Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 787
Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, DECEMBER 29, 1867, by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“For His mercy endures forever.”- Psalm 136:1.
THIS 136th Psalm was constantly sung in the Temple by appointed singers, among whom the names of Heman and Jeduthun are mentioned. These, we are told in the Book of Chronicles, were chosen to give thanks unto Jehovah, whose “mercy endures forever.” This continued service of song was most fitting, for, if Jehovah’s mercy endures forever, our praise should endure forever! If His goodness never ceases, our thanksgiving should never be silent! It seemed to me most appropriate to direct your attention to this text in the closing Sunday of the year because it is a fit accompaniment to that upon which I addressed you on the first Sunday. [Good Cheer for the New Year, Sermon #728.]
You will remember that we then spoke of the ever watchful mercy of the Lord our God, from the words, “The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” Having almost reached the close of the year let us acknowledge that the mercy has been equal to the promise—that God has not failed to fulfill his gracious Word, “for His mercy endures forever.” May all your hearts be full of gratitude and the music of your spirits stand in the stead of trumpets and cymbals which of old proclaimed the joy of Israel when they made mention of Jehovah’s name!
I. At the outset we shall regard the text as A SONG. So it was originally intended to be used. It was a song for all singers, for it was the refrain of each verse, the chorus to be taken up by the whole assembled multitude. I suppose that the practiced singers commenced thus, “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good,” and then the entire multitude, whether they were taught in psalmody or not, chanted the chorus, “For His mercy endures forever.” Then would the choir again sweetly sing, “O give thanks unto the God of gods,” and a fresh burst of many voices would reply, “For His mercy endures forever.”
In imitation of that ancient mode of singing, I shall ask the whole assembly to make a chorus with their hearts and mentally to bless the Lord whose “mercy endures forever.” Let the young and the old join in the common praise! Let the rich and the poor, the instructed and the ignorant, yes, let the saved and the unsaved each take a part in the choral music, for the Psalmist so words the Psalm that even the unconverted may claim a share in it! He bids us praise God for common mercies—common as we frequently call them—and yet so priceless that when deprived of them we are ready to perish! He bids us sing concerning the great lights whose radiance is universally enjoyed. He bids us extol the Maker of the sun and the moon, for without the cheerful light of the celestial lamps we should live in perpetual darkness, if, indeed, we lived at all!
Let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad in the sunlight. Let us praise Him for the mercies which are new every morning, for the bread we eat, for the raiment which clothes us, for houses which give us shelter. Let us bless Him that we are not deprived of our reason, or stretched upon the bed of sickness. Let us praise Him that we are not cast out among the hopeless, or confined among the guilty. Let us thank Him for liberty, for friends, for family associations and comforts. Let us praise Him, in fact, for everything which we receive from His bounteous hand, for we deserve little, and yet are most plenteously endowed. “His mercy endures forever.” Every morning’s light proclaims it, the beams of every moon declare it! Every breath of air, every heaving of the lungs, every beating of the pulse are fresh witnesses that “His mercy endures forever.”
But, Beloved, the sweetest and the loudest note in the chorus must always be reserved for those who sing of redeeming love. A few verses further down the Psalmist writes, “To Him that smote Egypt in their first-born, and brought out Israel from among them with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, for His mercy endures forever.” Yes, God’s redeeming acts towards His chosen are forever the favorite themes of praise. Many of us know what redemption means. Let
us not refuse our sonnets of thanksgiving. Glory be to God, we have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged! We have been led to the Cross of Christ—our shackles of guilt have been broken off—we are no longer slaves but children of the living God!
We can look back to the source of that redemption in the council chambers of eternity where the plan was first ordained and settled. We can look forward to the results of that redemption, and antedate the period when we shall be presented before the Throne of God without wrinkle or any such thing. Even now by faith we wave the palm branch and wrap ourselves about with the fair white linen which is to be our everlasting array! And shall we not this day give thanks to the name of the Lord whose redeeming “mercy endures forever”?