Today we are going to be looking at Psalm 103. It is a Psalm of David. We read in Psalm 103:1-22:
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: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 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, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 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, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But 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. 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 hosts; 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.
Psalm 103 is one of my favorite Psalms. You can see why as you read it. It is really encouraging. It says repeatedly in many different ways that God is merciful. He is a God who forgives sins. He is a God who does bestow grace. He is a God who actually does save sinners, sinners who do not deserve it, sinners who could never earn it, sinners who have done nothing, no work of any kind, to bring salvation to themselves. God in His mercy and grace blesses them with salvation.
Psalm 103:1 begins:
Bless the LORD…
This is in all capitals and it is the word “Jehovah.”
Bless JEHOVAH, O my soul…
Bless Jehovah; every child of God has to recognize that this is what comes forth from the heart. Each child of God desires to bless the Lord because He is a great God who has had mercy upon us. Notice here that King David, writing under the inspiration of God, is saying, “Bless the LORD, O my soul,” like he is talking to himself. He is having a conversation with his own soul.
I am sure we have all done this before. Maybe we have been alone and we spoke to ourselves and said, “Why are you cast down?”, as we read in Psalm 42. Psalm 42 is another Psalm that uses this kind of language. We read in Psalm 42:11:
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
It is also in Psalm 43:5, where we read:
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
There is a conversation going on within the individual. Sometimes due to our sinfulness or due to situations and circumstances that we can not control, we are cast down. When this happens, it is a good thing to ask ourselves, “O my soul, why are you cast down within me? Why are you so sad? What is the reason for this?” Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. Thank the Lord. Be grateful to God for what He has done, for the salvation that He has made available.
God’s elect are the ones who will receive this. His elect will be granted eternal life, but salvation is for anyone. We do not know who are or who are not His elect. Therefore, anyone can “bless the Lord.” If we find ourselves thinking about our troubles, we can have this conversation with our self, within us, and we can speak to our soul and remind our self of all the great blessings and mercies and wonderful riches, spiritual riches, that God has available or that He has bestowed upon us.
We continue in Psalm 103:1:
Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
This is what God requires. God requires everything. We are to love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul. Bless the Lord with all that is within me.
We sometimes do this only halfheartedly. We might even just do God lip service. We might be saying, “Praise the Lord” and “Thank God,” when there are still areas in our life where we are not truly praising the Lord.
So God is encouraging us with all of our heart, if we have that new resurrected soul, to bless Him. Bless His Holy Name, and God’s Name is Holy.
If we turn to Luke 1, we will read where Mary is moved to speak these words. It says in Luke 1:49:
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
This is one of the names of God. He is Holy. His very person is Holy. Everything involved with God is absolutely Holy. It is pure. It is clean. It is perfect. God is righteous. God is without sin, without error. He is spotless. He is the essence of holiness Himself.
His Name is Holy, and we call this Book, the Bible, the Holy Bible because it comes forth from the Word of God, from the mouth of God. Since He is Holy, His Word is Holy.
For instance, if we go over to Romans 1:2, it says:
(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
Also in Romans 7:12:
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
So this Book is rightly named. It is accurately named, “The Holy Bible.” This name alone itself tells us that there is no error. There can not be any error. There can not be any mistakes. There can not be any place where there is any kind of impurity at all or anything that is not true and faithful, anything that is not absolutely perfect. God’s Word, the Scriptures, are Holy.
The moment that sin or an error or a mistake enters into something, it ceases to be Holy. This is what happened with mankind. When we sinned, we were no longer holy. We became unholy, unclean, spiritually dirty, spiritually filthy. We became like a leper in God’s sight.
Yet Holy God has sent forth His Holy Word to redeem certain individuals to Himself, to gather an elect people whom He will make Holy. He will purge them from their sins and from all of their evil deeds and from everything else. He will wash them and make them clean, and they will become Holy.
So God commands, “Be ye holy; for I am holy,” and He speaks this to every individual. You cannot be holy when you are committing sin. You might be holy in your heart, if God has saved you, but where is the evidence of this holiness? There should be a desire to do His will, to keep His commandments more and more in our life. We are becoming more like God, and He is a Holy God, so we would want to follow the Word of God.
We see similar language in verse 2 to what we see in verse 1. It says in Psalm 103:2:
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
So we are blessing the Lord, and we are thanking the Lord, but what can we thank Him for? We have to remember what He has done, and God does encourage this in 2 Peter 1.
We read in 2 Peter 1:11-12:
For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
It goes on a couple of more times speaking of being put “in remembrance.” This is because we can be such forgetful people. We can easily forget what God has done for us, what He has worked out in our lives. If we begin to look at other things, things in the world, then we are not looking at Christ. We are forgetting the Lord, if we do this. Yet here in 2 Peter 1, the idea of teaching the Gospel, of bringing the Word of God, is to put us “in remembrance of these things.”
So what has God done that we are not to forget? Well, He has taken our sins and He has paid the penalty for those sins, a payment equal to all those whom He came to save spending an eternity in Hell. Jesus paid that debt and that penalty. Right there is a wonderful starting point for us to begin to bless the Lord, to thank God, to be very grateful for His Gospel, because it is His Gospel that can save people.
If we turn back to Deuteronomy 6, we will find this word “forget” or “forget not.” By the way, this is the passage where God is instructing mothers and fathers to raise their children, to teach them diligently, to teach God’s commandments diligently to their children, to talk of them “when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” In this context, why? Why so often? Why so repetitive? Why keep going over the same material? It is the same Bible. Nothing has changed. But teach your children in the morning. Teach your children as they walk. Teach them as you go places during the day. Teach your children at night. Again and again and again, teach, teach, remind them, remind them lest they forget.
So in this context, lest we forget, God says in Deuteronomy 6:12:
Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
This is language that is really speaking of salvation. As we came out of the kingdom of darkness, ruled over by Satan, typified by Egypt, we were in bondage to our sin. So this is what God would not have us forget. Continue to bring these things into remembrance. Go over them repeatedly and discuss them amongst ourselves.
Going back to Psalm 103:2, it says:
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
“Forget not” all the blessings. Have you ever heard the song that says, “Count your blessings, one by one, and see what the Lord has done”? This is a very healthy thing for any of us to do, especially if our soul is cast down. If we are depressed, if we are sad, then get a piece of paper, a nice 8 ½ x 11, and count your blessings. Remember all that He has done. Forget not all His benefits.
We have life. We have clothing. We have food. We have shelter. And we have much more than that. We have the Gospel. We have the faithful Gospel. We have Family Radio. We have Bibles, abundantly available. We have…again and again and again. We can go on and we can thank God for all these benefits, all of these blessings, all of these great spiritual riches that He has provided.
I think that it would be hard to continue to remain cast down if we just sat down and took a half-hour and began to remember what God has done for us. And above all, look at Psalm 103:3:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
God forgives. He forgives sin and this is a wonderful truth. This is a wonderful fact that the Bible teaches: God forgives.
If we go to Psalm 130:3-4, we read:
If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
God has the power. He has the ability to forgive, and to forgive just like that. Like King Ahasuerus extending his scepter, God could do this to anyone, at anytime, at any moment, if someone is still in their sins.
I know that people think negatively. I tend to think negatively. It seems to come natural to sinners. We think about how God requires us to go to Him and to cry out for mercy, to beg Him and beseech Him, and we know that this can go on for a long time. So right away, we start getting cast down in our soul at what lies before us, because we do not know what God is going to do. We do not know if He will forgive us, but we do know that He can; He can.
There really and truly and honestly is forgiveness for all sin. Every sin that we have ever done, in thought, word, and deed, all our inequities can be, potentially, with a snap of a finger, gone, removed, taken away, “cast…into the depths of the sea,” “as far as the east is from the west,” and they can be completely removed from us because Christ came to redeem a people for Himself. He came to save sinners. In doing so, He took upon Himself all the sins of His elect.
We have mentioned this before, but Psalm 130:4 says:
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
This is an unusual way of putting it. He does not say here that there is tremendous wrath, tremendous anger, or tremendous fury that God be feared, but that there is “forgiveness.”
Why would we fear God because He has forgiveness in His bosom where He could wash away sin? We fear because we do not know if we are one of His elect. After salvation, we can know this; but before salvation, we can not. This is the beginning point of fearing the Lord for a lot of people, because they realize that they can not do anything to get themselves saved, no work of any kind. They can read the Bible, and they can keep reading as much as possible because we know that faith comes by hearing. They can pray. They can cry out for mercy. But none of these things are any kind of guarantee.
It is possible that God may not save me, but it is equally possible that He might. So I go to God—I know that this is where I ought to be going. Yet I am beginning to fear, especially as I am hearing that time is running out.
It is almost like we are being pushed to the sea like the Israelites in Moses’ day. There they were at the sea and the Egyptians were in hot pursuit. They needed a miracle. It was going to take a miracle, and that is exactly what had to happen. The sea had to part, and God only could do that. He alone can open up the sea, as He did historically. He alone can have mercy and save us.
So we could feel a little trepidation. We can fear that maybe we are not one of His elect. But we have to remember that God is saving a “great multitude” of people and that all it takes to qualify is to be a sinner. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief,” as God moved the Apostle Paul to say. Actually, this is a faithful saying, worthy of all receiving for every one of us. We are a sinner, and there is the real possibility that God might forgive us.
Let us go to Micah 7 and read a few verses there. We read in Micah 7:18-19:
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
This is another wonderfully encouraging passage. God will do this. He will forgive. He will have mercy and He delights in mercy. We do read that God takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” God takes no delight at all in this. He will punish them on the last day. He will cast them into Hell because He is the Just Judge, but He does not delight in doing this in the way that He delights in bestowing grace and mercy.
God delights to save a sinner. God enjoys it. It is most pleasing to God to save a sinner from their sins, to rescue one that is on the edge of falling into the “bottomless pit” for all eternity. God delights in extending the sceptre of His grace, in sending forth His Word into the world in order that sinners might hear and become saved. This is a cause of great joy. There is rejoicing in heaven “over one sinner that repenteth.” This is something that God is pleased with.
Let us go to the New Testament and we will see how there is forgiveness with God. In Luke 5, we read the account of the man with a palsy. It says in Luke 5:18-20:
And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
Wow! Right on the spot! It did not take years. It did not take any length of time at all. Because Jesus possesses the ability to forgive, because forgiveness lies with Him, He said, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” Whatever this man’s sins were, it did not matter; they were all forgiven.
Look at the reaction of the Pharisees in the next verse. We read in Luke 5:21:
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
They made a true statement. Only God has the power and the ability to forgive sins. The pope can not forgive anyone’s sins. A priest can hear a confession from someone, but then the person who confessed to them leaves with all their sins, the same sins that they walked in with, plus one more because they went to that priest for forgiveness. But there is power with God. There is the ability with God to forgive sins and nowhere else.
Then we read in Luke 5:22-23:
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?
What do you think? What is easier? What is easier for Jesus? What is easier to do, to say that his sins be forgiven or to cause this man with a palsy to rise up and walk? Of course, it would be much easier for God to heal this man’s physical body. That is a piece of cake!
God has power on earth to do great and mighty and wonderful things. He can heal someone’s physical body, but in order for Jesus to say, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee,” what had to happen? Christ had to take those sins upon Him and He had to bear them upon the Cross and He had to pay the price for all that man’s sins. He had to endure the equivalent of an eternal damnation with awful, awful wrath being poured upon Him, to the point where He was in an agony and He was shaken and so forth. We read in the Bible that this was such an awful weight. So it is much, much, much easier to heal the physical part of man rather than the spiritual need, to say, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.”
But Christ can do this, and we read in Luke 5:24:
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins…
Christ has power. He can forgive sins with a word. With a word, He can say, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” “But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins,” Jesus is saying:
…(he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
Christ healed him physically in order for us to know that He can heal spiritually. He healed the palsy, so we can know that He heals sin.
This is exactly what Psalm 103:3 is saying when it says:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Jesus healed the blind. He gave hearing to the deaf. He raised the dead. He healed the man with palsy. He forgiveth our iniquities. This is what all the historical occurrences are teaching us. As Jesus went about healing the sick and the lepers, He was teaching us that He has the ability and the power to forgive sins, that He can bestow grace upon us.
While we are in the book of Luke, let us also go to Luke 7. We read in Luke 7:36-39:
And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
We can see how God is setting this up. Jesus goes to eat with these Pharisees. In this passage, we are not told what type of sin this woman was involved with, but Jesus is sitting at a table and this woman, who is a sinner, comes to Jesus. She comes to Him and she does not say a word. She does not say a word in the whole passage. If you read it, you will find that she does not say anything to Christ. She is at His feet, crying, and she is taking her hair and wiping His feet. Then she anoints His feet. She does this quietly, in total silence, except for maybe a little sobbing because her tears are falling. She is going to Christ in her sin, yet she is a sinner.
As we read this, we are reminded of what Romans 8 tells us. Let us go to Romans 8:26, where it says:
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
She could have been groaning. She could have been sobbing. We do not know. We are not told this, but she was crying. Why? Because her sins had somehow been shown to her by God. God revealed to her that she was a sinner. We do not need to speculate about what her sins were, but all of a sudden, she saw herself as she really was. In reality, in relationship to this Holy God, she saw how her life had been up to this point. She had heard that Jesus was with this Pharisee in his house, so she went to Him and she did not say a word. She did not try to justify herself. She did not try to say that she had any kind of righteousness. She just fell at His feet and began to continually wipe His feet with her tears.
Let us continue reading in Luke 7. We read in Luke 7:40-45:
And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon…
This would be the Pharisee.
…I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
God tells us, “Pray without ceasing.” Who do we pray to? We go to God. Where did this woman go? She went to God. She went to Christ on her knees. She would have to have been on her knees in order to wipe His feet and to use her hair to wipe His feet. And from the time that she went into this place, she did not stop. She did not cease to continue to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, to continue to really, quietly, silently beseech God for mercy, to go to God, to the One who possesses forgiveness and the ability to save.
Then we read in Luke 7:46-47:
My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many…
“Her sins, which are many.” If we hear the Bible, if we are under the hearing of the Bible for any length of time, what do we really begin to learn about ourselves? We learn that we are terrible, rotten sinners.
It is those that have nothing to do with the Bible who really think that they are good, those who maybe have not really heard much of the Bible. They have not seen what God’s standard is, what His Holy Law requires. Many people do not recognize just how sinful they are.
But when God begins to draw a person to Himself, when He begins to work in the life of a sinner, He shows them that they are not only sinners but chief of sinners. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” I am chief.
Each person really has to look at themselves, and God does bring His people to this perspective of themselves. They do not need to look out into the world to find the chief of sinners, but right in the mirror. They see that it is they themself who is the great offender against the Law of God.
Jesus is really using this woman as an example of someone who is a great sinner. She has committed all manner of wickedness, all kinds of evil adultery, lying. But whatever it is, God says, “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.”
Let us read Luke 7:47-48:
Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her…
He spoke directly to her, like we are talking now, face-to-face:
…he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
Right there, did she have assurance of salvation? Did she know that her sins were gone? Well, she believed God if she believed Jesus, because He is God. Jesus assured her. He assured her and He is the Word. Remember the Bible tells us, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” and that “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Jesus said, “Thy sins are,” not will be, not might be, not could be, but “Thy sins are forgiven.” So they are removed, they are taken away, and they are gone. She may now stand in His sight. She may enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. She is going to have eternal life.
This is very helpful to us. This is very helpful to us to realize that God can give the gift of assurance. He can. He can give the gift of assurance. If we are doubting, this is not the place to remain. This is not the place to stay.
We go to God and we beseech Him, like blind Bartimaeus, or we cry out to Him like the publican, beating upon our breast, or we go to Him like this woman and we say, “Dear Lord, let me know. Let me know. You spoke to her. She knew that her sins were forgiven. Now speak to my soul. Say unto my soul, ‘I am thy salvation.’ Convince me. I need to know. As time is drawing to a close, I do not want to continue fearing and doubting where I stand. Say to me, say unto my soul, ‘I am thy salvation’ and ‘Thy sins are forgiven.’”
Continuing, I will read the last couple of verses in Luke 7. We read in Luke 7:49-50:
And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
And who is her faith? Her faith is Jesus. Jesus saved her. Whenever saving faith is in view, it is always the faith of Christ that saves. It is not a man or a woman placing their faith in Christ. It was Jesus who, point-blank, made the declaration that her sins were forgiven.
Let us go back to Psalm 103:4:
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
The word “redeemeth” is a word that means that God has “bought.” He has redeemed a people for Himself. He has redeemed the elect. Where has He redeemed us from? Where were we when God found us? We were on the road to destruction. We were under the wrath of God. We were subject to spend an eternity in Hell. But He has redeemed us. He has redeemed our life from going down into the pits of Hell, eternally. As a result, He has given us a crown, and this is why God uses the figure that believers are prophets, priests, and kings. He places a royal crown, a spiritual crown, upon the head of each one of His people. This points to the truth that we are a royal priesthood. We are spiritual kings.
We will stop here and maybe, Lord willing, pick this Psalm up at another time.