Forget not all His Benefits
Psalm 103: 1-6
Introduction
There are things are easy to remember and there are things hard to forget. People as they grow old tend to forget not only little things, but also big things. Christians always forget the Lord the giver of all things we want when we already have it. Someone have said that “Blessed are those who give without remembering. And blessed are those who take without forgetting.” Today we will be talking about things we should not forget as written by the Holy Spirit.
1. God’s forgiveness – Ps. 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. By virtue of the fall of Adam, all men have become sinners. Sin is one thing that will keep us out of heaven. To sinful men forgiveness becomes the most important problem in his life. Since the sinner has broken the law of God only God can forgive him. Acts 13:38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: this is the wonderful message of salvation to all of us sinners. Our text says, all sins, not some, are forgiven. Not only our sins are forgiven, they are also forgotten (Heb. 8:12).
In Hebrews chapter 11, which we often call the hall of faith, there is no single word about the failures of these OT saints. Why? Because their sins and iniquities have been forgotten by the Lord. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, etc. all failed and committed sin, Peter denied Jesus thrice, the thief on the cross, Paul was a persecutor of Christians yet they all were forgiven. King Manasseh the worst king of Israel and probably the most evil man who have ever lived received forgiveness when he repented from his sins. (2 Chron. 33)
2. Healing (v. 3). – It is a privilege of every child of God to know that He can, if God wills, heal us from all our body as well as spiritual diseases. The most greatest and ultimate disease is that of getting old and dying. The Lord promised that in the future, there will be no more death. Rev. 21:4.
When Christ was here on earth, He healed the lepers, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the devil possessed, even the dead were raised. Ex. 15:26 “I am the Lord that healeth thee. Our God is the God of the impossible. Mat. 19:26, Lk. 18:27.
3. Redemption (v. 4) – Redemption means to free someone from bondage. It often involves the paying of a ransom, a price that makes redemption possible. People who sin become slaves of sin (John 8:34); they cannot free themselves from that slavery. Christ’s death on the cross was the payment of a ransom price (Mark 10:45) by which sinners are set free. Now that they are redeemed they must live as free people (1 Cor. 6:19-20; Gal. 5:1). Christ not only redeemed us from slavery to sin but also but from eternal destruction, spiritual death, the destruction of the body and soul in hell. (Ps. 86:13).
A wealthy English family once invited friends to spend some time at their beautiful estate. The happy gathering was almost ended into a terrible tragedy on the first day. When the children went swimming, one of them got into deep water and was drowning. Fortunately, the gardener heard the others screaming and plunged into the pool to rescue the helpless victim. That
youngster was Winston Churchill. His parents, deeply grateful to the gardener, asked what they could do to reward him. He hesitated, then said, “I wish my son could go to college someday and become a doctor.” “We’ll pay his way,” replied Churchill’s parents.
Years later when Sir Winston was prime minister of England, he was stricken with pneumonia. Greatly concerned, the king summoned the best physician who could be found to the bedside of the ailing leader. That doctor was Sir Alexander Fleming, the developer of penicillin. He was also the son of that gardener who had saved Winston from drowning as a boy! Later Churchill said, “Rarely has one man owed his life twice to the same person.”
What was rare in the case of that great English statesman is in a much deeper sense a wonderful reality for every believer in Christ. The Heavenly Father has given us the gift of physical life, and then through His Son, the Great Physician, He has imparted to us eternal life.
May the awareness that we are doubly indebted to God as our Creator and Redeemer motivate us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto Him. –
4. Lovingkindness (v.4). Some people will do kindness out of goodness but there is no love with it. Not so with our Heavenly Father. He gives us the best.
The most popular NT verse is Jn. 3:16. It speaks of the love of God to us all. John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
On May 2, 1962, a dramatic advertisement appeared in the San Francisco examiner: “I don’t want my husband to die in the gas chamber for a crime he did not commit. I will therefore offer my services for 10 years as a cook, maid, or housekeeper to any leading attorney who will defend him and bring about his vindication.” One of San Francisco’s greatest attorneys, Vincent Hallinan, read or heard about the ad and contacted Gladys Kidd, who had placed it. Her husband, Robert Lee Kidd, was about to be tried for the slaying of an elderly antique dealer. Kidd’s fingerprints had been found on a bloodstained ornate sword in the victim’s shop.
During the trial, Hallinan proved that the antique dealer had not been killed by the sword, and that Kidd’s fingerprints and blood on the sword got there because Kidd had once toyed with it while playfully dueling with a friend when they were both out shopping. The jury, after 11 hours, found Kidd to be not guilty.
Attorney Hallinan refused Gladys Kidd’s offer of 10 years’ servitude.
The Lord our God is more than a Redeemer. He does not pardon His criminals and then dismiss them. He pardons them and receives them into His house; He makes them all children: and all His children are His heirs, and all His heirs are princes, and all His princes are crowned.
5. Provision. “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things” (v. 5). The Lord provides us all the good things in life. Food, clothing, shelter. Ps. 107:9, Isa. 58:11.
Somebody has said that “man’s heart is a triangle, so that if the whole world were in it, there would be still 3 corners left unfilled. But the real believer has the work of Christ to satisfy his conscience, the Word of the Father to assure his mind, and the presence of the Holy Spirit to fill his heart, so that there is not a single corner unoccupied.
A few years back there was a song “I can get no satisfaction”. It became popular and I pity the lives of those groups. They may be rich and famous but their life is in a mess. With so many divorce, drugs, most of all no Christ in their life, no Word of God, no Holy Spirit.
6. Strength- thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s (v. 5). The bird can soar away into high mountains, and far beyond the highest summit. It is that wing power which marks the maturity of our life, and by which we enter into our splendid destiny. Now, this wing power is just the ability to rise above our circumstances, and to soar into the “heavenly places” in Christ. Because of their strength, eagles can carry up weights twice as heavy as they are. Isa. 40: 31
Eagles are different from any other birds. During storms all other birds seek shelter for cover. Eagles fly above the storm. So as Christians are supposed to rise above their life circumstances.
7. Protection- The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed (v. 6). The Lord protects us despite of all the powers of our enemies. 2 Tim. 4:18, and from all dangers Ps. 91:3-7,
The Israelites were protected from the Egyptian armies by the Lord by dividing the waters of the Red Sea. Daniel were protected by the Lord from the Lions’ Den, and many more whom I cannot mention here anymore due to time constraint and lack of space.
Conclusion:
The best and the greatest of all the benefit is of course salvation. The Lord has given us so many things but we always forget them and forget to appreciate them. Now is the time for a change. Come to Christ and be saved, and have the benefits listed above.
Preached: 13 Jan. 2013
