The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: The world will give you vain toys. Cars, houses, dollars, vacations, vain toys. Just idle nothingness. And then you say, "Oh aren't I blessed? I got this car, I got this house, I got this vacation, aren't I blessed?" Maybe you are and maybe you're not. You're still playing with toys.

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Healing Word. Pastor Jack Morris is here with you today. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to thank God for his blessings, yet sometimes forget to simply worship him for who he is?

Today, Pastor Jack Morris opens up one of the Bible's most beloved Psalms to remind us that genuine worship begins with a grateful heart. As we continue our series, Entering His Presence, you'll discover that remembering God's goodness, his forgiveness, and his faithfulness awakens praise from the deepest part of our being. Here is Pastor Morris with today's message, Worship of the Soul.

Pastor Jack Morris: Would you open your Bibles to Psalm 103? Psalm 103. And you also have a sermon outline in your bulletin that you can follow along. And I want you to hold your Bible up and I want you to read verse one with me. Now everybody read it loud, read it rather quickly, and read it in unison together. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, praise his holy name. Now that's what I'm to do and you are to do today and I want to do it. I think I am, I think you are, praising the Lord.

Now the word praise here is also in some translations translated bless. The word praise and the word bless can be used interchangeably in this Psalm 103 verse one where it says praise the Lord. Some translations have as versions bless the Lord. Bless in the Hebrew means an incredible state of well-being. Bless in Greek simply means this wonderful peace, this wonderful fellowship, this wonderful relationship that we have with the Lord.

This incredible state of well-being causes us to recognize this wonderful relationship that we have for the Lord and because of that there's a hunger to be there, to be in his house, to be with his people, to be in his word, to be in prayer. And so the Psalmist begins, Psalmist David, praise the Lord, bless the Lord. When you and I know him as Lord and Savior and we are experiencing that incredible state of well-being, there comes that blessing from within to him. We bless him as well as the Lord blessing us.

Now we are blessing him. And notice it says praise the Lord. Not necessarily his gifts. We have many gifts that the Lord has given to us. Many gifts. I could just name a thousand of them perhaps and then you could name your thousand. Many gifts and we are to be thankful and we are to name them. But in this situation it says praise the Lord. Focus on the Lord, not on his gift. Because if you focus on the Lord's gift and you think, well only when I'm prospering is the Lord blessing me, then only when you're prospering are you going to praise the Lord and enjoy the Lord.

Isn't this something when we're not prospering how sad, how down we can be? But when we're prospering we think that's the blessing of the Lord, and it is. But when we're not prospering, the Lord is still blessing and we are to praise him. You see the focus should be on the Lord and not necessarily his gifts. If you focus on the gifts you're going to be up when you have gifts coming in, money coming in, making good deals, getting raises. You're going to be up. But when that isn't happening you're going to be down. You're focusing on his gifts.

Focus on the Lord. This is what the Psalmist is saying. Praise the Lord. The word Lord in Hebrew is simply pronounced Yahweh Jehovah. Can you say that? Yahweh Jehovah. That word was so holy that sometimes the Hebrews wouldn't even pronounce it. They would come to it and they wouldn't pronounce it because they didn't feel worthy to even say Yahweh Jehovah. I believe it's okay to say that and I do say that. It's in the word.

Sometimes when they would write something about God, when they would get to the word God or Yahweh Jehovah they would just leave a blank and skip over it. But Yahweh Jehovah, the Lord our God, we are to focus on him and to give praise to him. Now say it with me, praise the Lord. Now say oh my soul. Meaning that praise must come from within me. Must come from my soul. When the Hebrew used the word soul, the Hebrew was not only thinking of the inward part, that spiritual part of himself or herself, but the entire totality of their being. Body, soul, and spirit.

Praise the Lord oh my soul. My mind, my heart, my body, the physical part, the spiritual part. The soul meant the whole person and sometimes we even use it that way today. We'll say, do you know there wasn't a soul present? You ever heard that saying? How many souls were there? There wasn't a soul present. Mean that you weren't saying there wasn't an invisible person absent or present. You meant the whole person. This is how the Hebrews used it.

So the Psalmist wanted to praise the Lord. Focus on the Lord and focus the totality of his being on the Lord. So he said praise the Lord oh my soul. Now what's the other part? He said praise the Lord, all my inmost being. Say that. All my inmost being. So he meant when he said soul, he meant body, soul, and spirit. But just in case he didn't he skipped over or he may have skipped over or his writing caused somebody to think he skipped over, he said all my inmost being.

Now what he was saying and what he was telling us to do, and I'm so glad this Psalm is here, is that he was saying I want you to think about worship. I want you to think about what you're doing. I want you to stop and think that there is breath in your lungs. Now when you exhale that breath, you call it up and you bring it across your vocal cords which is the organ of your voice. Now you form your lips and your tongue. You're not just saying praise the Lord in your mind and thought somewhere else.

Think of breath. Think of lungs. Think of voice. Think of mind. Think, think, think. You have to think worship and then worship begins to happen. You have to put your mind in it. Jesus on one occasion was asked by the Pharisees what is the great commandment? He said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. You've got a brain, use it. Use your brain in worship. Think of what you're doing. You're now using your breath, your vocal cords, your thoughts, your being, your lips, your tongue to praise the Lord Yahweh Jehovah. He is the one we love and worship and praise. Oh, this Psalm is a lofty Psalm.

Perhaps Psalm 23 is the most popular of all Psalms. It gives such comfort and assurance. It blesses, it inspires. Rarely is there a funeral that the Psalm isn't read in, but it's not really a funeral Psalm. It certainly is, but it's a Psalm for life and for living. But this Psalm by many students of the word is believed to be the loftiest of all the Psalms in the Bible. Psalm 103. And if you would like to use this Psalm as a daily prayer guide, this would help you tremendously to use this.

To begin by praising the Lord, your soul, putting your mind and thought in it, your very inmost being. And now notice verse two. Come on read verse two with me. Praise the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits. Now here's the motivation for praising the Lord. Forget not. The motivation that causes you to be a true worshiper of God in spirit and in truth is remembering his benefits. You start out by remembering him and then you remember from him everything I have originated from him, the Lord.

And he begins now to think of the benefits of the Lord in remembering. Now if you can't remember anything, if your mind is somewhere else, if you can't think of anything that the Lord has done for you, then you're not going to be able to worship. But if you can think, then you can thank and then you can praise the Lord and it'll come from your heart and it'll be meaningful and you will have had a worshiping experience. Now forget not. Stop just a moment. Come on. Let me do this. Come down here where you are.

I want some of you right now to speak out to me and to him some things that you're thankful for. Now only one word. Not a sentence and not a paragraph. You know I don't have time for that. We're on television, you know that. But just say it out. You don't have to raise your hand. All right let us all say praise the Lord. See that's what it is. When you begin to think and you begin to remember the gifts of God that have come to you, then your mind is in this. Now your thought's in this. Now you remember.

It says praise the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits. Now look at verse three. What are the two benefits we're to remember? Forgiveness and healing. Which one comes first? Forgiveness. It verse three says who forgives all your sins. When I think that I was a sinner, that you were a sinner, that we have all sinned, we have all broken the law of God, every one of us, we have all broken the law of God, but God has forgiven. I don't want to ever take that for granted.

I don't want to ever forget that every day of my life I want to give thanks to God for saving my soul, and I do. I don't think there's a day goes by, not a day goes by, but repeatedly it comes to my mind. I once was a sinner, but now he's made me a saint. I was lost, but he found me, he saved me, and I thank him. I thank him. Thank you for saving my soul. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins. Thank you for writing my name in the Book of Life.

Thank you for making me a child of God. I say words like that over and over throughout the day. I'll be driving the car and I'll say thank God. It dawns on me. It's just sort of, I'm saved, I'm a Christian. This is a wonderful thing and I begin to worship. I've told pastors that every day when I'm in pastors' conferences, I said you pastors need to remember not to be thankful that you're a theologian, that you have your degrees, that you have your ordination, but that you're a Christian.

You've got to come right back to the foundation that you and I have been born again. The greatest miracle of all miracles and that the Lord has done this. We didn't do it for ourselves. Can you say thank God for saving me? Can you say thank God for forgiving me? This is the thing that we are to remember first and foremost in every worship. That God has come to us in mercy, in grace, in love and has forgiven us. God the scripture says, Isaiah says, God will abundantly pardon.

God does not hold things against us. He forgives us. He's more willing to give his forgiveness than we are to receive his forgiveness. And some of us this morning we can think of sins this past week that the Holy Spirit brings them to our mind. A thought, a word, a grudge, a deed, something that you have done and you know, you know that wasn't like Jesus. And if Jesus had been there standing in front of you, you would have been ashamed to have thought that or behaved that way or acted that way.

Matter of fact, you wouldn't have done that. But friend he is with you all the time. He does see everything and he knows every thought of every heart. So maybe right now we need to pause for a moment and bow before him and say Lord, I haven't been as Christian this past week as I should have been and I need to confess. As we confess the sin goes and it's cleansed. Confession takes it all away. But don't let your sins pile up, stack up, or dam up. You need to confess those sins and get them out of the way. And the only way to get them out of the way is to confess them to the Lord and say Lord I have sinned.

But this is the very thing that he said that he begins to remember. I must not forget. Forget not what? Forget not that he forgives you. And the second thing that we are to forget not is that he heals all of our diseases. All of them. Healing and forgiveness are both part of God's plan. Now there is sickness and disease and ills and social ills in this world. This world was a paradise at one time before sin came. But sin is the prime cause and source of all that is ugly and bad and destructive.

And all of the social ills. And when sin is dealt with, you watch the sin, the sickness, the disease and all the social ills go away. But as long as there is sin, we're going to have these kinds of problems. And so the Lord is telling us to address the source of the problem and that is where the pollution begins. It begins in our mind and our heart when we go against God and we sin against God then we have sinned against our fellow man also.

But Isaiah was looking ahead to that day of the New Jerusalem. That new city. The old Jerusalem has its problems just like the cities of today have their problems. Cities are in trouble and cities all over the world have their pollution, their crime, their difficulties and their problems. But Isaiah was looking ahead to the New Jerusalem. That new city. That one that is totally cleansed by the Lord and made by his hand. And he said in that day those living in Zion will know no sickness, no disease, all will be cleansed away.

So we're moving toward that day now. And when you confess your sins to the Lord and repent of your sins, and Christians do sin in thought, in word, in deed, in some activity, we do slip up sometimes on purpose. Sometimes we know what we're doing. Sometimes we don't know what we're doing until after we've done it. But we're still in the flesh and we do make these mistakes. But when you remember the mistake you need to say thank God for helping me to forget not so that I can now confess it and renew my relationship with the Lord.

That confessing must be an ongoing cleansing in your heart every day and every week it must be. You must not forget to thank God for saving you. Must remember, forget not and ask him to cleanse you and to bring healing to your heart. Now look at verse four. You have your Bibles open or your sermon notes. Read verse four with me. Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. Now what's he do? The first thing it says he redeems. He is a redeemer.

Now he takes us right back to verse three, forgives. How has he redeemed us? You take something and then you go you redeem it back. By his blood. By his precious blood. The blood that he shed on the cross. That blood is still efficacious. It's still working even after all these years that I've been a Christian. That blood when I confess my sins to the Lord in a daily devotional, that blood still cleanseth me from all my sins. He still has his hand on me, on you, cleansing and renewing and purifying.

You know when you start feeling dull, down in the dumps, blue, unchristian, away from God, that mundane earthy feeling, maybe you need to pray Lord, is it that I have failed you in some way? Ask him to show you. And when he shows you and helps you to understand, then you confess it to him and the flow begins and you again experience the wonderful presence of the Lord. This is a living thing. This is a living relationship with Jesus Christ. This isn't no once and for all thing.

This is something that goes on. A regeneration that goes on within us all the time. Just as the blood in my body is constantly being cleansed, it's constantly flowing. Your heart is beating constantly cleansing. So it is with your Christian life. Your Christian life is dynamic. It goes on and on daily cleansing and renewing. He is the redeemer. Notice look at verse four again. Who redeems your life from the pit. Mean we have been dug out of the dirt of the world.

We are of the earth earthy. Right here this pit simply is really referring to the grave. The pit. He's redeemed your life from the grave. Meaning that death will not be the end to you. If you have this relationship with God, if you are praising the Lord, serving the Lord, having your sins constantly cleansed, you're renewed in the faith. You are a worshiping, living, walking, talking Christian with that renewal that is going on all of the time. Then when you die, the pit, the grave is not the final word.

You have been redeemed from the pit. You have been redeemed. Jesus bought you back. You are not over at that moment. No your life continues on in Christ. Just as your life continues on and there's that renewal that is going on now, there is a new life in the Lord that is not of this earth but it's a spiritual heavenly life that you leave the body to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I thank God that we have this hope within us and that we have a redeemer to praise to redeem us.

And the reason he redeems us is because we acknowledge our sin and we forget not and then we give praise to him and we give thanks to him because he's the source. He's the source of it all. I talked to a person not too long ago and I asked them, are you a Christian? Yes I'm a Christian. And how do you know you're a Christian? Well I'm trying to live a good life. I'm trying to do the right things. I'm trying to treat my neighbor right. And this person just went on and on and told me how he is saving his own soul.

Well I almost said do you want me to call you Savior? You are saving yourself by your good works and by treating your neighbor right and doing all those things. Now all of those things are wonderful Christian things to do, but those things don't get you into heaven. Those things don't promise you life after death. Those are wonderful things and every Christian should do those things and practice that kind of ethical behavior. But Jesus Christ, there is one redeemer. Only Jesus.

And then I talked to this lady and a young girl I was counseling and she's in oh maybe 32 years old and I wondered a moment, I just questioned in my own mind, I wonder if this person really is a Christian with all the problems that they're having and the insecurity that she might be having. And so I asked her, I said are you a Christian? And she said yes. I said how do you know? How do you know you're a Christian? She said well I gave my heart to Jesus and I ask him to come and to forgive me of my sins.

And I repented and I turned my back on my sins and I gave my heart to Jesus. Boy she cleared it up for me right away. I said you don't have tell me anything else. We've got some other things to work on but one thing I know, we've got a foundation now to work from. You are a Christian. You have given your life to the Lord. You have been redeemed. Now notice it says verse four who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.

Now I don't know what a crown of love is. I'm not sure. I've never seen a crown of love. I've seen crowns. Number of years ago Krin and I were vacationing in England and we took a tour of some of the palaces there and the government buildings. And one tour took us by and behind this big glass case was the Queen of England's crown. There were diadems, it was beautiful. Every so often the man told me, I asked him I said when do you bring it out? When does she wear it? He told me the dates and the times.

He says we bring it out at that time and we put it on her head and she wears it. The Queen. It was a beautiful, beautiful crown. So we know what crowns look like. We've seen crowns, we've seen pictures of crowns. But a crown of love? I'll tell you friends, there are wonderful things in God and experiences in God that go beyond defining and explaining. There are spiritual depths that I haven't reached yet. I'm not sure what a crown of love is.

But I know that he's put one on my head. I know he's put one on your head. You have a crown, I don't see it right now, but you have a crown of love on your head. Why not? Because you have a crown of love on your head, why don't you put a crown of praise on his head? He has redeemed you, forgiven you, made you his child, wrote your name in that Lamb's Book of Life. You now are a child of eternity. You belong to the forevers. All because of Jesus Christ. This is his gift. This is his gift to us.

Now look what it says. Who satisfies your desires with good things and renews your youth like the eagles. Satisfies. When you go through that list, look at that list again. It's just a litany of things that God has done. You began, I have it broken out very clearly I think in the sermon outline, you begin with praise, blessing the Lord, Yahweh Jehovah. You bring this praise from your heart, your inmost being. The motivation for getting it turned on, to getting you primed to start praising is remembering, not forgetting what God has done.

But listen, there's a lot of people can't worship because God hasn't done anything yet for them. And the reason God hasn't done anything yet is because they haven't asked or they haven't allowed him to. God wants to, he stands ready and all we have to do is to ask him and he will begin. And as you begin to remember and the first thing you are to remember is forgiveness. Now here's the Psalmist. I can just see him, picture him reaching down into the chest, so to speak, of divine love.

He takes the opens the lid, he reached down in and he pulls out all of these pearls. Forgiveness, healing, redemption, crowns, satisfaction. He starts and he threads every one of these pearls on a on the thread of memory. He says don't forget. Don't forget. Don't forget any of these things. Don't forget. Don't forget. Don't forget. Forget not. And this is what will bring the praise and the happiness. And he says you will experience satisfaction. True satisfaction.

Now friends this life in Christ must be a consistent ongoing thing. This satisfaction that comes is a permanent satisfaction. It's there when things are going good and when things aren't going good. Your Christian experience goes up and down like a yo-yo depending on how things are going in life. The money that's coming in, the deals that you're making, the things that are going on. You're a Christian, but oh how surface, how childlike.

It's time now to focus on the Lord and not on the things of this life, but to focus on him and to give him praise. He said I will satisfy. Things the world will give you vain toys. Cars, houses, dollars, vacations, vain toys. Just idle nothingness. And then you say, "Oh aren't I blessed? I got this car, I got this house, I got this vacation, aren't I blessed?" Maybe you are and maybe you're not. You're still playing with toys.

Paul says when I became a man, I put away childish things. Focus on Jesus and remember who you are. That you're a child of God. That you're a believer. And whether you have and whether you do not have, that doesn't impact the thermometer of your emotions at all. You're just focused on Jesus, bent on Jesus, your heart is on Jesus and the very air in your lungs you're bringing it up to praise Jesus. Why? Because he's given you houses, lands, cars? No. Because he's given you forgiveness, salvation, healing, redeemed you from the pit.

Look at these things that are eternal for the things that are seen are temporal. Hey you're rejoicing over things that are rusty. You're going to have to paint it again. You're going to have to fix it again. It's going to break again and you call that the blessing of God. Friend what have I been teaching you all these years? You're mixed up. Look at Psalm 103. Here it is. Here's the cause for rejoicing. And rejoice in the Lord and know an ongoing rejoicing all the time in him. But let it begin with praise and thanksgiving for the great and wonderful salvation. He's made you a child of God. You're a Christian because you've given your heart to Jesus Christ. Now worship him in spirit and in truth.

Guest (Male): Psalm 103 reminds us to forget not all his benefits. When we pause to remember God's mercy, his forgiveness, and his unfailing love, worship naturally flows from our hearts. The more we focus on the Lord instead of our circumstances, the more our souls are strengthened and renewed. If today's message spoke to you, we'd love to hear from you. Visit thehealingword.com where you'll find messages from Pastor Morris, encouraging devotionals, and a place to submit your prayer requests.

It would be a privilege to pray with you and for you. Your partnership also helps us continue sharing the timeless truth of God's word with viewers and listeners around the world. Every gift, large or small, enables this ministry to reach people with the hope found in Jesus Christ. Thank you for standing with us. Be sure to join us next time for the concluding message in this series, Expect a Blessing. Pastor Morris will encourage us to face life's valleys with confident faith, believing that God is always working on behalf of those who trust him.