As we continue, we'll turn to Psalm 136, which has been read in your hearing. And I'm reminded as we begin in the preaching this afternoon of the words of Paul. Philippians 1 and verse 3, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. And from what we know elsewhere of Paul, he prayed for his associates in the ministry and congregations day and night. And so, in all likelihood, this means that Paul prayed morning and evening. for the Philippian congregation. And every time he remembered them, he gave thanks to God. Continual and fresh, repeated acts of thanksgiving to God. And we have the same thing here in Psalm 136, with 26 verses. Here we have fresh and repeated acts of thanksgiving for one great reason, which is His mercy endureth forever. God's mercy is His faithful covenant love. And when it says that His mercy endureth forever, we know that there was something that didn't endure forever, which was the standing of Adam. God made him in innocence and gave him one special command as a test, which he violated, and we in him broke the covenant of works, but it has pleased God in His abounding mercy to make and to offer a second covenant, which is the covenant of grace. And the covenant of grace is enduring, lasting. Mercies are in the covenant of grace, which is published in the gospel, because the purposes of God are without any revoking without any repentance because the once paid atonement is most perfect and enduring and abiding in its merit because the indwelling spirit will never suffer the sheep of Christ to fully or to finally fall away from Him. So the fact that His mercy endureth forever, it is implying that there is a terrible reality of sin. That sin has made a separation between man and God. But yet, God has come over the mountains of our sins and He comes sweeping in even today with offers and overtures of mercy. He publishes, He tells you about this mercy, the souls that are now suffering in hell. and have been perhaps for thousands of years, they do not hear any word of mercy. They have no more offer of mercy. But here you are hearing of mercy in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the enduringness of this mercy. Lay hold upon this mercy. Celebrate and praise again, and again, and again. for the mercy that endures forever. How enduring is the mercy of God. Well, Israel was right to sing of it again and again and again. His mercy endureth forever. His mercy endureth forever. His mercy endureth forever. All the way through all the disaster that followed the sin of David. All the way through the rending apart of the kingdom after Solomon. All the way through the exile into Babylon. His mercy endures and endures and endures and endures all the way to the coming of Christ. And this has put the exclamation point upon it. He's come. His mercy endures forever. His mercy did not fail. So it will be all the way through the years and ages of time that remain to the coming of Christ. His mercy will endure. His mercy will endure. So it will be to all the ages of eternity. His mercy endureth forever. His mercy endureth forever. God here is calling you and me to repeated fresh acts of thanksgiving for the reason of His mercy that endureth forever. So we can sniff out presumption. at this point, because presumption smells like this, it says, yep, you know, God's mercies endures forever, and yeah, safe, secure, I'll lean back, and there's no praise, there's no adoration, there is an unholy muteness on the part of the presumptuous soul. You're not wowed by the mercy of God. You're not making the heavens ring with your thankfulness and praise. That's presumption. You need to repent of it. On the other hand, it shows us what living godliness is. Living godliness means I'm not itching for some new thing to interest me or to stir me up, but rather the main thing. The old thing, the grand big truth of the gospel. Every time the Spirit brings it to mind and presses it upon me, I delight again and again and again to praise and to praise for this mercy which endures forever. And we are naturally sluggish and sleepy, spiritually, me more than anyone else on the planet. So we need means. We need the Lord to come by His Word to stir us up again, again, again, and again unto praise for these fresh mercies. So we'll consider then the mercy. that endures forever under four headings this afternoon. So the first is the mercy of the Most High. The mercy of the Most High. And we see it in verses 1 through 4. And here we are called upon to celebrate the greatness and the transcendence of God Himself. And so we have the divine name, the Lord in capital letters or Jehovah, which you'll remember it means I am. So we are to praise God for his essence, his infinite self-existent being. We have reflected also the supremacy of God in verses two and three. Give thanks unto the God of gods. give thanks unto the Lord of lords. And in the last psalm, we were singing about the Lord and how superior He is to the idols, which, you know, the gods with no breath, as we saw. And these are not real gods. They're supposed gods. But whatever supposed god there be, the Lord is greater than them all. So we have the supremacy of God. We have the persons of God who are here intimated to us in Old Testament clothing. So we have a threefold repetition, a threefold imperative. Oh, give thanks. Oh, give thanks. Oh, give thanks. And knowing what I trust that we do about the whole scope of the Bible, we've come to learn God is triune. There are three persons who are God. Yet there's but one God. There's three different divine names. So there is, give thanks unto the Lord, that is Jehovah. Oh, give thanks unto the God of gods. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord of lords. And there's actually a New Testament passage that appears to allude to this. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 and verses 5 and 6. for though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us, there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. And so there the New Testament just uses different terms using the, the divine name God to refer particularly to the person of the Father, using also the divine title Lord to refer to the second person and to his office as mediator. And so we're singing here about the triune God, the God of gods, the Lord of lords. We're singing about the omnipotence of God in verse four, to him who alone doeth great wonders. I once, I met a man who told me he enjoyed imagining that God gave creative tasks to the angels and told them to go make this and that. But that's exactly what it was. He was imagining. It was a dream. Because God did no such thing. And he does not give the glory of creating or doing a wonder to any creature. He alone does great wonders. He alone created heaven and earth and does mighty deeds. So we're singing of the greatness and the supremacy of God. And now, if all of this were true, and there were no mercy with the Lord, the right response would not be thanksgiving, but actually terror and despair. So recognize you are a sinner, and you cannot encounter this God, who is that He is, who is supreme above the idols, who is the thrice holy triune God, omnipotent, doing great wonders. You, a sinner, coming before Him, you will be destroyed. You will be consumed because He is the consuming fire. Have you repented of your sins? If there were no mercy with God, the result would not be thanksgiving. However, there is mercy with God. Notice this, interlaced between everything I've been telling you. For his mercy endureth forever. For his mercy endureth forever. For his mercy endureth forever. God is great. God is powerful. God is triune. He's thrice holy. And his mercy endures forever. That is what makes a saint sing unto the God who is most high and supreme, that he is also merciful and supremely faithful in his mercy. So here, saved sinners are praising the God who is that He is and exists eternally in three persons and is omnipotent and mighty. Saved sinners are generating this chorus of praise. So actually the angels have far greater intelligence than we do. And if they were to enter into their angelic reasonings about the greatness of the power of God and the mystery of the three persons and the holiness of God and so forth, they could get a lot farther than we can with our puny and small intelligence. But actually a saved sinner is light years ahead of an angel. when it comes to hearty praise. The angel has a greater, more expansive mind, but the saved sinner has an expansive heart. This God of whom I sing, how great He is, I've tasted His mercy. I'm relying now and forever and ever and ever upon the faithfulness of His mercy which endures. If His mercy were to give out, I'm sunk, but I will never give out. Leaning all my weight on His mercy, I sing to Him and sing to Him and praise Him. So these first four verses, they have to do with theology proper, as we say, pointing us towards the doctrine of God himself. And it's a lovely subject, love to talk about it. However, theology is not mere book knowledge to a saved sinner. There's a place for book knowledge. God made us reasoning creatures. However, it's not mere book knowledge. Praise him and praise him for he is most high and he is merciful. That's verses one through four. Second point, the mercy of the creator. Verses five through nine. Here, the Lord turns our attention towards the work of creation and spells out different particulars. So again, to a saved sinner, anywhere you look, up, down, or all around, you look at the handiworks of the Creator and you have a reason to praise Him and praise Him and give thanks to Him, because you've tasted His mercy. So verse five. To him that by wisdom made the heavens, for his mercy endureth forever. So take some time to look up at the heavens. Think about the intricate movements of the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars. Think about the vastness of the heavens on a clear day or in a flat place. You can look and see across from east to west and how vast it is. And think about the brightness of the heavens and you'll have reason to praise God. But then when you think about the God that made these vast heavens, His mercy to me, a sinner, endures forever. And now it will raise your praise to a new notch. Because now you're thinking, to Him that by wisdom made the heavens, for His mercy endureth forever. So by His wisdom, He made heavens, including the highest heavens. He, by His wisdom, made a place where I will praise Him forever and ever before the throne of God and of the Lamb. I will bow down and praise and praise and praise for the mercy that endures forever. I don't even know how to describe heaven. But I know that God, by his wisdom, made it. The God whose mercy I've tasted, that's a reason to praise. So a saved sinner, if you're in your right mind, you can't scarcely look up at the sky without bursting forth into the praise of God. Then there's the earth. Verse six, to him that stretched out the earth above the waters, for his mercy endureth forever. So it uses the word stretched, which is kind of descriptive word, and we even talk that way. You look out over a landscape and you can see the land stretching away all the way to the horizon. So it would do us good actually to think more about it, think about the vastness of the continents. and the huge amount of space that God has given us on this planet, and also the position of the earth relative to the waters, to Him that stretched out the earth above the waters. So in the creation, He gathered the waters together into the seas, the dry land appeared, flood of Noah, After the flood, He has put the waters in their boundaries. They're never going to pass. There'll never be another global flood. So God is in control of the water levels. And as long as the earth endures, there will be earth above the water. And so that's reason to praise God. So we have a habitable planet. And yeah, we should praise him for that. And then when we begin to think about the fact that, you know, the work of the creator is also the work of the God who has mercy, ever enduring mercy for sinners. Once again, this raises up the pitch of our praise because it's not just his work. to make a habitation for man, but earth is the place where his everlasting gospel is published far and wide. And so earth is the ground zero in which God through the Holy Spirit and by his word, he powerfully applies the everlasting gospel. It's the place, indeed the only place where sinners are born again. And so a saved sinner now looks out at the earth, which is stretched out above the waters, horizon to horizon, and says, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. He's gonna send forth his gospel and all the nations are going to praise and to sing for joy. And so again, a saved sinner in his right mind can hardly even look at terrain or a landscape without praising the God whose mercy endures forever. And then the great lights, verse seven, to him that made great lights for his mercy endureth forever. And he'll go on to spell out what the great lights were, but just pause at that statement for a moment. So God, He has furnished this world with lights. Maybe you're refurnishing a room or you've moved into a house. The room, it has to have some lamps in order to be a usable room. And so you set up a lamp here in this corner and one in the other corner. As easily as you furnish a room with lamps, that easily God furnished this world with lights. And then think about the fact this is not just the work of the Creator, which it is, but it's also the work of the God who by his mercy saves sinners. And then think about the words of the Lord Jesus. He says to his disciples, and he says, ye are the light of the world. You can't take the light and you don't take the light and you hide it under the bushel. But let your works so appear before men that they may praise your Father which is in heaven. And now you really have to praise God, don't you? Anytime you see light in the sky, if you're a saved sinner and you can see light in the sky, you should be praising and praising and praising. because he's taking you and he's making you to be the light of the world, to a darkened world. Okay? Then the son. the sun to rule by day for his mercy endureth forever. So the blazing brightness of the sun, the warming heat of the sun, the regular course by which it goes across the sky day after day after day, this is reason to praise our creator. And then when you think about the fact that the sun portions out the hours of each day to you, because God is describing the way that He orders time. Because the Son is ruling. So the day is not chaotic, but it is ruled over. Someone quipped that time is God's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. But there's truth in that. because he made the sun and it goes across the sky and in your day you have however so many hours that God is portioning out to you and time passes in an orderly way. Okay, that's his work as the creator and the governor of this world. And so now think about the fact that the one who does this is also the God who has mercy for sinners. For his mercy endureth forever. And so the God who measures out your time. If you are a saved sinner, you need to praise and praise and praise that God made the son to rule the day. because he gives you hour after hour to serve him and to lay up treasure, not on earth, but in heaven. He portions out opportunities to you. And with him, one day is as a thousand years. Your life is fruitful. So you need to praise and praise. His mercy endures forever. You shouldn't be able to look at the sun without praising God. Also, verse 9, the moon and stars to rule by night. For His mercy endureth forever and our Creator's work is seen in the moon and the stars. They give a milder light. They relieve the darkness so that it's not total. The moon marks the passage of months and the stars mark the passage of years and so forth by their position in the sky. And we ought to then think about, okay, the God who has done this as the creator is also the God of everlasting mercies. So what if I'm awake in the nighttime? What if I'm in pain? What if I'm weeping in the nighttime? Well, my God, whose mercy endures forever, he made the moon and the stars to rule the night. Sometimes the night seems chaotic, but it's not. It is ruled over. Your God, who is king, he rules over the night. That's why he made the moon and the stars. If it's nighttime and it's hard, but you can see the moon or even one star, you can conclude, my God reigns. And you know what? This night is going to end. I'm in the darkness, but he didn't put me in the total darkness. I'm not in the outer darkness, and morning will come. Therefore, let me praise His mercy. He made the moon and the stars, and His mercy endures forever, and I will praise Him. If you are a saved sinner, oh, praise the Lord if you see a star or the moon. God for the mercies of the Creator. Thirdly, the mercy of the Deliverer. The mercy of the Deliverer out of Egypt and bringing His people all the way up to Canaan to be their inheritance. Indeed, He says, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. We're told here in verses 10 through 22 about particular events in the history of Israel. And why does this matter for us today? There's three reasons. One is because God's acts in history are worthy of repeated praise. So does it seem strange to you that in the previous Psalm, And in this one, as an example, we sing about God slaying Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. It shouldn't seem strange. Perhaps it does. The thing is, God did that. And whatever God does, he is worthy of praise to all eternity for that. He is owed an eternity of praise for killing Og, the king with the giant bed. Let him be praised to all eternity because it was his work. So in and of itself, it's worthy of repeated praise. Also, it's worthy of our attention and our praise when we recognize that this whole matter of the exodus out of Egypt and the bringing up of Israel to the promised land is the great You know, the big story of the Old Testament, and it is a great type of the redemption wrought by Christ, and Christ's death at Jerusalem was his decease, or literally his exodus, Luke chapter nine, and Christ is the Passover lamb, and he's the guide of the people through the wilderness, and so we are experiencing these things today in a sense that Christ is the fulfillment of all these things. And then there's also another layer of application, which is that we sing here about His mercy endureth forever. So He did these certain things in history, and He does the same, or He does similar things with fresh works in history, and therefore fresh praise should ascend to His name. So for instance, Athanasius was a great defender of the consubstantial deity of the son, co-substantial with the father. And there was an Arian emperor who wanted Athanasius to recant of his affirmation of the Nicene Creed. And so Athanasius was leading worship with his people one evening, and the church was surrounded by the soldiers of the Arian emperor. And he was reciting Psalm 136 with his people inside the church when it was surrounded by a bunch of soldiers. So think about that. Yeah, they were singing about God killing Og of Bashan, and that was actually, no doubt, bringing fresh living comfort to their souls, as they trusted God can do the same thing again today, as it was. There wasn't a death of a king that day, but there was an escape of God's servant, and he got away to one of his four exiles. So these things, the mercy of the deliverer, verses 10 through 22, they are for those reasons, they are worthy of our attention still today. So just to be particular, verse 10, to him that smote Egypt in their firstborn, for his mercy endureth forever. We ought to perpetually remember that God He gave Egypt what they deserved. He gave Israel something they didn't deserve. The firstborn in Egypt died by the justice of God, and the destroyer passed through. Israel, they took the hyssop. They put the blood upon their two doorposts and upon the lintel. They escaped through the blood of the Passover lamb. Redeeming mercy and severe judgment are set next to one another, and so it is still today. Redeeming mercy and severe judgment go hand in hand through the length and breadth of the world. and brought out Israel from among them for His mercy, endureth forever. And this included His work upon their hearts, His making them willing to follow Moses and to leave Egypt. He saved them from death. in Egypt and He severed them from the idols of Egypt to bring them out to worship Him upon the mountains. Verse 12, with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm for His mercy endureth forever We're told Romans 9 that God raised up Pharaoh for the display of His power. And so if Pharaoh hadn't been so stiff-necked, then there wouldn't have been so much opportunity for God to display His power upon Pharaoh, His strong hand and His stretched-out arm, and the assurance that He's still mighty to deliver His people today. We should say, His mercy endureth forever. Verse 13, to Him which divided the Red Sea into parts, There's emphatic language here to him, which divided the Red Sea into divisions. He split it into pieces, the Red Sea. So Israel was there at the banks of the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his armies were coming behind. The Lord told Moses, have them go march towards the sea. God made a way where none could be seen. God is the same today. This was not a one-off thing. But His mercy endureth forever. And so, believer, you should look upon the difficulties in your life in that way and say, you know, it seems like there's a big sea in front of me and an army behind me. But you should by faith say, well, He divided the Red Sea apart and His mercy endureth forever. I'll trust Him today. I'll praise Him today. And verse 14, he made Israel to pass through the midst of it, for his mercy endureth forever. He caused them and he moved them to take this way of escape and deliverance that he had opened up to them. Verse 15, but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea for his mercy endureth forever. He hardened Pharaoh's heart in order to display his power upon Pharaoh in destroying him. Verse 16, to Him which led His people through the wilderness, for His mercy endureth forever, which links up with what we saw this morning in the preaching. Christ is the Good Shepherd of His people. very briefly said here to him, which led his people through the wilderness, it is condensing a huge amount of history and much grumbling, complaining, and wanting to go back into Egypt and wishing we had died in Egypt and making the golden calf and much sin on Israel's part, much long suffering on God's part. And so believer, you should say today, God is long-suffering. God is in Jesus Christ. He is willing to lead me through the wilderness of this world. Many have been my backslidings and sins, but He's still the same God today. His mercy endures forever. Therefore, I will praise Him if I'm unsure of which way to go. He will guide me, not through the extraordinary presence of the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, but nonetheless, as surely as He guided Israel, He will also guide me. Verses 17 through 20. There we have four verses about dead kings. to him which smote great kings, for his mercy endureth forever, and slew famous kings, for his mercy endureth forever. Israel did not pick these fights with Sihon and Og. However, this is a biblical precedent and an example of a situation where it was the duty of the people of God to take up arms against a persecuting tyrant who was coming against them in battle and trying to wipe them out. So Israel rightly took up arms. Though, interestingly, it's described here as if God did everything. without means. We know He used means, but it says that He slew, the Lord slew famous kings. God killed Sihon. God killed Og. So even if God puts us in a situation where we must take up arms against a persecuting tyrant, we shouldn't expect the glory of the battle, because there's only one who's going to get the glory, which is the Lord. And it could be that the Lord would put us in Jehoshaphat's situation. Jehoshaphat was all ready to go to battle, but he sent the singers out, and what were they singing? Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever. And God fought the battle for them, and he set ambushments, and the foes turned upon one another. But God always gets the glory. He will get the glory over persecuting tyrants. So here we have, you could call verses 17 through 20, a funeral song for persecuting tyrants. That's the kind of thing that puts steel in the bones of a Christian. And God's mercy endures forever. He hasn't changed one bit. No more today is he going to let his people be swallowed up by a Sihon II or an Og V. He still is committed to the preservation of his people, and so we should praise him. One reason why we need the Psalms is because we need to be ready to sing our way through persecution. Here is a terrible Sihon and a terrible Og. Well, before that day comes, we need to prepare ourselves by singing about the God who slew them and how His mercy endures forever. Because He slew them, He gave their land as a heritage to His people, verses 21 and 22. And yes, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And the persecuting tyrants appear to have the power, In time, the Lord will cause his people to spread everywhere, and there'll be praises arising from every quarter of the earth, from believing people worshiping him in every place. So there's great mercy of the deliverer, and so we should praise him and praise him and praise him. Fourthly, the mercy of our God. And here in the final four verses, it becomes more personal. who remembered us in our lowest state. For His mercy endureth forever and hath redeemed us from our enemies. For His mercy endureth forever. And I would challenge you to not leave this afternoon without using these personal pronouns. us, and to make it even more specific, me and I. So, speaking reverently, what good would it do us if there's a glorious God of heaven, with everlasting mercies, who made the sun to rule by day, and who slew Og the king of Bashan, If you yourself do not lay hold upon Him by personal faith, it will all come to nothing as far as you are concerned. God will have His glory. He will never fail to have His praise. He will have a people who will praise Him for everlasting mercy. The question is, are you going to be in the choir that is singing His praise with fresh acts of mercy? Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, for His mercy endureth forever. So don't stay neutral, don't stand back and hold aloof from this God. And let me add to that, that God is recruiting people for his choir right now. So he tells us about history and what he did. And then he comes all the way down and uses the word us. He's teaching us now today. He's calling on you, as if it were by name, to come unto this great God of everlasting mercies, to put all your hope for being reconciled to Him. Put all your hope on His mercy in Jesus Christ, the sin bearer. be reconciled unto God, trust His mercy, and then learn through the Holy Spirit to see His mercies and to praise and praise and praise for His mercies. These verses are highlighting for us especially who it is that God delights to show mercy unto. It's those who are in a low estate and those who have enemies who are too powerful for them, from whom they need to be redeemed. And it's true, you know, God saves rich and powerful people and we read about Joseph of Arimathea, didn't we? Praise God for that. However, for the most part, God delights to save those who are in a low estate, because he gets more praise for that, because then he's saving someone who knows. I was without hope. I was lost and utterly sunk. And to me, God looked upon me, not because I had anything special, nothing to offer him, but because his mercy endures forever. He has mercy on whom he will have mercy. And here the praise begins to overflow who giveth food to all flesh, for his mercy endureth forever. So, once we've tasted a sense of personal mercy of the Lord to us in our lowest state, it opens our eyes to all manner of things. And you know, we might, if we see, well, our children or Perhaps an elderly parent that we have, that we're caring for. We see them provided with what they need, then we say, praise God. He's giving food to all flesh. If we see the bird and it has a berry to eat, then we say, praise the Lord, because His mercy endures forever and He's giving food to all flesh. And there's nothing more to say than the last verse. Oh, give thanks unto the God of heaven for His mercy endureth forever. So the spirit and the bride say, come, come. If you've tasted of the mercy of God, you will... Call other people also to join you in giving thanks to the God of heaven. His mercies have come down from heaven, and His mercies, when tasted, lead us back to heaven. And His chiefest blessings? Yes, the bird eating the berry. That's His mercy. We praise Him for it. But yet His chiefest mercies are above, in the spiritual places, in the heavenly places. Spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. Oh, give thanks. Will you not give thanks to the God of heaven? For His mercy endureth forever. Will you not see that this sermon and this part of the Bible is super practical? Because it is teaching us to stop in the middle of a sentence and to give thanks to the Lord for His mercy endureth forever. It is teaching you to punctuate your days, your hours, your week with praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. It's not too much. And all that the Lord would expand us and increase us in the work of praising His name. Amen. Would you stand with me for prayer? O Lord, our God and our Father in heaven, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. In Christ Jesus, we thank Thee for enabling us to give some stammering, halting praise to Thy name. But, oh, how short we have come We pray that Thou would even loose our tongue, like the man who had the string of his tongue loosed, so that he spake plain. Would Thou make stammerers to speak clearly, in the praise of God, We pray that like Isaiah, oh, we're those of unclean lips, but would Thou touch and atone for and take away the sin of our lips and set apart our lips to Thy service. Above all, give us a heart that will be ever aboundingly with new fresh acts of giving thanks unto Thee, causing our lips to speak to the praise of Thy name. We give Thee thanks.