Psalms 119:156
Psalms 119:156, “Psa 119:156 Great are
thy tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to thy judgments.”
This verse talks about the mercy of God. There
are actually many many verses in the Old Testament which
talk about the mercy of God. Actually even in Exodus chapter 20 in the very
middle of the Ten Commandments the mercy of God is mentioned.
We would expect the mercy of God to be emphasized
in the New Testament but to find it emphasized so in the Old Testament might
seem like a surprise. After all the Old Testament emphasizes the law and the
keeping of the and the consequences for failure to
keep the law. Yet the mercy of God is found many times in the Old Testament.
This should be no surprise because just as
Hebrews 13:8 says, “Heb 13:8
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day,
and for ever.” God does not change. He is
Holy. He is perfect. His character does not change. It’s not possible for it to
change because that which is holy needs no improvement. But
even though God’s character does not change. God can can still change His mind from deciding to do one
thing to deciding to do another thing. That’s not a change in character. That’s
simply a change in plan.
Sometimes we call this the permissive will of God
as opposed to the predestined will of God. The predestined will of God means
God has things He is going to do no matter what. A great example of that would
the plan of salvation. Jesus death on the cross for the sins
of the world and His resurrection.
Most men when they look at human history to be
honest understand very little about it. The reason is is
because they look at it from a humanistic perspective instead of God’s
perspective. They see what man has done but they don’t see what God has done.
The history books of the schools of this world are filled with history from
man’s perspective and though they might get some facts and names and dates and events right
they miss all the information about what God has done and is doing.
This is one thing that is so great about the
Bible. It is filled without thousands of years of history including what God has done and planned.
It is accurate to look at human history and to divide into different time
periods. Sometimes we call this dispensations. There
was the time period of Adam and Eve in the garden of
Eden. There was the time period of Adam and Eve out of the garden
of Eden until Noah and the great flood. Then there was the time of people such
as Job and Abraham until Moses. And then for 1400 years from Moses to John the
Baptist was the time period of the Law. Then the age of grace began with Jesus.
And it has continued for about 2000 years and it will end with the rapture of
the church. Then the seven year great tribulation will begin, the great day of
the Lord’s wrath, the time of judgment upon the nations.
God has a plan. It’s easy for God to make plans
and fulfill those plans because God is God. God is all powerful. God knows all
things before hand. And the great mind of God is
limited in how many things it can think about at one time.
Now I think it was always God plan to do things
this way, to have these different dispensations for the purposes of teaching
the world certain truths about the gospel and preparing the world for when
Jesus would come.
Now during the age of the law what God was doing
was showing the world that man could never of himself
keep the law and obtain righteousness through it because man is weak and
sinful. That is why Jesus came to live His life as a man and perfectly keep the
law then die on the cross for the sins of the world. Only Jesus could perfectly
keep the law because Jesus is God.
So the law is our school master to bring us to
Christ. But the law teaches us many other things as well. And one of the
important things that it teaches us has to do with the mercy of God.
Psalms 119:156, “Psa 119:156 Great are
thy tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to thy judgments.”
It shouldn’t be hard to understand the mercy of
God. Especially if one
understands the law. This is how the covenant of the law works. It’s a
conditional covenant. A person would have to perfectly keep all the law all
their life and never break one commandment. That is the condition. If that
condition is met then God will meet the other half of the agreement to bless
that man with all the blessings of righteousness. It’s called a conditional
covenant because based not just on what God will God
but on what man does. Now how does this teach us mercy.
This teaches us mercy because the consequence of sin, the consequence of not
perfectly keeping the law is death.
It’s a harsh consequence but a just consequence.
Yet despite this consequence what we find is the mercy of God. Because true
death means more than just physical death it means spiritual death, separation
from God for all eternity in the lake of fire. The Bible says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Now
is this what happens to every man? O No. What happens is that all men have
their chance or chances to repent of their sins and trust in Jesus for
salvation. SO when we come to understand just how harsh and severe and just is
the punishment for breaking the law then we see just
how truly merciful God is indeed.
God didn’t have to send His son Jesus. He could
have sent us all to hell. That would have been just. But God is merciful, so
merciful that He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to die on the cross for our
sins that there might be a way both for His judgment and His mercy. If you do
not see the mercy of God revealed in the Old Testament and the New then you are
blind spiritually, blind to the truth.
Psalms 119:157, “Psa 119:157 Many are
my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy
testimonies.”
After talking about the mercy of God now we come
to a verse that talks about the enemies of God. In this verse the
Psalmist said he has many enemies and many persecutors. You are going to need
God’s mercy especially if you want to serve God faithfully in the face of great
opposition.
Persecutors
and enemies. Notice that the Psalmist said he did not decline
from the Word of God despite these things. If there is something that has kept
people from serving God and from even coming to Christ for salvation it is
persecution and enemies of God.
Just think of some examples. Governments
that make laws against Christianity. There have been many governments,
if not most governments over the centuries of human history and even today
whose laws put pressure on its citizens to not turn to Christ. Some governments
make the most extreme laws they can laws which make it illegal to become a
Christian or to own a bible and will throw you in jail and execute you if you
do so.
Pretty much all Muslim countries are this way.
There is no separation of religion and state in muslin countries. And in the
Muslim religion those who convert to Christianity are considered worthy of
death. This can make it very hard for a person to make a decision to trust in
Christ as their savior.
There are many other forms of persecution and
many other ways the enemies of the cross of Christ will put pressure on people
to turn away from Christ. In a society like
It’s very well known that most Christians are anti abortion or you could say pro-life, that Christians
are against homosexuality and transgender. These issues have become very
political in our day. People who take a stand against these things are being
treated more and more as though they are racist and unloving and being called
bigots. People who take a stand for sexual morality more and more in society
are facing persecution. It happened to John the Baptist. He took a stand for
morality and he was executed for it.
Psalms 119:157, “Psa 119:157 Many are
my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy
testimonies.”
Your enemies and your persecution can take on many
different forms. It can come in the form of government laws. It can come in the
form of political correctness. It can come in the form of peer pressure from
society and from family. The lesson is this. Don’t fear the mockery. Don’t fear
the persecution. Don’t fear the pressures of society around you. Don’t let
these things keep you from coming to Jesus. The salvation of your soul, the
eternal destiny of your soul is much too important. And serving Christ, doing
your part, fulfilling whatever plan God has for you in the gospel is much too
important.
What happens to some people is, though they do
manage to make the right decision to trust in Jesus for forgiveness of their
sins then once the pressures of the enemies of God, and the pressures of
persecution arise it causes them to turn back and to stop serving God.
Don’t let it happen to you. The rewards for
serving Christ are too great to turn back. The eternal souls of men are too
valuable to turn back. The work of God is too important to let enemies and
persecution stop us from doing that work.
Psalms 119:157, “Psa 119:157 Many are
my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy
testimonies.”
If you’re going to come to Jesus do so with some
determination. Make the decision and stick with it. Make sure you understand
and value just how great is the forgiveness of your sins through Christ and
just how endless is the love of God for you.
Those who come to Jesus need to be prepared,
prepared to be a warrior. 2 Timothy 2:3 says, “2Ti 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ.”
Coming to Jesus is like signing up for the
military during a time of war. So you should be prepared. In fact No one should
have to be told this because the attacks come before you even trust in Jesus.
There certainly are going to come afterwards.
Because it is a great spiritual warfare going on in the world between
God and evil between Jesus, his angels, his believers and the devil, the fallen
angels, and the lost. The battle is over the eternal destiny of men.
So this is what a soldier needs to do when that
soldier enlists for the battle. And that is be
prepared. And you get prepared by putting on your armor.
Ephesians 6:10-18 says, “Eph
Concerning the devil and the spiritual warfare
that goes on 2 Corinthians
Don’t be ignorant. Don’t be ignorant of who your
enemies are or of the persecution that is going to come your way. And don’t let
such things keep you from coming to Christ. The devil is not all knowing nor omni present like God is so how does the devil know how to
tempt you and when and where to attack you and oppose the work you do for
Christ.
It’s very simple, Satan
also called Lucifer, is intelligent and organize. He has is fallen angels and
He assigns them to do different things. One of the things He does is assign his
fallen angels to study individual people to learn about them, about their strengths
and their weakness. This is how the devil knows how to tempt you and when and
where who to oppose in the gospel.
Don’t be surprised be prepared. Don’t be ignorant
of Satan’s devices. The devil and his angels are going to spy on you, watch
you, observe you, there going to look for any
weakness you might have in your armor, any bad habits you might have in prayer
life, your bible study life and they are going to tempt you to sin. If the
devil can’t get you to sin then he will simply attack you in any way that to
try an oppose you to try and discourage you to try and destroy you you and whatever you are doing for the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
The important thing to remember is that you are
on the winning side, the side of Jesus. Nothing can happen to you that God does
not allow. God is in control. Unlike the devil God is all knowing and
everywhere present. God knows all about you and Jesus has a plan for you on
what He wants you to do in the gospel work He is doing in this world. All you
need to do is trust in him and His promises. God knows you so make sure you
know yourself as well so that you can be prepared when the attacks and the
temptations come.
Psalms 119:157, “Psa 119:157 Many are
my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.”
There are many things that can keep a person from
coming to and trusting in Jesus for the eternal salvation of their soul. One of
those things is persecution. Don’t let persecution ,
or the fear of persecution keep you from coming to Christ for forgiveness of
your sins and eternal life If you do not know Jesus as your savior then
you can pray to Him right now and
ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins
and to come into your heart then you will experience the great tender mercies
of God.
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Copyright; 2017 by Bruce
Creech
All Rights Reserved