Temple Baptist Church - 9-17-2023
Psalm 117
Introduction:
A. The shortest Psalm. “Dynamite comes in small packages” is an old saying. This Psalm is power packed!
B. Once again, we find a Jewish Psalm that includes ALL people.
1. If the Jews would have just read with understanding, it would have changed their attitude concerning non-Jews.
2. God’s promise to their father Abraham was that his seed would permeate the earth and that Israel would be a blessing to ALL people.
C. Two types of Praise are found in the opening verse:
1. National Praise: “O praise the LORD, all ye nations!” Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
2. Individual Praise: “praise him, all ye people!” Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
D. The first verse shows the extent of the second verse. It is written to all nations and all people.
1. I am glad that the LORD is inclusive and not exclusive! “He included me!”
2. I know that I “ride this horse” often, but I want God’s people to know that the doctrine of Calvinism, also called Reformed Theology, is a wicked – heretical doctrine that denies these verses that we read tonight.
3. Why should all people praise Him if only the elect know Him? Why would the “NON-ELECT” have anything to praise Him for?
E. There is no way to rightly divide the Word of Truth by preaching on the Psalm for one night only, so I will break it down into two messages.
F. “For his merciful kindness is great toward us” is one of the most wonderful phrases found in the Bible! Not just “Merciful” but “Merciful Kindness!”
G. Now, I will divide the phrase. “The Lord’s Mercy … is great toward us!”
1. Mercy defined: Compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power. A blessing that is act of divine favor or compassion. Compassionate treatment for those in distress. 1 Chronicles 16:34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
2. Merciful defined: “Mercy Full” Providing relief to one guilty or distressed. Psalms 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. (Merciful is Mercy in a continuing sense or state.)
3. “God has been better to me than I deserve” has been my life’s story from birth until now! There are those who I grew up with that died young and probably without ever being saved. That could have very well be me as I lived 28 years without Christ!
4. The First Mention of Merciful if found in a Temporal Sense – Genesis 19:15-16 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. (16) And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. (If a man ever needed to be whipped, Lot did! The last mention of Lot is found in 1 Peter where we see how God saw him instead of how we perceived him.)
2 Peter 2:6-9 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; (7) And delivered just Lot (a saved man), vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (8) (For that righteous man (imputed righteousness of God) dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) (9) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly (as if Lot had never sinned) out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
5. The Last Mention of Merciful is found in an Eternal Sense – Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
6. The LORD is Merciful to us in this life. The Lord will be merciful to us in the life to come.
Lamentations 3:22-23 It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
7. Thus we find that God’s Mercy toward us in enduring as well as overlooking.
8. Not just mercy but “Merciful Kindness” Kindness defined: the quality or state of treating people with kindness and respect. Affection; grace. Interesting that one synonym of “kindness” is “grace.”
Psalms 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
1. In these two words, “Merciful Kindness,” we find God’s kindness (goodness) in both Mercy and Grace! You can have mercy on someone without being kind to them.
2. Mercy – not getting what we deserve; Grace – getting what we do not deserve.
3. That is the very definition of the Love of God for both the world (all mankind – “all people”) and the saints (His children by faith – “His people”).
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Conclusion: Psalms 117:1-2 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. (2) For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
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