During the first part of the sixteenth century, world-changing events happened through the life of one man. Martin Luther was a priest in the Roman Catholic church. He was a man with a powerful personality, a capable teacher, and possessed an agile mind. As a priest, he found disturbing things about the Catholic church and wrote a document that contained ninety-five strong objections to the church’s doctrine and practice. He published these in an attempt to correct the church.
In 1521, he was called into a church council, and although he had not yet really become a Christian, the Lord had shown him the errors of the Roman system, drawing him toward the true gospel. He was forced to sit at a kind of trial to answer for what the church called heresies. He had denied penance. He had denied purgatory. He had denied indulgences, which was the teaching that a person could buy their way into forgiveness and heaven. He had denied salvation by works, he had denied the pope’s authority, and his worst crime was he had affirmed sola Scriptura: that the only authority is the Bible.
At this trial, he faced a man named Johann Eck. He was the Roman Catholic Church’s chief rhetorician. They brought in the best to handle Luther. Eck’s responsibility was to expose and denounce the heresies of Luther and particularly sola Scriptura, the authority of Scripture alone. The result of the trial was a papal declaration that declared that all the teachings of Martin Luther were heretical, and they were banned all across the Roman Catholic church.
That historic discussion between Luther and Eck was overheard by a young man who was Johann Eck’s secretary. His name was Johann Graumann. While he listened to this trial, he came away realizing that Luther was right, and that Johann Eck, was wrong. He was convinced of the true faith, eventually received Christ as Savior, joined the Reformation, and Johann Graumann became a gospel preacher. In 1525 he wrote a hymn based on Psalm 103, one that has endured to this very day. In 1863 it was translated from German into English. The title of that hymn is “My Soul, Now Praise Your Maker.” “My Soul, now praise your Maker. Let all within me bless His name, who makes you full partaker of mercies more than you dare claim. As high as heaven’s above us, as dawn from close of day, so far, since He has loved us, He puts our sins away. Praise Him forever reigning, all you who hear His Word; our life and all sustaining. My soul, O praise the Lord!”
In 1680, a man named Joachim Neander, another German poet, had been living a very sinful life. He decided to go to church to mock the preacher with some of his friends. But as he sat under the preaching of the gospel he was converted to Jesus Christ. He eventually became the assistant pastor to the very pastor he had come originally to mock and under whose preaching he was saved. When he became the assistant pastor, he was given the regular responsibility of preaching every Sunday at the 5:00 a.m. service. He died at 30. Maybe that 5:00 a.m. service killed him. But during his final year at the young age of 30, he wrote a hymn, which you have already sung this morning: “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation. O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy hope and salvation. All ye who hear; now to His temple draw near, join me in glad adoration.” This hymn is based on Psalm 103.
In 1873, the only way to travel from the United States to France was aboard a ship. So, Horatio Spafford, his wife, and four daughters, Maggie, Tanetta, Annie, and Bessie arranged to journey from their home in Chicago to France for a vacation. Unfortunately, Mr. Spafford was called away for business at the last minute, but the others went on without him, leaving him to join them later. While crossing the Atlantic, their ship was rammed by another vessel, causing it to sink. All four of the Spafford’s children died in the accident. From Europe, Mrs. Spafford sent the cable, “Saved alone.” A month later, Mr. Spafford sailed to Europe to join his wife. He had been reading Psalm 103. Late one night, the captain told Mr. Spafford they were near the site of his daughters’ final resting place. Back in his cabin, though in sorrow and pain, Mr. Spafford turned his attention to His Savior and wrote a poem that started with the words, “When peace like a river attendeth my way; when sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul.” This song, based on Psalm 103, you sang this morning.
From start to finish, Psalm 103 is pure praise to the Lord. Its entire focus is on one person, the Lord, which in the Hebrew is Yahweh. This is the only name found in this psalm. Theologians call “Yahweh” the tetragrammaton which means “four letters” because four Hebrew consonants make up the holy name of the Lord: YHWH. The name Yahweh means the eternal, self-existent One. This psalm worships Yahweh for the blessings of His salvation. It praises the Lord for His benefits given at salvation, for His divine nature in procuring salvation for the believing soul, and for worship because of His eternal, sovereign dominion over all things in all of His creation.
PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS BENEFITS. Psalm 103:1-5
Bless the Lord. For those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, worship is the focus of his or her life. The Scriptures tell us, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The Lord Jesus told us that the Father seeks true worshipers as we read in John 4, “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers” (John 4:23). Psalm 103 is pure worship: There are no requests; there are no complaints; there are no petitions. This is just pure worship to God. There are no clouds on the horizon, no notes of disappointment, no lines of sadness. It is all joyous, thankful, overflowing praise rising from the hearts of those who have been given full and eternal salvation. There are no more pure outbursts of praise to be found anywhere in Scripture.
Both ancient and modern scholars tell us that David was most likely the author. Some suggest that David was the author in his old age; and while we cannot be certain about that, I can be certain about this: old age is the best time to praise the Lord. I can tell you that from personal experience. Why is old age the best time to praise the Lord? Because in your later years, you have the longest, richest experience of God’s power, blessing, providence, and favor. The older you grow, the more your life ought to be constantly an act of praise, an act of worship. If you have walked with the Lord for decades into old age, you have a long, very close, very personal, and very real life of experiences with the power, the blessing, and the providence of God. This entire psalm is offered as worship to God.
Yahweh is God’s own name; not a descriptive name. It calls for the worship of the I AM, the one true and living God, the one who eternally exists, who never had a beginning, who never has an ending. He is alone absolute reality; all other reality He created. He is constant, independent, and sovereign. He is truth; He is love; He is light; He is life; He is beauty; He is perfection; He is holiness; He is joy; He is everything. So, He alone is worthy of worship. This is Yahweh, and He is also the Lord Jesus Christ, which is seen in Jesus’ seven-fold use of “I am” in John’s gospel.
O My Soul. True worship of the living God begins in the redeemed soul. Were you to consult the Hebrew, the word for soul is nephesh. Were you to check Genesis 2:7, you would find that only God can create a nephesh or soul. If you were to dig deeper and try to find the definition in either Hebrew or English for the word soul, you would find the meaning is rather indefinite. Soul refers to the incorporeal aspect of the human being that part that makes the person a person. It means the self, life, and heart. It is here, in the inner person, the place where we are what we really are, that true worship begins. In essence, then, we find that the person is commanding his or her own being to worship or praise the Lord.
Will you notice that there is no organ playing softly in the background. This is worship without a worship band and without an orchestra. There are no low lights. There’s no smoke and there’s no moody darkness or light show. No car sound system is blaring away, shouting worship into existence. This is heart worship. This is the bubbling over of a heart that is reflecting on God and His character and the salvation that He has given. The song of praise is in the heart before it is ever in the room. This is true worship. And the Father seeks true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and in truth, without regard to any external experience, without regard to any external aid. This worship is the sheer extravagant, exuberant joy and gratitude for God and His saving grace. It is simply, “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” We begin by praising God’s holy name. We must exhort ourselves to worship the Lord for who He tells us He is, not for something made up in our own imaginations. In this case, His holy name is Yahweh, and so we express joyful gratitude that He is the eternal, self-existent One.
All His Benefits. This psalm worships God for five benefits granted to the believer when he or she places their faith and confidence in the Lord. First, God forgives all your iniquities. God is a forgiving God and He constantly forgives. The forgiveness of sins is the first and greatest of God’s benefits for without forgiveness, none of the other benefits matter. And, please note, He forgives all your iniquities. No sin, iniquity, transgression, or evil escapes His notice, and for the believer, none escapes His forgiveness. Second, God heals all your diseases, all of them. The word “heal” refers to both physical and spiritual healing. Every time you and I are healed from a disease, it is due to God’s sovereign intervention into our lives. The ultimate healing will occur for the believer when he or she enters heaven, where there is no sickness, no pain, no disease, and no curse. God will heal all diseases.
Third, God redeems our lives from eternal punishment. God delivers, rescues, and redeems every believer from the pit, which means death, the grave, and hell. God provides the ultimate redemption of the person by eternally pardoning the believing soul from everlasting judgment. For the believer, there is no condemnation. Fourth, God crowns believers with lovingkindness and compassion. To be crowned means to assume an elevated status as royalty and equips the person to reign. He crowns us with lovingkindness. Lovingkindness is God’s committed love. This is God’s love that is unbroken, expressed in determined acts of the will of God by which He keeps His promise to those who belong to Him. He is a pardoning God. He is a forgiving God. He makes promise with those who put their trust in Him; and He will never break that promise. Compassion describes the action of that relationship, the emotional side of God’s favor. God not only loves us with a committed love, but He loves us emotionally. He loves us so that He comes and cares for us. Fifth, God provides believers with good things. Verse five says, “He also satisfies your years with good things.” The sanctified, blessed life is the satisfied life. If you are walking with the Lord, if you have been saved, you walk in a way that God showers you endlessly with His heavenly blessings. As a result, verse five says, “Your youth is renewed like the eagle.” The satisfied life is the deep spiritual health. It’s strong; it’s nourished; it flourishes.
PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS DIVINE NATURE. Psalm 103:6-18
Compassion and Grace. In verse 6, the psalmist moves beyond speaking to his own heart and he speaks of what God does for everyone who comes to Him. “The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses.” All of these salvation promises were given originally to Moses; they are in the Pentateuch. And then they were given to the sons of Israel. Throughout the Old Testament we are informed about God’s redemptive purpose. And we know, as verse 6 says, literally Yahweh is always working total righteousness. He is always working in perfect, righteous ways, according to absolutely righteous principles; and never deviates from the correctness of His precise judgments. He provides righteousness for those who are captives to sin; and yet His judgments are righteous. This is the promise of the Old Testament: God provides compassion and righteousness to sinners and He is still just. How? He can give us mercy, grace, and forgiveness, because He punished Christ in our place. This is God’s redemptive plan. Full and complete salvation in Christ, by faith through God’s grace.
True Eternal Forgiveness. Through Yahweh’s lovingkindness, His committed love; comes His complete forgiveness of all our sins. This is so incredibly amazing and so vast that it can only be explained by two illustrations of infinity. These are the most perfect illustrations you could find in human language, which isn’t surprising because the Holy Spirit is the author. But look at how He explains His grace; His great salvation. Verse 11, is the first illustration of infinity: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is lovingkindness, toward those who fear Him.” How high is that? Well, people in biblical times wouldn’t have understood; they probably thought they could count the stars. Let me help you. NASA tells us that they think they know where the edge of the universe is, and they suggest this: if you go 186,000 miles a second, which is the speed of light, you could reach the end of the known universe in 225 trillion years.
There is a second perfect illustration of infinity: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” How far is the east from the west? That also is infinite. This pictures a line going in two opposite directions, going into infinity. God’s forgiveness of believers is infinite.
Neverending Care. Why such love? Why such infinite forgiveness? He loves us like this because He’s our Father. So, the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him,” those who worship Him, true worshipers. He understands who we are. He knows our frame; He knows our human structure. He’s mindful that we started out as dust and we go right back to dust. He knows the feebleness of our will. He knows the strength of our sinful impulses. He knows the easy disruption of our prayer and the fragile character of our joy. The psalm conveys our limited and finite nature with words like, “we are only dust, our days are like grass, and which is destroyed by the wind.” Yet despite our transitory nature, He cares for us.
There was never a moment in the mind of God when He did not love His own, never. In eternity past, before anything existed but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God had full committed love extended toward those who had not yet been created. From electing love to glorifying love, you are loved by God. You were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. He loved you in Christ before time began, and He will love you in Christ when time is over. The committed love of God for His people is as eternal as God is.
PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS SOVEREIGN DOMINION. Psalm 103:19-22
Yahweh Sovereignly Rules Everything. The great truth of God’s eternal sovereign rule is given brevity by the psalmist. Yahweh rules everything from heaven and rules for all time and eternity. There is nothing in the universe or beyond that is outside the scope of God’s sovereign rule, and this should cause the redeemed to praise Him no matter their circumstances.
Righteous Angels Join in the Worship of Yahweh. Humans are not alone in the universe. There are countless created beings we know as angels who join us and who are consistently present. These righteous angels who serve Yahweh, join with us when we lift our hearts in worship and praise.
All Creation Should Worship Yahweh. All of Yahweh’s works, that is, all of His creation, are called upon to praise and worship Him. All creation is called to praise. So, praise is first internal; and then external, gathering the saints; and then universal. The crescendo is incredible: it starts in a pianissimo of worship with one person, and ends in a fortissimo of the entire universe. And we end right back where we started, “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” which is a way of saying, “Let it begin with me.” Will it begin with me? Will it begin with you?
It was 1974, and there was a little boy born in England. This little boy was born into a very dysfunctional family, and his father committed suicide when the little boy was seven. He didn’t know that his father had taken his own life until he was ten. This, of course, left some scars in him. His mother remarried to a very abusive man, the boy’s step-father, who eventually ended up in prison for abusing the family. This was a hard life for that little boy in England. Sometime later in his teen years, he went to a mission meeting in England where he heard the gospel and was converted to Christ. He is a very good musician. And in wanting to celebrate what Christ had done in his life he started writing songs. And he came to Psalm 103, and he wrote a song on that psalm. The title of that song is “Ten Thousand Reasons,” which we sang today, and that little boy was Matt Redman. “Bless the Lord O my soul, worship His holy name!”
