If you'll turn to the book of Psalms with me, we'll be reading from Psalm 136. I'll be preaching through the Psalm in its entirety. This Psalm is a Psalm of thanksgiving or at least a Psalm to encourage thanksgiving. And as such, it gives a great basis for and outline for giving thanks. In Psalm 136, the author gives two commands to and presents five reasons for giving thanks to God. And Spurgeon mentions this was such a popular song that it was often sung in Solomon's Temple, referenced in 2 Chronicles 7, verses 3 and 6 and others. And further, this was utilized in times of dire straits to great effect. So if you would, note your outline. You can turn here if you would like, but I would like for you to listen to the narrative of 2 Chronicles 20 and hear the outline of our message for today throughout this. In this passage, we see the application of the principles we hope to draw out today. In verse one of 2 Chronicles 20, we have our inciting incident. A great multitude of people come to war against Israel, causing fear. And it starts, it happened after this that the people of Moab, with the people of Ammon and others with them, besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria. And they are in Hazazon, Tamar, which is in Gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed to fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord and from all the cities of Judah that came to seek the Lord. And here we begin to see who God is. He is indeed their Lord. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court and said, Oh Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? He is God of gods. And do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? He is the Lord of Lords. And in your hand, is there not power and might so that no one is able to withstand you? And again, we see the power of the Lord. Are you not our God? He is indeed a personal God, our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people, what he has done in deliverance, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend forever. We see particular blessing. And they dwell in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, if disaster comes upon us, sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we'll stand before this temple and in your presence. there is care and providence for his people. For your name is in this temple, and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save." And again, deliverance and salvation. And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them. Here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. we see that particular blessing. O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power against the great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jael, the son of Mataniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph. In the midst of the assembly he said, Listen, all you of Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you king Jehoshaphat. Thus says the Lord to you, Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up to the ascent of Zeez, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Israel. You will not need to fight in the battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high. So they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established. Believe his prophets, and you will prosper. And when he consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty of holiness." And there we see the goodness of God being praised. As they went out before the army and were saying, praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever. Or give thanks to the Lord for his mercy endures forever. We see them giving thanks. And this is a usage of our passage for today in Psalm 136. And should recall these things that we're here to talk about. Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had came against Judah, and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and there were their dead bodies fallen on the earth. No one had escaped deliverance by judgment. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. And they were three days gathering the spoil, because there was so much. Again, a particular blessing to the people of the Lord. There are many of the elements of our very own passage in this narrative. It is very interesting to see the application of our passage in this situation, for Jehoshaphat seems to apply his very own reasoning for giving thanks, his very own recollection of who the Lord is and what he has done and what he will do, which is in a similar vein to the reasoning of our psalm today. This recalling of who God is and what he has done leads to a thanksgiving, a thanking of God, expressed by the usage of Psalm 136. And this utilization of the psalm would only further reinforce the reasoning for giving thanks. For there the reasoning is given in Psalm 136 in addition to his own. And from this position of a reasoned understanding of their God, they give thanks. They sit in a place where before they were scared and unable to stand against the tremendous foe. They now with a mind set straight by knowing their God and being thankful, praising him see victory. For before them, before their eyes is displayed the person and the work of Yahweh. He is good and so he shows good. He is God over all and reigns accordingly. He is Lord over all and so rules accordingly. And from this come his acts, his deliverance of his people, and his display of mercy. And so you may ask saying, that is all well and good, good on Israel, but what has this to do with me? Let me tell you, you too face problems in life. Problems which amount before you and seem ready to overwhelm you. You have deadlines to meet, many responsibilities across the various areas of life. Maybe sin affecting you, maybe you too are like me and I hope not, but sometimes you perhaps lack some thankfulness. Well, my purpose in preaching this message is that by following the pattern of the psalm, by remembering the many reasons we have to give thanks to God, that we'll gain a mindset of thankfulness and find victory going forward against that which opposes. We'll take a brief glance at our outline. It is, one, to give thanks to the Lord. And we'll see that displayed throughout the whole of the psalm. And this is sandwiched between these two expressions. At the beginning it says, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. At the end, it tells us to give thanks to the Lord, the God of heavens. And between all this are the numerous, numerous reasons for doing so. First, for who he is. And the psalmist expresses who he is as he is good, he is God, and he is the Lord. And for what he does, and we see this in verses 4-20, looking at creation in verses 5-9, and deliverance in verses 10-22, in which we see salvation, judgment, and blessing, particular blessing. Then we see that he is personal. He is a personal God in verses 23 through 24. We see his providence in verse 25, and then we consider his mercy throughout the whole of the text. Before we delve further into the text, let's pray. Oh Lord, we, we thank you. We thank you for the truth of your word. We pray that you would help us to have humble hearts to come and hear what truth you have for us today. May you declare your word in the assembly. Bring forth your truth. Change our hearts. Help us to be thankful for we indeed have much to be thankful for. And who you are and what you've done for you are good to us. You sovereignly rule and reign and execute your authority in goodness and in mercy. Oh Lord, and you display this execution and redemption and deliverance and creation. All that we see around us cries out. It ought to cause us to cry out in thanks. Oh Lord, help us to look at your promises in the word. To recall what truth and good there is about you. The many that there are and to be thankful. Lord, help us set our minds straight that as we go out and go into life. As we see things which oppose us, which may bring us down, and these things are not meant to be taken lightly, but. That we indeed have much to be thankful for, despite many problems. Oh Lord, help us to see your truth. Here I pray, Amen. Well, the first point is that we are to give thanks. The psalm starts out as a call, as a call to respond in a particular matter. Without trying to get too far into the weeds of the Hebrew, the verb to give thanks here It seems kind of softened in our language, but rather in the Hebrew is an expression of command, strengthened by the stem of the verb. So there's an expectation here of response. There is an expected response, and not just any response, but the expected response of giving thanks. So thanksgiving is what is to be done, but then what is the object of the verb? What is the object of receiving the action of thanksgiving? The object is Yahweh. Now this should be sufficient, but the psalmist goes forth and gives an abundance of reason for this command to be obeyed. He commands thanks to be given, and then to shore up this response, he reminds the listener of who Yahweh is and what Yahweh has done. So first and foremost, the psalmist encourages thanksgiving in response to this command by reminding the audience of who Yahweh is. And interestingly enough, the first reason is found in the command itself. There's a famous question, what's in a name? Well, the name of the object is reason enough for Thanksgiving. For the one whom they are to give thanks to is Yahweh, and bound up inside of this name is all the reason to do so. This is something that's missed in the English. On a personal note, I wish that when we translate, we would change our usage, change to a transliteration, use the name, because it's not simply the Lord or any Lord, but this is Yahweh. And while I appreciate the intentions behind the usage of the term the Lord, This, rather than revering the name, hides it. It hides something of which we are to proclaim and make known among the nations. And it hides meaning which would be immediately evident if the proper name was used. But that's enough soapbox. This is the command, give thanks to Yahweh, for this is not any being who may be ascribed the title, the Lord of Israel, but rather this is the eternal creator, all good, God of gods and Lord of lords, deliverer, provider, covenant God of Israel. And this is the very first introduction. This very first introduction serves as a wonderful launching point for the psalmist and for us as we consider who Yahweh is and what he has done. For the answer to that famous question, what's in a name, is answered here. The entirety of what we are to talk about is bound up in his name. So when the psalmist commands thanks to be given to Yahweh, he has no need to explain himself, though he does elaborate. Flowing out of his name is recollection of who he is and what he has done. The psalmist says, Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of gods for his mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords for his mercy endures forever. This is the first given reason he is good. The psalmist commands Thanksgiving because of who Yahweh is, and he is good. For Israel is so called, this should be self-evident, for they enjoy the benefit and the blessing of life. For this very life experience is the gracious giving of good. In life, man experiences vast goodness. There is taste, which delights the palate, art, which delights the eyes and the imagination, and music, which delights the ears, the soft lusciousness of grass, which delights our touch. There is the fragrance of the flower which delights our smell. And beyond these, there is goodness in the world. There is the joy of life given, of new precious life and babies and the goodness of their growing. There is goodness in companionship, goodness in seeing heroic deeds, enjoying our own peculiar accomplishments in this life, knowing love and joy and happiness. There is good in giving selflessly. And in all this, we experience and know that Yahweh is good. For he did not have to create as he did. Life could have been dull and food cardboard-like, colors monotone, notes flat, the creation rough, aromas acrid, life a bore. But yet Yahweh in his goodness gave exceedingly abundantly more than was necessary. And this is not so much intended to be a testimony to what he has done, that will be later, but it is nigh impossible to reason up to God. But by our experience of nature or by revelation we see an expression of who he is. And so his giving of or doing good things expresses the being that is behind those actions. These good actions come from a good being. And so because he is good, goodness comes from him. Thus the psalmist concludes in Psalm 25, 8, good and upright is the Lord. Therefore he teaches sinners in the way. So Yahweh is good and he relates his goodness unto his creation. The next point the psalmist makes about who the Lord is is he says he is God. He says, give thanks to the God of gods. This is not to say that we are to be polytheists or to believe that there is a multitude of gods which Yahweh presides as head god over. And I think Spurgeon has this right when he says this is truth intersecting with profession rather than truth intersecting with reality. In reality, we know according to the Shema in Deuteronomy 6, 4, that there is only one God. What this statement does is it takes the highest human ideals of what divinity, what deity is, and it sets them up alongside the truth of Yahweh, and the overwhelming greatness of Yahweh crushes these thoughts. These thought-up, imagined, self-fashioned so-called gods are pitiful, pitiable, infantile facades. And so this displays the greatness of the God of gods, for he is greater still than the great ideas of man of what God or gods are. This is reminiscent of Isaiah 6, 6 and 8 in which Yahweh speaking says, And brothers, I would submit to you that no, there is not. For the Lord goes on to shame the idolaters, saying the work of those producing metal idols only leaves them tired, hungry, and thirsty. That the idolater making gods out of wood uses the same wood that he takes and makes an idol out of to cook food and to warm himself. And this emphasizes the silliness, the baseness of this, and shows that these gods are indeed useless. Or in Psalm 115, in which the Lord emphasizes the uselessness of man's gods, declaring they are deaf and dumb and blind. But our God, Yahweh, is not so. He is not made with human hands, not made up of human minds or ideals, not useless nor deaf, dumb or blind. He is eternal, self-existent. He hears, he speaks, he sees. In contrast to both the false, vain, imagined perception of men and their gods, he is vastly superior, and most assuredly he's superior than the reality of the deaf, dumb, blind, stone, and wood, which consumes men's strength. The third point that the psalmist makes about who God is is that he is Lord. He is the Lord of Lords. Give thanks, for He is the Lord of Lords. What great reason for giving thanks to Yahweh. In a similar vein to the reasoning of Him being God of gods, He is Lord of Lords. Yet this is focused on the reality, not so much on the perception of man. For there are indeed many lords, as 1 Corinthians 8, 5-6 tells us, for even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we are for him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. So one God over the many so-called gods, and one Lord above all others. So even as he is greater than the vain imaginations of man's gods, he is greater even than the reality of the many true lords that there are. We cannot help but see this for what Lord is only and truly good as we have spoken of before. Give thanks for he is good. He is Lord who is God. What other Lord have we who is God? He has absolute right over for all things are of him as God. And this speaks to his sovereignty for he is God may as Lord dispose of all things in time as he pleases according to the eternal counsel of his will. What Lord may say such a thing for even the greatest of Kings has faults and failures. He is impotent to execute his own will perfectly. Consider David as great of a Lord as he was, he could not yet reign sovereignly overall, let alone rule over his own sinful nature. I will say nothing of our own sovereigns, for we have no need and help in finding faults. Further, it is only through the Lord that these lords have lordship, for their sovereignty flows from the Lord. The idea, the concept, the right of this. He establishes these sovereigns under his own sovereignty, and as such we are commanded to obey authority over us in the fifth commandment. And so great is his own sovereignty that he rules sovereignly, sovereignly reigns over these sovereigns. We see this in Proverbs 21 verse one, which says the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes. Oh, what wonder and comfort this should bring and thankfulness to boot. Consider the verse, think of the Lords you know. We often only think of the side of the verse that displays the impressive will of God, but yet neglect the opposite side of it that represents the strength of the will of kings. This neglect only diminishes the impressive will of God. For not all, but most people who rise to power are strong-willed. difficult to control, hard to change their minds. They see the things that they want, and they gain them by power or subversion. But either way, they engage and employ a strong will and are determined, set to gain, they will have their way. And this strength is symbolized here by the river, rivers of water. There is much and many and power, and it is difficult to control. Even for us in our day, it takes many men and machines and time and power to move waters in a meaningful way. And with this is the understanding of the passage, how powerful the will of the king is. It should only strengthen our awe of the sovereign rule of Yahweh. For despite this powerful will, the king's will is in the hand of the Lord. He turns it where he will, for he is Lord of lords. And this ought to bring comfort and thanks as well. For indeed, we know that many lords and kings are not good. So it should bring comfort that even the wills of not-so-good kings are in the hand of the good Lord. His Lord is sovereign over all the affairs of the universe. From the least to the greatest. And this is a tremendous reason to give thanks for there are none of the affairs of your life over which he does not rule. Nothing so small he does not care. And nothing so big he cannot handle. Nothing so personal he does not know. In all this, this one big reason, who Yahweh is, there is great reason for thanksgiving. For he is Yahweh, he is good. He is God of gods and he is Lord of lords. And we see in verse four, it says, to him who alone does great wonders. And this verse introduces us to a transition in the psalm. And it is here we move to our next point. We see we should give thanks to God for what he does. We move from the first reason of giving thanks of who Yahweh is to the second reason what Yahweh does. And the second reason flows out of and is indicated by the first and by this verse. Yahweh does what he does because of who he is. Or because Yahweh is who he is, he does what he does. The idea of the doing of great wonders sets these acts apart. As we'll see when we consider the specific acts themselves, for these wonders indeed are great and can only be performed by someone who is who Yahweh is, who is good and God and Lord. I think it's also important to note that these wonders are mentioned as what Yahweh does, not what he has done. Yahweh is not done with his great wonders, though some such as the creation may be complete. He is not passive, but rather he's still active in his world today. These great wonders we'll consider are creation and deliverance, in particular, blessing. The first great wonder he has done is creation. And as mentioned before, this is complete. The creation was completed in the span of six days and was very good and culminated in the Sabbath day in which God rested, symbolizing his cessation from the work of the great wonder of creation. And as is common in much of the scripture, partial There is a partial amount expressed of what is being talked about here, for we only see portions of creation mentioned, but this should be bringing back to mind the whole of creation for the Israelites as they move forward, and it should do the same for us as well. But for the sake of time, I will only stick within the parameters that the psalmist has given here. In verses 5, or starting in verse 5, to him who by wisdom made the heavens, for his mercy endures forever. To him who laid out the earth above the waters, for his mercy endures forever. To him who made great lights, for his mercy endures forever. The sun to rule by day, for his mercy endures forever. The moon and stars to rule by night, for his mercy endures forever. First, we see that Yahweh created by wisdom. This is sort of similar to, but a slightly different concept than the goodness of God. It is actually something that flows out of the goodness of God. In His goodness, we focused more upon the beauty of good things, and there is much of that in creation. If you've ever stepped outside, you know this. But there are also things which lie in the background and go unnoticed. and unthought of, which hold the world together. There are laws and principles which God has established which makes the world function. There are purposes of all things and how they interrelate to one another, and we are meant to know these things. And this is something the psalmist does here. He gives a taste of the inner workings of the world from the position of understanding that he has. which is somewhat limited at that time. But through the advancement of science, we now know more and can even further see the intricacies and understand the hidden principles of creation. For science is not an enemy of the faith, but rather a friend. It sheds light on the hidden glory of God. Science unveils the wisdom of the work of creation. So let us consider as the kings of Proverbs 25, verse two, it is the glory of God to conceal a matter but the glory of kings is to search out a matter, and search out some of these matters, as the psalmist speaks of them. He says, to him who laid out the earth above the waters. In this we see much wisdom. For the landscape which is necessary for man and beast to thrive is given, is given in a multitude of fashions. For there are dry plains merging to more suitable farmland, to wetlands, to the open ocean where there is not but water. And it was most necessary for God to do so, to lay the earth above the water. For he went forward creating land-dwelling creatures, including us, who benefit greatly from dry land as air-breathing creatures, who particularly enjoy not being in a constant state of wetness. And for these, in his wisdom, he prepared dry land. And this is the wisdom of our God, for I don't know about you, but there are often times when I have something in mind to be done, and forget some necessary step or aspect in the process, and it comes down to the end of the process, and I just have to drop the humans in the water anyway. because I did not think through the process well enough. I know we are probably accustomed to half-baked ideas, but God is not. He created by wisdom. To him who made great lights, there are some animals not given sight, there are cave salamanders and those things which Sight is not so necessary, and they are given other ways to ascertain their surroundings, such as the bat or the star-nosed mole. But as God created us with the eye to see by the reflection of light returning from objects and entering and showing the outside, a picture of the outside world in our eyes, so he, in his wisdom before our creation, created light in various kinds with different purposes. Creating plants which require light for sustenance for us and all things in a perfect order according to his wisdom. To him who created the sun to rule by day, in his wisdom before our creation he created light in various kinds of different purposes and we see three of them here. He created the sun to rule by day You think of the goodness and the might which goes into the creation and the rule of this mighty creature. There is nothing we know in the universe more powerful than the sun and other stars like it. The mightiest weapon ever unleashed by modern military on this earth was the Tsar nuclear bomb. And yet the energy emitted by the sun every second is two billion times greater than this. And yet with all this great magnitude of power, Yahweh as creator does with the sun as he pleases. is a small thing to he, as Plato to a child. And so he sets this son to our benefit. It is for our good, for he is good. By it we receive life rather than death, for it was created in wisdom, its position in relation to us determined by a good sovereign, not too close, not too far, not too hot, not too cold. It puts off light, which permits us to wake and work during the day, to enjoy warmth on cold days, to give plants energy to grow and produce food, and now to give us energy to power phones, computers, and even cars. The position and purpose of the sun also holds the solar system in place through gravitational force in our positional relationship to the sun. How much we receive, how much sun we receive in season is also beneficial to the crop cycles. to him who created the moon and stars to rule by night. So simple and yet a complex relationship, this relatively small but also rather large chunk of rock floating close by the earth. It provides some light for men to see, but better indicates time to rest. And this amazing creation, though it creates no light, casts it, for it simply reflects the greater light of the sun. This amazing, simple rock floating by us plays an integral role in indicating times and seasons. It causes tides to increase and recede, the stars also indicating seasons and casting little light, and acting as guides for men to know where they are. It's such a show of wisdom for men who spent thousands of years to eventually develop GPS, and yet there was, by the wisdom of God, GPS built into creation. All these aspects of creation ought to result in our thankfulness for what God has done. And as they relate his goodness, display his ownership and authority as God and Lord. Thankfulness for who he is. The second great wonder the psalmist presents here is deliverance. And this is perhaps the greatest wonder which we see in history. There's nothing else like it. And it is the purpose of history and the focus of the scriptures. The Father's sending of the Son and the Spirit, working in the heart to redeem or deliver a sinful people unto themselves for their own glory. The psalmist here recalls particular instances of this, and this is helpful for our recollection of particular instances makes this more real. It is more than a nebulous statement that the Lord is help, but it is a real and true life and blood example. Starting in verse 10, it says, to him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, for his mercy endures forever. and brought out Israel from among them, for his mercy endures forever. With a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, for his mercy endures forever. To him who divided the Red Sea in two, for his mercy endures forever, and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his mercy endures forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his mercy endures forever. To him who led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy endures forever. To him who struck down great kings, for his mercy endures forever. And slew famous kings, for his mercy endures forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his mercy endures forever. And Og, king of Bashan, for his mercy endures forever. Inherent in this great wonder that is deliverance is a twofold reality. There are two sides to this coin. There is salvation, and this has more to do with the bringing through of the people being delivered. And the judgment has to do with the taking away of that which it opposes it. Where salvation is a delivering unto and judgment is a delivering from. And we see both of these instances in the section of great wonders of deliverance in this psalm. First, Yahweh delivers by salvation. This is better seen as how God brings people through or out of their trouble or slavery. The first means of salvation the psalmist recalls is Israel's being brought out of Egypt. I'll speak a little more in depth of this interaction in the portion on judgment, but suffice it to say, we clearly see the salvation of the Lord. His people are in a place of oppression, suffering, and slavery. And what does the Lord do? He delivers them. And how does he do it? He brings them out of that position. He takes them out of the place of bondage. He sets them free. brings them through the waters, dividing the Red Sea, and making Israel pass through it. The salvation culminates in this passing through the Red Sea, in a place which the people could never travel. They could never cross this span, but Yahweh opens a way. He separates the sea into two walls of judgment and brings Israel safely through. He makes them pass through it, which makes me think of the shepherd who, when needing to move animals for their own benefit, often has to make them go through places where they are afraid and must sometimes tenderly and sometimes with force guide them through and on to the end. And after being saved out of the Red Sea, Saved out of that walled judgment of water and death, Yahweh does not leave his people. The Lord rather continues to save his people. He leads them through the dry, harsh place. A dry, harsh place where there is death all around. He leads them through all of this and onto a place of deliverance and blessing. A place of rest. And second, looking at this deliverance, Yahweh delivers by judgment. This is better seen as how the Lord conquers and subdues all his and our enemies, or opposition. The first means of judgment the psalmist recalls is the smiting of the Egyptian firstborn. If you recall when the Lord makes Abraham a people by his offspring, Jacob and Israel, they end up in Egypt and they are blessed. and grow. This caused the Egyptians to fear that they would be overcome by the Israelites, and so they brought them into subjection, into bondage, and so Israel suffered in servitude. And so it was necessary, as they were under the hand, helpless to defy their oppressor, that the Lord deliver them. And part of the deliverance was judgment, starting with many plagues, and finally ending with the slaying of the firstborn of Egypt. While this may seem like an awful, horrible thing, and so does most judgment, we must remember this judgment is not executed in an arbitrary way. For the one executing has sole right over his creation, and the authority to execute such actions as the Lord, and does so for good, for he is good. And this judgment was not the first, but the end of Pharaoh's continued obstinance. And this judgment was not executed without reason, for the Lord's people had been subjugated for slavery, suffering under the cruel hand of a despot. And would it not be more cruel for a man to let his son continue in forced bondage than to execute judgment against the oppressor? So it is with God in Egypt, it is by his goodness that he executes justice and judgment. but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. The evil of, or maybe the spiteful vengeance of, Pharaoh is displayed rather clearly. For he who should know better after the demonstration of the power of the judgment of Yahweh, having seen and experienced all the plagues and the smitten firstborn, does not see it a brief reprieve for Israel to flee. And after so doing, He pursues them to kill or to bring back into servitude, demonstrating the hatred in the hearts of men for the Lord and his people. Yet there is one final sure way for Yahweh to deliver his people from Pharaoh, and that is by death. We saw just prior that he removed opposition to Israel by dividing the waters and by making them go through it. And in this deliverance, we see the same act of the separation of waters as a means of salvation and is also a means of judgment. For in salvation he opens the way, and in judgment he closes the way, bringing ultimate judgment and death upon his enemies. who struck down and slew great and famous kings, even Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. This is important, for this indicates to us that the Lord is not a one-and-done kind of God, for he having delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh at the start could have left them to fend for themselves against the enemies on the journey. But God is not that way. He continues to execute judgment in delivering his people from their enemies. For as they journey to enter into the promised land, that place of blessing and rest, they face many mighty foes. They face those great and famous kings, and famous for what? Famous for their military prowess, for their position in the land, for their brutality. It is in the face of such overwhelming opposition that the Lord delivers by judgment. He clearly exhibits He is good. He delivers His people. He demonstrates He is God of gods. For the gods of the people are helpless before him. He shows his sovereignty as lord of lords, for amongst these kings he is vastly superior, slaying them. They fall as chaff before the might of the one true lord. And he, as the text says, delivers both by salvation and judgment with a strong hand and outstretched arm. This declares his person. For in his acts of creation and deliverance, he acts according to who he is. He is good, so he delivers unto salvation and from judgment. And all this by the power of God and authority of the Lord. For these were all present. He reigned as the Lord of Lords, deposing the lesser Lords. He guided His creation and power as God, Creator, moving immense bodies of water and delivering, for He is indeed good. But what does He deliver them unto, you may ask? Well, in verses 21 through 22, we see this answer. He delivers them unto a particular blessing. and gave their land as a heritage for His mercy endures forever. A heritage to Israel, His servant, for His mercy endures forever. The end of the deliverance is to the particular blessing, to the rest, to a place where they receive the promised land, wherein they will dwell with Yahweh as Lord over His own creation. He gives to those whom He has chosen to bless and delivered unto blessing. And in this we see His goodness, for of His own He blesses. For this is not some unclaimed land of blessing, but rather this is a land that these peoples had claimed for themselves, and he overthrew and overruled his lord. But we know that this land ultimately belonged to Yahweh anyway. And he gives this as a heritage. He gives this as inheritance to his son, whom he has chosen to deliver and to bless. And in this we see his goodness, for of his own he blesses. He takes his son out of a position of bondage and darkness, of death and sin, and into a land flowing with milk and honey by the strong hand and outstretched arm of the Lord. Or they are converted out of the kingdom of darkness and into the glorious kingdom of his son. He is personal. We see this in verses 23 through 24, which says, who remembered us in our lowly state for his mercy endures forever, and rescued us from our enemies for his mercy endures forever. Here the psalmist looks back upon the deliverance recalled and applies it to the us of the present. This is vital for the people being spoken to, being reminded of the goodness and for us as well. For this is not just their God then, which he was and is, but he is also our God now. He grabs hold of the framework of deliverance and reduces it to these simple statements and applies it to his very own audience. He remembered us in our lowly state, Egypt, and bondage, death and sin, and rescued us from our enemies, Pharaoh and great kings. And this is true of all the people of God. He is our God and we are his people. And he remembered us in our lowly state and rescued us from our enemies. We see his providence, which is another great cause for thanksgiving. And this is such a wonderful truth that we just don't quite get. It says, who gives food to all flesh for his mercy endures forever. For we in our humanity are often merciless. We often are uncaring for those around us who have done us no harm, but for those who do us harm, who oppose us, we are sore tempted to retribution and vengeance. But this is not so with Yahweh, for he gives food to all flesh, not just to Israel, who he pitifully loves, and loves him pitifully, but even unto those who defy, oppose, and hate him. Who could imagine a God so good, so different than us, so full of mercy, that he would show good and compassion even unto those who hate him? And indeed, his mercy endures forever. In all these acts, in all the viewing of who God is in his person, we see a corresponding phrase. It says, his mercy endures forever. And this is indeed a central aspect of the message and a display of his goodness and exercise of his authority. He has authority to withhold justice. And for this, there is great reason for thanks for it is only by this reason that we still remain upon this earth for who could stand if God did not show mercy. Says in Psalm 133 through four, if you Lord should mark iniquities. Oh Lord, who could stand, but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. And we've seen this mercy throughout the whole of the passage in his goodness. Mercy. We do not deserve to enjoy the goodness of his creation. We do not deserve deliverance. We do not deserve the blessing of inheritance in Christ. We do not deserve him to condescend and relate to us. We do not deserve even the food he gives unto us. But beloved, his mercy endures forever. And finally, we see the final admonition, the command. Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven for his mercy endures forever." This concludes the psalmist's exhortation to praise and give thanks to Yahweh. He should need no reasoning, for his people ought to know him, ought to know who he is and what he has done. But the psalmist has given an abundance of evidence and reason for the thanksgiving he commands. And how can Israel not? How could Israel not give thanks for seeing the goodness and the power and the wisdom of the creator God and his sovereign rule over redemptive history as the Lord, delivering his people, seeing their blessing in the land, the mercies and providence of the Lord, his personal dealing with them, they who are being commanded to give thanks. And as we close, I ask you the very same question of you. I exhort you to recall the many reasons you have to give thanks, to remember who God is and what he has done, perhaps even writing this out for future reference as you go about life and returning to it in times of trouble, just as Israel did here. Heed the command and set your mind to thanksgiving. And so, brethren, this is your call to do as the psalmist commands. For this command is unto you as well, and reiterated in the New Testament by Paul and Thessalonians. In the Thessalonians, he says, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. But this should be easy, and I do not mean to make light of any troubles in life, just as I would not make light of the trouble which Israel faced and the horde of the enemy approaching them. They feared, but they heeded the command. And they did this in the using of the framework of Psalm 136, to recall the goodness, the wisdom, the power, the sovereignty of Yahweh and his great wonders performed in creation, deliverance, providence, and his personal relation to his people, his mercy, and facing even the greatest of troubles, they gave thanks, and so they saw victory. The hope is, the call is, you can do the same. Heed the command. Remember the goodness and authority of God in the world around you. Remember this in his strong hand and outstretched arm, delivering you from bondage. Remember your deliverance, your deliverance from the slave master of sin and Satan from the end of death as the walls of judgment bore about you, how he led you through upon the path and continue to lead you and will lead you to the promised rest and blessing of the inheritance that we have in Christ. Remember how he is provided along the way. Remember his personal relating to you. For God is not a far away, impersonal, unconcerned being, but rather intensely loves us. Remember this and give thanks and so move forward towards victory. For you, unbeliever, my dear friend, your position is that of the Israelite in bondage. You sit under a weight of servitude and sin, which you cannot bear. You stand in the position of Pharaoh and rebellion to the Lord, pursuing your own desires with the weight and threat of death and judgment bearing down upon you as walls of water ready to crush you. But you were called to thanks. Regardless of your position, the reality is that the Lord is good and God and Lord, and he created all around you and delivers his people, blessing them in salvation, showing mercy. And it is in this same call That your hope is found for the only hope you have is in this personal mercy of a good sovereign Lord. Who will deliver his people? In this same mercy, the same deliverance will be bestowed upon you if you but repent and believe, and then you too can have even greater reason. The greatest reason to give thanks, knowing and remembering the goodness of the Lord to you. Let's pray. Oh Lord, help us even today. As we go forward from here to give thanks. Oh Lord, help us to remember. Who you are. To see your goodness. To see you as God of gods and Lord of Lords. To know the goodness that you have displayed all around us in creation. To know the goodness of your deliverance, the mercy which you show to us in a personal way. For you deliver each one of us. You have brought us unto salvation and you have. Delivered us from our sin. You have conquered our greatest enemy. In sin and death in the flesh. You are victorious over these. Oh Lord, help us to remember these things. Help us to remember your promises and help us to set our minds towards thankfulness. Lord help us to be thankful. Lord we know that you are good and we pray that you by your strong hand and outstretched arm will indeed continue to guide us in our journey unto the rest which you have promised in Christ. Oh Lord defending us from our enemies. Lord, we pray that you would be with us today to enjoy your goodness. Help us to praise you right here. I pray. Amen.