AND THIS IS WHAT THE PSALMIST IS SAYING, OH, GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD. BUT THE FACT OF WHO GOD IS, NOT ONLY DOES IT MOVE US AND PRODUCES A HEART OF THANKSGIVING IN US, WE SEE IT HERE IN VERSE 2 THAT HE IS THE GOD OF GODS. You see that? He is the God of gods. Isaiah 44 and verse six, thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord, capital L-O-R-D, right, Jehovah, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. Beside me there is no one. God. If you go to Revelation, Jesus was speaking to John. He said, I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. Over in Isaiah 44, same chapter, verse eight, he says, fear you not, neither be afraid for have not I told thee from that time and have not I declared it, ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? God asks. Yea, there is no God. I know not any. Two truths here. God is omniscient. If there were a God, He would know it. And if there were another God, He would have showed up and said it. Neither has another shown up, and neither has God said He ever knew one. You see here, God, the fact of who God is produces a heart of thanksgiving. Oh, give thanks unto the God of God. Look at verse three. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord of lords. He rules, he reigns, and he rules and he reigns alone. He needs no help. He needs nobody to figure it out for him. He doesn't need to take counsel. The Bible says that he works after the counsel of his own will. Amen. Why? Because God is God. Look at this. God is God alone. and God is Lord, He is ruler and sustainer of all of His creation. And can I show you this here this morning? This is what His mercy is attached to. This is what makes His mercy great. This is what makes the mercy of God so dependable. This is what makes the mercy of God so powerful. This is what makes the mercy of God so enduring and everlasting. Why? Because His mercy is who He is. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Amen, for He's good. I'm thankful because of who God is. This is what these first three verses are. They show us who God is. But we should also be thankful because of what He does. Look at verses four through nine. To Him 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 the stars to rule by night for His mercy endureth forever. Listen, we are motivated to give thanks unto God for His mercy, not only just because of who He is, but we are also motivated to give thanks to God because of what He does. He is creator. He's Creator. If you don't believe God is Creator, you can't be saved. Right? Listen, you are in trouble with your Creator. And if you don't believe He is a Creator, how can you be born again? Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. We see over here in John 1.3, all things were made by Him. And there was not anything made that was, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Who is that? The Lord Jesus Christ. And Colossians 116, for by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. You know, the fact of creation is absolutely astounding. Verse four, it talks about great wonders, great wonders. There is a wonder of creation. There is a wonder of the universe. I was explaining, Sherry and I were going to town the other day, and we were talking about something about painting a scenery, and I was explaining to her, in creation, how our eyes see light, it refracts and we see different lights, and as distances go away, certain colors go away, right? So yellow is one of the first colors in distance to leave our sight, right? We only see yellow so far. Red is one of the last colors to go away. We can see it the farthest way. That's why when you look at a scene up on a mountain, maybe you're in a valley and you see mountains way up, they look purple. Why? Because the yellow's gone. and the only thing left in the colors of that mountain with that distance of our eyes can see is the red and then the blue of the sky is coming in and so you get these purpley colors, right? The closer the things are coming, the yellow remains and the colors are different in scenery painting. You need to know all these things if you're gonna paint a scene, right? And I had a guy that I worked with, incredible artist, and he explained to me how light, just how light refracts off the eye of a fish and the reason he colors that eyeball the way he does. because he says the light comes in this way, the top of the eye, it will hit and it will refract out of the bottom of the eye which means the color of the eye, his eyeball is going to be this, the bottom color is going to be this because of the way the eye, I mean it just goes on and on and on, right? It's a wonder of creation. Why? That's light. God has created light, right? God has created us with the certain cones in our eyes to perceive color. We don't see all of the color, right? I believe there's probably an infinite amount of colors that when we leave this body we'll notice. That's why there's things that they couldn't understand, the colors around the throne of God. And the only way they could describe some of those things was in our own human terms. But listen, there is so much that is going on. The wonder of creation is incredible. They're pulling apart DNA now and noticing everything has DNA in it, whether it is a dog or a chicken or a human being or a tree or a blade of grass. It all has DNA. What is that DNA? Micah, it's its code. God has coded everything on the planet to operate and to grow and to live and to produce the way it does. And we look back at the marvel of creation. It's incredible. It's unbelievable. It's astounding. The scientists spend their life gazing into the stars and gazing into heaven, and they get stronger and stronger telescopes, and they get more and more and more wonder. Some of them get more and more hardened as they reject the Creator. They stand in astonishment. They've come to find out, well, dark matter, you know, there's no such really thing as nothingness. There's no such thing. We look at air and it's, well, it's just air. There's no such thing as nothingness. It's all matter, we just can't see it. Oh, it's the wonder of creation. It is. We see here every day that we discover something new and something amazing. Every day there is a wonder that captures the amazement of what has been done by God. Yeah. The Bible says He made the heavens, verse 5. Verse 6, He says He stretched out the earth above the waters, right? The Spirit of God moved above the face of the waters, and God separated the water from the land, and He made dry land for us to live on. Verse 7 says He made the great lights, and we can see this in Genesis 1, 16. The Bible says that God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. I love what He throws in here like this, eh, you know, at the end of all creation, and He made the stars also. Amen. The Bible says He meted them out with a span, pinky to thumb. He just put it all into place and said, that's good, very good, perfect. I love it. Why does God deserve our thankfulness? Because of who He is. Why does God deserve our thankfulness? Because of what He has created. This is what the psalmist is saying. Look at verses 10 through 15. God deserves our thankfulness because how He delivers. Aren't you glad that God delivers? Amen. Have you ever been... Have you ever been delivered? If you're saved this morning, you've been delivered. Amen. All right. Boy, that was an easy one. Good night. He said amen at the real deep stuff. I thought, ah, wow, good. Missed the easy stuff. Does it make you happy that you've been delivered? You ever walk around some day and you just meditated on it once in a while and regardless of how life has turned out, regardless of the trials of life and how things haven't gone the way they should have, you can just walk around and just have a happy smile on your face going, I've been delivered and I'm on my way to heaven. And it doesn't really matter what happens in this life per se. I know where I am going. Praise the Lord. You've been delivered. The psalmist knew he brought Israel back to the deliverance of God in Egypt in verse 10, and the smiting of the firstborn. Can I tell you, it sounds kind of cruel, doesn't it? Look at verse 10, to him that smote Egypt and their firstborn, for his mercy endureth forever, huh? Sounds kind of cruel, doesn't it? Smote the firstborn? Probably one of the best things that could ever happen to those Egypt babies. Because every one of them are in the presence of God today. But I do wanna remind you this, Galatians 6,7 says, be not deceived, God is not mocked whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. And can I remind you that it was the Egyptian Pharaoh that had all of the Israelite babies under two years old murdered and killed. And listen, don't you, listen, God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. You say, well, how a cruel thing that God would take life. Well, God created life. He has the authority to take life. I don't and you don't, except where he says, okay. There's only a few cases. Yeah. But listen. God delivers. He delivered them from Egypt. He delivered them from Pharaoh. In verses 13 through 15, He delivered them from the Red Sea. Here they were. They had gotten out. They went out with a high hand. They went out with jewels and tools and whatever else they were given. The Egyptians were throwing on them and said, just get out, please. Get out of here, right? And they walked out a happy camper, right? And they got going down a little bit and got in through those, what some believe are these two mountain ranges that they came through this valley and they came out to this expanse of a beach front that was large enough, you can see it, there's one area that is large enough to contain a million or a million and a half people there along the Red Sea. And they got to that Red Sea and I'm sure the high hand and the rejoicing went, oh, What's this? The Egyptian army was coming right behind them. See out in those wilderness areas the Egyptians had watchtowers all over the place. They got word back, yep, found them, here they are. Yep, they're coming down through here, they can't get out. Mountain on this side, mountain on that side, red sea in the middle, army coming down behind them. They can't move. We got them. We got them. didn't. Why? God delivers. God parted a Red Sea. Isn't that amazing? Wouldn't you like to have seen that? I hope it's on video someday in Heaven. I'll rewind. I want to watch that. I want to see what the fish do. I really want to see if they like poke their head out and be like, go, you got it buddy. Right? I don't know maybe. Pretty cool miracle, huh? But you know, I'm not real fond. I don't have this inner, like, nagging desire to see a miracle. You know why? Because the greatest miracle happened in me. 26 years ago. Something like that. Yeah. How a dead spirit can be made alive? How on earth? Greatest miracle there is, friend. Why? He delivers. He delivers. He delivered them from the Red Sea. In Egypt, at the Red Sea, Israel was at a place that was impassable. They were in Egypt that looked like they were never getting out. And when they finally got out, they came to the next one and into an ocean that was impassable. Let me ask you, saints, aren't you happy that when you're hemmed in by life with nowhere to escape, that God delivers? God delivers, amen. Maybe you're here this morning, you're hemmed in by your finances. Maybe you're hemmed in by your health. Maybe you're hemmed in by discouragement. Maybe you're hemmed in by some type of sinful bondage that's going in your life. And I'm telling you, it feels like the mountains are 10,000 feet on this side and 10,000 feet on this side, and the world, the flesh, and the devil is hot on your trail behind you, and there's just this ocean in front of you. You feel like, I can't get through it, of doubt and fear and confusion. Can I tell you today, God is still a God who delivers. And if you just go to him, he will deliver. Why? Because he's able, he's able to deliver. Amen. I'm thankful because of how he delivers. The psalmist says, oh give thanks, oh give thanks, oh give thanks. And then he lists the, Three different areas of why we ought to be thankful unto God for who He is. Well, we're thankful because of how He delivers, but verses 16 through 20, I'm thankful because of how He leads, how He leads. Look at verse 16. To Him which led His people through the wilderness, for His mercy endureth forever. They'd never been there before. Hey, maybe they got reports. know there is a highway that went through that way to the west that God didn't want them to go on because He didn't want them to be discouraged by the Philistines and that type of war too soon. But they could have got there. There is a highway there. There is the Silk Road that runs up from Egypt all the way into the Valley of Jezreel and cuts off to the west over to China. I mean there has been traffic that way for years and years. Don't you think they got a little feedback? Don't you think they may have known what was going on up there? Maybe they got a report here and there. Maybe somebody brought a newspaper. Maybe somebody had an old world atlas of wilderness and they turned page after page and it was just blank. This is where we're going? There's nothing here, right? Listen, this happens in life, doesn't it? People can give you direction, they can say, do this, don't do this, don't go here, don't eat there, don't buy that, I've already been there, don't do... But you still haven't experienced it yet. There's still the unknown, amen? And what am I saying? Maybe Israel did have some feedback of what the wilderness was like, but listen, they had never been there before. As far as we know, maybe Moses only got to his father Jethro's and never went any further past that point. But here's the other thing I know. They had never traveled a million and a half strong as one nation across that place. I know that. What did they need? They needed somebody to lead them. They'd been in one place for 430 years. in bondage. They didn't know what was beyond that. They didn't know what obstacles, they didn't know what battles, they didn't know what wars, they didn't know what was going to befall them. They had not that at all. And we see here God led them through the wilderness. So the psalmist is recalling here. He said, let's give thanks to God because he leads us. Aren't you glad for the leadership of God and the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God, the leadership through the word of God. I'm so thankful for that. And verses 17 through 20, God's leading, it will ensure us God's protection. See verse 17, to him which spoke great kings, for his mercy endureth forever, and slew famous kings, for his mercy endureth forever. Sion, the king of the Amorites. Og, verse 20, king of Bashan, for his mercy endureth forever. Can I tell you, when God is leading, there's always gonna be opposition. There's always gonna be opposition. When God is leading, there's always gonna be enemies that come up. Why? Because we're always going contrary to the rest of the world. Somebody asked, told Lester Olaf, they said, why do you always got to bump heads with everybody? He says, well, they're all going the wrong way. Amen. Yeah. Can I remind you that God has taken care of every enemy and he'll take care of every future enemy that comes. Why? Because he's faithful. Why? Because his mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for He is good. He is good in how He creates and how He sustains. He's good in how He delivers. He is good in how He leads. Yeah. Verse 21, thankfulness because of how He provides. Brother Gere talked about it to the young people and the kids this week a few times about how good we have it in our nation. how good we have it. Those of you that have lived in foreign fields, you know how good America is, and of the provisions of God that are beyond, beyond the pale of reason at times of how much we really have, and how good we really have it. Brother Geer said, I'd like to take to some of you to some of the countries we go to, and you can see how good you have it in that home that you might not be thankful for, and might complain about, and the food you might complain about, and the things this way. Boy, we got it good. We absolutely do. We ought to be thankful for the way that God provides for us. Look at verse 21, God gave them their land. God gave them their land. He made that covenant with Abraham, and I'd like to remind you, that covenant for land was forever. It's forever. I know what these Calvinists are saying, and the Reformed are saying, that it's meaningless, and it's not their land, but it is. It is. It's for a heritage. The Bible says, listen, the Bible, look at verse 21, and He gave them their land for an heritage. Hey, how can something be a heritage if it has an expiration date? Yeah. God gave them their land. Even when Israel was in a low place, verse 23, God sustained them. Look at this. Who remembered us in our low estate. Aren't you glad that God's provisions aren't dependent on your performance? No, the only time that God withholds provisions is maybe a time of discipline and correction, trying to get our attention, trying to get us to stop, as he said in Hosea when he hedged her in to try to get her to not go crazy and stop and think about what was going on. No, there's times when God withholds some provisions that way for a purpose always. But listen, even when Hosea was playing the harlot, And that illustration of Israel playing the harlot, right? God was there providing all along behind the scenes. Why? Because he provides. Even when you're in a low place, God provides. He's faithful. He's faithful. He gave them their food in verse 25. You see it? Who giveth food to all flesh. That manna in the wilderness every day, day by day, every morning, just enough for the day. Food where there was no food. In a wilderness? That's like me going out to one of our trees in our backyard and looking for a Big Mac. I mean, it might have been there 40 years ago, and it's probably just as edible as the new one. But no, they just don't grow up from the ground, right? Those things don't happen. In a wilderness, yeah, it was God, because God gave them their food. Food where there was no food. Quail, till it was coming out of their nose. Air, it was between their teeth. God stacked it up and he loaded them down. Listen to Psalm 78 verse 23 through 29. Though he had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven and had rained down manna upon them to eat and had given them the corn of heaven. He caused the east wind to blow in the heaven, and by His power He brought in the south wind. He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowl like as the sand of the sea. And He let it fall in the midst of their camp round about their habitation. So they did eat and were filled, for He gave them their own desire. Just before that they're saying, can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Yes, he can. Amen. And he did. He feeds them. He fed them in the wilderness. I like this. He doesn't only just feed Israel, but he feeds all flesh. See this? He feeds all flesh. Psalm 37, 25, David said, I've been young and now I am old, yet have I not seen the righteous nor forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Are you righteous in Christ today? Amen. You know what? Listen, He provides. He provides and He feeds. He feeds the animals. He feeds the animals and He feeds the heathen. The Bible says it rains on the just and on the unjust. What is that? Sustenance and provision. He feeds the animals. I think I've told you this once before. I was in our side yard one time and I had a bucket full of something, I don't know, dirt, and I had some worms in it, and a big old worm, I thought, and there was just this robin, it had been really dry, I think it was around 2012, super dry that year, and she was picking in the yard, looking for something, and I went, and I was in the backyard, and I found this pile of dirt, and I went to go move it, and big fat worm, and I took that worm, I thought, oh, I'm going to throw that at the robin. And I went out there, and she was gone. She was gone. I'm telling you, I said, Lord, if you'd bring her back, I'd sure give it to her. And I threw it to her. She grabbed it and took right off. Hey, he feeds the birds. He feeds the animals. Yeah, why? He's faithful. He's faithful to all of his creation. He's faithful. If he's faithful to the robins, the birds, you know, and the lilies of the field, they toil and they spend on, how much greater are you than Solomon, all of his glory, right? Yeah, he provides. God deserves our thanks. God deserves our thanks because of who He is, because of what He has created, because of how He delivers, because of how He leads, because of how He provides. Watch this, in undergirding all of who God is and all of what God does, you notice this, after the end of every verse, what undergirds all of it is His mercy. Why does He do this? Mercy. It's His mercy. It's mercy that moves God to action, right? This is what propels God to work on our behalf. It moved God to create. It moved God to deliver. It moved God to provide, right? Mercy moves God. It puts Him into gear, for a lack of a better word. Why? Because He's good, because He is kind, because He is faithful. And it's God's mercy that should move us to gratitude. Oh, give thanks unto the God of gods. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord of lords. Oh, give thanks unto the God of heaven. Why? We could spend hours in here this morning detailing everything God is and everything that God does. Or we could just sum it up in this one word that the Holy Spirit left us. Mercy. Mercy. I give thanks because His mercy endures forever. Which means that His mercy is available for me. And it's available for you. Mercy. Do you know why I got up this morning? Mercy. Do you know why we had food to eat? Mercy. Do you know why I have a Bible to preach? Mercy. Do you know why I have a voice to sing? Mercy. Do you know why I have a building to meet? Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Amen. Robert Robertson came to a relationship with Jesus Christ after listening to the preaching of George Whitefield. Later he himself became a pastor and he wrote a few hymns. One of the most famous hymns we sang this morning, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. And he wrote in that second verse, I believe it was, streams of mercy never ceasing. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Calls us to songs of praise. When he had gotten a little bit older in his life, he came to Christ at a young age. And at another part of his life, he had gotten older and he'd gotten away from God. And he was living away from the Lord. He was living a miserable life. He was backslidden. And on a certain day, he was riding a stagecoach, and he was headed somewhere. And within that stagecoach was a young woman, and she didn't know who he was at all, right? She didn't know anything about him. But she was actually quoting that hymn that he had written. She was humming it and quoted, come thou fount of every blessing. She had quoted it to him. They were talking. And he replied, Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who wrote that old hymn many years ago. He said, I would give a thousand worlds if I could have them to give to enjoy the feelings I had back then. And you know what her reply was? Sir, the streams of mercy are still flowing. Hallelujah. Streams of mercy, his own words, streams of mercy, never ceasing. Are you needing God's mercy today? Maybe you didn't even realize that's the thing that you were needing. Sometimes we can look at a list of things that we think we need, when really, we could undergird all of it, just say, I need the mercy of God right here. Are you needing God's mercy today? Can I tell you this morning, he's able. Why? It's as eternal as He is. It's as present right now as He is. It's who He is. See, every work God has done and will do in your life is because of His mercy. Every work of restoration, every work of forgiveness, listen, it's because of His enduring mercy. Do you need that today? Do you need it? You know, all you need to do is ask. That's all you need to do, because it's right there. Our Father, thank you this morning for your mercy. Overwhelmed this morning, really, when we stopped to think that we have such a merciful God. Mercy does not mark Mohammed. Mercy does not mark Catholicism. Mercy does not mark Joseph Smith. Mercy does not mark Hinduism. or any of the others. You're a Lord of lords. You're a God of gods. Lord, it is you who are merciful. And we thank you, Father, because of your mercy that we have access to you by Jesus Christ. And this very morning, and if anybody here is in Christ and in need of your mercy, it's available at the very asking. And so, Father, we pray this morning, as you do a work in the invitation, whatever the needs are, that we would come to you today and just fall upon your mercy. And we're thankful that we can come with great assurance that it is there and available. Lord, there may be somebody here today or watching online who's never been saved. Lord, they need your mercy. They must have it. I pray they would come today. Lord, whatever the need is, we pray you do the work. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand this morning. The piano's playing this morning. Invitation is open. Child of God, it'd be a good time to find a place and an altar and thank God for his mercy in your life. Do you need mercy today? Do you need mercy? Would you come this morning, come to an altar? You need to make your way right now to an altar and ask God for the mercy that you need. You need his kindness and his help and his favor. You need it. Listen, we can't live a day to day. We can't live one day after another without the mercy of God. And some of you may be in a spot today when you just especially need to get along with God and ask Him for that mercy. It's there for you. It absolutely is. I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Amen. You know, I just believe if we meditated more on the mercy of God, we'd just naturally, naturally live a life of outpouring thankfulness to him. Maybe we just don't meditate on the mercy of God enough and how merciful he's been in our life. Say, I've got a lot of things in my life I didn't deserve. Yeah, and you've got a lot of things from God that you didn't deserve. To the positive, not the negative. Yeah, he's good.