Bless the Lord, O my Soul

[0:00] Good morning. So this morning we're in Psalm 103. I don't know what kind of week you've come from. Some of you might be coming from a bad week and some of you might be coming from a good week.

[0:15] And some of you will really want to be here and some of you might not want to be here. But as we come this morning to this psalm, I would just encourage us to turn our attention away from those things and to come and do as this psalm says.

[0:34] As Psalm 103 says in verse 1, bless the Lord, O my soul. And today as we come to this psalm, we're going to hear, we're going to be warned by God, we're going to be encouraged by God.

[0:54] And we're going to hear maybe for the first time, if you're here for the first time or you've not been to church before generally, you're going to hear who God is and what he does for us. And we're going to see how we can trust him in all things and have confidence in him.

[1:09] And we can put our faith in him and have confidence that that faith will last and will really mean something. And in this psalm, the Bible is really trying to draw attention to our sinfulness.

[1:22] But then it's trying to cast our eyes to the greatness of God and his forgiveness and grace towards us. In this psalm, David is saying to himself, he says at the start, bless the Lord, my soul.

[1:35] He's really trying to brace himself to praise the Lord and remember the Lord and what he's done and to forget his own condition and just see how great God is. And I hope that we'll join with him today in doing that as well.

[1:51] And then through the rest of the psalm, from verses 13 to 22, we see David speaks about God's character. We see the confidence, rather, that David has in God.

[2:03] So our first point this morning from verses 1 to 12 is the forgiver. Because this psalm is all about God's forgiveness for us and to us. And David says, like I said, in verse 1, praise the Lord, my soul, in the NIV.

[2:19] The ESV translates it as bless the Lord, my soul. And our soul is our inmost being. It's our spiritual essence.

[2:30] It's the deepest, most intimate, innermost part of ourselves. And David is calling to his inmost being and from his inmost being to praise and bless the Lord.

[2:45] He's trying to encourage his soul to wake up, to stir within him and to bless the Lord. Our souls, we can be downcast and we can be lukewarm.

[2:59] And David, at times in his life, was downcast and lukewarm. And now he's reflecting and thinking about the greatness of God and saying, Bless the Lord, my soul, for all his benefits to you, for all the great things he has done and all the great things he will do.

[3:15] And then at the end of the psalm, when we come there, we're going to see David say the same thing again. He says, bless the Lord, my soul. He lists 17 things in this psalm, 17 reasons, and the word he uses is benefits, in this psalm to speak about the Lord and what he does, all these great things he does.

[3:38] So it's bookended by this phrase, bless the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. So we're going to see and explore some of these reasons that David gives for himself, his own soul and our souls today to come and bless the Lord with our deepest, most inmost being.

[3:57] And to do that as well when we leave here today. It's not just about church. It's not just about here in this building. It's about praising and blessing the Lord all the time with our inmost being.

[4:10] And that's really important because our souls are supposed to bless God. He's our creator and he's our king. And so this is right for us all to do, whether we acknowledge that or not here this morning.

[4:21] And that's because David says in the start of the psalm, bless the Lord, bless the Lord, oh my soul. Because of his holy name, we're to bless the Lord because he's holy, he's perfect and he's good.

[4:36] And he's fit to be blessed. So as I'd said, these 17 reasons David gives are all to do with forgiveness.

[4:51] And if you look with me at verse 3, David says in verse 3 of this psalm, he says, Remember the Lord that forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

[5:09] And this should make us want to praise the Lord, that he heals all our sins and all our diseases. Praise the Lord, my soul. He forgives all our sins, the first part of that verse.

[5:23] We're always in God's presence wherever we are, wherever we go, whatever we do. He knows and sees everything about us. And he knows our most intimate inmost being.

[5:35] He knows our souls. And he knows the good things we do. And he knows the bad things we do. He knows our sin. And he knows all the wrong things we say, think and do, which are many.

[5:50] Speaking personally and for some of you as well. But certainly everyone sins and everyone is guilty of sinning. And even this morning, as we came here, we'll have had wrong thoughts and maybe said and maybe even done the wrong thing.

[6:04] Putting someone down, anger, impatience. Because all these things the Bible says are examples of sin. And David, certainly, this man, for those who know David's story, he's saying he forgives all your sins and all your diseases.

[6:19] This is an amazing thing to think about and to realise and to know that it's true, that the Lord forgives all our sins, all our diseases. Because we don't really deserve this forgiveness.

[6:31] But the Lord says in this psalm that he'll forgive all of them. And that should lead us to praise. Because the Lord knows and still will forgive us.

[6:44] And some of us might not believe that here today. And some of us might need to hear that again. Because you're sitting under a dark cloud thinking, the Lord can't forgive me this time.

[6:57] I've done too much or I've sinned too greatly. But I would just encourage us today in this verse, all of us can be encouraged by this. The Lord does forgive all our sins and all our diseases.

[7:11] And all we need to do is ask. All the Lord wants us to do is draw to him and ask him for this forgiveness. And he'll give it freely and without question.

[7:26] And then to go back to the verse, the second part of the verse then says, The Lord heals all your diseases. So with this, this can be confusing for those of us who are ill or are struggling with our health.

[7:40] Because we can think, well if the Lord forgives me and it says he heals all my diseases, I still have this problem with my body. I still have this problem with my health.

[7:52] But this psalm and the disease it refers to, that David is speaking about here, is primarily speaking about sin. So it's not a disease that can be treated with medicine or by doctors or in hospitals, unfortunately.

[8:08] And it can't be caught and it can't really be treated. But that is the most important disease, the disease of sin.

[8:19] Because it separates us from God and makes us rebels and enemies against him. Because this disease of sin doesn't just destroy the body, but it destroys the heart and it destroys the soul.

[8:38] And that is a condition that we all suffer from equally. And that, when David says this in the psalm, he heals all your diseases.

[8:48] It reminded me of Mark chapter 2. Some of you will know the passage. In Mark chapter 2, the second chapter of that gospel, Jesus is in a house teaching and the house is crowded.

[9:02] No one else can get in. They're all amazed at what he's saying. And some men bring a friend on a mat who's been paralysed. And he's been paralysed for years. And they bring this man to the house and they can't get in.

[9:15] So what they do is, they go round the side of the house and then tunnel through the roof. In those days, houses were flat roofed. So they climbed up on the roof and tunneled through to lower their friend in to the feet of Jesus.

[9:29] So that he would heal him. And so the man's in front of Jesus and Jesus doesn't say, You're healed. Get up and walk. Take away your mat and go home.

[9:41] He says, Your sins are forgiven. And everyone is aghast and surprised. And some of them are appalled at that. Because they think, Who are you to forgive sins?

[9:52] Only God can forgive sins. And they're also surprised because surely, The man's biggest problem, The man's biggest need, Is healing for his body.

[10:04] And not for his soul. But actually Jesus says, Your sins are forgiven. And the man is healed. And he gets up. And he does walk home. And he walks home, Blessing and praising the Lord because of that.

[10:18] But the most important thing that happened that day, For that man, Was that his sins were forgiven. And he was redeemed in his relationship with God. He was restored to that right relationship with God.

[10:33] And so we should be encouraged by that, And by this psalm, Because it's focusing on the solution. And it tells us freely and openly, That we can be forgiven for whatever we've done, And for whatever we do, In an ongoing way.

[10:49] And it's not focusing on the problem. It's not focusing on the guilt and the sin, That we so often feel. But it is focusing on God, And the greatness of God, And how we can experience that forgiveness, And that redemption.

[11:08] And it lifts our eyes away from ourselves, And to this great God, Who forgives and is gracious and heals us. And then, In the next few verses, After verse 3, David lists some more, Of the wonderful things God does, For us, That leads us to praise God, And to bless him, And honour his name.

[11:30] But in verse 4, He uses a strange, Sort of phrase, He says that our lives are redeemed, From the pit. So when it says that, In verse 4, It's saying that those who haven't been forgiven, By the Lord, For those who are not followers of Jesus, And who have not taken on this forgiveness, And asked for this forgiveness from God, And this redemption, And this restoration, That they are in the pit.

[11:57] So what does that mean? It's a bit of a metaphor, But what does that mean? If people who are not followers of Jesus, Are in the pit, It means, That those of us who have, Taken on this forgiveness, Have hope, And a future, Of being restored to a relationship with God, To see God, And to be in his presence, In the future.

[12:20] But if you haven't done that, Here today, Then, This person's future, Is not, One of hope, But it's a future, Of judgment, And of hell.

[12:32] But, The wonderful news of this verse is, That although we are in the pit, Everyone alike, Is in the pit, Before we ask for this forgiveness, Before we ask, For forgiveness from God, Is that the Lord pulls us up from the pit, That's what this forgiveness is, It's talking about God, Taking us up, And taking us into that, Renewed relationship with him, And that pit language, Sort of reminded me, Of the Thai football team, Last year, A team of young boys, Playing football in Thailand, Went into a cave system, Near their town, And, It was the monsoon season, There was a big landslide, And they get trapped, A lot of you will remember it, It was on the news, There was a huge rescue effort, And that language of the pit, Really reminded me, Of that incident, They were in that cave, For two weeks, In the dark, And in the dank, It was wet, Terrible smell, I imagine, And on top of that,

[13:34] I would have been hopeless, I would have just been like, This is it, It's all over, They were in high spirits, But I wouldn't have been, Because it must have, It must have seemed like a hopeless situation, They were in, And I would have been expecting the worst, But, They were miraculously, Almost saved, By a huge, Sort of rescue effort, And so, And so, That reminded me of this language, Of the pit, And of this incident, In this cave, With this Thai football team, And how they were rescued, We are in this pit, And our souls, Our most inmost being, Is in the pit, And it's in the dark, And it's separated from God, And we're enemies of God, But then he says, Come to me, Ask, And I'll forgive you, And then, We will come, And bless the Lord, And so, Our praise should be greater, For all this, Because, We are rescued, From this greater pit, It's not just a cave, It's the pit of hell, And of judgment, And being separated from God,

[14:34] For all eternity, So our praise should be even greater, Because of this, Because we're rescued, From something much worse, And we're restored, To something much, Much greater, And then, Continuing on down the passage, If you look at verse 7, Verse 7, David tells us how the Lord, Made himself known to Moses, And to Israel, And this psalm, Psalm 103, Is another part of that, Gracious and wonderful revelation, That started in Genesis, And is continued, Through the story of Israel, Right up until now, And then continues, Into the New Testament, And this psalm, Is like the revelation, Of God to Moses, Through the law, And to the people of Israel, It's part of this long chain, This long story of the Bible, And that is through his deeds, But it's a bit clearer here, And it's even clearer, In the New Testament, Which we'll see, Later, And verse 8,

[15:36] Goes into this as well, This is, This is, Why David is, Reminiscing and remembering, About that revelation, That he's just spoken about, It says in verse 8, The Lord is compassionate, And gracious, Slow to anger, Abounding, In love, All of those things, Were given, We don't really, We don't deserve them, Innately of ourselves, There's nothing within us really, To merit, Any of that, And whenever anyone, Else, In a normal sense, Shows us compassion, Grace, Is patient with us, And loves us, It's often because, Of our relationship with them, But not because, We've done anything great ourselves, And even more so, With God, We've not done anything ourselves, We've not done anything, To merit this, Or deserve any of this, This compassion or grace, But God gives it to us, We deserve, To be left in our sin, And we deserve the pit, We deserve that judgment, And that separation,

[16:37] And that hostility between us, Because that sin, Is so alien, And unacceptable to God, But he gives us this, Limitless, Unlimited, Forgiveness and grace, When we ask for it, And with all this, We need to think about, Response, We need to think, How do I respond to the Lord, This morning, How do I respond to the Lord, Ongoing, We need to respond, And ask for that forgiveness, And ask for that redemption, And come into God's family, And also, When we have done that, We need to respond, With thanksgiving, And join David, And say, Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, Or the alternative is, We will, Continue in the pit, And will reject God, And for his forgiveness, And then, From verses 9 to 12, To take us out, To finish this split,

[17:38] David further tells us, That the Lord, Is quick to forgive, And will not hold on, To our guilt, For our sin, So, Our sin isn't like, A criminal record, It doesn't follow us around, It doesn't follow our name, You can't log on, To a computer, And look it up, God doesn't keep a database, In that sense, He forgets it completely, When we ask for it, When we ask for God's forgiveness, And really, Ask for it wholeheartedly, And with our very souls, All that is done away with, And he forgets it, And he does that, Because of who he is, He is this great, Compassionate, And gracious God, Who gives us this forgiveness, Every day, And all we need to do, Is ask, And if this is who God is, Like this passage is telling us, And this is what he's like, Then again, We have to ask, Who do I say he is, Who do I say God is, And what am I going to do, With this psalm, What am I going to do, With what David says here, And are we going to join,

[18:40] With David, And say, Bless the Lord, O my soul, For all his benefits to us, And are we going to really, Worship truly and properly, With our inmost being, Every day, That should be a response, And in fact, It shouldn't just be, A case of, Oh, Okay, We should really, Want this, That should be a response, And we should be glad, To worship God, Holy, And completely, With our whole being, With our souls, With this, If you are a Christian, Here today, There's every chance, You might be feeling it, Run down, You might feel lukewarm, You might feel, No, I don't want to bless the Lord, Through the hardships, And difficulties of life, Getting you down, But I hope, That as we, Look through this psalm, Read through this psalm, And think about this psalm, That you'll be encouraged, And heartened, To come,

[19:41] And bless the Lord, O my soul, As we should, And if you're not, Willfully blessing the Lord, If you're choosing, Not to bless the Lord, And you're maybe, Worshipping other things, Like, Job, Money, Work, Or standing, Or reputation, Or friends, Family, Or whatever it is, We have to think, And ask ourselves, Why am I worshipping, These things, And why am I not, Worshipping the Lord, And if you are, Worshipping those things, We need to, Re-centre, Ourselves, We need to rethink, What we're doing, And how we're coming at this, And come and, Re-centre, And worship the Lord, As we should, As is proper for us to do, And when we do that, It's not just a case of, Getting rid of those things, To worship the Lord, We don't need to get rid of them, Completely, But we need to worship the Lord, In spirit and truth, And when we do that, We don't lose out, God doesn't cheat us,

[20:41] He doesn't rob us of anything, It's just that we, Re-centre, On what is proper, And true, And also, Ultimately, We will be satisfied, By that, God will satisfy us, As this psalm goes on to say, And then, Verse 12, Is an important verse, It paints another great picture, Of this forgiveness, If you look there with me as well, It says in verse 12, That the Lord separates, Our sins, As far as the east, Is from the west, And that's an important picture, That David paints, In this picture for us, If we were to travel north, And keep going, We would eventually cross the north pole, It's a long way, Though, And saying that, I'm not saying, Do that this afternoon, And then, We've passed the north pole, And you would start travelling south, However, If you started travelling east, Or likewise west, You would never start travelling west, And you wouldn't start travelling east, You would always be going east, Or you'd always be going west,

[21:42] That's the distance, That David says, The Lord puts between us, And our sin, And that is an amazing picture, And we can't really properly picture it, Or quantify that, But that's just to show us, The extent of God's grace, And forgiveness, How limitless it is, And how God doesn't cut us off, Or send us away, Or say, No, My forgiveness has run out, There's no more to be had, You can't have any more, It's unlimited, We can't get past it, We can't outrun it, And we can't out sin it, In terms of, The seriousness we quantify our sin by, Or the amount, We think we've sinned by, And we need to really think of this, And grasp it with both hands, How the Lord is so forgiving, To us, But with all this forgiveness, And with all this grace, We're speaking about, This isn't to encourage us, And license,

[22:42] And to do whatever we like, When we do, Get that forgiveness, And the Lord has forgiven us, And given us his grace, Then we're encouraged, Into a life of repentance, And repentance, And repentance, Is a word meaning, To turn from sin, And to turn from God, And the Christian life, Is one of ongoing repentance, So we need to, Ask for that forgiveness, But then turn away, From the sin, And the evil, And wickedness, That has caused it, And then in turn again, Bless the Lord, And then, From verses 13, To 22, In this passage, We see, The confidence, In the forgiver, We've seen the forgiver, Who he is, What he does, And why, And we've been called, To come and worship, And to bless the Lord, Because of all this, And then we see, Confidence in God, The confidence in the forgiver, That David has,

[23:43] And we can have, And we should have, So from verse 13, We see, God's holiness, And his character, Being shown us, To us, To give us more reason, To bless and praise him, And so, Like we've been thinking about, If this is God, And this is his character, And his very being, And what he's like, Then the truth, That David leads us to now, Is that we can have, Confidence in God, We can have this, Complete faith, And assurance in God, And what he says here, To us, And that is what, The rest of this, Part of the passage does, It gives us confidence, And it gives us reason, To have confidence in God, When he tells us these things, In this psalm, So here in this verse, David refers to God, As the father, Of his people, And for those, Who have believed, And trusted in Jesus, As saviour, We are God's children,

[24:44] We've been taken out, Of one family, And transferred, Into God's family, And we can call ourselves, His children, And in the Old Testament, God was the father, Of the nation of Israel, And he was the father, Of the king particularly, But now, That we are in, Sort of New Testament times, We can all say, Individually as believers, That we are God's children, And that just illustrates, That we are not naturally, God's children, We are not naturally, Born in God's children, And no one, Naturally themselves, Makes the choice, To become a child of God, To come into God's family, It is God, That brings us into his family, He adopts us, And he, Brings us into his family, And it is, Our father, Because of all this, That we have read about, Because he pulls us up, From the pit, And he pulls us from the pit, And puts us in the palace, And we have this,

[25:45] Tremendous change, And with that, Some of you might struggle, To read that, Because of your experience, In your own life, With your own father, Because you have not had, A pleasant experience, A positive experience, With your father, But, This psalm, And we can say it, With confidence, Those of us who do believe, That God, Is a perfect father, And a good father, And these things, We do read about, That might, Make you, Turn you off, From this passage, And from God, And the Bible, Actually, God is the good, And perfect father, That this, Psalm speaks about, And we can have confidence, In that, And then, At the end of the verse, David uses another phrase, That might be, Complicated, And we might, Not have any experience of, He says, Not just that the Lord, Has compassion on us, But the Lord has compassion,

[26:47] On those, Who fear him, So, What does that mean? You're talking about grace, Forgiveness, Abounding in the love, Patience, And all this forgiveness, So, Why are we supposed to fear him?

[27:00] So, It's not a case of being scared, Or terrified, Or, In fear, Or anything like that, It means that when we realise, Who God is, When we see God, As this psalm has painted him, And has told us, And communicated himself to us, As this good father, With all this grace, And compassion, And forgiveness, That leads us to bless, Bless him, And love him, We're not to be scared, Or terrified, As I said, Or shaking in our boots, But, We're supposed to be, In awe of him, And we're supposed to have, This holy reverence, And awe, For the great God, That he is, And for everything, He's done, That we're reading about, In this psalm, In awe, In awe, Is this, Feeling you get, That's probably indescribable, To some extent, That you feel in the presence, Of something, Or someone, That is impressive, In the extreme, Like something, That we just can't,

[28:00] Wrap our heads around, And that is God, And I was trying to think, Of an experience, When people, Myself, Have been in awe, And I can't really think, Of anything, But 50 years ago, We were sort of, Thinking about this, At the kids club, That happened earlier on, Last month, Of the moon landing, And the men who went to the moon, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, And Michael Collins, And they must just have been, In awe, Of the huge feat, That had been accomplished, And where they were, And how they were above the earth, On the moon, Looking down, And looking down, In this amazing creation, Of God, And so when the Bible, Speaks, About fearing God, And being in awe of him, As I've said, It means, That we have to have that awe, And that feeling of, Wow, Look at who I'm, In the presence of, Look, At this God, And what he does, And who he is, And who I am, In reflection, And by comparison, And that's a key part,

[29:01] Of David's, Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, He's seeing the greatness of God, And fully buying into it, And fully understanding it, And that's part, Of the true, And all encompassing, Worship that David, And God, Are calling us here to, Today, That awe, And that fear, We have to have of God, That this psalm speaks about, Is part, Of, The right response, That we have to have to this psalm, That's part of blessing the Lord, And what, We've read so far, In this psalm, Has left me, This past couple of weeks, In awe of God, For who I am, Small, Sinful, Weak, As I am, Because it's, Showing me who God is, Who's great, And mighty, But is also, Compassionate, And gracious, And we're going to see that contrast, A little further down as well,

[30:01] And it's because, I'm left in this awe, Because, I know my own heart, And I know my own life, I know what I'm like, The things I've done, The things I do, And what I tend to do, To forget the Lord, Forget to bless him, But the Lord doesn't forget me, And he has this forgiveness, And grace for us, And all we need to do, Is ask, And then in verse 14, To 16, We see this comparison, Between mankind, And God, And this comparison, Is here in this psalm, Just to highlight again, Who we are, And how great God is, In comparison with us, We're all weak, We're all sinful, We're all small, And we're all mortal as well, And we need to live in that reality, But God on the other hand, That David is, Bringing our mind to, Making us think about here, In 14 to 16, Is that God is strong,

[31:02] He's eternal, And he's everlasting, Yet another reason, That we should come before him, And bless him, Here today, And as we go out, Later, It's another reason, David, Gives us to offer, Our whole lives, To this true, And proper worship of God, And verse 17, After that, Is a restatement, Of verse 13, That we read, Just earlier, It shows us, That God is faithful, In his promises, To accomplish, And do what he says, Here in this psalm, And in all the other places, He makes promises to us, Throughout the rest of the Bible, There's hundreds of them, And you can go away, And read them, And then this psalm, Tells us, That God is good enough, And faithful enough, To keep them, And we can trust him, With everything, He said here, God will never end, God's eternal, God lasts forever,

[32:03] And so, Will his promises, And the things he said, And in the second line, Of verse 17, It again mentions, That the fear, We thought about earlier, That awe, Of God, And that makes sense, In light of God, And who he is, And his character, And then, In verse 19, David goes on, To speak, About a kingdom, And he says, That God has established, His kingdom, Over the earth, And that it rules, Over all, So this kingdom, He's talking about, Is the kingdom of heaven, And the kingdom of God, That we read about, In like the gospels, And Jesus speaks about, So, And with that, How can we know, How does a king rule over all, How does this verse, Sort of make sense to us, How does it come to us, It comes to us, And it makes sense to us, Because Jesus, Is the king, And Jesus,

[33:04] Has brought the kingdom, When he came to the earth, Died, And rose again, And has ascended, To heaven, And he's ascended, To the throne, Of the kingdom, And then that's going to be, Even more apparent to us, When he returns to the earth, And everyone will acknowledge him, At that point, So this passage, So far, Has told us, Who we're to worship, Why, And how, We're to worship God, With our whole beings, With our inmost being, Our souls, Our hearts, Minds, And we're supposed to worship him, Because of who he is, The great things he does, That word, David uses at the start of the psalm, The great benefits, That God has, And so as I was thinking about this psalm, This week, And it talked about our inmost being, And this true worship of God,

[34:05] And why we should worship God, There's plenty of places we can go, In the New Testament, To get a similar message, As a similar thought, From any of the New Testament writers, One I thought of particularly, Was, Romans chapter 12, 1 to 2, And you might want to turn that up, In your Bible just now, To have a look at that as well with me, So Romans chapter 12, Chapter 12 rather, Don't turn to chapter 2, Chapter 12, 1 to 2, Says, Therefore, I urge you, Brothers and sisters, In view of God's mercy, To offer your bodies, As a living sacrifice, Holy and pleasing to God, This is your true and proper worship, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, But be transformed, By the renewing of your mind, Then,

[35:05] You will be able, To test, And approve, What God's will is, His good, Pleasing, And perfect will, And so, With this psalm, And various other places, In the Old Testament, And plenty of places, Including Romans, 12, 1 to 2, Saying this, We have to think, What's my response?

[35:29] What am I going to do, With what David said? What am I going to do, With Romans 12, 1 to 2, And so, If you've not taken on that forgiveness, Think about this, This week, And speak to God, And read His word, And if you're feeling, That lukewarm feeling, You're feeling run down, Be encouraged, That God has this, Forgiveness for us, So, In this passage, Romans 12, 1 to 2, I've just read, Paul is writing, To this small church, In Rome, And he's saying to them, As we've read, Worship God, As living sacrifices, With your whole being, Like this psalm is saying, And he's saying that, Because of, He uses the word, Mercy, So, David used the word, Benefit, And here, Paul says, Because of His mercies, Because of these good things, He does for us, Because of who He is, And the great things He does, Because of His character, And through that,

[36:31] With that, We're to present ourselves, As holy, And living sacrifices, Because that is true worship, And that is what we're supposed to do, That is what we've been created to do, Each one of us, But with what Paul is saying, He says, Holy, And living sacrifices, How can you sacrifice something, And it still be alive, Sacrifice, In sort of biblical times, In the word in general, You sort of think of, Killing something, So how can you sacrifice something, And still be alive, It's because the death, That was required, To pay for sin, To pay the terrible cost, Of human sin, Has been paid by Jesus, So that has fulfilled, God's requirement, For sin to be paid with blood, To be paid for, By death, With that one true, And perfect death of Jesus, And so moving on from there, As New Testament, As people living in New Testament times,

[37:32] In that sense, Our bodies, Are part of worship, As Paul says, Present your bodies, As part of this worship, And in verse 2 then he says, Be renewed by the transforming of your mind, So he's saying, Our minds are part of this worship as well, And so the two can't be divided, And one can't be part of worship, And the other left out, We need them both, And so that is sort of feeding on, From where David has left us in Psalm 103, We need both in the equation, And that's part of this inmost being, Worshipping, And if we don't do that, Then actually we're not worshipping at all, And we're sort of putting on an act, And the thing is with that, The Lord won't be pleased by it, He won't be blessed by it, So we need every part of us to come, And to worship, And so with that, When Paul is talking about these living sacrifices,

[38:32] We've to be, That includes here, In church, In this building, And then going forward as well, Into the week, With the rest of our time as well, We've to be these living sacrifices, That worship with our inmost being all the time, And so we need to be striving, To be those true and proper, Full worshippers, Through the Lord Jesus, And the Holy Spirit, That David and Paul, Has been talking about here today, So if you are doing this, Keep going, It's hard though, So probably most of us aren't, And we do fail, In various ways, And if you're not, If you're not worshipping God, In any sense, Then we have to ask you, Why not?

[39:20] Because Psalm 103, Is painting a picture for us, Of how great God is, And because of all this greatness, We've spoken about all his great attributes, And his character, And how he is gracious, And forgives us to a fault, Every time we ask, Then we need to come, And ask for that forgiveness, And if you're still struggling with this, If you're still struggling with this Psalm, Take it away with you, Meditate on it, Read it again, Keep reading through it, Through the week, And pray through it, And ask the Lord, To show himself to you, Again through this Psalm, And then, David, Says again, To himself, At the end of the Psalm, If you look there, At the end of the Psalm, Psalm verse 22, He says again, After all this, After everything we've heard, And learned, About God, He says, Bless the Lord, Oh my soul,

[40:21] So I hope, That as I've preached here this morning, And as we thought about this Psalm, That as we go out of here, And leave today, That the Lord will bless you, And I hope, That you'll have learned something about worship, And who God is, What he's like, And what he does for us, What he can do for us, And I hope, That through all that, That you will join us, In saying, Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, Let's just pray to close, Heavenly Father, We just thank you, For what we've read here today, We thank you, Of the description, We've read of who you are, And who we are, And we thank you, That even in spite of all our sinfulness, Lord, And how we rebel, And we are enemies, Of you Lord, That we are forgiven, And you don't, We can't,

[41:23] Get away from your forgiveness, We can't out sin it, And we thank you Lord, That it's free, And all we need to do is ask, Lord, And we just pray, That as we, Go out this week, That we will be, These true and complete worshippers, That worship you, With our innermost being, And we pray Lord, That our lives will bless you, And we will bless you Lord, And we just, Just ask this, And thank you for all this, In Jesus name, Amen.