Go back with me if you would
to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. I am so grateful for
the men that the Lord used to write commentaries on the Scripture. I'm grateful for those men. The Lord taught them some things
and had them write them down for us. And I use them and I
read them. And there were some men who pointed
out some things in this chapter that were a great blessing to
me. They were such a great blessing to me. And I want to give some
of those things to you tonight. It is commonly believed, David,
just under the heading, it says a Psalm of David. David wrote
this, he penned it. And it's commonly believed that
David wrote this psalm toward the end of his life. And he wrote it at a time, men
say, where at the end of life some things become a little clearer. Some realities become a little
bit more real to us come the end of this life. There are things that I could
not understand when I was younger that I understand now. There
are just things I could not understand that I understand right now.
I am adamantly positive that 20 to 30 years from now, if the
Lord tarries, if He keeps me, if He would have me to live that
long, 20 or 30 years from now, there are going to be things
that I understand more clearly than I could possibly understand
them today. I'm just confident of that. One
of the things that God's people get a greater sense of The longer
they travel through this world is a sense of their own sin. That's sad to say. We hope it
is less. You want it to be less. The longer
you go, you hope that we forget those things. We move past those
things. We want to be done with those
things. I want to be more and more conformed into his image,
and I want to get farther and farther from that. But the reality
is, I see more of my own sin now than I ever have. And from
what I hear men and women older than me say, it only becomes
clearer. It only becomes clear, it's a
greater reality, a greater sense of our own sin. David said here
in this chapter in verse nine, he 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. Very familiar. Sin, he said iniquity, transgressions. And that's not what we start
out seeing ourselves to be. That's not the view we have of
ourself in the beginning. But that is where every single
one of God's children will end up. Every single one, that's
where we all will end up. The longer we go, unfortunately,
the more heightened our awareness will be of our own sin. The more heightened our awareness
will be. With that, with that, the Lord is so wise
in how He reveals everything to us. Because 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'll see of God's grace. The more we are convinced of
our sin, the more we will become convinced of God's grace. Verse
13 says, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him. Those of you who have children, What do they mean to you? What do they mean to you? How important are they to you? In the priorities of life, where
do they rank? Well, I thought about feeding
my children today, but I don't think I'm going to. Has that
literally ever crossed your mind? ever. They said they were hungry, they
were crying, but I'm just not going to do it. Has that ever
crossed your mind? Turn with me over to Malachi
chapter 3, last book of the Old Testament, Malachi 3. Verse 17, Malachi 3 verse 17
says, and they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, my
special treasure, and I will spare them as a man spareth his
own son that serves him. That's how I'll spare him. I'll
spare him as a man spares his own son. Turn with me over to
Matthew 7. Matthew 7 verse 9 says, or what
man is there of you? whom if his son ask bread, will
he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he
give him a serpent? If ye 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? God's grace. God's grace. Grace that is greater than all
our sin. Believers truly do see more and
more of that grace as time goes on. They really do. They enter
into more and more as time goes on. Go with me back over to 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 this life. A greater sense of
the end of life on this earth. Look at verse 14. He said, for
he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass,
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth, for the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know
it no more. That becomes more and more clear
to us, doesn't it? More clear to us, the end of
this life, every day that passes is one day closer, and it's getting
faster and faster. It's just getting faster and
faster. It becomes more clear to us, all these things. And
the Lord more so reveals to us also that they're all good. We
see all these things to be good. It's good for a man to be aware
of his own sin, isn't it? Isn't that good? It's good for
a man to be aware of God's grace. It's good for a man to consider
the frailty of his life. Oh, that they were wise and would
consider their latter end. Here's another good thing that
the Lord's people become greatly aware of. Verse 17 says, but
the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
them that fear him. and His righteousness unto children's
children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember
His commandments, to do them." Those that are keeping His covenant,
holding on to, laying hold of, bringing near, not letting go,
His covenant. His covenant. Verse 19, the Lord
hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth
over all. The longer a believer goes through
this life, the more he sees the reality of God's absolute sovereignty. God's absolute sovereignty. God is seated on his throne.
And the longer we go, the more we realize and experience that. Believers believe it from the
time the Spirit speaks it to their heart. But it's through
experience that it becomes more clear and more clear. God is
sovereign. God is sovereign. We'll be thankful. God is sovereign. God is in control. God is ruling all. He is absolutely in control of
everything, everything, always. Now, there's one more thing that
initially was pointed out to me about this chapter, and I
pray that the Lord would bring me to this. I pray the Lord would
bring me to this. We've already looked at about
half of this chapter. We're going to look at the other half briefly
and we're going to see that not one time did he ask for anything
in this whole chapter. Not one time did he make one
request. The more that God's people are
taught of him, they'll all be taught of God. And the more they're
taught of him, the more their prayers will go from asking to
blessing, praising, thanking. The more that we grow in him,
the more our language is going to turn from please provide for
us. Lord, please, please provide
for us. It'll turn from that to the Lord
will provide for us. He's going to provide. Lord,
you have provided for us. You will provide for us. The
more that we are taught of him, the more our language will go
from, Lord, I need this. I need this. It'll go from that
to, Lord, you know what things we have need of before we ever
even ask them. Isn't that right? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bless you. All praise be to you. Thank you. Now, I wrote down
something, and I was going to scratch it out, and I thought,
no, I'm going to point out my mistake. I just said, oh, I pray
God will bring me to this. Now, one of these days, if God
ever teaches me, I pray in 20 to 30 years, God teaches me something. It becomes a little more clear,
and I say, God will teach me this. He'll teach me this. And I pray
God teaches me that. God will. God will. I believe the Lord brought David
to this, and he said in verse one, bless the Lord, oh my soul. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Look
at the end of verse 22. He said, Bless the Lord, O my
soul. That's how he begins this. That's how he ends it. He never
leaves that subject. Never. Bless God. Thank God. Thank God. Verse 1, he said,
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. All that
is within me, bless His holy name. Look with me at Psalm 4. Psalm 4 verse 4 says, stand in awe and sin not." And I think about
the fact that that's an impossible task, but that doesn't change
our commandment, does it? John said, my little children,
I write these things to you that you sin not, but if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father. He said in verse four,
stand in awe and sin not, commune with your own heart upon your
bed and be still. All that is within me. Have a
conversation with your own heart. And be still. Psalm 77 verse
6 says, I call to remembrance my song in the night. I commune
with mine own heart and my spirit may diligent search. I commune
with my own heart. All that is within me. All that
is within me. What is within me? What all is
within me? I have a mind in here. I have
a mind in here. I can think. I can remember. I can reason. There is a heart
in here. There are emotions in here. There are desires in here. I have a soul inside this body. There's a soul in here, there's
a soul that God has done something for. If he put me in Christ,
there's a soul in here that he did something for. David said,
may all that is within me bless his holy name. Everything that's
inside me. Go with me back over to Psalm
103. Verse 2 says, Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Now who is he talking
to? Who is he talking to? He's talking
to my soul. He's talking to his own soul,
isn't he? That's who he's talking to. He's
about to tell all the benefits that God has given to his soul. His soul. Verse 3, He said, Who
forgiveth all thine iniquities? Does He mean that we're never
going to sin in this body ever again? All your sins are taken
care of. Is that what He means? He's never
going to sin in this body ever again. No. That's not what He
means 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're never going to sin again in the soul. The
soul that sinneth shall surely die. But in the blood of Christ, the
soul doesn't sin. You're not going to sin in the
soul. God dealt with us in Christ and he dealt with our souls.
Verse 3 says, who healeth all thy diseases. Does he mean that
we're never going to get sick again? Not at all. He's talking about the disease
of the soul, the sickness of sin. As long as we have the blood
of the great physician, the great physician, we're never going
to come down with that sickness ever again. Verse 4 says, who
redeemeth thy life from destruction. Do you mean my body's never going
to die? Didn't he say, whoever lives
and believes in me shall never die? Are you saying my body's
never going to die? No. The old man, thank God, the old
man is going to die. The old man of this flesh is
going to die, but not the new man of the soul. Never die. My soul, David said, Christ has
redeemed you from death. This is the conversation David's
having with his soul. This is the conversation we all
have with our own souls, isn't it? He said, oh my soul, Christ
died for you. What do we have to murmur about? What do we have to murmur about?
Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Bless God. David's having a conversation
down with his soul. Soul, oh my soul. I said to myself, self, bless God. Bless God. Look at verse four. He finished
it by saying, 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 we possibly
need to bless Him for all eternity? Bless the Lord. Bless Him. Bless Him. Verse 7 says, 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. Now he is quoting Exodus 34 where
the Lord proclaims his own holy name. He tells Moses what his
name is. He said, I'm going to proclaim
my name to you. Look at it with me. Go over there
to Exodus 34. Exodus 34 verse 5 says, And the Lord descended
in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the
name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him, and proclaimed. Now he's saying this is my name
right here. He said it's the Lord. The Lord God. merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." Well, wait
a minute. If He will by no means clear the guilty, why are we
blessing His name? is because he made his son to
be guilty. He made his son to be guilty
for us so that he could be merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant
in goodness and truth, That's everything He is to His people.
Everything He is to us. There's only one response we
can have to that. One response. Bless God. Bless God. All praise be to Him. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We're here to say thank you,
aren't we? We're here to say thank you. That's the closing
exhortation that David gives in his prayer there in Psalm
103. Go back over to Psalm 103, verse 20. Psalm 103, verse 20 says, Bless
the Lord, ye His angels that excel in strength that do his
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless
ye the Lord, all ye his host, ye ministers of his that do his
pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works
in all places of his dominion. Everyone and everything that
has breath, needs to praise the Lord, give Him thanksgiving, honor,
praise. But this is where David said,
I'm ending it. He said, I'm going to end it right here. This is
my number one concern right here. He said at the end of verse 22,
bless the Lord, O my soul. Everything needs to bless Him.
The angels need to bless Him. The whole host needs to bless
Him. All of his ministers and servants
need to bless him. Every work he's ever done needs
to bless him. But here's my number one concern.
So, now listen to me. Oh my soul, bless the Lord. I must bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. Oh my soul. Our God has truly given us no
other reason to do anything other. Anything other than bless His
holy name. There's a song that is a direct quotation from this
psalm. Bless the Lord. I want us to
sing that. Let's all stand together. It's hymn number 30.