My topic is Our Merciful God, but as soon as we read our text, you're gonna know that. The last several times we've been together, we've been in the New Testament and we've made a lot of references back into the Old Testament and what I've tried to do is just point you to the Savior. I've tried to point you to God and His majesty and His glory and His work and the fact that He cares for his creation, and he speaks to you. But there's one thing that I really, really love to do. And if you've seen the last four sermons, three, four sermons, whatever we've been together now, we've been in the New Testament. But I love, love to preach the gospel from the Old Testament. And there is one place I like to go more than any other. And it's the book of Psalms. And so as we look at Psalm 136, you know, this is David's songbook or the hymnal of Israel. Spurgeon said that when he looks into the Psalms, he can never go lower than he's looking below him and seeing David trying to climb out to meet him. And he can never go so high as he looks up and sees that David is kicking rocks down on his head. You just can't get higher than you go in the Psalms, and you can never get lower than the Psalms go. What a way to praise God, right? And we're told we need to praise God, and in Psalm 136, it's a great psalm. And this psalm calls us to prayer, it calls us to praise, and it reveals to us all of the reasons to praise and bring glory to God and a hearty jubilation. And I thought, I was listening to every one of the songs that were sung tonight. Man, Casey, you did a great job. Every single song that was sung tonight just anchors right into this psalm. Every one of them, at one point or another, tied directly to this psalm. And the general idea here is that all of God's acts, all of God's creation, everything that God has done, It seems to be a display of God's power, His justice, His severity, even His wrath. All of this though, even the severity and even the wrath, when you think of it, it's an illustration of the mercy of God. Everything He does is accomplished for the benefit of His covenant people. And here, on this ground is the foundation for the highest anthem of praise that we could raise for our God. If you would, if you're able, stand with me in reverence to this word, and we will read Psalm 136 together. See if you can catch the big idea. It'll probably jump out at you if you've never read this Psalm before. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. O give thanks unto the God of gods, for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his mercy endureth forever. To him who 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 stretcheth 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 stars to rule by night, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that smote Egypt in their firstborn, for His mercy endureth forever. brought out Israel from among them for his mercy endureth forever, with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm for his mercy endureth forever, to him which divided the Red Sea and departs for his mercy endureth forever, and made Israel to pass through the midst of it for his mercy endureth forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for his mercy endureth forever. To him which led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy endureth forever. To him which smote great kings, for his mercy endureth forever. And slew famous kings, for his mercy endureth forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his mercy endureth forever. And Og, the king of Bashan, for his mercy endureth forever. and gave their land for an heritage, for His mercy endureth forever, even an heritage unto Israel, His servant, for His mercy endureth forever, who remembered us in our lowest state, for His mercy endured forever, and hath redeemed us from our enemies, for His mercy endureth forever. who giveth food to all flesh for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto the God of heaven for his mercy endureth forever. Heavenly Father, we bow in your presence and we humbly ask that you would help us to praise your name today. Lord, we thank you for this time that we've had together this week. We thank you that you have pointed us to your son, that you have met with us with your spirit. Lord, we thank you that your mercy endures forever. Lord, we pray tonight that as we bring our time together to an end, that your time with us would never end. Lord, we thank you for the promises that we have in your word, the promises that we have in your son. We thank you, Lord, for the promises that you've applied to our heart with your spirit. We pray, Lord, that you would speak to us yet again this evening. Fill us with your joy. Fill us with your mercy and your love. in Jesus name, amen. Thank you for standing, please be seated. Now after we've read that psalm, did you catch what the big idea was? Was it pretty easy? I mean, do we have to repeat ourselves perhaps? I think you got it, right? Every action of God is connected with the good of His people, His benevolence to mankind. Everything here is an illustration of God's generosity. Every place you look, you cannot miss it. There is an example of God's mercy. If you miss God's mercy, it's because you're not looking for it. If you miss the sun in the morning, it's because you didn't open your eyes and you slept through the entire day. That's how you miss the mercy of God. We have the proof that the mercy of God endures forever. And this is just a summary psalm. We have here all of the connections. This is a tour de force of all of the psalms. Turn with me to just a few of them. We'll back up a couple of pages to Psalm 106. Notice the theme of this Psalm. In Psalm 106, we read just the opening verse. Praise ye the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Look to Psalm 107. Again, in Psalm 107, we see the opening phrase, Look to verse number 8, Look to verse 15, O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. And again in verse 21, O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Would you like to take a guess at what verse 31 might say? O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. It's a repetition, right? Our psalmist is merely setting forth these works or these doings of God. He wants you to consider what God has done. God has led men to praise Him. He has led men to order, to adoration of Him. You must give thanks to God. You must praise God. You must give Him the adoration, the glory that He deserves. If you have nothing else to praise God for, praise Him for His mercy. The sentiments here are echoed by Jeremiah in Lamentations 3, verses 22 and 23. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. Who is it that should praise God? We see that answer in Psalm 118, just a page over. In Psalm 118 we see, Let Israel now say, His mercy endureth forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that His mercy endureth forever. Let them now that fear the Lord say that His mercy endureth forever. Notice now it gets personal. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord delivered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear what man can do to me. The Lord taketh my part with them that help me. Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Who should praise the Lord? Sounds like everybody, doesn't it? In verse number two, just in this short Psalm of 118, you see that it speaks of government. That's the management. In verse number three, you see the ministry. The ministers should praise the Lord. In verse number four, it's the mainstream. All of the people. Verses five through seven, he says, me. It's personal. From the powers to the priesthood, to the people, and personally. Me, I should praise the Lord. Why? He says, because He delivered me. I. I called. And when I called, He answered. He says, set me in a large place. He reversed my circumstances. He delivered me. Then He defended me. He says, the Lord is on my side. I'm not afraid. You know what will make you very confident? The high priest in the holy place. When the Lord is on your side, you're not afraid what man's going to do to you. Make your threats. Bring it on. You know why? Because you're afraid of the one that not only takes life, but condemns. How was it Jesus said it? Fear not. He told the Pharisees to fear the one, or fear not the one that can merely take your life, but fear the one that can take life and condemn in hell. Everybody's afraid of dying, aren't they? You ever wonder why we had all these government restrictions during COVID? Here, the psalmist says he was defended. The Lord takes up my part against those that are against me. The Lord, he says, is better than man. He's better than princes. But we go back to our text. I don't want to divert too far from our text in Psalm 136. The big idea here. His mercy endures forever. It's the chorus of every single verse of our text. I'm sure you saw that when we read through it. But it's not a vain repetition. It's not merely repetition. It is an emphatic praise of this psalm. It's the emphatic praise of this entire section of the psalms. This psalm is the closing hymn of the Psalms of Ascent. If you've never studied through the Psalms section by section, let me tell you how this goes. In Psalm number 119, you have a Psalm about the Word of God. And then in Psalm number 120 through 134, you have what are called the Psalms of Ascent. In your Bible, you may see that they are titled at the heading of the Psalms from Psalm number 120 to Psalm 134, it'll say a Song of Degrees or a Psalm of Ascent. And these Psalms of Ascent are sung during the annual journey to Jerusalem. All of the families of Israel were required to make a journey to Jerusalem every year. And so during their journeys to Jerusalem, they would sing this section of the national psalter. What's really interesting is during the festival week, the priests had 15 stairs that went up to the Temple Mount. And on those 15 levels, those 15 stairs that went up the staircase to the Temple Mount, they would stop on each stair. And they would praise God with a psalm. Those psalms were known as the Psalms of Ascent. And every stair, they would start with Psalm 120. next there, Psalm 121. And those 15 Psalms of Ascent, Psalms of Degrees, the Song of Degrees was the songs that were sung as the priest climbed the 15 terraces up to the Temple Mount. And then they would arrive there. And once they arrived at the opening, at the doorways to the Temple, they would offer praise to God for the multitude of His attributes, for the multitude of His benefits. They would sing of the glory of God as we heard this morning, but none of those songs were so lofty and weighty as His mercy. The Hebrew word chesed translated mercy is the covenant loving kindness of a father. It's the intimate favor that is displayed towards the chosen people. It's his promise keeping, the covenant keeping God. And so as the priests ascended those terraces and they arrived at the entrance of the temple, the two songs that they would sing, Psalm 135, praise to the Lord. And Psalm 136, praise to God's loving mercies. His mercy magnified the world. perpetual. It's God's mercy that had brought them to the city. It is God's mercy that had preserved them as His people. It is God's mercy that had allowed their entrance into the holy city and now had brought them up to the holy sanctuary so they could bring their sacrifices, so they could bring their worship. and he, they all recognized that he had preserved them and brought them to the place of worship and this is the very recognition now that leads into a joyful song of praise to God. And so I want you to see the five reasons why they worship because they're the same five reasons why we must worship. In verses one through three of this psalm we see that they worship because of God's character. His character. The Lord is preeminent above all. Worship the Lord because He is good. Give thanks unto God. for His mercy, give thanks to Him, because His mercy endures forever. You see, we're not provided here a list of attributes, that occurs several other places in scripture, but we're told to give admiration to the glory of God. And I want you to notice three things here. In verse number one, you see, give thanks unto the Lord, and it's all capital letters, capital L, capital O, capital R, and capital D. And in verse number two, give thanks unto God, and it's spelled with a capital G, God, right? And then in verse number three, go give thanks unto the Lord, and it's spelled with a capital O, and in small, O-R-D. And your translators did you a favor there. In verse number one, that word that's translated and spelled with all capitals, Lord, is Yahweh, Jehovah. And He says give thanks unto Yahweh, give thanks unto the Lord. And this is the name of God that implies His sovereignty and His covenant keeping, His promise keeping. You give thanks to God because He is faithful and He is true. And in verse number 2, you give thanks to God. This is the Hebrew word Elohim. It's the name of God which stresses His authority. By the way, that's the plural name of God that is always used with singular verbs. It's the one who originated. It's the one that created. He is the one that rules over the entire universe. We'll come back in a minute to that. In verse number 2 you also see, sorry, verse 3 there, you see Lord. give thanks to the Lord. You see a different spelling, a capital L and then small case. This is the word Adonai, the God of all authority. This is the holy being that must be revered. See, we read right past that and we forget that these are three separate descriptions. And so this Triple description, this triumvirate of the sovereign God is the one, the monotheistic God that has made himself known to the creation. And you can know this God. How do I know that? How can I assure you of that? Because the first author, Moses, met him. And he said, God, show me your glory. And what was the response? In Exodus 34 and verse 5, the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by him, before him, and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and by no means will clear the guilty That's how I know you can know him, because he revealed himself to mankind. He revealed himself to Moses, and he's been speaking ever since. God's designs are perfectly and harmoniously enacted by the one God in three separate persons. Praise God for his character. In verses four through nine, we praise God for his creation, the power of God. We start with the person of God, we move to the power of God, we see it in creation, manifest in his work. Listed here in order are the benchmarks of God's handiwork. Now I know when I'm preaching to the choir, y'all are dead ringers on this stuff. I know what's in this area. Verse number four. The wonders. He doeth great wonders. It's the same word that's light and dark. The first day of creation. Verse number five and verse number six speaks of the heaven. He made the heavens. He stretched out the earth above the waters. This speaks of the second day of creation in Genesis 1. It speaks of the third day of creation in Genesis 1, verse number 9. Verses 7 through 9 here, He made great lights, the sun to rule by day, the moon and stars to rule by night. That sounds familiar too, doesn't it? The great lights, the fourth day of creation that we read about in Genesis 1 in verses 14 and verse 16. We praise God for His creation. All three persons are active in creation. It was the Father that spoke and God said, which is the Hebrew word Elohim, plural with a singular verb. God said. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters we see in Genesis 1-2. Concerning the Son, it's John that we've read many times this week. John speaks, then he says, We said earlier this week that Jesus not only created, He's the conservator. He's the one that conserves, He sustains. So creation is a reason to praise Him, because it points us to the Creator. Again, we're there in Psalm 115, just a couple of pages back. Psalm 115, verse 15, you are blessed of the Lord, which made heaven and earth, the heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth He's given to the children of men. Psalm number 19, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech. Night unto night showeth knowledge. There's no speech, no language where their voice is not heard. You praise God for his creation. Third, praise God for his covenant. We see that we must praise God for His person, praise God for His power. We praise God for His people, the covenant. Back in our text. It starts in verse number 10 and it goes through verse number 22. It's a big section that talks about the people of God. And these verses declare to us that all of the activities that the Lord has taken for the benefit of His people, for the benefit of Israel, and their evidence just demonstrates the faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God. What does verse 10 say? He smote Egypt. He brought out Israel. And verse 11, with a strong hand, with a stretched out arm. That's a reference to the plagues. Verse 13 to verse 15, he divided the Red Sea. He made Israel to pass. Verse 15, he overthrew Pharaoh. That speaks of his protection. Verses 16 through 20. He led His people through the wilderness. He smote great kings. He slew famous kings. Sihon and Og, the Amorites and the Bashan. This speaks of His provision. Verses 21 and 22. He gave them land for an heritage. An heritage unto Israel, His servant. This speaks of progeny. Lo, a children are a heritage of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is His reward. What did He do to give them this progeny? Deuteronomy tells us in Deuteronomy 6. I'll read to you from verse number 10. It shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which He sware to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not, houses, full of all good things, which thou fillest not, wells digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantest not. When thou shall have eaten and be filled, then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. He gave them all of these things. Why? Because he is a covenant-keeping God. He keeps his promises. God is faithful. God's reliability doesn't depend upon man. It has nothing to do with the fidelity of man, the faithfulness of man, and thank the Lord it doesn't have anything to do with the frailties of man. God is faithful because God is a promise-keeping, constant, immutable, unchangeable God. His promises only depend upon His own goodness, His own greatness, His own gifts, and His own glory. In other words, God keeps His promises because He is merciful. And as our text says so many times, His mercies endure forever. So we thank God because of His character, His creation, His covenant. And next, we thank God because of His conversion. And when I say conversion, I want you to know that I mean specifically and unequivocally, we thank God for salvation. We are greatly blessed when we remember God and we put Him first, we put Him foremost, and we are faithful to Him with our lives. That's what Deuteronomy said that we just read. But notice what the text says here. In verse number 23. Who remembered us. It's much greater that God remembers us. In Genesis 8 and verse number 1, we see that God remembered Noah. That's a significant statement. That God remembered Noah. The New Testament calls him a preacher of righteousness. Why is it significant that God remembered Noah? Because by Noah, by him remembering Noah, he saved his family and he preserved a seed. In Genesis 19, in verse number 29, we see that God remembered Abraham. Same situation, same significance. In Genesis 30, in verse number 22, we see that God remembered Rachel. We come to the next book in Exodus chapter 2 in verse number 24. We see that evidence of the covenant, God remembered Abraham and Isaac and Jacob for the same reason. It's his seed, it's his people. In 1 Samuel 1 in verse number 19, we see that the Lord remembered Hannah. Our text says, He remembered us in our low estate. I love how David puts it in Psalm number eight. When I consider the heavens the work of thy fingers. He's speaking of creation, isn't he? The moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. What is man that thou art mindful of him? The son of man, thou visit'st him. What is man? All of this that you've made, and yet you stoop to consider to remember man. Yes, it's important that God remembered us. As the psalmist put it, we were once low, but God remembered us in our lowest state. Why? For His mercy endures forever. We have been delivered. We have been defended. We've been redeemed from all of our enemies. The earlier psalm we read, Psalm 25. Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in Thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress without a cause. Paul puts it this way in the New Testament in Romans chapter 8. Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ? Shall tribulation? Shall distress? Shall persecution or famine? Shall nakedness or peril or sword? Of course you know all of those rhetorical questions which demand a negative answer. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Why? His mercy endures forever. And so finally, we thank God for His care, for His provision. Now if you've followed along, you know that I've alliterated all these in the letter of C. We thank the Lord for His care. I thought seriously about using the term credit But I know some of us don't like to use credit. I don't like to use credit. So I just put the word care here. So we thank the Lord. For his character, for his creation, for his covenant, his conversion and his care. But I want you to consider this, that every possession you have is on loan. In fact, you are on loan. Everything that we own, everything that we possess, every gift that we have is on credit. And it's borrowed from God. But you can't repay it. It's a debt you can't repay. Revelation is pretty clear that He is the owner and the deed holder of the entire universe and everything in it. And so when we think about that, if you can't thank God for anything else, you think perhaps none of these other things apply, perhaps you're not one of His children. If you have nothing else that you can thank God for, thank the Creator for His provision. Thank the Creator for His care. Thank Him for the blessings of physical life. Notice in our text, in verse number 25, who giveth food to all flesh. For His mercy endureth forever. give thanks to the God of heaven for His mercy endureth forever." In other words, the psalmist here is making the point that you breathe His air. You drink His water. You use His energy. You live in His kingdom. Won't you be grateful? Now, if you were ever a rebellious teenager, I have a little bit of experience with that. Not a lot. I wasn't a bad kid, okay? Come on. Some of y'all are snickering. Maybe you knew me when I was a teenager. Did you ever have a parent that said, you live in my house, you eat my food? You know where this is going, right? When we grow up, we do not exit that philosophy. When we grow up, that situation does not cease to apply to us because God still has the authority over us. He still has the right to say, you breathe my air, you drink my water, you eat my food, you use my energy, you're living in my kingdom. Some of y'all may not think so. Let's jump back just a few pages to Psalm 104. Psalm 104, we won't read all of it. It all applies. I'd really like to read all of it, but it really does behoove us to read the whole thing, but let's just start at verse number 10. He, speaking of God, God's marvelous works of creation here. Psalm 104, verse number 10. He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills. Now what for? They give drink to every beast of the field. The wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. Now, by that water, notice what he does in verse number 14. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle and the herb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth. You're eating his food, right? The grass, the cattle, the water, the water that makes the grass and the cattle all comes from God. That's what he just said. Verse 15, the wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and the oil to make his face shine, the bread which strengthens man's heart. So verse 14 talks about all the things that come from nature directly. Verse 15 talks about all the things that we collect from nature and then turn into products that we use. The bread, the wine, that sort of stuff. So everything that we have comes from God directly or comes from the resources that he gives us and allows us to turn into something else. It's all from God. This entire universe belongs to God. I'll just remind you where we were this morning. Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights in whom is no variableness, neither a shadow of turning. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His mercy endureth forever. Give thanks to God for his mercy endureth forever. Give thanks to the Lord for his mercy endureth forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his mercy endures forever. The Reverend Thomas Ken was imprisoned in the London Tower in 1868 because he refused to sign the Declaration of Independence, or the Declaration of Indulgence. Wow. The Declaration of Independence would come a century later. Sorry. See, we do make mistakes while we're preaching. The Declaration of Indulgence was in 1687. Thomas Kane was imprisoned in London because he refused to sign it. That decree was designed to promote the Catholic faith of King James II. He was later acquitted, but while he was there, He wrote many hymns while imprisoned in the Tower of London. Also from the Tower of London, in case you're not familiar with the martyrs and the prisoners that were imprisoned in the Tower of London, who this psalm would very much apply to, His mercy endureth forever. From the Tower of London, John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, which is the second most published work. Only second to the Bible. But Thomas Ken published many hymns and great works of literature that he had written from the London Tower and one of them that he wrote while he was there in 1674 He had it sung at his funeral, at his graveside. It was originally published in a book of hymns, and it was published as song number 100, so it became known as Old 100. We know it today as the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above, you heavenly hosts. Praise Father and Son and Holy Ghost. I think he knew the meaning of this song when he wrote that from prison and had it sung at his funeral. Give thanks to God, His mercy endures forever.