Sermon Resources - Dr. Toby Holt
Where do you reach for stability when the white water of a hard year tosses you about? In A New Start And An Old Promise, Dr. Toby B. Holt preaches Psalm 103, where David, who knew better than most how furious life can become, finds his lifeline not in his crown but in his God. Surveying the heights of mercy and the frailty of dust, he can still sing, "Bless the LORD, O my soul," because "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:10). From a Reformed and Westminster perspective, this psalm anchors the New Year in the unchanging covenant love of God, whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.
0:00 — Grabbing The Rock. Thrown into the white water, we all reach for something that will not move; David found his in God (Psalm 103:1-2).
4:30 — No Scale, No Crocodile. Unlike the pagan gods who weigh and devour, our God is merciful and does not deal with us as our sins deserve (Psalm 103:8-10).
10:30 — "This Much." As high as the heavens and as far as the east is from the west, so boundless is His mercy toward us (Psalm 103:11-12).
12:48 — Dust, Yet Destined. We are grass that withers, but a Father who pities His children has made us for somewhere better (Psalm 103:13-16).
18:31 — A New Year, An Old Promise. His covenant love never changes, and the glad response of His children is loving obedience (Psalm 103:17-18).
Questions This Sermon Answers:
1. What is Psalm 103 about?
Psalm 103 is David’s great hymn of blessing, calling his own soul to praise the LORD for His benefits. It magnifies God’s mercy, His forgiveness of sin, and His everlasting covenant love toward those who fear Him. Framed by the refrain "Bless the LORD, O my soul" (Psalm 103:1), it moves from personal gratitude to the heights of God’s steadfast love, grounding the believer in a God whose character does not change.
2. Why does Psalm 103 begin and end with "Bless the LORD, O my soul"?
David frames the whole psalm with self-address because praise must be deliberate, not merely felt. He preaches to his own soul, summoning his inner being to "forget not all His benefits" (Psalm 103:2). For a king whose life was made harder, not easier, by his throne, the one source of stability was remembering God, and that remembrance moved the songwriter to sing.
3. What does Psalm 103:10 mean when it says God has not dealt with us according to our sins?
It means God withholds the judgment our sins deserve and treats His people according to mercy rather than strict justice. "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:10). David, who had killed a man to steal his wife, rejoiced that the one true God does not weigh and condemn His own as their guilt warrants. The Westminster Confession (11.1) calls this the free justification of those whom God pardons.
4. How far has God removed our sins, according to Psalm 103?
As far as the east is from the west. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12). North and south have fixed poles, but east and west never meet; the picture is of an immeasurable, unrecoverable distance. For the believer, this means forgiven sin is put away beyond retrieval, never to be counted against him again.
5. What does "as far as the east is from the west" mean?
It is a picture of the infinite and the immeasurable. You might be able to say how high the heavens are, but no one can say how far the east is from the west, because the two directions never converge. David uses it, alongside "as the heavens are high above the earth," to show that God’s mercy toward those who fear Him exceeds all human measurement.
6. How does the illustration of Anubis and the scale show God’s mercy?
In Egyptian myth the jackal-headed Anubis weighed the dead person’s heart on a scale, and if it was found wanting, the devourer Ammit consumed it. Having lived among such pagan systems, David rejoiced that Israel’s God is so much better: at the end there is no dispassionate deity with a scale and a crocodile, but a God who is merciful and does not deal with us according to our sins. The believer’s hope rests not on passing a test but on grace.
7. Why does Psalm 103 say we are dust and like grass?
Because Scripture is honest about our mortality, and time makes fools of us all. "As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone" (Psalm 103:15-16). Yet the same God who knows our frame and remembers that we are dust is a Father who pities His children, so our frailty drives us not to despair but to dependence.
8. How does Psalm 103 give hope in the face of death?
It points beyond the grave to the everlasting mercy of God. David did not grieve as those without hope; when his infant son died, he washed and ate, saying, "I cannot bring him back, but one day I shall go to him" (2 Samuel 12:23). Because he saw beyond the veil, death lost its sting, and the believer who trusts the same God can face mortality knowing death does not have the last word.
9. Do good works save us according to Reformed theology?
No. The works we do do not save us, cannot save us, and are not the basis on which God loves us; they are the fruit of His love once the Spirit has been sown in the heart. Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15), so obedience is the grateful response of a child who takes on the attributes of his Father. The Westminster Confession (16.5) teaches that even our best works cannot merit pardon, yet they please God in Christ.
10. What is the "old promise" Dr. Holt says we hold to in the New Year?
It is the promise of God’s unchanging covenant love. "The mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him" (Psalm 103:17). Though health, finances, and circumstances will shift in the year ahead, two things cannot change: the character of God and His love for His people. The same God prayed to on New Year’s Eve is the same God woken to on New Year’s Day, and that gives the believer confidence still.
Key Theological Points:
1. The Mercy of God and the Non-Imputation of Sin
The heart of Psalm 103 is that God does not treat His people as their guilt deserves. "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:10). God owes no one mercy, least of all the guilty, yet He grants it because it is His character to do so. The Westminster Confession (11.1) teaches that God justifies the ungodly by pardoning their sins and accounting them righteous, not for anything in them, but freely in Christ.
2. The Covenant Love That Is From Everlasting to Everlasting
God’s mercy is not a passing mood but an unbreakable covenant bond. "The mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children" (Psalm 103:17). This steadfast love does not fluctuate like the markets; it is infinite and, by definition, cannot be measured or reduced. The Westminster Confession (7.3) describes this covenant of grace, in which God freely offers life and salvation and keeps His own to the end.
3. Good Works as the Grateful Fruit of Grace, Not Its Ground
A true child of God takes on the attributes of his Father and learns, however haltingly, to keep His commandments. "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). Such obedience does not save and is not the basis of God’s love; it is the fruit of that love once the Spirit has been sown in the heart. The Westminster Confession (16.2) teaches that good works are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith, not its cause.
The Scripture Text: Psalm 103:11-12 (NKJV)
"For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
Continue studying: explore the full Book of Psalms sermon series, or browse the complete Reformed Sermon Archive.
About The Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt serves as the third President of New Geneva Theological Seminary (Colorado Springs, CO), founded 1993. An expository preacher with over 1.9 million sermon downloads on SermonAudio.com, Dr. Holt brings over 17 years of pastoral experience to his verse-by-verse Bible teaching. New Geneva offers fully online Reformed theological education — M.Div., Th.M., D.Min., and other degrees.
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