So we're in Psalm 103. And I'm going to take the time to read the whole Psalm today. I won't do that every week, but we will read the whole of it today. Psalm 103, reading from verse one. 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. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

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. 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. 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, 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. 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.

The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. 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 hosts, ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works in all places, of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Amen.

There we are. Recently, I received a note from a gentleman who told me that for him, glory was just around the corner. Nevertheless, he still wished for whatever instruction he could obtain between now and then about praising and blessing the Lord. So as to be more fully prepared when the time came to enter into Christ's presence. That's a lovely thought. He wanted to be reminded of all the Lord's benefits so that it would inspire his praise and his worship.

So that is what we shall be trying to do today. Spiritual worship in this world is the product, it's the result, if you like, of seeing the Lord Jesus. and his works, of seeing the Lord Jesus with the eye of faith. That is what provokes true spiritual worship.

A believer's heart responds to the gospel with love and gratitude toward God. And this is what we discover in Psalm 103. It's a psalm of David, David the poet king. It's a song of a joyful, grateful heart that knows forgiveness of sin and peace with God.

And the inspired saint, David, is our example as he calls upon his own soul to bless the Lord, to bless the Lord for his full and free salvation. David declares, bless the Lord, O my soul. and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Praise the Lord, worship the Lord. And by these words, David was dedicating all he was as a man, all he was as a redeemed man. to the glory of his Saviour. He was dedicating himself to his Lord. much as Paul, in a similar vein, could say to the Philippians in chapter 1, verse 21, for for me to live, says Paul, is Christ, and to die is gain. And that's what David is saying here. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. He was giving himself entirely to the Lord in worship.

Another old friend told me recently that Psalm 103 was his favourite psalm. Well, it's surely a fine passage from God's word with which to be intimately familiar. And that's what I trust we will be a little more of by the time we finish these studies. the love, grace and mercy of God in Christ shines in every verse of this psalm. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I hope that today we will make a start and in the coming weeks continue to be reminded of God's benefits so that our own souls will be drawn out in praise and blessing to the Lord, as was David's. The first thing that I'd like us to notice here today is David teaches us what that part is of man that is primarily engaged in acceptable praise to the Lord.

It is the soul. Or more precisely, it is the living, renewed soul. Because until a soul has been quickened by the Spirit of God, it is not possible to exercise spiritual worship. Unless a renewed heart is engaged in the service, there is nothing acceptable to God in that act. Divine worship is a spiritual activity undertaken by spiritual men and women.

And David's Psalm here, Psalm 103, is a saint's heartfelt cry of gratitude and adoration for the new spiritual life created in us by God's Spirit, by the Holy Ghost. and the psalmist is speaking as a born again child of God, a born again believer. That new birth, that transformation has taken place in the psalmist's soul. He knows his blessed position in Christ and he humbly thanks God for it, for his mercy and for his love in bringing him to himself. But let's just think about the other side of that point for a moment.

Because there are many today, there are many today who gather in churches, who sing in choirs, who pray on their knees, who imagine that they are worshipping God when they are not. The Lord told his disciples in John chapter four, verse 24, he said, God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Worship must be spiritual and informed.

And I don't want any of us to imagine that God gets more worship than he can possibly listen to. I suspect in reality there is a lot less worship emanates from the face of this globe in which we live than we would imagine. There are very few true worshipers in spirit and truth.

So much so that Jesus tells the woman of Samaria, the woman at the well, that the Father seeketh such to worship Him. The Lord isn't overwhelmed and inundated with all the worship that proceeds out of men's mouths in this world. The Father is seeking such to worship Him, such who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Many there are who mouth the words, bless the Lord, oh my soul, but few succeed in actually doing it. And let me say a quick word about blessing God, just in case there's any confusion upon the matter. Somebody might wonder, does not God bless us with good things? So how can we be said to bless God?

Well, it is true that there are different ways of using this word in scripture. When it is spoken of in reference to the Lord blessing his people, It means that God bestows his loving kindness, his grace, his goodness, or in fact what David is calling in this psalm, God's benefits. So loving kindness, grace, goodness, mercy, these are God's benefits on his elect. And that is what God gives to us, these benefits, when he blesses us.

Now, these may be temporal blessings. The Lord gives us food and shelter, health and strength, clothing. They may be spiritual blessings. Again, the Lord gives us the gifts of the Spirit, love and joy and peace and patience. Or they may be eternal blessings of justification and sanctification and the benefits of redemption and regeneration. And ultimately, he will give us glory in heaven. But When blessing is spoken of in respect to our blessing the Lord, it's quite a different sense than God blessing us, whether that is temporal, whether that is spiritual, or whether that is eternal blessings.

When we bless the Lord, Then it means honouring Him. Then it means loving Him. It means extolling Him with praise. It means worshipping and thanking Him. It means learning about Him and taking what we learn and putting it into service for Him. That is the way in which we bless the Lord. We bless him and thank him for his blessings and benefits to us. And let me just add this because it might be very obvious, but David tells us anyway, so I'll just repeat it. We bless the Lord. It's the Lord we bless. It's the Lord alone that we are to bless. He is the only one that we bless. He is the only one that we worship. He is the only one that we honour in this spiritual sense. He is the only one to whom our praises are to be directed.

It is the Lord God Almighty and he will brook no peers. He will have no equals. It is the Lord God Almighty who is to be praised. It is the eternal God, the great I am, holy and true, King of kings, Lord of lords, whose name is above every name. It is Him and no other.

Do you know that Satan desires worship? But we do not worship him. He is worshipped in ignorance and in idolatry. He even tempted the Lord Jesus to bow down and worship him. Such is his audacity. Satan showed the Lord the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him in Christ's wilderness temptation, in Luke chapter four, verse seven and eight, if thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

And this, by God's grace, we do. God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the Lord we worship and adore. And David calls his soul to attention. He calls his soul to remember and to record all the Lord's benefits, from the greatest benefit to the least. None is to be passed over. Not one is to be overlooked or forgotten.

What then are these benefits? Well, what are benefits? Benefits are things that do us good. Benefits are things that do us good. And the Lord benefits His people. Benefits bless us. They enrich us. They make us happy. In this world, Advertisers like to talk a lot about benefits, but there are no benefits like the Lord's benefits, and they are many.

You know, God owes us nothing, and we deserve nothing. We have sinned against God. If we deserve anything, it is judgment. If we deserve anything, it is His wrath and anger. We have sinned against God. We have rejected His rule. We have despised His holiness. We have hated His cause and we have fought against it.

And yet the Lord, out of His goodness and out of His grace, has given us many benefits. And very suitably, David begins his list, his presentation, his catalogue, his account of the benefits of God with pardon for sin. I think it's a very good place to start. He is speaking of forgiveness for his own personal failings, which he calls iniquity. And he says to his soul, God forgiveth all thine, that is all your, iniquities.

He's addressing his soul and he is addressing his soul as the originator, the perpetrator of all that sin. You see, sin comes from the heart of man. Sin isn't just what we do. Sin isn't just what we say. It's not even what we think. It comes from the very core of our being, the heart of the individual. It pollutes the soul. And David is speaking to his own soul when he speaks about the pardoning of sin. And we all must deal with God personally. Just as David speaks to his own soul, so we must speak to our own soul. Each one of us is answerable for our own sin problem. Pardon then, says David, pardon for offences against God is a benefit and it is, as far as David's list is concerned, a benefit of the highest rank and order. Pardon is all of mercy. It is unmerited. We don't deserve it. It's unearned. We can't work for it. We can't buy it.

I suppose David puts it here at the top of the list. He chooses this benefit first and foremost because pardon is the earliest evidence of God's grace in a sinner's experience, in a believer's experience then, in a converted man or woman's experience. Pardon. is first felt in the convicted sinner's conscience. And David's joy was to know personally and believe by faith that his sins had been laid on Christ as Redeemer and forgiven him for Christ's sake. David embellishes that a little bit. He gives us some other ways of thinking about it.

He calls his sins his diseases, or he calls his sins diseases, and then goes on to credit the Lord for healing all his diseases, all his soul sickness, all the diseases of his natural sinful heart. But what of you? What of you? Do you bless the Lord for healing your diseases? For healing your sin? Not your physical diseases. He can. He can heal your physical diseases, but we're talking about your soul disease, your heart disease, your sin, your rebellion, your animosity toward Him.

Do you know that your sins are forgiven? Your sins, mind you. We cannot thank God. We cannot bless God for something that we have never received. You might be able to say to me today, I believe that God can forgive sins. I believe that God does forgive sins. But that is not the same I want to know, can you say with David, I believe he has forgiven my sin. Can you in all honesty say, Christ bore my sins on the cross, he bore them and carried them away. Bless the Lord, O my soul.

This leads David to the source and the cause of his happy condition. You might remember at the end of James last week in our previous set of studies, in chapter 5, verse 13, James says, Is any merry? Is any merry? Do you have cause for joy? Then let him sing Psalms. Well, that's exactly what David is doing here. With joy, he sings a song of the redeemed of the Lord. He is singing the song of the redeemed of the Lord.

Look to the cross. Look to the cross because that's what David was doing. Do you see the Savior hanging there? The Lord would have us remember his broken body and his shed blood because it is the key source of our benefits from God. David understood redemption by blood. The people of God are redeemed from their sin by precious blood and reconciled to God by the atoning sacrifice of their saviour representative and substitute Jesus Christ. David rejoiced in the Lord. And so do all who are delivered by the free grace of God. who redeemeth thy life from destruction, says David. David calls his soul to bless the Lord because it has been delivered from the punishment it deserves.

How? Because another has borne that punishment in his place. It has been delivered from the destruction of life. Why? Because another's life was destroyed. It has been delivered from the everlasting judgment of hell because another has experienced that judgment, that judgment of hell in his own soul in our place.

David is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ even with these very words. Old Testament saints believe this. Job in chapter 33 verse 24. That is the same Job who said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. He could go on to say, then he is gracious unto him and saith, deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom.

Someone, Jesus Christ, to redeem your life from destruction. So what of you, friend? Can you confess Christ in such words as these? Can you share this testimony with David? Do you believe your life has been redeemed from destruction by the shed blood of Jesus Christ? Is that alone the ransom price for your soul? Precious blood for a precious soul. It's the only way.

David continues his song of worship. He is remembering God's benefits and he comes to God's loving kindness or God's love and kindness. David's soul, he tells us, has been crowned with God's love and kindness. It has been tenderly anointed with mercies. It has been liberally showered with blessings. Do you know what the psalmist is talking about here? Have you felt God's love in your own soul, in your own heart? Have you marked out? Have you counted your blessings? Have you marked the evidences of his kindness?

There is great abundance in the mercy of God for all his people, all his children, all his covenant people. His blessings and his benefits will not run dry. He has more benefits to give than we have need of. And David calls his soul, and he calls ours, not to neglect thanking God for all his benefits, but to remember that they flow to us daily in love and are dispensed in tenderness.

Often we think that our temptations are fierce. We're like in a battle, we're like in a furnace, that there's a great antagonism against our soul. And I'm not denying that there is a ferocity to the fight in this world, but even our trials, brothers and sisters, even our trials are gently applied to accomplish their end. No greater is that ferocity than what is absolutely necessary to accomplish their end with the least possible discomfort to us.

The Lord, did he not tell Peter in Luke 22, verse 31, verse 31 and verse 32, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. That would be a painful experience. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Think on that for a moment. Think that here is a benefit of grace. Jesus Christ is praying to his Father for you. That is loving kindness and tender mercy right there.

David learned that crowns of heavenly love surpass the crowns of earthly glory. As king of a mighty empire, which he was, remember throughout the rest of Jewish history, they looked back fondly on the great Davidic kingdom. That's what they hoped, that's what they aspired to even during the time of the Messiah. That's what the disciples were hoping for before they understood the fullness of the spiritual dimensions of Christ's kingdom. But as a king of a mighty empire, David had achieved every honour available.

He had tasted every pleasure going. Yet experience proved that it was the Lord who gave satisfaction to his soul. Crowns of heavenly love surpass crowns of earthly glory. It was the Lord who gave peace to his heart. It was the Lord who gave quiet contentment in his thoughts, despite all the trials that he endured, and he endured many. It was the Lord who filled his life with good things, so that David could testify.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

It was his Saviour, it was Jesus Christ who revitalised David's inmost being. In the outward man, the passage of time produces decay. You know it. I know it. We are all going in one direction. In the outward man, the passage of time produces decay. David knew it. But David learned how the inward man is renewed in Christ every day. It is renewed with the soaring strength of an eagle. It's a lovely picture that David sets before us.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16, Such are the benefits of the Lord. And such are the benefits of the Lord to old men and women. brothers and sisters, the blessings and the benefits of which David is speaking here are not unique to him. They are the portion of all the Lord's people. These benefits are the inheritance of every child of God in Jesus Christ. David's call to his own soul to bless the Lord is equally a call to all God's elect to follow his example. Let us all bless the Lord in heart and spirit with praise and gratitude. Our benefits of pardon, redemption, love, joy, and peace in this life are the product of God's everlasting love towards his chosen people in Christ.

And we all have trouble in this world. And yet every believer is given grace sufficient to endure, to overcome, and to acknowledge God for his mercy. We have redemption. We have forgiveness. We have new life in Christ. We have a friend closer than a brother who loves us constantly and renews our strength daily. We have faith and hope in God, our saviour, who cannot lie.

And we have his promise of everlasting life. so that we too may say, 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. Amen. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today.