When it says there, the title
of the message is in the first verse. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Now, you notice at the beginning
of this study, and we look at it, this is a Psalm of David
when he's getting in his old age, getting up in years. And
let me give you three reasons why. There's a clear sense that
he sees the frailty of his life, how frail his life is. The Lord
pitieth his children, pities them. And I'll tell you, and
that second thing about it is, he had a much, much more awareness
of sin, of sin. And then thirdly, he emphasizes
God's mercy and God's forgiveness. And I'll tell you something else,
there's not one request He didn't ask God for one thing in this
psalm, not one thing. All he did in this is praise
the Lord, praise the Lord. This is in Psalm. You know, whenever
you, as you get older, I think this happens, you know, it's
a sign of spiritual maturity when you give more praise to
God and ask for less. And a lot of times you don't
ask for anything, all you wanna do is just thank Him and praise
Him. And when we ask for things, we ask it for somebody else.
We don't ask it for ourselves. The only thing we ask for ourselves
is mercy and grace. But what we ask for everybody
else is different. And I tell you, as you know,
and most people have this attitude, give me, give me, give me. But
as we grow in grace, I think our prayers change. Gonna tell
you something else about this psalm. The word Jehovah, or the
Lord, is mentioned 11 times in 22 verses. And I tell you what,
don't get taken up with God's blessings, God's gifts, and God's
benefits. Let's get taken up with the Lord
Himself, the Lord Jesus Himself, and get taken up with Him. And
David starts out here by saying this, Bless the Lord, O my soul. Now when you're talking about
praise, this is the highest form of praise. He didn't use his
lips. He's praying from his heart.
He's praying from his very soul, his innermost being. And he reaches
out and his soul loves and praises the Lord. And I tell you, it's
a blessed, blessed man who knows how to converse with himself
and converse with God while he's on his bed or anywhere else he's
at, conversing with God himself. And I tell you what, and especially
when you're concerned in spiritual truths, And I'll tell you what,
let me give you a few things. When we talk, and then David
said, bless the Lord, O my soul. And look at what he said here.
All that is within me. Everything that's in me. All
that's in me. Everything about me. Everything
that's in me. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And
bless his holy name. Let our judgment, we all have
judgments, bless Him by submitting to His Word. Let our imagination
bless Him as we think on Him. Let our affections, our hearts,
bless Him by loving what He loves. Let our desires, in all we have
desires, let our desires bless His holy name because we seek
His will. Let our hope bless Him for the
assurance and peace that He gives us and the rest He gives us in
Christ. And then it says, bless His holy
name. And this holy name, that's who
He is. You can put holy in front of every attribute of God. You
can. Every attribute of God you can
put up, because that's His nature. He's holy. His Word is holy. The Lord Jesus Christ incarnate
was holy. And I tell you what, we want
to bless the Lord for His written Word, bless the Lord for His
Word incarnate, and God is going to be God. And I'm thankful He's
God. Bless His holy name, all that's
within me, bless His holy name. And I tell you, holiness is what
makes Him so beautiful. Holiness and righteousness, what
makes Him so glorious. There's lots of gods out there,
but they're not holy. Lots of gods out there, but they're
not righteous. Lots of gods out there, but they
don't inhabit eternity. Lots of gods out there, but they're
not called holy. And I tell you, his name is holy. Holy, holy, holy. That's what
they call him. And then they look right there
in verse two. And this psalmist's gratitude and prayer has four
attributes. David has four attributes in
his prayer and gratitude here. The first one is personal. He
said, with my soul. I bless the Lord with my soul.
Secondly, it's sincere. He said, and all that's within
me. Thirdly, it's constant. Look what he says there in verse
two. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And
listen to what he said, and it's constant. Huh? Forget not. Oh, I bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that's within me. Let me forget not. Don't
let me forget. And then it's also specific,
look what he said there in verse two, and forget all his benefits. Oh, let all our praise be for
his all that he gives us. And then David goes down through
here, the psalmist goes down through here, and he gives a
list of the benefits. He gives a list of God's benefits.
Look what he said in verse three. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Boy, I have a bunch of them.
I have a bunch of them and I'm gonna have some more. But he
says, forgives all of our iniquities. All of them. Past, present, and
future. Forgiveness. Forgiveness is of
God. He delights to show mercy. The
forgiveness comes from God, because He's the only one that can forgive.
And forgiveness is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid our ransom,
redeemed us, and gave us His righteousness. And it's complete. This forgiveness of all thine
iniquities is complete. He said He forgives all, all
of thine iniquities. Now I tell you what, We could
not begin, we had no idea, we could not begin. If God let us
live for a thousand years, we could not even begin to think
of how many iniquities and sin we've committed. Don't have,
we have no idea. I don't have no idea how many
I did today or yesterday. We are so unconscious of it anymore.
But he goes on and says, now look here, not only forgives
all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. Now let me
say a little something about this. Diseases of this body are
the results of sin. This body has trouble in it because
of sin. The minute we're born, we start
dying. And as we get older, we realize that this body gets weaker
and weaker. It's a corrupt body, and I'll
tell you it's through substance of sin, and if God chooses to
heal your body when it's sick, if it pleases Him to do it, and
it fulfills His design, He can heal your body. He certainly
can, if it's according to His will. But the disease He's talking
about here is the disease of sin, spiritual disease. And our
sins, that's what they are. The only place your sins can
be healed is by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
by his stripes, we're healed. His bruise for our iniquities,
chastisement of our peace was upon him. And by his stripes,
we're healed. You know, he bore all our spiritual
sicknesses, all our spiritual diseases in his own body on the
tree. I remember one time, I was over,
years ago, this fella got to tell me, you know, that he'd
been praying for three years for God to heal his back. And
he said, I was claiming the promise, you know, that my stripes were
healed. I asked him, I said, well, if
it took three years for Christ to heal you, and you said his
stripes is what healed you finally, why didn't they heal you to begin
with? And what is his stripes for? Is it for physical healing
or spiritual healing? He said, I never thought about
it. I said, why did it take so long? If Christ's stripes said
by his stripes we are healed, that means by his stripes we
are healed. Healed of sin. Healed of the
thing that I'd rather be healed of sin and let my body just rot
and corrupt right in front of my own eyes. This body's going
to the dust. But oh, to have them sins gone. And I tell you, that fellow said,
I never thought about that before. And I asked him, I said, well,
if the stripes of Christ are for your healing, then there'd
be nobody sick who's a believer. But if his stripes was for the
cleansing of your sin, then you ain't got no sin. He had never
thought about anything that in his whole life. Then he started
telling me about all the souls he won. Before that was, before
him and I ever parted ways, parted ways, I began giving him good
books to read. Him and I had more conversation.
He said, I, he said, every time I come up here, I learn something
I didn't even know. Because we, you know, I taught
the scriptures about him. And it's so many people are so
confused about God's Word. And look what else he says now.
Who healeth all thy diseases? And then look what it says again.
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction? Oh my, destruction? Well, do you feel like you're
under destruction? This old body's wearing out,
ain't it? And we're going to die, all of us are, every single
one of us. We may die violently in an automobile
wreck. We may die somebody shooting
us, who knows? I've seen people die in great,
great pain and have a lot of pain in their life. But I tell
you one thing, whatever it is, we ain't never going to perish.
Whatever kills us, we're not going to perish. We're not going
to perish. You know why? Because Christ
is our righteousness. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. Christ, our sin offering and
sacrifice, redeemed us from the judgment of sin. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, risen, redeemed us from the grave. And I tell
you what, we're not going to be satisfied until we awake in
His likeness. And then look what else he says.
In verse four, who crowneth thee with loving kindness. These are
some of the benefits that he says, forget not all his benefits.
These are just some of the benefits he gives us. Who crowneth thee
with loving kindness and tender mercies. Oh my. Kings and monarchs
in this world, they wear these great big crowns. The Queen of
England's got a crown that's worth probably millions of dollars. Rubies and diamonds and, pearls
and all kinds of things in it. Emeralds, just this great big,
just barely, she just barely can't hold it up. And they put
this great robe on her, you know, and make her look so good and
these men look like that. And I tell you, they look at
that and they'll see all the silver and the gold and the pomp
and the ceremony. Let everybody know how much wealth
they have materially in their kingdom. But all them kingdoms
gonna pass away. But you know what, God said,
He's gonna crown us. He gonna crown us. What are you
gonna crown us with? Loving kindness. Got a crown on my head. Loving
kindness of the Lord. Oh, the loving kindness of the
Lord. Oh my, look what else he says here. And with tender, tender
mercies. Ooh wee. Loving kindness and
tender mercies. What a crown to wear. What a
crown that God puts on His people. What a crown. And His kingdom
is a kingdom of righteousness and peace. And it'll never pass
away. And I tell you, men wear crowns
of gold. You know what, they wear crowns
of gold and purple, and wear crowns of gold and they wear
these big beautiful purple robes and all that kind of things,
royal robes. But we're dressed in white, our robes are white,
white like snow, because Christ made them white in the blood
of his lamb. And look what else he says now there in verse five.
Who satisfies thy mouth with good things, good things, so
thy youth is renewed as an eagle. Oh my. You know, I know this,
I think I put an article in the bulletin this week about how
satisfied we are with Christ, but the world's never satisfied
with anything. But God said He satisfies our
mouths with good things. He feeds us spiritual food. But a natural man is never, ever
satisfied. He's never at peace. Because
the things of this world can never ever satisfy the soul. But we have the good things of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the good things of His
glory, the good things of His grace, the good things of His
mercy, the good things of His love, the good things of His
forgiveness. We got so many good things from
Christ. We are Christ and Christ is God's
and we're His. And then he said, all these good
things satisfies us. We come here hungry, he feeds
us. Come here weary, he gives us
strength. He always does. And then he says,
and thy youth is renewed like the eagle. You know, we come
and God blesses our youth and strength of grace, and you know,
He constantly renews those all the time. This outward man perishes
day by day, but the inward man is renewed day by day. And I
tell you what, God's people in old age, God gives us a clear
eye, gives us an ear for His word more, And we don't get weary. Look what he says over here.
Are you weary with Christ? After all these years? Are you
weary with the Lord? Well, of course not. Look over
in Psalm 40, verse 13. No, excuse me, verse 31. Verse 31. Oh, he, you know, an eagle, he
said, do you know, an eagle's got an eye that can see. God blesses us. Blessed are your
eyes for they see the things that they see. And look what
he said here in verse 29. He gives power to the faint.
You communists are weak and faint. And to them that have no might,
he gives them strength. Even young men shall faint and
be weary, the youth, and the young men shall lovely fall.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up with wings as eagles, go up into the very presence
of God. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. You know why? Because His mercy
and grace is always, always upon His people. And then look what
he says there in verse 6. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. That means that God,
everybody that's mistreated other people, oppressed people, held
people down, mistreated people, God said, I'm going to execute
a righteous judgment upon them. And I'm going to do it. I'll
be the one to do it. And men will get the just restitution
of God from his hand one of these days. Nobody's getting by with
nothing. And then look what he says there in verse 7. He made known his ways unto Moses
and his acts unto the children of Israel. Now there's two different
things here. God made His way known unto Moses. No, He made His way of mercy
and grace in Christ known unto Moses. You know, He didn't leave
Moses to find out truth for Himself. God taught Moses. Moses, our
Lord said, if you believe Moses, you'll believe Me, for Moses
wrote about Me. And I tell you, He didn't leave
Moses to figure out truth for Himself, and He don't leave His
people to figure out truth for themselves. And only God alone
can reveal himself. Nobody else can. But the people
of Israel, all they saw was his acts. They saw, listen, they
saw all those plagues in Egypt. They saw the water turn, split
open and walk through on dry land. They saw the Passover lamb
shed blood over the door and the post. They saw God come through
and kill the firstborn. They saw water come out of a
rock. They saw food come down from heaven. But they didn't
know God's way. All they ever saw was His action.
And that's what a lot of people are interested in. It's what
God can do instead of what God's already done. Oh my. And then look what, I'm gonna
go through these pretty quick. Verses 8 through 14. You know,
David here, the psalmist, he rejoices in God's feelings for
him, and his love for him, and his dealings with these chosen
people in Christ. Look what he said in verse 8.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous
in mercy. Oh, compassionate. Merciful,
gracious. Oh, His anger is His strange
work. Plenteous in mercy. And I tell you what, in His mercy
forgives our sins. Look what He says in verse 10.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins. Ain't you grateful
that that said that there? He hath not dealt with us after
our sins. Nor has He rewarded us according
to our iniquities. He didn't give us what had come
unto us. Oh no, no, no. I tell you, His
long-suffering compassion waits on us and never fails. And then
look what He says, and you know when He says He's not dealt with
us, we'll not always chide, not always be angry, that He has
not dealt with us after our sins. And here's, this is, you know
how much we understand about it? For as the heaven is high
above the earth, so high is his mercy toward them that fear him. Oh my, I can't comprehend these
great mercies given to us in Christ. It's higher than the
heavens. And look what he says. And here's how he dealt with
our sins. He says, as far as the East from the West, so far
hath He removed our transgressions from us. You know, when you talk
about forgiving, going as far as the East is from the West, it cannot, our sin and guilt
can never return to us. No more than the East can become
the West or the West can become the East. That means that they're
not there at all. They're not there at all. And
then look what he says. Here's another thing that has
not rewarded us and how he treats us so wonderfully. And like as
a father, oh, how many people love their children. Like as
a father pitieth his children when they're weak, they're sick,
they're frail. So the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. And oh my, all who worship him
in fear, And then look what it says. You know why he pities
us? For he knows our frame. Knows
our frame. What is our frame? He remembers
we're just dust. We're just dust. Just dust. Dust we come from, to dust we're
gonna go back. He knows our weaknesses. He knows
our infirmities. He knows our frailties. And He
made us out of dust, we're still dust, and we're gonna return
to the dust, gonna return to it. But now look what He says
about man outside of Christ. Well, for every man. As for man,
his days are as grass, as the flower of the field, so he flourishes.
You know, you see these beautiful flowers come up They lived for
just a little while, soon gone. You know, we had that little
freeze here a week or two ago, and we covered up some things,
some things we didn't. And I mean, you go out there
and look, and all these beautiful bumes just dead, rotten. That's the way man is. You know,
the wind blew on it, and they're gone. And then you have these beautiful
flowers, they come up, We rejoice in them, and they never last
but just a short time. He said, that's the way man is.
He comes up like a flower, and then God's wind begins to blow,
and the wind of this old flesh and sin and our bodies. Oh, I
tell you, they're like grass and flower. They're soon, soon
gone. But the mercy of the Lord, look
what he says, the wind passes over and it's gone. Listen to
this. and the place thereof don't even remember it. We'll be gone
one of these days, and you know, four or five generations out,
nobody won't even know we is on this planet, know we is in
this world. But our Lord's grace in Christ,
oh my. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting. We go, but his mercy is from
everlasting to everlasting. And then look what he says, and
those that keep in His covenant. Oh, thank God for the covenant
of grace. Thank God for His covenant. And
then David, the psalmist, closes. Closes here with great, great
praise of the knowledge and power and glory and sovereignty of
God Almighty. Look what he says, the Lord has
prepared His throne in the heavens. Oh my, God's got a throne. Where's it at? It's in the heavens.
And it says even the heaven of heavens can't contain Him. And
His kingdom ruleth over all. His throne's fixed, it'll never
be moved. And His government, His kingdom
is over all things. Nothing ever upsets God. Nothing
ever surprises God. Never no disorder, never no surprise. Look what he'll accomplish his
purpose and be glorified and that's why he says, bless the
Lord ye angels that excel in strength. Everybody that ought
to, you know you angels that God created, hearken unto the
voice of the Lord. Bless you the Lord of hosts,
all those armies in heaven and you ministers of his that do
his pleasure. Bless the Lord all his works.
Let everything in this universe, in all places of his dominion,
wherever God rules and reigns, let them bless the Lord. Everything bless the Lord. Angels,
ministers, armies in heaven, all of his works in every place
under his dominion. And then he says, if they bless
it, I'm gonna bless the Lord too. Bless the Lord, oh my soul,
and all that's within me. Our Father, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, you've been gracious to us again. Let us
go through your word. Let us look at your word. And
I pray that it was made a blessing. Lord, it's real, it's alive,
it's vital. And we worship the Lord in spirit. We worship him from our heart,
from our soul. We praise him from our innermost
being. We thank on him in our innermost
being. And we praise him from our innermost
being. And Lord, help, we already have
more than we could ever possibly, possibly want or need in this
world. You've gave us exceedingly abundantly
anything we could thank or ask for. So Lord, we don't ask anything
for ourselves, except grace and mercy. And Lord, we pray for
those though that are sick, whose bodies are frail, who have heartache
and sorrow, who are facing death, facing sickness. And Lord, those
of this congregation and our preacher brethren, and the things
that they're going through, God bless. Lord, thank you for them. And we know that your grace is
sufficient. You'll never fail them. You'll never leave them,
never forsake them. So again, we say, bless the Lord,
oh my soul, and all that is within me. Bless the Lord, oh my soul,
and forget not all of his benefits. Amen and amen. All right, I'll see you Sunday
morning, God willing.