Psalm 136. I give thanks unto the Lord, for
he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. I give thanks unto the
God of gods, for his mercy endureth forever. I give thanks to the
Lord of lords, for his mercy endureth forever. To him who
alone does great wonders, for his mercy endureth forever. To
him that by wisdom made the heavens, for his mercy endureth forever.
To him that stretches out the earth above the waters, for his
mercy endureth forever. To him that made great lights,
for his mercy endureth forever. The sun to rule by day, for his
mercy endureth forever. The moon and stars to rule by
night, for his mercy endureth forever. To him that smoked Egypt
in their firstborn, for his mercy endureth forever. And brought
out of Israel from among them, for his mercy endureth forever.
with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm, for his mercy endureth
forever. To him which divided the Red
Sea into parts, for his mercy endureth forever. And made Israel
to pass through the midst of it, for his mercy endureth forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his
hosts in the Red Sea, for his mercy endureth forever. To him
which led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy
endureth forever. To him which smote 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. and gave their land for an heritage,
for his mercy endureth forever. Even an heritage unto Israel
his servant, for his mercy endureth forever. Who remembereth us in
our lowest state, for his mercy endureth forever. And hath redeemed
us from our enemies, for his mercy endureth forever. who giveth
food to all flesh, for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks
unto the God of heaven, for his mercy endureth forever. May the Lord bless to us this
lovely psalm of praise as we seek to consider this evening
really the first three verses of this psalm. I give thanks
unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
I give thanks unto the God of gods, for his mercy endureth
forever. I give thanks to the Lord of
lords, for his mercy endureth forever. As we are all well aware,
the psalms are really the heart of the scriptures. They are suitable
for every case. The saints find there every situation
that they pass through. Their hearts are fed and encouraged
as they meditate upon the experiences of those who have gone before
them. and as they can be blessed by
and encouraged by those experiences of the Lord's people as they
walked this pathway before and as they wrote down their experiences
and the way in which the Lord dealt with them, the Lord's people
can be blessed and encouraged by the Psalms. many years throughout
the history of Israel the psalms they were sung and you can sort
of imagine this psalm specifically being sung in the temple of the
greatness of God. and his mercy that is an enduring
mercy, an everlasting mercy and it seems that the mercy of God
was at the forefront of the psalmist's mind as he wrote this under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, that his mercy endures
forever. It's like you can hear the echo
as one part of the choir sings, O give thanks unto the Lord for
he is good. And then another part of the
choir sings, and his mercy endures forever. Something of the sound
of heaven. You could imagine that the angels
sing of the goodness of God as they cry, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord God almighty. So the people on earth sing,
his mercy endures forever and ever and ever. turn to the book
of Chronicles. We have twice there when the
ark is brought into the temple, the trumpeters and the singers
as they begin to sing, they sing about God's mercy. 1 Chronicles chapter 5 from verse
11, and it came to pass when the priests were come out of
the holy place, for the priests were present, were sanctified,
and did not then wait by course. Also the Levites, which were
the singers, all of them, of Asath and of Heman, and with
their sons and with their brethren, being arrayed in white linen,
having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east
end of the altar with them 120 priests sounding with trumpets. And it came to pass as the trumpeters
and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising
and thanking the Lord. And when they lifted up their
voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music and
praised the Lord saying, For he is good, for his mercy endures
forever. That then the house was filled
with a cloud, even the house of the Lord. The priest could
not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of
the Lord had filled the house of God. And so as Solomon had
finished the temple and brought the Ark of the Covenant there
and as they were praying and singing and dedicating
the temple, the Lord descended. But as they were singing, they
were singing of God's mercy, that he is good and that his
mercy endures forever. So I wonder if they were singing
something of this psalm, Psalm 136, give thanks unto the Lord. he is good, for his mercy endureth
forever.' And just as they began to sing this psalm, not even
making it to verse two, the Lord descends and fills the temple
with his presence. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing
as we today have come before him in prayer, as we sing his
praise as we give thanks for his mercy that he would descend
upon us as he has promised where two or three are gathered in
my name there he will be in the midst of them that he would come
amongst us with power and reveal himself as he did in the days
of old. In chapter 7 also Again in chapter 7 from verse
1, 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 priest could
not enter into the house of the Lord because of the glory of
the Lord had filled the house, 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 worshipped
and praised the Lord, saying, for he is good. for his mercy
endureth forever. And verse 6 also, and the priests
waited on their offices and the Levites also with instruments
of music of the Lord which David the king had made to praise the
Lord because his mercy endures forever. when David praised by
the ministry and the priest sounded trumpets before them and all
Israel stood. And so it was with the dedication
of the temple and the worship of God that they sung of God's
goodness and they sung of God's mercy. God's mercy seems to be
magnified in this psalm. Our God is the God of mercy and
as we read of the holiness of God and as we read of the power
of God how fearful he would be if we didn't also read of the
mercy of God. Sometimes if you're called to meet with somebody
Maybe when you were younger at school and you had to go and
see the headmaster and you knew that he was a hard man, you knew
that there was no pity. It made you scared, petrified
to go and see him. But what a difference it is with
God. We read that he is holy and that he can't enter into
the presence of sin, that his eyes cannot behold evil. We read
of his greatness, his power, his authority, his kingship,
his sovereignty over all the earth. Such a great God we have. And yet we read of his mercy
and his love, which makes him approachable. Well, he is filled
with mercy. He is slow to anger. He doesn't deal with us as we
deserve to be dealt with. but he looks upon his people,
he looks upon the world even in mercy. In Exodus 34 after
Moses collects the Ten Commandments the second time and he asks the
Lord to pass by him. It says, and the Lord descended
in a cloud and stood with him and there proclaimed the name
of the Lord. and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed,
the Lord, the Lord God, and the first merciful and gracious,
long-suffering or patient, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and
sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the children's
children and to the third and fourth generation. There lies
the Lord's mercy in his ability to forgive sin through the Lord
Jesus Christ, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin. And so he is a merciful God.
And the psalmist seeks to magnify that mercy in an echo to all
of the other great deliverances that the Lord has done. All of
the other great things that God has done descend from or come
from the fact that he is a merciful God. And that is a reason to
be thankful. He says, O give thanks unto the
Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. These three verses use three
different ways of describing our God. We know we have a triune
God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And throughout the scriptures,
the scriptures refer to God in different ways, using different
words to describe him. And so he starts with the Lord,
Jehovah, the eternal God, the God who has no beginning and
no end, the creator and sustainer of every single thing. And he
is good. Scripture tells us that God is
good. He is the pinnacle or the example of all that is good. Jesus says there is none good
but God. Everybody else is contaminated
and stained with sin. Nobody reaches that perfect standard
of goodness. But God is holy, without sin,
spotless, cannot even enter into the presence of sin. And the
angels cover their faces as they gaze upon the King of kings,
the Lord of lords, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jehovah. So the psalmist starts with his
great name, his eternal name for Jehovah. And he moves on,
I'll give thanks unto the God of gods. The Bible tells us that there
are many gods in the world. Little g gods, gods of man's
creation, gods of man's imagination, Gods that are not gods at all,
that people call gods, like the sun, the moon, the stars. Even
the devil himself is referred to as the god of this world. But God, the true and living
God, there is only one. There is only one God. Hear,
O Israel, the Lord our God, he is one. There is only one true
God. The word God is Elohim, which
really means strength and power. And then he goes on, I'll give
thanks unto the Lord of lords. The word Lord means master or
in their language is Adonai. sovereign one. And so all of these words that
are put together to describe God, the eternal God, the powerful
God and the sovereign God. We sing sovereign ruler of the
skies ever gracious and ever wise and it's to him we come
and we give thanks. All good things come from God. All things come from God. And we see in the psalm of the
different events in the lives of the people of Israel where
the Lord dealt greatly for them. In verse 4 to verse 9 he speaks
of the wonders of creation. Again, as we mentioned this time
of year, as we see new life all around us, the green and the
animals and the flowers and the sunshine, we're reminded of the
greatness of this sovereign God, this almighty, all-powerful God
who is dealing every day with this world in mercy. He does
not deal with us as we deserve to be dealt with. In Lamentations
chapter three, Jeremiah says, it is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are
new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. And so every single morning we
receive the untold mercy of God. He does not deal with us for
the fact that we sinned against him yesterday. He deals with
us in mercy continually and even those who reject his existence
still receive rain and sunshine and food and clothing and breath
and life. He's a great God filled with
mercy and his mercy is seen in the continued cycle of life upon
this earth and the moon and the stars. But then in his dealings
with the people of Israel, how he brought judgment upon the
Egyptians. and caused the people of Israel
to pass through the Red Sea. And all the while his echoing
and his mercy endures forever. He understood that the Lord dealt
with them in mercy. And he led his people through
the wilderness. Moses interceded, didn't he? God says, let me consume
them. Moses pleaded on their behalf. The Lord acted in mercy. that
mercy is an enduring mercy. He overthrew kings. He gave them
the land of their inheritance. He remembered them in their lowest
state. He redeemed them from their enemies.
He gives food to all flesh and even for us today we can echo
amen and amen and amen. The Lord has delivered us from
our enemies. from Satan and from sin and from
the grave. He's dealt with us as believers
in Christ in mercy, in Christ Jesus. Delivered us. He leads us as
he led the children of Israel through the wilderness, providing
them with food and clothing and water. He dealt with them in mercy and
he deals with us in mercy every single day, guiding and directing
and providing for us the things that we have need of. He remembers
us when we're in our lowest state. Sometimes we don't remember him,
but he remembers us and he deals with us in mercy. He redeemed
us from our enemies and he gives food for all flesh. O give thanks unto the Lord. so the believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ who have experienced the mercy of God in Christ Jesus
are to be ever thankful to God. He says oh give thanks, lift
up your voice and give thanks for all that the Lord has done
in Christ. He saved you from the consequences
of your sin, he redeemed you In Thessalonians it tells us
there. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 it says,
In everything give thanks. Well this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you. If you consider in everything
give thanks. It's quite a statement. It's very easy to give thanks
when you receive something good at the hand of God. To give thanks
when he causes us to walk through the wilderness. To give thanks
when he causes us to bear the burden and the heat of the day. But the psalmist is saying always
remember this. that however the Lord deals with
us he is always dealing with us in mercy. He never goes as
far as he could go because he's redeemed us in Christ. Christ received no mercy upon
the cross. And so his people are spared. Christ cried out, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? The Lord's people will never
have to cry out that because he's an ever-present
friend. The sovereign God, the eternal
God, the good God. and his mercy endures forever
and ever and ever. His compassions are new every morning. They fail not. And great is his
faithfulness. Maybe you've been thinking even
today that things are too difficult. There's nothing really for you
to to give thanks for. Or if you've lost sight of everything,
never lose sight of yourself in Christ Jesus, because that
can never go. It is an internal treasure that
will outlast this world. You may be blessed, you may be
thankful for the material things, but those things that they can
go, We always have the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, from which
to stand and to give thanks to God. Even if everything is stripped
away, there's always that to give thanks for, the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's a hymn that says something
like, Thy mercy in Christ exempts me from hell. And that's where
the believer stands. give thanks unto the Lord for
his mercy endures forever and ever and so the Lord deals with
his people daily in mercy and although we may not feel like
we can give thanks because we may be passing through a very
hard time yet give thanks for Christ Give thanks for the Lord
Jesus Christ that you have been redeemed from destruction and
delivered as the Israel was delivered from the bondage of the Egyptians
so you have been delivered and are on your way to the eternal
promised land. I give thanks unto the Lord for
he is good, for his mercy endures forever. May the Lord bless these
few remarks. Amen.