Psalms 103
RileyPsalms 103:1-22
MY CHAPTER Psalms 103 Delivered March 1st 1925 on return to his pulpit, after a serious illness of nine months duration. FOR long I have listened to people talk of their favorite chapters, or their favorite texts. I think I have not, until now, fully understood their meaning. Certain Scriptures have been peculiarly dear to me because of their application at points of my need, and I have long leaned upon them. For instance when I went to prayer, I remembered the word of the Lord Jesus, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”. When I was ready to preach, it was an inspiration and a joy to recall the gracious promise found in Isaiah, “As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it”. God has again and again made good that promise to me, until in every pulpit appearance I have depended upon it, and not being disappointed, it has grown in sweetness and support.When I have sinned, I have remembered the word, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”, and through that promise I have enjoyed the sense of pardon and its consequent peace. And so, at many other points of living, the word has come to strengthen and confirm my faith. In your presence I have often remarked that the 15th chapter of I Corinthians was to me the climax chapter of God’s Book; the greatest single compendium of doctrine to be found in any chapter in all its sacred pages.I have a great and good friend, a brother minister, admired and beloved, who has recently published a book on “The Ten Great Chapters of the Bible”; Genesis 1, Exodus 20, Leviticus 16, Isaiah 53, Luke 15, John 14, Acts 2, Hebrews 11, 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 21. To a great extent I concur in his selection; but if I were producing a book upon the same subject now, I would be compelled to give prominent place to another chapter which was held in esteem in the days of my health, but which became my support, my life-buoy, in the days of my serious illness, and I am bringing to you, on this 28th anniversary, the chapter that tided me through these dark days of near death and the far more difficult ones of convalescence; a chapter that I shall be compelled to recommend hereafter to people whose nerves have collapsed and whose spirits are in the consequent despair.I am inclined to think from this moment, when asked my favorite chapter in the Book, I shall answer instantly and unhesitatingly, “The 103rd Psalm”. My wife, the nurse at my bedside, and friends who came to call, at my request read this chapter over and over again during those dark days and it was to me light and life and hope. It is natural, therefore, that on this great day I should speak to you concerning that which then meant so much to me!When last I appeared before you, we were dealing with the Psalms in our serial study of the entire Scriptures, and so let me present this Psalm under the heads, The Ground of Thanksgiving, the Grace of our God, and The Great Oratorio.THE GROUND OF We have in the opening verses of this chapter the Psalmist’s burst of praise upon the memory of benefits, which increases as he takes account of the budget of mercies.The burst of praise! “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy Name”. It is commonly supposed that the world was sadly lacking in joy and rejoicing back of the time of our Lord’s advent, but not so with those who by faith beheld Him afar, and certainly David was among them; probably chief among them. That may account for the circumstance that he became Israel’s sweetest singer, for after all, the most pleasing music is generally jubilant.It was the Psalmist who said, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy Name, O Most High” (Psalms 92:1). It was the Psalmist who wrote, “O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods”.It was the Psalmist again who shouted as if he had organized all saints into a choir, “O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth” (Psalms 96:1).
It was the Psalmist who commanded, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing” (Psalms 100:1-2).
It was the Psalmist who in an ecstacy of spirit said, “I will sing of mercy and judgment; unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing” (Psalms 101:1).Are we surprised, then, to have this 103rd Psalm open with such a burst of praise? “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy Name”? Perhaps one thing that most profoundly impresses careful and sympathetic students of the Psalms is the almost infinite variety of expression that voices thanksgiving and praise. David was not a perfect man. The record of his sins is written in letters black, and never, while time runs on, will his reputation recover from spot and stain; and yet so many are his virtues and so marvelous are his spiritual attainments that even the critical are compelled to see why he was named “a man after God’s own heart”.Chief among these virtues are his sense of pardon, his high appreciation of God’s gracious part in the same, and the spirit of praise and thanksgiving that was forever finding vibrant voice. How good it is to have a grateful child! To that virtue, God never has been, is not and never will be insensible!
It is doubtful if among Christian virtues, there is one prized by the Lord above this one. Would angels be angels at all, would the spirits of the redeemed men, now in glory, retain their heavenly station, if they were not a grateful, praiseful, joyous company?Most of us believe that we shall have vocation for all eternity, and shall serve the Lord day and night forever and ever without weariness; and can we not easily imagine, that David is the chief choir director in God’s Heaven, and that in spirit he has grown more soulful, jubilant and songful as the millenniums have run by.The memory of benefits!
Every sentiment of thanksgiving, if it continue, must be properly voiced. David’s burst of praise had adequate occasion, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits”. How few people there are who retain consciousness of God’s acts of mercy to the extent of recognizing their accumulating riches.There are small men who dwell on any losses they have sustained, but big business men look at the other side of the ledger, and are inspired by the gains shown. There are starved, pinched souls in the world, who do little but dote upon their miseries. Sad to say, some of these are church-members and such are always tempted to render the text, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, but don’t forget His failures, and don’t be unmindful of His judgments”. In other words, they dote upon their miseries instead of delighting in His mercies.There is a story told of an Iowa farmer whose corn crop was a bumper, and a friend congratulated him upon the season’s yield, saying, “It has been a great year for you”. “Yes, in some ways, but an awfully hot one”. “But hot weather makes good corn”. “Yes, if you get enough rain!” “Well, haven’t you had rain enough this season?” asked the friend.“Well, yes; we can’t complain of lack of rain”. “Well, isn’t this the greatest crop you have ever had?” “Yes, I think it is, but you know a crop like this is awfully hard on the soil”.Such critical ingrates try the souls of men.
Who shall say God has patience with them? Search the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and while you will find complainers a multitude, you will never find a grouch for whom even God had any compliments or through whom God ever wrought a work of any importance!
You can make a king of Israel out of the ruddy, joyful lad, and among all the musicians of the millenniums, the singer who gets his standard pitch from his spirit of praise will never be surpassed. If you are here this morning without a song of joy there can be but one explanation of your dumb silence. You have forgotten to take note of God’s goodness, to be cognizant of all His benefits.The budget of mercies! As David proceeds in his praises, he sums up the occasions of his song, and what a marvelous summary it is. “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities (item 1) ; who healeth all thy diseases (item 2); who redeemeth thy life from destruction (item 3); who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies (item 4); who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles (item 5)”; and then as if to heap up the measure and make it run over, he adds, t(The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for ALL that are oppressed”.Do you know of what I was reminded as I sat before this Scripture contemplating it for this sermon? Of our good treasurer, who annually sits down with the Board of Trustees and suggests to them different sums for the various parts of the work, and when they have voted all these amounts, this amount to this thing, and that amount to the other, a further amount for this and a fourth for that, and so on, until the entire budget for the year is provided; then the treasurer quietly suggests, “And now under ‘miscellaneous’!
We need a considerable sum there for things not now known or otherwise provided for”, and so the sum covering possible expenditures is added and approved.When the Psalmist had recounted his forgiveness, his healing, his redemption, his crown of loving-kindness and tender mercies, his physical satiety, his renewed youth, he finally winds up by saying, “Now to cover it all, to include what I haven’t mentioned, let me remark, “The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed”. Into that budget of mercies has gone sufficient so that none shall suffer.It is little wonder that the man who comprehends so much should break out in a new anthem, “O, sing unto the Lord for He hath done marvelous things.
His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. The Lord hath made known His salvation. His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered His mercies and His truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God”.My good friend, Dr. Massee, in speaking of the Lord’s deliverance of Israel out of the land of Egypt, the very deliverance upon which David is reflecting, said, “Here is pure grace.
Jehovah put His neck into the yoke of Egyptian bondage with Israel and thereby broke the bondage and delivered His people therefrom. He bore them on His wings as an eagle; endured their gainsayings and murmurings; He substituted mercy for justice; patience for wrath; forgiveness for the penalty of death, and taking their sins, bore them, removing thus the barrier between Himself and them.
It was grace that did this great thing.”And this leads us to the next theme upon which the Psalmist is ready to dwell,THE GRACE OF OUR GOD It is exercised for all the oppressed. “The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed”. It is a marvelous statement and a statement that was never true save when applied to Him. It is the custom of politicians to pledge just that thing. Every cheap reformer is going to execute righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed; is going to provide panaceas for all that are sick; is going to see that the poor are treated justly and that social and financial equality shall be accorded to all. It is the stock in trade of the present-day Russian leaders; it was the pledge eloquently made and wretchedly kept of the late English Labor Party; it was the promise paraded by La Follette and his followers; in fact, it has always, since the days of Absalom who cried, “Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice”, been the chief political staple of ambitious candidates who seek to dupe the people into the idea that if they were put in the place of power, universal prosperity, in which every living man should share equally, would become the experience of the land. The truth, however, is that up to the present while some great and gracious men have been elevated to high office and have striven with every power at their command to exercise righteousness and judgment in behalf of the oppressed, the honor of so doing remains forever the glory of the Lord.We had lately a sample of the sort of teaching that is being given young men and women in our schools in an utterance that fell from the lips of Mr.
Davidson Ketchum, a Canadian editor, speaking before the students in Toronto University. Referring to Wm.
Jennings Bryant statement, that “Young men and women of this generation were forsaking God”, he boldly affirms, “We say boldly, God has forsaken the young men and women of this generation. It took us a long time to realize this, for always when we used to wonder where God was and what He could be doing there were reassuring figures such as Mr. Bryan’s, to tell us that God was just biding His time; that He was not deaf to the cries of His suffering children nor blind to the insolence of their oppressors, but in His wisdom (it was always His wisdom) He was staying His hand for the present. The time would surely come, however, when He would arise and set things right for good. The world went on; but the time did not come. We are now and then apt to speak a little impatiently. * * Here were we in a world that seemed to need God more than ever, sinking deeper and deeper into the hole, and God doing nothing about it at all, save to pursue His policy of masterly inactivity.
Then came the war and out of the realization of the innocent suffering and degradation which it brought, our faith in that everlasting wisdom began to melt away. This was carrying the free-will business a good deal too far.
No earthly father would ever let his children destroy each other, body and soul, for the sake of their education. If that were really God’s plan, He must be hopelessly pedantic. We didn’t believe it; there must be a screw loose somewhere. Let Him take back His free-will and find a better scheme.”And from this blasphemy he goes further, finally disposing of God altogether and then playing the trick of the modernist, he makes the appeal that while he loses God, he finds Christ, and his Christ is a man who conquered and the fact that one man had conquered, was the assurance that other men could conquer! What blasphemy! How different from the reasoning of David whose clear mind and logical processes have made his name immortal.
David found that “the Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed”. That “He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the Children of Israel”, and instead of being cold and indifferent, He is just the opposite.
To Moses He revealed His plans and purposes, and before the eyes of men His conduct was the evidence of His character.It is a great thing, even though by suffering and trial, to come to know God’s intent and thought; to understand His program. This is the privilege of the favored; and yet such is His righteous grace that all men who truly think upon the same are compelled to see in that course a God of grace and power.Therein is manifested His essential nature.“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. “He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever. “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him” (Psalms 103:8-11). When by weakness and suffering, one is stripped absolutely of all self-confidence and the soul itself seems to stand in sheer nakedness before God, conscious that it has not a single rag of righteousness with which to cover against His gaze, then this Scripture becomes precious indeed and instead of trusting in human character or human conduct, we are compelled to rest alone in character Divine, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy, not chiding, not dealing with us after our sins, not rewarding us according to our iniquities! What ground of hope in the circumstance that “as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him”! How good to think with the modern astronomer and scientist upon the infinite stretch of the universe, measured now by millions on millions, billions on billions, trillions on trillions of miles, and then to know that we have but begun to lay the line that stretches from one side of the same to the other, and to be forced to consent that distance is infinite—it knows no end—and then to remember that “as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us”! O, what pardon and what consequent peace! Who shall attempt to describe it? The language of Scripture alone is sufficient!And the Psalmist goes a step farther, He states the ground of our confidence.“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. “For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. “For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children; “To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His Commandments to do them” (Psalms 103:13-18). What a ground of hope!I know what it is to be a father! I know what it is to pity my children, and by that I learned how the Lord pitied me, and I remembered with joy that “He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust”. He knows that frame, not because He made it, but because He experienced it! He Himself became flesh and blood. He Himself was “in all points tempted like as we are”, and by temptation learned how to succor the tempted, and sympathize with the sinning and suffering. Dr. J. C.
Massee, pastor of the Tremont Temple, in a sermon recently published in our magazine, said truly, “My Lord was a personality with two natures; wholly God, wholly man—these two. As man, He was tempted in all respects like as we are tempted, and His temptation meant nothing by way of showing me how to combat my temptations unless it made Him feel the undertow of that current of carnality that draws man out beyond his depth and holds him over the abyss below. He was tempted; He was tried. Being broken upon the rack of human suffering, tempted to over-confidence, to under-confidence, and to other confidence, by that very devil who busies himself by laying snares for man’s unwary feet”.I will not say with Dr. Massee, “My Lord could have sinned”, for had He sinned, His Lordship would have been disproven. “God cannot sin” and God was “in Him”. “God cannot even be tempted” and God was there; but to deny that Christ could be tempted is to deny that He had a human body filled with human blood.And I certainly say with Dr. Massee and with the Scriptures that the human side of my Lord knew every temptation that besets me and by that circumstance, learned to sympathize with me.Men imagine they are paying him greater compliment to deny that His physical life knew the temptations common to us.
On the contrary, such a course takes away our Christ altogether and leaves us no God manifest in the flesh. In proportion as God occupies and dominates a man, in that proportion he resists temptation, however strong it appear, however deceptious it may be; but that is no proof that the man doesn’t feel the power of the temptation, nor the draw of the current.
God was perfectly in Christ. That is why He did not sin; probably why He could not sin; but, being Christ, living in a fleshly body, He had to feel temptation and learn how to sympathize with every man of us—badgered and beset by the same. Blessed be His Name; it was a sympathy born of my experience and He escaped no part of it.I believe with Joseph Parker that He knew the meaning of atheism. It was as if God were not in the heavens when blackness hung over all the earth, and He, dying as a culprit, cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me”? In that very experience, infidelity came in for sympathy with our Lord, and even the infidel and the atheist need not go to the grave without hope. God in Christ will pity him and out of sheer mercy send His Spirit to quicken him to a consciousness of truth, and point him to salvation.Is it any wonder, having discovered such graces in God, the Psalmist should conclude this marvelous Scripture withA GREAT Into that oratorio he weaves the following facts: Our God is the one worthy of all praise; all creatures should join in it; all creation should sound it forth.He is the one worthy of all praise. There isn’t a true believer living who can escape righteous wrath when one, speaking after the manner of Davidson Ketchum, strives to strip God of all honor, prove Him destitute of all grace, and utterly discount His claims of goodness, mercy, compassion, justice. When Mr. Ketchum said, “Away, Reassurers, with your ready parallels and analogies. We are going to study this business out for ourselves in the life and words of one who ought to know all about it, and we shut our ears to them and studied Christ”. The conclusions drawn from that study that God had deserted Christ, disappointed Christ, left Christ to die lonely and forsaken, and thereby proved that if He had ever been on the throne, He was there no longer, makes absurd all that Christ Himself ever thought or said.
It was Christ Himself who said, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. It was Christ who said, “God is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth”.
It was Christ who said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise”. It was Christ who declared, “The Father Himself, which hath sent Me” (John 5:37). It was Christ who said, “I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the Father’s will” (John 6:38-39). It was Christ who said, “I and My Father are one”; and this whole business of attempting to divorce God and Christ is solely in the interest of that modernism which would dethrone God and prove that evolution alone had produced in Christ the character-example of the ages.Again and again our Lord declared that His miracles were wrought for the glory of God, and that the grace of salvation was from Him and Him alone. It was doubtless in thinking upon such false teachers as Ketchum that His pained heart cries, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me.
And I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it”.If it be answered this was all before He was forsaken on the Cross, then turn to the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the Apocalypse, a revelation which God “gave unto Him, to show unto His servants”, and in that revelation God is glorified by the risen Lord as He was never praised previous to the crucifixion. I shall not now take time to run the Book through and take from it paean upon paean, but rather to remind us of that matchless picture of the heavenly harpers who sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy Name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest” (Revelation 15:2-4).All creatures should join in it. “Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure” (Psalms 103:20-21).Hear the coaxing word of this sweet singer of Israel, “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker” (Psalms 95:6). Recognizing the lowliness of even an earthly king’s office, he says, “All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of My mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord” (Psalms 138:4-5).“Praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts” (Psalms 148:2). “Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise Him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise Him upon the loud cymbals: praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord” (Psalms 150:2-6).But the Psalmist is not yet content. God’s glory has not been sufficiently compassed, nor has His Name had the honor it deserves.So he wants all creation to sound it forth. “Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion”. David would have “all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise” (Psalms 98:4). He would have “the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together” (Psalms 98:7-8).But the concluding word is to you and to me, personal and important. “Bless the Lord, O my soul”! Are you blessing Him this morning?
Don’t imagine for one moment that He is indifferent to that question.Joseph Parker says, “I sat in the great auditorium. The orchestra numbered 500 and more.
In the midst of the great rendition the keen-eared conductor threw up his baton and shouted, “Flageolet!” He had missed the music of that small instrument. Amidst organ peals and combined notes of hundreds of instruments, one thing was lacking to a complete harmony, the flageolet. O, Thou God of glory, whom angels praise, to whom all saints should bring their songs of thanksgiving, before whom all creatures should bow in adoration and unto whom all creation should render laudation, grant that my voice may not fail, that yours may not be silent! March 1st, 1925.