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 God’s 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 don’t give thanks to the Lord based on our
CONDITION but based on God’s 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 Israel’s 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 Pharaoh’s 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, don’t 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 priests—an act of faith for they had not
been healed one whit as they began their
journey.
(4) As a group, they were all healed—apparently 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 wouldn’t 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\\ Don’t 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. Let’s don’t 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. That’s
conviction!
b. And "they fell down." That’s loss of God’s power,
protection, and prosperity. God took His blessing
away and down they tumbled.
c. \\#13\\ "Then they cried unto the Lord" - That’s
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 can’t 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. Don’t forget!
1. Don’t forget the times when you heart has grown cold on
God—whether your body ever followed your heart or not.
2. And certainly don’t 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.
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