Psalm 136. This is a psalm which reminds us that in all things the Lord is full of
mercy unto those whom he is pleased
to show mercy. Psalm 136 says, oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good,
for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks unto the God of
gods, for his mercy endureth forever. O 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 stretcheth
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 smote Egypt
in their firstborn, for his mercy endureth forever. And brought
Israel out from among them, for his mercy endureth forever. With a strong arm 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 host 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 king of Bashan, for his
mercy endureth forever. And gave their land for an heritage,
for his mercy endureth forever. Even inherited 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. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of heaven for his mercy endureth forever. Now this is quite a glorious
psalm and it is a psalm that defines the
mercy of God. When the Lord revealed himself
unto Moses first of course in the burning bush but then later
on Mount Sinai Moses asked him if he might see his glory and
the Lord told him Moses no man can see my face and live because
he dwells in the light to which no man can approach. It's impossible
that a man could come into the presence of the Almighty God. It's impossible that it could
take place. But yet he told Moses, he said,
I'm gonna hide you in a cliff of the rock. And he said, I'm
gonna pass by and I'm gonna pass by you in all my goodness. Because you see, that's what
the Lord would reveal unto Moses is the goodness of God. And men
in their high opinion of their own worth
often accuse God of not doing good things. I've heard men say,
well, why'd God do that? He didn't have to do that. Why did that baby have to die? Or why did these terrible things
happen in the earth? And such is the way of men, because
men begin with the assumption that they deserve something. You know, if a man thinks he's
owed something, he'll be angry if he doesn't get it. But what
a man realizes, as that old publican in the temple God be merciful
to me, a sinner. And you realize he doesn't have
anything that God, he could possibly bring to the Lord that would
be of any value. And he certainly is not worthy
of anything. And he must cry out to the Lord
for mercy. And to those whom the Lord reveals
this truth, he is merciful, full of mercy and kindness. But the
man who is not given a heart to know himself to be a sinner
before God, he'll never appreciate the sovereign mercy of God. Now,
when the Lord said to Moses also, he said, Moses, I'm gonna let
all my goodness pass before you, but he said, I will show mercy
to whom I will show mercy. Now, that's the part about God's
mercy that is impossible for the natural man to embrace apart
from understanding his own plight by his own hand that he can blame
nobody else for that put him in the position that he's in.
And the Lord said, I'll show mercy to him, I will show mercy.
Now, some people get upset at that. They say, well, that's
not fair. But they don't understand, number one, their own position
before God, and they don't understand God. Because He owns His mercy. Brother Al said it a moment ago,
God is just. He will be just. You can mark
it down that God's justice will be served. He will be just. And He may show mercy. Now that
doesn't fit in much well with the modern concept of who God
is. You know the old grandpa sitting
up there in heaven in a rocking chair and he's hoping everything
turns out good and wants people to do right and he's doing the
best he can and he's sent his son into the world and he's just
hoping and praying somebody will believe him and deliver their
self basically. That's the picture men have.
And so they just assume, when they read God's mercy endure
forever, they think, well, that's just, how else could it be? I mean, you all read the bumper
sticker. God loves everybody. God is love. God is love. That's the true thing. That's
a true statement. You know what, we don't ever want to to deny
that scripture says God is love, but we must understand, dear
brethren, that love, in order to be love, is particular. I mean, you know, if somebody
loves somebody, that means they single them out, does it not?
I mean, you know, people say, oh, well, I love everybody. Well,
that's a lie. I mean, that's just not true.
There's nobody that loves everybody. Neither does the Lord love everybody. And I didn't make that up. That's
just what the scripture says. It said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Now those that would define the
mercy of God as being that which is shown to all men alike in
the same fashion fails to read what he said here to him that
smote Egypt their firstborn for the mercy of God endureth forever.
Now if you'd have been a family in Egypt whose firstborn had
been smitten, I doubt that you would have ascribed to that,
would you? you wouldn't have thought the
mercy of God endureth forever because the mercy of God is particularly
applied to his people and you can see that throughout this
psalm here. Now it's interesting to note
as the psalm begins that we might say that the word endureth is
not in the original text. You see that it's in italics,
that mean it was added in there to give us a sense of what the
scripture's saying. And I'm not trying to correct
it, I'm just pointing this out. But you could leave that word
out and you would also see what he's saying here, for his mercy
forever. See, the mercy of God is forever. He'll show mercy to whom He will
show mercy, and those to whom He will show mercy is forever. See, the mercy of God is not,
He doesn't show mercy one day and not the next to His people,
but His mercy surrounds them. I mean, before you were ever
formed in the womb of your mother, the mercy of God surrounded you
if you belonged to Him. And every day of your life, when
you step forth into your life, the mercy of God has surrounded
you to bring you to that place where he might reveal to you
his mercy. Oh, what a glorious thing. Because
you see, all men don't understand the mercy of God until such time
as they're brought to a place of seeing that they need the
mercy of God. as long as a man thinks he deserves
mercy. See, that's how men say, well,
he didn't deserve mercy. Well, that's a false consideration. You can't deserve mercy. You
know, we think of it in our court system and we say, oh, well,
he's worthy of mercy. Well, mercy, true mercy, has
to be sovereignly dispensed. It can't, there's no condition
placed upon it. God will show mercy to whom he
will show mercy. If God showed mercy on the basis
of what people did or were worthy of, then it would be the payment
of a debt, not the showing of mercy. And so the mercy of God,
oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. Now you'll hear
people say in a glib and offhanded way throughout the course of
your life, ain't God good? I mean you hear that stuff, it
sends chills up and down my spine every time I hear somebody say
it. Because I know what they mean. And many of them mean well. And many of them perhaps even
mean what they say. But it is God's not good because
good things happen. God is good. He's good because
He's good. All goodness flows, every good
and perfect gift cometh from Him. All that's good is found in God. 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. He is the God of gods. And unto
his people, he reveals this as a great mercy. You see, God's
not one of many in a pantheon of great powers, but he is the
God of all gods. Now, there are many gods in the
world. Men make gods. The Lord said, thou shalt have
no other god before me. Now, he didn't mean put me in
first place. Now, a lot of people think that's
what he was saying. You know, thou shalt have no
other gods before me. That is, I want to be at the
top, at the line, and you can have all these other gods, but
just put me number one. No, that's not what he said.
He said, thou shalt have no other gods before me. That is, in my
presence. Don't bring anything into my
presence. For he's a jealous God. And he'll
be worshipped alone. He'll not have the mixture of
man's ideas of who He is or what He is and bring it in to soften
it up and make it all pleasant to men. See, that's what's happened,
I believe, in our society. We've wanted to make the Word
of God pleasant to everybody. And they've come up with all
kinds of different translations of the Bible, and if you look
at them, all of them, they kind of pare off the rough edges,
and they make it all be where it's nice. You know, just yesterday
I was reminded of it, because I read a passage of scripture
that is a precious passage of scripture
that was written in a funeral folder, what you call it, plier. And it was a quotation or a misquotation
of Romans 828. It said, for we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God. And it
said, who are called according to his purpose. That kind of
sounds all right to most people, but the most important word was
left out of it as far as I'm concerned, and it changes the
whole meaning of it. It doesn't say who are called
according to his purpose. It says who are the called according
to his purpose. Now there's a big difference.
You see, the Lord has a people whom he calls, and those are
the same ones to whom he will show his mercy. And those are
the ones who He causes all things to work together for good for.
What a glorious God He is. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of gods. He is the God of all gods. Thou
shalt have no other gods before Him. Oh, give thanks to the Lord
of lords. He is the ruler of the earth.
All the men, now it would be good if that was emblazoned in
our halls of Congress and in our government places because
this is, he's the Lord of lords. That is all, the king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord, eternity, whithersoever he will. The sad
thing is that most people in power don't know that. They don't
understand that. They don't see that. And they
think that they have power. Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful
king on earth, and the Lord showed him, did he not, who was really
in power. And he ate grass like an ox.
But the Lord had mercy on Nebuchadnezzar. And it gives me reason to believe
that Nebuchadnezzar was one of those whom the Lord loved. Because he revealed to Nebuchadnezzar
something that a lot of people never see, that the Most High
ruleth in the kingdom of heaven and in the earth and among the
kingdoms of men. And there's none that can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? There's nothing you
can do about it. He's God. And we rejoice because
He reveals Himself as a God of mercy to those whom He is pleased
to call. Oh, give thanks to the Lord.
To Him who alone doeth great wonders for His mercy endureth
forever. Now, you know, there are great
wonders done in the earth by men. But the only reason that
men do great wonders in the earth as far as we can see, doctors,
they do a good job. The Lord has raised up doctors
to help us in times of sickness and this sort of thing. But some
people get to thinking that it's the doctors. It's not the doctors,
but it's him who alone doeth great things. He's the one that
gives men power to do 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. Now why did the Lord create the
earth? Did He? All these things people
say as to why the Lord did that. The Lord created the earth because
He wanted to. Because it pleased Him. And I'm
amazed every time I read about this, and I can't necessarily
tell you that I have a complete understanding of it, but I want
to read it because that reminded me of it. And it's a simple thing. Everybody's
read this a hundred times. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Now that ought to tip us off
right there to who God is, should it not? I mean, when a man reads
that, I mean, what else can you say? It didn't say God along
with men created the earth, but it says God created the heaven
and the earth in the beginning. Cause he is the beginning. He's
the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. And the
earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. Now I'm
gonna come back to that in a minute, but here's what I want to say.
And God called the light, darkness, or the light day and the darkness
he called night, the evening and the morning were the first
day. And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of
the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. Now I want you just to think
about that today. Just think about what he said
there. And God called the firmament
heaven. Now, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,
and the Lord made a firmament in the waters, and He said, and
He called it Heaven. Now, He divided the waters which
were under the waters, under the firmament, and the waters
which were above the firmament, and He called the firmament Heaven.
And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God
said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in
one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God
called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the
waters called he seas. And God saw it, that it was good. Now that's a simple class description
that describes what the Lord did when He created the world.
But dear brethren, if you can fathom the depths of that and
see how it is. Now I don't know what space is
and all this. People say, oh, well space, it
just goes on and on and on. No, it doesn't. No, there's a
power that surrounds all of that that God made in the midst of
the waters. Now, you may say I'm crazy, but
that's what it says. I mean everything that a man
can see or visit. I was listening the other day,
they're talking about they're going to soon send some people
up to the moon again. I guess they went the first time.
Some people don't think they did. I don't know if they did
or not. But they say they did, and I
kind of go along with it, that they probably did, okay. But
then they're talking about sending people to Mars. And the problem
that they're having is figuring out how to carry enough food
with them to give them where they can get to Mars and get
back and not starve to death. Now, but it doesn't make any
difference how far men are able to go in this vast expanse that God
has created out of nothing. It doesn't make any difference
how far they go. There is a limitation as to how
far they can go. But you see, there is no limitation
to God because he's the one that made it. Oh, his mercy endureth
forever. To him that by wisdom made the
heavens. Can anybody explain it? Can anybody look at it? Can anybody
figure it out? Oh, all the scientists tell us
they know how it is. You know, there was a big bang. Well, what caused the big bang?
I mean, what banged? I mean, you know, men's explanation
of things is so foolish when the Lord reveals quite plainly how it was. And you know, you
can't explain that to a man because you know what the scripture says?
It says, by faith we believe. Now, why did we believe
that? I mean, you know, the most preposterous
thing, why do we believe the things that we believe? You know,
why do we believe God created the heavens and the earth? Is
it just natural? Now, I think it's a natural thing
that a man ought to be able to look around him and tell that
it had to be created by the hand of God. I think that's revealed
in the scriptures as well. But you see, men can't reason
that out and men can't believe it. apart from the grace of God,
to give them faith, to believe it. He stretched out the earth
above the waters, and he made the great lights. I probably
mentioned this before, but this is always an intriguing thing
to me. The Lord said, let there be light. On the first day, let
there be light. And there was light. And then,
on the fourth day, Three days later, he created the sun. He created the moon. Oh, the scientists tell us that
light comes from the sun. And if the sun went out, we wouldn't
have any light. What a mess we'd be in then. And they tell us that the moon
reflects the sun's rays, and the light comes from the sun.
Well, I'm telling you, I don't believe any of that's actually
literally true. The light emanates from Almighty
God. He said, I am the light. of the world. Now we know that
he was that one who came to give understanding unto his people,
for his mercy endureth forever. But God is the creator of light
and the light that we have, even the natural light, it does not
emanate from the sun, but it emanates from the Lord, just
like all things. come forth from his hand, for
his mercy endureth forever. The moon and stars to rule by
night. To him that smote Egypt in their
firstborn, for his mercy endureth forever. Now Egypt, the people
of Egypt, they had no understanding of the mercy of God because it
wasn't meant for them. God raised up Egypt to show His
mercy upon the nation of Israel. Did He not? I mean, did He not
send Jacob and his family down to Egypt and bring them into
slavery ultimately? Then He might do what? show his
mercy because his mercy endureth forever. Now it didn't appear
that way as many times it does not appear in the course of our
lives that the mercy of God is being demonstrated but I can
assure you according to what the scripture says it is in all
cases whether we can see it or not if we belong to the Lord
his mercy endureth forever just like it did with a strong hand
and 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 the same
pathway, same one, that when he demonstrated his mercy to
the nation of Israel as they went through on dry ground, the
scripture says here, he made Israel to pass through in the
midst of it, but the same waters which he parted, he destroyed Egypt. All those
soldiers that pursued, the waters came in upon them and destroyed
them. And so it is, dear brethren,
that the scripture says that the Lord is a rock of offense. And everyone who shall fall upon
this rock shall be preserved. But upon everyone whom this rock
falls, they will be destroyed, ground to powder. because His
mercy endureth forever. But His mercy is particular according
to His purpose. And what can we say to these
things? I mean we can't say we deserve
His mercy if we are the recipients of His mercy. To Him but overthrew
Pharaoh and his host, to him which led his people through
the wilderness for his mercy endureth forever. Now it's easy
for us to see that, is it not? That by his mercy he led them
through the wilderness, but when they were walking through the
wilderness, they didn't think so, did they? What are we doing
out here? I mean, we'd been better off
if we'd have been back in Egypt, and they murmured and complained,
and they accused Moses of bringing them out into the wilderness,
that they might perish. But all the while, even while
the murmuring was still in their mouths, the mercy of the Lord
endured forever. And he brought them out. He brought
them through the wilderness. He preserved them according to
the good pleasure of his will. To him which smote great kings
and slew famous kings, Sihon and Og, we talked about them
last week. Now he destroyed them. And the
script says, he took their land and gave it to the nation of
Israel for his mercy and dearth forever. Now do you think the
people of Og and Sihon, I mean, did they think this was mercy? No, they said, he's a terrible
God. And they were right, he is a
God of terror. He said, I kill and I make alive. I the Lord do all these things.
But unto the nation of Israel his mercy was demonstrated. Even inherited unto Israel his
servant, for his mercy endureth forever. Who remembered us in
our low estate, for his mercy endureth forever. Now see, here's
the testimony of the man who's writing the psalm here. And he
recognizes that it is according to the mercy of God that he heard
our cry. Now why does the Lord hear sinners?
They don't have anything for him. I mean, they're worthy to
be destroyed. I mean, the law says the soul
that sinneth shall die. Why does the Lord show mercy?
because it pleased him to do so. He said, I'll have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. Now, that's never a good enough
answer for the man who's rebelling against God. It never is. He'll find some fault with it,
and he'll say, well, I don't want to believe that. I'm not
gonna look at God like that. I like the old grandpa type God,
you know, who wouldn't hurt a flea, and he'll help everybody and
all of this kind of stuff. But the man who's been made to
know himself to be a sinner, he alone can rejoice in the mercy
of God. He remembered us in our lowest
state, for his mercy endureth forever, and hath redeemed us
from our enemies. You see, the Lord's mercy and
the redemption which is in Jesus Christ go hand in hand. The redemption, the redeeming
work of Christ is the purest and clearest demonstration of
the fact that God will show mercy to whom he will show mercy. Because
the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world and the angel announced
to Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save
his people from their sin. He didn't come into the world
to try to save folks. Now that's kind of the picture
that we get today. And you may say, well, you harp
on that all the time. Yes, I do. Because it is a very
gross misrepresentation of the scriptures to set forth a Christ
who died for men and failed to redeem them. Dear brethren, the
Lord Jesus Christ accomplished exactly what He came to do. Just
like He accomplished exactly what He sent Jacob into Egypt
for. That He might manifest the glory
of His mercy and grace in those people. And so it is that the
Lord redeems men for His glory. And that's a glorious thing.
But we who are the recipients of it, we must fall down on our
faces and say, thank God, because He's revealed us that it's according
to His mercy. It's His mercy that He saved
us, and not that of ourselves. He has redeemed us from our enemies,
the enemy of sin. Now a man can't know himself
that sin to be his enemy. You know, a man's born thinking
sin's his friend. Is he not? I mean, nobody ever
had to tell me to tell a lie to get myself out of a jam or
to do the things I knew I shouldn't have done. Nobody ever had to
teach me to do that. But as the Lord is pleased to
awaken a man to see himself to be a sinner, then and then only
is he awakened to see himself in need of mercy. He hath redeemed
us from sin, He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
That law, we said a moment ago, the soul that sinneth shall die. That's a just curse, and the
Lord will not go back on it. It will not be overturned. He
will not wink at sin, but he will show mercy, and has shown
mercy. in the sending of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem sinners. And those
sinners can only be known for whom He died in one way, and
that is that they come to the place by the grace of God of
believing in Him. How are the people of God made
known in earth? They believe. The Lord Jesus
said it. He said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. Oh, what a glorious and gracious
Savior he is. He giveth food to all flesh.
Now there's not a man on earth that can honestly say that God
has never shown mercy to them. Because you see, even the food
that every creature eats is because of the mercy of God. Not because
of anything they've done. I mean, the Lord could just make
us all starve to death if He's pleased to do so, but He's shown
us how to fix food, grow food, and get food. I mean, how did
Adam know that he could eat the fruit that was in the garden
and sustain his life. He didn't. The Lord said, you
may eat it. He didn't know. I mean, he'd
have starved to death. I mean, you take a baby. You
know, a human baby is the most helpless creature that ever is. I mean, he didn't know to do
nothing. He'd just lay there, and if his
mother didn't tend to him, he'd starve to death. He wasn't having
the ability to do anything. For the Lord gives food to all
flesh, for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto
the God of heaven, for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, what a
blessed Savior he is, that he does show mercy to sinners, to
those that call upon his name. And only sinners will call upon
his name. but he's full of mercy. Thy mercy,
my God, is the theme of my song, the joy of my heart, and the
boast of my tongue. Thy free grace alone from the
first to the last has won my affections and bound my heart
fast. His mercy endureth forever. May
the Lord teach us that and give us a hunger for it in our soul
to proclaim it. before this world that does not
believe it and does not receive it, but nonetheless needs to
hear it declared for the glory of God.