4 Pictures

Sermon for 1/28/2007

Psalm 107:1-32

Introduction:

Song by Paul Overstreet- God is good all the time He put a song of praise

In this heart of mine God is good all the time

Through the darkest night His light will shine

God is good God is good all the time

WBTU:

A. Turn to Psalm 107 and we will look at portions of this in a minute.

B. This Psalm tells of the certain conditions that the Israelites faced throughout their history. Some had been wanderers, some captives, some stricken with sickness and disease, some all but lost at sea.

C. But in a broader sense this Psalm talks about the conditions and history of every soul that is outside of Jesus Christ.

Thesis: Look at 4 pictures from Psalm 107 of those outside of Christ and then look how they respond to their condition.

For instances:

4 pictures

1. That of the wanderer

A. Read Psalm 107:4-5

B. Gone out of the right way, on their own, in the desert wilderness; very miserable since they can find no home or rest.

C. They are what we might call the restless ones. They are the ones who wander about from place to place or from job to job from marriage to marriage, filled with questions and seeking to find where the answer lies. They are looking for something but they cannot find it. They keep wandering from place to place and from experience to experience, trying to find something to satisfy.

C. (Isa 53:6 NIV) We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way. No shepherd to guide or protect or provide for basic needs.

C. Hungry and thirsty and they are despairing of life and have no hope of satisfaction.

D. They are wanderers from God and they are tired and discontented.

F. This is a picture of the failure of the soul to find satisfaction apart from God.

2. That of the captive.

A. Read Psalm 107:10-12

B. They are in prisons of their own making. They have rebelled willfully against the commands of God and their rebellion has put them in chains.

C. They are held prisoner by certain habits, by ideas, by thoughts, by attitudes that hold them in an iron grip. No matter how hard they try they cannot break the grip, despite the misery it causes. There are many things that can do this. Drugs can do it. Sex can also do it. A bitter attitude can do it, too.

C. They are bound hand and foot, doomed to die. They feel stupid and ashamed because of their pitiful condition because it is of their own doing. They are without help and hope.

D. (Rom 7:24 NIV) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

E. This is a picture of the awful power, oppression, and cruelty of sin.

3. That of a person with a terrible disease or sickness

A. Read Psalm 107:17-18

B. Some people persist in sin and it results in sicknesses. It can also be a sickness of the mind or emotions.

C. Really sin can be compared to leprosy. Takes away our moral feelings until bit by bit we are eaten alive. If no restoration of feeling then there is death.

D. This is a picture of the afflictions that bring death by sin.

4. That of a sailor in a deadly storm.

A. Read Psalm 107:23, 25-27

B. It says that God brings this about. Now we know that God is over the weather. But this world has been warped by sin and so things are not as they should be.

C. These sailors have done everything they know to do. It is hopeless.

D. Much like our lives. Jesus said, (Mat 5:45 NIV) He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

E. Because of the economy or a bad business deal, "It looks bad. I don’t know what happened, but suddenly I’m in a mess." They were able to solve their own problems in the past, and to escape one crisis after another. But with this trial, there seems to be no way of escape. They are mentally and physically exhausted.

E. Into every life a little rain must fall. Everyone has circumstances in life that turn sour. However, those without Christ are at their wits’ end. Everything they have to look forward to is here and when that goes they have nothing.

F. This is a picture of a soul that does not have Christ that meets with sudden and unfortunate circumstances.

How They Respond

1. The Wanderer Read Psalm 107:6-9

A. He delivers them. How?

B. Leading them back to the straight way. (Mat 7:13 NIV) "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. (Mat 7:14 NIV) But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.