Our Ace In The Hole = The Lord's Lovingkindness Series

BIG IDEA:

THE LORD’S LOVINGKINDNESS BAILS OUT THE DISTRESSED

WHEN THEY CEASE THEIR REBELLION AND HUMBLY CRY OUT FOR

HELP

(:1-3) INTRODUCTION:

THE REDEEMED SHOULD THANK THE LORD FOR HIS

LOVINGKINDNESS

A. Call to Thanksgiving Focused on the Lord

"Oh give thanks to the Lord"

1. For His Goodness

"for He is good"

2. For His Lovingkindness

"for His lovingkindness is everlasting"

B. Testimony of the Redeemed

1. Responsibility to speak out

"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so"

2. Freedom from oppression

"Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary"

C. Restoration to Place of Blessing

"gathered from the lands"

"from the east and from the west "

"from the north and from the south"

I. (:4-9) THE LORD’S LOVINGKINDNESS BAILS OUT THE LOST AND THE STARVED

A. Provides Guidance to the Lost

1. Lost

"They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region"

"They did not find a way to an inhabited city"

Stedman: “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. There are a lot of them today. They

cannot find the answers. 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.”

2. Found

"He led them also by a straight way,

To go to an inhabited city"

B. Provides Food and Drink to the Starved = the Hungry and Thirsty

1. Starved

"They were hungry and thirsty;

Their soul fainted within them "

2. Satisfied

"He has satisfied the thirsty soul,

And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good"

C. Deliverance Depends Upon:

1. Ceasing from Rebellion

2. Humbly crying out for help

"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble"

D. Deliverance Results in:

"He delivered them out of their distresses"

E. Refrain: "Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men!"

II. (:10-16) THE LORD’S LOVINGKINDNESS BAILS OUT THE PRISONERS IN BONDAGE

A. The Misery of Bondage

1. Darkness / Death

"dwelt in darkness" / "in the shadow of death"

2. Confinement

"Prisoners in misery and chains"

Stedman: “These we might call the hostile, the rebellious ones. Notice their condition. They sit in darkness and gloom. That is always the figure in the Bible for hopeless ignorance. They cannot figure out what is wrong with them. Their lives are filled with

gloom, they have no hope, but they do not know what is wrong. They cannot understand their condition.”

B. The Cause of Bondage = Rebellion

"Because they had rebelled against the words of God,

and spurned the counsel of the Most High"

C. The Deliverance from Bondage -- Depends Upon:

1. Being Humbled

"Therefore He humbled their heart with labor:

they stumbled and there was none to help"

2. Crying Out for Help

"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble"

D. The Deliverance from Bondage -- Results in:

1. New Life

"He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death"

2. New Freedom

"And broke their bands apart"

"He has shattered gates of bronze"

"And cut bars of iron asunder"

E. Refrain: "Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men"

III. (:17-22) THE LORD’S LOVINGKINDNESS BAILS OUT THE AFFLICTED

- those afflicted with physical infirmities

- those afflicted with emotional infirmities

Stedman: “Here are the neurotics. They are sick people, either physically or emotionally

sick. How many millions there are like this today! Some, perhaps, are here this morning!

The characteristics of them are, first, they loathe food. Now food is what the body requires and, figuratively, it is what the soul requires. It is that which ministers health and strength. But these neurotic people are characterized by the fact that they do not want healthy things. They do not want good food. They do not want the plain fare of meat,

potatoes and gravy; they want whipped cream and caramel sauce. They do not want to read good books; they want highly spiced literature that sets them a-tingling, and panders to their lust. That is all they will eat. That is all they will read. That is all they want to live on. Therefore they get worse and worse. "They draw near to the gates of death." Here are

sick people, neurotic people, who are unable to handle life. They are fearful, nervous, anxious, afraid to go out and face life as it is.”

A. The Cause of Affliction = Acted as "Fools"

1. "because of their rebellious way"