Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 115. We'll read for our text, verse 12. The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. Psalm 115 and verse 12. The word hath is looking back to what the Lord has already done. The Lord hath been mindful of us. And then from that, joined to that, because of that, As you're looking forward or looking to the present, He will bless us. In other words, those that the Lord has been mindful of, it is that He is preparing them for times of blessing. There already is those indications of the Lord's favour towards his people before he truly blesses them with full assurance and faith. Peter says, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. We know how that sometimes in a supermarket they might have a new product, cheese or something, and they offer at the corner of the aisle just a little bit, just a tiny little taste. Not going to satisfy, it's not going to feed you, but just that taste, they hope you'll like it, you'll want more, and you'll buy more. Well, the Lord gives His people also a little taste of His gracious hand, His goodness, His kindness. and gives them to realize where it comes from. And it is in this way that he draws them to want more, to desire more, more than just a taste. And the Lord knows how to do this. The lead up to our text, all the glory is given to the Lord. The psalm begins, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and thy truth's sake. This will always be the language of God's people. Always he will put his people in the dust, he will bring them low, and all the glory will be his, and they'll be willing that it should be so. and put the crown upon his head. But there's a implication or a suggestion here with the next verse, wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? Those situations where it appears for a time that God has forgotten them. We had that complaint as we read the passage in Isaiah. But Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. And many of the Lord's people in their trials have those times. Joseph in prison, forgotten by the butler, seemingly forgotten by God. You see, the Church of God in every age is awaiting for His promise, awaiting for his appearing. And while that is so, the heathen have something to say. Where is now their God? But faith has the answer, verse 3, but our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. He is a sovereign God. He's not a God that we just dictate to, that just answers to Every whim of man or Satan, when Satan comes and says to our Lord, command these stones that they may be made bread, if they aren't the Son of God, we would be so tempted to say, well, I have power to do that. I approve I'm the Son of God. I'm going to do that. But our Lord is not a slave to Satan. He's not to do a timing. He does not need to prove. that he is the son of God to him, Satan knows full well who our Lord was and is. And so our God is a sovereign God in all the dealings that he has with us, with his people, with the church of God, our times are in his hand. But then there's a real contrast. And sometimes, I know of many times I've mentioned how the Lord uses contrasts throughout the Word of God. Gives two sides, two to look at. And I know I've often taken you back to Cain and Abel, not just one way of worshipping, not just saying this is how you worship with the blood, but this is how you don't worship without the blood. You have the two. And right away through Scripture, and the Lord often with his parables, uses the two. And so here, The contrast is, but our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols, and our attention is drawn to the heathen and their idols, silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. is of a God that has all of the faculties, their feet they have but they walk not, neither speak they through their throat. They have every appearance but there's no life, there's no power, there's no ability at all. They that make them alike unto themselves, everyone that trusteth in them. And then begins the Beautiful charge to Israel. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Sometimes it's good for us to just think of this, a picture of this, all of those other gods, all of the idols, all of the work of men's hands, all of those that have no power, no ability. The Apostle Paul says about eating those things to idols, he says, an idol is nothing. Just a piece of wood is nothing. But in all men there is not this knowledge. Some, they wound their conscience if they were to heed that offer to idols. But he had that clear view. All those idols were, were just the work of man's hands and bits of silver and gold and wood. But what a contrast with our God, that is the true and living God. that has all of that which we read here. He has a mouth but he does speak. He has ears and he does hear. He has eyes and he does see. He does have hands. He does have feet. He does speak to his people. The picture of the true and living God. And so then we have in these verses the charge, O Israel, that is Israel, the whole family of God. For in writing to the Galatians, he speaks of the whole Israel of God. And we read as well that they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. An Israelite indeed, one that truly He is God, truly knows the Lord. He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, that is the ministers, the tribe of Levi, they ministered, they were about the holy things, and answers to the ministers and teachers of our day. Trust in the Lord, he is their help and their shield. And then verse 11 encompasses all the people of God, really even pointing to the Gentiles like we read so clearly in Isaiah 49. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. This psalm is a very encouraging psalm. Encouraging psalm to look to the Lord, to trust in him, to put the crown of glory on his head. But our text, it speaks of what the Lord has already done. He's looking, looking back. And you know it's easy for us to overlook what the Lord has done. To overlook it. And we overlook a token for good. We overlook an encouragement. We overlook those things that should encourage us to believe He will bless us. And so it is with that desire this evening that we might be able to look back, that we might see the Lord has been mindful of us, that we might have that expectation, that real founded one upon the scriptures and upon what the Lord has done, that he will bless us. So I want to look in the first point, that which is essential to speaking this verse. If we were to take this verse Upon our lips, the Lord hath been mindful of us, he will bless us, especially this first part of it. What is essential to be able to do that? And then secondly, helps to discerning the Lord has been mindful of us. And then thirdly, the language of faith, he will bless us. If we are to speak this language, the text begins first with the Lord, and it's in capital, so this is Jehovah. Already we mentioned of the other gods that are here. We read in Hebrews, he that cometh to God must believe that he is, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. If we are to say that the Lord or anyone else has been mindful of us, then we need to know who He is. Then in the Psalms we read, God is known by the judgment that He executed. In the book of Esther we have all of the Lord's works there, but God is not mentioned. In the beginning of this psalm, it points straight back to our God that is in the heavens, a sovereign God. And what really is vital if we're to ascribe to the Lord, to have some knowledge of Him and who it is that we are joining those things that have happened or how He's been mindful of us to him, that we're not just joining the Lord to some of the multitude of gods that the other nations had. It's one real mark of the, in the scriptures and the mark today. Men are quite happy for you to have an extra god, just add another god, but they're not happy when you say there is only one true and living God. Many conversations I've had in secular work around this very point, those saying that, isn't it rather arrogant to say that there is only one God and that God you know? And when I pointed out, well, if that God claims he is the only one, then how can I say other than that he is? And if that God is the one that has made all things, and all things for himself, how can there be an allowance that there should be any other God? But natural man doesn't like that at all. Those even at the door here, at the chapel, seem to get on quite well at first. But then as soon as you bring the exclusivity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and salvation alone by Him, Then all their hatred and malice rises up. They don't like that. And so when we come to speak this language, we need to know who is mindful of us, that we are looking to the God that made heaven and earth, the God of the Bible, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. believing in this great Jehovah. You remember the Apostle Paul saw that he was on the Damascus Road when the Lord stopped him. And he says, who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. And he was brought to truly know the Lord. He thought he did before, but the Lord revealed to him and he's brought to truly know him. The second thing, to be able to speak this, is recognizing his work. To be able to say this is the Lord's doing. To be able to say with those of old, the thing proceedeth from the Lord. To actually see that it is the Lord's hand. and really see it as his people. We think of those, even of the ungodly, like those in Nebuchadnezzar's court, when they couldn't, the magicians, astrologers, they couldn't tell him his dream, they couldn't interpret the dreams. And they said that there is none but the gods whose dwelling is not with earth that can do this. And they had some recognition of an almighty God and actually giving a scribing that this God is able to do these things. And when Nebuchadnezzar saw the three Hebrew children and the Son of God walking with them in the burning fiery furnace, then he was so touched with that and made a decree that everyone should serve Him and not speak anything against that God. And in one sense then there was, through the miracles, the wonder that was done, a recognising of His work. And yet you might say not at that point at least in a saving way. But it is a lesser thing if we are brought to see Him and to know it in a saving way. My mind goes to our Lord's time on earth and the many miracles he did. You would think everyone that saw him raise the dead, everyone that saw him do miraculous cures, they would instantly have said, this is the work of the God of heaven and earth. This Jesus of Nazareth is the true God. But they didn't. They didn't. Their heart was hardened. They followed him from loaves and fishes and overlooked the fact that it was a miracle that had brought them to be multiplied. So we need to recognize his work, but in a way that leads us to consider it, leads us to him, not just as the heathen do, but recognize it in a way that sees his favour towards us. The third thing is realising that the Lord knew about us and the various aspects of our case. If we are to say the Lord has been mindful of us, it means that he knows about us. The woman at the well of Samaria, she was mindful that the Lord knew about her past husband, she knew who she was with now, and so the things that he said were relative to what he knew about her. We can perhaps try and help someone But in such a way that that person could say, really, you don't know much about me. The help is not really suitable to what my need is. You might be given food, but you don't need food. You need medicine or something. You might be given money, but you don't need money. You need advice and direction. But if someone gives you something or helps you in a way, and you think, that person really knows me. They know what is the problem. They know how best to help me. And they've been mindful of us. They've been thinking about me. They've been thinking about my path. I've been in their thoughts. And so it's realizing Realizing that the Lord does know about us. Thou God, seest me. Hagar, she knew him when the angel found her in the desert. Desarmist in Psalm 139. Wherever he went, he was mindful the Lord saw him and knew him. Elijah knew him. In the cave, what doest thou hear, Elijah? The Lord knew where he was. Before that, under the juniper tree, when the angel came and strengthened him. It's a realizing. You know, how knowest thou me? It's like with Nathanael under the fig tree. Before that Philip called thee, when thou art under the fig tree, I saw thee. An Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile, saith the Lord to him, and he was amazed. How did he know him? Well, the Lord does know his people. And may we remember the Lord has known them from eternity. He's known them as choosing them in Christ. He's known them as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, that their sins would be laid upon him. that He came to save them, He shall save His people from their sins. They were given by the Father to the Son to redeem, the covenant ordered in all things and sure. And so realising that the Lord has known us, He does know us, where we were born, where we grew up, what our parents were, the whole situation, and the things that the Lord does reflect that knowledge. It brings us to be convinced that the Lord does know us, perhaps better than what we know ourselves. And we need to speak this word, we do need to believe in the true and living God, to recognize His work and realize that he knows about us. The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. Well, secondly, I want to look at some help to discerning. The Lord has been mindful of us. The first help is recalling scriptural examples of God being mindful of others. It's something that I know all of God's people, they don't have the same experience, not to be fettered in thinking we should have exactly the same experience as another, but in the word of God, We have those examples of the Lord being mindful of his people, of their particular case and situation, and how he's helped them and appeared for them, exactly suiting what he is doing to where they are. And this gives us some help to then look at our own lives, see how the Lord did with them, and then to see with us. We think of what is said of Noah, when Noah was in the ark, they'd been there for a year, and we read that the Lord God remembered Noah. And in a way it's a similar thing, to remember someone, to be mindful of them. The Lord was mindful that they were in the ark. The Lord had put them there. He'd shut the door. They'd been in that time. God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark. God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters assuaged. And what the Lord is doing is mindful of where they are and the situation that they're in. The Lord brought them into it. The Lord was to bring them out of it. And the steps that he was using to bring them out, he's causing the waters to go down and the fountains, the windows of heaven stopped, the waters returned. And the Lord hasn't just brought them to a place and then left them. We think also of Rachel. Remember that Jacob's wives, Rachel and Leah, and Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and when God saw that, he opened Leah's womb, she had children, and Rachel, she didn't, because she had to watch her sister have four children. Before then, we read the Lord remembers her, was mindful of her, He didn't just forget her case and forget what she was walking through. And so he opened her womb and then she had Joseph and later on Benjamin. We mentioned Joseph before, but Joseph is a very good one to think of the Lord mindful of him because he'd been given the dreams and an expectation that God would do something in his life. His sheaves, his sheaf, the sheaves of his brothers had bowed down to it. The stars of heaven had bowed down. And he had that intimation that God was going to do something. But then he was roughly treated by his brothers, cast into the pit, sold as a servant, and falsely accused and cast into prison. Each time we do remember how God said the Lord was with Joseph. He was mindful of Joseph in every place that he went in. And yet still, we read in Psalm 105 that until his time came, the word of the Lord tried him. But it was a very notable thing, and this especially is a looking back. Often it's very hard when you're in a thing to actually see it. But Joseph came to the point where he could look back and he could say to his brothers, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. To save your lives by a great deliverance. And really for Joseph, for Jacob, you think God was mindful. He was mindful of his covenant with Abraham. He's mindful of his words to Abraham, that his seed should be a stranger in a strange land. He's mindful that when there came a famine in the land, that he put Joseph, their brother, in Egypt to preserve them alive, to put them in the best place of Egypt. And he'd sent him before them, very evident at the end of the matter. that it was all God's doing, all God's providing. He had the foresight. He'd gone before and clearly seen afterwards. The Lord had been mindful of exactly what was happening, that there was going to be a famine. And Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. The stall was then made and laid up in the plentiful years, and there it was, right ready for them, when the famine came. Joseph, his brothers, would clearly have been able to say, the Lord hath been mindful of us, mindful of all the circumstances, what was going to happen in the world, in these countries, and in us, and bring us to walk in the way that had been told to Abraham that would happen. And then when we think of them coming up out of Egypt, God didn't just bring them into Egypt and just forget them. When they were hardly treated, when a king rose that did not know Joseph, the Lord knew. He saw their bondage. He had respect unto them or recognized them as his people. And he looked upon their sorrows, he said, I know their sorrows. And again, it's only when you look afterwards and you see how in a wonderful way he brought them out, he hardened Pharaoh's heart so that his power, his might, might be seen in their being brought out. And it magnified that it was only the shedding of blood that brought them out. we think of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of the circumstances around his birth, we think of John the Baptist, both his parents and Mary and Joseph, they all spoke of the Lord being mindful of them, mindful of his covenant, mindful of his promise. He didn't forget the promises of the seed to the woman, Right, given those 4,000 years before in the Garden of Eden, it always remembered it, always thought of it, and all of the prophecies, and all of the promises, and then it's come to pass. The Lord brought it to pass. What an example of when something has been foretold or an expectation, and it has come to pass. The Lord's given us a promise or given us to really believe that something will happen or come to pass. And you may have waited many years, but it has come to pass. And we've seen it come to pass. And we realise the Lord had been mindful in how he ordered all of the things. And we can see many cases of this. We think of Cornelius, 10 years after Pentecost. And there is poor Cornelius and he's giving of arms and he's praying and nothing's happening, no blessing, no change. And then suddenly an angel appears to him and says that the Lord has heard his prayers, he's seen his arms. He'd be mindful of it all along, he knew what he was doing. And then bade him to go and get Peter. to come and to preach, to speak to him words whereby they should be saved. In one sense, the Lord will be mindful of them and now he's going to bless them. He's going to bless them through the preaching of the word. Well, that's just a little, a few examples from scripture, but you may think of many other passages where it's been very evident the Lord has been mindful of his people, collectively or individually, and he's acted according to how he's thought towards them. We think of the word, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. What would we think of the Lord having a people who's not mindful of them at all? He shuts his ear, he doesn't look upon their sorrows, he doesn't regard what they're going through. What would we think of the true and living God if that was the case? Well another help then is looking back on our own lives. Perhaps when we were unregenerate, those of us who know the Lord, when we didn't know the Lord. There are those things I remember back in my life, how I was kept, how the Lord ordered providences without me praying about it, without me regarding the Lord at all. And yet looking back, I can see how crucial some of those decisions, some made by my parents, some mistakes that were made by those in the school system, those things that happened and were done, to look back, we cannot but say, the Lord was mindful of us, the Lord was mindful of me, even when I regarded Him not, when I didn't think of Him, He was thinking of me, and He was ordering things that were going to affect my life later on, and affect my life when I was then called by grace. Our call by grace. Where the Lord begun, he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. We might not yet have full assurance or comfort, but can we look at the beginning when we first were concerned, first began to seek the things of God, and with a real desire, and be able to say that the Lord hath been mindful of us. In one sense it's not saying you must have great assurance, but it does say this, You are seeing those things that have happened and things that are done in a believing way is to see the Lord's hand in it. And it's been for our good. It's been tailored for us. God's knowledge of us. We've been persuaded He did know where we were, what we were. Mindful of what is joined. To calling is another help. None are called except they're elected, but we know our election by our calling. If you get one token and one mindfulness of the calling of God, then joined with that, you say there cannot be a calling without being a foreknowledge. You think of Romans 28, those whom he foreknew. them he also did predestinate, them he predestinated, them he also called, whom he called, them he also justified, whom he justified, them he also glorified. You have this beautiful chain. But if there's a calling, the Lord has been mindful of us in going back. Our text is saying he's mindful of us and has been mindful of us in looking forward, that he will bless us. But it helps to be mindful, realizing the Lord's been mindful of us, to realize there must have been that going back much further, before we were born even, in eternity past. And like I said, about before we were called, we can see that in time, that the Lord was mindful of us, even when we were not mindful of Him, at all. We think also not only of eternity, but Calvary must be true, mustn't it? That all for whom Christ died, he was mindful of, he knew them, he loved them, He knew their sins because he was bearing their sins. Though those sins had not yet been committed, though those people had not yet been born, he was mindful of them. We know that because in Isaiah 54, he shall see his seed and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And so these are helps to realizing the Lord has been mindful of us. And I hope, before we move on to the next point, that we can go from the Lord's house tonight and look over our lives. Look over those things that have happened. And perhaps a challenge, can you look at those things and say the Lord has not been mindful of us? but rather has to say, the Lord hath been mindful of us. These things could not have come to pass. They would not have happened. Perhaps in getting a job, in getting a house, in our schools, our college, all aspects of our lives. But especially in bringing us to seek Him, to feel the worth of our souls, bring us under the sound of the truth on perhaps a particular sermon or a particular word that has been set before us, prayers that we've offered, and the Lord has answered them. And we've had to say, the Lord has answered. Or may we go and look at these and see if we cannot truly say this. The Lord hath been mindful of us. I want then to look at our last point, the language of faith. If that is the case, then we have that which follows it. We have in Psalm 84, he shall give grace and glory, no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Those things join together. those He calls, those He gives grace, those He also will give heaven, and He will give glory. He won't do both. He won't make one feel their sinnership and never show the sinner's friend, the Savior. He will not bring one to pray and then say, I brought you to pray, but I'm never going to hear your prayers. I'm never going to answer them. They're joined together. and so he will bless us. Paul, when he writes to the Ephesians, he speaks of those spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Those blessings of assurance, of comfort, those blessings that satisfy the soul and give joy and give gladness, that result in praise and glory to the Lord. The burden that was upon our back released the wounded conscience soothed and healed, the soul that was so much in trouble, there's a calm, there's a peace, the Lord delivers and saves. We think of those blessings that are of His choosing, that we haven't dictated, we haven't looked for, we haven't known, but the Lord has come and the Lord has given us those blessings and those helps and those deliverances. Think back again with Joseph. Could he have envisaged how quickly he could have been called forth from that prison before Pharaoh? How quick that was. The thing was done suddenly. Many of the Lord's people, we approve that. The thing was done suddenly. Answers to prayer. That is a blessing, isn't it? Further answers, dear Hannah, for this child, I prayed. Help in times of need, that's a blessing from the Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ revealed and shown to a sinner, his beauty, his loveliness, his preciousness, what he has done, how he has suffered in our place, our sins laid upon him. That are but greatest of blessings, to see our interest in Christ and to feel it. To have the heart full, be like the psalmist, my cup runneth over. Or may we be able to speak this first part, and then by faith be encouraged and strengthened. He will bless us. Be a good thing if we can go from the house of God tonight. Say one to another, or perhaps those that you've been sharing your worries, your concerns with, and troubles, perhaps even going over things that have been happening in your life, and you turn to one another and you say, He will bless us. He will, because He has been mindful of us. Well, may the Lord bless us and bless this word. Amen.