Alright, brethren, Psalm 136.
This is the first time we're meeting in 2025, and this is
a good psalm to start us off. It's a psalm that's all about
giving God thanks for His mercy. For His mercy enduring forever. The first three verses and the
last verse begin with, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. And every
verse ends with, For His mercy endureth forever. Now, I could
just hear the children of Israel, and they probably had the singers
that would sing the first part of this. Oh, give thanks unto
the Lord, for He was good. And then the whole congregation
would sing, For His mercy endureth forever. And the singers would
sing the next verse, and the whole congregation would sing,
His mercy endureth forever. What appears to me here is the
first three verses are the outline for most of this psalm. And let
me show you what I mean by that. Verse 1, he says, O give thanks
unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever.
Now you know in creation, each time the Lord created something,
He said it's good. Scripture says, God saw the light,
that it was good. And God called the dry land earth,
and the gathering together of the waters called He seas, and
God saw that it was good. Well, this psalm begins, O give
thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures
forever. Then notice verses 4 through
9 are all about creation. To him who alone doeth great
wonders, for His mercy endureth forever. 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. See, every time He created something,
He said it's good. And that whole stanza is about
him creating all things. Now go back to verse two. He
says, Oh, give thanks unto the God of gods for his mercy endureth
forever. Egypt had a God for everything. They worshiped many idols. many
idols, and God went in there and delivered his elect Israel
out of Egypt and showed that the gods of Egypt were nothing.
He showed that he was the God of all gods. Well, look at verses
10 through 16. to Him that smote Egypt in their
firstborn for His mercy endureth forever, and brought out Israel
from among them for His mercy endureth forever." On and on
it goes. What He did in delivering them
out of Egypt. He's the God of gods. He made
their gods to appear as nothing, which they were nothing. Well,
verse three says, oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords for his
mercy endureth forever. This is, we're thankful that
the Lord rules over every earthly king, every earthly Lord. He put them in place and he rules
over them and he works his purpose through them. We'll look at verses
17 through 22. to him which smote great kings
for his mercy endureth forever, and slew famous kings for his
mercy endureth forever, Zion, king of the Amorites, and Og,
the king of Bashan. You see, so these three verses
seem like they're the outline for the rest of the psalm. And
then verse 23 to 26 is the application. It shows that in creation, in
redemption, and in protecting us as He leads us through this
wilderness. That's the three things that
are talked about in those first three verses. In creation, in
redemption, and Him leading us through this world as we interact
with men and would-be kings. Well, here's what He does, verse
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, who give the food to all flesh, for his mercy
endureth forever. So I wanna look at these three
headings that we see in those first three verses and think
about how he's remembered us. Verse one says, give thanks unto
the Lord, for he's good, for his mercy endureth forever. Everything
he created, Our God who is good could not make anything but what's
good. And he looked at everything he created and said, it is good.
But here's the point I want you to get from that. When God created
the world, why does this Psalm say that by wisdom he made the
heavens for his mercy endureth forever? He stretched out the
earth above the waters for His mercy endureth forever. You see,
in everything God created, He did everything with an eye toward
His chosen people. Everything He created, He did
it with an eye toward His elect and the lowest state that we
would fall into. He did everything. according
to his mercy. In fact, if you want to read
the psalm how it ought to be read, take out endureth because
that's added by the translators. It wasn't really there. And so
it's saying, oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he's good,
for his mercy forever. He did everything he did for
his mercy forever. He did it for His mercy. He did
it to show His mercy. That's why He did everything
He did. Now, we know Christ the Lord was set up before this world
was ever created to be the Savior of His people. That tells you
God purposed that we were going to be in a lower state at some
point. We were going to fall. Because
He elected His Son to be the Savior before He ever made the
world, before He ever made anything. And He gave the whole work into
Christ's hand. Everything. And Colossians tells
us Christ created everything. The triune God was in Christ
from the beginning and He created everything. It was created by
Him and for Him. And the things He created typified
Him. They all typified Him. They pictured
Him in His work. And we read here in verse 7,
we see it right here. 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. He created the sun and
He created the moon and the stars. And He did it to show a picture
of Christ and His work of salvation for His people. That's why He
did it. That's why it tells us as He
created these things, it says, His mercy endureth forever. He
did this for His mercy forever. That's why He did this. Christ
is the Son who rules the day. That's who He is. He's the Son
who rules the day. His people, His elect that He
chose are the moon and the stars. reflecting his light. See, he
made the first creation. He makes the new creation. He
makes his people a new creation. And he's the son, the son of
righteousness has risen with healing in his wings, the scripture
said. He's the S-U-N. The S-O-N is the son. He's the,
what's pictured in the sun that's in the sky is Christ. He's the
light. And his people, or the moon and
the stars reflecting his light. Listen to what he said in John
9, verse 4. He said, I must work the works
of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when
no man can work. I must work the works of him
that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of
the world. He said, I must work the works
of Him that sent me while it is day. He had to do the work
the Father sent Him to do. He must work the works the Father
sent Him to do for His own glory's sake, for His own holiness' sake,
for all His attributes. He entered covenant to do this
work before the world was made. So He must work these works.
And to save His people, He must work these works. And He finished
the works. He cried out and said, it's finished.
He finished fulfilling the law and the prophets. He finished
the work of redemption for His people. And He said, I must work
these works. He said, the night's coming when
no man can work. And you see, He finished the
work. No man can work. No man can work
the works or even attempt it because the work's finished.
It's night now. He's gone back to glory and it's
night now. Well, there's a work he does
in his people as well. And our Lord Jesus, just like
he created that first creation by his word speaking, he creates
this new creation by his word speaking through this gospel.
And his word comes into your heart and he gives you light.
You know, when He said that, when He said, I must work the
works of Him that sent me while I stay, He said, I'm the light
of the world. You know, when He said that was when He was
giving the blind man sight, the man He told to go wash in the
pool of Siloam. He was giving him light, making
him see for the first time. He comes to us and creates us
anew, a new creation in His righteousness and His holiness. Now it's night. He's gone back to glory. This
world's in darkness. Every unregenerate sinner in
this world is darkness. And Christ has gone back to glory.
The S-U-N, the Son of Righteousness has arisen with healing in His
wings. That word wings means in His
rays. You picture the sun shining rays
down. He's got the healing is in His
light coming down to His people, to enlighten His people. And
we're in this dark world, and you that He's created anew are
like the moon and the stars. We're in a dark world, but just
like the moon reflects the light of the sun, we reflect the light
of Christ. Why do we do this? Because Scripture
says, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, has shined unto us. For God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness in the first creation, has shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Christ Jesus. This is how we have the
light. He said, you're the light of
the world. We don't have any light in ourselves,
our light is all from Christ. and we're in a dark world. And
just like you can see the moon shine in the dark of night, that's
coming from the sun. Well, his people are light reflected
from Christ the light. God's purpose from eternity was
to glorify his son and the salvation of his elect. So every time,
everything he created in that first creation, after he created
it, he said, it's good. And our Psalm says, after everything
He created, our Psalm says, His mercy endureth forever. He did
it with an eye to His Son's glory and an eye to the salvation of
His people and the mercy He would show to His people. That's why
He did everything. So we reflect this light. Now
how do we reflect it? Well, how did you receive light?
It's the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ. That's how
you shine the light, is you preach the glorious light, Christ Jesus
the Lord and His glory and His works, His person, what He's
accomplished, what He's done. And we walk as children of light,
we don't want to do anything to put the focus on us, we want
the focus to be on Christ. That's why Paul said, if any
man be in Christ, he's a new creature. That's a new creation.
Old things are passed away. The way we used to operate, the
way we used to try to use the law, the way we used to think
salvation was, and the works that we thought we had to do
to be saved, that's all passed away. That old covenant's passed
away, Paul said. This new covenant's more glorious.
All things have become new and all things are of God. He's given
us the ministry of reconciliation. That's how you let your light
shine. Preach this glorious light of Christ Jesus. Then, after
creation, Adam sinned. Adam sinned and then we became
guilty in Adam. And then we were conceived in
sin And we came forth from our mother's womb, bound in sin.
We were in our own Egyptian bondage. That's what we were. Look at
verse 2. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of gods for His mercy endureth forever. Verse 23. Who remembered
us in our lowest state for His mercy endureth forever. And He
hath redeemed us from our enemies for His mercy endureth forever.
And he goes and he For this part of it, he shows all about how
he smoked Egypt in their firstborn. He brought out Israel from among
them. That's the picture of you and
me. Picture of God's elect typified in the children of Israel who
were in bondage in Egypt. I want you to think about this. We preached through Exodus, preached
through Genesis and Exodus, but remember this, long before they
went into bondage, over 400 years before the children of Israel
became slaves in Egypt, God told Abraham they were going into
Egypt and they were gonna be slaves. God told Abraham, but
God made a covenant with Abraham. And he promised Abraham that
he would deliver him, told him when he would do it. And God
the Father, long before we fell in Adam and became in bondage
and guilt and under the curse of the law, God the Father and
God the Son had entered covenant before the world was made. That's
the picture there of him making this covenant over 400 years
before with Abraham. The picture is of the everlasting
covenant God made in eternity. God made a covenant with God.
Well, you know, at first when they came into Egypt, during
Joseph's day, the children of Israel had it good in Egypt.
And they liked it. And they became so much like
the Egyptians They practically became just like them. And they
forgot their heritage. Pretty much just forgot who they
were completely. And they would have never dreamed
of leaving Egypt. They had it good. Turn with me
to Exodus 2. What happened? God raised up an evil Pharaoh. God did that. He raised him up.
And the children of Israel became slaves just like God told Abraham
they would. God worked everything from that
day He made that promise to Abraham until that day they were slaves.
He worked everything. And they were making bricks for
Pharaoh. And they were groaning and sighing under their taskmasters. They were in a very low estate.
But look what Exodus 2.23 says. Exodus 2.23. And it came to pass, in the process
of time, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage. A new Pharaoh began to reign,
and he was an evil man. And they began to sigh by reason
of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God
by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning,
And look, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham. That's
what our Psalm said. He remembered us in our lowest
state. God remembered His covenant with
Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob. And God looked upon the
children of Israel and God had respect unto them. Do you see
the margin? It said God knew them. God knew
them. God looked to them and said,
those are mine. Those are the ones I chose. Those
are the ones I promised my son Abraham I was going to deliver.
Well that's a picture of all God's elect brethren. That was
us. God remembered us in our lowest state. For his mercy endureth
forever. We were just like Israel. At
first we loved Egypt. We come into this world and we
loved Egypt. We loved this world. We loved our sin and we would
have never thought of leaving it. But then God made it unbearable
for us. Just like He did them. He raised
up an evil Pharaoh and made it unbearable for them. God brought
us the gospel. and he made it unbearable for
us. And you know what we did? We did just what Israel did.
When Moses first went to them and started preaching the gospel,
and they saw those plagues, and Pharaoh made their work harder,
and they told Moses, just get out of here and leave us alone.
Isn't that what we did? When you first heard the gospel,
you didn't want to hear that gospel. Just get that away from
me. I don't want to hear that. But
the Lord kept sending the gospel to you. He kept sending the gospel
to you. And He made you to feel the whip of the law. Just like
they were feeling the whip of their taskmasters. He made you
to know that. He made us to know we could not
deliver ourselves just like He did those children of Israel. But God remembered us in our
lowest state. You see, God chose a people before
this world was made. and Christ entered covenant to
save them. And that's what, that's who Christ was telling Abraham,
they're gonna go into bondage and I'm gonna save them. There
was some elect in Israel, but brethren, the whole thing pictured
all God's elect across ages of time. We came into bondage under
the curse and condemnation of the law and in the bondage of
our sin nature, but he remembers his covenant and he heard our
cry and he said, that's mine. He had respect unto His people.
He said, I know them. I've known them from every last
day. I've known them from before the world was made. Look at Exodus
3 verse 7. Next is 3.7, and the Lord said,
I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrows. And I have come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that
land into a good land and a large, into a land flowing with milk
and honey. Our Psalm says, O give thanks unto the God of gods for
his mercy endureth forever. All those Egyptians These Egyptians
were trusting in all those different gods and God said, I'm coming
down. I'm going to make a mockery of those false gods. I'm going
to show them who the real God is and deliver my people. And
that's what happened. God came down in the person of
his son. And we had all our false gods. We had a bunch of false gods.
Can you say that? Were you an idolater? I was an
idolater. I had a bunch of false gods.
I'd mount some of my guys up on a wall. Some of them had 10
points, some of them had 12 points. I was idolatry. I was head just lost in hunting
and fishing and running the women and whatever. Everything, you
name it, was my idol. And God came down to show all
our idols were nothing. He sent his only begotten son,
the firstborn among many brethren, and he's the Passover lamb. And
he redeemed us with a strong hand. He came and laid down His
life, put away all the sins of His people and made us righteous
in Him. Perfect before the law. No sin
before the law. God looking upon His people in
Christ and saying, they're perfect. I can find no spot in them. I
can find no blemish in them. They're perfect. They're absolutely
perfectly righteous. They have been from the time
they were conceived in their womb until they draw their last
breath, they've been perfect before me, perfectly righteous
before me, with absolutely no sin before me. How could God
say that about me and you? Because that's so of His Son.
And His Son put away all the sin of His people on Calvary's
cross, and God sees His people in His Son. Oh, when we heard
this gospel, And he came and began to bring us up out of Egypt. After he did the work for us,
he came to do the work in us. And he's going to bring us up
out of Egypt. That's what he said. I come down to bring them
up out of Egypt. So he's going to send this gospel
and quicken us and bring us out of Egypt. But we didn't want
to come out of Egypt. We tried to, after we told the
preacher, we don't want to hear that. Then we try to offer our
sacrifices. We try a different tactic. Oh,
we'll offer our sacrifices. Surely God's gonna receive me
because I go to church. I show up at the church house.
I'm there. Even when I don't wanna go, I
go. Surely that'll count for something. Oh, I've been baptized. Surely that'll count. I observed
Lord's table. Surely that'll get me in. All
these different, whatever it is. I did good from this so-and-so. You know, all these things we
try to sacrifice. And God made you here. He made you here. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. His mercy endures forever. He
came to show His mercy. I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I desire the knowledge of God more than all your burnt offerings,
more than all your sacrifices. He come and made us hear, go
ye and learn what this means. I'll have mercy, not sacrifice. I didn't come to call the righteous.
I didn't come to call folks that can make grand sacrifices. I
came to call sinners to repentance. And God's mercy always prevails.
His mercy endures forever. He created a new spirit in us
and a new heart, a new man. Christ was formed in us in spirit. He gave us faith and we saw Christ
and believed on Christ. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of gods for his mercy endures forever. He remembered us in
our lowest state because his mercy endures forever. And he
redeemed us from our enemies because his mercy endures forever.
And now, ever since he called us, he's been leading us through
this wilderness to the promised land. They came into many lowest
states on that wilderness journey. Everywhere they went, they came
into a low estate. Even when they got to Canaan,
they were in low estates many times. Brethren, ever since he
called you out, have you been in a low estate before? Have
you been in a pitiful shape before and cast down shape before? And
God keeps destroying all the kings and all the things that
would separate us because as verse 3 says, give thanks unto
the Lord of lords for his mercy endureth forever. Verse 17, we
give him thanks because he smoked great kings for his mercy endureth
forever. He slew famous kings for his
mercy endureth forever. He's leading us through this
wilderness just like he was leading them through that wilderness.
You know, I remember when the Lord first
gave me a heart to actually rejoice in the gospel. And I went to
run and tell them, everybody listen, I will go tell them about
this gospel, because I thought everybody's gonna believe it.
It's just, I was just so thrilled that I saw the gospel. Everybody's gonna believe on
Christ. It's too good not to believe. And I thought I wouldn't
have any more sorrow. I didn't think I'd have any problems
with sin after that. Everything's different now. And
it wasn't very long and I was rejected by men. And our Zion
here, king of the Amorites, I mean Zion, Sihon, the king of the
Amalekites, you know how he attacked Israel? He came up from behind
and surprised them. That's what happened. I was surprised
by Sihon, the king of the Malachites. And next thing you know, I found
I was in a low estate. I was like the one that went
down from Jerusalem to Jericho and a robber spoiled him and
he was left for dead in the ditch. That's what I was. In my sin,
in my rejection, in my low estate. But the Lord Jesus remembers
us in our lowest state because His mercy endures forever. You
know how the Amalekites were defeated? This is what God did
for me. He had one of His Moses's hold
up the rod of the gospel and preach the gospel. That's how
He called us. That's how He's going to save
us. That's how He's going to make us save us out of our lowest
states through the preaching of the gospel. That's what Moses
held up the rod. And as long as he held that rod
up, it's for one. And that's the gospel. And Christ
is the one who defeats the Amalekites. He sends his spirit, he comes
in spirit, he quickens you in a new man and he's like the,
he's the good Samaritan, that's who he is. He come and bound
up our wounds and pours in the oil and puts us on his beast
and carries us to the end where we, he pays the way and says,
now feed them the gospel till I come. That's what He does for
His people. Haven't you experienced that,
brethren? Have you experienced the lowest state and Him keeping
mercy for you? He keeps mercy for thousands.
You can't destroy His mercy because His mercy is in Christ. Then
we face Og, king of Bashan. Og was the last of the giants.
destroyed among the enemy kings in Canaan. Listen to this from
Deuteronomy 3.11. This is about Og. Listen to this.
It says, For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant
of the giants. Behold, his bed was a bedstead
of iron. His bed frame was made out of
iron. Nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the
breadth thereof, after the cubit of the man. Some say that's 13
feet long. Og was a giant man. Had to have
a giant bed. And he was the last of the remnant
of the giants. God in his wisdom has left a
giant that's too big for his child to fight. He's left a giant
and it's going to be the last enemy to be destroyed. this giant
that he's left. It'll be the last enemy to be
destroyed. It's our old sinful flesh. It's our old man of flesh. Some
say God's saints never sin. After God sanctifies you, they
say God's saints never sin. Some people say that they don't
ever fall Some will preach that they're able to put down sin.
Just like that. Just do it. Set your mind to
it. You can put down your sin. Some speak of never having a
warfare between the flesh and the spirit. If you're God's child,
you know that's a lie. You know every bit of that's
a lie. You know that is not true. Because you've experienced the
warfare. This is a giant that you can't defeat. We hear the
gospel, but we can't make it burn within our hearts and give
us peace. You come into these seasons where
you can't see the Lord. You come into these seasons where
you think you'll perish. This odd works a different way.
You get in these seasons where you're proud and self-sufficient
that you don't even need the Lord. You can do it all. Oh,
hogs got you then. This giant's got you when you're
in that place. You think you can do it all.
Think you know it all. But when we're in that lowest
state, we hear this gospel. We can't make it burn in our
hearts like it once did. You can put on a happy face,
but you can't create joy in the heart. We're in a lowest state. You're in darkness. And when
you're in that place, you're full of sorrow. It's just how
it is. Listen to Deuteronomy 3, verse
2. Who's going to defeat this Og? Who's going to defeat this
old man of flesh? Deuteronomy 3, 2. The Lord said
unto me, Fear him not, for I will deliver him and all his people
and his land into thy hand. And thou shalt do unto him as
thou didst unto Zion, king of the Amorites, which dwelt at
Heshbon. And so the Lord our God delivered into our hands
Og also, the king of Bashan. Right now, He subdues this flesh. One of these days, He's already
conquered death. And one of these days, this old
hog is going back to the dust. And then the victory will be
complete. And it's the Lord that gives
you the victory. I'm telling you, brethren, why did the Lord
leave you in a body of sin? Why did He create this new man
in us and leave us in a body of sin? Why did He leave us in
a world, sin-cursed world, Why did he do this? Well, if we're
going to know God's mercy endureth forever, mercy's only for a sinner
who needs mercy. That's all. And if we're going
to know his mercy endures forever, you're going to have to have
some reason to need mercy. Is that not right? There'll be lower stakes from
which God alone can save you. There is lowest state. It is
so every day. It is so all the time. But He
just lets us in on it sometimes and shows us it is so. God remembers
us in our lowest state because His mercy endures forever. That is how He keeps you delighting
in God's mercy. That's how he keeps being merciful
to others. You remember David? Nathan come to David and David
said, who is this man, this rich man that's taking this poor man's
land? We're pouring out the full extent of the law on this man.
Justice, no mercy, just justice. Who is he? You're the man, David. David hid his face and went to
begging for mercy. He was in a low estate. And you
know what? God remembered mercy. He said,
your sins are put away, David. And David faced a bunch of giants
the rest of his days because of his sin. He faced trouble
in his house the rest of his days, troubles in his kingdom,
trouble, trouble, trouble. But the Lord showed him mercy,
mercy, mercy, mercy, and remembered him all the way through. Why
is the Lord going to do that? Why don't He let you just become
self-sufficient? Why don't He let you get to a
point where you can really put down your sin and you can really
embolden your heart? Why did He let you do that? Because
He won't let His people become rich in self-sufficiency. He said, it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into heaven. a man that's rich in his own self-esteem, and his
own self-worth, and his own self-ability, and his self-righteousness, and
his self-holiness, he can't enter into heaven. It's impossible. You know who it is? Listen. He
raiseth up who? He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust. He raiseth up the beggar off
the dung-heap. and set him among princes. You
know who the poor is? That's the inner man. The beggar's
the inner man. Our outer man is the dust. Our
outer man is the dung hill that he's got to deliver us out of.
No, but he remembers us in our lowest state because his mercy
endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of
Lords. Every enemy, every man, every
king, every enemy about us, including this old man of our sinful flesh,
he's the Lord of it. And he's able to subdue and deliver
his child because his mercy endures forever. Brethren, this psalm
covers from time from the beginning of time to the end of time. It
covers the whole life of God's people from creation all the
way to the end of time is what this psalm covers. All of our
salvation beginning and end is what this psalm covers. God chose
His people by grace. And He keeps mercy for thousands
for His elect who He chose by grace because His mercy is in
Christ. His righteousness is Christ.
Our righteousness is Christ. And so His mercy is in Christ.
And so you can't destroy His mercy. Do you need mercy? Does anybody need mercy? I need mercy. I need mercy continually. I need it every day. and God's
mercy endures forever. As long as you need mercy, God's
mercy is going to endure. As long as you need mercy, He's
mercy. And look, I love how He ends.
He tells us He's God over all. He ends it with this, verse 26,
Oh, give thanks unto the God of heaven for His mercy endures
forever. He's God over all. That's who
our Savior is. Let's thank Him. Our Father,
our Savior, we thank you for your free mercy. What a price
you paid to give us free salvation. Lord, we're thankful that your
salvation is by grace. We're thankful that your mercy
endures forever. Lord, remember us in our lowest
state. Remember your people everywhere. Remember us here. renew us and
revive us and make us to see you do everything you do by mercy.
Thank you, Lord, for mercy. Lord, make us know more and more. We can do nothing but by your
hand. by your spirit through your gospel. Keep us needing
mercy, Lord. Keep us needing mercy. Keep us
poor and begging for mercy. Thank you, Lord, for all that
you do. Thank you for everything from
creation to redemption to your continual provision throughout
this wilderness. Thank you for Christ our Lord.
It's in his name we pray, amen.