Gods Wondrous Mercy

Psalm 86 KJV 1900

A Prayer of David. 1 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: For I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. 3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord: For I cry unto thee daily. 4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant: For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. 6 Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; And attend to the voice of my supplications. 7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: For thou wilt answer me. 8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; Neither are there any works like unto thy works. 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come And worship before thee, O Lord; And shall glorify thy name. 10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: Thou art God alone. 11 Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: Unite my heart to fear thy name. 12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: And I will glorify thy name for evermore. 13 For great is thy mercy toward me: And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. 14 O God, the proud are risen against me, And the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; And have not set thee before them. 15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. 16 O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; Give thy strength unto thy servant, And save the son of thine handmaid. 17 Shew me a token for good; That they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: Because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

A mother was concerned about her kindergarten son, Timmy, walking to school.

He didn't want his mother to walk with him.

She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe.

So she had an idea of how to handle it.

She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her.

The neighbor said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.

The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor girl he knew.

She did this for the whole week.

As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy 's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.

Finally she said to Timmy,

'Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?'

Timmy nonchalantly replied, 'Yeah, I know who she is.' The little girl said, 'Well, who is she?'

'That's just Shirley Goodnest ,' Timmy replied, 'and her daughter Marcy ...'

'Shirley Goodnest? Who is she and why is she following us?

'Well,' Timmy explained, 'every night my Mum makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much.

And in the Psalm, it says, 'Shirley Goodnest (surely goodness) and Marcy (mercy) shall follow me all the days of my life', so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!'

This morning I don’t want to talk about Marcy the stalker, but I want to think about God’s wonderous mercy

The definition of mercy is not receiving that which we are due.

Mercy is the display of God’s compassion upon fallen humanity.

No human being deserves mercy from God, we as a race have rebelled against God right from the beginning.

The world cries out God’s not fair, but we got want was fair we would receive God’s punishment and not his mercy.

if we got what was fair the human race would have been completely destroyed in the worldwide flood of Noah’s day, but God gave us mercy and grace and spared Noah and his family so that the human race could begin again.

“Bad thing happen to good people, that only happened once and he volunteered” R.C Sproul

That is of course the Lord Jesus Christ and his choice to go to Calvary and die on the Cross.

The greatest mercy of all is God offers us full pardon of an our sin debt.

A debt that could we could never pay ourselves.

A debt that demands payment

The good news of the gospel is Full pardon through Christ

- Full restoration with God!! and guaranteed eternity with him as opposed to the thought of a guaranteed eternity without him in hell.

Those who have found the mercy of God they know they have found the greatest of all gifts and their hearts overflow with gratitude.

This is the essence of Psalm 86. It is designated as a “Prayer of David.” Having experienced God’s wondrous mercy David offers up this great prayer to God

He praises God for his wondrous mercy

Firstly then this morning, lets look at...

A. David’s Petition

Psalm 86:1–6 KJV 1900

1 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: For I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. 3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord: For I cry unto thee daily. 4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant: For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. 6 Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; And attend to the voice of my supplications.

At the heart of David’s prayer is a plea for mercy

David is praying as a believer, yet he sees himself in need of God’s mercy

All of us need Gods mercy

Recognising his great need David humbles himself before God

David confesses he has nothing to offer the Lord

All men must come to Christ in this way

God hears the prayers of the humble before him

As we cry out before God we put our trust in him

Isaiah 66:2 KJV 1900

For all those things hath mine hand made, And all those things have been, saith the Lord: But to this man will I look, Even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, And trembleth at my word.

Psalm 51:17 KJV 1900

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

A contrite heart is one in which the natural pride and self-sufficiency have been completely humbled by the consciousness of guilt.”

The Hebrew and Greek words often translated “contrite” actually mean “crushed, crippled, or broken.”

When contrite modifies heart, we get the picture of a conscience that is crushed by the weight of its own guilt.

When a human spirit stops justifying its wrong choices, awakens to the depth of its depravity, and humbly accepts God’s righteous condemnation of sin, contrition is present. A contrite heart offers no excuses and shifts no blame. It fully agrees with God about how evil it is. A contrite heart throws itself upon the mercy of God, knowing that it deserves nothing but righteous wrath

David cries out for God’s mercy, then secondly notice..

B. David’s Proclamation

Psalm 86:8–10 KJV 1900

8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; Neither are there any works like unto thy works. 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come And worship before thee, O Lord; And shall glorify thy name. 10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: Thou art God alone.

None can compare with God vs 8

Even if the pagan gods were real they could not compare with God

Idol worship provides no mercy from the judgement come

All nations will come to worship God vs 9

This will find final fulfilment during the millennial kingdom

God is worshiped across the world, by people of every type and tongue

We are led next into

C. David’s Praise

Psalm 86:11–13 KJV 1900

11 Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: Unite my heart to fear thy name. 12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: And I will glorify thy name for evermore. 13 For great is thy mercy toward me: And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

Davids lips were filled with praise for Gods wondrous mercy vs 12

We should rejoice in Gods mercy

We should be joyful because of what God has done for us

The Hebrew word for praise is hdy(yahdah), which carries the idea of gratitude or thanksgiving as well as to throw or cast.

Cast your gratitude upon God, whole heartedly !!

David appreciate the magnitude of Gods mercy

How does Gods mercy impact our lives?

The greater the gratitude the greater the praise

Finally then the psalm concludes with

4. Davids Peace

Psalm 86:14–17 KJV 1900

14 O God, the proud are risen against me, And the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; And have not set thee before them. 15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. 16 O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; Give thy strength unto thy servant, And save the son of thine handmaid. 17 Shew me a token for good; That they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: Because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

David was a man who knew trouble vs 14

Continually assaulted by wicked men

Hated and hunted

David was ever comforted by God

A source of comfort and confidence

A source of mercy and grace

No suffering is to great for God

That he cannot comfort

That cannot console

Conclusion

Do you know Gods mercy, Do you appreciate Gods mercy , Do you rejoice in Gods mercy

Oh how wondrous is God’s mercy towards us, and we should remember it and rejoice in it everyday of our lives

Lets Pray