I please the Lord to bless us
together this evening as we turn to his word once again. Let us
turn to the Gospel of Luke chapter 24 and we'll read verse 8. The Gospel of Luke chapter 24
and reading verse 8. And they remembered his words. quite clearly they had forgotten
the words of the Lord Jesus. We might think that how could
that be? There was the Lord Jesus, Almighty
God, who had been with them for those three years, expounding
unto them the truth on a number of occasions, directing them
to realise that He would be crucified and would rise again from the
dead. Most important, most vital and
great truths. And yet, sadly to say and solemnly
to realize, the disciples, they did not remember these great
truths. And so, we have these words before
us this evening and they remembered his words and it was not therefore
until after the Lord had risen from the dead and As we read together, and it came
to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood
by them in shining garments. And as they were afraid and bowed
down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek
ye the living among the dead? He is not here. but is risen. Remember how he spake unto you
when he was in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third
day rise again. And we might think naturally
that had they remembered those wonderful truths that the Lord
had spoken, when the Lord was crucified, when he was in that
judgment hall, they might have encouraged themselves that this
was the almighty work and plan of God. And therefore, it was
to be expected. But no, they did not remember. these great words. Well, what
a solemn thing it is also for us today, how often we perhaps
forget the words of God, the truth of God's Word, and we carry
on in our little lives and are sometimes perplexed, sometimes
can't understand our way, sometimes wonder what the scene will bring
upon us, And is it not because we have forgotten the many encouraging
words which are in the Word of God? The Lord has seen fit to
not let us remember them, so that we've forgotten them. And
it may mean that the Spirit of God comes upon us to produce
that urgent prayer which perhaps we would not have if we had remembered
all the details that we read of in the Word of God. But what a good thing it is when
the Lord brings back to our minds, to our hearts, those words of
truth, those words of instruction, perhaps those words which God
has spoken to our souls. And then we remember his words. It may be sometimes in our lives
that our evidences of divine life are dark. We can't seem
to find them. They seem to have disappeared.
They don't seem to exist. And we may bring into question
all our religion, all our spiritual life, as whether there was any
life at all. Is it perhaps because we've forgotten
the Word of God? That Word of God upon which we
were caused to hope. You know, the 119th Psalm, we
read, Remember the Word unto thy servant upon which thou hast
caused me to hope. Me to hope. Sure, there are many
words, are there not, in the Word of God, upon which we hope? Perhaps they've been promises
which we've laid hold upon rightly, and then, as it were, the devil's
come in and has brought so many things into our minds and hearts
that we've forgotten these things. They seem to have gone away.
Well, what a favour when the Lord may bring these things back
to our remembrance. And these things were brought
back to the disciples' remembrance by those two angels at the sepulchre,
when they reminded those who were early at the sepulchre what
the Lord had spoken. Sometimes we need reminding of
what the Lord has spoken to us. so we may be encouraged again.
And when we remember his words, you know, may it mean and may
it prove to be a wonderful blessing to us. It was, you know, to these
people because as they heard these words and they remembered
the words and they returned from the sepulchre and told all these
things unto the eleven and to all the rest. Yes, they were
completely full of those things which they were having to speak
to them, but it's again sad to read also, and their words seem
to them as idle tales, and they believe them not. The disciples
had been made aware of these great truths. The Lord has spoken
those truths in their hearing. And now there was the fulfilment
of them, and now there were those who had returned to speak to
the disciples. And what do we read? And they believed them not. We find an evil heart of unbelief. You see, the disciples were not
exempt from that. They also possessed an evil heart
of unbelief. My friends, sometimes we may
find that we possess an evil heart of unbelief. We don't believe
the truth of God's Word. Those words which we read of
in the Word of God that tell us of His help, of the promises,
and to realise, as the Apostle said, we know that all things
work together for good and sometimes we think that can't be true.
and we ignore such a word of comfort. It is a word of comfort
when things appear to be going wrong in our lives, don't appear
to be going smoothly as we had expected, our plans don't seem
to be coming to fruition, and what are we to think? Surely
it's not all working together for my good. Surely the hand
of the Lord has gone out against me. Well, if we're walking contrary
to God, then no doubt his word would have gone out against us.
But if we're seeking God's will, if we're seeking His way, if
we're seeking His guidance and blessing, to realise then we
come into situations to have that faith blessed to us, to
remember His Word which tells us, yes, all things are working
together for my good. I can't always see it at the
time. But that's where God blesses
his people with living faith. Faith to believe. The things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. You see, God can remove mountains. You and I can't. God can make
the crooked things straight. You and I can't. God can make
the rough places plain. You and I can't. But we need
that faith to remember. Remember his words when he says,
I will. I will and I will. To be comforted
therefore in our hearts to realise that we come before this same
almighty God who has spoken such glorious words of truth in the
scriptures and we need that living faith
to believe them because God's word is true the devil would always make us
doubt the Word of God. That's always his aim. He did
it in the Garden of Eden. He said, hath God said. No doubt he'll say it to you
and me. Hath God said. Well, it's good when God gives
us grace to be able to resist the devil. God gives us grace
to be able to answer the devil from the Word of God and to be
able to say, yes, God has said. and that we then remember his
words, the word of God. The devil cannot stand against
the word of God. But we do need sometimes to be
reminded of the great truths of God's word, brought to our
remembrance, brought to our attention, so there may be a strength to
us and a help to us to carry on in the journey of life. you
know the children of Israel were told thou shalt remember all
the way the Lord thy God has led thee all the way there were
ups and downs weren't there there were times of blessing there
were times of crosses but they were told they would remember
to look back and sometimes it's good to look back now it's good
to look forward to anticipate glory and to that day when we
shall see Christ. But my friends, it's good to
look back and to remember His words, the words He's spoken
to us, the words of blessing, the words of direction, perhaps
the words of correction. They're all part of God's gracious
dealings with us. Perhaps we do need to remember
sometimes those words of correction which we may have spoken and
we may have forgotten. We may have dragged ourselves
back and we need to remember His words and they remembered
His words. Will it be a strength and support
for you and me if we do indeed remember the words that God has
spoken to our souls? It's good to examine ourselves,
to look back in our lives and to see what God has said, what
God has done. Such times of looking back can
be very encouraging sometimes we don't always remember those
things and it's strange isn't it that we tend to forget some
of God's blessings or rather perhaps they're hidden from us
but when the Lord sees fit to give us that grace to remember
his words it's a time of refreshing it's a time of encouragement
it's a time of blessing because we then can rejoice again in
what God has done. We do not leave those promises
buried. No, the Lord brings them once
again to the light, once again to the surface, and once again
we can come and bless our God for his great truth and great
blessing toward us. And they remembered his words. The Lord spoke great truths to
his disciples and you would think that some of those words he spoke
with reference to his resurrection and his death, they wouldn't
have forgotten. They were so outstandingly important
And yet we find and we prove they were but sinners, sinful
men and women like you and me. And in the Gospel of John, we
read in the second chapter, Jesus answered and said to them, destroy
this temple and in three days I will raise it up. He was speaking
about himself. Then said the Jews, forty and
six years was this temple in building and we will never raise
it up in three days. But he spoke of the temple of
his body. Again, naturally we would think,
how could they forget such an illustration as that? but may
it be a comfort to you and me as we remember the disciples
forgot and therefore as we may forget and then have these words
these situations brought back to our mind and they remembered
his words you see they they returned from the sepulchre and told all
these things unto the eleven and to all the rest And it was
Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and
other women that were with them which told these things unto
the apostles. And even Peter didn't believe
because Peter arose and ran unto the sepulchre to see whether
these things were so. And we know of course John went
with him. And then in this same chapter,
there were those two on the Emmaus Road, and they'd forgotten, and
they didn't remember, and they'd communed amongst themselves,
and they'd talked together of all those things which had happened. And again, surely they would
have remembered some of those words that the Lord has spoken
about his death, about the crucifixion, about the three days, about the
resurrection, but no, they forgot. They did not remember. What brought it to their remembrance? When the Lord came and went with
them. And the Lord came and went with
them and expounded unto them the truth of the Word of God. And when he spoke to them and
said, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things,
and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the
things concerning himself. It was a most wonderful and glorious
sermon that he preached to those two people and yet we're told
their eyes were holden. They didn't realize it was the
Lord Jesus Christ until he took bread and blessed it and break
and gave unto them and their eyes were opened and they knew
him and he vanished out of their sight. Oh, all those things were
now brought back to their remembrance, weren't they? And they were,
it was joyful good news and it was so wonderful and although
they journeyed on that road they immediately got up and returned
to Jerusalem to be able to tell the disciples the good news that
they had heard wasn't a change in their situation. There isn't
a change in our situation when God brings his word, his truth,
to our remembrance. And they remembered his words. May we remember his words, so
they are a strength and a comfort and a real blessing to us. Again the Lord speaks to his
disciples in this same Gospel of John and in the 12th chapter
we read And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon,
as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion! Behold, thy king cometh,
sitting on an ass's colt. These things understood not his
disciples at the first. But when Jesus was glorified,
then remembered they that these things were written of him, and
that they had done these things unto him. Again, when these things
occurred, what was happening? A fulfilment of those things
which were prophesied in the Old Testament. It wasn't something
that was unknown, it was that which was known was to happen.
And when it happened, the disciples' eyes were blinded. And it wasn't
until the Lord Jesus was glorified that they remembered these things
that were written of him. and they remembered his words. Well we're blessed today aren't
we with the whole truth of God's word from Genesis to Revelation. What a wonderful blessing it
is that we have his word and that we might be able to remember
the truth of God's word and not forget it. and that we may be
prayerful in the concern that his word may be in our mind,
in our heart, that it may be a help to us and a strength to
us, so that we're able to remember those words that were, as the
Prophet said, thy words were found and I did eat them. Yes, they were food to the Prophet's
soul. and the Word of God as we may
remember His words. May there be food to our soul
so they revive us, so they strengthen us, so they give us that grace
and help to press on and to continue and they remembered His words. Well if we look back perhaps
in our life Perhaps to an early day in our life, in our spiritual
life. A day when perhaps we, as it
were, met with God. Not in a physical way, but in
a spiritual way. And the Lord came to us. And the Lord showed us what condition
we were in. He may have spoken his word to
our hearts, the soul that sinneth it shall die. We may have felt
under that condemnation of Almighty God and we knew that we were
guilty and helpless and held deserving. And the only word
that really suited us was, God be merciful to me a sinner. He couldn't get very much above
that. And there we were perhaps for
days, it may have been weeks, it may have been years. And yet
you see, then as time moved on, and we may have forgotten perhaps,
those days. Those days when we were under
the blessing of the Lord, under that word of condemnation, when
the things of God were very important to us. We were on the stretch
after God. We needed to hear His voice. We needed to hear His words. We needed to be encouraged in
the way. We needed to be strengthened
and upheld. And then perhaps the Lord came
and graciously spoke words of comfort into our souls, like
thy sins which are many are all forgiven. But then days move
on, and we lose the sweetness, and sometimes we lose the sight
of them, and then we forget the words. And we find we're a bit
like Martha, cumbered about with much serving. And we've forgotten
that Mary hath chosen that good part, which was to be found at
the feet of Jesus, seeking his will, desiring to hear his words,
a place of blessing. And they remembered his words. Well, what a blessing it is if
you and I can look back in our lives to remember those times.
It's good, you know, the Prophet says, come now and let us reason
together. To remember his words, come now,
he says, and let us reason together. And it's important to know that
the Lord speaks in this way when he said, come now. You needn't
put things off. No, we can come unto our God. As he speaks, let's come now.
And let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be
as scarlet. They shall be white as snow,
though they be red like crimson. They shall be as wool, if ye
be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land." Perhaps
we rejoiced in words like that and then they've seen them disappeared
and we need to have them brought back to our remembrance and they
remembered his words. These great and glorious words
because the apostle goes on to solemnly declare but If ye refuse
and rebel, ye shall be devoured with a sword, for the mouth of
the LORD hath spoken it." Such words may have arrested us and
may have spoken to our hearts. And then perhaps we've been enveloped
in the world, in the things of time. Perhaps sometimes things
which we might consider as to be lawful, they may have been
lawful. We need to remember the Apostle's experience when he
said, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. And what he meant by that was
this. The lawful things that he was engaged in didn't bring
him nearer to Christ. They weren't expedient for the
blessing of his soul. What did it do? No doubt it caused
him to forget some of the precious promises, some of the gracious
commands of Almighty God. And therefore he was left to
himself to carry on. And that's why he's able to tell
us no man can keep alive his own soul. We need the Lords to
keep our soul alive and sometimes the Lord does it by bringing
us into desolate places, desolate scenes, destitute conditions
to make us cry unto our God so that we might come then to remember
His words. If we consider this scene that
we have, the Lord was crucified To all intents and purposes,
the Lord had died. The Lord was dead. He'd been buried. Where was their hope? Was their
hope lost? Well, they couldn't really give
up, could they? If you read the Two on the Emmaus
Road, clearly they couldn't really give up. The disciples couldn't
really give up. They were still meditating, they
were still thinking about those things which had occurred, but
it wasn't until God brought those words back, the Lord has spoken
to their remembrance that they were blessed, they were encouraged,
they go on and go in the strength of the Lord God. It was a time
of sadness and a time when the Lord veiled his face from them.
And sometimes that's so in our spiritual life. The Lord, as
it were, veils his face. We walk a barren path. And as we analyse our lives,
we may realise that it's our sins which have brought us into
such a condition. We've listened to the devil.
To these disciples, I had effectively listened to the devil. And they
hadn't listened to and absorbed the great truth that the Lord
had spoken to them. And that's why they were sad
and sorrowful. Well, today, can we bless God
if he brings back to our remembrance his great and glorious truth. You know, Israel were commanded
to remember the way that they've been brought out of bondage. In Deuteronomy that we're told
thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of
Egypt. We may sometimes have almost
forgotten that we were bondmen also, not in physical Egypt but
in spiritual Egypt. We were bound by the devil. Yes, Israel were in Egypt for
many years. And how were they delivered?
God brought them out. How is the Church of God today
brought out of spiritual bondage? That means being bound up. That
means no liberty. That means being in prison. yes, bondman, and how we perhaps
need to be delivered, perhaps we need to remember the time
as Israel were told that they would remember as they journeyed,
remember they look back, remember that time of bondage, wasn't
a happy time was it? Under those taskmasters, labour
and sorrow, but the time of deliverance came. My friends, today the time
of deliverance comes, but it's good when we are to remember
the condition that we were in, that pit from which we were delivered,
to remember that time. Because as the Lord brings it
to our remembrance, remember the time of deliverance. What
should it do? It should encourage us, shouldn't
it? It should strengthen us to realise
we worship today that same God, that God who came to me in my
lowest state, when I felt perhaps cast off and cast out, when I
wondered whether there was any hope for me. And then the Lord
directed my faith to look to Himself, the saviour of sinners,
and there was relief, and there was liberty, and there was joy,
and there was happiness. Israel were directed to remember
deliverance from Egypt, to encourage them, to strengthen them, And
so we today are to remember the times of blessing, the times
of deliverance, to strengthen us and to encourage us to press
on for the journey of life, which will never be easy. The devil
is snapping at our heels all the time. He's endeavouring to
turn us out of the way. His great concern is to make
us fall and to keep us down. Well, you see, he will never
succeed, but we need encouraging words from God to be brought
back to our remembrance, to strengthen us in these times of need. And so, as the disciples, sorry,
as Moses spoke to the Israelites and spoke to them and said, Lord
thy God, redeem me. You see, he brought them out,
And we're to remember that time, remember the redemption. Yes,
it was all part of God's great and glorious plan. And how good
for us, my friends, to remember our redemption. Our redemption. when the Word of God was applied
to our souls. And we had a hope in His mercy.
We had a hope that Lord Jesus Christ had died upon Calvary's
cross to redeem our souls. Egypt were redeemed from that
bondage in Egypt. My friends, God's people are
redeemed from their sins by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They are brought out of spiritual
bondage into that glorious light and life of the everlasting gospel. And so may we remember the words
which God has spoken, and they remembered his words. Well, may
we tonight remember God's words to us. Trace out, go home tonight,
Trace out what God has done for your soul. The work, His work,
you'll realise it wasn't your work, it was His work. As you
trace out His work, is that not encouraging? As you think of
the Almighty God, as graciously condescended to do His work in
your soul, to bring from death to life, from darkness to light,
a great and a glorious and a blessed deliverance. And you, by His
grace, have been upheld to now, There may have been slips, there
may have been falls, but nonetheless, you have been upheld. Remember,
therefore, His words unto your soul." Important, aren't they? Important to be able to remember
what God has done. My friends, I hope we can remember
something that God has done. I hope we don't forget everything. I hope we don't have nothing
to remember. nothing to remember. We might
perhaps question ourselves tonight as to whether we do have anything
to remember. Because we do need something
to remember. We do need to know that God has
worked in our soul. We do need to know that we are
born again of his spirit. We do need to know that Lord
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, came to this
world to die for you, to die for me. We do need to know that. It is essential to our eternal
happiness. And so, if we do not have anything
to remember, Then may we pray to God that we may have something
to remember. He may bring something into our
hearts, His work, that we may have reason to rejoice and bless
our God for. That He has remembered us in our lowest state. He's remembered
us. He's looked upon us. He hasn't
passed us by. He hasn't forgotten us. He's remembered us. Well, my
friends, if God has remembered us, bless God for that. If we don't have the evidence
yet, pray earnestly for it. Because the Word of God tells
us He will be inquired of by the House of Israel to do these
things for them. Pray to God earnestly. Don't give up. Here's a prayer
hearing and a prayer answering God. What do we read? He waits
to be gracious. Your time is always, says the
Lord. My time is not yet. God's time
is perfect. God's time is the right time.
What God will do will be this he'll prove to you and me that
grace is precious that his grace is glorious it's
not cheap it's precious and when you and i receive it we'll acknowledge
it is so and we're thankful for his great grace which has come
to us And then as we journey on, to look back and to remember
those occasions of His mercy, of His love toward us. Oh yes, His compassion. He didn't deal with us as our
sins deserve. Yes, His love, to remember it. A touch of His love to our souls,
We don't know very much of God's love, but bless God if we know
a little, because if you and I know anything of God's love
to our soul, it will bring us safe home to glory. And therefore,
we are encouraged to covet earnestly the best gifts And this is the
best gift, the gift of His love to unworthy sinners. To have
reason then to remember. As you and I journey on, perhaps
after many years in the way, in the spiritual warfare, many
temptations, many battles, He has to then be able to look back
and see the mercy of the Lord, His goodness to us, His gracious
dealings. He's not left our soul destitute. He's remembered us in our lowest
state for His mercy endured forever. Now then, such words would be,
such remembrances would be a comfort to us. And they remembered His
words. We do remember God's words. And
I said sometimes they're not clear, sometimes they're hidden
from us, but the Lord does bring all things to our remembrance. We may be able to thank and glorify
God for his favour toward us in not casting us away, not casting
us off as a cumbra of the ground, but looking upon us in love and
mercy and speaking to our souls those words of life. eternal
life, which can never be taken away. You see, the devil can
do many things, but he cannot take away the life that God has
given, because that is a life that God has paid the price for. The Lord paid that price with
his own precious blood, and therefore that life cannot be lost. And may we be encouraged by,
therefore, the words of God, which speak to us in so many
ways, comforting us and strengthening us to believe in the word of
God. And as the Lord himself said,
thy word is truth. Amen.