them all in accordance with faith in what the Lord has done for you. It is the Lord Jesus who is good and upright It is your responsibility to be His follower and learner, His disciple. In this good way, He says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except by Me, and so you come. And now you can give thanks because in prayer you can enter into the Holy of Holies through him. You can draw near to God in full assurance of faith, have your heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and your body washed with pure water. Give him thanks. And the Father and the Holy Spirit fully approve of all of the Lord Jesus' work. For our God says in Hebrews 10 verse 15, but the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us. For after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, and I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds, I will write them. Then he adds their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Therefore, Give thanks. What a great salvation it is that we have, we who have been redeemed, for He has redeemed us from the hand of the enemy. And Israel was a type of the New Testament church in this regard. God redeemed them, Old Testament people of God, brought them out of Egypt, delivered them from the hand of their enemy Pharaoh. In Old Testament times, He brought them out of Egypt, With a mighty hand, it says, an outstretched arm. In verse 8 of chapter 26 of Deuteronomy, Moses told the children of Israel how they were to think, what they were to say. to the Lord concerning the goodness which he had shown to them in delivering them from their enemies. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders he has brought us to this place and given us this land, the land flowing with milk and honey. And now behold, I have bought the first fruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me. Then you shall set it before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you, to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you. So what, I ask, is the cause of all this rejoicing? That's their giving thanks for what God had done for them in bringing them out of Egyptian bondage, bringing them into a land filled with milk and honey, establishing them in that good land. Dear Christian, will you not remember how the Lord has brought you out of your spiritual bondage, how he delivered you from walking in the ways of the world? how he delivered you from being in the kingdom of darkness and in captivity to the evil one, Satan, how he's delivered you from being enslaved to the lusts of your flesh, how he's brought you into the promised land of milk and honey, a land spiritually flowing with all the blessings that God gives you from his word and by his spirit, and so Should you not rejoice in every good thing which the Lord has given to you and to your house? In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5.18. Give thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 20. Now second, you should give thanks because God delivers you from your distresses. Verse 3b of our text says, 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. So I want you to remember that as a Christian, that your God is a prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God. You have not only been redeemed by Him, but now you have access to the Father. through him, that is through your Lord Jesus Christ. So when you call upon the Lord, he saves you. And now that you have been saved, then you have been placed in his mystical spiritual body, the church, which is spoken of in the scriptures as a great city. A great city. Think of it with me. This present world is a wilderness. where you wander around in a desolate way before you find Christ. In this fallen world of woe, spiritually speaking, none of us has a city to dwell in where we might settle down, where we might put down roots. If you're hungering and thirsting for the meaning of life, You find that He comes to you when you exercise faith in Him. You cry out to Him in your trouble, and then you find Him. And when you do this and you find that over time He takes steps to deliver you out of all of your troubles, out of all of your distresses, like it says in Psalm 34. It says, I sought the Lord and He answered me. and delivered me from all of my fears. They looked to him and were radiant, their faces shall not be ashamed. This poor man cried out and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. So through experiencing difficulties, I'm saying, you begin to see that he alone is the one who can deliver you from all of your distresses. Let me ask you, do you see him? in this righteous and holy way. That he's the only one who can deliver you from your distresses. Those things that bother you. Those things that trouble you. And perhaps you are troubled. Perhaps you are worried. You can't change the situation that you find yourself in. Or perhaps the situation of someone that you love. They can't change it. And when you're distressed, that plays upon your mind. That plays upon the peace of your soul. And you can't make the problem go away. And so you fret over it. And you worry over it. And you become full of care. You see, Christ is the only one that can lead you forth by the right way, so that you might go to a city for a dwelling place, that is, the city of God. Do you remember Paul's thorn in the flesh? In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses seven to 10, he said, unless I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. lest I should be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you. My strength, my power is made perfect in your weakness. Therefore, most gladly, Paul says, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me, listen to what Paul says, therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak then I am strong. So let me ask you if the Lord has brought you to the place where you can give thanks for all things. Is it really true that when you are weak then you are strong? How can that be? The phrase means that when you are weak in yourself when you are weak in your own ability to change the troublesome thing that the Lord has permitted and even ordained in your life, the thing that He has sent to you for your good to build your faith in Him, or for your being able to understand God and His ways better, that's the very thing that you should give thanks for. because you see Christ's strength being perfected in your weakness. When this is going on in your heart, then you will become more like Paul. You will be able to say that you can boast in your infirmities. That means your weaknesses. Even in your distresses, those things that bother you and trouble you, you'll be able to do this for Christ's sake. you will realize that he is teaching you to look more to him and to depend more upon him and to have greater and more close communion with Christ as the days go by. And by the way, that communion is sweet. Have you proved that to be true? I think the real trouble with us Christians oftentimes is that we look to people around us for the answers that only God and Christ can give. And it's a part of our sanctification that the Lord teaches us. Now we teach each other, we teach each other to observe all that God has commanded us. But there's a holy teaching going on in your life, dear Christian, and in my life, in your heart, and in my heart. Day by day. And this teaching is reconciled with what I'm saying to you here in this very sense. That every time that you see your own weakness and inability, it ought to lead you to prayer. It ought to lead you to faith. It ought to lead you to seek to have greater communion with God and with Christ. in your heart, in your mind, that your soul might be strengthened. How often did David say that when he was in trouble or difficulty, it says that he strengthened himself in his God. How do you do that? You don't do it by saying, well, you know, I'm strong enough in myself, God, I just need a little help here. No, you do it by confessing your weakness and your inability and you see your infirmities. You see that you're distressed. You confess these things, and yet you bring them all to the Lord Jesus and you have fellowship with him over them. You may not understand why you're going through what you're going through, but the Lord Jesus certainly does. And he is the friend, not only of sinners, but of his own dear people to teach them what they need to know. If they lack wisdom, that they should ask. If they feel lonely or abandoned, they have to seek His presence, His power, His comfort. Is there any comfort in Christ? Well, there most certainly is. Comfort in Christ. Oh, these are good truths for us to learn. What about your witness for Christ? In Matthew 5, 14-16, Jesus says, You are the light of the world. A city that's set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand that it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. So let me ask you to give thanks for this, dear Christian, that you are a light in this dark world. How may you let your light shine before others? Well, you let it shine by doing good works. The Christian can learn to do good works from right motives, for the right reasons. And that is out of love to God, first of all. And then out of love for people around them, secondly. Because the Spirit is with you. But sometimes it's distressing, isn't it? When you see how very sinful and hurtful unbelieving people can be around you. Oh, it's so, it really is so, if you haven't experienced it, you will at some time. When you're trying to do good works, when you're trying to do the right thing, and then people look askance at you, or they berate you, or they make fun of you, or they put you down, or they walk away from you, or they won't receive what you have to give them, even though what you offer them is done out of the goodness and love that you have for them in your heart. I'm saying that the Christian can learn to do works from right motives. Jesus knew the reality of this. He said in John chapter 21, I did one work and you all marvel. And in John 10, 32, he said many good works have I shown you and from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me? Now when you see how hateful certain men were to the Lord Jesus, perhaps you may think to yourself that you might want to hide your light in the basket, under a bushel. But remember that Jesus did not stop telling people the truth. He didn't stop doing good works when they were opposed to him. Not even when they were trying to kill him. Remember that the Lord can deliver you from all of your distresses of mind and heart and fill you with love even in the worst of situations. Therefore, give thanks. Third, you should give thanks because God leads you forth by the right way. Verse seven it says, 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 his wonderful works to the children of men. And I believe that verse seven here links very well with Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22 where it says, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. So I want you to take notice of the fact that when you were saved, you were gathered. to God the Father through the work of Jesus Christ, your Lord. And when you were spiritually made alive in the new birth, you were brought by the Holy Spirit's power and working into the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritually speaking, into his universal church, the city of God. And I want you to see that when it says in verse 3 that He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy and gathered them out of the lands, that it cannot simply be referring to the bringing of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt here. For they were not brought out of several different lands. They were brought out of one land only. That is, out of Egypt. And so it must have a broader application, and it does. It must refer to the calling of the Gentiles in Gospel times. That is to us Gentiles whom God has had mercy upon to grant us salvation. It was for your being placed into this church that Christ died. You'll recall in John chapter 11, Verses 45 to 52 that John talks about what Jesus came to do, it says, There then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things that Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, What shall we do? For this man works many signs. If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him. And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish. John comments, and he says, Now this he did not say on his own authority, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for that nation only but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. So for this we must give thanks that Caiaphas gave this amazing prophecy, this very spiritually accurate thing, something that when he said it, he didn't even know what he was saying, that Christ, one man, would die for the Jewish nation. He thought about killing him. He thought about their killing him. But he didn't think about Christ dying for the sins of the world or for the Jews, their nation. But John goes on to say then that Jesus would die not only for the nation of the Jews only, but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad the very language of our text. Give thanks to God. my friends, that we Gentiles are a people who have been gathered out of many lands in this world. We're joined together with all the elect Jews in one spiritual body, the church. We have been gathered out of all lands from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south. We have been gathered to God to be his peculiar people, a people for his own possession. and together we are God's spiritual Israel. And we ought to give thanks for it. For not only has God saved us, through Christ's mighty work of redemption, delivering us from the worst of our distresses, that of sin and its consequences, but he will also deliver us out of all of our distresses by leading us, it says here, in the right way. The right way is found when you find Christ. For Christ teaches you to live by faith and not by sight. He teaches you during the time of your earthly pilgrimage to look to Him because you realize that you're going on to the heavenly city. This life is a pilgrimage for you. This life is a time where you learn of Him and you grow up into Him. And then He says, the Father says to Him, now, now is the time, bring them to Me. See, that's what the Lord does with us in this life. How many generations have gone by in the history of the world? People have lived their lives like you and I have for countless generations. They've died and gone to their heavenly reward. They've been gathered to their people, not just their physical relations. But if you've believed in Jesus Christ, you've been gathered with Christ to all the elect people of God, to everyone who has gone before you, who has trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been gathered, you are going to be gathered to them someday when you die. Dear Christian, Hebrews 11 verse 1, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Do you have that conviction of the heavenly city in your mind's eye? Are you looking forward to meet the countless multitudes of people who are there already, not to mention all those who will be gathered with you in this generation and in generations to come? Oh dearly beloved, it is a great thing to think about so that you don't lose perspective. You don't lose perspective that we're the only generation. There's been many generations, many people have lived for Christ and died for Christ, been martyred for Christ, suffered for Christ, learned of Christ, grew up into Him, were taught by Him, and learned to be faithful because He is perfectly faithful. Together, we are God's spiritual Israel, and we ought to give thanks for it. Do you give thanks for the church? Do you give thanks for other believers around you? All the other believers around you? The people that God has saved who minister to you, who love you, who care for you? In this church, other churches as well? I'm saying there's a substance of faith which is a very real thing to the mind of a believer. And for this we ought to give thanks to God day by day, because Abraham obeyed. You remember Abraham, when he was called to go out to the place where he would receive his inheritance, Hebrews 11, verses 8 to 10, he went out not knowing where he was going. Can you imagine? He didn't know where he was going exactly. God was leading him. By faith, he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country. dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, he waited for the city, which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Wow. Do you see it? Well, he didn't see it in his own day, did he? But there was a substance to faith. He pressed on to know the Lord, and he died in faith. He was gathered to his people. But I'm saying that there is a city, and that city is the one that you are in now, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, spiritually speaking. that when by faith you entered into Christ, you entered into this city. And that's why Hebrews 12 is worded in the way that it is, that you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, and to multitudes of innumerable multitudes of angels, the spirits of just men made perfect. Well, you're not there yet, literally, spiritually, but you're one with them, spiritually, in Christ. And you will be there literally with them when you die and are gathered to your people. We, all of us, are waiting for the city which has foundations in that great and glorious sense, aren't we? Like it says in Philippians chapter 3 verse 20, for our citizenship is in heaven. From which we also eagerly wait for the Savior. the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our body, that it may be conformed to His glorious body according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Oh, give thanks for this. This old body is wearing out. But someday, we'll go to be with God. And for a time, we will be the spirit of a just man made perfect. But when Jesus Christ comes back, and this is why we ought to look for the Lord Jesus, we always ought to be looking for the coming of the Lord in this glorious sense, when he comes back, What's going to happen? He's going to transform your body, dear Christian. He's going to transform your body, this lowly body, to be like His body. What a glorious transformation that will be. That's why you ought to look. That's why you ought to eagerly wait for the coming of the Lord. How many generations have done this before you? And they didn't see the coming of the Lord. Our generation may not either. But if we don't, dear Christian, don't think that you're going to miss out on the Lord gathering you to Himself eternally, raising you from the dead with all the other believers who have ever lived, and placing you with all of the elect standing there gathering you to the four winds like it says in the gospels so that you will stand there on the day of judgment completely vindicated because of Christ and you will judge the world with Christ as all the other saints will too when Jesus comes what an amazing thing that we shall be standing there in our resurrection body What an amazing thing. Give thanks. You'll remember that the Lord Jesus said in John 14 1, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me, Jesus says. For in my Father's house are many mansions, many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will receive you to Myself. I will gather you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. So may your heart take courage, dear Christian, this morning concerning the future. The Lord has not only gathered you to be a part of the city of God here upon the earth when He saved you, but He will gather you to Himself someday in bringing you to heaven. Yes, he will gather you to your people. But begin to see your people as the people of God, not just your family members who know the Lord. You'll be gathered to them, and that'll be a glorious thing. But all other Christians, you'll be gathered to them. And what a tremendous day and time that will be. All those spiritual relatives that we have in heaven, we should give thanks. and look forward expectantly to that day. And then fourth and finally, you should give thanks that he satisfies your longing soul and fills your hungry soul with goodness. Now notice the connection here that there is a word used here at the beginning of verse nine, for. For he satisfies the longing soul. What's your soul longing for? today. See if what you are longing for pleases God, because the thing that you are longing for is righteous, that it's something holy, that it's something related to holiness, it's something good, then it's something that he would be pleased with, then you see he'll grant it. No good thing will he withhold. from those who walk uprightly. He's going to give it to you and he will satisfy you with it. Have you the longing to see the church of Jesus Christ become a home of justice? A mountain of holiness? I'm not speaking of the false social justice of our own day that's so often spoken of. I'm speaking of the justice that comes about In a nation when the people live by God's Word, the Bible, they are keeping the Ten Commandments. They love their neighbor as themselves. Now, you know that a person is not a racist if they love their neighbor as themselves. Beloved, it's as simple as that. You are not a racist if you love your neighbor as yourself. And the people that want to make you look like a racist or wrong, if you love your neighbor as yourself. Because if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will love all people around you with the love of Christ. And you will long for their salvation and for them to know the Lord and to walk with the Lord. But I'm speaking about the justice that comes about in the nation when people live by the Lord's word, the Bible. People, when the people keep the Ten Commandments, when they love the Lord's commandments and they are not ashamed of them to talk of them to other people. Oh, this is a blessed thing for a Christian. Are you wearied with the news of these days? I know I am. Sometimes I just don't even want to turn on the television to watch the news. I'm almost afraid of what I might see. what I might find when I turn on the news network. So many people in our country acting badly, sinning greatly. But listen to what God can do and give thanks. Jeremiah 31 verses 23 to 28. This is what it says. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, they shall again, this is speaking of the nation of the jews the nation of israel listen to what it says they shall again use this speech in the land of judah and in its cities when i bring back their captivity the lord bless you oh home of justice and mountain of holiness and there shall dwell in judah itself and in all its cities together farmers and those going out with flocks For I have satiated, that word means I have satisfied the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. After this, Jeremiah says, I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me. Behold, the days are coming. says the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast, and it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck them up and break down, to throw down and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. Well, may this be so. that in coming days that the church will become a mountain of holiness and this country become a home of justice. May many people be learning to do what is right according to his word because you and I are teaching them God's promises and God's commandments. See that's what you and I are called to do when we see things falling apart in this nation. We don't despair When we look around us, we begin to teach people God's commandments, and His promises, and the greatest of those being in Christ, and the salvation which is found in Him, and the strength and wisdom that is found in Him, and the total blessing that is found in knowing God and walking with God. That's what we can do in these difficult days. And so we need to give thanks this week. that the Lord has been our help thus far. He has been our Ebenezer, and he continues to be, he will continue to be our help in days to come. No matter how the national election turns out, and whatever difficulties, trials, and afflictions we are going to pass through, let us give thanks, for this is the will of God, in Christ Jesus concerning us. Let's bow together for prayer. Father, thank you for this mighty passage in Psalm 107. May we go back and look upon it and marvel over the great promises that are here, the great things that are described, not only for the Jews but also for us Gentiles and for the whole world, anyone who would believe and trust in you. Help us to see how great your plans are in having a people for your own possession. How many, not only myriads of angels we shall meet someday, but myriads of people who have been saved by your grace and brought there by your great love and power, Lord Jesus and Father and Holy Spirit. We call upon your name to grant us a grace to be faithful in this generation. For we pray it in your dear name, amen. Well, let's close by singing the hymn number 51, when all thy mercies, oh my God. when all thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view, I am lost in wonder, love, and praise. Let's stand and sing this good hymn together. All Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys. Transported with Thee, I'm lost in wonder, love, and praise. comforts to my soul thy tender care bestowed. Before my infant heart conceived, from whom those comforts flowed. When, worn with sickness off, hast Thou with health renewed my face, And when in sins and sorrows sunk, revived my soul with grace. Ten thousand, thousand precious gifts my daily thanks employ. Nor is the least a cheerful heart that tastes those gifts with joy. every period of my life, thy goodness I'll pursue. worlds the glorious thee renew. Through all eternity to thee a joyful song I'll raise. For all eternities to I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name. The upright shall dwell in your presence." And all of God's people said, Amen. You are dismissed and may the Lord go with you and may the Lord be with you.