His Mercy Endureth Forever

 Temple Baptist Church - 10-22-2023

Psalm 118:1-4, 28-29

 

Introduction:

 

A.  I will not preach all this Psalm tonight because of its complexity so I want to open it with the first 4 verses and the last two verses.

 

B.  Verses 1 and 29 are exactly the same which shows the continuity of the theme of the Psalm.  Now, let us see what the Psalmist is talking about when he thanks God for His mercy.

 

1.  Verse 2.  Mercy extended to Israel.  God is still merciful to His covenant people.

 

2.  Verse 3.  Mercy extended to Aaron.  God is still merciful to His called ministers of the gospel.

 

3.  Verse 4.  Mercy extended to those who fear Him. 

 

4.  These verses do not say that mercy extends to the sinful as sin will show you no mercy.  This does not say that mercy extends to the worldly as the world will show you no mercy.

 

C.  “O give thanks” is a strong expression of gratitude.  It means to extend your hands in a direction and to bemoan your plight of self.  As we give thanks to God for His enduring mercy, it is to recognize that we deserve nothing because of our sinful nature and especially no mercy from God.  I often say that I thank God that I do not get what I deserve!

 

D.  “unto the LORD, for he is good” expresses the eternal goodness of the LORD that makes Him worthy of such praise.  Thus, the Bible College praise, “Ain’t God good?” and the answer, “He’s better than that!”

 

E.  God is good in so many ways and, as we enter the Thanksgiving Season, our thoughts need to be on His goodness.  I do not want to  make a list of them tonight but one of the greatest of all gifts is mercy.

 

F.  In the Psalm of Psalms, the 23^rd Psalm, verse 6 sums it up:

 

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.  (Notice with me the word “surely.” Something that we can be assured of.)

 

1.  The goodness and mercy of God are a surety in the life of the child of God!  God has always been good and merciful to us and He, who cannot change, will always be the same.

 

2.  When David wrote the 23^rd Psalm, did not know the greatness of his future failures.  He did not understand the greatness of God’s tender mercies as the “sweet psalmist of Israel” sat on a hillside, watching over his flock, and wrote of the mercy of God.  Jeremiah the Prophet said it all in Lamentations 3.  God has been merciful to each of us.

 

G.  This morning, you are looking at a one hell deserving preacher!  Without any false humility and certainly with no bragging on a past, sinful life, I often say that I have no idea why God would give me the “time of day.”  I think of the verse that says, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

 

H.  In your Bible, the word “mercy” is found 276x in 261 verses; the word “mercies” is found 44x in 44 verses, while the word “merciful” is found 40x in 36 verses but we will look at enough to cause us to praise the name of the Lord!  We will find that:

 

1.  The Lord Is Merciful In His Salvation - 1 Peter 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  (He saw our sinfulness and still sent the Saviour!  We deserved Hell and yet He sent His only begotten Son that we might go to Heaven one day.  He saved us from a life of sinfulness and a Devil’s Hell!  Do not tell me He is not worth to be praised this morning!  Glory to His wonderful name!)

 

2.  The Lord Is Merciful In His Provision - Psalms 78:72  So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.  (God has been good to me in times when I have not been so good to Him.  He has never let me down in the 32+ years that I have been saved.  I have lived well; I have eaten well; I have paid the bills!  When I was laid off, He gave me a job.  When I had a great need, He sent someone.  That is mercy!)

 

3.  The Lord Is Merciful In His Protection - Psalms 4:8  I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

 

4.  The Lord Is Merciful In His Forgiveness - 1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (No matter how terribly that I fail Him, He forgives!  No matter how often I fail Him, He forgives!  No matter how many times I fail Him, He always forgives and—and thank God—He forgets!)

 

J.  Psalms 118:1 and 29  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.  “Endureth” – to put up with a lot of junk!  God was merciful to Israel in verse 2 (and He still is today), He was merciful to Aaron, and He is merciful to all those who fear Him.

 

1.  God’s Mercy Is Everlasting - Psalms 100:5  For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

 

2.  God’s Mercy Is Unchanging - Lamentations 3:22-23  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 

 

3.  God’s Mercy Is Abundant - Numbers 14:18  The Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression...

 

4.  God’s Mercy Is Motivational - Romans 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

 

5.  God’s Mercy Is Inexhaustible - Nehemiah 9:27  Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

 

6.  God’s Mercy Is Renewable – Lamentations 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.