Psalm 136. Psalm 136. The triune God, the author, creator,
and owner of all things, expressed to us and given understanding
to us. by the Lord Jesus Christ, the
controller, the ruler of all things. Oh, give thanks unto Him. He's
good, and His mercy endureth forever. Now, I want us to consider,
and I'm going to just tell you right now, I'm going to have
to just say some few things about these verses. There's no way
that I can in one message express, and even if I could, I couldn't,
all the things that are found. But I'm going to tell you what
this remainder of this chapter is doing, the blessed message
of this chapter. These verses 4 through 26 declare
the Lord our God in His merciful and sovereign dealings with His
people. That's what's being set forth.
He sets forth that everything that He has done and is doing
in this world has been concerning His mercy to His people. Now you think about this. Everything's
going on. It doesn't matter what it is,
it doesn't matter what form it takes, it doesn't matter what
you or I think about it, what the world thinks about it. Let
me tell you this, everything that's going on in this world,
I've got a scripture, I can back this up, Romans 8.28. All things, all things, all things. How about the Middle East? All
things. How about what's going on in this country? All things.
All things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His will. Purpose. Everything that is going on in
this world, God Almighty is ordering and directing and guiding and
purposing because His mercy. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. Not of him that willeth, not
of him that runneth. God that shows mercy. So if you want to
know what's going on in this world and why it's going on,
It's because His mercy endures forever. This is the reason.
Now you know if we ever get a hold of that, that settles me down,
I believe. If I can get a hold of that.
Now let me tell you what's being said in this beautiful psalm. Verses 4 to 9 declares that Almighty
God is sovereign in creation. This is the first section we
look at, 4 to 9, declares Almighty God sovereign in creation. Verse 4, to Him who alone doeth
great wonders, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him who by Himself, controlling everything. Now you listen to this, Amos
3, 6, "...shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people
not be afraid. Shall there be evil," that is
calamity or adversity, "...in a city, and the Lord hath not
done it or appointed it," is what the word means, done it,
appointed it. Is anything going to happen Anywhere, anywhere. And the Lord hasn't done it,
ordered it, appointed it. He may use Satan as a means,
He may use this, that. The Lord, He worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. So I can tell you this,
I know that Almighty God alone doeth Great wonders. God sends hurricanes and floods
and famines. Why? Because His mercy endureth
forever. Somebody says, well, I don't
see how that... That doesn't matter what you see. What difference
does that make? I don't see how that can work.
That doesn't matter. That doesn't matter. Let God
be true and every man's a liar. He needs nothing. From His creation,
He alone doeth great wonders. Verse 5, To Him that by wisdom,
by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God. That's
what Scripture says. All things were made by Him,
for Him, without Him was not anything made that was made.
To Him that by wisdom made the heavens, for His mercy endureth
forever. He made the heavens in their
vast expanse. I think about scientists say,
you know, the next galaxy is over there, you know, 400,000
light years away, you know. Light travels at the speed of
186,000 miles per second, they say. How many years, how many
miles can it go in a year if it goes 186,000 miles per second? You think, well, I look to Him that by wisdom made the
heavens, for His mercy endureth forever. You say, why is there
so much out there? Why is there so much out there? Here's the reason. For His mercy
endureth forever. Romans 11.33, let me just read
this for you. Romans 11.33. Oh the depth of the riches, both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His
judgments and His ways past finding out. It's not for me to know
or you to know. The explanation, He doesn't give
any explanation to His creatures. He declares that He made by wisdom
the heavens, and this is the reason, for or because His mercy
endureth forever. To Him, verse 6, that stretched
out the earth above the waters, for His mercy endureth forever. I began to think on that. I thought,
you know, why does the United States look like the United States? Why does Mexico fit to South
America the way it does? Why are the Hawaiian Islands,
why do they come out there out of the middle of the Pacific
Ocean? Why? Well, the scripture says,
to him that stretched out the earth above the waters, for His
mercy endureth forever. He brought that land out of the
water and He put His people where He put them. Put some down in
Mexico, put some here and He put some there and in Mexico
and He sent some missionaries down there, the groovers down
there. Why? Because His mercy endureth forever. There were going to be some people
born there and His wisdom Knowledge, mercy. Isaiah 44, 24 says, Thus
saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from
the womb. I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth
forth the heavens above, that spreadeth abroad the earth by
Myself. Why did He make the heavens and
why did He bring the earth out of the water like He did? For
His mercy endureth forever. Look at verses 7 to 9. 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
stars to rule by night, for His mercy endureth forever. These
great lights that He mercifully made. Made the Son. You say, well, the Son, we have
to have the Son because of its life-giving properties and benefits. I agree with you. I agree with
you. But I'm going to tell you something.
There is, in that sky, and it rises according to His purpose
every day, there is an absolute beautiful type of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son Himself, the giver of life. And light. You say without the sun nothing
would live. That's right. Yeah, but those are greater than
the S-U-N that's been said. And the moon. The moon. There's a witness in the darkness
of the light that ever shines in this evil world. There's a
witness of Him. Next time you look at the moon,
you remember this. There's a witness there. Why
is that moon up there? Why does the earth have one moon? And it's just exactly, and it
stays right on course, and it's always where it's supposed to
be, and it's just in the rotation of the earth. Why do you see
Orion? And why do you see the Big Dipper?
Why is it all there? There's order, there's order.
Why? Because His mercy endures forever. The stars, the great lights. And verse 9, moon and stars to
rule by night. These stars, travelers years
ago, they traveled according to the stars. They knew about
where they were going. But look at the consistency of
His power to maintain all these things. But what a glorious picture
of the Shepherd, the Great Shepherd. He guides, directs. as a witness
the heavens declare the handiwork of God. Nature declares the glory
of God and so therefore man is without excuse. God opens his
people's eyes and He gives them understanding of these things
and He tells them these things are set forth as a witness because
His mercy endures forever. So I know this, first thing I
know, first part of this, you know, that Almighty God is sovereign
in creation. He made all these things and
put them in order and kept them there because His mercy endureth
forever. Secondly, He's sovereign in providence.
He made everything. But I tell you what, He rules
everything too. We looked at that in verses 1,
2, 3. He's the creator and He's the ruler. Look at verse 10,
"...to him that smote Egypt in their firstborn." For His mercy
endureth forever. He's the just God. He said, I'm
a just God. And I'm a Savior. Look at verse
11 and 12. And brought out Israel from among
them. For His mercy endureth forever.
With a strong hand, stretched out arm. For His mercy endureth
forever. In order. Perfect order. He told
them, He said, you're going to be there. 400 years. And 400
years later today, He brought them out. And they came out according
to His mighty arm, His strong hand, stretched out arm. And
He moved them according to His will and purpose. And they came
out and the people wanted them out. The reason the people wanted
them out was because God gave them a heart to put them out.
It went out, look at verses 13 and 15, "...to him that 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
host in the Red Sea, for his mercy endureth forever." He divided
that Red Sea. Hold your finger there, turn
to Exodus 14. This is what happened. Exodus 14. Verses 19 to 22, Exodus
14, the people are right at the Red Sea. You've got the Red Sea
on one side and you've got the Egyptian army on the other. Exodus
14, 19, the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel,
removed and went behind him. And the pillar of the cloud,
which A pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood
behind them. And it came between the camp
of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud
and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these,
so that the one came not near the other all night. And Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the
sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made
the sea dry land, and the waters were divided, and the children
of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground, and
the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, on their
left. The Egyptians pursued, went in
after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses
and chariots and horsemen came to pass in the morning. In the
morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians
through the pillar of fire, the cloud, and troubled the host
of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they
draved them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee
from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against
the Egyptians. What happened was, God sent a
strong east wind, and divided that sea, and a water stood up,
And two to three million people walked across that city one night.
And God Almighty made them willing to go on out there. Gave them
a heart and led them by Moses, his spokesman. Why did he do
that? Because his mercy endureth forever. They lived, Egypt perished. Why? Because God's merciful. Through verse 16 to 22. To him
that led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy endureth
forever. To him which smoked great kings,
for his mercy endureth forever. And slew famous kings, for his
mercy endureth forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites,
for his mercy endureth forever. And Og, the king of Bashan, For
His mercy endureth forever. You know those are the two kings
that when the spies went in to Jericho, you know when Rahab
told the spies, she said, we heard. We heard. We heard about it. We heard how
your God slew Sihon and Og, those kings. She said, we know. That's when she said, I'm going
to ask you something. She said, when the Lord gives
you our city. When God comes in here and you
take over, would you remember me and my family and show us
mercy for the mercy and kindness that I'm showing you. Joshua
said, we'll do it. We're going to do it. You put
this scarlet ribbon in your window when we come in. Your house is
going to be safe. Get inside the house. Don't go
outside the house. Go outside the house, we won't
kill you. But she said, you put this ribbon out there. This is
what she remembered right here. And gave their land, verse 21,
for heritage, for His mercy endureth forever, even in heritage unto
Israel His servant, for His mercy endureth forever. He led His
people, brought them out of Egypt, kept them in Egypt 400 years. He brought them out with a strong
hand, mighty hand, mighty arm. He led His people through the
desert 40 years, 40 years. and smote all of their enemies
and gave them a land of promise. Beautiful picture of this sojourning
that God's people go through now. And they were going to Canaan,
and Scripture reveals that we're going to be with the Lord. Our
great Canaan, our heaven itself, wherever the Lord is, that's
heaven. That's heaven. That's wherever He is. I can't tell you a whole lot
about heaven. I know wherever He is, it's it. It's it. I know
there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. And it's going
to be the earth that the Lord's going to make. The first one
He made, Scripture says, it was very good. And it being very
good, there's going to be another one made just exactly like it.
Very good. But in that one's going to dwell
righteousness. Almighty God led His people. He's a God of creation, made
these great lights. He's God of providence. He directed,
ordered, moved, raised up kings, put down kings. Why? Because
His mercy endureth forever to His people. And then lastly,
He's sovereign in salvation. He's sovereign in creation. He's
sovereign in providence. He's sovereign in salvation. Verse 22 and 23, Who remembered
us in our lowest state, for His mercy endureth forever, and hath
redeemed us from our enemies, for His mercy endureth forever.
He remembered us in our lowest state before the foundation of
the world. He knew His people, chose His
people, Somebody told Jeremiah, he said, before I formed you
in the belly, I knew you, I ordained you a prophet. I ordained you a prophet. Before
you were ever conceived, you were my prophet. I made you. I brought you forth. Almighty
God, who has everlastingly known His people, entrusted them to
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, who has
everlastingly stood as the surety. He's always been, He's always
been the one who would answer. And in the fullness of time,
He came forth, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law. The scripture says, He remembered
us in our lower state. We all fell in Adam. When Adam
fell, we were all in Adam's loins. And we all fell in him. But Almighty
God remembered us according to that everlasting covenant of
grace, mercy, and compassion. He remembered us in our lowest
state. When we couldn't help ourselves,
when we didn't even care, I think back, oh my, oh my, my, my. When I think about my attitude
toward him, I'm telling you, when I tell you there ain't no
rebel in this building that was lower than me, I'm telling you,
you talk about a rebel, I'm telling you, and he remembered me in
my lowest state, when I didn't more care for him than a man
in the moon, it didn't more matter to me You talk to me about God,
you're wasting your time. But He remembered us, but He
remembered me. In our lowest state, for His
mercy endureth forever, and hath redeemed us from our enemies,
the enemy of sin, Satan, death, grave, and redeemed us. while we were yet sinners. Christ
died for us. Always loved us. Always redeemed
us from the clutches of sin, the penalty of the law. And thinks
upon us in mercy for His namesake. And pities us in compassion. Oh, but in His remembrance of
us. You remember this one thing, He's pleased with us only in
Christ. Only in Christ. Now our guilt is put away and
robes us in His Son, His righteousness. Accept us in the beloved. Here's
the message of 136. His mercy endureth forever. To
express and to show mercy, He made everything the way He did.
He orders everything the way He did. He saves us according
to His purpose and will. And then verse 25 says, "...who
giveth food to all flesh." I'm talking about His people and
those that are not His people in covenant grace. All flesh. He's maintaining His people. And I'm telling you, this world
is benefiting for it. That breath of air that you just
took, that's God's air. What you just had for breakfast,
that was God's food. And I'll tell you, that food
that was produced by some farmer or some something, was produced
because His mercy endures forever. And the sun shines and the rain
falls on the unjust and the just. Do you know why? Because His
mercy endureth forever. He's maintaining this world. He giveth food to all flesh for
His mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of heaven for His mercy endureth forever. Lord bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.