Psalm 103. I read this psalm back in the
office a few months ago and made mention that it was my favorite
psalm and Mark spoke up and said, it's mine too. A lot of good
stuff in this psalm, and I want to just briefly touch on each
verse and make a few comments tonight. And hopefully the Lord
will bless His word to our hearts. Psalm 103. 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 transgression 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 a 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 him that fear him, and his
righteousness unto children's children. To such as keep his
covenant, and to those who remember his commandments to do them.
The Lord hath prepared his throne in 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 and all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord,
O my soul. Now, David starts this psalm
by expressing his desire to exalt the Lord. Blessed is another
word for praise or glorify. And he wishes to praise Him from
the innermost being, his soul. And then he adds, in all that
is within me, He wants to give all that He is in exalting the
name of the Lord, as He says in the last four words of this
verse, bless His holy name. Verse 2, bless the Lord, O my
soul, and forget not all its benefits. Here in verse 2, David
repeats what he said in verse 1, but adds, and forget not all
its benefits. A benefit is something that produces
good or helpful results or effects. something that promotes well-being. But what are these benefits that
David mentions here? He begins to tell us in verse
3, who forgiveth all thy iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. David lists the most important
benefit first, who forgiveth all that iniquity. Without this
benefit, the rest of them listed here wouldn't mean that much.
They would just make life a little more bearable, a little more
pleasant. But they would do nothing for
us when it came time to die. But our Lord forgives all our
iniquities, sins, and trespasses. And we're told in Zephaniah 3
that He has taken away our judgments. This word, forgiveth, is only
found two places in all the Scripture. Here in Psalm 103, And in Luke
7, turn there with me, Luke chapter 7. This is an account of the Lord
Jesus going to the house of Simon the Pharisee. And we'll begin
reading in verse 36. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus said it, met
in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
and stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her
head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee, which had bidden him, saw it, he spake
within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would
have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth
him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, the man
didn't say anything, but the Lord knew his thoughts. And Jesus
answering said unto him, Simon, I have some what to say to thee.
And he, the hypocrite that he was, said, Master, say on. The Lord said, There was a creditor
which had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence, and
the other fifty. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which
of them will love him the most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave the most. And he said unto him, Thou
hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, Notice this. He's looking at the woman, but
he's speaking to Simon. See, established woman, I entered
into thy house. Thou gave me no water for my
feet, but she has washed my feet with tears and wiped them with
the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this
woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my
feet. And my head with oil thou didst
not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Wherefore I say unto her, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven,
for she loveth much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. And he saith unto her, Thy sins
are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with
him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, Thy
faith has saved thee. Go in peace. Now in verse 48,
our Lord speaks the most blessed words that any sinner can ever
hear. Thy sins are forgiven. No matter what else is going
to happen to this woman the rest of her days on earth, She would
never again wonder about forgiveness or despair whether or not she
was forgiven. She had heard from the very mouth
of the God-man the words, Thy sins are forgiven. And our Lord
speaks those words to us through His Spirit and through His Word
that we hold in our hands. Back to Psalm 103, verse 4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. David continues here listing
the benefits that he mentioned in verse 2, who redeemeth thy
life from destruction. Now, there are some sitting here
and listening over the streaming, I'm sure, who have led fairly
good lives in the sense of not committing vile, immoral acts,
at least not outwardly. But there are also many that
are hearing this message who've been through some rough days
in the sense of experiencing firsthand the depths of human
depravity and despair. Some of us have come pretty close, pretty close to hitting rock
bottom. Some close to death as a result of the lives that we
led before our God redeemed us. Our lives were on a direct course
for the destruction that David speaks of in this psalm. A death
without Christ, without faith, without hope. But whichever of
those classes you fall into, if you're one of God's chosen,
one of God's elect, one of his redeemed ones, your life had
been snatched from the jaws of destruction. Turn with me to
the book of Romans, please. Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, we'll begin
reading in verse 9. What then, are we better than
they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved, both
Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that seeketh after
God. I'm sorry, I'm skipping. There
is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. And with their tongues they have
used deceit, the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes." Now in these verses, Paul describes
the entire human race. Whether you see yourself as a
so-called good person, were the most vile sinners. We all fell
into the same class before God showed His mercy. Verse 16 says
that destruction and misery are in their ways. Self-inflicted
misery was a way of life for many of us before mercy found
us. We felt an emptiness inside and
tried to fill it with every manner of vice imaginable. But nothing
filled the void. We were living a life of misery.
Wearing a smile, but living a life of misery. And I know that there
was a time that I had absolutely no fear of God. Raised in a Baptist
church, but had no fear of God. I would
use his name in the most vile manner, and never once felt any
remorse over it. or any fear in doing so. My mouth
was indeed, verse 14 says, full of cursing and bitterness. But thank God our misery was
replaced with mercy. Proverbs 18.12 tells us, before
destruction the heart of man is haughty. So true. We were not worried about death
or eternity as many of our children and those that we love, our grandchildren,
have no concern whatsoever. And the reason we didn't have
any concern and they don't have any concern is because we were
dead as they are. We could not understand that
the path we were on led to pure destruction. But God came to
us and gently wooed us and gently led us as a good shepherd does
his sheep toward a path where we came to hear the true gospel
of Christ crucified. And in his good time, he gave
us faith to believe that if your experience was anything like
mine, there was a time before he spoke peace to my heart, that
he let me know that I was guilty as charged, deserving of eternal
wrath. And I would pray, thank you for
my children. Lord, let me live just one more
day. And now I find myself praying that
same prayer for my children and my grandchildren. Lord, spare them just one more
day. Don't let them perish. Every
night, when I lay my head on my pillow, the first thing I
thank the Lord for is, Lord, thank you that I didn't
get that call today. That call telling me And one
of my children, one of my grandchildren had perished under the wrath
of God. Job describes our condition before
the Lord found us. But when he awoke us to our lost
condition, he said, for destruction from God was a terror to me.
And by reason of His kindness, I could not endure. But thank
God that He does not leave His loved people in that despair
forever. No, because the second half of verse 4, the second half tells us that our
Lord cried out at thee, with loving kindness and tender mercies. Not just mercies, but tender
mercies. Like a mother embracing her newborn
child tenderly and lovingly, knowing how fragile that new
life is, our Lord tenderly embraces His newborn children and feeds
them with the sincere milk of the Word spoken of in 1 Peter
chapter 2. Now verse 5, "...who satisfieth
thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles." What are these good things with which our Lord satisfies
our mouth? One is what I just read, He feeds
us the milk of His Word, and a newborn baby desires the milk
from his mother's breast. So do newborn redeemed sinners
desire to hear that Word of Christ crucified, And as that redeemed
sinner matures, he still hungers. And the Lord feeds him with the
meat of the Word, that strong meat which is described in Hebrews
5.14. We want to feed on Christ, on the bread of life. And our
Lord satisfies that hunger, as David said in Psalm 119, verse
108, How sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than
honey to my mouth. And that our Lord satisfies our
mouth with good things, we use that mouth to magnify His name.
As David says in Psalm 51, 15, My mouth shall show forth thy
praise. Psalm 71, 15, My mouth shall
show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day. Psalm 34, 1, I will bless the
Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. Verse 6, the Lord executes righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. Now here's another
blessed promise. When David tells us that the
Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed,
it means more than him dealing with the enemies that we have
in this life, though he does. It also means that He carries
out fully and provides all that is required for us to stand before
His presence in perfection. Executed, this word executed
means to perform something in a precise and planned way. Perfect description of how our
God deals with us, how He deals with all things. And that's exactly
what our God does for His elect. He precisely executes every microscopic
detail of our lives, from our first breath to our last, to
bring us to the feet of Christ. We talk about God for being a
grace in our life and indeed It's true, He guides our steps.
But what we need to understand is that God's preeminent grace
in our lives began with Adam. And by that I mean that had anyone
in your long line of genealogy dating back to Adam, perished
before God's purpose in their life could be carried out, then
you would never have been born or come to Christ in saving faith.
Let me give you a personal illustration of this, of what I'm talking
about. In tracing my genealogy, one of my kids, I think it was
Jenny, bought me an Ancestry.com membership. And in tracing my
genealogy, I found out that my great-great-grandfather on my
mother's side, who was named Isaac Barclay, fought in the
Civil War. And he ended up at Gettysburg,
where there were 50,000 killed and wounded. Out of 150,000 men,
50,000 killed and wounded. And I found out he fought for
the Confederates, for the 21st Battalion of the Virginia Infantry. And he survived that conflict.
and father to son, Simon Smith, partly my great-grandfather,
four years after the Civil War ended. Now, had he died at Gettysburg,
there would have been no rest party ever formed upon whom God
bestowed His grace. So that's what I mean by God's
prevenient grace in your life traces all the way back to Adam.
And when our text tells us that He executeth righteousness and
judgment, it means that He provides and carries out the righteousness
required by His holy law. He carries out judgment on our
sins. And we know that judgment took
place long ago when God's wrath fell with His full force upon
His Son. Verse 7. He made known his ways
unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. Our God gave
Moses and the children of Israel insight into his holy character,
both by speaking to them and by his acts on their behalf.
He told Moses in Exodus 33, 19, I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. And I will show mercy to whom
I will show mercy, a clear picture of God's sovereign election.
God acts on behalf of the children of Israel, both in leading them
in the wilderness and in His divine intervention against their
enemies throughout the Old Testament, was so evident that only because
of the hardness of their heart were they unable to believe all
that God had told them. Verse 8, the Lord is merciful
and gracious slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." Here, David
speaks of the greatest of all the benefits that he mentioned
in verse 2 of our text. The Lord is merciful, full of
mercy, showing mercy to unworthy sinners. It's one of two things
that the Scripture tells us that our God delights in, that He
receives pleasure from, if we can put it in human terms. One
is His Son, His blessed Son, And He didn't be just, and He
had to show mercy because of the finished work of His Son.
And this verse tells us that God is slow to anger. There's
an old saying, it says, Beware the anger of a patient man. Which
simply means this, that a patient man won't fly off the handle
at the least insult or injury. But when his patience has been
exhausted, he ceases to be a patient man and becomes a very dangerous
man. And so it is with our God. He's
described in 2 Peter as long-suffering, that verse that we're so familiar
with. But He's not long-suffering toward
all men. No, He's only long-suffering
to us. To His people, to His chosen,
to His elect. And why is that? We're told in
that same verse in 2 Peter, because He is not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance Christ Himself
told us in John 6.39, And this is the Father's will, which hath
sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And
the last few words of this verse tell us why the Lord is merciful
and gracious, because He is plenteous in mercy. He has mercy to give
that exceeds our sin and guilt, that exceeds our need of mercy,
Though that need be great, the word plenteous means abundant,
copious, sufficient for every purpose. Throughout the Psalms
and the New Testament as well, God's mercy is always described
as abundant, exceedingly great, all-sufficient, more than enough
to satisfy the need. Verse 9, He will not always chide,
neither will He keep His anger forever. This word chide means
to scold mildly, so as to correct or improve. Scripture tells us
that God is angry with the wicked every day, and that that anger
will one day be manifested in eternal damnation. But His anger
toward His people is like the anger of a loving Father whose
children misbehave and displease Him. But if He's a loving Father,
He will correct His children. But He's only angry for a moment,
because He cannot stay angry at those that He so loves. And
so it is with our God. Psalm 31 verse 5 says, His anger
endureth but for a moment. In Isaiah 54 verses 7 and 8,
our God tells us, For a small moment have I forsaken thee,
but with great mercies I will gather thee. In a little wrath
I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness.
Well, I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Verse 10. He has not dealt with
us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
And our God has not dealt with us after our sins, because those
sins have already been dealt with before the foundation of
the world. And that great price of the punishment
for those sins was meted out when Christ hung on that Roman
tree and paid all that was due on our behalf, which is how He
can be a just God and a Savior. It says He is not rewarded. A reward is something that you
are given as a result of your actions, or something that you've
done, something that you've earned. And the Scripture is plain, the
wages of sin is death. And as we know, Christ was given
the reward for our iniquities when He took them on Him, along
with our transgressions. Verse 11, for as the heaven is
high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that
fear Him. David here makes a comparison
that anyone can relate to by simply looking to the heavens
on a clear night. We cannot comprehend the vastness
of the heavens any more than we can comprehend the vastness
of God's mercy toward us. But we're told that it is great
toward them that fear Him. This term, them that fear Him,
is used Two more times in this song, and this word fear does
not mean that we're terrified of what God might do to us, like
an abusive father, someone just waiting for his wrath to fall
on us. No, it refers to that holy reverence that we have toward
our Heavenly Father, knowing His greatness and His power.
We stand in awe of Him. Verse 12, as far as the east
is from the west, So far hath He removed our transgressions
from us. Our pastor used to explain this
term so well. He'd say, you can go east forever
and never run into the west. And you can go west forever and
never run into the east, which is a perfect picture of how far
our God has removed our transgressions from us. They can be searched
for forever and never be found. Verse 13, Like a father pitieth
his children, So the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. This word
pitieth means sympathy and sorrow aroused by the misfortune or
suffering of another. Like a loving father, we have
compassion on a sick child who has been diagnosed with a terminal
cancer. So our God looked on our lost
condition, our enslavement to sin, our assured damnation before
His acting on our behalf. And He took pity. Our Savior
was so aroused by our sad condition that He took action to redeem
our situation and gave Himself to be a sacrifice for our sins.
And again, we find that He did this for them that fear Him. Verse 14, For He knoweth our
frame, He remembereth that we are dust. He remembers that we're
dust. What a perfect description of
us. Dust. Worthless for anything. Blown
about with every wind. Just an annoyance to be dealt
with. Men like to think of themselves
as something. Great leaders. Great business
leaders. Great presidents. And they like
to be looked up to. They like to be held in high
esteem. They like their egos to be stroked. But our God reminds
us that compared to His Majesty, we are just dust. Verse 15, As
for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so
he flourisheth. This verse is a reminder of the
shortness of our life when compared to eternity. Grass springs up,
but shortly thereafter dies when winter comes or when a drought
hits. This verse also compares man to a flower. Flowers bud
out and bloom and are indeed beautiful for a short time. We
have tulips that come up in our yard each spring, and they are
indeed beautiful, but they don't last long. And those flowers
that are described here, they begin to wither up and dry. They
shrivel and turn ugly before finally dying, which is a good
description of man. If we live long enough, we begin
to shrivel up, Get all wrinkled and bent over before death finally
claims us. Verse 16, For the wind passeth
over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know
it no more. Debbie and I were driving down
the road a while back, and we went past a house where someone
we used to know once lived. And neither of us could remember
the names of the people that lived there. And that's exactly
what happens to us other than a few friends or family. Once
we leave this old world, we're soon forgotten, but that's okay. We'll soon be referred to in
the past tense, but that's okay too because we will be in the
presence of One who never forgot us because we were always dear
to His heart. Verse 17, But the mercy of the
Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and
His righteousness unto children's children." Again, we see this
term, them that fear Him, and its link to mercy. It tells us
that the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. Now, you ask most folks, what
does eternal life mean? And 99 times out of 100, they're
going to reply, it means a life that never ends. But that is
not correct. For something to be deemed eternal,
it has to have had no beginning and no end. But some would protest,
well, how can you possibly say your life had no beginning when
you clearly came into existence when you were born? And that's
a reasonable question for those that don't believe in God's people
have been in Christ from the foundation of the world. If our
life is in Him, and we have been in Him from eternity past, our
lives indeed had no beginning. Therefore, because we've been
alive in Christ, it can only truly be said of God's people
that they have eternal life. And the last part of that verse
refers to His righteousness unto children's children. There are
many places in Scripture that speak of children being a blessing
of the Lord. Psalm 127.3 reads, Children are
an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His
reward. Psalm 128 promises to them that,
fear the Lord, yea, thou shalt see thy children's children,
and peace upon Israel. Proverbs 17, 6. Children's children
are the crown of all men, and the glory of children are their
fathers. But there's also warnings in
God's Word that tells us that the consequences of the evil
acts of fathers sometimes carry over to children, grandchildren,
and even great-great-grandchildren. And that is a scary thought.
In Numbers 14 and 18, we read a solemn warning. The Lord is
long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression,
and by no means will clear the guilty. Visiting the iniquity,
of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation. Now, if you think that your sin
and wrongdoing only has an effect on you, you had better think
again. In Deuteronomy 5.19, we find
nearly the same warning, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous
God. visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me. Second Kings 1741 tells us that
these nations served their graven images, both their children and
their children's children, as did their fathers, so do they
unto this day. Generation after generation left
in darkness and unbelief because of the acts of men who died decades
ago, some over a hundred years ago. Think about that. It's a
sobering thought. Verse 18, "...to such as keep
His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments, to
do them." To such that keep His covenants and to do His commandments,
these requirements surely eliminate us, don't they? but not if we're
found in Christ. That is how we're able to do
these things, that we've been in Christ from the foundation
of the world in the same way we are looked upon in Him as
keeping all of God's commandments and His covenant. Verse 19, The
Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom
ruleth over all. Now our God has a throne that
is set high above any man-made throne here on earth, We're told
in Ephesians 1.21 that His throne is far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. High
above principalities, any territory ruled by a prince or princess,
any kingdom. It says it's high above all power.
Christ told His disciples in Matthew 28.18, all power, is given unto me in heaven and
earth." And I love what our dear pastor once said about that verse.
I think I'll never forget it unless I get Alzheimer's. But
he said, quoting that verse in Matthew 28.18, that if Christ
has all power, that means nobody else has any. How true. How true. High above all might,
this verse tells us, there is no other being in all the universe
who can overpower or overcome one who has all might, as does
our God. High above all dominion, which
dominion means authority, the power of governing or controlling,
the right to direct, control, use and dispose of at pleasure,
without being accountable to another. Which is all to say
that what our God tells us in Isaiah 46, 9 and 10, He says,
Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there
is none else. I am God, and there is none like
Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
to things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all My pleasure. And back just one chapter from
that, our God tells us again about His sovereignty. In Isaiah
45, verses 6 and 7, He says, That they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west, that there is none beside me.
I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light and create
darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things."
And the second part of this verse 19 reiterates all that I just
read. that His kingdom is the only kingdom with any authority,
it says, He ruleth over all. Verse 20, Bless the Lord, ye
His angels that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening
unto the voice of His Word. Now here, David mentions that
the angels of God, and he tells us that they are indeed incredibly
powerful beings, that they excel in strength. We have many accounts
in the Scripture of the power of angels. In 1 Chronicles 21,
we have the account of David numbering the people of Israel
against the sound advice of Joab. But David ignored that advice
and sinned against the Lord in doing so. And God sent an angel
to destroy Jerusalem, as we're told in verse 15 of that chapter.
A single angel to destroy an entire city. Not the physical
structures, not the buildings, but the people. As we're told
in verse 12, and it says, "...the angel of the Lord, destroying
throughout all the coasts of Israel, and this one angel would
have destroyed the entire nation of Israel, had not God repented
and told the angel, it is enough, stay now thy hand. But before
this was done, this angel had killed 70,000 men." 70,000. And in the account we find of
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, two angels which the
Lord had sent to Lot told him in chapter 19 of Genesis, we
will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxing great
before the face of the Lord. Two angels with the power to
destroy two cities. Now if just one or two of these
angels are given this much power, can you imagine the destruction
that would have been wrought had our Lord Jesus actually called
forth more than the 12 legions of angels that he spoke of at
his arrest in Matthew 26. Christ here was referring to
a Roman legion which consisted of 6,000 men. Twelve legions
would have been more than 72,000 angels. More than enough, no
doubt, to have destroyed the entire earth. But he chose to
die rather than to summon those angels. And these angels had
excellent strength as the same angels who watched over God's
elect, As we're told in Psalm 34, 7, the angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth Him,
constantly delivering us from harm. We talk of guardian angels
that watch over us, and indeed that's true. Only eternity will
show us the many times in our lives before we were given faith
in Christ and afterwards, that God sent His angels to preserve
our life. I know for a fact a few times
that I would have been dead if it was not for God's pervenient
grace. And those are just a few times that I know about. I'm
sure there are countless times that I'm not aware of. And the
only reason I'm standing here today is because of the angel
of the Lord sustaining my life up to this point. And that angel
does so at the command of the Lord spoken of in the last part
of this verse. He says, these angels hearken
unto the voice of His Word. And what is that Word? We're
told in Psalm 91.11. For He shall give His angels
charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. These guardian
angels are instructed by God to watch over God's elect people,
both before and after our Lord brings us to saving faith in
Christ. As the old hymn says, Mortals
are immortal here until their work is done, until our Lord
at last tells the angel to guide us to our eternal home in glory. Verse 21. Bless ye the Lord,
O ye His hosts, ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure.
This verse pretty much repeats what was said in the previous
verse, but also adds all the hosts of heaven, all beings that
serve the Lord of hosts. In the name of God, the Lord
of hosts, It is used 284 times in the Old Testament. This word
host is an ancient term that refers to an army. And our God
is the supreme commander of an army like no other army, the
army of heaven. And that word host has its original
root in a word that means an armed expedition against an enemy. The book of Revelations has many
references to the battle that will take place between the armies
of heaven and the powers of darkness. And we already know from the
reading of those accounts which side will win that battle, because
all the combined forces of Satan and all the forces of sinful
men are no match for the armies of the Lord of Hosts, the army
of heaven that we're told that do His pleasure, that carry out
the orders that are issued by that supreme commander, the Lord
of Hosts. And verse 22, Bless the Lord,
all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord,
O my soul. Here David wraps up this psalm
with an all-encompassing declaration, Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of His dominion. Bless Him for everything that
He does and every place He does it. And David concludes the psalm
with the same words with which he began it. Bless the Lord,
O my soul. Lord willing, Aaron will be back
with us this coming Sunday, and the week from tonight, Frank
Tate is capable to be back with us. So be in prayer for those
men and for those services that the Lord will speak through them
to our hearts. Remember to pray for one another
and those of our number that are enduring so many difficulties,
in the Parks family especially. Lord bless you. You're dismissed.