Remembering The Gospel (Psalm 103)
Today, we will look at Psalm 103. This is a great Psalm of encouragement. David is bringing up all of the reasons God is good. The key verse in this Psalm is verse 2, where he says, "Forget not all his benefits." Have you ever forgotten his benefits? This Psalm is attempting to remind you of the benefits God gives.
Benefits
If you don't believe God is good, look at how David talks about him.
Forgiveness
The idea that stands out most is that he forgives iniquity. This is touched on a couple of times throughout the text. He starts with it in verse 3, but later, he describes God's forgiveness at great length.
Psalm 103:8--14 (ESV) --- 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
These are some of the most wonderful words in the Bible, and notice that they are found in the Old Testament. The first part, in verse 8, brings up God's description of himself. He says in Exodus 34 that he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. That's who he is. He wants to be merciful and give to those who do not deserve his love. He wants to stop being angry as soon as his people stop living rebellious lives. He takes no joy in the death of the wicked (Ezek 18).
Think about the fact that God does not stay angry as we do. Have you ever held a grudge against someone? Does the thought of that person today make you angry and get under your skin? Maybe they have tried to be reconciled to you, but the thought of what they did makes it so hard to forgive and be friendly toward them again. God is not like us. He does not hold on to the past as we do. People have done all kinds of evil to curse God, even killing his Son. God is not petty, bitter, or unwilling to forgive.
The following phrase tells us that he does not deal with us according to our sins or repay us according to our iniquities. This is fascinating because Exodus 34 talks about God's mercy, but it also says, "He will by no means clear the guilty." Which is it? Does he repay us according to our iniquity or not? The answer is, "It depends."
Notice verse 11 says that his love is greater than our love as high as the heavens are above the earth. We recently had a photo taken from the new Telescope showing faraway galaxies. We still don't know where the end of the universe is. We can't see that far. David says, "God's love is as much greater than our love as the length from earth to the farthest star." His love is infinitely more extraordinary but notice the last part. He says, "Toward those who fear him." Those who are guilty and refuse to fear God and change their lives will not be cleared. But those who turn to him in fear before it's too late will find relief.
Verse 12 is like it. It says, "As far as the east is from the west." That seems more manageable than the height of the heavens, but it's not. When you live on a ball, the east is infinitely far away from the west. You and your sin are on polar opposite sides of the planet and will never be joined together. There is no place where our planet's east and west meet. When you move a thousand miles east, you haven't reached the point where you run out of east. The same thing goes for the west. David says, "So far does he remove our transgressions from us."
God is like a compassionate and loving father. He wants to do good for us and show us mercy all the days of our lives. As a father, I can tell you I do not take pleasure in disciplining my children. I hate it. I look for opportunities to show mercy and compassion. But notice again the phrase, "To those who fear him." Have you ever had a child who was not afraid of you? That's a problem. How would we respond if they were careless and broke something expensive and then laughed about it? We don't clear the guilty. But we have love and compassion for the child who fears us. We want to clear them and not repay them according to their sins.
I love the last phrase here as well. It says, "He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." When we connect this to the last phrase, it's easy for us to remember our children are children. We have different expectations for a nine-year-old than for a six-year-old or a ten-month-old. A teenager would be on a whole different level of expectations. But when God looks at us, what does he see? What does he expect? This text tells us that God knows what we are made out of. He sees that we are not him. God wants us to be like him but realizes how difficult it is for us to change. The expectation is for us to be transformed into his image, but he is compassionate as we go through this process.
Lamentations 3:22--23 (ESV) --- 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
There are many benefits to serving the Lord, but this benefit is terrific. An eternal relationship with God is possible because he is merciful and compassionate. There is a reason why David spends so much time on this benefit.
Healing, Help, and Blessings
Other benefits are mentioned back in verses 3-5.
Psalm 103:3--5 (ESV) --- 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
These blessings are real. God does heal our diseases. He will one day take all diseases away, and they will never inflict us again. The pit is often used to refer to some trial or death. God delivers us from that trial. He always brings us out. Crowning us with love and mercy repeats the forgiveness aspect we discussed earlier. Then, he says God satisfies you with good, so your youth is renewed.
These blessings show us that God is the author of renewal in our lives. He makes us better and restores us when we are struggling with life. He does not abandon those who fear him and revere him.
Forgetting God
Now, why does David bring up all of these blessings? Is this a prayer Psalm? Is this a Psalm where David describes an event in his life? No. Is this a Psalm where they praise God for all his benefits? That's the way we use this song, but it's not why David wrote it. Notice that David doesn't have a heading on this Psalm. He usually does, but not here. Also, he starts and ends with the phrase, "Bless the Lord, oh my soul." He is speaking to his soul and telling himself to bless the Lord. Isn't that fascinating? Why would he do that?
The purpose of this Psalm is for David to remind himself of all the benefits that come from God. Is that something that we tend to forget? When we see David reminding himself of God's benefits, it's safe to assume that he tends to forget. This is not a problem unique to David. Throughout the Bible, we see God's people forget who God is.
After creation, Adam and Eve forget the goodness of God and eat the fruit. Israel is an interesting case study for this. They forgot the goodness of God almost immediately after being saved from slavery in Egypt. They witnessed the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea. They even drank from the rock and ate the manna, but they refused to enter the promised land and constantly complained about God doing things his way.
In Deuteronomy 6, Moses told Israel to talk about the law of God to their children so they won't forget.
Deuteronomy 6:6--13 (ESV) --- 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you---with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant---and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
You see how God knew that they would struggle with forgetfulness. He wanted them to remind themselves that God was the one who brought them out of Egypt. He wanted them to teach their children that all the time. God even set up special feast days to remember God's miraculous works for Israel to have the promised land. He knew that on the day they forgot, they would move toward idolatry. That's why the very next verse in Deuteronomy warns them of idolatry.
In Joshua, the people have almost completely dominated the promised land with God's help. Then at the end of Joshua, he tells them to decide whether they will serve God or not. Everyone says, "We will serve God!" Judges shows that they failed to teach their children. By the end of Judges, everyone has forgotten all that God has done. They are doing what is right in their own eyes.
What's Our Problem?
Forgetting God is a very real problem for people throughout the Bible. David takes the approach of speaking to himself. This is like a sermon that David is preaching to himself. He calls for his soul to wake up and praise God's name for all the blessings that he has given.
Introspection
Notice that David recognizes he has a problem. He listens to his heart and evaluates it. Have you done this lately? This is good for us to do on a routine basis. As we study God's word and consider its teachings, we need to pause and reflect on how we are struggling with what the people have struggled with. We get better at introspection with practice. Many of you leave here on Sunday morning full of introspection after we study the Bible together. But isn't it easy to stop right there?
Preaching
After we hear the word of God proclaimed and we do the introspection, do we forget? I often fail to put what I learn into action, or I will stop putting it into action after a certain amount of time. Why is it that we make a profound breakthrough and are determined to change some aspect of our lives, but a month later, we find out that we didn't keep doing what we should be doing? The good thoughts and decisions seem like they are slippery and hard to hold on to. On the other hand, when we have terrible things that we want to forget, we can't get those things out of our heads. They stick to us like Velcro, and we can't get them off. We dwell on negative or corrupting thoughts instead of letting them go.
The problem is that the truth about God has to become the center of our lives until it is ingrained in us. To make a lasting change, we must do what Moses told us to do in Deuteronomy 6. We have to talk about this one thing we want to do when we rise, when we lay down, and when we walk by the way. We have to hang a sign up so that we are constantly reminded of it until our habits become what they ought to be. Repetition is the key, just like David shows us in this Psalm. Preach that truth to yourself as often as you can!
Believe God's Love
We need to preach to ourselves the truth. Is that going to be all negative self-talk? No. Look at what David tells himself. God is good, merciful, and compassionate toward those who fear him. He removes our sins, and he remembers our frame. The only question that I need to be hard on myself about is, "Do I fear him? What would I do if I did fear him?" As Christians, we would develop better habits. I would set aside time to study the word, pray, and talk to people about God. If you aren't a Christian, you must be sure to submit your lives to his Messiah. It's only then that we find the relationship David is talking about. God has given us Jesus and the gospel to understand this relationship and be transformed by it. God wants to show us all love like a father shows his child. He is exceptionally gracious and compassionate toward us. Will we love him back?
Conclusion
Psalm 103 teaches us the gospel in a different way. This text tells us the gospel without explaining what Jesus has done for us. You can today if you have not accepted Jesus' sacrifice for your sins.