THE BENEFITS OF GOD
Place Allendale Baptist
Date January 2001
Read Psalms 103:1-5
A Psalm of Praise- David is known as a man after God’s own heart. He desired the ways & things of God. Although David sinned against God (committing adultery & murder) his relationship with God stirred him & always lead him to repentance & back toward God.
Sometimes trials & tragedies in our lives make us forget the blessings of God.
Bless- Means to make happy or to praise
In this Psalm, David is talking to himself about the thing of God & his talk begins to excite himself.
Have you ever gotten so excited about something you just could not control yourself? In High School our archrivals were the Aldine Mustangs. Our football team played them the last game of the season every year. My freshman year, our school had never beaten the Mustangs. To top it all off they would come and paint our cannon this ugly powder blue. (In turn MacArthur, would paint their white mustang a beautiful red). The whole week of the Aldine game was one pep-rally after another. One day during lunch the band would march up & down the halls. You could hear the faint sound of drums playing the Big Red fight song. Now I was not a football player, I played the much more skilled sport of baseball. (Any big goof jarhead could play football). Pep rallies did not normally get me excited, but all of a sudden the band would burst through the lunchroom doors and march around the place playing the fight song. Then the band would stop the drums would continue, and everyone would spell out B.I.G… R.E.D… then say, Big Red
… Big Red… Go Big Red…It was exciting everyone standing on chairs, yelling beat those mustangs. Even some of those none emotional baseball players. Now I do have to say it was after I graduated before MacArthur beat Aldine. But let me say our BASEBALL team had our share of wins over those mustang devils.
But Let me say when we as a saved, blood bought child of the Living God begin to reflect on the benefits of God, we cannot help but get excited.
V.2 Forget none of His benefits.
*Example one of the reasons we might be drawn to a new job or career is the benefits a company might offer.
Benefits- Favors or kindness
Let’s look @ some of the benefits of God
I. FORGIVES ALL INIQUITIES/SIN
A. This is mentioned first because sin is what keeps us apart from God & the blessings He bestows. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God.”
B. All sin is forgiven. Verse 12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
II. WHO HEALS ALL YOUR DISEASES.
A. He is Jehovah-Rapha = The Lord heals.
B. Diseases caused by sin; which brings spiritual death.
Romans 6:23 “ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
C. This is cured in sanctification, as we mortify the sin in our lives.
III. WHO REDEEMS YOUR LIFE FROM DESTRUCTION.
A. Jesus gave His life & shed His blood that we might be redeemed set free.
B. Redeem- means to by back.
Song that says it took two nails to set me free.
C. Plus crowns you with loving kindness &tender mercies.
NO ONE CAN LOVE YOU LIKE GOD LOVES YOU.
IV. WHO SATISFIES YOUR MOUTH WITH GOOD THINGS.
A. Psalms 34:8 “O taste & see that the Lord is good.”
B. Being thirsty, a soft drink does not quench your thirst, but water will.
C. Story of the man who placed one ant by a chocolate bar. The ant left. A short time later hundreds of ants returned with him. He tasted something good & had to tell others.
Close
Growing up my mom used to make fried chocolate pies. Now when I describe them to you they may not sound very appetizing. She would make dough out of scratch, flatten it out put two slabs of butter, sugar & and powder Hershey chocolate. She would fold the dough over and fry it in a black cast iron skillet. No with a glass of milk, that would satisfy.
My favorite meal is roast, carrots, rice and brown gravy. Not white but Brown gravy. My uncle called it rusty nail gravy, because when the gravy was as brown as an old rust nail, then it was ready to eat. I love brown gravy. I pour it all over my plate. It satisfies me. Sometimes I get so satisfied I can’t move for several hours.
But my friend, nothing satisfies me like the benefits of the Lord. Nothing satisfies me like fellowship with Him
Invitation
Each one here has a God. You serve a God. What benefits does your god offer? Does your god satisfy you?
There is but one God. His benefits are:
1. Forgiveness of sin
2. Redemption from destruction.
3. Loving kindness, tender mercies, & compassion.
4. Satisfies us with good things.
