Psalm 107:1-3 – Thankful Heart, Praising Tongue – Bible study

Psalm 107:1-3 A Thankful Heart and A Praising Tongue As Thanksgiving approaches, I believe there are two gifts God would like us to give Him, A Thankful Heart and A Praising Tongue. I. Understand Gods Command A. This Psalm starts each of the first two verses with commands. Psalm 107:1 O give thanks unto the Lord. Psalm 107:2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. 1. Verse 1 commands thanksgiving. a. Thankfulness comes from the heart. b. Hence a thankful heart. 2. But verse 2 commands us to speak forth what Christ has done for us. a. That is praise and praise must come from the mouth. b. Hence a praising tongue. 3. Together, God is commanding us to have a thankful spirit and a praising tongue. B. Notice that there are no subjective conditions in front of these commands. 1. No statements like "If you want to, O give thanks unto the Lord." 2. Or "If things are going well for you, O give thanks unto the Lord." 3. No, the verses simply give two commands: a. "Give thanks unto the Lord," b. and "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." 4. So what does God want us to do? God wants us to give thanks and to speak of what He has done for us regardless of whether or not we are currently pleased with our situations or not. C. Major question: 1. Why are there no subjective conditions? Why is our praise and thanksgiving not contingent on how we feel things are going? 2. Because we dont give thanks to the Lord based on our CONDITION but based on Gods CHARACTER. 3. Notice the remainder of the verse 1 Psalm 107:1 for (because) he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. D. Our praise and thanksgiving is not based on how God treats us, but on who God is. 1. That is a hard concept for human beings to understand and accept, but if we are sick, God is still good and worthy of our praise. 2. If we are homeless, God is still good and worthy of our praise. 3. If we are lonely, God is still good and worthy of our praise. 4. If we are being attacked, persecuted, prosecuted, betrayed, foreclosed on, lied about, denied, afflicted, and seemingly forsake, God is still good and worthy of our praise. E. I believe that as we praise God DESPITE what is happening in our lives that God will give us reason to praise Him BECAUSE of what is happening in our lives. 1. However, I do not want to give you the idea that praising God will cause God to change our circumstances for better because this verse is making it clear that God should be praised for His goodness no matter what is happening in our lives. 2. A thankful heart and a praising tongue is not payment to God for what He has done. It is payment to God for who He is. 3. However, I still believe praise and thanksgiving will make our lives better! II. \#4-9\ Understand Our Condition A. \#4-9\ The Psalmist praised God for their salvation. 1. The Psalmist recited some of Israels history. Psalm 107:4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. 5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 2. This is the time when Israel came out of Egypt. 3. Have you ever thought about the physical journey these Jews made? a. They were a group of former slaves with no supplies except those they gathered from the Egyptians as they left. (1) Slaves would have had no livestock. (2) Slaves would have had no wagons, no camels, no horses to carry the load. (3) Slaves would not have needed those things for they had no storehouse of food, no tools, no weapons, so spare cloths or shoes which needed to be carried to this new land. (4) On their bare backs they still had the whelps placed by Pharaohs servants when they could not make enough bricks to fulfill their quota. b. They were a people that numbered into the millions but as they departed Egypt, they did not even have water provisions for the journey. 2. Have you thought about the spiritual journey they were making on this physical trip? a. These verses describe Israel as lost. b. They were on the first steps of learning who the great "I Am" was; but at this point as a nation, Israel more pictures the lost than the saved. c. \#Heb 4:1-3\ says that many of them died in the wilderness in unbelief, that is lost and without God. d. Some of the Jews who departed out of Egypt never did come to trust in Jehovah God. They just had too much paganism in them. 3. \#6-9\ Yet, some will call upon the Lord and be delivered. Psalm 107:6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. 7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. 8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. (1) What does that mean? (2) It means they got saved. C. Unfortunately, Israel had forgotten their past condition and their deliverance. 1. One of the greatest detriments to a thankful spirit and a praising tongue is a forgetful heart. 2. In 2Peter, Peter listed characteristics that should accompany every believer in their salvation journey. 3. The list includes faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. 4. While thanksgiving is not on that list, Peter explained the common cause for their lacking these things to them. 2Peter 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 5. A Christian that does not have these qualities is blind and has forgotten where he was and what God did for him! 6. I am thinking there are two reasons why some might not be thankful. a. Like Simon of the New Testament, they do not appreciate what God has given to them. b. Like the church Peter wrote to, they forgot where they came from. D. Christians, dont forget where you came from and where God has brought you! 1. Is it possible that the 38 year old lame man at Bethesda ever forgot those 38 years? \#John 5:1-16\ 2. Is it possible that the man who lived in the tombs, cut himself, broke chains that bound him, and was filled demons ever forgot who he was? \#Mk 5:1-20\ 3. Is it possible that the two blind who sat outside of Jericho ever forgot their blindness? \#Matt 20:29-34\ 4. I would like to say no. No, that is not possible; but then I remember the ten lepers in Samaria. \#Luke 17:11-19\ a. They had leprosy and must have had it for some time. (1) As a group, they came petitioned Jesus for healing. (2) As a group, they heard His answer. (3) As a group, they turned to go show themselves to the priestsan act of faith for they had not been healed one whit as they began their journey. (4) As a group, they were all healedapparently as the same exact moment! b. But then the group dissolved. (1) It began every man for himself as each man rushed home to long-missed wives and children. (2) Only one remembered to go back to Jesus and to bow before Him in praise and thanksgiving! (3) What happened to the other nine? They forgot! So soon. So quickly, they forgot! 5. Friend, I have news for you. a. If you are a Christian, a child of God with your sins forgiven, you WERE in far worse shape than any of physical afflictions. b. Our souls were bound by a heavy chain to the anchor of sin and lay suspended over the ocean of hell by the thin thread of life. c. We were all but a last breath from that breaking that slender cord and falling into eternal damnation. 6. No, Christian, let us not forget our past condition. E. I listened to a preacher (Aaron Bibb) preach this week. His church was having testimonies one night, and he walked into the church with about 3 feet of a topped out cedar tree. He lived in North Carolina and was staying with his sister, but he was lost. He liked to drink, but sometimes he could not get anyone to drink with him so he would go out to the back yard where a 100 year old cedar tree stood and sit down. He said he tried to get the dogs to come sit with him as he drank but even they wouldnt have anything to do with him so he just sat and drank himself into a stupor at the foot of that old, old cedar tree; but then on April 3, 2014, he bowed as another tree. It was the cross of Jesus, and on that day God saved him, changed him, and eventually called him to preach. For some reason, the old cedar tree needed to be cut down and his sister asked Aaron to help. When they feel the tree, he felt God wanted him to cut off the top of that old tree and keep it. He did not why at the time. He had it in his head that he might make a walking stick out of it, but it was too short. However, when the church announced they were having testimonies, he knew why God wanted him to cut it off. It was so that he would never forget where he came from! III. Understand the Good Things God Has Given A. There is no section that teaches this thought but the chorus does. Psalm 107:8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! \#15, 21, 31\ B. I cannot tell you what goodness God has and is showing to you, but I can tell you that He has! 1. Have you been working? 2. Have you had groceries? 3. Have you had reasonably good health? 4. Have you had the joy of being with your family? C. Why is it that is seems so easy to remember the bad things that have happened to us and so difficult to remember the good things that God did for us? IV. \#10-12\ Dont forget your backsliding. Psalm 107:10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; 11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: 12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. 13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. A. Lets dont pretend we have not been there. 1. Right on the heels of the deliverance of God in \#6-9\, the Psalmist begins to describe going back into darkness \#10\! 2. \#11\ He made the reason why they were in darkness very clear. Psalm 107:11 Because they rebelled against the words of God. a. That is backsliding! b. To be delivered by God and to return to bondage is backsliding, no matter whose book you are using. 3. \#12-14\ So what happened? a. \#12\ God brought down their heart. Thats conviction! b. And "they fell down." Thats loss of Gods power, protection, and prosperity. God took His blessing away and down they tumbled. c. \#13\ "Then they cried unto the Lord" – Thats repentance. d. "he saved them out of their distresses." (1) God rescued them again! (2) \#14\ Even to bringing them out of the darkness. B. The only thing better than being rescued by God from a backslidden condition is never being backslidden at all; but this is difficult. C. There are two kinds of backsliding. 1. The one that everyone thinks of when we speak about it is physical backsliding. a. That is the one where your body follows you into backsliding and everyone else can see that it is happening. b. You may or may not have committed that kind of backsliding. 2. But the other kind of backsliding is internal backsliding. a. That is where your heart backslides on God. b. Others cant see that. c. I am the pastor of the Green Pond Baptist Church, and most of you will have never seen me physically backslidden. d. But God has caught me internally backslidden many times. D. Dont forget! 1. Dont forget the times when you heart has grown cold on Godwhether your body ever followed your heart or not. 2. And certainly dont forget the times your body followed your wandering heart. 3. Why? a. Because we need to remember the price we paid to backslide. Backsliding always costs. b. Because we need to remember the love God gave when we backslid. c. Because we need to remember the lessons we learned when we backslid. 4. Prayerfully, these have changed our lives for the good and for the glory of God. God has been very good to the Green Pond Baptist Church and to every member of the Green Pond Baptist Church. Why? Because He is good and merciful! We should give Him thanks, and I pray that we will.