Praise God For His Forgiveness
Psalm 103
What is forgiveness? Forgiveness means that though I am guilty, I will be treated as not being guilty.
By what means have we been forgiven? We have been forgiven by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
If it boiled down to cost, It cost God the death of His Son, as a man, to forgive us but it cost us nothing to forgive each other.
The Lord Jesus Christ paid that cost also!
We must praise the Lord for His forgiveness.
Our praise of God for His forgiveness must be personal!
Let's begin:
*****Psa 103:1 A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Again we have another Psalm of David.
God blessed us when He provided the means for our salvation but sometimes we get so caught up in the things of this world, we forget all the other things that God does for us every day.
We bless God when we thank Him for all He has done!
Everyone always asks, "what is the will of God for my life". The will of God begins with our giving thanks to God for what He has already done and thanking God ahead for the things that He is going to do.
1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
There is nothing that we have now that has not been given to us by the Lord except evil.
God does not give us any evil thing!
We must realize that the soul is our living being, our essence of true life.
We have a material body and we have a spiritual body.
1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
We can bless the Lord in our physical bodies and be rewarded for doing so, but if we do not also bless the Lord with our spiritual bodies then we are not truly blessing the Lord.
Remember when we are created in the image of God, it has nothing to do with our physical bodies, so it is our spiritual body that is made in the image of God!
We must bless the Lord with all our being that He has given to us or we cannot be a blessing to the Lord!
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Our relationship with the Lord begins when we bring all we are to Him.
There are great benefits when we give our entire being to the Lord for His use.
*****Psa 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
We bless the Lord when we can stop complaining to God long enough to realize all the good things that God has done for us and praise Him for these things.
Most Christians do not have a problem praying to God before a meal but not many will thank God after eating that meal for what He has done.
Deu 8:10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
We have already learned that we need to include a request for mercy in our prayers but we also need to thank God for what He has already done, along with thanking God God for what He is about to do in each and every prayer.
God told Moses to teach the Jews that after they had eaten and were full, it was time to bless God for the good things that He had had given to them.
David is reminding us all of this fact in this Psalm.
What is a benefit?
It can be said that a benefit is an act of kindness. Something that is given for personal happiness. It can be considered a reward in this life for being obedient to the Lord.
So what were some of the things that David wrote were great benefits to him.
Each one of us will have to look at our own selves even though many of our benefits will be the same as those of David.
*****Psa 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
1) What is the very first benefit of knowing the Lord our God on a personal level? He will forgive our iniquities.
An iniquity is more an attitude than an action. Iniquity means we are striving to be crooked rather than to be straight.
Righteousness is doing things the right way. Sin is just the opposite or doing things the wrong way.
Iniquity is a condition of the heart or our inner motives.
Thank God, He will forgive us of our iniquities but we must still realize our sin and ask for forgiveness.
Isa 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
Isa 43:26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
The greatest benefit we all have is that we can be forgiven of all our sin!
2) Next David wrote God had benefited many by healing diseases.
Because of our age, we in this "forever young class", have been healed of many sicknesses or we would not be here today. I myself have been healed of cancer.
It seems that many leave our class and go straight on to the glory world where they are totally healed of all diseases.
They have not only been healed of the known diseases of this world but they have also been healed of the disease of aging, they will age no more and the disease of dying, because they can never die again.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This a great benefit that we sometimes seem to forget.
But are more benefits that these two.
*****Psa 103:4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
3) We have just read where the wages of sin is death, but we have been redeemed if we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.
The word "destruction" in this verse means "the pit".
Psa 30:3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to "the pit".
We have been redeemed!
We have been ransomed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
How can we ignore such a great benefit as this?
4) We have just spent some time looking at the mercy of God.
God will not only reward us with crowns at the Bema Seat, which we will give back to Him.
But to crown also means "to encircle us" in His mercy in this life we live now, God will surround us with His lovingkindness and His mercy.
Psa 5:11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
Psa 5:12 For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
How can we complain about the things that happen to us in this world and forget such great benefits that God has already given to us and continues to give us everyday?
But that is not all.
*****Psa 103:5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
5) When I was lost and out in this world, I could not be filled to where I was satisfied but my God can satisfy me.
God not only provides the food that I eat to satisfy my physical body but He has also satisfied my soul.
Psa 107:9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
When our mouths are filled with the good things that come from God, how can we complain if we are having that one bad day.
As an eagle grows old grows old and begins to loose it's feathers it's upper bill will grow longer than it's lower bill and the bird will lose the ability to feed itself and will soon die but many of them have found that if they can grind that upper bill down on a "rock" they can again eat and their strength will be renewed.
Psa 92:14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;
Psa 92:15 To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Our "Rock" is the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
This is a great benefit for serving the Lord Our God!
*****Psa 103:6 The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
6) These things represent the providence of God. Many times God's providence is labeled as God's government at this time in all our lives.
Government is direction and regulation.
Today in God's government, He is preparing this world and everyone in it for His future use, and He has been doing this since before the time of Adam!
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
The Lord will execute righteousness according to His Written Word.
The Lord will judge according to His Own Character.
The Lord will judge His entire creation according to the work of His Son Jesus.
Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Appointed means that day is already written in on God's calender.
There are no actions on this Earth that will determine when the exact "Day of Judgment" will take place only God knows.
*****Psa 103:7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible because God had preserved His Word through the nation of Israel.
The Word of God gives us all a clear picture of God's character and God's will for all human beings.
The Word of God is not only God's instruction manual for this life but the Bible is also God's Love Letter to each one of us!
If we believe these words, that were inspired by the Holy Spirit but written down for us at the hand of Moses then we should also believe in the Words of our Savior.
Joh 5:46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
Joh 5:47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
Remember Moses wrote down for us the acts of Creation. It seems that the Doctrine of Creation as written in the Word of God, comes under attack by this lost world more than most other doctrines of the Bible.
Creation by the design of God and accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation are rejected by most of this world but they are both God Truth!
The truth is still the truth even when the world insists on a lie!
Thank God for His patience.
*****Psa 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
Psa 103:9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
God deals with sinners by showing His mercy and His grace.
Mercy pardons sin and Grace bestows favour upon all those that mercy pardons.
God is slow to anger because He will always give space for repentance. This is the called the 'longsuffering" of God.
These things only happen because God is plenteous in mercy, which means God has an abundance of mercy and willing to show that mercy to all His created beings.
To "Chide" means to rebuke, or punish or in some cases dispute.
If we feel as though every time we make a mistake that God is sitting in Heaven with a big stick to knock us down then we may not repent as quickly as we should.
BUT, God does not bear a grudge!
God wants us to confess and repent immediately of any sin because of His compassion for us.
God would truly rather bless us than chastise us!
Only those that reject the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God will see God's anger throughout eternity!
*****Psa 103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
When we get to praising the Lord, we certainly need to praise Him for what He has not done, along with the things He has already done for us!
Remember, the wages of sin are death.
Like David, we deserve to be in the lowest, the most miserable place, in Hell but God has provided us an opportunity to miss out on Hell completely.
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
God does not deal with us according to our sin.
God does not reward us according to our iniquities.
Why?
Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, "which taketh away the sin of the world".
God deals with us as His children but only because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Calvary's Cross.
*****Psa 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
The science of astronomy was limited but did exist in the Bible times. Now, there are modern telescopes and some of those are in located above our own atmosphere, but even today no one can give us an accurate measurement of the distance between Heaven and Earth so it is still an infinite measurement.
The Lord says His mercy is even much more infinite that the distance between Heaven and Earth but only toward them that fear Him.
For those that reject the Word of God there will be justice without any mercy at all.
SO, how far does God separate us from our sin?
*****Psa 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
If God had said from North to the South, we all know there is a North and a South Pole so we could be fooled into thinking that was at some point an acceptable distance but God said from the East to the West.
East and West can never meet. Once our sin has been forgiven God separates us from that sin and does not ever remember it again.
When we have been "Born Again" into the family of God we should never wallow in our forgiven past.
God has wiped our record clean!
The one thing that interferes with this process is when we refuse to forgive those that sin against us.
This is the direct command of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
The Lord expects us to grow more and more like Him every day!
*****Psa 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Psa 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
We must know in our hearts that it was our God who created our entire world, the heavens and earth and everything in between.
But we must also know that our God is like a father to his children.
Today Satan has taken direct aim at the family and there not as many families and certainly not as many fathers who take care of their children, but we have a Father in Heaven who will always be our example of how to be a Father!
God is a tender and compassionate Father.
God offers Himself freely to be the Father of all His creation because He is!
Scientist are fast finding out that our world is more fragile than it seems and could not be billions or even millions of years old but our world could not have survived that long. It is only as old as the Bible says it is!
Though God will never allow it, Mankind does have the ability to destroy itself!
We are also very fragile and can only do so much to live healthy lives.
But, our Father in Heaven is "eternal" and "all powerful".
The world rejects our "Powerful, Creator" God who has such laws to restrict them and who also promises a "Judgment" is coming and in doing so, most of our world never gets to meet our "Compassionate Savior"!
When God directs our lives, He always remembers that we are only human and a part of His own creation.
It is only because of God's "Mercy", God's "Compassion" and God's "Promises" that we can exist!
Our weakness and our foolishness still cannot be used as an excuse to sin.
God has given us all the ability to make choices but making the right choices is impossible to do without the knowledge of God!
The one thing we have very little control of and in most cases no control over is our death!
We are made of the dust of this earth and when we die we will return to the dust from which we were made!
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
It is that "Living Soul" that returns to the God who gave it, which is the only reason God gave us the freedom to choose the path of our eternal life.
*****Psa 103:15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
Psa 103:16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
We sometimes use the seasons to teach us about the resurrection of life when we see the new Spring come every year.
BUT, we should also see the lessons of Autumn and the lessons of each passing year as we see our own lives as the grass or as a flower of the field.
Most of us celebrate a birthday every year as we get older, until we realize we really do not want to get older.
The prophet Isaiah explains it this way:
Isa 40:6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
Isa 40:7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
When we allow the things that we can see, take precedent over the things we cannot see then our own choices are limited to those things!
Everything in this world has it's limits and will one day fade away!
The Holy Spirit is only available to us in this life and if we accept Him, by the Lord Jesus Christ, He will remain with us throughout eternity but if not, without Him we will simply blow away until the "Judgment Day".
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
This is what "Mercy" is all about, but there are still some things that we must also do.
*****Psa 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
Psa 103:18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
We are foolish to think our strength and our glory is in this life.
1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
Most everyone one of us are somewhat disappointed in the life we have lived because we can look back at the mistakes we have made.
The only glory we can have is in our good health, our abilities, and our wisdom and all these things are by the hand of God.
God's mercy is everlasting because God's Word is everlasting!
1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
The Beauty of the Lord is in His "Mercy"!
We began this lesson by mentioning the benefits of knowing the Lord Jesus as Our Savior.
1) These benefits can only come when we keep His covenants.
In order to get the attention of our Father in Heaven we must be baptized in Jesus Christ.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
This not water baptism, this is baptism by the Holy Spirit!
Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Tit 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
2) These benefits can only come when we remember the commandments of the Lord and Then Do Them!
The promise of God's "Mercy" is only to those that can do these two things.
Our Father will be obedient to His covenants but we as children must be obedient too!
Jesus said:
Luk 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Christianity is not in opinion!
Christianity comes by action and those actions must be in accordance with the ways of Jesus Christ!
Christianity is not in a feeling, Christianity is in conforming to the image of God and He has shown us that image by His Son Jesus.
Christianity is not being legal, Christianity is being holy.
1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
*****Psa 103:19 The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
Not only is our Lord holy but He is absolute Monarch over His entire creation!
Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
As God is Lord, He has prepared a plan.
As God is Almighty, He has the power to see that His plan is fulfilled.
As God is merciful, He has limited Himself to only do good.
As God is perfect, He will make perfect all those that love Him!
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
There is only one way to approach our Mighty God.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
*****Psa 103:20 Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Psa 103:21 Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
We can think of Adam who lived more that 800 years and Methuselah who is the oldest man to have ever lived but the angels in Heaven have lived with the Lord and witnessed His magnificence since the first day of creation.
We believe that one third of the angels followed Lucifer but the angels are innumerable so there are still an innumerable number of angels that do the absolute bidding of the Lord.
Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and "to an innumerable company of angels",
Those that are still in Heaven obey the Lord and they accomplish every commandment of His Words.
The angels are the Lord's ministers, which means they are the Lord's servants.
The angels are the Lord's messengers, which is what the title angel really means.
It is the job of the angels to make the Lord happy by being obedient to His every Word.
It is also the job of all of God's creation to make the Lord happy by being obedient, which includes all humans.
We bless the Lord when we are obedient to His Word!
And in what ever way we serve the Lord, we will to bless Him with our service.
*****Psa 103:22 Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.
Everything everywhere are to bless the Lord of all.
What is the whole duty of all mankind?
Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
At the end of everyday before we pray we need to ask ourselves, "Has our life been a blessing to the Lord".
Then we need to ask for God's mercy so we can try a little harder if the Lord sees fit for us to awaken to a new day!
God makes this command very simple:
Psa 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
As long as we are breathing God's air we need to be a blessing to the Lord!
Questions?
Let's Pray!
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