Turn with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 117. Psalm 117. This is a glorious psalm. This
truly is. It's a beautiful psalm, and I
thank the Lord so much for putting it in the canon of His Word. It's only two verses. When you
see that, it's shocking. It's only two verses. But if that's all you need, that's
all you need. If that's the psalm, then that's
the psalm. One of the most beautiful verses
in the scripture only has two words. Jesus wept. You think about that. Just think
about that. Jesus wept. You could dwell on
the glory and the beauty and the depth of those two words for all eternity. Everything that is meant and
said in those two words. It's not the amount of words,
it's the depth of what is said in the words. Peter cried one
of the greatest prayers that's ever been prayed. Three words. Lord, save me. Three words. Well, this psalm
falls into the short but very sweet category. Just a few words,
but oh the depth of what's said here. I want to read the Psalm
and then I want to give you the title of this message, all right?
Psalm 117 verse 1 says, Oh, praise the Lord, all ye nations. Praise Him, all ye people, for
His merciful kindness is great toward us. and the truth of the
Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord. Now here is the title of this
message. It is always merciful kindness. That's the title. It is always
merciful kindness. That's what I pray we'll get
a hold of tonight. It is always merciful kindness. That's all that it is. That's
all that it is. When it comes to God's people,
God has a people. They are the only ones who will
be made to truly praise the Lord. You think about what that saying
praise all praise be unto the Lord, not me and the Lord, the
Lord. When it comes to God's people.
It is always merciful kindness toward them. Always. That's what causes them to say,
Oh, praise the Lord. That's what causes them to say
that. That's what verse one says. Oh, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear His voice.
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people
rejoice. Praise the Lord. Praise ye the
Lord. That's the English translation
of the word Hallelujah. That's the original Hebrew word.
Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. That's what God's people say
concerning everything that He has done for us. Everything he's
done for us. That's the cry. That's the response. Every merciful kindness toward
us. Praise you, the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Look with me
at Revelation 19. Revelation 19 verse 1, it says, after these things, I heard a
great voice of much people in heaven saying, hallelujah, praise
ye the Lord. Can you imagine what that sounds
like? Can you imagine a number that no man can number, all in
perfect unity, crying in absolute sincerity, praise ye the Lord. After these things I heard a
great voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation
and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God." What
they were saying is, salvation belongs to the Lord our God. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what they're all crying, salvation is of the Lord. Glory belongs
to the Lord our God. Honor, power, every bit of it
belongs to the Lord our God. Verse 2 says, For true and righteous
are His judgments, for He hath judged the great whore. He judged false religion, which
did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged
the blood of His servants at her hand. And again they said,
Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. And her smoke
rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders
and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne saying, Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Verse 5 says, And a voice came
out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants,
and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard, as it
were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah. for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth."
The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The word Omnipotent means Almighty. The Lord God Almighty. That's what God's people say.
They're not up there saying, you tried your best, you tried
to do the best you could do. They're saying the Lord God almighty. That word means ruler of all. That word means the sovereign,
the owner, the controller, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. In all things, God's people say,
praise ye the Lord. And the reason is because they
know that the Lord God Omnipotent is reigning. That's the reason
why. The Lord God Omnipotent is reigning. He is seated on His throne reigning
and ruling and judging and doing. He's God. He's God. God is God and God is in control. God is doing what He will with
whom He will. The Lord God Omnipotent. The Lord God Almighty. The Lord
God All-Powerful. The God who really is God is
reigning. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. They also know that everything
that the Lord God Omnipotent is doing is right. It's all right. There's no wrong
in Him, no error in Him. It's all right concerning them. It's all right concerning everything.
They all know that it's best for them. No matter what the circumstances
may be, they know that His merciful kindness toward them, everything
that He does is what's best for them. He is all-knowing and He's
all-controlling. The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Look with me back at our text
at Psalm 117. Verse 1 says, O praise the Lord,
all ye nations, praise Him, all ye people, for His merciful kindness
is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. His merciful kindness is great
toward us. Merciful kindness is merciful
grace. That's what it means. Mercy and
grace. Mercy is not getting what we
deserve. Being spared what we deserve
and what do we deserve? We deserve punishment. We deserve
wrath. That's what we deserve for our
sin. Our sin against God. How many sins do we have to commit
before we're no longer in good standing with God? How many do
you get? How many does it take before he says, that's it, you're
no longer in good standing with me? Ask Adam. One. One. One, mercy is not, after one
sin, we deserve punishment for our sin, judgment for our sin. Mercy is not getting what we
deserve. And grace is getting what we
don't deserve. What do God's people get that
they didn't deserve? The reward that Christ earned. Everything he did as he walked
this earth, when God the Father said, well done, I'm well pleased
in you. In every dealing that God has
toward his people, he is not giving us what we deserve. And he is giving us what we don't
deserve in every dealing that he has with us. And he's doing
all of it in justice and in truth, all of it. It was merciful kindness
that chose us. It was such merciful kindness.
Just let's scroll through a few scriptures together. Go with
me to John 15. John 15 verse 16. This is our Lord Jesus Christ
speaking and He said, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen
you. Naturally we think, well we need
to make our choice for God. We need to make our decision.
He said, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you. and ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain,
that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he
may give it to you." He said, I chose you unto that. That's
merciful kindness. Look with me at Romans chapter
nine. Romans 9 verse 15, for he said
to Moses, he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth. but of God that showeth mercy."
What that means is it's merciful kindness. It's merciful kindness. Look with me at Ephesians 1. If we could ever enter into the
kindness of the Lord, what kindness? Ephesians 1 verse 3 says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will."
Whose will is it up to? His will. Verse 6 says, "...to
the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us
accepted in the Beloved." Merciful kindness that He chose us. Truly
to enter into that we need to see who it was exactly that He
chose. Just look at us. Just look at
us. Look at Ephesians 2 verse 1. You hath He quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. If He saved me, if He quickened
me, what that means is I was dead in trespasses and sins.
Spiritually dead before Him. That means We did not deserve
to be chosen. That's what it means. None of
us did. There's not a single person here
that deserved to be chosen. I did not deserve to be chosen. That's why Paul kept saying,
where's boasting? What are we going to boast in?
Well, I was chosen. What are you going to boast in?
We didn't deserve to be chosen. Ephesians 2 verse 2 says, wherein
in times past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation. You say, well, that was That
was them over there in the gutter. No, we all had our conversation
in that. That was the walk of life in
times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. What we deserved was to be passed
by. That's what we deserved. We deserved
to be judged. We deserved to be condemned. We deserved to be forsaken. If we want to know why Christ
cried, why have you forsaken me? He was hanging there for
us. Getting what we deserved. Verse 4 right here says, but
God, oh you talk about two glorious words. But God, instead of, we
deserved all that wrath from God and all that punishment from
God, but instead of that, merciful kindness stepped in. Merciful
kindness stepped in and chose us, chose to spare us. Verse
4 says, But God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, you say, well,
there must've been something in us that made him love us.
You know what Romans 5 says? Romans 5 verse 8, God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Christ died for the ungodly. Verse 5 right here says, Even
when we were dead in sins, He quickened us together with Christ,
by grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the
ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness. This is merciful kindness toward
us through Christ. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. We don't have any room to boast,
do we? It was merciful kindness that
chose us. It was merciful kindness that
redeemed us. Brought us back. paid our price,
paid our debt. We didn't deserve it. Not one
person here deserved. We talk about the blood of Christ.
Christ shed His blood to save His people. Not one person here
deserved the precious blood of the Lamb. We deserved to be left in our
sin. That's what we deserve. We deserved
an eternity of debt that we could never repay, but merciful kindness
wouldn't allow it. Just would not allow it. I love
the song. It says, against the God that rules the sky, I fought
with hand uplifted high. And what that is is a person
saying, I want to share your glory. You're not going to take
all the glory. You're not going to take all
the credit in this. Against the God who rules the sky, I fought
with hand uplifted high, despised the mention of His grace, His
free gift to sinners. Too proud to seek a hiding place,
but thus the eternal counsel ran. Almighty love, arrest that
man. Send merciful kindness to him.
draw Him to myself. That's what gave the blood and
paid the price to redeem us. Right here in Ephesians 2 verse
11 says, Wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh who are called uncircumcision, but that which is called the
circumcision in the flesh made by hand. That means we're not
Jews, we're Gentiles. That at that time you were without
Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were
far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for He is our
peace. who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby."
He did it. He did it. He did it. This is
what he did. He did all of it. Merciful kindness
chose us. Merciful kindness redeemed us.
And it was merciful kindness that called us back to God. Verse
17 says, And then He came and He preached peace to you which
were afar off and to them that were nigh. For through Him we
both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Every bit of
that. was merciful kindness. And it was all done in truth.
It was all done according to justice and truth. And it's because it was all done
in Christ. All of it was in Christ. We were chosen in Christ. We
were redeemed by Christ. And we were called unto Christ.
All because of Him. all because of his merciful kindness
to us. We witnessed that on the cross. We see all of that on the cross
of Calvary. That's where God's mercy and
God's grace and God's truth all came together. Look with me,
if you would, at Psalm 85. Psalm 85 verse 1 says, Lord,
thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought back
the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Thou, Thou, Thou. You did it all. You did all of
it. How did He do that? Where did
He do that? The cross of Calvary. The cross of salvation. Look
right here at verse 9. Surely His salvation is nigh
them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. How can He say that? How can
He say surely? How can He be so sure? It's because right there on the
cross of Calvary verse 10 says, Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Right there at the cross. In
the transaction of the cross, God's holiness came. God is holy. And He must punish sin. God's
holiness came. The law's justice came. The law, this law right here,
demands perfection. Absolute perfection, righteousness.
If not, you're breaking the law. The sin of God's people came.
That's what Christ brought to the cross. And redemption Himself
came. Christ Himself. And in Him, everyone
was satisfied. everyone. God's holiness said
the payment is here. I'm holy and I need a payment
for sin and it's here. I see it. The law's justice said
righteousness is here. I demand perfection and I see
it. God's sinful people said redemption is here. I see my
redemption right here. And Christ our Redeemer said,
peace is here. Peace is here. Our Peacemaker,
the Prince of Peace, Righteousness Himself, Truth Himself, Mercy
Himself. Everything was satisfied in Him. He is God's merciful kindness
toward us. God's merciful kindness is a
person. It's a person. Christ our Lord.
Now look with me at Psalm 25. As you're turning here, I want
to say that I pray the Lord might burn this into our hearts, burn
it into our minds, for our good, for our comfort,
for our hope. I pray He might cause us to see
this and understand this, believe it, rest in it. Psalm 25 verse 10 says, All the paths of the Lord are
mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies."
All the paths of the Lord, every path that the Lord leads His
people to in the Lord, all the paths of the Lord are mercy and
truth. All of them lead to merciful
kindness and truth. All of them. Sometimes they are
not easy. Sometimes they're not easy. Sometimes they're full of heartache.
Sometimes they're full of sorrow. We know this is true. Sometimes
we don't understand them. Sometimes we can't personally
see the good in them. Sometimes we say, how could this
be good? How could this be good? May God teach us and may He cause
us to believe that all of His paths, all of His paths that
He leads His people down, all of them are paths of merciful
kindness. All of them. May He give us a
settled heart on the fact that in Christ, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose. As painful as it can be at times,
May he teach us what he taught the prophet Eli. Think about
some of these men in the Old Testament. And you think about
what the prophet Eli said in his moment of deep, deep sorrow. He said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
Can you imagine that crushing heaviness that Job was under?
You know the story of Job. Can you imagine everything he
went through? All the news that was brought to him? Crushing,
crushing, crushing. But in all of that, I mean, he
rent his mantle, he shaved his head. He fell on his face in
the dust, but in all of that, God gave him the ability to say,
blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
How could those men say that? It's because God convinced those
men. And if a person is going to be
convinced, God has to do it. God has to do it. But God convinced
those men that every path that they would ever take, every path
He would ever lead them down would only be a path of merciful
kindness. And He caused them to believe
that in the end they would see good. The goodness of the Lord. I've told you this account before
and I want to tell it to you again. because it illustrates
this. There was a man in the 1700s,
a preacher of the gospel, his name was George Whitefield. And in the 1700s, he was riding
his horse one night to another town because he was scheduled
to preach. And apparently this other town
was a long distance, it was quite a ride. And the whole time that
he was traveling, it was pouring down rain on him. Just pouring rain. And he was
soaking wet. It wasn't just raining a little
bit. It was pouring, pouring rain on him. He was just soaking
wet. He said he was tired and he was
miserable. And he said in his account, he
said, I had a bad attitude. I just had a bad attitude. He said, I was carrying this
burden to preach. Going to preach. Carrying this
burden to preach. And he said, I was tired from
this long distance of travel. And he said, I was asking the
Lord along the way, why all of this rain? Why all this rain? I'm just so miserable in this
rain. He said, I'm going to preach your word. This is a good thing. I'm going to do a good thing. Why such misery along the way? Think about that question. Why
such misery along the way? Why such misery along the way?
Why does it have to be such misery along the way? He said, I had such a bad attitude
toward His providence. I had such a bad attitude toward
the task that he'd given me to do and he said it was all because
of this rain. He said, then I rounded the corner
and out jumped a robber with a flint pistol and he fired it
at me. Pointed it right at him, point
blank and fired it at him. But he said, the robber's flint
was too wet, and the gun wouldn't go off. And he said, I hightailed
it out of there on my horse, crying, thank you for the rain.
Thank you for the rain. Oh, thank you for the rain. That's
what we're going to do. That's what we're going to say. In the end, for all those who
are in Christ, for all those who are in Christ and look into
Christ and have been called to see His glory, His work, His
blood, all those who are truly resting in Him, in the end, we're
going to see that every path He ever led us down was merciful
kindness. We may not understand it in a
moment. But it's all merciful kindness toward us. Now let's
go back to our text and see if we can have the same response
David did. We'll close. Psalm 117, verse 1 says, O praise
the Lord, all ye nations! Praise Him, all ye people! For His merciful kindness is
great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endureth forever. And here was David's response.
Praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah. Hebrews 11 says,
These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
they embraced them. And that's how all of God's people
can say in all things, praise you the Lord. Praise you the
Lord. Every path that we take as strangers
and pilgrims on this earth will lead us to the merciful kindness
of the Lord toward us. Every path will lead us to Christ. Every path. If we were chosen
in Him and redeemed in Him and called in Him Every path will
lead us to Christ. Praise you, the Lord. All right,
let's all stand together.