Bless the Lord
Notes
Transcript
Bless the Lord
Psalm 103
This Psalm of David is one of the most encouraging in all of Scripture. Spurgeon said of this Psalm:
There is too much in the Psalm for a thousand pens to write, it is one of those all-comprehending Scriptures which is a Bible in itself, and it might alone almost suffice for the hymn-book of the church.
I don’t want to spend much time in our introduction because there is so much in the text I want to get to. The Psalm breaks down easily into three sections. In this sections David revelas some important things.
1. He reminds himself to bless the Lord (1-5).
Believers can both be blessed and blessed. In the context of this Psalm to bless means to praise. We bless God by praising Him.
“O my soul”
“All that is within me”
Praise should be spiritual and it should be without reservation. We are to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength.
His holy name- His character. If we are to bless the Lord in the proper way we should know Him properly.
Learn the Word.
v. 2 “Bles the Lord o my soul” Spurgeon says there are no vain repetitions in the Bible. Why does David repeat himself? Because we often need to be doubly reminded. We forget too easily.
“forget not all his benefits” What we learn of God should be retained.
We should not forget a single good thing the Lord has done for us. We will speak about some of those things today. Keep this in mind, God has been good to us, and we ought not forget it. Let’s think of some of those benefits:
1) Who forgives all your iniquities (3).
Forgiveness of sin is mentioned first. That’s intentional. There is nothing greater than being forgiven.
We ought to sing about being forgiven.
We ought to preach about being forgiven.
We ought to think about being forgiven.
To do that we have to mention sin. The church that stops mentioning sin will stop praising God. There is nothing greater than our sins being forgiven.
2) Who heals all your diseases (3).
How many times have we been sick? Many! I’m not sick today. That’s because God has healed me. This verse does not mean we will never get sick. It does that the believer will ultimately be healed. Maybe in this world, certainly in the next. Whatever disease you have take comfort in the truth that you will not always have it!
3) Who redeems your life from the pit (4). This describes death. When I think of death I can’t help but think of death without Christ. God has saved us from hell!
4) Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy (4). God’s covenant love and mercy have been bestowed upon us. They are like a crown on our head.
5) Who satisfies you with good (5). There are so many good things the Lord has given us. He has given us good food, nice clothes, technology, a family, a home.
In His goodness He renews our strength. There have been times we thought we were done. Especially as we age, we see this. We wonder how we will make it through a trial. The valley seems too deep. God renews our strength!
David speaks to himself. He reminds himself to bless the Lord.
God has forgiven us!
God has healed us!
God has redeemed us from death, hell and the grave!
God has satisfied us with good things!
God has renewed us!
God has crowned us with mercy and love!
Don’t forget these things!
2. He recognizes what God has done for His people (6-19).
We move from personal to national. David knows the Lord has been good to the entire nation of Israel.
The “oppressed” in verse 6 are the most vulnerable in society. God does not just bless the rich and powerful in Israel. He has been good to the marginalized as well.
There are no second-class citizens in the kingdom of God.
God is not concerned about a person’s last name.
God is not concerned about a person’s net worth.
God is not concerned about a person’s IQ.
Verses 7-10 point us to an event in Moses’ life. The people of God had built themselves a golden calf. In an act of blasphemy they bowed down to it and worshipped it.
Afterwards Moses went up the mountain to talk to God. He asked God to show Him His ways. God showed Moses His glory. As the Lord passed by Moses the Lord declared to Him:
The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, a forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”( Exodus 34:6-7)
God showed Moses that He will forgive.
Sin angers God but God’s anger can be quenched with repentance. He doesn’t hold our sins against us. If we are willing to confess them He is willing to forgive them.
We should praise God that He does not deal with us according to our sins. Look at how God’s love is described for His people:
1) It is as high as the heavens (11).
How far up can you go? Measure that if you can. That’s how high the Lord’s love is for you. Note His covenant love is reserved for those who fear Him.
2) It removes our sin as far as the East is from the West.
How far is that? You can’t measure it. If you were to try and go find it, you couldn’t find it.
3) It is compassionate like the compassion one has for their own children (13). Our God has a heart. He loves us. The love is real. The love you have for your own children is only a hint of the degree to which God loves us.
4) It is tender (14). I love verse 14!
He knows how weak we are. He made us from dust and He knows that. Often the strong in this world have difficulty with the weak. They mock them. They belittle them. They look down on them.
No one is stronger than our God. He looks upon our weakness with pity.
Verses 15-16 elaborate on the weakness of man.
His days are like grass. Grass doesn’t live long.
He flourishes like a flower of the field. Flowers bloom quickly and then die. This is a good analogy of a person’s life.
Once the grass and flowers die the wind blows them away. They are no more.
People are fragile.
Life is short.
We are swept away. In a few years there is little to no trace of us left behind.
Verses 17-19 return to encouragement.
The steadfast love of the LORD is eternal for those who fear Him. God’s love extends even to our grandchildren. Not without condition. Notice the conditions:
They must fear Him.
They must keep his covenant.
They must remember to do his commandments.
Neither the Old or New Testament know anything about forgiveness without repentance and faith. Repentance and faith are confirmed by a love for God and His Word.
Don’t think that Gods love gives you a license to sin.
v. 19 God has a kingdom. He is reigning even now from heaven. Jesus spoke often about the kingdom of God. He describes those who belonged to god’s kingdom as:
Poor in Spirit
Mourning over sin
Holy
Peacemakers
Humble
Hungering for righteousness
Merciful
Suffering in a godly way
One day God will set His kingdom up on this earth. Only those who have been born again will be a part of it.
Have you been born again?
Is the covenant love of God within you?
Are you an object of God’s grace?
Praise Him then!
Bless His holy name!
3. He calls on all creation to bless God (20-22).
Bless the Lord O you His angels!
These angels are mighty ones who obey the commands of God. Of course, this speaks of the elect angels. Those who have not fallen.
They have never known sin.
They dwell close to the throne of the Lord.
They are ready to fight the enemies of God.
They are ready to deliver a message for God.
They are ready to protect one of God’s children.
They owe everything to the Lord.
Hebrews 1:6 says when Jesus came into the world the father said “Let all God’s angels worship Him!”
It is true the angels have never been forgiven. Yet they have much to praise God for. The angels love the Lord. They praise Him.
Bless the Lord all His hosts, His ministers who do his will!
“Hosts” means armies. Some believe this is another reference to angels. It could be. But it seems to me more is meant here. As believers we are the army of God. We are His Body. Christ is our Captain. We experience victory as we do the will of God in this world. We should bless God for all the victories we enjoy in this world.
Bless the Lord all his works!
This includes every created thing. All of creation is under His dominion. Therefore, all of creation should bless the Lord.
Even if you are not saved you should bless the Lord. Any goodness a lost person experiences is by the hand of the Lord.
Notice the Psalm ends as it began. David reminds himself to bless the Lord. Whether the angels or anyone else blesses the Lord, we should. On the other hand, we should never think that because others are blessing God we don’t have to. Our priority in life should be personal worship. When we think of all we have in Christ we have no excuse not to bless God.
Bless Him in song- private and corporate.
Bless Him in prayer.
Bless Him in conversation.
Bless Him online.
Praise God often. Praise God with all your soul.