Looking at v9b – "His tender mercies are over all His works"
A psalm of Joy
The title is "A Praise of David"
David is ecstatic
It is all about God
A meditation on what God is like
An acrostic in the Hebrew alphabet
Through God’s actions
v9 – over all, is God’s mercy
There is nothing like God’s mercy
God is love
God is kind
God’s mercy is unique
He does not need to be merciful to Himself
It is entirely and exclusively directed towards a fallen humanity
A Walkthrough
v1 – it is worth meditating on the word of God day and night
We can only scratch the surface
God is transcendent
He seems to run out of words so adds superlatives
v5 – the glorious splendour and wondrous works
v6 – awesome acts
v7 – great goodness
God is infinitely beyond us
We cannot comprehend all that is God
We cannot comprehend the vastness of the universe
We cannot comprehend how much God cares for us
v3 – God’s greatness it unsearchable
v10 – the response from us: praise
Exalting, rejoicing, speaking, singing about God
How can we do this?
v8/9 – the key: God’s grace, compassion, mercy and love
God cannot tolerate sin (Habakkuk 1:13)
God is perfect
God is infinite in love and mercy
God holds out His hand toward us, that we might trust in Jesus Christ
What is mercy?
Relenting rather than punishing
God’s mercy is throughout Scripture
It is bound to who He is
Ex 33:19 – "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
Ps 25:6 – "Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they are from of old."
Ps 103:17 – "the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting"
Hos 11:18 – "How can I give you up, Ephraim?"
Jer 33:7-9 – "I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth…"
Hos 6:6 – "For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings"
Mic 7:18-19 – "Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea."
God’s mercy is from everlasting to everlasting
God is merciful in every circumstance
Lam 3:22-23
Ex 34:6-7 – "And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty…"
The glory of God is His mercy towards us
God sent His Son Jesus Christ
We can come to God through Jesus Christ
Ps 145:9 – "His mercy is over all His works"
We get a glimpse of His mercy
Over and in/above all His works
God’s mercy in all His works
In all God’s actions
Creation declares the mercy of God
Explanation
The work of providence
Jeremiah in Lamentations seeing a broken world reminds us of the mercy of God
Sin is responsible for the brokenness of the world
Yet God has provided a solution for sin
The darkness has not overcome it
Look and see God’s mercy to us
God’s mercy exceeds all His works
God’s mercy is the pinnacle of His works – it exceeds His works
It is most clearly seen in Jesus Christ
God has given us His only Son
God has not let us go/given up on us
God offers us eternal hope and redemption in Jesus Christ
That we might join in the Psalmist’s joy
Jesus has lived a perfect life yet was tempted in every way
Jesus died on the cross for us – Isa 53:5
Jesus offers us His perfect life
God offers us this hope is His mercy
We do not deserve it – examples
Yet God loves us
Closing Remarks
We see God’s mercy everywhere
Come to the Lord Jesus Christ to experience this mercy firsthand
