Three things happen in this psalm
and I want you to see them as I read it. So we'll kind of I'll
just tell you right off the Bat here the title of the message
Tonight is weeping remembering and praying And that's those
are the three things in this psalm that we'll see Look at
verse 1 verse 1 of psalm 137 by the rivers of Babylon there
we sat down. Yeah, we wept and when we remembered
Zion. Zion, the city of God, the city
where God was pleased to bless his people and meet with them.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof,
for there they that carried us away captive required of us a
song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying,
sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning. I see you see how we've
switched. They've wept. Now they begin
to remember. I don't want to forget, do you?
Verse six, if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to
the roof of my mouth. If I prefer not Jerusalem, above
my chief joy. Now, prayer, O Lord, you remember. I want to remember. But more
than that, I pray the Lord will remember. I know he will. But this is our prayer. Remember,
O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who
said, Raise it, raise it even to the foundation thereof. O
daughter of Babylon, who art thou, who art to be destroyed? Happy shall he be that rewardeth
thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh
and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. The children of Israel
are in bondage to Babylon. And the children of Israel God's
people, God's spiritual Israel, as Paul spoke of in his epistles,
are in bondage. And I'm not talking about the
Jews. Now, I'm not talking about the Babylonian captivity, although
that is the picture before us in this psalm tonight. But what
this is a picture of is the fact that the people of God, believers,
his sheep, are in captivity. And so we weep. We weep over
that. These Israelites are mourning
the fact that they're not home. They're thinking of their home
in Jerusalem and they're remembering the comfort and peace and safety
and blessings of home. And they're sad that they're
not there. Do we do that? Where is home for you? Where is home? Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter
5 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse
6 Therefore we are always confident. This is Paul comforting the Corinthian
believers. We're confident knowing that
whilst we are at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. We're at home in a sense in this
body. We live in this body. People say I have a soul. That's
not really true. You are a soul. You have a body. But if we're at home here, we're
absent from the Lord in the truest sense of being with him. We know
he said he'll never leave us nor forsake us. We do enjoy his
presence. Our brother prayed where two
or three are gathered in his name. He said, there I am in
the midst of you. That's a great blessing. But there is a great
and sad sense in which while we're at home in this body, we're
absent from Him. But, and I want you to remember
that word, at home. Verse 7, for we walk by faith,
not by sight, and that's why we're confident. Faith is the
evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped
for. We know these things, though we don't know what it is to be
in the Lord's presence, but we know we will be one day because
He's given us faith to believe Him, what He said about it. We
are confident, I say, and willing, rather, to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord. That word present right
there is the same word that's translated home in verse 6. Are you at home in this body?
Or is the Lord your home? We desire to be home, don't we?
Paul said, I have a desire. I don't know what to choose because
I know the Lord wants me here and it's more profitable for
you, he said, that I'm here. But I have a desire. I'd rather
depart and be with Christ, which is far better. I have a desire
to depart. And so we mourn for the same
reason these Jews did. Because we long to be home. We long to be home. So they picture us. We're in
a strange land. It's said there, how can we sing
the Lord's song in a strange land? Do you ever think of it
that way? Surely you do if you know Him.
Hebrews 11, 13 says, These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off. And we're persuaded
of them by faith, again, by faith. We haven't experienced all the
things that God has promised us, but we see them by faith. And we're persuaded of them and
embrace them and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth. This world is our Babylon. You
see what a clear picture this is. in our song. And like these Jews, we're captive
here. Wait a minute, Chris, I thought
we were free in Christ. We are. We are both captive and
free. And I can show you that from
the Word of God. By nature, now, by nature, we were captive to
the law of God. We are under the law and guilty
of violating God's law, everybody. Paul said the law is not given
to show you how to live. It's to shut you up before God
and to cause you to declare and admit and own your guilt before
God and confess that let God be true in every man alive. Romans chapter 3. We're guilty,
all of us equally, condemned and guilty and accountable to
God by nature. But we've been set free from
the bondage of the law by the Lord Jesus Christ. If we know
him, if we've believed on him, if he saved us by his free grace.
Paul said, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free. You didn't decide to be free.
Christ set you free. And be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. Don't go back. Who made us free? Christ hath set you. free. He said to the Jews in John 8
36, if the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free
indeed. If you come bebopping down an
aisle somewhere in some establishment of religion and say, I've decided,
you know, I'm going to be free now. That's not freedom. If Christ
sets you free though, you'll know it. What bondage has Christ freed
us from? Well, Galatians 5, Paul goes on to say, that if we make
ourselves debtors to the law, then we are in bondage to the
law. If we come before God on a footing of pleasing him by
our deeds of the law, in Romans 3, again, he said, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. Justification
is by the free grace of God in Christ, through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. But he goes on there in Galatians
5 where he says, Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath freed you. Freed us from what? Don't go back and be a
debtor to the law and be in bondage to the law and pretend and presume
to please God by the keeping of the law. If you do so, you
are a debtor, he said, to do the whole law and Christ shall
profit you nothing. Secondly, by nature we're in
captivity to Satan. 2nd Timothy 2 25 Paul said in
meekness instruct those that oppose themselves if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth
and That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil
who are taken captive by him at his will If you're going to
be freed from the bondage of Satan God's gonna have to give
you repentance and Paul said he just might do it Timothy if
you tell them what the truth He just might do That's his prerogative. But Christ hath set us free from
the power of the devil. First John 3.8, he that commiteth
sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil. In Matthew chapter 12, our Lord
compares the devil to a strong man who rules over a house. And
then pictures himself, Christ, as one who is stronger, who binds
the strong man. and takes the house away from
him. We are that house, by nature. And as he saves us, he takes
over, doesn't he? He sets up residence in his people. What a blessing. By nature, we're
in captivity to sin. But Christ has, by his death,
by his sin atoning death, made us free to serve him and not
sin. Romans 6, 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and henceforth
we should not serve sin." Not anymore. We're not in bondage
to sin anymore in the sense that sin has dominion. No more has
dominion over us as a whole, as a person. Not anymore, he
said. Henceforth, since Christ. But by nature we are. Romans
6 12 turn over there with me. Let's look at this together.
I won't be long than that, but I want you to see a Couple of
passages scripture that I believe are key to our text in Psalms
Romans 6 12 Romans 6 12 Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof neither
yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin and
But yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you. The Babylonians
now have dominion over the Jews, and what they say goes, and what
they do, there's nothing they can do about it. We were like
that under sin, but not anymore, no dominion. For you're not under
the law, but under grace. What then, shall we sin because
we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Know
ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey,
his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto
death or of obedience unto unrighteousness? But God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin, that you have obeyed from the heart that
form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free
from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. So freedom,
freedom, we're free in all of these wonderful Beautiful senses
were free from bondage in all of these ways, but there's part
of us that still is subject to sin And notice I say part of
us the new man is free But we are captives in a sense to this
flesh to the bodies of this death You know where I'm going just
by the language. I've already used if you've Been here long
Romans 7 Also, we're in this world for now aren't we in a
strange land and And we're not getting out for
now. Our Lord Himself prayed, Lord, don't take them out of
this world. Deliver them from the evil. Keep them. And that's
wonderful. We're safe, aren't we? Safe though
the worlds may crumble, we sing. But we're in this world. And
so like them, we do groan, Paul said. We groan. A strange land. And it's an evil land, isn't
it? Babylonians were a notoriously evil people. So what a picture
presented in our Psalm. Listen to Romans 7.23 about this
bondage that we still suffer under to some extent. Romans
7.23, but I see another law in my members warring against the
law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members. There is a captivity that I experienced. How about you? In another place
in this same chapter, he says, the things that I would do, I
can't do them. And the things that I would not
do, those I do. That is bondage. That doesn't
sound like free will, does it? Well, there's a lot more to it
than that. A lot more to it than that. Oh, wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind,
with the spirit, with the new man, with the new heart, I myself
serve the law of God. There is a freedom. There is
freedom in all those senses that we saw from the bondage of Satan
and sin and even the very law of God that held us guilty and
accountable by nature, but with the flesh Remember what our Lord
said to the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane? The Spirit
truly is willing. The Spirit is free. It wants
to serve. It loves the law of God after the inward man. Romans
7 also. But the flesh is weak. This flesh
is still in subjection to sin. The Jews mourned their captivity
in Babylon. Paul mourned his captivity in
this flesh, didn't he? Oh, wretched man, who's going
to save me? I'm brought into subjection and captivity to the
law of sin because of this flesh. I thank God Christ will save
me. But we're still grown in this, don't we? We're in this
flesh. We're in this world, a strange
land. And we're mocked as they were.
Our Lord said we would be. The Babylonians said, sing us
a song of Zion. That's a mocking thing. Here
they are, they've captured them and humiliated them. Now they're
forcing them to entertain them, the Babylonians. Sing us a song
of Zion. And the song said, how are we
going to do that? How in the world are we going to do that? We can gather and sing to one
another in this world and to our Lord as believers in Christ,
and what a privilege. We're instructed and exhorted
to do just that in Ephesians 5, 19. Listen, speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, so it's to one another.
It's an encouragement to one another, isn't it? Singing and
making melody in your heart to the Lord. We sing unto ourselves,
but we're also singing to the Lord. giving thanks always for
all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't forget that. Everything
we have to give thanks to God for is because of Christ, for
his sake. When we sing the songs of Zion,
we are worshiping God from our hearts, Paul said. We're praising
God for his grace in Christ Jesus. We sing of his precious sin atoning
blood. for his finished redemption,
his accomplished salvation of us. We sing of free grace in
Christ. We sing of Calvary. We sing in
our hearts, Paul said, and we're giving thanks always to God for
Christ and for his sake. That's what we're doing. We sing
the word of God. We sing the gospel of free and
sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing that he saves
whom he will. We sing a mighty savior. We sing
that we're guilty, helpless and hopeless, false and full of sin. I am one of my favorite songs.
Oh, but thou art full of truth and grace. We sing that he is plenteous
in mercy toward those who cannot help themselves. God does not
help those who help themselves. Paul said, if you help yourselves,
Christ shall profit you nothing. He is the good Samaritan who
comes to that man bleeding out in the ditch who can't do anything
for himself and does everything for him. That's the grace of
our Savior. We sing that salvation is not
of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that
showeth mercy. This is what I'm talking about Colossians 3 16.
Let the word listen to this carefully. What has this got to do with
singing? Listen to it. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
in all wisdom. Teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. What are we
singing of? The word of Christ. The word
of God's free grace in a victorious redeemer. And we teach and admonish one
another in Psalms, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Singing with His grace in your
hearts. We're not singing to this world
and we can't sing with this world. We're not going to be part of
your Christmas cantata. We can't pray with you, we will
not pray with you. What God are you praying to?
And look, it's not a matter of You know, us and them. I would
to God that all men, isn't that what the psalmist said? Would
that everybody and everything that has breath would praise
the God of the Bible. But they're not praying to Him
so that we're not going to pray with them. We're not going to
sing with them. They're singing of a different God. We're not
going to have any part in what you're doing. You're in the business
of bringing people into bondage. That's what the Babylonians represent
here. That's what the church does. That's what Paul said.
You're putting people in bondage. You're putting upon the Gentiles
he accused some people of that were preaching the false gospel
of man's free will and man's works to please God. He said
you're putting the Gentiles under a bondage that you couldn't bear.
And neither could our fathers. That's religion. They put you
under the bondage of the law. You need to do this, this, and
this to be saved. You've got to live the Christian life. You
can't do that. That's what mercy is. It's God
saving you anyway. Though you've never done anything
good and you're not about to. In this flesh dwelleth no good
thing. And that's all religion does.
They're in the business of putting people in bondage. All of the
songs, all that the songs of Zion are to them is a source
of entertainment. They're singing about Jesus too.
They're putting on passion plays and Cantatas and showing movies All the truth of God is to them
as a source of entertainment just like in Babylon And the psalmist said we're not
going to entertain you with this that's not what this is You can
count us out. This is the Lord's song. Did
you see that? How are we going to sing his
song? In a land like this And we sing because we remember. Do you see that in verses five
and six? Oh, if I forget, if I forget the place where we enjoyed
the present, that was more than just geography to them. That's where God met with them
and dwelt with them between the cherubim. That's what they're
pining for. And I don't ever want to forget How can we remember a place,
though, as believers? What's the spiritual lesson here?
How can we remember a place we haven't been to yet? You know,
they sing that song, We're Marching to Zion. We don't sing that because
there's not any gospel in it, but we're marching to Zion. Well, we've never been to Zion
in the truest sense. John, in the book of Revelation,
saw the New Jerusalem. Have you ever been there? I mean,
neither, but we still sing of it. We remember it, but we've never
been there. You know how? We haven't experienced it in
that sense, in the sense that John saw the New Jerusalem where
God said, I will dwell with you there. There's a sense in which
he's with us tonight if we've met in his name. I got a pretty
good feeling about that. There's a whole other sense in
which he says of the New Jerusalem, I will dwell with you there. We haven't been there. How can
we sing songs of a place we've never been? Hebrews 11, 13, These
all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off. And we're persuaded of them.
We've experienced the promises in a sense. How do we do that?
How can we see these promises to the peaceful people of God? Though we have not fully experienced
Him yet, we see them and experience them to the extent that we can
in Christ. We've seen Him. 2 Corinthians 1.20, I'm not making
it up. For all the promises of God in
Him are yes and amen. and in him unto the glory of
God by us. Now he which establisheth us
with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also sealed
us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. The earnest is a down payment. It's pledge money. What is the pledge money? What
is this down payment that the Spirit puts in our heart? Well,
our Lord told us the Spirit of God is going to take the things
of mine and show them to you. He reveals Christ to us and in
us and we see all of God's promises. We experience them and acknowledge
them to be true and wonderful and glorious in Christ. They are yes and amen in Him.
And we have that earnest of the Spirit now. What is it exactly that we are
promised? What is the fulfillment of the
promises? Streets of gold and a mansion on a hilltop? We are
predestinated by God to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's
what glory is. So if you've seen Him, you've
seen the fulfillment of the promise. To the extent that we can by
faith now. Did Paul say I have a desire
to depart and live in my mansion? No, my heart longs to depart
this place and be with Christ. That's what heaven is. I've never
seen him face to face, but I've seen him by faith. And by faith I have evidence
of what I can't see. Paul said, by faith, by God turning
the light on, and he does that by faith. The God who said, let
there be light, shine the light in my heart that I might see
his glory, the glory of God, in the face of his son. We see
him now in that sense, by faith, by that light, the light of the
scriptures, the light of revelation, the light of his truth, the light
of his spirit. I remember him. whom I've never
seen. Isn't that what he said? Remember
me. This do in remembrance of me. How can we remember him we
haven't seen? Well, we have seen him. By faith. I don't want to
forget, do you? We're prone to forget. That is
the tragedy of us. Of this flesh that we forget. In a sense, I do and have dwelt
in Jerusalem, the city of peace. Peace made by the blood of Christ's
cross. Because Christ is my refuge.
He's my peace. He's my comfort and safety. The peace of God which passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds, how? Through
Christ Jesus. There's the city of peace. He
is the city of peace. What is the purpose of the ordinances?
Well, to glorify him, of course, he said, you do show my death
till I come. And he's glorified in that. But
why did he give us the ordinances? Listen to this. First Corinthians
11, 24. What are we talking about? Remembering we weep in this bondage
in this strange land. But bless God, we remember to.
This world can't take that away from us. When he had given thanks, Our
Lord Jesus Christ break that bread. Symbolizing that he laid
down his own life. He broke his. He said nobody
takes my life for me. My body is going to be broken,
but this is my will, my purpose, my saving power, which and it's
broken for you. It's for you. This do in remembrance. Of me. And we still do. Remember me, he said. Remember
that I broke my body for you. I shed my precious blood for
you. Don't forget that. You know,
this world is pretty, pretty tolerable with that memory in
our hearts. He said in this world you're
going to have tribulation. You're going to be beaten to
a pulp. The tribulum Had to separate the chaff from the wheat by beating,
just crushing. And we're going to have that
in this world. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Greater is he that is in us than
he that's in this world. And after the same manner also
he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant
in my blood. This do ye, as oft as you drink
it, in remembrance of me. Oh Lord, if we forget, let our
tongue cleave to our, let just, God forbid that we ever forget. Why do we preach the gospel?
Again, of course, it's for his glory. The savor of Christ is
always manifest in us, Paul said. And that's a win, when Christ
is set forth. That's wonderful, and that glorifies
God. But don't miss this. 2 Peter 1, 10-15. I was going
to have you turn there. We're not too long here. Let's
look at that together. 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1, 10-15. Wherefore the rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Not be sure
that you're doing enough to please God. That's what religion is
talking about. Make sure now you know that you're
living the Christian life and all that. What about for us mess-ups? What about for sinners? What
are sinners going to do? Make sure. Look at every evidence. Look at the means that God has
given. and make sure that you're one of his elect. Isn't that
what he's saying? Don't make your works and, you
know, you're, you living up to, you know, to the standard of
God's law. Don't make sure about that. Make
your calling and election sure. Has God really chosen me? How
do I know? Do you believe on him? Do you love him? That's what
he asked the apostle Simon. Peter, do you love me? That's
how he restored him to confidence and peace. For if you do these
things, you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministering
to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things. What? What things?
The kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and making sure you're
in it. That's what we hear. We know that God can save whoever
he wants to save. Will he save me? That's what
I'm here to find out tonight. How about you? Let's make sure
that he, can your God deliver you from the lions, Daniel? Oh, yes. I hear the gospel and
I can say with him, yes, my God is able. My God's able. His blood is precious enough
to redeem me from all my sin. His arm is mighty to save. His righteousness. There's no
chink in that armor. If I stand before God in Him,
I stand holy and spotless and without blame. Oh, my God's able. How about yours? How about yours? And I'm going to keep remembering
you, Simon said. I'm going to keep reminding you.
I'm going to put you in remembrance of these things, though you know
them. Most of you here know exactly what I'm saying, now you've heard
me say it a thousand times. Remember, remember the one who
elected you. Remember the one whose kingdom
you are a member of by his free grace, by the precious blood
of his son. How are we a member of his kingdom? This is Jesus
the king, the crucified one, by his precious blood. You're
established in the present truth verse 13. Yeah, I think it's
me. I think it's proper I just think it's right as long as I'm
in this flesh As long as I'm in this body as long as I'm on
this earth to stir you up by putting you in remembrance Knowing
that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle even as our Lord
Jesus Christ has showed me moreover I will endeavor that you may
be able after my decease if I can do anything about it even after
I'm gone I'm gonna make sure you remember him His kingdom,
His electing grace and love. Verses 16 through 21 back in
our text, I'm sorry, verses 16 through 21 in that chapter where
we just read in 2 Peter 1, they are vital to the meaning of the
context also. And you'll see there, if you
want to read that later, you'll see that He's talking about Christ
revealed in his word and Christ testified of in the gospel, in
the preaching of the gospel. That's what he's putting them
in remembrance of. Christ, this do in remembrance of me. The
ordinances, the gospel, everything we do is to remember and find
rest in him. They wept, they remembered, and
then they prayed. Oh Lord, you remember. I might
forget. And Lord, even if we do forget,
don't forget us. In verses seven through nine,
he's telling them to remember what the enemy had done, how
that they had said, raise it, in other words, just annihilate
it, the city of God, the people of God. Destroy their home, the
city, the place that they called home. But here's the thing, in
remembering what the enemy has done, he's remembering us. What
the psalmist is saying is, remember what they did to us. Who cares
what the Edomites did, except as it pertains to his people.
That's what he's talking about. I can show you that in Jeremiah
14, 17 through 21. Why don't you just read that
later? I'll tell you what it says. That'd be a good thing
for you to read. But why does it matter that something
bad happened to these people? You know, these people, Conquered
them and destroyed them and made them suffer. Well because God
made a covenant with these people That's what and that's what they're
crying for and in Jeremiah 14 17 through 21 The prophet says
Lord remember look what the enemy has done to us. Have you cast
us off? Remember your covenant with us That's what's being said
in our song. I When the psalmist says, remember
Edom and what they did to us, the meaning of what he's saying
is, look what they did to your covenant people. Don't forget,
don't forget. The promises, the spiritual teaching
of that is both simple and very beautiful. God in dealing with
his spiritual Israel always does so with an eye to that covenant.
Do we, do we worship that way? Do we always look to the promises?
Our brother read that. The covenant of God's grace in
Christ Jesus, and he deals with us consistent with all the precious
promises of that covenant. I'm going to write my law in
your heart. It's not just going to be on tables of stone. That
inspired fear, didn't it, when God thundered from Sinai. But
we're not afraid of him. Why? Because his law is in our
heart, and we're like, Paul, I love his law. I want to keep
it. I can't do it, but it's good.
His law is good. And I'm going to be your God,
and you're going to be my people. And it's not going to be, you're
going to be taught of the Lord who He is, not by your father
and mother. They're not going to quit saying,
here's God, this is God, and teaching you about God. But what
He's saying there is, you're all going to know who I am, by
my Spirit. They shall all be taught of God.
Can you have a favorite promise from God? I confess that maybe I do. I will be merciful to your unrighteousness,
and your sins and your iniquities will I remember no more. Christ is himself. Christ, the
person of Christ, is God remembering that covenant. Remember I read
from you recently in Luke chapter 1 where Zacharias, the father
of John the Baptist, listen to what he said. On the birth of
Christ. He said this blessed be the God
Lord God of Israel for he had visited and redeemed his people
and hath raised up in horn a powerful Salvation for us in the house
of his servant David as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets
Which have been since the world began that we should be saved
from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us To perform
the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant
Simeon You'll recall in Luke chapter 2, probably, he saw Christ
and said, I've seen God's salvation. Zacharias, the father of John
the Baptist, in Luke chapter 1, saw Christ and said, God has
remembered his covenant to us. Christ is that remembrance. His
blood is the precious blood of the everlasting covenant, Paul
said, and he is the messenger, the deliverer, the one upon whose
shoulders this covenant rests. There are conditions to this
covenant, the new covenant of grace, but not for you. Not for
you. He fulfilled them. It's good
to remember Christ as he's told us to do and blessed us in the
ordinances to be able to do. And as in the preaching of his
gospel, he so graciously does, he reminds us May he give me
grace to put you always, as long as I'm in this body, in remembrance
of Christ and his covenant promises. And his power to deliver almost
his love. But here's my blessed hope and
salvation. Oh, Lord, remember me, remember
me, because I may forget. Listen to Isaiah 49, 14. But
Zion said, that's who we're talking about, the people of God. Zion
said, the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten
me. Have you ever said that? You
ever felt that way? You said it in your heart, hadn't
you? God has cast me off. And our gracious Lord responds
to that in the next verse. Can a woman forget her sucking
child that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? Yea, they may forget. Yet, will
I not forget thee? That's my hope. That's my salvation. Let's pray.