Latest / Reformed Thinking / Bless the Lord, O My Soul: Remember His Benefits (Psalm 103) | Charles Spurgeon

Transcript

Bless the Lord, O My Soul: Remember His Benefits (Psalm 103) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

0:01
Welcome to Reform Thinking. I am really thrilled to have you
0:05
here with us today. Yeah, it's wonderful to be
0:06
sitting down for this one. We have a very distinct mission
0:09
for this deep dive. Yeah, this is not your standard
0:12
book review or, you know, a quick summary.
0:14
We are bringing you a really thorough examination of the
0:17
source material, right? Specifically, we're looking at
0:20
Charles Spurgeon's legendary work The Treasury of David.
0:22
Which is just a massive volume. Oh, absolutely massive.
0:26
And we are going to focus our attention on his exposition and
0:29
the collected commentary regarding Psalm One O 3.
0:32
Yes. And I want to speak directly to
0:34
you, the listener, for a second. The goal today is to extract the
0:38
most significant Nuggets of theological insight and
0:40
practical comfort from this text.
0:43
We want to tailor this discussion for a mind that is
0:46
eager for a clear, thorough knowledge, but without the
0:50
burden of information overload. We're going to distill this down
0:53
to what truly matters. Yeah, to set the stage for our
0:56
discussion, it really helps to understand how Spurgeon himself
1:00
viewed this text. When you read his notes on Psalm
1:03
One O 3, he doesn't just treat it as another chapter in the
1:06
Bible, right? He describes Psalm One O 3 as
1:09
the Monterosa of the divine chain of mountains of praise.
1:12
Monterosa. Yeah, and for those familiar
1:14
with the Alps, Monterosa is one of the highest, most magnificent
1:18
peaks in the entire mountain range.
1:20
So it stands out even among the other giants.
1:23
Absolutely. Spurgeon believed this Psalm was
1:25
likely written in David's later years.
1:27
By that time in his life, David had acquired A heightened
1:30
awareness of his own sin. Which makes sense.
1:33
Right. And that awareness gave him a
1:34
magnified appreciation for divine pardon.
1:37
There is also a unique structural feature here,
1:40
highlighted beautifully by the commentator John Stevenson.
1:43
Oh yeah, I have that note here. In all 22 verses of this Psalm
1:47
there is a total absence of Petition 0 Zero.
1:51
There is not a single request made to God.
1:53
It is pure, unadulterated adoration from beginning to end.
1:57
That is such a rare thing to find.
1:59
I mean, even in our own prayers. So right.
2:01
Usually we come to God with a grocery list of needs, which is
2:04
certainly biblical, but David just sets all of that aside
2:07
here. He does.
2:08
As we go through this material, we should lay our theological
2:11
cards on the table for you. We are approaching this from our
2:14
Protestant Reformed convictions. We adhere to the Westminster
2:17
Confession as always, and what you will find is that this Psalm
2:22
perfectly encapsulates the doctrines of grace, the
2:25
substitutionary atonement, and the absolute sovereignty of God.
2:30
It really is all right there in the text.
2:32
OK, let's unpack this, starting with verses one or two.
2:35
David opens with a command. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
2:39
He is talking to himself. Yeah, he's rousing his own
2:42
faculties. Looking through the notes we
2:44
gathered for this deep dive, I saw a quote from a commentator
2:47
named Sir Richard Baker from 1640 that really struck me.
2:50
Baker has some great insights. He points out that the body is
2:53
too heavy for such sublime work. The physical frame is weighed
2:56
down by earthly things, so the task of praising God requires
3:00
the soul and, as David says, all that is within me.
3:03
The phrase all that is within me requires careful analysis
3:07
because it's so easy to read right past it.
3:10
Oh, for sure, When we talk about the anatomy of praise, blessing
3:13
God with our insides or our inner parts means mobilizing
3:17
every faculty we possess. According to the commentary
3:20
provided by John Stevenson, this includes the judgment, the
3:24
conscience, the imagination, the affections and the memory.
3:28
The memory is huge there. It is if we break that down, it
3:31
means our judgment must be making decisions in accordance
3:34
with God's Word. Our conscience needs to be
3:36
maintaining fidelity to what is right.
3:38
The imagination, which is often the wildest and most untamed
3:42
part of our mind, definitely must be engaged in pure musings
3:45
about God's character. The affections must be directed
3:48
to love what God loves. And finally, the memory must
3:51
hold on to his benefits. Half hearted adoration is
3:54
entirely insufficient for a holy God.
3:57
Yeah, if justice demands our whole heart for the Creator,
4:00
gratitude demands no less for the God of grace.
4:03
I love how specific Stevenson gets there.
4:05
You just say praise God with your heart.
4:07
It sounds a bit vague. Right, it's a bit abstract.
4:09
But when you list out the judgment, the conscience, the
4:12
imagination, you realize how often we leave pieces of
4:17
ourselves out of our worship. Oh, constantly.
4:20
Maybe our affections are engaged because the music is stirring,
4:23
but our memory is totally blank. Or maybe our judgment is locked
4:27
in on theological truths, but our imagination is completely
4:30
sterile. Yeah, David is saying no, you
4:32
need the whole orchestra playing at once.
4:34
And you mentioned the memory, which is crucial, especially
4:37
verse 2. Forget not all his benefits.
4:40
We have a note here from William J, who points out that
4:43
forgetfulness is the secret spring of all ingratitude.
4:46
When mercies are out of sight, they are out of mind.
4:49
It is a massive problem for human beings.
4:51
We are notoriously bad at remembering the right things.
4:54
We really are. And to illustrate the sheer
4:56
magnitude of these benefits that we are supposed to be
4:58
remembering, Andrea Bonar shares a historical anecdote from the
5:02
days of the Scottish reformer John Knox.
5:04
Oh, this is a heavy one. It is.
5:06
There's a woman named Elizabeth Adamson who is experiencing
5:09
terrible physical agony, but she was also in deep spiritual
5:13
distress. Her conscience was terrifying
5:16
her, but hearing this specific Psalm brought her such immense
5:20
comfort that she made a striking declaration.
5:22
Yeah, she said 1/4 hour of her previous soul trouble was worse
5:26
than 1000 years of physical torment, and tasting God's mercy
5:31
was sweeter than possessing all the earthly kingdoms in the
5:34
world. Just incredible.
5:36
Wait, let's pause on that for a second.
5:38
She actually said 15 minutes of her spiritual distress was worse
5:42
than 1000 years of physical torture.
5:43
Yes. That puts an entirely different
5:45
perspective on what David is feeling here when he talks about
5:48
God's benefits. It really does.
5:50
That anecdote perfectly illustrates the reformed
5:53
understanding of human nature. Left to our own devices, our
5:56
natural disposition is to treasure our grievances and let
5:59
go of grace. We hold on to the bad stuff so
6:02
easily. Because our memories are
6:03
fractured by the fall, we hold on to injuries with a tight
6:06
grip, but we let divine benefits slip through our fingers like
6:10
sand. Because of this, the Holy Spirit
6:12
must guide both the pen of the psalmist and the heart of the
6:15
believer to actively remember what God has done.
6:19
We cannot muster this level of spiritual recollection on our
6:22
own. We need help.
6:24
We need the animating breath of the spirit to tune the harp of
6:27
the soul. We need external help just to
6:29
remember what has already been given to us.
6:32
So if David is telling his soul not to forget God's benefits, it
6:36
makes sense that he immediately starts listing what those
6:39
benefits are. The.
6:39
Catalog of mercies. Yes, which brings us to verses 3
6:43
through 5, the catalog of personal mercies.
6:45
Verse 3 says Who forgiveth all thine iniquities?
6:49
John Pulsford offers a fascinating linguistic note
6:52
here. I love this part.
6:53
He writes that iniquities are essentially inequities.
6:56
There's nothing just or right in us.
6:59
Our very nature is a total inequity, bringing forth nothing
7:01
but bad fruit. If we connect this to the bigger
7:04
picture, this aligns Florida State with the Reformed doctrine
7:07
of total depravity. Total depravity does not mean
7:11
that every person is as thoroughly evil as they could
7:13
possibly be. It means that every part of our
7:15
nature has been corrupted by the fall.
7:18
Man is a bad tree, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.
7:22
It's impossible. Our entire nature is an inequity
7:26
toward God, toward our neighbor, and even toward ourselves.
7:29
We are thoroughly out of alignment because of this.
7:32
Forgiveness must be the first mercy we receive.
7:35
Right until the inequity is canceled, there could be no true
7:38
healing, no redemption, and no spiritual satisfaction.
7:42
I think we sometimes treat forgiveness as just a clean
7:44
slate, a wiping away of a few bad deeds, but the idea of
7:48
inequity makes it sound so much more systemic.
7:50
It is an internal crookedness that needs to be addressed to.
7:53
Explain how God handles this systemic issue.
7:56
We have a striking illustration from West Weldon Chimneys.
7:59
He asks us to imagine a man condemned to die for high
8:02
treason against his country. But on top of his death
8:05
sentence, this man also has a fatal contagious disease.
8:09
Wow, a terrible situation. Yeah, worst day ever.
8:12
Now imagine a king decides to pardon his treason.
8:16
The man's life is legally saved from the executioner.
8:19
He gets the official piece of paper saying he is no longer
8:21
condemned. But if the man is not cured of
8:24
his infectious disease, he remains doomed to die anyway,
8:27
and he is totally unfit to live in society.
8:31
He is essentially doubly dead. A pardon without a cure leaves
8:34
him in a hopeless situation. That analogy highlights the
8:38
holistic nature of biblical salvation.
8:40
God acts as both the judge who pardons the treason and the
8:43
physician who heals the spiritual disease, the text
8:46
says. He forgives all our iniquities
8:48
and heals all our diseases. That's justification and
8:51
sanctification. In theological terms, yes.
8:54
If God only provided legal justification, meaning he just
8:57
pardons the treason without subsequent sanctification, we
9:00
would remain spiritually sick and unfit for heaven.
9:02
We'd still have the fatal disease.
9:04
He removes the death penalty of sin, and he simultaneously goes
9:07
to work on the corruption of our nature, ensuring that the cure
9:11
is as absolute as pardon. That brings so much clarity to
9:14
verse 4, which takes us even further.
9:16
Who redeem a thy life from destruction?
9:19
The commentary notes we have highlight the Hebrew concept of
9:22
the goel, which translates to the kinsman Redeemer for anyone
9:27
who is not familiar with ancient Israelite law.
9:30
If someone fell into extreme poverty and had to sell
9:32
themselves into slavery, or if they lost their family land.
9:36
A close relative could step in. Right.
9:38
A Kinsman Redeemer could step in and pay the price to buy them
9:41
back to redeem them. The commentator set this up as a
9:45
beautiful necessity for the incarnation.
9:47
The Word becoming flesh. Christ had to take on flesh and
9:50
blood. He had to become our actual
9:52
kinsman, our brother, so that he would have the legal right to
9:56
buy back his people from spiritual and eternal death.
10:00
He stepped into the pit to pull us out of it.
10:02
The Kinsman Redeemer concept is central to understanding how God
10:06
interacts with us. He doesn't just shout
10:07
instructions from the top of the pit.
10:09
He takes on our nature to pull us out.
10:11
And once we are pulled out, the text moves to the idea of
10:14
sustenance and renewal. First five talks about God
10:17
satisfying our mouths with good things so that our youth is
10:21
renewed like the eagles. Here's where it gets really
10:24
interesting. When I first read that, I wonder
10:27
what David meant by youth being renewed like an Eagles.
10:31
It's a very specific image. Apparently there have been many
10:34
ancient fables suggesting eagles literally molt their old
10:37
feathers and biologically become young again, almost like a
10:40
phoenix rising from the ashes. Right, those old myths.
10:43
But commentators like Macmillan and Hengstenberg dispel those
10:47
biological myths. They explain that this is not
10:49
about some magical anti aging process for birds.
10:53
Instead, it is a metaphor for the Christian spiritual vigor.
10:57
While the physical body decays over time, the believer
11:00
experiences an incorruptible spiritual renewal.
11:03
The Eagle is known for its powerful flight, its ability to
11:06
soar high above storms and it's incredibly keen vision.
11:10
It can fly higher than almost anything else.
11:12
Yeah, so when David speaks of youth being renewed like the
11:15
eagles, he is talking about an infusion of heavenly strength.
11:20
Even when a believer's physical strength is at its absolute
11:23
lowest, their spiritual life can ascend to the clearest ether of
11:27
fellowship with God. Oh.
11:28
That's good. It is a daily restoration of
11:31
grace that lifts the soul above physical weakness.
11:34
You might be physically bedridden, but spiritually you
11:38
are soaring. That upward flight gives us a
11:40
better vantage point to see God's character clearly.
11:43
That brings us to verses 6 through 10 where we see God's
11:46
character revealed through his acts.
11:48
Verse 7 is key. Here verse 7 sets up a striking
11:51
contrast that I had never really noticed before.
11:53
It says, He made known his ways unto Moses, his axe unto the
11:57
children of Israel. Now the children of Israel saw
12:00
the axe. They saw the miracle.
12:01
They saw the physical manifestations of God's
12:03
authority. They saw the Red Sea part in
12:05
two. They saw the 10 plagues in
12:07
Egypt. They literally picked up the
12:08
mana falling from the sky every single morning.
12:11
But the text says Moses saw the ways.
12:13
The distinction between ways and acts is crucial for anyone who
12:17
wants to grow spiritually. Israel saw the events, the
12:21
outcomes of God's intervention. They saw the water wall up on
12:24
both sides. Moses, however, understood the
12:27
divine logic and the covenantal reasoning behind those actions.
12:31
He saw the manner in which the Lord deals with men.
12:34
He understood why God was parting the sea, what it meant
12:37
for the covenant, and how it reflected God's holy character.
12:40
He understood the why behind the what.
12:42
Yes, this raises an important question for you, the listener.
12:46
Are you content with just seeing the outcomes in your life?
12:49
Are you just looking for the provisions, the financial
12:52
deliverances, or the physical healings?
12:54
Or do you actively seek to understand God's character and
12:58
his covenantal ways? Knowing God's ways provides
13:01
stability. Right.
13:02
Whereas relying only on seeing his acts can leave you faltering
13:05
the very moment a miracle is not immediately visible.
13:08
That is a very convicting thought.
13:10
If you only know the acts, you panic when the acts stop
13:13
happening. When the manna stops, you think
13:14
God is dead. But if you know the ways, you
13:17
know that you know his character hasn't changed just because the
13:20
provision looks different today. And when Moses did learn God's
13:24
ways, the primary characteristic revealed to him was incredible
13:29
patience. Verse 8.
13:30
Verse 8 says the Lord is merciful and gracious.
13:33
Slow to anger. Joseph Carroll points out a
13:36
brilliant Hebrew idiom used here for the phrase slow to anger.
13:40
It translates literally to long of nostrils.
13:43
Long of nostrils. Now usually when we think of
13:45
someone with flared nostrils, we picture someone who is furious,
13:47
someone who is breathing heavily and about to explode in a rage.
13:51
But this ancient imagery is beautifully counter intuitive.
13:54
It's the opposite. Instead of the rapid, fiery
13:56
breathing of someone who's easily enraged, God takes a long
13:59
breath. He is long of nostrils.
14:02
He lingers long, offering plenty of space for repentance.
14:05
That long breath, that slowness to anger, finds its greatest
14:09
expression in the substitutionary clause of verse
14:11
10. The text says He have not dealt
14:14
with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our
14:17
iniquities. Which is the gospel?
14:19
Now as a Reformed thinker, you have to ask the logical
14:22
question, Why hasn't God dealt with us according to our sins?
14:26
If he is perfectly just, how can he just let the sins go
14:29
unpunished? Right.
14:30
Justice has to be satisfied. Sir Richard Baker provides A
14:33
distinctively Reformed answer to this.
14:36
He says it is because God dealt with another after our sins.
14:40
Capital A Another. Capital A The fierce wrath that
14:44
was due to us was poured out on Christ, our substitute.
14:48
God is too, just to exact payment twice for the same
14:51
crime. Having punished the substitute,
14:53
He now rewards us according to Christ's merits.
14:56
The justice of God is fully satisfied at the cross, allowing
14:59
a mercy to flow freely to us without compromising His
15:01
Holiness in the slightest. I love how Baker phrases that he
15:04
dealt with another. He completely removes any notion
15:07
that God just swept our sins under the cosmic rug.
15:09
No, he dealt with. Them, he just dealt with them by
15:11
placing them on Christ. And that mercy flows in
15:13
dimensions that are almost impossible for the human mind to
15:16
grasp. Moving to verses 11 through 14,
15:20
David tries to give us some scale.
15:21
Astronomical scale. He uses astronomical metaphors
15:24
to illustrate the magnitude of God's grace.
15:27
He says the mercy is as great as the height of the heavens above
15:30
the earth. Try to measure the distance to
15:32
the farthest star and you still have not reached the limit of
15:36
His mercy. And then the lateral distance,
15:39
right? And then he says, as far as the
15:41
east is from the West, so far hath he removed our
15:44
transgressions from us. Now I always just read that as
15:48
really far away. But Stephen Charnock offers a
15:50
brilliant thought on this specific phrasing.
15:52
He points out that if you travel N, eventually you hit the North
15:56
Pole and then you were traveling South.
15:58
North and South meet. Yeah.
16:00
But if you travel east you will never ever reach the West.
16:04
They are opposite directions that can never intersect.
16:07
That spatial metaphor emphasizes the total security of the
16:10
believer. God alone could remove sin to an
16:13
incalculable distance. Charnock makes this amazing
16:17
point about the word removed. It's not just put on a shelf
16:20
where it can be retrieved later. It's gone.
16:22
It is an absolute, permanent deletion from the record.
16:25
Once pardoned, guilt can no more return than E can become W.
16:30
It is a physical impossibility. And he does this so
16:34
affectionately. Yes, God does this not with the
16:37
cold detachment of a cosmic judge who is just stamping legal
16:41
paperwork, but with the warm affection of a parent.
16:44
Verse 13 says like as a father pitieth his children, so the
16:48
Lord pitieth them that fear him. God is not a stone idol looking
16:52
down from the sky. He is tenderness itself toward
16:55
those who fear him. He feels for his children,
16:58
especially when they are in pain or distress.
17:00
To capture that fatherly pity, the commentator Alexander B
17:03
Grossart tells a highly emotional story from Scotland.
17:07
Oh, the Sterling Castle story. Yes.
17:10
There was a toddler at Sterling Castle who wandered right up to
17:13
a lip blasting charge where workmen were clearing rock.
17:17
The fuse was burning. Terrifying.
17:18
The men saw her and shouted in absolute terror for her to get
17:22
away. But they're shouting only.
17:23
Bewildered and paralyzed the little girl, she just stood
17:26
there, confused by all the angry panic voices.
17:29
She didn't know what to do. But then her mother came running
17:31
around the corner. The mother didn't shout in anger
17:33
or panic. She opened her arms wide and
17:35
cried out with intense love. Come to be, my darling.
17:38
The little girl immediately ran to her mother's chest, escaping
17:42
the explosion by a single second.
17:43
Just in time. Grossart uses that story to
17:46
explain the tender mercy David is singing about.
17:49
The world's shouting only terrifies us.
17:52
The law's demands only paralyze us.
17:54
But God's open arms draw us to safety.
17:57
That is a harrowing story, but it perfectly illustrates the
18:00
concept. God draws us with that
18:02
tenderness because he knows our profound frailty.
18:05
He knows that shouting at us won't fix our condition.
18:08
Right? Verse 14 says For he knoweth our
18:10
frame, He remembereth that we are dust.
18:13
We often forget our own fragility.
18:15
We push our minds and bodies to the breaking point, acting as if
18:18
we are made of iron or titanium. We act like we're invincible.
18:22
We think we can handle any amount of stress, any amount of
18:25
work, but God evaluates us accurately.
18:28
He knows the exact materials of which we are constructed.
18:31
He adjusts His dealings with us based on the fact that we are
18:33
incredibly fragile. We have a fascinating analogy
18:36
for this dust concept from James Hinton.
18:39
He describes watching a spiral pillar of dust rushing along a
18:42
dirt Rd. on a windy day. Like a small dust double.
18:45
Yes, exactly. The dust stands up and moves
18:48
like a solid pillar. It looks substantial.
18:51
It looks like it has its own form and structure, but it only
18:54
exists in that form because of the active, invisible force of
18:57
the wind. The moment the wind stops, the
19:00
particles immediately collapse back into a lifeless heap of
19:03
dirt on the ground, Hinton says. That is what human life is.
19:07
That's a striking image. Our physical existence, our
19:10
breathing, our thinking and our spiritual vitality are sustained
19:13
entirely by the breath and will of God.
19:16
We are just dust animated by His force.
19:19
The moment He withdraws His breath, we return to the ground.
19:22
That realization of our total dependence brings us into verses
19:25
15 through 18, which contrasts human frailty with eternal
19:29
election. OK, let's look at that.
19:31
David looks at man and says, As for man, his days are as grass
19:34
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
19:38
The commentator Lawrence Stern provides a helpful botanical
19:41
analogy here. Man is not a protected flower in
19:44
a climate controlled greenhouse. He is out in the open.
19:47
He is a flower of the field. He is entirely unprotected,
19:51
subject to the browsing beast that might step on him without
19:54
noticing or the harsh elements of the weather.
19:57
Right, Richard Man specifically mentions the scorching,
20:00
pestilential E wind of the desert.
20:03
That wind can stifle life in an instant.
20:06
It makes you realize how shockingly fragile we are.
20:09
It takes very little to take us down.
20:11
A single puff of foul air, a microscopic disease, a sudden
20:15
accident on the highway can lay low the healthiest person on
20:18
earth. We spend so much time building
20:20
our little empires, completely ignoring the fact that we are
20:23
field flowers waiting for the wind to blow over.
20:25
Us not sobering. But then David pivots in verse
20:27
17. This is the great turning point
20:30
of the entire Psalm. What's fascinating here is the
20:32
introduction of the blessed BUT in verse 17.
20:36
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
20:39
upon them that fear Him. The blessed BUT.
20:42
Yes. While man is entirely temporary,
20:45
God's mercy is permanent. This ties explicitly into the
20:49
Reformed doctrine of eternal election.
20:52
As Spurgeon notes, God viewed his people as objects of mercy
20:55
from old eternity. He chose them before the
20:58
foundation of the world. Before we were even dust.
21:00
He did not suddenly decide to be merciful when we were born.
21:04
And this mercy not only has no beginning, but it also has no
21:07
end. It extends into a future without
21:10
boundary. Our utter frailty is linked
21:12
directly with His absolute eternity.
21:15
We are temporary dust, but we are held by everlasting mercy.
21:18
So what does this all mean for how we live on a Tuesday
21:20
afternoon? Verse 18 gives us what sounds
21:23
like a condition. It does sound like that.
21:24
It says to such as keep his covenant and to those that
21:27
remember his commandments to do them.
21:29
Now some might hear that and think, wait a minute, we just
21:31
talked about unconditional mercy from everlasting to everlasting.
21:34
Have we suddenly slipped back into a workspace religion?
21:37
It's. A fair question.
21:38
If his mercy is guaranteed from eternity past, why is there a
21:42
condition of keeping the covenant and doing his
21:44
commandments? We clarify this by looking
21:47
through the lens of the Westminster Confession, which
21:49
provides a very clear framework for understanding covenants.
21:53
The covenant of grace is not a legalistic system where you earn
21:56
your salvation by flawless performance.
21:59
If it were, none of us would survive because, as we already
22:02
established, our nature is total inequity.
22:05
We all fail immediately. Instead, it is a holy covenant.
22:09
Believers keep the covenant primarily by looking alone to
22:12
Jesus Christ by faith. Our obedience is not the root of
22:15
our salvation. It is the fruit of it, the
22:18
fruit. Yes.
22:19
We earnestly desire to obey His commandments out of deep
22:22
gratitude for the massive mercy we have received.
22:25
True faith inevitably produces a life that seeks to honor God's
22:29
laws. We do not obey to secure a
22:31
pardon because the pardon has already been so graciously given
22:34
by the King. We obey because we love the King
22:37
who pardoned us. That gratitude for the pardon
22:40
leads us directly to the throne room in verses 19 through 22.
22:44
Verse 19 proclaims the Lord hath prepared his throne in the
22:47
heavens, and his Kingdom ruleth over all.
22:49
God is the ultimate autocrat of the universe.
22:52
Stephen Charnock's exposition details the nature of this
22:55
dominion perfectly. He says God's rule is innate, it
22:59
is unbounded. It requires no delegated
23:01
authority. He doesn't need anyone's
23:03
permission. God does not need a parliament
23:05
to pass laws, He does not need voters to keep him in office,
23:09
and he does not borrow his right to rule from anyone else.
23:13
He is the absolute sovereign over every molecule in
23:16
existence. The sovereignty of God is an
23:18
immense comfort to the believer, especially in turbulent times
23:22
when the world seems rent with anarchy and chaos, when
23:25
political systems are failing, we know that the warring
23:28
elements are actually marching beneath God's banner.
23:30
He is ruling over all of it. There is a historical anecdote
23:34
you have in your notes about Martin Luther that illustrates
23:37
the peace this doctrine brings to a weary mind.
23:39
Yes. During the Reformation, Philip
23:42
Melanthon, who was Luther's close friend and colleague, was
23:46
intensely anxious about the state of the church.
23:49
He was constantly worrying about the political affairs of the
23:51
world, wondering how they were going to survive the opposition.
23:54
Melanthon was known for his anxiety.
23:56
Martin Luther looked at him and told him, let not Philip make
23:59
himself any longer governor of the world.
24:01
That's. Brilliant.
24:02
I love that so much. God is on the throne so we do
24:05
not have to carry the weight of global governance on our
24:07
shoulders. We can actually sleep at night
24:09
because God does not. God's dominion is total.
24:12
Moving to verses 20 and 21, David calls on the angels to
24:17
bless the Lord. He describes them as excelling
24:21
in strength and doing God's commandments.
24:24
Julius Charles Hare points out a brilliant contrast here.
24:27
The falling human world operates on the principle that might is
24:30
right. Whoever has the most strength
24:32
makes the rules. Whoever has the biggest army,
24:35
the most money, or the most physical strength gets to
24:37
dictate the rules. But the angels prove the exact
24:40
opposite. Right is might.
24:43
Their incredible strength comes directly from listening to and
24:45
executing God's righteous Word. The angels are presented here as
24:49
models of perfect obedience. The commentator William
24:52
Greenhill notes that angels actively wait for opportunities
24:55
to obey. They are completely vigilant.
24:57
They stand ready at the throne. Always waiting.
25:00
By contrast, humans often sleep through our opportunities for
25:03
service. We ignore the promptings of the
25:05
Spirit, but the angels hearken to the voice of His word, ready
25:09
to fly at a moment's notice to do his pleasure.
25:12
They show us what keeps keeping the Covenant is supposed to look
25:14
like in its purest form. And then David zooms out to the
25:17
widest possible lens in verse 22, he calls on all his works in
25:22
all places of his dominion to bless the Lord.
25:25
A. Mass of chorus.
25:26
It is a universal chorus of praise.
25:28
He wants the angels in heaven, the stars in the sky, the fish
25:32
in the sea, the mountains, the weather patterns, everything to
25:34
join in. But then, after orchestrating
25:37
this cosmic Symphony that stretches across the universe,
25:40
he zooms all the way back in to the solitary individual.
25:44
Right back to where he started. He closes precisely where he
25:46
began in verse one. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
25:49
Henry Melville offers a very sharp warning regarding this
25:52
exact conclusion. He points out that it is a great
25:55
peril to call on the whole universe to praise God while
25:58
neglecting your own soul's duty to do the same.
26:01
It is entirely possible to be busy organizing worship
26:04
services, directing others to acknowledge God's sovereignty,
26:08
posting theological quotes online, and yet be personally,
26:12
internally, spiritually cold. That hits close to home for a
26:15
lot of people. The phrase from the Song of
26:17
Solomon applies directly here. They made me keeper of the
26:20
vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
26:23
Our public theology must always be matched by our private
26:26
devotion. If you are calling the angels to
26:29
bless the Lord, your own inner faculties, your judgement,
26:33
conscience, imagination must be doing the exact same thing.
26:36
What a striking warning to close the Psalm.
26:39
That brings us to our final synthesis.
26:41
We have travelled a massive distance in this text today.
26:44
We really have. We started with the inward
26:46
stirring of an individual soul, rousing heavy physical faculties
26:49
to the task of worship. We review the personal mercies
26:52
of the kinsman Redeemer, who adds as both judge and
26:55
physician, forgiving our total systemic inequity and healing
26:59
our fatal spiritual disease. The.
27:01
Absolute deletion of guilt. We saw the vastness of
27:04
astronomical grace removing our sins as far as the East is from
27:08
the West. We contrasted our fragile dust,
27:11
like nature, the flower of the field, with the everlasting
27:15
decree of divine election. Finally, we looked up at the
27:18
prepared throne of the universe, where right is might and all
27:21
creation is commanded to sing. The majesty of Psalm One O 3
27:25
lies and how it seamlessly brings together the infinite
27:28
authority of God with His intimate fatherly pity.
27:31
It grounds our fleeting grass like existence in an eternal
27:35
covenant of grace. Absolutely.
27:37
Before we conclude, this raises an important question for you to
27:39
Mull over in your own time when you look at the physical world
27:42
tomorrow. A passing cloud, a sudden gust
27:44
of wind, or a field of grass by the side of the road?
27:47
How would your daily anxiety shift if you began translating
27:51
those ordinary physical attributes of creation into a
27:53
personal language of praise to an absolutely sovereign God?
27:57
Translating the physical into praise.
27:59
If the wind reminds you of your frailty, let it also prompt you
28:02
to trust the God who holds the wind in his fists.
28:05
I really appreciate that perspective.
28:07
The physical world is full of prompts for spiritual adoration
28:11
if we just have the eyes to see them.
28:13
Thank you for joining us for this extensive deep dive into
28:16
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Reformed Thinking.
28:18
It's been a joy. We hope this careful examination
28:21
has provided you with clarity, comfort, and a renewed desire to
28:24
bless the Lord with all your soul.
28:26
Farewell and thank you for listening.