BLESS THE LORD
Text: "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul"
Psalm 103:1-5
Once the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. There isn’t any record that they ever asked Him to teach them how to PRAISE -- Should they, He probably would had taught them Psalm 103
"Bless the Lord, 0 my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, 0 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" (Psalm 103:1-5).
That, my friend, is a manual for praise.
David remembers that God is the God of mercy and grace. "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting ... unto children’s children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them" (Psalm 103:17,18).
This theme fills the presence of God. "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" (Psalm 139:20-22).
I. I must notice the direction - "within me."
1. Praise is not some spatter"-- vain repetition.
2. It is inwardness, a condition, a flow.
3. It is not something done from script, a form.
4. It is creative. It is personal.
II. It employs the outward-
1. a loud voice"-the "timbrel, harp, organ."
2. But they, and others, are only instruments
3. The Heart Originates Praise.
a. There must be spontaneity. There must be
desire. It is forever "all that is within me"
(Psalm 103:1).
b. No outward form can replace it-never!
III. That provides a common denominator.
1.You may not be able to play a trombone, a
trumpet, a violin, a flute.
2. You may not be able to sing tenor, baritone,
bass. But you can praise Him acceptably if
there is that "inwardness."
3. "Have you got a ’within,’ or are you
all ’outward’--all religious polish and luster?
Have you anything within? Are you a living
soul? Have you an inner man? Or have you only
taught your clever animal being to perform
highly interesting church tricks?"
IV. "All that is within"-what is it, what is that ALL?
1. It is reason, and the will, emotions,
conscience, memory, desires. Without
that "ALL" you are a carcass. They are the
issues of life.
2. They reach out after God as a babe toward
milk. Men submerge them in trespass, but never
silence them. They ache for reconciliation.
They are always turning from the foul and the
pigpen toward "righteousness, and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17).
3. That is the canal of praise. "All that is
within me."
4. Your real world, sir, is within, not without.
It isn’t in the clamor and the flash of the
neon. It isn’t in the bell of the cash
register or the pride of a certificate. It
is "within!"
V. Bless His "holy name."
A.You experience a new world. It’s a world of
complete and sustaining miracle. And the avenue
of communication is praise.
1. You reach me by addressing my name. Likewise,
you reach source and supply by addressing His name
2. There is a world of deliverance in Jesus.
a.There is a kingdom that is not carnal. Address
yourself to such victory! He that made my eye,
shall He not see? He that made my ear, shall
He not hear? He that created my inward being
that loves and hates, that throbs and hungers,
shall there not be in Him such a heart.
b. Address yourself to Him. There is nothing hazy or
thinnish about it. It’s more real than you can
ever imagine. "Seek, and ye shall find" (Matthew
7:7)!
1. You ask, "How will I start to address myself
to Him?"
a. David advises, "Forget not all his
benefits" (Psalm 103:2).
2. Begin to thank him. The list will multiply. A
stream of praise will begin. It is so easy to
forget-to take His supply, His providences for
granted.
3. Stir your memory!
4. Think back upon the goodness of God to you!
Count your blessings!
5. Thanklessness is the most blatant of all human
errors.
6. Satan stops the testimony meeting before
anything else.
VI.The sinews that have grown flabby in most churches
are the former muscles of praise.
1.Remember—and start to praise HIM
2.Revival only comes to people who are willing to
PRAISE HIM!! Soon you are moving, breathing,
partaking in another world -the world of the
Spirit of God. Praise Him for is provision.
Here are 6 things notes in this Psalm for which we are to bless the LORD!! Remember them!
1. He "forgiveth all thine iniquities" (Psalm
103:3). That will keep you counting for some
time.
2. He "healeth all thy diseases" (Psalm 103:3). Did
He not, you and I could not survive 24 hours.
3. He "redeemeth thy life from destruction" (Psalm
103:4). His reflexes are quicker than mine. He
exercises Shepherd- care.
4. He "crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender
mercies " (Psalm 103:4). He is always better to
us than we deserve.
5. He "satisfteth thy mouth with good things"
(Psalm 103:5). Our food and drink are a constant
delight.
6. He "reneweth thy youth like the eagie’s"-(Psalm
103:5). There is always an incentive for living.
VII.It is always the present tense.
1.The supply of grace, and mercy, and goodness
never fail.
2.He keeps forgiving.
3. He keeps healing.
4. He keeps redeeming.
5. He keeps bestowing.
6. He keeps satisfying.
7. He keeps renewing.
8. Our Praise never overtakes his supply!!
VIII.How many iniquities does He forgive?
1.ALL of them! "There is therefore now no
condemnation" (Romans 8:1). When God joins
Himself with you, lady, it is "for better or for
worse." He intends to remain, to fulfill His
pledge to you.
2. God doesn’t take you as an experiment. He takes
you to present you faultless. He says to you, "I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee"
(Hebrews 13:5) "Who is a God like unto thee, that
pardoneth iniquity, . . . that delighteth in
mercy" (Micah 7:18).
3. He justifies.
4. He sanctifies.
5. He erases the infection, the disease.
6. He deals with more than symptoms and the visible
sores of sin. He shuts off the disease.
7. He takes the lying, the thieving, the temper,
the lust out of you-ALL the diseases. And He
patrols those formerly infected areas of your
life. Again, it is present tense. "Who healeth
all thy diseases" (Psalm 103:3) And every time
God heals you from a physical sickness, it is
to remind you that He heals you from the fatal
diseases of the soul.
8. He is always making me better than I was.
9. I will praise Him! Yes, I will. I am
determined to do it. And Jesus has sent the
Holy Spirit to me to help me.
