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Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 103, Psalm 103, a psalm of thanksgiving, a psalm that is a good model for us as we consider God's blessings, as we consider the gratitude that we ought to express in light of His grace to us in having overcome our guilt by the power of the Christian message. Specifically our Lord Jesus Christ and His life, death, and resurrection. So I'll read the psalm and then we'll look at the specifics. So beginning in verse 1, the psalm of David. 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 forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction. who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is his mercy toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. And its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to such as keep his covenant, and to those who remember his commandments to do them. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works and all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for this Psalm of David. We thank You what it tells us concerning our Lord Jesus. We thank You for the the blessings, the manifold blessings you have poured out upon your people to those who fear you. We know by nature none of us fear you. It was grace that taught our hearts to fear. The prophet says you put the fear of God in our hearts and we rejoice in that and may it indeed affect us in a good way and may we indeed be sober minded, may we be faithful, may we be persevering and may we seek to glorify and honor you and live in a manner that is consistent with our high calling and the gospel of our salvation. Again, forgive us now for all of our sins, cleanse us in that precious blood of the Lamb, and guide us and illumine us by your Holy Spirit, and we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Well, as we look at this particular psalm, there's probably a whole host of ways for one to divide it up. In fact, Christopher Ashe, in his new commentary that I have commended often on the psalms, he basically says the psalmist speaks to his own soul in verses 1 to 5, the focus broadens to Israel in verses 6 to 18, and then the entirety of the created order in verses 19 to 22. I'm going to divide it up a little bit differently, first with a reminder to bless God in verses 1 and 2, secondly the reasons to bless God in verses 3 to 18, and then finally a reflection on the kingdom of God in verses 19 to 22. So, let's look first at the reminder to bless God in verses 1 and 2. Notice, the Psalm of David, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. So, he's speaking of blessing God. Paul does something similar in Ephesians 1, 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. When God blesses us, it means He conveys good things upon us. When we bless God, it means that we speak well of Him, we honor Him, we praise Him, we adore Him, we acknowledge what is glorious about Him. In fact, Alec Motier describes it this way, when the Lord blesses us, He reviews our needs and responds to them. When we bless the Lord, we review His excellencies and respond to them. And I think that's a good way to approach this and that is precisely what David is doing here. Notice as well that David is speaking to himself. This isn't the only place in the Psalter where David talks to himself. Those of us who talk to ourselves are in good company because David does such as well. Turn back to Psalm 42. Psalm 42, David speaks to himself very specifically. And in verse five, he says, why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. Notice as well in Psalm 43, five, why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him the help of my countenance and my God. So, in these instances, as well as in Psalm 103, David speaks to himself. And I think Martin Lloyd-Jones is on the right path in his book called Spiritual Depression, which if you have not read Spiritual Depression by Martin Lloyd-Jones, may I commend it to you. It is most helpful. It is most excellent, especially as we get into the colder, darker winter months. There is that seasonal affective disorder that they speak of and does seem to be the case. People get a bit down when the sun is gone. And so if you go into a slump, don't allow yourself to continue in the slump. Be a David. Ask yourself, why are you cast down, oh my soul? Why are you disquieted? Hope thou in God. Well, Martin Lloyd-Jones says, when, or excuse me, Lloyd-Jones says, have you not realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Most of the problems in your life is connected to you listening to yourself. Your life is miserable. Everybody hates you. Nobody loves you. Nobody cares for you. Why would anybody ever want to be around you? Not that I know this experientially, but I think that this is commonplace among people. We allow the devil. We allow our own remaining corruption. We allow ourselves to talk ourselves into a bad place. And as Lloyd-Jones says, what we need is to talk to ourself. And what he means by that is know the scriptures. Be a man, a woman of prayer. A man, a woman of communion with God. A man, a woman that is familiar with the truth of God so that when you are cast down, instead of just continuing in that state or in that condition, talk to yourself. Grab yourself by the scruff of the neck and say, why are you cast down? Consider the glory of God. Consider the goodness of Christ. Consider what you have in the gospel of our salvation. Consider the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. Consider the forgiveness of sins. Consider the imputed righteousness of Jesus. Consider the fact that you are deserving of hell. You are deserving of God's wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come. And not only are you not in hell, but you're actually heaven bound. That's the way we should deal with ourselves when we start to go into one of these slumps or when sorrow becomes commonplace in our lives. Fight melancholy with the word of the living God. Fight melancholy with thanksgiving, with gratitude, with what David practices in this particular psalm. He says specifically, bless the Lord. He's talking to himself, oh my soul, bless the Lord and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Notice, as well, he has to remind himself not to forget the benefits of God. As I mentioned this morning, this is what our tendency is. This is what our proneness is. We get into sorrow. We get into melancholy. We get a bit down, and immediately we conclude that everything is messed up. Well, no, we're in a bit of a slump, and that's okay. I've long maintained that the Bible has a doctrine of bad days. Not every day is a Friday afternoon, much to the chagrin of a Joel Osteen. I mean, he says that's what the Christian life is about. Every moment of the Christian life is like a Friday afternoon. Most people are happy on Friday afternoon. I don't know what it is. They're not as happy on a Monday morning, unless, of course, your days off are different. Then it's a bit of a different story. But brethren, there is a doctrine of bad days. Not that we're not inwardly joyful all the time, thankful to God, grateful and all of that, but David says, why are you cast down, oh my soul? Why are you disquieted? In other words, what's your problem? But he directs himself to that fount of healing. He says, hope thou in God. Well, here in verse two, he reminds himself not to forget the benefits that God has wrought. So in verse 2 he says, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. If you turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 6, you'll see from whence this concern comes. As Dale Ralph Davis has well said, amnesia produces apostasy. When we forget God, when we don't hope in God, when we don't thank God, then we are cast further into despondency. Notice in Deuteronomy chapter 6, specifically at verse 10. So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities, which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn out wells, which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant, when you have eaten and are full, then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of Bondi. You're not supposed to forget the benefits of God. And that's what David is reminding himself. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is in me. Bless the Lord and do not forget his benefits. The same emphasis in Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8, verses 6 to 20, you see the same emphasis. Specifically notice at verse 11. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes which I command you today. And then turn to Deuteronomy 28. Deuteronomy 28, this is the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience. And one of the curses for disobedience has to do with forgetfulness of the mercy of God in planting them in the land, making that promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and bringing it to fruition at the time of the conquest. Notice specifically in Deuteronomy 28 at verse 47, because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of everything. Again, he doesn't say remember or don't forget. The idea being is that they receive the land, they're planted in the land by God's grace, by God's power, by God's glory, and what do they do? They don't receive it with gladness. They're not joyful. There's no thanksgiving. There's no expression of gratitude. There's no response to His grace with reference to an appropriate blessing of the Lord. This is in the covenant curses. I don't think we typically think that way. They go into the land. They go a-whoring from God. They engage in idolatry. They worship Moloch. They worship Baal. They worship Asherah. They throw their children into the arms of Moloch. They do all kinds of incredibly wicked things. But as well, an incredibly wicked thing is not serving God with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of everything. So amnesia produces apostasy. And as well, we need to be mindful of the fact that there is that remaining tendency in us to engage in likewise practice, and not to thank God, not to praise God, not to worship God. Read the New Testament epistles over and over and over again. What do the apostles encourage the people of God to express? Thankfulness. Thankfulness. Gratitude to our blessed Lord. So then, from there, after this reminder to bless God, he moves into the reasons to bless God in verses 3 to 18. And again, Paul not only in Ephesians 1.3 says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, sort of a Psalm 103, one and two sort of a thing. But then Paul in verses 4 to 14 details the reasons why he blesses God. Sovereign grace by the Father, election and predestination, redemption through the blood of the Lamb. and then sealing and guaranteeing by the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, David does the same thing. David does the same thing in verses 3 to 18, or Paul does the same thing David does. This is a literary convention, a berekah, which is the Hebrew for blessing. So this concept of bless the Lord speak well of the Lord, ascribe praise to the Lord, and then specific reasons as to why we do what we're doing in blessing Him. So that's precisely what David is doing. And I want to break it down into a few heads. First, the identification of the gifts in verses 3 to 5. Secondly, the recipients of those gifts in verses 6 and 7. And then finally, the giver of those gifts in verses 8 to 18. So again, he says, bless the Lord, now he's given the reasons why we should bless the Lord alongside of him. First, with reference to the identification of the gifts, he leads this detailed list with forgiveness. As I mentioned this morning, that's the mission of Christ's church. That's what Jesus enjoins upon the apostles there in John 20 at verse 23, the forgiveness of sins. We preach Christ crucified. We preach the glorious truth of the gospel of salvation. We preach that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself, 2 Corinthians 5. We preach that in him there is forgiveness that he may be feared. We preach to needy sinners that there is a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. We preach to needy sinners that you can, by God's grace, come out of the depths of sorrow and into the presence of the son of his love. And so David begins his list with spiritual blessings, specifically he deals with the forgiveness of sins. Now when David says in verse 3, who forgives all your iniquities, we need to remind ourselves of who David was. David wasn't the honor roll student in the Sunday school for the entirety of his life. David didn't have his trusty 1689 confession in his pocket all the time. David was a sinner. David was a wretch of a sinner. David sinned such that he engaged in adultery and in order to cover up that adultery, he conspired to commit murder. This is 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12. David understood the forgiveness of sin because David understood sin. And so David, when he is found out by the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12 at verse 13. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Simple confession, but a powerful confession. He doesn't blame Bathsheba. That woman shouldn't have been on her roof bathing. He didn't blame the battles that he should have been involved in. He didn't blame his external circumstances. He didn't blame, you know, a wife that perhaps was cold toward him. He doesn't blame anything. He doesn't, you know, project it out there. That's often times the case. When sinners are found out or sinners are caught, everybody else is to blame. Well not so with David. This very simple confession is a very powerful confession from the mouth of David. Better, from the heart of David. I have sinned against the Lord. No argument, There's no trying to mitigate the effects of it. There's no trying to pare off the edges. There's no trying to, you know, contextualize it. We just don't know what it's like to be a king. You don't know what it's like to have a position of authority and then to see this woman bathing. You just don't know what it's like to be a red-blooded Israelite that has high tea and, you know, regularly is out killing people and breaking things. You just don't know what it's like. He doesn't do that. He owns his sin. very simply owns his sin. And then he gets this pronouncement from the prophet. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. So it shouldn't surprise us that when David gets to details concerning why he should bless the Lord, that the forgiveness of sins is the one at the very top of the list. In fact, David elsewhere celebrates in a psalm that we sang this morning. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Psalm 65, a psalm at harvest time, he nevertheless remembers spiritual things and says, iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, you will provide atonement for them. David understood this all too well because David himself had been a vile, guilty sinner before a thrice holy God. So when David is forgiven, it's cause for celebration. When David is forgiven, it's cause for writing Psalms. When David is forgiven, it's cause to bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. As I mentioned this morning, in fact, turn there, Luke chapter 10. I mentioned it sort of in passing, but in Luke chapter 10, I think we need to get this. I think we need to understand and appropriate this. We need to internalize it. Luke 10, 17. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this." As I mentioned this morning, of course you're going to rejoice to some degree. It's comparative. It's idiomatic. It's not saying don't rejoice at all that a hell-bound sinner had a demon cast out, but don't rejoice over this or in this, over what is stable, secure, and always the case. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. So whatever the external circumstances are, whether good or bad, Whether profitable or unprofitable, whether helpful or hurtful, whatever those external circumstances are, this one thing is non-negotiable, the forgiveness of sins. We're always forgiven. He's justified us freely by His grace. It's one of the blessings of studying the doctrine of justification every other Saturday morning when we go through Buchanan. He points out, as we often ought to reflect upon, that justification is not a process, it's not a growing thing. It's a one-time definitive act by God. We are forgiven of our sins. So when David comes to bless the Lord, that forgiveness heads the list, ought to be appreciated by all the blood-bought children of God. We ought to join David in singing Psalm 103. We ought to join David in singing Psalm 32. We ought to join David in singing Psalm 65, in singing the Psalter, because what David is doing is rejoicing in experiential religion. He's rejoicing in gospel blessing. The Geneva Bible comments on this, verse 3, who forgives all your iniquities, that is the beginning and chiefest of all benefits, remission of sin. Spurgeon says he selects a few of the choicest pearls from the casket of divine love, threads them on the string of memory and hangs them about the neck of gratitude. Pardoned sin in our experience I'm sorry, pardon sin is, in our experience, one of the choicest boons of grace, one of the earliest gifts of mercy. In fact, the needful preparation for enjoying all that follows it, till iniquity is forgiven, healing, redemption, and satisfaction are unknown blessings. He's right. This choicest boon, this blessed gem on the neck of gratitude. You may have a miserable day tomorrow, externally. I hope you don't. It's not a pronouncement, it's not a performative word. Thou must have a horrible day. But this one thing you can thank God for, the forgiveness of sins. In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, Jesus says, for I have overcome the world. He shows them his hands and his side and what happens? They're glad. They rejoice. Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah, what a Savior. That communication of peace comes as a result of what Christ has accomplished on our behalf. He moves from the spiritual blessing of forgiveness to physical blessings. Now I should say that these are realized fully in the eschaton. These are realized fully in glorification. It's not the case that we're not going to get into car wrecks. It's not the case that if we do get into car wrecks, we're going to magically survive every aspect of those things. It's not the case that we're going to be immune from disease. It's not the case that we're going to be immune from disaster. It's not the case. But David, in his own life, knew something of God's preserving hand. He knew something of God's mercies. He knew something of God's deliverance from adversity. In Psalm 68, 19, David says, blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation. Our God is the God of salvation, and to God the Lord belong escapes from death. He speaks of physical healing in verse 3b, who heals all your diseases. Again, that is realized fully in glorification or in the eschaton. As well, he speaks concerning the protection from physical threat who redeems your life from destruction. If you read 1 and 2 Samuel, you'll have to amen that 100 fold. There's a time when the Philistines saved David. That's an interesting sort of juxtaposition. The Philistines are used by God to save David, to spare David. Saul is on the hunt and Saul is closing in on David and because of Philistines David is able to navigate his escape. I mean what a God, what a glorious God to use an enemy to deliver you from another enemy. That time in Judges where he confounds the opposing army such that they start killing each other before Israel ever has to engage the enemy. That God is glorious and David rehearses that as he's blessing the Lord. In fact, turn back to 2 Samuel chapter 4 to see something of David's confession in this regard. 2 Samuel chapter 4. We thought this is wonderful because he bookends his life with this statement. 2 Samuel chapter 4, specifically at verse 9, This is before the consolidation of David's power. This is before the monarchy. I mean, he's already a king, to be sure, but he hasn't exercised influence over the entirety of the land. So it's kind of at the outset of his kingly ministry. It's kind of at the outset of his kingly tenure. And yet he's able to make this admission, as the Lord lives who has redeemed my life from all adversity. And then turn to 1 Kings chapter two. 1 Kings chapter two. So at the end of David's life, has his tune changed? You know that thing with Bathsheba wrecked me. That thing with Uriah the Hittite wrecked me. That thing with Absalom wrecked me. The consequences of my sin, that sword that wouldn't depart from my house, it wrecked me. No, that's not what he says. He says the same thing that he says in 2 Samuel 4 at verse 9. But notice specifically at 1 Kings 1, I'm sorry, verse, chapter 1, not 2, 129. And the king took an oath and said, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress. So at the end of his life, he's about to go the way of all flesh. He's about to depart from this earth. He's passing the kingdom on to Solomon, who's going to consolidate power. He's going to liquidate his enemies and then he's going to build this kingdom that extends in boundary and it makes the context for the building of the temple. So David is about to die and nevertheless his confession is the same, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress. So when we go back and we consider these physical blessings, yeah, fully realized in the eschaton, fully realized in glory to come. but a bit of contemplation, a bit of rehearsal in our own situation. How many things has God spared us from? How many times should we have died? How many diseases should we have contracted? How many cars should we have been hit by? How much bad should have happened to us for being guilty, vile, helpless sinners in a world governed by a moral governor? How many times under God's wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come, we manage to make it to the other side. We don't ascribe that to luck. We don't say the stars aligned that day. We say God most high in His providence. His government of all things, for His own glory, has preserved me." And David is reflecting upon such things. David is able to rehearse that, and if we want to be like David, we'll do the same. As well, the provision of loving kindness and mercy, verse 4b, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies. The blessing of temporal goods, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. We may not be eating steak and lobster every night, but we're eating every night. Again, Myanmar, brethren, come on a Wednesday night, come on a Sunday morning, 9.30 hour, listen to what's happening. I'd send those out, but we're restricted from doing that. She doesn't want to compromise, you know, operation security. She doesn't want to compromise communication security. She doesn't want to jeopardize the situation going on there in Myanmar. I mean, just recently, they were blessed beyond measure to find a Chinese family that's fleeing the city. And that Chinese family had a grocery store, and that Chinese family offered to sell them the goods that they had. Well, that's going to be good, but if this war doesn't stop, if the bombs and ordnance doesn't stop, If, you know, heaven doesn't descend upon earth in Myanmar and things get radically different, in a few months they're going to be back at that place where they're going to be, you know, wondering where their next bowl of rice is coming from. David understands that it's God who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Remember the last time we read in Ruth 2, Ruth is invited to take her bread and dip it in the salt. Matthew Henry comments, God could have made all food taste like dirt. We just need nutrition, right? We just need nutrients. We need protein, we need fat, we need carbs in moderation. We need that, right? He could have made, you know, a paste, a pill. But he makes bounty. He makes glorious foods. He makes good tasting things. See, as David blesses the Lord, he doesn't forget that. Brethren, we're not Gnostics. It's good to thank God for that big steak. It's good to thank God for that mango. It's good to thank God and appreciate the fact that not all food tastes the same. Not all food is dirt tasting, but it's nutrients. The Lord God Most High provided for David, and David used that as the opportunity to bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name." Notice he continues, or I'm sorry, he then moves on into the recipients of the gifts. Notice in verses 6 and 7, the Lord executes righteousness and justice. Notice, for all who are oppressed, two texts we ought to look at, because he mentions Moses in verse 7. I think this is a good time to reflect on Exodus chapter 2. Exodus chapter 2. Remember the statement of David in Psalm 103 verse 6. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. Reference to Moses in verse 7 is reminiscent of the condition of Israel prior to the exodus from Egypt. Notice in Exodus chapter 2 specifically at verse 23. Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage and they cried out and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. It's very important that we understand they're not crying out in repentance. They're not crying out for forgiveness of sins. They're not crying out because we have obviously sinned against you Lord to find ourselves in this chastisement, in this temporal punishment. No, they're hurting. There's pain. There's bondage. Notice though that God hears. God doesn't say, well, you know, you're crying over your bondage but you've got to learn about repentance. Once you get serious about your sin and your condition, once you get serious about your misery, well then I'll come to your aid. That's not our God. I mean, it is our God, but it's not our God in this context. Notice, so God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. Same thing in Exodus chapter 6 and verse 5. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. So back to our psalm, the Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. The book of Judges is all about that. They sin. God raises up a foreign oppressor. They cry out, not in repentance. They cry out, not because they've offended the holy God. They cry out because they're hurting. So God raises up a judge to deliver them. It's always best for us to cry out in repentance. It's always best for us to cry out acknowledging our sin and confessing it to our holy God for having offended Him. But the point is that the Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. And then He speaks specifically concerning the people of God in verse 7. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. Notice that, the particularity of it. He didn't make His ways known. He didn't make His grace and mercy known to the Hittites and to the Hivites. Now you could proselyte your way in as Ruth the Moabitess did, but God's grace, dare I say it, is selective. God's grace is predicated on His good pleasure and He set His heart upon Old Covenant Israel. And in the New Covenant, he sets his heart upon New Covenant Israel. Whose New Covenant Israel? It's the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's those united to the true vine, Jesus, who is the true Israel of God, and in Him we receive all the benefits of covenant blessing. So when it comes to the recipients of these gifts, now God in common grace does nice things for horrible people. There's horrible people all over the earth right now eating better steak than you and I are eating. Eating better whatever than you and I are eating. Enjoying, you know, comforts and delights temporally that we'll know nothing of. They're horrible, miserable people. But nevertheless, because of God's common grace, and I know people have objections to that term, grace is never common. Whatever you want to call it, God causes the rain to fall upon the wicked and the righteous. God causes the sun to rise upon the wicked and the righteous. I think common grace is perfectly appropriate, distinguished from special grace, redemptive grace, blood atonement grace, forgiveness of sin grace, imputation of righteousness grace, but God in His goodness is good to His creation. God in His goodness does good things for the entirety of His creation. But with reference to His known ways, with reference to His redemptive acts, that is specifically focused upon the children of Israel in the Old Covenant, the children of the New Covenant, Israel, and the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we move on thirdly to the giver of the gifts. Notice in verses 8 to 18. He speaks first concerning the perfections of God in verse 8 and then the specific blessings that God gives us in verses 9 to 18. Notice the perfection of mercy and grace. The Lord is merciful and gracious. Verse 8. This is the foundational perfection for all that follows. Why do we get these good things? Why are we forgiven? Why are we crowned with these things? Why does He provide for us in such an abundance? Well, because that's who He is. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. It's beautiful. It's glorious. What other response to that should we have than, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. See, who God is, is a reason to bless God. Who God is is a reason to bless God. Now he's gonna move into what God does, but what God does is from who God is. And the Bible calls us to not only ponder the gifts, but to ponder and reflect upon the giver of those gifts, and that's precisely what David is doing here in verse eight. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. And now he details those specific gifts. As Davis says, biblical prayer seems to ponder God a good deal more than we are prone to do. Biblical prayer is prone to ponder God a good deal more than we are prone to do. David, blesses the Lord, gives reasons for doing so, who God is and what God does, and he gets detailed. He gets specific. He doesn't just generally pray for general things in a general way. He prays specifically, and as He calls upon His soul, He rehearses the various things that God has done that should evoke that. Notice He does not strive with us, according to verse 9. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He's gracious. He's good. That's not the default mode. It's not the regular response of the living and true God. There is striving. There is chastening. There is a book of covenant curses in Deuteronomy 28. There are consequences for sinning. There are penalties for those who violate covenant. There is chastening in the new covenant. What does Paul ascribe to those sick in Corinth? Yeah, there's this nasty bug going around. I can't believe it. A lot of people have tummy issues and some people have even died. It must be a pandemic. No, it's because they didn't examine themselves prior to taking the Lord's Supper. They were chastened by the Lord. So God does chasten, but make no mistake. In fact, the chastening of the Lord, according to the apostle in Hebrews chapter 12, is a testimony of the Lord's love for you. Right? I mean, we as parents aren't the best ever, but we do try to instill in our children the concepts of right and wrong. If you do wrong, you get chastened. Well, you hate me, Mommy. You hate me. No, it's because I love you. Right? Why do we chasten kids? For sport? No, I mean, when parents say to you kids, this hurts me more than it hurts you, you may debate that conceptually, but no parent, I mean, there's the obvious weird exceptions to the rule. Generally speaking, parents don't like to do things that are not absolutely always positively favorable for their children. Though it is absolutely positively favorable to discipline your children. He who hates his son spares the rod. The one who loves his son disciplines him promptly, Solomon says. Revelation 3, Jesus speaking to the worst of the seven churches, as many as I love, I chase them. Hebrews chapter 12, God rather disciplines His children, and thus it is a legitimate love. It's not an indulgent thing, it's not a reckless thing, it's not a boundary-less thing, but rather God chastens. But it's not always that. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He goes on to say he deals graciously with us, according to verse 10. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. The Geneva Bible here says, who have proved by continual experience that his mercy hath ever prevailed against our offenses. I sometimes read these Puritan quotes and they say things like, you know, God's grace far excels or far exceeds your sinfulness. And it's hard to internalize that, because I know my sinfulness. If you're like me, you're like, really? His grace is more than my sin? Yes. His grace is more than our sin. Now, the wrong conclusion is, well, then I'm going to push it, and I'm going to keep going in sin. No, no, no, no. No. The infinite God of heaven and earth has infinite grace and mercy. Those who confess and forsake find mercy according to the psalmist and according to the apostles. Notice, He showers us with great mercy, according to verse 11, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. We've often thought about, or we've often heard, that grace is an unmerited gift. What's the difference between grace and mercy? Well, I think mercy sees us in our pitiable state. Not that grace doesn't, but if we had to put a bit of a nuance on there, mercy is the sinner in his sin with fist raised to God. It's mercy that collects us. It's mercy that cleanses us. It's mercy that sets us in a proper place. It's mercy on the part of the Lord Jesus when he confronts that demoniac, that demoniac who lived amongst the tombs, that demoniac who would cut himself, that demoniac who would cry out day and night, that demoniac who was so strong he couldn't be shackled, he couldn't be kept down. It's grace, unmerited favor, that man was owed nothing by our Lord Jesus, but it's mercy. To go where a guy like that is, to fetch him out, to put him in his right mind, to get him clothed, to get him sitting there, to get him reasoned, to get him rational, to get him receptive of God's grace and forgiveness of sins. The psalmist here is delighting in these things. Notice again verse 12. He doesn't ever stray far from this central concept or this chief boon of the forgiveness of sins. Verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. And then notice in verse 13, as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. And the reason for that, he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust. I think it's good for us to rehearse this. It's good for us to recall this. It's good for us to understand this. God knows that we're messed up. I know we do the best we can to hide that from everybody else. And I'm not suggesting we shouldn't. How are you doing today? Well, do you've got four hours? Because I got lots to, you know, whine about. Nobody signed up for that. I'm sorry, but in the world of social interaction, yeah, we're passing on the street. I don't have time. That's not God. He knows our frame. Remember Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when he finds his disciples, his close associates, asleep? Is he slapping them across the face? Wake up! I'd have been tempted to do that. I'm not going to kid you. Well, get up! It's my hardest moment ever. Do you know what I'm facing? I'm facing the wrath and fury of God Most High. He chides them to be sure, but what does He say? The Spirit is willing, but what? The flesh is weak. Sometimes people ask me, do you ever notice people sleeping in church? Well, it's kind of hard not to. I get to see everything. Well, what do you think about that? You know what? If they're asleep in church at my loud mouth, they're tired, man. Have a little siesta, get some refreshment, get back into your work week with some vigor and zeal. You know, the mothers have been up all night with five kids, you know, oozing from all places in their bodies. I'm gonna scream in her direction if she, you know, dozes off a bit. That would be beastly, ghoulish behavior. How dare you sleep? I'd sleep too, man, if my kids were up all night. The father knows our frame and he pities us. Why? Because we're dust. It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful sentiment. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and he deals with us in that particular context. He knows our frame. On the one hand, that could be terrifying, But on the other hand, it's very encouraging. He remembers that we are dust. He is sympathetic toward us. And then the constancy of God's mercy in verses 15 to 18. Basically, there's a contrast. The contrast between man's transitoryness in verses 15 and 16 and God's constancy and faithfulness in verses 17 and 18. Notice in verse 15, as for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. As Gregory of Nazianzus says, our life on Earth, brothers, is such that our existence is very transitory. It's very transitory. He says, we play, as it were, a game on Earth. We do not exist, and we are born, and being born, we are dissolved. We are like a fleeting dream, an apparition without substance, the flight of a bird that passes, a ship that leaves no trace on the Earth. Yeah, a bit depressing, but he's right. What's my legacy gonna be? Well, people will come to your funeral and they'll move on. That's not to be mean, not to be hurtful, not to, you know, let you have it, but it's life. People die. We look forward to the glorification. We look forward to Jesus' land where there is no more sorrow, there is no more pain, there is no more death. That death has been defeated by our blessed Savior. But there's a transitoryness built into each of us. How many, you know, five to 10 excellent military commanders or leaders could you name? Oh, yeah. How many people that contributed to the field of medicine Just two. How many people? Again, I'm not picking on us. We're transitory. We're here for a time and then we go. Isn't this James' argument? When James is trying to knock down that bravado, that self-sufficiency, I'm gonna go to such and such a city, I'm gonna make a profit, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. What does he say? Who are you? You're like a vapor. Some of you drink tea. I don't know why, but you drink tea and you heat it up, you heat up the water in the kettle. And what comes shooting out of the end of the kettle? Eventually water when you pour it, but there's steam. What happens to that steam? It's here for a moment and then it's gone. That's James' parallel to your life. Again, this isn't nihilism. It isn't the victory of Nietzsche. It is simply the reality of the transitoriness of man and it serves as the foil or the backdrop for the but, verse 17, the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him. And his righteousness to children's children, to such as keep his covenant and to those who remember his commandments to do them. Spurgeon says how vast the contrast between the fading flower and the everlasting God. How wonderful that His mercy should link our frailty with His eternity and make us everlasting too. From old eternity the Lord viewed His people as objects of mercy and as such chose them to become partakers of His grace. The doctrine of eternal election is most delightful to those who have light to see it and love wherewith to accept it. It is a theme for deepest thought and highest joy. Again, not a condemnation of our transitoryness. The psalmist isn't doing that, but it's the foil or the backdrop for the constancy and the stability and the eternality of God's mercy toward His people, toward those who by His grace fear Him. The psalmist ends with reference to the Kingdom of God. Notice in verse 19 he makes that statement He says, the Lord has established His throne in heaven and His kingdom rules over all. That's not up for debate. That's not up for discussion. Well, you know, I don't really, I don't know. No, it just is. The Lord has established His throne in heaven and His kingdom rules over all. It rules over all men. It rules over all creatures. It rules over everything. It is comprehensive. Whatever is happening in the world at this given moment, the Lord is in control. The Lord is sovereign. I think that's a very encouraging thought, a very settling thought, sort of akin with Psalm 46.10, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. We need that Psalm 46.10 dose every now and then. I think we certainly need a Psalm 103.19 dose as well. The Lord has established His throne in heaven and His kingdom rules over all. Now notice what David does then. He starts the psalm by talking to himself, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He grabs himself by the scruff of the neck and he's looking at himself and he's saying, David, I don't want you to forget. What am I not supposed to forget? Well, the forgiveness of sins, the crowning with loving kindness and mercy, the temporal blessings, all of it. David, don't forget it. Now notice what he does. He speaks to the entirety of creation. Verse 20, bless the Lord, you His angels who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you ministers of His who do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works in all places. of His dominion. He starts with Himself, He moves through the cosmos, and then He returns at the very end of the psalm to Himself again. Bless the Lord, O my soul. It's a beautiful, wonderful ascription of praise to the triune God, specifically with reference to forgiveness and the temporal benefits that the Lord conveys upon His people. It is grounded in who God is. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. It is grounded in what God does in terms of redemptive benefit conveyed upon His people. It is a blessed way for us to remember the gratitude that we ought to express to the God who has overcome our guilt with His grace. Thanksgiving keeps us in good company. Thanksgiving keeps us in good company. The angels and the ministers are called upon by David to join him in blessing the Lord. Thanksgiving directs us to God and keeps our eyes off of self and sin. So guess what you're not doing when you're actually rehearsing the goodness of God and blessing Him for those good things? You're not robbing a bank. Hopefully you're not screaming at your wife. Hopefully you're not being, you know, insubordinate to your husband. Hopefully you're not chasing your kids around the house, you know, like they're villains. You're blessing God. Whenever we do something good, that does displace the bad we might otherwise be doing. So Romans 13, 14 kind of a thing. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. We're not only supposed to put to death the deeds of the body but we're positively to praise and honor God. Non-Christians can stop doing bad things But non-Christians aren't blessing and thanking and praising God in the midst of stopping doing bad things. As well, Thanksgiving keeps our eyes and affections upon God. James says, is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. It's James' instruction. We need to make sure that we are listening and our eyes and affections are upon God. And I would suggest finally thanksgiving promotes the proper disposition for God's children. We bless the Lord. Verses 1 and 2. It promotes the fear of the Lord. Verse 13, as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. And it promotes dependence upon the Lord, in verse 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children. May God encourage and strengthen us to take up the Psalms and to bless him, to take up the New Testament, to take up the whole Bible. It is fodder and blessed fuel for us to praise and to worship God and to return the thanks that is owing to Him. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank You for Your Word and thank You for this wonderful psalm. I pray that You would help us not just tomorrow but each and every day to bless the Lord. to focus on those blessings that you have conveyed to us, to think through who you are, and to ponder chiefly the gospel of our salvation. We thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, and pray that you would go with us now into this week and cause us to glorify, to honor, and to praise you. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.