Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn with me to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. You know, as we get
older, you start to reflect on a lot
of things. You start thinking back. You've
got that privilege, opportunity to have
gone through some things and you start to reflect on things. For a believer, that believer
begins to think back on how the Lord has kept him all these many years. I start
to think back when I was in college and how merciful the Lord was to
me. He didn't kill me, take me out
of this world, lost. Believer starts to think more
in latter years on the presence of sin. You that are older, like many
of us here, sin is the presence of it. It's more real to you
now than it was years ago. You that are younger, you don't
think, I know I didn't. But we start to see the inevitable. We start to realize that unless
the Lord returns we're all going to go the way of the earth. We're
going to die. We're going to die. And you begin
to see your body starting to slow down, break down. You're
not able to do what you used to. But you start thinking more of
the mercy of God, salvation, grace, God's Word. Now this is growing in grace. God's Word becomes more precious
to you. than it used to. That's so. You know, somebody
say, well, it's just as precious to me now as it always has been. Well, I'll tell you, we grow
in grace. Love for the Lord grows. We grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. As we get older, We reflect on the certainty we're
going to meet God. I'm actually going to meet God.
I've heard this and heard this and heard this and as we get
older. And my heart is drawn this 103rd
Psalm. Every time I read the 103rd Psalm,
I think, I think, My mind's drawn back, Brother
Scott. I remember hearing him many,
many times. You that have been here longer
than I, I bet you have too. You can say this. I can remember
him quoting, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within
me, bless his holy name. Psalm 103 verse 2, Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Praise and give thanks unto Jehovah,
the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Bless
the Father, bless, praise His holy name that He was pleased
to choose to show mercy to me. He did that which he did because
he was pleased to do so. There wasn't anything in me,
and I know that. I'm more aware of it now. I am so prone, I think
back on Wednesday night's message. Man be taken in a fall in his
passion, you know, just passion of the moment. Just, you know,
you that are spiritual, restore such one. Spirit of meekness,
consider yourself. I think to myself, oh, I'm so
embarrassed when I think of that. Oh, bless the son who laid down his life, bore
in his own body, My guilt, I cannot enter into the depth of that,
but I know it's so. I know that though I can't understand
it, Almighty God said it's so. He bore our guilt in His own body, made sin. Bless the Lord, the Holy Spirit,
who in regenerating grace, And power blows like the wind sovereignly. When it pleases Him, according
to God's everlasting covenant of grace, He moves in power.
And He calls and gives a new heart, new mind, new will, new
love. And God's people in the day of
God's power, they come to Him. They just come. Why? Because He's drawn them? Yeah. Because they want to? Yeah. gives
them life. Bless the Lord and forget not all of His acts,
His services, His mercies to His people. But in my weakness,
I would love to be able to say that I can bless the Lord and
forget not, and forget not all His benefits But I don't have
the ability. I don't know. I don't know what
to thank Him for. You that know Him, don't you
agree with that? How are we going to thank the
Lord for what He's done for us? I don't know what to thank Him
for. But oh, thanks be unto God that God Almighty would begin
to reveal and to teach God's people what we are not to forget. Look at verse 3, who forgiveth. Here again, that E-T-H, who forgiveth
and forgiveth and forgiveth. All thine iniquities, whoever forgives, who continually
forgives, and forgives, listen to this,
all thine iniquities. There's things that I don't even
know what I've done. What did I do? Well, what did I not do that
I should have done? Because of my insensitivity.
Sins of commission and omission. Forgives all thine iniquities
that He sees that I don't. How? How can a just God forgive
a sinner like me? He hath made him sin. That's what Brother Don just
preached last Sunday. He hath made him sin for us who knew
no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And the Lord Jesus Christ who
has put away all of our guilt, put away the debt that we owe
to God, what we've done and doing and shall do, paid the debt. And now that debt being paid,
God who is just, who has been satisfied by the shedding of
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, He who has made sin for us. God dealt with him in justice. Where sin was found, the law
demanded justice. And now that debt is paid! It's paid! It's paid! And God
can justly forgive. Debt's been paid for him. Paid. Forget not all of his benefits. He forgives us. He forgives us.
How many? All of them. You know somebody
going to buy a piece of property, you know what you want to do?
You know the first thing? Just have a title search done, you
know. Somebody can tell you, say, well,
there's no indebtedness to it. You know, it's free and clear.
Well, I'll let an attorney tell me that. I'll just, you know,
I believe you, you know, but I don't, you know, I don't want
any skeletons, no skeletons in the closet, okay? Before we sign
on the dotted line, I want legally to know, I don't want any surprises. I'm telling you according to
God's word and here is, by faith, The only thing we've got, Mitch
is all I've got, to stand before God and for Almighty God to say
to me, all, all your iniquities paid for by my blood. He's the judge. I paid for all
of them. And if he said he paid for all
of them, I'm going to tell you something, they were all paid.
All of them put away. Oh, forget not all his benefits
he has forgiven and forgiven and forgiven, never forgiven. All thine iniquities. And listen
to what else he's done concerning his benefits. Who healeth all
thy diseases. I know that I know that believers
get physically sick. I know that. And there's times
when a believer is going to die because of sickness. His body
is going to break down. We're going to die. We're going
to die. And I know the world's religion is always talking about
healing, healing, healing. It's always healing, healing.
They're talking about physical healing. But I'm going to tell
you something. I heard Brother Henry say this
one time. He said, well, what if the Lord heals you? Heals
you from cancer. Heals you from this, that, and
the other. Then what? One of these days,
you're still going to die. You're still going to die. This
is what I need right here. I need for all of my spiritual
diseases, I need my spiritual. Exodus 15, 26. Listen to the
word of promise. And here again, this is all I've
got. This is all I've got. The Lord said to Israel, spiritual
Israel, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And the only way
I know that Almighty God would heal me spiritually is because
He says He did. And I do not and I cannot find
any comfort whatsoever in looking to anything I've ever done. Whatever it is, name anything
you want to name. Whatever you think you've done.
Was it done perfectly, wholly? Was it done absolutely, without
blemish, without flaw? No, no, no. Well then it's not
acceptable to God. I need for God Almighty to heal
me. Listen to David say this. I thought
this was so good. Psalm 41, 4. I said, Lord, be
merciful unto me. Listen to this. Heal my soul. For I've sinned against thee.
Heal my soul. How sick is a man? He said, He
said, I who healeth all thy diseases. How sick is he? Well, the scripture
says, Isaiah 1, 5 and 6, the whole head's sick. Anything I
can think or reason or construct in my mind. What if the whole
head, the source is sick? And the whole heart's faint from
the sole of the foot even to the head. There's no soundness
in it. There's wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They've
not been closed. Neither bound up, neither mollified
with ointment. There's nothing to work with
in me. Man's in a mess. no part of his
being unaffected. But according to his word, the scripture says, who healeth
all thy diseases. That verse two, who forgiveth
all thine iniquities, semicolon, who healeth all thy diseases. Forgiving our iniquities and
healing our spiritual diseases, same thing. The Lord who is forgiven has healed. No charge. You know, I don't know how sick
I am. I'll tell you this being born in Adam, but I'll tell you
this. He says I'm sick. Therefore, I'm sick. But let
me ask you this. How has He healed me? How did
He heal me? Look at Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Here's how He healed us. And this is what it's going to
take. It's going to take God's Lamb to do this. It's going to
have to take a perfect Lamb. It's going to have to take God's
Son. One in whom God's well pleased.
Isaiah 53 verse 4 and 5. Surely, surely, There's a word we can camp on
for a while. Surely, without a doubt, Almighty
God has affirmed, surely, He hath borne our griefs, carried
our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God
and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. Chastisement of our peace was
upon Him. And listen to this, and with
His stripes, with His bruises, we're healed. We're healed. By grace, by power, by God's
mercy, healed. He came into this world. Let
me just read this to you, Luke chapter 4. Luke 4. Luke 4, 18-19.
You see, this is why He came. Luke 4, 18 and 19, he said he
was reading from the scriptures there in the synagogue one day,
and he read from this passage, he said, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind,
set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. This is what he's done. He said,
I'm going to heal all your diseases. put them away, back in Psalm
103 verse 4, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies, who redeemeth thy life from destruction
by purchase and power. The Lord has bought back as the
near kinsman redeemer of his people He's bought back. He's redeemed. He paid the price.
What is it going to cost? That thing right there that's
under mortgage, how much is it going to cost to redeem it, to
buy it? That it's mine. I'll pay the
price. What's it going to cost? It cost him everything. It cost
him everything. Laid down his life. No greater
love hath any man than this. Laid down his life for his friends.
He said, you're my friends. You do that which I command you.
We trust Him. We believe Him. We call on Him.
By faith, we come to Him. Oh, I think about the redemption. Thy life from destruction. Job 33, 24. He said, Then He
is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to
the pit. I found a ransom. we said, who
redeemeth thy life from destruction. Had it not been for God's grace,
I'd have been in hell. If not there already, I'd be
there, but for His grace. He's redeemed the lives of His
people from destruction. And it is He, the Scripture says,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.
Not corruptible crowns. People start talking about crowns,
you know, earning crowns and crowns in heaven and stuff like
this. Or anything you ever had in this world, fade away and
be destroyed. But crowned with His kindness. Who crowneth thee with loving
kindness, tender mercies, tender love. Tender pity, as a father
pities his children. He said, I've pitied you, shown
mercy to you. Another benefit that we bless
the Lord for, verse 5, who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so
that thy youth is renewed like the eagles, who satisfieth thy
mouth, when it says good things, it's just not vain things, not
empty things. He fills with good our soul. He satisfies all the just desires
and our needs. Here's another scripture, Philippians
4.19. Again, I'll be the first to admit,
I don't know all that I need. I don't know all that I need.
Somebody says, well tell me what you really need, and I don't
even know what all I need, but I tell you this, but my God shall
supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ
Jesus. Needs that we're not even aware
of. I don't know what I need. But I tell you, He does. I need
Him. And my need is going to be supplied
in Him. I know this because, as I said
in the first message, He's not going to forsake His people.
I know that. And He says, thy youth is renewed like the eagles. The closest that I could come
to the heart of that passage right there, the believer experiences
the refreshing renewal of God's grace and comforts. I mean, it's
by the comfort, the teaching, and the recovering daily of God's
Spirit that God's saints that they're filled with a new understanding,
new joy. Have you ever been reading a
scripture, and you've read it before, and you've read it, you've
heard it, and you agree with it, but all of a sudden, you
hear it. And the Spirit of God blesses
it to you, and I mean you just, I never saw it like that. That's it. That bears witness
to my heart. You remember those two on the
road to Emmaus? And the Lord came beside them,
talking to them, and He began to open unto them, expound unto
them all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself. And
this is what they said, Did not our heart burn within us while
He talked with us by the way and while He opened unto us the
Scriptures? Our hearts burn. My head just
doesn't... You can tell me something. I
understand what you're saying. But I'm telling you for it to
be a blessing. It's related like this. It's
just my heart. I'm so good. I thank the Lord. Listen to this. I'll just read
this. Let the Word speak for itself. Verse 8. The Lord is
merciful and gracious. slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. He's not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, aren't you
glad? Aren't you glad that he dealt with the Lord Jesus Christ,
the substitute of God's people? And he didn't deal with us. I
said, Lord, if you marked iniquity, who could stand? For as the heaven
is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that
fear him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has
he removed our transgressions from us. Here's what I quoted
a while ago. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame. I mean,
I know a little bit about it. I mean, I can see a little bit
of it. But he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we're dust
out of the lumps of clay. As for man, His days are as grass,
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, it's gone. Place thereof shall know it no
more." How quickly we forget, one of our loved ones pass away
and we remember, but how we start fading in memory of them, you
know, just gone. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him and His
righteousness unto the children's children. Look at verse 1 in
closing. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless
His holy name. Praise unto you, Father. Unto you, dear Son. unto you,
Holy Spirit. Praise unto Jehovah. Praise unto
the triune God. Bless the Lord, O my soul, from
the heart, not just my head. I don't want to just... That's
so easy for me to say it. Praise the Lord. Bless the Lord.
It's almost like a bye word, you know, like they pulled something
out of their wallet, you know, got a card here. Not from my lips. Not from just
my head and just a mental ascent, knowing that I'm supposed to
say that. But truly, truly, that my heart
would bless the Lord. David is talking to himself. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Speaking
unto himself. Deliver me from this cold mental
acknowledgement of my head. and my soul may bless the Lord.
And all that is within me, my conscience, my decisions, my
memories, Lord, I want to. I want to. Don't let anything
be exempt. May the words, my thoughts, my
attitude, all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless
Him as He's revealed Himself in His character. He's holy. He's omnipotent, He's sovereign,
He's immutable, faithful, goodness, patience, grace. Bless the Lord,
O my soul. That's how He started. Look at
verse 1, Bless the Lord, O my soul. Look at the very last part
of verse 22, Bless the Lord, O my soul. Lord, help us this
day to remember. Help us to muse upon these great
benefits that you've done for us. And Lord, while we see through
a glass darkly right now, and we admit it, we admit it, we
don't see as we ought, but Lord, by your grace, one day we will.
And in that day, in that day, we'll throw our crowns, Revelation
4, 5, Talking about casting their crowns and said, you're worthy,
you're worthy, you're worthy. You've redeemed us. Out of every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, you're worthy. Receive all honor
and glory and praise. Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul.