I want you all to turn back with
me to the book of the Psalms, chapter 103. I'd like to read the first five
verses of this psalm to you for our text this morning. Psalm
103, beginning with verse 1. 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 loving kindness
and tender mercies, who satisfy thy mouth with good things, so
that thy youth is renewed like the eagles." I wanted to speak
this morning on these verses, trusting that the Lord would
open up to us a subject that has been very much on my mind
in the past few days. Here we find David, the sweet
singer of Israel, the psalmist. We find him saying, Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. All that is within
me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all of His benefits. Now God's name represents who
He is. It embraces every one of His
attributes, every attribute of His very being. Someone suggested
that before we can thank God for His blessings and for His
goodness toward us, that we ought to first thank Him for His being. Thank Him for His being, who
He is. Now, beloved, I'm sure that if
we come to know God, if we ever come to know Him in truth, if
we come to know Him by the revelation of God's Spirit, that there will
be a desire in our hearts to bless His holy name. There will
be a desire with all that is within us to bless His name for
His being, for His being. Now we believe here that God
is an absolute sovereign and we bless Him that He is sovereign
over all of His creation, that He is sovereign in creation,
that He is sovereign in providence, and that He is sovereign in the
salvation of His elect and the salvation of His people. Now
this is what David stirs up his souls and ours to do, that is
to give thanks for the being of God. Be thankful for the attributes
of our God. Now, beloved, listen. God is
full of grace and He's full of truth. And we ought to bless
Him for His being. Let me read just a few selected
verses out of the Psalms to you. Psalm 113 is a short psalm, but
how blessed it is. Listen to these words. Praise
ye the Lord, Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name
of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore, from the rising of the sun till
the going down of the same. The Lord's name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations,
and His glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our
God who dwelleth on high, who humbled himself to behold the
things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raiseth up the
poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill,
that he may set him with princesses, even with the princess of his
people. He maketh a barren woman to keep
house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord. And in Psalm 115, look at the
first three verses. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's
sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And in Psalm 117, look
at these two verses, O praise the Lord, all ye nations! Praise
Him, all ye people! For His merciful kindness is
great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord! And in Psalm
118 verse 1, O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, because
His mercy endureth forever. So the name of the Lord is to
be praised. David was not a man who was without
temptation and without trial and without very trying circumstances
in his life. Yet he said, Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Now it is the Lord God Himself
who is to be well spoken of. It is the Lord that is to be
eulogized. It is the Lord that is to be
blessed with thanksgiving and praise. Blessed be the God and
Father, Paul said, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ,
Ephesians 1 and verse 3. And then here in the Psalms in
verse 2, after David says, bless the Lord, he says, and forget
not all his benefits. And forget not all his benefits. Now there is no better way, as
I have studied and meditated on this, to stir up one's heart
to bless the Lord than to recall all of those benefits and blessings
of grace that we have personally experienced from His hand. all of the blessings that God
has been pleased to pour out upon us, the benefits that God
has given to us. Now, if you're here this morning
and you say, I really have nothing to give thanks for. I have nothing
to thank God for. I just simply am destitute of
any reason to give thanks unto God. Beloved, listen. I'll tell
you this morning that the common grace of God is upon all of us. Every one of us have been recipients
of the common grace of God. We often say that we're in this
world breathing God's air, drinking God's water, wearing God's clothes,
eating God's food. We are indeed blessed of God
by common grace. But somebody well said that there
is nothing on this side of eternal punishment that ought not to
fill us, to fill our hearts with thankfulness. Now what they meant
to say was that if God has had mercy upon you, if you're not
in hell, if you're not right now suffering the vengeance of
a thrice holy God, if you're not now burning in everlasting
burnings, if you're not suffering the second death, I mean if you're
not this morning in the realm of the damned and the doomed,
and if you're not shut up forever behind those great iron gates
there in eternity, to be plagued and suffer all throughout an
endless eternity, then you ought to give thanks. You ought to
give thanks, whatever be your state, whatever be your situation,
whatever you have to put up with in this life, whatever is the
trying circumstances that you left this morning to come here
to this place, you just ought to give thanks to God. You ought
to praise His name. Because if God has not dealt
with you after your sin, if God has not remembered your iniquity,
if God has not sent you off to hell to pay for all eternity
a debt which you can never pay in full, listen my friend, you
have reason to be thankful. The poet said, I am, I am out
of hell. I'll tell it to all, I am out
of hell. Now if you're out of hell, you've
got reason to be thankful. You've got reason to praise His
name. And so David said, forget not,
forget not all of His benefits. Have you forgotten His benefits?
It may be that this week you've been filled with self-pity. It
may be this week you've been just simply taken up with what
you have not, with what your situation is that you think is
such a terrible situation compared with other people. It may be
that you may feel this morning as you come here to this place,
oh, if I could have just had a different lot in life. If my
lot in life could have been altogether different than what it is, My,
what a different person I would be. My friend, I want to say
to you this morning that God has been merciful to every one
of us. And I want you to know that if God would have given
you a different situation, I don't know for sure what you would
have done with it. But I am here to tell you this morning that
there is enough sin There is enough in our nature, the old
Adam nature that we're born with, to ruin any situation, however
good it was when God put us in it, that there's enough sin in
us to ruin any situation. So whatever be your situation,
accept it as from the hand of God and be grateful this morning
that you're out of hell and that you're sitting in this place
hearing about the great God, the sovereign God of the Bible,
that God who is full of majesty and grace and truth. Be thankful
that you're still breathing the breath of life and you're still
among the living and you can still hear the message of the
good news of the gospel. that message which says that
everything God demanded of me, He's provided for me in the person
of His Son, and that as I come to Christ, as I believe on Him,
that God blocks out all of my iniquities and my sins, and He
has mercy on me eternally in His Son. Be thankful for the
benefits that the Lord has bestowed upon you. Forget not, forget
not. This is a great evil in our day.
We've been used to so much since the Second World War. People
have been used to so much in this world that they've forgotten
the Lord's benefits. I'm not saying they didn't before,
but I'm saying we're especially plagued with this idea that more
and more and more and more is what we must have, what we need
in this world. But do you know The book of Ecclesiastes
tells us that with abundance the heart is not satisfied, and
even with the increase of goods, those that eat them will increase,
and after man there shall be nothing. And that you and I ought
to be grateful for what God has given us in this world. Forget
not all of His benefits. Do you know that The Bible instructs
us, as the Lord's people, over in the book of Thessalonians,
if you were to turn there with me, I'd like for you to see this
verse of Scripture. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5,
I want us to read verse 17 and verse 18. Verse 17 and 18. Well, let's back up to verse
16. It says, Rejoice evermore. Rejoice
evermore. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. He
said rejoice evermore. That is to be glad in your heart,
be joyful in your heart as a child of God. He's talking to believers.
He's talking to Christians. He's talking to those that remember
the Lord's benefits, and he says, you rejoice evermore. And then
he says, you pray without ceasing. You pray without ceasing. You
have an attitude of prayer in your heart. You go about praying,
seeking the Lord in your heart, crying to God in your heart. And then in verse 18 he says,
in everything, in everything, that's what it says, that's what
my Bible says. Is that what your Bible says?
In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. in everything you give thanks,
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
Let me say just a few things about this before we get back
to our text over here in Psalm 103. I want to say just a few
things about this. What this means is that if an
individual is in Christ, if his sins are under the blood, if
one has been born again, if one has the Spirit of God dwelling
in him, if one is a believer, if one is trusting Christ, that
he is in a position where, seeing that his sin has been put away,
seeing that he will not be judged by God and condemned by God,
seeing that Christ was judged in our person and place, seeing
that as Jesus Christ was condemned and went to Calvary for me, and
seeing that he suffered in my room and stayed in place, then
I have nothing that can possibly fall out to me, happen to me,
in my life for which I cannot be thankful to God. Listen to
it. It says, And everything give
thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Are you in Christ
Jesus? Jesus the Bible says that we're
in Christ Jesus God has put us there and God has made him to
be unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and Redemption
he has made Christ to be this to us as we stand in him But
now beloved this is the will of God. This is God's will you
give thanks and everything if you be in Christ and that you
give thanks and everything. You say, preacher, but I don't
feel like doing it. And you may not feel like doing
it. You say, I just simply don't feel like giving thanks for my
situation. I just don't feel like, I don't
feel up to it. I don't have the strength to
do it. I just simply am not able to. I've dwelt on it too long
and I'm too low to give thanks for my situation. Well, beloved,
I think that what we, you know, we're called believers. Is that
right? We're called believers. If we be those that trust Christ,
that believe the Bible, that believe the message of the gospel,
we're called believers. And until, now just hear me out,
until you get to the place where you feel like doing it, you just
believe what God says. He says, this is my will. This is my will that you give
thanks in everything. This is my will. And so, you
just believe that that's what you want to do, and until you
get to a place where you feel like it, you just get busy and
praise God and give Him thanks, and eventually you'll be surprised
one day. One day you'll be surprised.
One morning you'll get up. Sometime you will find in your
heart that there is, that you feel like giving thanks, that
you feel like praising the Lord, that you feel like blessing God.
Now you say I just wish I could see, I just wish I could see
enough that it would cause me inside to want to bless the name
of the Lord. If it's God's will, I wish I
could see enough. Well, my friend, listen to me.
I often pray that God will reveal Himself more fully to my own
heart, that God will be pleased to open up the Word more to me
and to my own soul, that God will be pleased to manifest Himself,
that I will be able to see God's activity, not only in my life,
but in the lives of others around me, that I'll see the Lord that
I'll be able to behold Him as He is. And as the song said,
we sing this morning and praise Him as we ought. Oh, we do want
to see. We want to see more and more.
But beloved, until we see, until we see, We must believe what
God says. We must believe His Word. And
He said, this is My will. You give thanks in everything.
You forget not My benefits. You give thanks in everything.
This is My will that you do that. And you say, well preacher, you
know the strange thing is that that's not My will. That may
be God's will, but it is not my will. Now, beloved, there's
something that I think that we need to take note of, and I believe
this is very important for us to see. There was an old man,
an old preacher by the name of William Law. And I want you to
listen to what he said. This is very interesting. Very
interesting to me indeed. But he said, would you know who
is the greatest saint in the world? Would you know who is
the greatest believer, the greatest believer, the greatest child
of God in the world? It is not the man who prays the
most. It is not the man who gives the
most, and it is not those who are most eminent for their temperance
or for their chastity or justice. but it is he who is always thankful
to God it is he who is always thankful to God listen to this
now who wills everything that God wills now you see there's
where the problem is there's where the problem is that we
just cannot will what God wills now beloved the scripture says
in the book of Philippians that It is God that worketh in you
to will and to do of His good pleasure. Do all things without
murmuring and disputing. Don't argue and fuss with God.
Don't be filled with self-pity and fuss about it. It is God
that works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now let me say this, and I know
that you may have trouble with it, but there is nothing happens
there's nothing that happens and you may bring up and i could
bring up we could just we could just get together and spend the
whole afternoon in talking about things that don't appear to be
the will of god that has come into our lives but i'm here this
morning to tell you regardless of our understanding or lack
of understanding of it that anything that happens in the life of a
believer is the will of God. Say what you want to, do with
it whatever you will, fuss about it to eternity if you want to,
and grumble about it. Whatever happens is the will
of God. What you and I need to do is
to bring our will to God's will and that's the only way that
you can ever find any contentment in this world is bring your will
to God's will and surrender your will and will what He wills. And when you come to the place
where you can do that, then you'll bless the Lord in your soul.
You'll get up in the mornings, and you'll praise Him, and you'll
say, Lord, I don't understand all that's happening. I do not
understand your ways. As heavens are higher than the
earth, so are the Lord's ways higher than our ways. God's ways
are not my ways. His will is not my will. But I have learned in this life
that if you're going to have any measure of contentment, There
is no contentment, there is no satisfaction in the heart of
a believer in this world without bringing your will to God's will
and surrendering your will and will what He wills. and then
you'll have some peace then you'll have some content then you'll
have some satisfaction and until you do that you're not going
to have any you're going to still go on in your self-pity still
go on believing that God ought to do something for you that
he hadn't done still believing that things ought to have turned
out better for you than what they have still believing that
if somehow or other you just got a little if the deck had
been shuffled a little different things would have been different
with you you just keep on with that if you want to But I'll
tell you, if you're a believer, the only way, the Bible says,
Godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing
into this world. It's certain we can carry nothing
out. Therefore, with food and raiment, let us therewith be
content. Let your conversation be without
covetousness. for he has said I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee you may boldly say the Lord is your
helper but give up this conversation these words that says I don't
have I must have I will not be happy till I do have things have
got to be different and if they're never different I will never
be able to be happy I'll never be satisfied and I'll never be
able to praise the Lord. I don't feel like it, I don't
have the will to do it, and there's no way in this world I'm ever
going to be found praising God because things are just not the
way that they must be with me. Well, the question is asked in
the book of Job, must it be according to your mind? Must it be just
like you want it for you to be happy? Must it be that way? Well,
the scripture says in everything you give thanks. That's what
it says. This is the will of God. Bring
your will then and surrender it. Give it up. Give it up. Give it up. Give it up to God. And say, Lord, whatever pleases
you, pleases me. And I'll tell you, when you're
able to do that by the grace of God, you'll have a measure
of contentment and a measure of peace. You say, Preacher,
I'm afraid to do that. I'm afraid that everything will
just go to pieces around me. My friend, trust me, they'll
not be in any more pieces after you've done that than what they
were before you did it. You come to God and you trust
God. That's what it means to trust
God. is you trust him and you will
what he wills. Lord, if this pleases you, it
pleases me. Some fella said one time he took
a trip 4,000 miles and said he didn't even have a flat tire.
He said, I just praised the Lord. And I said, well, if you would
have had a flat tire, what would you have done then? Would you
have not praised the Lord? You see, God is the same whatever
my situation is. Whatever be my situation, God,
his being is the same. He's the same if you had a flat
tire yesterday if you didn't have one. He's the same if you
got a dollar if you don't have a dollar. He's the same. God
is the same. And you must remember that God's
will is right. It's right. That which seems
most wrong is right if it be His sweet will. Now you must come to that in
your life and surrender your will. And you say, well preacher,
I don't feel like doing all this you're talking about. Well, I
know you don't. I know you don't. Many a many a day, many a many
a hour, I haven't felt like it either. I haven't felt like it. I just didn't feel like doing
it. But this is God's will for us. Forget not all of His benefits. Now you say, well, I don't know
if the Lord can do anything about my situation. And if I don't
keep up against it and keep pressing, you know, and if I don't keep
agitated, then nothing's going to ever happen about my situation.
my friend you're not trusting god what you're doing is if you're
a conniver that's what you are that's what they call it conniving
i'm trying to make it happen i'm going to make it happen i'm
going to put uh... i'm going to put this uh... i've got a
bar you see a crowbar and i'm going to get me some leverage
and i'm going to make this thing happen as a believer as a child
of god that is wrong that is wrong You're trusting God. Didn't you say you was a believer?
Did I hear right? You're a believer! Okay, so you're
trusting the Lord. You're casting your care upon
the Lord. You're leaning on His wisdom. And the Bible says that
we're to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. Lean not to
your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him.
He will direct your steps. He will direct your steps. Now
I'm telling you what the Bible says. I'm not telling you what
Dr. Doolittle said or Dr. Dumore said. I'm telling you
what the Bible says. That's all I know. I don't know
anything else. This is what the Bible says.
This is what the Word of God says, and you ought to believe
it. Okay, now we get back here in
the Psalms, Psalm 103, and it says, Who forgiveth all thine
iniquities? Here's what the Lord, these are
the benefits. He says, these are the benefits.
He said, forget not all of his benefits. The Lord has benefited
you. The Lord has done something for
you. Well, David, spell it out. First
of all, he says, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. The Lord
forgives the iniquities of his people. Now, when we think about
all of our iniquities, my soul, all of our iniquities, we ought
already to be in hell. We ought already to be damned.
We ought already to be cut off. But it is the Lord who has forgiven
us our sin. Our God is a God of forgiveness. He hath not dealt, in verse 10,
with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. He forgives us all our sins.
And God's forgiveness of our sins is constant, and it's perpetual. It is an act of grace through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God constantly and perpetually
forgives our sin. 1 John 1 and 7 says, The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. The blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Who forgiveth
all thine iniquities. Now, if your sins are all forgiven,
My friend, that means that your sins cannot keep you out of heaven. Your sins cannot keep you out
of heaven if God has forgiven you all of your sins. Now, this, you know, somebody
said, well, if sin can't keep you out of heaven, what can?
Well, I think your self-righteousness will keep you out of heaven.
Your self-righteousness. you're holding on to something
besides Jesus Christ. You're somehow or other believing
that your upbringing or your religious background, your family's
religious background, something is going to get you by besides
God's provision. The only way to have your sins
forgiven, your iniquities put away, is for the Lord Jesus Christ
to bear your sin in his own body to the cursed tree and for God
to pour out his wrath upon him in your place and for him to
suffer and die for you in your place to suffer the vengeance
of God Almighty you know the poet I found this some time ago many
years ago And listen to what he says about our sin and what
the Lord's done with it. This was a great blessing to
me, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. You see, I'm a sinner. I don't
know about you all. You may not feel you are. But
I am a sinner. And I need God's provision. And
it rejoices my heart when I read, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Listen to what the poet said,
I will cast into the depths of the fathomless sea, all thy sin
and transgression, whatever they be, though they mount up to heaven,
though they go down to hell, they shall sink into the depths
and above them shall swell all thy waves of forgiveness, so
mighty, so free. I will cast all your sin into
the depth of the sea, in the deep silent depths, far away
from the shore, where they never rise up to trouble no more, where
no far-reaching tide, with its pitiless sweep, may stir the
dark waves of forgetfulness deep. I have buried them there, where
no mortal shall see. I have cast all your sins into
the depths of the sea." That's what the Lord has done with our
sins and our iniquity. I'm talking about the benefits
of the Lord. forgive all thine iniquities
and then notice it says who healeth all thy disease now Matthew Henry
said the corruption of nature is the sickness of the soul it
is its disorder and only by his stripes are we healed let me
say this this morning that whatever healing ever takes place in this
world God Almighty is the author of it Whatever real, true healing
that ever takes place, if it takes place at the hand of a
physician, however it comes to pass, God is the author of it. He heals all our diseases according
to His will, according to His purpose, according to His sovereign
good pleasure. And my friend, if you need healing,
you look to God's hand for it. Look to the Lord's hand. I'm
not saying you shouldn't go to the doctor. I'm not saying that
at all. I'm not getting involved with that. I'm just telling you
that the source of all true healing is the Living God. He made this
body and He can heal it. And He uses human instruments.
He uses physicians, doctors, and uses hospitals. I'm sure
of it. I don't have any doubt about that. But all healing comes
from the hand of the Lord. Now in the next place, we see
in verse 4, He redeems your life from destruction. The Lord has
redeemed our life from destruction. Now, we know that Christ died
to redeem us from the curse of the law, that Christ was made
a curse for us. Here I was, cursed by the law,
I'd broken it, and then Christ bore my sin in his own body,
and God cursed him, cursed as ever one that hangeth on a tree.
And Jesus wound up on that gory tree outside the city of Jerusalem. And the Lord Jesus redeemed me
from destruction, from everlasting hell, from everlasting judgment
and burning. The Lord redeemed my life from
destruction. And then it says, who crowneth
thee with loving kindness and tender mercy. Now, our God is
watchful over all of His people, the eye of the Lord. He that
keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. The eye of the Lord
is upon His people. Now, as the Lord watches over
His people, He crowns His people day by day with loving kindness,
with His loving kindness. You know, we're so prone to give
the credit for many of the good things that happen in our lives,
we take the credit ourselves, or we give the credit to a human
being. But the Lord crowns His people with kindness every day,
loving kindness and tender mercy. Mike was giving thanks this morning
in his prayer for things that could have happened that didn't
happen. Well, is there anyone here in this room that could
say, well, I know what could have happened but didn't happen?
No, my friend, only God knows what He has delivered us from,
saved us from, kept us from, even from the early days of our
life, how God preserved our lives. there's enough happened to me
when i was a child sometimes when i think about it but will
work at least easily take my life right here that right well
i don't know how the lord and things that i didn't know i'll
fill down some one time when i was about four or five years
old and run a big uh... what we used to call stubble
uh... stop uh... up in my arm and it
was about that long and uh... run it up in there and uh... there was one of those kids and
uh... They didn't even pay any attention
to it. And it stayed in there for 38 years. In my arm. And right by the artery there. It stayed right in there. And
when I was 38, 39 years old, 40, He came to a head and I got it
out. I worked it right out of my arm.
And it had petrified. And I thought to myself, well
it's the mercy of God that didn't kill me. Over and over again
it could have taken me out of here at any time, through infection
or otherwise. It could have just taken me out
of here. But no, no, the Lord had a purpose. And the Lord's
mercy uh... did spare me under this hour
tender mercy of our lord you know the lord jesus is made as
kings and priest and the god and he is with god's constant
because of jesus i'm blessed i have the covenant because of
jesus uh... i've been crowned with we all
have been with the favor of god because of the lord jesus god's
favor toward is because of you said well you know i like to
think that that the lord blesses me because of who i am my friend
i'll tell you this god blesses his people because of their redeemer
the lord jesus christ because of christ not because of who
you are if the lord bless because of who you are You wouldn't have
much coming would you you certainly wouldn't I wouldn't have anything
coming and I don't think you'd have much coming either But if
God blesses for Christ's sake and blesses because of him Then
don't you see how much we got coming? We got as much coming
as he does and we have it as we are frowned by the Lord in
constant favor with Christ Then we read next that the Lord satisfies
our mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. This is a benefit that the Lord
gives. You know the spiritual blessings
that a child of God enjoys in this world, we don't put much
of a price on that. In other words, we don't esteem
that to be of much value. We should esteem it to be of
a whole lot more value than what we do. That's the reason why
we feel ourselves many times to be so poor. It's because we
don't place the value on our blessings, the true riches that
we ought to place upon. Who can place a value upon the
true riches? Sometimes you say, well that
man is poor. That man, he just, you know, he struggles all the
time. That man just barely gets along in this world. But, let's
say he has the true riches. Then what do you got to say?
Well, then I'd say that fella has been satisfied with good
things. That the Lord has satisfied his
mouth with good things. And maybe the things that you
think are good, maybe they're not good. Maybe they're not good. And you know sometimes, and you
know that's another thing where we gotta leave with the Lord.
You say, well I think this is good. And I think the Lord ought
to give me that. But you know, you may end up
not getting it. You may end up not getting it because it's not
good for you. And it's not good, it's not the
good thing that God would give you. He has something else for
you. I know the Bible teaches that God strips men, that He
might, He empties them out, that He might fill them with good
things. Fill them with good things. you
know the bible says to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet
to a hungry soul and who satisfies thy mouth with good things it's
the Lord that does that and so you start taking account of the
good things that God satisfies you with in this world in your
heart he says so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles now
nothing can satisfy the soul but Christ Augustine said that
God made man and God gave him a living soul and that nothing
could satisfy a man's soul but a living union and relationship
with God in Christ. And he's right. He's right. If
you don't know Christ, you cannot, my friend, be satisfied in your
soul. Now, the Lord promises to continually
renew and revive us by His grace, and He does that. Listen to what
He said. He said, I'm going to satisfy
your mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. God replenishes the eagles' feathers
every year, so I'm told. He replenishes their feathers
every year, so He recovers His saints, is what it means. the
Lord recovers his people, the Lord revives his people from
their falls you know the Bible says that that the righteous
may fall seven times but the Lord lifts them up and so the
Lord revives his people he revives them from their fall and their
decays and he fills them He restores their soul and He revives them
to new life and joy as their days demand. God comes and visits
them and revives their hearts in the ways of the Spirit. Now
then, I trust this morning that we are able in our own hearts
to say, to God be the glory, to God be the praise, and I want
to praise the name of the Lord. The Bible says that with the
fruit of our lips the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his
name, that God accepts the sacrifice of praise from us. That is the
fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Well, forget not
all of his benefits. I trust this morning that if
you're here, you're a child of God, you'll be able to rejoice,
remembering what the Lord's done for you in Christ, remembering
you're standing in him remembering that God has poured out the vial
of his wrath upon him for your sake somebody wrote this and
I thought it was very good listen to this it says the vial of God's
wrath drips the vial of God's wrath drips but his fountain
of mercy runs The sun is not so full of light, that is the
S-U-N, is not so full of light as God is of mercy. That's a tremendous statement.
God is a God of mercy. Forget not all of his benefits.
Praise the Lord. Thank God that his wrath just
drips but His mercy runs. His mercy endureth forever. Let us pray. Father, in the name
of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, we offer praise and thanksgiving
to you. Accept this morning the worship
of our hearts, and grant that thy word may abide in all of
our hearts, that we may all be strengthened and helped, and
that great grace will flow out to all of us in the coming week. Above all, help us to surrender
our will to yours, and will nothing But what you will, what pleases
you, O God, grant that it would please us. In Jesus' name we
pray for His sake. Amen.