No man knows the day or the hour
that our Lord is going to return, not even the angels in heaven.
But I can't help but wonder if it's going to be during a service.
And it's going to be amazing. It's going to be amazing. Go with me if you would, back
to Psalm 136. Let's read the first three verses.
O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of gods for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks to the
Lord of lords for his mercy endureth forever. This Psalm begins by
telling us what to do. Oh, give thanks. Oh, give thanks. Give thanks. We have so much
to give thanks for. That's what every child of God
needs to do. And that's what every child of
God wants to do. Give thanks. We just want to
give thanks. That's why we're here right now.
That's the reason we're here. We're here to give thanks. Who
are we giving thanks to? verse one says give thanks to
the lord you see that capital l capital o capital r capital
d give thanks to jehovah the trinity jehovah is god the trinity
god the i am verse two says he's the god of gods The one and only Almighty, not
just a God, He's the God. Give thanks to the God. Give thanks to the God. Specifically, who is that? Who
is the God of Gods? Verse 3 says, The Lord of Lords. Do you see the capital L, lowercase
o, lowercase r, lowercase d? Oh, give thanks to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The God. Jehovah. The Lord Jesus Christ. That's
who we give thanks to. What? Give thanks. Who? To Him. Why? Every verse in this chapter tells
us why all 26 verses tell us why why we give thanks for his
mercy endureth forever his mercy endures forever mercy is not
getting what we deserve Not getting what we deserve.
If we deserved something great, if we deserved something wonderful,
that would be terrible news. Not getting what we deserve. But we don't deserve something
wonderful. We deserve something horrible. We deserve, we have rightfully
earned something very terrible. We are owed God's anger. That's what we're owed. We are
owed God's fist. We are owed the blow of His wrath. We're owed the fullness of all
of his fury. But God's mercy won't give it
to us. God's mercy will not give it
to us. That's what we're owed. That's
what we deserve. Mercy will not give it to us.
Won't do it. Where can we find that mercy? there is a place we're going
to sing a song there is a place at the close of this message
there is a place where the lord jesus sheds the oil of gladness
on our heads what is the oil of gladness that's the blood
of the lamb of god there is a place where the lord jesus sheds the
oil of gladness on our heads it's a place then all besides
more sweet there's no No place sweeter than this. It is the
blood-bought mercy seat. Mercy was spilled. Mercy was shed. Mercy flowed. Mercy was drawn straight out
of the veins of the God of gods and Lord of lords, the King of
kings, Jehovah himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me show
you a few things that this Word has to say about God's wonderful
mercy. Go with me over to Psalm 108.
Psalm 108 verse 3 says, I will praise Thee, O Lord, among
the people, and I will sing praises unto Thee among the nations,
for Thy mercy is great. It is great above the heavens,
and Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds." Thy mercy is great. It's above the heavens. It is
high and lifted up. What that means is it's sovereign. It's sovereign. It means it's
bestowed upon. It comes down to whoever he is
willing to send it to. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. Oh, give thanks. You know, the
world hears that and they say, I hate that. I don't want to
hear that. I don't want to have anything to do with that. Get that away
from me. God's people hear that and they say, give thanks. Give
thanks to God. Thanks be to God. He is willing
to show mercy. He's willing to show it all.
It's great. Turn back a few more pages to Psalm 86. Psalm 86 verse 1 says, bow down
thine ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve
my soul, for I am holy. And if you have a margin there,
it says, one whom thou favorest. I'm one who has found favor in
your eyes. O thou my God, save thy servant,
that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant,
for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Why do you do that,
David? Why do you do that? Here's the
reason, verse 5. For thou, Lord, art good and
ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call
upon thee. His mercy is great. His mercy
is plenteous, plenteous. First Peter one says it is abundant
mercy. Abundant mercy. Ephesians 2 says
He is rich in mercy. Rich in not giving us what we
deserve. He abundantly does not give us
what we deserve. Why is that? Why is His mercy
so great, so plenteous, so abundant, so rich? Why is that? Look back
a few pages at Psalm 51. Psalm 51 verse 1 says, Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, According
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgression
according to your tender mercies. His mercy is tender. He's rich
in it. He's abundant in it. Because
He delights in it. He delights to show it. It's
tender to Him. He sends it brand new every morning. Don't you love Lamentations 3? This is why I have hope. It is
of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. His compassion
is brand new every single morning. Every single morning. We can
give thanks for that. We can give absolute thanks for
that to the only one who is worthy to give thanks to. because of
the fact that His mercy endures forever. It's great. It's plenteous. It's tender. It's everlasting. Everlasting forever. Now go with
me back to Psalm 136. David is about to tell us what
our Lord has done because of the fact that His mercy endures
forever. This is what our Lord has accomplished.
because His mercy endures forever. He said, O give thanks unto the
Lord, to the God of gods, to the Lord of lords. Verse 4 says,
To him who alone doeth great wonders. A man named William
Cooper wrote a poem that says, God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform. He plants His footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. He does do everything. He does
plant His footsteps in the sea. Every nor'easter that has come,
He sent it. All right? He does all things. Everything that happens, He is
the doer of it. He is constantly performing great
wonders. But the greatest wonder to me,
to all of God's people, the greatest wonder that He has ever performed
is that He would choose to save sinners like us. That's the greatest
wonder. The wonder of the gospel. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. He came down to accomplish salvation
for His people. He accomplished it and ascended
back up and sat down on His throne. And it's finished. To him who
alone doeth great wonders. He by himself purged our sins. Why did he do that? He's God. Self-sufficient. In need of nothing. There are
maggots in this world. I don't need any of them. I don't
need them. They exist, but I don't need
them. Why would God come down and do
that for us? Why would He do that? Here's
the answer. His mercy endures forever. He is a God of mercy. And it
endures forever. and He has to show it to His
people. Verse 5 says, To Him that by wisdom made the heavens. When you look out into the heavens
and you see all those galaxies and stars, is it not amazing
the wisdom of God? Verse 6 says, To Him that stretched
out the earth above the waters. Verse 7 says, To Him that made
great lights. Verse 8 says, the sun to rule
by day. That sun represents the Son of
God. The glory of God. Verse 9 says,
the moon and stars to rule by night. That represents His church.
They reflect His glory. He's the one who shines. You
just see Him shine in them. But why did He create all those
things? It's so small under Him. All of the heavens and the stars
and the galaxies, one man said, that's the dust underneath His
throne. Why did He create everything He created? Why did He create
you and me? Why did He create us? It's because
His mercy endureth forever. He did everything that He has
done just so He could show mercy. Everything he did. He made a
galaxy. He made an earth. He made a sun to shine on it.
He made a man to stand on it just so he could show mercy.
He's a God of mercy. You think about the fact that
the lamb was slain before man was ever made. The lamb was slain. God slew
his lamb in mercy before he ever laid the foundation of the world.
He slew the lamb first. Before the foundation of the
world, before Adam ever took a bite. Before he ever sowed
one fig leaf to another fig leaf. Adam already had the atonement.
He already had the forgiveness and the covering of the blood
of mercy. Verse 10 says, Give thanks to
Him that smote Egypt in their firstborn. Verse 11 says, And
brought out Israel from among them. Verse 12, He did it with
a strong hand And with a stretched out arm, who is that? That's
Christ. The one who put a difference,
separated his people, sanctified his people to himself,
set them apart for his holy use. Why would he do that? Mercy. We have the answer in every verse,
mercy. Verse 13 says, he divided the Red Sea. He made the impossible
possible. There they stood at the Red Sea.
They have Pharaoh and his army behind them. And they have an
impassable gulf in front of them. He made the impassable passable. And he did that on the cross
of Calvary. When he cried, it is finished. The veil of that
temple rent in twain, parted right in two. So did that ocean. A highway was made straight into
the Holy of Holies. And that's what happened in the
Red Sea. He parted that Red Sea and his people had a highway
to life. Verse 13 says, To him which divided
the Red Sea into parts. 14 says, And made Israel to pass
through the midst of it. Verse 15 says, but overthrew
Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea. Why did he do that? Why
did he damn the world but save his people? It's because his
mercy endures forever. Not only that, not only did he
spare his people, This says He gave Him an inheritance. Verse
16 says, to Him which led His people through the wilderness.
Verse 17 says, to Him which smoked great kings. Verse 18 says, and
slew famous kings. Verse 19 says, Sihon, king of
the Amorites. Verse 20 says, and Og, king of
Bashan. 21 says, and gave their land
for inheritance. I don't know if you remember
then, but when, after the children of Israel walked across the Red
Sea, they were headed to Jericho. And these kings came to fight
against Israel. And God said, Israel was not
going to mess with them at all. If you'll just let us pass through
your land, we won't take anything out of your wells. We won't take
anything out of your fields. We'll go right through your borders,
we won't bother you at all." And they rebelled against God's
people and God told Moses, you tell the people, kill them all.
They killed those kings, they killed their armies, they took
all their land and God gave it to them. gave it to them for
an heritage. Verse 21, and gave their land
for an heritage. Verse 22 says, even a heritage
unto Israel, his servant. He overcame the world for his
people. He overcame the world. In the
world, you're going to have tribulation. Be of good comfort. I've overcome
the world for you. All the enemies in the world And then He gave everything He
earned and won for an inheritance to His people. Gave it all to
His people. Why would He do that? It's because
His mercy endures forever. It endures forever. Verse 23
says, Who remembered us in our low estate He remembered us in our low state. How low were we? Look back at
Psalm 103. I love this chapter. Psalm 103. Verse 13 says, Like as a father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. Is that not so comforting? He
knows, He remembers that we're dust. From dust you were taken,
to dust you're going right back to. Our low estate, lower than
dust. The dust of the grave, He knows
we're dead in trespasses and sins. But God who is rich in
mercy, In spite of our state. In spite of what we are. Our
low estate. God who is rich in mercy, for
his great love wherewith he loved us. Back in our text, verse 24 says,
hath redeemed us from our enemies. God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, He redeemed us from all of our
enemies. How did He do that? He quickened us together with
Christ. He united us with Christ. By His mercy, by His grace, we're
saved. He saved us from all of our enemies. He saved us from all of our sin. He saved us from ourselves. He saved us from ourselves. I am my own worst enemy. I'm my own worst enemy. I'm so glad God has saved me
from me. I'm so glad. That honestly makes
me rejoice. God has saved me from me. When I die, that's the old man
dying. Two natures in a new man. There's
a child of God and a child of death. And right now, this child
of God is dragging around the child of death. And the next
time a believer in this congregation dies, and you see that body laying
there, you remember, he finally got rid of that old man. God
delivered him from him, officially. And that's glorious news. He
delivered me from me. For the rest of our days on this
earth, He's going to provide us with everything we need. Verse
25 says, Who giveth food to all flesh. Our Lord does allow His
beautiful Son to shine on the just and the unjust. His rain
falls on the just and the unjust. He does give food to all flesh.
He provides for every living thing on this earth. But to His
people, they'll never be forsaken, never beg bread, never. Why will He do that for us? Why will He do that for us? No
matter what it looks like, No matter what it looks like, no
matter what it looks like on paper, no matter what the budget
shows come the end of the day, we will always have food and
raiment. Always. Why will He do that for
us? It's because His mercy endureth
forever. forever. Now, what do we have
to say about all that? What's our response? Right back
where we started. Verse 26 says, Oh, give thanks
unto the God of heaven. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Notice this and then we'll close.
All right. His mercy does endure forever. His mercy does endure forever. But all 26 times, the word endureth
is in italics. All 26 times. What that means
is, not only does His mercy endure forever, but we are going to
thank Him forever. Verse 26 says, Oh, give thanks
unto the God of heaven for his mercy. Give thanks for his mercy. Forever. Thank him forever. Let's thank
him forever. Let's thank him. Let's thank
him right now. Let's go through the rest of today and tomorrow
and every other day we have on this earth thanking him. And
then all of a sudden, this robe of flesh is going to drop. and as soon as we see that old
man drop the new man nothing's going to change about the new
man he's just going to see the old man drop and at that moment
let's thank him this robe of flesh we're going to drop and
then we're going to rise while we're passing through the air
let's thank him As soon as we seize the everlasting prize and
lay hold of Him, let's thank Him. He's going to say, Peace
be unto you. Let's say, Thank you. Thank you. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.