Grateful to be here, grateful to be able to share the word with you. We just sang enough truth to feed our souls for a lifetime. But in God's wisdom, he's, he's ordained that the preaching and the proclamation of the word would be the primary source of food for our souls. It's not enough to sing. We must hear God's Word. We can go to meetings, business meetings. We can go to different gatherings, whether it be business related or co-op related. There's only one thing in the world like the proclamation of the truth of God's Word. This is the only thing like it. This is what God's chosen to speak to us primarily. So I pray that he would do that. The text I'll be in is Psalm 103 verses one through three. Psalm 103 verses one through three. Before I go there, second Corinthians three verses four through six says, such as the confidence that we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers. of a new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills. The Spirit gives life. Our sufficiency is totally, fully in God. Pray with me. Father, I know that Lord, those whom you justify, you glorify, and sandwiched between that is the entirety of our sanctification, the cleansing, the purifying. Oh, Lord, and here we sit in the middle of it right now. Lord, any of those who know you are in the middle of it. Lord, and some here would not know you, Lord, but the prayer for both is that the spirit would give life. So Lord, accompany your word from heaven and speak to us in Christ's name. Amen. Psalm 103 verses one through three. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits, who pardons all of your iniquities, who heals all your diseases. Second Peter 1, 12, 13 says, therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things. Even though you already know them and have been established in the truth, which is present with you, I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder. I'm stirring you up by way of reminder. And I want to point out to you that David stirs his own soul up by way of reminder. I want to make three points as it relates to the exhortation of our own souls. One, briefly hit on the need and the biblical warrant. Two, the method and end purpose for the exhortation of our soul. a few observations and application. So here in Psalm 103, David, he stirs himself up by way of reminder. He exhorts his own soul. He takes a hold, if you will, of his own soul and says, forget not, forget not all of his benefits. He takes a hold of his soul and tells it that. My youngest son is almost 17, and he likes to pester me, and he'll just walk by and punch. He's constantly doing that. And I usually am pretty just Passive and I'll joke with him. I say answer not a fool according to his folly So why do you want to do something but every once in a while? He'll do it and I'll pop him. I'll pop him in the chest and he'll be like You know, I didn't have to say anything but I do that just to get his attention So he knows I still got you. I still got you and this is what we need to do or do to our souls and We need to take hold of it and let it know, no, this is what we're doing. This is what we're doing. That's what David does here. He does it in many places in the Psalms. He says, no, here's what we're doing. And that's what I want to point out to you. Similarly, we need to take ownership of our own souls and tell it what to do and instruct it. We think it's Psalm 42. which is very familiar to us. When David says, Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil within me, hoping God? For I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. That's just one example we're all familiar with. And would it be possible to divide the exhortation of the soul and split it away from prayer. I don't think you can do that. What is the exhortation of the soul but part of what we're doing in prayer? When you tell your soul something, it's in the context of prayer. It's because, like, Lord, I'm not happy with this. I'm not satisfied with this. And it's a cry of the heart to our God to say, Lord, I need something for my soul. It's, it's prayer. It's the language of prayer to exhort your soul. Think about this. Just trying out of transparency, 80 to 90% of my time and prep for this. It was, was the Lord was making me wrestle with my soul. Because I would get a glimmer of the truth, I'd say, I've got to go there, and then I'd lose it. I've got to go there, and then I'd lose it. And for days, I'm just back and forth. And the Lord, He's teaching me to do what I'm sharing with you. He's helping me to wrestle with my soul. Eighty to ninety percent of my time was mixed with wrestling with my soul to embrace His benefits. And mixed with disappointment that I don't respond as I know I ought to. And my heart doesn't leap as it ought to. Searching out what my soul needs. And if we're honest, we can relate to this. If you're a child of God and you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you can relate to this. I'm not satisfied. I'm not satisfied to know some things. I want to know Christ. I want to love Him. And when I read these truths, when I sing these things, and they don't hit home, I don't like it. What are we to do about that? The scripture tells us what to do. You wrestle with your soul. Sometimes I'll read through you'll be reading through something and it'll catch my attention and I'll catch myself and if I'm honest with myself I'll be more enamored with the wording or the way that the author put it. I'm talking about extra biblical like you know Stephen Charnock for example, such a brilliant mind and he could word things in such a simple way but I'll catch myself and say Brian, stop enamoring over the wording and get your heart engaged with the truth of what he's saying. It reminds me of back in fifth grade, Pee-wee football, we had this one guy. He was a close friend of mine all the way through high school. But he was a grown man in fourth grade. I mean, he had hair on his chest and everything. He was shaving. But fifth grade, back when you had the over-the-shoulder video cameras, it was a peewee football picture or video. The team was gathered up to take a picture. Well, while they were taking the picture, somebody else was videoing, so it was caught on video. But Terry was his name. He stood head over everybody. There was another guy named Jason. Fifth grade, I mean, these guys are just goofing around. They don't care about the picture. But Terry, essentially a grown man, he was getting frustrated with Jason to his left because he was trying to get the picture taken. He was trying to get done with it. Jason's over there goofing around and slowing down the process. And Terry, on video, elbows him and says, stop it, Jason. We used to joke about that. And we would say, stop it. Stop it, Jason. But we need to tell our souls that. Stop it. Do we know this? Is this how we function in our walk? Or another illustration. Think about it. You sit down at a restaurant. You get your food. And it looks wonderful. You bite into it. it's a little bit bland. Your taste buds have a capacity for more. Would it make any sense to leave the salt and the pepper sitting on the table and continue to eat it and just be content with saying, well, I recognize that it's bland. I'll just continue to eat it. Consider the logic in that and compare that to the logic of what we have a tendency to do when we recognize our souls are dry, our souls are weary. The reality of the presence of the appetite and the regenerate heart is not so that we can simply recognize my soul is dull. What sense does it make to stay there? Salt and pepper is on the table. Grab it. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. The appetite, the capacity to taste and see that the Lord is good is a gift from the Heavenly Father that He gives you at the point when He births you anew. But we have a tendency to recoil and leave the salt and pepper on the table and just say, well, I'm just dry. Stop it. Stop it. That's what we need to do, of a God who's rich in mercy. Right? Consider, as it relates to the impossibility of dividing this reality and splitting it away from prayer. Consider 1 Samuel 1, 12 through 15. Hannah, here. Now it came about, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli was watching her mouth. As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart. Only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. Then Eli said to her, how long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you. But Hannah replied, no, my Lord, I am a woman. oppressed in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. Consider Luke 5, 34-35. You cannot make the attendance of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away, from then, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days when there's a gap, there's a break, and something has to be done about it. Luke 18, six through eight, and the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says, and will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long? over them. This is the Master speaking. I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? So when there's a gap or a break between the God-given appetites of our soul and what we are experiencing, We must press in. We must instruct our soul. Spurgeon said three things here. We have self-converse, self-conversation, self-exhortation, and self-encouragement. And then he says, many talk freely enough to others, but never talk to themselves. They are strangers to themselves. not on speaking terms with themselves, take no interest in their own souls, are dull and melancholy when alone. When there's a break in communion, when there's a gap between you and the Savior, do you give yourselves a silent treatment? David doesn't. Busy moms, busy dads, young and old, is your pen in hand as you go about your laundry, as you go about your driving, as you go about your task. So we're not talking about just something the spiritually elite do. We're talking about where the rubber meets the road, Christianity. Last week, I don't remember what day it was, but some days I just wake up and I've got dryness in my soul. And by 8.30, probably. And I get up fairly early, so that was, you know, end of the day a little. I bet I prayed, I don't know, I don't want to exaggerate, maybe 10, 10 times, maybe 15. I said, Lord, help me. Help me. Just as I'm going about my day, getting in my truck, Lord, help me. And I submit to you that sometimes we're, that's the healthiest state we can be in. Lord, help me. I need help. I'm not happy with my soul this way. This is not spiritually elite, the theologically astute. This is for the weak. This is for the poor and needy. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. These are the characteristics of the Christian. And we're going to isolate? We've got to go to Him. We've got to tell our souls what to do. Consider this also from a pragmatic standpoint. Although Christianity is not pragmatism, but if you read through this psalm, you'll see it works. Because David exhorts his soul He goes from the exhorting of his own soul, and then he transitions to the exhorting of all Israel, and then he goes to exhorting all the hosts of heaven. So it goes from personal, to all his people, to all that is under the sun. And we can relate to this when the Lord has given us help, and we have to tell somebody. The question is, why does David start where he starts? What's the basis of his appeal? The basis of his appeal to his soul are the mercies of the Lord. He says, forget none of his benefits. Where does a healthy spiritual mind go first when considering all of the vast benefits of God, of all of the vast countless benefits that we have in Christ. Where does David go? He goes directly to the pardon of iniquity. That's his starting point. There's something to be learned here. What he does not do is make himself a list of new resolutions. And what he does not do is start overanalyzing himself. He goes to the God of mercy who pardons iniquity. That's where he goes. Watch Paul's appeal in Romans 12. I appeal to you therefore by what? The mercies of God. Eleven chapters he's building to make his appeal. David used the same method here. He's making an appeal to his own soul based on the mercies of God. And the starting point is the pardon of iniquity. He says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits, who pardons all your iniquities. Charnock said, All true blessings or benefits grow up from the pardon of sin. That is the first blessing, the top and crown of all other favors, which draws all other blessings after it and sweetens all other blessings with it. If we really want to bless the Lord with the entirety of our being, we must start with the reality that God is a God. Our God is a God who pardons sin. and justifies the ungodly. Not just that sins are forgiven, but even more foundationally than that, pardon and healing are the byproducts that flow from the kind intentions of God. Sharnock also said, pardon of sin is every every blessing virtually, in his language, for all practical purposes. Pardon of sin is every blessing virtually. And in the root and spring, it flows from the favor of God and is such a gift as cannot be tainted with a curse. It flows from the favor of God and cannot be tainted with a curse. It makes me think, it's God who justifies. God did it. Why? Because He's a God who justifies the ungodly. What is pardon of sin? Where did it come from? What's it for? It comes solely from the favor of God. As Ephesians 5 says, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intentions of his will. If you're forgiven here, tell me why. What did you do to earn it? It's because God chose to reveal himself to you. the favor of God. I'm not asking you to figure out all the mystery in it. I'm simply asking you, why you and not your sibling? Why are you here? Why do these truths resonate in your soul? It's because of the kind intentions of His will. He says, I will have mercy upon who I will have mercy. We use that text often. to prove some other things, where are you? How often do we stay on the other side and say, he'll have mercy upon who he'll have mercy upon. He'll pardon whom he will pardon. We're hardwired for communion. That's why David starts here. We're hardwired for communion. Objective reality is our souls cannot be satisfied in any other way than with communion with God. And the pardon of sin is the necessary thing that has to be dealt with in order for us to have communion with God. What made my heart leap when I read that it is not primarily the pardon of sin, but that pardon is the fountain evidence that I'm in the favor of God. He loves me and I love him. That's what satisfies my soul. Communion with God. That's what satisfied me. David knew that. That's why he would not sit idle. He was not okay with his soul being at a distant or having a gap from his God. and the pardon of iniquity is what had to be dealt with in order for communion to be restored with God. So sin and guilt, the need of pardon, are what stood in the way and blocked communion. It was an impassable chasm. It blocked all access to the one thing that can truly satisfy the soul. This is why countless people run all over the earth and chase down all other, a million and one other things, is because they're searching for something that will satisfy them. Nothing will satisfy them apart from communion with God. But the blockage is sin had to be dealt with, and God dealt with it. He forgave all of David's iniquity. A couple of weeks, or maybe a month ago now, some real close friends of ours back in Texas, a tornado came through and it just wiped their place out. And it happened about 1030 that night. He called, they called, and, you know, just were in a panic, understandably so. And I said, I said, okay, I'm coming, I'm coming. And we live maybe, you know, 15, 20 minutes away from them. So I hopped in my truck. were heading down the highway, but because of the damage of the tornado, they had blocked all traffic on the highway. I said, OK, I'll just take a back way. So we took the back way. And we rounded the corner, and the tornado had knocked down so many trees. We were close. I mean, I was a quarter mile from his house. But the tornado had knocked down so many trees that there were, you know, a few of us, a few folks that were trying to get, you know, to different destinations. And some people had gotten out of their vehicle because the trees had blocked it so much. They tried to get out and just see if they could walk. But the trees had fallen over the road to the point to where you couldn't even walk through it. So we had, I had to just go back home. I couldn't get there. So they ended up, you know, being able to get out later that night. And the county folks came out later that, or earlier, you know, later that morning, cleared out the trees to where it was passable. What if, what if I would have drove over there the next morning and said, hey, Jared, I'll be there. I'll be there later. and I get to the same location, see the trees are passed, and I just keep on going by and say, they cleared the trees. See you later. The blockage is dealt with. The purpose of removing the blockage is that we can get to the end goal, which is to go and help. The purpose of our sin being removed is because the end goal and the only satisfying reality for any human being is that their souls would be in communion with God. What good is pardon of sin without communion with God? It's not any good to be in a state of, so what, my sins are forgiven. If I can't have my soul satisfied in God, He didn't love me and I didn't love him. David knew that. That's how David exhorted his soul. Forgiveness of sin without communion with God is worth nothing. That's why Sharnock said, pardon of sin is every blessing virtually. Also in Ephesians 1.7, in him we have redemption. through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." So it's redemption, forgiveness. We've been reconciled to God and how He's done it is He's forgiven all of our sins. That's what we have to tell our soul. Why does our soul leap when we read verse 12? when he says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Why does your soul leave? It's because I'm right with God. I've been restored to communion with God. He's dealt with my sin. He's dealt with the blockage. He's cleared it out. And it's not just a temporary partial clearing. It's as far as the east is from the west, whichever direction we are. As far as the east is from the west, If you head west and continue to head west, there's never a point in which you're going to be going east. Likewise, if you head east and continue going east, you'll never be heading west. Not so if you go north. At some point, you're going to be going south. That's how far he's removed our iniquity from us. The physical is birthed from the spiritual. I don't think this is hyperbole. When God created things, He knew this, the all-knowing mind of God. This is how far He removed the iniquity. He dealt with our sins as far as the East is from the West. Child of God, that sin that you committed when you were 16 dealt with. That sin that you committed last week dealt with. That sin that you committed this morning, wrestling with those kids, dealt with. That sin that you will commit next week, dealt with. That sin that you may commit lying on your deathbed, dealt with. All have been dealt with in Christ if you're in Him. Colossians 2.14. Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. As the hymn says, He opened the floodgates that all may come in. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Or the other him says here is love vast as the ocean, loving kindness as a flood. When the prince of life, our ransom shed for us his precious blood. Grace and love like mighty rivers poured incessant from above. Heaven's peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love. ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven in Christ. Count up your sins. How many have you committed? This would be like asking somebody that's been laying on the bed for two weeks with just terrible, terrible flu, saying how many flus do you have? He dealt He dealt with a disease. We can't number the number of sins that he's dealt with in his son. And how far has he removed them? But praise be to God. The old man died with him. The old man is buried with him. The old man is raised to walk in newness of life with him. So a few considerations. For the struggler, O soul, are you weary and troubled? Know light in the darkness you see. There's light for a look at the Savior, light more abundant and free. Sinner, you who this doesn't resonate with you, if you're hearing the truths of the gospel, You're the most privileged person on the earth right now. God brought you here in his kindness. You are an earshot of the only thing that can satisfy your soul. God ordained that you would be here, that you would hear this man come all the way from Texas to tell you what your soul needs. What's the remedy for you? Realize that you're dead in your sins, but God has opened the ear of a dead man to hear his voice say, come to me, come to me. Renounce your sin, confess it, and turn from it, and he can deal with it. Saint, child of God, Lastly, let's consider the heart of God in this. God in his comprehensive care wants us to even know and instruct us here on how to rouse our souls to bless him. He gives us instructions. He says, you're my child, let me show you. Let me show you how to rouse your soul. Let me show you how to get it up, get it up out of the pit. That's what we have here in Psalm 103. As if it's not enough that he would pour out multiplied benefits, but in his faithful fathering, he even instructs you in how to rouse your souls to bless him. He has providentially worked things out so you can hear this today. He cares. He cares that you know how to lift up your soul. He cares that you learn how to wrestle with your soul. He brought you here for that. If I, if I told you I had some 3000 year old artifact in my pocket, it would peak your interest. Well, God has preserved this, this word for us. He's kept it. And he's, he's just brought it right here for us today. And he says, here's, here's what I have to say to you. He says, child, do you know how to rouse your soul? Do you know what the starting point is? Let me show you an example how David did it. And let me show you how to use that appetite that I gave you. The appetite's not there so that you can just recognize blandness and dullness. As I said, the only thing that satisfies the soul is communion. The appetite is there so that we can continue in our communion with God. And he's removed the roadblock in his son. He dealt with it. It wouldn't make any sense for me to pass by Jared's house and say, it's all clear. He dealt with the roadblock so that we can have communion with him. The father's heart is such that the scripture says he remembers our sins no more. And then here in Psalm 103, he reminds us, forget not all his benefits. Consider the irony in this. He forgets our sins, then reminds us not to forget. He forgets all our sins and then says, Don't forget. Don't forget, daughter. I removed them all. I dealt with them. Christian friend, dear brother, dear sister, does your soul need to bless the Lord? Do you desire that the entirety of your being bless the Lord? Here are some instructions for you. Practical help for the soul. O soul, are you weary and troubled? There's light. Psalm 119, 130, we heard it. This is for the simple. This is for the weak. This is for you. May we hear and heed what God says to us in His Word. Pray with me. Father, thank you that you are trustworthy and faithful, and that you care enough for your children to give instruction as any good father would instruct his child, and you perfectly instruct us. Lord, take these words and use them. Anything that's not beneficial, Lord, cause it to be forgotten. Anything that is honoring to your great name, Lord, infuse it with power and give help to your people in this road of sanctification. Lord, thank you that you're the author and finisher of our faith and that in your Son you've dealt with all our sins. It's in his name we pray, amen.