Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Psalm 103, let's just read the first two verses. We'll pray, and then we're going to dig into this entire Psalm.
But we're going to do it briefly for you. And like I said, we've had just a busy few weeks. 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 here's our theme, obviously, tonight. And forget not. All his benefits. Let's pray.
Lord, we um probably in no way can keep up with the benefits that you've given us. We don't even notice some of them. God, I want to thank you for your faithfulness and your goodness to us. Lord, the fact that you died for us, if all you did was provide salvation and didn't do another thing, it would be more than we could ever earn or deserve. But Lord, as we dig into a chapter which is really A praise list.
God, I pray that you would help us tonight to See in our lives what we can praise you for, what we should be grateful for. Lord, we can get bogged down with the things we don't like, the things that we're struggling with. And Lord, that causes us to forget your benefits. And so, Lord, I pray that you would bless us as we just rightfully divide your word tonight, as we've done in all these psalms during the summer, just to lay out and teach the psalm and let our people apply it where it's needed. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. I hope that you have a prayer list. I hope you keep up with the prayer list. What is less common, unfortunately, is a praise list. Psalm 103 is basically David's.
Praise List. He just simply writes a list of everything To bless God for, everything to praise God for. And so tonight I want us to just kind of go through it. I'm going to explain a few things, but verse after verse, line after line, word after word, is simply David letting us know: this is what I have to praise God for. And by the way, you have a whole lot to praise God for.
Let me say that. That was about 30. Let me say this again. You have a whole lot to praise God for. And it just might be that on a Sunday night, something like this, you're like, you know, I.
Pre-tribe guys, it's just hard for me to get into it tonight.
Well, let me tell you why. because you've already forgotten some of his benefits. The moment you begin to remember and to relive everything that God's done for you, guess what? You don't have to work up yourself to worship. You want to worship.
And so let's look at this passage tonight. I hope it'll be a blessing. Notice, if you would, number one, he begins with the praise that we should render. Look at 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. Notice first, there is the call to bless. Bless the Lord, O my soul. David is telling himself. to bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord.
Now, we usually think about God blessing us. But here it says we are to bless the Lord.
Now the Hebrew word here for bless is the word barak. It means to kneel, to adore, to praise. with reverence.
So let me ask you this. What does it mean for us to bless The Lord.
Now when God blesses us He adds to us. If you agree with that, say amen. When God gives me a blessing, it adds to my life. When God does something, He adds to me, adds to something in my life, adds to my joy, adds to my learning. Whatever, when God always blesses us, He blesses us by adding to us.
Whatever God does is always something that adds to our life. But we don't add anything to God. The Bible says He's perfect already. You agree with that? Say amen.
So, what does it mean when we bless the Lord? It's not that we're adding something to God. Instead, to bless the Lord simply means this. Let me give you four things. Number one, it means to acknowledge His worth.
That's what bless this word barak means. It means to acknowledge. Um Acknowledge his worth. That means I give honor for who he is. Not just for what he does.
God does not just have worth because He does things for me. God has worth and he is worthy even if he did nothing else for me.
Okay.
So that's what it means. It means to lift up his name with gratitude, adoration, and reverence, to say he is worthy, not just for all that he's done, although I am praising him for all that he's done. He is worthy because of who he is. Second, it means to express wholehearted praise. A word that you would be familiar with here is sincere.
To bless the Lord means I'm not doing anything fake. To bless the Lord means that I'm not doing what I'm doing. with insincerity. Um let me just say this. Um I don't want to sound critical, but at my stage of life, and I've been, like I said, in ministry, I started here in 1994.
Man, I'm beyond 30 years in ministry and have done a whole lot of things in between. But I am just weary. I am leer, weary, tired, whatever you want to say. A fake. of rhetoric when it comes to religion.
of preachers, singers, worship leaders, whoever. I'm getting tired of this this Polished, fake, saying what we, what I'm just, I don't know, I don't know, maybe you're not like that, I'm just tired of it. I just want sincerity. If you mean it, say it. If you don't, shut up.
You say, well the kids are in here.
Well, they're supposed to be out in the class.
Okay, but any... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've only said it twice in 13 years, and he almost struck me dead. I'm sorry.
Am I supposed to say that in public?
Okay.
But I'm not meaning that at you. I'm just meaning that at religion. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the well-blessed guy, you know, all this stuff. And you can just tell, it's an act, it's a performance.
And can I tell you something? For us to bless God doesn't mean I'm going to get up here and say everything that you think I ought to say and it sounds good. To bless the Lord means I am telling God what I sincerely feel in my heart. And it doesn't matter to me whether a thousand people hear it or nobody hears it, as long as God knows it. All right, I feel a little bit better now.
Okay.
Number three, it means to bow in humble gratitude. It means to acknowledge his worth, to express wholehearted praise sincerely. It means to bow in humble gratitude. The root of the word barak here, bless, it gives the picture of kneeling. That's part of this word.
To bless the Lord is to bow low before him in humility. Recognizing he's the giver. We're the receiver. Recognizing he's the one in charge, he's sovereign, we're the servants. Recognizing that he's the owner, we're the stewards.
You get it tonight. It means this, that literally we are to humble ourselves before God. You can't bless God with pride. Because the Bible says God resists the proud. He doesn't want to have part in that.
The only way you can bless the Lord is in humility. Notice number four, it means to speak well of God.
So I mean now it's finally come out through my mouth. It means that I acknowledge his worth to him. I express wholehearted praise to him. I bow in humble gratitude to him. But then I speak out well of God.
And let me explain it this way: blessing here carries the idea of speaking good words about God. It literally means just as God blesses us by bestowing good to us, we bless God by telling everybody about how good he is.
So God blesses me by being good to me. I bless him by telling everybody else how good he's been to me. That makes sense.
So, David here says the kind of praise we should render. is to bless the Lord, a call to bless. Notice second. I want you to see the center of our blessing. He says, Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Notice this, and. All that is within me. Bless his holy name. This means engaging not just our lips. But our heart Our mind Our emotions and our will.
When David said, Let all that is within me bless his holy name. This is worship that comes from the inside out. Think of an orchestra. If only, and I love that when our orchestra plays, I love it, and David knows I love it, and you as a church know I love it. I just, the more people that can get involved, it just blesses me.
But if only half the instruments play, The music still sounds good, but it doesn't sound as good as it would if all the instruments were engaged. If you understand that, say amen. In the same way, if there's only part of us that praises God. And not all of us. then it's incomplete.
So when David says, all that is within me, bless his holy name, David is saying this, God is worthy of my undivided heart, my deepest emotions, my highest thoughts, my strongest efforts. Nothing in me, David said, should be silent when I'm praising him. When I praise Him, it ought to be every part of who I am, what I am, mind, will, body, emotions, eyes, ears, mouth, everything ought to praise God. All that is within me. And I don't know about you, that's exactly the way it should be.
Notice, thirdly, we see the command to remember. He says, bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me, bless his holy name. Notice what he says, and forget not. Oh.
His benefits.
Now, here's what's getting ready to happen. In verse 3, he's going to start listing. these benefits. He's like, listen, you need to remember all that God has done, but just in case you're struggling. Just in case maybe you've forgotten recently.
In verse 3, he begins. And so, not just the praise we should render, notice beginning in verse 3, we see the pardon that we have received.
Now look at verse 3. who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. What did he say? Don't forget his benefits in verse 3.
It says, Who forgiveth? In other words, he's saying, He forgiveth, he healeth, he redeemeth, he crowneth, he satisfieth. He goes through all these lists.
So let's look at them real quick first. Is forgiveness of sin. By the way, if we stopped right there, we ought to have enough to praise God for. Who forgiveth some. of thine iniquities.
No, David says, let me tell you one of his benefits. is that he forgiveth all. Thine iniquities. Forgiveness of sin. And notice secondly, freedom from sickness.
Who healeth all thy diseases. Let me just stop right there. I'm not saying you're never gonna get sick. Obviously. What I'm saying is this: you don't have to be held captive by any disease, any oppression, anything in your life.
Look at me, I believe God is sovereign. God is sovereign over cancer. Robbie and Sherry obviously had um The memorial service For his dad today. And Robbie is obviously in very serious condition with his cancer and I'm going to begin some different treatments now. Kind of what they would, what doctors would call a last-ditch effort and final hope.
And I sat in the office with Robbie and Sherry and have a few times and Since this has happened, and I told Robbie this, and I want you to listen real quickly. I've said it again, I'm going to say it again. Yeah. I've said it before and I'm going to say it again, all right? Listen to this.
Cancer is not going to take Robbie Scott. The Bible says our times are in. His hands.
Now God might use cancer. I don't know. We're praying God will heal Robbie, and I believe God still can. But what I wanted Robbie to know, when it's God's time, it doesn't matter whether you have cancer or not, you're done. And until it's God's time, whether you have cancer or any other kind of disease, you're safe as can be until it's God's time.
You see, he healeth all our disease. In other words, if it's his will, there's no disease that can stand up against our God. God can do what he wants to do. He forgives us of sin, freedom from sickness. We're not in bondage to something.
We've been freed by the grace of God. Notice, thirdly, there's fullness of salvation. Not just forgiveness of sin, but fullness of salvation. Look at verse 4: who redeemeth thy life from destruction. He redeemed me.
Not just, look at me, look at me, Kerwin. He did not just redeem me to salvation, he redeemed me from destruction. He took me out of death. Into life. That's why baptism is important.
When you and I put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, one obviously of the ordinances that God gave in his word is baptism. It's a picture that we were dead in trespasses and sin, but because of Jesus' blood and his resurrection, we are made alive. We're risen with him. And that means this, that literally, he didn't just save me to heaven. He saved me from hell.
It's not just to something, it's from something. He redeemed my life from destruction. What happens is, we always, oftentimes, you and I see where we're at, what we don't like about where we're at, and what we forget where we could be. Notice, fourthly, we see the favor of sustaining love. Forgiveness of sin, freedom from sickness.
Fullness of salvation. Notice this: the favor of sustained. Look at verse 4: who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. Who crowneth thee, listen to this, with loving kindness. He continues to love us, he shows kindness to us and shows tender mercies.
It means this: He loves us through everything. His love is a sustaining whatever we go through. He's going to love us, he's going to be kind to us, and he's going to show mercy to us. Wow. And that's after we've treated him the way we have.
That's the kind of Savior we have. And notice last year we see freshness of strength. And I don't know about you, I need this. Look at verse 4. who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed Like the Eagles.
David says, hey, listen, don't forget all his benefits. You need to bless the Lord. Everything inside of you ought to desire to praise and bless the Lord. Everything inside of you ought to want to kneel in humility. With a heart of sincerity to praise God and thank God and bless God and let everyone know how good God is.
And one of the ways that we keep doing that is to remember His benefits, remember that He's forgiven us of our sin. Remember that He is sovereign. Remember that He's given us fullness of salvation. Remember that He sustains us with His love and then He renews our strength. What a catalog of benefits.
Forgiveness, he removes our sin. Healing, he restores our brokenness. Redemption, he delivers us from destruction. Loving kindness, he surrounds us with mercy. Satisfaction, he renews us.
Strength, he strengthens us. David is saying, don't forget even one of these. Don't let yourself get all cranky and depressed and discouraged, how bad life is, because you've forgotten what God has done for you. Notice third beginning in verse 6, he talks about the power that God has revealed. I mean, listen, David nowhere in here complains that he goes right to one thing after another that God has done or is.
Look at verse 6. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins. He ought to praise God for that, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. We ought to have a hallelujah on that. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. You notice this?
He literally makes a cross here from heaven to earth. His mercy is so great. And then as the east is from the west, he's removed our transgression from us. He goes vertical, he goes horizontal.
So, what does all this mean, preacher? Notice the power he has revealed. Number one, his righteous works. Verse 6, it says, The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. God always treats you right.
God always does what's right. God always does what's best for you. He always executes righteousness. He is always right in his judgment, and he never overlooks those that are oppressed. I don't know about you, that's a mouthful right there.
His righteous works. Notice second, his revealed ways. It says he made his way known unto Moses. Do you know what God does every day in your life? If you allow him, he will make known his way to you.
If you want to know What God wants you to do, he'll tell you. If you want God to direct your steps, He will. He made way. Listen, here's what's interesting. Think about what he just said.
He made known his ways unto Moses. There's a whole lot he didn't make known to Moses. Listen, when he tells Moses, lead my people out of Egypt, he never tells them about the whole Red Sea incident yet. He doesn't tell him about how the people are going to revolt while he's up trying to get the Ten Commandments. He doesn't tell him, you're going to mess up and I'm not going to let you see the promised land.
Listen, there's a whole lot that God didn't reveal unto Moses that happened down the road. But what Moses needed to know, and that's what to do every step of the way, God revealed that to him. You need to quit worrying about all what's going to happen a year from now, 10 years from now. Guess what? God's probably not going to let you know all that.
But what God will do is, He will make known His ways to you every day. If you desire that. His revealed ways. Notice, third, his remarkable mercy. It says, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.
Oh, if I was only that way. If I could only treat people sometimes the way God treats me. His remarkable mercy. Notice Next, his restrained wrath. He will not always chide.
Notice this: neither will he keep his anger. Forever. God has all the right in the world to be as mad as He wants to be at me. Just want you to know that. I know me.
There is no limit. To God's anger, that he wouldn't be rightfully justified in being that angry with me. But he restrains his wrath. You know, I could say it, but I don't think I need to say anything more than that. Just think about that.
Notice last, he is removing of our transgression. He said, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgression from So you say how far is that? We don't know. Scientists have never been able to measure As far east and as far west, we don't have telescopes or equipment. That's powerful enough or strong enough to even be able to measure how far that is.
Our solar system is one of a thousand solar systems, and we don't even have enough. Capability to measure just the east from the west in our solar system, let alone all the other thousands. And God said, that's how far away. I'm going to take your sin from you. Yeah.
Number four. I want you to see the pity God has remembered. David goes right to verse 13. I mean, I don't know about you already, he has bragged on God a lot. Already, he has reminded me and reminded you of what God's done, how God is, how God could be, but God's chosen to be merciful and slow to anger and all these different things.
He's given salvation. He sustains us with his. I mean, we could go on and on, but notice look at verse 13: like as a father pitieth his children.
So the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. As for man? Notice the comparison here.
As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. Very temporary. Look at verse 16. For the wind passeth over it and it's gone. And the place thereof shall know it no more.
That's our life. Wow. But look at verse 17. But the mercy of the Lord. is not temporary.
The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting. to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children's children. to such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them. All right, let's look at the pity that God has remembered. First, the compassion of a father.
Like as a father pitieth his children. You know, I'm an earthly father, obviously. But I'm going to tell you something, I love my boys. I'd do anything for my boys. I, you know, people always say, hey, would you get?
I would jump in front of a bullet. without even having the chance to think about it. That's how much I love them.
Now, my wife, I might try to throw up a shield or something like that, you know, or push her out of the way. Don't don't take that. Here we go again. Thank God it's not a hill, it's a flat. Listen, I love them.
I'd take a bullet for my family. I'm just earthly. I don't even, I can't even love like God loves. And God says, like a father pitieth his children. I love this.
The Lord pitieth them. that fear him. The compassion of the Father noticed the consideration of our frame. Verse 14, for he knoweth our frame. He remembers that, you know, Daniel struggles.
He remembers Daniel has this weakness. He shouldn't, but he does. He remembers, he knows our frame. He remembereth that we are as dust. God remembers how temporary.
How short-lived our flesh is and our life is, but His mercy is what lasts forever. Notice, third, the comparison with our frailty. As for man, his days are as grass. You see, everything that bothers you and me is temporary. Everything listen, whatever burden you have in your life right now, it's temporary.
Well, I'm sick, I have a disease, that's temporary. One way or the other, that's temporary.
Well, these people, that's temporary.
Well, I'm dealing with, that's temporary. And what ought to encourage you to bless the Lord tonight is that while everything in my life is temporary, Everything God does in my life is eternal. Notice the continuation of his mercy, but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting. to everlasting. Verse 17 and 18.
Let's go to the last and our time is done. Number five, I want you to see the praise that is resounding.
So, David starts with praise, gives you all the reasons, gives you all the benefits that we should not forget. Ever forget. Then look at verse 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. Bless the Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Bless ye the Lord, all ye his host, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. First, we see his sovereign throne. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens.
and his kingdom ruleth overall. Just a reminder to you tonight. God is higher than you and he's over you. His throne is prepared in the heavens. I don't care who's on charge here on earth.
I don't care who says what. I don't care who's trendy, who's popular. God's throne is above everything on earth. His throne has been established in the heavens. Notice this.
And his kingdom ruleth over all. His sovereign throne. Notice secondly, his serving angels. Bless the Lord, ye His angels that excel. in strength.
I know I've said it before, but If you and I could see how many angels are in this room right now. They're everywhere. You and I will never know. what God has protected us from. You'll never know how an angel has moved a car.
has stopped a break. Has done so many things you and I will never know, never see. This is what David says, even the angels. Bless the Lord.
I want you to notice thirdly, we see his saved hosts. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his host. The angels bless him, but Let me tell you something. There are something angels that you and I are better than the angels because they've never been redeemed. They were created.
The Bible says that you and I have a song to sing that they will never be able to sing. Because we've been redeemed. And he is saying this: listen, if the angels can serve him, they were created. Than you that have been saved. You that have been redeemed.
should bless the Lord. And notice last we see his saints' anthem, Bless the Lord. Oh my soul, that's the song to sing. Bless the Lord, O my soul. So Let me put it in a little bit of a nutshell for you.
Forget not all his benefits means... He pardoned us, He preserved us, He provided for us, He pitied us, He's prepared. a throne of eternal glory for us and He is preparing a home eternal for us in heaven. I don't know about you, you might not have thought about it when you came in, but I hope you leave and realize you've got a whole lot. It's the best benefit package you've ever been given in your entire life.
And it's not because you worked for years. It's because he came. and died for you. David says, Listen, I'm going to take a whole psalm, and all I'm going to do. is praise him.
All I want to do out of this, David is saying, is I just want to bless. The Lord for all he's done. Aren't you glad God's a mercy? It's forever. Yeah.
All right. Do you want to get my wife's shoe while I pray and give it back to her? Or do you want to... Anybody want to do that? No, no, no, my wife said, no, no, no, don't do that.
Hudson, you want to come limp over here and get her shoe? Let's pray for the God will use his word, and then we're going to have Brother John come up and pray for him. Lord, pray you take your word. May we praise you and bless you like we should. Thank you for loving us.
even greater. than a father can. And God, we want to bless you tonight. We want to bow before you. We want to humbly love you.
We want to speak out about your goodness. We want the praise to come from the inside out. We want all that is within us. to bless your holy name. We love you.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina.
You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192. or via the web. at Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today.
God bless you.
