Preach the Gospel to Yourself

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”

~D. Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), Welsh minister and medical doctor

“Every week I preach justification by faith to my people, because every week they forget it.”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546), German theologian

“The central basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us.”

~Tim Keller (1950-2023), American pastor and author

“To preach the gospel to yourself, then, means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that He is your propitiation, and that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you.”

~Jerry Bridges, American author

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 103 (ESV)

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,

   and all that is within me,

   bless his holy name!

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,

   and forget not all his benefits,

3 who forgives all your iniquity,

   who heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit,

   who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

5 who satisfies you with good

   so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works righteousness

   and justice for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,

   his acts to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,

   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9 He will not always chide,

   nor will he keep his anger forever.

10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,

   nor repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

   so great is his steadfast love

  toward those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,

   so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

13 As a father shows compassion to his children,

   so the Lord shows compassion

  to those who fear him.

14 For he knows our frame;

   he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass;

   he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

   and its place knows it no more.

17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from   

  everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

   and his righteousness to children’s children,

18 to those who keep his covenant

   and remember to do his commandments.

19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

   and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

   you mighty ones who do his word,

   obeying the voice of his word!

21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,

   his ministers, who do his will!

22 Bless the Lord, all his works,

   in all places of his dominion.

   Bless the Lord, O my soul!