Benefits of Christ
Introduction
I. Bless the Lord
I.Bless the Lord
David had never risen to the height of saying “Bless the Lord, ye his angels;” or “Bless the Lord, all his works;” if he had not first tuned his own voice to the gladsome music. No man is fit to be a conductor in the choirs of holy song until he has learned himself to sing the song of praise. “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” is the preacher’s preparation in the study, without which he must fail in the pulpit. Self-evident as this is, many persons need to be reminded of it; for they are ready enough to admonish others, but forget that true gratitude to God must, like charity, begin at home. There is an old proverb which saith, “The cobbler’s wife goes barefoot,” and I am afraid this is too often the case in morals and religion. Preachers ought especially to be jealous of themselves in this particular, lest, whilst they are crying aloud to other men to magnify the Lord, they should be shamefully silent themselves. I would this morning glow with the sacred flame of personal thankfulness while I call upon you to bless the holy name of Jehovah, our God. But what is true of preachers is true of all other workers. The tendency among men is, when they grow a little earnest, to expend their zeal upon other people, and frequently in the way of fault-finding. It is wonderfully easy to wax indignant at the indolence, the divisions, the coldness, or the errors of the Christian church, and to fulminate our little bulls against her, declaring her to be weighed in our balances and found wanting, as if it mattered one halfpenny to the church what the verdict of our imperfect scales might be. Why, instead of a tract upon the faults of the church, at the present moment, it would be easy to write a folio volume; and when it was written it would be wise to put it in the fire. Friend, mind those beams in your own eye, and leave the Lord Jesus to clear the motes from the eye of his church. Begin at home; there is in-door work to be done. Instead of vainly pointing to the faults of others, pour forth thine earnestness in praising God, and say thou unto thine own heart, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”
II. Don’t for get his Benefits.
and forget not all his benefits—a hint to David’s seed that they, too, should not (as the human heart is apt to do) forget all God’s benefits.
III. Forgiveness and Healing
IV. Redemption and Crowning
God doesn’t stop at forgiving our sins and redeeming us. He “crowns [us] with loyal love and mercies” (Psa 103:4). Although we have greatly offended Him, He doesn’t hold it against us: “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us according to our iniquities”
V. Satisfaction
It is a spiritual blessing: it is a grace that cometh from the great satisfying God. The God, who is himself all-sufficient, is the only one who can be sufficient to fill the heart of man. Satisfaction! Why, that means enough, and enough is a feast.
The text, in speaking of satisfaction, uses terms which denote satisfaction. “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things.” In the mouth is the palate. It is the place in which there is a sensuous kind of enjoyment, which is here put as a figure of a higher and spiritual delight. We do not merely receive God’s good mercies; we enjoy them. We have not lost our taste for them