Our brother Gerald Kuhn said
to me tonight back in the study, do you have something for us
this evening? And my reply was, I sincerely
hope so. Because Wednesday night is a
special night. Because all who are here on Wednesday
night are here through a special effort. Many of you have been up since
5.30 or 6 o'clock this morning. Some have driven many miles doing
their jobs and worked hard all day and came in later this afternoon,
got a little supper and came on over to the church, put forth
a special effort. I can tell you look a little
tireder on Wednesday than you do on Sunday. You haven't had
your afternoon nap. Special effort. You put forth
a special effort. I'm aware of that. That's the
reason I try to put forth a special effort to have something for
you tonight. I've worked all day on this message. And a preacher
that does any less ought to resign from the ministry. when he stands
up before people who put forth such a special effort to be there.
And you fellows who preach when I'm gone on Wednesday night,
remember this is the choice group. This is the choice group. Somebody
said one time, the popularity of a church is indicated by its
Sunday morning crowd. The popularity of the preacher
The pastor of that church is usually gauged by the Sunday
night crowd. And who loves God shows up on
Wednesday night. A lot of truth in that. Takes
a little effort, a little more effort. You come wanting something,
needing something, desiring something, or you wouldn't come, would you?
That's the truth. So let's turn to Psalm 103. This
is the Psalm of David. And one of the great old writers
was so taken up with Psalm 103, this is what he had to say. He said, like Romans 8, and I
told you this last Sunday night about Romans 8, like the Garden
of Eden, like paradise, full of its beauties and riches and
treasures. He said Psalm 103, like Romans 8 and Isaiah 53,
is a Bible in itself. And I found that out anew today. It is indeed a Bible in itself. And he went on to say, I could
spend a lifetime in these treasures. Most people, now get this, most
people agree that Psalm 103 is a psalm of David's latter years,
the latter years. And the reason we think that
is this, and this is true, I've found this to be true by experience,
and some of you older people here have found it to be true,
and you can reflect on what I'm about to say, the older folks
can reflect on it, and you who are a little younger can look
forward to it. But as you grow a little older, there's a keener
sense of sin. Is that not true? a keener sense
and awareness of sin as you grow older. And that's indicated.
Look at verse 10. Psalm 103 verse 10. He hath not
dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
Paul, he talks about sins, iniquities, and then transgressions from
us. This man's aware. He has a keen
awareness, an awareness of the true nature of sin. You say,
but most old people I know have less awareness of sin than they
did back when they were younger. You know why that is? They don't
know what sin is. That's the bunch that came out
of the Armenian circles that don't have any idea. So when
they quit drinking and smoking and running around and got too
old to do those things and lost interest in them, then
they don't have any awareness of sin. But the true child of
God, who knows what sin is, a nature, a principle, an inward spirit,
as he gets older, he has more awareness of it. He doesn't feel
better and more holy like the folks down in the rest home who
are goody-goody, pious, holier-than-thou, Arminian, free will, holiness
folks who don't know what sin is. Naturally, they have less
awareness of sin because they're not out there in the world. But
we bring our world with us. You see what I'm saying? That's
true. David, this is written in his
latter years, and evidence of it is that he has a keener sense
of sin, an overwhelming awareness of it. He said, my sins are ever
before me. I don't have less problem with
it. I realize as I grow older more and more what sin really
is, and the more I realize what it is, I realize what I am. And
I find it in me. Alright, here's the second evidence. The reason I believe it is written
in his old age is this, there is a higher regard for God's
grace. A greater appreciation for the
grace of God. So the more, to whom much is
forgiven, he loves much. A higher regard for the preciousness
of pardon. Look at verse 13. Like as a father
pitieth his children. So the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. We had a great shock in our neighborhood
yesterday. I'm sure many of you here saw
the young man on the front page of the Ashland paper. That young
man's our next door neighbor. He grew up with our children.
Ricky, that hurts. And you feel for the family.
And everybody may turn their back on him, but I'll tell you
one fella that won't turn his back on that boy. Who is it? His father. Isn't that right,
Mark? His father will stand with him. My father will stand with me.
Even more than that father. He said, if you, being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, would you ever
forsake your son? I don't care what he does. Never
forsake him. He's my son. I'll stand with
him. I won't approve of what he does
nor condone what he does. That's not what I'm saying. But
he'll stand with him and love him. And if you being evil know
how to stand with and love and defend your son, he said the
grace of God is greater. How much greater will your Heavenly
Father stand with you? That's what he's saying here.
Like as a father pities his children, the Lord pitieth his children,
them that fear him. rises to this height of acclaim
for the goodness of God. I appreciate God's grace more
now than I've ever appreciated. And I'll tell you this, as some
of the preachers may grow, what's the word I want, permissive
and compromising with false doctrine, But here's one that believes
grace more strongly now than I did when I was 30 years old,
or 40. You needn't worry about this
pulpit pulling in the sword. Man's depraved, and I
know it more now than I ever did, and God's sovereign, and
Christ's blood is effectual, and there'll be no compromise.
The only reason a man will compromise his mouth is his heart compromises.
That's exactly right. If he ever compromises here,
he started, he never did believe in here. That's exactly right. And then I'll tell you this about
the reason I believe this was written in his latter years.
There's a clear understanding, clearer understanding of the
frailty of life. Someone said one time, no one
experiences an understanding of the frailty of human life,
like the man or the woman who is beginning to feel it crumble.
That's when you, you here who are 25, 30, 35, you don't really,
I mean, the frailty of life, don't, you don't think much about
that. You're, you're at your, your peak, your strongest You
men at 35 are at the peak of your life. You're stronger than
you've ever been. But now, some of us here know the frailty of
life because the old house has already started falling. It's
already started crumbling. And David knew that. It's beginning
to crumble. Look at verse 14. He knows our
frame. He remembers that we're dust.
As for man, his days are as grass. as the flower of the field, so
he flourisheth, and the wind passeth over it, and it is gone."
It is not. And the place thereof shall know
it no more. And then listen to this. Now this is something that
was so eye-opening to me. Twenty-two verses in this psalm. And there's not one request in
this whole psalm. There's not one request, not
one petition. David didn't ask God for nothing. Not one request. And somebody
explain that this way. Talking about getting older now.
Are you with me? There's a keener sense of sin
for which we're grateful. It's a good evidence if you've
been born again. There's a higher regard for God's grace, a much
higher regard for God's grace. I wouldn't have it any other
way. Salvation's got to be by grace or I'm lost. You see, a
person can argue about that when he was a young whippersnapper,
but when you get old and know something about who you are and
what you are and where you came from, it better be by grace.
Is that right, John? And then thirdly, like I told
you, there is a clear understanding of the frailty of life. Salvation
becomes more important. I mean, what wait I for? My hope's
in thee. What am I waiting on? I've just
got a short time left. What is there here? What's there
here to hold me? What's there here to interest
me? What's here to enthrall us except
temporary pleasures and joys? But you know, as a person gets
older, his prayers change. His prayers change. There's more
praise and less petition. That's right. Less petition. Less asking and
more praising. There's more thanking God than
asking God. Because really, we have Christ.
and the joy of Christ in our hearts, there's not much to ask
for, is there? But there's a whole lot to be
thankful for. It was grace that brought me safe thus far, and
grace will take me home. I need His grace. That's what
I need. I desire, we should as we get
older, desire the things that are convenient for us. I want
You know, as we're younger, we have a lot of wants, don't we?
We have a lot of wants, a lot of things that we just feel like
we want. But when we get older, we begin
thinking only about what we need. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. A little that a godly man has
is worth ten thousand times more than the riches of this world.
Just to be with him. Just to be with him. David said,
I'll be satisfied when I wait. with our likeness, what I'm waiting
on. And then something else about
this psalm, we'll notice as we go along, the name Jehovah, the
word Lord Jehovah, that's what that is, Jehovah, Lord Jehovah,
appears in these 22 verses 11 times. He keeps talking about
Jehovah, Jehovah. Let me show you verse 1. Bless
Jehovah, bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless Jehovah, O my soul. Verse 20. Bless the Lord, Jehovah,
ye his angels. Verse 21. Bless Jehovah, all
ye his hosts. Verse 22. Bless Jehovah, all
his works in all places. Bless Jehovah, O my soul. And he uses it other times. Eleven
times he talks about Jehovah, Jehovah. All right, let's look
at verse 1. Verse 1, he says, Bless the Lord,
O my soul. Bless the Lord. That's what I
entitled this message, Bless the Lord, O my soul. Because
that's where he starts it, and look at the last phrase in verse
22. That's the way he ends it. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. What is it to bless the Lord? I try to preach to you like I'm
learning myself. When I began this message and
I read, bless the Lord, he kept saying, bless the Lord, bless
the Lord. Don, the question that came to my mind was, what is
it to bless the Lord? And I know you'd be asking that
too. What is it to bless the Lord? Alright, we know what it
is for God to bless us, don't we? We know what it is for God
to bless us? When God bestows mercies on us,
that's God blessing us. When God bestows favors upon
us, that's when God blesses us, spiritual favors. He has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in the heaven. That's what I'm
talking about. Don't connect God's blessings only with material
things like these TV pictures. Don't connect God's blessings
with physical comforts like those fellows. That's spiritual blessings
in the heaven. So we know what it is when God
delivers us from evil, when God gives us Hope for the future.
Hope for eternal life. That's God blessing us. Well,
now listen. There's no way that I can bless
God in that sense. There's no way that I can bless
God in that sense. Everything I have, I receive
from Him. I receive my very being from
Him. And all that I have is from Him. So there's no way I can contribute
to Him. So what is it to bless the Lord?
Alright, here it is. Listen. To bless the Lord. is
with an affectionate heart and a humble gratitude to praise
Him at all times. The word bless the Lord is praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. With thanksgiving
and gratitude and a humble spirit at all times, praise the Lord. Also, to bless the Lord, to bless
the Lord is to ascribe unto Him that which is His. All glory,
honor, and majesty. That's blessing the Lord. It's
to ascribe to Him what He is and who He is. That's blessing
the Lord. And to do it without murmuring. Let God be true and ever man
alive. To bless the Lord is to embrace
His Word. and to embrace his truth. That's
praising the Lord. And to embrace his gospel and
to embrace his dear Son without wavering. Now that's to bless
the Lord. Praise the Lord. And you know,
he goes on, he says, Bless the Lord, O my soul. Now here, get
this. This is rich here. Not just my
lips. I fear that much of this will
bless the Lord. Well, praise God. Well, hallelujah.
I fear that much of that is what our Lord was talking about when
he said, you call me Lord with your lips, but your hearts are
far from me. I don't want to be a lip-blesser.
I don't want to be a flippant lip-praiser. No, sir, and David
didn't either. Watch this now. Like Scott said
now, I'm going to say something here. I stole this, and this
is good. Soul praise is the very soul
of praise. Bless the Lord, O my soul. He read it, bowels of mercy,
innermost being. As the Scripture talks about
there being bowels of mercy, there being a genuine mercy.
in a genuine inner mercy, inner feeling, inner affection. Bless
the Lord, my innermost soul and all that is within me. Within
me. Within me. With my innermost
being, I will praise the Lord. God looks upon the soul. God
looks upon the heart. Out of it are the issues of life.
God is not influenced or moved by these mouths and tongues of
idols. Now, me and I, we can really
impress people, but you'll never impress God. I say we'll never
impress God, not with our words. Praise him with our souls. And
he says, all that is within me, what is within me? Let my affections,
listen to this, let my affections bless him by loving whom he loves
and what he loves. Let my mind bless him with holy
meditations and godly thoughts. Let my desires bless him by seeking
his glory and not my own. Let my hope bless him by resting
in his promises. Let my memory bless him by always
recalling his mercies. And let my emotions bless him
By fearing none but Him. Fearing none but Him. That's
blessing the Lord from within. That's our... My innermost soul
bless the Lord. Watch this now. Bless His holy
name. It's the Lord Jehovah we're going
to bless. It's not a God of our imagination. It's not the God
of our religious traditions. It's blessed Jehovah, O my soul,
and all that is within me, my true inner self and soul and
heart, and bless his holy name." You see, the name of the Lord
signifies his nature and attributes, who he is. And by his name we
understand his revealed character, don't we? Whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's not everybody
says, Lord, Lord, who lives in the kingdom of heaven, it's he
that calleth upon the name of the Lord. And I'll tell you this,
He is His holy name. We praise God that He is holy. Someone wrote this, Holiness
is the chief attribute and glory of our God. Holy and Reverend
is His name. Now watch this, His eternality,
His eternality, God, I am. Moses said, well, what's I mean? Whom shall I say? He said, I
am. I am. His eternality. That's frightening. His omniscience. Have you ever
thought about the fact that God knows all about you? I mean better
than you do. That's frightening. That's frightening. His power His power? Have you thought much about His
power? About His omnipresence? That would only frighten me if
the Lord were not holy. And being holy, now watch this,
being holy, the Lord is merciful and good and loving. Holiness
not only requires righteousness, and we must not lose sight of
this fact. Hit this pretty regularly. The holiness of God demands a
perfect righteousness, but the holiness of God also is His love. That's right. Holiness is love.
A person that does not love is not holy. Isn't that right? A person who does not keep his
word is not holy. That's the reason John said this. He said, he that loveth not knoweth
not God. God's love. God's love. Aren't you glad He is holy? Aren't
you glad that God is not just righteous and just and truth? You'd be a goner. I would too.
But God is love. God is grace and God is mercy.
And God's holiness will be expressed in His graciousness. Let me show
you that. Turn to Exodus. Now this is important. I put
a big star by this point here. Exodus 34. Listen to this. Exodus 34, beginning with verse 5. And the
Lord descended in the clouds, and stood with Moses there, and
proclaimed the name of the Lord. And proclaimed the name of the
Lord. And the Lord passed before him, and proclaimed the Lord,
the Lord God. What? Holy, stern, strict, merciful,
gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth. Isn't
that good news? That's His holiness, as well
as His righteousness. Read on. Keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Oh, He will by no means
clear the guilty. That's true. But bless your heart,
He gave Christ to bear our guilt and our shame, and He will clear
us in Christ. That's His holiness. Bless His
holy name. Bless His holy name. I don't
want us, I want us to know God, and to have some understanding
of His character, but let's don't get it lopsided. When we talk
of His holiness, Don't talk only of his justice and truth and
righteousness and perfection in the sense that he's unbending
and unmoving in that perfection, but he's also love and mercy
and grace. And it's all met in Christ. And
that's where God is known and revealed in Christ Jesus. Alright,
let's look at the next phrase here. Bless the Lord, O my soul,
again he says verse 2, and forget not all his benefits. Forget
not, forget not. Our Lord, before he died on the
cross and went back to the Father, he instituted a table and he
told his disciples to do this, what? In remembrance of me. And
here's what Moses would say, don't forget his blessings, don't
forget God's benefits. I tell you, our memory, and I
know us, I'm really putting the dirty clothes out tonight what
we are, but memory is frail about truth. And memory is so frail
about the best things. Isn't that right? Because of
the fall, we remember the bad and forget the good, don't we?
We remember the junk of the past. It's always fresh. And all those
priceless treasures of God's mercy are so often forgotten. And that's what he's talking
about here. I told somebody one time, I think
I said it in a message, you can have twenty-seven perfectly good
teeth. You can have one with a cavity
in it. And I guarantee you where your
tongue will go every time. I started that hole. And instead
of putting your tongue on one of those 27 good teeth, you'll
keep poking in that cavity until you wear the end of your tongue
out. Until you get it fixed. Because we just naturally go
to the bad, don't we? We just naturally bring up the
bad. We bring up the past bad. We remember the past bad. And
you know, This was the charge against Israel.
This was the very charge God made against Israel. They forgot
God. They forgot God. Let me show
you that Deuteronomy 32. See if that's not what he's saying
here in Deuteronomy 32. They forgot God. In Deuteronomy 32.16, listen
to it here. This was the charge he brought
against them. He said in Deuteronomy 32.16, they provoke God to jealousy
with strange gods. With abominations provoked they
him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils,
not to God. To gods whom they knew not, to
new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Of the rock that beget thee,
thou art unmindful, and thou hast forgotten God that formed
thee. This is what he's saying here.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his benedictus. Don't
forget them. call them to mind, remember them.
One writer said this, one thing is certain, what we do not remember,
we do not consider. And what we do not consider cannot
affect us and influence us. So if we can remember God's mercies
and reflect upon them, those mercies will influence our actions. Forget not all his benefits.
All right, let's look at number three. Now verse number three. Now here's some things he lists,
and I'm going to move quickly through these. What are these
benefits? Forget not his benefits. Verse
three. He forgiveth all thine iniquities. All thine iniquities. He forgiveth. Do you have trouble
with the word all? All thine iniquities. God forgiveth
all of them. Not some of them. All of them. Not the least ones, but the greatest
ones. Not only the past, but the present and the future. God
forgiveth all thine iniquities, because forgiveness is in God.
He said, Lord, if I shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand?
But there's forgiveness with me. Forgiveness is from God. He's the fountain of forgiveness. And forgiveness is not only in
God, it's from God. Only God can forgive sin, and
it's not only in God and from God, but it's complete in God,
in whom we have forgiveness. The remission of sins. And I
want you to turn, hold that right there and turn to 1 John. Now
listen to this. And I want you to underscore
this now, you who have difficulties with this. He said, Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth. Why don't you put a circle around
the word all? A-L-L. All thy iniquities. Now listen to 1 John 1 verse
7. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. All sin. Look, if you will, at
verse 9. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from what? All unrighteousness. That's good. Isn't that comfort? Bring rejoicing
to the heart. All right, read on. He forgiveth
all thine iniquities, Psalm 103. He healeth all thy diseases. Now, I'll tell you this. It started
years ago and they keep rehashing it and reviving it. This charismatic
stuff is nothing in the world but a repetition of what I heard
30, 40 years ago, what I heard 20 years ago, and what I'm hearing
now. 1988's the year. 1952 was the
year back then. The year of all the great outpouring
of the Holy Spirit and the new Pentecost and the speaking in
tongues and the gifts and all these things and the healing
of the bodies. Now listen to me. will never on this earth be free
from all diseases and all infirmities. It's just not so. And they try
to connect the healing of the body with the atonement. They
say he bore our sicknesses and our diseases. And he did. But
I'm going to show you from the Word of God that these sicknesses
and diseases which he healed and bore are our soul sicknesses
and diseases. My soul is sick. in sin, the
leprosy of the soul. For example, my eyes were blind,
and now I see. My ears were deaf, and now I
hear. My whole head is sick. He said
in Isaiah 1, your whole head is sick. Not now, I have a sound
mind. I know the truth, and the truth
has made me free. Your whole heart, your affections,
he said, are polluted from the sole of your feet to the top
of your head. There's no soundness, wounds
and bruising, putrefying sores. Not in Christ there's not. I've
been healed of all my diseases just like all my sins. Is that not right? Exactly. Turn to Luke 4.18. That's why Christ came. Luke
4, verse 18. I tell you, Satan is such a slick
devil. He's such a manipulator. He's
such a shyster. He's such a crafty, subtle creature. And he's taken our minds off
the Gospel and got them on the goodness of man and on the flesh. And he's taken us off these spiritual
benefits and blessings and got us thinking about new cars and
new clothes and new houses and a good strong body so we can
play ball, you know, and play tennis Never hurt and put the
aspirin people out of business and all these things, you know.
But in Luke 4, 18, it says this. Our Lord says, The Spirit of
the Lord is upon me. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal, to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
recovering a sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that
are bruised. He healeth all my diseases."
I'm not sick anymore. I'm well. Isn't that what the
Word's teaching? I feel certain that it is. That's
it. This body's not gone. I've got to die, I know that.
I can go take you back through history and show you how the
dearest saints of God, the most beloved Proclaimers of the gospel
were men subject to great affliction and infirmities that God might
work in them His great purpose. How are we going to weep with
those who weep if we've never wept? How are we going to sympathize
with those who are in sorrow if we've never lived in it? How
are we going to understand the pains of men if we never bore
them? I would be like present day preachers. If you had more
faith, you wouldn't be sick. That's real sympathy. That's
real compassion. No, it's not. It's hypocrisy.
But I tell you this, if you have faith in Christ as your Redeemer,
you won't be sick no more. No more. You mean my body? No, that'll be sick. But not
your soul. I want to be well. I want to
be well in heart. Don't you? All right, read on. He redeemeth thy life from destruction. And we just, people, and I read
some of the writers on this, and they talked about God preserves
and protects with guardian angels and providentially delivers us
from daily hurt and harm. And that's true. Under God, that's
true. I rest in it, believe it. I believe
that God's children are immortal till God sees fit to call them
home. Immortal. Look how frail they
are. They cannot die. till God kills
them. God is the one that sets the
bounds of a man's life. But this right here is talking
about the same thing that forgiveness of sin and healing my diseases
is talking about. It's talking about He has delivered
me in Christ from the curse and condemnation of eternal destruction. That's right. He redeemeth my
life from destruction. I live because He died. I'm not
interested in how many years I live here, but I'm sure interested
in living there, aren't you, John? I mean, if I lived here
to be what? A hundred, like the old Indian.
I'm gone, I'm gone. But eternity is a long time.
So whether I live 20 years or 30 or 40 or 60 or 70, that doesn't
really matter. This body's going to die. But
not my soul. He has redeemed my life from
destruction. He that believeth in me shall
never die, Christ said. Because we've already died. Here's
a good comment someone made. He has delivered my life from
destruction. As my kinsman redeemer, he has
delivered me from ruin and bankruptcy and restored my inheritance.
As my righteous redeemer, he has delivered me from the curse
of the law. As my crucified Redeemer, he has delivered me from the
fear of justice. As my risen Redeemer, he has
delivered me from the grave. As my interceding Redeemer, he
has delivered me from all condemnation because he ever liveth to make
intercession for me. All right, verse 4, quickly.
And I'm not going to go all the way with this. Just don't get
antsy, you know. You say, my soul is just on verse
4, and then you'll lose the blessing here. I know when to quit. I wonder if he knows when to
quit. He didn't used to know when to quit. All right, what
says, he crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercy. Now
here's what I thought on that. Earthly kings are crowned. They're crowned, they're crowned
with crowns made of silver, gold, and diamonds. I saw the crown
jewels of England. And that makes them owners and
rulers of material kingdoms, but not for long. They've got
their glory, they're encompassed with crowns of glory, but it's
a temporary glory, a fading glory. But he has made us kings and
priests to our God. And he has encompassed us and
crowned us with what? His loving kindness and his tender
mercies. And do you know I found this?
Turn to Psalm 51. This is interesting. I found
this. That was what David based everything
he requested in Psalm 51 on. Those two things. Psalm 51 is
a psalm of request. But look at verse 1 of Psalm
51, have mercy upon me, O God, according to your lovingkindness,
according to the multitude of your tender mercies. And over
here in Psalm 103, the old man says, he literally encompassed
me and crowned me with those two things, his lovingkindness
and his tender mercies. I cannot get beyond them, and
how grateful I am for them. That encourages me, doesn't it? Our right to reign with Him is
His loving kindness and tender mercies. And we don't wear purple
robes, we wear robes of righteousness. Alright, the next one. Verse
5, He satisfied thy mouth with good things. Good things. He satisfied thy mouth. Who on
this earth is ever satisfied? That's a good question, isn't
it? Really now, on this earth. Oh,
I know for a moment or two we're pleased, yes, but not satisfied. Temporarily content, temporarily
at rest, but not for long, not for long. Never satisfied. But God's people, because their
mouths are satisfied with good, and things is not in the original,
with good, and that's Christ. We're satisfied with Christ,
and he's made unto us all we need. He has satisfied my mouth
with all the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption
I need. In Christ, I have all I need.
I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. You people are
too content. Oh no. He said for us to be content. You people are just resting. Yeah, we've entered His rest.
You just act like you don't need anything added to you. I don't.
All I need is in Christ. I'm waiting like Simeon said,
I've got it all now, take me home. I don't know whether he
went home that day or not, but he still had it all that day.
He had everything when he had Christ. I'm satisfied. with Christ. Now watch this,
and I'll wind it up with this right here. So that thy youth
is renewed like the eagles. Boy, you'd be surprised at some
of the comments made on that. It talked about how when the
eagle got old and he sprouted new feathers and got stronger
and all that. But this is what that verse is
saying. He satisfied thy mouth with good things and thy renewed
youth. Thy renewed youth is like the
eagles, where once we sat in a tree like an owl, we now fly
above the clouds with chains. In your renewed soul, in your
regenerated soul, you're no longer like the sparrow hiding in the
rock, you're like the eagle who aims for the sun. Soaring above,
strong, that's right. Our nature's changed. We're different.
We're not like the pelicans sitting around picking up the dead things
on the beach. We're strong, and our eyes are
keen, and our wings are spread, and we're flying up there in
the beautiful sunshine of God's love. Let me show you that now.
Turn to Isaiah 40 and see if this is not true. See if this
is not true. And this youth never dies. And
it never gets old, and it never gets stale. I'll just tell you
this right here, you go in this congregation of people here between
60 and 80, and those who love Christ and
know Christ are just as alert and just as keen in their interest
in this gospel, just as keen, just as sharp, just as interested,
just as alert, just as hungry as you young people. Their strength
has not diminished spiritually. Now we're talking about He forgiveth
our iniquities, healeth our diseases, crowneth our lives. It's the
same thing. Your youth, your renewed youth is like the eagles. Always strong. Always aiming
for the stars. Brother Scott, somebody said,
when are you going to retire? He said, you only retire from
what you don't like. And he said, I like what I'm doing. You don't
retire from this. You're like the eagle, you're
going to fly from now on until you just fly right on into his
presence. Read Isaiah 40 now, verse 28. I read this Sunday
morning. Isaiah 40, 28. Hast thou not
known? Hast thou not heard that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not, neither is he weary? There is no searching of his
understanding. He giveth power to the faint
and to them that have no might. He increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly
fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall change their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and never be weary. They shall walk, walk, walk,
walk, walk, and never faint. And that's what he's talking
about. He satisfies thy mouth with good things so that thy
youth, thy renewed youth, is not like the crow, but like the
eagle. And I tell you, you got something
to look forward to as you mature in Christ. You're going to keep
soaring higher and higher and higher. Higher and higher. More beautiful all the time.
More beautiful.