Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Let's pray. At John Bonney's church this day, we just pray as well for him, for wisdom for him and his, that he would speak clearly, follow the words that you want him to share. Again, we praise you this morning for your love and mercy to us, which is steadfast and eternal. We thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. in 1680 a man named joachim neander who was a german poet had been living a sinful life he decided to go to church one sunday only for the reason to mock the preacher along with some of his friends but sitting under the preaching of the gospel he was converted.

He eventually became the assistant pastor of that very same church to that very same pastor that he had originally gone there to mock and who under his preaching was saved. When he became the assistant pastor, he was given the responsibility of preaching every Sunday at 5 a.m. He died at the age of 30, whether because he had to preach every Sunday at 5 a.m., I don't know but but that was his first duty as assistant pastor he died at age 30 but during his final year at age 30 he wrote a hymn we just sang it this morning praise to the lord the almighty if you look on page two you can see his name down there joachim neander in 1525 johann groman wrote a hymn, My Soul, Now Praise Your Maker.

The words are, My soul, now praise your maker, let all within me bless his name, who makes you a full partaker of mercies more than you dare claim. As high as heavens above us, has gone 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 Oh, praise the Lord. One more.

1719, Isaac Watts. Everybody's heard of Isaac Watts. He's wrote, I read somewhere where he wrote over 750 hymns. But here's one that he wrote. O blessed Lord, my soul, His mercies bear in mind. Forget not all His benefits, who is to Thee so kind.

Thou bless the Lord, my soul, His grace, His love proclaim, that all that is within me join to bless His name. why do these three why do you think I read these three these three hymns they're all based on one scripture Psalm 103 if you read if you think of the words we sang in that first one praise God the almighty you can see those words written in there they say there's more hymns written about Psalm 103 than any other psalm except the 23rd Psalm. Why is that? Psalm 103 is entirely voted to worship.

The whole way through. It's what motivated David to write these words. is pure praise and worship to Yahuwah, who is, that's a name for God, his personal name. His focus, this focus is on one thing, giving praise to the I Am, to the Eternal One, God the Father. So let's turn to it real quick, Psalm 103. I'm going to read it. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquity? Who heals your diseases? Who redeems your life from the pit? Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy?

Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles? The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed He made known his ways to Moses his acts to the people of Israel The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field.

For the wind passes over it and it's gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all.

Bless the Lord, O you, his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers do his will. bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord oh my soul these words of David are pure worship again to God from someone who is all joyful and thankful overflowing with praise from his heart having been given full and eternal salvation so we're going to talk a little bit about worship this morning why we worship, how we worship, what motivates us to worship. Do we really possess a true heart that wants to worship God?

Is it possible to worship God in vain? What's Isaiah 29, 13 tell us? His people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Worship must be a vital, real in the heart and rest upon a true perception of who God is, how can we worship someone that we don't know? Do we worship in vain? David knows who God is because of what God has done for him And he tells that to us not to forget what he done We see that in verse 2.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. It's easy to do, isn't it? We go through this life every day. We get bound down with things that draw us away from God, draw us away from fellowship. we have to remember why we're here on Sunday morning we're here to worship to remember the benefits that he has listed David listed in this psalm in verses 3 through 5 he lists the benefits that he has experienced and it's also for each one of us individually that have come to the realization that we are sinners and we need Jesus Christ these benefits are what motivated David to bless the Lord oh my soul with all that is within me when he says bless the Lord he's talking he says to speak well bless the Lord is to speak well of his greatness or an expression of praising thankfulness and admiration so when he says bless the Lord that's what he's doing he's praising God an expression of thanksgiving but how do we worship with all that is within me we use all our faculties faculties that god has given us speech you know mind heart everything that we have received from god we need to use that to worship him it's like the scripture that says love the lord with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind, with all your strength.

Everything that God has given you, we need to return that in blessing to God. So don't forget God's benefits or we can call them blessings to us. What are they? Let's look at verse 3. Who forgives all your iniquity and who heals your diseases? There's two of them there.

First of all, and the most important one is He forgives. He forgives our sins, our past, present, and future. They're all washed away, erased, and remember, there's no record. They're washed away only by the blood of Jesus. blood of Christ. And again, this first benefit must take place before the other ones can be experienced. And if you notice all the way through here, he uses these verbs in present tense.

He forgives. He's continually forgiving us if we are continually asking for forgiveness. Why is that necessary? Sin's still present, right? We face it every day. We give into it every day.

Satan's still alive. We still falter. We're still human. But thank God for 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Sin must continue to be confessed to maintain fellowship with God.

And with one another. Also, if you look at the last part of verse 3, it says he heals our diseases. This is another benefit, another reason to give him our worship. Does God heal every disease? People still die, don't they? From disease, from sickness.

I think if we look really deeply into this verse, the end of this verse kind of parallels the first part I believe he's referring to our spiritual diseases the diseases of our soul he heals all pride, lust of the flesh and eyes and hatred and rebellion against him and in scripture we often see diseases or sickness used as a metaphor for adversities or setbacks in our lives and then healing is an act of restoration. In Matthew 9, 10 and 12, as Jesus reclined at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his own disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

But when Jesus heard it he said Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick The Pharisees considered themselves healthy before God by the way they observed the law and their actions And thus they were blind to their own spiritual sickness. Jesus is making the point here that only those who realize their need for him will receive the help they need, the healing they need, not physical, even though God does heal. But spiritually, I read a little quote from Matthew Henry, and the way he put this particular verse, he said, He has cursed thy sickness.

The corruption of nature is a sickness of the soul. It is its disorder and threatens death. This is cured by sanctification. When sin is mortified, the disease is healed. our crimes were capital but God saves our lives by pardoning them our diseases were mortal but God saves our lives by healing them so there's the first two benefits forgiveness, number one he forgives all our iniquities all of our sin and he cleanses us from our spiritual shortcomings from our diseases So we can rest assured in those two benefits, two reasons right there why we need to come to church and praise God, worship him with all our hearts.

The next benefit is mentioned in verse 4. It belongs to each one of us who has claimed Jesus Christ and should motivate us to worship. He redeems you from the pit. He redeems you from destruction. the Lord redeems you from spiritual death in which we have fallen and from the eternal death which would have been its consequences remember the sentence of death has been reversed because of Christ giving of himself becoming the ransom for us when I read that phrase giving of himself It makes me think, you know, we think about, you read articles, you hear people talk about who killed Jesus, you know, who really killed him?

Did we kill him? He gave himself. He could have got down from the cross He could have called 10 angels as the song goes I forget that He gave himself He gave himself for us. You know, that boggles my mind when I think of that. He took all the suffering, all the pain, all the stripes beaten on his back, everything like that. He could have walked away from it.

He gave himself. we need to remember that. He became the ransom for us. Ephesians 2, 1-7. Ephesians 2, 1-7. Read that really quickly here. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince and power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we once all lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in Christ.

We were dead in our sins, but God, being rich in mercy, made us alive and raised us up. He redeemed us from the pit. We have been resurrected with Him. He's talking about salvation here. Redemption. we will be risen from the grave, glorified as Christ has been risen and glorified. Psalm 49, 15 says, God will redeem my soul from the power of show or the grave to eternal glory.

But think of this. Not only does he redeem us from the pit. What's the end of that verse say in chapter 4 or verse 4? He crowns us with steadfast love and mercy. Love that will never change Mercy that will never end Why is that Who is God He is steadfast. He is mercy.

He doesn't change. He will not go back on His promises. Or He'd cease to be God if He did. He will never leave you or forsake you. he rescues you from the pit exalts you to royalty although we deserve the pit we deserve God's punishment he bestows on us his favor I'm going to do another quote I love these quotes I find this is by Spurgeon which is probably where I get a lot of my stuff Spurgeon puts it this way our Lord does nothing by halves he will not stay his hand until he has gone to the uttermost with his people forgiving, healing, redemption are not enough he must make them kings and crown them that's what he's done and remember that steadfast love and mercy we talk about again, it's forever we can count on that we owe our worship to him Lamentations 3 22 steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is your faithfulness the Lord is my portion says my soul therefore I will hope in him The crown of our glory is that despite our sinful state, we have been loved by God, shown to us in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

That's all we need. Not the crowns this culture holds up to us. We don't need a crown of fame, a crown of success, a crown of influence, or a crown of achievement. Because those won't survive. Our crown points to the beauty and glory and supremacy of another who is Jesus Christ. Oh, two more benefits.

Redeemed from the pit and crowned with God's steadfast love and mercy. As if these four benefits aren't enough, verse 5, he satisfies you with good. The sanctified, blessed life is a satisfied life, living as God wants us to live, walking as he instructs us to walk. If we do that, God will bless us endlessly. Think of the blessings we have every day. Just stop for a minute and think.

You know, our spouses, our children, our grandchildren. And if he really blesses you well, you can have great-grandchildren. He gives us a roof over our head, a job, food, clothing, church family. and creation. Don't you love to, just to look at God's creation sometime and marvel at His beauty, His power, and He gives that to us to enjoy. You know, one of the things I like to do best when I think about God's creation is, I know we all have our different ways, but in the dead of winter, go out the back door, on a real cold winter night, 20 degrees, and look up and see the stars in the sky just as clear as could be and cold.

That to me is just enjoying what God has given us. You know, you feel really close. I'm not saying we're worshiping creation. We can't do that. We worship the Creator. He gives us those good things every day.

Do we stop and think about that? He blesses us every day. you know my uh my sister was in a real bad accident a couple days ago and uh her and her son and they walked away from it but if you look at the if you look at the pictures she sent me i don't know how they survived it was her fault she ran a stop sign but she was broadsided and the car was completely totaled and she fine you know God watches over us he does good for us you know we need to remember that another reason why we come here and praise God on Sunday morning And this satisfaction, the good things he gave us, should bring us contentment. James 1.17 says, all good things are from above. one writer writes that no man is ever filled to satisfaction except the believer.

Natural man can be satiated, filled with satisfaction, but it's only temporary, not permanent. And the result of satisfaction, the result of satisfaction with good things from God. What is that result? Let's look further in that verse. your youth is restored like the eagle. You know, God didn't promise us a fountain of youth. You know, we're not going to instantly go back to when we were 15 years old when we were saved.

He promises us endurance, that we can live this life in a way that honors Him. And we can do it with youthful energy. You know, we can. He says that. 2 Samuel 1 says, it is said in 2 Samuel 1 that Saul and Jonathan were swifter than eagles, fiercer than lions. You know what eagles are, a symbol of vitality, youthful endurance.

That's what it means to be blessed by God. You know, he can see us through anything. We need to rest upon him. we need to realize we have God has given us what we need in this life to endure and to live for him no matter what's thrown at us so let's remember that he satisfies us with his good and as a result of that good we are able to endure and live for him as we should Isaiah 40.31 says But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. That's perseverance. We will have the endurance and strength to carry on in life no matter what may come So let remember that That the fifth and sixth benefit that David has told us here in Psalm 103 Now David kind of makes a little shift now. He goes from his individual praise to God for what he's done and what he has done for each one of us, and he kind of shifts it into what he has done, what God has done for His people as a whole.

He talks about the Israelites starting in verse 6. Let's read that. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. Let's go ahead. He made known His ways to Moses, to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

God will work righteousness and justice to those that are exploited, those that are harmed. His people, justice or judgment will come to those who oppress His people. Mercy will come to His saints. Mercy to His saints demands vengeance on their persecutors. look how he delivered the Hebrew children from the oppression of the Egyptians judgment came to Pharaoh through the death of the firstborn to his army in the Red Sea Psalm 146 tells us God of Jacob executes judgment for the oppressed sets the prisoners free lifts up those who are bowed down watches over the sojourners but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord works righteousness and justice for those who are oppressed. We can count on that. That's a promise we can believe in. He does not tolerate injustice, especially to his people. He will right what is wrong. We might ask, where is God now with everything that's going on?

There's so much evil in this world. There's people being martyred for Christ all across the world. People under dictatorships in third world countries. Christians in our own country are being ridiculed made fun of maligned because of our Christian values We see that all the time But we can rest assured We remain faithful. God will repay the oppressor. Maybe not in this life, but justice will be carried out.

And in verse 7, he made his salvation promises to Moses. He made him known to Moses and to the sons of Israel. So that from the beginning, clear through the Old Testament, we know about God's redemptive purpose. You know, he appeared to Moses. And Moses, I think it's in Exodus 33. I can't remember where that's at.

Moses asked God, you know, what he's doing, what is his plan. And God answers him in Exodus 34. Let me see if I can find that really quickly. I meant to write that down and I forgot. Let me see that. the Lord this is 34 6 of Exodus sorry verse 5 the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness keeping steadfast love for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin but who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children God made known his ways to Moses and he has made known his ways to us through the word through His Word, through His apostles, through Paul, through Peter, through everyone we read in His Word.

He has made known His salvation to us. We know about God's redemptive purpose, His enduring commitment to His people. what he did for the Israelites and what he now does for us, for the Gentiles. We know the way of covenant grace, and it's been made to us through his acts of mercy and through his Son, who is the mediator of the new covenant. So, some more benefits.

The oppressors will be dealt with. he made known his salvation to us not only through Moses but through his word through all of his servants in verse 8 the Lord is compassionate merciful and gracious more reasons to bless more reasons to worship the Lord he is gracious he is slow to anger abounding in steadfast love It's a committed love. And it also has no bounds. He sees the sinner's need for mercy.

He saves sinners which we once were. The God that executes righteousness and justice delights in mercy. He is slow to anger. Why is he slow to anger, you think? He's giving people time to repent. He is a patient God.

His time is not our time. We've got to remember that. and he does not always chide or strive for us, as we see in verse 9, he will not keep his anger forever. One writer puts it this way, that verse means that he will not perpetually find fault with us. He doesn't do that. Remember, he forgives us. He will not keep bearing a grudge forever against us. so let's move to verse 10 this here truly does show to me God's love for his people he does not deal with us according to our sins or pay us repay us according to our iniquities for as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our transgressions from us this verse enough only this verse ten is enough for me to bless the Lord He doesn't give us what we deserve or repay us for our iniquities.

What we really deserve because of our sin, which is eternity in hell. We all know what Romans 6.23 says, right? For the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life. In Christ Jesus our Lord. Our sin has been covered by Christ.

We still fail. But he doesn't deal with us according to what we justly deserve. John Calvin, another quote, says it this way. God wonderfully blesses those he might justly destroy. we're not getting what we deserve we're getting God's justice reason enough to worship God every week every day in verse 11 how great is his love how great is his love for his people his steadfast love his committed love for those who fear him is so great it can't be measured how great is it it's as high as the heavens are above the Earth.

How far is that? Can we estimate that? Do we know the mileage? Well, I want to read what NASA says about that. Statistics from NASA tells us that they think, in quotation marks, they think that they know where the edge of the universe is. They suggest that if you travel 186,000 miles a second, which is the speed of light, I think, you could reach the end of the universe in 225 trillion years.

Can't be measured. It can't be done. Think of that. That's how great His steadfast love is toward us. We can't measure it. It's unending.

It has no bounds. It has no end. Another way David illustrates this infinity is how far God has removed our sins from us How far is that The east from the west they never meet If you can start heading east, you'll always go east. They can't be measured. They can't be met. There's a song we used to sing when we were kids called Gone, Gone, Gone, Gone.

Yes, my sins are gone. How's the rest of it go? I can't remember the next line, but buried in the deepest sea, yes, that's good enough for me. Praise God, my sins are gone. No, they're gone. And he don't remember them.

How many times have we heard Pastor Tim say that? He chooses not to remember them. They're gone. We can count on that. We can't, you know, don't you wish we could forget our sins? the past sins somehow keep popping up in my mind forget them, they're over, God's forgotten them, why should I remember them we can remember or trust that God has forgotten them he's buried in them a deep sea and his love is further cannot be measured, the love for us cannot be measured our unthankfulness and sinfulness would completely exhaust anybody else except God.

Which brings me to Micah 7, 18. Who is a pardoning God like you, pardoning my iniquity and passing over my transgressions for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. Another reason, another benefit God has given us and remember he loves us as a father he loves us as a father loves his children the verse says the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him and again notice present tense he didn't just show us compassion he shows us compassion now it's present tense it always flows because we always need it we always need his love and compassion why do we need that never-ending compassion because in verse 14 through 15 we dust we fragile he knows our frame because he made us we like grass we flourish like a flower in the field When the wind passes over it it gone You know, life is short.

We all know that. James 4.14 says, For you are a mist that appears for only a short time, then you vanish. Remember, life is short. Our time is short. But God's love is everlasting to everlasting. God's covenant, His committed love, falls on those who fear Him.

You know, I want to go back to real quick. His love is everlasting to everlasting. If God is eternal, which He is, if His love is eternal, which it is, He loved us before we were born. Try to wrap your head around that. That's tough. How can he love us before we were born?

He knew us before we were born. He loved us. His love is from everlasting to everlasting. Again, his covenant committed love falls on those who fear him, not scared of him, but have righteous respect for who he is and what he does. His love didn't start when we first believed. There was never a time He didn't love His own people.

That will never change. And again, who was that love for? Those who fear Him and those who keep His commandments. One more call to praise in this psalm. Verse 19. verse 19 the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all there's a universal call to praise the king who is over all greater than any earthly king since he is over all even the angels are called to worship even the hosts of heaven we sing about that in a couple of hymns today even the angels are called to worship even the hosts of heaven the sun, the moon, the stars all creation should join to praise Him.

Psalm 148 tells us, it calls all men to praise Him. God's creatures to join in praising Him from the heavenly host to the heavenly bodies to the inhabitants of sea and land to all mankind. In Psalm 150, the last verse of the psalm says, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. So, those are the benefits that we need to remember when we come to praise God.

I mean, we can praise and worship God. We can do it without being in church. But we need to be here. So what motivates you to worship? What is your reason to worship? Why did you come today?

Is it because it's just something we automatically do on Sunday? Do we punch a time clock? You know, come in at 10.30, leave at 12 o'clock. Real quick, that makes me think of my uncle. I had an uncle that was a godly man. He passed away a few years ago, but he was a deacon at the church I used to go to, and we were deacons together for a while.

And godly man, one of the most godliest men I ever knew. But he used to joke around. We'd bring a guest pastor in when our pastor was going to be gone, and the guest pastor would ask my uncle, because he was a chairman, I think, of the Deacons. He said, how long can I preach? Do you have a time limit? Does it matter?

And Gene would look at him. That's my uncle. He said, no. He said, you can preach as long as you want, but we leave at 12 o'clock. Is that our attitude? No, he was joking.

Please me, he was joking. Anyway, are we here just for an hour and a half so we can get out the door and wait until next week to come? We need reason why we're here. Remember the psalmist said, praise God with all that is within me. Do we do that? What David says is a rebuke to much of what passes for worship in many churches today.

We come to church but we leave our minds at home We often worship half or even less it so easy to let our minds wander to what we going to do this afternoon what we going to have for lunch what football game's on, what we're going to do tomorrow at work. We let that filter into our hearts and our minds when we should be worshiping God. We should be tuned in and remember what this psalm says.

Remember the benefits we have. You know, those are everlasting covenant benefits that we've received that we need to praise God for. I always like when Pastor Tim tells us in the morning after an announcement and says, we're here to worship. Let's prepare our hearts to do that. Ask God to give the right attitude to worship Him in song and prayer and the reading of His Word and hearing the preaching of His Word.

You know, it's been tough the last few months, right? To worship like we used to. It's been hard. I mean, we'd sit on the couch and watch Tim preach on TV and we'd eat Oreos and drink hot chocolate. I mean, that was good, but it wasn't fulfilling. The Oreos were.

But anyway. you can get out of that I mean worshipping God in your pajamas it just doesn't seem right but you know it's been tough and worship calls also like I said before we can worship at home but God also says do not forsake the assembly of the believers don't neglect the worship of the fellowship of the saints I read a statistic was it last night that in the last 20 years, attendance, church, born-again believers, attendance to church has dropped from three times a week to three times a month. That's in the last, I think this review was taken like two or three years ago. No, we don't take it serious.

We took it for granted. when we had to go through the pandemic and still going through it And I hope and pray that people that are staying home from worship won make it a habit We need fellowship. We need encouragement. We need to remember what God's done for us as a group, you know. So think about that. Thank you. singing the praises and thanking our heavenly father together is such a blessing such a rewarding experience of worship sing to the lord a new song his praise in the assembly of the faithful we are commanded to sing god's praises the assembly of the faithful in church together I'm going to close with one well not close yet but there is one quote I want to read D.A.

Carson says because we have been made by God for God because our very self identity when we are right with God is to love him supremely and to adore and worship him it is a supreme act of love on his part to keep demanding it. Why does God demand our worship? Does God feel short-changed? Does He need us? He doesn't need us. He does this for our own good.

That's why He calls us to worship. It's for our good. That He keeps directing attention to Himself is an act of supreme humility and grace because He stoops to remind us what we ought to recognize because it's for our own good. And again, it reminds us of what He has done and continues to do for us. Now real quickly before I close, this psalm is written to believers.

This is written to believers to worship God, to remember His benefits, what He's done. If you're here today and you've never realized your need of Jesus Christ. You've never repented of your sin. You're outside of God's grace. He will forgive your sins, all of them. He heal the sickness of the sin in your life He redeem you from destruction from the pit the everlasting torment He lift you from the pit and crown you with steadfast love, unchanging love and mercy.

He will satisfy you with good and He will renew you with strength and endurance, but only if you trust in Christ. God has paved the way of redemption and salvation by sending his son to pay the penalty for your sin we have all sinned we all fall short of the glory of God but God being rich in love and mercy sent his son as a ransom the payment for us so hear the words the saving words of the gospel the wages of sin is death free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord the only way of salvation nothing you can do only on the merits of Jesus Christ who became sin for us let's close prayer Father we thank you for your word for how you instruct us how you instructed David Father to pen these words how they meant so much to him how they mean so much to us, Father, as what You have done for us and how easy it is, Father, for us to blot You out sometimes, to come to a church without the right frame of mind, without confessing sin. God, You deserve our worship.

You deserve our praise. forgive us Father for when we fall short and out of your abundant love and mercy you have called us called us to a love that will never end to a salvation that we have been promised sealed with the Holy Spirit help us to worship you Father as we should help us to remember your greatness and your power and your love through Jesus Christ our Lord. In his name I pray. Amen.