The Blessed Lord

Q: What does the Bible say about praising God?

The Bible calls us to bless the Lord with all our being, recognizing His holiness and mercy. The Bible invites us to bless the Lord, where 'bless' means to bend the knee in praise and worship. Psalm 103 emphasizes the importance of adoring and praising Jehovah, the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The psalmist calls on his soul to bless the Lord wholeheartedly, encouraging believers not only to worship with their lips but from the depths of their being. The gravity of God’s character deserves reverence and unreserved adoration for His wonderful works of creation and salvation, thus illustrating how vital it is for Christians to offer sincere worship.

Q: Why is God's mercy important for Christians?

God's mercy is crucial as it reveals His character and allows forgiveness and redemption to sinners. God's mercy is central to the Christian faith, as it is through His mercy that believers experience forgiveness of sins and the promise of redemption. Psalm 103 highlights that the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in mercy. This merciful nature means that He does not deal with us according to our sins but, instead, has satisfied His justice in Christ, who bore our sins. Understanding God's mercy allows Christians to cultivate a relationship with Him and grants hope in God’s continual grace, sustaining them through life.

Q: How do we know God's promises are true?

God's promises are proven true through His faithfulness and the fulfillment of His Word, particularly in Christ. Christians can trust in God’s promises because they are rooted in His immutable character and proven faithfulness throughout biblical history. Psalm 103 celebrates God's unchanging nature and His steadfast mercies. This faithfulness culminates in the person of Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection exemplify the fulfillment of God's promises. The ongoing experience of God's mercies and provisions in the lives of believers reinforces this trust in His Word, making it clear that His promises are as reliable as His character.

Q: Why is the fear of the Lord important?

The fear of the Lord is vital as it is the beginning of wisdom and relates to understanding God’s holiness and grace. The fear of the Lord holds paramount importance in the life of a Christian, being described as the beginning of wisdom. This fear is characterized by a reverence and respect for God’s holiness, recognizing His justice and mercy. Psalm 103 frequently references the fear of the Lord, indicating that true understanding and relationship with God begin with a profound acknowledgment of who He is. This fear does not lead to despair but rather to a deeper appreciation of His grace and mercy towards us, highlighting the beauty of the gospel.

Q: What does it mean to be redeemed?

To be redeemed means to be delivered from sin and its consequences by the sacrificial work of Christ. Redemption in the Christian context refers to the act of being freed from sin and its ultimate penalty through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Psalm 103 declares that the Lord redeems our lives from destruction, emphasizing the work of Christ whose blood paid the price for our sins. This concept extends beyond mere forgiveness; it involves the restoration of a broken relationship with God. Redemption signifies a new life in Christ, where believers are not just pardoned, but also brought into a position of acceptance and belonging in the family of God.

Psalm 103. This psalm I read in church history, the Scottish church loved this psalm, sang it quite often. John Knox preached from it and some folks were saved through it. Bless the Lord. The word bless means bend the knee. Number one means to bend the knee in praise and worship and reverence and adoration. Bless means adore, praise him, bless the Lord.

Jehovah is who, whenever you see the name Lord in all capital letters, that's Jehovah. 11 times Jehovah is mentioned here. And in the very original Hebrew, it's Jehovah every time. But bless the Lord. Jehovah, Jehovah Father, Jehovah Son, Jehovah Spirit.

These three are one. We bless them all for this wonderful work of creation, but most of all salvation. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. All that is within me. Bless his holy name. I don't want to draw near just with my lips, but I want, you know, the soul is your real man. That's your inner man. I want to bless him from the depth of my soul, the depth of my being, all that's within me. Bless his holy name.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. We fear His name, don't we? We exalt His name. We make mention of His name as exalted. We bless His holy name. The name to be revered and used carefully in praise and honor and glory only. Bless the Lord, verse two.

Oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. We can't remember all of them, but if you look back, and we need to do this quite often, the children of history were guilty of forgetting his mercies. They forgot his mercy. We need to look back and take stock of our lives and have all the mercies of our Lord in our lives. Don't forget how merciful the Lord has been to us all our lives. The first thing he mentioned, verse three, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. The first and greatest and chief blessing to forgive all thine iniquities, inequities.

Equity means just. God is just. And we are inequity. We're not equal to him. We're weighed into balances and found wanting. Come far short of the glory of God. So inequity is everything that's wrong with us. And by nature, there's nothing right with us. And God has forgiven us everything that's wrong with us. And down in verse 14, he knows our frame. He knows us. He never forgets. He remembers what we are. And he has forgiven all our iniquities.

How can God be just and yet justify? God will by no means clear the guilty. But then how can God punish sin and yet forgive sin. You know, don't you? One way, Christ crucified, a substitute. He forgiveth all thine iniquities, all of them, past, present, and future. Perhaps our worst sins are before us. I hope not, but When you think about it, as believers, if we keep sinning against God, it's worse, isn't it? Those are the worst.

Such mercy and grace, such truth we've heard, and yet the sin, but all, He's forgiven all. All. Our Lord said, all manner of sin shall be forgiven. Isn't that good news? Who forgiveth all thine iniquity, who healeth all thy diseases, First thing he says is, he forgives all thy iniquities, then healeth all thy diseases.

You know, there's a story in, we'll go to Matthew 9. Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5, I believe it is, is this same story. Three gospels of a man who's lame, sick of the palsy, lying on his bed, Matthew 9, and His friends knew the Lord was in this house, and there were too many people to get in the front door, so they carried this man on his bed up a ladder.

Boy, they really need Christ, don't they? His friend, their friend, they carry him up on a ladder and uncover the roof. They don't care what the owner of that house thinks. This is life or death. And led him down in the middle of, that house, and there the Lord is.

And look at Matthew 9, verse two, behold, they brought a man sick of the palsy, lying on his bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. I know the Lord's smiling. I have to believe the man lying on his bed was smiling. And that's what he said, okay. And a little while went by, the scribes said, these men blasphemes. The Lord knew their hearts.

Why do you think evil, verse four, in your hearts? Where there is easier, which is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and walk? With neither is easy, and with man, both are impossible. These false prophets and Pope and all these people claim to, Pope claims to forgive sin, he can't, he doesn't. These prophets claim to heal people, they can't, they don't.

Nothing's hard for the Lord, it's all easy for him. And then he said, he told the man, rise, take up thy bed and walk. So he forgave him all his iniquity and then he healed his disease. Now, if the Lord forgives all your iniquities, nothing else really matters from there on.

You know what? That man got sick of something again, didn't he? He died with something, but his sins were gone. Do you understand? I know you do. And the disease is, you know, I once was blind. Aren't you? And now I see. I was deaf. I couldn't hear this gospel, I do now. I was lame, weren't you? I couldn't walk like that. You wouldn't catch me walking in this place. I was dead, I was a leper.

So he healeth all thy diseases. And notice these words are continual. It's an ongoing verb. Healeth, forgiveth, continual. His mercy, his grace, endureth forever. He continually, every day, every morning. His mercies are new every morning. Verse four, who redeemeth thy life from destruction. Oh, I love this. You got to turn with me to Job 34. You've got to turn to there. Yeah, you do.

He redeemeth thy life from destruction. You and I know we're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold. That's what Catholicism said. We're not redeemed with our vain conversation. That's what Southern Baptists say, the Methodists say. No, no, no, no. We're redeemed one way.

How's that? The precious blood of the Lamb. He's our Redeemer. Psalm 30, or Job, no, Job 33, I'm sorry, Job 33. This is wonderful. Verse 23, Job 33, 23. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, not many gospel preachers, and one among a thousand, to show unto man the Lord's uprightness, then he's gracious unto that man. And he says, deliver him from going down to the pit. I've found a ransom. Christ, the Redeemer. Ransom, his blood, the redemption's price. His flesh, if he does that.

New birth is gonna happen. His flesh will be fresher than a child's. He shall return to the days of his youth. Little child. He'll pray unto God and God will be favorable unto him. He'll see his face with joy. He'll render unto man his righteousness. It's a good sermon, isn't it? Look at verse 27. He looketh upon man and if any sight Any say I've sinned and perverted that which was right, it profited me not. He will deliver his soul from going down into the pit and his life shall see light. Christ, the light. Light of the knowledge of the glory of God. We say, I'm too big a sinner, and maybe his mercies are clean gone. No, no, verse 29.

Lo, all these things God does oft times with man. He does this a lot. In fact, he delights to show mercy. He taketh pleasure in them that fear him and those that hope in his mercy. That's one of my favorite verses, Psalm 147. Back to our text. He redeemeth thy life from destruction. He keeps you from destroying yourself and from him destroying, him destroying that.

Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercy. The crowning glory of our Lord is his loving kindness and tender mercy. Isn't that what we pray for? Isn't that what David prayed for? Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude that tend to mercy. Blot out my transgression. Wash me throughly from iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Will he? He has. Christ the Lord. He did it. It's done. It's finished, Christ said.

Loving kindness. His loving kindness and tender mercies are in Christ Jesus, the Lord, aren't they? Love, Psalm 84, I was gonna have you turn so many places, but we won't get through this one. It says, surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land and in our church. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness will look down from heaven. Oh, what a song, 103 verse five. Who satisfied thy mouth with good things. Who satisfied thy mouth with good things. Listen to this, Psalm 36. Psalm 36, verse seven. How excellent, how excellent is thy loving kindness, O God. Oh God, how excellent. Your people, the children of men, put their trust under the shadow of thy wing.

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Are you satisfied with what you're hearing? Does this really satisfy you? If you're hungry and thirsty for righteousness, that you know that's Christ, that's the gospel. And this is what you gotta hear. Tell me, are you satisfied? I hope so, I believe you are. He satisfied thy mouth. He said in another song, open your mouth wide and I'll fill it. Good things, the goodness of God, the gospel.

So that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. We're gonna mount up like wings of eagles. Until then, we're just groveling here below, aren't we? Worms that we are. You know that worm's gonna enter a cocoon and be metamorphosed, transformed into a Fly like wings of eagle. But tell me, are there not times when the Lord blesses you in the preaching of the gospel, you come dragging in, you go flying out? Mount up. Well, but your wings, you lose them real quickly. You gotta come back, come dragging in.

Verse six, the Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. Come every soul, I was gonna sing this too, I can't hardly sing now. Come every soul, by sin oppressed, there's mercy with the Lord. He will surely give you rest by trusting in his word. Are you oppressed by sin, by the oppressor, by Satan himself, huh?

Well, the Lord Jesus Christ judged him, judged our sins. He did all this on Calvary's tree, didn't he? Righteousness and judgment all met on Calvary's tree, like truth, mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, all kissed each other in Christ and him crucified. And he convinces us in the gospel of sin, righteousness, and judgment, all satisfied by the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that satisfying? Good.

Verse seven, he made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of men. He's talking about all these things that the Lord has done. The first is forgive all thine iniquities, and then he ends it with these thoughts, with making known his ways unto Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. I love Psalm 147, oh my, talks about what all the Lord does for his creatures, and it goes on down, keep talking about the snow and the ice, and it gets to the last thing he mentions is this. He showed his word to Jacob and his statues and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation. As for his judgments, they don't know them.

Praise the Lord. The Lord's making known himself, his ways, his salvation to us. It really is the greatest blessing. It really is. Everybody doesn't know him. The Lord walking along one time and the Pharisees didn't believe him, hated him. And he rejoiced, he said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and revealed them unto babe. Even so, Father, it seemed good, and I said, it sure is good to me. I'm not wise and prudent. Oh my, thank you, Lord, for revealing your ways, the truth.

Verse eight. Now he tells us what the Lord is, Lord, what the Lord will not do, what the Lord hath not done. This Psalm, there are no warnings, there are no reproofs, there are no rebukes. It's all promises. It's all giving God the glory. It's all telling of God's character, his attributes, his ways, his works. There's nothing negative in it. It's all just wonderful. David doesn't ask for anything. What do you need?

Because he tells us all the Lord's done for. Verse eight, the Lord is merciful and gracious, merciful, full of mercy. That's Exodus 34, isn't it? He said, I'm gonna make my goodness pass for you. I'll be gracious to you, merciful. The thing we need the most is mercy. And apparently the Lord, that's the thing the Lord has the most of. and delights to show it. And grace, by grace you're saved. He's very gracious, very gracious. Slow to anger. Oh, the Lord, we provoke him, we provoke him like Psalm 106, but the Lord is slow to anger.

And plenteous in mercy. There's plenty to go around. I think, and I think you'll agree, we'll all argue on this. I think I need more mercy than anybody in here. Is that what you think? I need more mercy than you. No, no, no, no. You should say, no, it's not tough, Richard. I need more mercy. Well, he's got plenty. It doesn't matter how much. than Solomon's table. When you come to Solomon's table, there's plenty to go around, plenty. The Lord is merciful, gracious, slow to anger. Plenty is great in mercy.

He will not always chide. We need to chide him, but he won't continue to do that. He will keep his anger forever. Slow to anger, and the Lord does, get angry with his children. Do you ever get angry with your children? Did you? But the wrath of God doesn't come down on them. No, no, no, no, no. He gets angry and we give him every reason to be, reasons to be angry, but slow to anger and it doesn't last long.

Why? Because verse 10, he hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Why is that? The Lord hasn't dealt with us after our sins. We haven't gotten what we deserve. He hasn't rewarded us according to our iniquities. But God is just, God is holy, God will by no means Well, why hasn't he rewarded us according to our iniquities and dealt with us?

Because he dealt with Christ according to our sins. After our sin, he dealt with him. He showed him no mercy on Calvary's truth. The Lord was charged with our sin and we were charged with his righteousness. There you go, that's why. So our sins were dealt with. Our iniquities were paid for by Christ himself. Verse 11, he's been talking about his mercy, plenteous in mercy. Verse 11, as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. How high are the heavens?

Scientists, falsely so-called, they claim to know how far, well, we discovered a planet that's 400 billion light years from Earth. Oh, really? We suffer fools gladly, don't we? Man, oh man, they don't know what they're talking about. God sends them so strong delusion. But the heavens, you can't measure them. You can't measure how high the heavens are above the earth. Well, that's how great is mercy.

Toward them that Fear him, says this three times here, that you won't find too many Psalms that don't have the fear of the Lord in it. You know that? Why? Because that's the beginning of wisdom, saving wisdom. When you realize what you are and who God is, holy, holy, holy, and what you are and what he ought to do to you and has done and will do to others, but not you. But he did it to his son on your behalf. And he chose you and didn't choose them. Oh my. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. We never quit fearing him. And you can't, nobody can preach this as it ought to. It's a reverence, it's a respect that you, you fear to use his name, you fear.

Now, let's go on. As far as the East is from the West, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Is there anybody in here that's never heard the story of the scapegoat? Leviticus 16, we might not live till Sunday. So let's go over there and look at it, just real briefly, okay?

This is wonderful. And you hear people use this term, it's scapegoat, scapegoat, don't you ever do it. This is what the fear of the Lord makes. You never use these things, the things of God, lightly, flippantly, carelessly. You know the weight of them. You know, they speak of Christ crucified, so you don't ever attribute anything to anyone or anything that belongs solely to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the scapegoat.

Look at Leviticus 16, verse 21. It says, Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of a live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel. Christ is our head. who bore our sins in his body on the tree, all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat and send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. Do you know the blood of bulls and goats can't put away sin? This is a picture of Christ. A scapegoat, verse 22.

And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited. He'll be let go, the man will let go the goat in the wilderness. Says a fit man, Christ is all and in all there. He's the fit man, he's the goat, the scapegoat. And our Lord in our text says he removed our sins, our transgression from us as far as the east is from the west.

Now how far is that? Well, start going west. Keep going. You ever gonna get to the east? And so that fit man took that goat with its symbolic, sins of God's people confessed on his head and took that goat so far away that he'll never come back into the wilderness, place not inhabited. And Brother Jack Shanks, he preached on that. Slow talking Texan. He said, and God ain't going goat hunting. They're gone. They're gone. Christ put them away.

Verse 13, I love this. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knows our frame. He remembers what we are. Oh my, Carrie, when that little boy was born, I'll never forget when ours was born. The thing you feel even more than love is pity, don't you? You just feel for it. You want to meet their every need, don't you? Oh, pity, pity. That means you feel their weakness. You feel their pain or suffering. You feel that's compassion and pity.

The Lord is very pitiful. That's what James said. Now he said, the Lord is very pitiful. We use that word wrong. We say he's pitiful. No, no, no, no, no. The Lord is pitiful. It means he's full of pity. But, oh, my, he pities, pities his children, pities them. The Lord pities them that fear him.

He knows our frame. He remembers that we're done. Mankind is the most frail and fragile. creature on earth, every other creature is born with a covering that can withstand freezing cold and rain and horses and other jump up and run just a matter of hour, not man, it takes him years. So you pity him, don't you? You know they're praying. How does he know our Frank? How can this high and holy God know our Frank?

Because God was manifest in the flesh. Touched with the feeling of our infirmity. He knows our frame. He lived by faith. He lived like, I love that. I love that thought that our Lord had to live like we do. He did not meet any of his needs. He did not, Satan tempted him with, if you be the son of God, command these stones to be made bread. No. No, he's gonna live by faith. The Father's gonna provide for him like he does us. The just shall live by faith. Christ knew our frame. He's touched with the feet of our firmament. He pities them, he pities, he knows our frame, he remembers where it does. Listen to this, Psalm 78. I love this. This is another wonderful psalm.

It says, he being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, destroyed them not. Yet many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembers they're just flesh, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again. He knows they're praying.

Verse 15. You know, this is all through the scriptures in it. Man, the glory of man, flesh is like grass. The flower fadeth, Isaiah in the psalm, as the flower of the field, so it flourisheth. Little Sawyer's so beautiful and lovely and young and tender and tomorrow, if the Lord doesn't come, he's gonna be 80 years old. That quick. Oh yeah, that quickly.

Old and shriveled and weak, again weak. We're born weak and we end up weak. We come from the womb naked and we go out naked. Completely dependent on our God. Well, he's very pitiful. delights to show mercy. Verse 15, his days are like grass. Verse 16, the wind passes over it and it's gone. The place thereof shall know it no more. We've had brothers and sisters pass from here. Dear, dear brothers, Joseph Parks, Henry Sword, Henry Mahan, Ellen Fralin, and on and on. Most everybody forgets they ever existed. It's like they never lived on this earth, except for a few people. But there's only one that matters, that he knows them, our Lord. It doesn't matter who knows us and esteems us as long as our Lord knows it. But now, We're all gonna pass away and everybody's gonna forget we ever lived.

But verse 17, but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness under children's children. The mercy of the Lord from everlasting to everlasting. Oh my, I wanna talk sometime soon about thoughts on eternity, what awaits us. Everlasting to everlasting. Joy, weeping endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Joy, what kind of joy? Unspeakable, full of glory. I can't comment too much on it, but it's from everlasting to everlasting, it's never gonna end. These sins, the effects of sin, sorrow and pain and suffering and evil and all that's gonna be gone someday. All the consequences of death, no more dying, no more death.

Don't you look forward to that? How is that? Well, it's because of his righteousness. David said, I'll behold his face in righteousness. You're gonna be with him forever and ever through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're gonna be like him. We're gonna see him as he is. And you know what? As he is, so are we.

Righteous. And the children's children, whoever needs it, whoever says I've sinned and perverted that which is right, deliver him. Bound to ransom. He's righteous. To such as keep his covenant. That's the gospel. Brothers and sisters, don't be moved away from the hope of the gospel. If we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth, there's no hope. There's no hope.

For those that remember his commandments to do them. What commandments? Whatever he says. But chiefly, love one another. That's what he said. This shall all men know. And love doesn't fail, does it? This is the love of God. John from first to last says this. This is the love of God that we keep his commandment. His commandments are not grieving. Not grieving. Verse 19, this is wonderful.

The Lord hath prepared or fixed his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all. His throne is fixed. Psalm 2. heathen rage, people imagine a vain thing, we'll cast their cords asunder, let's bring him down. They only consult to bring him down from his excellency. You can't do it, it's fixed. His throne is fixed. I was reading Spurgeon on this and he said, nothing moves God, nothing man says or does, he's not alarmed, he's not upset about nothing. Changes him, he's sovereign.

If everything's been fixed, and God reigns over it all, good and evil, men and devils, boy, that'll give you peace. So he says, in closing, bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, oh, bow the knee, praise and adore. He, his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word, Brothers and sisters, our angels, the Lord has commanded angels to watch over us. As we dash, keep us from stubbing our toe. Oh yeah, angels, one angel's gonna destroy a fourth of the earth. That's how powerful the excelling strength. What do we got to worry about? What do we got to fear?

Mm, bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, verse 21. Bless ye the Lord, all his host, sun, moon, and stars, and heavens above. Bless his holy name. The birds, the trees clap their hands. Everything that God created blesses him, doesn't it? That do his pleasure, ministers of his. Bless the Lord, verse 22. All his work in all places of his dominion. But this is for me, this is for you. Say this from your, say it with me. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Okay, stand with me.

The Blessed Lord

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about praising God?

Why is God's mercy important for Christians?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is the fear of the Lord important?

What does it mean to be redeemed?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The Blessed Lord

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about praising God?

Why is God's mercy important for Christians?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is the fear of the Lord important?

What does it mean to be redeemed?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

More from Paul Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Paul Mahan

Suggested for You

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book