Well, that's the title of the
message. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Back
in Psalm 103. There's nothing more fitting than the giving of thanks and blessing the Lord for all
His benefits. We ought to begin our days like
this and end them with this. Bless the Lord, O my soul. When
we look on the pit from which He brought us from, can we not
say, Bless the Lord, O my soul? This psalm begins and ends with
blessing the Lord. David begins and ends this psalm
this way. And I imagine when David was penning this psalm just before
that, he was meditating. I have no doubt he was meditating
upon the mercy of God to him, the grace of God, the forgiveness
of God that he had tasted and what God had done for him, that
he was so overwhelmed that all he could write about was the
blessings of the Lord and what God had done. If you'll notice
in this psalm, he doesn't ask God for one thing. He doesn't
ask. And I thought when I read this,
when's the last time I, reply to yourself, when is the last
time I ever prayed and did not ask for something, but just blessed
him and thanked him for everything he's already done? When's the
last time that ever happened? I can't remember it for me. I'm
talking about myself. I'm always asking for something.
We're a needy lot, I admit that, but sometimes we just need to
give thanks. Sometimes we need to give thanks
and just leave it at that. Maybe if we did that more often,
we wouldn't have to ask for so much. Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you. I thought how terrible, how terrible
it would be to go through this life, and many do it, and never
think and worship God one time. How terrible would that be? Never
think God or worship Him at all for His blessings. The great privilege that we have
sitting under the gospel is beyond estimation, isn't it? We say
that and we mean it, but I'm telling you it's beyond measure
to be able to sit and listen to someone teach and preach and
be able to take the Word of God and read it with some understanding.
That's beyond estimation. Now he says here, Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me. He's calling upon everything
within him first. And bless his holy name. Here
is the spirit of worship. Here is where the spirit of worship
begins. It starts with all that's within
me. It's not just part of something
I do. It's all, David says, all that's within me, bless His holy
name. If our worship of God is not
all-consuming, really, if it's not all-consuming, can it be
said to be worship? He said, all that's within me,
bless His holy name. True worship begins within first. It begins within the soul where
God resides in the hearts of His people. It begins within
first. In the soul. And true worship
begins with God and it ends with God. And nothing comes in between. It begins and ends with Him. He's the sole object of our worship. And true worship is done in spirit
and in truth. That's what the Scriptures teach
us over in John chapter 4. God's worthy of all worship,
isn't He? There's no one else worthy of worship but God Almighty,
the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. He's worthy of worship
because He's the Creator. All of this is His. No man gave
this. No earthly man. Adam didn't come
up with any of this. Adam came up with none of this
but sin. God created it all. The food we eat, the air we breathe,
It's His. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof and they who dwell therein. He has the title
to all of it. I don't have the title to anything.
I know the bank. I'm paying the bank to get a
title. But when it's mine, somebody else is going to have it in just
a little while. Let the boys inherit it and then they'll sell
it. That's what they'll do. That's what I tell them to do.
Sell it. Just sell it. Get the money and do whatever
you want with it. He's worthy to be worshipped.
He's God. He's sovereign. He's not president. Bush is president. God is sovereign. He ruleth over
all. It says His kingdom ruleth over
all. And He's the Savior of sinners. No one else would save sinners.
No one else. If it were not for the God of
mercy and grace, not one sinner would be saved. You'd send me
to hell, and I'd send you to hell. We'd be fighting over who's
going first. But God's the only one that'll
save sinners. And He's the sustainer of all.
Do we have life? God gave it to us. Do we have
health? God gave it to us. He's the one who sustains it.
And when it's time, He'll take it away. And listen, He's holy. Bless
His holy name. The Scripture says His name is
wonderful, doesn't it? It would not be wonderful if
He were not holy. That's what makes it wonderful.
He's holy. This is the attribute that makes
all the other attributes turn in our favor. He's holy. And bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits. Oh, we are a forgetful people.
The Lord said, Do this, and what? In remembrance of Me. Because
if you don't, you'll forget Me. If He was to leave me alone,
I'd leave Him alone. That's sad, but so. Oh, we're forgetful people. Therefore,
we must be stirred up. Stirred up and remember. All
His blessings, all His blessings. What about our daily bread? He
gives us our daily bread. I know in this country we usually
have our bread by the week or the month. But we pray, Lord,
give us our daily bread. Let's not forget that. It's our
daily bread still. Even though we may have the cupboards
full for another two or three weeks, it's still our daily bread. our health, everything. Everything we have, He's given
us. But especially, we bless the Lord for all the spiritual
blessings. All those spiritual blessings that were given to
us in Christ, when? When we asked for them? When
we believed? No, they were given to us before
the world was created. They were given to us when we
were enemies. All this is given to us in Christ
Jesus, it says in Ephesians 1, before the world began. Even now, John says in 1 John,
even now are ye the sons of God. I'm not going to be, I am. If I'm His at all, I am. Then
David begins to name the benefits. And when we start to name benefits,
what is it we usually, I tell you what men name, They name
their possessions, what they've been able to accumulate, what
they've been able to purchase and buy. David mentions forgiveness. That's
the blessing. He mentions healing, spiritual
healing. He mentions redemption. Who forgiveth,
he says in verse 3, all thine iniquities. What's that word? all thine iniquities, who healeth
all thy diseases." We have an ocean of iniquities, don't we? We swim in it. By nature we do. We swim in it. And every one
of them, everyone is against God. Not everything I do is against
you, but every sin, I'm talking about every sin, is against God
directly. But it says this, who forgiveth
all? All. If he does not forgive all, now
listen, if he does not forgive all thine iniquities, he cannot
have anything to do with us at all. Not at all. God can only deal
with the holy people. And in Christ, every one of his
children are holy. Holy. Through the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ, God can forgive us all our iniquities. All of them. But not only does
He forgive us all of our iniquities, it goes further. He healeth. I need forgiveness, so I need
that. I tell you something else I need. I need spiritual healing. I need healing. Healing all thy diseases. Attitude. Well, my attitude needs
healing. Walk. Talk. Sight. Lord, let me see. Let me see
you. Hearing. Let me hear you. Oh,
that God let us hear Him this morning. Sin, like a disease, goes through
the whole man. There is no part of my earthly
being that is not affected with sin. Not a part. Not a part of my body. Not a
part of this flesh. No earthly being. is not affected
with sin. David said, I was born in sin
and shaped in iniquity. That's how I came into this world.
I need healing. I need healing. And this healing is the work
of the great physician. He's the only one that can heal
thy disease. I tell you this, He not only
heals our spiritual diseases, but I tell you, if we're ever
healed of any physical diseases, He does it. He may use medicine,
but it's His medicine. It's all His. It's just a matter
of which way He uses it. It's all His. And then, I not only need forgiveness, I
not only need healing, I need to be bought back. I sold under
sin. Purchase thy life from destruction. That's the road we were on, wasn't
it? We were on a road of destruction.
Every man that's not in Christ, that does not believe in Christ,
is headed for destruction. His life is one of destruction.
A lot of people envy people like Bill Gates, you know, very rich
and all these That man's life is destruction. It's headed for
destruction. Unless God does something. He
says here, David says, He redeemeth thy life from destruction. By
His blood we are redeemed from destruction. Not just a bad life. From destruction. Many are marked for destruction.
Vessels of wrath. But not all. Not all. You believe
God? Believe God. He's redeemed your
life from destruction. He's made you a vessel of mercy. Many died in the flood in Noah's
day, but Noah, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Redeemed
his life from destruction. By purchase and by power, the
Lord redeemed us from spiritual death and has given us spiritual
life. Real life. Real life. Eternal life. If He had not done
this, we'd perish with everybody else. Because we had the same nature
everybody else was born with. Redeemed. I believe we're going
to sing this when we close. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. Look over in Revelations chapter 5. You know this verse
is familiar. Revelation chapter 5 and verse
9. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof.
For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood,
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Well,
let's always hold that before the church. That's the song of
the redeemed. Spurgeon said, it's our song
of gratitude. It'll always be our song of gratitude. God could have nothing to do
with us apart from the lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It is through
the Lord Jesus Christ Christ crucified that all the blessings
of God flow to sinners like me and you. It all comes to us through
Him. The blood of the Lamb. Do you
have any real peace? I mean real peace. You have it. You have it through the blood,
don't you? Do you have any real hope? Do you have any real hope
of standing before God accepted? You have it through the blood.
Do you have any real joy? Do you have any real communion
with God? You have it through the blood. Redeemeth thy life
from destruction. Many are going to weep and wail,
but not any that are under the blood. Not any. Not any that
are under the blood. You remember back when God delivered
Israel out of Egypt. God went through that night He
killed the firstborn in Egypt. But all those under the blood
were safe. Not one family wept that was
under the blood over the death of their firstborn. It was under
the blood. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. You're safe. I've redeemed your
life from destruction. Because a lot of Egyptians perished
that night. whose life was not redeemed from
destruction, but there was a lot of them in those houses under
the blood, whose life had been redeemed from destruction. If we enter glory, it will be
because He hath redeemed our lives from destruction, from
the power of Satan, from the curse of the law, from the power
of guilt of sin, and from the power of the grave. Oh, he got
the job done, didn't he? He got the job done. The blood
of bulls and ghosts did not get the job done, but his blood got
the job done. You know why? It's the blood
of God. It's the blood of God. It's what
it says in Acts. Now does this not call forth all that is within
me to bless his holy name? But it gets better. who crowneth
thee with loving kindness and tender mercies." You are crowned
with it. The crown that the church wears
is one of loving kindness and tender mercies all the time.
David says, His mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. It's
after me. Oh, if there's anything after me, if there's anything
chasing me, after me, let it be the mercy of God. Oh, he said, let kings, let the
kings of the earth wear their golden crowns. Let them put their
golden crowns on and walk around like they're somebody. I want
to wear the crown of loving kindness and tender mercy. Oh, what a
crown. We will wear the crown of loving
kindness and tender mercies throughout eternity. I know there's going to be many
crowned with wrath. We can't ignore that. Now, you cannot
ignore that. You say, well, you know, to be
politically correct in our day, you don't need to talk about
that. No. We preach the Word of God. It
just makes people mad. They just like to get mad. They're
mad anyway. They're born mad. What's the
matter? But many are going to be crowned
with wrath, but not those redeemed by the blood. They're crowned
with loving kindness and tender mercies. And now because of His loving
kindness and tender mercies, because of this, He said, I'm
going to satisfy your mouth with good things. Good things. Now listen, what He calls good
things, what He calls good things, Verse 5, who satisfies thy mouth
with good things. Only he who made the soul can
truly satisfy it. Only he who made it can truly
satisfy it. Men, why do you think we have,
I know the Lord's given knowledge and enabled to have all these
inventions, but why do you think man has invented all that he
has? Trying to satisfy himself. All that we have and all that
men have come up with is trying to satisfy themselves. And the
only person who can truly, truly be satisfied is the man born
of God. When the soul is made one again
with God. Is that not the purpose of this
whole matter of salvation? To be made one? Is that not what
the Lord says in John 17? That we might be made one? We might be brought back into
communion and union with God. Only God who made the soul can
satisfy it. Only He. It can only be satisfied
when it's made one again with Him. I wrote this down, I was thinking
about it last night. Satisfied with good things, that which
has the nature of God in it, is what truly satisfies the soul
when it's born of God. Even the blood of Christ is called
the blood of God, and that's what satisfies him and us. Satisfied. And the results, he
says, you'll renew your strength. Renewed strength. Our strength
fills us every day in this flesh, and I find this out more and
more as I get older. And I know that sin gets us down.
And I know that if you watch the news long enough, it will
get you down. The world will get you down.
But when God satisfies the soul with good things, and that good
thing is the Gospel. It's all found in the Gospel
of Christ. It's everything that we have in Christ. And when He
satisfies the soul with these good things, Then are we able
to mount up like eagles and soar again and not walk around saying,
what was me all the time? And he says, the Lord executes
righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. God will
avenge his own elect. I don't have to take it in my
hands. I don't have to get even. Don't have to do that at all. God will take care of it. Just
let it go. Let's let it go. He'll take care of it in his
time. He said he would. Take him at his word. Justice may be, one writer said
this, justice may appear to be absent in the courts of men,
but never in the court of God. Never in his court. Now he says there in verse 7,
he made known his ways to Moses. I tell you this, If we know the
way, Christ, we know the ways, mercy, grace, truth, we know
these things. He'll have to make them known
to us. Who by searching can find out God? Paul said over there,
I believe it was in Romans, how unsearchable, oh the depth and
the wisdom of God, how unsearchable are His ways. He said they're
past finding out. God'll have to reveal it. God'll
have to reveal it to us. But He does. He said He made
His ways known to Moses. His acts unto the children of
men. The children of men see the acts of God every day, don't
they? They see it in the weather. They see it in all that goes
on every day. They see the acts of God. They
don't acknowledge it. They call it Mother Nature or
something else, but they see it. But you see something far
greater, don't you? You see the way. Christ said,
I'm the way. You see the way God saves sinners.
You see the way that God can be a just God and save a wretch
like you and a wretch like me. You see that. That's what he
made known to Moses. How I can be a just God and a
Savior. He's made his ways known to Moses.
He's made His ways known to every one of His children when He saves
them. You know how God saves sinners. You know. He says there
in verse 8, the Lord is merciful. The Lord is merciful. We've tasted that, haven't we? We've tasted that. And He's gracious. And He's slow to anger. Aren't
you glad He's slow to anger? I wish I was slow to anger. I wish we all were slow to anger.
We wouldn't get so... We'd fly off like that, don't
we? God's slow to anger. This is a good lesson for parents
here. Slow to anger. Slow. I'm sure glad our Father
is slow to anger. And gracious. And plenteous in
mercy. He's got plenty. He's not going
to wear it out. This ought to make our hearts
sing with joy. The God of heaven and earth.
We ought to run around. We ought to run around and say,
did you hear this? The God of heaven and earth,
who I have sinned against, whose face I spit in, is merciful. He's merciful. Jesus is merciful. How many times did He show mercy
there and throughout the Gospels when you read it? Beggars. Crippled. blind, deaf, dumb, and show mercy. Show mercy. Paul, who persecuted the church
and wasted it, he showed mercy. The Lord is merciful. Oh, He
is. He's merciful. Oh, and He's slow
to anger. And He'll not always chide. He'll
not always chide or keep His anger forever. Why? Because He's
appeased. Why? I'll tell you another reason
why. Because He loves His children.
A father and a mother who love their children don't keep their
anger forever against that child, do they? No, they don't. For God has been appeased through
the blood and righteousness of His Son. And all He's doing is
chasing you. And the reason He's chasing you
is because He loves you. As many, He said in Revelation
3.19, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. You don't want God to leave you
alone. Oh, He's not dealt with us after
our sins, has He? I can look at everyone in here
and say with confidence, God has not dealt with you after
your sins, or you wouldn't be here, or I wouldn't be here. He's not done that. I tell you
what, he did deal with somebody over. He dealt with his son. Unmitigated
wrath. When Christ was nailed to that
cross, he suffered the wrath of God that you and I can't even
begin, we can't even begin to imagine what he suffered. He dealt with him. over all his
elect. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree and took the wrath of God Almighty. The Messiah, it says in Daniel,
shall be cut off, but not for himself. He was wounded, tortured
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our He has removed our sins, it says
there in verse 12, as far as the East is from the West. He
has removed them. They're gone. They're gone. Put away. That's
good news to a sinner. That's good news to a man who
knows he's guilty. That's good news. That's good
news to a man who's on death row and knows he ought to die. They come and open the door,
and they say, there's no charges. You're free. Nothing against
you. Now you can see why David starts
this psalm and ends it with, bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that's within me, bless His holy name. He said there in verse
11, for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is
His mercy toward them that fear Him. So great. That's how great
God's mercy is toward us. You can't measure it. You cannot
measure it. As far as the east is from the
west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. That's
the only way you can have anything to do with us is to remove them. Like as a father pities his children. You know what that's like. You've
had children. You pity your children. You love your children. So the Lord pitieth him that
fear him. He knows our frame. He knows our frame. I wish we
knew it. He remembers that we are dust. The problem is we don't
remember it. He remembers it. where we came
from. He knows what he made us from.
He remembers our frame. We're dust. Our days on this earth are short.
Man's days are short, like the grass. And as the flower of the
field, they flourish for a while. Then they leave. They're gone.
You know, we are reminded of that every spring, aren't we?
And every fall. God gives this world a reminder every year.
This thing, you're just here temporarily. It's just a little
while and you're going to be gone. But people ignore it. They ignore it. And it flourishes. Oh, some men flourish, don't
they? You think, oh boy, they are successful. Then they're
gone. Someone else is successful. And
then he's gone. And then what? After that, the
judgment. For the wind passes over it.
That's all it takes is the wind. And all it takes is the Spirit
of God to just pass over it. Take this one out and this one
out and this one out. That's all it takes. Passes over
and it's gone. And the place thereof knows it
no more. You're not coming back to it. You can build a 10,000 square
foot house and in a little while you're gone. You're not coming
back to it. Gone. But the mercy, the mercy of the
Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. It's not going to be gone. It's
not going to diminish. How many billions of sinners
has God had mercy on? And they haven't scratched the
surface of it, haven't begun to use up even a drop of it.
Oh, it's from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear
Him. That's not just to everybody, it's to them that fear Him. His
righteousness unto children of children, to such as keep His
covenant, His commandments The Lord said, keep my commandments.
And to those that remember His commandments to do then, the
Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens. He's the Sovereign.
He's the Sovereign. And His kingdom rules over all.
Isn't the Word of God beautiful? The less comments I make on it,
I find out the better I am. Really. I find the better I do
in preaching if I just read more than say less. He prepared his
throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. Bless
the Lord, ye his angels, O who sell in strength and do his commandments,
hearkening to the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all
ye his hosts, ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. Bless
him. Bless him in your prayers. Bless
him in your preaching. Give him the honor that is due
unto his name. Give unto the Lord the honor
that is due unto his name. And bless the Lord all His works,
just in case I missed anything. Bless the Lord in all His works,
in all places of His dominion. Well, where's that? Well, that's
everywhere. That's everywhere there is a where. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. Give Him the
honor of doing His thing. But He says here, bless the Lord
first of all. Oh my soul, it begins with me. Begins with me. Okay, Mike.