May I please Almighty God to bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let's turn to Psalm 103 and we'll read verses 13 and 14. Psalm 103 and reading verses 13 and 14. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. We have a great, wonderful God. A God who gives us a wonderful picture, to explain to us something of himself, of his majesty, of his greatness, of his kindness, of his mercy. He comes and says, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Well, I'm sure naturally we're familiar with fathers and their children. And fathers do, if they are good fathers, they pity their children and they try and help them when they fall into difficulties and to direct them and to guide them in what they should do and what they should say and to deliver them from evil and from wrong paths. And so we have this analogy here, like as a father, pitieth his children and we can see that and observe it then we're told so the Lord pitieth them that fear him it's a great wonder isn't it as we think of almighty God the one who rules and reigns the one who inhabits eternity the one who sits on the Father's right hand, there, with the Father.

And we have this wonderful picture that this great God pities us if we are amongst those who truly fear Him. Well, we're told the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That means the beginning of heavenly wisdom. that means the beginning of following a right path and therefore what a blessing for us today if you and I can look into our hearts and it's always a good thing to look into our hearts and to examine ourselves and to see the path that we're taking whether we're taking the right path or whether we're taking the wrong path and so we're told here the Lord pitieth His children, as the Lord pitieth them, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Well, you and I, before God, have to answer that question. Whether we are those who really fear the Lord. And if so, Has it been because we've been brought to that vital knowledge before a holy God and recognising that we are a sinner, we are an unworthy sinner, we are a great sinner and we need salvation and we need the mercy of God.

And what a blessing if we've come to God in prayer and prayed very simply, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Religion, as I often said, is personal. And the Holy Spirit brings us into that personal situation where it's as though we're standing before God. And no one else, no one else, God is looking at us. And God is examining us. And God is looking at us with that all-powerful gaze. And therefore, to think then that that great God looks upon us in this way.

He pities us. He pities us. Just as a natural father pities their children, so almighty God pities us if we're amongst those who fear him. Pities us because of the difficulties of life, the hardness of the way. You see that life on the earth for believers is not easy. It's a continual battle, a battle day and night. Because our adversary, the devil, goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And the devil never gives up. And he will never give up this side of the grave.

What a mercy, then, to have a God who pities us and a God who understands. He understands the testing times that we pass through, the testing times where Sometimes we seem to be almost absorbed by sinful desires and evil and yet to realize that we have a God in heaven who knows exactly what we're thinking and the temptations that are coming into our hearts.

And so to think that that God pities us and deals with us in love to our souls. Well, we read in the 78th Psalm, Psalm Asaph, about the compassion of Almighty God. And in the 78th Psalm, the 38th verse, this is what we read. But He, being full of compassion, perhaps we ought to read the verses before that, where we're told, and they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. world is describing God's people. Perhaps that description is a good description for us. And then we read but, he. There are so many buts in the word of God, and here's a good one now.

But he, being full of compassion. Full of compassion. Not a little compassion, full of compassion. and that's good to think isn't it when he looks upon us and looks into our heart and sees all the evil there to think that he's full of compassion forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not really we deserve don't we to be destroyed we don't deserve to be forgiven do we because we've sinned against light and knowledge we have the Word of God and There it is in our hands and yet so often we don't follow it as we should. Things don't sometimes suit us and we want to involve ourselves in something which we know in our heart is not really good and not really profitable and yet we carry on and going in a wrong and evil way and yet you see we have this God who is full of compassion forgave their iniquity. We never deserved it. We didn't merit it.

What a God we have. What a great God. Full of compassion. Oh, my friends, absorb that phrase. It's wonderful, isn't it? Forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not. We deserve to be destroyed, we deserve to be cut off, cast out. Many a time turned his anger away and did not stir up his wrath. This is the wonderful, merciful God. How wonderful to think that this creator of all things has this glorious compassion. And he goes on to say, for he remembered that they were but fresh, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again.

How often did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert? And again, if we turn that to ourselves, how often have we grieved God? How often? we grieved God, we acted contrary to His will. Yea, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not His hand, nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy, how He had wrought His signs in Egypt and his wonders in the fielder's own, and turn their rivers into blood and their floods that they would not drink.

And so we can go on in that 78th chapter. It's a wonderful chapter. of Asaph giving the history of Israel and so there we have the situation that by nature you and I are no better and it's good if you and I test ourselves stand before God and don't try and make excuses but come to Him and confess the evil of our heart confess our sins, and remember that glorious word in John's epistle, if we confess our sins, he, almighty God, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness because of his mercy, because of his compassion.

How wonderful then to realise this is the God that you and I stand before. This is the God that looks upon us and just as a father, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. I wonder whether we recognise in our own hearts how God has looked upon us and had compassion on us, and pitied us, and we felt the effect, and the effect really has been His great love toward us, in not dealing with us as our sins deserve. Do we stand amazed? Do we marvel at the kindness and the grace love and mercy of our great God. Well he tells us this then, for as the heaven, sorry, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

Well it's good to have a right fear of the Lord and David in this psalm very clearly shows this as he desires to praise God a true believer, a born-again believer, a believer that indeed has been cleansed from their sin, will desire to praise the Lord, that God from whom all blessings flow. And this psalm commences, as we've already mentioned, with these words, Bless the Lord, O my soul. That was David, speaking my soul as his soul before God. and all that is within me, his whole being, desire to bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

I wonder whether we come into that category, whether we truly desire to bless the Lord, O my soul, and to not forget his benefits. As you and I again look into our lives and see the many benefits we have, the many benefits, just pause and think that you and I have been born into a Protestant nation. It's a blessing if you and I have had godly parents, It's a blessing if you and I have godly friends and we're able to converse on the things of God. Why? Because of his compassion. Why? Because of his grace. Why? Because of his favor. Well, what a wonderful blessing it is then to recognize this. And then he goes on.

And David knew the power of such a statement. who forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases. Well, I'm sure if you're familiar with the Bible at all, you will realize that David committed great sins and yet God forgave him. And that should be a wonderful encouragement for you and me. We won't be able to stand up and say, well, I'm not a sinner. The Holy Spirit will convince us of our sin so that we stand guilty before a holy God. And yet to realise that the statements that David's able to make is so wonderful.

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. So mercy, is it not, if you and I are able to walk along this path, trace it out in our own lives, and to praise God because of it, and bless the Lord, desire to bless the Lord, O my soul. who forgiveth all thine iniquities. And my friends, we all need all our sins to be forever washed away. There's no sinner unsaved, unforgiven in heaven. All of us need to be cleansed. We need to be redeemed from all our sins.

We need to realize that the great Redeemer was none less than the Lord Jesus Christ, who so willingly and gloriously and wonderfully died upon that cross at Calvary to redeem our souls. Oh, my friends, what a blessing, what a favour, how glorious it is to have a good hope in that redemption and to bow down, therefore, and come in with those words, bless the Lord, O my soul. We'll have so much to bless God for, if we have the evidence of this wonderful favour in our souls. Well, he goes on, he tells us, who satisfies thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles, The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

Again, David knew what it was to be oppressed. God's people know what it is to be oppressed. Oppressed because of their foolishness. Oppressed because of their sinfulness. Oppressed because of the way they walk, the things they do. the things they say, the things they think, oppressed. Well, so David comes and tells us here in this psalm, he executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

So if you and I bow down before God with a heavy heart and bow down our head because of the evil of our heart to be able to realise and come and thank our God that he is gracious and that he is merciful and we recognise that he looks upon us and he pities us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. What compassion. Oh, my friends, is it not a glorious gospel? Is it not wonderful to think that this great God, creator of all things, the ruler of the universe, yet is so kind and gracious to redeem our soul, redeem thine life from destruction.

You see, if God didn't redeem us, we would be eternally lost. Eternally lost. It's a terrible thought, isn't it? To even think that you and I could be lost. And we will be lost. We will spend eternity in hell unless we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Well, what do we think of that great truth? What do we think of that little couplet, invaluable blood? Is our hope built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness? Our hope of forgiveness, our hope of verse mercy, our hope of compassion. Does it not rely upon what our blessed Saviour has done and said?

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Well, the Lord was gracious and we read together in this psalm, he made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. We read this morning, did we not, in that chapter, 23rd chapter in Deuteronomy, which lists out, sorry, 33rd chapter, which lists out so very clearly the desire that Moses had for God's ancient people, Israel. desiring that they would indeed be blessed indeed. May that be our desire tonight, and we're found amongst those who are blessed indeed. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.

Fathers pity their children, don't they? How often they forgive them and speak kindly to them, rather than beat them. You see it's their love towards the child and it's just the same with our Heavenly Father, just the same with our Glorious Saviour and the Holy Spirit are all united together in dealing with our souls. Oh, what a great mercy it is to have such a God, such a kind, such a gracious God. You know, the Apostle Paul knew what it was. He knew the power of God. He knew the mercy of God. He knew the compassion of God. And when he wrote to the Hebrews, that wonderful epistle, so instructive.

And in the 12th chapter, which is a lovely chapters I'm sure you know, and he tells us this, in the fifth verse, And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint without rebuke of him for whom the Lord loveth. he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. What is it? It's a sign of sonship, the sign that the Lord hasn't cast us aside. He's taking us in hand and he's dealing with us as sons and daughters of the Most High God.

If ye endure chastening, No one likes to be chastened, do they? And yet here we're told, if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live?

It's a very humbling thought and a humbling truth to realise that if God has loved us and God does love us and he's dealing with us as sons and daughters, of the Most High God, then he will correct us, and he will chasten us, and he will teach us. It's wonderful, isn't it? We have such a kind, gracious and compassionate God. And so here we have this statement. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. You and me, dust. And we might just perhaps say, yes, we're not just dust. We're sinful dust, aren't we? Sinful dust. Our dust is not pure. It's sinful. And yet we were a dust.

God created Adam from the dust of the earth. And that's why we have this great statement here, for he knoweth our frame. He knows our constitution. He knows our weaknesses. He knows how frail we are, how easily we fall under temptation. And yet you see, what a mercy to know that he remembers that we are dust. He knows about us.

He knows what our true state is. how we are under that condemnation, and yet to realise the glory of the Gospel, which explains to us, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. My friends tonight, is that our concern? And do we have the wonderful evidence that we are in Christ Jesus? Because if we are in Christ Jesus, were amongst those for whom he redeemed, amongst those for whom he shed his precious blood upon the cross at Calvary.

He endured all the opposition in this world as a holy, spotless Lamb of God. It's a very tremendous subject to think upon and to meditate upon that this great God who created all things, whoever lives and yet looks upon us and deals with us in love to our souls, if we are indeed amongst those who are wonderfully blessed with this great favour of fearing the Lord.

Fearing the Lord. It's a vital evidence in our life to know that we fear the Lord. And that means that we fear to offend God. Do you fear to offend God? Or are you happy to offend God and just please yourself? A true believer doesn't want to offend God.

And sometimes there are those times when we do fall, sadly fall sometimes, and yet to realize this God looks upon us He remembers that we are dust. He remembers our situation and therefore he doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve. What a mercy, what a great, kind and gracious God we have. Well do we rejoice in the truth of the gospel tonight?

We praise God that he ordained that David should write a psalm like this so many years ago. And he was able to write it because he'd experienced it. It wasn't something, a path that was unknown to him. It was a path that was known to him. And it's a path which God's children do know. God leads them in it and God deals with them in it and God's merciful to them and he tells us in a previous verse for us that heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him." Well, we can't ever come to a conclusion how high the heaven is above the earth. We know it's forever. It goes on. There's no beginning and end with the heavens. And yet here we have this statement. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

For as far as the east is from the west, So far has he removed our transgressions from us. Surely that's good news, is it not? Good news to a poor sinner, a helpless sinner, a sinner who's fallen, a sinner who's offended God. And yet to realize this, he removes our transgressions from us because he's paid the price to redeem our souls. And because no sinner can enter into glory, therefore our sins must be removed, taken away forever, ever gone.

Yes, it's a wonderful favour to think that Almighty God is the one who redeemed us and the one who saved us and the one who deals with us now as you and I are on the earth today. He's ever mindful of us and although we are just dust, really of no value, sinful dust, yet he's gracious to us and a wonderful God. And so David goes on and tells us, but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness and the children's children to such as keep his covenant and to those that remember His commandments to do them. The true believer, blessed with forgiveness, blessed to realize in some small way the cost of their salvation, would desire to keep His commandments, would desire to keep His covenant, would desire to do those things which are God-honouring and to realise and experience His mercy.

Well, tonight, I wonder whether you and I can look into our hearts and find there God's mercy toward us. We're still on praying ground. We haven't been cut off as a cumbra of the ground, someone who is absolutely worthless, Why is that? Simply because He's loved us with an everlasting love. And because that love is everlasting, it won't finish, it won't disappear. That's why we haven't been cut off. That's why we're still enjoying His mercy, because of His great and glorious love.

What a favour, what a mercy, and surely does it not bring us to this situation where we come before our God and say, oh bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Can we say that tonight? Do we desire to say that tonight? Is it the true concern of our souls to bless the Lord.

He is worthy of all adoration. Yes, bless the Lord says David in the last verse of this psalm. Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. What desire David had, have we got? the same desire. It's good if you and I can look into our lives and see God's mercy and his grace and his favour toward us, that we're still on praying ground, we haven't been cut off as a cumbra of the ground. His mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children's children. Well my friends tonight, may you and I rejoice in these great truths and thank God for them because they are great truths and we should truly thank him for it. And just one further thought in regards to our blessed saviour himself and in Matthew's gospel and in the eighth chapter we read this Wonderful truth it is.

When the evil was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils. And he cast out the spirits with his word and healed all their sick. And this is the point, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, himself, took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. This is the glory of the gospel. This is an amazing statement. Almost impossible for us to comprehend that it might be fulfilled, ordained from before the foundation of the earth, that it might be fulfilled. which was spoken by Isaiah, the prophet saying, himself took our infirmities, himself, no less, and bear our sicknesses.

Do we come tonight humbled to think that this God, from whom all blessings flow, this God who's given us his word, This God who has recorded so many encouraging statements in his word for us today. As we press on through life to realise this is the great God whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting and that one who remembers that we are dust, just dust of the earth and yet deals with us in love to our soul. Well, tonight may we come and say with the last verse in this psalm, bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Amen.