If you would, please turn to
the book of Psalms. Psalm number 136. Psalms 136.
I'm just gonna read the first nine verses. Oh, 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. 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. 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 the stars to rule
by night, for his mercy endureth forever. I'm gonna stop right
there. I just wanted to kind of give
you a taste of it. Because I don't know about you,
but after those first nine verses, I'm beginning to sense a theme
within this psalm, okay? You understand, sometimes we
do need to be hit over the head with a sledgehammer. You know,
sometimes what the man used to say about his mules, sometimes
you gotta get his attention. Well, we're not mules, we're
sheep, and sheep can be hard-headed. So I am suspecting this psalm
is about the mercy of the Lord enduring forever. Now, at the
beginning of this, I looked at, I believe it was Gil. His introduction for this psalm
had this, and I really like this. All, all blessings of every kind
flow, flow from the grace, goodness, and mercy of God. And the grace,
goodness, and mercy of God is constant and perpetual. I like that statement. I like
that statement. For his mercy endureth forever. I want to get used to that idea.
I want you to get used to that idea. You know, think about it. Ponder it. Tim James said mull
on it For his mercy endureth forever Bring this to mind All
things work together for good to them that love God to them
that are the called according to his purpose Here's a thought God God The one who made the lights,
the one who did all things, did all the wonders. God is for us. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
And his mercy endures forever. Now, my Bible here does not have
any little stars by this. Psalm, any of the verses. And
usually that means that's a Messianic verse. But I'm gonna tell you
something, this whole thing is a Messianic Psalm. Whether it's
got a little stars by it or not. Because the first thing I wanna
look at on His mercy endureth forever, that's the title, Paul,
His mercy endureth forever. The first question I wanna answer
is who is He? It tells us here. Give thanks
unto the Lord and that is capital L capital O capital R capital
D And you look at it in the Hebrew. It's Yahweh Jehovah, whichever
way you want to say it It's the name of the Lord Now who is he
who is this psalmist writing about? Well, I have a tendency
to quote this and read this and I'm gonna do it again. I Isaiah
47 and verse four states this. As for our Redeemer, our Redeemer,
the Lord, and that is capital L-O-R-D, capital L, capital O,
capital R, capital D, Yahweh, the Lord of hosts is his name. What? Comma, the Holy One of
Israel. So the Lord that this psalmist
is writing about is our Redeemer. Now I know who my Redeemer liveth. And I know in the latter days
he stood on this earth and he was buried and because he died,
he was put to death according to the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God and he resurrected and ascended and he's seated
on the right hand of the Father and he's with us in this assembly.
This psalm's about Jesus Christ. The Lord. Capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Redeemer. Yahweh, the Yahweh
of Hosts is his name. Jesus is the Redeemer. And if Jesus is the Redeemer,
he is the Lord of Hosts. I mean, that's just simple. This psalm is writing of his
mercy in putting forth for our study here the mercy of the Holy
One of Israel, the eternal, everlasting Son of God. That's who this psalm is about.
Now verses one through nine, which I read, now that shows
forth the part that most of the world would like to refer to
when speaking about God. To Him that does great wonders,
to Him that made the heavens, to Him that made the land above
the waters, Him that made the great lights, the sun by day
and the moon and stars by night. Everybody will agree with that,
God created the heavens and the earth. And I'm gonna tell you this,
Jesus Christ is to be praised and thanked for these things. He's the one who spoke the worlds
into being. He's the one that said, let there
be light, and there was light. He divided the light from the
darkness. He did that on the first day.
Then it said he made lights upon the earth, the sun, the moon,
and the stars. He did that on the fourth day.
So there was light before there was the sun, the moon, and the
stars, just so you know. He's the light, he's the light. Now these are all attributed
to God's mercy, the mercy of Christ. But I wanna be a bit
more specific here. In Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse
three, we will find the exact same word as mercy used through this whole
Psalm. All of the verses, the exact
same word is used. Jeremiah 31 and verse three says
this, the Lord capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, hath
appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness, loving kindness
have I drawn thee. That word loving kindness is
the same word here in Psalms 136, mercy. Now I looked and
it's about even. It's about split down the middle.
This word is translated about half the time, it's in there
about 250 times. And it's translated half the time about mercy, the
other half of the time it's loving kindness or kindness. And the reason I wanna point
this out is because of what happens in the next verses that I didn't
read. Psalms 136 and verse 10. To him that smote Egypt in their
firstborn, what's it say? For his mercy
endureth forever. Now this is exactly where the
world will leave you in the dust. They will run away from this
as fast as they can. Now if you just wanted to say
he smote Egypt, they might stick with you for a while. If you
want to stop there. Because that's pretty vague. But the psalmist
didn't stop there. He didn't stop there at all.
He smote Egypt. What now? To him. personalizing it, to him, to
him that smote Egypt in their firstborn. Wait a minute now. Are you saying
that this psalmist is celebrating God killing Egyptians? No, no,
no, no, no I'm not. I'm not saying he's celebrating.
I'm saying he's praising God and thanking God for it. That's
what it says. He's not celebrating, but he's
not unhappy either. Because I believe the psalmist
might have been a Jew. The psalmist is not celebrating,
he's praising and he's thanking God who killed the firstborn
of Egypt. The Bible's tough. You understand. There's life in this book and
There's death. And the psalmist is thanking
God for both. For both, both. You mean the
God who is love kills? Yeah, that I do mean. That is. God kills and God makes alive. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
For his mercy endureth forever. What's the scripture say? Well,
in this particular instance, Exodus 12 and 12 says this, for,
this is the Lord, capital L-O-R-D, God, Elohim, Adonai, this is
him speaking to Moses, for I will pass through the land of Egypt
this night. and will smite all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt. What? Both man and beast. Ah, but here's the thing. And
against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. For I am The capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D. I am the Lord. Give thanks unto
the, what? The God of gods. Give thanks
to the God of gods for his mercy endureth forever. That's verse
two. Now I am not saying that, well, you know, the gods of Egypt
were real gods. But I will tell you this, there
is power in Egypt. There are people throwing down
rods and making snakes. And there is such a thing as
demonic spirits. I know it may sound a little strange on the
television, but y'all get over it. It's the truth. There are things going on in
this world that we don't know. There are things going on in
this world I don't want to know. But I know what says in this book. And I can tell you this, the
people of Egypt made little idols and big ones and worshiped them.
And if you wanna name them, Osiris, Anubis, Isis, whatever. God struck against the gods of
Egypt. And he said, hey, I believe one
of his prophets got onto some people saying one time, y'all
pray to a god that cannot save. Ask Dagon the Fish God about
that. He got knocked on his face and his head knocked off. And
his hands, and that was just when the ark was in there. I will execute judgment, for
I am the Lord. This is what the Lord said. So,
the next question is, what did the Lord do? That's in Exodus
12 and verse 29. Because it actually sort of seems
that God did exactly what he said. Big surprise. Exodus 12 and 29. And it came
to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh, that sat
on the throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the
dungeon. and all the firstborn of the cattle. I guess whether
the cattle were in the dungeon or not, didn't matter. Didn't
matter where you were. If you weren't under the blood,
the firstborn died. And guess what? That, that action
right there is the Lord's Passover. The Lord's Passover. I agree
with Henry Mahan, I heard him say this a while back. I don't
ever want to hear the words death angel again. God said, I'll do
it, and Moses wrote, God did it. The death angel passed, I remember
that, Walter. We've been in places where they
said that. You know why? Because they don't want to say
God kills. And I found out later on, they
don't really wanna say God makes alive. Come on. They don't. Because they don't believe it.
They believe God in you makes alive. But you understand, God
doesn't need our permission to kill. God doesn't need our permission
to make alive. What? His mercy endures forever. This God, if you read on, let's see, he smote Egypt to
their firstborn for his mercy endureth forever and brought
out Israel from among them. That's why he smote Egypt. For
his mercy endureth forever. With a strong hand and with a
stretched out arm for his mercy endureth forever. And I'm gonna
tell you something, that strong arm and that, what, the strong
hand and the stretched out arm, That's for bringing out Israel,
but it was also for smiting the Egyptians. The same arm. Same arm. The same Lord passed
over. And he passed over those with the blood on the doorposts
and the lintel. And he didn't pass over the rest
of Egypt. To him which divided the Red
Sea into parts, for his mercy endures forever and made Israel,
didn't ask Israel, he made Israel. To pass through the midst of
it, why? For his mercy endures forever. But, but, verse 15, but overthrew
Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea. for his mercy endureth forever. This God overthrew Pharaoh and
his host in the Red Sea. His people passed over. You know
why? Moses told him, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. His mercy endures forever. Here we have more death. Pharaoh
and his hosts. For his mercy endures forever.
He led his people through the wilderness, it continues. His
mercy endures forever. Here's the thing. The same, very
same event that was a loving kindness, a loving mercy to the
people of Israel was death to the Egyptians. That's just the way it is. I'm
not trying to read anything into this. This is what it says. That's
what it teaches in Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. Understand, God's mercy on one
may mean death for another. What do you say to something
like that? Well, I'm gonna tell you something. I saw a sign the
other day, yesterday. I went and got my hair cut. On
my way back I saw a sign, at the Nazarene Church of all things
in Princeton. And here it is. Great is the
Lord our God. He is holy and just. And I about had to drive off
the road. Because I was really surprised. Usually they got nonsense
up there on most of these signs, and on that church in particular.
But, this is what the Egyptians found
out, and it didn't do them any good. It didn't do them any good. But Lord, yes, it benefited Israel. For his mercy endureth forever.
And it was a mercy unto Israel that those Egyptians died. This is history. And it's the
truth of God. And it's the truth of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Because he is our Passover. Then he led his people through
the wilderness and his mercy endureth forever. Verse 17, to
him which smote great kings. What? His mercy endureth forever. And, just in case you weren't
sure what smote great kings meant, and slew famous kings. For his mercy endureth forever.
Sihon, king of the Amorites. He's gonna start naming a couple
here. Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his mercy endureth forever. And Og, the king of Bashan, for
his mercy endureth forever. Then look at the next verse.
And gave their land for an heritage, for his mercy endureth forever. How about that? Wait a minute,
are you saying God killed those kings and stole their land to
give it to some Jews? No, I am not. I am not. Don't ever think that, God forbid. But I will tell you this, the
Lord God of heaven, creator of heaven and earth, owner of heaven
and earth, killed some squatters that were on his land, and gave
his land to his people. That's the opinion of me. No, it's the scripture. The opinion
of the world is he killed them and stole their land, they were
there first. God made it, it's his. What about my land here? God
owns that too. You get to pay taxes on it. But
God owns it. Because God owns all things.
And it's up to the landlord, if you want. But the husbandman,
he prunes his vine the way he wants it pruned. He keeps his
garden the way he wants his garden to be. It was a mercy for them
that they got to live there that long. I'm not trying to be mean,
but that's what the scriptures say. God, and it does say, it
was their land up till then. Then it wasn't. Then it wasn't. He made the earth and he gets
to say who lives where. And he has the power to back
it up. Plus the right to do it. Now, after all this, Because
after this, we kind of get back to the nice stuff. Even in heritage unto Israel
his servant, that's verse 22, for his mercy endureth forever,
who remembered us in our lowest state, for his mercy endureth
forever. Here we go. And hath redeemed
us. And hath redeemed us. What? From our enemies. From our enemies. So. His mercy endureth forever. The
people of God have enemies. Is it any different now? No,
we got a different style of enemies for the most part. We have a
more subtle version of enemies for the most part. Right now
in this country, we're not legally, literally slaves. Most ways. But not like these
Egyptians had over the Israelites back then. Not like that. We
like to say we're a slave to the dollar or they like to say
we're slaves to the dollar. All right, that's not what we're
talking about here. These were the enemies of God.
They were keeping God's people down. After one of God's own,
Joseph saved them. Saves the Egyptians and his brethren. But there arose a king that didn't
know Joseph. And I'm gonna tell you something,
whenever there's a king that doesn't know Christ, because
that's who Joseph was a picture of. Whenever there's a king that
doesn't know Jesus, that's when all the trouble begins. And guess
what, that's where it's all gonna end too. Because if you don't
know Jesus, you're just looking for the end. That's all that's
left to you. That's all that's left. He has redeemed us from our enemies,
for His mercy endureth forever. Now whether God wants to just
move these enemies out of your way, or kill them dead where
they stand, that's up to Him. It's not up to me. It's not up to me. I don't have to fight my own
battles. Not this kind of battle. Because that battle is the Lord's.
I am to witness a good witness. I am to live up to my profession
as best I can, as the grace he's given me. But you understand,
the battle is the Lord's. And he'll remove your enemies
when he needs them there, but he'll give them to you when you
need them too. God was not ignorant of where Israel was during the
time they were in Egypt for 400 years. Because you read it, he'll
tell you. They were crying out all along. but it wasn't the fullness of
time yet, and he wasn't listening, because it wasn't time for the
Passover. We got enemies, for his mercy
endureth forever. Who giveth food to all flesh,
for his mercy endureth forever. Now, the one thing I do want
to point out here, what we know about God's loving mercy, which
is taught very handily in this psalm. This is in Exodus 33 in
verse 19. And he said, this is the Lord
speaking to Moses, and he said, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee. will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. That's what we know about mercy,
and that never changes. Never changes. God, the L-O-R-D,
all capital letters, Jesus Christ, explicitly states in his book
that his grace and his loving mercy is upon those whom he wills. There's nothing else stated here.
It's not those whom he wills and they choose him. If you'll
come to me, if you'll, I don't know, keep the Sabbath, No. His mercy and His grace is
totally and completely the product of His will. And the world will
just walk away from you right there. Religion will walk away
from you, run away from you. God's grace and mercy is not
for everyone in the world. What did he tell Moses here?
He says, I'm gonna make all my goodness pass before thee. Who
else got to see it? Nobody. Not that I know of, no
one. I got nothing else written here. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee, and I will. You understand? People want to
talk about their will. Nobody wants to talk about God's
will. Unless they can talk about, well,
God didn't will that tornado because it killed people. I'm sorry, folks. God can stop
a tornado without even snapping his fingers. You understand? He knows what he's doing. We
don't. We don't. And I do feel for people. They're going through that mess
and without power in the Northeast right now, went through floods
last week. I mean, and I'm glad I'm not
one of them, but I do feel for them, but I know the one who
is in control. And I can't be ignorant of that
fact anymore. I refuse to be ignorant of that
fact by his grace for his mercy. Endures forever The will of God is supreme in
his grace and in his mercy Man's will is not even referenced It's
not considered because it's not involved Conclusion I Don't know if I'm really supposed
to read that part God's loving mercy is just as
holy as his righteousness and his judgment. And I'm gonna tell
you, here's a verse where they're all three tied together. The
same exact word, Jesus' loving kindness, the same exact word
is mercy here. It's in Jeremiah 9 and 24. Let me see, I think I got that
one marked here. I think I wanna read verse 23,
yeah. Jeremiah 9 23 and 24 thus saith
the Lord Pay attention Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom
neither let the mighty man glory in his might Let not the rich
man glory in his riches but Let him that glorieth glory in this
that he understandeth and and knoweth me, me. That I am the Lord which exercise,
exercise loving kindness, loving mercy, judgment, and righteousness
in the earth, in the earth. Oh, they want it in heaven, they
want it in hell, but maybe not so much here. For in these things I delight,
saith the capital L, capital O, capital R, and capital D,
saith Yahweh. There is no separation between
the Lord. There is loving kindness and
judgment and righteousness in the Lord at all times. Just as
there's holiness and love. And Jesus Christ, God Almighty,
can show all three of these things at the same time. Do you ever hear, remember what
Christ said one time? There's coming a day, there's
gonna be two in the field. One's gonna be taken, the other's
gonna be left. There's gonna be two in the bed. One's gonna be taken, the other's
left. Guess what that is? That's what? Loving kindness,
judgment, and righteousness all at the same time. Because we
like to talk about the one that goes up, and you forget about
the one that's left. At the same time, at the same time.
Do you want to know God? Do you want to understand this
God? Because this God does as he wills
in heaven, earth, and hell. and everywhere in between and
outside. Because he is the only one who
can reveal himself to you. He said it in Matthew, blessed
are your eyes for they see. Blessed are your ears for they
hear. Because this is the one thing
we all should know. Not everybody's eyes see and
not everybody's ears hear. For his mercy endureth forever. God is not a loving God to everyone
because his love shows forth, is manifested in his grace and
in his mercy. which he gives to whom he will. The love of God is in his son,
Jesus Christ. And his love toward men is manifested
in grace and mercy in those that he chose in Christ Jesus. What did Joseph tell his brethren?
when they threw him in a pit. He says, you meant it for evil.
God meant it for good. The world doesn't understand
that. He'll put you between a rock
and a hard place because that's where you might need to be. But he got Joseph out of that
pit. What do we do? Believe Christ. Believe Christ. His mercy does
endure forever. Salvation is in Him. Life, light, and love is in Him. Grace and mercy are in Him and
in Him alone. but him that glorieth glory in
this that he understandeth and knoweth me. Do you know who I'm
talking about? It's a blessed thing to know
who I'm talking about right here. There's a one time I didn't know
this one. What do we do? Believe him. Trust
him. If you're weary, if you labor,
And if you're heavy laden, come to him. Come to him. He'll give
you rest. He does say take my yoke upon
you. Don't worry. My yoke is easy. My burden's
light. And you can glory in understanding
and knowing me. What's the conclusion of the
whole matter? Verse 26. O give thanks unto the God of heaven,
for his mercy endureth forever. In another way to put it, Paul
put it, if God be for you, who can be against you? And I'll
add to the end of that, for his mercy endures forever. Our Heavenly Father. Thank you
for your mercy, your grace, and your love, which you have shown
us in your son, our Lord. Everything we have has come from
you and everything we shall yet have will come from you. Be with
Walter as he comes to speak your words. Preach your message, the
gospel of your dear son. In Christ's name we pray, amen.