Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Psalm 136. But before you go there, you
can put your finger there, but. Psalm 136 is where we'll be tonight,
but I also want you to open up the Second Chronicles chapter
seven. So Psalm 136 will be our text. But also put your finger and
open up right now 2 Chronicles chapter 7. If you would. The name of the message is God's
mercy endureth forever. God's mercy endureth forever. I'd like us to consider this
wonderful psalm tonight. It's a psalm of praise and thanksgiving. To the one true God. Jehovah. Jehovah. And we will see in this
psalm that He is very, very merciful to His people. And His mercy
endures forever. Forever. And instead of reading the whole
psalm right at the start, we'll read each section with each point
I'd like to cover tonight, eventually finishing the whole psalm. Now,
we do not know who the writer of this psalm is, but we know
that it was sung at the dedication of Solomon's temple. Turn, if
you would, to 2 Chronicles 7. We'll start in verse 1. Verses
1 to 3 we'll read, and then we'll read verse 6. Now, when Solomon
had made an end of praying, a fire came down from heaven and consumed
the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled
the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the
Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house.
And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came
down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves
and their faces to the ground upon the pavement, in worship
and praise the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy
endureth forever. Look at verse 7. And the priests
waited on their offices, the Levites, also with their instruments
and music of the Lord, which David the king had made to praise
the Lord, because his mercy endureth forever. When David praised by
their ministry, and the priests sounded trumpets before them,
and all Israel stood. Now turn, if you would, over
to 2 Chronicles chapter 20. A few chapters over, 2 Chronicles
chapter 20. This psalm was also sung by the
armies of Jehoshaphat as they marched into battle in the wilderness
of Tekoa. 2 Chronicles 20, verses 20-22. And they rose early in the morning
and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went forth,
Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants
of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God,
and so shall you be established. Believe His prophets, so shall
you prosper. When He had consulted with the
people, He appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should
praise the beauty of His holiness. As they went out before the army,
so they had them marching before the army, and the army's marching,
and look what they're singing. And to say, Praise the Lord for
His mercy endureth forever. His mercy endureth forever. And
look at 2 Chronicles verse 20, 22. And when they began to sing
and praise the Lord, set ambushes against the children of Ammon,
Moab, Mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they
were smitten. So there was a confederation of armies that had come against
the Israelites. Now look what happens in verse
23. As the Israelites are marching
forth singing, And they're singing, His mercy endureth forever. Some
commentators said the confederation of armies that were against them
figured that inside the camp, because they had never heard
anybody do this before, that maybe inside the camp there was
somebody against them. So what happens? They start fighting
each other. Israel's enemies start fighting amongst each other.
And what happens to them? Look what happens in verse 23.
For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants
of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them. And when they
had made an end to the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy
another. They destroyed one another. But
see, this psalm was sung at the dedication of the temple, and
it was sung by the armies of Israel as they marched forward. Let's go back to Psalm 136. So
one commentator brings forth that it was a popular hymn among
the Lord's ancient people. And we will see that it contains
nothing but praise and glorification for the great things that God
hath done. And we will see the church, we
who are the redeemed, the blood-bought children of God, can sing about
each of these points just as Israel of old did. And this psalm
will be enjoyed by a redeemed, grateful heart. It will be enjoyed
by God's people. So let's consider the first three
verses where we will see that God's people give Him praise
for who He is and what He is. For who He is and what He is. Psalm 136, verses 1 to 3, O give
thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth
forever. O give thanks unto the God of
gods, for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks to the
Lord of lords, for his mercy endureth forever. So we see in
verse 1 that we are to give thanks to our great God, our great God. The word Lord there we know from
our other studies is Jehovah, the self-existent one in the
Hebrew. The self-existent one. And what
joy to know that there is mercy with Jehovah. What joy for the
believer to know there is mercy with Jehovah. Enduring mercy. Enduring mercy. Mercy which endures
for how long? Forever, the scripture declares.
forever towards His people. And then note in verse 2, we'll
give thanks unto the God of gods for His mercy endureth forever.
Verse 2, the God of gods. This states there's no other
god besides Jehovah. No other gods besides Him. And
the psalmist here declares His supreme deity. His supreme deity. His dominion over all things. He is the one true God over all
gods. And notice little g, false gods. He's the one true God, Jehovah. All the other so-called gods
are false gods. And our God, the psalmist declares,
is absolutely all-powerful, and has all dominion over all things,
visible and invisible. Everything, everything is dependent
upon His will. Everything. Everything. And then verse 3, it says, O
give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy endureth forever. We are to give praise a third
time. we see proclaim that our God, our Savior is the Lord of
Lords. He is the Lord of Lords. He is
the one who is absolutely sovereign. And this is the one who has redeemed
our souls. Right here. My. This speaks of His ruling, His
governing over all things. He's the Lord of lords. And we
know that our Lord and Savior has all power, don't we? We know
that because in John chapter 17, He declared, is that has
given Him power over all flesh. Christ has all power that He
should give eternal life to as many as that was given Him. He's
got all power. Our Savior, the one who redeemed
our souls, has all power. All power. He has no rivals. He has no rivals. And in Philippians
2, verse 10 and 11, we're all familiar with this, that the
name of Jesus, every knee should bow, things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. Again, He has all power. And
one day, every single knee of every human being that ever lived,
is going to bow their knee and proclaim Christ is Lord. It's
incredible. It's absolutely incredible. So
when we consider these three verses and who God is, let us
ponder this. Remember in Genesis chapter one,
it says in the beginning, God. And we could stop right there,
right in the beginning, God. I want us to ponder something.
There was a time When God in the unity of his nature, Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit dwelt alone. There was. And he dwelt alone. In the beginning, God, there
was no heaven. Where his glory is now manifest,
there was no earth. There were no angels to praise
him. There was no universe to manifest his glory. No universe to be upheld by the
word of his power. There was nothing, no one but
God. No one but God. Not for a year,
not for a day, not for a year, nor for an age, but from everlasting.
See, we don't stop and ponder those things, do we? But this
is the truth. From everlasting. There was a
time in eternity past when God was alone, self-contained, self-sufficient,
self-satisfied, in need of nothing. In need of nothing. And now let us remember this,
too. God never changes, does he? He never changes. He never changes. Had a universe,
had angels, had human beings been necessary to Him in any
way, He would have spoken them into existence from all eternity.
The creating of all things visible and invisible added nothing to
Him. Added nothing to Him. What did it do? It manifested
His glory. It manifested His glory. Malachi
3, 6, turn up if you would, the Malachi chapter 3, verse 6. And this is the God that spoken
of in the psalm, this is the God who who were to come with
thankful and grateful hearts to. Let us remember his essential
glory, his intrinsic glory never changes, never, never changes. He cannot be added to or taken
away, nothing can add to God and nothing can take away from
us. And think of this in light of what we're going to look at
with with the fact where it says his mercy endureth forever. If
God never changes, then his mercy never changes. If God never changes,
then his redemption never changes. If God never changes, then we're
justified forever in Christ. You see how important it is,
the fact that he never changes. We change all the time, don't
we? Yeah, we do. But he never changes. What a
promise we have in him. What a what a great God. Look
at Malachi chapter three, verse six. For I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. So his love
and mercy has been set upon his people from eternity, from everlasting,
what does that mean? They don't ever change. They
don't ever change. My, what comfort, what comfort
the believer can draw from that well. My goodness. Now think of this, God was under
no obligation, no necessity to create. He chose to do so, and
this was a sovereign act on His part. This was a sovereign act
on His part, caused by nothing outside of Him. Caused by nothing
outside. It was all by His will, and by
His, it was His sovereign choice. All according to His will, because
Ephesians 1.11 says, He worketh all things after the counsel
of what? His own will. His own will. He created all
things to manifest his glory according to his pleasure. Now, let's bring that right down
to the believer. He chose me in Christ, and if
you're a believer, he chose you in Christ. Because it was his good pleasure
to do so. according to the good pleasure
of His will. What was it that moved Him to
predestinate His elect to the praise of the glory of His grace?
In Ephesians 1-5 it tells us, according to the good pleasure
of His will. My. So what does it make the
believer cry out? It makes the believer cry out
with the psalmist. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.
For His mercy endureth forever. Let us continue to verse 4, where
we see in Psalm 136, 4. To Him who alone doth great wonders,
for His mercy endureth forever. Note, He alone does great wonders. He alone does great wonders.
No one helped Jehovah in creation. No one. He didn't take counsel
with anyone. And no one helped Jehovah in
the redemption of his people. See, in religion, they tell you,
oh, God wants to save you. He's waiting for you. No, I'm
here to tell you and boldly declare that if God chooses to save a
sinner, he shall be saved by His grace and by His grace alone. And it's because His mercy endures. forever all the works of creation are his alone the unfolding works
of providence those things that are unsearchable and past finding
out are all by his hand and he needs no assistance from creatures and it is so in the mighty works
of grace beloved the mighty works of grace, He has redeemed His
people with His own right hand and His holy arm. And God's people praise Him for
the mighty works of grace, the redemption of His people, the
salvation of His people in and through Christ alone. And He
alone has wrought out salvation for His people. Aren't you thankful he saved
you if you're saved? Aren't you thankful he included you? There's
a wonderful song. Brother used to sing it out in
the rescue. He included me. My. He wrought this salvation. Salvation
is of the Lord. Christ himself wrought out this
salvation for his people. And salvation is in Christ alone,
by God's grace alone, And therefore we give Him all the glory alone.
Because He alone is deserving of it. For the great things He's
done for us. So we do, do we not see right
here before us? That His mercy endureth forever. Forever. Let's consider verses
5 to 9. Where we see The psalmist praising Him for
what He's done in creation. To Him that by wisdom made the
heavens, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that stretched
out the earth above the waters, for His mercy endureth forever.
To Him that made great lights, for His mercy endureth forever. The sun to rule by day, for His
mercy endureth forever. the moon and the stars to rule
by night, for His mercy endureth forever. Here, the psalmist describes
the great creative work of our Lord, and we are to praise Him,
just as the psalmist did, and just as those who sang this song
in old. It is the Lord who's done all
that's described here. And then think of what He's done
for us. He's redeemed our eternal souls. And can we not sing out
with the psalmist? His mercy endureth forever. Forever. The psalmist is calling
for praise to Jehovah. for His numberless acts of goodness,
and His wisdom of His creation, and the great works of God, the
formation of the heavens, the earth, the lights of heaven,
the moon, and the sun, and the psalmist is carried away in praise
for God's great creative work. Now let's consider verses 10
to 15. were to praise Him for what He did in redeeming Israel
from bondage. And remember, the Israelites
were singing this. They knew what they were singing.
Those who were of the Lord. Look at this. To Him that smote
Egypt during their firstborn, for His mercy endureth forever,
and bought out Israel from among them, for His mercy endureth
forever. With a strong hand and with a
stretched out arm, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him which
divided the Red Sea into parts, for His mercy endureth forever.
And made Israel to pass through the midst of it, for His mercy
endureth forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his
hosts in the Red Sea, for His mercy endureth forever. What a wondrous and beautiful
picture we have here before us, beloved. In the Scriptures, the
deliverance of Israel from the Egyptians. by God's hand, by
God's almighty hand. And the psalmist takes us from
the kingdom of nature and providence in the first nine verses to here
before us the kingdom of grace and picture. And what a picture of our great
deliverance. What a picture of our great deliverance
from the bondage of sin that we were in, in the history of Israel. and
their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. Here before us, by
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, we see how great salvation
must be, which is in the person and by the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ in Him alone. What but bringing out Israel
from Egypt, from all the bondage that they were in. Remember,
they were under taskmasters. They were in slavery. And they
could not get themselves out. And what a picture we have here.
The bringing out of the souls of sinners from the worst in
the Egyptian bondage. Bringing us and delivering us
out of the sin and death. And what but the Red Sea could
picture the Red Sea of Christ's blood, which was shed to pay
for the sins of all the elect, of all the angels? And what but the feeding in the
wilderness could picture Jesus feeding His people in this wilderness
that we are in, with His own body and blood, and He alone
is our heavenly man, isn't He? He alone. And He came down from
heaven for His people. And every single one of God's
blood-bought children, whom the Lord has set free, whom the Lord
has purchased with His own precious blood, and delivered from the
bondage of sin, may cry out with the psalmist, His mercy endureth
forever. Forever. It's unchanging because
He's unchanging. Give thanks and praise, you who
are the redeemed of the Lord. Give thanks and praise, because
His mercy endureth forever. Next, let us consider we are
to praise Him for what He does in His providential works towards
us. Psalm 136, verse 16, To Him which
led His people through the wilderness, for His mercy endureth forever.
Notice in this verse his personal care to him which led. His personal
care for his people. God himself leads his people
through the wilderness. His peculiar interests, they
are his people. They are the people of his choosing. People of his choosing. And notice
preserving goodness through the wilderness. And He does all this for His
people. He led Israel through the wilderness.
And what a picture of what He does for us as we journey through
this world, we who are the elect of God. And we cry out with the
psalmist, His mercy endureth forever. And then it says in
verses 17 to 20, To Him which smote great kings, for His mercy
endureth forever. And slew famous kings, for His
mercy endureth forever. Shion, king of the Amorites,
for his mercy endureth forever. And Og, and the king of Bashan,
for his mercy endureth forever. He slew all their enemies. He slew all the enemies of his
people. Think of this. He who had subdued
the mighty ruler of Egypt made short work of these petty sovereigns. made short work of them. Great though they were in the
esteem of their fellow men and the neighboring provinces and
princes in the world. Oh, they were great in man's
eyes. Says famous kings. They were great in stature, Scripture
declares, too. But they're dust in the eyes
of the Lord. They're dust in the eyes of the
Lord, swept away by His almighty hand and His power. That's our God. That's our Savior. We have here in the enemies of
Israel, Pharaoh, king of Bashan, Sion, king of the Amorites, those
who are the enemies of God and of his Christ. And our enemies. God will destroy. God will destroy. And what a
picture. Again, our deliverance from the
bondage of our sin and from all our enemies. Through the land
of God. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 8. Through the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in
whom we are more than conquerors, and it's only through Christ
and Christ alone that we are more than conquerors. And, O
Beloved, His mercy, His mercy towards us endures forever. Look
at Romans chapter 8, verses 36 to 39. As it is written, For
thy sake We are killed all the day long. We are as counted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors. How? Through Him that loved us. Through Christ and Christ alone.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. And then we can cry out, because
His mercy endures forever, forever. Let's go back to our Psalm. Psalm 136, we're looking at verses
21 and 22 still. And looking at His mighty providential
works. Look at this in Psalm 21 and
22. All the land of those kings was
given to the Israelites. It says, and gave their land
for an heritage, for His mercy endureth forever. Even an heritage
unto Israel, His servant, for His mercy endureth forever. One
commentator said this, the Lord of the whole earth transferred
His estate from one tenant to another. He gives it to whomever He pleases. He gave that inheritance to them.
They were His chosen people. What an inheritance we have waiting
for us in glory. All because of His mercy and
grace. All because of His mercy. The land here in our text did
not become the property of the Israelites by their own sword
and bow, no. But by a grant from the throne
of God. By a grant from the throne of God according to His will
and purpose. Just as those who were, who had
the land before them, it was by God's will and purpose. And
this was the great end all along. Bringing them from Egypt to Jordan.
Because it was he who bought the people of Egyptian bondage.
And he also bought them into the promised land. What a picture
of what he does for us. Again, we were in the Egyptian
bondage of this world. And he regenerated us, saved
us by his grace, and now we're on our journey to the promised
land, aren't we? And who's leading us? He is. Who's going to take us there?
He is. He is. And note the enemies of God were
powerless to stop this from occurring. They were powerless to stop Israel. Because of God before you. Who
can be against you? The lands of the heathen king
were given to Israel by Jehovah himself. Wrath is shown to one
group of people, and mercy to another. Mercy is
shown to those whom God has chosen, and wrath to the other. What a picture. Those who are
His chosen people and redeemed of the Lord, truly we can proclaim
His mercy endureth forever. Forever. What a picture of God's
unmerited favor towards His elect we see in our text here. We receive
grace and mercy instead of justice and wrath. And it's all because
of what our Savior has done for us. And this should make us truly
thankful, truly grateful. And we have a constant reminder
in the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that
God's mercy truly endures forever. Don't we? Every time we hear
it. In verse 23 and 24, We are to praise Him for His
mercy in the present time. Look at this. Who remembered
us in our lowest state, for His mercy endureth forever, and hath
redeemed us from our enemies, for His mercy endureth forever. Who remembered us in our lowest
state? God did. God did. The scripture declares this is
personal for the believer in Christ, for the elect of God,
for the redeemed, who are singing these words, who remembered us. The thief on the cross asked
these words to our great savior in Luke chapter 23, verse 42. Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And here we see in our text who
remembered us in our lowest state. And our Lord's reply to that
thief was, Verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with
me in paradise. For his mercy endureth forever. And our prayer is, Lord, remember
me. He remembered us in our lowest state. This is our encouragement. He has remembered His people.
He'll never forget us and never leave us and never forsake us. He has remembered His people.
Let us remember this. For the Lord to even think of
us is a wealth of mercy. For Him to even think of us.
is a wealth of mercy, is a vast mine of mercy, a sea of mercy for him just to think of us. For we were in a very low state
in our natural state, dead in trespasses and sins. And he remembered us He remembers
His people in their lowest state. He remembers us when we're in
our sin and our bondage. He remembers His people when
they're in Egypt. They couldn't free themselves
and neither could we. But Christ has redeemed us from
our enemies, He's redeemed us from our enemies. It says, and
hath redeemed us from our enemies, verse 24, for His mercy endureth
forever. Christ has redeemed us from our
enemies, temporal, tyrants, oppressors, spiritual
enemies, Satan, the world, the law, death, and hell. Christ
has redeemed us from our enemies. And this is clearly seen in our
redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ through His shed blood
for us. Where mercy and truth have met
together, where God's distinguishing grace is on full display as Christ
dies for those the Father has given Him, the sinless one dying
for sinners, this mercy This grace was not granted to angels,
and it's not granted to all, but it's granted to His people,
in and through Christ and Christ alone. And we who have been redeemed
by Christ, we know that His mercy endures forever. We know that
we do not get what we deserve. We know that we've obtained mercy
in through Christ alone. We've not received wrath. But
the wrath of God for our sins has been appeased in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's fallen upon Christ and he
paid it all, beloved. He cried with a loud voice, it
is finished. Redemption is paid. The price
demanded by God is paid. And the believer cries, His mercy
endureth forever. Forever. Is that not mercy, beloved? We do not get what we deserve.
And so we can cry out, Oh, what a merciful God we have. What
a Savior. What a Redeemer that He died
for me. A sinner like me. And every one of us can say this.
Has He not remembered us in our lowest state, beloved, in our
lost state? And He did because His mercy
endureth forever. God sent His Son to redeem us
from sin and death and hell and all our spiritual enemies because
His mercy endureth forever. What a Savior! What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord! Let's consider next verse 25.
We're to praise Him for His universal providence and supply for all
of creation. Who giveth food to all flesh
for His mercy endureth forever. There's going to be a lot of
people tomorrow going to sit down in this country and they're going
to eat big old turkey dinner and they don't have a clue that
it all came to them from God. But we know that. We who are
redeemed know that, don't we? My goodness. Look what it says
though. Who giveth food to all flesh. That's everyone. for His mercy endureth forever.
He gives food to all creatures, the beasts of the field, the
fowls of the air, and to all the men, men and women upon this
world. He gives them daily food to the
Jews and to the Gentiles, good men and bad men. He has the sun rise and the rain
fall on the just and on the unjust, doesn't He? that ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven, for ye make it the sun to rise
on the evil and on the good, and send it to rain on the just
and on the unjust. So we who are redeemed are to
praise him for his universal providence and his supply for
all of creation. Let we who are redeemed also
remember that Christ is our spiritual food. He's our daily bread, isn't
He? He is the bread of life to His
people. He's our spiritual manna. We must feast upon Him. And we
do, through the preaching of the Gospel and the reading of
the Scriptures. Oh, how He feeds us. He leads us to green pastures
of His Word, doesn't He? And He speaks peace to our souls.
And it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Let's look at the last verse
of the psalm, verse 26, and we are to praise and give thanks
because He alone is the God of God, the God of heaven, the God
of heaven. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of heaven for His mercy endureth forever. So this psalm sweetly
ends as it began. We've seen that every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above. And we know that God works
in us, both the will and the do of His good pleasure, doesn't
He? And He is God and He dwells in heaven. He's the maker of it. His glory
and wisdom and power is here and here on this earth and in
heaven displayed. He's the God of heaven. of heaven and earth, all things
both visible and invisible. The God of heaven. This is where
he dwells. This is where his throne is.
And this is where all blessings, both temporal and spiritual,
come from. To the believer, in and through Christ and Christ
alone. And this is where his people will spend eternity. Eternity. With Him. A prepared people who
will be in a prepared place. And who's going to get all the
glory? He will. He will. He gets all the glory
and all the praise. It's wonderful. And right now
we have an inheritance reserved for us in glory. In Christ Jesus
our Lord. So let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord give thanks to our God in Christ. Let us give Him
thanks and praise for His wondrous works which we've seen in providence
and creation and redemption. And may we join the song with
the saints of old in singing His mercy enduring forever. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank Thee. Oh, we thank Thee that Thou art
unchanging. And knowing that You are unchanging,
our salvation is unchanging. Oh, Lord, Your mercies are new
every morning to us. And we who are the redeemed,
we who are the blood-bought saints, purchased by the blood of your
Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we have experienced that
thy mercy endureth forever. May we give you praise and glory
for all that we have in Christ, for our families, and for the
food which daily appears before us. We love thee and we praise
thee in Jesus' name. Amen.