Psalm 103. We're going to look at the first 12
verses, but we're really only going to focus
on 8 through 13. We're going to spend most of
our time talking about that. Psalm 103. This
is a Psalm of David. We don't really know a lot
of details. There's no superscription. We don't
really know. Some have suggested that perhaps
this is later in David's life, but we really
don't know. Don't know when he wrote it. Don't
know what the situation was. But regardless of
when and where he wrote it, the words are still
good for us. And so we're going to read through
these first 12 verses, then we'll pray, and then
we'll talk about them. Psalm 103, verse 1. My
soul prays Yahweh. and all that is within me
praise his holy name. My soul, praise the Lord.
Do not forget all his benefits. He forgives all
your sin. He heals all your diseases. He redeems
your life from the pit. He crowns you with faithful
love and compassion. He satisfies you with goodness.
For youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord
executes acts of righteousness and justice for
all the oppressed. He revealed His ways to Moses,
His deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is
compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and
rich in faithful love. He will not always accuse
us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with
us as our sins deserved or repaid us according
to our offenses. For as high as the heavens are
above the earth, so great is his faithful love
toward those who fear him. As far as the east
is from the west, so far has he removed our transgression
from us. Let's pray. God, we come to you. We
thank you for your good work. And I pray, dear
Lord, that we would just understand the importance
of this word and what this means, dear Lord,
that we may rejoice in these truths tonight,
dear Lord. David is a man who knows what it's
like to sin greatly, but he's a man that knows
the joy of forgiveness. He's a man that knows
what it means to just praise you, dear Lord,
for your goodness and your blessing. And so,
God, I pray that we would be men and women like
that today. that perhaps there is some sin in
our life. Perhaps, God, we're in the midst of
just blessing that we see and we recognize and
we know and we're walking just in the light and
in your grace, dear Lord. I pray that we would
praise you like David tonight. And I ask these
things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, we see in the
first part of this psalm just beautiful praise.
This is just a man. who is praising the Lord
because God is good to him, because God has provided
for him, because God has forgiven him, and he's
just acknowledging. The greatness of the Lord.
What about us? Do we ever just praise the Lord?
Now, we probably all pray at some point. We probably
pray that God would help us with stuff or that
God would take care of us or provide for us or
heal somebody that's sick. And those are good
things that God wants us to pray for, pray to
him for. But do we ever just take a moment to
just praise God? To just say, God, I thank you
that you're good to me. God, maybe things have
been tough or maybe things have been stressful
and maybe I've just forgotten to praise you,
God. Maybe sometimes in the midst of life we
just forget how good God is. But maybe sometimes
instead of going to God with our request, perhaps
sometimes we just need to pause and we just need
to say, God, I just praise you for who you are
because you're good, God, and you're with me.
And you bless me and you forgive me. And so,
dear Lord, let me just praise you. And that's
exactly what David is doing in this psalm. But
let's skip on down to verse 8. He says, the Lord
is compassionate and gracious. Now, those are
two good qualities that the Lord possesses. And
praise the Lord that he is compassionate and
gracious. We see the best example of this in
Scripture, I believe, in Jesus. I mean, I don't
think there's any better example of what it means
to be compassionate and to be gracious. Perhaps
a real famous story that maybe you've heard is
the story where Jesus is going to feed the 5
,000. And John the Baptist had just been beheaded,
and it appears from the Scripture that Jesus
and the disciples are... They're kind of down,
you know, and obviously so. A friend has been
killed, and Jesus says, look, let's go away for
a little while and rest. And no sooner than they
get to where they're going, the crowds are already
there. And, you know, some days you just don't
feel it. Some days you just don't feel like it.
You don't want to see people. Some days you don't
feel like coming to church. You just, man, you
just don't want to do it. There's just some days
you just don't feel like it. And it kind of seems,
at least to me in that passage, that they just
were kind of down. Maybe they were in that mindset
that maybe they weren't just super excited to
go out and do the things they've been doing.
They just wanted to take a break. But no sooner
than they get where they're going, the crowds
are there. And Jesus doesn't say, look, I'm tired.
I don't want to fool with you. I've had a bad
day. Come back later. I'll talk to you later.
Just come back later. The scripture says that
Jesus saw the crowds, that they were like sheep
without a shepherd, and that he had compassion
on them. And he was compassionate, and he was
gracious to those who came to him. What about
us in our life? Are we compassionate to people
in our life? Even on the days where we're stressed,
where we're tired, are we compassionate to people?
Do we show grace to people? Maybe we do. But
we need to strive to be people who are gracious
to those that we encounter, who are compassionate
to those we encounter. And that may take some
praying on our part because that's not normal
to us. Like our human nature, I think our human
side is, look, life is tough and sometimes we're
tired and sometimes we're stressed. And sometimes
we just don't, like the human side of us, like
we're not just saying, oh, yeah, I'm going to
just be happy, go lucky. Like some days you're
just not. God will help us, I think, to be compassionate
and to be gracious if we would pray and ask him
to help us in that area. That's not saying that
we just have to always pretend like we're happy
and go lucky and always try to fake it, but we
just have to say, okay, God, the reality is his
life is hard and sometimes I'm not feeling it,
so even in those days that I'm not feeling it,
help me still to show some compassion and graciousness.
But probably what happens for some of us in those
days is We are not compassionate. We perhaps
get a little snappy. We get a little snappy at
people. We don't show any grace to people. We
are quick to jump on people if they say something
or do something wrong because we're just kind
of frazzled with what's going on in our life
maybe, and we don't show compassion and graciousness.
But what does it say in the next part of that
verse? That God is slow to anger. And rich and
faithful love, what about us? Are we slow to
anger? Well, maybe we are or maybe we're not.
Maybe we live in just kind of this whirlwind
of stress and just hardship of life and we get
angry easy because we don't have that compassion
and we don't have that graciousness. Perhaps
we are not slow to anger. And that's not a good
thing. You can examine your own life and you
kind of tell. How quick are you to snap? How
quick are you to go off about something? How
quick do you go from zero to angry? Maybe for
some of us it's pretty quick. Maybe not always.
Maybe sometimes we do, or maybe we do a lot.
And that's something that we need to look at
our life and say, okay, how quickly am I angering?
Because we see here that the Lord is slow to
anger, so that's a pretty good example. If we're
pretty quick to get angry at everybody and everything
all the time, then we're not in a good spot.
We're not in the spot that God wants us to be.
And again, that's not easy because what is easy
from our human side is just to be, it's easy
to be angry. It is so easy to be angry at people
and get angry about every little thing. I mean,
it is so easy. But what's hard is to not get
angry. And that's where we have to have the power
of God and have to say, okay, God, I know I shouldn't
be angry. Most of the time, most things are not
worth getting angry about and acting a fool about,
but I do. So God, I need you to help me to not
do that. And it may take a lot of praying, but
over time, I believe the Lord helps us with that.
It says the Lord is slow to anger and rich in
faithful love. Okay, that's something to strive
for. Don't be angry. People love people. Be rich
in that love and the way that we treat them and
the way that we act toward them. Maybe in some
way that we can support them and help them. Love
shows itself just in a kind word and a gentle
word. Maybe it shows itself by helping somebody
in need. God is rich in faithful love. And so
what about us? Do we walk around all the time
angry? Well, it's hard to be loving when you're
angry all the time. It's really difficult. I
don't know that you could do both of those things
together. So if we walk around angry, it's hard
to love. But if we ask God to give us patience,
to give us compassion, to help us to be gracious
to people, then loving people will be a lot easier.
But if we don't have compassion and grace and
we're angry all the time, it's going to be hard
to love people. But that's what God calls us
to do, to love God and to love people. So we
need to pray that God will help us in those other
areas. So we can succeed in the area he wants
us to most. Verse 9. He will not always accuse
us or be angry forever. Well, praise the Lord.
Now, we may accuse ourselves because there are
things that we do that, man, we've done in the
past. And we just say, golly, I just struggle.
This thought keeps coming back. I keep being
reminded of this thing I did. And it just tears
us up. And it just eats away at us. And we just
keep living in that. But God doesn't do that.
God doesn't. accuse us forever and revelation
it talks of the enemy it talks about the enemy's
accusations before god day and night but what
does it say about the enemy that the enemies
took care of when we read the rest of the book
of revelation the one who accused god's people
day and night he's already been dealt with on
the cross through jesus christ and so if we trust
in jesus christ what can what can be held over
our head if it says that god doesn't accuse us
or anger forever Perhaps God is angry sometimes
with us. Perhaps God is not always pleased with
what we do. There's reality there. You read the
Old Testament, you look at the Israelites, man,
there were some times that God was angry with
them. And perhaps there are some times that God
is angry with us. But we also know that God is
slow to anger and he's full of compassion and
graciousness. So God doesn't want to stay angry
at us forever. He wants to forgive us. He wants
us to repent and to come back to him. And so
we have to decide if we're going to do that or
not. If we're going to trust and say, okay, God,
you sent Jesus Christ. I know that my sins are
forgiven. And God, I don't want to be in your
wrath. I don't want to be in your anger. God,
I want to repent and come to you and praise the
Lord. The scripture says God will not be angry
at us forever. Verse 10. He has not dealt with
us as our sins deserve or repaid us according
to our offenses. That's a good verse for us to
remember. That God has not dealt with us as we
deserve. Wages of sin is death. If God dealt
with us how we deserve, he'd strike us all right
now. We wouldn't even be here. We'd have been
struck years ago. Man, God is so gracious that
he does not give us what we deserve. And we need
to remember that and let that... Let that be
kind of a driving force in our life. Because
what we like to do is we like to be forgiven
and not be held accountable for what we deserve.
But what we don't like to do is pass that on
to other people. We like to be forgiven, but
what we really like is for other people to get
just what they deserve. And maybe we've said
that before. Well, he got just what he deserved.
Okay, well, hold up. Let's not relish in that
fact. Too much here. Because what is God's word
saying? He has not dealt with us as we deserve.
Now there are people that do stuff to you and
say stuff to you and act in a certain way. And
it may very well be true that they deserve something,
some type of justice to occur. It very well may
be true. But the same is true for us. There may
be somebody who comes up to you and they tell
you all kind of stuff and they curse you out
and they tell you what they think about you and
maybe they deserve to be punched in the nose.
Maybe that's what they deserve. God doesn't give
you what you deserve. So maybe that's what needs
to drive us to say, okay, God, here's where I
could be quick to anger. But I pray that you
give me some compassion, God. That I don't give
them what they deserve. But instead, let me pray
for that person. Now that's what Jesus calls
us to do. You've heard it said, an eye for an
eye or a tooth for a tooth. That's what Jesus
says. But he says that's not the way it's supposed
to be. You've heard it said that. That was in
the Old Testament. He said, but you've got to
love your enemy. You've got to pray for those
who persecute you. So this is a good reminder
to us. The Lord has not dealt with us according
to how we deserve. So next time you encounter
somebody that slips up a little bit, somebody
that messes up, somebody that does you wrong,
that's not justifying or saying that they're
right, but that's up to the Lord to deal with
them. Should somebody deserve something, the
Lord will see to it. The Lord will take care
of that. But maybe we need to have a little graciousness.
Verse 11. For as high as the heavens are above
the earth, so great is his faithful love toward
those who fear him. Now, this is kind of symbolic
language. When we talk about heaven, where the
Lord resides, we're talking about a spiritual
place. Where is it? I don't know. I don't know.
Some would say it's just, it's super far away.
Or some would say it's a spiritual realm that's
right beside this realm that we can't see. The
language is symbolic. When we think, I think
oftentimes when we think about the Lord in heaven,
we think about God is high above. How far above?
How far away are the heavens from us? Well, so
far as we're concerned, they're an infinity away.
There's no way we can reach the heavens apart
from Jesus Christ. So wherever God is right now,
it might as well be an infinity away from where
we are. To infinity and beyond is how far away
God is. But the point that's being made here
is, as far away as that is, from the heavens
and the earth, as far away as those two things
are apart, so great is God's faithful love. It's
that big. It's that large of a margin. How big
is God's love? It's big. That is to say, you
cannot comprehend it. God's love is infinite.
That's a lot of love, praise the Lord. It takes
a lot of love. Man, think about all the stuff
that we've done in our life. Is that stuff that's
love worthy? Nope. Look at all the stuff that
goes on in the world. Think about the worst of
the worst stories you've seen in history or you
hear on the news or you see on Facebook today.
There is some evil and horrible and just unbelievable
things that go on. But yet God is slow to anger.
He wants all to come to repentance, to come to
Jesus Christ so that they may be saved. That
takes a lot of love. Love can put up with a lot.
God puts up with a lot, not because we deserve
it. What we deserve is to be struck, but God
doesn't give us what we deserve because he's
a God of love. How much love? It's infinite love.
It cannot even be measured. You cannot even comprehend.
You think about the greatest love you've got.
Probably it is, for those of you who have children,
probably having a child, it's probably the greatest
love that you could ever experience in this world.
And God's love is infinitely greater than that.
That's powerful love. What would you do for your
children? Well, how much more would God do for
those that he wants to be his children? For all
of creation that are God's people. He desires
for them to really be his people and to seek
Jesus Christ and to come to him through Jesus
Christ. That's a great love. Verse 12. As far
as the east is from the west, so far has he removed
our transgressions from us. Boy, that's a good
reminder. That kind of goes along with the verse
we looked at a couple of verses ago that God
will not be angry forever. As far as the east
is from the west, God has cast our sins away
from us. It's a song. You've probably heard the
song, The East to the West by Casting Crowns,
a real popular song. Based on this verse. So
how far away are our sins from us? They're gone.
Again, it's symbolic language. How far is the
east from the west? Well, you can't measure it.
It's infinite. Where do you start? Where do you
end? If you start on a globe and you say, okay,
this is the east and I'm going to the west, where
does the east stop and the west begin? It's symbolic
language. It's infinite. It's gone. It doesn't
exist. God is... forgiven our sins we're not
judged by our sins jesus christ on the cross
has shed his blood so that we could be forgiven
of our sins what we deserve is death what jesus
deserved was to be seated at the right hand of
god and he is but to get there jesus had to take
what we deserve So Jesus took what we deserve
so that we can share in what only he deserves.
And that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. That our
sins are forgiven. That God is compassionate
and gracious and he is slow to anger. And he
desires for us to repent of our sins and to seek
him and to trust in him. And when we do that,
you can have peace tonight. if you trust in Jesus
Christ, if you ask him to forgive you, if you
call on him to be your Lord and Savior, if you
repent of your sins and you seek to follow him,
your sins will be cast as far as the east is
to the west. And that's why David has a reason
to praise. That's why he says, I praise you,
Lord. I praise you, Lord, for who you are, for
your goodness and for your grace. I praise you,
Lord. So maybe tomorrow you wake up and you say,
man, work's going to be so hard. I've got this
other stressful thing or I've got this illness
I'm going through. And you've got all these things
that are just not good. And maybe you just don't
really feel like praising the Lord. Well, you've
still got a reason to praise if you've trusted
in Jesus Christ. David knew what it meant to
be forgiven of his sins. That's why he rejoiced.
May we be those who have a reason to rejoice
today. Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank
you for these good words. I pray that you would
help us to live by them. Help us, dear Lord,
to have compassion and graciousness. Maybe we
don't always have that. I pray that you would
help us to have that, dear Lord. We may be quick
to anger. And help us to fight against that,
dear Lord, to keep our calm. And we can only
do that by your power. I pray that you would
help us to be slow to anger. and rich and faithful
love so that we can share that with those that
we encounter. Dear Lord, we thank you that our
sins are forgiven. Don't let us just wallow in
our old sins that we've already repented of and
gave to you. It's hard for us to forget them.
But dear Lord, I pray that tonight we can know
that they have been forgiven and cast as far
as the east is to the west that you love us with
a greater love than we could ever imagine. And
so I pray, dear Lord, that we can find peace.
not worry about those old sins, but know that
there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ. I
pray that if there is one here that does not
know Jesus Christ or one listening online, God,
that tonight they would pray, that they would
repent, that they would ask Jesus to be their
Lord and Savior and forgive them of their sins,
that they too would be able to rejoice like David.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.