Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Psalms 136. Let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, we thank you this
morning for this time. Hear our prayer. Help us. Lord, we know, according to your
word, that where two or three are gathered together in your
name, you're in the midst. Thank you. Bless that thought
to our hearts. Forgive us. We pray for Christ's
sake. Amen. This blessed Psalm has this distinction
about it. Every verse in Psalm 136 ends
with these words, For His mercy endureth forever. I'd like to deal with Psalm 136
in both messages this morning. originally prepared the message
as one message. But then after I did that, I
looked at it and I decided I would preach it in two messages. I
would like to look at verses 1, 2, and 3 in the first message
this morning. This psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving. And I pray this morning that
as we hear, that the Lord would give us a remembrance to be thankful,
to be thankful. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, for He is good,
for His mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of gods, For His mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks to the
Lord of Lords, for His mercy endureth forever. In the next service, Lord willing,
I want us to consider the heart, the message of this particular
chapter. But this psalm Or if not this
psalm, one that set forth the thought, the exhortation of this
psalm, was set forth and was probably the one that was sung
at the bringing... Hold your place right there.
Turn back to 1 Chronicles 16. 1 Chronicles 16. I'll give you a second to find
it. Back about 25%, back toward the
front. 1st Chronicles 16, this psalm
was probably the one sung at the bringing up of the ark into
the holy city by David. 1st Chronicles 16, so they brought
the ark of God and set it in the midst of the tent that David
had pitched for it and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings
before God, verse 4, and he appointed certain of the Levites to minister
before the ark of the Lord and to record and to thank and praise
the Lord, God of Israel, verse 7. Then on that day, David delivered
first this song to thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph and
his brethren. What David wrote this song under
the inspiration of God's Spirit and gave it to Asaph And he said,
I want you to take this song. This song was to be sung. And
I'll let you just read verses 8 to 34 for the sake of time. And it gives the heart of what
they were thanking the Lord for. And then it says in verse 34,
O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy
endureth forever. So when they brought the ark,
into the holy city. They sang this psalm. And then the scripture seems
to set forth that this psalm, or as I said before, the message
of this psalm, appears to have been daily sung as the Levites
ministered in the tabernacle. First Chronicles, same chapter,
verse 37 to This song, look at 37 to 41, so he left there before
the ark of the covenant of the Lord Asaph and his brethren to
minister before the ark continually as every day's work required. And Obed-Edom with their brethren,
three score and eight, Obed-Edom also the son of Juduthun, and
Hosah, to be porters. And Zadok, the priest and his
brethren, the priest before the tabernacle of the Lord in the
high place that was at Gibeon, to offer burnt offerings unto
the Lord upon the altar of the burnt offering continually. morning
and evening, and to do according to all that is written in the
law of the Lord, which he commanded Israel. And with them Heman and
Jaduthun and the rest that were chosen, who were expressed by
name to give thanks to the Lord, because His mercy endureth forever."
When they were sacrificing there, it was appointed, I want you
to make sure this song is sung, you sing this, oh give thanks,
oh give thanks, oh give thanks. And then in 2 Chronicles 7, verses
1 to 6, whenever Solomon had built the temple, Solomon had
this song sung at the dedication, 2 Chronicles 7, verses 1 to 6,
and when Solomon had made an end of praying, The 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 with their faces to the ground
upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord saying,
for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. Then the king
and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. And King Solomon
offered a sacrifice, 22,000 oxen, 120,000 sheep. So the king and
all the people dedicated the house of God and the priest waited
on their offices. the Levites, also with 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, moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of
the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there
he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings,
because the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able
to receive the burnt offerings and the meat offerings and the
fast. So at the dedication of the temple, he sang this psalm. And then one other, Jehoshaphat
in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, 2 Chronicles 20. Jehoshaphat had this psalm
sung as he went out to battle against the enemies of the Lord.
2 Chronicles Chapter 20, verse 1 says this, it came to pass
after this also that the children of Moab, the children of Ammon,
and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat
to battle. And so what he did was he found
out that these enemies of Israel were going to come and do battle
against Jehoshaphat. The king, in verse 6 to 21, 2
Chronicles 20, he's going to pray about it. This is what happens. The Lord allows these things
to come our way. You want to know why? You want
to know why? God's people go through the adversity
that they do. It's to bring our hearts. to
cast ourselves upon God's mercy and to ask. Now listen to 2 Chronicles
20 verse 6 to 21. And he said, O Lord God of our
fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over
all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thy hand is there not
power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art
not thou our God? who didst drive out the inhabitants
of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the
seed of Abraham thy friend forever. And they dwelt therein, and have
built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name's saying, if when
evil cometh upon us as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine. And we stand before this house,
and in thy presence, For thy name is in this house, and cry
unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And now behold the children of
Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom they wouldest not let Israel
invade when they came out of the land of Egypt." Egypt was
going through, I mean Israel was going through the land. And
God wouldn't let the Israelites. Go to battle with them. He said,
no, they wouldn't let them go through their land. And the Lord
told him, he said, don't invade them, just go around, go around.
And now here's Jehoshaphat, he prayed, he said, Lord, the children
of Ammon, Moab, Mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel
invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned
from them and destroyed them not. Behold, I say, how they
reward us. Consider what they're doing.
We didn't go in. It's your word. We didn't go
in. And look how they reward, look how they treat us. They
come out to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given
us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge
them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what
to do, but our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before
the Lord with their little ones and their wives and children.
Then upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah,
the son of Jeiel, the son of Madaniah, a Levite of the sons
of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the
company." While they were sitting there praying and seeking God,
they were all standing before the Lord in Jehoshaphat's prayer,
and he said, Lord, you see what they're doing? We didn't do battle
with them, but now they're coming against us, and they're more
than we are. And then God moved upon this
man, this prophet, and he said, verse 15, "...hearken ye, O Judah,
and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou, King Jehoshaphat, thus
saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid, nor dismayed by reason
of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but
God's. Tomorrow go ye down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff
in Ziz, and you shall find them at the end of the brook, before
the wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not need to fight in
this battle. Set yourselves, stand you still, see the salvation
of the Lord with you. O Judah and Jerusalem, fear not,
or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you.' And Jehoshaphat bowed his head
with his face to the ground. And all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord, and
the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and the children
of the Kohites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a
loud voice on high. They rose up early in the morning
and went before the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went, Jehoshaphat
stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,
believe in the Lord your God. so shall you be established.
Believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. And when he had
consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord,
and that should praise the beauty of holiness. And they went out
before the army to say, praise the Lord for his mercy endureth
forever. So here at the dedication of
the temple, when David brought in the ark, when Jehoshaphat
had to go against his enemies. And the Lord told him, he said,
Jehoshaphat, this ain't your fight. It's my fight. You go out. And you just go out
before him. Jehoshaphat sent these singers
out in front of the army. And this is what they were singing.
They were singing this psalm. His mercy endureth forever. Now back in Psalms 136. Back to 136. That's just to give you some
understanding of the significance of this blessed psalm. We see
the Lord moving upon his people hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of years ago. And now here we are this morning
and we're reading this exact psalm that they had sung in praise
and honor. The scripture says first of all,
oh give thanks. onto the capital L, capital O,
capital R, capital D. Now before I go any farther,
I'm going to just tell you right now. The more I read these first
three verses, the more I acknowledge how much I don't know. But I
can tell you what the words mean, and I pray that the Spirit of
God might give us some understanding. We're giving thanks unto God. He's one God. He's one God. But here the Scripture sets forth.
We can't enter into the depth of who He is. But listening to
the wording of Scripture, listen to this, Oh give thanks unto
Jehovah. We give thanks unto the triune
God. the I am that I am. We worship one God and He's declared
in the scriptures in three persons and He's one God. Now I can't,
if you want to turn to Matthew 3, I'm going to read Matthew
3 verses 16-17 at the baptism of our Lord. Now here's One God. One God. And I can't understand. I cannot perceive. I believe
the Trinity. The tri-unity of God. And that's what, when we see
capital L, capital O, capital R, it's Jehovah. Father, Son,
Spirit. Listen to Matthew 3, verses 16-17. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon him, and, lo, a voice from
heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." One God. One God. Let me tell you what I love about
the Lord's declaration of Himself. I can't understand Him. I cannot
understand Him. He'd give me a heart to love
Him. He'd give me a heart to bow to Him. But if somebody would
say, explain the Trinity to me, I'd say, I can't explain that
to you. When I say the tri-unity of God, and He's one God, I cannot,
our minds don't work that way. We just cannot, we cannot enter
into it. But here He is. He's one God. Look at 1 John. 1 John 5, 7.
Here's another one. 1 John 5, 7. that bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Now, let me tell you what I did.
Somebody would say, well, sure, they're one. They're one in purpose. That's right, Corey. I agree
with that. They're one in purpose. They're one in will. That's correct.
I agree with that. But I looked the Word up. And
here's what the word means. In essence, they're one. Mark, you're just one. You're
one person. You're one person in essence. That's what it means. They're one. They're one in essence. They are one in unity. They're
one in will. They're one in purpose. They're
one. But they're one in essence. And I cannot, I can't understand
or express But I believe it. I believe that Almighty God the
Father chose a people. And He gave them to the Son. And trusted the Son. And the
Spirit of God is going to surely call out God's elect. And He's
going to teach God's people of the Son. He's going to speak.
That's what the Lord said. When the Comforter is come, He
will speak of me! And he's one. This mysterious and glorious
name belongs to each of the persons of the Godhead. The Lord, the Father, the Lord,
the Son, the Lord, the Holy Spirit. And it implies every perfection
of His nature. Oh, give thanks unto the capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital T. For He is good, for He's good. He's singular in goodness. He's intrinsically good in Himself. A fellow comes to the Lord one
day, Matthew 19, 16-7, and behold, Now listen to this, when I read
this scripture yesterday morning, I was going over my notes and
I read this scripture, and it says, and behold, one came and
said unto him, and as soon as I read that, and behold, one
came. Let me tell you how many people
came to talk to the Lord Jesus Christ right here. One man. And behold, one came. And so
what I did was I took my Strong's Concordance, I went back, and
I compared, I looked at that word right there, one, and one
came. And then I went back in 1 John
5, 7, and these three agree, these three are one. And in 1
John, there's three that bear witness in heaven, and these
three are one. Same word, same word. And behold, one came and
said unto them, He said unto him, good master, what good thing
shall I do that I may have eternal life? Now here's what he asked.
What intrinsically good, what singular in goodness thing can
I do? And he said unto him, why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one. That is God. What good thing can I do? The
Lord says there's not but one good. And you're not it. The Lord. Capital L-O-R-D. The Lord. This is who He is.
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. For He is good. For His mercy endureth Forever. It's the Lord's pleasure. It's
the Lord's prerogative to show mercy to whomsoever He will. Just stop for a moment and try
and perceive something. Why would He show mercy to me?
Why me? Why me? Why me? There's not an ounce of difference
in me, any other maggot that was born
in this world, why would God show mercy to me? And while He's been pleased to
show mercy, His mercy, understand this, it endureth forever. It's eternal. Malachi 3.6, I'm
the Lord. I'm the capital L-O-R-D. I change
not. Therefore your sons of Jacob
are not consumed. His mercy to his people has no
end and it has no interruption. It is never interrupted. I think at times when I find
myself so insensitive, so uncaring and deserving, deserving of wrath,
but that He would never interrupt His mercy to me. Verse 2, O give thanks unto the
God of gods, for His mercy endureth forever. Deuteronomy 28.58 says, If thou
wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written
in the book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful
name, the Lord, capital L-O-R-D, thy God. He is set forth in verse
1 as the Tri-Unity. He's the Tri-Unity. He's the
Father, Son, and Spirit. Here He's set forth, O give thanks
unto the God capital G of little g, gods. You know, we read these
scriptures, but then we readily admit we've gone just as far
as we can go. How much do you know? But I can
tell you this, when we consider the God, capital G, of little
g gods, I'll tell you what the scripture sets forth. This is
what I could find concerning this. And really, you can look
in a concordance and you're not going to find great explanation.
Who's sufficient for these things? But this is what it says concerning
capital G-O-D, God Himself. We speak of Him who's the author,
the owner, and the creator of all things. Now, Genesis 1-1,
this is going to be the best explanation I can give of verse
2. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. And speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Colossians 1, 13-18. I'll read this for you, Colossians
1, 13-18. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sin, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible, invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or power, all
things were created by him and for him, And He's before all
things, and by Him all things consist. What can I say about
who God is? Well, the Scripture bears out
that He is the author, the owner, and the creator of all things. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of gods for His mercy endureth forever. And then verse 3, O
give thanks. Look at the exact wording of
verse 3. O give thanks unto the capital
L, lowercase o, lowercase r, lowercase d. First verse said
capital L, capital o, capital r, capital d. Look at verse 3.
Capital L, lowercase o, r, d. O give thanks unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. the very expression of who God
is. I read verse 1, I see who we
give thanks unto, the tri-unity God. We give thanks, verse 2,
unto the owner and author and creator of all things. But how do we know Him? How do
we know Him? We give thanks unto the Lord
Jesus. who is the image of God Himself. We give thanks unto Him who is,
according to 2 Corinthians 9.15, the unspeakable gift of God. I don't even know how to say
it. I don't know how to express it. Oh, give thanks unto the
Lord of Lords, for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily." Everything we know about who God is. And I'll just refer
back. I read this a moment ago in Deuteronomy
chapter 10. I'm going to read this verse
17 for the Lord. For the capital L, capital O,
capital R, capital D. For the Lord Your God is God
of gods and Lord, capital L, lowercase o-r-d, of lords, a
great God, a mighty and terrible which regardeth not persons nor
taketh reward. All of his titles are right together. One verse, O give thanks unto
the Lord. What does that word mean? It
means the governor. The governor. The controller. Capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D. It means the supreme tri-unity
God. That's who He is. Capital G-O-D. God is the absolute owner. The creator. The capital L, lowercase o-r-d,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the governor. He runs it.
Runs it. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord
for His mercy endureth forever. Last verse. Daniel, I thought
of this verse. I love this passage of Scripture
concerning Nebuchadnezzar. You know Nebuchadnezzar, he stood
up one day, walked out on his patio, looked out over Babylon,
and he said, oh this great Babylon that I built. Now there's a picture of a man
thinking that he has a free will, thinking he's got ability. He
looked at this great Babylon that I built. Scripture says,
while the words were yet in his mouth, God took his mind away
from him. He's just gone. All of a sudden,
he's just a babbling idiot. And he put him out in the field.
And for years, he just grazed like an animal. Hair wasn't cut,
just matted together, looked like eagle's feathers, scripture
says. And one day, God was pleased to give his mind back. And this
is what he said, Daniel 4, verse 34 and 35. He said, And at the
end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes to heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion. And his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, What doest thou? Scripture sets forth, 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. May the Lord prepare
our hearts for the remainder of this chapter and bless His
word to our hearts for Christ's sake.