This should be a great comfort to those of you who are not yet saved. If I were in your condition I would try to catch at the text this morning. God himself is able to save. Trust Jesus and live.
Here also is comfort for children of God who are exercised concerning the state of the churches. Be encouraged, for the Lord who alone doeth great wonders is equal to the emergency. Perhaps he will strip us still more: perhaps he will take away every able man that now preaches the gospel; and when our Calvins and Luthers and Zwingles are all dead, then, may be, he alone will do great wonders. Be it so, if so it pleaseth him; for he must have all the glory. The extremity of the church shall be the opportunity of God. But, man of God, rest thou sure that his everlasting purposes will stand, and his divine covenant of mercy will endure for ever.
IV. I close with my last head—upon which I will speak briefly. Beloved, if you know anything about these wonders, these great wonders, these wonders in which God stands alone, then remember that FOR THESE WONDERS HE IS TO HE IS TO BE PRAISED.
This verse is an ascription of praise. “To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.” It means—to him be thanks and praise and power and honor and majesty for ever and ever. Oh, that we could fill the universe with praise!
Wonder is a sort of praise; it is the chaos out of which a world of praise is to be made. Sit thou still and silently meditate on the greatness and goodness of God until thou art overcome with admiration, and then thou wilt adore. Our wonderment should always blossom into thanks. Holy wonder is like sweet incense, but love must set it on a blaze with a burning coal of gratitude. “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
If you will begin to praise the Lord for his great wonders of mercy, I will tell you what will happen to you. First, we shall find his nature revealed to us. “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good.” We shall begin to see the essential goodness of God, and then we shall the better understand the manifestations of it as seen in ten thousand ways. This is something to learn. We learn through the habit of praise to know in a measure what God is.
Next, while praising for his wonders, thou wilt learn to adore his Godhead. “Give thanks unto the God of gods.” It is a grand thing to be deeply impressed that God is God. Hath he not said, “Be still, and know that I am God”? We do not know what God is, but we know that he is God; we cannot comprehend him, but we apprehend this much—that he is God. It is the greatest thought a man can ever think when he thinks that God is God. I would have thee praise him until thou knowest that he is God; for thou wilt treat him as he should be treated when thou dost distinctly recognize the glory of his Deity.
If thou wilt keep on praising him for his wonders, thou wilt come to know of somewhat of his sovereignty. “O give thanks unto the Lord of lords,” for he rules over all things, both in heaven and in earth, and in all deep places. I reverently adore and heartily love the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Those words which are terrible to the ungodly are sweet to him who knows the love of God—”I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” We can trust our God with unlimited power, and with the right to do whatever he wills, and it is a part of our worship that we should never question whatever he may do. “It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.”
Still, when thou praises God for the wonders he has wrought for thee, and for others, let the climax of thy praise be this, that “His mercy endureth for ever.” Magnify with all thy faculties of mind and heart; with memory, and hope, and fear, and every emotion of which thou art capable, the changeless mercy of God. He is ever merciful, or full of mercy. He always will be so. Thou hast a God of immutable goodness, rejoice in him at all times, and under all aspects. When thou thinkest upon his terrible justice, doubt not his mercy. Pharaoh is cast into the Red Sea, but Jehovah’s mercy endureth. He slays mighty kings, but “his mercy endureth for ever.” Ay, when thou seest hell engulf the impenitent, and thou thinkest with solemn awe of the dread punishment necessary to sin, rest assured that this alters not the fact that God is love, and that “his mercy endureth for ever.” There must be no collision in thy thoughts between his justice and his mercy: they are both divine, and they both endure for ever. Do thou say “Hallelujah!” even when thou seest his wrath. Accepting his mercy in Jesus, praise him; resting in that mercy, praise him; hoping in that mercy, that it will follow thee all the days of thy life, praise him. By-and-by, brothers and sisters, we shall know more of his eternal mercy, and then we shall praise him in loftier strains. Shall we ever need a sweeter song than this—”To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever”? As we shall hear the harpers harping with their harps, and see the holy ones casting their crowns before him on the glassy sea, shall we not chant this great Hallel—”To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever”? The Lord bless you ever! Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
