You may turn in your Bibles to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. I'm of the persuasion that each and every day ought to be a Thanksgiving Day for the people of God.
We ought to call to mind. God's mercies and His grace and His kindness to us so that we would genuinely be a thankful people. We see this theme highlighted in the epistles of the Apostle Paul. He tells us to be thankful in all things.
Well, I thought this morning we would look at the example of King David of Israel. Psalm 103. The primary emphasis is upon thanksgiving for the mercy of God. I'll begin reading in verse 1.
A 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 as 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. Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul. Amen.
Introduction: David and His Song
Well, it is important as we study or as we look to this particular song to remember what Verse one tells us it is a song of David. David is one of the most interesting men in all of Scripture. We see that he was a man after God's own heart. He went from shepherd boy to king over Israel.
He went through his own sin. He had a period of declension and rebellion. from the living and true God, wherein he experienced great mercy and great grace. He had troubles. As soon as the Spirit of God came upon him, it was immediately from that point on that he had troubles.
He initially had to flee or run from Saul, who was trying to kill him. Later on, in his own kingdom, his son Absalom raised up or tried to usurp his authority within the kingdom. I mean, David knew no shortage of trouble and of trial. He had no shortage of difficulty.
So when we come to Psalm 103, we're not reading the outpourings of a man who just sits untouched, who sits in some ivory tower, just sort of writing devotional literature, but rather the things that he rehearses here were borne out in the furnace of great difficulty. And I think that that gives a realness to it and a living, abiding feeling to it that hopefully each and every one of us can identify with the song.
Outline of Psalm 103
Basically, we can break down into three sections. The first is a reminder to bless God in verses one and two, a reminder to bless God. You might wonder, why does a man have to remind himself? But if you're honest for just a moment, you will have to admit, yes, we do need to remind ourselves.
Yes, it is a temptation for us just to enter into a day without first stopping. and blessing and praising God most high. The second section are reasons to bless God versus 3 to 18 reasons why it is helpful for us when we come to consider the blessing of the praising of God that we rehearse certain truths, because then we will worship in an intelligent and in an informed manner. And then the psalm ends with a universal summons to bless God, verses 19 to 22. So a reminder, reasons and a universal summons to bless God.
What It Means to Bless God
Now, when we hear that word bless, we often think of it in terms of God giving us something. Lord, bless us, we pray. And usually that means give us health and happiness and safety and those sorts of things. Well, when we bless God, it means to praise Him.
It means to ascribe worth to Him. It means to honor Him and adore Him. This is the Apostles meeting in Ephesians chapter one, when he 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. Paul is saying, speak well of him.
Praise Him. Honor Him. Rehearse these truths so that you can return to Him worship that is fitting and appropriate to just who He is. Now,
A Reminder to Bless God
notice this reminder. David says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. There is a self-conscious effort made here. It's almost as if David opens up his day timer and there it is, staring him right in the face.
Don't forget, David, before you go out to engage in military activity, before you try and reign over this particular kingdom, you need to stop for a moment and you need to bless the Lord. You need to remind yourself of this. You people who think that you're too busy or me and all of us who think we're too busy. We need to stop and we need to remind ourselves to bless the Lord.
Oh, my soul. And not just my soul, but all that is within me. We need to bless his holy name. Spurgeon said soul music is the very soul of music.
The psalmist strikes the best keynote when he begins with stirring up his inmost self to magnify the Lord. Brethren, worship doesn't just generally happen. It's not like you're just walking through the grocery store one day and you break out in worship. When we pattern a liturgy, when we have an order of service, it is to promote worship.
It is to bring our minds to that place of solemn contemplation. We read God's word so we can hear who he is. We sing God's praises so we can return that to him. Worship takes effort.
And as Spurgeon says, the psalmist strikes the best keynote when he begins with stirring up his inmost self to magnify the Lord. He says he soliloquizes, holds self-communion, and exhorts himself as though he felt that dullness would all too soon steal over his faculties, as indeed it will over us all, unless we are diligently on the watch. We're not that holy, brethren. We need to talk to ourselves in this particular matter.
The Psalms are filled with that idea of talking to yourself. You ever been driving and you see somebody on a Bluetooth, you think they're talking to themselves and they look nuts. That's that device they put in their head and you just see them talking. You're sitting there going, boy, it's kind of odd.
He's just talking away. But more than likely, he's got a Bluetooth and he's talking to somebody on the other end. Or perhaps you've been muttering sometimes under your breath or speaking or, man, I need to remember to pick up milk when I go to the superstore today. And somebody looks at you and they might think you're nuts.
Well, as a general rule, talking to yourself is pretty normal. I think we all do that. But with reference to worship, we need to talk to ourselves. With reference to depression, we need to talk to ourselves.
Psalms 42 and 43, the psalmist grabs himself by the collar and says, Why are you downcast, O my soul? It's as if he steps out of himself for a moment, points the finger and says, Why are you downcast? What's the matter with you? Hope in God.
Trust in God. Realize His mercy. Martin Lloyd-Jones in his book Spiritual Depression 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? You're listening to yourself whine.
You're listening to yourself grumble. You're listening to yourself complain. You're listening to yourself think about how bad everything is. Lloyd-Jones says you need to grab yourself by the collar and talk to yourself.
You need to call down into your soul and say, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. And then notice what he goes on to say, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Forgetting God Breeds Apostasy
Amnesia, brethren, produces apostasy. Amnesia, forgetting who God is, promotes apostasy, turning away from God. Trace the history of Israel and you will see that very thing. When they were not focused on God, when they were not praising God and worshipping God, they fell away from God.
Such is the case in the Christian life. You stop reading your Bible. You stop praying. You stop remembering all of His benefits.
What's the next logical step? Apostasy. Defection. Rebellion.
Forsaking. Turning away from the living and the true God. Don't think for a moment that there isn't a battle for your soul. Don't think for a moment there isn't a desire by the evil one to pull you down.
And one of the surest ways to promote apostasy is by forgetting God. This is what David says. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Why does the Lord give us the Lord's Supper?
So that we'll remember in a specific way His death at Calvary. When you eat this bread and drink this cup, Do so in remembrance of Me, Christ said. We need to remember. We need to think in terms of God's Word.
We need to think God's thoughts after Him. If we do not sufficiently fill up our tank with the fuel of remembrance, we won't produce thankfulness. We won't promote praise and blessing and worship. You see the rub here.
You see how easy it is for us to forget. You ever meet somebody or perhaps you yourself have come into some crisis and then you start thinking like an atheist. Man, I got this challenge, I've got this trial, I've got this trial and I don't know what I'm going to do. Brother, be still and know that God is God.
Think about David. Think about the king on the run. Think about Absalom challenging God Most High by trying to take the kingdom for himself. God installed David upon Zion's hill.
No man will try to withdraw him or take him down. David was a man familiar with trial and difficulty, and yet we see him say, 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.
If you don't have a great memory, you can work to improve it. Put notes up. Write it down. We all compensate in this way.
You know, you might forget to get something at the store, so you keep a list on the fridge. You might forget to do something, so you text somebody. If we want to remember something, brethren, we usually commit to do so. Well, with David, he wanted to forget not all of God's benefits.
Because he knew that if he forgot those benefits, he wouldn't bless the Lord. He wouldn't praise the Lord. He wouldn't honor the Lord. He wouldn't glorify God.
Reasons to Bless God
Now, notice the reasons to bless God. There's a lot of things in this song. We'll just touch on some of them briefly, but it's broken down into two main sections. Reasons to bless God first on a personal level and secondly, on a corporate level.
The personal blessings are verses three to five. And then those break down even further into two categories, spiritual and physical, spiritual and physical.
Personal Blessings: Spiritual
Notice the first with reference to the spiritual. He says in verse three, who forgives all your iniquities? It's a great place to start. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all of his benefits.
Think in terms of the cross. Think in terms of the pardon of sin. Think in terms of the blood atonement by which God has covered you. The removal of transgression.
I don't care how bad your life is physically. If your sins are forgiven, be of good cheer. That's what kept David going. That's what kept Paul going.
That's what kept the church going all these several thousand years is the reality that God forgives our iniquities. No one else can do that. God has a monopoly on forgiveness. The state can't do it.
They can punish you for your crime. The family to a degree can at least give you some forgiveness so that there's harmony within you. But the family can't forgive so that you're well with God. It's God alone who forgives.
It's God alone who pronounces that blessed assurance that your sins are forgiven you. 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. That beautiful language. We need a Spurgeon in our generation.
I mean, listen to that. 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. He goes on to say, pardoned 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. What's David saying? Thank you, Father, for Jesus.
Thank you, Father, that one will come in my line. One will come to live and die and rise again. One who will be of the order of Melchizedek. One who will accomplish all that the Father has laid upon Him.
One will die at Calvary for the forgiveness of sins. This is a great place to begin. You think in terms of the forgiveness of sins. You ever meet somebody, I just really have nothing to be thankful for.
That's blasphemy if you're a Christian. That's the kind of thing you should be afraid to say. I remember years ago looking at a book catalog for a bookseller in America, and there's a book called How to Read the Boring Parts of the Bible. I'd be afraid to put that sentence down on paper.
I mean, probably in the back of our minds, we're not thrilled with the genealogies in 1 Chronicles. But most of us don't write books and go into print and be published, with a book title said, How to Read the Boring Parts of the Bible. Have you ever gotten to this place, Christian, where you say, I don't really have anything to be thankful for. I don't really have anything to bless the Lord for.
Then you're not a Christian. You don't know that choicest boon of God's grace. You don't know the forgiveness of sins. You don't know what it is, though everything around you is falling to pieces.
The reality is that Jesus has forgiven me. There's enough there to bless the Lord forever and ever and ever, world without end. Amen. That's why Newton wrote, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun.
Forgiveness. This holy God. who should send us to hell has forgiven us. John Eady said there is nothing on this side of eternal punishment that ought not to fill us with thankfulness. We really deserve eternal punishment.
The fact that we're not there, we ought to be blessing the Lord. But the fact that he has forgiven us because of what Jesus Christ has done, we ought to be blessing the Lord. When we come here to sing on Sunday, it ought not to be muttering through some praise to God for his great grace. We ought to pray, God, give me that earnestness to praise you appropriately.
You know, if you come home from work and you handed your wife one rose, she'd go, wow, that's nice. Thank you very much. But if you drove home with a truckload of roses, she'd do a backflip and praise you and thank you forever for what you've done. Well, in terms of blessings, brethren, forgiveness is the best.
And we come and respond to God with some mealy mouth worship. Some half-hearted praise. Some going through the motions approach rather than saying with the psalmist, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Why?
Because I get to join corporately with my my brethren and get to praise God for these choice blessings. Don't forget his benefits. And then he moves on to the physical.
Personal Blessings: Physical
Notice in verse three, who heals all your diseases. David's not engaging in philosophy here. He's not engaging actually in theology and a discussion of all the particulars of God's sovereign providence. Yes, there are men in history who have gotten diseases whom God had not healed.
That's not David's point. David is rehearsing his life. David is rehearsing God's blessing, God's provision. David is engaged in the act of praise and prayer.
And when we operate likewise, we won't raise our fist at God and say, you know, there was a time back in 1998 where I was particularly suffering and you didn't come to my aid. No, you won't do that. You bless, you praise, you worship, you remember His physical healing in your life. He redeems your life from destruction.
Sometimes I think as Christians, we're way too spiritual. And by that, I don't mean in a good way. I mean, even in this sermon, I've emphasized the forgiveness of sins. What a boon, what a blessing, what a praise.
But also, God keeps you from being hit by cards. God keeps you from choking on a chicken bone. As Edward says, there are innumerable ways of men going out of this world. And the fact that you're drawing breath is an item for praise to our God.
We're good at grumbling. We're good at complaining. We're good at groaning. We're likewise good at blessing and praising and thanking God.
I'm convinced, brethren, the next time you feel like grumbling and complaining about your situation, go turn on your faucet. Go turn on your faucet and just get a glass of water. And think for a moment, how many people in the world can't do that? How many people in the world are absolutely dependent upon rains of fall so that they may have enough drinking water for a season?
We have so much and complain commensurately. We have so much and grumble. What does David do? He heals all your diseases.
He redeems your life from destruction. David, as I said, was a king on the run. He had issues. He had trials.
He had problems. He had people genuinely wanting to kill him. Now, I don't think for a moment any of us can share that with David. You may be a bad person.
You may have had a bad life in the past, but more than likely, you don't have a hit out on your name. You don't have somebody with a list that says, I got to take him out. I got to rid the earth of this parasite. I got to get rid of this scum.
I got to deal the death blow to it. David did. The fact that David can take pen to paper at this particular point is a means of praise to God who redeems your life from destruction. What about the destruction that his sin brought on?
What about the fact that when Nathan the prophet reproved him and he owns his sin before the thrice holy God, God says, I have made atonement for this sin. Oh, David, you deserve destruction. You deserve the lake of fire. You deserve eternal punishment in hell.
But God has spared you. You see what David does? He praises as a result. He says, God crowns with lovingkindness and mercy.
Who crowns you? With lovingkindness and tender mercies. Who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Don't we praise God for the good things that He gives us?
It was Matthew Henry in that passage where Ruth is eating with Boaz, and he says, dip your bread in the vinegar here. Enjoy it. Delight in it. I think it was Matthew Henry who said that God can make all food taste like dirt.
As long as it nourished you, as long as it satisfied you, as long as it kept the machinery functioning, as long it was functional. But that's not God. God's given us mangoes. God's given us chicken.
Contrary to what Peter says. They're tasty. This is not a foreign concept in the Scripture. What happens when the prodigal returns?
The Father says, slay the fatted calf. Let's eat, let's rejoice, let's delight, let's praise, let's worship. One of the reasons that Israel was judged is because when they went into the land, they were not thankful to God. What does Paul say in 1st Timothy 4 concerning those doctrines of demons, those men who forbid marriage, those men who forbid the eating of meat?
Paul says every creature is given by God and it's good if it's received with thanksgiving. It's not wrong to enjoy that. It'd be wrong not to when a gracious God has given it to you. You see, David runs the gamut here in terms of reasons to bless and praise his God.
Corporate Blessings: God's Works and Acts
He moves from the individual to the corporate. Notice in verses 6 and following, he praises God in verses 6 and 7 for his works. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. Some Christians don't like this.
Some Christians don't like the concept that God is angry with the wicked every day. Some Christians would like to excise the imprecatory psalms right out of our Bibles. The imprecatory psalms are those psalms wherein the psalmist prays that God will judge his enemies. That's easy for us to say who are not being oppressed.
I remember, I think it was back in 1984, the state of California was going to execute Robert Alton Harris for criminal activity. I remember watching the television, the news reports, and the conflicting things going on. One man standing up and saying, it's wrong, it's barbaric, it's horrible, don't ever do such a thing. Somebody on the opposing side says, that's easy for him to say, his daughter wasn't raped and murdered.
Christians shrink back from the reality that God executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed? That's hope. Brethren, it is a reality that salvation ultimately means destruction of all evil and wickedness and the opposition against God. That's why King Jesus must reign until all of His enemies are made His footstool.
That's why King Jesus sways a scepter of iron. He will overwhelmingly bring justice to this world. Please don't be one of those Christians that gets embarrassed by the fact that God executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. Those souls under the altar in Revelation 6 cry out to God, how long until you bring vengeance upon those who killed our brethren?
That is a biblical concept, a biblical theme. David says elsewhere, Do I not hate those who hate thee, O Lord? Again, we don't go out and hold up signs, how wicked you are, and we hate you and all that sort of thing. But there is a sense where the true Christian, being made in the image of God, hates those things that God hates.
When we read in Proverbs chapter 6, there are six things that the Lord hates. Yea, seven are an abomination to him. And it says, Hands that shed innocent blood. That doesn't suppose there's hands floating out there with scalpels.
Those hands are attached to men operating in state-sanctioned clinics to murder babies. God abominates that. He despises it. He loathes it.
We shouldn't stand around with signs saying God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. If you don't repent, God has a horrible plan for your life. God is angry with the wicked every day. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
He goes on to speak of God's demonstration of his redeeming work at the Exodus. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. He made this known. It was clear.
When they walked through the Red Sea, when God had walled up the waters, and they walked through with dry feet to the other side. What was the lesson that day? It wasn't, wow, nature's an odd thing. Boy, that was a strong east wind.
I wonder how the scientists will try to describe this. I wonder what phenomenon caused this. No, as they walked through, they were blessing God. They were praising God.
Because He was executing righteousness. Because He was delivering His oppressed ones. Because He was good to His Word and His promise that He would deliver them from that bondage. That was a theology lesson walking between that water.
You ever stop and think about that? I mean, the water is walled up. You can see fish in there. Kids, imagine that.
Imagine that. Water walled up and you can see all the life in there. You're walking there. This is amazing.
This is incredible. What manner of God do we serve? What kind of a God is this? He is one that has made known His ways to Moses.
He's revealed Himself. He has shown His acts to the children of Israel. And then when Pharaoh and his armies gave chase, they go in and what happens? Their chariot wheels fall off.
I've always thought if I was a soldier in Pharaoh's army, I hope I'd have been said, are you sure about this? This doesn't seem like a good plan. We just witnessed 10 plagues. The last one, recorded in Numbers 33.
It's not recorded there. It's in Exodus. But I know in Numbers 33, Moses is rehearsing the itinerary of Israel. And he says, they went out from Egypt with all boldness, for the Egyptians were busy burying their firstborn whom the Lord had killed.
I'm sorry, brethren, but if I had just buried my firstborn that Jehovah killed, I would be leery about jumping in between two walled up pieces of water. When the chariot wheel fell off, I think it would have been said, I told you so. This isn't looking good. And then the water collapses.
Why? Because God executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He will vindicate his holy name. He will vindicate his holy church.
He will deliver them from the devil. from their flesh, from this world. God most high will make good on all of his promises to consummate our blessedness. And then not only his works are celebrated, but his attributes, the characteristics, the perfections of God.
God's Attributes: Mercy and Compassion
Notice beginning in verse eight, 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." He's considering the attributes of God.
He's rehearsing who God is. He's saying God is Spirit. infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. He's thinking Bible. Dale Ralph Davis says that biblical prayer seems to ponder God a good deal more than we are prone to do.
Biblical prayer seems to ponder God a good bit more than we are prone to do. We often run into God's presence and say, we love you, God. We just bless you. We just want, we want, we want, we want, we want.
Not so, David. Forget not all of his benefits. What's God about? Mercy.
What's God about? He's slow to anger. What's God about? He's gracious.
What's God about? He pities us. I wonder if David stopped for a moment and said, I can't believe this. I can't believe I'm actually writing this.
Why would God pity us? Why? We don't show pity to others. We don't show pity to our children.
We don't always remember their butt dust. And yet this high, lofty, holy, glorious, wrathful, just, righteous God looks upon miserable sinners and He's not angry with us forever. And He pities us. If ever there's a top ten list of Bible verses that we ought to cherish, I believe verse 13 ought to be there.
As a father pities his children. 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. What's the implication for that when it comes time to deal with God in prayer? Yes, revere Him. Yes, reverence Him.
Yes, fear in His presence. Yes, admire His attributes. Yes, stand amazed at His great love. But come to Him.
Draw nigh to Him. Approach Him with the boldness secured for you by Jesus Christ. Because He looks upon you as a son. He looks upon you as a daughter.
In Jesus Christ, He pities you. In Jesus Christ, He knows you're afraid. You know, if you were to call me and say, wow, I did this sin again, I might say, man, I can't believe you did it again. I know in my own life when I commit a sin, I can't believe I did it again.
God pities us. He knows our frame. He knows we're but dust. That shouldn't promote sin.
It shouldn't promote lawlessness. It shouldn't promote license. It shouldn't be, wow, he already knows I'm going to sin. I'll go out and do it.
No, not at all. But it should promote free access when you do sin. It should promote fresh access when you do sin. You should come back because every sin is to depart from God, repent and go back to God.
He will receive you. He will take you in. He is indeed the father of the prodigal who, when that son was a long way off, he ran to him and he fell on him. He is the God of David, king of Israel, who said, I have made atonement for this sin.
He is the God and Father of Paul the Apostle, who at one time was bringing up threats and hatred and persecution to the people of Jesus. Don't forget Paul either. This wasn't a man who was raised in a Reformed Baptist church and knew his catechism by the time he was ten. And he had a whole closet full of Al Martin sermons, and he liked to read Robert Raymond for fun.
This was a man who tried to destroy the church of Christ. And what's Christ do? He forgives him. He pities him.
He knows his friend, that he's but dust. You see what David is doing here. He does not deal with us as we deserve. He does not punish us according to our iniquities.
He shows great mercy. He removes our transgressions. Don't you love the language there in verse 11? 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.
God Delights in Mercy
This text reminds me of Micah chapter 7. Micah 7, verses 18 and 19. The prophet says, who is a God like you? That's the name, Micah.
That's what Micah means. Who is a God like you? In Micah 7, he uses his own name to address his father in prayer. This is his question.
Who is a God like you? Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage. Notice the question isn't asked. Who is a God like you punishing sin?
Who is a God like you destroying sinners? Who is a God like you throwing men into hell? That follows. That's logical.
That's proper. Isn't it? In a moral universe, when you sin against the moral one, you ought to deserve punishment. That's not the question of the scripture.
What blows the prophet's mind, what causes him to use his own name and address to God is his pardoning grace. is His mercy, is His kindness, is His love. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy. Great statement there.
Don't forget that one. God delights in mercy. You've sinned greatly. Well, realize this.
God delights in mercy. You've sinned big. Remember this, God delights in mercy. It's beautiful.
Do you delight in mercy? Do you delight in forgiveness? Do you delight in pardoning people who have offended you? Does it just come natural to you?
Somebody comes and says, wow, I wronged you. I sinned against you. I've hurt you. I've misspoke.
I've ruined your reputation and your character. Do you delight to forgive them? You forgive them because God in Christ has forgiven you. But it's probably not one of your top five activities.
Wow, I got to show mercy today. Wasn't that great? Wasn't that beautiful? Wasn't that wonderful?
What made you happy? I delight to show mercy. I've not met that person yet. I'm sure they're out there.
I confess, I'm not that person. Wow, really? Yes. It's a no-brainer.
God delights in mercy. Imagine conducting an interview with God. What do you hate, God? Well, I hate hands that shed innocent blood.
I hate lying lips. I hate feet that are swift to run to evil. I hate those who sow discord. Yeah, that all makes sense.
What do you delight in, God? To show mercy. Excuse me, what was that? You have a holy aversion to all things wicked, and yet you delight to show mercy.
What a glorious God. Who is a God like you, the prophet asks. Then he goes on to say, he does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. He pities us. He knows our frame. And then
Man's Frailty and God's Eternal Mercy
notice the contrast that is set up. Verses 15 to 17. 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.
Here's what man is. The grand scheme of things, though you made them a little lower than the angels. So he has dominion over all the works of your hands, God, in this world. Here's what he's like.
He is transient. He is fleeting. He is here just for a time. He's like the flower.
It grows, it withers, it dies. The land has no memory that it was ever there. You realize that? You're going to grow, you're going to live, you're going to die, and you're going to vanish.
Hopefully somebody will remember you somewhere along the way, but as a general rule, we don't have a lot of staying power. The contrast is clear, but the mercy of the Lord endures forever. As much as you might think 80 or 90 years is a good long life, it's like that. Think about the mercy of the Lord.
It endures forever. Spurgeon said how vast the contrast between the fading flower and the everlasting God. How wonderful that this 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. Oh, bless the Lord, David says. And
Universal Summons to Bless God
then he ends with this universal summons to bless God. Verse 19 speaks of God's empire. The Lord has established His throne in heaven and His kingdom rules, notice, over all, over everything. God has sovereignty.
God has supremacy. God is the Lord over all creation. And then notice what the psalmist does. David speaks to angels.
Isn't this beautiful? What's he saying? This God is so great. Angels, bless Him.
Hosts of heaven, bless Him. All you works of His, bless Him. Everything that has breath, bless Him. This God is so worthy.
And so awesome and so excellent that everything ought to bless God most high. David is calling upon us here. David says, bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion, which as we see rules over all. Bless the Lord, he says.
Oh, my soul.
Application: Be a Thankful People
We have been called upon by our brother David to bless God. not just on one Monday in October or one Thursday in November. The saint of Jesus Christ ought to be a thankful man, woman, boy or girl. Whether you have trial or tribulation or difficulty, there is always stuff in the arsenal to bless God for. You have been redeemed.
You have been bought with a price. Jesus shed His blood for you and paid it all. That right there ought to cause us to bless. Shame on us that we aren't more thankful.
Shame on us that we don't bless him more. Shame on us that oftentimes our worship service looks like a graveyard rather than a time of celebration and praise for our great God. Some would say, oh, it's those old hymns that you sing. I don't think so.
Those old hymns are filled with dis-doctrine. If that doctrine doesn't fire us up to praise, it doesn't matter what songs there are. Brethren, worship is a time to rehearse God's mercies, to consider His blessings, to call upon Him, and to worship Him, and to consider who He is and what He has done. And the practical benefits of this attitude or disposition is that it keeps us in good company.
Who's blessing the Lord? The people that love Him. The people that honor him, the people that praise him, the people that want him. Who's cursing the Lord?
His enemies. You want to be with the cursers, the unthankful, the ones who have no gratitude, the ones who live in this world, who eat God's food, they drink God's water, they work in jobs that God has carved out for them. They breathe God's air, and all the while they suppress the truth and unrighteousness. They don't acknowledge Him.
They don't praise Him. They don't honor Him. You want to be like that? He said, no.
Well, then bless the Lord. Oh, my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. This disposition keeps our eyes off of self. This disposition keeps our eyes off of self, doesn't it?
Because when you're blessing the Lord, you're not complaining about how bad you have it. You're not grumbling about how everybody's against you. You're not blaming others for just what station you have in life. No, you're blessing the Lord.
You don't have time to blame. You don't have time to look down on everybody else. You don't have time to be the persecuted one. You're just blessing the Lord.
You're praising God. This keeps our eyes and our affections upon God, where they belong. You know, Paul tells us in Colossians chapter three to set our mind at the right hand of God, where Christ is. We need to seek those things which are above.
Blessing God is a great means to that end. Blessing God and worshiping and praising him keeps our eyes and affections upon God. Blessing the Lord keeps us in a right disposition. The disposition of praise.
The disposition of fear. Do you see that mentioned several times in this psalm? Verses 11, 13, and 17. God's eye is to those who fear the Lord.
Who fears the Lord? The one who is blessing Him. The one who is praising Him. The one who is thankful to Him.
The one who is worshiping Him. And it shows our dependence upon God. And then this mindset keeps us ever focused on the blood of Christ. It keeps us ever focused and tied to the gospel.
That's what we need. We need to be gospel-oriented men and women. We need to be gospel-oriented Christians. We need to say with Paul, the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and who gave himself for me.
We need to think in terms of the cross so that we'll bless God. We need to think in terms of the cross so that we'll be thankful to God. Yes, tomorrow you're probably going to have a wonderful meal and you should thank God for that. We should thank God for every meal that we enjoy that comes from His hand because He doesn't owe us anything.
But that supreme blessing, that supreme praising, that supreme act of worship and thanksgiving ought to be because of the doing and dying of Jesus. Because God sent his son into this world to die for us and to rise again. And if you're not a Christian this morning, who are you going to thank tomorrow? Who do you thank on Thanksgiving if you're not Christian?
You thank the powers that be. You thank fate. You thank Costco because they made sure you had a nice big turkey. You thank Price Smart because they had a sale on utility birds.
You write letters to the CEO of these companies. Thank you for the bounty that is on my table. You know where you learn thankfulness? You learn it at the cross.
Because by nature, we are a thankless lot. By nature, we are selfish. By nature, we are obsessed with me, myself, and I. By nature, we reject God.
We don't even like to retain the knowledge of God in our thoughts. So the only way to learn thankfulness is by faith in Jesus, by looking to the cross, believing the gospel. Therein, you will find what it means to be a thankful person.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. God, we thank you for your word and we thank you for this psalm and for the wonderful example of King David of Israel. How we thank you for your delivering him and for giving him the spirit so that he could pen these things for the life of the church. And I pray that we would take these thoughts home, that we would focus upon them, that each and every day would be a day of thanksgiving in our lives as we appreciate the glorious work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.
I would ask now that you would go with us, that you would watch over us, and that you would bless your people with peace. And we pray through Christ the Lord. Amen.