I Will Sing of the Mercies of the Lord Forever
With My Mouth I'll Make Your Faithfulness Known
by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.
Chapter 1
The title comes from Psalm 89, verse 1.
Here is Psalm 89 from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version--
___Psalm 89
1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, with my mouth I'll make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I've said, "Mercy shall be built up forever, your faithfulness you'll establish in the very heavens."
3 I've made a covenant with my chosen, I've sworn to David my servant,
4 I'll establish your descendants forever, and build up your throne to all generations. Selah.
5 And the heavens shall praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
6 For who in the heaven can be compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be shown reverence by all of those who are around him.
8 O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like you? Or to your faithfulness around you?
9 You rule the raging of the sea, when the waves of it arise, you still them.
10 You've broken Rahab in pieces, like one that is killed, you've scattered your enemies with your strong arm.
11 The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours, as for the world and the fullness of it, you've founded them.
12 You've created the north and the south, Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in your name.
13 You have a mighty arm, strong is your hand, and high is your right hand.
14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of your throne, mercy and truth shall go before your face.
15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound, they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of your facial expression.
16 In your name they'll rejoice all day long, and in your righteousness they'll be exalted.
17 For you are the glory of their strength, and in your favor our horn shall be lifted up.
18 For the Lord is our defense, and the Holy one of Israel is our king.
19 Then you spoke in vision to your holy one, and said, "I've laid help on someone that is mighty, I've exalted someone chosen out of the people.
20 I've found David my servant, I've anointed him with my holy oil,
21 With whom my hand shall be established, my arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not exact on him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23 And I will beat down his enemies before his face, and plague those who hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name his horn shall be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
26 He shall cry to me, 'You are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.'
27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my mercy for him forever, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29 I will also make his descendants to endure forever, and his throne like the days of heaven.
30 If his children forsake my law, and don't walk in my judgments,
31 If they break my statutes, and don't keep my commandments,
32 Then I'll visit their transgression with the rod, and their sin with strokes of the whip.
33 But I won't completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
34 I won't break my covenant, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips.
35 I have sworn once by my holiness that I won't lie to David.
36 His descendants shall endure forever, and his throne like the sun before me.
37 It shall be established forever like the moon, and like a faithful witness in heaven." Selah.
38 But you've thrown away and hated, you've been angry with your anointed.
39 You've made void the covenant of your servant, you have profaned his crown by throwing it to the ground.
40 You've broken down all his hedges, you have brought his strong holds to ruin.
41 All that pass by the way spoil him, he is a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You've set up the right hand of his adversaries, you've made all his enemies to rejoice.
43 You've also turned the edge of his sword, and haven't made him to stand in the battle.
44 You've made his glory to stop, and thrown his throne down to the ground.
45 You've shortened the days of his youth, you've covered him with shame. Selah.
46 How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? Shall your anger burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is, why have you made all men in vain?
48 What man is he that lives, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.
49 Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses, that you promised to David in your truth?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I carry in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people,
51 With which your enemies have reproached, O Lord, with which they've reproached the footsteps of your anointed.
52 Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen, and Amen.
Chapter 2
The Lord made a covenant with David.
Earlier, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham. The Lord promised Abraham that his descendants would be as the sand of the sea. And that has happened.
4 I'll establish your descendants forever, and build up your throne to all generations.
The Lord said he'd establish David's descendants forever. In fact, the genealogy of Jesus traces back to David. Both Joseph's genealogy, and Joseph's wife Mary's genealogy trace back to David.
One of them comes through David's son, Solomon, and the other comes through David's son, Nathan.
Those genealogies are in the books of Matthew and Luke.
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be shown reverence by all of those who are around him.
Another scripture says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding have all of those who do his commandments, his praise endures forever.” (Psa 111:10)
The fact is, people who don't fear God just don't have much wisdom.
My Dad thought he was pretty smart. And then he died and went to hell. So how smart is that?
15 Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound, they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of your facial expression.
16 In your name they'll rejoice all day long, and in your righteousness they'll be exalted.
17 For you are the glory of their strength, and in your favor our horn shall be lifted up.
18 For the Lord is our defense, and the Holy one of Israel is our king.
God's people are blessed who fear the Lord, and walk in his ways.
Now here are some more promises from the Lord to David. But I believe the Lord will do it for the Christians, too.
23 And I will beat down his enemies before his face, and plague those who hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name his horn shall be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
34 I won't break my covenant, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips.
35 I have sworn once by my holiness that I won't lie to David.
36 His descendants shall endure forever, and his throne like the sun before me.
37 It shall be established forever like the moon, and like a faithful witness in heaven."
Now here's a prayer of David--
47 Remember how short my time is, why have you made all men in vain?
48 What man is he that lives, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.
49 Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses, that you promised to David in your truth?
52 Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen, and Amen.
The Prophet, Samuel, anointed David to be king. But also, the Lord put his spirit on David, and helped David to write the Psalms, and sing and play them on the harp.
I don't think it was the large harp like they have in symphony orchestras now, but probably a smaller, hand-held harp that David played.
David also played for King Saul before David became king. David's music calmed the troubled King Saul.
The Psalms are an important blessing for the Lord's people.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
If it were the law that a person could only have one book, the correct book to choose would be the Holy Bible, that tells us how we got here, tells us about heaven and hell, and tells us how to go to heaven and avoid hell by getting born again.
Jesus has taught us that we will all go either to heaven or hell when our lives on earth are over. Yes, there is an afterlife. Unfortunately, most people go to hell, Jesus said. (Matt 7:13,14)
Jesus said, “You MUST be born again.” (John chapt 3)
You get born again by believing the gospel message that Jesus died for our sins, and that God raised him the third day.
He was seen after his resurrection by his disciples and by more than 500 Christians.
Romans chapter 10, verses 9 & 10 show us the road to heaven.
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you're saved. For with the heart man believes for righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made for salvation.”
Pray this easy prayer, “Jesus, save me!”
The Bible says, “All that call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Joel 2:32)
___James chapter 1
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.
2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,
3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,
10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.
11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.
16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.
18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.
21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,
24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
___James chapter 2
1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,
3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"
4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
6 But you have despised the poor. Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?
7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?
8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,
9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill." Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.
12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.
14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,
16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?
17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."
19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?
22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."
24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
___James chapter 3
1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.
2 For in many things we offend all. If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.
4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.
5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. See how great a matter a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.
7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,
8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be.
11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries? Or a vine, figs? So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.
13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.
___James chapter 4
1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?
2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.
3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.
4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.
5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"
6 But he gives more grace. So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.
11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers. He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?
13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"
14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."
16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.
___James chapter 5
1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.
3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You've heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.
6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.
8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.
9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.
10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11 See, we count them happy that endure. You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.
13 Is anyone among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is anyone merry? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.
16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.
17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,
20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.