Good evening. If you would open
your Bibles with me to Psalm 136. Psalm 136. Let me make a couple of announcements. Jessica Clark had surgery today. They were going to take out the
part of her liver that did contain the tumors that she had. Well, we think she's out of surgery.
Now, the surgery took over nine hours. The results or reports
we're hearing are positive. She's still going to have a long
way to go. She'll have more treatments and, you know, recovering from
that long of a surgery. So we want to keep her in our
prayers. Sandy just told me Charles Pennington had a stent put in
today. He's feeling pretty good. And
Gary and Janie Holback are back home from College Grove, sleeping
in their own bed, for which I know they are extremely grateful.
Eric saw them today. He said Gary looked remarkably
well. He's still got a long way to
go too, but I know they're glad to be home, so give thanks for
that. Alright, Psalm 136. I get excited every time I read
this psalm. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for He's 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 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
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 out 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 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
smoked 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 in heritage unto Israel
his servant, for his mercy endureth forever. Who remembered 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. Thank God his mercy endureth
forever. Let's bow together. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you for this, your word that we've just read. how we thank
you that your mercy endureth forever. How thankful we are
that you've given this in your word to us as a stark reminder
that your mercy forever, your eternal mercy to your people
found in our Lord Jesus Christ is eternal, without beginning
and without ending. And it's this mercy, this kind
of mercy from this eternal God that lets sinners like we are,
find rest and hope and joy and peace, forgiveness of our sin,
because your mercy forever that's found in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, how we thank you. And Father, I pray that this
evening that you'd bless us as we look into your word, engrave
this upon our heart. Give us the heart to believe
and to be thrilled with and to rest in the fact that your mercy
is forever. Father, enable me to preach your
gospel this evening and the power of your spirit. Enable me to
preach it plainly, simply, with a heart of compassion for your
people and for your glory, Father. Cause your word to run well.
Give your people a believing heart. Cause us to be thrilled
with one more sight of our Lord Jesus Christ and salvation that's
found in Him, cause us to leave here rejoicing in Christ our
Savior. Father, we thank you for your many blessings, how
you've blessed us. And we pray you'd forgive us
for the times we murmur and complain after all you've given us. Father,
forgive us. We thank you for this congregation
and the blessing that you've had to us over all these many
years Father, we pray that You'd not take Your hand from us now,
but that You would continue to call out Your sheep, feed and
comfort and edify Your sheep by the preaching of Your Word.
And Father, for those that we've mentioned that are going through
such difficult times, for Jessie and this difficult surgery and
horrible disease, and Father, we pray that You'd give her a
recovery, that You'd strengthen her, that You'd be with the doctors
and nurses that treat her and give her Give them wisdom and
compassion in dealing with her. Use them as an instrument to
heal her body, we pray. Be with her family at this time,
Father. Comfort their hearts with your presence. Pray for
Charlie and others, Father, who are in deep waters. Be with them. Thank you for the good rapport
we've had on Gary. Pray you continue to heal and
bless them. Father, again, bless us as we
look into your word. a time in this hour we might
forget about all the goings on of this life and be fed richly
from Your Word. First, in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, for His glory and for His sake, we pray
and give thanks. In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song This cornerstone, this
solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What
heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are stilled,
what strivings cease My comforter, my all in all Here in the love
of Christ I stand, in Christ alone Who took on flesh, fullness
of God in helpless faith, This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save. Tell on that cross as Jesus
died, The wrath of God was satisfied For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live There in the ground His body
laid Light of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in
glorious day, Up from the grave He rose again. And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me, For I am His, and He is
mine. But with the precious blood of
Christ No guilt in life, no fear in death This is the power of
Christ in me From life's first cry to final breath Jesus commands
my destiny No power of hell, no scheme of man Can ever pluck
me from his hand Till he returns or calls me home Here in the
power of Christ I'll stand That was outstanding, Brady.
Thank you. The whole Gospel's there, isn't it, in that psalm.
That's outstanding. Alright, open your Bibles with
me again, if you would, to Psalm 136. I titled the message this
evening, God's Eternal Mercy. Now, if I had to choose, I don't
know if you should have a favorite psalm, but if I had to choose
a favorite psalm, I would say Psalm 136 is my favorite. And the reason for that is I
learn by repetition. I don't just learn things by
hearing them or seeing them one time. I learn by repetition.
And 26 times, the psalmist here says, His mercy forever. Now the word endureth, I read
that word endureth as we read the psalm to open the service.
I think it sounds good to read it. His mercy endureth forever.
But that word endureth, you'll notice is in italics. It's been
added by the translators. What the psalmist actually penned
was this, His mercy forever. And I like it that way. It probably
does a better job of telling us that God's mercy is eternal
both ways. God's mercy endures forever because
it is eternal. It doesn't have any beginning.
It doesn't have any ending. We've got to be careful not to
think this, that God's mercy starts with me and then it endures
on out through eternity. No, that's not it. God's mercy
is eternal. God's mercy was here on the scene
a whole long time before we ever arrived. And God's mercy is going
to be here a whole long time after we're gone. And throughout
eternity, God's mercy is going to be the theme of our song.
His mercy forever. Charles Spurgeon says this phrase,
His mercy forever, is repeated at the end of every verse but
it's not repeated once too often. It's just right. And I like this
psalm, like I said. Maybe if I read this psalm often
enough, I'll finally get it through my thick skull. God's mercy is
eternal. So even a wretched, vile sinner
like me, who sins and fails so often, could find rest relying
on God's mercy. It's eternal. And I'm thankful
that God's mercy endures forever because I need His mercy. I need
it every second of every day. If sinners like you and me would
be saved, we must have mercy. And it's got to be mercy that
was here before we ever arrived. You know, none of us could ever
do anything to deserve God's mercy once we got here. No, we
needed God to determine, to have mercy on us in eternity past,
before we were ever born. And we need mercy from God that
will never end. That's the kind of mercy that
saves guilty sinners, eternal mercy. And I want to give you
seven points about God and his eternal mercy from this psalm.
And the first one is this, God's eternal mercy is good because
God is good. Verse one says, Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord for he's good for his mercy forever. Now God is
good. He is essentially good. When
we say that God is essentially good, what we mean is this, that
God's character is nothing but good. There's nothing but goodness
in God. God is goodness itself, so God
can only do good. He can't do anything bad. So
that means that something is good just because God does it. God doesn't do it because it's
good, it is good because God does it. And we need to remember
that. That's true even when we don't
understand what God's doing. Now, isn't it something that
sometimes we think we understand what God's doing? But even when
we know we don't understand what God's doing, or it causes us
sorrow, it causes us pain, and we're perplexed. Remember this,
it's still good. Because God did it. Because God
is good and He can't do anything bad. Everything God does is good
and everything God does is glorious. And God's greatest glory, His
greatest goodness is mercy to undeserving sinners. God chose
to be merciful to His people before time began, before creation.
And all during the time of creation, man's time on earth, all during
our time on earth, God's mercy endures. God's mercy is here
ruling and reigning. You know the very reason God
created man on earth? The reason God did that is to
show His eternal mercy to His people. And the reason Christ
came to earth as a man, He came incarnate, He came to redeem
His people. You know why He came to redeem His people? That's
God showing His mercy to His people. His mercy that endures. And the reason the Holy Spirit
comes and reveals Christ to His people and in His people, you
know why that is? That's God being good. It's Him
showing mercy to His people. God's mercy is good. God's mercy
to His people depends upon God's goodness. Not upon our goodness,
the goodness of sinful man, but it depends upon God's goodness.
So in every situation, in every dealing God has with His people,
God is being merciful to them. In every dealing. Whether we think it's painful,
whether we call it a blessing, whether we call it a trial, in
every dealing with His people, God is being merciful to His
people. Because God's mercy is eternal. Now you may go through, and I
have here my notes, you may, you will, You will go through
many dark nights, many deep waters. You're going to cry many tears.
We're going to go through many dangers, toils and snares. But
in all of those difficulties, God is merciful. God is being
merciful to his people. He's being merciful to our souls. Even when God kills this body
of sin, God is being merciful. We've had a few weeks we couldn't
meet because of this ice storm and things. When I was very first
preparing this message, I got a call from Kevin Thacker that
the Lord had come and taken his mother home. Kevin was sad. But that's God being merciful.
That's God being merciful. Reaching down, taking one of
his children out of this body of sin, out of this world of
sin, and taking her to be with him in perfection. To a place where there'll be
no more tears, no more sorrows, no more deep waters, and no more
dark nights. You know why God did that? You
know why God does that for all of his people? Because his mercy
forever. Because God is good. He's good. All right, number two, God's
eternal mercy is sovereign mercy. Because God is sovereign. Verse
two says, Oh, give thanks unto the God of gods for his mercy
forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of
Lords for His mercy forever. Now God, the Lord Jehovah, He
rules over everything and everyone in His creation. He's God of
gods. And because He's sovereign, doing
as He will, doing as He pleases, He gives mercy to whom He will. No power of man, no power of
nature, no power of an imagined idol can ever stop God's purpose
of mercy for His people. Our God is the God of gods. He's
the God over all the idols. He's Lord of lords. He's the
Lord over all human power. And I'll tell you what that means.
It means this. If Almighty God determined to
have mercy on your sorry soul before time began, nothing that
happens in time can cause your soul to perish. Because God's
mercy forever. God's mercy is ruling over all. And I know that so because God
sovereignly rules over everything in his creation for this purpose,
to ensure mercy for his people, to ensure the salvation of his
people. Now God is sovereign. And I know
men don't like that. Men don't like to have somebody
sovereign. Americans especially don't want anybody to be sovereign. We want checks and balances and
everybody's power. Don't tell me what to do. Don't
tread on me. That's just in our DNA. But now God's sovereign. Let's not get our back up like
that. Let's not get our back up. God's sovereign. The Lord
reigns and the earth rejoices. But I'll tell you why we get
upset about hearing about God being sovereign, doing as He
will, showing mercy to whom He will, passing by whom He will.
It's because men misuse power, don't they? Men, if they get
any power, they use it for their own advantage, and it doesn't
matter who it hurts. They're going to do what's good
for them. They don't care about anybody else. But now, not our
God. Our God is sovereign. He has
all power. Nobody can stop or even momentarily
delay His will. Nobody even has the right to
question, ask Him, what are you doing? And God uses His unstoppable,
unopposable power to display mercy for His people. Not to
destroy them, not to arbitrarily hurt them, but to save them,
to show mercy to them. Instead of destroying them, you
know what God did? He destroyed His Son as the substitute
for His people so that His people could live. He punished His Son
fully for the sin of His people that He could then take His people
and be merciful to them because His Son put their sin away. See,
God uses His power, His sovereign, unstoppable power to save, to
keep, to call, and to ultimately glorify His people to do them
good, to do them good. And not one of them will ever
be lost. Brady just said, nobody can pluck
him from his hand. Why? Because God's sovereign
mercy forever. His eternal mercy is sovereign
mercy. Number three, God's eternal mercy
is powerful mercy because it comes from God the creator. Verse
four, to him alone who doeth great wonders, for his mercy
endureth forever. To him that by wisdom made the
heavens, for his mercy forever. To him that stretched out the
earth above the waters, for his mercy forever. To him that made
great lights, for his mercy forever. The sun to rule by day, for his
mercy forever. The moon and stars to rule by
night, for his mercy forever. Now, our God is the Creator.
Scripture identifies God as the One who created everything that
exists. And that's what our God has done.
He created everything that exists simply by the Word of His power.
I mean, you think when there was nothing but blackness and
darkness, there was nothing but God, God spoke and everything
appeared. I mean, creation wasn't even
hard for God. He just spoke and it all appeared. Now, that power
to speak And it's so... You know, God stretched out the
heavens easier than we close the curtains or open the curtains.
Close them at night and open them in the morning. God, He
created the heavens and earth easier than that. We have to
reach up and move the curtains. God just spoke. And it appeared. I mean, that's power. And Paul
tells us that God uses that same power to speak and to give life
in the hearts of His people. To create life in the hearts
of His people. And God does that because His mercy forever. His
powerful, powerful life-giving mercy. God's people must have
life because God's mercy forever. That's the power of His mercy.
And I love to think about it. You can't see the gospel and
you can't see all there is to know about God in creation like
you can in scripture, like you can in the gospel. But I still
like to consider God by looking at creation, don't you? You who
know Him, you can look in creation and see some glorious things
about our God. You can see something about His
greatness and the wonder of His power and His wisdom. Everything
works together to keep this earth full, to keep it full of air
and food and water. The sun shines to give the earth
light and life. Then the sun goes to the other
side of the earth to give the earth rest, give it some darkness
and time to rest. God's created animals that only
move around in the daytime. And He's created other animals
that only move around in the nighttime. God created light
and dark for them both. The sun to rule by day, the moon
to rule by night. There's never a time the earth
was outruled, is it? The sun to rule by day, the moon
to rule by night. That's the wisdom of God. There's
things going on in the biology of all that I could never understand. I told you I learned by repetition. One thing I could never, ever,
ever learn was biology. There's stuff going on so far
above me because of the wisdom, the power of God in creation.
And God uses that same power, that same wisdom to save His
people in justice. You think creation is glorious?
It pales in comparison to God's wisdom in the salvation of His
people. God uses wisdom and power to
bring a clean thing out of an unclean. Job said, who can do
that? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? God uses wisdom
to do that. To make a sinful man or woman,
born of woman, to be righteous through the obedience of another.
Through the sacrifice of another. I'm telling you, that's wisdom,
isn't it? That's power and that's wisdom. And God does that for
His sinful people. You know why? His mercy forever. God created the heavens and the
earth so that He could display the glory of His eternal mercy
to His people. God overrules every event in
creation. Throughout all of time, God has
arranged all of those events for the sole purpose of displaying
His glory and showing mercy to His people through the obedience
and through the sacrifice of His Son. That's God's purpose. And God won't fail to do it because
He's sovereign. Because His mercy forever. This earth has changed a lot
in 6,000 years, hasn't it? You know one thing that hasn't
changed? His mercy forever. His ruling, overruling all of
it. And God shows mercy to His people
in time. Before He created anything, He
determined to save a people. He chose a people that He's going
to save. And in time, sure enough, God calls them out. He sends
the gospel to them. He gives them faith to believe
it. He calls them out. He shows them mercy in time because
God's mercy is forever. His mercy is eternal. God determined
before time began to show mercy to His people. And brother, He's
not going to fail now. He's not going to fail now. He's
going to save His people from their sin because God's mercy
forever. All right, fourthly, God's eternal
mercy is redeeming mercy. Verse 10. To Him that smote Egypt
in their firstborn for His mercy forever and brought out Israel
from among them for His mercy forever. With a strong hand and
with a stretched out arm for His mercy forever. To Him which
divided the Red Sea into parts, for His mercy forever. And made
Israel to pass through the midst of it, for His mercy forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his
host in the Red Sea, for His mercy forever." Now this is a
picture of God's greatest display of His glory. And this is what
God says is the greatest display of His glory. I'll have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. and I'll pass by whom I will
pass by." Now this is just a thunderclap. This is something to get our
attention. In the middle of this beautiful description of God's
mercy to His people, there's a thunderclap here. God does
pour out His mercy upon His people. I mean, it's without end. It
doesn't, it doesn't, you never find the bottom of it. His mercy
is eternal. He pours that mercy out upon
His people. But don't forget the flip side
of the coin. Justice. Justice must be satisfied. He
pours out justice, eternal justice on rebels. And both are good
and right because God did it. Now, everybody here in this congregation
already knows that everything that happened to Israel when
they left bondage in Egypt, all of that put together as a picture
of the redemption that spiritual Israel has in our Lord Jesus
Christ. We won't go through all of it,
but you see how this this happened here. Redemption happens through
the death of Christ, the sinner substitute with all the plagues
in Israel. What was the night Israel went
free? The night of the Passover, when the substitute died, that's
the night Israel was delivered. And what happens in spiritual
history? When is it that they go free? When is it they go free
from bondage of sin and death and self? When is it they go
free? When they see the substitutes
die. When the blood has been applied. They go free through
the death of Christ, our substitute. Now that night, that night of
the very first Passover, the firstborn who was in the home,
that had blood on the doorposts, he lived. You know why that firstborn
lived? Justice has already been satisfied
in that home. There's already been death in that home. That's
what the blood signified. There's already been death of
the substitute in this home. Well, that's God's elect. God's elect people live. They
experience God's mercy because Christ our Passover has been
sacrificed for us as our substitute. There's already been death in
the case of God's elect. Christ died as a substitute.
It never ceases to amaze me that God's sinful people go free.
They experienced mercy because God's own Son suffered as our
substitute. Now that's mercy. That's mercy,
isn't it? But you know, there were other
homes in Egypt that night, weren't there? Every firstborn who was
in a house that was not under the blood, that firstborn died. I mean, surely and swiftly, that
firstborn died when the Lord passed through. Just like everyone
not under the blood of Christ, they're going to be damned in
justice. They'll receive exactly what
they deserve because that's what their sin deserves. You see,
redemption is not a matter of pure mercy. Now, it's pure mercy
in the sense that we don't do anything to deserve it. But when
God saves a sinner, justice must be satisfied. God's salvation
is a matter of justice satisfied and mercy displayed. When God
saves a sinner, He magnifies and satisfies both His justice
and His mercy at the same time. God saves His people in justice
because justice was satisfied. God's wrath was satisfied when
God poured out His wrath and punished our substitute with
death for our sin. Christ died as the substitute
for His people because God's mercy forever. Christ died as
a substitute for His people that God would be merciful to His
people. And Israel left Egypt just like God said they would.
They left Egypt that night. They left through the Red Sea.
That's a picture of redemption in the blood of Christ. Spiritual
Israel goes free. Free from sin. Free from the
law. Free from death. Free from Satan.
Free from every enemy. Through the blood of Christ.
because God's mercy forever. But don't forget the flip side.
There's justice too. A bunch of people went through
the Red Sea, went down to the Red Sea that day, didn't they?
Israel went through and every one of them came out the other
side. Them, their children, all their animals, all their possessions
went through the other side. Pharaoh and his hosts went down
to the Red Sea too, didn't they? And they drowned in the midst
of it. Injustice against their sin. You see, God's mercy forever. And God's justice forever too.
God saves His people in mercy and truth. And the whole reason
that Christ came to suffer and die for His people as their substitute
is the mercy of God. That God might be merciful to
sinful men and women like us. And you write this down. You
remember this. The sacrifice of Christ was not
a failure. He purchased everything He intended
to purchase with that sacrifice. Just like God delivering Israel
from Egypt, He brought out all Israel from Egypt with a stretched
out arm. Nobody can mistake it. Israel
did not deliver themselves by their own power, their own might,
their own wisdom. No. God delivered them with a
stretched out arm. And He delivered them all. They
didn't leave a shoelace behind. Nothing. He brought them all
out. in the very same way. Boy, it looks bad at times. I
mean, Jen, we must be getting old. I don't remember doing this
when we were young. We sit around talking about this world has
just gone downhill. I mean, it's gone down. We said,
what is happening? What world have we left for our
children, our grandchildren, these little ones? What in the
world have we And we ought not excuse the way
the world has gone. But now you listen to me. Everything
going on in this world is not going to change one iota God's
purpose of redemption for his people. It probably is going
to get worse and worse and worse. Men are going to wax worse and
worse and worse. But you remember this. Almighty God is going to
bring all of his elect out of it. He's going to bring them
out of this world. He's going to bring them out
of sin. He's going to bring them out of self, which is a much
worse thing than bringing them out of the world. If God can
bring them out of self, surely He can bring them out of the
world. He's going to bring them all out, and He's going to set
every last one of them free through the blood of His Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. All of them are going to go free,
and all of them are going to be brought to glory. All of them
are going to be made just like Christ. All that's going to happen. God's going to bring all of that
to pass. You know why? Because God's mercy forever. Then fifthly, God's eternal mercy
is guiding, leading mercy from Christ our shepherd. God doesn't
save us in mercy and then set us down and say, okay, run along
now and trust us to get there on our own. God's eternal mercy
is guiding mercy from Christ our shepherd. Verse 16. To him
which led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy
forever. To him which smote great kings,
for his mercy forever. And slew famous kings, for his
mercy forever. Sihon king of the Amorites, for
his mercy forever. And Og the king of Bashan, for
his mercy forever. Now Israel went free from Egypt. But it wasn't a straight, easy
shot to the promised land, was it? No, not at all. It was very
difficult. They wandered in the wilderness
of sin a long time. Forty years is a long time. But the Lord led them through
that land. That land was filled with enemies. That land had absolutely
no visible means of support. There wasn't food or water in
that land. Yet God brought them through that land. He supplied
their need every step of the way and He brought them to the
land that He promised to give them. And when they got there,
he reminded them, the shepherd has led you and supplied you
and led you all the way and brought you to exactly the right place. To exactly the right place along
those banks of Jordan, the shepherd led them all the way there. Now
that's not just a feel-good story. That is a picture of the believer's
life here below. God's people have gone out in
freedom. They've been redeemed from their
sin. They have a redemption that Christ
purchased for us with His sacrifice. They're redeemed. They're saved.
They're justified eternally. Nothing can mar it. But I have
yet to meet or read about one believer that had an easy life,
an easy shot from here to there. Not one. Have you? Not a single
one. I say this to a new believer.
You know, every single message I preach, I try to tell you,
you come to Christ. You look to Him, you come to
Christ, you close with Christ, you believe Him. But I also say
this to a new believer. Brother, now your troubles have
begun. Now your troubles have begun.
Your troubles from without, from sin within the world, now it's
begun. You didn't fight it before, now
you're gonna. And worse yet, Now your troubles from within
are going to start. Your battle with sin from within is going
to start. You used to only have one nature. You didn't have somebody
fighting against it. Now you've got two men and they're going
to war till the day you die. Till the day your flesh dies.
Now your troubles with sin within have begun. And throughout our
journey here below, we have no visible means of support. We have no visible means to be
able to defeat all of our spiritual enemies. We're not wrestling
with flesh and blood here. We're wrestling with spiritual
wickedness in high places. This is spiritual battles. We
have absolutely no visible means of fighting all these spiritual
battles that we're going to face. But this I can tell you. The
Lord will. He will without a doubt lead
all of His people safely through all of those battles and will
lead all of them safely to glory. They're all going to arrive there
at exactly the right place at exactly the right time because
the Shepherd's going to bring them. The Shepherd's going to
lead them and He's going to bring them. Christ is the great Shepherd
of the sheep. He gave His life to redeem them.
He's not about to let one of them go. He's going to lead all
of them all the way to glory. And you know why? You know why
He's not going to let one of them go? You know why He's never
going to think, That one's just too much trouble. That one's
just wandered too far off. He's wandered off too many times.
I'm just going to let him go. You know why our shepherd's never
one time going to say that? He's got a number of sheep no
man can number, and he's never going to say one of them has
wandered off too many times or wandered off too far. You know
why? Because His mercy forever. His shepherding, leading, guiding,
providing mercy forever. If you and I are going to arrive
in glory, safely from this world to the next. We're going to have
to be led, aren't we? We're going to have to be led
by hand. We're going to have to be carried. We're going to have
to be led. We're going to have to be provided for. And it's going to have to
be in mercy. You know, in the wilderness,
that time of Israel spent in the wilderness, now I'm telling
you, that's a good picture of the believer's life in this world.
In that wilderness, the children of Israel failed every single
test of faith that God sent them. I mean, God just delivered them
miraculously one day and the very next day, they failed the
test again, didn't they? But the Lord, our shepherd, never
one time failed them. They failed every time. And the
shepherd never failed them once because his mercy forever. And
the same thing is true about you and me. In this wilderness
here below, you and I will fail every test of faith God ever
sends us. We'll fail every last one of
them. We'll fail Him so many times.
Our faith will fail. We'll fail Him and our witness
to Him and our love and dependence upon Him. We'll think, well,
this time after all the Lord has delivered us from, we're
going to run into a hangnail and think, well, the Lord left
me now. We'll fail Him. We won't trust Him. But the Lord
our Shepherd will never one time fail us. He's going to bring
every one of His people safely to glory. Not because we deserve
it, but because His mercy forever. And it won't be easy. There's
going to be many, many mighty, strong, gigantic problems along
the way. And that's what's pictured in
these verses. Sihon says here that the Lord slew a famous king,
Sihon, king of the Amorites. Sihon was a mighty warrior king. He defeated every enemy he ever
faced. He never, ever lost one battle,
not one, except Israel. except Israel. This mighty warrior
king went and attacked Israel. Israel had no army. They had
no military training. They'd spent their life as slaves.
They knew about making bricks and slime. That's what they knew
about. And this mighty warrior king attacked them and Israel
wiped him out. You know why? The Lord was with
them. His mercy forever. He's not going
to let this enemy destroy them. The Lord was with his people.
And this is sin. Sin is a mighty, mighty warrior
who has defeated every enemy it's ever come in contact with
except for God's elect. Because Christ our Savior put
away the sin of His people. He suffered and He died for the
sin of His people. Now He died, but sin didn't defeat
Him. He rose again, didn't He? Because His blood put that sin
away. He shed His blood to pay for, to put away, to cleanse
all of the sin of all of his people, and that sin's gone.
It'll never harm any of God's people, never harm their souls.
You know why? Because God's mercy forever.
It's not because God's people are not going to be victorious
because they're going to quit sinning. No, they're going to
be victorious because God's mercy forever. Christ has put their
sin away. And Og, he was the king of a
race of giants. Israel, just a bunch of little
old folks. I'm sure physically they probably
weren't very big. They didn't have very good nutrition
when they were slaves. They're just a bunch of little
old folks. And they come across this race of giants coming and
attacking them. It's like a bunch of Goliaths
attacking them. And God crushed that giant like you step on an
ant. Just crushed them. You know why? God's mercy forever. And all
of our problems, whether we realize it or not, all of our problems
are giants to us. Can you think of one problem
you can handle by yourself? All of our problems are giants
to us. Our problems are going to cause us a lot of pain, a
lot of worry, a lot of sleepless nights. But you mark this down. Our God is going to defeat every
last one of them. He'll not allow one of those
problems from stopping His people from coming into God's presence,
accepted and perfect, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
You know why I know that's true? Because God's mercy forever.
I'm not saying our problems are small and insignificant. You
don't need to worry about them. Our problems are going to be
giants. But take comfort in this. God's mercy is bigger. God's
mercy is older. God's mercy is stronger. God's
mercy was around before our giant problems existed. And God's mercy
will be around a long time after God's crushed all of our giant
problems. Now our shepherd is going to protect the souls of
his people. And he's going to deliver us from every last one
of those giants. Because God's mercy forever.
Alright, here's the sixth thing. God's eternal mercy is covenant
mercy from our covenant God. Verse 21. and gave their land
for an heritage for His mercy forever. Even an heritage unto
Israel, His servant, for His mercy forever. Now when Israel
finally arrived at that Jordan River, they were going to cross
the river and they were going to take the land. But the people
who lived there, now they were well defended. They had big cities,
big walled cities. They were well defended. They
had homes and farms. They'd been there for generations.
They were not about to give their family farm up. But Israel defeated
every last one of them and took the land, often without ever
firing a shot. You know why that is? Because
of God's mercy forever. Because of God's covenant mercy. See, way back there, way back
there, God took Abraham out one day and He told Abraham, see
the stars in the sky? Those are your seed be. Abraham
said, I don't have an heir. Eliezer, he's going to have to
be my heir. God said, no, you'll have a son. You'll have a son.
And your seed will be as the stars of the sky. And Abraham,
this land you're staying on, I'm going to give it to him. Your descendants are going to
own this land. Well, eventually, God gave them
the land that He promised Abraham they'd have. God gave it to them
because God promised He would. That's what covenant mercies
are. They're promised mercies. And God's mercy to His people
It's covenant mercy. It's mercy that Almighty God
promised to give His people before time began. And God will perform
that mercy to every last one of His people. He'll save those
people in mercy because God always keeps His promise. Always. And I don't care how dark the
night. It's dark, dark, dark, dark.
Oh, it's dark. I don't care how strong the enemy.
I don't care how weak and shameful our faith, God will perform saving,
calling, keeping, redeeming, glorifying mercy to His people. The night may be long and it
may be dark, but God's going to bring you through it. You
know how I know that? Because His mercy forever. And you just hang on to that.
You just hang on to that. all your worth. Brother Fortner
used to say, you take as far as you want. You can't take it
too far because God's mercy forever. God's covenant mercy, God's promise
shall not fail. All right, here's the last thing.
God's eternal mercy is personal mercy for God's people. Verse
23, who remembered us in our lowest state for His mercy forever. and hath redeemed us from our
enemies for His mercy forever, who give the food to all flesh
for His mercy forever." Now God's mercy to His elect people is
amazing, it's awe-inspiring, and it's true. It's true. It's just utterly amazing that
God would choose to be merciful to such a sinful people, to such
to a number that no man can number. Just so many people you could
never count them all. God chose those people. And He
determined to have mercy on those people. And that's just amazing,
isn't it? It's amazing God saved all those
people by the obedience and the sacrifice of one. And I'm thankful
for it. I preach that. I believe that.
I'm thankful for it. But I don't think it's wrong
of me to say this, that personal mercies are the sweetest. That's why all of us pray like
the thief on the cross. Lord, remember me. Remember me
when you come into your kingdom. And personal mercies are the
mercies that cause us the most awe and wonder. Somehow in my mind, I think I
can understand God choosing a people to save. What I can't get over is that
God would be merciful to me. That's what I can't get over.
Of all the sons of Adam, me? God would forgive a sinner like
me? The Son of God would come in the flesh and die for a sinner
like me? That cannot be. How can that be so? Because God's mercy forever.
See, when we start wondering, how could that be so? Could God
save me? Would He be merciful to me? I just don't think He
will. The reason we think that is because we're looking in the
wrong place. We're looking at me. You want to tell you the hope
that a sinner has? Why would God forgive you? Why
would God choose you? Why would God save you? Why would
God send His Son to die for you? Because God's mercy forever.
The reason for salvation is always found in God and never found
in us. And the writer here says, who
remembered us in our low estate. You just think how low God had
to reach to save sinners like us. I mean, He had to reach to
the bottom of the barrel, didn't He? How low is our estate? It's bankrupt. It's ruined. It's
gone. It's nonexistent. If God's mercy
would have changed toward anyone, it would have changed toward
me. in my low estate, in my shameful, sorry, low estate of sin and
death. But God's purpose didn't change.
Because God's mercy forever. It cannot change. Only God can
be merciful to such a stinking, rotten, dead, defiled, rebellious
sinner like I am. Because only God has mercy that's
eternal. And the psalmist here says God
gives food to all flesh. God gives life to all of the
earth. Now how's that personal mercy? I don't see how that's
personal mercy. Let me show you. God gives life to all of the
earth so that there is an earth for you who believe to enjoy.
God's blessed this whole entire earth so that you who believe
have an earth to live in and to enjoy. That's exactly right.
God gives life to the earth. He even materially blesses heathen
sinners He never intends to save. You know why? Because God's determined
to have mercy on their children or their grandchildren or their
great-grandchildren. Or God blesses them and gives
them life, physically speaking, so that they can serve God's
people by giving them a job or paying higher taxes that help
you, you know, get roads and things. God does that for His
people. God keeps giving life to the
earth. He keeps sustaining this earth
for this reason. for His elect people, because
God's mercy forever. God has a purpose of mercy for
those who, as of yet, haven't even been born. And God's keeping
this earth spinning for their sake. Personally for them, because
His mercy forever. So in conclusion, this is the
only thing we can say, verse 26. Oh, give thanks unto the
God of heaven, for His mercy forever. Oh, give thanks to the
God of heaven who continually sends down, showers down mercy
upon His people and He does it continually because His mercy
forever. I pray God give us a heart that
would thank the God of heaven that He'd show mercy to sinful
men and women like us. I pray that God bless this message
to your heart. so you can remember His mercy
forever. And not just so you can remember
it, not just so you can remember it, but that you rest in it,
that you rest in God who has eternal mercy reserved for His
people. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank You
for this time You've given us together. And oh, I pray You'd
send Your Spirit to our hearts and cause us to rest in our God,
whose mercy forever. How we thank you for your eternal
mercy. The salvation is not something
that we have to earn or deserve or keep, but it's all because
of your mercy from beginning to end because of your mercy. Father, we thank you. And as
you promised eternal mercy to your people. Father, I pray that
as we Leave here tonight. We go back home. We prepare to
go back out into the world to our various responsibilities
tomorrow that You send Your mercy before us. Oh, Father, be merciful. Would You be pleased to bless
Your Word tonight, to call out one of Your sheep, to reveal
Yourself in powerful, life-giving mercy to Your sheep? Father,
would You be pleased to send Your Word forth tonight, Reach
the heart of one of your sick and sorrowing, one of your dear
children who feel so crushed by trial and sorrow and heartache,
doubt and worry and fear, to comfort their heart. Comfort
their heart with this glorious truth, God's mercy forever. Father, bless us, we pray. Bless
us for Christ's sake. All these things we ask, and
give you thanks in that name which is above every name, the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.