What is your salvation story? How did you meet Jesus? What was it that convinced you that He is God and Savior and worthy of praise? What has He been doing in your life since? How has He transformed you? How has He used your testimony, your past, to impact the spiritual walk of other people?
Today, we’re looking at Psalm 103. These 22 verses are about Salvation and Praise. The
eternal Lord makes His praiseworthy ways known.
When we walk away from our time together today, I want
you to know God made a praiseworthy way
for all people to spend eternity with Him.
Let’s pray.
Holy Father, we
come to you in Jesus’ name today to ask You to bless us with not only wisdom
and understanding of the Scriptures, but that You would also bless us with a
spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving that must simply praise You. Fill our mouths with worship over the
salvation You have provided. Amen.
Our text is divided into three parts, today:
1. Praise the Lord (Psalm 103:1-6)
2. He made His ways known (Psalm 103:7-16)
3. From everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 103:17-22)
Let’s dive right in to this glorious psalm.
Read Psalm 103:1-6.
Praise the Lord!
He is so worthy of ALL praise!
That’s how David opens Psalm 103.
Our soul, our inmost being hungers to praise the Lord. Praise is what we are made for. If that’s not enough reason to praise the
Lord, David goes on to explain that we shouldn’t forget all His benefits. Then he lists those benefits!
The Lord forgives all our sins. Only God can forgive sin. That’s why the Pharisees made such a big deal
about Jesus telling people their sins were forgiven. Isn’t this such a rich blessing? God is holy, and cannot be in the presence of
sin, so sin separates us from God. Jesus
bore the penalty of our sin on the cross so we don’t have to. That generous act paid our debt in full and
restored our fellowship with God! Why
would someone choose NOT to accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation? The alternative is that we get to bear the
penalty of our own sin. Crucifixion was
Jesus’ punishment on our behalf. The
non-believer’s penalty is eternal separation from God. Is that really what those who refuse this
gift want? It will not be like life is
right now. There is joy in the world
right now because God still dwells here in the form of the Holy Spirit living
inside of His people. One day, the Holy
Spirit will be taken away, and God’s presence will leave this earth for a
time. That season is referred to as
tribulation. That season will be nothing
like the world is now. Hell is not a
place you want to go. If you haven’t
given your heart to Jesus, please reconsider.
Please.
Back to the benefits.
The Lord heals all our diseases. He
is our Healer. He can do this
miraculously, through the wisdom of doctors, and medicine. But what about when God chooses not to heal? Paul had a thorn in the flesh that God
refused to take away. I know I walked
through cancer because God used it in my life to draw me close to Him. He also sent me to places I wouldn’t go, like
hospitals, cancer treatment centers, and testing facilities. And in those places, I shared Jesus and hope
with people. God will do what He needs
to do to make Jesus known. And it’s a
blessing to be entrusted with such a privilege, even if it hurts and is scary.
The Lord redeems our life from the pit. Jesus saves us, but doesn’t leave us the way
He found us. He transforms us. He fills us with His Spirit. He calls us to pray. He calls us to read, study, meditate on, and
memorize Scripture. He calls us to
serve.
The Lord crowns us with love and compassion. He pours His love and compassion on us. And He fills us with His love and compassion
toward others. Wow!
The Lord satisfies our desires with good thigs so that
our youth is renewed. It is such a
blessing to walk with Him everyday! I
can’t even begin to explain how jazzed I get at Bible study or choir practice!
These benefits are the actions God takes to accomplish
salvation in His people. But wait,
there’s more. The Lord also works
righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
This leads us to our first principle:
The Lord is worthy
of ALL praise.
What demonstrations of God’s faithful love and compassion
could you praise Jesus for right now? How
might you begin to cherish the benefits from God that you currently take for
granted? What methods could you employ
to bring the benefits of God continually to your mind? Through what challenging situation are you
praising God? What testimony might you
be able to share with someone else who needs to hear you’ve been where they
currently are? How might your praises
breathe new life into your church or other fellowship? How might God use a lack of healing in your
life to bless you and others? How might
you point others to God’s acts of righteousness and justice within your culture?
Let’s look at how God reveals Himself and His ways.
Read Psalm
103:7-16.
David goes on to say the Lord made His ways known to
Moses and His deeds known to the people of Israel. These verses reveal several aspects of God’s
character.
The Lord is compassionate and gracious. He is slow to anger and abounding in faithful
love. He wants all people to come to
salvation! He will not always
accuse. The Lord corrects His children
for our benefit and growth. He will not
harbor His anger forever.
The Lord doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve. He doesn’t repay us according to our
iniquities. We do not deserve the good
things He gives us. God is very generous
with blessings. He removes our transgressions
from us as far as east is from west. Think
about that one for a minute.
He has compassion on His children. His children are those who fear Him. I’ve heard some people say that we are all
God’s children. That is not true. Scripture plainly states that God’s children
are those who fear Him. His children are
those who obey Him. His children are
those who love.
The Lord knows how we are formed. In fact, He knit us together in our mothers’
wombs. He remembers we are dust. Our mortal lives are like grass. We flourish like a flower. Our earthly lives are over quickly. Those who remember us are gone quickly, and
we are forgotten. But not by God. And our eternal selves live on.
And here is our second principle:
The Lord reveals
Himself through His Word and His Son, Jesus.
How is God revealing Himself to you through your study of
Scripture? In what areas have you
deserved God’s judgment, but received His compassion and grace, and how might
you thank Him and praise Him for that?
Where are you failing to take God seriously? How is God exercising grace and compassion to
draw you back to Him? What sin has God
forgiven that you insist on holding on to?
Where do you need to forgive someone else so you can be free? Where do you need to recognize God’s goodness
to you?
Now let’s wrap things up with a glance at eternity.
Read Psalm
103:17-22.
Glance back at verses 15-16 for a minute. Our mortal lives are temporary. Short.
But our souls are eternal. And the Lord is concerned for our
eternity. The Lord’s love is eternal.
Let’s talk about God’s covenant with us for a
minute. God’s covenant with us is
through Jesus Christ. It’s His sacrifice
on the cross that draws us back into fellowship with God the Father. The only way we can call ourselves children
of God is if we accept Jesus as our Savior.
That is how we demonstrate that we fear the Lord: we
accept Christ as Savior. That is how we
keep His covenant. That is how we obey
His precepts.
The Lord has established His throne. He is sovereign over all things. He will call you to Himself, but He will not
force you to choose to be in relationship with Him.
But those who do will praise Him as David did. With the angels. We will do His bidding and obey His
Word. We will serve Him. And do His will. We are His workmanship. And we were created to praise Him!
And here is our final principle:
The Lord’s
covenant with His people through Jesus Christ is eternal.
How are you praising God for His provision for your
eternal security? What benefits of God’s
loyal love are you enjoying today? In
what areas could you let go of the temporal in favor of the eternal? What are you looking forward to in eternity
that you might be able to enjoy for a time here on earth?
Are you eternally secure?
If you accept Jesus as your Savior, you can know for sure that you are
going to heaven! We call that blessed
assurance.
The foundational blessing that God offers mankind is
salvation. Salvation is how the Lord
forgives all our sin. Sin demands a
penalty be paid. It’s breaking THE
LAW! It’s failing to live up to God’s
standard. But God doesn’t ask you to pay
this penalty yourself. He sent Jesus to
die to pay this penalty for EVERY PERSON EVER BORN! The penalty is PAID! The gift of salvation is FREE!!! Why don’t you want it? Do you want to volunteer to pay the penalty
of your sin yourself? Do you really want
to experience eternal separation from God?
Eternal is a long time! No
joy. No laughter. No love.
No peace. No patience. No kindness.
No goodness. No gentleness. No faithfulness. No self-control. Is that really what you want? If not, say this prayer with me:
Jesus, I am a sinner in need of a
Savior. And I acknowledge You are that
Savior. I believe You are God, and You
came to earth to die for my sins. I believe
You rose on the third day, conquering death, and You are alive today at the
right hand of the Father. I thank You
for dying for me, and for calling me to be Yours. Amen.
If you said that prayer, praise Jesus! Go find a Bible preaching church, start
reading the Scriptures (I suggest beginning in the New Testament with the
Gospel of John), and pray.
If you have not prayed to accept Jesus as your Savior, I
want to implore you: Hell is not a place
you want to go. If you haven’t given
your heart to Jesus, please reconsider.
Please.
Holy Father, I ask
that you would not let anyone who has read this post to simply walk away from
it. I pray You will gently convict us of
our sin so we can experience the gift of salvation You have provided through
Jesus. And so we can confess the sin that
creeps into our lives while we are living for You. So we can be healed and made more whole and
be transformed into the likeness of Your Son, Jesus. It’s in His name I ask this. Amen.
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