Greatly needing the Lord's gracious
help, I ask you to turn with me this afternoon to Psalm 136
and verse 1. Psalm 136 and the first verse. O give thanks unto
the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Psalm 136 verse 1, O give thanks
unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. The Psalms were inspired by God
to be sung in the worship, in the temple worship, in Old Testament
times. And we can imagine, can we not,
that those godly Israelites, as they went up to the temple
to worship three times a year with their families and their
friends, them singing this lovely psalm with its repeated chorus,
for his mercy endureth forever. Now this spiritual song, this
psalm, is really a call to thanksgiving as well as an expression of thanksgiving. The psalmist says, O give thanks
unto the Lord. He is exhorting those who worship
and sing with him to be thankful, to thank God. He is seeking to stir up their
hearts into thanksgiving, O give thanks unto the Lord. Now it's a wonderful thing to
have your heart stirred to thanksgiving and may it be that Today as we
meet together to worship the Lord, to thank him, that the
Holy Spirit stirs our hearts with the words of the psalmist
that together we might give thanks unto the Lord. Now perhaps you're
very familiar with this verse and it wouldn't be a surprise
if you think well yes I recognize that verse because it comes in
several other places in the Psalms. That's how Psalm 106, 107, 118
also begin. And there's no thoughtless repetition in the scripture. There's a beautiful sort of economy of
words in the Bible, isn't there? And if something's repeated like
this verse and like the refrain, His mercy endureth forever, it's
because the Lord knows we need that emphasizing to our hearts. Now, interestingly, it would
seem that these words, the words of this psalm, I give thanks
unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
were sung at special services in Old Testament times. So in
1 Chronicles 16 at the return of the ark it had been in captivity
and then was in the house of Obed-Edom but it was being returned
to the tabernacle where it belonged and of course it represented
the dwelling place of God. And David danced before the Lord,
he was so thankful, and they sang many beautiful things, but
one of the things they sang was this, oh give thanks unto the
Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. That's
1 Chronicles 16, 34. And then, many years later, at
the dedication of Solomon's temple, in thanksgiving at that wonderful
day where the ark of God was going to dwell in a permanent
house in the temple that God had ordained in the mountains
of Zion in Jerusalem, they sang. And what did they sing? 2 Chronicles
chapter seven. They, had seen that the glory
of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord and they bowed themselves
with their faces to the ground and worshipped and praised the
Lord saying, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
Psalm 136 verse one. And then again, another special
service also interestingly connected with the dwelling place of God
was Ezra in the book of Ezra, we read that, I think it's Ezra
three, that at the laying of the foundation of the rebuilding,
the second temple, when they had wonderfully been delivered
from Babylon and were coming home, that there at the laying
of the foundation, we read all the people shouted with a great
shout when they praised the Lord. And what did they sing? They
sang together. because thanks unto the Lord because he is good
for his mercy endureth forever. And so we're on good ground having
this for a special service today, this special song of thanksgiving
to the Lord. Now, with the Lord's help, I'd
just like to open this up to you really under three headings.
Firstly, who are we giving thanks to? Secondly, why are we giving thanks? And then thirdly, to trace out
in this psalm some of the great wonders of God's goodness and
mercy which we give thanks for. But firstly then, who are we
giving thanks to? Well, you may say, well, that's
obvious. It says, oh, give thanks unto
the Lord. Yes, it is to the Lord. But interestingly, the next verse
says, oh, give thanks unto the God of gods. And then the third
verse says, oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords. So what's
this teaching us? Well, I don't want to get too
technical. I've been praying that knowing
that there'll be lots of you children and young people that
there would be things you can really understand and follow
today. But I think we have to comment
on this because it teaches us a lot about who God is. Now,
this psalm's translated from the Hebrew, and the Hebrew has
three main words for God. The first word is Yahweh, and
that's translated in verse 1 as LORD in capital letters. If you
ever see in the Bible the LORD in those capital letters, that's
Yahweh. And that stands really for Jehovah. And God revealing himself with
the name Jehovah, it's one God, but he has different aspects
he reveals in his different names. And as Jehovah, he is the great
self-existent, eternal God. He revealed himself to Moses
as Yahweh, as Jehovah at the burning bush, and he said, I
am that I am. I am self-existent. And so we're
giving thanks unto the Lord Jehovah. But then we are also give thanks
unto the God of gods. And this word is Elohim, Elohim. And when the Bible uses Elohim,
it's talking about God in his mighty power, often particularly
as creator. So the first mention of God in
his revelation in Genesis 1 verse 1 is in the beginning Elohim
created the heaven and the earth, God. And then thirdly we are
exhorted to give thanks to the Lord of Lords and this word is
Adonai, Adonai, and it particularly is describing God in his sovereignty,
he's in control of all things. And so the Lord Jesus is called,
is he not, Lord of Lords, Adonai of Adonai, and King of Kings.
So you see, this is very precious and wonderful. What a great God
we have. In verse one, give thanks unto
this great God who is almighty in his very being, in his essence
as Jehovah the Great I Am. In verse two, we're going to
give thanks to God who is mighty in his power. He is the God of
gods. He is all-powerful. He created
all things. And then we're also going to
give thanks to Adonai, the Lord of Lords, who rules and reigns
and is sovereign over everything. And so this is who we're giving
thanks to. Give thanks unto the Lord, give
thanks unto God, give thanks to the Lord of Lords. Now, secondly
then, Why? Why the exhortation to give thanks? Well, the holy writer, under
inspiration, gives us two reasons. I give thanks unto the Lord for,
and when the Bible says for, it really means because. I give
thanks unto the Lord because, for two reasons, because firstly,
he is good. And there's another for, for
because His mercy endureth forever. And so, with the Psalmist today,
can we not give thanks to our great God? Both because firstly,
he is good, and secondly, his mercy endureth forever. So what does it mean that God
is good? We sometimes sing, don't we,
how good is the God we adore, our faithful unchangeable friend
whose love is as great as his power and knows no beginning
or end. I love to think of the goodness
of God. How many times have you who love
the Lord say, oh, the Lord's been good to me. But when we
talk, when the Bible talks about the goodness of God, it really
talks in two ways. Now you children, if you perhaps
have been set a rule by your mum and dad and you've kept to
that rule, they might say you've been a good boy or you've been
a good girl. And when the Bible talks about
God being good, it means that in his essence he is, as it were,
morally good. He has no wrong, no badness in
him at all. He is light and in him there
is no darkness. So in his very essence he is
good and can only be good, he cannot be bad. But then perhaps
you know this expression that if someone's been really kind
to you, you say oh they've been so good to me. Perhaps someone's
been ill in the family and a kind friend pops round each week with
a cooked meal or takes the children out and you say oh thank you
for being so good to me. And the Lord is good in his loving
kindness to his people in that sense. So the Lord is good firstly
in who he is and the Lord is good in what he does, in his
person and in his work. I give thanks unto the Lord for
he is good. And we're going to come back
to this more as we trace out his goodness in the psalm and
we're going to look at his goodness in creation and his goodness
in redemption and his goodness in the Christian pathway. I've already told you about Jehovah
the Great, I am that I am in the burning bush. When he revealed
himself to Moses, I give thanks unto the Lord, unto Jehovah,
unto the Great I am. Well the psalmist says the good
will of him that dwelt in the bush. Oh, the goodness of God,
the goodness of Jehovah. And we see it most manifest in
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why the angels over
Bethlehem sang. What did they sing of? They were
giving thanks to God because peace on earth and goodwill to
man. The goodness of God in Jesus,
that Jesus had come to earth, the son of man, the son of God.
So it's a lovely theme, the goodness of God and we thank God for who
he is, that he is good in his essence and we thank him that
he is good in what he does. But the second reason we are
given to be thankful is for his mercy endureth forever. Now again, God is mercy in his
very being. It's one of his glorious attributes.
But he is also merciful in what he does. And particularly in
the Lord Jesus, we sometimes sing, thy mercy in Jesus exempts
me from hell. His glories I sing. And so we
thank the Lord that he is mercy and that he's merciful in the
Lord Jesus. Now, what do we mean when we
talk of mercy? Now, I don't know whether you
children have learned ever about Napoleon, but Napoleon was a
great emperor, powerful, powerful ruler of France and the French
Empire. And there was once one of his
soldiers who was sentenced to death for breaking the law. And
he was the only child of a widow lady. She would have been left
all on her own. And she was so sad, she went
all the way to Paris to see the great Emperor Napoleon. And she
begged an audience, a meeting with the Emperor, and she asked
the Emperor Napoleon to renounce the death penalty, to let her
son go free. But Napoleon said to her, but
he's broken the law. He doesn't deserve to go free. And that lady said to Napoleon,
I am not pleading on the grounds of what he deserves, and I'm
not pleading for him on the grounds of the law. I'm asking on the
grounds of mercy. And apparently that touched that
great despotic emperor Napoleon and he let that man go free and
it was an act of mercy. He didn't deserve to be spared
the death penalty. And that's exactly what it is
in the gospel. None of us because of our sin
deserve to avoid the punishment of God. None of us deserve to
be saved from hell. It's our just dessert. But it
is all because of the mercy of God in Jesus that there is a
way of salvation, of being saved from the death penalty as it
were. Well what a cause then to be
thankful! Could you imagine how that widow
lady must have felt? No doubt she walked back home
through the streets of Paris singing with delight. Oh give thanks unto the Lord. for his mercy endureth forever. What a cause we have today at
this Thanksgiving service to thank him for his mercy. But
it gets better because it doesn't just say, I give thanks unto
the Lord for his mercy, full stop. You children and young people
who are following the chorus, the refrain, what does it say?
For his mercy endureth forever. this mercy which is in Jesus,
it will never run out. It will carry on forever and
ever and ever. And that's another cause for
thanksgiving, isn't it? That the Lord is good and he
is merciful and his mercy endureth forever. And that means in the Lord's feelings and in who
he is to his people, he will be faithful in his mercy. We
see his faithfulness in this. He will keep this promise. He
will keep to who he is. He will not change. But also
means that his mercy will never run dry. And you imagine if another
lady the next week came to Napoleon Maybe he'd let that one off,
and then another week, I think he might grow tired and stop.
But the mercy of the Lord endureth forever, forever. And so Jeremiah can say it is
of the Lord's mercies, in the plural, we are not consumed. They're new each morning and
great is thy faithfulness. That's why I read that psalm.
It's a lovely psalm of Ethan. He said, I will sing of the mercies
of God forever. And he could only sing of them
forever because they endure forever, forever and ever. So we have
had firstly, who we're giving thanks to, and secondly, why
we're giving thanks, because of his goodness and his mercy.
And so thirdly, we come to this. In the psalm, in verse four,
we read, to him who alone doeth great wonders, great wonders. And so for the rest of the psalm, the psalmist traces out the great
wonders this good God, this merciful God, has done. And really, three
things. In verses 5 through 9, we see
his goodness and mercy in creation and nature. And then in verses
10 through 15, we see his goodness and mercy in redemption, in salvation,
as typified by the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. And
then thirdly, and finally, we see his goodness and mercy in
leading his people in the Christian pathway to him which led his
people through the wilderness. And that's verses 16 through
22. So let's now trace out causes
of thankfulness in the goodness of God and the enduring mercy
of God in these great wonders, firstly in creation. So there the psalmist is singing
of the Lord's wisdom in making the sky the heavens and how wonderful
he is in creating the earth, stretching it above the waters
in verse six. And then he says this, to him
that made great lights. What are these great lights?
Well he goes on to say the sun which lights the day and the
moon and the stars that light by night. And in all of these
things he's giving thanks and he's giving thanks that this
is merciful of God and his mercy endures forever. And so really
here he's thanking God for his creation and particularly the
seasons. It's the orbit of the earth isn't
it around the sun and the revolution of the earth on its own orbit
that controls summer and winter it controls seed time and harvest
and how we thank the Lord for it. The well-known hymn, Great
is Thy Faithfulness, says, summer and winter, sea time and harvest,
sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, join with all
nature in manifold witness to his great faithfulness, mercy,
and love. And it is of the Lord's mercy
that we have these seasons without which there would be no weather
to for the corn and the plants to germinate and grow and there
wouldn't be the rain to swell the grain and there wouldn't
be the sun to ripen it and we wouldn't have the fruit on the
trees or the pasture in the fields we wouldn't have food on the
table but for the goodness of God in nature and his creation
and for his mercy that it continues despite us rebelling against
him and despite the wickedness there is in the world around
us, he has promised in mercy that this will carry on to the
end of time. And we've sung in the hymns and
in the public prayer, we've prayed, we've thanked the Lord for it
and it's good that we thank the Lord for it. In fact, we had that, didn't
we, in one of the hymns? Fountain of mercy. This harvest
hymn begins, fountain of mercy, God of love, how rich thy bounties
are, the rolling seasons as they move, proclaim thy constant care. And really, that's a good summary
of these verses five through nine. We thank God for his goodness
and mercy in the seasons and the harvest. Now that's wonderful. When you
look at a starlit sky, it's marvellous, isn't it? It lifts our thoughts
to God who created it. We marvel at it. But there's
something a hundred, a thousand times more marvellous and wonderful.
To him who alone doeth great wonders and the greatest wonder
is the work of redemption. That this great God who created
heaven and earth The scriptures say it like this, for God so
loved the world, he gave his only beloved son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And that's the gospel in one
verse, isn't it, in John 3, 16. The wonders of redemption. Now, perhaps you say, well, I
can only read here in verses 10 through 15 about an old story
about people coming out of Egypt. To him that smote Egypt, his
mercy endureth forever, and brought out Israel from among them. To
him which divided the Red Sea, to him which overthrew Pharaoh,
his mercy endureth forever. Now, The New Testament very clearly
teaches us that God's dealings with his people, his ancient
people Israel, in bringing them out of Egypt and through the
Red Sea and through the wilderness journey to the promised land
of Canaan is what we call is typical of. It's an example. It's a very powerful example. We call it a type. of sin and
salvation in this gospel age. So Egypt represents the world
and the God's people, they were slaves in Egypt and they couldn't
cope with it and they had to work, work, work under the burning
sun making bricks. They were slaves and that represents
how you and I are all slaves to sin. and Satan and we cannot
free ourselves. And we read how the Lord with a strong
hand and a stretched out arm brought them out of Egypt and
that deliverance is salvation in Christ and the wilderness
journey is like our Christian pathway until we are safely landed
in the promised land which represent Canaan, the heavenly Canaan represents
heaven. And so really, in these verses,
I give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures
forever. The psalmist is tracing out his mercy in redemption,
in salvation. is the goodness and mercy of
Jesus. Especially we have there in verse
10 of the Passover, to him that smote Egypt in their firstborn,
Pharaoh, representing Satan, would have never let God's people
go. But for that awful judgment,
the 10th plague, when the destroying angel destroyed the firstborn,
But what a lovely picture of deliverance in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We see here substitution because
they were told to take a lamb, a perfect lamb, a male, a firstborn,
without spot or blemish, representing the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that lamb was sacrificed.
The lamb died instead of the Israelite young boy. And the
blood was put on the lintel and doorposts. And when the destroying
angel came, the destroying angel saw the blood and saw that the
lamb had died instead of the Israelite child and passed over.
And the apostle writing says, Christ, our Passover is sacrifice
for us. And so here we see redemption
in the blood and we see substitutionary atonement. We see it is him instead
of me is seen when I approach to God. Oh, give thanks unto
the Lord for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever
in this, in salvation in Christ. And then we have, do we not,
in the Red Sea. It seemed impossible, didn't
it, that they would ever leave because Pharaoh was chasing them.
There was the army of Pharaoh coming from behind. There were
hills on either side and an enormous expanse of sea ahead, nowhere
to go. I give thanks unto the Lord,
to him which divided the Red Sea and made Israel to pass through
the midst of it, for his mercy endureth forever. That way made,
that way of deliverance, speaking of God's goodness in deliverance,
God's mercy to those rebellious, sinful Israelites. They didn't
deserve it. We don't deserve it, do we? sometimes thought they'd be better
off back in Egypt and the Lord had been so good to them but
because his mercy endures forever he was long-suffering towards
them. Oh, when we think of these things,
what cause we have for the great faithfulness of God. Pardon for
sin and a peace that endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer
and to guide. Strength for today, bright hope
for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000
beside. Great is thy faithfulness. I
give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. For his mercy endureth
forever. And then finally, We have from
verse 16 to 22, the Lord's goodness and mercy, another cause to be
thankful to him for leading his people through the wilderness
and for delivering from these kings who were coming against
to oppose. His mercy endureth forever. Now those of you who you know
something of the goodness of God in salvation, but you're
in this pathway, and you've got to walk through a wilderness,
and it's not easy, especially because there's opposition, these
King Og and Sighorn, and there's things that trouble you, and
there's difficulties, and there's trials. And perhaps you think, well,
am I on the right way or has the Lord forgotten me? It doesn't always seem to make sense. But the psalmist gave thanks
to the Lord for his goodness and his mercy in leading them
through the wilderness, even though it was hard. And why was
that? Because the Lord still had a
goodness towards them in providing for them with the manna and the
water from the rock. And he still had a goodness toward
them in directing them and delivering them from this opposition. And
he was still merciful to them when they backslid and they rebelled
against him. he led them forth by a right
way that he might bring them to a city of habitation and if
there are any of you here you're perhaps in that now perhaps it's
announced as a Thanksgiving service and you think well I haven't
got much to be thankful for at the moment because it's hard
and it's tough and I can't understand why these things are happening
in my life and there's difficulties You know I was very touched when
I was asked to preach at Birkenhead Chapel. They've moved the church
that used to worship at Liverpool where their first pastor was
Samuel Medley have moved now to Birkenhead but in the vestry
there is a huge oil painting of Samuel Medley. He was a very
godly man and I tell you this story about him because when
he was pastor at Liverpool he was utterly distraught because
he had a little baby son who died and in his grief he wrote
one of our hymns and the verse of that hymn says this, what
though I can't his going see, that was quoting a scripture
which means we can't always understand God's dealings with us, what
though I can't his going sea. He is, I daily find, too wise
to be mistaken he, too good to be unkind. And Samuel Medley,
in his grief, here in the wilderness, saw that the Lord was leading
him through this wilderness and the grief and the difficulty.
in goodness because he cannot be unkind and he had a resting
place there and that's grace isn't it that if we can still
humbly give thanks unto the Lord for he is good even when we are
in deep trouble because He led his people through
the wilderness and his mercy endureth forever. Now, you all know Psalm 23 very well. It's the psalm about the shepherd,
isn't it? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. Now towards the end of that psalm,
David says this, he says, surely goodness and mercy will follow
me all the days of my life and I'll dwell in the house of the
Lord forever. And David in viewing the Lord
as his shepherd could see that the Lord's goodness and mercy,
these two things we're exhorted to give thanks to the Lord for,
were following him all the days of his life. I once heard a preacher
say, I don't know whether you've ever heard this, said that it's
almost as though the shepherd had two sheepdogs. One of the
sheepdogs that followed was called Mercy and the other was called
Goodness. And I've never forgotten that because it's quite an apt
thing but surely Goodness and Mercy will follow me. And what
do the sheepdogs do? They keep you on the right way
and they keep you from danger. And they're sent by the shepherd
to look after you. Surely goodness and mercy will
follow me all the days of my life. Well, may we by faith have
a view of our great God, our Lord Jehovah, the God of gods,
the Lord of lords. And may we have a view of his
goodness and mercy. And may it lead us as we trace
it out in the harvest time and in redemption in Christ Jesus
and in his kindness and goodness to us in the pathway to truly
give thanks to him that today we may give thanks unto the Lord
for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Amen. after the benediction if we can
stay standing and our brother Edwin will lead us in singing
the grace. Our next hymn is hymn number
one from Hymns of Worship based on Psalm 100. All people that
on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Him
serve with fear, his praise forth tell. Come ye before him and
rejoice. Hymn number one from Hymns of
Worship to the tune 382. O people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, His commandments grateful
tell. Come ye before him, We are his flock, he doth us
feed. We are his flock, he doth us
feed. ? And foolish deputy doth'st
praise ? ? O answer then his gates with praise ? ? Approach
with joy his courts unto thee ? way, for it is simply certain
to you. For by the Lord our God is clearly His mercy is forever sure, His
truth that all times firmly stewed, And shall from age to age endure. Praise God from whom all blessings
flow. Praise Him, all creatures, Him
alone. Praise Him above, ye heavenly
hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost
be with you all. Amen.