Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. If you would like to turn with
me in your Bible, we're going to be in Psalm 103 this morning. Psalm 103 is a very precious
psalm. This is a very endearing psalm. It causes me to enter into the
heart of David and. And it encourages me to bless
the Lord. It is commonly believed that
David wrote this psalm at the end of his life. At a time when
he might have had a clearer sense of certain things that we all
get a clearer sense of toward the end of our life. As time
goes on, we learn things, we enter into things more so than
we could have when we were young. I'm very positive of the fact
that there will be things that I can enter into 20 years from
now that I can't enter into now. just like I enter into things
now that I couldn't enter into 20 years ago. So there are things
that we learn as time goes on. There are things that we become
more. Keenly aware of. Much more keenly
aware of one of the things that God's people get a greater sense
of. The longer they go through this
life, Is there sin? It's true. You want to believe
that things get easier. You want to believe that. That
begins to go away, but it's not so. The longer a believer lives
on this earth, he becomes more and more heightened to more keenly
aware of his own sin. If you look here at Psalm 103
verse 9, David said, He will not always chide, neither will
He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. 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 hath He removed our transgressions from us."
David seems to be very familiar with his sin. He seems to be
very familiar with his sin. He mentions sin. He mentions
iniquity. He mentions transgressions. That's not what we start out
seeing ourselves to be. Not at all. Men and women do
not begin this life. Keenly aware of their own sin,
even though they have it. Not at all. That is, though,
where every single one of God's people will end up. This place
where David is. This is the place every one of
God's children will end up, the longer we go, unfortunately.
The more heightened our awareness will be of our own sin if we
belong to the Lord. If we truly look to Him and bow
to Him and trust Him, we will believe His Word. We will believe
what His Word has to say about us. We will acknowledge it's
the truth. Everything He reveals to us,
everything He opens our eyes to, we will see it's the truth. We will acknowledge that. But
with that, Thank goodness along with that comes a greater awareness
of something else. The longer we go. And the greater
our awareness becomes of our own sin. The greater our awareness
will be of God's grace. The more we see of our sin. the
more we will see of God's grace. There's good reason for God revealing
to a man or a woman their sin. It's because through that they
see God's grace. They see it. More of his grace,
more of his grace. Verse 13 right here in Psalm
103 says, like as a father pitieth his children, So the Lord pitieth
them that fear him. Isn't that precious? Isn't that
precious, isn't that wonderful, isn't that wonderful news, like
as a father pitieth his children, that's something we can enter
into. Just like a father pities his
own children, so the Lord pities them that fear him, those of
you who have children, Some of you listening, probably many
of you listening have children. And those of you who do, what
do those children mean to you? How special are those children
to you? How important are they to you? In your list of priorities, where
do they rank? Where do your children rank? Have you ever gotten up one morning
and said, well, I don't know if I'm going to feed my children
today or not. I haven't decided. No. There are children. We love them. We look out for them. We protect
them. There are children. Turn with
me over to Malachi chapter three. This is the last book in the
Old Testament. Malachi chapter three, verse
17 says, and they shall be mine. This is the Lord speaking. They
shall be mine saith the Lord of host in that day when I make
up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own
son that serveth him." He said, when I make up my jewels, I'm
going to gather them together, consider them to be jewels in
my eyes, and I'm going to spare them. I'm going to have mercy
on them. I'm going to keep them. I'm going
to protect them. I'm going to preserve them, my
jewels. as a man preserves his own son
as a man protects his own son that's how i'm going to be with
him as a man spares his own son if you look over at matthew chapter
7 just a few more pages matthew 7 verse 9 says what manner what
man is there of you whom if his son asked bread will he give
him a stone? What man, if his son is starving,
I mean starving and hungry, and he comes and says, Dad, I'm starving.
What man will give his son a stone instead of bread? Or if he ask
a fish, will he give him a serpent? The Lord said, if you then being
evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much
more Shall your father, which is in heaven, give good things
to them that ask him? If you being evil, if if we being
sinners. If we being. Made of sin. Crown of our heads, soul of souls
of our foot, if we being selfish. Know how to give good gifts to
our children. How much more does the heavenly
father? Know how to give good gifts to
his children. Good gifts, what gifts has God
given to his children? Well, let's start with the blood
of Jesus Christ. What a gift. For God so loved
the world, he gave his only begotten son. He gave his own son, he
shed the blood of his own son. Good gift that doesn't even come
close to being worthy to describe the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace, mercy, peace. Long suffering, patience, good
gifts, everything his children need, not only eternally, but
also temporally, physically good gifts. grace it's all grace that's
what grace means free gift grace that is greater than all our
sin believers truly do see more and more of that as time goes
on they do now look with me back in our text psalm 103 there's
something else that god's people receive a greater awareness of
as time goes on and that's a greater sense of the end of life on this
earth Psalm 103 verse 14, for he knoweth our frame, he remembereth
that we are dust. The Lord told Adam, from dust
you came and you're going right back to it, right back to the
ground. God formed Adam out of this ground
and God told Adam, you're going right back to it, right back
to the dust. And he said he knows our frame. He remembers that
we're dust. As for man, his days are as grass. As a flower of the field, so
he flourishes. Those little flowers out in the
field, they pop up. And they're beautiful for a moment.
Verse 16 says for the wind passeth over it and it's gone. They wither
and they're gone and the place thereof shall know it no more. That's it. That flower is gone. That becomes more and more clear
to us as time goes on. That becomes more and more clear
to us. Time is short. Life is very short. We're all looking forward, looking
forward, and all of a sudden we realize we're looking backwards. This life is flying to the end,
flying to the end. And we are going to leave this
life and we're going to go meet God. We're going to go stand
before God. And the longer we live here on
this earth, it becomes more and more keenly aware to us. The end is coming. Death is coming. But it becomes more keenly aware
to us that these things are good. All of this is good. It's good
to realize that it's good to see that it's good for a man
to be aware of his own sin. It's good. We hear the word sin
and we think, oh, I don't want to talk about that. I don't want
to talk about sin. I'll tell you this. It's good
for a man to become keenly aware of his sin. It is good for a
man to become keenly aware of God's grace. It's good for a
man to become keenly aware of what will put away that sin.
We're going to face it now or face it later. And if we face
it later, it's going to be too late. It's good for a man to
consider the frailty of his life. The absolute frailty, how short
it is. Oh, that they were wise and would
consider their latter end. It's coming. It's coming. Here's another good thing to
be keenly aware of right here in verse 17. But the mercy of
the Lord. The mercy of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. Mercy is
on every soul that fears Him. One thing that I fear is that
men and women have no fear of God before their eyes. Fear the
Lord, fear His holiness, fear His justice. If we don't fear
Him right now, we will very soon. We will very soon. But the mercy
of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear him and his righteousness unto children's children, his
perfection, his goodness, his kindness. Verse 18 says to such
as keep his covenant promise. He made a promise to us, the
covenant of his blood. And to those that remember his
commandments to do them. What are his commandments? God,
the father said, honor the son. God, the father said, come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He will raise you up. God, the
father said, believe on him, hear his word. Verse 19 says the Lord hath prepared
his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all. That's a good thing to become
keenly aware of. The longer a believer goes through
this life, the more he sees the reality of God's absolute sovereignty. And I pray that God would reveal
that more to me. And I pray God would reveal that
to you. God's absolute sovereignty. God is not trying to do anything. If you hear a man stand up and
tell you God's trying to do something, don't listen to that man. God
is absolutely sovereign. He is seated on a throne. He
is doing whatever he wants to do with whomever he wants to
do it. He's sovereign. He's sovereign. ruling over everything, reigning
over everything in absolute control of everything. Men stand up and
tell people, oh, God doesn't want this to happen and God doesn't
want that to happen. God is in absolute control of
everything. Absolute control of everything. Now, there's something very interesting
about this prayer that David prayed. Not one time did he ask
for anything. In this entire Psalm, not one
time did he ask God for anything. He didn't make one request. That's
so unlike us, isn't it? That's all we do is make requests.
Lord, I need this and I need this. And would you do this?
And would you do this? And we were asking for this.
Not one time did he make a request. The more God's people are taught
of him, the more God's people see him, see his sovereignty. See his grace, see his goodness,
see his kindness. The more we see how everything
he does is good and right. The more we grow in him, the
more God's people begin blessing him, thanking him, praising him. The more our language goes from
Lord, would you please provide for me to thank you for providing
for me. It's proven to the Lord's people,
the Lord will provide and they say, Lord, you have provided
for me. You've always provided and you always will. And seeing
that not only in these earthly things, but seeing it in salvation
brings such peace to the soul. I don't have to try to work.
I'm not trying to earn. I'm not trying to do. The Lord
will provide. That's what Abraham told Isaac. God told Abraham, you take your
son up on a mountain, Mount Moriah, you offer him there a sacrifice
that points us to what Christ would come in and accomplish
for us. So Abraham grabbed his son and he grabbed some wood
and he grabbed some fire and he grabbed a knife and they set
up up to the mountain and Isaac said, father, I see the wood
and I see the fire and I see the knife, but where is the lamb?
And this is what Abraham told him, he said, my son. God will
provide himself a lamb. And what he was saying is God
will provide his own lamb And he said, God will provide himself
a lamb. God will provide. And then they
went up there and he tied Isaac down to that altar like God told
him to do. And just before he plunged that knife, God said,
Abraham, turn around. And Abraham turned around and
behind him there was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. That
represents our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, wearing that crown
of thorns. And Abraham laid hold of that
ram and threw that ram on that altar and plunged the knife into
that ram. And that ram became the substitute for his son. And
Abraham blessed God and thanked God and he said, the Lord has
provided. The more a believer sees of God's
provisions, the more he'll bless the Lord. The more he'll say,
thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Lord, you have
done all things well. All things well. I believe David
was brought to this place. I believe the Lord revealed these
things to David. That's why he said in verse one,
bless the Lord. Oh my soul. Bless the Lord. Oh my soul. Look at the end of verse 22,
the very last line there at the end of verse 22, he said, bless
the Lord. Oh my soul. He begins it with
bless the Lord. He ends it with bless the Lord. He never leaves that subject
and God's people don't. When it comes to salvation, what
do God's people have to say about it? Bless the Lord. When it comes
to everything, bless the Lord. Everything, bless God, thank
God. Verse one, he said, bless the
Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. everything that's
inside me bless his holy name look with me back at psalm 4
just a few pages back to psalm chapter 4 verse 4 says stand
in all and sin not commune with your own heart upon your bed
and be still just commune have a conversation with your own
heart about this and just be still. Have a conversation with
your own heart over in Psalm 77 verse six. It says, I call to remembrance
my song in the night. I commune with mine own heart. And my spirit made diligent search. I have a conversation with my
own heart. All that is within me. Everything
that is within me, I have a conversation concerning these glorious things.
What is within me? David said everything that's
within me, what is within me? Well, I have a mind in here.
I have a mind that thinks and remembers I have a heart in here. It has emotions. It has desires.
I have a soul in here. David said may all that is within
me bless his holy name. Everything that mind soul heart
all of it may all of it bless his holy name back in psalm 103
verse 2 says bless the lord oh my soul and forget not all his
benefits who's david talking to right here he's talking to
his soul He's saying something to his soul. Bless the Lord.
Oh, my soul. He's about to tell all of the
benefits that God has given. He's about to tell all those
benefits to his own soul. Verse three, who forgiveth all
thine iniquities? He said, so. God has forgiven
all your iniquities. All of them. Does that mean that
we're never going to sin again in this body? This body here
will never ever commit another sin because God has forgiven
all our iniquities. No, that's not what he means.
Not at all. He's saying because of the Lord's
benefits. Because of what God has done
for us in the blood of Christ, we will never again sin in the
soul. He's talking to his soul. When
God dealt with us in Christ, he dealt with our souls. He dealt
with our souls. Verse three says, who healeth
all thy diseases. Does he mean we're never going
to get sick again? No, he doesn't mean that at all. He's talking about the disease
of the soul. That sickness of sin. As long
as we have the blood of our great physician, we're never going
to come down with that sickness ever again in the soul. Verse
four says, who redeemeth thy life from destruction. Do you
mean my body's never going to die? No, not at all. This body is going to die. Thank God. This old flesh, this
old man, it's going to die. but not the new man of the soul. My soul, oh, my soul. David said, Christ has redeemed
you from death. The soul that liveth and believeth
in him shall never die. Why? The scripture says it's
Christ that died. That's why. So this is a conversation
David is having with his soul. He said, oh, my soul, Christ
died for you. He died for you. Verse four goes
on to say, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender
mercies, who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy
youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. What more reason could
a soul need to bless him than that? Verse seven, he made known his
ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord
is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Our Lord said that to his people
in Exodus 34. Right after he said that, he
said, I will by no means clear the guilty. Right after he said
that. I will by no means clear the guilty. Well, if he will
by no means clear the guilty, then what does that mean for
us? That means he will have mercy.
That's what it means. He's merciful, gracious, slow
to anger, plenteous in mercy. He says it twice. Why? It's because he made his own
son to be guilty for us so that he could show mercy.
the only response a child of God can have to that is bless
the Lord bless the Lord all praise be to him and that's the closing
exhortation in this psalm David said let everything All ye ministers,
all ye hosts, all dominion, let everything bless the Lord. But he said, I'm going to make
sure this one thing blesses him more than anything else. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, me. Till next week, may the Lord
bless His Word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m., and 6 o'clock
p.m. Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m.
Please tune in next week for another message of God's free
and sovereign grace.