Okay, now this evening, Lord
willing, I want to try to look at Psalm 86. Psalm 86, for a
few moments. I'm entitling the message from
the words found in verse 5. And again, the words found in
verse 15. The title of the message is,
Plenteous in Mercy. You see that in verse 5? Our
God is plenteous in mercy. You cannot exhaust the mercy
of God. It is as infinite as God himself. Again, down in verse 15, David
confesses that the Lord is plenteous in mercy and he is plenteous
in truth. Now, what a great subject to
think upon, his great mercy toward us. The Lord our God and our
Savior, as we read in Micah 17, delights to show mercy. Aren't you thankful? He delights
to show mercy. What is the difference between
grace and mercy? How do you define the difference
between grace and mercy? God is gracious. God is gracious
and the Lord is merciful. Well, someone defined it this
way. Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve, sovereignly
giving unto us untold blessings. were justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Grace is God giving us abundantly,
freely, eternally. That which we do not deserve
is grace is given to us. Well, how is mercy defined then?
Mercy is God not giving me what I do deserve. Now, do you know
what you deserve? Do I know what I deserve? I don't
deserve mercy. The wages of sin, I deserve death. I deserve judgment. I don't want
what's coming to me. I want mercy. I want mercy. I want mercy before God. We serve
a great God. There's none like our God. None like our God. He is both merciful and gracious. He is ready to pardon, ready
to forgive, plenteous in mercy. Says that unto all them that
call upon the Lord. He's plenteous in mercy. He delights
to show mercy based upon that eternal covenant of grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ's sake, He delights
to show mercy unto us. Now, as I pointed out, Psalm
86 is called a prayer of David. A prayer of David. David was
a believer. David looked to the Lord for
all of salvation. This was David's cry before the
throne of God. And I tell you, this evening
I pray that the Lord will make it our prayer. Our prayer. Let's look at verse 1, verse
6, and verse 7. When we pray, we desire to be
heard, don't we? Look at verse 1. Bow down thine
ear. Bow down thine ear, O Lord. Hear
me. Hear me. For I am poor and I
am needy. Look at verse 6 and 7. Give ear,
O Lord, unto my prayer. Attend to the voice of my supplication. In the day of my trouble, I will
call upon thee, and I'll call upon thee with confidence that
God will answer my prayer. Our Lord says that God's people
always pray unto Him. When we pray, we desire to be
heard of the Lord. Now, turn over here to Psalm
66. You know, to pray unto an idol,
that old dead stone idol, what good would it do to pray unto
an idol? An idol can't hear. An idol can't
save. We call upon the true and living
God. who is able to hear because he
ever lives to intercede for us. In Psalm 66, notice verse 19,
but, Verily, truly, God hath heard me, he hath attended to
the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not
turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. If God hears our
prayers, I tell you what, shouldn't that encourage every one of us
to call upon the Lord, to pray, Unto the Lord don't know here
to Psalm 138 Look at this here Psalm 138 Though the Lord be high verse
6 Psalm 138 verse 6 though the Lord be high. How high is he? Higher than I could imagine exalted
highly I Yet, He has respect unto the poor and needy, the
lowly. The proud He knows are far off. He has respect. He has respect unto His covenant
people. Y'all been studying over here
in Revelation, in the book of Revelation. Turn over here, I
want to show you something. Chapter 8 of Revelation. You
know, our prayers and our worship are only acceptable to God as
they are presented in Christ Jesus. We pray unto our God and
our prayers are presented unto our God through the intercessory
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You ever notice this? Revelation
chapter 8. And another angel, this is the Lord Jesus, the messenger
of the covenant, came and stood at the altar having a golden
censer. And there was given unto him much incense that he should
offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which is
before the throne. And the smoke of the incense
which came with his prayers are mingled with the prayers of the
saints, and ascended up before God out of his hand." Our prayers,
now you think about it. Our prayers when we cry unto
our God are bathed in the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ and presented unto God. They ascend up before the
throne of God out of his hand. What an intercessor we have before
our great God. Now look back at Psalm 86. We
need an intercessor, don't we? We need a mediator, don't we? The Lord Jesus Christ is that
mediator appointed of God. Whoever lives to intercede for
us. Now look what David says here
in the last part of verse 1 of Psalm 86. I'm poor and I'm needy. Now look that up. Poor and needy. This statement in the book of
Psalms is repeated, you know how many times? 20 times. 20 times. David says, he just
keeps repeating it. Lord, I'm poor. I'm a bankrupt
sinner. And because I'm a bankrupt sinner,
I am needy. I need thee. I need thee. I am poor and needy. Turn back
to Psalm 70. Remember here? Psalm 70, verse
5. I am poor and needy. Make haste
unto me, O God. Thou art my help. Thou art my
deliverer, O Lord, make no tarrying. I am poor and needy. I need Him. Because of our spiritual
poverty and our boundless need of mercy, we do call upon the
Lord for grace to help in time of need. And you know what the
blessedness of the gospel is? I am poor and needy. You know what it says? When Paul
writes to the Philippians, and he said, God is able to meet
all our need according to his riches and glory through the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he meets our need.
In Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. You see, we
take our place before the throne of God as mercy beggars. Like that publican. The Lord
said that Pharisee bragged on himself. He didn't pray. Two
men went to the temple to pray, only one really did. The Pharisee
bragged on himself, didn't he? You remember the publicans, what
he said? I'm Mercy Becker. God be merciful to me, the sinner. I'm poor and I'm needy. Can you
identify with that? Poor, needy, not like the arrogant,
self-righteous, that crowd that says, I'm rich, and increased
with goods, and have need of nothing, and God comes back and
says, you're miserable, blind, poor, and naked, you don't even
know it. I'm poor and needy. I'm poor and needy. Now look
at verse two. David prays. He calls upon the
Lord, Lord preserve my soul. Preserve it, keep it, save it.
For I am one whom you have chosen. Lord, you know what he's saying?
He's saying here, I'm yours. You bought me, you chose me,
Christ died for me, now Lord keep me. We're kept by the power
of God. Oh thou my God, save me. I look to you to save me. I trust in him alone. Look at verse three. Be merciful. Be merciful unto
me, O Lord. For I cry unto thee daily. Be merciful. You know, the Lord
commands us to come to him. Did you know that? In Hebrews
chapter 4 verse 16, he said, come with boldness. Come boldly
unto the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. The Lord commands us to come.
I cry unto thee daily. Lord, be merciful to me. Look
at verse 4. Rejoice, the soul of thy servant.
For I look unto thee. I'll lift up my soul unto thee. Rejoice, my heart. Rejoice, my
heart. When the Apostle Paul describes
the true Israel of God, he describes those who worship God in the
Spirit, those who rejoice in Christ Jesus, and those who have
no confidence in the flesh. Rejoice the soul of thy servant. We do rejoice in Christ. And
saving faith does look unto the author and finisher of our faith,
Christ alone. We look unto Thee. All that He
is, all that He has done, all that He is doing, doesn't that
rejoice our heart? Rejoice in the Lord always and
again I say rejoice. I want us to look for a moment
at this statement made in verse 8. And thinking about this that
is stated here. And we'll come back and look
at verse 5 again in these other verses. But there's eight things
found in this psalm describing our God that we call upon for
salvation. Among the God there is none like
Him. O Lord, neither are there any
works like unto thy works." Now, there's none like Him. Well,
what's He like? What's He like? Are we left to
our imagination as to think what God is like? He says, you thought
I was altogether such as one as yourself. God's not like us. What's He like? We're not left
in the dark on this. He tells us what He is about. What is He like? Turn over here
to Psalm 89. Let's see if we can find out
what God says about Himself. I'm interested in what He says
about Himself. Psalm 89. Look at verse 8. O Lord God of hosts, Who is a
strong Lord like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round about
thee? Great is thy faithfulness, Lord
God Almighty. He is a strong Lord. What's he
like? Turn back over here to Exodus
15. You remember when Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage? They sang this song of deliverance,
Exodus 15 verse 11. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Who is like unto
thee? In holiness? In doing wonders? Well, there
is none like him. There is none like him. Look
at verse 10 in our text. Psalm 86 verse 10. Thou art great. Thou art great. doest wondrous
things. Thou art God alone." Now this
is a subject of which is unsearchable. His greatness is unsearchable.
How do you describe Him who is indescribable? How do you describe
Him who inhabits eternity? Well, he gives us some words
here to help us along, as God describes himself unto his people. And there's eight things that
I have jotted down here, and I won't try to wear you out with
them. But look at the first one is
this, in verse 5. Among the gods there is none
like unto thee. Well, what's he like? Look at verse five.
For thou, Lord, art good. You see that? He's good. He's
good. Now, we know this. In us, there is no goodness. There is none good, God said,
among men. There is none good, there is
none righteous. No, not one. But in the Lord
Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, there is nothing but goodness. The Lord is good. He is good. Let's see some scripture now.
Psalm 34 verse 8. The Lord is good. He's good. Psalm 34. Look at verse 8. Psalm 34 verse
8. See what he says there? Oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good. Have you tasted that the Lord
is gracious? Taste and see. Taste and see. You know, when
you taste something, you experience it. You experience it. You know
it. You know it so. Oh, taste and
see. He says, the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. Another Psalm. Psalm 135. Let's
see what God says about Himself. Don't just imagine what you think
He's like. Let's see what He says. Psalm
135, turn there. Look at verse 3. Praise the Lord, for the Lord,
He's good. The Lord is good. Sing praises
unto His name, for it is pleasant. For He hath chosen Jacob unto
Himself in Israel, His peculiar treasure. For I know that the
Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever
the Lord please, that's what He does in heaven and earth,
seas, and all deep places. The Lord is good in His sovereignty. The Lord is good in His sovereign
reign. Of Him and through Him and to
Him are all things to whom be glory, both now and forever. Everything He does for us and
in us is good. Everything God does is good. You know, He never makes a mistake.
He's too holy and He's too wise. Everything He does for us and
everything He does in us is good. Now listen to this scripture.
All things work together for good to them who know God, to
them who are called according to His purpose. The Lord is good. Not only does He Not only is
everything He does for us and in us good, but the Lord is good
at everything He does. You know, He's good at everything
He does. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Everything He does, He's good
at it. He's perfect at it. His works
are perfect like Himself. So here's the first thing. What's
our God like? There's none like Him. The Lord
is good. He is good to His covenant people.
The Lord is good. Now, here's the second thing.
It says in verse 5, He's ready to forgive. Ready to forgive. Ready to forgive. There's a prayer
of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 9, 17. Read it sometime. It's a glorious prayer. And one
statement that He makes in there said, Thou art a God ready to
pardon. God is ready to pardon, ready
to justify sinners based upon the atonement, the full and complete
redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, He justifies
the ungodly. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. He's ready to forgive based upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, dealing with my sin and putting away
my sin. You ever notice this scripture?
Look over here, Psalm 103. And there's a good description
of God's mercy to us. Here's a good description of
God's mercy to us and the Lord's readiness to forgive our sin. Psalm 103, you got it? Look at
verse 8. The Lord is merciful, gracious,
slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. There's that statement again.
Now how's it revealed? He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. That's mercy. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. In the same Psalm, Psalm 103,
look at verse two. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Forget not all of his benefits,
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. He's ready to forgive. You remember
what we read over here? Don't turn, but let me just remind
you what we read in the book of Micah. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquity that will cast all their sin
into the depths of the sea. The Lord will perform this. The
Lord is good. The Lord is ready to forgive.
Believers have experienced this forgiveness from all sin as David
did. Blessed is a man whom the Lord
will not charge sin. He can't charge me with my sin
and charge my substitute as well. God justice can't twice demand
first at my bleeding charity's hand and then again at mine.
The Lord is good. The Lord is ready to forgive.
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, putting away our sin. He's ready to forgive. And then thirdly, it says, the
Lord our God, what's he like? He's plenteous in mercy. It says
that twice in this Psalm. In verse 10, it says, thou art
great. In verse 13, for great is thy
mercy toward me. Thou hast delivered my soul from
the pit of hell. Thou hast delivered my soul from
death itself, from the curse of the law. Great is Thy mercy. I tell you, that's great mercy.
Great sinners, great sinners need great mercy. Mercy of the
Lord. He's plenteous in mercy. You
know, David prayed that way. You remember? Turn over here
to Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O God. According
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tendermercy,
blot out my transgression. Our God is holy. Our God is just. I tell you what, He is also good,
ready to forgive, and He is plenteous in mercy. You cannot exhaust
the storehouse of His mercy. You know what it says in Lamentations
chapter 3 about His mercy? It says, it's new every morning. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. It's new every morning. This
is saving mercy, fetching mercy. When Paul writes to Titus, He
writes these words. It's not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us. Mercy, mercy, mercy. Here's the fourth thing, found
in verse 15. But thou, Lord, art a God full,
full. of compassion. In the Lord Jesus
Christ dwells all the fullness of God. The fullness of God dwells
in him. Thou, O Lord, art a God full
of compassion. What is compassion? His compassion's
his love. That's what it is, his love.
His love does not fail. His love does not fail. It says
that in that same chapter, Lamentations chapter 3. His love does not
fail. His love is like Himself. God is love. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that He loved us and that He sent
His Son to be the sacrifice for our sin. That's love. That's compassion. His love for
His own people is an eternal love. How long has God the Father
loved God the Son? Eternally, hadn't he? How long
has God the Father been well pleased with God the Son? This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Because of that
vital union the believer has in the Lord Jesus Christ, as
God loves the Son, so He loves us in His Son. How long has He loved the Son?
Well, eternally, from everlasting to everlasting. How long has
God loved His people? It says in Jeremiah 31, that
covenant love, I've loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore
with loving kindness, I'll draw thee unto me. His love is eternal. His love is sacrificial love,
isn't it? His love is effectual love, irresistible. You know how he draws us irresistibly
to himself? You know how He draws us irresistibly
to Himself? He makes Himself irresistible.
That makes sense. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of His power. He so reveals Himself unto us
as altogether lovely and beautiful. He makes Himself and He shows
us His irresistible beauty. We must have Him. You see, His
love is eternal. His love is sacrificial. His
love is electing love. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. His love is effectually irresistible
love. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. His love is sovereign love. If
love, the love of God, is manifested in us, it should have brought
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And I thought about this. It says in Romans 8, nothing
can separate us from the love of God, which is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God. God is love, full of compassion. That's what the text says here.
What's he like among the gods? There is none like unto thee.
Verse 15, Thou, O Lord, art a God full of love. He's full of love. And then the
fifth thing is this, founding number five, what's our God like?
He's full of love, full of compassion. And then it says there, He's
full of grace. The Lord is gracious. The Lord is gracious. Gracious,
full of grace, full of grace. Remember that scripture over
in John chapter 1? It talks about the incarnate
Christ, full of grace and truth. Of His fullness, have we all
received grace for grace? Because He's full. He's full
of love. He's full of grace. For salvation
is all of His grace, is it not? Every aspect of our salvation,
from election to glorification, is all of His sovereign saving
grace, not of works, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's
electing grace, as He chose us in Him before the foundation
of the world. It's saving grace, isn't it?
His grace is saving grace. It's fetching grace. It's calling
grace. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
God's own purpose and grace. The Lord is full of compassion. The Lord is gracious. This is
what God says of himself. And then here's the sixth thing.
We see in this text that God is long suffering. He's full
of compassion. Look at verse 15 again, Psalm
86, full of compassion, gracious, long-suffering. He's long-suffering. It says in 2 Peter chapter 3,
the Lord is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come unto repentance. The Lord is long-suffering to
His covenant people. The Lord is very patient with
us. Even before we knew Him, even
before we loved Him in our heart, before we knew Him, He knew us. He knew us. The foundation of
God stand as sure having this foundation, the Lord knoweth
them that are His. All the years of our unbelief
and rebellion, The Lord was patient, long-suffering
with us, until he crossed our path with the gospel, and revealed
himself unto us, and broke our hard and stony heart, and made
us to fall in love with him. He's long-suffering. Now this
is probably a poor example. But a young man who is madly
in love with a woman, She caught his eye. And you know, she just
doesn't pay any attention to him. She just goes on and on
and on, and he keeps courting her and courting her. He's patient
and long-suffering, isn't he? He keeps loving her. He keeps
talking to her. He keeps wooing her, drawing
her, and then one day, She falls in love, and she says, I must
have you. And there is that union. Now
that's paled in comparison as the Lord draws us to himself. He woos us unto himself. No man
can come unto me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. There's
got to be that drawing, long-suffering of the Lord. And that's what
He does when He reconciles us unto Himself, reveals Himself
unto us, and makes us willing in the day of His power by making
Himself irresistible. Here's the seventh thing. The
Lord is full of compassion, gracious, He's long-suffering, and then
it says there, Plenty's in mercy and then it
says he's plenty's in truth truth truth when the Lord our God speaks
That book you have in your hand is the absolute truth Nothing,
but the truth so help you God. It's God's truth absolute truth
Every word he speaks is absolute truth. He's the final authority
on all issues of salvation. He is truth. And he can speak
nothing but the truth. He's plenteous in truth. Plenteous
in truth. Notice verse 11. Teach me thy
way, O Lord, I will walk in thy truth. You see that? When He
teaches us His way, you know what He causes us to do? To walk
in His truth. The truth of who He is? God Almighty? Holy and Sovereign? The truth
of who we are? You know who we are, don't you? God vividly describes us as altogether
ungodly. He teaches us the truth of who
He is. He teaches us the truth of who we are. He teaches us
the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, God Almighty, manifest
in the flesh. And He teaches us the truth of
way, the truth of the way of salvation. He said, teach me
thy way. Christ is the way. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He is that truth, isn't He? He is that truth. When He
teaches us the truth, we delight to walk in the way of truth and
to fear His name. All those who have heard and
learned of the Father, they come to Christ. I told you there's
eight of them. Here's the last one, found in
verse eight. Among the gods, there is none
like unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like thy
works. I've told you this before. You
know, salvation is by works. His doing and dying, not our
works. You know, he prayed, Father,
I finished what the work you gave me to do. He prayed again. He told his disciples, I'd like
to do my Father's business, that work that He gave me. You know
what that makes salvation to us? Free gift. Grace. Grace. You see, His works are
great works. Great works. There's no work
like our God. The work of salvation is glorious,
final, and eternal. Look at Psalm 92. Look at this
earlier. Psalm 92. Look at verse 4. For thou, Lord, hast
made me glad through thy work. I will triumph in the works of
thy hands. I tell you what, now, you trust
your own works, and God said you'll be cursed. You trust the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I don't like this statement,
trust the finished work of Christ. I don't like that statement.
That's not a good statement. I trust Him who finished the work. Salvation
looks to Christ. Faith looks to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is a finished work. He finished the work He came
to do. His work of redemption is perfect. It's a perfect work.
There's no work like His work. The work of redemption that He
did for us as our High Priest of God, whereby He obtained for
us eternal redemption, is a perfect work. Do we need to add anything
to it? Huh? Oh, no. No, no, no, no,
no. It's a perfect work. His redeeming
blood is a perfect sacrifice. And you know His sacrifice, did
you know this? The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not offered to men. There you go. Read in the Old Testament, all
those sacrifices are on the altar before the Lord. You see, this
is God's sacrifice for sin. The work of redemption and the
shedding of His blood is unto the Lord, and it's a perfect
work. The Lord Jesus Christ established
for us a perfect righteousness before God. You see, it's His
dying, His obedience, His doing, His dying, not ours. I'm going
to trust Him. I'm going to call upon Him. His
work of salvation is a perfect work. He saves us with an everlasting
salvation. That leads the believer to this
in verse 12. I'll praise thee. I will praise
thee. Oh Lord God, my God, my God,
and I'll do it with all my heart. I will glorify thy name forever
and ever. Now you read through the revelation.
And it's all about the glory of the Lamb. The Lamb, the Lamb. The redeemed of the Lord sing
unto the Lamb, unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sin
in His own blood. To Him be glory both now and
forever. Amen. He's made us kings and
priests unto our God. The Lord has done saved us by
His grace and He'll never hear the end of it. We'll sing that
song throughout eternity, worthy as a lamb that was slain to receive
all honor, glory, and blessings, both now and forever. Among the gods there is none
like unto thee. You remember this heathen came
unto David one day, he said, Over here in Psalm 115, David,
where is your God? Where is thy God? Remember what
David said? Our God is in the heavens. He
has done whatsoever He has pleased. The idols of men are silver and
gold. They have mouths, they don't
speak. They have eyes, they don't see. They have ears, they don't
hear. They have noses, they don't smell. They have hands, they
don't handle. feet, but they can't walk. They can't speak,
they're dead. They that make them are like
unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them." Our God is
in the heavens. He has done whatsoever He had
pleased. He's a true and living God, worthy,
worthy of our worship.