I need my hat on. Y'all wear
a sock cap all day long. It's what happens when you're
bald. Psalm 117. This is the shortest
psalm in the Bible. Psalm 117. Oh, praise the Lord. All ye nations. Praise him, all ye people, for
his merciful kindness is great toward us. And the truth of the
Lord endure it forever. Praise ye the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would give us the grace to enter in to this song. That we might from our hearts
praise you. For who you are. And by your
grace, cause it to be a delight to us. To praise your name. How thankful we are for your
merciful kindness. Lord, we ask that your merciful
kindness might be extended to each one of us. We pray for your
blessing upon this assembly. We pray that you'd enable us
to preach your gospel. We ask that you would enable
us to believe your gospel. Lord, we ask that you would forgive
us of our sins, that you'd cleanse us. We pray for your presence. We pray for your blessing. on
all your people, wherever they meet together. Lord, we pray
for the leaders of our nation, of the world. We pray that we
might be allowed to live a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Accept our thanksgiving, in Christ's
name we pray, amen. The shortest psalm, only two
verses. And it contains the whole gospel
in it. I would like to call this psalm
the missionary psalm. The missionary psalm. Now, notice
in Psalm 117, O praise the Lord all ye nations, and praise him
all ye people. You and I both know that the
Old Testament is primarily about the Gentiles. I mean the Jews
and not the Gentiles. There were some times in the
Old Testament days when a Gentile would be saved. You can remember
Naaman, the leper from Syria. The widow from Sarepta that Elisha
healed, she was a Gentile. What about Nebuchadnezzar? Nebuchadnezzar
was certainly a Gentile and the Lord used him to write scripture.
I love in the fourth chapter of Daniel where he actually writes,
from time to time there were some Gentiles saved, but the
psalmist directs this to all nations and all peoples. They're all called upon to praise
the Lord, and Paul actually quotes this psalm in Romans chapter
15, verse 11. There were some Gentiles, as
I said, saved from time to time in the Old Testament days, but
look what is said here. Everybody is called upon to praise
the Lord. You and I are called upon to
praise the Lord. Everybody without exception in
all the world is called upon to praise the Lord, all nations
and all peoples. Now turn with me for a moment
to Deuteronomy chapter seven. I want us to see what the scripture
has to say about the Gentiles. Verse one, when the Lord thy
God shall bring thee into the land, whether thou goest to possess
it, and has cast out many nations before thee, and he names seven
nations that were greater and mightier than thou, verse two,
and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, look
what they're called upon to do. Thou shalt smite them and utterly
destroy them, Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show
mercy unto them. Neither shalt thou make marriages
with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give
unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they
may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord
be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall
you deal with him, You should destroy their altars and break
down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven
images with fire. Look in verse 16 of this same
chapter. Thou shalt consume all the people
which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee. Thine eye shall
have no pity. upon them. Neither shalt thou
serve their gods, for they will be a snare unto thee." Look in
chapter 9 for just a moment, verse 4. Now these nations that the Lord told
them to destroy, speak not thou in thine heart after that the
Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, for
my righteousness the Lord hath brought me to possess this land.
Don't say, You're getting this because of your righteousness,
but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord does drive
them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness or
for the uprightness of thine heart does thou go to possess
their land, but for the wickedness of the nations, the Lord thy
God does drive them out from before thee and that he may perform
the word, which the Lord swear unto the fathers, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth
thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for
thou art a stiff necked people." Now, in these instructions to
destroy the nations, they're destroyed because of their wickedness.
And then he says to the children of Israel, don't think I'm doing
this for your righteousness, but for their wickedness. And
I'm giving you this for my namesake. You know, Part of the great mystery
of godliness in 1 Timothy 3.16, great is the mystery of godliness.
The gospel is preached to the Gentiles. We don't think that's
a great mystery, do we? We're Gentiles. That's what the
Bible says. The great mystery of the gospel
being preached to people like me and you. Now back to Psalm
117. Oh, praise the Lord, all ye nations. I love the psalm that says, everything
that hath breath, let them praise the Lord. Praise him, all ye
peoples, all nations and all people are called upon to praise
the Lord. Now, when Paul quotes this in Romans 15, 11, it reads
this way, praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles and laud him. All ye people. Now that word
Lord means approve of. Approve of. You know, we read
quite often about the president's approval rating. Well, the approval
rating, I hope I say this reverently, but the approval rating of the
Lord is 100% with all his people. And it's 0% with everybody else. but every believer approves. It's not that he needs our approval,
understand, I don't want to, I want to say that cautiously,
but all of the Lord's people approve of everything about him. He's absolutely perfect in all
his ways. Now if, question, talk about
the approval. of every believer of the Lord.
I want to ask you a question. I want you to think about this.
I want to think about it. It's a difficult question, but think
about this. If the Lord Jesus Christ did
not save you, would he still be worthy of all
praise? I hate to think of the Lord not
saving me. That's a very difficult thing
to think about. But if he didn't, he is still altogether glorious. Do you know only a believer feels
that way? They have some idea, some idea
of who they are, but they still approve of everything about the
Lord. We approve of all of his attributes. He is Perfect. Now look what he says in verse
two. Here's why all people are to praise him and all nations
for. Verse two, his merciful kindness. Don't you love that word? It's
the Hebrew word hesed, and it's been called the Old Testament
word for grace. I love this word, think about
it. What a glorious word with regard to the character of our
God. His merciful kindness is great
toward us. Who is the us? His merciful kindness is great
toward us. Well, the us is not everybody. Now, how can people not included
in the us be called upon to do this? To praise him. Because understand this, his
merciful kindness is not refused to anybody who wants it. The door is wide open to anybody
who wants to be saved by his merciful kindness. Would that include you? You can't
say, well, I wanted to be saved and he wouldn't save me. Nobody
can ever say that. If you want to be saved by his
merciful kindness, the door is wide open. And that's why all
peoples and all nations are called upon to worship him for his loving
kindness. Now, don't you love the fact
that the Lord said in his parting words before his ascension, go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I love that. Go ye, not sit back,
go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He and his gospel are worthy
of the praise and approval of all nations and all peoples.
Now listen to this scripture. 1 Timothy 1 15, Paul says, this
is a faithful saying. You can utterly rely on this
and it is worthy of all acceptation. Now when Paul says that, he's
saying everybody in the world ought to consider this the greatest
thing, they ought to receive this, they ought to approve of
it, they ought to glory in it. This is a faithful saying. and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners." Is that worthy of your acceptation?
That's the best thing you could ever hear. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners of whom Paul says, I am the chief. His merciful kindness is great
toward us. Now, this word merciful kindness
is also translated loving kindness. When you read that in the Old
Testament, have mercy upon me according to thy loving kindness. It's the same word. It's translated
favor. It's translated pity. It's translated
mercy. It's translated goodness. His
merciful kindness, his favor, his loving kindness, his mercy,
his goodness. Notice the writer says his merciful
kindness is great toward us. Now you'll find this interesting.
The word great is not an adjective. It's a verb. It means prevails, conquers,
wins. It's not just an adjective describing
its greatness. It's a verb. His loving kindness,
his merciful kindness is great toward us. It's mighty. It's powerful. It prevails. And this verb is actually in
the perfect tense. It means it's a completed action. It's left nothing out. Now quite often I hear preachers
use this phrase, God offers you salvation or God offers you forgiveness. No, he does not offer salvation,
he saves. He does not offer forgiveness,
he forgives. Salvation is merely an offer. That means your salvation is
dependent upon whether or not you accept or reject the offer. That makes salvation ultimately
dependent upon you. That's called salvation by works. God's salvation is not an offer,
it never has been, it never will be. Salvation is of the Lord
and anything less is a non-saving gospel. God doesn't offer to
save you if you'll just let him. Salvation is not an offer. I've
even heard people talk about the free offer of the gospel.
I just don't like that language. The gospel is not an offer. It's
a declaration of God's salvation. And let me remind you, that doesn't
prevent anybody from being saved. Anybody who wants to be saved
will be saved. Anybody who wants to be saved
by Christ will be saved by Christ. If I'm not saved, it's because
I didn't want to be saved by Christ. It's not because God
didn't offer me salvation, it's because I rejected the only way
of salvation. But thank God, his salvation
is not an offer, he saves. Now look once again, for his
merciful kindness is great toward us. His merciful kindness is
not generic, it's given to us. Now, who is represented by the
pronoun us? His merciful kindness is great
toward us. Well, the same us that our Lord
spake of in Matthew 3, 15, when he said, thus it becometh us
to fulfill all righteousness. Everybody he died for. If God
be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all. That's the us. How shall he not with him freely
give us all things? Now, his merciful kindness is
mighty, powerful, great toward us. Now this word us, it's a wide open word, but it's
an exclusive word as well. If I said this building is for
us to meet in, Could somebody come in and say, well, it's for
us, we're gonna meet in it too. It's gonna be our building too. I got a letter from a guy this
week, a pastor here in town. He said, would you let us use
your building or perhaps our churches could combine and we
become one. And I'm thinking, You idiot. I guess I'll be out the door.
I'm sure that I'll be the first one to kick out, you know. But
no, the us doesn't mean everybody, but it means for us. It means
for us. This building's for us to meet
in. His merciful kindness is great
toward us. Now, what I love about this word,
merciful kindness, is it's actually an attribute of God. It's an attribute of God, his
sovereignty, his holiness is his attribute. His omnipotence
is his attribute, but this is also listed as an actual attribute
of God. When he proclaimed his name before
Moses, he said, the Lord, the Lord, God, merciful and gracious,
long suffering and abundant in, when it says goodness, merciful
kindness, loving kindness. This is an attribute of the glorious
God. It goes on to say in that passage
in Exodus 34, he says, keeping mercy, and that's the word, loving
kindness, merciful kindness, keeping merciful kindness for
thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Now, I want us to think for a
few moments about this word. It's the Hebrew word hesed. It's
an attribute of God, it's who he is, his merciful kindness,
his loving kindness. Number one, his merciful kindness
is the reason he forgives sin. It's his reason. Listen to this
scripture from Numbers chapter 14, verse 18. The Lord is of
great mercy, and that's the word, The Lord is a great mercy, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin. This is who he is. He delights in mercy. Loving kindness we're speaking
of is the ground of his covenant with Christ and his people. I'm going to read from Deuteronomy
7, once again, verse 9. Know ye therefore that the Lord
thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and
mercy, loving kindness. He keepeth. Loving kindness,
that's his covenant with his people. He's the covenant God. Number three, mercy, loving kindness
belongs to the Lord. Power belongs to him. Loving kindness, mercy belongs
to him. That means if you're going to
have it, you go to him for it, don't you? Lord, give me your
loving kindness. It belongs to him. Loving kindness is for Christ's
sake. I love it when David says, is
there any that I can show the loving kindness of God to for
Jonathan's sake? God says, is there any that I
can show loving kindness to for Christ's sake? That's why he
shows it. You don't have to look for a
reason in you. You don't have to look for any, well, I'm this
and I'm that. Just forget that. It's for Christ's
sake. And God has every reason to bestow
it upon you for Christ's sake. It's really the object of our
trust. You can't be separated from Christ, but David said,
I've trusted in thy mercy. I've trusted in thy loving kindness. And you know, I trust in his
loving kindness because it's for Christ's sake. I know it
is mediated to me wholly through Christ. And so I trust that it's
this really the same thing as trusting Christ himself, his
loving kindness and his mercy. I love this, his loving kindness
is everlasting. Psalm 103, 17, but the mercy
of the Lord is from, and that's the loving kindness, the same
word, the Hebrew word. The mercy of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting. It never had a beginning. Doesn't
that blow your mind? Do you know there was a, if you're
a believer, if I'm a believer, and if I'm somebody who needs
loving kindness, There was never a time when God bestowed it upon
me. It's eternal. It's as old as
God. And there's never going to be
a time when he withholds it from me. His merciful, loving kindness. Listen to this. His merciful,
loving kindness gives God all the glory. Psalm 115 verse one
says, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but into thy name, give
glory for thy merciful, loving kindness sake and thy truth sake. Now this thing of God saving
by his merciful, loving kindness means that he gets all the glory
and salvation. Now you say, sure. Yes, I believe
that. And I do too. But here's what's
really glorious about this. If he gets all the glory and
salvation, if he doesn't get all the glory and salvation,
that means there's something I must do to be saved. That doesn't
sound good at all. The reason I love him getting
all the glory and salvation, that means he does everything
in the saving. I find security there. I find comfort there.
He gets all the glory. in salvation. I love what the
psalmist said in Psalm 90 verse 14, O satisfy us early with thy
merciful loving kindness. You know, this is the only thing
I find any satisfaction in, is that God saves holy because of
his loving kindness, his tender mercy, his favor, his grace.
Oh, that satisfies me. That gives me confidence. I love
what David said in Psalm 51. One have mercy upon me, O God,
according to thy loving kindness. That's the word. Not have mercy
upon me because I'm sorry. Not have mercy upon me because
of some promise I make. but have mercy upon me according
to thy loving kindness. And when I ask the Lord for mercy,
I don't say have mercy upon me because I'm so sorry or because
I intend to do better. Have it for Christ's sake. Same
thing. Thy merciful, loving kindness. Now that's the word that describes
all of God's salvation, isn't it? his merciful kindness, his
loving kindness. Now, look what the psalmist says
in verse two. For his merciful kindness is
great toward us and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. His merciful kindness is the
truth. It's the truth. It's the truth
of who he is. It's the truth of how he saves.
It's the truth regarding his glorious person. It's the truth
of how somebody like me can be saved. It's the truth. It's the truth that endureth
forever. This is never going to run out. What a glorious two verse song. The message of the Bible is found
in these little two verses. Shortest chapter in the Bible.
And there's nothing more full than this. Praise ye. Praise ye. Everybody in here's
got a reason to do this. Praise ye the Lord.