Well, I've not fallen over this
far, so maybe we'll make it through. If you would, open with me. Our text is gonna be Psalm 103,
the first five verses. But we're going to look quickly at what William
just read in Psalm 102. The heading of Psalm 102 says
a prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth
out his complaint before the Lord. When I first started looking
for something for this evening, this was before I was walking
around with a limp. The Henson family was heavy on
my mind. They had just undergone some
troubles with Isaac. Seizures were kicking up again. I was looking for a message that
would benefit them mostly. They were heavy on my heart.
But as I thought on them, I started going around the room to each
family. And I realized that every family
represented here has, in one form or another, cried this prayer
in Psalm 102. Just a quick glance. Psalm 102,
verse one. Hear my prayer. Hide not thy
face. I am in trouble. We've all gone
before our Lord and begged his audience. Hear me. I'm undone. I've got nowhere
else to go. Will you please hear my cry? Verse 10. Thou hast lifted me
up and cast me down. In all things, we bow before
our Lord. We acknowledge his hand, his
sovereignty, and our lack. Verse 11, my days are like a
shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass. Our hope
is His greatness. Verse 12, Thou, O Lord, shalt
endure forever. I read through this Psalm and
somehow I was allowed to continue reading
into Psalm 103 as if there was not a break. There, as I finished
verse 28 of 102, I went straight in to 103. And that's how I came
to our text this evening. When we're cast down, when we're
heavily afflicted and overwhelmed, when we cry out that prayer of
Psalm 102, how do we know that prayer is answered? What is our
response? 103 verse one. Bless the Lord, O
my soul. Is there any better remedy for
poor sinners in our hours of trials and troubles than to simply
be reminded of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done? to be
reminded of who he is that loves us and gave himself for us. Both Psalm 103 and 104
start with, bless the Lord, O my soul. What a sad commentary it
is on me. that I have to be continually
reminded, bless the Lord. Truly, we are miserable sinners,
sinners by nature and sinners by deed. Dead to the knowledge of our
Lord and dead to the things of Christ. And as long as we are
in this body of death, sin is close at hand. Thank God, in
His mercy and in His grace, He's given us, through our Lord Jesus
Christ, a heart that desires to bless the Lord. And Christ
in us reminds us, bless the Lord, O my soul. It is a great shame
that I must be reminded to bless Him. Just look at who He is. Psalm 104 verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O
Lord my God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. He is my God. He is my Lord Jehovah, my God
who saves. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O
Lord my God, thou art very great. Thou art clothed with honor and
majesty. While the clothes that we wear
make a statement, it's not, they don't define us. The wearer of
the clothes define us. Their glory. Honor and majesty, or glory,
the words also interpreted as glory, clothe our Lord because
of who he is. Revelation 411 says, thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou
hast created all things. and for thy pleasure they are
and were created. Revelation 5.12 says, worthy
is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. As the
creator, our Lord has honor and majesty. In giving himself as the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, our Lord has obtained
honor and majesty to himself. And just knowing who he is, that's
all we need to be caused to bless his name. The afflicted man cries out in
Psalm 102, and often at the same time that we've been brought
to that place, that place where we're overwhelmed, we're at the end of ourselves. I've looked everywhere else except
for turning to Him, my only hope. And in that time, when I'm overwhelmed
like that, in Psalm 102, that prayer cries out. Often, at the
same time, the answer comes. Almost as you're saying the prayer,
you get the answer. Psalm 103, verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless His holy name. What is His name? That most precious
name, the Lord Jesus Christ. Emmanuel, God with us. Jehovah, the God who saves, the
mighty God. We need no other reasons to bless
his name. Just being made to know who he
is, that's all the reason we need to bless his name. But starting
in verse two, we are giving So many more reasons. Let's read
the first five verses together and then we'll look at all the
benefits given to us for Christ's sake. And while we read this,
take notice that his benefits given to us are ongoing. Each
verb ends with F, E-T-H. Not forgiven, as in past tense,
not will forgive at some point in the future, but the verbs
are forgiveth, healeth, redeemeth, crowneth, satisfieth, active
verbs, right now, forever, right now. Psalm 103, verse 1. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy
name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases. who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth
thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagle's. Verse three, bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not He forgiveth all thine iniquities."
Iniquities are great guilt. We are sinners. We, in and of
ourselves, stand before the holy law of God guilty, but in Christ,
the He lived a righteous life. He
lived a guilt-free life. He lived a life equal to God,
rather than the unequal life that we live. And he lived that
life not for himself, but as a substitute for us. He freely gave to us his equality. And he took upon himself our
inequality. On Calvary's cross, bearing our
burden, bearing my burden, he poured out his blood that God
can now forgiveth all thine iniquities. I love that little word. God does not do anything in half
measures. Paul said to the Philippians,
being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it. until the day of Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord in the
very beginning, all the way through to the very end. It is all of
Him. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not. He healeth all thy diseases. We live in an age with technology
and professionals who are able to provide more information about
this human body and about our health than at any other time,
I guess, in history. And I'm very thankful for those
resources, particularly right now at the moment. But they're just tools. The technology and the doctors,
they are tools used at God's disposal. It is God that gave
men and women the ability to create the technology. It is
God that has given men and women the desire to study and to become health professionals. If this body is healed, it's
going to be to the glory of God. He gets the credit. He gets all
the glory for the healing. But why? must we endure this
body of affliction? Why must we endure the pains,
the sicknesses that we endure? You and I have one great disease
and its name is sin. In the scriptures, there are
many redeemed sinners who suffered many, many years with diseases
and afflictions. But they all rejoiced the greatest
over one healing. Thy sins be forgiven. This mortal flesh must be laid
down. But if the Lord has said to our
souls, thy sins be forgiven, what else matters? It is well
with my soul. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not, verse four, he redeemeth thy life from destruction. Forgiveness
of all our iniquities and the healing of our diseases came
at a great price. God is holy. His law, his justice,
his mercy, his truth, his grace is holy. is healing and our forgiveness
must be in accordance to His holiness. The law of God must
be kept, but we cannot, we will not, we do not keep His law because
we are sin. God's justice has one demand,
keep the law and live. Offend in one point and die. In Adam, all die. We come forth from our mother's
wombs speaking lies because we are by nature dead in trespasses
and sins. We cannot pay the price to live. But God, sending his only begotten
son in the likeness of sinful flesh, he kept the law in our
stead. As the federal head for those
he loves, for those given to him before the foundation of
the world, having kept the law for our sake, himself being harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, He was led to Calvary's cross. Bearing our sins, He paid the
redemption price by shedding His blood and laying down His
life. Our way is the way of death and
destruction. He is life eternal. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemeth
thy life from destruction. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not. He crowneth thee with lovingkindness
and tender mercies. The crown sits upon the head. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
head of the body. In that he is crowned with lovingkindness,
we in him are crowned with lovingkindness. In that he is crowned with tender
mercies, we in him are crowned with tender mercies. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not He satisfieth thy mouth with good. We use the word
satisfied to generally mean I'm content. I've got enough. I don't need any more. But this word, one of its meanings
is to have in excess. over abundance. Out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. When we are given the privilege
to meditate upon, to look back over our life, to see what great
things the Lord has done for us up to this point. When we're
given the privilege to seek our Lord, Even in the midst of those
times of trouble, our mouth shall be satisfied with good. At some
point, being that man or woman that's crying out in Psalm 102,
being overwhelmed in our affliction, at some point our heart will
cease to be overwhelmed by that affliction as it turns from looking
at, oh, woe is me, and is turned, I should say, to look upon Christ
alone. Then instead of, woe is me, The
mouth overflows with bless the Lord, oh my soul. Remembering all his benefits. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and
forget not, thy youth is renewed like the eagles. I've had the
honor of visiting with some of my Elders. Who were beloved of the Lord. In their final days. As they
lay weak in the flesh. And generally there were a couple
of us visiting with them and as the conversation turned. To how great our Lord is. To magnifying and praising him. that one laying so frail on their
bed, their eyes got a spark of life back to them. A little bit
of strength returned to them as they heard of just how great
he is. But it's not only at that time.
But those of us who have cried out in Psalm 102 being overwhelmed. And I am a horrible example of
one that helps my brethren. I often don't call when I know
things are going on, don't text, because I think, well, they've
got so much. Just don't want to disturb them.
But on the other side, being a recipient of the call of the
text when I was overwhelmed. What a blessing it is. When a
brother or sister comes and says, if nothing more than just I'm
praying for you, I remember you, the Lord bless you. And in that
moment, in that visit, in that text, in the scripture that is
sent, We, enduring that overwhelming
trial, are reminded, bless the Lord, and forget not all his
benefits. In that time, are you not strengthened
just a little bit? Maybe I can make it through one
more day, one more night, That overwhelming affliction
is a little bit lighter just knowing we've got a loved one
who is going before God's throne praying for us. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth
all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth
thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with lovingkindness
and tender mercies, who satisfyeth thy mouth with good things, so
that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. May the Lord make
that a blessing to us.